RAJPUTS AND THE HISTORY OF RAJ PU TAN A. 



89 



time has appeared, it is believed, for the preservation of the 

 ruler or of his race. All firmly believe in the truth of these 

 stories, and act upon them. While the Rajput is professedly a 

 follower of Shiva, the destroying form of the divinity of the 

 Hindus, he is actuated more, perhaps, by the milder tenets of the 

 votaries of Krishna, whose cult is much favoured by the women ; 

 and the Jains, who as bankers have always flourished in 

 Rajputana, have also been influential in leading the chiefs to 

 treat their people with humanity. The fact that, if oppressed, 

 the cultivator will at last abandon a village, and the knowledge 

 that the large extent of waste land needs men to work it, and 

 that dissatisfied persons will soon find others ready to welcome 

 them, also tends to induce the nobles to make themselves good 

 landlords. The custom of modified domestic slavery, which 

 prevails in Rajputana to this day, is another proof of the 

 mildness of Rajput rule. The present Chief of Jaipur, in 

 speaking to me on this question, said that, even in the days of 

 his poverty, and he at one time lived in exile with very scanty 

 means, his chelas or his servants born in his own house, to use 

 the Scriptural or more correct phrase, were never hungry though 

 he often was. A Rajput, he said, would rather die than see 

 such persons suffer, and the fact is true that no man or woman 

 need now remain in such servitude in these days of railway 

 communication. 



It is the custom when a young Rajput, or his sister, the 

 young Rajputni, is married, for a number of chela boys and 

 girls to accompany the young people into the new home, and 

 to be married at the same time, the marriage expenses of the 

 servant being paid by the lord, and so well is this understood 

 that the boys and girls are kept unmarried for such an occasion. 

 Some of these chelas rise to high position in India. These people, 

 as indeed do ail his clansmen, join in all the pleasures as well 

 as in the sorrows of the lords. In some states, every Rajput 

 retainer receives a portion of grain from the state granary 

 every day. This is of course convenient in a country in which 

 most of the revenue is paid in kind, but it goes deeper than 

 that, being an illustration of the custom of looking to the lord 

 for everything. 



I have often been told, when I hinted at the propriety of 

 rich men giving subscriptions to hospitals, that they were not 

 needed, because it was the duty of the chief to provide all such 

 things for his people, and it would therefore be insulting to 

 distrust him. In turn the chief expects assistance to be given 

 to him, and that when required, up, of course to a certain 



g 2 



