Indian Antiquary Vol 14

Author(s): John Faithfull Fleet, Richard Carnac Temple
Publisher: Swati Publications

Page 80

62
THE INDIAN ANTIQUARY.
The Jatts of the "Jungle," or the great unirrigated tracts of the Firozpur and Ladiânâ districts. are a fine stalwart race, equal, or nearly so, to their brethren of the Mânjh4, but I have heard it said that they bore a bad reputation as soldiers with Ranjit Singh, as wanting hauslá or courage; probably a very mistaken idea. No doubt the shrewd old king used to prefer to take his soldiers from tracts nearer home, and not so near the British border. Anyhow he did not like enlisting MAlwâis. When Jatt recruits were brought before him he applied the test of a shibboleth by making them count between 20 and 30. The men of Malwâ committed themselves at 25, saying pacht, while the Mânjha dialect says panji. Nevertheless a few families of Malwa Jaṭṭs rose to great distinction in the Lahor Darbår; witness the Mânawâlâ family of the Gujranwala district; the Ațâri family; and Fateḥ Singh Mân, a Malwâi, commanded the Lâhor artillery in the Sikh campaign.
It is probable that certain Jaṭṭ tribes used to practice infanticide. I am not sure that among certain of the more exclusive Jaṭṭs there is not to this day a method of treating female infants approaching nearly to infanticide.
Baby's father came
There are old doggrel verses in the Jatt patois of pure, or tenth, Panjabi, which bear witness to the existence of the practice, e.g.Munni da bapa did Mondhe kahi le did Bahar tod khattid Munni nún utthe dabbid. And there buried baby. The Jatt conquest of the Jalandhar Doâb (about
With mattock on shoulder, Dug a hole outside
[FEBRUARY, 1885.
1759 A.D. 1816 Samvat, constantly referred to as "Samvat Solah") was a marked era in the history of the Panjab, and the overbearing haughty conduct of the tribe which had the upper hand is preserved in many a depreciatory proverb. For instance, he is represented in the following as very quarrelsome about land:
Pir vich Jatt na chheriye Don't cross a Jaṭṭ in his field: Hatti vich Kardy Nor a Karar at his shop. Pattan Mein na chhertye Nora Mean at the ferry. Bhan degd buthar They will break your
REPORT ON THE SEARCH FOR SANSKRIT MSS. in the Bombay Presidency, in the year 1892-1883. By Prof. R.G. BHANDARKAR, Bombay, 1884 (pp. 229).1 Professor R. G. Bhandarkar's Report for 18821883 is, like Dr. P. Peterson's publication on his operations during the same year (Jour. Bo. Branch Roy. As. Soc., No. XLI.), a good deal more than an official document of ephemeral value. Like Dr. Peterson, Professor Bhandarkar has given us a summary of the most important historical and literary data, which a cursory examination of his numerous purchases, seven hundred and seventy-two MSS., revealed, and has added in Appendix II. such extracts from the originals as are required in order to substantiate his assertions. Both the summary and the extracts have been made in a scholarly manner, and the Report of 1882-83 will be an important help to
head.
The following jingling rhymes are well known in the Doâb, and are by no means complimentary to the Jatt.
(a) Jatt nachdve turd, oh bht burd,
Bahman pharid chhurd, oh bhi burd. Sawan chale purd, oh bhi burd. Minh kita ghurd, oh bhi burd, &c. &c. A Jaṭṭ capering on a horse is a bad thing. A Brahman handling a knife is a bad thing. The East wind in Sawan is a bad thing. Rain clouds closing in all round is a bad thing. (b) Jaṭṭ mohdsal, Bahman shah,
Banid hakim, qahir Khuda.
A Jatt as tax-gatherer, a Brahman as money lender,
A Baniyê as ruler, is the very wrath of God. Jatt bigdre murshid nál. Jad bole tad kaḍdhe gal.
The Jatt falls out even with his priest. Whenever he speaks he utters abuse.
BOOK NOTICE.
W.C.
every student who has to find his way through the tangled jungle of Sanskrit literature.
Under the head Védas the most important acquisition is an old imperfect MS. of Uvata's Bhashya on the Kanva recension of the White Yajurvéda, which definitively settles the author's date and shows that he wrote in the first half of the eleventh century A. D., during the reign of the famous king Bhôja of Dhåra. There are other MSS. of the Bhashya, e. g. the copy in the Elphinstone Collection of 1867-68, which state that Anandapura was Uvata's birth-place, and that in his time Bhôja ruled the earth. As there are many Anandapuras in India, and as many Bhojas have lived at different times in different parts of the country, it was impossible to assert where and when the work was composed. The newly found copy has an additional verse, which says
Beprinted from the Oesterreichische Monatsschrift für den Orient.