Mainpuri

History

According to tradition, a branch of the Chauhan Rajputs came to Mainpuri from Asauli under one Raja Partab Rudr sometime between 1363 and 1391 (1420-1448 samvat). They were accompanied by fighters from the Mathuriya Brahmans, who later became merchants instead. A new site called Mukhamganj, which is now the main part of town, was founded in 1746 by Raja Jaswant Singh on the Grand Trunk Road. It was named after Mukham Singh, who is variously recorded as a son of Jaswant's who was born out of wedlock or as his own childless brother. The new town quickly grew as people moved here from the town of Karimganj, further north. Mukhamganj quickly eclipsed Karimganj, which dwindled from a large town to a smaller village. In 1802, the British founded a civil station just east of Mainpuri to serve as the headquarters of the new Etawah district. The civil station consisted of three settlements: Gola Bazar, Nagla Chamaran, and Nagla Pazawa. Due to its position as an administrative headquarters, the entire town of Mainpuri quickly grew. In 1804, it was attacked and pillaged by forces under Yashwant Rao Holkar, the Maratha ruler of Indore. Major construction was done in Mainpuri from 1848 to 1850, involving the Raikesganj marketplace and a school, and again in the 1870s, involving three marketplaces, a post office, more schools, and a drainage system for the city. The three marketplaces built in the 1870s included one for vegetable produce, one for ghee and cotton, and one, called Laneganj after its builder, for grain. Laneganj, which replaced Raikesganj as the city's main grain market, stretched from the Raikesganj sarai in the south to the intersection of the Katra and Kuraoli roads in the north, on the border with Mainpuri Khas. A large masonry tank was also built next to the…

Geography

Mainpuri is located on a branch of the historical Grand Trunk Road, about 55 km from the city of Etawah and 116  km from the city of Agra. The Isan river is on the east side of town. Mainpuri is about 5 km downstream from the point where the Isan receives the Kak Nadi as a tributary. In this area, up until about 1 km downstream of Mainpuri, the Isan has a relatively shallow bed and often overflows during the monsoon season. Three bridges cross the Isan river in Mainpuri; the northernmost is by the Devi temple on the road to Kuraoli. The soil in this area is a mix of loam and usar. On the south of Mainpuri is the railway, along with the train station. Mainpuri railway station was deliberately built in the middle of an unproductive usar plain so it wouldn't take away from the available farmland. }}

Most-observed species

• Indian Peafowl

  Pavo cristatus Linnaeus, 1758 · Aves
  5
• Sarus crane

  Grus antigone (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  4
• Red-vented Bulbul

  Pycnonotus cafer (Linnaeus, 1766) · Aves
  4
• Black Drongo

  Dicrurus macrocercus Vieillot, 1817 · Aves
  4
• Rock Pigeon

  Columba livia J.F.Gmelin, 1789 · Aves
  4
• Rose-ringed Parakeet

  Psittacula krameri (Scopoli, 1769) · Aves
  3
• Egyptian Vulture

  Neophron percnopterus (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  3
• Ashy Prinia

  Prinia socialis Sykes, 1832 · Aves
  3