"But whether Jats and Rajputs were or were not originally distinct,
and whatever aboriginal elements may have been affiliated to their
society, I think that the two now form a common stock, the distinction
between Jat and Rajput being social rather than ethnic. I believe
that those families of that common stock whom the tide of fortune
has raised to political importance have become Rajputs almost by
mere virtue of their rise; and that their descendants have retained
the title and its privileges on the condition, strictly enforced, of
observing the rules by which the higher are distinguished from the
lower castes in the Hindu scale of precedence; of preserving their
purity of blood by refusing to marry with families of inferior social
rank, of rigidly abstaining from widow-marriage, and of refraining
from degrading occupations. Those who transgressed these rules have
fallen from their high position and ceased to be Rajputs; while
such families as, attaining a dominant position in their territory,
began to affect social exclusiveness and to observe the rules, have
become not only Rajas but also Rajputs or sons of Rajas. For the last
seven centuries at least the process of elevation has been almost at
a standstill. Under the Delhi Emperors king-making was practically
impossible. Under the Sikhs the Rajput was overshadowed by the Jat,
who resented his assumption of superiority and his refusal to join him
on equal terms in the ranks of the Khalsa, deliberately persecuted him
wherever and whenever he had the power, and preferred his title of Jat
Sikh to that of the proudest Rajput. On the frontier the dominance
of Pathans and Biloches and the general prevalence of Muhammadan
feelings and ideas placed recent Indian origin at a discount, and
led the leading families who belonged to neither of these two races
to claim connection not with the Kshatriyas of the Sanskrit classics
but with the Mughal conquerors of India or the Qureshi cousins of
the Prophet; in so much that even admittedly Rajput tribes of famous
ancestry, such as the Khokha, have begun to follow the example. But
in the hills, where Rajput dynasties, with genealogies perhaps more
ancient and unbroken than can be shown by any other royal families
in the world, retained their independence till yesterday, and where
many of them still enjoy as great social authority as ever, the twin
processes of degradation from and elevation to Rajput rank are still
to be seen in operation. The Raja is there the fountain not only of
honour but also of caste, which is the same thing in India....