18S3 ] 
F. S. Grows ?—The town of Bulandshahr. 
27 L 
was tried, the popular appellation was too strongly rooted in the affections of 
the people to admit of suppression by imperial edict; hut in a little place 
like Baran, where too the majority of the inhabitants happened to be Muham¬ 
madans, there was no difficulty in giving effect to the official innovation. 
The most favourable opportunity for reviving the older and shorter name has 
unfortunately been lost, but even now the change might be effected without 
causing more than a very slight and merely temporary inconvenience ; for 
the name Baran is still perfectly familiar to the people and even officially 
is used as the designation both of the Pargana (or Hundred) and also of 
the parish, which is a very extensive one ; the title Bulandshahr being ap¬ 
plied exclusively to the town, and originally only to the Upper Town, or 
Fort. In meaning, it corresponds precisely with the English ‘ Higham,’ 
and was suggested by the great elevation of the Castle Hill, which far over¬ 
tops any other ground for many miles away. It is said by some to have 
been merely an Urdu rendering of the Hindi Uncha-nagar, a form that had 
already come into use and would bear the same signification; but, in the 
absence of any documentary proof of this assertion, I very strongly doubt 
whether the Hindus under the Delhi Emperoi's ever knew the place by any 
other name than that of Baran. There would seem to be no reason why 
they should substitute one indigenous name for another; while the object 
that the Muhammadans had, in introducing a name from their own vocabu- 
lary, is easily intelligible. 
Tradition goes that in prehistoric times the town was called Ban- 
chhati—which would mean ‘ a forest-clearing ’—and that it was founded by 
a Tomai’, or Pandava chief from Ahai’, named Parmal. The site of this 
original settlement is the high ground now occupied by the Collector’s House 
and the new Town Hall, and lies immediately to the west of the modern 
town. It used to be known as the ‘ Moti Chauk,’ or ‘ Moti Bazar,’ mean¬ 
ing of coui’se not a market where ‘ pearls ’ ( moti) wei'e sold, but simply a 
‘handsome’ bazar, as we might say in English, ‘ a gem of a place.’ The 
large original mound has for many years been intersected by the high road, 
and was also cut up by a broad and deep ravine. This latter ran down 
through the town to the river and was a gi’eat nuisance. I have now tuimed 
back the drainage into a tank called the ‘ Lai Diggi,’ further to the west, 
near the Magistrate’s Court, the overflow from which is carried by a cutting 
thi'ough the fields into the river higher up in its course. 
In order to fill up the ravine I levelled the ridge on its bank and having 
enclosed the entii’e area as an adjunct to the Town Hall, am now convert¬ 
ing it into a public garden, which—to perpetuate the old tradition—I 
have designated the ‘ Moti Bagh.’ There is much vague talk of coins and 
solid bars of silver discovered there in former years, but in the course of my 
excavations I came upon nothing of much intrinsic value. Abundant proofs 
