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Title: Annals and Antiquities of Rajasthan, v. 1 of 3

Author: James Tod

Editor: William Crooke

Release date: July 4, 2018 [eBook #57374]

Language: English

Credits: Produced by KD Weeks, Emmanuel Ackerman and the Online
Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This
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*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ANNALS AND ANTIQUITIES OF RAJASTHAN, V. 1 OF 3 ***

Transcriber’s Note:

The text is annotated with numerous footnotes, which were numbered sequentially on each page. On occasion, a footnote itself is annotated by a note, using an asterisk as the reference. This distinction is followed here, with those ‘notes on notes’ are given alphabetic sequence (A, B, etc.). Since there are over 1500 notes in this volume, they have been gathered at each chapter’s end, and resequenced for each chapter.

The notes are a combination of those of the author, and of the editor of this edition. The latter are enclosed in square brackets.

Finally, the pagination of the original edition, published in the 1820’s, is preserved for ease of reference by including those page numbers in the text, also enclosed in square brackets.

There are a number of references to a map, sometimes referred to as appearing in Volume I. In this edition, the MAPMAP appears at the end of Volume III.

Crooke’s plan for the renovation of the Tod’s original text, including a discussion of the transliteration of word other than English, is given in detail in the Preface.

Minor errors, attributable to the printer, have been corrected. Given the history of the text, it was thought best to leave all orthography as printed.

Please see the transcriber’s note at the end of this text for details regarding the handling of any textual issues encountered during its preparation.

Any corrections are indicated using an underline highlight. Placing the cursor over the correction will produce the original text in a small popup.

Any corrections are indicated as hyperlinks, which will navigate the reader to the corresponding entry in the corrections table in the note at the end of the text.

ANNALS AND ANTIQUITIES

OF RAJASTHAN

COLONEL JAMES TOD.
(From the bust by Vo. Livi, 1837. By permission of Lt.-Col. E. W.
Blunt-Mackenzie, R.A.).
Frontispiece.

ANNALS AND ANTIQUITIES
OF
RAJASTHAN

OR THE CENTRAL AND WESTERN

RAJPUT STATES OF INDIA

BY

Lieut.-Col. JAMES TOD

LATE POLITICAL AGENT TO THE WESTERN RAJPUT STATES

EDITED WITH AN INTRODUCTION AND NOTES BY

WILLIAM CROOKE, C.I.E.

HON. D.SC. OXON., B.A., F.R.A.I.

LATE OF THE INDIAN CIVIL SERVICE

IN THREE VOLUMES

VOL. I

HUMPHREY MILFORD

OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS

LONDON   EDINBURGH   GLASGOW   NEW YORK

TORONTO   MELBOURNE   BOMBAY

1920

[Original Dedication of the First Volume.]

TO

HIS MOST GRACIOUS MAJESTY

GEORGE THE FOURTH

Sire,

The gracious permission accorded me, to lay at the foot of the Throne the fruit of my labours, allows me to propitiate Your Majesty’s consideration towards the object of this work, the prosecution of which I have made a paramount duty.

The Rajput princes, happily rescued, by the triumph of the British arms, from the yoke of lawless oppression, are now the most remote tributaries to Your Majesty’s extensive empire; and their admirer and annalist may, perhaps, be permitted to hope that the sighs of this ancient and interesting race for the restoration of their former independence, which it would suit our wisest policy to grant, may be deemed not undeserving Your Majesty’s regard.

With entire loyalty and devotion, I subscribe myself,

Your Majesty’s

Most faithful subject and servant,

JAMES TOD.

Bird Hurst, Croydon,

June 20, 1829.

[Original Dedication of the Second Volume.]

TO

HIS MOST GRACIOUS MAJESTY

WILLIAM THE FOURTH

Sire,

Your Majesty has graciously sanctioned the presentation of the Second Volume of the Annals of Rajputana to the Public under the auspices of Your Majesty’s name.

In completing this work, it has been my endeavour to draw a faithful picture of States, the ruling principle of which is the paternity of the Sovereign. That this patriarchal form is the best suited to the genius of the people may be presumed from its durability, which war, famine, and anarchy have failed to destroy. The throne has always been the watchword and rallying-point of the Rajputs. My prayer is, that it may continue so, and that neither the love of conquest, nor false views of policy, may tempt us to subvert the independence of these States, some of which have braved the storms of more than ten centuries.

It will not, I trust, be deemed presumptuous in the Annalist of these gallant and long-oppressed races thus to solicit for them a full measure of Your Majesty’s gracious patronage; in return for which, the Rajputs, making Your Majesty’s enemies their own, would glory in assuming the “saffron robe,” emblematic of death or victory, under the banner of that chivalry of which Your Majesty is the head.

That Your Majesty’s throne may ever be surrounded by chiefs who will act up to the principles of fealty maintained at all hazards by the Rajput, is the heartfelt aspiration of,

Sire,

Your Majesty’s

Devoted subject and servant,

JAMES TOD.

PREFACE

No one can undertake with a light heart the preparation of a new edition of Colonel Tod’s great work, The Annals and Antiquities of Rajasthan. But the leading part which the Rājputs have taken in the Great War, the summoning of one of their princes to a seat at the Imperial Conference, the certainty that as the result of the present cataclysm they will be entitled to a larger share in the administration of India, have contributed to the desire that this classical account of their history and sociology should be presented in a shape adapted to the use of the modern scholar and student of Indian history and antiquities.

In the Introduction which follows I have endeavoured to estimate the merits and defects of Colonel Tod’s work. Here it is necessary only to state that though the book has been several times reprinted in India and once in this country, the obvious difficulties of such an undertaking have hitherto prevented any writer better qualified than myself from attempting to prepare an annotated edition. Irrespectively of the fact that this work was published a century ago, when the study of the history, antiquities, sociology, and geography of India had only recently started, the Author’s method led him to formulate theories on a wide range of subjects not directly connected with the Rājputs. In the light of our present knowledge some of these speculations have become obsolete, and it might have been possible, without impairing the value of the work as a Chronicle of the Rājputs, to have discarded from the text and notes much which no longer possesses value. But the work is a classic, and it deserves to be treated as such, and it was decided that any mutilation of the original text and notes would be inconsistent with the object of this series of reprints of classical works on Indian subjects. The only alternative course was to correct in notes, clearly distinguished from those of the Author, such facts and theories as are no longer accepted by scholars.

It is needless to say that during the last century much advance has been made in our knowledge of Indian history, antiquities, philology, and sociology. We are now in a position to use improved translations of many authorities which were quoted by the Author from inadequate or incorrect versions. The translation of Ferishta’s History by A. Dow and Jonathan Scott has been superseded by that of General J. Briggs, that of the Āīn-i-Akbarī of F. Gladwin by the version by Professor H. Blochmann and Colonel H. S. Jarrett. For the Memoirs of Jahāngīr, the Author relied on the imperfect version by Major David Price, which has been replaced by a new translation of the text in its more complete form by Messrs. A. Rogers and H. Beveridge. For the Laws of Manu we have the translation by Dr. G. Bühler. The passages in classical literature relating to India have been collected, translated, and annotated by the late Mr. J. W. McCrindle. Much information not available for the Author’s use has been provided by The History of India as told by its own Historians, by Sir H. M. Elliot and Professor J. Dowson, and by Mr. W. Irvine’s translation, with elaborate notes, of N. Manucci’s Storia do Magor. Among original works useful for the present edition the following may be mentioned: J. Grant Duff’s History of the Mahrattas; Dr. Vincent A. Smith’s Early History of India, History of Fine Art in India and Ceylon, Asoka, the Buddhist Emperor of India, and Akbar, the Great Mogul; Professor Jadunath Sarkar’s History of Aurangzib, of which only three volumes have been published; Mr. W. Irvine’s Army of the Indian Moghuls; Sir W. Lee-Warner’s Protected Princes of India.

Much historical, geographical, and ethnological information has been collected in the new edition of the Imperial Gazetteer of India, the, the Bombay Gazetteer edited by Sir J. M. Campbell, and, more particularly, in the revised Gazetteer of Rajputana, including that of Mewār and the Western States Residency and Bīkaner Agency by Lieutenant-Colonel K. D. Erskine, and that of Ajmer by Mr. C. C. Watson. Lieutenant-Colonel Erskine’s work, based on the best local information, has been of special value, and it is much to be regretted that this officer, after serving as Consul-General at Baghdad, was invalided and died in England in 1914, leaving that part of the Gazetteer dealing with the Eastern States, Jaipur, Kotah, and Būndi, unrevised. For botany, agriculture, and natural productions I have used Sir G. Watt’s Dictionary of the Economic Products of India, and his Commercial Products of India; for architecture and antiquities, J. Fergusson’s History of Indian and Eastern Architecture, edited by Dr. J. Burgess, and The Cave Temples of India by the same writers. In ethnology I have consulted the publications of the Ethnological Survey of India, of which Mr. H. A. Rose’s Glossary of the Tribes and Castes of the Punjab and North-West Frontier Province, Mr. Bhimbhai Kirparam’s account of the Hindus and Khān Bahādur Fazalullah Lutfullah’s of the Musalmāns of Gujarāt, published in the Bombay Gazetteer, vol. ix. Parts i. ii., have been specially valuable. Besides the general works to which reference has been made, many articles on Rajputana and the Rājputs will be found in the Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society and its Bombay branch, in the Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal, and in the Indian Antiquary, and other periodicals. The Reports of the Archaeological Survey of India conducted by Sir A. Cunningham, Dr. J. Burgess, and Sir J. H. Marshall, are of great importance.

I cannot pretend to have exhausted the great mass of new information available in the works to which I have referred, and in others named in the Bibliography; and it was not my object to overload the notes which are already voluminous. To the general reader the system of annotation which I have attempted to carry out may appear meticulous; but no other course seemed possible if the work was to be made more useful to the historian and to the scholar. The editor of a work of this class is forced to undertake the somewhat invidious duty of calling attention to oversights or errors either in fact or theory. But this does not detract from the real value of the work. In some cases I have been content with adding a note of interrogation to warn the reader that certain statements must be received with caution. As regards geography, I have in many cases indicated briefly the position of the more important places, so far as they can be traced in the maps with which I was provided. The Author was so intimately acquainted with the ground, that he assumed in the general reader a degree of knowledge which he does not possess.

The text and notes, with the exception of a few obvious oversights, have been reprinted as they stood in the first edition, and as the latter is often quoted in books of authority, I have added its pagination for facility of reference. It was decided, after much consideration, to correct the transliteration of personal and place names and other vernacular terms according to the system now adopted in official gazetteers, maps, and reports. This change might have been unnecessary if the transliteration of these words, according to the system in use at the time when the book was written, had been uniformly correct. But this is not the case. At the same time I have preserved the original readings of those names which have become established in popular usage, such as “Mogul,” “Mahratta,” “Deccan,” in place of “Mughal,” “Marhāta,” “Dakkhin.” Following the Author’s example, I have not thought it necessary to overload the text by the use of accents and diacritical marks, which are useless to the scholar and only embarrass the general reader. But in the Index I have accentuated the personal and place names so far as I believed I could do so with safety. Some of these I have been unable to trace in later authorities, and I fear that I may have failed to secure complete uniformity of method.

The scheme of the book, which attempts to give parallel accounts of each State, naturally causes difficulty to the reader. A like embarrassment is felt by any historian who endeavours to combine in a single narrative the fortunes of the Mughal Empire with those of the kingdoms in Bengal, the Deccan, or southern India; by the historian of Greece, where the centre of activity shifts from Athens to Sparta, Thebes, or Macedonia; by the historian of Germany before the minor kingdoms were more or less fully absorbed by the Hohenzollerns. I have endeavoured to assist the reader in dealing with these independent annals by largely extending the original Index, and by the use of page headings and paragraph summaries.

In the dates recorded in the summaries I have generally followed Lieutenant-Colonel Erskine’s guidance, so far as his work was available. In view of the inconsistencies between some dates in the text and those recorded in the summaries, it must be remembered that it was the Author’s habit in adapting the dates of the Samvat to those of the Christian era, to deduct 56, not 57 from the former, contrary to the practice of modern historians.

I am indebted to many friends for assistance. Captain C. D. M’K. Blunt has kindly given me much help in the record of Colonel Tod’s life, and has supplied a photograph of the charming miniature of the Author as a young officer and of a bust which have been reproduced in the frontispieces. Mr. R. E. Enthoven, C.I.E., has given me the photograph of the Author engaged in his studies with his Jain Guru.[1] The fragments of local ballads scattered through the text were unfortunately copied from very incorrect texts. Dr. L. P. Tessitori, an Italian scholar, who, until the outbreak of the War, was engaged in collecting the local ballads of the Rājputs, has given a correct version of these ballads; and in improving the text of them I have been assisted by Colonel C. E. Luard, his Pandit, and Sir G. Grierson, K.C.I.E. Since the greater part of the following pages was in type, I have received copies of three reports by Dr. L. P. Tessitori, “A Scheme for the Bardic and Historical Survey of Rājputāna,” and two Progress Reports for the years 1915 and 1916, published in the Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal (New Series, vol. x. No. 10; xii. No. 3; xiii. No. 4). These contain information regarding the MSS. copies of some ballads and inscriptions, which throw light on the traditions and antiquities of the Rājputs. I regret that I was unable to use these papers, which, however, do not supply much information on questions connected with The Annals. Among other friends who have helped me in various ways I may name the late Sir G. Birdwood; Mr. W. Foster, C.I.E.; Professor A. Keith, F.R.S.; Lieutenant-Colonel Sir D. Prain, F.R.S.; and Dr. Vincent A. Smith, C.I.E.

W. CROOKE.

1. This picture, supposed to be the work of Ghāsi, the Author’s artist, was recently discovered in Rājputāna.

CONTENTS

PAGE

Preface by the Editor
ix

Introduction by the Editor
xxv

Bibliography
xlvii

Author’s Introduction
lv

BOOK I

GEOGRAPHY OF RAJASTHAN OR RAJPUTANA

BOOK II

HISTORY OF THE RAJPUT TRIBES

CHAPTER 1

Genealogies of the Rajput princes—The Puranas—Connexion of the Rajputs with the Scythic tribes
23

CHAPTER 2

Genealogies continued—Fictions in the Puranas—Union of the regal and the priestly characters—Legends of the Puranas confirmed by the Greek historians
29

CHAPTER 3

Genealogies continued—Comparisons between the lists of Sir W. Jones, Mr. Bentley, Captain Wilford, and the Author—Synchronisms
39

CHAPTER 4

Foundations of States and Cities by the different tribes
45

CHAPTER 5

The dynasties which succeeded Rama and Krishna—The Pandava family—Periods of the different dynasties
55

CHAPTER 6

Genealogical history of the Rajput tribes subsequent to Vikramaditya—Foreign races which entered India—Analogies between the Scythians, the Rajputs, and the tribes of Scandinavia
68

CHAPTER 7

Catalogue of the Thirty-six Royal Races
97

CHAPTER 8

Reflections on the present political state of the Rajput tribes.
145

BOOK III

SKETCH OF A FEUDAL SYSTEM IN RAJASTHAN

CHAPTER 1

Introduction—Existing condition of Rajasthan—General resemblance between the ancient systems of Asia and Europe—Noble origin of the Rajput race—Rathors of Marwar—Kachhwahas of Amber—Sesodias of Mewar—Gradation of ranks—Revenues and rights of the Crown—Barar—Khar Lakar
153

CHAPTER 2

Legislative authority—Rozina—Military service—Inefficiency of this form of government
170

CHAPTER 3

Feudal incidents—Duration of grants
184

CHAPTER 4

Rakhwali—Servitude—Basai—Gola and Das—Private feuds and composition—Rajput Pardhans or Premiers
203

CHAPTER 5

Adoption—Reflections upon the subjects treated
220

Appendix
228

BOOK IV

ANNALS OF MEWAR

CHAPTER 1

Origin of the Guhilot princes of Mewar—Authorities—Kanaksen the founder of the present dynasty—His descent from Rama—He emigrates to Saurashtra—Valabhipura—Its sack and destruction by the Huns or Parthians
247

CHAPTER 2

Birth of Goha—He acquires Idar—Derivation of the term "Guhilot"—Birth of Bappa—Early religion of the Guhilots—Bappa’s history—Oghana Panarwa—Bappa’s initiation into the worship of Siva—He gains possession of Chitor—Remarkable end of Bappa—Four epochs established, from the second to the eleventh century
258

CHAPTER 3

Alleged Persian extraction of the Ranas of Mewar—Authorities for it—Implied descent of the Ranas from a Christian princess of Byzantium—The Author’s reflections upon these points
271

CHAPTER 4

Intervening sovereigns between Bappa and Samarsi—Bappa’s descendants—Irruptions of the Arabians into India—Catalogue of Hindu princes who defended Chitor
281

CHAPTER 5

Historical facts furnished by the bard Chand—Anangpal—Prithiraj—Samarsi—Overthrow of the Chauhan monarch by the Tatars—Posterity of Samarsi—Rahap—Changes in the title and the tribe of its prince—Successors of Rahap
297

CHAPTER 6

Rana Lakhamsi—Attack on Chitor by Alau-d-din—Treachery of Ala—Ruse of the Chitor chiefs to recover Bhimsi—Devotion of the Rana and his sons—Sack of Chitor by the Tatars—Its destruction—Rana Ajaisi—Hamir—He gains possession of Chitor—Renown and prosperity of Mewar—Khetsi—Lakha
307

CHAPTER 7

Delicacy of the Rajputs—The occasion of changing the rule of primogeniture in Mewar—Succession of the infant Mokalji, to the prejudice of Chonda, the rightful heir—Disorders in Mewar through the usurpations of the Rathors—Chonda expels them from Chitor and takes Mandor—Transactions between Mewar and Marwar—Reign of Mokalji—His assassination
322

CHAPTER 8

Succession of Kumbha—He defeats and takes prisoner Mahmud of Malwa—Splendour of Kumbha’s reign—Assassinated by his son—The murderer dethroned by Raemall—Mewar invaded by the imperial forces—Raemall’s successes—Feuds of the family—Death of Raemall
333

CHAPTER 9

Accession of Rana Sanga—State of the Muhammadan power—Grandeur of Mewar—Sanga’s victories—Invasions of India—Babur’s invasion—Defeats and kills the King of Delhi—Opposed by Sanga—Battle of Khanua—Defeat of Sanga—His death and character—Accession of Rana Ratna—His death—Rana Bikramajit—His character—Disgusts his nobles—Chitor invested by the King of Malwa—Storm of Chitor—Sakha or immolation of the females—Fall and plunder of Chitor—Humayun comes to its aid—He restores Chitor to Bikramajit, who is deposed by the nobles—Election of Banbir—Bikramajit assassinated
348

CHAPTER 10

The bastard Banbir rules Mewar—Attempted assassination of the posthumous son of Sanga—Udai Singh’s escape and long concealment—Acknowledged as Rana—The Dauna described—Udai Singh gains Chitor—Deposal of Banbir—Origin of the Bhonslas of Nagpur—Rana Udai Singh—His unworthiness—Humayun expelled the throne of India—Birth of Akbar—Humayun recovers his throne—His death—Accession of Akbar—Characters of Akbar and Udai Singh contrasted—Akbar besieges Chitor, which is abandoned by the Rana—Its defence—Jaimall and Patta—Anecdotes of Rajput females—Sakha or Johar—General assault—Chitor taken—Massacre of the inhabitants—Udai Singh founds the new capital Udaipur—His death
367

CHAPTER 11

Accession of Partap—The Rajput princes unite with Akbar—Depressed condition of Partap—He prepares for war—Maldeo submits to Akbar—Partap denounces connexion with the Rajput princes—Raja Man of Amber—Prince Salim invades Mewar—Battle of Haldighat—Partap encounters Salim, is wounded, and saved by the Jhala chief—Assisted in his flight by his brother Sakta—Kumbhalmer taken by Akbar—Udaipur occupied by the Moguls—Partap cuts off Farid and his army—Partap’s family saved by the Bhils—The Khankhanan—Aggravated hardships of Partap—He negotiates with Akbar—Prithiraj of Bikaner—The Khushroz described—Partap abandons Mewar—Departure for the Indus—Fidelity of his minister—Returns—Surprises the Moguls—Regains Kumbhalmer and Udaipur—His successes—His sickness and death
385

CHAPTER 12

Amra mounts the throne—Akbar’s death through an attempt to poison Raja Man—Amra disregards the promise given to his father—Conduct of the Salumbar chief—Amra defeats the Imperial armies—Sagarji installed as Rana in Chitor—Resigns it to Amra—Fresh successes—Origin of the Saktawats—The Emperor sends his son Parvez against the Rana, who is defeated—Mahabat Khan defeated—Sultan Khurram invades Mewar—Amra’s despair and submission—Embassy from England—Amra abdicates the throne to his son—Amra’s seclusion—His death—Observations
407

CHAPTER 13

Rana Karan fortifies and embellishes Udaipur—The Ranas of Mewar excused attendance at court—Bhim commands the contingent of Mewar—Leagues with Sultan Khurram against Parvez—Jahangir attacks the insurgents—Bhim slain—Khurram flies to Udaipur—His reception by the Rana—Death of Karan—Rana Jagat Singh succeeds—Death of Jahangir and accession of Khurram as Shah Jahan—Mewar enjoys profound peace—The island palaces erected by Jagat Singh—Repairs Chitor—His death—Rana Raj Singh—Deposal of Shah Jahan and accession of Aurangzeb—Causes for attachment to the Hindus of Jahangir and Shah Jahan—Aurangzeb’s character; imposes the Jizya or capitation tax on the Rajputs—Raj Singh abducts the intended wife of the emperor and prepares for war—Aurangzeb marches—The valley of Girwa—Prince Akbar surprised—Defeated—Blockaded in the mountains—Liberated by the heir of Mewar—Diler Khan defeated—Aurangzeb defeated by the Rana and his Rathor allies—Aurangzeb quits the field—Prince Bhim invades Gujarat—The Rana’s minister ravages Malwa—United Rajputs defeat Azam and drive him from Chitor—Mewar freed from the Moguls—War carried into Marwar—Sesodias and Rathors defeat Sultan Akbar—Rajput stratagem—Design to depose Aurangzeb and elevate Akbar to the throne—Its failure—The Mogul makes overtures to the Rana—Peace—Terms—The Rana dies of his wounds—His character, contrasted with that of Aurangzeb—Lake Rajsamund—Dreadful famine and pestilence
427

CHAPTER 14

Rana Jai Singh—Anecdote regarding him and his twin brother—The Rana and Prince Azam confer—Peace—Rupture—The Rana forms the Lake Jaisamund—Domestic broils—Amra, the heir-apparent, rebels—The Rana dies—Accession of Amra—His treaty with the heir of Aurangzeb—Reflections on the events of this period—Imposition of the Jizya or capitation tax—Alienation of the Rajputs from the empire—Causes—Aurangzeb’s death—Contests for empire—Bahadur Shah, emperor—The Sikhs declare for independence—Triple alliance of the Rajput States of Mewar, Marwar, and Amber—They commence hostilities—Death of the Mogul Bahadur Shah—Elevation of Farrukhsiyar—He marries the daughter of the Prince of Marwar—Origin of the British power in India—The Rana treats with the emperor—The Jats declare their independence—Rana Amra dies—His character
456

CHAPTER 15

Rana Sangram—Dismemberment of the Mogul Empire—Nizamu-l Mulk establishes the Haidarabad State—Murder of the Emperor Farrukhsiyar—Abrogation of the Jizya—Muhammad Shah, Emperor of Delhi—Saadat Khan obtains Oudh—Repeal of the Jizya confirmed—Policy of Mewar—Rana Sangram dies—Anecdotes regarding him—Rana Jagat Singh II. succeeds—Treaty of triple alliance with Marwar and Amber—The Mahrattas invade and gain footing in Malwa and Gujarat—Invasion of Nadir Shah—Sack of Delhi—Condition of Rajputana—Limits of Mewar—Rajput alliances—Bajirao invades Mewar—Obtains a cession of annual tribute—Contest to place Madho Singh on the throne of Amber—Battle of Rajmahall—The Rana defeated—He leagues with Malharrao Holkar—Isari Singh of Amber takes poison—The Rana dies—His character
472

CHAPTER 16

Rana Partap II.—Rana Raj Singh II.—Rana Arsi—Holkar invades Mewar, and levies contributions—Rebellion to depose the Rana—A Pretender set up by the rebel chiefs—Zalim Singh of Kotah—The Pretender unites with Sindhia—Their combined force attacked by the Rana, who is defeated—Sindhia invades Mewar and besieges Udaipur—Amra Chand made minister by the Rana—His noble conduct—Negotiates with Sindhia, who withdraws—Loss of territory to Mewar—Rebel chiefs return to their allegiance—Province of Godwar lost—Assassination of the Rana—Rana Hamir succeeds—Contentions between the Queen Regent and Amra—His noble conduct, death, and character—Diminution of the Mewar territory
496

CHAPTER 17

Rana Bhim—Feud of Sheogarh—The Rana redeems the alienated lands—Ahalya Bai attacks the Rana’s army—Which is defeated—Chondawat rebellion—Assassination of the Minister Somji—The rebels seize on Chitor—Mahadaji Sindhia called in by the Rana—Invests Chitor—The rebels surrender—Designs of Zalim Singh for power in Mewar—Counteracted by Ambaji, who assumes the title of Subahdar, contested by Lakwa—Effects of these struggles—Zalim obtains Jahazpur—Holkar invades Mewar—Confines the priests of Nathdwara—Heroic conduct of the Chief of Kotharia—Lakwa dies—The Rana seizes the Mahratta leaders—Liberated by Zalim Singh—Holkar returns to Udaipur—Imposes a heavy contribution—Sindhia’s invasion—Reflections on their contest with the British—Ambaji projects the partition of Mewar—Frustrated—Rivalry for Krishna Kunwari, the Princess of Mewar, produces war throughout Rajasthan—Immolation of Krishna—Amir Khan and Ajit Singh—Their villainy—British Embassy to Sindhia’s Court at Udaipur—Ambaji is disgraced, and attempts suicide—Amir Khan and Bapu Sindhia desolate Mewar—The Rana forms a treaty with the British
511

CHAPTER 18

Overthrow of the predatory system—Alliances with the Rajput States—Envoy appointed to Mewar—Arrives at Udaipur—Reception—Description of the Court—Political geography of Mewar—The Rana—His character—His ministers—Plans—Exiles recalled—Merchants invited—Bhilwara established—Assembly of the nobles—Charter ratified; Resumptions of land; Anecdotes of the Chiefs of Arja, Badnor, Badesar, and Amet—Landed tenures in Mewar—Village rule—Freehold (bapota) of Mewar—Bhumia, or allodial vassals: Character and privileges—Great Register of Patents—Traditions exemplifying right in the soil—The Patel; his origin; character—Assessment of land-rents—General results
547

ILLUSTRATIONS

Bust of Colonel James Tod | Frontispiece
| TO FACE PAGE
Section of Country | 10
List of Thirty-six Royal Races | 98
Salūmbar | 216
Sanskrit Grant | 232
Palace of Udaipur | 247
Palace of Rāna Bhīm | 312
Ruins of Fortress of Bayāna | 352
Chitor | 382
Rājmahall | 428
Jagmandir | 432
Mahārāja Bhīm Singh | 512
Facsimile of Native Drawing | 572

INTRODUCTION

James Tod, the Author of this work, son of James Tod and Mary Heatly, was born at Islington on March 20, 1782. His father, James Tod the first, eldest son of Henry Tod of Bo’ness and Janet Monteath, was born on October 26, 1745. In 1780 he married in New York Mary, daughter of Andrew Heatly, a member of a family originally settled at Mellerston, Co. Berwick, where they had held a landed estate for some four centuries. Andrew Heatly emigrated to Rhode Island, where he died at the age of thirty-six in 1761. He had married Mary, daughter of Sueton Grant, of the family of Gartinbeg, really of Balvaddon, who left Inverness for Newport, Rhode Island, in 1725, and Temperance Talmage or Tollemache, granddaughter of one of the first and principal settlers at Easthampton, Rhode Island. He had been forced to emigrate to America during the Protectorate, owing to his loyalty to King Charles I. James Tod, the first, left America, and in partnership with his brother John, became an indigo-planter at Mirzapur, in the United Provinces of Agra and Oudh.

James Tod, the second, was thus through his father and his uncles Patrick and S. Heatly, both members of the Civil Service of the East India Company, closely connected with India, and in 1798, being then sixteen years old, he obtained through the influence of his uncle, Patrick Heatly, a cadetship in the service of the East India Company. On his arrival at Calcutta he was attached to the 2nd European Regiment. In 1800 he was transferred, with the rank of Lieutenant, to the 14th Native Infantry, from which he passed in 1807, with the same rank, to the 25th Native Infantry. In 1805 he was appointed to the command of the escort of his friend Mr. Graeme Mercer, then Government Agent at the Camp of Daulat Rao Sindhia, who had been defeated two years before at the battle of Assaye by Sir Arthur Wellesley. In more than one passage in The Annals Tod speaks of Mr. Graeme Mercer with respect and affection, and by him he was introduced to official life and Rājput and Mahratta politics. His tastes for geographical inquiries led him to undertake surveys in Rājputāna and Central India between 1812 and 1817, and he employed several native surveyors to traverse the then little-known region between Central India and the valley of the Indus.

At this period the Government of India was engaged in a project for suppressing the Pindāris, a body of lawless freebooters, of no single race, the débris of the adventurers who gained power during the decay of the Mughal Empire, and who had not been incorporated in the armies of the local powers which rose from its ruins. In 1817, to effect their suppression, the Governor-General, the Marquess of Hastings, collected the strongest British force which up to that time had been assembled in India. Two armies, acting in co-operation from north and south, converged on the banditti, and met with rapid success. Sindhia, whose power depended on the demoralized condition of Rājputāna, was overawed; Holkar was defeated; the Rāja of Nāgpur was captured; the Mahratta Peshwa became a fugitive; the Pindāris were dispersed. One of their leaders, Amīr Khān, who is frequently mentioned in Tod’s narrative, disbanded his forces, and received as his share of the spoils the Principality of Tonk, still ruled by his descendants.

In the course of this campaign Tod performed valuable services. At the beginning of the operations he supplied the British Staff with a rough map of the seat of war, and in other ways his local knowledge was utilized by the Generals in charge of the operations. In 1813 he had been promoted to the rank of Captain in command of the escort of the Resident, Mr. Richard Strachey, who nominated him to the post of his Second Assistant. In 1818 he was appointed Political Agent of Western Rājputāna, a post which he held till his retirement in June 1822. The work which he carried out in Rājputāna during this period is fully described in The Annals and in his “Personal Narrative.” Owing to Mahratta oppression and the ravages of the Pindāris, the condition of the country, political, social, and economical, was deplorable. To remedy this prevailing anarchy the States were gradually brought under British control, and their relations with the paramount power were embodied in a series of treaties. In this work of reform, reconstruction, and conciliation, Tod played an active part, and the confidence and respect with which he was regarded by the Princes, Chiefs, and peasantry enabled him to interfere with good effect in tribal quarrels, to rearrange the fiefs of the minor Chiefs, and to act as arbitrator between the Rāna of Mewār and his subjects.

Tod was convinced that the miserable state of the country was chiefly due to the hesitation of the Indian Government in interfering for the re-establishment of order; and on this ground he does not hesitate to condemn the cautious policy of Lord Cornwallis during his second term of office as Governor-General. Few people at the present day would be disposed to defend the policy of non-intervention. “This policy has been condemned by historians and commentators, as well as by statesmen, soldiers, and diplomatists; by Mill and his editor, H. H. Wilson, and by Thornton; by Lord Lake and Sir John Malcolm. The mischief was done and the loss of influence was not regained for a decade. It was not till the conclusion of an expensive and protracted campaign, that the Indian Government was replaced in the position where it had been left by Wellesley. The blame for this weak and unfortunate policy must be divided between Cornwallis and Barlow, between the Court of Directors and the Board of Control.” But it was carried out in pursuance of orders from the Home Government. “The Court of Directors for some time past had been alarmed at Lord Wellesley’s vigorous foreign policy. Castlereagh at the Board of Control had taken fright, and even Pitt was carried away and committed himself to a hasty opinion that the Governor-General had acted imprudently and illegally.”[1]

Tod tells us little of his relations with the Supreme Government during his four years’ service as Political Agent. He was notoriously a partisan of the Rājput princes, particularly those of Mewār and Mārwār; he is never tired of abusing the policy of the Emperor Aurangzeb, and, fortunately for the success of his work, Muhammadans form only a slight minority in the population of Rājputāna. This attitude naturally exposed him to criticism. Writing in 1824, Bishop Heber,[2] while he recognizes that he was held in affection and respect by “all the upper and middling classes of society,” goes on to say: “His misfortune was that, in consequence of his favouring the native princes so much, the Government of Calcutta were led to suspect him of corruption, and consequently to narrow his powers and associate other officers with him in his trust till he was disgusted and resigned his place. They are now, I believe, well satisfied that their suspicions were groundless. Captain Todd (sic) is strenuously vindicated from the charge by all the officers with whom I have conversed, and some of whom had abundant means of knowing what the natives themselves thought of him.” The Bishop’s widow, in a later issue of the Diary of her husband, adds that "she is anxious to remove any unfavourable impressions which may exist on the subject by stating, that she has now the authority of a gentleman, who at the time was a member of the Supreme Council, to say, that no such imputation was ever fixed on Colonel Todd´s (sic) character."

Whatever may have been the real reason for the premature termination of his official career at the age of forty, ill-health was put forward as the ostensible cause of his retirement. He had served for about twenty-four years in the Indian plains without any leave; he had long suffered from malaria; and, though he hardly suspected it at the time, an attempt had been made by one of his servants to poison him with Datura; he had met with a serious accident when, by chance or design, his elephant-driver dashed his howdah against the gate of Begūn fort in eastern Mewār. In spite of all this, he retained sufficient health to make, on the eve of his departure from India, the extensive tour recorded in his Travels in Western India. Neither on his retirement, nor at any subsequent period, were his services, official and literary, rewarded by any distinction.

During his seventeen years’ service in Central India and Rājputāna he showed indefatigable industry in the collection of the materials which were partially used in his great work. His taste for the study of history and antiquities, ethnology, popular religion, and superstitions was stimulated by the pioneer work of Sir W. Jones and other writers in the Asiatic Researches. He was not a trained philologist, and he gained much of his information from his Guru, the Jain Yati Gyānchandra, and the Brāhman Pandits whom he employed to make inquiries on his behalf. They, too, were not trained scholars in the modern sense of the term, and many of his mistakes are due to his rashness in following their guidance.

His life was prolonged for thirteen years after he left India. In 1824 he attained the rank of Major, and in 1826 that of Lieutenant-Colonel. Much of his time in England was spent in arranging his materials and compiling the works upon which his reputation depends: The Annals, published between 1829 and 1832; and his Travels in Western India, published after his death, in 1839. He was in close relations with the Royal Asiatic Society, of which he acted for a time as Librarian. In this fine collection of books and manuscripts he gained much of that discursive learning which appears in The Annals. He presented to the Society numerous manuscripts, inscriptions, and coins. The fine series of drawings made to illustrate his works by Captain P. T. Waugh and a native artist named Ghāsi, have recently been rearranged and catalogued in the Library of the Society. They well deserve inspection by any one interested in Indian art. He also made frequent tours on the Continent, and on one occasion visited the great soldier, Count Benoit de Boigne, who died in 1830, leaving a fortune of twenty millions of francs.

On November 16, 1826, Tod married Julia, daughter of Dr. Henry Clutterbuck, an eminent London surgeon, by whom he had two sons and a daughter. In 1835 he settled in a house in Regent’s Park, and on November 17 of the same year he died suddenly while transacting business at the office of his bankers, Messrs. Robarts of Lombard Street. The names of his descendants will appear from the pedigree appended to this Introduction.

The Annals of Rajasthan, the two volumes of which were, by permission, dedicated to Kings George IV. and William IV. respectively, was received with considerable favour. A contemporary critic deals with it in the following terms:[3] “Colonel Tod deserves the praise of a most delightful and industrious collector of materials for history, and his own narrative style in many places displays great freedom, vigour, and perspicuity. Though not always correct, and occasionally stiff and formal, it is not seldom highly animated and picturesque. The faults of his work are inseparable from its nature; it would have been almost impossible to mould up into one continuous history the distinct and separate annals of the various Rajput races. The patience of the reader is thus unavoidably put to a severe trial, in having to reascend to the origin, and again to trace downwards the parallel annals of some new tribe—sometimes interwoven with, sometimes entirely distinct from, those which have gone before. But, on the whole, as no one but Colonel Tod could have gathered the materials for such a work, there are not many who could have used them so well. No candid reader can arise from its perusal without a very high sense of the character of the Author—no scholar, more certainly, without respect for his attainments, and gratitude for the service which he has rendered to a branch of literature, if far from popular, by no means to be estimated, as to its real importance, by the extent to which it may command the favour of an age of duodecimos.”

In estimating the value of the local authorities on which the history is based, Tod reposed undue confidence in the epics and ballads composed by the poet Chānd and other tribal bards. It is believed that more than one of these poems have disappeared since his time, and these materials have been only in part edited and translated. The value to be placed on bardic literature is a question not free from difficulty. “On the faith of ancient songs, the uncertain but the only memorials of barbarism,” says Gibbon, “they [Cassiodorus and Jornandes] deduced the first origin of the Goths.”[4] The poet may occasionally record facts of value, but in his zeal for the honour of the tribe which he represents, he is tempted to exaggerate victories, to minimize defeats. This is a danger to which Indian poets are particularly exposed. Their trade is one of fulsome adulation, and in a state of society like that of the Rājputs, where tribal and personal rivalries flourish, the temptation to give a false colouring to history is great. In fact, bardic literature is often useful, not as evidence of occurrences in antiquity, but as an indication of the habits and beliefs current in the age of the writer. It exhibits the facts, not as they really occurred, but as the writer and his contemporaries supposed that they occurred. The mind of the poet, with all its prejudices, projects itself into the distant past. Good examples of the methods of the bards will appear in the attempt to connect the Rāthors with the dynasty of Kanauj, or to represent the Chauhāns as the founders of an empire in the Deccan.

Recent investigation has thrown much new light on the origin of the Rājputs. A wide gulf lies between the Vedic Kshatriya and the Rājput of medieval times which it is now impossible to bridge. Some clans, with the help of an accommodating bard, may be able to trace their lineage to the Kshatriyas of Buddhist times, who were recognized as one of the leading elements in Hindu society, and, in their own estimation, stood even higher than the Brāhmans.[5] But it is now certain that the origin of many clans dates from the Saka or Kushān invasion, which began about the middle of the second century B.C., or more certainly, from that of the White Huns who destroyed the Gupta empire about A.D. 480. The Gurjara tribe connected with the latter people adopted Hinduism, and their leaders formed the main stock from which the higher Rājput families sprang. When these new claimants to princely honours accepted the faith and institutions of Brahmanism, the attempt would naturally be made to affiliate themselves to the mythical heroes whose exploits are recorded in the Mahābhārata and Rāmāyana. Hence arose the body of legend recorded in The Annals by which a fabulous origin from the Sun or Moon is ascribed to two great Rājput branches, a genealogy claimed by other princely families, like the Incas of Peru or the Mikado of Japan. Or, as in the case of the Rāthors of Mārwār, an equally fabulous story was invented to link them with the royal house of Kanauj, one of the genuine old Hindu ruling families. The same feeling lies at the root of the Aeneid of Virgil, the court poet of the new empire. The clan of the emperor Augustus, the Iulii, a patrician family of Alban origin, was represented as the heirs of Iulus, the supposed son of Aeneas and founder of Alba Longa, thus linking the new Augustan house with the heroes of the Iliad.

One of the merits of Tod’s work is that, though his knowledge of ethnology was imperfect, and he was unable to reject the local chronicles of the Rājputs, he advocated, in anticipation of the conclusions of later scholars, the so-called “Scythic” origin of the race. To make up for the lack of direct evidence of Scythian manners and sociology to support this position, he was forced to rely on certain superficial resemblances of custom and belief, not between Rājputs, Scythians and Huns, but between Rājputs, Getae or Thracians, or the Germans of Tacitus. In the same way a supposed identity of name led him to identify the Jāts of northern India with the Getae or with the Goths, and finally to bring them with the Jutes into Kent.

A similar process of groping in semi-darkness induced him to make constant references to serpent worship, which, as Sir E. Tylor remarked, "years ago fell into the hands of speculative writers who mixed it up with occult philosophies, druidical mysteries, and that portentous nonsense called the ‘Arkite symbolism,’ till now sober students hear the very name of ophiolatry with a shudder."[6] He repeatedly speaks of a people whom he calls the “Takshaks,” apparently one of the Scythian tribes. There is, however, no reason to believe that serpent worship formed an important element in the beliefs of the Scythians, or to suppose that the cult, as we observe it in India, is of other than indigenous origin.

The more recent views of the origin of the Rājputs may be briefly illustrated in connexion with some of the leading septs. Dr. Vincent A. Smith holds that the term Kshatriya was not an ethnical but an occupational designation. Rājaputra, ‘son of a Rāja,’ seems to have been a name applied to the cadets of ruling houses who, according to the ancient custom of tribal society, were in the habit of seeking their fortunes abroad, winning by some act of valour the hand of the princess whose land they visited, and with it the succession to the kingdom vested in her under the system of Mother Right. Sir James Frazer has described various forms of this mode of succession in the case of the Kings of Rome, Ashanti, Uganda, in certain Greek States, and other places.[7] Dr. Smith goes on to say: “The term Kshatriya was, I believe, always one of very vague meaning, simply denoting the Hindu ruling classes which did not claim Brahmanical descent. Occasionally a rājā might be a Brahman by caste, but the Brahman’s place at court was that of a minister rather than that of king.”[8] This office in Rajputana, as we learn from numerous instances in The Annals, was often taken by members of the Bania or mercantile class, because the Brāhmans of the Desert, by their laxity of practice, had acquired an equivocal reputation, and were generally illiterate. The Rājput has always, until recent times, favoured the Bhāt or bard more than the Brāhman.

The group denoted by the name Kshatriya or Rājput thus depended on status rather than on descent, and it was therefore possible for foreigners to be introduced into the tribes without any violation of the prejudices of caste, which was then only partially developed. In later times, under Brāhman guidance, the rules of endogamy, exogamy, and confarreatio have been definitely formulated. But as the power of the priesthood increased, it was necessary to disguise this admission of foreigners under a convenient fiction. Hence arose the legend, told in two different forms in The Annals, which describes how, by a solemn act of purification or initiation, under the superintendence of one of the ancient Vedic Rishis or inspired saints, the “fire-born” septs were created to help the Brāhmans in repressing Buddhism, Jainism, or other heresies, and in establishing the ancient traditional Hindu social policy, the temporary downfall of which, under the stress of foreign invasions, is carefully concealed in the Hindu sacred literature. This privilege was, we are told, confined to four septs, known as Agnikula, or ‘fire-born’—the Pramār, Parihār, Chālukya or Solanki, and the Chauhān. But there is good reason to believe that the Pramār was the only sept which laid claim to this distinction before the time of the poet Chānd, who flourished in the twelfth century of our era.[9] The local tradition in Rājputāna was so vague that in one version of the story Vasishtha, in the other Visvāmitra, is said to have been the officiating priest.

In the case of the Sesodias of Mewār, Mr. D. R. Bhandarkar has given reasons to believe that Gehlot or Guhilot means simply ‘son of Guhila,’ an abbreviation of Guhadatta, the name of its founder.[10] He is said to have belonged to the Gurjara stock, kinsmen or allies of the Huns who entered India about the sixth century of our era, and founded a kingdom in Rājputāna with its capital at Bhilmāl or Srīmāl, about fifty miles from Mount Ābu, the scene of the regeneration of the Rājputs. This branch, which took the name of Maitrika, is said to be closely connected with the Mer tribe, which gave its name to Merwāra, and is fully described in The Annals. The actual conqueror of Chitor, Bāpa or Bappa, is said in inscriptions to have belonged to the branch known as Nāgar, or ‘City’ Brāhmans which has its present headquarters at the town of Vadnagar in the Baroda State. This conversion of a Brāhman into a Rājput is at first sight startling, but the fact implies that the institution of caste, as we observe it, was then only imperfectly established, and there was no difficulty in believing that a Brāhman could be ancestor of a princely house which now claims descent from the Sun. As will appear later on, Bāpa seems to be a historical personage. These facts help us to understand the strange story in The Annals, which tells how Gohāditya received inauguration as chief by having his forehead smeared with blood drawn from the finger of a Bhīl, a form of the blood covenant which appears among many savage tribes.[11] In those days no definite line was drawn between the Bhīls, now a wild forest tribe, and the Rājputs. The Bhīls were the free lords of the jungle, original owners of the soil, and though they practised rites and followed customs repulsive to orthodox Hindus, they did not share in the impurity which attached to foul outcastes like the Dom or the Chandāla. As the Bhīls were believed to be autochthonous, and thus understood the methods of controlling or conciliating the local spirits, by this form of inauguration they passed on their knowledge to the Rājputs whom they accepted as their lords. The relations of the Mīnas, another jungle tribe of the same class, with the Kachhwāhas of Jaipur were of the same kind.

According to the bardic legend given in The Annals, the Rāthors, the second great Rājput clan, owed their origin to a migration of a body of its members to the western Desert when the territory of Kanauj was conquered by Shihābu-d-dīn in A.D. 1193. But it is now certain that the ruling dynasty of Kanauj belonged, not to the Rāthor, but to the Gaharwār clan, and that the first Rāthor settlement in Rājputāna must have occurred anterior to the conquest of Kanauj by the Musalmāns. An inscription, dated A.D. 997, found in the ruins of the ancient town of Hathūndi or Hastikūndi in the Bali Hakūmat of the Jodhpur State, names four Rāthor Rājas who reigned there in the tenth century.[12] The local legend is an attempt to connect the line of Rāthor princes with the Kanauj dynasty. It has been suggested that the Deccan dynasty of the Rāshtrakūtas which, in name at least, is identical with Rāthor, reigning at Nāsik or Malkhed from A.D. 753 to 973, was connected with the Reddis or Raddis, a caste of cultivators which seem to have migrated from Madras into the Deccan at an early period. But any racial connexion between the Deccan Reddis and the Rāthors of Rājputāna is very doubtful.[13]

The Chandel clan, ranked in The Annals among the Thirty-six Royal Races, is believed to be closely connected with the Bhars and Gonds, forest tribes of Bundelkhand and the Central Provinces. Mr. R. V. Russell prefers to connect them with the Bhars alone, on the ground that the Gonds, according to the best traditions, entered the Central Provinces from the south, and made no effective settlement in Bundelkhand, the headquarters of the Chandels.[14] But there was a Gond settlement in the Hamīrpur District of Bundelkhand, and the close connexion between the Gonds and the Chandels began in what is now the Chhatarpur State.

The results of recent investigations into Rājput ethnology are thus of great importance, and enable us to correct the bardic legends on which the genealogies recorded in The Annals were founded. Much remains to be done before the question can be finally settled. The local Rājput traditions and the ballads of the bards must be collected and edited; the ancient sites in Rājputāna must be excavated; physical measurements, now somewhat discredited as a test of racial affinities, must be made in larger numbers and by more scientific methods. But the general thesis that some of the nobler Rājput septs are descended from Gurjaras or other foreigners, while others are closely connected with the autochthonous races, may be regarded as definitely proved.

One of the most valuable parts of The Annals is the chapter describing the popular religion of Mewār, the festival and rites in honour of Gauri, the Mother goddess. There are also many incidental notices of cults and superstitions scattered through the work. A race of warriors like the Rājputs naturally favours the worship of Siva who, as the successor of Rudra, the Vedic storm-god, was originally a terror-inspiring deity, a side of his character only imperfectly veiled by his euphemistic title of Siva, ‘the blessed or auspicious One.’ In his phallic manifestation his chief shrine is at Eklingji, ‘the single or notable phallus,’ about fourteen miles north of Udaipur city. The Rānas hold the office of priest-kings, Dīwāns or prime-ministers of the god. Their association with this deity has been explained by an inscription recently found in the temple of Nātha, ‘the Lord,’ now used as a storeroom of the Eklingji temple.[15] The inscription, dated A.D. 971, is in form of a dedication to Lakulīsa, a form of Siva represented as bearing a club, and refers to the Saiva sect known as Lakulīsa-Pāsapatas. It records the name of a king named Srī-Bappaka, ‘the moon among the princes of the Guhila dynasty,’ who reigned at a place called Nāgahvada, identified with Nāgda, an ancient town several times mentioned in The Annals, the ruins of which exist at the foot of the hill on which the temple of Eklingji stands. Srī-Bappaka is certainly Bāpa or Bappa, the traditional founder of the Mewār dynasty, which had at that time its capital at Nāgda. From this inscription it is clear that the Eklingji temple was in existence before A.D. 971, and, as Mr. Bhandarkar remarks, “it shows that the old tradition about Nāgendra and Bappa Rāwal’s infancy given by Tod had some historical foundation, and it is intelligible how the Rānas of Udaipur could have come to have such an intimate connexion with the temple as that of high priests, in which capacity they still officiate.” This office vested in them is a good example of one of those dynasties of priest-kings of which Sir James Frazer has given an elaborate account.[16]

The milder side of the Rājput character is represented in the cult of Krishna at Nāthdwāra. The Mahant or Abbot of the temple, situated at the old village of Siārh, twenty-two miles from the city of Udaipur, enjoys semi-royal state. In anticipation of the raid by Aurangzeb on Mathura, A.D. 1669-70, the ancient image of Kesavadeva, a form of Krishna, ‘He of the flowing locks,’ was removed out of reach of danger by Rāna Rāj Singh of Mewār. When the cart bearing the image arrived at Siārh, the god, by stopping the cart, is said to have expressed his intention of remaining there. This was the origin of the famous temple, still visited by crowds of pilgrims, and one of the leading seats of the Vallabhāchārya sect, ‘the Epicureans of the East,’ whose practices, as disclosed in the famous Mahārāja libel case, tried at Bombay in 1861, gave rise to grievous scandal.[17] The ill-feeling against this sect, aroused by these revelations, was so intense that the Mahārāja of Jaipur ordered that the two famous images of Krishna worshipped in his State, which originally came from Gokul, near Mathura, should be removed from his territories into those of the Bharatpur State.

Tod bears witness to the humanizing effect on the Rājputs of the worship of this god, whom he calls “the Apollo of Braj,” the holy land of Krishna near Mathura. He also asserts that the Emperor Akbar favoured the worship of Krishna, a feeling shared by his successors Jahāngīr and Shāh Jahān. Akbar, in his search for a new faith to supersede Islām, of which he was parcus cultor et infrequens, dallied with Hindu Pandits, Parsi priests, and Christian missionaries, and he was doubtless well informed about the sensuous ritual of the temple of Nāthdwāra.[18]

The character of the Rājputs is discussed in many passages in The Annals. The Author expresses marked sympathy with the people among whom his official life was spent, and he expresses gratitude for the courtesy and confidence which they bestowed upon him. This applies specially to the Sesodias of Mewār and the Rāthors of Mārwār, with whom he lived in the closest intimacy. He shows, on the other hand, a decided prejudice against the Kachhwāhas of Jaipur, of whose diplomacy he disapproved. This feeling, we may suspect, was due in part to their hesitation in accepting the British alliance, a policy in which he was deeply interested.

The virtues of the Rājput lie on the surface—their loyalty, devotion, and gallantry; their chivalry towards women; their regard for their national customs. Their weaknesses—though Tod does not enumerate them in detail—are obvious from a study of their history—their instability of character, their liability to sudden outbreaks of passion, their tendency to yield to panic on the battlefield, their inability, as a result of their tribal system, to form a permanent combination against a public enemy, their occasional faithlessness to their chiefs and allies, their excessive use of opium. These defects they share with most orientals, but, on the whole, they compare favourably with other races in the Indian Empire. There is much in their character and institutions which reminds us of the Gauls as pictured by Mommsen in a striking passage.[19] Rājput women are described as virtuous, affectionate, and devoted, taking part in the control of the family, sharing with their husbands the dangers of war and sport, contemptuous of the coward, and exercising a salutary influence in public and domestic affairs.

Strangely enough, Tod omits to give us a detailed account of their marriage regulations and ceremonies. According to Mr. E. H. Kealy,[20] while male children under one year old exceed the females, “the excess is not sufficiently great to justify the conclusion that female babies are murdered, nor is the theory that female infants lost their lives by neglect supported by the statistics. Unhappily the returns show that a high proportion of married women is combined with a very low percentage of females as compared with males between the ages of ten and fourteen, the early stage of married life, and this defect is largely due to premature cohabitation, lack of medical attendance, and of sanitary precautions.” No one can read without horror the many narratives of the Johar, the final sacrifice by which women in the hour of defeat gave their lives to save their honour, and of the numerous cases of Sati. Both these customs are now only a matter of history, but so late as 1879 General Hervey was able to count at the Bikaner palace the handmarks of at least thirty-seven widows who ascended the pyre with their lords.[21]

Much space in The Annals is occupied by a review of the so-called ‘Feudal’ system in Rājputāna. Tod was naturally attracted in the course of his discursive reading by Henry Hallam’s View of the State of Europe during the Middle Ages, which first appeared in 1818, four years before Tod resigned his Indian appointment. Hallam himself was careful to point out that “it is of great importance to be on our guard against seeming analogies which vanish away when they are closely observed.”[22] This warning Tod unguardedly overlooked. Hallam recognized that Feudalism was an institution the ultimate origin of which is still, to some extent, obscure. It possibly began with the desire for protection, the rakhwāli of the Rājputs, but it seems to have been ultimately based on the private law of Rome, while the influence of the Church, interested in securing its endowments, was a factor in its evolution. In its completed form it represented the final stage of a process which began under the Frankish conquerors of Gaul. At any rate, it was of European origin, and though it absorbed much that was common to the types of tribal organization found in other parts of the world, it was moulded by the political, social, and economical environment amidst which it was developed. Hence, while it is possible to trace, as Tod has done, certain analogies between the tribal institutions of the Rājputs and the social organization of medieval Europe—analogies of feudal incidents connected with Reliefs, Fines upon alienation, Escheats, Aids, Wardship, and Marriage—these analogies, when more closely examined, are found to be in the main superficial. If we desire to undertake a comparative study of the Rājput tribal system, it is unnecessary to travel to medieval Europe, while we have close at hand the social organization of more or less kindred tribes on the Indian borderland, Pathāns, Afghāns, or Baloch; or, in a more primitive stage, those of the Kandhs, Gonds, Mūndas, or Orāons. It is of little service to compare two systems of which only the nucleus is common to both, and to place side by side institutions which present only a factitious similitude, because the social development of each has progressed on different lines.

The Author’s excursions into philology are the diversions of a clever man, not of a trained scholar, but interested in the subject as an amateur. In his time the new learning on oriental subjects had only recently begun to attract the attention of scholars, of which Sir W. Jones was the prophet. Tod was a diligent student of The Asiatic Researches, the publication of which began at Calcutta in 1788. While much material of value is to be found in these volumes, many papers of Captain Francis Wilford and others are full of rash speculations which have not survived later criticism. Tod is not to blame because he followed the guidance of scholars who contributed articles to the leading Indian review of his time; because he was ignorant of the laws of Grimm or Verner; because, like his contemporaries, he believed that the mythology of Egypt or Palestine influenced the beliefs of the Indian people. It was his fate that many of his guesses were quoted with approval by writers like T. Maurice in his Indian Antiquities, and by N. Pococke in his India in Greece. It is also well to remember that many of the derivations of the names of Indian deities, confidently proposed by Kuhn and Max Müller a few years ago, are no longer accepted. Tod, at any rate, published his views on Feudalism and Philology without any pretence of dogmatism.

One special question deserves examination—the constant references to the cult of Bāl-Siva, a form of the Sun god. A learned Indian scholar, Pandit Gaurishankar Ojha, who is now engaged on an annotated edition of The Annals in Hindi, states that no temple or image dedicated to this god is known in Rājputāna. It is, of course, not unlikely that Siva, as a deity of fertility, should be associated with Sun worship, but there is no evidence of the cult on which Tod lays special stress. It is almost useless to speculate on the source of his error. It may be based on a reference in the Āin-i-Akbari[23] to a certain Bālnāth, Jogi, who occupied a cell in a place in the Sindh Sāgar Duāb of the Panjāb. At the same time, like many of the writers of his day, he may have had the Semitic Baal in his mind.

It was largely due to imperfect information received from his assistants that he shared with other writers of the time the confusion between Buddhism and Jainism, and supposed that the former religion was introduced into India from Central Asia. His elaborate attempt to extract history and a trustworthy scheme of chronology from the Purānas must be pronounced to be a failure. Recently a learned scholar, Mr. F. E. Pargiter, has shown how far an examination of these authorities can be conducted with any approach to probability.[24]

The questions which have been discussed do not, to any important extent, detract from the real value of the work. Even in those points which are most open to criticism, The Annals possesses importance because it represents a phase in the study of Indian religions, ethnology, and sociology. No one can examine it without increasing pleasure and admiration for a writer who, immersed in arduous official work, was able to indulge his tastes for research. His was the first real attempt to investigate the beliefs of the peasantry as contrasted with the official Brahmanism, a study which in recent years has revolutionized the current conceptions of Hinduism. Even if his versions of the inscriptions which he collected fail to satisfy the requirements of more recent scholars, he deserves credit for rescuing from neglect and almost certain destruction epigraphical material for the use of his successors. The same may be said of the drawings of buildings, some of which have fallen into decay, or have been mutilated by their careless guardians. When he deals with facts which came under his personal observation, his accounts of beliefs, folk-lore, social life, customs, and manners possess permanent value.

He observed the Rājputs when they were in a stage of transition. Isolated by the inaccessibility of their country, they were the last guardians of Hindu beliefs, institutions, and manners against the rising tide of the Muhammadan invasions; without their protection much that is important for the study of the Hindus must have disappeared. To avoid anarchy and the ultimate destruction of these States, it was necessary for them to accept a closer union with the British as the paramount power. By this they lost something, but they gained much. The new connexion involved new duties and responsibilities in adapting their primitive system of government to modern requirements. Tod thus stood at the parting of the ways. With the introduction of the railway and the post-office, the disappearance of the caravan as a means of transport, the increase of trade, the growth of new wants and possibilities of development in association with the Empire, the period of Rājput isolation came to a close. To some it may be a matter of regret that the personal rule of the Chief over a people strongly influenced by what they term swāmīdharma, the reciprocal loyalty of subject to prince and of prince to people, should be replaced by a government of a more popular type. But this change was, in the nature of things, inevitable. As an example of this, a statement made by the Mahārāja of Bīkaner, when he was summoned to attend the Imperial Conference in 1917, may be quoted. “In my own territories we inaugurated some years ago the beginnings of a representative assembly. It now consists of elected, as well as nominated, non-official members, and their legislative powers follow the lines of those laid down for the Legislatures of British India in the 1909 reforms. In respect to the Budget they have the same powers as those conferred on the Supreme and Provincial Legislatures in British India by the Lansdowne reforms in force from 1893 to 1909. When announcing my intention of creating this representative body, I intimated that as the people showed their fitness they would be entrusted with more powers. Accordingly, at the end of the first triennial term, when the elections will take place, we are revising the rules of business in the direction of greater liberality and of removing unnecessary restrictions.” It remains to be seen how far this policy will prove to be successful.

It was a happy accident that before the period of transition had begun in earnest, such a competent and sympathetic observer should have been able to examine and record one of the most interesting surviving phases of the ancient Hindu polity.

A soldier and a sportsman, Tod learned to understand the romantic, adventurous side of the Rājput character, and he recorded with full appreciation the fine stories of manly valour, of the self-sacrifice of women, the tragedies of the sieges of Chitor, the heroism of Rānas Sanga and Partāb Singh, or of Durgādās. Many of these tales recall the age of medieval chivalry, and Tod is at his best in recording them. No one can read without admiration his account of the attack of the Saktāwats and Chondāwats on Untāla; of Sūja and the tiger; the tragedy of Krishna Kunwāri; of the queen of Ganor; of Sanjogta of Kanauj; of Gūga Chauhān and Alu Hāra. In many of these tales the Rājput displays the loyalty and valour, the punctilious regard for his personal honour which in the case of the Spanish grandee have passed into a proverb.

While the Rājput is courteous in his intercourse with those who are prepared to take him as he is, when he meets an English officer he resents any hint of patronage, he is jealous of any intrusion on the secluded folk behind the curtain, and he is often rather an acquaintance than a friend, inclined to shelter himself behind a dignified reserve, unwilling to open his mind to any one who does not accept his traditional attitude towards men of a different race and of a different faith. When he makes a ceremonial visit to a European officer, his conversation is often confined to conventional compliments, or chat about the weather and the state of the crops.

To remove these difficulties which obstruct friendly and confidential intercourse, the young officer in India may be advised to study the methods illustrated in this work. But he will do well to avoid Tod’s openly expressed partisanship. He owed the affection and respect bestowed upon him by prince and peasant, and even by the jealously guarded ladies of the zenanah, to his kindliness and sympathy, his readiness to converse freely with men of all classes, his patience in listening to grievances, even those which he had no power to redress, his impartiality as an arbitrator between the Rāna of Mewār and his people or between individuals or sects unfriendly to each other. He studied the national traditions and usages; he knew enough of religious beliefs and of social customs to save him from giving offence by word or deed; he could converse with the people in their own patois, and could give point to a remark by an apt quotation of a proverb or a scrap of an old ballad.

When, if ever, a new history of the Rājputs comes to be written, it must be largely based on Tod’s collections, supplemented by wider historical, antiquarian, and epigraphical research. The history of the last century cannot be compiled until the recent administration reports, now treated as confidential, and the muniment rooms of Calcutta and London are open to the student. But it is unlikely that, for the present at least, any writer will enjoy, as Tod did, access to the records and correspondence stored in the palaces of the Chiefs.

For the Rājput himself and for natives of India interested in the history of their country, the work will long retain its value. It preserves a record of tribal rights and privileges, of claims based on ancient tradition, of feuds and their settlement, of genealogies and family history which, but for Tod’s careful record, might have been forgotten or misinterpreted even by the Rājputs themselves. In the original English text which many Rājputs are now able to study they will find a picture of tribal society, now rapidly disappearing, drawn by a competent and friendly hand. Its interest will not be diminished by the fact that while the writer displays a hearty admiration for the Rājput character, he is not blind to its defects. At any rate, the Rājput will enjoy the satisfaction that his race has been selected to furnish the materials for the most comprehensive monograph ever compiled by a British officer describing one of the leading peoples of India.

1. W. S. Seton Carr, The Marquess Cornwallis, 180, 189 f.

2. Narrative of a Journey through the Upper Provinces, ed. 1861, ii. 54.

3. Quarterly Review, vol. xlviii. Oct.-Dec. 1832, pp. 38 f.

4. Decline and Fall, ed. W. Smith, i. 375.

5. V. A. Smith, Early History of India, 3rd ed. 408; Rhys Davids, Buddhist India, 60 f.

6. Primitive Culture, 2nd ed. ii. 239.

7. Lectures on the Early History of the Kingship, 231 ff.; The Golden Bough, 3rd ed.; The Magic Art, ii. 269 ff.

8. Early History of India, 408.

9. Journal Royal Asiatic Society, 1905, 1 ff. The tradition seems to have started earlier in Southern India, S. Krishnaswami Aiyangar, Ancient India, 1911, 390 ff.

10. Journal Asiatic Society Bengal, 1909, 167 ff. The criticism by Pandit Mohanlal Vishnulal Pandia (ibid., 1912, 63 ff.) is extremely feeble.

11. E. S. Hartland, Primitive Paternity, i. 258 ff.

12. K. D. Erskine, Gazetteer Western Rajput States and Bikaner Agency, A. i. 177.

13. Bombay Gazetteer, I. Part i. 385; Bombay Census Report, 1911, i. 279; Smith, Early History, 413.

14. Tribes and Castes of the Central Provinces, iv. 441.

15. D. R. Bhandarkar, Journal Bombay Branch Royal Asiatic Society, 1916, Art. xii.

16. The Golden Bough, 3rd ed.; The Magic Art, i. 44 ff.; Adonis, Attis, Osiris, i. 42 f., 143 ff.

17. Karsandas Mulji, History of the Sect of the Mahārājas or Vallabhāchāryas, London, 1865; Report of the Mahārāj Libel Case, Bombay, 1862; F. S. Growse, Mathura, 3rd ed. 283 f.

18. V. A. Smith, Akbar, The Great Mogul, 162 ff.

19. History of Rome, ed. 1866, iv. 209 ff.

20. Census Report, Rājputāna, 1911, i. 132.

21. Some Records of Crime, ii. 217 f.

22. View of the State of Europe during the Middle Ages, 12th ed. 1868, i. 186.

23. ii. 315.

24. “Ancient Indian Genealogies and Chronology,” “Earliest Indian Traditional History,” Journal Royal Asiatic Society, January 1910, April 1914.

PEDIGREE OF THE TOD FAMILY

James Tod, Merchant, Bo’ness.
= Helen Moir.

James Tod, Shipmaster, Bo’ness, b. 1672.
= Elizabeth Monteath.

Henry Tod, b. 1717.
= Janet Monteath.

James Tod, Indigo Planter.
= Mary Heatly.

Suetonius Henry Tod, General.
= Mary Macdonald,
Sleat, Skye.
JAMES TOD
= Julia Clutterbuck, of a Dutch family that came to England in sixteenth century.

Suetonius Macdonald Tod.
Ewen Monteath Tod.

Grant Heatly Tod-Heatly, ob.s.p.
Edward H. M. Tod, ob.s.p.
Mary Augusta Tod
= Charles Harris Blunt, Major-General, C.B., Bengal Horse Artillery.

Edward Walter Blunt-Mackenzie, Lt.-Col., R.A.
=Sibell Lilian, Countess of Cromartie.
Charles David Mackinnon. unm.
Janet Heatly. unm.

Roderick Grant Francis,
Viscount Tarbat.
Walter Blunt Mackenzie.
Isobel.

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Tod, J. Annals and Antiquities of Rajasthan, or the Central and Western Rajpoot States. 2 vols. London, 1829-32. Reprinted, Madras, 1873; Calcutta, 1884, 1898; London, 1914.

Travels in Western India. London, 1839.

Vishnu Purana, trans. H. H. Wilson. London, 1840.

Watson, C. C. Rajputana Gazetteer. I. A. Ajmer-Merwara. Ajmer, 1914.

Watt. Econ. Dict.: A Dictionary of the Economic Products of India, by Sir G. Watt. 6 vols. Calcutta, 1889-93. Com. Prod. The Commercial Products of India. London, 1908.

Webb, W. W. The Currencies of the Hindu States of Rajputana. Westminster, 1893.

Wilberforce-Bell, Captain H. The History of Kathiawar from the Earliest Times. London, 1916.

Wilson, C. R. The Early Annals of the English in Bengal. 3 vols. Calcutta, 1895-1911.

Wilson, H. H. Sketch of the Religious Sects of the Hindus. 2 vols. London, 1861.

The History of British India from 1805 to 1835. 3 vols. London, 1845.

Wilson, J. Indian Caste. 2 vols. Bombay, 1877.

Yule, Sir H.; Burnell, A. C. Hobson-Jobson: A Glossary of Colloquial Anglo-Indian Words and Phrases. 2nd ed. London, 1903.

AUTHOR’S INTRODUCTION TO THE
FIRST VOLUME OF THE ORIGINAL
EDITION

Much disappointment has been felt in Europe at the sterility of the historic muse of Hindustan. When Sir William Jones first began to explore the vast mines of Sanskrit literature, great hopes were entertained that the history of the world would acquire considerable accessions from this source. The sanguine expectations that were then formed have not been realized; and, as it usually happens, excitement has been succeeded by apathy and indifference. It is now generally regarded as an axiom, that India possesses no national history; to which we may oppose the remark of a French Orientalist, who ingeniously asks, whence Abu-l Fazl obtained the materials for his outlines of ancient Hindu history?[25] Mr. Wilson has, indeed, done much to obviate this prejudice, by his translation of the Raja Tarangini, or History of Kashmir,[26] which clearly demonstrates that regular historical composition was an art not unknown in Hindustan, and affords satisfactory ground for concluding that these productions were once less rare than at present, and that further exertion may bring more relics to light. Although the labours of Colebrooke, Wilkins, Wilson, and others of our own countrymen, emulated by many learned men in France [viii] and Germany,[27] have revealed to Europe some of the hidden lore of India; still it is not pretended that we have done much more than pass the threshold of Indian science; and we are consequently not competent to speak decisively of its extent or its character. Immense libraries, in various parts of India, are still intact, which have survived the devastations of the Islamite. The collections of Jaisalmer and Patan, for example, escaped the scrutiny of even the lynx-eyed Alau-d-din who conquered both these kingdoms, and who would have shown as little mercy to those literary treasures, as Omar displayed towards the Alexandrine library. Many other minor collections, consisting of thousands of volumes each, exist in Central and Western India, some of which are the private property of princes, and others belong to the Jain communities.[28]

If we consider the political changes and convulsions which have happened in Hindustan since Mahmud’s invasion, and the intolerant bigotry of many of his successors, we shall be able to account for the paucity of its national works on history, without being driven to the improbable conclusion, that the Hindus were ignorant of an art which has been cultivated in other countries from almost the earliest ages. Is it to be imagined that a nation so highly civilized as the Hindus, amongst whom the exact sciences flourished in perfection, by whom the fine arts [ix], architecture, sculpture, poetry, music, were not only cultivated, but taught and defined by the nicest and most elaborate rules, were totally unacquainted with the simple art of recording the events of their history, the characters of their princes, and the acts of their reigns? Where such traces of mind exist, we can hardly believe that there was a want of competent recorders of events, which synchronical authorities tell us were worthy of commemoration. The cities of Hastinapur and Indraprastha, of Anhilwara and Somanatha, the triumphal columns of Delhi and Chitor, the shrines of Abu and Girnar, the cave-temples of Elephanta and Ellora, are so many attestations of the same fact; nor can we imagine that the age in which these works were erected was without an historian. Yet from the Mahabharata or Great War, to Alexander’s invasion, and from that grand event to the era of Mahmud of Ghazni, scarcely a paragraph of pure native Hindu history (except as before stated) has hitherto been revealed to the curiosity of Western scholars. In the heroic history of Prithiraj, the last of the Hindu sovereigns of Delhi, written by his bard Chand, we find notices which authorize the inference that works similar to his own were then extant, relating to the period between Mahmud and Shihabu-d-din (A.D. 1000-1193); but these have disappeared.

After eight centuries of galling subjection to conquerors totally ignorant of the classical language of the Hindus; after almost every capital city had been repeatedly stormed and sacked by barbarous, bigoted, and exasperated foes; it is too much to expect that the literature of the country should not have sustained, in common with other important interests, irretrievable losses. My own animadversions upon the defective condition of the annals of Rajwara have more than once been checked by a very just remark: "when our princes were in exile, driven from hold to hold, and compelled to dwell in the clefts of the mountains, often doubtful whether they would not be forced to [x] abandon the very meal preparing for them, was that a time to think of historical records?"

Those who expect from a people like the Hindus a species of composition of precisely the same character as the historical works of Greece and Rome, commit the very egregious error of overlooking the peculiarities which distinguish the natives of India from all other races, and which strongly discriminate their intellectual productions of every kind from those of the West. Their philosophy, their poetry, their architecture, are marked with traits of originality; and the same may be expected to pervade their history, which, like the arts enumerated, took a character from its intimate association with the religion of the people. It must be recollected, moreover, that until a more correct taste was imparted to the literature of England and of France, by the study of classical models, the chronicles of both these countries, and indeed of all the polished nations of Europe, were, at a much more recent date, as crude, as wild, and as barren as those of the early Rajputs.

In the absence of regular and legitimate historical records, there are, however, other native works (they may, indeed, be said to abound), which, in the hands of a skilful and patient investigator, would afford no despicable materials for the history of India. The first of these are the Puranas and genealogical legends of the princes, which, obscured as they are by mythological details, allegory, and improbable circumstances, contain many facts that serve as beacons to direct the research of the historian. What Hume remarks of the annals and annalists of the Saxon Heptarchy, may be applied with equal truth to those of the Rajput Seven States:[29] "they abound in names, but are extremely barren of events; or they are related so much without circumstances and causes, that the most profound and eloquent writer must despair [xi] of rendering them either instructive or entertaining to the reader. The monks" (for which we may read “Brahmans”), “who lived remote from public affairs, considered the civil transactions as subservient to the ecclesiastical, and were strongly affected with credulity, with the love of wonder, and with a propensity to imposture.”

The heroic poems of India constitute another resource for history. Bards may be regarded as the primitive historians of mankind. Before fiction began to engross the attention of poets, or rather, before the province of history was dignified by a class of writers who made it a distinct department of literature, the functions of the bard were doubtless employed in recording real events and in commemorating real personages. In India Calliope has been worshipped by the bards from the days of Vyasa, the contemporary of Job, to the time of Benidasa, the present chronicler of Mewar. The poets are the chief, though not the sole, historians of Western India; neither is there any deficiency of them, though they speak in a peculiar tongue, which requires to be translated into the sober language of probability. To compensate for their magniloquence and obscurity, their pen is free: the despotism of the Rajput princes does not extend to the poet’s lay, which flows unconfined except by the shackles of the chand bhujanga, or ‘serpentine stanza’; no slight restraint, it must be confessed, upon the freedom of the historic muse. On the other hand, there is a sort of compact or understanding between the bard and the prince, a barter of “solid pudding against empty praise,” whereby the fidelity of the poetic chronicle is somewhat impaired. This sale of “fame,” as the bards term it, by the court-laureates and historiographers of Rajasthan, will continue until there shall arise in the community a class sufficiently enlightened and independent, to look for no other recompense for literary labour than public distinction.

Still, however, these chroniclers dare utter truths, sometimes most [xii] unpalatable to their masters. When offended, or actuated by a virtuous indignation against immorality, they are fearless of consequences; and woe to the individual who provokes them! Many a resolution has sunk under the lash of their satire, which has condemned to eternal ridicule names that might otherwise have escaped notoriety. The vish, or poison of the bard, is more dreaded by the Rajput than the steel of the foe.

The absence of all mystery or reserve with regard to public affairs in the Rajput principalities, in which every individual takes an interest, from the noble to the porter at the city-gates, is of great advantage to the chronicler of events. When matters of moment in the disorganized state of the country rendered it imperative to observe secrecy, the Rana of Mewar, being applied to on the necessity of concealing them, rejoined as follows: “this is Chaumukha-raj;[30] Eklinga the sovereign, I his vicegerent; in him I trust, and I have no secrets from my children.” To this publicity may be partly ascribed the inefficiency of every general alliance against common foes; but it gives a kind of patriarchal character to the government, and inspires, if not loyalty and patriotism in their most exalted sense, feelings at least much akin to them.

A material drawback upon the value of these bardic histories is, that they are confined almost exclusively to the martial exploits of their heroes, and to the rang-ran-bhum, or ‘field of slaughter.’ Writing for the amusement of a warlike race, the authors disregard civil matters and the arts and pursuits of peaceful life; love and war are their favourite themes. Chand, the last of the great bards of India, tells us, indeed, in his preface, “that he will give rules for governing empires; the laws of grammar and composition; lessons in diplomacy, home and foreign, etc.”: and he fulfils his promise, by interspersing precepts on these points in various episodes throughout his work [xiii].

Again: the bard, although he is admitted to the knowledge of all the secret springs which direct each measure of the government, enters too deeply into the intrigues, as well as the levities, of the court, to be qualified to pronounce a sober judgment upon its acts.

Nevertheless, although open to all these objections, the works of the native bards afford many valuable data, in facts, incidents, religious opinions, and traits of manners; many of which, being carelessly introduced, are thence to be regarded as the least suspicious kind of historical evidence.evidence. In the heroic history of Prithiraj, by Chand, there occur many geographical as well as historical details, in the description of his sovereign’s wars, of which the bard was an eye-witness, having been his friend, his herald, his ambassador, and finally discharging the melancholy office of accessory to his death, that he might save him from dishonour. The poetical histories of Chand were collected by the great Amra Singh of Mewar, a patron of literature, as well as a warrior and a legislator.[31]

Another species of historical records is found in the accounts given by the Brahmans of the endowments of the temples, their dilapidation and repairs, which furnish occasions for the introduction of historical and chronological details. In the legends, respecting places of pilgrimage and religious resort, profane events are blended with superstitious rites and ordinances, local ceremonies and customs. The controversies of the Jains furnish, also, much historical information, especially with reference to Gujarat and Nahrwala, during the Chaulukya dynasty. From a close and attentive examination of the Jain records, which embody all that those ancient sectarians knew of science, many chasms in Hindu history might be filled up. The party-spirit of the rival sects of India was, doubtless, adverse to the purity of history; and the very ground upon which the Brahmans built their ascendency was the ignorance of the people. There appears to have been in India [xiv], as well as in Egypt in early times, a coalition between the hierarchy and the state, with the view of keeping the mass of the nation in darkness and subjugation.

These different records, works of a mixed historical and geographical character which I know to exist; raesas or poetical legends of princes, which are common; local Puranas, religious comments, and traditionary couplets;[32] with authorities of a less dubious character, namely, inscriptions ‘cut on the rock,’ coins, copper-plate grants, containing charters of immunities, and expressing many singular features of civil government, constitute, as I have already observed, no despicable materials for the historian, who would, moreover, be assisted by the synchronisms which are capable of being established with ancient Pagan and later Muhammadan writers.

From the earliest period of my official connexion with this interesting country, I applied myself to collect and explore its early historical records, with a view of throwing some light upon a people scarcely yet known in Europe and whose political connexion with England appeared to me to be capable of undergoing a material change, with benefit to both parties. It would be wearisome to the reader to be minutely informed of the process I adopted, to collect the scattered relics of Rajput history into the form and substance in which he now sees them. I began with the sacred genealogy from the Puranas; examined the Mahabharata, and the poems of Chand (a complete chronicle of his times); the voluminous historical poems of Jaisalmer, Marwar, and Mewar;[33] the histories of the Khichis, and those of the Hara princes [xv] of Kotah and Bundi, etc., by their respective bards. A portion of the materials compiled by Jai Singh of Amber or Jaipur (one of the greatest patrons of science amongst the modern Hindu princes), to illustrate the history of his race, fell into my hands. I have reason to believe that there existed more copious materials, which his profligate descendant, the late prince, in his division of the empire with a prostitute, may have disposed of on the partition of the library of the State, which was the finest collection in Rajasthan. Like some of the renowned princes of Timur’s dynasty, Jai Singh kept a diary, termed Kalpadruma, in which he noted every event: a work written by such a man and at such an interesting juncture, would be a valuable acquisition to history. From the Datia prince I obtained a transcript of the journal of his ancestor, who served with such éclat amongst the great feudatories of Aurangzeb’s army, and from which Scott made many extracts in his history of the Deccan.

For a period of ten years I was employed, with the aid of a learned Jain, in ransacking every work which could contribute any facts or incidents to the history of the Rajputs, or diffuse any light upon their manners and character. Extracts and versions of all such passages were made by my Jain assistant into the more familiar dialects (which are formed from the Sanskrit) of these tribes, in whose language my long residence amongst them enabled me to converse with facility. At much expense, and during many wearisome hours, to support which required no ordinary degree of enthusiasm, I endeavoured to possess myself not merely of their history, but of their religious notions, their familiar opinions, and their characteristic manners, by associating with their chiefs and bardic chroniclers, and by listening to their traditionary tales and allegorical poems. I might ultimately, as the circle of my [xvi] inquiries enlarged, have materially augmented my knowledge of these subjects; but ill-health compelled me to relinquish this pleasing though toilsome pursuit, and forced me to revisit my native land just as I had obtained permission to look across the threshold of the Hindu Minerva; whence, however, I brought some relics, the examination of which I now consign to other hands. The large collection of ancient Sanskrit and Bhakha MSS., which I conveyed to England, have been presented to the Royal Asiatic Society, in whose library they are deposited. The contents of many, still unexamined, may throw additional light on the history of ancient India. I claim only the merit of having brought them to the knowledge of European scholars; but I may hope that this will furnish a stimulus to others to make similar exertions.

The little exact knowledge that Europe has hitherto acquired of the Rajput States, has probably originated a false idea of the comparative importance of this portion of Hindustan. The splendour of the Rajput courts, however, at an early period of the history of that country, making every allowance for the exaggeration of the bards, must have been great. Northern India was rich from the earliest times; that portion of it, situated on either side the Indus, formed the richest satrapy of Darius. It has abounded in the more striking events which constitute the materials for history; there is not a petty State in Rajasthan that has not had its Thermopylae, and scarcely a city that has not produced its Leonidas. But the mantle of ages has shrouded from view what the magic pen of the historian might have consecrated to endless admiration: Somnath might have rivalled Delphos; the spoils of Hind might have vied with the wealth of the Libyan king; and compared with the array of the Pandus, the army of Xerxes would have dwindled into insignificance. But the Hindus either never had, or have unfortunately lost, their Herodotus and Xenophon.

If “the moral effect of history depend on the sympathy it excites” [xvii], the annals of these States possess commanding interest. The struggles of a brave people for independence during a series of ages, sacrificing whatever was dear to them for the maintenance of the religion of their forefathers, and sturdily defending to death, and in spite of every temptation, their rights and national liberty, form a picture which it is difficult to contemplate without emotion. Could I impart to the reader but a small portion of the enthusiastic delight with which I have listened to the tales of times that are past, amid scenes where their events occurred, I should not despair of triumphing over the apathy which dooms to neglect almost every effort to enlighten my native country on the subject of India; nor should I apprehend any ill effect from the sound of names, which, musical and expressive as they are to a Hindu, are dissonant and unmeaning to a European ear: for it should be remembered that almost every Eastern name is significant of some quality, personal or mental. Seated amidst the ruins of ancient cities, I have listened to the traditions respecting their fall; or have heard the exploits of their illustrious defenders related by their descendants near the altars erected to their memory. I have, whilst in the train of the southern Goths (the Mahrattas), as they carried desolation over the land, encamped on or traversed many a field of battle, of civil strife or foreign aggression, to read in the rude memorials on the tumuli of the slain their names and history. Such anecdotes and records afford data of history as well as of manners. Even the couplet recording the erection of a ‘column of victory,’ or of a temple or its repairs, contributes something to our stock of knowledge of the past.

As far as regards the antiquity of the dynasties now ruling in Central and Western India, there are but two the origin of which is not perfectly within the limits of historical probability; the rest having owed their present establishments to the progress of the Muslim arms, their annals are confirmed by those of their conquerors. All the existing [xviii] families, indeed, have attained their present settlements subsequently to the Muhammadan invasions, except Mewar, Jaisalmer, and some smaller principalities in the desert; whilst others of the first magnitude, such as the Pramara and Solanki, who ruled at Dhar and Anhilwara, have for centuries ceased to exist.

I have been so hardy as to affirm and endeavour to prove the common origin of the martial tribes of Rajasthan and those of ancient Europe. I have expatiated at some length upon the evidence in favour of the existence of a feudal system in India, similar to that which prevailed in the early ages on the European continent, and of which relics still remain in the laws of our own nation. Hypotheses of this kind are, I am aware, viewed with suspicion, and sometimes assailed with ridicule. With regard to the notions which I have developed on these questions, and the frequent allusions to them in the pages of this volume, I entertain no obstinate prepossessions or prejudices in their favour. The world is too enlightened at the present day to be in danger of being misled by any hypothetical writer, let him be ever so skilful; but the probability is, that we have been induced, by the multitude of false theories which time has exposed, to fall into the opposite error, and that we have become too sceptical with regard to the common origin of the people of the east and west. However, I submit my proofs to the candid judgment of the world; the analogies, if not conclusive on the questions, are still sufficiently curious and remarkable to repay the trouble of perusal and to provoke further investigation; and they may, it is hoped, vindicate the author for endeavouring to elucidate the subject, “by steering through the dark channels of antiquity by the feeble lights of forgotten chronicles and imperfect records.”

I am conscious that there is much in this work which demands the indulgence of the public; and I trust it will not be necessary for me to assign a more powerful argument in plea than that which I have already [xix] adverted to, namely, the state of my health, which has rendered it a matter of considerable difficulty, indeed I may say of risk, to bring my bulky materials even into their present imperfect form. I should observe, that it never was my intention to treat the subject in the severe style of history, which would have excluded many details useful to the politician as well as to the curious student. I offer this work as a copious collection of materials for the future historian; and am far less concerned at the idea of giving too much, than at the apprehension of suppressing what might possibly be useful.

I cannot close these remarks without expressing my obligations to my friend and kinsman, Major Waugh, to the genius of whose pencil the world is indebted for the preservation and transmission of the splendid monuments of art which adorn this work.

25. M. Abel Rémusat, in his Mélanges Asiatiques, makes many apposite and forcible remarks on this subject, which, without intention, convey a just reproof to the lukewarmness of our countrymen. The institution of the Royal Asiatic Society, especially that branch of it devoted to Oriental translations, may yet redeem this reproach.

26. Asiatic Researches, vol. xv. [The Rājatarangini of Kalhana has been translated by M. A. Stein, 2 vols., London, 1910.]

27. When the genius and erudition of such men as Schlegel are added to the zeal which characterizes that celebrated writer, what revelations may we not yet expect from the cultivation of oriental literature?

28. Some copies of these Jain MSS. from Jaisalmer, which were written from five to eight centuries back, I presented to the Royal Asiatic Society. Of the vast numbers of these MS. books in the libraries of Patan and Jaisalmer, many are of the most remote antiquity, and in a character no longer understood by their possessors, or only by the supreme pontiff and his initiated librarians. There is one volume held so sacred for its magical contents, that it is suspended by a chain in the temple of Chintaman, at the last-named capital in the desert, and is only taken down to have its covering renewed, or at the inauguration of a pontiff. Tradition assigns its authorship to Somaditya Suru Acharya, a pontiff of past days, before the Islamite had crossed the waters of the Indus, and whose diocese extended far beyond that stream. His magic mantle is also here preserved, and used on every new installation. The character is, doubtless, the nail-headed Pali; and could we introduce the ingenious, indefatigable, and modest Mons. E. Burnouf, with his able coadjutor Dr. Lassen, into the temple, we might learn something of this Sibylline volume, without their incurring the risk of loss of sight, which befel the last individual, a female Yati of the Jains, who sacrilegiously endeavoured to acquire its contents. [For the temple library at Jaisalmer see IA, iv. 81 ff; for those at Udaipur, ibid. xiii. 31. J. Burgess visited the Pātan library, described by the Author (WI, 232 ff.), and found a collection of palm-leaf MSS., carefully wrapped in cloth and deposited in large chests (BG, vii. 598).]

29. Mewar, Marwar, Amber, Bikaner, Jaisalmer, Kotah, and Bundi.

30. Government of ‘four mouths,’ alluding to the quadriform image of the tutelary divinity.

31. [Only portions of the Chand-rāesa or Prithīrāj Rāesa have been translated (Smith, EHI, 387, note; IA, i. 269 ff., iii. 17 ff., xxxii. 167 f).167 f).]

32. Some of these preserve the names of princes who invaded India between the time of Mahmud of Ghazni and Shihabu-d-dīn, who are not mentioned by Ferishta, the Muhammadan historian. The invasion of Ajmer and the capture of Bayana, the seat of the Yadu princes, were made known to us by this means.

33. Of Marwar, there were the Vijaya Vilas, the Surya Prakas, and Khyat, or legends, besides detached fragments of reigns. Of Mewar, there was the Khuman Raesa, a modern work formed from old materials which are lost, and commencing with the attack of Chitor by Mahmud, supposed to be the son of Kasim of Sind, in the very earliest ages of Muhammadanism: also the Jagat Vilas, the Raj-prakas, and the Jaya Vilas, all poems composed in the reigns of the princes whose names they bear, but generally introducing succinctly the early parts of history. Besides these, there were fragments of the Jaipur family, from their archives; and the Man Charitra, or history of Raja Man.

AUTHOR’S INTRODUCTION TO THE
SECOND VOLUME OF THE ORIGINAL
EDITION

In placing before the public the concluding volume of the Annals of Rajputana I have fulfilled what I considered to be a sacred obligation to the races amongst whom I have passed the better portion of my life; and although no man can more highly appreciate public approbation, I am far less eager to court that approbation than to awaken a sympathy for the objects of my work, the interesting people of Rajputana.

I need add nothing to what was urged in the Introduction to the First Volume on the subject of Indian History; and trust that, however slight the analogy between the chronicles of the Hindus and those of Europe, as historical works, they will serve to banish the reproach, which India has so long laboured under, of possessing no records of past events: my only fear now is, that they may be thought redundant.

I think I may confidently affirm, that whoever, without being alarmed at their bulk, has the patience attentively to peruse these Annals, cannot fail to become well acquainted with all the peculiar features of Hindu society, and will be enabled to trace the foundation and progress of each State in Rajputana, as well as to form a just notion of the character of a people, upon whom, at a future period, our existence in India may depend.

Whatever novelty the inquirer into the origin of nations may find in these [viii] pages, I am ambitious to claim for them a higher title than a mass of mere archaeological data. To see humanity under every aspect, and to observe the influence of different creeds upon man in his social capacity, must ever be one of the highest sources of mental enjoyment; and I may hope that the personal qualities herein delineated, will allow the labourer in this vast field of philosophy to enlarge his sphere of acquaintance with human varieties. In the present circumstances of our alliance with these States, every trait of national character, and even every traditional incident, which, by leading us to understand and respect their peculiarities, may enable us to secure their friendship and esteem, become of infinite importance. The more we study their history, the better shall we comprehend the causes of their international quarrels, the origin of their tributary engagements, the secret principles of their mutual repulsion, and the sources of their strength and their weakness as an aggregate body: without which knowledge it is impossible we can arbitrate with justice in their national disputes; and, as respects ourselves, we may convert a means of defence into a source of bitter hostility.

It has been my aim to diversify as much as possible the details of this volume. In the Annals of Marwar I have traced the conquest and peopling of an immense region by a handful of strangers; and have dwelt, perhaps, with tedious minuteness on the long reign of Raja Ajit Singh and the Thirty Years’ War; to show what the energy of one of these petty States, impelled by a sense of oppression, effected against the colossal power of its enemies. It is a portion of their history which should be deeply studied by those who have succeeded to the paramount power; for Aurangzeb had less reason to distrust the stability of his dominion than we have: yet what is now the house of Timur? The resources of Marwar were reduced to as low an ebb at the close of Aurangzeb’s reign, as they are at the present time; yet did that [ix] State surmount all its difficulties, and bring armies into the field that annihilated the forces of the empire. Let us not, then, mistake the supineness engendered by long oppression, for want of feeling, nor mete out to these high-spirited people the same measure of contumely, with which we have treated the subjects of our earlier conquests.

The Annals of the Bhattis may be considered as the link connecting the tribes of India Proper with the ancient races west of the Indus, or Indo-Scythia; and although they will but slightly interest the general reader, the antiquary may find in them many new topics for investigation, as well as in the Sketch of the Desert, which has preserved the relics of names that once promised immortality.

The patriarchal simplicity of the Jat communities, upon whose ruins the State of Bikaner was founded, affords a picture, however imperfect, of petty republics—a form of government little known to eastern despotism, and proving the tenacity of the ancient Gete’s attachment to liberty.

Amber, and its scion Shaikhavati, possess a still greater interest from their contiguity to our frontier. A multitude of singular privileges is attached to the Shaikhavati federation, which it behoves the paramount power thoroughly to understand, lest it should be led by false views to pursue a policy detrimental to them as well as to ourselves. To this extensive community belong the Larkhanis, so utterly unknown to us, that a recent internal tumult of that tribe was at first mistaken for an irruption of our old enemies, the Pindaris.

Haraoti may claim our regard from the high bearing of its gallant race, the Haras; and the singular character of the individual with whose biography its history closes, and which cannot fail to impart juster notions of the genius of Asiatics [x].

So much for the matter of this volume—with regard to the manner, as the Rajputs abhor all pleas ad misericordiam, so likewise does their annalist, who begs to repeat, in order to deprecate a standard of criticism inapplicable to this performance, that it professes not to be constructed on exact historical principles: Non historia, sed particulae historiae.

In conclusion, I adopt the peroration of the ingenuous, pious, and liberal Abu-l Fazl, when completing his History of the Provinces of India; “Praise be unto God, that by the assistance of his Divine Grace, I have completed the History of the Rajputs. The account cost me a great deal of trouble in collecting, and I found such difficulty in ascertaining dates, and in reconciling the contradictions in the several histories of the Princes of Rajputana, that I had nearly resolved to relinquish the task altogether: but who can resist the decrees of Fate? I trust that those, who have been able to obtain better information, will not dwell upon my errors; but that upon the whole I may meet with approbation.”[34]

York Place, Portman Square,

March 10, 1832.

34. [Āīn, ii. 418.]

ANNALS AND ANTIQUITIES

OF RAJASTHAN

BOOK I

GEOGRAPHY OF RAJASTHAN OR RAJPUTANA

Boundaries of Rajputana.

—Rajasthan is the collective and classical denomination of that portion of India which is ‘the abode[1] of (Rajput) princes.’ In the familiar dialect of these countries it is termed Rajwara, but by the more refined Raethana, corrupted to Rajputana, the common designation amongst the British to denote the Rajput principalities.

What might have been the nominal extent of Rajasthan prior to the Muhammadan conqueror Shihabu-d-din (when it probably reached beyond the Jumna and Ganges, even to the base of the Himalaya) cannot now be known. At present we may adhere to its restrictive definition, still comprehending a wide space and a variety of interesting races.

Previous to the erection of the minor Muhammadan monarchies of Mandu and Ahmadabad (the capitals of Malwa and Gujarat), on the ruins of Dhar and Anhilwara Patan, the term Rajasthan would have been appropriated to the space comprehended in the map prefixed to this work: the valley of the Indus on the west, and Bundelkhand[2] on the east; to the north, the sandy tracts (south of the Sutlej) termed Jangaldes; and the Vindhya mountains to the south.

This space comprehends nearly 8° of latitude and 9° of longitude, being from 22° to 30° north latitude, and 69° to 78° east longitude, embracing a superficial area of 350,000 square miles[3] [2].

Although it is proposed to touch upon the annals of all the States in this extensive tract, with their past and present condition, those in the centre will claim the most prominent regard; especially Mewar, which, copiously treated of, will afford a specimen, obviating the necessity of like details of the rest.

The States of Rājputāna.

—The order in which these States will be reviewed is as follows:

1. Mewar, or Udaipur.

2. Marwar, or Jodhpur.

3. Bikaner and Kishangarh.

4. Kotah
5. Bundi} or Haraoti.

6. Amber, or Jaipur, with its branches, dependent and independent.

7. Jaisalmer.

8. The Indian desert to the valley of the Indus.

History of Geographical Surveys.

—The basis of this work is the geography of the country, the historical and statistical portion being consequent and subordinate thereto. It was, indeed, originally designed to be essentially geographical; but circumstances have rendered it impossible to execute the intended details, or even to make the map[4] so perfect as the superabundant material at the command of the author might have enabled him to do; a matter of regret to himself rather than of loss to the general reader, to whom geographic details, however important, are usually dry and uninteresting.

It was also intended to institute a comparison between the map and such remains of ancient geography as can be extracted from the Puranas and other Hindu authorities; which, however, must be deferred to a future period, when the deficiency of the present rapid and general sketch may be supplied, should the author be enabled to resume his labours.

The laborious research, in the course of which these data were accumulated, commenced in 1806, when the author was attached to the embassy sent, at the close of the Mahratta wars, to the court of Sindhia. This chieftain’s army was then in Mewar, at that period almost a terra incognita, the position of whose two capitals, Udaipur and Chitor, in the best existing maps, was precisely reversed [3]; that is, Chitor was inserted S.E. of Udaipur instead of E.N.E., a proof of the scanty knowledge possessed at that period.

In other respects there was almost a total blank. In the maps prior to 1806 nearly all the western and central States of Rajasthan will be found wanting. It had been imagined, but a little time before, that the rivers had a southerly course into the Nerbudda; a notion corrected by the father of Indian geography, the distinguished Rennell.[5]

This blank the author filled up; and in 1815, for the first time, the geography of Rajasthan was put into combined form and presented to the Marquess of Hastings, on the eve of a general war, when the labour of ten years was amply rewarded by its becoming in part the foundation of that illustrious commander’s plans of the campaign. It is a duty owing to himself to state that every map, without exception, printed since this period has its foundation, as regards Central and Western India, in the labours of the author.[6]

The Author’s Surveys.

—The route of the embassy was from Agra, through the southern frontier of Jaipur to Udaipur. A portion of this had been surveyed and points laid down from celestial observation, by Dr. W. Hunter, which I adopted as the basis of my enterprise. The Resident Envoy[7] to the court of Sindhia was possessed of the valuable sketch of the route of Colonel Palmer’s embassy in 1791, as laid down by Dr. Hunter, the foundation of my subsequent surveys, as it merited from its importance and general accuracy. It embraced all the extreme points of Central India: Agra, Narwar, Datia, Jhansi, Bhopal, Sarangpur, Ujjain, and on return from this, the first meridian of the Hindus, by Kotah, Bundi, Rampura (Tonk), Bayana, to Agra. The position of all these places was more or less accurately fixed, according to the time which could be bestowed, by astronomical observation [4].

At Rampura Hunter ceased to be my guide: and from this point commenced the new survey of Udaipur, where we arrived in June 1806. The position then assigned to it, with most inadequate instruments, has been changed only 1´of longitude, though the latitude amounted to about 5´.

From Udaipur the subsequent march of the army with which we moved led past the celebrated Chitor, and through the centre of Malwa, crossing in detail all the grand streams flowing from the Vindhya, till we halted for a season on the Bundelkhand frontier at Khimlasa. In this journey of seven hundred miles I twice crossed the lines of route of the former embassy, and was gratified to find my first attempts generally coincide with their established points.

In 1807, the army having undertaken the siege of Rahatgarh, I determined to avail myself of the time which Mahrattas waste in such a process, and to pursue my favourite project. With a small guard I determined to push through untrodden fields, by the banks of the Betwa to Chanderi, and in its latitude proceed in a westerly direction towards Kotah, trace the course once more of all those streams from the south, and the points of junction of the most important (the Kali Sind, Parbati, and Banas) with the Chambal; and having effected this, continue my journey to Agra. This I accomplished in times very different from the present, being often obliged to strike my tents and march at midnight, and more than once the object of plunder.[8] The chief points in this route were Khimlasa, Rajwara, Kotra on the Betwa, Kanyadana,[9] Buradungar,[10] Shahabad, Barah,[11] Puleta,[12] Baroda, Sheopur, Pali,[13] Ranthambhor, Karauli, Sri Mathura, and Agra.

On my return to the Mahratta camp I resolved further to increase the sphere, and proceeded westward by Bharatpur, Katumbar, Sentri, to Jaipur, Tonk, Indargarh, Gugal Chhapra, Raghugarh, Aron, Kurwai, Borasa, to Sagar: a journey of more than one thousand miles. I found the camp nearly where I left it.

With this ambulatory court I moved everywhere within this region, constantly employed in surveying till 1812, when Sindhia’s court became stationary. It was then I formed my plans for obtaining a knowledge of those countries into which I could not personally penetrate [5].

Survey Parties.

—In 1810-11 I had despatched two parties, one to the Indus, the other to the desert south of the Sutlej. The first party, under Shaikh Abu-l Barakat, journeyed westward, by Udaipur, through Gujarat, Saurashtra and Cutch, Lakhpat and Hyderabad (the capital of the Sindi government); crossed the Indus to Tatta, proceeded up the right bank to Sehwan; recrossed, and continued on the left bank as far as Khairpur, the residence of one of the triumvirate governors of Sind, and having reached the insulated Bakhar[14] (the capital of the Sogdoi of Alexander), returned by the desert of Umrasumra to Jaisalmer, Marwar, and Jaipur, and joined me in camp at Narwar. It was a perilous undertaking; but the Shaikh was a fearless and enterprising character, and moreover a man with some tincture of learning. His journals contained many hints and directions for future research in the geography, statistics, and manners of the various races amongst whom he travelled.

The other party was conducted by a most valuable man, Madari Lal, who became a perfect adept in these expeditions of geographical discovery, and other knowledge resulting therefrom. There is not a district of any consequence in the wide space before the reader which was not traversed by this spirited individual, whose qualifications for such complicated and hazardous journeys were never excelled. Ardent, persevering, prepossessing, and generally well-informed, he made his way when others might have perished.[15]

From these remote regions the best-informed native inhabitants were, by persuasion and recompense, conducted to me; and I could at all times, in the Mahratta camp at Gwalior, from 1812 to 1817, have provided a native of the valley of the Indus, the deserts of Dhat, Umrasumra, or any of the States of Rajasthan.

The precision with which Kasids and other public conveyers of letters, in countries where posts are little used, can detail the peculiarities of a long line of route, and the accuracy of their distances would scarcely be credited in Europe. I have no hesitation in asserting that if a correct estimate were obtained of the measured [6] coss of a country, a line might be laid down upon a flat surface with great exactitude. I have heard it affirmed that it was the custom of the old Hindu governments to have measurements made of the roads from town to town, and that the Abu Mahatma[16] contains a notice of an instrument for that purpose. Indeed, the singular coincidence between lines measured by the perambulator and the estimated distances of the natives is the best proof that the latter are deduced from some more certain method than mere computation.

I never rested satisfied with the result of one set of my parties, with the single exception of Madari’s, always making the information of one a basis for the instruction of another, who went over the same ground; but with additional views and advantages, and with the aid of the natives brought successively by each, till I exhausted every field.

Thus, in a few years, I had filled several volumes with lines of route throughout this space; and having many frontier and intermediate points, the positions of which were fixed, a general outline of the result was constructed, wherein all this information was laid down. I speak more particularly of the western States, as the central portion, or that watered by the Chambal and its tributary streams, whether from the elevated Aravalli on the west, or from the Vindhya mountains on the south, has been personally surveyed and measured in every direction, with an accuracy sufficient for every political or military purpose, until the grand trigonometrical survey from the peninsula shall be extended throughout India. These countries form an extended plain to the Sutlej north, and west to the Indus, rendering the amalgamation of geographical materials much less difficult than where mountainous regions intervene.

After having laid down these varied lines in the outline described, I determined to check and confirm its accuracy by recommencing the survey on a new plan, viz. trigonometrically.

My parties were again despatched to resume their labours over fields now familiar to them. They commenced from points whose positions were fixed (and my knowledge enabled me to give a series of such), from each of which, as a centre, they collected every radiating route to every town within the distance of twenty miles. The points selected were generally such as to approach equilateral [7] triangles; and although to digest the information became a severe toil, the method will appear, even to the casual observer, one which must throw out its own errors; for these lines crossed in every direction, and consequently corrected each other. By such means did I work my way in those unknown tracts, and the result is in part before the reader. I say, in part; for my health compels me reluctantly to leave out much which could be combined from ten folios of journeys extending throughout these regions.

The Author’s Map.

—In 1815, as before stated, an outline map containing all the information thus obtained, and which the subsequent crisis rendered of essential importance, was presented by me to the Governor-General of India. Upon the very eve of the war I constructed and presented another, of the greater portion of Malwa, to which it appeared expedient to confine the operations against the Pindaris. The material feature in this small map was the general position of the Vindhya mountains, the sources and course of every river originating thence, and the passes in this chain, an object of primary importance. The boundaries of the various countries in this tract were likewise defined, and it became essentially useful in the subsequent dismemberment of the Peshwa’s dominions.

In the construction of this map I had many fixed points, both of Dr. Hunter’s and my own, to work from; and it is gratifying to observe that though several measured lines have since been run through this space, not only the general, but often the identical features of mine have been preserved in the maps since given to the world. As considerable improvement has been made by several measured lines through this tract, and many positions affixed by a scientific and zealous geographer, I have had no hesitation in incorporating a small portion of this improved geography in the map now presented.[17]

Many surveyed lines were made by me from 1817 to 1822; and here I express my obligations to my kinsman,[18] to whom alone I owe any aid for improving this portion of my geographical labours. This officer made a circuitous survey, which comprehended nearly the extreme points of Mewar, from the capital, by Chitor, Mandalgarh, Jahazpur, Rajmahall, and in return by Banai, Badnor, Deogarh [8], to the point of outset. From these extreme points he was enabled to place many intermediate ones, for which Mewar is so favourable, by reason of its isolated hills.

In 1820 I made an important journey across the Aravalli, by Kumbhalmer, Pali, to Jodhpur, the capital of Marwar, and thence by Merta, tracing the course of the Luni to its source at Ajmer; and from this celebrated residence of the Chauhan kings and Mogul emperors; returning through the central lands of Mewar, by Banai and Banera, to the capital.

I had the peculiar satisfaction to find that my position of Jodhpur, which has been used as a capital point in fixing the geography west and north, was only 3´ of space out in latitude, and little more in longitude; which accounted for the coincidence of my position of Bikaner with that assigned by Mr. Elphinstone in his account of the embassy to Kabul.

Besides Udaipur, Jodhpur, Ajmer, etc., whose positions I had fixed by observations, and the points laid down by Hunter, I availed myself of a few positions given to me by that enterprising traveller, the author of the journey into Khorasan,[19] who marched from Delhi, by Nagor and Jodhpur, to Udaipur.

The outline of the countries of Gujarat,[20] the Saurashtra peninsula, and Cutch, inserted chiefly by way of connexion, is entirely taken from the labours of that distinguished geographer, the late General Reynolds. We had both gone over a great portion of the same field, and my testimony is due to the value of his researches in countries into which he never personally penetrated, evincing what may be done by industry, and the use of such materials as I have described.

Physiography of Rājputāna.

—I shall conclude with a rapid sketch of the physiognomy of these regions; minute and local descriptions will appear more appropriately in the respective historical portions.portions.

Rajasthan presents a great variety of feature. Let me place the reader on the highest peak of the insulated Abu, ‘the saint’s pinnacle,’[21] as it is termed, and guide his eye in a survey over this wide expanse, from the ‘blue waters’ of the Indus west to the ‘withy-covered’[22] Betwa on the east. From this, the most [9] elevated spot in Hindustan, overlooking by fifteen hundred feet the Aravalli mountains, his eye descends to the plains of Medpat[23] (the classic term for Mewar), whose chief streams, flowing from the base of the Aravalli, join the Berach and Banas, and are prevented from uniting with the Chambal only by the Patar[24] or plateau of Central India.

Ascending this plateau near the celebrated Chitor, let the eye deviate slightly from the direct eastern line, and pursue the only practicable path by Ratangarh, and Singoli, to Kotah, and he will observe its three successive steppes, the miniature representation of those of Russian Tartary. Let the observer here glance across the Chambal and traverse Haraoti to its eastern frontier, guarded by the fortress of Shahabad: thence abruptly descend the plateau to the level of the Sind, still proceeding eastward, until the table-mountain, the western limit of Bundelkhand, affords a resting-point.

To render this more distinct, I present a profile of the tract described from Abu to Kotra on the Betwa:[25] from Abu to the Chambal, the result of barometrical measurement, and from the latter to the Betwa from my general observations[26] of the irregularities of surface. The result is, that the Betwa at Kotra is one thousand feet above the sea-level, and one thousand lower than the city and valley of Udaipur, which again is on the same level with the base of Abu, two thousand feet above the sea. This line, the general direction of which is but a short distance from the tropic, is about six geographic degrees in length: yet is this small space highly diversified, both in its inhabitants and the production of the soil, whether hidden or revealed.

SECTION OF THE COUNTRY FROM ĀBU TO THE BETWA.
To face page 10.

[See Transcriber’s Note for a transcription and annotation of the text.]

Let us now from our elevated station (still turned to the east) carry the eye both south and north of the line described, which nearly bisects Madhyadesa,[27] ‘the central land’ of Rajasthan; best defined by the course of the Chambal and [10] its tributary streams, to its confluence with the Jumna: while the regions west of the transalpine Aravalli[28] may as justly be defined Western Rajasthan.

Looking to the south, the eye rests on the long-extended and strongly-defined line of the Vindhya mountains, the proper bounds of Hindustan and the Deccan. Though, from our elevated stand on ‘the Saint’s Pinnacle’ of Abu, we look down on the Vindhya as a range of diminished importance, it is that our position is the least favourable to viewing its grandeur, which would be most apparent from the south; though throughout this skirt of descent, irregular elevations attain a height of many hundred feet above such points of its abrupt descent.

The Aravalli itself may be said to connect with the Vindhya, and the point of junction to be towards Champaner; though it might be as correct to say the Aravalli thence rose upon and stretched from the Vindhya. Whilst it is much less elevated than more to the north, it presents bold features throughout,[29] south by Lunawara, Dungarpur, and Idar, to Amba Bhawani and Udaipur.

Still looking from Abu over the tableland of Malwa, we observe her plains of black loam furrowed by the numerous streams from the highest points of the Vindhya, pursuing their northerly course; some meandering through valleys or falling over precipices; others bearing down all opposition, and actually forcing an exit through the central plateau to join the Chambal.

The Aravalli Range.

—Having thus glanced at the south, let us cast the eye north of this line, and pause on the alpine Aravalli.[30] Let us take a section of it, from the capital, Udaipur, the line of our station on Abu, passing through Oghna Panarwa, and Mirpur, to the western descent near Sirohi, a space of nearly sixty miles in a direct line, where “hills o’er hills and alps on alps arise,” from the ascent at Udaipur, to the descent to Marwar. All this space to the Sirohi frontier is inhabited by communities of the aboriginal races, living in a state of primeval and almost savage independence, owning no paramount power, paying no tribute, but with all the simplicity of republics; their leaders, with the title of Rawat, being hereditary. Thus the Rawat of the Oghna commune can assemble five thousand bows, and several others [11] can on occasion muster considerable numbers. Their habitations are dispersed through the valleys in small rude hamlets, near their pastures or places of defence.[31]

Let me now transport the reader to the citadel pinnacle of Kumbhalmer,[32] thence surveying the range running north to Ajmer, where, shortly after, it loses its tabular form, and breaking into lofty ridges, sends numerous branches through the Shaikhavati federation, and Alwar, till in low heights it terminates at Delhi.

From Kumbhalmer to Ajmer the whole space is termed Merwāra, and is inhabited by the mountain race of Mer or Mair, the habits and history of which singular class will be hereafter related. The range averages from six to fifteen miles in breadth, having upwards of one hundred and fifty villages and hamlets scattered over its valleys and rocks, abundantly watered, not deficient in pasture, and with cultivation enough for all internal wants, though it is raised with infinite labour on terraces, as the vine is cultivated in Switzerland and on the Rhine.

In vain does the eye search for any trace of wheel-carriage across this compound range from Idar to Ajmer; and it consequently well merits its appellation ara, ‘the barrier,’ for the strongest arm of modern warfare, artillery, would have to turn the chain by the north to avoid the impracticable descent to the west.[33]

Views from the Aravalli Hills.

—Guiding the eye along the chain, several fortresses are observed on pinnacles guarding the passes on either side, while numerous rills descend, pouring over the declivities, seeking their devious exit between the projecting ribs of the mountain. The Berach, the Banas, the Kothari, the Khari, the Dahi all unite with the Banas to the east, while to the west the still more numerous streams which fertilize the rich province of Godwar, unite to ‘the Salt River,’ the Luni, and mark the true line of the desert. Of these the chief are the Sukri and the [12] Bandi; while others which are not perennial, and depend on atmospheric causes for their supply, receive the general denomination of rela, indicative of rapid mountain torrents, carrying in their descent a vast volume of alluvial deposit, to enrich the siliceous soil below.

However grand the view of the chaotic mass of rock from this elevated site of Kumbhalmer, it is from the plains of Marwar that its majesty is most apparent; where its ‘splintered pinnacles’ are seen rising over each other in varied form, or frowning over the dark indented recesses of its forest-covered and rugged declivities.

On reflection, I am led to pronounce the Aravalli a connexion of the ‘Apennines of India’; the Ghats on the Malabar coast of the peninsula: nor does the passage of the Nerbudda or the Tapti, through its diminished centre, militate against the hypothesis, which might be better substantiated by the comparison of their intrinsic character and structure.

Geology of the Aravallis.

—The general character of the Aravalli is its primitive formation:[34] granite, reposing in variety of angle (the general dip is to the east) on massive, compact, dark blue slate, the latter rarely appearing much above the surface or base of the superincumbent granite. The internal valleys abound in variegated quartz and a variety of schistous slate of every hue, which gives a most singular appearance to the roofs of the houses and temples when the sun shines upon them. Rocks of gneiss and of syenite appear in the intervals; and in the diverging ridges west of Ajmer the summits are quite dazzling with the enormous masses of vitreous rose-coloured quartz.

The Aravalli and its subordinate hills are rich in both mineral and metallic products; and, as stated in the annals of Mewar, to the latter alone can be attributed the resources which enabled this family so long to struggle against superior power, and to raise those magnificent structures which would do honour to the most potent kingdoms of the west.

The mines are royalties; their produce a monopoly, increasing the personal revenue of their prince. An-Dan-Khan is a triple figurative expression, which comprehends the sum of sovereign rights in Rajasthan, being allegiance, commercial duties, mines. The tin-mines of Mewar were once very productive, and yielded, it is asserted, no inconsiderable portion of silver: but the caste of miners is extinct, and political reasons, during the Mogul domination, led to the [13] concealment of such sources of wealth. Copper of a very fine description is likewise abundant, and supplies the currency; and the chief of Salumbar even coins by sufferance from the mines on his own estate. Surma, or the oxide of antimony, is found on the western frontier. The garnet, amethystine quartz, rock crystal, the chrysolite, and inferior kinds of the emerald family are all to be found within Mewar; and though I have seen no specimens decidedly valuable, the Rana has often told me that, according to tradition, his native hills contained every species of mineral wealth.

The Patār Plateau.

—Let us now quit our alpine station on the Aravalli, and make a tour of the Patar, or plateau of Central India, not the least important feature of this interesting region. It possesses a most decided character, and is distinct from the Vindhya to the south and the Aravalli to the west, being of the secondary formation, or trap, of the most regular horizontal stratification.

The circumference of the plateau is best explained in the map, though its surface is most unequally detailed, and is continually alternating its character between the tabular form and clustering ridges.

Commencing the tour of Mandalgarh, let us proceed south, skirting Chitor (both on insulated rocks detached from the plateau), thence by Jawad, Dantoli, Rampura,[35] Bhanpura, the Mukunddarra Pass,[36] to Gagraun (where the Kali Sind forces an entrance through its table-barrier to Eklera)[37] and Margwas (where the Parbati, taking advantage of the diminished elevation, passes from Malwa to Haraoti), and by Raghugarh, Shahabad, Ghazigarh, Gaswani, to Jadonwati, where the plateau terminates on the Chambal, east; while from the same point of outset, Mandalgarh, soon losing much of its table form, it stretches away in bold ranges, occasionally tabular, as in the Bundi fortress, by Dablana, Indargarh,[38] and Lakheri,[38] to Ranthambhor and Karauli, terminating at Dholpur Bari.

The elevation and inequalities of this plateau are best seen by crossing it from west to east, from the plains to the level of the Chambal, where, with the exception of the short flat between Kotah and Pali ferry, this noble stream is seen rushing through the rocky barrier.

At Ranthambhor the plateau breaks into lofty ranges, their white summits [14] sparkling in the sun; cragged but not peaked, and preserving the characteristic formation, though disunited from the mass. Here there are no less than seven distinct ranges (Satpara), through all of which the Banas has to force a passage to unite with the Chambal. Beyond Ranthambhor, and the whole way from Karauli to the river, is an irregular tableland, on the edge of whose summit are the fortresses of Utgir, Mandrel, and that more celebrated of Thun. But east of the eastern side there is still another steppe of descent, which may be said to originate near the fountain of the Sind at Latoti, and passing by Chanderi, Kanyadana, Narwar, and Gwalior, terminates at Deogarh, in the plains of Gohad. The descent from this second steppe is into Bundelkhand and the valley of the Betwa.

Distinguished as is this elevated region of the surface of Central India, its summit is but little higher than the general elevation of the crest of the Vindhya, and upon a level with the valley of Udaipur and base of the Aravalli. The slope or descent, therefore, from both these ranges to the skirts of the plateau is great and abrupt, of which the most intelligible and simple proof appears in the course of these streams. Few portions of the globe attest more powerfully the force exerted by the action of waters to subdue every obstacle, than a view of the rock-bound channels of these streams in this adamantine barrier. Four streams—one of which, the Chambal, would rank with the Rhine and almost with the Rhone—have here forced their way, laying bare the stratification from the water’s level to the summit, from three to six hundred feet in perpendicular height, the rock appearing as if chiselled by the hand of man. Here the geologist may read the book of nature in distinct character; few tracts (from Rampura to Kotah) will be found more interesting to him, to the antiquarian, or to the lover of nature in her most rugged attire.

The surface of this extensive plateau is greatly diversified. At Kotah the bare protruding rock in some places presents not a trace of vegetation; but where it bevels off to the banks of the Par it is one of the richest and most productive soils in India, and better cultivated than any spot even of British India. In its indented sides are glens of the most romantic description (as the fountain of ‘the snake King’ near Hinglaj), and deep dells, the source of small streams, where many treasures of art,[39] in temples and ancient dwellings, yet remain to reward the traveller [15].

This central elevation, as before described, is of the secondary formation, called trap. Its prevailing colour, where laid bare by the Chambal, is milk-white: it is compact and close-grained, and though perhaps the mineral offering the greatest resistance to the chisel, the sculptures at the celebrated Barolli evince its utility to the artist. White is also the prevailing colour to the westward. About Kotah it is often mixed white and porphyritic, and about Shahabad of a mixed red and brown tint. When exposed to the action of the atmosphere in its eastern declivity the decomposed and rough surface would almost cause it to be mistaken for gritstone.

This formation is not favourable to mineral wealth. The only metals are lead and iron; but their ores, especially the latter, are abundant. There are mines, said to be of value, of sulphuret of lead (galena) in the Gwalior province, from which I have had specimens, but these also are closed. The natives fear to extract their mineral wealth; and though abounding in lead, tin, and copper, they are indebted almost entirely to Europe even for the materials of their culinary utensils.

Without attempting a delineation of inferior ranges, I will only further direct the reader’s attention to an important deduction from this superficial review of the physiognomy of Rajwara.

The Mountain System of Central India.

—There are two distinctly marked declivities or slopes in Central India: the chief is that from west to east, from the great rampart, the Aravalli (interposed to prevent the drifting of the sands into the central plains, bisected by the Chambal and his hundred arms) to the Betwa; the other slope is from south to north, from the Vindhya, the southern buttress of Central India, to the Jumna.

Extending our definition, we may pronounce the course of the Jumna to indicate the central fall of that immense vale which has its northern slope from the base of the Himalaya, and the southern from that of the Vindhya mountains.

It is not in contemplation to delineate the varied course of the magnificent Nerbudda, though I have abundant means; for the moment we ascend the summit of the tropical[40] Vindhya, to descend into the valley of the Nerbudda, we abandon Rajasthan and the Rajputs for the aboriginal races, the first proprietors of the land. These I shall leave to others, and commence and end with the Chambal, the paramount lord of the floods of Central India [16].

The Chambal River.

—The Chambal has his fountains in a very elevated point of the Vindhya, amidst a cluster of hills on which is bestowed the local appellation of Janapao. It has three co-equal sources from the same cluster, the Chambal, Chambela, and Gambhir; while no less than nine other streams have their origin on the south side, and pour their waters into the Nerbudda.

The Sipra from Pipalda, the little Sind[41] from Dewas, and other minor streams passing Ujjain, all unite with the Chambal in different stages before he breaks through the plateau.

The Kali Sind, from Bagri, and its petty branch, the Sodwia, from Raghugarh; the Niwaz (or Jamniri), from Morsukri and Magarda; the Parbati, from the pass of Amlakhera, with its more eastern arm from Daulatpur, uniting at Pharhar, are all points in the crest of the Vindhya range, whence they pursue their course through the plateau, rolling over precipices,[42] till engulfed in the Chambal at the ferries of Nunera and Pali. All these unite on the right bank.

On the left bank his flood is increased by the Banas, fed by the perennial streams from the Aravalli, and the Berach from the lakes of Udaipur; and after watering Mewar, the southern frontier of Jaipur, and the highlands of Karauli, the river turns south to unite at the holy Sangam,[43] Rameswar. Minor streams contribute (unworthy, however, of separate notice), and after a thousand involutions he reaches the Jumna, at the holy Triveni,[44] or ‘triple-allied’ stream, between Etawa and Kalpi.

The course of the Chambal, not reckoning the minor sinuosities, is upwards of five hundred miles;[45] and along its banks specimens of nearly every race now existing in India may be found: Sondis, Chandarawats, Sesodias, Haras, Gaur, Jadon, Sakarwal, Gujar, Jat,[46] Tuar, Chauhan, Bhadauria, Kachhwaha, Sengar, Bundela; each in associations of various magnitudes, from the substantive state of the little republic communes between the Chambal and Kuwari[47] [17].

The Western Desert.

—Having thus sketched the central portion of Rajasthan, or that eastward of the Aravalli, I shall give a rapid general[48] view of that to the west, conducting the reader over the ‘Thal ka Tiba,’ or ‘sand hills’ of the desert, to the valley of the Indus.

The Luni River.

—Let the reader again take post on Abu, by which he may be saved a painful journey over the Thal.[49] The most interesting object in this arid ‘region of death’ is the ‘salt river,’ the Luni, with its many arms falling from the Aravalli to enrich the best portion of the principality of Jodhpur, and distinctly marking the line of that extensive plain of ever-shifting sand, termed in Hindu geography Marusthali, corrupted to Marwar.

The Luni, from its sources, the sacred lakes of Pushkar and Ajmer, and the more remote arm from Parbatsar to its embouchure in the great western salt marsh, the Rann, has a course of more than three hundred miles.

In the term Eirinon of the historians of Alexander, we have the corruption of the word Ran or Rann,[50] still used to describe that extensive fen formed by the deposits of the Luni, and the equally saturated saline streams from the southern desert of Dhat. It is one hundred and fifty miles in length; and where broadest, from Bhuj to Baliari, about seventy:[51] in which direction the caravans cross, having as a place of halt an insulated oasis in this mediterranean salt marsh. In the dry season, nothing meets the eye but an extensive and glaring sheet of salt, spread over its insidious surface, full of dangerous quicksands: and in the rains it is a dirty saline solution, up to the camels’ girths in many places. The little oasis, the Khari Kaba, furnishes pasture for this useful animal and rest for the traveller pursuing his journey to either bank.

The Mirage.

—It is on the desiccated borders[52] of this vast salt marsh that the illusory phenomenon, the mirage, presents its fantastic appearance, pleasing to all but the wearied traveller, who sees a haven of rest in the embattled towers, the peaceful hamlet,[53] [18] or shady grove, to which he hastens in vain; receding as he advances, till “the sun in his might,” dissipating these “cloud-capp’d towers,” reveals the vanity of his pursuit.

Such phenomena are common to the desert, more particularly where these extensive saline depositions exist, but varying from certain causes. In most cases, this powerfully magnifying and reflecting medium is a vertical stratum; at first dense and opaque, it gradually attenuates with increased temperature, till the maximum of heat, which it can no longer resist, drives it off in an ethereal vapour. This optical deception, well known to the Rajputs, is called sikot, or ‘winter castles,’ because chiefly visible in the cold season: hence, possibly, originated the equally illusory and delightful ‘Chateau en Espagne,’ so well known in the west.[54]

The Desert.

—From the north bank of the Luni to the south, and the Shaikhavat frontier to the east, the sandy region commences. Bikaner, Jodhpur, Jaisalmer are all sandy plains, increasing in volume as you proceed westward. All this portion of territory is incumbent on a sandstone formation: soundings of all the new wells made from Jodhpur to Ajmer yielded the same result: sand, concrete siliceous deposits, and chalk.

Jaisalmer is everywhere encircled by desert; and that portion round the capital might not be improperly termed an oasis, in which wheat, barley, and even rice are produced. The fortress is erected on the extremity of a range of some hundred feet in elevation, which can be traced beyond its southern confines to the ruins of the ancient Chhotan erected upon them, and which tradition has preserved as the capital of a tribe, or prince, termed Hapa, of whom no other trace exists. It is not unlikely that this ridge may be connected with that which runs through the rich province of Jalor; consequently an offset from the base of Abu.

Though all these regions collectively bear the term Marusthali, or ‘region of death’ (the emphatic and figurative phrase for the desert), the restrictive definition applies to a part only, that under the dominion of the Rathor race [19].

From Balotra on the Luni, throughout the whole of Dhat and Umrasumra, the western portion of Jaisalmer, and a broad strip between the southern limits of Daudputra and Bikaner, there is real solitude and desolation. But from the Sutlej to the Rann, a space of five hundred miles of longitudinal distance, and varying in breadth from fifty to one hundred miles, numerous oases are found, where the shepherds from the valley of the Indus and the Thal pasture their flocks. The springs of water in these places have various appellations, tar, par, rar, dar, all expressive of the element, round which assemble the Rajars, Sodhas, Mangalias, and Sahariyas,[55] inhabiting the desert.

I will not touch on the salt lakes or natron beds, or the other products of the desert, vegetable or mineral; though the latter might soon be described, being confined to the jasper rock near Jaisalmer, which has been much used in the beautiful arabesques of that fairy fabric, at Agra, the mausoleum of Shah Jahan’s queen.

Neither shall I describe the valley of the Indus, or that portion eastward of the stream, the termination of the sand ridges of the desert. I will merely remark, that the small stream which breaks from the Indus at Dara, seven miles north of the insulated Bakhar, and falls into the ocean at Lakhpat, shows the breadth of this eastern portion of the valley, which forms the western boundary of the desert. A traveller proceeding from the Khichi or flats of Sind to the east, sees the line of the desert distinctly marked, with its elevated tibas or sand ridges under which flows the Sankra, which is generally dry except at periodical inundations. These sand-hills are of considerable elevation, and may be considered the limit of the inundation of the ‘sweet river,’ the Mitha Maran, a Scythic or Tatar name for river, and by which alone the Indus is known, from the Panjnad[56] to the ocean [20].

1. Or ‘regal (rāj) dwelling (thān).‘

2. It is rather singular that the Sind River will mark this eastern boundary, as does the Indus (or great Sind) that to the west. East of this minor Sind the Hindu princes are not of pure blood, and are excluded from Rajasthan or Rajwara.

3. [Rājputāna, as now officially defined, lies between lat. 23° 3´ and 30° 12´ N., and long. 69° 30´ and 78° 17´ E., the total area, according to the Census Report, 1911, including Ajmer-Merwāra, being 131,698 square miles.]

4. Engraved by that meritorious artist Mr. Walker, engraver to the East India Company, who, I trust, will be able to make a fuller use of my materials hereafter. [This has been replaced by a modern map.]

5. [James Rennell, 1742-1830.]

