Vol. X, No. 10.] Bardic and HistL Survey of Rajputana. 3sr> 



[N.S.] 



the proper lines. As a rule, be will have to work in the 

 editor's office, though exceptionally he may be sent into the 

 mofussil to copy manuscripts which are not allowed on loan. 



This much as regards the work and staff under the editor, 

 who so far is the highest and only responsible person here. 

 His proper designation would be fl Editor and Local Superin- 

 tendent of the Bardic and Historical Survey of Rajputana." 

 ow, whoever he may be, it is obvious that some sort of 

 control must be exercised on this man, who, as will be seen 

 further on, is to be the sole arbiter and manager of a survey 

 costing about twelve thousand rupees, and on whom all the 

 -uccess of the work depends. Though it is not for me to 

 point out the person who is to exercise this control, yet it 

 may not be out of place here to make some considerations 

 in regard to a point which is of no small importance for the 

 success of the survey. 



The work has so far been entrusted to the Asiatic Society 

 of Bengal since 1905, when the Government of India placed 

 Rs. 2,400 at its disposal for a preliminary survey. The first 

 four years passed without anything being done, as the Society 

 could not find a man for the work. In 1909 Mahamaho- 

 padhyaya Hara Prasada Sastrl was appointed and spent the 

 Rs. 2,400 in making three tours in Rajputana and publishing 

 a Preliminary Report containing the scheme alluded to above. 

 This preliminary report took four years to prepare and 

 yet has little real value ; and the foolscap-copies prepared 

 by the Jodhpur Bardic Office under the Sastri's directions 

 are worthless for philological purposes. In fact, eight years 

 have been wasted without any practical results, and one, 

 possibly the chief, reason of the failure was the impossibility 

 for the Asiatic Society of Bengal to realize the actual need- 

 and conditions of a work that was to be carried on in so 

 distant a country as Rajputana. In 1914 the Government of 

 India appointed me to edit the materials so far collected by 

 the Society. They were possibly misled by Mahaniaho- 

 pfuihyaya Hara Prasada Sastri's report, in which it was 

 stated that materials for the editor had been collected; for 

 no one could have suspected that these materials were 

 absolutely useless. My appointment was therefore made 

 under the Asiatic Society of Bengal, and I was enjoined to 

 proceed to Calcutta. Seeing that there was nothing to be 

 done there, I applied at once to be allowed to transfer myself 

 to Rajputana, but since my application had first to go before 

 the Council of the Society and had then to be communicated 

 to Government through the Society, about three months 

 elapsed before I was able to start. If the present Scheme is put 

 into execution, the situation will be an altogether new one. 

 The central office will be permanently transferred from 

 Calcutta to Rajputana, and both the searching and the editing 



