Salon

History

According to legend, Salon was founded by Salivahan, the ancestor of the Bais. It was under Bhar rule for a long time, but although they were driven out by the Muslims after the murder of two Sayyids passing through, the Muslims did not make much headway here until the late 1700s, during the reign of Asaf-ud-Daula. Under the Nawabs of Awadh, Salon was the headquarters of a chakla and had a garrison of 350 soldiers, 50 of whom were stationed in the faujdars mud fort on the south side of town. Around 1800, Salon was a prosperous town, but it declined by the end of the 19th century. After the British annexed Awadh in 1856, Salon was originally chosen to be the district headquarters, but it lost that status after the 1857 uprising. It was then put under Pratapgarh district as a tehsil headquarters, and finally transferred under Raebareli district in 1869. At the turn of the 20th century, Salon was described as a small but historic town, "surrounded by groves and clumps of palm trees" and possessing a locally important bazar called Fazalganj, which held markets twice per week. The tehsil headquarters were also located in town, along with a police station, post office, cattle pound, and large middle vernacular school. Its population as of 1901 was 5,170 people, including 2,954 Muslims.