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367

kings, saltpetre was manufactured in thirteen villages of the pargana to the amount of 21,239 maunds and the value of Es. 42,478, but the British excise law has put a stop to this.

There is a town in this pargana named Baksar on the hank of the Ganges, six miles east of the vUlage Daundia Khera. The name of the village was " Bakasram," a Sanskrit word denoting the residence of Bakas. Bakas was a Rdkshas or demon, who founded this town and dwelt here, and had a temple built in honour of Nageshwar Nath Mahadeo. This demon is said to have been killed by Raja Shrikrishn Chand more than 5,000 years ago, during the third age. There is also a masonry temple in this town in honour of Sri Chandrika Debi, erected on the bank of the Ganges.

The ashtmi or eighth day of Kuar (October-November) and Chait (March- April) are the days on which the fairs are held near both temples. Fairs are also held on the day of Shiuratri, in Phagun (February-March), day each. There is a fourth fair larger than the others, it takes place on the day of a bathing ceremony in the Ganges on the Puranmashi, or last day of Kartik (November-December). This fair is frequented by the shop-keepers of the neighbourhood, though not by those from The annual sales of articles in this fair amount to distant places. Es. 2,000. lasting only one

DEBIGANJ Pargana The road from Bihar which habad.

many

is

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Bihar Tahsil Bihar District Partabgarh. Manikpur passes four miles north of this village,

to

on the bank of the Ganges, 39 miles from Bela, and 34 from AllaThere is said to have been a Musalman college here certainly

fine buildings formerly existed.

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The population amounts to 1,311, Hindus 1023, and Musalmans 288. There are seventy masonry houses, and 292 with mud walls. There is one Government school, and a bazar. This is a very picturesque old place.

—Tahsil

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Uteaula District Gonda. in the centre of the long strip, peopled by aboriginal races, which runs under the hills from Eohilkhand eastwards, Debi Patau is probably one of the oldest seats of the Shaivic cultus in northern India. The earliest

DEBI

Pjf^TAN*

—Situated

Pargana Tulsipur

legend connects it with Eaja Kama, the hero of the golden earrings and impenetrable cuirass, son of Kunti, the mother of the three elder Pandava, by the Sun God, who, abandoned in his cradle on the Ganges, was adopted by Adiratha, the childless king of Anga. Brought up at the court of Hastinapur, he was refused by Drona the arms of Brahma, which he eventually obtained from Parasurama by faithful service at his retreat on the Mahendra mountain. In after life he attended Duryodhana to the Swayamvara, and having taken a prominent part in the great war, was finally granted the city of Malini by Jarasindhu, the great king of Magadha, and reigned Other spots besides Debi Patau in the as a tributary to Duryodhana. Tulsipur pargana are connected by tradition with this king and a raised mound just beyond the Hattia Kund, in the Bahraich district, is pointed out as the remains of one of his principal cities. Just to the north of this, on the borders of the forest, a Kashmiri Faqir, led, he says, by a dream,



By Mr. W.

C. Benett,

c. s.,

Assistant Commissioner.