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308

Just outside tbe town to the south are the remains of the old Governfort where the tahsildars and Government officials used to live, and on the west side are extensive remains of brick tombs built over the Musalmans who fell in battle against the infidels. The place is called the Ganj The bricks,, they say, were Shahiddn, or martyrs' gathering-place. brought from Ghazni on camels' backs, for none good enough could be found in the place. Sayyad Masaud, the first Musalman invader, is said to have passed through here, and close to the Ganj ShaMddn is a large tomb ascribed to Malik Ambar, who, it is said, was killed with his master headless trunk on his in Bahraich, but wandered back to Bijnaur. horse reached at length the place of his tomb, when the earth opened

ment

A

and received him and

his horse.

The tomb is of immense size, and probably his horse was buried with But it is doubtful whether Sayyad Masaud did ever pass through It seems more probable that the first Musalman invasion of this place.

him.

till the time of AUa-ud-din, or end of the 12th was attacked and taken by Qazi Adam, who, it is His descenasserted, was the progenitor of the Shekhs of Lucknow. dants were the Pirzadas who held the proprietorship of the town for some generations, till at length one son of the family quarrelling with another and blood being spilt, the Pirzada disinherited his offending son and destroyed all his title-deeds. It then came into the possession of the Shekh chaudhris and qanlingos, who hold to the present day, yet the latter assert that under qazis Nizam and Muin-ud-din they conquered the place from the Hindus in the time of Akbar Shah. Another wonder of the place is a large well which overflows on the day of the Musalman festival of the Baqarid, and round which the faithful crowd to dip in their hands. The town is said to have been founded by, and to take its name from, Bijli Eaja, a Pasi, who built the great fort of Nathawan, which lies in the plain about a mile to the north of the town, and who was probably driven out by the first Musalman invaders. There are Pasis in the town who assert that they are descended from Bijli Raja, and look upon themselves as the true owners of the

it

did not take place

century,

when

it

soU.

The town the village ren plains.

is

is

prettily situated

very

fine,

though

amongst trees, and the cultivation round surrounded on all sides by wide bar-

it is

Of the population 1,376 are Musalmans, and 2,394 are Hindus bazar sales amount to Rs. 32,424.

BIJNAUR Pargana* — Tahsil Lucknow—District

Lucknow.



the

—^Pargana

one of the three parganas into which the tahsil of Lucknow is It is compact, though of irregular shape, and is situated to the divided. south of Lucknow, bounded on the north by that pargana and Kdkori, on the east by Mohanlalganj and Sissaindi, on the south by district Unao, from which it is separated by the Sai river, and on the west by MohSn of Unao and Kdkori. Bijnaur

is



By Mr.

H. H. Butts, Assistant Commissioner,