RAJPOOTS THEIR HISTORY. 263 



Rajpootana presented a scene of great desolation. After 

 the triumphant issue of that contest, Britain extended her 

 full protection to these states, which have consequently 

 begun to revive, and regain their former prosperity. 



This region has a social and political character very differ- 

 ent from that which we denominate Oriental, and bears more 

 analogy to the state of Europe during the feudal ages. Its 

 petty princes carry the distinction of birth to an extrava- 

 gant height, and boast a loftier origin than can be claimed 

 by the proudest families of the West. The revolutions 

 which swept away successive races of kings and nobles 

 from the great plain of Hindostan, never effected any per- 

 manent change among the brave inhabitants of this moun- 

 tain-territory. Its rulers trace their genealogy to the earliest 

 sovereigns and deified heroes, who, according to national 

 belief, reigned once on earth and now in heaven. The 

 chiefs of Marwar exult in a line of male ancestors for 1300 

 years, during part of which period they held sway in Ka- 

 nough, and formed perhaps the most powerful dynasty that 

 was ever known in native India. The sovereign is said 

 to have been able to bring 600,000 troops into the field ; 

 and on one occasion proposed a marriage for his daughter, 

 at which the humblest offices of the kitchen and the hall 

 were to be performed by kings. The blood of the Rajpoots 

 is therefore considered the highest and purest in the East. 

 To form a matrimonial alliance in the family of one of these 

 petty chieftains was a subject of pride to the Great Mogul ; 

 who, although he ruled over almost the whole of India, was 

 scarcely esteemed a fitting match for the haughty dames 

 of Rajpootana. 



The political system of these states is by no means distin- 

 guished by that implicit submission to the will of one ruler, 

 which forms the general basis of Eastern government. 

 There is a class of rahtores or nobles, who claim almost as 

 high a descent as the ranas or sovereigns, and some of them 

 intermarry with the royal family. They hold lands, some 

 by original right, others by grant from the crown ; but all 

 with a great measure of independence. They are divided 

 into three orders, one with estates above 50,000 rupees, 

 who rank as the hereditary advisers of the crown, but reside 

 chiefly, like the feudal barons of Europe, in their strong 

 castles, and appear at court only by special invitation uj on 



