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is a retrograde step. The freedom of expression allowed to the public press in the discussion of public affairs and the criticism of administrative measures, enabling it thus to act as a salutary substitute for the control of the superior Government is a condition precedent to the success of any decentralization scheme. It is because this condition has been practically non-existent in Sind, that the Commissioner in Sind as well as the District Collectors can, when occasion arises, while nominally supported by the effusive flattery of certain so-called leaders of the people, flout the real public opinion in the province with impunity. So long as the Press and the public are given little liberty of expression and the present sensibility and touchiness of officials to unpalatable because true criticism continues unabated, all plans whereby the local Government is given final authority will be fraught with mischief, for in the absence of both Imperial and popular control, the local officials will be prone to autocratic methods of administration.

J.

The Journal of Indian Art and Industry.

The Journal of Indian Art seems to have entered into a new life with its current number (July 1914). The quarterly has been a sort of semi-official publication issued since 1883, under the patronage of the Government. Its chief contributions have hitherto come from the so-called official authorities on Indian Art who have failed to find any merit in the fine arts of India as distinguished from its industrial and applied arts. The investigations recently made in the field of Indian painting and sculpture have revolutionised one's ideas on the excellence of Indian aesthetic culture and have widened the basis of the criticism and the understanding of Indian fine Art. It is refreshing to find, therefore, a healthy change in the policy of the conductors of this Journal which for 31 years has professed to record the materials for the study and appreciation of Indian Art. Unfortunately Dr. Coomaraswamy's contribution to the number, with his Notes on Jaina art, do not happily inaugurate the new note of change in the policy of the Journal. It is hardly an exhaustive article but the title seems to raise hopes which are not realised by the contents and the scope of the article. "Notes on Jain book-illustrations" would have been a happier title, as the notes and

the illustrations, with the exceptions of a few beautiful examples of textiles, are exclusively confined to illustrations from five Jaina MSS. There are very surprising and interesting informations for the study of Jaina iconography, but the drawings reproduced, even as considered as mere book-illustrations, hardly show any merit equal to the Buddhist illuminated MSS., and are likely to leave the average reader unconvinced of the merits of Jaina art. Some of the illustrations undoubtedly show vitality and strength in draughtsmanship, the best examples being illustrations a, b, 11, 15, 22 and 52. The drawings of elephants and bulls in some of the compositions (d & 17) are particularly interesting. The physical type of the figures, (in these illustrations). with their hooked nose and large eyes, are very peculiar. They are almost identically similar to the old Orissan drawings which Dr. Coomaraswamy does not mention; and he is led to suggest in the mannerism of these delineations a relationship Persian art which is not convincing. On the other hand they bear a closer affinity to the types of figures which we meet with, in Javanese art. (Vide plate I fig. 4, plates 6,7 & 13 Catalogus 'SRijk Ethnographisch Museum, Bali en Lombok 1912). On the whole the July number of the Journal is a very interesting one and offers many new suggestions for the study of Indian art and therefore should be read by all serious students interested in the subject.

O. C. G.

Castes and subcastes of Garhwal.
BY TARAdUTTA GAIROLA.
(Concluded)

There is no doubt that just as Sarolas were the priests and ministers of the Chandpur Rajas, some of the Gangarie Brahmans held similar positions in the courts of other chieftains who ruled in Garhwal. For instance, the Dumaga Brahmans, Purohits, Kimothis, and Maikoties of Nagpur were the Sarolas of the Nagpur Raja, the ancestors of the present Thokedar Keshar Singh Barthwal. But when all those chieftains were subdued, one after the other, by the Chandpur Raja. they, they, as well as their priests, began to recede into the background. Some of the pure Gangaric Brahmans came from the plains during the period when the Behri Raja's ancestors lived at Srinagar. Buga.

