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BAN
222
Nir, and Isauli, and Dhir Maholia, and Behta Chand, and Keoli, and
Naiagaon.
Another account runs in
this wise
Eight In the Treta Yug, the Gaurs were of the Siirajbans stock. hundred years ago, in the time of Raja Jai Chand of Kanauj, Kisar Bahadur Singh came from Narkanjari to bathe at Nimsar. Before this time the Thatheras had held the Bangar, but now the land was well nigh waste and desolate and Klsar Bahadur sought and got it as a gift from his king and took possession of Bangar and Bilgrdm but afterwards the Muhammadans drove out the Gaurs, but not altogether.
The Gaurs of Turtipur thus relate the story of their settlement " About 700 years ago, our ancestor Bhat Deo came from Ndr Nol, near
Delhi, and, under the protection of the Raja of Kanauj, settled at Ndrkanjari, about twenty-two kos to the south-east of Kanauj, and there he lived for many years ; and when his descendants had become great i^i number, one of them crossed the Ganges and took up his abode here, and named the place Bhat Deo, in honour of the founder of his house (now a deserted site at BihSr, with an ancient masonry well and bargad tree), and his descendants multiplied and spread themselves around on every side; and one of them founded Bihar, and one, from whom we are sprung, founded Maholia. And from Maholia, Rdja Sale Singh moved to Hardoi, and from Hardoi, Hdthi Singh and Hazari Singh cleared away the forest on all sides, and founded Turtipur on a deserted village site of the Thatheras, known as Deb Turtipur, and kept up its ancient name ; and from that
time
till
this the
Gaurs held
it."
—
In Hardoi itself they tell a somewhat different tale, " About 700 years ago. Sale Singh, Ghanidr Gaur, came from Narkanjari, near Indor, with the army of Alha and Udal and drove out the Thatheras, who then reigned here and seized their lands. And Sale Singh had two sons, Anang Singh
and Narain Singh, and the first of these had two and the other three sons, and the five cousins divided the Hardoi lands among them. To the two sons of Anang Singh was given Thok Uncha, and to the three sons of Narain Singh, Thok Ran Mai and Thok Chauhdn and Thok Alu, and from that time
till
now we Gaurs have always held the
three Thoks."
"
The parent village of the Dhakaras is Bfkapur. Some of them claim come hither direct from Dharwar, others from Mainpuri. Thus the Dhakaras of Ajramau, Udru, and Khajuri, say
to have
" Long, long ago, our ancestor Bhtiran Singh came from Dharwdr in the west and slew and drove out the Thatheras and seized their fort at Kordra, which lies between Ajramau and Bikapur, and his descendants spread on each side, to Bikapur and to Banapur, and Munna Singh and Subha Singh,
from
whom we
are sprung, left
Banapur and
settled at
Ajramau
sixty
years ago." " Our ancestor was the Raja of Mainpuri a But others of the clan say thousand years ago. Thence he with an army to bathe in the sacred waters of Nimkhar-Misrikh. The Thatheras then ruled in this land and
