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This page is an extract from <br/>
ANNALS AND ANTIQUITIES <br/>
OF <br/>
'''RAJASTHAN '''<br/>

OR THE CENTRAL AND WESTERN <br/>
RAJPUT STATES OF INDIA <br/>

By <br/>
LIEUT.-COL. JAMES TOD <br/>
Late Political Agent to the Western Rajput States <br/>

Edited with an Introduction and Notes by <br/>
WILLIAM CROOKE, CIE. <br/>
Hon. D.Sc. Oxon., B.A., F.R.A.l. <br/>
Late of the Indian Civil Service <br/>

In Three Volumes <br/>
VOL. IV: ANNALS OF MEWAR<br/>
[The Annals were completed in 1829]<br/>

HUMPHREY MILFORD <br/>
Oxford University Press <br/>
London Edinburgh Glasgow New York <br/>
Toronto Melbourne Bombay <br/>
1920 [The edition scanned] <br/>
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=Mewar 30: Reform of the Nobility=

==Reform of the Nobility==

Of the three measures simultaneously 
projected and pursued for the restoration of prosperity, the 
industrious portion has been described. The feudal interest 
remains, which was found the most difficult to arrange. The 
agricultural and commercial classes required only protection and 
stimulus, and we could repay the benefits their industry conferred 
by the lowest scale of taxation, which, though in fact equally 
beneficial to the government, was constructed as a boon. But 
with the feudal lords there was no such equivalent to offer in 
return for the sacrifices many had to make for the re-establishment 
of society. Those who were well inclined, like Kotharia, had 
everything to gain, and nothing left to surrender ; while those 
who, like Deogarh, Salumbar, or Badnor, had preserved their 
power by foreign aid, intrigue, or prowess, dreaded the high price 
they might be called upon to pay [486] for the benefit of security 
which the new alliance conferred. All dreaded the word ' restitu
tion,' and the audit of half a century's political accounts ; yet the 
adjustment of these was the corner-stone of the edifice, which 
anarchy and oppression had dismantled. Feuds were to be 
appeased, a difficult and hazardous task ; and usurpations, both 
on the crown and each other, to be redeemed. ' To bring the 
wolf and the goat to drink from the same vessel,' was a task of 
less difficulty than to make the Chondawat and Saktawat labour 
in concert for the welfare of the prince and the country. In fine, 
a better idea cannot be afforded of what was deemed the hopeless

1  Although Bhilwara has not attained that high prosperity my enthusiasm 
anticipated, yet the philanthropic Heber records that in 1825 (three years 
after I had left the country) it exhibited " a greater appearance of trade, 
industry, and moderate but widely diffused wealth and comfort, than he 
had witnessed since he left DehU" [Diary, ed. 1861, ii. 56 f.]. The record 
of the sentiments of the inhabitants towards me, as conveyed by the bishop, 
was gratifying, though their expression could excite no surprise in any 
one acquainted with the characters and sensibilities of these people. [The 
author's anticipation of the prosperity of this town have not been com
pletely realized ; but it is still an important centre of trade, noted for the 
manufacture of cooking utensils, and possessing a ginning factory and a 
cotton-press (Erskine ii. A. 97 f.)-l 
ness of success than the opinion of Zorawar Singh, the chief of 
the latter clan, who had much to relinquish : " Were Parameswara 
(the Almighty) to descend, he could not reform Mewar." We 
judged better of them than they did of each other. 

==Negotiations with the Chiefs==

It were superfluous to detail all 
the preparatory measures for the accomplishment of this grand 
object ; the meetings and adjournments, which only served to 
keep alive discontent. On the 27th of April, the treaty with the 
British Government was read, and the consequent change in their 
relations explained. Meanwhile; a charter, defining the respective 
rights of the crown and of the chiefs, with their duties to the 
community, was prepared, and a day named for a general assembly 
of the chieftains to sanction and ratify this engagement. The 
1st of May was fixed : the chiefs assembled ; the articles, ten in 
number, were read and warmly discussed ; when with unmeaning 
expressions of duty, and objections to the least prominent, they 
obtained through their speaker, Gokuldas of Deogarh, permission 
to reassemble at his house to consider them, and broke up with 
the promise to attend next day. The delay, as apprehended, only 
generated opposition, and the 2nd and 3rd passed in inter-com
munications of individual hope and fear. It was important to 
put an end to speculation. At noon, on the 4th of May, the grand 
hall was again filled, when the Rana, with his sons and ministers, 
took their seats. Once more the articles were read, objections 
raised and combated, and midnight had arrived without the 
object of the meeting being advanced, when an adjournment, 
proposed by Gokuldas, till the arrival of the Rana's plenipotentiary 
from Delhi, met with a firm denial ; and the Rana gave him liberty 
to retire, if he refused his testimony of loyalty. The Begun 
chief, who had much to gain, at length set the example, followed 
by the chiefs of Amet and Deogarh, and in succession by all the 
sixteen nobles, who also signed as the proxies of their [487] 
relatives, unable from sickness to attend. The most powerful 
of the second grade also signed for themselves and the absent of 
their clans, each, as he gave in his adhesion, retiring ; and it was 
three in the morning of the 5th of May ere the ceremony was over. 
The chief of the Saktawats, determined to be conspicuous, was 
the last of his own class to sign. During this lengthened and 
painful discussion of fifteen hours' continuance, the Rana con
ducted himself with such judgment and firmness, as to give 
sanguine hopes of his taking the lead in the settlement of his 
affairs. 

==Enforcement of the Treaty==

This prehunnary adjusted, it was 
important that the stipulations of the treaty 1  should be rigidly 
if not rapidly effected. It will not be a matter of surprise, that 
some months passed away before the complicated arrangements 
arising out of this settlement were completed ; but it may afford 
just grounds for gratulation, that they were finally accomplished 
without a shot being fired, or the exhibition of a single British 
soldier in the country, nor, indeed, within one hundred miles of 
Udaipur. ' Opinion ' was the sole and all-sufficient ally effecting 
this political reform. The Rajputs, in fact, did not require the 
demonstration of our physical strength ; its influence had reached 
far beyond Mewar. When the few firelocks defeated hundreds of 
the foes of public tranquillity, they attributed it to ' the strength 
of the Company's salt,' 2  the inoral agency of which was pro
claimed the true basis of our power. ' Sachha Raj ' was the 
proud epithet applied by our new allies to the British Government 
in the East ; a title which distinguished the immortal Alfred, 
' the upright.' 
It will readily be imagined that a reform, which went to touch 

