Note 32 — Volume II.

Bhât.32—(Sanskrit, bhatta, “lord,” probably connected with bhartri, “a cherisher,” “nourisher”).—A caste of family bards and genealogists. Traditionally they are generally supposed to be descended from the intercourse of a Chhatri and a Brâhman widow. Many legends are told of their origin. Some believe them to be “the modern representatives of the Magadha spoken of in Manu as the offspring of a Vaisya father and a Kshatriya mother. Lassen regards this mythical pedigree as a theoretical explanation of the fact that the professional singers of the praises of great men had come by Manu’s time to be regarded a distinct class. Zimmer, on the other hand, seems to take the tradition more seriously and speaks of the Magadha as a “mixed class,” out of which, as we learn by numerous passages in later writings, a guild of singers arose, who devoting themselves to the deeds of the Kosala-Videha and Kuru Panchâla may have laid the foundation of the epic poems.”33 Sir John Malcolm says34:—“According to the fable of their origin, Mahâdeva first created Bhâts to attend to his lion and bull; but the former killing the latter every day gave him infinite vexation and trouble in creating new ones. He, therefore formed the Châran, equally devout as the Bhât, but of bolder spirit, and gave him charge of these favourite animals. From that period no bull was ever destroyed by the lion.” By another account:—“Once upon a time Brahma performed a sacrifice when two men appeared and stood before the sacrificial fire. When Mahâkâli saw that they were dying of thirst she gave them suck from her breasts, and named them Mâgadha and Sûta. The Mâgadha Brâhmans settled in the East and the Bhât Brâhmans are their descendants; the Sûta settled in the West, and from them sprang the Bhâts.” By another legend, when Kâli destroyed the Râkshasas she formed a figure out of her sweat and breathed life into it, so that it might record her victory.