Page:Gazetteer of the province of Oudh ... (IA cu31924024153987).pdf/189

 — BAH The

seem

111

have been the dominant race from about the end of the eleventh, though it is possible that the Thdru dy^^^^7 °^ Gonda contested the supremacy with them rnle^a d^f f°th ° Th'*^'" ^ '^ during the tenth and eleventh centuries. General Cundynastyof Gonda. ningham gives the traditional genealogy of the Thdru r^jas of Gonda and their probable dates as follows Bliars

to



A. D. ,, ,,

,, ,,

900 925 950 975 1000

4.

Mora-dhaj or Maynra-dhwaja. Haus-dhaj or Hansa-dhwaja. Makar-dhaj or Makara-dhwaja. Sudhanwa-dhaj.

5.

Suhridal-dhaj.

1.

2. 3.

This last mentioned prince is called also Suhal-ddr, Sohil-dar, and Suheldeo, the last name being that by which he lives in the mouths of the

common

folk.

He is also variously stated to have been a Th^ru, a Bhar, a Kalhans, or a Bais Rajput, or a Sarawak, but of his religion and of his date there can be but little doubt. Some curious old legends show him to have been a Jain, and universal tradition connects him with the only historical event of those times affecting this district of which we know for certain the exact dates, viz., the crusade or " crescentade" of Sayyad Salar. Section IV.

The account The

is given in an historical romance written by Abd-ur-Rahman Chishti during the reign of 9.^f Jahangir, entitled " M^ra-ut-^-31asaud^. Iheworkis said by its author to have been mainly based on a

of this event

religious raid of

SayyadSalir of Mira-at -i-Masaudi.

,

called the " Tawarlkh-i-Mahmlldi," written by one Mulla Muhammad who was servant of Sultan Mahmlid Subuktagin, and who, following in the train of Salar Sahti and of the Prince of Martyrs, related

book

Ghaznavi,

events of which he had personal knowledge. Though perhaps but little reliance is to be placed on the details contained in this history, it may be accepted as a trustworthy account of the main facts of the campaign and as being at any rate a true representation of the then tradition.

Sayyad Salar Masaud was the son of Salar Sahti, one of the generals of Sultan Mahmud and of Sitr Mualla, own sister of that He was bom in the year 1015 A. D., conqueror. and passed his youth in the field, accompanying his father and his uncle in "the victorious campaigns which time after time laid waste the northwest of India and made Mahmud its master, though not its possessor. When he was sixteen years of age he was advised by his uncle to quit the army for a time until the enmity which the Sultan's marked preference for him and even for his counsels had excited in the nobles of the Court had subsided, and Sayyad Salar, inspired by martial and religious fervour, begged to be allowed to carry the sword and Islam into the Sayyad Salax's birth and youth.

interior of Hindustan.

HeinvadesHindustan.

Crossing the Indus and occupying Mooltan he arrived before Delhi eighteen months after setting out.