_Rajput, Parihar_.--This clan was one of the four Agnikulas or
fire-born. Their founder was the first to issue from the fire-fountain,
but he had not a warrior's mien. The Brahmans placed him as guardian
of the gate, and hence his name, _Prithi-ha-dwara_ of which Parihar
is supposed to be a corruption [553]. Like the Chauhans and Solankis
the Parihar clan is held to have originated from the Gurjara or
Gujar invaders who came with the white Huns in the fifth and sixth
centuries, and they were one of the first of the Gujar Rajput clans to
emerge into prominence. They were dominant in Bundelkhand before the
Chandels, their last chieftain having been overthrown by a Chandel
prince in A.D. 831 [554]. A Parihar-Gujar chieftain, whose capital
was at Bhinmal in Rajputana, conquered the king of Kanauj, the ruler
of what remained of the dominions of the great Harsha Vardhana, and
established himself there about A.D. 816 [555]. Kanauj was then held by
Gujar-Parihar kings till about 1090, when it was seized by Chandradeva
of the Gaharwar Rajput clan. The Parihar rulers were thus subverted
by the Gaharwars and Chandels, both of whom are thought to be derived
from the Bhars or other aboriginal tribes, and these events appear
to have been in the nature of a rising of the aristocratic section
of the indigenous residents against the Gujar rulers, by whom they
had been conquered and perhaps taught the trade of arms. After this
period the Parihars are of little importance. They appear to have
retired to Rajputana, as Colonel Tod states that Mundore, five miles
north of Jodhpur, was their headquarters until it was taken by the
Rahtors. The walls of the ruined fortress of Mundore are built of
enormous square masses of stone without cement, and attest both its
antiquity and its former strength [556]. The Parihars are scattered
over Rajputana, and a colony of them on the Chambal was characterised
as the most notorious body of thieves in the annals of Thug history
[557]. Similarly in Etawah they are said to be a peculiarly lawless
and desperate community [558]. The Parihar Rajputs rank with the
leading clans and intermarry with them. In the Central Provinces they
are found principally in Saugor, Damoh and Jubbulpore.