1  A literal translation of this curious piece of Hindu legislation will be 
found at the end of the Appendix. If not drawn up with all the dignity 
of the legal enactments of the great governments of the West, it has an 
important advantage in conciseness ; the articles cannot be mismterpreted, 
and require no lawyer to expound them. 
2  " Kampani Sahib ke namak ke zor se " is a common phrase of our 
native soldiery ; and " Dohai ! Kampani ki ! " is an invocation or appeal 
against injustice ; but I never heard this watchword so powerfully apphed 
as when a Sub. with the Resident's escort in 1812. One of our men, a noble 
young Rajput about nineteen years of age, and six feet high, had been sent 
with an elephant to forage in the wilds of Narwar. A band of at least 
fifty predatory horsemen assailed him, and demanded the surrender of the 
elephant, which he met by pointing his musket and givuig them defiance. 
Beset on all sides, he fired, was cut down, and left for dead, in which state 
he was found, and brought to camp upon a litter. One sabre-cut had opened 
the back entirely across, exposing the action of the viscera, and his arms and 
wrists were barbarously hacked : yet he was firm; collected, and even cheer
ful ; and to a kmd reproach for his rashness, ho said, " What would you 
have said, Captam Sahib, had I surrendered the Company's musket {Kam
pani ki banduq) without fightmg ? " From their temperate habits, the 
wound in the back did well ; but the severed nerves of the wrists brought 
on a lockjaw of which he died. The Company have thousands who would 
alike die for their banduq. It were wise to cherish such feelings. 
the entire feudal association, could not be accomplished without 
harassing and painful discussions [488], when the object was the 
renunciation of lands, to which in some cases the right of inherit
ance could be pleaded, in others, the cognisance of successful 
revenge, while to many prescriptive possession could be asserted. 
It was the more painful, because although the shades which 
marked the acquisition of such lands were varied, no distinction 
could be made in the mode of settlement, namely, unconditional 
surrender. In some cases, the Rana had to revoke his own grants, 
wrung either from his necessities or his weakness ; but in neither 
predicament could arguments be adduced to soften renunciation, 
or to meet the powerful and pathetic and often angry appeals to 
justice or to prejudice. Counter-appeals to their loyalty, and 
the necessity for the re-establishment of their sovereign's just 
weight and influence in the social body, without which their own 
welfare could not be secured, were adduced ; but individual views 
and passions were too absorbing to bend to the general interest. 
Weeks thus passed in interchange of visits, in soothing pride, and 
in flattering vanity by the revival of past recollections, which 
gradually familiarized the subject to the mind of the chiefs, and 
brought them to compliance. Time, conciliation, and impartial 
justice, confirmed the victory thus obtained ; and when they were 
made to see that no interest was overlooked, that party views 
were miknown, and that the system included every class of society 
in its beneficial operation, cordiality followed concession. Some 
of these cessions were alienations from the crown of half a century's 
duration. 

Individual cases of hardship were unavoidable without 
incurring the imputation of favouritism, and the dreaded revival 
of ancient feuds, to abolish which was indispensable, but required 
much circiunspection. Castles and lands in this predicament 
could therefore neither be retained by the possessor nor returned 
to the ancient proprietor without rekindling the torch of cival war. 
The sole alternative was for the crown to take the object of con
tention, and make compensation from its own domain. It would 
be alike tedious and tminteresting to enter into the details of these 
arrangements, where one chief had to relinquish the levy of 
transit duties in the most important outlet of the country, asserted 
to have been held during seven generations, as in the case of the 
chief of Deogarh. Of another (the Bhindar chief) who held forty
three towns and villages, in addition to his grant ; of Amet, of 
Badesar, of Dabla, of Lawa, and many others who held important 
fortresses of the crown independent of its will ; and other claims, 
embracing every right [489] and privilege appertaining to feudal 
society ; suffice it, that in six months the whole arrangements 
were effected. 

==The Case of Arja==

In the painful and protracted discussions 
attendant on these arrangements, powerful traits of national 
character were developed. The castle and domain of Arja half 
a century agd belonged to the crown, but had been usurped by 
the Purawats, from whom it was wrested by storm about fifteen 
years back by the Saktawats, and a patent sanctioning possession 
was obtained, on the payment of a fine of £1000 to the Rana. 
Its surrender was now required from Fateh Singh, the second 
brother of Bhindar, the head of this clan ; but being regarded as 
the victorious completion of a feud, it was not easy to silence their 
prejudices and objections. The renunciation of the forty-three 
towns and villages by the chief of the clan caused not half the 
excitation, and every Saktawat seemed to forgo his individual 
losses in the common sentiment expressed by their head : " Arja 
is the price of blood, and with its cession our honour is surrendered." 
To preserve the point of honour, it was stipulated that it should 
not revert to the Purawats, but be incorporated with the fisc, 
which granted an equivalent ; when letters of surrender were 
signed by both brothers, whose conduct throughout was manly 
and confiding. 

==Badnor and Amet==

The Badnor and Amet chiefs, both of the 
superior grade of nobles, were the most formidable obstacles to 
the operation of the treaty of the 4th of May. The first of these, 
by name Jeth Singh {the victoriowi [chief] lion), was of the Mertia 
clan, the bravest of the brave race of Rathor, whose ancestors 
had left their native abodes on the plains of Marwar, and accom
panied the celebrated Mira Bai on her marriage with Rana 
Kmnbha. His descendants, amongst whom was Jaimall, of 
immortal memory, enjoyed honour in Mewar equal to their birth 
and high deserts. It was the more difficult to treat with men 
like these, whose conduct had been a contrast to the general 
license of the times, and who had reason to feel offended, when 
no distinction was observed between them and those who had 
disgraced the name of Rajput. Instead of the submission ex
pected from the Rathor, so overwhelmed was he from the magni
tude of the claims, which amounted to a virtual extinction of his 
power, that he begged leave to resign his estates and quit the 
country. In prosecution of this design, he took post in the chief 
hall of the palace, from which no entreaties could make him 
move ; 1  until the Rana, to [490] escape his importimities, and 
even restraint, obtained his promise to abide by the decision of the 
Agent. The forms of the Rana's court, from time immemorial, 
prohibit all personal communication between the sovereign and 
his chiefs in matters of individual interest, by which indecorous 
altercation is avoided. But the ministers, whose office it was to 
obtain every information, did not make a rigid scrutiny into the 
title-deeds of the various estates previous to advancing the claims 
of the crown. This brave man had enemies, and he was too 
proud to have recourse to the common arts either of adulation or 
bribery to aid his cause. It was a satisfaction to find that the 
two principal towns demanded of him were embodied in a grant 
of Sangram Singh's reign ; and the absolute rights of the fisc, 
of which he had become possessed, were cut down to about 
fifteen thousand rupees of annual revenue. But there were other 
points on which he was even more tenacious than the sm-render 
of these. Being the chief noble of the fine district of Badnor, 
which consisted of three hundred and sixty towns and villages, 
chiefly of feudal allotments (many of them of his own clan), he 
had taken advantage of the times to establish his influence over 
them, to assume the right of wardship of minors, and secure those 
services which were due to the prince, but which he wanted the 
power to enforce. The holders of these estates were of the third 
class of vassals or gol (the mass), whose services it was important 
to reclaim, and who constituted in past times the most efficient 
force of the Ranas, and were the preponderating balance of their 
authority when mercenaries were unknown in these patriarchal 
states. Abundant means towards a just investigation had been 
previously prociu'ed ; and after some discussion, in which all 
admissible claims were recognized, and argument was silenced by 
incontrovertible facts, this chieftain relinquished all that was 
demanded, and sent in, as from himself, his written renunciation 
to his sovereign. However convincing the data by which his 
proper rights and those of his prince were defined; it was to feeling 

