Note 30 — B

Origin. 2. In Faizâbâd the Bais say that they came from Baiswâra about five hundred years ago, and expelled the Bhars; but this story is disbelieved by Mr. Carnegy30 on the ground that there were few Bais even in Baiswâra in those days. He believes the Faizâbâd colony to be of local origin. They are divided into two great families, the Eastern and the Western, who, though they eat together, recognise no relationship, and retain the memory of bitter border warfare with each other. The Pargana of Mangalsi is overrun by different independent Bais colonies, the members of which say they came from the West (no one knows from where) and expelled the Bhars two or three centuries or, according to their pedigree tables, sixteen generations ago. There are traditions of a Gautam (Sombansi) colony founded by Mangalsen, from whom the Pargana takes its name, who is said to have been a cadet of the great Fatehpur house of Argal. But the Gautams were long ago pushed across the river Ghâgra. It is noteworthy that the Muhammadans, who produce title deeds more than three hundred years old, declare that Mangalsen was not a Gautam but a Bhar. Another curious fact is that both the Muhammadans and the few Gautams who are left are shown by Mr. Woodburn to pay the feudal tribute (bhent) to the Bais headmen. How long they have done so is not very clear, but the conclusion from all this is, according to Mr. Carnegy, that the local Bais are the indigenous Bhars; that the Bhars became Bais about or after the Muhammadan conquest; the Gautam footing was by marriage with the Bais, and the Muhammadans succeeded to the Bais Bhars. These conclusions of Mr. Carnegy must be received with some degree of caution. That the Bais of the Faizâbâd District may have some admixture of indigenous blood is more than probable; but at the same time that they have a large basis of Râjput blood may be regarded as quite certain.