________________
APRIL, 1985.)
SANSKRIT AND OLD-KANARESE INSCRIPTIONS.
101
Gaharwars are despised by the other Rajpût tribes," according to Tod." The original rea- son of this treatment may have been their heretical faith in the time of the Palas. The Rathors would not be the only offshoot from the Gaharwar clan; the well-known Bundels (of Bandelkhand) are another prominent in. stance of Gaharwêr descent. Again, -- "The Gahar wars assert that they were originally masters of Kanauj; local tradition confirms their claims; and the Gautama Rajpats attribute their own residence and possessions in the Lower Doab to the bounty of a Gaharwar Raja of Kanauj." This tradition evidently refers to the Rathor rulers of Kananj, and confirms the statement of their land-grants, that they were Gaharwars. Again,-" The present chief of the Gaharwars resides at Kantit near Mirzapur, and, tradition says, Gadan Deo, who by some is reckoned the son of Mánika Chandra, bro- ther of Jayachandra, the Ratbor, came from Benares about the end of the 11th century, and settled at Kantit." This, as Sir Henry Elliot points out, is a confused tradition. Perhaps it points to the secession and emigration from Benares under Chandra, at the time of Mahi- påla. In any case, it clearly establishes the
closest relationship between the Rathor's and Gaharwars. Again,-"Benares is generaliy considered the original country of the Gahar. wârs, who, it is often asserted, are descended from ancient kings of Benares;" and their chief seat is still in the Benares Division and in Bihar. This makes in support of the theory that the PAla kings of Bihar and Bengal, who also ruled in Benares, belonged to the Gabar. war clan, and consequently were closely related to the Røthors of Kananj."' It is true there is an indistinct tradition, which ascribes the Pala Rajâs to the Bhgihậr race. But there is no proof of it. In their inscriptions the Palas make no mention of their caste. On the other hand, there are various incidental notices in them, which indicate their having been of a Rajput caste. Thus Vigrahapala is said to have married the princess Lajja of the Haihaya race; this would hardly have occurred if the Pála Râjâs had really belonged to a nondescript race, like the Bhuthârs.
I only throw this out as & suggestion. It is by no means a new one; Mr. Prinsep already made it in the Jour. Beng. As. Soc. Vol. IV. Part I. p. 670. But much additional information in support of it has since come to light.
SANSKRIT AND OLD-KANARESE INSCRIPTIONS. BY J. F. FLEET, Bo. C.S., M.R.A.S., C.I.E.
(Continued from p. 59.) No. CLV.
and in each of these recesses was a plate,"l - BASAHI PLATE OF GOVINDACHANDRA. vis. the present plate, and a plate of the same SAMVAT 1161.
king of Samvat 1174, which also now is in the The original plate containing the inscription Lucknow Museum. These two inscriptions now published is in the Government Museum have been published by Dr. Rajendralál Mitra, at Lucknow. It was originally found in the in the Jour. Beng. As. Soc. Vol. XLII. Part 1. village of . Basahi,' two miles to the north-east p. 314ff. I now edit the inscription of Samvat of the head-quarters town of the Bidhuna' 1161, to accompany the preceding paper by Tahsil in the Etawah' District in the North- Dr. Hoernle on the dynasty to which it belongs. West Provinces, and was first brought to notice the plate measures about 1' 4" by 104", by Mr: E. T. Atkinson, of AllahAbad. "The and is inscribed on one side only. It is quite village is in a small khêrá or mound, into smooth, the edges being neither fashioned which a Thakur coltivator was digging for thicker nor raised into rims; but the inscripbricks to build a house. He came on the tion is in perfect preservation throughout. The remains of a pakká house, in the wall of the seal, which is massive, is ciroular, about 2'' in dálán of which there were two recesses (tak) diameter; it has, in relief on a slightly counter
16 Rajasthan, Vol. I. p. 116.
1. See the traditions, above quoted, of the Gaharwårs and RAěhors in Ellint's Asces of the N. W. Provinces, pp. 121-124; and Sherrin 'Hindu Tribes and Castes, Vol. I. pp. 140, 141, 175-177.
o See Archaol. Suru. Ind. Vol. XV. p. 147; Calcutta Reviore, Vol. LIX. p. 68. For an scoount of the Bhaibars see Elliot's Race of the N. W. Provinces, Vol. I. p. 21.
Jour. Bong. As. Soc, Vol. XLII. Part I. p. 814.
