Page:Gazetteer of the province of Oudh ... (IA cu31924073057345).pdf/277

 KHE 269 Populatiou. The principal castes are as follows:-- Shekhs, Sayyads. Other Musal- mans. Brahwang. Chhattria Banians, Káyaths, 3,278 11,440 10,987 9,158 3,818 factures. Of the above 55 per cent. are agriculturists and 45 per cent. are non- agriculturists. Hindus are 88,920, Musulmans 15,996. Kurmis are the most numerous caste of cultivators, forming 21 per cent of the whole popu- lation ; Brahmans, Chamárs, Pásis, come next. There are 3,158 Chhattris, mostly Janwárs of mixed blood; but the ownership of the soil rests priu- cipally with the pure bred Chhattris, about twenty of whom hold 138 villages out of 161 in Kheri proper, and two, the chiefs of Oel and Mahewa, hold 130 out of the 193 in the joint pargana. There is a small local traffic in grain and a considerable settlement Roads, trade, manu- of cotton printers in the town of Del, and of weavers round Amirtaganj. There is one road from Lakhím- pur to Sitapur, another to Gola, and thence to Mu- hamdi, a third to Sikandarabad, and thence to Muhamdi; all three are raised and bridged. The road to Bahraich is not, and none of them are metalled. Antiquities.—There are some curious old wells built of stone, octagonal in shape : one in Salempur close to Lakhimpur. Sayyad Khurd's tomb in Kheri, and the bouses of bis descendants, have evidently been built of materials taken from older buildings; blocks, of kankar, the large bricks 12sed by Buddhists and Bhars, and the common smali bricks being inter. mixed everywhere. There are numerous sites of ancient villages such as Gúm, Ujár, Cumchaini, Salempur. Kheri was the centre of a Pási kingdom; they were not builders like the Bhars, probably not a tank or well now existing was built by them. It is alleged that a large city formerly extended along the bank of the UI to Rangilenagar from Rámpur Gokul. I see no evidence of anything of the kind. There should be some traces of civic subdivisions still surviv- ing in name at &ny rate, such as muhalla or patti, but there are nonc. There have been numerous villages and country-houres here on the high bank of the Ul, formerly a much larger river. The Sayyads held the country from Kheri to Piháni, Barwar and Aliganj, rent-free. They resided here partly, and no doubt spent here a great portion of the revenue which is now drained off annually to Lucknow. History.—History gives us no notice of Kheri prior to the Aín-i-Akbari, but we gather from local tradition that was visited by Rája Janimijai, grandson of the Pándu Arjun, who killed a snake here, or overcame a Scythian chief, as rationalists would interpret the legend. The place is called Surajkund; it is near Deokáli, five miles west from Kheri, and is get the scene of animal worship as it was in Akbar's time and for centuries previously, The name of Kheri is variously derived from Khem Karan, 35