ALD
30
These families first obtained a footing by absorbing the smaller K^ath, Brahman, Kurmi, and Musalman zamindars, partly by purchase and partly by force, and they rapidly possessed themselves of the properties of the Raghubansis, Sakarwars, Ujjainias, and Bais, and soon over-ran the pargana. From time immemorial these people have been notoriously turbulent they are commented upon with regard to this in the histories of the reigns of Sikandar Lodi (A. D. 1488), of Sher Shah (A. D. 1540), and of Alamgir (A. D. 1658). Their doings within the recollection of people still living are quite in keeping with the reputation which they had so long ago established. The Rajkumars of the pargana have long been divided into three great factions 1st, those that followed the lead of the taluqdar of Dera 2nd, those that followed the chiefs of Meopur and 3rd, the Tirwaha communities, who always made common cause in resisting the aggressions of all enemies, whether they belonged to the first and second factions just named, or whether they were outsiders. There was deadly feud among these three factions down to annexation, and much is the blood that has been shed from their jealousies but one faction would sometimes join another in resisting the third, or in attack;
ing another clan.
This part of the pargana history would be incomplete, were I not to some of the chronicles of this powerful clan and this I now propose to do, premising that I shall confine my remarks principally to times within the memory of men who are still alive. detail
I.
—
commencement of the present century, ruler of this estate, which then consisted of' the youngest of four brothers of these, the eldest,
The house of Dera.
^At the
Bdbu Madho Singh was the
101 villages. He was Beni Bakhsh, held the taluqa
for three years,
and died
of small-pox at the early age of nineteen. He had already proved his metal, when the Dera house, assisted by Pirpur and Nanamau, was arrayed against, and under his leadership vanquished the Meopur party, backed by the Tirwdha communities who assembled to contend for the village of Srirampur, about 1798. On that occasion 300 men are said to have been killed,
and as many more wounded. There are still many rent-free tenures on the Dera estate granted to families who lost members in this well-remembered fight. The second brother was Balkaran Singh, who shot himself because he was not allowed by his elder brother to storm '
the position at Srirampur, before the arrangements for the battle were Of the third brother, all I know is that he died childless. complete.
Babu Madho Singh is favourably remembered as the successful leader in the action at Masora, and as a proprietor who managed his property He was succeeded by his widow, respectably he died in the year 1823,
Thakurain Dariao Kunwar, a most remarkable woman, who after him for twenty-five years, through toil and turmoil, not only bravely held her own, but after the fashion of the landlords of her period, added to her estates, more so, indeed, than her husband had done in his lifetime. Such redoubted neighbours and contemporaries as Fateh Bahadur, Sarabdan Singh, and Shiurdj Singh (of the Meopur branch), although they hesitated not to attack a British military treasure escort on the highway, cared not to molest her.
