Page:Gazetteer of the province of Oudh ... (IA cu31924024153987).pdf/353

 BAW

275

The

staple products are barley, wheat, b^jra, moth, arhar, millet, sugarOf these, the first three represent about four-sevenths of the cultivation of the pargana. Sugarcane in the year of survey occupied

cane,

and mfeh.

only a twenty-fourth part of the cultivated area. Thatheora and Behti near the winding Baita jhil. _

The Chamar Gaurs hold 35

villages,

Kankar

is

found in

more than half the pargana



five

villages belong to Raghubansis ; four to Sombansis ; one each to Chandels, Eaikw^rs, Bais, and Chauh^ns. Muhammadans own four, Kayaths two,

Brahmans

one. One is a jungle-grant sold to a European. One is held in severalty by Gaurs, Kayaths, and Sayyads. In 44 villages the tenure is pattidari, in 13 zamindari.

Excluding cesses, the Government demand is Rs. 45,251, a rise of 48 per cent, on the summary assessment. It falls at Rs. 1-9-3 per acre of cultivation; Rs. 1-0-6 per acre of total area; Rs. 11-12-0 per plough ; Rs. 2-6-7 per head of the agricultural, and Rs. 1-11-10 per head of total population.

The pargana

is populous. The total number of inhabitants is 26,037, or to the square mile. Hindus to Muhammadans are 25,173 to 864 ; males to females 14,108 to 11,920 ; agriculturists to non-agriculturists

377

More than a fifth of the Hindus are (72 per cent.) to 7,268. fourth are Chhattris, principally Chamar Gaurs ; Brahmans and Basis, about equally numerous, make up another fifth. Among the remainder, Ahirs and Gararias predojninate. 18,769
 * a

Chamfe

A

bathing mela is held in honour of Darshan Debi at the Sdrajkund, or tank of the sun, at Bawan on the first Sunday in Bhadon. It is said that up to forty years ago, between two and four thousand persons assembled, but now-a-days the attendance has diminished to a tenth of that number. Another sacred spot in Bdwan is the place where Makhdtim Sahib Abul Qasim, a contemporary of Sayyad Sdlar Masaud, is said to have spent a forty days' fast. Every Thursday evening some two hundred persons visit his shrine and offer sweetmeats, and light small lamps in his honour. At Kalhaur, the deserted city of the Thatheras, he is worshipped in Baisdkh.

an aided vernacular town school at Bawan (95) a branch of school at Thatheora (25) ; a girls' school at Bawan (16) and village schools at Kaundha (40) and Manpur (58). Bawan, the chief town of the pargana, is said to have been founded by Raja B^l, a Daitya (probably a Turanian prince) before Dasrath and Rdma reigned in Ajodhya. The earliest historical, or nearly historical, event remembered in local tradition is, that on the arrival of Sayyad Salar Masaud at Kanauj, a detachment of his army was despatched to Bawan and fought there. Those of the invaders who fell were buried near the Slirajkund in Bawan. The next and chief historical event of the pargana is the expulsion of the There

the

is



zila





Thatheras by the Gaurs shortly before the Muhammadan conquest of India. Kalhaur, or Kilho as it is popularly called, was the chief stronghold of the Thatheras in this part of Oudh. That it was of considerable size is shown by the height and extent of its debris which cover several acres in the heart of the tree-jungle of Danielganj. The remains of a huge masonry

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