CHAP. I, B. and Other Centres. He Practically Created the Carpet
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218 JIND STATE . ] CHAP. I, B. and other centres. He practical ly created the carpet indust ry of Sangrur Descriptive. and made a great collect io n of objects of art. In this way he ga ve a gre at stimulu s to loca l talent, and Jind is undoubted ly the first of th e PhUlkiiln HISTORY . Stat es as regar ds artistic manufactur es. This able and enlightened ruler · R~j a Raghblr di ed in 188 7, and his death ,",,, as a los s to the province. His onl y son Si ngh'! interf:st in arts and Balb ir Singh had died during his father's lifet i~e , leaving a young son, manufactures. Ranbir Si ngh, to succeed to the gaddi . Rija Ranbir Singh, born in 1879, A.D. 1887. was then only 8 years old at his accession, and a Council of Regen cy was appoint ed to carryon the administr ation until he attained majority. Full powers were giv en him in November 1899 in a darba r held at Sangrur. An account of the relations of th e Ph lilkian States ,,,ith the British Gov ernm en t has been given above (page 48) . The services of the Impe rial Service ]fnd Infantry in Ti rah wi ll be noticed be lo w in Chapter II I, Sec- tion G (Arm y) . ANTIQU ITIES. The Kuruk · Th e famo us battle -field of Kuruk sh etra , where the Kauravas and sh ctra. Pandavas fou ght for eig hteen days, is situa ted on the so uth side of Thanesar, 30 miles south of Ambal a in the Punjab, and an ac count of its antiquities will be found described in Cu nningham 's Archa Jolog z'cal SU1 'vey Reports, Vol . XIV, p. 86.Giv en be low is a note by L. Raghu nat h Das, ::)uperinten- den t of Ethno gra phy in the Jin d State , which rela tes to that part of th e Kuruk- sh etra whi ch lies in that State and forms the sout hern bo rder of the sacred territor y, lying west of Panfpa t and inc luding Safidon and ]fnd , the two an cient to" ..ns. whi ch are the most importa nt places in the south as Thanesar and Pehoa are in the north of the Kur uks hetr a. Th e details of the various temple s, shrines and pl aces of pilgrimage in th is tract do not lend count e- nanc e to Cunn ingham's suspicion that both Kaithal and Jind ha ve bee n included in the holy ci rcu it in rec ent ti mes to gratify the Sikh Rajas of thos e pla ces . The arc h.eological remains of the southe rn Kuruk shetra do not appea r to have eve r been examine d by an expert, though the whole te rritory would pr ob ably repay sys tematic expl oration. Th e not e is as fol lo ws ;- (I ) At Baraud in the Safldon itaqa, and 3l miles to the north-ea st of th e town of Safidon, is a temple of Mahadeo, wh ich is said to date from the Sat Yug a. It is visited by the peopl e on the Shz'va 1atris, and as there are no puj{(,r fs, th e villagers here perform worship themselves. (2) At Safidon itself there are three ancie nt tiratllS and temples, suppo se d to have been built towar ds the close of the Dwapar Yuga, namely, Nng cshvara Mahadeva, Naga-Damani Devi (o r Bha,van Devl) and Naga Kshetra . Th e legend goes that at the end of the Dwapar Yuga a Raj a Parik- sit was bitten by a serpent , Taksaka . To avenge him , his son Rija Ja nam ejaya estab lished th e images of Nage cvara Mahadevaand Naga -Damani Dev i (t he godde ss who sla ughters se rpents ) in the temples and invoked th em. He th en made a bedi ha wan, or place of sacred fire, and held a holocaust of ' the snakes ,, ,ith the ir shaktis (po wers). U) Nrigesh vara ll.f alza dev a.- This temple, which lies on a tank, conta ins an idol of N ag eshYar a Mahadeva , and fairs are held here on th e )3th and 14th of Sci.wan and Phagan in the dark half of the month . The wor- ship pe r here is belie ved to obtain Naga-loka. (z '£) The Bhawan Devzj'i or temple of th e goddess.