Fall of the Mughal Empire v1.c7.s5.6

v1.c7.s5.6

Above the feud between clan and clan among the Afghāns rises the consciousness of the oneness of their race. They have united to oppose a common enemy more often and more effectively than the Rājputs are known in their long history to have done. An appeal to their general racial interest calls forth their co-operation most easily and speedily. They honour their women, and when a chieftain’s wife sent her veil round among the tribesmen in an appeal for the defence of her distressed husband or son, no Afghān was so unchivalrous as to shrink from taking up arms on her behalf. In addition, they were simple and hardy and not toned down by luxury like the Persians and Turks settled on the fertile soil of India, or ruined by addiction to drugs like the latter-day Rājputs.