LAND AND WATER* 
September 18, 1915. 
THE CHIVALRY OF INDIA 
By E. Charles Vivian. 
M 
AIIARAO RAJA is a descendant of Rao 
Deva Bango, wlio founded Biindi in 
1342 A.D., wresting it from the original 
Minas, and, according to tradition, line- 
„ ally descended from Anluii, or Agni- 
pala. the first Chohan." This sentence is taken at 
random from tiie chapter concerning some Rajput rulers 
in the volume by Thakur Shri Jessrajsinghi Seesodia,* 
.which may be regarded as an authoritative and historic 
document of the great Rajput race. And, in this one 
sentence, tiiere is sufficient to show that our Indian allies 
in the lighting line, whom our enemies affect to despise 
as barbarians, have a history beside which that of a mere 
Hohenzollern is a sporadic, unconsidered growth. Long 
before a Hohenzollern had attained the little dignity of 
tMargrave in a semi-barbarous Brandenburg, Rajput 
princes had their written laws of chivalry; when the 
barons in Rhine castles were slitting throats for pastime 
there was a nobility in Rajputana that followed such 
rules of life and conduct as modern Western civilisation 
has never excelled. 
The MahabluiraUi, the great epic poem of the Raj- 
puts, enacted centuries ago that " a king should never 
desire to subjugate the earth by unrighteous means, 
even if such subjugation should make him sovereign of 
the whole earth. What king is there that would rejoice 
after obiaining victory by unfair means? A victory 
Btained by unrighteousness is uncertain and never leads 
to heaven. Such a victory, O bull of Bharat's race, 
yeakens both the king and the earth." And Jessraj- 
isinghi, himself a Rajput, adds his testimony to the 
lantiquity of the race. " The Rajput States," he says, 
■" have existed as long as any memory exists of an Aryan 
race in India, far back beyond the time when Alexander 
the Great was opposed on the banks of the Ravi." 
If evidence were needed in support of the claims of 
the Rajputs, it might be sought in the architectural 
monuments of Rajputana, where, contemporary in 
origin with the golden age of Grecian sculpture, may 
still be seen such works as have never been excelled in 
jany civilisation. It might be sought in the writings of 
IRajput sages, in the very history of India itself. For 
many centuries the arts of peace had no better exponents 
than these people, whose laws are older than those of 
Bolon or even of Lycurgus, whose civilisation is coeval 
.with that of ancient Egypt. 
But, although skilled from the earliest historic times 
In peaceful arts and crafts, the Rajputs are essentially a 
ifighting race. The institutes of Rlanu, the ancient 
Indian law-giver, divide society into four classes. The 
first is that of the Brahmins, or clergy, responsible for 
the spiritual welfare of the people; the second is that of 
the Kshatriyas, or warriors, temporal guardians and 
rulers; the third class is that of the Vaishyas, or com- 
mercial population ; and the fourtli is that of the Sudras, 
servants and labourers by heredity and tradition. The 
IRajputs are lineal descendants of the Kshatriyas, in a 
up to enable his men to approach the walls of the fort- 
ress. Finally, the imperial forces succeeded in laying 
two mines under the walls of Chitorgarh ; 120 maunds of 
powder (cj,6(X) pounds) were used in one, and 80 maunds 
(6,400 pounds) in the otlier. One of the mines was fired, 
with the result that a bastion, with a large number of 
the Rajputs, was blown up. 
" The Imperial forces rushed forward, and in their 
turn were blown up by the second mine, whicii was late 
in exploding. The shock was felt at a distance of eighty 
to ninety miles around the fort." I'iven then the assault 
failed, and when the commander of the garrison fell by 
a shot from Akbar's own musket, Pratap of Kailwa, a 
youth of sixteen, assumed command and conducted the 
defence with the skill of a veteran. Pratap's mother, 
fearing lest humane motives should influence her son, 
" commanded him to put on the saffron robe and to die 
for the honour and glory of the Seesodias like a brave 
Rajput. But, surpassing the Grecian dame who illus- 
trated her precept by example, and .... armed and 
mounted and accompanied by her son's young bride, 
descended the rock of Chitor, lance in hand, and died 
heroically charging the Imperial forces." 
