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 BARA BANKI.

109

Mahmudahad and men were killed and Muhammadans won the day. The

Shaikhzadas of Lucknow, and the

Khanzadas

of

After a fierce conflict, in which 15,000

Bilahra.

wounded on both

sides,

the

Khanzddas rose into power, the Raikwars for a time lost it the taluks of Baundi and Ramnagar were broken up, and the Raikwar Raja retained only a few of his villages. In the evil times which set in on the death of Saadat Ali Khan in 1814, the Raikwars recovered their lost estates and before the anne.xation in 1856 they had become masters of a larger domain than had been theirs in 1751. Under the Native Government, Daryabad District, as it was then called, bore an evil reputation for turbulence and disorder. In jungles and ravines along the Gumti and Kalyani lay the strongholds of many bandits, such as the Barelia Bais Raja Singhji of Surajpur, Mahipat Singh of Bhawanfgarh, and Ganga Baksh of Kasiinganj, whose crimes are



recorded

in Sir

W. Sleeman’s

Diary.

In 1856, the District, with the rest of Oudh, came under British During the Sepoy war of 1857-58, the whole of the Bara Banki rule. tdlukddrs joined the mutineers, but offered no serious resistance after

At the battle of Nawabganj (June 1858) the and Bahraich fought and fell with all the The Queen of Outlh, driven from Luckhistoric heroism of Rajputs. now, had fled for refuge to their fort at Baundi, and these chivalrous

the capture of Lucknow.

Raikwar zammddrs of

chiefs

Si'tapur

were devoted to her cause.

general,

‘

many

battles in India,

‘

I

have

seen,’

wrote the British

and many brave fellows

fighting with

a determination to conquer or die, but I never witnessed anything more magnificent than the conduct of these zaunnddrs.’ Order was re-estabIn 1859 the head-quarters were removed from Daryabad, where stagnant pools produced malarious fever, to NawabThe District consisted at this time of 13 pargands grouped into ganj. lished in July 1858.

3 Sub-divisions {tahsils) of Nawabganj, Daryabad-Rudauli, and Ramnagar. In 1869-70, 5 new pargands were added, viz. Bhitauli from Bahraich, Dewa and Kursi from Lucknow, Subeha from SultanPargand Siddhaur was divided pur, and Haidargarh from Rai Bareli. into Siddhaur North and South; and the 19 pargands thus made up

the

were arranged

in

the

4 Sub-divisions of B.ra B.vnki,

Fatehpur

Ramsanehi, and Haidargarh. Population.

— The

Census of 1869 returned the population of the

its present area, at 1,113,430 souls. The next Census, in 1881, showed a population of 1,026,788, or a decrease of 86,642 on the enumeration of 1869. The male population in 1881

District,

according to

numbered 523,581, and the female 503,207. square miles; average density of population,

Area of

District,

1768

per square mile;

5807 number of towns and villages, 2061; villages per square number of occupied houses, 187,557, with an average of

mile, i’i6;

5'4 inmates