r a successor, and he who could kill the king
proved in this manner that the divine power and strength inherent
in the late king had descended to him, and he was therefore the fit
person to be king. [314] An almost similar story is told of the way
in which the Kachhwaha Rajputs took the territory of Amber State from
the Mina tribe. The infant Rajput prince had been deprived of Narwar
by his uncle, and his mother wandered forth carrying him in a basket,
till she came to the capital of the Minas, where she first obtained
employment in the chiefs kitchen. But owing to her good cooking she
attracted his wife's notice and ultimately disclosed her identity and
told her story. The Mina chief then adopted her as his sister and the
boy as his nephew. This boy, Dhola Rai, on growing up obtained a few
Rajput adherents and slaughtered all the Minas while they were bathing
at the feast of Diwali, after which he usurped their country. [315]
The repetition both of the adoption and the ungrateful murder shows
the importance attached by the Rajputs to both beliefs as necessary
to the validity of their succession and occupation of the land.

The position of the Bhils as the earliest residents of the country
was also recognised by their employment in the capacity of village
watchmen. One of the duties of this official is to know the village
boundaries and keep watch and ward over them, and it was supposed
that the oldest class of residents would know them best. The Bhils
worked in the office of Mankar, the superior village watchman, in
Nimar and also in Berar. Grant Duff states [316] that the Ramosi or
Bhil was employed as village guard by the Marathas, and the Ramosis
were a professional caste of village policemen, probably derived from
the Bhils or from the Bhils and Kolis.

3. Historical notice.

The Rajputs seem at first to have treated the Bhils
leniently. Intermarriage was frequent, especially in the families of
Bhil chieftains, and a new caste called Bhilala [317] has arisen,
which is composed of the descendants of mixed Rajput and Bhil
marriages. Chiefs and landholders in the Bhil country now belong to
this caste, and it is possible that some pure Bhil families may have
been admitted to it. The Bhilalas rank above the Bhils, on a level
with the cultivating castes. Instances occasionally occurred in which
the children of Rajput by a Bhil wife became Rajputs. When Colonel Tod
wrote, Rajputs would still take food with Ujla B