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

Page 380

352
THE INDIAN ANTIQUARY.
The author of Pandurang Hart puts in the mouth of an ass-driver between Puna and Nagar several songs which I find still remembered in the latter city. The best is a nursery rhyme :Ding! pori, ding! kapâlâchen bing; Bing gelâ phuthun, porî gelî ûṭhûn. Which may be translated
"Bye, bye, my little lass
(Looked at herself in) a looking-glass;* Smash in pieces went the glass,
And up and away went my little lass." The boatmen have choruses, to which they tack on rude verses improvised for the occasion. The following is very popular on the Kulâbâ coast:1. Bharati âli; pet bharitânâ
Khandari dongar tikade ja.
2. Tâmbaḍa phútalâ, pet bharitânâ Khandari dongar tikade ja.
3. Diwas ughawalâ; pet bharitânâ Khandari dongar tikade ja.
4. Saheb lok basale; pet bharitânâ
Khandari dongar tikade ja.
1. "The flood has come; filling our bellies (i.c. earning our bread) go to the hill of Khandart" (Kennery Island, south of Bombay, a well-known mark).
2. "The day has broken ;t earning our bread," &c.
3. "The sun has risen; earning our bread," &c. 4. "The sâhebs have taken their seats (in the boat); earning our bread," &c.
The strain on the imagination of the improvisatore at the stroke oar is not severe. Sometimes the chorus is nonsense, e.g. a "Masalmânî" one "Lâhemâdin wa mewa phula" three times repeated. "Mewa phula," fruit and flowers; but the rest is gibberish, and the chorus is fitted, like the last, to any words that occur.
Critical readers are warned that I am not responsible for boatmen's grammar.
W. F. SINCLAIR.
Queries. CHAKAN, BELGAM, AND CHAKABU.
1. In "A.D. 1136, Malik ut- Tijar, having undertaken the conduct of the war, marched at the head of a choice body of troops, the flower of the Dekhan army. This officer began on a systematic plan of conquering and regulating the country to be subdued. He established his head-quarters at Chakan, and raised a fort near the city of
Junar."
"Châkan is a small fort eighteen miles north from Puna. It is nearly square, with towers at
Kpálichen bing is the small round hand-glass which barbers carry and give to the patient to hold while they are operating on his "kapôl" (head).
† Lit. "It has broken red"-an idiomatic expression for
[NOVEMBER, 1875.
the angles and centres of the faces; it has a good ditch about thirty feet wide and fifteen deep, but wet on the north side only; the walls are high, the parapet and rampart narrow, and the towers confined. There is but one entrance into the body of the place through five or six gateways; and there is a mud outwork, which also has a ditch. I mention it particularly on account of its reputed antiquity; for, although it probably is the fort built by Malik-ut-Tijar, according to concurring Hindû legends it was constructed by an Abyssinian Poligâr A.D. 1295. As to how he got there, they do not pretend to account."
Fort Chakan, thirty-five miles south from Junar, was built by Khalaf Hasan of Basri (Bassora P), styled Malik-ut-Tij&r. Further. information is required regarding the family history of the two Maratha Rajas by whom he was betrayed; the wily Poligâr Sirk hê of Panâla, and his abused friend of Fort Sinhgad or Kandwana (Kelneh in Scott's translation).§
2. What is known of Vikrama Raya of Belgam-the Birkana Ray of Muhammadan writersconquered by Muhammad Shah Bakmani in 1472. and of his ancestors?
3. However, it was decreed that for a certain time that kingdom should remain in the family of the Pârlavas; for this reason, when Abhiman the son of Arjuna, was killed in the battle of Chakaba, his wife happened to be pregnant; accordingly, after nine months, she gave birth to a fortunate son: so their dark, house was lighted up."
In which of the Purdans is the fullest account of the battle of Chakabû given?
R. R. W. ELLIS. Starcross, near Exeter, 14th September 1875.
"
CHIAKAN.
Chakan--probably 'Châr kan,--- being among Marathas a division between four posts, by which they reckon the size of all buildings, and is the name of the village,-probably older than the fort. The tradition of the Abyssinian chief is now extinct, and there is no reason whatever for connecting it with Chakaba. Grant Duff's account of the modern fort is incorrect in every particular except as to size. It was captured by Sivaji early in his career. For the subsequent siege by and capitulation to Shaista Khân Amir ul Umra de Grant Duff, vol. I. Shaista Khân repaired the fort, according to inscriptions found there dated 19th Zulhej a. m. 1071. It was finally dismantled in 1858-vide Iul. Ant. vol. II. p. 43.
W. F. S.
the red appearance of the sky at earliest "peep o' day."
Grant Dutt's History of the Marithos, vol. I. p. 61. Firishtah, Persian text, vol. I. p. 644. Araish-i-Mahil, translated by Major H. Court, 1871.