BELA

bela, a town of british india, administrative headquarters of the partabgarh district of the united provinces, with a railway station 80 m. from benares. pop. (1901) 8041. it adjoins the village of partabgarh proper, and the civil station sometimes known as andrewganj. bela, which was founded in 1802 as a cantonment, became a district headquarters after the mutiny. it has trade in agricultural produce. there is a well-known hospital for women here. belay (from the same o. eng. origin as "lay"; cf. dutch _beleggen_), a nautical term for making ropes fast round a pin. in earlier days the word was synonymous with "waylay" or "surround."