1898.] G. A. Grierson —Gujarati Dialect discovered in Midnapur. 187 
the latter by assuming their patroityms—is not known. But the contempt 
with which they are treated by the Hindus, owing to their thieving pro¬ 
pensity, precludes the possibility of intermarriage between these two classes 
of people. Indeed the name of Siyalgiri has become a bye-word—a term 
of reproach—and whenever a Hindu takes to thieving as his profession ho 
is said to have turned a Siyalgiri. 
The Siyalgiris have Brahmans for their priests, and so* they have lost 
all traces of their original religion—if they had any when they first came 
into the district. These Brahmans do- not appear to 1 have some with them, 
for most of those who officiate as priests at the religious ceremonies per¬ 
formed by the Siyalgiris belong to the class of low-caste indigenous Brah¬ 
mans, and in society they occupy the same position as the Brahmans of 
Mucins, Chamars, and other similar castes. 
They worship the same gods and goddesses as their Hindu* neighbours 
But their widows remarry and they bury their dead. 
They do not appear to- have any peculiar custom as to inheritance. As 
most of them are generally very poor and leave very little property when 
they die, the Siyalgiris abide by the decision arrived at by their priests in 
the event of any dispute arising as to inheritance in any particular case. 
I do not think these details will be of any material help in tracing the 
origin of this tribe whose appearance in Midnapur, occurring at a time 
beyond the memory of the present generation, cannot be satisfactorily 
accounted for. 
Their features also do not give any clue as to their origin. If they had* 
any peculiarity it has disappeared altogether, and the Siyalgiris can now be* 
hardly distinguished from ordinary Bengali peasants. 
It is therefore through their dialect alone that their origin can: now be* 
traced, and it is for these reasons that I give here the Siyalgiri equivalents 
for “salt” and “curry”—the two most common necessaries of life—which 
they call foar [mitlm = sweet) and (Khalan for Hindi Satan) respec¬ 
tively. 
The other peculiarities of their dialect will appear from the specimen, 
already submitted. 
An examination of the* specimen shows that the language is a* 
variety of the language of the Blnls. The Blnls speak a corrupt form 
of Gujarati, and Siyalgiri. agrees with Bhlli when it differs from the 
standard form of that language. Thus, the Gujarati for “ I ” is hit , 
but the Bhlli is wo, and the Siyalgiri is mu. There are some words which, 
so far as I am aware, are not in Bhlli, and which I have been unable 
to identify as belonging to* any known language, Munda, Dravidian,. 
Tibeto-Burman, or Aryan, of India. Such are badithei meaning 
“ against,” aga meaning “father,” and klidm-loydn “to hear.” 
I may mention that an excellent grammar and vocabulary of the' * 
Bhll language has been prepared by the Rev. C. S. Thompson.* The 
* Ahmadabad, United Printing Press, 1895, 
