KHE 253 ing 64 square miles, and which had yielded Rs. 25,000, for a silver-belted sword*. This occurred in 1855, two years before annexation; Fida Husen Khan did not hold as a proprietor at all, nevertheless he got his name recorded as the owner, and it is now his inalienable property. Ashraf Ali Khan died in 1867, and was succeeded by his son Musharraf Ali Khan, who being heavily embarrassed has placed his estate under the Court of Wards to be relieved from its incumbrances, The Ahbans.-So far I have only given the annals of the old pargana (Barwar), corrresponding now to the tahsil of Muhamdi, and forming the western portion of Kheri. A settlement almost as old as that of the Bachhils was established by the Ahbans of Bhúrwára and Nímkhár, which old parganas are now broken up into Haidarabad, Kukra Mailáni, Paila, Bhúr, Paggawan, besides Misrikh, Maboli, and others in Sitapur. This tract, which occupies the very centre of the district of Kheri, lies south of the river Ul between the Kathna on the west and the Jamwári on the east, and on the south is bounded by an artificial line separat- ing it from parganas Kasta and Kheri. It is a fertile but rather marshy tract through which several sluggish streams take their course. Towards the north Xukra Mailání is yet covered largely with forest which also comes down in strips along the banks of the Kathna throughout the whole extent of this ancient Pargana. It is said to have been originally peopled by Pásis whiuse leader (Bhúrwa) showed the Emperor Alá-ud-din good sport, and was granted the territory with permission to call it Bhúrwára after his own name. They gave place to the Abhan Chhattris who claim a long descent in Oudh, such as no other clan can rival or approach. Their first ancestors in Oudh are stated to have been Gopi and Sopi, two brothers of the Cháwar race, which ruled in Anhalwara Pátan in Gujarát. This tribet is described by Tod as follows:-- “ Chawura or Charra. This tribe was once renowned in the history of India, though its name is now scarcely known or only in the chronicles of the bard. Of its origin we are in ignorance. It belongs neither to the Solar nor Lunar race, and consequently we may presume it to be of Scythic origin. The name is unknown in Hindustan, and is confined, with many others originating from beyond the Indus, to the Peninsula of Saurashtră. If foreign to India proper, its establishment must have been at a remote period, as we find individuals of it intermarrying with the Sooryavansa ancestry of the present princes of Mewar, when this family were the lords of Balabhi. “The capital of the Chawuras was the insular Deobunder on the coast of of Saurashtra, and the celebrated temple of Somnath, with many others on this coast, dedicated to Balnath, or the sun, is attributed to this tribe
- Sleeman's Tour in Oudh, II., page 79,
t" Rajasthan," Vol J., page 101. 33
