Aheripur (Tehsil Bharthana)

Aheripur lies in Lat. 26° 41' N. and Long. 79° 9' E. about 3 km. north of the road from Kalpi to Etawah, with which it is connected by a branch road. It is situated about 32 km. south-east of Etawah and 19 km. by road from Bharthana. It is a place of comparatively modern date, although about a kilometre to the west of the village there are the remains of an old village site or khera (mound). The village seems to derive its name from having been settled in by Ahirs.

Aheripur was a flourishing market of the district and was administered under the Act XX of 1856 until April 1st, 1909, when the provisions of the Act were withdrawn. The chief commodities of trade were ghee, cotton and grain. There were several workshops in which country carts of all kinds were prepared. It had a local fame for its market, the principal traffic being in cattle-The shoes known as Salimshahi Juta, manufactured here is still in fashion.

Now the place has considerably declined. A small market, attended by about 400 persons, is held here on Tuesdays and Saturdays, the main items of trade being cloth, grain and shoes. The village has a population of 3,231 and an area of 978 hectares. The principal crops produced in the village are wheat and bajra, a canal and tube-wells forming the chief sources of irrigation. The village, which is electrified possesses a junior Basic school, a junior high school and a higher secondary school. It contains an ancient shrine dedicated to Bihari Ji (Lord Krishna) and a tank constructed by Marwari Brahmanas.

Airwa, a place of considerable antiquity is built on and around a lofty khera (mound) in Lat, 26°54' N. and Long. 79°27' E. on the Usrahar-Bidhuna road about 59 km. north-east of Etawah. On the road to Bidhuna, a little to the south-east of the village, are the remains of what appears to have been a Buddhist temple of very ancient date, the foundation of which, consisting of massive blocks of kankar, may still be traced. Airwa was the headquarters of a tahsil in district Farrukhabad till 1857, when a portion of that district was made over to Etawah. The place comprises two localities Airwa Tikur and Airwa Koyali. The former has a population of 1,373 and an area of 501 hectares and the latter has a population of 946 with an area of 120 hectares. It possesses a police-station, a junior Basic school, a junior high school, a higher secondary school and a hospital. The market is held here on Wednesdays and Saturdays. Some 3 km. to the west at Doaba, large fairs are held in honour of Durvasha Rishi from Chaitra Sudi 15 to Vaisakhi Badi 2 and Agrahayana Sudi 15 to Pausa Badi 15. The commodities brought to the fair .for sale are cloth, wood, bamboo, agricultural implements, toys and sweets.

Ajitmal or Sarai Ajitmal lies in Lat. 26° 33' N. and Long 79° 21' E., on the road from Agra to Kalpi about 21 km. north-west of Auraiya. As its name implies, it was one of the imperial serais on the road from Agra to Kalpi. An inscription on the gate of the serai gives the date of its construction and the name of the builder. "In the year 1049 Hijri (1639 A. D.) in which the accession of the emperor Shahjahan took place, the serai of Ajitmal was built by Ajitmal Kayasth. To the west of the village lies Babarpur, which is evidently a place of much greater antiquity than Ajitmal and has been mentioned in a separate article.

The village has a population of 3,252 and in area of 165 hectares, a canal and tube-wells forming the chief sources of irrigation. Bajra and wheat are the main crops produced in the village. Ajitmal, which is electrified, possesses a degree college, a higher secondary school, a dispensary, a veterinary hospital, a police-station and the government normal school. Ajitmal is also the headquarters of a development block to which it gives its name.

Auraiya (Tahsil Auraiya)

Auraiya, the tahsil headquarters, lies in Lat. 26° 28' N. and Long. 79° 21' E, on the ancient route from Agra to Allahabad about 63 km. south-east of Etawah and 110 km. west of Kanpur by road. Other roads lead from the town to Dibiapur on the north and Jalaun on the south. The site of the town is remarkably level, so that it does not appear to be anywhere raised above the surface of the surrounding country ; nevertheless it is. well drained, for it lies at the head of the gently sloping ground which joins the Yamuna ravines. The tahsil is built on the Jalaun road and branching off the latter at right angles, a road leads to the chief market place known as Humeganj, after A. O. Hume, a former collector of the district and later the founder of the Indian National Congress.

