AMARENDRA NATH ROY at 15:57, 26 March 2026

2026-03-26T15:57:15Z

New page

{{Use Indian English|date=January 2023}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=June 2023}}
{{Infobox settlement
| name = Khajurgaon
| native_name =
| native_name_lang =
| other_name = Khajurgāon
| nickname =
| settlement_type = Village
| image_skyline =
| image_alt =
| image_caption =
| image_map = Lalganj block map.png
| map_caption = Map showing Khajurgaon Mu. (#861) in Lalganj CD block
| pushpin_map = India Uttar Pradesh
| pushpin_label_position = right
| pushpin_map_alt =
| pushpin_map_caption = Location in Uttar Pradesh, India
| coordinates = {{coord|26.071982|N|80.932433|E|display=inline,title}}<ref name="GeoNames">{{cite web |url=https://geonames.nga.mil/namesgaz/ |website=Do a radial search using these coordinates here |title=Geonames Search}}</ref>
| subdivision_type = Country
| subdivision_name = {{flag|India}}
| subdivision_type1 = [[States and territories of India|State]]
| subdivision_name1 = [[Uttar Pradesh]]
| subdivision_type2 = [[List of districts of India|District]]
| subdivision_name2 = [[Raebareli district|Raebareli]]
| established_title = 
| established_date =
| founder =
| named_for =
| government_type =
| governing_body =
| unit_pref = Metric
| area_footnotes = <ref name="Census 2011"/>
| area_rank =
| area_total_km2 = 4.722
| elevation_footnotes =
| elevation_m =
| population_total = 5916
| population_as_of = 2011
| population_rank =
| population_density_km2 = auto
| population_demonym =
| population_footnotes = <ref name="Census 2011"/>
| demographics_type1 = Languages
| demographics1_title1 = Official
| demographics1_info1 = [[Hindi language|Hindi]]
| timezone1 = [[Indian Standard Time|IST]]
| utc_offset1 = +5:30
| postal_code_type = [[Postal Index Number|PIN]]
| postal_code =
| registration_plate = UP-35
| website =
| footnotes =
}}
'''Khajurgaon''' is a village in [[Lalganj, Uttar Pradesh|Lalganj]] block of [[Rae Bareli district]], [[Uttar Pradesh]], [[India]].<ref name="Census 2011">{{cite web |title=Census of India 2011: Uttar Pradesh District Census Handbook - Rae Bareli, Part A (Village and Town Directory) |pages=288–306 |url=https://censusindia.gov.in/2011census/dchb/DCHB_A/09/0927_PART_A_DCHB_RAE%20BARELI.pdf |website=Census 2011 India|access-date=3 November 2021}}</ref> It is located on the bank of the [[Ganges]],<ref name="Gazetteer 1905"/> 12 km from Lalganj, the block and [[tehsil]] headquarters.<ref name="Census 1981"/> As of 2011, it has a population of 5,916 people, in 1,067 households.<ref name="Census 2011"/> It has 5 primary schools and 1 community health centre.<ref name="Census 2011"/> It serves as the headquarters of a [[nyaya panchayat]] which also includes 12 other villages.<ref name="Census 1991"/>

Khajurgaon historically served as the seat of a [[taluqdar]]i estate belonging to a branch of the Saibasi [[Bais (Rajput clan)|Bais]].<ref name="Gazetteer 1905"/> The estate was one of the largest in the district, and its holders claimed seniority over all the descendants of the legendary Bais raja Tilok Chand.<ref name="Gazetteer 1905"/>

Khajurgaon has a bazar known as Raghunathganj,<ref name="Gazetteer 1905"/> and it hosts both a permanent market and a weekly [[haat]].<ref name="Census 2011"/> The haat is held twice per week, on Tuesdays and Saturdays, and it mostly involves trade in cloth and vegetables.<ref name="Census 1961"/>

