Page:Gazetteer of the province of Oudh ... (IA cu31924073057352).pdf/439

 SUL 431 estates special measures have been taken. If, then, I have correctly described the causes of the present unsatisfactory condition of the proprie- tary classes, it may be concluded, with moderate certainty, that a prog- perous future will follow the altered circumstances in which they are now placed The dwellings of the people are usually grouped together in towns and villages ; but single huts or houses are not uncommon. Towns are few in number. In some parts villages are large and at a distance from each other, as in the Mohanganj tahsil," the unsettled state of which perhaps led the inhabitants to band themselves together in large bodies for mutual pro- tection. Further east, on the other barid, where shankalps are numerous, and the shankalpdars have founded purwas on their holdings, villages are small and hamlets abound. In Chánda solitary houses are pretty thickly scattered over the pargana. Domestic architecture is principally remark- able for its monotonous simplicity. The most common description of house consists of walls of puddled mud, and a roof of thatch or tiles. Even this is beyond the reach of all; many an agriculturist is, but the "monarch of a shell." On the other hand, a few substantial brick houses may be found here and there they belong to the more wealthy landowners, to successful traders, or Muhammadans of the better classes. Shrines, fairs, places of interest.--It may seem odd to place shrines and fairs in the same category; but there are few if any of the latter wbich have not a religious character attached to them, Sitakund.-On the right bank of the river Gumti, immediately below the civil station, the place is still pointed out where the now deified Síta is said to have bathed while accompanying her husband Rama into his self-imposed exile. In commemoration of that event a fair is held there twice a year (Jeth dasahra and Kártik púranmáshi), to which the pious Hindus of the neighbourhood throng to the number of fifteen or twenty thousand The fair lasts for a few hours only, the visitors bathing imme- diately on their arrival and then taking their departure. A few enter- prising sweetmeat vendors from the Perkinsganj bazar find their way there, but otlierwise no attempt is made at traffic. Dhopáp.-Dhopáp, in the village of Rájapatti. The triumph of Rama's return from his long exile was clouded by the recollection of a great crime committed in the achievement of his principal exploit, his victory In this part of the Gumti, between Sítakund and Dhopáp, there are said to have been at one time 369 places of pilgrimage ; but there is probably a mbere local adoption of a com- mon fable. A similar story is told of a lake ncar Thánesar (Arc. Geo. 332). and the same tumber of temples is said to have beeu built at Ajolhya by Bikramájit (Elliot's Sup. plementary Glossary. Chagrasi).
 * Part of tbis has Rince been transferred to Rae Barelj.