Annals and Antiquities of Rajasthan, or the Central and Western Rajput States of India v1.c18.15

v1.c18.15

Origin of Feuds.—“ It has been very common,” says the enlightened historian of the Feudal System in the Middle Ages, “ to seek for the origin of feuds, or at least for analogies to them, in the history of various countries ; but though it is of great importance to trace the similarity of customs in different parts of the world, we should guard against seeming analogies, which vanish away when they are closely observed. It is easy to find partial resemblances to the feudal system. The relation of patron and client in the republic of Rome has been deemed to resemble it, as well as the barbarians and veterans who held frontier lands on the tenure of defending them and the frontier ; but they were bound not to an individual, but to the state. Such a resemblance of fiefs may be found in the Zamindars of Hindustan and the Timariots of Turkey. The clans of the Highlanders and Irish followed their chieftain into the field : but their tie was that of imagined kindred and birth, not the spontaneous compact of vassalage.” 1