6. When the war of 1817 broke out, copies of my map on a reduced scale were sent to all the divisions of the armies in the field, and came into possession of many of the staff. Transcripts were made which were brought to Europe, and portions introduced into every recent map of India. One map has, indeed, been given, in a manner to induce a supposition that the furnisher of the materials was the author of them. It has fulfilled a prediction of the Marquess of Hastings, who, foreseeing the impossibility of such materials remaining private property, “and the danger of their being appropriated by others,” and desirous that the author should derive the full advantage of his labours, had it signified that the claims for recompense, on the records of successive governments, should not be deferred. It will not be inferred the author is surprised at what he remarks. While he claims priority for himself, he is the last person to wish to see a halt in science—

“For emulation has a thousand sons.”

7. My esteemed friend, Graeme Mercer, Esq. (of Maevisbank), who stimulated my exertions with his approbation.

8. Many incidents in these journeys would require no aid of imagination to touch on the romantic, but they can have no place here.

9. Eastern tableland.

10. Sind River.

11. Parbati River.

12. Kali Sind River.

13. Passage of the Chambal and junction of the Par.

14. The Shaikh brought me specimens of the rock, which is siliceous; and also a piece of brick of the very ancient fortress of Sehwan, and some of the grain from its pits, charred and alleged by tradition to have lain there since the period of Raja Bhartarihari, the brother of Vikramaditya. It is not impossible that it might be owing to Alexander’s terrific progress, and to their supplies being destroyed by fire. Sehwan is conjectured by Captain Pottinger to be the capital of Musicanus. [The capital of the Sogdoi has been identified with Alor or Aror; but Cunningham places it between Alor and Uchh. The capital of Mousikanos was possibly Alor, and Sehwān the Sindimana of the Greeks. But, owing to changes in the course of the Lower Indus, it is very difficult to identify ancient sites (McCrindle, Alexander, 157, 354 f.).]

15. His health was worn out at length, and he became the victim of depressed spirits. He died suddenly: I believe poisoned. Fateh, almost as zealous as Madari, also died in the pursuit. Geography has been destructive to all who have pursued it with ardour in the East.

16. A valuable and ancient work, which I presented to the Royal Asiatic Society.

17. It is, however, limited to Malwa, whose geography was greatly improved and enlarged by the labours of Captain Dangerfield; and though my materials could fill up the whole of this province, I merely insert the chief points to connect it with Rajasthan.

18. Captain P. T. Waugh, 10th Regiment Light Cavalry, Bengal.

19. Mr. J. B. Fraser [whose book was published in 1825].

20. My last journey, in 1822-23, was from Udaipur, through these countries towards the Delta of the Indus, but more with a view to historical and antiquarian than geographical research. It proved the most fruitful of all my many journeys. [The results are recorded in Travels in Western India, published in 1839, after the author’s death.]

21. Guru Sikhar.

22. Its classic name is Vetravati, Vetra being the common willow [or reed] in Sanskrit; said by Wilford to be the same in Welsh.

23. Literally ‘the central (madhya) flat.’ [It means ‘Land of the Med tribe.’]

24. Meaning ‘table (pat) mountain (ar).’—Although ar may not be found in any Sanskrit dictionary with the signification ‘mountain,’ yet it appears to be a primitive root possessing such meaning—instance, Ar-buddha, ‘hill of Buddha’; Aravalli, ‘hill of strength.’ Ar is Hebrew for ‘mountain’ (qu. Ararat?) Ὅρος in Greek? The common word for a mountain in Sanskrit, gir, is equally so in Hebrew. [These derivations are out of date. The origin of the word patār is obscure. Sir G. Grierson, to whom the question was referred, suggests a connexion with Marāthi pathār, ‘a tableland,’ or Gujarati pathār (Skr. prastara, ‘expanse, extent’). The word is probably not connected with Hindi pāt, ‘a board.’]

25. The Betwa River runs under the tableland just alluded to, on the east.

26. I am familiar with these regions, and confidently predict that when a similar measurement shall be made from the Betwa to Kotah, these results will little err, and the error will be in having made Kotah somewhat too elevated, and the bed of the Betwa a little too low. [Udaipur city is 1950 feet above sea-level.]

27. Central India, a term which I first applied as the title of the map presented to the Marquess of Hastings, in 1815, ‘of Central and Western India,’ and since become familiar. [Usually applied to the Ganges-Jumna Duāb.]

28. Let it be remembered that the Aravalli, though it loses its tabular form, sends its branches north, terminating at Delhi.

29. Those who have marched from Baroda towards Malwa and marked the irregularities of surface will admit this chain of connexion of the Vindhya and Aravalli.

30. ‘The refuge of strength’ [?], a title justly merited, from its affording protection to the most ancient sovereign race which holds dominion, whether in the east or west—the ancient stock of the Suryavans, the Heliadai of India, our ‘children of the sun,’ the princes of Mewar. [Ārāvalli probably means ‘Corner Line.’]

31. It was my intention to have penetrated through their singular abodes; and I had negotiated, and obtained of these ‘forest lords’ a promise of hospitable passport, of which I have never allowed myself to doubt, as the virtues of pledged faith and hospitality are ever to be found in stronger keeping in the inverse ratio of civilization. Many years ago one of my parties was permitted to range through this tract. In one of the passes of their lengthened valleys ‘The Lord of the Mountain’ was dead: the men were all abroad, and his widow alone in the hut. Madari told his story, and claimed her surety and passport; which the Bhilni delivered from the quiver of her late lord; and the arrow carried in his hand was as well recognised as the cumbrous roll with all its seals and appendages of a traveller in Europe.

32. Meru signifies ‘a hill’ in Sanskrit, hence Komal, or properly Kūmbhalmer, is ‘the hill’ or ‘mountain of Kūmbha,’ a prince whose exploits are narrated. Likewise Ajmer is the ‘hill of Ajaya,’ the ‘Invincible’ hill. Mer is with the long é, like Mère in French, in classical orthography. [Ajmer, ‘hill of Aja, Chauhān.’]

33. At the point of my descent this was characteristically illustrated by my Rajput friend of Semar, whose domain had been invaded and cow-pens emptied, but a few days before, by the mountain bandit of Sirohi. With their booty they took the shortest and not most practicable road: but though their alpine kine are pretty well accustomed to leaping in such abodes, it would appear they had hesitated here. The difficulty was soon got over by one of the Minas, who with his dagger transfixed one and rolled him over the height, his carcase serving at once as a precedent and a stepping-stone for his horned kindred.

34. [“Oldest of all the physical features which intersect the continent is the range of mountains known as the Arāvallis, which strikes across the Peninsula from north-east to south-west, overlooking the sandy wastes of Rājputāna. The Arāvallis are but the depressed and degraded relics of a far more prominent mountain system, which stood, in Palaeozoic times, on the edge of the Rājputāna Sea. The disintegrated rocks which once formed part of the Arāvallis are now spread out in wide red-stone plains to the east” (IGI, i. 1).]

35. Near this the Chambal first breaks into the Patar.

36. Here is the celebrated pass through the mountains.

37. Here the Niwaz breaks the chain.

38. Both celebrated passes, where the ranges are very complicated.

39. I have rescued a few of these from oblivion to present to my countrymen.

40. Hence its name, Vindhya, ‘the barrier,’ to the further progress of the sun in his northern declination. [Skr. root, bind, bid, ‘to divide.’]

41. This the fourth Sind of India. We have, first, the Sind or Indus; this little Sind; then the Kali Sind, or ‘black river’; and again the Sind rising at Latoti, on the plateau west and above Sironj. Sin is a Scythic word for river (now unused), so applied by the Hindus. [Skr. Sindhu, probably from the root syand, ‘to flow.’]

42. The falls of the Kali Sind through the rocks at Gagraun and the Parbati at Chapra (Gugal) are well worthy of a visit. The latter, though I encamped twice at Chapra, from which it was reputed five miles, I did not see.

43. Sangam is the point of confluence of two or more rivers, always sacred to Mahadeva.

44. The Jumna, Chambal, and Sind [triveni, ‘triple braid’].

45. [650 miles.]

46. The only tribes not of Rajput blood.

47. The ‘virgin’ stream.

48. I do not repeat the names of towns forming the arrondissements of the various States; they are distinctly laid down in the boundary lines of each.

49. Thal is the general term for the sand ridges of the desert. [Skr. sthala, ‘firm ground.’]

50. Most probably a corruption of aranya, or desert; [or irina, īrina, ‘desert, salt soil’], so that the Greek mode of writing it is more correct than the present.

51. [The area of the Rann is about 9000 square miles: its length 150, breadth, 60 miles. Bhuj lies inland, not on the banks of the Rann.]

52. It is here the wild ass (gorkhar) roams at large, untamable as in the day of the Arabian Patriarch of Uz, “whose house I have made the wilderness, the barren land (or, according to the Hebrew, salt places), his dwelling. He scorneth the multitude of the city, neither regardeth he the crying of the driver” (Job xxxix. 6, 7).

53. Purwa.

54. I have beheld it from the top of the ruined fortress of Hissar with unlimited range of vision, no object to diverge its ray, save the miniature forests; the entire circle of the horizon a chain of more than fancy could form of palaces, towers, and these airy ‘pillars of heaven’ terminating in turn their ephemeral existence. But in the deserts of Dhat and Umrasumra, where the shepherds pasture their flocks, and especially where the alkaline plant is produced, the stratification is more horizontal, and produces more of the watery deception. It is this illusion to which the inspired writer refers, when he says, “the mock pool of the desert shall become real water” [Isaiah xxv. 7]. The inhabitants of the desert term it Chitram, literally ‘the picture,’ by no means an unhappy designation.

55. Sehraie [in the text], from sahra, ‘desert.’ Hence Sarrazin, or Saracen, is a corruption from sahra, ‘desert,’ and zadan, ‘to strike,’ contracted. Rāhzani, ‘to strike on the road’ (rāh). Rāhbar, ‘on the road,’ corrupted by the Pindaris to labar, the designation of their forays. [The true name is Sahariya, which has been connected with that of the Savara, a tribe in Eastern India. Saracen comes to us from the late Latin Saraceni, of which the origin is unknown; it cannot be derived from the Arabic Sharqi, ‘eastern’ (see New English Dictionary, s.v.).]

56. The confluent arms or sources of the Indus.

BOOK II
HISTORY OF THE RĀJPUT TRIBES

CHAPTER 1

The Purānas.

—Being desirous of epitomizing the chronicles of the martial races of Central and Western India, it was essential to ascertain the sources whence they draw, or claim to draw, their lineage. For this purpose I obtained from the library of the Rana of Udaipur their sacred volumes, the Puranas, and laid them before a body of pandits, over whom presided the learned Jati Gyanchandra. From these extracts were made of all the genealogies of the great races of Surya and Chandra, and of facts historical and geographical.

Most of the Puranas[1] contain portions of historical as well as geographical knowledge; but the Bhagavat, the Skanda, the Agni, and the Bhavishya are the chief guides. It is rather fortunate than to be regretted that their chronologies do not perfectly agree. The number of princes in each line varies, and names are transposed; but we recognize distinctly the principal features in each, affording the conclusion that they are the productions of various writers, borrowing from some common original source [21].

Deluge Legend.

—The Genesis[2] of India commences with an event described in the history of almost all nations, the deluge, which, though treated with the fancy peculiar to the orientals, is not the less entitled to attention. The essence of the extract from the Agni Purana is this: “When ocean quitted his bounds and caused universal destruction by Brahma’s command, Vaivaswata[3] Manu (Noah), who dwelt near the Himalaya[4] mountains was giving water to the gods in the Kritamala river, when a small fish fell into his hand. A voice commanded him to preserve it. The fish expanded to an enormous size. Manu, with his sons and their wives, and the sages, with the seed of every living thing, entered into a vessel which was fastened to a horn on the head of the fish, and thus they were preserved.”

Here, then, the grand northern chain is given to which the abode of the great patriarch of mankind approximated. In the Bhavishya it is stated, that “Vaivaswata (sun-born) Manu ruled at the mountain Sumeru. Of his seed was Kakutstha Raja, who obtained sovereignty at Ayodhya,[5] and his descendants filled the land and spread over the earth.”

I am aware of the meaning given to Sumeru, that thus the Hindus designated the north pole of the earth. But they had also a mountain with this same appellation of pre-eminence of Meru, ‘the hill,’ with the prefix Su, ‘good, sacred’: the Sacred Hill.

Meru, Sumeru.

—In the geography of the Agni Purana, the term is used as a substantial geographical limit;[6] and some of the rivers flowing from the mountainous ranges, whose relative position with Sumeru are there defined, still retain their ancient appellations. Let us not darken the subject, by supposing only allegorical meanings attached to explicit points. In the distribution of their seven dwipas, or continents, though they interpose seas of curds, milk, or wine, we should not reject strong and evident facts, because subsequent ignorant interpolators filled up the page with puerilities [22].

This sacred mountain (Sumeru) is claimed by the Brahmans as the abode of Mahadeva,[7] Adiswar,[8] or Baghes[9]; by the Jains, as the abode of Adinath,[10] the first Jiniswara, or Jain lord. Here they say he taught mankind the arts of agriculture and civilized life. The Greeks claimed it as the abode of Bacchus; and hence the Grecian fable of this god being taken from the thigh of Jupiter, confounding meros (thigh) with the meru (hill) of this Indian deity. In this vicinity the followers of Alexander had their Saturnalia, drank to excess of the wine from its indigenous vines, and bound their brows with ivy (vela)[11] sacred to the Baghes of the east and west, whose votaries alike indulge in ‘strong drink.’

These traditions appear to point to one spot, and to one individual, in the early history of mankind, when the Hindu and the Greek approach a common focus; for there is little doubt that Adinath, Adiswara, Osiris, Baghes, Bacchus, Manu, Menes designate the patriarch of mankind, Noah.

The Hindus can at this time give only a very general idea of the site of Meru; but they appear to localize it in a space of which Bamian, Kabul, and Ghazni would be the exterior points. The former of these cities is known to possess remains of the religion of Buddha, in its caves and colossal statues.[12] The Paropamisan Alexandria is near Bamian; but the Meru and Nyssa[13] of Alexander are placed more to the eastward by the Greek writers, and according to the cautious Arrian between the Cophas and Indus. Authority localizes it between Peshawar and Jalalabad, and calls it Merkoh, or Markoh,[14] "a bare rock 2000 feet high [23] with caves to the westward, termed Bedaulat by the Emperor Humayun from its dismal appearance."[15] This designation, however, of Dasht-i Bedaulat, or ‘unhappy plain,’ was given to the tract between the cities beforementioned [24].

The only scope of these remarks on Sumeru is to show that the Hindus themselves do not make India within the Indus the cradle of their race, but west, amidst the hills of Caucasus,[16] whence the sons of Vaivaswata, or the ‘sun-born,’ migrated eastward to the Indus and Ganges, and founded their first establishment in Kosala, the capital, Ayodhya, or Oudh.

Most nations have indulged the desire of fixing the source whence they issued, and few spots possess more interest than this elevated Madhya-Bhumi, or ‘central region’ of Asia, where the Amu, Oxus, or Jihun, and other rivers, have their rise, and in which both the Surya and Indu[17] races (Sakha) claim the hill,[18] sacred to a great patriarchal ancestor, whence they migrated eastward.

The Rajput tribes could scarcely have acquired some of their still existing Scythic habits and warlike superstitions on the burning plains of Ind.Ind. It was too hot to hail with fervent adoration the return of the sun from his southern course to enliven the northern hemisphere. This should be the religion of a colder clime, brought from their first haunts, the sources of the Jihun and Jaxartes. The grand solstitial festival, the Aswamedha, or sacrifice of the horse (the type of the sun), practised by the children of Vaivaswata, the ‘sun-born,’ was most probably simultaneously introduced from Scythia into the plains of Ind, and west, by the sons of Odin, Woden, or Budha, into Scandinavia, where it became the Hi-el or Hi-ul,[19] the festival of the winter solstice; the grand jubilee of northern nations, and in the first ages of Christianity, being so near the epoch of its rise, gladly used by the first fathers of the church to perpetuate that event[20][25].

1. “Every Purana,” says the first authority existing in Sanskrit lore, “treats of five subjects: the creation of the universe; its progress, and the renovation of the world; the genealogy of gods and heroes; chronology, according to a fabulous system; and heroic history, containing the achievements of demi-gods and heroes. Since each purana contains a cosmogony, both mythological and heroic history, the works which bear that title may not unaptly be compared to the Grecian theogonies” (‘Essay on the Sanskrit and Pracrit Languages,’ by H. T. Colebrooke, Esq.; As. Res. vol. vii. p. 202). [On the age of the Purānas see Smith, EHI, 21 ff.]

2. Resolvable into Sanskrit, janam, ‘birth,’ and is and iswar, ‘lords’ [γένω, γίγνομαι, Skr. root jan, ‘to generate’].

3. Son of the sun.

4. The snowy Caucasus. Sir William Jones, in an extract from a work entitled Essence of the Pooranas, says that this event took place at Dravira in the Deccan.

5. The present Ajodhya, capital of one of the twenty-two satrapies constituting the Mogul Empire, and for some generations held by the titular Vizir, who has recently assumed the regal title. [Ghāziu-d-dīn Haidar in 1819.]

6. “To the south of Sumeru are the mountains Himavan, Hemakūta, and Nishadha; to the north are the countries Nīl, Sveta, and Sringi. Between Hemāchal and the ocean the land is Bhāratkhand, called Kukarma Bhūmi (land of vice, opposed to Āryāvarta, or land of virtue), in which the seven grand ranges are Mahendra, Malaya, Sahya, Suktimat, Riksha, Vindhya, and Paripatra” (Agni Purana).

7. The Creator, literally ‘the Great God.’

8. The ‘first lord.’

9. Baghes, ‘the tiger lord.’lord.’ He wears a tiger’s or panther’s hide; which he places beneath him. So Bacchus did. The phallus is the emblem of each. Baghes has several temples in Mewar. [In identifying Bacchus with a Hindu tiger god the author depended on Asiatic Researches, i. 258, viii. 51. For the Greek story in the text see Quintus Curtius viii. 10; Diodorus iii. 63; Arrian, Anabasis, vii.]

10. First lord.

11. Vela is the general term for a climber, sacred to the Indian Bacchus (Baghes, Adiswara, or Mahadeva), whose priests, following his example, are fond of intoxicating beverages, or drugs. The amarbel, or immortal vela, is a noble climber.

12. [“In the Tūmān of Zohāk and Bāmiān, the fortress of Zohāk is a monument of great antiquity, and in good preservation, but the fort of Bāmiān is in ruins. In the mountain-side caves have been excavated and ornamented with plaster and paintings. Of these there are 12,000 which are called Sumaj, and in former times were used by the people as winter retreats. Three colossal figures are here: one is the statue of a man, 80 yards in height; another that of a woman, 50 yards high, and the third that of a child measuring 15 yards. Strange to relate, in one of the caves is placed a coffin containing the body of one who reposes in his last sleep. The oldest and most learned of antiquarians can give no account of its origin, but suppose it to be of great antiquity. In days of old the ancients prepared a medicament with which they anointed corpses and consigned them to earth in a hard soil. The simple, deceived by this art, attribute their preservation to a miracle” (Āīn, ii. 409 f., with Jarrett’s notes). For Bāmiān see EB, iii. 304 f.]

13. Nishadha is mentioned in the Purana as a mountain. If in the genitive case (which the final syllable marks), it would be a local term given from the city of Nissa. [Nysa has no connexion with Nishadha. It probably lay near Jalalabad or Koh-i Mor (Smith, EHI, 53).]

14. Meru, Sanskrit, and Koh, Persian, for a ‘hill.’

15. Asiatic Researches, vol. vi. p. 497. Wilford appears to have borrowed largely from that ancient store-house (as the Hindu would call it) of learning, Sir Walter Raleigh’s History of the World. He combines, however, much of what that great man had so singularly acquired and condensed, with what he himself collected, and with the aid of imagination has formed a curious mosaic. But when he took a peep into “the chorographical description of the Terrestrial Paradise,” I am surprised he did not separate the nurseries of mankind before and after the flood. There is one passage, also, of Sir Walter Raleigh which would have aided his hypothesis, that Eden was in Higher Asia, between the common sources of the Jihun and other grand rivers: the abundance of the Ficus Indica, or bar-tree, sacred to the first lord, Adnath or Mahadeva.

“Now for the tree of knowledge of good and evil, some men have presumed further; especially Gorapius Bocanus, who giveth himself the honour to have found out the kind of this tree, which none of the writers of former times could ever guess at, whereat Gorapius much marvelleth.”

——“Both together went

Into the thickest wood; there soon they chose

The fig tree; not that kind for fruit renowned,

But such as at this day, to Indians known

In Malabar or Decan, spreads her arms

Branching so broad and long, that in the ground

The bended twigs take root, and daughters grow

About the mother tree, a pillar’d shade

High overarched, and echoing walks between.

There oft the Indian herdsman, shunning heat,

Shelters in cool and tends his pasturing herds.”

——“Those leaves

They gathered, broad as Amazonian targe.”

Paradise Lost, Book ix. 1100 ff.

Sir Walter strongly supports the Hindu hypothesis regarding the locality of the nursery for rearing mankind, and that “India was the first planted and peopled countrie after the flood” (p. 99). His first argument is, that it was a place where the vine and olive were indigenous, as amongst the Sakai Scythai (and as they still are, together with oats, between Kabul and Bamian); and that Ararat could not be in Armenia, because the Gordian mountains on which the ark rested were in longitude 75°, and the Valley of Shinar 79° to 80°, which would be reversing the tide of migration. “As they journeyed from the East, they found a plain, in the land of Shinar, and they dwelt there” (Genesis, chap. xi. ver. 2). He adds, “Ararat, named by Moses, is not any one hill, but a general term for the great Caucasian range; therefore we must blow up this mountain Ararat, or dig it down and carry it out of Armenia, or find it elsewhere in a warmer country, and east from Shinar.” He therefore places it in Indo-Scythia, in 140° of longitude and 35° to 37° of latitude, “where the mountains do build themselves exceeding high”: and concludes, "It was in the plentiful warm East where Noah rested, where he planted the vine, where he tilled the ground and lived thereon. Placuit vero Noacho agriculturæ studium in qua tractanda ipse omnium peritissimus esse dicitur; ob eamque rem, sua ipsius lingua, Ish-Adamath:[A] hoc est, Telluris Vir, appellatur, celebratusque est. The study of husbandry pleased Noah (says the excellent learned man, Arius Montanus) in the order and knowledge of which it is said that Noah excelled all men, and therefore was he called in his own language, a man exercised in the earth." The title, character, and abode exactly suit the description the Jains give of their first Jiniswara, Adinath, the first lordly man, who taught them agriculture, even to “muzzling the bull in treading out the corn.”

Had Sir Walter been aware that the Hindu sacred books styled their country Aryavarta,[B] and of which the great Imaus is the northern boundary, he would doubtless have seized it for his Ararat. [Needless to say, these speculations are obsolete.]

A. In Sanskrit, Īsh, ‘Lord,’ ādi, ‘the first,’ matti, ‘Earth.’ [The derivation is absurd: matti, ‘clay,’ is modern Hindi.] Here the Sanskrit and Hebrew have the same meaning, ‘first lord of the earth.’ In these remote Rajput regions, where early manners and language remain, the strongest phrase to denote a man or human being is literally ‘earth.’ A chief describing a fray between his own followers and borderers whence death ensued, says, Meri matti māri, ‘My earth has been struck’: a phrase requiring no comment, and denoting that he must have blood in return.

B. Āryāvarta, or the land of promise or virtue, cannot extend to the flat plains of India south of the Himavat; for this is styled in the Purānas the very reverse, kukarma des, or land of vice. [Āryāvarta is the land bounded by the Himalaya and Vindhya, from the eastern to the western seas (Manu, Laws, ii. 22).]

16. Hindu, or Indu-kush or koh, is the local appellation; ‘mountain of the moon.’ [Hindu-kush is said to mean ‘Hindu-slayer’ or ‘Indian Caucasus.’]

17. Solar and lunar.

18. Meru, ‘the hill,’ is used distinctively, as in Jaisalmer (the capital of the Bhatti tribe in the Western Desert), ‘the hill of Jaisal’; Merwara, or the ‘mountainous region’; and its inhabitants Meras, or ‘mountaineers.’ Thus, also, in the grand epic the Ramayana (Book i. p. 236), Mena is the mountain-nymph, the daughter of Meru and spouse of Himavat; from whom sprung two daughters, the river goddess Ganga and the mountain-nymph Parbati. She is, in the Mahabharata, also termed Saila, the daughter of Sail, another designation of the snowy chain; and hence mountain streams are called in Sanskrit silletee [?]. Saila bears the same attributes with the Phrygian Cybele, who was also the daughter of a mountain of the same name; the one is carried, the other drawn, by lions. Thus the Greeks also metamorphosed Parbat Pamer, or ‘the mountain Pamer,’ into Paropamisan, applied to the Hindu Koh west of Bamian: but the Parbat pat Pamer, or ‘Pamer chief of hills,’ is mentioned by the bard Chand as being far east of that tract, and under it resided Hamīra, one of the great feudatories of Prithwiraja of Delhi. Had it been Paropanisan (as some authorities write it), it would better accord with the locality where it takes up the name, being near to Nyssa and Meru, of which Parbat or Pahar would be a version, and form Paronisan, ‘the Mountain of Nyssa,’ the range Nishadha of the Puranas. [The true form is Paropanisos: the suggested derivation is impossible.]

19. Haya or Hi, in Sanskrit, ‘horse’—El, ‘sun’: whence ἵππος and ἕλιος. Ηλ appears to have been a term of Scythian origin for the sun; and Hari, the Indian Apollo, is addressed as the sun. Hiul, or Jul, of northern nations (qu. Noel of France?), is the Hindu Sankrānti, of which more will be said hereafter. [The feast was known as Hvil, Jul, or Yule, and the suggested derivation is impossible.]

20. Mallet’s Northern Antiquities.

CHAPTER 2

Puranic Genealogies.

—The chronicles of the Bhagavat and Agni, containing the genealogies of the Surya (sun) and Indu (moon) races, shall now be examined. The first of these, by calculation, brings down the chain to a period six centuries subsequent to Vikramaditya (A.D. 650), so that these books may have been remodelled or commented on about this period: their fabrication cannot be supposed.

Although portions of these genealogies by Sir William Jones, Mr. Bentley, and Colonel Wilford, have appeared in the volumes of the Asiatic Researches, yet no one should rest satisfied with the inquiries of others, if by any process he can reach the fountain-head himself.

If, after all, these are fabricated genealogies of the ancient families of India, the fabrication is of ancient date, and they are all they know themselves upon the subject. The step next in importance to obtaining a perfect acquaintance with the genuine early history of nations, is to learn what those nations repute to be such.

Doubtless the original Puranas contained much valuable historical matter; but, at present, it is difficult to separate a little pure metal from the base alloy of ignorant expounders and interpolators. I have but skimmed the surface: research, to the capable, may yet be rewarded by many isolated facts and important transactions, now hid under the veil of ignorance and allegory.

Neglect of History by the Hindus.

—The Hindus, with the decrease of intellectual power, their possession of which is evinced by their architectural remains, where just proportion and elegant mythological device are still visible, lost the relish for the beauty of truth, and adopted the monstrous in their writings as well as their edifices. But for detection and shame, matters of history would be hideously distorted even in civilized Europe; but in the East, in the moral decrepitude of ancient Asia, with no judge to condemn, no public to praise, each priestly expounder may revel in an unfettered imagination, and reckon his admirers in proportion to the mixture of the marvellous[1] [26]. Plain historical truths have long ceased to interest this artificially fed people.

If at such a comparatively modern period as the third century before Christ, the Babylonian historian Berosus composed his fictions, which assigned to that monarchy such incredible antiquity, it became capable of refutation from the many historians of repute who preceded him. But on the fabulist of India we have no such check. If Vyasa himself penned these legends as now existing, then is the stream of knowledge corrupt from the fountain-head. If such the source, the stream, filtering through ages of ignorance, has only been increased by fresh impurities. It is difficult to conceive how the arts and sciences could advance, when it is held impious to doubt the truth of whatever has been handed down, and still more to suppose that the degenerate could improve thereon. The highest ambition of the present learned priesthood, generation after generation, is to be able to comprehend what has thus reached them, and to form commentaries upon past wisdom; which commentaries are commented on ad infinitum. Whoever dare now aspire to improve thereon must keep the secret in his own breast. They are but the expounders of the olden oracles; were they more they would be infidels. But this could not always have been the case.

With the Hindus, as with other nations, the progress to the heights of science they attained must have been gradual; unless we take from them the merit of original invention, and set them down as borrowers of a system. These slavish fetters of the mind must have been forged at a later period, and it is fair to infer that the monopoly of science and religion was simultaneous. What must be the effect of such monopoly on the impulses and operations of the understanding? Where such exists, knowledge could not long remain stationary; it must perforce retrograde. Could we but discover the period when religion[2] ceased to be a profession [27] and became hereditary (and that such there was these very genealogies bear evidence), we might approximate the era when science attained its height.

The Priestly Office.

—In the early ages of these Solar and Lunar dynasties, the priestly office was not hereditary in families; it was a profession; and the genealogies exhibit frequent instances of branches of these races terminating their martial career in the commencement of a religious sect, or gotra, and of their descendants reassuming their warlike occupations. Thus, of the ten sons of Ikshwaku,[3] three are represented as abandoning worldly affairs and taking to religion; and one of these, Kanina, is said to be the first who made an agnihotra, or pyreum, and worshipped fire, while another son embraced commerce. Of the Lunar line and the six sons of Pururavas, the name of the fourth was Raya; “from him the fifteenth generation was Harita, who with his eight brothers took to the office of religion, and established the Kausika Gotra, or tribe of Brahmans.”

From the twenty-fourth prince in lineal descent from Yayati, by name Bharadwaja, originated a celebrated sect, who still bear his name, and are the spiritual teachers of several Rajput tribes.

Of the twenty-sixth prince, Manava, two sons devoted themselves to religion, and established celebrated sects, viz. Mahavira, whose descendants were the Pushkar Brahmans; and Sankriti, whose issue were learned in the Vedas.Vedas. From the line of Ajamidha these ministers of religion were continually branching off.

In the very early periods, the princes of the Solar line, like the Egyptians and Romans, combined the offices of the priesthood with kingly power, and this whether Brahmanical or Buddhist.[4] Many of the royal line, before and subsequent to Rama, passed great part of their lives as ascetics; and in ancient sculpture and drawings the head is as often adorned with the braided lock of the ascetic as with the diadem of royalty.[5]

The greatest monarchs bestowed their daughters on these royal hermits and sages [28]. Ahalya, the daughter of the powerful Panchala,[6] became the wife of the ascetic Gautama. The sage Jamadagni espoused the daughter of Sahasra[7] Arjuna, of Mahishmat,[8] king of the Haihaya tribe, a great branch of the Yadu race.

Among the Egyptians, according to Herodotus [ii. 37, 141], the priests succeeded to sovereignty, as they and the military class alone could hold lands; and Sethos, the priest of Vulcan, caused a revolution, by depriving the military of their estates.

We have various instances in India of the Brahmans from Jamadagni to the Mahratta Peshwa, contesting for sovereignty; power[9] and homage being still their great aim, as in the days of Vishvamitra[10] and Vasishtha, the royal sages [29] whom “Janaka sovereign of Mithila, addressed with folded hands in token of superiority.”

Relations of Rajputs with Brahmans.

—But this deference for the Brahmans is certainly, with many Rajput classes, very weak. In obedience to prejudice, they show them outward civility; but, unless when their fears or wishes interfere, they are less esteemed than the bards.

The story of the King Vishvamitra of Gadhipura[11] and the Brahman Vasishtha, which fills so many sections of the first book of the Ramayana,[12] exemplifies, under the veil of allegory, the contests for power between the Brahmanical and military classes, and will serve to indicate the probable period when the castes became immutable. Stripped of its allegory, the legend appears to point to a time when the division of the classes was yet imperfect; though we may infer, from the violence of the struggle, that it was the last in which Brahmanhood could be obtained by the military.

Vishvamitra was the son of Gadhi (of the race of Kausika), King of Gadhipura, and contemporary of Ambarisha, King of Ayodhya or Oudh, the fortieth prince from Ikshwaku; consequently about two hundred years anterior to Rama. This event therefore, whence we infer that the system of castes was approaching perfection, was probably about one thousand four hundred years before Christ.

Dates of the Genealogies.

—If proof can be given that these genealogies existed in the days of Alexander, the fact would be interesting. The legend in the Puranas, of the origin of the Lunar race, appears to afford this testimony.

Vyasa, the author of the grand epic the Mahabharata, was son of Santanu (of the race of Hari),[13] sovereign of Delhi, by Yojanagandha, a fisherman’s daughter,[14] [30] consequently illegitimate. He became the spiritual father, or preceptor, of his nieces, the daughters of Vichitravirya, the son and successor of Santanu.

The Herakles Legend.

—Vichitravirya had no male offspring. Of his three daughters, one was named Pandaia[15]; and Vyasa, being the sole remaining male branch of the house of Santanu, took his niece, and spiritual daughter, Pandaia, to wife, and became the father of Pandu, afterwards sovereign of Indraprastha.

Arrian gives the story thus: "It is further said that he [Herakles][16] had a very numerous progeny of children born to him in India ... [31] but that he had only one daughter.[17] The name of this child was Pandaia, and the land in which she was born, and with the sovereignty of which Herakles entrusted her, was called after her name Pandaia" (Indika, viii.).

This is the very legend contained in the Puranas, of Vyasa (who was Hari-kul-es, or chief of the race of Hari) and his spiritual daughter Pandaia, from whom the grand race the Pandavas, and from whom Delhi and its dependencies were designated the Pandava sovereignty.

Her issue ruled for thirty-one generations in direct descents, or from 1120 to 610 before Christ; when the military minister,[18] connected by blood, was chosen by the chiefs who rebelled against the last Pandu king, represented as “neglectful of all the cares of government,” and whose deposition and death introduced a new dynasty.

Two other dynasties succeeded in like manner by the usurpation of these military ministers, until Vikramaditya, when the Pandava sovereignty and era of Yudhishthira were both overturned.

Indraprastha remained without a sovereign, supreme power being removed from the north to the southern parts of India, till the fourth, or, according to some authorities, the eighth century after Vikrama, when the throne of Yudhishthira was once more occupied by the Tuar tribe of Rajputs, claiming descents from the Pandus. To this ancient capital, thus refounded, the new appellation of Delhi was given; and the dynasty of the founder, Anangpal, lasted to the twelfth century, when he abdicated in favour of his grandson,[19] Prithiviraja, the last imperial Rajput sovereign of India, whose defeat and death introduced the Muhammadans.

This line has also closed with the pageant of a prince, and a colony returned from the extreme west is now the sole arbiter of the thrones of Pandu and Timur.

Britain has become heir to the monuments of Indraprastha raised by the descendants of Budha and Ila; to the iron pillar of the Pandavas, "whose pedestal[20] [32] is fixed in hell"; to the columns reared to victory, inscribed with characters yet unknown; to the massive ruins of its ancient continuous cities, encompassing a space still larger than the largest city in the world, whose mouldering domes and sites of fortresses,[21] the very names of which are lost, present a noble field for speculation on the ephemeral nature of power and glory. What monument would Britain bequeath to distant posterity of her succession to this dominion? Not one: except it be that of a still less perishable nature, the monument of national benefit. Much is in our power: much has been given, and posterity will demand the result.

1. The celebrated Goguet remarks on the madness of most nations pretending to trace their origin to infinity. The Babylonians, the Egyptians, and the Scythians, particularly, piqued themselves on their high antiquity, and the first assimilate with the Hindus in boasting they had observed the course of the stars 473,000 years. Each heaped ages on ages; but the foundations of this pretended antiquity are not supported by probability, and are even of modern invention (Origin of Laws).

2. It has been said that the Brahmanical religion was foreign to India; but as to the period of importation we have but loose assertion. We can easily give credit to various creeds and tenets of faith being from time to time incorporated, ere the present books were composed, and that previously the sons of royalty alone possessed the office. Authorities of weight inform us of these grafts; for instance, Mr. Colebrooke gives a passage in his Indian Classes: “A chief of the twice-born tribe was brought by Vishnu’s eagle from Saca Dwipa; hence Saca Dwipa Brahmins were known in Jambu Dwipa.” By Saka Dwipa, Scythia is understood, of which more will be said hereafter. Ferishta also, translating from ancient authorities, says, to the same effect, that “in the reign of Mahraje, King of Canouj, a Brahmin came from Persia, who introduced magic, idolatry, and the worship of the stars”; so that there is no want of authority for the introduction of new tenets of faith. [The passage, inaccurately quoted, is taken from Dow i. 16. See Briggs’s translation, i. Introd. lxviii.]

3. See Table I. [now obsolete, not reprinted].

4. Some of the earlier of the twenty-four Tirthakaras, or Jain hierarchs, trace their origin from the solar race of princes. [As usual, Buddhism confused with Jainism.]

5. Even now the Rana of Mewar mingles spiritual duties with those of royalty, and when he attends the temple of the tutelary deity of his race, he performs himself all the offices of the high priest for the day. In this point a strong resemblance exists to many of the races of antiquity.

6. Prince of the country of Panjab, or five streams east of the Indus. [Panchāla was in the Ganges-Jumna Duāb and its neighbourhood.]

7. The legend of this monarch stealing his son-in-law’s, the hermit’s, cow (of which the Ramayana gives another version), the incarnation of Parasuram, son of Jamadagni, and his exploits, appear purely allegorical, signifying the violence and oppression of royalty over the earth (prithivi), personified by the sacred gao, or cow; and that the Brahmans were enabled to wrest royalty from the martial tribe, shows how they had multiplied. On the derivatives from the word gao, I venture an etymology for others to pursue:

ΓΑῙΑ, γέα, γῆ (Dor. γᾶ), that which produces all things (from γάω, genero); the earth.—Jones’s Dictionary.

ΓΆΛΑ, Milk. Gaola, Herdsman, in Sanskrit. Γαλατικοῖ, Κέλτοι, Galatians, or Gauls, and Celts (allowed to be the same) would be the shepherd races, the pastoral invaders of Europe [?].

8. Maheswar, on the Nerbudda River.

9. Hindustan abounds with Brahmans, who make excellent soldiers, as far as bravery is a virtue; but our officers are cautious, from experience, of admitting too many into a troop or company, for they still retain their intriguing habits. I have seen nearly as many of the Brahmans as of military in some companies; a dangerous error [realized in the Great Mutiny].

10. The Brahman Vasishtha possessed a cow named Savala, so fruitful that with her assistance he could accomplish whatever he desired. By her aid he entertained King Vishvamitra and his army. It is evident that this cow denotes some tract of country which the priest held (bearing in mind that gao, prithivi, signify ‘the earth,’ as well as ‘cow’): a grant, beyond doubt, by some of Vishvamitra’s unwise ancestors, and which he wished to resume. From her were supplied "the oblations to the gods and the pitrideva (father-gods, or ancestors), the perpetual sacrificial fire, the burnt-offerings and sacrifices." This was “the fountain of devotional acts”; this was the Savala for which the king offered “a hundred thousand cows”; this was "the jewel of which a king only should be proprietor."—The subjects of the Brahman appeared not to relish such transfer, and by “the lowing of the cow Savala” obtained numerous foreign auxiliaries, which enabled the Brahman to set his sovereign at defiance. Of these “the Pahlavi (Persian) kings, the dreadful Sakas (Sakai), and Yavanas (Greeks), with scymitars and gold armour, the Kambojas,” etc., were each in turn created by the all-producing cow. The armies of the Pahlavi kings were cut to pieces by Vishvamitra; who at last, by continual reinforcements, was overpowered by the Brahman’s levies. These reinforcements would appear to have been the ancient Persians, the Sacae, the Greeks, the inhabitants of Assam and Southern India, and various races out of the pale of the Hindu religion; all classed under the term Mlechchha, equivalents the ‘barbarian’ of the Greeks and Romans.

The King Vishvamitra, defeated and disgraced by this powerful priest, “like a serpent with his teeth broken, like the sun robbed by the eclipse of its splendour, was filled with perturbation. Deprived of his sons and array, stripped of his pride and confidence, he was left without resource as a bird bereft of his wings.” He abandoned his kingdom to his son, and like all Hindu princes in distress, determined, by penitential rites and austerities, “to obtain Brahmanhood.” He took up his abode at the sacred Pushkar, living on fruits and roots, and fixing his mind, said, “I will become a Brahman.” By these penances he attained such spiritual power that he was enabled to usurp the Brahman’s office. The theocrats caution Vishvamitra, thus determined to become a Brahman by austerity, that “the divine books are to be observed with care only by those acquainted with their evidence; nor does it become thee (Vishvamitra) to subvert the order of things established by the ancients.” The history of his wanderings, austerities, and the temptations thrown in his way is related. The celestial fair were commissioned to break in upon his meditations. The mother of love herself descended; while Indra, joining the cause of the Brahmans, took the shape of the kokila, and added the melody of his notes to the allurements of Rambha, and the perfumed zephyrs which assailed the royal saint in the wilderness. He was proof against all temptation, and condemned the fair to become a pillar of stone. He persevered “till every passion was subdued,” till “not a tincture of sin appeared in him,” and gave such alarm to the whole priesthood, that they dreaded lest his excessive sanctity should be fatal to them: they feared “mankind would become atheists.” “The gods and Brahma at their head were obliged to grant his desire of Brahmanhood; and Vashishtha, conciliated by the gods, acquiesced in their wish, and formed a friendship with Vishvamitra” [Muir, Original Sanskrit Texts, Part i. (1858), 75 ff.].

11. Kanauj, the ancient capital of the present race of Marwar. [This is a myth.]

12. See translation of this epic, by Messrs. Carey and Marshman [in verse, by R. T. H. Griffith].

13. Hari-Kula.

14. It is a very curious circumstance that Hindu legend gives to two of their most celebrated authors, whom they have invested with a sacred character, a descent from the aboriginal and impure tribes of India: Vyasa from a fisherman, and Valmiki, the author of the other grand epic the Ramayana, from a Baddhik or robber, an associate of the Bhil tribe at Abu. The conversion of Valmiki (said to have been miraculous, when in the act of robbing the shrine of the deity) is worked into a story of considerable effect, in the works of Chand, from olden authority.

15. The reason for this name is thus given. One of these daughters being by a slave, it was necessary to ascertain which: a difficult matter, from the seclusion in which they were kept. It was therefore left to Vyasa to discover the pure of birth, who determined that nobility of blood would show itself, and commanded that the princesses should walk uncovered before him. The elder, from shame, closed her eyes, and from her was born the blind Dhritarashtra, sovereign of Hastinapura; the second, from the same feeling, covered herself with yellow ochre, called pandu, and henceforth she bore the name of Pandya, and her son was called Pandu; while the third stepped forth unabashed. She was adjudged not of gentle blood, and her issue was Vidura.

16. A generic term for the sovereigns of the race of Hari, used by Arrian as a proper name [?]. A section of the Mahabharata is devoted to the history of the Harikula, of which race was Vyasa.

Arrian notices the similarity of the Theban and the Hindu Hercules, and cites as authority the ambassador of Seleucus, Megasthenes, who says: “This Herakles is held in special honour by the Sourasenoi, an Indian tribe who possess two large cities, Methora and Cleisobora.... But the dress which this Herakles wore, Megasthenes tells us, resembled that of the Theban Herakles, as the Indians themselves admit.” [Arrian, Indika, viii., Methora is Mathura; Growse (Mathura, 3rd ed. 279) suggests that Cleisobora is Krishnapura, ‘city of Krishna.’]

Diodorus has the same legend, with some variety. He says: "Hercules was born amongst the Indians, and like the Greeks they furnish him with a club and lion’s hide. In strength (bala) he excelled all men, and cleared the sea and land of monsters and wild beasts. He had many sons, but only one daughter. It is said that he built Palibothra, and divided his kingdom amongst his sons (the Balika-putras, sons of Bali). They never colonized; but in time most of the cities assumed a democratical form of government (though some were monarchical) till Alexander’s time." The combats of Hercules, to which Diodorus alludes, are those in the legendary haunts of the Harikulas, during their twelve years’ exile from the seats of their forefathers.

How invaluable such remnants of the ancient race of Harikula! How refreshing to the mind yet to discover, amidst the ruins on the Yamuna, Hercules (Baldeva, god of strength) retaining his club and lion’s hide, standing on his pedestal at Baldeo, and yet worshipped by the Suraseni! This name was given to a large tract of country round Mathura, or rather round Surpura, the ancient capital founded by Surasena, the grandfather of the Indian brother-deities, Krishna and Baldeva, Apollo and Hercules. The title would apply to either; though Baldeva has the attributes of the ‘god of strength.’ Both are es (lords) of the race (kula) of Hari (Hari-kul-es), of which the Greeks might have made the compound Hercules. Might not a colony after the Great War have migrated westward? The period of the return of the Heraclidae, the descendants of Atreus (Atri is progenitor of the Harikula), would answer: it was about half a century after the Great War. [These speculations are worthless.]

It is unfortunate that Alexander’s historians were unable to penetrate into the arcana of the Hindus, as Herodotus appears to have done with those of the Egyptians. The shortness of Alexander’s stay, the unknown language in which their science and religion were hid, presented an insuperable difficulty. They could have made very little progress in the study of the language without discovering its analogy to their own.

17. Arrian generally exercises his judgment in these matters, and is the reverse of credulous. On this point he says, “Now to me it seems that even if Herakles could have done a thing so marvellous, he could have made himself longer-lived, in order to have intercourse with his daughter when she was of mature age” [Indika, ix.].

Sandrocottus is mentioned by Arrian to be of this line; and we can have no hesitation, therefore, in giving him a place in the dynasty of Puru, the second son of Yayati, whence the patronymic used by the race now extinct, as was Yadu, the elder brother of Puru. Hence Sandrocottus, if not a Puru himself, is connected with the chain of which the links are Jarasandha (a hero of the Bharat), Ripunjaya, the twenty-third in descent, when a new race, headed by Sanaka and Sheshnag, about six hundred years before Christ, usurped the seat of the lineal descendants of Puru; in which line of usurpation is Chandragupta, of the tribe Maurya, the Sandrocottus of Alexander, a branch of this Sheshnag, Takshak, or Snake race, a race which, stripped of its allegory, will afford room for subsequent dissertation. The Prasioi of Arrian would be the stock of Puru; Prayag is claimed in the annals yet existing as the cradle of their race. This is the modern Allahabad; and the Eranaboas must be the Jumna, and the point of junction with the Ganges, where we must place the capital of the Prasioi. [For Sandrokottos or Chandragupta Maurya see Smith, EHI, 42 ff. He certainly did not belong to the ‘Snake Race.’ The Erannoboas (Skr. Hiranyavaha, ‘gold-bearing’) is the river Son. The Prasioi (Skr. Prāchyās, ‘dwellers in the east’) had their capital at Pātaliputra, the modern Patna (McCrindle, Alexander, 365 f.).]

18. Analogous to the maire du palais of the first races of the Franks.

19. His daughter’s son. This is not the first or only instance of the Salic law of India being set aside. There are two in the history of the sovereigns of Anhilwara Patan. In all adoptions of this nature, when the child ‘binds round his head the turban’ of his adopted father, he is finally severed from the stock whence he had his birth. [For the early history of Delhi see Smith, EHI, 386 ff.]

20. The khil, or iron pillar of the Pandus, is mentioned in the poems of Chand. An infidel Tuar prince wished to prove the truth of the tradition of its depth of foundation: "blood gushed up from the earth’s centre, the pillar became loose (dhili)," as did the fortune of the house from such impiety. This is the origin of Delhi. [The inscription on the pillar proves the falsity of the legend, and the name Delhi is older than the Tuar dynasty (IGI, xi. 233).]

21. I doubt if Shahpur is yet known. I traced its extent from the remains of a tower between Humayun’s tomb and the grand column, the Kutb. In 1809 I resided four months at the mausoleum of Safdar Jang, the ancestor of the present [late] King of Oudh, amidst the ruins of Indraprastha, several miles from inhabited Delhi, but with which these ruins forms detached links of connexion. I went to that retirement with a friend now no more, Lieutenant Macartney, a name well known and honoured. We had both been employed in surveying the canals which had their sources in common from the head of the Jumna, where this river leaves its rocky barriers, the Siwalik chain, and issues into the plains of Hindustan. These canals on each side, fed by the parent stream, returned the waters again into it; one through the city of Delhi, the other on the opposite side. [Cunningham (ASR, i. 207 ff.) proved that the true site of the ancient city, Siri, was the old ruined fort to the north-east of Rāī Pithora’s stronghold, which is at present called Shāhpur. This identification has been disputed by C. J. Campbell (JASB, 1866, p. 206). But Cunningham gives good reasons for maintaining his opinion. The place took its name from Sher Shāh and his son Islām or Salīm Shāh. See also Carr Stephens, Archaeological and Monumental Remains of Delhi (1876), pp. 87 f., 190.]

CHAPTER 3

Princes of the Solar Line.

—Vyasa gives but fifty-seven princes of the Solar line, from Vaivaswata Manu to Rama; and no list which has come under my observation exhibits more than fifty-eight, for the same period, of the Lunar race. How different from the Egyptian priesthood, who, according to Herodotus, gave a list up to that period of three hundred and thirty[1] sovereigns from their first prince, also the ‘sun-born[2] Menes!’

Ikshwaku was the son of Manu, and the first who moved to the eastward, and founded Ayodhya.

Budha (Mercury) founded the Lunar line; but we are not told who established their first capital, Prayag,[3] though we are authorized to infer that it was founded by Puru, the sixth in descent from Budha [33].

A succession of fifty-seven princes occupied Ayodhya from Ikshwaku to Rama. From Yäyati’s sons the Lunar races descend in unequal lengths. The lines from Yadu,[4] concluding with Krishna and his cousin Kansa, exhibit fifty-seven and fifty-nine descents from Yayati; while Yudhishthira,[5] Salya,[6] Jarasandha,[7] and Vahurita,[8] all contemporaries of Krishna and Kansa, are fifty-one, forty-six, and forty-seven generations respectively, from the common ancestor Yayati.

Solar and Lunar Genealogies.

—There is a wide difference between the Solar and the Yadu branches of the Lunar lines; yet is that now given fuller than any I have met with. Sir William Jones’s lists of the Solar line give fifty-six, and of the Lunar (Budha to Yudhishthira) forty-six, being one less in each than in the tables now presented; nor has he given the important branch terminating with Krishna. So close an affinity between lists, derived from such different authorities as this distinguished character and myself had access to, shows that there was some general source entitled to credit.

Mr. Bentley’s[9] lists agree with Sir William Jones’s, exhibiting fifty-six and forty-six respectively for the last-mentioned Solar and Lunar races. But, on a close comparison, he has either copied them or taken from the same original source; afterwards transposing names which, though aiding a likely hypothesis, will not accord with their historical belief.

Colonel Wilford’s[10] Solar list is of no use; but his two dynasties of Puru and Yadu of the Lunar race are excellent, that part of the line of Puru, from Jarasandha to Chandragupta, being the only correct one in print.

It is surprising Wilford did not make use of Sir William Jones’s Solar chronology; but he appears to have dreaded bringing down Rama to the period of Krishna, as he is known to have preceded by four generations ‘the Great War’ of the Yadu races.

It is evident that the Lunar line has reached us defective. It is supposed so by their genealogists; and Wilford would have increased the error by taking it as the standard, and reducing the Solar to conform thereto.

Mr. Bentley’s method is therefore preferable; namely, to suppose eleven princes omitted in the Lunar between Janmejaya and Prachinvat. But as there is no [34] authority for this, the Lunar princes are distributed in the tables collaterally with the Solar, preserving contemporaneous affinity where synchronisms will authorise. By this means all hypothesis will be avoided, and the genealogies will speak for themselves.

There is very little difference between Sir William Jones’s and Colonel Wilford’s lists, in that main branch of the Lunar race, of which Puru, Hastin, Ajamidha, Kuru, Santanu, and Yudhishthira are the most distinguished links. The coincidence is so near as to warrant a supposition of identity of source; but close inspection shows Wilford to have had a fuller supply, for he produces new branches, both of Hastin’s and Kuru’s progeny. He has also one name (Bhimasena) towards the close, which is in my lists, but not in Sir William Jones’s; and immediately following Bhimasena, both these lists exhibit Dilipa, wanting in my copy of the Bhagavat, though contained in the Agni Purana: proofs of the diversity of the sources of supply, and highly gratifying when the remoteness of those sources is considered. There is also in my lists Tansu, the nineteenth from Budha, who is not in the lists either of Sir William Jones or Wilford. Again; Wilford has a Suhotra preceding Hastin, who is not in Sir William Jones’s genealogies.[11]

Again; Jahnu is made the successor to Kuru; whereas the Purana (whence my extracts) makes Parikshit the successor, who adopts the son of Jahnu. This son is Viduratha, who has a place in all three. Other variations are merely orthographical.

A comparison of Sir William Jones’s Solar genealogies with my tables will yield nearly the same satisfactory result as to original authenticity. I say Sir William Jones’s list, because there is no other efficient one. We first differ at the fourth from Ikshwaku. In my list this is Am-Prithu, of which he makes two names, Anenas and Prithu. Thence to Purukutsa, the eighteenth, the difference is only in orthography. To Irisuaka, the twenty-third in mine, the twenty-sixth in Sir William Jones’s list, one name is above accounted for; but here are two wanting in mine, Trasadasyu and Haryaswa. There is, also, considerable difference in the orthography of those names which we have in common. Again; we differ as to the successors of Champa, the twenty-seventh, the founder of Champapur in Bihar. In Sir William’s, Sadeva succeeds, and he is followed by Vijaya; but my authorities state these both to be sons of Champa, and that Vijaya, the [35] younger, was his successor, as the elder, Sadeva, took to religious austerity. The thirty-third and thirty-sixth, Kesi and Dilipa, are not noticed by Sir William Jones; but there is a much more important person than either of these omitted, who is a grand link of connexion, and affording a good synchronism of the earliest history. This is Ambarisha, the fortieth, the contemporary of Gadhi, who was the founder of Gadhipura or Kanauj. Nala, Sarura, and Dilipa (Nos. 44, 45, 54 of my lists) are all omitted by Sir William Jones.

This comparative analysis of the chronologies of both these grand races cannot fail to be satisfactory. Those which I furnish are from the sacred genealogies in the library of a prince who claims common origin with them, and are less liable to interpolation. There is scarcely a chief of character for knowledge who cannot repeat the genealogy of his line. The Prince of Mewar has a peculiarly retentive memory in this way. The professed genealogists, the Bhats, must have them graven on their memory, and the Charanas (the encomiasts) ought to be well versed therein.

The first table exhibits two dynasties of the Solar race of Princes of Ayodhya and Mithila Des, or Tirhut, which latter I have seen nowhere else. It also exhibits four great and three lesser dynasties of the Lunar race; and an eighth line is added, of the race of Yadu, from the annals of the Bhatti tribe at Jaisalmer.

Ere quitting this halting-place in the genealogical history of the ancient races, where the celebrated names of Rama, Krishna, and Yudhishthira close the brazen age of India, and whose issue introduce the present iron age, or Kali Yuga, I shall shortly refer to the few synchronic points which the various authorities admit.

Of periods so remote, approximations to truth are the utmost to be looked for; and it is from the Ramayana and the Puranas these synchronisms are hazarded.

Harischandra.

—The first commences with a celebrated name of the Solar line, Harischandra, son of Trisanku, still proverbial for his humility.[12] He is the twenty-fourth,[13] and declared contemporary of Parasurama, who slew the celebrated Sahasra-Arjuna[14] of [36] the Haihaya (Lunar) race, Prince of Mahishmati on the Nerbudda. This is confirmed by the Ramayana, which details the destruction of the military class and assumption of political power by the Brahmans, under their chief Parasurama, marking the period when the military class ‘lost the umbrella of royalty,’ and, as the Brahmans ridiculously assert, their purity of blood. This last, however, their own books sufficiently contradict, as the next synchronism will show.

Sagara.

—This synchronism we have in Sagara, the thirty-second prince of the Solar line, the contemporary of Talajangha, of the Lunar line, the sixth in descent from Sahasra Arjuna, who had five sons preserved from the general slaughter of the military class by Parasurama, whose names are given in the Bhavishya Purana.

Wars were constantly carried on between these great rival races, Surya and Indu, recorded in the Puranas and Ramayana. The Bhavishya describes that between Sagara and Talajangha “to resemble that of their ancestors, in which the Haihayas suffered as severely as before.” But that they had recovered all their power since Parasurama is evident from their having completely retaliated on the Suryas, and expelled the father[15] of Sagara from his capital of Ayodhya. Sagara and Talajangha appear to have been contemporary with Hastin of Hastinapura, and with Anga, descended from Budha, the founder of Angadesa,[16] or Ongdesa, and the Anga race.

Ambarisha.

—The Ramayana affords another synchronism; namely, that Ambarisha of Ayodhya, the fortieth prince of the Solar line, was the contemporary of Gadhi, the founder of Kanauj, and of Lomapada the Prince of Angadesa.

Krishna.

—The last synchronism is that of Krishna and Yudhishthira, which terminates the [37] brazen, and introduces the Kali Yuga or iron age. But this is in the Lunar line; nor have we any guide by which the difference can be adjusted between the appearance of Rama of the Solar and Krishna of the Lunar races.

Thus of the race of Krostu we have Kansa, Prince of Mathura, the fifty-ninth, and his cousin Krishna, the fifty-eighth from Budha; while of the line of Puru, descending through Ajamidha and Dvimidha, we have Salya, Jarasandha, and Yudhishthira, the fifty-first, fifty-third, and fifty-fourth respectively.

The race of Anga gives Prithusena as one of the actors and survivors of the Mahabharata, and the fifty-third from Budha.

Thus, taking an average of the whole, we may consider fifty-five princes to be the number of descents from Budha to Krishna and Yudhishthira; and, admitting an average of twenty years for each reign, a period of eleven hundred years; which being added to a like period calculated from thence to Vikramaditya, who reigned fifty-six years before Christ, I venture to place the establishment in India Proper of these two grand races, distinctively called those of Surya and Chandra, at about 2256 years before the Christian era; at which period, though somewhat later, the Egyptian, Chinese, and Assyrian monarchies are generally stated to have been established,[17] and about a century and a half after that great event, the Flood.

Though a passage in the Agni Purana indicates that the line of Surya, of which Ikshwaku was the head, was the first colony which entered India from Central Asia, yet we are compelled to place the patriarch Budha as his contemporary, he being stated to have come from a distant region, and married to Ila, the sister of Ikshwaku.

Ere we proceed to make any remarks on the descendants of Krishna and Arjuna, who carry on the Lunar line, or of the Kushites and Lavites, from Kusa and Lava, the sons of Rama, who carry on that of the Sun, a few observations on the chief kingdoms established by their progenitors on the continent of India will be hazarded in the ensuing Chapter [38].

1. Herodotus ii. 99, 100.

2. The Egyptians claim the sun, also, as the first founder of the kingdom of Egypt.

3. The Jaisalmer annals give in succession Prayag, Mathura, Kusasthala, Dwaraka, as capitals of the Indu or Lunar race, in the ages preceding the Bharat or Great War. Hastinapur was founded twenty generations after these, by Hastin, from whom ramified the three grand Sakha, viz. Ajamidha, Vimidha, and Purumidha, which diversified the Yadu race.

4. See Table I. [not reprinted].

5. Of Delhi—Indraprastha.

6. Salya, the founder of Aror on the Indus, a capital I had the good fortune to discover. Salya is the Siharas of Abu-l Fazl. [Āīn, ii. 343.]

7. Jarasandha of Bihar.

8. Vahoorita, unknown yet. [? Bahuratha.]

9. Asiatic Researches, vol. v. p. 341.

10. Ibid. vol. v. p. 241.

11. I find them, however, in the Agni Purana.

12. [The tragical story of Harischandra is told by J. Muir, Original Sanskrit Texts, i. 88 ff.]

13. Sahyadri Khanda of the Skanda Purana.

14. In the Bhavishya Purana this prince, Sahasra-Arjuna, is termed a Chakravartin, or paramount sovereign. It is said that he conquered Karkotaka of the Takshak, Turushka, or Snake race, and brought with him the population of Mahishmati, and founded Hemanagara in the north of India, on his expulsion from his dominions on the Nerbudda. Traditionary legends yet remain of this prince on the Nerbudda, where he is styled Sahasrabahu, or ‘with a thousand arms,’ figurative of his numerous progeny. The Takshak, or Snake race, here alluded to, will hereafter engage our attention. The names of animals in early times, planets, and things inanimate, all furnished symbolic appellations for the various races. In Scripture we have the fly, the bee, the ram to describe the princes of Egypt, Assyria, and Macedonia; here we have the snake, horse, monkey, etc. The Snake or Takshak race was one of the most extensive and earliest of Higher Asia, and celebrated in all its extent, and to which I shall have to recur hereafter. [By the Takshak race, so often referred to, the author seems to mean a body of Scythian snake-worshippers. There are instances of a serpent barrow, and of the use of the snake as a form of ornament among the Scythians; but beyond this the evidence of worship of the serpent is scanty (E. H. Minns, Scythians and Greeks, 328 f., 66 note, 294, 318, 323, etc.). It was really the Takka, a Panjāb tribe (Beal, Si-yu-ki, i. 165 ff.; Cunningham, Ancient Geography of India, 148 ff.; Stein, Rājatarangini, i. 204 f.).]

In the Ramayana it is stated that the sacrificial horse was stolen by “a serpent (Takshak) assuming the form of Ananta.”

15. “Asita, the father of Sagara, expelled by hostile kings of the Haihayas, the Talajanghas, and the Sasa-vindus, fled to the Himavat mountains, where he died, leaving his wives pregnant, and from one of these Sagara was born” (Ramayana, i. 41). It was to preserve the Solar race from the destruction which threatened it from the prolific Lunar race, that the Brahman Parasurama armed: evidently proving that the Brahmanical faith was held by the Solar race; while the religion of Budha, the great progenitor of the Lunar, still governed his descendants. This strengthened the opposition of the sages of the Solar line to Vishvamitra’s (of Budha’s or the Lunar line) obtaining Brahmanhood. That Krishna, of Lunar stock, prior to founding a new sect, worshipped Budha, is susceptible of proof.

16. Angdes, Ongdes, or Undes adjoins Tibet. The inhabitants call themselves Hungias, and appear to be the Hong-niu of the Chinese authors, the Huns (Hūns) of Europe and India, which prove this Tartar race to be Lunar, and of Budha. [Anga, the modern Bhāgalpur, is confounded with Hundes or Tibet.]

17. Egyptian, under Misraim, 2188 B.C.; Assyrian, 2059; Chinese, 2207. [The first Egyptian dynasty is now dated 5500 B.C.; Chinese, 2852 B.C.; Babylonian, 2300 B.C. Any attempt to establish an Indian chronology from the materials used by the Author does not promise to be successful.]

CHAPTER 4

Ayodhya.

—Ayodhya[1] was the first city founded by the race of Surya. Like other capitals, its importance must have risen by slow degrees; yet making every allowance for exaggeration, it must have attained great splendour long anterior to Rama. Its site is well known at this day under the contracted name of Oudh, which also designates the country appertaining to the titular wazir of the Mogul empire; which country, twenty-five years ago, nearly marked the limits of Kosala, the pristine kingdom of the Surya race. Overgrown greatness characterized all the ancient Asiatic capitals, and that of Ayodhya was immense. Lucknow, the present capital, is traditionally asserted to have been one of the suburbs of ancient Oudh, and so named by Rama, in compliment to his brother Lakshman.

Mithila.

—Nearly coeval in point of time with Ayodhya was Mithila,[2] the capital of a country of the same name, founded by Mithila, the grandson of Ikshwaku.

The name of Janaka,[3] son of Mithila, eclipsed that of the founder and became the patronymic of this branch of the Solar race.

Other Kingdoms.

—These are the two chief capitals of the kingdoms of the Solar line described in [39] this early age; though there were others of a minor order, such as Rohtas, Champapura,[4] etc., all founded previously to Rama.

By the numerous dynasties of the Lunar race of Budha many kingdoms were founded. Much has been said of the antiquity of Prayag; yet the first capital of the Indu or Lunar race appears to have been founded by Sahasra Arjuna, of the Haihaya tribe. This was Mahishmati on the Nerbudda, still existing in Maheswar.[5] The rivalry between the Lunar race and that of the Suryas of Ayodhya, in whose aid the priesthood armed, and expelled Sahasra Arjuna from Mahishmati, has been mentioned. A small branch of these ancient Haihayas[6] yet exist in the line of the Nerbudda, near the very top of the valley at Sohagpur, in Baghelkhand, aware of their ancient lineage; and, though few in number, are still celebrated for their valour.[7]

Dwarka.

—Kusasthali Dwarka, the capital of Krishna, was founded prior to Prayag, to Surpur, or Mathura. The Bhagavat attributes the foundation of the city to Anrita, the brother of Ikshwaku, of the Solar race, but states not how or when the Yadus became possessed thereof.

The ancient annals of the Jaisalmer family of the Yadu stock give the priority of foundation to Prayag, next to Mathura, and last to Dwarka. All these cities are too well known to require description; especially Prayag, at the confluence of the Yamuna and Ganges. The Prasioi were the descendants of Puru[8] of Prayag, visited by Megasthenes, ambassador of Seleucus, and the principal city of the Yadus, ere it sent forth the four branches from Satwata. At Prayag resided the celebrated Bharat, the son of Sakuntala.

In the Ramayana the Sasavindus[9] (another Yadu race) are inscribed as allied with the Haihayas in the wars with the race of Surya; and of this race was Sisupal[10] (the founder of Chedi[11]), one of the foes of Krishna [40].

Surpur.

—We are assured by Alexander’s historians that the country and people round Mathura, when he invaded India, were termed Surasenoi. There are two princes of the name of Sursen in the immediate ancestry of Krishna; one his grandfather, the other eight generations anterior.anterior. Which of these founded the capital Surpur,[12] whence the country and inhabitants had their appellation, we cannot say.say. Mathura and Cleisobara are mentioned by the historians of Alexander as the chief cities of the Surasenoi. Though the Greeks sadly disfigure names, we cannot trace any affinity between Cleisobara and Surpur.

Hastinapura.

—The city of Hastinapura was built by Hastin a name celebrated in the Lunar dynasties. The name of this city is still preserved on the Ganges, about forty miles south of Hardwar,[13] where the Ganges breaks through the Siwalik mountains and enters the plains of India. This mighty stream, rolling its masses of waters from the glaciers of the Himalaya, and joined by many auxiliary streams, frequently carries destruction before it. In one night a column of thirty feet in perpendicular height has been known to bear away all within its sweep, and to such an occurrence the capital of Hastin is said to have owed its ruin.[14] As it existed, however, long after the Mahabharata, it is surprising it is not mentioned by the historians of Alexander, who invaded India probably about eight centuries after that event. In this abode of the sons of Puru resided Porus, one of the two princes of that name, opponents of Alexander, and probably Bindusara the son of Chandragupta, surmised to be the Abisares[15] and Sandrakottos of Grecian authorities. Of the two princes named Porus mentioned by Alexander’s [41] historians, one resided in the very cradle of the Puru dynasties; the abode of the other bordered on the Panjab: warranting an assertion that the Pori of Alexander were of the Lunar race, and destroying all the claims various authors[16] have advanced on behalf of the princes of Mewar.[17]

Hastin sent forth three grand branches, Ajamidha, Dvimidha, and Purumidha. Of the two last we lose sight altogether; but Ajamidha’s progeny spread over all the northern parts of India, in the Panjab and across the Indus. The period, probably one thousand six hundred years before Christ.

From Ajamidha,[18] in the fourth generation, was Bajaswa, who obtained possessions towards the Indus, and whose five sons gave their name, Panchala, to the Panjab, or space watered by the five rivers. The capital founded by the younger brother, Kampila, was named Kampilnagara.[19]

The descendants of Ajamidha by his second wife, Kesini, founded another kingdom and dynasty, celebrated in the heroic history of Northern India. This is the Kausika dynasty.

Kanauj.

—Kusa had four sons, two of whom, Kusanabha and Kusamba, are well known to traditional history, and by the still surviving cities founded by them. Kusanabha founded the city of Mahodaya on the Ganges, afterwards changed to Kanyakubja, or Kanauj, which maintained its celebrity until the Muhammadan invasion of Shihabu-d-din (A.D. 1193), when this overgrown city was laid prostrate for ever. It was not unfrequently called Gadhipura, or the ‘city of Gadhi.’ This practice of multiplying names of cities in the east is very destructive to history. Abu-l Fazl has taken from Hindu authorities an account of Kanauj; and could we admit the authority of a poet on such subjects, Chand, the bard of Prithwiraja,[20] would afford materials. Ferishta states it in the early ages to have been twenty-five coss [42] (thirty-five miles) in circumference, and that there were thirty thousand shops for the sale of the areca or beetle-nut only;[21] and this in the sixth century, at which period the Rathor dynasty, which terminated with Jaichand, in the twelfth, had been in possession from the end of the fifth century.

Kusamba also founded a city, called after his own name Kausambi.[22] The name was in existence in the eleventh century; and ruins might yet exist, if search were made on the shores of the Ganges, from Kanauj southward.

The other sons built two capitals, Dharmaranya and Vasumati; but of neither have we any correct knowledge.

Kuru had two sons, Sudhanush and Parikhshita. The descendants of the former terminated with Jarasandha, whose capital was Rajagriha (the modern Rajmahal) on the Ganges, in the province of Bihar.[23] From Parikhshita descended the monarchs Santanu and Balaka: the first producing the rivals of the Great War, Yudhishthira and Duryodhana; the other the Balakaputras.

Duryodhana, the successor to the throne of Kuru, resided at the ancient capital, Hastinapura; while the junior branch, Yudhishthira, founded Indraprastha, on the Yamuna or Jumna, which name in the eighth century was changed to Delhi.

The sons of Balaka founded two kingdoms: Palibothra, on the lower Ganges; and Aror,[24] on the eastern bank of the Indus, founded by Sahl [43].

One great arm of the tree of Yayati remains unnoticed, that of Uru or Urvasu, written by others Turvasu. Uru was the father of a line of kings who founded several empires. Virupa, the eighth prince from Uru, had eight sons, two of whom are particularly mentioned as sending forth two grand shoots, Druhyu and Bhabru. From Druhyu a dynasty was established in the north. Aradwat, with his son Gandhara, is stated to have founded a State: Prachetas is said to have become king of Mlecchhades, or the barbarous regions. This line terminated with Dushyanta, the husband of the celebrated Sakuntala, father of Bharat, and who, labouring under the displeasure of some offended deity, is said by the Hindus to have been the cause of all the woes which subsequently befell the race. The four grandsons of Dushyanta, Kalanjar, Keral, Pand, and Chaul, gave their names to countries.

Kalanjar.

—Kalanjar is the celebrated fortress in Bundelkhand, so well known for its antiquities, which have claimed considerable notice.

Kerala.

—Of the second, Kerala, it is only known that in the list of the thirty-six royal races in the twelfth century, the Kerala makes one, but the capital is unknown.[25]

Pandya.

—The kingdom founded by Pand may be that on the coast of Malabar, the Pandu-Mandal of the Hindus, the Regia Pandiona of the geographers of the west, and of which, probably, Tanjore is the modern capital.[26]

Chaul.

—Chaul[27] is in the Saurashtra peninsula, and on the coast, towards Jagat Khunt, ‘the world’s end,’ and still retains its appellation.

Anga.

—The other shoot from Bhabru became celebrated. The thirty-fourth prince, Anga, founded the kingdom of Angadesa, of which Champapuri[28] was the [44] capital, established about the same time with Kanauj, probably fifteen hundred years before Christ. With him the patronymic was changed, and the Anga race became famous in ancient Hindu history; and to this day Un-des still designates the Alpine regions of Tibet bordering on Chinese Tartary.

Prithusena terminates the line of Anga; and as he survived the disasters of the Great War, his race probably multiplied in those regions, where caste appears never to have been introduced.

Recapitulation.

—Thus have we rapidly reviewed the dynasties of Surya and Chandra, from Manu and Budha to Rama, Krishna, Yudhishthira, and Jarasandha; establishing, it is hoped, some new points, and perhaps adding to the credibility of the whole.

The wrecks of almost all the vast cities founded by them are yet to be traced in ruins. The city of Ikshwaku and Rama, on the Sarju; Indraprastha, Mathura, Surpura, Prayag on the Yamuna; Hastinapura, Kanyakubja, Rajagriha on the Ganges; Maheswar on the Nerbudda; Aror on the Indus; and Kusasthali Dwarka on the shore of the Indian Ocean. Each has left some memorial of former grandeur: research may discover others.

There is yet an unexplored region in Panchala; Kampilanagara its capital, and those cities established west of the Indus by the sons of Bajaswa.

Traces of the early Indo-Scythic nations may possibly reward the search of some adventurous traveller who may penetrate into Transoxiana, on the sites of Cyropolis, and the most northern Alexandria; in Balkh, and amidst the caves of Bamian.

The plains of India retain yet many ancient cities, from whose ruins somewhat may be gleaned to add a mite to knowledge; and where inscriptions may be found in a character which, though yet unintelligible, will not always remain so in this age of discovery. For such let the search be general, and when once a key is obtained, they will enlighten each other. Wherever the races of Kuru, Uru, and Yadu have swayed, have been found ancient and yet undeciphered characters.

Much would reward him who would make a better digest of the historical and geographical matter in the Puranas. But we must discard the idea that the history of Rama, the Mahabharata of Krishna and the five Pandava[29] brothers, are [45] mere allegory: an idea supported by some, although their races, their cities, and their coins still exist. Let us master the characters on the columns of Indraprastha, of Prayag and Mewar, on the rocks of Junagarh,[30] at Bijolli, on the Aravalli, and in the Jain temples scattered over India, and then we shall be able to arrive at just and satisfactory conclusions.

1. The picture drawn by Valmiki of the capital of the Solar race is so highly coloured that Ayodhya might stand for Utopia, and it would be difficult to find such a catalogue of metropolitan embellishments in this, the iron age of Oudh. "On the banks of the Surayu is a large country called Kosala, in which is Ayodhya, built by Manu, twelve yojans (forty-eight miles) in extent, with streets regular and well watered. It was filled with merchants, beautified by gardens, ornamented with stately gates and high-arched porticoes, furnished with arms, crowded with chariots, elephants, and horses, and with ambassadors from foreign lands; embellished with palaces whose domes resembled the mountain tops, dwellings of equal height, resounding with the delightful music of the tabor, the flute, and the harp. It was surrounded by an impassable moat, and guarded by archers. Dasaratha was its king, a mighty charioteer. There were no atheists. The affections of the men were in their consorts. The women were chaste and obedient to their lords, endowed with beauty, wit, sweetness, prudence, and industry, with bright ornaments and fair apparel; the men devoted to truth and hospitality, regardful of their superiors, their ancestors, and their gods.

“There were eight councillors; two chosen priests profound in the law, besides another inferior council of six. Of subdued appetites, disinterested, forbearing, pleasant, patient; not avaricious; well acquainted with their duties and popular customs; attentive to the army, the treasury; impartially awarding punishment even on their own sons; never oppressing even an enemy; not arrogant; comely in dress; never confident about doubtful matters; devoted to the sovereign.”

2. Mithila, the modern Tirhut in Bengal [including the modern districts of Darbhanga, Champāran, and Muzaffarpur].

3. Kusadhwaja, father of Sita (spouse of Rama), is also called Janaka; a name common in this line, and borne by the third prince in succession after Suvarna Roma, the ‘golden-haired’ chief Mithila.

4. [Rohtās in the modern Shāhābād district; Champapura in Bhāgalpur.]

5. Familiarly designated as Sahasra Bahu ki Basti, or ‘the town of the thousand-armed.’ [In Indore State (IGI, xvii. 8).]

6. The Haihaya race, of the line of Budha, may claim affinity with the Chinese race which first gave monarchs to China [?].

7. Of this I have heard the most romantic proofs in very recent times.

8. Puru became the patronymic of this branch of the Lunar race. Of this Alexander’s historians made Porus. The Suraseni of Methoras (descendants of the Sursen of Mathura) were all Purus, the Prasioi of Megasthenes [see p. 37, n.]. Allahabad yet retains its Hindu name of Prayag, pronounced Prag.

9. The Hares. Sesodia is said to have the same derivation. [From Sesoda in Mewār.]

10. The princes of Ranthambhor, expelled by Prithwiraja of Delhi, were of this race.

11. The modern Chanderi [in the Gwalior State, IGI, x. 163 f.] is said to be this capital, and one of the few to which no Englishman has obtained entrance, though I tried hard in 1807. Doubtless it would afford food for curiosity; for, being out of the path of armies in the days of conquest and revolution, it may, and I believe does, retain much worthy of research. [The capital of the Chedi or Kalachuri dynasty was Tripura or Karanbel, near Jabalpur (IGI, x. 12).]

12. I had the pleasure, in 1814, of discovering a remnant of this city, which the Yamuna has overwhelmed. [The ancient Sūryapura was near Batesar, 40 miles south-east of Agra city. Sir H. Elliot (Supplemental Glossary, 187) remarks that it is strange that the Author so often claims the credit of discovery when its position is fixed in a set of familiar verses. For Sūryapura see A. Führer, Monumental Antiquities and Inscriptions, 69.] The sacred place of pilgrimage, Batesar, stands on part of it. My discovery of it was doubly gratifying, for while I found out the Surasenoi of the Greeks, I obtained a medal of the little known Apollodotus, who carried his arms to the mouths of the Indus, and possibly to the centre of the land of the Yadus. He is not included by Bayer in his lists of the kings of Bactria, but we have only an imperfect knowledge of the extent of that dynasty. The Bhagavat Purana asserts thirteen Yavan or Ionian princes to have ruled in Balichdes [?] or Bactria, in which they mention Pushpamitra Dvimitra. We are justified in asserting this to be Demetrius, the son of Euthydemus, but who did not succeed his father, as Menander intervened. Of this last conqueror I also possess a medal, obtained amongst the Surasenoi, and struck in commemoration of victory, as the winged messenger of heavenly peace extends the palm branch from her hand. These two will fill up a chasm in the Bactrian annals, for Menander is well known to them. Apollodotus would have perished but for Arrian, who wrote the Periplus of the Erythraean Sea in the second century, while commercial agent at Broach, or classically Brigukachchha, the Barugaza of the Greeks. [The Periplus of the Erythraean Sea was written by an unknown Greek merchant of first century A.D. (McCrindle, Commerce and Navigation, Introd. p. 1).]

Without the notice this writer has afforded us, my Apollodotus would have lost half its value. Since my arrival in Europe I have also been made acquainted with the existence of a medal of Demetrius, discovered in Bokhara, and on which an essay has been written by a savant at St. Petersburg.

13. The portal of Hari or Hara, whose trisula or trident is there.

14. Wilford says this event is mentioned in two Puranas as occurring in the sixth or eighth generation of the Great War. Those who have travelled in the Duab must have remarked where both the Ganges and Jumna have shifted their beds.

15. [Abisares is Abhisāra in the modern Kashmīr State (Smith, EHI, 59).]

16. Sir Thomas Roe; Sir Thomas Herbert; the Holstein ambassador (by Olearius); Della Valle; Churchill, in his collection: and borrowing from these, D’Anville, Bayer, Orme, Rennell, etc.

17. The ignorance of the family of Mewar of the fact would by no means be a conclusive argument against it, could it be otherwise substantiated; but the race of Surya was completely eclipsed at that period by the Lunar and new races which soon poured in from the west of the Indus, and in time displaced them all.

18. Ajamidha, by his wife Nila, had five sons, who spread their branches (Sakha) on both sides the Indus. Regarding three the Puranas are silent, which implies their migration to distant regions. Is it possible they might be the origin of the Medes? These Medes are descendants of Yayati, third son of the patriarch Manu; and Madai, founder of the Medes, was of Japhet’s line. Ajamidha, the patronymic of the branch of Bajaswa, is from Aja, ‘a goat.’ The Assyrian Mede, in Scripture, is typified by the goat. [These speculations are worthless.]

19. Of this house was Draupadi, the wife, in common, of the five Pandava brothers: manners peculiar to Scythia.

20. King of Delhi.

21. [Briggs i. 57. The accounts of the size of the city are extravagant (Elphinstone, HI, 332 note; Cunningham, ASR, i. 279 ff.).]

22. An inscription was discovered at Kara on the Ganges, in which Yaspal is mentioned as prince of the realm of Kausambi (As. Res. vol. ix. p. 440). Wilford, in his Essay on the Geography of the Purans, says “Causambi, near Alluhabad” (As. Res. vol. xiv.). [The site is uncertain (Smith, EHI, 293, note).]

23. [Rājgīr in Patna District.]

24. Aror, or Alor, was the capital of Sind in remote antiquity: a bridge over the stream which branched from the Indus, near Dara, is almost the sole vestige of this capital of the Sogdoi of Alexander. On its site the shepherds of the desert have established an extensive hamlet; it is placed on a ridge of siliceous rock, seven miles east of the insular Bakhar, and free from the inundations of the Indus. The Sodha tribe, a powerful branch of the Pramara race, has ruled in these countries from remote antiquity, and to a very late period they were lords of Umarkot and Umrasumra, in which divisions was Aror. Sahl and his capital were known to Abu-l Fazl, though he was ignorant of its position, which he transferred to Debal, or Dewal, the modern Tatta. This indefatigable historian thus describes it: “In ancient times there lived a raja named Siharas (Sahl), whose capital was Alor, and his dominions extended north to Kashmīr and south to the ocean” [Āīn, ii. 343]. Sahl, or Sahr, became a titular appellation of the country, its princes, and its inhabitants, the Sehraes. [See p. 21 above.] Alor appears to have been the capital of the kingdom of Sigerdis, conquered by Menander of Bactria. Ibn Haukal, the Arabian geographer, mentions it; but a superfluous point in writing has changed Aror into Azor, or Azour, as translated by Sir W. Ouseley. The illustrious D’Anville mentions it; but, in ignorance of its position, quoting Abulfeda. says, in grandeur “Azour est presque comparable à Mooltan.” I have to claim the discovery of several ancient capital cities in the north of India: Surpur, on the Jumna, the capital of the Yadus; Alor, on the Indus, the capital of the Sodhas; Mandodri, capital of the Pariharas; Chandravati, at the foot of the Aravalli mountains; and Valabhipura, in Gujarat, capital of the Balaka-raes, the Balharas of Arab travellers. The Bala Rajput of Saurashtra may have given the name to Valabhipura, as descendants of Balaka, from Sahl of Aror. The blessing of the bard to them is yet, Tatta Multān ka Rāo (‘lord of Tatta and Multan,’ the seats of the Balaka-putras): nor is it improbable that a branch of these under the Indian Hercules, Balaram, who left India after the Great War, may have founded Balich, or Balkh, emphatically called the ‘mother of cities.’ The Jaisalmer annals assert that the Yadu and Balaka branches of the Indu race ruled Khorasan after the Great War, the Indo-Scythic races of Grecian authors. Besides the Balakas, and the numerous branches of the Indo-Medes, many of the sons of Kuru dispersed over these regions: amongst whom we may place Uttara Kuru (Northern Kurus) of the Puranas, the Ottorokorrhai of the Greek authors. Both the Indu and Surya races were eternally sending their superfluous population to those distant regions, when probably the same primeval religion governed the races east and west of the Indus. [Much of this is incorrect.]

25. [The Chera or Kerala kingdom comprised the Southern Konkans or Malabar coast, the present Malabar district with Travancore and Cochin, the dynasty being in existence early in the Christian era (Smith, EHI, 447; IGI, x. 192 f.).]

26. [The Pāndya kingdom included the Madura and Tinnevelly districts, with parts of Trichinopoly, and sometimes Travancore, its capitals being Madura, or Kūdal, and Korkai (Smith, op. cit. 449 f.; IGI, xix. 394 f.).]

27. From Chaul on the coast, in journeying towards Junagarh, and about seven miles from the former, are the remains of an ancient city.

28. From the description in the Ramayana of King Dasaratha proceeding to Champamalina, the capital of Lomapada, king of Anga (sixth in descent from the founder), it is evident that it was a very mountainous region, and the deep forests and large rivers presented serious obstructions to his journey. From this I should imagine it impossible that Angadesa should apply to a portion of Bengal, in which there is a Champamalina, described by Colonel Francklin in his Essay on Palibothra. [The Anga kingdom, with its capital at Champapuri, near Bhāgalpur, corresponded to the modern districts of North Monghyr, North Bhāgalpur, and Purnea west of the Mahananda river (IGI, v. 373).]

29. The history and exploits of the Pandavas and Harikulas are best known in the most remote parts of India: amidst the forest-covered mountains of Saurashtra, the deep woods and caves of Hidimba and Virat (still the shelter of the savage Bhil and Koli), or on the craggy banks of the Charmanvati (Chambal). In each, tradition has localized the shelter of these heroes when exiled from the Yamuna; and colossal figures cut from the mountain, ancient temples and caves inscribed with characters yet unknown, attributed to the Pandavas, confirm the legendary tale.

30. The ‘ancient city,’ par eminence, is the only name this old capital, at the foot of, and guarding, the sacred mount Girnar, is known by. Abu-l Fazl says it had long remained desolate and unknown, and was discovered by mere accident. [Āīn, ii. 245. For a description of the place see BG, viii. 487; E. C. Bayley, Local Muhammadan Dynasties, Gujarāt, 182 ff.] Tradition even being silent, they gave it the emphatic appellation of Juna (old) Garh (fortress). I have little doubt that it is the Asaldurga, or Asalgarh, of the Guhilot annals; where it is said that prince Asal raised a fortress, called after him, near to Girnar, by the consent of the Dabhi prince, his uncle.

CHAPTER 5

Having investigated the line from Ikshwaku to Rama, and that from Budha (the parent and first emigrant of the Indu[1] race, from Saka Dwipa, or Scythia, to Hindustan) to Krishna and Yudhishthira, a period of twelve hundred years, we proceed to the second division and second table of the genealogies.

The Suryavansa or Solar Line.

—From Rama all the tribes termed Suryavansa, or ‘Race of the Sun,’ claim descent, as the present princes of Mewar, Jaipur, Marwar, Bikaner, and their numerous clans; while from the Lunar (Indu) line of Budha and Krishna, the families of Jaisalmer and Cutch (the Bhatti[2] and Jareja races), extending throughout the Indian desert from the Sutlej to the ocean, deduce their pedigrees.

Rama preceded Krishna: but as their historians, Valmiki and Vyasa, who wrote the events they witnessed, were contemporaries, it could not have been by many years [46].

The present table contains the dynasties which succeeded these great beacons of the Solar and Lunar races, and are three in number.[3]

1. The Suryavansa, descendants of Rama.Rama.

2. The Induvansa, descendants of Pandu through Yudhishthira.

3. The Induvansa, descendants of Jarasandha, monarch of Rajagriha.

The Bhagavat and Agni Puranas are the authorities for the lines from Rama and Jarasandha; while that of Pandu is from the Raja Tarangini and Rajavali.

The existing Rajput tribes of the Solar race claim descent from Lava and Kusa, the two elder sons of Rama; nor do I believe any existing tribes trace their ancestry to his other children, or to his brothers.

From the eldest son, Lava, the Ranas of Mewar claim descent: so do the Bargujar tribe, formerly powerful within the confines of the present Amber, whose representative now dwells at Anupshahr on the Ganges.

From Kusa descend the Kachhwaha[4] princes of Narwar and Amber, and their numerous clans. Amber, though the first in power, is but a scion of Narwar, transplanted about one thousand years back, whose chief, the representative of the celebrated Prince Nala, enjoys but a sorry district[5] of all his ancient possessions.

The house of Marwar also claims descent from this stem, which appears to originate in an error of the genealogists, confounding the race of Kusa with the Kausika of Kanauj and Kausambi. Nor do the Solar genealogists admit this assumed pedigree.

The Amber prince in his genealogies traces the descent of the Mewar[6] family from Rama to Sumitra, through Lava, the eldest brother, and not through Kusa,[7] as in some copies of the Puranas, and in that whence Sir William Jones had his lists [47].

Mr. Bentley, taking this genealogy from the same authority as Sir William Jones, has mutilated it by a transposition, for which his reasons are insufficient, and militate against every opinion of the Hindus. Finding the names Vrihadbala and Vridasura, declared to be princes contemporary with Yudhishthira, he transposes the whole ten princes of his list intervening between Takshak[8] and Bahuman.[9]

Bahuman,[10] or ‘the man with arms’ (Darazdasht or Longimanus) is the thirty-fourth prince from Rama; and his reign must be placed nearly intermediate between Rama and Sumitra, or his contemporary Vikrama, and in the sixth century from either.

Sumitra concludes the line of Surya or Rama from the Bhagavat Purana. Thence it is connected with the present line of Mewar, by Jai Singh’s authorities; which list has been compared with various others, chiefly Jain, as will be related in the annals of Mewar.

It will be seen that the line of Surya exhibits fifty-six princes, from Lava, the son of Rama, to Sumitra, the last prince given in the Puranas. Sir William Jones exhibits fifty-seven.

To these fifty-six reigns I should be willing to allow the average of twenty years, which would give 1120 from Rama to Sumitra, who preceded by a short period Vikramaditya; and as 1100 have been already calculated to have preceded the era of Rama and Yudhishthira, the inference is, that 2200 years elapsed from Ikshwaku, the founder of the Solar line, to Sumitra.

Chandravansa or the Lunar Line.

—From the Raja Tarangini and Rajavali the Induvansa family (descendants of Pandu through Yudhishthira) is supplied. These works, celebrated in Rajwara as collections of genealogies and historical facts, by the Pandits Vidyadhara and Raghunath, were compiled under the eye of the most learned prince of his period, Sawai Jai Singh of Amber, and give the various dynasties which ruled at Indraprastha, or Delhi, from Yudhishthira to Vikramaditya; and although barren of events, may be considered of value in filling up a period of entire darkness [48].

The Tarangini commences with Adinath[11] or Rishabhdeva,[12] being the Jain[13] theogony. Rapidly noticing the leading princes of the dynasties discussed, they pass to the birth of the kings Dhritarashtra and Pandu, and their offspring, detailing the causes of their civil strife, to that conflict termed the Mahabharata or Great War.

The Pandava Family.

—The origin of every family, whether of east or west, is involved in fable. That of the Pandu[14] is entitled to as much credence as the birth of Romulus, or other founders of a race.

Such traditions[15] were probably invented to cover some great disgrace in the Pandu family, and have relation to the story already related of Vyasa, and the debasement of this branch of the Harikulas. Accordingly, on the death of Pandu, Duryodhana, nephew of Pandu (son of Dhritarashtra, who from blindness could not inherit), asserted their illegitimacy before the assembled kin at Hastinapura. With the aid, however, of the priesthood, and the blind Dhritarashtra, his nephew, Yudhishthira, elder son of Pandu, was invested by him with the seal of royalty, in the capital, Hastinapura.

Duryodhana’s plots against the Pandu and his partisans were so numerous that the five brothers determined to leave for a while their ancestral abodes on the Ganges. They sought shelter in foreign countries about the Indus, and were first protected by Drupada, king of Panchala, at whose capital, Kampilanagara, the surrounding princes had arrived as suitors for the hand of his daughter, Draupadi.[16] But the prize was destined for the exiled Pandu, and the skill of Arjuna in archery obtained him the fair, who “threw round his neck the (barmala) garland of marriage.” The disappointed princes indulged their resentment against the exile; but by Arjuna’s bow they suffered the fate of Penelope’s suitors, and the Pandu brought home his bride, who became the wife in common of the five brothers: manners[17] decisively Scythic [49].

The deeds of the brothers abroad were bruited in Hastinapura and the blind Dhritarashtra’s influence effected their recall. To stop, however, their intestine feuds, he partitioned the Pandu sovereignty; and while his son, Duryodhana, retained Hastinapura, Yudhishthira founded the new capital of Indraprastha; but shortly after the Mahabharata he abdicated in favour of his grand-nephew, Parikshita, introducing a new era, called after himself, which existed for eleven hundred years, when it was overturned, and Indraprastha was conquered by Vikramaditya Tuar of Ujjain, of the same race, who established an era of his own.

On the division of the Pandu sovereignty, the new kingdom of Indraprastha eclipsed that of Hastinapura. The brothers reduced to obedience the surrounding[18] nations, and compelled their princes to sign tributary engagements (paenama).[19]

Yudhishthira, firmly seated on his throne, determined to signalize his reign and paramount sovereignty, by the imposing and solemn rites of Asvamedha[20] and Rajasuya.

The Asvamedha.

—In these magnificent ceremonies, in which princes alone officiate, every duty, down to that of porter, is performed by royalty.

The ‘Steed of Sacrifice’ was liberated under Arjuna’s care, having wandered whither he listed for twelve months; and none daring to accept this challenge of supremacy, he was reconducted to Indraprastha, where, in the meanwhile, the hall of sacrifice was prepared, and all the princes of the land were summoned to attend.

The hearts of the Kurus[21] burned with envy at the assumption of supremacy by the Pandus, for the Prince of Hastinapura’s office was to serve out the sacred food [50].

The rivalry between the races burst forth afresh; but Duryodhana, who so often failed in his schemes against the safety of his antagonists, determined to make the virtue of Yudhishthira the instrument of his success. He availed himself of the national propensity for play, in which the Rajput continues to preserve his Scythic[22] resemblance. Yudhishthira fell into the snare prepared for him. He lost his kingdom, his wife, and even his personal liberty and that of his brothers, for twelve years, and became an exile from the plains of the Yamuna.

The traditional history of these wanderers during the term of probation, their many lurking places now sacred, the return to their ancestral abodes, and the grand battle (Mahabharata) which ensued, form highly interesting episodes in the legends of Hindu antiquity.

To decide this civil strife, every tribe and chief of fame, from the Caucasus to the ocean, assembled on Kurukshetra, the field on which the empire of India has since more than once been contested[23] and lost.

This combat was fatal to the dominant influence of the “fifty-six tribes of Yadu.” On each of its eighteen days’ combat, myriads were slain; for “the father knew not the son, nor the disciple his preceptor.”

Victory brought no happiness to Yudhishthira. The slaughter of his friends disgusted him with the world, and he determined to withdraw from it; previously performing, at Hastinapura, funeral rites for Duryodhana (slain by the hands of Bhima), whose ambition and bad faith had originated this exterminating war. “Having regained his kingdom, he proclaimed a new era, and placing on the throne of Indraprastha, Parikshita, grandson to Arjuna, retired to Dwarka with Krishna and Baldeva: and since the war to the period of writing, 4636 years have elapsed.”[24]

Yudhishthira, Baldeva, and Krishna, having retired with the wreck of this ill-fated struggle to Dwarka, the two former had soon to lament the death of Krishna, slain by one of the aboriginal tribes of Bhils; against whom, from their shattered condition, they were unable to contend. After this event, Yudhishthira, with [51] Baldeva and a few followers, entirely withdrew from India, and emigrating northwards, by Sind, to the Himalayan mountains, are there abandoned by Hindu traditional history, and are supposed to have perished in the snows.[25]

From Parikshita, who succeeded Yudhishthira, to Vikramaditya, four[26] dynasties are given in a continuous chain, exhibiting sixty-six princes to Rajpal, who, invading Kumaon, was slain by Sukwanti. The Kumaun conqueror seized upon Delhi, but was soon dispossessed by Vikramaditya, who transferred the seat of imperial power from Indraprastha to Avanti, or Ujjain, from which time it became the first meridian of the Hindu astronomy.

Indraprastha ceased to be a regal abode for eight centuries, when it was re-established by Anangpal,[27] the founder of the Tuar race, claiming descent from the Pandus. Then the name of Delhi superseded that of Indraprastha.

"Sukwanti, a prince from the northern mountains of Kumaun, ruled fourteen [52] years, when he was slain by Vikramaditya;[28] and from the Bharat to this period 2915 years have elapsed."[29]

Such a period asserted to have elapsed while sixty-six princes occupied the throne, gives an average of forty-four years to each; which is incredible, if not absolutely impossible.

In another passage the compiler says: “I have read many books (shastras), and all agreed to make one hundred princes, all of Khatri[30] race, occupy the throne of Delhi from Yudhishthira to Prithwiraja, a period of 4100 years,[31] after which the Ravad[32] race succeeded.”

It is fortunate for these remnants of historical data that they have only extended the duration of reigns, and not added more heads. Sixty-six links are quite sufficient to connect Yudhishthira and Vikramaditya.

We cannot object to the “one hundred princes” who fill the space assigned from Yudhishthira to Prithwiraja, though there is no proportion between the number which precedes and that which follows Vikramaditya, the former being sixty-six, the latter only thirty-four princes, although the period cannot differ half a century.

Let us apply a test to these one hundred kings, from Yudhishthira to Prithwiraja: the result will be 2250 years.

This test is derived from the average rate of reigns of the chief dynasties of Rajasthan, during a period of 633[33] to 663[34] years, or from Prithwiraja to the present date.

Of Mewar | 34[35] princes, or 19 years to each reign.
Of Marwar | 28   princes, or 23¼     ”        ”
Of Amber | 29   princes, or 22½     ”        ”
Of Jaisalmer | 28   princes, or 23¼     ”        ”

giving an average of twenty-two years for each reign [53].

It would not be proper to ascribe a longer period to each reign, and it were perhaps better to give the minimum, nineteen, to extended dynasties; and to the sixty-six princes from Yudhishthira and Vikramaditya not even so much, four revolutions[36] and usurpations marking this period.

Jarasandha.

—The remaining line, that of Jarasandha, taken from the Bhagavat, is of considerable importance, and will afford scope for further speculation.

Jarasandha was the monarch of Rajagriha,[37] or Bihar, whose son Sahadeva, and grandson Marjari, are declared to have been contemporaries of the Mahabharata, and consequently coeval with Parikshita, the Delhi sovereign.

The direct line of Jarasandha terminates in twenty-three descents with Ripunjaya, who was slain, and his throne assumed by his minister, Sanaka, whose dynasty terminated in the fifth generation with Nandivardandhana. Sanaka derived no personal advantage from his usurpation, as he immediately placed his son, Pradyota, on the throne. To these five princes one hundred and thirty-eight years are assigned.

A new race entered Hindustan, led by a conqueror termed Sheshnag, from Sheshnagdesa,[38] who ascended the Pandu throne, and whose line terminates in ten descents with Mahanandin, of spurious birth. This last prince, who was also named Baikyat, carried on an exterminating warfare against the ancient Rajput princes of pure blood, the Puranas declaring that since the dynasty of Sheshnag the princes were Sudras. Three hundred and sixty years are allotted to these ten princes.

Chandragupta Maurya.

—A fourth dynasty commenced with Chandragupta Maurya, of the same Takshak race.[39] The Maurya dynasty consisted of ten princes, who are stated to have passed away in one hundred and thirty-seven years. [322-185 B.C.]

Sunga, Kanva Dynasties.

—The fifth dynasty of eight princes were from Sringides, and are said to have ruled one hundred and twelve years, when a prince of Kanvades deprived the last of life and kingdom. Of these eight princes, four were of pure blood, when Kistna, by a Sudra woman, succeeded. The dynasty of Kanvades terminates in twenty-three generations with Susarman[40] [54].

Recapitulation.

—Thus from the Great War six successive dynasties are given, presenting a continuous chain of eighty-two princes, reckoning from Sahadeva, the successor of Jarasandha, to Susarman.

To some of the short dynasties periods are assigned of moderate length: but as the first and last are without such data, the test already decided on must be applied; which will yield 1704 years, being six hundred and four after Vikramaditya, whose contemporary will thus be Basdeva, the fifty-fifth prince from Sahadeva of the sixth dynasty, said to be a conqueror from the country of Katehr [or Rohilkhand]. If these calculations possess any value, the genealogies of the Bhagavat are brought down to the close of the fifth century following Vikramaditya. As we cannot admit the gift of prophecy to the compilers of these books, we may infer that they remodelled their ancient chronicles during the reign of Susarman, about the year of Vikrama 600, or A.D. 546.

With regard to calculations already adduced, as to the average number of years for the reigns of the foregoing dynasties, a comparison with those which history affords of other parts of the world will supply the best criterion of the correctness of the assumed data.

From the revolt of the ten tribes against Rehoboam[41] to the capture of Jerusalem, a period of three hundred and eighty-seven years, twenty kings sat on the throne of Judah, making each reign nineteen and a half years; but if we include the three anterior reigns of Saul, David, and Solomon, prior to the revolt, the result will be twenty-six and a half years each.

From the dismemberment of the Assyrian[42] empire under Sardanapalus, nearly nine hundred years before Christ, the three consequent confluent dynasties of Babylonia, Assyria, and Media afford very different results for comparison.

The Assyrian preserves the medium, while the Babylonish and Median run into extremes. Of the nine princes who swayed Babylon, from the period of its separation from, till its reunion to Assyria, a space of fifty-two years, Darius, who ruled Media sixty [thirty-six] years [55], outlived the whole. Of the line of Darius there were but six princes, from the separation of the kingdoms to their reunion under Cyrus, a period of one hundred and seventy-four years, or twenty-nine to each reign.

The Assyrian reigns form a juster medium. From Nebuchadnezzar to Sardanapalus we have twenty-two years to a reign; but from thence to the extinction of this dynasty, eighteen.

The first eleven kings, the Heraclidae of Lacedaemon, commencing with Eurysthenes (1078 before Christ), average thirty-two years; while in republican Athens, nearly contemporary, from the first perpetual archon until the office became decennial in the seventh Olympiad, the reigns of the twelve chief magistrates average twenty-eight years and a half.

Thus we have three periods, Jewish, Spartan, and Athenian, each commencing about eleven hundred years before Christ, not half a century remote from the Mahabharata; with those of Babylonia, Assyria, and Media, commencing where we quit the Grecian, in the eighth century before the Christian era, the Jewish ending in the sixth century.

However short, compared with our Solar and Lunar dynasties, yet these, combined with the average reigns of existing Hindu dynasties, will aid the judgment in estimating the periods to be assigned to the lines thus afforded, instead of following the improbable value attached by the Brahmans.

From such data, longevity appears in unison with climate and simplicity of life: the Spartan yielding the maximum of thirty-two to a reign, while the more luxurious Athens gives twenty-eight and a half. The Jews, from Saul to their exile “to the waters of Babylon,” twenty-six and a half. The Medes equal the Lacedaemonians, and in all history can only be paralleled by the princes of Anhilwara, one of whom, Chawand, almost equalled Darius.[43]

Of the separated ten tribes, from the revolt to the captivity, twenty kings of Israel passed away in two centuries, or ten years each.

The Spartan and Assyrian present the extremes of thirty-two and eighteen, giving a medium of twenty-five years to a reign.

The average result of our four Hindu dynasties, in a period of nearly seven hundred years, is twenty-two years.

From all which data, I would presume to assign from twenty to twenty-two years to each reign in lines of fifty princes [56].

If the value thus obtained be satisfactory, and the lines of dynasties derived from so many authorities correct, we shall arrive at the same conclusion with Mr. Bentley; who, by the more philosophical process of astronomical and genealogical combination, places Yudhishthira’s era in the year 2825 of the world; which being taken from 4004 (the world’s age at the birth of Christ) will leave 1179 before Christ for Yudhishthira’s era, or 1123 before Vikramaditya.[44]

1. Indu, Som, Chandra, in Sanskrit ‘the moon’; hence the Lunar race is termed the Chandravansa, Somvansa, or Induvansa, most probably the root of Hindu. [Pers. hindū, Skr. sindhu.]

2. The isolated and now dependent chieftainship of Dhat, of which Umarkot is the capital, separates the Bhattis from the Jarejas. Dhat is now amalgamated with Sind; its prince, of Pramara race and Sodha tribe, ancient lords of all Sind.

3. A fourth and fifth might have been given, but imperfect. First the descendants of Kusa, second son of Rama, from whence the princes of Narwar and Amber: secondly, the descendants of Krishna, from whom the princes of Jaisalmer.

4. In modern times always written and pronounced Kutchwāha.

5. It is in the plateau of Central India, near Shahabad.

6. Whatever dignity attaches to this pedigree, whether true or false, every prince, and every Hindu of learning, admit the claims of the princes of Mewar as heir to ‘the chair of Rama’; and a degree of reverence has consequently attached, not only to his person, but to the seat of his power. When Mahadaji Sindhia was called by the Rana to reduce a traitorous noble in Chitor, such was the reverence which actuated that (in other respects) little scrupulous chieftain, that he could not be prevailed on to point his cannon on the walls within which consent established ‘the throne of Rama.’ The Rana himself, then a youth, had to break the ice, and fired a cannon against his own ancient abode.

7. Bryant, in his Analysis, mentions that the children of the Cushite Ham used his name in salutation as a mark of recognition. ‘Ram, Ram,’ is the common salutation in these Hindu countries; the respondent often joining Sita’s name with that of her consort Rama, ‘Sita Ram.’

8. Twenty-eighth prince from Rama in Mr. Bentley’s list, and twenty-fifth in mine.

9. Thirty-seventh in Mr. Bentley’s list and thirty-fourth in mine; but the intervening names being made to follow Rama, Bahuman (written by him Banumat) follows Takshak.

10. The period of time, also, would allow of their grafting the son of Artaxerxes and father of Darius, the worshipper of Mithras, on the stem of the adorers of Surya, while a curious notice of the Raja Jai Singh’s on a subsequent name on this list which he calls Naushirwan, strengthens the coincidence. Bahuman (see article ‘Bahaman,’ D’Herbelot’s Bibl. Orient.) actually carried his arms into India, and invaded the kingdoms of the Solar race of Mithila and Magadha. The time is appropriate to the first Darius and his father; and Herodotus [iii. 94] tells us that the richest and best of the satrapies of his empire was the Hindu.

11. First lord.

12. Lord of the Bull.

13. Vidhyadhar was a Jain.

14. Pandu not being blessed with progeny, his queen made use of a charm by which she enticed the deities from their spheres. To Dharma Raj (Minos) she bore Yudhishthira; by Pavan (Aeolus) she had Bhima; by Indra (Jupiter Coelus) she had Arjuna, who was taught by his sire the use of the bow, so fatal in the Great War; and Nakula and Sahadeva owed their birth to Aswini Kumar (Aesculapius) the physician of the gods.

15. We must not disregard the intellect of the Amber prince, who allowed these ancient traditions to be incorporated with the genealogy compiled under his eye. The prince who obtained De Silva from Emmanuel III. of Portugal, who combined the astronomical tables of Europe and Asia, and raised these monuments of his scientific genius in his favourite pursuit (astronomy) in all the capital cities of India, while engrossed in war and politics, requires neither eulogy nor defence.

16. Drupada was of the Aswa race, being descended from Bajaswa (or Hyaswa) of the line of Ajamidha.

17. This marriage, so inconsistent with Hindu delicacy, is glossed over. Admitting the polyandry, but in ignorance of its being a national custom, puerile reasons are interpolated. In the early annals of the same race, predecessors of the Jaisalmer family, the younger son is made to succeed: also Scythic or Tatar. The manners of the Scythae described by Herodotus are found still to exist among their descendants: “a pair of slippers at the wife’s door” is a signal well understood by all Eimauk husbands (Elphinstone’s Caubul, vol. ii. p. 251).

18. Tarangini.

19. Paenama is a [Persian] word peculiarly expressive of subserviency to paramount authority, whether the engagement be in money or service: from pae, ‘the foot.’

20. Sacrifice of the horse to the sun, of which a full description is given hereafter.

21. Duryodhana, as the elder branch, retained his title as head of the Kurus; while the junior, Yudhishthira, on the separation of authority, adopted his father’s name, Pandu, as the patronymic of his new dynasty. The site of the great conflict (or Mahabharata) between these rival clans, is called Kurukshetra, or ‘Field of the Kurus.’

22. Herodotus describes the ruinous passion for play amongst the Scythic hordes, and which may have been carried west by Odin into Scandinavia and Germany. Tacitus tells us that the Germans, like the Pandus, staked even personal liberty, and were sold as slaves by the winner [Germania, 24].

23. On it the last Hindu monarch, Prithwiraja, lost his kingdom, his liberty, and life.

24. Rajatarangini. The period of writing was A.D. 1740.

25. Having ventured to surmise analogies between the Hercules of the east and west, I shall carry them a point further. Amidst the snows of Caucasus, Hindu legend abandons the Harikulas, under their leaders Yudhishthira and Baldeva: yet if Alexander established his altars in Panchala, amongst the sons of Puru and the Harikulas, what physical impossibility exists that a colony of them, under Yudhishthira and Baldeva, eight centuries anterior, should have penetrated to Greece? Comparatively far advanced in science and arms, the conquest would have been easy. When Alexander attacked the ‘free cities’ of Panchala, the Purus and Harikulas who opposed him evinced the recollections of their ancestor, in carrying the figure of Hercules as their standard. Comparison proves a common origin to Hindu and Grecian mythology; and Plato says the Greeks had theirs from Egypt and the East. May not this colony of the Harikulas be the Heraclidae, who penetrated into the Peloponnesus (according to Volney) 1078 years before Christ, sufficiently near our calculated period of the Great War? The Heraclidae claimed from Atreus: the Harikulas claim from Atri. Eurysthenes was the first king of the Heraclidae: Yudhishthira has sufficient affinity in name to the first Spartan king not to startle the etymologist, the d and r being always permutable in Sanskrit. The Greeks or Ionians are descended from Yavan, or Javan, the seventh from Japhet. The Harikulas are also Yavans claiming from Javan or Yavan, the thirteenth in descent from Yayati, the third son of the primeval patriarch. The ancient Heraclidae of Greece asserted they were as old as the sun, and older than the moon. May not this boast conceal the fact that the Heliadae (or Suryavansa) of Greece had settled there anterior to the colony of the Indu (Lunar) race of Harikula? In all that relates to the mythological history of the Indian demi-gods, Baldeva (Hercules), Krishna or Kanhaiya (Apollo), and Budha (Mercury), a powerful and almost perfect resemblance can be traced between those of Hindu legend, Greece, and Egypt. Baldeva (the god of strength) Harikula, is still worshipped as in the days of Alexander; his shrine at Baldeo in Vraj (the Surasenoi of the Greeks), his club a ploughshare, and a lion’s skin his covering. A Hindu intaglio of rare value represents Hercules exactly as described by Arrian, with a monogram consisting of two ancient characters now unknown, but which I have found wherever tradition assigns a spot to the Harikulas; especially in Saurashtra, where they were long concealed on their exile from Delhi. This we may at once decide to be the exact figure of Hercules which Arrian describes his descendants to have carried as their standard, when Porus opposed Alexander. The intaglio will appear in the Trans. R.A.S. [The speculations in this note have no authority.]

26. The twenty-eighth prince, Khemraj, was the last in lineal descent from Parikshita, the grand-nephew of Yudhishthira. The first dynasty lasted 1864 years. The second dynasty was of Visarwa, and consisted of fourteen princes; this lasted five hundred years. The third dynasty was headed by Mahraj, and terminated by Antinai, the fifteenth prince. The fourth dynasty was headed by Dudhsen, and terminated by Rajpal, the ninth and last king (Rajatarangini).

27. The Rajatarangini gives the date A.V. 848, or A.D. 792, for this; and adds: “Princes from Siwalik, or northern hills, held it during this time, and it long continued desolate until the Tuars.”

28. 56 B.C. [Cunningham remarks that the defeat of Rāja Pāl of Delhi by Sukwanti, Sukdati, or Sukāditya, Rāja of Kumaun, must be assigned to A.D. 79: but he has little confidence in such traditions, unless supported by independent evidence (ASR, i. 138).]

29. Raghunath.

30. Rājput, or Kshatriya.

31. This period of 4100 years may have been arrived at by the compiler taking for granted the number of years mentioned by Raghunath as having elapsed from the Mahabharata to Vikramaditya, namely 2915, and adding thereto the well-authenticated period of Prithwiraja, who was born in Samvat 1215: for if 2915 be subtracted from 4100, it leaves 1185, the period within thirty years of the birth of Prithwiraja, according to the Chauhan chronicles.

32. Solar.

33. From S. 1250, or A.D. 1194, captivity and dethronement of Prithwiraja.

34. From S. 1212, A.D. 1516, the founding of Jaisalmer by Jaisal, to the accession of Gaj Singh, the present prince, in S. 1876, or A.D. 1820.

35. Many of its early princes were killed in battle; and the present prince’s father succeeded his own nephew, which was retrograding.

36. The historians sanction the propriety of these changes, in their remarks, that the deposed were “deficient in [capacity for] the cares and duties of government.”

37. Rajagriha, or Rajmahal, capital of Magadhades, or Bihar. [In Patna district, IGI, xxi. 72.]

38. Figuratively, the country of the ‘head of the Snakes’; Nag, Tak, or Takshak, being synonymous: and which I conclude to be the abode of the ancient Scythic Tachari of Strabo, the Tak-i-uks of the Chinese, the Tajiks of the present day of Turkistan. This race appears to be the same with that of the Turushka (of the Puranas), who ruled on the Arvarma (the Araxes), in Sakadwipa, or Scythia. [This is a confused reference to the Saisunāga dynasty, which took its name from its founder, Sisunāga, and comprised roughly the present Patna and Gaya districts, its capital being Rājagriha; the modern Rājgīr-Sisunāga means ‘a young elephant,’ and has no connexion with Sheshnāg, the serpent king (Vishnu Purana, 466 f.; Smith, EHI, 31).]

39. [Chandragupta Maurya was certainly not a “Takshak”: he was probably “an illegitimate scion of the Nanda family” (Smith, EHI, 42).]

40. Mr. Bentley (‘On the Hindu System of Astronomy,’ As. Res. vol. viii. pp. 236-7) states that the astronomer, Brahmagupta, flourished about A.D. 527, or of Vikrama 583, shortly preceding the reign of Susarman; that he was the founder of the system called the Kalpa of Brahma, on which the present Hindu chronology is founded, and to which Mr. Bentley says their historical data was transferred. This would strengthen my calculations; but the weight of Mr. Bentley’s authority has been much weakened by his unwarrantable attack on Mr. Colebrooke, whose extent of knowledge is of double value from his entire aversion to hypothesis. [The Sunga dynasty, founded by Pushyamitra, about 185 B.C., lasted till about 73 B.C., when the tenth king, Devabhūti, was slain by his Brāhman minister, Vasudeva, who founded the Kānva dynasty. He was followed by three kings, and the dynasty lasted only forty-five years, the last member of it being slain, about 28 B.C., by a king of the Andhra or Sātāvahana dynasty, then reigning in the Deccan. For the scanty details see Smith, EHI, 198 ff.]

41. 987 years before Christ.

42. For these and the following dates I am indebted to Goguet’s chronological tables in his Origin of Laws.

43. [It is not clear to whom the author refers: Chāmunda Chāvada (A.D. 880-908): or Chāmunda Chaulukya (A.D. 997-1010), (BG, i. Part i. 154, 162).]

44. [The evidence quoted in this chapter by which the author endeavours to frame a chronology for this early period, is untrustworthy. Mr. Pargiter tentatively dates the great Bhārata battle about 1000 B.C., but the evidence is very uncertain (JRAS, January 1910, p. 56; April 1914, p. 294).]

CHAPTER 6

Rajputs and Mongols.

—Having thus brought down the genealogical history of the ancient martial races of India, from the earliest period to Yudhishthira and Krishna, and thence to Vikramaditya and the present day, a few observations on the races invading India during that time, and now ranked amongst the thirty-six royal races of Rajasthan, affording scope for some curious analogies, may not be inopportune.

The tribes here alluded to are the Haihaya or Aswa, the Takshak, and the Jat or Getae; the similitude of whose theogony, names in their early genealogies, and many other points, with the Chinese, Tatar, Mogul, Hindu, and Scythic races, would appear to warrant the assertion of one common origin.

Though the periods of the passage of these tribes into India cannot be stated with exactitude, the regions whence they migrated may more easily be ascertained.

Mongol Origin.

—Let us compare the origin of the Tatars and Moguls, as given by their historian, Abulghazi, with the races we have been treating of from the Puranas.

Mogol was the name of the Tatarian patriarch. His son was Aghuz,[1] the founder of all the races of those northern regions, called Tatars and Mogol [57]. Aghuz had six sons.[2] First, Kun,[3] ‘the sun,’ the Surya of the Puranas; secondly, Ai,[4] ‘the moon,’ the Indu of the Puranas. In the latter, Ai, we have even the same name [Ayus] as in the Puranas for the Lunar ancestor. The Tatars all claim from Ai, ‘the moon,’ the Indus of the Puranas. Hence with them, as with the German tribes, the moon was always a male deity. The Tatar Ai had a son, Yulduz. His son was Hyu, from whom[5] came the first race of the kings of China. The Puranic Ayus had a son, Yadu (pronounced Jadon); from whose third son, Haya, the Hindu genealogist deduces no line, and from whom the Chinese may claim their Indu[5] origin. Il Khan (ninth from Ai) had two sons: first, Kian; and secondly, Nagas; whose descendants peopled all Tatary. From Kian, Jenghiz Khan claimed descent.[6] Nagas was probably the founder of the Takshak, or Snake race[7] of the Puranas and Tatar genealogists, the Tak-i-uk Moguls of De Guignes.

Such are the comparative genealogical origins of the three races. Let us compare their theogony, the fabulous birth assigned by each for the founder of the Indu race.

Mongol and Hindu Traditions.

—1. The Puranic. “Ila (the earth), daughter of the sun-born Ikshwaku, while wandering in the forests was encountered by Budha (Mercury), and from the rape of Ila sprung the Indu race.”

2. The Chinese account of the birth of Yu (Ayu), their first monarch. “A star[8] (Mercury or Fo) struck his mother while journeying. She conceived, and gave to the world Yu, the founder of the first dynasty which reigned in China. Yu divided China into nine provinces, and began to reign 2207[9] years before Christ” [58].

Thus the Ai of the Tatars, the Yu of the Chinese, and the Ayus of the Puranas, evidently indicate the great Indu (Lunar) progenitor of the three races. Budha (Mercury), the son of Indu (the moon), became the patriarchal and spiritual leader; as Fo, in China; Woden and Teutates,[10] of the tribes migrating to Europe. Hence it follows that the religion of Buddha must be coeval with the existence of these nations; that it was brought into India Proper by them, and guided them until the schism of Krishna and the Suryas, worshippers of Bal, in time depressed them, when the Buddha religion was modified into its present mild form, the Jain.[11]

Scythian Traditions.

—Let us contrast with these the origin of the Scythic nations, as related by Diodorus;[12] when it will be observed the same legends were known to him which have been handed down by the Puranas and Abulghazi.

"The Scythians had their first abodes on the Araxes.[13] Their origin was from a virgin born of the earth[14] of the shape of a woman from the waist upwards, and below a serpent (symbol of Budha or Mercury); that Jupiter had a son by her, named Scythes,[15] whose name the nation adopted. Scythes had two sons, Palas and Napas (qu. the Nagas, or Snake race, of the Tatar genealogy?), who were celebrated for their great actions, and who divided the countries; and the nations were called after them, the Palians (qu. Pali?)[16] and Napians. They led their forces as far as the Nile on Egypt, and subdued many nations. They enlarged the empire of the Scythians as far as the Eastern ocean, and to the Caspian and lake Moeotis. The nation had many kings, from whom the Sacans (Sakae), the Massagetae (Getae or Jats), the Ari-aspians (Aswas of Aria), and many other races. They overran Assyria and Media[17] [59], overturning the empire, and transplanting the inhabitants to the Araxes under the name of Sauro-Matians."[18]

As the Sakae, Getae, Aswa, and Takshak are names which have crept in amongst our thirty-six royal races, common with others also to early civilization in Europe, let us seek further ancient authority on the original abodes.

Strabo[19] says: "All the tribes east of the Caspian are called Scythic. The Dahae[20] next the sea, the Massagetae (great Gete) and Sakae more eastward; but every tribe has a particular name. All are nomadic: but of these nomads the best-known are the Asii,[21] the Pasiani, Tochari, Sacarauli, who took Bactria from the Greeks. The Sakae[22] (‘races’) have made in Asia irruptions similar to those of the Cimmerians; thus they have been seen to possess themselves of Bactria, and the best district of Armenia, called after them Sakasenae."[23]

Which of the tribes of Rajasthan are the offspring of the Aswa and Medes, of Indu race, returned under new appellations, we shall not now stop to inquire, limiting our hypothesis to the fact of invasions, and adducing some evidence of such being simultaneous with migrations of the same bands into Europe. Hence the inference of a common origin between the Rajput and early races of Europe; to support which, a similar mythology, martial manners and poetry, language, and even music and architectural ornaments, may be adduced.[24]

Of the first migrations of the Indu-Scythic Getae, Takshak, and Asii, into India, that of Sheshnag (Takshak), from Sheshnagdes (Tocharistan?) or Sheshnag, six centuries, by calculation, before Christ, is the first noticed by the Puranas.[25] About this period a grand irruption of the same races conquered Asia Minor, and [60] eventually Scandinavia; and not long after the Asii and Tochari overturned the Greek kingdom of Bactria, the Romans felt the power of the Asi,[26] the Chatti, and Cimbri, from the Baltic shore.

“If we can show the Germans to have been originally Scythae or Goths (Getes or Jits), a wide field of curiosity and inquiry is open to the origin of government, manners, etc.; all the antiquities of Europe will assume a new appearance, and, instead of being traced to the bands of Germany, as Montesquieu and the greatest writers have hitherto done, may be followed through long descriptions of the manners of the Scythians, etc., as given by Herodotus. Scandinavia was occupied by the Scythae five hundred years before Christ. These Scythians worshipped Mercury (Budha), Woden or Odin, and believed themselves his progeny. The Gothic mythology, by parallel, might be shown to be Grecian, whose gods were the progeny of Coelus and Terra (Budha and Ella).[27] Dryads, satyrs, fairies, and all the Greek and Roman superstition, may be found in the Scandinavian creed. The Goths consulted the heart of victims, had oracles, had sibyls, had a Venus in Freya, and Parcae in the Valkyrie.”[28]

The Scythian Descent of the Rajputs.

—Ere we proceed to trace these mythological resemblances, let us adduce further opinions in proof of the position assumed of a common origin of the tribes of early Europe and the Scythic Rajput.

The translator of Abulghazi, in his preface, observes: "Our contempt for the Tatars would lessen did we consider how nearly we stand related to them, and that our ancestors originally came from the north of Asia, and that our customs, laws, and way of living were formerly the same as theirs. In short, that we are no other than a colony of Tatars.

"It was from Tatary those people came, who, under the successive names of Cymbrians,[29] Kelts, and Gauls, possessed all the northern part of Europe. What were the Goths, Huns, Alans, Swedes, Vandals, Franks, but swarms of the same hive? The Swedish chronicles bring the Swedes[30] from Cashgar, and [61] the affinity between the Saxon language and Kipchak is great; and the Keltick language still subsisting in Britany and Wales is a demonstration that the inhabitants are descended from Tatar nations."

From between the parallels of 30° and 50° of north latitude, and from 75° to 95° of east longitude, the highlands of Central Asia, alike removed from the fires of the equator and the cold of the arctic circle, migrated the races which passed into Europe and within the Indus. We must therefore voyage up the Indus, cross the Paropanisos, to the Oxus or Jihun, to Sakatai[31] or Sakadwipa, and from thence and the Dasht-i Kipchak conduct the Takshaks, the Getae, the Kamari, the Chatti, and the Huns, into the plains of Hindustan.

We have much to learn in these unexplored regions, the abode of ancient civilisation, and which, so late as Jenghiz Khan’s invasion, abounded with large cities. It is an error to suppose that the nations of Higher Asia were merely pastoral; and De Guignes, from original authorities, informs us that when the Su invaded the Yueh-chi or Jats, they found upwards of a hundred cities containing the merchandise of India, and with the currency bearing the effigies of the prince.

Such was the state of Central Asia long before the Christian era, though now depopulated and rendered desert by desolating wars, which have raged in these countries, and to which Europe can exhibit no parallel. Timur’s wars, in more modern times, against the Getic nation, will illustrate the paths of his ambitious predecessors in the career of destruction.

If we examine the political limits of the great Getic nation in the time of Cyrus, six centuries before Christ, we shall find them little circumscribed in power on the rise of Timur, though twenty centuries had elapsed [62].

Jāts and Getae.

—At this period (A.D. 1330), under the last prince of Getic race, Tughlak Timur Khan, the kingdom of Chagatai[32] was bounded on the west by the Dasht-i Kipchak, and on the south by the Jihun, on which river the Getic Khan, like Tomyris, had his capital. Kokhand, Tashkent, Utrar,[33] Cyropolis, and the most northern of the Alexandrias, were within the bounds of Chagatai.

The Getae, Jut, or Jat, and Takshak races, which occupy places amongst the thirty-six royal races of India, are all from the region of Sakatai. Regarding their earliest migrations, we shall endeavour to make the Puranas contribute; but of their invasions in more modern times the histories of Mahmud of Ghazni, and Timur abundantly acquaint us.

From the mountains of Jud[34] to the shores of Makran,[35] and along the Ganges, the Jat is widely spread; while the Takshak name is now confined to inscriptions or old writings.

Inquiries in their original haunts, and among tribes now under different names, might doubtless bring to light their original designation, now best known within the Indus; while the Takshak or Takiuk may probably be discovered in the Tajik, still in his ancient haunts, the Transoxiana and Chorasmia of classic authors; the Mawaru-n-nahr of the Persians; the Turan, Turkistan, or Tocharistan of native geography; the abode of the Tochari, Takshak, or Turushka invaders of India, described in the Puranas and existing inscriptions.

The Getae had long maintained their independence when Tomyris defended their liberty against Cyrus. Driven in successive wars across the Sutlej, we shall elsewhere show them preserving their ancient habits, as desultory cavaliers, under the Jat leader of Lahore, in pastoral communities in Bikaner, the Indian desert and elsewhere, though they have lost sight of their early history. The transition from pastoral to agricultural pursuits is but short, and the descendant of the nomadic Getae of Transoxiana is now the best husbandman on the plains of Hindustan[36] [63].

The invasion of these Indu-Scythic tribes, Getae, Takshaks, Asii, Chatti, Rajpali,[37] Huns, Kamari, introduced the worship of Budha, the founder of the Indu or Lunar race.

Herodotus says the Getae were theists,[38] and held the tenets of the soul’s immortality; so with the Buddhists.

Before, however, touching on points of religious resemblance between the Asii, Getae, or Jut of Scandinavia (who gave his name to the Cimbric Chersonese) and the Getae of Scythia and India, let us make a few remarks on the Asii or Aswa.

The Aswa.

—To the Indu race of Aswa (the descendants of Dvimidha and Bajaswa), spread over the countries on both sides the Indus, do we probably owe the distinctive appellation of Asia. Herodotus[39] says the Greeks denominated Asia from the wife of Prometheus; while others deduce it from a grandson of Manes, indicating the Aswa descendants of the patriarch Manu. Asa,[40] Sakambhari,[41] Mata,[42] is the divinity Hope, ‘mother-protectress of the Sakha,’ or races. Every Rajput adores Asapurna, ‘the fulfiller of desire’; or, as Sakambhari Devi (goddess protectress), she is invoked previous to any undertaking.

The Aswas were chiefly of the Indu race; yet a branch of the Suryas also bore this designation. It appears to indicate their celebrity as horsemen.[43] All of them worshipped the horse, which they sacrificed to the sun. This grand rite, the Asvamedha, on the festival of the winter solstice, would alone go far to exemplify their common Scythic origin with the Getic Saka, authorising the inference of Pinkerton, “that a grand Scythic nation extended from the Caspian to the Ganges.”