1  [An instance of the practice of ' sitting dharna ' to enforce a claim 
(Yule-Bumell, Hobaon-Jobson, 2nd ed. 315 f.).] 
and prejudice that we were mainly indebted for so satisfactory 
an adjustment. An appeal to the nam,e 1 
and the contrast of his ancestor's 
loyalty and devotion with his own contumacy, acted as a talisman, 
and wrung tears from his eyes and the deed from his hand. It 
will afford some idea of the difficulties encountered, as well as the 
invidiousness of the task of arbitrating such matters, to give his 
own comment verbatim : "I remained faithful when his own 
kin deserted him, and was [491] one of four chiefs who alone of 
all Mewar fought for him in the rebellion ; but the son of Jaimall 
is forgotten, while the ' plunderer ' is his boon companion, and 
though of inferior rank, receives an estate which elevates him 
above me " ; alluding to the chief of Badesar, who plundered 
the queen's dower. But while the brave descendant of Jaimall 
returned to Badnor with the marks of his sovereign's favour, and 
the applause of those he esteemed, the ' runner ' went back to 
Badesar in disgrace, to which his prince's injudicious favour 
further contributed. 

==Hamira of Badesar==

Hamira of Badesar was of the second 
class of nobles, a Chondawat by birth. He succeeded to his 
father Sardar Singh, the assassin of the prime minister even in 
the palace of his sovereign ; 2  into whose presence he had the 
audacity to pursue the surviving brother, destined to avenge 
him.' Hamira inherited all the turbulence and disaffection, with 
the estates, of his father ; and this most conspicuous of the many 
lawless chieftains of the times was known throughout Rajasthan 
as Hamira ' the runner ' (daurayat). Though not entitled to hold 
1  See p. 380.   2  See p. 514 and note. 
3  It win fill up the picture of the times to relate the revenge. When 
Jauishid, the infamous lieutenant of the infamous Amir Khan, established 
' his headquarters at Udaipur, which he daily devastated, Sardar Singh, 
then in power, was seized and confined as a hostage for the payment of 
thirty thousand rupees demanded of the Rana. The surviving brothers 
of the murdered minister Somji ' purchased their foe ' with the sum 
demanded, and anticipated his clansmen, who were on the point of effecting 
his liberation. The same sun shone on the head of Sardar, which was 
placed as a signal of revenge over the gateway of Ranipiyari's palace. I 
had the anecdotes from the minister Siyahal, one of the actors in these 
tragedies, and a relative of the brothers, who were all swept away by the 
dagger. A similar fate often seemed to him, though a brave man, inevitable 
during these resumptions ; which impression, added to the Rana's known 
inconstancy of favour, robbed him of half his energies. 
lands beyond thirty thousand annually, he had become possessed 
to the amount of eighty thousand, chiefly of the fisc or khalisa, 
and nearly all obtained by violence, though since confirmed by 
the prince's patent. With the chieftain of Lawa (precisely in the 
same predicament), who held the fortress of Kheroda and other 
valuable lands, Hamira resided entirely at the palace, and obtain
ing the Rana's ear by professions of obedience, kept possession, 
while chiefs in eveiy respect his superiors had been compelled to 
surrender ; and when at length the Saktawat of Lawa was forbid 
the court until Kheroda and all his usurpations were yielded up, 
the son of Sardar displayed his usual turbulence, ' curled his 
moustache ' at the minister, and hinted at the fate of his pre
decessor. 

Although none dared to imitate him, his stubbornness 
was not without admirers, especially among his own clan ; and 
as it was too evident that fear or favour swayed the Rana, it was 
a case for the Agent's interference, the opportunity for which 
was soon afforded. When [492] forced to give letters of surrender, 
the Rana's functionaries, who went to take possession, were 
insulted, refused admittance, and compelled to return. Not a 
moment could be lost in punishing this contempt of authority ; 
and as the Rana was holding a court when the report arrived, the 
Agent requested an audience. He found the Rana and his chiefs 
assembled in ' the balcony of the sun,' and amongst them the 
notorious Hamira. After the usual compliments, the Agent asked 
the minister if his master had been put in possession of Syana. 
It was evident from the general constraint, that all were acquainted 
with the result of the deputation ; but to remove responsibility 
from the minister, the Agent, addressing the Rana as if he were 
in ignorance of the insult, related the transaction, and observed 
that his government would hold him culpable if he remained at 
Udaipur while his highness's commands were disregarded. Thus 
supported, the Rana resumed his dignity, and in forcible language 
signified to all present his anxious desire to do nothing which was 
harsh or ungracious ; but that, thus compelled, he would not 
recede from what became him as their sovereign. Calling for a 
bira, he looked sternly at Hamira, and commanded him to quit 
his presence instantly, and the capital in an hour ; and, but for 
the Agent's interposition, he would have been banished the 
country. Confiscation of his whole estate was commanded, until 
renunciation was completed. He departed that night ; and, 
contrary to expectation, not only were all the usurpations sur
rendered, but, what was scarcely contemplated by the Agent, 
the Rana's flag of sequestration was quietly admitted into the 
fortress of Badesar.1 

