Shamsabad
This article has been extracted from THE IMPERIAL GAZETTEER OF INDIA , 1908. OXFORD, AT THE CLARENDON PRESS. |
Note: National, provincial and district boundaries have changed considerably since 1908. Typically, old states, ‘divisions’ and districts have been broken into smaller units, and many tahsils upgraded to districts. Some units have since been renamed. Therefore, this article is being posted mainly for its historical value.
Shamsabad
Town in the Kaimganj tahsil of Farrukhabad Dis- trict, United Provinces, situated in 27 32' N. and 79 28' E., on an unmetalled road 18 miles north-west of Farrukhabad, and also on a branch of the metalled road to Kaimganj. Population (1901), 8,375, An old town called Khor was founded on the cliff of the Ganges three miles away, at the beginning of the thirteenth century, by a Rathor descended from Jai Chand, last king of Kanauj. About 1228 Shams-ud-dfn Altamsh came down the Ganges, which then flowed under the cliff, and expelled the Rathors, founding Shamsabad in his own name. The Rathors returned to Khor, however, and later took Shamsabad, and often rebelled against Muhammadan rule. In the contest between Delhi and Jaunpur the Rajas of Khor or Shamsabad supported the emperor and were finally driven out by the Jaunpur kings. Only the mound where the fort stood remains of Old Shams- abad, and the new town was founded about 1585. In the Mutiny of 1857 a European planter lost his life here. The place has now decayed, and is divided into scattered groups of houses by patches of cultivation. The principal thoroughfare is a long paved street, with a small grain market opening into a larger market-place. Shams- abad is administered under Act XX of 1856, with an income of about Rs. 1,200. Trade suffered by the alignment of the metalled road and railway, which left the town some distance away, and the old manufacture of fine cloth has died out. There is, however, a small export of potatoes and tobacco. The town school has 177 pupils.
