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THE INDIAN ANTIQUARY
SEPTEMBER, 1924
Archological Survey, will serve in some measure to the Venetian dresses in which Veronese and Tinto. supply the data which antiquarians interested in retto robe the subjects of their paintings. We may the ancient art of Kashmir have long been relevantly quote & Hindi writer who says, "as w anxious to obtain.
read, strango omotions rise within us: the former The Mortoir is furnished with good photo. splendour of tho country and the acte of its mighty graphs and plans of the chief antiquities described men are pictured bofore our eyes, and we are filled in the text.
with enthusiasm and joy and pride." The minstrel 8. M. EDWARDES. literature of Rajputana and other parts of the north
has long been famous. EPIGRAPHIA INDO-MOSLEMICA, edited by G. YAX
The Lay of Ala is one of DANI, 1919-1920. Govt. of India Press, Cal.
the most popular of the poems sung by wandering
bards, and we are grateful to the authors of this cutta, 1924.
volumne for having given us a stirring ballad version This issue is well-edited and illustrated and
of a romarkable poem (worthy memorial of Mr. contains some interesting and historically valus
Waterfield's scholarship and poetic feeling), scoom. ble inscriptions : twelve of Sikandar ShAh Lodi In Delhi, all in Persian, from 1494-1511 A.D.,
panied by the valuable notes and additions which
attest Sir George Grierson's continued devotion to collected together for the benefit of students at
the affairs of North India. the request of the Government Epigraphist for
A useful feature is a Mualim Inscriptions..
list of the persons who appear in the story. WithThose aro followed by three inscriptions from
I this it is possible for any reader to follow the narra. Antur Fort in the Aurangabad District of Burhan
tive, though nearly 200 actors cross its pages. Nizam Shah III (1610-1630). It is important to In spite of conventional repetitions, especially in have these, as the period is very confused
the description of battles, the action moves with Then we are given Muhammad Tughlaq's in vigour and freshness, and the historical value of un. scription at Bodhan and Qandhår during his con- historical details is made clear, for these details tell quest of the Deccan, and also of the Emperor us more about the times and about the bards who Aurangzeb at both places. In noticing two in thon sang the praises of king and country than we scriptions at the latter fort, the editor makee an should have learnt from scientifically accurate ohro important note to p. 22: "Scholars interenied niclos. They give us atmosphere, they give us life. in the history of the introduction of gting into the end of the 12th century seems to have laid hold Indis may note that in the wixteenth and seven- on tho imagination of epic poets more than any cther teenth centuries we invariably find Turkish ofli. period of Indian history, for no other time is so well cers and engineers in charge of the artillery."
furnished with poetical descriptions which must In this case certain brothers were "placed in
have their foundations in contemporary writinge. charge of AqA Rúmi, 998 A.H. (1590 A.D.)."
Actually these sagas are dateless, or rather they All kinds of historical allusions are to bo found
belong to many dates. The 19th century jostles in these valuable inscriptions : 1.9., Rai Bindralan, the historian of Aurangzeb's time, built " well
the 12th in their verses, yet the real feeling belongs for the people, as & charitable deed in the name
to the end of the 12th and beginning of the 13th of God" at Elgandal in the W&rangal Division, Nizam's Dominions.
This version is intended for those who are not No less than 18 Plates complete this valuable likely to study the Hindi. If another edition is piece of work.
called for, it would be well to give a few pages to a
RC. TEMPLE. discussion of the language and verse of the original. THE LAY OY ALHA: translated by WILLIAM WATER
The advice given to English readers to pronour.ce all FIELD (with Introduction and additional matter
vowels as in Italian is probably due to a slip. To do by Sir GEORGE GREERSON) : Oxford University
80 would result in pronouncing Ajaipal, Bhaurarin, Press, pp. 278.
Chakbai, Chauhan, Kanauj, as AjAlpal, BhadraThis is well described on its title page as a Mage of rin, Chakbai, Chadhan, Kanadj. (the long marlo Rajput chivalry. In its English form it owes its
wes its here printed indicato Vowel quality, not length). origin to the translator and its publication to Sir But compared with the solid value of the work this George Grierson, who has rounded off the work with is a triding matter. abstracts of the untranslated portions. The epic Not a few readers will be glad to have brought be. poetry which is written in Avndhi, Braj and fore them so vivid a tale in so pleasing a form and Rajputani, has for us an iutorent which far transcende! to bo enabled to live for a brief space among the that which we feel for works on rhetoric; sometime heroes of a bygone age, many of whom were indeed it appeals to us more than the religious litere- pto-eminently, "For knightly jousta and forca ture in whioh this group of languages is so rich. The
oncounters fit." fact that it is semi-historical matters no more than
T. GRAHAME BAILET,
