Shahmau is a village panchayat in

Tiloi Tiloi is a town and tehsil headquarters in Amethi district of Uttar Pradesh, India. Located near Mohanganj on the Jais-Inhauna road, Tiloi is notable as the historical seat of a major taluqdari estate held by the Kanhpurias. As of 2011, its po ...

block of district

Amethi Amethi is a city situated in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. Gauriganj is the administrative headquarters of the Amethi district. This district is a part of Ayodhya division in the Awadh region of the state. Amethi was 72nd district of ...

Uttar Pradesh Uttar Pradesh ( ; UP) is a States and union territories of India, state in North India, northern India. With over 241 million inhabitants, it is the List of states and union territories of India by population, most populated state in In ...

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

. It is located from Gauriganj the district headquarters Amethi , on the road from Mohanganj to

Jais Jais, also spelled Jayas, is a city with a municipal board in Amethi district (formerly in Raebareli district) in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. Geography Jais is located at . It has an average elevation of 101 metres (331 fee ...

. Historically, Shahmau was the

taluqdar Taluqdars or Talukdar (, Hindustani: /; '' taluq'' "estate" + '' dar '' "owner"), were aristocrats who formed the ruling class during the Delhi Sultanate, Bengal Sultanate, Mughal Empire and British Raj. They were owners of a vast amount of l ...

i (state) held by a branch of the

Kanhpuria Kanhpuriya or Kanhvanshi are a dynasty of Kshatriyas (Rajput). They are from the Chandravansh. Maharaja Kanhdev was the originator of Kanhpuria dynasty, by the name of Maharaja Kanhdev and due to residence in Kanhpur (situated in Salon Rae Bareli ...

Kshatriya (

Rajput Rājpūt (, from Sanskrit ''rājaputra'' meaning "son of a king"), also called Thākur (), is a large multi-component cluster of castes, kin bodies, and local groups, sharing social status and ideology of genealogical descent originating fro ...

) , the Ruler taluqdars bore the hereditary title of Raja. As of 2011, its population is 1,647, in 286 households. Shahmau hosts a large

Ramlila Ramlila or Ramleela (; literally 'Rama's lila or play') is any dramatic folk re-enactment of the life of Rama according to the ancient Hindu epic ''Ramayana'' or secondary literature based on it such as the '' Ramcharitmanas''. It particular ...

festival annually on

Dussehra Vijayadashami (), more commonly known as Dassahra in Hindi, and also known as Dashāhra or Dashain in Bhojpuri, Maithili and Nepali, is a major Hindu festival celebrated every year at the end of Durga Puja and Navarahtri. It is observed o ...

, involving a dramatic reenactment of the

Ramayana The ''Ramayana'' (; ), also known as ''Valmiki Ramayana'', as traditionally attributed to Valmiki, is a smriti text (also described as a Sanskrit literature, Sanskrit Indian epic poetry, epic) from ancient India, one of the two important epics ...

. Vendors bring cloth, metal utensils,

earthenware Earthenware is glazed or unglazed Vitrification#Ceramics, nonvitreous pottery that has normally been fired below . Basic earthenware, often called terracotta, absorbs liquids such as water. However, earthenware can be made impervious to liquids ...

pottery, toys, and

bangle A bangle is a traditionally rigid bracelet which is usually made of metal, wood, glass or plastic. These ornaments are worn mostly by women in the Indian subcontinent, Southeastern Asia, the Arabian Peninsula, and Africa. It is common to see a ...

s to sell at the fair. ''History'' Shahmau was the estate of

Kshatriya, In the 11th generation of Maharaja Kanhdev, the first king of

History

Shahmau was historically the seat of a

i estate held by a branch of the

Rajputs. Shahmau was the estate of

Kshatriya, In the 11th generation of Maharaja Kanhdev, the first king of

state was Raja Kandhe rai, his fourth younger son Raja Gulal Shah got Shahmau Raj in succession, the area was named Shahmau after Raja Gulal Shah and his son Babu Kalyan Shah, Bhagirathpur is the family of Shahmau Raj, in this Bhagirathpur there were staunch Hindu brave warriors like Babu Jang Bahadur Singh, who did not allow Hindu religion to bow down even in the cruel Nawabi rule of Faizabad. Shahmau had pious kings like Raja Dirgaj Singh, who saw Maa Ashtabhuja in a dream and said take me from here, later Raja Dirgaj Singh goes to the place where the excavation was going on, from there he returns to Shahmau with the idol. And they build temples outside the shahmau fort. It was formed by a partition of the Tiloi estate between the sons of Kandhe Rai. The older son, Udebhan (who died sometime between 1670 and 1680), received Tiloi, while the younger son, Gulab Sah, received Shahmau. The reason for the establishment of the Shahmau branch had something to do with Udebhan's weak leadership. For four generations, though, the Shahmau branch remained relatively weak and essentially existed in subjection to the rajas of Tiloi. However, when the renowned Tiloi raja Balbhaddar Singh died in battle, his widow named the fifth-generation descendant of Gulab Sah, Chhatardhari Singh, as heir to the Tiloi throne. Most of the Kanhpurias did not accept Chhatardhari Singh's claim, instead nominating Shankar Singh of

Asni Asni () is a small town in the foothills of the High Atlas mountains near Marrakesh, Morocco Morocco, officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It has coastlines on the Mediterranean Sea to t ...

, and a 15-year-long war of succession followed. The eventual outcome was the consolidation of the Shahmau estate and the creation of a second title of

Raja Raja (; from , IAST ') is a noble or royal Sanskrit title historically used by some Indian subcontinent, Indian rulers and monarchs and highest-ranking nobles. The title was historically used in the Indian subcontinent and Southeast Asia. T ...

for its holder. Chhatardhari Singh's second son later went on to establish the separate Tikari estate. At the turn of the 20th century, Shahmau was described as a small village (its population in 1901 was 671) that was dominated by the raja's house and its grounds. It had an aided school and a bazar, known as Sukhmangalganj. The village lands were divided between the Raja of Shahmau and the other Kanhpuria taluqdars of Tikari and Guriabad. The 1961 census recorded Shahmau as comprising 10 hamlets, with a total population of 564 people (284 male and 280 female), in 127 households and 126 physical houses. The area of the village was given as 364

acre The acre ( ) is a Unit of measurement, unit of land area used in the Imperial units, British imperial and the United States customary units#Area, United States customary systems. It is traditionally defined as the area of one Chain (unit), ch ...

s and it had a post office at the time. Average attendance of the annual Ramlila festival was then about 25,000. The 1981 census recorded Shahmau as having a population of 757 people, in 160 households, and having an area of 146.50

hectare The hectare (; SI symbol: ha) is a non-SI metric unit of area equal to a square with 100-metre sides (1 hm2), that is, square metres (), and is primarily used in the measurement of land. There are 100 hectares in one square kilometre. ...

References

{{Raebareli district Villages in Raebareli district Former zamindari estates in Uttar Pradesh