‘Bharat, the eleventh grandson of Nain Pâl, the Râthaur, at the age of sixty-one conquered Kanaksir, under the Northern Hills, from Rudra Sen, of the Bargûjar tribe.’ Nain Pâl is supposed to have lived in the fifth Century. Though there appears no reason for ascribing to his reign so early a date, he must, at any rate, have preceded the final Muhammadan conquest of Kanauj. [[188]]
3. “While the Katehar Bargûjars and the Anûpshahr family have preserved their ancient faith, nearly all the Duâb tribes which preceded the expulsion of their chief from Rajor have turned Muhammadans; and the early opponents of the British in Kamona and Pindrâwal were Bargûjars of that persuasion. They still, however, appear proud of their Râjput lineage; for they assume the appellation of Thâkur. Thus we hear the strange combination of Thâkur Akbar’ Ali Khân and Thâkur Mardan’ Ali Khân. At their marriages they paint on their doors the image of a Kahârin or female bearer, under whose instructions they executed a stratagem by which they exterminated the Mewâtis, who had been engaged in a drunken revel during the Holi. Some of the Musalmân families have of late discontinued this custom. The Bargûjars to the west of Muzaffarnagar were all converted to the Muhammadan faith in the time of Alâ-ud-dîn Khilji; but they still retain most of their old Hindu customs. A stricter conformity to the Musalmân tenets was endeavoured to be introduced by some reformers, and all Hindu observances were sedulously proscribed by them; but when it was found, as they themselves assert, that all their children became blind and maimed in consequence of their apostacy, they were induced to revert to their ancestral customs, and still adhere to them with so much pertinacity, that it is almost doubtful which faith prevails most.
4. “The Muzaffarnagar Bargûjars state that they came from Dobandesar, near Dhain Dawâsa, south of the Alwar country, under one Kura Sen, whose ancestor, Bâba Megha, is still invoked when they make their offerings at the time of naming their children. They intermarry with the converted Pundîr Râjputs of Sakrauda in Sahâranpur, and the Râo Bargûjars, in Farîdâbâd, of Balabhgarh, to the south of Delhi. They seem to know but little of their brethren who reside in the neighbourhood of Anûpshahr.
5. “The place whence they migrated may be easily traced, for Dawâsa or Deosa lies on the Bânganga river about thirty miles east of Jeypur, and Dhain is about eight miles south of Deosa. Deosa is famous as being the first place belonging to the Bargûjars, which was occupied by the Kachhwâhas, after their emigration from Narwar, in the middle of the tenth Century. It is not improbable that the Kachhwâhas may at this period have compelled the Bargûjars to emigrate in search of other seats, and they, in turn, may have wreaked their vengeance on the Kachhwâhas of the [[189]]Upper Duâb, and established their Chaurâsi among the brethren of their distant foe. Certain it is that tradition assigns a large tract of country in these parts to the Kachhwâhas before the Bargûjars, Jâts, and Pathâns obtained possession.
6. “The Sikarwâl Râjputs state that they are a branch of the Bargûjars; but they are separately entered among the thirty-six royal races in Colonel Tod’s list. It is to be observed, however, that in some of the other lists which he has given neither Bargûjars nor Sikarwâls are entered.”
7. In Mathura[93] the Hindu branch are classed as pure because they do not practise widow marriage. The Rohilkhand[94] branch have various traditions of their origin, some claiming Tomar and some Sûrajbansi descent. They seem to have pushed across the Ganges from Anûpshahr about the same time that the Katehriyas occupied Bareilly.
8. In Bulandshahr they give brides to the Gahlot, Bhatti, Tomar, Chauhân, Katiyâr, Punwâr, and Pundîr; and take wives from the Gahlot, Pundîr, Chauhân, Bais, Janghâra, and Bâchhal. In Aligarh they take brides from the Janghâra, Gahlot, and Chauhân, and give wives to the Chauhân and Gahlot.
Distribution of Bargûjar Râjputs according to the Census of 1891.
| District. | Hindus. | Muhammadans. | Total. |
| Dehra Dûn | … | 9 | 9 |
| Sahâranpur | 55 | 64 | 119 |
| Muzaffarnagar | 166 | 1,092 | 1,258 |
| Meerut | 1,443 | … | 1,443 |
| Bulandshahr | 12,064 | 4,006 | 16,070 |
| Aligarh | 3,363 | 9 | 3,372 |
| Mathura | 383 | 140 | 523 |
| Agra | 588 | 9 | 597[[190]] |
| Farrukhâbâd | 227 | 6 | 233 |
| Mainpuri | 556 | 1 | 557 |
| Etâwah | 90 | 3 | 93 |
| Etah | 1,689 | 106 | 1,795 |
| Bareilly | 883 | 321 | 1,204 |
| Bijnor | 4 | … | 4 |
| Budâun | 2,790 | 363 | 3,153 |
| Morâdâbâd | 6,477 | 156 | 6,633 |
| Shâhjahânpur | 171 | … | 171 |
| Pilibhît | 78 | 40 | 118 |
| Cawnpur | 19 | … | 19 |
| Jhânsi | 26 | … | 26 |
| Jâlaun | 68 | … | 68 |
| Lalitpur | 24 | … | 24 |
| Benares | 2 | … | 2 |
| Jaunpur | 8 | … | 8 |
| Tarâi | 59 | … | 59 |
| Lucknow | 6 | … | 6 |
| Faizâbâd | … | 3 | 3 |
| Kheri | 102 | … | 102 |
| Total | 31,341 | 6,328 | 37,669 |
Barhai,[95] Barhi, Badhi.—(Sanskrit, vardhika; root vardh, “to cut.”)—The carpenter class, also known as Tarkhân in the Panjab, Mistri (which is probably a corruption of the English “Master, Mr.”), and Lakarkata or “wood-cutter” (lakri-kâtna). The term [[191]]Gokain is generally applied to a wood carver: it is derived by Mr. Nesfield from the Hindi khonchna, “to scoop out,” but is more possibly connected with gaukh, Sanskrit, gavâksha, “a window frame.” Traditionally they claim descent from Viswakarma, son of Brahma (who is identified with Twashtri, the divine artisan), through Vikramajît, who is said to have espoused a Kshatriya woman. As the sub-divisions show, the caste is probably a functional group recruited from various castes following the common occupation of carpentry.