Kolhapur

“ The chiefs are Brahmans of the Patwardhan family. The town of Miraj, at which the chief of the senior branch resides, is situated near the river Kistna; it is a junction of the Southern Mahratta railway for the branch to Kolhapur. ”

“ More formidable than the scarcity of money, was the difficulty of getting suitable men, willing to accept the work in true Jesuitical spirit. The Kolhapur Defamation case, the sudden death of Chiploonkar, the incarceration of Tilak and Agarkar added to the difficulties. The patriotic fervour of Tilak, Agarkar and Chiploonkar greatly impressed even the green-eyed Times of India, which while recognising that the ambition of the founders of the New English School was legitimate, was somewhat afraid that this ambition was " destined to have momentous effects on the future of India." ”

“ The biggest Bombay Camps, however, are on the western side of the Gurgaon Road. H. H. the Maharajah of Kolhapur has here made very elaborate preparations. His camp has a large and not unpleasing garden, which contains, among other adjuncts, a couple of bandstands. His Highness has ordered a complete installation of the electric light. His tents and marquees occupy the centre of the camp, and the feudatory chiefs are grouped around him. He is bringing seven or eight hundred followers to Delhi. So, too, is H. H.the Rao of Cutch, whose camp is very carefully laid out. ”

“ Lord Shiva said, "I will recite the wonderful glories of the twelfth Chapter of Ṥrīmad Bhagavad-gītā before you, dear Parvati."
In the South there is an important holy place by the name of Kolhapur, where the temple of the Lord's divine consort Maha Lakshmi is situated. Maha Lakshmi is continuously worshipped by all of the demigods. That place is the fulfiller of all desires. Rudragaya is also situated there. One day, a young prince arrived there. His body was the color of gold. His eyes were very beautiful. His shoulders were very strong and his chest was broad. His arms were long and strong. ”

“ Some have admitted that there is a strong case for the public excommunication of Brahmans guilty of political murder, some have regretted that no such action has ever been taken by the caste authorities, some have argued that caste organization has been so loosened that any collective action would be impracticable. Only in Kolhapur has a Brahman, qualified to speak with the highest religious authority in the name of Hindu sacred law, been found to have in this respect the courage of his convictions. ”

“ At that time, Râja Kumuda of Nâga Loka, or “Dragon land,” had a very beautiful daughter named Mâdhavi, who was wooed by the God Indra; but her father preferred to marry her to Râja Agra Sena. After his marriage he performed notable sacrifices at Benares and Hardwâr, and then went to Kolhâpur where he won the daughter of the Râja Mahidhara in the swayamvara. Finally he settled in the neighbourhood of Delhi and made Agra and Agroha his capitals. His dominions reached from the Himâlaya to the Ganges and the Jumna, and as far as Mârwâr on the west. ”

“ The English people should realize the probable danger of this and should use their vast resources to create a strong body of educated men from the ranks of the loyal castes. H.H. the Maharaja of Kolhapur, in his attempts to break down Brahmanical supremacy, found nothing so useful as the bringing into being of such a class and for this he is doing the best he can. Unless this example is followed by the Government, there is no hope of a strong loyal party coming forth to combat the evil work done by Extremists. ”

“ He will build you a house as high as his own, and he will give you the name of 'Navalvat' or 'Wonderways.' For this very morning the king's mighty enemy will break his neck and be found lying dead in the king's courtyard." With these words the goddess vanished and flew to Kolhapur, [3] and the old woman's son went home. Now at dawn Queen Patmadhavrani got up and went into the king's courtyard, and there she saw Nandanbaneshwar lying dead from a broken neck. She was overjoyed, and ran back into the palace to tell the king. The king inquired who had killed Nandanbaneshwar. ”

“ And the king lived from that time forth in perfect happiness with both his wives. And because of his happiness, he ruled so well that his subjects thought that King Ramchandra of Ayodhya had come back to rule over them.
↑ For serpent-maidens of Patâla see note to Story XX. ↑ Mahalaxmi is always worshipped in this way. And it is a common practice for anyone who wants anything to blow on a pot and then wish for it. ↑ Kolhapur is the chief seat of the worship of Mahalaxmi. ”

