2. On the other hand there are grounds for casting doubt on the tale of Baryâr Sinh’s flight from Musalmân persecution. In the first place, there is a suspicious silence about the doings of Baryâr Sinh’s ancestors during the fifty-five years interval. Again, the independent legend of the Palwârs asserts that they settled in the Faizâbâd District in 1248 A.D., the very year that Baryâr Sinh is said to have come to Oudh, and yet there is no pretence that they rendered themselves particularly obnoxious to the Musalmâns. Nor were the Palwârs the only settlers contemporary with the Bachgoti; the twelfth century, if clan traditions be believed, witnessed numerous Kshatriya emigrations into Oudh, and it is impossible to conceive that they sought refuge from Muhammadan tyranny, for governors of that creed had been established in the Province since very soon after Prithivi Râja’s overthrow. Least of all, moreover, was the spot selected by Baryâr Sinh calculated to secure that end, for Jamwâwan lay within a mile or two of Kathot, which is said to have been made the head-quarters of a Musalmân officer simultaneously with the reduction of Sultânpur. On the whole it seems more probable that Baryâr Sinh was the friend of the Musalmâns rather than their foe. Shortly after his arrival at Jamwâwan he chanced one day to be leaving the village accompanied by his servant, a Kahâr, when the latter perceived a serpent on the ground with a wag-tail (Khanjarît) perched upon its hood, and, unfortunately for himself, drew his master’s attention to the fact. For the learned in such matters have pronounced this to be an infallible omen that the beholder will sooner or later wear a crown. And Baryâr Sinh, indignant that a menial should be thus exalted, killed the Kahâr, and informed his brother, Kâns Râê, who left him in disgust, and then Baryâr Sinh entered the service of Râm Deo, chief of the Bilkhariya Dikhits of Kot Bilkhâr, near Partâbgarh, and marrying his daughter, and killing his son, Dalpat Sâh, gained his dominions. [170] 3. According to Sir C. Elliott, [171] the Bachgotis were, up to the time of Tilok Chand, the premier Râjas of Oudh, and had been vested with the right of affirming the title of each new Râja by affixing the sacred mark (tilak) to his brow. The two most conspicuous chiefs of the tribe are the Râja of Kûrwar and the Dîwân of Hasanpur Bandhua. “The latter, notwithstanding his being a Musalmân, and hence called Khân-Zada, invests all the Râjas of Banaudha with the tilak. The Somabansi chief of Araur, the Bisen of Râmpur, the Kânhpuriya of Tiloi, and Bandhalgoti of Amethi, would not be considered entitled to the privileges exercised by their ancestors without receiving it from his hands.” [172]