Page:Gazetteer of the province of Oudh ... (IA cu31924073057352).pdf/260

 252 RAE a of zamindar. A third case was when the village was included in the taluqa before its acquisition of a zamindari body, and these are the villages in which we are told that the taluqdar is the sole zamindar. For the first class of villages I take an instance from the Haidargarh pargana. About two hundred years ago the cadets of the Kuinkra- wán ráj had to be provided for, and Man Singh was assigned the village of Bhawánigarh. He found it occupied by mixed community of Kurmis and Brahmans, whose rights he speedily extinguished, and his descendant, Qalandar Singh, is now in full proprietary possession of the village. The descendants of the heads of old society still retain the name of muqaddam, though it has ceased to have much meaning. A fair example of the second class is Katra Bahadurganj near Salon, a village famous under the king's rule for its panchayats. The litigants were summoned before a board and stated their case; if it was not perfectly elear witnesses were dispensed with, and the parties separately consigned to solitary confinement and a moagro diet. It was seldom that many months elapsed before a deed of compromise eased the prisoners, and rewarded the patience of the judges by a satisfactory settlement of the dispute. This village was sold in numerous small parcels by people of every caste, on deeds extending over fifty years, to the Sayyads of Salon. In the third case the muqaddams retained their title and collected the rents for their landlord instead of the Government. The retention of their rights depended chiefly on the proximity of the landlord, and in ordinary zamindari villages they had long altogether disappeared. Generally the muqaddam had yielded to the zamindar, and again in most instances the zamindar to the taluqdar, but the village remained an integral unit in society, and the old rights left their traces on the most recent constitution. The following is from the sepoy war touching the fights during the mutiny, 1857-58:-"On the morning of the 12th May I went to Nagar, and hearing that the enemy had taken up a position in force at Simri, five miles in an easterly direction, I started for that place the same afternoon. The weather was becoming fearfully hot; and to add to our disconfort, a duststorm was raging, accompanied by a hot wind. Never- theless we came up to the position at 5 o'clock P. M., and found a strong force of the enemy, estimated at 1,500 infantry and 1,600 cavalry, with two guns posted along a nullah, with broken ground around, and a large junglo in their rear. “Their cavalry was on our right flank, ready to pounce down on our baggage; but my mind was easy on this point, as I had left it some distance behind in a secure position, protected by 200 infantry, two guns; and a squadron of cavalry. The ball opened on our part with a shower of shot and shell. The Rifles and Sikhs were extended in skirmishing order, with the 38th and 9th in reserve, and covering the heavy guns. We soon cleared the nullah of the rebels, killing Amrathan Singh, a wealthy and iufuential taluqdar or landholder, and his brother, and taking two guns. The enemy werew in full retreat, and as it was becoming dark, I threw out my pickets, and ordered the troops to bivouac,