PLACES

DAHIHANDA

Dahihanda, situated in north latitude 20° 50' and east longitude 77" 50', the village has a population of 3,536 souls according to the Census of 1971. The village in the south-east corner of Akot tahsil, 18 miles from Akot and 22 miles from Akola was formerly the head of a pargana of 82 villages and had a mud fort (kila), and sapili, wall. Both the fort as well is the wall have long disappeared. At the time of the publication of the old Akola District Gazetteer in 1910 the paid had part of the loity gate of the kila, with elephant spikes in it. The Navab with 700 horses and an elephant used to live here on behalf of the Nizam. He had under him a naib and peshkar with their kacheri and sent 60 per cent of the revenue to Hyderabad. He held the kila while a mokusadar appointed by the Bhosles lived in a haveli, a large private house, now no more in existence. He sent 40 per cent of the revenue to Nagpur.

At the time of the publication of the old Akola District Gazetteer, Kazi Shujauddin Nizamuddin gave a little curious information, from old papers unfortunately destroyed, about the early days of the village. It was founded by Mirza Bulakhibeg, a mamlatdar, who came from Ramathirth in the south of Daryapur tahsil for hunting. When following a deer he saw that a hare was also following it. The mamlatdar shot the deer on the site of the present village, which pleased him so much that he brought people and made a settlement there. He gave it the name Dehinda, "giving" (Persian), of which the present name Dahihanda is a corrupt form.

Once the place used to be interesting on account of its salt wells, but the work in them has long ceased and they have fallen in. They used to be from 90 to 120 feet in depth and three or four feet in diameter, and were lined with a kind of basket work to keep the sides firm. The salt tract extended for many miles on both sides of the Puma, but Dahihanda was the most important centre and had 60 wells. Some of these were let out yearly at prices rising sometimes to Rs. 500 a well, and the salt was sold to Banjaras who used to bring large quantities of goods into the town on their pack animals. The salt was not of good quality.

The village has a primary school, a girls' school, a middle school and a high school. It has a police station and veterinary dispensary conducted by the Zilla Parishad. The weekly market is held on every Saturday.

The village contains a dargah of Sayyad Daud, one of the Chaudah Sau palkhi who fought under Abdul Rahman Shah Gazi for the defeat of Raja II of Ellichpur and then settled here. The tomb built by Savarkhan was rebuilt at the beginning of the twentieth century at a cost of Rs. 6,000 by one Vithoji Nagoji, a Kasar sahukar. A small urus in the honour of Sayyad Daud is held in Rabilawal (March-April). A tomb called chilla was built by Echakadshah fakir in honour of Mahbub Subain who died in Baghdad. The jama masjid is said to have been built in the time of Mirza Bulakhibeg. The frontage of the masjid is tented out to shops. The chief temples, none of which is impressive, are those of Balasaheb and Rupnatha. Rupnatha at first settled in the jungle and lived naked on a chabutra. People asked him to come into the village and showed him a site on which they wished to build a temple; he approved, but the workmen were presently taken on bigar, or commandeered, by the mokasadar for his own purpose. The saint cursed him so that the temple and the residence that he had built were overthrown and his family died. Recently, a few more rooms have been added to the temple of Rupnatha which are used to house the Kanyashala. The tomb of Fattepuriboa is the place where vows are made for the relief or cattle diseases.

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