Indische Palaographie von circa 350 a. Chr. – circa 1300 p. Chr. c48.s1.5.8

c48.s1.5.8

Like the Brāhmans, they are greatly subdivided, but with this important difference, that whereas the Brāhmans may only marry within the subdivision, the Rājput may only marry without it, though within the Rājput pale. The larger subdivision is, in fact, taking the place of the smaller as the circle of prohibited affinity. Conjecturally, this difference in practice may be due to the fact that the Rājput clan is definitely traceable in its origin to a historic leader or family, involving, therefore, a tradition of blood-kinship the more vivid from its being associated with territorial ownership. The tribe or order, again, being spread continuously and in considerable numbers over a large area, with uniform conceptions as to rank and function, the marriage field is a wide one, and the graduation of each unit in its social position has been arranged on considerations which override the normal limitations of caste. The regulations as to intermarriage, therefore, though exceedingly strict, have a wider scope than among most of the other Brāhmanical bodies and are in some cases arbitrarily imposed upon itself by the clan on considerations of rank alone. So strict indeed, are they in regard to what has been called hypergamy, that amongst the upper grades of Rājput society, the girl is held to be a burden upon the resources of the family to an extent that leads to reprehensible means of preventing her from reaching a nubile age.