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Shekh Bari. These stately buildings have not been noticed by the district compiler. The present taluqdars, Sita Ram and Raja Amir Hasan Khan, are comparatively new-comers ; the latter occupies the western wing of the mansion, and the last descendant of the owner still lives in a corner of it an ancient and decrepid widow called the Thakurain. The mosque was evidently erected at an early period of Moslem rule, and the minars present curious structural features, clearly of Hindu workmanship. The owner was called the Jalalpur taluqdar. He was also one of the three qandngos of Biswan, the other two being the ancestors of Arjun Singh and of Anand Singh. The estate was entrusted to the Nawab of Mahmudabad five years before annexation, and he now retains possession.

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In Biswan there are four villages or revenue units, Bhitara, Biljharia, Sarae Darya, and Biswan. These were separate in the Nawabi. There are also a number of wards-i-Mirdaha Tola,Sarde Judarjit, Pathani Tola, Jhawai Tola (the mason ward), Kamangari (the bow-makers',) Mangraya Bazar, Raeganj, Saraogi Tola (the Jains*^ ward), Parwari Tola ( the bani^s'), Murao Tola (the gardeners'), Qila Darwaza, Bdhmani Tola, Matha Tola,

—fourteen in

all.

BISWJJN Pargana

—Tahsil

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BiswaN

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Biswan is the demarcated villages. Its under cultivation. It is bounded on the north by parganas Laharpur and Tambaur, on the east by Kundri, north by Sadrpur, on the south by Mahmudabad and Bari, and on the west by Pirnagar and Khairabad. District' Sitapxhl.

largest pargana in the district, and contains 215 area is 220 square miles, of which 157 are now

The roads are two, namely, the high road from Sitapur to Bahraich crossing the pargana from west to east, and a cross-country road running north and south, and connecting Mahmudabad with Laharpur. On the east frontier water communication is afforded by the navigable rivers Chauka and Kewani the Gon nadi on the west is not navigable.

Numerous streams run into the Kewani and cut up the land to the east of the pargana very much. Between that river and the Chauka the land lies low, and is periodically flooded, and often suffers from diluvion. West of this land lies a very rich tract of country, always green owing to the proximity of the water to the surface, and bearing fine crops. This tract is known as "tarai," and is separated from the extreme west of the pargana by the same ridge of land which runs through past Laharpur, Sadrpur, and which appears to have been once the right bank of the Chauka, which now flows parallel to it, but 8 miles further to the east. The extreme west of the pargana is high and dry, water being found at a depth of from 25 to 30 feet from the surface, whereas in the tard.i it is found within 8 feet. The population at the census of 1869 amounted to 105,155, or 478 to the square mile, and is thus distributed

Hindus, agricultural .. non-agricultural „ Muaalmans, agricultural... ,,

non-agricultural

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57,404 29,793 5,918 12,040

The Musalmans thus are 17 per cent, of the entire population. There are 5'7 souls to each of the 18,305 houses in which the population live.