DEW It
373
at about this time, too, that different families of the Bais came pargana. They attacked a powerful family of Kurmis, who had a large fort near Basti, the centre of twelve villages as they say, in the south of the pargana, and drove them out. Others went north, and gradually ousting the Janwars, founded the large taluqas of Qdsimganj and Behta, which they lost only during the last days of the Nawabi. These Bais were some way allied to the Janwdrs, into whose family they married. They claim the zamindari of the town of Dewa itself The clan became most formidable in the last days of the Nawabi, and, under Suphal Smgh and Ganga Bakhsh,* seized almost the whole of the north of the pargana, harrying, burning, and seizing the villages of their less powerful neighbours. And they had but little fear of the native government, only paying their revenue under pressure of guns and special troops sent to collect. The Bais of this pargana were certainly men of great energy and force of character. Their history will be further noticed. On their dispersion, most of their villages were conferred on the Musalman Shekhs of Dewa. But there are still Bais of the same family left, who hold some of the finest villages in the pargana. -w-as
^
mto the
m
Out of the one hundred and sixty-three villages of the pargana, only some fifty-seven are held by Hindus the rest belong to Musalmans, and half of these are held by taluqdars, the rest by zamindars.
The taluqdars are Shekh Zain-ul-dbidin of Gadia, A'bid Ali of Saidahar, Naslr-ud-din of Tera Kalan, Bd Ali of Shekhapur, and Shams-un-nisa of Jasmauria-Malukpur, the greater part of whose estate, however, lies in other parganas Rajas Farzand Ali and Amir Hasan Khan also hold large estates in this pargana, but they belong to Jahangirabad and Mahmudabad of other parganas. The pargana is mentioned in the Ain-i-Akbari, and Dewa is said to have a brick fort. In the Nawabi it belonged to what was known as the Dewa Kursi chakla.
Shekh
Zain-ul-abdin, taluqdar of Gadia, of the family of the Qidwai Shekhs of Juggaur, holds an estate lying on the southwa.^'^IXqaTf Gadia*' east of the Dewa pargana. This taluqdar belongs to one of the oldest and best Musalman families in the district He professes to be descended from Mirak Shah, King of
Bum.
Mirak Shah left two sons, Qidwat-ud-din and Nusrat ud-dm. The though the younger, inherited the kingdom, and the former was made the qazi or chief judge. It is said that on one occasion the king's son had th« misfortune to be guilty of homicide, and that the qazi found him guilty in his court but the king, wishing to save the life of his son, which had become forfeited to the laws, removed the qSzi before he had latter,
the Ganga Bakhsh Rawat mentioned in Sleeman's Tour, vol. II., page a Pasi. The editor made personal inquiries as to the truth of the assertion, and convinced himself that the clan is recognized as Chhattri, and that there is nothing in the religion, customs, or appearance of the present members to indicate
- This
232.
is
He was then supposed to be
an aboriginal connection; or any
alliance with Pasia.
