Ahmadabad

AHMADABAD, a city and district of British India in the northern division of Bombay. The city was once the handsomest and most flourishing in western India, and it still ranks next to Agra and Delhi for the beauty and extent of its architectural remains. It was founded by Ahmad Shah in A.D. 1411 on a site used for earlier Hindu towns, and embellished with fine buildings of marble brought from a distance. The Portuguese Barbosa described it as "very rich and well embellished, with good streets and squares supplied with houses of stone and cement." In Sir Thomas Roe's time, A.D. 015, "it was a goodly city as large as London." From 1411 to 1511 it grew in size and wealth; from 1512 tO 1572 it declined with the decay of the dynasty of Gujarat; from 1572 to 1709 it renewed its greatness under the Moghul emperorS; from i7o9 to 18o9 it dwindled with their decline; and from 1818 onvvards it has again increased under British rule.

In consequence of these changes of dynasty, Ahmadabad be came the meeting-place of Hindu, Nlohammedan and Jain archi tecture. Ahmad Shah pulled down Hindu temples in order to build his mosques with the material. The Jama Masjid itself, with its 3oo pillars fantastically carved, is a Hindu temple con verted into a mosque (see INDIAN ARCHITECTURE, Plate TH., fig. Is). Many of the houses are beautifully carved and there are numerous fine mosques, tombs, etc. One of the finest is the modern Jain temple of Hathi Singh outside the Delhi gate, which was built only in 1848. Two of the windows in Sidi Said's mosque of filigree marble work are marvels of delicacy and grace, and finer than anything of the kind to be found in Agra or Delhi.

The modern city of Ahmadabad is situated on the left bank of the river Sabarmati; Sabarmati, on the opposite bank of the river, is practically part of Ahmadabad. Its population, which has steadily increased, was (in 1931) 31o,000. It has a station on the Bombay and Baroda railway, 3o9m. from Bombay, whence branch lines diverge to Delhi, Khed, Brahma and Dolka, and is the largest centre for trade and manufacture in the presidency after Bombay. Its native bankers, shopkeepers and workers are all strongly organized in guilds. It has numerous cotton mills, about one-third of the population being dependent on the cotton industry, and factories for ginning and pressing cotton. Other industries include oil, flour and silk mills, manufactures of soap, matches, glass, tobacco and hosiery, carpet works and tanneries. Ahmadabad is famous for its handicrafts, including brocades and tinsel lace, copper and brass working, jewellery and wood-carving. Filtered water is obtained from wells in the river bed and the main streets are lighted by electricity. The military cantonment, 3m. N. of the native town, is the headquarters of the northern division of the Bombay command, with an arsenal.

The district of Ahmadabad lies at the head of the Gulf of Cambay, between Baroda and Kathiawar. Area 3,846 square miles. The river Sabarmati and its tributaries, flowing from north.; east to south-west into the Gulf of Cambay, are the principal streams that water the district. The north-eastern portion is dotted with low hills, which gradually sink into a vast plain, subject to inundation on its western extremity. With the excep tion of this latter portion, the soil is very fertile, and some parts are wooded. The population in 193i was 999,768. The principal crops are millets, cotton, wheat and pulse. The district is tra versed by the Bombay and Baroda railway, and has two seaports, Dholera and Gogo, the former of which has given its name to a mark of raw cotton in the Liverpool market.

AtIMAD IBN HANBAL

(78o-855), the founder, invol untarily and after his death, of the 1.1anbalite school of canon law, was born at Baghdad in A.H. 164 (A.D. 78o) of parents from Merv, but of Arab stock. He studied the Koran and its traditions (hadith, sunna) there and on a student journey through Mesopotamia, Arabia and Syria. After his return to Baghdad he studied under ash-Sha.fiti between A.H. 195 and 198, and became, for his life, a devoted Shafilte. But his position in both theology and law was more narrowly traditional than that of ash-Shafiei; he rejected all reasoning, whether orthodox or heretical in its conclusions, and stood for acceptance on tradition (naql) only from the Fathers. In consequence, when al-Matmun and, after him, al-Muttasim and al-1,Vathiq tried to force upon the people the rationalistic Mu`tazilite doctrine that the Koran was created, ibn klanbal, the most prominent and popular theologian who stood for the old view, was imprisoned and scourged. In Ali. 234, under al-Motawakkil, the Koran was finally decreed un created, and ibn Hanbal, who had come through this trial better than any of the other theologians, enjoyed an immense popularity with the mass of the people as a saint, confessor and ascetic. He died at Baghdad in A.H. 241 (A.D. 855) and was buried there.

BIBLIOGRAPHY.-On his great work, the Musnad, a collection of Bibliography.-On his great work, the Musnad, a collection of some 30,00o selected traditions, see Goldziher in ZDMG, 1. 465 ff. For his life and works generally, see W. M. Patten, Ahmed ibn Hanbal and the Mihna; C. Brockelmann, Geschichte der Arab. Lit. i. 181 ff.; F. Wiistenfeld, Sthafi'iten, 55 ff.; M`G. de Slane's transl. of Ibn Khallikan, i. 44 ff.; Macdonald, Development of Muslim Theology, 157, index.