Annals and Antiquities of Rajasthan, or the Central and Western Rajput States of India v1.c18.s2.1

v1.c18.s2.1

Rakhwāli.—I now proceed to another point of striking resemblance between the systems of the east and west, arising from the same causes—the unsettled state of society, and the deficiency of paramount protection. It is here called rakhwāli,³ or ‘ preservation ’; the salvamenta of Europe.⁴ To a certain degree it always existed in these States; but the interminable predatory warfare of the last half century increased it to so frightful an extent that superior authority was required to redeem the abuses it had occasioned. It originated in the necessity of protection ; and the modes of obtaining it, as well as the compensation [176] when obtained, were various. It often consisted of money or kind on the reaping of each harvest : sometimes in a multiplicity of petty privileges and advantages, but the chief object was to obtain *bhum* : and here we have one solution of the constituted *bhumia*,¹ assimilating, as observed, to the allodial proprietor. Bhum thus obtained is irrevocable ; and in the eager anxiety for its acquisition we have another decided proof of every other kind of tenure being deemed resumable by the crown.