1876.] P- Carnegy— The Bhars of Audi and Bandras. 307 



they wished to dispossess. Against one enemy the Bhars might have stood, 

 and retained, even when defeated, a portion of their former rights, but in 

 the wars between the invaders, each victory, to whichever side it inclined, 

 was to them a new defeat and entailed another onslaught on their possessions. 

 As the balance swayed from side to side in the long and doubtful struggle 

 between the Eajpiits and the eastern empire, they suffered with every 

 change of fortune, and were conquered not once but many times. It was 

 not one war of extermination, but the harassing attacks of two centuries, 

 often repeated, each time with new vigour, before which they fell. Their 

 customs, their position, and we may conjecture their language and nation- 

 ality, prevented anything like a perfect union with either of their enemies. 

 And yet there can be no doubt that while many were slain, and many fled 

 to the north and to the east, many still survive in their old territory under 

 modern names. The statesmanship of Tilokchand elevated not a few of 

 their principal families to the rank of Chhatris, and the Tirgunait Brah- 

 mans, the Kharibind Kurmis, the Bharotia and Bhiettia Ahirs, and many 

 families of the Griijars are connected with their race by hardly doubtful 

 tradition. A careful enquiry into the private worship and peculiar customs 

 of the present castes of the district would probably still further disprove 

 the tale of their utter extinction, but it can hardly be a matter for surprise 

 that the more obvious evidences of their kingdom have been swept away." 



It will be observed that in this last quotation the whole argument is 

 based on the Bhars being an older people than the Hindus, with a language 

 of their own. Now nothing is more certain than that the Bhar non-con- 

 formists were not in power, or so far as we know in existence in the 6th 

 century, when the Chinese pilgrims visited Audh, which was then peopled 

 by Buddhists and Brahmanists ; but they were dominant when they were 

 conquered by the Muhammadans. So their day of power was obviously 

 confined to a period between the 7th and 12th centuries. The Siirajbans 

 Hindus under Rama, on the contrary, nourished centuries before the Chris- 

 tian era, and we are still in possession of writings to establish what their 

 language was. Then what becomes of the argument based on the Bhars 

 being older than the Hindus and having a language of which, however, not 

 a vestige written or oral is to be traced ! 



Mr. Benett fully admits that "many (Bhars) still survive under 

 modern names", and that many were " elevated" by what he calls " states- 

 manship", into the ranks of the twice-born. In the circumstances it 

 appears that our views of a social and religious regeneration have been 

 completely confirmed by these quotations, and it is alike needless to look 

 further for proofs of an immigration or colonization from the west, or an 

 extermination or exodus to the north and east. 