The Asvamedha.

—The Asvamedha was practised on the Ganges and Sarju by the Solar princes [64], twelve hundred years before Christ, as by the Getae in the time of Cyrus; “deeming it right,” says Herodotus [i. 216] “to offer the swiftest of created to the chief of uncreated beings”: and this worship and sacrifice of the horse has been handed down to the Rajput of the present day. A description of this grand ceremony shall close these analogies.

The Getic Asii carried this veneration for the steed, symbolic of their chief deity the sun, into Scandinavia: equally so of all the early German tribes, the Su, Suevi, Chatti, Sucimbri, Getae, in the forests of Germany, and on the banks of the Elbe and Weser. The milk-white steed was supposed to be the organ of the gods, from whose neighing they calculated future events; notions possessed also by the Aswa, sons of Budha (Woden), on the Yamuna and Ganges, when the rocks of Scandinavia and the shores of the Baltic were yet untrod by man. It was this omen which gave Darius Hystaspes[44] (hinsna, ‘to neigh,’ aspa, ‘a horse’) a crown. The bard Chand makes it the omen of death to his principal heroes. The steed of the Scandinavian god of battle was kept in the temple of Upsala, and always “found foaming and sweating after battle.” “Money,” says Tacitus, “was only acceptable to the German when bearing the effigies of the horse.”[45]

In the Edda we are informed that the Getae, or Jats, who entered Scandinavia, were termed Asi, and their first settlement As-gard.[46]

Pinkerton rejects the authority of the Edda and follows Torfaeus, who “from Icelandic chronicles and genealogies concludes Odin to have come into Scandinavia in the time of Darius Hystaspes, five hundred years before Christ.”

This is the period of the last Buddha, or Mahavira, whose era is four hundred and seventy-seven years before Vikrama, or five hundred and thirty-three before Christ.

The successor of Odin in Scandinavia was Gotama; and Gautama was the successor of the last Buddha, Mahavira,[47] who as Gotama, or Gaudama, is still adored from the Straits of Malacca to the Caspian Sea.

“Other antiquaries,” says Pinkerton, “assert another Odin, who was put as the supreme deity one thousand years before Christ” [65].

Mallet admits two Odins, but Mr. Pinkerton wishes he had abided by that of Torfaeus, in 500 A.C.

It is a singular fact that the periods of both the Scandinavian Odins should assimilate with the twenty-second Buddha [Jain Tirthakara], Neminath, and twenty-fourth and last, Mahavira; the first the contemporary of Krishna, about 1000 or 1100 years, the last 533, before Christ. The Asii, Getae, etc., of Europe worshipped Mercury as founder of their line, as did the Eastern Asi, Takshaks, and Getae. The Chinese and Tatar historians also say Buddha, or Fo, appeared 1027 years before Christ. “The Yuchi, established in Bactria and along the Jihun, eventually bore the name of Jeta or Yetan,[48] that is to say, Getae. Their empire subsisted a long time in this part of Asia, and extended even into India. These are the people whom the Greeks knew under the name of Indo-Scythes. Their manners are the same as those of the Turks.[49] Revolutions occurred in the very heart of the East, whose consequences were felt afar.”[50]

The period allowed by all these authorities for the migration of these Scythic hordes into Europe is also that for their entry into India.

The sixth century is that calculated for the Takshak from Sheshnagdesa; and it is on this event and reign that the Puranas declare, that from this period “no prince of pure blood would be found, but that the Sudra, the Turushka, and the Yavan, would prevail.”

All these Indu-Scythic invaders held the religion of Buddha: and hence the conformity of manners and mythology between the Scandinavian or German tribes and the Rajputs increased by comparing their martial poetry.

Similarity of religious manners affords stronger proofs of original identity than language. Language is eternally changing—so are manners; but an exploded custom or rite traced to its source, and maintained in opposition to climate, is a testimony not to be rejected.

Personal Habits, Dress.

—When Tacitus informs us that the first act of a German on rising was ablution, it will be conceded this habit was not acquired in [66] the cold climate of Germany, but must have been of eastern[51] origin; as were “the loose flowing robe; the long and braided hair, tied in a knot at the top of the head”; with many other customs, personal habits, and superstitions of the Scythic Cimbri, Juts, Chatti, Suevi, analogous to the Getic nations of the same name, as described by Herodotus, Justin, and Strabo, and which yet obtain amongst the Rajput Sakhae of the present day.

Let us contrast what history affords of resemblance in religion or manners. First, as to religion.

Theogony.

—Tuisto (Mercury) and Ertha (the earth) were the chief divinities of the early German tribes. Tuisto[52] was born of the Earth (Ila) and Manus (Manu). He is often confounded with Odin, or Woden, the Budha of the eastern tribes, though they are the Mars and Mercury of these nations.

Religious Rites.

—The Suiones or Suevi, the most powerful Getic nation of Scandinavia, were divided into many tribes, one of whom, the Su (Yueh-chi or Jat), made human sacrifices in their consecrated groves[53] to Ertha (Ila), whom all worshipped, and whose chariot was drawn by a cow.[54] The Suevi worshipped Isis (Isa, Gauri, the Isis and Ceres of Rajasthan), in whose rites the figure of a ship is introduced; “symbolic,” observes Tacitus, “of its foreign origin.”[55] The festival of Isa, or Gauri, wife of Iswara, at Udaipur, is performed on the lake, and appears to be exactly that of Isis and Osiris in Egypt, as described by Herodotus. On this occasion Iswara (Osiris), who is secondary to his wife, has a stalk of the onion in blossom in his hand; a root detested by the Hindus generally, though adored by the Egyptians.

Customs of War.

—They sung hymns in praise of Hercules, as well as Tuisto or Odin, whose banners and images they carried to the field; and fought in clans, using the feram or javelin, both in close and distant combat. In all maintaining [67] the resemblance to the Harikula, descendants of Budha, and the Aswa, offspring of Bajaswa, who peopled those regions west of the Indus, and whose redundant population spread both east and west.

The Suevi, or Suiones, erected the celebrated temple of Upsala, in which they placed the statues of Thor, Woden, and Freya, the triple divinity of the Scandinavian Asii, the Trimurti of the Solar and Lunar races. The first (Thor, the thunderer, or god of war) is Hara, or Mahadeva, the destroyer; the second (Woden) is Budha,[56] the preserver; and the third (Freya) is Uma, the creative power.

The grand festival to Freya was in spring, when all nature revived; then boars were offered to her by the Scandinavians, and even boars of paste were made and swallowed by the peasantry.

As Vasanti, or spring personified, the consort of Hara is worshipped by the Rajput, who opens the season with a grand hunt,[57] led by the prince and his vassal chiefs, when they chase, slay, and eat the boar. Personal danger is disregarded on this day, as want of success is ominous that the Great Mother will refuse all petitions throughout the year.

Pinkerton, quoting Ptolemy (who was fifty years after Tacitus), says there were six nations in Yeutland or Jutland, the country of the Juts, of whom were the Sablingii (Suevi,[58] or Suiones), the Chatti and Hermandri, who extended to the estuary of the Elbe and Weser. There they erected the pillar Irmansul to “the god of war,” regarding which Sammes[59] observes: “some will have it to be Mars his pillar, others Hermes Saul, or the pillar of Hermes or Mercury”; and he naturally asks, “how did the Saxons come to be acquainted with the Greek name of Mercury?”

Sacrificial pillars are termed Sula in Sanskrit; which, conjoined with Hara,[60] the Indian god of war, would be Harsula. The Rajput warrior invokes Hara with his trident (trisula) to help him in battle, while his battle-shout is ‘mar! mar!’ The Cimbri, one of the most celebrated of the six tribes of Yeutland, derive their name from their fame as warriors [68].[61]

Kumara[62] is the Rajput god of war. He is represented with seven heads in the Hindu mythology: the Saxon god of war has six.[63] The six-headed Mars of the Cimbri Chersonese, to whom was raised the Irmansul on the Weser, was worshipped by the Sakasenae, the Chatti, the Siebi or Suevi, the Jotae or Getae, and the Cimbri, evincing in name, as in religious rites, a common origin with the martial warriors of Hindustan.

Rajput Religion.

—The religion of the martial Rajput, and the rites of Hara, the god of battle, are little analogous to those of the meek Hindus, the followers of the pastoral divinity, the worshippers of kine, and feeders on fruits, herbs, and water. The Rajput delights in blood: his offerings to the god of battle are sanguinary, blood and wine. The cup (kharpara) of libation is the human skull. He loves them because they are emblematic of the deity he worships; and he is taught to believe that Hara loves them, who in war is represented with the skull to drink the foeman’s blood, and in peace is the patron of wine and women. With Parbati on his knee, his eyes rolling from the juice of the phul (ardent spirits) and opium, such is this Bacchanalian divinity of war. Is this Hinduism, acquired on the burning plains of India? Is it not rather a perfect picture of the manners of the Scandinavian heroes?

The Rajput slays buffaloes, hunts and eats the boar and deer, and shoots ducks and wild fowl (kukkut); he worships his horse, his sword, and the sun, and attends more to the martial song of the bard than to the litany of the Brahman. In the martial mythology and warlike poetry of the Scandinavians a wide field exists for assimilation, and a comparison of the poetical remains of the Asi of the east and west would alone suffice to suggest a common origin.

Bards.

—In the sacred Bardai of the Rajput we have the bard of our Saxon ancestry; those reciters of warlike poetry, of whom Tacitus says, “with their barbarous strains, they influence their minds in the day of battle with a chorus of military virtue.”

A comparison, in so extensive a field, would include the whole of their manners and religious opinions, and must be reserved for a distinct work.[64] The Valkyrie [69], or fatal sisters of the Suevi or Siebi, would be the twin sisters of the Apsaras, who summon the Rajput warrior from the field of battle, and bear him to “the mansion of the sun,” equally the object of attainment with the children of Odin in Scandinavia, and of Budha and Surya in the plains of Scythia and on the Ganges, like the Elysium[65] of the Heliadae of Greece.

In the day of battle we should see in each the same excitements to glory and contempt of death, and the dramatis personae of the field, both celestial and terrestrial, move and act alike. We should see Thor, the thunderer, leading the Siebi, and Hara (Siva) the Indian Jove, his own worshippers (Sivseva); in which Freya, or Bhavani, and even the preserver (Krishna) himself, not unfrequently mingle.

War Chariots.

—The war chariot is peculiar to the Indu-Scythic nations, from Dasaratha,[66] and the heroes of the Mahabharata, to the conquest of Hindustan by the Muhammadans, when it was laid aside. On the plains of Kurukshetra, Krishna became charioteer to his friend Arjun; and the Getic hordes of the Jaxartes, when they aided Xerxes in Greece, and Darius on the plains of Arbela,[67] had their chief strength in the war chariot.

The war chariot continued to be used later in the south-west of India than elsewhere, and the Kathi,[68] Khuman, Kumari of Saurashtra have to recent times retained their Scythic habits, as their monumental stones testify, expressing their being slain from their cars [70].

Position of Women.

—In no point does resemblance more attach between the ancient German and Scandinavian tribes, and the martial Rajput or ancient Getae, than in their delicacy towards females.

“The Germans,” says Tacitus [Germania, viii.], “deemed the advice of a woman in periods of exigence oracular.” So does the Rajput, as the bard Chand often exemplifies; and hence they append to her name the epithet Devi (or contracted De), ‘god-like.’ “To a German mind,” says Tacitus, “the idea of a woman led into captivity is insupportable”; and to prevent this the Rajput raises the poignard against the heart which beats only for him, though never to survive the dire necessity. It is then they perform the sacrifice ‘johar,’ when every sakha (branch) is cut off: and hence the Rajput glories in the title of Sakha-band, from having performed the sakha; an awful rite, and with every appearance of being the sacaea of the Scythic Getae, as described by Strabo.[69]

Gaming.

—In passion for play at games of chance, its extent and dire consequences, the Rajput, from the earliest times, has evinced a predilection, and will stand comparison with the Scythian and his German offspring. The German staked his personal liberty, became a slave, and was sold as the property of the winner. To this vice the Pandavas owed the loss of their sovereignty and personal liberty, involving at last the destruction of all the Indu [71] races; nor has the passion abated. Religion even consecrates the vice; and once a year, on ‘the Festival of Lamps’ (Diwali), all propitiate the goddess of wealth and fortune (Lakshmi) by offering at her shrine.

Destitute of mental pursuits, the martial Rajput is often slothful or attached to sensual pleasures, and when roused, reckless on what he may wreak a fit of energy. Yet when order and discipline prevail in a wealthy chieftainship, there is much of that patriarchal mode of life, with its amusements, alike suited to the Rajput, the Getae of the Jihun, or Scandinavian.

Omens, Auguries.

—Divination by lots, auguries, and omens by flights of birds, as practised by the Getic nations described by Herodotus, and amongst the Germans by Tacitus, will be found amongst the Rajputs, from whose works[70] on this subject might have been supplied the whole of the Augurs and Aruspices, German or Roman.

Love of Strong Drink.

—Love of liquor, and indulgence in it to excess, were deep-rooted in the Scandinavian Asi and German tribes, and in which they showed their Getic origin; nor is the Rajput behind his brethren either of Scythia or Europe. It is the free use of this and similar indulgences, prohibited by ordinances which govern the ordinary Hindu, that first induced me to believe that these warlike races were little indebted to India.

The Rajput welcomes his guest with the munawwar piyala, or ‘cup of request,’ in which they drown ancient enmities. The heroes of Odin never relished a cup of mead more than the Rajput his madhu;[71] and the bards of Scandinavia and Rajwara are alike eloquent in the praise of the bowl, on which the Bardai exhausts every metaphor, and calls it ambrosial, immortal.[72] “The bard, as he sipped the ambrosia, in which sparkled the ruby seed of the pomegranate, rehearsed the glory of the race of the fearless.[73] May the king live for ever, alike bounteous in gifts to the bard and the foe!” Even in the heaven of Indra, the Hindu warrior’s paradise, akin to Valhalla [72], the Rajput has his cup, which is served by the Apsaras, the twin sister of the celestial Hebe of Scania. “I shall quaff full goblets amongst the gods,” says the dying Getic warrior;[74] “I die laughing”: sentiments which would be appreciated by a Rajput.

A Rajput inebriated is a rare sight: but a more destructive and recent vice has usurped much of the honours of the ‘invitation cup,’ which has been degraded from the pure ‘flower’[75] to an infusion of the poppy, destructive of every quality. Of this pernicious habit we may use the words which the historian of German manners applies to the tribes of the Weser and Elbe, in respect to their love of strong drink: “Indulge it, and you need not employ the terror of your arms; their own vices will subdue them.”

The cup of the Scandinavian worshippers of Thor, the god of battle, was a human skull, that of the foe, in which they showed their thirst of blood; also borrowed from the chief of the Hindu Triad, Hara, the god of battle, who leads his heroes in the ‘red field of slaughter’ with the khopra[76] in his hand, with which he gorges on the blood of the slain.

Hara is the patron of all who love war and strong drink, and is especially the object of the Rajput warrior’s devotion: accordingly blood and wine form the chief oblations to the great god of the Indus. The Gosains,[77] the peculiar priests of Hara, or Bal, the sun, all indulge in intoxicating drugs, herbs, and drinks. Seated on their lion, leopard, or deer skins, their bodies covered with ashes, their hair matted and braided, with iron tongs to feed the penitential fires, their savage appearance makes them fit organs for the commands of the blood and slaughter. Contrary, likewise, to general practice, the minister of Hara, the god of war, at his death is committed to the earth, and a circular tumulus is raised over him; and with some classes of Gosains, small tumuli, whose form is the frustrum of a cone, with lateral steps, the apex crowned with a cylindrical stone [73].[78]

Funeral Ceremonies.

—In the last rites for the dead, comparison will yield proofs of original similarity. The funeral ceremonies of Scandinavia have distinguished the national eras, and the ‘age of fire’ and ‘the age of hills,’[79] designated the periods when the warrior was committed to mother earth or consumed on the pyre.

Odin (Budha) introduced the latter custom, and the raising of tumuli over the ashes when the body was burned; as also the practice of the wife burning with her deceased lord. These manners were carried from Sakadwipa, or Saka Scythia, “where the Geta,” says Herodotus [v. 5], “was consumed on the pyre or burned alive with her lord.” With the Getae, the Siebi or Suevi of Scandinavia, if the deceased had more than one wife, the elder claimed the privilege of burning.[80] Thus, “Nanna was consumed in the same fire with the body of her husband, Balder, one of Odin’s companions.” But the Scandinavians were anxious to forget this mark of their Asiatic origin, and were not always willing to burn, or to make “so cruel and absurd a sacrifice to the manes of their husbands, the idea of which had been picked up by their Scythian ancestors, when they inhabited the warmer climates of Asia, where they had their first abodes.”[81]

“The Scythic Geta,” says Herodotus [iv. 71], “had his horse sacrificed on his funeral pyre; and the Scandinavian Geta had his horse and arms buried with him, as they could not approach Odin on foot.”[82] The Rajput warrior is carried to his final abode armed at all points as when alive, his shield on his back and brand in hand; while his steed, though not sacrificed, is often presented to the deity, and becomes a perquisite of the priest.

Sati.

—The burning of the dead warrior, and female immolation, or Sati, are well-known rites, though the magnificent cenotaphs raised on the spot of sacrifice are little known or visited by Europeans; than which there are no better memorials of the rise and decline of the States of the Rajput heptarchy. It is the son who raises the mausoleum to the memory of his father; which last token of respect, or laudable vanity, is only limited by the means of the treasury. It is commemorative [74] of the splendour of his reign that the dome of his father should eclipse that of his predecessor. In every principality of Rajwara, the remark is applicable to chieftains as well as princes.

Each sacred spot, termed ‘the place of great sacrifice’ (Mahasati), is the haunted ground of legendary lore. Amongst the altars on which have burned the beauteous and the brave, the harpy[83] takes up her abode, and stalks forth to devour the hearts of her victims. The Rajput never enters these places of silence but to perform stated rites, or anniversary offerings of flowers and water to the manes (pitri-deva[84]) of his ancestors.

Odin[85] guarded his warriors’ final abode from rapine by means of “wandering fires which played around the tombs”; and the tenth chapter of the Salic law is on punishments against “carrying off the boards or carpets of the tombs.” Fire and water are interdicted to such sacrilegious spoliators.

The shihaba,[86] or wandering meteoric fires, on fields of battle and in the places of ‘great sacrifice,’ produce a pleasing yet melancholy effect; and are the source of superstitious dread and reverence to the Hindu, having their origin in the same natural cause as the ‘wandering fires of Odin’; the phosphorescent salts produced from animal decomposition.

The Scandinavian reared the tumulus over the ashes of the dead; so did the Geta of the Jaxartes, and the officiating priests of Hara, the Hindu god of battle.

The noble picture drawn by Gibbon of the sepulture of the Getic Alaric is paralleled by that of the great Jenghiz Khan. When the lofty mound was raised, extensive forests were planted, to exclude for ever the footsteps of man from his remains.

The tumulus, the cairn, or the pillar, still rises over the Rajput who falls in [75] battle; and throughout Rajwara these sacrificial monuments are found, where are seen carved in relief the warrior on his steed, armed at all points; his faithful wife (Sati) beside him, denoting a sacrifice, and the sun and moon on either side, emblematic of never-dying fame.

Cairns, Pillars.

—In Saurashtra, amidst the Kathi, Khuman, Bala, and others of Scythic descent, the Paliya, or Jujhar (sacrificial pillars), are conspicuous under the walls of every town, in lines, irregular groups, and circles. On each is displayed in rude relief the warrior, with the manner of his death, lance in hand, generally on horseback, though sometimes in his car; and on the coast ‘the pirates of Budha’[87] are depicted boarding from the shrouds. Amidst the Khuman of Tatary the Jesuits found stone circles, similar to those met with wherever the Celtic rites prevailed; and it would require no great ingenuity to prove an analogy, if not a common origin, between Druidic circles and the Indo-Scythic monumental remains. The trilithon, or seat, in the centre of the judicial circle, is formed by a number sacred to Hara, Bal, or the sun, whose priest expounds the law.

Worship of Arms. The Sword.

—The devotion of the Rajput is still paid to his arms, as to his horse. He swears ‘by the steel,’ and prostrates himself before his defensive buckler, his lance, his sword, or his dagger.

The worship of the sword (asi) may divide with that of the horse (aswa) the honour of giving a name to the continent of Asia. It prevailed amongst the Scythic Getae, and is described exactly by Herodotus [iv. 62]. To Dacia and Thrace it was carried by Getic colonies from the Jaxartes, and fostered by these lovers of liberty when their hordes overran Europe.

The worship of the sword in the Acropolis of Athens by the Getic Attila, with all the accompaniments of pomp and place, forms an admirable episode in the history of the decline and fall of Rome; and had Gibbon witnessed the worship of the double-edged sword (khanda) by the prince of Mewar and all his chivalry, he might even have embellished his animated account of the adoration of the scymitar, the symbol of Mars.

Initiation to Arms.

—Initiation to military fame was the same with the [76] German as with the Rajput, when the youthful candidate was presented with the lance, or buckled with the sword; a ceremony which will be noticed when their feudal manners are described; many other traits of character will then be depicted. It would be easy to swell the list of analogous customs, which even to the objects of dislike in food[88] would furnish comparison between the ancient Celt and Rajput; but they shall close with the detail of the most ancient of rites.

Asvamedha, the Horse Sacrifice.

—There are some things, animate and inanimate, which have been common objects of adoration amongst the nations of the earth, the sun, the moon, and all the host of heaven; the sword; reptiles, as the serpent; animals, as the noblest, the horse. This last was not worshipped as an abstract object of devotion, but as a type of that glorious orb which has had reverence from every child of nature. The plains of Tatary, the sands of Libya, the rocks of Persia, the valley of the Ganges, and the wilds of Orinoco, have each yielded votaries alike ardent in devotion to his effulgence:

Of this great world both eye and soul.

His symbolic worship and offerings varied with clime and habit; and while the altars of Bal in Asia, of Belenus among the Celts of Gaul and Britain, smoked with human sacrifices, the bull[89] bled to Mithras in Babylon, and the steed was the victim to Surya on the Jaxartes and Ganges.

The father of history says that the great Getae of Central Asia deemed it right to offer the swiftest of created to the swiftest of non-created beings. It is fair to infer that the sun’s festival with the Getae and Aswa nations of the Jaxartes, as with those of Scandinavia, was the winter solstice, the Sankrant of the Rajput and Hindu in general. Hi, Haya, Hywor, Aswa denote the steed in Sanskrit and its dialects. In Gothic, hyrsa; Teutonic, hors; Saxon, horse. The grand festival of the German tribes of the Baltic was the Hiul, or Hiel (already commented on), the Asvamedha[90] of the children of Surya, on the Ganges.

The Asvamedha Ceremonies.

—The ceremonies of the Asvamedha are too expensive, and attended with too great risk, to be attempted by modern princes. Of its fatal results we have many historical records, from the first dawn of Indian history to the last of its princes, Prithwiraja. The Ramayana, the Mahabharata, and the poems of Chand all illustrate this imposing rite and its effects.[91]

The Ramayana affords a magnificent picture of the Asvamedha. Dasaratha, monarch of Ayodhya, father of Rama, is represented as commanding the rite: “Let the sacrifice be prepared, and the horse[92] liberated from the north bank of the Sarju!”[93] A year being ended, and the horse having returned from his wanderings,[94] The sacrificial ground was prepared on the spot of liberation.

Invitations were sent to all surrounding monarchs to repair to Ayodhya: King Kaikeya,[95] the king of Kasi,[96] Lomapada of Angadesa,[97] Kosala of Magadhadesa,[98] with the kings of Sindhu,[99] Sauvira,[100] and Saurashtra [78].[101]

d

When the sacrificial pillars are erected, the rites commence. This portion of the ceremony, termed Yupochchraya, is thus minutely detailed: "There were twenty-one yupas, or pillars,[102] of octagonal shape, each twenty-one feet in height and four feet in diameter, the capitals bearing the figure of a man, an elephant, or a bull. They were of the various sorts of wood appropriated to holy rites, overlaid with plates of gold and ornamented cloth, and adorned with festoons of flowers. While the yupas were erecting, the Adhvaryu, receiving his instructions from the Hotri, or sacrificing priest, recited aloud the incantations.

"The sacrificial pits were in triple rows, eighteen in number, and arranged in the form of the eagle. Here were placed the victims for immolation; birds, aquatic animals, and the horse.

"Thrice was the steed of King Dasaratha led round the sacred fire by Kosala, and as the priests pronounced the incantations he was immolated[103] amidst shouts of joy.

"The king and queen, placed by the high priest near the horse, sat up all night watching the birds; and the officiating priest, having taken out the hearts, dressed them agreeably to the holy books. The sovereign of men smelled the smoke of the offered hearts, acknowledging his transgressions in the order in which they were committed.

"The sixteen sacrificing priests then placed (as commanded in the ordinances) on the fire the parts of the horse. The oblation of all the animals was made on wood, except that of the horse, which was on cane.

“The rite concluded with gifts of land to the sacrificing priests and augurs; but the holy men preferring gold, ten millions of jambunada[104] were bestowed on them” [79].

Such is the circumstantial account of the Asvamedha, the most imposing and the earliest heathen rite on record. It were superfluous to point out the analogy between it and similar rites of various nations, from the chosen people to the Auspex of Rome and the confessional rite of the Catholic church.

The Sankrant,[105] or Sivaratri (night of Siva), is the winter solstice. On it the horse bled to the sun, or Balnath.

The Scandinavians termed the longest night the ‘mother night,’[106] on which they held that the world was born. Hence the Beltane, the fires of Bal or Belenus; the Hiul of northern nations, the sacrificial fires on the Asvamedha, or worship of the sun, by the Suryas on the Ganges, and the Syrians (Σύροι) and Sauromatae on the shores of the Mediterranean.

The altars of the Phoenician Heliopolis, Balbee[107] or Tadmor,[108] were sacred to the same divinity as on the banks of Sarju, or Balpur, in Saurashtra, where "the horses of the sun ascended from his fountain (Surya-kund)," to carry its princes to conquest.

From Syria came the instructors of the Celtic Druids, who made human sacrifices, and set up the pillar of Belenus on the hills of Cambria and Caledonia.

When “Judah did evil in the sight of the Lord, and built them high places, and images, and groves, on every high hill and under every tree,” the object was Bal, and the pillar (the lingam) was his symbol. It was on his altar they burned incense, and “sacrificed unto the calf on the fifteenth[109] day of the month” (the sacred Amavas of the Hindus). The calf of Israel is the bull (nandi) of Balkesar or Iswara; the Apis of the Egyptian Osiris [80].

Sacred Trees.

—The ash was sacred to the sun-god in the west. The asvattha (or pipal)[110] is the ‘chief of trees,’ say the books sacred to Bal in the East: and death, or loss of limb, is incurred by the sacrilegious mutilator of his consecrated groves,[111] where a pillar is raised bearing the inhibitory edict.

We shall here conclude the analogy between the Indo-Scythic Rajput races and those of early Europe. Much more might be adduced; the old Runic characters of Scandinavia, the Celtic, and the Osci or Etruscan, might, by comparison with those found in the cave temples and rocks in Rajasthan and Saurashtra, yield yet more important evidence of original similarity; and the very name of German (from wer, bellum)[112] might be found to be derived from the feud (vair) and foe-man (vairi) of the Rajput.

If these coincidences are merely accidental, then has too much been already said; if not, authorities are here recorded, and hypotheses founded, for the assistance of others [81].

1. Query, if from Mogol and Aghuz, compounded, we have not the Magog, son of Japhet, of Scripture?

2. The other four sons are the remaining elements, personified: whence the six races of Tatars. The Hindus had long but two races, till the four Agnikula made them also six, and now thirty-six!

3. In Tatar, according to Abulghazi, the sun and moon.

4. De Guignes.

5. Sir W. Jones says the Chinese assert their Hindu origin; but a comparison proves both these Indu races to be of Scythic origin. [Yadu was son of Yayāti, and Haya was Yadu’s grandson, not son. The comparison of Mongol with Hindu tradition is of no value.]

6. [For the Mongol genealogy see Howorth, History of the Mongols, Part i. 35. Abu-l Fazl (Akbarnāma, trans. H. Beveridge, i. 171 f.) gives the names as follows: Aghūz Khān, whose sons were—Kūn (Sun); Ai (Moon); Yūlduz (Star); Kok or Gok (Sky); Tāgh (Mountain); Tangīz (Sky)].

7. Naga and Takshak are Sanskrit names for a snake or serpent, the emblem of Budha or Mercury. The Naga race, so well known to India, the Takshaks or Takiuks of Scythia, invaded India about six centuries before Christ.

8. De Guignes, Sur les Dynasties des Huns, vol. i. p. 7.

9. Nearly the calculated period from the Puranas.

10. Tauth, ‘father’ in Sanskrit [? tāta]. Qu. Teuths, and Toth, the Mercury of Egypt?

11. [The author seems to confuse Budha (Mercury) with Gautama Buddha, the teacher. Buddhism arose in India, not in Central Asia, and Jainism was not a milder form of it, but an independent, and probably earlier, religion.]

12. Diodorus Siculus book ii.

13. The Arvarma of the Puranas; the Jaxartes or Sihun. The Puranas thus describe Sakadwipa or Scythia. Diodorus (lib. ii.) makes the Hemodus the boundary between Saka-Scythia and India Proper.

14. Ila, the mother of the Lunar race, is the earth personified. Ertha of the Saxons; ἔρα of the Greeks; ard in Hebrew [?].

15. Scythes, from Sakatai, ‘Sakadwipa,’ and is, ‘Lord’: Lord of Sakatai, or Scythia [?].

16. Qu. Whether the Scythic Pali may not be the shepherd invaders of Egypt [?]. The Pali character yet exists, and appears the same as ancient fragments of the Buddha inscriptions in my possession: many letters assimilate with the Coptic.

17. The three great branches of the Indu (Lunar) Aswa bore the epithet of Midia (pronounced Mede), viz. Urumidha, Ajamidha, and Dvimidha. Qu. The Aswa invaders of Assyria and Media, the sons of Bajaswa, expressly stated to have multiplied in the countries west of the Indus, emigrating from their paternal seats in Panchalaka? [Mīdha means ‘pouring out seed, prolific,’ and has no connexion with Mede, the Madai of Genesis x. 2; the Assyrian Mada.]

18. Sun-worshippers, the Suryavansa.

19. Strabo lib. xi. p. 511.

20. Dahya (one of the thirty-six tribes), now extinct.

21. The Asii and Tochari, the Aswa and Takshak, or Turushka races, of the Puranas, of Sakadwipa [?]. “C’est vraisemblablement d’après le nom de Tachari, que M. D’Anville aura cru devoir placer les tribus ainsi dénommées dans le territoire qui s’appelle aujourdhui Tokarist’han, situé, dit ce grand géographe, entre les montagnes et le Gihon ou Amou” (Note 3, liv. xi. p. 254, Strabon).

22. Once more I may state Sakha in Sanskrit has the aspirate: literally, the ‘branches’ or ‘races.’ [Saka and Sākha have no connexion; see Smith, EHI, 226.]

23. “La Sacasene étoit une contrée de l’Arménie sur les confins de l’Albanie ou du Shirvan” (Note 4, tome i. p. 191, Strabon). “The Sacasenae were the ancestors of the Saxons” (Turner’s History of the Anglo-Saxons).

24. Herodotus (iv. 12) says: “The Cimmerians, expelled by the Massagetae, migrated to the Crimea.” Here were the Thyssagetae, or western Getae [the lesser Getae, Herodotus iv. 22]; and thence both the Getae and Cimbri found their way to the Baltic. Rubruquis the Jesuit, describing the monuments of the Comani in the Dasht-i Kipchak, whence these tribes, says: “Their monuments and circles of stones are like our Celtic or Druidical remains” (Bell’s Collection). The Khumān are a branch of the Kāthi tribe of Saurashtra, whose paliyas, or funeral monumental pillars, are seen in groups at every town and village. The Chatti were one of the early German tribes. [Needless to say, the German Chatti had no connexion with the Kāthi of Gujarāt.]

25. [The reference, again, is to the Saisunāga dynasty, p. 64 above.]

26. Asi was the term applied to the Getes, Yeuts, or Juts, when they invaded Scandinavia and founded Yeutland or Jutland (see ‘Edda,’ Mallet’s Introduction).

27. Mercury and earth.

28. Pinkerton, On the Goths, vol. ii. p. 94. [All this is obsolete.]

29. Camari was one of the eight sons of Japhet, says Abulghazi: whence the Camari, Cimmerii, or Cimbri. Kamari is one of the tribes of Saurashtra. [Kymry = fellow-countrymen (Rhys, Celtic Britain, 116).]

30. The Suiones, Suevi, or Su. Now the Su, Yueh-chi, or Yuti, are Getes, according to De Guignes. Marco Polo calls Cashgar, where he was in the sixth century, the birthplace of the Swedes; and De la Croix adds, that in 1691 Sparvenfeldt, the Swedish ambassador at Paris, told him he had read in Swedish chronicles that Cashgar was their country. When the Huns were chased from the north of China, the greater part retired into the southern countries adjoining Europe. The rest passed directly to the Oxus and Jaxartes; thence they spread to the Caspian and Persian frontiers. In Mawaru-l-nahr (Transoxiana) they mixed with the Su, the Yueh-chi, or Getes, who were particularly powerful, and extended into Europe. One would be tempted to regard them as the ancestors of those Getes who were known in Europe. Some bands of Su might equally pass into the north of Europe, known as the Suevi. [The meaning of Suevi is uncertain, but the word has no connexion with that of any Central Asian tribe.]

31. Mr. Pinkerton’s research had discovered Sakatai, though he does not give his authority (D’Anville) for the Sakadwipa of the Puranas! “Sakitai, a region at the fountains of the Oxus and Jaxartes, styled Sakita from the Sacae” (D’Anville, Anc. Geog.). The Yadus of Jaisalmer, who ruled Zabulistan and founded Ghazni, claim the Chagatais as of their own Indu stock: a claim which, without deep reflection, appeared inadmissible; but which I now deem worthy of credit.

32. Chagatai, or Sakatai, the Sakadwipa of the Puranas (corrupted by the Greeks to Scythia), “whose inhabitants worship the sun and whence is the river Arvarma.” [For the Chagatai Mongols see Elias-Ross, History of the Moghuls of Central Asia, Introd. 28 ff.]

33. Utrar, probably the Uttarakuru of ancient geography: the uttara (northern) kuru (race); a branch of Indu stock.

34. Jadu ka dang, the Joudes of Rennell’s map; the Yadu hills high up in the Panjab, where a colony of the Yadu race dwelt when expelled Saurashtra. [The Salt Range in the Jhelum, Shāhpur, and Miānwāli districts of the Panjāb, was known to ancient historians as Koh-i-Jūd, or ‘the hills of Jūd,’ the name being applied by the Muhammadans to this range on account of its resemblance to Mount Al-Jūdi, or Ararat. The author constantly refers to it, and suggests that the name was connected with the Indian Yadu, or Yādava tribe (IGI, xxi. 412; Abu-l Fazl, Akbarnāma, i. 237; Elliot-Dowson, ii. 235, v. 561; Āīn, ii. 405; ASR, ii. 17; Hughes, Dict. of Islām, 23).]

35. The Numri, or Lumri (foxes) of Baluchistan, are Jats [?]. These are the Nomardies of Rennell. [They are believed to be aborigines (IGI, xvi. 146; Census Report, Baluchistan, 1911, i. 17).]

36. [There is no evidence, beyond resemblance of name, to connect the Jats with the Getae.]

37. Royal pastors [?]

38. [iv. 59.] The sun was their ‘great deity,’ though they had in Xamolxis a lord of terror, with affinity to Yama, or the Hindu Pluto. “The chief divinity of the Fenns, a Scythic race, was Yammalu” (Pinkerton’s Hist. of the Goths, vol. ii. p. 215).

39. iv. 45 [Asia probably means ‘land of the rising sun.’]

40. Āsa, ‘hope.’

41. Sakambhari: from sakham, the plural of sakha, ‘branch or race,’ and ambhar, ‘covering, protecting.’ [The word means ‘herb nourishing.’]

42. Mata, ‘mother.’

43. Aswa and haya are synonymous Sanskrit terms for ‘horse’; asp in Persian; and as applied by the prophet Ezekiel [xxxviii. 6] to the Getic invasion of Scythia, A.C. 600: “the sons of Togarmah riding on horses”; described by Diodorus, the period the same as the Takshak invasion of India.

44. [Hystaspes is from old Persian, Vishtāspa, ‘possessor of horses.’ The author derives it from a modern Hindi word hīnsna, ‘to neigh,’ possibly from recollection of the story in Herodotus iii. 85.]

45. [He possibly refers to the statement (Germania, v.), that their coins bore the impress of a two-horse chariot.]

46. Asirgarh, ‘fortress of the Asi’ [IGI, vi. 12].

47. The great (maha) warrior (vir). [Buddha lived 567-487 B.C.: Mahāvīra, founder of Jainism, died about 527 B.C.]

48. Yeutland was the name given to the whole Cimbric Chersonese, or Jutland (Pinkerton, On the Goths).

49. Turk, Turushka, Takshak, or ‘Taunak, fils de Turc’ (Abulghazi, History of the Tatars).

50. Histoire des Huns, vol. i. p. 42.

51. Though Tacitus calls the German tribes indigenous, it is evident he knew their claim to Asiatic origin, when he asks, “Who would leave the softer abodes of Asia for Germany, where Nature yields nothing but deformity?”

52. In an inscription of the Geta or Jat Prince of Salindrapur (Salpur) of the fifth century, he is styled “of the race of Tusta” (qu. Tuisto?). It is in that ancient nail-headed character used by the ancient Buddhists of India, and still the sacred character of the Tatar Lamas: in short, the Pali. All the ancient inscriptions I possess of the branches of the Agnikulas, as the Chauhan, Pramara, Solanki, and Parihara, are in this character. That of the Jat prince styles him “Jat Kathida” (qu. of (da) Cathay?). From Tuisto and Woden we have our Tuesday and Wednesday. In India, Wednesday is Budhwar (Dies Mercurii), and Tuesday Mangalwar (Dies Martis), the Mardi of the French.

53. Tacitus, Germania, xxxviii.

54. The gau, or cow, symbolic of Prithivi, the earth. On this see note, p. 33.

55. [Germania, ix.]

56. Krishna is the preserving deity of the Hindu triad. Krishna is of the Indu line of Budha, whom he worshipped prior to his own deification.

57. ‘Mahurat ka shikar.’

58. The Siebi of Tacitus.

59. Sammes’s Saxon Antiquities.

60. Hara is the Thor of Scandinavia; Hari is Budha, Hermes, or Mercury.

61. Mallet derives it from kempfer, ‘to fight.’ [The name is said to mean ‘comrades’ (Rhys, Celtic Britain, 116). Irmansūl means ‘a colossus,’ and has no connexion with Skr. sūla (Grimm, Teutonic Mythology, i. 115).]

62. Ku is a mere prefix, meaning ‘evil’; ‘the evil striker (Mar).’ Hence, probably, the Mars of Rome. The birth of Kumar, the general of the army of the gods, with the Hindus, is exactly that of the Grecians, born of the goddess Jahnavi (Juno) without sexual intercourse. Kumāra is always accompanied by the peacock, the bird of Juno. [Kumāra probably means ‘easily dying’; there is no connexion with Mars, originally a deity of vegetation.]

63. For a drawing of the Scandinavian god of battle see Sammes.

64. I have in contemplation to give to the public a few of the sixty-nine books of the poems of Chand, the last great bard of the last Hindu emperor of India, Prithwiraja. They are entirely heroic: each book a relation of one of the exploits of this prince, the first warrior of his time. They will aid a comparison between the Rajput and Scandinavian bards, and show how far the Provençal Troubadour, the Neustrienne Trouveur, and Minnesinger of Germany, have anything in common with the Rajput Bardai. [For Rajput bards on horseback, drunk with opium, singing songs to arouse warriors’ courage, see Manucci ii. 437 f.]

65. Ἥλυσιος, from Ἥλιος, ‘the sun’; also a title of Apollo, the Hari of India. [The two words, from the accentuation, can have no connexion.]

66. This title of the father of Rama denotes a ‘charioteer’ [‘having ten chariots.’ Harsha (A.D. 612-647) discarded the chariot (Smith, EHI, 339)].

67. The Indian satrapy of Darius, says Herodotus [iii. 94], was the richest of all the Persian provinces, and yielded six hundred talents of gold. Arrian informs us that his Indo-Scythic subjects, in his wars with Alexander, were the élite of his army. Besides the Sakasenae, we find tribes in name similar to those included in the thirty-six Rajkula; especially the Dahae (Dahya, one of the thirty-six races). The Indo-Scythic contingent was two hundred war chariots and fifteen elephants, which were marshalled with the Parthii on the right, and also near Darius’s person. By this disposition they were opposed to the cohort commanded by Alexander in person. The chariots commenced the action, and prevented a manœuvre of Alexander to turn the left flank of the Persians. Of their horse, also, the most honourable mention is made; they penetrated into the division where Parmenio commanded, to whom Alexander was compelled to send reinforcements. The Grecian historian dwells with pleasure on Indo-Scythic valour: “there were no equestrian feats, no distant fighting with darts, but each fought as if victory depended on his sole arm.” They fought the Greeks hand to hand [Arrian, Anabasis, iii. 15].

But the loss of empire was decreed at Arbela, and the Sakae and Indo-Scythae had the honour of being slaughtered by the Yavans of Greece, far from their native land, in the aid of the king of kings.

68. The Kathi are celebrated in Alexander’s wars. The Kathiawar Kathi can be traced from Multan (the ancient abode) [mūlasthāna, ‘principal place’]. The Dahya (Dahae), Johya (the latter Hunnish), and Kathi are amongst the thirty-six races. All dwelt, six centuries ago, within the five streams and in the deserts south of the Ghara. The two last have left but a name.

69. The Sakae had invaded the inhabitants on the borders of the Pontic Sea: whilst engaged in dividing the booty, the Persian generals surprised them at night, and exterminated them. To eternize the remembrance of this event, the Persians heaped up the earth round a rock in the plain where the battle was fought, on which they erected two temples, one to the goddess Anaītis, the other to the divinities Omanus and Anandate, and then founded the annual festival called Sacaea, still celebrated by the possessors of Zela. Such is the account by some authors of the origin of Sacaea. According to others it dates from the reign of Cyrus only. This prince, they say, having carried the war into the country of the Sakae (Massagetae of Herodotus) lost a battle. Compelled to fall back on his magazines, abundantly stored with provisions, but especially wine, and having halted some time to refresh his army, he departed before the enemy, feigning a flight, and leaving his camp standing full of provisions. The Sakae, who pursued, reaching the abandoned camp stored with provisions, gave themselves up to debauch. Cyrus returned and surprised the inebriated and senseless barbarians. Some, buried in profound sleep, were easily massacred; others occupied in drinking and dancing, without defence, fell into the hands of armed foes: so that all perished. The conqueror, attributing his success to divine protection, consecrated this day to the goddess honoured in his country, and decreed it should be called ‘the day of the Sacaea.’ This is the battle related by Herodotus, to which Strabo alludes, between the Persian monarch and Tomyris, queen of the Getae. Amongst the Rajput Sakha, all grand battles attended with fatal results are termed sakha. When besieged, without hope of relief, in the last effort of despair, the females are immolated, and the warriors, decorated in saffron robes, rush on inevitable destruction. This is to perform sakha, where every branch (sakha) is cut off. Chitor has to boast of having thrice (and a half) suffered sakha. Chitor sakha ka pap, ‘by the sin of the sack of Chitor,’ the most solemn adjuration of the Guhilot Rajput. If such the origin of the festival from the slaughter of the Sakae of Tomyris, it will be allowed to strengthen the analogy contended for between the Sakae east and west the Indus. [For the Sacaea festival see Sir J. Frazer, The Golden Bough, The Dying God, 113 ff. It has no connexion with the Rajput Sākha, ‘a fight,’ which, again, is a different word from Sākha, ‘a branch, clan.’]

70. I presented a work on this subject to the Royal Asiatic Society, as well as another on Palmistry, etc.

71. Madhu is intoxicating drink, from madhu, ‘a bee,’ in Sanskrit [madhu, ‘anything sweet’]. It is well known that mead is from honey. It would be curious if the German mead was from the Indian madhu (bee): then both cup (kharpara) and beverage would be borrowed. [Madhu does not mean ‘a bee’ in Sanskrit.]

72. Amrita (immortal), from the initial privative and mrit, ‘death.’ Thus the Immurthal, or ‘vale of immortality,’ at Neufchatel, is as good Sanskrit as German [?].

73. Abhai Singh, ‘the fearless lion,’ prince of Marwar, whose bard makes this speech at the festal board, when the prince presented with his own hand the cup to the bard.

74. Regner Lodbrog, in his dying ode, when the destinies summon him.

75. Phūl, the flower of the mahua tree, the favourite drink of a Rajput. Classically, in Sanskrit it is madhūka, of the class Polyandria Monogynia [Bassia latifolia] (see As. Res. vol. i. p. 300).

76. A human skull; in the dialects pronounced khopar: Qu. cup in Saxon? [Cup, in Low Latin cuppa.]

77. The Kanphara [or Kanphata] Jogis, or Gosains, are in great bodies, often in many thousands, and are sought as allies, especially in defensive warfare. In the grand military festivals at Udaipur to the god of war, the scymitar, symbolic of Mars, worshipped by the Guhilots, is entrusted to them [IA, vii. 47 ff.; BG, ix. part i. 543].

78. An entire cemetery of these, besides many detached, I have seen, and also the sacred rites to their manes by the disciples occupying these abodes of austerity, when the flowers of the ak [Calatropis gigantea] and leaves of evergreen were strewed on the grave, and sprinkled with the pure element.

79. Mallet’s Northern Antiquities, chap. xii.

80. Mallet chap. xii. vol. i. p. 289.

81. Edda.

82. Mallet’s Northern Antiquities, chap. xii. The Celtic Franks had the same custom. The arms of Chilperic, and the bones of the horse on which he was to be presented to Odin, were found in his tomb.

83. The Dakini (the Jigarkhor of Sindh) is the genuine vampire [Āīn, ii. 338 f.]. Captain Waugh, after a long chase in the valley of Udaipur, speared a hyena, whose abode was the tombs, and well known as the steed on which the witch of Ar sallied forth at night. Evil was predicted: and a dangerous fall, subsequently, in chasing an elk, was attributed to his sacrilegious slaughter of the weird sister’s steed.

84. Pitri-deva, ‘Father-lords.’

85. Mallet chap. xii.

86. At Gwalior, on the east side of that famed fortress, where myriads of warriors have fattened the soil, these phosphorescent lights often present a singular appearance. I have, with friends whose eyes this will meet, marked the procession of these lambent night-fires, becoming extinguished at one place and rising at another, which, aided by the unequal locale, have been frequently mistaken for the Mahratta prince returning with his numerous torch-bearers from a distant day’s sport. I have dared as bold a Rajput as ever lived to approach them; whose sense of the levity of my desire was strongly depicted, both in speech and mien: “men he would encounter, but not the spirits of those erst slain in battle.” It was generally about the conclusion of the rains that these lights were observed, when evaporation took place from these marshy grounds impregnated with salts.

87. At Dwarka, the god of thieves is called Budha Trivikrama, or of triple energy: the Hermes Triplex, or three-headed Mercury of the Egyptians. [No such cult is mentioned in the account of Dwārka, BG, viii. 601.]

88. Caesar informs us that the Celts of Britain would not eat the hare, goose, or domestic fowl. The Rajput will hunt the first, but neither eats it, nor the goose, sacred to the god of battle (Hara). The Rajput of Mewar eats the jungle fowl, but rarely the domestic.

89. As he did also to Balnath (the god Bal) in the ancient times of India. The baldan, or gift of the bull to the sun, is well recorded. [Baldān, balidāna does not mean the offering of a bull: it is the daily presentation of a portion of the meat to Earth and other deities.] There are numerous temples in Rajasthan of Baalim [?]; and Balpur (Mahadeo) has several in Saurashtra. All represent the sun—

Peor his other name, when he enticed

Israel in Sittim, on their march from Nile.

Paradise Lost, book i. 412 f. [77].

The temple of Solomon was to Bal, and all the idolaters of that day seem to have held to the grosser tenets of Hinduism.

90. In Aswa (medha signifies ‘to kill’) we have the derivation of the ancient races, sons of Bajaswa, who peopled the countries on both sides the Indus, and the probable etymon of Asia [?]. The Assakenoi, the Ariaspai of Alexander’s historians, and Aspasianae, to whom Arsaces fled from Seleucus, and whom Strabo terms a Getic race, have the same origin; hence Asigarh, ‘the fortress of the Asi’ (erroneously termed Hansi), and Asgard were the first settlements of the Getic Asi in Scandinavia. Alexander received the homage of all these Getic races at ‘the mother of cities,’ Balkh, ‘seat of Cathaian Khan’ (the Jat Kathida of my inscription), according to Marco Polo, from whom Milton took his geography.

91. The last was undertaken by the celebrated Sawai Jai Singh of Amber; but the milk-white steed of the sun, I believe, was not turned out, or assuredly the Rathors would have accepted the challenge.

92. A milk-white steed is selected with peculiar marks. On liberation, properly guarded, he wanders where he listeth. It is a virtual challenge. Arjuna guarded the steed liberated by Yudhishthira; but that sent round by Parikshita, his grandson, “was seized by the Takshak of the north.” The same fate occurred to Sagara, father of Dasaratha, which involved the loss of his kingdom.

93. The Sarju, or Gandak, from the Kumaun mountains, passes through Kosalades, the dominion of Dasaratha.

94. The horse’s return after a year evidently indicates an astronomical revolution, or the sun’s return to the same point in the ecliptic. This return from his southern declination must have been always a day of rejoicing to the Scythic and Scandinavian nations, who could not, says Gibbon, fancy a worse hell than a large abode open to the cold wind of the north. To the south they looked for the deity; and hence, with the Rajputs, a religious law forbids their doors being to the north.

95. Kaikeya is supposed by the translator, Dr. Carey, to be a king of Persia, the Kaivansa preceding Darius. The epithet Kai not unfrequently occurs in Hindu traditional couplets. One, which I remember, is connected with the ancient ruins of Abhaner in Jaipur, recording the marriage of one of its princes with a daughter of Kaikamb.

Tu beti Kaikamb ki, nam Parmala ho, etc. ‘Thou art the daughter of Kaikamb: thy name Fairy Garland.’ Kai was the epithet of one of the Persian dynasties. Qu. Kam-bakhsh, the Cambyses of the Greeks? [Cambyses, Kābuzīya or Kambūzīya, possibly ‘a bard’ (Rawlinson, Herodotus, iii. 543).]

96. Benares.

97. Tibet or Ava [N. Bengal]

98. Bihar.

99. Sind valley.

100. Unknown to me [W. and S. Panjab and its vicinity].

101. Peninsula of Kathiawar.

102. I have seen several of these sacrificial pillars of stone of very ancient date. Many years ago, when all the Rajput States were suffering from the thraldom of the Mahrattas, a most worthy and wealthy banker of Surat, known by the family name of Trivedi, who felt acutely for the woes inflicted by incessant predatory foes on the sons of Rama and Krishna, told me, with tears in his eyes, that the evils which afflicted Jaipur were to be attributed to the sacrilege of the prince, Jagat Singh, who had dared to abstract the gold plates of the sacrificial pillars, and send them to his treasury: worse than Rehoboam, who, when he took away from the temple “the shields of gold Solomon had made,” had the grace to substitute others of brass. Whether, when turned into currency, it went as a war contribution to the Mahrattas, or was applied to the less worthy use of his concubine queen, ‘the essence of camphor,’ it was of a piece with the rest of this prince’s unwise conduct. Jai Singh, who erected the pillars, did honour to his country, of which he was a second founder, and under whom it attained the height from which it has now fallen. [Some sacrificial pillars (yūpa) were recently found in the bed of the Jumna near Mathura, with inscriptions dated in the twenty-fourth year of Kanishka’s reign, about A.D. 102.]

103. On the Nauroz, or festival of the new year, the Great Mogul slays a camel with his own hand, which is distributed, and eaten by the court favourites. [A camel is sacrificed at the Īdu-l-azha festival (Hughes, Dict. Islām, 192 ff.).]

104. This was native gold, of a peculiarly dark and brilliant hue, which was compared to the fruit jambu (not unlike a damson). Everything forms an allegory with the Hindus; and the production of this metal is appropriated to the period of gestation of Jahnavi, the river-goddess (Ganges), when by Agni, or fire, she produced Kumara, the god of war, the commander of the army of the gods. This was when she left the place of her birth, the Himalaya mountain (the great storehouse of metallic substances), whose daughter she is: and doubtless this is in allusion to some very remote period, when, bursting her rock-bound bed, Ganga exposed from ‘her side’ veins of this precious metal.

105. Little bags of brocade, filled with seeds of the sesamum or cakes of the same, are distributed by the chiefs to friends on this occasion. While the author writes, he has before him two of these, sent to him by the young Mahratta prince, Holkar.

106. Sivaratri would be ‘father night’ [?]. Siva-Iswara is the ‘universal father.’

107. Ferishta, the compiler of the imperial history of India, gives us a Persian or Arabic derivation of this, from Bal, ‘the sun,’ and bec, ‘an idol.’ [This has not been traced in Dow or Briggs.]

108. Corrupted to Palmyra, the etymon of which, I believe, has never been given, which is a version of Tadmor. In Sanskrit, tal, or tar, is the ‘date-tree’; mor signifies ‘chief.’ We have more than one ‘city of palms’ (Talpur) in India; and the tribe ruling in Haidarabad, on the Indus, is called Talpuri, from the place whence they originated. [Tadmor is Semitic, probably meaning ‘abounding in palms.’ The suggested derivation is impossible.]

109. 1 Kings xiv. 23.

110. Ficus religiosa. It presents a perfect resemblance to the popul (poplar) of Germany and Italy, a species of which is the aspen. [They belong to different orders.] So similar is it, that the specimen of the pipal from Carolina is called, in the Isola Bella of the Lago Maggiore, Populus angulata; and another, in the Jardin des Plantes at Toulon, is termed the Ficus populifolia, ou figuier à feuilles de peuplier. The aspen, or ash, held sacred by the Celtic priests, is said to be the mountain-ash. ‘The calf of Bal’ is generally placed under the pipal; and Hindu tradition sanctifies a never-dying stem, which marks the spot where the Hindu Apollo, Hari (the sun), was slain by the savage Bhil on the shores of Saurashtra. [This is known as the Prāchi Pīpal, and death rites are performed close to it (BG, viii. 271, note 2).]

111. The religious feelings of the Rajput, though outraged for centuries by Moguls and mercenary Pathans, will not permit him to see the axe applied to the noble pipal or umbrageous bar (Ficus indica), without execrating the destroyer. Unhappy the constitution of mind which knowingly wounds religious prejudices of such ancient date! Yet is it thus with our countrymen in the East, who treat all foreign prejudices with contempt, shoot the bird sacred to the Indian Mars, slay the calves of Bal, and fell the noble pipal before the eyes of the native without remorse. He is unphilosophic and unwise who treats such prejudices with contumely: prejudices beyond the reach of reason. He is uncharitable who does not respect them; impolitic, who does not use every means to prevent such offence by ignorance or levity. It is an abuse of our strength, and an ungenerous advantage over their weakness. Let us recollect who are the guardians of these fanes of Bal, his pipal, and sacred bird (the peacock); the children of Surya and Chandra, and the descendants of the sages of yore, they who fill the ranks of our army, and are attentive, though silent, observers of all our actions: the most attached, the most faithful, and the most obedient of mankind! Let us maintain them in duty, obedience, and attachment, by respecting their prejudices and conciliating their pride. On the fulfilment of this depends the maintenance of our sovereignty in India: but the last fifteen years have assuredly not increased their devotion to us. Let the question be put to the unprejudiced, whether their welfare has advanced in proportion to the dominion they have conquered for us, or if it has not been in the inverse ratio of this prosperity? Have not their allowances and comforts decreased? Does the same relative standard between the currency and conveniences of life exist as twenty years ago? Has not the first depreciated twenty-five per cent, as half-batta stations and duties have increased? For the good of ruler and servant, let these be rectified. With the utmost solemnity, I aver, I have but the welfare of all at heart in these observations. I loved the service, I loved the native soldier. I have proved what he will do, where devoted, when, in 1817, thirty-two firelocks of my guard attacked, defeated, and dispersed a camp of fifteen hundred men, slaying thrice their numbers.[A] Having quitted the scene for ever, I submit my opinion dispassionately for the welfare of the one, and with it the stability or reverse of the other.

A. What says the Thermopylae of India, Corygaum? Five hundred firelocks against twenty thousand men! Do the annals of Napoleon record a more brilliant exploit? Has a column been reared to the manes of the brave, European and native, of this memorable day, to excite to future achievement? What order decks the breast of the gallant Fitzgerald, for the exploit on the field of Nagpur? At another time and place his words, “At my peril be it! Charge!” would have crowned his crest! These things call for remedy! [Korēgāon in Poona District, where Captain Staunton defeated a large force of Mahrattas on January 1, 1818 (Wilson-Mill, Hist. of India, ii. (1846), 303 ff.).]

112. D’Anville’s derivation of German, from wer (bellum) and manus. [Possibly O. Irish, gair, ‘neighbour,’ or gairm, ‘battle-cry’ (New Eng. Dict. s.v.).]

CHAPTER 7

Having discussed the ancient genealogies of the martial races of Rajasthan, as well as the chief points in their character and religion analogous to those of early Europe, we proceed to the catalogue of the Chhattis Rajkula, or ‘thirty-six royal races.’[1]

The table before the reader presents, at one view, the authorities on which this list is given: they are as good as abundant. The first is from a detached leaf of an ancient work, obtained from a Yati of a Jain temple at the old city of Nadol, in Marwar. The second is from the poems of Chand,[2] the bard of the last Hindu king of Delhi. The third is from an estimable work contemporary with Chand’s, the Kumarpal Charitra[3] or “History of the Monarchy of Anhilwara Patan.” The fourth list is from the Khichi bard.[4] The fifth, from a bard of Saurashtra.

From every one of the bardic profession, from all the collectors and collections of Rajasthan, lists have been received, from which the catalogue No. 6 has been formed, admitted by the genealogists to be more perfect than any existing document. From it, therefore, in succession, each race shall have its history rapidly sketched; though, as a text, a single name is sufficient to fill many pages.

The first list is headed by an invocation to Mata Sakambhari Devi, or mother-goddess, protectress of the races (sakha) [the mother of vegetation].

Each race (sakha) has its Gotracharya,[5] a genealogical creed, describing [82] the essential peculiarities, religious tenets, and pristine locale of the clan. Every Rajput should be able to repeat this; though it is now confined to the family priest or the genealogist. Many chiefs, in these degenerate days, would be astonished if asked to repeat their gotracharya, and would refer to the bard. It is a touchstone of affinities, and guardian of the laws of intermarriage. When the inhibited degrees of propinquity have been broken, it has been known to rectify the mistake, where, however, “ignorance was bliss.”[6]

LIST OF THE THIRTY-SIX ROYAL
RACES OF RAJASTHAN.—Om! Sakambhari Mata
ANCIENT MSS.[t.1] | CHAND BARDAI.[t.2]
| Ikshwaku. |  | Ravya or Surya.
| Surya. |  | Sahsa or Soma.
| Soma or Chandra. |  | Yadu.
| Yadu. |  | Kakustha.
5 | Chahuman (Chauhan). | 5 | Pramara.
| Pramara. |  | Chauhan.
| Chalukya or Solanki. |  | Chalukya.
| Parihara. |  | Chandak.
| Chawara. |  | Silar.
10 | Dudia. | 10 | Abhira.
| Rathor. |  | Makwahana.
| Gohil. |  | Gohil.
| Dabhi. |  | Chapotkat.
| Makwahana. |  | Parihara.
15 | Norka. | 15 | Rathor.
| Aswaria. |  | Deora.
| Salar or Silara. |  | Tak.
| Sinda. |  | Sindhu.
| Sepat. |  | Ananga.
20 | Hun or Hūn. | 20 | Patak.
| Kirjal. |  | Pritihara.
| Haraira. |  | Didiota.
| Rajpali. |  | Karitpal.
| Dhanpali. |  | Kotpala.
25 | Agnipali. | 25 | Hul.
| Bala. |  | Gaur.
| Jhala. |  | Nikumbha.
| Bhagdola. |  | Rajpalaka.
| Motdan. |  | Kani.
30 | Mohor. | 30 | Kalchorak or Kurkara.
| Kagair. |  |
| Karjeo. |  |
| Chadlia. |  |
| Pokara. |  |
| Nikumbha. |  |
36 | Salala. |  |

KUMAR PAL CHARITRA.[t.3]
Sanskrit Edition—MSS. | Gujarati Dialect—MSS.
| Ikshwaku. |  | Gotchar Gohil.
| Soma. |  | Ani Gohil.
| Yadu. |  | Kathi.
| Pramara. |  | Kaser.
5 | Chauhan. | 5 | Nikumbha.
| Chalukya. |  | Barbeta.
| Chandak. |  | Bawariya.
| Silar (Raj Tilak) |  | Maru.
| Chapotkat. |  | Makwahana.
10 | Pritihara. | 10 | Dahima.
| Sakranka. |  | Dudia.
| Kurpala. |  | Bala.
| Chandal. |  | Baghel.
| Ohil. |  | Yadu.
15 | Palaka. | 15 | Jethwa.
| Maurya. |  | Jareja.
| Makwahana. |  | Jat.
| Dhanpala. |  | Solanki.
| Rajpalaka. |  | Pramara.
20 | Dahya. | 20 | Kaba.
| Turandalika. |  | Chawara.
| Nikumbha. |  | Chaurasima.
| Hun. |  | Khant.
| Bala. |  | Khyera.
25 | Harial. | 25 | Rawali.
| Mokar. |  | Masania.
| Pokara. |  | Palani.
|  |  | Hala.
|  |  | Jhala
|  | 30 | Daharia.
|  |  | Baharia.
|  |  | Sarweya "Chhattrya
|  |  | tin Sar."
|  |  | Parihara.
|  |  | Chauhan.

KHICHI BARD.[t.4] | CORRECTED LIST BY THE AUTHOR.
| Guhilot. |  | Ikshwaku, Kakutstha, or Surya.
| Pramara. |  | Anwai, Indu, Som, or Chandra.
| Chauhan. |  | Grahilot or Guhilot | 24 | Sakha.
| Solanki. |  | Yadu. | 4 |
| Rathor. | 5 | Tuar. | 17 |
| Tuar. |  | Rathor. | 13 |
| Bargujar. |  | Kushwaha or Kachhwaha. |  |
| Parihara. |  | Pramara. | 35 |
| Jhala. |  | Chahuman or Chauhan. | 26 |
10 | Yadu. | 10 | Chalukya or Solanki. | 16 |
| Kachhwaha. |  | Parihara. | 12 |
| Gaur. |  | Chawara. | Single.
These subdivide: the |  | Tak, Tāk, or Takshak. |  |
following do not, and are |  | Jat or Geta. |  |
called Yaka, or single. | 15 | Hun or Hūn. |  |
| Sengar. |  | Kathi. |  |
| Bala. |  | Bala. |  |
15 | Kharwar. |  | Jhala. | 2 |
| Chawara. |  | Jethwa or Kamari. |  |
| Dahima. | 20 | Gohil. |  |
| Dahya. |  | Sarweya. |  |
| Bais. |  | Silar. |  |
20 | Gaharwal. |  | Dabhi. |  |
| Nikumbha. |  | Gaur | 5 |
| Dewat. | 25 | Doda or Dor. |  |
| Johya. |  | Gaharwal. |  |
| Sikarwal. |  | Bargujar | 3 |
25 | Dabhia. |  | Sengar. | Single.
| Doda. |  | Sikarwal. | do. |
| Maurya. | 30 | Bais | do. |
| Mokara. |  | Dahia. |  |
| Abhira. |  | Johya. |  |
30 | Kalchorak (Haya race). |  | Mohil. |  |
| Agnipala. |  | Nikumbha. |  |
| Aswaria or Sarja. |  | Rajpali. |  |
| Hul. | 36 | Dahima. | do. |
| Manatwal. |  |  |  |
| Malia. |  | Extra. |  |
36 | Chahil. |  | Hul. |  |
|  |  | Daharya. |  |

t.1. The author, after the invocation to “the mother protectress,” says, “I write the names of the thirty-six royal tribes.”

t.2. The bard Chand says, “Of the thirty-six races, the four Agnipalas are the greatest—the rest are born of woman, but these from fire.”

t.3. As the work is chiefly followed with the exploits of Kumarpal, who was of Chauhan tribe, the author reserves it for a peroration to the last “of all the mightiest is the Chauhan.”

t.4. By name Moghji.

Most of the kula (races) are divided into numerous branches[7] (sakha), and these sakha subdivided into innumerable clans (gotra),[8] the most important of which shall be given. A few of the kula never ramified: these are termed eka, or ‘single’; and nearly one-third are eka.

A table of the ‘eighty-four’ mercantile tribes, chiefly of Rajput origin, shall also be furnished, in which the remembrance of some races are preserved which would have perished. Lists of the aboriginal, the agricultural and the pastoral tribes are also given to complete the subject.

Solar and Lunar Races.

—In the earlier ages there were but two races, Surya and Chandra, to which were added the four Agnikulas[9]; in all six. The others are subdivisions of Surya and Chandra, or the sakha of Indo-Scythic origin, who found no difficulty in obtaining a place (though a low one), before the Muhammadan era, amongst the thirty-six regal races of Rajasthan. The former we may not unaptly consider as to the time, as the Celtic, the latter as the Gothic, races of India. On the generic terms Surya and Chandra, I need add nothing [83].

Grahilot or Guhilot.

—Pedigree[10] of the Suryavansi Rana, of royal race, Lord of Chitor, the ornament of the thirty-six royal races.

By universal consent, as well as by the gotra of this race, its princes are admitted to be the direct descendants of Rama, of the Solar line. The pedigree is deduced from him, and connected with Sumitra, the last prince mentioned in the genealogy of the Puranas.

As the origin and progressive history of this family will be fully discussed in the “Annals of Mewar,” we shall here only notice the changes which have marked the patronymic, as well as the regions which have been under their sway, from Kanaksen, who, in the second century, abandoned his native kingdom, Kosala, and established the race of Surya in Saurashtra.

On the site of Vairat, the celebrated abode of the Pandavas during exile, the descendant of Ikshwaku established his line, and his descendant Vijaya, in a few generations, built Vijayapur.[11]

They became sovereigns, if not founders, of Valabhi, which had a separate era of its own, called the Valabhi Samvat, according with S. Vikrama 375.[12] Hence they became the Balakaraes, or kings of Valabhi; a title maintained by successive dynasties of Saurashtra for a thousand years after this period, as can be satisfactorily proved by genuine history and inscriptions.

Gajni, or Gaini, was another capital, whence the last prince, Siladitya (who was slain), and his family, were expelled by Parthian invaders in the sixth century.

A posthumous son, called Grahaditya, obtained a petty sovereignty at Idar. The change was marked by his name becoming the patronymic, and Grahilot, vulgo Guhilot, designated the Suryavansa of Rama.

With reverses and migration from the wilds of Idar to Ahar,[13] the Guhilot was changed to Aharya, by which title the race continued to be designated till the twelfth century, when the elder brother, Rahup, abandoned his claim to "the [84] throne of Chitor," obtained[14] by force of arms from the Mori,[15] and settled at Dungarpur, which he yet holds, as well as the title Aharya; while the younger, Mahup, established the seat of power at Sesoda, whence Sesodia set aside both Aharya and Guhilot.

Sesodia is now the common title of the race; but being only a subdivision, the Guhilot holds its rank in the kula.

The Guhilot kula is subdivided into twenty-four sakha,[16] or ramifications, few of which exist:

1. | Aharya |  | At Dungarpur.
2. | Mangalia |  | In the Deserts.
3. | Sesodia |  | Mewar.
4. | Pipara |  | In Marwar.
5. | Kalam |  | In few numbers, and mostly now unknown.
6. | Gahor
7. | Dhornia
8. | Goda
9. | Magrasa
10. | Bhimla
11. | Kamkotak
12. | Kotecha
13. | Sora
14. | Uhar
15. | Useba
16. | Nirrup
17. | Nadoria |  | Almost extinct.
18. | Nadhota
19. | Ojakra
20. | Kuchhra
21. | Dosadh
22. | Betwara
23. | Paha
24. | Purot[85]

Yadu, Yādava.

—The Yadu was the most illustrious of all the tribes of Ind, and became the patronymic of the descendants of Budha, progenitor of the Lunar (Indu) race. Yudhishthira and Baladeva, on the death of Krishna and their expulsion from Delhi and Dwaraka, the last stronghold of their power, retired by Multan across the Indus. The two first are abandoned by tradition; but the sons of Krishna, who accompanied them after an intermediate halt in the further Duab[17] of the five rivers, eventually left the Indus behind, and passed into Zabulistan,[18] founded Gajni, and peopled these countries even to Samarkand.

The annals of Jaisalmer, which give this early history of their founder, mix up in a confused manner[19] the cause of their being again driven back into India; so that it is impossible to say whether it was owing to the Greek princes who ruled all these countries for a century after Alexander, or to the rise of Islamism.

Driven back on the Indus, they obtained possession of the Panjab and founded Salivahanpur. Thence expelled, they retired across the Sutlej and Ghara into the Indian deserts; whence expelling the Langahas, the Johyas, Mohilas, etc., they founded successively Tanot, Derawar, and Jaisalmer,[20] in S. 1212,[21] the present capital of the Bhattis, the lineal successors of Krishna.

Bhatti was the exile from Zabulistan, and as usual with the Rajput races on any such event in their annals, his name set aside the more ancient patronymic, Yadu. The Bhattis subdued all the tracts south of the Ghara; but their power has been greatly circumscribed since the arrival of the Rathors. The Map defines their existing limits, and their annals will detail their past history.

Jāreja, Jādeja is the most important tribe of Yadu race next to the Bhatti. Its history is similar. Descended from Krishna, and migrating simultaneously with the remains of the Harikulas, there is the strongest ground for believing that their range was not so wide as that of the elder branch, but that they settled themselves in the valley of the Indus, more especially on the west shore in Seistan; and in nominal and armorial distinctions, even in Alexander’s time, they retained the marks of their ancestry [86].

Sambos, who brought on him the arms of the Grecians, was in all likelihood a Harikula; and the Minnagara of Greek historians Samanagara (‘city of Sama’), his capital.[22]

The most common epithet of Krishna, or Hari, was Shama or Syama, from his dark complexion. Hence the Jareja bore it as a patronymic, and the whole race were Samaputras (children of Sama), whence the titular name Sambos of its princes.[23]

The modern Jareja, who, from circumstances has so mixed with the Muhammadans of Sind as to have forfeited all pretensions to purity of blood, partly in ignorance and partly to cover disgrace, says that his origin is from Sham, or Syria, and of the stock of the Persian Jamshid: consequently, Sam has been converted into Jam[24]; which epithet designates one of the Jareja petty governments, the Jam Raj.

These are the most conspicuous of the Yadu race; but there are others who still bear the original title, of which the head is the prince of the petty State of Karauli on the Chambal.

This portion of the Yadu stock would appear never to have strayed far beyond the ancient limits of the Suraseni,[25] their ancestral abodes. They held the celebrated Bayana; whence expelled, they established Karauli west, and Sabalgarh east, of the Chambal. The tract under the latter, called Yaduvati, has been wrested from the family by Sindhia. Sri Mathura[26] is an independent fief of Karauli, held by a junior branch.

The Yadus, or as pronounced in the dialects Jadon, are scattered over India, and many chiefs of consequence amongst the Mahrattas are of this tribe.

There are eight sakha of the Yadu race:

1. | Yadu |  | Chief Karauli.
2. | Bhatti |  | Chief Jaisalmer.
3. | Jareja |  | Chief Cutch Bhuj.
4. | Samecha |  | Muhammadans in Sind.
5. | Madecha | ┐ |
6. | Bidman | ├ | Unknown [87].
7. | Badda | │ |
8. | Soha | ┘ |

1. | Yadu |  | Chief Karauli.
2. | Bhatti |  | Chief Jaisalmer.
3. | Jareja |  | Chief Cutch Bhuj.
4. | Samecha |  | Muhammadans in Sind.
5. | Madecha |  | Unknown [87].
6. | Bidman
7. | Badda
8. | Soha

Tuar, Tonwar, Tomara.

—The Tuar, though acknowledged as a subdivision of the Yadu, is placed by the best genealogists as one of the ‘thirty-six,’ a rank to which its celebrity justly entitles it.

We have in almost every case the etymon of each celebrated race. For the Tuar we have none; and we must rest satisfied in delivering the dictum of the Bardai, who declares it of Pandu origin.

If it had to boast only of Vikramaditya, the paramount lord of India, whose era, established fifty-six years before the Christian, still serves as the grand beacon of Hindu chronology, this alone would entitle the Tuar to the highest rank. But it has other claims to respect. Delhi, the ancient Indraprastha, founded by Yudhishthira, and which tradition says lay desolate for eight centuries, was rebuilt and peopled by Anangpal Tuar, in S. 848 (A.D. 792), who was followed by a dynasty of twenty princes, which concluded with the name of the founder, Anangpal, in S. 1220 (A.D. 1164),[27] when, contrary to the Salic law of the Rajputs, he abdicated (having no issue) in favour of his grandchild, the Chauhan Prithviraja.

The Tuar must now rest on his ancient fame; for not an independent possession remains to the race[28] which traces its lineage to the Pandavas, boasts of Vikrama, and which furnished the last dynasty, emperors of Hindustan.

It would be a fact unparalleled in the history of the world, could we establish to conviction that the last Anangpal Tuar was the lineal descendant of the founder of Indraprastha; that the issue of Yudhishthira sat on the throne which he erected, after a lapse of 2250 years.years. Universal consent admits it, and the fact is as well established as most others of a historic nature of such a distant period: nor can any dynasty or family of Europe produce evidence so strong as the Tuar, even to a much less remote antiquity.

The chief possessions left to the Tuars are the district of Tuargarh, on the right bank of the Chambal towards its junction with the Jumna, and the small [88] chieftainship of Patan Tuarvati in the Jaipur State, and whose head claims affinity with the ancient kings of Indraprastha.

Rāthor.

—A doubt hangs on the origin of this justly celebrated race. The Rathor genealogies trace their pedigree to Kusa, the second son of Rama; consequently they would be Suryavansa. But by the bards of this race they are denied this honour; and although Kushite, they are held to be the descendants of Kasyapa, of the Solar race, by the daughter of a Daitya (Titan). The progeny of Hiranyakasipu is accordingly stigmatized as being of demoniac origin. It is rather singular that they should have succeeded to the Lunar race of Kusanabha, descendants of Ajamidha, the founders of Kanauj. Indeed, some genealogists maintain the Rathors to be of Kusika race.

The pristine locale of the Rathors is Gadhipura, or Kanauj, where they are found enthroned in the fifth century; and though beyond that period they connect their line with the princes of Kosala or Ayodhya, the fact rests on assertion only.

From the fifth century their history is cleared from the mist of ages, which envelops them all prior to this time; and in the period approaching the Tatar conquest of India, we find them contesting with the last Tuar and Chauhan kings of Delhi, and the Balakaraes of Anhilwara, the right to paramount importance amidst the princes of Ind. The combats for this phantom supremacy destroyed them all. Weakened by internal strife, the Chauhan of Delhi fell, and his death exposed the north-west frontier. Kanauj followed; and while its last prince, Jaichand, found a grave in the Ganges, his son sought an asylum in Marusthali, ‘the regions of death.’[29] Siahji was this son; the founder of the Rathor dynasty in Marwar, on the ruins of the Pariharas of Mandor. Here they brought their ancient martial spirit, and a more valiant being exists not than can be found amongst the sons of Siahji. The Mogul emperors were indebted for half their conquests to the Lakh Tarwar Rathoran, ‘the 100,000 swords of the Rathors’; for it is beyond a doubt that 50,000 of the blood of Siahji have been embodied at once. But enough of the noble Rathors for the present.

The Rathor has twenty-four sakha: Dhandal, Bhadel, Chachkit, Duharia, Khokra, Badara, Chajira, Ramdeva, Kabria, Hatundia, Malavat, Sunda, Katecha, Maholi, Gogadeva, Mahecha, Jaisingha, Mursia, Jobsia, Jora, etc., etc.[30] [89].

Rathor Gotracharya.—Gotama[31] Gotra (race),—Mardawandani Sakha (branch),—Sukracharya Guru (Regent of the planet Venus, Preceptor),—Garupata Agni,[32]—Pankhani Devi (tutelary goddess, winged).[33]

Kachhwāha.

—The Kachhwaha race[34] is descended from Kusa, the second son of Rama. They are the Kushites[35] as the Rajputs of Mewar are the Lavites of India. Two branches migrated from Kosala: one founded Rohtas on the Son, the other established a colony amidst the ravines of the Kuwari, at Lahar.[36] In the course of time they erected the celebrated fortress of Narwar, or Nirwar, the abode of the celebrated Raja Nala, whose descendants continued to hold possession throughout all the vicissitudes of the Tatar and Mogul domination, when they were deprived of it by the Mahrattas, and the abode of Nala is now a dependency of Sindhia.

In the tenth century a branch emigrated and founded Amber, dispossessing the aborigines, the Minas, and adding from the Rajput tribe Bargujar, who held Rajor and large possessions around. But even in the twelfth century the Kachhwahas were but principal vassals to the Chauhan king of Delhi; and they have to date their greatness, as the other families (especially the Ranas of Mewar) of Rajasthan their decline, from the ascent of the house of Timur to the throne of Delhi. The map shows the limits of the sway of the Kachhwahas, including their branches, the independent Narukas of Macheri, and the tributary confederated Shaikhavats. The Kachhwaha subdivisions have been mislaid;[37] but the present partition into Kothris (chambers), of which there are twelve, shall be given in their annals.

Agnikulas, Pramāra.

—1st Pramara. There are four races to whom the Hindu genealogists have given Agni, or the element of fire, as progenitor. The Agnikulas are therefore the sons of Vulcan, as the others are of Sol,[38] Mercurius, and Terra [90].

The Agnikulas are the Pramara, the Parihara, the Chalukya or Solanki, and the Chauhan.[39]

That these races, the sons of Agni, were but regenerated, and converted by the Brahmans to fight their battles, the clearest interpretations of their allegorical history will disclose; and, as the most ancient of their inscriptions are in the Pali character, discovered wherever the Buddhist religion prevailed, their being declared of the race of Tasta or Takshak,[40] warrants our asserting the Agnikulas to be of this same race, which invaded India about two centuries before Christ. It was about this period that Parsvanatha the twenty-third Buddha,[41] appeared in India; his symbol, the serpent. The legend of the snake (Takshak) escaping with the celebrated work Pingala, which was recovered by Garuda, the eagle of Krishna, is purely allegorical; and descriptive of the contentions between the followers of Parswanatha, figured under his emblem, the snake, and those of Krishna, depicted under his sign, the eagle.

The worshippers of Surya probably recovered their power on the exterminating civil wars of the Lunar races, but the creation of the Agnikulas is expressly stated to be for the preservation of the altars of Bal, or Iswara, against the Daityas, or Atheists.

The celebrated Abu, or Arbuda, the Olympus of Rajasthan, was the scene of contention between the ministers of Surya and these Titans, and their relation might, with the aid of imagination, be equally amusing with the Titanic war of the ancient poets of the west [91]. The Buddhists claim it for Adinath, their first Buddha; the Brahmans for Iswara, or, as the local divinity styled Achaleswara.[42] The Agnikunda is still shown on the summit of Abu, where the four races were created by the Brahmans to fight the battles of Achaleswara and polytheism, against the monotheistic Buddhists, represented as the serpents or Takshaks. The probable period of this conversion has been hinted at; but of the dynasties issuing from the Agnikulas, many of the princes professed the Buddhist or Jain faith, to periods so late as the Muhammadan invasion.

The Pramara, though not, as his name implies, the ‘chief warrior,’ was the most potent of the Agnikulas. He sent forth thirty-five sakha, or branches, several of whom enjoyed extensive sovereignties. ‘The world is the Pramar’s,’ is an ancient saying, denoting their extensive sway; and the Naukot[43] Marusthali signified the nine divisions into which the country, from the Sutlej to the ocean, was partitioned amongst them.

Maheswar, Dhar, Mandu, Ujjain, Chandrabhaga, Chitor, Abu, Chandravati, Mhau Maidana, Parmavati, Umarkot, Bakhar, Lodorva, and Patan are the most conspicuous of the capitals they conquered or founded.

Though the Pramara family never equalled in wealth the famed Solanki princes of Anhilwara, or shone with such lustre as the Chauhan, it attained a wider range and an earlier consolidation of dominion than either, and far excelled in all, the Parihara, the last and least of the Agnikulas, which it long held tributary.

Maheswar, the ancient seat of the Haihaya kings, appears to have been the first seat of government of the Pramaras. They subsequently founded Dharanagar, and Mandu on the crest of the Vindhya hills; and to them is even attributed the city of Ujjain, the first meridian of the Hindus, and the seat of Vikrama.

There are numerous records of the family, fixing eras in their history of more modern times; and it is to be hoped that the interpretation of yet undeciphered inscriptions may carry us back beyond the seventh century.

The era[44] of Bhoj, the son of Munja, has been satisfactorily settled; and an [92] inscription[45] in the nail-headed character, carries it back a step further,[46] and elicits an historical fact of infinite value, giving the date of the last prince of the Pramaras of Chitor, and the consequent accession of the Guhilots.

The Nerbudda was no limit to the power of the Pramaras.Pramaras. About the very period of the foregoing inscription, Ram Pramar held his court in Telingana, and is invested by the Chauhan Bard, Chand, with the dignity of paramount sovereign of India, and head of a splendid feudal[47] association, whose members became independent on his death. The Bard makes this a voluntary act of the Pramaras; but coupled with the Guhilots’ violent acquisition of Chitor, we may suppose the successor of Ram was unable to maintain such supremacy.

While Hindu literature survives the name of Bhoj Pramara and ‘the nine gems’ of his court cannot perish; though it is difficult to say which of the three[48] princes of this name is particularly alluded to, as they all appear to have been patrons of science.science.

Chandragupta, the supposed opponent of Alexander, was a Maurya, and in the sacred genealogies is declared of the race of Takshak. The ancient inscriptions of the Pramars, of which the Maurya is a principal branch, declare it of the race of Tasta and Takshak, as does that now given from the seat of their power, Chitor.[49]

Salivahana, the conqueror of Vikramaditya, was a Takshak, and his era set aside that of the Tuar in the Deccan.

Not one remnant of independence exists to mark the greatness of the Pramaras: ruins are the sole records of their power. The prince of Dhat,[50] in the Indian [93] desert, is the last phantom of royalty of the race; and the descendant of the prince who protected Humayun, when driven from the throne of Timur, in whose capital, Umarkot, the great Akbar was born, is at the foot of fortune’s ladder; his throne in the desert, the footstool of the Baloch, on whose bounty he is dependent for support.

Among the thirty-five sakha of the Pramaras the Vihal was eminent, the princes of which line appear to have been lords of Chandravati, at the foot of the Aravalli. The Rao of Bijolia, one of the sixteen superior nobles of the Rana’s court, is a Pramara of the ancient stock of Dhar, and perhaps its most respectable representative.

Thirty-Five Sakha of the Pramaras

Mori [or Maurya].—Of which was Chandragupta, and the princes of Chitor prior to the Guhilot.

Sodha.—Sogdoi of Alexander, the princes of Dhat in the Indian desert.

Sankhla.—Chiefs of Pugal, and in Marwar.

Khair.—Capital Khairalu.

Umra and Sumra.—Anciently in the desert, now Muhammadans.

Vihal, or Bihal.—Princes of Chandravati.

Mepawat.—Present chief of Bijolia in Mewar.

Balhar.—Northern desert.

Kaba.—Celebrated in Saurashtra in ancient times, a few yet in Sirohi.

Umata.—The princes of Umatwara in Malwa, there established for twelve generations. Umatwara is the largest tract left to the Pramaras. Since the war in 1817, being under the British interference, they cannot be called independent.

Rehar

Girasia petty chiefs in Malwa.

Dhunda

Sorathia

Harer[51]

51. [For a different list see Census Report Rajputana, 1911, i. 255.]

Besides others unknown; as Chaonda, Khejar, Sagra, Barkota, Puni, Sampal, Bhiba, Kalpusar, Kalmoh, Kohila, Papa, Kahoria, Dhand, Deba, Barhar, Jipra, Posra, Dhunta, Rikamva, and Taika. Many of these are proselytes to Islamism, and several beyond the Indus [94].

Chahuman or Chauhan.

—On this race so much has been said elsewhere,[52] that it would be superfluous to give more than a rapid sketch of them here.

This is the most valiant of the Agnikulas, and it may be asserted not of them only, but of the whole Rajput race. Actions may be recorded of the greater part of each of the Chhattis-kula, which would yield to none in the ample and varied pages of history; and though the ‘Talwar Rathoran’ would be ready to contest the point, impartial decision, with a knowledge of their respective merits, must assign to the Chauhan the van in the long career of arms.

Its branches (sakha) have maintained all the vigour of the original stem; and the Haras, the Khichis, the Deoras, the Sonigiras, and others of the twenty-four, have their names immortalised in the song of the bard.

The derivation of Chauhan is coeval with his fabulous birth: ‘the four-handed warrior’ (Chatur-bhuja Chatur-bahu Vira). All failed when sent against the demons, but the Chauhan, the last creation of the Brahmans to fight their battles against infidelity.

A short extract may be acceptable from the original respecting the birth of the Chauhan, to guard the rites of our Indian Jove on this Olympus, the sacred Abu: “the Guru of mountains, like Sumer or Kailas, which Achaleswara made his abode. Fast but one day on its summit, and your sins will be forgiven; reside there for a year, and you may become the preceptor of mankind.”

The Agnikunda Fire-pit.

—Notwithstanding the sanctity of Abu, and the little temptation to disturb the anchorites of Bal, “the Munis, who passed their time in devotion, whom desire never approached, who drew support from the cow, from roots, fruits, and flowers,” yet did the Daityas, envying their felicity, render the sacrifice impure, and stop in transit the share of the gods. “The Brahmans dug the pit for burnt-sacrifice to the south-west (nairrit); but the demons[53] raised storms which darkened the air and filled it with clouds of sand, showering ordure, blood, bones and flesh, with every impurity, on their rites. Their penance was of no avail.”

Again they kindled the sacred fire; and the priests, assembling round the Agnikunda,[54] prayed for aid to Mahadeo [95]. "From the fire-fountain a figure issued forth, but he had not a warrior’s mien. The Brahmans placed him as guardian of the gate, and thence his name, Prithivi-dwara.[55] A second issued forth, and being formed in the palm (challu) of the hand was named Chalukya. A third appeared and was named Pramara.[56] He had the blessing of the Rishis, and with the others went against the demons, but they did not prevail. Again Vasishtha,[57] seated on the lotus, prepared incantations; again he called the gods to aid: and, as he poured forth the libation, a figure arose, lofty in stature, of elevated front, hair like jet, eyes rolling, breast expanded, fierce, terrific, clad in armour, quiver filled, a bow in one hand and a brand in the other, quadriform (Chaturanga),[58] whence his name, Chauhan.

“Vasishtha prayed that his hope[59] might be at length fulfilled, as the Chauhan was despatched against the demons. Sakti-devi[60] on her lion, armed with the trident, descended, and bestowed her blessing on the Chauhan, and as Asapurna, or Kalika, promised always to hear his prayer. He went against the demons; their leaders he slew. The rest fled, nor halted till they reached the depths of hell. Anhal slew the demons. The Brahmans were made happy; and of his race was Prithwiraja.”[61]

The genealogical tree of the Chauhans exhibits thirty-nine princes, from Anhal, the first created Chauhan, to Prithwiraja, the last of the Hindu emperors of India.[62] But whether the chain is entire we cannot say. The inference is decidedly against its being so; for this creation or regeneration is assigned to an age centuries anterior to Vikramaditya: and we may safely state these converts to be of the Takshak race, invaders of India at a very early period.

Ajaipal is a name celebrated in the Chauhan chronicles, as the founder of the fortress of Ajmer, one of the earliest establishments of Chauhan power.[63]

Sambhar,[64] on the banks of the extensive salt lake of the same name, was probably anterior to Ajmer, and yielded an epithet to the princes of this race, who [96] were styled Sambhari Rao. These continued to be the most important places of Chauhan power, until the translation of Prithwiraja to the imperial throne of Delhi threw a parting halo of splendour over the last of its independent kings. There were several princes whose actions emblazon the history of the Chauhans. Of these was Manika Rae, who first opposed the progress of the Muhammadan arms. Even the history of the conquerors records that the most obstinate opposition which the arms of Mahmud of Ghazni encountered was from the prince of Ajmer,[65] who forced him to retreat, foiled and disgraced, from this celebrated stronghold, in his destructive route to Saurashtra.

The attack on Manika Rae appears to have been by Kasim, the general of Walid, on the close of the first century of the Hegira.[66] The second attack was at the end of the fourth century. A third was during the reign of Bisaladeva, who headed a grand confederacy of the Rajput princes against the foes of their religion. The celebrated Udayaditya Pramar is enumerated amongst the chiefs acting in subserviency to the Chauhan prince on this occasion, and as his death has been fixed by unerring records in A.D. 1096, this combination must have been against the Islamite king Maudud, the fourth from Mahmud; and to this victory is the allusion in the inscription on the ancient pillar of Delhi.[67] But these irruptions continued to the captivity and death of the last of the Chauhans, whose reign exhibits a splendid picture of feudal manners.

The Chauhans sent forth twenty-four branches, of whom the most celebrated are the existing families of Bundi and Kotah, in the division termed Haravati. They have well maintained the Chauhan reputation for valour. Six princely brothers shed their blood in one field, in the support of the aged Shah Jahan against his rebellious son Aurangzeb, and of the six but one survived his wounds.

The Khichis[68] of Gagraun and Raghugarh, the Deoras of Sirohi, the Sonigiras of Jalor, the Chauhans of Sui Bah and Sanchor, and the Pawechas of Pawagarh, have all immortalized themselves by the most heroic and devoted deeds. Most of these families yet exist, brave as in the days of Prithwiraja.

Many chiefs of the Chauhan race abandoned their faith to preserve their lands, the Kaimkhani,[69] the Sarwanis, the Lowanis, the Kararwanis, and the Bedwanas [97], chiefly residing in Shaikhavati, are the most conspicuous. No less than twelve petty princes thus deserted their faith: which, however, is not contrary to the Rajput creed; for even Manu says, they may part with wife to preserve their land. Isaridas, nephew of Prithwiraja, was the first who set this example.

Twenty-four Sakha of the Chauhans.—Chauhan, Hara, Khichi, Sonigira, Deora, Pabia, Sanchora, Goelwal, Bhadauria, Nirwan, Malani, Purbia, Sura, Madrecha, Sankrecha, Bhurecha, Balecha, Tasera, Chachera, Rosia, Chanda, Nikumbha, Bhawar, and Bankat.[70]

Chalukya or Solanki.

—Though we cannot trace the history of this branch of the Agnikulas to such periods of antiquity as the Pramara or Chauhan, it is from the deficiency of materials, rather than any want of celebrity, that we are unable to place it, in this respect, on a level with them. The tradition of the bard makes the Solankis important as princes of Sura on the Ganges, ere the Rathors obtained Kanauj.[71] The genealogical test[72] claims Lohkot, said to be the ancient Lahore, as a residence, which makes them of the same Sakha (Madhwani) as the Chauhans. Certain it is, that in the eighth century we find the Langahas[73] and Togras inhabiting Multan and the surrounding country, the chief opponents of the Bhattis on their establishment in the desert. They were princes of Kalyan, on the Malabar coast,[74] which city still exhibits vestiges of ancient grandeur. It was from Kalyan that a scion of the Solanki tree was taken, and engrafted on the royal stem of the Chawaras of Anhilwara Patan.

It was in S. 987 (A.D. 931) that Bhojraj, the last of the Chawaras, and the Salic law of India were both set aside, to make way for the young Solanki, Mulraj,[75] who ruled Anhilwara for the space of fifty-eight years. During the reign of his son and successor, Chamund Rae,[76] Mahmud of Ghazni carried his desolating arms into the kingdom of Anhilwara. With its wealth he raised those [98] magnificent trophies of his conquest, among which the ‘Celestial Bride’ might have vied with anything ever erected by man as a monument of folly.[77] The wealth abstracted, as reported in the history of the conquerors, by this scourge of India, though deemed incredible, would obtain belief, if the commercial riches of Anhilwara could be appreciated. It was to India what Venice was to Europe, the entrepôt of the products of both the eastern and western hemispheres. It fully recovered the shock given by Mahmud and the desultory wars of his successors; and we find Siddharaja Jayasingha,[78] the seventh from the founder, at the head of the richest, if not the most warlike, kingdom of India. Two-and-twenty principalities at one time owned his power, from the Carnatic to the base of the Himalaya Mountains; but his unwise successor drew upon himself the vengeance of the Chauhan, Prithwiraja, a slip of which race was engrafted, in the person of Kumarapala, on the genealogical tree of the Solankis;[79] and it is a curious fact that this dynasty of the Balakaraes alone gives us two examples of the Salic law of India being violated. Kumarapala, installed on the throne of Anhilwara, ‘tied round his head the turban of the Solanki.’ He became of the tribe into which he was adopted. Kumarapala, as well as Siddharaja, was the patron of Buddhism;[80] and the monuments erected under them and their successors claim our admiration, from their magnificence and the perfection of the arts; for at no period were they more cultivated than at the courts of Anhilwara.

The lieutenants of Shihābu-d-din disturbed the close of Kumarapal’s reign; and his successor, Balo Muldeo, closed this dynasty in S. 1284 (A.D. 1228), when a new dynasty, called the Vaghela (descendants of Siddharaja) under Bīsaldeo, succeeded.[81] The dilapidations from religious persecution were repaired; Somnath, renowned as Delphos of old, rose from its ruins, and the kingdom of the Balakaraes was attaining its pristine magnificence, when, under the fourth prince, Karandeva, the angel of destruction appeared in the shape of Alau-d-din, and the kingdom of Anhilwara was annihilated. The lieutenants of the Tatar despot of Delhi let loose the spirit of intolerance and avarice on the rich cities and fertile plains of Gujarat and Saurashtra. In contempt of their faith, the altar of an Islamite Darvesh was placed in contact with the shrine of Adinath, on the [99] most accessible of their sacred mounts:[82] the statues of Buddha [the Jain Tirthankaras] were thrown down, and the books containing the mysteries of their faith suffered the same fate as the Alexandrian library. The walls of Anhilwara were demolished; its foundations excavated, and again filled up with the fragments of their ancient temples.[83]

The remnants of the Solanki dynasty were scattered over the land, and this portion of India remained for upwards of a century without any paramount head, until, by a singular dispensation of Providence, its splendour was renovated, and its foundations rebuilt, by an adventurer of the same race from which the Agnikulas were originally converts, though Saharan the Tak hid his name and his tribe under his new epithet of Zafar Khan, and as Muzaffar ascended the throne of Gujarat, which he left to his son. This son was Ahmad, who founded Ahmadabad, whose most splendid edifices were built from the ancient cities around it.[84]

Bāghels.

—Though the stem of the Solankis was thus uprooted, yet was it not before many of its branches (Sakha), like their own indigenous bar-tree, had fixed themselves in other soils. The most conspicuous of these is the Baghela[85] family, which gave its name to an entire division of Hindustan; and Baghelkhand has now been ruled for many centuries by the descendants of Siddharaja.

Besides Bandhugarh, there are minor chieftainships still in Gujarat of the Baghela tribe. Of these, Pethapur and Tharad are the most conspicuous. One of the chieftains of the second class in Mewar is a Solanki, and traces his line immediately from Siddharaja: this is the chief of Rupnagar,[86] whose stronghold commands one of the passes leading to Marwar, and whose family annals would furnish a fine picture of the state of border-feuds. Few of them, till of late years, have died natural deaths.

The Solanki is divided into sixteen branches [100].

1. Baghela—Raja of Baghelkhand (capital Bandhugarh), Raos of Pitapur, Tharad, and Adalaj, etc.

2. Birpura—Rao of Lunawara.

3. Bahala—Kalyanpur in Mewar, styled Rao, but serving the chief of Salumbar.

4. Bhurta[87] ┐ In Baru, Tekra, and Chahir, in Jaisalmer.

5. Kalacha[87] ┘

6. Langaha—Muslims about Multan.

7. Togra—Muslims in the Panjnad.

8. Brika—    ”              ”

9. Surki—In Deccan.

10. Sarwaria[88]—Girnar in Saurashtra.

11. Raka—Toda in Jaipur.

12. Ranakia—Desuri in Mewar.

13. Kharara—Alota and Jawara, in Malwa.

14. Tantia—Chandbhar Sakanbari.[89]

15. Almecha—No land.

16. Kalamor—Gujarat.[90]

Pratihāra or Parihāra.

—Of this, the last and least of the Agnikulas, we have not much to say. The Pariharas never acted a conspicuous part in the history of Rajasthan. They are always discovered in a subordinate capacity, acting in feudal subjection to the Tuars of Delhi or the Chauhans of Ajmer; and the brightest page of their history is the record of an abortive attempt of Nahar Rao to maintain his independence against Prithwiraja. Though a failure, it has immortalized his name, and given to the scene of action,[91] one of the passes of the Aravalli, a merited celebrity. Mandor[91] (classically Maddodara) was the capital of the Parihars, and was the chief city of Marwar which owned the sway of this tribe prior to the invasion and settlement of the Rathors. It is placed five miles northward of the modern [101] Jodhpur, and preserves some specimens of the ancient Pali character, fragments of sculpture and Jain temples.

The Rathor emigrant princes of Kanauj found an asylum with the Parihars. They repaid it by treachery, and Chonda, a name celebrated in the Rathor annals, dispossessed the last of the Parihars, and pitched the flag of the Rathors on the battlements of Mandor. The power of the Parihars had, however, been much reduced previously by the princes of Mewar, who not only abstracted much territory from them, but assumed the title of its princes—Rana.[92]

The Parihara is scattered over Rajasthan, but I am unaware of the existence of any independent chieftainship there. At the confluence of the Kuhari, the Sind, and the Chambal, there is a colony of this race, which has given its name to a commune of twenty-four villages, besides hamlets, situated amidst the ravines of these streams. They were nominally subjects of Sindhia; but it was deemed requisite for the line of defence along the Chambal that it should be included within the British demarcation, by which we incorporated with our rule the most notorious body of thieves in the annals of Thug history.

The Parihars had twelve subdivisions, of which the chief were the Indha and Sindhal: a few of both are still to be found about the banks of the Luni.[93]

Chāwara or Chaura.

—This tribe was once renowned in the history of India, though its name is now scarcely known, or only in the chronicles of the bard. Of its origin we are in ignorance. It belongs neither to the Solar nor Lunar race, and consequently we may presume it to be of Scythic origin.[94] The name is unknown in Hindustan, and is confined, with many others originating from beyond the Indus, to the peninsula of Saurashtra. If foreign to India proper, its establishment must have been at a remote period, as we find individuals of it intermarrying with the Suryavansa ancestry of the present princes of Mewar, when this family were the lords of Valabhi.

The capital of the Chawaras was the insular Deobandar, on the coast of Saurashtra, and the celebrated temple of Somnath, with many others on this coast, dedicated to Balnath, or the sun, is attributed to this tribe of the Sauras,[95] or [102] worshippers of the sun; most probably the generic name of the tribe as well as of the peninsula.[96]

By a natural catastrophe, or as the Hindu superstitious chroniclers will have it, as a punishment for the piracies of the prince of Deo, the element whose privilege he abused rose and overwhelmed his capital. As all this coast is very low, such an occurrence is not improbable; though the abandonment of Deo might have been compelled by the irruptions of the Arabians, who at this period carried on a trade with these parts, and the plunder of some of their vessels may have brought this punishment on the Chawaras. That it was owing to some such political catastrophe, we have additional grounds for belief from the annals of Mewar, which state that its princes inducted the Chawaras into the seats of the power they abandoned on the continent and peninsula of Saurashtra.

At all events, the prince of Deo laid the foundation of Anhilwara Patan in S. 802 (A.D. 746), which henceforth became the capital city of this portion of India, in lieu of Valabhipura, which gave the title of Balakaraes to its princes, the Balhara of the earlier Arabian travellers, and following them, the geographers of Europe.[97]

Vana Raja (or, in the dialects, Banraj) was this founder, and his dynasty ruled for one hundred and eighty-four years, when, as related in the sketch of the Solanki tribe, Bhojraj, the seventh from the founder, was deposed by his nephew.[98] It was during this dynasty that the Arabian travellers[99] visited this court, of which they have left but a confused picture. We are not, however, altogether in darkness regarding the Chawara race, as in the Khuman Raesa, one of the chronicles of Mewar, mention is made of the auxiliaries under a leader named Chatansi, in the defence of Chitor against the first attack on record of the Muhammadans.

When Mahmud of Ghazni invaded Saurashtra and captured its capital, Anhilwara, he deposed its prince, and placed upon the throne, according to Ferishta, a prince of the former dynasty, renowned for his ancient line and purity of blood, and who is styled Dabichalima; a name which has puzzled all European commentators. Now the Dabhi was a celebrated tribe, said by some to be a branch of the [103] Chawara, and this therefore may be a compound of Dabhi Chawara, or the Chaurasima, by some called a branch of the ancient Yadus.[100]

This ancient connexion between the Suryavansi chiefs and the Chawaras, or Sauras, of Saurashtra, is still maintained after a lapse of more than one thousand years; for although an alliance with the Rana’s family is deemed the highest honour that a Hindu prince can obtain, as being the first in rank in Rajasthan, yet is the humble Chawara sought out, even at the foot of fortune’s ladder, whence to carry on the blood of Rama. The present heir-apparent of a line of ‘one hundred kings,’ the prince Jawān Singh [1828-38], is the offspring of a Chawara mother, the daughter of a petty chieftain of Gujarat.

It were vain to give any account of the present state of the families bearing this name. They must depend upon the fame of past days; to this we leave them.

Tāk or Takshak.

—Takshak appears to be the generic term of the race from which the various Scythic tribes, the early invaders of India, branched off. It appears of more ancient application than Getae, which was the parent of innumerable sakha. It might not be judicious to separate them, though it would be speculative to say which was the primitive title of the races called Scythic, after their country, Sakatai or Sakadwipa, the land of the great Getae.

Abulghazi makes Taunak[101] the son of Turk or Targetai, who appears to be the Turushka of the Puranas, the Tukyuks of the Chinese historians, the nomadic Tokhari of Strabo, who aided to overturn the Greek kingdom of Bactria, and gave their name to the grand division of Asia, Tokharistan[102] or Turkistan: and there is every appearance of that singular race, the Tajik,[103] still scattered over these [104] regions, and whose history appears a mystery, being the descendants of the Takshak.

It has been already observed, that ancient inscriptions in the Pali or Buddhist character have been discovered in various parts of Rajasthan, of the race called Tasta, Takshak, and Tak, relating to the tribes, the Mori [or Maurya], Pramara, their descendants. Naga and Takshak are synonymous appellations in Sanskrit for the snake, and the Takshak is the celebrated Nagvansa of the early heroic history of India. The Mahabharata describes, in its usual allegorical style, the wars between the Pandavas of Indraprastha and the Takshaks of the north. The assassination of Parikshita by the Takshak, and the exterminating warfare carried on against them by his son and successor, Janamejaya, who at last compelled them to sign tributary engagements, divested of its allegory,[104] is plain historical fact.

When Alexander invaded India, he found the Paraitakai, the mountain (pahar) Tak, inhabiting the Paropamisos range; nor is it by any means unlikely that Taxiles,[105] the ally of the Macedonian king, was the chief (es) of the Taks; and in the early history of the Bhatti princes of Jaisalmer, when driven from Zabulistan, they dispossessed the Taks on the Indus, and established themselves in their land, the capital of which was called Salivahanpura; and as the date of this event is given as 3008 of the Yudhishthira era, it is by no means unlikely that Salivahana, or Salbhan (who was a Takshak), the conqueror of the Tuar Vikrama, was of the very family dispossessed by the Bhattis, who compelled them to migrate to the south.

The calculated period of the invasion of the Takshaks, or Nagvansa, under Sheshnag, is about six or seven centuries before the Christian era, at which very [105] period the Scythic invasion of Egypt and Syria, “by the sons of Togarmah riding on horses” (the Aswas, or Asi), is alike recorded by the prophet Ezekiel and Diodorus. The Abu Mahatma calls the Takshaks “the sons of Himachal,” all evincing Scythic descent; and it was only eight reigns anterior to this change in the Lunar dynasties of India, that Parsvanath, the twenty-third Buddha [Jain Tirthankara], introduced his tenets into India, and fixed his abode in the holy mount Sarnet.[106]

Enough of the ancient history of the Tak; we will now descend to more modern times, on which we shall be brief. We have already mentioned the Takshak Mori [or Maurya] as being lords of Chitor from a very early period; and but a few generations after the Guhilots supplanted the Moris, this palladium of Hindu liberty was assailed by the arms of Islam. We find amongst the numerous defenders who appear to have considered the cause of Chitor their own, “the Tak from Asirgarh.”[107] This race appears to have retained possession of Asir for at least two centuries after this event, as its chieftain was one of the most conspicuous leaders in the array of Prithwiraja. In the poems of Chand he is called the “standard-bearer, Tak of Asir.”[108]

This ancient race, the foe of Janamejaya and the friend of Alexander, closed its career in a blaze of splendour. The celebrity of the kings of Gujarat will make amends for the obscurity of the Taks of modern times, of whom a dynasty of fourteen kings followed each other in succession, commencing and ending with the proud title of Muzaffar. It was in the reign of Muhammad,[109] son of the first Tughlak, that an accident to his nephew Firoz proved the dawn of the fortunes of the Tak; purchased, however, with the change of name and religion. Saharan the Tak was the first apostate of his line, who, under the name of Wajihu-l-mulk, concealed both his origin and tribe. His son, Zafar Khan, was raised by his patron Firoz to the government of Gujarat, about the period when Timur invaded India. Zafar availed himself of the weakness of his master and the distraction of the times, and mounted the throne of Gujarat under the name of [106] Muzaffar.[110] He was assassinated by the hand of his grandson, Ahmad, who changed the ancient capital, Anhilwara, for the city founded by himself, and called Ahmadabad, one of the most splendid in the east. With the apostasy of the Tak,[111] the name appears to have been obliterated from the tribes of Rajasthan; nor has my search ever discovered one of this name now existing.

Jat, Jāt.

—In all the ancient catalogues of the thirty-six royal races of India the Jat has a place, though by none is he ever styled ‘Rajput’; nor am I aware of any instance of a Rajput’s intermarriage with a Jat.[112] It is a name widely disseminated over India, though it does not now occupy a very elevated place amongst the inhabitants, belonging chiefly to the agricultural classes.

In the Panjab they still retain their ancient name of Jat. On the Jumna and Ganges they are styled Jāts, of whom the chief of Bharatpur is the most conspicuous. On the Indus and in Saurashtra they are termed Jats. The greater portion of the husbandmen in Rajasthan are Jats; and there are numerous tribes beyond the Indus, now proselytes to the Muhammadan religion, who derive their origin from this class.

Of its ancient history sufficient has been already said. We will merely add, that the kingdom of the great Getae, whose capital was on the Jaxartes, preserved its integrity and name from the period of Cyrus to the fourteenth century, when it was converted from idolatry to the faith of Islam. Herodotus [iv. 93-4] informs us that the Getae were theists and held the tenet of the soul’s immortality; and De Guignes,[113] from Chinese authorities, asserts that at a very early period they had embraced the religion of Fo or Buddha.

The traditions of the Jats claim the regions west of the Indus as the cradle of the race, and make them of Yadu extraction; thus corroborating the annals of the Yadus, which state their migration from Zabulistan, and almost inducing us to [107] dispense with the descent of this tribe from Krishna, and to pronounce it an important colony of the Yueh-chi, Yuti, or Jats. Of the first migration from Central Asia of this race within the Indus we have no record; it might have been simultaneous with the Takshak, from the wars of Cyrus or his ancestors.

It has been already remarked that the Jat divided with the Takshak the claim of being the parent name of the various tribes called Scythic, invaders of India; and there is now before the author an inscription of the fifth century applying both epithets to the same prince,[114] who is invested moreover with the Scythic quality of worshipping the sun. It states, likewise, that the mother of this Jat prince was of Yadu race: strengthening their claims to a niche amongst the thirty-six Rajkulas, as well as their Yadu descent.

The fifth century of the Christian era, to which this inscription belongs, is a period of interest in Jat history. De Guignes, from original authorities, states the Yueh-chi or Jats to have established themselves in the Panjab in the fifth and sixth centuries, and the inscription now quoted applies to a prince whose capital is styled Salindrapura in these regions; and doubtless the Salivahanpur[115] where the Yadu Bhattis established themselves on the expulsion of the Tak.

How much earlier than this the Jat penetrated into Rajasthan must be left to more ancient inscriptions to determine: suffice it that in A.D. 440 we find him in power.[116]

When the Yadu was expelled from Salivahanpura, and forced to seek refuge [108] across the Sutlej among the Dahia and Johya Rajputs of the Indian desert, where they founded their first capital, Derawar, many from compulsion embraced the Muhammadan faith; on which occasion they assumed the name of Jat,[117] of which at least twenty different offsets are enumerated in the Yadu chronicles.

That the Jats continued as a powerful community on the east bank of the Indus and in the Panjab, fully five centuries after the period our inscription and their annals illustrate, we have the most interesting records in the history of Mahmud, the conqueror of India, whose progress they checked in a manner unprecedented in the annals of continental warfare. It was in 416 of the Hegira (A.D. 1026) that Mahmud marched an army against the Jats, who had harassed and insulted him on the return from his last expedition against Saurashtra. The interest of the account authorizes its being given from the original.

“The Jats inhabited the country on the borders of Multan, along the river that runs by the mountains of Jud.[118] When Mahmud reached Multan, finding the Jat country defended by great rivers, he built fifteen hundred boats,[119] each armed with six iron spikes projecting from their prows, to prevent their being boarded by the enemy, expert in this kind of warfare. In each boat he placed twenty archers, and some with fire-balls of naphtha to burn the Jat fleet. The monarch having determined on their extirpation, awaited the result at Multan. The Jats sent their wives, children, and effects to Sind Sagar,[120] and launched four thousand, or, as others say, eight thousand boats well armed to meet the Ghaznians. A terrible conflict ensued, but the projecting spikes sunk the Jat boats while others were set on fire. Few escaped from this scene of terror; and those who did, met with the more severe fate of captivity.”[121]

Many doubtless did escape; and it is most probable that the Jat communities, on whose overthrow the State of Bikaner was founded, were remnants of this very warfare [109].

Not long after this event the original empire of the Getae was overturned, when many fugitives found a refuge in India. In 1360 Togultash Timur was the great Khan of the Getae nation; idolaters even to this period. He had conquered Khorasan, invaded Transoxiana (whose prince fled, but whose nephew, Amir Timur, averted its subjugation), gained the friendship of Togultash, and commanded a hundred thousand Getae warriors. In 1369, when the Getic Khan died, such was the ascendancy obtained by Timur over his subjects, that the Kuriltai, or general assembly, transferred the title of Grand Khan from the Getic to the Chagatai Timur. In 1370 he married a Getic princess, and added Khokhand and Samarkand to his patrimony, Transoxiana. Rebellions and massacres almost depopulated this nursery of mankind, ere the Getae abandoned their independence; nor was it till 1388, after six invasions, in which he burnt their towns, brought away their wealth, and almost annihilated the nation, that he felt himself secure.[122]

In his expedition into India, having overrun great part of Europe, “taken Moscow, and slain the soldiers of the barbarous Urus,” he encountered his old foes “the Getae, who inhabited the plains of Tohim, where he put two thousand to the sword, pursuing them into the desert and slaughtering many more near the Ghaggar.”[123]

Still the Jat maintained himself in the Panjab, and the most powerful and independent prince of India at this day is the Jat prince of Lahore, holding dominion over the identical regions where the Yueh-chi colonized in the fifth century, and where the Yadus, driven from Ghazni, established themselves on the ruins of the Taks. The Jat cavalier retains a portion of his Scythic manners, and preserves the use of the chakra or discus, the weapon of the Yadu Krishna in the remote age of the Bharat.

Hun or Hūn.

—Amongst the Scythic tribes who have secured for themselves a niche with the thirty-six races of India, is the Hun. At what period this race, so well known by its ravages and settlement in Europe, invaded India, we know not.[124] Doubtless it was in the society of many others yet found in the peninsula of [110] Saurashtra, as the Kathi, the Bala, the Makwana, etc. It is, however, confined to the genealogies of that peninsula; for although we have mention of the Hun in the chronicles and inscriptions of India at a very early period, he failed to obtain a place in the catalogue of the northern bards.

The earliest notice of the tribe is in an inscription[125] recording the power of a prince of Bihar, who, amidst his other conquests, “humbled the pride of the Huns.” In the annals of the early history of Mewar, in the catalogue of princes who made common cause with this the chief of all the Rajputs, when Chitor was assailed in the first irruption of the Muhammadans, was Angatsi, lord of the Huns, who led his quota on this occasion. De Guignes[126] describes Angat as being the name of a considerable horde of Huns or Moguls; and Abulghazi says that the Tartar tribe who guarded the great wall of China were termed Angatti, who had a distinct prince with high pay and honour. The countries inhabited by the Hiong-nou and the Ou-huon, the Turks and Moguls, called ‘Tatar’ from Tatan,[127] the name of the country from the banks of the Irtish along the mountains of Altai to the shores of the Yellow Sea, are described at large by the historian of the Huns: following whom and other original sources, the historian of the Fall of Rome has given great interest to his narrative of their march into Europe. But those who are desirous to learn all that relates to the past history and manners of this people, must consult that monument of erudition and research, the Geography of Malte-Brun.[128]

D’Anville,[129] quoting Cosmas the traveller, informs us that the White Huns (λευκοὶ Ούννοι)[130] occupied the north of India; and it is most probable a colony of these found their way into Saurashtra and Mewar.

It is on the eastern bank of the Chambal, at the ancient Barolli, that tradition assigns a residence to the Hun; and one of the celebrated temples at that place, called the Singar Chaori, is the marriage hall of the Hun prince, who is also declared to have been possessed of a lordship on the opposite bank, occupying the [111] site of the present town of Bhainsror. In the twelfth century the Hun must have possessed consequence, to occupy the place he holds in the chronicle of the princes of Gujarat. The race is not extinct. One of the most intelligent of the living bards of India assured the author of their existence; and in a tour where he accompanied him, redeemed his pledge, by pointing out the residence of some in a village on the estuary of the Mahi, though degraded and mixed with other classes.[131]

We may infer that few convulsions occurred in Central Asia, which drove forth these hordes of redundant population to seek subsistence in Europe, without India participating in such overflow. The only singular circumstance is, by what means they came to be recognized as Hindus, even though of the lowest class. Sudra we cannot term them; for although the Kathi and the Bala cannot be regarded as, or classed with Rajputs, they would scorn the rank of Sudra.

Kāthi.

—Of the ancient notices of this people much has been already said, and all the genealogists, both of Rajasthan and Saurashtra, concur in assigning it a place amongst the royal races of India. It is one of the most important tribes of the western peninsula, and which has effected the change of the name from Saurashtra to Kathiawar.

Of all its inhabitants the Kathi retains most originality: his religion, his manners, and his looks, all are decidedly Scythic. He occupied, in the time of Alexander, that nook of the Panjab near the confluent five streams. It was against these Alexander marched in person, when he nearly lost his life, and where he left such a signal memorial of his vengeance. The Kathi can be traced from these scenes to his present haunts. In the earlier portion of the Annals of Jaisalmer mention is made of their conflicts with the Kathi; and their own traditions[132] fix their settlement in the peninsula from the south-eastern part of the valley of the Indus, about the eighth century.

In the twelfth century the Kathi were conspicuous in the wars with Prithwiraja, there being several leaders of the tribe attached to his army, as well as to that of [112] his rival, the monarch of Kanauj.[133] Though on this occasion they acted in some degree of subservience to the monarch of Anhilwara, it would seem that this was more voluntary than forced.

The Kathi still adores the sun,[134] scorns the peaceful arts, and is much less contented with the tranquil subsistence of industry than the precarious earnings of his former predatory pursuits. The Kathi was never happy but on horseback, collecting his blackmail, lance in hand, from friend and foe.

We will conclude this brief sketch with Captain Macmurdo’s character of this race. “The Kathi differs in some respects from the Rajput. He is more cruel in his disposition, but far exceeds him in the virtue of bravery;[135] and a character possessed of more energy than a Kathi does not exist. His size is considerably larger than common, often exceeding six feet. He is sometimes seen with light hair and blue-coloured eyes. His frame is athletic and bony, and particularly well adapted to his mode of life. His countenance is expressive, but of the worst kind, being harsh, and often destitute of a single mild feature.”[136]

Bāla.

—All the genealogists, ancient and modern, insert the Bala tribe amongst the Rajkulas. The birad, or ‘blessing,’ of the bard is Tatta Multan ka rao,[137] indicative of their original abodes on the Indus. They lay claim, however, to descent from the Suryavansi, and maintain that their great ancestor, Bala or Bapa, was the offspring of Lava, the eldest son of Rama; that their first settlement in Saurashtra was at the ancient Dhank, in more remote periods called Mungi Paithan; and that, in conquering the country adjacent, they termed it Balakshetra (their capital Valabhipura), and assumed the title of Balarae. Here they claim identity with the Guhilot race of Mewar: nor is it impossible that they may be a branch of this family, which long held power in Saurashtra.[138] Before the Guhilots adopted the worship of Mahadeo, which period is indicated in their annals, the chief object of their adoration was the sun, giving them that Scythic resemblance to which the Balas have every appearance of claim [113].

The Balas on the continent of Saurashtra, on the contrary, assert their origin to be Induvansa, and that they are the Balakaputras who were the ancient lords of Aror on the Indus. It would be presumption to decide between these claims; but I would venture to surmise that they might be the offspring of Salya, one of the princes of the Mahabharata, who founded Aror.

The Kathis claim descent from the Balas: an additional proof of northern origin, and strengthening their right to the epithet of the bards, ‘Lords of Multan and Tatta.’ The Balas were of sufficient consequence in the thirteenth century to make incursions on Mewar, and the first exploit of the celebrated Rana Hamir was his killing the Bala chieftain of Chotila.[139] The present chief of Dhank is a Bala, and the tribe yet preserves importance in the peninsula.

Jhāla Makwāna.

—This tribe also inhabits the Saurashtra peninsula. It is styled Rajput, though neither classed with the Solar, Lunar, nor Agnikula races; but though we cannot directly prove it, we have every right to assign to it a northern origin. It is a tribe little known in Hindustan or even Rajasthan, into which latter country it was introduced entirely through the medium of the ancient lords of Saurashtra, the present family of Mewar; a sanction which covers every defect. A splendid act of self-devotion of the Jhala chief, when Rana Partap was oppressed with the whole weight of Akbar’s power, obtained, with the gratitude of this prince, the highest honours he could confer,—his daughter in marriage, and a seat on his right hand. That it was the act, and not his rank in the scale of the thirty-six tribes, which gained him this distinction, we have decided proof in later times, when it was deemed a mark of great condescension that the present Rana should sanction a remote branch of his own family bestowing a daughter in marriage on the Jhala ruler of Kotah.[140] This tribe has given its name to one of the largest divisions of Saurashtra, Jhalawar, which possesses several towns of importance. Of these Bankaner, Halwad, and Dhrangadra are the principal.

Regarding the period of the settlement of the Jhalas tradition is silent, as also on their early history: but the aid of its quota was given to the Rana against the [114] first attacks of the Muhammadans; and in the heroic history of Prithwiraja we have ample and repeated mention of the Jhala chieftains who distinguished themselves in his service, as well as in that of his antagonist, and the name of one of these, as recorded by the bard Chand, I have seen inscribed on the granite rock of the sacred Girnar, near their primitive abodes, where we leave them. There are several subdivisions of the Jhala, of which the Makwana is the principal.

Jethwa, Jaithwa, Kamāri.

—This is an ancient tribe, and by all authorities styled Rajput; though, like the Jhala, little known out of Saurashtra, to one of the divisions of which it has given its name, Jethwar. Its present possessions are on the western coast of the peninsula: the residence of its prince, who is styled Rana, is Porbandar.

In remote times their capital was Ghumli, whose ruins attest considerable power, and afford singular scope for analogy, in architectural device, with the style termed Saxon of Europe.[141] The bards of the Jethwas run through a long list of one hundred and thirty crowned heads, and in the eighth century have chronicled the marriage of their prince with the Tuar refounder of Delhi. At this period the Jethwa bore the name of Kamar; and Sahl Kamar is reported to be the prince who was driven from Ghumli, in the twelfth century, by invaders from the north. With this change the name of Kamar was sunk, and that of Jethwa assumed, which has induced the author to style them Kamari;[142] and as they, with the other inhabitants of this peninsula, have all the appearance of Scythic descent, urging no pretensions to connexion with the ancient races of India, they may be a branch of that celebrated race, the Cimmerii of higher Asia, and the Cimbri of Europe.

Their legends are as fabulous as fanciful. They trace their descent from the monkey-god Hanuman, and confirm it by alleging the elongation of the spine of their princes, who bear the epithet of Puncharia, or the ‘long-tailed,’ Ranas of Saurashtra. But the manners and traditions of this race will appear more fully in the narrative of the author’s travels amongst them.

Gohil.[143]—This was a distinguished race: it claims to be Suryavansi, and with some pretension. The first residence of the Gohils was Juna Khergarh, near the bend of the Luni in Marwar.[144] How long they had been established here we know not. They took it from one of the aboriginal Bhil chiefs named Kherwa, and had been in possession of it for twenty generations when expelled by the [115] Rathors at the end of the twelfth century. Thence migrating to Saurashtra, they fixed at Piramgarh;[145] which being destroyed, one branch settled at Bhagwa, and the chief marrying the daughter of Nandanagar or Nandod,[146] he usurped or obtained his father-in-law’s estates; and twenty-seven generations are enumerated, from Sompal to Narsingh, the present Raja of Nandod. Another branch fixed at Sihor, and thence founded Bhaunagar and Gogha. The former town, on the gulf of the Mahi, is the residence of the Gohils, who have given their name, Gohilwar, to the eastern portion of the peninsula of Saurashtra. The present chief addicts himself to commerce, and possesses ships which trade to the gold coast of Sofala.

Sarwaiya or Sariaspa.

—Of this race tradition has left us only the knowledge that it once was famous; for although, in the catalogues of the bard, it is introduced as the “essence of the Khatri race,”[147] we have only a few legends regarding its present degradation. Its name, as well as this epithet of the bard, induces a belief that it is a branch of the Aswas, with the prefix of sar, denoting ‘essence,’ or priority. But it is useless to speculate on a name.

Silār or Salār.

—Like the former, we have here but the shade of a name; though one which, in all probability, originated the epithet Larike, by which the Saurashtra peninsula was known to Ptolemy and the geographers of early Europe. The tribe of Lar was once famous in Saurashtra, and in the annals of Anhilwara mention is made of Siddharaja Jayasingha having extirpated them throughout his dominions. Salar, or Silar, would therefore be distinctively the Lar.[148] Indeed, the author of the Kumarpal Charitra styles it Rajtilak, or ‘regal prince’; but the name only now exists amongst the mercantile classes professing the faith of Buddha [Jainism]: it is inserted as one of the eighty-four. The greater portion of these are of Rajput origin.

Dabhi.

—Little can be said of this tribe but that it was once celebrated in Saurashtra. By some it is called the branch of the Yadu, though all the genealogists give it distinct importance. It now possesses neither territory nor numbers.[149]

Gaur.

—The Gaur tribe was once respected in Rajasthan, though it never there attained to any considerable eminence. The ancient kings of Bengal were of this race, and gave their name to the capital, Lakhnauti [116].

We have every reason to believe that they were possessors of the land afterwards occupied by the Chauhans, as they are styled in all the old chronicles the ‘Gaur of Ajmer.’ Repeated mention is made of them in the wars of Prithwiraja, as leaders of considerable renown, one of whom formed a small State in the centre of India, which survived through seven centuries of Mogul domination, till it at length fell a prey indirectly to the successes of the British over the Mahrattas, when Sindhia in 1809 annihilated the power of the Gaur and took possession of his capital, Sheopur.[150] A petty district, yielding about £5000 annually, is all this rapacious head of a predatory government has left to the Gaur, out of about twelve lacs of annual revenue. The Gaur has five sakha: Untahar, Silhala, Tur, Dusena, and Budana.[151]

Dor or Doda.

—We have little to say of this race. Though occupying a place in all the genealogies, time has destroyed all knowledge of the past history of a tribe, to gain a victory over whom was deemed by Prithwiraja worthy of a tablet.[152]

Gaharwār.

—The Gaharwar Rajput is scarcely known to his brethren in Rajasthan, who will not admit his contaminated blood to mix with theirs; though, as a brave warrior, he is entitled to their fellowship. The original country of the Gaharwar is in the ancient kingdom of Kasi.[153] Their great ancestor was Khortaj Deva, from whom Jasaunda, the seventh in descent, in consequence of some grand sacrificial rites performed at Vindhyavasi, gave the title of Bundela to his issue. Bundela has now usurped the name of Gaharwar, and become the appellation of the immense tract which its various branches inhabit in Bundelkhand, on the ruins of the Chandelas, whose chief cities, Kalanjar, Mohini, and Mahoba, they took possession of.[154]

Chandel.

—The Chandela, classed by some of the genealogists amongst the thirty-six tribes, were powerful in the twelfth century, possessing the whole of the regions between [117] the Jumna and Nerbudda, now occupied by the Bundelas and Baghelas. Their wars with Prithwiraja, forming one of the most interesting of his exploits, ended in the humiliation of the Chandela, and prepared the way for their conquest by the Gaharwars; the date of the supremacy of the Bundela Manvira was about A.D. 1200. Madhukar Sah, the thirteenth in descent from him, founded Orchha on the Betwa, by whose son, Birsingh Deva, considerable power was attained. Orchha became the chief of the numerous Bundela principalities; but its founder drew upon himself everlasting infamy, by putting to death the wise Abu-l Fazl,[155] the historian and friend of the magnanimous Akbar, and the encomiast and advocate of the Hindu race.

From the period of Akbar the Bundelas bore a distinguished part in all the grand conflicts, to the very close of the monarchy: nor, amongst all the brave chiefs of Rajasthan, did any perform more gallant or faithful services than the Bundela chieftains of Orchha and Datia. Bhagwan of Orchha commanded the advanced guard of the army of Shah Jahan. His son, Subhkarana, was Aurangzeb’s most distinguished leader in the Deccan, and Dalpat fell in the war of succession on the plains of Jajau.[156] His descendants have not degenerated; nor is there anything finer in the annals of the chivalry of the West, than the dignified and heroic conduct of the father of the present chief.[157] The Bundela is now a numerous race, while the name Gaharwar remains in their original haunts.

