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Imperial Gazetteer of India, v. 1, p. 372.

372 THE ILY'DIAV Ł EPIŁE [CIIAP., writers had a very poor opinion of the Central and Western Punjab, although these tracts were not far from the holy Saraswati. The inhabitants are described as possessing no Brahmans, living in petty villages, and governed by princes who supported themselves by internecine war. The population was casteless, had no respect for the Vedas, and offered no sacrifices to the gods. They were flesh-eaters (a Pislcha characteristic) and hard drinkers, and their women were charged with polyandry like the Jats of the present day. West of the Indus, up to the Afghan border, Lahndl under various names is spoken by Hindus, while the Pathen Musal- mans speak Pashto. Lahnda has two main dialects, one spoken north and the other south of the Salt Range. It has no literature. Its written character is, properly, the Lands. also employed for Panjabi, but this has been nearly superseded by a modification of the Persian. Sindhi. Sindhi is the language of Sind and the neighbourhood. It is closely connected with Lahndq, and, owing to its isolated position, it preserves many phonetic and flexional peculi- arities which have disappeared elsewhere. There was, in former days, a PiSacha colony in Sind, and traces of their language are still to be found in Sindhi, which is, in other respects, a typical speech of the Outer Band of languages. It has no literature to speak of, and has received little cultivation of any kind. The population which employs it being largely Musalmgn, its vocabulary borrows freely from Persian; and, since the country has come under British rule, an adaptation of the Persian character has been employed for writing it, although Land.l is also used for personal memoranda and accounts. Sindhi has four main dialects-Siraiki, spoken in Upper Sind; hLri (the standard dialect) in Laru or Lower Sind; Thareli in the Thar or Desert; and Kachchhi in Cutch. The first ap- proaches Lahnda, while Thareli represents SindhT merging into Marwarl. Kachchhi is a mixture of Sindhi and Gujarati, in which the former predominates. Mar.thi. South of Sindhi the Outer Band of Indo-Aryan vernaculars is interrupted by Gujarntt, the Intermediate language which has reached the seaboard. South of Gujar.tiT, extending from near DamAn along the coast of the Arabian Sea to beyond Goa, we come to the great daughter of NMaharashtri Prikrit, the southern Indo-Aryan language, Marathl. The SaurAshtri dialect of Maha.r.shtri once covered Gujarat, but has been superseded by the Midland language. We find, however, traces of Saurgshtri not only in GujarAti, but probably also right down the coast as