120 A. F. Rudolf Hoemle — Essays on the Gaurian Languages. [No. 2, 
of tlie infernal regions whose acquaintance I made in these parts, and who 
throws those whom he possesses into a state suggestive of one attacked 
simultaneously with hysterics, epilepsy, ague, and colic, a fearful combination, 
it is true, and to fully realise which, tha reader must make a trip to Chang- 
Bhokar, which, geographically speaking, is one of the Chutia-Nagpur Tribu- 
tary States, but which psychologically, I think, must be one of the outlying 
provinces of Pandemonium. 
The bride’s father having treated each of the demoniacs to three cupfuls 
of liquor and a mouthful of ghi, Baghesar’s spirit vanished, leaving both 
the men considerably blown and exhausted. 
During the whole of this scene not a soul spoke, and the general impres- 
sion seemed to be, that it was too solemn a matter to be sneered or laughed 
at. Still no marriage ceremony is complete without it, and, according to 
Gond ideas, fortune smiles on the wedded couple when Baghesar appears. 
If the bride’s parents are poor and have not the means to afford a kid, 
a pig is given instead. This I should think can’t be quite so pleasant for 
the demoniacB, but the fun no doubt would he considerably enhanced to 
those lookers-on who, like myself, had nothing to fear from Baghesar, and 
could therefore with impunity smile at his pranks. 
Of the extraordinary nature of the scene in general, no description could 
ever supply a perfectly accurate conception ; but, as an illustration of the 
superstitious belief and worship of one of the most interesting of the 
aboriginal tribes of India, it is nevertheless worthy of record. - 
Essays in aid of a Comparative Grammar of the Gaurian Languages. — Eg 
Rev. A. F. Rudolf Hoeenle, D. Eh., Professor of Sanskrit, Jag 
Ndrayan's College, Benares. 
I .-—Introductory. 
It may be convenient to have a collective name for all North-Indian 
languages derived from the Sanskrit. As Dravidian is now, after the example 
set by Dr. Caldwell in his Comparative Grammar of the Dravidian langu- 
ages, the name generally received to designate the non-Sanskritic languages 
of South India, and as Gaurian ( ) is the term commonly, used by San- 
skrit writers as the correlative to Dravidian ( ^Tfs.^3" ), it appears to be the 
simplest plan to appropriate the term Gaurian for the Sanskritic languages 
of North India.* 
The following languages must be accounted Gaurian : viz., the Oriya, 
the Bangali, the Hindi, the Naipali, the Marathi, the Gujarati, the Sindhi, 
* If X am not much mistaken, I have already seon tho word Gaurian employed by 
some writers in this wise, so that its use by me is not a novelty. 
