Annals and Antiquities of Rajasthan, or the Central and Western Rajput States of India v2.c28.s3.t1.129

v2.c28.s3.t1.129

Administration of Justice.—The administration of justice is now very lax in these communities; but at no time were the customary criminal laws of Rajputana sanguinary, except in respect to political crimes, which were very summarily dealt with when practicable. In these feudal associations, however, such crimes are esteemed individual offences, and the whole power of the government is concentrated to punish them; but when they are committed against the community, justice is tempered with mercy, if not benumbed by apathy. In cases even of murder, it is satisfied with fine, corporal punishment, imprisonment, confiscation, or banishment. Inferior crimes, such as larcenies, were punished by fine and imprisonment, and, when practicable, restitution; or, in case of inability to pay, corporal punishment and confinement. But under the present lax system, when this impoverished government has to feed criminals, it may be supposed that their prisons are not overstocked. Since Raja Bijai Singh’s death, the judgment-seat has been vacant. His memory is held in high esteem for the administration of justice, though he carried clemency to excess. He never confirmed a sentence of death; and there is a saying of the criminals, yet extant, more demonstrative of his humanity than of good policy: “When at large we cannot even get rabri (porridge), but in prison we eat laddu (sweetmeat).” Here, as at Jaipur, confined criminals are maintained by individual charity; and it is a well-known fact, that at the latter place, but for the humanity of the mercantile classes, especially those of the Jain persuasion, they might starve. Perhaps it is the knowledge of this circumstance, which holds back the hand of the government, or its agents, who may apply to their own uses the prison-fare. When once confined, the criminals are little thought of, and neglect answers all the ends of cruelty. They have, however, a source of consolation unknown to those who have passed “the bridge of sighs,” or become inmates of the oubliettes of more civilized regions. That fortitude and resignation which religion alone can bestow on the one is obtained through superstition by the other; and the prayers of the prison are poured forth for one of those visitations of Providence [170], which, in humbling the proud, prompts acts of mercy to others in order to ensure it to themselves.¹ The celestial phenomena of eclipses, whether of the sun or moon, although predicted by the Pandits, who for ages have possessed the most approved theory for calculation, are yet looked upon with religious awe by the mass, and as “foreboding change to princes.” Accordingly, when darkness dims the beams of Surya or Chandra, the face of the prisoner of Maru is lighted up with smiles; his deliverance is at hand, and he may join the crowd to hoot and yell, and frighten the monster Rahu² from his hold of the “silver-moon.”³ The birth of a son to the prince, and a new reign, are events likewise joyful to him.