have been
a common amusement, and it is related in the annals of Mewar that the
chief of Bunera broke his spine in the attempt; and there were few who
came off without bruises and falls, in which consisted the sport. Of
their martial spirit Colonel Tod writes: "The Rajput mother claims her
full share in the glory of her son, who imbibes at the maternal fount
his first rudiments of chivalry; and the importance of this parental
instruction cannot be better illustrated than in the ever-recurring
simile, 'Make thy mother's milk resplendent.' One need not reason
on the intensity of sentiment thus implanted in the infant Rajput,
of whom we may say without metaphor the shield is his cradle and
daggers his playthings, and with whom the first commandment is 'Avenge
thy father's feud.' [483] A Rajput yet loves to talk of the days of
chivalry, when three things alone occupied him, his horse, his lance
and his mistress; for she is but third in his estimation after all,
and to the first two he owed her." [484] And of their desire for fame:
"This sacrifice (of the Johar) accomplished, their sole thought was to
secure a niche in that immortal temple of fame, which the Rajput bard,
as well as the great minstrel of the West peoples 'with youths who
died to be by poets sung.' For this the Rajput's anxiety has in all
ages been so great as often to defeat even the purpose of revenge, his
object being to die gloriously rather than to inflict death; assured
that his name would never perish, but, preserved in immortal rhyme by
the bard, would serve as the incentive to similar deeds." [485] He sums
up their character in the following terms: "High courage, patriotism,
loyalty, honour, hospitality and simplicity are qualities which must
at once be conceded to them; and if we cannot vindicate them from
charges to which human nature in every clime is obnoxious; if we are
compelled to admit the deterioration of moral dignity from continual
inroads of, and their consequent collision with rapacious conquerors;
we must yet admire the quantum of virtue which even oppression and
bad example have failed to banish. The meaner vices of deceit and
falsehood, which the delineators of national character attach to the
Asiatic without distinction, I deny to be universal with the Rajputs,
though some tribes may have been obliged from position to use these
shields of the weak against continuous oppression." [486] The women
prized martial courage no less than the m