Bargūjar.

—This race is Suryavansi, and the only one, with the exception of the Guhilot, which claims from Lava, the elder son of Rama. The Bargujar held considerable possessions in Dhundhar,[158] and their capital was the hill fortress of Rajor[159] in the principality of Macheri. Rajgarh and Alwar were also their [118] possessions. The Bargujars were expelled these abodes by the Kachhwahas. A colony found refuge and a new residence at Anupshahr on the Ganges.

Sengar.

—Of this tribe little is known, nor does it appear ever to have obtained great celebrity. The sole chieftainship of the Sengars is Jagmohanpur on the Jumna.[160]

Sakarwāl.

—This tribe, like the former, never appears to have claimed much notice amidst the princes of Rajasthan; nor is there a single independent chieftain now remaining, although there is a small district called after them, Sakarwar, on the right bank of the Chambal, adjoining Jaduvati, and like it now incorporated in the province of Gwalior, in Sindhia’s dominions. The Sakarwal is therefore reduced to subsist by cultivation, or the more precarious employment of his lance, either as a follower of others, or as a common depredator. They have their name from the town of Sikri (Fatehpur), which was formerly an independent principality.[161]

Bais.

—The Bais has obtained a place amongst the thirty-six races, though the author believes it but a subdivision of the Suryavansi, as it is neither to be met with in the lists of Chand, nor in those of the Kumarpal Charitra. It is now numerous, and has given its name to an extensive district, Baiswara in the Duab, or the land between the Ganges and Jumna.[162]

Dahia.

—This is an ancient tribe, whose residence was the banks of the Indus, near its confluence with the Sutlej; and although they retain a place amongst the thirty-six royal races, we have not the knowledge of any as now existing. They are mentioned in the annals of the Bhattis of Jaisalmer, and from name as well as from locale, we may infer that they were the Dahae of Alexander.[163]

Joiya, Johya.

—This race possessed the same haunts as the Dahia, and are always coupled with them. They, however, extended across the Ghara into the northern desert of India, and in ancient chronicles are entitled ‘Lords of Jangaldesa,’ a tract which comprehended Hariana, Bhatner, and Nagor. The author possesses a work relative to this tribe, like the Dahia, now extinct.[164]

Mohil.

—We have no mode of judging of the pretensions of this race to the place it is allowed to occupy by the genealogists. All that can be learned of its past history is, that it inhabited a considerable tract so late as the foundation of the present State of Bikaner, the Rathor founders of which expelled, if not extirpated, the Mohil. With the Malan, Malani, and Mallia, also extinct, it may [119] claim the honour of descent from the ancient Malloi, the foes of Alexander, whose abode was Multan. (Qu. Mohilthan?)[165]

Nikumbha.

—Of this race, to which celebrity attaches in all the genealogies, we can only discover that they were proprietors of the district of Mandalgarh prior to the Guhilots.[166]

Rājpāli.

—It is difficult to discover anything regarding this race, which, under the names of Rajpali, Rajpalaka, or simply Pala, are mentioned by all the genealogists; especially those of Saurashtra, to which in all probability it was confined. This tends to make it Scythic in origin; the conclusion is strengthened by the derivation of the name, meaning ‘royal shepherd’: it was probably a branch of the ancient Pali.[167]

Dahariya.

—The Kumarpal Charitra is our sole authority for classing this race with the thirty-six. Of its history we know nothing. Amongst the princes who came to the aid of Chitor, when first assailed by the arms of Islam, was ‘the lord of Debal, Dahir, Despati.’[168] From the ignorance of the transcriber of the Guhilot annals, Delhi is written instead of Debal; but we not only have the whole of the names of the Tuar race, but Delhi was not in existence at this time. Slight as is the mention of this prince in the Chitor annals, it is nevertheless of high value, as stamping them with authenticity; for this Dahir was actually the despot of Sind, whose tragical end in his capital Debal is related by Abu-l Fazl. It was in the ninety-ninth year of the Hegira that he was attacked by Muhammad bin Kasim, the lieutenant of the Caliph of Bagdad, and treated with the greatest barbarity.[169] Whether this prince used Dahir as a proper name, or as that of his tribe, must be left to conjecture.

Dahima.

—The Dahima has left but the wreck of a great name.[170] Seven centuries have swept away all recollection of a tribe who once afforded one of the proudest themes for the song of the bard. The Dahima was the lord of Bayana, and one of the most powerful vassals of the Chauhan emperor, Prithwiraja. Three brothers of this house held the highest offices under this monarch, and the period during which the elder, Kaimas, was his minister, was the brightest in the history of the Chauhan: but he fell a victim to a blind jealousy. Pundir, the second brother [120], commanded the frontier at Lahore. The third, Chawand Rae, was the principal leader in the last battle, where Prithwiraja fell, with the whole of his chivalry, on the banks of the Ghaggar. Even the historians of Shihabu-d-din have preserved the name of the gallant Dahima, Chawand Rae, whom they style Khandirai; and to whose valour, they relate, Shihabu-d-din himself nearly fell a sacrifice. With the Chauhan, the race seems to have been extinguished. Rainsi, his only son, was by this sister of Chawand Rae, but he did not survive the capture of Delhi. This marriage forms the subject of one of the books of the bard, who never was more eloquent than in the praise of the Dahima.[171]

Aboriginal Races[172]

Bagri, Mer, Kaba, Mina, Bhil, Sahariya, Thori, Khangar, Gond, Bhar, Janwar, and Sarad.

Agricultural and Pastoral Tribes

Abhira or Ahir, Goala, Kurmi or Kulumbi, Gujar, and Jat

Rajput Tribes to which no Sakha is assigned

Jalia, Peshani, Sohagni, Chahira, Ran, Simala, Botila, Gotchar, Malan, Uhir, Hul, Bachak, Batar, Kerach, Kotak, Busa, and Bargota.

Catalogue of the Eighty-Four Mercantile Tribes

Sri Sri Mal, Srimal, Oswal, Bagherwal, Dindu, Pushkarwal, Mertawal, Harsora, Surawal, Piliwal, Bhambu, Kandhelwal, Dohalwal, Kederwal, Desawal, Gujarwal, Sohorwal, Agarwal, Jaelwal, Manatwal, Kajotiwal, Kortawal, Chehtrawal, Soni, Sojatwal, Nagar, Mad, Jalhera, Lar, Kapol, Khareta, Barari, Dasora, Bambarwal, Nagadra, Karbera, Battewara, Mewara, Narsinghpura, Khaterwal, Panchamwal, Hanerwal, Sirkera, Bais, Stukhi, Kambowal, Jiranwal, Baghelwal, Orchitwal, Bamanwal, Srigur, Thakurwal, Balmiwal, Tepora, Tilota, Atbargi, Ladisakha, Badnora, Khicha, Gasora, Bahaohar, Jemo, Padmora, Maharia, Dhakarwal, Mangora, Goelwal, Mohorwal, Chitora, Kakalia, Bhareja, Andora, Sachora, Bhungrawal, Mandahala, Bramania, Bagria, Dindoria, Borwal, Sorbia, Orwal, Nuphag, and Nagora. (One wanting.)

1. [This catalogue is now of historical or traditional, rather than of ethnographical value. It includes some which are admittedly extinct: others which are proved to be derived from Gurjara and other foreign tribes, while it omits many clans which are most influential at the present day, and some of those included in the list are now represented by scattered groups outside Rājputāna.]

2. Of his works I possess the most complete copy existing.

3. Presented to the Royal Asiatic Society.

4. Moghji, one of the most intelligent bards of the present day; but, heartbroken, he has now but the woes of his race to sing. Yet has he forgot them for a moment to rehearse the deeds of Parsanga, who sealed his fidelity by his death on the Ghaggar. Then the invisible mantle of Bhavani was wrapt around him; and with the birad (furor poeticus) flowing freely of their deeds of yore, their present degradation, time, and place were all forgot. But the time is fast approaching when he may sing with the Cambrian bard:

“Ye lost companions of my tuneful art,

Where are ye fled?”

5. One of two specimens shall be given in the proper place.

6. A prince of Bundi had married a Rajputni of the Malani tribe, a name now unknown: but a bard repeating the ‘gotracharya,’ it was discovered to have been about eight centuries before a ramification (sakha) of the Chauhan, to which the Hara of Bundi belonged—divorce and expiatory rites, with great unhappiness, were the consequences. What a contrast to the unhallowed doctrines of polyandry, as mentioned amongst the Pandavas, the Scythic nations, the inhabitants of Sirmor of the present day, and pertaining even to Britain in the days of Caesar!—“Uxores habent deni duodenique inter se communes,” says that accurate writer, speaking of the natives of this island; “et maximè fratres cum fratribus, parentesque cum liberis: sed si qui sint ex his nati, eorum habentur liberi, quo primum virgo quaeque deducta est.”

7. Aparam sakham, ‘of innumerable branches,’ is inscribed on an ancient tablet of the Guhilot race.

8. Got, khanp, denote a clan; its subdivisions have the patronymic terminating with the syllable ‘ot,’ ‘awat,’ ‘sot,’ in the use of which euphony alone is their guide: thus, Saktawat, ‘sons of Sakta’; Kurmasot, ‘of Kurma’; Mairawat, or mairot, mountaineers, ‘sons of the mountains.’ Such is the Greek Mainote, from maina, a mountain, in the ancient Albanian dialect, of eastern origin.

9. From agni (qu. ignis?) ‘fire,’ the sons of Vulcan, as the others of Sol and Luna, or Lunus, to change the sex of the parent of the Indu (moon) race.

10. Vansavali, Suryavansi Rajkuli Rana Chitor ka Dhani, Chhattis Kuli Sengar.—MSS. from the Rana’s library, entitled Khuman Raesa.

11. Always conjoined with Vairat—‘Vijayapur Vairatgarh.’ [Vairāt forty-one miles north of Jaipur city. The reference in the text is merely a bardic fable, there being no connexion between Vijaya and this place (ASR, ii. 249).]

12. A.D. 319. The inscription recording this, as well as others relating to Valabhi and this era, I discovered in Saurashtra, as well as the site of this ancient capital, occupying the position of ‘Byzantium’ in Ptolemy’s geography of India. They will be given in the Transactions of the Royal Asiatic Society. [The Valabhi agrees with the Gupta era (Smith, EHI, 20).]

13. Anandpur Ahar, or ‘Ahar the city of repose.’ By the tide of events, the family was destined to fix their last capital, Udaipur, near Ahar.

14. The middle of the eighth century.

15. [Or Maurya], a Pramara prince.

16. [For a different list, see Census Report, Rajputana, 1911, i. 256.]

17. The place where they found refuge was in the cluster of hills still called Yadu ka dang, ‘the Yadu hills’:—the Joudes of Rennell’s geography [see p. 75 above].

18. [Zabulistan, with its capital, Ghazni, in Afghanistan.]

19. The date assigned long prior to the Christian era, agrees with the Grecian, but the names and manners are Muhammadan.

20. Lodorwa Patan, whence they expelled an ancient race, was their capital before Jaisalmer. There is much to learn of these regions.

21. A.D. 1155.

22. [The capital of Sambos was Sindimana, perhaps the modern Sihwān (Smith, EHI, 101).]

23. [This is very doubtful.]

24. They have an infinitely better etymology for this, in being descendants of Jambuvati, one of Hari’s eight wives. [The origin of the term Jām is very doubtful: see Yule, Hobson-Jobson, s.v.]

25. The Suraseni of Vraj, the tract so named, thirty miles around Mathura.

26. Its chief, Rao Manohar Singh, was well known to me, and was, I may say, my friend. For years letters passed between us, and he had made for me a transcript of a valuable copy of the Mahabharata.

27. [Vigraha-rāja, known as Vīsaladeva, Bīsal Deo, in the middle of the twelfth century, is alleged to have conquered Delhi from a chief of the Tomara clan. That chief was a descendant of Ānangapāla, who, a century before, had built the Red Fort (Smith, EHI, 386).]

28. Several Mahratta chieftains deduce their origin from the Tuar race, as Ram Rao Phalkia, a very gallant leader of horse in Sindhia’s State.

29. [This is a pure myth (Smith, EHI, 385, 413).]

30. [For a fuller list, see Census Report, Rajputana, 1911, i. 255 f.]

31. From this I should be inclined to pronounce the Rathors descendants of a race (probably Scythic) professing the Buddhist faith, of which Gotama was the last great teacher, and disciple of the last Buddha Mahivira, in S. 477 (A.D. 533). [Buddhism and Jainism are, as usual, confused.]

32. Enigmatical—‘Clay formation by fire’ (agni).

33. [The Kuldevi, or family goddess, of the Rāthors in Nāgnaichiān, whose original title was Rājeswari or Ratheswari, her present name being taken from the village of Nāgāna in Pachbhadra; and she has a temple in the Jodhpur fort, with shrines under the nīm tree (Azadirachta Indica) which is held sacred in all Rathor settlements (Census Report, Marwar, 1891, ii. 25).]

34. Erroneously written and pronounced Kutchwaha.

35. The resemblance between the Kushite Ramesa of Ayodhya and the Rameses of Egypt is strong. Each was attended by his army of satyrs, Anubis and Cynocephalus, which last is a Greek misnomer, for the animal bearing this title is of the Simian family, as his images (in the Turin museum) disclose, and the brother of the faithful Hanuman. The comparison between the deities within the Indus (called Nilab, ‘blue waters’) and those of the Nile in Egypt, is a point well worth discussion. [These speculations are untenable.]

36. A name in compliment, probably, to the elder branch of their race, Lava.

37. [See a list in Census Report, Rajputana, 1911, i. 255.]

38. There is a captivating elegance thrown around the theogonies of Greece and Rome, which we fail to impart to the Hindu; though that elegant scholar, Sir William Jones, could make even Sanskrit literature fascinating; and that it merits the attempt intrinsically, we may infer from the charm it possesses to the learned chieftain of Rajasthan. That it is perfectly analogous to the Greek and Roman, we have but to translate the names to show. For instance:—

Solar. |  | Lunar.
Maricha | (Lux) | Atri.
Kasyapa | (Uranus) | Samudra (Oceanus).
Vaivaswata or Surya | (Sol) | Soma, or Ind (Luna; qu. Lunus?).
Vaivaswa Manu | (Filius Solis) | Brihaspati (Jupiter).
Ila | (Terra) | Budha (Mercurius).

39. [Hoernle (JRAS, 1905, p. 20) believes that the Parihāras were the only sept which claimed fire-origin before Chand (flor. A.D. 1191). But a legend of the kind was current in South India in the second century A.D. (IA, xxxiv. 263).]

40. Figuratively, ‘the serpent.’

41. To me it appears that there were four distinguished Buddhas or wise men, teachers of monotheism in India, which they brought from Central Asia, with their science and its written character, the arrow or nail-headed, which I have discovered wherever they have been,—in the deserts of Jaisalmer, in the heart of Rajasthan, and the shores of Saurashtra; which were their nurseries.

The first Budha is the parent of the Lunar race, A.C. 2250.

The second (twenty-second of the Jains), Nemnath, A.C. 1120.

The third (twenty-third     do.    ), Parsawanath, A.C. 650.

The fourth (twenty-fourth    do.    ), Mahivira, A.C. 533.

[The author confuses Budha, Mercury, with Buddha, the Teacher, and mixes up Buddhists with Jains.]

42. Achal, ‘immovable,’ eswara, ‘lord.’

43. It extended from the Indus almost to the Jumna, occupying all the sandy regions, Naukot, Arbuda or Abu, Dhat, Mandodri, Kheralu, Parkar, Lodorva, and Pugal.

44. See Transactions of the Royal Asiatic Society, vol. i. p. 227. [Rāja Munja of Mālwa reigned A.D. 974-995. The famous Bhoja, his nephew, not his son, 1018-60 (Smith, EHI, 395).]

45. Which will be given in the Transactions of the Royal Asiatic Society.

46. S. 770, or A.D. 714.

47. “When the Pramar of Tilang took sanctuary with Har, to the thirty-six tribes he made gifts of land. To Kehar he gave Katehr, to Rae Pahar the coast of Sind, to the heroes of the shell the forest lands. Ram Pramar of Tilang, the Chakravartin lord of Ujjain, made the gift. He bestowed Delhi on the Tuars, and Patan on the Chawaras; Sambhar on the Chauhans, and Kanauj on the Kamdhuj; Mardes on the Parihar, Sorath on the Jadon, the Deccan on Jawala, and Cutch on the Charan” (Poems of Chand). [This is an invention of the courtly bard.]

48. The inscription gives S. 1100 (A.D. 1044) for the third Bhoj: and this date agrees with the period assigned to this prince in an ancient Chronogrammatic Catalogue of reigns embracing all the Princes of the name of Bhoj, which may therefore be considered authentic. This authority assigns S. 631 and 721 (or A.D. 575 and 665) to the first and second Bhoj.

49. Herbert has a curious story of Chitor being called Taxila; thence the story of the Ranas being sons of Porus. I have an inscription from a temple on the Chambal, within the ancient limits of Mewar, which mentions Takshasilanagara, ‘the stone fort of the Tak,’ but I cannot apply it. The city of Toda (Tonk, or properly Tanka) is called in the Chauhan chronicles, Takatpur. [Takshasila, the Taxila of the Greeks, the name meaning ‘the hewn rock,’ or more probably, ‘the rock of Taksha,’ the Nāga king, is the modern Shāhderi in the Rāwalpindi District, Panjāb (IGI, xxii. 200 f.).]

50. Of the Sodha tribe, a grand division of the Pramaras, and who held all the desert regions in remote times. Their subdivisions, Umra and Sumra, gave the names to Umarkot and Umrasumra, in which was the insular Bakhar, on the Indus: so that we do not misapply etymology, when we say in Sodha we have the Sogdoi of Alexander.

52. See Transactions of the Royal Asiatic Society, vol. i. p. 133, ‘Comments on a Sanskrit Inscription.’

53. Asura-Daitya, which Titans were either the aboriginal Bhils or the Scythic hordes.

54. I have visited this classic spot in Hindu mythology. An image of Adipal (the ‘first-created’), in marble, still adorns its embankment, and is a piece of very fine sculpture. It was too sacred a relic to remove.

55. ‘Portal or door (dwar) of the earth’; contracted to Prithihara and Parihara.

56. ‘The first striker.’

57. [In the Hāra version of the legend the presiding priest is Visvāmitra.]

58. Chatur; anga, ‘body’ [chaturbāhu].

59. Asa, ‘hope,’ purna, to ‘fulfil’; whence the tutelary goddess of the Chauhan race, Asapurna.

60. The goddess of energy (Sakti).

61. [Cunningham points out that in the original story only the Chauhān was created from the fire-pit, the reference to other clans being a later addition (ASR, ii. 255).]

62. Born in S. 1215, or A.D. 1159. [Anhala or Agnipāla is here the head of the Chauhān line; but a different list appears in the Hammīra Mahākāvya of Nayachhandra Sūri (IA, viii. 55 ff.).]

63. [Ajmer is commonly said to have been founded by Rāja Aja, A.D. 145. It was founded by Ajayadeva Chauhān about A.D. 1100 (IA, xxv. 162 f.).]

64. A name derived from the goddess Sakambhari, the tutelary divinity of the tribes, whose statue is in the middle of the lake.

65. Dharma Dhiraj, father of Bisaladeva, must have been the defender on this occasion.

66. [Muhammad bin Kāsim seems to have marched along the Indus valley, not in the direction of Ajmer (Malik Muhammad Din, Bahawalpur Gazetteer, i. 28).]

67. [This is doubtful. Maudūd seems to have not come further south than Siālkot (Al Badaoni, Muntakhabu-t-tawārīkh, i. 49; Elliot-Dowson ii. 273, iv. 139 f., 199 f., v. 160 f.).]

68. [The author has barely noticed the Khīchis; for an account of them see ASR, ii. 249 ff.]

69. About Fatehpur Jhunjhunu.

70. [For a different list see Rajputana Census Report, 1911, i. 255.]

71. [The Chalukya is a Gurjara tribe, the name being the Sanskritized form of the old dynastic title, Chalkya, of the Deccan dynasty (A.D. 552-973); and of this Solanki is a dialectical variant (IA, xi. 24; BG, i. Part i. 156, Part ii. 336).]

72. Solanki Gotracharya is thus: “Madhwani Sakha—Bharadwaja Gotra—Garh Lohkot nikas—Sarasvati Nadi (river)—Sama Veda—Kapaliswar Deva—Karduman Rikheswar—Tin Parwar Zunar (zone of three threads)—Keonj Devi—Mahipal Putra (one of the Penates).” [Lohkot is Lohara in Kashmīr (Stein, Rājatarangini, i. Introd. 108, ii. 293 ff.).]

73. Called Malkhani, being the sons of Mal Khan, the first apostate from his faith to Islamism. Whether these branches of the Solankis were compelled to quit their religion, or did it voluntarily, we know not.

74. Near Bombay. [In Thana District, not Malabar coast.]

75. Son of Jai Singh Solanki, the emigrant prince of Kalyan, who married the daughter of Bhojraj. These particulars are taken from a valuable little geographical and historical treatise, incomplete and without title. [Mūlarāja Chaulukya, A.D. 961-96, was son of Bhūbhata: Chāmunda, A.D. 997-1010; it was in the reign of Bhīma I. (1022-64) that Mahmūd’s invasion in A.D. 1024 occurred (BG, i. Part i. 156 ff. 164).]

76. Called Chamund by Muhammadan historians.

77. [Ferishta i. 61.]

78. He ruled from S. 1150 to 1201 [A.D. 1094-1143]. It was his court that was visited by El Edrisi, commonly called the Nubian geographer, who particularly describes this prince as following the tenets of Buddha. [He was probably not a Jain (BG, i. Part i. 179).]

79. [The Gujarāt account of the campaign is different (BG, i. Part i. 184 f.).]

80. [Kumārapāla made many benefactions to the Jains (Ibid. i. Part i. 190 f.).]

81. [Ajayapāla succeeded Kumārapāla. Bhima II. (A.D. 1179-1242), called Bholo, ‘the simpleton,’ was the last of the Chaulukya dynasty, which was succeeded by that of the Vāghelas (1219-1304). Vīsaladeva reigned A.D. 1243-61. See a full account, Ibid. 194 ff.]

82. Satranjaya. [IGI, xix. 361 ff.]

83. In 1822 I made a journey to explore the remains of antiquity in Saurashtra. I discovered a ruined suburb of the ancient Patan still bearing the name of Anhilwara, the Nahrwara, which D’Anville had “fort à cœur de retrouver.” I meditate a separate account of this kingdom, and the dynasties which governed it.

84. [Zafar Khān, son of Sahāran of the Tānk tribe of Rājputs, embraced Islam, and became viceroy of Gujarāt. According to Ferishta, he threw off his allegiance to Delhi in 1396, or rather maintained a nominal allegiance till 1403. Ahmad was grandson, not son, of Muzaffar. (Ferishta iv. 2 f.; Bayley, Dynasties of Gujarat, 67 ff.; BG, i. Part i. 232 f.).]

85. The name of this subdivision is from Bagh Rao, the son of Siddharāja; though the bards have another tradition for its origin. [They take their name from the village Vaghela near Anhilwāra (BG, i. Part i. 198).]

86. I knew this chieftain well, and a very good specimen he is of the race. He is in possession of the famous war-shell of Jai Singh, which is an heirloom.

87. Famous robbers in the deserts, known as the Malduts.

88. Celebrated in traditional history.

89. Desperate robbers. I saw this place fired and levelled in 1807, when the noted Karim Pindari was made prisoner by Sindhia. It afterwards cost some British blood in 1817.

90. [For another list see Census Report, Rajputana, 1911, i. 256.]

91. Though now desolate, the walls of this fortress attest its antiquity, and it is a work that could not be undertaken in this degenerate age. The remains of it bring to mind those of Volterra or Cortona, and other ancient cities of Tuscany: enormous squared masses of stone without any cement. [For a full account of Mandor, see Erskine iii. A. 196 ff.]

92. This was in the thirteenth century [A.D. 1381], when Mandor was captured, and its prince slain, by the Rawal of Chitor.

93. [Six sub-clans are named in Census Report, Rajputana, 1911, i. 255.]

94. [They have been supposed to be a branch of the Pramārs, but they are certainly of Gurjara origin (IA, iv. 145 f.; BG, ix. Part i. 124, 488 f.; i. Part i. 149 ff.). According to Wilberforce-Bell, the word Chaura in Gujarāt means ‘robber’ (History of Kathiawad, 51).]

95. The Σύροι of the Greek writers on Bactria, the boundary of the Bactrian kingdom under Apollodotus. On this see the paper on Grecian medals in the Transactions of the Royal Asiatic Society, vol. i.

96. Many of the inhabitants of the south and west of India cannot pronounce the ch, and invariably substitute the s. Thus the noted Pindari leader Chitu was always called Situ by the Deccanis. Again, with many of the tribes of the desert, the s is alike a stumbling-block, which causes many singular mistakes, when Jaisalmer, the ‘hill of Jaisal,’ becomes Jahlmer, ‘the hill of fools.’

97. [The Balhara of Arab travellers of the tenth century were the Rashtrakūta dynasty of Mālkhed, Balhara being a corruption of Vallabharāja, Vallabha being the royal title (BG, i. Part ii. 209).]

98. [Vanarāja reigned from A.D. 765 to 780, and the dynasty is said to have lasted 196 years, but the evidence is still incomplete. The name of Bhojrāj does not appear in the most recent lists (BG, i. Part i. 152 ff.).]

99. Rélations anciennes des Voyageurs, par Renaudot.

100. [The true form of this puzzling term seems to be Dābshalīm, whose story is told in Elliot-Dowson (ii. 500 ff., iv. 183). Much of the account is mere tradition, but it has been plausibly suggested that when Bhīma I., the Chaulukya king of Anhilwāra was defeated by Mahmūd of Ghazni in A.D. 1024, the latter may have appointed Durlabha, uncle of Bhīma, to keep order in Gujarāt, and that the two Dābshalīms may be identified with Durlabha and his son (BG, i. Part i. 168). Also see Ferishta i. 76; Bayley, Muhammadan Dynasties of Gujarāt, 32 ff.]

101. Abulghazi [Hist. of the Turks, Moguls, and Tartars, 1730, i. 5 f.] says, when Noah left the ark he divided the earth amongst his three sons: Shem had Iran: Japhet, the country of ‘Kuttup Shamach,’ the name of the regions between the Caspian Sea and India. There he lived two hundred and fifty years. He left eight sons, of whom Turk was the elder and the seventh Camari, supposed the Gomer of Scripture. Turk had four sons; the eldest of whom was Taunak, the fourth from whom was Mogul, a corruption of Mongol, signifying sad, whose successors made the Jaxartes their winter abode. [The word means ‘brave’ (Howorth, Hist. of the Mongols, i. 27).] Under his reign no trace of the true religion remained: idolatry reigned everywhere. Aghuz Khan succeeded. The ancient Cimbri, who went west with Odin’s horde of Jats, Chattis, and Su, were probably the tribes descended from Camari, the son of Turk.

102. Tacash continued to be a proper name with the great Khans of Khārizm (Chorasmia) until they adopted the faith of Muhammad. The father of Jalal, the foe of Jenghiz Khan, was named Tacash. Tashkent on the Jaxartes, the capital of Turkistan, may be derived from the name of the race. Bayer says, “Tocharistan was the region of the Tochari, who were the ancient Τώχαροι (Tochari), or Τάχαροι (Tacharoi).” Ammianus Marcellinus says, “many nations obey the Bactrians, whom the Tochari surpass” (Hist. Reg. Bact. p. 7).

103. This singular race, the Tajiks, are repeatedly mentioned by Mr. Elphinstone in his admirable account of the kingdom of Kabul. They are also particularly noticed as monopolising the commercial transactions of the kingdom of Bokhara, in that interesting work, Voyage d’Orenbourg à Bokhara, the map accompanying which, for the first time, lays down authentically the sources and course of the Oxus and Jaxartes. [The term Tājik means the settled population, as opposed to the Turks or tent-dwellers. It is the same word as Tāzi, ‘Arab,’ still surviving in the name of the Persian greyhound, which was apparently introduced by the Arabs. Sykes (Hist. of Persia, ii. 153, note) and Skrine-Ross (The Heart of Asia, 3, 364 note) state that the Tājiks represent the Iranian branch of the Aryans.]

104. The Mahabharata describes this warfare against the snakes literally: of which, in one attack, he seized and made a burnt-offering (hom) of twenty thousand. It is surprising that the Hindu will accept these things literally. It might be said he had but a choice of difficulties, and that it would be as impossible for any human being to make the barbarous sacrifice of twenty thousand of his species, as it would be difficult to find twenty thousand snakes for the purpose. The author’s knowledge of what barbarity will inflict leaves the fact of the human sacrifice, though not perhaps to this extent, not even improbable. In 1811 his duties called him to a survey amidst the ravines of the Chambal, the tract called Gujargarh, a district inhabited by the Gujar tribe. Turbulent and independent, like the sons of Esau, their hand against every man and every man’s hand against them, their nominal prince, Surajmall, the Jāt chief of Bharatpur, pursued exactly the same plan towards the population of these villages, whom they captured in a night attack, that Janamejaya did to the Takshaks: he threw them into pits with combustibles, and actually thus consumed them! This occurred not three-quarters of a century ago.

105. Arrian says that his name was Omphis [Āmbhi], and that his father dying at this time, he did homage to Alexander, who invested him with the title and estates of his father Taxiles. Hence, perhaps (from Tak), the name of the Indus, Attak; [?] not Atak, or ‘forbidden,’ according to modern signification, and which has only been given since the Muhammadan religion for a time made it the boundary between the two faiths. [All these speculations are valueless.]

106. In Bihar, during the reign of Pradyota, the successor of Ripunjaya. Parsva’s symbol is the serpent of Takshak. His doctrines spread to the remotest parts of India, and the princes of Valabhipura of Mandor and Anhilwara all held to the tenets of Buddha. [As usual, Jains are confounded with Buddhists. There is no reason to believe that the Nāgas, a serpent-worshipping tribe, were not indigenous in India.]

107. This is the celebrated fortress in Khandesh, now in the possession of the British.

108. In the list of the wounded at the battle of Kanauj he is mentioned by name, as “Chatto the Tak.”

109. He reigned from A.D. 1324 to 1351.

110. ‘The victorious’ [see p. 118 above].

111. The Mirātu-l-Sikandari gives the ancestry of the apostate for twenty-three generations; the last of whom was Sesh, the same which introduced the Nagvansa, seven centuries before the Christian era, into India. The author of the work gives the origin of the name of Tak, or Tank, from tarka, ‘expulsion,’ from his caste, which he styles Khatri, evincing his ignorance of this ancient race.

112. [Though apparently there is no legal connubium between Jāts and Rājputs, the two tribes are closely connected, and it has been suggested that both had their origin in invaders from Central Asia, the leaders becoming Rājputs, the lower orders Jāt peasants. The author, at the close of Vol. II., gives an inscription recording the marriage of a Jāt with a Yādava princess.]

113. “The superiority of the Chinese over the Turks caused the great Khan to turn his arms against the Nomadic Getae of Mawaru-l-nahr (Transoxiana), descended from the Yueh-chi, and bred on the Jihun or Oxus, whence they had extended themselves along the Indus and even Ganges, and are there yet found. These Getae had embraced the religion of Fo” (Hist. Gén. des Huns, tom. i. p. 375).

114. "To my foe, salutation! This foe how shall I describe? Of the race of Jat Kathida, whose ancestor, the warrior Takshak, formed the garland on the neck of Mahadeva." Though this is a figurative allusion to the snake necklace of the father of creation, yet it evidently pointed to the Jat’s descent from the Takshak. But enough has been said elsewhere of the snake race, the parent of the Scythic tribes, which the divine Milton seems to have taken from Diodorus’s account of the mother of the Scythac:

“Woman to the waist, and fair;

But ended foul in many a scaly fold!”

Paradise Lost, Book ii. 650 f.

Whether the Jat Kathida is the Jat or Getae of Cathay (da being the mark of the genitive case) we will leave to conjecture [?]. [Ney Elias (History of the Moghuls of Central Asia, 75) suggests that the theory of the connexion between Jāts and Getae was largely based on an error regarding the term jatah, ‘rascal,’ applied as a mark of reproach to the Moguls by the Chagatai.]

115. This place existed in the twelfth century as a capital; since an inscription of Kamarpal, prince of Anhilwara, declares that this monarch carried his conquests “even to Salpur.” There is Sialkot in Rennell’s geography, and Wilford mentions “Sangala, a famous city in ruins, sixty miles west by north of Lahore, situated in a forest, and said to be built by Puru.”Puru.”

116. At this time (A.D. 449) the Jut brothers, Hengist and Horsa, led a colony from Jutland and founded the kingdom of Kent (qu. Kantha, ‘a coast,’ in Sanskrit, as in Gothic Konta?). The laws they there introduced, more especially the still prevailing one of gavelkind, where all the sons share equally, except the youngest who has a double portion, are purely Scythic, and brought by the original Goth from the Jaxartes. Alaric had finished his career, and Theodoric and Genseric (ric, ‘king,’ in Sanskrit [?]) were carrying their arms into Spain and Africa. [These speculations are valueless.]

117. Why should these proselytes, if originally Yadu, assume the name of Jat or Jāt? It must be either that the Yadus were themselves the Scythic Yuti or Yueh-chi, or that the branches intermarried with the Jats, and consequently became degraded as Yadus, and the mixed issue bore the name of the mother.

118. The Jadu ka Dang, ‘or hills of Yadu,’ mentioned in the sketch of this race as one of their intermediate points of halt when they were driven from India after the Mahabharata.

119. Near the spot where Alexander built his fleet, which navigated to Babylon thirteen hundred years before.

120. Translated by Dow, ‘an island.’ Sind Sagar is one of the Duabas of the Panjab. I have compared Dow’s translation of the earlier portion of the history of Ferishta with the original, and it is infinitely more faithful than the world gives him credit for. His errors are most considerable in numerals and in weights and measures; and it is owing to this that he has made the captured wealth of India appear so incredible.

121. Ferishta vol. i. [The translation in the text is an abstract of that of Dow (i. 72). That of Briggs (i. 81 f.) is more accurate. In neither version is there any mention of the Sind Sāgar. Rose (Glossary, ii. 359) discredits the account of this naval engagement, and expresses a doubt whether the Jats at this period occupied Jūd or the Salt Ranges.]

122. [By the ‘Getae’ of the text the author apparently means Mongols.]

123. Abulghazi vol. ii. chap. 16. After his battle with Sultan Mahmud of Delhi, Timur gave orders, to use the word of his historian, “for the slaughter of a hundred thousand infidel slaves. The great mosque was fired, and the souls of the infidels were sent to the abyss of hell. Towers were erected of their heads, and their bodies were thrown as food to the beasts and birds of prey. At Mairta the infidel Guebres were flayed alive.” This was by order of Tamerlane, to whom the dramatic historians of Europe assign every great and good quality!

124. [The first Hun invasion occurred in 455 A.D., and about 500 they overthrew the Gupta Empire (Smith, EHI, 309, 316).]

125. Asiatic Researches, vol. i. p. 136.

126. Hist. Gén. des Huns, tom. iii. p. 238.

127. [The name Tatar is derived from that of the Ta-ta Mongols (EB, xxvi. 448).]

128. Précis de Géographie universelle. Malte-Brun traces a connexion between the Hungarians and the Scandinavians, from similarity of language: “A ces siècles primitifs où les Huns, les Goths, les Jotes, les Ases, et bien d’autres peuples étaient réunis autour des anciens autels d’Odin.” Several of the words which he affords us are Sanskrit in origin. Vol. vi. p. 370.

129. Eclaircissemens Géographiques sur la Carte de l’Inde, p. 43 [Smith, EHI, 315 ff.].

130. An orthography which more assimilates with the Hindu pronunciation of the name Huon, or Oun, than Hun.

131. The same bard says that there are three or four houses of these Huns at Trisawi, three coss from Baroda; and the Khichi bard, Moghji, says their traditions record the existence of many powerful Hun princes in India. [On the Huns in W. India see BG, i. Part i. 122 ff. The difficulty in the text is now removed by the proof that many of them became Rājputs.]

132. The late Captain Macmurdo, whose death was a loss to the service and to literature, gives an animated account of the habits of the Kathi. His opinions coincide entirely with my own regarding this race. See vol. i. p. 270, Trans. Soc. of Bombay. [For accounts of the Kāthi see BG, ix. Part i. 252 ff., viii. 122 ff. Under the Mahrattas Kāthiāwār, the name of the Kāthi tract, was extended to the whole of Saurāshtra (Wilberforce-Bell, Hist. of Kathiawad, 132 f.).]

133. It is needless to particularise them here. In the poems of Chand, some books of which I have translated and purpose giving to the public, the important part the Kathi had assigned to them will appear.

134. [In the form of a symbol like a spider, the rays forming the legs (BG, ix. Part i. 257).]

135. It is the Rajput of Kathiawar, not of Rajasthan, to whom Captain Macmurdo alludes.

136. Of their personal appearance, and the blue eye indicative of their Gothic or Getic origin, the author will have occasion to speak more particularly in his personal narrative.

137. ‘Princes of Tatta and Multan.’

138. [The origin of the Bālas is not certain: they were probably Gurjaras (Ibid. 495 f.).]

139. [Chotila in Kāthiāwār (BG, viii. 407).]

140. His son, Madho Singh, the present administrator, is the offspring of the celebrated Zalim and a Ranawat chieftain’s daughter, which has entitled his (Madho Singh’s) issue to marry far above their scale in rank. So much does superiority of blood rise above all worldly considerations with a Rajput, that although Zalim Singh held the reins of the richest and best ordered State of Rajasthan, he deemed his family honoured by his obtaining to wife for his grandson the daughter of a Kachhwaha minor chieftain.

141. [Ghumli in the Barda hills, about 40 miles east of Porbandar (Wilberforce-Bell, Hist. of Kathiawad, 49 f.; BG, viii. 440).]

142. [The terms Kamār and Kamāri seem to have disappeared.]

143. A compound word from goh, ‘strength’; Ila, ‘the earth.’ [This is out of the question: cf. Guhilot.]

144. [For Kher, ‘the cradle of the Rathors,’ see Erskine iii. A. 199.]

145. [For the island of Piram in Ahmadabad district see IGI, xx. 149 f., and for the tradition Wilberforce-Bell, op. cit. 71 f.; BG, iv. 348, viii. 114.]

146. [The ancient Nandapadra in Rājpīpla, Bombay (IGI, xviii. 361; BG, i. Part ii. 314).]

147. Sarwaiya Khatri tain sar.

148. Su, as before observed, is a distinctive prefix, meaning ‘excellent.’ [The derivation is impossible. Lāta was S. Gujarāt.]

149. [For the Dābhi tribe, see IA, iii. 69 ff., 193 f.; Forbes, Rāsmāla, 237 f.]

150. In 1807 the author passed through this territory, in a solitary ramble to explore these parts, then little known; and though but a young Sub., was courteously received and entertained both at Baroda and Sheopur. In 1809 he again entered the country under very different circumstances, in the suite of the British envoy with Sindhia’s court, and had the grief to witness the operations against Sheopur, and its fall, unable to aid his friends. The Gaur prince had laid aside the martial virtues. He became a zealot in the worship of Vishnu, left off animal food, was continually dancing before the image of the god, and was far more conversant in the mystical poetry of Krishna and his beloved Radha than in the martial song of the bard. His name was Radhikadas, ‘the slave of Radha’; and, as far as he is personally concerned, we might cease to lament that he was the last of his race.

151. [Only two sub-clans are named in Rajputana Census Report, 1911, i. 255. Gaur Rājputs are numerous in the United Provinces, and the Gaur Brāhmans of Jaipur represent a foreign tribe merged into Hindu society (IA, xi. 22). They can have no connexion with the Pāla or Sena dynasty of Bengal (Smith, EHI, 397 ff.).]

152. See Transactions of Royal Asiatic Society, vol. i. p. 133. [They are found in the Upper Ganges-Jumna Duab, and are Musalmāns.]

153. Benares.

154. [For the Gaharwār, see Crooke, Tribes and Castes N.W.P. and Oudh, ii. 32 ff., and for the Gaharwār dynasty of Kanauj (Smith, EHI, 384 ff.).]

155. Slain at the instigation of Prince Salim, son of Akbar, afterwards the emperor Jahangir. See this incident stated in the emperor’s own Commentaries [Āīn, i. Introd. xxiv. ff.].

156. [For Subhkaran Singh, see Manucci (i. 270, 272). Dalpat was one of his patients (Ibid. ii. 298).]

157. On the death of Mahadaji Sindhia, the females of his family, in apprehension of his successor (Daulat Rao), sought refuge and protection with the Raja of Datia. An army was sent to demand their surrender, and hostility was proclaimed as the consequence of refusal. This brave man would not even await the attack, but at the head of a devoted band of three hundred horse, with their lances, carried destruction amongst their assailants, neither giving nor receiving quarter: and thus he fell in defence of the laws of sanctuary and honour. Even when grievously wounded, he would accept no aid, and refused to leave the field, but disdaining all compromise awaited his fate. The author has passed upon the spot where this gallant deed was performed; and from his son, the present Raja, had the annals of his house.

158. Amber or Jaipur, as well as Macheri, were comprehended in Dhundhar, the ancient geographical designation [said to be derived from an ancient sacrificial mound (dhūndh), on the western frontier of the State, or from a demon-king, Dhūndhu (IGI, xiii. 385).]

159. The ruins of Rajor are about fifteen miles west of Rajgarh. A person sent there by the author reported the existence of inscriptions in the temple of Nilkantha Mahadeo.

160. [They are numerous in the United Provinces, but their origin and traditions are uncertain.]

161. [See Crooke, Tribes and Castes N.W.P. and Oudh, iv. 263 ff.]

162. [They are almost certainly of mixed origin (Crooke, op. cit. i. 118 ff.).]

163. [They lived east of the Caspian Sea, and can have no connexion with the Indian Dahia (Sykes, Hist. of Persia, i. 330).]

164. [Their origin is very uncertain; in Bahāwalpur they now repudiate Rājput descent, and claim to be descendants of the Prophet (Rose, Glossary, ii. 410 ff.; Malik Muhammad Din, Gazetteer Bahawalpur, i. 23, 133 ff.).]

165. [The Malloi (Skt. Mālava) occupied the present Montgomery District, and parts of Jhang. They had no connexion with Multan (Skt. Mūlasthānapura), (Smith, EHI, 96; McCrindle, Alexander, 350 ff.).]

166. [They are a mixed race, early settlers in Alwar (Crooke, Tribes and Castes N.W.P. and Oudh, iv. 86 ff.).]

167. The final syllable ka is a mark of the genitive case [?].

168. ‘Chief of a country,’ from des, ‘country,’ and pati, ‘chief.’ (Qu. δεσπότης?)

169. [Āīn, ii. 344 f. Dāhir was killed in action: the real tragedy was the death of Muhammad bin Kāsim in consequence of a false accusation (Elliot-Dowson i. 292).]

170. [Elliot (Supplemental Glossary, 262) writes the name Dhāhima, and says they are found in Meerut District.]

171. Chand, the bard, thus describes Bayana, and the marriage of Prithwiraja with the Dahimi: “On the summit of the hills of Druinadahar, whose awful load oppressed the head of Sheshnag, was placed the castle of Bayana, resembling Kailas. The Dahima had three sons and two fair daughters: may his name be perpetuated throughout this iron age! One daughter was married to the Lord of Mewat, the other to the Chauhan. With her he gave in dower eight beauteous damsels and sixty-three female slaves, one hundred chosen horses of the breed of Irak, two elephants, and ten shields, a pallet of silver for the bride, one hundred wooden images, one hundred chariots, and one thousand pieces of gold.” The bard, on taking leave, says: “the Dahima lavished his gold, and filled his coffers with the praises of mankind. The Dahimi produced a jewel, a gem without price, the Prince Rainsi.”

The author here gives a fragment of the ruins of Bayana, the ancient abode of the Dahima.

172. [Many names in the following list are not capable of identification, and their correct form is uncertain. Those of the mercantile tribes are largely groups confined to Rājputāna.]

CHAPTER 8

Having thus taken a review of the tribes which at various times inhabited and still inhabit Hindustan, the subject must be concluded.

In so extensive a field it was impossible to introduce all that could have been advanced on the distinctive marks in religion and manners; but this deficiency will be remedied in the annals of the most prominent races yet ruling, by which we shall prevent repetition.

The same religion governing the institutions of all these tribes operates to counteract that dissimilarity in manners, which would naturally be expected amidst so great a variety, from situation or climate; although such causes do produce a material difference in external habit. Cross but the elevated range which divides upland Mewar from the low sandy region of Marwar, and the difference of costume and manners will strike the most casual observer. But these changes are only exterior and personal; the mental character is less changed, because the same creed, the same religion (the principal former and reformer of manners), guides them all.

Distinctions between the Rājput States.

—We have the same mythology, the same theogony, the same festivals, though commemorated with peculiar distinctions. There are niceties in thought, as in dress, which if possible to communicate would excite but little interest; when the tie of a turban and the fold of a robe are, like Masonic symbols, distinguishing badges of tribes. But it is in their domestic circle that manners are best seen [122]; where restraint is thrown aside, and no authority controls the freedom of expression. But does the European seek access to this sanctum of nationality ere he gives his debtor and creditor account of character, his balanced catalogue of virtues and vices? He may, however, with the Rajput, whose independence of mind places him above restraint, and whose hospitality and love of character will always afford free communication to those who respect his opinions and his prejudices, and who are devoid of that overweening opinion of self, which imagines that nothing can be learned from such friendly intercourse. The personal dissimilarity accordingly arises from locale; the mental similarity results from a grand fixed principle, which, whatever its intrinsic moral effect, whatever its incompatibility with the elevated notions we entertain, has preserved to these races, as nations, the enjoyment of their ancient habits to this distant period. May our boasted superiority in all that exalts man above his fellows, ensure to our Eastern empire like duration; and may these notions of our own peculiarly favoured destiny operate to prevent us from laying prostrate, in our periodical ambitious visitations, these the most ancient relics of civilization on the face of the earth. For the dread of their amalgamation with our empire will prevail, though such a result would be opposed not only to their happiness, but to our own stability.

Alliances with the British.

—With our present system of alliances, so pregnant with evil from their origin, this fatal consequence (far from desired by the legislative authorities at home) must inevitably ensue. If the wit of man had been taxed to devise a series of treaties with a view to an ultimate rupture, these would be entitled to applause as specimens of diplomacy.

There is a perpetual variation between the spirit and the letter of every treaty; and while the internal independence of each State is the groundwork, it is frittered away and nullified by successive stipulations, and these positive and negative qualities continue mutually repelling each other, until it is apparent that independence cannot exist under such conditions. Where discipline is lax, as with these feudal associations, and where each subordinate vassal is master of his own retainers, the article of military contingents alone would prove a source of contention. By leading to interference with each individual chieftain, it would render such aid worse than useless. But this is a minor consideration to the tributary pecuniary stipulation which, unsettled and undetermined, leaves a door open to a [123] system of espionage into their revenue accounts—a system not only disgusting, but contrary to treaty, which leaves ‘internal administration’ sacred. These openings to dispute, and the general laxity of their governments coming in contact with our regular system, present dangerous handles for ambition: and who so blind as not to know that ambition to be distinguished must influence every viceregent in the East? While deeds in arms and acquisition of territory outweigh the meek éclat of civil virtue, the periodical visitations to these kingdoms will ever be like the comet’s,

Foreboding change to princes.

Our position in the East has been, and continues to be, one in which conquest forces herself upon us. We have yet the power, however late, to halt, and not anticipate her further orders to march. A contest for a mud-bank has carried our arms to the Aurea Chersonesus, the limit of Ptolemy’s geography. With the Indus on the left, the Brahmaputra to the right, the Himalayan barrier towering like a giant to guard the Tatarian ascent, the ocean and our ships at our back, such is our colossal attitude! But if misdirected ambition halts not at the Brahmaputra, but plunges in to gather laurels from the teak forest of Arakan, what surety have we for these Hindu States placed by treaty within the grasp of our control?

But the hope is cherished, that the same generosity which formed those ties that snatched the Rajputs from degradation and impending destruction, will maintain the pledge given in the fever of success, “that their independence should be sacred”; that it will palliate faults we may not overlook, and perpetuate this oasis of ancient rule, in the desert of destructive revolution, of races whose virtues are their own, and whose vices are the grafts of tyranny, conquest, and religious intolerance.[1]

To make them known is one step to obtain for them, at least, the boon of sympathy; for with the ephemeral power of our governors and the agents of government, is it to be expected that the rod will more softly fall when ignorance of their history prevails, and no kind association springs from a knowledge of their martial achievements and yet proud bearing, their generosity, courtesy, and extended hospitality? These are Rajput virtues yet extant amidst all their revolutions, and which have survived ages of Muhammadan bigotry and power; though to the honour of the virtuous and magnanimous few among the crowned heads of eight centuries, both Tatar and Mogul, there were some great souls [124]; men of high worth, who appeared at intervals to redeem the oppression of a whole preceding dynasty.

The high ground we assumed, and the lofty sentiments with which we introduced ourselves amongst the Rajputs, arrogating motives of purity, of disinterested benevolence, scarcely belonging to humanity, and to which their sacred writings alone yielded a parallel, gave such exalted notions of our right of exerting the attributes of divinity, justice, and mercy, that they expected little less than almighty wisdom in our acts; but circumstances have throughout occurred in each individual State, to show we were mere mortals, and that the poet’s moral:

’Tis distance lends enchantment to the view,

was true in politics. Sorrow and distrust were the consequences—anger succeeded; but the sense of obligation is still too powerful to operate a stronger and less generous sentiment. These errors may yet be redeemed, and our Rajput allies yet be retained as useful friends: though they can only be so while in the enjoyment of perfect internal independence, and their ancient institutions.

“No political institution can endure,” observes the eloquent historian of the Middle Ages, “which does not rivet itself to the heart of men by ancient prejudices or acknowledged merit. The feudal compact had much of this character. In fulfilling the obligations of mutual assistance and fidelity by military service, the energies of friendship were awakened, and the ties of moral sympathy superadded to those of positive compact.”

We shall throw out one of the assumed causes which give stability to political institutions; ‘acknowledged merit,’ which never belonged to the loose feudal compact of Rajwara; but the absence of this strengthens the necessary substitute, ‘ancient prejudices,’ which supply many defects.

Our anomalous and inconsistent interference in some cases, and our non-interference in others, operate alike to augment the dislocation induced by long predatory oppression in the various orders of society, instead of restoring that harmony and continuity which had previously existed. The great danger, nay, the inevitable consequence of perseverance in this line of conduct, will be their reduction to the same degradation with our other allies, and their ultimate incorporation with our already too extended dominion [125].

It may be contended, that the scope and tenor of these alliances were not altogether unfitted for the period when they were formed, and our circumscribed knowledge; but was it too late, when this knowledge was extended, to purify them from the dross which deteriorated the two grand principles of mutual benefit, on which all were grounded, viz. ‘perfect internal independence’ to them, and ‘acknowledged supremacy’ to the protecting power? It will be said, that even these corner-stones of the grand political fabric are far from possessing those durable qualities which the contracting parties define, but that, on the contrary, they are the Ormuzd and Ahrimanes, the good and evil principles of contention. But when we have superadded pecuniary engagements of indefinite extent, increasing in the ratio of their prosperity, and armed quotas or contingents of their troops, whose loose habits and discipline would ensure constant complaint, we may certainly take credit for having established a system which must compel that direct interference, which the broad principle of each treaty professes to check.

The inevitable consequence is the perpetuation of that denationalising principle, so well understood by the Mahrattas, ‘divide et impera.’ We are few; to use an Oriental metaphor, our agents must ‘use the eyes and ears of others.’ That mutual dependence, which would again have arisen, our interference will completely nullify. Princes will find they can oppress their chiefs, chiefs will find channels by which their sovereign’s commands may be rendered nugatory, and irresponsible ministers must have our support to raise these undefined tributary supplies; and unanimity, confidence, and all the sentiments of gratitude which they owe, and acknowledge to be our due, will gradually fade with the national degradation. That our alliances have this tendency cannot be disputed. By their very nature they transfer the respect of every class of subjects from their immediate sovereign to the paramount authority and its subordinate agents. Who will dare to urge that a government, which cannot support its internal rule without restriction, can be national? that without power unshackled and unrestrained by exterior council or espionage, it can maintain self-respect, the corner-stone of every virtue with States as with individuals? This first of feelings these treaties utterly annihilate. Can we suppose such denationalised allies are to be depended upon in emergencies? or, if allowed to retain a spark of their ancient moral inheritance, that it [126] will not be kindled into a flame against us when opportunity offers, instead of lighting up the powerful feeling of gratitude which yet exists towards us in these warlike communities?

Like us they were the natural foes of that predatory system which so long disturbed our power, and our preservation and theirs were alike consulted in its destruction. When we sought their alliance, we spoke in the captivating accents of philanthropy; we courted them to disunite from this Ahrimanes of political convulsion. The benevolent motives of the great mover of these alliances we dare not call in question, and his policy coincided with the soundest wisdom. But the treaties might have been revised, and the obnoxious parts which led to discord, abrogated, at the expense of a few paltry lacs of tribute and a portion of sovereign homage. It is not yet too late. True policy would enfranchise them altogether from our alliance; but till then let them not feel their shackles in the galling restraint on each internal operation. Remove that millstone to national prosperity, the poignant feeling that every increased bushel of corn raised in their long-deserted fields must send its tithe to the British granaries. Let the national mind recover its wonted elasticity, and they will again attain their former celebrity. We have the power to advance this greatness, and make it and its result our own; or, by a system unworthy of Britain, to retard and even quench it altogether.[2]

Never were their national characteristics so much endangered as in the seducing calm which followed the tempestuous agitations in which they had so long floated; doubtful, to use their own figurative expression, whether ‘the gift of our friendship, or our arms,’ were fraught with greater evil. The latter they could not withstand; though it must never be lost sight of, that, like ancient Rome when her glory was fading, we use ‘the arms of the barbarians’ to defend our conquests against them! Is the mind ever stationary? are virtue and high notions to be acquired from contact and example? Is there no mind above the level of £10 monthly pay in all the native legions of the three presidencies of India? no Odoacer, no Sivaji, [127] again to revive? Is the book of knowledge and of truth, which we hold up, only to teach them submission and perpetuate their weakness? Can we without fresh claims expect eternal gratitude, and must we not rationally look for reaction in some grand impulse, which, by furnishing a signal instance of the mutability of power, may afford a lesson for the benefit of posterity?

Is the mantle of protection, which we have thrown over these warlike races, likely to avert such a result? It might certainly, if imbued with all those philanthropic feelings for which we took credit, act with soporific influence, and extinguish the embers of international animosity. ‘The lion and the lamb were to drink from the same fountain’; they were led to expect the holy Satya Yug, when each man reposed under his own fig-tree, which neither strife nor envy dared approach.

When so many nations are called upon, in a period of great calamity and danger, to make over to a foreigner, their opposite in everything, their superior in most, the control of their forces in time of war, the adjudication of their disputes in time of peace, and a share in the fruits of their renovating prosperity, what must be the result; when each Rajput may hang up his lance in the hall, convert his sword to a ploughshare, and make a basket of his buckler? What but the prostration of every virtue? It commences with the basis of the Rajput’s—the martial virtues; extinguish these and they will soon cease to respect themselves. Sloth, low cunning and meanness will follow. What nation ever maintained its character that devolved on the stranger the power of protection! To be great, to be independent, its martial spirit must be cherished; happy if within the bounds of moderation. Led away by enthusiasm, the author experienced the danger of interference, when observing but one side of the picture—the brilliant lights which shone on their long days of darkness, not calculating the shade which would follow the sudden glare.

On our cessation from every species of interference alone depends their independence or their amalgamation—a crisis fraught with danger to our overgrown rule.

Let Alexander’s speech to his veterans, tired of conquest and refusing to cross the Hyphasis, be applied, and let us not reckon too strongly on our empire of opinion: “Fame never represents matters truly as they are, but on the contrary magnifies everything. This is evident; for our own reputation and glory, though founded on solid truth, is yet more obliged to rumour than reality.”[3]

We may conclude with the Macedonian conqueror’s reasons for showing the [128] Persians and his other foreign allies so much favour: “The possession of what we got by the sword is not very durable, but the obligation of good offices is eternal. If we have a mind to keep Asia, and not simply pass through it, our clemency must extend to them also, and their fidelity will make our empire everlasting. As for ourselves, we have more than we know what to do with, and it must be an insatiable, avaricious temper which desires to continue to fill what already runs over.”[4] [129]

1. [The present relations of the States to the Government of India justify these expectations.]

2. If Lord Hastings’ philanthropy, which rejoiced in snatching these ancient States from the degradation of predatory warfare, expected that in four short years order should rise out of the chaos of a century, and “was prepared to visit with displeasure all symptoms of internal neglect, arising from supineness, indifference, or concealed ill-will”; if he signified that “government would take upon itself the task of restoring order,” and that “all changes” on this score “would be demanded and rigidly exacted”: in fine, that “such arrangements would be made as would deprive them of the power of longer abusing the spirit of liberal forbearance, the motives of which they were incapable of understanding or appreciating”; what have they to hope from those without his sympathies?

3. Quintus Curtius, lib. ix. [ii. 6].

4. Ibid. lib. viii. [viii. 27].

BOOK III
SKETCH OF A FEUDAL SYSTEM IN RĀJASTHĀN

CHAPTER 1

Feudalism in Rājasthān.

—It is more than doubtful whether any code of civil or criminal jurisprudence ever existed in any of these principalities; though it is certain that none is at this day discoverable in their archives. But there is a martial system peculiar to these Rajput States, so extensive in its operation as to embrace every object of society. This is so analogous to the ancient feudal system of Europe, that I have not hesitated to hazard a comparison between them, with reference to a period when the latter was yet imperfect. Long and attentive observation enables me to give this outline of a system, of which there exists little written evidence. Curiosity originally, and subsequently a sense of public duty (lest I might be a party to injustice), co-operated in inducing me to make myself fully acquainted with the minutiae of this traditionary theory of government; and incidents, apparently trivial in themselves, exposed parts of a widely-extended system, which, though now disjointed, still continue to regulate the actions of extensive communities, and lead to the inference, that at one period it must have attained a certain degree of perfection.

Many years have elapsed since I first entertained these opinions, long before any connexion existed between these States and the British Government; when their geography was little known to us, and their history still less so. At that period I frequently travelled amongst them for amusement, making these objects subservient thereto, and laying the result freely before my Government. I had [130] abundant sources of intelligence to guide me in forming my analogies; Montesquieu, Hume, Millar, Gibbon[1]: but I sought only general resemblances and lineaments similar to those before me. A more perfect, because more familiar picture, has since appeared by an author,[2] who has drawn aside the veil of mystery which covered the subject, owing to its being till then but imperfectly understood. I compared the features of Rajput society with the finished picture of this eloquent writer, and shall be satisfied with having substantiated the claim of these tribes to participation in a system, hitherto deemed to belong exclusively to Europe. I am aware of the danger of hypothesis, and shall advance nothing that I do not accompany by incontestable proofs.

The Tribal System.

—The leading features of government amongst semi-barbarous hordes or civilized independent tribes must have a considerable resemblance to each other. In the same stages of society, the wants of men must everywhere be similar, and will produce the analogies which are observed to regulate Tatar hordes or German tribes, Caledonian clans, the Rajput Kula (race), or Jareja Bhayyad (brotherhood). All the countries of Europe participated in the system we denominate feudal; and we can observe it, in various degrees of perfection or deterioration, from the mountains of Caucasus to the Indian Ocean. But it requires a persevering toil, and more discriminating judgement than I possess, to recover all these relics of civilization: yet though time, and still more oppression, have veiled the ancient institutions of Mewar, the mystery may be penetrated, and will discover parts of a system worthy of being rescued from oblivion.

Influence of Muhammadans and Mahrattas.

—Mahratta cunning, engrafted on Muhammadan intolerance, had greatly obscured these institutions. The nation itself was passing rapidly away: the remnant which was left had become a matter of calculation, and their records and their laws partook of this general decay. The nation may recover; the physical frame may be renewed; but the morale of the society must be recast. In this chaos a casual observer sees nothing to attract notice; the theory of government appears, without any of the dignity which now marks our regular system. Whatever does exist is attributed to fortuitous causes—to nothing systematic: no fixed principle is discerned, and none is admitted; it is deemed a mechanism without a plan. This opinion is hasty. Attention to distinctions, though often merely nominal [131], will aid us in discovering the outlines of a picture which must at some period have been more finished; when real power, unrestrained by foreign influence, upheld a system, the plan of which was original. It is in these remote regions, so little known to the Western world, and where original manners lie hidden under those of the conquerors, that we may search for the germs of the constitutions of European States.[3] A contempt for all that is Asiatic too often marks our countrymen in the East: though at one period on record the taunt might have been reversed.

In remarking the curious coincidence between the habits, notions, and governments of Europe in the Middle Ages, and those of Rajasthan, it is not absolutely necessary we should conclude that one system was borrowed from the other; each may, in truth, be said to have the patriarchal form for its basis. I have sometimes been inclined to agree with the definition of Gibbon, who styles the system of our ancestors the offspring of chance and barbarism. “Le système féodal, assemblage monstrueux de tant de parties que le tems et l’hazard ont réunies, nous offre un objet très compliqué: pour l’étudier il faut le décomposer.”[4] This I shall attempt.

The form, as before remarked, is truly patriarchal in these States, where the greater portion of the vassal chiefs, from the highest of the sixteen peers to the holders of a charsa[5] of land, claim affinity in blood to the sovereign.[6]

The natural seeds are implanted in every soil, but the tree did not gain [132] maturity except in a favoured aspect. The perfection of the system in England is due to the Normans, who brought it from Scandinavia, whither it was probably conveyed by Odin and the Sacasenae, or by anterior migrations, from Asia; which would coincide with Richardson’s hypothesis, who contends that it was introduced from Tatary. Although speculative reasoning forms no part of my plan, yet when I observe analogy on the subject in the customs of the ancient German tribes, the Franks or Gothic races, I shall venture to note them. Of one thing there is no doubt—knowledge must have accompanied the tide of migration from the east: and from higher Asia emerged in the Asi, the Chatti, and the Cimbric Lombard, who spread the system in Scandinavia, Friesland, and Italy.

Origin of Feuds.

—“It has been very common,” says the enlightened historian of the Feudal System in the Middle Ages, “to seek for the origin of feuds, or at least for analogies to them, in the history of various countries; but though it is of great importance to trace the similarity of customs in different parts of the world, we should guard against seeming analogies, which vanish away when they are closely observed. It is easy to find partial resemblances to the feudal system. The relation of patron and client in the republic of Rome has been deemed to resemble it, as well as the barbarians and veterans who held frontier lands on the tenure of defending them and the frontier; but they were bound not to an individual, but to the state. Such a resemblance of fiefs may be found in the Zamindars of Hindustan and the Timariots of Turkey. The clans of the Highlanders and Irish followed their chieftain into the field: but their tie was that of imagined kindred and birth, not the spontaneous compact of vassalage.”[7]

I give this at length to show, that if I still persist in deeming the Rajput system a pure relation of feuds, I have before my eyes the danger of seeming resemblances. But grants, deeds, charters, and traditions, copies of all of which will be found in the Appendix, will establish my opinions. I hope to prove that the tribes in the northern regions of Hindustan did possess the system, and that it was handed down, and still obtains, notwithstanding seven centuries of paramount sway of the Mogul and Pathan dynasties, altogether opposed to them except in this feature of government where there was an original similarity. In some of these States—those least affected by conquest—the system remained freer from innovation. It is, however, from Mewar chiefly that I shall deduce my examples, as its internal [133] rule was less influenced by foreign policy, even to the period at which the imperial power of Delhi was on the decline.

Evidence from Mewar.

—As in Europe, for a length of time, traditionary custom was the only regulator of the rights and tenures of this system, varying in each State, and not unfrequently (in its minor details) in the different provinces of one State, according to their mode of acquisition and the description of occupants when required. It is from such circumstances that the variety of tenure and customary law proceeds. To account for this variety, a knowledge of them is requisite; nor is it until every part of the system is developed that it can be fully understood. The most trifling cause is discovered to be the parent of some important result. If ever these were embodied into a code (and we are justified in assuming such to have been the case), the varied revolutions which have swept away almost all relics of their history were not likely to spare these. Mention is made of several princes of the house of Mewar who legislated for their country; but precedents for every occurring case lie scattered in formulas, grants, and traditionary sayings. The inscriptions still existing on stone would alone, if collected, form a body of laws sufficient for an infant community; and these were always first committed to writing, and registered ere the column was raised. The seven centuries of turmoil and disaster, during which these States were in continual strife with the foe, produced many princes of high intellect as well as valour. Sanga Rana, and his antagonist, Sultan Babur, were revived in their no less celebrated grandsons, the great Akbar and Rana Partap: the son of the latter, Amra, the foe of Jahangir, was a character of whom the proudest nation might be vain.

Evidence from Inscriptions.

—The pen has recorded, and tradition handed down, many isolated fragments of the genius of these Rajput princes, as statesmen and warriors, touching the political division, regulations of the aristocracy, and commercial and agricultural bodies. Sumptuary laws, even, which append to a feudal system, are to be traced in these inscriptions; the annulling of monopolies and exorbitant taxes; the regulation of transit duties; prohibition of profaning sacred days by labour; immunities, privileges, and charters to trades, corporations, and towns; such as would, in climes more favourable to liberty, have matured into a league, or obtained for these branches a voice in the councils of the State. My search for less perishable documents than parchment when I found the cabinet of the prince contained them not, was unceasing; but though the bigoted Muhammadan destroyed [134] most of the traces of civilization within his reach, perseverance was rewarded with a considerable number. They are at least matter of curiosity. They will evince that monopolies and restraints on commerce were well understood in Rajwara, though the doctrines of political economy never gained footing there. The setting up of these engraved tablets or pillars, called Seoras,[8] is of the highest antiquity. Every subject commences with invoking the sun and moon as witnesses, and concludes with a denunciation of the severest penalties on those who break the spirit of the imperishable bond. Tablets of an historical nature I have of twelve and fourteen hundred years’ antiquity, but of grants of land or privileges about one thousand years is the oldest. Time has destroyed many, but man more. They became more numerous during the last three centuries, when successful struggles against their foes produced new privileges, granted in order to recall the scattered inhabitants. Thus one contains an abolition of the monopoly of tobacco;[9] another, the remission of tax on printed cloths, with permission to the country manufacturers to sell their goods free of duty at the neighbouring towns. To a third, a mercantile city, the abolition of war contributions,[10] and the establishment of its internal judicial authority. Nay, even where good manners alone are concerned, the lawgiver appears, and with an amusing simplicity:[11] “From the public feast none shall attempt to carry anything away.” “None shall eat after sunset,” shows that a Jain obtained the edict. To yoke the bullock or other animal for any work on the sacred Amavas,[12] is also declared punishable. Others contain revocations of vexatious fees to officers of the crown; “of beds and quilts[13]”; “the seizure of the carts, implements, or cattle of the husbandmen,”[14]—the sole boon in our own Magna Charta demanded for the husbandman. These and several others, of which copies are annexed, need not be repeated. If even from such memoranda a sufficient number could be collected of each prince’s reign up to the olden time, what more could we desire to enable us to judge of the genius of their princes, the wants and habits of the people, their acts and occupations? The most ancient written customary law of France is A.D. 1088,[15] at which time Mewar was in high [135] prosperity; opposing, at the head of a league far more powerful than France could form for ages after, the progress of revolution and foreign conquest. Ignorance, sloth, and all the vices which wait on and result from continual oppression in a perpetual struggle for existence of ages’ duration, gradually diminished the reverence of the inhabitants themselves for these relics of the wisdom of their forefathers. In latter years, they so far forgot the ennobling feeling and respect for ‘the stone which told’ their once exalted condition, as to convert the materials of the temple in which many of these stood into places of abode. Thus many a valuable relic is built up in the castles of their barons, or buried in the rubbish of the fallen pile.

Books of Grants.

—We have, however, the books of grants to the chiefs and vassals, and also the grand rent-roll of the country. These are of themselves valuable documents. Could we but obtain those of remoter periods, they would serve as a commentary on the history of the country, as each contains the detail of every estate, and the stipulated service, in horse and foot, to be performed for it. In later times, when turbulence and disaffection went unpunished, it was useless to specify a stipulation of service that was nugatory; and too often the grants contained but the names of towns and villages, and their value; or if they had the more general terms of service, none of its details.[16] From all these, however, a sufficiency of customary rules could easily be found to form the written law of fiefs in Rajasthan. In France, in the sixteenth century, the variety of these customs amounted to two hundred and eighty-five, of which only sixty[17] were of great importance. The number of consequence in Mewar which have come to my observation is considerable, and the most important will be given in the Appendix. Were the same plan pursued there as in that ordinance which produced the laws of Pays Coutumiers[18] of France, viz. ascertaining those of each district, the materials are ready.

Such a collection would be amusing, particularly if the traditionary were added to the engraved laws. They would often appear jejune, and might involve contradictions; but we should see the wants of the people; and if ever our connexion (which God forbid!) should be drawn closer, we could then legislate without offending national customs or religious prejudices. Could this, by any instinctive [136] impulse or external stimulus, be effected by themselves, it would be the era of their emersion from long oppression, and might lead to better notions of government, and consequent happiness to them all.

Noble Origin of the Rājput Race.

—If we compare the antiquity and illustrious descent of the dynasties which have ruled, and some which continue to rule, the small sovereignties of Rajasthan, with many of celebrity in Europe, superiority will often attach to the Rajput. From the most remote periods we can trace nothing ignoble, nor any vestige of vassal origin. Reduced in power, circumscribed in territory, compelled to yield much of their splendour and many of the dignities of birth, they have not abandoned an iota of the pride and high bearing arising from a knowledge of their illustrious and regal descent. On this principle the various revolutions in the Rana’s family never encroached; and the mighty Jahangir himself, the Emperor of the Moguls, became, like Caesar, the commentator on the history of the tribe of Sesodia.[19] The potentate of the twenty-two Satrapies of Hind dwells with proud complacency on this Rajput king having made terms with him. He praises heaven, that what his immortal ancestor Babur, the founder of the Mogul dynasty, failed to do, the project in which Humayun had also failed, and in which the illustrious Akbar, his father, had but partial success, was reserved for him. It is pleasing to peruse in the commentaries of these conquerors, Babur and Jahangir, their sentiments with regard to these princes. We have the evidence of Sir Thomas Roe, the ambassador of Elizabeth to Jahangir, as to the splendour of this race: it appears throughout their annals and those of their neighbours.

The Rāthors of Mārwār.

—The Rathors can boast a splendid pedigree; and if we cannot trace its source with equal certainty to such a period of antiquity as the Rana’s, we can, at all events, show the Rathor monarch wielding the sceptre at Kanauj, at the time the leader of an unknown tribe of the Franks was paving the way towards the foundation of the future kingdom of France. Unwieldy greatness caused the sudden fall of Kanauj in the twelfth century, of which the existing line of Marwar is a renovated scion.[20]

The Kachhwāhas of Amber.

—Amber is a branch of the once illustrious and ancient [137] Nishadha, now Narwar, which produced the ill-fated prince whose story[21] is so interesting. Revolution and conquest compelled them to quit their ancestral abodes. Hindustan was then divided into no more than four great kingdoms. By Arabian[22] travellers we have a confused picture of these States. But all the minor States, now existing in the west, arose about the period when the feudal system was approaching maturity in France and England.

The others are less illustrious, being the descendants of the great vassals of their ancient kings.

The Sesodias of Mewār.

—Mewar exhibits a marked difference from all the other States in her policy and institutions. She was an old-established dynasty when these renovated scions were in embryo. We can trace the losses of Mewar, but with difficulty her acquisitions; while it is easy to note the gradual aggrandisement of Marwar and Amber, and all the minor States. Marwar was composed of many petty States, whose ancient possessions formed an allodial vassalage under the new dynasty. A superior independence of the control of the prince arises from the peculiarity of the mode of acquisition; that is, with rights similar to the allodial vassals of the European feudal system.

Pride of Ancestry.

—The poorest Rajput of this day retains all the pride of ancestry, often his sole inheritance; he scorns to hold the plough, or to use his lance but on horseback. In these aristocratic ideas he is supported by his reception amongst his superiors, and the respect paid to him by his inferiors. The honours and privileges, and the gradations of rank, amongst the vassals of the Rana’s house, exhibit a highly artificial and refined state of society. Each of the superior rank is entitled to a banner, kettle-drums preceded by heralds and silver maces, with peculiar gifts and personal honours, in commemoration of some exploit of their ancestors.

Armorial Bearings.

—The martial Rajputs are not strangers to armorial bearings,[23] now so indiscriminately used in Europe. The great banner of Mewar exhibits a golden sun [138] on a crimson field; those of the chiefs bear a dagger. Amber displays the panchranga, or five-coloured flag. The lion rampant on an argent field is extinct with the State of Chanderi.[24]

In Europe these customs were not introduced till the period of the Crusades, and were copied from the Saracens; while the use of them amongst the Rajput tribes can be traced to a period anterior to the war of Troy. In the Mahabharat, or great war, twelve hundred years before Christ, we find the hero Bhishma exulting over his trophy, the banner of Arjuna, its field adorned with the figure of the Indian Hanuman.[25] These emblems had a religious reference amongst the Hindus, and were taken from their mythology, the origin of all devices.

The Tribal Palladium.

—Every royal house has its palladium, which is frequently borne to battle at the saddle-bow of the prince. Rao Bhima Hara, of Kotah, lost his life and protecting deity together. The late celebrated Khichi[26] leader, Jai Singh, never took the field without the god before him. ‘Victory to Bajrang’ was his signal for the charge so dreaded by the Mahratta, and often has the deity been sprinkled with his blood and that of the foe. Their ancestors, who opposed Alexander, did the same, and carried the image of Hercules (Baldeva) at the head of their array.[27]

Banners.

—The custom (says Arrian) of presenting banners as an emblem of sovereignty over vassals, also obtained amongst the tribes of the Indus when invaded by Alexander. When he conquered the Saka and tribes east of the Caspian, he divided the provinces amongst the princes of the ancient families, for which they paid homage, engaged to serve with a certain quota of troops, and received from his own hand a banner; in all of which he followed the customs of the country. But in these we see only the outline of the system; we must descend to more modern days to observe it more minutely. A grand picture is drawn of the power of Mewar, when the first grand irruption of the Muhammadans occurred in the first century of their era; when “a hundred[28] kings, its allies and dependents, had their thrones raised in Chitor,” for its defence and their own individually [139], when a new religion, propagated by the sword of conquest, came to enslave these realms. This invasion was by Sind and Makran; for it was half a century later ere ‘the light’ shone from the heights of Pamir[29] on the plains of the Jumna and Ganges.

From the commencement of this religious war in the mountains westward of the Indus, many ages elapsed ere the ‘King of the Faith’ obtained a seat on the throne of Yudhishthira. Chand, the bard, has left us various valuable memorials of this period, applicable to the subject historically as well as to the immediate topic. Visaladeva, the monarch whose name appears on the pillar of victory at Delhi, led an army against the invader, in which, according to the bard, “the banners of eighty-four princes were assembled.” The bard describes with great animation the summons sent for this magnificent feudal levy from the heart of Antarbedi,[30] to the shores of the western sea, and it coincides with the record of his victory, which most probably this very army obtained for him. But no finer picture of feudal manners exists than the history of Prithwiraja, contained in Chand’s poems. It is surprising that this epic should have been allowed so long to sleep neglected: a thorough knowledge of it, and of others of the same character, would open many sources of new knowledge, and enable us to trace many curious and interesting coincidences.[31]

In perusing these tales of the days that are past, we should be induced to conclude that the Kuriltai of the Tatars, the Chaugan of the Rajput, and the Champ de Mars of the Frank, had one common origin.

Influence of Caste.

—Caste has for ever prevented the inferior classes of society from being incorporated with this haughty noblesse. Only those of pure blood in both lines can hold fiefs of the crown. The highest may marry the daughter of a Rajput, whose sole [140] possession is a ‘skin of land’:[32] the sovereign himself is not degraded by such alliance. There is no moral blot, and the operation of a law like the Salic would prevent any political evil resulting therefrom. Titles are granted, and even fiefs of office, to ministers and civil servants not Rajputs; they are, however, but official, and never confer hereditary right. These official fiefs may have originally arisen, here and in Europe, from the same cause; the want of a circulating medium to pay the offices. The Mantris[33] of Mewar prefer estates to pecuniary stipend, which gives more consequence in every point of view. All the higher offices—as cup-bearer, butler, stewards of the household, wardrobe, kitchen, master of the horse—all these are enumerated as ministerialists[34] at the court of Charlemagne in the dark ages of Europe, and of whom we have the duplicates. These are what the author of the Middle Ages designates as “improper feuds.”[35] In Mewar the prince’s architect, painter, physician, bard, genealogist, heralds, and all the generation of the foster-brothers, hold lands. Offices are hereditary in this patriarchal government; their services personal. The title even appends to the family, and if the chance of events deprive them of the substance, they are seldom left destitute. It is not uncommon to see three or four with the title of pardhan or premier.[36]

But before I proceed further in these desultory and general remarks, I shall commence the chief details of the system as described in times past, and, in part, still obtaining in the principality of the Rana of Mewar.Mewar. As its geography and distribution are fully related in their proper place, I must refer the reader to that for a preliminary understanding of its localities.

Estates of Chief and Fiscal Land.

—The local disposition of the estates was admirably contrived. Bounded on three sides, the south, east, and west, by marauding barbarous tribes of Bhils, Mers, and Minas, the circumference of this circle was subdivided into estates for the chiefs, while the khalisa, or fiscal land, the best and richest, was in the heart of the country, and consequently well protected [141]. It appears doubtful whether the khalisa lands amounted to one-fourth of those distributed in grant to the chiefs. The value of the crown demesne as the nerve and sinew of sovereignty, was well known by the former heads of this house. To obtain any portion thereof was the reward of important services; to have a grant of a few acres near the capital for a garden was deemed a high favour; and a village in the amphitheatre or valley, in which the present capital is situated, was the ne plus ultra of recompense. But the lavish folly of the present prince, out of this tract, twenty-five miles in circumference, has not preserved a single village in his khalisa. By this distribution, and by the inroads of the wild tribes in the vicinity, or of Moguls and Mahrattas, the valour of the chiefs were kept in constant play.

The country was partitioned into districts, each containing from fifty to one hundred towns and villages, though sometimes exceeding that proportion. The great number of Chaurasis[37] leads to the conclusion that portions to the amount of eighty-four had been the general subdivision. Many of these yet remain: as the ‘Chaurasi’ of Jahazpur and of Kumbhalmer: tantamount to the old ‘hundreds’ of our Saxon ancestry. A circle of posts was distributed, within which the quotas of the chiefs attended, under ‘the Faujdar of the Sima’ (vulgo Sim), or commander of the border. It was found expedient to appoint from court this lord of the frontier, always accompanied by a portion of the royal insignia, standard, kettle-drums, and heralds, and being generally a civil officer, he united to his military office the administration of justice.[38] The higher vassals never attended personally at these posts, but deputed a confidential branch of their family, with the quota required. For the government of the districts there were conjoined a civil and a military officer: the latter generally a vassal of the second rank. Their residence was the chief place of the district, commonly a stronghold.

The division of the chiefs into distinct grades, shows a highly artificial state of society.

First class.—We have the Sixteen, whose estates were from fifty thousand to one hundred thousand rupees and upwards, of yearly rent. These appear in the [142] presence only on special invitation, upon festivals and solemn ceremonies, and are the hereditary councillors of the crown.[39]

Second class, from five to fifty thousand rupees. Their duty is to be always in attendance. From these, chiefly, faujdars and military officers are selected.[39]

Third class is that of Gol[39] holding lands chiefly under five thousand rupees, though by favour they may exceed this limit. They are generally the holders of separate villages and portions of land, and in former times they were the most useful class to the prince. They always attended on his person, and indeed formed his strength against any combination or opposition of the higher vassals.

Fourth class.—The offsets of the younger branches of the Rana’s own family, within a certain period, are called the babas, literally ‘infants,’ and have appanages bestowed on them. Of this class are Shahpura and Banera; too powerful for subjects.[40] They hold on none of the terms of the great clans, but consider themselves at the disposal of the prince. These are more within the influence of the crown. Allowing adoption into these houses, except in the case of near kindred, is assuredly an innovation; they ought to revert to the crown, failing immediate issue, as did the great estate of Bhainsrorgarh, two generations back. From these to the holder of a charsa, or hide of land, the peculiarity of tenure and duties of each will form a subject for discussion.

Revenues and Rights of the Crown.

—I need not here expatiate upon the variety of items which constitute the revenues of the prince, the details of which will appear in their proper place. The land-tax in the khalisa demesne is, of course, the chief source of supply; the transit duties on commerce and trade, and those of the larger towns and commercial marts, rank next. In former times more attention was paid to this important branch of income, and the produce was greater because less shackled. The liberality on the side of the crown was only equalled by the integrity of the merchant, and the extent to which it was carried would imply an almost Utopian degree of perfection in their mutual qualities of liberality and honesty; the one, perhaps, generating the other. The remark of a merchant recently, on the vexatious train of duties and espionage attending their collection, is not merely figurative: "our ancestors tied their invoice to the horns of the oxen[42] at the first frontier post of customs, and no intermediate questions [143] were put till we passed to the opposite or sold our goods, when it was opened and payment made accordingly; but now every town has its rights." It will be long ere this degree of confidence is restored on either side; extensive demand on the one is met by fraud and evasion on the other, though at least one-half of these evils have already been subdued.

Mines and Minerals.

—The mines were very productive in former times, and yielded several lacs to the princes of Mewar.[43] The rich tin mines of Jawara produced at one time a considerable proportion of silver. Those of copper are abundant, as is also iron on the now alienated domain on the Chambal; but lead least of all.[44]

The marble quarries also added to the revenue; and where there is such a multiplicity of sources, none are considered too minute to be applied in these necessitous times.

Barār.

—Barar is an indefinite term for taxation, and is connected with the thing taxed: as ghanim-barar,[45] ‘war-tax’; ghar ginti-barar,[46] ‘house-tax’; hal-barar, ‘plough-tax’; neota-barar, ‘marriage-tax’; and others, both of old and new standing. The war-tax was a kind of substitute for the regular mode of levying the rents on the produce of the soil; which was rendered very difficult during the disturbed period, and did not accord with the wants of the prince. It is also a substitute in those mountainous regions, for the jarib,[47] where the produce bears no proportion to the cultivated surface; sometimes from poverty of soil, but often from the reverse, as in Kumbhalmer, where the choicest crops are produced on the cultivated terraces, and on the sides of its mountains, which abound with springs, yielding the richest canes and cottons, and where experiment has proved that four crops can be raised in the same patch of soil within the year.

The offering on confirmation of estates (or fine on renewal) is now, though a very small, yet still one source of supply; as is the annual and triennial payment of the quit-rents of the Bhumia chiefs. Fines in composition of offences may also be mentioned: and they might be larger, if more activity were introduced in the detection of offenders [144].

These governments are mild in the execution of the laws; and a heavy fine has more effect (especially on the hill tribes) than the execution of the offender, who fears death less than the loss of property.

Khar-Lakar.

—The composition for ‘wood and forage’ afforded a considerable supply. When the princes of Mewar were oftener in the tented field than in the palace, combating for their preservation, it was the duty of every individual to store up wood and forage for the supply of the prince’s army. What originated in necessity was converted into an abuse and annual demand. The towns also supplied a certain portion of provisions; where the prince halted for the day these were levied on the community; a goat or sheep from the shepherd, milk and flour from the farmer. The maintenance of these customs is observable in taxes, for the origin of which it is impossible to assign a reason without going into the history of the period; they scarcely recollect the source of some of these themselves. They are akin to those known under the feudal tenures of France, arising from exactly the same causes, and commuted for money payments; such as the droit de giste et de chevauche.[48] Many also originated in the perambulations of these princes to visit their domains;[49] a black year in the calendar to the chief and the subject. When he honoured the chief by a visit, he had to present horses and arms, and to entertain his prince, in all which honours the cultivators and merchants had to share. The duties on the sale of spirits, opium, tobacco, and even to a share of the garden-stuff, affords also modes of supply [145].[50]

1. Miscellaneous Works, vol. iii.

2. Hallam’s Middle Ages.

3. It is a high gratification to be supported by such authority as M. St. Martin, who, in his Discours sur l’Origine et l’Histoire des Arsacides, thus speaks of the system of government termed feudal, which I contend exists amongst the Rajputs: "On pense assez généralement que cette sorte de gouvernement qui dominait il y a quelques siècles, et qu’on appelle système féodal, était particulière à l’Europe, et que c’est dans les forêts de la Germanie qu’il faut en chercher l’origine. Cependant, si au lieu d’admettre les faits sans les discuter, comme il arrive trop souvent, on examinait un peu cette opinion, elle disparaitrait devant la critique, ou du moins elle se modifierait singulièrement; et l’on verrait que, si c’est des forêts de la Germanie que nous avons tiré le gouvernement féodal, il n’en est certainement pas originaire. Si l’on veut comparer l’Europe, telle qu’elle était au xiie siècle, avec la monarchie fondée en Asie par les Arsacides trois siècles avant notre ère, partout on verra des institutions et des usages pareils. On y trouvera les mêmes dignités, et jusqu’aux mêmes titres, etc., etc. Boire, chasser, combattre, faire et défaire des rois, c’étaient là les nobles occupations d’un Parthe" (Journal Asiatique, vol. i. p. 65). It is nearly so with the Rajput.

4. Gibbon, Miscell. vol. iii. Du gouvernement féodal.

5. A ‘skin or hyde.’ Millar (chap. v. p. 85) defines a ‘hyde of land,’ the quantity which can be cultivated by a single plough. A charsa, ‘skin or hyde’ of land, is as much as one man can water; and what one can water is equal to what one plough can cultivate. If irrigation ever had existence by the founders of the system, we may suppose this the meaning of the term which designated a knight’s fee. It may have gone westward with emigration. [The English ‘hide’: “the amount considered adequate for the support of one free family with its dependants: at an early date defined as being as much land as could be tilled by one plough in a year,” has no connexion with ‘hide,’ ‘a skin.’ It is O.E. hīd, from híw, híg, ‘household.’‘household.’ ‘Hide,’ ‘a skin,’ is O.E. hýd (New English Dict. ssv.).]

6. Bapji, ‘sire,’ is the appellation of royalty, and, strange enough, whether to male or female; while its offsets, which form a numerous branch of vassals, are called babas, ‘the infants.’

7. Hallam’s Middle Ages, vol. i. p. 200.

8. Sanskrit, Sūla.

9. See Appendix, No. XII.

10. See Appendix, No. XIII.

11. See Appendix, No. XIV.

12. ‘Full moon’ (See Appendix, No. XIII.).

13. It is customary, when officers of the Government are detached on service, to exact from the towns where they are sent both bed and board.

14. Seized for public service, and frequently to exact a composition in money.

15. Hallam, vol. i. p. 197.

16. Some of these, of old date, I have seen three feet in length.

17. Hallam, vol. i. p. 199.

18. Hallam notices these laws by this technical phrase.

19. Sesodia is the last change of name which the Rana’s race has undergone. It was first Suryavansa, then Grahilot or Guhilot, Aharya, and Sesodia. These changes arise from revolutions and local circumstances.

20. [The Rāthor dynasty of Kanauj is a myth (Smith, EHI, 385).]

21. Nala and Damayanti.

22. Relations anciennes des Voyageurs, par Renaudot.

23. It is generally admitted that armorial bearings were little known till the period of the Crusades, and that they belong to the east. The twelve tribes of Israel were distinguished by the animals on their banners, and the sacred writings frequently allude to the ‘Lion of Judah.’ The peacock was a favourite armorial emblem of the Rajput warrior; it is the bird sacred to their Mars (Kumara), as it was to Juno, his mother, in the west. The feather of the peacock decorates the turban of the Rajput and the warrior of the Crusade, adopted from the Hindu through the Saracens. “Le paon a toujours été l’emblême de la noblesse. Plusieurs chevaliers ornaient leurs casques des plumes de cet oiseau; un grand nombre de familles nobles le portaient dans leur blazon ou sur leur cimier; quelques-uns n’en portaient que la queue” (Art. “Armoirie,” Dict. de l’ancien Régime).

24. I was the first European who traversed this wild country, in 1807, not without some hazard. It was then independent: about three years after it fell a prey to Sindhia. [Several ancient dynasties used a crest (lānchhana), and a banner (dhvaja): see the list in BG, i. Part ii. 299.]

25. The monkey-deity. [Known as Bajrang, Skt. vajranga, ‘of powerful frame.’]

26. The Khichis are a branch of the Chauhans, and Khichiwara lies east of Haravati.

27. [Quintus Curtius, viii. 14, 46; Arrian, Indika, viii.]

28. See Annals of Mewar, and note from D’Anville.

29. The Pamir range is a grand branch of the Indian Caucasus. Chand, the bard, designates them as the “Parbat Pat Pamir,” or Pamir Lord of Mountains. From Pahār and Pamir the Greeks may have compounded Paropanisos, in which was situated the most remote of the Alexandrias. [?]

30. The space between the grand rivers Ganges and Jumna, well known as the Duab.

31. Domestic habits and national manners are painted to the life, and no man can well understand the Rajput of yore who does not read these. Those were the days of chivalry and romance, when the assembled princes contended for the hand of the fair, who chose her own lord, and threw to the object of her choice, in full court, the barmala, or garland of marriage. Those were the days which the Rajput yet loves to talk of, when the glance of an eye weighed with a sceptre: when three things alone occupied him: his horse, his lance, and his mistress; for she is but the third in his estimation, after all: to the two first he owed her.

32. Charsa, a ‘hide or skin’ [see p. 156 above].

33. ‘Ministers,’ from Mantra, ‘mystification’ [‘a sacred text, spell’].

34. It is probably of Teutonic origin, and akin to Mantri, which embraces all the ministers and councillors of loyalty (Hallam, p. 195). [?]

35. Hallam, p. 193.

36. One I know, in whose family the office has remained since the period of Prithwiraja, who transferred his ancestor to the service of the Rana’s house seven hundred years ago. He is not merely a nominal hereditary minister, for his uncle actually held the office; but in consequence of having favoured the views of a pretender to the crown, its active duties are not entrusted to any of the family.

37. The numeral eighty-four. [In the ancient Hindu kingdoms the full estate was a group of 84 villages, smaller units being called Byālisa, 42, or ChaubīsaChaubīsa, 24 (Baden-Powell, The Village Community, 198, and see a valuable article in Elliot, Supplemental Glossary, 178 ff.)178 ff.)]

38. Now each chief claims the right of administering justice in his own domain, that is, in civil matters; but in criminal cases they ought not without the special sanction of the crown. Justice, however, has long been left to work its own way, and the self-constituted tribunals, the panchayats, sit in judgment in all cases where property is involved.

39. See Appendix, No. XX.

40. [They are heads of the Rānāwat sub-tribe. The latter enjoys the right, on succession, of having a sword sent to him with full honours, on receipt of which he goes to Udaipur to be installed (Erskine ii. A. 92).]

42. Oxen and carts are chiefly used in the Tandas, or caravans, for transportation of goods in these countries; camels further to the north.

43. [On the mines of Mewār, see IA, i. 63 f.]

44. The privilege of coining is a reservation of royalty. No subject is allowed to coin gold or silver, though the Salumbar chief has on sufferance a copper currency. The mint was a considerable source of income, and may be again when confidence is restored and a new currency introduced. The Chitor rupee is now thirty-one per cent inferior to the old Bhilara standard, and there was one struck at the capital even worse, and very nearly as bad as the moneta nigra of Philip the Fair of France, who allowed his vassals the privilege of coining it. [For an account of the past and present coinage of Mewār, see W. W. Webb, Currencies of the Hindu States of Rajputana, 3 ff.]

45. Enemy.

46. Numbering of houses.

47. A measure of land [usually 55 English yards]

48. Hallam, vol. i. p. 232.

49. Hume describes the necessity for our earlier kings making these tours to consume the produce, being in kind. So it is in Mewar; but I fancy the supply was always too easily convertible into circulating medium to be the cause there.

50. See Appendix, No. X.

CHAPTER 2

Legislative Authority.

—During the period still called ‘the good times of Mewar,’ the prince, with the aid of his civil council, the four ministers of the crown and their deputies, promulgated all the legislative enactments in which the general rights and wants of the community were involved. In these the martial vassals or chiefs had no concern: a wise exclusion, comprehending also their immediate dependents, military, commercial, and agricultural. Even now, the little that is done in these matters is effected by the civil administration, though the Rajput Pardhans have been too apt to interfere in matters from which they ought always to be kept aloof, being ever more tenacious of their own rights than solicitous for the welfare of the community.

Panchāyats.

—The neglect in the legislation of late years was supplied by the self-constituted tribunals, the useful panchayats, of which enough has been said to render further illustration unnecessary. Besides the resident ruler of the district, who was also a judicial functionary, there was, as already stated, a special officer of the government in each frontier thana, or garrison post. He united the triple occupation of embodying the quotas, levying the transit duties, and administering justice, in which he was aided at the chabutra[1] or court, by assembling the Chauthias or assessors of justice. Each town and village has its chauthia, the members of which are elected by their fellow-citizens, and remain as long as they conduct themselves impartially in disentangling the intricacies of complaints preferred to them.

They are the aids to the Nagarseth, or chief magistrate, an hereditary office in every large city in Rajasthan. Of this chauthia the Patel and Patwari[2] are generally members. The former of these, like the Dasaundhi of the Mahrattas, resembles in his duties the decanus of France and the tithing-man in England. The chauthia and panchayat of these districts are analogous to the assessors of [146] justice called scabini[3] in France, who held the office by election or the concurrence of the people. But these are the special and fixed council of each town; the general panchayats are formed from the respectable population at large, and were formerly from all classes of society.

The chabutras, or terraces of justice, were always established in the khalisa, or crown demesne. It was deemed a humiliating intrusion if they sat within the bounds of a chief. To ‘erect the flag’ within his limits, whether for the formation of defensive posts or the collection of duties, is deemed a gross breach of his privileged independence, as to establish them within the walls of his residence would be deemed equal to sequestration. It often becomes necessary to see justice enforced on a chief or his dependent, but it begets eternal disputes and disobedience, till at length they are worried to compliance by rozina.

Rozīna.

—When delay in these matters, or to the general commands of the prince, is evinced, an officer or herald is deputed with a party of four, ten, or twenty horse or foot, to the fief of the chief, at whose residence they take up their abode; and carrying, under the seal, a warrant to furnish them with specified daily (rozina) rations, they live at free quarters till he is quickened into compliance with the commands of the prince. This is the only accelerator of the slow movements of a Rajput chieftain in these days, whether for his appearance at court or the performance of an act of justice. It is often carried to a harassing excess, and causes much complaint.

In cases regarding the distribution of justice or the internal economy of the chief’s estates, the government officers seldom interfere. But of their panchayats I will only remark, that their import amongst the vassals is very comprehensive; and when they talk of the ‘panch,’ it means the ‘collective wisdom.’ In the reply to the remonstrance of the Deogarh vassals,[4] the chief promises never to undertake any measure without their deliberation and sanction.

On all grand occasions where the general peace or tranquillity of the government is threatened, the chiefs form the council of the sovereign. Such subjects are always first discussed in the domestic councils of each chief; so that when the [147] witenagemot of Mewar was assembled, each had prepared himself by previous discussion, and was fortified by abundance of advice.

To be excluded the council of the prince is to be in utter disgrace. These grand divans produce infinite speculation, and the ramifications which form the opinions are extensive. The council of each chief is, in fact, a miniature representation of the sovereign’s. The greater sub-vassals, his civil pardhan, the mayor of the household, the purohit,[5] the bard, and two or three of the most intelligent citizens, form the minor councils, and all are separately deliberating while the superior court is in discussion. Thus is collected the wisdom of the magnates of Rajwara.

Military Service.

—In Mewar, during the days of her glory and prosperity, fifteen thousand horse, bound by the ties of fidelity and service, followed their prince into the field, all supported by lands held by grant; from the chief who headed five hundred of his own vassals, to the single horseman.

Knight’s Fee or Single Horsemen.

—A knight’s fee in these States varies. For each thousand rupees of annual rent, never less than two, and generally three horsemen were furnished; and sometimes three horse and three foot soldiers, according to the exigencies of the times when the grant was conferred. The different grants[6] appended will show this variety, and furnish additional proof that this, and all similar systems of policy, must be much indebted to chance for the shape they ultimately take. The knight’s fee, when William the Conqueror partitioned England into sixty thousand such portions, from each of which a soldier’s service was due, was fixed at £20. Each portion furnished its soldier or paid escuage. The knight’s fee of Mewar may be said to be two hundred and fifty rupees, or about £30.

Limitations of Service.

—In Europe, service was so restricted that the monarch had but a precarious authority. He could only calculate upon forty days’ annual service from the tenant of a knight’s fee. In Rajasthan it is very different: “at home and abroad, service shall be performed when demanded”; such is the condition of the tenure.

For state and show, a portion of the greater vassals[7] reside at the capital for [148] some months, when they have permission to retire to their estates, and are relieved by another portion. On the grand military festival the whole attend for a given time; and when the prince took the field, the whole assembled at their own charge; but if hostilities carried them beyond the frontier they were allowed certain rations.

Escuage or Scutage.

—Escuage or scutage, the phrase in Europe to denote the amercement[8] for non-attendance, is also known and exemplified in deeds. Failure from disaffection, turbulence, or pride, brought a heavy fine; the sequestration of the whole or part of the estate.[9] The princes of these States would willingly desire to see escuage more general. All have made this first attempt towards an approximation to a standing army; but, though the chiefs would make compensation to get rid of some particular service, they are very reluctant to renounce lands, by which alone a fixed force could be maintained. The rapacity of the court would gladly fly to scutages, but in the present impoverished state of the fiefs, such if injudiciously levied would be almost equivalent to resumption; but this measure is so full of difficulty as to be almost impracticable.

Inefficiency of this Form of Government.

—Throughout Rajasthan the character and welfare of the States depend on that of the sovereign: he is the mainspring of the system—the active power to set and keep in motion all these discordant materials; if he relax, each part separates, and moves in a narrow sphere of its own. Yet will the impulse of one great mind put the machine in regular movement, which shall endure during two or three imbecile successors, if no fresh exterior force be applied to check it. It is a system full of defects; yet we see them so often balanced by virtues, that we are alternately biassed by these counteracting qualities; loyalty and patriotism, which combine a love of the institutions, religion, and manners of the country, are the counterpoise to systematic evil. In no country has the system ever proved efficient. It has been one of eternal excitement and irregular action; inimical to order, and the repose deemed necessary after conflict for recruiting the national strength. The absence of an external foe was but the signal for disorders within, which increased to a terrific height in the feuds of the two great rival factions of Mewar, the clans of [149] Chondawat[10] and Saktawat,[11] as the weakness of the prince augmented by the abstraction of his personal domain, and the diminution of the services of the third class of vassals (the Gol), the personal retainers of the crown; but when these feuds broke out, even with the enemy at their gates, it required a prince of great nerve and talent to regulate them. Yet is there a redeeming quality in the system, which, imperfect as it is, could render such perilous circumstances but the impulse to a rivalry of heroism.

Rivalry of the Chondāwat and Saktāwat Sub-clans.

—When Jahangir had obtained possession of the palladium of Mewar, the ancient fortress of Chitor, and driven the prince into the wilds and mountains of the west, an opportunity offered to recover some frontier lands in the plains, and the Rana with all his chiefs was assembled for the purpose. But the Saktawats asserted an equal privilege with their rivals to form the vanguard;[12] a right which their indisputable valour (perhaps superior to that of the other party) rendered not invalid. The Chondawats claimed it as an hereditary privilege, and the sword would have decided the matter but for the tact of the prince. “The harawal to the clan which first enters Untala,” was a decision which the Saktawat leader quickly heard; while the other could no longer plead his right, when such a gauntlet was thrown down for its maintenance.

Untala is the frontier fortress in the plains, about eighteen miles east of the capital, and covering the road which leads from it to the more ancient one of Chitor. It is situated on a rising ground, with a stream flowing beneath its walls, which are of solid masonry, lofty, and with round towers at intervals.[13] In the centre was the governor’s house, also fortified. One gate only gave admission to this castle.

The clans, always rivals in power, now competitors in glory, moved off at the same time, some hours before daybreak—Untala the goal, the harawal the reward! Animated with hope—a barbarous and cruel foe the object of their prowess—their wives and families spectators, on their return, of the meed of enterprise; the bard [150], who sang the praise of each race at their outset, demanding of each materials for a new wreath, supplied every stimulus that a Rajput could have to exertion.

The Saktawats made directly for the gateway, which they reached as the day broke, and took the foe unprepared; but the walls were soon manned, and the action commenced. The Chondawats, less skilled in topography, had traversed a swamp, which retarded them—but through which they dashed, fortunately meeting a guide in a shepherd of Untala. With more foresight than their opponents, they had brought ladders. The chief led the escalade, but a ball rolled him back amidst his vassals; it was not his destiny to lead the harawal! Each party was checked. The Saktawat depended on the elephant he rode, to gain admission by forcing the gate; but its projecting spikes deterred the animal from applying its strength. His men were falling thick around him, when a shout from the other party made him dread their success. He descended from his seat, placed his body on the spikes, and commanded the driver, on pain of instant death, to propel the elephant against him. The gates gave way, and over the dead body of their chief his clan rushed to the combat! But even this heroic surrender of his life failed to purchase the honour for his clan. The lifeless corpse of his rival was already in Untala, and this was the event announced by the shout which urged his sacrifice to honour and ambition. When the Chondawat chief fell, the next in rank and kin took the command. He was one of those arrogant, reckless Rajputs, who signalized themselves wherever there was danger, not only against men but tigers, and his common appellation was the Benda Thakur (‘mad chief’) of Deogarh. When his leader fell, he rolled the body in his scarf; then tying it on his back, scaled the wall, and with his lance having cleared the way before him he threw the dead body over the parapet of Untala, shouting, “The vanguard to the Chondawat! we are first in!” The shout was echoed by the clan, and the rampart was in their possession nearly at the moment of the entry of the Saktawats. The Moguls fell under their swords: the standard of Mewar was erected in the castle of Untala, but the leading of the vanguard remained with the Chondawats[14] [151].

This is not the sole instance of such jealousies being converted into a generous and patriotic rivalry; many others could be adduced throughout the greater principalities, but especially amongst the brave Rathors of Marwar.

It was a nice point to keep these clans poised against each other; their feuds were not without utility, and the tact of the prince frequently turned them to account. One party was certain to be enlisted on the side of the sovereign, and this alone counter-balanced the evil tendencies before described. To this day it has been a perpetual struggle for supremacy; and the epithets of ‘loyalist’ and ‘traitor’ have been alternating between them for centuries, according to the portion they enjoyed of the prince’s favour, and the talents and disposition of the heads of the clans to maintain their predominance at court. The Saktawats are weaker in numbers, but have the reputation of greater bravery and more genius than their rivals. I am inclined, on the whole, to assent to this opinion; and the very consciousness of this reputation must be a powerful incentive to its preservation.

When all these governments were founded and maintained on the same principle, a system of feuds, doubtless, answered very well; but it cannot exist with a well-constituted monarchy. Where individual will controls the energies of a nation, it must eventually lose its liberties. To preserve their power, the princes of Rajasthan surrendered a portion of theirs to the emperors of Delhi. They made a nominal surrender to him of their kingdoms receiving them back with a sanad, or grant, renewed on each lapse: thereby acknowledging him as lord paramount. They received, on these occasions, the khilat of honour and investiture, consisting of elephants, horses, arms, and jewels; and to their hereditary title of ‘prince’ was added by the emperor, one of dignity, mansab.[15] Besides this acknowledgment of supremacy, they offered nazarana[16] and homage, especially on the festival of Nauroz (the new year), engaging to attend the royal presence when required, at the head of a stipulated number of their vassals. The emperor presented them with a royal standard, kettle-drums, and other insignia, which headed the array of each prince. Here we have all the chief incidents of a great feudal sovereignty. Whether the Tatar sovereigns borrowed these customs from their princely vassals, or brought them from the highlands of Asia, from the Oxus [152] and Jaxartes, whence, there is little doubt, many of these Sachha Rajputs originated, shall be elsewhere considered.

Akbar’s Policy towards the Rājputs.

—The splendour of such an array, whether in the field or at the palace, can scarcely be conceived. Though Humayun had gained the services of some of the Rajput princes, their aid was uncertain. It was reserved for his son, the wise and magnanimous Akbar, to induce them to become at once the ornament and support of his throne. The power which he consolidated, and knew so well to wield, was irresistible; while the beneficence of his disposition, and the wisdom of his policy, maintained what his might conquered. He felt that a constant exhibition of authority would not only be ineffectual but dangerous, and that the surest hold on their fealty and esteem would be the giving them a personal interest in the support of the monarchy.

Alliances between Moguls and Rājputs.

—Akbar determined to unite the pure Rajput blood to the scarcely less noble stream which flowed from Aghuz Khan, through Jenghiz, Timur, and Babur, to himself, calculating that they would more readily yield obedience to a prince who claimed kindred with them, than to one purely Tatar; and that, at all events, it would gain the support of their immediate kin, and might in the end become general. In this supposition he did not err. We are less acquainted with the obstacles which opposed his first success than those he subsequently encountered; one of which neither he nor his descendants ever overcame in the family of Mewar, who could never be brought to submit to such alliance.

Amber, the nearest to Delhi and the most exposed, though more open to temptation than to conquest, in its then contracted sphere, was the first to set the example.[17] Its Raja Bhagwandas gave his daughter to Humayun;[18] and subsequently this practice became so common, that some of the most celebrated emperors were the offspring of Rajput princesses. Of these, Salim, called after his accession, Jahangir; his ill-fated son, Khusru; Shah Jahan;[19] Kambakhsh,[20] the favourite of his father; Aurangzeb, and his rebellious son Akbar, whom his Rajput kin would have placed on the throne had his genius equalled their power, are the most prominent instances. Farrukhsiyar, when the empire began to totter, furnished the last instance of a Mogul sovereign [153] marrying a Hindu princess,[21] the daughter of Raja Ajit Singh, sovereign of Marwar.

These Rajput princes became the guardians of the minority of their imperial nephews, and had a direct stake in the empire, and in the augmentation of their estates.

Rājputs in the Imperial Service.

—Of the four hundred and sixteen Mansabdars, or military commanders of Akbar’s empire, from leaders of two hundred to ten thousand men, forty-seven were Rajputs, and the aggregate of their quotas amounted to fifty-three thousand horse:[22] exactly one-tenth of the united Mansabdars of the empire, or five hundred and thirty thousand horse.[23] Of the forty-seven Rajput leaders, there were seventeen whose mansabs were from one thousand to five thousand horse, and thirty from two hundred to one thousand.

The princes of Amber, Marwar, Bikaner, Bundi, Jaisalmer, Bundelkhand, and even Shaikhawati, held mansabs of above one thousand; but Amber only, being allied to the throne, had the dignity of five thousand.

The Raja Udai Singh of Marwar, surnamed the Fat, chief of the Rathors, held but the mansab of one thousand, while a scion of his house, Rae Singh of Bikaner, had four thousand. This is to be accounted for by the dignity being thrust upon the head of that house. The independent princes of Chanderi, Karauli, Datia, with the tributary feudatories of the larger principalities, and members of the Shaikhawat federation, were enrolled on the other grades, from four to seven hundred. Amongst these we find the founder of the Saktawat clan, who, quarrelling with his brother, Rana Partap of Mewar, gave his services to Akbar. In short it became general, and what originated in force or persuasion, was soon coveted from interested motives; and as nearly all the States submitted in [154] time to give queens to the empire, few were left to stigmatize this dereliction from Hindu principle.

Akbar thus gained a double victory, securing the good opinions as well as the swords of these princes in his aid. A judicious perseverance would have rendered the throne of Timur immovable, had not the tolerant principles and beneficence of Akbar, Jahangir, and Shah Jahan been lost sight of by the bigoted and bloodthirsty Aurangzeb; who, although while he lived his commanding genius wielded the destinies of this immense empire at pleasure, alienated the affections, by insulting the prejudices, of those who had aided in raising the empire to the height on which it stood. This affection withdrawn, and the weakness of Farrukhsiyar substituted for the strength of Aurangzeb, it fell and went rapidly to pieces. Predatory warfare and spoliation rose on its ruins. The Rajput princes, with a short-sighted policy, at first connived at, and even secretly invited the tumult; not calculating on its affecting their interests. Each looked to the return of ancient independence, and several reckoned on great accession of power. Old jealousies were not lessened by the part which each had played in the hour of ephemeral greatness; and the prince of Mewar, who preserved his blood uncontaminated, though with loss of land, was at once an object of respect and envy to those who had forfeited the first pretensions[24] of a Rajput. It was the only ovation the Sesodia[25] had to boast for centuries of oppression and spoliation, whilst their neighbours were basking in court favour. The great increase of territory of these princes nearly equalled the power of Mewar, and the dignities thus acquired from the sons of Timur, they naturally wished should appear as distinguished as his ancient title. Hence, while one inscribed on his seal “The exalted in dignity, a prince amongst princes, and king of kings,”[26] the prince of Mewar preserved his royal simplicity in “Maharana Bhima Singh, son of Arsi.” But this is digression.

Results of Feudalism.

—It would be difficult to say what would be the happiest form of government for these States without reference to their neighbours. Their own feudal customs would seem to have worked well. The experiment of centuries has secured [155] to them political existence, while successive dynasties of Afghans and Moguls, during eight hundred years, have left but the wreck of splendid names. Were they to become more monarchical, they would have everything to dread from unchecked despotism, over which even the turbulence of their chiefs is a salutary control.

Were they somewhat more advanced towards prosperity, the crown demesne redeemed from dissipation and sterility, and the chiefs enabled to bring their quotas into play for protection and police, recourse should never be had to bodies of mercenary troops, which practice, if persevered in, will inevitably change their present form of government. This has invariably been the result, in Europe as well as Rajasthan, else why the dread of standing armies?

Employment of Mercenaries.

—Escuage is an approximating step. When Charles VII. of France[27] raised his companies of ordnance, the basis of the first national standing army ever embodied in Europe, a tax called ‘taille’ was imposed to pay them, and Guienne rebelled. Kotah is a melancholy instance of subversion of the ancient order of society. Mewar made the experiment from necessity sixty years ago, when rebellion and invasion conjoined; and a body of Sindis were employed, which completed their disgust, and they fought with each other till almost mutually exterminated, and till all faith in their prince was lost. Jaipur had adopted this custom to a greater extent; but it was an ill-paid band, neither respected at home nor feared abroad. In Marwar the feudal compact was too strong to tolerate it, till Pathan predatory bands, prowling amidst the ruins of Mogul despotism, were called in to partake in each family broil; the consequence was the weakening of all, and opening the door to a power stronger than any, to be the arbiter of their fate.

General Duties of the Pattāwat, or Vassal Chief of Rājasthān.

—“The essential principle of a fief was a mutual contract of support and fidelity. Whatever obligations it laid upon the vassal of service to his lord, corresponding duties of protection were imposed by it on the lord towards his vassal. If these were transgressed on either side, the one forfeited his land, the other his signiory or rights over it.”[28] In this is comprehended the very foundation of feudal policy, because in its simplicity we recognize first principles involving mutual preservation. The best [156] commentary on this definition of simple truth will be the sentiments of the Rajputs themselves in two papers: one containing the opinions of the chiefs of Marwar on the reciprocal duties of sovereign and vassal;[29] the other, those of the sub-vassals of Deogarh, one of the largest fiefs in Rajasthan, of their rights, the infringement of them, and the remedy.[30]

If, at any former period in the history of Marwar, its prince had thus dared to act, his signiory and rights over it would not have been of great value; his crown and life would both have been endangered by these turbulent and determined vassals. How much is comprehended in that manly, yet respectful sentence: “If he accepts our services, then he is our prince and leader; if not, but our equal, and we again his brothers, claimants of and laying claim to the soil.” In the remonstrance of the sub-vassals of Deogarh, we have the same sentiments on a reduced scale. In both we have the ties of blood and kindred, connected with and strengthening national policy. If a doubt could exist as to the principle of fiefs being similar in Rajasthan and in Europe, it might be set at rest by the important question long agitated by the feodal lawyers in Europe, “whether the vassal is bound to follow the standard of his lord against his own kindred or against his sovereign”: which in these States is illustrated by a simple and universal proof. If the question were put to a Rajput to whom his service is due, whether to his chief or his sovereign, the reply would be, Raj ka malik wuh, pat[31] ka malik yih: ‘He is the sovereign of the State, but this is my head’: an ambiguous phrase, but well understood to imply that his own immediate chief is the only authority he regards.

This will appear to militate against the right of remonstrance (as in the case of the vassals of Deogarh), for they look to the crown for protection against injustice; they annihilate other rights by admitting appeal higher than this. Every class looks out for some resource against oppression. The sovereign is the last applied to on such occasions, with whom the sub-vassal has no bond of connexion. He can receive no favour, nor perform any service, but through his own immediate superior; and presumes not to question (in cases not personal to himself) the propriety of his chief’s actions, adopting implicitly his feelings [157] and resentments. The daily familiar intercourse of life is far too engrossing to allow him to speculate, and with his lord he lives a patriot or dies a traitor. In proof of this, numerous instances could be given of whole clans devoting themselves to the chief against their sovereign;[32] not from the ties of kindred, for many were aliens to blood; but from the ties of duty, gratitude, and all that constitutes clannish attachment, superadded to feudal obligation. The sovereign, as before observed, has nothing to do with those vassals not holding directly from the crown; and those who wish to stand well with their chiefs would be very slow in receiving any honours or favours from the general fountain-head. The Deogarh chief sent one of his sub-vassals to court on a mission; his address and deportment gained him favour, and his consequence was increased by a seat in the presence of his sovereign. When he returned, he found this had lost him the favour of his chief, who was offended, and conceived a jealousy both of his prince and his servant. The distinction paid to the latter was, he said, subversive of his proper authority, and the vassal incurred by his vanity the loss of estimation where alone it was of value.

Obligations of a Vassal.

—The attempt to define all the obligations of a vassal would be endless: they involve all the duties of kindred in addition to those of obedience. To attend the court of his chief; never to absent himself without leave; to ride with him a-hunting; to attend him at the court of his sovereign or to war, and even give himself as a hostage for his release; these are some of the duties of a vassal.

1. Literally ‘terrace,’ or ‘altar.’

2. [Headman and accountant.]

3. They were considered a sort of jury, bearing a close analogy to the judices selecti, who sat with the praetor in the tribunal of Rome (Hallam).

4. See Appendix, No. III.

5. Family priest.

6. See Appendix, Nos. IV. V. and VI.

7. See Appendix, No.XX. art. 6; the treaty between the chiefs and his vassals defining service.

8. Appendix, No. XVI.

9. Both of which I have witnessed.

10. A clan called after Chonda, eldest son of an ancient Rana, who resigned his birthright.

11. Sakta was the son of Rana Udai Singh, founder of Udayapura, or Udaipur. The feuds of these two clans, like those of the Armagnacs and Bourguignons, “qui couvrirent la France d’un crêpe sanglant,” have been the destruction of Mewar. It requires but a change of names and places, while reading the one, to understand perfectly the history of the other.

12. Harāwal.

13. It is now in ruins, but the towers and part of the walls are still standing.

14. An anecdote appended by my friend Amra (the bard of the Sangawats, a powerful division of the Chondawats, whose head is Deogarh, often alluded to, and who alone used to lead two thousand vassals into the field) was well attested. Two Mogul chiefs of note were deeply engaged in a game of chess when the tumult was reported to them. Feeling confident of success, they continued their game; nor would they desist till the inner castle of this ‘donjon keep’ was taken, and they were surrounded by the Rajputs, when they coolly begged they might be allowed to terminate their game. This the enemy granted; but the loss of their chiefs had steeled their breasts against mercy, and they were afterwards put to death. [Compare the similar case of Ganga, Rāja of Mysore, who was surprised, by the treachery of his ministers, while occupied in a game of chess (L. Rice, Mysore Gazetteer (1897), 1i. 319.)1i. 319.)]

15. [‘Office, prerogative.’ For a full account of the Mansab system, see Irvine, Army of the Indian Moghuls, 3 ff.]

16. Fine of relief.

17. [There were earlier instances of alliances between Muhammadan princes and Hindus. The mother of Fīroz Shāh, born A.D. 1309, was a Bhatti lady: Khizr Khān married Deval Devi, a Vāghela lady of Gujarāt (Elliot-Dowson, iii. 271 f., 545; Elphinstone, 395).]

18. [There is no evidence for this statement (Smith, Akbar, 58, 225).]

19. The son of the Princess Jodh Bai, whose magnificent tomb still excites admiration at Sikandra, near Agra.

20. ‘Gift of Love.’ [Kāmbakhsh had a Hindu wife, Kalyān Kumāri, daughter of Amar Chand and sister of Sagat Singh, Zamīndār of Manoharpur. Professor Jadunath Sarkar has been unable to trace a Hindu wife of Akbar, son of Aurangzeb.]

21. To this very marriage we owe the origin of our power. When the nuptials were preparing, the emperor fell ill. A mission was at that time at Delhi from Surat, where we traded, of which Mr. Hamilton was the surgeon. He cured the king, and the marriage was completed. In the oriental style, he desired the doctor to name his reward; but instead of asking anything for himself, he demanded a grant of land for a factory on the Hoogly for his employers. It was accorded, and this was the origin of the greatness of the British empire in the East. Such an act deserved at least a column; but neither “storied urn nor animated bust” marks the spot where his remains are laid [C. R. Wilson, Early Annals of the English in Bengal, ii. 235, see p. 468 below].

22. Abu-l Fazl [Āīn, i. 308 ff.].

23. The infantry, regulars, and militia, exceeded 4,000,000.

24. See, in the Annals of Mewar, the letter of Rae Singh of Bikaner (who had been compelled to submit to this practice), on hearing that Rana Partap’s reverses were likely to cause a similar result. It is a noble production, and gives the character of both.

25. The tribe to which the princes of Mewar belonged.

26. Raj Rajeswara, the title of the prince of Marwar: the prince of Amber, Raj Rajindra.

27. Hallam, vol. i. p. 117.

28. Hallam, vol. i. p. 173.

29. See Appendix, No. I.

30. See Appendix, Nos. II. and III.

31. Pat means ‘head,’ ‘chief.’

32. The death of the chief of Nimaj, in the Annals of Marwar, and Sheogarh Feud, in the Personal Narrative, Vol. II.

CHAPTER 3

Feudal Incidents.

—I shall now proceed to compare the more general obligations of vassals, known under the term of ‘Feudal Incidents’ in Europe, and show their existence in Rajasthan. These were six in number: 1. Reliefs; 2. Fines of alienation; 3. Escheats; 4. Aids; 5. Wardship; 6. Marriage [158].

Relief.

—The first and most essential mark of a feudal relation exists in all its force and purity here: it is a perpetually recurring mark of the source of the grant, and the solemn renewal of the pledge which originally obtained it. In Mewar it is a virtual and bona fide surrender of the fief and renewal thereof. It is thus defined in European polity: “A relief[1] is a sum of money due from every one of full age taking a fief by descent.” It was arbitrary, and the consequent exactions formed a ground of discontent; nor was the tax fixed till a comparatively recent period.

By Magna Charta reliefs were settled at rates proportionate to the dignity of the holder.[2] In France the relief was fixed by the customary laws at one year’s revenue.[3] This last has long been the settled amount of nazarana, or fine of relief, in Mewar.

Fine paid on Succession.

—On the demise of a chief, the prince immediately sends a party, termed the zabti (sequestrator), consisting of a civil officer and a few soldiers, who take possession of the State in the prince’s name. The heir sends his prayer to court to be installed in the property, offering the proper relief. This paid, the chief is invited to repair to the presence, when he performs homage, and makes protestations of service and fealty; he receives a fresh grant, and the inauguration terminates by the prince girding him with a sword, in the old forms of chivalry. It is an imposing ceremony, performed in a full assembly of the court, and one of the few which has never been relinquished. The fine paid, and the brand buckled to his side, a steed, turban, plume, and dress of honour given to the chief, the investiture[4] is [159] complete; the sequestrator returns to court, and the chief to his estate, to receive the vows and congratulations of his vassals.[5]

In this we plainly perceive the original power (whether exercised or not) of resumption. On this subject more will appear in treating of the duration of grants. The kharg bandhai, or ‘binding of the sword,’ is also performed when a Rajput is fit to bear arms; as amongst the ancient German tribes, when they put into the hands of the aspirant for fame a lance. Such are the substitutes for the toga virilis of the young Roman. The Rana himself is thus ordained a knight by the first of his vassals in dignity, the chief of Salumbar.

Renunciation of Reliefs.

—In the demoralization of all those States, some of the chiefs obtained renunciation of the fine of relief, which was tantamount to making a grant in perpetuity, and annulling the most overt sign of paramount sovereignty. But these and many other important encroachments were made when little remained of the reality, or when it was obscured by a series of oppressions unexampled in any European State.

It is in Mewar alone, I believe, of all Rajasthan, that these marks of fealty are observable to such an extent. But what is remarked elsewhere upon the fiefs being movable, will support the doctrine of resumption though it might not be practised: a prerogative may exist without its being exercised.

Fine of Alienation.

—Rajasthan never attained this refinement indicative of the dismemberment of the system; so vicious and self-destructive a notion never had existence in these States. Alienation does not belong to a system of fiefs: the lord would never consent to it, but on very peculiar occasions.

In Cutch, amongst the Jareja[6] tribes, sub-vassals may alienate their estates; but this privilege is dependent on the mode of acquisition. Perhaps the only knowledge we have in Rajasthan of alienation requiring the sanction of the lord paramount, is in donations for pious uses: but this is partial. We see in the remonstrance of the Deogarh vassals the opinion they entertained of their lord’s alienation of their sub-fees to strangers, and without the Rana’s consent; which, with a similar train of conduct, produced sequestration of his fief till they were reinducted [160].

Tenants of the Crown may Alienate.

—The agricultural tenants, proprietors of land held of the crown, may alienate their rights upon a small fine, levied merely to mark the transaction. But the tenures of these non-combatants and the holders of fees are entirely distinct, and cannot here be entered on, further than to say that the agriculturist is, or was, the proprietor of the soil; the chief, solely of the tax levied thereon. But in Europe the alienation of the feudum paternum was not good without the consent of the kindred in the line of succession.[7] This would involve sub-infeudation and frerage, which I shall touch on distinctly, many of the troubles of these countries arising therefrom.

Escheats and Forfeitures.

—The fiefs which were only to descend in lineal succession reverted to the crown on failure of heirs, as they could not be bequeathed by will. This answers equally well for England as for Mewar. I have witnessed escheats of this kind, and foresee more, if the pernicious practice of unlimited adoption do not prevent the Rana from regaining lands, alienated by himself at periods of contention. Forfeitures for crimes must, of course, occur, and these are partial or entire, according to the delinquency.

In Marwar, at this moment, nearly all the representatives of the great fiefs of that country are exiles from their homes: a distant branch of the same family, the prince of Idar, would have adopted a similar line of conduct but for a timely check from the hand of benevolence.[8]

There is, or rather was, a class of lands in Mewar appended to the crown, of which it bestowed life-rents on men of merit. These were termed Chhorutar, and were given and taken back, as the name implies; in contradistinction to grants which, though originating in good behaviour, not only continued for life but descended in perpetuity. Such places are still so marked in the rent-roll, but they are seldom applied to the proper purpose.

Aids.

—Aids, implying ‘free gifts,’ or ‘benevolences,’ as they were termed in a European code, are well known. The barar (war-tax) is well understood in Mewar, and is levied on many occasions for the necessities of the prince or the head of a clan. It is a curious fact, that the dasaundh, or ‘tenth,’ in Mewar, as in Europe, was the [161] stated sum to be levied in periods of emergency or danger. On the marriage of the daughters of the prince, a benevolence or contribution was always levied: this varied. A few years ago, when two daughters and a granddaughter were married to the princes of Jaisalmer, Bikaner, and Kishangarh, a schedule of one-sixth, to portion the three, was made out; but it did not realize above an eighth. In this aid the civil officers of government contribute equally with the others. It is a point of honour with all to see their sovereign’s daughters married, and for once the contribution merited the name of benevolence. But it is not levied solely from the coffers of the rich; by the chiefs it is exacted of their tenantry of all classes, who, of course, wish such subjects of rejoicing to be of as rare occurrence as possible.

“These feudal aids are deserving of our notice as the commencement of taxation, of which they long answered the purpose, till the craving necessities and covetous policy of kings established for them more durable and onerous burthens.”[9]

The great chiefs, it may be assumed, were not backward, on like occasions, to follow such examples, but these gifts were more voluntary. Of the details of aids in France we find enumerated, “paying the relief of the suzerain on taking possession of his lands”;[10] and by Magna Charta our barons could levy them on the following counts: to make the baron’s eldest son a knight, to marry his eldest daughter, or to redeem his person from captivity. The latter is also one occasion for the demand in all these countries. The chief is frequently made prisoner in their predatory invasions, and carried off as a hostage for the payment of a war contribution. Everything disposable is often got rid of on an occasion of this kind. Cœur de Lion would not have remained so long in the dungeons of Austria had his subjects been Rajputs. In Amber the most extensive benevolence, or barar,[11] is on the marriage of the Rajkumar, or heir apparent.

Wardship.

—This does exist, to foster the infant vassal during minority; but often terminating, as in the system of Europe, in the nefarious act of defrauding a helpless infant, to the pecuniary benefit of some court favourite. It is accordingly [162] here undertaken occasionally by the head of the clan; but two strong recent instances brought the dark ages, and the purchase of wardships for the purpose of spoliation, to mind. The first was in the Deogarh chief obtaining by bribe the entire management of the lands of Sangramgarh, on pretence of improving them for the infant, Nahar Singh, whose father was incapacitated by derangement. Nahar was a junior branch of the clan Sangawat, a subdivision of the Chondawat clan, both Sesodias of the Rana’s blood. The object, at the time, was to unite them to Deogarh, though he pleaded duty as head of the clan. His nomination of young Nahar as his own heir gives a colouring of truth to his intentions; and he succeeded, though there were nearer of kin, who were set aside (at the wish of the vassals of Deogarh and with the concurrence of the sovereign) as unfit to head them or serve him.

Another instance of the danger of permitting wardships, particularly where the guardian is the superior in clanship and kindred, is exemplified in the Kalyanpur estate in Mewar. That property had been derived from the crown only two generations back, and was of the annual value of ten thousand rupees. The mother having little interest at court, the Salumbar chief, by bribery and intrigue, upon paying a fine of about one year’s rent, obtained possession—ostensibly to guard the infant’s rights; but the falsehood of this motive was soon apparent. There were duties to perform on holding it which were not thought of. It was a frontier post, and a place of rendezvous for the quotas to defend that border from the incursions of the wild tribes of the south-west. The Salumbar chief, being always deficient in the quota for his own estate, was not likely to be very zealous in his muster-roll for his ward’s, and complaints were made which threatened a change. The chief of Chawand was talked of as one who would provide for the widow and minor, who could not perform the duties of defence.

