BIR
331
ever called to account for his action was Udit Nar£n Singh, to the cumstances of whose case allusion has already been made.
Such
cir-
the generally accepted account of the proceedings of the Palwdr I have had an opportunity of comparing it with the official "narrative of events" in the Azamgarh district, published by the Government North-West Provinces, and they agree in most particulars. l)etails have now been ascertained which were not then available, but the " narrative" has been of use to me in preparing the present account. The only conclusion to be drawn from this history is that, on the whole, we had few worse enemies than the Palwars. clan
is
(^rmg the rebellion.
Sir Henry Elliot, in his extraordinary ai tides on Chaurdsis mentions a Chauras of the Palwar clan in pargana Aonla (should be Bhawapar), zila Gorakhpur,* where their possessions, which have since been mostly confiscated for their proceedings in 1857, are said by the tribe to have comrnenced with 84 bighas of land, and soon to have swelled to 84 whole villages. But the fact is, that the whole of the Gorakhpur, Azamgarh, and Fyzabad Palwars spring from a common ancestor. The system of reckoning by Chaurdsis and Bedlisis, so much dwelt on by Sir Henry Elliot, is uncommon in this part of Oudh; in fact, few natives understand this; but the number 49 seems with these very Palwars to have a special charm. For instance, they talk of unchds-kos-ki-bhdt, which ( 1 ) Pargana or Tappa. means that on the occasion of ceremonial gatherings of the tribe to
commemorate a birth, marriage, or death, all the members inhabiting the localities marginally indicated, aggregating a circle of 49 kos, which area is supposed to represent their proprietary possessions, are invited to attend and eat the bread of sociability. Of these, however, the Surharpur (Bundipur) branch is debarred from eating and drinking with the tribe by reason of illegitimacy, and the Atraulia branch, because it is stained with blood.
Members of these branches, on such occasions, are obliged to content themselves with having dry rations served out to them in lieu of cooked viands. The absurdity of the former of these exclusions, and of the system of caste generally, is forcibly illustrated in the following instance. female of the Surharpur illegitimate branch, and another of the Birhar legitimate branch, both married into the orthodox Eajkumar family of the Raja of Dera, and thereafter both branches were alike admitted to the Both parties then eat and drink with the rdja, but rija's social board. they still will not eat and drink with each other.
A
- When the Gurkhas, having abandoned Gorakhpur,^ were marching on Azamgarh, these
Palwdrs made a combined attack upon their camp at Gugha, taking our allies unawares the Palwirs were, however, soon driven off, a number of them were taken prisoners, and these had their heads chopped off in cold blood by the Gurkhas with their kukris, just as if they had been so many kids.
