_Rajput, Gaur, Chamar Gaur_.--Colonel Tod remarks of this tribe:
"The Gaur tribe was once respected in Rajasthan, though it never there
attained to any considerable eminence. The ancient kings of Bengal were
of this race, and gave their name to the capital, Lakhnauti." This town
in Bengal, and the kingdom of which it was the capital, were known as
Ganda, and it has been conjectured that the Gaur Brahmans and Rajputs
were named after it. Sir H.M. Elliot and Mr. Crooke, however, point out
that the home of the Gaur Brahmans and Rajputs and a cultivating caste,
the Gaur Tagas, is in the centre and west of the United Provinces,
far removed from Bengal; the Gaur Brahmans now reside principally
in the Meerut Division, and between them and Bengal is the home of
the Kanaujia Brahmans. General Cunningham suggests that the country
comprised in the present Gonda District round the old town of Sravasti,
was formerly known as Gauda, and was hence the origin of the caste
name. [531] The derivation from Gaur in Bengal is perhaps, however,
more probable, as the name was best known in connection with this
tract. The Gaur Rajputs do not make much figure in history. "Repeated
mention of them is found in the wars of Prithwi Raj as leaders of
considerable renown, one of whom founded a small state in the centre
of India. This survived through seven centuries of Mogul domination,
till it at length fell a prey indirectly to the successes of the
British over the Marathas, when Sindhia in 1809 annihilated the power
of the Gaur and took possession of his capital, Supur." [532]
In the United Provinces the Gaur Rajputs are divided into three groups,
the Bahman, or Brahman, the Bhat, and the Chamar Gaur. Of these the
Chamar Gaur, curiously enough appear to rank the highest, which is
accounted for by the following story: When trouble fell upon the Gaur
family, one of their ladies, far advanced in pregnancy, took refuge
in a Chamar's house, and was so grateful to him for his disinterested
protection that she promised to call her child by his name. The Bhats
and Brahmans, to whom the others fled, do not appear to have shown a
like chivalry, and hence, strange as it may appear, the subdivisions
called after their name rank below the Chamar Gaur. [533] The names of
the subsepts indicate that this clan of Rajputs is probably of mixed
origin. If the Brahman subsept is descended from Brahmans, it would
be only one of several probable cases of Rajput clans originating
from this caste. As regards the Bhat subcaste, the Charans or Bhats
of Rajputana are admittedly Rajputs, and there is therefore nothing
curious in finding a Bhat subsection in a Rajput clan. What the
real origin of the Chamar Gaurs was is difficult to surmise. The
Chamar Gaur is now a separate clan, and its members intermarry with
the other Gaur Rajputs, affording an instance of the subdivision of
clans. In the Central Provinces the greater number of the persons
returned as Gaur Rajputs really belong to a group known as Gorai, who
are considered to be the descendants of widows or kept women in the
Gaur clan, and marry among themselves. They should really therefore
be considered a separate caste, and not members of the Rajput caste
proper. In the United Provinces the Gaurs rank with the good Rajput
clans. In the Central Provinces the Gaur and Chamar-Gaur clans are
returned from most Districts of the Jubbulpore and Nerbudda divisions,
and also in considerable numbers from Bhandara.