Page:Gazetteer of the province of Oudh ... (IA cu31924073057352).pdf/292

 284 SAH about their caste is easily intelligible. What is utterly baffling is that the second and fourth are the heroes of one of the episodes of the Drigvijaya section of the Mahabharata. The only one who is really historical is the last, whose capital was at Srávasti, and who had a fort at Asokpur or Hatila or Raza, about half way on the road between Gonda and Fyzabad. The tradition connecting him with Dumhria Dib is clearly transferred from the recollections of the subsequent Dom Ráj. When Sálár Masaúd crossed the Gogra, he met Suhel Dal* at Hatila, and the Jains were apparently defeat- ed though the place still is reverenced as the scene of the martyrdom of a distinguished Muhammauan officer. The invaders pushed to the north, and if tradition is to be believed, fought another great battle under the walls of Sahet Mahet, which contains the tomb of another martyr. Finally, after a long occupation of the country, the decisive battle was fought at Bahraich, where the Moslem were completely exterminated. In the undecisive conflicts, and prolonged encampment in a hostile country, in all in fact but its denouement, the story bears a strong resemblance to that of the Pathán conquest of Utraula in the time of Sultan Sher Shah Súr. It is said that only about forty years after this victory the Jain house fell. The king, 4 whose name is not given, was passionately devoted to the chase, and returned one evening just as the sun was setting. It would have been a sin to eat after sunset, and the queen, in order to secure the royal supper, sent up to the roof the exceedingly beautiful wife of his younger brother. The experiment succeeded, and the sun stayed to enjoy the sight as long as she stood there. When the feast was over she descended; the sun at once disappeared and the clocks struck niue. The astonished king enquired the cause, and was determined to see with his own eyes the wonder-working beauty. His incestuous passion was punished by the ruin of his state, and amidst a terrific storm the whole city was turned bottom upwards. The modern name Sahet Mahet, says the legend is descriptive of this inversion. This story is valuable as putting beyond, reasonable doubt the first roligion to which these kings belonged, the inability to eat after sunset which is the point on which the whole turns being derived from the Jain reluctance to sacrifice insect life. The chronology is also not without its value, and I have no doubt points to the conquest of the country by the first of the great Ráthor kings, of Kananj, Sri Chandradeva. In the last half of the eleventh century made a pilgrimage to Ajodhya, and Kusála (i.e., Gonda); and with a Chhattri prince pilgrimage is often another word for military expedition- "na Chhattri ka bhagat na músal ka dhanuk;" "you cannot make a saint of a Chhattri or a bow of a rice pestle;" an inscription of his descendant, the ill-starred Jai Chandra, has been found at Ajodhya. With the Gliori conquest of India the history of Sahet Mahet comes absolutely to an end, and it only remains for me to notice one more local legend. Everywhere in the neighbourhood it is told that the real name of the city before its bouleversement was Chandrikápuri or Chandripur, and that it was here that Hansa Dhwaja reigned, and Arjuna gained his very unheroic victory over the brave and beautiful Sudhania. It is added † A similar story is given of a prince in Guwárich pargana.
 * In other places Suhel Deo, the murderer of Musaúd.