Page:The Imperial Gazetteer of India - Volume 2 (2nd edition).pdf/35

 BALRAMPUR.

25

A rebel his old enemies of Utraula, Tulsipur, and Ikauna. marched into the pargand to carry out the partition, but was called away elsewhere, without having effected its object. In the transGogra campaign, which concluded the Mutiny, Raja Digbijai Singh joined the British force, and remained with it till the remnants of the rebel army were finally driven into Nepal. As a reward for his distinguished loyalty, he was granted the whole of the confiscated pargand among force

ot Tulsipur, besides large estates in

the

Government revenue on

Bahraich District; 10 per cent, of was remitted, and a

his ancestral estates

settlement in perpetuity granted to him.

He

also received the

title

Maharaja, and a Knight Commandership of the Star of India.

pargand

is

of

The

a large one, comprising an area of 395 square miles, and

consists of three well-marked natural divisions,

The

(i)

tract

lying

between the Rapti and Kuwana rivers, where the soil is generally a fair dinndi, but poorly populated, and not under careful cultivation. (2) The dodb between the Rapti and Burhi Rapti, -which contains a few good villages, but frequently suffers from the floods of both rivers, which in many places join during the rains, leaving behind a barren, sandy deposit. Being higher at both extremities, the centre of this tract is occupied by an extensive grassy waste, which is for months under from 3 to 5 feet of water, and can only be reclaimed by the construction of expensive embankments. (3) The land to the north of the Biirhi Rapti, which is generally a fine clay, and well cultivated. Its most striking feature is the number of hill torrents by which it is intersected. Water exists everywhere near the surface, and is struck at an average depth of not more than 10 feet. Total area under cultivation, 191,451 acres, of which about 33,000 are under two

—

winter rice, 45,640 ; autumn acreage under principal crops 28,000; gram, 76,635; masuri, 2581 ; and wheat, 48,725. The tillage is not usually of a high class, and rents are almost always

crops rice,

At the time of the Settlement operations in 1871-72, the Government land revenue demand was fixed in perpetuity at ^23,709

paid in kind.

(subject to a deduction of 10 per cent., as already mentioned), equal

on the whole area, or 2s. qfd. on the cultivated With the exception of a few small independent holdings, not amounting to 5 per cent, of the total area, the whole pargand is the

to a rate of is. io|d. area.

jiroperty of the heirs of the late Sir Digbijai Singh.

—

Population (1881),

and Muhammadans, 24,793 total, 188,334, viz. 100,562 males and 87,772 females. The most numerous castes are Kurmis and Ahi'rs. Kshattriyas are unusually scarce a few scattered Hindus,

163,541,



houses of the old aboriginal population of Bhars aird Tharus yet remain ; wandering, gipsy-like people, known as Siarkhawas, who live by hunting and in camps, are very common. The principal trading villages are

Balrampur and Mathura.

Besides two unmetalled roads, the villages