=The Tribal Palladium.=—Every royal house has its palladium, which is frequently borne to battle at the saddle-bow of the prince. Rao Bhima Hara, of Kotah, lost his life and protecting deity together. The late celebrated Khichi[3.1.26] leader, Jai Singh, never took the field without the god before him. ‘Victory to Bajrang’ was his signal for the charge so dreaded by the Mahratta, and often has the deity been sprinkled with his blood and that of the foe. Their ancestors, who opposed Alexander, did the same, and carried the image of Hercules (_Baldeva_) at the head of their array.[3.1.27] =Banners.=—The custom (says Arrian) of presenting banners as an emblem of sovereignty over vassals, also obtained amongst the tribes of the Indus when invaded by Alexander. When he conquered the Saka and tribes east of the Caspian, he divided the provinces amongst the princes of the ancient families, for which they paid homage, engaged to serve with a certain quota of troops, and received from his own hand a banner; in all of which he followed the customs of the country. But in these we see only the outline of the system; we must descend to more modern days to observe it more minutely. A grand picture is drawn of the power of Mewar, when the first grand irruption of the Muhammadans occurred in the first century of their era; when “a hundred[3.1.28] kings, its allies and dependents, had their thrones raised in Chitor,” for its defence and their own individually [139], when a new religion, propagated by the sword of conquest, came to enslave these realms. This invasion was by Sind and Makran; for it was half a century later ere ‘the light’ shone from the heights of Pamir[3.1.29] on the plains of the Jumna and Ganges. From the commencement of this religious war in the mountains westward of the Indus, many ages elapsed ere the ‘King of the Faith’ obtained a seat on the throne of Yudhishthira. Chand, the bard, has left us various valuable memorials of this period, applicable to the subject historically as well as to the immediate topic. Visaladeva, the monarch whose name appears on the pillar of victory at Delhi, led an army against the invader, in which, according to the bard, “the banners of eighty-four princes were assembled.” The bard describes with great animation the summons sent for this magnificent feudal levy from the heart of Antarbedi,[3.1.30] to the shores of the western sea, and it coincides with the record of his victory, which most probably this very army obtained for him. But no finer picture of feudal manners exists than the history of Prithwiraja, contained in Chand’s poems. It is surprising that this epic should have been allowed so long to sleep neglected: a thorough knowledge of it, and of others of the same character, would open many sources of new knowledge, and enable us to trace many curious and interesting coincidences.[3.1.31]