In Samvat 1578 or 1521 A. D. one Narayan Das. a Singhiya Brahmana and son of Roshang Deo, founded Narayanpur close to what was then called Nagla Kabirpur. The settlement did not flourish, and Kamal Shah, a fakir, was asked to pray for its prosperity. He replied that no success could be hoped for unless another name was given to the village (nom awari rakhla). In course of time awari was corrupted into Auraiya ; and the town continued to flourish under the protecting influence of another fakir called Sajhanand, whose temple still exists. No men of any great notoriety appear ever to have lived in the town. In 1857 some businessmen assisted financially the local freedom fighters. The town contains the ruins of two old serais, one built by the Marathas and the other by Katha Bhattiara ; and two tanks, one constructed by Balak Ram and the other by Fateh Chand. Besides there are some old masonry wells with undecipherable inscriptions

and two mosques, both built by Umar Khan, a Romlla chief about the middle of the eighteenth century. Among the temple the most famous are the temples of, Babu Bairam Das, and Samadh Banarsi Das, an about 325 years old.

The town, which is electrified, is administered as a municipality and has a population of 25,517 and an area of 5.14 sq. km. It has a degree college, four intermediate colleges, including one for girls and a teachers' training college. The headquarters of the Auraiya block is also located in the town. It has a big grain mandi (market). Food-grains, ghee and oil-seeds are exported from the town to district Jalaun.

The village of Babarpur also known as Sarai Babarpur lies in Lat. 26° 34' N. and Long. 79° 20' E., about 39 km. south-east of Etawah on the old road to Kalpi. It takes its name from the emperor Babur who used it as a halting place. The sarai, now in ruins, stands near the village site and was built in the time of Almas Ali Khan, the Avadh governor and the fort close by was erected by one of his servants.

The village has a population of 579 and an area of 122 hectares. Formerly a large trade in salt, gram, and castor-oil used to be carried on from it with Jalaun and Gwalior, the place being ftoted for the last named article which used to be manufactured in large quantities. The place has now, however, considerably declined in importance. A large cattle fair especially of goats is held in the village.

Bakewar a large village, lies in Lat. 26°39' N. and Long. 79°12' E., about 21 km. south-east to Etawah on the road from Agra to Allahabad. From the elevation of its site the present village appears to over lie some older town. The village derives its name from Bakasur, a rakshasa who according to a local tradition lived at this place and was a contemporary of Lord Krishna. Its population is 8,232 and the area 1,048 hectares. Wheat and barley are the main crops, canal, tube-wells and tanks forming the chief sources of irrigation.

The village, which is electrified, contains three junior Basic schools, two junior high schools, a higher secondary school, a degree college, a hospital, a family planning centre, and a police-station. A main market is held here on every Monday and Friday. It is also the training centre of village level workers. The people of the place took an active part in the freedom struggle of 1857.

Barauna Kalan lies in Lat. 26°53' N. and Long. 79°25' E,, about 67 km. from Etawah and 16 km. from Bidhuna. It is said to have been founded about 325 years ago by Harchand Rai, a Kanaujia Brahmana. The village has a population of 5,644 and an area of 1,774 hectares. Wheat and paddy are the main crops, a canal, wells and tanks forming the chief sources of irrigation.

Barpura, considerable village, lies in Lat 26°43' N. and Long. 78°59 E., between the Yamuna and the Chambal rivers some 3 km. west of the road from Farrukhabad and Etawah to Gwalior about 13 km. south-west from Etawah. The village was formerly the headquarters of a tahsil which was abolished in 1843 The place gradually declined in importance and is now merely an agricultural village with a population of 1,238 and an area of 489 hectares. Bajra and bejhar are the main crops produced in the village.

It has a junior Basic school, a police-station, and the office of the forest department.

Bela, a village in the north-east of the tahsil, lies on the right bank of the Pandu stream in Lat. 26° 50' N. and Long 79° 21' E., at the junction of the two roads from Auraiya and Etawah to Kanauj (district Farrukhabad), about 19 km. east of Bidhuna and 67 km. east of Etawah. It was once a place of considerable importance, being formerly the headquarters of a sub-collectorate which included several parganas, and prior to the formation of the present district it formed part of district Farrukhabad. Since the removal of the tahsil headquarters to Bidhuna after the freedom struggle of 1857 the place gradually declined to an ordinary village. Until 1886 Bela was administered under the Act XX of 1856 but in that year owing to the decay of the place, the provisions of the Act were withdrawn. The village has a population of 2,668 and an area of 860 hectares. Wheat and paddy are the main crops, a canal, wells and tanks forming the chief sources of irrigation.

