ELLOJI SHAHIR ("Elijah, the Ballad-Singer"):
By: Joseph Jacobs, J. Hyams
Beni-Israel poet of the eighteenth century; born and lived at Bombay, British India; his natal name was "Elloji Nagawkar." He was of the class of the Kalgiwallas, which is privileged to carry a plume or crest in the turban. It is said that he improvised many religious and moral poems, both in Mahrati and Hindustani, in the form of ballads, some of which are still extant, and that he was invited to the court of the Peshwa at Poona to exhibit his talents.
