Pargana

“ Jamwári on the south-west; artificial boundaries separate it from pargana Paila on the north-west and the district of Sitapur on the south. Its area is 192.69 square miles; its population is 104,916 in 193 villages; its extreme length is 24 and breadth 15 miles. The pargana is roughly divided into two parts. One is an upper plateau which is largely irrigated from jhíls and wells; its level is about 480 feet above the sea ; it contains three quarters of the pargana, nearly all high class loam soil. ”

“ MÁNIKPUR Pargana—Tahsil KUNDA— District PARTABGARH.---This, small but celebrated pargana lies along the bank of the Ganges, between Bihár and Salon. It was formerly much larger, but the Kanhpurias and the Bisens seizing some of the villages managed, for greater security, to include them in their parganas. Its area only 36 square miles, or 22,796 acres, of which 10,300 are cultivated, and 8,152 barren. The population MAN 459 is 50,849, being at the rate of 1,412 per square mile, or five per cultivated acre; except the Lucknow pargana, its population is the densest in Oudh. ”

“ A bazar is held for supply of necessary articles. The pargana has been long known as a seat of the Amethia Rajputs, and particularly in connexion with Saliajrám Bakhsh of Pukhra Ansári, who used to resist the chakladars of the nawabi, and was a terror to the country round. HAJIPUR Town--Pargana MANGALSI-Tahsil FYZABAD-District FYZA- BAD.—The foundation of this town is lost in obscurity; it is situated on the metalled road from Fyzabad to Lucknow, 18 miles from the former station. The population consists of 3,083 Hindus and 89 Musalmans. ”

“ The pargana is crossed from west to east by a smaller and unnavigable river the Ketha. Both streams are bridged where the road crosses them. On the whole this is a good pargana for agriculture; the percentage of first-class crops is as much as 39, the largest in the tahsil. There are no marked features in the landscape, no lakes, or even large jhíls; no forest, hills, or valleys. In some parts water is found within 8 feet of the surface; in others not until a depth of 50 feet has been dug. ”

“ The name of the pargana is derived from that of the town, the history of which may be found in another place. Suffice it to say here, that on its site there stood formerly an older town, which had fallen into decay, but was rebuilt 500 years ago by one Mahipal, Kurmi, after whom it was called Maholi.* Tradition informs us that the district was once held by the Pasis, who formerly, as we see in the case of Khairabad and Láharpur, were possessed of great power in this part of the province. ”

“ To 6,060 cultivated acres there are 7,740 acres of culturable waste. The pargana is crossed by the unmetalled roads from Hardoi to Pihani and from Piháni to Shahabad. It is a backward but very improveable tract. The soil is almost every- where good, though not so rich as in the adjacent Pargana of Sara. Cultivators are somewhat scarce. Níl-gáe, wild hogs, and here and there wild cattle infest the jungle and ravage the crops. The country is level. Rather more than two-fifths of the cultivated area is irrigated. ”

“ The most noted native of the place was Baqar Ali, who was Darogha of the Princes' palace in Lucknow in 1830-40. He retired with a fortune, and became the head of the Muhammadans of the pargana. He obtained the engagement of several of their villages, and was revenue surety for others in the Huzur Tahsil, The weavers of Mustafabad are almost the only manufacturers in the pargana. They find a sale for their cloth at Rudauli and in this pargana, in the bazar of Muhammadpur, in which there is a muhalla of dyers. The markets are numerous but chiefly of agricultural produce ”

“ Akbar, when Todar Mai abolished the " tappabandi " arrangement and Thenceforward it was called pargana constituted Khandansa a pargana. Khandansa, ilaqa Rudauli, until the introduction of British rule in February, 1856 A.D. Between that date and the out-break of the mutiny no administrative arrangements were completed, but on the restoration of tranquillity in 1858 A.D. a settlement was made, and Khandansa continued to be a separate pargana, consisting of 113 villages, with a revenue of Rs. 32,695, and was included in the Bara Banki district. ”

