Barabanki district

Barabanki district is one of the five districts of Ayodhya division in the central Awadh region of Uttar Pradesh, India. Barabanki city is the administrative headquarters of Barabanki district. Total area of Barabanki district is 3891.5 Sq. km. It borders seven other districts of Uttar Pradesh. With its most northern point it shares borders with the Sitapur district, while its north-eastern boundary is defined by the Ghagra, beyond which lie the districts of Bahraich district and Gonda district. Its eastern border is shared with Ayodhya district, and the Gomti forms a natural boundary to the south, dividing it from the Amethi district. On the west, it adjoins the Lucknow district.
It has a population of 2,673,581, with a population density of.
Barabanki district is situated between 27°19′ and 26°30′ north latitude, and 80°05′ and 81°51′ east longitude; it runs in a south-easterly direction, confined by the nearly parallel streams of the Ghaghara and Gomti. The extreme length of the district from east to west may be taken at, and the extreme breadth at ; the total area is about.
In 1856, the district came, with the rest of Oudh State, under British rule. During the Indian Rebellion of 1857, the whole of the Barabanki talukdars joined the mutineers, but offered no serious resistance following the capture of Lucknow.
Barabanki district stretches out in a level plain interspersed with numerous lakes and marshes. In the upper part of the district the soil is sandy, while in the lower part it is clay and produces finer crops. The district is fed by the rivers Ghaghra, Gomti, Kalyani and Rait and their tributaries, for the major part of the year. Some rivers dry out in the summer, and become flooded during the rainy season. The changing course of the river Ghagra alters the land area of the district.
The principal crops are rice, wheat, potato, pulse and other food grains and sugarcane. Both of the bordering rivers of Barabanki are navigable. The district is traversed by two lines of the Northern Railway and North-Eastern Railway, with branches having total length of. The district roadways include connections to National Highway 28, state highways and various link roads.

Etymology

The area was once known as Jasnaul, from Jas, a Raja of the Bhar tribe, who is said to have founded it before 1000 AD. Following the Muslim conquest, the lands were divided into twelve, with the new owners quarrelling so incessantly that they were called the Barah Banke, or twelve quarrelsome men. Banka, in Awadhi, means a bully or brave. Others derive the name from ban, meaning wood or jungle, and interpret Barabanki as the twelve shares of jungle.

History

The current Barabanki district was first established by the British upon their annexation of Oudh State in 1856. Originally, the district was known as Daryabad district because its headquarters were at Daryabad, but in 1859 they were relocated to Barabanki. The name "Barabanki" was chosen for the district's official name over "Nawabganj", then the more common name of the town, for two reasons: first, to avoid any possible confusion with other places called Nawabganj, and second, because the civil station was technically located outside of Nawabganj in the small revenue village of Barabanki. Previously, under the Nawabs of Awadh, the area that would become Barabanki district was divided between five chaklas: Daryabad-Rudauli, Ramnagar, Dewa-Jahangirabad Raj, Jagdispur, and Haidargarh.

Early history and legends

Barabanki district is mostly within what was the Pachhimrath division of the kingdom of Rama.
Parijaat tree is a protected baobab tree in the village of Kintoor, and is considered sacred to Hindus. Located near the Kunteshwar Mahadeva temple, the tree is said to grow from Kunti's ashes. The tree is very old, though its age has not been scientifically determined.
Before 1000 AD, Jas, a raja of the Bhar tribe, is said to have founded the locality of Jasnaul which later became Barabanki.