nas, Uniyals and a few other families claim to be among such emigrants. The Buganas were famous astrologers and Pundits in the court of the Srinagar Raja, and Uniyals or Ojhas, as they call themselves, were priests of Raj Rajeswari Devi, the family goddess of the Srinagar Rajas at Dewalgarh near Srinagar. Both these families were held in great respect during the Srinagar period of the Tehri Rajas. The above statement would show that the pretensions of the several sub-castes to social positions are mainly due to political causes, There does not appear to be anything intrinsic in a subcaste to single it out from the rest. As regards certain customs which have become stereotyped in certain groups or subcastes, I ascribe them entirely to physical causes. In those early days of difficult communication certain families who remained in one neighbourhood intermarried and interdined in their own circle. Originally they may have come from the plains, may be from different parts of the country. But gradually they became cut off from their Biradari in the plains and created a new Biradari for themselves in their new home of adoption. And when all memories of their origin were lost in oblivion their connection with the plains ceased altogether, and they became separate PahariBrahmin sub-castes. The same rule applies, mutatis mutandis, to the different subcastes or groups of Rajputs occupying different parts of the District. The total number of superior Gangarie-Brahmin proprietors at Mr. Pauw's Settlement of 1894 was 5267.

Khas-Brahmans. I now come to the last group of Brahmans known as KhasBrahmans. They are the new cases of accretion now in progress, in the words of Mr. Blunt, the Census Superintendent. Only within living memory these sub-castes were Khasias or Rajputs to all intents and purposes. They intermarried and interdined with Khasias. But being connected But being connected as priests with certain Saiva temples they gradually began to marry Brahmin girls and assume Brahmin sur-names. They have also reformed their mode of life and are now veritable Brahmins. Some of them have even gone to the extreme of not eating rice cooked by Sarolas. The total number of Khas Brahmin proprietors at the last settlement was 3685 and inferior Gangaries 397.

I now come to the sub-castes of Rajputs, that important section of the Garhwali community who form its back-bone as it were. I have given above the various classifications of the Rajputs and their sub-castes. I may also mention here another classification given by Mr. E. K. Pauw, the late Deputy Commissioner and Settlement Officer in Garhwal, who is considered a great authority on Garhwal customs. He divides Rajputs into Chattries or high caste Rajputs and Khasias or low caste Rajputs. His Chattries correspond to first class Rajputs of Captain Browne's classification.

I will now very briefly discuss the origin of these Chattries or high class Rajputs, so far as can be gathered from previous writers and the known fatcs about them. I have stated above that formerly the whole District was split up into several petty Kingdoms under their own feudal Chief or Thakur. He and his clansmen occupied some glen or valley now called Patti. Several Patties of Garhwal are still called after these subcastes of Chattrias. Kafolsyun, after the Kafola Bists; Kandarsyun after Kandarie Gosains, and so on. These petty Chiefs were Chattriyas or high class Rajputs, whose descendants are the present Thokedar families and some other sub-castes of Rajputs.

Some families of Rajputs migrated from the plains during the rule of the Chandpur and Srinagar Rajas and were taken in the Military service. In lieu of pay villages were assigned to them, and military titles were also conferred on them which they and their descendants have borne since. For instance Gusain, a sub-caste of Garhwal Rajputs, means a master; Rawat, a family title borne by four or five Rajput sub-castes means a hero; Negi meaning a master, has been adopted by several Rajput familes. Captain Browne has taken great pains in tracing the history of the several high class Rajput sub-castes of Garhwal in his excellent table of Garhwal castes. According to him most of these families of Rajputs are immigrants from the plains. But so far as the present writer is aware there is no written authority for this fact. But as I will show later on, when dealing with Khasias, I do not think we can draw any sharp line of distinction, so far as the origin is concerned, between the various subcastes of Rajputs. Political importance

has mainly been the determining factor in the social gradation of the Rajput subcastes, as stated above.

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I have already mentioned the social incidents of the various Rajput subcastes. It now remains for me to briefly consider the second and by no means un-important sub-division of the Rajputs, the Khasias. I have read with great interest the masterly discussion of this question in Mr. Atkinson's Himalayan Districts Vol. II., pp. 274 onwards. The conclusion to be drawn from that discussion, so far as I can see, is that Khasias and Paehavas, whom I make bold to identify with the Pabilas of Chandpur and Rath Pattis, are degraded Aryans, who having access to the Vedas or the Brahmans, became out of touch with the Brahmanical influence. I can find no better authority than this in support of my own theory, that Khasias, including Pabilas, are Rajputs. I may also mention some other theories in this connection. Some writers think that Khasias are a non-Aryan Indo-Scythian race, who invaded India and gradually receded into the frontier regions. But, so far as I have seen, this is a mere surmise. Others, including Mr. Atkinson, identify Khasias with the the Yakshas mentioned in the Puranas. But those Yakshas, Kinnaras, Gandharbas of the Puranas were demi-gods, higher than men. They could not be the half-civilized and apparently non-Hindu race of the Khasias, who wear no sacred thread and observe few Brahmanical injunctions. Moreover, Khasias of the Puranas were a very fair race, fairer than the

