_Rajput, Bais._ [500]--The Bais are one of the thirty-six royal
races. Colonel Tod considered them a branch of the Surajvansi, but
according to their own account their eponymous ancestor was Salivahana,
the mythic son of a snake, who conquered the great Raja Vikramaditya
of Ujjain and fixed his own era in A.D. 55. This is the Saka era, and
Salivahana was the leader of the Saka nomads who invaded Gujarat on
two occasions, before and shortly after the beginning of the Christian
era. It is suggested in the article on Rajput that the Yadava lunar
clan are the representatives of these Sakas, and if this were correct
the Bais would be a branch of the lunar race. The fact that they are
snake-worshippers is in favour of their connection with the Yadavas and
other clans, who are supposed to represent the Scythian invaders of the
first and subsequent centuries, and had the legend of being descended
from a snake. The Bais, Mr. Crooke says, believe that no snake has
destroyed, or ever can destroy, one of the clan. They seem to take no
precautions against the bite except hanging a vessel of water at the
head of the sufferer, with a small tube at the bottom, from which the
water is poured on his head as long as he can bear it. The cobra is,
in fact, the tribal god. The name is derived by Mr. Crooke from the
Sanskrit Vaishya, one who occupies the soil. The principal hero of the
Bais was Tilokchand, who is supposed to have come from the Central
Provinces. He lived about A.D. 1400, and was the premier Raja of
Oudh. He extended his dominions over all the tract known as Baiswara,
which comprises the bulk of the Rai Bareli and Unao Districts, and
is the home of the Bais Rajputs. The descendants of Tilokchand form a
separate subdivision known as Tilokchandi Bais, who rank higher than
the ordinary Bais, and will not eat with them. The Bais Rajputs are
found all over the United Provinces. In the Central Provinces they
have settled in small numbers in the northern and eastern Districts.