Semrauta is a village 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 Rae Bareli district,

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 at the intersection of the Maharajganj-

Inhauna Inhauna is a village in the Singhpur block of Rae Bareli district, Uttar Pradesh, India. As of 2011, it has a population of 13,049 in 2,021 households. Located at the junction of the Raebareli-Rudauli and Lucknow- Jaunpur roads, Inhauna is an ...

and Mohanganj- Haidargarh roads, about 20 km from Maharajganj, the tehsil headquarters. Although now eclipsed by Maharajganj, Semrauta was historically a relatively important village that served as the headquarters of a

pargana Pargana or parganah, also spelt pergunnah, equivalent to Mohallah as a subunit of Subah (Suba), was a type of former administrative division in the Indian subcontinent during the time of the Delhi Sultanate, Mughal and British Colonial empire ...

and the capital of 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 ...

Rajputs, who later became known as the Rajas of Chandapur. As of 2011, the population of Simrauta is 6,423, in 1,031 households. Semrauta hosts a Dhanush Yagya festival annually on

Agrahayana Agrahayana or Margashirsha, ( or ), is the ninth month of the Hindu calendar. In India's national civil calendar, ''Agrahayana'' is also the eight month of the year, beginning on 16 November and ending on 15 December. Margashirsha means relat ...

Sudi 15. It is dedicated to worship of

Rama Rama (; , , ) is a major deity in Hinduism. He is worshipped as the seventh and one of the most popular avatars of Vishnu. In Rama-centric Hindu traditions, he is considered the Supreme Being. Also considered as the ideal man (''maryāda' ...

. Vendors bring sweets, toys, and everyday items to sell at the fair. Siemrauta also hosts a general market twice per week, on Wednesdays and Sundays.

History

Semrauta was historically the seat of a

. At the time of

Akbar Akbar (Jalal-ud-din Muhammad Akbar, – ), popularly known as Akbar the Great, was the third Mughal emperor, who reigned from 1556 to 1605. Akbar succeeded his father, Humayun, under a regent, Bairam Khan, who helped the young emperor expa ...

in the late 1500s, the area that would later form the pargana was then split between the ''mahal''s of

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 ...

(in the sarkar of Manikpur) and Subeha (in the sarkar of

Awadh Awadh (), known in British Raj historical texts as Avadh or Oudh, is a historical region in northern India and southern Nepal, now constituting the North-central portion of Uttar Pradesh. It is roughly synonymous with the ancient Kosala Regio ...

). Simrauta was also the seat of a

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 estate held by a branch of the

Rajputs. According to tradition, five generations after the original Kanhpuria conquest of the region, the clan's territories were divided between three brothers: Janga Singh, the oldest, received

; Man Singh, the second-oldest, received Atheha (in today's Pratapgarh district), and Madan Singh, the youngest, received Simrauta. For several generations, basically nothing is known about the Simrauta branch. The sixth-generation descendant, Jagat Singh, supposedly was in good standing with the Mughal emperor. The Simrauta estate was later divided between the brothers Mandhata Singh and Jaswant Singh, who were Jagat Singh's grandsons and contemporaries of

Saadat Ali Khan I Saadat Khan Nishapuri (born Mir Muhammad Amin; – 19 March 1739) was the first Nawab of the Kingdom of Awadh from 26 January 1722 to 1739 and the son of Muhammad Nasir. At age 25, he accompanied his father on the final campaign of the Mughal ...

, the first

Nawab of Awadh The Nawab of Awadh or Nawab of Oudh was the title of the rulers of Kingdom of Awadh (anglicised as Oudh) in northern India during the 18th and 19th centuries. The Nawabs of Awadh belonged to an Iranian dynasty''Encyclopædia Iranica'', R. B. B ...

. Mandhata Singh received Simrauta, while his younger brother Jaswant Singh founded the Siwan estate. Mandhata Singh was in good standing with the Nawab, and was given a '' mansab'' of 7,000. At some point, the Simrauta taluqdars shifted their main residence to Chandapur. At the turn of the 20th century, Simrauta was described as a mostly agricultural village with a small market. Maharajganj had overtaken it by that point. It had a large primary school and belonged to the Raja of Chandapur, who had a residence on the east side of the village. Simrauta's population in 1901 was 2,886 people, including a large proportion of

Brahmin Brahmin (; ) is a ''Varna (Hinduism), varna'' (theoretical social classes) within Hindu society. The other three varnas are the ''Kshatriya'' (rulers and warriors), ''Vaishya'' (traders, merchants, and farmers), and ''Shudra'' (labourers). Th ...

s. The 1961 census recorded Simrauta (under the spelling "Semrauta") as comprising 8 hamlets, with a total population of 2,573 people (1,297 male and 1,276 female), in 573 households and 565 physical houses. The area of the village was given as 1,560

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 Dhanush Yagya festival was then about 1,000 people, while average attendance of the twice-weekly market was about 100. The 1981 census recorded Simrauta (again as "Semrauta") as having a population of 2,897 people, in 706 households, and having an area of 631.31

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