Mau

History

From historical and archaeological point of views, Mau is one of the oldest places in the region. Ancient cultural and archaeological remains have been found at multiple places in the area giving enough evidence of long history of human habitat in the area. The known archaeological history of Mau is about 1500 years old, when the entire area was covered under thick dense forest. The nuts who used to live along Tamsa river, are considered to be the oldest inhabitants and the ruler of the area. As per the records on official webpage of the district, in 1028 A.D. King Syed Shalar Masood Ghazi came with a huge army to conquer the area but he went back to Afghanistan, leaving few of his people in the area. A Sufi saint Baba Malik Tahir and his brother Malik Qasim were part of the remaining group. There are places like Malik Tahir Pura and Qasim Pura in the name of these two saints in Mau city. The tomb of Malik Tahir is also present in Malik Tahir Pura and locally known as Mazaar Malik Tahir Baba. Mahvani, one of the daughters of Sher Shah had settled permanently near the dargah of Syed Wadva. The area also finds place in the historical book of Ziyaudeen Barni with a description that the great Mughal emperor Akbar passed through Mau on his way to Allahabad. Since time immortal, labourer and artisans who were the original inhabitants of this land has kept the fine saree art work alive and despite a gradual decline of the handloom industry in the eastern Uttar Pradesh, the saree industry of Mau still remains the last bastion of handicraft in the area otherwise an industrially thriving region till the end of last century. It is also believed that one of Shah Jahan's daughter, Jahanara Begum had also settled in that area where she built a mosque. The original structure of…