Page:Gazetteer of the province of Oudh ... (IA cu31924024153987).pdf/188

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In the of Sita Mai, a statue of Maha Maya, Buddha's mother. neighbourhood of Charda fort mentioned above are several mounds and ruins of enclosures which excavation would doubtless prove to be' monasBuddhist coins have teries and stupas similar to those of Sahet Mahet. also been found in an old site of a building on the banks of the Gogra.

name

Section

III.

The Bhars.

of light that the Buddhist pilgrim's records throw upon the history of this part of the country completely fails us Tlie^Bliars and Bhar ^^^^^ ^^^ ^f^j^ Century A. D., and for four hundred years there is no clue beyond the merest tradition to the In common with the rest state of the country or the races which ruled it. of Eastern Oudh the district is said to have been under the dominion of the Bhars dtxring this period, and every ruin with any claim to antiquity is ascribed to these people. The name of Bahraich itself finds another derivation from this race. In the Hisampur pargana there are a number of wells, small ruined forts, and old village sites, the principal of which are in Pu-

The gleam

rem, Kamae, Jarwal, Mohri, Bhokaura Sakantha, Kasehri-Buzurg, Hasna Mulai, Waira-Qazi, and Bhauli-Dih, and all of which, according to local tradition, owe their existence to the Bhars, while in the north the large city forts described above, Sahet Mahet and Charda, are also by the common folk believed to have had a like origin. aborigines or the remnants of Chhattri races which remained in this part after their suppression by the kings of the Gupta dynasty, and which as soon as that dynasty fell rose upon its ruins to an independent position with what approached sovereign power, until in their turn they had to give way before the advancing wave of Rajputs from the west, can only as yet be matter of conjectiire. In support, however, of Sir H. Elliot's theory that they are connected with Ahirs, I may mention a traditionary rite in the Raikwari families of this district, by which certain customary offices are always performed for the children of this caste by an Ahirin, the successor and representative of the widow of a Bhar raja, who was slain by the founder of the Baundi house. The Bhar princess is said to have gone to Delhi to obtain redress for the murder of her lord, and to have only desisted from pursuing her vengeance to its end on the promise of Raikwar to allow her to perform the rite alluded to.

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Bahraich was peculiarly the country

it

is

somewhat surprising that not a

is

to

be found in the existing popul^

ihe descendants of those who escaped the sword, must either have died out gradually or have been

absorbed during the last six centuries in the rest of the population, but I can quote no instance of any family which is of reputed Bhar descent. There is no evidence here in support of the theory, though, of course, it is a possible one and certainly as good as any other, that the remnants of this people have gradually been received into the " elastic fraternity of Rajputs."