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gathered from their descendants, and, except the mere names of P^si Thathera, there is no link apparent between the mand the races of present day.

and the

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Modern. It were easy to write an elaborate chronicle of events which have happened on the soil of Hardoi, of armies which have passed over it, of kings who have fled through it, of great battles fought within its borders, but such chronicles would not constitute the history of Hardoi. Owing to its geographical situation, on the eastern side of the Ganges, and covering the fords near the great city of Kanauj, over which lay the road from Delhi and Kabul to Jaunpur, Patna, and Bengal, many great armies of the eastern and western empires were at different times marshalled against each other in Hardoi. There the Sharqi kings of Jaunpur mustered their forces and bid defiance to the Lodi lords of Delhi here again the Khilji for a brief space rallied his forces against the Mughals and placed the seat of his empire at Bilgram between Bilgr^m and Sandi again was fought the great battle between Humayun and Sher Shah, which drove the Mughals from India. In after times again, Hardoi was the border land between the Wazfr of Oudh and the Rohilla Afghans. Here the gallant Newal Rae perished, and Ahmad Khan Bangash forced his way into Oudh. It was this constant passage of successive armies which rendered the formation of any organized government in Hardoi impossible till after the accession of Akbar.



The whole of north Hardoi was a jungle in his time. In this forest Pihani, which means the place of concealment, was founded by Sadr Jahan. Prior to this Bilgram had been founded in the reign of Altamsh (1217 A.D.) by Shekh Muhammad Faqih. Sandila had been conquered from the Pasis in the reign of AUa-ud-din Khilji, but till Akbar's reign these settlements had been mere outposts military garrisons. With the Mughals, as I have elsewhere pointed out, cannon came into general use, and the fords of the Ganges lost their strategical importance because the crossing of troops could always be protected by the new engine of warfare. Hardoi then ceased to be the natural meeting place of east and west India, the jungles were cleared, new colonies were founded at Gopamau in the reign of Akbar, at Shahabad and at Sandi in the reign of Shah Jahan. It is not clear what were the precise relations of these Musalman lords to their Hindu neighbours. Those of Bilgram pretend to have had authority over parganas Bawan, Sandi, and Hardoi, yet we find that they purchased the few villages which constitute their present estate one by one at different times extending over a long period in fact their estate is not the conquest of an invader, but the slow accumulation of thrift and diplomacy exercised upon more simple and rustic neighbours. Similarly the Sandila Musalmans are not even mentioned by Sleeman as landlords, and the major part of their property was acquired at a very recent date. The country was probably thinly peopled by Hindus, mostly covered with jungles, dotted here and there by the ^d brick forts of the Musalmans in military occupation. The annals of Bigram are epitomized as follows. An account of the various battles of Bilgram, including the last great fight which took place on Hardoi soil, may also fitly be given here.

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