Sonbhadra district in Uttar Pradesh has finally lived up to the famous adage— S au man sona, Kona Kona, which means that 4000 tons of gold is hidden in every corner of the Sonbhadra region. After the recent discovery of gold ore made by the Uttar Pradesh Government, Sonbhadra’s fame has spread across India and the world.

Sonbhadra is the only Indian district that is surrounded by four states namely Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Bihar, and Madhya Pradesh.

About the secret Sau Man Sona
The above saying about Sonbhadra is connected to the Son Pahari and Agori Fort. As the story goes, tribal king Bal Shah was the ruler here in 711 A.D. Misfortune struck the kingdom when a Chandel ruler launched an attack, thus forcing Bal Shah to run for his own life and that of his people via a secret pathway. The tribal lore has it that the king took away about 4000 kg of gold and sought refuge in the Panari forest, which is around 7 km from Sonbhadra. Since there was no other way out, the king buried the sau man gold in the forest area.

Bal Shah caught and killed
The Chandel ruler finally came to know about the whereabouts of Bal Shah and his soldiers. However, before he could lay his hands on them, Bal Shah was already dead and his body was eaten up by the wild animals. Chandel, however, captured the king’s wife Jurahi, took her to Jugail village and killed her. Later, a temple named after the deceased queen was made in the Jugail forest.

Bal Shah's sword and battle armor were discovered in a cave by a man from the Kharwar community. The sword was sold but the armour is in the custody of a man from the Kharwar community.

Agori Fort
Even today, the possession of the Agori Fort, which originally belonged to Bal Shah, is with Chandel king's descendant Raja Aabhushan Brahma Shah, who lives in Sonbhadra district’s Rajpur.

The fort, however, is in quite a bad shape due to the wild search for the hidden gold conducted by the local shepherds. It is located close to Chopan Development Block's Agori village.