The tribes and castes of the North-Western Provinces and Oudh, Volume 1 (of 4)Crooke, William
History
The tribes and castes of the North-Western Provinces and Oudh, Volume 1 (of 4)
Crooke, William
Caste -- India -- History; Hindus -- India; Tribes -- India -- History
said to include twenty-two Parganas, and though there is considerable
discrepancy in the various lists of these Parganas, which are furnished
from different quarters, the following list is probably correct:—
Râê Bareli and Unâo Districts:—Dundiya Khera, Unchhgâon, Kumhi, Bâr,
Kahanjar, Ghâtampur, Serhupur, Makraid, Dalmau, Bareli, Bihâr, Pathân,
Panhan, Sathanpur, Harha, Purwa, Morâwan, Sirwan, Asoha, Gorinda,
Parsandan.
Lucknow District:—Bijnaur.”
Tilok Chand was the premier Râja of Oudh, and his descendants are never
weary of telling stories of his almost divine and unequalled power. He
once turned the Kahârs, who carried his palanquin, into Râjputs; and
one account of the Bhâlê Sultân sept in Faizâbâd is that they were
Bâris, or link-boys, in his service.
[Origin.] 2. In Faizâbâd the Bais say that they came from Baiswâra
about five hundred years ago, and expelled the Bhars; but this story is
disbelieved by Mr. Carnegy [198] on the ground that there were few Bais
even in Baiswâra in those days. He believes the Faizâbâd colony to be
of local origin. They are divided into two great families, the Eastern
and the Western, who, though they eat together, recognise no
relationship, and retain the memory of bitter border warfare with each
other. The Pargana of Mangalsi is overrun by different independent Bais
colonies, the members of which say they came from the West (no one
knows from where) and expelled the Bhars two or three centuries or,
according to their pedigree tables, sixteen generations ago. There are
traditions of a Gautam (Sombansi) colony founded by Mangalsen, from
whom the Pargana takes its name, who is said to have been a cadet of
the great Fatehpur house of Argal. But the Gautams were long ago pushed
across the river Ghâgra. It is noteworthy that the Muhammadans, who
produce title deeds more than three hundred years old, declare that
Mangalsen was not a Gautam but a Bhar. Another curious fact is that
both the Muhammadans and the few Gautams who are left are shown by Mr.
Woodburn to pay the feudal tribute (bhent) to the Bais headmen. How
long they have done so is not very clear, but the conclusion from all
this is, according to Mr. Carnegy, that the local Bais are the
indigenous Bhars; that the Bhars became Bais about or after the
Muhammadan conquest; the Gautam footing was by marriage with the Bais,
and the Muhammadans succeeded to the Bais Bhars. These conclusions of
Mr. Carnegy must be received with some degree of caution. That the Bais
of the Faizâbâd District may have some admixture of indigenous blood is
more than probable; but at the same time that they have a large basis
of Râjput blood may be regarded as quite certain.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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