“ The traffic of the pargana passes through Kursi by two good roads, which run one south from Mahmudabad on the north to Lucknow, where it crosses into the city by the iron bridge, and the other cast from the Lucknow and Sitapur road, through Mabona and Kursi, to Dewa, and onwards to Bara Banki.
The population of Kursi is 3,650. It was formerly the headquarters of the pargana; but since its transfer to the district of Bara Banki the Government offices have been removed, and there remains only the police station, a post-office, and a school. ”

“ It is not impossible, however, but that there was some earlier Musal- man invasion. It is said that at one time very many of the inhabitants and owners of the soil became converted to Muhammadanism, and this tradition is believed by the present population, who make no difficulty in declaring that the numerous mounds scattered over the face of the pargana belonged to a Jhojha sect. These village sites do not differ from the Bhar dihs that exist in other parganas; they rise conspicuously above the surrounding level, and consist of masses of broken bricks. They are dow quite deserted. ”

“ Some five miles to the north of it is mauza Mathura, containing the remains of what was once a considerable fort. There are in this pargana no melas or fairs, or any bazar at which any- thing but the ordinary necessaries of life is sold. There are no public build- ings. The only public institution is the school at Rámpur, and the pargana is uninteresting to a degree. It, with North-Kundri, constituted pargana Kundri as formed by Saádat Khan, the Subahdar of Oudh, in 1739 A.D. It was made up of the following villages from the neighbouring parganas :- From pargana Basára 209 fillages. ”

“ Bazars are held in 6 villages-namely, Machhrehta, Bihat, Baniámau, Haluapur, Mirzapur, and Dingra. Nothing is sold at these beyond the common necessaries of life. The pargana boasts of no manufa res or productions peculiar to it. There are no mines or quarries. Two fairs are held in Machhrehta, the names and particulars of which are described in the history of that town, to which also the reader is referred for the origin of the name Machhrehta.' The pargana was constituted by Todar Mal, in whose time the lands were owned by an Ahban Rája, Kesri Singh by name. ”

“ The rabi (spring) crops are, wheat, barley, gram, linseed, peas, sugar, tobacco, and poppy. The pargana pro- duces the best kind of paddy. Grain grown in this pargana is exported to Lucknow, Sultanpur, Daryabad, and Cawnpore; it amounts in all to about 27,550 maunds annually. The principal articles imported into this pargana from the Cawnpore district are cotton and salt. There are seven markets, viz., Haidargarh, Nára, Tirbedíganj, Mahona, Bhilwal, Kara Aswanpur, and Láhi. Of these the market of Haidargarh is the principal one, in which the largest sales are effected ”

“ Both attest the former greatness of the Sayyads of Pibáni by whom they were erected. Their time- worn walls are now overgrown with dense jungle. Everywhere through- out the pargana are found the curious fluted cupolas which mark the burial places of the Gosháíns. There are all the elements of prosperity in Haidar- abad if the usurers do not acquire the mastery. HAIDARABAD Town--Pargana Asywan-Tahsil MOHA'N-District UNAO—This town lies 12 miles west of the tahsil station Mohan, and 19 miles north of the sadr station Unao. Two miles west of Asíwan there is an unmetalled road to Unao. ”

“ These Rajputs practice female infanticide, and are too proud to hold their own ploughs, and too dignified to run. They hold almost all their old villages, but some five have come into the possession of the taluq- dars-Ahmad Khan and Nasím Khan. The Nikumbhs of Siswara (Bharad-dwaj Gotr) hold an estate of some twenty-four villages in the centre of the pargana. They are said to have invaded the pargana under two brothers, Kánb and Kbarak, and to have acted in concert with the Gahilwár, Ráe Paitawan Singh, wbo colonized a large tract of the same pargana to their east. ”

