priestly Bráhman, the chivalrous Rájput, the clerkly Kayásth, held the field for the most part. Side by side with them were lesser castes, such as the brave and industrious Jats, and the predatory though reclaimable Gujars. Here and there, too, the Moslems still clung to the soil. The Bráhman soldiery, who were commonly called Hindustáni, did not generally come from Hindustán, but rather from Oudh.
These various wars and inroads were indeed enough to lay waste or permanently desolate Hindustán; but fortunately such was not the result. Though the outlying portions were so maimed and injured as to be much less cultivated and inhabited than they are nowadays; yet in the middle region between the Ganges and the Jumna, the dominant interest, that of agriculture,, was sustained by 'The Village Communities.' This famous institution still attracts the attention of political philosophers in Europe, and a complete literature has grown up around it. A community of this description consisted of large bodies of shareholders, all descended from a common ancestor holding the lands of their parish or township in commonalty or severalty, with a defensive union among themselves; jointly responsible for the land tax demanded from their township by the ruling power, and electing their representatives to deal on their behalf with the officers of the Government. These Communities were to be found throughout the country, and a goodly part, though not the whole, of the lands were in their keeping. All Britons remember cases where splendid and
