3. General Cunningham accepts the account that they were conquered by the Saura tribe in Shahâbâd and Benares. In Shahâbâd, the ancient Karusha Desa, all old buildings are ascribed to them. Even as late as the time of Akbar a Chero chief is said to have kept possession of Chayanpur, one of the chief towns in the district. General Cunningham thinks their power must have ceased before the accession of the Pâla dynasty. One ancient chief or ruling family among them appears to have been known as Chero Chai. [241] 4. There are no Cheros now in Ghâzipur; but Dr. Oldham describes those on the Ghâzipur frontier as honest, industrious cultivators, not differing from Hindus of the agricultural classes. The family records of the Hayobans Râjas, formerly of Bihiya, and now of Haldi, notice a conflict between the Chero and Hayobans chiefs which lasted for hundreds of years, and terminated in the triumph of the Râjputs. As late as the reign of the Afghân Emperor Shîr Shâh the power of the Cheros was formidable, and on his overcoming Maharta, a chief of the tribe, he indulged in transports of delight. On the Kaimûr plateau the last famous robbers were Nora and Kora, who were captured in 1858. [242] Their village was Chirvi, called after the tribe, as are the Cherand Pargana and Cherand Island in the Sâran District. [243] 5. But in spite of their Brâhmanical traditions and extensive conquests they are undoubtedly, as Dr. Buchanan Hamilton asserted, of Dravidian origin. [244] Colonel Dalton remarks that in Chota Nâgpur their physical traits have been considerably softened by their alliances with pure Hindu families. He describes their features as of the Mongolian, or, as he should rather have said, of the Kolarian or Dravidian type. They vary in colour, but are usually of a light brown. They have, as a rule, high cheek bones, small eyes obliquely set, and eyebrows to correspond; low, broad noses, and large mouths with protuberant lips; [245] in other words, they are not appreciably different from the other Dravidian tribes, like the Kols, Majhwârs, etc. This is further shown by the fact that in Mirzapur they are popularly known as Baiga, the devil priest, which is the special business of the non-Aryan races. [Internal structure.] 6. There is no trace in Mirzapur of the division into Bârahhazâr and Terahhazâr of Palamau. [246] South of the Son they have two exogamous sections, Mahto and Chaudhari: others call these sections Nâgbansi, and pretend that they are like their brethren in Chota Nâgpur, descendants of the Nâg or dragon, [247] and Pandobansi, who say they are connected with the five Pandavas; another statement of the sections shows the composite character of the race—Kol, Chero, Hardaha (from the hartu tree, adina cordifolia), Kariha, Panariha, Kutaha, Sinduraha (“those who use red lead”). Some of these are possibly of totemistic origin. The Census Returns give another list—Bardbansi, Bardhân, Bârubansi, Gaya, Khar, and Sûrajbansi.