The sovereign himself often assumes the guardianship of minors; but the mother is generally considered the most proper guardian for her infant son. All others may have interests of their own; she can be actuated by his welfare alone. Custom, therefore, constitutes her the guardian; and with the assistance of the elders of the family, she rears and educates the young chief till he is fit to be girded with the sword [163].[12]

The Faujdar, or military manager, who frequently regulates the household as well as the subdivisions of the estate, is seldom of the kin or clan of the chief: a wise regulation, the omission of which has been known to produce, in these maires du palais on a small scale, the same results as will be described in the larger. This officer, and the civil functionary who transacts all the pecuniary concerns of the estate, with the mother and her family, are always considered to be the proper guardians of the minor. ‘Blood which could not inherit,’ was the requisite for a guardian in Europe,[13] as here; and when neglected, the results are in both cases the same.

Marriage.

—Refinement was too strong on the side of the Rajput to admit this incident, which, with that of wardship (both partial in Europe), illustrated the rapacity of the feudal aristocracy. Every chief, before he marries, makes it known to his sovereign. It is a compliment which is expected, and is besides attended with some advantage, as the prince invariably confers presents of honour, according to the station of the individual.

No Rajput can marry in his own clan; and the incident was originated in the Norman institutes, to prevent the vassal marrying out of his class, or amongst the enemies of his sovereign.[14]

Thus, setting aside marriage (which even in Europe was only partial and local) and alienation, four of the six chief incidents marking the feudal system are in force in Rajasthan, viz. relief, escheats, aids, and wardships.

Duration of Grants.

—I shall now endeavour to combine all the knowledge I possess with regard to the objects attained in granting lands, the nature and durability of these grants, whether for life and renewable, or in perpetuity. I speak of the rules as understood in Mewar. We ought not to expect much system in what was devoid of regularity, even according to the old principles of European feudal law, which, though now reduced to some fixed principles, originated in, and was governed by, fortuitous circumstances; and after often changing its character, ended in despotism, oligarchy, or democracy.

Classes of Landholders.

—There are two classes of Rajput landholders in Mewar, though the one greatly exceeds the other in number. One is the Girasia Thakur, or lord; the other the Bhumia. The Girasia chieftain is he who holds (giras) by grant (patta) of the [164] prince, for which he performs service with specified quotas at home and abroad, renewable at every lapse, when all the ceremonies of resumption,[15] the fine of relief,[16] and the investiture take place.

The Bhumia does not renew his grant, but holds on prescriptive possession. He succeeds without any fine, but pays a small annual quit-rent, and can be called upon for local service in the district which he inhabits for a certain period of time. He is the counterpart of the allodial proprietor of the European system, and the real zamindar of these principalities. Both have the same signification; from bhum and zamin, ‘land’: the latter is an exotic of Persian origin.

Girāsia.

—Girasia is from giras, ‘a subsistence’; literally and familiarly ‘a mouthful.’ Whether it may have a like origin with the Celtic word gwas,[17] said to mean ‘a servant,’[18] and whence the word vassal is derived, I shall leave to etymologists to decide, who may trace the resemblance to the girasia, the vassal chieftain of the Rajputs. All the chartularies or pattas[19] commence, "To ... giras has been ordained."

Whether Resumable.

—It has always been a subject of doubt whether grants were resumable at pleasure, or without some delinquency imputable to the vassal. Their duration in Europe was, at least, the life of the possessor, when they reverted[20] to the fisc. The whole of the ceremonies in cases of such lapse are decisive on this point in Mewar. The right to resume, therefore, may be presumed to exist; while the non-practice of it, the formalities of renewal being gone through, may be said to render the right a dead letter. But to prove its existence I need only mention, that so late as the reign of Rana Sangram,[21] the fiefs of Mewar were actually movable; and little more than a century and a half has passed since this practice ceased. Thus a Rathor would shift, with family, chattels, and retainers, from the north into the wilds of Chappan;[22] while the Saktawat relieved would occupy the plains at the foot of the Aravalli;[23] or a Chondawat would exchange his [165] abode on the banks of the Chambal with a Pramara or Chauhan from the table-mountain, the eastern boundary of Mewar.[24]

Since these exchanges were occurring, it is evident the fiefs (pattas) were not grants in perpetuity. This is just the state of the benefices in France at an early period, as described by Gibbon, following Montesquieu: “Les bénéfices étoient amovibles; bientôt ils les rendirent perpétuels, et enfin héréditaires.”[25] This is the precise gradation of fiefs in Mewar; movable, perpetual, and then hereditary. The sons were occasionally permitted to succeed their fathers;[26] an indulgence which easily grew into a right, though the crown had the indubitable reversion. It is not, however, impossible that these changes[27] were not of ancient authority, but arose from the policy of the times to prevent infidelity.

We ought to have a high opinion of princes who could produce an effect so powerful on the minds of a proud and turbulent nobility. The son was heir to the title and power over the vassals’ personals and movables, and to the allegiance of his father, but to nothing which could endanger that allegiance.

A proper apportioning and mixture of the different clans was another good result to prevent their combinations in powerful families, which gave effect to rebellion, and has tended more than external causes to the ruin which the State of Mewar exhibits.

Nobility: Introduction of Foreign Stocks.

—Throughout the various gradations of its nobility, it was the original policy to introduce some who were foreign in country and blood. Chiefs of the Rathor, Chauhan, Pramara, Solanki, and Bhatti tribes were intermingled. Of these several were lineal descendants of the most ancient races of the kings of Delhi and Anhilwara Patan;[28] and from these, in order to preserve the purity of blood, the princes of Mewar took their wives, when the other princes of Hind assented to [166] the degradation of giving daughters in marriage to the emperors of Delhi. The princes of Mewar never yielded in this point, but preserved their ancient manners amidst all vicissitudes. In like manner did the nobles of the Rana’s blood take daughters from the same tribes; the interest of this foreign race was therefore strongly identified with the general welfare, and on all occasions of internal turmoil and rebellion they invariably supported their prince. But when these wise institutions were overlooked, when the great clans increased and congregated together, and the crown demesne was impoverished by prodigality, rebellions were fostered by Mahratta rapacity, which were little known during the lengthened paramount sway of the kings of Delhi. This foreign admixture will lead us to the discussion of the different kinds of grants: a difference, perhaps, more nominal than real, but exhibiting a distinction so wide as to imply grants resumable and irresumable.

Kāla Pattas.

—It is elsewhere related that two great clans, descendants of the Ranas Rae Mall and Udai Singh, and their numerous scions, forming subdivisions with separate titles or patronymics, compose the chief vassalage of this country.

Exogamy.

—Chondawat and Saktawat are the stock; the former is subdivided into ten, the latter into about six clans. Rajputs never intermarry with their own kin: the prohibition has no limit; it extends to the remotest degree. All these clans are resolvable into the generic term of ‘the race’ or Kula Sesodia. A Sesodia man and woman cannot unite in wedlock—all these are therefore of the blood royal; and the essayists on population would have had a fine field in these quarters a century ago, ere constant misery had thinned the country, to trace the numerous progeny of Chonda and Sakta in the Genesis[29] of Mewar. The Bhat’s genealogies would still, to a certain extent, afford the same means.

Descent gives a strength to the tenure of these tribes which the foreign nobles do not possess; for although, from all that has been said, it will be evident that a right of reversion and resumption existed (though seldom exercised, and never but in cases of crime), yet the foreigner had not this strength in the soil, even though of twenty generations’ duration. The epithet of kala patta, or ‘black grant,’ attaches to the foreign grant, and is admitted by the holder, from which the kinsman thinks himself exempt. It is virtually a grant resumable; nor can the possessors feel that security which the other widely affiliated aristocracies afford [167]. When, on a recent occasion, a revision of all the grants took place, the old ones being called in to be renewed under the sign-manual of the reigning prince, the minister himself visited the chief of Salumbar, the head of the Chondawats, at his residence at the capital, for this purpose. Having become possessed of several villages in the confusion of the times, a perusal of the grant would have been the means of detection; and on being urged to send to his estate for it, he replied, pointing to the palace, “My grant is in the foundation of that edifice”: an answer worthy of a descendant of Chonda, then only just of age. The expression marks the spirit which animates this people, and recalls to mind the well-known reply of our own Earl Warenne, on the very same occasion, to the quo warranto of Edward: “By their swords my ancestors obtained this land, and by mine will I maintain it.”

Hence it may be pronounced that a grant of an estate is for the life of the holder, with inheritance for his offspring in lineal descent or adoption, with the sanction of the prince, and resumable for crime or incapacity:[30] this reversion and power of resumption being marked by the usual ceremonies on each lapse of the grantee, of sequestration (zabti), of relief (nazarana), of homage and investiture of the heir. Those estates held by foreign nobles differ not in tenure; though, for the reasons specified, they have not the same grounds of security as the others, in whose welfare the whole body is interested, feeling the case to be their own: and their interests, certainly, have not been so consulted since the rebellions of S. 1822,[31] and subsequent years. Witness the Chauhans of Bedla and Kotharia (in the Udaipur valley), and the Pramar of the plateau of Mewar, all chiefs of the first rank.

The difficulty and danger of resuming an old-established grant in these countries are too great to be lightly risked. Though in all these estates there is a mixture of foreign Rajputs, yet the blood of the chief predominates; and these must have a leader of their own, or be incorporated in the estates of the nearest of kin. This increase might not be desirable for the crown, but the sub-vassals cannot be turned [168] adrift; a resumption therefore in these countries is widely felt, as it involves many. If crime or incapacity render it necessary, the prince inducts a new head of that blood; and it is their pride, as well as the prince’s interest, that a proper choice should be made. If, as has often occurred, the title be abolished, the sub-vassals retain their sub-infeudations, and become attached to the crown.

Many estates were obtained, during periods of external commotion, by threats, combination, or the avarice of the prince—his short-sighted policy, or that of his ministers—which have been remedied in the late reorganization of Mewar; where, by retrograding half a century, and bringing matters as near as possible to the period preceding civil dissension, they have advanced at least a century towards order.

Bhūmia, the Allodial Proprietor.

—It is stated in the historical annals of this country that the ancient clans, prior to Sanga Rana,[32] had ceased, on the rising greatness of the subsequent new division of clans, to hold the higher grades of rank; and had, in fact, merged into the general military landed proprietors of this country under the term bhumia, a most expressive and comprehensive name, importing absolute identity with the soil: bhum meaning ‘land,’ and being far more expressive than the newfangled word, unknown to Hindu India, of zamindar, the ‘land-holder’ of Muhammadan growth. These Bhumias, the scions of the earliest princes, are to be met with in various parts of Mewar; though only in those of high antiquity, where they were defended from oppression by the rocks and wilds in which they obtained a footing; as in Kumbhalmer, the wilds of Chappan, or plains of Mandalgarh, long under the kings, and where their agricultural pursuits maintained them.

Their clannish appellations, Kumbhawat, Lunawat, and Ranawat, distinctly show from what stem and when they branched off; and as they ceased to be of sufficient importance to visit the court on the new and continually extending ramifications, they took to the plough. But while they disdained not to derive a subsistence from labouring as husbandmen, they never abandoned their arms; and the Bhumia, amid the crags of the alpine Aravalli where he pastures his cattle or cultivates his fields, preserves the erect mien and proud spirit of his ancestors, with more tractability, and less arrogance and folly, than his more [169] courtly but now widely separated brethren, who often make a jest of his industrious but less refined qualifications.[33] Some of these yet possess entire villages, which are subject to the payment of a small quit-rent: they also constitute a local militia, to be called in by the governor of the district, but for which service they are entitled to rations or peti.[34] These, the allodial[35] tenantry of our feudal system, form a considerable body in many districts, armed with matchlock, sword, and shield. In Mandalgarh, when their own interests and the prince’s unite (though the rapacity of governors, pupils of the Mahratta and other predatory schools, have disgusted these independents), four thousand Bhumias could be collected. They held and maintained without support the important fortress of that district, during half a century of turmoil, for their prince. Mandalgarh is the largest district of Mewar, and in its three hundred and sixty towns and villages many specimens of ancient usage may be found. The Solanki held largely here in ancient days, and the descendant of the princes of Patan still retains his Bhum and title of Rao.[36]

Feudal Militia.

—All this feudal militia pay a quit-rent to the crown, and perform local but limited service on the frontier garrison; and upon invasion,[37] when the Kher is called out, the whole are at the disposal of the prince on furnishing rations only. They assert that they ought not to pay this quit-rent and perform service also; but this may be doubted, since the sum is so small. To elude it, they often performed service under some powerful chief, where faction or court interest [170] caused it to be winked at. To serve without a patta is the great object of ambition. Ma ka bhum, ‘my land,’ in their Doric tongue, is a favourite phrase.[38]

Circumstances have concurred to produce a resemblance even to the refined fiction of giving up their allodial property to have it conferred as a fief. But in candour it should be stated, that the only instances were caused by the desire of being revenged on the immediate superiors of the vassals. The Rathor chief of Dabla held of his superior, the Raja of Banera, three considerable places included in the grant of Banera. He paid homage, an annual quit-rent, was bound to attend him personally to court, and to furnish thirty-five horse in case of an invasion. During the troubles, though perfectly equal to their performance, he was remiss in all these duties. His chief, with returning peace, desired to enforce the return to ancient customs, and his rights so long withheld; but the Rathor had felt the sweets of entire independence, and refused to attend his summons. To the warrant he replied, “his head and Dabla were together”; and he would neither pay the quit-rent nor attend his court. This refractory spirit was reported to the Rana; and it ended in Dabla being added to the fisc, and the chief’s holding the rest as a vassal of the Rana, but only to perform local service. There are many other petty free proprietors on the Banera estate, holding from small portions of land to small villages; but the service is limited and local in order to swell the chief’s miniature court. If they accompany him, he must find rations for them and their steeds.

So cherished is this tenure of Bhum, that the greatest chiefs are always solicitous to obtain it, even in the villages wholly dependent on their authority: a decided proof of its durability above common grants. The various modes in which it is acquired, and the precise technicalities which distinguished its tenure, as well as the privileges attached to it, are fully developed in translations of different deeds on the subject [171].[39]

Rajas of Banera and Shāhpura.

—We have also, amongst the nobility of Mewar, two who hold the independent title of prince or raja, one of whom is by far too powerful for a subject. These are the Rajas of Banera and Shahpura, both of the blood royal. The ancestor of the first was the twin-brother of Rana Jai Singh; the other, a Ranawat, branched off from Rana Udai Singh.

They have their grants renewed, and receive the khilat of investiture; but they pay no relief, and are exempt from all but personal attendance at their prince’s court, and the local service of the district in which their estates are situated. They have hitherto paid but little attention to their duties, but this defect arose out of the times. These lands lying most exposed to the imperial headquarters at Ajmer, they were compelled to bend to circumstances, and the kings were glad to confer rank and honour on such near relations of the Rana’s house. He bestowed on them the titles of Raja, and added to the Shahpura chief’s patrimony a large estate in Ajmer, which he now holds direct of the British Government, on payment of an annual tribute.

Form and Substance of Grant.

—To give a proper idea of the variety of items forming these chartularies, I append several[40] which exhibit the rights, privileges, and honours, as well as the sources of income, while they also record the terms on which they are granted. Many royalties have been alienated in modern times by the thoughtless prodigality of the princes; even the grand mark of vassalage, the fine of relief, has been forgiven to one or two individuals; portions of transit duties, tolls on ferries, and other seignorial rights; coining copper currency; exactions of every kind, from the levy of toll for night protection of merchandise and for the repairs of fortifications, to the share of the depredations of the common robber, will sufficiently show the demoralization of the country.

Division of Pattas, or Sub-infeudation.

—Many years ago, when the similarity of the systems first struck my attention, I took one of the grants or pattas of a great vassal of Jaipur, and dissected it in all its minutiae, with the aid of a very competent authority who had resided as one of the managers of the chief. This document, in which the subdivision of the whole clan is detailed, materially aided me in developing the system [172].

The court and the household economy of a great chieftain is a miniature representation of the sovereign’s: the same officers, from the pardhan, or minister, to the cup-bearer (paniyari), as well as the same domestic arrangements. He must have his shish-mahall,[41] his bari-mahall,[42] and his mandir,[43] like his prince. He enters the dari-sala, or carpet hall, the minstrel[44] preceding him rehearsing the praises of his family; and he takes his seat on his throne, while the assembled retainers, marshalled in lines on the right and left, simultaneously exclaim, “Health to our chief!” which salutation he returns by bowing to all as he passes them. When he is seated, at a given signal they all follow the example, and shield rattles against shield as they wedge into their places.

We have neither the kiss nor individual oaths of fidelity administered. It is sufficient, when a chief succeeds to his patrimony, that his ‘an’[45] is proclaimed within his sim or boundary. Allegiance is as hereditary as the land: “I am your child; my head and sword are yours, my service is at your command.” It is a rare thing for a Rajput to betray his Thakur, while the instances of self-devotion for him are innumerable: many will be seen interspersed in these papers. Base desertion, to their honour be it said, is little known, and known only to be execrated. Fidelity to the chief, Swamidharma, is the climax of all the virtues. The Rajput is taught from his infancy, in the song of the bard, to regard it as the source of honour here, and of happiness hereafter. The poet Chand abounds with episodes on the duty and beauty of fidelity; nor does it require a very fervid imagination to picture the affections which such a life is calculated to promote, when the chief is possessed of the qualities to call them forth. At the chase his vassals attend him: in the covert of the forest, the ground their social board, they eat their repast together, from the venison or wild boar furnished by the sport of the day; nor is the cup neglected. They are familiarly admitted at all times to his presence, and accompany him to the court of their mutual sovereign. In short, they are inseparable.[46]

Their having retained so much of their ancient manners and customs, during [173] centuries of misery and oppression, is the best evidence that those customs were riveted to their very souls. The Rajput of character is a being of the most acute sensibility; where honour is concerned, the most trivial omission is often ignorantly construed into an affront.

Provision for Chief’s Relations.

—In all the large estates the chief must provide for his sons or brothers, according to his means and the number of immediate descendants. In an estate of sixty to eighty thousand rupees of annual rent, the second brother might have a village of three to five thousand of rent. This is his patrimony (bapota): he besides pushes his fortune at the court of his sovereign or abroad. Juniors share in proportion. These again subdivide, and have their little circle of dependents. Each new family is known by the name of the founder conjoined to that of his father and tribe: Man Meghsinghgot Saktawat; that is, ‘Man, family of Megh, tribe Saktawat.’ The subdivisions descend to the lowest denomination.

Charsa.

—Charsa, a ‘hide of land,’ or about sufficient to furnish an equipped cavalier. It is a singular coincidence that the term for the lowest subdivision of land for military service should be the same amongst the Rajputs as in the English system. Besides being similar in name, it nearly corresponds in actual quantity. From the beginning of the Anglo-Saxon government the land was divided into hides, each comprehending what could be cultivated by a single plough.[47] Four hides constituted one knight’s fee,[48] which is stated to be about forty acres. The Charsa may have from twenty-five to thirty bighas; which are equal to about ten acres—the Saxon hide.

For what these minor vassals held to be their rights on the great pattawats, the reader is again referred to the letter of protest of the inferior pattawats of the Deogarh estate—it may aid his judgement; and it is curious to observe how nearly the subject of their prayer to the sovereign corresponded with the edict of Conrad of Italy,[49] in the year 1037, which originated in disagreements between the great lords and their vassals on the subject of sub-infeudations [174].

The extent to which the subdivision before mentioned is carried in some of the Rajput States, is ruinous to the protection and general welfare of the country. It is pursued in some parts till there is actually nothing left sufficiently large to share, or to furnish subsistence for one individual: consequently a great deprivation of services to the State ensues. But this does not prevail so much in the larger principalities as in the isolated tributary Thakurats or lordships scattered over the country; as amongst the Jarejas of Cutch, the tribes in Kathiawar, and the small independencies of Gujarat bordering on the greater western Rajput States. This error in policy requires to be checked by supreme authority, as it was in England by Magna Charta,[50] when the barons of those days took such precautions to secure their own seignorial rights.

Brotherhood.

—The system in these countries of minute subdivision of fiefs is termed bhayyad,[51] or brotherhood, synonymous to the tenure by frerage of France, but styled only an approximation to sub-infeudation.[52] "Give me my bat (share)," says the Rajput, when he attains to man’s estate, ‘the bat of the bhayyad,’ the portion of the frerage; and thus they go on clipping and paring till all are impoverished. The ‘customs’ of France[53] preserved the dignities of families and the indivisibility of a feudal homage, without exposing the younger sons of a gentleman to beggary and dependence. It would be a great national benefit if some means could be found to limit this subdivision, but it is an evil difficult of remedy. The divisibility of the Cutch and Kathiawar frerage, carried to the most destructive extent, is productive of litigation, crime, and misery. Where it has proper limits it is useful; but though the idea of each rood supporting its man is very poetical, it does not and cannot answer in practice. Its limit in Mewar we would not undertake to assert, but the vassals are careful not to let it become too small; they send the extra numbers to seek their fortunes abroad. In this custom, and the difficulty of finding daejas, or dowers, for their daughters, we have the two chief causes of infanticide amongst the Rajputs, which horrible practice was not always confined to the female.

The author of the Middle Ages exemplifies ingeniously the advantages of sub-[175]infeudation, by the instance of two persons holding one knight’s fee; and as the lord was entitled to the service of one for forty days, he could commute it for the joint service of the two for twenty days each. He even erects as a maxim on it, that “whatever opposition was made to the rights of sub-infeudation or frerage, would indicate decay in the military character, the living principle of feudal tenure”;[54] which remark may be just where proper limitation exists, before it reaches that extent when the impoverished vassal would descend to mend his shoes instead of his shield. Primogeniture is the corner-stone of feudality, but this unrestricted sub-infeudation would soon destroy it.[55] It is strong in these States; its rights were first introduced by the Normans from Scandinavia. But more will appear on this subject and its technicalities, in the personal narrative of the author.

1. “Plusieurs possesseurs de fiefs, ayant voulu en laisser perpétuellement la propriété à leurs descendans, prirent des arrangemens avec leur Seigneur; et, outre ce qu’ils donnèrent pour faire le marché, ils s’engagèrent, eux et leur postérité, à abandonner pendant une année, au Seigneur, la jouissance entière du fief, chaque fois que le dit fief changerait de main. C’est ce qui forma le droit de relief. Quand un gentilhomme avait dérogé, il pouvait effacer cette tache moyennant finances, et ce qu’il payait s’appelait relief, il recevait pour quittance des lettres de relief ou de réhabilitation” (Art. ‘Relief,’‘Relief,’ Dict. de l’anc. Régime).

2. Namely, “the heir or heirs of an earl, for an entire earldom, one hundred pounds; the heir or heirs of a baron, for an entire barony, one hundred marks; the heir or heirs of a knight, for a whole knight’s fee, one hundred shillings at most” (Art. III. Magna Charta).

3. “Le droit de rachat devoit se payer à chaque mutation d’héritier, et se paya même d’abord en ligne directe.—La coutume la plus générale l’avait fixé à une année du revenue” (L’Esprit des Loix, livre xxxi. chap. xxxiii.)

4. That symbolic species of investiture denominated ‘improper investiture,’ the delivery of a turf, stone, and wand, has its analogies amongst the mountaineers of the Aravalli. The old baron of Badnor, when the Mer villages were reduced, was clamorous about his feudal rights over those wild people. It was but the point of honour. From one he had a hare, from another a bullock, and so low as a pair of sticks which they use on the festivals of the Holi. These marks of vassalage come under the head of ‘petite serjanteri’ (petit serjeantry) in the feudal system of Europe (see Art. XLI. of Magna Charta).

5. ["All Rājput Jāgīrdārs, or holders of assigned lands, pay nazarāna on the accession of a new Mahārāna, and on certain other occasions, while most of them pay a fine called Kaid [‘imprisonment’] on succeeding to these estates. On the death of a Rājput Jāgīrdār, his estates immediately revert to the Darbār, and so remain until his son or successor is recognized by the Mahārāna, when the grant is renewed, and a fresh lease taken" (Erskine ii. A. 71).]

6. Jareja is the title of the Rajput race in Cutch; they are descendants of the Yadus, and claim from Krishna. In early ages they inhabited the tracts on the Indus and in Seistan [p. 102 above].

7. Wright on Tenures, apud Hallam, vol. i. p. 185.

8. The Hon. Mr. Elphinstone, Governor of Bombay. As we prevented the spoliation of Idar by the predatory powers, we are but right in seeing that the head does not become the spoliator himself, and make these brave men “wish any change but that which we have given them.”

9. Hallam.

10. Ducange, apud Hallam.

11. Barar is the generic name for taxation.

12. The charter of Henry I. promises the custody of heirs to the mother or next of kin (Hallam, vol. ii. p. 429).

13. Hallam, vol. i. p. 190.

14. [The rule of tribal exogamy, whatever may be its origin, is much more primitive than the author supposed (Sir J. G. Frazer, Totemism and Exogamy, i. 54 ff.).]

15. Zabti, ‘sequestration.’

16. Nazarana.

17. It might not be unworthy of research to trace many words common to the Hindu and the Celt; or to inquire whether the Kimbri, the Juts or Getae, the Sakasena, the Chatti of the Elbe and Cimbric Chersonese, and the ancient Britons, did not bring their terms with their bards and vates (the Bhats and Bardais) from the highland of Scythia east of the Caspian, which originated the nations common to both, improved beyond the Wolga and the Indus [?].

18. Hallam, vol. i. 155. [Welsh, Cornish gwas, ‘a servant.’]

19. Patta, a ‘patent’ or ‘grant’; Pattāwat, ‘holder of the fief or grant.’

20. Montesquieu, chaps. xxv., liv., xxxi.

21. Ten generations ago. [At present an estate is not liable to confiscation save for some gross political offence (Erskine ii. A. 71).]

22. The mountainous and woody region to the south-west, dividing Mewar from Gujarat.

23. The grand chain dividing the western from the central States of Rajasthan.

24. Such changes were triennial; and, as I have heard the prince himself say, so interwoven with their customs was this rule that it caused no dissatisfaction; but of this we may be allowed at least to doubt. It was a perfect check to the imbibing of local attachment; and the prohibition against erecting forts for refuge or defiance, prevented its growth if acquired. It produced the object intended, obedience to the prince, and unity against the restless Mogul. Perhaps to these institutions it is owing that Mewar alone never was conquered by the kings during the protracted struggle of seven centuries; though at length worried and worn out, her power expired with theirs, and predatory spoliation completed her ruin.

25. Gibbon, Misc. Works, vol. iii. p. 189; Sur le système féodal surtout en France.

26. Hallam, quoting Gregory of Tours; the picture drawn in A.D. 595.

27. "Fiefs had partially become hereditary towards the end of the first race: in these days they had not the idea of an ‘unalienable fief.’" Montesquieu, vol. ii. p. 431. The historian of the Middle Ages doubts if ever they were resumable at pleasure, unless from delinquency.

28. The Nahlwara of D’Anville and the Arabian travellers of the eighth century, the capital of the Balhara kings.

29. Janam, ‘birth’; es, ‘lord’ or ‘man.’ [See p. 24 above.]

30. “La loi des Lombards oppose les bénéfices à la propriété. Les historiens, les formules, les codes des différens peuples barbares, tous les monumens qui nous restent, sont unanimes. Enfin, ceux qui ont écrit le livre des fiefs, nous apprennent, que d’abord les Seigneurs purent les ôter à leur volonté, qu’ensuite ils les assurèrent pour un an, et après les donnèrent pour la vie” (L’Esprit des Loix, chap. xvi. livre 30).

31. A.D. 1766.

32. Contemporary and opponent of Sultan Babur.

33. Many of them taking wives from the degraded but aboriginal races in their neighbouring retreats, have begot a mixed progeny, who, in describing themselves, unite the tribes of father and mother.

34. Literally, ‘a belly-full.’

35. Allodial property is defined (Hallam, vol. i. p. 144) as “land which had descended by inheritance, subject to no burthen but public defence. It passed to all the children equally; in failure of children, to the nearest kindred.” Thus it is strictly the Miras or Bhum of the Rajputs: inheritance, patrimony. In Mewar it is divisible to a certain extent; but in Cutch, to infinity: and is liable only to local defence. The holder of bham calls it his Adyapi, i.e. of old, by prescriptive right; not by written deed. Montesquieu, describing the conversion of allodial estates into fiefs, says, “These lands were held by Romans or Franks (i.e. freemen) not the king’s vassals,” viz. lands exterior and anterior to the monarchy. We have Rathor, Solanki, and other tribes, now holding bhum in various districts, whose ancestors were conquered by the Sesodias, but left in possession of small portions insufficient to cause jealousy. Some of these may be said to have converted their lands into fiefs, as the Chauhan lord of ——, who served the Salumbar chief.

36. Amidst ruins overgrown with forest, I discovered on two tables of stone the genealogical history of this branch, which was of considerable use in elucidating that of Anhilwara, and which corresponded so well with the genealogies of a decayed bard of the family, who travelled the country for a subsistence, that I feel assured they formerly made good use of these marble records.

37. See Appendix, Nos. XVI. and XVII.

38. I was intimately acquainted with, and much esteemed, many of these Bhumia chiefs—from my friend Paharji (the rock), Ranawat of Amargarh, to the Kumbhawat of Sesoda on the highest point, lord of the pass of the Aravalli; and even the mountain lion, Dungar Singh who bore amongst us, from his old raids, the familiar title of Roderic Dhu. In each situation I have had my tents filled with them; and it was one of the greatest pleasures I ever experienced, after I had taken my leave of them, perhaps for ever, crossed the frontiers of Mewar, and encamped in the dreary pass between it and Marwar, to find that a body of them had been my guards during the night. This is one of the many pleasing recollections of the past. Fortunately for our happiness, the mind admits their preponderance over opposite feelings. I had much to do in aiding the restoration of their past condition; leaving, I believe, as few traces of error in the mode as could be expected, where so many conflicting interests were to be reconciled.

39. See Appendix.

40. See Appendix, Nos. IV., V., VI.

41. Mirror apartments. [To meet the demand for the glass mosaics seen in the palaces of Rājputāna, the Panjab, and Burma, the industry of blowing glass globes, silvered inside, came into existence. The globes are broken into fragments, and set in cement (in Burma in laquer), and used to decorate the walls (Watt, Comm. Prod. 563, 717 f.). There is a Shīsh Mahall in the Agra Fort.]

42. Gardens on the terrace within the palace.

43. Private temple of worship.

44. Dholi.

45. An is the oath of allegiance. Three things in Mewar are royalties a subject cannot meddle with: 1, An, or oath of allegiance; 2, Dan, or transit dues on commerce; 3, Khan, or mines of the precious metals.

46. I rather describe what they were, than what they are. Contentions and poverty have weakened their sympathies and affections; but the mind of philanthropy must hope that they will again become what they have been.

47. Millar’s Historical View of the English Government, p. 85. [See p. 156 above.]

48. Hume, History of England, Appendix II. vol. ii. p. 291.

49. “1. That no man should be deprived of his fief, whether held of the emperor or mesne lord, but by the laws of the empire and judgement of his peers. 2. That from such judgement the vassal might appeal to his sovereign. 3. That fiefs should be inherited by sons and their children, or in their failure by brothers, provided they were feuda paterna, such as had descended from the father. 4. That the lord should not alienate the fief of his vassal without his consent.”consent.”

50. By the revised statute, Quia emptores, of Edw. I., which forbids it in excess, under penalty of forfeiture (Hallam, vol. i. p. 184).

51. Bhayyad, ‘frerage’.

52. Hallam, vol. i. p. 186.

53. Ibid.

54. Hallam, vol. i. p. 186.

55. “Le droit d’aînesse a causé, pendant l’existence du régime féodal, une multitude de guerres et de procès. Notre histoire nous présente, à chaque page, des cadets réduits à la mendicité, se livrant à toutes sortes de brigandages pour réparer les torts de la fortune; des aînés, refusant la légitime à leurs frères; des cadets, assassinant leur aîné pour lui succéder, etc.” (see article, ‘Droit d’aînesse,’ Dict. de l’Ancien Régime).

CHAPTER 4

Rakhwāli.

—I now proceed to another point of striking resemblance between the systems of the east and wrest, arising from the same causes—the unsettled state of society, and the deficiency of paramount protection. It is here called rakhwali,[1] or ‘preservation’; the salvamenta of Europe.[2] To a certain degree it always existed in these States; but the interminable predatory warfare of the last half century increased it to so frightful an extent that superior authority was required to redeem the abuses it had occasioned. It originated in the necessity of protection; and the modes of obtaining it, as well as the compensation [176] when obtained, were various. It often consisted of money or kind on the reaping of each harvest: sometimes in a multiplicity of petty privileges and advantages, but the chief object was to obtain bhum: and here we have one solution of the constituted bhumia,[3] assimilating, as observed, to the allodial proprietor. Bhum thus obtained is irrevocable; and in the eager anxiety for its acquisition we have another decided proof of every other kind of tenure being deemed resumable by the crown.

It was not unfrequent that application for protection was made to the nearest chief by the tenants of the fisc; a course eventually sanctioned by the Government, which could not refuse assent where it could not protect. Here, then, we revert to first principles; and ‘seignorial rights’ may be forfeited, when they cease to yield that which ought to have originated them, viz. benefit to the community. Personal service at stated periods, to aid in the agricultural[4] economy of the protector, was sometimes stipulated, when the husbandmen were to find implements and cattle,[5] and to attend whenever ordered. The protected calls the chief ‘patron’; and the condition may not unaptly be compared to that of personal commendation,[6] like salvamenta, founded on the disturbed state of society. But what originated thus was often continued and multiplied by avarice, and the spirit of rapine, which disgraced the Rajput of the last half century, though he had abundance of apologies for ‘scouring the country.’ But all salvamenta and other marks of vassalage, obtained during these times of desolation, were annulled in the settlement which took place between the Rana and his chiefs, in A.D. 1818[7] [177].

But the crown itself, by some singular proceeding, possesses, or did possess, according to the Patta Bahi, or Book of Grants, considerable salvamenta right, especially in the districts between the new and ancient capitals, in sums of from twenty to one hundred rupees in separate villages.

To such an extent has this rakhwali[8] been carried when protection was desired, that whole communities have ventured their liberty, and become, if not slaves, yet nearly approaching the condition of slaves, to the protector. But no common visitation ever leads to an evil of this magnitude. I mention the fact merely to show that it does exist; and we may infer that the chief, who has become the arbiter of the lives and fortunes of his followers, must have obtained this power by devoting all to their protection. The term thus originated, and probably now (with many others) written for the first time in English letters in this sense, is Basai.

Basāi, Slavery.

—Slavery is to be found in successive stages of society of Europe, but we have no parallel in Rajwara (at least in name) to the agricultural serfs and villains of Europe; nor is there any intermediate term denoting a species of slavery between the Gola[9] of the Hindu chief’s household and the free Rajput but the singular one of basai, which must be explained, since it cannot be translated. This class approximates closely to the tributarii and coloni, perhaps to the servi, of the Salic Franks, “who were cultivators of the earth, and subject to residence upon their master’s estate, though not destitute of property or civil rights.”[10] Precisely the condition of the cultivator in Haraoti who now tills for a taskmaster the fields he formerly owned, degraded to the name of hali,[11] a ploughman.

“When small proprietors,” says Hallam, “lost their lands by mere rapine, we may believe their liberty was hardly less endangered.” The hali of Haraoti knows the bitter truth of this inference, which applies to the subject immediately before us, [178] the basai. The portion of liberty the latter has parted with, was not originally lost through compulsion on the part of the protector, but from external violence, which made this desperate remedy necessary. Very different from the hali of Kotah, who is servile though without the title—a serf in condition but without the patrimony; compelled to labour for subsistence on the land he once owned; chained to it by the double tie of debt and strict police; and if flight were practicable, the impossibility of bettering his condition from the anarchy around would render it unavailing. This is not the practice under the patriarchal native government, which, with all its faults, retains the old links of society, with its redeeming sympathies; but springs from a maire du palais, who pursued an unfeeling and mistaken policy towards this class of society till of late years. Mistaken ambition was the origin of the evil; he saw his error, and remedied it in time to prevent further mischief to the State. This octogenarian ruler, Zalim Singh of Kotah, is too much of a philosopher and politician to let passion overcome his interests and reputation; and we owe to the greatest despot a State ever had the only regular charter which at present exists in Rajasthan, investing a corporate body with the election of their own magistrates and the making of their own laws, subject only to confirmation; with all the privileges which marked in the outset the foundation of the free cities of Europe, and that of boroughs in England.

It is true that, in detached documents, we see the spirit of these institutions existing in Mewar, and it is as much a matter of speculation, whether this wise ruler promulgated this novelty as a trap for good opinions, or from policy and foresight alone: aware, when all around him was improving, from the shackles of restraint being cast aside, that his retention of them must be hurtful to himself. Liberality in this exigence answered the previous purpose of extortion. His system, even then, was good by comparison; all around was rapine, save in the little oasis kept verdant by his skill, where he permitted no other oppression than his own.

This charter is appended[12] as a curiosity in legislation, being given thirty years ago. Another, for the agriculturists’ protection, was set up in A.D. 1821. No human being prompted either; though the latter is modelled from the proceedings in Mewar, and may have been intended, as before observed, to entrap applause.

In every district of Haraoti the stone was raised to record this ordinance [179].

Gola—Das (Slaves).—Famine in these regions is the great cause of loss of liberty: thousands were sold in the last great famine. The predatory system of the Pindaris and mountain tribes aided to keep it up. Here, as amongst the Franks, freedom is derived through the mother. The offspring of a goli[13] or dasi must be a slave. Hence the great number of golas in Rajput families, whose illegitimate offspring are still adorned in Mewar, as our Saxon slaves were of old, with a silver ring round the left ankle, instead of the neck. They are well treated, and are often amongst the best of the military retainers;[14] but are generally esteemed in proportion to the quality of the mother, whether Rajputni, Muslim, or of the degraded tribes: they hold confidential places about the chiefs of whose blood they are. The great-grandfather of the late chief of Deogarh used to appear at court with three hundred golas[15] on horseback in his train, the sons of Rajputs, each with a gold ring round his ankle: men whose lives were his own. This chief could then head two thousand retainers, his own vassals.[16]

Slavery due to Gambling.

—Tacitus[17] describes the baneful effects of gambling amongst the German tribes, as involving personal liberty; their becoming slaves, and being subsequently sold by the winner. The Rajput’s passion for gaming, as remarked in the history of the tribes, is strong; and we can revert to periods long anterior to Tacitus, and perhaps before the woods of Germany were peopled with the worshippers of Tuisto, for the antiquity of this vice amongst the Rajput warriors, presenting a highly interesting picture of its pernicious effects. Yudhishthira having staked and lost the throne of India to Duryodhana, to recover it hazarded the beautiful and virtuous Draupadi. By the loaded dice of his foes she became the goli of the Kaurava, who, triumphing in his pride, would have unveiled her in public; but the deity presiding over female modesty preserved her from the rude gaze of the assembled host; the miraculous scarf lengthened as he withdrew it, till tired, he desisted at the instance of superior interposition. Yudhishthira, not satisfied with this, staked twelve years of his personal liberty, and became an exile from the haunts of Kalindi, a wanderer in the wilds skirting the distant ocean [180].

The illegitimate sons of the Rana are called das, literally ‘slave’: they have no rank, though they are liberally provided for. Basai signifies ‘acquired slavery’; in contradistinction to gola, ‘an hereditary slave.’ The gola can only marry a goli: the lowest Rajput would refuse his daughter to a son of the Rana of this kind. The basai can redeem[18] his liberty: the gola has no wish to do so, because he could not improve his condition nor overcome his natural defects. To the basai nothing dishonourable attaches: the class retain their employments and caste, and are confined to no occupation, but it must be exercised with the chief’s sanction. Individuals reclaimed from captivity, in gratitude have given up their liberty: communities, when this or greater evils threatened, have done the same for protection of their lives, religion, and honour. Instances exist of the population of towns being in this situation. The greater part of the inhabitants of the estate of Bijolli are the basai of its chief, who is of the Pramara tribe: they are his subjects; the Rana, the paramount lord, has no sort of authority over them. Twelve generations have elapsed since his ancestor conducted this little colony into Mewar, and received the highest honours and a large estate on the plateau of its border, in a most interesting country.[19]

The only badge denoting the basai is a small tuft of hair on the crown of the head. The term interpreted has nothing harsh in it, meaning ‘occupant, dweller, or settler.’ The numerous towns in India called Basai have this origin: chiefs abandoning their ancient haunts, and settling[20] with all their retainers and chattels in new abodes. From this, the town of Basai near Tonk (Rampura), derived its name, when the Solanki prince was compelled to abandon his patrimonial lands in Gujarat; his subjects of all classes accompanying him voluntarily, in preference to submitting to foreign rule. Probably the foundation of Bijolli was similar; though only the name of Basai now attaches to the inhabitants. It is not uncommon [181], in the overflowing of gratitude, to be told, “You may sell me, I am your basai.”[21]

Private Feuds—Composition.

—In a state of society such as these sketches delineate, where all depends on the personal character of the sovereign, the field for the indulgence of the passions, and especially of that most incident to the uncontrollable habits of such races—revenge—must necessarily be great. Private feuds have tended, with the general distraction of the times, to desolate this country. Some account of their mode of prosecution, and the incidents thence arising, cannot fail to throw additional light on the manners of society, which during the last half-century were fast receding to a worse than semi-barbarous condition, and, aided by other powerful causes, might have ended in entire annihilation. The period was rapidly advancing, when this fair region of Mewar, the garden of Rajasthan, would have reverted to its primitive sterility. The tiger and the wild boar had already become inmates of the capital, and the bats flitted undisturbed in the palaces of her princes. The ante-courts, where the chieftains and their followers assembled to grace their prince’s cavalcade, were overgrown with dank shrubs and grass, through which a mere footpath conducted the ‘descendant of a hundred kings’ to the ruins of his capital.

In these principalities the influence of revenge is universal. Not to prosecute a feud is tantamount to an acknowledgement of self-degradation; and, as in all countries where the laws are insufficient to control individual actions or redress injuries, they have few scruples as to the mode of its gratification. Hence feuds are entailed with the estates from generation to generation. To sheathe the sword till ‘a feud is balanced’ (their own idiomatic expression), would be a blot never to be effaced from the escutcheon.

In the Hindu word which designates a feud we have another of those striking coincidences in terms to which allusion has already been made: vair is ‘a feud,’ vairi, ‘a foe.’ The Saxon term for the composition of a feud, wergild, is familiar to every man. In some of these States the initial vowel is hard, and [182] pronounced bair. In Rajasthan, bair is more common than vair, but throughout the south-west vair only is used. In these we have the original Saxon word war,[22] the French guer. The Rajput wergild is land or a daughter to wife. In points of honour the Rajput is centuries in advance of our Saxon forefathers, who had a legislative remedy for every bodily injury, when each finger and toe had its price.[23] This might do very well when the injury was committed on a hind, but the Rajput must have blood for blood. The monarch must be powerful who can compel acceptance of the compensation, or mund-kati.[24]

The prosecution of a feud is only to be stopped by a process which is next to impracticable; namely, by the party injured volunteering forgiveness, or the aggressor throwing himself as a suppliant unawares on the clemency of his foe within his own domains: a most trying situation for each to be placed in, yet not unexampled, and revenge in such a case would entail infamy. It was reserved for these degenerate days to produce such an instance.

Amargarh-Shāhpura Feud.

—The Raja of Shahpura, one of the most powerful of the chiefs of Mewar, and of the Rana’s blood, had a feud with the Ranawat chief, the Bhumia proprietor of Amargarh. Ummeda,[25] the chief of Shahpura, held two estates: one was the grant of the kings of Delhi, the other of his own sovereign, and each amounting to £10,000[26] of annual rent, besides the duties on commerce. His estate in Mewar was in the district of Mandalgarh, where also lay his antagonist’s; their bounds were in common and some of the lands were intermixed: this led to disputes, threats, and blows, even in the towns of their fathers, between their husbandmen. The Bhumia Dilel was much less powerful; he was lord of only ten villages, not yielding above £1200 a year; but they were compact and well managed, and he was [183] popular amongst his brethren, whose swords he could always command. His castle was perched on a rock, and on the towers facing the west (the direction of Shahpura) were mounted some swivels: moreover a belt of forest surrounded it, through which only two or three roads were cut, so that surprise was impossible. Dilel had therefore little to fear, though his antagonist could bring two thousand of his own followers against him. The feud burned and cooled alternately; but the Raja’s exposed villages enabled Dilel to revenge himself with much inferior means. He carried off the cattle, and sometimes the opulent subjects, of his foe, to his donjon-keep in Amargarh for ransom. Meanwhile the husbandmen of both suffered, and agriculture was neglected, till half the villages held by Ummeda in Mandalgarh became deserted. The Raja had merited this by his arrogance and attempts to humble Dilel, who had deserved more of the sympathies of his neighbours than his rival, whose tenants were tired of the payments of barchi-dohai.[27]

Ummeda was eccentric, if the term be not too weak to characterize acts which, in more civilized regions, would have subjected him to coercion. He has taken his son and suspended him by the cincture to the pinnacle of his little chapel at Shahpura, and then called on the mother to come and witness the sight. He would make excursions alone on horseback or on a swift camel, and be missing for days. In one of these moods he and his foe Dilel encountered face to face within the bounds of Amargarh. Dilel only saw a chief high in rank at his mercy. With courtesy he saluted him, invited him to his castle, entertained him, and pledged his health and forgiveness in the munawwar piyala:[28] they made merry, and in the cup agreed to extinguish the remembrance of the feud.

Both had been summoned to the court of the sovereign. The Raja proposed that they should go together, and invited him to go by Shahpura. Dilel accordingly saddled his twenty steeds, moved out his equipage, and providing himself with fitting raiment, and funds to maintain him at the capital, accompanied the Raja to receive the return of his hospitality. They ate from the same platter,[29] drank of the same cup and enjoyed the song and dance. They even went together to [184] their devotions, to swear before their deity what they had pledged in the cup—oblivion of the past. But scarcely had they crossed the threshold of the chapel, when the head of the chief of Amargarh was rolling on the pavement, and the deity and the altar were sprinkled with his blood! To this atrocious and unheard-of breach of the laws of hospitality, the Raja added the baseness of the pilferer, seizing on the effects of his now lifeless foe. He is said, also, with all the barbarity and malignity of long-treasured revenge, to have kicked the head with his foot, apostrophising it in the pitiful language of resentment. The son of Dilel, armed for revenge, collected all his adherents, and confusion was again commencing its reign. To prevent this, the Rana compelled restitution of the horses and effects; and five villages from the estate of the Raja were the mund-kati (wergild) or compensation to the son of Dilel. The rest of the estate of the murderer was eventually sequestrated by the crown.

The feuds of Arja and Sheogarh are elsewhere detailed, and such statements could be multiplied. Avowal of error and demand of forgiveness, with the offer of a daughter in marriage, often stop the progress of a feud, and might answer better than appearing as a suppliant, which requires great delicacy of contrivance.[30] Border disputes[31] are most prolific in the production of feuds, and the Rajput lord-marchers have them entailed on them as regularly as their estates. The border chiefs of Jaisalmer and Bikaner carry this to such extent that it often involved both states in hostilities. The vair and its composition in Mandalgarh will, however, suffice for the present to exemplify these things.

Rajput Pardhans or Premiers.

—It would not be difficult, amongst the Majores Domus Regiae of these principalities, to find parallels to the Maires du Palais of France. Imbecility in the chief, whether in the east or west, must have the same consequences; and more than one State in India will present us with the joint appearance of the phantom and the substance of royalty. The details of [185] personal attendance at court will be found elsewhere. When not absent on frontier duties, or by permission at their estates, the chiefs resided with their families at the capital; but a succession of attendants was always secured, to keep up its splendour and perform personal service at the palace. In Mewar, the privileges and exemptions of the higher class are such as to exhibit few of the marks of vassalage observable at other courts. Here it is only on occasion of particular festivals and solemnities that they ever join the prince’s cavalcade, or attend at court. If full attendance is required, on the reception of ambassadors, or in discussing matters of general policy, when they have a right to hear and advise as the hereditary council (panchayat) of the State, they are summoned by an officer, with the prince’s juhar,[32] and his request. On grand festivals the great nakkaras, or kettle-drums, beat at three stated times; the third is the signal for the chief to quit his abode and mount his steed. Amidst all these privileges, when it were almost difficult to distinguish between the prince and his great chiefs, there are occasions well understood by both, which render the superiority of the former apparent: one occurs in the formalities observed on a lapse; another, when at court in personal service, the chief once a week mounts guard at the palace with his clan. On these occasions the vast distance between them is seen. When the chief arrives in the grand court of the palace with his retainers, he halts under the balcony till intimation is given to the prince, who from thence receives his obeisance and duty. This over, he retires to the great darikhana, or hall of audience, appropriated for these ceremonies, where carpets are spread for him and his retainers. At meals the prince sends his compliments, requesting the chief’s attendance at the rasora[33] or ‘feasting hall,’ where with other favoured chiefs he partakes of dinner with the prince. He sleeps in the hall of audience, and next morning with the same formalities takes his leave. Again, in the summons to the presence from their estates, instant obedience is requisite. But in this, attention to their rank is studiously shown by ruqa, written by the private secretary, with the sign-manual of the prince attached, and sealed with the private finger-ring. For the inferior grades, the usual seal of state entrusted to the minister is used.

But these are general duties. In all these States some great court favourite [186], from his talents, character, or intrigue, holds the office of premier. His duties are proportioned to his wishes, or the extent of his talents and ambition; but he does not interfere with the civil administration, which has its proper minister. They, however, act together. The Rajput premier is the military minister, with the political government of the fiefs; the civil minister is never of this caste. Local customs have given various appellations to this officer. At Udaipur he is called bhanjgarh; at Jodhpur, pardhan; at Jaipur (where they have engrafted the term used at the court of Delhi) musahib; at Kotah, kiladar, and diwan or regent. He becomes a most important personage, as dispenser of the favours of the sovereign. Through him chiefly all requests are preferred, this being the surest channel to success. His influence, necessarily, gives him unbounded authority over the military classes, with unlimited power over the inferior officers of the State. With a powerful body of retainers always at his command, it is surprising we have not more frequently our ‘mayors of Burgundy and Dagoberts,’[34] our ‘Martels and Pepins,’ in Rajasthan.

We have our hereditary Rajput premiers in several of these States: but in all the laws of succession are so regulated that they could not usurp the throne of their prince, though they might his functions.

When the treaty was formed between Mewar and the British Government, the ambassadors wished to introduce an article of guarantee of the office of pardhan to the family of the chief noble of the country, the Rawat of Salumbar. The fact was, as stated, that the dignity was hereditary in this family; but though the acquisition was the result of an act of virtue, it had tended much towards the ruin of the country, and to the same cause are to be traced all its rebellions.

SALUMBAR.
To face page 216.

The ambassador was one of the elders of the same clan, being the grand uncle of the hereditary pardhan. He had taken a most active share in the political events of the last thirty years, and had often controlled the councils of his prince during this period, and actually held the post of premier himself when stipulating [187] for his minor relative. With the ascendancy he exercised over the prince, it may be inferred that he had no intention of renouncing it during his lifetime; and as he was educating his adopted heir to all his notions of authority, and initiating him in the intrigues of office, the guaranteed dignity in the head of his family would have become a nonentity,[35] and the Ranas would have been governed by the deputies of their mayors. From both those evils the times have relieved the prince. The crimes of Ajit had made his dismissal from office a point of justice, but imbecility and folly will never be without ‘mayors.’

When a Rana of Udaipur leaves the capital, the Salumbar chief is invested with the government of the city and charge of the palace during his absence. By his hands the sovereign is girt with the sword, and from him he receives the mark of inauguration on his accession to the throne. He leads, by right, the van in battle; and in case of the siege of the capital, his post is the surajpol,[36] and the fortress which crowns it, in which this family had a handsome palace, which is now going fast to decay.

It was the predecessor of the present chief of Salumbar who set up a pretender and the standard of rebellion; but when foreign aid was brought in, he returned to his allegiance and the defence of the capital. Similar sentiments have often been awakened in patriotic breasts, when roused by the interference of foreigners in their internal disputes. The evil entailed on the State by these hereditary offices will appear in its annals.

In Marwar the dignity is hereditary in the house of Awa; but the last brave chief who held it became the victim of a revengeful and capricious sovereign,[37] [188] who was jealous of his exploits; and dying, he bequeathed a curse to his posterity who should again accept the office. It was accordingly transferred to the next in dignity, the house of Asop. The present chief, wisely distrusting the prince whose reign has been a series of turmoils, has kept aloof from court. When the office was jointly held by the chiefs of Nimaj and Pokaran, the tragic end of the former afforded a fine specimen of the prowess and heroism of the Rathor Rajput. In truth, these pardhans of Marwar have always been mill-stones round the necks of their princes; an evil interwoven in their system when the partition of estates took place amidst the sons of Jodha in the infancy of this State. It was, no doubt, then deemed politic to unite to the interests of the crown so powerful a branch, which when combined could always control the rest; but this gave too much equality.

The Chief of Pokaran.

—Deo Singh, the great-grandfather of the Pokaran chief alluded to, used to sleep in the great hall of the palace with five hundred of his clan around him. “The throne of Marwar is in the sheath of my dagger,” was the repeated boast of this arrogant chieftain. It may be anticipated that either he or his sovereign would die a violent death. The lord of Pokaran was entrapped, and instant death commanded; yet with the sword suspended over his head, his undaunted spirit was the same as when seated in the hall, and surrounded by his vassals. “Where, traitor, is now the sheath that holds the fortunes of Marwar?” said the prince. The taunt recoiled with bitterness when he loftily replied, “With my son at Pokaran I have left it.” No time was given for further insult; his head rolled at the steps of the palace; but the dagger of Pokaran still haunts the imaginations of these princes, and many attempts have been made to get possessed of their stronghold on the edge of the desert.[38] The narrow escape of the present chief will be related hereafter, with the sacrifice of his friend and coadjutor, the chief of Nimaj.

Premiers in Kotah and Jaisalmer.

—In Kotah and Jaisalmer the power of the ministers is supreme. We might describe their situation in the words of Montesquieu. "The Pepins kept their princes in a state of imprisonment in the palace, showing them once a year to the people. On this occasion they made such ordinances as were directed [189] by the mayor; they also answered ambassadors, but the mayor framed the answer."[39]

Like those of the Merovingian race, these puppets of royalty in the east are brought forth to the Champ de Mars once a year, at the grand military festival, the Dasahra. On this day, presents provided by the minister are distributed by the prince. Allowances for every branch of expenditure are fixed, nor has the prince the power to exceed them. But at Kotah there is nothing parsimonious, though nothing superfluous. On the festival of the birth of Krishna, and other similar feasts, the prince likewise appears abroad, attended by all the insignia of royalty. Elephants with standards precede; lines of infantry and guns are drawn up; while a numerous cavalcade surrounds his person. The son of the minister sometimes condescends to accompany his prince on horseback; nor is there anything wanting to magnificence, but the power to control or alter any part of it. This failing, how humiliating to a proud mind, acquainted with the history of his ancestors and imbued with a portion of their spirit, to be thus muzzled, enchained, and rendered a mere pageant of state! This chain would have been snapped, but that each link has become adamantine from the ties this ruler has formed with the British Government. He has well merited our protection; though we never contemplated to what extent the maintenance of these ties would involve our own character. But this subject is connected with the history of an individual who yields to none of the many extraordinary men whom India has produced, and who required but a larger theatre to have drawn the attention of the world. His character will be further elucidated in the Annals of Haravati [190].

1. See Appendix, Nos. VII., VIII., and IX.

2. This is the ‘sauvement ou vingtain’ of the French system: there it ceased with the cause. “Les guerres (feudal) cessèrent avec le régime féodal, et les paysans n’eurent plus besoin de la protection du Seigneur; on ne les força pas moins de réparer son château, et de lui payer le droit qui se nommait de sauvement ou vingtain” (Art. ‘Château,’ Dict. de l’Ancien Régime).

3. The chief might lose his patta lands, and he would then dwindle down into the bhumia proprietor, which title only lawless force could take from him. See Appendix, No. IX.

4. See Appendix, No. X., Art. II.

5. This species would come under the distinct term of Hydages due by soccage vassals, who in return for protection supply carriages and work (Hume, vol. ii. p. 308).

6. Hallam, vol. i. p. 169.

7. In indulging my curiosity on this subject, I collected some hundred engagements, and many of a most singular nature. We see the chieftain stipulating for fees on marriages; for a dish of the good fare at the wedding feast, which he transfers to a relation of his district if unable to attend himself; portions of fuel and provender; and even wherewithal to fill the wassail cup in his days of merriment. The Rajput’s religious notions are not of so strict a character as to prevent his even exacting his rakhwali dues from the church lands, and the threat of slaughtering the sacred flock of our Indian Apollo has been resorted to, to compel payment when withheld. Nay, by the chiefs it was imposed on things locomotive: on caravans, or Tandas of merchandise, wherever they halted for the day, rakhwali was demanded. Each petty chief through whose district or patch of territory they travelled, made a demand, till commerce was dreadfully shackled; but it was the only way in which it could be secured. It was astonishing how commerce was carried on at all; yet did the cloths of Dacca and the shawls of Kashmir pass through all such restraints, and were never more in request. Where there is demand no danger will deter enterprise; and commerce flourished more when these predatory armies were rolling like waves over the land, than during the succeeding halcyon days of pacification.

8. The method by which the country is brought under this tax is as follows: “When the people are almost ruined by continual robberies and plunders, the leader of the band of thieves, or some friend of his, proposes that, for a sum of money annually paid, he will keep a number of men in arms to protect such a tract of ground, or as many parishes as submit to the contribution. When the terms are agreed upon he ceases to steal, and thereby the contributors are safe: if any one refuse to pay, he is immediately plundered. To colour all this villainy, those concerned in the robberies pay the tax with the rest; and all the neighbourhood must comply or be undone. This is the case (among others), with the whole low country of the shire of Ross” (Extract from Lord Lovat’s Memorial to George I. on the State of the Highlands of Scotland, in A.D. 1724).

9. In Persian ghulām, literally ‘slave’; evidently a word of the same origin with the Hindu gola. [The words have no connexion.]

10. Hallam, vol. i. p. 217.

11. From hal, ‘a plough.’ Syl is ‘a plough’ in Saxon (Turner’s Anglo-Saxons). The h and s are permutable throughout Rajwara. [The words have no connexion.] In Marwar, Salim Singh is pronounced Halim Hingh.

12. See Appendix, No. XI.

13. Female slave.

14. See Appendix, No. XIX.

15. The reader of Dow’s translation of Ferishta [i. 134] may recollect that when Kutbu-d-din was left the viceroy of the conqueror he is made to say: “He gave the country to Gola the son of Pittu Rai.” [“He delivered over the country to the Gola, or natural son, of Pithow Ray” (Briggs’ trans. i. 128).] Dow mistakes this appellation of the natural brother of the last Hindu sovereign for a proper name. He is mentioned by the bard Chand in his exploits of Prithwiraja.

16. I have often received the most confidential messages, from chiefs of the highest rank, through these channels. [There are, at the present day, several bastard castes originally composed of the illegitimate children of men of rank, Rājputs, Brāhmans, Mahājans, and others. These are now recruited from the descendants of such persons, and from recently born illegitimate children (Census Report, Rajputana, 1911, i. 249f.).]

17. Germania, xxiv.

18. The das or ‘slave’ may hold a fief in Rajasthan, hut he never can rise above the condition in which this defect of birth has placed him. “L’affranchissement consistait à sortir de la classe des serfs, par l’acquisition d’un fief, ou settlement d’un fonds. La nécessité où s’étaient trouvés les seigneurs féodaux de vendre une partie de leurs terres, pour faire leurs équipages des croisades, avait rendu ces acquisitions communes; mais le fief n’anoblissait qu’à la troisième génération.” Serfs who had twice or thrice been champions, or saved the lives of their masters, were also liberated. “Un évêque d’Auxerre déclara qu’il n’affranchirait gratuitement, qui que ce soit, s’il n’avait reçu quinze blessures à son service” (see Article ‘Affranchissement,’ Dict. de l’ancien Régime).

19. I could but indistinctly learn whether this migration, and the species of paternity here existing, arose from rescuing them from Tatar invaders, or from the calamity of famine.

20. Basna, ‘to settle.’

21. I had the happiness to be the means of releasing from captivity some young chiefs, who had been languishing in Mahratta fetters as hostages for the payment of a war contribution. One of them, a younger brother of the Purawat division, had a mother dying to see him; but though he might have taken her house in the way, a strong feeling of honour and gratitude made him forgo this anxious visit: “I am your Rajput, your gola, your basai.” He was soon sent off to his mother. Such little acts, mingling with public duty, are a compensation for the many drawbacks of solitude, gloom, and vexation, attending such situations. They are no sinecures or beds of roses—ease, comfort, and health, being all subordinate considerations.

22. Gilbert on Tenures, art. “Warranty,” p. 169. [Wergild, wer, ‘man,’ gield, gieldan; vair is Skt. vīra, ‘hero’; O.E. wer, O.H.G. werran, ‘to embroil,’ Fr. guerre.]

23. “The great toe took rank as it should be, and held to double the sum of the others, for which ten scyllinga was the value without the nail, which was thirty scealta to boot” (Turner’s Anglo-Saxons, vol. ii. p. 133).

24. Appendix, No. XVIII. The laws of composition were carried to a much greater extent amongst the Hindu nations than even amongst those of the Anglo-Saxons, who might have found in Manu all that was ever written on the subject, from the killing of a Brahman by design to the accidental murder of a dog. The Brahman is four times the value of the soldier, eight of the merchant, and sixteen times of the Sudra. “If a Brahman kill one of the soldier caste (without malice), a bull and one thousand cows is the fine of expiation. If he slays a merchant, a bull and one hundred cows is the fine. If a Sudra or lowest class, ten white cows and a bull to the priest is the expiation” [Laws, xi. 127 ff.]. Manu legislated also for the protection of the brute creation, and if the priest by chance kills a cat, a frog, a dog, a lizard, an owl, or a crow, he must drink nothing but milk for three days and nights, or walk four miles in the night.

25. Ummeda, ‘hope.’

26. Together £20,000, equal to £100,000 of England, if the respective value of the necessaries of life be considered.

27. Barchi is ‘a lance.’ In these marauding days, when there was a riever in every village, they sallied out to ‘run the country,’ either to stop the passenger on the highway or the inhabitant of the city. The lance at his breast, he would call out dohai, an invocation of aid. During harvest time barchi-dohai used to be exacted.

28. ‘Cup of invitation.’ [Munawwar, Pers. ‘bright, splendid.’]

29. This is a favourite expression, and a mode of indicating great friendship: ‘to eat of the same platter (thali), and drink of the same cup (piyala).’

30. The Bundi feud with the Rana is still unappeased, since the predecessor of the former slew the Rana’s father. It was an indefensible act, and the Bundi prince was most desirous to terminate it. He had no daughter to offer, and hinted a desire to accompany me incog. and thus gain admission to the presence of the Rana. The benevolence and generosity of this prince would have insured him success; but it was a delicate matter, and I feared some exposure from any arrogant hot-headed Rajput ere the scene could have been got up. The Raja Bishan Singh of Bundi is since dead [in 1828]; a brave and frank Rajput; he has left few worthier behind. His son [Rām Singh, 1821-89], yet a minor, promises well. The protective alliance, which is to turn their swords into ploughshares, will prevent their becoming foes; but they will remain sulky border-neighbours, to the fostering of disputes and the disquiet of the merchant and cultivator.

31. Sim—Kankar.

32. A salutation, only sent by a superior to an inferior.

33. The kitchen is large enough for a fortress, and contains large eating halls. Food for seven hundred of the prince’s court is daily dressed. This is not for any of the personal servants of the prince, or female establishments; all these are separate.

34. Dagobert commended his wife and son Clovis to the trust of Ega, with whom she jointly held the care of the palace. On his death, with the aid of more powerful lords, she chose another mayor. He confirmed their grants for life. They made his situation hereditary; but which could only have held good from the crowd of imbeciles who succeeded Clovis, until the descendant of this mayor thrust out his children and seized the crown. This change is a natural consequence of unfitness; and if we go back to the genealogies (called sacred) of the Hindus, we see there a succession of dynasties forced from their thrones by their ministers. Seven examples are given in the various dynasties of the race of Chandra. (See Genealogical Tables, No. II.) [The above is in some ways inaccurate, but it is unnecessary to correct it, as it is not connected with the question of premiers in Rājputāna: see EB, xvii. 938.]

35. So many sudden deaths had occurred in this family, that the branch in question (Ajit Singh’s) were strongly suspected of ‘heaping these mortal murders on their crown,’ to push their elders from their seats. The father of Padma, the present chief, is said to have been taken off by poison; and Pahar Singh, one generation anterior, returning grievously wounded from the battle of Ujjain, in which the southrons first swept Mewar, was not permitted to recover. The mother of the present young chief of the Jhala tribe of the house of Gogunda, in the west, was afraid to trust him from her sight. She is a woman of great strength of mind and excellent character, but too indulgent to an only son. He is a fine bold youth, and, though impatient of control, may be managed. On horseback with his lance, in chase of the wild boar, a more resolute cavalier could not be seen. His mother, when he left the estate alone for court, which he seldom did without her accompanying him, never failed to send me a long letter, beseeching me to guard the welfare of her son. My house was his great resort: he delighted to pull over my books, or go fishing or riding with me.

36. Surya, ‘sun’; and pol, ‘gate.’ Poliya, ‘a porter.’

37. “The cur can bite,” the reply of this chief, either personally, or to the person who reported that his sovereign so designated him, was never forgiven.

38. His son, Sabal Singh, followed in his footsteps, till an accidental cannon-shot relieved the terrors of the prince.

39. L’Esprit des Loix, chap. vi. livre 31.

CHAPTER 5

Adoption.

—The hereditary principle, which perpetuates in these States their virtues and their vices, is also the grand preservative of their political existence and national manners: it is an imperishable principle, which resists time and innovation: it is this which made the laws of the Medes and Persians, as well as those of the Rajputs, unalterable. A chief of Mewar, like his sovereign, never dies: he disappears to be regenerated. ‘Le roi est mort, vive le roi!’ is a phrase, the precise virtue of which is there well understood. Neither the crown nor the greater fiefs are ever without heirs. Adoption is the preservative of honours and titles; the great fiefs of Rajasthan can never become extinct.[1] But, however valuable this privilege, which the law of custom has made a right, it is often carried to the most hurtful and foolish extent. They have allowed the limit which defined it to be effaced, and each family, of course, maintains a custom, so soothing to vanity, as the prospect of having their names revived in their descendants. This has resulted from the weakness of the prince and the misery of the times. Lands were bestowed liberally which yielded nothing to their master, who, in securing a nominal obedience and servitude, had as much as the times made them worth when given; but with returning prosperity and old customs, these great errors have become too visible. Adoptions are often made during the life of the incumbent when without prospect of issue. The chief and his wife first agitate the subject in private; it is then confided to the little council of the fief, and when propinquity and merit unite, they at once petition the prince to confirm their wishes, which are generally acceded to. So many interests are to be consulted on this occasion, that the blind partiality of the chief to any particular object is always counterpoised by the elders of the clan, who must have a pride in seeing a proper Thakur[2] at their head, and who prefer the nearest of kin, to prevent the disputes which would be attendant on neglect in this point [191].

On sudden lapses, the wife is allowed the privilege, in conjunction with those interested in the fief, of nomination, though the case is seldom left unprovided for: there is always a presumptive heir to the smallest sub-infeudation of these estates. The wife of the deceased is the guardian of the minority of the adopted.

The Case of Deogarh.

—The chief of Deogarh, one of the sixteen Omras[3] of Mewar, died without issue. On his death-bed he recommended to his wife and chiefs Nahar Singh for their adoption. This was the son of the independent chieftain of Sangramgarh, already mentioned. There were nearer kin, some of the seventh and eighth degrees, and young Nahar was the eleventh. It was never contemplated that the three last gigantic[4] chieftains of Deogarh would die without issue, or the branches, now claimants from propinquity, would have been educated to suit the dignity; but being brought up remote from court, they had been compelled to seek employment where obtainable, or to live on the few acres to which their distant claim of birth restricted them. Two of these, who had but the latter resource to fly to, had become mere boors; and of two who had sought service abroad by arms, one was a cavalier in the retinue of the prince, and the other a hanger-on about court: both dissipated and unfitted, as the frerage asserted, ‘to be the chieftains of two thousand Rajputs, the sons of one father.’[5] Much interest and intrigue were carried on for one of these, and he was supported by the young prince and a faction. Some of the senior Pattawats of Deogarh are men of the highest character, and often lamented the sombre qualities of their chief, which prevented the clan having that interest in the State to which its extent and rank entitled it. While these intrigues were in their infancy, they adopted a decided measure; they brought home young Nahar from his father’s residence, and ‘bound round his head the turban of the deceased.’ In his name the death of the late chief was announced. It was added, that he hoped to see his friends after the stated days of matam or mourning; and he performed all the duties of the son of Deogarh, and lighted the funeral pyre.

When these proceedings were reported, the Rana was highly and justly incensed. The late chief had been one of the rebels of S. 1848;[6] and though pardon had been [192] granted, yet this revived all the recollection of the past, and he felt inclined to extinguish the name of Sangawat.[7]

In addition to the common sequestration, he sent an especial one with commands to collect the produce of the harvest then reaping, charging the sub-vassals with the design of overturning his lawful authority. They replied very submissively, and artfully asserted that they had only given a son to Gokuldas, not an heir to Deogarh; that the sovereign alone could do this, and that they trusted to his nominating one who would be an efficient leader of so many Rajputs in the service of the Rana. They urged the pretensions of young Nahar, at the same time leaving the decision to the sovereign. Their judicious reply was well supported by their ambassador at court, who was the bard of Deogarh, and had recently become, though ex officio, physician to the prince.[8] The point was finally adjusted, and Nahar was brought to court, and invested with the sword by the hand of the sovereign, and he is now lord of Deogarh Madri, one of the richest and most powerful fiefs[9] of Mewar.Mewar. Madri was the ancient name of the estate; and Sangramgarh, of which Nahar was the heir, was severed from it, but by some means had reverted to the crown, of which it now holds. The adoption of Nahar by Gokuldas leaves the paternal estate without an immediate heir; and his actual father being mad, if more distant claims are not admitted, it is probable that Sangramgarh will eventually revert to the fisc.

Reflections.

—The system of feuds must have attained considerable maturity amongst the Rajputs, to have left such traces, notwithstanding the desolation that has swept the land: but without circumspection these few remaining customs will become a dead letter. Unless we abstain from all internal interference, we must destroy the links which connect the prince and his vassals; and, in lieu of a system decidedly imperfect, we should leave them none at all, or at least not a system of feuds, the only one they can comprehend. Our friendship has rescued them from exterior foes, and time will restore the rest. With the dignity and [193] establishments of their chiefs, ancient usages will revive; and nazarana (relief), kharg bandhai (investiture), dasaundh (aids or benevolence, literally ‘the tenth’), and other incidents, will cease to be mere ceremonies. The desire of every liberal mind, as well as the professed wish of the British Government, is to aid in their renovation, and this will be best effected by not meddling with what we but imperfectly understand.[10]

We have nothing to apprehend from the Rajput States if raised to their ancient prosperity. The closest attention to their history proves beyond contradiction that they were never capable of uniting, even for their own preservation: a breath, a scurrilous stanza of a bard, has severed their closest confederacies. No national head exists amongst them as amongst the Mahrattas; and each chief being master of his own house and followers, they are individually too weak to cause us any alarm.

No feudal government can be dangerous as a neighbour; for defence it has in all countries been found defective; and for aggression, totally inefficient. Let there exist between us the most perfect understanding and identity of interests; the foundation-step to which is to lessen or remit the galling, and to us contemptible tribute, now exacted, enfranchise them from our espionage and agency, and either unlock them altogether from our dangerous embrace, or let the ties between us be such only as would ensure grand results: such as general commercial freedom and protection, with treaties of friendly alliance. Then, if a Tatar or a Russian invasion threatened our eastern empire, fifty thousand Rajputs would be no despicable allies.[11]

Rajput Loyalty and Patriotism.

—Let us call to mind what they did when they fought for Aurangzeb: they are still unchanged, if we give them the proper stimulus. Gratitude, honour, and fidelity, are terms which at one time were the foundation of all the virtues of a Rajput. Of the theory of these sentiments he is still enamoured; but, unfortunately, for his happiness, the times have left him but little scope for the practice [194] of them. Ask a Rajput which is the greatest of crimes? he will reply, ‘gunchhor,’ ‘forgetfulness of favours.’ This is his most powerful term for ingratitude. Gratitude with him embraces every obligation of life, and is inseparable from swamidharma, ‘fidelity to his lord.’ He who is wanting in these is not deemed fit to live, and is doomed to eternal pains in Pluto’s[12] realm hereafter.[13]

“It was a powerful feeling,” says an historian[14] who always identifies his own emotions with his subject, “which could make the bravest of men put up with slights and ill-treatment at the hand of their sovereign, or call forth all the energies of discontented exertion for one whom they never saw, and in whose character there was nothing to esteem. Loyalty has scarcely less tendency to refine and elevate the heart than patriotism itself.” That these sentiments were combined, the past history of the Rajputs will show;[15] and to the strength of these ties do they owe their political existence, which has outlived ages of strife. But for these, they would have been converts and vassals to the Tatars, who would still have been enthroned in Delhi. Neglect, oppression, and religious interference, sunk one of the greatest monarchies of the world;[16] made Sivaji a hero, and converted the peaceful husbandmen of the Kistna and Godavari into a brave but rapacious soldier.

We have abundant examples, and I trust need not exclaim with the wise minister of Akbar, “who so happy as to profit by them?”[17]

The Rajput, with all his turbulence, possesses in an eminent degree both loyalty and patriotism; and though he occasionally exhibits his refractory spirit to his [195] father and sovereign,[18] we shall see of what he is capable when his country is threatened with dismemberment, from the history of Mewar, and the reign of Ajit Singh of Marwar. In this last we have one of the noblest examples history can afford of unbounded devotion. A prince, whom not a dozen of his subjects had ever seen, who had been concealed from the period of his birth throughout a tedious minority to avoid the snares of a tyrant,[19] by the mere magic of a name kept the discordant materials of a great feudal association in subjection, till, able to bear arms, he issued from his concealment to head these devoted adherents, and reconquer what they had so long struggled to maintain. So glorious a contest, of twenty years’ duration, requires but an historian to immortalize it. Unfortunately we have only the relation of isolated encounters, which, though exhibiting a prodigality of blood and acts of high devotion, are deficient in those minor details which give unity and interest to the whole.

Gallant Services to the Empire.

—Let us take the Rajput character from the royal historians themselves, from Akbar, Jahangir, Aurangzeb. The most brilliant conquests of these monarchs were by their Rajput allies; though the little regard the latter had for opinion alienated the sympathies of a race, who when rightly managed, encountered at command the Afghan amidst the snows of Caucasus, or made the furthest Cheronese tributary to the empire. Assam, where the British arms were recently engaged, and for the issue of which such anxiety was manifested in the metropolis of Britain, was conquered by a Rajput prince,[20] whose descendant is now an ally of the British Government.

But Englishmen in the east, as elsewhere, undervalue everything not national. They have been accustomed to conquest, not reverses: though it is only by studying the character of those around them that the latter can be avoided and this superiority maintained. Superficial observers imagine that from lengthened predatory spoliation the energy of the Rajput has fled: an idea which is at once erroneous and dangerous. The vices now manifest from oppression will disappear [196] with the cause, and with reviving prosperity new feelings will be generated, and each national tie and custom be strengthened. The Rajput would glory in putting on his saffron robes[21] to fight for such a land, and for those who disinterestedly laboured to benefit it.

Let us, then, apply history to its proper use. We need not turn to ancient Rome for illustration of the dangers inseparable from wide dominion and extensive alliances. The twenty-two Satrapies of India, the greater part of which are now the appanage of Britain, exhibited, even a century ago, one of the most splendid monarchies history has made known, too extensive for the genius of any single individual effectually to control. Yet was it held together, till encroachment on their rights, and disregard to their habits and religious opinions, alienated the Rajputs, and excited the inhabitants of the south to rise against their Mogul oppressors. ‘Then was the throne of Aurangzeb at the mercy of a Brahman, and the grandson[22] of a cultivator in the province of Khandesh held the descendants of Timur pensioners on his bounty’ [197].

1. [The abandonment of the policy of escheat or lapse, and the recognition of the right of adoption were announced by Lord Canning in 1859.]

2. As in Deogarh.

3. [Umara, plural of Amīr, ‘a chief.’]

4. Gokuldas, the last chief, was one of the finest men I ever beheld in feature and person. He was about six feet six, perfectly erect, and a Hercules in bulk. His father at twenty was much larger, and must have been nearly seven feet high. It is surprising how few of the chiefs of this family died a natural death. It has produced some noble Rajputs.

5. Ek bap ka beta.

6. A.D. 1792.

7. That of the clan of Deogarh.

8. Apollo [Krishna] is the patron both of physicians and poets; and though my friend Amra does not disgrace him in either calling, it was his wit, rather than his medical degree, that maintained him at court. He said it was not fitting that the sovereign of the world should be served by clowns or opium-eaters; and that young Nahar, when educated at court under the Rana’s example, would do credit to the country: and what had full as much weight as any of the bard’s arguments was, that the fine of relief on the Talwar bandhai (or girding on of the sword) of a lac of rupees, should be immediately forthcoming.

9. Patta. [About 30 miles south of Udaipur city.]

10. Such interference, when inconsistent with past usage and the genius of the people, will defeat the very best intentions. On the grounds of policy and justice, it is alike incumbent on the British Government to secure the maintenance of their present form of government, and not to repair, but to advise the repairs of the fabric, and to let their own artists alone be consulted. To employ ours would be like adding a Corinthian capital to a column of Ellora, or replacing the mutilated statue of Baldeva with a limb from the Hercules Farnese. To have a chain of prosperous independent States on our only exposed frontier, the north-west, attached to us from benefits, and the moral conviction that we do not seek their overthrow, must be a desirable policy.

11. [The author’s prediction has been realized by recent events.]

12. Yamaloka.

13. The gunchhor (ungrateful) and satchhor (violator of his faith) are consigned, by the authority of the bard, to sixty-thousand years’ residence in hell. Europeans, in all the pride of mastery, accuse the natives of want of gratitude, and say their language has no word for it. They can only know the namak-haram [‘he that is false to his salt’] of the Ganges. Gunchhor is a compound of powerful import, as ingratitude and infidelity are the highest crimes. It means, literally, "abandoner (from chhorna, ‘to quit’) of virtue (gun)."

14. Hallam, vol. i. p. 323.

15. Of the effects of loyalty and patriotism combined, we have splendid examples in Hindu history and tradition. A more striking instance could scarcely be given than in the recent civil distractions at Kotah, where a mercenary army raised and maintained by the Regent, either openly or covertly declared against him, as did the whole feudal body to a man, the moment their young prince asserted his subverted claims, and in the cause of their rightful lord abandoned all consideration of self, their families and lands, and with their followers offered their lives to redeem his rights or perish in the attempt. No empty boast, as the conclusion testified. God forbid that we should have more such examples of Rajput devotion to their sense of fidelity to their lords!

16. See statement of its revenues during the last emperor, who had preserved the empire of Delhi united.

17. Abu-l Fazl uses this expression when moralizing on the fall of Shihabu-d-din, king of Ghazni and first established monarch of India, slain by Prithwiraja, the Hindu sovereign of Delhi [Āīn, ii. 302]. [Muhammad Ghori, Shihābu-d-dīn, was murdered on the road to Ghazni by a fanatic of the Mulāhidah sect, in March, A.D. 1206 (Tabakāt-ī-Nāsiri, in Elliot-Dowson ii. 297, 235). According to the less probable account of Ferishta (Briggs, i. 185), he was murdered at Rohtak by a gang of Gakkhars or rather Khokhars (Rose, Glossary, ii. 275).]

18. The Rajput, who possesses but an acre of land, has the proud feeling of common origin with his sovereign, and in styling him bapji (sire), he thinks of him as the common father or representative of the race. What a powerful incentive to action!

19. Aurangzeb.

20. Raja Man of Jaipur, who took Arakan, Orissa, and Assam. Raja Jaswant Singh of Marwar retook Kabul for Aurangzeb, and was rewarded by poison. Raja Ram Singh Hara, of Kotah, made several important conquests; and his grandson, Raja Isari Singh, and his five brothers, were left on one field of battle.

21. When a Rajput is determined to hold out to the last in fighting, he always puts on a robe dyed in saffron. [This was the common practice, saffron being the colour of the bridal robe (Malcolm, Memoir of Central India, 2nd ed. i. 358; Grant Duff, Hist. of the Mahrattas, 317; Forbes, Rāsmālā, 408).]

22. Sindhia.

APPENDIX

PAPERS REFERRED TO IN THE SKETCH OF A

FEUDAL SYSTEM IN RAJASTHAN

BEING

Literal Translations from Inscriptions and Original

Documents, most of which are in the Author’s Possession

No. I

Translation of a Letter from the expatriated Chiefs[1] of Marwar to

the Political Agent of the British Government, Western Rajput

States.

After compliments.

We have sent to you a confidential person, who will relate what regards us. The Sarkar Company are sovereigns of Hindustan, and you know well all that regards our condition. Although there is nothing which respects either ourselves or our country hid from you, yet is there matter immediately concerning us which it is necessary to make known.

Sri Maharaja and ourselves are of one stock, all Rathors. He is our head, we his servants: but now anger has seized him, and we are dispossessed of our country. Of the estates, our patrimony and our dwelling, some have been made khalisa,[2] and those who endeavour to keep aloof expect the same fate. Some under the most solemn pledge of security have been inveigled and suffered death, and others imprisoned. Mutasadis,[3] officers of state, men of the soil and those foreign to it, have been seized, and the most unheard-of deeds and cruelties inflicted, which we cannot even write. Such a spirit has possessed his mind as never was known to any former prince of Jodhpur. His forefathers have reigned for generations; our forefathers were their ministers and advisers, and whatever was performed was by the collective wisdom of the council of our chiefs. Before the face of his ancestors, our own ancestors have slain and been slain; and in performing services to the kings,[4] they made the State of Jodhpur what it is. Wherever Marwar was concerned, there our fathers were to be found, and with their lives preserved the land. Sometimes our head was a minor; even then by the wisdom of our fathers and their services, the land was kept firm under our feet, and thus has it descended from generation to generation. Before his eyes (Raja Man’s) we have performed good service: when at that perilous time the host of Jaipur[5] surrounded [198] Jodhpur on the field we attacked it; our lives and fortunes were at stake, and God granted us success; the witness is God Almighty. Now, men of no consideration are in our prince’s presence; hence this reverse. When our services are acceptable, then is he our lord; when not, we are again his brothers and kindred, claimants and laying claim to the land.

He desires to dispossess us; but can we let ourselves be dispossessed? The English are masters of all India. The chief of —— sent his agent to Ajmer; he was told to go to Delhi. Accordingly Thakur —— went there, but no path was pointed out. If the English chiefs will not hear us, who will? The English allow no one’s lands to be usurped, and our birthplace is Marwar—from Marwar we must have bread. A hundred thousand Rathors—where are they to go to? From respect to the English alone have we been so long patient, and without acquainting your government of our intentions, you might afterwards find fault; therefore we make it known, and we thereby acquit ourselves to you. What we brought with us from Marwar we have consumed, and even what we could get on credit; and now, when want must make us perish, we are ready and can do anything.[6]

The English are our rulers, our masters. Sri Man Singh has seized our lands; by your government interposing these troubles may be settled, but without its guarantee and intervention we can have no confidence whatever. Let us have a reply to our petition. We will wait it in patience; but if we get none, the fault will not be ours, having given everywhere notice. Hunger will compel man to find a remedy. For such a length of time we have been silent from respect to your government alone: our own Sarkar is deaf to complaint. But to what extreme shall we wait? Let our hopes be attended to. Sambat 1878, Sawan sudi duj.

(August 1821.)

True Translation:

(Signed)     James Tod.

No. II

Remonstrance of the Sub-Vassals of Deogarh against their chief, Rawat Gokul Das.

1. He respects not the privileges or customs established of old.

2. To each Rajput’s house a charas[7] or hide of land was attached: this he has resumed.

3. Whoever bribes him is a true man: who does not, is a thief.

4. Ten or twelve villages established by his pattayats[8] he has resumed, and left their families to starve.

5. From time immemorial sanctuary (saran) has been esteemed sacred: this he has abolished.

6. On emergencies he would pledge his oath to his subjects (ryots), and afterwards plunder them.

7. In old times, it was customary when the presence of his chiefs and kindred was required, to invite them by letter: a fine is now the warrant of summons: thus lessening their dignity.

8. Such messengers, in former times, had a taka[9] for their ration (bhatta); now he imposes two rupees [199].

9. Formerly, when robberies occurred in the mountains within the limits of Deogarh, the loss was made good: now all complaint is useless, for his faujdar[10] receives a fourth of all such plunder. The Mers[11] range at liberty; but before they never committed murder: now they slay as well as rob our kin; nor is there any redress, and such plunder is even sold within the town of Deogarh.

10. Without crime, he resumes the lands of his vassals for the sake of imposition of fines; and after such are paid, he cuts down the green crops, with which he feeds his horses.

11. The cultivators[12] on the lands of the vassals he seizes by force, extorts fines, or sells their cattle to pay them. Thus cultivation is ruined and the inhabitants leave the country.

12. From oppression the town magistrates[13] of Deogarh have fled to Raepur. He lays in watch to seize and extort money from them.

13. When he summons his vassals for purposes of extortion and they escape his clutches, he seizes on their wives and families. Females, from a sense of honour, have on such occasions thrown themselves into wells.

14. He interferes to recover old debts, distraining the debtor of all he has in the world: half he receives.

15. If any one have a good horse, by fair means or foul he contrives to get it.

16. When Deogarh was established, at the same time were our allotments: as is his patrimony, so is our patrimony.[14] Thousands have been expended in establishing and improving them, yet our rank, privileges, and rights he equally disregards.

17. From these villages, founded by our forefathers, he, at will, takes four or five skins of land and bestows them on foreigners; and thus the ancient proprietors are reduced to poverty and ruin.

18. From of old, all his Rajput kin had daily rations, or portions of grain: for four years these rights have been abolished.

19. From ancient times the pattayats formed his council; now he consults only foreigners. What has been the consequence? the whole annual revenue derived from the mountains is lost.

20. From the ancient Bhum[15] of the Frerage[16] the mountaineers carry off the cattle, and instead of redeeming them, this faujdar sets the plunderers up to the trick of demanding rakhwali.[17]

21. Money is justice, and there is none other: whoever has money may be heard. The bankers and merchants have gone abroad for protection, but he asks not where they are.

22. When cattle are driven off to the hills, and we do ourselves justice and recover them, we are fined, and told that the mountaineers have his pledge. Thus our dignity is lessened. Or if we seize one of these marauders, a party is sent to liberate him, for which the faujdar [200] receives a bribe. Then a feud ensues at the instigation of the liberated Mer, and the unsupported Rajput is obliged to abandon his patrimony.[18] There is neither protection nor support. The chief is supine, and so regardless of honour, that he tells us to take money to the hills and redeem our property. Since this faujdar had power, ‘poison has been our fate.’ Foreigners are all in all, and the home-bred are set aside. Deccanis and plunderers enjoy the lands of his brethren. Without fault, the chiefs are deprived of their lands, to bring which into order time and money have been lavished. Justice there is none.

Our rights and privileges in his family are the same as his in the family of the Presence.[19] Since you[20] entered Mewar, lands long lost have been recovered. What crimes have we committed that at this day we should lose ours?

We are in great trouble.[21]

No. III

Maharaja Sri Gokuldas to the four ranks (char misl) of Pattayats of Deogarh, commanding. Peruse.

Without crime no vassal shall have his estate or charsas disseized. Should any individual commit an offence, it shall be judged by the four ranks (char misl), my brethren, and then punished. Without consulting them on all occasions I shall never inflict punishment.[22] To this I swear by Sri Nathji. No departure from this agreement shall ever occur. S. 1874; the 6th Pus.

REPRODUCTION OF SANSKRIT GRANT.
To face page 232.

No. IV

Grant from Maharana Ari Singh, Prince of Mewar, to the Sindi Chief, Abdu-l Rahim Beg.

| Ramji![23] |
Ganeshji![23] |  | Eklingji![23]

Sri Maharaja Dhiraj Maharana Ari Singh to Mirza Abdu-l Rahim Beg Adilbegot, commanding.

Now some of our chiefs having rebelled and set up the impostor Ratna Singh, brought the [201] Deccani army and erected batteries against Udaipur, in which circumstances your services have been great and tended to the preservation of our sovereignty: therefore, in favour towards you, I have made this grant, which your children and children’s children shall continue to enjoy. You will continue to serve faithfully; and whoever of my race shall dispossess you or yours, on him be Eklingji and the sin of the slaughter of Chitor.

Particulars.

1st. In estates, 200,000 rupees.

2nd. In cash annually, 25,000.

3rd. Lands outside the Debari gate, 10,000.

4th. As a residence, the dwelling-house called Bharat Singh’s.

5th. A hundred bighas of land outside the city for a garden.

6th. The town of Mithun in the valley, to supply wood and forage.

7th. To keep up the tomb of Ajmeri Beg, who fell in action, one hundred bighas of land.

Privileges and Honours.

8th. A seat in Darbar and rank in all respects equal to the chieftain of Sadri.[24]

9th. Your kettle-drums (Nakkara) to beat to the exterior gate, but with one stick only.

10th. Amar Balaona,[25] and a dress of honour on the Dasahra[26] festival.

11th. Drums to beat to Ahar. All other privileges and rank like the house of Salumbar.[27] Like that house, yours shall be from generation to generation; therefore according to the valuation of your grant you will serve.

12th. Your brothers or servants, whom you may dismiss, I shall not entertain or suffer my chief to entertain.

13th. The Chamars[28] and Kirania[29] you may use at all times when alone, but never in the Presence.

14th. Munawwar Beg, Anwar Beg, Chaman Beg, are permitted seats in front of the throne; Amar Balaona, and honorary dresses on Dasahra, and seats for two or three other relatives who may be found worthy the honour.

15th. Your agent (Vakil) shall remain at court with the privileges due to his rank.

By command:

Sah Moti Ram Bolia,

S. 1826 (A.D. 1770) Bhadon (August) sudi 11 Somwar (Monday).

No. V

Grant of the Patta of Bhainsror to Rawat Lal Singh, one of the sixteen great vassals of Mewar.

Maharaja Jagat Singh to Rawat Lal Singh Kesarisinghgot,[30] commanding.

Now to you the whole Pargana of Bhainsror[31] is granted as Giras, viz. [202]:

Town of Bhainsror | 3000 | 1500
Fifty-two others (names uninteresting), besides one in the valley of the capital. Total value | 62,000 | 31,000[32]

With two hundred and forty-eight horse and two hundred and forty-eight foot, good horse and good Rajputs, you will perform service. Of this, forty-eight horse and forty-eight foot are excused for the protection of your fort; therefore with two hundred foot and two hundred horse you will serve when and wherever ordered. The first grant was given in Pus, S. 1798, when the income inserted was over-rated. Understanding this, the Presence (huzur) ordered sixty thousand of annual value to be attached to Bhainsror.

No. VI

Grant from Maharana Sangram Singh of Mewar to his Nephew,

the Prince Madho Singh, heir-apparent to the principality of

Jaipur.

| Sri Ramjayati |
| (Victory to Rama). |
Sri Ganesh Prasad |  | Sri Ekling Prasad
(By favour of Ganesh). |  | (By favour of Eklinga).

(See notes [33] and [34] below.)

Maharaja Dhiraj Maharana Sri Sangram Singh, Adisatu, commanding. To my nephew, Kunwar Madho Singhji, giras (a fief) has been granted, viz.:

The fief (patta) of Rampura; therefore, with one thousand horse and two thousand foot, you will perform service during six months annually; and when foreign service is required, three thousand foot and three thousand horse.

While the power of the Presence is maintained in these districts you will not be dispossessed.

By command:

Pancholi Raechand andand Mehta Mul Das.

S. 1785 (A.D. 1729); Chait sudi 7th; Mangalwar (Tuesday).

Addressed in the Rana’s own hand.

To my nephew Madho Singh[35] [203]. My child, I have given you Rampura: while mine, you shall not be deprived of it. Done.

No. VII

Grant of Bhum Rakhwali (Salvamenta) from the village of Dongla to Maharaja Khushhal Singh.

S. 1806 (A.D. 1750), the first of Sawan (July).

1st. A field of one hundred and fifty-one bighas, of which thirty-six are irrigated.

2nd. One hundred and two bighas of waste and unirrigated, viz.:

Six bighas cultivated by Govinda the oilman.

Three, under Hira and Tara the oilmen.

Seventeen cultivated by the mason Hansa, and Lal the oilman.

Four bighas of waste and forest land (parti, aryana) which belonged to Govinda and Hira, etc., etc.; and so on enumerating all the fields composing the above aggregate.

Dues and Privileges

Pieces of money | 12.
Grain | 24 maunds.
On the festivals of Rakhi, Diwali, and Holi, one copper coin from each house.
Serana | at harvest.
Shukri from the Brahmans.
Transit duties for protection of merchandise, viz., a pice on every cart-load, and half a pice for each bullock.
Two platters on every marriage feast.

No. VIII

Grant of Bhum by the Inhabitants of Amli to Rawat Fateh Singh of Amet. S. 1814 (A.D. 1758)

The Ranawats Sawant Singh and Subhag Singh had Amli in grant; but they were oppressive to the inhabitants, slew the Patels Jodha and Bhagi, and so ill-treated the Brahmans, that Kusal and Nathu sacrificed themselves on the pyre. The inhabitants demanded the protection of the Rana, and the pattayats were changed; and now the inhabitants grant in rakhwali one hundred and twenty-five bighas as bhum to Fateh Singh[36] [204].

No. IX

Grant of Bhum by the Inhabitants of the Town of Dongla to Maharaja Zorawar Singh, of Bhindar.

To Sri Maharaja Zorawar Singh, the Patels, traders, merchants, Brahmans, and united inhabitants of Dongla, make agreement.

Formerly the ‘runners’ in Dongla were numerous: to preserve us from whom we granted bhum to the Maharaja. To wit:

One well, that of Hira the oilman.

One well, that of Dipa the oilman.

One well, that of Dewa the oilman.

In all, three wells, being forty-four bighas of irrigated (piwal), and one hundred and ninety-one bighas of unirrigated (mal) land. Also a field for juar.

Customs or Dignities (Maryad) attached to the Bhum.

1st. A dish (kansa) on every marriage.

2nd. Six hundred rupees ready cash annually.

3rd. All Bhumias, Girasias, the high roads, passes from raids and ‘runners,’ and all disturbances whatsoever, the Maharaja must settle.

When the Maharaja is pleased to let the inhabitants of Dongla reinhabit their dwellings, then only can they return to them.[37]

Written by the accountant Kacchia, on the full moon of Jeth, S. 1858, and signed by all the traders, Brahmans, and towns-people.

No. X

Grant of Bhum by the Prince of Mewar to an inferior Vassal.

Maharana Bhim Singh to Baba Ram Singh, commanding.

Now a field of two hundred and twenty-five bighas in the city of Jahazpur, with the black orchard (sham bagh) and a farm-house (nohara) for cattle, has been granted you in bhum.

Your forefathers recovered for me Jahazpur and served with fidelity; on which account this bhum is renewed. Rest assured no molestation shall be offered, nor shall any pattayat interfere with you.

Privileges.

One serana.[38]

Two halmas [205].[39]

Offerings of coco-nuts on the Holi and Dasahra festivals.

From every hundred bullock-loads[40] of merchandise, twelve annas.

From every hundred and twenty-five ass-loads, six annas.

From each horse sold within Jahazpur, two annas.

From each camel sold, one anna.

From each oil-mill, one pula.

From each iron mine (madri), a quarter rupee.

From each distillation of spirits, a quarter rupee.

From each goat slain, one pice.

On births and marriages,[41] five platters (kansa).

The handful (inch) from every basket of greens.

With every other privilege attached to bhum.

Irrigated land (piwal) | 51 | bighas.
Unirrigated land (mal) | 110 | "
Mountain land (magra) | 40 | "
Meadow land (bira) | 25 | "
| 226 | bighas.

Asarh (June) S. 1853 (A.D. 1797).

No. XI

Charter of Privileges and Immunities granted to the town of Jhalrapatan, engraved on a Pillar in that City.

S. 1853 (A.D. 1797), corresponding with the Saka 1718, the sun being in the south, the season of cold, and the happy month of Kartika,[42] the enlightened half of the month, being Monday the full moon.

Maharaja Dhiraj Sri Ummed Singh Deo,[43] the Faujdar[44] Raj Zalim Singh [206] and Kunwar Madho Singh, commanding. To all the inhabitants of Jhalrapatan, Patels,[45] Patwaris,[46] Mahajans,[47] and to all the thirty-six castes, it is written.

At this period entertain entire confidence, build and dwell.

Within this abode all forced contributions and confiscations are for ever abolished. The taxes called Bhalamanusi,[48] Anni,[49] and Rekha Barar,[50] and likewise all Bhetbegar,[51] shall cease.

To this intent is this stone erected, to hold good from year to year, now and evermore. There shall be no violence in this territory. This is sworn by the cow to the Hindu and the hog to the Musalman: in the presence of Captain Dilel Khan, Chaudhari Sarup Chand, Patel Lalo, the Mahesri Patwari Balkishan, the architect Kalu Ram, and the stone-mason Balkishan.

Parmo[52] is for ever abolished. Whoever dwells and traffics within the town of Patan, one half of the transit duties usually levied in Haravati are remitted; and all mapa (meter’s) duties are for ever abolished.

No. XII

Abolitions, Immunities, Prohibitions, etc. etc. Inscription in the Temple of Lachhmi Narayan at Akola.

In former times tobacco was sold in one market only. Rana Raj Singh commanded the monopoly to be abolished. S. 1645.

Rana Jagat Singh prohibited the seizure of the cots and quilts by the officers of his government from the printers of Akola.

No. XIII

Privileges and Immunities granted to the Printers of Calico and Inhabitants of the Town of Great Akola in Mewar.

Maharana Bhim Singh, commanding, to the inhabitants of Great Akola.

Whereas the village has been abandoned from the assignments levied by the garrison of Mandalgarh, and it being demanded of its population how it could again be rendered prosperous, they unanimously replied: "Not to exact beyond the dues and contributions (dand dor) established of yore; to erect the pillar promising never to exact above half the produce of the crops, or to molest the persons of those who thus paid their dues."

The Presence agreed, and this pillar has been erected. May Eklinga look to him who breaks this command. The hog to the Musalman and the cow to the Hindu.

Whatever contributions (dand) parmo,[53] puli,[54] heretofore levied shall be paid [207].

All crimes committed within the jurisdiction of Akola to be tried by its inhabitants, who will sit in justice on the offender and fine him according to his faults.

On Amavas[55] no work shall be done at the well[56] or at the oil-mill, nor printer put his dye-pot on the fire.[57]

Whoever breaks the foregoing, may the sin of the slaughter of Chitor be upon him.

This pillar was erected in the presence of Mehta Sardar Singh, Sanwal Das, the Chaudharis Bhopat Ram and Daulat Ram, and the assembled Panch of Akola.

Written by the Chaudhari Bhopji, and engraved by the stonecutter Bhima.

S. 1856 (A.D. 1800)

No. XIV

Prohibition against Guests carrying away Provisions from the Public Feast.[58]

Sri Maharana Sangram Singh to the inhabitants of Marmi.

On all feasts of rejoicing, as well as those on the ceremonies for the dead, none shall carry away with them the remains of the feast. Whoever thus transgresses shall pay a fine to the crown of one hundred and one rupees. S. 1769 (A.D. 1713), Chait Sudi 7th.

No. XV

Maharana Sangram Singh to the merchants and bankers of Bakrol.

The custom of furnishing quilts (sirak)[59] of which you complain is of ancient date. Now when the collectors of duties, their officers, or those of the land revenue stop at Bakrol, the merchants will furnish them with beds and quilts. All other servants will be supplied by the other inhabitants.

Should the dam of the lake be in any way injured, whoever does not aid in its repair shall, as a punishment, feed one hundred and one Brahmans. Asarh 1715, or June A.D. 1659 [208].

No. XVI

Warrant of the Chief of Bijolli to his Vassal, Gopaldas Saktawat.

Maharaja Mandhata to Saktawat Gopaldas, be it known.

At this time a daily fine of four rupees is in force against you. Eighty are now due; Ganga Ram having petitioned in your favour, forty of this will be remitted. Give a written declaration to this effect—that with a specified quota you will take the field; if not, you will stand the consequences.

Viz.: One good horse and one matchlock, with appurtenances complete, to serve at home and abroad (des pardes), and to run the country[60] with the Kher.

When the levy (kher) takes the field, Gopaldas must attend in person. Should he be from home, his retainers must attend, and they shall receive rations from the presence. Sawan sudi das (August 10) S. 1782.

No. XVII

Maharaja Udaikaran to the Saktawat Shambhu Singh. Be it known.

I had annexed Gura to the fisc, but now, from favour, restore it to you. Make it flourish, and serve me at home and abroad, with one horse, and one foot soldier.

When abroad you shall receive rations (bhatta) as follows:

Flour | 3 lb.
Pulse | 4 ounces.
Butter (ghi) | 2 pice weight.
Horses’ feed | 4 seers at 22 takas each seer, of daily allowance.

If for defence of the fort you are required, you will attend with all your dependents, and bring your wife, family, and chattels; for which, you will be exempted from two years of subsequent service. Asarh 14, S. 1834 [209].

No. XVIII

Bhum in Mundkati, or Compensation for Blood, to Jeth Singh Chondawat.

The Patel’s son went to bring home his wife with Jeth’s Rajputs as a guard. The party was attacked, the guard killed, and there having been no redress for the murder, twenty-six bighas have been granted in mundkati[61] (compensation).

No. XIX

Rawat Megh Singh to his natural brother, Jamna Das, a patta (fief) has been granted, viz.:

The village of Rajpura, value | Rupees | 401
A garden of mogra flowers[62] |  | 11
| Rupees | 412

Serve at home and abroad with fidelity: contributions and aids pay according to custom, and as do the rest of the vassals. Jeth 14th, S. 1874.

No. XX

Charter given by the Rana of Mewar, accepted and signed by all his Chiefs; defining the duties of the contracting Parties.

A.D. 1818.

Siddh Sri Maharana Dhiraj, Maharana Bhim Singh, to all the nobles my brothers and kin, Rajas, Patels, Jhalas, Chauhans, Chondawats, Panwars, Sarangdeots, Saktawats, Rathors, Ranawats, etc., etc.

Now, since S. 1822 (A.D. 1776), during the reign of Sri Ari Singhji,[63] when the troubles commenced, laying ancient usages aside, undue usurpations of the land have been made: therefore on this day, Baisakh badi 14th, S. 1874 (A.D. 1818), the Maharana assembling all his chiefs, lays down the path of duty in new ordinances.

1st. All lands belonging to the crown obtained since the troubles, and all lands seized by one chief from another, shall be restored.

2nd. All Rakhwali,[64] Bhum, Lagat,[65] established since the troubles, shall be renounced.

3rd. Dhan,[66] Biswa,[67] the right of the crown alone, shall be renounced.

4th. No chiefs shall commit thefts or violence within the boundaries of their estates. They shall entertain no Thugs,[68] foreign thieves or thieves of the country, as Moghias,[68] Baoris,[68] Thoris:[68] but those who shall adopt peaceful habits may remain; but should any return to their old pursuits, their heads shall instantly be taken off. All property stolen shall be made good by the proprietor of the estate within the limits of which it is plundered [210].

5th. Home or foreign merchants, traders, Kafilas,[69] Banjaras,[70] who enter the country, shall be protected. In no wise shall they be molested or injured, and whoever breaks this ordinance, his estate shall be confiscated.

6th. According to command, at home or abroad service must be performed. Four divisions (chaukis) shall be formed of the chiefs, and each division shall remain three months in attendance at court, when they shall be dismissed to their estates. Once a year, on the festival of the Dasahra,[71] all the chiefs shall assemble with their quotas ten days previous thereto, and twenty days subsequent they shall be dismissed to their estates. On urgent occasions, and whenever their services are required, they shall repair to the Presence.

7th. Every Pattawat holding a separate patta from the Presence shall perform separate service. They shall not unite or serve under the greater Pattawats: and the sub-vassals of all such chiefs shall remain with and serve their immediate Pattawat.[72]

8th. The Maharana shall maintain the dignities due to each chief according to his degree.

9th. The Ryots shall not be oppressed: there shall be no new exactions or arbitrary fines. This is ordained.

10th. What has been executed by Thakur Ajit Singh and sanctioned by the Rana, to this all shall agree.[73]

11th. Whosoever shall depart from the foregoing, the Maharana shall punish. In doing so the fault will not be the Rana’s. Whoever fails, on him be the oath (an) of Eklinga and the Maharana.

[Here follow the signatures of all the chieftains of rank in Mewar, which it is needless to insert] [211].

PALACE OF UDAIPUR.
To face page 247.

1. The names omitted to prevent any of them falling a sacrifice to the blind fury of their prince. The brave chief of Nimaj has sold his life, but dearly. In vain do we look in the annals of Europe for such devotion and generous despair as marked his end, and that of his brave clan. He was a perfect gentleman in deportment, modest and mild, and head of a powerful clan.

2. Fiscal, that is, sequestrated.

3. Clerks, and inferior officers of government.

4. Alluding to the sovereigns of Delhi. In the magnificent feudal assemblage at this gorgeous court, where seventy-six princes stood in the Divan (Diwan-i-Khass) each by a pillar covered with plates of silver, the Marwar prince had the right hand of all. I have an original letter from the great-grandfather of Raja Man to the Rana, elate with this honour.

5. In 1806.

6. The historian of the Middle Ages justly remarks, that “the most deadly hatred is that which men, exasperated by proscription and forfeitures, bear their country.”

7. Hide or skin, from the vessel used in irrigation being made of leather.

8. The vassals, or those holding fiefs (patta) of Deogarh.

9. A copper coin, equal to twopence.

10. Military commander; a kind of inferior maire du palais, on every Rajput chieftain’s estate, and who has the military command of the vassals. He is seldom of the same family, but generally of another tribe.

11. Mountaineers.

12. Of the Jat and other labouring tribes.

13. Chauthias. In every town there is an unpaid magistracy, of which the head is the Nagar Seth, or chief citizen, and the four Chauthias, tantamount to the Lord Mayor and Aldermen, who hold their courts and decide in all civil cases.

14. Here are the precise sentiments embodied in the remonstrances of the great feudal chiefs of Marwar to their prince; see Appendix, No. I.

15. The old allodial allotments.

16. Bhayyad.

17. The salvamenta of our feudal writers; the blackmail of the north.

18. ‘Watan.’

19. The Rana.

20. The Author.

21. With the articles of complaint of the vassals of Deogarh and the short extorted charter, to avoid future cause for such, we may contrast the following: "Pour avoir une idée du brigandage que les nobles exerçaient à l’époque où les premieres chartes furent accordées, il suffit d’en lire quelques-unes, et l’on verra que le seigneur y disait:—‘Je promets de ne point voler, extorquer les biens et les meubles des habitans, de les délivrer des totes ou rapines, et autres mauvaises coutumes, et de ne plus commettre envers eux d’exactions.’—En effet, dans ces tems malheureux, vivres, meubles, chevaux, voitures, dit le savant Abbé de Mably, tout était enlevé par l’insatiable et aveugle avidité des seigneurs" (Art. ‘Chartres,’ Dict. de l’Ancien Régime).

22. This reply to the remonstrance of his vassals is perfectly similar in point to the 43rd article of Magna Charta.

23. Invocations to Ram, Ganesh (god of wisdom), and Eklinga, the patron-divinity of the Sesodia Guhilots.

24. The first of the foreign vassals of the Rana’s house. [Bari Sādri, about 50 miles E.S.E. of Udaipur city, held by the senior noble of Mewār, a Rājput of the Jhāla sub-sept, styled Rāja of Sādri (Erskine ii. A. 93).]

25. A horse furnished by the prince, always replaced when he dies, therefore called Amar, or immortal.

26. The grand military festival, when a muster is made of all the Rajput quotas.

27. The first of the home-chieftains.

28. The tail of the wild ox, worn across the saddle-bow.

29. An umbrella or shade against the sun; from kiran, ‘a ray.’

30. Clan (got) of Kesari Singh, one of the great branches of the Chondawats.

31. On the left bank of the Chambal.

32. To explain these double rekhs, or estimates, one is the full value, the other the deteriorated rate.

33. The bhala, or lance, is the sign-manual of the Salumbar chieftain, as hereditary premier of the state.

34. Is a monogram forming the word Sahai, being the sign-manual of the prince.

35. Bhanaij is sister’s son; as Bhatija is brother’s son. It will be seen in the Annals, that to support this prince to the succession of the Jaipur Gaddi, both Mewar and Jaipur were ruined, and the power of the Deccanis established in both countries.

36. This is a proof of the value attached to bhum, when granted by the inhabitants, as the first act of the new proprietor though holding the whole town from the crown, was to obtain these few bighas as bhum. After having been sixty years in that family, Amli has been resumed by the crown: the bhum has remained with the chief.

37. This shows how bhum was extorted in these periods of turbulence, and that this individual gift was as much to save them from the effects of the Maharaja’s violence as to gain protection from that of others.

38. A seer on each maund of produce.

39. The labour of two ploughs (hal). Halma is the personal service of the husbandman with his plough for such time as is specified. Halma is precisely the detested corvée of the French régime. “Les corvées sont tout ouvrage ou service, soit de corps ou de charrois et bêtes, pendant le jour, qui est dû à un seigneur. Il y avait deux sortes de corvées: les réelles et les personnelles, etc. Quelquefois le nombre des corvées était fixe: mais, le plus souvent, elles étaient à volonté du seigneur, et c’est ce qu’on appelait corvées à merci” (Art. ‘Corvée,’ Dict. de l’anc. Régime). Almost all the exactions for the last century in Mewar may come under this latter denomination.

40. A great variety of oppressive imposts were levied by the chiefs during these times of trouble, to the destruction of commerce and all facility of travelling. Everything was subject to tax, and a long train of vexatious dues exacted for “repairs of forts, boats at ferries, night-guards, guards of passes,” and other appellations, all having much in common with the ‘Droit de Péage’ in France. “Il n’y avait pas de ponts, de gués, de chaussées, d’écluses, de défilés, de portes, etc., où les féodaux ne fissent payer un droit à ceux que leurs affaires ou leur commerce forçaient de voyager” (Dict. de l’anc. Régime).

41. The privileges of our Rajput chieftains on the marriages of their vassals and cultivating subjects are confined to the best dishes of the marriage feast or a pecuniary commutation. This is, however, though in a minor degree, one of the vexatious claims of feudality of the French system, known under the term noçages, where the seigneur or his deputy presided, and had the right to be placed in front of the bride, “et de chanter à la fin du répas, une chanson guillerette.” But they even carried their insolence further, and "poussèrent leur mépris pour les villains (the agricultural classes of the Rajput system) jusqu’à exiger que leurs chiens eussent leur couvert auprès de la mariée, et qu’on les laissât manger sur la table" (Art. ‘Noçages,’ Dict. de l’anc. Régime).

42. December.

43. The Raja of Kotah.

44. Commander of the forces and regent of Kotah.

45. Officers of the land revenue.

46. Land accountants.

47. The mercantile class.

48. Literally ‘good behaviour.’

49. An agricultural tax.

50. Tax for registering.

51. This includes in one word the forced labour exacted from the working classes: the corvée of the French system.

52. Grain thrown on the inhabitants at an arbitrary rate; often resorted to at Kotah, where the regent is farmer general.

53. Grain, the property of the government, thrown on the inhabitants for purchase at an arbitrary valuation.

54. The handful from each sheaf at harvest.

55. A day sacred to the Hindu, being that which divides the month.

56. Meaning, they shall not irrigate the fields.

57. This part of the edict is evidently the instigation of the Jains, to prevent the destruction of life, though only that of insects.

58. The cause of this sumptuary edict was a benevolent motive, and to prevent the expenses on these occasions falling too heavily on the poorer classes. It was customary for the women to carry away under their petticoats (ghaghra) sufficient sweetmeats for several days’ consumption. The great Jai Singh of Amber had an ordinance restricting the number of guests to fifty-one on these occasions, and prohibited to all but the four wealthy classes the use of sugar-candy: the others were confined to the use of molasses and brown sugar. To the lower vassals and the cultivators these feasts were limited to the coarser fare; to juar flour, greens and oil. A dyer who on the Holi feasted his friends with sweetmeats of fine sugar and scattered about balls made of brown sugar, was fined five thousand rupees for setting so pernicious an example. The sadh, or marriage present, from the bridegroom to the bride’s father, was limited to fifty-one rupees. The great sums previously paid on this score were preventives of matrimony. Many other wholesome regulations of a much more important kind, especially those for the suppression of infanticide, were instituted by this prince.

59. ‘Defence against the cold weather’ (si). This in the ancient French régime came under the denomination of “Albergie ou Hébergement, un droit royal. Par exemple, ce ne fut qu’après le règne de Saint Louis, et moyennant finances, que les habitans de Paris et de Corbeil s’affranchirent, les premiers de fournir au roi et à sa suite de bons oreillers et d’excellens lits de plumes, tant qu’il séjournait dans leur ville, et les seconds de le régaler quand ilil passait par leur bourg.”

60. The ‘Daurayat’ or runners, the term applied to the bands who swept the country with their forays in those periods of general confusion, are analogous to the armed bands of the Middle Ages, who in a similar manner desolated Europe under the term routiers, tantamount to our rabars (on the road), the labars of the Pindaris in India. The Rajput Daurayat has as many epithets as the French routier, who were called escorcheurs, tard veneurs (of which class Gopaldas appears to have been), mille-diables, Guilleries, etc. From the Crusades to the sixteenth century, the nobles of Europe, of whom these bands were composed (like our Rajputs), abandoned themselves to this sort of life; who, to use the words of the historian, “préférèrent la vie vagabonde à laquelle ils s’étoient accoutumés dans le camp, à retourner cultiver leurs champs. C’est alors que se formèrent ces bandes qu’on vit parcourir le royaume et étendre sur toutes les provinces le fléau de leurs inclinations destructives, répandre partout l’effroi, la misère, le deuil et le désespoir; mettre les villes à contribution, piller et incendier les villages, égorger les laboureurs, et se livrer à des accès de cruauté qui font frémir” (Dict. de l’ancien régime et des abus féodaux, art. ‘Routier,’ p. 422).

We have this apology for the Rajput routiers, that the nobles of Europe had not; they were driven to it by perpetual aggressions of invaders. I invariably found that the reformed routier was one of the best subjects: it secured him from indolence, the parent of all Rajput vices.

61. Mund, ‘the head’; kati, ‘cut.’

62. [The double jasmine, Jasminum sambac.]

63. The rebellion broke out during the reign of this prince.

64. Salvamenta.

65. Dues.

66. Transit duty.

67. Ditto.

68. Different descriptions of thieves. [The Moghias are settled principally in E. Mewār; if not identical with, they are closely allied to, the Bāori (Luard, Ethnographic Survey, Central India, App. V. 17 ff.). Gen. C. Hervey (Some Records of Crime, i. 386 ff.) makes frequent references to dacoities committed by them from their headquarters, Nīmach. The Bāori or Bāwariya are a notorious criminal tribe (Rose, Glossary, ii. 70 ff.; M. Kennedy, Notes on Criminal Classes in Bombay Presidency, 173 ff., 198 ff.). The Thori in Mārwār claim Rājput origin, and are connected with the Aheri, or nomad hunters (Census Report, Mārwār, 1891, ii. 194). According to Rose (op. cit. iii. 466) those in the Panjāb are rather vagrants than actual criminals.]

69. Caravans of merchandise, whether on camels, bullocks, or in carts.

70. Caravans of bullocks, chiefly for the transport of grain and salt.

71. On this festival the muster of all the feudal retainers is taken by the Rana in person, and honorary dresses and dignities are bestowed.

72. This article had become especially necessary, as the inferior chiefs, particularly those of the third class, had amalgamated themselves with the head of their clans, to whom they had become more accountable than to their prince.

73. This alludes to the treaty which this chief had formed, as the ambassador of the Rana, with the British Government.

BOOK IV
ANNALS OF MEWĀR

CHAPTER 1

We now proceed to the history of the States of Rajputana, and shall commence with the Annals of Mewar, and its princes.

Titles of Mewār Chiefs: descent from the Sun.

—These are styled Ranas, and are the elder branch of the Suryavansi, or ‘children of the sun.’ Another patronymic is Raghuvansi, derived from a predecessor of Rama, the focal point of each scion of the solar race. To him, the conqueror of Lanka,[1] the genealogists endeavour to trace the solar lines. The titles of many of these claimants are disputed; but the Hindu tribes yield unanimous suffrage to the prince of Mewar as the legitimate heir to the throne of Rama, and style him Hindua Suraj, or ‘Sun of the Hindus.’[2] He is universally allowed to be the first of the ‘thirty-six royal tribes’; nor has a doubt ever been raised respecting his purity of descent. Many of these tribes[3] have been swept away by time; and the genealogist, who abhors a vacuum in his mystic page, fills up their place with others, mere scions of some ancient but forgotten stem.

Stability of Mewār State.

—With the exception of Jaisalmer, Mewar is the only dynasty of these races[3] which has outlived eight centuries of foreign domination, in the same lands where [212] conquest placed them. The Rana still possesses nearly the same extent of territory which his ancestors held when the conqueror from Ghazni first crossed the ‘blue waters’[4] of the Indus to invade India; while the other families now ruling in the northwest of Rajasthan are the relics of ancient dynasties driven from their pristine seats of power, or their junior branches, who have erected their own fortunes. This circumstance adds to the dignity of the Ranas, and is the cause of the general homage which they receive, notwithstanding the diminution of their power. Though we cannot give the princes of Mewar an ancestor in the Persian Nushirwan, nor assert so confidently as Sir Thomas Roe his claims to descent from the celebrated Porus,[5] the opponent of Alexander, we can carry him into the regions of antiquity more remote than the Persian, and which would satisfy the most fastidious in respect to ancestry.

Origin of the Rājputs.

—In every age and clime we observe the same eager desire after distinguished pedigree, proceeding from a feeling which, though often derided, is extremely natural. The Rajaputras are, however, scarcely satisfied with discriminating their ancestors from the herd of mankind. Some plume themselves on a celestial origin, whilst others are content to be demi-celestial; and those who cannot advance such lofty claims, rather than acknowledge the race to have originated in the ordinary course of nature, make their primeval parent of demoniac extraction; accordingly, several of the dynasties who cannot obtain a niche amongst the children of the sun or moon, or trace their descent from some royal saint, are satisfied to be considered the offspring of some Titan (Daitya). These puerilities are of modern fabrication, in cases where family documents have been lost, or emigration has severed branches from the parent stock; who, increasing in power, but ignorant of their birth, have had recourse to fable to supply the void. Various authors, borrowing from the same source, have assigned the seat of Porus to the Rana’s family; and coincidence of name has been the cause of the family being alternately elevated and depressed. Thus the incidental circumstance of the word Rhamnae being found in Ptolemy’s geography, in countries bordering on Mewar, furnishes our ablest geographers[6] with a reason [213] for planting the family there in the second century; while the commentators[7] on the geography of the Arabian travellers of the ninth and tenth centuries[8] discover sufficient evidence in “the kingdom of Rahmi, always at war with the Balhara sovereign,” to consider him (notwithstanding Rahmi is expressly stated “not to be much considered for his birth or the antiquity of his kingdom”) as the prince of Chitor, celebrated in both these points.

The translator of the Periplus of the Erythrean Sea, following D’Anville,[9] makes Ozene (Ujjain) the capital of a Porus,[10] who sent an embassy to Augustus to regulate their commercial intercourse, and whom he asserts to be the ancestor of the Rana. But to show how guarded we should be in admitting verbal resemblance to decide such points, the title of Rana is of modern adoption, even so late as the twelfth century; and was assumed in consequence of the victorious issue of a contest with the Parihara prince of Mandor, who bore the title of Rana, and who surrendered it with his life and capital to the prince of Mewar. The latter substituted it for the more ancient appellation of Rawal;[11] but it was not till the thirteenth century that the novel distinction was generally recognized by neighbouring powers. Although we cannot for a moment admit the Rahmi, or even the Rhamnae of Ozene, to be connected with this family, yet Ptolemy appears to have given the real ancestor in his Baleokouroi, the Balhara monarchs of the Arabian travellers, the Valabhiraes of Saurashtra, who were the ancestors of the princes of Mewar.[12]

Before we proceed, it is necessary to specify the sources whence materials were obtained for the Annals of Mewar, and to give some idea of the character they merit as historical data [214].

Sources of the History.

—For many years previous to sojourning at the court of Udaipur, sketches were obtained of the genealogy of the family from the rolls of the bards. To these was added a chronological sketch, drawn up under the eye of Raja Jai Singh of Amber, with comments of some value by him, and which served as a ground-work. Free access was also granted to the Rana’s library, and permission obtained to make copies of such MSS. as related to his history. The most important of these was the Khuman Raesa,[13] which is evidently a modern work founded upon ancient materials, tracing the genealogy to Rama, and halting at conspicuous beacons in this long line of crowned heads, particularly about the period of the Muhammadan irruption in the tenth century, the sack of Chitor by Alau-d-din in the thirteenth century, and the wars of Rana Partap with Akbar, during whose reign the work appears to have been recast.

The next in importance were the Rajvilas, in the Vraj Bhakha, by Man Kabeswara;[14] and the Rajratnakar,[15] by Sudasheo Bhat: both written in the reign of Rana Raj Singh, the opponent of Aurangzeb: also the Jaivilas, written in the reign of Jai Singh, son of Raj Singh. They all commence with the genealogies of the family, introductory to the military exploits of the princes whose names they bear.

The Mamadevi Prasistha is a copy of the inscriptions[16] in the temple of ‘the Mother of the Gods’ at Kumbhalmer. Genealogical rolls of some antiquity were obtained from the widow of an ancient family bard, who had left neither children nor kindred to follow his profession. Another roll was procured from a priest of the Jains residing in Sandrai, in Marwar, whose ancestry had enjoyed from time immemorial the title of Guru, which they held at the period of the sack of Valabhipura in the fifth century, whence they emigrated simultaneously with the Rana’s ancestors. Others were obtained from Jain priests at Jawad in Malwa. Historical documents possessed by several chiefs were readily furnished, and extracts were made from works, both Sanskrit and Persian, which incidentally mention the family. To these were added traditions or biographical anecdotes furnished in conversation by the Rana, or men of intellect amongst his chiefs [215], ministers, or bards, and inscriptions calculated to reconcile dates; in short, every corroborating circumstance was treasured up which could be obtained by incessant research during sixteen years. The Commentaries of Babur and Jahangir, the Institutes of Akbar, original grants, public and autograph letters of the emperors of Delhi and their ministers, were made to contribute more or less; yet, numerous as are the authorities cited, the result may afford but little gratification to the general reader, partly owing to the unpopularity of the subject, partly to the inartificial mode of treating it.

Kanaksen.

—At least ten genealogical lists, derived from the most opposite sources, agree in making Kanaksen the founder of this dynasty; and assign his emigration from the most northern of the provinces of India to the peninsula of Saurashtra in S. 201, or A.D. 145. We shall, therefore, make this the point of outset; though it may be premised that Jai Singh, the royal historian and astronomer of Amber, connects the line with Sumitra (the fifty-sixth descendant from the deified Rama), who appears to have been the contemporary of Vikramaditya, B.C.B.C. 56.

The country of which Ayodhya (now Oudh) was the capital, and Rama monarch, is termed, in the geographical writings of the Hindus, Kosala; doubtless from the mother of Rama, whose name was Kausalya.[17] The first royal emigrant from the north is styled, in the Rana’s archives, Kosala-putra, ‘son of Kosala.’

Titles of the Chiefs.

—Rama had two sons, Lava and Kusa: from the former the Rana’s family claim descent. He is stated to have built Lahore, the ancient Lohkot;[18] and the branch from which the princes of Mewar are descended resided there until Kanaksen emigrated to Dwarka. The difficulty of tracing these races through a long period of years is greatly increased by the custom of changing the appellation of the tribe, from conquest, locality, or personal celebrity. Sen[19] seems to have been the martial termination for many generations: this was followed by Dit, or Aditya, a term for the ‘sun.’ The first change in the name of the tribe was on their expulsion from Saurashtra, when for the generic term of Suryavansi was substituted the particular appellation of Guhilot. This name was maintained till another event dispersed the family, and when they settled in [216] Ahar,[20] Aharya became the appellative of the branch. This continued till loss of territory and new acquisitions once more transferred the dynasty to Sesoda,[21] a temporary capital in the western mountains. The title of Ranawat, borne by all descendants of the blood royal since the eventful change which removed the seat of government from Chitor to Udaipur, might in time have superseded that of Sesodia, if continued warfare had not checked the increase of population; but the Guhilot branch of the Suryavansi still retain the name of Sesodia.

Having premised thus much, we must retrograde to the darker ages, through which we shall endeavour to conduct this celebrated dynasty, though the clue sometimes nearly escapes from our hands in these labyrinths of antiquity.[22] When it is recollected to what violence this family has been subjected during the last eight centuries, often dispossessed of all but their native hills and compelled to live on their spontaneous produce, we could scarcely expect that historical records should be preserved. Chitor was thrice sacked and destroyed, and the existing records are formed from fragments, registers of births and marriages, or from the oral relations of the bards.

Legend of Kanaksen.

