70 
ON THE OKIGIXAL IXHABITAKT5 
as Beliar was not the only district in India whicli was covered 
with such religious buildings. Not far north from the old 
town of Behar lies to this day the district and village of £a>\ 
Bahar is also the name of a small place in Oudh. It might 
perhaps be advisable to discontinue deriving the names 
of Indian localities from Sanskrit wards, as has been usually 
done hitherto, unless where such derivations are well sup- 
ported. General Sir A. Cunniugham thinks that too much 
stress has been laid npon the popular traditions which ascribe 
nearly all the ancient remains to the Bhars.^° But, impossible 
though it may he to prove the authenticity of the legends, 
it can hardly be doubted that a good deal of truth does 
underlie them. 
In the explanation of the local names a great difficulty 
arises because many words of Sanskrit, Persian, Arabic and 
**> See Gen. Sir A. CxxnmiigYiam, ArchcBoloffieal Surrey of India, vol. XI, 
p. 67 : " It has been the fashion to refer all the remains of antiquity in East- 
ern Oudh to the barbarous race of aboriginal Bhars." 
Instead of proving the incorrectness of such statements, that may be, 
and indeed are, wrong in some cases. Sir Alex. Cunningham substitutes 
another etymology, to which also many reoZ objections can be made. He 
is in favor of substituting for the name of the Bhar people that of the bar 
(banian) tree, which is in Sanskrit Vata. Speaking of the native burr as 
mentioned on p. 66, in note 31, he continues on p. 140 of vol. XVII : " To 
"this class I would refer the name of the banian tree, bat, which is 
" invariably pronoimced bar or ivar, with a burring Hence, as da mean* 
" water in several of the aboriginal dialects, we have Wardd, or the ' Banian 
"tree river.' That this is the true derivation of the name seems nearly 
"certain from the plentifulness of the banian tree in the W;u-d& district, 
"where we also find the names of War-ora, Warar, Wargaoii, JFarhom, 
" Warha, IFargai, Warjhari, WarkuU, Wariwra, and TFiidiicra, and Badiicra, 
"several times repeated; and even the name of Berai- itself is said to be 
" properly TFar Ildr ox Barhdr, the country of the bar, ' a Iranian tree." " 
Some of these etymologies appear very doubtful, especially those of 
Wargaon and Bcrar. I should perhaps remark that the places given by 
Sir Alex. Cunningham differ from those quoted by me on p. 67. It is also 
peculiar that most of the localities above mentioned are written -^-ith an 
initial IV. Compare also the notices about the Banian {Bar) forests in 
the Havdi pargaua in the Archaological Surveg of India. n oI. XVIII. pp. 
62—54, and vol. XXII, pp. 13-15. 