==The Case of Amli==

One more anecdote may suffice. The 
lands and fortress of Amli had been in the family of Amet since 
the year 27, only five years posterior to the date to which these 
arrangements extended ; their possession verged on half a century. 
The lords of Amet were of the Sixteen, and were chiefs of the clan 
Jagawat. The present representative enjoyed a fair character : 
he could, with the chief of Radnor, claim the succession of the 
loyal ; for Partap and Jaimall, their respective ancestors, were 
rivals and martyrs on that memorable day when the genius of 
Chitor abandoned the Sesodias. But the heir of Amet had not 
this alone [493] to support his claims ; for his predecessor Partap 
had lost his life in defending his country against the Mahrattas, 
and Amli had been his acquisition. Fateh Singh (such was his 
name) was put forward by the more artful of his immediate kin, 
the Chondawat interest ; but his disposition, blunt and impetuous, 
was Uttle calculated to promote their views : he was an honest 
Rajput, who neither could nor cared to conceal his anger, and at 
a ceremonious visit paid him by the Agent, he had hardly sufficient 
control over himself to be courteous, and though he said nothing, 
his eyes, inflamed with opium and disdain, spoke his feelings. 
He maintained a dogged indifference, and was inaccessible to 
argument, till at length, following the example of Badnor, he was 
induced to abide by the Agent's mediation. He came attended 
by his vassals, who anxiously awaited the result, which an un
premeditated incident facilitated. After a long and fruitless 
expostulation, he had taken refuge in an obstinate silence ; and 
seated in a chair opposUe to the envoy, with his shield in front, 
placed perpendicularly  on his knees, and his arms and head 

1  Nearly twelve months after this, my pubhc duty called me to Nimbahera 
en route to Kotah. The castle of Haraira was within an hour's ride, and 
at night he was reported as having arrived to visit me, when I appointed 
the next day to receive him. Early next morning, according to custom, 
I took my ride, with four of Skinner's Horse, and galloped past him, stretched 
with his followers on the ground not far from my camp, towards his fort. 
He came to me after breakfast, called me his greatest friend, " swore by 
his dagger he was my Rajput," and that he would be in future obedient 
and loyal ; but this, I fear, can never be. 
reclined thereon, he continued vacantly looking on the ground. 
To interrupt this uncourteous silence in his own house, the envoy 
took a picture, which with several others was at hand, and placing 
it before him, remarked, " That chief did not gain his reputation 
for swamidharma 1  (loyalty) by conduct such as yours." His 
eyes suddenly recovered their animation and his countenance 
was lighted with a smile, as he rapidly uttered, " How did you 
why does this interest you ? " A tear started in 
" Yes," said the 
Agent, " it is the loyal Partap on the day he went forth to meet 
his death ; but his name yet lives, and a stranger does homage to 
" Take Amli, take Amli," he hurriedly repeated, 
with a suppressed tone of exultation and sorrow, " but forget not 
the extent of the sacrifice." To prolong the visit would have 
been painful to both, but as it might have been trusting too much 
to humanity to delay the resumption, the Agent availed himself 
of the moment to indite the chhorchitthi 2  of surrender for the 
lands. 

With these instances, characteristic of individuals and the 
times, this sketch of the introductory measures for improving the 
condition of Mewar may be closed. To enter more largely in 
detail is foreign to the purpose of the work ; nor is it requisite 
for the comprehension of the unity of the object, that a more 
minute dissection of the parts should be afforded. Before, how
ever, we exhibit the [494] general results of these arrangements, 
we shall revert to the condition of the more humble, but a most 
important part of the community, the peasantry of Mewar ; and 
embody, in a few remarks, the fruits of observation or inquiry, 
as to their past and present state, their rights, the establishment 
of them, their infringement, and restitution. On this subject 
much has been necessarily introduced in the sketch of the feudal 
system, where landed tenures were discussed ; but it is one on 
which such a contrariety of opinion exists, that it may be desirable 
to show the exact state of landed tenures in a country, where 
Hindu manners should exist in greater purity than in any other 
jjart of the vast continent of India. 

==The Landed System==

The ryot (cultivator) is the proprietor of 
the soil in Mewar. He compares his right therein to the akshay 
1  Literally faith (dharma) to his lord {swami). 
2  Paper of relinquishment. 
 [[File: the landed system.png||frame|500px]]   
duha,1   which no vicissitudes can destroy. IJe calls the land his 
bapota, the most emphatic, the most ancient, the most cherished, 
and the most significant phrase his language commands for 
patrimonial 2  inheritance. He has nature and Manu in support 
of his claim, and can quote the text, alike compulsory on prince 
and peasant, " cultivated land is the property of him who cut 
away the wood, or who cleared and tilled it," 3 an ordinance 
binding on the whole Hindu race, and which no international 
wars, or conquest, could overturn. In accordance with this 
principle is the ancient adage, not of Mewar only but all Rajpu
tana, Bhog ra dhanni Raj ho : bhum ra dhanni ma cho : ' the 
government is owner of the rent, but I am the master of the 
land.' With the toleration and benevolence of the race the 
conqueror is conunanded " to respect the deities adored by the 
conquered, also their virtuous priests, and to establish the laws 
of the conquered nation as declared in their books." 4  If it were 
deemed desirable to recede to the system of pure Hindu agrarian 
law, there is no deficiency of materials. The customary laws 
contained in the various reports of able men, superadded to the 
general ordinances of Manu, would form a code at once simple 
and efficient : for though innovation from foreign conquest has 
placed niany principles in abeyance, and modified others, yet he 
has observed to little purpose [495] who does not trace a uni
formity of design, which at one time had ramified wherever the 
1 The dub grass Cynodon dactylon] flourishes in all seasons, and most in 
the intense heats ; it is not only amara or ' immortal,' but akshay, ' not to 
be eradicated ' ; and its tenacity to the soil deserves the distinction. 
2 From bap, ' father,' and the termination of, or belonging to, and by 
which clans are distinguished ; as Karansot, ' descended of Karan ' ; 
Mansinghgot, ' descended of Mansingh.' It is curious enough that the 
mountain clans of Albania, and other Greeks, have the same distinguishing 
termination, and the Mainote of Greece and the Mairot of Rajputana aUke 
signify mountaineer, or ' of the mountain,' maina in Albanian ; mairu or 
meru  in Sanskrit. [The words have no connexion.] 
3  Laws, ix. 44. 
4  [" When he [the king] has gained victory, let him duly worship the 
gods and honour righteous Brahmanas, let him grant exemptions, and 
let him cause promises of safety to be proclaimed. But having fully ascer
tained the wishes of all the (conquered), let him place then a relation of 
(the vanquished ruler on the throne), and let him impose his conditions. 
Let him make authoritative the lawful customs of the inhabitants, just 
as they are stated to be " (Manu, Laws, vii. 201 f., trans. Buhler, Sacred 
Books of the East, xxv. 248 f.).] 
name of Hindu prevailed : language has been modified, and 
terms have been corrupted or changed, but the primary pervading 
principle is yet perceptible ; and whether we examine the systems 
of Khandesh, the Carnatic, or Rajasthan, we shall discover the 
elements to be the same. 

