Annals and Antiquities of Rajasthan, or the Central and Western Rajput States of India v1.c20.s4.70

v1.c20.s4.70

² This laxity, as regards female delicacy, must have been a remnant of Scythic barbarism, brought from the banks of the Jaxartes, the land of the Getae, where now, as in the days of Tomyris, a shoe at the door is a sufficient barrier to the entrance of many Tatar husbands. It is a well-known fact, also, that the younger son in these regions inherited a greater share than the elder, which is attributed to their pastoral habits, which invited early emigration in the elder sons. This habit prevailed with the Rajput tribes of very early times, and the annals of the Yadus, a race allied to the Yuti-Getae, or Jāt, afford many instances of it. Modified it yet exists amongst the Jarejas (of the same stock), with whom the sons divide equally; which custom was transmitted to Europe by these Getic hordes, and brought into England by the Jut brothers, who founded the kingdom of Kent (kanthi, ‘a coast’ in Gothic and Sanskrit), where it is yet known as Gavelkind. In English law it is termed borough-English. In Scotland it existed in barbarous times, analogous to those when the Nauroza was sanctioned; and the lord of the manor had privileges which rendered it more than doubtful whether the first-born was natural heir: hence, the youngest was the heir. So in France, in ancient times; and though the ‘droit de Jambage’ no longer exists, the term sufficiently denotes the extent of privilege, in comparison with which the other rights of ‘Noçages,’ the seigneur’s feeding his greyhounds with the best dishes and insulting the bride’s blushes with ribald songs, were innocent. [The ethnological views in this note do not deserve notice.]