Mathura A District Memoir Chapter-13

PARGANA TOPOGRAPHY

I.—PARGANA KOSI

THE pargana of Kosi is the most northern of the three on the western side of the Jamuna and borders on the district of Gurgaon. It is the smallest of the Mathura six, having an area of only 154 square miles. It yields annual reve nue of Rs. 1,52,013. Its villages, sixty-one in number, with six exceptions, are all bhaiyachari, divided into infinitesimal shares among the whole of the com munity; so that, barring a few shopkeepers and menial servants, every resident is to some extent a proprietor. In the ordinary course of events, all would be, not only members of the same caste, but also descendants of one man, the founder of the settlement ; but in many instances, in spite of the right of preemption, several of the subordinate shares have been bought up by outsiders. A fresh assessment is made privately every year; and, according to the amount of land actually under cultivation, each tenant proprietor pays his quota of the revenue at so much per bigha, and enjoys the remaining profits as his private income. The Government demand is realized through the head-men or lumberdars, of whom there are generally several in each village. As a natural result of this minute sub-division of estates, there is not a single landed proprietor in the whole pargana of any social distinction. The two wealthiest inhabitants are both traders in the town of Kosi—Chunni Lal, son of Mohan Lal, and Kushali Ram, son of Lal Ji Mall—with incomes of Rs. 5,000 and Rs. 4,943 res pectively. The former has no land at all; the other owns one small village.

Of the six zamindari villages, only two were so previous to the last settlement; viz., Pakhar-pur, the property of Kushali Ram above mentioned, and Jau, a purchase of the Lala Babu. The other four have acquired their exceptional character only within the last few years; Garhi having been bought from the Jats by Sah Kundan Lal, of Lakhnau; Majhoi and Ram-pur having been conferred, after the mutiny, on Raja Gobind Singh, of Hathras, and Chauki on Shiv Sahay Mall, of Delhi, at the same time. One mahal of Chaundras has also quite re cently been constituted into a zamindari; and two or three other villages, now in the hands of money-lending mortgagees, will probably become so before long.

The Muhammadans number only 8,093 out of a total population of 65,293, and, with the exception of a few scattered families, are almost confined to seven places, viz., Barha, Bisambhara, Dotana, Jalal-pur, Kosi, Mahroli, and Shahpur. At three of these, viz., Bisambhara, Dotana, and Jalal-pur, they even slightly out number the Hindus.

The predominant Hindu castes are Jats, Jadons and other Gaurua, i.e., spurious, Thakur tribes. There are also a considerable number of Gujars, though these latter have now in every place ceased to be proprietors. They muster stronger in the adjoining pargana of Chhata, and were ringleaders of disaffection during the mutiny. In consequence, eight of their villages—Majhoi and Ram-pur in Kosi, Basai, Husaini, Jatwari, Karahri, Khursi and Ujhani in Chhata—were confiscated and conferred on Raja Gobind Sinh. They had previously disposed of their four other Chhata villages, Chamar-garhi, Dhimri, Gulal-pur and Pir-pur, to the Lala Babu. The course of years has not reconciled the ejected community to their changed circumstances, and so recently as the 29th of September, 1872, the widowed Rani's agent, Jay Ram Sinh, was, in result of a general conspiracy, barbarously murdered at night while sleeping in the Jatwari chaupal. Six of the murderers were apprehended, and, after conviction of the crime, were sentenced to death, but one escaped from the jail before the sentence was executed.

In the year 1857, the period, during which there was no recognition of government whatever, extended from the 12th of July to the 5th of December. With the exception of the Gujars, who assembled at Sher-garh and distinctly declared themselves independent, there was little or no ill-feeling towards the British Crown expressed by any class of the population; though many persons took advantage of the favourable opportunity for paying off old scores against ill neighbors, and especially for avenging themselves on their natural enemies, the patwaris, or village accountants, and Bohras, or money-lenders. Thus there was a pitched battle between Hathana and the adjoining village of Banswa in Gurgaon; the patwaris at Barha and Bisambhara had all their papers des troyed; at Pakharpur, Ganga Dan, bohra, was plundered by the zamindars of Kadona and Sirthala; at Kotban, Dhan-raj, bohra, was only set at liberty on payment of a ransom; and at Little Bathan, Lekhraj, bohra, after seeing all his papers seized and burnt, was himself put to death. The Jats of Kamar, after plundering Moti Ram, bohra, proceeded to turn the police out of the place, and raised a flame which spread across the border into the adjoining district; but they afterwards atoned for this indiscretion by the assistance which they gave to the Deputy Collector, Imdad Ali, in suppressing the Gujars.

