Dalmau

Dalmau is a historic town in the district of Rae Bareli, Uttar Pradesh, India. Situated on the banks of the Ganga, between Raebareli and Fatehpur, the town has several attractions to its credit including the King Dal's fort, Dargah of several sufies and martyrs like Makhdoom Badruddin Badr e Alam, Qubool Aalam, Sheranshah, Malik Mubarak Shaheed, Saat Sulema Saat Daud, Muhammad Shah Sharqi (Sultaan of Sharqi kingdom of Jaunpur), Chand Matmin Shaheed, Historical Mosque of Haji Zahid, Pakka Ghat built by Raja tikait Rai, Rani ka Shivala, Zanana Ghat of Mughal period, Bara Math, and Mahesh Giri Math. Dalmau also enjoys a unique place in the literary world because it was here that the famous Hindi poet, Surya Kant Tripath Nirala wrote his poems while sitting on the fort and overlooking the scene below. Dalmau was also centre of sufism in fourteen century because Maulana Daud a Chishti saint who was attached to Dalmau royal court was living here and he wrote first awadhi masnawi world famous book Chandayan.

Dalmau Chhoti Kashi
city
Dalmau Location in Uttar Pradesh, India
Coordinates: 26.07°N 81.03°E
Country	India
State	Uttar Pradesh
District	Rae Bareli
Elevation	115 m (377 ft)
Population  (2011)
• Total	9,983
Languages
• Official	Hindi
Time zone	UTC+5:30 (IST)
Vehicle registration	UP 33

Dalmau is also home to the Ebrahim Sharki palace belonging to the Nawab Shuza-ud-daula. Visitors can also see the Baithak of Alhaa Udal and enjoy a stroll along the Dalmau Pump canal.

Famous Personalities: Maulana Daud (Mulla Daud), Pandit Suryakant Tripathi Nirala, Baba Lalan Das, Miran Shah

Geography

It is located at 26.07°N 81.03°E[1] and has an average elevation of 115 metres (377 feet).

Name and history

According to tradition, Dalmau is named after its founder, Dal Deo, the brother of Ram Deo, the Raja of Kannauj.[2]

In 423 AH, Dalmau was conquered by Salar Sahu, the father of the semi-legendary Islamic warrior Ghazi Saiyyad Salar Masud. He granted the estate of Dalmau to one Malik Abdullah. There are still martyrs' tombs in Dalmau said to date from the time of this conquest, serving as the final resting place of Ghalib, Maliks Ali and Wali, and other Islamic martyrs.[2]

About two centuries later, Dalmau flourished under the reign of Iltutmish, third ruler of the Delhi Sultanate. Makhdum Badr ud-Din, a companion of the sultan, resided in Dalmau at that time. Dalmau continued to prosper under Firoz Shah Tughlaq, who founded a madrasa in Dalmau. Also during his reign, a local notable named Yusuf built an Eidgah in Dalmau; it was later replaced by a newer structure, but the foundation stone is still visible, inscribed with a pair of couplets bearing Yusuf's name as well as the date of construction, 759 AH.[2]

In 1394, as the Delhi Sultanate's crumbling Tughlaq dynasty was caught up in a civil war, members the Bhar tribe rose to power in Dalmau. Soon after, when the subahdar of Jaunpur, Khwaja Malik Sarwar, declared independence, thus founding the Jaunpur Sultanate. He claimed rule over the province of Dalmau, alongside those of Kannauj, Sandila, Bahraich, and Bihar; however, his authority over Dalmau was only nominal, as the Bhars retained possession of it. This came to an end under the Jaunpur sultan Ibrahim Shah Sharqi, who sent an army to conquer Dalmau, supposedly because the Bhar ruler, Dal, sought to marry the daughter of a local sayyid known as Baba Haji. After defeating and killing Dal's brother Kakori at the nearby village of Sudamanpur on the day of Holi, Ibrahim Shah captured Dalmau and slaughtered the Bhar inhabitants. In memory of this massacre, local women of the Bharonia cast do not wear nose rings or glass bangles. Dal's tomb is 2 miles from Dalmau, and local Bhars offer milk there during the month of Sawan.[2]

After Ibrahim Shah's conquest of Dalmau, many Muslim settlers came to live in Dalmau and other nearby towns, including Raebareli, Bhawan, Jalalpur Dehi, and Thulendi. Meanwhile, in 820 AH, Ibrahim Shah began an ambitious construction project in the area, building new forts at Bhawan, Raebareli, and Thulendi, as well as rebuilding the Bhar fort of Dalmau, which had been damaged during the previous conquest. The Dalmau fort has since largely fallen into ruin, although its thana and gatehouse still stand. It is believed to have been built on top of an even earlier Buddhist stupa. Ibrahim also constructed a masonry well and a garden by the bank of the river in Dalmau. His grandson Muhammad Shah is buried in a tomb within this garden, in a structure known as the Maqbara-e-Shah-e-Sharqi.[2]

