Annals and Antiquities of Rajasthan, or the Central and Western Rajput States of India v2.c30.t2.50

v2.c30.t2.50

Retrospect of Bhatti History. — The interval between the erection of the castle of Tanot and the present time is exactly eleven hundred years; during which the historical narrative, whatever may be its value, is at least continuous, and the events recorded are corroborated, even in the darkest period, by numerous synchronisms in the annals of the other States; and viewed synoptically, it presents matter of deep interest to the explorer of Indian history. The period of four hundred and twenty-five years, embraced in the preceding chapter, is full of incidents. It is a record of a people who once deemed their consequence and their fame imperishable. And even were it less diversified by anecdotes descriptive of manners, it would still possess claims to interest as a simple relation of the gradual peopling of a great portion of the Indian desert. We see tribes and cities disappearing; new races and new capitals taking their place; and although not a syllable is written which [246] bears directly upon religion, we can see, incidentally, the analogy of these Indo-Scythic tribes, from Zabulistan and Salbahana, with the Hindu, confirming what Manu says, that the Sakas, Yavanas, Pahlavas, and the Khasas¹ of Central Asia, were all Chhattris or Rajputs. We now proceed with the chronicle.