Medieval India

Muslim Infiltration was first tried in what is now the district at Satrikh, in 1030 AD. The Muslim conquest saw Sihali attacked and its Hindu sovereign killed. Bhar chief Raja Sohil Deo of Sahet-Mahet and Rathor monarch Sri Chandradeo of Kannauj fought a battle in Satrikh village of the district and drove out the Foreign Muslim Army in the Battle of Bahraich.
In 1049 AD, the kings of Kanauj and Manikpur were again attacked but the foreigners were defeated and driven away from Oudh. The Muslim invasion was not successful in Bara Banki as elsewhere.
After, Tarain 1192, Moslems again attacked this region and Ayodhya but were not very successful till the reign of Khiljis and Firoz Tuglaq.The foreigners followed a policy of religious persecution and conversions. They also settled many foreigners and gave them fertile tracts in Ramnagar, Daryabad, Zaidpur, Rudauli areas.
From 1350 to about 1750 AD, Muslim immigrants settled in great number in the district. The Muslims first permanently settled in Oudh.
Rudauli was occupied, in the reign of Alla-ud-din Khilji, whose forces had destroyed nearly every remaining seat of Chhattri power. Rasulpur was conquered about 1350 AD. Daryabad was founded about 1444 AD by Dariab Khan Subahdar and his brother Fateh Khan colonised. Fatehpur. The villages of Barauli and Barai, near Rudauli, were occupied and became large estates until about the middle of the fifteenth century.
Simultaneously, however, with this latter immigration of the Muslims, there was one of Chhattris. The mysterious tribe of Kalhans, which numbers some twenty thousand persons, are said to be descended from Achal Singh, who came in as a soldier of fortune with Dariab Khan about 1450 AD. Singh had large properties, with a possible capital at Bado Sarai on the old bank of the Ghagra.
The wars had by then shifted to fighting between Muslim princes, with Hindu soldiers employed. The battleground was the Oudh borderland between Sharqis of Jaunpur and the Lodis of Delhi. Dariab Khan settled Hindu soldiers as garrisons. Oudh clans, said to have emigrated from Gujarat, included the Kalhans, the Ahban, the Pan war, the Gahlot, the Gaur, and the Bais.
The isolated Suryavanshi estate of Haraha and the Sombanshi Bahrelia estate of Surajpur were established by small colonies of Kshatriya foot-steps soldiers.

Mughal era (1526–1732)

During Akbar's reign, the district was divided under the sirkars of Oudh, Lucknow and Manikpur. Ain-i-Akbari mentions the following parganas during the reign of the Akbar:

Number	Muhals of Ain-i-Akbari	Parganas as of 1878	Sarkars of Ain-i-Akbari
1	Ibrahimabad	Ibrahimabad	Oudh
2	Basorhi	Basorhi	Oudh
3	Bakteha	Baksaha	Oudh
4	Daryabad	Daryabad	Oudh
5	Rudauli	Rudauli	Oudh
6	Sailuk	Sailuk	Oudh
7	Subeha	Subeha	Oudh
8	Satrikh	Satrikh	Oudh
9	Bhitauli	Bhitauli	Lucknow
10	Dewa	Dewa	Lucknow
11	Kumbhi	Dewa	Lucknow
12	Kursi	Kursi	Lucknow
13	Kahanjra	Kursi	Lucknow
14	Siddhaur	Siddhaur	Lucknow
15	Sidhipur	Siddhaur	Lucknow
16	Sihali	Khiron	Lucknow
17	Bhilwal	Haidergarh	Manikpur

Nawabs of Awadh (1732–1856)

Newal Rae, the naib of wazir Safdar Jang, was defeated and killed at the Kali river by the Bangash Afghans of Farukhabad, who then overran the province except a few of the fortified towns. In 1749 AD, Jang with an army of 60,000 men was defeated. The Mughal authority might have been overthrown had the Oudh Chhattris revolted at this time, but they waited until Jang had bribed or beaten the Rohillas out of the country in 1750 AD.
The tribes gathered themselves together under the leadership of Raja Anup Singh of Ramnagar Dhameri, the Janwar of Balrampur, the Bisens of Gonda, and numerous other lords. The forces assembled for an attack on Lucknow, whose troops had gone into Rohilkhand. The Shekhzadas of Lucknow came out to meet the enemy, joined by the Khanziidas of Mahmudabad and Bilahra, who were connected with them by marriage.
The Musalmans, headed by Nawab Muizz-ud-din Khan of Mahmudabad, were victorious in battle at Chheola Ghat on the Kalyani, on the road to Lucknow. The Balrampur raja was killed and some 15,000 were killed or wounded on both sides. The Khanzadas then rose to power. The Raikwars were proportionately depressed; the estates of both Baundi and Ramnagar were divided, and but a few villages left with the raja. The process of agglomeration commenced again, on the death of Saadat Ali Khan II. In 1856, the Ramnagar raja had recovered the family estate and added to it, while his brother of Baundi had similarly added 172 villages to his domain.
There were a total forty-three taluqa. The principal chiefs of Bara Banki during the last years of Nawabi were:

Taluqa of Jahangirabad Raj – The taluqdar was a Qidwai, Raja Farzand Ali Khan. He inherited the property through marriage to the daughter of Raja Razzak Baksh Khan. Farzand Ali Khan was the inspector in charge of the Sikandarbagh at Lucknow. On one occasion of the last king of Awadh visiting the garden, he was struck with the appearance of this young man, and presenting him with a khilat, directed him to attend at the palace., With such a signal mark of the royal favour, Farzand Ali Khan's advancement was rapid, and, under the interest of the influential eunuch, Bashir-ud-daula, he obtained a farman designating him the Raja of Jahangirabad. This taluqdar followed the deposed king to Calcutta and was there during the mutinies. Raja Farzand Ali Khan was very intelligent and well able to manage his estate with prudence and circumspection., he was the son of Raja Lutf Ali Khan of Maila Raiganj, Nawabganj, Barabanki.
Taluqa of Ramnagar – The large property of 253 villages belonged to Raja Sarabjit Singh. The raja was the head of the Raikwar clan, which immigrated to Oudh from the hill country of Kashmir.
Taluqa of Haraha – Owned by Raja Narindr Bahadur, the head of the Surajbans Thakurs. He was the son of Raja Chbatarpat Singh, and both were afflicted with mental incapacity. The estate consisted of sixty-six villages and paid a revenue of. Certain members of the Raja's family held the estates of Ranimau Qiampur in a separate qubuliat in the Nawabi, and thus escaped being placed under the taluqdar's sanad.
Taluqa of Surajpur – This estate comprised fifty-six villages. The proprietor was Udatt Partab Singh, the head of Bahrelia. He was mentally and physically unfit to manage his estate, but so long as his maternal grandfather, Udatt Narain, lived there was no fear of under-proprietors, tenants or patwaris defrauding the family.
The late Raja Singji was a formidable and violent landholder until he was attacked by Maharaja Man Singh with Captain Orr of the British company's frontier police. They killed almost 70 of his inmate robbers. He was captured and taken prisoner to Lucknow, where he died in jail. Many of his inmate robbers escaped and migrated to neighbouring districts. It was mainly owing to the bad example set by Singji that the Daryabad district was so turbulent under the native government, that amils and chaklas were to use a native expression unable to breathe in it.
Taluqa of Barai – Chaudhri Ghulam Farid, a Siddiqi Shekh, was the largest landholder of the Rudauli tahsil. He owned thirty-nine villages. In the settlement at annexation, he gave half of the estate to the children of his cousin, Mumtaz Ahmad.
Taluqas of Rudauli and parganas of Bhitauli, Daryabad and Surajpur were other important settlements.

Few other later important taluqas were:

Taluqa of Usmanpur – Founded by Raja Kaunsal Singh, who obtained the estate for military service under the Mughal Emperor Humayun. His son Lakhan Singh converted to Islam, and took the name Lakhu Khan.
Taluqas of Satrikh – This estate comprised 85 villages. It had been ruled by the Chaudharys, descendants of the original Usmanis who immigrated to Oudh in the early part of the millennium. They were dispossessed for resistance to the British during the 1857 rebellion, and Satrikh estate was ruled by Taluqdar Qazi Kazi Ikram Ahmad.