Ganges floodplain

In the south are the low-lying khadar lands below the old high bank of the Ganges. This area is locally called kachar. In some places, the Ganges bank is a cliff and the kachar is nonexistent; in other areas it can be up to 2 miles wide. Kachar lands closest to the river are inundated each year during the wet season, so that cultivation is only possible during the rabi season. Kachar lands further inland are generally protected from annual floods; they are well-suited for agriculture and often do well without irrigation.^[4] Villages in this area are especially large and usually are built on the high bank of the Ganges to protect from flood waters.^[3]

Dalmau plain

Above the high bank of the Ganges, the landscape is eroded by tributary channels so that it consists of various mostly-flat plateaus separated by nalas.^[4] The soil in the Ganges uplands is typically a light loam with a fair amount of sand mixed in; the plateaus have more fertile soil than the ravines along the nalas.^[4] Wheat is the main cereal crop grown in this area; there are only a few localities where the water collects in hollows and rice is the staple crop.^[4] Historically, this tract was well-shaded by mango and mahua groves.^[4]

A bit further north, there is a belt of slightly lower-lying land with stiffer clay soil interspersed with broad shallow wetlands and patches of barren usar land.^[4] This area stretches from Khiron towards Lalganj and Thalrai, and then on to Bela Bhela and Rohanian.^[4] Rice is the main crop grown here — in many areas, the soil is too stiff to support rabi crops, and in still other areas, it only supports a light crop of gram and linseed after the rice harvest.^[4]

A mostly continuous chain of jhils runs through this clayey region for the entire length of the district.^[4] They are parallel to the courses of the Ganges and the Sai, and they may represent an old river bed.^[4] This group of jhils is distinctly deep and narrow compared to elsewhere in the district,^[4] and many of them are oxbow or irregular in shape.^[3] The soil here is much less stiff than the surrounding clay, and instead it ranges from sand to light loam.^[4] The chain of jhils forms three distinct systems: in the west, near Khiron, they form the source of the Basaha; closer to Dalmau, they form a series of small channels that eventually join the Sai; finally, in the east near Salon, they form one of the Naiyas which eventually goes into Pratapgarh district.^[4] The jhils all dry up mostly or entirely during the hot season.^[4]

Sai catchment

The Sai uplands generally resemble the Ganges uplands, although here the least fertile soils are more extreme than in the Ganges uplands.^[4] The good soils along the Sai, though, are among the best in the district for agriculture.^[4] On the south side of the river, west of Raebareli, many nalas cut up the terrain.^[4] The Sai basin narrows further east, around Pandri Ganeshpur.^[4]

Bachhrawan-Jais plain

The northern part of the district generally has firm loamy or clayey soil, with rice as the staple crop.^[4] This area is studded with various jhils, of which the largest are the Mung Tal, Hanswa, Khaur, and Salothu.^[4] Like the jhils on the Dalmau plain, these northern jhils largely dry up during the hot season.^[4] Settlements in this region are more sparsely distributed than elsewhere in the district.^[3]

Forests

Woodlands once covered a large area in Raebareli district, but this has mostly been cleared to make room for agriculture.^[3] In the 1800s, William Henry Sleeman described a large jungle stretching out for 12 miles on either side of the Sai, which historically formed a stronghold of the Nain Kanhpurias; after their participation in the Indian Rebellion of 1857, the British cut down parts of it to break it up.^[4] Patches of dhak jungle remain throughout the areas with stiff soils, as well as along the Sai, but their total area is negligible.^[4]

The common trees of Raebareli district are the same as the rest of southern Awadh.^[4] The most common growing wild are neem, babul, bargad, pipal, tamarisk, and jamun.^[4] Mango and mahua trees are also widely grown in orchards throughout the district.^[4] The shisham is uncommon in Raebareli district, and past attempts to introduce the sal were unsuccessful.^[4]

