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THE INDIAN ANTIQUARY.
[NOVEMBER, 1883.
several other verses, and one of them is this, "as the opening of a legend : Sawun, Sawun, too kahoh, pee, kurunta pee; T'ainko Sawun k'a kurréh, jin ghur n'h byl n'h bee?"
And he translates it :“Harvest, harvest, dost thou sing Popeeia,"
peeia pee? What, thou who hast nor ox nor seed, shall
harvest do for thee ?"
In modern form these verses run thus:"Sawan, Sawan," tu kaho, Pi karantá pí: Tain ko Sawan kya kare? jin ghar na bail na bí.
And they could be translated in two ways; firstly :Sing Rain, rain," cuckoo, calling pi! What shall the rains do for theep in whose
house is neither ox nor seed ?
Secondly :Sing "Rain, Rain," my beloved, calling my
beloved : What shall the rains do for thee? in whose
house is neither ox nor seed ?
Fallon, New Hind. Dict. 8. v. 0. papíhá and piyá gives a similar.verse playing on the senses of pi. Are, papaiyd báore! to he samjháve kaun ? Pi mero, main piú ki, ti pa på kare so kaun? Out on thee, silly cuckoo ! who hath taught
thee this? My beloved is mine and I am my beloved's:
who is he thou art calling my beloved (pl)?
Again, our author quotes a triplet from the sayings of one Pilû, a poet of those parts, whose verses are still in the minds of the peasants and bards according to him. "Peeloo churria Gundgurh, nuzr kurreh kulloh; Age bhuggeh Sind Rania, pichchh bhuggeh
Hurroh. Chuch Bunnarr Sumundur ki, jo bheejeh so hoh, Peeloo climbed Gundgarh and stood gazing, Before hin rolled Queen Sind, behind him
flowed Hurroh.
Chuch Bunnarr like the ocean, whatever you
Bow there will spring up."
These I would write and translate thus - Pilt chashid Gandgarh, nazar kare khalo: Agge bagge Sindh Ránid, pichchhe bagge Haro. Chach band samundar si, jo bije so ho. Pilů climbed Gandgarh and stood gazing. Queen Sindh flowed before him, behind him flowed Haro. 20 The Chach appeared as the ocean, (where)
what is sown springs up." Lastly, General Abbott, in remarking that the bards have a way of prefacing their recitations with long strings of aphorisms unconnected with their tales, makes the following quotation, the major part of which is misquoted, and very little correctly rendered. His words and translations are as follows: .Ulla dehwari. Uvl bdoti Pandoon, pheer booti
Jusrut, “Mairi mairi kur gyée,"toor kisi nuggeh hut, Sumbhul ki, to buddia kia ? kooah jis ki mooshe
nhvass. Gidr ko, to, sut nhuye, jis da nhlul, nh mahss. Puttr ko, to, páld kia? khoosre ko lour wass? Unde ko chanoon kia? toorreh deveh bullun
panjahss,
Moorool manoo admi hust mooeeka (wuh) mahss. Sussoo bahj nh sahoreh, huldi bahj nh mahss. Bahj subooneh, lhapra, trieh t'hohl n'h rahss. Uk n'h lourrieh dundna, sup n'h khyeh mahss. Narr n'h kurrieh lahdleh, nh hassoh kurreh
bunahss. Jummeh si, to, sut guz, bur jo bun gus to chart, Piu, pootre, mojah lehguya do-no ail sh' narr. Kooloo koot'rr lehguya, chukki lehguya khan. Taili kati ninglia, chourasi hurff graon."
With the preliminary remark that he cannot answer for more than the general accuracy of the translation because the bards themselves can never explain and frequently misquote to such an extent as to render themselves unintelligible," he translates as follows, but he
11 The paptha, the black and white crested cuckog, according to Fallon, 8. v., the sparrow-hawk, according to Bate, Hindi Dict., 8. v. The name being onomatopoetio, it might well stand for either. According to Abbott's remarks (p. 156) he means by it the golden oriolo (pllak).
15 Sawan is July-August, the wet month, when the crops most benefit by the rain : harvest, as Abbott has it, is in the following month, Bhadohi, Angust-September, during which every native prays for dry weather, me many a proverb and saying shows.
1 bana of, Panj., is band tha, Hindi: bocame, was * The Haro river is a foodor of the Indus running
about 90 miles through the Hazard and Rawal Pindi Districts, and joining the Indus near Atak.
Alluding to the flat and fertile appearance of the Chach Plain from Gandgash. It is the soene of the struggle between Mahmud of Ghasnt and Prithvi Raj.
Every one who takes down verses direct from the bards finds this. Personally I have long given up stopping a bard to explain or correct a passage: to do so is simply to confuse him. The only thing to do is to let him go on in his own way, and try and piece together anintelligible passages as best one can afterwards. Strict attention to the literal sense and excluding secondary senses is the surout way to get at the real meaning,
like..
