Page:Gazetteer of the province of Oudh ... (IA cu31924073057352).pdf/316

 308 SAR wild bandit-haunted tract, and that when by degrees it was cleared and settled, it acquired the epithet of Sára (clear). The traditional account of the expulsion of the Thatheras from Parganas Sara and Báwan by Kuber Sáh, and of the origin of the Kána and Onai branches of the Cha- mar Gaurs will be found under heading Báwan (pargana). The Onai or Ráe branch became the more powerful of the two and obtained the chaudhriship of the pargana. Their chief seats were at Todarpur and Sara. The leading men of this stock are Nayáz Singh of Pipri and Mohan Singh of Todarpur, while the head of the Kána branch is Padam Singh of Sivmaur and Chandeli. The Caurs bad things pretty much their ow2 way till the reign of Saídat Ali Khan when the Názim of Khairabad, Rája Sital Parshád Tirbedi, of evil memory, was set over them. Among the cruelties practised by him was the hacking off of men's noses and women's breasts. The qánůngo, Jagannáth Parshád, assured me that he had seen one Manbháwan Sombansi of Begáon, an aged man of ninety who died in 1867, whose nose had been cut off by Sítal Parshád's orders. The pargana officials used to be thus posted : the qázi at Bári, the qánúngo at Umrauli, the tahsildar or ámil at Saádatnagar, the chaudbri at Todarpur. The successive steps by which the taluqa of Mustafabad was broken up are thus described by Mr. Bradford in his Aiári judgment. "The mush- room taluqa of Saádatnagar or Mustafabad in 1235 fasli (A.D. 1828), after dwindling down from 39 to 23 villages, was suddenly and completely broken up. In 1163 fasli it had cousisted of 34 villages; in 1192 fasli of 37; from 1202 fasli to 1211 fasli of 39, and called the Mustafabad taluqa." The antiquarian will not find much to interest him in this pargana. I give the names of thie twelve villages which contain dihs or deserted sites of Thathera and more recent settlements. They are Rühi, Hariáon, Kurseli, Bijgáon, Uttar, Aiári, Bargáon, Todarpur, Dhanwár, Rámpur, Saádatnagar and Kamalpur. SARAYAN River. A small river which rises in the Kheri district, having its source in the village of Ahmadnagar, pargana Haidarabad, in latitude 27°46' north, longitude 80°32' east. In a south-easterly direction it flows through that district, and enters into Sitapur at about 49 miles from its source; it receives on its left side the Jamwari, in latitude 27°32' north, longitude 80°47' east. Thence it flows for about 3 miles in a north-westerly direction, and then resuming its previous north-easterly course it joins the Gumti in latitude 27°9' north, longitude 80°55' east. Its total length may be estimated at about 95 miles. It flows past Sitapur, Bári, Pírnagar, and other places. It causes extensive and destructive floods in some years, as it drains a very considerable area of country with its numerous affluents. SARDA River.-An account of the river from the point of its junction with the ancient channel of the Chauka comes more properly under the latter name. It is described in Thornton's Gazetteer under the incorrect name of Ghágra or Gogra, which name properly belongs to the Kauriúla after it has