—By what route Kanaksen, the first emigrant of the solar race, found his way into Saurashtra from Lohkot, is uncertain: he, however, wrested dominion from a prince of the Pramara race, and founded Birnagara in the second century (A.D. 144). Four generations afterwards, Vijayasen, whom the prince of Amber calls Nushirwan, founded Vijayapur, supposed to be where Dholka now stands, at the head of the Saurashtra peninsula.[23] Vidarba was also founded by him, the name of which was afterwards changed to Sihor. But the most celebrated was the capital, Valabhipura, which for years baffled all search, till it was revealed in its now humbled condition as Walai, ten miles west [217] of Bhaunagar. The existence of this city was confirmed by a celebrated Jain work, the Satrunjaya Mahatma.[24] The want of satisfactory proof of the Rana’s emigration from thence was obviated by the most unexpected discovery of an inscription of the twelfth century, in a ruined temple on the tableland forming the eastern boundary of the Rana’s present territory, which appeals to the ‘walls of Valabhi’ for the truth of the action it records. And a work written to commemorate the reign of Rana Raj Singh opens with these words: “In the west is Sorathdes,[25] a country well known: the barbarians invaded it, and conquered Bal-ka-nath;[26] all fell in the sack of Valabhipura, except the daughter of the Pramara.” And the Sandrai roll thus commences: “When the city of Valabhi was sacked, the inhabitants fled and founded Bali, Sandrai, and Nadol in Mordar des.”[27] These are towns yet of consequence, and in all the Jain religion is still maintained, which was the chief worship of Valabhipura when sacked by the ‘barbarian.’ The records preserved by the Jains give S.B. 205 (A.D. 524) as the date of this event.[28]

The tract about Valabhipura and northward is termed Bal, probably from the tribe of Bala, which might have been the designation of the Rana’s tribe prior to that of Grahilot; and most probably Multan, and all these regions of the Kathi, Bala, etc., were dependent on Lohkot, whence emigrated Kanaksen; thus strengthening the surmise of the Scythic descent of the Ranas, though now installed in the seat of Rama. The sun was the deity of this northern tribe, as of the Rana’s ancestry, and the remains of numerous temples to this grand object of Scythic homage are still to be found scattered over the peninsula; whence its name, Saurashtra, the country of the Sauras, or Sun-worshippers; the Surastrene or Syrastrene of ancient geographers; its inhabitants, the Suros (Σύρων) of Strabo.[29]

Besides these cities, the MSS. give Gayni[30] as the last refuge of the family [218] when expelled Saurashtra. One of the poetic chronicles thus commences: “The barbarians had captured Gajni. The house of Siladitya was left desolate. In its defence his heroes fell; of his seed but the name remained.”

Invaders of Saurāshtra.

—These invaders were Scythic, and in all probability a colony from the Parthian kingdom, which was established in sovereignty on the Indus in the second century, having their capital at Saminagara, where the ancient Yadu ruled for ages: the Minnagara[31] of Arrian, and the Mankir of the Arabian geographers. It was by this route, through the eastern portion of the valley of the Indus, that the various hordes of Getae or Jats, Huns, Kamari, Kathi, Makwahana, Bala and Aswaria, had peopled this peninsula, leaving traces still visible. The period is also remarkable when these and other Scythic hordes were simultaneously abandoning higher Asia for the cold regions of Europe and the warm plains of Hindustan. From the first to the sixth century of the Christian era, various records exist of these irruptions from the north. Gibbon, quoting De Guignes, mentions one in the second century, which fixed permanently in the Saurashtra peninsula; and the latter, from original authorities, describes another of the Getae or Jats, styled by the Chinese Yueh-chi, in the north of India.[32] But the authority directly in point is that of Cosmas, surnamed Indikopleustes, who was in India during the reign of Justinian, and that of the first monarch of the Chinese dynasty of Leam.[33] Cosmas [219] had visited Kalyan, included in the Balhara kingdom; and he mentions the Ephthalites, or White Huns, under their king Golas, as being established on the Indus at the very period of the invasion of Valabhipura.[34]

Arrian, who resided in the second century at Barugaza (Broach), describes a Parthian sovereignty as extending from the Indus to the Nerbudda.[35] Their capital has already been mentioned, Minnagara. Whether these, the Abtelites[36] of Cosmas, were the Parthian dynasty of Arrian, or whether the Parthians were supplanted by the Huns, we must remain in ignorance, but to one or the other we must attribute the sack of Valabhipura.

The legend of this event affords scope for speculation, both as regards the conquerors and the conquered, and gives at least a colour of truth to the reputed Persian ancestry of the Rana: a subject which will be distinctly considered. The solar orb, and its type, fire, were the chief objects of adoration of Siladitya of Valabhipura. Whether to these was added that of the lingam, the symbol of Balnath (the sun), the primary object of worship with his descendants, may be doubted. It was certainly confined to these, and the adoption of ‘strange gods’ by the Suryavansi Guhilot is comparatively of modern invention.[37]

The Fountain of the Sun.

—There was a fountain (Suryakunda) ‘sacred to the sun’ at Valabhipura, from which arose, at the summons of Siladitya (according to the legend) the seven-headed horse Saptasva, which draws the car of Surya, to bear him to battle. With such an auxiliary no foe could prevail; but a wicked minister revealed to the enemy the secret of annulling this aid, by polluting the sacred fountain with blood. This accomplished, in vain did the prince call on Saptasva to save him from the strange and barbarous foe: the charm was broken, and with it sunk the dynasty of Valabhi. Who the ‘barbarian’ was that defiled with blood of kine [220] the fountain of the sun,[38] whether Getae, Parthian, or Hun, we are left to conjecture. The Persian, though he venerated the bull, yet sacrificed him on the altar of Mithras;[39] and though the ancient Guebre purifies with the urine[40] of the cow, he will not refuse to eat beef; and the iniquity of Cambyses, who thrust his lance into the flank of the Egyptian Apis, is a proof that the bull was abstractedly no object of worship. It would be indulging a legitimate curiosity, could we by any means discover how these ‘strange’ tribes obtained a footing amongst the Hindu races; for so late as seven centuries ago we find Getae, Huns, Kathi, Ariaspas, Dahae, definitively settled, and enumerated amongst the Chhattis rajkula. How much earlier the admission, no authority states; but mention is made of several of them aiding in the defence of Chitor, on the first appearance of the faith of Islam upwards of eleven hundred years ago.

1. Said to be Ceylon; an idea scouted by the Hindus, who transfer Lanka to a very distant region. [The latter is certainly not the common belief.]

2. This descendant of one hundred kings shows himself in cloudy weather from the surya-gaukhra, or ‘balcony of the sun.’

3. See History of the Tribes.

4. Nilab from nil, ‘blue,’ and ab, ‘water’; hence the name of the Nile in Egypt and in India [?]. Sind, or Sindhu, appears to be a Scythian word: Sin in the Tatar, t sin in Chinese, ‘river.’ [It is Sanskrit, meaning ‘divider.’] Hence the inhabitants of its higher course termed it aba sin, ‘parent stream’; and thus, very probably, Abyssinia was formed by the Arabians; ‘the country on the Nile,’ or aba sin. [Abyssinia is ‘land of the Habashi, or negroes.’]

5. See p. 47 above.

6. D’Anville and Rennell. [The Rhamnae have been identified with the Brāhūi of Baluchistān (McCrindle, Ptolemy, 159). Lassen places them on the Nerbudda.]

7. Maurice and others.

8. Relations anciennes des voyageurs, par Renaudot.

9. D’Anville (Antiquités de l’Inde) quotes Nicolas of Damascus as his authority, who says the letter written by Porus, prince of Ozene, was in the Greek character.

10. This Porus is a corruption of Puar, once the most powerful and conspicuous tribe in India; classically written Pramara, the dynasty which ruled at Ujjain for ages. [This is not certain (Smith, EHI, 60, note).]

11. Rawal, or Raul, is yet borne as a princely title by the Aharya prince of Dungarpur, and the Yadu prince of Jaisalmer, whose ancestors long ruled in the heart of Scythia. Raoul seems to have been titular to the Scandinavian chiefs of Scythic origin. The invader of Normandy was Raoul, corrupted to Rollon or Rollo. [The words, of course, have no connexion: Rāwal, Skt. rājakula, ‘royal family.’]

12. The Balhara kings, and their capital Nahrwala, or Anhilwara Patan, have given rise to much conjecture amongst the learned. We shall, before this work is closed, endeavour to condense what has been said by ancient and modern authorities on the subject; and from manuscripts, ancient inscriptions, and the result of a personal visit to this ancient domain, to set the matter completely at rest. [See p. 122 above.] [“Hippokoura, the royal seat of Baleo Kouros” (Periplus, viii. 83). Baleo Kouros has been identified with Vilivāyakura, a name found on coins of the Andhra dynasty (BG, i. Part ii. 158; McCrindle, Ptolemy, 179).]

13. Khuman is an ancient title of the earlier princes, and still used. It was borne by the son of Bappa, the founder, who retired to Transoxiana, and there ruled and died: the very country of the ancient Scythic Khomani.

14. Lord of rhyme.

15. Sea of gems.

16. These inscriptions will be described in the Personal Narrative.

17. [It is the other way: Kausalya took her name from Kosala.]

18. [See p. 116 above.]

19. Sen, ‘army’; kanak, ‘gold.’ [Kanaksen is entirely mythical. It has been suggested that the name is a reminiscence of the connexion of the great Kushān Emperor, Kanishka, with Gujarāt and Kāthiāwār (BG, i. Part i. 101).]

20. Ahar, or Ar, is in the valley of the present capital, Udaipur.

21. The origin of this name is from the trivial occurrence of the expelled prince of Chitor having erected a town to commemorate the spot, where after an extraordinarily hard chase he killed a hare (sasu).

22. The wild fable which envelops or adorns the cradle of every illustrious family is not easily disentangled. The bards weave the web with skill, and it clings like ivy round each modern branch, obscuring the aged stem, in the time-worn branches of which monsters and demi-gods are perched, whose claims of affinity are held in high estimation by these ‘children of the sun,’ who would deem it criminal to doubt that the loin-robe (dhoti) of their great founder, Bapa Rawal, was less than five hundred cubits in circumference, that his two-edged sword (khanda), the gift of the Hindu Proserpine, weighed an ounce less than sixty-four pounds, or that he was an inch under twenty feet in height.

23. [Vijayapur has been doubtfully identified with Bījapur in the Ahmadābād district (BG, i. Part i. 110).]

24. Presented to the Royal Asiatic Society of London.

25. Sorath or Saurashtra.

26. The ‘lord of Bal.’

27. Mārwār.

28. [The date of the fall of Valabhi is very uncertain (Smith, EHI, 315, note). It is said to have been destroyed in the reign of Sīlāditya VI., the last of the dynasty, about A.D. 776 (Duff, Chronology of India, 31, 67, 308).]

29. [There is possibly a confusion with the Soras of Aelian (xv. 8) which has been identified by Caldwell (Dravidian Grammar, 17) with the Σῶραι of Ptolemy, and with the Chola kingdom of Southern India. Surāshtra or Saurāshtra, ‘land of the Sus,’ was afterwards Sanskritized into ‘goodly country’ (Monier Williams, Skt. Dict. s.v.; BG, i. Part i. 6).]

30. Gaini, or Gajni, is one of the ancient names of Cambay (the port of Valabhipura), the ruins of which are about three miles from the modern city. Other sources indicate that these princes held possessions in the southern continent of India, as well as in the Saurashtra peninsula. Talatalpur Patan, on the Godavari, is mentioned, which tradition asserts to be the city of Deogir; but which, after many years’ research, I discovered in Saurashtra, it being one of the ancient names of Kandala. In after times, when succeeding dynasties held the title of Balakarae, though the capital was removed inland to Anhilwara Patan, they still held possession of the western shore, and Cambay continued the chief port. [For the identification of Gajni with Cambay see IA, iv. 147; BG, vi. 213 note. The site of Devagiri has been identified with Daulatābād (BG, i. Part ii. 136; Beal, Buddhist Records of the Western World, ii. 255, note).]

31. The position of Minnagara has occupied the attention of geographers from D’Anville to Pottinger. Sind being conquered by Omar, general of the caliph Al-Mansur (Abbasi), the name of MinnagaraMinnagara was changed to Mansura, “une ville célèbre sur le rivage droit du Sind ou Mehran.” “Ptolémée fait aussi mention de cette ville; mais en la déplaçant,” etc. D’Anville places it about 26°, but not so high as Ulug Bég, whose tables make it 26° 40´. I have said elsewhere that I had little doubt that Minnagara, handed down to us by the author of the Periplus as the μετρόπολις τῆς Σκυθίας, was the Saminagara of the Yadu Jarejas, whose chronicles claim Seistān as their ancient possession, and in all probability was the stronghold (nagara) of Sambos, the opponent of Alexander. On every consideration, I am inclined to place it on the site of Sehwan. The learned Vincent, in his translation of the Periplus, enters fully and with great judgment upon this point, citing every authority, Arrian, Ptolemy, Al-Biruni, Edrisi, D’Anville, and De la Rochette. He has a note (26, p. 386, vol. i.) which is conclusive, could he have applied it: “Al-Birun [equi-distant] between Debeil and Mansura.” D’Anville also says: “de Mansora à la ville nommée Birun, la distance est indiquée de quinze parasanges dans Abulféda,” who fixes it, on the authority of Abu-Rehan (surnamed Al-Biruni from his birthplace), at 26° 40´. The ancient name of Haidarabad, the present capital of Sind, was Nerun (نيرون;) or Nirun, and is almost equi-distant, as Abulfeda says, between Debal (Dewal or Tatta) and Mansura, Sehwan, or Minnagara, the latitude of which, according to my construction, is 26° 11´. Those who wish to pursue this may examine the Éclaircissemens sur la Carte de l’Inde, p. 37 et seq., and Dr. Vincent’s estimable translation, p. 386. [The site of Minnagara, like those of all the cities in the delta of the Indus, owing to changes in the course of the river, is very uncertain. Jhajhpur or Mungrapur has been suggested (McCrindle, Ptolemy, 72, Periplus, 1086 f.). Nīrūn has been identified with Helāi, a little below Jarak, on the high road from Tatta to Haidarābād (Elliot-Dowson i. 400).]

32. See History of the Tribes, p. 107, and translation of Inscription No. I. Vide Appendix.

33. Considerable intercourse was carried on between the princes of India and China from the earliest periods; but particularly during the dynasties of Sum, Leam and Tam, from the fourth to the seventh centuries, when the princes from Bengal and Malabar to the Panjab sent embassies to the Chinese monarchs. The dominions of these Hindu princes may yet be identified. [Cosmas flourished in the sixth century A.D., and never reached India proper (EB, vii. 214).]

34. [Gollas was Mihiragula (Smith, EHI, 317).]

35. [Ibid. 230 f.]

36. D’Herbelot (vol. i. p. 179) calls them the Haiathelah or Indoscythae, and says that they were apparently from Thibet, between India and China. De Guignes (tome i. p. 325) is offended with this explanation, and says: “Cette conjecture ne peut avoir lieu, les Euthélites n’ayant jamais demeuré dans le Thibet.” A branch of the Huns, however, did most assuredly dwell in that quarter, though we will not positively assert that they were the Abtelites. The Haihaya was a great branch of the Lunar race of Yayati, and appears early to have left India for the northern regions, and would afford a more plausible etymology for the Haiathelah than the Te-le, who dwelt on the waters (ab) of the Oxus. This branch of the Hunnish race has also been termed Nephthalite, and fancied one of the lost tribes of Israel [?].

37. Ferishta, in the early part of his history [i. Introd. lxviii f.], observes that, some centuries prior to Vikramaditya, the Hindus abandoned the simple religion of their ancestors, made idols, and worshipped the host of heaven, which faith they had from Kashmir, the foundry of magic superstition.

38. Divested of allegory, it means simply that the supply of water was rendered impure, and consequently useless to the Hindus, which compelled them to abandon their defences and meet death in the open field. Alau-d-din practised the same ruse against the celebrated Achal, the Khichi prince of Gagraun, which caused the surrender of this impregnable fortress. “It matters not,” observes an historian whose name I do not recollect, “whether such things are true, it is sufficient that they were believed. We may smile at the mention of the ghost, the evil genius of Brutus, appearing to him before the battle of Pharsalia; yet it never would have been stated, had it not assimilated with the opinions and prejudices of the age.” And we may deduce a simple moral from “the parent orb refusing the aid of his steed to his terrestrial offspring,” viz. that he was deserted by the deity. Fountains sacred to the sun and other deities were common to the Persians, Scythians, and Hindus, and both the last offered steeds to him in sacrifice. Vide History of the Tribes, article ‘Aswamedha,’ p. 91.

39. The Baldan, or sacrifice of the bull to Balnath, is on record, though now discontinued amongst the Hindus. [Baldān = balidāna, ‘a general offering to the gods.’]

40. Pinkerton, who is most happy to strengthen his aversion for the Celt, seizes on a passage in Strabo, who describes him as having recourse to the same mode of purification as the Guebre. Unconscious that it may have had a religious origin, he adduces it as a strong proof of the uncleanliness of their habits.

CHAPTER 2

The Refugee Queen.

—Of the prince’s family, the queen Pushpavati alone escaped the sack of Valabhi, as well as the funeral pyre, upon which, on the death of Siladitya, his other wives were sacrificed. She was a daughter of the Pramara prince of Chandravati [221], and had visited the shrine of the universal mother, Amba-Bhavani, in her native land, to deposit upon the altar of the goddess a votive offering consequent to her expectation of offspring. She was on her return, when the intelligence arrived which blasted all her future hopes, by depriving her of her lord, and robbing him, whom the goddess had just granted to her prayers, of a crown. Excessive grief closed her pilgrimage. Taking refuge in a cave in the mountains of Malia, she was delivered of a son. Having confided the infant to a Brahmani of Birnagar named Kamlavati, enjoining her to educate the young prince as a Brahman, but to marry him to a Rajputni,[1] she mounted the funeral pile to join her lord. Kamlavati, the daughter of the priest of the temple, was herself a mother, and she performed the tender offices of one to the orphan prince, whom she designated Goha, or ‘cave-born.’[2] The child was a source of perpetual uneasiness to its protectors: he associated with Rajput children, killing birds, hunting wild animals, and at the age of eleven was totally unmanageable: to use the words of the legend, “How should they hide the ray of the sun?”

The Legend of Goha.

—At this period Idar was governed by a chief of the savage race of Bhil; his name, Mandalika.[3] The young Goha frequented the forests in company with the Bhils, whose habits better assimilated with his daring nature than those of the Brahmans. He became a favourite with the Vanaputras, or ‘children of the forest,’ who resigned to him Idar with its woods and mountains. The fact is mentioned by Abu-l Fazl,[4] and is still repeated by the bards, with a characteristic version of the incident, of which doubtless there were many. The Bhils having determined in sport to elect a king, the choice fell on Goha; and one of the young savages, cutting his finger, applied the blood as the tīka of sovereignty to his forehead. What was done in sport was confirmed by the old forest chief. The sequel fixes on Goha the stain of ingratitude, for he slew his benefactor, and no motive is assigned in the legend for the deed. Goha’s name became the patronymic of his descendants, who were styled Guhilot, classically Grahilot, in time softened to Gehlot.

We know very little concerning these early princes but that they dwelt in this mountainous region for eight generations; when the Bhils, tired of a foreign rule, assailed Nagaditya, the eighth prince, while hunting, and deprived him of life and Idar. The descendants of Kamlavati (the Birnagar Brahmani), who retained the office of priest in the family, were again the preservers of the line of Valabhi. The infant Bappa, son of Nagaditya [222], then only three years old, was conveyed to the fortress of Bhander,[5] where he was protected by a Bhil of Yadu descent. Thence he was removed for greater security to the wilds of Parasar. Within its impervious recesses rose the three-peaked (trikuta) mountain, at whose base was the town of Nagindra,[6] the abode of Brahmans, who performed the rites of the ‘great god.’ In this retreat passed the early years of Bappa, wandering through these Alpine valleys, amidst the groves of Bal and the shrines of the brazen calf.

The most antique temples are to be seen in these spots—within the dark gorge of the mountain, or on its rugged summit—in the depths of the forest, and at the sources of streams, where sites of seclusion, beauty, and sublimity alternately exalt the mind’s devotion. In these regions the creative power appears to have been the earliest, and at one time the sole, object of adoration, whose symbols, the serpent-wreathed phallus (lingam), and its companion, the bull, were held sacred even by the ‘children of the forest.’ In these silent retreats Mahadeva continued to rule triumphant, and the most brilliant festivities of Udaipur were those where his rites are celebrated in the nine days sacred to him, when the Jains and Vaishnavas mix with the most zealous of his votaries; but the strange gods from the plains of the Yamuna and Ganges have withdrawn a portion of the zeal of the Guhilots from their patron divinity Eklinga, whose diwan,[7] or viceregent, is the Rana. The temple of Eklinga, situated in one of the narrow defiles leading to the capital, is an immense structure, though more sumptuous than elegant. It is built entirely of white marble, most elaborately carved and embellished; but lying in the route of a bigoted foe, it has undergone many dilapidations. The brazen bull, placed under his own dome, facing the sanctuary of the phallus, is nearly of the natural size, in a recumbent posture. It is cast (hollow) of good shape, highly polished and without flaw, except where the hammer of the Tatar had opened a passage in the hollow flank in search of treasure[8] [223].

The Marriage of Bappa.

—Tradition has preserved numerous details of Bappa’s[9] infancy, which resembles the adventures of every hero or founder of a race. The young prince attended the sacred kine, an occupation which was honourable even to the ‘children of the sun,’ and which they still pursue: possibly a remnant of their primitive Scythic habits. The pranks of the royal shepherd are the theme of many a tale. On the Jhal Jhulni, when swinging is the amusement of the youth of both sexes, the daughter of the Solanki chief of Nagda and the village maidens had gone to the groves to enjoy this festivity, but they were unprovided with ropes. Bappa happened to be at hand, and was called by the Rajput damsels to forward their sport. He promised to procure a rope if they would first have a game at marriage. One frolic was as good as another, and the scarf of the Solankini was united to the garment of Bappa, the whole of the village lasses joining hands with his as the connecting link; and thus they performed the mystical number of revolutions round an aged tree. This frolic caused his flight from Nagda, and originated his greatness, but at the same time burthened him with all these damsels; and hence a heterogeneous issue, whose descendants still ascribe their origin to the prank of Bappa round the old mango-tree of Nagda. A suitable offer being shortly after made for the young Solankini’s hand, the family priests of the bridegroom, whose duty it was, by his knowledge of palmistry, to investigate the fortunes of the bride, discovered that she was already married: intelligence which threw the family into the greatest consternation.[10] Though Bappa’s power over his brother shepherds was too strong to create any dread of disclosure as to his being the principal in this affair, yet was it too much to expect that a secret, in which no less than six hundred of the daughters of Eve were concerned, could long remain such? Bappa’s mode of swearing his companions to secrecy is preserved. Digging a small pit, and taking a pebble in his hand, “Swear,” cried he, “secrecy and obedience to me in good and in evil; that you will reveal to me all that you hear, and failing, desire that the good deeds of your forefathers may, like this pebble (dropping it into the pit) fall into the Washerman’s well.”[11] They took the oath. The Solanki chief, however, heard that [224] Bappa was the offender, who, receiving from his faithful scouts intimation of his danger, sought refuge in one of the retreats which abound in these mountains, and which in after-times proved the preservation of his race. The companions of his flight were two Bhils: one of Undri, in the valley of the present capital; the other of Solanki descent, from Oghna Panarwa, in the western wilds. Their names, Baleo and Dewa, have been handed down with Bappa’s; and the former had the honour of drawing the tika of sovereignty with his own blood on the forehead of the prince, on the occasion of his taking the crown from the Mori.[12] It is pleasing to trace, through a series of ages, the knowledge of a custom still ‘honoured in the observance.’ The descendants of Baleo of Oghna and the Undri Bhil still claim the privilege of performing the tika on the inauguration of the descendants of Bappa.

Oghna Panarwa.

—Oghna Panarwa is the sole spot in India which enjoys a state of natural freedom. Attached to no State, having no foreign communications, living under its own patriarchal head, its chief, with the title of Rana, whom one thousand hamlets scattered over the forest-crowned valleys obey, can, if requisite, appear at ‘the head of five thousand bows.’ He is a Bhumia Bhil of mixed blood, from the Solanki Rajput, on the old stock of pure (ujla) Bhils, the autochthones (if such there be of any country) of Mewar. Besides making the tika of blood from an incision in the thumb, the Oghna chief takes the prince by the arm and seats him on the throne, while the Undri Bhil holds the salver of spices and sacred grains of rice[13] used in making the tika.

But the solemnity of being seated on the throne of Mewar is so expensive, that many of these rites have fallen into disuse. Jagat Singh was the last prince whose coronation was conducted with the ancient magnificence of this princely house. It cost the sum of ninety lakhs of rupees (£1,125,000), nearly one entire year’s revenue of the State in the days of its prosperity, and which, taking into consideration the comparative value of money, would amount to upwards of four millions sterling[14] [225].

To resume the narrative: though the flight of Bappa and its cause are perfectly natural, we have another episode; when the bard assuming a higher strain has recourse to celestial machinery for the dénouement of this simple incident: but “an illustrious race must always be crowned with its proper mythology.” Bappa who was the founder of a line of a ‘hundred kings,’ feared as a monarch, adored as more than mortal, and, according to the legend, ‘still living’ (charanjiva), deserves to have the source of his pre-eminent fortune disclosed, which, in Mewar, it were sacrilege to doubt. While he pastured the sacred kine in the valleys of Nagindra, the princely shepherd was suspected of appropriating the milk of a favourite cow to his own use. He was distrusted and watched, and although indignant, the youth admitted that they had reason to suspect him, from the habitual dryness of the brown cow when she entered the pens at even.[15] He watched, and traced her to a narrow dell, when he beheld the udder spontaneously pouring its stores amidst the shrubs. Under a thicket of cane a hermit was reposing in a state of abstraction, from which the impetuosity of the shepherd soon roused him. The mystery was revealed in the phallic symbol of the ‘great God,’ which daily received the lacteal shower, and raised such doubts of the veracity of Bappa.

No eye had hitherto penetrated into this natural sanctuary of the rites of the Hindu Creator, except the sages and hermits of ancient days (of whom this was the celebrated Harita),[16] whom this bounteous cow also fed.

Bappa related to the sage all he knew of himself, received his blessing, and retired; but he went daily to visit him, to wash his feet, carry milk to him, and gather such wild flowers as were acceptable offerings to the deity. In return he received lessons of morality, and was initiated into the mysterious rites of Siva: and at length he was invested with the triple cordon of faith (tin parwa zunnar)[17] by the hands of the sage, who became his spiritual guide, and bestowed on his pupil the title of [226] ‘Regent (Diwan) of Eklinga.’ Bappa had proofs that his attentions to the saint and his devotions to Eklinga were acceptable, by a visit from his consort, ‘the lion-born goddess.’ From her hand he received the panoply of celestial fabrication, the work of Viswakarma (the Vulcan of Eastern mythology), which outvies all the arms ever forged for Greek or Trojan. The lance, bow, quiver, and arrows; a shield and sword (more famed than Balisarda)[18] which the goddess girded on him with her own hand: the oath of fidelity and devotion was the ‘relief’ of this celestial investiture. Thus initiated into the mysteries of ‘the first’ (adi), admitted under the banners of Bhavani, Harita resolved to leave his pupil to his fortunes, and to quit the worship of the symbol for the presence of the deity in the mansions above. He informed Bappa of his design, and commanded him to be at the sacred spot early on the following morn; but Bappa showed his materiality by oversleeping himself, and on reaching the spot the sage had already made some progress in his car, borne by the Apsaras, or celestial messengers. He checked his aerial ascent to give a last token of affection to his pupil; and desiring him to reach up to receive his blessing, Bappa’s stature was extended to twenty cubits; but as he did not reach the car, he was commanded to open his mouth, when the sage did what was recorded as performed, about the same period, by Muhammad, who spat into the mouth of his favourite nephew, Husain, the son of Ali. Bappa showed his disgust and aversion by blinking, and the projected blessing fell on his foot, by which squeamishness he obtained only invulnerability by weapons instead of immortality. The saint was soon lost in the cerulean space. Thus marked as the favourite of heaven, and having learned from his mother that he was nephew to the Mori prince of Chitor, he ‘disdained a shepherd’s slothful life,’ and with some companions from these wilds quitted his retreat, and for the first time emerged into the plains. But, as if the brand of Bhavani was insufficient, he met with another hermit in the forest of the Tiger Mount,[19] the famed Gorakhnath, who presented to him the double-edged sword,[20] which, with the proper incantation, could ‘sever rocks.’ With this he opened the road to fortune leading to the throne of Chitor [227].

Chitor was at this period held by the Mori prince of the Pramar race, the ancient lords of Malwa, then paramount sovereigns of Hindustan: but whether this city was then the chief seat of power is not known. Various public works, reservoirs, and bastions, yet retain the name of this race.

Bappa’s connexion with the Mori[21] obtained him a good reception; he was enrolled amongst the sawants or leaders, and a suitable estate conferred upon him. The inscription of the Mori prince’s reign, so often alluded to, affords a good idea of his power, and of the feudal manners of his court. He was surrounded by a numerous nobility, holding estates on the tenure of military service, but whom he had disgusted by his neglect, and whose jealousy he had provoked by the superior regard shown to Bappa. A foreign foe appearing at this time, instead of obeying the summons to attend, they threw up their grants, and tauntingly desired him to call on his favourite.[22]

Bappa undertook the conduct of the war, and the chiefs, though dispossessed of their estates, accompanied him from a feeling of shame. The foe was defeated and driven out of the country; but instead of returning to Chitor, Bappa continued his course to the ancient seat of his family, Gajni, expelled the ‘barbarian’ called Salim, placed on the throne a chief of the Chaura tribe,[23] and returned with the discontented nobles. Bappa, on this occasion, is said to have married the daughter of his enemy. The nobles quitted Chitor, leaving their defiance with their prince. In vain were the spiritual preceptor (Guru) and foster-brother (Dhabhai) sent as ambassadors: their only reply was, that as they had ‘eaten his salt,’ they would forbear their vengeance for twelve months. The noble deportment of Bappa won their esteem, and they transferred to him their service and homage. With the temptation of a crown, the gratitude of the Grahilot was given to the winds. On return they assaulted and carried Chitor, and, in the words of the chronicle, “Bappa took Chitor from the Mori and became himself the mor (crown) of the land”: he obtained by universal consent the title of ‘sun of the Hindus (Hindua suraj), preceptor of princes (Raj Guru), and universal lord (Chakravartin)’ [228].

He had a numerous progeny, some of whom returned to their ancient seats in Saurashtra, whose descendants were powerful chieftains in that tract so late as Akbar’s reign.[24] Five sons went to Marwar, and the ancient Gohils ‘of the land of Kher,’ expelled and driven to Gohilwal,[25] have lost sight of their ancestry, and by a singular fatality are in possession of the wreck of Valabhipura, ignorant of its history and their connexion with it, mixing with Arabs and following marine and mercantile pursuits; and the office of the bard having fallen into disrepute, they cannot trace their forefathers beyond Kherdhar.[26]

The close of Bappa’s career is the strangest part of the legend, and which it might be expected they would be solicitous to suppress. Advanced in years, he abandoned his children and his country, carried his arms west to Khorasan, and there established himself, and married new wives from among the ‘barbarians,’ by whom he had a numerous offspring.[27]

Bappa had reached the patriarchal age of one hundred when he died. An old volume of historical anecdotes, belonging to the chief of Delwara, states that he became an ascetic at the foot of Meru, where he was buried alive after having overcome all the kings of the west, as in Ispahan, Kandahar, Kashmir, Irak, Iran, Turan, and Kafiristan; all of whose daughters he married, and by whom he had one hundred and thirty sons, called the Nausshahra Pathans. Each of these founded a tribe, bearing the name of the mother. His Hindu children were ninety-eight in number, and were called Agni-upasi Suryavansi, or ‘sunborn fire-worshippers.’ The chronicles also record that (in like manner as did the subjects of the Bactrian king Menander, though from a different motive) the subjects of Bappa quarrelled for the disposal of his remains. The Hindu wished the fire to consume them; the ‘barbarian’ to commit them to earth; but on raising the pall while the dispute was raging, innumerable flowers of the lotus were found in the place of the remains of mortality: these were conveyed and planted in the lake. This is precisely what is related of the end of the Persian Nushirwan[28] [229].

The Question of Dates.

—Having thus briefly sketched the history of the founder of the Guhilot dynasty in Mewar, we must now endeavour to establish the epoch of this important event in its annals. Although Bappa Rawal was nine generations after the sack of Valabhipura, the domestic annals give S. 191 (A.D. 135) for his birth; which the bards implicitly following, have vitiated the whole chronology. An important inscription[29] in a character little known, establishes the fact of the Mori dynasty being in possession of Chitor in S. 770 (A.D. 714). Now the annals of the Rana’s house expressly state Bappa Rawal to be the nephew of the Mori prince of Chitor; that at the age of fifteen he was enrolled amongst the chieftains of his uncle, and that the vassals (before alluded to), in revenge for the resumption of their grants by the Mori, dethroned him and elevated as their sovereign the youthful Bappa. Notwithstanding this apparently irreconcilable anachronism, the family traditions accord with the inscription, except in date. Amidst such contradictions the development of the truth seemed impossible. Another valuable inscription of S. 1024 (A.D. 968), though giving the genealogy from Bappa to Sakti Kumar and corroborating that from Chitor, and which furnished convincing evidence, was not sanctioned by the prince or his chroniclers, who would admit nothing as valid that militated against their established era 191 for the birth of their founder. After six years’ residence and unremitting search amid ruins, archives, inscriptions, traditions, and whatever could throw light upon this point, the author quitted Udaipur with all these doubts in his mind, for Saurashtra, to prosecute his inquiries in the pristine abodes of the race. Then it was that he was rewarded, beyond his most sanguine expectations, by the discovery of an inscription which reconciled these conflicting authorities and removed every difficulty. This marble, found in the celebrated temple of Somnath,[30] made mention of a distinct era, viz. the Valabhi Samvat, as being used in Saurashtra; which era was three hundred and seventy-five years subsequent to Vikramaditya.[31]

On the sack of Valabhi thirty thousand families abandoned this ‘city of a hundred temples,’ and led by their priests found a retreat for themselves and their faith [230] in Mordardes (Marwar), where they erected the towns of Sandrai and Bali, in which latter we recognise the name of the city whence they were expelled. The religion of Valabhi, and consequently of the colonists, was the Jain; and it was by a priest descended from the survivors of this catastrophe, and still with their descendants inhabiting those towns, that these most important documents were furnished to the author. The Sandrai roll assigns the year 305 (Valabhi era) for the destruction of Valabhi: another, also from Jain authority, gives 205; and as there were but nine princes from Vijayasen, the founder, to its fall, we can readily believe the first a numerical error. Therefore 205 + 375 = 580 S. Vikrama (A.D. 524), for the invasion of Saurashtra by ‘the barbarians from the north,’ and sack of Valabhipura.

Now if from 770, the date of the Mori tablet, we deduct 580, there remains 190; justifying the pertinacity with which the chroniclers of Mewar adhered to the date given in their annals for the birth of Bappa, viz. 191: though they were ignorant that this period was dated from the flight from Valabhipura.

Bappa, when he succeeded to the Mori prince, is said to have been fifteen years old; and his birth being one year anterior to the Mori inscription of 770 + 14 = S.V. 784 (A.D. 728),[32] is the period for the foundation of the Guhilot dynasty in Mewar: since which, during a space of eleven hundred years, fifty-nine princes lineally descended from Bappa have sat on the throne of Chitor.

Though the bards and chroniclers will never forgive the temerity which thus curtails the antiquity of their founder, he is yet placed in the dawn of chivalry, when the Carlovingian dynasty was established in the west, and when Walid, whose bands planted ‘the green standard’ on the Ebro, was ‘commander of the faithful.’

From the deserted and now forgotten ‘city of the sun,’ Aitpur, the abode of wild beasts and savage Bhils, another memorial[33] of the princes of Mewar was obtained. It relates to the prince Sakti Kumar. Its date is S. 1024 (A.D. 968), and it contains the names of fourteen of his ancestors in regular succession. Amongst these is Bappa, or Saila. When compared with the chronicles and [231] family archives, it was highly gratifying to find that, with the exception of one superfluous name and the transposition of others, they were in perfect accordance.

Hume says, “Poets, though they disfigure the most certain history by their fictions, and use strange liberties with truth, when they are the sole historians, as among the Britons, have commonly some foundation for their wildest exaggerations.” The remark is applicable here; for the names which had been mouldering for nine centuries, far from the abode of man, are the same they had worked into their poetical legends. It was at this exact epoch that the arms of Islam, for the first time, crossed the Indus. In the ninety-fifth year of the Hegira,[34] Muhammad bin Kasim, the general of the Caliph Walid, conquered Sind, and penetrated (according to early Arabian authors) to the Ganges; and although Elmacin mentions only Sind, yet other Hindu States were at this period convulsed from the same cause: witness the overthrow of Manikrae of Ajmer, in the middle of the eighth century, by a foe ‘coming in ships,’ Anjar specified as the point where they landed. If any doubt existed that it was Kasim who advanced to Chitor[35] and was defeated by Bappa, it was set at rest by finding at this time in Chitor ‘Dahir,[36] the prince of Debil.’ Abu-l Fazl[37] records, from Arabian authorities, that Dahir was lord of Sind, and resided at his capital, Debal, the first place captured by Kasim in 95. His miserable end, and the destruction of his house, are mentioned by the historian, and account for the son being found with the Mori prince of Chitor.

Nine princes intervened between Bappa and Sakti Kumar, in two centuries (twenty-two years to each reign): just the time which should elapse from the founder, who ‘abandoned his country for Iran,’ in S. 820, or A.D. 764. Having thus established four epochs in the earlier history of the family, viz.—Kanaksen’Kanaksen’, A.D. 144; 2, Siladitya, and sack of Valabhi, A.D. 524; 3, Establishment in Chitor and Mewar, A.D. 720; 4, Sakti Kumar, A.D. 1068;[38] we may endeavour to relieve this narrative by the notices which regard their Persian descent [232].

1. [This corroborates Bhandarkar’s theory that the Guhilots sprang from Nāgar Brāhmans.]

2. [This is a folk-etymology to explain the name Guhilot, probably derived from Guha or Guhasena (A.D. 559-67), the fourth and apparently the first great Valabhi monarch (BG, i. Part i. 85).]

3. [Mandalīka seems to mean ‘ruler of a district’ (mandal), (Bayley, Dynasties of Gujarāt, 183).]

4. [Āīn, ii. 268.]

5. Fifteen miles south-west of Jharol, in the wildest region in India. [In Gwalior State, IGI, viii. 72.]

6. Or Nagda, still a place of religious resort, about ten miles north of Udaipur. Here I found several very old inscriptions relative to the family, which preserve the ancient denomination Gohil instead of Gehlot. One of these is about nine centuries old. [The ancient name was Nāgahrida (Erskine ii. A. 106).]

7. Ekling-ka-Diwan is the common title of the Rana.

8. Amongst the many temples where the brazen calf forms part of the establishment of Balkesar, there is one sacred to Nandi alone, at Nain in the valley. This lordly bull has his shrine attended as devoutly as was that of Apis at Memphis; nor will Eklinga yield to his brother Serapis. The changes of position of the Apis at Nain are received as indications of the fruitfulness of the seasons, though it is not apparent how such are contrived.

9. Bappa is not a proper name, it signifies merely a ‘child.’ [This is wrong: it is the old Prākrit form of bāp, ‘father’ (IA, xv. 275 f.; BG, i. Part i. 84).] He is frequently styled Saila, and in inscriptions Sailadīsa, ‘the mountain lord.’

10. [The legend implies that Bāpa, from association with Bhīls, was regarded to be of doubtful origin.]

11. Deemed in the East the most impure of all receptacles. These wells are dug at the sides of streams, and give a supply of pure water filtering through the sand.

12. [The right is said to have been enjoyed by the Bhils till the time of Rāna Hamīr Singh, who died A.D. 1364, and it was recognised in Dungarpur till fairly recent times (Erskine ii. A. 228). The Jāts have the same right in Bīkaner (Rose, Glossary, ii. 301): Mers in Porbandar (Wilberforce-Bell, Hist. of Kathiawad, 53):53): Kandhs in Kalahandi (Russell, Tribes and Castes Central Provinces, iii. 465, and cf. ii. 280).]

13. Hence, perhaps, the name khushka for tika. [Khushka, khushk, ‘dry,’ is plain boiled rice without seasoning.] Grains of ground rice in curds is the material of the primitive tika, which the author has had applied to him by a lady in Gujargarh, one of the most savage spots in India, amidst the levée en masse, assembled hostilely against him, but separated amicably.

14. Such the pride of these small kingdoms in days of yore, and such their resources, till reduced by constant oppression! But their public works speak what they could do, and have done; witness the stupendous work of marble, and its adjacent causeway, which dams the lake of Rajsamand at Kankrauli, and which cost upwards of a million. When the spectator views this expanse of water, this ‘royal sea’ (rajsamand) on the borders of the plain; the pillar of victory towering over the plains of Malwa, erected on the summit of Chitor by Rana Mokal; their palaces and temples in this ancient abode; the regal residence erected by the princes when ejected, must fill the observer with astonishment at the resources of the State. They are such as to explain the metaphor of my ancient friend Zalim Singh, who knew better than we the value of this country: “Every pinch of the soil of Mewar contains gold.”

15. Godhūli, the dust raised at the time when the cows come home.

16. On this spot the celebrated temple of Eklinga was erected, and the present high priest traces sixty-six descents from Harita to himself. To him (through the Rana) I was indebted for the copy of the Sheo (Siva) Purana presented to the Royal Asiatic Society.

17. [Zunnār is an Arabic word, the Hindi janeo.]

18. [The sword stolen from Orlando by Brunello, given to Rogero (Ariosto, Orlando Furioso).]

19. The Nahra Magra, seven miles from the eastern pass leading to the capital, where the prince has a hunting seat surrounded by several others belonging to the nobles, but all going to decay. The tiger and wild boar now prowl unmolested, as none of the ‘unlicensed’ dare shoot in these royal preserves.

20. They surmise that this is the individual blade which is yet annually worshipped by the sovereign and chiefs on its appropriate day, one of the nine sacred to the god of war; a rite completely Scythic. I had this relation from the chief genealogists of the family, who gravely repeated the incantation: “By the preceptor, Gorakhnath and the great god, Eklinga; by Takshka the serpent, and the sage Harita; by Bhavani (Pallas) strike!”

21. Bappa’s mother was a Pramar, probably from Abu or Chandravati, near to Idar; and consequently Bappa was nephew to every Pramar in existence. [The Morya or Maurya sub-clan of the Pramārs still exists (Census Report, Rajputana, 1911, i. 255).i. 255). For traces of the Mauryas in W. India see BG, i. Part ii. 284, note.]

22. We are furnished with a catalogue of the tribes which served the Mori prince, which is extremely valuable, from its acquainting us with the names of tribes no longer existing.

23. [See p. 121, above.]

24. See Āīn, ii. 247, which speaks of fifty thousand [8000] Guhilots in Sorath.

25. Pepara Guhilots.

26. The ‘land of Kher,’ on the south-west frontier of Marwar, near the Luni river.

27. The reigning prince told the author that there was no doubt of Bappa having ended his days among ‘the Turks’: a term now applied to all Muhammadans by the Hindu, but at that time confined to the inhabitants of Turkistan, the Turushka of the Puranas, and the Takshak of early inscriptions.

28. [Recent inquiries identify Bappa, whose name is merely a title, with either Mahendrāji ii. or Kālbhoja, early chiefs of Mewār (Erskine ii. B. 8). It has been suggested that his legend is mixed up with that of Bappa or Saila of Valabhi, the story of his retreat to Irān representing the latter being carried as a captive to Mansūra on the fall of Valabhi or Gandhār (BG, i. Part i. 94, note 2). In any case, the whole story is mere legend, a tale like that of the mysterious disappearance of Romulus and other kings (Sir J. Frazer, Lectures on the Early History of the Kingship, 269 ff.). A similar tale is told of Rāna Uda in later Mewār history.]

29. Vide Appendix, Translation, No. II.

30. See Translation, No. III.

31. [The Valabhi era begins in A.D. 318-19.]

32. This will make Bappa’s attainment of Chitor fifteen years posterior to Muhammad bin Kasim’s invasion. I have observed generally a discrepancy of ten years between the Samvat and Hegira; the Hegira reckoned from the sixteenth year of Muhammad’s mission, and would if employed reconcile this difficulty. [The traditional dates are untrustworthy, being based on a confused reminiscence of Valabhi history (IA, xv. 275). A list of the chiefs of Mewār, with the dates as far as can be ascertained, is given by Erskine (ii. B. 8 ff.).]

33. See Translation of Inscription, No. IV.

34. A.D. 713, or S. 769: the Inscription 770 of Man Mori, against whom came the ‘barbarian.’

35. I was informed by a friend, who had seen the papers of Captain Macmurdo, that he had a notice of Kasim’s having penetrated to Dungarpur. Had this gentleman lived, he would have thrown much light on these Western antiquities. [Muhammad bin Kāsim does not seem to have attacked Ajmer: the place was not founded till A.D. 1000 (Watson, Gazetteer, i. A. 9).]

36. By an orthographical error, the modern Hindu, ignorant of Debal, has written Delhi. But there was no lord of Delhi at this time: he is styled Dahir, Despat (lord) of Debal, from des, ‘a country,’ and pat, ‘the head.’

37. Āīn, ii. 344 f.

38. [The dates are open to much question. It is known from inscriptions that Sakti Kumār was alive in A.D. 977.]

CHAPTER 3

Connexion of the Rānas with Persia.

—Historic truth has, in all countries, been sacrificed to national vanity: to its gratification every obstacle is made to give way; fictions become facts, and even religious prejudices vanish in this mirage of the imagination. What but this spurious zeal could for a moment induce any genuine Hindu to believe that, only twelve centuries ago, ‘an eater of beef’ occupied the chair of Rama, and enjoyed by universal acclaim the title of ‘Sun of the Hindus’; or that the most ancient dynasty in the world could owe its existence to the last of the Sassanian kings:[1] that a slip from such a tree could be surreptitiously grafted on that majestic stem, which has flourished from the golden to the iron age, covering the land with its branches? That there existed a marked affinity in religious rites between the Rana’s family and the Guebres, or ancient Persians, is evident. With both, the chief object of adoration was the sun; each bore the image of the orb on their banners. The chief day in the seven[2] was dedicated to the sun; to it is sacred the chief gate of the city, the principal bastion of every fortress. But though the faith of Islam has driven away the fairy inhabitants from the fountains of Mithras, that of Surya has still its devotees on the summit of Chitor, as at Valabhi: and could we trace with accuracy their creeds to a distant age, we might discover them to be of one family, worshipping the sun at the fountains of the Oxus and Jaxartes.

The darkest period of Indian history is during the six centuries following Vikramaditya, which are scarcely enlightened by a ray of knowledge: but India was undergoing great changes, and foreign tribes were pouring in from the north. To this period, the sixth century, the genealogies of the Puranas are brought down, which expressly declare (adopting the prophetic spirit to conceal [233] the alterations and additions they then underwent) that at this time the genuine line of princes would be extinct, and that a mixed race would rule conjointly with foreign barbarians; as the Turushka, the Mauna,[3] the Yavan,[4] the Gorind, and Garddhabin.[5] There is much of truth in this; nor is it to be doubted that many of the Rajput tribes entered India from the north-west regions about this period. Gor and Gardhaba have the same signification; the first is Persian; the second its version in Hindi, meaning the ‘wild ass,’ an appellation of the Persian monarch Bahram, surnamed Gor from his partiality to hunting that animal. Various authorities state Bahramgor being in India in the fifth century, and his having there left progeny by a princess of Kanauj. A passage extracted by the author from an ancient Jain MS. indicates that “in S. 523 Raja Gardhabela, of Kakustha, or Suryavansa, ruled in Valabhipura.” It has been surmised that Gardhabela was the son of Bahramgor, a son of whom is stated to have obtained dominion at Patan; which may be borne in mind when the authorities for the Persian extraction of the Rana’s family are given.[6]

The Hindus, when conquered by the Muhammadans, naturally wished to gild the chains they could not break. To trace a common, though distant, origin with the conquerors was to remove some portion of the taint of dishonour which arose from giving their daughters in marriage to the Tatar emperors of Delhi; and a degree of satisfaction was derived from assuming that the blood thus corrupted once flowed from a common fountain[7] [234].

Further to develop these claims of Persian descent, we shall commence with an extract from the Upadesa Prasād, a collection of historic fragments in the Magadhi dialect. "In Gujardes (Gujarat) there are eighty-four cities. In one of these, Kaira, resided the Brahman Devaditya, the expounder of the Vedas. He had an only child, Subhaga (of good fortune) by name, at once a maiden and a widow. Having learned from her preceptor the solar incantation, incautiously repeating it, the sun appeared and embraced her, and she thence became pregnant.[8] The affliction of her father was diminished when he discovered the parent; nevertheless [as others might be less charitable] he sent her with a female attendant to Valabhipura, where she was delivered of twins, male and female. When grown up the boy was sent to school; but being eternally plagued about his mysterious birth, whence he received the nickname of Ghaibi (‘concealed’), in a fit of irritation he one day threatened to kill his mother if she refused to disclose the author of his existence. At this moment the sun revealed himself: he gave the youth a pebble, with which it was sufficient to touch his companions in order to overcome them. Being carried before the Balhara prince, who menaced Ghaibi, the latter slew him with the pebble, and became himself sovereign of Saurashtra, taking the name of Siladitya[9] (from sila, ‘a stone or pebble,’ and aditya, ‘the sun’): his sister was married to the Raja of Broach." Such is the literal translation of a fragment totally unconnected with the history of the Rana’s family, though evidently bearing upon it. The father of Siladitya, according to the Sandrai roll and other authorities of that period, is Suraj (the sun) Rao, though two others make a Somaditya intervene[10] [235].

Let us see what Abu-l Fazl says of the descent of the Ranas from Nushirwan: “The chief of the State was formerly called Rāwal, but for a long time past has been known as Rāna. He is of the Ghelot clan, and pretends to descent from Noshirwān the Just. An ancestor of this family through the vicissitudes of fortune came to Berār and was distinguished as the chief of Narnālah. About eight hundred years previous to the present time[11] Narnālah was taken by the enemy and many were slain. One Bāpa, a child, was carried by his mother from this scene of desolation to Mewār, and found refuge with Rājah Mandalīkh, a Bhīl.”[12]

The work which has furnished all the knowledge which exists on the Persian ancestry of the Mewar princes is the Maasiru-l-Umara, or that (in the author’s possession) founded on it, entitled Bisatu-l-Ghanim, or ‘Display of the Foe,’ written in A.H. 1204[13] [A.D. 1789]. The writer of this work styles himself Lachhmi Narayan Shafik Aurangabadi, or ‘the rhymer of Aurangabad.’Aurangabad.’ He professes to give an account of Sivaji, the founder of the Mahratta empire; for which purpose he goes deep into the lineage of the Ranas of Mewar, from whom Sivaji was descended,[14] quoting at length the Maasiru-l-Umara, from which the following is a literal translation: "It is well known that the Rajas of Udaipur are exalted over all the princes of Hind. Other Hindu princes, before they can succeed to the throne of their fathers, must receive the khushka, or tilak of regality and investiture, from them. This type of sovereignty is received with humility and veneration. The khushka of these princes is made with human blood: their title is Rana, and they deduce [236] their origin from Noshirwan-i-Adil (i.e. the Just), who conquered the countries of ——,[15] and many parts of Hindustan. During his lifetime his son Noshizad, whose mother was the daughter of Kaiser of Rum,[16] quitted the ancient worship and embraced the ‘faith[17] of the Christians,’ and with numerous followers entered Hindustan. Thence he marched a great army towards Iran, against his father Noshirwan; who despatched his general, Rambarzin,[18] with numerous forces to oppose him. An action ensued, in which Noshizad was slain; but his issue remained in Hindustan, from whom are descended the Ranas of Udaipur. Nushirwan had a wife from the Khakhan[19] of China, by whom he had a son called Hormuz, declared heir to the throne shortly before his death. As according to the faith of the fire-worshippers[20] it is not customary either to bury or to burn the dead, but to leave the corpse exposed to the rays of the sun, so it is said the body of Nushirwan has to this day suffered no decay, but is still fresh."

I now come to the account of Yazd, "the son of Shahriyar, the son of Khusru Parves, the son of Hormuz, the son of Nushirwan.

"Yazd was the last king of Ajam. It is well known he fought many battles with the Muhammadans. In the fifteenth year of the caliphat, Rustam, son of Ferokh, a great chief, was slain in battle by Saad-bin-wakas, who commanded for Omar, which was the death-blow to the fortunes of the house of Sassan: so that a remnant of it did not remain in A.H. 31, when Iran was seized by the Muhammadans. This battle had lasted four days when Rustam Ferokzad was slain by the hand of Hilkal, the son of Al Kumna, at Saad’s command [237]; though Firdausi asserts by Saad himself. Thirty thousand Muslims were slain, and the same number of the men of Ajam. To count the spoils was a torment. During this year (the thirty-first), the sixteenth of the prophet,[21] the era of the Hegira was introduced. In A.H. 17 Abu Musa of Ashur seized Hormuz, the son of the uncle of Yazdegird, whom he sent with Yazdegird’s daughter to Imam Husain, and another daughter to Abubakr.

"Thus far have I[22] extracted from the history of the fire-worshippers. He who has a mind to examine these, let him do so. The people of the religion of Zardusht have a full knowledge of all these events, with their dates; for the pleasure of their lives is the obtaining accounts of antiquity and astronomical knowledge, and their books contain information of two and three thousand years. It is also told, that when the fortunes of Yazdegird were on the wane, his family dispersed to different regions. The second daughter, Shahr Banu, was married to Imam Husain,[23] who, when he fell a martyr (shahid), an angel carried her to heaven. The third daughter, Banu, was seized by a plundering Arab and carried into the wilds of Chichik, thirty coss from Yazd. Praying to God for deliverance, she instantly disappeared; and the spot is still held sacred by the Parsis, and named ‘the secret abode of perfect purity.’ Hither, on the twenty-sixth of the month Bahman, the Parsis yet repair to pass a month in pilgrimage, living in huts under indigenous vines skirting the rock, out of whose fissures water falls into a fountain below: but if the unclean approach the spring, it ceases to flow.

“Of the eldest daughter of Yazdegird, Maha Banu, the Parsis have no accounts; but the books of Hind give evidence to her arrival in that country, and that from her issue is the tribe Sesodia. But, at all events, this race is either of the seed of Nushishad, the son of Nushirwan, or of that of the daughter of Yazdegird.”[24]

Thus have we adduced, perhaps, all the points of evidence for the supposed Persian origin of the Rana’s family. The period of the invasion of Saurashtra by Nushishad, who mounted the throne A.D. 531, corresponds well with the sack of Valabhi, A.D. 524 [238]. The army he collected in Laristan to depose his father might have been from the Parthians, Getae, Huns, and other Scythic races then on the Indus, though it is unlikely, with such an object in view as the throne of Persia, that he would waste his strength in Saurashtra. Khusru Parvez, grandson of Nushirwan the great, and who assumed this title according to Firdausi, married Marian, the daughter of Maurice, the Greek emperor of Byzantium. She bore him Shirauah (the Siroes of the early Christian writers), who slew his father. It is difficult to separate the actions of the two Nushirwans, and still more to say which of them merited the epithet of adil, or ‘just.’

According to the ‘Tables’ in Moreri,[25] Nushishad, son of Khusru the Great, reigned from A.D. 531 to 591. This is opposed to the Maasiru-l-Umara, which asserts that he was slain during his rebellion. Siroes, son of Khusru (the second Nushirwan) by his wife Marian, alternately called the friend and foe of the Christians, did raise the standard of revolt, and met the fate attributed to Nushishad; on which Yazdegird, his nephew, was proclaimed. The crown was intended for Shirauah’s younger brother, which caused the revolt, during which the elder sought refuge in India.

These revolutions in the Sassanian house were certainly simultaneous with those which occurred in the Rana’s, and no barrier existed to the political intercourse at least between the princely worshippers of Surya and Mithras. It is, therefore, curious to speculate even on the possibility of such a pedigree to a family whose ancestry is lost in the mists of time; and it becomes interesting when, from so many authentic sources, we can raise testimonies which would furnish, to one even untinctured with the love of hypothesis, grounds for giving ancestors to the Ranas in Maurice of Byzantium and Cyrus (Khusru) of Persia [239]. We have a singular support to these historic relics in a geographical fact, that places on the site of the ancient Valabhi a city called Byzantium, which almost affords conclusive proof that it must have been the son of Nushirwan who captured Valabhi and Gajni, and destroyed the family of Siladitya; for it would be a legitimate occasion to name such conquest after the city where his Christian mother had had birth.[26] Whichever of the propositions we adopt at the command of the author of The Annals of Princes, namely, “that the Sesodia race is of the seed of Nushishad, son of Nushirwan, or of that of Mahabanu, daughter of Yazdegird,” we arrive at a singular and startling conclusion, viz. that the ‘Hindua Suraj, descendant of a hundred kings,’ the undisputed possessor of the honours of Rama, the patriarch of the Solar race, is the issue of a Christian princess: that the chief prince amongst the nations of Hind can claim affinity with the emperors of ‘the mistress of the world,’ though at a time when her glory had waned, and her crown had been transferred from the Tiber to the Bosphorus.

But though I deem it morally impossible that the Ranas should have their lineage from any male branch of the Persian house, I would not equally assert that Mahabanu, the fugitive daughter of Yazdegird, may not have found a husband, as well as sanctuary, with the prince of Saurashtra; and she may be the Subhagna (mother of Siladitya), whose mysterious amour with the ‘sun’[27] compelled her to abandon her native city of Kaira. The son of Marian had been in Saurashtra, and it is therefore not unlikely that her grandchild should there seek protection in the reverses of her family.

The Salic law is here in full force, and honours, though never acquired by the female, may be stained by her; yet a daughter of the noble house of Sassan might be permitted to perpetuate the line of Rama without the reproach of taint.[28]

We shall now abandon this point to the reader, and take leave of Yazdegird,[29] the last of the house of Sassan, in the words of the historian of Rome: “Avec lui, on voit périr pour jamais la gloire et l’empire des Perses. Les rochers du Mazendaran et les sables du Kerman, furent les seuls[30] asiles que les vainqueurs laissèrent aux sectateurs de Zoroastre”[31] [240].

1. Yezdegird died A.D. 651.

2. Surajwar, or Adityawar, Sun-day; and the other days of the week, from the other planets, which Western nations have taken from the East.

3. See History of the Tribes, pp. 123, 135, articles ‘Takshak,’ and ‘Jhala,’ or Makwahana, in all probability the Mauna of the Puranas [?].

4. The Yavan, or Greek princes, who apparently continued to rule within the Indus after the Christian era, were either the remains of the Bactrian dynasty or the independent kingdom of Demetrius or Apollodotus, who ruled in the Panjab, having as their capital Sagala, changed by Demetrius to Euthymedia. Bayer says, in his Hist. Reg. Bact., p. 84: “I find from Claudius Ptolemy, that there was a city within the Hydaspes yet nearer the Indus, called Sagala, also Euthymedia; but I scarcely doubt that Demetrius called it Euthydemia, from his father, after his death and that of Menander. Demetrius was deprived of his patrimony A.U.C. 562.” [The site of Sagala is uncertain—Chiniot, Shāhkot, Siālkot (IGI, ii. 80 f.; McCrindle, Ptolemy, 122 ff.).]

On this ancient city, Sagala, I have already said much; conjecturing it to be the Salbhanpura of the Yadus when driven from Zabulistan, and that of the Yuch-chi or Yuti, who were fixed there from Central Asia in the fifth century, and if so early as the second century, when Ptolemy wrote, may have originated the change of Yuti-media, the ‘Central Yuti.’ The numerous medals which I possess, chiefly found within the probable limits of the Greek kingdom of Sagala, either belong to these princes or the Parthian kings of Minnagara on the Indus. The legends are in Greek on one side, and in the Sassanian character on the reverse. Hitherto I have not deciphered the names of any but those of Apollodotus and Menander; but the titles of ‘Great King,’ ‘Saviour,’ and other epithets adopted by the Arsacidae, are perfectly legible. The devices, however, all incline me to pronounce them Parthian. It would be curious to ascertain how these Greeks and Parthians gradually merged into the Hindu population [see IGI, ii. 137].

5. [The list in the Vishnu Purāna (474 f.) gives 7 Abhīras, 10 Garddhabas, 16 Sakas, 14 Tushāras, 13 Mundas, 11 Maunas. On the impossibility of reducing the Purānic accounts to order see Smith, EHI, 274.]

6. [Rawlinson (Seventh Oriental Monarchy, 298) regards the eastern adventure of Bahrāmgor, Varahran V., as mythical. Sykes (Hist. of Persia, i. 470) thinks they can hardly be authentic, “but I do not reject it as entirely devoid of historical basis.”]

7. The Hindu genealogist, in ignorance of the existence of Aghuz Khan, the Tatar patriarch, could not connect the chain of Chagatai with Chandra. The Brahman, better read, supplied the defect, and with his doctrine of the metempsychosis animated the material frame of the beneficent Akbar with the ‘good genius’ of a Hindu; and that of their mortal foe, Aurangzeb, with one of evil destiny, being that of Kalayavana, the foe of Krishna. They gravely assert that Akbar visited his ancient hermitage at the confluence of the Ganges and Jumna, and excavated the implements of penance used by him in his former shape, as one of the sages of ancient times; while such is their aversion to Aurangzeb, that they declare the final avatar, Time (Kal), on his white steed, will appear in his person. The Jaisalmer annals affirm that the whole Turkish (Turushka) race of Chagatai are of Yadu stock; while the Jam Jareja of Cutch traces his descent from the Persian Jamshid, contemporary with Solomon. These are curious claims, but the Rana’s family would consider such vanity criminal.

8. [For legends of women impregnated by the sun see Frazer, Golden Bough, Part vii. vol. i. 74 ff.]

9. This is probably the Siladitya of the Satrunjaya Mahatma, who repaired the temple on Satrunjaya in S. 477 (A.D. 421). [A mere folk etymology—Sīlāditya, from sil, ‘to worship,’ āditya, ‘the sun.’]

10. In perusing this fragment we are struck by the similarity of production of these Hindu Heliadae and that of the celebrated Tatar dynasty from which Jenghiz Khan was descended. The Niruns, or ‘children of light,’ were from an amour of the sun with Alung Goa, from which Jenghiz was the ninth in descent. Authorities quoted by Petis de la Croix, in his life of this conqueror, and likewise by Marigny, in his History of the Saracens, affirm Jenghiz Khan to be a descendant of Yazdegird, the last Sassanian prince. Jenghiz was an idolater, and hated the very name of Muhammadan [see Howorth, Hist. of the Mongols, i. 37 ff.]. A courtier telling Aurangzeb of his celestial ancestry, gravely quoting the affair of the mother of the race of Timur with the sun, the bigoted monarch coarsely replied, “Mama qahba bud,” which we will not translate.

11. Akbar commenced his reign A.D. 1556, and had been forty years on the throne when the ‘Institutes’ were composed by the Abu-l Fazl. [The translation of Gladwin in the original text has been replaced by that of Jarrett, Āīn, ii. 268.]

12. Orme [Historical Fragments, Notes, p. xxii] was acquainted with this passage, and shows his knowledge of the Hindu character by observing that it was a strange pedigree to assign a Hindu prince, for Khusru, of the religion of Zoroaster, though compelled to many abstinences, was not restrained from eating beef: and Anquetil du Perron says of the Parsis, their descendants, that they have refrained since their emigration from slaying the cow merely to please the Hindu.

13. The cryptographic date is contained in the numerical value of the letters which compose the title:

B. S. A. T.  a. l.   G.  N. A. E. M.
2. 60. 1. 9. 1. 9. 1000. 50. 1. 10. 40.
}
As the total is only 1183, either the date is wrong, or a deficient value given to the numerals.

14. Wilford, who by his indefatigable research and knowledge of Sanskrit had accumulated extensive materials, unhappily deteriorated by a too credulous imagination, yet containing much valuable matter available to those sufficiently familiar with the subject to select with safety, has touched on this, and almost on every other point in the circle of Hindu antiquities. Ali Ibrahim, a learned native of Benares, was Wilford’s authority for asserting the Rana’s Persian descent, who stated to him that he had seen the original history, which was entitled, Origin of the Peishwas from the Ranas of Mewar. (Ibrahim must have meant the Satara princes, whose ministers were the Peshwas.) From this authority three distinct emigrations of the Guebres, or ancient Persians, are recorded, from Persia into Gujarat. The first in the time of Abu Bakr, A.D. 631; the second on the defeat of Yazdegird, A.D. 651; and the third when the descendants of Abbas began to prevail, A.D. 749. Also that a son of Noshirwan landed near Surat with eighteen thousand of his subjects, from Laristan, and were well received by the prince of the country. Abu-l Fazl confirms this account by saying, "the followers of Zoroaster, when they fled from Persia, settled in Surat," the contracted term for the peninsular of Saurashtra, as well as the city of this name [Āīn, ii. 243].

15. The names are obliterated in the original. Ferishta [i. Introd. lxxix] informs us that Ramdeo Rathor, sovereign of Kanauj, was made tributary by Firoz ‘Sassan’; and that Partap Chand, who usurped the throne of Ramdeo, neglecting to pay this tribute, Noshirwan marched into India to recover it, and in his progress subdued Kabul and the Panjab. From the striking coincidence of these original and decisive authorities, we may rest assured that they had recourse to ancient records, both of the Guebres and the Hindus, for the basis of their histories, which research may yet discover.

16. Maurice, emperor of Byzantium. [Sykes (Hist. of Persia, ii. 495) calls the son of Nushirwān Nushishad, and mentions his rebellion against his father. There seems to be no evidence that Nushishad reached India: he was slain after he revolted (Malcolm, Hist. Persia, 2nd ed. i. 112 ff.).]

17. Din-i-Tarsar. See Ebn Haukal, art. ‘Serir,’ or Russia; whose king, a son of Bahram Chassin, whom he styles a Tersar or Christian, first possessed it about the end of the sixth century.

18. The Verames of Western historians [Malcolm, op. cit. i. 113].

19. Khakhan was the title of the kings of Chinese Tartary. It was held by the leader of the Huns, who at this period held power on the Caspian: it was also held by the Urus, Khuzr, Bulgar, Serir, all terms for Russia, before its Kaisar was cut down into Tzar, for the original of which, the kings of Rome, as of Russia, were indebted to the Sanskrit Kesar, a ‘lion’ [Lat. Caesar] (vide Ibn Haukal, art. ‘Khozr’).

20. Din-i-Majusi; literally, ‘faith of the Magi.’

21. Muhammad, born A.D. 578; the Hegira, or flight, A.D. 622.

22. It must be borne in mind that it is the author of the Maasiru-l-Umara, not the rhymer of Aurungabad, who is speaking.

23. [This is the Persian tradition (Sykes, op. cit. ii. 44).]

24. For the extract from “The Annals of Princes (Maasiru-l-Umara)” let us laud the memory of the rhymer of Aurungabad. An original copy, which I in vain attempted to procure in India, is stated by Sir William Ouseley to be in the British Museum. We owe that country a large debt, for we have robbed her of all her literary treasures, leaving them to sleep on the shelves of our public institutions. [There is no real evidence of the Persian descent of the Rānas, and it has been suggested that the story is based on the fire symbols on the coinage found in Kāthiawār and Mewār, these, though in the main Indo-Scythic, betraying from about sixth century a more direct Sassanian influence (BG, i. Part i. 102). At the same time recent discoveries indicate Persian influence in N. India.]

25. Vide Grand Dictionnaire Historique.

26. [Byzantium cannot have been a Greek colony, the name apparently representing Vijayanta, now Vijayadurga, the southern entrance of the Vāghotan River in Ratnagiri (McCrindle, Ptolemy, 47; BG, i. Part ii. 174 f.).]

27. It will be recollected that the various authorities given state Raja Suraj (sun), of Kakustha race, to be the father of Siladitya. Kakustha is a term used synonymously with Suryavansa, according to the Solar genealogists. Those who may be inclined to the Persian descent may trace it from Kaikaus, a well-known epithet in the Persian dynasties. I am unacquainted with the etymology of Kakustha; but it may possibly be from ka, ‘of or belonging to,’ Kusa (Cush), the second son of Rama [?]. I have already hinted that the Assyrian Medes might be descendants of Hyaspa, a branch of the Indu-Mede of the family of Yayati which bore the name of Kausika. [The reference in the text may be to Kakutstha, grandson of Ikshwāku, who is said to have taken his name because he stood on the hump (Kukuda) of Indra when he was turned into a bull (Wilson, Vishna Purāna, 361).]

28. “The moral consequence of a pedigree,” says Hume, “is differently marked by the influence of law and custom. The male sex is deemed more noble than the female. The association of our ideas pursues the regular descent of honour and estates from father to son, and their wives, however essential, are considered only in the light of foreign auxiliaries” (Essays, vol. ii. p. 192). Not unlike the Rajput axiom, though more coarsely expressed; “It is, who planted the tree, not where did it grow,” that marks his idea of the comparative value of the side whence honours originate; though purity of blood in both lines is essential.

29. A new era had commenced, not of Yazdegird’s accession, as is supposed, which would have been vain indeed, when the throne was tottering under him, but consequent to the completion of the grand cycle of 1440 years. He was slain at Merv in A.D. 651, the 31st of the Hegira; on the eleventh year of which, or A.D. 632 (according to Moreri), he commenced his reign.

30. Gibbon was wrong. India afforded them an asylum, and their issue constitutes the most wealthy, the most respected, and the most enlightened part of the native community of Bombay and the chief towns of that presidency.

31. Gibbon, Miscellaneous Works, ‘Sur la Monarchie des Mèdes,’ vol. iii.

CHAPTER 4

Samarsi, Samar Singh.

—Having established Bappa on the throne of Chitor S. 784 (A.D. 728), we will proceed to glean from the annals, from the period of his departure for Iran, S. 820 (A.D. 764) to another halting point—the reign of Samarsi, S. 1249 (A.D. 1193);[1] an important epoch, not only in the history of Mewar, but to the whole Hindu race; when the diadem of sovereignty was torn from the brow of the Hindu to adorn that of the Tatar. We shall not, however, overleap the four intervening centuries, though we may not be able to fill up the reigns of the eighteen princes[2] whose “banner at this time was a golden sun on a crimson field,”[3] and several of whose names yet live recorded “with an iron pen on the rock” of their native abodes.

An intermediate period, from Bappa to Samarsi, that of Sakti Kumar, is fixed by the Aitpur inscription in S. 1024 (A.D. 968); and from the more perishable yet excellent authority of an ancient Jain MS. the era of Allat, the ancestor of Sakti Kumar, was S. 922 (A.D. 866), four generations anterior. From Bappa’s departure for Iran, in A.D. 764, to the subversion of Hindu dominion in the reign of Samarsi, in A.D. 1193, we find recorded an intermediate Islamite invasion. This was during the reign of Khuman, between A.D. 812 and 836, which event forms the chief subject of the Khuman-Raesa, the most ancient of the poetic chronicles of Mewar [241].

As the history of India at this period is totally dark, we gladly take advantage of the lights thus afforded. By combining these facts with what is received as authentic, though scarcely less obscure or more exact than these native legends, we may furnish materials for the future historian. With this view, let us take a rapid sketch of the irruptions of the Arabians into India, from the rise of Islamism to the foundation of the Ghaznivid empire, which sealed the fate of the Hindus. The materials are but scanty. El-Makin, in his history of the Caliphs, passes over such intercourse almost without notice. Abu-l-Fazl, though not diffuse, is minute in what he does say, and we can confide in his veracity. Ferishta has a chapter devoted to this subject, which merits a better translation than yet exists.[4] We shall, however, in the first place, touch on Bappa’s descendants, till we arrive at the point proper for the introduction of the intended sketch.

Of the twenty-four tribes of Guhilot, several issued from the founder, Bappa. Shortly after the conquest of Chitor, Bappa proceeded to Saurashtra and married the daughter of Yusufgol, prince of the island of Bandardiva.[5] With his bride he conveyed to Chitor the statue of Vyanmata, the tutelary goddess of her race, who still divides with Eklinga the devotion of the Guhilot princes. The temple in which he enshrined this islandic goddess yet stands on the summit of Chitor, with many other monuments assigned by tradition to Bappa. This princess bore him Aparajit, who from being born in Chitor was nominated successor to the throne, to the exclusion of his less fortunate elder brother, Asil (born of the daughter of the Kaba (Pramara) prince of Kalibao near Dwaraka), who, however, obtained possessions in Saurashtra, and founded a race called the Asila Guhilots,[6] whose descendants were so numerous, even in Akbar’s reign, as to [242] be supposed able to bring into the field fifty thousand men at arms. We have nothing important to record of the actions of Aparajit, who had two sons, Kalbhoj[7] and Nandkumar. Kalbhoj succeeded Aparajit, and his warlike qualities are extolled in an inscription discovered by the author in the valley of Nagda. Nandkumar slew Bhimsen Dor (Doda), and possessed himself of Deogarh in the Deccan.

Khumān I.

—Khuman succeeded Kalbhoj. His name is remarkable in the history of Mewar. He came to the throne at the beginning of the ninth century, when Chitor was assailed by another formidable invasion of Muhammadans. The chief object of the Khuman Raesa is to celebrate the defence made on this occasion, and the value of this Raesa consists in the catalogue of the princes who aided in defending this bulwark of the Hindu faith. The bard, in an animated strain, makes his sovereign on this occasion successfully defend the ‘crimson standard’ of Mewar, treat with contempt the demand for tribute, and after a violent assault, in which the ‘barbarian’ is driven back, follow and discomfit him in the plan, carrying back the hostile leader, Mahmud, captive. With this event, which introduces the name of Mahmud two centuries before the conqueror of Ghazni, we will pause, and resume the promised sketch of the intercourse of Arabia and Hindustan at this period.

The Muhammadan Invasion, A.D. 644-55.

—The first intimation of the Moslems attempting the invasion of India is during the caliphat of Omar, who built the port of Bassorah at the mouth of the Tigris, chiefly to secure the trade of Gujarat and Sind; into which latter country a powerful army penetrated under Abul Aas,[8] who was killed in battle at Aror. The Caliph Osman, who succeeded Omar, sent to explore the state of India, while he prepared an army to invade it in person: a design which he never fulfilled. The generals of the Caliph Ali made conquests in Sind, which they abandoned at Ali’s death. While Yazid was governor of Khorasan several attempts were made on India, as also during the caliphat of Abdu-l Malik, but without any lasting [243] results. It was not till the reign of Walid[9] that any successful invasion took place. He not only finally conquered Sind and the adjoining continent of India, but rendered tributary all that part of India on this side the Ganges.[10] What an exalted idea must we not form of the energy and rapidity of such conquests, when we find the arms of Islam at once on the Ganges and the Ebro, and two regal dynasties simultaneously cut off, that of Roderic, the last of the Goths of Andaloos, and Dahir Despati in the valley of the Indus. It was in A.H. 99 (A.D. 712, S. 774) that Muhammad bin Kasim vanquished and slew Dahir, prince of Sind, after numerous conflicts. Amongst the spoils of victory sent to the caliph on this occasion were the daughters of the subjugated monarch, who were the cause of Kasim’s destruction,[11] when he was on the eve of carrying the war against Raja [244] Harchand of Kanauj. Some authorities state that he actually prosecuted it; and as Sind remained a dependency of the caliphat during several successive reigns, the successor of Kasim may have executed his plans. Little is said of India from this period to the reign of Al-Mansur, except in regard to the rebellion of Yazid in Khorasan, and the flight of his son to Sind. The eight sovereigns, who rapidly followed, were too much engaged with the Christians of the west and the Huns on the Caspian to think of India. Their armies were then in the heart of France, which was only saved from the Koran by their overthrow at Tours by Charles Martel.

GUHILOT AND CONTEMPORARY PRINCES[13]

Guhilot
Princes
Eras.
Caliphs of Baghdad
and
Kings of Ghazni.
Eras.
Remarks.

Samvat.
Christian.
A.H.
A.D.

Caliphs of Baghdad.

Bappa,
born
769
713
Walid (7th Ummaiya Caliph)
86 to 96
705 to 715
Conquered India to the Ganges.

———
obtained Chitor
784
728
Omar II. (9th do.)
99 to 102
718 to 721
Sindi conquered. The Mori prince Chitor attacked by Muhammad (son of Kasim), the General of Omar.

———
governs Mewar

Hasham (10th do.)
104 to 125
723 to 742
Battle of Tours, A.D. 732, and defeat of the Caliph’s army, under Abdulrahman, by Charles Martel.

———
abandons Chitor
820
764
Al-Mansur Abbasi (2nd do.)
136 to 158
754 to 775
Final conquest of Sind, and the name of its capital, Aror, changed to Mansura. Bappa, founder of the Guhilot race in Mewar, retires to Iran.

Aparajit, Kalbhoj

Harunu-r-rashid (5th do.)
170 to 193
786 to 809
Partition of the caliphat amongst Harun’s sons. The second, Al-Mamun, obtains Zabulistan, Sind, and India, and ruled them till A.D. 813, when he became Caliph.

Khuman
868 to 892
812 to 836
Al-Mamun (7th do.)
198 to 218
813 to 833
Invasion and attack on Chitor from Zabulistan.

Bhartaribhat.

Singhji.

Allat.

Narabahan.

Kings of Ghazni.

Salivahan.

Sakti Kumar
1024
968
Alptigin
350
957
Inscription of Sakti-kumar from ruins of Aitpur.

Amba Pasao.

Naravarman

Sabuktigin
367
977
Invasion of India.

Jasuvarman [or Kirtivarman]

Mahmud
387 to 418
997 to 1027
Invasions of India, destruction of Aitpur.

Al-Mansur, when only the lieutenant of the Caliph Abbas, held the government of Sind and of India, and made the island of Bakhar on the Indus, and the adjacent Aror,[14] the ancient capital, his residence, naming it Mansura; and it was during his government that Bappa Rawal abandoned Chitor for Iran.

The celebrated Harunu-r-rashid, contemporary of Charlemagne, in apportioning his immense empire amongst his sons, gave to the second, Al-Mamun, Khorasan, Zabulistan, Kabulistan, Sind, and Hindustan.[15] Al-Mamun, on the death of Harun, deposed his brother, and became caliph in A.H. 198 or A.D. 813, and ruled to 833, the exact period of the reign of Khuman, prince of Chitor. The domestic history brings the enemy assailant of Chitor from Zabulistan; and as the leader’s name is given Mahmud Khorasan Pat, there can be little doubt that it is an error arising from ignorance of the copyist, and should be Mamun.

Mahmūd’s Invasion.

—Within twenty years after this event, the sword of conquest and conversion was withdrawn from India, and Sind was the only province left to Mutawakkil (A.D. 850 [847-861]), the grandson of Harun, for a century after whom the throne of Baghdad, like that of ancient Rome, was sold by her praetorians to the highest bidder. From this time we find no mention whatever of Hindustan, or even of Sind, until Sabuktigin,[16] governor of Khorasan, hoisted the standard of independent sovereignty at Ghazni. In A.H. 365 (A.D. 974) he carried his arms [245] across the Indus, forcing the inhabitants to abandon the religion of their ancestors, and to read the Koran from the altars of Bal and Krishna. Towards the close of this century he made his last invasion, accompanied by his son, the celebrated Mahmud, destined to be the scourge of the Hindu race, who early imbibed the paternal lesson inculcating the extirpation of infidels. Twelve several visitations did Mahmud make with his Tatar hordes, sweeping India of her riches, destroying her temples and architectural remains, and leaving the country plunged in poverty and ignorance. From the effect of these incursions she never recovered; for though she had a respite of a century between Mahmud and the final conquest, it was too short to repair what it had cost ages to rear: the temples of Somnath, of Chitor, and Girnar are but types of the magnificence of past times. The memorial of Sakti Kumar proves him to have been the contemporary of Sabuktigin, and to one of his son’s visitations is attributed the destruction of the ‘city of the sun’ (Aitpur),[17] his capital.

Attack on Chitor.

—Having thus condensed the little information afforded by Muhammadan historians of the connexion between the caliphs of Baghdad and princes of Hind, from the first to the end of the fourth century of the Hegira, we shall revert to the first recorded attack on the Mori prince of Chitor, which brought Bappa into notice. This was either by Yazid or Muhammad bin Kasim from Sind.[18] Though in the histories of the caliphs we can only expect to find recorded those expeditions which were successful, or had some lasting results, there are inroads of their revolted lieutenants or their frontier deputies, which frequently, though indistinctly, alluded to in Hindu annals, have no place in Muhammadan records. Throughout the period mentioned there was a stir amongst the Hindu nations, in which we find confusion and dethronement from an unknown invader, who is described as coming sometimes by Sind, sometimes by sea, and not unfrequently as a demon and magician; but invariably as mlechchha, or ‘barbarian.’[19] From S. 750 to S. 780 (A.D. 694 to [246] 724), the annals of the Yadus, the Chauhans, the Chawaras, and the Guhilots, bear evidence to simultaneous convulsions in their respective houses at this period. In S. 750 (A.H. 75) the Yadu Bhatti was driven from his capital Salpura in the Panjab, across the Sutlej into the Indian desert; the invader named Farid. At the same period Manika Rae, the Chauhan prince of Ajmer, was assailed and slain.[20]

The Muster of the Clans.

—The first of the Khichi princes who occupied the Duab of Sindsagar in the Panjab, as well as the ancestor of the Haras established in Golkonda, was expelled at the same time. The invader is treated in the genuine Hindu style as a Danava, or demon, and is named Ghairaram[21] (i.e. restless), from Kujliban,[22] a term geographically given to a portion of the Himalaya mountains about the glaciers of the Ganges. The ancestor of the founder of Patan was expelled from his petty islandic dominion on the coast of Saurashtra at the same time. This is the period when Yazid was the caliph’s lieutenant in Khorasan, and when the arms of Walid conquered to the Ganges; nor is there a doubt that Yazid or Kasim was the author of all these revolutions in the Hindu dynasties. We are supported in this by the names of the princes contained in the catalogue who aided to defend Chitor and the Mori prince on this occasion. It is evident that Chitor was, alternately with Ujjain, the seat of sovereignty of the Pramara at this period, and, as it became the rallying point of the Hindus, that this race was the first in consequence.[23] We find the prince of Ajmer, and the quotas of Saurashtra and Gujarat [247]; Angatsi, lord of the Huns; Busa, the lord of the North; Sheo, the prince of the Jarejas; the Johya, lord of Jangaldes; the Aswaria, the Sepat, the Kulhar, the Malan, the Ohir, the Hul, and many others, having nothing of the Hindu in name, now extinct. But the most conspicuous is ‘Dahir Despati from Debal.’ This is erroneously written Delhi, the seat of the Tuars; whereas we recognize the name of the prince of Sind, slain by Kasim, whose expatriated son doubtless found refuge in Chitor.[24]

The Defeat of the Enemy.

—This attack on the Mori prince was defeated chiefly through the bravery of the youthful Guhilot. The foe from Kujliban, though stated to have advanced by Mathura, retreated by Saurashtra and Sind, pursued by Bappa. He found the ancient seat of his ancestors, Gajni,[25] still in the possession of the ‘Asur’: a term as well as mlechchha, or ‘barbarian,’ always given to the Islamite at this period. Salim, who held Gajni, was attacked and forced to surrender, and Bappa inducted into this stronghold of his ancestors a nephew of his own. It is no less singular than honourable to their veracity that the annals should record the fact, so contrary to their religion, of Bappa having married the daughter of the conquered Salim; and we have a right to infer that it was from the influence acquired by this union that he ultimately abandoned the sovereignty of Mewar and the title of ‘Hindua Suraj’ to become the founder of the ‘one hundred and thirty tribes of Naushahra [248] Pathans’ of the west. It is fair to conclude from all these notices regarding the founder of the Guhilot race in Chitor that he must have abjured his faith for that of Islam; and it is probable (though the surmise must ever remain unproved) that, under some new title applicable to such change, we may have, in one of the early distinguished leaders of ‘the Faith,’ the ancestor of the Guhilots.

Khumān II.

—Let us now proceed to the next irruption of the Islamite invaders in the reign of Khuman, from A.D. 812 to 836. Though the leader of this attack is styled ‘Mahmud Khorasan Pat,’ it is evident from the catalogue of Hindu princes who came to defend Chitor that this ‘lord of Khorasan’ was at least two centuries before the son of Sabuktigin; and as the period is in perfect accordance with the partition of the caliphat by Harun amongst his sons, we can have no hesitation in assigning such invasion to Mamun, to whose share was allotted Khorasan, Sind, and the Indian dependencies. The records of this period are too scanty to admit of our passing over in silence even a barren catalogue of names, which, as texts, with the aid of collateral information, may prove of some benefit to the future antiquarian and historian.

"From Gajni came the Guhilot; the Tak from Asir; from Narlai the Chauhan; the Chalukya from Rahargarh; from Setubandha the Jarkhera; from Mandor the Khairavi; from Mangrol the Makwahana; from Jethgarh the Joria; from Taragarh the Rewar; the Kachhwaha from Narwar; from Sanchor the Kalam; from Junagarh the Dasanoh; from Ajmer the Gaur; from Lohadargarh the Chandano; from Dasaundi the Dor; from Delhi the Tuar; from Patan the Chawara, preserver of royalty (Rajdhar); from Jalor the Sonigira; from Sirohi the Deora; from Gagraun the Khichi; the Jadon from Junagarh; the Jhala from Patri; from Kanauj the Rathor; from Chotiala the Bala; from Piramgarh the Gohil; from Jaisalgarh the Bhatti; the Busa from Lahore; the Sankhla from Roneja; the Sehat from Kherligarh; from Mandalgarh the Nikumbha; the Bargujar from Rajor; from Karangarh the Chandel; from Sikar the Sikarwal; from Umargarh the Jethwa; from Pali the Bargota; from Khantargarh the Jareja; from Jirga the Kherwar; from Kashmir the Parihara."

Of the Guhilot from Gajni we have said enough; nor shall we comment on the Tak, or his capital, Asir, which now belongs to the British Government. The Chauhan, who came from Narlai, was a celebrated branch of the Ajmer [249] house, and claims the honour of being the parent of the Sonigiras of Jalor and the Deoras of Sirohi. Nadol is mentioned by Ferishta as falling a prey to one of Mahmud’s invasions, who destroyed its ancient temples; but from erroneous punctuation it is lost in the translation as Bazule.[26] Of Rahargarh and the Jarkhera from Setubandha (on the Malabar coast) nothing is known.[27] Of the Khairavi from Mandor we can only say that it appears to be a branch of the Pramaras (who reckoned Mandor one of the nine strongholds, ‘Nau-kot,’ under its dominion), established anterior to the Pariharas, who at this period had sovereignty in Kashmir. Both the Dor and his capital, Dasaundi, are described in ancient books as situated on the Ganges below Kanauj.

It is a subject of regret that the annals do not mention the name of the Tuar prince of Delhi, which city could not have been refounded above a century when this call was made upon its aid. Abu-l Fazl, Ferishta, their translators, and those who have followed them have been corrected by the Edinburgh Review, whose critical judgment on this portion of ancient history is eminently good. I possess the original Hindu record used by Abu-l Fazl, which gives S. 829 for the first Anangpal instead of S. 429; and as there were but nineteen princes who intervened until his dynasty was set aside by the Chauhan, it requires no argument to support the four instead of eight centuries. The former will give the just average of twenty-one years to a reign. The name of Anangpal was titular in the family, and the epithet was applied to the last as to the first of the race.

The name of the Chawara prince of Patan (Anhilwara) being recorded amongst the auxiliaries of Khuman, is another satisfactory proof of the antiquity of this invasion; for this dynasty was extinct, and succeeded by the Solankis, in S. 998 (A.D. 942), fifty years prior to Mahmud of Ghazni, who captured Patan during the reign of Chawand, the second Solanki prince.[28]

The Sonigira, who came from Jalor, is a celebrated branch of the Chauhan race, but we are ignorant of the extent of time that it held this fortress: and as nothing can invalidate the testimonies afforded by the names of the Chawara of [250] Patan, the Kachhwaha of Narwar, the Tuar of Delhi, and the Rathor from Kanauj, there can be no hesitation at pointing out the anachronisms of the chronicle, which states the Deora from Sirohi, the Khichi from Gagraun, or the Bhatti from Jaisalgarh, amongst the levies on this occasion; and which we must affirm to be decided interpolations, the two first being at that period in possession of the Pramara, and the latter not erected for three centuries later. That the Deoras, the Khichis, and the Bhattis came to the aid of Khuman, we cannot doubt; but the copyist, ignorant even of the names of the ancient capitals of these tribes, Chhotan, Sindsagar, and Tanot, substituted those which they subsequently founded.

The Jadon (Yadu) from Junagarh (Girnar) was of the race of Krishna, and appeared long to have held possession of this territory; and the names of the Khengars, of this tribe, will remain as long as the stupendous monuments they reared on this sacred hill. Besides the Jadon, we find Saurashtra sending forth the Jhalas, the Balas, and the Gohils to the aid of the descendant of the lord of Valabhipura, whose paramount authority they once all acknowledged, and who appeared to have long maintained influence in that distant region.

Of the tribe of Busa, who left their capital, Lahore, to succour Chitor, we have no mention, further than the name being enumerated amongst the unassigned tribes of Rajputs.[29] Ferishta frequently notices the princes of Lahore in the early progress of Islamism, though he does not tell us the name of the tribe. In the reign of the caliph Al-Mansur, A.H. 143 (A.D. 761), the Afghans of Kirman and Peshawar, who, according to this authority, were a Coptic colony expelled from Egypt,[30] had increased in such numbers as to abandon their residence about the ‘hill of Sulaiman,’ and crossing the Indus, wrested possessions from the Hindu princes of Lahore. This frontier warfare with a tribe which, though it had certainly not then embraced the faith of Islam, brought to their succour the forces of the caliph in Zabulistan, so that in five months seventy battles were fought with varied success; but the last, in which the Lahore prince carried his arms to Peshawar,[31] produced a peace. Hence arose a union of interests between them and the hill tribe of Gakkhar, and all the Kohistan west of the Indus was ceded to them [251] on the condition of guarding this barrier into Hindustan against invasion. For this purpose the fortress of Khaibar was erected in the chief pass of the Koh-i-Daman. For two centuries after this event Ferishta is silent on this frontier warfare, stating that henceforth Hindustan was only accessible through Sind. When Aliptigin first crossed the Indus, the prince of Lahore and the Afghans still maintained this alliance and united to oppose him. Jaipal was then prince of Lahore; and it is on this event that Ferishta, for the first time, mentions the tribe of Bhatti,[32] “at the advice of whose prince he conferred the command of the united forces on an Afghan chief,” to whom he assigned the provinces of Multan and Lamghan. From this junction of interests the princes of Lahore enjoyed comparative security, until Sabuktigin and Mahmud compelled the Afghans to serve them: then Lahore was captured. The territory dependent upon Lahore, at this period, extended from Sirhind to Lamghan, and from Kashmir to Multan. Bhatinda divided with Lahore the residence of its princes. Their first encounter was at Lingham, on which occasion young Mahmud first distinguished himself, and as the historian says, “the eyes of the heavens were obscured at seeing his deeds.”[33] A tributary engagement was the result, which Jaipal soon broke; and being aided by levies from all the princes of Hindustan, marched an army of one hundred thousand men against Sabuktigin, and was again defeated on the banks of the Indus. He was at length invested and taken in Bhatinda by Mahmud, when he put himself to death.[34] The successors of Jaipal are mentioned merely as fugitives, and always distinct from the princes of Delhi. It is most probable that they were of the tribe termed Busa in the annals of Mewar, possibly a subdivision of another; though Ferishta calls the prince of Lahore a Brahman.

The Sankhla from Roneja. Both tribe and abode are well known: it is a subdivision of the Pramara. Harbuji Sankhla was the Paladin of Marwar, in which Roneja was situated.

The Sehat from Kherligarh was a northern tribe, dwelling about the Indus, and though entirely unknown to the modern genealogists of India, is frequently mentioned in the early history of the Bhattis, when their possessions extended on both sides of the Hyphasis. As intermarriages between the Bhattis and Sehats are [252] often spoken of, it must have been Rajput. It most probably occupied the province of Swat, the Suvat of D’Anville, a division of the province of Ashthanagar, where dwelt the Assakenoi of Alexander; concerning which this celebrated geographer says, “Il est mention de Suvat comme d’un canton du pays d’Ash-nagar dans la même géographie turque” (Ecl. p. 25). The whole of this ground was sacred to the Jadon tribe from the most remote antiquity, from Multan, the hills of Jud, to Aswinikot (the Tshehin-kote of D’Anville), which, built on the point of confluence of the Choaspes of the Greeks with the Indus, marks the spot where dwelt the Assakenoi, corroborated by the Puranas, which mention the partition of all these territories amongst the sons of Bajaswa, the lord of Kampilnagara, the grand subdivision of the Yadu race. In all likelihood the Sehat, who came to the aid of Khuman of Chitor, was a branch of these Assakenoi, the opponents of Alexander.[35] The modern town of Dinkot appears to occupy the site of Aswinikot, though D’Anville feels inclined to carry it into the heart of Bajaur and place it on the rock (silla) Aornos.[36] Such the Sehat; not improbably the Soha, one of the eight subdivisions of the Yadu.[37] When, in S. 785, the Bhatti chief Rao Tanu was driven across the Sutlej, the Sehats are mentioned with other tribes as forming the army of Husain Shah, with the Barahas, the Judis, and Johyas (the Juds and Jinjohyas of Babur), the Butas, and the ‘men of Dud.’

The Chandel, from Karangarh, occupied the tracts now termed Bundelkhand.

We shall pass over the other auxiliary tribes and conclude with the Parihar, who came from Kashmir on this occasion; a circumstance entirely overlooked in the dissertation on this tribe;[38] nor does this isolated fact afford room for further discussion on a race which expelled the Pramaras from Mandor.

Such aids, who preserved Khuman when assailed by the ‘Khorasan Pat,’ fully demonstrate the antiquity of the annals, which is further attested by inscriptions. Khuman fought twenty-four great battles, and his name, like that of Caesar, became a family distinction. At Udaipur, if you make a false step, or even sneeze, you hear the ejaculation of ‘Khuman aid you!’ Khuman, by the advice of the Brahmans, resigned the gaddi to his younger son, Jograj; but again resumed [253] it, slaying his advisers and execrating the name of Brahman, which he almost exterminated in his own dominions. Khuman was at length slain by his own son, Mangal; but the chiefs expelled the parricide, who seized upon Lodorwa in the northern desert, and there established the Mangalia Guhilots.

Bhartribhat III.

—Bhartribhat (familiarly Bhato) succeeded. In his reign, and in that of his successor, the territory dependent on Chitor was greatly increased. All the forest tribes, from the banks of the Mahi to Abu, were subjugated, and strongholds erected, of which Dharangarh and Ujargarh still remain to maintain them. He established no less than thirteen[39] of his sons in independent possessions in Malwa and Gujarat, and these were distinguished as the Bhatera Guhilots.

We shall now leap over fifteen generations; which, though affording a few interesting facts to the antiquary, would not amuse the general reader. We will rest satisfied with stating that the Chauhans of Ajmer and the Guhilots of Chitor were alternately friends and foes; that Durlabh Chauhan was slain by Bersi Rawal in a grand battle fought at Kawaria, of which the Chauhan annals state ‘that their princes were now so powerful as to oppose the chief of Chitor.’ Again, in the next reign, we find the renowned Bisaldeo, son of Durlabh, combining with Rawal Tejsi of Chitor to oppose the progress of Islamite invasion: facts recorded by inscriptions as well as by the annals. We may close these remarks on the fifteen princes, from Khuman to Samarsi, with the words of Gibbon on the dark period of Guelphic annals: “It may be presumed that they were illiterate and valiant; that they plundered in their youth, and reared churches in their old age; that they were fond of arms, horses, and hunting”; and, we may add, continued bickering with their vassals within when left unemployed by the enemy from without [254].

1. [“We now know that Samar Singh was alive up to 1299, only four years before Alāu-d-dīn’s siege of Chitor, and that in several inscriptions his dates are given as 1273, 1274, 1285, etc.... Instead of being the father of Karan Singh I., as stated by Tod, Samar Singh came eight generations after him, and was the father of Ratan Singh I., who, according to Muhammadan historians, was the ruler of Chitor during the reign of Alāu-d-dīn, and the husband of Padmini” (Erskine ii. A. 14 f.)]

2. See Genealogical Table.

3. This, according to the roll, was the standard of Bappa.

4. Amongst the passages which Dow [i. 37] has slurred over in his translation is the interesting account of the origin of the Afghans; who, when they first came in contact with those of the new faith, in A.H. 62, dwelt around the Koh-i-Sulaiman. Ferishta, quoting authority, says: "The Afghans were Copts, ruled by Pharaun, many of whom were converted to the laws and religion of Moses; but others, who were stubborn in their worship to their gods, fled towards Hindustan, and took possession of the country adjoining the Koh-i-Sulaiman. They were visited by Kasim from Sind, and in the 143rd year of the Hegira had possessed themselves of the provinces of Kirman, Peshawar, and all within their bounds (sinoran)," which Dow has converted into a province. The whole geographical description of the Kohistan, the etymology of the term Rohilla, and other important matter, is omitted by him [see Briggs, trans. i. 6 f.].

5. [The island Diu.] Yūsufgol is stated to have held Chaul on the mainland. He was most probably the father of Vanaraja Chawara, the founder of Patan Anhilwara, whose ancestors, on the authority of the Kumarpal Charitra, were princes of Bandardiva, held by the Portuguese since the time of Albuquerque, who changed its name to Deo. [But Yūsufgol, if he existed, must have been a Musalmān. Vanarāja Chāwara was son of Jayasekhara, said to have been slain in battle, A.D. 696, leaving his wife pregnant (BG, i. Part i. 150 f.). Yūsufgol does not appear in the local history.]

6. The ancient roll from which this is taken mentions Asil giving his name to a fortress, called Asilgarh. His son, Bijai Pal, was slain in attempting to wrest Khambayat (Cambay) from Sangram Dabhi. One of his wives, from a violent death, was prematurely delivered of a boy, called Setu; and as, in such cases, the Hindu supposes the deceased to become a discontented spirit (churail), Churaila became the name of the tribe. Bija, the twelfth from Asil, obtained Sonal from his maternal uncle, Khengar Dabhi, prince of Girnar, but was slain by Jai Singh Deo, prince of Surat. From these names compounded, Dabi and Churaila, we may have the Dabisalima of Mahmud. [The Asil Guhilots are now included in the Mers of the Kāthiawār coast; their numbers are exaggerated in the text (Āīn, ii. 247; BG, ix. Parti. 126).] [See p. 266 above.]

7. Also called Karna. He it was who excavated the Boraila lake, and erected the grand temple of Eklinga on the site of the hermitage of Harita, whose descendant, the present officiating priest, reckons sixty-six descents, while the princes of Mewar amount to seventy-two in the same period.

8. [Ferishta (i. 2) calls him Sayyid bin Abiu-l-Aas.]

9. See Table next page.

10. Marigny (quoting El-Makin), Hist. of the Arabians, vol. ii. p. 283; Mod. Univ. Hist. vol. ii. p. 47.

11. “The two young princesses, in order to revenge the death of their father, represented falsely to the Khalif that Muhammad bin Kasim had been connected with them. The Khalif, in a rage, gave order for Muhammad bin Kasim to be sewed up in a raw hide, and sent in that condition to court. When the mandate arrived at Tatta, Kasim was prepared to carry an expedition against Harchand, monarch of Kanauj. When he arrived at court, the Khalif showed him to the daughters of Dahir, who expressed their joy upon beholding their father’s murderer in such a condition” [Āīn, ii. 345; Elliot-Dowson i. 209 f.].

13. [The Mewār dates are quite untrustworthy (see Erskine iii. B. 8 f.).]

14. Aror is seven miles east of Bakhar.

15. Marigny, vol. iii. p. 83; Univ. Hist. vol. ii. p. 162.

16. His father’s name was Aliptigin, termed a slave by Ferishta and his authorities; though El-Makin gives him an ancestor in Yazdegird. [He was a slave (Elliot-Dowson iv. 159).]

17. Ait, contracted from Aditya: hence Itwar, ‘Sunday.’

18. [This is not corroborated by Musulmān authorities.]

19. Even from the puerilities of Hindu legends something may be extracted. A mendicant dervesh, called Roshan Ali (i.e. the ‘light of Ali’), had found his way to Garh Bitli (the ancient name of the Ajmer fortress), and having thrust his hand into a vessel of curds destined for the Raja, had his finger cut off. The disjointed member flew to Mecca, and was recognized as belonging to the saint. An army was equipped in the disguise of horse-merchants, which invaded Ajmer, whose prince was slain. May we not gather from this incident that an insult to the first Islamite missionary, in the person of Roshan Ali, brought upon the prince the arms of the Caliph? The same Chauhan legends state that Ajaipal was prince of Ajmer at this time; that in this invasion by sea he hastened to Anjar (on the coast of Cutch), where he held the ‘guard of the ocean’ (Samudra ki Chauki), where he fell in opposing the landing. An altar was erected on the spot, on which was sculptured the figure of the prince on horseback, with his lance at rest, and which still annually attracts multitudes at the ‘fair (Mela) of Ajaipal.’ The subsequent invasion alluded to in the text, of S. 750 (A.D. 694), is marked by a curious anecdote. When the ‘Asurs’ had blockaded Ajmer, Lot, the infant son of Manika Rae, was playing on the battlements, when an arrow from the foe killed the heir of Ajmer, who has ever since been worshipped amongst the lares and penates of the Chauhans; and as he had on a silver chain anklet at the time, this ornament is forbid to the children of the race. In all these Rajput families there is a putra (adolescens) amongst the penates, always one who has come to an untimely end, and chiefly worshipped by females; having a strong resemblance to the rites in honour of Adonis. We have traced several Roman and Grecian terms to Sanskrit origin; may we add that of lares, from larla, ‘dear’ or ‘beloved’? [?].

20. [The story is “puerile and fictitious: independent of which the Arabs had quite enough to do nearer home” (Elliot-Dowson i. 426).]

21. [Persian: not a likely name.]

22. Signifying ‘Elephant forests,’ and described in a Hindu map (stamped on cloth and painted) of India from Kujliban to Lanka, and the provinces west of the Indus to Calcutta; presented by me to the Royal Asiatic Society.

23. The list of the vassal princes at the court of the Mori confirms the statement of the bard Chand, of the supremacy of Ram Pramara, and the partition of his dominion, as described (see p. 63, note) amongst the princes who founded separate dynasties at this period; hitherto in vassalage or subordinate to the Pramara. We can scarcely suppose the family to have suffered any decay since their ancestor, Chandragupta, connected by marriage with as well as the ally of the Grecian Seleucus, and who held Greeks in his pay. From such connexion, the arts of sculpture and architecture may have derived a character hitherto unnoticed. Amidst the ruins of Barolli are seen sculptured the Grecian helmet; and the elegant ornament, the Kumbha, or ‘vessel of desire,’ on the temple of Annapurna (i.e. ‘giver of food’), the Hindu Ceres, has much affinity to the Grecian device. From the inscription (see No. 2) it is evident that Chitor was an appanage of Ujjain, the seat of Pramar empire. Its monarch, Chandragupta (Mori [Maurya]), degraded into the barber (Maurya) tribe, was the descendant of Srenika, prince of Rajagriha, who, according to the Jain work, Kalpadruma Kalka, flourished in the year 477 before Vikramaditya, and from whom Chandragupta was the thirteenth in descent. The names as follows: Kanika, Udsen, and nine in succession of the name of Nanda, thence called the Nau-nanda. These, at twenty-two years to a reign (see p. 64), would give 286 years, which -477 = 191 s.v. + 56 = 247 A.C. Now it was in A.C. 260, according to Bayer, that the treaty was formed between Seleucus and Chandragupta; so that this scrap of Jain history may be regarded as authentic and valuable. Asoka (a name of weight in Jain annals) succeeded Chandragupta. He by Kunala, whose son was Samprati, with whose name ends the line of Srenika, according to the authority from which I made the extract. The name of Samprati is well known from Ajmer to Saurashtra, and his era is given in a valuable chronogrammatic catalogue in an ancient Jain manuscript from the temple of Nadol, at 202 of the Virat Samvat. He is mentioned both traditionally and by books as the great supporter of the Jain faith, and the remains of temples dedicated to Mahavira, erected by this prince, yet exist at Ajmer, on Abu, Kumbhalmer, and Girnar. [Much of this needs correction, which cannot be done in the limits of a note. For the Nanda dynasty see Smith, EHI, 40, and for Chandragupta Maurya and Asoka, 115 ff.]

24. [This and the second catalogue are fictions. They conflict with the conditions then existing in Gujarāt, and such motley arrays are a favourite bardic theme (Forbes, Rāsmāla, 31, note; ASR, ii. 379).]

25. It has already been stated that the ancient name of Cambay was Gaini or Gajni, whose ruins are three miles from the present city [see p. 254 above]. There is also a Gajni on the estuary of the Mahi, and Abu-l Fazl incidentally mentions a Gajnagar as one of the most important fortresses of Gujarat, belonging to Ahmad Shah; in attempting to obtain which by stratagem, his antagonist, Hoshang, king of Malwa, was made prisoner. I am unaware of the site of this place, though there are remains of an extensive fortress near the capital, founded by Ahmad, and which preserves no name. It may be the ancient Gajnagar. [The Author confuses the place in Gujarāt with Jājnagar or Jājpur in Orissa, captured through a stratagem by Hoshang (Āīn, ii. 219; Ferishta iv. 178; BG, i. Part i. 359).]

26. I presented to the Royal Asiatic Society two inscriptions from Nadol, one dated S. 1024, the other 1039. They are of Prince Lakha, and state as instances of his power that he collected the transit duties at the further barrier of Patan, and levied tribute from the prince of Chitor. He was the contemporary of Mahmud, who devastated Nadol. I also discovered inscriptions of the twelfth century relative to this celebrated Chauhan family, in passing from Udaipur to Jodhpur. [Dow (i. 170) writes “Tilli and Buzule”; Briggs (i. 196) has “Baly and Nadole”; Elliot-Dowson (ii. 229) writes “Pāli and Nandūl,” the differences being due to misreading of the Arabic script.]

27. [Setubandha is the causeway made by Rāma to Lanka or Ceylon (IGI, v. 81).]

28. [Chāmunda reigned A.D. 997-1010; Anhilwāra was captured under Bhīma I. (1022-64).]

29. See p. 144.

30. [Ferishta i. 6.]

31. The scene of action was between Peshawar and Kirman, the latter lying ninety miles south-west of the former.

32. Dow omits this in his translation [see Briggs i. Introd. 9, i. 16].

33. The sense of this passage has been quite perverted by Dow [see Briggs i. 16].

34. [See Smith, EHI, 382.]

35. [The capital of the Assakenoi was Massaga, near the Malakand Pass (Smith, EHI, 54; McCrindle, Alexander, 334 f.).]

36. [For the site see Smith, EHI, 56, note 2.]

37. See p. 104.

38. See p. 119 f.

39. By name, Kulanagar, Champaner, Choreta, Bhojpur, Lunara, Nimthor, Sodara, Jodhgarh, Sandpur, Aitpur, and Gangabheva. The remaining two are not mentioned.

CHAPTER 5

Although the whole of this chain of ancestry, from Kanaksen in the second, Vijaya the founder of Valabhi in the fourth, to Samarsi in the thirteenth century, cannot be discriminated with perfect accuracy, we may affirm, to borrow a metaphor, that “the two extremities of it are riveted in truth”: and some links have at intervals been recognized as equally valid. We will now extend the chain to the nineteenth century.

Samar Singh, Samarsi: The Tuars of Delhi.

—Samarsi was born in S. 1206.[1] Though the domestic annals are not silent on his acts, we shall recur chiefly to the bard of Delhi[2] for his character and actions, and the history of the period. Before we proceed, however, a sketch of the political condition of Hindustan during the last of the Tuar sovereigns of Delhi, derived from this authority and in the bard’s own words, may not be unacceptable. "In Patan is Bhola Bhim the Chalukya, of iron frame.[3] On the mountain Abu, Jeth Pramara, in battle immovable as the star of the north. In Mewar is Samar Singh, who takes tribute from the mighty, a wave of iron in the path of Delhi’s foe. In the midst of all, strong in his own strength, Mandor’s prince, the arrogant Nahar Rao, the might of Maru, fearing none. In Delhi the chief of all [255] Ananga, at whose summons attended the princes of Mandor, Nagor, Sind, Jalwat,[4] and others on its confines, Peshawar, Lahore, Kangra, and its mountain chiefs, with Kasi,[5] Prayag,[6] and Garh Deogir. The lords of Simar[7] were in constant danger of his power." The Bhatti, since their expulsion from Zabulistan, had successively occupied as capitals, Salivahanapur in the Panjab, Tanot, Derawar, which last they founded, and the ancient Lodorwa, which they conquered in the desert; and at the period in question were constructing their present residence, Jaisalmer. In this nook they had been fighting for centuries with the lieutenants of the Caliph at Aror, occasionally redeeming their ancient possessions as far as the city of the Tak on the Indus. Their situation gave them little political interest in the affairs of Hindustan until the period of Prithiraj, one of whose principal leaders, Achales, was the brother of the Bhatti prince. Anangpal, from this description, was justly entitled to be termed the paramount sovereign of Hindustan; but he was the last of a dynasty of nineteen princes, who had occupied Delhi nearly four hundred years, from the time of the founder Bilan Deo, who, according to a manuscript in the author’s possession, was only an opulent Thakur when he assumed the ensigns of royalty in the then deserted Indraprastha, taking the name of Anangpal,[8] ever after titular in the family. The Chauhans of Ajmer owed at least homage to Delhi at this time, although Bisaldeo had rendered it almost nominal; and to Someswar, the fourth in descent, Anangpal was indebted for the preservation of this supremacy against the attempts of Kanauj, for which service he obtained the Tuar’s daughter in marriage, the issue of which was Prithiraj, who when only eight years of age was proclaimed successor to the Delhi throne.

Prithiraj.

—Jaichand of Kanauj and Prithiraj bore the same relative situation to Anangpal; Bijaipal, the father of the former, as well as Someswar, having had a daughter of the Tuar to wife. This originated the rivalry between the Chauhans and Rathors, which ended in the destruction of both. When Prithiraj mounted the throne of Delhi, Jaichand not only refused to acknowledge his supremacy, but set forth his own claims to this distinction. In these he was supported by the prince of Patan [256] Anhilwara (the eternal foe of the Chauhans), and likewise by the Parihars of Mandor. But the affront given by the latter, in refusing to fulfil the contract of bestowing his daughter on the young Chauhan, brought on a warfare, in which this first essay was but the presage of his future fame. Kanauj and Patan had recourse to the dangerous expedient of entertaining bands of Tatars, through whom the sovereign of Ghazni was enabled to take advantage of their internal broils.

Samarsi, prince of Chitor, had married the sister of Prithiraj, and their personal characters, as well as this tie, bound them to each other throughout all these commotions, until the last fatal battle on the Ghaggar. From these feuds Hindustan never was free. But unrelenting enmity was not a part of their character: having displayed the valour of the tribe, the bard or Nestor of the day would step in, and a marriage would conciliate and maintain in friendship such foes for two generations. From time immemorial such has been the political state of India, as represented by their own epics, or in Arabian or Persian histories: thus always the prey of foreigners, and destined to remain so. Samarsi had to contend both with the princes of Patan and Kanauj; and although the bard says “he washed his blade in the Jumna,” the domestic annals slur over the circumstance of Siddharaja-Jayasingha having actually made a conquest of Chitor; for it is not only included in the eighteen capitals enumerated as appertaining to this prince, but the author discovered a tablet[9] in Chitor, placed there by his successor, Kumarpal, bearing the date S. 1206, the period of Samarsi’s birth. The first occasion of Samarsi’s aid being called in by the Chauhan emperor was on the discovery of treasure at Nagor, amounting to seven millions of gold, the deposit of ancient days. The princes of Kanauj and Patan, dreading the influence which such sinews of war would afford their antagonist, invited Shihabu-d-din to aid their designs of humiliating the Chauhan, who in this emergency sent an embassy to Samarsi. The envoy was Chand Pundir, the vassal chief of Lahore, and guardian of that frontier. He is conspicuous from this time to the hour “when he planted his lance at the ford of the Ravi,” and fell in opposing the passage of Shihabu-d-din. The presents he carries, the speech with which he greets the Chitor prince, his reception, reply, and dismissal are all preserved by [257] Chand. The style of address and the apparel of Samarsi betoken that he had not laid aside the office and ensigns of a ‘Regent of Mahadeva.’ A simple necklace of the seeds of the lotus adorned his neck; his hair was braided, and he is addressed as Jogindra, or chief of ascetics. Samarsi proceeded to Delhi; and it was arranged, as he was connected by marriage with the prince of Patan, that Prithiraj should march against this prince, while he should oppose the army from Ghazni. He (Samarsi) accordingly fought several indecisive battles, which gave time to the Chauhan to terminate the war in Gujarat and rejoin him. United, they completely discomfited the invaders, making their leader prisoner. Samarsi declined any share of the discovered treasure, but permitted his chiefs to accept the gifts offered by Chauhan. Many years elapsed in such subordinate warfare, when the prince of Chitor was again constrained to use his buckler in defence of Delhi and its prince, whose arrogance and successful ambition, followed by disgraceful inactivity, invited invasion with every presage of success. Jealousy and revenge rendered the princes of Patan, Kanauj, Dhar, and the minor courts indifferent spectators of a contest destined to overthrow them all.

The Death of Samar Singh.

—The bard gives a good description of the preparations for his departure from Chitor, which he was destined never to see again. The charge of the city was entrusted to a favourite and younger son, Karna: which disgusted the elder brother, who went to the Deccan to Bidar, where he was well received by an Abyssinian chief,[10] who had there established himself in sovereignty. Another son, either on this occasion or on the subsequent fall of Chitor, fled to the mountains of Nepal, and there spread the Guhilot line.[11] It is in this, the last of the books of Chand, termed The Great Fight, that we have the character of Samarsi fully delineated. His arrival at Delhi is hailed with songs of joy as a day of deliverance. Prithiraj and his court advance seven miles to meet him, and the description of the greeting of the king of Delhi and his sister, and the chiefs on either side who recognize ancient friendships, is most animated. Samarsi reads his brother-in-law an indignant lecture on his unprincely inactivity, and throughout the book divides attention with him.

In the planning of the campaign, and march towards the Ghaggar to meet the foe [258], Samarsi is consulted, and his opinions are recorded. The bard represents him as the Ulysses of the host: brave, cool, and skilful in the fight; prudent, wise, and eloquent in council; pious and decorous on all occasions; beloved by his own chiefs, and reverenced by the vassals of the Chauhan. In the line of march no augur or bard could better explain the omens, none in the field better dress the squadrons for battle, none guide his steed or use his lance with more address. His tent is the principal resort of the leaders after the march or in the intervals of battle, who were delighted by his eloquence or instructed by his knowledge. The bard confesses that his precepts of government are chiefly from the lips of Khuman;[12] and of his best episodes and allegories, whether on morals, rules for the guidance of ambassadors, choice of ministers, religious or social duties (but especially those of the Rajput to the sovereign), the wise prince of Chitor is the general organ.

On the last of three days’ desperate fighting Samarsi was slain, together with his son Kalyan, and thirteen thousand of his household troops and most renowned chieftains.[13] His beloved Pirtha, on hearing the fatal issue, her husband slain, her brother captive, the heroes of Delhi and Chitor “asleep on the banks of the Ghaggar, in the wave of the steel,” joined her lord through the flame, nor waited the advance of the Tatar king, when Delhi was carried by storm, and the last stay of the Chauhans, Prince Rainsi, met death in the assault. The capture of Delhi and its monarch, the death of his ally of Chitor, with the bravest and best of their troops, speedily ensured the further and final success of the Tatar arms; and when Kanauj fell, and the traitor to his nation met his fate in the waves of the Ganges, none were left to contend with Shihabu-d-din the possession of the regal seat of the Chauhan. Scenes of devastation, plunder, and massacre commenced, which lasted through ages; during which nearly all that was sacred in religion or celebrated in art was destroyed by these ruthless and barbarous invaders. The noble Rajput, with a spirit of constancy and enduring courage, seized every opportunity to turn upon his oppressor. By his perseverance and valour he wore out entire dynasties of foes, alternately yielding ‘to his fate,’ or restricting the circle of conquest. Every road in Rajasthan was moistened with torrents of blood of the [259] spoiled and the spoiler. But all was of no avail; fresh supplies were ever pouring in, and dynasty succeeded dynasty, heir to the same remorseless feeling which sanctified murder, legalized spoliation, and deified destruction. In these desperate conflicts entire tribes were swept away whose names are the only memento of their former existence and celebrity.

Gallant Resistance of the Rājputs.

—What nation on earth would have maintained the semblance of civilization, the spirit or the customs of their forefathers, during so many centuries of overwhelming depression but one of such singular character as the Rajput? Though ardent and reckless, he can, when required, subside into forbearance and apparent apathy, and reserve himself for the opportunity of revenge. Rajasthan exhibits the sole example in the history of mankind of a people withstanding every outrage barbarity can inflict, or human nature sustain, from a foe whose religion commands annihilation, and bent to the earth, yet rising buoyant from the pressure, and making calamity a whetstone to courage. How did the Britons at once sink under the Romans, and in vain strive to save their groves, their druids, or the altars of Bal from destruction! To the Saxons they alike succumbed; they, again, to the Danes; and this heterogeneous breed to the Normans. Empire was lost and gained by a single battle, and the laws and religion of the conquered merged in those of the conquerors. Contrast with these the Rajputs; not an iota of their religion or customs have they lost, though many a foot of land. Some of their States have been expunged from the map of dominion; and, as a punishment of national infidelity, the pride of the Rathor, and the glory of the Chalukya, the overgrown Kanauj and gorgeous Anhilwara, are forgotten names! Mewar alone, the sacred bulwark of religion, never compromised her honour for her safety, and still survives her ancient limits; and since the brave Samarsi gave up his life, the blood of her princes has flowed in copious streams for the maintenance of this honour, religion, and independence.

Karan Singh I.: Ratan Singh.

—Samarsi had several sons;[14] but Karna was his heir, and during his minority his mother, Kuramdevi, a princess of Patan, nobly maintained what his father left. She headed her Rajputs and gave battle[15] in person to Kutbu-d-din, near [260] Amber, when the viceroy was defeated and wounded. Nine Rajas, and eleven chiefs of inferior dignity with the title of Rawat, followed the mother of their prince.

Karna (the radiant) succeeded in S. 1249 (A.D. 1193); but he was not destined to be the founder of a line in Mewar.[16] The annals are at variance with each other on an event which gave the sovereignty of Chitor to a younger branch, and sent the elder into the inhospitable wilds of the west, to found a city[17] and perpetuate a line.[18] It is stated generally that Karna had two sons, Mahup and Rahup; but this is an error: Samarsi and Surajmall were brothers: Karna was the son of the former and Mahup was his son, whose mother was a Chauhan of Bagar. Surajmall had a son named Bharat, who was driven from Chitor by a conspiracy. He proceeded to Sind, obtained Aror from its prince, a Musalman, and married the daughter of the Bhatti chief of Pugal, by whom he had a son named Rahup. Kama died of grief for the loss of Bharat and the unworthiness of Mahup, who abandoned him to live entirely with his maternal relations, the Chauhans.

The Sonigira chief of Jalor had married the daughter of Karna, by whom he had a child named Randhol,[19] whom by treachery he placed on the throne of Chitor, slaying the chief Guhilots. Mahup being unable to recover his rights, and unwilling to make any exertion, the chair of Bappa Rawal would have passed to the Chauhans but for an ancient bard of the house. He pursued his way to Aror, held by old Bharat as a fief of Kabul. With the levies of Sind he marched to claim the right abandoned by Mahup and at Pali encountered and defeated the Sonigiras. The retainers of Mewar flocked to his standard, and by their aid he enthroned himself in Chitor. He sent for his father and mother, Ranangdevi, whose dwelling on the Indus was made over to a younger brother, who bartered his faith for Aror, and held it as a vassal of Kabul.

Rāhup.

—Rahup obtained Chitor in S. 1257 (A.D. 1201), and shortly after sustained the attack of Shamsu-d-din, whom he met and overcame in a battle at Nagor. Two [261] great changes were introduced by this prince; the first in the title of the tribe, to Sesodia; the other in that of its prince, from Rawal to Rana. The puerile reason for the former has already been noticed;[20] the cause of the latter is deserving of more attention. Amongst the foes of Rahup was the Parihar prince of Mandor: his name Mokal, with the title of Rana. Rahup seized him in his capital and brought him to Sesoda, making him renounce the rich district of Godwar and his title of Rana, which he assumed himself, to denote the completion of his feud. He ruled thirty-eight years in a period of great distraction, and appears to have been well calculated, not only to uphold the fallen fortunes of the State, but to rescue them from utter ruin. His reign is the more remarkable by contrast with his successors, nine of whom are ‘pushed from their stools’ in the same or even a shorter period than that during which he upheld the dignity.

From Rahup to Lakhamsi [Lakshman Singh], in the short space of half a century, nine princes of Chitor were crowned, and at nearly equal intervals of time followed each other to ‘the mansions of the sun.’ Of these nine, six fell in battle. Nor did they meet their fate at home, but in a chivalrous enterprise to redeem the sacred Gaya from the pollution of the barbarian. For this object these princes successively fell, but such devotion inspired fear, if not pity or conviction, and the bigot renounced the impiety which Prithimall purchased with his blood, and until Alau-d-din’s reign, this outrage to their prejudices was renounced. But in this interval they had lost their capital, for it is stated as the only occurrence in Bhonsi’s[21] reign that he [262] “recovered Chitor” and made the name of Rana be acknowledged by all. Two memorials are preserved of the nine princes from Rahup to Lakhamsi, and of the same character: confusion and strife within and without. We will, therefore, pass over these to another grand event in the vicissitudes of this house, which possesses more of romance than of history, though the facts are undoubted.

1. [For the error in his date see p. 281 above.]

2. The work of Chand is a universal history of the period in which he wrote. In the sixty-nine books, comprising one hundred thousand stanzas, relating to the exploits of Prithiraj, every noble family of Rajasthan will find some record of their ancestors. It is accordingly treasured amongst the archives of each race having any pretensions to the name of Rajput. From this he can trace his martial forefathers who ‘drank of the wave of battle’ in the passes of Kirman when the ‘cloud of war rolled from Himachal’Himachal’ to the plains of Hindustan. The wars of Prithiraj, his alliances, his numerous and powerful tributaries, their abodes and pedigrees, make the works of Chand invaluable as historic and geographical memoranda, besides being treasures in mythology, manners, and the annals of the mind. To read this poet well is a sure road to honour, and my own Guru was allowed, even by the professional bards, to excel therein. As he read I rapidly translated about thirty thousand stanzas. Familiar with the dialects in which it is written, I have fancied that I seized occasionally the poet’s spirit; but it were presumption to suppose that I embodied all his brilliancy, or fully comprehended the depth of his allusions. But I knew for whom he wrote. The most familiar of his images and sentiments I heard daily from the mouths of those around me, the descendants of the men whose deeds he rehearses. I was enabled thus to seize his meaning, where one more skilled in poetic lore might have failed, and to make my prosaic version of some value. [For Chand Bardāi see Grierson, Modern Literary History of Hindustan, 3 f.]

3. [Bhīma II., Chaulukya, known as Bhola, ‘the simpleton,’ A.D. 1179-1242.]

4. Unknown, unless the country on the ‘waters’ (jal) of Sind.

5. Benares.

6. Allahabad.

7. The cold regions (si, ‘cold’).

8. Ananga is a poetical epithet of the Hindu Cupid, literally ‘incorporeal’; but, according to good authority, applicable to the founder of the desolate abode, palna being ‘to support,’ and anga, with the primitive an, ‘without body.’

9. See Inscription No. 5.

10. Styled Habshi Padshah.

11. [The Gorkhas or Gurkhas are said to have reached Nepal through Kumaun after the fall of Chitor (IGI, xix. 32).]

12. I have already mentioned that Khuman became a patronymic and title amongst the princes of Chitor.

13. [The battle was fought at Tarāīn or Talāwari in the Ambāla District, Panjāb, in 1192.]

14. Kalyanrae, slain with his father; Kumbhkaran, who went to Bidar; a third, the founder of the Gorkhas. [This assertion, based on the authority of Chand, is incorrect, Samar Singh being misplaced, and succeeded by Ratan Singh (Erskine ii. A. 146).]

15. This must be the battle mentioned by Ferishta (see Dow, p. 169, vol. ii.).

16. He had a son, Sarwan, who took to commerce. Hence the mercantile Sesodia caste, Sarwania.

17. Dungarpur, so named from dungar, ‘a mountain.’

18. [The facts are that after "Karan Singh the Mewār family divided into two branches—one with the title of Rāwal, the other Rāna. In the first, or Rāwal, branch were Khem or Kshem Singh, the eldest son of Karan Singh, Sāmant Singh, Kumār Singh, Mathan Singh, Padam Singh, Jeth Singh, Tej Singh, Samar Singh, and Ratan Singh, all of whom reigned at Chitor; while in the Rāna branch were Rāhup, a younger son of Karan Singh, Narpat, Dinkaran, Jaskaran, Nāgpāl, Puranpāl, Prithi Pāl, Bhuvān Singh, Bhīm Singh, Jai Singh, and Lakshman Singh, who ruled at Sesoda, and called themselves Sesodias. Thus, instead of having to fit in something like ten generations between Samar Singh, who, as we know, was alive in 1299, and the siege of Chitor, which certainly took place in 1303, we find that those ten princes were not descendants of Samar Singh at all, but the contemporaries of his seven immediate predecessors on the gaddi of Chitor and of himself, and that both Ratan Singh, the son of Samar Singh, and Lakshman Singh, the contemporary of Ratan Singh, were descended from a common ancestor, Karan Singh I., nine and eleven generations back respectively. It is also possible to reconcile the statement of the Musalmān historians that Ratan Singh (called Rāī Ratan) was ruler of Chitor during the siege—a statement corroborated by an inscription at Rājnagar—with the generally accepted story that it was Rāna Lakshman Singh who fell in defence of the fort" (Erskine ii. A. 15).]

19. So pronounced, but properly written Randhaval, ‘the standard of the field.’

20. See note, p. 252.

21. His second son, Chandra, obtained an appanage on the Chambal, and his issue, well known as Chandarawats, constituted one of the most powerful vassal clans of Mewar. Rampura (Bhanpura) was their residence, yielding a revenue of nine lakhs (£110,000), held on the tenure of service which, from an original grant in my possession from Rana Jagat Singh to his nephew Madho Singh, afterwards prince of Amber, was three thousand horse and foot (see p. 235), and the fine of investiture was seventy-five thousand rupees. Madho Singh, when prince of Amber, did what was invalid as well as ungrateful; he made over this domain, granted during his misfortunes, to Holkar, the first limb lopped off Mewar. The Chandarawat proprietor continued, however, to possess a portion of the original estate with the fortress of Amad, which it maintained throughout all the troubles of Rajwara till A.D. 1821. It shows the attachment to custom that the young Rao applied and received ‘the sword’ of investiture from his old lord paramount, the Rana, though dependent on Holkar’s forbearance. But a minority is proverbially dangerous in India. Disorder from party plots made Amad troublesome to Holkar’s government, which as his ally and preserver of tranquillity we suppressed by blowing up the walls of the fortress. This is one of many instances of the harsh, uncompromising nature of our power, and the anomalous description of our alliances with the Rajputs. However necessary to repress the disorder arising from the claims of ancient proprietors and the recent rights of Holkar, or the new proprietor, Ghafur Khan, yet surrounding princes, and the general population, who know the history of past times, lament to see a name of five hundred years’ duration thus summarily extinguished, which chiefly benefits an upstart Pathan. Such the vortex of the ambiguous, irregular, and unsystematic policy, which marks many of our alliances, which protect too often but to injure, and gives to our office of general arbitrator and high constable of Rajasthan a harsh and unfeeling character. Much of this arises from ignorance of the past history; much from disregard of the peculiar usages of the people; or from that expediency which too often comes in contact with moral fitness, which will go on until the day predicted by the Nestor of India, when “one sikka (seal) alone will be used in Hindustan.”

