The legends of the Panjâb

2ii
PEBFACB.
entitled to be expressly told on what grounds my claim to
accuracy rests. As to the relation of my method of procuring
legends and stories^ I have been so often asked by others desirous
of laboaring in the same field, how I set to work, "that I
have thought it advisable now to state my procedure at
at the risk of the charge of egotism.
This is
length
no place for a dissertation on the historical bearings
of the Legends, even if the time had arrived for their adequate
discussion, nor in the absence of proper libraries—a standing
want in India—can an enquiry into the relation of the stories
to general folklore be satisfactorily taken in hand. All that
will therefore be attempted here will be to show that the legends
are bona fide Indian folklore of the ordinary modern sort, and
for this purpose they will be compared with the four chief
collections of folktales of the present day, viz.. Old Deccan
Days, Indian Fairy Tales, FolMales of Bengal and Wide-AwaJce
Stories.* These four books cover nearly the whole area of the
Indian Aryan population, and contain between them over 120
tales, so that they serve the purposes of comparison very fairly.
It should be remarked here that owing to the necessities of the
case, no systematic order has been observed in recording the
Legends. No. I., ' The Adventures of Eaja R^salu,' No. IX.,
' Princess Adhik Anup Dai/ and No. X., ' Sila Dai,' belong to the
heroic class, and to what may be safely styled the RasMu cycle.
To the same class belong No. XV., ' The Legend of Safidon' and
No. XVI., 'Princess Niwal Dai,' but these must be included in the
cycle represented by the Mahabharata in the classics, and which
may be styled the Pandava cycle. No. VI., ' Legend of Gurii
Gugga,' is of the same nature as the above, but occupies a place
as it were between the heroic and the hagiological classes of
legends.
Nos. II., III., IV., V., VII., VIII. and X VII. are pure
hagiology, but of these No. II.,'Sakhi Sarwar' and 'D^ni,'No.IV.,
'
Three Fragments about Sakhi Sarwar,' Nos. VII. and VIIL,
* The Ballad of Isa,' belong to a set now so numerous as to form
* Mr. Swynnerton's Bdjd BasdU was advertised, but not procurable
wien. tMs was written.