MISCELLANEOUS. 



897 



prime minister (called Pardon by 

 Mr. Lord), though independent of 

 him. 



The famous Chandra, or Chan- 

 da-Bardai, was bard to Pritiiu- 

 Raja, king of Dilli, whose wars 

 are the subject of an epic poem, 

 in the spoken dialect of Canoge, 

 and of some antiquity, since it is 

 mentioned in the Ayin-Acberi. 

 He was a favourite of Devi, and 

 was Tri Cala, knowing the past, 

 present, and future. The title of 

 Bardai is translated musician by 

 Abul Fazil. His functions, both 

 in the field and at home, were 

 exactly those of the ancient bards 

 in the west ; except that, in India, 

 a real bard sings only, but does 

 not play upon any instrument; 

 this being the office of musicians 

 who do not sing. He took a 

 most active part in the bloody war 

 between Prithu-Raja, and Jaya- 

 Chan'dra, king of Canoge, and 

 Maha-Raja at that time, about a 

 beautiful damsel given to the latter, 

 by Virabhacira, king of Ceylon ; 

 when Jaya-Chan'dra went in per- 

 son, at the head of a numerous 

 array, to force him to become tri- 

 butary, and vassal of the empire; 

 giving out, that he was only going 

 to worship at the place of Carti- 

 ceya-Swami, in the fort of Sancara 

 Ghar in Sinhala, or Ceylon ; which 

 place is resorted to, equally by or- 

 thodox Hindus, Bauddhists, and 

 even Musulmans. He was accom- 

 panied by Carna-Daharya, king 

 of Magad'ha. Prithu-Raja waged 

 a long and bloody war against Sul- 

 tan Gori ; but was defeated and 

 lost his life, in the year 1192. 

 Part of the poem, in which Prithu- 

 Rija's wars with Jaya-Chan'dra 

 and Sultan Gori, are described, is 

 in my possessioD. 



Vol. LI. 



The bards of mortal men are 

 not mentioned in any Sanscrit 

 book that ever I saw : only those 

 of the gods. The Sidd'has, the 

 Charan'as, and the Cinnaras, are 

 the three classes mentioned in the 

 retinue of the gods, besides the 

 Purohita, or high-priest; the re- 

 gent of the planet Jupiter enjoys 

 that high office among the gods ; 

 and S'ucra, who presides over Ve- 

 nus among the giants. The Sid- 

 d'has are priests, and persons of 

 uncommon learning and deep 

 knowledge, to whom nothing is 

 impossible. The Charan'as are 

 also acquainted with the genealo- 

 gies of the gods and of mankind. 

 The bards of mortal men were 

 also called Charan'as, according to 

 Abul-fazil. Every great man ia 

 India, had Bhats in his retinue; 

 the practice is still kept up in 

 Gurjarat, where they are highly 

 respected to this day, according 

 to my Pandit, who is a native of 

 that country. The Bhats or Bliac- 

 tas, and Charan'as are mentioned 

 by Abul-fazil, in his description 

 of Suba Gujarat. Their employ- 

 ment, says he, is to sing hymns, 

 recite genealogies, and warlike 

 songs in battle, to animate the 

 troops. They acted also as heralds, 

 as in the case of Chandra-Bardai. 

 Abul-fazil makes some difference 

 between the Bhats and Charan'as ; 

 but my Pandit says, that he never 

 knew of any. Charan'a being 

 really the Sanscrit word for Bhat 

 or Bhacta. Charan'a, their an- 

 cestor, is said to have sprung from 

 the sweat of Mahadeva, who in- 

 trusted him with the care of his 

 Ox Nandi, who resides in the 

 White Island. But 1 am told, that, 

 in the Puran'as, it is said, that 

 they were born from the churning 



3 M of 



