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260
THE INDIAN ANTIQUARY.
(SEPTEMBER, 1885.
the news of this reached Gaj'nå she wrote an
CHAPTER VIII. account of the whole affair, and sent it to Alhå. The marriage with Prith'vi's cousin. Ålh disguised himself as a Brâhman, and Prith'vi's uncle Kubj'kan had a daughter visited Gaj's palace, where he recommended named B&1A. When she was ready for marthat Mal'khí should be publicly executed. riage the king made proclamation of the The proposal being accepted, he returned to his following conditions :-The successful suitor camp, and made his army ready for the attack, must be able to hit with his arrows three times When Mal'khâ was led out to execution, Udal in succession a goal which he could only hear, attacked the guards, and after rescuing him, but not see. He must beat in wrestling the joined in a battle in which the generals two wrestlers, Har'dan and Mar'dan, and Babbar and Bundâ were killed, Gaj's two sons he must be able to dance upon weapons. The Móti and Lahů taken prisoners, and his army I princes who took ap the challenge were those defeated. Finally the Mahubâ army looted of Mahaba, who collected an army and adthe capital and arrived at the king's throne- vanced upon the frontier. They sent a room. Gaj made submission to them and negotiator in the shape of a barber named explained that King Parath also desired to Khabi, who arriving at the king's gate, marry his daughter, and he did not know fought with the first comers for four gharís, whether to give her to him or to Mal'kha. At saying that this fight was his neg or customary Alha's suggestion a wrestling match was fee, as he was a soldier's barber. Thereupon the agreed upon between Mal'khi and Parath; the Mahuba princes commenced a terrible battle in prize being Gaj'nå. In the end Parath was which they defeated Prith'vi. They then defeated, and contented himself with Gaj's performed the various conditions of the chalyounger daughter, Binda, while Mal'khâ car. lenge, and carried off Bela in triumph, and ried his bride Gaj'nå home with great rejoicings. I married her to Brahma, Parimal's son."
MISCELLANEA.
FOUR QUERIES CONCERNING THE FATEHPUR DISTRICT IN THE NORTH-WEST PROVINCES.
(1.) Fatehpur being a very common local name in Upper India, the capital of the Fatehpur District in the North-West Provinces is popu. larly known, by way of distinction, as Fatehpur Haswå; the latter member of the compound being the name of a decayed town about 7 miles distant, which tradition represents as the oldest inhabited site in the neighbourhood. Its epony. mous founder is said to have been a RAJA Hansdhvaj, whose two brothers, Mordhvaj and Sankh. dhvai, are also locally commemorated by the names of two adjoining villages, Morgun and Sankhaun. The RAja's second son Ran-bijay, having presumed to capture the horse that had been turned loose by the Pandavas after their great sacrifice at Hastinapura, was attacked by them and slain, together with his elder brother Siva-dharna. Their sister Champêvati then suc- ceeded to the throne, but eventually died child less, after bequeathing the town to Brahmans, whose descendants held it for many generations. I shall be glad of references to any passage in the
Mahabharata or other authority, which supports or corrects the above tradition.
(2). After the defeat of Jay Chand of Kanauj and his brother Manik, at Kara (a town in the Allahabad district near the Fatehpur border) Qutbu'd-din, with his sister's two sons, QAsim and 'Alau'd-din, advanced upon Haswa. Its RAJA, Hans-raj by name, came out to meet them, and joined in single combat with 'Alau'd-din at & village called Chakheri. The Raja was killed, and 'Alau'd-din also lost his head, but the head. less trunk fought its way on to Haswa, a distance of 12 miles, an of 12 miles, and there at last fell and was buried. His dargah is on the top of the old fort in the centre of the town and is still held in much veneration. Is this capture of Haswi mentioned by any of the Muhammadan chronographers ?
3. The town of Haswå is almost surroanded by a broad shallow sheet of water, which at one end has been deepened and brought into more regular shape as a tank. In its centre is an island, mea. suring 165 feet square, faced on all four sides with flights of masonry stepe, and approached from the bdadr by a bridge 150 feet long, consist
(Compare this Legend with the numerous similar examples quoted in the Cal. Rev. No. CLIII. p. 158 ff. in the article Folklore of the Headlea Horseman in Nurthern India.-ED.)
* Since the above was written, Mr. V. A. Smith has most kindly placed at my disposals number of valuable songs in the Hamir'pnr dialect, desling with the Alha cycle. These I hope to publish on a future ocomion.