Wildlife

Due to extensive deforestation in modern times, the number and variety of wild animals present in Raebareli district has fallen significantly.^[3] In the early 19th century there were wild tigers, hyenas, and buffaloes in the high tamarisk woodlands along the Ganges, but these had disappeared by 1900. The Indian wolf was also once common, but by the 20th century it had become rare. Antelopes, also once common, have similarly declined and are now represented by a few nilgai along the Ganges as well as some blackbucks along the Ganges and around Bachhrawan. Wild cattle also exist in small numbers along the Sai and Ganges, and jackals are also sometimes seen.^[4] Other mammals include foxes, cats, and mongooses.^[3]

The birds present in the district are similar to surrounding districts.^[4] There are plenty of waterfowl and snipe during the cold months, and quail are also fairly common.^[4] There are also some black partridges and sandgrouses on the Ganges floodplain.^[4] The red-headed parrot was also formerly caught for its feathers.^[4]

Early history

The history of what is now Raebareli district is mostly unknown until the time of the medieval Delhi Sultanate. The only sources for this period are local traditions. One thing that most traditions agree on is that this region was originally ruled by the Bhars, and most old ruins in the district are generally attributed to them. The Bhars appear to have been in power in this area longer than anywhere else in Awadh, and they were not finally subjugated until the reign of Ibrahim Shah of the Jaunpur Sultanate (early 15th century). According to legend, the cities of Raebareli and Dalmau take their names from two Bhar rulers named Dal and Bal, but if they ever existed, it is impossible to assign any dates to them. In any case, tradition holds that the Bhars were later driven out by the Rajputs and, to a lesser extent, the Muslims.^[4]

The Rajputs that came to rule over the area of today's Raebareli district mostly belonged to three main clains: the Bais in the south and west, the Kanhpurias in the east, and the Amethias in the north. Of these, the Bais were the first; their family traditions state that they came to this region around 1250 under one Abhai Chand, who was rewarded by the Gautam Raja of Argal (in what is now Fatehpur district) with a grant of lands that the raja had only nominal control over. His descendants came to rule over the region known as Baiswara. The Kanhpurias also became powerful in this region at an early date; their original base was at Kanhpur between Salon and Pratapgarh. As for the Amethias, they were always the weakest of the three clans in this region; they got their name from the town of Amethi in today's Lucknow district.^[4]

Early Muslim dynasties

The early history of the Muslims in this region are not clear. According to legend, Dalmau was conquered by Salar Sahu, father of Sayyid Salar Masud, in 423 AH, and he then appointed one Malik Abdullah as governor. However, it is more likely that Dalmau only came under Muslim control during the reign of Muhammad bin Tughlaq of the Delhi Sultanate, when one Malik Mubarak was made governor, and that before this Dalmau had been under Hindu rule. Some early Muslim immigrants also came from Manikpur, such as the Gardezi Sayyids of Mustafabad and the Pathans of Amanwan and Pahremau.^[4]

The Jaunpur Sultanate was the first major Muslim polity to make significant inroads in the area of today's district. In 1376, one Mardan Daulat Nasir-ul-Mulk was given the territories of Kara and Mahoba, along with the iqta of Dalmau. This man was given the title "Malik-ush-Sharq" by Firoz Shah Tughlaq and later became known as Khizr Khan. It is not known how long Khizr Khan retained control of Dalmau, but in 1394 it was given to Khwaja-i-Jahan, founder of the Jaunpur Sultanate, along with the rest of Awadh.^[4]

The most prominent of the Jaunpur Sultans in the history of Raebareli district was Ibrahim Shah, who rose to power in 1401. He posted a governor at Dalmau and went to war against the Bhars and Rajputs, and he went on to establish most of the Muslim outposts in the area. It was during this time that Raebareli was probably built up into a major town for the first time, with a qazi posted there. After Ibrahim Shah's death, however, the Bais and Kanhpuria Rajputs reasserted their independence and were not subdued until the reign of the final Jaunpur Sultan, Husain Shah, who was Ibrahim's grandson.^[4]

