Page:Gazetteer of the province of Oudh ... (IA cu31924024153987).pdf/106

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ALD

28

continued prosperity until the present moment, when this fine pargana; (as well as others in this and other districts) may be considered as the zamindari of the clan. It is affirmed that in the reign of AUa-ud-din Ghori (A. D. 1153—56), but more probably of one of his successors of that dynasty, Bari^r Singh, Chauhan," fled from his home and established himself first in the village of Jamuawan and afterwards in Bhadayyan, both of which places are in the Sultanpur district. it that this occurrence took place in A. D. 1248, could not have been in the reign indicated.

The family annals have hence

it

The clan to which Bariar Singh, the common ancestor, belonged, has now five branches, from which circumstance it is likened to the five fingers of a man's hand these are the Chauhan, the Rajkumar, the R^jwar, the Bachgoti, and the Khanzada, the three last of which own no villages in this pargana.

Opinions seem divided as to the birth-place of Bariar Singh some say was Sambhal-Moradabad, others Mainpuri (the undoubted country of the Chauhans), while, according to Sir H. Elliott, it was Sambhar-Ajmer. There is also doubt as to this man's reason for leaving his home. It is well-known that after the overthrow of the Hindus, under Raja Pirthwi, by the Muhammadans, the Chauhans were specially singled out for extirpation by the conquerors, and it is said that it was to seek an asylum from this fate that Bariar Singh sought refuge in these parts, changing the name of his clan the better to effect his purpose. That seems to be a but there is a much more proper and satisfactory reason for the act romantic one, viz., that the father of Bariar Singh, who had already twenty-two sons, aspired to the hand of a young bride, and the only condition on which she would agree to become his wife was that, in the event of a son being born, he should succeed to the title and in due course this followed, which so much discomfited the twenty-two former sons that they all dispersed themselves over the country to push their fortunes, Bariar Those that rely on this Singh's destiny having led him to Eastern- Oudh. version of the story relate that Bariar Singh accompanied AUa-ud-din Ghori, whom he joined at Mainpuri, as he was on his way from Delhi to subjugate the Bhars, and that he assisted in the overthrow of Raja Bhimsen as an officer in the army and it is affirmed that after this the conquered country was given to Bariar Singh for his services.

it

'

The Rajkumars, through B^iar Singh, claim

direct descent from R^ja Raj, the brother of R4ja Pirthwi Raj, the hero of Delhi (A. D. I give an abstract of ihe genealogical tree of the Fyzabad part of 1193). the clan from the ancestor just alluded to, down to the present date. It is a curious thing of its kind, and it professes to be correct.

Kundh

EUiott's Glossary relates that Raja Sangat was the great-grandnephew of Raja Pirthwi, and he had twenty-two sons, and that these were superseded by the youngest in consequence of an agreement to that effect when their father took to himself a young wife. Now it will be seen that this tallies well

with the

tree,

and with the family

traditions,

which show that