Fyzabad

Fyzabad, or Faizabad, a division, district, and city of Oudh, British India, under the government of the North-West Provinces. The former comprises the districts of Fyzabad, Gonda, and Bharaich, and has an area of 7,671 square miles. The district of Fyzabad, lying between the Gogra and Gumti rivers, has an area of 1,649 square miles, and contains the ancient city of Ajodhya. It is traversed by the Oudh and Rohilkund Railway, and has a growing trade and population. The largest towns are Fyzabad, Tanda, Ajodhya, Jutalpur, and Sajauli. Rice, wheat, oilseeds, sugar, cotton, opium, indigo, and tobacco are the chief products. The chief town, Fyzabad, stands on the southern bank of the Gogra, close to Ajodhya, of which it is historically a suburb. It was founded about 1730 by the Nawab-Vizier Saadat Ali Khan. When Lucknow became the capital of the state (1775) it declined, but its prosperity has since increased. At the time of the Mutiny the garrison of Fyzabad let the Europeans escape, but most of them were massacred before reaching Dinapur. The city contains some handsome tombs, and gardens noted for fruit.