Page:Gazetteer of the province of Oudh ... (IA cu31924073057345).pdf/416

 408 MAH Kheri. The Pásis who held sway in Maholi were so powerful that one of their chief men, Hunsa by name, desired of his neighbour, the Mitauli taluqdar, the hand of his daughter in marriage. The Mitauli man openly assented to the proposition, but secretly sent off messengers to the powerful Ahban Rája of Pataunja, praying him to come to his assist- ance, and save a brother Rajput from the indignity which the low born Pási would thrust upon him. So the Ahban troops came up, as if to take part in the marriage ceremony, and there was great rejoicing among the Pâsis for the marriage of their chief (Hunsa). But the Xhbans set before them a feast of pig's flesh and strong liquor. And the Pasis feasted thereon, and became gorged with the food and drunk with the wine, and the Ahbans fell upon them and slew many and drove the rest out. So the Albans were victorious and became rulers of Mitauli and the surrounding district, and they held it for 200 years, having their head- quarters still at Pataunja. But in 1670 A.D., the Delhi monarch sent against them a Mughal chief, Mirza Bahadur Beg by name, to reduce their power, for they refused to pay tribute, and then the Ahban Rája abandoned his capital and went north to Mitauli, and his power dwindled away by degrees until it was confined to a small circle of villages round that town. Meanwhile an invasion of Gaurs took place, and that tribe got a footing in Maholi, which they held from 1174 to 1188 fasli. In 1189 (corresponding to 1781 A.D.), Kunwar Newal Singh, son of the last Ahban Rája, was restored, and his Gaur rival dispossessed, but he held his recovered patrimony for only one year. A man of no capacity or character, be was again dispossessed, and his estates were let out to farmers, who managed the property down to 1227 fasli or 1820 A.D. In the following year the sympathies of this pargana and the neighbour- ing one were aroused for the old Abban family, and the zamindars refused to come in and take up their engagements unless the Ahban Rája was restored. The chakladar (revenue-collector), a Káyath by caste, and more at home with his pen than with a sword, got frightened, and gave into the vox populi. So the Ahban was restored to so much of his ances- tral estates as were comprised in Maholi, Kasta, and Abgáon. The Sikan- darabad taluqa had passed to a member of the family who me a Musalman. The restored rája was Khanjan Singh, and in 1242 fasli (1834 A.D.), he engaged for the whole pargana. He was succeeded by his younger brother, the rebel Lone Singh, whose estates were confiscated for complicity in the mutiny of 1857. The pedigree table is thus given by General Sleeman :- Mitauli ráj. Bhajan Singh. Rája Debi Singh died without heirs. 8 aonas. 8 8188. Dat Singh. aix R003. Man Singh Bhawani Din (adopted son). 1 Khapjan Singh, Lone Singh 1 and 4 others.