thority
over the country till the middle of the 13th century. About 1450 the
Raikwars, or Rajput adventurers, made themselves masters of the western
portion of the district, which they retain to this day. In 1816 by the
treaty of Segauli the Nepal _tarai_ was ceded to the British, but was given
back in 1860. During the Mutiny the district was the scene of considerable
fighting, and after its close a large portion was distributed in _jagirs_
to loyal chiefs, thus originating the _taluqdari_ estates of the present
day.

BAHR[=A]M (_Varahr[=a]n_, in Gr. [Greek: Ouararanes] or [Greek: Ouraranes],
the younger form of the old _Verethragna_, the name of a Persian god, "the
killer of the dragon Verethra"), the name of five Sassanid kings.

1. BAHR[=A]M I. (A.D. 274-277). From a Pahlavi inscription we learn that he
was the son (not, as the Greek authors and Tabari say, the grandson) of
Shapur I., and succeeded his brother Hormizd (Ormizdas) I., who had only
reigned a year. Bahr[=a]m I. is the king who, by the instigation of the
magians, put to a cruel death the prophet Mani, the founder of Manichaeism.
Nothing else is known of his reign.

2. BAHR[=A]M II. (277-294), son of Bahr[=a]m I. During his reign the
emperor Carus attacked the Persians and conquered Ctesiphon (283), but died
by the plague. Of Bahr[=a]m II.'s reign some theological inscriptions exist
(F. Stolze and J. C. Andreas, _Persepolis_ (Berlin, 1882), and E. W. West,
"Pahlavi Literature" in _Grundriss d. iranischen Philologie_, ii. pp.
75-129).

3. BAHR[=A]M III., son of Bahr[=a]m II., under whose rule he had been
governing Sejistan (therefore called Saganshah, Agathias iv. 24, Tabari).
He reigned only four months (in 294), and was succeeded by the pretender
Narseh.

4. BAHR[=A]M IV. (389-399), son and successor of Shapur III., under whom he
had been governor of Kirman; therefore he was called Kirmanshah (Agathias
iv. 26; Tabari). Under him or his predecessor Armenia was divided between
the Roman and the Persian empire. Bahr[=a]m IV. was killed by some
malcontents.

5. BAHR[=A]M V. (420-439), son of Yazdegerd I., after whose sudden death
(or assassination) he gained the crown against the opposition of the
grandees by the help of al-Mondhir, the Arabic dynast of Hira. He promised
to rule otherwise than his father, who had been very energetic and at the
same time tolerant in religion. So Bahr[=a]m V. began a systematic
persecution of the Christians, which led to