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 BAH In 1775 A.

129

however, Shuj^-ud-daula died, and his successor, A'sifud-daula, pressed by his pecuniary obligations to the ^°"^ ^ British Government, resumed all these grants with the Aaif-ud-daida. exception of 255 villages which that Nawah's minister, Mir Afrid Ali Khan, managed to retain for himseE No sooner was Asif-ud-daula dead, than the minister had to relinquish his hold of this grant which was resumed and brought on the revenue roll. The nazim of the day, however, Rae Amar Singh, thought it a pity that such an estate should have no master, and therefore appropriated it. D.,

„,

Since the accession of the reformer and economist Saadat Ali Khan no jagir has been granted in Bahraich, save the Bhinga No jagi'rs granted estate, which, under the engagement executed by that Nawab in favour of the Bah6 Begam, was, together of Saadat Ali^Kiran""^ with Gonda, made over to the lady in 1798 A. D. She held undisturbed possession of this jagir until her death in 1815 A. D. first five Nawab Wazrrs of Oudh the great taluqdars of the district were held thoroughly well in The taluqdars' posi- check. They can hardly be said to have been masters ^^^ tahsildar resided in each of i^ t^eir own estates. Nawabs.*^'^* the ilaqas, Ikauna, Gangwal, Piagpur, and Charda, and watched the Government interests the taluqdars having little to do with the management of their estates beyond assisting the tahsildar in his collections and enjoying the produce of a few villages set apart for their

During the reigns of the

A



maintenance.

The Raikwar The Eaikwar an

seem to have been more favoured than their feUow-nobles in the east of the district, and between the years 1796 and 1816, the Baundi Raja in-

taluqdars, however, ex-

ception to this rule.

creased his estate from 67 villages to 261, obtaining 114 from the portion of pargana Firozabad which was transferred to the Bahraich nizamat in 1796 A. D., and 80 villages from the crown or khalsa lands of Fakhrpur. The Rahwa man in the same way acquired 32 villages from the khdisa lands and 5 from Firozabad during the same period, his estate consisting of 42 villages only in 1796 A. D., and of 79 villages in 1816.

Saadat Ali

Khan had on

his accession instituted

under which the

the contract system.

were bound to pay sum and were allowed to appropriate any excess collections. The system worked well enough while its author held the reins, and this district was peculiarly fortunate in its nazim for this period. The ten years of the rule of Balkidas, qanungo, and his son Rae Amar Singh from 1807 to 1816, were the most prosperous of any that Bahraich has experienced under native government. It was not until the accession of Ghazi-ud-din Haidar that the From the disastrous effects of the farming system showed themselves. death of Saadat Ali Khan until the deposition of Wajid Ali Shah the district scarcely enjoyed a single year of rest or freedom from the merciless^ The

contract system,

exactions of

mto the

its

local governors

king's treasury a certain stated

grasping administrators.