Note 45 — A

4. At the same time, as might have been expected, some of their traditions indicate a tendency to aspire to a higher origin than those which would associate them with menial tribes such as the Bhars. Thus in Bulandshahr45 they claim to be Chauhân Râjputs. The Rohilkhand branch say that they came from Hânsi Hissâr about 700 years ago. In Gorakhpur the Bargaha sub-caste provide wet-nurses in Râjput families46: others call themselves Jâts and refer their origin to Bharatpur, while they call themselves Kshatriyas. There is again a very close connection between the Dauwa sub-caste and the Bundela Râjputs for whom they provide wet-nurses.47 In Azamgarh48 they claim to have been once Kshatriyas who ruled the country; in Mainpuri49 they assert that they are descendants of Râna Katîra of Mewâr, who had been driven from his own country by an invasion of the Muhammadans and took refuge with Digpâla, Râja of Mahâban, whose daughter, Kânh Kunwar his son subsequently married, and by her became the ancestor of the Pâthak sub-caste. They are the highest clan in that part of the country, and there is a ridiculous legend in explanation of their name, that Râna Katîra was attacked by the King of Delhi, and that out of the twelve gates (phâtak) of his capital only one held out to the end. When the enemy had retired, the Râna, in order to commemorate the signal bravery shown by the guard of the twelfth gate, issued a decree that they and their descendants should be for ever designated by the title of Pâthak or Phâtak.