Page:The Imperial Gazetteer of India - Volume 2 (2nd edition).pdf/125

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BARA BANKI—BARABAR. Lucknow, and on the west by Lucknow and Malihabad

115 in

Lucknow

Area, 357 square miles, of which 229 are cultivated. Popu(1881) 212,068, namely, Hindus, 166,588; Muhammadans,

District.

lation

45,031;

others,’

449

villages or towns, 392. The tahsU Nawabganj, Dewa, Satrikh, Siddhaur

number of

consists of the five pargands of

The

North, and Partabganj.

administrative staff consists of a

Deputy

Commissioner, Assistant Commissioner, 2 Honorary Assistant Commissioners, 3 extra-Assistant Commisioners, i tahs'ilddr, and i munsif.

These

over

officers preside

police stations {thdmis), 5

a body of village

Bara Banki.

watchmen

—Town

i

civil

and 8 criminal

courts.

Number

of

strength of regular police, 41 men, besides

{chaukiddrs).

in

Bara Banki

District,

Oudh, about

i

mile

north of Nawabganj, the two places together forming the administrative Lat 26° 56' 10" n., long. 81° 13' 10" e. head-quarters of the District.

Muhammadan

Before the

conquest the place was knowm as Jasnaul,

having been founded by a Bhar Raja named Jas, some 900 years ago. After the Musalman invasion of Kanauj, the new owners are said to

have divided the place into 12 shares, over which they quarrelled so incessantly that they were called the Bara Bankas, or 12 quarrelsome

men, whence the present name of the town. Others derive the name from bdn, meaning jungle, and interpret Bara Banki as the 12 shares The lands belonging to the town are much sub-divided, of jungle.

and the inhabitants are

chiefly small

Musalman

proprietors

and

their

Population (1881) 13,933, namely, Hindus, 8640; Muhammadans, 4933 ; Jains, 344; and Christians, 16. Municipal income in 1880-81, ;^io4i, of which ;^890 was derived from octroi duties dependants.

expenditure, ;;^ioi4.

The

civil station

is

at Naw'abgan’J,

and

further

under that head. Barabar. Hills in Gaya District, Bengal; a range of great interest to the archaeologist, as it contains many remarkable antiquarian remains lying between 25° i' and 25° 2' 30" N. lat, and between 85° 3' 30" and 85° 7' E. long. ; between 6 and 8 miles east of the Bela Station on the particulars will be found in the article

Patna and Gaya State Railway. On the highest peak (Barabdr) is an ancient temple sacred to Sidheswara, containing a litiga, said to have been placed there by Bara Raja, the Asur king of Dinajpur, whose bloody wars with Krishna still live in the remembrance of the people. A large fair, attended only by men, is held here in September. The

and spend the day on the hill devoted to the worship of the image, and in the morning An extempore bdzdr is established for the crowd begins to melt away. the day, at which sweetmeats and other offerings for the god are sold.

pilgrims begin to arrive at daybreak,

the night

is

The number who attended

the meld in 1873 roughly estimated at between 10,000 and 20,000 men. To the south, and near the base of this hill, the path up which is freely adorned with images of all kinds.