1859.] Account of Pergunnah Mahoha, Zlllah Humeerpore. 383 



Population. 



The census of the Pergunnah made in the autumn of 1855 gives 

 the following return — 



Men. Women. Boys. Girls. Total. 



22,626 20,347 13,267 9,147 65,387 



spread oyer ninety-one villages, of which the three above described 

 are the largest. Besides them, but three, Jeouraha, Baregurh and 

 Bilbai, have above 2,000, and nine others above 1,000 inhabitants. 



The recency of the previous census renders any comparison with 

 it useless, and none of earlier date appear to have been made. 

 This is the more to be regretted, as in some villages the dispropor- 

 tion between males and females, especially among the children, is 

 so great as to raise doubts whether infanticide is not yet more 

 common here than is believed to be the case, and I have therefore 

 added the statement in Appendix No. III., and have included in it 

 the different classes of zemindars who own the villages. 



Castes. 



There are men of all castes to be found in the Pergunnah, but 

 the greater number are naturally Rajpoots of different races, the 

 most frequent perhaps being the Beis Thakoors, who especially 

 abound to the North. Oorwara, a large village to the South-west, is 

 the only one where a large brotherhood of Chandels still remain. 



Education. 



Education here is at a low ebb, in many villages, the Putwaree is 

 the only scholar ; but this throughout Bundelcund is too commonly 

 the case. In Oorwara, Sijharee, Sreenuggur, Puhra, and Mukurbai, 

 however, the children of the kaieths, bunyas, brahmans, and tha- 

 koors, read at home, and learn the rudiments of Hindee and ac- 

 counts. Chikehra boasts a school at Pershad Tewaree's, as does 

 Kubrai. Mahoba has two ; from ten to fifteen boys attend, paying 

 from three to four annas a month each. Besides this, wandering 

 teachers at times visit the large villages and remain as long as the 

 zemindars support them, in return imparting such instruction to the 

 children as they are able. 



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