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 BAL

BALAMAU Pargana* gana of fourteen

Tahsil

209

Sa-sj){la.,— District

Hardoi.—A

little

par-

villages, lying in

the north-western corner of the Sandila sub-division, district Hardoi. The Sai flows along its western side, separating it from parganas Bangar and Mallanw^n; on the north it is bounded by pargana Gopamau, and on the east and south by Sandila. Its greatest length and breadth are eight and a half and four and a half miles. It covers twenty-five square miles, of which eighteen are cultivated. The surface is level except to the west, towards the Sai. The soil is productive though light. rich strip of tarai' land fringes the river, flooded at times after late and heavy rains, and generally in-igable from the river until the end of December. good deal of jungle has been broken up since annexation, and little now is left. About a quarter of the cultivated area is irrigated, partly from weUs, but chiefly from tanks and ponds, of which there are a hundred and eighty-two, and from the river. Mud wells can be made almost everywhere. In the light soil towards the river the cheap little hand wells ( dhenkli ) are chiefly used. These are dug for a rupee or a rupee and half, and generally have to be renewed each year. To the east, away from the river, where the soil is more stiff, larger kachcha weUs are made for six and eight rupees and last for from three to five years. The staple products are wheat, barley and gram. Beds of the nodular limestone (kankar) are found in Bara Guman, Katka, and Balamau. Kachhwaha Chhattris hold eight of the fourteen villages Nikumbhs, two ; Kayaths and Kashmiri Brahmans, one each Sukul Brahmans, two. Four villages are taluqdari, two zamindari, the rest imperfect pattidari. The Government demand, excluding cesses, is Rs. 20,408, and falls at the rate of Rs. 1-12-6 per cultivated acre, Rs. 1-4-11 per acre of total area, Rs. 11-2-5 per plough, Rs. 2-13-4 per head of the agriculThe population is tural, and Rs. 1-13-8 per head of the total population. Of these, 10,329 are Hindus, and only 11,1-59, or 446 to the square mile. fifth of the Hindus are Cham£rs an eighth Brah830 Muhammadans. mans Barhis and Kurmis each make up a ninth Chhattris are only a fourteenth. Ahirs predominate among the remainder.

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Males to females are 5,859 to 5,300 agriculturists to non-agriculturists, 7,197 to 3,962. There is a daily market at the pargana town Balamau. There, too, is the only school, a village one, averaging forty-four pupils.

At Kalauli, two miles east from Balamau, a mela is held in

April, attended thousand persons. The pargana is not mentioned in the Ain-i-Akbari, but is said to have been formed towards the end of Akbar's It takes its name from one Balai Kurmi, who flying northwards reign. from D^dhia Tiriva some three hundred years ago, to escape from the oppression of the Chandels, found an asylum with the Kachhwahas of Marhi, through whose lands he passed. Settled by them in the neighbouring forest, he cleared and peopled it, and founded the village of Balai Khera, now Bdlamau.

by some

six

At first the pargana contained forty-two villages, but during the present, century Raja Gobardhan Lai, Faqir Muhammad Khan and Chaudhris By A. H.

Harington, Esq.,

c. s.,

Assistant Commissioner.