33S F. S. Growse —The 'Etymology of Local Karnes in K. India. [No. 4, 
ing the character of the corruption, which it exhibits in a transitional stage. 
The final syllable, which is variably pronounced as gait, go, or gon, is un- 
mistakeably a distinct word, and can only represent game. The former 
part of the compound, which at first sight appears not a little obscure, is 
illustrated by a village in the Mathura pargana, Tasilia, a patti, or sub¬ 
division of the township of Sonkh, which is said to bear the name of one of 
the five sons of the Jat founder, the other four being Ajal, Asa, Purna, and 
Sahjua. As these are clearly Hindi vocables, it may be presumed that Tasiha 
is so likewise, and we shall probably be right if we take it for the Prakrit 
form of the Sanskrit tishya, one of the lunar mansions, used in the sense of 
‘ auspicious,’ in the same way as the more common Pusa, which represents 
the asterism Pushya. Thus as the letter g can be elided under the same 
rule as they) in pari, the original termination grama is not unfrequently 
reduced to the form on, in which not one letter of its older self remains. 
The most interesting example of this mutation is afforded by the village 
Earson. Its meaning has so thoroughly died out that a local legend has 
been in existence for some generations which explains it thus: that two days 
after Krishna had slain one of the monsters with which the country was 
infested, he was met at this spot by some of his adherents who asked him 
how long ago it was that he had done the deed, and he replied parson, 
1 the day before yesterday.’ This is obviously as absurd as the Jcal kata, 
or ‘ yesterday’s cutting,’ told about Calcutta ; for apart from other reasons 
the word in vogue in Krishna’s time would have been not parson, but its 
original form parsvas. However, the true etymology, which is yet more 
disguised by the fact that office clerks always change the r into l and call 
the place Palson, does not appear to have been ever suggested till now. 
Clearly the name was once Parasurama-ganw, or in its contracted form 
Parsa-ganw, and thence by regular transition has passed through Parsanw 
into Parson. If proof were required, it is supplied by the fact that a large 
pond of ancient sacred repute immediately adjoining the village is called 
Parasuram-kund. 
The sacred ponds and groves with which the country of Braj abounds, 
are, as might naturally be expected, ordinarily much older than the villages 
on their margin ; and, as illustrated by the above example, it is always of 
the utmost importance to the philologist to ascertain their popular names. 
These aie much less liable to corruption than the name of any village ; for 
as the tirath is visited solely on account of the divinity with whom it is 
tiaditionally associated, Ins name is in it preserved intact, while as an ele¬ 
ment in the word that designates the village (a place most connected in 
the mind with secular matters) its primary import is less considered and in 
a few generations may be totally forgotten. Thus the obscure name of a 
pond, which can only be ascertained by a personal visit, often reveals the 
