Page:Gazetteer of the province of Oudh ... (IA cu31924073057345).pdf/111

 KAC 103 The greater part of the pargana is liable to be flooded by the Ganges. After heavy rains the autumn (kharif) crop is ruined, but in such seasons, if the floods fall soon enough to allow of timely sowings, the spring harvest is exceptionally rich. The pargana is crossed by the unmetalled road from Mehndighát near Kanauj to Mallánwán, and by the new road from the same ghat to Sitapur via Múdhoganj. Cart-tracks lead up to the following ferries on the Ganges :- Ankinghất, near Sarãe Rustam Khan on the Grand Trunk Road, Biriághát opposite to Daipur, and Rájghát. The staple products are barley, occupying more than a third of the total crop area; wheat and millet, covering about a fourth ; and rice and bájra, a sixth. The remaining fourth consists mainly of gram, arhar, and sugarcane. The sugarcane is not of good quality. A very little poor indigo and cotton are raised. Tobacco and opium are scarcely planted at all. The climate is damp, and when the floods are subsiding fever is very prevalent. The Chandels, whom the pargana originally belonged, still hold six- teen villages. Of the other eighteen, Shekhs (converted Chandels) own eight, Brahmans five, Káyaths two, and Panwárs, Ahírs, and Chamárs each one. The imperfect pattidari tenure obtained in eighteen villages; fifteen are zamindari, one is taluqdari. Excluding cesses, the Government demand amounts to Rs. 33,782, and falls at Re. 1-15-5 per acre of cultivation, Re. 1-2-4 per acre of total area, Rs. 15-0-2 per plough, Rs. 2-5-4 per head of agricultural, and Re. 1-10-5 per head of total population. Kachhandan is sixth among the Hardoi parganas in density of population, Its total population of 20,459 gives 435 to the square mile. The Hindus are 18,120, to 2,339 Muhammadans. Of the Hindus a fourth are Chamárs and Ahírs, Chhattris are a sixth, Muráos and Kisáns make up nearly another sixth, a fact which implies that the agriculture of the tract is above the average. Males to females are 11,226 to 9,223, and agricul- turists to non-agriculturists 14,463 to 5,996. The only market is at Rághopur ; market day is Thursday. At Rághopur, too, is the only school in the pargana, a village one, averaging 38 pupils. At Biriághat on the Ganges a large bathing mela is held on the 30th of Kátik and the 25th of Jeth ; about 15,000 persons assemble. In Chait, on the 8th day after the Holi, a mela is held at Rághopur in honour of Ganesh; it is attended by some 4,000 persons. The pargana is part of the " kachl" or moist, low-lying country along the bank of the Ganges, as opposed to the hángar or dry upland tract away from the river; hence its name Kachhandan, It is said to have been made into a pargana by Sher Shah three hundred and thirty years ago. To coerce the Chandels into submission, he is said to bave posted a revenue collector at Rághopur, and to have put him in charge of fifty-two villages, taken out of parganas Bilgrám, Mallánwán, and Bangarmau. In the Xin Akbari it is mentioned as belonging to Sarkár Lucknow; as containing 22,066 bighas, and paying 4,30,596 dáms of land revenue and 4,460 dáms of cesses. The Chandels are recorded as the zamindars. A detachment of five hundred foot soldiers was posted in the pargana. Kachhandan was originally occupied by Thatheras. A body of Chandels migrated from Shiurájpur in the Cawnpore district to Kanauj in quest