If we consider the system from the period described by Arrian, 
Curtius, and Diodorus, we shall see in the government of town
ships each commune an ' imperium in imperio ' ; a little republic, 
maintaining its municipal legislation independent of the monarchy, 
on which it relies for general support, and to which it pays the 
bhog, or tax in kind, as the price of this protection ; for though 
the prescribed duties of kings are as well defined by Manu 1  as 
by any jurisconsult in Europe, nothing can be more lax than the 
mutual relations of the governed and governing in Hindu mon
archies, which are resolved into unbounded liberty of action. To 
the artificial regulation of society, which leaves all who depend 
on manual exertion to an immutable degradation, must be 
ascribed these multitudinous governments, unknown to the rest 
of mankind, which, in spite of such dislocation, maintain the 
bonds of mutual sympathies. Strictly speaking, every State 
presents the picture of so many hundred or thousand minute 
republics, without any connexion with each other, giving allegi
ance {an) and rent (bhog) to a prince, who neither legislates for 
them, nor even forms a police for their internal protection. It 
is consequent on this want of paramount interference that, in 
matters of police, of justice, and of law, the communes act for 
themselves ; and from this want of paternal interference only 
have arisen those courts of equity, or arbitration, the panchayats. 
But to return to the freehold ryot of Mewar, whose hapota is 
words of foreign 
growth, introduced by the Muhammadan conquerors ; the first 
(Persian) is of more general use in Khandesh ; the other (Arabic) 

1  [" Let him [the king] cause his annual revenue in his kingdom to be 
collected by trusty (officials), let him obey the sacred law (in his trans
actions with) the people, and behave as a father to all men " (Manu, Laws, 
vii. 80). " Not to turn back in battle, to protect the people, to honour 
the Brahmanas, is the best means for a king to secure happmess " {ib. 
vii. 88). " From the people let him (the king) learn (the theory) of the 
(various) trades and professions " {ib. vii. 43). " But (he who is given) 
to these vices (loses) even his life " {ib. vii. 46), trans. Buhler, Sacred 
Books of the East, xxv.] 
in the Carnatic. Thus the great Persian moralist Saadi exempli
fies its application : " If you desire to succeed to your father's 
inheritance (miras), first obtain his wisdom " [496]. 
While the term bapota thus implies the inheritance or patri
mony, its holder, if a military vassal, is called Bhumia, a term 
equally powerful, meaning one actually identified with the soil 
(bhum), and for which the Muhammad an has no equivalent but 
in the possessive compound watandar, or mirasdar. The Cani
atchi ^ of Malabar is the Bhumia of Rajasthan. 

The emperors of Delhi, in the zenith of their power, bestowed 
the epithet zamindar upon the Hindu tributary sovereigns : not 
out of disrespect, but in the true application of their own term 
Bhumia Raj, expressive of their tenacity to the soil ; and this 
fact affords additional evidence of the proprietary right being in 
the cultivator {ri/ot), namely, that he alone can confer the freehold 
land, which gives the title of Bhumia, and of which both past 
history and present usage will furnish us with examples. When 
the tenure of land obtained from the cultivator is held more valid 
than the grant of the sovereign, it will be deemed a conclusive 
argument of the proprietary right being vested in the ryot. What 
should induce a chieftain, when inducted into a perpetual fief, to 
establish through the ryot a right to a few acres in bhum, but 
the knowledge that although the vicissitudes of fortune or of 
favour may deprive him of his aggregate signiorial rights, his 
claims, derived from the spontaneous favour of the commime, 
can never be set aside ; and when he ceases to be the lord, he 
becomes a member of the commonwealth, merging his title of 
Thakur, or Signior, into the more humble one of Bhumia, the 
allodial tenant of the Rajput feudal system, elsewhere discussed.2 
Thus we have touched on the method by which he acquires this 
distinction, for protecting the conmiunity from violence ; and if 
left destitute by the negligence or inability of the government, he 
is vested with the rights of the crown, in its share of the bhog or 
rent. But when their own land is in the predicament caUed 
galita, or reversions from lapses to the commune, he is ' seised ' in 


1 Cani, ‘land’ and atchi’ heritage’: Report, P. 280._I should be in clined to 
imagine the atchi, Uke the ot and awat, Rajput terminations, 
implymg clanship. [Tamil kdniydtchi, ' that which is held in free and 
hereditary property ' ; kdni, ' land,' atchi, ' inheritance ' (Wilson, Glossary, 
s.v. ; Madras Manual of Administration, iii. 58).] 
2 See p. 195. 
all the rights of the former proprietor ; or, by internal arrange
ments, they can convey such right by cession of the commune. 

==The Bhumia==

The privilege attached to the bhum,1 and 
acquired from the community by the protection afforded to it, 
is the most powerful argument for the recognition of its original 
rights. The Bhumia, thus vested, may at pleasure drive his own 
plough [497], the right to the soil. His hhum is exempt from the 
jarib (measuring rod) ; it is never assessed, and his only sign of 
allegiance is a quit-rent, in most cases triennial, and the tax of 
kharlakar,2  a war imposition, now commuted for money. The 
State, however, indirectly receives the services of these allodial 
tenants, the yeomen of Rajasthan, who constitute, as in the 
districts of Kumbhalmer and Mandalgarh, the landwehr, or local 
militia. In fact, since the days of universal repose set in, and 
the townships required no protection, an arrangement was made 
with the Bhumias of Mewar, in which the crown, foregoing its 
claim of quit-rent, has obtained their services in the garrisons 
and frontier stations of j^lice at a very slight pecuniary sacrifice. 
Such are the rights and privileges derived from the ryot 
cultivator alone. The Rana may dispossess the chiefs of Radnor, 
he could 
not touch the rights emanating from the community ; and thus 
the descendants of a chieftain, who a few years before might have 
followed his sovereign at the hpad of one hundred cavaliers, 
would descend into the humble foot militia of a district. Thou
sands are in this predicament : the Kanawats, Lunawats, Kum
bhawats, and other clans, who, like the Celt, forget not their 
claims of birth in the distinctions of fortune, but assert their 
propinquity as " brothers in the nineteenth or thirtieth degree 
to the prince " on the throne. So sacred was the tenure derived 
from the ryot, that even monarchs held lands in hhum from their 
subjects, for an instance of which we are indebted to the great 
poetic historian of the last Hindu king. Chand relates, that 
when his sovereign, the Chauhan, had subjugated the kingdom of 
Anhilwara ^ from the Solanki, he returned to the nephew of the 
1 See p. 195. 
2 See Sketch of Feudal System, p. 170. 
3  Nahrwala of D'Anville ; the Balhara sovereignty of the Arabian 
travellers of the eighth and ninth centuries. I visited the remains of this 
city on my last journey, and from original authorities shall give an account 
of this ancient emporium of commerce and literature. 
conquered prince several districts and seaports, and all the bhum 
held by the family. In short, the Rajput vaunts his aristocratic 
distinction derived from the land ; and opposes the title of 
' Bhumia Raj,' or government of the soil, to the ' Bania Raj,' or 
commercial government, which he affixes as an epithet of con
tempt to Jaipur : where " wealth accumulates and men decay." 

