Page:Gazetteer of the province of Oudh ... (IA cu31924073057345).pdf/412

 404 MAH Náth on the side of the above road, which was the site of the fort of the Dom Raja Ugarsen. There are nine shiwalas and five other Hindu religious buildings. Musalman mosques number four. The only religious fairs of note are those of Bálesur Náth Mahadeo at Bhat Peinri, and of Hatila Pie in Asokpur. The first is a Hindu one, and is beld on the Shiuráttri ip Phágun, and the second is a Musalman one held in hononr of Hatila, the licutenant of Masaúd, mentioned above, on the saine day when there is one held at Bahraich in honour of the latter, In the first the gather- ing amounts to 40,000, and in the second to only 2,000. Neither of theni is commercial MAHADEWA-Pargana MAHADEWA-Tahsil BEGAMGANJ-District GONDA.- This place is of little importance, though it gives its name to the pargana. Its population is 578; it is fourteen miles east of Gonda, twenty- six miles from Bahrámgbat, and seventy-four from the hills. Water is inct with at 12 feet from the surface. There is a juíl (kundar) on the soutlı side of the village, from which irrigation is chicfly carried oni. The land on which the village now stands was formerly covered with a large jungle, within which there was a shiwála of Gauri Har Náth Mahadeo, which is still extant. Gorkhi Gir, Gosháía, ancestor of the present pro- prietors, was granted 250 bighas of land surrounding the temple by the Rája of Khurása, and the former cleared the jungle and settled himself there under the protection of the deity, from whose name he called the village "Mahadewa” Besides this ancient shrine there is another shiwala of recent date built by a certain Subaldar. There is no Muhammadan place of worship MAHGAWAN—* Pargana KALYANHIL--Talsil SANDILA-District HAR- DOI.—A Sakarwár village of 394 mud houses, population 2,941, nipe miles north of Sandíla in the heart of pargana Kalyanmal. Its inhabitants have a local reputation for honesty in conducting arbitrations. Market «lays Mondays and Thursdays. MAHMUDABADt Pargana-Talusil BARI--District SITAPUR.Pargana Mahmudabad, in shape like a shoulder of mutton with the leg pointing northwards, is bounded on the north by pargana Biswán, on the east by pargana Sadrpur, on the south by the Bara Banki district, and on the west by pargana Bári; its area is 130 square miles, of which 92 are cultivated. Along the north-east boundary flows the petty stream Sumbe, which in the hot season is almost dry, and in the wet season is a wide flood. In the south-west corner of the pargana is another small strcam as unim- portant as the Sumbe. Also to the north-east is a low lying strip of tarái land, once apparently the bed of the river Chauka, which now flows eight miles further to the east, and bordered by a high ridge of land, a continua- tion of that which runs through pargana Láharpur (q. v.). With the exception of these streams and this ridge of land with its tarái, the par- gana presents the same appearance as that of this part of Oudh a uniform level, well-wooded, and thick with fine crops. Irrigation is abundant, specially in the western villages, which constitute the best part of the † By Mr. M. L. Ferrar, C.S., Assistant Commissioner,
 * By Mr. A. H. Harington, C.S., Assistant Commissioner.