88 IKA ountry in order. Bariár Sáh was the youngest son of Narsinghdeo, who lived in Pawargarh in the fort of Bomgarh near Nímach, and had taken service with the Delhi emperor. Tradition says little about either the iláqa or the family until the time of Maha Singh, ninth in descent, in whose time (in the year 1635 A.D.) the title and pay of a risáldár were lost to the family, though Shah Jahán confirmed the then holder in his proprietary right in the ilaqa. At that time the estates were almost conterminous with the present pargana, though the Sultan's farmán entitled the grantee to a per- centage on the revenue of several other parganas. The trans-Rápti portion of the estate seems to have been acquired by the Ikauna taluqdar subse- quent to the reign of Bahlol Lodi; for, in the year 1483 A.D., pargana Dangdun, of which it was a portion, consisting of 192 villages, was held by a hill rája called Udatt Singh; whereas in 1667 A.D. the hill chiefs of Phálabáng and Júmli possessed only 78 villages in this part. The Ikauna house had previously, viz., about the year 1566 A.D., thrown off a branch, that of Balrámpur; and in Mahá Singh's time the Gújíganj and Jagannath- pur estates were occupied by cadets of this same family. Chain Singh, eleventh in descent from Bariár Sáh, obtained another farmán from Delhi to the same effect as that of Maha Singh in 1716 A.D., and it was in his time that his brother Partáb Singh set up for himself in the Gangwal iláqa, which marched with that of the Gonda rája, and was consequently difficult to hold. From this time until 1816 A.D., the whole estate was under quasi-direct management, a tahsildar residing on it to protect the Govern- ment interests. Two generations after Chain Singh came Abdhút Singh, in whose person the curse of madness first came upon the family; Bijai Singh, the sixteenth in descent, and his son, Lál Bahadur Singh, both being afflicted in this way. It was three years only prior to annexation that Káit Pargásh Singh succeeded to the estates, the whole of which he has lost for complicity in rebellion. The Gangwal ráj was founded by Partáb Singh, as related above. For two generations the contests with the Gonda rája for this border estate, called the Dobaha and Manikapur ilaqas, were conti- Partáb Singh was killed in one of these fights, but his son Jaswant managed to hold his own well up to 1769 A.D. Kishan Parshád, his grand- son, however, who succeeded, held only 12 or 15 villages, the remainder of the estates heing held khám by the názim up to 1816 A.D., in which year all the original estates held by Partáb Singh were restored to the taluqdar, who thereafter held undisturbed possession. Like all the great estates in this district, the iláqa grew greater still during the forty years immediately preceding annexation, but a Nemesis was coming in the shape of the tyrant Ragliubar Dayál, názim, who completely devastated the country side in 1846-47 A.D. A curse of childlessness is said to have descended on the family since Kishan Parshád Singh killed Himmat Singh, the first taluqdar of Piágpur. The present taluqdar is nephew of Kishan Parshád Singh, and has himself no son to succeed him. IKAUNA*--Pargana IKAUNA- Tahsil BAHRAICH-District BAHRAICH (latitude 27° 33' 11" north, longitude 81° 59' 38" east).- Is twenty-two miles almost due east of Bahraich, on the road from that place to Balrámpur. nuous.
- By Mr. H. S. Boya, C.S., Assistant Commissioner.