- This temple contains an idol of Naga- Daman i Dev i.Fair s are held on the 7th and 9th of Asauj and Ch et sudt. The temple wa s rebuilt by Raja Raghbir Singh of Jind in Sambat )943 · (hi ) Tile Naga Kshefra tank .- The tank was rebuilt by Raja Raghb ir Singh in the same year , and the tirath of Naga Kshetra is the ~I9 [PART A. place where the snak es were slaughtere d and hence is call ed Sarap Daman. Bathing in it is beli eve d to se t one free from th e fea r of Nagas (snak es ). The temple of Sri Krishna here was also ere cted by Raja Raghb ir Singh in the same yea r. Its fair is held on the 8th of Bh adon bad£. HISTORY. I The administr atio n of the ab ove temples is in the hands of th e Stat e Antiquities. authorities , thr ee Gaur Brahmans of the Kau shika gotra being nominat ed as puj dris and pai d by the Stat e. (3) M alu f, deva.- There is also a temple of Mah adeva at Pa j Ii Kalan in th e SaHdon £l aqa, 3 miles north-west of SaHdon. It is on the Pan\sar tank, so call ed becau se Para sara Rishi performed penances here. It also dat es from th e Sat Yuga , and its fairs are held on th e 13th an d J 4th of Sawan and Phagan badi. People also bathe her e on ever y Sunday in Sawan. It is in charge of a Shami Ba iragi of th e Ramana nd i ('rcler, "'ho mu st remain celibate. (4) The Singh! Rikh tank at Sa nghan a, 4 mile s west of SaHdon , o,Y es its name to Singh!-Rikh , the Rishi wh o worshipp ed there .Bathing in it on a parab or fete day is meritorious . (5) There is also a temple of Mahade va at Hat , 6 miles south-w est of Safjdon in the same itaqa on the Panch Nid .1 It has been in exist enc e sin ce the Sat Yug, and to bath e in its tank is equiv alent in spiritual efficacy to performing 5 jags. Ther e are fairs her e on the same dates as at p;jju Kalan, but no regular pu ,jdrEs are appointed , though occasi onally a Sh~ lm i (Bairagi), a Brahmachari, a Gosain or a ~adhu may halt her e in his 'wander- ings. Two mi les from Hat is the Aranbak Yaks ha , one of the four yak shas or monsters, who guard ed the four corners of the battle -field. (6) The Stlraj Kund tank at KalIYa, gi mile s south-w est of Safidon in the same t'ldqa, is believed to owe its origin to Suraj Narain, and bathing in it at any time, but mor e specially on a Sunday , is held to avert th e suraj -grah or evi l influen ce of the sun- god. The old templ e of Suraj Bhawan at Suraj Kund, the ruins of which ar e still to be found, having be en demolished, a new templ e of Krishna and Radhika was built by a Bainlgi of Brij, whose chetas hold it in succ ession from him. (7) At ]amni , 12 miles west of SaHdon, are a templ e and tank of Jamadagni , fath er of ParaShUf l\ma . People bath e in th e tank on Sund ays and the puranm (ts£ or 15th of every month. Th e templ e is in the ch arge of a Shami of the Ramanandi order, and has a mudfi of 80 blga hs of land attached to it . (8) At Asan, which is at a distance of 14 miles in th e south-w est of Sa fidon , is an ancient tank, called Asvinf·Kumha after th e cr od in whos e honour a Rishl did penance there. The leg end in th e Vamana Pu ra na g?es that an ugly Rishl , being laughed at in th e assembly of the sage s. dId penance and invoked th e god Ashvinl.Kumara , who app eared before him, and bestowed on -him beauty, saying "be beaut iful after bathing in this tank." Hence bathing in it on Tu esday is believed to enh ance one's beauty . (g) At Barah Kalan, which is 17 miles south-west of SaHdon, are the tank and . temple of Barahji Bhagw5n, commemorating Vishnu's varaha or I Panch Nid, the place where 5 f{rath s were connected with 5 channels by Hdt Kais1f Mah4deo (Bawan Pl1ran) . !:!20 JIND STATE. ) boar incarnation. The fair is held on the II th and 12th of Bhcidon su,d£. Bathing in the tank and worshipping the god Barah ar e believed Descriptive. to secure the highest place in heaven.