Vol. X, No. 10.] Bardic and Histl. Survey of Rajputana. 387 

 [N.S.] 



torical Survey be transferred from the Asiatic Society of 

 Bengal to the dependence of the Agent to the Governor General 

 in Rajputana — who might take the title of Honorary Superin- 

 tendent — the Survey would gain both in local prestige and in 

 efficiency. The control to be exercised by the afore-mentioned 

 Political Agent would be, of course, chiefly administrative 

 and political ; the scientific criticism of the publications being 

 left to the scholars in the world that are specialists in the 

 subject. The services of the Asiatic Society of Bengal will be 

 chiefly useful in the matters of printing and publishing, and of 

 preserving the manuscripts that are collected. 



There are two points in the Survey which are not taken 

 into consideration in the present Scheme. One is the Bardic 

 and Historical Literature of Gujarat, and the other the oral 

 bardic songs. As regards the former, I need hardly say that 

 the reason for not taking it into consideration is simply the 

 impossibility of carrying on the exploration of Gujarat at the 

 same time as that of Rajputana. I have shown that the work 

 niu?3t be done gradually and systematically, State by State, 

 village by village. After finishing with Rajputana, the turn of 

 Gujarat may come, and we shall possibly have a separate Sur- 

 vey of this country too. As regards the oral bardic songs, I 

 think their importance has been much exaggerated. There 

 is no doubt that there are oral songs recited by illiterate 

 bards and transmitted from father to son, but how many of 

 these are actually extant only in oral tradition and never were 

 committed to writing, nobody can say. The search only will 

 tell. It goes without saying that, should any valuable oral 

 song come to the knowledge of the editor, he will try to put 

 it into writing with a view to editing it, a task which he will 

 be able to carry out himself with his ordinary means and the 

 help of his assistants. Under no circumstances should the 

 taking down of a song be entrusted to a common scribe, 

 nor to a literate bard ; for in both cases the results would be 

 most fallacious. In the case of oral songs the reciter plays 

 the role of a manuscript — the most recent manuscript pos- 

 sible — and should be referred to directly. 



Let us now turn to the consideration of the details and 

 figures in each of the three departments of the Survey : the 

 editing and local superintending, the searching, and the pub- 

 lishing. 



The Editing and Local Superintending Department. 



This department includes three officers : the editor and 

 local superintendent, and his two assistants in the editorial 

 work— a Pandit and a Carana. The former is appointed 

 by the Government of India, whereas the two latter, as well 

 as all other officers in the Survey, are selected by the former 