CHAPTER 6

Lakhamsi: Lachhman Singh.

—Lakhamsi[1] succeeded his father in S. 1331 (A.D. 1275), a memorable era in the annals, when Chitor, the repository of all that was precious yet untouched of the arts of India, was stormed, sacked, and treated with remorseless barbarity by the Pathan [Khilji] emperor, Alau-d-din. Twice it was attacked by this subjugator of India. In the first siege it escaped spoliation, though at the price of its best defenders: that which followed is the first successful assault and capture of which we have any detailed account.

Bhīm Singh: Padmini.

—Bhimsi was the uncle of the young prince, and protector during his minority. He had espoused the daughter of Hamir Sank (Chauhan) of Ceylon, the cause of woes unnumbered to the Sesodias. Her name was Padmini,[2] a title bestowed only on the superlatively fair, and transmitted with renown to posterity by tradition and the song of the bard. Her beauty, accomplishments, exaltation, and destruction, with other incidental circumstances, constitute the subject of one of the most popular traditions of Rajwara. The Hindu bard recognizes the fair, in preference to fame and love of conquest, as the motive for the attack of Alau-d-din, who [263] limited his demand to the possession of Padmini; though this was after a long and fruitless siege. At length he restricted his desire to a mere sight of this extraordinary beauty, and acceded to the proposal of beholding her through the medium of mirrors. Relying on the faith of the Rajput, he entered Chitor slightly guarded, and having gratified his wish, returned. The Rajput, unwilling to be outdone in confidence, accompanied the king to the foot of the fortress, amidst many complimentary excuses from his guest at the trouble he thus occasioned. It was for this that Ala risked his own safety, relying on the superior faith of the Hindu. Here he had an ambush; Bhimsi was made prisoner, hurried away to the Tatar camp, and his liberty made dependent on the surrender of Padmini.

The Siege of Chitor.

—Despair reigned in Chitor when this fatal event was known, and it was debated whether Padmini should be resigned as a ransom for their defender. Of this she was informed, and expressed her acquiescence. Having provided wherewithal to secure her from dishonour, she communed with two chiefs of her own kin and clan of Ceylon, her uncle Gora, and his nephew Badal, who devised a scheme for the liberation of their prince without hazarding her life or fame. Intimation was dispatched to Ala that on the day he withdrew from his trenches the fair Padmini would be sent, but in a manner befitting her own and his high station, surrounded by her females and handmaids; not only those who would accompany her to Delhi, but many others who desired to pay her this last mark of reverence. Strict commands were to be issued to prevent curiosity from violating the sanctity of female decorum and privacy. No less than seven hundred covered litters proceeded to the royal camp. In each was placed one of the bravest of the defenders of Chitor, borne by six armed soldiers disguised as litter-porters. They reached the camp. The royal tents were enclosed with kanats (walls of cloth); the litters were deposited, and half an hour was granted for a parting interview between the Hindu prince and his bride. They then placed their prince in a litter and returned with him, while the greater number (the supposed damsels) remained to accompany the fair to Delhi.[3] But Ala had no intention to permit Bhimsi’s return, and was becoming jealous of the long interview he enjoyed, when, instead of the prince and Padmini, the devoted band issued from their litters: but Ala was too well guarded. Pursuit was ordered, while these covered the retreat till they perished to a man. A fleet horse was in reserve for [264] Bhimsi, on which he was placed, and in safety ascended the fort, at whose outer gate the host of Ala was encountered. The choicest of the heroes of Chitor met the assault. With Gora and Badal at their head, animated by the noblest sentiments, the deliverance of their chief and the honour of their queen, they devoted themselves to destruction, and few were the survivors of this slaughter of the flower of Mewar. For a time Ala was defeated in his object, and the havoc they had made in his ranks, joined to the dread of their determined resistance, obliged him to desist from the enterprise.

Mention has already been made of the adjuration,“by the sin of the sack of Chitor.” Of these sacks they enumerate three and a half. This is the ‘half’; for though the city was not stormed, the best and bravest were cut off (sakha). It is described with great animation in the Khuman Raesa. Badal was but a stripling of twelve, but the Rajput expects wonders from this early age. He escaped, though wounded, and a dialogue ensues between him and his uncle’s wife, who desires him to relate how her lord conducted himself ere she joins him. The stripling replies: “He was the reaper of the harvest of battle; I followed his steps as the humble gleaner of his sword. On the gory bed of honour he spread a carpet of the slain; a barbarian prince his pillow, he laid him down, and sleeps surrounded by the foe.” Again she said: "Tell me, Badal, how did my love (piyar) behave?" “Oh! mother, how further describe his deeds when he left no foe to dread or admire him?” She smiled farewell to the boy, and adding, “My lord will chide my delay,” sprung into the flame.

Alau-d-din, having recruited his strength, returned to his object, Chitor. The annals state this to have been in S. 1346 (A.D. 1290), but Ferishta gives a date thirteen years later.[4] They had not yet recovered the loss of so many valiant men who had sacrificed themselves for their prince’s safety, and Ala carried on his attacks more closely, and at length obtained the hill at the southern point, where he entrenched himself. They still pretend to point out his trenches; but so many have been formed by subsequent attacks that we cannot credit the assertion. The poet has found in the disastrous issue of this siege admirable materials for his song. He represents the Rana, after an arduous day, stretched on his pallet, and during a night of watchful anxiety, pondering on the means by which he might preserve from the general destruction one at least of his twelve sons; when a voice [265] broke on his solitude, exclaiming, “Main bhukhi ho”;[5] and raising his eyes, he saw, by the dim glare of the chiragh,[6] advancing between the granite columns, the majestic form of the guardian goddess of Chitor. “Not satiated,” exclaimed the Rana, “though eight thousand of my kin were late an offering to thee?” “I must have regal victims; and if twelve who wear the diadem bleed not for Chitor, the land will pass from the line.” This said, she vanished.

On the morn he convened a council of his chiefs, to whom he revealed the vision of the night, which they treated as the dream of a disordered fancy. He commanded their attendance at midnight; when again the form appeared, and repeated the terms on which alone she would remain amongst them. “Though thousands of barbarians strew the earth, what are they to me? On each day enthrone a prince. Let the kirania,[7] the chhatra and the chamara,[7] proclaim his sovereignty, and for three days let his decrees be supreme: on the fourth let him meet the foe and his fate. Then only may I remain.”

Whether we have merely the fiction of the poet, or whether the scene was got up to animate the spirit of resistance, matters but little, it is consistent with the belief of the tribe; and that the goddess should openly manifest her wish to retain as her tiara the battlements of Chitor on conditions so congenial to the warlike and superstitious Rajput was a gage readily taken up and fully answering the end. A generous contention arose amongst the brave brothers who should be the first victim to avert the denunciation. Arsi urged his priority of birth: he was proclaimed, the umbrella waved over his head, and on the fourth day he surrendered his short-lived honours and his life. Ajaisi, the next in birth, demanded to follow; but he was the favourite son of his father, and at his request he consented to let his brothers precede him. Eleven had fallen in turn, and but one victim remained to the salvation of the city, when the Rana, calling his chiefs around him, said, “Now I devote myself for Chitor.”

The Johar.

—But another awful sacrifice was to precede this act of self-devotion in that horrible rite, the Johar,[8] where the females are immolated to preserve them from pollution or captivity. The funeral pyre was lighted within the ‘great subterranean retreat,’[9] in chambers impervious to the light [266] of day, and the defenders of Chitor beheld in procession the queens, their own wives and daughters, to the number of several thousands. The fair Padmini closed the throng, which was augmented by whatever of female beauty or youth could be tainted by Tatar lust. They were conveyed to the cavern, and the opening closed upon them, leaving them to find security from dishonour in the devouring element.

A contest now arose between the Rana and his surviving son; but the father prevailed, and Ajaisi, in obedience to his commands, with a small band passed through the enemy’s lines, and reached Kelwara in safety. The Rana, satisfied that his line was not extinct, now prepared to follow his brave sons; and calling around him his devoted clans, for whom life had no longer any charms, they threw open the portals and descended to the plains, and with a reckless despair carried death, or met it, in the crowded ranks of Ala. The Tatar conqueror took possession of an inanimate capital, strewed with brave defenders, the smoke yet issuing from the recesses where lay consumed the once fair object of his desire; and since this devoted day the cavern has been sacred: no eye has penetrated its gloom, and superstition has placed as its guardian a huge serpent, whose ‘venomous breath’ extinguishes the light which might guide intruders to ‘the place of sacrifice.’

The Conquests of Alāu-d-dīn.

—Thus fell, in A.D. 1303, this celebrated capital, in the round of conquest of Alau-d-din, one of the most vigorous and warlike sovereigns who have occupied the throne of India. In success, and in one of the means of attainment, a bigoted hypocrisy, he bore a striking resemblance to Aurangzeb; and the title of ‘Sikandaru-s-Sani,’ or the second Alexander, which he assumed and impressed on his coins, was no idle vaunt. The proud Anhilwara, the ancient Dhar and Avanti, Mandor and Deogir, the seats of the Solankis, the Pramaras, the Pariharas and Taks, the entire Agnikula race, were overturned for ever by Ala. Jaisalmer, Gagraun, Bundi, the abodes of the Bhatti, the Khichi, and the Hara, with many of minor importance, suffered all the horrors of assault from this foe of the race, though destined again to raise their heads. The Rathors of Marwar and the [267] Kachhwahas of Amber were yet in a state of insignificance: the former were slowly creeping into notice as the vassals of the Pariharas, while the latter could scarcely withstand the attacks of the original Mina population. Ala remained in Chitor some days, admiring the grandeur of his conquest; and having committed every act of barbarity and wanton dilapidation which a bigoted zeal could suggest, overthrowing the temples and other monuments of art, he delivered the city in charge to Maldeo, the chief of Jalor, whom he had conquered and enrolled amongst his vassals. The palace of Bhim and the fair Padmini alone appears to have escaped the wrath of Ala; it would be pleasing could we suppose any kinder sentiment suggested the exception, which enables the author of these annals to exhibit the abode of the fair of Ceylon.

PALACE OF RĀNA BHĪM AND PADMINI.
To face page 312.

The Flight of Rāna Ajai Singh.

—The survivor of Chitor, Rana Ajaisi, was now in security at Kelwara, a town situated in the heart of the Aravalli mountains, the western boundary of Mewar, to which its princes had been indebted for twelve centuries of dominion. Kelwara is at the highest part of one of its most extensive valleys, termed the Shero Nala, the richest district of this Alpine region. Guarded by faithful adherents, Ajaisi cherished for future occasion the wrecks of Mewar. It was the last behest of his father that when he attained ‘one hundred years’ (a figurative expression for dying) the son of Arsi, the elder brother, should succeed him. This injunction, from the deficiency of the qualities requisite at such a juncture in his own sons, met a ready compliance. Hamir was this son, destined to redeem the promise of the genius of Chitor and the lost honours of his race, and whose birth and early history fill many a page of their annals. His father, Arsi, being out on a hunting excursion in the forest of Ondua, with some young chiefs of the court, in pursuit of the boar entered a field of maize, when a female offered to drive out the game. Pulling one of the stalks of maize, which grows to the height of ten or twelve feet, she pointed it, and mounting the platform made to watch the corn, impaled the hog, dragged him before the hunters, and departed. Though accustomed to feats of strength and heroism from the nervous arms of their countrywomen, the act surprised them. They descended to the stream at hand, and prepared the repast, as is usual, on the spot. The feast was held, and comments were passing on the fair arm which had transfixed the boar, when a ball of clay from a sling fractured a limb of the prince’s steed. Looking in the direction whence it [268] came, they observed the same damsel, from her elevated stand,[10] preserving her fields from aerial depredators; but seeing the mischief she had occasioned she descended to express her regret and then returned to her pursuit. As they were proceeding homewards after the sports of the day, they again encountered the damsel, with a vessel of milk on her head, and leading in either hand a young buffalo. It was proposed, in frolic, to overturn her milk, and one of the companions of the prince dashed rudely by her; but without being disconcerted, she entangled one of her charges with the horse’s limbs and brought the rider to the ground. On inquiry the prince discovered that she was the daughter of a poor Rajput of the Chandano tribe.[11] He returned the next day to the same quarter and sent for her father, who came and took his seat with perfect independence close to the prince, to the merriment of his companions, which was checked by Arsi asking his daughter to wife. They were yet more surprised by the demand being refused. The Rajput, on going home, told the more prudent mother, who scolded him heartily, made him recall the refusal, and seek the prince. They were married, and Hamir was the son of the Chandano Rajputni.[12] He remained little noticed at the maternal abode till the catastrophe of Chitor. At this period he was twelve years of age, and had led a rustic life, from which the necessity of the times recalled him.

Mewār occupied by the Musalmāns: The Exploit of Hamīr.

—Mewar was now occupied by the garrisons of Delhi, and Ajaisi had besides to contend with the mountain chiefs, amongst whom Munja Balaicha was the most formidable, who had, on a recent occasion, invaded the Shero Nala, and personally encountered the Rana, whom he wounded on the head with a lance. The Rana’s sons, Sajansi and Ajamsi, though fourteen and fifteen, an age at which a Rajput ought to indicate his future character, proved of little aid in the emergency. Hamir was summoned, and accepted the feud against Munja, promising to return successful or not at all. In a few days he was seen entering the pass of Kelwara with Munja’s head at his saddle-bow. Modestly placing the trophy at his uncle’s feet, he exclaimed: “Recognize the head of your foe!” Ajaisi ‘kissed his beard,’[13] and observing that fate had stamped empire on his forehead, impressed [269] it with a tika of blood from the head of the Balaicha. This decided the fate of the sons of Ajaisi; one of whom died at Kelwara, and the other, Sajansi, who might have excited a civil war, was sent from the country.[14] He departed for the Deccan, where his issue was destined to avenge some of the wrongs the parent country had sustained, and eventually to overturn the monarchy of Hindustan; for Sajansi was the ancestor of Sivaji, the founder of the Satara throne, whose lineage[15] is given in the chronicles of Mewar.

Rāna Hamīr Singh, A.D. 1301-64.

—Hamir succeeded in S. 1357 (A.D. 1301), and had sixty-four years granted to him to redeem his country from the ruins of the past century, which period had elapsed since India ceased to own the paramount sway of her native princes. The day on which he assumed the ensigns of rule he gave, in the tika daur, an earnest of his future energy, which he signalized by a rapid inroad into the heart of the country of the predatory Balaicha, and captured their stronghold Pusalia. We may here explain the nature of this custom of a barbaric chivalry.

The Inaugural Foray.

—The tika daur signifies the foray of inauguration, which obtained from time immemorial on such events, and is yet maintained where any semblance of hostility will allow its execution. On the morning of installation, having previously received the tika of sovereignty, the prince at the head of his retainers makes a foray into the territory of any one with whom he may have a feud, or with whom he may be indifferent as to exciting one; he captures a stronghold or plunders a town, and returns with the trophies. If amity should prevail with all around, which the prince cares not to disturb, they have still a mock representation of the custom. For many reigns after the Jaipur princes united their fortunes to the throne of Delhi their frontier town, Malpura, was the object of the tika daur of the princes of Mewar.

Chitor under a Musalmān Garrison.

—“When Ajmall[16] went another road,” as the bard figuratively describes the demise of Rana Ajaisi, “the son of Arsi unsheathed the sword, thence never stranger to his hand.” Maldeo remained with the royal garrison at Chitor,[17] but Hamir [270] desolated their plains, and left to his enemies only the fortified towns which could safely be inhabited. He commanded all who owned his sovereignty either to quit their abodes, and retire with their families to the shelter of the hills on the eastern and western frontiers, or share the fate of the public enemy. The roads were rendered impassable from his parties, who issued from their retreats in the Aravalli, the security of which baffled pursuit. This destructive policy of laying waste the resources of their own country, and from this asylum attacking their foes as opportunity offered, has obtained from the time of Mahmud of Ghazni in the tenth, to Muhammad, the last who merited the name of Emperor of Delhi, in the eighteenth century.

Resistance of Hamīr Singh.

—Hamir made Kelwara[18] his residence, which soon became the chief retreat of the emigrants from the plains. The situation was admirably chosen, being covered by several ranges, guarded by intricate defiles, and situated at the foot of a pass leading over the mountain into a still more inaccessible retreat (where Kumbhalmer now stands),[19] well watered and wooded, with abundance of pastures and excellent indigenous fruits and roots. This tract, above fifty miles in breadth, is twelve hundred feet above the level of the plains and three thousand above the sea, with a considerable quantity of arable land, and free communication to obtain supplies by the passes of the western declivity from Marwar, Gujarat, or the friendly Bhils, of the west, to whom this house owes a large debt of gratitude. On various occasions the communities of Oghna and Panarwa furnished the princes of Mewar with five thousand bowmen, supplied them with provisions, or guarded the safety of their families when they had to oppose the foe in the field. The elevated plateau of the eastern frontier presented in its forests and dells many places of security; but Ala[20] traversed these in person, destroying as he went: neither did they possess the advantages of climate and natural productions arising from the elevation of the other. Such was the state of Mewar: its places of strength occupied by the foe, cultivation and peaceful objects neglected from the persevering hostility of Hamir, when a proposal of marriage came from the Hindu governor of Chitor, which was immediately accepted, contrary to the [271] wishes of the prince’s advisers.

The Recovery of Chitor.

—Whether this was intended as a snare to entrap him, or merely as an insult, every danger was scouted by Hamir which gave a chance to the recovery of Chitor. He desired that ‘the coco-nut[21] might be retained’ coolly remarking on the dangers pointed out, "My feet shall at least tread in the rocky steps in which my ancestors have moved. A Rajput should always be prepared for reverses; one day to abandon his abode covered with wounds, and the next to reascend with the maur (crown) on his head." It was stipulated that only five hundred horse should form his suite. As he approached Chitor, the five sons of the Chauhan advanced to meet him, but on the portal of the city no toran,[22] or nuptial emblem, was suspended. He, however, accepted the unsatisfactory reply to his remark on this indication of treachery, and ascended for the first time the ramp of Chitor. He was received in the ancient halls of his ancestors by Rao Maldeo, his son Banbir, and other chiefs, with folded hands. The bride was brought forth, and presented by her father without any of the solemnities practised on such occasions; ‘the knot of their garments tied and their hands united,’ and thus they were left. The family priest recommended patience, and Hamir retired with his bride to the apartments allotted for them. Her kindness and vows of fidelity overcame his sadness upon learning that he had married a widow. She had been wedded to a chief of the Bhatti tribe, shortly afterwards slain, and when she was so young as not to recollect even his appearance. He ceased to lament the insult when she herself taught him how it might be avenged, and that it might even lead to the recovery of Chitor. It is a privilege possessed by the bridegroom to have one specific favour complied with as a part of the dower (daeja), and Hamir was instructed by his bride to ask for Jal, one of the civil [272] officers of Chitor, and of the Mehta tribe. With his wife so obtained, and the scribe whose talents remained for trial, he returned in a fortnight to Kelwara. Khetsi was the fruit of this marriage, on which occasion Maldeo made over all the hill tracts to Hamir. Khetsi was a year old when one of the penates (Khetrpal)[23] was found at fault, on which she wrote to her parents to invite her to Chitor, that the infant might be placed before the shrine of the deity. Escorted by a party from Chitor, with her child she entered its walls; and instructed by the Mehta, she gained over the troops who were left, for the Rao had gone with his chief adherents against the Mers of Madri. Hamir was at hand. Notice that all was ready reached him at Bagor. Still he met opposition that had nearly defeated the scheme; but having forced admission, his sword overcame every obstacle, and the oath of allegiance (an) was proclaimed from the palace of his fathers.

The Sonigira on his return was met with ‘a salute of arabas,’[24] and Maldeo himself carried the account of his loss to the Khilji king Mahmud, who had succeeded Ala. The ‘standard of the sun’ once more shone refulgent from the walls of Chitor, and was the signal for return to their ancient abodes from their hills and hiding-places to the adherents of Hamir. The valleys of Kumbhalmer and the western highlands poured forth their ‘streams of men,’ while every chief of true Hindu blood rejoiced at the prospect of once more throwing off the barbarian yoke. So powerful was this feeling, and with such activity and skill did Hamir follow up this favour of fortune, that he marched to meet Mahmud, who was advancing to recover his lost possessions. The king unwisely directed his march by the eastern plateau, where numbers were rendered useless by the intricacies of the country. Of the three steppes which mark the physiognomy of this tract, from the first ascent from the plain of Mewar to the descent at Chambal, the king had encamped on the central, at Singoli, where he was attacked, defeated, and made prisoner by Hamir, who slew Hari Singh, brother of Banbir, in single combat. The king suffered a confinement of three months in Chitor, nor was liberated till he had surrendered Ajmer, Ranthambor, Nagor, and Sui Sopur, besides paying fifty lakhs of rupees and one hundred elephants. Hamir would exact no promise of cessation from further inroads, but contented himself with assuring him that from such he should be prepared to defend Chitor, not within, but without the walls [273].[25]

Banbir, the son of Maldeo, offered to serve Hamir, who assigned the districts of Nimach, Jiran, Ratanpur, and the Kerar to maintain the family of his wife in becoming dignity; and as he gave the grant he remarked: “Eat, serve, and be faithful. You were once the servant of a Turk, but now of a Hindu of your own faith; for I have but taken back my own, the rock moistened by the blood of my ancestors, the gift of the deity I adore, and who will maintain me in it; nor shall I endanger it by the worship of a fair face, as did my predecessor.” Banbir shortly after carried Bhainsror by assault, and this ancient possession guarding the Chambal was again added to Mewar. The chieftains of Rajasthan rejoiced once more to see a Hindu take the lead, paid willing homage, and aided him with service when required.

The Power of Rāna Hamīr Singh.

—Hamir was the sole Hindu prince of power now left in India: all the ancient dynasties were crushed, and the ancestors of the present princes of Marwar and Jaipur brought their levies, paid homage, and obeyed the summons of the prince of Chitor, as did the chiefs of Bundi, Gwalior, Chanderi, Raesin, Sikri, Kalpi, Abu, etc.

Extensive as was the power of Mewar before the Tatar occupation of India, it could scarcely have surpassed the solidity of sway which she enjoyed during the two centuries following Hamir’s recovery of the capital. From this event to the next invasion from the same Cimmerian abode, led by Babur, we have a succession of splendid names recorded in her annals, and though destined soon to be surrounded by new Muhammadan dynasties, in Malwa and Gujarat as well as Delhi, yet successfully opposing them all. The distracted state of affairs when the races of Khilji, Lodi, and Sur alternately struggled for and obtained the seat of dominion, Delhi, was favourable to Mewar, whose power was now so consolidated that she not only repelled armies from her territory, but carried war abroad, leaving tokens of victory at Nagor, in Saurashtra, and to the walls of Delhi.

Public Works.

—The subjects of Mewar must have enjoyed not only a long repose, but high prosperity during this period, judging from their magnificent public works, when a triumphal [274] column must have cost the income of a kingdom to erect, and which ten years’ produce of the crown-lands of Mewar could not at this time defray. Only one of the structures prior to the sack of Chitor was left entire by Ala, and is yet existing, and this was raised by private and sectarian hands. It would be curious if the unitarian profession of the Jain creed was the means of preserving this ancient relic from Ala’s wrath.[26] The princes of this house were great patrons of the arts, and especially of architecture; and it is a matter of surprise how their revenues, derived chiefly from the soil, could have enabled them to expend so much on these objects and at the same time maintain such armies as are enumerated. Such could be effected only by long prosperity and a mild, paternal system of government; for the subject had his monuments as well as the prince, the ruins of which may yet be discovered in the more inaccessible or deserted portions of Rajasthan. Hamir died full of years, leaving a name still honoured in Mewar, as one of the wisest and most gallant of her princes, and bequeathing a well-established and extensive power to his son.

Kshetra or Khet Singh, A.D. 1364-82.

—Khetsi succeeded in S. 1421 (A.D. 1365) to the power and to the character of his father. He captured Ajmer and Jahazpur from Lila Pathan, and reannexed Mandalgarh, Dasor, and the whole of Chappan (for the first time) to Mewar. He obtained a victory over the Delhi monarch Humayun[27] at Bakrol; but unhappily his life terminated in a family broil with his vassal, the Hara chief of Bumbaoda, whose daughter he was about to espouse.

Laksh Singh, A.D. 1382-97.

—Lakha Rana, by this assassination, mounted the throne in Chitor in S. 1439 (A.D. 1373). His first act was the entire subjugation of the mountainous region of Merwara, and the destruction of its chief stronghold, Bairatgarh, where he erected Badnor. But an event of much greater importance than settling his frontier, and which most powerfully tended to the prosperity of the country, was the discovery of the tin and silver mines of Jawara, in the tract wrested by Khetsi from the Bhils of Chappan.[28] Lakha Rana has the merit of having first worked them, though their existence is superstitiously alluded to so early as the period of the founder. It is said the ‘seven metals’ (haft-dhat)[29] were formerly [275] abundant; but this appears figurative. We have no evidence for the gold, though silver, tin, copper, lead, and antimony were yielded in abundance (the first two from the same matrix), but the tin that has been extracted for many years past yields but a small portion of silver.[30] Lakha Rana defeated the Sankhla Rajputs of Nagarchal,[31] at Amber. He encountered the emperor Muhammad Shah Lodi, and on one occasion defeated a royal army at Badnor; but he carried the war to Gaya, and in driving the barbarian from this sacred place was slain.[32] Lakha is a name of celebrity, as a patron of the arts and benefactor of his country. He excavated many reservoirs and lakes, raised immense ramparts to dam their waters, besides erecting strongholds. The riches of the mines of Jawara were expended to rebuild the temples and palaces levelled by Ala. A portion of his own palace yet exists, in the same style of architecture as that, more ancient, of Ratna and the fair Padmini; and a minster (mandir) dedicated to the creator (Brahma), an enormous and costly fabric, is yet entire. Being to ‘the One,’ and consequently containing no idol, it may thus have escaped the ruthless fury of the invaders.

Lakha had a numerous progeny, who have left their clans called after them, as the Lunawats and Dulawats, now the sturdy allodial proprietors of the Alpine regions bordering on Oghna, Panarwa, and other tracts in the Aravalli.[33] But a circumstance which set aside the rights of primogeniture, and transferred the crown of Chitor from his eldest son, Chonda, to the younger, Mokal, had nearly carried it to another line. The consequences of making the elder branch a powerful vassal clan with claims to the throne, and which have been the chief cause of its subsequent prostration, we will reserve for another chapter [276].

1. [Rāna Lachhman Singh was not, strictly speaking, ruler of Chitor. He belonged to the Rāna branch, and succeeded Jai Singh. When Chitor was invested he came to help his relation, Rāwal Ratan Singh, husband of Padmini, and ruler of Chitor, and was killed, with seven of his sons (Erskine ii. B. 10).]

2. [‘The Lotus.’ Ferishta in his account of the siege says nothing of Padmini (i. 353 f.). Her story is told in Āīn, ii. 269 f.]

3. [A folk-tale of the ‘Horse of Troy’ type, common in India; see Rhys Davids, Buddhist India, 4 f.; Ferishta ii. 115; Grant Duff, Hist. Mahrattas, 64, note; cf. Herodotus v. 20.]

4. [Chitor was captured in August 1303 (Ferishta i. 353; Elliot-Dowson iii. 77).]

5. ‘I am hungry.’

6. Lamp.

7. These are the insignia of royalty. The kirania is a parasol, from kiran, ‘a ray’: the chhatra is the umbrella, always red; the chamara, the flowing tail of the wild ox, set in a gold handle, and used to drive away the flies.

8. [Sir G. Grierson informs me that Johar or Jauhar is derived from Jatugriha, ‘a house built of lac or other combustibles,’ in allusion to the story in the Mahābhārata (i. chap. 141-151) of the attempted destruction of the Pāndavas by setting such a building on fire. For other examples of the rite see Ferishta i. 59 f.; Elliot-Dowson i. 313, 536 f., iii. 426, 433, iv. 277, 402, v. 101; Forbes, Rās Māla, 286; Malcolm, Memoir Central India, 2nd ed. i. 483. For recent cases Irvine, Army of the Indian Moghuls, 242; Punjab Notes and Queries, iv. 102 ff.]

9. The Author has been at the entrance of this retreat, which, according to the Khuman Raesa, conducts to a subterranean palace, but the mephitic vapours and venomous reptiles did not invite to adventure, even had official situation permitted such slight to these prejudices. The Author is the only Englishman admitted to Chitor since the days of Herbert, who appears to have described what he saw.

10. A stand is fixed upon four poles in the middle of a field, on which a guard is placed armed with a sling and clay balls, to drive away the ravens, peacocks, and other birds that destroy the corn.

11. One of the branches of the Chauhan.

12. [The same tale is told of Dhadīj, grandson of Prithirāj, the ancestor of the Dahiya Jāts (Rose, Glossary, ii. 220; Risley, People of India, 2nd ed., 179 f.).]

13. This is an idiomatic phrase; Hamir could have had no beard.

14. Des desa.

15. Ajaisi, Sajansi, Dalipji, Sheoji, Bhoraji, Deoraj, Ugarsen, Mahulji, Kheluji, Jankoji, Satuji, Sambhaji, Sivaji (the founder of the Mahratta nation), Sambhaji, Ramraja, usurpation of the Peshwas. The Satara throne, but for the jealousies of Udaipur, might on the imbecility of Ramraja have been replenished from Mewar. It was offered to Nathji, the grandfather of the present chief Sheodan Singh, presumptive heir to Chitor. Two noble lines were reared from princes of Chitor expelled on similar occasions; those of Sivaji and the Gorkhas of Nepal. [This pedigree is largely the work of the bards. But the Mahrattas, who seem to be chiefly sprung from the Kunbi peasantry, claim Rājput origin, and several of their clans bear Rājput names. It is said that in 1836 the Rāna of Mewār was satisfied that the Bhonslas and certain other families had the right to be regarded as Rājputs (Census Report, Bombay, 1901, i. 184 f.; Russell, Tribes and Castes Central Provinces, iv. 199 ff.).]

16. This is a poetical version of the name of Ajaisi; a liberty frequently taken by the bards for the sake of rhyme.

17. [From an inscription at Chitor it appears that the fort remained in the charge of Muhammadans up to the time of Muhammad Tughlak (1324-51), who appointed Māldeo of Jālor governor (Erskine ii. A. 16).]

18. The lake he excavated here, the Hamir-talao, and the temple of the protecting goddess on its bank, still bear witness of his acts while confined to this retreat.

19. See Plate, view of Kumbhalmer.

20. I have an inscription, and in Sanskrit, set up by an apostate chief or bard in his train, which I found in this tract.

21. This is the symbol of an offer of marriage.

22. The toran is the symbol of marriage. It consists of three wooden bars, forming an equilateral triangle; mystic in shape and number, and having the apex crowned with the effigies of a peacock, it is placed over the portal of the bride’s abode. At Udaipur, when the princes of Jaisalmer, Bikaner, and Kishangarh simultaneously married the two daughters and granddaughter of the Rana, the torans were suspended from the battlements of the tripolia, or three-arched portal, leading to the palace. The bridegroom on horseback, lance in hand, proceeds to break the toran (toran torna), which is defended by the damsels of the bride, who from the parapet assail him with missiles of various kinds, especially with a crimson powder made from the flowers of the palasa, at the same time singing songs fitted to the occasion, replete with double-entendres. At length the toran is broken amidst the shouts of the retainers; when the fair defenders retire. The similitude of these ceremonies in the north of Europe and in Asia increases the list of common affinities, and indicates the violence of rude times to obtain the object of affection; and the lance, with which the Rajput chieftain breaks the toran, has the same emblematic import as the spear, which, at the marriage of the nobles in Sweden, was a necessary implement in the furniture of the marriage chamber (vide Mallett, Northern Antiquities). [The custom perhaps represents a symbol of marriage by capture, but it has also been suggested that it symbolizes the luck of the bride’s family which the bridegroom acquires by touching the arch with his sword (see Luard, Ethnographic Survey Central India, 22; Enthoven, Folk-lore Notes Gujarāt, 69; Russell, Tribes and Castes Central Provinces, ii. 410).]

23. [Khetrpāl, Kshetrapāla, is guardian of the field (Kshetra).]

24. A kind of arquebuss [properly the gun-carriage. Irvine, Army of the Indian Moghuls, 140 ff.]

25. Ferishta does not mention this conquest over the Khilji emperor; but as Mewar recovered her wonted splendour in this reign, we cannot doubt the truth of the native annals. [There is a mistake here. The successor of Alāu-d-dīn was Kutbu-d-dīn Mubārak, who came to the throne in 1316. Ferishta says that Rāī Ratan Singh of Chitor, who had been taken prisoner in the siege, was released by the cleverness of his daughter, and that Alāu-d-dīn ordered his son, Khizr Khān, to evacuate the place, on which the Rāī became tributary to Alāu-d-dīn. Also in 1312 the Rājputs threw the Muhammadan officers over the ramparts and asserted their independence (Ferishta, trans. Briggs, i. 363, 381). Erskine says that the attack was made by Muhammad Tughlak (1324-51).]

26. [The Jain tower, known as Kirtti Stamb, ‘pillar of fame,’ erected in the twelfth or thirteenth century by Jīja, a Bagherwāl Mahājan, and dedicated to Ādināth, the first Jain Tīrthankara or saint.]

27. [The contemporary of Khet Singh at Delhi was Fīroz Shāh Tughlak.]

28. [The mines at Jāwar, sixteen miles south of Udaipur city, produce lead, zinc, and some silver. The mention of tin in the text seems wrong (Watt, Dict. Econ. Prod. vi. Part iv. 356; Comm. Prod. 1077).]

29. Haft-dhat, corresponding to the planets, each of which ruled a metal: hence Mihr, ‘the sun,’ for gold; Chandra, ‘the moon,’ for silver.

30. They have long been abandoned, the miners are extinct, and the protecting deities of mines are unable to get even a flower placed on their shrines, though some have been reconsecrated by the Bhils, who have converted Lakshmi into Sitalamata (Juno Lucina), whom the Bhil females invoke to pass them through danger.

31. Jhunjhunu, Singhana, and Narbana formed the ancient Nagarchal territory.

32. [There was no Sultān Muhammad Shāh Lodi, and that dynasty did not begin till 1451. Fīroz Shāh (1351-88) was contemporary of Laksh Singh at Delhi. It is not likely that a Rājput in the fourteenth century conducted a campaign at Gaya in Bengal; but, according to Har Bilas Sarda, author of a recent monograph on Rāna Kūmbha, the fact is corroborated by inscriptions, Peterson, Bhaunagar Inscriptions, 96, 117, 119.]

33. The Sarangdeot chief of Kanor (on the borders of Chappan), one of the sixteen lords of Mewar, is also a descendant of Lakha, as are some of the tribes of Sondwara, about Pharphara and the ravines of the Kali Sind.

CHAPTER 7

If devotion to the fair sex be admitted as a criterion of civilization, the Rajput must rank high. His susceptibility is extreme, and fires at the slightest offence to female delicacy, which he never forgives. A satirical impromptu, involving the sacrifice of Rajput prejudices, dissolved the coalition of the Rathors and Kachhwahas, and laid each prostrate before the Mahrattas, whom when united they had crushed: and a jest, apparently trivial, compromised the right of primogeniture to the throne of Chitor, and proved more disastrous in its consequences than the arms either of Moguls or Mahrattas.

Chonda renounces his Birthright.

—Lakha Rana was advanced in years, his sons and grandsons established in suitable domains, when ‘the coco-nut came’ from Ranmall, prince of Marwar, to affiance his daughter with Chonda, the heir of Mewar. When the embassy was announced, Chonda was absent, and the old chief was seated in his chair of state surrounded by his court. The messenger of Hymen was courteously received by Lakha, who observed that Chonda would soon return and take the gage; “for,” added he, drawing his fingers over his moustaches, “I don’t suppose you send such playthings to an old greybeard like me.” This little sally was of course applauded and repeated; but Chonda, offended at delicacy being sacrificed to wit, declined accepting the symbol which his father had even in jest supposed might be intended for him: and as it could not be returned without gross insult to Ranmall, the old Rana, incensed at his son’s obstinacy, agreed to accept it himself, provided Chonda would swear to renounce his birthright in the event of his having a son, and be to the child but the ‘first of his Rajputs.’ He swore by Eklinga to fulfil his father’s wishes.

Rāna Mokala, A.D. 1397-1433.

—Mokalji was the issue of this union, and had attained the age of five when the Rana resolved to signalize his finale by a raid against the enemies of their faith [277], and to expel the ‘barbarian’ from the holy land of Gaya. In ancient times this was by no means uncommon, and we have several instances in the annals of these States of princes resigning ‘the purple’ on the approach of old age, and by a life of austerity and devotion, pilgrimage and charity, seeking to make their peace with heaven “for the sins inevitably committed by all who wield a sceptre.” But when war was made against their religion by the Tatar proselytes to Islam, the Sutlej and the Ghaggar were as the banks of the Jordan—Gaya, their Jerusalem, their holy land; and if there destiny filled his cup, the Hindu chieftain was secure of beatitude,[1] exempted from the troubles of ‘second birth’;[2] and borne from the scene of probation in celestial cars by the Apsaras,[3] was introduced at once into the ‘realm of the sun.’[4] Ere, however, the Rana of Chitor journeyed to this bourne, he was desirous to leave his throne unexposed to civil strife. The subject of succession had never been renewed; but discussing with Chonda his warlike pilgrimage to Gaya, from which he might not return, he sounded him by asking what estates should be settled on Mokal. “The throne of Chitor,” was the honest reply; and to set suspicion at rest, he desired that the ceremony of installation should be performed previous to Lakha’s departure. Chonda was the first to pay homage and swear obedience and fidelity to his future sovereign: reserving, as the recompense of his renunciation, the first place in the councils, and stipulating that in all grants to the vassals of the crown, his symbol (the lance) should be superadded to the autograph of the prince. In all grants the lance of Salumbar[5] still precedes the monogram of the Rana.[6]

The sacrifice of Chonda to offended delicacy and filial respect was great, for he had all the qualities requisite for command. Brave, frank, and skilful, he conducted all public affairs after his father’s departure and death, to the benefit of the minor and the State. The queen-mother, however, who is admitted as the natural guardian of her infant’s rights on all such occasions, felt umbrage and discontent at her loss of power; forgetting that, but for Chonda, she would never [278] have been mother to the Rana of Mewar. She watched with a jealous eye all his proceedings; but it was only through the medium of suspicion she could accuse the integrity of Chonda, and she artfully asserted that, under colour of directing state affairs, he was exercising absolute sovereignty, and that if he did not assume the title of Rana, he would reduce it to an empty name. Chonda, knowing the purity of his own motives, made liberal allowance for maternal solicitude; but upbraiding the queen with the injustice of her suspicions, and advising a vigilant care to the rights of Sesodias, he retired to the court of Mandu, then rising into notice, where he was received with the highest distinctions, and the district of Halar[7] was assigned to him by the king.

Rāthor Influence in Mewār.

—His departure was the signal for an influx of the kindred of the queen from Mandor. Her brother Jodha (who afterwards gave his name to Jodhpur) was the first, and was soon followed by his father, Rao Ranmall, and numerous adherents, who deemed the arid region of Maru-des, and its rabri, or maize porridge, well exchanged for the fertile plains and wheaten bread of Mewar.

Raghudeva, the Mewār Hero.

—With his grandson on his knee, the old Rao “would sit on the throne of Bappa Rawal, on whose quitting him for play, the regal ensigns of Mewar waved over the head of Mandor.” This was more than the Sesodia nurse[8] (an important personage in all Hindu governments) could bear, and bursting with indignation, she demanded of the queen if her kin was to defraud her own child of his inheritance. The honesty of the nurse was greater than her prudence. The creed of the Rajput is to ‘obtain sovereignty,’ regarding the means as secondary and this avowal of her suspicions only hastened their designs. The queen soon found herself without remedy, and a remonstrance to her father produced a hint which threatened the existence of her offspring. Her fears were soon after augmented by the assassination of Raghudeva, the second brother of Chonda, whose estates were Kelwara and Kawaria. To the former place, where he resided aloof from the court, Rao Ranmall sent a dress of honour, which etiquette requiring him to put on when presented, the prince was assassinated in the act. Raghudeva was so much beloved for his virtues, courage, and manly beauty, that his [279] murder became martyrdom, and obtained for him divine honours, and a place amongst the Di Patres (Pitrideva) of Mewar. His image is on every hearth, and is daily worshipped with the Penates. Twice in the year his altars receive public homage from every Sesodia, from the Rana to the serf.[9]

The Expulsion of the Rāthor Party.

—In this extremity the queen-mother turned her thoughts to Chonda, and it was not difficult to apprise him of the danger which menaced the race, every place of trust being held by her kinsmen, and the principal post of Chitor by a Bhatti Rajput of Jaisalmer.Jaisalmer. Chonda, though at a distance, was not inattentive to the proverbially dangerous situation of a minor amongst the Rajputs. At his departure he was accompanied by two hundred Aherias or huntsmen, whose ancestors had served the princes of Chitor from ancient times. These had left their families behind, a visit to whom was the pretext for their introduction to the fort. They were instructed to get into the service of the keepers of the gates, and, being considered more attached to the place than to the family, their object was effected. The queen-mother was counselled to cause the young prince to descend daily with a numerous retinue to give feasts to the surrounding villages, and gradually to increase the distance, but not to fail on the ‘festival of lamps’[10] to hold the feast (got) at Gosunda.[11]

These injunctions were carefully attended to. The day arrived, the feast was held at Gosunda; but the night was closing in, and no Chonda appeared. With heavy hearts the nurse, the Purohit,[12] and those in the secret moved homeward, and had reached the eminence called Chitori, when forty horsemen passed them at the gallop, and at their head Chonda in disguise, who by a secret sign paid homage as he passed to his younger brother and sovereign. Chonda and [280] his band had reached the Rampol,[13] or upper gate, unchecked. Here, when challenged, they said they were neighbouring chieftains, who, hearing of the feast at Gosunda, had the honour to escort the prince home. The story obtained credit; but the main body, of which this was but the advance, presently coming up, the treachery was apparent. Chonda unsheathed his sword, and at his well-known shout the hunters were speedily in action. The Bhatti chief, taken by surprise, and unable to reach Chonda, launched his dagger at and wounded him, but was himself slain; the guards at the gates were cut to pieces, and the Rathors hunted out and killed without mercy.

Death of Rāo Ranmall.

—The end of Rāo Ranmall was more ludicrous than tragical. Smitten with the charms of a Sesodia handmaid of the queen, who was compelled to his embrace, the old chief was in her arms, intoxicated with love, wine, and opium, and heard nothing of the tumult without. A woman’s wit and revenge combined to make his end afford some compensation for her loss of honour. Gently rising, she bound him to his bed with his own Marwari turban:[14] nor did this disturb him, and the messengers of fate had entered ere the opiate allowed his eyes to open to a sense of his danger. Enraged, he in vain endeavoured to extricate himself; and by some tortuosity of movement he got upon his legs, his pallet at his back like a shell or shield of defence. With no arms but a brass vessel of ablution, he levelled to the earth several of his assailants, when a ball from a matchlock extended him on the floor of the palace. His son Jodha was in the lower town, and was indebted to the fleetness of his steed for escaping the fate of his father and kindred, whose bodies strewed the terre-pleine of Chitor, the merited reward of their usurpation and treachery.

The Revenge of Chonda.

—But Chonda’s revenge was not yet satisfied. He pursued Rao Jodha, who, unable to oppose him, took refuge with Harbuji Sankhla, leaving Mandor to its fate. This city Chonda entered by surprise, and holding it till his sons Kantatji and Manjaji arrived with reinforcements, the Rathor treachery was repaid by their keeping possession of the capital during twelve years. We might here leave the future founder of Jodhpur, had not this feud led to the junction of the rich [281] province of Godwar to Mewar, held for three centuries and again lost by treachery. It may yet involve a struggle between the Sesodias and Rathors.[15]

“Sweet are the uses of adversity.” To Jodha it was the first step in the ladder of his eventual elevation. A century and a half had scarcely elapsed since a colony, the wreck of Kanauj, found an asylum, and at length a kingdom, taking possession of one capital and founding another, abandoning Mandor and erecting Jodhpur. But even Jodha could never have hoped that his issue would have extended their sway from the valley of the Indus to within one hundred miles of the Jumna, and from the desert bordering on the Sutlej to the Aravalli mountains: that one hundred thousand swords should at once be in the hands of Rathors, ‘the sons of one father’ (ek Bap ke Betan).

If we slightly encroach upon the annals of Marwar, it is owing to its history and that of Mewar being here so interwoven, and the incidents these events gave birth so illustrative of the national character of each, that it is, perhaps, more expedient to advert to the period when Jodha was shut out from Mandor, and the means by which he regained that city, previous to relating the events of the reign of Mokal.

Harbuji Sānkhla.

—Harbuji Sankhla, at once a soldier and a devotee, was one of those Rajput cavaliers ‘sans peur et sans reproche,’ whose life of celibacy and perilous adventure was mingled with the austere devotion of an ascetic; by turns aiding with his lance the cause which he deemed worthy, or exercising an unbounded hospitality towards the stranger. This generosity had much reduced his resources when Jodha sought his protection. It was the eve of the Sada-bart, one of those hospitable rites which, in former times, characterized Rajwara. This ‘perpetual charity’ supplies food to the stranger and traveller, and is distributed not only by individual chiefs and by the government, but by subscriptions of communities. Even in Mewar, in her present impoverished condition, the offerings to the gods in support of their shrines and the establishment of the Sada-bart were simultaneous. Hospitality is a virtue pronounced to belong more peculiarly to a semi-barbarous condition. Alas! for refinement and ultra-civilization, strangers to the happiness enjoyed by Harbuji Sankhla. Jodha, with one hundred and twenty followers, came to solicit the ‘stranger’s fare’: but unfortunately it was too late, the Sada-bart had been distributed. In this exigence, Harbuji recollected that there was a wood [282] called mujd,[16] used in dyeing, which among other things in the desert regions is resorted to in scarcity. A portion of this was bruised, and boiled with some flour, sugar, and spices, making altogether a palatable pottage; and with a promise of better fare on the morrow, it was set before the young Rao and his followers, who, after making a good repast, soon forgot Chitor in sleep. On waking, each stared at his fellow, for their mustachios were dyed with their evening’s meal; but the old chief, who was not disposed to reveal his expedient, made it minister to their hopes by giving it a miraculous character, and saying “that as the grey of age was thus metamorphosed into the tint of morn[17] and hope, so would their fortunes become young, and Mandor again be theirs.”

Elevated by this prospect, they enlisted Harbuji on their side. He accompanied them to the chieftain of Mewa, “whose stables contained one hundred chosen steeds.” Pabuji, a third independent of the same stamp, with his ‘coal-black steed,’ was gained to the cause, and Jodha soon found himself strong enough to attempt the recovery of his capital. The sons of Chonda were taken by surprise: but despising the numbers of the foe, and ignorant who were their auxiliaries, they descended sword in hand to meet the assailants. The elder[18] son of Chonda with many adherents was slain; and the younger, deserted by the subjects of Mandor, trusted to the swiftness of his horse for escape; but being pursued, was overtaken and killed on the boundary of Godwar. Thus Jodha, in his turn, was revenged, but the ‘feud was not balanced.’ Two sons of Chitor had fallen for one chief of Mandor. But wisely reflecting on the original aggression, and the superior power of Mewar, as well as his being indebted for his present success to foreign aid, Jodha sued for peace, and offered as the mundkati, or ‘price of blood,’ and ‘to quench the feud,’ that the spot where Manja fell should be the future barrier of the two States. The entire province of Godwar was comprehended in the cession, which for three centuries withstood every contention, till the internal dissensions of the last half century, which grew out of the cause by which [283] it was obtained, and the change of succession in Mewar severed this most valuable acquisition.[19]

Who would imagine, after such deadly feuds between these rival States, that in the very next succession these hostile frays were not only buried in oblivion, but that the prince of Marwar abjured ‘his turban and his bed’ till he had revenged the assassination of the prince of Chitor, and restored his infant heir to his rights? The annals of these States afford numerous instances of the same hasty, overbearing temperament governing all; easily moved to strife, impatient of revenge, and steadfast in its gratification. But this satisfied, resentment subsides. A daughter of the offender given to wife banishes its remembrance, and when the bard joins the lately rival names in the couplet, each will complacently curl his mustachio over his lip as he hears his ‘renown expand like the lotus,’ and thus ‘the feud is extinguished.’ Thus have they gone on from time immemorial, and will continue, till what we may fear to contemplate. They have now neither friend nor foe but the British. The Tatar invader sleeps in his tomb, and the Mahratta depredator is muzzled and enchained. To return.

Mokal, A.D. 1397-1433.

—Mokal, who obtained the throne by Chonda’s surrender of his birthright, was not destined long to enjoy the distinction, though he evinced qualities worthy of heading the Sesodias. He ascended the throne in S. 1454 (A.D. 1398), at an important era in the history of India; when Timur, who had already established the race of Chagatai in the kingdoms of Central Asia, and laid prostrate the throne of Byzantium, turned his arms towards India. But it was not a field for his ambition; and the event is not even noticed in the annals of Mewar: a proof that it did not affect their repose. But they record an attempted invasion by the king of Delhi, which is erroneously stated to have been by Firoz Shah. A grandson of this prince had indeed been set up, and compelled to flee from the arms of Timur, and as the direction of his flight was Gujarat, it is not unlikely that the recorded attempt to penetrate by the passes of Mewar may have been his [284]. Be this as it may, the Rana Mokal anticipated and met him beyond the passes of the Aravalli, in the field of Raepur, and compelled him to abandon his enterprise. Pursuing his success, he took possession of Sambhar and its salt lakes, and otherwise extended and strengthened his territory, which the distracted state of the empire consequent to Timur’s invasion rendered a matter of little difficulty. Mokal finished the palace commenced by Lakha, now a mass of ruins; and erected the shrine of Chaturbhuja, ‘the four-armed deity,’[20] in the western hills.

Lāl Bāi.

—Besides three sons, Rana Mokal had a daughter, celebrated for her beauty, called Lal Bai, or ‘the ruby.’ She was betrothed to the Khichi chieftain of Gagraun, who at the Hathleva[21] demanded the pledge of succour on foreign invasion. Dhiraj, the son of the Khichi, had come to solicit the stipulated aid against Hoshang of Malwa, who had invested their capital. The Rana’s headquarters were then at Madri, and he was employed in quelling a revolt of the mountaineers, when Dhiraj arrived and obtained the necessary aid. Madri was destined to be the scene of the termination of Mokal’s career: he was assassinated by his uncles, the natural brothers of his father, from an unintentional offence, which tradition has handed down in all its details.

Assassination of Rāna Mokal.

—Chacha and Mera were the natural sons of Khetsi Rana (the predecessor of Lakha); their mother a fair handmaid of low descent, generally allowed to be a carpenter’s daughter. ‘The fifth sons of Mewar’ (as the natural children are figuratively termed) possess no rank, and though treated with kindness, and entrusted with confidential employments, the sons of the chiefs of the second class take precedence of them, and ‘sit higher on the carpet.’ These brothers had the charge of seven hundred horse in the train of Rana Mokal at Madri. Some chiefs at enmity with them, conceiving that they had overstepped their privileges, wished to see them humiliated. Chance procured them the opportunity: which, however, cost their prince his life. Seated in a grove with his chiefs around him, he inquired the name of a particular tree. The Chauhan chief, feigning ignorance, whispered him to ask either of the brothers; and not perceiving their scope, he artlessly did so. “Uncle, what tree is this?” The sarcasm thus prompted they considered as reflecting on their birth (being sons [285] of the carpenter’s daughter), and the same day, while Mokal was at his devotions, and in the act of counting his rosary, one blow severed his arm from his body, while another stretched him lifeless. The brothers, quickly mounting their steeds, had the audacity to hope to surprise Chitor, but the gates were closed upon them.

Rāna Kūmbha, A.D. 1433-68.

—Though the murder of Mokal is related to have no other cause than the sarcasm alluded to, the precautions taken by the young prince Kumbha,[22] his successor, would induce a belief that this was but the opening of a deep-laid conspiracy. The traitors returned to the stronghold near Madri, and Kumbha trusted to the friendship and good feeling of the prince of Marwar in this emergency. His confidence was well repaid. The prince put his son at the head of a force, and the retreat of the assassins being near his own frontier, they were encountered and dislodged. From Madri they fled to Pai, where they strengthened a fortress in the mountains named Ratakot; a lofty peak of the compound chain which encircles Udaipur, visible from the surrounding country, as are the remains of this stronghold of the assassins. It would appear that their lives were dissolute, for they had carried off the virgin daughter of a Chauhan, which led to their eventual detection and punishment. Her father, Suja, had traced the route of the ravishers, and, mixing with the workmen, found that the approaches to the place of their concealment were capable of being scaled. He was about to lay his complaint before his prince, when he met the cavalcade of Kumbha and the Rathor. The distressed father, ‘covering his face,’ disclosed the story of his own and daughter’s dishonour. They encamped till night at Delwara, when, led by the Chandana, they issued forth to surprise the authors of so many evils.

Suja and the Tiger.

—Arrived at the base of the rock, where the parapet was yet low, they commenced the escalade, aided by the thick foliage. The path was steep and rugged, and in the darkness of the night each had grasped his neighbour’s skirt for security. Animated by a just revenge, the Chauhan (Suja) led the way, when on reaching a ledge of the rock the glaring eyeballs of a tigress flashed upon him. Undismayed, he squeezed the hand of the Rathor prince who followed him, and who on perceiving the object of terror instantly buried his poignard in her heart. This omen was superb. They soon reached the summit. Some had ascended the parapet; others were scrambling over, when the minstrel [286] slipping, fell, and his drum, which was to have accompanied his voice in singing the conquest, awoke by its crash the daughter of Chacha. Her father quieted her fears by saying it was only “the thunder and the rains of Bhadon”: to fear God only and go to sleep, for their enemies were safe at Kelwa. At this moment the Rao and his party rushed in. Chacha and Mera had no time to avoid their fate. Chacha was cleft in two by the Chandana, while the Rathor prince laid Mera at his feet, and the spoils of Ratakot were divided among the assailants.

1. Mukti.

2. This is a literal phrase, denoting further transmigration of the soul, which is always deemed a punishment. The soldier who falls in battle in the faithful performance of his duty is alone exempted, according to their martial mythology, from the pains of ‘second birth.’

3. The fair messengers of heaven.

4. Suraj Mandal.

5. The abode of the chief of the various clans of Chondawat.

6. Vide p. 235.

7. [Hālār in W. Kāthiāwār (BG, viii. 4).]

8. The Dhāi. The Dhābhāis, or ‘foster-brothers,’ often hold lands in perpetuity, and are employed in the most confidential places; on embassies, marriages, etc.

9. On the 8th day of the Dasahra, or ‘military festival,’ when the levies are mustered at the Chaugan, or ‘Champ de Mars,’ and on the 10th of Chait his altars are purified, and his image is washed and placed thereon. Women pray for the safety of their children; husbands, that their wives may be fruitful. Previously to this, a son of Bappa Rawal was worshipped; but after the enshrinement of Raghudeva, the adoration of Kulisputra was gradually abolished. Nor is this custom confined to Mewar: there is a deified Putra in every Rajput family—one who has met a violent death. Besides Eklinga, the descendants of Bappa have adopted numerous household divinities: the destinies of life and death, Baenmata the goddess of the Chawaras, Nagnachian the serpent divinity of the Rathors, and Khetrapal, or ‘fosterer of the field,’ have with many others obtained a place on the Sesodia altars. This festival may not unaptly be compared to that of Adonis amongst the Greeks, for the Putra is worshipped chiefly by women.

10. The Diwali, from diwa, ‘a lamp.’ This festival is in honour of Lakshmi, goddess of wealth.

11. Seven miles south of Chitor, on the road to Malwa.

12. The family priest and instructor of youth.

13. Rampol, ‘the gate of Ram.’

14. Often sixty cubits in length.

15. [Godwār, including the Bāli and Desuri districts in S.E. Mārwār, is now known as the Desuri Hukūmat: see Erskine iii. A. 180 f.]

16. The wood of Solomon’s temple is called almug; the prefix al is merely the article [?]. This is the wood also mentioned in the annals of Gujarat, of which the temple to Adinath was constructed. It is said to be indestructible even by fire. It has been surmised that the fleets of Tyre frequented the Indian coast: could they thence have carried the Almujd for the temple of Solomon? [Almug, according to the Encyclopædia Biblica (i. 1196) is either Brazil-wood or red sandalwood (Pterocarpus santalinus). Sir G. Watt, who has kindly examined the question, thinks it very improbable that the mujd of the text is almug wood, because neither the true sandalwood (Santalum album) nor the red sandalwood (Pterocarpus santalinus) is found in Rājputāna. He identifies the mujd of the text with Moringa concanensis, a small tree found wild in Sind and the Konkan, which yields a gum of considerable value, and its congener Moringa pterygosperma (Comm. Prod. 784), the horse-radish tree of India, is used as a dye in Jamaica, and probably could be so used in India.]

17. This wood has a brownish-red tint.

18. This is related with some variation in other annals of the period.

19. There is little hope, while British power acts as high constable and keeper of the peace in Rajwara, of this being recovered: nor, were it otherwise, would it be desirable to see it become an object of contention between these States. Marwar has attained much grandeur since the time of Jodha, and her resources are more unbroken than those of Mewar, who, if she could redeem, could not, from its exposed position, maintain the province against the brave Rathor.

20. [The four-armed Vishnu, the favourite deity of the Mertia Rāthors (Census Report, Rajputana, 1891, ii. 26).]

21. The ceremony of joining hands.

22. [His mother was a Pramār, Subhāgya Devi, daughter of Rāja Jaitmall, Sānkhla.]

CHAPTER 8

Rāna Kūmbha, A.D. 1433-68.

—Kumbha succeeded his father in S. 1475 (A.D. 1419);[1] nor did any symptom of dissatisfaction appear to usher in his reign, which was one of great success amidst no common difficulties. The bardic historians[2] do as much honour to the Marwar prince, who had made common cause with their sovereign in revenging the death of his father, as if it had involved the security of his crown; but this was a precautionary measure of the prince, who was induced thus to act from several motives, and, above all, in accordance with usage, which stigmatizes the refusal of aid when demanded: besides ‘Kumbha was the nephew of Marwar.’

It has rarely occurred in any country to have possessed successively so many energetic princes as ruled Mewar through several centuries. She was now in the middle path of her glory, and enjoying the legitimate triumph of seeing the foes of her religion captives on the rock of her power. A century had elapsed since the bigot Ala had wreaked his vengeance on the different monuments of art. Chitor had recovered the sack, and new defenders had sprung up in the place [287] of those who had fallen in their ‘saffron robes,’ a sacrifice for her preservation. All that was wanting to augment her resources against the storms which were collecting on the brows of Caucasus and the shores of the Oxus, and were destined to burst on the head of his grandson Sanga, was effected by Kumbha; who with Hamir’s energy, Lakha’s taste for the arts, and a genius comprehensive as either and more fortunate, succeeded in all his undertakings, and once more raised the ‘crimson banner’ of Mewar upon the banks of the Ghaggar, the scene of Samarsi’s defeat. Let us contrast the patriarchal Hindu governments of this period with the despotism of the Tatar invader.

From the age of Shihabu-d-din, the conqueror of India, and his contemporary Samarsi, to the time we have now reached, two entire dynasties, numbering twenty-four emperors and one empress, through assassination, rebellion, and dethronement, had followed in rapid succession, yielding a result of only nine years to a reign. Of Mewar, though several fell in defending their altars at home or their religion abroad, eleven princes suffice to fill the same period.

It was towards the close of the Khilji dynasty that the satraps of Delhi shook off its authority and established subordinate kingdoms: Bijapur and Golkonda in the Deccan; Malwa, Gujarat, Jaunpur in the east; and even Kalpi had its king. Malwa and Gujarat had attained considerable power when Kumbha ascended the throne. In the midst of his prosperity these two States formed a league against him, and in S. 1496 (A.D. 1440) both kings, at the head of powerful armies, invaded Mewar. Kumbha met them on the plains of Malwa bordering on his own State, and at the head of one hundred thousand horse and foot and fourteen hundred elephants, gave them an entire defeat, carrying captive to Chitor Mahmud the Khilji sovereign of Malwa.

Abu-l Fazl relates this victory, and dilates on Kumbha’s greatness of soul in setting his enemy at liberty, not only without ransom but with gifts.[3] Such is the character of the Hindu: a mixture of arrogance, political blindness, pride, and generosity. To spare a prostrate foe is the creed of the Hindu cavalier, and he carries all such maxims to excess. The annals, however, state that Mahmud was confined six months in Chitor; and that the trophies of conquest were retained we have evidence from Babur, who mentions receiving from the son of his opponent, Sanga, the crown of the Malwa king.

The Tower of Victory.

—But there is a more durable [288] monument than this written record of victory: the triumphal pillar in Chitor, whose inscriptions detail the event, “when, shaking the earth, the lords of Gujarkhand and Malwa, with armies overwhelming as the ocean, invaded Medpat.” Eleven years after this event Kumbha laid the foundations of this column, which was completed in ten more: a period apparently too short to place “this ringlet on the brow of Chitor, which makes her look down upon Meru with derision.” We will leave it, with the aspiration that it may long continue a monument of the fortune of its founders.[4]

It would appear that the Malwa king afterwards united his arms with Kumbha, as, in a victory gained over the imperial forces at Jhunjhunu, when ‘he planted his standard in Hissar,’ the Malwa troops were combined with those of Mewar. The imperial power had at this period greatly declined: the Khutba was read in the mosques in the name of Timur, and the Malwa king had defeated, single-handed, the last Ghorian sultan of Delhi.

The Fortresses of Mewār.

—Of eighty-four fortresses for the defence of Mewar, thirty-two were erected by Kumbha. Inferior only to Chitor is that stupendous work called after him Kumbhalmer,[5] ‘the hill of Kumbha,’ from its natural position, and the works he raised, impregnable to a native army. These works were on the site of a more ancient fortress, of which the mountaineers long held possession. Tradition ascribes it to Samprati Raja, a Jain prince in the second century, and a descendant of Chandragupta;[6] and the ancient Jain temples appear to confirm the tradition. When Kumbha captured Nagor he brought away the gates, with the statue of the god Hanuman, who gives his name to the gate which he still guards. He also erected a citadel on a peak of Abu, within the fortress of the ancient Pramara, where he often resided. Its magazine and alarm-tower still bear Kumbha’s name; and in a rude temple the bronze effigies of Kumbha and his father still receive divine honours.[7] Centuries have passed since the princes of Mewar had influence here, but the incident marks the vivid remembrance of their condition. He fortified the passes between the western frontier and Abu, and erected the fort Vasanti near the present Sirohi, and that of Machin, to defend the Shero Nala and Deogarh against the Mers of Aravalli. He re-established Ahor and other smaller [289] forts to overawe the Bhumia[8] Bhil of Jharol and Panarwa, and defined the boundaries of Marwar and Mewar.

Temples.

—Besides these monuments of his genius, two consecrated to religion have survived: that of Kumbha Sham, on Abu, which, though worthy to attract notice elsewhere, is here eclipsed by a crowd of more interesting objects; the other, one of the largest edifices existing, cost upwards of a million sterling, towards which Kumbha contributed eighty thousand pounds. It is erected in the Sadri pass leading from the western descent of the highlands of Mewar, and is dedicated to Rishabhadeva.[9] Its secluded position has preserved it from bigoted fury, and its only visitants now are the wild beasts who take shelter in its sanctuary. Kumbha Rana was also a poet: but in a far more elevated strain than the troubadour princes, his neighbours, who contented themselves with rehearsing their own prowess or celebrating their lady’s beauty. He composed a tika, or appendix to the ‘Divine Melodies,’[10] in praise of Krishna. We can pass no judgment on these inspirations of the royal bard, as we are ignorant whether any are preserved in the records of the house: a point his descendant, who is deeply skilled in such lore, might probably answer.

Mīra Bāi.

—Kumbha married a daughter of the Rathor of Merta, the first of the clans of Marwar. Mira Bai[11] was the most celebrated princess of her time for beauty and romantic piety. Her compositions were numerous, though better known to the worshippers of the Hindu Apollo than to the ribald bards. Some of her odes and hymns to the deity are preserved and admired. Whether she imbibed her poetic piety from her husband, or whether from her he caught the sympathy which produced the ‘sequel to the songs of Govinda,’ we cannot determine. Her history is a romance, and her excess of devotion at every shrine of the favourite deity with the fair of Hind, from the Yamuna to ‘the world’s end,’[12] gave rise to many [290] tales of scandal. Kumbha mixed gallantry with his warlike pursuits. He carried off the daughter of the chief of Jhalawar, who had been betrothed to the prince of Mandor: this renewed the old feud, and the Rathor made many attempts to redeem his affianced bride. His humiliation was insupportable, when through the purified atmosphere of the periodical rains “the towers of Kumbhalmer became visible from the castle of Mandor, and the light radiated from the chamber of the fair through the gloom of a night in Bhadon,[13] to the hall where he brooded o’er his sorrows.” It was surmised that this night-lamp was an understood signal of the Jhalani, who pined at the decree which ambition had dictated to her father, in consigning her to the more powerful rival of her affianced lord. The Rathor exhausted every resource to gain access to the fair, and had once nearly succeeded in a surprise by escalade, having cut his way in the night through the forest in the western and least guarded acclivity: but, as the bard equivocally remarks, "though he cut his way through the jhal (brushwood), he could not reach the Jhalani."

The Assassination of Rāna Kūmbha, A.D. 1468.

—Kumbha had occupied the throne half a century; he had triumphed over the enemies of his race, fortified his country with strongholds, embellished it with temples, and with the superstructure of her fame had laid the foundation of his own—when, the year which should have been a jubilee was disgraced by the foulest blot in the annals; and his life, which nature was about to close, terminated by the poignard of an assassin—that assassin, his son!

Rāna Uda, A.D. 1468-73.

—This happened in S. 1525 (A.D. 1469). Uda was the name of the parricide, whose unnatural ambition, and impatience to enjoy a short lustre of sovereignty, bereft of life the author of his existence. But such is the detestation which marks this unusual crime that, like that of the Venetian traitor, his name is left a blank in the annals, nor is Uda known but by the epithet Hatyara, ‘the murderer.’ Shunned by his kin, and compelled to look abroad for succour to maintain him on the throne polluted by his crime, Mewar in five years of illegitimate rule lost half the consequence which had cost so many to acquire. He made the Deora prince independent in Abu, and bestowed Sambhar, Ajmer, and adjacent districts on the prince of Jodhpur[14] as the price of his friendship. But, a prey to remorse, he felt that he [291] could neither claim regard from, nor place any dependence upon, these princes, though he bribed them with provinces. He humbled himself before the king of Delhi, offering him a daughter in marriage to obtain his sanction to his authority; “but heaven manifested its vengeance to prevent this additional iniquity, and preserve the house of Bappa Rawal from dishonour.” He had scarcely quitted the divan (diwankhana), on taking leave of the king, when a flash of lightning struck the Hatyara to the earth, whence he never arose.[15] The bards pass over this period cursorily, as one of their race was the instrument of Uda’s crime.

Banishment of the Chārans.

—There has always been a jealousy between the Mangtas, as they term all classes ‘who extend the palm,’ whether Brahmans, Yatis, Charans, or Bhats; but since Hamir, the Charan influence had far eclipsed the rest. A Brahman astrologer predicted Kumbha’s death through a Charan, and as the class had given other cause of offence, Kumbha banished the fraternity his dominions, resuming all their lands: a strong measure in those days, and which few would have had nerve to attempt or firmness to execute. The heir-apparent, Raemall, who was exiled to Idar for what his father deemed an impertinent curiosity,[16] had attached one of these bards to his suite, whose ingenuity got the edict set aside, and his race restored to their lands and the prince’s favour. Had they taken off the Brahman’s head, they might have falsified the prediction which unhappily was too soon fulfilled.[17]

Rāna Rāemall, A.D. 1473-1508.

—Raemall succeeded in S. 1530 (A.D. 1474) by his own valour to the seat of Kumbha. He had fought and defeated the usurper, who on this occasion fled to the king of Delhi and offered him a daughter of Mewar. After his death in the manner described, the Delhi monarch, with Sahasmall [292] and Surajmall, sons of the parricide, invaded Mewar, encamping at Siarh, now Nathdwara. The chiefs were faithful to their legitimate prince, Raemall, and aided by his allies of Abu and Girnar, at the head of fifty-eight thousand horse and eleven thousand foot, he gave battle to the pretender and his imperial ally at Ghasa. The conflict was ferocious. ‘The streams ran blood,’ for the sons of the usurper were brave as lions; but the king was so completely routed that he never again entered Mewar.

Raemall bestowed one daughter on Surji (Yadu), the chief of Girnar; and another on the Deora, Jaimall of Sirohi, confirming his title to Abu as her dower. He sustained the warlike reputation of his predecessors, and carried on interminable strife with Ghiyasu-d-din of Malwa, whom he defeated in several pitched battles, to the success of which the valour of his nephews, whom he had pardoned, mainly contributed. In the last of these encounters the Khilji king sued for peace, renouncing the pretensions he had formerly urged.[18] The dynasty of Lodi next enjoyed the imperial bauble, and with it Mewar had to contest her northern boundary.

The Sons of Rāna Rāemall.

—Raemall had three sons, celebrated in the annals of Rajasthan: Sanga, the competitor of Babur, Prithiraj, the Rolando of his age, and Jaimall. Unhappily for the country and their father’s repose, fraternal affection was discarded for deadly hate, and their feuds and dissensions were a source of constant alarm. Had discord not disunited them, the reign of Raemall would have equalled any of his predecessors. As it was, it presented a striking contrast to them: his two elder sons banished; the first, Sanga, self-exiled from perpetual fear of his life, and Prithiraj, the second, from his turbulence; while the youngest, Jaimall, was slain through his intemperance. A sketch of these feuds will present a good picture of the Rajput character, and their mode of life when their arms were not required against their country’s foes.

Sanga[19] and Prithiraj were the offspring of the Jhali queen; Jaimall was by another mother. What moral influence the name he bore had on Prithiraj we can surmise only from his actions, which would stand comparison with those of his prototype [293] the Chauhan of Delhi, and are yet the delight of the Sesodia. When they assemble at the feast after a day’s sport, or in a sultry evening spread the carpet on the terrace to inhale the leaf or take a cup of kusumbha,[20] a tale of Prithiraj recited by the bard is the highest treat they can enjoy. Sanga, the heir-apparent, was a contrast to his brother. Equally brave, his courage was tempered by reflection; while Prithiraj burned with a perpetual thirst for action, and often observed “that fate must have intended him to rule Mewar.” The three brothers, with their uncle, Surajmall, were one day discussing these topics, when Sanga observed that, though heir to ‘the ten thousand towns’ of Mewar, he would waive his claims, and trust them, as did the Roman brothers, to the omen which should be given by the priestess of Charani Devi at Nahra Magra,[21] the ‘Tiger’s Mount.’ They repaired to her abode. Prithiraj and Jaimall entered first, and seated themselves on a pallet: Sanga followed and took possession of the panther hide of the prophetess; his uncle, Surajmall, with one knee resting thereon. Scarcely had Prithiraj disclosed their errand, when the sibyl pointed to the panther-hide[22] as the decisive omen of sovereignty to Sanga, with a portion to his uncle. They received the decree as did the twins of Rome. Prithiraj drew his sword and would have falsified the omen, had not Surajmall stepped in and received the blow destined for Sanga, while the prophetess fled from their fury. Surajmall and Prithiraj were exhausted with wounds, and Sanga fled with five sword-cuts and an arrow in his eye, which destroyed the sight for ever. He made for the sanctuary of Chaturbhuja, and passing Sivanti, took refuge with Bida (Udawat), who was accoutred for a journey, his steed standing by him. Scarcely had he assisted the wounded heir of Mewar to alight when Jaimall galloped up in pursuit. The Rathor guarded the sanctuary, and gave up his life in defence of his guest, who meanwhile escaped.

Retirement of Sanga.

—Prithiraj recovered from his wounds; and Sanga, aware of his implacable enmity, had recourse to many expedients to avoid discovery. He, who at a future period leagued a hundred thousand men against the descendant of Timur, was compelled to associate with goat-herds, expelled the peasant’s abode as too stupid [294] to tend his cattle, and, precisely like our Alfred the Great, having in charge some cakes of flour, was reproached with being more desirous of eating than tending them. A few faithful Rajputs found him in this state, and, providing him with arms and a horse, they took service with Rao Karamchand, Pramar, chief of Srinagar,[23] and with him ‘ran the country.’ After one of these raids, Sanga one day alighted under a banian tree, and placing his dagger under his head, reposed, while two of his faithful Rajputs, whose names are preserved,[24] prepared his repast, their steeds grazing by them. A ray of the sun penetrating the foliage, fell on Sanga’s face, and discovered a snake, which, feeling the warmth, had uncoiled itself and was rearing its crest over the head of the exile:[25] a bird of omen[26] had perched itself on the crested serpent, and was chattering aloud. A goat-herd named Maru, ‘versed in the language of birds,’ passed at the moment Sanga awoke. The prince repelled the proffered homage of the goat-herd, who, however, had intimated to the Pramara chief that he was served by ‘royalty.’[27] The Pramara kept the secret, and gave Sanga a daughter to wife, and protection till the tragical end of his brother called him to the throne.

The Adventures of Prithirāj.

—When the Rana heard of the quarrel which had nearly deprived him of his heir, he banished Prithiraj, telling him that he might live on his bravery and maintain himself with strife. With but five horse[28] Prithiraj quitted the paternal abode, and made for Bali in Godwar. These dissensions following the disastrous conclusion of the last reign, paralysed the country, and the wild tribes of the west and the mountaineers of the Aravalli so little respected the garrison of Nadol (the chief town of Godwar), that they carried their depredations to the plains. Prithiraj halted at Nadol, and having to procure some necessaries pledged a ring to the merchant who had sold it to him; the merchant recognized the prince, and learning the cause of his disguise, proffered his services in the scheme which the prince had in view for the restoration of order in Godwar, being determined to evince to his father that he had resources independent of birth. The Minas were the aboriginal proprietors of all these regions; the Rajputs were interlopers and conquerors. A Rawat of this tribe had regained their ancient haunts, and held his petty court at the [295] town of Narlai in the plains, and was even served by Rajputs. By the advice of Ojha, the merchant, Prithiraj enlisted himself and his band among the adherents of the Mina. On the Aheria, or ‘hunter’s festival,’ the vassals have leave to rejoin their families. Prithiraj, who had also obtained leave, rapidly retraced his steps, and despatching his Rajputs to dislodge the Mina, awaited the result in ambush at the gate of the town. In a short time the Mina appeared on horseback, and in full flight to the mountains for security, Prithiraj pursued, overtook, and transfixed him with his lance to a kesula tree, and setting fire to the village, he slew the Minas as they sought to escape the flames. Other towns shared the same fate, and all the province of Godwar, with the exception of Desuri, a stronghold of the Madrecha Chauhans, fell into his power. At this time Sada Solanki, whose ancestor had escaped the destruction of Patan and found refuge in these mountainous tracts, held Sodhgarh. He had espoused a daughter of the Madrecha, but the grant of Desuri and its lands[29] in perpetuity easily gained him to the cause of Prithiraj.

Prithiraj having thus restored order in Godwar, and appointed Ojha and the Solanki to the government thereof, regained the confidence of his father; and his brother Jaimall being slain at this time, accelerated his forgiveness and recall. Ere he rejoins Raemall we will relate the manner of this event. Jaimall was desirous to obtain the hand of Tara Bai, daughter of Rao Surthan,[30] who had been expelled Toda by the Pathans. The price of her hand was the recovery of this domain: but Jaimall, willing to anticipate the reward, and rudely attempting access to the fair, was slain by the indignant father. The quibbling remark of the bard upon this event is that "Tara was not the star (tara) of his destiny." At the period of this occurrence Sanga was in concealment, Prithiraj banished, and Jaimall consequently looked to as the heir of Mewar. The Rana, when incited to revenge, replied with a magnanimity which deserves to be recorded, "that he who had thus dared to insult the honour of a [296] father, and that father in distress, richly merited his fate"; and in proof of his disavowal of such a son he conferred on the Solanki the district of Badnor.

Prithirāj recalled.

—This event led to the recall of Prithiraj, who eagerly took up the gage disgraced by his brother. The adventure was akin to his taste. The exploit which won the hand of the fair Amazon, who, equipped with bow and quiver, subsequently accompanied him in many perilous enterprises, will be elsewhere related.

Surajmall (the uncle), who had fomented these quarrels, resolved not to belie the prophetess if a crown lay in his path. The claims acquired from his parricidal parent were revived when Mewar had no sons to look to. Prithiraj on his return renewed the feud with Surajmall, whose ‘vaulting ambition’ persuaded him that the crown was his destiny, and he plunged deep into treason to obtain it. He joined as partner in his schemes Sarangdeo, another descendant of Lakha Rana, and both repaired to Muzaffar, the sultan of Malwa.[31] With his aid they assailed the southern frontier, and rapidly possessed themselves of Sadri, Bataro, and a wide tract extending from Nai to Nimach, attempting even Chitor. With the few troops at hand Raemall descended to punish the rebels, who met the attack on the river Gambhir.[32] The Rana, fighting like a common soldier, had received two-and-twenty wounds, and was nearly falling through faintness, when Prithiraj joined him with one thousand fresh horse, and reanimated the battle. He selected his uncle Surajmall, whom he soon covered with wounds. Many had fallen on both sides, but neither party would yield; when worn out they mutually retired from the field, and bivouacked in sight of each other.

Interview between Prithirāj and Sūrajmall.

—It will show the manners and feelings so peculiar to the Rajput, to describe the meeting between the rival uncle and nephew,—unique in the details of strife, perhaps, since the origin of man. It is taken from a MS. of the Jhala chief who succeeded Surajmall in Sadri. Prithiraj visited his uncle, whom he found in a small tent reclining on a pallet, having just had ‘the barber’ (nai) to sew up his wounds. He rose, and met his nephew with the customary respect, as if nothing unusual had occurred; but the exertion caused some of the wounds to open afresh, when the following dialogue ensued:

Prithiraj.—“Well, uncle, how are your wounds?”

Surajmall.—“Quite healed, my child, since I have the pleasure of seeing you” [297].

Prithiraj.—"But, uncle (kaka), I have not yet seen the Diwanji.[33] I first ran to see you, and I am very hungry; have you anything to eat?"

Dinner was soon served, and the extraordinary pair sat down and ‘ate off the same platter’;[34] nor did Prithiraj hesitate to eat the pan,[35] presented on his taking leave.

Prithiraj.—“You and I will end our battle in the morning, uncle.”

Surajmall.—“Very well, child; come early!”

They met; but Sarangdeo bore the brunt of the conflict, receiving thirty-five wounds. During “four gharis[36] swords and lances were plied, and every tribe of Rajput lost numbers that day”; but the rebels were defeated and fled to Sadri, and Prithiraj returned in triumph, though with seven wounds, to Chitor. The rebels, however, did not relinquish their designs, and many personal encounters took place between the uncle and nephew: the latter saying he would not let him retain “as much land of Mewar as would cover a needle’s point”; and Suja[37] retorting, that he would allow his nephew to redeem only as much “as would suffice to lie upon.” But Prithiraj gave them no rest, pursuing them from place to place. In the wilds of Batara they formed a stockaded retreat of the dhao tree,[38] which abounds in these forests. Within this shelter, horses and men were intermingled: Suja and his coadjutor communing by the night-fire in their desperate plight, when their cogitations were checked by the rush and neigh of horses. Scarcely had the pretender exclaimed “This must be my nephew!” when Prithiraj dashed his steed through the barricade and entered with his troops. All was confusion, and the sword showered its blows indiscriminately. The young prince reached his uncle, and dealt him a blow which would have levelled him, but for the support of Sarangdeo, who upbraided him, adding that “a buffet now was more than a score of wounds in former days”: to which Suja rejoined, “only when dealt by my nephew’s hand.” Suja demanded a parley; and calling on the prince to stop the combat, he continued: "If I am killed, it matters not—my children are Rajputs, they will run the [298] country to find support; but if you are slain, what will become of Chitor? My face will be blackened, and my name everlastingly reprobated."

The sword was sheathed, and as the uncle and nephew embraced, the latter asked the former, "What were you about, uncle, when I came?"—“Only talking nonsense, child, after dinner.” "But with me over your head, uncle, as a foe how could you be so negligent?"—“What could I do? you had left me no resource, and I must have some place to rest my head!” There was a small temple near the stockade, to which in the morning Prithiraj requested his uncle to accompany him to sacrifice to Kali,[39] but the blow of the preceding night prevented him. Sarangdeo was his proxy. One buffalo had fallen, and a goat was about to follow, when the prince turned his sword on Sarangdeo. The combat was desperate; but Prithiraj was the victor, and the head of the traitor was placed as an offering on the altar of Time. The Gaunda[40] was plundered, the town of Batara recovered, and Surajmall fled to Sadri, where he only stopped to fulfil his threat, “that if he could not retain its lands he would make them over to those stronger than the king”;[41] and having distributed them amongst Brahmans and bards, he finally abandoned Mewar. Passing through the wilds of Kanthal,[42] he had an omen which recalled the Charani’s prediction: “a wolf endeavouring in vain to carry off a kid defended by maternal affection.” This was interpreted as ‘strong ground for a dwelling.’ He halted, subdued the aboriginal tribes, and on this spot erected the town and stronghold of Deolia, becoming lord of a thousand villages, which have descended to his offspring, who now enjoy them under British protection. Such was the origin of Partabgarh Deolia.[43]

Prithirāj poisoned: Death of Rāna Rāemall.

—Prithiraj was poisoned by his brother-in-law, of Abu, whom he had punished for maltreating his sister, and afterwards confided in. His death was soon followed by that of Rana Raemall, who, though not equal to his predecessors, was greatly respected, and maintained the dignity of his station amidst no ordinary calamities [299].[44]

CHAPTER 9

Rāna Sanga or Sangrām Singh; A.D. 1508-27.—Sangram, better known in the annals of Mewar as Sanga (called Sanka by the Mogul historians),[1] succeeded in S. 1565 (A.D. 1509). With this prince Mewar reached the summit of her prosperity. To use their own metaphor, “he was the kalas[2] on the pinnacle of her glory.” From him we shall witness this glory on the wane; and though many rays of splendour illuminated her declining career, they served but to gild the ruin.

The imperial chair, since occupied by the Tuar descendant of the Pandus, and the first and last of the Chauhans, and which had been filled successively by the dynasties of Ghazni and Ghor, the Khilji and Lodi, was now shivered to pieces, and numerous petty thrones were constructed of its fragments. Mewar little dreaded these imperial puppets, “when Amurath to Amurath succeeded,” and when four kings reigned simultaneously between Delhi and Benares.[3] The kings of Malwa, though leagued with those of Gujarat, conjoined to the rebels, could make no impression on Mewar when Sanga led her heroes. Eighty thousand horse, seven Rajas of the highest rank, nine Raos, and one hundred and four chieftains bearing the titles of Rawal and Rawat, with five hundred war elephants, followed him into the field. The princes of Marwar and Amber[4] did him homage, and the Raos of Gwalior Ajmer, Sikri, Raesen,[5] Kalpi, Chanderi [300], Bundi, Gagraun, Rampura, and Abu, served him as tributaries or held of him in chief.

Sanga did not forget those who sheltered him in his reverses. Karamchand of Srinagar had a grant of Ajmer and the title of Rao for his son Jagmall, the reward of his services in the reduction of Chanderi.

The Administration and Wars of Rāna Sanga.

—In a short space of time, Sanga entirely allayed the disorders occasioned by the intestine feuds of his family; and were it permitted to speculate on the cause which prompted a temporary cession of his rights and his dignities to his more impetuous brother, it might be discerned in a spirit of forecast, and of fraternal and patriotic forbearance, a deviation from which would have endangered the country as well as the safety of his family. We may assume this, in order to account for an otherwise pusillanimous surrender of his birthright, and being in contrast to all the subsequent heroism of his life, which, when he resigned, was contained within the wreck of a form. Sanga organized his forces, with which he always kept the field, and ere called to contend with the descendant of Timur, he had gained eighteen pitched battles against the kings of Delhi and Malwa. In two of these he was opposed by Ibrahim Lodi in person, at Bakrol and Ghatoli, in which last battle the imperial forces were defeated with great slaughter, leaving a prisoner of the blood royal to grace the triumph of Chitor. The Pilakhal (yellow rivulet) near Bayana became the northern boundary of Mewar, with the Sind River to the east,—touching Malwa to the south, while his native hills were an impenetrable barrier to the west. Thus swaying, directly or by control, the greater part of Rajasthan, and adored by the Rajputs for the possession of those qualities they hold in estimation, Sanga was ascending to the pinnacle of distinction; and had not fresh hordes of Usbeks and Tatars from the prolific shores of the Oxus and Jaxartes again poured down on the devoted plains of Hindustan, the crown of the Chakravartin[6] might again have encircled the brow of a Hindu, and the banner of supremacy been transferred from Indraprastha to the battlements of Chitor. But Babur arrived at a critical time to rally the dejected followers of the Koran, and to collect them around his own victorious standard.

Invasions from Central Asia.

—From the earliest recorded periods of her history, India has been the prey of [301] the more hardy population from the central regions of Asia. From this fact we may infer another, namely, that its internal form of government was the same as at the present day, partitioned into numerous petty kingdoms, of tribes and clans, of a feudal federation, a prey to all the jealousies inseparable from such a condition. The historians of Alexander bear ample testimony to such form of government, when the Panjab alone possessed many sovereigns, besides the democracies of cities. The Persians overran it, and Darius the Mede accounted India the richest of his satrapies. The Greeks, the Parthians have left in their medals the best proofs of their power; the Getae or Yuti followed; and from the Ghori Shihabu-d-din to the Chagatai Babur, in less than three centuries, five invasions are recorded, each originating a dynasty. Sanga’s opponent was the last, and will continue so until the rays of knowledge renovate the ancient nursery of the human race,—then may end the anomaly in the history of power, of a handful of Britons holding the succession to the Mede, the Parthian, and the Tatar. But, however surprise may be excited at witnessing such rapidity of change, from the physical superiority of man over man, it is immeasurably heightened at the little moral consequence which in every other region of the world has always attended such concussions. Creeds have changed, races have mingled, and names have been effaced from the page of history; but in this corner of civilization we have no such result, and the Rajput remains the same singular being, concentrated in his prejudices, political and moral, as in the days of Alexander, desiring no change himself, and still less to cause any in others. Whatever be the conservative principle, it merits a philosophic analysis; but more, a proper application and direction, by those to whom the destinies of this portion of the globe are confided; for in this remote spot there is a nucleus of energy, on which may accumulate a mass for our support or our destruction.

To return: a descendant of the Turushka of the Jaxartes, the ancient foe of the children of Surya and Chandra, was destined to fulfil the prophetic Purana which foretold dominion “to the Turushka, the Yavan,” and other foreign races in Hind; and the conquered made a right application of the term Turk, both as regards its ancient and modern signification, when applied to the conquerors from Turkistan. Babur, the opponent of Sanga, was king of Ferghana, and of Turki race. His dominions were on both sides the Jaxartes, a portion of ancient [302] Sakatai, or Sakadwipa (Scythia), where dwelt Tomyris the Getic queen immortalized by Herodotus, and where her opponent erected Cyropolis, as did in after-times the Macedonian his most remote Alexandria. From this region did the same Getae, Jat, or Yuti, issue, to the destruction of Bactria, two centuries before the Christian era, and also five subsequent thereto to found a kingdom in Northern India. Again, one thousand years later, Babur issued with his bands to the final subjugation of India. As affecting India alone, this portion of the globe merits deep attention; but as the officina gentium, whence issued those hordes of Asii, Jats, or Yeuts (of whom the Angles were a branch), who peopled the shores of the Baltic, and the precursors of those Goths who, under Attila and Alaric, altered the condition of Europe, its importance is vastly enhanced.[7] But on this occasion it was not redundant population which made the descendant of Timur and Jenghiz abandon the Jaxartes for the Ganges, but unsuccessful ambition: for Babur quitted the delights of Samarkand as a fugitive, and commenced his enterprise, which gave him the throne of the Pandus, with less than two thousand adherents.

Character of Bābur.

—The Rajput prince had a worthy antagonist in the king of Ferghana. Like Sanga, he was trained in the school of adversity, and like him, though his acts of personal heroism were even romantic, he tempered it with that discretion which looks to its results. In A.D. 1494, at the tender age of twelve, he succeeded to a kingdom; ere he was sixteen he defeated several confederacies and conquered Samarkand, and in two short years again lost and regained it. His life was a tissue of successes and reverses; at one moment hailed lord of the chief kingdoms of Transoxiana; at another flying, unattended, or putting all to hazard in desperate single combats, in one of which he slew five champions of his enemies. Driven at length from Ferghana, in despair he crossed the Hindu-Kush, and in 1519 the Indus. Between the Panjab and Kabul he lingered seven years, ere he advanced to measure his sword with Ibrahim of Delhi. Fortune returned to his standard; Ibrahim was slain, his army routed and dispersed, and Delhi and Agra opened their gates to the fugitive king of Ferghana. His reflections on success evince it was his due: “Not to me, O God! but to thee, be the victory!” says the chivalrous Babur. A year had elapsed in possession of Delhi, ere he ventured against the most powerful of his antagonists, Rana Sanga of Chitor.

RUINS OF THE FORTRESS OF BAYĀNA.
To face page 352.

With all Babur’s qualities as a soldier, supported by the hardy clans of the ‘cloud mountains’ (Belut Tagh) [303] of Karateghin,[8] the chances were many that he and they terminated their career on the ‘yellow rivulet’ of Bayana. Neither bravery nor skill saved him from this fate, which he appears to have expected. What better proof can be desired than Babur’s own testimony to the fact, that a horde of invaders from the Jaxartes, without support or retreat, were obliged to entrench themselves to the teeth in the face of their Rajput foe, alike brave and overpowering in numbers? To ancient jealousies he was indebted for not losing his life instead of gaining a crown, and for being extricated from a condition so desperate that even the frenzy of religion, which made death martyrdom in “this holy war,” scarcely availed to expel the despair which so infected his followers, that in the bitterness of his heart he says “there was not a single person who uttered a manly word, nor an individual who delivered a courageous opinion.”

The Battle of Khānua, March 16, 1527.

—Babur advanced from Agra and Sikri to oppose Rana Sanga, in full march to attack him at the head of almost all the princes of Rajasthan. Although the annals state some points which the imperial historian has not recorded, yet both accounts of the conflict correspond in all the essential details. On the 5th of Kartik, S. 1584[9] (A.D. 1528), according to the annals, the Rana raised the siege of Bayana, and at Khanua encountered the advanced guard of the Tatars, amounting to fifteen hundred men, which was entirely destroyed; the fugitives carrying to the main body the accounts of the disaster, which paralysed their energies, and made them entrench for security, instead of advancing with the confidence of victory. Reinforcements met the same fate, and were pursued to the camp. Accustomed to reverses, Babur met the check without dismay, and adopted every precaution [304] that a mind fertile in expedients could suggest to reassure the drooping spirits of his troops. He threw up entrenchments, in which he placed his artillery, connecting his guns by chains, and in the more exposed parts chevaux de frise, united by leather ropes: a precaution continued in every subsequent change of position. Everything seemed to aid the Hindu cause: even the Tatar astrologer asserted that as Mars was in the west, whoever should engage coming from the opposite quarter should be defeated. In this state of total inactivity, blockaded in his encampment, Babur remained near a fortnight, when he determined to renounce his besetting sin, and merit superior aid to extricate himself from his peril: the naïveté of his vow must be given in his own words.[10] But the destruction of the wine flasks would appear only to have added to the existing consternation, and made him, as a last resort, appeal to their faith. Having addressed them in a speech of [305] manly courage, though bordering on despair, he seized the happy moment that his exhortation elicited, to swear them on the Koran to conquer or perish.[11] Profiting by this excitement, he broke up his camp, to which he had been confined nearly a month, and marched in order of battle to a position two miles in advance, the Rajputs skirmishing up to his guns. Without a regular circumvallation, his movable pallisadoes and guns chained, he felt no security. The inactivity of Sanga can scarcely escape censure, however we may incline to palliate it by supposing that he deemed his enemy in the toils, and that every day’s delay brought with it increased danger to him. Such reasoning would be valid, if the heterogeneous mass by which the prince of Mewar was surrounded had owned the same patriotic sentiments as himself: but he ought to have known his countrymen, nor overlooked the regulating maxim of their ambition, get land. Delay was fatal to this last coalition against the foes of his race. Babur is silent on the point to which the annals ascribe their discomfiture, a negotiation pending his blockade at Khanua; but these have preserved it, with the name of the traitor who sold the cause of his country. The negotiation[12] had reached this point, that on condition of Babur being left Delhi and its dependencies, the Pilakhal at Bayana should be the boundary of their respective dominions, and even an annual tribute was offered to the Rana [306]. We can believe that in the position Babur then was, he would not scruple to promise anything. The chief of Raesen, by name Salehdi, of the Tuar tribe, was the medium of communication, and though the arrangement was negatived, treason had effected the salvation of Babur.

On March 16 the attack commenced by a furious onset on the centre and right wing of the Tatars, and for several hours the conflict was tremendous. Devotion was never more manifest on the side of the Rajput, attested by the long list of noble names amongst the slain as well as the bulletin of their foe, whose artillery made dreadful havoc in the close ranks of the Rajput cavalry, which could not force the entrenchments, nor reach the infantry which defended them. While the battle was still doubtful, the Tuar traitor who led the van (harawal) went over to Babur, and Sanga was obliged to retreat from the field, which in the onset promised a glorious victory, himself severely wounded and the choicest of his chieftains slain: Rawal Udai[13] Singh of Dungarpur, with two hundred of his clan; Ratna of Salumbar, with three hundred of his Chondawat kin; Raemall Rathor, son of the prince of Marwar, with the brave Mertia leaders Khetsi and Ratna; Ramdas the Sonigira Rao; Uja the Jhala; Gokuldas Pramara; Manikchand and Chandrbhan, Chauhan chiefs of the first rank in Mewar; besides a host of inferior names.[14] Hasan Khan of Mewat, and a son of the last Lodi king of Delhi, who coalesced with Sanga, were amongst the killed.[15] Triumphal pyramids were raised of the heads of the slain, and on a hillock which overlooked the field of battle a tower of skulls was erected; and the conqueror assumed the title of Ghazi, which has ever since been retained by his descendants.

The Death of Rāna Sanga.

—Sanga retreated towards the hills of Mewat, having announced his fixed determination never to re-enter Chitor but with victory. Had his life been spared to his country, he might have redeemed the pledge; but the year of his defeat was the last of his existence, and he died at Baswa,[16] on the frontier of Mewat, not without suspicion of poison. It is painful to record the surmise that his ministers prompted the deed, and the cause is one which would fix a deep stain on the country; namely, the purchase by regicide of inglorious ease and stipulated safety, in [307] preference to privations and dangers, and to emulating the manly constancy of their prince, who resolved to make the heavens his canopy till his foe was crushed—a determination which was pursued with the most resolute perseverance by some of his gallant successors.

Evils resulting from Polygamy.

—Polygamy is the fertile source of evil, moral as well as physical, in the East. It is a relic of barbarism and primeval necessity, affording a proof that ancient Asia is still young in knowledge. The desire of each wife,[17] that her offspring should wear a crown, is natural; but they do not always wait the course of nature for the attainment of their wishes, and the love of power too often furnishes instruments for any deed, however base. When we see, shortly after the death of Sanga, the mother of his second son intriguing with Babur, and bribing him with the surrender of Ranthambhor and the trophy of victory, the crown of the Malwa king, to supplant the lawful heir, we can easily suppose she would not have scrupled to remove any other bar. On this occasion, however, the suspicion rests on the ministers alone. That Babur respected and dreaded his foe we have the best proof in his not risking another battle with him; and the blame which he bestows on himself for the slackness of his pursuit after victory is honourable to Sanga, who is always mentioned with respect in the commentaries of the conqueror: and although he generally styles him the Pagan, and dignifies the contest with the title of “the holy war,” yet he freely acknowledges his merit when he says, “Rana Sanga attained his present high eminence by his own valour and his sword.”

Appearance of Rāna Sanga.

—Sanga Rana was of the middle stature, but of great muscular strength; fair in complexion, with unusually large eyes, which appear to be peculiar to his descendants.[18] He exhibited at his death but the fragments of a warrior: one eye was lost in the broil with his brother; an arm in an action with the Lodi king of Delhi, and he was a cripple owing to a limb being broken by a cannon-ball in another [308]; while he counted eighty wounds from the sword or the lance on various parts of his body. He was celebrated for energetic enterprise, of which his capture of Muzaffar, king of Malwa, in his own capital, is a celebrated instance; and his successful storm of the almost impregnable Ranthambhor, though ably defended by the imperial general Ali, gained him great renown. He erected a small palace at Khanua, on the line which he determined should be the northern limit of Mewar; and had he been succeeded by a prince possessed of his foresight and judgment, Babur’s descendants might not have retained the sovereignty of India. A cenotaph long marked the spot where the fire consumed the remains of this celebrated prince. Sanga had seven sons, of whom the two elder died in non-age. He was succeeded by the third son,

Rāna Ratan Singh II., A.D. 1527-31.

—Ratna (S. 1586, A.D. 1530) possessed all the arrogance and martial virtue of his race. Like his father, he determined to make the field his capital, and commanded that the gates of Chitor never should be closed, boasting that “its portals were Delhi and Mandu.” Had he been spared to temper by experience the exuberance of youthful impetuosity, he would have well seconded the resolution of his father, and the league against the enemies of his country and faith. But he was not destined to pass the age always dangerous to the turbulent and impatient Rajput, ever courting strife if it would not find him. He had married by stealth the daughter of Prithiraj of Amber, probably before the death of his elder brothers made him heir to Chitor. His double-edged sword, the proxy of the Rajput cavalier, represented Ratna on this occasion.[19] Unfortunately it was kept but too secret; for the Hara prince of Bundi,[20] in ignorance of the fact, demanded and obtained her to wife, and carried her to his capital. The consequences are attributable to the Rana alone, for he ought, on coming to the throne, to have espoused her; but his vanity was flattered at the mysterious transaction, which he deemed would prevent all application for the hand of his ‘affianced’ (manga). The bards of Bundi are rather pleased to record the power of their princes, who dared to solicit and obtain the hand of the ‘bride’ of Chitor. The princes of Bundi had long been attached to the Sesodia house: and from the period when their common ancestors fought together on the banks of the Ghaggar against [309] Shihabu-d-din, they had silently grown to power under the wing of Mewar, and often proved a strong plume in her pinion. The Hara inhabited the hilly tract on her eastern frontier, and though not actually incorporated with Mewar, they yet paid homage to her princes, bore her ensigns and titles, and in return often poured forth their blood. But at the tribunal of Ananga,[21] the Rajput scattered all other homage and allegiance to the winds. The maiden of Amber saw no necessity for disclosing her secret or refusing the brave Hara, of whom fame spoke loudly, when Ratna delayed to redeem his proxy.

Death of Rāna Ratan Singh.

—The unintentional offence sank deep into the heart of the Rana, and though he was closely connected with the Hara, having married his sister, he brooded on the means of revenge, in the attainment of which he sacrificed his own life as well as that of his rival. The festival of the Aheria[22] (the spring hunt), which has thrice been fatal to the princes of Mewar, gave the occasion, when they fell by each other’s weapons. Though Ratna enjoyed the dignity only five years, he had the satisfaction to see the ex-king of Ferghana, now founder of the Mogul dynasty of India, leave the scene before him, and without the diminution of an acre of land to Mewar since the fatal day of Bayana. Rana Ratna was succeeded by his brother,

Rāna Bikramajīt, A.D. 1531-35.

—Bikramajit,[23] in S. 1591 (A.D. 1535). This prince had all the turbulence, without the redeeming qualities of character, which endeared his brother to his subjects; he was insolent, passionate, and vindictive, and utterly regardless of that respect which his proud nobles rigidly exacted. Instead of appearing at their head, he passed his time amongst wrestlers and prize-fighters, on whom and a multitude of ‘paiks,’ or foot soldiers, he lavished those gifts and that approbation, to which the aristocratic Rajput, the equestrian order of Rajasthan, arrogated exclusive right. In this innovation he probably imitated his foes, who had learned the superiority of infantry, despised by the Rajput, who, except in sieges, or when ‘they spread the carpet and hamstrung their steeds,’ held the foot-soldier very cheap. The use of artillery was now becoming general, and the [310] Muslims soon perceived the necessity of foot for their protection: but prejudice operated longer upon the Rajput, who still curses ‘those vile guns,’ which render of comparatively little value the lance of many a gallant soldier; and he still prefers falling with dignity from his steed to descending to an equality with his mercenary antagonist.

An open rupture was the consequence of such innovation, and (to use the figurative expression for misrule) ‘Papa Bai ka Raj’[24] was triumphant; the police were despised; the cattle carried off by the mountaineers from under the walls of Chitor; and when his cavaliers were ordered in pursuit, the Rana was tauntingly told to send his paiks.

The Attack by Bahādur, Sultān of Gujarāt.

—Bahadur, sultan of Gujarat, determined to take advantage of the Rajput divisions, to revenge the disgrace of the defeat and captivity of his predecessor Muzaffar.[25] Reinforced by the troops of Mandu, he marched against the Rana, then encamped at Loicha, in the Bundi territory. Though the force was overwhelming, yet with the high courage which belonged to his house, Bikramajit did not hesitate to give battle; but he found weak defenders in his mercenary paiks, while his vassals and kin not only kept aloof, but marched off in a body to defend Chitor, and the posthumous son of Sanga Rana, still an infant.

There is a sanctity in the very name of Chitor, which from the earliest times secured her defenders; and now, when threatened again by ‘the barbarian,’ such the inexplicable character of the Rajput, we find the heir of Surajmall abandoning his new capital of Deolia, to pour out the few drops which yet circulated in his veins in defence of the abode of his fathers.

‘The son of Bundi,’ with a brave band of five hundred Haras, also came; as did the Sonigira and Deora Raos of Jalor and Abu, with many auxiliaries from all parts of Rajwara. This was the most powerful effort hitherto made by the sultans of Central India, and European artillerists[26] are recorded in these [311] annals as brought to the subjugation of Chitor. The engineer is styled ‘Labri Khan of Fringan,’ and to his skill Bahadur was indebted for the successful storm which ensued. He sprung a mine at the ‘Bika rock,’ which blew up forty-five cubits of the rampart, with the bastion where the brave Haras were posted. The Bundi bards dwell on this incident, which destroyed their prince and five hundred of his kin. Rao Durga, with the Chondawat chieftains Sata and Dudu and their vassals, bravely defended the breach and repelled many assaults; and, to set an example of courageous devotion, the queen-mother Jawahir Bai, of Rathor race, clad in armour, headed a sally in which she was slain. Still the besiegers gained ground, and the last council convened was to concert means to save the infant son of Sanga from this imminent peril.

Crowning of a New Rāna.

—But Chitor can only be defended by royalty, and again they had recourse to the expedient of crowning a king, as a sacrifice to the dignity of the protecting deity of Chitor. Baghji, prince of Deolia, courted the insignia of destruction; the banner of Mewar floated over him, and the golden sun from its sable field never shone more refulgent than when the changi[27] was raised amidst the shouts of her defenders over the head of the son of Surajmall.

The Johar.

—The infant, Udai Singh, was placed in safety with Surthan, prince of Bundi,[28] the garrison put on their saffron robes, while materials for the johar were preparing. There was little time for the pyre. The bravest had fallen in defending the breach, now completely exposed. Combustibles were quickly heaped up in reservoirs and magazines excavated in the rock, under which gunpowder was strewed. Karnavati, mother of the prince, and sister to the gallant Arjun Hara, led the procession of willing victims to their doom, and thirteen thousand females were thus swept at once from the record of life. The gates were thrown open, and the Deolia chief, at the head of the survivors, with a blind and impotent despair, rushed on his fate [312].

Bahadur must have been appalled at the horrid sight on viewing his conquest;[29] the mangled bodies of the slain, with hundreds in the last agonies from the poniard or poison, awaiting death as less dreadful than dishonour and captivity.[30] To use the emphatic words of the annalist, “the last day of Chitor had arrived.” Every clan lost its chief, and the choicest of their retainers; during the siege and in the storm thirty-two thousand Rajputs were slain. This is the second sakha of Chitor.

Bahadur had remained but a fortnight, when the tardy advance of Humayun with his succours warned him to retire.[31] According to the annals, he left Bengal at the solicitation of the queen Karnavati; but instead of following up the spoil-encumbered foe, he commenced a pedantic war of words with Bahadur, punning on the word ‘Chitor.’ Had Humayun not been so distant, this catastrophe would have been averted, for he was bound by the laws of chivalry, the claims of which he had acknowledged, to defend the queen’s cause, whose knight he had become. The relation of the peculiarity of a custom analogous to the taste of the chivalrous age of Europe may amuse. When her Amazonian sister the Rathor queen was slain, the mother of the infant prince took a surer method to shield him in demanding the fulfilment of the pledge given by Humayun when she sent the Rakhi to that monarch.

The Rākhi.

—‘The festival of the bracelet’ (Rakhi) is in spring, and whatever its origin, it is one of the few when an intercourse of gallantry of the most delicate nature is established between the fair sex and the cavaliers of Rajasthan. Though the bracelet may be sent by maidens, it is only on occasions of urgent necessity or danger. The Rajput dame bestows with the Rakhi the title of adopted brother; and while its acceptance secures to her all the protection of a cavalière servente, scandal itself never suggests any other tie to his devotion. He may hazard his life in her cause, and yet never receive a smile in reward, for he cannot even see the fair object who, as brother of her adoption, has constituted him her defender. But there is a charm in the mystery of such connexion, never endangered by close observation, and the loyal to the fair may well attach a value [313] to the public recognition of being the Rakhi-band Bhai, the ‘bracelet-bound brother’ of a princess. The intrinsic value of such pledge is never looked to, nor is it requisite it should be costly, though it varies with the means and rank of the donor, and may be of flock silk and spangles, or gold chains and gems. The acceptance of the pledge and its return is by the kachhli, or corset, of simple silk or satin, of gold brocade and pearls. In shape or application there is nothing similar in Europe, and as defending the most delicate part of the structure of the fair, it is peculiarly appropriate as an emblem of devotion. A whole province has often accompanied the Kachhli, and the monarch of India was so pleased with this courteous delicacy in the customs of Rajasthan, on receiving the bracelet of the princess Karnavati, which invested him with the title of her brother, and uncle and protector to her infant Udai Singh, that he pledged himself to her service, “even if the demand were the castle of Ranthambhor.” Humayun proved himself a true knight, and even abandoned his conquests in Bengal when called on to redeem his pledge and succour Chitor, and the widows and minor sons of Sanga Rana.[32] Humayun had the highest proofs of the worth of those courting his protection; he was with his father Babur in all his wars in India, and at the battle of Bayana his prowess was conspicuous, and is recorded by Babur’s own pen. He amply fulfilled his pledge, expelled the foe from Chitor, took Mandu by assault, and, as some revenge for her king’s aiding the king of Gujarat, he sent for the Rana Bikramajit, whom, following their own notions of investiture, he girt with a sword in the captured citadel of his foe.[33]

The Muhammadan historians, strangers to their customs, or the secret motives which caused the emperor to abandon Bengal, ascribe it to the Rana’s solicitation; but we may credit the annals, which are in unison with the chivalrous notions of the Rajputs, into which succeeding monarchs, the great Akbar, his son [314] Jahangir, and Shah Jahan, entered with delight; and even Aurangzeb, two of whose original letters to the queen-mother of Udaipur are now in the author’s possession, and are remarkable for their elegance and purity of diction, and couched in terms perfectly accordant with Rajput delicacy.[34]

Restoration of Bikramajīt.

—Bikramajit, thus restored to his capital, had gained nothing by adversity; or, to employ the words of the annalist, “experience had yielded no wisdom.” He renewed all his former insolence to his chiefs, and so entirely threw aside his own dignity, and, what is of still greater consequence, the reverence universally shown to old age, as to strike in open court Karamchand of Ajmer, the protector of his father Sanga in his misfortunes. The assembly rose with one accord at this indignity to their order; and as they retired, the Chondawat leader Kanji, the first of the nobles, exclaimed, “Hitherto, brother chiefs, we have had but a smell of the blossom, but now we shall be obliged to eat the fruit”; to which the insulted Pramara added, as he hastily retired, “To-morrow its flavour will be known.”

Though the Rajput looks up to his sovereign as to a divinity, and is enjoined implicit obedience by his religion, which rewards him accordingly hereafter, yet this doctrine has its limits, and precedents are abundant for deposal, when the acts of the prince may endanger the realm. But there is a bond of love as well as of awe which restrains them, and softens its severity in the paternity of sway; for these princes are at once the father and king of their people: not in fiction, but reality—for he is the representative of the common ancestor of the aristocracy—the sole lawgiver of Rajasthan.

Death of Rāna Bikramajīt.

—Sick of these minors (and they had now a third in prospect), which in a few years had laid prostrate the throne of Mewar, her nobles on leaving their unworthy prince repaired to Banbir, the natural son of the heroic Prithiraj, and offered “to seat him on the throne of Chitor.” He had the virtue to resist the solicitation; and it was only on painting the dangers which threatened the country, if its chief at such a period had not their confidence, that he gave his consent. The step between the deposal and death of a king is necessarily short [315], and the cries of the females, which announced the end of Bikramajit, were drowned in the acclamations raised on the elevation of the changi over the head of the bastard Banbir.

1. [The dates given in the margin are based on recently found inscriptions (Har Bilas Sarda, Maharana Kumbha: Sovereign, Soldier, Scholar, Ajmer, 1917, p. 2).p. 2).]

2. The Raj Ratana, by Ranchhor Bhat, says: “The Mandor Rao was pardhan, or premier to Mokal, and conquered Nawa and Didwana for Mewar.”

3. [It is the generosity of Rāna Sanga to Muzaffar Shāh of which Abu-l Fazl speaks (Āīn, ii. 221).]

4. [The Musalmān historians give a different account. Ferishta says that Mahmūd stormed the lower part of Chitor, and that the Rāna fled (iv. 209). At any rate, Mahmūd erected a tower of victory at Māndu (IGI, xvii. 173). The result was probably indecisive. For Kūmbha’s pillar see Fergusson, Hist. Indian Architecture, ii. 59; Smith, HFA, 202 f.]

5. Pronounced Kumalmer.

6. [Grandson of Asoka (Smith, EHI, 192 f.).]

7. [For the Ābu temples see Tod, Western India, 75 ff.; Erskine iii. A. 295.]

8. A powerful phrase, indicating ‘possessor of the soil.’

9. The Rana’s minister, of the Jain faith, and of the tribe Porwar (one of the twelve and a half divisions), laid the foundation of this temple in A.D. 1438. It was completed by subscription. It consists of three stories, and is supported by numerous columns of granite, upwards of forty feet in height. The interior is inlaid with mosaics of cornelian and agate. The statues of the Jain saints are in its subterranean vaults. We could not expect much elegance at a period when the arts had long been declining, but it would doubtless afford a fair specimen of them, and enable us to trace their gradual descent in the scale of refinement. This temple is an additional proof of the early existence of the art of inlaying. That I did not see it is now to me one of the many vain regrets which I might have avoided.

10. Gita Govinda.

11. [She was daughter of Ratiya Rāna, and was married to Kūmbha in 1413. Her great work is the Rāg Gobind (Grierson, Modern Literature of Hindustan, 12; Macauliffe, The Sikh Religion, vi. 342 ff.; IA, xxv. 19, xxxii. 329 ff.; ASR, xxiii. 106). As an illustration of the uncertainty of early Mewār history, according to Har Bilas Sarda, author of the monograph on Rāna Kūmbha, Mīra Bāi was not wife of Kūmbha, but of Bhojrāj, son of Rāna Sanga. She was daughter of Ratan Singh of Merta, fourth son of Rāo Duda (A.D. 1461-62). She was married to Bhojrāj A.D. 1516, and died in 1546.]

12. Jagat Khunt, or Dwarka.

13. The darkest of the rainy months.

14. Jodha laid the foundation of his new capital in S. 1515 [A.D. 1459], ten years anterior to the event we are recording.

15. [See p. 268 above.]

16. He had observed that his father, ever since the victory over the king at Jhunjhunu, before he took a seat, thrice waved his sword in circles over his head, pronouncing at the same time some incantation. Inquiry into the meaning of this was the cause of his banishment.

17. During the rains of 1820, when the author was residing at Udaipur, the Rana fell ill; his complaint was an intermittent (which for several years returned with the monsoon), at the same time that he was jaundiced with bile. An intriguing Brahman, who managed the estates of the Rana’s eldest sister, held also the twofold office of physician and astrologer to the Rana. He had predicted that year as one of evil in his horoscope, and was about to verify the prophecy, since, instead of the active medicines requisite, he was administering the Haft dhat, or ‘seven metals,’ compounded. Having a most sincere regard for the Rana’s welfare, the author seized the opportunity of a full court being assembled on the distribution of swords and coco-nuts preparatory to the military festival, to ask a personal favour. The Rana, smiling, said that it was granted, when he was entreated to leave off the poison he was taking. He did so; the amendment was soon visible, and, aided by the medicines of Dr. Duncan, which he readily took, his complaint was speedily cured. The ‘man of fate and physic’ lost half his estates, which he had obtained through intrigue. He was succeeded by Amra the bard, who is not likely to ransack the pharmacopoeia for such poisonous ingredients; his ordinary prescription being the ‘amrit.’

18. [Ferishta does not mention these campaigns (iv. 236 ff.), and Ghiyāsu-d-dīn (A.D. 1469-99) is said to have spent his life in luxury and never to have left his palace (BG, i. Part i. 362 ff.).]

19. His name classically is Sangram Singh, ‘the lion of war.’

20. [Infusion of opium.]

21. About ten miles east of Udaipur.

22. Singhasan is the ancient term for the Hindu throne, signifying ‘the lion-seat.’ Charans, bards, who are all Maharajas, ‘great princes,’ by courtesy, have their seats of the hide of the lion, tiger, panther, or black antelope.

23. Nearly ten miles south-east of Ajmer.

24. Jai Singh Baleo and Jaimu Sindhal.

25. [A common folk-tale, told of Malhar Rāo Holkar and many other princes (Crooke, Popular Religion Northern India, ii. 142; Malcolm, Memoir of Central India, 2nd ed. i. 143 f.; E. S. Hartland, Ritual and Belief, 323 f.).]

26. Called the devi, about the size of the wagtail, and like it, black and white.

27. Chhatrdhāri.

28. The names of his followers were, Jasa Sindhal, Sangam (Dabhi), Abha, Jana, and a Badel Rathor.

29. The grant in the preamble denounces a curse on any of Prithiraj’s descendants who should resume it. I have often conversed with this descendant, who held Sodhgarh and its lands, which were never resumed by the princes of Chitor, though they reverted to Marwar. The chief still honours the Rana, and many lives have been sacrificed to maintain his claims, and with any prospect of success he would not hesitate to offer his own.

30. This is a genuine Hindu name, ‘the Hero’s refuge,’ from sur, ‘a warrior,’ and than, ‘an abode.’

31. [There is an error here: there was no contemporary Sultan of Mālwa of this name.]

32. Near Chitor.

33. ‘Regent’; the title the Rana is most familiarly known by.

34. Thali, ‘a brass platter.’ This is the highest mark of confidence and friendship.

35. This compound of the betel or areca-nut, cloves, mace, Terra japonica, and prepared lime, is always taken after meals, and has not unfrequently been a medium for administering poison.

36. Hours of twenty-two minutes each.

37. Familiar contraction of Surajmall.

38. [Anogeissus latifolia.]

39. The Hindu Proserpine, or Calligenia. Is this Grecian handmaid of Hecate also Hindu, ‘born of time’ (Kali-janama)? [Καλλιγένεια, ‘bearer of fair offspring,’ has, of course, no connexion with Kāli.]

40. Gaunda, or Gaunra, is the name of such temporary places of refuge; the origin of towns bearing this name.

41. Such grants are irresumable, under the penalty of sixty thousand years in hell. This fine district is eaten up by these mendicant Brahmans. One town alone, containing 52,000 bighas (about 15,000 acres) of rich land, is thus lost; and by such follies Mewar has gradually sunk to her present extreme poverty.

42. [Kānthal, in Partābgarh State, is the boundary (Kāntha) between Mewār on the north, Bāgar on the west, and Mālwa on the east and south.]

43. [The statement in the text that Sūrajmall, son of Uda, retired to Deolia is incorrect. Sūrajmall was first-cousin, not son of Uda, and it was his great-grandson, Bīka, who conquered the Kānthal and founded the town of Deolia at least fifty years later (Erskine ii. A. 197).]

44. The walls of his palace are still pointed out.

1. [Āīn, ii. 270.]

2. The ball or urn which crowns the pinnacle (sikhar).

3. Delhi, Bayana, Kalpi, and Jaunpur.

4. Prithiraj was yet but Rao of Amber, a name now lost in Jaipur. The twelve sons of this prince formed the existing subdivisions or clans of the Kachhwahas, whose political consequence dates from Humayun, the son and successor of Babur.

5. [Sīkri, afterwards Fatehpur Sīkri, the site of Akbar’s palace; Rāēsen in Bhopāl State (IGI, xxi. 62 f.).]

6. Universal potentate: [“he whose chariot wheels run everywhere without obstruction”]; the Hindus reckon only six of these in their history.

7. [As usual, the Indian Jāts are identified with the Getae, Iutae or Iuti, Jutes of Bede.]

8. [The author borrows from Elphinstone, Caubul, i. 118.] The literary world is much indebted to Mr. Erskine for his Memoirs of Baber, a work of a most original stamp and rare value for its extensive historical and geographical details of a very interesting portion of the globe. The king of Ferghana, like Caesar, was the historian of his own conquests, and unites all the qualities of the romantic troubadour to those of the warrior and statesman. It is not saying too much when it is asserted, that Mr. Erskine is the only person existing who could have made such a translation, or preserved the great charm of the original—its elevated simplicity; and though his modesty makes him share the merit with Dr. Leyden, it is to him the public thanks are due. Mr. Erskine’s introduction is such as might have been expected from his well-known erudition and research, and with the notes interspersed adds immensely to the value of the original. [A new translation by Mrs. Beveridge is in course of publication.] With his geographical materials, those of Mr. Elphinstone, and the journal of the Voyage d’Orenbourg à Bokhara, full of merit and modesty, we now possess sufficient materials for the geography of the nursery of mankind. I would presume to amend one valuable geographical notice (Introd. p. 27), and which only requires the permutation of a vowel, Kas-mer for Kas-mir; when we have, not ‘the country of the Kas,’ but the Kasia Montes (mer) of Ptolemy: the Kho (mer) Kas, or Caucasus. Mir has no signification, Mer is ‘mountain’ in Sanskrit, as is Kho in Persian. [The origin of the name Kashmīr is very doubtful: but the view in the text cannot be accepted (see Stein, Rājatarangini, ii. 353, 386; Smith, EHI, 38, note; IA, xliii. 143 ff.).] Kas was the race inhabiting these: and Kasgar, the Kasia Regio of Ptolemy [Chap. 15]. Gar [or garh] is a Sanskrit word still in use for a ‘region,’ as Kachhwahagar, Gujargar. [See Elliot, Supplementary Glossary, 237.] A new edition of Erskine’s translation, edited by Professor White King, is in course of publication.

9. According to the Memoirs of Baber, February 11, 1527. [The battle was fought at Khānua or Kanwāha, now in the Bharatpur State, about twenty miles from Agra (Abu-l Fazl, Akbarnāma, i. 259 f.; Ferishta ii. 55), on March 16, 1527. Ferishta says that the provocation came from Rāna Sanga, who attacked Nāzim Khān, Governor of Bayāna, on which the latter appealed to Bābur (ii. 51). Bābur says that Sanga broke his engagement (Elliot-Dowson iv. 264; Badaoni, Muntakhabu-t-tawārīkh, i. 444, 470).]

10. "On Monday, the 23rd of the first Jemadi, I had mounted to survey my posts, and in the course of my ride was seriously struck with the reflection, that I had always resolved, one time or another, to make an effectual repentance, and that some traces of a hankering after the renunciation of forbidden works had ever remained in my heart: I said to myself, ‘O, my soul.’

(Persian Verse.)

"‘How long wilt thou continue to take pleasure in sin?

Repentance is not unpalatable—taste it.

(Turki Verse.)

"‘How great has been thy defilement from sin!

How much pleasure thou didst take in despair!

How long hast thou been the slave of thy passions!

How much of thy life hast thou thrown away!

Since thou hast set out on a holy war,

Thou hast seen death before thine eyes for thy salvation.

He who resolves to sacrifice his life to save himself

Shall attain that exalted state which thou knowest.

Keep thyself far away from all forbidden enjoyments;

Cleanse thyself from all thy sins.’

"Having withdrawn myself from such temptation, I vowed never more to drink wine. Having sent for the gold and silver goblets and cups, with all the other utensils used for drinking parties, I directed them to be broken, and renounced the use of wine, purifying my mind. The fragments of the goblets and other utensils of gold and silver I directed to be divided among derwishes and the poor. The first person who followed me in my repentance was Asas, who also accompanied me in my resolution of ceasing to cut the beard, and of allowing it to grow. That night and the following, numbers of Amirs and courtiers, soldiers, and persons not in the service, to the number of nearly three hundred men, made vows of reformation. The wine which we had with us we poured on the ground. I ordered that the wine brought by Baba Dost should have salt thrown into it, that it might be made into vinegar. On the spot where the wine had been poured out I directed a wāīn to be sunk and built of stone, and close by the wāīn an almshouse to be erected. In the month of Moharrem in the year 935, when I went to visit Gualiar, in my way from Dholpur to Sikri, I found this wāīn completed. I had previously made a vow, that if I gained the victory over Rana Sanka the Pagan, I would remit the Temgha (or stamp-tax) levied from Musulmans. At the time when I made my vow of penitence, Derwish Muhammed Sarban and Sheikh Zin put me in mind of my promise. I said, ‘You did right to remind me of this: I renounce the temgha in all my dominions, so far as concerns Musulmans’; and I sent for my secretaries, and desired them to write and send to all my dominions firmans conveying intelligence of the two important incidents that had occurred" (Memoirs of Baber, p. 354). [Elliot-Dowson iv. 269.]

11. "At this time, as I have already observed, in consequence of preceding events, a general consternation and alarm prevailed among great and small. There was not a single person who uttered a manly word, nor an individual who delivered a courageous opinion. The Vazirs, whose duty it was to give good counsel, and the Amirs, who enjoyed the wealth of kingdoms, neither spoke bravely, nor was their counsel or deportment such as became men of firmness. During the whole course of this expedition, Khalifeh conducted himself admirably, and was unremitting and indefatigable in his endeavours to put everything in the best order. At length, observing the universal discouragement of my troops, and their total want of spirit, I formed my plan. I called an assembly of all the Amirs and officers, and addressed them: ‘Noblemen and soldiers! Every man that comes into the world is subject to dissolution. When we are passed away and gone, God only survives, unchangeable. Whoever comes to the feast of life must, before it is over, drink from the cup of death. He who arrives at the inn of mortality must one day inevitably take his departure from that house of sorrow, the world. How much better it is to die with honour than to live with infamy!

"‘With fame, even if I die, I am contented;

Let fame be mine, since my body is death’s.

"‘The most high God has been propitious to us, and has now placed us in such a crisis, that if we fall in the field we die the death of martyrs; if we survive, we rise victorious, the avengers of the cause of God. Let us, then, with one accord, swear on God’s holy word, that none of us will even think of turning his face from this warfare, nor desert from the battle and slaughter that ensues, till his soul is separated from his body.’

“Master and servant, small and great, all with emulation, seizing the blessed Koran in their hands, swore in the form that I had given. My plan succeeded to admiration, and its effects were instantly visible far and near, on friend and foe” (Memoirs of Baber, p. 357).

12. Babur says, “Although Rana Sanka (Sanga) the Pagan, when I was at Cabul, sent me ambassadors, and had arranged with me that if I would march upon Delhi he would on Agra; but when I took Delhi and Agra, the Pagan did not move” (Memoirs of Baber, p. 339).

13. In the translation of Babur’s Memoirs, Udai Singh is styled ‘Wali of the country,’ confounding him with Udai Singh, successor of Sanga. He was Wali (sovereign) of Dungarpur, not ‘Oodipoor,’ which was not then in existence. [Erskine, in his later work (Hist. India, i. 473, note), admits his error.]

14. [A list of the slain, nearly identical, is given by Abu-l Fazl, Akbarnāma, i. 265.]

15. [The author confuses Hasan Khān, Mewāti, an important officer (Ferishta ii. 55; Bayley, Muhammad Dynasties of Gujarāt, 278), whom Badaoni (Muntakhabu-l-tawārīkh, i. 447) calls a Jogi in form and appearance, with Hasan Khān, Lodi (Āīn, i. 503).]

16. [About eighty-five miles north-north-west of Jaipur city. Bābur says that he intended to pursue Sanga to Chitor, but was prevented by the defeat of his forces advancing on Lucknow (Elliot-Dowson iv. 277).]

17. The number of queens is determined only by state necessity and the fancy of the prince. To have them equal in number to the days of the week is not unusual, while the number of handmaids is unlimited. It will be conceded that the prince who can govern such a household, and maintain equal rights when claims to pre-eminence must be perpetually asserted, possesses no little tact. The government of the kingdom is but an amusement compared with such a task, for it is within the Rawala that intrigue is enthroned.

18. I possess his portrait, given to me by the present Rana, who has a collection of full-lengths of all his royal ancestors, from Samarsi to himself, of their exact heights and with every bodily peculiarity, whether of complexion or form. They are valuable for the costume. He has often shown them to me while illustrating their actions.

19. [The practice of sending his sword to represent the bridegroom probably originated in the desire for secrecy, and has since been observed, as among the Rāj Gonds of the Central Provinces, for the sake of convenience, and in order to avoid expense (Forbes, Rāsmāla, 624; BG, ix. Part i. 143, 145 f.; Russell, Tribes and Castes, Central Provinces, iii. 77).]

20. Surajmall.

21. The Hindu Cupid, implying ‘incorporeal,’ from anga, ‘body,’ with the privative prefix ‘an.’

22. I have given the relation of this duel in the narrative of my journeys on my visit to the cenotaph of Ratna, erected where he fell. It was the pleasure of my life to listen to the traditional anecdotes illustrative of Rajput history on the scenes of their transactions.