After Husain Shah's defeat by Bahlol Lodi, the region came under the nominal authority of the Delhi Sultanate. The Rajputs again took advantage of the temporary instability to strengthen their own position. In 1492, the Bachgotis in what is now Pratapgarh district rebelled, and Sikandar Lodi went on a campaign against them.^[4] He reached Dalmau in 1493, and fought a battle at Katghar nearby where he routed the Bachgotis. Another rebellion later broke out in Jaunpur, and Sikandar passed through the area on his way to deal with it.^[4] He stopped at Dalmau on the way and married the widow of Sher Khan Lohani while he was there.^[4]

Ain-i-Akbari

At the time of the Ain-i-Akbari in the late 1500s, the area of today's Raebareli district was divided between three different sarkars in two subahs: most belonged to Manikpur sarkar in Allahabad Subah, while portions in the north and west were included in Awadh and Lucknow sarkars in Awadh Subah.^[4]

12 mahals (i.e. parganas) of Manikpur sarkar were located partly or totally in the area of Raebareli district. In the north was Bhilwal, aka Bhalol, which was named after a village in what is now Barabanki district; it was later transferred to Nagram in today's Lucknow district, and Nagram remained the pargana headquarters until the foundation of Haidergarh at the end of the 18th century. The small pargana of Thulendi bordered Bhilwal to the south; its namesake was an old Muslim qasba, and the headquarters were moved to Bachhrawan during the time of Shuja-ud-Daula. To the south of Thulendi was the large pargana of Raebareli. South of Raebareli was Dalmau, whose borders then probably corresponded fairly closely with its 20th-century borders, although some of the western part probably belonged to the Baiswara mahals of Lucknow sarkar. Bordering Dalmau was the pargana of Salon, which provided the Mughal army with an "unusually large force" consisting of 8,900 infantry and 180 cavalry. North of Salon, and bordering Raebareli, was the pargana of Nasirabad, which included the later parganas of Parshadepur and Rokha (before it was merged with Jais). The pargana of Jais, at that time, also covered the later parganas of Mohanganj, Gaura Jamun (now in Sultanpur district), and part of Simrauta. The Kanhpurias were probably already the predominant group in the pargana; the later dismantling of Jais pargana took place towards the end of the 18th century, at the same time that the Kanhpuria estates were divided.^[4]

Two other mahals from Manikpur sarkar covered parts of Raebareli district: Qariat Guzara and Qariat Paegah. These were each very scattered entities consisting of various villages throughout the Salon tehsil as well as Pratapgarh district (Qariat Guzara had 262 villages and Qariat Paegah had 256). The purpose of Qariat Guzara is unclear; the word guzara means "maintenance", and it has been suggested that this mahal consisted of either villages assigned to the ruler's own (private) servants or villages whose revenues went towards the cost of entertaining royal messengers or other public servants passing through Manikpur. As for Qariat Paegah, the word paegah refers to a stable, indicating that its villages' revenues were set aside to defray the expenses incurred through the purchase and maintenance of the royal cattle. The two mahals each had their own courts as well as their own qanungos, whose descendants are still known as Guzaras and Paegahwalas respectively.^[4]

In the sarkar of Awadh, there were two mahals that covered parts of Raibareli district; these were Inhauna and Subeha.^[4] In the Ain-i-Akbari, Inhauna is said to have been held by Chauhans who had recently converted to Islam, which is possibly a reference to the Bhale Sultans, although they were mostly based further east.^[4] Alternatively, this could be a confused reference to the Bais of Inhauna, who are known to have converted to Islam in large numbers at an early date.^[4] As for Subeha, it was a very large mahal at that point; besides the later pargana of that name in today's Barabanki district, it also included the northern part of the later pargana of Simrauta, and possibly the northwestern part of Inhauna as well, although its exact boundaries at the time are uncertain.^[4]

