Scale 1 In: = 24 Miles. ( Frontispiece ). THE VILLAGE HÛJRÂ, OR GUEST HOUSE....

It was in the remote and little known village of “Ghazi,” situated on the left bank of the stately and classical Indus, and at the distance of about thirty miles from the ancient city of “Attock” (Atak) that most of this Folk-lore was collected. Ghazi in itself is not what would be called a picturesque village in those parts. Its straggling huts and houses are built on a rocky, unkind sort of soil, so that fine forest trees which would make a pleasing picture of the place will not grow there; in

“ Guru. ”—A Hindu spiritual director or guide. It is a Sanscrit word and was originally applied to a saint or holy man. The disciples of a “Guru” are termed “Chelah,” also a Sanscrit word, and meaning pupil, servant, slave. Amongst the Mahomedans a “Guru” would be termed a “Pir,” a Persian word, and in some parts “Murshud,” from the Arabic, and their disciples “Mureed,” also from the Arabic. All communities, either Hindu or Mahomedan, have their “Gurus” or “Pirs.” The disciples usually attend th

“ Once upon a time. ”—The original words are “Tek vella,” and this is the best, almost the only interpretation. “ Carry Grain. ”—The carriers of grain are generally called in the district “Bunniâs” or corn chandlers, The word “Bunniâ” is of Sanscrit derivation. Usually they are very intelligent Hindus. The Donkey-man in this tale would more probably be one of the Farmer class, and a Mahomedan. Other grain carriers are Farmers and Banjāras. Their best oxen or donkeys are held in high esteem, and

“ Fakir. ”—So often described that little new can be really said. There are both Mahomedan and Hindu Fakirs. They are indeed ascetics and recluses, or monks who have retired from the world in all its temporal concerns, and have devoted themselves to a religious life. Ordinarily they are poor men, and so they are mostly represented to be; but some of them are known to possess great wealth, and many are even landed proprietors. Some live in solitude, others in communities under a leader or ruler,

“ Aba-seine. ”—The river Indus is so termed in the Pushtu language, and the word comes from the Arabic: Aba, father, and Seine, a river. Pushtu is spoken in the region of Kandahar Kafiristan, and round about Attock, and is said to bear a similarity to the Semitic and Iranian languages. “ Imam. ”—From the Arabic, a leader in religious affairs; a priest of the Mahomedan faith; answers to “Mullah,” or “Mulwanah.” In the district round about Ghazi, and in other parts of India, the “Imam,” or “Mullah

“ Apoota. ”—Possibly from the Hindustani word “poot,” meaning upside down, inverted, or from the Sanscrit word “Apoot,” meaning an undutiful son. The son’s shoes, which he left the night before as he withdrew his feet from them, were found by him the next morning turned round, an understood custom to indicate dismissal, or banishment. “ Bucha. ”—A Persian word, signifying son, or child, and often used as a term of affection from old to young. A MONKEY TEMPLE IN INDIA. ( Copied ). “ Lungoor. ”—Th

“ Zulf-kur-Nain. ”—A compound of the two words “Zulf” and “Kernain.” The first in Persian represents a curl, and the latter is from the Arabic word “Kernai,” a horn. It is supposed that “Secundur” or Alexander the Great had two curls on his forehead like horns, so he was given the surname of “He of the two Horns.” ( See Hughes. ) “ Ab-Hyātt. ”—-Ab, Persian for water; Hyātt, Arabic for life. The incident of Alexander’s search for the Water of Life is referred to by Crooke in these words: “Accordi

“ Crocodile. ”—The word used in the original Punjabi was “Sainsar,” literally the “Gavial,” or rather “gharial.” This animal is called “Timsah” in Arabic, but as this class of the Crocodiles lives usually on fish, the saurian in the tale must have been unusually ferocious. The seizure of the leg of the Jackal by the Crocodile is common to many folk-tales throughout India, and is an indication of the general groundwork of many Aryan tales. “ Jackal. ”—So often described, it is not necessary to do

“ Fakir. ”—It might be added here that the word itself is derived from the Arabic “Fūkhr,” really three Arabic letters, F, K, and R. Three qualities that all Fakirs should possess; and the formidable nature of the pursuit is somewhat tersely told in the following Punjabi lines: In Akbar’s reign the followers of a seceder from the strict tenets of Islam, one Pir Roshan, when given to austere devotion, had, it is said, to pass through the several gradations of the external ordinances, or “Sheriat,

“ Fakir. ”—Much has been previously said under this heading, but it is well to give here a few of the sayings of the noted Fakir known by the name generally of “Baba Farīd,” whose shrine is still to be seen in the town of “Pak Pattan” in the Montgomery district, not far from Mūltān. He was one of the “Chisti class” and a Shiah, belonging to a tribe of Arab descent. The Shiahs differ from the Sunnis in the belief that Ali ought to have succeeded the Prophet, instead of Abubakr, Omar, and Osman. T

