Page:Gazetteer of the province of Oudh ... (IA cu31924073057345).pdf/72

 Where was the fieree courage of the Turks which was century afterwards to make the Kings of Europe and the Kaisar him- self tremble for their capitals ? Had it vanished with the snows on which it grew, or with the poverty which spurred it to conquest ? Humáyún declared that the dissensions of his brothers caused his defeat, but three brothers fought or rather fled side by side from the sand hills of Bilgrám. The native historian declared that women and gold were what wrecked the Mughals, but plenty of both has always in India been the lot of powers and success with the sword. tolerable harem if under its name he could introduce 1,200 palanquins, each credited with a fair passenger, into the fort of Rhotas. I trace the cause of the great Mughal disaster at Bilgrám to the fact that poor and uncultivated men were brought down from their native hills, were placed in a hot country with a most relaxing climate, in a position of great wealth and perfect leisure, and their valour oozed out beneath the weight of profligacy, avarice, gluttony, and slecp, which make the lives of wealthy Indians. now and for a Sher Shah must have had a very Modern Hindu History.-The history of the later Hindu inhabitants is of no interest; other districts have sometimes during the many centuries produced individuals like Tilok Chand, Lone Singh of Mitauli, Jodh Singh of Dhaurahra, Partáb Singh of Partabgarh, Balbhadar Singh of Tiloi, who really left their marks on the annals of the district. Hardoi cannot boast of one great name. The Ahbans, really Cháwar Chhattris, ocupied Gopa- mau about l00 A.D., if we are to believe themselves, and never did any- thing worthy of mention up to date. The Sombansis came from Kumh- ráwan to Sándi about 1400 A.D. Their chief, Rája Sántan, was compelled to yield to the Musalmans; he retained Sántan Khera, now Sándi, for some time, and then abandoned it for Siwáijpur, where his deseendant still resides. Kanauj about 1180 A.D., having come from Shiurájpur. The Nikumbhs came, they say, from Alwar about 1450 A.D., the Katiárs from Fa- rukhabad about 1550 A.D., the Bais of Gundwa from Baiswára, but the head of this family, Randhír Singh of Bharáwan, represents that he is descended from Tilok the title of rája was conferred on his ancestor by the Emperor for bravery in the field. Now all the Baişwára dcscendants of Tilok Chand only re- ccrd e'ghteen generations from him to the present line, and the true origin of the Bharáwan Tilok Chand is then probably as fabulous as the details are inçorrect. None of the above families have any history worth relating, a few facts are given about each under the pargana headings. Another account represents the Nikumbhs as being a Kachhwáha or Súrajbans clan which left Aral or Arwal in Jaipur, and alternately served the Jun- war Rája of Delhi and the Ráthor of Kanauj in the neighbourhood of Farukhabad. They received the name of Nikumbh-" nekkám"-from Rája Sántan, whom they had by some means got released from imprison- ment at the court of his sovereign, Jai Chand of Kanauj. This derivation seems apocryphal, another is that the word means low caste or illegitimate. At any rate four brothers got different grants, one near Sonára, pargana Sandíla, another near Sándi, a third got one in Alamnagar, the fourth The Gaurs alicge that they were settled by Jai Chand of and, thirty-one generations removed, and that is related under Malihabad. The descent from