THE TRIBES AND CASTES OF THE NORTH-WESTERN PROVINCES AND OUDH. BY W. CROOKE, B.A., BENGAL CIVIL SERVICE. IN FOUR VOLUMES. VOL. II. CALCUTTA: OFFICE OF THE SUPERINTENDENT OF GOVERNMENT PRINTING, INDIA. 1896. THE TRIBES AND CASTES OF THE NORTH-WESTERN PROVINCES AND OUDH. VOLUME II. Bhar. [1]—A caste of apparently Dravidian origin found in the eastern parts of the United Provinces. They are also known as Râjbhar, Bharat, and Bharpatwa. The word Bhar is derived by the Pandits from the Sanskrit root bhri, to nourish, but this is improbable, and it is more likely to be of non-Aryan origin. Dr. Oppert [2] indulges in some curious speculations on the subject. He suggests their connection with the Barrhai of Ptolemy (VII–2–20), and with the Bharatas, a mountain tribe mentioned in connection with the Sabaras and with the Barbara, Varvara, or Barbarian. The derivation of large numbers of local names in Upper India from the same source, such as Bihâr, Bahrâich, Bârabanki, Bareilly, Barhaj, Barhar, and even Varanasi or Benares, etc., must be accepted with the greatest caution. [Traditions.] 2. This tribe has given rise to much wild speculation. In Gorakhpur they claim to be the descendants of, and named from, an early Kshatriya Râja named Bhâradwâja, whose sons strayed from the ancient way of life and took to the use of meat and wine. Their descendant Surha settled in the village of Surauli, and wishing to marry a high caste Râjput girl, was murdered by her relations, and became an evil spirit, who does much damage still if he is not duly propitiated. That they claim to have been once a dominant race in the eastern part of Oudh and the North-Western Provinces is certain. Thus Sir C. Elliott writes:—“The scene before us in Oudh at the fall of the historic curtain is an uninhabited forest country and a large colony of Sûrajbansis occupying Ajudhya as their capital. When the curtain rises again we find Ajudhya destroyed, the Sûrajbansis utterly banished, and a large extent of country ruled over by aborigines, called Cheros in the Far East, Bhars in the Centre, and Râjpâsis in the West. The great revolution seems to be satisfactorily explained by the conjecture that the Bhars, Cheros, etc., were the aborigines whom the Aryans had driven to the hills, and who, swarming down from thence not long after the beginning of our era, overwhelmed the Aryan civilisation even in Ajudhya itself, drove the Sûrajbansis under Kanaksen to emigrate into distant Gujarât, and spread over all the plain between the Himalayas and that spur of the Vindhya range which passes through the south of Mirzapur.” [3] Again we read that the primitive inhabitants of