Page:The People of India — a series of photographic illustrations, with descriptive letterpress, of the races and tribes of Hindustan Vol 7.djvu/143

MAHRATTAS. who are called grain deotas, village sprites, which are represented by piles of stones bedaubed with red lead, and by sacred spots on high rocks and rugged mountain tops, in secluded caves and ravines, and by the waterfalls and rivers of their wild native land. Ordinarily in his farm and in his home, the Mahratta is a faithful, kind husband, a good practical farmer, and kind to his children and dependants, if he have any; but he is passionate and easily excited, perhaps to violence. He is accustomed to the use of arms, and in. every village of his country a gymnasium is maintained, where youths are trained to manly exercises. He is also of a wily, uncertain disposition, with no abstract love of truth, intilguing after a clumsy fashion, for his mind is simple enough. He is patient, hardy, and brave, devoted to his leader or to his friend, and with much national spirit. It may therefore be imagined how in the old times such a people were excited by superstition, national honour, and love of plunder, and, banded together as they were by a national tie, became the scourge of India; for, as a race, they were cruel, vindictive, and rapacious in the highest degree.

Mahrattas have great pride in family surnames, and there are none which do not belong to some one of the numerous families. The names are not tribal, or caste distinctions, but literally family surnames like our own. Thus we have Sindia, Holkar, Gaekwar, Puar, Bhoslay, Durpay, Dainglay, and the like, with hosts of others as varied as our own. Some families are esteemed of a higher rank than others, and there is hardly any point on which a true Mahratta is more tetchy than family pride.

As a rule Mahrattas are not good looking, whether male or female, and they are usually short, stout, active figures, capable of great exertion, particularly on horseback, and they are excellent riders. The women in some instances are pretty when young; but though they preserve their figures to a late age, their faces, from exposure to field work, grow plain and seamed, as it were, by the heat. Only Mahrattas of high rank seclude their women, and that very partially. They go abroad, even of the highest rank, to temples, to their gardens, or appear in the house before all that come to it, without the least reservation; and it is an honourable trait in Mabratta character, that they especially venerate their mothers, and revere their memories after their death. Mahratta women have the complete control of their households; they have a voice in all household and family concerns, and are friends as well as helpmates to their husbands and their children. The highest Mahratta ladies have taken active shares in national politics, and in many instances have distinguished themselves by wisdom and general benevolence.

In manners, Mahrattas are neither courtly, nor pliant and graceful like other natives of India; and consequently, though by no means intending rudeness, they are bluff, homely, and outspoken, knowing and practising little of the fluent flattery so offensive in others; but they are kindly withal, and most hospitable