1876.] 



297 



The Bhars of Audh and Banaras. — By Pateick Carnegy, Commissioner 

 of Bdi BareU % Audh. 



Who are the Bhars ? 



This is a question that has very often been asked since the British 

 became possessed of the Province of Banaras, and more especially since they 

 annexed Audh. Probably no one has devoted more thought to the solution 

 of this question, or has had greater opportunities of considering it closely 

 than the writer, and he therefore proceeds to answer it by the light of his 

 own enquiries. 



There is unquestionable evidence that Ayodhya, near Faizabad, was the 

 capital of the solar race of Chhatris, many centuries before the Christian 

 era. That this race was Aryan and Sanskrit- speaking does not admit of 

 doubt. The writer is in possession of numerous Bactrian coins, bearing 

 Oreek and Sanskrit inscriptions, of the Kadphisis and Kanerko groups, 

 portions of two large hoards of many hundreds each, which were discovered 

 in Ayodhya and near Sultanpur. Not a single coin was found in either of 

 these hoards of any subsequent mintage, which is proof positive that these 

 coins had remained hidden where they were eventually found in old metal 

 vessels, since they formed part of the currency of the day. Time, the 1st 

 and 2nd centuries, B. C. We may from this with perfect confidence 

 assume that the Sanskrit -speaking races were dominant in Ayodhya and 

 Audh from before the days of Bamchandra and the Bamayan, down to 

 after the commencement of our Era. 



Our path is next illuminated by another historical glimpse. In the 4th 

 and 6th centuries the Chinese pilgrims Fa-hian and Hiouen-Thsang visited 

 Hindustan, when Buddhism was still dominant throughout the land, with its 

 chief centre at Sahet-Mahet, on the Gonda-Bahraich border, the Borne or 

 Jerusalem of that creed. At Ayodhya, at Banaras, at Kanauj, at Kashmir, 

 and at all the other chief centres of ancient fame, Buddhism was found to 

 be paramount ; at the same time, however, inimical as the two religions may 

 have been to each other, temples dedicated to Brahma were also found by 

 the pilgrims at all the places named. 



To Numismatics we owe our next clue. Within the writer's observation 

 four sets of debased gold or silver coins of the second Kanauj series, have been 

 found in the Faizabad, Bahraich, and Partabgarh Districts, of which he has 

 various specimens, and amongst these not a single coin of a more modern 

 date was discovered. Moreover, in the Asiatic Society's Journal for Janu- 

 ary 1841, page 98, we have copy of a land grant of Jayachandra found 

 near Faizabad, and sent by the Besident, Colonel Caulfield, to James 



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