Aryras even; whereas the Khasias, as every one knows, are of more or less uncouth appearance. I venture to give a theory of my own with regard to the origin of these Khasias. My view is, that the Khasia is a corrupt form of Kshattriya. Ksh is easily changed into Kh; as from Lakshman, Lakhan; Kshem, Khem and so on. Tri can also, by process of repetetion and transformation, be changed to Si. Thus from Kshattriya we easily get Khasia. It is also a well known fact that some words originally meaning good gradually begin to begin to connote quite the reverse. This is due to degradation in the subject itself. We have several instances of this in the English language. Now formerly a Kshatriya in commea parlance was called a Khasia. It connoted all those warlike qualities which characterize a true Kshatriya. In the ancient folk-lore of Garhwal we hear of several warriors and heroes being nicknamed Khasia. In fact Khasia meant a warrior in ancient folklore. But gradually as the race of Khasias degenerated and lost all their manly virtues. that word began to assume a bad meaning and now connotes all that is cowardly. The word Pahari has also shared the same fate. Formerly the word Pahari meant all that was noble, virtuous and honest. But now, that word is contemptuously used by the lowlanders. The above obser vations will lend support to the view. that Khasias are Kshatriyas degraded. having been out of touch with Aryan influence and living in remote, out of the way, recesses of the Himalayas.

REVIEWS AND NOTICES OF BOOKS

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rise of a new Theistic system as the result of the mental fermentation of the pre-Buddhistic age, the sources of the religion of the Bhagavad Gita, the growth of the Rama and Krishna cults, and the historic traces of the Bhagavata School of Vaishnavas, and his analysis of the origins of the Narayan cat in the Mahabharat, cannot possibly be bettered.

But as soon as Sanskrit literature fails him, he loses his mastery of detail and sureness of touch. la the case of sects whose sacred literatures are not Sanskrit or Marathi, he has to depend entirely on t

is

few English and fewer Sanskrit works that have been written on them. This is specially noticeable in his accounts of the saints of the Hindi and Bengalispeaking races. (He has, however, consulted Hindi works, though not with freedom or appreciable gain.)

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If the chapters on Kavir and Chaitanya, Ramananda and Tulsidas, do not satisfy us, it is because they fall short of the high standard of workmanship that ne himself has reached in his accounts of the historic growth of the Vishnu and Shiva cults and his notices of the Maratha saints. But it is no fault in Dr. Bhandarkar that he has not attained to uniform success in a work which could have been adequately written only by a syndicate of scholars. As the book stands, we cannot think of any other scholar who could have singly produced such a masterly survey of the philosophy and growth of Indian creeds and their intellectual origins and affinities.

After every deduction has been made this volume will remain for many a decade to come as the fullest and most accurate dictionary of the chief Indian reeds, and record of Indian god-knowledge, as written from the cold and passionless stand-point of a scholar and not from that of a bhakta. The author is concerned more with philosophy than with faith,-with scriptures rather than with saints. The influence of these saints on life has been either ignored or slurred over in this book; it is a dictionary of religion,possibly a manual of philosophy, but not a history.

P. 83. Nityanand was not the brother of Chaitanya, but a stranger altogether.

Ancient India, by E. J. Rapson. Pp. viii+200 with 6 illus. and 2 maps. (Cambridge University Press, 1914.) 3s. net.

We have here a clear outline of the history of the nations of India from the date of the Rig-veda to the establishment of the Kushan empire under Kanishka, 1200 B.C. to 78 A D.), supplemented by sketches of the salient features of the chief religious and social systems which flourished during the period.

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When an expert, in the fulness of his knowledge, writes even a small book on the subject on which he is an acknowledged authority, it brings the general reader's knowledge more abreast of the research. For this reason Prof. Rapson's Ancient India is of unsurpassed value. As we go through the 147 pages of the text our interest never flags; every now and then we meet with fresh light from urchæology, newly discovered facts or a new presentaion of known facts, or some illuminating comment which makes us realise India's past as by a flash.

Apart from its accurate and up-to-date scholarship, the chief merit of the book is that it is no dry chronicle of events. Facts are here subordinated to illustrate road movements in religion, society or thought. We earn more of "tendencies" than of kings.

