Indian Antiquary Vol 41

Author(s): Richard Carnac Temple, Devadatta Ramkrishna Bhandarkar
Publisher: Swati Publications

Page 184

180
THE INDIAN ANTIQUARY
(JULY, 1912.
been disposed of, and the section dealing with essentially Tibeto-Burman. For instance, as in them is in type. Lahndi, by far the heaviest Tibeto-Burman, there is a special impersonal section, is completed, except for a couple of dia- conjugation of every verb, giving an honorific lects, regarding which it has been found necessary sense; and the subject of a transitive verb in to make reference to India. Sindhf, which will any tense (not only the past tense) is put into the require but & short section, has not yet been case of the agent. touched. All, therefore, of this volume that re- Central Pah&si is the language of Kumaun mains to be done is Sindhi, two dialects of Lahndi, and Garhwal. The many dialects can conveniand Kashmiri.
ently be grouped under the two language names As regards Volume IX. (Eranian languages) of Kumauni and Garhwali. The speakers of two forms of speech remain untouched, viz., Eastern Pahapi call themselves "Khas," and Bilochi and Ormuri. The latter is a most inter- the principal dialect of Kumaunf is called Khasesting, but little known, language spoken in parjiyd, or "the speech of the Khas-people." Wazfristån. I have been fortunate enough to The main cultivating population of Kumaun and obtain excellent materials, and hope to be able to Garhwal belongs to the Khas tribe. Western give a fairly complete account of it. I havo Pabøpt is the name given to the group of dialects already slrafted a grammar and vocabulary. between Gashw&l, on the east, and Jamma and Although distinctly a member of the Erapian Kashmir, on the west. It includes the vernacular family it also shows points of agreement with the language of the country round Simla. Pistola languages of the Hindd Kush country. It
The tract over which Central and Western may here be remarked that Khetrani, a dialect Pahapt are spoken closely corresponds to the of the Indo-Aryan Lahndi, also showe signs
ancient Sapadalaksha, the country from which of similar agreement. The rest of this volume,
in old times the Gurjaras migrated to populate dealing with the Ghalchah languages, Pashto,
north-eastern Rajputâni (Mewat and Jaipur). D. and some local varieties of Persian, has long been
R. Bhandarkar has shown that the Rajputs are in type.
the modern representatives of ancient Gurjaras, As regards Volume IX, the parts dealing with who adopted the profession of arms, the remainRajasthani, Gujarati, and the Bbil languages have
der, who adhered to the tribal pastoral life, already been published. The part for Western
retaining the old name of "Gurjara," or, in Hindi and Panjabi has long been ready for the
modern times, " Gajar." press, but difficulties connected with the prepara
The Khas tribe of the Central Pahari tract tion of special Oriental type have delayed its
represents the ancient Khalus, regarding whom appearance. Part IV. has lately been completed
much has been written, but little definitely in MS., and gone to press. It deals with the Indo- proved. The cultivating population of the WesAryan languages of the Himalaya from Darjee tern Pab&şi tract calls itself "Kanet,” not ling, in the east, to beyond Chambå, in the west " Khas"; but the Kanets are divided into two These have been divided into three languages, or classes, one of which, the lower in status, bears groups of dialeota, which (proceeding from east the name of "Khas." The other class, of higher to west) I name, respectively, Eastern Pah&şi or
statas, calls itself “RAO," and claims, as the Naipali, Central Pahari and Western Pahari.
name implies, to be of impure Rajpat descent. These Pahagi languages exhibit points of great interest, both to the ethnologist and to the
The language spoken in the three Pahari tracts philologist. In Eastern Pah&pi we have an Indo
is, as is well known, connected with Rajasthani, Aryan language spoken by & dominant class,
and when the Pahâri volume appears, it will be comparatively few in number, amidst a population seen that it agrees most closely with the dialecta whose spooch is Tibeto-Barman. In such a case, of North-Eastern Rajput&ce-Mewati and Jaiwe should expect to find many instance of purt. But throughout there are traces of angTibeto-Burman loan-words, but this does not ther form of speech belonging to the Northooour to any large extent. On the other hand, Western group, which I call “Pisacha." Thesa the grammar is greatly influenced, and we find traces are slight in Eastern Pahari, strong in this Indo-Aryan language adopting system of Central Pahari, and very strong in Western conjugation and rules of syntax which are PshApt.
3 Se D. R. Bhandarkar, ante, XL. (1911), 28. The name still survives in the "Saw lakh" Hills.