Tribes in Ancient India c70.45

c70.45

The present town of Vairāṭ is situated in the midst of a circular valley surrounded by low bare bed hills, which have all along been famous for their copper mines. It is 105 miles to the south-west of Delhi, and 41 miles to the north of Jaypur. The soil is generally good, and the trees, especially the tamarinds, are very fine and abundant. Vairāṭ is situated on a mound of ruins, about one mile in length by half a mile in breadth, or upwards of 2½ miles in circuit, of which the present town does not occupy more than one-fourth. The old city Vairāṭnagara is said to have been quite deserted for several centuries until it was repeopled about 350 years ago, most probably during the reign of Akbar. The town was certainly in existence in Akbar's time, as it is mentioned by Abul Fazl in the *Ayin-i-Akbari* as possessing very profitable copper mines.²