Dardistan in 1866, 1886 and 1893 / Being an account of the history, religions, customs, legends, fables, and songs of Gilgit, Chilas, Kandia (Gabrial), Dasin, Chitral, Hunsa, Nagyr, and other parts of the Hindukush, as also a supplement to the second edition of the Hunza and Nagyr handbook and an epitome of part III of the author's "The languages and races of Dardistan"

by G. W. Leitner

8. GURAIZI SONGS.

This district used to be under Ahmad Shah of Skardo, and has since its conquest by Ghulab Singh come permanently under the Maharajah of Kashmîr. Its possession used to be the apple of discord between the Nawabs of Astor and the Rajahs of Skardo. It appears never to have had a real Government of its own. The fertility of its valleys always invited invasion. Yet the people are of Shîná origin and appear much more manly than the other subjects of Kashmîr. Their loyalty to that power is not much to be relied upon, but it is probable that with the great intermixture which has taken place between them and the Kashmîri Mussulmans for many years past, they will become equally demoralized. The old territory of Guraiz used in former days to extend up to Kuyam or Bandipur on the Wular Lake. The women are reputed to be very chaste, and Colonel Gardiner told me that the handsomest women in Kashmîr came from that district. To me, however, they appeared to be tolerably plain, although rather innocent-looking, which may render them attractive, especially after one has seen the handsome, but sensual-looking, women of Kashmîr. The people of Guraiz are certainly very dirty, but they are not so plain as the Chilásis. At Guraiz three languages are spoken: Kashmîri, Guraizi (a corruption of a Shiná dialect), and Panjabi—the latter on account of its occupation by the Maharajah’s officials. I found some difficulty in getting a number of them together from the different villages which compose the district of Guraiz, the Arcadia of Kashmir, but I gave them food and money, and after I got them into a good humour they sang:

GURAIZI HUNTING SONG.

Guraizi.	English.
Pere, tshaké, gazàri meyaru	= Look beyond! what a fine stag!
Beyond, look! a fine stag.
Chorus. Pére, tshaké, djôk maar âke dey.	= Chorus. Look beyond! how gracefully he struts.
Beyond, look! how he struts!
Pére, tshaké, bhapûri bay bâro	= Look beyond! he bears twelve loads of wool.
Beyond, look! shawl wool 12 loads.
Chorus. Pére, tshaké, djôk maarâke dey.	= Chorus. Look beyond! how gracefully he struts.
Beyond, look! how he does strut!
Pére, tshaké, dòni shilélu	= Look beyond! his very teeth are of crystal.
Beyond, look! [his] teeth are of crystal [glass]
Chorus. Pére, tshaké, djôk maarâke dey.	= Chorus. Look beyond! how gracefully he struts.

This is apparently a hunting song, but seems also to be applied to singing the praises of a favourite.

There is another song, which was evidently given with great gusto, in praise of Sheir Shah Ali Shah, Rajah of Skardo.[34] That Rajah, who is said to have temporarily conquered Chitrál, which the Chilasis call Tshatshál,[35] made a road of steps up the Atsho mountain which overlooks Bûnji, the most distant point reached before 1866 by travellers or the Great Trigonometrical Survey. From the Atsho mountain Vigne returned, “the suspicious Rajah of Gilgit suddenly giving orders for burning the bridge over the Indus.” It is, however, more probable that his Astori companions fabricated the story in order to prevent him from entering an unfriendly territory in which Mr. Vigne’s life might have been in danger, for had he reached Bûnji he might have known that the Indus never was spanned by a bridge at that or any neighbouring point. The miserable Kashmîri coolies and boatmen who were forced to go up-country with the troops in 1866 were, some of them, employed, in rowing people across, and that is how I got over the Indus at Bûnji; however to return from this digression to the Guraizi Song: