Page:Gazetteer of the province of Oudh ... (IA cu31924073057345).pdf/492

 484 MAN MANKAPUR—Pargana BHAGWANTNAGAR--Tahsil PURWA--District UNAO.--This village lies thirteen miles south-west from tahsil and twenty. seven miles south-east from Unao; an unmetalled road passes through from Baksar. Bhagwantnagar is two miles south. It was founded by one Mán Kewal Bais, about 600 years ago, and his descendants still possess it. The founder of this village was of the same line as the ancestors of the late Bábu Rám Bakhsh, of Daundia Khera, but he left his brethren, and coming from Daundia Khera founded it. It is situated on a plain and has a tolerable appearance. The soil is clay and sand mixed; water good and climate healthy. Not many trees, and no jungle, no bazar or fair; no manufactures excepting goldsmiths' and carpenters' works. The total population amounts to 2,153, Hindus number 1,989, and Mos- lems 164, There are 507 mud-built houses and one temple to Debi. MANSURNAGAR Pargana*--Tahsil SHAHABAD-District HARDOI. A small and backward pargana of twenty-five villages lying in the south- eastern corner of the Shahabad tahsil. It is bounded on the north by parganas Alamnagar and Piháni, on the east by Gopamau, and on the south and west by north and south Sara. Its greatest length is six and breadth aeven miles, Its area is 26 square miles, only 9 of which are cultivated. The Bhainsta stream, called lower down in its course the Sai, flows through it, but is too shallow, and dries up too quickly to be used for irri- gation. The west of the pargana is watered from a large jhil called Gurru, which stretches for about three miles north and south of the little town of Mansurnagar. Occasionally it overflows and damages the adjacent lands. The main natural features of the pargana are the absence of sandy soil (bhúr), and the quantity of uncleared jungle. To 6,060 cultivated acres there are 7,740 acres of culturable waste. The pargana is crossed by the unmetalled roads from Hardoi to Pihani and from Piháni to Shahabad. It is a backward but very improveable tract. The soil is almost every- where good, though not so rich as in the adjacent Pargana of Sara. Cultivators are somewhat scarce. Níl-gáe, wild hogs, and here and there wild cattle infest the jungle and ravage the crops. The country is level. Rather more than two-fifths of the cultivated area is irrigated. Three- fourths of the area irrigated is watered from tanks and ponds, of which there are 190; mud wells are dug all over the pargana, but rarely last for more than three years. The cost of the large wells worked by bullocks varies from four to ten rupees. The hand-wells (dhenkli) are dug here from two to four rupees. The tillage is fair, especially in the Chauhan villages, whose proprietors are industrious and enterprizing. Wheat, barley, and millet are the great staples, and occupy more than three-fifths of the crop area. Gram, bájra, and mish cover rather more than another fifth. Indigo, tobacco, and
 * By Mr. A. H. Harington, C.S, Asaistaut Commissioner.