Khairabad is a town in the

Sitapur district Sitapur district is one of the districts which is situated in Uttar Pradesh state of India, with Sitapur town as the district headquarters. Sitapur district is a part of Lucknow division. History Sitapur was first constituted as a distric ...

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 ...

state of India. It is 8 km from

Sitapur Sitapur is a city and a municipal board in Sitapur district in the state of Uttar Pradesh, India. It is located 90 kilometres north of state capital, Lucknow. The traditional origin for the name is said to be by the King Vikramāditya from Lord ...

on National Highway 24 in the

Awadh Awadh (), known in British historical texts as Avadh or Oudh, is a region in the modern Indian state of Uttar Pradesh, which was before independence known as the United Provinces of Agra and Oudh. It is synonymous with the Kośāla region of ...

region of India, about 80 km from the state capital

Lucknow Lucknow (, ) is the capital and the largest city of the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh and it is also the second largest urban agglomeration in Uttar Pradesh. Lucknow is the administrative headquarters of the eponymous district and division ...

. A Municipal board conducts the affairs of the town.

History

Khairabad is a historic town known as Khairabad Awadh. It was a famous seat of learning during the Mughal period. The Indian freedom fighter Maulana

Fazl-e-Haq Khairabadi Fazl-e-Haq Khairabadi (1796/1797 – 19 August 1861) was a Hanafi jurist, rationalist scholar, Maturidi theologian, philosopher and poet. He was an activist of the Indian independence movement and campaigned against British occupation. He issue ...

belonged to this town. The town has been the abode of many Urdu poets and writers. It has a famous madrasa for female education known as Jamia Fatima Zehra. The town is said to have been founded by Maharaja Khaira Pasi in the early 11th century. It was subsequently taken in possession by a

Kayasth Kayastha (also referred to as Kayasth) denotes a cluster of disparate Indian communities broadly categorised by the regions of the Indian subcontinent in which they were traditionally locatedthe Chitraguptavanshi Kayasthas of North India, the ...

family. In later years, many rent-free grants of land were made to Muslims who came in large numbers during the reigns of Babur and

Akbar Abu'l-Fath Jalal-ud-din Muhammad Akbar (25 October 1542 – 27 October 1605), popularly known as Akbar the Great ( fa, ), and also as Akbar I (), was the third Mughal emperor, who reigned from 1556 to 1605. Akbar succeeded his father, Hum ...

, but these grants were all resumed by the

Nawab of Oudh 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 Nishap ...

in the early 1800s. Before the above-mentioned Khaira Pasi's time, the place was known as Masichait (Masi Chitra) and was a place of pilgrimage as far back as the reign of the Bikramajit. The name still exists at the appellation of a tank, the waters of which are said to possess healing properties, and which is called "Maswasi Talao". It was a big trading centre, where

Kashmiri shawl The Kashmir shawl, the predecessor of the contemporary ''cashmere shawl'', is a type of shawl identified by its distinctive Kashmiri weave and for being made of fine '' shahtoosh'' or '' pashmina'' wool. Contemporary variants include the ''pashmi ...

s, jewels of Birmingham and elephants of Assam were traded. The

East India Company The East India Company (EIC) was an English, and later British, joint-stock company founded in 1600 and dissolved in 1874. It was formed to trade in the Indian Ocean region, initially with the East Indies (the Indian subcontinent and Southea ...

arranged to export the handloom clothes manufactured in Khairabad and Dariyabagh. During the 1857 Uprising, Maulana Fazl-e-Haq took an active part to get rid of the British from the country. Unfortunately, he was arrested and sentenced for life to the prison at Kalapani (

Cellular Jail The Cellular Jail, also known as Kālā Pānī (), was a British colonial prison in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands. The prison was used by the colonial government of India for the purpose of exiling criminals and political prisoners. Many ...

) on Andaman Island.

Present history

Presently the district is not very important from an industrial point of view, however there are five sugar mills and some flour mills and rice mills in the district. The district is mainly known for its cotton and woolen mats (durries).

Laharpur Laharpur is a town, tehsil headquarter and a municipal board in Sitapur district in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. History The foundation of this town was laid by Emperor Firoz Shah Tughlaq (1351–1388 AD) in 1370 AD, while he was on h ...

and Khairabad are famous for its production and export. The Sitapur Eye Hospital began with a small Hospital at Khairabad. Its founder Dr. Mahesh Mehra was awarded the prestigious

Padma Shri Padma Shri ( IAST: ''padma śrī''), also spelled Padma Shree, is the fourth-highest civilian award of the Republic of India, after the Bharat Ratna, the Padma Vibhushan and the Padma Bhushan. Instituted on 2 January 1954, the award is conf ...

by the President of India for his self less service in the field of eye care. Father Gerard, an Italian Missionary, established the BCM Hospital which treats both indoor and outdoor patients. The Hospital is professionally run by the mission and serves people not only from the town but from also other towns and Sitapur city.

Notable people

(1796–1861), Indian scholar and freedom fighter * Muztar Khairabadi (1865 – 1927), Indian Urdu poet, grandson of Fazl-e-Haq Khairabadi *

Jan Nisar Akhtar Jan Nisar Akhtar (18 February 1914 – 19 August 1976) was an Indian poet of Urdu ghazals and nazms, and a part of the Progressive Writers' Movement, who was also a lyricist for Bollywood. He was son of Muztar Khairabadi and great grandson ...

(1914–1976), Indian Urdu poet and film lyricist, son of Muztar Khairabadi and father of Javed Akhtar.

Gallery

References

{{reflist Cities and towns in Sitapur district