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Rh characteristic of Rajput chivalry as of the feudalism of Europe—appealing to similar sentiments, and similarly useful for historical and genealogical purposes. To this day hundreds of Chiefs and country gentlemen in Rájputáná, in Central India, in Káthiáwár, and in many other parts, use their ancestral devices in their seals or accompanying their signature. Thus every petty Thákur (as well as Chiefs of higher degree), from Oudh in the East to the Western Sea, who can trace his descent from the proud Chauhán clan of Rájputs that gave the last Hindu Emperors to Delhi and Ajmir, still claims his ancestral right to the Chauhán santak, or device on seal and for signature, called the "Chakra" (see the drawing at p. 100). Figures of Hanumán (the Monkey God), of the Sacred Peacock, and of the Sacred Garur or Eagle, take the place, in the heraldry of the East, of the lions, the leopards, and the fleur-de-lys of the more elaborate and artificial coatarmour of the West. The kulcha, or "lucky chapáti" (biscuit), with the silver quatrefoils, on the green flag of the Nizám, the red oriflamme of the " Sun of the Hindus " (the Maháráná of Udaipur), the falcon of Márwár, the Gangetic dolphin of Darbhanga, the white and green stripes of the late Sir Salar Jang, and many other hereditary devices and emblems, have long been and still are familiar in India. But there seems to be no authority by whom the use of such emblems is directed or controlled ; nor has the Government of India ever had the prudence to avail itself of the rich store of revenue that might easily, and indeed (from the historical and genealogical point of view) usefully, be raised from the fees and duties to be derived from the extended use of armorial bearings. It is hoped that the publication of this work may have some influence in inducing the Government of India to establish that very necessary institution, a Heralds' College or Chancery of Dignities, in connection with its Political Department—or, perhaps better, to petition Her Majesty to attach a duly-constituted Indian Department to the College of Arms in London under the Garter King of Arms.

In the existing circumstances—it may be hoped only temporarily existing —described above, the Editor has felt constrained, very reluctantly in many cases, to decline to insert the particulars of any titles that have not been more or less formally recognised by the Government of India, except in about half a dozen very special cases, where there could not by any possibility be any doubt of the authenticity of the claims. For instance, in the case of the Raikat of Baikanthpur, in the district of Jalpaiguri, Bengal, the title appears to be unique in India—and there can be no doubt whatever that it has been borne by something like twenty generations of hereditary kinsmen of the Rajas of Kuch Behar ; some account of this singularly interesting title has been inserted, though there is some reason to doubt whether it appears in any