It contains a junior Basic school, a junior high school, a higher secondary school, a hospital, a family planning centre and a police-station. A market is held here on every Tuesday and Saturday. The place is situated on a lofty mound and was formerly surrounded by a wall, traces of its gates and the ruins of an old fort still remaining.

Bhareh lies in Lat 26° 31’ N. and Long. 79° 17' E.. near the confluence of the Yamuna and the Chambal rivers about 41 km. west of Auraiya The place has a population of 540 and an area of 510 hectares. Wheat and bajra are the main crops. The village contains the runs of a fine old fort, a temple and a junior Basic school.

Bharthama, the headquarters of the tahsil of the same name lies in Lat. 26° 44’ and Long. 79° 17' E., on the Tundla-Kanpur branch line of the Northern Railway with a station to which it also gives its name. A road about 21 km. in length leads from the place to Etawah. It was selected as the headquarters of a tahsil by Mr A. O. Hume on account of its central position, at the time when he rearranged the boundaries of the different parganas. Bhrathana is said to have been founded by one Barat Singh and is also known as Bharthana Bibipur. It contains a police-station, two hospitals, a degree college, a health centre, a family planning centre,, three higher secondary schools, two junior high schools, ten junior Basic schools, a cold storage, a public library and a reading-room. The town, which is electrified, is being administered as a municipality and has a population of 13,668 and an area of 1.09 sq. km. the drinking water being supplied through pipe lines. It is also the headquarters of a development block to which it gives its name. Rafiat, furniture and agricultural implements are the chief commodities manufactured in the town, the articles of import being cloth, iron and cement, and rice, peas and mustard oil constituting the main items of export.

Bidhuna, the headquarters of the tahsil of the same name, lies in Lat. 26°49' N. and Long. 79° 32' E., about 56 km. east of Etawah. Roads lead from the place to Bela on the north-east, Achalda on the north-west and to Bewar in district Mainpuri .on the north-west- To the north of the village are the ruins of an old fort, which from a distance have a rather picturesque appearance. The village has a population of 5,612 and area an of 351 hectares. Wheat and jowar are the main crops produced in the village, wells forming the chief source of irrigation.

Bidhuna, which is electrified, possesses a police-station, two junior Basic schools, a junior high school, a higher secondary school and a dispensary. A market is held here on Tuesdays and Fridays.

Chakar Nagar an ancient place, lies in Lat. 26° 36' N, and Long. 79° 8' E., about 26 km. south-east of Etawah between the Yamuna and the Chambal rivers. The modern village is little worthy of note, but the old town, the site of which is 3 km. to the west, is evidently a place of great antiquity and considerable size. There is an enormous khera (mound) having traces of old buildings. Near it on the west, is a magnificent well, built of blocks of kankar evidently very old. popular tradition has it that the city, in the time of Pandavas, was so large that one gate was at Sara Tal and the other at Bhareh, though these places are some 48 km. apart. There is a legend that an ogre, who was a Sonar by caste, lived here and devoured a man, and with him about half a quintal of sweetmeats, every day. He was killed by Bhima Sen and thrown into the large well at Chakar Nagar. The inhabitants of the place pick up from time to time what are apparently nodules of iron ore and believed that they are the drop ?, of the ogre's blood. The khera is reported to have been called Ekachakra whence the modern name is derived, and is said to have been mentioned under the old name in the Mftihabharata. The story of the fight between the Pandava hero, Bhima and the; Asura raja, named Vaka, whose appetite could not be satisfied by the unfortunate inhabitants of Ekachakra, is also told. Chakar Nagar was the headquarters of a taluka.

The Chauhan raja who owned it, joined the freedom fighters in 1857, and was deprived of his estates. The village has a population of 3,194 and an area of 1,412 hectares. Bejhar and bajra arc the main crops produced in the village.

The village has a primary health centre, a maternity and child welfare centre; an Ayurvedic dispensary, an agricultural seed store, a higher secondary school and a police-station.

