a very great proportion of Central India, of which, in ancient times, they were the invaders and conquerors. The pride of rank and caste is most strongly imprinted on this race. For instance; a chief of the Puar family was restored to the Dhar, the seat of his ancestors; but as he returned in the character of a retainer of a Mahratta prince, and as his family had, while in the Dekkan, eaten and intermarried with Mahratta Sudras, the consequence was, that though the Puars have been and now are, high in rank and power, the poorest of the proud Rajpoot chiefs, whom they count among their dependents, would disdain to eat with them, or to give them a daughter in marriage.' The Rajpoots live mostly by the sword or the plough; even the husbandmen have arms in their houses, cherish the martial habits of their ancestors, and eagerly listen to the Bhâts (or bards), who visit their villages, and preserve their genealogies. The military classes are, in their dress, manners and usages, distinct from the other inhabitants, and their features and shape denote them a superior race. They wear round their necks an embossed figure of a horse and the sun, some of gold, others of silver; it is their personal deity, receives their daily adoration, and is considered as so indispensable, that the poorest Rajpoot makes it the first present to his infant male offspring. The female children are frequently put to death; this horrible custom, however, appears to be limited to a few Rajpoot chiefs of high rank and small fortunes, who, from despair of obtaining a suitable marriage for their daughters, are led by an infatuated pride to become their destroyers. Sir John says this unnatural practice is greatly on the decline in Malwa; and the abhorrence which he always expressed at the inhuman custom, and his refusal to see those who had been guilty of it, will probably have the good effect of eventually putting an end to it there altogether.

The female Rajpoots are strictly secluded; they are actuated by the same spirit as their husbands; always ready to brave danger, and to sacrifice their lives in the support of family pride. The affecting story of Kishen Kowur, princess of Odeypoor, who was prevailed on to drink poison, in order to bring about a reconciliation between two contending princes, is well calculated to awaken our sympathies and to rouse our indignation. The heroism displayed by this unfortunate princess, and by a brave Rajpoot, who resented her treatment, is equal to any thing we meet with in Roman history.

But with all their courage, their proud feelings, and their adherence to feudal usages, Sir John Malcolm informs us, the Rajpoots have ceased to be a nation.' Most of them appear, from despair, to have given themselves up to a life of indolence and sensuality; indulging in all manner of vicious habits, and in

toxicating

toxicating themselves with strong liquors and opium, the latter of which they take both in its liquid and dry state to excess, in which the women join; it is given even to new-born children. The heavy leaden eye-brows of the men,' says our author, 'proclaim an usage which, so far from denying, they speak of as constituting the chief pleasure of existence.'

The Brahmins have little influence on the Rajpoots; their priests are the Charuns and Bhâts. The proudest Rajpoot looks to these mysterious beings, with a feeling of awe, for solace in adversity, and for increased joy and exultation in prosperity. By keeping the registers of families, they are the conservators of the purity of the different classes; they are consulted in the arrangement of marriages; and they chant the praises of former heroes, to gratify the pride and rouse the emulation of their descendants. The Charun's chief power is derived from an impression that it is certain destruction to shed his blood or that of any his family, or to be the cause of its being shed. A Charun becomes the safeguard of travellers, and the security for merchants, and his bond is preferred to that of the wealthiest bankers.

of

'The Charun, who accompanies travellers likely to be attacked by Rajpoot robbers, when he sees the latter approach, warns them off by holding a dagger in his hand, and if they do not attend to him, he stabs himself in a place that is not mortal, and taking the blood from the wound, throws it at the assailants with imprecations of future woe and ruin. If this has not the desired effect, the wounds are repeated; and in extreme cases one of the Charun's relations, commonly a female child, or an old woman, is made a sacrifice. The same process is adopted to enforce the payment of a debt to himself, or a claim for which he has become security. It is not unusual, as the next step, to slay himself; and the catastrophe has been known to close in the voluntary death of his wives and children.'-vol. ii. pp. 134, 135.

The Bhâts, as the chroniclers or bards, share power and sometimes office with the Charuns, but seldom sacrifice themselves. If any one offends a Bhât, he fixes the figure of the offender on a long pole, and appends to it a slipper, which, with a song, sufficiently proclaims the infamy of the object of his wrath: this symbol usually travels the country till the offender or his friends purchase the cessation of the ridicule, and the curses thus entailed. It is not in the power of the prince, much less of any other person, to stop a Bhât, or even punish him for such a proceeding; he is everywhere protected by that superstitious awe, which is found sufficient in many cases to controul even despotism itself.

The classes who claim kindred to the Rajpoot tribes in Central India are very numerous; but of these illegitimate or half-castes the Sondies are the principal. They are not very rigid observers

of

of Hindoo customs, except in refraining from the flesh of buffaloes and cows; they drink strong liquors, and use opium to excess. Robust and active, rude and grossly ignorant, they are despised and dreaded by the other inhabitants, who consider them as outcasts. The women, imitating the manners of the men, are bold, and addicted to every vice; many of them are skilled in the management of the horse; and some have acquired fame in the defence of their villages, or in the field, by their courageous use of the sword and spear.

The Soucars, Shroffs and Bunnias,-the bankers and merchants, are found in all parts of India; as are also mendicant priests, and the various artificers and labourers of the Sudra caste; all of whom, here as well as elsewhere, follow the usages and professions of their fathers. Every one, even the village barber, the washerman, and the sweeper, has his Bhât or bard, who preserves his genealogy, and gratifies his vanity with the tales of his ancestors. Quiet and industrious as they are disposed to be, they had been driven from necessity, in the general prevalence of anarchy and misrule, to become freebooters and robbers. Sir John Malcolm states, however, that on the earliest opportunity they returned cheerfully to the restraints and habits to which they were born; and resumed the peaceful occupations which they had been, for a time, compelled to abandon.

