Page:Gazetteer of the province of Oudh ... (IA cu31924073057345).pdf/406

398 MAC for the further development of agriculture and population, which is 10 per cent. lower than the provincial average. The only road in the pargana is that which runs from Khairabad through Machhrehta to Nimkhár (q. v.), And the only water communication is that afforded to the eastern fron- tier villages by the river Saráyan. The pargana is crossed from west to east by a smaller and unnavigable river the Ketha. Both streams are bridged where the road crosses them. On the whole this is a good pargana for agriculture; the percentage of first-class crops is as much as 39, the largest in the tahsil. There are no marked features in the landscape, no lakes, or even large jhíls; no forest, hills, or valleys. In some parts water is found within 8 feet of the surface; in others not until a depth of 50 feet has been dug. Bazars are held in 6 villages-namely, Machhrehta, Bihat, Baniámau, Haluapur, Mirzapur, and Dingra. Nothing is sold at these beyond the common necessaries of life. The pargana boasts of no manufa res or productions peculiar to it. There are no mines or quarries. Two fairs are held in Machhrehta, the names and particulars of which are described in the history of that town, to which also the reader is referred for the origin of the name Machhrehta.' The pargana was constituted by Todar Mal, in whose time the lands were owned by an Ahban Rája, Kesri Singh by name. He was deposed by Akbar, and his estates conferred on two Kayaths, Bál Chand and Bir Chand, whose father (Parasrám) had been díwáp to the Abban chieftain, and had been put to death by him. On their death, the family lost it, and variouspetty zamin- dars possessed themselves of the constituent villages. Subsequently, or in 1767 A.D., the grandfather of the late well known Nawab Ali Naqi Khan, Minister to the King of Oudh, got the pargana in Jágír, and so held it for 42 years. Thc zamindaris are at present distributed thus :- 18 villages Janwar. 16 do. 94 do. 15 do. 12 do, 2 do, 1 do. 1 do. Báchi. Kachhwsha, Bais. Ráthor, Sombansi, Chauhan. Garr. Total 99, belonging to Rajputs. The remainder are held—10 by Káyaths, 64 by Brahmans, 2 by a Bairági, 74, iláqa Rajpura, by Mír Muhammad Husen Khan, Taluqdar, who is the only taluqdar in the pargana. He owns also iláqa Kuli in the neighbouring pargana of Kurauna; both estates he acquired by mortgage in 1262 fasli, during which year he was a collector under the native Government. There is not much known of his family. He and his brothers came from Budaun where they have some small land- ed property. One of them was slain in the mutiny, another is known as Captain Fida Husen, and is a Taluqdar in the Kheri district. The Kachhwába colony has its headquarters at Bihat (not the Bihat of pargana Misrikh), called Bihat Biram after the founder's name, Biram Singh, who settled here in 1459 A.D.; having come over from Jaipur. The history of the family is not known; but the present zamindars trace back