The Rajputs as depicted by Colonel Tod resembled the knights of the
age of chivalry. Courage, strength and endurance were the virtues most
highly prized. One of the Rajput trials of strength, it is recorded,
was to gallop at full speed under the horizontal branch of a tree and
cling to it while the horse passed on. This feat appears to 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 men: they would hear with
equanimity of the death of their sons or husbands in the battlefield,
while they heaped scorn and contumely on those who returned after
defeat. They were constantly ready to sacrifice themselves to the
flames rather than fall into the hands of a conqueror; and the Johar,
the final act of a besieged garrison, when the women threw themselves
into the furnace, while the men sallied forth to die in battle against
the enemy, is recorded again and again in Rajput annals. Three times
was this tragedy enacted at the fall of Chitor, formerly the capital
fortress of the Sesodia clan; and the following vivid account is
given by Colonel Tod of a similar deed at Jaisalmer, when the town
fell to the Muhammadans: [487] "The chiefs were assembled; all were
unanimous to make Jaisalmer resplendent by their deeds and preserve
the honour of the Yadu race. Muhaj thus addressed them: 'You are of
a warlike race and strong are your arms in the cause of your prince;
what heroes excel you who thus tread in the Chhatri's path? For the
maintenance of my honour the sword is in your hands; let Jaisalmer be
illumined by its blows upon the foe.' Having thus inspired the chiefs
and men, Muhaj and Ratan repaired to the palace of their queens. They
told them to take the _sohag_ [488] and prepare to meet in heaven,
while they gave up their lives in defence of their honour and their
faith. Smiling the Rani replied, 'This night we shall prepare, and
by the morning's light we shall be inhabitants of heaven'; and thus
it was with all the chiefs and their wives. The night was passed
together for the last time in preparation for the awful morn. It
came; ablutions and prayers were finished and at the royal gate were
convened children, wives and mothers. They bade a last farewell to
all their kin; the Johar commenced, and twenty-four thousand females,
from infancy to old age, surrendered their lives, some by the sword,
others in the volcano of fire. Blood flowed in torrents, while the
smoke of the pyre ascended to the heavens: not one feared to die,
and every valuable was consumed with them, so that not the worth
of a straw was preserved for the foe. The work done, the brothers
looked upon the spectacle with horror. Life was now a burden and
they prepared to quit it They purified themselves with water, paid
adoration to the divinity, made gifts to the poor, placed a branch
of the _tulsi_ [489] in their casques, the _saligram_ [490] round
their neck; and having cased themselves in armour and put on the
saffron robe, they bound the marriage crown around their heads and
embraced each other for the last time. Thus they awaited the hour
of battle. Three thousand eight hundred warriors, their faces red
with wrath, prepared to die with their chiefs." In this account the
preparation for the Johar as if for a wedding is clearly brought out,
and it seems likely that husbands and wives looked on it as a bridal
preparatory to the resumption of their life together in heaven.
Colonel Tod gives the following account of a Rajput's arms: [491]
"No prince or chief is without his _silla-khana_ or armoury, where he
passes hours in viewing and arranging his arms. Every favourite weapon,
whether sword, dagger, spear, matchlock or bow, has a distinctive
epithet. The keeper of the armoury is one of the most confidential
officers about the person of the prince. These arms are beautiful and
costly. The _sirohi_ or slightly curved blade is formed like that of
Damascus, and is the greatest favourite of all the variety of weapons
throughout Rajputana. The long cut-and-thrust sword is not uncommon,
and also the _khanda_ or double-edged sword. The matchlocks, both of
Lahore and the country, are often highly finished and inlaid with
mother-of-pearl and gold; those of Boondi are the best. The shield
of the rhinoceros-hide offers the best resistance, and is often
ornamented with animals beautifully painted and enamelled in gold and
silver. The bow is of buffalo-horn, and the arrows of reed, which
are barbed in a variety of fashions, as the crescent, the trident,
the snake's tongue, and other fanciful forms." It is probable that
the forms were in reality by no means fanciful, but were copied from
sacred or divine objects; and similarly the animals painted on the
shields may have been originally the totem animals of the clan.