Page:Gazetteer of the province of Oudh ... (IA cu31924073057345).pdf/115

 KAK 107 name, lies airectly west of Lucknow, at a distance of about nine miles from the capital. It is situated in latitude 26° 72' and longitude 80° 67'. About a mile to the north of it runs the road to Malihabad, which here also crosses the main line of the Oudh and Rohilkhand Railway. The town is of con- siderable importance and one of the largest in the district. It contains a population of 8,220 souls, and many well-known Musalman families have long resided here, different members of which have served the British and Native Governments with distinction during the past century. Two bi- weekly bazars are held at the Katra and Koth-tale ganjes, and the annual sales are said to amount to Rs. 32,500. The long row of shops lining the bazars show, that it is a place of considerable prosperity. The weaving trade has, however, decayed. The town is probably of considerable antiquity. It is said to have been inhabited by Bħars, whose fort was known as the Kákorgarh. They were probably expelled by Bais, whose rája Sáthan, father of Rája Tilok Chand, fixed his headquarters at Kákori. The pargana was at the time under the Jaunpur sovereigns, and this chief extending his depredations into the city of Luckuow, a force was sent against him from Jaunpur by which he was defeated and slain. The leaders of the force were made qázis and chau- dhries, and the descendants of the latter still hold proprietary right of the village. The top of a house belonging to one of the latter, built on the site of the old fort, gives an extensive view of the surrounding country, which is finely wooded with large mango groves, and of the town itself, A little below the fort to the south may be seen three old tombs, one erected to Shah Bhikhan, a faqir of the Kabíria sect and belonging to the Makhdúmzádas of Kákori, and close by it the tombs of two of his disciples, Sultan Gulrat of the imperial family of Delhi, and his foster brother Shams- ud-dín. By the inscriptions on the tombs they seem to have been built in 988 H. and 1037 H. (1580 and 1627 A.D.) Further on to the outside of the town on the south-east are two other dargábs raised to Makhdúm Shah, Muhammad Kázim, and Makhdúm Shah Turáb, Kandharia faqirs, in whose memory the annual urs festivals are celebrated, and a great fair held, at which great numbers from Lucknow and the neighbouring villages attend. On the west is the mosque of Azinat-ulla, built in the reign of Shah Jahan, to whose daughter Azmat-ulla was tutor, and who, his descendants say, also gave instruction to Aurangzeb himself. Many of the vakils who are practising in the Lucknow courts belong to Musalman fatnilies of this place, and are beautifying the town with some well-built red brick houses and bárádaris. The total number of houses is 1,933, of which 126 are masonry. In one of the old bárádaris of the place is established the Government school, at which the attendance of pupils is 88. Of the population 3,636 are Musalmans and 4,831 Hindus. The early history of Kákori is as follows, as told by Muhammad Faiz Bakhsh Khan of this place:-Rája Sáthan Bais had two forts, one at Rae Bareli, the other Kákorgarh. His estates extended up to where the Akbari Darwaza was subsequently built. In the time of Sultan Husen Sharqi three Sayyads, Ahmad, Hamid, and Muhammad, on their return from Mecca