26 Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal. [N.S., XV, 
fame. It was at this time that the Guhildtas advanced a 
claim to be the descendants of Noshirwan,! and the Rathoras 
connected their origins with the Gahiravalas of Kanauj. It was 
again at this time that raja Raya Singha caused a long 
prasasti-inscription to be engraved in the new fort of Bikaner, 
tracing his descent to Sihd, and hence to raja Jayacandra of 
himself. And it was at this very same time that regular 
pidhiyavalis and khyatas came into eaperenion: There is no 
are 7 the meaning of this coincidence.? 
the impulse came from that spirit of emulation 
pigs nach long pre-existent, was intensified and fostered 
t the Court of Akbar. And the Rajput Chiefs summoned 
hats bards and genealogists and caused them to compile histori- 
cal sketches of their families, in the plain language of prose. 
These were the vamsavalis. Being composed by bards or, at 
least, from the information in the hands of the bards and from 
the traditions preserved by them, these historical sketches are 
far from accurate and reliable, but are not the less important as 
embodying in themselves muc what was known or believed 
at the time concerning the eatin period. That they were 
chiefly composed by bards and from bardic sources, is shown 
parts, and the prominence given to legends and anecdotes, 
also by the occasional quotations of Les ae verses and songs 
and the fact that these quotations are given as documentary 
evidence in testimony of the truth of the caetative et (sakha 
rt kavita). The first vamsavalis were works of small pro- 
portions and humble pretensions, but soon mae as they were 
taken up by other hands—the compilers of the khyatas— who 
convert the latter into complete chronicles of the dynasty 
from the origins to the current day 
The first khyatas were shicaisied of contemporary events. 
In contrast with the vamsavalis, which later got incorporated 
into them much to their discredit, the first khyatas were remark- 
able for accuracy, sobriety, and dispassionateness. They con- 
tained no legends, no quotations of bardic verses, no flatteries, 
no » ties, but merely plain statements of facts teeming with 
1 Tod, i, pp. 189-195 (Routledge’s edition); Jarrett’s Aini Akbari, 
ey Pa oo explanation here given of the origin of the Rajasthani Chron- 
applies in particular to the case of Jodhpur and Bikaner—the only 
exp! 
that the same explanation in the main is adidbabie also to the other 
“er of Rajputana which rllcer shapes possess a bardic and historical litera- 