Dalelnagar, lies in Lat. 26°39^' N. and Long 79°37' E., on the road from Etawah to Auraiya, about 45 km. from the former and 15 km. from the latter place. The village was founded by a Pathan named Dalel Khan, whose tomb still exists in the village. It gave its name for some time to a pargana which is now in tahsil , Auraiya. Close to the village was the Muradganj Bazar, which had a large traffic in cotton, oil-seeds and cattle till the close of the 19th century. The place is now an ordinary village with a population of 2,377 souls and an area of 106 hectares. Wheat and bajra are the main crops, a canal and tube-wells forming the chief sources of irrigation. It has a junior Basic school.

Dibiyapur, lies in Lat. 26°39' N. and Long. 79°37' E., on the road from Auraiya to Bela, about 19 km. north of the former. The Tundla-Kanpur branch of the Northern Railway passes through the village with a station here which is the chief outlet for the traffic from Auraiya to the south. Dibiyapur which is electrified has a population of 4,741 the area of the locality being included in the neighbouring village of Umare and Kakrahi.

It possesses a degree college, an intermediate college, a junior high school for girls, a police-station, a hospital and an inspection house each of the public works and the irrigation lepartments.

Etawah, the district and the tahsil headquarters, lies in Lat, 26°46' N. and Long. 79°1' E.. on the ancient routes from Agra to Allahabad, about 256 km. south-west of Lucknow. It lies on the main line of the Delhi-Mughalsarai section of the Northern Railway passing through Ghaziabad, Aligarh, Etawah, Kanpur and Allahabad. Metalled roads connect Etawah with Farrukhabad on the north-east, Mainpuri on the north, Agra on the north-west and Kanpur on the east.

The name of the town is more correctly written Intawa or Itawa, int meaning brick and awa meaning brick kiln. It is still sometimes spoken of as the city of bricks, and both., tradition and appearance of the ground indicate that the modern city was founded on a encient khera or town-site, so that it is not improvable that the existence of old brick or old brick kilns may have given rise to the name. A curious legend relating to the founding of the :ity gives additional colour to this derivation. It is said that when the Chauhan leader Sumer Shah came to bathe in the Yamuna he saw a goat and a wolf drinking water at the same place. Struck by this occurrence he consulted astrologers, who advised him to. build a fort at the place. He took their advice and workmen I were set up to excavate the foundations. In the course of digging they came upon a brick made of silver and gold, and called out Int aya meaning brick has been found. From the workmen's cry the city took the name Intaya, which in course of time was corrupted into Intawa. The city site has undoubtedly been occupied from very early times. It is said to have been plundered by Mahmud of Ghazni and again by Shihab-ud-din Ghori after the defeat of Raja Jaichand of Kannauj. The fort was built by the Chauhans at their first immigration, and continued to be their residence until their removal to Partabner. It was then occupied by a Muslim governor, and in the 16th century must have been a place of considerable strength, as it was long held by the Sharqi kings of Jaunpur, and is mentioned by Babur in his memoirs. In the 17th century Etawah was a famous banking and commercial centre but in the following century suffered much from Rohilla' and Maratha raids. About the year 1750 A.D. it was plundered by Malhar Rao Holkar, who had been called in by Safdar Jane, the nawab of Avadh, to assist him against the Rphillas. Etawah then fell for a short time into the hands of Govind Rao Pandit, the Maratha faujdar of Jalaun, but on the defeat of the Marathas by Shuja-ud-daula, the country was ceded to Avadh, and remained in the possession of the nawabs of Avadh until its session to the British in 1801. The fort was. for a time, the residence of the amils of the Avadh government, but was destroyed under the orders of Shuja-ud-daula in consequence of the representations of the people of the town that so long as the amils occupied such an impregnable residence they would never do anything but oppress , the people. After 1801 the town steadily improved. The opening of the railway and the metalling of the Farrukhabad-Gwalior road did much to further its commercial prosperity, cotton mills also sprang up in the city. Etawah is being administered as a municipality since 1884.

The city has an area of 9.35 sq. km. and a population of 85,894 souls and lies between the Yamuna on the south or southwest and the railway line on the north. The main portion of the town, is separated from the river by a strip of ravined country about a kilometre in length though there are a few localities quite close to the river. The old town lies among or at the head of the ravine and the newer portions stretch backward to the north. Several nullahs intersect the city and owing to their wild and pleasing appearance, especially where the border ravines are clothed with trees.

