298 Lieut. -Colonel Tod on the Religious Establishments of Mewar. 



our scepticism and heresy in questioning the reality of such forbearance. 

 This abuse has, however, been modified, and traffic is cliased from the temple. 

 The personal grant (Appendix No. XI.) of the liana to the high priest in the 

 old days of Mewar, ought alone to have sufficed for his household expendi- 

 ture, being £2,500 per annum, equal to £10,000 in Europe. But the ten 

 thousand towns of Mewar (clos sthes Mewar), from each of which he levied 

 a crown, now exist only in the old rent-roll, and the heralds of Apollo 

 would in vain attempt to collect their tribute from five thousand villages in 

 the present day. 



The Appendix No. XII. being a grant of privileges to a minor shrine of 

 Kaniya, in his character of murali-d'hdr or ' flute-player,' contains much 

 information on the minutiae of benefactions, and will afford a good idea of 

 the nature of the revenues of the Hindu Apollo. 



The predominance of the mild doctrines of Kaniya over the dark rites of 

 Siva, is doubtless beneficial to Rajput society. Were the prevention of female 

 immolation the sole good resulting from their prevalence, that alone would 

 conciliate our partiality : a real worshipper of Vishnu forbids his wife 

 from following him to the pyre, as did recently the Bundi prince. In 

 fact, their tenderness to animal life is carried to nearly as great an excess as 

 with the Jains, who shed no blood. Celibacy is not imposed upon the 

 priests of Kaniya, as upon those of Siva : on the contrary, they are enjoined 

 to marry, and the priestly office is hereditary by descent. Their wives do 

 not burn, but are committed, like themselves, to the earth. They incul- 

 cate tenderness towards all beings ; though whether this feeling influences 

 the mass, must depend on the soil which receives the seed, for the outward 

 ceremonies of religion cost far less effiDrt than the practice or essentials. I 

 have often smiled at the incessant aspirations of the Macchiavelli of Ra- 

 jast'han, Zalim Sing, who, while he ejaculated the name of ' PribJm' as he 

 told his beads, was inwardly absorbed by mundane affairs ; and when one 

 word would have prevented a civil war, and saved his reputation from the 

 stain of disloyalty to his prince, he was, to use his own words, " at four- 

 score years and upwards, laying the foundation for another century of life." 

 And thus it is with the prince of Marwar, who esteems the life of a man or 

 a goat of equal value when prompted by revenge to take it. Hope may 

 silence the reproaches of conscience, and gifts and ceremonies may be 

 supposed to atone for a deviation from the first principle of their religion — 

 a benevolence which should comprehend every animated thing. But for- 



