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The object of the study is to restore to its original form the Visaladevarasa, a poetical work composed in Rajasthan probably in the middle of the fifteenth century of our era. As one of the earliest examples of Rajasthani vernacular literature, the poem is clearly important in itself. In the present work, the nature of the metre is deduced, and it is then employed as a grid, whose super-imposition on any stanza reveals the authentic text, to the exclusion of all spurious material; in addition, this process often indicates which of the various spellings used for any given word is the best, and what the rhythm of the word was. A discussion of the grammar of the text shows that it differs markedly from the unitary Old Western Rajasthani in reality Old Gujarati proposed by some scholars; and the tentative conclusion is drawn that, perhaps unsurprisingly for an early vernacular text, it is of popular rather than literary origin. Dr Smith has provided, in a lengthy introduction, a full critical analysis of his method, and he also studies in detail the linguistic elements of the text. A full English translation of the reconstituted text is placed opposite the text, and there is a full glossary and index. ISBN - 9780521059084
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Pages : 348
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