English public school. Population (1901) 73,839, showing an increase of 10% in the decade.
The district of Ajmere, which forms the largest part of the province of Ajmere-Merwara, has an area of 2069 sq. m. The eastern portion of the district is generally flat, broken only by gentle undulations, but the western parts, from north-west to south-west, are intersected by the great Aravalli range. Many of the valleys in this region are mere sandy deserts, with an occasional oasis of cultivation, but there are also some very fertile tracts; among these is the plain on which lies the town of Ajmere. This valley, however, is not only fortunate in possessing a noble artificial lake, but is protected by the massive walls of the Nagpathar range or Serpent rock, which forms a barrier against the sand. The only hills in the district are the Aravalli range and its offshoots. Ajmere is almost totally devoid of rivers, the Banas being the only stream which can be dignified with that name, and it only touches the south-eastern boundary of the district so as to irrigate the pargana of Samur. Four small streams—the Sagarmati, Saraswati, Khari and Dai—also intersect the district. In the dry weather they are little more than brooks. The population in 1901 was 7453, showing a decrease of 13% in the decade. Besides the city of Ajmere, the district contains the military station of Nasirabad, with a population of 22,494.
AJMERE-MERWARA, a division or petty province of British India, in Rajputana, consisting of the two districts of Ajmere and Merwara, separated from each other and isolated amid native states. The administration is in the hands of a commissioner, subordinate to the governor-general’s agent for Rajputana. The capital is Ajmere city. The area is 2710 sq. m. The plateau, on whose centre stands the town of Ajmere, may be considered as the highest point in the plains of Hindustan; from the circle of hills which hem it in, the country slopes away on every side—towards river valleys on the east, south, west and towards the desert region on the north. The Aravalli range is the distinguishing feature of the district. The range of hills which runs between Ajmere and Nasirabad marks the watershed of the continent of India. The rain which falls on one side drains into the Chambal, and so into the Bay of Bengal; that which falls on the other side into the Luni, which discharges itself into the Runn of Cutch. The province is on the border of what may be called the arid “zone”; it is the debatable land between the north-eastern and south-western monsoons, and beyond the influence of either. The south-west monsoon sweeps up the Nerbudda valley from Bombay and crossing the table-land at Neemuch gives copious supplies to Malwa, jhalawar and Kotah and the countries which lie in the course of the Chambal river. The clouds which strike Kathiawar and Cutch are deprived of a great deal of their moisture by the hills in those countries, and the greater part of the remainder is deposited on Mount Abu and the higher slopes of the Aravalli mountains, leaving but little for Merwara, where the hills are lower, and still less for Ajmere. It is only when the monsoon is in considerable force that Merwara gets a plentiful supply from it. The north-eastern monsoon sweeps up the valley of the Ganges from the Bay of Bengal and waters the northern part of Rajputana, but hardly penetrates farther west than the longitude of Ajmere. On the varying strength of these two monsoons the rainfall of the district depends. The agriculturist in Ajmere-Merwara can never rely upon two good harvests in succession. A province subject to such conditions can hardly be free from famine or scarcity for any length of time; accordingly it was visited by two famines, one of unprecedented severity, and one scarcity, in the decade 1891–1901. In June 1900 the number of persons in receipt of relief was 143,000, being more than one-fourth of the total population.
In 1901 the population was 476,912, showing a decrease of 12% in the decade, due to the results of famine. Among Hindus, the Rajputs are land-holders, and the Jats and Gujars are cultivators. The Jains are traders and money-lenders. The aboriginal tribe of Mers are divided between Hindus and Mahommedans. The chief crops are millet, wheat, cotton and oil-seeds. There are several factories for ginning and pressing cotton, the chief trading centres being Beawar and Kekri.
AJODHYA, an ancient city of India, the prehistoric capital of Oudh, in the Fyzabad district of the United Provinces. It is situated on the right bank of the Gogra. In the present day the old city has almost entirely disappeared, and its site is marked only by a heap of ruins; but in remote antiquity Ajodhya was one of the largest and most magnificent of Indian cities. It is said to have covered an area of 96 m., and was the capital of the kingdom of Kosala, the court of the great king Dasaratha, the fifty-sixth monarch of the Solar line in descent from Raja Manu. The opening chapters of the Ramayana recount the magnificence of the city, the glories of the monarch and the virtues, wealth and loyalty of his people. Dasaratha was the father of Rama Chandra, the hero of the epic. A period of Buddhist supremacy followed the death of the last king of the Solar dynasty. On the revival of Brahmanism Ajodhya was restored by King Vikramaditya (c. 57 B.C.). Kosala is also famous as the early home of Buddhism, and of the kindred religion of Jainism, and claims to be the birthplace of the founders of both these faiths. The Chinese traveller, Hsüan Tsang, in the 7th century, found 20 Buddhist temples with 3000 monks at Ajodhya among a large Brahmanical population. The modern town of Ajodhya contains 96 Hindu temples and 36 Mussulman mosques. Little local trade is carried on, but the great fair of Ramnami held every year is attended by about 500,000 people.
AKABA, Gulf of, the Sinus Aelaniticus of antiquity, the eastern of the two divisions into which the Red Sea bifurcates near its northern extremity. It penetrates into Arabia Petraea in a N.N.E. direction, from 28° to 29° 32′ N., a distance of 100 m., and its breadth varies from 12 to 17 m. The entrance is contracted by Tiran and other islands, so that the passage is rendered somewhat difficult; and its navigation is dangerous on account of the numerous coral reefs, and the sudden squalls which sweep down from the adjacent mountains, many of which rise perpendicularly to a height of 2000 ft. The gulf is a continuation southward of the Jordan-’Araba depression. Raised beaches on the coast show that there has been a considerable elevation of the sea-bed. The only well-sheltered harbour is that of Dahab (the Golden Port) on its western shore, about 33 m. from the entrance and 29 m. E. of Mount Sinai. Near the head of the gulf is Jeziret Faraun (medieval Graye), a rocky islet with the ruins of a castle built by Baldwin I. (c. 1115).
About 212 m. from the head of the gulf and on its eastern side is the town of Akaba, with a picturesque medieval castle, built for the protection of pilgrims on their way from Egypt to Mecca. In the neighbourhood are extensive groves of date palms, and there is an ample supply of good water. Akaba is of considerable historical interest and of great antiquity, being the Elath or Eloth of the Bible, and one of the ports whence Solomon’s fleet sailed to Ophir. By the Romans, who made it a military post, it was called Aelana. It continued to be the seat of great commercial activity under the early Moslem caliphs, who corrupted the name to Haila or Ailat. In the 10th century an Arab geographer described it as the great port of Palestine and the emporium of the Hejaz. In the 12th century the town suffered at the hands of Saladin and thereafter fell into decay. In 1841 the town was recognized by Turkey, together with the Sinai peninsula, as part of Egypt. At that time Egyptian pilgrims frequented Akaba in large numbers. In 1892, on the accession of the khedive Abbas II., Turkey resumed possession of Akaba, the Egyptian pilgrims having deserted the land route to Mecca in favour of a sea passage. In 1906 the construction was begun of a branch line joining Akaba to the Mecca railway and thus giving through communication with Beirut. Early in the same year the Turks occupied Taba, a village at the mouth of a small stream 8 m. by land W. by S. of Akaba, near which is the site, not identified, of the Ezion-Geber of Scripture, another of the ports whence the argosies of the Israelites sailed. Taba being on the Egyptian side of the frontier, Great Britain
