Fall of the Mughal Empire v4.c47.s4.26

v4.c47.s4.26

The tragedy of Rajputana in the period embraced in this history, was only the result of the modern age bursting upon a sleepy inert mediæval society, that could make no attempt to adjust itself to the necessary change. This ancient people found that its virtues and vices alike led to its ruin in a strange new world. Bengal and Bihar lost their independence in 1757, but within twenty years a modern civilised system of administration was given to these provinces, and only sixty years after Plassey English education was being given to the grandsons of the vanquished in that battle. For Rajputana there was no such Renaissance, no modernisation for a century and a half after Plassey, though there was internal peace under British paramountcy. Hence the regeneration of the Rajputs has been extremely slow and imperfect.