Burhanpur, Imperial Gazetteer of India (1908)

Source: The Imperial Gazetteer of India. Volume VI. Clarendon Press. Oxford. 1908.

Burhānpur Town.—head-quarters of the tahsīl of the same name, Nimār District, Central Provinces, situated in 21° 18' N. and 76° 14' E., on the Great Indian Peninsula Railway, 210 miles from Bombay, the station being at Lālbāgh, a suburb 2 miles distant from the town and not included in the municipality. The town is surrounded by a masonry wall with massive gates on the main roads, and the Tāpti river flows along the southern side. The space contained within the walls is two miles in length from north to south, and half a mile in breadth; but numerous remains outside show that the suburbs must once have been very extensive. The population at the last four enumerations was: (1872) 29,303, (1881) 30,017, (1891) 32,252, and (1901) 33,341, including 21,762 Hindus and 11,253 Muhammadans. Among the Musalmāns are a number of Behnās or cotton-cleaners, and there is also a large community of Bohrās, a sect of Gujarātī merchants.

Burhānpur was founded about 1400 by Nāsir Khān, the first independent prince of the Fārūki dynasty of Khāndesh, and called by him after the famous Shaikh, Burhān-ud-dīn of Daulatābād. Zainābād on the opposite side of the Tāpti was founded at the same time, and called after another Shaikh, Zain-ud-dīn. Burhānpur was the usual residence of all the later Fārūki kings, and it was during their rule of two centuries that the two great mosques called the Jāma Masjid and the Bībī Masjid were built. In 1600 Burhānpur, with the kingdom of the Fārūkis, was annexed by the emperor Akbar. Under Akbar and his successor, Burhānpur was greatly embellished. In the Ain-i-Akbarī it is described as a 'large city with many gardens, in some of which is found sandal-wood, inhabited by people of all nations and abounding with handicraftsmen. In the summer the town is covered with dust, and during the rains the streets are full of mud and stone.' Burhānpur formed the seat of government of the Deccan princes of the empire till 1635, when Aurangābād took its place. After this event, Burhānpur became the capital of the large Sūbah of Khāndesh, usually governed by a prince of royal blood. The transfer had not occurred at the time when Sir Thomas Roe, Ambassador in 1614 from James I to the Great Mughal, paid his visit to prince Parvex, son of Jahāngir. Forty-four years after Sir Thomas Roe's visit Tavernier described Burhānpur (or as he wrote it, Brampour), through which he then passed for the second time, as 'a great city very much ruined, the housed being for the most part thatched with straw.' He adds: 'There is also a great castle in the midst of the city, where the governor lives. The government of this province is a very considerable command, only conferred upon the son or uncle of the king. There is a great trade in this city; and as well in Brampour as over all the Provinces, there is made a prodigious quantity of calicuts, very clear and white, which are transported into Persia, Turkey, and Muscovia, Poland, Arabia, to Grand Cairo, and other places.' The remains of mosques and other buildings show that, at the height of its prosperity under the Mughals, Burhānpur extended over an area of about five square miles. The city continued to play an important part in the wars of the empire, particularly in the reign of Aurangzeb. It was plundered in 1685 by the Marāthās just after the emperor had left it with an enormous army to subjugate the Deccan. Repeated battles were afterwards fought in its neighbourhood, until in 1719 the demands of the Marāthās for the chauth or one-fourth of the revenue was formally conceded. Between 1720 and 1748 Burhānpur was the head-quarters of the Nizām Asaf Jāh, who the npossessed the government of the Deccan. It afterwards belonged to the Peshwā and Sindhia, and was taken by General Wellesley's army in 1803, bud did not finally become British territory until 1860. In 1849 Burhānpur was the scene of a desperate and sanguinary affray between the Muhammadans and Hindus. In 1897 a large part of the town was destroyed by fire, and in 1903 there was a severe outbreak of plague with 1,872 deaths. The Bībī Masjid is now in a bad state of repair; but the Jāma Masjid, which was built by Alī Khānn in 1588 and visited by Akbar twelver years later, is a fine building, decorated with stone carvings executed in perfect taste. Along the river bank the ruins of the fort rise to a great height, and the remains of lofty halls bear testimony to the magnificence of its palace. The tombs in the suburbs include those of Mubārak Shāh and Adil Shāh, which are under repair.

Burhānpur was created a municipality in 1869. The municipal receipts and expenditure during the decade ending 1901 averaged Rs. 65,000. In 1903-4 the income was R. 62,000, including octroi (Rs. 44,000) and conservancy (Rs. 7,000); and the principal items of expenditure, out of a total of Rs. 54,000, were sanitation (Rs. 13,000), education (Rs. 6,000), general administration and collection of taxes (Rs. 6,000), and refunds of duty on goods in transit (Rs. 5,000). A system of water-works was completed by the Mughal emperor Jahāngīr in the seventeenth century. Several lines of subterranean wells were constructed to catch the water percolating from the hills to the centre of the valley, and connected by conduits leading into masonry reservoirs. Eight lines of wells can be traced, but all except two are quite out of repair. From the reservoirs water was distributed to the town by a system of earthenware or stone pipes, furnished at short intervals with tall hollow columns of masonry, which served the purpose of stand-pipes from which the water could be drawn off. The present scheme, which was completed in 1894, involved the construction of masonry channels for the conduits, and the substitution of cast-iron pipes with sluice-valves and stand-posts for the old earthenware and stone channels. The work cost 1.43 lakhs and the annual maintenance charges are Rs. 3,200. No water rate is yet levied except on private connexions.

Burhānpur has a considerable export trade in raw cotton, and the town contains three ginning factories. Two more ginning factories and two presses have been established at Lālbāgh. The principal hand industry of the town is the production of silk cloths embroidered with gold and silver lace, which continues now in the same manner as described by Tavernier. The manufacture of the gold wire is distinct from the weaving industry, and is carried on by a special set of craftsmen. About 2,000 persons were supported in 1901 by the wire-drawing industry, and the same number by silk-weaving. Another small industry is the manufacture of rough globes of coloured and frsoted glass for decorative purposes. The construction of the railway has deprived Burhānpur of the favourable position it formerly enjoyed as the main trade centre between Hindustān and the Deccan, while changes in fashion have decreased the demand for its costly embroidered fabrics. The population, however, continues to increase at a slow rate. Burhānpur contains an English middle and girls' school, several branch schools, and a dispensary.