1916.] Bardic and Histl. Survey of Rajputana. 79 



the modern system of spelling, whilst Maravarl sometimes 



writes ^, *ii, and sometimes w, ^ . Etymology teaches us 

 that in both the afore-mentioned languages we should write 



^, ^T to represent the wide sound e, o, and % ^Tt to represent 

 the narrow sound e 9 6. Some Gujarat! grammarians have 

 devised some awkward marks to distinguish e, o from <?', o, and 

 their attempts to introduce them into general use and make 

 them popular, have failed. Let them resort again to the old 



spelling if, #r, which is not only the simplest, but also the only 

 correct one. 



2. The Song of Jasavanta Sonioaro. 



The following song belongs to the class of commemorative 

 songs, which in the bardic literature of Rajputana are num- 

 bered by thousands and are generally found collected in 

 manuscripts under the general title of phutakara gita, or " mis- 

 cellaneous songs." As the title implies, their subject may be 

 a multiform one, and it may vary from a feat of gallantry to 

 the grant of a village, and their character may also vary from 

 eulogistical to satirical. A good many, not to say most, of these 

 songs are anonymous, and have been handed down by tradi- 

 tion, the names of their authors having been lost. They are 

 almost exclusively a production of the Caranas, the high-class 

 bards of the Rajputs, and most of them possess both a liter- 

 ary and historical interest. 



The song of Jasavanta Sonigaro, which is given below, is 

 one of those which commemorate a feat of bravery. Jasa- 

 vanta, according to the explanatory note contained in MS. G 9 

 had gone to his wife's paternal house at Bbatanera, the modern 

 Hanumangadh, when a host of Muhammadans fell upon this 

 city. Overcome by odds, the valiant Rajput had no other 

 alternative left but die or surrender. Like every good Rajput, 

 he chose the former, arid to preserve his wife from the disgrace 

 of falling into the hands of Muhammadans, cut off her head, 

 which he suspended to his own neck, and in this way rushed 

 into the thickest of the enemy throng and met a glorious death. 

 This is the fact, which the Poet does not describe directly and 

 plainly, however, but belabours in an imaginative way. Maha- 

 deva has picked up the two heads from the field of battle and 

 "nserted them into his garland of skulls. When he goes back 

 to Piirvatl, his wife, she notices the head of a woman amongst 

 the others, which are all heads of warriors, and is naturally 

 surprised at the strange discovery and inquires what the reason 

 of it may be. At this point, one is tempted to find a resem- 

 blance between the fiction in this song and that in the admirable 

 opening stanza in the Mudraraksa^a, where Parvati, stung with 

 jealousy at seeing the Ganges on the head of her husband, asks 

 him who the fair one is. But our Poet takes a different turn 



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