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IX. The Kurmis. These people cannot say where they came from, and think that they belong to the soil. They are said to have been influential before the Bhar power began to decay, and they still talk of the days when their taluqa consisted of over fifty villages but there is no authentic record of their independent proprietorship. They had lost it before the commencement of the present century. They are still sub-proprietors of three and a quarter villages. Asai Kurmi is said to have held rank in the Emperor Akbar's army, and to have had a grant of 52 villages conferred upon him in consideration of his military services.

X.

— The Kdyaths.—There

pargana,

who

a considerable colony of this class in the

is

back to the period of the Bhars, and, like the Kurmis, are not conscious that their ancestors came from elsewhere. They have, from time to time, improved their opportunities, and at present they o^vn nineteen villages, besides being sub-proprietors of one or two others.

XI.

also trace

—The Muhainmado.ns.—There

a considerable difference of opifirst settled in the pargana. The Hindu qanlingos afiirmthat it was only in the days of Akbar (1556 1605) that the faithful began to inhabit the pargana, some of whom came armed with rent-free grants, while others came as officials or retainers. But the Muhammadans themselves describe their advent to have taken place at a much earlier period, when the Sultan Sharqiya, or Eastern Kings of Jaunpur, held sway between 1399 and 1457 A. D. and that the first of their faith who ventured here was one Sayyad Shuja Kirmani, who came to Aldemau and expelled the Rajbhars.

nion as to the time

is

when the Musalmans

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Subsequently in the days of Taimur (A. D. 1398), or one of his early he was followed by one Shekh Makhdtim Mardf, and most of the villages whose names have dbdd' affixed to them trace their origin to one or other of these two men or their offspring. The last-named individual and his descendants appear to have been men of religious vocations, and, as such, enjoyed considerable rent-free grants and much prosperity and the remains of many of their tombs are still to be found amongst the ruins of what was once the city of Aldemau. After the days of Alamgir (A. D. 1707), when the Mughal empire began to wane and the EajkumArs successors,

'



became dominant in the pargana, many of the descendants of the abovenamed Sayyad and Shekh migrated to Gorakhpur, Bareli, Patna, and elsewhere, finding these parts incompatible with their continued prosperity.

As far back as we can trace (1205 F.) with any regard to authenticity, the Musalmans (not being converted Eajputs) held proprietary rights in 35 villages in this pargana they are now proprietors of 14| villages and sub-proprietors of none, while they constitute the majority of the popula:

tion in four villages only.

XII.

—The Rdjkumdrs. —Though

that have ruled in this pargana,

last,

we come

not least, of the dominant races to the Rajkumars.

They were the last in order of all those that have been enumerated to establish themselves here, but they soon became by far the most powerful and the rights of other clans have rapidly declined in presence of their