[31]
For the advantages which we derive from leaving them independent, we
are, no doubt, obliged to pay a heavy penalty in the plunder of our
wealthy native subjects by the gangs of robbers of all descriptions
whom they foster; but this evil may be greatly diminished by a
judicious interposition of our authority to put down such bands.[32]
In Bundelkhand, at present, the government and the lands of the
native chiefs are in the hands of three of the Hindoo military
classes, Bundelas, Dhandelas, and Pawars. The principal chiefs are of
the first, and their feudatories are chiefly of the other two. A
Bundela cannot marry the daughter of a Bundela; he must take his wife
from one or other of the other two tribes; nor can a member of either
of the other two take his wife from his own tribe; he must take her
from the Bundelas, or the other tribe. The wives of the greatest
chiefs are commonly from the poorest families of their vassals; nor
does the proud family from which she has been taken feel itself
exalted by the alliance; neither does the poorest vassal among the
Pawars and Dhandels feel that the daughter of his prince has
condescended in becoming his wife.
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