Kathwara is a large village in

Bakshi Ka Talab Bakshi Ka Talab is a nagar panchayat town in Lucknow district of Uttar Pradesh, India. It is also the headquarters of a corresponding tehsil, as well as a community development block of the same name. As of 2011, its population was 49,166, in ...

block of

Lucknow district Lucknow district is a district located in the state of Uttar Pradesh in northern India. The city of Lucknow is the district headquarters and the district is part of Lucknow Division. It also is the capital of Uttar Pradesh Lucknow is Bounded on ...

Uttar Pradesh Uttar Pradesh (; , 'Northern Province') is a state in northern India. With over 200 million inhabitants, it is the most populated state in India as well as the most populous country subdivision in the world. It was established in 1950 ...

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

. As of 2011, its population is 6,740, in 1,303 households. Kathwara is a village with a long history, with legendary origins said to date back to the

Dvapara Yuga ''Dvapara Yuga'' ( Dwapara Yuga), in Hinduism, is the third and third best of the four ''yugas'' (world ages) in a ''Yuga Cycle'', preceded by ''Treta Yuga'' and followed by ''Kali Yuga''. ''Dvapara Yuga'' lasts for 864,000 years (2,400 divine y ...

, and it is the site of the Chandrika Devi Temple.

History

Kathwara's origin myth states that the place was once ruled by one Daiyat Hansan Dhuj; when

Arjuna Arjuna (Sanskrit: अर्जुन, ), also known as Partha and Dhananjaya, is a character in several ancient Hindu texts, and specifically one of the major characters of the Indian epic Mahabharata. In the epic, he is the third among Panda ...

set a horse loose as part of the

Ashvamedha The Ashvamedha ( sa, अश्वमेध, aśvamedha, translit-std=IAST) was a horse sacrifice ritual followed by the Śrauta tradition of Vedic religion. It was used by ancient Indian kings to prove their imperial sovereignty: a horse accomp ...

ritual horse-sacrifice, Hansan seized it, and Arjuna led an army to meet him in battle. The place where the two armies fought was then dubbed ''Katak-wasa'', or "the meeting of the armies", and has retained that name ever since. According to this legend, before the battle took place, Hansan had prepared a large cauldron with boiling oil and threatened that if any of his soldiers hesitated in mustering at the battlefield, he would throw them in to be boiled alive. However, in a twist of fate, it was his son, Sadhanand, who was late to arrive, having stayed behind one more day at the urging of his wife. Sadhanand was thrown into the cauldron but, miraculously, he was not harmed. This episode is said to have happened at the nearby hamlet of Chandanpur. Local tradition maintains that the

Bhar The Bhar are a caste in India. History Influenced by the Arya Samaj movement, as were members of other castes, Baijnath Prasad Adhyapak published ''Rajbhar Jati ka Itihas'' in 1940. This book attempted to prove that the Rajbhar were former ...

s then ruled the area, and then after them the

Kurmi Kurmi is traditionally a non-elite tiller caste in the lower Gangetic plain of India, especially southern regions of Awadh, eastern Uttar Pradesh and parts of Bihar. The Kurmis came to be known for their exceptional work ethic, superior tilla ...

s, who had a strong fort at Kathwara. Then, around 1400, two

Chauhan Chauhan, historically ''Chahamana'', is a clan name historically associated with the various ruling Rajput families during the Medieval India in Rajasthan. Subclans Khichi, Hada, Songara, Bhadauria, Devda etc. are the branches or subclan ...

brothers, Acharaj and Bacharaj, came from

Mainpuri Mainpuri is a city in Mainpuri district in the Indian States and territories of India, state of Uttar Pradesh. It is the administrative headquarters of Mainpuri district and is situated to the north-east of Agra and is 270 km from New Del ...

, defeated the last Kurmi king, Rai Dhandhu, and established themselves as rulers of the area. Kathwara then served as the seat of a powerful Chauhan estate until modern times. The estate holders often caused trouble for the

Nawabs of Awadh The Nawab of Awadh or the Nawab of Oudh was the title of the rulers who governed the state of Awadh (anglicised as Oudh) in north India during the 18th and 19th centuries. The Nawabs of Awadh belonged to a dynasty of Persian origin from Nishapu ...

; for example in 1851 when they refused to pay revenue to the king, leading to the

chakladar Chakladar ( bn, চাকলাদার (Bengali) ) also spelled as Chaklader which means ′Head of the Chakla′, is a Bengali Surname of the people in the Indian states of West Bengal and Bangladesh (previously Bengal Presidency). Origin and m ...

Khan Ali Khan leading a royal army to subjugate them. The Kathwara estate comprised 32 villages in 1866, but it declined in subsequent years, and by the turn of the 20th century it had dwindled to just the single village of Kathwara. Around that time, Kathwara was described as a large village in the western part of the

pargana Pargana ( bn, পরগনা, , hi, परगना, ur, پرگنہ) or parganah, also spelt pergunnah during the time of the Sultanate period, Mughal times and British Raj, is a former administrative unit of the Indian subcontinent and each ...

of Mahona, almost completely surrounded by orchards. To the south of Kathwara, the

Gomti The Gomti, Gumti or Gomati River is a tributary of the Ganges. According to beliefs, the river is the son of Rishi Vashishtha and bathing in the Gomti on Ekadashi (the 11th day of the two lunar phases of the Hindu calendar month) can wash awa ...

banks were described as being scored by many deep ravines.

References

{{Reflist Villages in Lucknow district