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 BIKAPUR—BIKKA VOL U.

443

The fort narrow at the bottom, and 20 or 25 feet deep. Singh. It has been besieged Samvat 1645 several times, but is said to have been never taken. The palace buildings are the composite work of a long series of Rajas, nearly every one of whom has contributed something. The elephants and horses, as is usual in a Rajput fort, are stabled just under the palace windows. The old fort, built by Bi'ka, is picturesquely situated on high rocky ground, surrounded by ravines, outside the southern wall of the city. Within It is small, and now more a shrine than a fort. top, but

was

it

built in

are the cenotaphs of Bika

and

The cremation tank

less note.

Jat Singh, the grandson of Bika,

his successors, with

some persons of

of Bikaner, used since the time of is

situated 3 miles east of the city.

On

each side of this tank are ranged the cenotaphs of twelve chiefs, from Kalian Sinh to Ratan Singh. Several of them are fine buildings,

and

all

have graceful pillared domes.

The

material

the red sand-

is

Makrani marble, on which is sculptured a bas-relief with the mounted figure of the chief on foot, standing in order of precedence before him. the wives and behind and below him, the concubines who mounted his funeral pile. The date, names of the dead, and in some cases a verse of Sanskrit besides, are inscribed. The latest distinguished sati in Bikaner was an Udaipur princess named Dip Kunwar, wife of Raja Surat Singh’s second son, Moti Singh, who died in 1825 a.d. Not far from the tank is a palace for the convenience of the chief and his ladies when they have occasion to attend ceremonies at Devi Kund. The whole zandna sometimes comes in procession to worship at Devi Kund, stone

of

Khari, and





The

where, too, the tonsure of the chief’s sons takes place. Bikaner is in lat. 28° n., long. 73° 22' E.

city of

—

Blkapur. TahsU or Sub division in Faizabad (Fyzabad) District, Oudh; bounded on the north by Faizabad fahs'il, on the east by Akbarpur on the south by Sultanpur and Musdfirkhana tahsils of Sultanpur, and on the west by Ram Sanehi iahsil of Bara Banki lying between 26° 24' 30" and 26° 43' 30" N. lat., and between 81° 43' and 82° 23' e. long. Area, 466 square miles, of which 262 are cultivated population, iahs'il,





according to the Census of 1881, 248,651 Hindus, 17,364 Muhammadans total, 266,015, namely, 131,513 males and 134,502 females; number

—

of villages or townships, 630; average density of population, 571 per The tahsil consists of the 2 pargands of Pachhimrath and

square mile.

J agdispur-Khandan sa.

Blkapur.

—Village

in

Faizabad District, Oudh, and head-quarters

of Blkapur tahsil, situated on

the

metalled road

Allahabad.

Population (1881) 331. school, staging bungalow, and sardt.

Bikkavolu.

—Village

in

Godavari

from Faizabad to

Tahsili, police

District,

station,

IMadras

village

Presidency.