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.
