1898.] Annual Addre.^s. 77 



Parable of tlie Prodisfal Son. As these translations will in many cases be 

 made by persons who do not know English, a collection of some sixty- 

 five specimen translations of the parable into various Indian languages 

 has been prepared. It is probable that the person selected to translate 

 in each case will be acquainted with at least one of the languages of 

 which a specimen is given. But as every translation will probably be 

 more or less stiff, efforts will be made to procure at the same time an 

 original folktale, song, or other naturally spoken sample of the language. 

 When all these translations have been collected, they will have to be 

 examined, and with their aid each language mentioned in the rough 

 lists will have to be classified under its proper name and family. It is 

 to be hoped that these translations, or at least selected specimens of 

 them, may be published ; for if properly edited, they will foi"m a valuable 

 collection of evidence as to the actual linguistic condition of India. 

 When once the rough lists have been corrected and the translation.? 

 published, we shall for the first time be able to say what languages are 

 spoken in Northern India, and how many people speak in each. We 

 shall also, incidentally, acquire a complete collection of specimens of all 

 the written characters used in that country. 



It is obvious that the second part of the survey which is yet to be 

 made is the far more important of the two. In fact, the first part, by 

 itself, with all its unverified statements, has no practical value, certainly 

 none of any scientific character. Its value lies solely in the fact of its 

 furnishing the basis for the scientific survey. It is, therefore, much to 

 be hoped that nothing may occur to stop the survey at the stage which 

 it has now reached, but that the Government of India may place Dr. 

 Grierson in such a position as will enable him now to devote his whole 

 time to the prosecution of the remaining scientific part of the survey, 

 for which he is exceptionally well fitted, and thus to bring to a success- 

 ful end the great undertaking which he has initiated, and which will 

 reflect so much credit on the Government of India. 



It must be remembered that such a lingustic survey, in addition to 

 its own proper purpose, is most valuable on account of the fresh light it 

 throws on unsettled points of history and ethnography. Thus there is 

 the tribe of Abhirs or Ahirs, well-known in ancient Indian history. Its 

 identity and habitat has always been a very vexed question. The 

 linguistic survey, at last, has supplied the answer. It has brought 

 to light the Ahirvati or Ahirvali, a dialect of Western Hindi, 

 which is spoken in the district of Gurgaon and the neighbouring 

 native states by as many as 300,000 people, a large number of whom 

 are still Ahhs. These Ahirs of Gurgaon are an important tribe, from 

 whom anciently their country took the Sanskrit name of Ahlnravartta ; 



