Byāo Sanjog, Parmalā barī.
Kos sāth-so man chit dharī;
“Tū betī Kaikum kī,
Nām Parmalā[[A]] ho.
Lekhā huā Kartār ko.
Yā jāna sabb ko”[[A]] [388]
[For the above version of the corrupt lines in the original, the Editor is indebted to Sir G. Grierson, who remarks that the meaning is not clear, and that in the original more than one dialect is used. He offers the following tentative translation: “Sanjog [dwelt] in the midst of Ābhāner of Rāja Chand. He came to Girnār. When Bharat saw him he summoned him. He [Sanjog] made known [his object], and his [Bharat’s] heart expanded. Sanjog married, he chose Parmalā for his bride. From a distance of sixty kos his heart and mind had attracted her. [He said to her] ‘Thou art the daughter of Kaikum. Thy name is Parmalā [i.e. “fairy garland”]. It was the writing of the Creator [i.e. “it was so fated”], this every one knew.’” There is no reason to suppose that the lady was a Persian.]
This is a fragment of a long poem relative to the rivalry of Raja Chand of Abhaner, and Raja Sursen of Indrapuri, who was betrothed to Parmala, daughter of Kaikum, and had gone to Girner, or Girnar, to espouse her, when the Abhaner prince abducted her. Raja Sursen of Indrapuri (Delhi), if the ancestor of the Suraseni, and founder of Surpuri, existed probably twelve hundred years before Christ. That sun-worshippers had established themselves in the peninsula of Saurashtra (whose capital was Junagarh-Girnar), its appellation, in the days of the Greeks of Bactria, as now, proves (see Strabo, Justin, etc.), but whether Kaikum, the father of Parmala, is the Kaiomurs of Firdausi, we shall not stop to inquire. The connexion between this peninsula and Persia was intimate in later times, so as even to give rise to the assertion that the Ranas of Mewar were descended from the Sassanian kings. It was my good fortune to discover Surpuri, on the Jumna, the residence of the rival of Chand of Abhaner, which city I leave to some one imbued with similar taste to visit, and merely add, he will find there an inscription in a kund or fountain dedicated to the Sun. The distance, however, seven hundred coss (kos sath so), whether from Indrapuri or Abhaner, to Girnar, even admitting them to be gao coss, would be too much. I believe this would make it eight hundred miles, and certainly, as the crow flies, it is not seven hundred. Interwoven with the story there is much about Raja Chambha, prince of Jajnagar, a city of great antiquity in Orissa, and containing some of the finest specimens of sculpture I ever saw. There is also mention of a Raja Saer (qu. Sahir or Siharas of Aror) of Parman. In 1804, I passed through Jajnagar, after the conquest of the province of Cuttack, with my regiment. At Jajnagar, my earliest friend, the late Captain Bellet Sealy, employed his pencil for several days with the sculptured remains. These drawings were sent to the authorities at Calcutta: perhaps this notice may rescue from oblivion the remains of Jajnagar, and of my deceased friend’s talent, for Captain Bellet Sealy was an ornament equally to private life and to his profession. He fell a victim to the fever contracted in the Nepal war. The ruins of Abhaner are on the Banganga, three coss east of Lalsont. [The speculations in this note are of no value. For the town of Jājpur in Cuttack, see a full account by Sir W. Hunter, Orissa, i. 265 f.; IGI, xiv. 10 f.]
[A]. Parī-mālā means ‘fairy garland.’
[3]. [About 15 miles N.E. of Jaipur city.]