Storia do Mogor 238.2.2

238.2.2

These rajahs [i.e., the Rajputs] are powerful and brave; they preserve all ancient customs, are friendly to those who were their father's friends, inimical to those who were their enemies, and although they are necessitous, none the less they do not refrain from observing the rules of their ancestors. The Mogul draws his profit from their barbarous ways, and out of policy reinforces them when it suits him, and employs them to destroy each other. If they were only united among themselves, the Rana and the Rathors, Kachhwahahs and Bundelahs, they could easily expel the Mogul from Hindustan. As an example of what I have just said, there is the case of Rajah Jai Singh, whom a Rajput soldier tried to kill by a spear-thrust, but missed him, all but a graze on the side. This Rajput was a soldier sent by the Rajah of the Botia (Bhurtiyah) race, whose ancestors were at enmity with those of Jai Singh, and the feud had lasted for five hundred years. On the seizure of the soldier, he confessed what I have just recorded. Thus let the reader reflect on the way these Hindus keep up their ancient customs, but still more their religion.