1854.] On the Ballads and Legends of the .Punjab. 159 



ed from Gundgurh. But about a. d. 1839, an enormous mass of 

 the overhanging cliff fell into the river channel, so as to dam up 

 the river for months ; until the overflow of the accumulated waters 

 brought down the dam and deluged the entire valley, carrying away 

 alike the rock, the forest and the very soil. The fall of this mass 

 was either the work or the cause of an earthquake which was felt 

 to the distance of 150 or more miles. 



It is easy to suppose that such a fall would bear with it all the 

 crumbling masses of the cliff, and leave a clear and solid scarp which, 

 for many years, would not shed any considerable mass into the 

 river. 



The following is the legend precisely as I took it from the lips 

 of a minstrel, when shut in by the snow in a ricketty and dark 

 bastion of one of the rude castles of the Dhoond mountains. 



Recitation. 

 Rajah Russaloo son of Rajah Sala Byne was sleeping in his tent 

 in the castle of Sialkot when the Punjpeer* appeared to him in a 

 vision and said " Go thou and slay the Rakuss," so the Rajah went 

 to Ooda Nugr and alighted at the abode of an ancient woman. She 

 was cooking bread, but the whole of her mohulla (ward) was deso- 

 late, and sometimes she wept and sometimes she sang. And in that 

 city the inhabitants sent daily a buffaloe, loaded with bread and a 

 human victim to the Rakuss as his rations, otherwise he would have 

 destroyed the city. And the Rakuss dwelt in the Barrh or wilder- 

 ness west of the city ; and the Rajah addrest the woman, thus : 

 (Chaunted to music.) 

 Oochcheh mundul mata marria do russ killah bazaar, 

 Kye ra sub dur disn sukna kavur lisseh sunsar 

 Natoo rooh my booddiah, hunjoo na dul karr, 

 Jie rub rukh si tera betera my sir deh sa char. 

 She replies. 



Sut bete Raja Jee, my jahch, kye n'h keeta kahj, 

 Aikulla beta rehguya, oosdi barif ahj, 



* Five Muhammedan saints : Bhawulnug of Mooltan, Shah Rooka Aulum Huzrut, 

 Shah Shumse, Mukdoom i Jehania Jehangusht and Baba Sheikh Furud Shuk'r Gunj. 



t Bari is a peculiar word, denoting the lot of a sheep or other animals for slaugh- 

 ter. 