On p. 55 we learn how the Aryans in India did not all profess the Brahmanic religion at first, and that the belated admissions to the fold of this faith, -though pure Aryans by race, had to do special sacrifices to expiate for their former-shall we call t Mlechchhaism? The roots of Buddhism in the Satapatha Brahmana are another interesting discovery (p. 57). On p. 68 we have a good explanation of the absence of temples in pre-Buddhist India : 'Brahmanism is not congregational. Its observances consist partly of caste-duties performed by the inlividual and partly of ceremonies performed for his special benefit by priests." Hence no temples were needed. On p. 80 the new reading of the names of

Aryan gods,-Indra Mitra, &c.-on the Mitanni inscriptions of the 15th century B. C. is mentioned, and another equally recent discovery is utilised on p. 157 where the Besnagar Garuda-column inscription of the Hellenistic ambassador, 'Hellodorus, the son of Dion and a Bhagavata,' is given in facsimile.

An instance of Prof. Rapson's lucidity occurs on page 71, where he tells us that the Mahabharat is 30 times as long as Paradise Lost in number of syllables, and that only one-fifth of the whole epic deals with the main theme. Very wise and convincing remarks are made on "local governments in India in all periods of history" (p. 97), the aloofness of the nation as a whole from warfare, and "the remarkable continuity of policy on the part of the rulers of whatever nationality who have" ruled an empire in India (p. 111). Rapson's translation of Asoka's dhamma by 'duty' is a distinct improvement on Buhler's 'sacred law' and Smith's 'law of piety,' for dharma is used in the sense of 'duty' in the Rajput chronicles (e.g., Swami-dharma, the duty of a subject to his king, loyalty.)

We rise from the perusal of this book with an aggravated form of Oliver Twist's feelings when he said, "Please, Sir, I want a little more." But the forthcoming first volume of the Cambridge Indian History under Prof. Rapson's editorship will soon satisfy our cravings. One and only one complaint we have to make the extra-Indian world looms too largely in this small volume. After all Bactria and Parthia touched only the fringe of India; they never influenced Indian life, and therefore should not have almost elbowed out Magadha and Videha.

The Struggle between the Mahrattas and the Moghuls, by M. N. Burway, B. A. (Indore, 1914), Pp. X + 140, Rs. 2.

In the short space of 85 small pages the author attempts a rapid survey of Maratha history in connection with the general history of India from the rise of Shivaji to the death of the Peshwa Madhav Rao Narayan in 1795. The style is uncritical, with a partiality for rhetoric and brag. The author is a Maratha scholar, and yet he relies almost entirely on English works. His references to the original Marathi documents collected by Rajwade and Parasnis are extremely few and always too vague for verification. The volume adds nothing to our knowledge, but gives a digest of the familiar narrative with a running commentary which never rises above the commonplace. The English needs revision.

We are astonished to see the author more than insinuating that the third battle of Panipat was really a reverse to the Afghans, and that "the Abdali chief returned home repenting for his last and ill-fated visit to Hindustan" (p. 129). The fact of the Abdali Amir having sent an agent to the Peshwa with some presents (pp. 133-135) in Feb. 1763, is interpreted by our author as a proof of something on which "he leaves it to his readers to form their own decision" -but which evidently means that the Marathas were the real victors at Panipat! On the solitary evidence of a letter from Tukoji Holkar he denies the suicide of the young Peshwa (p. 83). The author's boast that "the Maratha power rose to eradicate the oppression of the Mughal rule and to deliver the Hindu race from the evil of Mughal tyranny" (p. 85), is not con sonant with the facts so far as India outside the Konkan and Desh are concerned. The Maratha officers did not kidnap the wives and daughters of their subjects as many Mughal underlings did, but the inflated

