Annals and Antiquities of Rajasthan, v. 2 of 3: or the Central and Western Rajput States of IndiaTod, James
History
Annals and Antiquities of Rajasthan, v. 2 of 3: or the Central and Western Rajput States of India
Tod, James
Rajasthan (India) -- History; Rajput (Indic people) -- History
Whoever has seen Cortona, Volterra, or others of the ancient Tuscan
cities can form a correct idea of the walls of Mandor, which are
precisely of the same ponderous character. It is singular that the
ancient races of India, as well as of Europe (and whose name of Pali is
the synonym of Galati or Keltoi) should, in equal ignorance of the
mechanical arts, have piled up these stupendous monuments, which might
well induce their posterity to imagine “there were giants in those
days.” This western region, in which I include nearly all Rajputana and
Saurashtra, has been the peculiar abode of these “pastor kings,” who
have left their names, their monuments, their religion and sacred
character as the best records of their supremacy. The Rajpali, or ‘Royal
Pastors,’ are enumerated as one of the thirty-six royal races of ancient
days: the city of Palitana, ‘the abode of the Pali,’ in Saurashtra
(built [726] at the foot of Mount Satrunjaya, sacred to Buddha), and
Pali in Godwar, are at once evidences of their political consequence and
the religion they brought with them; while the different nail-headed
characters are claimed by their descendants, the sectarian Jains of the
present day.[4.27.18] There is scarcely an ancient city in Rajputana
whence I have not obtained copies of inscriptions from columns and
rocks, or medals, gold, silver, and copper, bearing this antique
character. All are memorials of these races, likewise termed Takshak,
the Scythic conquerors of India, ancestors of many of the Rajputs, whose
history the antiquary will one day become better acquainted with. The
Parihara, it will be recollected, is one of the four Agnikulas: races
who obtained a footing in India posterior to the Suryas and Indus. I
omitted, however, to mention, in the sketch of the Pariharas, that they
claim Kashmir as the country whence they migrated into India: the period
is not assigned, but it was when the schismatic wars between the
Saivites and Buddhists were carrying on; and it would appear that the
former found proselytes and supporters in many of these Agnikulas. But
of the numerical extent of the followers of this faith we have this
powerful evidence, namely, that three-fourths of the mercantile classes
of these regions are the descendants of the martial conquerors of India,
and that seven out of the ten and a half niyats or tribes, with their
innumerable branches, still profess the Jain faith, which, beyond
controversy, was for ages paramount in this country.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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