1S75.] T. H. Hendley — An Account of the Makodr Bhils. 371 



Language. — A few specimens of songs of the Bhils are appended, with 

 some in the Mina dialect of Sirohi. In addition to illustrating the difference 

 in disposition between the two people, they will serve as examples of their 

 languages, the latter being evidently a rough form of Hindi, while the 

 former, although understood (with difficulty) by a Brahman of Jaipur, and 

 as such classing with the coarser variants of this tongue, contains a large 

 number of words and letters of non-Sanskritic origin. 



It will be noticed that the Bhil contains a majority of words in which 

 the cerebrals ~Z t, s th, ^ d, "^ dh, ^ n, with the ^ d and "5 dh changeable 

 into dull r, (letters which in Sanskrit itself are probable Scythian) pre- 

 vail. In some words, ^r 1 changes to ^ r or ^r r, as in ' pila' to ' pira' ; in 

 others, ^ ch to ^r, as in ' chalao' to ' salao' — but these changes (as in the 

 Mina ' Sirohi' to ' Hirohi', where s and h are permutable) exist in Marwari, 

 Gujarati, &c. In Bhil, as in these ruder forms of Hindi, the long vowels 

 o, a, e (i), u, are most used ; kh and sh, kh and ch % j and g, b and 

 v or w, are generally permutable — h and s are also. 



As far as my observation goes, the Bhil uses most words from the lan- 

 guage of the people next to him. His tongue, an unwritten one, varies there- 

 fore with the linguistic frontier, whether Gujarat or Marwar ; he is able to 

 pronounce English words with unusual clearness, a proof that in language 

 he is singularly susceptible to outward influence, and that for him to have 

 retained a distinct tongue, would have been impossible. Nevertheless as he 

 converts into or adopts most readily non- Aryan forms, words, and letters, 

 there is every reason to believe that he once had a Scythic or, at all events, 

 a mode of speech which was not Sanskrit. It will be noted that the Mina, 

 who is more connected with the dweller in the plains, has been linguistically 

 more affected than the Bhil. I append a few specimens of Bhil and Mina 

 names, as these no doubt change less than other words : female Bhil names 

 end in e long (i), the male of which would end in a and 6. 



Vocabulary, Grammar, Sfc. 



Man bhabha, admi, manak. Plural, hai admi. 



Woman bairi. 



Father atak, daji, ata, bap, dadak. No plural. 



Grandfather dadak. 



Mother ai, ma. 



Sister bahin, bahinai. 



Elder sister bai. Younger sisters are known by their names. 



Boy kauro, suro, sora. Boys, sura. 



Girl kauri, suri, sori. 



Friend gothiyo, guthiyo, haithi. 



Enemy bairi, beri. 

 z z 



