PLACES

PATUR

Situation: Patur, also known as Nanasaheb's Patur or Paiur Shaikh Babu, is a town in the south east corner of Balapur tahsil, 21 miles south of Akola in 20° 27'' north latitude and 76⁰ 59' east longitude with as per the Census of 1971 a population of 11667 souls. This municipal town has a police station, a post and a telegraph office, a municipal dispensary and is electrified. Wells form the main source of water supply and many a tunes scarcity of water is felt. Primary schools conducted by the municipality and the Tulsabai Kaval Vidyalaya and Shah Baba Indian-Bnglish Middle School cater to the educational needs of the town populace. A weekly market is held at Patur on every Saturday. A Government rest-house is also located it Patur. The town is well-known for two saints viz., Shaikh Baba and Nanasaheb Maharaj after whom the town is known.

Patur is a very ancient place as is evident from the rock-hewn Buddhist monastery in the hill side east of the town. It is said that these Buddhist and Jain monasteries came to be established during the reign of Ila (इल्) the Jain king who ruled the area around 1058. It is said that it is a Jam Chaityavihara. The town was looted and burnt to ashes in 1808 by the Pendharis.

Municipality: The municipality was established at Patur in the year 1919 and it is now governed under the Maharashtra Municipalities Act, 1965. The municipality covers an area of 16 square miles and the municipal council is composed of 10 members with no seat reserved either for scheduled castes or scheduled tribes. The total receipts of the Patur municipality during the year 1961-62 were placed at Rs. 85,908 of which an amount of Rs. 29,102 was from municipal taxes, the per capita municipal tax being Rs. 3-17.

The total income of the municipality during the year 19665-66[During 1973-74, the income and expenditure stood at Rs. 2,32,000 and Rs.,2,03.000, respectively.] was placed at Rs 48,661 comprising municipal rates and taxes, Rs. 21,318; revenue derived from municipal property and powers apart from taxation, Rs. 2,933; grants and contributions from the Government, Rs. 22,194 and income from miscellaneous sources Rs. 2,216. During the same year the total expenditure of the municipality came to Rs 56,469. It was comprised of general administration, Rs. 6,107; collection charges. Rs. 4,595; public safety. Rs. 2,755; public health and convenience, Rs. 20,405; public works, Rs. 1,804; public instruction, Rs. 18,941; and miscellaneous expenditure, Rs. 1,862

The municipality conducts primary schools and a dispensary. Underground drainage system has not yet been introduced in the town. The cremation ground and burial places are managed by the respective communities.

Objects of Interest: The town is of considerable archaeological interest because of some ancient caves cut in the hill side. They are all on the west bank of the river. The caves are chambers carved out o! the rock of the hill side on the model of the less developed Hamdpanti temples. It is said that they were neglected for a long time but were cleared in about 1881. they have generally been ascribed to Buddhism, but one certainly contains an emblem of Mahadeva carved out of the solid rock There is one inscription [Varhadava Itihasa by Y. M. Kale, 1924.] in the caves. If is also said, that there was a longer inscription in Sanskrit and it no more exists as the precipice has given way. The caves no longer attract any religious devotees and no local tradition seems to be attached to them; those who are aware of their existence say that they 'must have been dug out for some Sadhu.' The caves consist of big pillars at the front and a verandha and a room at the rear. The pillars in caves towards the east have been constructed anew.