Dalmau's fort appears to have been a royal one, due to the appointment of various officers typical of royal forts: a mutawalli or superintendent, a muhtasib or censor, a nasihi or legal advisor, a qasbati, who provided supplies for civil and military officials, a ghariali, who struck the hours on the gate, and a guldagha, who branded the horses and oxen of the cavalry. Some of these officials received hereditary lands in addition to their position: for example, the gharialis held the village of Nasirpur Kirtali on a rent-free tenure through the time of the British Raj.[2]

Dalmau remained an important city long after the end of the Jaunpur Sultanate. The Delhi sultan Sikandar Lodi married the widow of Sheri, the governor of Dalmau, here in 1491, and the city appears frequently in the annals of the historian Firishta. During the reign of the Mughal emperor Akbar, one Mirza Shukrullah served as the faujdar of Dalmau. He repaired the mosque of Makhdum Badr ud-Din, and his own stone mausoleum still stands. During the reign of Shah Jahan, Sherandaz Khan served as the faujdar of Dalmau. He founded a mahallah, named Sherandazpur after himself, in Dalmau. He also built an imambara and a mosque within the fort's precinct.[2]

Shuja-ud-Daula, the Nawab of Oudh from 1754 to 1775, built a brick mansion and a garden 2 miles north of Dalmau; however, the house was destroyed during the British raj to make way for the road from Dalmau to Lalganj; only the southern wall still stands. Saadat Ali Khan II, the penultimate Nawab of Oudh, was born in this mansion. In 1146 AH, the Maratha commander Pandit Gopal Rao crossed the Ganges from the south and sacked Dalmau, and the city went into decline.[2]

Dalmau was originally the seat of what would become Lalganj tehsil, losing this status in 1864. It was made a pargana by Akbar, in the sarkar of Manikpur and the subah of Allahabad. It remained a pargana through the time of the Raj. Before being constituted as a pargana, the territory of Dalmau had been divided into six districts: Haweli (Dalmau itself), Jalalpur, Birkha, Bhai, Satawan, and Pandaria. This division was made by Ibrahim Shah Sharqi.[2]

School

Bappa DevtaDeen Agrahari Industrial Training Institute (ITI)

Sri Bhagirathi Inter College

New Adarsh Shiksha Niketan Inter College

Shanti Manohar Balika Inter College

Maharaja Agrasen Public School

Maya Devi Public School

Kashi Bright Angeles School

Aryan Deep Public School

Mohan Bal Vidhya Mandir

Cultural Significance

It is considered to be a holy place, situated on the banks of the river Ganges. The famous poet and writer Suryakant Tripathi 'Nirala' wrote poems sitting on the top of the fort built by the King Dal Dev. The town is also featured prominently in his eponymous biography of his friend Kulli Bhaat.By tradition a large crowd comes in KARTIK PURNIMA MELA from neighbouring areas to have a dip in holy Ganga[3]

Dalmau Population

The Dalmau city is divided into 10 wards for which elections are held every 5 years. The Dalmau Nagar Panchayat has population of 9,983 of which 5,189 are males while 4,794 are females as per report released by Census India 2011.

Population of Children with age of 0-6 is 1190 which is 11.92% of total population of Dalmau (NP). In Dalmau Nagar Panchayat, Female Sex Ratio is of 924 against state average of 912. Moreover Child Sex Ratio in Dalmau is around 954 compared to Uttar Pradesh state average of 902. Literacy rate of Dalmau city is 77.95% higher than state average of 67.68%. In Dalmau, Male literacy is around 86.83% while female literacy rate is 68.29%.

Dalmau Nagar Panchayat has total administration over 1,882 houses to which it supplies basic amenities like water and sewerage. It is also authorized to build roads within Nagar Panchayat limits and impose taxes on properties coming under its jurisdiction.

References

1. Falling Rain Genomics, Inc - Dalmau
2. Benett, William Charles (1877). Gazetteer of the Province of Oudh, Volume 1. Lucknow: Oudh Government Press. pp. 354–59. Retrieved 8 August 2020.
3. . 2017 https://www.amarujala.com/amp/uttar-pradesh/raebareli/stay-alert-every-activity-will-be-monitored-through-drone-cameras-raibaraily-news-lko491535656. Missing or empty |title= (help)