380 Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal. [Nov., 1914. 



saying that he cannot be in different places at the same time, 

 nor make a contemporary study of works belonging to distant 

 and different States. Rajputana, even without including Malwa 

 and other parts of Central India and Gujarat, which also possess 

 some bardic and historical literature, is a very vast country 

 and each State in it has a separate history of its own. Even 

 if manuscripts could be contemporaneously supplied from all 

 the States, it would be a foolish attempt for the editor to try to 

 master all their different histories at one and the same time, 

 and the results, if any, would be most imperfect and defective. 

 He must do one State at a time. 



By this I do not mean to say that the other States should 

 be completely left to themselves till their turn comes. Some of 

 them are deeply interested in the Survey and eager to help the 

 Government of India in their undertaking, and in this case 

 advantage should be taken of their spontaneous offers of 

 services. The State that best of all has been alive to the impor- 

 tance of the work and shown its thankfulness to the Govern- 

 ment of India for an undertaking that will bring to light 

 unknown pages of the Rajputs' glorious history, is Jodhpur, 

 which since 1910 has been budgetting a yearly sum of Rs. 2,000 

 to supply the Government of India with materials for the Survey , 

 and if results have not been equal to the efforts made, it is 

 simply for want of proper instructions and a directive mind 

 with the requisite philological knowledge. Second comes Bikaner , 

 which has also been keeping a Bardic Office and would have 

 done much if rightly advised what to do. Other States have 

 been showing their interest in the Survey and have offered to 

 assist the Government in their task, and these are Bundi, 

 Jesalmer, Sirohi, Kisangarh, Partapgarh,Dungarpur and Bans- 

 wara. These States would be greatly disappointed if their offers 

 of services were not readily accepted and appreciated, and on 

 the other hand it would be an incomparable loss for the Survey 

 if the enthusiasm of these States were allowed to cool down, 

 and possibly it would be difficult to rouse it again. It will be 

 therefore necessary to profit by the offers of all the States that 

 are willing to help, and to organize in each of them a Bardic 

 and Historical Office, with the scope of exploring them for in- 

 formation about the manuscripts scattered in the villages and 

 towns in its territory. The results of such a preparatory search. 

 if conducted systematically, will be of great help to the editor 

 when he is ready to settle down in these States and take to 

 publish their bardic and historical literature. 



On what State should attention first be concentrated ? 

 Practical as well as political and moral reasons combine to show 

 that the first to be made the object of the Survey must be 

 Jodhpur, the State that has been already spending some 

 thousands of rupees for the work and is walling to give all 

 assistance possible, not in empty words, but in facts, for the 



