ivided up and decorated
with columns or pilasters.

BASHAHR, or BISAHIR, a Rajput hill state, within the Punjab, amid the
Himalayan mountains, with an area of 3820 sq. m. and a population in 1901
of 80,582. In 1898, the raja being of weak intellect and without heir, the
administration was undertaken by a British official. In 1906 there were
some local troubles owing to the refusal of the people to pay taxes. The
revenue is obtained chiefly from land and forests, the latter being leased
to the British government.

BASHAN, a region lying E. of the Jordan, and towards its source. Its
boundaries are not very well defined, but it may be said in general to have
been north of the territory of Gilead. The name first appears in Hebrew
history in connexion with the wanderings of the Israelites. According to
Numbers xxi. 33, the tribes after the rout of Sihon, king of the Amorites,
turned to go by the land of Bashan; and its king, Og, met them at Edrei,
and was there defeated and slain. The value of this narrative is a matter
of much dispute. The gigantic stature of the king, and the curious details
about his "bedstead" (Deut. iii. 11) are regarded as suggestive of legend;
to say nothing of the lateness of all the documents relating to the wars of
Og, and the remoteness of Bashan from the regions of the Israelites'
wandering. The story, however, had so firm a hold on Hebrew tradition that
it can hardly fail to have some basis in fact; and an invasion by Israel of
Bashan before coming to Jordan is by no means an improbability.

The great stature of Og is explained in the passage of Deuteronomy
mentioned by the statement that he was of the remnant of the aboriginal
_Rephaim_. This was a race distinguished by lofty stature; and in Genesis
xiv. 5 we find them established in Ashteroth-Karnaim (probably the same as
_Ashtaroth_, which, as we shall see, was an important city of Bashan). The
territory [v.03 p.0465] was allotted on the partition of the conquered land
to the eastern division of the tribe of Manasseh (Numbers xxxiii. 33; Josh.
xiii. 29). One of the cities of refuge, Golan, was in Bashan (Deut. iv.
43). By Solomon, Bashan, or rather "the region of Argob in Bashan,"
containing "threescore great cities with walls and brazen bars," was
assigned to the administrative district of Ben-Geber, one of his
lieutenants (1 Kings iv. 13, compare ver. 19). In the days of Jehu the
country was taken from Israel by Hazael, king of Syria (2 Ki