The relics of Shaikh Baba comprise the Jama masjid, some marks in the rocks of the river bed, and his dargah, tomb. The mosque and tomb bear inscriptions giving their dates as 1142 and 791 H., or 1118 and 1725 A. D respectively. The mosque is said to contain a beam miraculously suspended in the air. the marks on the rocks are by the eye of faith recognised as the footprints of men. horses, camels and elephants; they are said to have been made when the saint, having caused an army to disappear into the earth, called it forth again unharmed. The dargah consists of successive enclosures with a tomb in the last; the building is not very fine in itself but was a fairly well-known place of pilgrimage. Such fakirs as come are divided into the two classes of Banwa and Madari; the former mutilate themselves, abstain from begging, and eat only at the very place of pilgrimage, while the others differ on all three points. The inamdars of the tomb were bound to provide pilgrims with food. A manuscript account of Shaikh Baba given by the kazi at the time of the publication of the old Akola District Gazetteer relates that the saint came from Mecca and passed Dholapur on the river Chamba; there he and his disciples flung into the river a demon who once a year demanded human sacrifices. The feet of the demon are said still to be visible in the water, and Hindus, on pilgrimage worship first at a shrine built in memory of the deliverer and next beside the demon's feet. Ghiyasaddin Tughlak is said to have been at the time Emperor at Delhi, and to have been succeeded by Abu Bakr, who was again dethroned by Nasiruddin Muhammad, all three of the same family. Both the last ' two shared in the building of the present tomb, but it was never quite finished.

The temple of Nana Saheb, a fairly large series of buildings, is about a mile from the town. A history of the saint, together with a partial account of Markinathbuva of Marki in Amravati district is contained in a manuscript granth, religious poem, said to have been written by Mukundraja, son of Nana Saheb himself. Nana Saheb was the son of a rich Yajurvedi Brahman of Patur, and was originally called Narayan Kanhoji Amle. Even in his youth he spent a great deal in making gifts to Brahmans and to the poor, which caused ill-feeling between him and his uncle Babujibuva; he therefore went to Marki and became a disciple of Markinathbuva. Presently, his parents came and took him home, where he was married, but he returned again to Marki. Markinathbuva sent him away once more but was so much gratified at his devotion that he prophesied that he would himself be born again as Nana Saheb's son. The latter lived at Patur from that time, making the pursuit of religion his sole object, going naked, and so far disregarding caste restrictions as to take food from all men except Muhammedans and antyaja, low-born people His relatives used at first to lock him up, but he was quickly seen outside the house, no one knowing how he had got free. The other Brahmans put him and his family out of caste, but he declared that as long as he prayed to Rama he did nothing requiring penance. Gradually he came to be regarded as a, saint to whom ordinary rules did not apply, and a number of miracles are ascribed to him. for instance, he would sometimes go to a money-changer in the bazar and distribute copper to the bystanders by the handful, yet the saraf always closed the day with two or three times as much copper as he had in the morning. A mendicant Brahman once asked him for money, and was given a letter addressed to the god Shri Balaji at Giri in Madras Presidency; upon this being presented at the temple the god appeared in a dream and bade the priest in charge pay the money Once a failure of the rains was imminent and the people appealed to Nana Saheb; he went to the temple of Maruti outside the village, climbed to the head of the image and passed water there: lain came that very day. When a man asked him for money he once passed water on the petitioner's upama, shawl; the man through lack of faith, wrung out part of the urine but the rest became gold A Muhammedan officer once insisted that the saint should eat flesh with him and he protested in vain; hut when the dish was brought and the cloth removed the flesh. had become a heap of flowers, and the Mansabdar prostrated himself before the sadhu. Once Nana Saheb gave his wile a roll of betel leaves half chewed by himself, and she upon eating it conceived and bore a son; the saint called him Mukundraja and declared that it was his guru Markinathbuva come to life again. Nana Saheb is said to have arbitrated between Udhoji and Mudhoji Bhosle and to have awarded the throne of Nagpur to the elder. He also used to give discourses on the Bhagvatdgita. As death approached he asked to be buried instead of being burnt; people disregarded this, but even while his body was burning he appeared in the flesh at Nandkhed, 4 miles from Patur, before a prostitute who was a disciple of his, told her the circumstances, said he was going to Marki, and gave her a bunch of plantains as a prasad, religious gift. It was finally decided that he was an incarnation of Lakshman, brother of Rama. Some of the saint's dialectic power seems to have descended to one off his three sons, who refused to marry any woman because his mother had been a woman. A grand son of Nana Saheb is said to have brought to life the son of a man in very high position at the court of the Bhosles, whereon the latter erected the present temple. A fair is held in Magha Shuddha (January-February); it was formerly very largely attended and miracles of healing used to occur, but its importance has now greatly declined.

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