Vol. X, No. 10.] Bardic and Histl. Survey of Rajputana. 379 



[N.S] 



with the exception of some places in the South-East, are the 

 Caranas, and the proof is in the number of villages they still 

 enjoy as sasanas. In the Marwar State, where their influence is 

 most felt, they continue to enjoy not less than about 350 

 villages, whilst the villages of the Bhatas are only seven or eight. 

 And their superiority is not less in literary achievements. 

 Whilst the Bhatas are nowadays generally confined to keeping 

 genealogies and possess no literary education, Caranas are still 

 found who are good composers, and besides having a com- 

 mand of both Dirigala and Pin gala, have also some knowledge 

 of the Sanskrit language and literature. An example is the late 

 Kaviraja Murara Dana of Jodhpur, the author of the J asavanta 

 Jaso Bhusana. The Caranas generally are no doggerel verse- 

 makers, nor mere repeaters of oral songs, they are lettered 

 poets and their works have not only an historical and ethno- 

 logical value, but also a literary one. Titles like kaviraja and 

 kavisvara are common amongst the Caranas, and that these 

 titles are not lavishly conferred upon them is shown by Tod, in 

 the xth chapter of his Annals of Marwar, where the Carana 

 Karani Dana is introduced to the reader, and an allusion is 

 made to the studies requisite to form a kavisvara and the 

 difficulties that make his path to Parnassus a most thorny one. 

 By this I do not mean to say that the poetry, genealogies etc. 

 of Bhatas and other inferior bards are of little account ; I only 

 mean to impress the idea that it is from the Caranas we can 

 expect most. A pity that their activity is decreasing nowadays, 

 and this for the reason that chiefs and nobles hardly take any 

 interest in them and do not encourage them with rewards and 

 honours as their forefathers did. The profession of a Carana 

 has ceased to be a remunerative one, and many of these 

 Homers of the Rajput bravery now lead a miserable life in the 

 villages, which formerly were a rich sasana, but nowadays are 

 hardly sufficient to support their numerous progeny. 



Plan of the Work. 



In formulating a plan for such a vast work as the Bardic 

 and Historical Survey of Rajputana we cannot ignore one 

 principle, and it is that we cannot do all at one time. If the 

 Snrvey is to be in any way uniform and exhaustive, it must be 

 undertaken methodically and carried on systematically. It 

 must be started at one end and brought forward step by step 

 till the other end is reached. It is an analytical, not a syntheti- 

 cal work, and the synthesis will, if at all, be possible only when 

 the analysis has been brought to bear on all the extant mate- 

 rials and these have been made known in their entirety. I 

 have already spoken about the necessity for the editor to settle 

 down himself in the centres of bardic and historical activity 

 and to have access to the original sources. It goes without 



