186 G A. Grierson — Gujarati Dialect discovered m Midnapur. [No. 2, 
“ A Sub-Inspector of Schools under the District Board was deputed to 
Dantan with copies of the English and Bengali versions of the parable of the 
Prodigal Son, and he got the parable translated into the Siyalgiri dialect 
with the help of two men belonging to that tribe and of the Sub-Inspector 
of Police, Dantan. 
These two Siyalgiris were both by their age and intelligence, best able 
to translate the parable, and as they could speak both Bengali and Hindi the 
parable was fully and correctly explained to them before they translated it, 
and so it is certain that they perfectly understood what they had to 
translate. 
I then went through the translation very carefully, and by comparing it 
with the specimens of other dialects given in the printed book became con¬ 
vinced that it was altogether a separate dialect resembling Gujarati. 
Neither the Sub-Inspector of Schools nor the Sub-Inspector of Police 
knows Gujarati, and I do not think the two Siyalgiris who translated the 
parable of the Prodigal Son into the language spoken by them have ever 
heard of Gujarat or know anything of Gujarati. 
In these circumstances there is I should think no room for doubt that 
the specimen sent correctly represents the dialect spoken by the Siyalgiris. 
I have since obtained some additional particulars relating to the Siyal¬ 
giris which 1 beg to give below with a view to facilitate their identification 
with any other tribe in India. 
Unfortunately there is nothing like tradition prevalent among them as 
to whence they came and when they came to Dantan. This is apparently 
due to their having been a wandering tribe for many generations before they 
came and settled in this district. People like the Siyalgiris generally have a 
short memory, and they do not appear to have any songs or ballads in 
their language throwing any light on their previous history. 
They do not even know whether there are any other sections of their 
tribe living in any other part of India. 
In this district the Siyalgiris are found in the following villages :— 
1. Nimpur. 4. Dhukurda. 
2. Gomunda. 5. Saipur. 
3. Lalmohanpatna. 
And also in Suga and Simla in District Balasore. 
From the information that I have been able to collect regarding this 
tribe it would seem that they first appeared in this district about 150 years 
ago. 
During this period both their manners and customs have become 
thoroughly Hinduised. 
They are now divided into four classes :— 
1. Jana. 3. Das. 
2. Patra or Patar. 4. Har. 
All these are Hindu patronyms. 
How they became so subdivided—either by intermarriage with their 
Hindu neighbours, or by their desire to raise themselves up to the level of 
