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Sutlej abounds. Their situation, on the national highway of
Northern India, is a commanding one. If there be any Native
States in which the administration is really comparable with
British rule, they are here.
Rajasthan.
A large congeries of States is formed under the name of
Rajputana or Rajasthan, of which the principal are Udeypur,
Jeypur, and Jodhpur. These Rajput chiefs have, next to the
Brahmins, the purest blood in India. In antiquity of descent
they rank peerless among the Native sovereigns ; the pink and
Rower of Indian heraldry is acknowledged to be with them.
During the war of the mutinies they were steadfast in their
allegiance to a supremacy in their eyes so beneficent. They
retain to this day, more than any other Native States, the original
image of Hindu polity, untouched by the defacing fingers
of modern change. Their administration, partly patriarchal
partly baronial, has a rough and rude efficiency. .
Mahratia States.
The Mahratta sovereigns in Central India, Scindia, and
Holkar, bear rule over alien clans and vassals, which difficult
task they perform with much considerate circumspection and
a fair degree of success. The Mabhratta, however, in Central
India, has but a slight hold on the local Rajput chiefs and the
indigenous tribes.
Baroda. Bhopal, and Pannalt.
The Baroda State comprises some of the richest territories
in the empire.
The State of Bhopal is well governed by a Native Princess,
the head of a Muhammadan family whose loyal allegiance to
the British Government has been conclusively proved.
Among the princes of Bundelkhand, the Raja of Pannah is
known as an enlightened ruler, and as a man of broad sympashies.
His territory is still famous for its diamond mines.