Specimens of Lahnda and Sindhi. by Sir George Grierson, KCIE

134 REVIEWS OF BOOKS LINGUISTIC SURVEY OF INDIA. Vol. VIII, Part I: SPECIMENS OF LAHNDA AND SINDHI. By Sir GEORGE GRIERSON, K.C.I.E., D.Litt. pp. x, 584. The Linguistic Survey of India is not nearly so well known as it ought to be. It is over seventeen years since the first volume appeared, and now out of the eighteen volumes of which the series is to consist fifteen have been printed and two are ready for the press. The last volume, which is numbered Vol. I, cannot be finally prepared till all the others are completed, for it is of the nature of an introduction to the series. Some idea of the magnitude of the work may be obtained from the fact that the volumes already printed contain over 7,800 pages. Of these over 6,000 have been prepared by Sir George Grierson himself, the remainder being from the pen of Dr. Sten Konow, a distinguished Norwegian philologist and Sanskritist, well known in London and also in India, where he was connected with the Archaeological Department. The volumes of the series are said to be merely " compiled and edited " by Sir George Grierson, but it is worth while pausing for a moment to realize the labour involved in the process. The materials before him consisted partly of books, especially in the case of the better-known languages, but chiefly of MSS. numbering thousands, dealing with every language and dialect of which the Survey treats. These MSS. were of widely different value: some were the work of accomplished scholars—unfortunately very few, all told ; some were of ordinarily good quality, many were only mediocre, and a considerable number were full of every kind of mistake. This was the material that had to be read, studied, sorted, and digested ; inconsistencies and contradictions had to be considered, mistakes allowed for, the wheat separated from the chaff; finally, grammars had to be evolved which should present the salient features of each dialect and show its relationship to neighbouring dialects, to the greater groups of languages and to the primary families themselves. As has been said, three volumes remain to be issued. They are the so-called Gipsy languages by Dr. Konow, the Iranian languages, and the Introduction by the Editor-in-Chief. It will be seen that Sir George has done far more than compile and edit. Much has been written by himself, and what he has written is more valuable than the edited and compiled specimens, extremely valuable though these are. The volume before us deals with Laihndi and Sindhi. I use the form Laihndi in preference to Lahnda, partly because I prefer it, but LINGUISTIC SUKVEY OF INDIA 135 also because I regard it as important that when two or more forms of a word recommend themselves to authors they should all be used in print. In this way scholars will be in a position to come to an ultimate decision as to which is the best. One will gradually oust the others, and finally, we may hope, the fittest will survive. I regard Laihndi as the better form, inasmuch as it is feminine. The word laihndd is a masc. participle, and Indians would naturally make it feminine when referring to a language. Thus the Panjab Census Commissioner for 1911, himself an Indian, has changed Lahnda to Lahndi, and uses Lahndi throughout the Census report. The author of the recently issued History of Hindi Literature has done the same. My reason for inserting " i" and writing Laihndi instead of Lahndi is that it represents the pronunciation better. The word as pronounced with moderate correctness by a European rhymes with the English words " sandy, brandy, handy ". Laihndi and Sindhi form, we are here told, the North-Western Group of the Outer Circle of Indo-Aryan languages, and possess many characteristics connecting them with the Dardic languages. Some of these relate to points of pronunciation. But at this point X feel it is necessary to enter a caveat. We are not in a position to say much about the pronunciation of Dardic languages. When we speak about cerebrals and dentals in these forms of speech we can go no further than the specimens take us, specimens prepared by foreigners, men who learnt what they knew of these sounds after they were grown up, perhaps had reached middle life. The mixing up of speech sounds which to Europeans (and in this case it may be to Indians also) appear alike has been carried into the Pisaca specimens, including Sina. Now in Sina. we know that there is the clearest distinction made between cerebrals and dentals, and one cannot help thinking that .further knowledge may show the same distinction in other languages of the group. However, the connexion of Sindhi and Laihndi with the Pisaca group does not depend on matters of pronunciation. The facts adduced by the author are of the deepest interest. We picture the Dard colonists pushing their way downinto India, and when ultimately driven back or overwhelmed, leaving everywhere the traces of their occupation. For fuller details about them and about the Gujars and other similar invaders we look to the forthcoming Introductory volume. The author's extremely valuable article in the last two numbers of the BULLETIN should also be consulted. About eighty pages are given to a sketch of Sindhi grammar, and in 136 REVIEWS OB1 BOOKS the Laihndi section the various dialects are described with the clearness to which we are accustomed in this series. Very well does the author put before us the relationship of Laihndi and Panjabi. Both are mixtures. Originally there were two languages in the Panjab—on the west a Dard language and on the east Western Hindi. Both overflowed their banks and their waters intermingled. Where there was much of the Dard element and little of the Western Hindi the result was Laihndi; where Western Hindi predominated we find to-day Panjabi. Another consequence is that Laihndi and Panjabi have no real dividing line. There are languages in India separated from each other by a sharply denned line ; it is hardly an exaggeration to say that one can draw a line with a walking-stick and say "up to this line this language comes, and from it that other begins ". But it is not possible to say where Laihndi ends and Panjabi begins. There are several dialects which might equally well be ascribed to either. The volume is well supplied with specimens of the different dialects; some of the specimens are of special interest and value. The most striking is that printed on pp. 286-92, where a sequel is given to the story of Hlr and Ranjha. The story, an Indian version of Hero and Leander, is well known, but not so the sequel, which resuscitates the lovers and represents them as living an ideally happy life with no company but their own. One useful feature is facsimile printing of certain specimens to show the styles of alphabets, either printed or handwritten. Enough has been said to indicate the nature of the book, but a cursory description cannot do justice to the author's gift for grasping the facts or for presenting them to others. One is reminded of the passage near the end of the third book of Sordello about the three classes of poets :— The office of ourselves has been, . For the worst of us, to say they so have seen ; For the better, what it was they saw ; the best, Impart the gift of seeing to the rest. High among the third and best class assuredly stands Sir George Grierson. If among those who read his works some are stirred up to follow his example, if having received the faculty of vision they use it to descry fresh woods and pastures new, he will have his reward. T. GRAHAME BAILEY..

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