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THE INDIAN ANTIQUARY.
[APRIL, 1874.
where its rules and name are stated, it is introduced thus :
• ग्यारह अष्पर पंच पट | लहु गुरु होइ समान।
कंठसोभ वर छंद को नाम की परवान ॥ 1. e., "let there be eleven syllables, made up of parts of five and six in each line), and let the long and the short ones be placed alike in them); Kantha-sobha, truly, is the name of this noble metre." As an illustration I may quote the first two verses in this metre:
Att Tone II
been already noticed as explaining another difficulty, namely, that writing does not gene- rally keep pace with pronunciation; the former often exhibits an earlier phase of language, where pronunciation shows it in a more recent one. Thus against the old Hindi as we have the modern low-Hindi &two; for the old Hindi & modern Hindi has f. In the two words and net, indeed, the incongruity of writing and pronunciation is preserved even in modern Hindi ; for though both words are still written in the same way as in Chand, practically they are now pronounced as Chand must have done in those two verses, viz. sand And as regards the anunâsikâ, the change of the anuswara to the anunâsika in modern Hindi (generally, though not universally, with the effect of lengthening the preceding vowel) is one of its distinguishing features ; thus Prak. पंच is Hindi पाँच, Prak. चंपण is Hindi नापना etc. It may be noted, en passant, that the MS. A actually reads it, not like B and T, in the above-quoted example. Further, that long vowels or diphthongs may be occasionally read as short vowels is shown by the fact that in some cases the short vowel is actually substituted for the long one : e.g., in Revdtata Dan. damáli 50, 25: Con ut ifters जुगिंद is to be read for जोगिंद; and the word is actually so spelt in Revatata Kavitta 78, 1जाघारी जोगी जगिंद कयौ कटारौ।।
As regards the kinds of metres employed by Chand, I have only met with one kind which, as far as I am aware, is altogether peculiar to Chand. All other metres used by him are found in native treatises on prosody, and are the common property of native poets. But in one place Chand uses a metre which, from the fact that he particularly explains its properties (which he never does in the case of any other of the established metres, however uncommon it be), I am inclined to conclude was his own invention. It occurs in the Revátaţa Prastáva and is numbered 35. In the preceding dohá,
that is, each verse or line consists of an iambus and three anapæsts. It belongs to the syllabic metres (TTT). All the other metres of Chand are established ones; though several of them are habitually called by names by which they are not usually known; and under this guise they are at first apt to pass unrecognized. Thus the metre always called staka or satpaka by Chand is nothing else but the well-known Sanskrit metre sárdúlavikridita. Witness, for example, in Revatata Sataka 15, 1-4:
TV TELE. TEATUU,
तुझी सारस उप्पराव सरसी पल्लानयं षनियं।
एकं जीव सहाब साहि ननयं वीयं स्वयं सेनम ।। Thus the metre called Dandamali by Chand is identical with the Harigitá or Mahishart; the Kavitta of Chand is the same as the Chhappai, etc. In conclusion, I may notice a peculiarity of Chand which is merely one of spelling, and in no way connected with prosody. Guttural, and dental aspirate consonants are, as a rale, reduplicated by means of an aspirate; a double ष (6. e.ख) and थ are always et and ध्य; a double T and y sometimes and w; but double
# 7, 9, are always regularly 3, 5, Again, the cerebral and labial sonant aspirates are by preference reduplicated by their respective surd aspirates: thus double z is, and double T is T.
ARE THE MARATHAS KSHATRIYAS OR SUDRAS ?
BY CAPT. E. W. WEST, ASSISTANT POLITICAL AGENT, KOLHAPUR. The question put at the head of this paper extent, the legal status of the Marathas, espeis of more than mere antiquarian interest; for cially as regards the laws of inheritance, &c., on the answer to it depends, to a certain which differ according to caste. It is therefore
