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النشر الإلكتروني

It is only during the last year that so much money has been drawn from the district by bills, and that is occasioned by speculation in Sugar, which is generally paid by bills on the Collector, drawn either direct from Calcutta, or intermediately from Ghazeepore, Benares, or Mirzapore.

19th. The inhabitants of the district are generally very illiterate. The Rajpoots, who constitute the great mass of proprietors, are seldom able to read or write. Endeavours have been frequently made to obtain returns of village schools, but these have been very unsatisfactory. Indeed there are very few professed instructors of youth; nor is instruction regularly afforded to the youth of any part of the country, except at the Sudder station and its immediate neighbourhood, where the Residents have established schools. In other parts of the country the village Putwaree, or some other Lallah, occasionally gives instructions in Hindee as it suits his leisure or inclination, and his neighbours will occasionally send their children, and acknowledge his services by small presents, perhaps of money, or more probably grain or other agricultural produce. All Brahmins of any learning have a few disciples attached to them, but this sort of instruction is not professedly for gain. It is restricted to their own class, and partakes greatly of the nature of a religious duty.

20th. The returns show seventy-seven schools, where instruction is given for remuneration. The number of scholars is supposed to be 674, and the total monthly emoluments of the teachers about 300 Rs. per mensem. The great majority of these are for the instruction of Mahomedans in Arabic, Persian, or Oordoo. There are also supposed to be 134 schools where instruction is given to 1,334 scholars, without any express remuneration to the teacher, all of which, with one exception, are kept by Brahmins for giving instruction in Sanscrit. 21st. Having thus generally stated the extent, disposition, and resources of the district, I proceed to explain the nature of the landed tenures, as they are now found to exist. In doing this it will be necessary first to decide in whom the proprietary right to the land actually rests.

22nd. In discussing this subject, it is of little use to view it theoretically, and to refer to the maxims and principles laid down in books of law. Supposing these to be ever so clear and decisive (which they by no means are) it is questionable if they ever were acted upon with any consistency; or supposing them at any time to have been acted upon, the period has long since passed away, and the disuse into which they have fallen for centuries has practically annulled them. It is of

more use to look to the actual state of things, and ascertain as far as may be possible, what that was in any one part of the country, or at any particular time. It is my purpose to do this as far as I may be able, for the tract of country to which this report refers, and for such period as we may have tradition or history to direct us.

23rd. The whole of Azingurh must have originally formed part of Rama's kingdom of Ujodhya. The inhabitants of that time are called by the present race of men Rajburs and Assoors. The latter is evidently only another instance of the tendency to attribute every thing that is old or wonderful to superhuman agency. There are still existing a race of men called Burs, a very low class, who generally tend swine. They are said to be the descendants of the aborigines, and it is not impossible they may be; but they have lost all traces of their original character, and I do not know a single instance of their now possessing proprietary right.

24th. The inhabitants of the country, by whatever name they are distinguished, were a powerful and industrious race, as is evident by the large works they have left behind them. Immense mud forts still exist, such as are seen at Hurbunspoor and Oonchagaon, near Azimgurh, and at Ghosee, which are attributed to them; and traces of a large excavation still exist, which seems to have connected the Koonwur and Munghai Nuddees, and is known by the name of Asooraeen. The Huree Bandh at Ameinuggur, in Pergunnah Nizamabad, is another work generally attributed to them.

25th. These people were overwhelmed by incursions of Rajpoots, who seem to have come over from the west, under different leaders, and to have completely subjugated the country. Whether the incursions were successive or simultaneous, or at what time they took place, there are no means of ascertaining. An inscription found in Deogaon shows that in the middle of the twelfth century that Pergunnah was included in the dominions of the king of Canoje, and was probably a favorite place of resort for the court.

26th. These invasions of the Rajpoots are the foundation of the present existing proprietary right in the land. Different tribes located themselves in different spots. The descendants of each chief multiplied, till at length, in some instances, they displaced all other occupants of the land, or at least assumed to themselves all proprietary privileges. The stocks were numerous: each Tuppah, or sub-division of a Pergunnah, is marked by the prevalence of its own stock. These all pretend to trace their origin to a single person, who first conquered the country. Thus, the Gautum Rajpoots came from the Dooab un

der two leaders, Gen Rai and Men Rai. They established themselves in Tuppah Dowlutabad, and there founded two villages. Mehannuggur was the residence of Men Rai, and Goura of Gen Rai. To one of these two stocks all the Gautums of that part of the country trace their origin. It is impossible to say when this incursion took place, but circumstances will afterwards be stated, which show that in the beginning of the seventeenth century, the family had increased to such an extent, that some of the stock were obliged to leave the country in search of subsistence.

27th. It is not to be supposed that the families regularly multiplied without interruption from the first stock to the present day. Violent changes constantly took place. Tribes were swept away by the incursions of foreigners, or by the aggressions of their neighbours. During the fifteenth century the kings of the Sherki dynasty from Juanpoor, exercised great sway in the district. Parts of the country seem indeed to have been held by Mahomedans. Pergunnah Belhabans is said to have been peopled by Mahomedans, who were exterminated by an incursion of the Bais Rajpoots, who are at present in exclusive possession of the country. Thus too Tuppah Shah Suleempoor, in Pergunnah Deogaon, seems both from its name and the numerous Mahomedan tombs still existing, to have been not very long ago in the possession of Mussulmans, though it is held entirely by a race of Bhooimjars, who came originally from Goruckpore, and are of the same stock as the Rajah of Benares.

