Page:Gazetteer of the province of Oudh ... (IA cu31924073057345).pdf/243

 KHE 235 CHAPTER V. HISTORY General-In 1856 ---In Akbar's time--Ancient events-The l'andu brothers-Kheri 49 Raja Bairút's residence--The Bachhilg--The Sayyads-'The Ahbans-The Jan wárs- The Jángres—The Pabári Súrajbans-Buildings and antiquities. History. The present district of Kheri has as such a very brief history. It has only existed as an administrative unit since 1858. Under the Dative sovereigns of Oudh it was partly in the Chakla of Muhamdi and - partly in that of Khairabad. In 1856, when Oudh was annexed, two dis- tricts, those of Muhamdi and Mallápur, divided between them the whole of Kheri in addition to several of the bordering Parganas now included in Hardoi, Sitapur, and Bahraich. Their headquarters were Mubamdi and Mallápur, one to the extreme west of the present district, the other at the sonth-eastern corner, but in Sitapur. Why such a location of the administration was made cannot now be ascertained; both places were much out of the way. When the mutiny broke out the officers were unable to escape; those of Muhamdi were captured by the Shahjahanpur inutineers or by the Rája of Mitauli and massacred; those at Mallápur fled Dorth into the jungles of Naipál, being cut off from a retreat to the south, and perished of fever and ague. After annexation Lakhimpur was selec- ted for the lieadquarters. It is 28 miles due north and within easy reach of Sitapur; but it cannot be considered central or very accessible, some villages being about sixty miles distant. When Oudh was under a native govemnent, as was the case till 1855, we find that the administrative divisions into which it was divided varied. Under the emperors it formed a part of the sarkár or division of Khairabad, 'and was divided into the parganas or counties of Barwar, Bhúrwára, Kkeri, Khairigarh, and Garh Qila Nawa. Of these Barwar is now represented by tahsil Muhamdi, Kheri, and Bhúrwára by talisil Lakhímpur, Khairigarh, and Garh Qila Nawa, comprised the territory now in tahsil Nighásan. The above administrative detail is of little importance; real interest attaches to the chronicles and vicissitudes of the clans who owned the soil and fought for it In Akbar's time the country was divided entirely among zamindari bodies. The Rája of Muhamdi, who afterwards acquired nearly the whole district by fraud, then held, under a royal grant, ouly 3,000 bígħas and five small villages. The great ráj of the Janwars which under its three heads Kaimabra, Oel, and Mahewa, now embraces 330 villages did not then exist. Similarly the Jángres' estate of Bhúr Dhaurahra, which covered 800 square miles, did not exist even in the germ. The Ahban's estate of Bhúrwára existed no doubt in Akbar's time, but was much smaller and more divided, while the great Sárajbans ráj of Khairigarh is a creation of 1838. In later times there were four great families, who held the lands now comprised in this district--namely, the Sayyads of Barwar, the Ahbans of Mitauli and Bhúrwára, the Janwárs of Kheri, the Jángres of Dhaurahra. The histories of the two latter families are given under the names of those places, and will be abstracted here; their annals cover the periud between 1,500 and 1855 A.D.