Mainpuri district () is one of the districts in the Agra division of Uttar Pradesh, India. Mainpuri town is the district headquarters. Mainpuri is located in the southwestern part of Uttar Pradesh, within the Agra division. It is situated in the Ganges-Yamuna Doab region. It consists of six tehsils, namely Mainpuri, Bhongaon, Karhal, Kishni, Kurawali and Ghiror.
Mainpuri forms part of the ancient legendary region of Lord Krishna's land called Braj. It is bounded on the north by Etah district, on the east by the districts Farrukhabad and Kannauj, on the south by Etawah district and on the west by the districts Firozabad and Etah. It lies between north latitude 260 53′ to 270 31′ and east longitude 780 27′ to 790 26′. According to the 2011 census, Mainpuri district has a population of 1,847,194. The district has a population density of 670 inhabitants per square kilometre (1,700/sq mi). Mainpuri has a sex ratio of 876 females for every 1000 males, and a literacy rate of 78.26%.
History Several copper harpoons and antenna swords have been found in Ganeshpur village in 2022 which are from Copper Hoard Culture. The region was part of Dakshina Panchala, with its capital at Kampilya in the nearby Farrukhabad district. Ruled by the Nandas, Mauryas, Shungas, Kanvas, Kushanas, the Panchala region gained immense prosperity under the Guptas. Not much mention is made of the region until the time of the Maukharis and later Harsha. From this time, the region was ruled by dynasties centred at Kannauj, particularly the Gurjara-Pratiharas. After their fall, a period of brief anarchy followed in the district until the rise of the Gahadavala dynasty in the late 11th century. After Mohammad Ghori defeated Jayachandra, the last king of Kannauj, the region was divided into a number of petty principalities, of which Rapri and Bhongaon were chief. These principalities initially attempted to resist the consolidation of authority under the Sultans of Delhi, but were unsuccessful. Qutubuddin Aibak made Rapri in neighbouring Firozabad district the centre of an iqta tax farming grant, which remained an important centre for centuries to come. Bhongaon was given as fief to Malik Sher Khan, nephew of Balban, in 1259 and was held for one year. Malik Kafur held Rapri as fief under Alauddin Khilji.
In 1392 Bir Bhan, the Muqqadam of Bhongaon, rose in revolt against the Sultan Muhammad Shah Tughluq, which was crushed by the vizier. However the next year he, along with Sarvadharan and Abhai Chand, two other nobles, he rose in revolt again. The revolt was only ended when Mukarrab-ul-Mulk, governor of Jalesar, murdered two of the ringleaders under the pretext of peace talks. Eventually the territory up to Rapri fell under the rule of the Jaunpur Sultanate. During the struggle between Delhi and Jaunpur after the invasion of Timur, the Hindu chiefs of Mainpuri again tried to declare indpenedence and were crushed. In 1420, Taj-ul-Mulk, vizier of Khizr Khan, sacked Mainpuri when suppressing the rebellion of more Hindu chiefs of the district and destroyed their stronghold of Dhiluli.
During the reign of Alauddin Alam Shah, one Rai Pratap of Bhongaon instigated the Sultan to try to execute his vizier, whose father had carried off his wife. The vizier instead offered the crown to Bahlul Lodhi and forced the Sayyid dynasty out of power, although Rai Pratap was still confirmed in his position. The district remained at the frontier of the Delhi and Jaunpur sultans, but was not much mentioned. After Babur's conquest of Delhi and the anarchy that followed his death, the region fell under the Suri Empire, and was reconquered by the Mughals. In 1562, Akbar himself was injured in this district when trying to quell resistance from the people of Paronkha village. During his time, the present area of the district was in Agra Subah, divided between the pargana of Ghiror in Agra sarkar, and the mahals of Bhongaon, Patti Alipur, Sauj, Tais, part of Etawah, and Kuraoli, most of which was controlled by Rajputs. The region's status remained relatively unchanged until the death of Aurangzeb in 1707.
The region then fell under the control of Muhammad Khan Bangash, an Afghan noble who aided Farrukhsiyar become Mughal emperor, and remained under his rule until his death in 1743. Afterwards the Marathas took control of the area, until the Third Battle of Panipat when it ended up part of the Rohilla possessions, before being taken by the Nawab of Awadh. The Marathas retook the region in 1770, but were soon expelled by Awadh and the British in 1774, and the region was ruled by the Nawab until 1801. During the Second Anglo-Maratha War in 1804, Yashwantrao Holkar attacked Mainpuri.
When this part of the country was ceded to the British in 1801, Mainpuri town became the headquarters of the extensive district of Etawah, which covered much of the middle Doab with tehsils Shikohabad, Huzur, Sakit, Kasganj and Etawah. Soon after 1803, Sauj pargana was transferred to Farrukhabad, and the tehsils were placed under subcollectorates. In 1827, Kuraoli was transferred from Farrukhabad, as was Bewar in 1840. In 1824 a separate Karhal pargana was created and the Rapri pargana was divided into a Shikohabad pargana and two other parganas: Mustafabad and Ghiror, and the Manchhana pargana was formed out of Bhongaon. In 1837, Mainpuri was separated from Etawah district and in 1845 the Etah district was formed out of the three northern parganas of the district. In 1850 Manchhana taluk was re-merged with Bhongaon. In 1861, Sauj pargana was divided between Karhal and Mainpuri. Small land transfers were made to Farrukhabad, Etawah and Etah districts in 1957, and in 1961 some land was transferred from Farrukhabad district to Mainpuri district.
