BIH
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once upon a time vowed that lie would make a solemn feast to 125,000 Brahmans. The word haviag been spoken, it was necessary to make it good nothing like this number could be found ; and so the rdja was obliged to send out into the highways and hedges and compel all In this way sorts of riff-raff to come in that his house might be full. a Kurmi, or Ahir, or Bhat, found himself dubbed Brahman, and invested with the sacred thread, bestowed his valuable blessing on the devout raja, and their descendants are Brahmans to this day."
wto
The
eight villages in possession of Kayath proprietors are composed of seven villages of the Chachamau muhal, the proers. perty of Dindayal &c., the hereditary qantingos of the pargana, and of a single village, Namdeopur, held by one Debidin of obscure origin. The Chachdmau muhal also comprises two villages in the Manikpur pargana. These nine villages have been gradually acquired by the family. As was customary in former days, the qanungos, always on the look out for villages in farm, succeeded in course of time in obtaining from the nazim, or from head-quarters at Lucknow, zamindari title deeds. With these in their possession, and backed by Court interest, they defied the rightful owners to oust them. Such, I believe, to have been the history of the Chichamau estate. Kayath landown-
Of the Musalman landowners
notice will be taken under the head of pargana Manikpur, the town of Manikpur being an important Muhammandan centre and the circumjacent country being chiefly in the hands of that class. Their colonization is intimately connected with the history of the town, which will be found sub-
Muhammadan.
Places of note.
sequently recorded at length.
I propose to record a
few remarks relating to Bihar Khas and Bhadri, being places possessed of either antiquarian or historical interest.
About two years ago wsre found
at Bihar a pair of very old and curiously carved stones, which from the character of the figures represented,* I have no doubt are Bhar relics. They are believed to be so by the inhabitants, and the following account of the stones (which go by the name of Buddha Buddhi f), is current among them. Bihar Khas was originally inhabited by the Bhars. Fort Sansaran, remains of which still exist on the east of Bihar, was their stronghold. Within the fort was a temple which contained idols worshipped by the Bhars. During the reign of Raja Pithaura, the latter sent a force under the command of one Bal Singh, a Bais, and ancestor of the present Bais zamindar of Bihar, to attack the Bhars. pitched battle ensued, which resulted in the defeat of the Bhars and the destruction of their fort. Bal Singh caused the temple, containing amongst other idols two much larger than the rest called " Buddha" and " Buddhi," to be thrown into the lake which lies on the south-east of Bihar. After the victory, Raja Pithaura rewarded Bal Singh with a zattiindari grant of twenty-two villages in this neighbourhood, and Bal Singh came and resided in the town of Bih^r. The Bais, his descendants, erected a temple on the south of the town close to Bihitr.
A
- The carved figures are undoubtedly Buddhist.
The stones are in the Govemmenij garden at Bela, and can be seen and examined by the curious, i. e., old man and old woman. t
