Page:Gazetteer of the province of Oudh ... (IA cu31924073057345).pdf/217

KHE 209 are a cowardly race, and it is a standing reproaclı to them that they will not attempt to revenge or to resent insults or even criminal force offered to their women, who are remarkable for industry, cleanliness, and chastity. Their features are generally Arian, but individuals have a marked Mongo- lian type. They worship pieces of wood erected in little mounds opposite their doors. They paint their dead with vermilion and saffron, and then bury the corpse with its glaring red and yellow. The Chhattris, many different nations of Asia, beyond the Hindu Kush, undoubtedly contributed to form the Chhattricaste. Different races, all pro- fessing arms, united into one “jatº; caste being in this instance a mere trade- union organized by Manu, hallowed by religion, and solidified by the lapse of ages. They retaiued however traces of their origin. It is clear that the Sombansi, Surajbansi, Drighansi, for instance, are of the Arian race, both from their traditions, their names, and their language. Hastinapur, Bil- grám, Kanauj, Srinagar, Sravasti, are town names derived from Arian roots; Bareli, Lahore, Peshawar, Chanderi, Chittor, Indor, Nagor, Alor, Alwar, Kákori, Sandila, Oel, on the other hand, are ancient towns in Oudh or elsewhere, whose names are taken from Turanian languages. This is evident from the termination;* wóra is the ordinary word for a village among the Aboriginal races of Southera India, whose Turanian origin is admitted. The Mongols east of the Oxus still call a village Aul or Oram.t Further, a large number of the towns in Hungary, south of the Carpathian mountains, which were founded by a Magyar or Turanian race, still end in the same termination Ori or Oui. I The same urban names are found in Oudh. In Kheri, for instance, the oldest towns of note are Bhurwara and Kotwára, the early seats of the Ahban Chhattris, who are alleged to have settled there two centuries before our era, and their great antiquity is proved by the ancient coins picked up on their sites. The other ancient towns and villages in Kheri, whose origiu is lost in obscurity, are Mitauli, Dbaurahra, Ajhera, Barwar, Tíkur Basára, Mámri, Pareli, Kafára, Matera, Tirkauli, Kaimahra, Oel, Nardol, Indarwara. We learn from Hunter's Non- Arian Dictionary that the synonyms for village are as follows:- Bafk erri, frri, ari Tamil, ur, equal to wár. Turkiah, aoghl. Telugtt, aku. Magyar. talu. Toda, ar. The connexion between these roots and the terminations abovementioned is clear. It would appear that branches of all these different races now exist, or have formerly established themselves Oudh, passing into or through it from Upper Asia; the names of their towns, the only striking object in a country void of lakes and mountains, survive as evidence of their origin. Rivers might be re-named by a new.coming race because they are objects of adoration, but conquerors in the position of the early Arians would take shelter contentedly in the towns; they would re-name any which they had to rebuild, but in other cases they would learn and adopt the names from the survivors of the defeated races; so it comes that now in Oudh Arian Sombansis and Brahmans dwell in Turanian villages, and names ending Vamhery's Travela, page 119. Vide Suciety's Atlas. See the South Indian synonyms for villages.- Bowring's Eastern Experiences, page 266