Indian Antiquary Vol 04

SR No.: 032496
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: Jas Burgess
Publisher: Swati Publications
Publication Year: 1984
Total Pages: 410
Language: English
Classification: Book_English
File Size: 18 MB

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THE INDIAN ANTIQUARY.
but whence did Panjabi and Gujarâti take it? The latter two have come little in contact with any but Aryan tongues.
But claudite jam rivos pueri; sat prata biberunt. It would be ungracious to complain of defects in a work which has cost its author an immensity of toil, and contains such a mass of information; and we shall therefore merely express the hope that when a second edition appears, Mr. Benines will say something on the following points :
1. The dialects of Hindi, particularly the Braj Bhâkhâ, which may be called a literary language; 2. The dialects of Rajputânâ; of which he does not even give us the names;
3. The Musalmân Bangâli;
4. The Assamese ;
5. The Konkani. Mr. Beames speaks indeed of Konkani, but he means only that form of Marathi which is spoken below the Ghats, and which differs in a very slight degree, and in its inflections not at all, from the language as spoken above the Ghâts. But there is ancther dialect of Marathi which might almost be reckoned as an additional language, differing from Marathi nearly as much as Gujarâtî does; and this is known by the name of Konkani. It extends from about Goa to Honawar. We commend it to Mr. Beames's attention.
6. The dialects spoken by women. In the Prospectus of his Hindustani and English Dictionary Dr. Fallon mentions that this portion of the language has been "strangely overlooked." He estimates its importance highly, though not, we think, too highly. But it is not only in Hindi and Hindustani that the speech of women is deserving of study; it is equally so, we believe, in all the dialects. At all events, it is so in Marathi and Bangali. In both of these-particularly Bangalithere has been an effort on the part of Pandits and many others to drag back the the existing forms of the language to their Sanskrit prototypes, which is no better than childish and vexatious pedantry. The true phonetic forms and idioms will often best be found in the speech of women of the upper and middle classes.
And now to conclude. We have nothing but admiration to express when we think of the vast labour which Mr. Beames has undergone in this important and difficult field of investigation. If the two remaining volumes shall be elaborated with the same loving care as the present, he will not perhaps have bestowed on the world a monumentum ære perennius, but he will have achieved all that can reasonably be expected of a pioneer, and will have set a high example, which, we trust succeeding scholars will earnestly seek to follow. Edinburgh, 16th April 1875.
J. MURRAY MITCHELL.
[JUNE, 1875.
STATISTICAL, DESCRIPTIVE, AND HISTORICAL ACCOUNT OF THE NORTH-WESTERN PROVINCES OF INDIA. Edited, under orders of the Government of India, by EDWIN F. ATKINSON, B.A., Bengal Civil Service. Vol. I. Bundelkhand. Printed at the N. W. P. Govt. Press, Allahabad, 1874.
This is the first volume of the long-promised North-West Provinces Gazetteer; and as a compilation of official statistics it reflects much credit upon the industry of its editor, who has not only brought together a great mass of useful information, but has also shown considerable skill in its methodical arrangement. But as regards matters with which we are more specially concerned, viz. ethnical and linguistic scholarship, we can scarcely speak in such high terms; and without any wish to detract unjustly from the merits of a performance which has been commended in other quarters for its practical utility, we will proceed to point out a few defects which it would be desirable to amend in a re-issue. They are almost all of one kind-the natural result of the writer's extremely limited knowledge of the country and the people, whom he was called upon to describe. To the best of our belief, Mr. Atkinson has never been stationed in any part of Bundelkhand, and if he has visited any even of its most historic sites it can only have been as a hurried traveller. His descriptions are therefore somewhat colourless; and the whole book is not so much what would be called in England a County History as a County Directory. The former is generally the result of the lifelong labour of some enthusiastic Dryasdust, who knows by heart the ramifications of every genealogical tree, and the date of every sculptured stone in the churches and castles of his neighbourhood; while the latter is manufactured by the agent of a London firm, who puts up for a night at the village inn, and fills in his blank forms after a consultation with the oldest inhabitant and the parish clerk. The information thus derived is at all events sivá voce, and comes direct from the fountain-head; while that upon which Mr. Atkinson has been obliged mainly to depend has twice undergone the process of translation,-in its passage from the Hindi-speaking Patwari to the Munshis of the Tahsili, and from them to the Assistant Magistrate, who reduced the chaotic facts into some semblance of order before transmitting them to the Gazetteer Office at Allâ hâbâd. With so many difficulties to surmount in the pursuit of accuracy, it is matter for congratulation that the errors to be eliminated are not more serions than they are: but it is well to bear in mind, whenever a reference is made to the volume, that the statements which it contains on matters of detail are neither those of an actual eye-witness, nor can have been very thoroughly checked.
It may also be regretted that while the whole