“ Sowar. ”—In former days it was usual in Native States for those responsible for the Land Revenue to send round “Sowars” or horsemen, to prepare the farmers for the arrival of the tax-gatherers. Note. —The Mahomedan Sowar of that day was presumed to be very scrupulous in adhering to the truth, and to say everything in exact accordance with that which is, has been, or shall be. “How can I do otherwise?” said one Sowar, “when my Prophet sets me the example?” Asked to explain, he replied: “Once Ma

“ Shams-i-Tabriz. ”—To this day the Shrine of this saint is to be seen in Mūltān. He lived in the time of the Emperor Shah Jehan, who had a passion for building tombs and palaces. The well-known “Taj Mahal” was erected in his reign, A.D. 1627 to 1657. This tale can hardly be classed as “Folk-lore,” but it was given as tradition, and it is interesting as indicating the element of superstition which has come to be embodied with what is actual matter of fact. Shams-i-Tabriz was a Sufi philosopher,

“ Shāitān. ”—From the Hebrew word “Shuttun,” to be hostile; hence the Arabic “Shāitān,” opposition. According to Mahomedan tradition, he has four lieutenants, viz., Muleeqa, Hamoos, Nabloot, and Yoosoof. By some he is known as “Iblis” from the Arabic word “despair,” and the wife of a “Shāitān” would be termed “Bhutnī” in Sanscrit. In Persian the leader of evil is called “Ahurmun,” (Burhān-i-kāti), or the evil principle. Crooke classes “Shāitān” with Jinn, or Genii. Divided into the Janii, who ar

This is one of the tales, says Crooke, of the grateful Animal cycle, for which see Köhler and Crooke. “ Sakhi. ”—From the Arabic word, “sakhi,” meaning liberal, generous. “ Kallundar. ”—From the Arabic word, “kallundar,” a kind of monk who deserts the world, wife, and friends, and travels about with a shaven head and beard. They belonged to a sect of the Kadiri Fakirs, akin to the Sufis, and do not refuse to take “murids” or followers; but the Sufis only tolerate them. “ Ātā. ”—A Hindustani word

“ Azimgurh. ”—“Azim” is the Arabic for great, and is used wherever Moslems have spread, in names of towns and in titles, such as Azimgurh, Azimpur, or Azim-us-Shan, meaning splendid.— Balfour. “ Kazi. ”—From the Arabic, and means a judge or justice—one who determines and decrees in Mahomedan law. In days long gone by the ruling of the Kazi was thought more absolute than it is now, and there was then no appeal from his judgment. As a class they were greatly respected, though some were believed to

“ Akbar and Bīrbal. ”—Both Akbar and Bīrbal have their place in history, about A.D. 1586, and doubtless this tale is told amongst many others current in India in order to keep in memory the wit and humour of Akbar’s most favourite minister. It is not old folk-lore, but finds a place here as oral tradition on the Indus, in the valley of which river Akbar was born. “ Bīrbal. ”—Another tale is told of the same minister who when tauntingly asked by the Emperor Akbar why he did not make an effort to

“ Vizier. ”—From the Arabic word, “Wuzir,” literally, a bearer of a burden. A Grand Vizier is the highest temporal dignitary in Mahomedan States. The title of “Wuzir” dates from the 8th Century and was conferred on the Chief Minister of the first Abbaside Califs, a dynasty which reigned at Baghdad from about A.D. 740 to 1,250, and they derived their name and descent from a paternal uncle of Mahomed. “ Shepherd. ”—The Hindustani word, and that in frequent use, is “Gadryā,” from “Gādar,” a sheep,

“ Sait. ”—This is a Sanscrit word for a banker, and is pronounced “Seth.” The word “Chetty” is derived from this, as applied to “Tamil” traders in Burmah and the Straits Settlements. Those who take up purely financial matters are astute men of business; lending money at exhorbitant rates of interest they get many of the farmers into complete subjection to them. They are wise enough to keep in with the people generally, and often build masonry tanks and dig wells for general use. Sometimes in the

“ Jinns. ”—Before referred to, and meaning that which is internal, and cannot be seen. The word is spelt sometimes Djinns, or Ginns. They are supposed by some to be deities of the ancient pagans. By the Greeks believed to be spirits never engaged in matter, nor ever joined to bodies, subdivided into good and bad, every man having one of each to attend him at all times. The Mahomedans believe in several divisions of them, and that they inhabited the world many thousands of years before Adam. Fall

“ Nanak. ”—This founder of the religious and warlike commonwealth of the Sikhs is so fully referred to by the able historians, “Hunter” and “Elphinstone,” that there is little new to tell of him beyond the folk-lore of the district to which these tales refer. He flourished about the end of the fifteenth century, was a disciple of “Kabir,” and was a sort of Hindu deist, with universal toleration to all sects. He is said to have ridiculed the religious washings and ablutions of the Brahmins by tel