Indische Palaographie von circa 350 a. Chr. – circa 1300 p. Chr. c48.s3.2.1

c48.s3.2.1

**Bards and Genealogists** (782,500). These ancient professions are usually found more or less linked together, and in India the connection is peculiarly intimate. From the earliest times chants in praise of the founders and heroes of the clan have been recited to tickle the ear of the ruling Chief when sitting in formal assembly or heading a procession through his streets. Still more essential were they in battle, to encourage the fighting members of the community to emulate or excel the deeds of their ancestors. The annals of such enterprise with the personality of the principal performers became, naturally, the special study of those whose duty it was to set them to verse and directly connect them with the patrons before whom they have to be recited. The Bard, therefore, developed into a sort of Herald, and as his office, like all others in India, tended to become hereditary, the pedigree of those he served was transmitted in all its ramifications from father to son, with that marvellous accuracy of memory which is marked feature of the Brāhmanic intellect. The importance of such knowledge can hardly be overrated in a country where the licit and the prohibited degrees of affinity which form the basis of all arrangements of marriage or adoption, are the subject of most minute and complicated regulation throughout the community from top to bottom. In the course of time, therefore, the genealogist more or less split off from the bard, and took the higher rank at Court.