==History==
Khajurgaon historically served as the fortified capital of the Ranas of Khajurgaon, who were historically one of the most powerful [[taluqdar]]i dynasties in the district.<ref name="Gazetteer 1905">{{cite book |last1=Nevill |first1=H.R. |title=Rai Bareli: A Gazetteer, Being Volume XXXIX Of The District Gazetteers Of The United Provinces Of Agra And Oudh |date=1905 |publisher=Government Press |location=Allahabad |pages=69, 71–3, 185 |url=https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.35020 |access-date=3 November 2021}}</ref> They were the leaders of the Saibasi clan of the [[Bais (Rajput clan)|Bais]] Rajputs, who claimed descent from the legendary Tilok Chand through his younger son Harhar Deo.<ref name="Gazetteer 1905"/> Later Saibasi dynasts, perhaps because of the ascendancy of Khajurgaon over the elder branch at [[Murarmau]], would claim that they were in fact the senior branch of the entire Bais clan.<ref name="Gazetteer 1905"/> According to their account, Harhar Deo was actually the elder son of Tilok Chand, but he was away at Delhi when his father died and thus lost the title of Raja to his brother.<ref name="Gazetteer 1905"/> Upon his return, however, Harhar Deo was able to secure the greater share of the estate for himself, and he adopted the title of [[Rana (title)|Rana]] for himself — a title which his descendants at Khajurgaon would continue to use through the 20th century.<ref name="Gazetteer 1905"/>

Harhar Deo's two sons, Khem Karan and Karan Rai, are respectively the ancestors of the Saibasi and Naihasta branches of the Bais.<ref name="Gazetteer 1905"/> Khem Karan's grandson, Rana Doman Deo, ruled from Chiloli and had eight sons, of whom the eldest was Ajit Mal, who became the Rana of Khajurgaon.<ref name="Gazetteer 1905"/> Ajit Mal's grandson, Rana Amar Singh, joined forces with the Naihasta clan under Chet Rai of [[Kurri Sudauli]] to recover their former lands in the [[pargana]]s of [[Patan, Uttar Pradesh|Patan]] and [[Bihar, Unnao|Bihar]].<ref name="Gazetteer 1905"/> Together they were able to defeat the rulers of [[Daundia Khera]] and [[Purwa]], but they later had a falling-out and Chet Rai left.<ref name="Gazetteer 1905"/> Amar Singh was then defeated in battle by Achal Singh of Purwa.<ref name="Gazetteer 1905"/> More disastrously, he was then defeated by Chhabile Ram of [[Allahabad]] in a battle near [[Dalmau]] sometime around 1710, and lost possession of his lands to the latter.<ref name="Gazetteer 1905"/>

Only after some 20 years had passed (i.e. around 1730) was Amar Singh's grandson, Pahar Singh, able to take possession of Khajurgaon again, along with three other villages.<ref name="Gazetteer 1905"/> Pahar Singh's reign was marked by constant fighting with his neighbours, and at one point the fort at Khajurgaon was seized by Chet Rai.<ref name="Gazetteer 1905"/> His descendants, however, became very powerful and by the time of the British takeover of Awadh in 1856 the Rana of Khajurgaon was the largest landowner in [[Baiswara]].<ref name="Gazetteer 1905"/> This Rana was Raghunath Singh, who died in 1861 and was succeeded by his son Shankar Bakhsh Singh who then held the Khajurgaon estate until his death in 1897.<ref name="Gazetteer 1905"/>

At the turn of the 20th century, Khajurgaon was described as mostly notable as the headquarters of the taluqa of the same name.<ref name="Gazetteer 1905"/> It had the Rana's residence, a [[dispensary]] maintained by the estate, and a large primary school.<ref name="Gazetteer 1905"/> Its population as of 1901 was 2,638, including a Muslim minority of 183.<ref name="Gazetteer 1905"/> At that time, the Rana of Khajurgaon held a vast estate comprising 130 villages in the district, spread across the parganas of Dalmau, [[Rae Bareli]], [[Khiron]], and [[Sareni, Uttar Pradesh|Sareni]], along with the [[Ibrahimganj]] estate of 2 villages in [[Lucknow district]] and the [[Karohia]] property of 2 villages in [[Lakhimpur Kheri district]].<ref name="Gazetteer 1905"/> In addition, the Rana also held a [[usufruct]]uary mortgage over 97 villages in the Murarmau taluqa.<ref name="Gazetteer 1905"/>