A general view of the city may be obtained from the top of the Jama Masjid, the principal place of Muslim worship at Etawah. It is situated on high ground to the right of the Gwalior road, as one proceeds towards the Yamuna It possesses no minarates but has a lotty screen about 16 m. high and somewhat less in width, pierced in the centre by a doorway which gives admittance to the central hall. On either side of this central domed hall which forms the mosque are two small chambers, the roofs of which are supported by red sandstone pillars. The main portion of the building is of block kankar with fragments of blue stone in the walls and portions of at least ten granite columns of varying lengths. It is commonly supposed that the building is an old Hindu or Buddhist structure converted into a mosque, but the style of the screen and the architecture generally is the same that of the Atala and Jama Masjids at Jaunpur, and the present building is probably an erection of the Sharqi kings during their occupation of Etawah. Idgah is located in the Civil Lines, where on the occasion of Id-ul-fitr and Id-ul-zuha a great majority of Muslim community of the town assemble for prayers.

The most conspicuous Hindu temple in the city is that dedicated to Tiksi Mahadeo, which lies low down among the ravines on the Gwalior road. It is built up on a high buttressed platform which raises it considerably above the roadway beneath it. Its erection is ascribed to one Angad Rai, an Agrawala of the city, about 1780 A.D. It is said that the lingam was installed here by sage Basistha, the guru of Rama.

The most frequented temple in the city is Asthala. It is situated within a walled enclosure in a grove to the west of the city and is entered by a fine gateway. In the inner courtyard of tri temple is a curious pillar which goes by the name of "Guruji-ka-khamba". It is much smaller at the base than at the top, and is surrounded by a stone cage containing an idol. The side of the pillar are covered with carvings, the principal feature in which is the serpent. The temple was built in 1800 A.D. one Gopal Das, a Kanaujia Brahman a of Etawah, who was a favourite of the Avadh amil. The idol worshipped is the Nar-Singh (the man-lion incarnation of Vishnu) and every year in the month of November the idol is taken and carried out in procession around the_; temple.

To the south-east of Tiksi temple is the temple dedicated to Nilkantheshwar Mahadeo. It is said that the lingam was installed here by sage Vishwamitra, but the building is of recent origin. The temple dedicated tb Kali is located in the west of Tiksi temple. Another important temple is that of Kali Bahan which is situated about a kilometre south of the southern limit of the town and is connected by a road.

The fort lies on an irregular table-land possessing a some what higher elevation than the surrounding ravine uplands. The table-land is completely isolated on all sides and possesses a fine view over the Yamuna. It is doubtful, however, whether the fort was built on a pre-existing khera, for the construction of the fort walls has helped to save the sides and top of the plateau from the denudation that has taken place among the ravines. The Duton traveller de Leet, who wrote about 1631 A.D., describes the fort as surrounded by a small wall. "On its gate" he writes, "a human face is sculptured which the Indians regard with a superstitions awe, and worship it by anointing profusely with oil. The remains of the gate are still to be seen on the east side of the. hill, but there are no signs of a human face. On the south side the double wall, the inner line of which was furnished with massive bastions may still be traced. There are also the ruins of twelve towers at intervals on the circuit of the hill, showing that the fort must originally have been of great extent. The only building now standing is a bmadari, but it is of recent date. To the west of the baradari are two ranges of underground rooms (tehkhanas) and a very deep masonry well. The top of the hill is attained by a winding road.

Among the other important buildings of the town are the Victoria Memorial Hall (now known as the Kamala Nehru Bhawan), constructed between 1903 and 1905 and being put to public use the Islamia College, the tahsil building, Sanatan Dharm Inter College and the office of the Zila Parishad, the last three being constructed by A. O. Hume, the then collector of the district and later the founder of the Indian National Congress.

The chief educational institution in the city are the Karma Kshetra Degree college, the Sanatan Dharm Inter college, two Government Inter colleges including one for girls, the Hafiz Muhammad Islamia College, Tiwari Jwala Prasad Arya Kanya Pathshala, Karma Kshetra Inter College, Shiva Narain Inter College, Sharawal Inter college, Janta Inter college, a normal school, each for boys and girls and besides these five junior high schools and forty junior Basic schools.

There are eleven dharmsalas and an inspection house each of the public works department, Zila Parishad, forest department and irrigation department, Etawah also has the branches of the Punjab National Bank, Central Bank of India, Allahabad Bank, Co-operative Bank and the State Bank. It also possesses two cinema-halls and the Etawah Club.

