Rulers Of India Ranjit Singh

Griffin Lepel Sir · 1916 · Public domain (published pre-1930) · archive.org ↗

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2RANjtT SINGH

3asking to be ruled, are the very foundations of their

4throne* A single mistake or a pungent epigram may

5cost the heir of an adventurer his crown ; but the

6hereditary ruler can securely sit, like the Olympian

7gods, above the thunder. His mistakes are speedily

8forgotten, his follies are forgiven unto seventy times

9seven, and, if he falls, it is less from the waywardness

10of fortune than from his own determination to com-

11mit political suicide.

12If this be the case in Europe, far more is it so in

13India, whose consei'vatism is intense, and where pre-

14scription and tradition and heredity outweigh, in

15popular estimation, any personal virtues of a ruler.

16In a country in which robbery and murder were

17honoured as hereditary occupations, and where dancing

18girls place their fragile virtue under the special pro-

19tection of a deity, it will readily be understood that

20the splendid attributes of kingship gather around

21them a reverence and authority which are all but

22impregnable. Indian history, fiUed as it is with royal

23catastrophes and assassination and changing dynasties,

24does not, if read aright, conflict with the popular belief

25in the divine right of kings even to rule badly.

26India has had stormy experiences, and its rich pro-

27vinces have been for many hundred years the coveted

28prize of successive hordes of invaders from the North-

29West, who have swept over the continent leaving

30ruin behind them, while the many hostile races and

31nations which make up its population have always

32been engaged in internecine strife. But the heart of