[The Rârhi Brâhmans.] 2. “The Rârhi Brâhmans derive their name from the Rârh, or the high-lying alluvial tract on the west bank of the river Bhagîrathi. Their claim to be of comparatively pure Aryan descent is to some extent borne out by the results of anthropometric enquiries. The current tradition is that early in the eleventh century A.D. Adisura or Adisvara, King of Bengal, finding the Brâhmans, then settled in Bengal, too ignorant to perform for him certain Vedic ceremonies, applied to the Râja of Kanauj for priests thoroughly conversant with the sacred ritual of the Aryans. In answer to this request five Brâhmans of Kanauj were sent to him, Bhatta Nârâyana, of the Sândilya section, or gotra; Daksha, of the Kasyapa gotra; Vedagarbha or Vidagarbha, of the Vatsa gotra, or, as others say, from the family of Bhrigu; Chandra or Chhandara, of the Savarna gotra; and Sri Harsa of the Bhâradvâja gotra. They brought with them their wives, their sacred fire and their sacrificial implements. It is said that Adisura was at first disposed to treat them with scanty respect, but he was soon compelled to acknowledge his mistake, and to beg the Brâhmans to forgive him. He then made over to them five populous villages, where they lived for a year. Meanwhile the king was so impressed with the superhuman virtue of Bhatta Nârâyana, who was a son of Kshitisa, King of Kanauj, that he offered him several more villages. The Brâhman, however, declined to take these as a gift, but bought them, as the story goes, at a low price. 3. “Although the immigrant Brâhmans brought their wives with them, tradition says that they contracted second marriages with the women of Bengal, and that their children by the latter were the ancestors of the Barendra Brâhmans. The Barendra, on the other hand, claim to represent the offspring from the original Hindustâni wives, and allege that the Rârhi Brâhmans are themselves sprung from the mésalliance contracted in Bengal. 4. “By the middle of the eleventh century, when Ballâl Sen, the second of the Sen Kings of Bengal, instituted his famous enquiry into the personal endowments of the Rârhi Brâhmans, their numbers seem to have increased greatly. They are represented as divided into fifty-six headships of villages (gâin), which were reserved for them, and might not be encroached on by Brâhmans of other orders.