The estate through which we have been passing is called Bharwara, and
contains the sites of nine hundred and eighty-nine villages, about
one-tenth of which are now occupied. The landholders are all of the
Ahbun Rajpoot tribe; but a great part of them have become Musulmans.
They live together, however, though of different creeds, in tolerable
harmony; and eat together on occasions of ceremony, though not from
the same dishes. No member of the tribe ever forfeited his
inheritance by changing his creed. Nor did any one of them, I
believe, ever change his creed, except to retain his inheritance,
liberty, or life, threatened by despotic and unscrupulous rulers.
They dine on the same floor, but there is a line marked off to
separate those of the party who are Hindoos from those who are
Musulmans. The Musulmans have Mahommedan names, and the Hindoos
Hindoo names; but both still go by the common patronymic name of
Ahbuns. The Musulmans marry into Musulman families, and the Hindoos
into Hindoo families of the highest castes, Chouhans, Rathores,
Rykwars, Janwars, &c. Of course all the children are of the same
religion and caste as their parents. They tell me that the conversion
of their ancestors was effected by force, under a prince or chief
called "Kala Pahar." This must have been Mahommed Firmally, _alias_
Kala Pahar--to whom his uncle Bheilole, King of Delhi, left the
district of Bahraetch as a separate inheritance a short time before
his death, which took place A.
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