As regards the medical facilities in the city it has the District Hospital, T. B. Hospital, Women's Hospital, an eye hospital, the children hospital and a number of dispensaries.

Besides the collectorate and the tahsil building all the district level offices are also located in the city.

Harchandpur lies in Lat. 26° 43' N. and Long. 79° 27' E., about 11 km. due south of Bidhuna, and 62 km. east of Etawah. Till the middle of the 19th century it was very flourishing market town which gradually reduced to an ordinary village. It has a population of 6,066 and an area of 1,605 hectares. Wheat and rice are the main crops, a canal and wells forming the chief sources of irrigation.

To the west of the village is a large square mound of earth dedicated, to the worship of a deity called Jokhai, who is represented by a stone containing what are apparently crystals of a methyst. Jokhai is said to have been an Ahir who was killed and defied after death. It has a junior Basic school and two Intermediate colleges.

Jasauhan, a large village lies in Lat. 26° 50' N. and Long. 78° 51' E., about 18 km. west of Etawah on the road to Kachaura ghat. The village is situated among the ravines and has a population of 4,003 and an area of 1,224 hectares. Bejhar is the main crop, a canal, tube-wells and wells forming the chief sources of irrigation. The cloth made here had at one time some celebrity and was exported in considerable quantities to Lucknow and Kanpur. The place contains two junior Basic school and a temple dedicated to Sitla Devi, where a fair is held on the 6th day of the bright half of the month of Bhadra.

The town lies in Lat. 26° 53' N. and Long. 78° 53' E., on the road from Agra to Etawah about 16 km. north-west of Etawah, to the north of the Jaswantnagar railway station on the Delhi-Muqhal-sarai main line of the Northern Railway. The town, which is comparatively of modern origin, was founded on the site of a village which bore the name of Sarai Ahiran till it came into the possession of Jaswant Rai, a Kayastha of district Mainpuri. who settled it and renamed it Jaswantnagar after himself. The chief business centre of the town lies on the Agra-Etawah road. To the west of the town, on the south side of the Agra road is the small temple -where on the 19th May, 1857, a battle took place between the freedom fighters and the British forces. At the south-east corner f the town, on the bank of the Sarsa river, there is a fine masonry ,nnk with a temple and bathing ghats, constructed by Nand Kishore, a rich man of the locality.

The town had at one time a municipality but has been administered under Act XX of 1856 since the year 1876. It is being administered as a town area which has an area of 2.59 sq. km. and a population of 11,295. Previously considerable trade was carried on in cattle, agricultural produce and cloth ; the last consisting both, of English piece goods and country-made kharua cloth. Now the chief commodities manufactured in the town are handloom clbtix ink and match boxes.

Kudarkot, a large village, lies in Lat. 26° 49' N. and Long 79° 25' E., about 40 km. north-east of Etawah on the old road to Kanauj. It is a place of great antiquity as is evident from its name. The story current regarding the derivation of the name is as follows : A raja was passing through the jungle near the spot where the village now stands, with his retinue, when his rani lost a gold ornament called kundal. The raja, out of gratitude to the local deity, who was supposed to have made the search for the ornament successful, erected a fort at the place where it was found and named it Kundal Kot, since corrupted into Kudarkot. It was certainly a well-known place in the time of the Kanauj kingdom, for a long inscription, which from its characters can safely be ascribed to the 10th or llth century, was discovered here in 1857. It records the dedication of a-residence for Brahmanas by one Taksha Datta, son of Harivarma, in memory of his father, and apparently contains the names of the first six Brahmanas who resided there ; no mention of a kings name, however, is made, and the record is of purely local interest. It is stated that an underground passage from Kudarkot to Kanauj once existed, and the small masonry doorway that forms the entrance of the passage is still pointed out a little to the north of the site, and is known as the patal-dwara, or gate of hell. No one has ever penetrated it, and the story goes that an adventurous fakir is the only person who ever attempted to probe its mysteries. Having provided himself with a torch and food, and taking the end of a long string in his hand, he began the descent ; for three days and three nights string was paid out and then stopped. Since then nothing has been heard either of the fakir or the string. The fort, which surmounts the khera (mound) and is now in ruins was 'built by the Avadh governor Almas Ali Khan, who sometimes held his court here. It had sixteen bastions and was handed over to the British government at the cession, but had since been allowed to go to ruin. Cannon balls of indurated clay are still to be found. Formerly it must have been a place of considerable strength. Besides the pan gardens the place is noted for the large size and sweetness of its plums. A small market is held here on every Tuesday and Saturday. The place has a population of 3,055 and an area of 445 hectares. Wheat and rice are the main crops, a canal and tube-wells forming the chief sources of irrigation. Kudarkot has two junior Basic schools and two junior high schools.

