Shahabad, Hardoi

Shahabad is a city and a municipal board in Hardoi district in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. At one point of time it was counted among the few biggest cities of Oudh, but declined rapidly in later period and now reduced to a town. It is the site of the Tomb of Diler Khan, a governor in the time of Shah Jahan and Aurangzeb.

The town of Shahabad has many references in history sources. It was founded in 1680 A.D. by Nawab Diler Khan, an Afghan officer of Shah Jahan, who was sent to suppress an uprising in Shahjahanpur. The same man overthrew Pande Parwar bandits of Angni Khera. Joseph Tiefenthaler, one of the earliest European geographers to write on India, visited the town in 1770 and described it as a town of considerable circuit, with a palace of bricks in the middle strengthened by towers like a fortress, with a vestibule and a covered colonnade. This palace used to be known as Badi Deorhi. Although the palace no longer exists, the two grand gateways are still standing. Nawab Diler Khan also erected Jama Masjid and his own mausoleum. Both of them are built in kankar blocks and the upper story contains bands of florid decoration in red stone, a style very common to architecture of that period. He also built a grand pond near the mausoleum, known as Narbada.

In colonial period the city declined rapidly. In 1824, Reginald Heber, Bishop of Calcutta traveled to Shahabad and described it as a "considerable town or almost city with the remains of fortifications and many large houses."[3]

The descendants of Nawab Diler Khan Daudzai also moved to a nearby area which under the zamindari and named this place as Wazirabad which is now known as village HARRAI, comes under Tehsil Shahbad, District Hardoi.

Shahabad is located at 27.65°N 79.95°E / 27.65; 79.95.[4] It has an average elevation of 143 metres (469 feet).

As of 2011 Indian Census, Shahabad had a total population of 80,226, of which 42,635 were males and 37,591 were females. Population within the age group of 0 to 6 years was 11,102. The total number of literates in Shahabad was 44,078, which constituted 54.9% of the population with male literacy of 60.6% and female literacy of 48.5%. The effective literacy rate of 7+ population of Shahabad was 63.8%, of which male literacy rate was 70.3% and female literacy rate was 56.3%. The Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes population was 6,558 and 9 respectively. Shahabad had 13958 households in 2011.[1]

• Official website

• Fatehpur Gayand