PARLI TO TN
5
adjoining it. Its population is increasing rapidly, and in rgoi amounted
to 17,336. The chief buildings are the palace, constructed for the
Raja from designs by a former Government architect at a cost of
6 lakhs, and a second-grade college, maintained entirely by the Raja,
which has a hostel attached to it. In 1903-4 the college had an
average attendance of 488 students, of whom 40 were reading in the
F.A. classes. The Raja also maintains a girls' school and a resthouse
for native travellers. Parlakimedi was constituted a municipality in
1886. The municipal receipts and expenditure during the ten years
ending 1902-3 averaged Rs. 15,ooo and Rs. 14,ooo respectively. In
1903-4 they were Rs. 17,000. Most of the income is derived from
taxes on houses and lands, and tolls. Fine mats, fancy baskets, flower-
stands, cheroot-cases, &c., are made here from a species of reed. The
chief trade is in rice.
Parli Fort (or Sajjangarh).-Fort in the District and tdluka of
Satara, Bombay, situated in 17° 4o' N. and 73° 55' E., on a detached
spur of the Western Ghats, about 6 miles west of Satara town, and
1,045 feet above the plain. Population (1901), 1,287. The fort was
built by one of the kings of Delhi in the thirteenth century. Parli
was the favourite residence of Ramdas Swami (1608-81), the spiritual
guide or guru of Sivaji (1627-8o), who gave it to the Swami in indm.
The local tradition is that, if Sivaji in Satara required counsel from
Ramdas, the Swami reached Satara through the air in a single stride.
The temple of Ramdas is in the middle of the village, surrounded by
the dwellings of his disciples. The temple of basalt with a brick-and-
mortar dome was built by Aka Bai and Divakar Gosavi, two disciples
of the Swami. A yearly fair, attended by about 6,ooo people, is held in
February. On the north-west of Parli village are two old Hemadpanti
temples. The existence of these makes it probable that a fort had
been constructed before Musalman times. It was subsequently occu-
pied by them, and surprised by a detachment of Sivaji's Mavalis in
May, 1673. A few days before his death in 1681 Ramdas Swami
addressed from Parli a judicious letter to Sambhaji, advising him for
the future rather than upbraiding him for the past, and pointing out the
example of his father, yet carefully abstaining from personal comparison.
In 1699, when the Mughals were besieging Satara, Parshuram Trimbak
Pratinidhi prolonged the siege by furnishing supplies from Parli. After
the capture of Satara in April, 1700, the Mughal army besieged Parli.
The siege lasted till the beginning of June, when the garrison evacuated
the fortress. Aurangzeb renamed it Naurastara. In a revenue state-
ment of about 1790 Parli appears as the head-quarters of a pargana
in the Nahisdurg sarkdr, with a revenue of Rs. 22,500. In 1818 it
was taken by a British regiment.
Parli Town.-Town in the Amba tdluk of Bhir District, Hyderabad
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