“ Towns and villages.—Exclusive of the city of Lucknow there are no great towns. The only others with a population of more than 5,000 are Amethi, Kákori, and Malihabad: Bijnaur, Kasmandi, Mahona, and Mariáon are qasbas, but wanting only in population. The qasbas are almost universally the headquarters of parganas, and from then the pargana used to be administered under the native rule. ”

“ The culturable land amounts to 265 per cent., and some of it is of a very good quality. The population falls on the cultivated area at the rate of 786 per square mile, showing a vast difference between this and the Lucknow and Mohanlal- ganj parganas, where it falls at a rate of 1,229 and 1,003 per square mile. The holdings of cultivators in the pargana are in consequence much larger. ”

“ To each head of the agricultural population there are 13 acres of cultivated and 1% acres of assessed land. There is thus comparatively little room for the extension of cultivation or the increase of the popula- tion. The pargana is a plain of great fertility; the soil is generally good loan, the exception being the sandy and raviny tracts in the neighbourhood of the Káthna river. The country like every other pargana in the district is well wooded. ”

“ On the west its boundary is the district boundary, in part there is a chain of marshes, in part a ravine, at the bottom of which in the rains runs a considerable stream. On the east the boundary line runs down from the cantonments of Fyzabad in a south-westerly direction to the Madha. It is perhaps the most fertile jand the best cultivated pargana of the district. It is further wellwooded, and the scenery though as a rule monotonous and tame, is often pretty. In shape it is long and narrow. Near its western ond a broad belt of sandy soil runs nearly across the pargana. ”

“ The rája of Pawayan who owns Wazírnagar is also a Gaur-Chhattri. The pargana is not famous in history, nor is it remarkable for any- thing in the present day. Any notoriety it may possess is acquired from the facts that it is the headquarters of a tahsildar, and that the town is a very holy one in the eyes of the people. MISRIKH*-Pargana MISRIKH-Tahsil MISRIKH-District SITAPUR.--- Misrikh is a very ancient town, indeed, and there are numerous legends connecting its foundation with the mythological Rája Dadhích. ”

“ He is a very worthy man, and his company is not without pleasure (for me) . Bestowing various kinds of kindnesses on him, I dismissed him.
On Sunday, the 16th, I marched from Delhi, and on Friday, [112] the 21st, halted in the pargana of Kairāna.58 This pargana is the native place of Muqarrab K. Its climate is equable and its soil good. Muqarrab had made buildings and gardens there. As I had often heard praise of his garden, I wished much to see it. On Saturday, the 22nd, I and my ladies were much pleased in going round it. Truly, it is a very fine and enjoyable garden. ”

“ Car- negy's views as to the relation between the Rajputs of eastern Oudlı and the Bhars, These Shekhs of Mangalsi are the only people I have met with in the Pargana, who have documentary evidence of any great antiquity of family. The Muhammadan colonies are very few, and the Hindus, always more illiterate, have preserved no record of the remote past. ”

“ The pargana article mentions the circumstances under which Sikandar Lodi (1488-1516) encouraged Muhammadans to settle here, and appointed a qázi. The qánungos and chaudhris of the pargana were also located here, and in later times the Chakladar of Mallanwán and Sandsla used fre- quently to reside here. To its official importance alone must its size be attributed; for it has little commercial activity, The grain trade of the neighbourhood is carried on at Mádhoganj five miles off. A deserted indigo factory, started but abandoned by Mr. Churcher, occupies the site of the old Nawabi fort. ”

“ One day a party of hunters, who were looking for game in the forest, saw the child, and carried him off, notwithstanding the resistance of Kapilá Gai, to Páwápur; when he grew up, the people made him Májhi (chief of a clan or village) , and finally, when in want of a king, determined to elect him, and he was accordingly elected king of Pargana Chaurasi (Sikhar bhum) ; they built him the Pachet fort, and named him Jatá Rájá: on the death of the miraculous cow, her tail was found and carried to the Rájá, who used it as an ensign, tying it to his horse ”