The Muhammadan writers confirm this account, for in their earliest recorded invasion, in A.H. 143, the princes of Lahore and Ajmer, said to be of the same family, are the great opponents of Islam, and combated its advance in fields west of the Indus. We know beyond a doubt that Ajmer was then the chief seat of Chauhan power. Footnote 10.1.14: The Mallani is (or rather was) one of the Chauhan Sakha and may be the Malloi who opposed Alexander at the confluent arms of the Indus. The tribe is extinct, and was so little known even five centuries ago, that a prince of Bundi, of the Hara tribe, intermarried with a Mallani, the book of genealogical affinities not indicating her being within the prohibited canon. A more skilful bard pointed out the incestuous connexion, when divorce and expiation ensued. _Vide_ p. 1266. Footnote 10.1.15: [When Alāu-d-dīn stormed Asīrgarh in A.D. 1295 it was a Chauhān stronghold. The existence of this Ahīr kingdom rests on the authority of Ferishta (iv. 287). This is doubtful, but it may be based on a line of Ahīr chieftains in the Tapti valley (Russell, _Tribes and Castes, Central Provinces_, ii. 20).] Footnote 10.1.16: All these towns contain remains of antiquity, especially in the district of Dip, Bhojpur, and Bhilsa. Twenty years ago, in one of my journeys, I passed the ruins of Eran, where a superb column stands at the junction of its two streams. It is about thirty feet in height, and is surmounted by a human figure, having a glory round his head; a colossal bull is at the base of the column. I sent a drawing of it to Mr. Colebrooke at the time, but possess no copy. [The Eran pillar was erected A.D. 484-5, as the flag-staff of the four-armed Vishnu, by Budhagupta (Smith, _HFA_, 174, with an illustration; _IGI_, xii. 25).] Footnote 10.1.17: It is indifferently called Ajaimer, and Ajaidurg, the invincible hill (_meru_), or invincible castle (_durg_). Tradition, however, says that the name of this renowned abode, the key of Rajputana, is derived from the humble profession of the young Chauhan, who was a goatherd; _Aja_ meaning ‘a goat’ in Sanskrit; still referring to the original pastoral occupation of the Palis. [Ajmer was founded by Ajayadeva about A.D. 1100.] Footnote 10.1.18: I obtained at Ajmer and at Pushkar several very valuable medals, Bactrian, Indo-Scythic, and Hindu, having the ancient Pali on one side, and the effigy of a horse on the other. Footnote 10.1.19: [Umar-bin-Khaltāb, the second Khalīfa (A.D. 634-44). The “Abul Aas” of the original text possibly represents Abu-l-lais, “the ancestor of the Laisi Sayyids, Abu-l-lais-i-Hindi, who is mentioned in the _Chachnāmah_, who came into Sind with the Arabs, and was present at the battle in which Rāja Dāhir was slain” (C. Raverty, _Notes on Afghanistan_, 1888, p. 671, note).] Footnote 10.1.20: