[29] [“Mulayi” for woman is not very respectful; women are generally addressed as “kaki” sister, or “dhì” daughter.]
[30] _Na?_ is it? is it not so? _na_ seems generally to be a mere exclamation.
[31] The people of Astor are mostly Sunnis, and the Gilgitis mostly Shiahs, the Chilásis are all Sunnis.
[32] A reed which grows in the Gilgit country of white or red colour.
[33] It is rather unusual to find the nightingale representing the beloved. She is generally “the rose” and the lover “the nightingale.”
[34] Possibly Ali Sher Khan, also called Ali Shah, the father of Ahmed Shah, the successful and popular Rajah of Skardo in the Sikh days—or else the great Ali Sher Khan, the founder of the race or caste of the Makpon Rajahs of Skardo. He built a great stone aqueduct from the Satpur stream which also banked up a quantity of useful soil against inundations.
[35] Murad was, I believe, the first Skardo Rajah who conquered Gilgit, Nagyr, Hunza and Chitrál. He built a bridge near the Chitrál fort. Traces of invasion from Little Tibet exist in Dardistan. A number of historical events, occurring at different periods, seem to be mixed up in this song.
[36] The veneration for the name is, of course, also partly due to the fact that it means “the lion of Ali,” Muhammad’s son-in-law, to whose memory the Shiah Mussulmans are so devotedly attached. The Little Tibetans are almost all Shiahs.
[38] The defile of the Makpon-i-Shang-Rong, where the Indus river makes a sudden turn southward and below which it receives the Gilgit river.
[39] The Shiah Rajahs of Skardo believed themselves to be under the special protection of Ali.
[40] The “Harginn,” a fabulous animal mentioned elsewhere.
[41] The beautiful songs of “My little darling ornaments will wear,” “Corn is being distributed,” “I will give pleasure’s price,” “My metal is hard,” “Come out, oh daughter of the hawk,” will be found on pages 2, 4, 10, 11, and 37, of this pamphlet respectively and need not therefore be quoted in this place.
[42] “Powder” is called “Jebati” in Astóri and in Gilgiti “Bilen,” and is, in both dialects, also the word used for medicinal powder. It is made of Sulphur, Saltpetre and coal. Sulphur = dantzil. Saltpetre = Shór in Astori, and Shorá in Ghilgiti. Coal = Kári. The general proportion of the composition is, as my informant put it, after dividing the whole into six and a half parts to give 5 of Saltpetre, 1 of coal, and ½ of Sulphur. Some put less coal in, but it is generally believed that more than the above proportion of Sulphur would make the powder too explosive.