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JUNE, 1885.]
THE DEHLI DALALS AND THEIR SLANG.
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down and as there was no third person present to whom he could call for help, our hero tied his horse to an adjacent tree and began climbing up the pipal tree himself. The rogue thanked all his gods when he saw this, and waited till his enemy had climbed nearly up to him, and then, throwing down his bundle of booty, leapt quickly from branch to branch till he reached the bottom. He then got upon his enemy's horse and with his bundle rode into a dense forest in which no one was likely to find him. Oor hero being much older in years was no match for the rogue. So he slowly came down, and cursing his stapidity in having risked his
horse to recover his property, returned home at his leisare. His wife, who was waiting his arrival, welcomed him with a cheerful countenance and said,
"I thought as much. You have sent away your horse to Kailâsa to be used by your father."
Vexed as he was at his wife's words, our hero replied in the affirmative to conceal his own stupidity.
Thus, some there are in this world, who, though they may not willingly give away any. thing, pretend to have done so when by accident or stupidity they happen to lose it.
THE DEHLI DALALS AND THEIR SLANG.
BY CAPT. R.C. TEMPLE, B.S.C., F.R.G.S., M.R.A.S., &c. I have lately published a paper in the Journal | congregate, and makes it his business to know of the Asiatic Society of Bengal (Vol. LIII. whence every kind of article they are likely to pp. 1-24) on the Trade Dialect of the Naqqash, require is to be got. The stranger, his victim, or painters on papier mâché, in the Pañjab goes forth to buy ; straightway the Dalal inand Kaśmîr.
gratiates himself, and offers to take him where The conclusions I drew in that paper were, he will get what he wants. Whether the trouble that though the Indian trade dialects contained he takes pays him or not depends entirely slang terms and slang perversions of ordinary on the temperament and character of the purwords, they were mainly real dialects, and that chaser, and this he has to study; long practice the great majority of their peculiar words having usually made him an adept in turning were easily traceable to the old and modern every kind of idiosyncrasy he may chance languages of Northern India. Some of their upon to his own advantage. slang words I will now show to be directly The traders thoroughly despise him, but as taken from the well-known Dalals of Dehli, he is useful and brings them chance custom, who do not talk any dialect, bat a real slang which they would otherwise miss, they confor purposes of secrecy, i.e. of taking in the descend to enter into certain relations with customer (kharidár) for their own benefit and him. They do not, however, pay him any. that of the trader (saudagar). Bat first, & thing, but always leave him to make the few words about the Dalal himself and his whole of his profits out of the customers he methods of proceeding
brings. This is done thus. The Dalal and The real swindling Dalal' is not a broker trader having made a private arrangement (Gratht), but a tout, middle-man, or go-between, regarding the percentago or pay the former is a man that procures custom for his employers, to get for the profits ho brings the latter, the who are shopkeepers and general dealers of all customer is made to pay this percentage over kinds : nor does he get his living by brokerage and above the price the merchant demands for (arath), but by what he can make out of the himself, or in other words, the merchant agrees customer through the trader (dasturt), and to add this to the price he finally agrees to what the customer pays him for his trouble take for his goods. The custemer will, of (bakhshish), as will be explained herein. He course, also pay the Dalal something besides, hangs about saraís, hotels, railway stations, on his own account, for the trouble taken on dák offices and other places, where strangers his behalf. As the Dalal deals with all kinds and visitors to the town he lives in are apt to of people and in all classes and kinds of goods
Nothing in this paper has any reference to the respectable body of stroot brokers also known as Daláls.
