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H.P. Blavatsky - From the Caves and Jungles of Hindostan
Volga and Serika, or China. Besides this, Scythia was divided by the western Himalayas, which the
Roman writers call Imaus, into Scythia intra Imaum, and Scythia extra Imaum. Given this lack of
precision, the Rajputs may be called the Scythians of Asia, and the Scythians the Rajputs of Europe, with
the same degree of likelihood. Pinkerton's opinion is that European contempt for the Tartars would not be
half so strong if the European public learned how closely we are related to them; that our forefathers
came from northern Asia, and that our primitive customs, laws and mode of living were the same as
theirs; in a word, that we are nothing but a Tartar colony... Cimbri, Kelts and Gauls, who conquered the
northern part of Europe, are different names of the same tribe, whose origin is Tartary. Who were the
Goths, the Swedes, the Vandals, the Huns and the Franks, if not separate swarms of the same beehive?
The annals of Sweden point to Kashgar as the fatherland of the Swedes. The likeness between the
languages of the Saxons and the Kipchak-Tartars is striking; and the Keltic, which still exists in Brittany
and in Wales, is the best proof that their inhabitants are descendants of the Tartar nation.
Whatever Pinkerton and others may say, the modern Rajput warriors do not answer in the least the
description Hippocrates gives us of the Scythians. The "father of medicine" says: "The bodily structure of
these men is thick, coarse and stunted; their joints are weak and flabby; they have almost no hair, and
each of them resembles the other." No man, who has seen the handsome, gigantic warriors of Rajistan,
with their abundant hair and beards, will ever recognize this portrait drawn by Hippocrates as theirs.
Besides, the Scythians, whoever they may be, buried their dead, which the Rajputs never did, judging by
the records of their most ancient MSS. The Scythians were a wandering nation, and are described by
Hesiod as "living in covered carts and feeding on mare's milk." And the Rajputs have been a sedentary
people from time immemorial, inhabiting towns, and having their history at least several hundred years
before Christ - that is to say, earlier than the epoch of Herodotus. They do celebrate the Ashvamedha, the
horse sacrifice; but will not touch mare's milk, and despise all Mongolians. Herodotus says that the
Scythians, who called themselves Skoloti, hated foreigners, and never let any stranger in their country;
and the Rajputs are one of the most hospitable peoples of the world. In the epoch of the wars of Darius,
516 B.C., the Scythians were still in their own district, about the mouth of the Danube. And at the same
epoch the Rajputs were already known in India and had their own kingdom. As to the Ashvamedha,
which Colonel Tod thinks to be the chief illustration of his theory, the custom of killing horses in honor
of the sun is mentioned in the Rig-Veda, as well as in the Aitareya-Brahmana. Martin Haug states that
the latter has probably been in existence since 2000-2400 B.C.
But it strikes me that the digression from the Babu's chum to the Scythians and the Rajputs of the
antediluvian epoch threatens to become too long, so I beg the reader's pardon and resume the thread of
my narrative.
The Banns Of Marriage
Next day, early in the morning, the local shikaris went under the leadership of the warlike Akali, to hunt
glamoured and real tigers in the caves. It took them longer than we expected. The old Bhil, who
represented to us the absent dhani, proposed that in the meanwhile we should witness a Brahmanical
wedding ceremony. Needless to say, we jumped at this. The ceremonies of betrothal and marriage have
not changed in India during the last two millenniums at least. They are performed according to the
directions of Manu, and the old theme has no new variations. India's religious rites have crystallized long
ago. Whoever has seen a Hindu wedding in 1879, saw it as it was celebrated in ancient Aryavarta many
centuries ago.
A few days before we left Bombay we read in a small local newspaper two announcements of marriages:
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