28th. The occasional incursions and supremacy of the Mussulmans is strongly marked in different parts of the country by the existence of shrines and tombs of Shuheed Murds, who are believed to have fallen in contests with the inhabitants of the country, either Hindoos, if in later times, or evil genii, if in older times. Thus the town of Mhow obtains its distinctive title of Nath Bhunjun' from the exploit of a saint called Mullick Tahir, who expelled the evil genius Deo Nauth, and made the country habitable by men; or, in other words, was some adventurer, who drove out the original inhabitants, and located a colony of Mussulmans. The followers of Mullick Tahir have however long since given place to a colony of Dhoonwar Rajpoots, and no trace of the exploit now remains but the old shrine, with numerous other graves strewed around it, where the devotion of all classes, Hindoos as well as Mahomedans, constantly keeps a light burning. Instances similar to this are numerous.

29th. Near the close of the 16th century a member of the Gautum family of Rajpoots in Tuppah Dowlutabad, Pergunnah Nizamabad,

who had left his native village of Mehannuggur, in consequence of the smallness of his share being insufficient for his support, found employment in the imperial court at Delhi, turned Mussulman, became an eunuch of the palace, and obtained in the fourth year of Jehangire (A.D. 1609,) a grant of the Zemindarry of 22 Pergunnahs, in which Chuklah Azimgurh was included.

Rajah Ubluman Sing
Alee Mahomed Nadir
Dowlut Khan,
Rajah Hurbuns,
Rajah Dhurnee Dhur,
Rajah Azim Khan,
Rajah Ikram Khan,

Baboo Mahabut Khan,

Rajah Iradut Khan,
Rajah Jehan Khan,
Rajah Azim Khan.

From A.D. 1609 to A.D. 1771, nine succes

sions of these Rajahs are said to have taken place. Their power appears to have varied greatly. Their rule is said to have been very oppressive. They never paid more than 50,000 to 1,00,000 Rupees into the imperial treasury, and even this was often withheld, and the efforts of the Rajahs are said to have been uniformly directed to the annihilation of all other rights but their own. The Canoongoes were proscribed, and all Pergunnah records that could be found destroyed. Hence none are now found of a date belonging to this period, or prior to it. The Rajahs were first much resisted by the other tribes of Rajpoots, and it was not till after much fighting that Azim Khan, the fourth of the race, about A.D. 1620, overcame the Bais Rajpoots of Uthaisee, and founded the Fort of Azimgurh. Mahabut Khan (said to have reigned from 1677 to 1722) was the most powerful, and established his authority from the Goggra to the Ganges. In 1771, the Nuwab of Oude, Shoojahood Dowlah, resumed the grant, expelled and proscribed the family, and governed the district by Chukladars, till it was ceded to the British in 1801.

30th. Subsequently to our acquisition of the country, the descendants of this line sued the Government in the Provincial Court of Benares for their restoration to the Zemindarry. The suit was of course thrown out, but in the course of it the claimants produced an Altumgha Sunnud as the foundation of their right, granted in the fourth year of Jehangire. Doubts may be entertained of the authenticity of this document, but there is no reason to doubt that some such Sunnud was given, and the document produced in Court, if not the identical one, was probably an imitation of it, or at least was drawn up in the form which such grants generally assume. As the document possesses some interest, from the light it is calculated to throw on the proper meaning of the much contested term Zemindar I subjoin a copy of it, and a translation in plain English, divested of the redundancies of the original.

It has happened in this pro

درینوقت میمنت اقتران فرمان

pitious time that Ubhinan والاشان واجب الاذعان صادر شده که سنگه زمیدار منه نگر نظام آباد

Sing, Zemindar of Mehannug

gur in Nizamabad, has embra

We

Allahabad from the commence

ment of the Khureef Crop,

اهمن

-ced Islamism, and been hono از بنده مقبول بارگاه والاجاه بدین red with the title of Rajah اسلام در آمد نظر بر استحقاق بخطاب .Nadir Dowlut Khan راجه نادره ولتخان ممتاز شده بست have therefore bestowed upon و دو پرگنه از صوبه اله آباد ابتداء him 22 Pergunnahs in Soobah نبیسان خریف سخا قوئيل حسب الضمن مرحمت فرمودیم باید که and according to the specifica فرزندان نامدار کامگار و الاتبار و وز tion below. Our illustrious راي ذوي الاقتدار و حکام کرام و عمال -sons, and rulers of the pro کفایت فرجام و متصدیان مهمات vines, and Mootsuddies must ديواني و متكفلان معاملات سلطانی و جاگیر داران حال و استقبال ابدا ومو -deavors perpetually to main بدا در استقرار و استمرار این حکم tain this grant, and confirm the مقدس و معلی کوشیده برزمینداری -gunnahs to the afore-mention پرگات بخطاب مذکوره نسلا بعد

ever use their strongest en

Zemindaree of the above Per

ed person, and his descendants,

They will deduct

نسل و بطنا بعد بطن خالدا و مخلدا .forever بحال و برقرار داشته بزرهاي -Rupees, as his Nan 1,25,000 مشخص مال واجب سرکار مبلغ یک kar from the total Jumma لكهه و بست و پنجهزار روپیه نانکار بر ,Payable to the Government قبولیت مجرا داده باشند که مع

in order that he may spend

it, and the fixed allowance سرحد و سردیهه وغیره ابواب per village and per centage in زمینداری صرف معشیت خود -the Jumma and other Zemin پردازد و از تصادم تغییر و تبدیل این .darry dues for his support امر مقدس مصيون و محروس داشته سند مجدد نطلبند و از یرلیغ کرامت

This Sunnud will not require

renewal. Dated Rubeeool Ak

ir thin the 4th year of the تبليغ والا انحراف نه ورزند یازدهم

reign شهر ربیع الاحرسنه چهارم جلوس فقط

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