Fall of the Mughal Empire v4.c47.s4.12

v4.c47.s4.12

The Rajputs represented the noblest elements of the Hindu character, and the saddest aspect of the fall of the Delhi empire was, to my mind, the utter degradation of this chivalrous race and the hopeless misery of this "Land of Rajas". The rot in their body politic started from its head. Each Rajput State was founded by the martial chieftain of a particular clan who entered the country at the head of his armed clansmen and seized some hill fort and made it the seat of his power. All around this centre the heads of the different branches of the same clan established their baronies by conquering as much land as they could with the help of their own family groups. Unlike the barons under the feudal system in Europe, the Rajput nobles did not owe their estates and rank to their Raja's will, but they obeyed him because they were his younger brothers or rather cousins by blood, and he was their patriarch. Thus a Rajput Raja could control his barons only when he was a born leader of men, a victor in battles and possessed of the power of bending others to his will. A weak or idiotic Rajput Raja was powerless against his nobles, and in his reign the unhappy country was ravaged and public order was overthrown by groups of related clan-branches in the same country fighting against each other and trying to usurp the control of the Government so as to be able to seize their neighbours’ lands or the Crown estate.[*]