Kishangarh

Kishangarh
किशनगढ़
Madanganj-Kishangarh
city
Nickname(s): Marble City of India
Kishangarh
Location in Rajasthan, India
Kishangarh
Kishangarh (India)
Coordinates: 26°34′N 74°52′E / 26.57°N 74.87°E / 26.57; 74.87Coordinates: 26°34′N 74°52′E / 26.57°N 74.87°E / 26.57; 74.87
Country  India
State Rajasthan
District Ajmer
Government
 • Type Rajasthan government
Area
 • Total 895.78 km2 (345.86 sq mi)
Elevation 433 m (1,421 ft)
Population (census 2011)
 • Total 155,019
 • Rank 13th in Rajasthan
 • Density 170/km2 (450/sq mi)
Languages - Marwari, Rajasthani, Hindi, English
 • Official Hindi
Time zone UTC+5:30 (IST)
PIN 305801 , 305802
Telephone code 01463
ISO 3166 code RJ-IN
Vehicle registration RJ-01, RJ-42
Website www.kishangarh.com

Kishangarh is a city and a Municipal Corporation in Ajmer district in the Indian state of Rajasthan. Its popular full name is Madanganj-Kishangarh. It was built by the Rajgharanas and Maharajas of Jaipur and Jodhpur. It lies 18 miles north-west of Ajmer and 90 km far away from Jaipur. It is connected via Kishangarh Airport, Indian Railways' Kishangarh Railway Station and National Highway #8 #79. It is the birthplace of the Kishangarh style of painting, which is known for the beautiful depiction of a courtesan known as Bani Thani. Earlier, It was known as the City of Bani Thani Painting. In British Era, it was established as Power Loom, Tomato Mandi, Jeera Mandi but in recent years, Kishangarh has come to be known as the Marble city of India. It is purported to be the only place in the world with a temple of nine planets. It has heritage lake named as Gundolav Lake. Kishangarh Nepheline Syenite, located about 500 m after the bypass bifurcation of Kishangarh towards Jaipur on NH-8, has been notified as one of the National Geographical Monument of India.

Princely history

Kishangarh State was founded by the Jodhpur prince Kishan Singh in 1609.Prior to the rule of Kishan Singh this area was ruled by Maharaja Samokhan Singh[1] who was a distant relative of Kishan Singh's family and grandfather of Naubat Khan.[2] Maharaja Samokhan Singh[3] lost to the forces of Akbar and his grandson Naubat Khan was kept under house arrest.Naubat Khan later accepted Islam.

Savant Singh (reigned 1748-1757) and Bani Thani in the Guise of Krishna and Radha Cruising on Lake Gundalao, Kishangarh

Kishangarh was the capital of the eponymous princely state during the British Raj, which was located in the Rajputana Agency. It had an area of 2210 km² (858 miles²) and a population in 1901 of 90,970. This figure for population represented a decrease of 27% over the census figure of 1891, something presumably attributable to the famine of 1899-1900. The state enjoyed an estimated revenue of Rs.34,000/- and paid no tribute to the British Raj. In 1840, Prithvi Singh, became the 15th Maharaja of Kishangarh, and reigned till his death in 1879, after which he was succeeded by his son, Sardul Singh.[4]

Prithvi Singh (r.1840-1879), 15th Maharaja of Kishangarh, early 1870s.

Maharaja Madan Singh ascended the throne in 1900 at the age of sixteen,[5] at a time when the state was reeling from the impact of a devastating drought. The administration under him and his diwan was widely deemed worthy of approbation; irrigation from tanks and wells was extended and factories for ginning and pressing cotton were started.[5] A social reform movement for discouraging excessive expenditure on marriages made remarkable impact during his reign.[5]

Brijraj Singhji. The town of Kishangarh has a palace-hotel known as PhoolMahal and a Fort. The city also has a large lake known as the Gond Talav. There are many picnic and religious places situated at the banks of Gond Talav such as Mukham Vilas and Bhairu Ghat. The city also have a small temple of nine planets known as NavGrah. The Kishangarh Fort is surrounded by a canal that was built by Kishan Singh.

Demographics

As of 2011 India census,[6] Kishangarh had a population of 154,886. Males constitute about 51% of the population and females 49%. Kishangarh has an average literacy rate of 68%, slightly lower than the national average of 74%: male literacy is 75%, and female literacy is 60%. In Kishangarh, 14% of the population is under 6 years of age.[7]

Economy

Kishangarh economy mainly depends on the Marble trading. Kishangarh has more than 1,000 gangsaws, 5,000 edge cutting machines, around 25,000 godowns and more than 25,000 marble traders and it gives employment to around 1 lac people. The widest range of Indian, Italian and Makrana marble is on display in this area. It also has a flourishing market for power-loom and ball mills sector.

