Note 20 — C

Chamar Gaur.—A sept of Râjputs of whom Sir H. M. Elliot20 writes—“Among the Gaur Râjputs the Chamar Gaur who are sub-divided into Râja and Râê, rank the highest, which is accounted for in this way:—When trouble fell upon the Gaur family, one of their ladies, far advanced in pregnancy, took refuge in a Chamâr’s house, and was so grateful to him for his protection, that she promised to call her child by his name. The Bhâts and Brâhmans to whom the others fled do not appear to have had similar forbearance, and hence, strange as it may appear, the sub-divisions called after their name rank below the Chamar Gaur.” Pargana Sandîla, of Hardoi, was, so it is said, occupied by Thatheras,21 who by one theory are identical with the Bhars, and then Chamar Gaurs came in from near Bijnaur in the time of Jay Chand. They came in under two chiefs, bringing with them Dikshit Brâhmans, who up to the present are their recognised priests. They differ entirely from Chamar Gaurs, who came from near Cawnpur, and have for their priests Tiwâri Brâhmans. The writer of the Hardoi Settlement Report22 speaks of the Chamar Gaurs as “a refractory, quarrelsome, ill-conditioned set, their one redeeming quality (owed probably to the fact that they are Râjputs in name rather than in reality) is that they do not murder their daughters.” Their ancestor, Ganga Sinh, known as Kâna, or “one-eyed,” is said to have driven out the Thatheras.