Page:Folklore1919.djvu/691



Rajasthan has long been established in the estimation of all qualified judges and in the affections of all Anglo-Indians as one of the few great classics produced since the establishment of British supremacy in India. And this position it will not easily lose in spite of its deficiencies from the point of view of modern scholarship. These can be made good, and are made good, in the present edition by Mr. Crooke, without in any way interfering with the essential merits of the work, which consist in the enthralling accounts of the tribes of Rajputana, their history real and legendary, and in the spirit of enthusiastic sympathy with a noble race which breathes through the whole book.

The great value of Tod’s work at the present day consists in the fact that its materials were collected in the early years of the nineteenth century, at a time when the traditions of the Rājput tribes were still preserved almost intact. These legends are not always in accordance with recorded history, but they give a faithful picture of the conditions under which the tribes were formed and developed, and of their settlement in the country to which they have given their name. The earlier legends are filled with incidents of the greatest folklore interest, which are not lacking even in those of later date, such as those relating to the struggle for independence with the Mughal Empire and to the devastating invasions of the Mahrattas. The correspondence with historical fact becomes Rh