Page:Gazetteer of the province of Oudh ... (IA cu31924073057345).pdf/80

HAR holy men telling their beads on the brink; the palm tree and the cactus and the sacred pípal tree --all form a picture worthy the pencil of an artist. The inhabitants believe that the Pandavas spent the 13th year of their exile at the old city in the reign of king Bairát. If we turn to the Mahabharata we find that these heroes did spend the thirteenth year of their exile in the city of Rája Bairát. Unfortunately its name is not given in the cpic, and we are left to conjecture its locality. In confirmation of the belief entertained by the people of Hargám that the king's dominions embraced this part of India, we find an ancient dih close to Sitapur known as king Bairát's dib. But it may be noted that the people of Gujarat in the west of India, and of Dinagepore in the east, also claim each for themselves this famous king. HARHA Pargan? -Tahsil UNAO--District UNAO. This pargana, the largest in Unao, w of a triangular shape, with its apex pointing south- wards, and penetrating between the Ganges and pargana Ghátampur, for- mcrly in the Rae Bareli dis was formerly called "Rawatána. It is twenty-five miles long from east to west, and sixteen from north to south. It comprises 177 villages and an area of 145,557 acres, or 227 square miles, of which 109 are cultivated. The soil is good, and its sur- face is covered with groves of mango, which embrace 11,917 acres. These are the remains of a magnificent grove called the "lakh-perá," or the 100,000 trees, near Harha. Water is said to be very distant-seventy-five feet from the surfacc. Wheat and gram are the principal crops. The tenures are as follows:- Acres. Tuluqlari 55,127 Copyhold 7,610 Zamindari 48,245 Pattidari 34,578 The land revenue is Rs. 1,77,024, which falls at the rate of Re. 1-3-0 per acre. The population is 116,329, or 512 to the square mile. Two streams take their course through this pargana,—the Gurdáta, which is a mere lateral channel of the Ganges, and passes through it into Daundia Khera, and the Lon, which rises in Unao; both are freely used for irrigation, but are dry during the hot weather. Near the village of Gurwa Bishunpur there is a lake three miles in length which contains water all the year round, there is also abundance of fish, but water- fowl are unusually scarce. Herds of níl-gáe and black buck are found everywhere. There are fourteen bazars in which articles of country produce are sold. Three fairs are held during the year. The largest is at Kolhwágára on. the Ganges, and is attended by 120,000 persons, in November; at Bithar, and Magarwära assemblies are held in honour of Mahádeo in March and November It is said that in early times a large human bone three cubits in length was found at the spot where the town of Harha now stands. Jasa Singh, Lodb of Indrapur, who owned the land to the east, claimed the bone. Bhúre Ahir of Shekhúpur, a convert to the Musalman faith, who owned the land IP