Main attractions

  • Pitamber Ki Gaal (Picnic spot)
  • Phool Mahal Palace
  • Chauburja (A mini fort situated at hill in outskirts of the city)
  • Marble Slurry Dumping Yard
  • Khoda Ganesh Temple
  • Laxminarayan Temple
  • Gundolaav Lake
  • Nepheline Syenite, National Geological Monument
  • Nimbarkacharya Peeth
  • Nine Planets Temple
  • Sukh Sagar
  • Mokham Villas
  • Thakur G Temple sanwatsar
  • Shri Naka Wala Balaji Mandir, Khatoli

Barefoot College, Tilonia

Tilonia is a small village near Kishangarh on Kishngarh-Jaipur Highway. It is home of the NGO, Barefoot College founded by renowned social worker Bunker Roy. Since it was founded, this village has become a model for all remote villages for economic and social development.

Khoda Ganesh Ji Temple

Khoda Ganesh Ji Temple is Gajanan ji Temple located nearly 15 km from Kishangarh in Ajmer District of Rajasthan. It was built by Kishangarh Royal family nearly 250 years ago.

The temple is considered Holy place in Kishangarh region. It is often visited by newly wedded couples to seek Lord Ganesha's blessings. Wednesday being Lord Ganesh's day, it attracts lot of locales.

Kishangarh Fort

Built in 1649 by Maharaja Roop Singh, the enticing fort of Kishangarh is an epitome of the Rajput and Mughal styles of architecture. An excellent showcase of the tremendous glory of both the solemn styles, the fort is also named after its ruler and is popularly called Roopangarh Fort. The fort lies about 27 km away from Ajmer city. The nine turreted fortifications of the fort encompass within it several battlements, jails, granaries, armories, and foundries. The colossal double storied Durbar Hall has latticed windows above for the queens to view the proceedings below. The fort is enveloped by a deep moated wall which makes it one of the most formidable forts of Rajasthan.

Entry to this Fort is restricted & is open only for the Guests residing in adjacent Hotel Phool Mahal Palace, which is also owned by the Royal Family of this Fort

Phool Mahal Palace

The Phool Mahal Palace, which was constructed in 1870, served as the royal palace of the Kishangarh Maharaja. It is located in the centre of the city and has now been converted into a boutique hotel for tourists.

  • Sumer niwas
  • LNT (laxmi narayan temple)

Gondulav lake

This paper published in the South Asian Journal of Tourism and Heritage describes the water quality status of Gundolav Lake in Rajasthan, which was once used for drinking water as well as for recreational activities under the tutelage of the princely state of Kishangarh. This has now become a site of waste water disposal and facing a critical threat for its sustenance. Recent years have led to an increasing awareness of the importance of water bodies and the need for conservation of water bodies, especially freshwater wetlands. The Ramsar Convention (2002) identifies wetlands as the starting point for integrated water management strategies. This is because they are the source of fresh water, maintain the health of the water course and water bodies, have the capacity to supply water to meet the human needs and are a key to future water security. The study aims at understanding the present situation and ecology of the lake, which can help in making attempts at restoring the balance between ecosystem and human activities in order to secure a continuous and sustainable improvement in the lake. The physico-chemical and planktonic composition of the lake reveals that it is tending, fast towards 'eutrophism' . The quality of water is deteriorating day by day due to inflow of domestic sewage, municipal waste, agricultural runoff and effluents of organic waste of animal and human origin into the lake. This deterioration of water quality and eutrophication are assuming alarming proportions and can be attributed to the casual attitude of people concerned, with the development of the urban population. The study argues for the urgent need to regularly monitor the water quality of the lake and to make attempts at diverting the city sewage away from the lake to preserve the flora and fauna of this ecosystem. Location

  • Hamir sagar
  • Thilonia's Barefoot College
  • Central University of Rajasthan

Nepheline Syenite, National Geological Monument

Kishangarh is among the 32 National Geological Monuments in India notified by Geological Survey of India.

One of the 32 National Geological Monument of India

Nepheline Syenite, Kishangarh, Ajmer District, Rajasthan is a pluton emplaced along the core of an antiform of metamorphites in Aravalli craton of Rajasthan. Kishangarh syenite, by which the unit is also called has been dated 1590 million years to 1910 million years.[8]

Education

In 2009, Central University of Rajasthan a central university fully funded by Government of India, came into force in Bandar Sindri.

