Note 92 — B (continued 2)

Bargûjar.—(Sanskrit, vriddha; Hindi, bara, “great.”)—An important sept of Râjputs classed as one of the thirty-six royal races, and descended, like their opponents, the Kachhwâhas, from Râma, but through Lava, the second son. Sir H. M. Elliot92 writes:—“Colonel Tod says that it was in Anûpshahr that the Bargûjars, on their expulsion by the Kachhwâhas from Rajor, found refuge; and that is still the chief town of the Bargûjar family. But as this expulsion occurred only in the time of the illustrious Siwâi Jay Sinh, in the beginning of the last century, the chief of Rajor must have chosen for his residence a part of the country already in the occupation of his brethren; for Bargûjars are mentioned, even in Akbar’s time, as the Zamîndârs of Khurja, Dibâi, and Pahâsu. Their own assertion is that they came from Rajor, the capital of Deoti, in the Macheri country, under Râja Pratâp Sinh, and first resided in Kheriya, near Pitampur, and that the Râja, after marrying at Koil into a Râjput family of the Dor tribe, which at that time occupied the whole country between Koil and Bulandshahr, obtained favour in the sight of the Dors and got authority to establish himself as far eastward as he chose. Having, in consequence, exterminated the Mewâtis and Bhihars, who are represented to have been in previous occupation, he was so successful as to acquire the possession of sixteen hundred villages, eight hundred on the east and eight hundred on the west of the Ganges. At the time of his death Chaundera, near Pahâsu (in the Bulandshahr District), was reckoned the chief possession of the Bargûjars, and one of the descendants of Pratâp Sinh, Râja Sâlivâhana, gave his name to a Pargana, which comprised the present divisions of Pîtampur, Pahâsu, and Birauli. Râja Pratâp Sinh left two sons, Jatu and Rânu. Jatu took up his abode in Katehar or Rohilkhand, and Rânu remained as chief of Chaundera.