90 COL. T. HOLBEIN HENDLEY, C.I.E., ON THE 



limit, he should be able to have the first call upon anyone for 

 his skill, thus, for example, the goldsmith or the armourer must 

 execute work for the Maharaja in preference to the subject,, 

 whatever the necessities of the latter may be. 



These customs are but the extension of " mutual aid," the 

 earliest form of human society, as Kropotkin has pointed out r 

 but, side by side with this practice, we have the village system 

 of India, and the Trade Guilds, all working together with a not 

 unsuccessful harmony. Interference with the individual is on 

 well-known lines, and is, therefore, easily borne. 



Cooperation in danger, even though imperfect, and inde- 

 pendence in the home go hand in hand, and although they may 

 sometimes press somewhat heavily in special cases, it is very 

 doubtful if a different system would be more successful. So 

 secure have the people of Eajputana been in the belief that, on 

 the whole, the conditions of life around them are the best for 

 them, that they have been tolerant of others, and thus in that 

 country there has been little difference between the prospects 

 of the Hindu and the Musalman, and, if it were not for the 

 misrepresentations of foreign members of the Brahmanical 

 faith from Bengal and elsewhere, it is probable that Christians 

 of Indian races would meet with the same toleration, though in 

 their case the Paramount Power does not, under us, exert any 

 influence in their favour, although they have, if I remember 

 correctly, once been described by an Anglo-Indian judge as the 

 first of all castes. 



Although I have given many reasons why I think the Rajputs 

 settled in Eajputana, I have only incidentally referred to the 

 conditions under which they maintained themselves so long in 

 the province. They could not have done this unless their rule 

 over the people, especially over those who were not of their own 

 clan, had not been mild, and if their conduct towards them had 

 not been generally just and benevolent. As regards the powers 

 which sought to conquer them from the outside, although the 

 Rajput did not always win he always made himself felt, and his 

 prowess was so respected as to make his enemies not only fear 

 him, but afraid to attack him without the most serious 

 preparation. 



In respect to their relations with their retainers and the 

 people generally, many things conduced to good feeling, loyalty, 

 and success. The retainers are men of the same clan, whose 

 ancestors followed their tribal chief to war and victory, and 

 amongst them he divided the lands which they had conquered 

 together, and which were, therefore, the reward of their mutual toil 