In the great ' register of patents ' (jmtta bald) of Mewar we 
find a species of [498] bhum held by the greater vassals on par
ticular crown lands ; whether this originated from inability of 
ceding entire townships to complete the estate to the rank of the 
incumbent, or whether it was merely in confirmation of the grant 
of the commune, could not be ascertained. The benefit from 
this bhum is only pecuniary, and the title is ' bhum, rakhwali ' ^ 
or land [in return for] ' preservation.' Strange to say, the crown 
itself holds ' bhum, rakhwali ' on its own fiscal demesnes consisting 
of small portions in each village, to the amount of ten thousand 
rupees in a district of thirty or forty townships. This species, 
however, is so incongruous that we can only state it does exist : 
we should vainly seek the cause for such apparent absurdity, for 
since society has been, unhinged, the oracles are mute to much 
of antiquated custom. 

==Occupiers' Rights in the Land==

We shall close these remarks 
with some illustrative traditions and yet existing customs, to 
substantiate the ryot's right in the soil of Mewar, After one of 
those convulsions described in the annals, the prince had gone 
to espouse the daughter of the Raja of Mandor, the (then) capital 
of Marwar. It is customary at the moment of hathleva, or the 
junction of hands, that any request preferred by the bridegroom 
to the father of the bride should meet compliance, a usage which 
has yielded many fatal results ; and the Rana had been prompted 
on this occasion to demand a body of ten thousand Jat cultivators 
to repeople the deserted fisc of Mewar. An assent was given to 
the unprecedented demand, but when the inhabitants were thus 
despotically called on to migrate, they denied the power and 
refused. " Shall we," said they, ' abandon the lands of our 
inheritance (bapota), the property of our children, to accompany 
a stranger into a foreign land, there to labour for him ? Kill us 
you may, but never shall we relinquish our inalienable rights." 
The Mandor prince, who had trusted to this reply, deemed himself 
1 Salvamenta of fche European system. 
exonerated from his promise, and secured from the loss of so 
many subjects : but he was deceived. The Rana held out to 
them the enjoyment of the proprietary rights escheated to the 
crown in his country, with the lands left without occupants by 
the sword, and to all, increase of property. When equal and 
absolute power was thus conferred, they no longer hesitated to 
exchange the arid soil of Marwar for the garden of Rajwara ; and 
the descendants of these Jats still occupy the fiats watered by 
the Berach and Banas [499]. 

In those districts which afforded protection from innovation, 
the proprietary right of the ryot will be found in full force ; of this 
the populous and extensive district of Jahazpur, consisting of one 
hundred and six townships, affords a good specimen. There are 
but two pieces of land throughout the whole of this tract the 
property of the crown, and these were obtained by force during 
the occupancy of Zalim Singh of Kotah. The right thus unjustly 
acquired was, from the conscientiousness of the Rana's civil 
governor, on the point of being annulled by sale and reversion, 
when the court interfered to maintain its proprietary right to 
the tanks of Loharia and Itaunda, and the lands which they 
irrigate, now the bhum of the Rana.1  This will serve as an 
illustration how bhum may be acquired, and the annals of Kotah 
will exhibit, unhappily for the ryots of that country, the almost 
total annihilation of their rights, by the same summary process 
which originally attached liOharia to the fisc. 
The power of alienation being thus proved, it would be super
fluous to insist further on the proprietary right of the cultivator 
of the soil. 

==Proprietary Rights in Land==

Besides the ability to alienate as 
demonstrated, all the overt symbols which mark the proprietary 
right in other countries are to be found in Mewar ; that of entire 
conveyance by sale, or temporary by mortgage ; and numerous 
instances could be adduced, especially of the latter. The fertile 
lands of Horla, along the banks of the Khari, are almost all 
mortgaged, and the registers of these transactions form two 

1  The author has to acknowledge with regret that he was the cause of 
the Mina proprietors not re-obtaining theii" bapota : this arose, partly from 
ignorance at the time, partly from the individual claimants being dead, 
and more than all, from the representation that the intended sale originated 
in a bribe to Sadaram the governor, which, however, was not the case. 
considerable volumes, in which great variety of deeds may be 
discovered : one extended for one hundred and one years ; 1 
when redemption was to follow, without regard to interest on the 
one hand, or the benefits from the land on the other, but merely 
by repayment of the sum borrowed. To maintain the interest 
during abeyance, it is generally stipulated that a certain portion 
a fourth, a 
a share so small as to be valued only as a mark of 
proprietary recognition.2 The mortgagees were chiefly of the 
commercial classes of the large frontier towns ; in [500] many 
cases the proprietor continues to cultivate for another the lands 
His ancestor mortgaged four or five generations ago, nor does he 
deem his right at all impaired. A plan had been sketched to 
raise money to redeem these mortgages, from whose complex 
operation the revenue was sure to suffer. No length of time or 
absence can affect the claim to the bapota, and so sacred is the 
right of absentees, that land will lay sterile and unproductive 
from the penalty which Manu denounces on all who interfere 
with their neighbour's rights : " for unless there be an especial 
agreement between the owner of the land and the seed, the fruits 
belong clearly to the land-owner " ; even " if seed conveyed by 
water or by wind should germinate, the plant belongs to the land
owner, the mere sower takes not the fruit." 3 Even crime and the 
extreme sentence of the law will not alter succession to property, 
either to the military or cultivating vassal ; and the old Kentish 
adage, probably introduced by the Jats from Scandinavia, who 
under Hengist established that kingdom of the heptarchy, 
namely : 
The father to the bough, 
And the son to the plough 
1  Claims to the bapota appear to be maintainable if not alienated longer 
than one hundred and one years ; and undisturbed possession (no matter 
how obtained) for the same period appears to confer this right. The miras 
of Khandesh appears to have been on the same footing. See Mr. Elphin
stone's Report, October 25, 1819, ed. 1872, p. 17 f., quoted in BG, xii. 266. 
[The word mirds means " inherited estate,' the right of disposal of which 
rests with the holder. The Jats certainly did not bring the custom to Kent.] 
2  The sawmy begum of the peninsula in Fifth Report, pp. 356-57 ; correctly 
sivami bhoga, ' lord's rent,' in Sanskrit. 
3  Manu, Laws, ix. 52-54, on the Servile Classes. [Buhler's version 
differs, but the meaning is practically the same as that of the text.] 
is practically understood by the Jats and Bhumias 1  of Mewar, 
whose treason is not deemed hereditary, nor a chain of noble acts 
destroyed because a false link was thrown out. We speak of the 
the cultivator cannot aspire to so dignified a 
crime as treason. 

