Page:Gazetteer of the province of Oudh ... (IA cu31924073057345).pdf/512

 504 MOH his father the Rishi, and his ancestors, the 83 preceding anchorites, were of course of no caste at all. The connection with the Bais is more important than that with Mánik Chand, as the latter is introduced into legends of every date from Mahmúd Ghaznavi down to Busen Shah Sharqi. Kánh's sons, Sáhu and Ráhu, completed the conquest of the territory to the north-west of Kánhpur by inflicting a decisive defeat on the Bhars, whose kings, the brothers Tiloki and Biloki, were left dead on the battle field. Their names are preserved in the neighbouring villages of Tiloi and Biloi. I am averse to ignorant etymological speculations, but think that the following remarks may not be wholly valueless. The identity of the stories in all their leading features, as well as the similarity of the names, makes it probable that Tilokiand Biloki,of the Kanh- puria legend, are no other than the Dál and Bál of the nearly contempora- neous Bais and of the Muhammadans of the next century; and this conjec- ture is strengthened by the constant recurrence of the termination oi in places undeniably connected with the Bhar rule. The central village of the Hardoi district, which has the remains of a Bhar fort, the pargana of Hardoi in this district, close under a great Bhar centre, and the pargana of Bhadohi, in the Mirzapur district, mentioned by Mr. Carnegy in his report on the races of Oudh, all perhaps originally bore one name--Bhar- doi. It may be added that the local pronunciation of Bareli is Baroli; the introduction of a liquid between the two vowels is easily intelligible, and the original name may have been Baroi or Baloi, by which it is at once ety- mologically connected with its reputed founder Bál. Comparing these results with the Kanhpuria tradition, I venture most diffidently to conjecture that oi in the words Tiloi and Biloi is a mere affix, and that the roots are Til and Bil, which are identical with Dál and Bål, the roots of Dalmau and Bareli. The termination oki was probably a later inven- tion, founded on the old names of the two villages, and in Tiloki and Biloki we recognize the two chiefs who fell at Pakhrauli resisting the Jaunpur emperor. I refrain from pushing this train of conjecture further to what might be an unwarrantable conclusion. The line of the Kanh- purias was maintained through a series of five inglorious chieftains down to the times of Parshád Singh. While these events had been going on in Baiswíra, the Kanhpurias had not been ingloriously quiet. Jagat Singh, of Simrauta, acquired a name, though it is now difficult to say what for. His descendants state that the emperor of Delhi presented him with a robe of honour, a drum and a spear, for clearing the high road of Bhars. His cousin of Tiloi, Khánde Ráe, led his clansmen nominally on a pilgrimage to Dalmau, but actually on a raid for plunder and extended territory. He was resisted success- fully by the Patháns of Pahremau, whose leader, Muín Khan, a name which does not occur in any pedigree, wounded the Kanhpuria chieftain, but purchased his success with his lifo.