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[JUNE, 1882.)
FOLKLORE IN THE PANJAB.
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canal to be the profits of the watchman and the contractor, and the presence of vegetables, eto., a secondary result. Rang, income, profit, probably arising out of the sense of "pleasure," "enjoyment," common to rang. Sipaht, in common use for any Government messenger, peon or inferior servant: on the canals used as here for the canal watchmen. Jitthe, Panj., where. Paindl of 4(= Hind. dkar parti thf) came : went. This d or dn is very common in Panj. poetry and is thrown in wherever convenient to fill up A syllable, very much as our old friends jam and nunc of school Latin verse. The use of paind or paind to mean come, arrive, is very common in Panjabi. Sardi paindl ol, there was great cold.
V. 4. Tar, Panj., a kind of cucumber. Gandhd, Panj., an onion. Evf, Panj. also for yeh bhi, this too. Kandhd, bank, margin-Panj.
V. 5. This verse alludes to material prosperity - wheat, pulse (all) are usually beyond the reach of poor tribes like the Sansis. Sud, a canal cut, properly a needle; Sansk. sdk. Pid of d, pid is another form of paindd in common use, see v. 4.
V. 6. Jattan, the Jats, the cultivating race of the Panj. Moghe lai I; lai Id = Ikar Ide, a redundant expression for brought; Mogha land, idiomatic, to make a canal out. Otthe, Panj., these : jitthe, otthe, etthe are really all compounds with than, & place, and mean which place (jeh), that place (oh), this place (eh), and so on. Kapah, the Panj. form of kapda, Sansk. karpdea, cotton. Here a pros. perous and remunerative cultivation is meant : cotton is a new growth in the Firozpar district since the canals.
V. 7. The point of this verse is that the Jag finds it worth his while to redouble his efforts, and that the weaver finding cultivation so profitable gives up his loom for it. Phahta, Panj. pháhnd = phaond to be entangled, thenos as here to be engrossed with: to be in earnest. Tani, properly the warp, usually however the whole loom and also the woven cloth. Galon to Idha; tô for ton, Panj. form of se. Lahnd or ldhund, Panj., to lift off, unload, lit, lifted off from their necks, gave up. Common Panj. idiom.
V. 8. This verse is in allusion to the taxes for canals. Viga for biga, an acre, commonly in Panj. ghumdo (f acre). Lambarddr, corruption of nambardar (i.e. number + dár), bearing a number, registered: common, vulgar, rustio and official term for a village headman.
V. 9. The point here is that a fine inflicted in silver falls very heavily. The poor in the Panjab can usually pay easily in kind, but with difficulty in cash. They are very fond of illegally drawing water from canals, and the fines are purposely
demanded in silver. Bhardt, is paid, lit. is filled ; bharnd, commonly used in Panj. for to pay (a fine, tax, rent), thus bhara bharnd, to pay hire. In Hindi bharnd apparently in this sense is used to mean to extort, exact, demand payment. Khal, a rivulet, watercourse; technically, a cut for private purposes from a Government canal, pri. vate canal out, here it is used for one made without leave or payment, illegal use of water. Lendd (=leta) Panj. form, takes. Chitti chdrull, white coin, rupees, silver money.
V. 10. This is in allusion to the demand of cash for payments for the use of canal water. Khart chandi, pure coin, in contradistinction to khoe chudndi, counterfeit coin. Fut, Eng. foot. This word and inchi, Eng. inch, are current everywhere in the Panjab. From fut has come a curious word dofutta, any measuring rod, from the ordinary two-foot measure. Its use here proves its universality, as the persons singing such songs have no connexion, official or otherwise, with the English.
V.11. Sadatno rahl, the cut kept on rushing, ran continually, tútnd (lit. to break) in Hind. and Panj., with reference to water is to rush forth, pour out in torrents.
V. 12. It is not an uncommon thing for canal cuts to overflow or burst owing to the carelessness of the canal watchmen and the villagers and headmen en route, and whenever this happens Bevere penalties invariably follow. This is the theme of this and other two concluding verses. Tag pid, rushed forth, broke into: fut paind, emphatio form of tútnd, see preceding verse. Rohi, properly upland, above water or flood level, in the Panjab synonymous with sandy jangal, desert; whence Rohtak, the name of a Panjab district. In the Firozpur district the land is pretty nearly divided into the Roht, uplands, i. e. the higher land to the south of the old beds of the Satlaj river, and the Bhét, or river inundated lands, lowlande representing the former channels of the Satlaj. Before the era of canals the only irrigation in the Rohi was by means of wells from 30 ft. to 100 ft. deep before water was reached. The inhabitants of the Rohf and the Bhêt differ remarkably,-of the former they are nearly all Hindu Jats, and in the latter, Musalmans; the Jaţ (Hindu) cultivators are distinguished, as a rule, by their industry and frugality, while the Musalmans of the fat Bhet lands are noted for being the idlest, most improvident and perhaps meanest race in the Panjab.
Chittar, Panj., an old shoe: to beat with shoes is in the Panj. a synonym for any severe punishment.
V. 13. The meaning of this verse is that the order to fill up the gaps in the cut compels the delinquents to use their own labour and the straw from their fields, which consoquently have to be
