1919] Bardic and Histl. Survey of Rajputana. 29 
by sai abaadlice the Rulers * Bikaner as owing all their ewe 
to Karaniji, a Carani woman who apparently lived under ra 
bigs (end of the fifteenth siaitee A.D.), and was deitied sheet: 
ards. 
It is a matter of much regret that, with soe one or 
two exceptions, the Princes of Rajputana have not yet fully 
realized the fact that history isa scientific discipline, not an 
exercise of rhetoric and imagination. Only a man trained in 
critical work and in the right method of scsccuah can judge the 
value of the different materials, and sift facts from traditions 
and fiction, in the light of documentary evidence. Irrespon- 
sible statements make no history ; they are like castles built in 
the air. The history of the Rathoras which for over thirty 
years has been in preparation in the Tawarikh Mehkma of 
Jodhpur, when it appears, if it appears at all, will be found to 
possess even less value than the Khyata of Bikaner by Sindha- 
yaca Dayala Dasa and will not lead our knowledge of the sub- 
ject a single step further. Why? Because it is compiled by 
people who are not conversant with the proper method of 
research. If such ee are written for the consumption of 
the ignorant and credulous folk in the villages of the desert, they 
may vet achieve some object, though at an expense absolutely 
disproportionate with the results, but if they are meant for 
India and the world, the only object they can possibly achieve 
is to create a very unfavourable idea of the progressiveness of 
the State under whose patronage they are compiled. Thus 
only harm can result from them and it would be really better 
if aa histories were never written. One can understand the 
reasons which make some very orthodox Princes of Rajputana 
hostile to historical research. Not everybody has, like the 
traditions of his family dissected by the lancet of the critic ; 
each Prince knows that the records of his family contain 4 
great proportion of fiction which often masks an act of trea- 
panerA oul mu a a rece an admission of subordinacy, aa 
gular accession, and similar unpleasant truths. It is 
Pe iieahicn of i icihe | that the Princes fear. We can 
understand that. But, apart from the fact that most of these 
unpleasant truths are already known, there is another con- 
sideration which goes to prove that the publication of the Raja- 
sthani chronicles far from doing harm, would greatly benefit the 
Rajputs and the Hindus in general. Itis this : that the history 
works of the Muhammadan historians. Now, the Muhammadan 
historians in their works represent the Rajput Princes in a very 
unfavourable light, these are to them ‘“‘ infidel dogs,” ‘‘ head- 
strong rebels’? and what not, and Allah is thanked every time 
a Rajput is ‘‘ despatched to the bottom of hell.’’ In conse- 
quence of such unfriendly feelings the Muhammadan historians 
