Annals and Antiquities of Rajasthan, or the Central and Western Rajput States of India v1.c18.s2.5

v1.c18.s2.5

It was not unfrequent that application for protection was made to the nearest chief by the tenants of the fisc ; a course eventually sanctioned by the Government, which could not refuse assent where it could not protect. Here, then, we revert to first principles ; and ‘ seignorial rights ’ may be forfeited, when they cease to yield that which ought to have originated them, viz. benefit to the community. Personal service at stated periods, to aid in the agricultural ² economy of the protector, was sometimes stipulated, when the husbandmen were to find implements and cattle,³ and to attend whenever ordered. The protected calls the chief ‘ patron ’ ; and the condition may not unaptly be compared to that of personal commendation,⁴ like *salvamenta*, founded on the disturbed state of society. But what originated thus was often continued and multiplied by avarice, and the spirit of rapine, which disgraced the Rajput of the last half century, though he had abundance of apologies for ‘ scouring the country.’ But all *salvamenta* and other marks of vassalage, obtained during these times of desolation, were annulled in the settlement which took place between the Rana and his chiefs, in A.D. 1818 ⁵ [177].