“ Things were lively for a week in the State of Kolazai,
Even now the people speak of that time regretfully;
How he disendowed the Gaol—stopped at once the City drain;
Turned to beauty fair and frail—got his senses back again;
Doubled taxes, cesses all; cleared away each new-built thana;
Turned the two-lakh Hospital into a superb Zenana;
Heaped upon the Bukhshi Sahib wealth and honours manifold;
Clad himself in Eastern garb—squeezed his people as of old.
Happy, happy Kolazai! Never more will Rustum Beg
Play to catch the Viceroy's eye. He prefers the "simpkin" peg. ”

“ I fancy Kôla, a name for pepper in Sanskrit, may be derived from the name of the country Kôlam, North Malabar, which is much more celebrated for its pepper than the country around Quilon. This Kôlam, though resembling Kollam, is really a separate word, and never confounded with the latter by the natives. The prince of Kôlam (North Malabar) is called Kolastri or Kolattiri [A] . Compare also Kôlagiri, the name of a hill in the Sanskrit dictionaries, called also the Kôlla giri. The only possible derivations for the Tamil and Malayalim name of Quilon that I am acquainted with are these: (1.) ”

“ The principal buildings are the huge red-brick church of St Mary, with five aisles, one of the most remarkable churches in Pomerania, dating from the 14th century; the council-house (Rathaus) , erected after the plans of Ernst F. Zwirner; and the citadel. Kolberg also possesses four other churches, a theatre, a gymnasium, a school of navigation, and an exchange. Its bathing establishments are largely frequented and attract a considerable number of summer visitors. It has a harbour at the mouth of the Persante, where there is a lighthouse. Woollen cloth, machinery and spirits are manufactured ”

“ Mr Colebrooke, indeed, [91] doubts of any rivers crossing this chain; for he says, “It is presumable that all the tributary streams of the Ganges, including the Sarayu, (whether its alleged source in the Manasarawar lake be credited or discredited,) and the Yamuna, rise on the southern side of the Himaliya;” and again he says, “From the western side of the mountains, after the range, taking a sweep to the north, assumes a new direction in the line of the meridian, arise streams tributary to the Indus, or perhaps the Indus itself.” ”

“ A mass of cooked rice, vegetables, and meat, is placed within an enclosure, round which the relations go in tears.
Kollakar.—There are about seven hundred members of this community at Cochin, to which place the Kollakars, or people of Kollam, are said to have come from Quilon (Kollam) in Travancore one or two centuries ago. The majority of the men work as coolies on board steamers, and a few as fishermen. The women of the poorer classes twist rope and sell fish, while the others make lace. ”

“ In 1794, Colebrooke presented to the Asiatic 372 Society his first paper, “On the Duties of a Faithful Hindu Widow,” and he told his father at the same time, that he meant to pursue his Sanskrit inquiries diligently, and in a spirit which seems to have guided all his work through life: “The only caution,” he says, “which occurs to me is, not to hazard in publication anything crude or imperfect, which would injure my reputation as a man of letters ”

“ It is situated near the high road not far from Colar; it was probably at some former period attached to a Choultry, and place of residence of the Bramins, though now nearly left without accompaniments. What remains is in the style of the antient architecture of the Hindoos. The great advantage of such an accommodation to travellers on the parched plains of this part of India, must be obvious, and it displays both the taste and benevolence of its author. Colar is distant from Bangalore in an eastern direction about thirty miles. ”

“ On this day Iʿtiqād K. was promoted to the dignity of a standard, and a standard was also conferred on Muruwwat K., who was attached to Bengal. On the night of Monday,14 the 27th, the camp was pitched in the village of Badrwāla, in the parganah of Sahra.15 At this stage was heard the voice of the koel (koyal) . The koel is a bird of the crow tribe, but smaller. The crow’s eyes are black, and those of the koel red. The female has white spots, but the male is all black. The male has a very pleasant voice, quite unlike that of the female. It is in reality the nightingale of India. ”

