Mansel Longworth Dames

“ On this, the king sent the wazir to fetch his son; but when the wazir came, the prince said, "I will not leave my brother, I am a Baloch, I will not go." When the wazir came back with this answer, the king was much grieved, thinking, "Have I a son or not?" So he made a proclamation, promising such and such lands rent free to anyone who should get his son back for him. An old woman then came forward, saying, "I'll bring him back for you." The old woman then went to the place where the boys were grazing the kids, and began to pick up the goat's dung and put it in a basket. ”

“ The prophet Drīs used to listen to her voice, and he too, as he worked the well, would repeat passages from . the Kurān. The king's daughter then laid down her own Kurān, and fixed the ears of her heart on him, for his voice sounded sweet to her. Every morning she did this.
One day the king's daughter said to her father, "It is now time for me to have a husband ; let me marry. Get the people together, and let me choose a husband for myself." The king called all the people together, and they assembled there. The prophet Drīs asked the potter to take him also to the assembly. ”

“ Next morning the king went to the Faqīr, who handed him two kunar-fruits, [1] saying, "Eat one yourself and give one to your wife." The king took away the two kunars and ate one, and gave one to his wife. His wife conceived, and in the tenth month she gave birth to a son.
Then the king made a proclamation as follows: "If a son has to-day been born to anyone let him bring him to me, to be brought up with my own son." There was a Baloch goatherd in whose house a son had been born that day. He brought his son to the king, and the king brought up the two boys together. ”

“ On this Naina Bai woke and roused the prince, and said, "This brother of yours was standing here in front of me, touching me with his hand; he has become false to you." The prince arose and was very angry, and accused him of being in love with Naina Bai. Then the goatherd told him the whole story of his dream, and showed him the snake lying dead, and, said he, "Now I have told you all, and I shall become a stone for a year. A son will be born to you, and if you kill him and sprinkle his blood over me I shall be restored ”

“ The goatherd went to him and gave him three or four rupees, and said, "Do this for me; if you see anyone coming towards the tomb, call out thus: 'O owner of the dun bull, if you have understood, 'tis well, and if not, in the morning the bull will become public property,' and then I shall know, but do not call out if there is no need." Now, the king of that town was in love with Naina Bai, and had consulted a soothsayer, and asked him to tell by augury what Naina Bai was doing at that moment, whether she was asleep, or awake, or what ”

“ Mahmūd was supported by Sultan Muzaffar of Gujarat, who took the capital city, Mandu. Rana Sanga of Mewar supported the Hindus, and in 1520 he defeated Sultan Mahmūd and carried him as a prisoner to Chitor, but treated him well, and finally released him. (See the Mirāt-i-Sikandari, Fazlullah’s translation, pp. 106, 107.) Under these circumstances the confusion between Muzaffar and Mahmud, and between Gujarat and Malwa, was natural, more especially as a few years later (1530) Malwa was conquered and annexed by Gujarat. ”

“ So they filled two saddlebags, and mounted their mares, and came to Choti town, inquiring as they went along. There they made themselves out to be merchants, and alighted at an old woman's house, and unloaded their baggage, and went into the town in the guise of Khojas. [5] They got some silk and women's goods, and began selling them in the town; and, seeking as they went, they arrived at last at the Chūrīgars' ward, and there made this proclamation: "We deal in silk, and in beads, and in thread; who'll buy?" ”

“ The importance of their connection with the primitive tribes of the country, such as the Bhīls and Mīnas, and of the part taken by these in investiture ceremonies, is also well brought out by Tod, and is of great value from the folk-lore point of view as accentuating the position held by these autochthonic tribes who were believed to have intercourse with and control over the mysterious powers of nature in their country. ”

“ Annals and Antiquities of Rajasthan, by Lieutenant-Colonel James Tod, edited by William Crooke. 3 vols. Oxford University Press. London: Milford. Tod’s Rajasthan has long been established in the estimation of all qualified judges and in the affections of all Anglo-Indians as one of the few great classics produced since the establishment of British supremacy in India. And this position it will not easily lose in spite of its deficiencies from the point of view of modern scholarship. These can be made good, and are made good, in the present edition by Mr. ”