Sarosi (estate)

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Sarosi was an estate (taluqdari) of Oudh, British India.[1][2] The taluqdari was controlled by the Parihar clan of Rajputs.[3][4] Now it is part of Unnao district in Uttar Pradesh, India.

## History[edit]

The story of the settling of the ancestors of the clan in Sarosi is thus told. About three hundred years ago, in the time of Humayun, Emperor of Delhi, a Dikhit girl from Purenda was married to the son of the Purihar Rájá, who lived at Jigini, across the Jumna. The bridegroom came with a large escort of his friends and brotherhood to celebrate the marriage, and the party on their journey passed through Sarosi. As they sat down around a well (the site of which is still shown), they asked who were the lords of the fort which stood not far off. They were told that the fort was held by Dhobis (washermen) and other Súdras who owned the neighbouring country. The procession then went on to Purenda, and returning, conducted the bride to her home. Just before the Holi festival, a party, headed by Bhagé Sinh, returned, waited for the evening of that riotous feast, and then, when the guards of the fort were heavy with wine, and no danger was looked for, suddenly attacked and slaughtered them, and made themselves masters of the fort and the surrounding country.[1]

Bhagé Sinh had four sons, and they divided the eighty-four villages he had conquered at his death. Asis and Salhu, the two eldest sons, took the largest portion of the estate-twenty villages falling to the former, and to the latter forty-two. The third son, Manik, was a devotee, and refused to be troubled with worldly affairs. All he asked for was one village on the banks of the Ganges, where he might spend his life in worship, and wash away his sins three times a day in the holy stream. The youngest son, Bhuledhán, was quite a boy at the time of his father's death, and took what share his brothers chose to give him, and they do not seem to have treated him badly.[1]

The law of primogeniture did not exist among the family, and every son, as he grew up and married, claimed his right to a separate share of his father's inheritance; and thus the ancestral estate constantly dwindled as fresh slices were cut off it, till at last the whole family were a set of impoverished gentlemen, who kept up none of the dignity which had belonged to the first conquerors, Bhagé Sinh and his sons. For six generations they stagnated thus, no important event marking their his- tory till the time of Hira Sinh. The family property in his time had grown very small, and he had five sons to divide it amongst; and, to add to his misfortunes, he was accused of some crime, thrown into prison at Faizábád, and loaded with chains. With the chains on his legs he escaped, arrived safely at Sarosi, and lay in hiding there. His pride being thus broken, he resolved to send his third son, Kalandar Sinh, to take service in the Company's army. He rose to be Subahdár Major in the 49th Regiment of Native Infantry; and in this position, through his supposed influence with the Resident, became a very con- siderable man. He knew that as long as he was at hand, no chakladár or governor would venture to treat the Purihar samindárs with injustice; but on his death they would be again at the mercy of the local authorities. He therefore collected all the members of the brotherhood who were descended from Asis, and persuaded them to mass their divided hold- ings nominally into one large estate, of which his nephew Ghulab Sinh should be the representative talukdar; so that while in reality each small shareholder retained sole possession of his own share, they should present the appearance of a powerful and united taluk, making Ghuláb Sinh their nominal head. Thus the chakladars would be afraid to touch a man who seemed to hold so large an estate, though in reality he only enjoyed a small portion of it. The brotherhood consented to this, and from 1840 till British annexation the estate was held in the name of Ghulab Sinh alone, and they had no further trouble from the oppressions of the chakladárs.[1]

## References[edit]

1. ^ a b c d The Imperial Gazetteer of India. 1881.
2. ^ Ali, Darogah Haji Abbas (1880). An illustrated historical album of the Rajas and Taaluqdars of Oudh. Getty Research Institute. Allahabad : North-Western Provinces and Oudh Government Press.
3. ^ Oudh (India), United Provinces of Agra and (1923). District Gazetteers. Government Press. p. 239.
4. ^ Pradesh (India), Uttar (1979). Uttar Pradesh District Gazetteers: Unnao. Government of Uttar Pradesh. p. 36.

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