Indische Palaographie von circa 350 a. Chr. – circa 1300 p. Chr. c48.s1.5.2

c48.s1.5.2

but the principal and most definite migration followed upon the Muslim conquests of the 11th and 12th centuries, which drove large bodies of Rājputs towards the Himālaya and eastwards across the Ganges into the Doāb and Oudh. From thence, as well as from Bundelkhand, they spread into the adjacent parts of Bihār, especially those north of the Ganges. A certain number, too, are found in the north of the Central Provinces, where the boundaries between British territory and Central India are very complicated. Beyond the above limits the original stock is not found, and even within them, it has in some cases been materially watered with local blood, when the distance from the race-centre makes the operation fairly safe, and the community is sufficiently well established to maintain its marriage connection at its conventional level. The presence of so many Rājputs in other parts of India is accounted for by the fact that the title, originally, in all probability, derived from function, denotes, as has been stated, an order of hereditary nobility, access to which is still obtainable, and whose circle, accordingly, is being constantly enlarged upon much the same considerations as of yore. The essentials of the position are the chieftainship of a tribe or clan and the command of an armed force, with the possession of a substantial landed estate and a scrupulous regard for the strict letter of Brāhmanical regulations as to marriage, domestic customs and intercourse with other classes.