there are none; the character of the ground and the luxuriance of the forest jungles alike preclude them[1].'
The Gháts and the Konkan were the safe retreats of wild beasts and wiry Maráthás.
These people had never made any mark in history before the reign of Aurangzíb. They had been peaceful, frugal husbandmen, like the mass of the lower orders of Hindús, and had given no trouble to their rulers. Their chiefs, or village headmen, were Súdras, of the lowest of the four castes, like their people, though they pretended to trace their pedigree to the Rájputs, and thus connect themselves with the noble caste of Kshatriyas. In the silent times of peace, the Maráthás enjoyed the happiness of the nation that has no history. War brought out their dormant capacities, and their daggers soon cut their name deep in the annals of India.
'They are small, sturdy men,' says Elphinstone, 'well made, though not handsome. They are all active, laborious, hardy, and persevering. If they have none of the pride and dignity of the Rájputs, they have none of their indolence or their want of worldly wisdom. A Rájput warrior, as long as he does not dishonour his race, seems almost indifferent to the result of any contest he is engaged in. A Maráthá thinks of nothing but the result, and cares little for the means, if he can attain his object. For this purpose he will strain his wits, renounce his pleasures, and hazard his person; but he has not a conception of sacrificing his life, or even his
- ↑ Sidney Owen, India on the Eve of the British Conquest (1872), p. 22. Dr. Fryer has given a vivid account of his ascent of the Gháts in his New Account of India (1698), Letter III, ch. iv.
