Annals and Antiquities of Rajasthan, or the Central and Western Rajput States of India v3.c40.152

v3.c40.152

The Kaurava Tribe.—This singular tribe of Rajputs, whose habits, even in the midst of pillage, are entirely nomadic, is to be found chiefly in the thal of Dhat, though in no great numbers.¹ They have no fixed habitations, but move about with their flocks, and encamp wherever they find a spring or pasture for their cattle; and there construct temporary huts of the wide-spreading pilu,¹ by interlacing its living branches, covering the top with leaves, and coating the inside with clay : in so skilful a manner do they thus shelter themselves that no sign of human habitation is observable from without. Still the roaming Sahariya is always on the look-out for these sylvan retreats, in which the shepherds deposit their little hoards of grain, raised from the scanty patches around them. The restless disposition of the Kauravas, who even among their ever-roaming brethren enjoy a species of fame in this respect, is attributed (said my Dhati) to a curse entailed upon them from remote ages. They rear camels, cows, buffaloes, and goats, which they sell to the Charans and other merchants. They are altogether a singularly peaceable race; and like all their Rajput brethren, can at will [320] people the desert with palaces of their own creation, by the delightful amal-pani, the universal panacea for ills both moral and physical.