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 HAR 57 CHAPTER. V. HISTORY Early history - The Moslera conquest-Battle of Bilgrán - Modern Hindu history, The Cbhattri castes—Turbulence of the district-The former governore. Traditions.—The early traditions of this district, though not so abundant as those of Unao, and perhaps Sitapur, will well repay an attentive research. The most remote concern themselves, not, as is usual, with the Rámáyana cycle, but with that of the Mahábhárata. Bala Ráma, the brother of Krishpa, in one of his visits to the shrine of Nímkhár, in Sitapur, received complaints from the Brabmans against Bil of Bilgrám, a local giant or chieftain who used to throw dirt at the worshippers at Nímkhár. The details are given under Bilgrám, and it need only be remarked here that a distinct conflict of several faiths is referred to. Bala Ráma came to Nímkhár with the Brahmans; then be found the Rishis, the holy men of tbe aboriginal faith; he struck off the head of one who would not rise to pay him respect with a blade of kusa grass; the Brahmans disapproved the action as unseemly, but evidently regarded it as a very menial offence compared with slaying a Brahman. Bil, or his son Illál, seems, however, to have been a very profane wretch who cared for no rites of any kind, so Bala Ráma slew him with a ploughshare. Bilgrám, at any rate, was an ancient aboriginal town situated on a bluff over the Ganges which then flowed beneath it* The next facts concerning Hardoi history are connected with the Musal- The Moslem conquest. man colonization. Báwas was occupied by Sayyad Salár in 1028. The Shekhs, declare that they con- quered Bilgrám in 1013, but the permanent Moslem occupation did not commence till 1217 A.D. Gopamau was occupied somewhere about the time of Sayyad Sálár; indeed it was the earliest conquest in Oudh effected by that prince. One of his captains, Sayyad Makhdúm Aziz-ud-dín, Shekh, commonly known as Lál Pír, was despatched across the Ganges from Kanauj; ho was slain at Gopamau, and was of course canonized; but Sayyad Sálár left two new candidates for martyrdom in that town, Nusrat Khan and Jáfar Khan, who survived, and whose descendants are still extant. The settlement of Pali by a Pánde Brahman, a Risal- dár, and a Shoklı, all of whom are represented at this day by men of property in the neighbourhood, is a curious instance of the stability of oriental families. Isauli, in Bangar, was also conquered by Sayyad Sálár, in 1030 A.D., and the tomb of a martyr there killed is still to be seen. Sándi and Sandíla were not occupied by the Moslems till long after the events above referred to. The latter was the capital of a Pási kingdom which seems to have spread over the country down both banks of the Gumti and the Sai, extending from its original seat at Dhayrabra and Mitauli. The Pásis, it may be remarked, are still very powerful in Hardoi. The histories of the Musalman colonization, when properly studied, may be expected to throw more light upon the aboriginal inhabi- tants; at present all is very dim and dubious; there is little to be See article Bilgrám,