The trees most commonly found growing wild in the pargana are the nim and the pilu while every piece of waste ground (there are several such tracts of large extent,) is dotted with clumps of karil. The soil is not suited to the growth of the mango, and there are scarcely any considerable orchards either of that or indeed of any other fruit tree; the one at Shah-pur being the only notable exception. Of the total area of 97,301 acres, there are 71,490 of arable land; the crops most extensively grown being joar, chana and barley. The wheat sold at the Kosi market comes chiefly from across the Jamuna. The number of wells has been much increased in late years and is now put at 1,379, of which 846 are of masonry construction. The Jamuna, which forms the eastern boundary of the pargana, is crossed by ferries at Shah-pur, Khairal, and Majhoi. The new Agra Canal passes through the villages of Hathana, Kharot, Hasanpur Nagara, Kosi, Aziz-pur, Tumaula, and Dham Sinha, a length of ten miles, and is bridged at Kharot, Kosi, Aziz-pur, and Tumaula. The high road to Delhi traverses the centre of the pargana, passing through the town of Kosi and the villages of Kotban, Aziz-pur, and Dotana; and from the town of Kosi there is a first-class unmetalled road to Sher-garh, a distance of eleven miles. The Halkabandi, or Primary, schools are twelve in number, being one for every five villages, an unusually favourable average : the attendance, how-ever, is scarcely so good as in some other parts of the district ; as it is difficult to convince a purely agricultural population that tending cattle is not always the most profitable occupation in which boys can be.

In addition to the capital, there are only four places which merit special notice, viz., Bathan, Dotana, Kamar, and Shah-pur.

Kosi is a flourishing municipality and busy market town, twenty-six miles from the city of Mathura, most advantageously situated in the very centre of the pargana to which it gives a name and on the high road to Delhi. As this road was only constructed as a relief work in the famine of 1860, it avoids all the most densely inhabited quarters, and the through traveller sees little from it but mud walls and the backs of houses. The Agra Canal runs nearly parallel to it still further back, with one bridge on the road leading to Majhoi and Sher-garh, and another at Aziz-pur, a mile out of the town on the road to Mathura.

The zamindars are Jats, Shaikhs, and Brahmans; but the population, which amounts to 11,231, consists chiefly of baniyas and Muhammadan kasabs, or butchers, who are attracted to the place by its large trade in cotton and cattle. It is estimated that about 75,000 mans of cotton are collected in the curse of the year and sent on down to Calcutta.

The nakhkhas, or cattle market, is of large extent and supplied with every convenience—a fine masonry well, long ranges of feeding troughs, & c. On every beast sold the zamindars levy a toll of two anas, and the Chaudharis much; in consideration for which payment they are bound to maintain two chaukidars for watch and ward, and also to keep the place clean and in repair. Prices, of course, vary considerably, but the following may be taken as the average rates :—Well-bullocks from Rs. 30 to Rs. 60 each; cart-bullocks from Rs. 50 to 75 ; a cow from Rs. 15 to 50 ; a calf from Rs. 10 to 30 ; a buffalo from Rs. 25 to 50 ; and a male buffalo calf from Rs. 2 to 10. There are two market days every week, on Tuesday and Wednesday; and in 1868-69, when a tax of one and a quarter ana was levied on every beast sold, it yielded as much as Rs. 2,188-13-0 ; the zamindars' receipts at two anas a head and the Chaudharis' at the same rate amounted to Rs. 3,502-2-0 each. Taking Rs. 25 as an average price per head, which would be rather below than above the mark, the amount of money changing hands in the course of the year was Rs. 7,00,425. The exports of grain are put at 200,000 mans and there are in the town some 100 khattas, or cellars, ordinarily well filled with reserve stores for the consumption, not only of the residents, but also of the numerous travellers passing up and down the great thoroughfare on which the town stands, and who naturally take in at Kosi several days' supplies, both for themselves and their cattle. There is also very considerable business done in country cloth, as all the villages in the neighbourhood are purely agricultural, and supply most of their wants from the one central mart.

As the town lies in a hollow, it is liable to be flooded after a few days' con tinuance of heavy rain by a torrent which pours in upon it from Hodal. This was the case in 1873, when much damage was done to house property; and the subsequent drying up of the waters—which was a tedious process, there being no outlet for their escape—was attended with very general and serious sickness. The only remedy lies in developing the natural line of drainage, and the necessity of some such operation has forced itself upon the notice of the canal department ; but no definite steps have yet been taken in the matter.

