Page:Gazetteer of the province of Oudh ... (IA cu31924073057345).pdf/306

 298 LAH The history of the pargana is intimately connected with that of the town itself. Where it stands, the Emperor Firoz Taghlaq is said to have founded a town in 1370 A D., when on his way to the shrine of the Sayyad Sálár at Bahraich. Thirty years subsequently one Láhari, a Pási, took possession of it and changed the name to Láharpur. He did not continue long to enjoy his power, for in 1418 one Shekh Táhir Gházi slew him in battie and exterminated the Pásis. He and his descendants remained in possession down to the invasion of the Gaurs above mentioned. If this account is correct, it goes to show, as in the case of pargana Khairabad, that four hundred years ago the Pásis boasted a very different status to that which they now enjoy. In addition to the festivals and fairs of Láharpur, Khás (q. v.) are the following:- In Daryapur.---'Chhota Bahraich-ka-mela," held in Jeth in memory of Sayyad Salár. In Rajapur. -At the tank of Todar Mal. In Albarpur.-At the tank of the sun, (Súrajkund), in Kártik and Jeth. In Tahirpur.–At "Mahadeo Jangli Náth." Lachhmannagar.--At" Math Sítla Debi.” In Kesriganj.--A bathing at the tank. In Tálgion.--In Bhadon in memory of a famous wrestler Pír Zaid-ul- Abidín. At the last-mentioned as many as 10 or 12 thousand people assemble ; at none of the others more than half that number, There are no special manufactures carried on in this pargana, nor are there any mines or quarries. In Pursia and Kishunpur kankar is dug up in considerable quantities, and lime manufactured therefrom. The productive powers of the soil are a good average. No crop peculiar to the pargana is produced. Pargana Láharpur is included in the list of muháls constituting in the Ain-i-Akbari the Sarkár of Khairabad. Rája Todar Mal mentioned above is believed by the people of Láharpur to have been a native of that town, and his memory is still preserved in the name of the village (Rájapur) called after him. Mr. Blochmann (in his translation of the Ain-i-Akbari, Volume I, page 351) states, on apparently good authority, that he was born at Labore, the capital of the Punjáb. The similarity in the names of the two towns is no doubt the cause of the confusion, but local tradition is precise that the father of Todar Mal was a Puajábi Khattri, who married into a Chopri Khattri family in Láharpur, where the boy was born. Chopri Tola still exists in the town, LÄHARPUR Town,* Pargana LÁHARPUR-Tahsił SITAPUR---District SITAPUR—27° 43' north, 80°57' east-is 17 miles north of Sita- pur on a good unmetalled road, which goes on to Mallápur on the Gogra. • By Mr. M. L. Ferrar, B.A., C.S., Assistant Commissioner.