Page:Gazetteer of the province of Oudh ... (IA cu31924073057345).pdf/225

KHE 217 Chhattri fiefs formed under foreign oppression.—The history of Kheri furnishes several striking instances of the composition, so to speak, of great Chhattri fiefs by the voluntary action of the people who were oppressed by the Government officers or others. Thus the zamindars of Kasta placed their villages in the Mitauli estate ; thus the muqaddams of Dhaurahra* invited Rája Jodha Singht to assume authority over them. The consequence was that although Pásis, Ahírs, Kurmis, Bralimans, and Lodhs, had held numerous coparcenary properties at the commencement of this century; they have gradually lapsed into the hands of the Chhattris, who thus became proprietorg of nearly all Kheri a few years before annexation ; the cause being the oppressive nature of the Oudh administration deal- ings: Territoridl division of the Chhattis . --The principal subcastes of Chhat- tris in this district are as follows: Cominencing at the south, the Janwárs rule in Kheri, Srinagar, Paila, their possessions marching with those of the Gaurs in the adjoining district of Sitapur, and their boundary being that of the districts. The Janwárs hold now a large tract of land covering about 350 square miles between the Chauka and the Jamwari in almost exclu- sive possession, but they have spread beyond the latter into Paila, which they hold in partnership with the Akbans. We must here bear in mind that Kheri is divided by its rivers into belts of territory running north- west and south-east. The Janwárs occupy two of these belts, the one between the Chauka and the Ul, and that lying west of it between the UI and the Jamwári. Beyond the Jamwári commences the Ahban territory, which once covered nearly 4,000 square miles in the three districts of Hardoi, Sitapur, and Kheri; in this district it was powerful between the Jamwári and the Kathna, and spreading up crossed the Jamwári and the Ul, overlapping the Janwárs to the north-west, holding Aliganj, Kukra, Paila Sikandarabad, Kasta, Haidarabad, in this district. Beyond the Kathna commences another belt likewise running north-west and south- east between the Kathna and the Gumti; this, and again a second between the Gumti and the Sukheta, constitute the principality of the Muhamdi ráj, a fief formed first by Sadr Jahán, t the Sadr Sudúr of the Emperor Akbar. His dominion during the eighteenth century spread over the whole of Kheri, and in greatly diminished splendour now belongs to a converted Sombansi, whose ancestor was an agent of the. rightful owner. I have thus sketched the clans and families which occupy sections of the southern half of the district. There was no wave of invasion from the west, no immigration of large clans; the Sayyad, Ahban, and Jan wár fami- lies, for they are not numerous enough to be called clans, are descended. from single individuals, who settled sporadically in the country, and either acquired large grants by court favour, or formed estates in the progress of years by careful management, usury, and sometimes by fraud. We must now take another cross section of the country lying north of those above described. The great fief of the Jángres commences east of the Ul, being See article Bahraich Steeman's Tour in Oudh. + See Dhaurabra. Sce Barwar