The income of the municipality is about Rs. 12,000 per annum; but this sum is a very inadequate test of the actual trade done, since there is no duty either on cotton or on cattle, excepting beasts intended for slaughter.

The area of the parish is 2,277 acres, on which the Government demand used to be Rs. 6,700; but the assessment was proved to be too severe by the distress it caused to the zamindars, and it was reduced to Ra 4,790.

The principal annual melas, or fairs, are—1st, the Dasahara, only started between forty and fifty years ago by Lalu Singh, khattri, and Darbari Singh, baniya ; 2nd, the Muharram ; and 3rdly, the Phul-dol, on Chait badi 2, which is a general gathering for all the Jilts of the Denda pal from Dah-ganw Sot-ban,, Nabi-pur, Umraura, and Nagara Hasan-pur.

In the centre of the town stands a large Sarae, covering nine and-a-half bighas of land, with high embattled walls, corner kiosques, and two arched gateways, all of stone, ascribed to Khwaja I’tibar Khan, governor of Delhi, in the reign of the Emperor Akbar. On the inside there are ranges of vaulted apartments all round, and the principal bazar lies between the two gateways. The building has been partially repaired by the municipality at a cost of Rs. 4,000, and if the inner area could be better laid out, it might form a remunerative property. At present it yields only an income of between Rs. 300 and 400 a year; even that being a considerable increase on what used to be realised. A large masonry tank, of nearly equal area with the same, dates from the same time, and is called the Ratnakar Kund, or more commonly the ‘pakka talao.’ Unfortu nately it is always dry except during the rains. The municipality was desir ous of having it repaired, but it was found that the cost would amount to Rs. 3,500, a larger sum than the funds could afford. The enclosing walls are twenty feet high and the exact measurement is 620 by 400 feet. Three other tanks bear the names of Maya-kund, Bisakha-kund, and Gomati-kund, in allusion to places so styled at the holy city of Dwaraka, or Kusasthali—a cir cumstance which has given rise to, or at least confirms, the popular belief that Kosi is only a contraction of Kusasthali. The Gomati-kund, near which the fair of the Phul-dol is held, Chait badi 2, is accounted the most sacred and is certainly the prettiest spot in the town. The pond is of considerable size, but of very irregular shape and has a large island in the middle. There are two or three masonry ghats, constructed by wealthy traders of the town, and on all sides of it there are a number of small shrines and temples overshadowed by fine kadamb, pipal, and bar trees, full of monkeys and peacocks; while the tank itself is the favourite haunt of aquatic birds of different kinds. There are a few handsome and substantial private houses in the quarter of the town called Baladeva Ganj; but as a rule the shops and other buildings have a very mean appearance; and though there are a number of Hindu temples and four mosques, they, too, are all quite modern and few have any architectural pretensions.

A little beyond the town on the Delhi side close to the new canal and not far from the Idgah is a tirath called Mabhai, with a masonry tank and temple, which is looked after by a Pandit of the Radha Ballabh sect, called Bal-mukund. When I went to see him, he would only talk in Sanskrit and derived the name of the place from Ma bhaishih, `fear not,' the exclamation of Krishna to the herdsmen when the forest was set on fire. But there was an old fort of the same name in the Bulandshahr district near the town of Khurja, where no such legendary explanation would be applicable. The word is a peculiar one, and I am unable to offer any suggestion regarding it.

The Saraugis, or Jainis, have three temples at Kosi, dedicated respectively to Padma-Prabhu, the sixth of the Jinas or Tirthankaras ; Nem-nath, or Arishtanemi, the twenty-second ; and Mahavira, or Varddhamana the twenty-fourth and last of the series who is supposed to have died about the year 500 B. C. A festival is held at the temple of Nem-nath, which is the smallest and most modern of the three, on the day after the full moon of Bhadon, when water is brought for the ablution of the idol from a well in a garden at some little distance. Any processional display, or beating of drums, or uttering of a party cry is so certain to result in a riot that extra police are always told off to prevent anything of the kind, and to confine every religious demonstration strictly within the walls of the temple. The antipathy to the rival faith on the part of the Vaishnava Hindus is so strong that it is ordinarily expressed by saying that it would be better, on meeting a mad elephant in a narrow street, to stand still and be trampled to death than to escape by crossing the threshold of a Jaini temple.

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