Page:Gazetteer of the province of Oudh ... (IA cu31924073057345).pdf/267

 KHE 239 ther, the several parganas which were formed out of Bhúrwára and Ním- khár by Todar Mal in Akbar's reign, would doubtless have been entered in any sanads granted by his successors, but they are not evcu named in the documents referred to. Their wording is also most suspicious, and on the whole there is no reason to question the fact previously stated, that Nar- singhdeo's line beld only Nímkhár and not Bhúrwára or Misrikh. The conclusive proof, however, that the Abban ráj did not as represented in the sanads extend over these parganas is derived from the Ain-i-Akbari, a contemporary record. There we find that "various tribes" were the zamindars of Bhúrwára ; that Paila was held by Bachhils, Gopamau by Cliáwars (Ahban) and Bachhils, Nímkhár by Ahírs. Now the Ain-i. Akbari is a record of the state of things as it existed in 993 A. H. (1586 4. D.); it shows no trace of Ahban proprietorship in three out of the four parganas; yet, according to these sanads, Ahbans were the exclusive lords of the soil during the three reigns of Akbar and his successors, who ruled from 1556 to 1658. It is apparent that the Ahbans really held at this time various demesnes scattered over the untry in Gopamau and Bhúrwára. The liistory of the Hindu branch of Mitauli is involved in many uncer- tainties, partly owing to the great stupidity of the family; but still some traditions are sufficiently clear to prove that the state of things recorded in these sanads could not have existed. On the one hand we are told that in 1670, Alamgir sent against the rája a Mughal, Mirza Bahúdur Beg, who coinpelled him to abandon Maholi, and reduced him to a few villages round Mitauli. On the other hand, one tradition states that Mán Singh held the pargana of Misrikh lying south of and beyond Maholi till his death, which took place, as is related above, after the battle of Buxar in 1764. It is probable that the estate was then broken up, or at least that the rája ceased to exercise semi-regal power over the parganas Kasta, Abgáon, Maholi, Nimkhár, and Misrikh, if he ever did do so. But it is more pro- bable that the fall of the Ahban ráj was due to the rise of the Gaurs. Mán Singh's death, fighting against the British, would rather have rendered the Oudh authorities friendly to the family; but four years afterwards in 1768, Gaurs pargana, who under Chandar Sen had entered Oudh in 1707, attacked the Ahbans and drove them from Maholiand Mitauli. Dal Singh was then the head of the family, he having survived Man Singh. The Ahbans fled north, and at last took refuge in the village of Paisár, about four miles east of Dhaurahra on the river Kauriala, where they lay hid in the dense forests and wildernesses of lofty prairie grass, which still skirt the banks of this river. They stayed ten years, till the Gaurs, who had been defeated by the Sayyads in 1773, had to contract their operations and abandon Kheri, Maboli and Kasta Abgáon. Then the Ahbans returned and the property was equally divided as related by Sleeman. In 1821 (1237 A.H.) Param Dhan was chakladar, and Ráe Singh the chief of the Ahbans, but possessing a very small portion of the landed property. Param Dhan had leased the chakla of Mubamdi from the Lucknow Government, bidding three lacs more than Hakim Mehndi. He was of course oppressing the zamindars, and extorting rack-rents from them in order to recoup himself, They had been kindly treated by Hakim Mehndi, the previous chakladar,