Note 38 — G

Gaur.—A sept of Râjputs who are supposed to take their name from the kingdom of Gauda, in Bengal; but as shown in the articles on Gaur Brâhmans, their name may be derived from Gauda, the modern Gonda in Northern Oudh. Colonel Tod38 ranks them among the thirty-six royal races and remarks:—“The tribe was once respected in Rajasthân, though it never attained to any considerable eminence. The ancient kings of Bengal were of this race, and gave their name to the capital Lakhnauti. We have every reason to believe that they were possessors of the land afterwards occupied by the Chauhâns, as they are styled in the old Chronicles, The Gaur of Ajmer. Repeated mention is made of them in the wars of Prithivi Râja as leaders of considerable renown, one of whom formed a small state in the centre of India, which survived through seven centuries of Mughal domination, till it at length fell a prey indirectly to the successes of the British over the Marhattas, when Sindhiya in 1809 annihilated the power of the Gaur and took possession of his capital Sûpar.” He gives the five sâkha of the Gaur as Untahir, Silhala, Tunwar, Dasena, and Budâno.