Lakhna, a small town, lies in Lat. 26° 40' N. and Long. 79° 11' E., on the road from Bharthana to Sahson, on the right bank of the Bhognipur canal and 3 km. to the south of the road from Etawah to Auraiya, about 14 km. south of Bharthana and 24 km. south-east of Etawah. It was the headquarters of a tahsil until 1863, when the establishment was removed to Bharthana. Markets are held here on Sundays and Wednesdays, and a considerable trade in cloth, grain and ghee is Carried on. Lakhna has a population of 5,320 and an area of about 1 sq. km

It is being administered as a town area and possesses a hospital, a family planning centre, a reading-room, two junior Basic schools, a junior high school and a higher secondary school.

Munj lies in Lat. 26°55'N and Long 79° 111'E., on a mound about 23 km. north-east of Etawah, close to the Etawah-Farrukhabad road. From the size and height of the khera (mound) the village appears to have been a place of some note in former days. The village is said to have been the scene of a fight in the Mahabharata war when Muratdhvaj, the raja of Munj, with his two sons fought with king Yudhisthira. The position of the great gateway of Muratdhvaj's castle, with the traces of two great bastions on either side, is still pointed out. To the north of the khera there is a curious old well, built of block kankar, the appearance of which seems to suggest that it was constructed out of materials derived from some older buildings. The khera forms an apparently inexhaustible quarry for old bricks, which are found to be of enormous size at depths of 10 or 13 m. The place was identified by Mr A. O. Hume with the Munj which was taken by Mahmud of Ghazni in 1018 A.D. after a deseperate resistance on the part of garrison ; but local traditions have no knowledge of this and the identification is extremely doubtful.

The village has a population of 4,401 and an area of 2,234 hectares A canal and tanks form the chief sources of irrigation. It has three junior Basic and three junior high schools.

Partabner, a large village lies in Lat. 26° 48’ N. and Long. 78° 57' E., about 14 km. distant from Etawah. It is connected by a branch road with the road from Kachaura Ghat to Etawah. The village was founded by Raja Partab Singh, the 13th Raja of the line of Chauhan Rajputs who emigrated under Sumer Shah of Etawah about 1250 A.D. The same chieftain built a fort which is now in ruins.

The village has a population of 5,780 and an area of hectares. There are a junior Basic school, a junior high school and a dispensary.

Phaphund a large village lies in Lat. 26°36' N. and Long. 79°28' E., about 58 km. south-east of Etawah and 18 km. north of Auraiya. Roads lead from the town to Auraiya on the south, Bela on the north-east, Sarai Ajitmal on the west, Dalelnagar on the south-west, Kanchausi on the east and Dibiyapur railway station on the north-east.

Two accounts are given of the derivation of its name. One is that one Phundan Sahu, a Mahajan of the place founded the town and named it after himself. In support of this story it is

said that there are some Mahajan families still resident in it who claim descent from Phundan Sahu. The other derivation is that Phaphun Deo founded the village and gave it his name. Phaphun Deo was descended from Raja Bisukh Deo, who is said to have obtained considerable parts of tahsils Bidhuna and Auraiya by marrying the daughter of Raja Jaichand of Kanauj. In 1254 A.D. Shiugan or Sheogan. Deo was born in the same line, who founded Sheoganpur in Auraiya and had five sons. The latter divided the country between them, and one branch lived for three generations at. Kurhi, until Phaphund Deo founded the town of Phaphunrl in 1411 A.D. The village has been the home of several celebrities, among whom Mahant Sajhanand, Shah Bukhari, Mahant Para]-;- Das, Yasin Shah and Raja Bhagmal may be mentioned. The first two of these, the one a Hindu and the other a Muslim ascetic, were contemporaries and friends. Shah Bukhari's real name was Jafar, and the date of his death is fixed by a jigling rhyme current among Saiyids :

Nine fifty six years from the Hijra had sped
When the spirit of Shah Jafar - Aulia fled.

