Note 133 — B (continued 3)

Bhâlê Sultân.—(“Lords of the spear:” Sanskrit, Bhâla, “a kind of arrow or spear.”)—According to the tribal tradition in Sultânpur,133 between two and three hundred years ago Râê Barâr, son of Amba Râê, brother of the then Râja of Morârmau, commanded a troop of cavalry recruited entirely from the Bais clan in the Imperial service, and was deputed to exterminate the troublesome Bhars in the Isauli Pargana. Having accomplished his task he returned to Delhi and presented himself at the head of his troop before the Emperor, who, struck with their manly bearing, exclaimed, “Ao, Bhâlê Sultân,” “Come, spears of the Sultân.” Thence they adopted the name. Another story is that it was as link-bearers (Bâri), and not the lance, which they so dexterously wielded, and that they were made Râjputs by Tilok Chand as a reward for their diligence. A third account connects them with the Balla, who are included in the royal races and were lords in Saurâshtra. “But this lays stress on the first factor of the name, and leaves the other, an equally perplexing one, altogether unexplained. That it is a corruption there is little doubt. The Bhâlê Sultâns are either not mentioned by Abul Fazl at all, or they are the Bais Naumuslim of Sâtanpur. In either case the suspicion is raised that they did not take their modern name till after the time of Akbar, and, if so, it hardly bears the ring of Imperial coinage. ‘From this time’ (1507 A.D.), says Bâbar, ‘I order that I should be styled Padshah,’ and from him downwards this, and not Sultan, appears to have been the title affected by the Mughal Emperors. It is very probable that the Bhâlê Sultâns are the Naumuslim Bais of Sâtanpur, for they now occupy that locality, and Palhan Deo, great grandson of Râê Barâr, is said to have been converted to Islâm in Shîr Shâh’s time; and the only thing against this view is that the Gandeo Bais may have held territory thus far east, and as they, too, had a Musalmân branch, they would then answer equally well to the description given.”