The Dynastic History of Northern India (Early Mediaeval Period) v1.c10.16

v1.c10.16

Firstly, the period forms a very important chapter in the growth, rise, and decay of the Rajput states. Most of the Hindu states in Northern India during this period were ruled by tribes who claimed Rajput descent. Since the day when Tod wrote his celebrated *Annals*, no attempt has yet been made to study systematically the various sources of information and give a connected account of these tribes based on sound archæological evidence.¹ Tod’s work is in many ways a masterpiece; but it is hopelessly out-of-date. The scanty accounts of these tribes given in various publications since the time of Tod are mainly based on Muḥammadan chronicles. These works have many excellent characteristics, but they were written by enemies of the Rajputs, whose difference in religion would further tend to make them more tainted and onesided. Again, these chroniclers often wrote as historians of the Delhi empire, and as such omitted many interesting details of the history of these Rajput tribes which appeared to them to be rather trivial and unimportant It has, therefore, become necessary to check and supplement their accounts, wherever possible, with the evidence of archæology and more reliable Hindu chronicles, some of which have recently been discovered.