Kishangarh Painting

Bani Thani, a miniature in Kishangarh-style of Rajasthani Painting.

Kishangarh painting[9] emerged as a distinctive style in the middle of 18th century under the patronage of Maharaja Sawant Singh. Nihal Chand, a gifted artist in the Maharaja's court, produced some highly individualistic Radha and sophisticated works. The chief characteristics of the Kishengarh paintings were the elongation of human faces, lavish use of green and depiction of panoramic landscapes. Portrayal of Radha and Krishna in elongated faces is a common subject of Kishangarh paintings. The elongated neck, the long stylised eyes with drooping eyelids, the thin lips and pointed chin of Radha standing in a graceful pose with her head covered with a muslin odhni, is undoubtedly the most striking creation of the Kishangarh school. This style continued into the 19th century and a series of paintings of the Gita Govinda were produced in 1820.

Bani Thani

The most famous Kishangarh painting is called Bani Thani. The Indian government has engraved it on one of its postal stamps. The Bani Thani style of painting got its name from a story with a twist of romance to it. In the Kishangarh court during the 18th century there ruled a poet-king called Raja Samant Singh (1699–1764) who had eyes only for Bani Thani, a court singer and poet. Bani Thani’s eyes were what drew Samant Singh to her, and so did her singing. Seeing Bani Thani singing in his court each day helped the king’s heart grow fonder. Now Samant Singh wrote poetry under the name of Nagari Das, and since Bani Thani was a poet in her own right too, love was not far behind.

Transport

  • Kishangarh railway station is on the Jaipur-Ahmedabad line
  • Kishangarh was the only city in Rajasthan where the work of Railway Station, Bus Depot And Airport was going on simultaneously. As of April 2018, the Kishangarh Airport is now in the final phases of flight trials, with Spicejet to begin operations by July 2018 under the UDAN Scheme. The Bus Depot and the new Railway station have already commenced commercial operations.[10]
  • Transport facilities are available to various places in the city, with local autos a popular choice.
  • There are trains plying to almost every direction from Kishangarh. It is also an important halt For many South bound and North bound trains.
  • Ajmer Junction is also an important railway interchange nearby, connecting trains to and from a variety of National Rail routes and lines.


Distance to important places from Kishangarh:

  • Ajmer: 27 km
  • Beawar: 82 km
  • Jaipur: 100 km
  • Delhi: 408 km

Presently Kishangarh is one of the fastest growing cities of Rajasthan, with the Government making investment in it through the SMART cities scheme (as part of Ajmer). An Agro processing park was also inaugurated on 2 April 2018, in Roopangarh by the Union Minister for Food Processing, Harsimrat Kaur Badal.

  • National highway 8.
  • Near state highway 7.

See also

References

  1. ↑ Tareekh-e-Rohela by Nafees Siddiqui
  2. ↑ http://collection.britishmuseum.org/resource?uri=http://collection.britishmuseum.org/id/object/RFI3094
  3. ↑ The Life and work of Wazir Khan of Rampur, and the prominent disciples of Wazir Khan, Research by Rati Rastogi, RohilKhand University, Barailey
  4. ↑ Kishangarh British Library.
  5. 1 2 3 Wikisource Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Kishangarh". Encyclopædia Britannica. 15 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 836.
  6. ↑ "Complete Data of Census of India 2011: Data from the 2001 Census, including cities, villages and towns (Provisional)". Census Commission of India. Archived from the original on 2016-08-23. Retrieved 2008-04-18.
  7. ↑
    http://www.censusindia.gov.in/pca/SearchDetails.aspx?Id=104652
  8. ↑ https://www.gsi.gov.in/webcenter/portal/OCBIS/page17/pageGEOTOURISM/page121?_afrLoop=2885118072808527&_adf.ctrl-state=1cruj8s2rn_1#!%40%40%3F_afrLoop%3D2885118072808527%26_adf.ctrl-state%3D1cruj8s2rn_5
  9. ↑ Kishangarh Painting
  10. ↑ https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/business/india-business/spicejet-to-launch-20-new-udan-routes/articleshow/62650910.cms

Further reading

  • Kossak, Steven (1997). Indian court painting, 16th-19th century.. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art. ISBN 0870997831. (see index: p. 148-152, for more information about Kishangarh painting)
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