22 
THE MODERN LITERARY HISTORY OF HINDUSTAN. 
[§ 37. 
According to a tradition preserved in the glosses of the Bhaht 
Mala, and to the Chaurasl Bdrta ) he was a Saraswat Brahman, and his 
father and mother were beggars who lived at Gau Ghat or at Dil/i, The 
fact that books of the authority of these two works countenance 
this theory is typical of the tendency of mediaeval Indian authors to 
trust to tradition instead of to independent research. Subsequent 
writers, English and foreign, have followed the Bhaht Mala, and have 
all been led wrong in consequence, for we have the very best authority, 
that of Sur Das himself, that he was not a Saraswat Brahman, and 
that his father was not a beggar and did not live at Gau Ghat. 1 
Sur Das wrote a collection of emblematic verses ( drisht hut ) with 
the accompanying necessary commentary, 2 and in the latter the author 
gives the following account of himself 3 4 :— 
‘The founder of my family was Brahm Rad, 4, first of the Jag at 
(or of the Prath Jagat) 5 clan. In his famous family was born the 
handsome famous Chanel. 6 * To him Prithwi Raj (FI. 1190 A.D.) gave 
the country oiJwala . lie had four sons, of whom the eldest succeeded 
him as king {naves). The second was Gun Chandr’, whose son was 
Si! Chandr’, whose son was Blr Chandr ’. This last used to sport with 
Hammlr, 1 king of Ran’thambhor. In his family was born Hari Chandr’, 
who dwelt at Ag’ra . Hari Chandr’s heroic 8 son dwelt in Gop’chal and 
had seven sons, viz. (1) Krish’n Chand, {2)Udar Chand, (3 )Jurup Chand 
(or possibly Rup Chand), (4) Buddhi Chand, (5) Deb Chand, (6) 
(?) Sansrit Chand, and (7) myself Suraj Chand . My six brothers were 
1 It must not he forgotten that Priya Das, the author of the gloss to the 
Bhakt Mol! a, collected the traditions more than a century after Sur Das’s death. 
2 The work has been printed at the Light Press, Banaras. 
3 The late lamented Harishchandr’, of Banaras, the greatest, I had almost 
said the only, critic of Hindustan, was the first to draw attention to this in 
his magazine the Harishchandra Chandrikd. , vol. vi, No. 5, pp. 1—6. The article 
has been subsequently reprinted in the collection known as Prasiddh Mahatmao 
ka Jlban Charitr’. (Bankipur. Sahib Prasad Siggh. Khadg Bilas Press. 1885.) 
4 The title Kao renders it probable that he was either a raja (of royal 
stock) or a Bliat or panegyrist. 
5 This clan is not mentioned in the list of clans of Saraswat Brahmans 
drawn up by Pandit Radhes Misar, Jagat or jagatiya means a panegyrist. 
6 Or perhaps Bhdo Chand, if we take bhdu ( = hud, ‘ was’) as a contraction 
of bhado 
1 The famous king of Ran’thambhor, who was attacked by Alau’d-din Khilj and 
for whom 1,000 wives became satl. The date of his death was about 1300 A.D. 
8 His son s name was probably Ram Chandr’, which he subsequently changed, 
according to Vaishnava custom, to Ram Das. But a possible translation of°the 
passage gives his name as Blr ( Chandr'). 
