Mawai was founded by Man Singh, a Dikhit Chhatri from Simauni in what is now Banda district.[3] It was previously the site of a Bhar fort, which Man Singh conquered and razed to the ground.[3] He received the land as a jagir from the king in Delhi and founded a village on the site, which he named after himself.[3] His descendants founded various kheras around Mawai, and for a long time they also held qabuliats in the village.[3] At some point, the Dikhits gifted the village to an ancestor of one Sheikh Mansur.[3]
At the turn of the 20th century, Mawai was described as a large, dispersed settlement in the southeastern part of the pargana of Maurawan.[3] It lay off the main roads and had no bazar, and it was mostly significant for its large size.[3] The 1901 census recorded its population as 4,363 people, including a Muslim minority of 256.[3]
The 1961 census recorded Mawai as comprising 19 hamlets, with a total population of 5,940 people (2,854 male and 2,636 female), in 965 households and 860 physical houses.[4] The area of the village was given as 6,503 acres.[4] It had a medical practitioner and post office then.[4] There were two grain mills, one small establishment producing edible fats/oils, two miscellaneous food processing facilities, one small manufacturer of ammunition, fireworks, or other explosives, one bicycle repair shop, two places making clocks and/or watches, and two small manufacturers of jewellery or precious metal objects.[4] It hosted a biweekly haat on Wednesdays and Thursdays where grain and vegetables were the main items of trade, and its average attendance was around 250 people at the time.[4]
India