20 i 
[No. 2 
List of the Boolcs con tained in Chand's poem, the Prithiraj a Baso. — By 
John Beam eh, B. C. 8., Balasore. 
I receive so many letters from enquirers in various parts of India ask- 
ing for information as to whether this or that poem is to he found in the 
genuine works of Chand, that I conceive the Society would be doing a favour 
to scholars in publishing the following accurate list in supersession of some 
defective and inaccurate list previously made public. 
There are in circulation in some parts of India scraps of bardic poems 
all of which are dignified by the name of Chand. Some of these are appa- 
rently extracts from the real work, others are by entirely different authors. 
Five MSS. may be taken to be genuine ; — 
1. The Baidla. 
2. Colonel Tod’s, R. A. JSocy. 
3. Colonel Caulfield’s, do. 
4. The Bodleian. 
5. The Agra College. 
All these five I have seen, and compared the headings of the chapters 
in each ; with very few and trifling exceptions they all agree in this respect, 
and we may, therefore, on their authority pronounce the following list to be 
correct, and may reject, or at least look with suspicion on, all fragments of 
old Hindi rhapsodies which do not find a place in it. If genuine, they 
are at any rate not “ canonical.” I give a brief note of the contents of 
those prastavas which I have read, of the rest merely the names and num- 
ber of kavitts are given. 
1. Adi Farva. 401 kavitts.* Invocations, legends of early sages, the 
origin of the Chauhan race, their genealogy, birth of Prithiraj. 
2; Da'sama. 220k. Poems on the ten avatars of Vishnu. 
3. Di'li'ki'lr katha'. 39k. Story of the iron pillar. 
4. Aja'nva'h. 18k. 166 lines also called Lohana Ajanvahu. 
5. Kanhapatti. 64k. also called Kanhakhapatti. Kanh the Chauhan 
kills PratSp Singh the Clialuk in open darbar, because he twisted his mous- 
tache. Prithiraj compels him to wear a bandage over his eyes in darbar ; 
hence the name of the book. 
6. A'khetak bir. 113k. Marvellous story of a hunting expedition in 
in which Chand sees Siva and gets a blessing from him. 
7. Na'har Rai. 118k. Fight with Nahar Rai. 
8. Mewa'ti' Mugal. 45k. Fight with the Mewatis. 
* Each kavitt, or ckhand, contains generally about 30 lines, except Sathak, doha 
and one or two peculiar and rarely used metros, which seldom exceed 8 lines each. 
