Mane and Noe, gardeners and barbers, are important members of every Rajput family, and to be found in all the villages, of which they are invariably the cooks.
Choora and Thaori were, in Colonel Tod's time, actually castes of robbers,—tho former from the Lakhi jungle, the latter from Mewar. Most of the chieftains had a few in their pay, entertained for the most desperate services. The , Balia.demn chief had expelled all his Rajputs, and retained only Choora and Thaori. The Choom were highly esteemed for fidelity, and tho barriers and portals throughout this tract were in their custody. They enjoy a very singular perquisite, which would go far to prove their being the aborigines of tho country, namely, a fee of four copper coins on every dead subject, when the funeral ceremonies are over.
The Rahtor of Bikanir bear a martial reputa tion. The Rahtor of the desert have fewer prejudices than their more eastern brethren ; they will eat food without inquiring by whom it 1N-as dressed, and will drink either wino or water, without asking to whom the eup belonged. They would make tho best soldiers in the world if they would submit to discipline, as they aro brave, hardy, easily satisfied, and very patient ; but in the inordinate use of opium, and smoking intoxi cating herbs, are said to exceed all the Chatees Rajcula, the thirty-six royal tribes of India. The pinta or cup ' is a favourite with every Rajput who can afford it, and is, as well as opium, a panacea for ennui, arising from the absence of all mental stimulants, in which they aro more deficient, from the nature of the country, than most of their warlike countrymen.
Bhatnair, now an integral part of Bikanir, was anciently the chief abode of another Jit com munity, so powerful as at one time to provoke the vengeance of kings, and at others to succour them when in distress. The Bhatti annals confirm what might have been assumed without suspicion, that to a colony of this race Bhatnair owes its name, though not its existence. Tho whole of the Northern part is called Nair in the ancient geo ;mphical nomenclature of 3farooseliali ; and when some of the Matti clans became Mahomedan iroselytes, they changed the vowel a to u, to listinguish them from the parent stock, viz.
3hatti for Matti. In all probability, the Yau 3hatti is the original Yuti colony from Central ksia ; and the Jit prince of Salpur was the )redeeessor of these very races. 1Shatuair has ambled great historical celebrity, from its position )eing in the route of invasion from Central Asia o India. It is more than probable that the Jit ace who resisted the advance of Malimud of lhazni in a naval warfare on the Indus, had long )efore that period established themselves in the lesert as well as in tho Panjab ; and as we find hem occupying a place amongst the thirty-six oyal tribes, we may infer that they luid political )ower many centuries before that conqueror. ill 1205, only twelve years after the conquest of ndia by Shahab-nd-Din, his successor Kutub-ud Din was compelled to conduct the war in person tgainst the Jit of the northern desert, to prevent ,heir wresting the important post of IIansi from ,he empire ; and when the unfortunate and ntrepid queen Razzia, the worthy heiress of the ;reat Firoz, was compelled to abandon her throne o a usurper, she sought and found protection tmongst the Jit, who, with their Scythic brethren Ghikar, assembled all their forces, and marched, with their queen at their head, like Tomyris -of )1d, to meet her foes. She was not destined to injoy the same revenge, but gained a glorious leath in the attempt to overturn the Salic law of india. Again, in A.D. 1397, when Tim= invaded Bhatnair was attacked for having distressed ihn exceedingly on his invasion of Multan, when le in person scoured the country, and cut off a xibe of banditti called Jit. In short, the Bhatti Ind Jit were so intermingled, that distinction was mpossible. Shortly after Timur's invasion, a )olony of Bhatti migrated from Maroto and Thai; under their leader Bersi, aud assaulted Ind captured Bliatnair from a Mahomeclan chief.