[ 142 ] 



Introductory Work occurs of the pre-eminent grandeur of the Ca- 

 nouge sovereigns, in the following terms : 



Sir William Jones, speaking of this part of India, says ; " The an- 

 cient system of government, which prevailed in this country, seems 

 to have been perfectly feudal : all the territories were governed by 

 rais, or rajahs, who held their lands of a supreme lord, called Bal- 

 hara ; the seat of whose residence Avas the city of Canouge, now in 

 ruins*." The Ayeen Akbery -J- exhibits a curious proof of this feudal 

 dependance of the subordinate rajahs, and the necessity of their 

 paying homage in person, at stated periods, to the supreme Balhara ; 

 for, at a great festival, or sacrifice, called RAISOO, at which all the 

 rajahs of Hindostan were obliged to attend, and of which the meanest 

 offices, " even to the duties of the scullery," were performed by 

 rajahs ; Pithowra, the rajah of Delhi, from contempt of the sovereign, 

 not attending, " that the festival might not be incomplete," an effigy 

 in gold of the absent rajah was formed, and by way of retorted con- 

 tempt assigned the ignoble office of porter of the gate. The rash- 

 ness of Pithowra, in the end, cost him his crown and his lifej.. 



The profound policy of an institution, like this.mu st be evident 

 to the reader, since it at once cherished the bond of general union, 

 and preserved in a necessary state of subordination the detached 

 members of a widely extended empire. The strength of this bond, 

 and the degree of this subordination, without doubt, greatly varied, 

 according to the degree of energy and wisdom possessed by the su- 

 preme head. If he were valiant and enterprising, the whole civil 

 and military power acted as the counsel and army of one sovereign ; 

 if cowardly and effeminate, the bond became relaxed in proportion, 

 and the inferior dependent states insulted the throne they were in- 



* Description of Asia, p. 30. t See Ayeen Akbery, vol. ii. p. 120. 



I See the Introductory Work, Indian Antiquities, vol. i. p. 193. 



