Note 75 — Volume II.

The Gautam. 19. Of the Gautam Bhuînhârs one tradition runs that about the year 304 Hijri (882 A.D.) a Brâhman of the Gautam gotra, named Khattu Misra, came to Benares. Every day after he had bathed he used to pour some water at the root of a madâr tree (Asclepias gigantea) in which lived a Râkshasa. One day he had forgot to make the accustomed offering, and the Râkshasa appeared and implored him to relieve his thirst. He complied with the request, and the Râkshasa offered him any boon he chose. Khattu replied that he was much inconvenienced by having to dry his wet loin cloth over his shoulders whenever he went to bathe. So the demon gave him the power of throwing the cloth into the air, where it was miraculously suspended until it dried. The Râkshasa then introduced him to Vyâsa, who was living in Benares, and the fame of his miracles rapidly brought him reputation and wealth. So he built a tank at Benares, which is still known as Misra ka pokhara, and planted trees on its bank. Benares was then ruled by Râja Banâr; and one day an elephant belonging to the Râja injured one of the trees of Khattu Misra, whereat he was wroth, and the Râja was forced to take the worthy into his favour. One day the Râja gave Khattu a packet of betel on which he had written a deed-of-gift of twenty-eight villages. Khattu unwittingly swallowed the betel, and being considered to have thus lost status by accepting a gift, he henceforth lost the power of drying his loin cloth in the air. This estate was the present Gangapur, which belongs to his descendant, the present Mahârâja of Benares, who belongs to the Bipra branch of the Gautam gotra, with the title of Misra. According to Mr. Sherring75 it is “of the Kauthumiya sâkha, or branch of Brâhmans following the ritual of the Sâma Veda. It has three Pravaras, distinguished by the number of knots in the Brâhmanical cord—the Gautam, Angiras, and Anthatiya. The clan intermarries with the Bhuînhârs of the Madhyandina sâkha of Brâhmans, observing the ritual of the Yajur Veda. It is traditionally allied to the Sarwariya Brâhmans of Madhubani beyond the Ghâgra.”