Kurwar

Kurwar Kudwar
Village
Map showing Kurwar (#785) in Kurwar CD block
Kurwar Location in Uttar Pradesh, India
Coordinates: 26°20′51″N 81°58′43″E / 26.347496°N 81.97874°E / 26.347496; 81.97874[1]
Country	India
State	Uttar Pradesh
Division	Ayodhya division
District	Sultanpur
Area [2]
• Total	6.718 km2 (2.594 sq mi)
Population  (2011)[2]
• Total	10,826
• Density	1,600/km2 (4,200/sq mi)
Languages
• Official	Hindi, Urdu
Time zone	UTC+5:30 (IST)

Kurwar is a town and community development block headquarters in Sultanpur district, Uttar Pradesh, India.^[2] It is located by the Gomti River, 14 km northwest of Sultanpur on the road to Isauli and Haliapur.^[3] The southern part of the village is on fairly high ground, but the area north of the main road is low-lying and prone to flooding.^[3] Kurwar historically was the seat of the taluqdari estate of the Raja of Kurwar, who was the head of the Bachgoti Rajput clan.^[3]

As of 2011, Kurwar has a population of 10,826, in 1,785 households.^[2] It has 4 primary schools and a community health centre.^[2] Kurwar hosts a market twice per week, on Mondays and Fridays; it mostly deals in cloth, pottery and bullocks.^[4] It also hosts a large Dussehra festival involving dramatic reenactments of scenes from the Ramayana.^[4] Vendors bring items such as earthenware pottery, hosiery, hemp ropes, cloth, toys, and sweets to sell at the fair.^[4] Kurwar is also the seat of a nyaya panchayat which also includes 13 other villages.^[5]

Kurwar was historically the seat of the Raja of Kurwar, who was head of the Bachgoti Rajput clan and who lived in a palace here.^[3] The palace was built by the Court of Wards, and Raja Partab Bahadur Singh also built a large zanana house which was completed in 1902.^[3]

The Rajas of Kurwar claimed descent from one Prithipat Singh; the ninth raja, Niwaz Singh, had two sons named Lachhman Singh (who inherited Kurwar) and Man Singh (who received the taluqa of Bhiti; Lachhman Singh's grandsons all died without issue, and Sukhdev Singh, a descendant of Man Singh, seized Kurwar, and his descendants would subsequently reign as rajas.^[3] At the turn of the 20th century, the Kurwar estate consisted of 64 villages and 9 pattis in the parganas of Miranpur and Baraunsa, and the raja also held the Hathgaon estate of 37 villages and 15 pattis in Faizabad district.^[3]

At the turn of the 20th century, Kurwar was described as a large village with "a very flourishing upper primary school, one of the best in the district," as well as a female dispensary maintained by the Raja of Kurwar.^[3] It was not, however a trade centre.^[3] The population as of 1901 was 3,004 people, including 2,297 Hindus and 707 Muslims.^[3] The main caste groups were Brahmins, Thakurs, and Kayasths.^[3]

The 1951 census recorded Kurwar as comprising 36 hamlets, with a total population of 3,640 people (1,808 male and 1,832 female), in 852 households and 780 physical houses.^[6] The area of the village was given as 1,722 acres.^[6] The village was listed as belonging to the pargana of Miranpur and the thana of Kotwali.^[6] The village had a district board-run primary school with 276 students in attendance as of 1 January 1951.^[6]

The 1961 census recorded Kurwar as comprising 37 hamlets, with a total population of 4,112 people (2,047 male and 2,065 female), in 795 households and 760 physical houses.^[4] The area of the village was given as 1,722 acres and it had a medical practitioner, maternity and child welfare centre, and government-run dispensary with 2 male and 2 female beds.^[4] Average attendance of the twice-weekly haat was about 1,500 people, while attendance of the Dussehra fair was about 2,000.^[4]

The 1981 census recorded Kurwar as having a population of 5,876 people, in 1,031 households, and having an area of 696.89 hectares.^[7] The main staple foods were listed as wheat and rice.^[7]

The 1991 census recorded Kurwar (as "Kudwar") as having a total population of 7,428 people (3,826 male and 3,602 female), in 1,181 households and 1,156 physical houses.^[5] The area of the village was listed as 996.89 hectares.^[5] Members of the 0-6 age group numbered 1,426, or 19% of the total; this group was 53% male (757) and 47% female (669).^[5] Members of scheduled castes numbered 758, or 10% of the village's total population, while no members of scheduled tribes were recorded.^[5] The literacy rate of the village was 52% (2,152 men and 984 women, counting only people age 7 and up).^[5] 1,970 people were classified as main workers (1,736 men and 234 women), while 10 people were classified as marginal workers (all women); the remaining 5,448 residents were non-workers.^[5] The breakdown of main workers by employment category was as follows: 635 cultivators (i.e. people who owned or leased their own land); 530 agricultural labourers (i.e. people who worked someone else's land in return for payment); 0 workers in livestock, forestry, fishing, hunting, plantations, orchards, etc.; 0 in mining and quarrying; 188 household industry workers; 70 workers employed in other manufacturing, processing, service, and repair roles; 4 construction workers; 245 employed in trade and commerce; 23 employed in transport, storage, and communications; and 285 in other services.^[5]

Kurwar CD block has the following 99 villages:^[2]

1. Aadarsh primary school Pragya Academy Nursery School
2. RDL Public School
3. BP Inter College
4. Bhuvneshwari Pratap Sanskrit Maha Vidyalaya
5. Dr. Mahadevi Verma Inter College