[Historical evidence.] 3. An attempt has been made to support these traditions by historical evidence. On the evidence of two inscriptions from Ajaygarh and Kalinjar, in Bundelkhand, and a passage from Farishta, Mr. W. C. Benett [11] argues “that a man whose name is not given, but who is described as the founder of his family, possessed himself of the fort of Ajaygarh. One of his descendants was Malika, whose brother, Dalki, on the overthrow of the last Kanauj King, conquered the whole of the Duâb; and Farishta records the utter defeat and destruction of Dalki and Malki, who had royal forts at Kalinjar and Karra and held the whole country as far as Mâlwa in their possession, by Nasir-ud-din Muhammad, the King of Delhi, in 1246 A.D. The universal tradition of Southern Oudh proves that these princes were really Bhars, and that the whole of the south of the province as far as the Ghâgra was included in their dominions.” This theory, however, has failed to stand further investigation, and the Princes Dalki and Malki are identified by General Cunningham with the Baghel Râjas Dalakeswar and Malakeswar. [12] It is probable that out of the same legend has arisen the worship of Râja Bal, who is specially venerated by Bhars and Ahîrs. His worship is connected with protection from snake-bite. He is said to have been one of two Bhar brothers who ruled at Dalmau and Râê Bareli, and were slain by the Muhammadans in the time of Ibrahim Sharqi of Jaunpur. In their memory, it is said that the Bharautiya section of Ahîrs in time of mourning abstain from wearing anklets. Bal Râja is chiefly worshipped in Râê Bareli, Basti, and Eastern Oudh. He has 76,395 followers. The evidence, then, for an extensive Bhar kingdom in the eastern part of the Province rests almost entirely on the so-called Bhar dihs or ancient mounds and forts which abound all over the country, and on the so-called Bhar tanks, which are distinguished from those of a later date by being Surajbedi or longer from east to west, while modern tanks are Chandrabedi or lie north and south. Who may have been the builders of these monuments, our existing knowledge hardly entitles us to say with certainty. But that the identification of these monuments with the Bhars is not in every case to be trusted is proved by the fact that two buildings at Bihâr, in Partâbgarh, which are confidently ascribed to the Bhars by a writer in the Oudh Gazetteer, [13] are proved by General Cunningham to be genuine Buddhist stupas. [14] Similarly, the identification of the Bhars with the early rulers of the country presents many features of difficulty. Their identification with the Ubaræ of Pliny and the Barrhai of Ptolemy [15] is little more than conjectural. As Sir H. M. Elliot pointed out [16]:—“It is strange that no trace of Bhars is to be found in the Purânas, unless we may consider that there is an obscure indication of them in the Brahma Purâna, where, it is said, that among the