CHAPTER . V. 



THE LAY OF SAINT LINGO. 



The Pardhans, or bards, of the Gond tribes are in 

 possession of many rudely rhythmical pieces, which it 

 is their function to recite on festive occasions to their 

 assembled constituents, to the accompaniment of the 

 two-stringed lyre. The best and most complete of 

 these, extending to nearly a thousand bars or lines, 

 was laboriously taken down in writing from the lips of 

 one of these Pardhans by the late Rev. Stephen Hislop, 

 of the Free Church of Scotland mission at Nagpiir. 

 But the lamented death of that indefatigable investigator 

 into the history and manners of the Central Indian 

 peoples prevented his furnishing it in a complete form. 

 In a collection of his papers afterwards published under 

 the editorship of Sir R. Temple, this legend appeared 

 at length, with a translation of each word as it stood, 

 only so far modified as to conform to the first require- 

 ments of English grammar. In this guise, although 

 well suited to the purposes of the student, the piece 

 is almost unintelligible to ordinary readers ; and, if it 

 be considered that the Gonds have never had any 

 written language, and that these pieces have only been 

 preserved by tradition from one of these troubadours to 