==Village Officials : the Patel==

The officers of the townships are 
the same as have been so often described, and are already too 
familiar to those interested in the subject to require illustration. 
From the Patel, the Cromwell of each township, to the village 
gossip, the ascetic Sannyasi, each deems his office, and the land 
he holds in virtue thereof in perpetuity free of rent to the State, 
except a small triennial quit-rent,2  and the liability, like every 
other branch of the State, to two war taxes.3 
Opinions are various as to the origin and attributes of the 
Patel, the most important personage in village sway, whose 
office is by many deemed foreign to the pure Hindu system, and 
to which language even his title is deemed alien. But there is 
no doubt that both office and title are of ancient growth, and even 
etymological rule proves the Patel to be head (pati) of the com
munity.4 The office of Patel [.501] of Mewar was originally 
elective ; he was ' primus inter pares,' the constituted attorney 
or representative of the commune, and as the medium between 
the cultivator and the government, enjoyed benefits from both. 
Besides his bapota, and the serano, or one-fortieth of all produce 
from the ryot, he had a remission of a third or fourth of the rent 
from such extra lands as he might cultivate in addition to his 
patrimony. Such was the Patel, the link connecting the peasant 
with the government, ere predatory war subverted all order : 

1  Patel. 2  Patel barar. 
3  The Gharginti barar, and Kharlakar, or wood and forage, explained 
in the Feudal System. 
4  In copper-plate grants dug from the ruins of the ancient Ujjain (pre
sented to the Royal Asiatic Society), the prince's patents (patta) conferring 
gifts are addressed to the Patta-silas and Ryots. I never heard an etymo
logy of this word, but imagine it to be from patta, ' grant,' or ' patent,' 
and sila, which means a nail, or sharp instrument; [? sila, the stone on 
which the grant is engraved] ; metaphorically, that which bmds or unites 
these patents ; all, however, having pati, or chief, as the basis (see Trans
actions of the Royal Asiatic Society, vol. i. p. 237). {Pati, ' chief,' has no 
connexion with patta, ' a grant,' the latter being the origin of patel. For 
the position of the Patel see Baden-Powell, The Indian Village Community, 
10 ff. ; Malcolm, Memoir of Central India, 2nd ed. ii. 14 ff.] 
but as rapine increased, so did his authority. He became the 
plenipotentiary of the community, the security for the contribu
tion imposed, and often the hostage for its payment, remaining 
in the camp of the predatory hordes till they were paid off. He 
gladly undertook the liquidation of such contributions as these 
perpetual invaders imposed. To indemnify himself, a schedule 
was formed of the share of each ryot, and mortgage of land, and 
sequestration of personal effects followed till his avarice was 
satisfied. Who dared complain against a Patel, the intimate of 
Pathan and Mahratta commanders, his adopted patrons ? He 
thus became the master of his fellow-citizens ; and, as power 
corrupts all men, their tyrant instead of their mediator. It was 
a system necessarily involving its own decay ; for a while glutted 
with plenty, but failing with the supply, and ending in desolation, 
exile, and death. Nothing was left to prey on but the despoiled 
carcase ; yet when peace returned, and in its train the exile ryot 
to reclaim the bapota, the vampire Patel was resuscitated, and 
evinced the same ardour for supremacy, and the same cupidity 
which had so materially aided to convert the fertile Mewar to a 
desert. The Patel accordingly proved one of the chief obstacles 
to returning prosperity ; and the attempt to reduce this corrupted 
middle-man to his original station in society was both difficult 
and hazardous, from the support they met in the corrupt officers 
at court, and other influences ' behind the curtain.' A system 
of renting the crown lands deemed the most expedient to advance 
prosperity, it was incumbent to find a remedy for this evil. 

The 
mere name of some of these petty tyrants inspired such terror 
as to check all desire of return to the country ; but the origin of 
the institution of the office and its abuses being ascertained, it 
was imperative, though difficult, to restore the one and banish 
the other. The original elective right in many townships was 
therefore returned to the ryot, who nominated new Patels [502], 
his choice being confirmed by the Rana, in whose presence in
vestiture was performed by binding a turban on the elected, for 
which he presented his nazar. Traces of the sale of these offices 
in past times were observable ; and it was deemed of primary 
importance to avoid all such channels for corruption, in order 
that the ryot's election should meet with no obstacle. That the 
plan was beneficial there could be no doubt ; that the benefit 
would be permanent, depended, unfortunately, on circumstances 
which those most anxious had not the means to control : for it 
must be recollected, that although " personal aid and advice 
might be given when asked," all internal interference was by 
treaty strictly, and most justly, prohibited. 
After a few remarks on the mode of levying the crown-rents, 
we shall conclude the subject of village economy in Mewar, and 
proceed to close this too extended chapter with the results of 
four years of peace and the consequent improved prosperity. 

==Modes of Collecting Rents==

There are two methods of levying 
kankut 
and batai, for on sugar-cane, poppy, oil, hemp, tobacco, cotton, 
indigo, and garden stuffs, a money payment is fixed, varying 
from two to six rupees per bigha. The kankut 1 is a conjectural 
assessment of the standing crop, by the united judgement of the 
officers of government, the Patel, the Patwari, or registrar, and 
the owner of the field. The accuracy with which an accustomed 
eye will determine the quantity of grain on a given surface is 
surprising : but should the owner deem the estimate overrated, 
he can insist on batai, or division of the corn after it is threshed ; 
the most ancient and only infallible mode by which the dues 
either of the government or the husbandman can be ascertained. 
In the batai system the share of the government varies from 
one-third to two-fifths of the spring harvest, as wheat and barley ; 
and sometimes even half, which is the invariable proportion of the 
autumnal crops. In either case, kankut or batai, when the shares 
are appropriated, those of the crown may be commuted to a 
money payment at the average rate of the market. The kut is 
the most liable to corruption. The ryot bribes the collector, 
who will underrate the crop ; and when he betrays his duty, the 
shahnah, or watchman, is not likely to be honest : and as the 
makai, or Indian corn, the grand autumnal crop of Mewar, is 
eaten green, the crown may be defrauded of half its dues. The 
system is one of uncertainty, from which eventually the ryot 
derives no advantage, though it [.503] fosters the cupidity of 
patels and collectors ; but there was a barar, or tax, introduced 
to make up for this deficiency, which was in proportion to the 
quantity cultivated, and its amount at the mercy of the officers. 
Thus the ryot went to work with a mill-stone round his neck ; 
instead of the exhilarating reflection that every hour's additional 
1 [Kan, ' grain,' kut, ' valuation,' batai from batand, ' to divide.'] 
labour was his own, he saw merely the advantage of these harpies, 
and contented himself with raising a scanty subsistence in a 
slovenly and indolent manner, by which he forfeited the ancient 
reputation of the Jat cultivator of Mewar. 

