§ g/J THE BARDIC PERIOD. [700—1300 A.D.] 5 
tradition that the /flha Khand, of which we possess many versions, and 
which has sometimes been described as a spurious canto of Chand’s epic, 
was originally written by this poet. The Alha Khand is, so far as 
I am aware, only current in oral versions sung all over Hindustan by 
professional singers. As might be expected, these versions dilfer 
considerably in language, and each is modernised to suit the dialect 
of the reciter. For a full account of the Alha Khand. see Indian 
• • * 
Antiquary , vol. xiv, pp. 209, 255. For an account of Alha’s share in 
the war between Prithwl Raj and Par’mal, see Report of the Arch. 
Sur. Ind., vii, pp. 13—20. 
The l/lahoba Khand has already been mentioned under the head of 
Chand (No. 6). It and other Western recensions of the poem give the 
names of the heroes as Alha and Udal or Udan, the latter being short 
for Uday Siygh ; but the Eastern recensions give the names as Alha and 
RudaL Two versions of the Western recension have been printed_one 
edited by Chaudh’rl Ghdsl Ram, of Bhatipura, and the other, under 
the supervision of Sir C. (then Mr.) Elliott, by Thakur Das, of 
Fatih gar h, already mentioned. The latter edition was, I believe, 
taken down 1 by him as recited by three illiterate professional bards 
of Kanauj, being respectively by caste a JosI, a Tell, and a Brahman, 
and pieced together with additions of his own and some extracts or 
adaptations from different manuscripts that he borrowed. It is thus 
rather a heterogeneous composition. Portions of this recension have 
been translated into English ballad metre by Mr. Waterfield in 
vols. lxi, lxii, and lxiii of the Calcutta Review under the title of 
“ The Nine-Lakh Chain, or the Mar6 feud.” The Eastern recension only 
exists in the mouths of itinerant singers, and is nearly always couched 
in the Bhoj'purl dialect of Biharl. According to the tradition of 
Eastern Hindustan, the poem was originally written by Jag’nik in 
the Bundel’khandl dialect. Mr. Vincent Smith has presented me with 
a number of short poems in that dialect, many of which appear to be 
fragments of a larger work. In them the second hero is called Udal. 
8. the poet and bard Sarayg Dhar, of 
Ran’thambhor. FI. 1363 A.D. 
We have now a gap of a century and a half, and in the year 1363 
find flourishing the Sarayg Dhar already mentioned as a descendant of 
Chand. According to Tod, he attended the court of the heroic Raja 
1 I am indebted to Mr. Growse for this information. 
