[1] _Urdu_ is a Turkish word meaning a camp or army with its
followers, and is the origin of the European word _horde_. _Rekhta_
means "scattered, strewn," referring to the way in which Persian
words are intermixed with those of Indian origin; it is used chiefly
for the literary form of Urdu.
[2] The only known exceptions are a work in Hindi called the
_Chaurasi Varta_ (mentioned below) and a few commentaries on poems;
the latter can scarcely be called literature.
[3] A fresh critical edition of the text by Pandit Mohan Lal Vishnu
Lal Pandia at Benares, under the auspices of the _Nagari Pracharini
Sabha_, had reached canto xxiv. in 1907.
[4] See _J.A.S.B._ (1886), pp. 6 sqq.
[5] _Annals and Antiquities_, ii. 452 n. and 472 n.
[6] Worshippers of the energic power--_Sakti_--of Siva, represented
by his consort Parvati or Bhawani.
[7] Quoted from G. A. Grierson, chapter on "Literature," in the
_India Gazetteer_ (ed. 1907).
[8] The worship of Krishna is as old as Megasthenes (about 300 B.C.),
who calls him Herakles, and was then, as now, located at Mathura on
the Jumna river. That of Rama is probably still more ancient; the
name occurs in stories of the Buddha.
[9] _Religious Sects of the Hindus_, p. 40.
[10] This name of Krishna, which means "He who quits the battle," is
connected with the story of the transfer of the Yadava clan from
Mathura to the new capital on the coast of the peninsula of
Kathiawar, the city of Dwaraka. This migration was the result of an
invasion of Braj by Jarasandha, king of Magadha, before whom Krishna
resolved to retreat. As his path southwards took him through
Rajputana and Gujarat, it is in these regions that his form Ranchhor
is most generally venerated as a symbol of the shifting of the centre
of divine life from Gangetic to southern India.
[11] In the _Granth_ Namdeo is called a calico-printer, _Chhipi_. The
Marathi tradition is that he was a tailor, _Shimpi_; it is probable
that the latter word, being unknown in northern India, has been
wrongly rendered by the former.
[12] It will be remembered that Akbar's reign was remarkable for the
translation into Persian of a large number of Sanskrit works of
religion and philosophy, most of the versions being made by, or in
the names of, members of his court.
[13] _Religious Sects_, p. 132.
[14] Amir Khusrau is credited with the authorship of many still
popular rhymes, riddles or punning verses (called _pahelis_ and
_mukuris_); but these, though often containing Persian words, are in
Hindi and scanned according to the prosody of that language; they
are, therefore, like Malik Muhammad's _Padmawat_, not Urdu or Rekhta
verse (see Professor Azad's _Abi-Hayat_, pp. 72-76). A late Dakkhani
poet who used the _takkallus_ of Sa'di is said by Azad (p. 79) to
have been confused by Mirza Rafi'us-Sauda in his _Tazkira_ with Sa'di
of Shiraz.
[15] An exception may be made to this general statement in favour of
the _genre_ pictures of city and country life contained in the
_masnavis_ of Sauda and Nazir. These are often satires (in the vein
of Horace rather than Juvenal), and are full of interest as pictures
of society. In Sauda, however, the conventional language used in
description is often Persian rather than Indian.
[16] To be carefully distinguished from the reformer of the same name
who flourished half a century later.
HINDU CHRONOLOGY. The subject of Hindu chronology divides naturally into
three parts: the calendar, the eras, and other reckonings.