Page:Gazetteer of the province of Oudh ... (IA cu31924024153987).pdf/115

 — ALD It

is

mentioned as follows by Dr. Butter

87

" This fort is garrisoned by 1,000 men, the followers of Fateh Bahadur, a notorious freebooter. His father Pahlwan Singh, his uncles Zorawar Singh and Sangram Sah, and his grandfather Z^lim Singh, carried their depredations so far, habitually plundering all boats that passed the fort, and having on two occasions intercepted the pay sent from Jaunpur for the troops at Sultanpur, that about A. D. 1812 it was thought necessary to make an example of them. Accordingly the 42nd Eegiment Native Infantry, then stationed at Sultanpur, reinforced by artillery and infantry from Benares, and also by the Chakladar Ghulam Husen and his escort, the whole under the command of Colonel FaithfuU, after breaching the fort, took it by assault, with the loss of an officer and 8 men killed. The place was then occupied for some years by a detachment from Sultanpur.

Sarabdan Singh commanded the fort during the siege and assault and he now lives in the Azamgarh district. Fateh Bahadur, then a boy, and now about thirty years of age, was present at the storming of the fort, and after the withdrawal, six years ago, of the British detachment, repaired and re-occupied it he is now the terror of aU Aldemau, which at different times he has ravaged. He is a troublesome subject to the Oudh Government, paying no more than the old assessment of his lands, Rs. 50,000, and being prepared for resistance or for flight, should any additional demand be made. Boats, unprotected by the presence of an European, are subjected to undue detentions and exactions when passing Dwarka and some other points on the Gumti." *



The old cantonment at Dwarka is still marked by an old well, and some pipal trees which grow on the site of the old lines. Mounds of earth and broken bricks show where the ofiicers' houses stood, and there are the remains of the old fort which is still difficult of approach, from ragged and But the dense, thorny jungle, extending over thousands of steep ravines. acres, has disappeared, and cultivation is now carried up to the ditch and works. The natural position must have been very strong, and the artificial works, immense.

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The house of Ndnamau. This is one of the six original families of the clan that crossed the Gumti, and settled at this beautiful spot on the This taluqa is held by a left bank of the river, three miles above Dera. coparcenary community, of whom Babu Sitla Bakhsh is primus inter pares. The estate consisted of 73 villages at annexation, paying Rs. 19,172 to Government, and circumstances have led to its being taken under direct management. The taluqdar I have found intelligent and exceedingly useful in the way of communicating information, of which he possesses a great stock and in arbitrating the disputes of his clansmen. He has always made common cause with Dera in the numerous faction fights. This property is deeply mortgaged, and is unremunerative, from the lands being split up and held by endless numbers of the coparcenary body.

There was formerly an image of uncut stone at Ndnamau, dedicated to This stone was brought as Narbadeshwar-Mah^deo.

MahMeo, and known


 * Dr. Butter's Topography of Southern Oudh.