192 J. Beames — The Rhapsodies of Gambhir Rdi. [No. 3, 



there, indicate the remains of the palace of Dev Pal as another place likely 

 to reward research. Besides the possibility of finding inscriptions, it would 

 be interesting to discover the plan of those great buildings of which the 

 granite cornices, mouldings, and pillars, and the delicately carved doorways, 

 have been spread far and wide through the neighbouring districts, wherever 

 materials were required for new erections. Whether we should succeed in 

 finding any such traces of Buddhist buildings is a question I could not 

 answer positively in the affirmative ; for it appears that S'aivas have built 

 with materials taken from Buddhist ruins, Muhammadans have similarly 

 plundered the S'aivas, and have in their turn furnished materials for modern 

 Hindu architecture, but I think the experiment would be well worth try- 

 ing, and should be glad if I had funds and leisure to devote to it. 



The Rhapsodies of Gambhir Rdi, the bard of Nurpur, A. D. 1650. — 

 By John Beames, C. S. 



A short notice of this work has already appeared in the Society's Pro- 

 ceedings for August 1872, but as it possesses considerable interest both from 

 a philological and historical point of view, it has been thought advisable to 

 reproduce it entire as regards the text, with tentative translations of such 

 parts as are translatable. Those parts the meaning of which is not clear 

 to me, have been left untranslated, and I hope that scholars in other parts of 

 India will kindly offer suggestions as to these (to me) obscure portions. The 

 whole work may perhaps ultimately be published in the Bibliotheca Indica, 

 but the pages of the Journal seem to be the fitting place for its preliminary 

 discussion. 



The work is contained in a little volume of 105 small quarto pages, 

 written in rather an indistinct hand, and very carelessly copied. One line 

 is run into another, and whole words and passages omitted or hopelessly 

 garbled ; but there are so many repetitions, that we are fortunately able to 

 restore some of the garbled passages by comparison with other places where 

 the same phrases recur. Some of the characters, especially compound ones, 

 are so badly formed, that I can only guess at their meaning. 



The poems are not a continuous history, but short songs or rhapsodies 

 in praise of Raja Jagat Singh, such as are sung by bards at the feasts and 

 festivals of native princes, and the historical events are hinted at rather than 

 detailed ; they were evidently well known to the bard's hearers and therefore 

 needed no further description. 



Mr. Blochmann has kindly furnished me with a note on the Rajas of 

 Nurpur and a translation of the Muhammadan historian's account of Raja 

 Jagat Singh's rebellion from the Padishahnamah. These will form a fitting 



