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Imperial Gazetteer of India, v. 22, p. 358.

:358 .YIDHOUT Tar. Uh' few irrigation channels are drawn from them, as they run in deep beds; and almost the only benefit derived from the wealth of water which runs away to the sea is the increase in the moisture of the subsoil in the valleys. The principal products are indigo and cotton. More than half of the tdluk consists of 'reserved' forests. Sidhout, the head-quarters, is a place of some importance and of considerable sanctity. Owing to a fancied resemblance in its position on the Penner to that of Benares on the Ganges, and to the relative situation of some neighbouring villages and rivers, it is sometimes called Dakshina Kasi or the `Southern Benares.' It is known for its melons, the cultivation of which is carried on from January to March in the dry sandy bed of the Penner. Sidhpur Taluka.-Northern tdluka of the Kadi print, Baroda State, with an area of 254 square miles. The population fell from 107,470 in r89i to 9o,t6x in 19or. The hiluka contains two towns, SIDHPUR (population, x4,743), the head-quarters, and UNJan (9,8oo) ; and 78 villages. It is flat and undulating by turns, and is somewhat bare of trees, while the surface soil is light and sandy. The Saras- wati river flows through the centre. In 1904-5 the land revenue was Rs. 2,89,000. Sidhpur Town.-Head-quarters of the hiluka of the same name, Kadi prdnt, Baroda State, situated in 23° 55' N. and 72° 26' E., on the Saraswati river, with a station on the Rajputana-Malwa Railway, 64 miles north of Ahmadabad. Population (19ox), x4,743• Sidhpur, which was formerly known as Sristhala, is a town of much religious importance, and is frequented by great crowds of Hindu pilgrims. They resort here because it is said to be the only place where shrdddha can be performed for the propitiation of the manes of deceased mothers. What Gaya is for the fathers, Sidhpur is for the mothers. A. K. Forbes in his Rds Mdla has described the celebrated Rudra Mahalaya or Mala, founded in the tenth century by Mularaja, and reconstituted by Jay Singh Siddha Raja, once the glory of Sidhpur, but now only a massive ruin:- 'The Rudra Mala was a very large edifice of the usual form and apparently three storeys high. In the centre of three sides of the mandapa projected two-storeyed porticoes called rup choris ; on the fourth the adytum, a most massive structure rising to the extreme height of the central building, and then mounting beyond it into a sikdra or spire. On either side stood a hirtti stambha or triumphal pillar, one of which exists in a nearly perfect state. Two richly adorned columns support an entablature and sculptured pediment. Above the brackets, formed of the heads of marine monsters, springs a delicately chiselled arch called the torana or 'garland.' The temple stood in the centre of an extensive court, to which access was given by