A braver set of men is hardly anywhere to be found; or one
trained up with finer feelings of devotion towards the power whose
salt they eat.[14] A good many of the other fourth of the recruits
for our native infantry are drawn from among the Ujaini Rajputs, or
Rajputs from Ujain,[15] who were established many generations ago in
the same manner at Bhojpur on the bank of the Ganges.[16]
Notes:
1. A purohit is a Brahman family priest.
2. Four hundred thousand rupees, worth at that time more than forty
thousand pounds sterling.
3. The magistrate was the author.
4. 'That' in author's text.
5. The water of the Ganges, with which the image of the god Vishnu
has been washed, is considered a very holy draught, fit for princes.
That with which the image of the god Siva, alias Mahadeo, is washed
must not be drunk. The popular belief is that in a dispute between
him and his wife, Parvati, alias Kali, she cursed the person that
should thenceforward dare to drink of the water that flowed over his
images on earth. The river Ganges is supposed to flow from the top-
knot of Siva's head, and no one would drink of it after this curse,
were it not that the sacred stream is supposed to come first from the
_heel_ of Vishnu, the Preserver.
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