Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume XII.djvu/753

 OUDE 739 the mango, the tamarind, and a species of bas- sia, from the seeds of which is obtained the oil known as vegetable butter, used for food, for illuminating purposes, and in the manufacture of soap. The date palm has been introduced recently, and successfully cultivated. The do- mestic animals of Oude include sheep, goats, cows, bullocks, and buffaloes. Since March, 1865, there has been an agri-horticultural so- ciety at Lucknow, in connection with which there is an experimental stock farm. The principal native industry is the manufacture of coarse cotton cloth, in which a vigorous trade is carried on. Other manufactured goods have to be imported. The exports consist chiefly of agricultural products. In 1872 there were in Oude 1,678 m. of water communica- tion, 4,225 m. of roads, and 72 m. of rail- way, consisting of the Oude and Rohilcund line, which connects Lucknow and Cawnpore. The administration of the government is in the hands of a chief commissioner. There is also a judicial commissioner, to whose review the decisions of the courts are subject, and the revenue is under the control of a finan- cial commissioner. The great bulk of the peo- ple are Hindoos, though the dominant race was Mohammedan for many ages before the British annexation. In 1869 Oude contained 7,767 Christians, 9,713,930 Hindoos, 1,011,110 Mohammedans, 56 Buddhists, and 487,884 per- sons of all other creeds. Hindostanee is the language most in use, with a greater admix- ture of Persian and Arabic and less of H in- dee than in the more easterly provinces. The houses of the people are generally mud or un- burnt brick, and the walls are carried up 6 or 7 ft. above the roof to form a sort of enclosed court for the use of the women, which is cov- ered during the rains by a light temporary roof- ing of bamboo and grass. The rooms have no ceilings, and the floors are of earth well packed and smoothed. The most characteristic feature in the social economy of Oude is that of the vil- lage communities, each of which constitutes a little republic in itself. The payment of a land tax is one of the oldest institutions of the coun- try. At the time of the British annexation it was supposed that the chiefs known as taloolc- dars, who received this tax from the immedi- ate cultivators of the soil and paid a fixed sum on account thereof to the native government, were merely middlemen, who exacted from the villagers as much as possible, but them- selves possessed no proprietary rights whatever. Acting on the assumption that they were only collectors of revenue, the first land settlement made under British rule, in 1856-'7, dispos- sessed the talookdars of nearly all their villages, and provided for the payment of the land tax by the actual occupants of the soil directly to the government. The injustice of this set- tlement led to great dissatisfaction, and was ultimately admitted by the British authorities. The talookdars were in fact an ancient landed nobility, with well established rights -of prop- erty in the soil, which were entitled to recog- nition, notwithstanding the frequent extortion which had been practised upon the subordi- nate proprietors. The present land settlement, completed in 1859, recognizes the rights of both classes, confirming to each their possessions as they existed at the time of the annexation in 1856. According to the parliamentary accounts for 1871-'2, it is so framed as to secure village occupants from extortion and to exact certain duties and responsibilities from the talookdars. Half the gross rental is paid to the government. The net land revenue in 1871-'2 amounted to 1,207,902. In the same year the licenses for the sale of spirits and drugs and the excise on opium yielded 78,106. The total revenue in 1872-'3 amounted to 1,656,602; expendi- tures, 626,519. The total number of educa- tional institutions in 1871-'2 was 1,548, with an average daily attendance of 37,720 pupils. They comprise the Canning college at Luck- now, with 720 students, of whom 56 were in the college department; 11 high schools and 747 village schools ; and 81 schools for girls, with 1,908 pupils. The expenditure for the support of schools amounted to 47,420. In each school district a library is maintained for the use of the schoolmaster ; and there is said to be a school within 4 m. of every child in Oude. There is a museum at Lucknow. The government has established 26 dispensaries in the province, and there is one sustained by pri- vate means. The number of jails is 13. The provincial police force, exclusive of municipal and railway police, is about 6,000 strong, and its services are especially directed toward the repression of the organized bands of thieves and robbers which infest some portions of the country. In January, 1873, the Oude military division consisted of 7,096 troops, of whom 2,663 were natives. Seven newspapers, four English and three native, are published in the province. There are 1 7 municipalities in Oude. The principal cities and towns are Lucknow, Oude or Ayodhya, the ancient capital, Fyza- bad, Rai Bareilly, and Sultanpore. Oude, un- der the name of Kosala, is supposed by many writers to have been one of the earliest seats of Indian civilization, and its first settlement is assigned to the year 1366 B. C. The Vedic legends make the ancient Ayodhya the seat of the great dynasty of solar kings. Our accurate knowledge of the country, however, dates from about A. D. 1195, when it was conquered and united to the empire of Delhi by Mohammed Bakhtiyar Ghilji, a lieutenant of Cuttub ud- Deen, the founder of the Patan or Afghan dy- nasty. It submitted to Baber (1528) after an ob- stinate struggle, but frequently revolted against the Mogul sovereigns ; and about 1753 Suffdur i ed from the emperor Ahmed Shah a grant in I perpetuity of Oude and Allahabad, and thus founded an independent dynasty which last- ed until the British annexation. His son and successor Snjali ud-I)owlah .became one of the
 * Jung, nawaub vizier of the province, wrest-