inevitable and universal in similar cases. Mr. Crooke has pointed out and corrected the mis-statements, and given the actual facts in his notes wherever it has been possible to do so, leaving Tod’s inimitable narrative and his notes intact. This is the only way to deal with a work of this kind, whose value does not depend upon historical accuracy but upon its vivid representation of the life and character of the Rajput race.
A considerable part of the work is occupied by Tod’s “Personal Narrative” of his travels and adventures in Rajasthan, and of the part he took as Political Agent in helping to settle the numerous feuds which had developed during the anarchical conditions of the eighteenth century, and in advocating the cause of the Rājputs and combating the policy of the Indian Government when he thought it unjust or injudicious. His early retirement from the service and the, neglect of the Government to recognize his merits may probably be attributed to this cause. The last thirteen years of his life were devoted to the composition of his great work, which perhaps without this period of comparative leisure would never have seen the light.
In spite of his numerous mistakes in philology or ethnology, due to the mistaken theories in vogue in his day, Tod’s keen instinct often led him to correct conclusions in spite of the theories. Mr. Crooke has pointed out that he arrived at the firm belief that the Rājputs were of Scythic origin, and that this belief is fully justified by the results of modern research, which tend to show that many of the more noble septs are descended from the Hūnas and Gurjaras and other invaders from Central Asia, and that the tales of divine or royal descent were invented after their gradual adoption into the Hindu confraternity. The importance of their connection with the primitive tribes of the country, such as the Bhīls and Mīnas, and of the part taken by these in investiture ceremonies, is also well brought out by Tod, and is of great value from the folk-lore point of view as accentuating the position held by these autochthonic tribes who were believed to have intercourse with and control over the mysterious powers of nature in their country.
The most interesting and fascinating part of Tod’s work is