“ The Rajârshi Vasu appointed Vasuprada, son of the river, his victorious Sanapati, and married the daughter" Girika, &c, &c, &c.
This valuable passage establishes (1st) that the Kolahala range of mountains was not far from the puri of the Rájá, and (2nd) that the Saktimati river passes through a gap in the range. As a matter of fact, the Sakri river does pass through a rather large gap in the range of which the portion to the east of the river is still called the Kawa Kol mountains, and these hills are not far from Girivraja or Râjgir ”

“ There are extensive teak and black wood forests, the value of which is increased by their proximity to Bombay. The Great Indian Peninsula railway crosses part of the district, and communication with Bombay is maintained by a steam ferry. Owing to its nearness to that city, the district has suffered severely from plague. Kolaba district takes its name from a little island off Alibagh, which was one of the strongholds of Angria, the Mahratta pirate of the 18th century. ”

“ From a long distance we can see the white band of breakers dashing against the beach, and as we approach closer a forest of steamer funnels, sails, and masts, and beyond them a long row of Asiatic and European buildings. That is Colombo, the capital of Ceylon, and a very important port for all vessels which ply between Europe and the Far East. Gently the Delhi enters the passage between the harbour moles, and is at once surrounded by a fleet of rowing boats from the shore. Singalese and Hindus swarm up the gangways, and throw themselves with much jabbering on the traveller's possessions. ”

“ The banks are quite low and often cultivated to the river's edge. But across the flat valley there is on either side a splendid panorama of mountains. From Baramiila the character of the Jhelam suddenly changes, and for the next 70 miles to Kohala, where the traveller crosses by a fine bridge into the Panjab, it rushes down a deep gorge, whose sides are formed by the Kajnag mountains on the right, and the Pir Panjal on the left, bank. ”

“ There is good reason to believe from the names of places and from local tradition that the Munda tribes were once spread over Bihār and parts of the Ganges Valley; and if the Kolis are an offshoot of the Kols, as is supposed, they also penetrated across Central India to the sea in Gujarāt and the hills of the western Ghāts. ”

“ There is evidence of a lively trade carried on by sea with the Roman empire in the early centuries of the Christian era, but of the political history of the Kerala kingdom nothing is known beyond a list of rajas compiled from inscriptions, until in the 10th century the struggle began with the Cholas, by whom it was conquered and held till their overthrow by the Mahommedans in 1310. These in their turn were driven out by a Hindu confederation headed by the chiefs of Vijayanagar, and Kerala was absorbed in the Vijayanagar empire until its destruction by the Mahommedans in 1565. ”

“ The Khām Kolhātis, on the other hand, are a lazy, good-for-nothing class of men, who, beyond making a few combs and shuttles of bone, will set their hands to no kind of labour, but subsist mainly by the immoral pursuits of their women. At every large fair may be seen some of the portable huts of this tribe, made of rusa grass,3 the women decked in jewels and gaudy attire sitting at each door, while the men are lounging lazily at the back. ”

“ The tone, both in political and private life, was at that time at its lowest ebb in India. Drinking, gambling, and extravagance of all kinds were tolerated even in the best society, and Colebrooke could not entirely escape the evil effects of the moral atmosphere in which he had to live. It is all the more remarkable that his taste for work never deserted him, and “that he would retire to his midnight Sanskrit studies unaffected by the excitement of the gambling-table.” ”

“ Koli covers a multitude of tribes—not yet fully embraced in the Hindu caste system—whose unity of name and manifold distinction in fact forms one of the most difficult of the unexplained problems of Indian ethnology. A century ago most of their tribes were freebooters, cattle-lifters, caterans. Many Koli families won themselves little principalities, and some have got themselves recognized among the Rajput clans. Others are peaceful cultivators, and there are many who live as labourers by the sweat of their brow. ”

“ In 1789 he was removed to Purneah, where he investigated the resources of that part of the country, and published his Remarks on the Husbandry and Commerce of Bengal, privately printed in 1795, in which he advocated free trade between Great Britain and India. After eleven years’ residence in India, Colebrooke began the study of Sanskrit ”