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AUGUST, 1914.]
THE PAHARI LANGUAGE
161
Swât Valley is almost identical with that of the Rajputa of Mêwat and Mewarin Rajputâna, distant some 600 miles in a direct line.60 In the intervening space totally different languages are spoken. Why, then, do the Muhammadan Gujur herdsmen of Swât use a speech essentially the same as that of the aristocratie Hindû Râjpûts of Mêwâr ? The question is put concerning the Gujurs of Swat, because they are the most remote tribe at present known to speak a tongue closely allied to the Mêwâtî and Mêwasî varieties of Eastern Rajasthani.
"But dialects, which may be described as corrupt forms of Eastern Rajasthanî, extend along the lower hills from about the longitude of Chambâ through Garhwal and Kumaon into Western Nepal, so that the problem may be stated in wider terms, as :- Why do certain tribes of the lower Himalaya, in Swât, and also from Chambâ to Western Nepál, speak dialects allied to Eastern Rajasthani, and especially to Mêwàtî, although they are divided from Eastern Rajputânâ by hundreds of miles in which distinct languages are spoken ?'
" It is not possible to give a fully satisfactory solution of the problem, but recent historical and archaeological researches throw some light upon it. All observers are agreed that no distinction of race can be drawn between the Gâjars or Gujurs and the Jâts or Jatts, two castes which occupy a very prominent position in North-Western India. It is also agreed that several other castes in the same region, such as Ajars, Ahîrs and many more, are racially indistinguishable from the Jatts and Gûjars. The name Gujar appears in Sanskrit inscriptions as Gurjara, and nobody can doubt that the modern Gâjars represent the anci. ent Gurjaras. Long ago the late Sir Denzil Ibbetson recognized the fact that in the Panjab it is impossible to draw distinctions in blood between Gûjars and many clans of Rajpûts, or, in other words, local enquiry proves that persons now known as Rajpâts may be descended from the same ancestors as are other persons known as Gajars,1 Mr. Baden Powell observed that there is no doubt that a great majority of the clan-names in the Panjâb belong both to the "Rajpût" and the "Ját" sections. And this indicates that when the numerous Bala, Indo-Scythian, Gûjar and Hûna tribes settled, the leading military and princely houses were accepted as "Rajput," while those who took frankly to cultivation, became " Ja". C2 Mr. D. R. Bhandarkar has demonstrated recently that the ancestors of the Rânás of Udaipur (Mewår) were originally classed as Brâhmays, and were not recognised as Rajpûts until they became established as a ruling family.c3 In fact, there is abundant evidence to prove that the term Râjpût' signifies an occupational group of castes, which made it their principal business to rule and fight. That being the traditional business of the ancient Kshatriyas, castes known as Rajpût were treated by the Brahmans as equivalent to Kshatriyas, and superior in rank and purity to castes engaged in agriculture. We may take it as proved that there is nothing to prevent a Rajpût being descended from a Brâhma, a Gujar, a Jatt, or in fact from a man of any decent caste. Consequently the Gujur herdsmen and Ajar shepherds of Swat may well be the poor relations of the Rajpût chivalry of Mêwâr, and the present divergence in social status may be the result of the difference of the occupations to which their respective ancestors were called by Providence.
If the Swat Gujurs and the Mêwat and Mewar Rajpûts come of one stock, it is not so wonderful that they should speak a language essentially one. Certainly there is no difficulty in believing that all the Himalayan tribes, both in Swât and east of Chamba, who speak forms of Rajasthani, may be largely of the same blood as the Rajputs of Eastern Rajputâná. Of course, I do not mean that a pure race is to be found anywhere in Indiaalmost every caste is of very much mixed blood.
60 Linguistic Survey, Vol. IX, Part II (1908), p. 323. (In the passage quoted from Vol. IX of the Suroewthe particular Rajasthani dialect wAS Jaipuri. But further enquiry has shown me that Mewati and Mawari are more akin to Gujuri than is Jaipuri. This is a metter of small importance. Jaipur lies between Mewât and Mewar.-G. A. G.) 61 Ibbetson, op. cit., p. 265. 22. Notes on
the Rajpat Clans (J. R. A. 8., 1899, p. 534) 63 Guhilots'(J. Proc., A. S. B., New Ser., Vol., V. (1909), pp. 167-187): Atpur Inscription of Caktikumara', Ind. Ant. Vol. XXXIX (1910, p. 186). (So, in Mahabharata VIII, 2076. a Bahlika b. Ahmane may, if he choose, become a Kshatriya.-G. A. G.]