The epic story of the defence and fall of Chitor is 
told in full by Jessrajsinghi Seesodia, in this book th.at 
recounts the history, tlie chivalric legend, and the 
characteristics of the Rajput people. Himself a 
member of one of the proudest branches of the race, 
Jessrajsinghi is mindful of the benefits that have accruecl 
to his people and to all India from British rule, and, in 
view of German slurs on the standing of our Indian 
allies in the field, is insistent in the chivalric ideals and 
lofty traditions of the Rajputs. Reason and historv are 
with him. Honourable warriors from antiquitv, Rajputs 
in the Flanders fighting line can afford to ignore mere 
German sneers; but British indifference to the history 
of other races renders the publication of this book more 
than acceptable, since it establishes beyond dispute the 
right of the Rajputs to fight beside or against anv people 
of Aryan stock, by virtue of their principles of life and 
lojalty. 
For fuller understanding of Indian, and especially 
Rajput, life, the reader maybe referred to Jessrajsinghi '3 
book on his own warlike race, a work which presents, 
also, the history and traditions of the Rajputs, their arts 
and their beliefs. The fact that the author intends to 
devote half the profits from the sale of his book to the 
Indian Widows' Fund is only in accordance with Rajput 
tradition, and the book itself is a fitting memento of a 
race of honourable warriors. 
BOOKS OF THE WEEK. 
The North-west Amazons" Bv Thamas WhiHen, 
(Conatable aad Co.) 12s. 6d. net.' 
F.R.G.S. 
«v„jpuco c^.c ,.„c<.. u^cenuanis oi tne ivsnatrivas in a .f 1'°"' ^^i"'^^ °lr''' ? ^°\ "' ",'''' *"** ^^'"^ '°™« '"^^^ 
^^..„* 1 1 J- iv3iic»ui>ds>, in a of the complex anthropoloffical problems of the, Amarnn 
Zn ^n.nn"''.."^"-' '*"""'', ^^ '"" ''''' ^''^''' ""^^^"^ '>--' ^^^ the immense diffifultiesTtendant on y 5 dTo 
iiV . "^^''^ '^°'"P^'''V''^l>'.'''^^^"' ^^'Stocrac these problems. The' nt on any study ot 
Western Europe, and their claim to rank among the 
oldest ruling dynasties is incontestable. 
There are "few more stirring stories in the military 
history of any people than that of the Rajput defence of 
Chitor, the stronghold of the race, against the great 
Moghul conqueror Akbar, who commanded the siege of 
the fortress in person. Four subsidiary forts had first 
been reduced, when Akbar settled in earnest to the siege 
of C lutor !• mding direct attack of no avail, the Moghul 
advanced his earthworks to the very base of the great 
rock ortress, " actually paying a gold mohur for every 
basket of earth used in the protective earthwork throw n 
" The Rajputs, a Fighting Race 
fc>eesodia, M.K.A.S. East and 
Bv Thakur Shri Jessrajsinglii 
West, Limited, 2U. aet. 
dy of 
book is concerned with oiilv certain 
tribes, notably the Boro, Witoto. and Audoke, inhabiting 
an area in the vicinity of the Japiira and the Apaporis riversT 
and including the western part of the notorious Putumay'> 
district. From careful observation the author deduces that; 
thes© tribes are not degenerate, but gradually evolving to a 
higher state of civilisation. Working in these upper waters 
of the Amazon basin, be virtually supplements Bates, Wal- 
lace, and other students of the main and more west-erly 
rivers; his tour included a search, unfortunately futile, for 
traces of the ill-fated Robuchon, for which he received the 
thanks of the French Government. 
Bates's own story is not more interesting than this. It 
i.^ evident, though of course not stated, that the author 
brought to his work not only the skill of a trained investi- 
gator, but rare and infinite tact, and the result is aa 
extremely detailed and valuable account of the tribes coa- 
18 
