Page:Gazetteer of the province of Oudh ... (IA cu31924073057352).pdf/228

 220 RAE established something like an organized government over the Bareli and Dalmau parganas. Dál and Bál had forts at Dalmau and Rae Bareli, while two less famous brothers, Kapúr and Bháwan, were settled at Sudámánpur. It is said that Dál offered violence to the daughter of a Dalmau Sayyad, and the coin- plaints of the insulted father brought Ibrahim Sharqi from Jaunpur to avenge the indignity. It is at any rate certain that this king fought a great battle with the Bhars at Sudámánpur, and drove them before him into the Dalmau fort, where after a stubborn defence their whole army was destroyed. The tomb of the Bhar chieftains is still shown at Pakrauli, rather more than a mile from Dalmau, and is celebrated by a fair in the autumn, at which great numbers of Ahírs collect, and offer milk to the souls of the departed heroes. The women of the Bharotia Gotr of Ahírs do not wear anklets, saying that they are still mourning for their kings. This success at Dalmau was only part of a regular Musalman conquest of the whole district. In 796 H. (1394 A.D.), Khwaja Jahan, the-Subah- dar of Kanauj, Oudh, Karra and Jaunpur had asserted his independence, and his successor on the throne of Jaunpur, Shams-ud-dín Ibrahim Shah Sharqi, applied himself to consolidate his power over the subject provinces. Already he had established his rule at Salon, Parshádepur, Jáis, Mánikpur, and other places, building, says tradition, 52 forts in one day. Salon is said to derive its name from Sál Bában, who relieved the country from the presence of a demon called Sahasr Báhan, and founded the town. Parshádepur is said to be called after Paras Rám, the Oudli incar- nation of Vishnu, but etymologically it is much more likely that Rája Parshád Singh, the great Kanhpuria, who subdued this neighbourhood in Tilok Chand's time, gave his name to an older town. Near it is the village of Ranki, the traditional seat of the Government of * Rája Bhartari, elder brother of Bikramajít. This unfortunate prince was cheated by his brother out of a magic fish, the digestion of which gave the knowledge of all things that occurred in the three worlds. He dissembled his disappointment, and retired to the distant solitudes of Oudh where he founded the city of Ranki. The present inhabitants say that Ranki is the Bhar name for a wine- seller, and that they have occasionally found in their village gold coins, chains, and articles of domestic use, which have been exposed by the rainy season; they were, however, unable or unwilling to show me any of these relics. The ruins themselves are sufficiently remarkable. A sea of bricks represents what must have once been a large town, in the midst of which high grass-grown mounds preserve the sites of lofty mansions. To the south-west of the town there is a large oblong fortress measuring about 250 yards in one direction, by 150 in the other, and surrounded by a moat some 30 yards wide. The old name of Jáis was Ujáliknagar, and it was the seat of a Bhar kingdom," The irregular appearance of the town is attributed to the caprice of its Bhar monarch, who in constantly recurring fits of drunkenuess had a the text is peculiarly valuable,
 * This rája is also connected with the Bhitari Lat on the Gunti, and the traditiou in