2^40 ESSAY ON" 



very much to be considered as belonging to the 

 Cucanastha tribe, since they reside also in Cucan. 

 We read in the Ayin-Acberi, that the ancestor of the 

 RctJid family, and a descendant of Nushirvan, was 

 styled a Brahmen, not because be was really so, but 

 because he had been brought up by a Brahmen*. 



This ancestor of the Banas meeting with no en- 

 couragement in the western parts of India, went 

 into Berar, and at length became chief of Parndlch. 

 In the year of Christ 793, according to Aeul- 

 Fazil, that city was plundered, and many of the 

 inhabitants perished. During the confusion, PATrA, 

 called by some Banna and Rana, a descendant of 

 our adventurer, and then an infant, was carried by 

 his mother to the country of Meywar, and received 

 protection from king Mandalica of the Bhil tribe. 

 He was raised by degrees to the confidence of the 

 king ; and, after his death, he murdered the four 

 -sons of his benefactor, and usurped the throne f. 

 He was the founder of the dynasty called in the 

 Purdnas Vindhya-Sacti, the glory and might of the 

 Vi7idhyan liills. It consisted of nine kings, who 

 reigned altogether ninety years, during the greatest 

 part of the ninth, and in the beginning of the tenth 

 centuries J. There are still some of that family iir 

 Berar, who are also called Rands, such as the Ze- 

 mindars of Mdhaur §. 



It is the opinion of the Nawab Ali-Ibkahim- 

 Kha'n, and of the Musulmans in general in 

 India, that the children of Nusiiirva'n were 

 driven out of Persia by the Abbasis, whose dy- 

 nasty began in the year 749; misled probably by 

 some latter emigration of natives from Persia. To 



* Ayin-Acheri, Vol. II. p. pp. f Ayin-Acheri, Vol. II. p. pS, 

 X Puranas, prophetic chapters. § Ayin-Acbni, Vol. II. p; 72\ 