His tomb and mosque are at Phaphund and an urs or ceremonial mourning attended by some 10,000 persons takes place at his grave every year lasting from the 1st to the 31st of January. Mahant Param Das and Yasin Shah were both holy men who have been credited with the performance of many miracles, including the restoration of the dead to life. To Raja Bhagmal Phaphund is indebted for the majority of the tanks and temples whose ruins lie scattered in and around the village. He was by caste a Jat, and nephew to Almas Ali Khan, who was a Hindu by birth, but was subsequently made an eunuch and converted to Islam. Almas Ali Khan, when he became nazim under the Avadh government, made his relative Bhagmal amil of this portion of the country. Bhagmal, built the old fort at Phaphund, on the site of which the tahsil was erected and a mosque constructed by him bears an inscription, according to which Bhagmal laid the foundation of a mosque in the year 1211 II. (1796 A.D.) under the-verbal directions of Almas Ali Khan in honour of Shah Jafar. Near Bhagmal's mosque is a masonry well containing an inscription "Khadim Dargah Jaba wold kashi", meaning curator of the Shrine Jaba, son of Kashi. This Jaba is said to have been a Banjara converted to Islam.

Formerly it was a place of considerable importance in trade. Excellent dhotis with silk edging as well as pasgris (turban) of superior quality used to be manufactured here, the demand for which had practically died out with the introduction of British- cloth.

Phaphund which is being administered as a town area has a population of 8,764 souls and an area of 5.4 sq. km. Wheat and bejhar are the main crops, canals and. tube-well forming the chief sources of irrigation. It possesses a police-station, an intermediate college, a junior high school, a junior Basic School, a dispensary and a maternity and child welfare centre.

Sarai Ekdil (Tahsil Etawah)

Sarai Ekdil lies in Lat; 28°46^/ N. and Lone. 79°5' E.. about 8 km. east of Etawah on the ancient route from Agra to Allahabad. The site is said to have been first settled by a Kayastha, named Rupa and was known as Sarai Rupa. In 1042 Hijri (1632 A. D.) an eunuch named Ekdil Khan built a new serai and mosque, thenceforth called after his name. The Agra-Allahabad road is arched by two fine stone gateways, with the inscription: "In the reign of Shahjahan the foundation of the mosque was laid" and by the favour of the Almighty it was completed under the supervision of the brave Bhikam Khan. The town gives its name to a railway station on the main line of the Delhi-Mughalsarai section of the Northern Railway-The town, which is electrified, has a population of 5,596, and is being administered as a town area. Potatoes which are one of the main crops of the surrounding tracts are exported from the town to Rajasthan and West Bengal. There are several flour mills and saw mills in the town which also has a local fame for its handloorns and powerlooms. Markets are held on every Tuesday and Saturday when vegetables, grains, articles of daily use and goats are brought for sale.

The town possesses a higher secondary school, a junior high school for girls and a junior Basic school each for boys and girls.

Sarai Shishgaran, a small village in the extreme west of tahsil Bidhuna, lies in Lat. 26° 47' N. , and Long 79° 26'E., about 17 km. west of Bidhuna and 7 km. west of Kudarkot, on the ancient route from Kanauj to Etawah. Tradition assigns its origin to Kaja Jai Chand of Kanauj who used it as a halting place between Kanauj and Etawah. It was afterwards occupied by Muslim glass-workers; these manufactured crude glass and bangles, which were exported from the place in considerable quantity. The village has a population of 5,665 souls and an area of 243 hectares.

Umrain, a village lying in the extreme north-west corner of the tahsil. lies in Lat 26° 56' N and Long 79° 24' E., at a distance of about 42 km', north-west of Bidhuna with which it is connected by an unmetalled road. The village is said to drive its name from Umrao Singh, a Dhakra Rajput, who drove out the Meos, the original inhabitants. The village has a population of 2,212 souls and an area of 264 hectares, wheat and maize are the principal crops, tube-wells forming the chief sources of irrigation.

In the village there is a temple of Burhadana, a deity to whom a buffalo used to be sacrificed whenever the rains failed but this . practice was stopped by the end. of the nineteenth century. The village has a higher, secondary school, a junior high school, a junior Basic school and a dispensary. A. market is held here on Tuesdays and Fridays.