Note 38 — B

Sub-divisions of the Bais. 7. Numerous castes in the Faizâbâd and Gonda Districts, such as the Gandhariyas, the Naipuriyas, the Barwârs, and the Châhus, claim to have been originally Bais, while the equal lengths of their pedigrees show that they were established in these districts at about the beginning of the sixteenth century. There are, besides, numerous families of small landowners in the east of Râê Bareli, who call themselves Bharadih Bais, and whose want of any tradition of emigration and peculiar religion distinguish them from the pure Bais of the west. Another division is that of Bhîtariya and Bâhariya or “the outer” and “the inner” Bais.38 “The Brâhmans of Sultânpur relate that Tilok Chand in his old age, like another king of distinguished wisdom, supported the prodigious responsibility of an establishment of three hundred wives, and became the father of a family countless as the sands of the sea. The Princesses of Rîwa and Mainpuri, to whom he had originally been married, disgusted by an association in which the dignity of castes had not been respected, fled from his castle and gave rise to a distinction between the Bais from within (Bhîtariya) and the Bais from without (Bâhariya); those from without being the offspring of pure Râjput blood, while those from within were of contaminated lineage, and occupied a doubtful position in the castes system.” But the most important distinction is between the Tilokchandi Bais or the descendants of Tilok Chand, and Kath Bais, or “wooden” Bais. Of these Colonel MacAndrew writes39:—“These call themselves Tilokchandi Bais to distinguish them from the Kath Bais, who are supposed to be the offspring of the real Bais by women of inferior caste. The Tilokchandi Bais will neither eat nor intermarry with them. An instance of this was exemplified the other day when the proposal was made that the Bais should erect a bridge over the Sâi at Râê Bareli. The Tilokchandis proposed that the Kath Bais should subscribe. The latter at once expressed their willingness to do so, provided the Tilokchandis would acknowledge them to be Bais by eating with them. Nothing more was heard of the proposal that they should subscribe.” The Tilokchandi Bais according to Sir H. M. Elliot,40 are sub-divided into four clans, Râo, Râwat, Naihatha, and Sainbansi, all of whom profess to derive their rights from the Gautam Râja of Argal. He says that beside the Tilokchandi, there are said to be no less than three hundred and sixty sub-divisions of the Bais, the descendants of as many wives of Sâlivâhana. Among these the most noted are the Tilsâri, Chak Bais, Nânwag, Bhanwag, Bach, Parsariya, Patsariya, Bijhoniya, Bhatkariya, Chanamiya, or Gargbans, but it may be doubted if these are really Bais.