Sexual Life in Ancient India: A Study in the Comparative History of Indian Culture v2.c18.5.3

v2.c18.5.3

Tod rightly points out that the European knight, or *cavaliere servente* of the Middle Ages is far less high-minded (see for this J. J. Meyer, *Isoldes Gotteseurteil*, pp. 1–74). Akin to this is the fine relation between the sister and brother by election among the South Slavs (Krauss, *Sitte u. Brauch*, etc., p. 638 ff.). Mention may also be made of the rape of the Rājput princess, who calls on Rāj Sing for help, and promises him her hand (*Rajasthan*, p. 401). Now in the veins of at least a part of these very Rājputs there flows the purest Aryan blood. Fuller, *Studies*, etc., p. 47; Crooke, *The North-Western Provinces*, pp. 62; 201. And although Crooke in a later study: “Rājputs and Mahrattas,” *Journ. Roy. Anthrop. Inst.*, vol. xl, p. 39 ff. shows that many originally Scythian, and especially Hunnish elements have been taken into the Rājputs, he still supports the view there expressed in *Tribes and Castes of Bengal*, ii, 184, that the higher classes can claim to be sprung from the Kshattriyas. The Agāriah of to-day in Bengal also claim to be sprung from the Kshattriyas, and among them likewise the women have an honoured standing. See *Ztschr. f. Ethnol.*, Bd. 6, p. 377 f. (according to Dalton). Mention should be made, too, of the ruthless revenge which the Gurkha in Nepal, who claims at least to be descended from the Rājputs, takes on the offender who dares touch his wife. Wright, *Hist. of Nepal*, p. 32.