Page:The People of India — a series of photographic illustrations, with descriptive letterpress, of the races and tribes of Hindustan Vol 2.djvu/94

 GURGBUNSEES. (83)

URGBUNSEE is the name of a considerable Rajpoot clan, in the Fyzabad district of Oude, which claims descent from the famous saint Gurg. There is a tradition that the kings of Onde, many centuries ago, were so pure that they walked unscathed through the flames of the nightly sacrifices offered to the deities, and that Gurg was so renowned for piety that he was invited from the other side of the Ganges to superintend the last of the "Jugs," as they were called. As a reward for his holiness, he received a number of villages, and settled in this part of Oude. The Gurgbunsees are a refractory and warlike race, and belie their holy origin by enjoying now the unenviable reputation of being the only Chuttrees of this district who are peculiarly addicted to thieving. The information already supplied respecting the Bujgotees and Rajkoomars applies equally to this tribe.