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G. Dutt —Further Notes on the Bhojpuri dialects. [No, 3, 
bank of tbe river in another district, and in their import cargo bring 
home a contraband dialect which is only detected when they come in 
contact with the people of other Pergannas. Hence the origin of these 
sub-dialects. 
Now for the origin of the Bhojpuri dialect. According to the 
universal rule that all languages have their nomenclatures from some 
distinct place or person they owe their origin to, the term Bhojpuri 
has come from Bhojpur, the town or Capital of Raja Bhoja. This 
Bhojpur Yule conjectures to be ‘ Stagabaza’ of Ptolemy which he says 
was a site of extreme antiquity on the upper stream of Betwa, where 
are remains of vast hydraulic works ascribed to a king Bhoja 
(M’Crindle’s Ancient India by Ptolemy p. 163). But who is this king 
Bhoja P We have got in ancient Indian History “ more than a dozen 
princes known to us who have at different times borne that illustrious 
name” from the days of Rg. Yeda Samhita to the 11th Century A.D. 
(Vide Raja Rajendra Lai’s Indo-Aryans Yol. II, p. 385). 
Mr. Cosserat found in Saran a copper-plate inscription wherein the 
names of the rulers of Kanauj are mentioned, and two names of Bhoja 1 
occur in it in the same dynasty. Of this General Cunningham observed : 
“Now at this very time we know that a Raja Bhoja Deva was para¬ 
mount sovereign at Gwalior, as his inscription, carved on the rock 
itself, is dated in Sam vat 933 or A.D. 876. From the Rajatarangim 
also we learn that a Raja Bhoja contended with S'ahkaravarman of 
Kasmir, who reigned between the years 883-901 A.D. I am quite 
satisfied that all these records refer to the same prince Bhoja Deva, 
who was Raja of Kanauj during the last quarter of the 9th century 
or from about A.D. 875 to 900.” Raja Rajendra Lai Mittra comments 
thereon thus :— 
“ The identification makes the prince named in the Pehewa, the 
Gwalior, the Saran and the Benares records to be the same with that 
of Kanauj noticed in the Rajatarangim, and I accept it as obviously 
correct” (Indo-Aryans, p. 394). The dynasty to which these two Bhojas 
belonged reigned in Kanauj for a long time, and it was not known when 
it began. So much is known that it was overthrown in the reign of the 
last Bhoja by the invasion of Kalacuri or Cedi dynasty from the 
South and the Palas from the East. The Cedis conquered Kanauj and 
the Palas Benares. It is just probable that the Kingdom of Kanauj 
then extended as far as Benares, and that the last King Bhoja, ousted 
from Kanauj, founded a kingdom in Shahabad, with Bhojpur as its 
Capital, by conquering the aboriginal tribes of the Kharwar race. 
1 The Deogarh inscription of King Bhoja Deva of Kanauj is dated Saka Samvat 
784-862 A.D. (Vide Fleet’s Gupta Inscriptions Introduction, p. 107). 