Maratha armies throughout the 18th century contained unprincipled mercenaries of all creeds and races and did as much outrage to women as the Mughal army in its laxest days. Again, the Marathas merely superimposed the extortion of roving brigands on the remnant of the Mughal administration in the various Subahs they penetrated. They never, in Northern India at least, undertook the full administration and defence of the provinces they black-mailed. The Mughals ruled, defended and kept order where they conquered; the "Red Dholes of the Deccan" swept over a desolated land withont recognising any moral obligation to protect where they had robbed. The history of Rajputana and Bundelkhand in the 18th century shows that the Maratha power threw the Hindu race there into a worse evil than Mughal tyranny; the new robbers were as rapacious but far more irresistible than the old, and they fleeced Hindus and Muslims with impartial rigour. We note a few corrections below. Aurangzib formally ascended the throne on 21 July 1458, and not on 26 May 1657 (p. 8). Mirza Rajah Jai Singh has been confounded with Sawai Jai Singh, who flourished two generations later (pp. 9 & 10). Jaswant was only faujdar of Jamrud and subahdar of Afghanistan (p. 10). Shivaji had audience of Aurangzib at Agra and not at Delhi, and our author's assertion that "the hero of the Marathas made the astounding demand of the viceroyalty of the Deccan" is a myth (p. 38). When Khafikhan records the year of Shivaji's death in the sentence, "The infidel went to hell," he merely continues the tradition of Christian monk of Spain who chronicled Almanzor's death as "In the year-Almanzor died and was buried in hell." (p. 41). The “acts worthy of a mad man" mentioned on P. 47 are only a survival of the system imposed by the Arabs on their conquered dominions, notably Sindh. The poet Bhushan was no stranger to Shivaji, (p. 62), with whom he had lived for some time-as the introduction to his works, Nagri Pracharini Sabha edition, will show.

GUJARATI.

J. Sarkar.

(1) Jagvikhyat Purusho, Part II, published by the Society for the Encouragement of Cheap Literature, printed at the Diamond Jubilee Printing Press, Ahmedabad. Cloth bound. Pp. 298. Price Re. 0-10-0 (1914).

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(2) The Shantiparva, published by the Society and printed at the same Press. Pp. 836. Cloth bound. Price Rs 2-8-0 (1914).

The first work contains the lives of Carlyle, Dr. Johnson and Charles Bradlaugh. They are translations from Marathi. The second is part of an enterprising scheme, to supply the whole of the Mahabharat in Gujarati at Rs. 10, a price at which it has never been offered before. Looking to the success which has till now met the efforts of the Society to cheapen literature, we think this effort is bound to result favorably.

Deshadesha ni Rasmaya Vato, by Harilal Manecklal Desai, B. A., and Kallianrai Nathubhai Joshi, B. A., printed at the Vidya Vilas Press, Baroda. Cloth bound. Pp. 64. Price Re. 0-6-0 (1914).

Small stories relating to various countries. This little book is meant for children, who will find much to instruct them here.

Snehankur, by Chandra Shanker Narmada Shanker Pandya, B. A., LL. B., printed at the Shrikrishna Press, Bombay. Paper Cover. Pp. 30. Price Re. 0-2-0. (1914).

In Mr. Pandya's opinion the whole creation tends to Love, and these little poems contained in this littl booklet-offered as a New Year's Gift to his friendsall revolve round some manifestation or other of Love. They are certainly very readable poems, and mirror forth the sentimental and poetic side of the composer's nature.

Adhyatmic Swarup, Printed

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Shrikrishna ni Raskrira nun by Maganlal Manekłal Jhaveri, Dharma Vijaya Printing Press, Ahmedabad. Paper Cover Pp. 45, Price Re. 0-4-0. (1914).

This is another translation from Marathi from the extremely restless and prolific pen of the translator. It tries to make out that the Raskrira of Krishna with the Gopis is to be taken in an allegorical sense. We don't think that this version of the famous event in the life of Krishna is offered for the first time. It has become old enough and still fails to carry convic tion with it. An explanation of the event, based or the methods of testing the truth of history and chro nicles, is what is required to free the good name of Krishna from this blot in the eye of the public. This book does not furnish such an explanation and is therefore not of much use. K. M. J.

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This collection of stories translated from the Galpas of certain Bengali writers will be found to be a highly interesting reading and will more than repay its price. In many respects the educational value of these short stories exceeds that of novels. However, we find Urdu writers treading on this field very rarely. The stories in the book are of different types, being from the pen of five different authors, and they may be said to be representative typical selections of the very highest order. The book contains eight stories and they are all well-finished and exceptionally pleasant to read. The language of the book is highly idiomatic and the merit of the translation consists in the fact that it does not appear to be translation at M. S.

all.

Printed and published by Abinash Chandra Sarkar, at the B. M. Press.

211, Cornwallis Street, Calcutta.

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