At the time of the Ain-i-Akbari, the western part of today's Raebareli district was part of Lucknow sarkar, but the correspondence here is harder to trace. The modern parganas of Khiron and Sareni, in Baiswara, were then divided into several mahals that later ceased to exist. The ones in Sareni include Nisgar (or "Lashkar"), named after a village on the banks of the Ganges southwest of Sareni; Tara Singhaur, named after the present village of Singhaur Tara some distance downstream from Nisgar, in the far southeast of the pargana; Kahanjara, whose name is still preserved in the village of Kahanjar in the north of the pargana; and finally Deorakh, which refers to the present-day hamlet of Deorahar in the village of Raipur, and which covered the south-central part of the pargana. As for Khiron, it was mostly if not entirely covered by the mahal of Satanpur, although the northwestern corner may have belonged to Maurawan in Unnao district, or one of the other small mahals of Baiswara. Maurawan must have also included the later pargana of Raebareli. The mahal called "Haihar" in the Ain-i-Akbari probably corresponds to the modern village of Aihar, near Lalganj; this was a small mahal that belonged to the Bais. Finally, the mahal of Hardoi seems to be identical with the later pargana of the same name (not to be confused with the Hardoi in Hardoi district), but this is located some distance away from the rest of Lucknow sarkar and would have been entirely surrounded by Manikpur. It's not clear why this territory was included in Lucknow rather than Manikpur.^[4]

Later Mughals and Nawabs of Awadh

After Akbar died, the Rajput clans in the region once again enjoyed a period of relative independence. From this period until the foundation of Oudh State in the 18th century, the history of this area is basically synonymous with the history of its Rajput dynasties. It was during this period that the Saibasi branch of the Bais established their large domain.^[4]

When Saadat Ali Khan I was made governor of Awadh, he travelled through the region to secure the submission of the Rajput leaders. In order to earn their loyalty, he acknowledged the Rajput chiefs' rulership and entrusted them with collection of revenues within their own territories. This policy was generally successful.^[4]

Asaf-ud-Daula succeeded to the throne in 1774 and granted his mother the parganas of Salon, Jais, and Nasirabad in jagir. He also put Raebareli, Dalmau, Khiron, and Thulendi under the control of the chakladar of Baiswara at about the same time. From then until the British annexation of Awadh, the area of today's Raebareli district was then divided between the chaklas of Salon and Baiswara.^[4]

Agriculture

There are two main harvests, the kharif in autumn and the rabi in spring.^[4] As in other areas, the intermediate zaid harvest that takes place during the summer is far less significant.^[4] In general, kharif crops are sown over a wider area than rabi crops, but the latter are economically more valuable.^[4] During the 1970s, there was a significant increase in the area under rabi crops so that by 1981 it covered a larger area than kharif cropland.^[4]

Industry

The Modern Coach Factory at Lalganj

Before the 1970s, there was no large-scale industry in Raebareli district.^[5] Between 1972 and 1982, 11 large industrial units opened in the district, collectively employing 6,000 people.^[5] These included factories belonging to Indian Telephone Industries Limited and to Modi Carpets, a textile mill, a spinning mill, a sugar mill, a paper mill, and manufacturers of soft drinks and high-tension insulators.^[5] As of 1982, there were 8 more large- and medium-scale units under construction, including two paper mills, two foundries, a magnesite-bauxite complex under UPSIDC, and a manufacturer of PVC power cables.^[5] The Modern Coach Factory at Lalganj, which commenced operation in 2012, covers an area of 541 hectares and employs up to 1,450 people in producing Linke Holfmann Busch (LHB) coaches for Indian Railways.^[8]

Small-scale industry also expanded dramatically in the district during the 1970s: from 291 registered units in 1972 to 1,354 as of July 1982.^[5] These included manufacturers of power transformers, electric cables, fertilizers, chlorinated wax, injection needles, PVC pipes, barbed wire, agricultural implements, leather goods, and furniture, among others.^[5] Other commodities currently produced by small-scale industries in Raebareli district include plastics, hosiery, footwear, lime, ice cream and other sweets, ayurvedic medicines, beedies, plywood, mats, baskets, and ropes.^[3]

Languages

At the time of the 2011 Census of India, in what is now Raebareli district 94.67% of the population in the district spoke Hindi (or a related language), 3.56% Awadhi and 1.60% Urdu as their first language.^[13] The local language is Awadhi but most people record their language as Hindi in the census.