BAHRAICH, a town and district of British India, situated in the Fyzabad division of the United Provinces. The town is on the river Sarju. It contains the most popular place of pilgrimage in Oudh, the tomb of Masaud, a champion of Islam, slain in battle by the confederate Rajputs in 1033, which is resorted to by Mo hammedans and Hindus alike. There is also a Muslim monas tery, and the ruined palace of a nawab of Oudh. Pop. (1931) The district of Bahraich contains an area of 2.639 sq. miles. It consists of three tracts: (1) a central elevated triangular south easterly projection from the Himalayas for about 5om. ; the great Gogra plain on the west, about 4oft. below the plateau ; and (3) on the east, the lesser basin of the Rapti. Forest and marshy tracts of the south slopes of the Himalayas merge within the dis trict into drier land, stream beds become deeper and more marked, marshes disappear, and the plain of the Ganges is en tered. The Gogra skirts the district for 114m.; and the Rapti, with its branch, the Bhalka, drains the high grounds. In 1931 the population was 1,136,348. A considerable trade is conducted with Nepal, chiefly in timber. The district is purely agricultural in character, and is one of large estates, 78% being held by taluq dars, of whom the four chief are H.H. the maharajah of kapur thala, the maharajah of Balrampur, the rajah of Nanpara and the rajah of Payagpur.
Little is known of the history of the district before the Muslim invasion in A.D. 1033. Masaud was defeated and slain by Bah raich nobles in 1033, and the Muslim did not establish their au thority here till the middle of the 13th century. About 1450 the Raikwars, or Rajput adventurers, made themselves masters of the west of the district, which they retain to this day. In 1816, by the Treaty of Segauli, the Nepal tarai was ceded to the British, but was given back in 186o.