The Mewatties, an ambiguous race, half Mahomedan and half Hindoo, who are not only robbers and assassins, but the most desperate rogues, as Sir John calls them, in India; and the mercenary Patans and Arabs, hired by the chiefs to defend them against the Mahrattas and Pindarries, have been completely expelled from Central India, to the number of 6000; an act which rendered the British power extremely popular among the peaceable inhabitants. Of that extraordinary tribe known under the name of Pindarries, we have given so detailed an account, on a former occasion, that it will only be necessary here to state that this worst part of the late population of Central India may, as a separate community, be now considered extinct.*

The Bheels, who inhabit the wild and mountainous tracts which separate Malwa from Nemaur and Guzerat, are said to be a distinct race, insulated in their abodes, and separated by their habits, usages and forms of worship, from all other tribes of India. In a Sanscrit vocabulary, at least seven hundred years old, the term Bheel denotes a particular race of barbarians living on plunder; which corresponds with the description of them in the ancient Hindoo poem, the Mahabharat. These people were the terror of Central India while under the government of Nadir

* Vol. xviii. p. 466.

Sing; but this chief being banished for a murder, and his son, a fine youth, who for three years had been carefully educated at Sir John Malcolm's head quarters, succeeding to his authority, there is now no part of the country where life and property are safer than amid the late dreaded Bheels of his father. The following incident, which occurred on the trial of Nadir Sing, is strongly characteristic of this race:

During the examination into the guilt of Nadir Singh, when taking the evidence of some female prisoners, it appeared that the father and husband of one of them, a girl about fourteen years of age, had been instruments in committing the murder of which he was accused. She was asked if they put the deceased to death; Certainly they did," was her firm reply; "but they acted by the Dhunnee's, or lord's order." "That may be true," it was remarked, "but it does not clear them; for it was not an affray, it was a deed perpetrated in cold blood." "Still," said the girl," they had the Dhunnee's order." The person conducting the examination shook his head, implying it would not be received in justification. The child (for she was hardly more) rose from the ground, where she was sitting, and, pointing to two sentries who guarded them, and were standing at the door of the room, claimed, with all the animation of strong feeling," These are your soldiers; you are their Dhunnee; your words are their laws; if you order them this moment to advance and put me, my mother, and cousin, who are now before you, to death, would they hesitate in slaying three female Bheels? If we are innocent, would you be guilty of our blood, or these faithful men?" After this observation, she reseated herself, saying, My father and husband are Nadir's soldiers."-vol. i. pp. 550, 551.

ex

The Bheels excite the horror of the higher classes of Hindoos, by eating not only the flesh of buffaloes, but of cows; an abomination which places them just above the Chumars or shoemakers, who feast on dead carcases, and are deemed so unclean that they are not allowed to dwell within the precincts of the village. The wild Bheels, who reside among the hills, are a diminutive and wretched-looking race, but active and capable of great fatigue; they go armed with bows and arrows, and are professed robbers and thieves, lying in wait for the weak and unprotected, while they fly from the strong. Ignorant and superstitious beyond all other classes, the command of their Turwees, or chiefs, is law; and to kill another, at their desire, or to suffer death themselves, is to them equally a matter of indifference. Fond of liquor to excess, their quarrels generally begin and end in drunken bouts; no feud can be staunched, no crime forgiven, but at a general feast, which sometimes continues in drunkenness and riot for several days. The Bheel women are said to have great influence in the society, and to be industrious, orderly and humane. Sir John says

VOL. XXIX. NO. LVIII.

DD

says that, in the recent reform of a large proportion of the Bheels of Central India, the women acted a very prominent part, and one worthy of the character of their sex. The first step which he took was to raise a small corps commanded by their own chiefs; and before,' says he, they had been in the service one month, I placed them as a guard over treasure, which had a surprizing effect, both in elevating them in their own minds, and in those of other parts of the community.' This was judicious; but he did more than this-he took, as his constant attendants, some of the most desperate of the plundering chiefs; and the good effects fully answered the expectations which he had formed, by thus inspiring confidence, and exalting bold and courageous men in their own estimation.

Among the numerous tribes of professed robbers and thieves of Central India, the two principal are the Baugries and Moghies, both Hindoos of the lowest caste; their redeeming qualities are bravery, boldness, and expertness; they are true to their salt,' or to those who feed them, beyond most of the Hindoos; and so literally do they adopt the proverb, that they avoid tasting salt from the hands of any but their own brethren, that they may not be fettered in their darling pursuit of plunder. The Gwarriahs are a tribe who support themselves chiefly by stealing women and children, whom they sell as slaves; but this abominable practice has nearly been abolished wherever the British influence extends. Thugs are bands of mendicants, chiefly Brahmins, pilferers, robbers and murderers; composed of all classes, even Mahomedans. They assume various disguises; sometimes seeking protection from travellers; at others, offering it; in either case the fate of those who trust them is the same.

The

The Thugs have, concealed, a long silken cord with a noose, which they throw round the necks of their heedless companions, who are strangled and plundered. Their victims, who are always selected for having property, are, when numerous or at all on their guard, lulled by every art into confidence. They are invited to feasts, where their victuals and drink are mixed with soporific or poisonous drugs, through the effects of which they fall an easy prey to these murderers and robbers, the extraordinary success of whose atrocities can only be accounted for by the condition of the countries in which they take place.' -vol. ii. p. 189.

The desolation which ensued, from letting loose a population composed of such materials as we have been describing, will readily be conceived. Those only who resided in walled cities were safe from the ravages and massacres of these lawless banditti. The state of the unprotected parts of the country near the Vindhya range and the Nerbudda, where hundreds of villages

were