Râja Lâkhan.
We have already spoken of Gansâm, one of the tribal deities of the Kols. Another famous Kol deity in Mirzapur is Râja Lâkhan. One story of him is that he came from Lucknow, a legend based, of course, on the similarity of the name. But there can be no reasonable doubt that he was really Lakhana Deva, the son of the famous Râja Jaychand of Kanauj, who is known in the popular ballads as the Kanaujiya Râê. There is an inscribed pillar erected by him near Bhuili in the Mirzapur District, and he was perhaps locally connected with that part of the country in some way.47 Some say that he was taken to Delhi, where he became a Musalmân, and the popularity of his name in the local legends points to the theory that he was possibly one of the leaders of the Hindus against the Muhammadan invaders. All this being granted, it is remarkable that he, a Râjput, and almost as much a stranger to those primitive jungle dwellers as his Muhammadan rival, should have found a place in the Drâvidian pantheon.