Umrao Singh of Jaklon in Chanderi, a district of Gwalior bordering upon Sagar,[15] has been at this game for more than fifteen years out of twenty, but his alliances among the baronial families around have not been in the slightest degree affected by it.  His sons and his grandsons have, perhaps, made better matches than they might, had the old man been at peace with all the world, during the time that he has been desolating one district by his atrocities, and demoralizing all those around it by his example, and by inviting the youth to join him occasionally in his murderous enterprises.  Neither age nor sex is respected in their attacks upon towns or villages; and no Muhammadan can take more pride and pleasure in defacing idols—­the most monstrous idol—­than a ‘bhumiawati’ takes in maiming an innocent peasant, who presumes to drive his plough in lands that he chooses to put under the ban.

In the kingdom of Oudh, this bhumiawat is a kind of nursery for our native army; for the sons of Rajput yeomen who have been trained in it are all exceedingly anxious to enlist in our native infantry regiments, having no dislike to their drill or their uniform.  The same class of men in Bundelkhand and the Gwalior State have a great horror of the drill and uniform of our regular infantry, and nothing can induce them to enlist in our ranks.  Both are equally brave, and equally faithful to their salt—­that is, to the person who employs them; but the Oudh Rajput is a much more tameable animal than the Bundela.  In Oudh this class of people have all inherited from their fathers a respect for our rule and a love for our service.  In Bundelkhand they have not yet become reconciled to our service, and they still look upon our rule as interfering a good deal too much with their sporting propensities.[16]

Notes: 

1.  Since the author’s time conditions have much changed.  Then, and for long afterwards, up to the Mutiny, every village throughout the country was fall of arms, and almost every man was armed.  Consequently, in those tracts where the Mutiny of the native army was accompanied by popular insurrection, the flame of rebellion burned fiercely, and was subdued with difficulty.  The painful experience of 1857 and 1858 proved the necessity of general disarmament, and nearly the whole of British India has been disarmed under the provisions of a series of Acts.  Licences to have and carry ordinary arms and ammunition are granted by the magistrates of districts.  Licences to possess artillery are granted only by the Governor-General in Council.  The improved organization of the police and of the executive power generally renders possible the strict enforcement of the law.  Some arms are concealed, but very few of these are serviceable.  With rare exceptions, arms are now carried only for display, and knowledge of the use of weapons has died out in most classes of the population.  The village forts have been everywhere dismantled.  Robbery by armed gangs still occurs in certain districts (see ante, Chapter 23, note 14), but is much less frequent than it used to be in the author’s days.