RAJPUTS AND THE HISTORY OF RAJ PUT AN A. 



91 



and prowess. The noble held, as he still holds, his petty court 

 of ceremony and justice just as his sovereign did; he settled 

 disputes in a truly patriarchal way; he punished crime; he 

 protected the poor, and even fed his clansmen, as, indeed, 

 everyone else in times of famine and scarcity ; he helped 

 on such occasions as marriages and deaths with money to meet 

 the additional expenditure of such occasions ; and in return the 

 lord expected and received similar support at the time of 

 domestic events in his own family, and, more than all, faithful 

 help when he had to serve the common sovereign, whether at 

 his court or in time of war. 



If these bonds were broken on either side there were dis- 

 content, rupture, and transfer of allegiance to another noble, who, 

 as I have already observed, had a strong interest in getting more 

 men to till his waste lands, but an even stronger one in securing 

 the services of additional horsemen to follow him into the field 

 of battle, or to aid him in any struggle with his own superior 

 should he find it necessary, in turn, to change his allegiance. 



There were therefore many reasons why a noble should be 

 just and conciliatory. The remonstrance of the sub-vassals of 

 Deogarh which I have given, shows some of the various 

 grievances which may arise, and proves how an unjust noble 

 may soon lose his power, his influence, and even his estate. 

 A Hindu will not, however, lightly leave his holding, his 

 Btium, or the land of his fathers. Outside many a village is 

 the shrine of a Bhumia, that is of a man who has died in 

 defence of his rights in the land, and who in consequence is 

 thought to haunt the scene of his former lite, and who, if he is 

 not propitiated, may greatly trouble his descendants or the 

 village people. A light is, therefore, kept burning inside the 

 little shrine, or garlands are placed near the painted stone 

 within, which represents the departed, whose soul is still 

 .unappeased. The Bhumia sometimes, it is believed, lives near 

 the spot in the form of a huge cobra, which, if offended, will 

 kill someone in the place. There are many families that have 

 remained for untold generations in or near the same hamlet, 

 .and nothing struck me more, in recording the names and 

 history of persons who were detained in cholera or plague 

 •camps, than the narration of such pedigrees as this. When 

 passing through the large town of Sojat in Marwar two or three 

 years after the great famine of 1868-9, I saw whole streets of 

 houses and shops which were locked up, but were untenanted by 

 newcomers because it was believed that the owners, or someone 

 representing them, would surely return from Malwa into which 