The [[1951 Census of India|1951 census]] recorded Khajurgaon (as "Khajur Gaon") as comprising 10 hamlets, with a total population of 2,751 people (1,333 male and 1,418 female), in 593 households and 579 physical houses.<ref name="Census 1951">{{cite book |title=Census of India, 1951: District Census Handbook Uttar Pradesh (42 - Rae Bareli District) |date=1955 |location=Allahabad |pages=112–3 |url=http://lsi.gov.in:8081/jspui/bitstream/123456789/933/1/23644_1951_RAE.pdf |access-date=3 November 2021}}</ref> The area of the village was given as 3,251 [[acre]]s.<ref name="Census 1951"/> 14 residents were literate, all male.<ref name="Census 1951"/> The village was listed as belonging to the [[pargana]] of [[Dalmau]] and the [[thana]] of Dalmau.<ref name="Census 1951"/>

The [[1961 Census of India|1961 census]] recorded Khajurgaon as comprising 10 hamlets, with a total population of 2,771 people (1,342 male and 1,429 female), in 560 households and 515 physical houses.<ref name="Census 1961">{{cite book |title=Census 1961: District Census Handbook, Uttar Pradesh (39 - Raebareli District) |date=1965 |location=Lucknow |pages=175, lxxvi-lxxvii of section "Dalmau Tahsil" |url=http://lsi.gov.in:8081/jspui/bitstream/123456789/1047/1/22852_1961_RAE.pdf |access-date=3 November 2021}}</ref> The area of the village was given as 2,251 [[acre]]s and it had a hospital, medical practitioner, and post office at the time.<ref name="Census 1961"/> Average attendance of the twice-weekly market was about 100 people.<ref name="Census 1961"/>

The [[1981 Census of India|1981 census]] recorded Khajurgaon as having a population of 3,803 people, in 772 households, and having an area of 490.49 [[hectare]]s.<ref name="Census 1981">{{cite book |title=Census 1981 Uttar Pradesh: District Census Handbook Part XIII-A: Village & Town Directory, District Rae Bareli |date=1982 |pages=156–7 |url=http://lsi.gov.in:8081/jspui/bitstream/123456789/1298/1/50861_1981_RAE.pdf |access-date=3 November 2021}}</ref> The main staple foods were listed as wheat and rice.<ref name="Census 1981"/>

The [[1991 Census of India|1991 census]] recorded Khajurgaon Mu. as having a total population of 4,556 people (2,239 male and 2,317 female), in 783 households and 779 physical houses.<ref name="Census 1991">{{cite book |title=Census 1991 Series-25 Uttar Pradesh Part-XII B Village & Townwise Primary Census Abstract District Census Handbook District Raebareli |date=1992 |pages=xxiv-xxviii, 196–7 |url=http://lsi.gov.in:8081/jspui/bitstream/123456789/1443/1/36846_1991_RAE.pdf |access-date=21 October 2021}}</ref> The area of the village was listed as 470 hectares.<ref name="Census 1991"/> Members of the 0-6 age group numbered 911, or 20% of the total; this group was 49% male (442) and 51% female (469).<ref name="Census 1991"/> Members of [[scheduled caste]]s numbered 1,376, or 30% of the village's total population, while no members of [[scheduled tribes]] were recorded.<ref name="Census 1991"/> The [[literacy rate]] of the village was 32% (1,028 men and 438 women).<ref name="Census 1991"/> 1,154 people were classified as main workers (1,051 men and 103 women), while 63 people were classified as marginal workers (5 men and 58 women); the remaining 3,339 residents were non-workers.<ref name="Census 1991"/> The breakdown of main workers by employment category was as follows: 639 cultivators (i.e. people who owned or leased their own land); 272 agricultural labourers (i.e. people who worked someone else's land in return for payment); 0 workers in livestock, forestry, fishing, hunting, plantations, orchards, etc.; 0 in mining and quarrying; 36 household industry workers; 28 workers employed in other [[manufacturing]], processing, service, and repair roles; 7 [[construction worker]]s; 87 employed in trade and commerce; 14 employed in transport, storage, and communications; and 71 in other services.<ref name="Census 1991"/>

==References==
{{Reflist}}

{{Raebareli district}}

[[Category:Villages in Raebareli district]]
[[Category:Zamindari estates in Uttar Pradesh]]

Khajurgaon - Revision history

AMARENDRA NATH ROY at 15:57, 26 March 2026