_Raja Rasâlu_--The chief legendary hero of the Panjâb, and
probably a Scythian or non-Aryan king of great mark who fought both
the Aryans to the east and the invading tribes (? Arabs) to the
west. Popularly he is the son of the great Scythian hero Sâlivâhana,
who established the Sâka or Scythian era in 78 A.D. Really he,
however, probably lived much later, and his date should be looked for
at any period between A.D. 300 and A.D. 900. He most probably
represented the typical Indian kings known to the Arab historians as
flourishing between 697 and 870 A.D. by the synonymous names Zentil,
Zenbil, Zenbyl, Zambil, Zantil, Ranbal, Ratbyl, Reteil, Retpeil,
Rantal, Ratpil, Ratteil, Ratbal, Ratbil, Ratsal, Rusal, Rasal, Rasil.
These are all meant for the same word, having arisen from the
uncertainty of the Arabic character and the ignorance of
transcribers. The particular king meant is most likely the opponent
of Hajjaj and Muhammad Qasim between 697 and 713 A.D. The whole
subject is involved in the greatest obscurity, and in the Panjâb his
story is almost hopelessly involved in pure folklore. It has often
been discussed in learned journals. See _Indian Antiquary_, vol.
xi. pp. 299 ff. 346-349, vol. xii. p. 303 ff., vol. xiii. p. 155 ff.;
_Journal Asiatic Society of Bengal_ for 1854, pp. 123-163,
_etc_.; Elliot's _History of India_, vol. i. pp. 167, 168,
vol. ii. pp. 178, 403-427.
_Lonan_--For a story of Lonân, see _Indian Antiquary_, vol.
ix. p. 290.
_Thrown into a deep well_--Still shown on the road between
Siâlkot and Kallowâl.
_Gurû Gorakhnâth_--The ordinary _deux ex machinâ_ of modern
folk-tales. He is now supposed to be the reliever of all troubles,
and possessed of most miraculous powers, especially over snakes. In
life he seems to have been the Brâhmanical opponent of the mediæval
reformers of the fifteenth century A.D. By any computation Pûran
Bhagat must have lived centuries before him.
_Pûran Bhagat_.--Is in story Râjâ Rasâlû's elder brother. There
are numerous poems written about his story, which is essentially that
of Potiphar's wife. The parallel between the tales of Raja Rasâlu and
Pûran Bhagat and those of the Southern Aryan conqueror Vikramâditya
and his (in legend) elder brother Bhatrihari, the saint and philosopher,
is worthy of remark.