148 On tlie Ballads and Legends oftlie 'Punjab. [No. 2. 



(5). From Bruhm, the empire's first dread Lord. 



Raja Bruhm is the first on the list of Eajas of Sialkot. I have 

 never elsewhere met this name applied to a mortal, it being gener- 

 ally used to denote the Almighty. 



(6). And every shaft that err'd in flight, rebounded to his side. 



See Note No. 2. Such saith tradition was the force of Eussa- 

 loo's bow and arm, that if a shaft erred in flight it rebounded to his 

 hand. A proof of this wonderful power was exhibited by him on 

 meeting the four Eakuss. They, refusing to believe that so dimi- 

 nutive a being could be the great Eussaloo who was to destroy 

 them, set up their Tawas (iron plates upon which bread is baked) 

 four in number, each massive as the round table of King Arthur. 

 Eussaloo to convince them, sent a shaft through all four plates. 



(7). Till o'er those verdant bowers 



"Where Eavi leads her current blue rose Oodinugri's towers. 



According to the Bard who gave me the best version of this tra- 

 dition Oodinugr is the old name of Lahor. An old site however 

 called Oodinugr occurs on right bank of the Hydaspes below 

 Jeluin. Not being able to visit it in person I sent thither a Moon- 

 shi, who made a rough plan of it. By his account it must have 

 been a moderate-sized town. The coins there found, are exclusively 

 Hindi, so that in all probability it was either ruined previous to 

 Alexander's invasion, or founded subsequent to the extinction of 

 the Baktro Greek Dynasty. The latter appears the more reason- 

 able assumption, for I do not think that the Hindoos had a coinage 

 previous to the Macedonian invasion. 



The approach to Lahore from the North is singularly fine. The 

 low plain forming the basin of the Eavi is often a lawn of turf — 

 elsewhere it is covered with rich cultivation, from which rise groves 

 of fine trees grouped around white obelisks, built to commemo- 

 rate the decease of Sikh nobles. Such is the foreground — and 

 beyond it rise the city defences of masonry, surmounted by the still 

 loftier towers of the citadel and the domes and minarets of the 

 chief musjid. All these are the works of the Kings of Delhi. 



These walls and towers were of course non-existant in Eussaloo's 

 day. But there must have been older works, for Lahor is too much 

 exposed to invasion to have been ever left unfortified. And no 