==Improvement in the Condition of the People==

Notwithstanding 
these and various other drawbacks to the prosperity of the country, 
in an impoverished court, avaricious and corrupt officers, dis
contented Patels, and bad seasons, yet the final report in May 
1822 could not but be gratifying when contrasted with that of 
February 1818. In order to ascertain the progressive improve
ment, a census had been made at the end of 1821, of the three 
central fiscal districts 1  watered by the Berach and Banas. As 
a specimen of the whole, we may take the lappa or subdivision of 
Sahara. Of its twenty-seven villages, six were inhabited in 1818, 
the number of families being three hundred and sixty-nine, three
fourths of whom belonged to the resumed town of Amli. In 1821 
nine hundred and twenty-six families were reported, and every 
village of the twenty-seven was occupied, so that population had 
almost trebled. The number of ploughs was more than trebled, 
and cultivation quadrupled ; and though this, from the causes 
described, was not above one-third of what real industry might 
have effected, the contrast was abundantly cheering. The same 
ratio of prosperity applied to the entire crown demesne of Mewar. 
By the recovery of Kumbhalmer, Raepur, Rajnagar, and Sadri
Kanera from the Mahrattas ; of Jahazpur from Kotah ; of the 
usurpations of the nobles ; together with the resumption of all 
the estates of the females of his family, a task at once difficult and 
delicate ; 2  and by the subjugation of the mountain districts of 
Merwara, a thousand towns and villages were united to form the 
fiscal demesne of the Rana, composing twenty-four districts of 
various magnitudes, divided, as in ancient times; and with the 
primitive [504] appellations, into portions tantamount to the 

1  Mui, Barak, and Kapasan. 
2 To effect this, indispensable alike for unity of government and the 
establishment of a police, the individual statements of their holders were 
taken for the revenues they had derived from them, and money payments 
three times the amount were adjudged to them. They were gainers by 
this arrangement, and were soon loaded with jewels and ornaments, but 
the numerous train of harpies who cheated them and abused the poor 
ryot were eternally at work to defeat all such beneficial schemes ; and 
the counteraction of the intrigues was painful and disgusting. 
tithings and hundreds of England, the division from time im
memorial amongst the Hindus.1  From these and the commercial 
duties 2 a revenue was derived sufficient for the comforts, and even 
the dignities of the prince and his court, and promising an annual 
increase in the ratio of good government : but profusion scattered 
all that industry and ingenuity could collect ; the artificial wants 
of the prince perpetuated the real necessities of the peasant, and 
this, it is to be feared, will continue till the present generation 
shall sleep with their forefathers. 

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==Mines and Minerals==

There are sources of wealth in Mewar 
yet untouched, and to which her princes owe much of their 
power. The tin mines of Jawara and Dariba alone, little more 
than half a century ago, yielded above three lakhs annually ; 3 
1 Manu [Larvs, vii. 119] ordains the division into tens, hundreds, and 
thousands. 
2  Farmed for the ensuing three years, from 1822, for seven lakhs of 
rupees. 
3 In S. 1816, Jawara yielded Rs. 222,000 and Dariba Rs. 80,000. The 
tin of these mines contains a portion of silver. [What the Author calls 
the tin mines are probably the lead and zinc mines at Jawar, 16 miles 
south of Udaipur city. They seem now to be exhausted, and search might be 
made for other untouched pockets of ore. Those at Dariba, which formerly 
yielded a considerable revenue, have long been closed (Erskine ii. A. 53).] 
besides rich copper mines in various parts. From such f beyond 
a doubt, much of the wealth of Mewar was extracted, but the 
miners are now dead, and the mines filled with water. An 
attempt was made to work them, but it was so unprofitable that 
the design was soon abandoned. 
Nothing will better exemplify the progress of prosperity than 
the comparative population of some of the chief towns before, 
and after, four years of peace : 

[[File: mines and minerals.png||frame|500px]]   


==The Feudal Lands==

The feudal lands, which were then double 
the fiscal, did not exhibit the like improvement, the merchant 
and cultivator residing thereon not having the same certainty 
of reaping the fruits of their industry ; still great amelioration 
took place, and few were so blind as not to see their account in 
it.1 The earnestness with which many requested the Agent to 
back their expressed intentions with his guarantee to their 
communities of the same measure of justice and protection as the 
fiscal tenants enjoyed was proof that they well understood the 
benefits of reciprocal confidence ; but this could not be tendered 
without danger. Before the Agent left the country he greatly 
withdrew from active interference, it being his constant, as it 
was his last impressive lesson, that they should rely upon them
selves if they desired to retain a shadow of independence. To 
give an idea of the improved police, insurance which has been 
described as amounting to eight per cent in a space of twenty-five 
miles became almost nominal, or one-fourth of a rupee per cent 
from one frontier to the other. It would, however, have been 
quite Utopian to have expected that the lawless tribes would 
remain in that stupid subordination which the unexampled state 

1 There are between two and three thousand towns, villages, and hamlets, 
besides the fiscal land of Mewar ; but the tribiite of the British Government 
is derived only from the fiscal ; it would have been impossible to collect 
from the feudal lands, which are burthened with service, and form the 
army of the State. 
of society imposed for a time (as described in the opening of these 
transactions), when they found that real restraints did not follow 
imaginary terrors. Had the wild tribes been under the sole 
influence of British power, nothing would have been so simple as 
effectually, not only to control, but to conciliate and improve 
them ; for it is a mortifying truth, that the more remote from 
civilization, the more tractable and easy was the object to manage, 
more especially the Bhil.1  But these children of nature were 
incorporated in the demesnes of the feudal chiefs, who when they 
found our system did not extend to perpetual control, returned to 
their old habits of oppression : this provoked retaliation, which 
to subdue requires more power than the Rana yet possesses, and, 
in the anomalous state of our alliances, will always be an em
barrassing task to whosoever may exercise political control. 
In conclusion, it is to be hoped that the years of oppression 
that have swept the land will be held in remembrance by the 
protecting power, and that neither petulance nor indolence will 
lessen the benevolence which restored life to Mewar. or mar the 
picture of comparative happiness it created. 
1  Sir John Malcolm's wise and philanthropic measures for the reclama
tion of this race in Malwa will sup2:)ort my assertions [Memoir of Central 
India, 2nd ed. i. 516 ff., ii. 179 ff.]
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