Annals and Antiquities of Rajasthan, or the Central and Western Rajput States of India v2.c28.s3.t1.103

v2.c28.s3.t1.103

The Rāthors.—It is superfluous to expatiate on the peculiarities of the Rathor character, which we have endeavoured to extract from their own actions. It stands deservedly high in the scale of the “Thirty-six Tribes,” and although debased by one besetting sin (the use of opium), the Rathor is yet a noble animal, and requires only some exciting cause to show that the spirit, which set at defiance the resources of the empire in the zenith of its prosperity, is dormant only, not extinct. The reign of the present prince has done more, however, than even the arms of Aurangzeb, to deteriorate the Rathors. Peace would recruit their thinned ranks, but the mistrust sown in every house by unheard-of duplicity, has greatly demoralized the national character, which until lately stood higher than that of any of the circumjacent tribes. A popular prince, until within these very few years, could easily have collected a magnificent army, *ek bap ke bete*, ‘the sons of one father,’ round the ‘*gaddi* of Jodha’: in fact, the *panchas hazar tarwar Rathoran*, meaning the ‘fifty thousand Rathor swords,’ is the proverbial phrase to denote the muster of Maru, of which they estimated five thousand cavalry. This was exclusive of the household and foreign troops supported on the fiscal lands. The Rathor cavalry was the best in India. There were several horse-fairs, especially those of Balotra and Pushkar where the horses of [164] Cutch and Kathiawar, the Jungle, and Multan, were brought in great numbers. Valuable horses were also bred on the western frontier, on the Luni, those of Rardara being in high estimation. But the events of the last twenty years appear to have dried up every source of supply. The breeding studs of Rardara, Cutch, and the Jungle are almost extinct, and supplies from the west of the Indus are intercepted by the Sikhs.¹ The destruction of the predatory system, which created a constant demand, appears to have lessened the supply. So much for the general peace which the successes of Britain have produced.