Annals and Antiquities of Rajasthan, or the Central and Western Rajput States of India v1.c12.61

v1.c12.61

To remove these difficulties which obstruct friendly and confidential intercourse, the young officer in India may be advised to study the methods illustrated in this work. But he will do well to avoid Tod’s openly expressed partisanship. He owed the affection and respect bestowed upon him by prince and peasant, and even by the jealously guarded ladies of the zenanah, to his kindliness and sympathy, his readiness to converse freely with men of all classes, his patience in listening to grievances, even those which he had no power to redress, his impartiality as an arbitrator between the Rāna of Mewār and his people or between individuals or sects unfriendly to each other. He studied the national traditions and usages; he knew enough of religious beliefs and of social customs to save him from giving offence by word or deed; he could converse with the people in their own patois, and could give point to a remark by an apt quotation of a proverb or a scrap of an old ballad.