1 PUNJAB. 137
2 native states. Among the Sikhs, women often become satis,*
3 or are burned with the dead bodies of their husbands. Nine? 7 Osbome, 223,
4 of the wives and female slaves of the Maharaja, Runjeet Singh,
5 met this cruel fate on his death, in 1839.
6 The general dress of the male portion of the Sikh population
7 consists of a jacket and trowsers reaching to the knee; of late, the
8 chiefs have lengthened the trowsers to the ancles. They also wear
9 shawls and scarfs, and wrap their heads in thin narrow cloths, so
10 as to form a rude turban.8 The favourite service of their soldiers 6 atatcolm, 141;
11 is on horseback, using shields, swords, matchlocks, and spears, and is bits Hugel,
12 Some continue the use of the bow, for which they were formerly
13 much celebrated. The irregularstroops all serve on horseback,
14 and are well suited for services in which such a force is required.
15 The Sikhs are in general remarkably illiterate ; Runjeet Singh ® » ostome, 03;
16 Was unable to read or write, and most of his courtiers were alike Burmes |. 44
17 destitute of these elementary attainments. This may, perhaps,
18 be accounted for from the fact of most of the sect, including
19 Runjeet himself,! tracing their origin to the Jets,? a Rajpoot : sfatcotm, 113.
20 tribe of very low order. aan
21 The language of the Punjab is called by Malcolm® a jargon so.
22 compounded of various tongues. As spoken in large towns, it
23 is a dialect of the Urdu‘ or Hindustani. In the villages, the dia- 4 ech, Grammar
24 lect in use is Jathky, sprung from a cognate root, and originally of te Kevan!
25 the language of the country. On the southern frontier, Pun-
26 jaubi contains a large admixture of Sindhi, There are two
27 Characters used, Laude, that of common translation, and Gur-
28 mukhi, or the character of the Granth. As before mentioned,
29 there is also a dialect lately devised by the Sikhs, which enables
30 them, while discoursing on the common business of life, to express
31 their contempt for Mahometanism.
32 The present rule of the Sikhs extends over the whole of the
33 Punjab, including Kashmir and the hill states of the north-east,
34 comprehending Mundi, Kulu, and Kishtewar, in addition to
35 Ladakh and Bulti. On the west of the Indus it comprises the
36 ._ Provinces of Peshawer,! and the Derajat, or Daman, with its ! Burnes’ Pol.
37 : f tho
38 dependencies, as,far south as the frontier of Sinde. The revenue gixhs, 1-6.
39 * vu literally ‘* chaste ;’’ a virtuous wife according to Hindoo
40 Xotions of virtue ; a woman compelled to burn herself with her husband’s
41 bog
42 y- 2