90 Report on the District of Azimgurh. [[Feb. 



more use to look to the actual state of things, and ascertain as far as 

 may be possible, what that was in any one part of the country, or at 

 any particular time. It is my purpose to do this as far as I may be 

 able, for the tract of country to which this report refers, and for such 

 period as we may have tradition or history to direct us. 



23rd. The whole of Azimgurh must have originally formed part of 

 Rama's kingdom of Ujodhya. The inhabitants of that time are call- 

 ed by the present race of men Rajburs and Assoors. The latter is 

 evidently only another instance of the tendency to attribute every 

 thing that is old or wonderful to superhuman agency. There are 

 still existing a race of men called Burs, a very low class, who general- 

 ly tend swine. They are said to be the descendants of the aborigines, 

 and it is not impossible they may be ; but they have lost all traces 

 of their original character, and I do not know a single instance of their 

 now possessing proprietary right. 



24th. The inhabitants of the country, by whatever name they 

 are distinguished, were a powerful and industrious race, as is evident 

 by the large works they have left behind them. Immense mud forts 

 still exist, such as are seen at Hurbunspoor and Oonchagaon, near 

 Azimgurh, and at Ghosee, which are attributed to them ; and traces 

 of a large excavation still exist, which seems to have connected 

 the Koonwur and Munghai Nuddees, and is known by the name 

 of Asooraeen. The Huree Bandh at Ameinuggur, in Pergunnah 

 Nizamabad, is another work generally attributed to them. 



25th. These people were overwhelmed by incursions of Rajpoots, 

 who seem to have come over from the west, under different lead- 

 ers, and to have completely subjugated the country. Whether the 

 incursions were successive or simultaneous, or at what time they took 

 place, there are no means of ascertaining. An inscription found 

 in Deogaon shows that in the middle of the twelfth century that 

 Pergunnah was included in the dominions of the king of Canoje, 

 and was probably a favorite place of resort for the court. 



26th. These invasions of the Rajpoots are the foundation of the 

 present existing proprietary right in the land. Different tribes located 

 themselves in different spots. The descendants of each chief mul- 

 tiplied, till at length, in some instances, they displaced all other 

 occupants of the land, or at least assumed to themselves all proprietary 

 privileges. The stocks were numerous : each Tuppah, or sub-division of 

 a Pergunnah, is marked by the prevalence of its own stock. These all 

 pretend to trace their origin to a single person, who first conquered the 

 country. Thus, the Gautum Rajpoots came from the Dooab un- 



