TlIK CULTIVATION OF GliAPKS IN DAULATAHAI). 



22B 



the best varieties of fruits, such as grapes, figs, peaches, &c., in abundance. 

 From this prosperity to the present deplorable condition of these planta- 

 tions is a great change. Various causes, however, conspired to bring it 

 about. About tlie middle of the seventeenth century Aurangabad ceased 

 to be the capital, Hyderabad taking its place. The nobility, of course, 

 changed their abode, and in their wake followed the representatives of 

 the arts and professions which had made Aurangabad famous. Capital 

 was never plentiful among the ordinary cultivators, and vineyards 

 required a large outlay. Nor were they paying any longer. Moreover, 

 the old facilities for irrigation dwindled away gradually, for the water- 

 course of Abpashidara, which runs as an open channel through the fort 

 and town, and in front of the Paithan Gate, was in places provided with 

 dams of masonry, and the lands adjoining these received sufficient 

 water for irrigation purposes. The wells also of the gardens close by 

 were full owing to underground springs ; and the embankments of the 

 watercourse seem to have been in pretty good condition till about this time 

 (for I am told it was on that account that certain lands were assessed 

 for water rates, which the owners continue to pay, though the springs 

 have long since run dry). Afterwards they fell into ruins, cutting off one 

 chief source of irrigation to the gardens around. The rainfall was 

 seldom sufficient. Under such difficulties few gardeners could pursue 

 their old occupation for any length of time. As a matter of fact, they 

 would have disappeared entirely but for two of the chief officials here 

 coming to their rescue. Nawab Muktadar Jung Bahadur, a former 

 Subadar of Aurangabad, who took special pains to preserve and improve 

 the old arts and industries, gave them substantial help by advancing money 

 in 1883. This enabled them to keep their gardens going till about 

 1889. But the famine of 1892 proved the ruin of most of them. Vine 

 and fig plants were sold for fuel in the market, and where these grew 

 millet and Bajri {Holcus spicatus), a grass grown for its seed, are sown 

 now. If any gardens have survived the calamity the credit is solely 

 due to Nawab Bashir Nawaz Jung Bahadur, the present Subadar of 

 Aurangabad. All concerned acknowledge that the Nawab's private purse 

 has saved these from extinction. 



The writer of this article has inspected several gardens in Daulatabad. 

 Most of these are going out of cultivation, only three or four being in 

 a fairly good condition. Among the latter the Chiman Garden, so 

 named after the owner, deserves prominent mention on account of the large 

 number and the good condition of the plants in it : it contains 425 

 vines and several plantations of fig trees. Most of the vines are of the 

 Fukhri variety, and some few Sahabi. But the owner is reduced to 

 poverty, and if he is not saved from the clutches of the Sahukars (money- 

 lenders) his garden will soon be a thing of the past. Next comes the garden 

 belonging to Syed Gafur. Being in difficulties, the Syed lately sold it to 

 a "devotee" for the paltry sum of .£S 7s. Then there is Jivaji Mali 

 G^arden, with nearly 200 vines. But Jivaji shares the hard circumstances 

 of his class, and his garden, too, will go the way that others have. 



The Government gardens, known as Rasheed Gardens, Daulat 

 Gardens, and Nagar-talab Gardens, are all in the most deplorable con- 

 dition, and are more an encumbrance than a source of profit to the 



