Note 30 — A

2. These two leaders, Gopi and Sopi, are said to have come into Oudh shortly after the commencement of the Christian era. The former obtained the Pargana Gopamau, in Hardoi, and a descendant of the latter took possession of Pataunja, near Misrikh, in Pargana Nîmkhâr, of Sîtapur District. “This is the reputed residence of the Dryad Abbhawan, who is alleged to have given supernatural assistance to the Châwar chief, her favourite, who thenceforth took the name of Ahban. At any rate Pataunja became a centre of secular and religious power. A tribe of Kurmis and a gotra of Tiwâri Brâhmans have called themselves after Pataunja—a fact which tends to indicate that, although now a mere village, it was formerly the capital of a state possessing some independence.”30 The Ahban race rose afterwards to great prosperity; “how great it is impossible to state, for of all Chhatri clans they are the most mendacious, and many plans for the advancement of individuals have been foiled by this defect of theirs. The sept labours under a superstitious aversion to build houses of brick or line wells with them.