1833.] | of the Jats of Bharatpur. 291 
chaunt the Sakhochar or marriage hymn in honour of the affianced 
parties’ ancestors. The priests present on the part of the Raja con- 
tented themselves with enumerating the praises and virtues of three of 
his forefathers. Of these Suras Mat, the founder or consolidator of 
the Jat power, and Ransir Sineu, the fortunate opponent of Lorp 
Laxg, naturally obtained the largest portion of the eulogium. There is 
a very spirited ode in Brij Bhdkha in praise of Suras Mat, nor 
has the martial prowess of Ransir S1neu been less honoured, but alas! 
for the credit of poetical prophecy. The Jat bard who celebrates the 
fame of Ransir Sineu, after describing with some minuteness and 
most woful anachronisms the progress of the British power, which he 
depicts as a raging flame, kindled in the south, and acquiring heat and 
consistency as it spread through the country of Tirpu and Mahdrdsh- 
tra, to the imperial city of Delhi, proceeds to immortalize the valour of 
Ransit Srneu, by whom this raging element of destruction was 
checked and extinguished. 
But though the lapse of a few years has proved the vision of the 
Jat bard (like most other poetic visions), to be vain and empty, it 
would be ungenerous to deride the feeling which prompted it. The 
Jats are and ever have been deeply national ; even in these (their) days 
of weakness and prostration they cling to the memory of former tri- 
umphs, nor are the feelings of the man to be envied who would sneer 
at them for sodoing. The sentiment which inspired the glowing num- 
bers of Tyrtzeus, which animated and immortalized the “ fatal elo- 
quence*”’ of Demosthenes and Cicero, and which in modern times has 
called forth the powers of the bards and orators of Europe, cannot and 
should not be deemed unworthy of sympathy, though expressed by a 
Jat poet in his own peculiar language. 
After the praise of ancestors, the Pandits read a lecture on the mar- 
riage duties to the bride and bridegroom, to which they are both ex- 
pected to testify their assent. Presents are then distributed to the at- 
tendant priests, and the bride and bridegroom proceed in one palan- 
keen to the tents of the latter, where the knot which had been tied in 
their garments is unloosed, and the damsel dismissed with a present of 
fruits and flowers to her own house. 
The next day, and sometimes the day after also, is spent in festivity 
and rejoicing. The bridegroom, attended by his principal friends and 
Sirdars, dines with the bride’s father. On this occasion also the etiquette 
observed will remind the reader of a passage in Scripture. The bride- 
* “ Mortifera facundia.’’ Juvenal. Sat. x. 
Pe Pe 2 