On the outbreak of the Rebellion in 1857 and receipt of the news of the mutiny of troops in Aligarh, the regiment stationed at Mainpuri revolted and attacked the town in late May, parts of which were defended by the few Europeans of the station and some loyal Indian troops led by Zamindar Rao Bhawani Singh. Mainpuri remained under slowly faltering British control for longer than the surrounding districts until the end of June, when the British authority completely collapsed. The arrival of a force of Jhansi mutineers on June 29 made it necessary to abandon the district to the care of Raja Tej Singh, who claimed to be loyal, and they opened the jail with some of his uncle Bhawani Singh's men who joined the revolt. However Bhawani Singh himself remained loyal, as he benefited from the earlier seizure of his nephew's land by the British. When more revolutionaries from Sagar arrived, the Raja set up his revolutionary administration. Tej Singh suppressed the Ahir zamindars of Bharaul and made alliance with the Nawab of Farrukhabad. In October, the British tried to reconquer the middle Doab but once they left, Tej Singh returned to take over the region by December. However a British force soon beat him near Kuraoli, forcing them to retreat and allowing the British to reoccupy Mainpuri. The district was under full British control again by late 1858.
In 1915, Dammi Lai, Karori Lai Gupta, Sidh Gopal Chatiuvedi, Gopinath, Prabhakar Pande, Chandradhar Jauhri and Shiv Kishan along with Genda Lal Dixit of Etawah attempted to organise armed revolution. Their trial in 1915 at Mainpuri, known as the Mainpuri Conspiracy Case, galvanized support for the revolution. In 1921, Thakur Digvijay Singh, a local leader, addressed a rally supporting the boycott of foreign products. A 'Nau Jawan Bharat Sabha' was formed where Bhagat Singh and Chandra Shekhar Azad allegedly attended in disguise. Gandhi and Nehru came to Mainpuri. The district participated in all the major events of the Independence movement, including the non-cooperation movement. In 1989, the Jasrana and Shikohabad tehsils were made part of the new Firozabad district.
Kak Nadi, Senghar Nadi, and Sehar Nadi were some of the rivers in the area which have since dried up.
Administration The Mainpuri district is headed by an IAS officer of the rank of District Magistrate (DM). The district is further sub-divided into sub-divisions or Tehsils, each headed by a Sub Divisional Magistrate (SDM).
These Tehsils are further divided into Blocks, each headed by a Block development officer (BDO).
Tehsils The six sub-divisions or Tehsils in Mainpuri are as follows:
Mainpuri Bhogaon Karhal Kishni Ghiror Kurawali
Blocks The nine Blocks in Mainpuri are as follows:
Mainpuri Ghiror Bewar Jagir Sultanganj Karhal Kurawali Kishni Barnahal
Geography The district generally gives the appearance of an extensive level plain broken only by the sand ridges on the western border, the rolling sand hills and undulations of the Kali and Isan rivers, and the ravines along the Yamuna to the southwest. The Kali Nadi forms the boundary of this plain on the north and northeast and the Yamuna encloses it on the southwest. Both these rivers flow towards the southeast and between them. The general slope of the country is from northwest to southeast, taking the district from north to south.
Generally speaking, the soils of the district are typical of those found elsewhere in the Indo-Gangetic plain, and are classified on two principles according to whether the distinctions recognised are natural or artificial. Both are well-understood and commonly employed by the cultivator. Of the natural divisions bhur is the name for soil containing a large proportion of sand, while matyar is the name of soil containing a large proportion of clay. Between these two is a loamy soil called domat with clay and sand more evenly divided. A lighter soil is known as pilia, coming between domal and bhur. The barren soil known as usher is found at the heads and partly down the courses of the smaller rivers such as Ahnaiya and Puraha, the Sengar and Arind and the numerous minor esteems. It appears to be a clay deposit too compact to permit cultivation in places too impregnated with Reh and other deleterious mineral substances to permit the growth of even grass.
Wasteland: The barren land consists for the most part of usar plains.
Forests: The total area covered in the district is . A considerable area of the barren land is covered with dark jungle. A great deal of wasteland is covered with the coarse grass known locally as ganra (gandhar) or sinkh. Ganra is used for thatching and making ropes and mats. The babul grows in large clumps on the usar plains and is, indeed, the only tree which flourishes on them. Its cultivation has for some time been encouraged by the increase of moisture due to the canals and the great demand for wood both for fuel and carpentry. Its timber is hard and close-grained and is used for building purposes, fuel and charcoal.
Water Bodies
Kali Nadi The Kali Nadi forms the northeastern boundary of the district separating it from Etah and Farukkhabad. It is a narrow stream, but perennial, and even during the spring and summer months is only fordable at certain places. There is a bridge with a 545-foot span on the Farukkhabad Road.
Isan Nadi Next to the Kali comes the Isan, which is here a considerable stream, fordable only in a few places during the rainy season. During the remainder of the year the volume of running water is small, and in years of unusual drought there is no apparent stream, but the pools that remain are fed by the springs. During the first part of its course and to within four miles of its junction with Kali Nadi about three miles northwest of Mainpuri, it runs through a loam and usar country, has a comparatively shallow bed, and often overflows the neighbouring lands in times of flooding.
The Arind or Rind