262 PECULIAR HINDOO TRIBES. 



Rajpootana, Rajasthan, or Rajwarra, is a mountainous 

 territory of considerable extent, situated at the south-west- 

 ern extremity of the magnificent plain which is watered 

 by the Ganges and Jumna. It is chiefly marked by the 

 long range of the Aravulli, which, beginning at the frontier 

 of Guzerat, extends north-north-east to the borders of 

 Delhi. On the western side it descends into the district 

 of Marwar, whose arid surface is gradually confounded 

 with the great desert. On the east it slopes down into a 

 prolonged table-plain, forming the district round the city 

 of Ajmere, and the territories of Mewar, Kishenghur, and 

 Jyepore ; while still farther in the same direction, and on 

 a lower level, are the states of Boondee and Kota, passing 

 into the plain of Malwa. Aboo, the loftiest pinnacle of 

 this chain, looks down from its eastern side upon the 

 champaign country of Mewar, with its capital Oodipoor, 

 long the most flourishing of these states, and whose princes 

 still hold the highest rank of any in India. 



Although this territory bordered so closely on the centre 

 of the Mogul dominion, the warlike character of its in- 

 habitants secured it from conquest. Akbar, indeed, over- 

 threw their armies and reduced their capital Chittore ; but 

 they afterward rallied their strength, and their princes in 

 general rendered to the emperor nothing more than homage 

 and feudal service. Sometimes they commanded his armies, 

 of which their cavalry in many instances composed the main 

 strength ; retaining, meanwhile, the exercise of their in- 

 ternal government almost uncontrolled. When Aureng- 

 zebe, by his persecuting zeal, had driven them into rebellion, 

 he sustained several reverses which darkened the latter 

 period of his reign. After his death, the Mogul power, 

 sinking into rapid decline, scarcely made any further attempt 

 to preserve dominion over Rajpootana. But the rise of the 

 fierce and lawless Mahrattas exposed them to greater ca- 

 lamities than they had yet endured. Sindia, Holkar, and 

 Ameer Khan, aided by internal dissension, ravaged their 

 fields, sacked their cities, and caused the death of some of 

 their noblest chiefs. They sought relief in British alliance ; 

 but this connexion having been dissolved by the political 

 system of Marquis Cornwallis and Sir George Barlow, 

 they were again exposed to the inroads of their predatory 

 neighbours. At the breaking out of the Pindaree war, 



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