23. The Bhakha orthography for Vikramaditya.

24. The government of Papa Bai, a princess of ancient time, whose mis-managed sovereignty has given a proverb to the Rajput. [Major Luard informs me that Pāpa Bāi is said to have been the daughter of a Rājput of Siddal. She and Shiral Seth, a corn-merchant who, in return for his penances, asked to be made a king for three ghatikas (twenty-four minutes each), and gave indiscriminately alms to rich and poor, are bywords for foolish extravagance. She is worshipped at a shrine in Ujjain by all who desire good crops, especially sugar. Another name for such a period of misrule is Harbong kā rāj (Elliot, Supplemental Glossary, 466 ff.).]

25. Taken by Prithiraj and carried to Rana Raemall, who took a large sum of money and seven hundred horses as his ransom.

26. We have, in the poems of Chand, frequent indistinct notices of firearms, especially the nal-gola or tube-ball; but whether discharged by percussion or the expansive force of gunpowder is dubious. The poet also repeatedly speaks of “the volcano of the field,” giving to understand great guns; but these may be interpolations, though I would not check a full investigation of so curious a subject by raising a doubt. Babur was the first who introduced field guns in the Muhammadan wars, and Bahadur’s invasion is the first notice of their application in sieges, for in Alau-d-din’s time, in the thirteenth century, he used the catapult or battering-ram, called manjanik. To these guns Babur was indebted for victory over the united cavalry of Rajasthan. They were served by Rumi Khan, probably a Roumeliot, or Syrian Christian. The Franks (Faringis), with Bahadur, must have been some of Vasco di Gama’s crew. [For the use of artillery in Mogul times see the full account by Irvine (Army of the Indian Moghuls, 113 ff.). Manjanīk is the Greek μάγγανον. Rūmi Khān was an Ottoman Turk, called Khudāwand Khān, who learned the science in Turkish service (Erskine, Hist. of India, ii. 49; Āīn, i. 441). Akbar is said to have used Chinese artillery, and to have employed English gunners from Surat (Manucci, i. 139; Irvine, op. cit. 152).]

27. The Changi, the chief insignia of regality in Mewar, is a sun of gold in the centre of a disc of black ostrich feathers or felt, about three feet in diameter, elevated on a pole, and carried close to the prince. It has something of a Scythic cast about it. What changi imports I never understood. [Probably Pers. chang, ‘anything bent.’]

28. The name of the faithful Rajput who preserved Udai Singh, Chakasen Dhundera, deserves to be recorded.

29. The date, “Jeth sudi 12th, S. 1589,” A.D. 1533, and according to Ferishta A.H. 949, A.D. 1532-33. [Chitor was taken in 1534. The Mirāt-i-Sikandari states that on March 24, 1533, Bahādur received the promised tribute, and moved his camp from Chitor (Bayley, Muhammadan Dynasties of Gujarāt, 372).]

30. From ancient times, leading the females captive appears to have been the sign of complete victory. Rajput inscriptions often allude to “a conqueror beloved by the wives of his conquered foe,” and in the early parts of Scripture the same notion is referred to. The mother of Sisera asks: “Have they not divided the prey; to every man a damsel or two?” (Judges v. 30.)

31. [Ferishta ii. 75 f. Badaoni says that Humāyūn hesitated to interfere because Bahādur was attacking an infidel (Muntakhabu-t-tawārīkh, i. 453 f.).]

32. Many romantic tales are founded on ‘the gift of the Rakhi.’ The author, who was placed in the enviable situation of being able to do good, and on the most extensive scale, was the means of restoring many of these ancient families from degradation to affluence. The greatest reward he could, and the only one he would, receive, was the courteous civility displayed in many of these interesting customs. He was the Rakhi-band Bhai of, and received ‘the bracelet’ from, three queens of Udaipur, Bundi, and Kotah, besides Chand Bai, the maiden sister of the Rana; as well as many ladies of the chieftains of rank, with whom he interchanged letters. The sole articles of ‘barbaric pearl and gold,’ which he conveyed from a country where he was six years supreme, are these testimonies of friendly regard. Intrinsically of no great value, they were presented and accepted in the ancient spirit, and he retains them with a sentiment the more powerful, because he can no longer render them any service. [The Rākhi (Skt. raksha, ‘protection’) is primarily a protective amulet assumed at the full moon of Sāwan (July-August) (Forbes, Rāsmāla, 609). It was worn on this date to avert the unhealthiness of the rainy season. Jahāngīr and Akbar followed the custom, introduced by their Hindu ladies (Jahangir, Memoirs, 246; Badaoni, op. cit. ii. 269).]

33. [Probably policy, rather than romance, caused Humāyūn to interfere.]

34. He addresses her as “dear and virtuous sister,” and evinces much interest in her welfare. We are in total ignorance of the refined sentiment which regulates such a people—our home-bred prejudices deem them beneath inquiry; and thus indolence and self-conceit combine to deprive the benevolent of a high gratification.

CHAPTER 10

Rāna Banbīr Singh, A.D. 1535-37.

—A few hours of sovereignty sufficed to check those ‘compunctious visitings’ which assailed Banbir ere he assumed its trappings, with which he found himself so little encumbered that he was content to wear them for life. Whether this was the intention of the nobles who set aside the unworthy son of Sanga, there is abundant reason to doubt; and as he is subsequently branded with the epithet of ‘usurper’ it was probably limited, though unexpressed, to investing him with the executive authority during the minority of Udai Singh. Banbir, however, only awaited the approach of night to remove with his own hands the obstacle to his ambition.

The Escape of Udai Singh, the Heir.

—Udai Singh was about six years of age. “He had gone to sleep after his rice and milk,” when his nurse was alarmed by screams from the rawala,[1] and the Bari[2] coming in to take away the remains of the dinner, informed her of the cause, the assassination of the Rana. Aware that one murder was the precursor of another, the faithful nurse put her charge into a fruit basket and, covering it with leaves, she delivered it to the Bari, enjoining him to escape with it from the fort. Scarcely had she time to substitute her own infant in the room of the prince, when Banbir, entering, inquired for him. Her lips refused their office; she pointed to the cradle, and beheld the murderous steel buried in the heart of her babe [316]. The little victim to fidelity was burnt amidst the tears of the rawala, the inconsolable household of their late sovereign, who supposed that their grief was given to the last pledge of the illustrious Sanga. The nurse (Dhai) was a Rajputni of the Khichi tribe, her name Panna, or ‘the Diamond.’ Having consecrated with her tears the ashes of her child, she hastened after that she had preserved. But well had it been for Mewar had the poniard fulfilled its intention, and had the annals never recorded the name of Udai Singh in the catalogue of her princes.

The faithful barber was awaiting the nurse in the bed of the Berach River, some miles west of Chitor, and fortunately the infant had not awoke until he descended the city. They departed for Deolia, and sought refuge with Singh Rao, the successor to Baghji, who fell for Chitor; who dreading the consequence of detection, they proceeded to Dungarpur. Rawal Askaran then ruled this principality, which, as well as Deolia, was not only a branch, but the elder branch, of Chitor. With every wish to afford a shelter, he pleaded the danger which threatened himself and the child in such a feeble sanctuary. Pursuing a circuitous route through Idar, and the intricate valleys of the Aravalli, by the help and with the protection of its wild inmates, the Bhils, she gained Kumbhalmer. The resolution she had formed was bold as it was judicious. She demanded an interview with the governor, Asa Sah his name, of the mercantile tribe of Depra,[3] and a follower of the theistical tenets of the Jains. The interview being granted, she placed the infant in his lap, and bid him “guard the life of his sovereign.” He felt perplexed and alarmed: but his mother, who was present, upbraided him for his scruples. “Fidelity,” said she, “never looks at dangers or difficulties. He is your master, the son of Sanga, and by God’s blessing the result will be glorious.” Having thus fulfilled her trust, the faithful Panna withdrew from Kumbhalmer to avoid the suspicion which a Rajputni about a Srawak’s[4] child would have occasioned, as the heir of Chitor was declared to be the nephew of the Depra.

The Boyhood of Udai Singh.

—Suspicions were often excited regarding Asa’s nephew; once, especially, on the anniversary (samvatsara) of the governor’s father, when “the Rajput guests being in one rank, and the men of wealth in another, young Udai seized a vessel of curds, which no intreaty could prevail on him to relinquish, deriding their threats” [317]. Seven years elapsed before the secret transpired; at length self-revealed, from the same independent bearing. On occasion of a visit from the Sonigira chief, Udai was sent to receive him, and the dignified manner in which he performed the duty convinced the chief ‘he was no nephew to the Sah.’ Rumour spread the tale, and brought not only the nobles of Mewar, but adjacent chiefs, to hail the son of Sanga Rana. Sahidas of Salumbar, the representative of Chonda, Jaga of Kelwa, Sanga of Bagor, all chiefs of the clans of Chondawat; the Chauhans of Kotharia and Bedla, the Pramar of Bijolia Akhiraj (Sonigira), Prithiraj of Sanchor, and Lunkaran Jethawat, repaired to Kumbhalmer, when all doubt was removed by the testimony of the nurse, and of her coadjutor in the preservation of the child.

Installation of Rāna Udai Singh, A.D. 1537-72.

—A court was formed, when the faithful Asa Sah resigned his trust and placed the prince of Chitor ‘in the lap of the Kotharia Chauhan,’ as the ‘great ancient’[5] among the nobles of Mewar, who was throughout acquainted with the secret, and who, to dissipate the remaining scruples which attached to the infant’s preservation, ‘ate off the same platter with him.’ The Sonigira Rao did not hesitate to affiance to him his daughter, and it was accepted by his advisers, notwithstanding the interdict of Hamir to any intermarriage with the Sonigira, since the insult of giving the widow to his bed. Udai received the tika of Chitor in the castle of Kumbha, and the homage of nearly all the chiefs of Mewar.

The tidings soon reached the usurper, who had not borne his faculties meekly since his advancement; but having seized on the dignity, he wished to ape all the customs of the legitimate monarchs of Chitor, and even had the effrontery to punish as an insult the refusal of one of the proud sons of Chonda to take the dauna from his bastard hand.

The Dauna, a Recognition of Legitimacy.

—The dauna, or daua, is a portion of the dish of which the prince partakes, sent by his own hand to whomsoever he honours at the banquet. At the rasora, or refectory, the chiefs who are admitted to dine in the presence of their sovereign are seated according to their rank. The repast is one of those occasions when an easy familiarity is permitted, which, though unrestrained, never exceeds the bounds [318] of etiquette, and the habitual reverence due to their father and prince. When he sends, by the steward of the kitchen, a portion of the dish before him, or a little from his own kansa, or plate, all eyes are guided to the favoured mortal, whose good fortune is the subject of subsequent conversation. Though, with the diminished lustre of this house, the dauna may have lost its former estimation, it is yet received with reverence; but the extent of this feeling, even so late as the reign of Arsi Rana, the father of the reigning prince, the following anecdote will testify. In the rebellion during this prince’s reign, amongst the ancient customs which became relaxed, that of bestowing the dauna was included; and the Rana conferring it on the Rathor prince of Kishangarh, the Bijolia chief, one of the sixteen superior nobles of Mewar, rose and left the presence, observing, “Neither the Kachhwaha nor the Rathor has a right to this honour, nor can we, who regard as sanctified even the leavings of your repast, witness this degradation; for the Thakur of Kishangarh is far beneath me.” To such extent is this privilege even yet carried, and such importance is attached from habit to the personal character of the princes of Mewar, that the test of regal legitimacy in Rajasthan is admission to eat from the same plate (kansa) with the Rana: and to the refusal of this honour to the great Man Singh of Amber may be indirectly ascribed the ruin of Mewar.[6]

It may therefore be conceived with what contempt the haughty nobility of Chitor received the mockery of honour from the hand of this ‘fifth son of Mewar’; and the Chondawat chief had the boldness to add to his refusal, “that an honour from the hand of a true son of Bappa Rawal became a disgrace when proffered by the offspring of the handmaid Sitalseni.” The defection soon became general, and all repaired to the valley of Kumbhalmer to hail the legitimate son of Mewar. A caravan of five hundred horses and ten thousand oxen, laden with merchandise from Cutch, the dower of Banbir’s daughter, guarded by one thousand Gaharwar Rajputs, was plundered in the passes: a signal intimation of the decay of his authority, and a timely supply to the celebration of the nuptials of Udai Rana with the daughter of the Rao of Jalor. Though the interdict of Hamir was not forgotten, it was deemed that the insult given by Banbir Sonigira was amply effaced by his successor’s redemption of the usurpation of Banbir Sesodia. The marriage was solemnized at Bali, within the limits of Jalor, and the [319] customary offerings were sent or given by all the princes of Rajasthan. Two chiefs only, of any consequence, abstained from attending on their lawful prince on this occasion, the Solanki of Maholi and Maloji of Tana. In attacking them, the bastard was brought into conflict; but Maloji was slain and the Solanki surrendered.

Deposition of Rāna Banbīr Singh.

—Deserted by all, Banbir held out in the capital; but his minister admitted, under the garb of a reinforcement with supplies, a thousand resolute adherents of the prince: the keepers of the gates were surprised and slain, and the an of Udai Singh was proclaimed. Banbir was even permitted to retire with his family and his wealth. He sought refuge in the Deccan, and the Bhonslas of Nagpur are said to derive their origin from this spurious branch of Chitor.[7]

Rāna Udai Singh, A.D. 1537-72.

—Rana Udai Singh ascended the throne in S. 1597 (A.D. 1541-2). Great were the rejoicings on the restoration of this prince. ‘The song of joy,’[8] which was composed on the occasion, is yet a favourite at Udaipur, and on the festival of Isani (the Ceres of Rajasthan), the females still chant in chorus the ‘farewell to Kumbhalmer.’[9] But the evil days of Mewar which set in with Sanga’s death, and were accelerated by the fiery valour of Ratna and the capricious conduct of Bikramajit, were completed by an anomaly in her annals: a coward succeeding a bastard to guide the destinies of the Sesodias. The vices of Ratna and his brother were virtues compared to this physical defect, the consequences of which destroyed a great national feeling, the opinion of its invincibility.

His Character.

—“Woe to the land where a minor rules or a woman bears sway!” exclaims the last of the great bards[10] of Rajasthan; but where both were united, as in Mewar, the measure of her griefs was full. Udai Singh had not one quality of a sovereign; and wanting martial virtue, the common heritage of his race, he was destitute of all. Yet he might have slumbered life away in inglorious repose during the reign of Humayun, or the contentions of the Pathan usurpation; but, unhappily for Rajasthan, a prince was then rearing who forged fetters for the Hindu race which enthralled them for ages; and though the corroding hand of time left but their fragments, yet even now, though emancipated, they bear the indelible marks of the manacle; not like the galley slave’s, physical and exterior, but deep mental scars, never to be effaced. Can a nation which has run its long career of glory be [320] regenerated? Can the soul of the Greek or the Rajput be reanimated with the spark divine which defended the kunguras[11] of Chitor or the pass of Thermopylae? Let history answer the question.

Birth of Akbar.

—In the same year that the song of joy was raised in the cloud-capped[12] palace of Kumbhalmer for the deliverance of Udai Singh, the note of woe was pealed through the walls of Umarkot, and given to the winds of the desert, to proclaim the birth[13] of an infant destined to be the greatest monarch who ever swayed the sceptre of Hindustan. In an oasis of the Indian desert, amidst the descendants of the ancient Sogdoi[14] of Alexander, Akbar first saw the light; his father a fugitive, the diadem torn from his brows, its recovery more improbable than was its acquisition by Babur. The ten years which had elapsed since Humayun’s accession were passed in perpetual strife with his brothers, placed according to custom in subordinate governments. Their selfish ambition met its reward; for with the fall of Humayun their own was ensured, when Sher Shah displaced the dynasty of Chagatai for his own, the Pathan (or Sur).

Defeat and Flight of Humāyūn, A.D. 1540.

—From the field of battle at Kanauj, where Humayun left his crown, his energetic opponent gave him no respite, driving him before him from Agra to Lahore. Thence, with his family and a small band of adherents, alternately protected and repelled by Hindu chieftains, he reached the valley of Sind, where he struggled to maintain himself amidst the greatest privations, attempting in succession each stronghold on the Indus, from Multan to the ocean. Foiled in every object, his associates made rebels by distress, he abandoned them for the more dubious shelter of the foes of his race. Vain were his solicitations to Jaisalmer and Jodhpur; and though it cannot be matter of wonder that he found no commiseration from either Bhatti or Rathor, we must reprobate the unnational conduct of Maldeo, who, the Mogul historian says, attempted to make him captive. From such inhospitable treatment the royal exile escaped by again plunging into the desert, where he encountered, along with the tender objects of his solicitude, hardships of the most appalling description, until sheltered by the Sodha prince of Umarkot. The high courage and the virtues of this monarch increase that interest in his sufferings which royalty in distress never fails to awaken by its irresistible influence [321] upon our sympathies; and they form an affecting episode in the history of Ferishta.[15] Humayun, though more deeply skilled in the mysteries of astrology than any professed seer of his empire, appears never to have enjoyed that prescience which, according to the initiated in the science, is to be obtained from accurate observation:

And coming events cast their shadows before;

for, could he, by any prophetic power, have foreseen that the cloud which then shaded his fortunes, was but the precursor of glory to his race, he would have continued his retreat from the sheltering sand-hills of Umarkot with very different sentiments from those which accompanied his flight into Persia [322].

Early Years of Akbar.

—Humayun educated the young Akbar in the same school of adversity in which he had studied under Babur. Between the Persian court and his ancient patrimony in Transoxiana, Kandahar, and Kashmir, twelve years were passed in every trial of fortune. During this short period, India, always the prize of valour, had witnessed in succession six[16] kings descended from the Pathan ‘Lion’ (sher), of whom the last, Sikandar, was involved in the same civil broils which brought the crown to his family. Humayun, then near Kashmir, no sooner observed the tide of events set counter to his foe, than he crossed the Indus and advanced upon Sirhind, where the Pathan soon appeared with a tumultuous array. The impetuosity of young Akbar brought on a general engagement, which the veterans deemed madness. Not so Humayun, who gave the command to his boy, whose heroism so excited all ranks, that they despised the numbers of the enemy, and gained a glorious victory. This was the presage of his future fame; for Akbar was then but twelve years of age,[17] the same period of life at which his grandfather, Babur, maintained himself on the throne of Farghana. Humayun, worthy of such a son and such a sire, entered Delhi in triumph; but he did not long enjoy his recovered crown. His death will appear extraordinary, according to the erroneous estimate formed of Eastern princes: its cause was a fall from the terrace of his library;[18] for, like every individual of his race, he was not merely a patron of literature, but himself a scholar. Were we to contrast the literary acquirements of the Chagatai princes with those of their contemporaries of Europe, the balance of lore would be found on the side of the Asiatics, even though Elizabeth and Henry IV. of France were in the scale. Amongst the princes from the Jaxartes are historians, poets, astronomers, founders of systems of government and religion, warriors, and great captains, who claim our respect and admiration.

Akbar’s Struggle for the Empire.

—Scarcely had Akbar been seated on the throne, when Delhi and Agra were wrested from him, and a nook of the Panjab constituted all his empire: but by the energetic valour of the great Bairam Khan, his lost sovereignty was regained with equal rapidity, and established by the wisdom of this Sully[19] of Hindustan on a rock. Kalpi, Chanderi, Kalanjar, all Bundelkhand and Malwa, were soon attached to the empire, and at the early age of eighteen Akbar assumed the uncontrolled [323] direction of the State. He soon turned his attention towards the Rajputs; and whether it was to revenge the inhospitality of Maldeo towards his father, he advanced against the Rathors, and stormed and took Merta, the second city in Marwar. Raja Biharimall [or Bahar Mall] of Amber anticipated the king, enrolled himself and son Bhagwandas amongst his vassals, gave the Chagatai a daughter to wife, and held his country as a fief of the empire. But the rebellions of the Usbek nobles, and the attempts of former princes to regain their lost power, checked for a time his designs upon Rajasthan. These matters adjusted, and the petty sovereigns in the East (to whom the present monarch of Oudh is as Alexander) subjected to authority, he readily seized upon the provocation which the sanctuary given to Baz Bahadur of Malwa and the ex-prince of Narwar afforded, to turn his arms against Chitor.[20]

Comparison of Akbar with Rāna Udai Singh.

—Happy the country where the sovereignty is in the laws, and where the monarch is but the chief magistrate of the State, unsubjected to those vicissitudes which make the sceptre in Asia unstable as a pendulum, kept in perpetual oscillation by the individual passions of her princes; where the virtues of one will exalt her to the summit of prosperity, as the vices of a successor will plunge her into the abyss of degradation. Akbar and Udai Singh furnish the corollary to this self-evident truth.

The Rana was old enough to philosophize on ‘the uses of adversity’; and though the best of the ‘great ancients’ had fallen in defence of Chitor, there were not wanting individuals capable of instilling just and noble sentiments into his mind: but it was of that common character which is formed to be controlled by others; and an artful and daring concubine stepped in, to govern Udai Singh and Mewar.

Akbar was not older when he came to the throne[21] of Delhi than Udai Singh when he ascended that of Mewar. Nor were his hopes much brighter; but the star which beamed upon his cradle in the desert, conducted to his aid such counsellors as the magnanimous Bairam, and the wise and virtuous Abu-l Fazl. Yet it may be deemed hardly fair to contrast the Rajput with the Mogul: the one disciplined into an accurate knowledge of human nature, by experience of the [324] mutability of fortune; the other cooped up from infancy in a valley of his native hills, his birth concealed, and his education restricted.[22]

Akbar was the real founder of the empire of the Moguls, the first successful conqueror of Rajput independence: to this end his virtues were powerful auxiliaries, as by his skill in the analysis of the mind and its readiest stimulant to action, he was enabled to gild the chains with which he bound them. To these they became familiarized by habit, especially when the throne exerted its power in acts gratifying to national vanity, or even in ministering to the more ignoble passions. But generations of the martial races were cut off by his sword, and lustres rolled away ere his conquests were sufficiently confirmed to permit him to exercise the beneficence of his nature, and obtain by the universal acclaim of the conquered, the proud epithet of Jagad Guru, or ‘guardian of mankind.’ He was long ranked with Shihabu-d-din, Ala, and other instruments of destruction, and with every just claim; and, like these, he constructed a Mimbar[23] for the Koran from the altars of Eklinga. Yet he finally succeeded in healing the wounds his ambition had inflicted, and received from millions that meed of praise which no other of his race ever obtained.

The absence of the kingly virtues in the sovereign of Mewar filled to the brim the bitter cup of her destiny. The guardian goddess of the Sesodias had promised never to abandon the rock of her pride while a descendant of Bappa Rawal devoted himself to her service. In the first assault by Ala, twelve crowned heads defended the ‘crimson banner’ to the death. In the second, when conquest led by Bajazet[24] came from the south, the chieftain of Deolia, a noble scion of Mewar, “though severed from her stem,” claimed the crown of glory and of martyrdom. But on this, the third and grandest struggle, no regal victim appeared to appease the Cybele of Chitor, and win her to retain its ‘kunguras’[25] as her coronet. She fell! the charm was broken; the mysterious tie was severed for ever which connected [325] Chitor with perpetuity of sway to the race of Guhilot. With Udai Singh fled the “fair face” which in the dead of night unsealed the eyes of Samarsi, and told him “the glory of the Hindu was departing”:[26] with him, that opinion, which for ages esteemed her walls the sanctuary of the race, which encircled her with a halo of glory, as the palladium of the religion and the liberties of the Rajputs.

To traditions such as these, history is indebted for the noblest deeds recorded in her page; and in Mewar they were the covert impulse to national glory and independence. For this the philosopher will value the relation; and the philanthropist as being the germs or nucleus of resistance against tyrannical domination. Enveloped in a wild fable, we see the springs of their prejudices and their action: batter down these adamantine walls of national opinion, and all others are but glass. The once invincible Chitor is now pronounced indefensible. “The abode of regality, which for a thousand years reared her head above all the cities of Hindustan,” is become the refuge of wild beasts, which seek cover in her temples; and this erst sanctified capital is now desecrated as the dwelling of evil fortune, into which the entrance of her princes is solemnly interdicted.

Akbar besieges Chitor, September, A.D. 1567.

—Ferishta mentions but one enterprise against Chitor, that of its capture; but the annals record another, when Akbar was compelled to relinquish the undertaking.[27] The successful defence is attributed to the masculine courage of the Rana’s concubine queen, who headed the sallies into the heart of the Mogul camp, and on one occasion to the emperor’s headquarters. The imbecile Rana proclaimed that he owed his deliverance to her; when the chiefs, indignant at this imputation on their courage, conspired and put her to death. Internal discord invited Akbar to reinvest Chitor; he had just attained his twenty-fifth year, and was desirous of the renown of capturing it. The site of the royal Urdu,[28] or camp, is still pointed out. It extended from the village of Pandauli[29] along the high road to Basai, a distance of ten miles. The headquarters of Akbar are yet marked by a pyramidal column of marble, to which tradition has assigned the [326] title of Akbar ka diwa, or ‘Akbar’s lamp.’[30] Scarcely had Akbar sat down before Chitor, when the Rana was compelled (say the annals) to quit it; but the necessity and his wishes were in unison. It lacked not, however, brave defenders. Sahidas, at the head of a numerous band of the descendants of Chonda, was at his post, ‘the gate of the sun’; there he fell resisting the entrance of the foe, and there his altar stands, on the brow of the rock which was moistened with his blood. Rawat Duda of Madri led ‘the sons of Sanga.’[31] The feudatory chiefs of Bedla and Kotharia, descended from Prithiraj of Delhi—the Pramar of Bijolia—the Jhala of Sadri—inspired their contingents with their brave example: these were all home chieftains. Another son of Deolia again combated for Chitor, with the Sonigira Rao of Jalor—Isaridas Rathor, Karamchand Kachhwaha,[32] with Duda Sadani,[33] and the Tuar prince of Gwalior, were distinguished amongst the foreign auxiliaries on this occasion.

Jaimall and Patta.

—But the names which shine brightest in this gloomy page of the annals of Mewar, which are still held sacred by the bard and the true Rajput, and immortalized by Akbar’s own pen, are Jaimall of Badnor and Patta of Kelwa, both of the sixteen superior vassals of Mewar. The first was a Rathor of the Mertia house, the bravest of the brave clans of Marwar; the other was head of the Jagawats, another grand shoot from Chonda. The names of Jaimall and Patta are ‘as household words,’ inseparable in Mewar, and will be honoured while the Rajput retains a shred of his inheritance or a spark of his ancient recollections. Though deprived of the stimulus which would have been given had their prince been a witness of their deeds, heroic achievements such as those already recorded were conspicuous on this occasion; and many a fair form threw the buckler over the scarf, and led the most desperate sorties [327].

When Salumbar[34] fell at the gate of the sun, the command devolved on Patta of Kelwa. He was only sixteen:[35] his father had fallen in the last shock, and his mother had survived but to rear this the sole heir of their house. Like the Spartan mother of old, she commanded him to put on the ‘saffron robe,’ and to die for Chitor: but surpassing the Grecian dame, she illustrated her precept by example; and lest any soft ‘compunctious visitings’ for one dearer than herself might dim the lustre of Kelwa, she armed the young bride with a lance, with her descended the rock, and the defenders of Chitor saw her fall, fighting by the side of her Amazonian mother. When their wives and daughters performed such deeds, the Rajputs became reckless of life. They had maintained a protracted defence, but had no thoughts of surrender, when a ball struck Jaimall, who took the lead on the fall of the kin of Mewar. His soul revolted at the idea of ingloriously perishing by a distant blow. He saw there was no ultimate hope of salvation, the northern defences being entirely destroyed, and he resolved to signalize the end of his career. The fatal Johar was commanded, while eight thousand Rajputs ate the last ‘bira’[36] together, and put on their saffron robes; the gates were thrown open, the work of destruction commenced, and few survived ‘to stain the yellow mantle’ by inglorious surrender. Akbar entered Chitor, when thirty thousand of its inhabitants became victims to the ambitious thirst of conquest of this ‘guardian of mankind.’ All the heads of clans, both home and foreign, fell, and seventeen hundred of the immediate kin of the prince sealed their duty to their country with their lives. The Tuar chief of Gwalior appears to have been the only one of note who was reserved for another day of glory.[37] Nine queens, five princesses (their daughters), with two infant sons, and the families of all the chieftains not at their estates, perished in the flames or in the assault of this ever memorable day. Their divinity had indeed deserted them; for it was on Adityawar, the day of the sun,[38] he shed for the last time a ray of glory on Chitor. The rock of their strength was despoiled; the temples, the palaces dilapidated: and, to complete her humiliation and his triumph, Akbar bereft her of all the symbols of [328] regality: the nakkaras,[39] whose reverberations proclaimed, for miles around, the entrance and exit of her princes; the candelabras from the shrine of the ‘great mother,’ who girt Bappa Rawal with the sword with which he conquered Chitor; and, in mockery of her misery, her portals, to adorn his projected capital, Akbarabad.[40]

Akbar claimed the honour of the death of Jaimall by his own hand: the fact is recorded by Abu-l Fazl, and by the emperor Jahangir, who conferred on the matchlock which aided him to this distinction the title of Sangram.[41] But the conqueror of Chitor evinced a more exalted sense, not only of the value of his conquest, but of the merits of his foes, in erecting statues to the names of Jaimall and Patta at the most conspicuous entrance of his palace at Delhi; and they retained that distinction even when Bernier was in India.[42]

CHITOR.
To face page 382.

The Sin of the Capture of Chitor.

—When the Carthaginian gained the battle of Cannae, he measured his success by the bushels of rings taken from the fingers of the equestrian Romans who fell in that memorable field. Akbar estimated his, by the quantity of cordons (zunnar) of [329] distinction taken from the necks of the Rajputs, and seventy-four mans and a half[43] are the recorded amount. To eternize the memory of this disaster, the numerals ‘74½’ are talak, or accursed.[44] Marked on the banker’s letter in Rajasthan it is the strongest of seals, for ‘the sin of the slaughter of Chitor’[45] is thereby invoked on all who violate a letter under the safeguard of this mysterious number. He would be a fastidious critic who stopped to calculate the weight of these cordons of the Rajput cavaliers, probably as much over-rated as the trophies of the Roman rings, which are stated at three and a half bushels. It is for the moral impression that history deigns to note such anecdotes, in themselves of trivial import. So long as ‘74½’ shall remain recorded, some good will result from the calamity, and may survive when the event which caused it is buried in oblivion.

Escape of Rāna Udai Singh: Foundation of Udaipur.

—When Udai Singh abandoned Chitor, he found refuge with the Gohil in the forests of Rajpipli. Thence he passed to the valley of the Giro in the Aravalli, in the vicinity of the retreat of his great ancestor Bappa, ere he conquered Chitor. At the entrance of this valley, several years previous to this catastrophe, he had formed the lake, still called after him Udai Sagar, and he now raised a dyke between the mountains which dammed up another mountain stream. On the cluster of hills adjoining he raised the small palace called Nauchauki, around which edifices soon arose, and formed a city to which he gave his own name, Udaipur,[46] henceforth the capital of Mewar.

Death of Rāna Udai Singh.

—Four years had Udai Singh survived the loss of Chitor, when he expired at Gogunda, at the early age of forty-two; yet far too long for his country’s honour and welfare. He left a numerous issue of twenty-five legitimate sons, whose descendants, all styled Ranawat, pushed aside the more ancient stock, and form that extensive clan distinctively termed the Babas, or ‘infants,’ of Mewar, whether Ranawats, Purawats, or Kanawats. His last act was to entail with a barren sceptre contention upon his children; for, setting aside the established laws of primogeniture, he proclaimed his favourite son Jagmall his successor.

Jagmall proclaimed Rāna.

—In Mewar there is no interregnum: even the ceremony of matam (mourning) is held at the [330] house of the family priest while the palace is decked out for rejoicing. On the full moon of the spring month of Phalgun, while his brothers and the nobles attended the funeral pyre, Jagmall took possession of the throne in the infant capital, Udaipur: but even while the trumpets sounded, and the heralds called aloud “May the king live for ever!” a cabal was formed round the bier of his father.

Jagmall deposed in favour of Rāna Partāp Singh.

—It will be borne in mind that Udai Singh espoused the Sonigira princess; and the Jalor Rao, desirous to see his sister’s son have his right, demanded of Kistna, the ‘great ancient’ of Mewar and the leader of the Chondawats, how such injustice was sanctioned by him. “When a sick man has reached the last extreme and asks for milk to drink, why refuse it?” was the reply; with the addition: “The Sonigira’s nephew is my choice, and my stand by Partap.” Jagmall had just entered the Rasora, and Partap was saddling for his departure, when Rawat Kistna entered, accompanied by the ex-prince of Gwalior. Each chief took an arm of Jagmall, and with gentle violence removed him to a seat in front of the ‘cushion’ he had occupied; the hereditary premier remarking, “You had made a mistake, Maharaj; that place belongs to your brother”: and girding Partap with the sword (the privilege of this house), thrice touching the ground, hailed him king of Mewar. All followed the example of Salumbar. Scarcely was the ceremony over, when the young prince remarked, it was the festival of the Aheria, nor must ancient customs be forgotten: “Therefore to horse, and slay a boar to Gauri,[47] and take the omen for the ensuing year.” They slew abundance of game, and in the mimic field of war, the nobles who surrounded the gallant Partap anticipated happier days for Mewar [331].

1. The seraglio, or female palace.

2. Bari, Nai, are names for the barbers, who are the cuisiniers of the Rajputs. [The special duty of the Bāri is making leaf-platters from which Hindus eat: he is also a domestic servant, but does not, like the Nāi, work as a barber.]

3. [Dr. Tessitori states that the true form of the name is Dahīpra or Dahīpura, and they seem to be the same as the Depla of Gujarāt, where they are said to have been originally Lohānas (BG, ix. Part i. 122).]

4. The laity of the Jain persuasion are so called [srāvak, meaning ‘a disciple’].

5. Bara ‘great,’ būrha ‘aged’; the ‘wise elder’ of Rajasthan, where old age and dignity are synonymous.

6. [On the privilege of eating with the Rāna see p. 213 above.]

7. [There seems no basis for this tradition. The Bhonslas sprang from a Marātha headman of Deora in Sātāra (IGI, xviii. 306).]

8. Suhaila.

9. Kumbhalmer bidaona.

10. Chand, the heroic bard of the last Hindu emperor. [Cf. Ecclesiastes, x. 16.]

11. Battlements.

12. Badal Mahall.

13. November 23, A.D. 1542.

14. The Sodhas, a branch of the Pramaras, see p. 111.

15. "Humaioon mounted his horse at midnight and fled towards Amercot, which is about one hundred coss from Tatta. His horse, on the way, falling down dead with fatigue, he desired Tirdi Beg, who was well mounted, to let him have his; but so ungenerous was this man, and so low was royalty fallen, that he refused to comply with his request. The troops of the raja being close to his heels, he was necessitated to mount a camel, till one Nidim Koka, dismounting his own mother, gave the king her horse, and, placing her on the camel, ran himself on foot by her side.

"The country through which they fled being an entire sandy desert, the troop began to be in the utmost distress for water. Some ran mad, others fell down dead; nothing was heard but dreadful screams and lamentations. To add, if possible, to this calamity, news arrived of the enemy’s near approach. Humaioon ordered all those who could fight to halt, and let the women and baggage move forward. The enemy not making their appearance, the king rode on in front to see how it fared with his family.

"Night, in the meantime, coming on, the rear lost their way, and in the morning were attacked by a party of the enemy. Shech Ali, with about twenty brave men, resolved to sell his life dear. Having repeated the creed of martyrdom, he rushed upon the enemy, and the first arrow having reached the heart of the chief of the party, the rest were by the valour of his handful put to flight. The other Moguls joined in the pursuit, and took many of the camels and horses. They then continued their march, found the king sitting by a well which he had fortunately found, and gave him an account of their adventure.

"Marching forward the next day from this well, they were more distressed than before, there being no water for two days’ journey. On the fourth day of their retreat they fell in with another well, which was so deep, that the only bucket they had took a great deal of time in being wound up, and therefore a drum was beat to give notice to the caffilas when the bucket appeared, that they might repair by turns to drink. The people were so impatient for the water, that as soon as the first bucket appeared, ten or twelve of them threw themselves upon it before it quite reached the brim of the well, by which means the rope broke, and the bucket was lost, and several fell headlong after it. When this fatal accident happened, the screams and lamentations of all became loud and dreadful. Some lolling out their tongues, rolled themselves in agony on the hot sand; while others, precipitating themselves into the well, met with an immediate, and consequently an easier death. What did not the unhappy king feel, when he saw this terrible situation of his few faithful friends!

"The next day, though they reached water, was not less fatal than the former. The camels, who had not tasted water for several days, now drank so much that the greatest part of them died. The people, also, after drinking, complained of an oppression of the heart, and in about half an hour a great part of them expired.

"A few, with the king, after this unheard-of distress, reached Amercote. The raja, being a humane man, took compassion on their misfortunes: he spared nothing that could alleviate their miseries, or express his fidelity to the king.

“At Amercote, upon Sunday the fifth of Rigib, in the year nine hundred and forty-nine, the prince Akber was brought forth by Hamida Banu Begum. The king, after returning thanks to God, left his family under the protection of Raja Rana, and, by the aid of that prince, marched against Bicker.” Dow’s Ferishta [2nd ed. ii. 136 ff. Compare that of Briggs ii. 93 ff.].

16. [Four are usually reckoned: Islām Shāh, Muhammad Shāh Ādil, Ibrāhīm Shāh, and Sikandar Shāh.]

17. A.D. 1554.

18. [At the Sher Mandal in Purāna Kila, Delhi, on January 24, 1556.]

19. There are excellent grounds for a parallel between Akbar and Henry IV. and between Bairam and Sully, who were, moreover, almost contemporaries. The haughty and upright Bairam was at length goaded from rebellion to exile, and died by assassination only four years after Akbar’s accession. [January 31, 1561.] The story is one of the most useful lessons of history. [The life of Akbar has been fully told, with much new evidence, by V. A. Smith, Akbar the Great Mogul, 1917.]

20. A.H. 975, or A.D. 1567.

21. A.D. 1556; both were under thirteen years of age.

22. If we argue this according to a Rajput’s notions, he will reject the compromise, and say that the son of Sanga should have evinced himself worthy of his descent, under whatever circumstances fortune might have placed him.

23. The pulpit or platform of the Islamite preachers.

24. Malik Bāyazīd was the name of the Malwa sovereign ere he came to the throne, corrupted by Europeans to Bajazet. He is always styled ‘Baz Bahadur’ in the annals of Mewar.

25. Battlements.

26. The last book of Chand opens with this vision.

27. [Ferishta ii. 299 ff. “It does not appear when that attempt was made, and it is difficult to find a place for it in Abu-l Fazl’s chronology, but there is also difficulty in believing the alleged fact to be an invention” (Smith, Akbar, the Great Mogul, 81).]

28. Of which horde is a corruption.

29. There are two villages of this name. This is on the lake called Mansarowar on whose bank I obtained that invaluable inscription (see No. 2) in the nail-headed character, which settled the establishment of the Guhilot in Chitor, at a little more than (as Orme has remarked) one thousand years. To the eternal regret of my Yati Guru and myself, a barbarian Brahman servant, instead of having it copied, broke the venerable column to bring the inscription to Udaipur.

30. It is as perfect as when constructed, being of immense blocks of compact white limestone, closely fitted to each other; its height thirty feet, the base a square of twelve, and summit four feet, to which a staircase conducts. A huge concave vessel was then filled with fire, which served as a night-beacon to this ambulatory city, where all nations and tongues were assembled, or to guide the foragers. Akbar, who was ambitious of being the founder of a new faith as well as kingdom, had tried every creed, Jewish, Hindu, and even made some progress in the doctrines of Christianity, and may have in turn affected those of Zardusht, and assuredly this pyramid possesses more of the appearance of a pyreum than a ‘diwa’; though either would have fulfilled the purport of a beacon. [Mr. V. A. Smith, quoting Kavi Rāj Shyāmal Dās, ‘Antiquities at Nagari’ (JASB, Part i. vol. lvi. (1887), p. 75), corrects the statements in this note. There was no interior staircase, and more accurate measurements are: height, 36 ft. 7 in.; 14 ft. 1 in. square at base; 3 ft. 3 in. square at apex. The tower is solid for 4 ft., then hollow for 20 ft., and solid again up to the top. The building may be very ancient, though used by Akbar as alleged by popular tradition; probably a wooden ladder gave access to the chamber and to the summit. The original purpose of the building, which stands near Nagari, some six miles N.E. of Chitor, is uncertain (Akbar the Great Mogul, 86, note).]

31. The Sangawats, not the sons of Rana Sanga, but of a chieftain of Chonda’s kin, whose name is the patronymic of one of its principal subdivisions, of whom the chief of Deogarh is now head (see p. 188).

32. Of the Panchaenot branch.

33. One of the Shaikhavat subdivisions.

34. The abode of the Chondawat leader. It is common to call them by the name of their estates.

35. [He must have been older, as he left two sons, and had already served in defence of Merta (Smith, op. cit. 88).]

36. The bira, or pan, the aromatic leaf so called, enveloping spices, terra japonica, calcined shell-limeshell-lime, and pieces of the areca nut, is always presented on taking leave.

37. [His name appears to have been Sālivāhan, and as he had married a Sesodia princess, he was bound to fight for the Rāna (ASR, ii. 394).]

38. “Chait sudi igārahwān, S. 1624,” 11th Chait, or May, A.D. 1568. [The Musalmān writers give February 23, 1568 (Akbarnāma, ii. 471; Elliot-Dowson v. 327; cf. Badaoni ii. 111).]

39. Grand kettle-drums, about eight or ten feet in diameter.

40. The tija sakha Chitor ra, or ‘third sack of Chitor,’ was marked by the most illiterate atrocity, for every monument spared by Ala or Bayazid was defaced, which has left an indelible stain on Akbar’s name as a lover of the arts, as well as of humanity. Ala’s assault was comparatively harmless, as the care of the fortress was assigned to a Hindu prince; and Bayazid had little time to fulfil this part of the Mosaic law, maintained with rigid severity by the followers of Islamism. Besides, at those periods, they possessed both the skill and the means to reconstruct: not so after Akbar, as the subsequent portion of the annals will show but a struggle for existence. The arts do not flourish amidst penury: the principle to construct cannot long survive, when the means to execute are fled; and in the monumental works of Chitor we can trace the gradations of genius, its splendour and decay. [There is no good evidence that Akbar destroyed the buildings (Smith, op. cit. 90).]

41. "He (Akber) named the matchlock with which he shot Jeimul Singram, being one of great superiority and choice, and with which he had slain three or four thousand birds and beasts" (Jahangir-namah). [Ed. Rogers-Beveridge 45; Āīn, i. 116, 617; Badaoni ii. 107.]

42. “I find nothing remarkable at the entry but two great elephants of stone, which are in the two sides of one of the gates. Upon one of them is the statue of Jamel (Jeimul), that famous raja of Cheetore, and upon the other Potter (Putta) his brother. These are two gallant men that, together with their mother, who was yet braver than they, cut out so much work for Ekbar; and who, in the sieges of towns which they maintained against him, gave such extraordinary proofs of their generosity, that at length they would rather be killed in the outfalls (sallies) with their mother, than submit; and for this gallantry it is, that even their enemies thought them worthy to have these statues erected to them. These two great elephants, together with the two resolute men sitting on them, do at the first entry into this fortress make an impression of I know not what greatness and awful terror” (Letter written at Delhi, 1st July 1663, from edition printed in London in 1684, in the author’s possession). [Ed. V. A. Smith, 256.] Such the impression made on a Parisian a century after the event: but far more powerful the charm to the author of these annals, as he pondered on the spot where Jaimall received the fatal shot from Sangram, or placed flowers on the cenotaph that marks the fall of the son of Chonda and the mansion of Patta, whence issued the Sesodia matron and her daughter. Every foot of ground is hallowed by ancient recollections. [For the question of these statues see V. A. Smith, HFA, 426; ASR, i. 225 ff.; Manucci, ii. 11.]

In these the reader may in some degree participate, as the plate gives in the distance the ruins of the dwellings both of Jaimall and Patta on the projection of the rock, as well as ‘the ringlet on the forehead of Chitor,’ the column of victory raised by Lakha Rana.

43. The man is of four seers: the maund is forty, or seventy-five pounds. Dow, calculating all the captured wealth of India by the latter, has rendered many facts improbable. [The man in the Āīn was 55½ lbs.]

44. [Sir H. M. Elliot proved that the use of 74½ is merely a modification of the figures 74¹⁰⁄₁₆, meaning apparently 84, a sacred number (Supplemental Glossary, 197). In the Central Provinces it is said that it originated in Jahāngīr’s slaughter of the Nāgar Brāhmans, when 7450 of them threw away their sacred cords and became Sūdras to save their lives (Russell, Tribes and Castes, ii. 395).]

45. ‘Chitor marya ra pap’: ra is the sign of the genitive, in the Doric tongue of Mewar, the ka of the refined.

46. Classically Udayapura, the city of the East; from udaya (oriens), the point of sunrise, as asta (west) is of sunset.

47. Ceres—The Aheria, or Mahurat ka Shikar, will be explained in the Personal Narrative, as it would here break the connexion of events.

CHAPTER 11

Rāna Partāp Singh, A.D. 1572-97.

—Partap[1] succeeded to the titles and renown of an illustrious house, but without a capital, without resources, his kindred and clans dispirited by reverses: yet possessed of the noble spirit of his race, he meditated the recovery of Chitor, the vindication of the honour of his house, and the restoration of its power. Elevated with this design, he hurried into conflict with his powerful antagonist, nor stooped to calculate the means which were opposed to him. Accustomed to read in his country’s annals the splendid deeds of his forefathers, and that Chitor had more than once been the prison of their foes, he trusted that the revolutions of fortune might co-operate with his own efforts to overturn the unstable throne of Delhi. The reasoning was as just as it was noble; but whilst he gave loose to those lofty aspirations which meditated liberty to Mewar, his crafty opponent was counteracting his views by a scheme of policy which, when disclosed, filled his heart with anguish. The wily Mogul arrayed against Partap his kindred in faith as well as blood. The princes of Marwar, Amber, Bikaner, and even Bundi, late his firm ally, took part with Akbar and upheld despotism. Nay, even his own brother, Sagarji,[2] deserted him, and received, as the price of his treachery, the ancient capital of his race, and the title which that possession conferred [332].

Rāna Partāp Singh resists the Moguls.

—But the magnitude of the peril confirmed the fortitude of Partap, who vowed, in the words of the bard, “to make his mother’s milk resplendent”; and he amply redeemed his pledge. Single-handed, for a quarter of a century did he withstand the combined efforts of the empire; at one time carrying destruction into the plains, at another flying from rock to rock, feeding his family from the fruits of his native hills, and rearing the nursling hero Amra, amidst savage beasts and scarce less savage men, a fit heir to his prowess and revenge. The bare idea that “the son of Bappa Rawal should bow the head to mortal man,” was insupportable; and he spurned every overture which had submission for its basis, or the degradation of uniting his family by marriage with the Tatar, though lord of countless multitudes.

The brilliant acts he achieved during that period live in every valley; they are enshrined in the heart of every true Rajput, and many are recorded in the annals of the conquerors. To recount them all, or relate the hardships he sustained, would be to pen what they would pronounce a romance who had not traversed the country where tradition is yet eloquent with his exploits, or conversed with the descendants of his chiefs, who cherish a recollection of the deeds of their forefathers, and melt, as they recite them, into manly tears.[3]

Partap was nobly supported; and though wealth and fortune tempted the fidelity of his chiefs, not one was found base enough to abandon him. The sons of Jaimall shed their blood in his cause, along with the successors of Patta—the house of Salumbar redoubled the claims of Chonda to fidelity; and these five lustres of adversity are the brightest in the chequered page of the history of Mewar. Nay, some chiefs, attracted by the very desperation of his fortunes, pressed to his standard, to combat and die with Partap. Amongst these was the Delwara chief, whose devotion gained him the prince’s ‘right hand.’

The Vow of Rāna Partāp Singh.

—To commemorate the desolation of Chitor, which the bardic historian represents as a ‘widow’ despoiled of the ornaments to her loveliness, Partap interdicted to himself and his successors every article of luxury or pomp, until the insignia of her glory should be redeemed. The gold and silver dishes were laid aside [333] for pattras[4] of leaves; their beds henceforth of straw, and their beards left untouched. But in order more distinctly to mark their fallen fortune and stimulate to its recovery, he commanded that the martial nakkaras, which always sounded in the van of battle or processions, should follow in the rear. This last sign of the depression of Mewar still survives; the beard is yet untouched by the shears; and even in the subterfuge by which the patriot king’s behest is set aside, we have a tribute to his memory: for though his descendant eats off gold and silver, and sleeps upon a bed, he places the leaves beneath the one and straw under the other.[5]

Often was Partap heard to exclaim, “Had Udai Singh never been, or none intervened between him and Sanga Rana, no Turk should ever have given laws to Rajasthan.” Hindu society had assumed a new form within the century preceding: the wrecks of dominion from the Jumna and Ganges had been silently growing into importance; and Amber and Marwar had attained such power, that the latter single-handed coped with the imperial Sher Shah; while numerous minor chieftainships were attaining shape and strength on both sides the Chambal. A prince of commanding genius alone was wanting, to snatch the sceptre of dominion from the Islamite. Such a leader they found in Sanga, who possessed every quality which extorts spontaneous obedience, and the superiority of whose birth, as well as dignity, were admitted without cavil, from the Himalaya to Rameswaram.[6] These States had powerful motives to obey such a leader, in the absence of whom their ancient patrimony was lost; and such they would have found renewed in Sanga’s grandson, Partap, had Udai Singh not existed, or had a less gifted sovereign than Akbar been his contemporary.

With the aid of some chiefs of judgment and experience, Partap remodelled his government, adapting it to the exigencies of the times and to his slender resources. New grants were issued, with regulations defining the service required. Kumbhalmer, now the seat of government, was strengthened, as well as Gogunda and other mountain fortresses; and, being unable to keep the field in the plains [334] of Mewar, he followed the system of his ancestors, and commanded his subjects, on pain of death, to retire into the mountains. During the protracted contest, the fertile tracts watered by the Banas and the Berach, from the Aravalli chain west to the eastern tableland, were be chiragh, ‘without a lamp.’

Many tales are related of the unrelenting severity with which Partap enforced obedience to this stern policy. Frequently, with a few horse, he issued forth to see that his commands were obeyed. The silence of the desert prevailed in the plains; grass had usurped the place of the waving corn; the highways were choked with the thorny babul,[7] and beasts of prey made their abode in the habitations of his subjects. In the midst of this desolation, a single goatherd, trusting to elude observation, disobeyed his prince’s injunction, and pastured his flock in the luxuriant meadows of Untala, on the banks of the Banas. After a few questions, he was killed and hung up in terrorem. By such patriotic severity Partap rendered ‘the garden of Rajasthan’ of no value to the conqueror, and the commerce already established between the Mogul court and Europe, conveyed through Mewar from Surat and other ports, was intercepted and plundered.

Akbar attacks Rāna Partāp Singh, A.D. 1576.

—Akbar took the field against the Rajput prince, establishing his headquarters at Ajmer. This celebrated fortress, destined ultimately to be one of the twenty-two subahs of his empire and an imperial residence, had admitted for some time a royal garrison. Maldeo of Marwar, who had so ably opposed the usurper Sher Shah, was compelled to follow the example of his brother prince, Bhagwandas of Amber, and to place himself at the footstool of Akbar: only two years subsequent to Partap’s accession, after a brave but fruitless resistance in Merta and Jodhpur, he sent his son, Udai Singh, to pay homage to the king.[8] Akbar received him at Nagor, on his route to Ajmer, on which occasion the Raos of Mandor were made Rajas; and as the heir of Marwar was of uncommon bulk, the title by which he was afterwards known in Rajasthan was Mota Raja,[9] and henceforth the descendants of the kings of Kanauj had the ‘right hand’ of the emperor of the Moguls. But the Rathor was greater in his native pride than with all the accession of dignity or power which accrued on his sacrifice of Rajput principles [335]. Udai ‘le gros’ was the first of his race who gave a daughter in marriage to a Tatar. The bribe for which he bartered his honour was splendid; for four provinces,[10] yielding £200,000 of annual revenue, were given in exchange for Jodh Bai,[11] at once doubling the fisc of Marwar. With such examples as Amber and Marwar, and with less power to resist the temptation, the minor chiefs of Rajasthan, with a brave and numerous vassalage, were transformed into satraps of Delhi, and the importance of most of them was increased by the change. Truly did the Mogul historian designate them “at once the props and the ornaments of the throne.”

Rāna Partāp Singh deserted by Rājput Princes.

—But these were fearful odds against Partap: the arms of his countrymen thus turned upon him, derived additional weight from their self-degradation, which kindled into jealousy and hatred against the magnanimous resolution they wanted the virtue to imitate. When Hindu prejudice was thus violated by every prince in Rajasthan (that of Bundi alone excepted[12]), the Rana renounced all alliance with those who were thus degraded; and in order to carry on the line, he sought out and incorporated with the first class of nobles of his own kin the descendants of the ancient princes of Delhi, of Patan, of Marwar, and of Dhar. To the eternal honour of Partap and his issue be it told, that to the very close of the monarchy of the Moguls, they not only refused such alliance with the throne, but even with their brother princes of Marwar and Amber. It is a proud triumph of virtue to record, from the autograph letters of the most powerful of their princes, Bakhta Singh and Jai Singh, that whilst they had risen to greatness from the surrender of principle, as Mewar had decayed from her adherence to it, they should, even while basking in court favour, solicit, and that humbly, to be readmitted to the honour of matrimonial intercourse—‘to be purified,’ ‘to be regenerated,’ ‘to be made Rajputs’: and that this was granted only on condition of their abjuring the contaminating practice which had disunited them for more than a century; with the additional stipulation, that the issue of marriage with the house [336] of Mewar should be the heirs to those they entered: conditions which the decline of the empire prevented from being broken.

Rāja Mān Singh and Rāna Partāp Singh.

—An anecdote illustrative of the settled repugnance of this noble family to sully the purity of its blood may here be related, as its result had a material influence on its subsequent condition. Raja Man, who had succeeded to the throne of Amber, was the most celebrated of his race, and from him may be dated the rise of his country. This prince exemplified the wisdom of that policy which Babur adopted to strengthen his conquest; that of connecting his family by ties of marriage with the Hindus. It has been already related, that Humayun espoused a daughter of Bhagwandas, consequently Raja Man was brother-in-law to Akbar.[13] His courage and talents well seconded this natural advantage, and he became the most conspicuous of all the generals of the empire. To him Akbar was indebted for half his triumphs. The Kachhwaha bards find a delightful theme in recounting his exploits, from the snow-clad Caucasus to the shores of the ‘golden Chersonese.’[14] Let the eye embrace these extremes of his conquests, Kabul and the Paropanisos of Alexander, and Arakan (a name now well known) on the Indian Ocean; the former reunited, the latter subjugated, to the empire by a Rajput prince and a Rajput army. But Akbar knew the master-key to Hindu feeling, and by his skill overcame prejudices deemed insurmountable, and many are the tales yet told of their blind devotion to their favourite emperor.

Raja Man was returning from the conquest of Sholapur to Hindustan when he invited himself to an interview with Partap, then at Kumbhalmer, who advanced to the Udaisagar to receive him. On the mound which embanks this lake a feast was prepared for the prince of Amber. The board was spread, the Raja summoned, and Prince Amra appointed to wait upon him; but no Rana appeared, for whose absence apologies alleging headache were urged by his son, with the request [337] that Raja Man would waive all ceremony, receive his welcome, and commence. The prince, in a tone at once dignified and respectful, replied: "Tell the Rana I can divine the cause of his headache; but the error is irremediable, and if he refuses to put a plate (kansa) before me, who will?" Further subterfuge was useless. The Rana expressed his regret; but added, that “he could not eat with a Rajput who gave his sister to a Turk, and who probably ate with him.” Raja Man was unwise to have risked this disgrace: and if the invitation went from Partap, the insult was ungenerous as well as impolitic; but of this he is acquitted. Raja Man left the feast untouched, save the few grains of rice he offered to Anndeva,[15] which he placed in his turban, observing as he withdrew: “It was for the preservation of your honour that we sacrificed our own, and gave our sisters and our daughters to the Turk; but abide in peril, if such be your resolve, for this country shall not hold you”; and mounting his horse he turned to the Rana, who appeared at this abrupt termination of his visit, “If I do not humble your pride, my name is not Man”: to which Partap replied, “he should always be happy to meet him”; while some one, in less dignified terms, desired he would not forget to bring his ‘Phupha’ [father’s sister’s husband], Akbar. The ground was deemed impure where the feast was spread: it was broken up and lustrated with the water of the Ganges, and the chiefs who witnessed the humiliation of one they deemed apostate, bathed and changed their vestments, as if polluted by his presence. Every act was reported to the emperor, who was exasperated at the insult thus offered to himself, and who justly dreaded the revival of those prejudices he had hoped were vanquished; and it hastened the first of those sanguinary battles which have immortalised the name of Partap: nor will Haldighat be forgotten while a Sesodia occupies Mewar, or a bard survives to relate the tale.

Salīm’s Campaign, A.D. 1576.

—Prince Salim, the heir of Delhi,[16] led the war, guided by the counsels of Raja Man and the distinguished apostate son of Sagarji, Mahabat Khan. Partap trusted to his native hills and the valour of twenty-two thousand Rajputs to withstand the son of Akbar. The divisions of the royal army encountered little opposition at the exterior defiles by which they penetrated the western side of the [338] Aravalli, concentrating as they approached the chief pass which conducted to the vulnerable part of this intricate country.

Battle of Haldīghāt or Gogūnda, June 18, 1576.

—The range to which Partap was restricted was the mountainous region around, though chiefly to the west of the new capital. From north to south, Kumbhalmer to Rakhabhnath,[17] about eighty miles in length; and in breadth, from Mirpur west to Satola east, about the same. The whole of this space is mountain and forest, valley and stream. The approaches to the capital from every point to the north, west, and south are so narrow as to merit the term of defile; on each side lofty perpendicular rocks, with scarcely breadth for two carriages abreast, across which are those ramparts of nature termed Col in the mountain scenery of Europe, which occasionally open into spaces sufficiently capacious to encamp a large force. Such was the plain of Haldighat, at the base of a neck of mountain which shut up the valley and rendered it almost inaccessible.[18] Above and below the Rajputs were posted, and on the cliffs and pinnacles overlooking the field of battle, the faithful aborigines, the Bhil, with his natural weapon the bow and arrow, and huge stones ready to roll upon the combatant enemy.

At this pass Partap was posted with the flower of Mewar, and glorious was the struggle for its maintenance. Clan after clan followed with desperate intrepidity, emulating the daring of their prince, who led the crimson banner into the hottest part of the field. In vain he strained every nerve to encounter Raja Man; but though denied the luxury of revenge on his Rajput foe, he made good a passage to where Salim commanded. His guards fell before Partap, and but for the steel plates which defended his howda, the lance of the Rajput would have deprived Akbar of his heir. His steed, the gallant Chetak, nobly seconded his lord, and is represented in all the historical drawings of this battle with one foot raised upon the elephant of the Mogul, while his rider has his lance propelled against his foe. The conductor, destitute of the means of defence, was slain, when the infuriated animal, now without control, carried off Salim. On this spot the carnage was immense: the Moguls eager to defend Salim; the heroes of Mewar to second their prince, who had already received seven wounds [339].[19] Marked by the ‘royal umbrella,’ which he would not lay aside, and which collected the might of the enemy against him, Partap was thrice rescued from amidst the foe, and was at length nearly overwhelmed, when the Jhala chief gave a signal instance of fidelity, and extricated him with the loss of his own life. Mana seized upon the insignia of Mewar, and rearing the ‘gold sun’ over his own head, made good his way to an intricate position, drawing after him the brunt of the battle, while his prince was forced from the field. With all his brave vassals the noble Jhala fell; and in remembrance of the deed his descendants have, since the day of Haldighat, borne the regal ensigns of Mewar, and enjoyed ‘the right hand of her princes.’[20] But this desperate valour was unavailing against such a force, with a numerous field artillery and a dromedary corps mounting swivels; and of twenty-two thousand Rajputs assembled on that day for the defence of Haldighat, only eight thousand quitted the field alive.[21]

The Escape of Rāna Partāp Singh.

—Partap, unattended, fled on the gallant Chetak, who had borne him through the day, and who saved him now by leaping a mountain stream when closely pursued by two Mogul chiefs, whom this impediment momentarily checked. But Chetak, like his master, was wounded; his pursuers gained upon Partap, and the flash from the flinty rock announced them at his heels, when, in the broad accents of his native tongue, the salutation Ho! nila ghora ra aswar, ‘Ho! rider of the blue horse,’ made him look back, and he beheld but a single horseman: that horseman his brother.

Sakta, whose personal enmity to Partap had made him a traitor to Mewar, beheld from the ranks of Akbar the ‘blue horse’ flying unattended. Resentment was extinguished, and a feeling of affection, mingling with sad and humiliating recollections, took possession of his bosom. He joined in the pursuit, but only to slay the pursuers, who fell beneath his lance; and now, for the first time in their lives, the brothers embraced in friendship. Here Chetak fell, and as the Rana unbuckled his caparison to place it upon Ankara, presented to him by his brother, the noble steed expired. An altar was raised, and yet marks the spot, where Chetak[22] died; and the entire scene may be seen painted on the walls of half the houses of the capital [340].

The greeting between the brothers was necessarily short; but the merry Sakta, who was attached to Salim’s personal force, could not let it pass without a joke; and inquiring “how a man felt when flying for his life?” he quitted Partap with the assurance of reunion the first safe opportunity. On rejoining Salim, the truth of Sakta was greatly doubted when he related that Partap had not only slain his pursuers, but his own steed, which obliged him to return on that of the Khorasani. Prince Salim pledged his word to pardon him if he related the truth; when Sakta replied, “The burthen of a kingdom is on my brother’s shoulders, nor could I witness his danger without defending him from it.” Salim kept his word, but dismissed the future head of the Saktawats. Determined to make a suitable nazar on his introduction, he redeemed Bhainsror by a coup de main, and joined Partap at Udaipur, who made him a grant of the conquest, which long remained the chief abode of the Saktawats;[23] and since the day when this, their founder, preserved the life of his brother and prince against his Mogul pursuers, the birad of the bard to all of his race is Khorasani Multani ka Agal, ‘the barrier to Khorasan and Multan,’ from which countries were the chiefs he slew.

On the 7th of Sawan, S. 1632 (July, A.D. 1576), a day ever memorable in her annals, the best blood of Mewar irrigated the pass of Haldighat. Of the nearest kin of the prince five hundred were slain: the exiled prince of Gwalior, Ramsah, his son Khanderao, with three hundred and fifty of his brave Tuar clan, paid the debt of gratitude with their lives. Since their expulsion by Babur they had found sanctuary in Mewar, whose princes diminished their feeble revenues to maintain inviolable the rites of hospitality.[24] Mana, the devoted Jhala, lost one hundred and fifty of his vassals, and every house of Mewar mourned its chief support.

Siege of Kumbhalmer.

—Elate with victory, Salim left the hills. The rainy season had set in, which impeded operations, and obtained for Partap a few months of repose; but with the spring the foe returned, when he was again defeated,[25] and took post in Kumbhalmer, which was invested by the Koka, Shahbaz Khan. He here made a gallant and [341] protracted resistance, and did not retire till insects rendered the water of the Naugun well, their sole resource, impure.[26] To the treachery of the Deora chief of Abu, who was now with Akbar, this deed is imputed. Partap thence withdrew to Chawand,[27] while Bhan, the Sonigira chief, defended the place to the last, and was slain in the assault. On this occasion also fell the chief bard of Mewar, who inspired by his deeds, as well as by his song, the spirit of resistance to the ‘ruthless king,’ and whose laudatory couplets on the deeds of his lord are still in every mouth. But the spirit of poesy died not with him, for princes and nobles, Hindu and Turk, vied with each other in exalting the patriot Partap, in strains replete with those sentiments which elevate the mind of the martial Rajput, who is inflamed into action by this national excitement.

Further Imperialist Advance.

—On the fall of Kumbhalmer, the castles of Dharmeti and Gogunda were invested by Raja Man. Mahabat Khan took possession of Udaipur; and while a prince of the blood[28] cut off the resources furnished by the inhabitants of Oghna Panarwra, Khan Farid invaded Chappan, and approached Chawand from the south. Thus beset on every side, dislodged from the most secret retreats, and hunted from glen to glen, there appeared no hope for Partap: yet, even while his pursuers deemed him panting in some obscure lurking-place, he would by mountain signals reassemble his bands, and assail them unawares and often unguarded. By a skilful manœuvre, Farid, who dreamed of nothing less than making the Rajput prince his prisoner, was blocked up in a defile and his force cut off to a man. Unaccustomed to such warfare, the mercenary Moguls became disgusted in combating a foe seldom tangible; while the monsoon swelled the mountain streams, filling the reservoirs with mineral poisons and the air with pestilential exhalations. The periodical rains accordingly always brought some respite to Partap.

Years thus rolled away, each ending with a diminution of his means and an increase to his misfortunes. His family was his chief source of anxiety: he dreaded their captivity, an apprehension often on the point of being realised. On one occasion they were saved by the faithful Bhils of Kava, who carried them in wicker baskets and concealed them in the tin mines of Jawara, where they guarded [342] and fed them. Bolts and rings are still preserved in the trees about Jawara and Chawand, to which baskets were suspended, the only cradles of the royal children of Mewar, in order to preserve them from the tiger and the wolf. Yet amidst such complicated evils the fortitude of Partap remained unshaken, and a spy sent by Akbar represented the Rajput and his chiefs seated at a scanty meal, maintaining all the etiquette observed in prosperity, the Rana bestowing the dauna to the most deserving, and which, though only of the wild fruit of the country, was received with all the reverence of better days. Such inflexible magnanimity touched the soul of Akbar,[29] and extorted the homage of every chief in Rajasthan; nor could those who swelled the gorgeous train of the emperor withhold their admiration. Nay, these annals have preserved some stanzas addressed by the Khankhanan,[30] the first of the satraps of Delhi, to the noble Rajput, in his native tongue, applauding his valour and stimulating his perseverance: “All is unstable in this world: land and wealth will disappear, but the virtue of a great name lives for ever. Patta[31] abandoned wealth and land, but never bowed the head: alone, of all the princes of Hind, he preserved the honour of his race.”

But there were moments when the wants of those dearer than his own life almost excited him to frenzy. The wife of his bosom was insecure, even in the rock or the cave; and his infants, heirs to every luxury, were weeping around him for food: for with such pertinacity did the Mogul myrmidons pursue them, that “five meals have been prepared and abandoned for want of opportunity to eat them.” On one occasion his queen and his son’s wife were preparing a few cakes from the flour of the meadow grass,[32] of which one was given to each; half for the present, the rest for a future meal. Partap was stretched beside them pondering on his misfortunes, when a piercing cry from his daughter roused him from reflection: a wild cat had darted on the reserved portion of food, and the agony of hunger made her shrieks insupportable. Until that moment his fortitude had been unsubdued. He had beheld his sons and his kindred fall around him on the field without emotion—“For this the Rajput was born”; but the lamentation of his children for food “unmanned him.” He cursed the name of royalty, if only to be enjoyed on such conditions, and he demanded of Akbar a mitigation of his hardships [343].

Submission of Rāna Partāp Singh.

—Overjoyed at this indication of submission, the emperor commanded public rejoicings, and exultingly showed the letter to Prithiraj, a Rajput compelled to follow the victorious car of Akbar. Prithiraj was the younger brother of the prince of Bikaner,[33] a State recently grown out of the Rathors of Marwar, and which, being exposed in the flats of the desert, had no power to resist the example of its elder, Maldeo. Prithiraj was one of the most gallant chieftains of the age, and like the Troubadour princes of the west, could grace a cause with the soul-inspiring effusions of the muse, as well as aid it with his sword: nay, in an assembly of the bards of Rajasthan, the palm of merit was unanimously awarded to the Rathor cavalier. He adored the very name of Partap, and the intelligence filled him with grief. With all the warmth and frankness of his nature, he told the king it was a forgery of some foe to the fame of the Rajput prince. “I know him well,” said he; “for your crown he would not submit to your terms.” He requested and obtained permission from the king to transmit by his courier a letter to Partap, ostensibly to ascertain the fact of his submission, but really with the view to prevent it. On this occasion he composed those couplets, still admired, and which for the effect they produced will stand comparison with any of the sirventes of the Troubadours of the west.[34]

"The hopes of the Hindu rest on the Hindu; yet the Rana forsakes them. But for Partap, all would be placed on the same level by Akbar; for our chiefs have lost their valour and our females their honour. Akbar is the broker in the market of our race: all has he purchased but the son of Uda; he is beyond his price. What true Rajput would part with honour for nine days (nauroza); yet how many have bartered it away? Will Chitor come to this market, when all have disposed of the chief article of the Khatri? Though Patta has squandered away wealth, yet this treasure has he preserved. Despair has driven man to this mart, to witness their dishonour: from such infamy the descendant of Hamir alone has been preserved. The world asks, whence the concealed aid of Partap? None but the soul of manliness and his sword: with it, well has he maintained the Khatri’s pride. This broker in the market [344] of men will one day be overreached; he cannot live for ever: then will our race come to Partap, for the seed of the Rajput to sow in our desolate lands. To him all look for its preservation, that its purity may again become resplendent."

Rally of Rāna Partāp Singh.

—This effusion of the Rathor was equal to ten thousand men; it nerved the drooping mind of Partap, and roused him into action: for it was a noble incentive to find every eye of his race fixed upon him.

The Nauroza.

—The allusion of the princely poet in the phrase, “bartering their honour on the Nauroza,” requires some explanation. The Nauroza, or ‘New Year’s Day,’ when the sun enters Aries, is one of great festivity among the Muhammadan princes of the East; but of that alluded to by Prithiraj we can form an adequate idea from the historian Abu-l Fazl.[35]

It is not New Year’s Day, but a festival especially instituted by Akbar, and to which he gave the epithet Khushroz, ‘day of pleasure,’ held on the ninth day (nauroza), following the chief festival of each month. The court assembled, and was attended by all ranks. The queen also had her court, when the wives of the nobles and of the Rajput vassal princes were congregated. But the Khushroz was chiefly marked by a fair held within the precincts of the court, attended only by females. The merchants’ wives exposed the manufactures of every clime, and the ladies of the court were the purchasers.[36] “His majesty is also there in disguise, by which means he learns the value of merchandise, and hears what is said of the state of the empire and the character of the officers of government.” The ingenuous Abu-l Fazl thus softens down the unhallowed purpose of this day; but posterity cannot admit that the great Akbar was to obtain these results amidst the Pushto jargon of the dames of Islam, or the mixed Bhakha of the fair of [345] Rajasthan. These ‘ninth day fairs’ are the markets in which Rajput honour was bartered, and to which the brave Prithiraj makes allusion.[37]

Akbar and Rajput Ladies.

—It is scarcely to be credited that a statesman like Akbar should have hazarded his popularity or his power, by the introduction of a custom alike appertaining to the Celtic races of Europe as to these the Goths of Asia;[38] and that he should seek to degrade those whom the chances of war had made his vassals, by conduct so nefarious and repugnant to the keenly cherished feelings of the Rajput. Yet there is not a shadow of doubt that many of the noblest of the race were dishonoured on the Nauroza; and the chivalrous Prithiraj was only preserved from being of the number by the high courage and virtue of his wife, a princess of Mewar, and daughter of the founder of the Saktawats. On one of these celebrations of the Khushroz, the monarch of the Moguls was struck with the beauty of the daughter of Mewar, and he singled her out from amidst the united fair of Hind as the object of his passion. It is not improbable that an ungenerous feeling united with that already impure, to despoil the Sesodias of their honour, through a princess of their house under the protection of the sovereign. On retiring from the fair, she found herself entangled amidst the labyrinth of apartments by which egress was purposely ordained, when Akbar stood before her: but instead of acquiescence, she drew a poniard from her corset, and held it to his breast, dictating, and making him repeat, the oath of renunciation of the infamy to all her race. The anecdote is accompanied in the original with many dramatic circumstances. The guardian goddess of Mewar, the terrific Mata, appears on her tiger in the subterranean passage of this palace of pollution, to strengthen her mind by a solemn denunciation [346], and her hand with a weapon to protect her honour. Rae Singh, the elder brother of the princely bard, had not been so fortunate; his wife wanted either courage or virtue to withstand the regal tempter, and she returned to their dwelling in the desert despoiled of her chastity, but loaded with jewels; or, as Prithiraj expresses it: “She returned to her abode, tramping to the tinkling sound of the ornaments of gold and gems on her person; but where, my brother, is the moustache[39] on thy lip?”

Adventures of Rāna Partāp Singh.

—It is time to return to the Aravalli, and to the patriot prince Partap. Unable to stem the torrent, he had formed a resolution worthy of his character; he determined to abandon Mewar and the blood-stained Chitor (no longer the stay of his race), and to lead his Sesodias to the Indus, plant the ‘crimson banner’ on the insular capital of the Sogdoi, and leave a desert between him and his inexorable foe. With his family, and all that was yet noble in Mewar, his chiefs and vassals, a firm and intrepid band, who preferred exile to degradation, he descended the Aravalli, and had reached the confines of the desert, when an incident occurred which made him change his measures, and still remain a dweller in the land of his forefathers. If the historic annals of Mewar record acts of unexampled severity, they are not without instances of unparalleled devotion. The minister of Partap, whose ancestors had for ages held the office, placed at his prince’s disposal their accumulated wealth, which, with other resources, is stated to have been equivalent to the maintenance of twenty-five thousand men for twelve years. The name of Bhama Sah is preserved as the saviour of Mewar. With this splendid proof of gratitude, and the sirvente of Prithiraj as incitements, he again “screwed his courage to the sticking-place,” collected his bands, and while his foes imagined that he was endeavouring to effect a retreat through the desert, surprised Shahbaz in his camp at Dawer, whose troops were cut in pieces. The fugitives were pursued to Amet, the garrison of which shared the same fate. Ere they could recover from their consternation, Kumbhalmer was assaulted and taken; Abdulla and his garrison were put to the sword, and thirty-two fortified posts in like manner carried by surprise, the troops being put to death without mercy. To use the words of the annals: "Partap made a desert of Mewar; he made an [347] offering to the sword of whatever dwelt in its plains": an appalling but indispensable sacrifice. In one short campaign (S. 1586, A.D. 1530), he had recovered all Mewar, except Chitor, Ajmer, and Mandalgarh; and determining to have a slight ovation in return for the triumph Raja Man had enjoyed (who had fulfilled to the letter his threat, that Partap should “live in peril”), he invaded Amber, and sacked its chief mart of commerce, Malpura.

Udaipur was also regained; though this acquisition was so unimportant as scarcely to merit remark. In all likelihood it was abandoned from the difficulty of defending it, when all around had submitted to Partap; though the annals ascribe it to a generous sentiment of Akbar, prompted by the great Khankhanan, whose mind appears to have been captivated by the actions of the Rajput prince.[40] An anecdote is appended to account for Akbar’s relaxation of severity, but it is of too romantic a nature even for this part of their annals.

Mewār left in Peace by the Imperialists.

—Partap was indebted to a combination of causes for the repose he enjoyed during the latter years of his life; and though this may be ascribed principally to the new fields of ambition which occupied the Mogul arms, we are authorized also to admit the full weight of the influence that the conduct of the Hindu prince exerted upon Akbar, together with the general sympathy of his fellow-princes, who swelled the train of the conqueror, and who were too powerful to be regarded with indifference.

Repose was, however, no boon to the noblest of his race. A mind like Partap’s could enjoy no tranquillity while, from the summit of the pass which guarded Udaipur, his eye embraced the Kunguras of Chitor, to which he must ever be a stranger. To a soul like his, burning for the redemption of the glory of his race, the mercy thus shown him, in placing a limit to his hopes, was more difficult of endurance than the pangs of fabled Tantalus. Imagine the warrior, yet in manhood’s prime, broken with fatigues and covered with scars, from amidst the fragments of basaltic ruin[41] (fit emblem of his own condition!), casting a wistful eye to [348] the rock stained with the blood of his fathers; whilst in the ‘dark chamber’ of his mind the scenes of glory enacted there appeared with unearthly lustre. First, the youthful Bappa, on whose head was the ‘mor he had won from the Mori’:[42] the warlike Samarsi, arming for the last day of Rajput independence, to die with Prithiraj on the banks of the Ghaggar: again, descending the steep of Chitor, the twelve sons of Arsi, the crimson banner floating around each, while from the embattled rock the guardian goddess looked down on the carnage which secured a perpetuity of sway. Again, in all the pomp of sacrifice, the Deolia chiefs, Jaimall and Patta; and like the Pallas of Rajasthan, the Chondawat dame, leading her daughter into the ranks of destruction: examples for their sons’ and husbands’ imitation. At length clouds of darkness dimmed the walls of Chitor: from her battlements ‘Kungura Rani’[43] had fled; the tints of dishonour began to blend with the visions of glory; and lo! Udai Singh appeared flying from the rock to which the honour of his house was united. Aghast at the picture his fancy had portrayed, imagine him turning to the contemplation of his own desolate condition, indebted for a cessation of persecution to the most revolting sentiment that can assail an heroic mind—compassion; compared with which scorn is endurable, contempt even enviable: these he could retaliate; but for the high-minded, the generous Rajput, to be the object of that sickly sentiment, pity, was more oppressive than the arms of his foe.

The Last Days of Rāna Partāp.

—A premature decay assailed the pride of Rajasthan; a mind diseased preyed on an exhausted frame, and prostrated him in the very summer of his days. The last moments of Partap were an appropriate commentary on his life, which he terminated, like the Carthaginian, swearing his successor to eternal conflict against the foes of his country’s independence. But the Rajput prince had not the same joyful assurance that inspired the Numidian Hamilcar; for his end was clouded with the presentiment that his son Amra would abandon his fame for inglorious repose. A powerful sympathy is excited by the picture which is drawn of this final scene. The dying hero is represented in a lowly dwelling; his chiefs, the faithful companions of many a glorious day, awaiting round his pallet the dissolution of their prince, when a groan of mental anguish made Salumbar inquire [349], “What afflicted his soul that it would not depart in peace?” He rallied: “It lingered,” he said, “for some consolatory pledge that his country should not be abandoned to the Turk”; and with the death-pang upon him, he related an incident which had guided his estimate of his son’s disposition, and now tortured him with the reflection that for personal ease he would forgo the remembrance of his own and his country’s wrongs.

On the banks of the Pichola, Partap and his chiefs had constructed a few huts[44] (the site of the future palace of Udaipur), to protect them during the inclemency of the rains in the day of their distress. Prince Amra, forgetting the lowliness of the dwelling, a projecting bamboo of the roof caught the folds of his turban and dragged it off as he retired. A hasty emotion, which disclosed a varied feeling, was observed with pain by Partap, who thence adopted the opinion that his son would never withstand the hardships necessary to be endured in such a cause. “These sheds,” said the dying prince, “will give way to sumptuous dwellings, thus generating the love of ease; and luxury with its concomitants will ensue, to which the independence of Mewar, which we have bled to maintain, will be sacrificed: and you, my chiefs, will follow the pernicious example.” They pledged themselves, and became guarantees for the prince, “by the throne of Bappa Rawal,” that they would not permit mansions to be raised till Mewar had recovered her independence. The soul of Partap was satisfied, and with joy he expired.

Thus closed the life of a Rajput whose memory is even now idolized by every Sesodia, and will continue to be so, till renewed oppression shall extinguish the remaining sparks of patriotic feeling. May that day never arrive! yet if such be her destiny, may it, at least, not be hastened by the arms of Britain!

It is worthy the attention of those who influence the destinies of States in more favoured climes, to estimate the intensity of feeling which could arm this prince to oppose the resources of a small principality against the then most powerful empire of the world, whose armies were more numerous and far more efficient than any ever led by the Persian against the liberties of Greece. Had Mewar possessed her Thucydides or her Xenophon, neither the wars of the Peloponnesus nor the retreat of the ‘ten thousand’ would have yielded more diversified incidents for [350] the historic muse, than the deeds of this brilliant reign amid the many vicissitudes of Mewar. Undaunted heroism, inflexible fortitude, that which ‘keeps honour bright,’ perseverance,—with fidelity such as no nation can boast, were the materials opposed to a soaring ambition, commanding talents, unlimited means, and the fervour of religious zeal; all, however, insufficient to contend with one unconquerable mind. There is not a pass in the alpine Aravalli that is not sanctified by some deed of Partap,—some brilliant victory or, oftener, more glorious defeat. Haldighat is the Thermopylae of Mewar; the field of Dawer her Marathon.

1. [Partāp Singh is usually called by the Muhammadans Rāna Kīka, Kīka (in Mārwār gīga, in Mālwa Kūka), meaning ‘a small boy’ (Āīn, i. 339; Elliot-Dowson v. 397, 410).]

2. Sagarji held the fortress and lands of Kandhar. His descendants formed an extensive clan called Sagarawats, who continued to hold Kandhar till the time of Sawai Jai Singh of Amber, whose situation as one of the great tatraps of the Mogul court enabled him to wrest it from Sagarji’s issue, upon theirtheir refusal to intermarry with the house of Amber. The great Mahabat Khan, the most intrepid of Jahangir’s generals, was an apostate Sagarawat. They established many chieftainships in Central India, as Umri Bhadaura, Ganeshganj, Digdoli; places better known to Sindhia’s officers than to the British. [It is remarkable that the author believed that Mahābat Khān was a Rājput. This man, the De Montfort of Jahāngīr, had such close Hindu affinities and associations that he was thought to be a Hindu. He was a Musulmān, Zamāna Beg of Kābul, best known for his arrest of Jahāngīr in 1628. He died in 1644. (Jahāngīr, Memoirs, Rogers-Beveridge i. 24; Āīn, i. 337 f., 347, 371, 414; Elphinstone, Hist. of India, 567.)]

3. I have climbed the rocks, crossed the streams, and traversed the plains which were the theatre of Partap’s glory, and conversed with the lineal descendants of Jaimall and Patta on the deeds of their forefathers, and many a time has the tear started in their eye at the tale they recited.

4. The first invented drinking cup or eating vessel being made from the leaf (pat) of particular trees, especially the palasa (Butea frondosa) and bar (Ficus religiosa). The cups of a beautiful brown earthenware, made at Kotharia, are chiefly pateras, of a perfectly classical shape. Query, the Roman patera>, or the Greek ποτήρ, or Saxon pot>? [patera, pateo, ‘to lie open’; pot. O.E. pott>, Lat. potus, ‘drinking.’]

5. [For some further details see Rāsmāla, 307.]

6. The bridge of Rama, the southern point of the peninsula [IGI, xxi. 173 ff.]

7. Mimosa [Acacia] Arabica.

8. A.H. 977, A.D. 1569. [Āīn, i. 429 f.]

9. There is less euphony in the English than in the French designation, Udai ‘le Gros.’ [Erskine (iii. A. 58) with less probability says it may mean ‘great, potent, good.’]

10. Godwar, Rs. 900,000; Ujjain, 249,914; Debalpur, 182,500; Badnawar, 250,000.

11. The magnificent tomb of Jodh Bai, the mother of Shah Jahan, is at Sikandra, near Agra, and not far from that in which Akbar’s remains are deposited. [Jodh Bāi is a title, meaning ‘Jodhpur lady.’ There were some doubts about her identity, but she was certainly daughter of Udai Singh and wife of Jahāngīr (Āīn, i. 619). For her tomb see Sleeman, Rambles, 348.]

12. The causes of exemption are curious, and are preserved in a regular treaty with the emperor, a copy of which the author possesses, which will be given in The Annals of Bundi.

13. [Akbar married a daughter of Rāja Bihāri Mall and sister of Bhagwāndās (Āīn, i. 310, 339). There is no evidence of the marriage of Humāyūn into this family.]

14. When Raja Man was commanded to reduce the revolted province of Kabul, he hesitated to cross the Indus, the Rubicon of the Hindu, and which they term Atak, or ‘the barrier,’ as being the limit between their faith and the barbarian. On the Hindu prince assigning this as his reason for not leading his Rajputs to the snowy Caucasus, the accomplished Akbar sent him a couplet in the dialect of Rajasthan:—

“Sabhi bhūmi Gopāl kī

Jā men Atak kaha,

Jā ke man men atak he,

Soī Atak raha.”

“The whole earth is of God,

In which he has placed the Atak.

The mind that admits impediments

Will always find an Atak.”

[Dr. Tessitori, whose version is given, remarks that the popular form of the third line is: Bhītar tāti pāp ki.] This delicate irony succeeded when stronger language would have failed.

15. The Hindus, as did the Greeks and other nations of antiquity, always made offering of the first portion of each meal to the gods. Anndeva, ‘the god of food.’

16. [This is impossible, because Salīm, afterwards the Emperor Jahāngīr, was only in his seventh year. The generals in command were Mān Singh and Āsaf Khān.]

17. [Rakhabhdev, with a famous Jain temple, forty miles south of Udaipur city (Erskine ii. A. 118).]

18. Whoever has travelled through the Oberhasli of Meyringen, in the Oberland Bernois, requires no description of the alpine Aravalli. The Col de Balme, in the vale of Chamouni, is, on a larger scale, the Haldighat of Mewar.

19. Three from the spear, one shot, and three by the sword.

20. The descendants of Mana yet hold Sadri and all the privileges obtained on this occasion. Their kettle-drums beat to the gate of the palace, a privilege allowed to none besides, and they are addressed by the title of Raj, or royal.

21. [The battle fought on June 18, 1576, is known to Musalmān historians as the battle of Khamnaur or Khamnor, twenty-six miles north of Udaipur city (Badaoni ii. 237; Akbarnāma, iii. 244 ff.; Elliot-Dowson v. 398; Āīn, i. 339; Smith, Akbar the Great Mogul, 151 ff.).]

22. ‘Chetak ka Chabutra’ is near to Jharol.

23. The mother of Sakta was the Baijiraj, ‘Royal Mother’ (Queen Dowager) of Mewar. She loved this son, and left Udaipur to superintend his household at Bhainsror: since which renunciation of rank to affection, the mothers of the senior branch of Saktawat are addressed Baijiraj. [Bhainsror is now held by a Chondāwat Rāwat.]

24. Eight hundred rupees, or £100 daily, is the sum recorded for the support of this prince.

25. The date of this battle is Magh Sudi 7, S. 1633, A.D. 1577.

26. [For the career of Shāhbaz Khān, known as Koka or ‘foster-brother,’ who died in 1600, see Āīn, i. 399 ff. Kūmbhalmer was captured in 1578-9 (Elliot-Dowson v. 410, vi. 58). “About 1578” (Erskine ii. A. 116).]

27. A town in the heart of the mountainous tract on the south-west of Mewar, called Chappan, containing about three hundred and fifty towns and villages, peopled chiefly by the aboriginal Bhils.

28. Called Ami Sah in the Annals.

29. [Akbar was anxious to destroy Partāp, but he could not carry on a guerilla campaign in Rājputana, and he had work to do elsewhere (Smith, Akbar the Great Mogul, 153).]

30. [Mirza Abdu-r-rahīm, son of Bairām Khān (Āīn, i. 334).]

31. A colloquialcolloquial contraction for Partap.

32. Called Mol.

33. [Rāē Singh (1571-1611).]

34. It is no affectation to say that the spirit evaporates in the lameness of the translation. The author could feel the force, though he failed to imitate the strength, of the original.

35. [Āīn, i. 276 f.; Memoirs of Jahāngīr, trans. Rogers-Beveridge, 48 f.]

36. At these royal fairs were also sold the productions of princely artisans, male and female, and which, out of compliment to majesty, made a bounteous return for their industry. It is a fact but little known, that most Asiatic princes profess a trade: the great Aurangzeb was a cap-maker, and sold them to such advantage on these ‘ninth day’ fairs, that his funeral expenses were by his own express command defrayed from the privy purse, the accumulation of his personal labour. A delightful anecdote is recorded of the Khilji king Mahmud, whose profession was literary, and who obtained good prices from his Omrahs for his specimens of calligraphy. While engaged in transcribing one of the Persian poets, a professed scholar, who with others attended the conversazione, suggested an emendation, which was instantly attended to, and the supposed error remedied. When the Mullah was gone, the monarch erased the emendation and re-inserted the passage. An Omrah had observed and questioned the action, to which the king replied: “It was better to make a blot in the manuscript than wound the vanity of a humble scholar.” [Ferishta tells the story of Nāsiru-d-dīn Mahmūd, i. 246.]

37. [Compare the later accounts of these fairs by Bernier 272 f.; and Manucci i. 195. Aurangzeb transferred the Nauroz rejoicings to the coronation festival in Ramazān (Jadunath Sarkar, Life of Aurangzib, iii. 93). The ladies of the Mughal court usually spoke, not Pushto, but Turki.]

38. This laxity, as regards female delicacy, must have been a remnant of Scythic barbarism, brought from the banks of the Jaxartes, the land of the Getae, where now, as in the days of Tomyris, a shoe at the door is a sufficient barrier to the entrance of many Tatar husbands. It is a well-known fact, also, that the younger son in these regions inherited a greater share than the elder, which is attributed to their pastoral habits, which invited early emigration in the elder sons. This habit prevailed with the Rajput tribes of very early times, and the annals of the Yadus, a race allied to the Yuti-Getae, or Jāt, afford many instances of it. Modified it yet exists amongst the Jarejas (of the same stock), with whom the sons divide equally; which custom was transmitted to Europe by these Getic hordes, and brought into England by the Jut brothers, who founded the kingdom of Kent (kanthi, ‘a coast’ in Gothic and Sanskrit), where it is yet known as Gavelkind. In English law it is termed borough-English. In Scotland it existed in barbarous times, analogous to those when the Nauroza was sanctioned; and the lord of the manor had privileges which rendered it more than doubtful whether the first-born was natural heir: hence, the youngest was the heir. So in France, in ancient times; and though the ‘droit de Jambage’ no longer exists, the term sufficiently denotes the extent of privilege, in comparison with which the other rights of ‘Noçages,’ the seigneur’s feeding his greyhounds with the best dishes and insulting the bride’s blushes with ribald songs, were innocent. [The ethnological views in this note do not deserve notice.]

39. The loss of this is the sign of mourning. [There is naturally no confirmation of these anecdotes in the Musalmān historians, but they possibly may be true.]

40. [See p. 398, above.]

41. These mountains are of granite and close-grained quartz; but on the summit of the pass there is a mass of columnar rocks, which, though the author never examined them very closely, he has little hesitation in calling basaltic. Were it permitted to intrude his own feelings on his reader, he would say, he never passed the portals of Debari, which close the pass leading from Chitor to Udaipur, without throwing his eye on this fantastic pinnacle and imagining the picture he has drawn. Whoever, in rambling through the ‘eternal city,’ has had his sympathy awakened in beholding at the Porta Salaria the stone seat where the conqueror of the Persians and the Goths, the blind Belisarius, begged his daily dole,—or pondered at the unsculptured tomb of Napoleon upon the vicissitudes of greatness, will appreciate the feeling of one who, in sentiment, had identified himself with the Rajputs, of whom Partap was justly the model.

42. [A pun on maur, ‘a crown,’ and the Maurya tribe.]

43. ‘The queen of battlements,’ the turreted Cybele of Rajasthan.

44. This magnificent lake is now adorned with marble palaces. Such was the wealth of Mewar even in her decline. [The lake is said to have been constructed by a Banjāra at the end of the fourteenth century, and the embankment was built by Rāna Udai Singh in 1560. The lake is 2¼ miles long, and 1¼ broad, with an area of over one square mile. In the middle stand the island palaces, the Jagmandir and the Jagniwās (Erskine ii. A. 109).]

CHAPTER 12

Rāna Amar Singh I., A.D. 1597-1620.

—Of the seventeen sons of Partap, Amra, who succeeded him, was the eldest. From the early age of eight to the hour of his parent’s death, he had been his constant companion and the partner of his toils and dangers. Initiated by his noble sire in every act of mountain strife, familiar with its perils, he entered on his career[1] in the very flower of manhood, already attended by sons able to maintain whatever his sword might recover of his patrimony.

Akbar, the greatest foe of Mewar, survived Partap nearly eight years.[2] The vast field in which he had to exert the resources of his mind, necessarily withdrew him from a scene where even success ill repaid the sacrifices made to attain it. Amra was left in perfect repose during the remainder of this monarch’s life, which it was not wisdom to disturb by the renewal of a contest against the colossal power of the Mogul. An extended reign of more than half a century permitted Akbar to consolidate the vast empire he had erected, and to model the form of his [351] government, which displays, as handed down by Abu-l Fazl, an incontestable proof of his genius as well as of his natural beneficence. Nor would the Mogul lose, on being contrasted with the contemporary princes of Europe: with Henry IV. of France, who, like himself, ascended a throne weakened by dissension; with Charles V., alike aspiring to universal sway: or the glorious queen of our own isle, who made advances to Akbar and sent him an embassy.[3] Akbar was fortunate as either Henry or Elizabeth in the choice of his ministers. The lofty integrity, military genius, and habits of civil industry, for which Sully was distinguished, found their parallel in Bairam; and if Burleigh equalled in wisdom, he was not superior in virtue to Abu-l Fazl, nor possessed of his excessive benevolence. Unhappily for Mewar, all this genius and power combined to overwhelm her. It is, however, a proud tribute to the memory of the Mogul that his name is united with that of his rival Partap in numerous traditionary couplets honourable to both; and if the Rajput bard naturally emblazons first on his page that of his own hero, he admits that none other but Akbar can stand a comparison with him; thereby confirming the eulogy of the historian of his race, who, in summing up his character, observes that, “if he sometimes did things beneath the dignity of a great king, he never did anything unworthy of a good man.” But if the annalist of the Bundi State can be relied upon, the very act which caused Akbar’s death will make us pause ere we subscribe to these testimonies to the worth of departed greatness, and, disregarding the adage of only speaking good of the dead, compel us to institute, in imitation of the ancient Egyptians, a posthumous inquest on the character of the monarch of the Moguls. The Bundi records are well worthy of belief, as diaries of events were kept by her princes, who were of the first importance in this and the succeeding reigns: and they may be more likely to throw a light upon points of character of a tendency to disgrace the Mogul king, than the historians of his court, who had every reason to withhold such. A desire to be rid of the great Raja Man of Amber, to whom he was so much indebted, made the emperor descend [352] to act the part of the assassin. He prepared a ma’ajun, or confection, a part of which contained poison; but, caught in his own snare, he presented the innoxious portion to the Rajput and ate that drugged with death himself.[4] We have a sufficient clue to the motives which influenced Akbar to a deed so unworthy of him, and which were more fully developed in the reign of his successor; namely, a design on the part of Raja Man to alter the succession, and that Khusru, his nephew, should succeed instead of Salim. With such a motive, the aged emperor might have admitted with less scruple the advice which prompted an act he dared not openly undertake, without exposing the throne in his latter days to the dangers of civil contention, as Raja Man was too powerful to be openly assaulted.

The Administration of Rāna Amar Singh.

—Let us return to Mewar. Amra remodelled the institutions of his country, made a new assessment of the lands and distribution of the fiefs, apportioning the service to the times. He also established the gradation of ranks such as yet exists, and regulated the sumptuary laws even to the tie of a turban,[5] and many of these are to be seen engraved on pillars of stone in various parts of the country.

The repose thus enjoyed realized the prophetic fears of Partap, whose admonitions were forgotten. Amra constructed a small palace on the banks of the lake, named after himself ‘the abode of immortality,’[6] still remarkable for its Gothic contrast to the splendid marble edifice erected by his successors, now the abode of the princes of Mewar.

Jahāngīr attacks Mewār.

—Jahangir had been four years on the throne, and having overcome all internal dissension, resolved to signalize his reign by the subjugation of the only prince who had disdained to acknowledge the paramount power of the Moguls; and assembling the royal forces, he put them in motion for Mewar.

Amra, between the love of ease and reputation, wavered as to the conduct he should adopt; nor were sycophants wanting who

Counselled ignoble ease and peaceful sloth,

Not peace:

and dared to prompt his following the universal contagion, by accepting the imperial farman. In such a state of mind the chiefs found their prince, when [353] they repaired to the new abode to warn him, and prepare him for the emergency. But the gallant Chondawat, recalling to their remembrance the dying behest of their late glorious head, demanded its fulfilment. All resolved to imitate the noble Partap,

... preferring

Hard liberty before the easy yoke

Of servile pomp.

Chief of Salūmbar intervenes.

—A magnificent mirror of European fabrication adorned the embryo palace. Animated with a noble resentment at the inefficacy of his appeal to the better feelings of his prince, the chieftain of Salumbar hurled ‘the slave of the carpet’[7] against the splendid bauble, and starting up, seized his sovereign by the arm and moved him from the throne. “To horse, chiefs!” he exclaimed, “and preserve from infamy the son of Partap.” A burst of passion followed the seeming indignity, and the patriot chief was branded with the harsh name of traitor; but with his sacred duty in view, and supported by every vassal of note, he calmly disregarded the insult. Compelled to mount his steed, and surrounded by the veterans and all the chivalry of Mewar, Amra’s passion vented itself in tears of indignation. In such a mood the cavalcade descended the ridge, since studded with palaces, and had reached the spot where the temple of Jagannath now stands, when he recovered from this fit of passion; the tear ceased to flow, and passing his hand over his moustache,[8] he made a courteous salutation to all, entreating their forgiveness for this omission of respect; but more especially expressing his gratitude to Salumbar, he said, “Lead on, nor shall you ever have to regret your late sovereign.” Elevated with every sentiment of generosity and valour, they passed on to Dawer, where they encountered the royal army led by the brother of the Khankhanan, as it entered the pass, and which, after a long and sanguinary combat, they entirely defeated.[9]

Defeat of the Imperialists.

—The honours of the day are chiefly attributed to the brave Kana, uncle to the Rana, and ancestor of that numerous clan called after him Kanawats. A truce followed this battle, but it was of short duration; for another and yet more murderous conflict took place in the spring of 1666, in the pass of the sacred Ranpur [354], where the imperial army, under its leader Abdulla, was almost exterminated;[10] though with the loss of the best and bravest of the chiefs of Mewar, whose names, however harsh, deserve preservation.[11] A feverish exultation was the fruit of this victory, which shed a hectic flush of glory over the declining days of Mewar, when the crimson banner once more floated throughout the province of Godwar.

Jahāngīr establishes Sagra as Rāna.

—Alarmed at these successive defeats, Jahangir, preparatory to equipping a fresh army against Mewar, determined to establish a new Rana, and to instal him in the ancient seat of power, Chitor, thus hoping to withdraw from the standard of Amra many of his adherents. The experiment evinced at least a knowledge of their prejudices; but, to the honour of Rajput fidelity, it failed. Sagra, who abandoned Partap and went over to Akbar, was selected;[12] the sword of investiture was girded on him by the emperor’s own hands, and under the escort of a Mogul force he went to reign amidst the ruins of Chitor. Her grandeur, even in desolation, is beautifully depicted at this very period by the chaplain to the embassy from Elizabeth to Jahangir, the members composing which visited the capital of the Sesodias in their route to Ajmer.[13]

For seven years Sagra had a spurious homage paid to him amidst this desolation, the ruined pride of his ancestors. But it is gratifying to record, that not even by this recreant son of Chitor could the impressions formed in contemplating such scenes be resisted; and Sagra, though flinty as the rock to a brother and nephew, could not support the silent admonition of the altars of the heroes who had fallen in her defence. The triumphal column raised for victory over a combination of [355] kings, was a perpetual memento of his infamy; nor could he pass over one finger’s breadth of her ample surface, without treading on some fragment which reminded him of their great deeds and his own unworthiness. We would be desirous of recording, that a nobler remembrancer than ‘coward conscience,’ animated the brother of Partap to an act of redeeming virtue; but when the annals tell us, that “the terrific Bhairon (the god of battle) openly manifested his displeasure,” it is decisive that it was not less the wish for greatness, than the desire to be “without the illness should attend it”; and sending for his nephew, he restored to him Chitor, retiring to the isolated Kandhar.[14] Some time after, upon going to court, and being upbraided by Jahangir, he drew his dagger and slew himself in the emperor’s presence: an end worthy of such a traitor.[15]

Conquests of Rāna Amar Singh I.

—Amra took possession of the seat of his ancestors; but wanting the means to put it in defence, the acquisition only served to increase the temporary exultation. The evil resulting from attaching so much consequence to a capital had been often signally manifested; as to harass the enemy from their mountains, and thereby render his conquests unavailing, was the only policy which could afford the chance of independence. With Chitor the Rana acquired, by surrender or assault, possession of no less than eighty of the chief towns and fortresses of Mewar: amongst them Untala, at whose capture occurred the patriotic struggle between the clans of Chondawat and Saktawat for the leading of the vanguard, elsewhere related.[16] On this memorable storm, besides the leaders of the rival bands, five of the infant clan Saktawat, consisting but of sixteen brave brothers, with three of the house of Salumbar, perished, struggling for the immortality promised by the bard. We may here relate the rise of the Saktawats, with which is materially connected the future history of Mewar.

Sakta and the Saktāwats.

—Sakta was the second of the twenty-four sons of Udai Singh. When only five years of age, he discovered that fearless temperament which marked his manhood [356]. The armourer having brought a new dagger to try its edge by the usual proof on thinly spread cotton, the child asked the Rana “if it was not intended to cut bones and flesh,” and seizing it, tried it on his own little hand. The blood gushed on the carpet, but he betrayed no symptom of pain or surprise. Whether his father admitted the tacit reproof of his own want of nerve, or that it recalled the prediction of the astrologers, who, in casting Sakta’s horoscope, had announced that he was to be “the bane of Mewar,” he was incontinently commanded to be put to death, and was carried off for this purpose, when saved by the Salumbar chief, who arrested the fiat, sped to the Rana, and begged his life as a boon, promising, having no heirs, to educate him as the future head of the Chondawats. The Salumbar chief had children in his old age, and while wavering between his own issue and the son of his adoption, the young Sakta was sent for to court by his brother Partap. The brothers for a considerable time lived on the most amicable footing, unhappily interrupted by a dispute while hunting, which in time engendered mutual dislike. While riding in the ring, Partap suddenly proposed to decide their quarrel by single combat, “to see who was the best lancer.” Not backward, Sakta replied, “Do you begin”; and some little time was lost in a courteous struggle for the first spear, when, as they took their ground and agreed to charge together, the Purohit[17] rushed between the combatants and implored them not to ruin the house. His appeal, however, being vain, there was but one way left to prevent the unnatural strife: the priest drew his dagger, and plunging it in his breast, fell a lifeless corpse between the combatants. Appalled at the horrid deed, ‘the blood of the priest on their head,’ they desisted from their infatuated aim. Partap, waving his hand, commanded Sakta to quit his dominions, who bowing retired, and carried his resentments to Akbar. Partap performed with the obsequies of this faithful servant many expiatory rites, and made an irrevocable grant of Salera to his son, still enjoyed by his descendants, while a small column yet identifies the spot of sacrifice to fidelity. From that hour to the memorable day when the founder of the Saktawats gained the birad of the race ‘Khurasan Multan ka Aggal,’ on the occasion of his saving his sovereign flying from the field, the brothers had never beheld each other’s face [357].

Sakta had seventeen sons, all of whom, excepting the heir of Bhainsror,[18] attended his obsequies. On return from this rite they found the gates barred against them by Bhanji, now chief of the Saktawats, who told them “there were too many mouths,” and that they must push their fortunes elsewhere while he attended his sovereign with the quota of Bhainsror. They demanded their horses and their arms, if such were his pleasure; and electing Achal as their head (whose wife was then pregnant), they took the route to Idar, which had recently been acquired by a junior branch of the Rathors of Marwar.[19] They had reached Palod when the pangs of childbirth seized the wife of Achal; and being rudely repulsed by the Sonigira vassal of Palod, who refused her shelter at such a moment, they sought refuge amidst the ruins of a temple.[20] It was the shrine of Mata Janavi, ‘the mother of births,’ the Juno Lucina of the Rajputs. In a corner of the sanctuary they placed the mother of a future race; but the rain, which fell in torrents, visibly affected the ruin. A beam of stone gave way, which but for Bala would have crushed her: he supported the sinking roof on his head till the brothers cut down a babul tree, with which they propped it and relieved him. In this retreat Asa (Hope) was born, who became the parent of an extensive branch known as the Achalis Saktawats.

The ‘Great Mother’ was propitious. The parent of ‘Hope’ was soon enabled to resume her journey for Idar, whose chief received them with open arms, and assigned lands for their support. Here they had been some time when the Rana’s prime minister passed through Idar from a pilgrimage to Satrunjaya.[21] A violent storm would have thrown down the tent in which was his wife, but for the exertion of some of the brothers; and the minister, on learning that it was to the near kin of his sovereign he was indebted for this kindness, invited them to Udaipur, taking upon him to provide for them with their own proper head, which they declined without a special invitation. This was not long wanting; for Amra [358] was then collecting the strength of his hills against the king, and the services of the band of brothers, his kinsmen, were peculiarly acceptable. The first act of duty, though humble, is properly recorded, as ennobled by the sentiment which inspired it, and the pictured scene is yet preserved of Bala and Jodha collecting logs of wood for a night fire in the mountain bivouac for their kinsman and sovereign. In the more brilliant exploit which followed Bala took the lead, and though the lord of Bhainsror was in camp, it was Bala who obtained the leading of the vanguard: the commencement of that rivalry of clanship from whence have resulted some of the most daring, and many of the most merciless deeds in the history of Mewar. The right to lead in battle belonged to the Chondawats, and the first intimation the chieftain had of his prince’s inconsiderate insult was from the bard incessantly repeating the ‘birad’ of the clan, until ‘the portal of the ten thousand’ of Mewar deemed him mad. “Not so,” replied he; “but it is, perhaps, the last time your ears may be gratified with the watchword of Chonda, which may to-morrow be given as well as the Harawal to the Saktawats.” An explanation followed, and the assault of Untala ensued, which preserved the rights of the Chondawats, though nobly contested by their rivals. The vassal of Bakrol carried the tidings of the successful assault to the Rana, who arrived in time to receive the last obeisance of Bala, whose parting words to his prince were seized on by the bard and added to the birad of the clan: and although, in sloth and opium, they now “lose and neglect the creeping hours of time,” yet whenever a Saktawat chief enters the court of his sovereign, or takes his seat amongst his brother chiefs, the bards still salute him with the dying words of Bala:

"Dūna dātār.

Chauguna junjhār,

Khurāsān Multān ka āggāl."[22]

Then passing the hand over his moustache, for a moment the escalade of Untala flits before his vision, where Bala, Achalis, Jodha, Dilla, and Chaturbhan, five of the seventeen sons of Sakta, fell for the maintenance of the post of honour [359]. Bhanji soon after performed a service which obtained him the entire favour of his prince, who, returning from Ratlam, was insulted by the Rathors of Bhindar, which was punished by the Saktawat, who took the town by assault, expelling the aggressors. Amra added it to his fief of Bhainsror, and since the latter was bestowed on the rival clan, Bhindar has continued the chief residence of the leader of the Saktawats. Ten chiefs[23] have followed in regular succession, whose issue spread over Mewar, so that in a few generations after Sakta, their prince could muster the swords of ten thousand Saktawats; but internal feuds and interminable spoliation have checked the progress of population, and it might be difficult now to assemble half that number of the ‘children of Sakta’ fit to bear arms.

Renewed Attack by Jahāngīr. Battle of Khāmnor.

—To return. These defeats alarmed Jahangir, who determined to equip an overwhelming force to crush the Rana. To this end he raised the imperial standard at Ajmer, and assembled the expedition under his immediate inspection, of which he appointed his son Parvez commander, with instructions on departure “that if the Rana or his elder son Karan should repair to him, to receive them with becoming attention, and to offer no molestation to the country.”[24] But the Sesodia prince little thought of submission: on the contrary, flushed with success, he gave the royal army the meeting at a spot oft moistened with blood, the pass of Khamnor,[25] leading into the heart of the hills. The imperial army was disgracefully beaten, and fled, pursued with great havoc, towards Ajmer. The Mogul historian admits it to have been a glorious day for Mewar. He describes Parvez entangled in the passes, dissensions in his camp, his supplies cut off, and under all [360] these disadvantages attacked; his precipitate flight and pursuit, in which the royal army lost vast numbers of men.[26] But Jahangir in his diary slurs it over, and simply remarks: “Fearing that Khusrau’s affair might be prolonged, I ordered my son Parwīz to leave some of the Sardārs to look after the Rānā, and to come to Agra with Āsaf Khān and a body of those nearly connected with him in the service.”[27]

This son, tutored by the great Mahabat Khan, fared no better than Parvez; he was routed and slain. But the Hydra was indestructible; for every victory, while it cost the best blood of Mewar, only multiplied the number of her foes. Seventeen pitched battles had the illustrious Rajput fought since the death of his father: but the loss of his experienced veterans withered the laurels of victory, nor had he sufficient repose either to husband his resources or to rear his young heroes to replace them. Another and yet more mighty army was assembled under Prince Khurram, the ablest of the sons of Jahangir, and better known in history as Shah Jahan, when emperor of the Moguls.

Again did the Rana with his son Karan collect the might of their hills; but a handful of warriors was all their muster to meet the host of Delhi, and the ‘crimson banner,’ which for more than eight hundred years had waved in proud independence over the heads of the Guhilots, was now to be abased to the son of Jahangir. The Emperor’s own pen shall narrate the termination of this strife.

"My chief object, after my visit to the Khwāja [the tomb of Mu’īnu-d-dīn Chishti, the saint of Ajmer] was to put a stop to the affair of the rebel Rānā. On this account I determined to remain myself at Ajmīr and send on Bābā Khurram, my fortunate son. This idea was a very good one, and on this account, on the 6th of Day [tenth month of the solar year] at the hour fixed on, I dispatched him in happiness and triumph. I presented him with a qabā (outer coat) of gold brocade with jewelled flowers and pearls round the flowers, a brocaded turban with strings of pearls, a gold woven sash with chains of pearls, one of my private elephants called Fath Gaj, with trappings, a splendid horse, a jewelled sword, with a phūl katāra (dagger). In addition to the men first appointed to this duty under the leadership of Khān A’zam, I sent 12,000 more horse with my son, and honoured their khil’at (wearing robes of honour) leaders."[28]

On 14th Isfandārmuz [twelfth month of the solar year] "a representation came from my son Bābā Khurram that the elephant ‛Ālam Gumān [‘arrogant of the earth’], of which the Rānā was very fond, together with seventeen ‛Ālamgumān other elephants, had fallen into the hands of the victorious army."[29] Jahāngīr rode this elephant on the second day of the New Year, which began on 21st March 1614.[30]

"In the month of Bahman [eleventh solar month] there came pieces of good news, one after the other. The first was that the Rānā Amar Singh had elected for obedience and service to the Court. The circumstances of this affair are these. Sultān Khurram, by dint of placing a great many posts, especially in some places where most people said it was impossible to place them on account of the badness of the air and water and the wild nature of the localities, and by dint of moving the royal forces one after another in pursuit, without regard to the heat or excessive rain, and making prisoners of the inhabitants of that region, brought matters with the Rānā to such a pass that it became clear to him that if this should happen to him again he must either fly the country or be made prisoner. Being without remedy, he chose obedience and loyalty, and sent to my fortunate son his maternal uncle Subhkaran, with Haridās Jhālā, who was one of the two men in his confidence, and petitioned that if that fortunate son would ask forgiveness for his offences and tranquillize his mind, and obtain for him the auspicious sign-manual (panja,[31] the mark of the Emperor’s five fingers), he would himself wait on my son, and would send his son and successor, Karan Singh, or he, after the manner of other Rājas, would be enrolled among the servants of the Court and do service. He also begged that he himself might be excused from coming to Court on account of his old age. Accordingly, my son sent them in company with his own Dīwān, Mullā Shukru-llah, whom after the conclusion of this business I dignified with the title of Afzal Khān, and Sundar Dās, his major-domo, who, after the matter was settled, was honoured with the title of Rāy Rayān, to the exalted Court, and represented the circumstances. My lofty mind was always desirous, as far as possible, not to destroy the old families. The real point was that as Rānā Amar Singh and his fathers, proud in the strength of the hilly country and their abodes, had never seen or obeyed any of the kings of Hindustan, this should be brought about in my reign. At the request of my son, I forgave the Rānā’s offences, and gave a gracious farmān that should satisfy him, and impressed on it the mark of my auspicious palm. I also wrote a farmān of kindness to my son that if he could arrange to settle the matter I should be much pleased. My son also sent them [perhaps the uncle and Haridās, or the farmāns] with Mullā Shukru-llah and Sundar Dās to the Rānā to console him and make him hopeful of the royal favour. They gave him the gracious farmān with the sign-manual of the auspicious hand, and it was settled that on Sunday, the 26th of the month Bahman, he and his sons should come and pay their respects to my son."[32]

"In the end of this month, when I was employed in hunting in the environs of Ajmīr, Muhammad Beg, an attendant on my fortunate son Sultān Khurram, came and brought a report from that son, and stated that the Rānā had come with his sons and paid his respects to the prince: the details would be made known by the report. I immediately turned the face of supplication to the Divine Court, and prostrated myself in thanksgiving. I presented a horse, an elephant, and a jewelled dagger to the aforesaid Muhammad Khān, and honoured him with the title of Zu-l-faqār Khān [‘Lord of the sword’]."[33]

"From the report it appeared that on Sunday the 26th Bahman, the Rānā paid his respects to my fortunate son with the politeness and ritual that servants pay their respects, and produced as offerings a famous large ruby that was in his house, with some decorated articles and seven elephants, some of them fit for the private stud, and which had not fallen into our hands, and were the only ones left him, and nine horses. My son also behaved to him with perfect kindness. When the Rānā clasped his feet and asked forgiveness for his faults, he took his hand and placed it on his breast, and consoled him in such a manner as to comfort him. He presented him with a superb dress of honour, a jewelled sword, a horse with a jewelled saddle, and a private elephant with silver housings, and as there were not more than 100 men with him who were worthy of complete robes of honour, he gave 100 sarupā [dresses] and 50 horses and 12 jewelled khapwā [daggers]. As it is the custom of the Zamīndārs[34] that the son who is the heir-apparent should not go with his father to pay his respects to a king or prince,[35] the Rānā observed this custom, and did not bring with him Karan, the son who had received the tīkā [forehead mark of inauguration]. As the hour (fixed by astrology) of his departure of that son of lofty fortune from that place was the end of that same day, he gave him leave, so that, having himself gone, he might send Karan to pay his respects. To him also he gave a superb dress of honour, a jewelled sword and dagger, a horse with a gold saddle, and a special elephant, and on the same day, taking Karan in attendance, he proceeded towards the illustrious Court."[36]

"In my interview with Sultan Khurram on his arrival at Ajmer,[37] he represented that if it was my pleasure he would present the prince Karan, whom I accordingly desired him to bring. He arrived, paid his respects, and his rank was commanded to be, at the request of my son, immediately on my right hand, and I rewarded him with suitable khilats. As Karan, owing to the rude life he had led in his native hills, was extremely shy, and unused to the pageantry and experience of a court, in order to reconcile and give him confidence I daily gave him some testimonies of my regard and protection, and in the second day of his service I gave him a jewelled dagger, and on the third a choice steed of Irak with rich caparisons; and on the same day, I took him with me to the queen’s court, when the queen, Nur Jahan, made him splendid khilats, elephant and horse caparisoned, sword, etc. The same day I gave him a rich necklace of pearls, another day an elephant, and it was my wish to give him rarities and choice things of every kind. I gave him three royal hawks and three gentle falcons trained to the hand,[38] coat of mail, chain and plate armour, and two rings of value; and, on the last day of the month, carpets, state cushions, perfumes, vessels of gold, and a pair of the bullocks of Gujarat.[39]

"10th year.[40] At this time I gave prince Karan leave to return to his jagir;[41] when I bestowed on him an elephant, horse, and a pearl necklace valued at 50,000 rupees (£5000); and from the day of his repairing to my court to that of his departure, the value of the various gifts I presented him exceeded ten lakhs of rupees (£125,000), exclusive of one hundred and ten horses, five elephants, or what my son Khurram gave him. I sent Mubarik Khan along with [364] him, by whom I sent an elephant, horse, etc., and various confidential messages to the Rana.

"On the 8th Safar[42] of the 10th year of the H. 1024 Karan was elevated to the dignity of a Mansabdar[43] of five thousand, when I presented him with a bracelet of pearls, in which was a ruby of great price.

"24th Muharram,[44] 10th year (A.D. 1615), Jagat Sing, son of Karan, aged twelve years, arrived at court and paid his respects, and presented the arzis of his father and grandfather, Rana Amra Singh. His countenance carried the impression of his illustrious extraction,[45] and I delighted his heart with presents and kindness.

"On the 10th Shaban,[46] Jagat Singh had permission to return to his house. At his departure I presented him with 20,000 rupees, a horse, elephant, and khilats [365]; and to Haridas Jhala, preceptor of Prince Karan, 5000 rupees, a horse, and khilat; and I sent by him six golden images[47] to the Rana.

"28th Rabiu-l-Ākhir,[48] 11th year. The statues of the Rana and Karan, sculptured in white marble, I desired should have inscribed the date in which they were prepared and presented, and commanded they should be placed in the gardens at Agra.[49]

"In the 11th year of my reign an arzi from Itimad Khan acquainted me that Sultan Khurram had entered the Rana’s country, and that prince and his son had both exchanged visits with my son; and that from the tribute, consisting of seven elephants, twenty-seven saddle horses, trays of jewels, and ornaments of gold, my son took three horses and returned all the rest, and engaged that Prince Karan and fifteen hundred Rajput horse should remain with him in the wars.

"In the 13th year Prince Karan repaired to my court, then at Sindla, to congratulate me on my victories and conquest of the Deccan, and presented 100 mohars,[50] 1000 rupees, nazarana, and effects in gold and jewels to the amount of 21,000 rupees, hardy elephants and horses; the last I returned, but kept the rest, and next day presented him a dress of honour; and from Fatehpur gave him his leave, with elephant, horse, sword, and dagger, and a horse for his father.

"14th year of my reign. On the 17th Rabiu-l-awwal,[51] 1029 H., I received intelligence of the death of Rana Amra Singh.[52] To Jagat Singh, his grandson, and Bhim Singh, his son, in attendance, I gave khilats, and dispatched Raja Kishordas[53] with the farman conferring benefits and with the dignity of Rana, the khilat of investiture, choice horses, and a letter of condolence suitable to the occasion to Prince Karan. 7th Shawwal.[54] Biharidas Brahman I dispatched with a [366] farman to Rana Karan, desiring that his son with his contingent should attend me."

Treatment of the Rāna by Jahāngīr.

—To have generalized this detail of the royal historian would have been to lessen the interest of this important period in the annals of Mewar. Jahangir merits to have his exultation, his noble and unostentatious conduct, described by his own pen, the extreme minuteness of which description but increases the interest. With his self-gratulation, he bears full testimony to the gallant and long-protracted resistance of the Rajputs; and while he impartially, though rather erroneously, estimates their motives and means of opposition, he does Amra ample justice in the declaration, that he did not yield until he had but the alternative of captivity or exile; and with a magnanimity above all praise, he records the Rajput prince’s salvo for his dignity, “that he would hold himself excused from attending in person.” The simple and naïve declaration of his joy, "his going abroad on ‛Alam Guman," the favourite elephant of the Rana which had been captured, on learning his submission, is far stronger than the most pompous testimony of public rejoicing. But there is a heart-stirring philanthropy in the conduct of the Mogul which does him immortal honour; and in commanding his son “to treat the illustrious one according to his heart’s wishes,” though he so long and so signally had foiled the royal armies, he proved himself worthy of the good fortune he acknowledges, and well shows his sense of the superiority of the chief of all the Rajputs, by placing the heir of Mewar, even above all the princes of his own house, ‘immediately on his right hand.’ Whether he attempts to relieve the shyness of Karan, or sets forth the princely appearance of Jagat Singh, we see the same amiable feeling operating to lighten the chains of the conquered. But the shyness of Karan deserved a worthier term: he felt the degradation which neither the statues raised to them, the right hand of the monarch, the dignity of a ‘commander of five thousand,’ or even the restoration of the long-alienated territory could neutralize, when the kingdom to which he was heir was called a fief (jagir), and himself, ‘the descendant of a hundred kings,’ a vassal (jagirdar) of the empire, under whose banner, which his ancestors had so signally opposed, he was now to follow with a contingent of fifteen hundred Rajput horse.

Seldom has subjugated royalty met with such consideration; yet, to a lofty mind like Amra’s, this courteous condescension but increased the severity of endurance [367]. In the bitterness of his heart he cursed the magnanimity of Khurram, himself of Rajput blood[55] and an admirer of Rajput valour, which circumstance more than the force of his arms had induced him to surrender; for Khurram demanded but the friendship of the Rajput as the price of peace, and to withdraw every Muhammadan from Mewar if the Rana would but receive the emperor’s farman outside of his capital. This his proud soul rejected; and though he visited Prince Khurram as a friend, he spurned the proposition of acknowledging a superior, or receiving the rank and titles awaiting such an admission. The noble Amra, who—

Rather than be less,

Cared not to be at all—

took the resolution to abdicate[56] the throne he could no longer hold but at the will of another. Assembling his chiefs, and disclosing his determination, he made the tīka on his son’s forehead; and observing that the honour of Mewar was now in his hands, forthwith left the capital and secluded himself in the Nauchauki:[57] nor did he from that hour cross its threshold, but to have his ashes deposited with those of his fathers.

Character of Rāna Amar Singh.

—All comment is superfluous on such a character as Rana Amra. He was worthy of Partap and his race. He possessed all the physical as well as mental qualities of a hero, and was the tallest and strongest of all the princes of Mewar. He was not so fair as they usually are, and he had a reserve bordering upon gloominess, doubtless occasioned by his reverses, for it was not natural to him; he was beloved by his chiefs for the qualities they most esteem, generosity and valour, and by his subjects for his justice and kindness, of which we can judge from his edicts, many of which yet live on the column or the rock [368].

1. S. 1653, A.D. 1597.

2. [It has now been established by Mr. V. A. Smith that Akbar died on October 17, O.S., October 27, N.S., 1605 (IA, xliv. November 1915).]

3. The embassy under Sir Thomas Roe was prepared by Elizabeth, but did not proceed till the accession of James. He arrived just as Mewar had bent her head to the Mogul yoke, and speaks of the Rajput prince Karan, whom he saw at court as a hostage for the treaty, with admiration. [The embassy was in India from 1615 to 1619. Roe’s Journal has been edited by W. Foster, Hakluyt Society, 1899.]

4. [The question has been discussed in the Būndi Annals, below.]

5. The Amrasahi pagri, or turban, is still used by the Rana and some nobles on court days, but the foreign nobility have the privilege, in this respect, of conforming to their own tribes.

6. Amara mahall.

7. A small brass ornament placed at the corners of the carpet to keep it steady.

8. This is a signal both of defiance and self-gratulation.

9. S. 1664, A.D. 1608.

10. Phalgun 7th, S. 1666, the spring of A.D. 1610. Ferishta [Dow iii. 37] misplaces this battle, making it immediately precede the invasion under Khurram. The defeats of the Mogul forces are generally styled ‘recalls of the commander.’

11. Dudo, Sangawat of Deogarh, Narayandas, Surajmall, Askarn, all Sesodias of the first rank; Puran Mall, son of Bhan, the chief of the Saktawats; Haridas Rathor, Bhopat the Jhala of Sadri, Kahirdas Kachhwaha, Keshodas Chauhan of Bedla, Mukunddas Rathor, Jaimallot, of the blood of Jaimall.

12. [When Partāp was attacked by Akbar, Sakra, as he is called, paid his respects at court, and was appointed Commander of 200 (Āīn, i. 519).]

13. “Chitor, an antient great kingdom, the chief city so called, which standeth upon a mighty hill flat on the top, walled about at the least ten English miles. There appear to this day above a hundred ruined churches, and divers fair palaces, which are lodged in like manner among the ruins, besides many exquisite pillars of carved stone, and the ruins likewise of a hundred thousand stone houses, as many English by their observation have guessed. There is but one ascent unto it, cut out of a firm rock, to which a man must pass through four (sometime very magnificent) gates. Its chief inhabitants at this day are Ziim and Ohim, birds and wild beasts; but the stately ruins thereof give a shadow of its beauty while it flourished in its pride. It was won from Ramas, an ancient Indian prince, who was forced to live himself ever after on high mountainous places adjoining to that province, and his posterity to live there ever since. Taken from him it was by Achabar Padsha (the father of that king who lived and reigned when I was in these parts) after a very long siege, which famished the besieged, without which it could never have been gotten.” [E. Terry, A Voyage to East-India, 1777, p. 77 f.]

14. An isolated rock in the plain between the confluence of the Parbati and Chambal, and the famous Ranthambhor. The author has twice passed it in his travels in these regions.

15. It was one of his sons who apostatized from his faith, who is well known in the imperial history as Mahabat Khan, beyond doubt the most daring chief in Jahangir’s reign [see p. 386, above]. This is the secret of his bond of union with prince Khurram (Shah Jahan), himself half a Rajput. It was with his Rajputs Mahabat did that daring deed, making Jahangir prisoner in his own camp, in the zenith of his power.

16. Page 175, above.

17. Family priest.

18. I have visited the cenotaphs of Sakta and his successors at the almost insulated Bhainsror on the Chambal. The castle is on a rock at the confluence of the black Bamani and the Chambal.

19. [Idar was not occupied by the Rāthors till 1728 (IGI, xiii. 325).]

20. Probably the identical temple to the Mother, in which I found a valuable inscription of Kumarpal of Anhilwara Patan, dated S. 1207. Palod is in the district of Nimbahera, now alienated from Mewar, and under that upstart Pathan, Amir Khan.

21. One of the five sacred mounts of the Jains, of whose faith was the minister. Of these I shall speak at length in the Personal Narrative. [IGI, xix. 316 ff.]

22. ‘Double gifts, fourfold sacrifice.’ Meaning, with increase of their prince’s favour the sacrifice of their lives would progress; and which, for the sake of euphony probably, preceded the birad won by the founder, ‘the barrier to Khurasan and Multan.’

The Birad of the Chondawats is: Das sahas Mewār ka bar Kewār, ‘the portal of the ten thousand [towns] of Mewār.’ It is related that Sakta, jealous of so sweeping a birad, complained that nothing was left for him: when the master bard replied, he was Kewār ka aggal, the bar which secures the door (Kewār).

23.

| Sakta. | —17 sons. |
| Bhanji. |
Dayāl. | Ber. | Man. | Gokuldās. | Pūran Mall.
| Sabal Singh.
| Mokham Singh.
| Amar Singh.
| Prithi Singh.

[to whom succeeded in order Hamīr Singh, Madan Singh, Kesari Singh, and Mādho Singh, the present Mahārāja, who succeeded in 1900 (Erskine ii. A. 99).]

24. A.D. 1611.

25. Translated ‘Brampoor’ in Dow’s Ferishta, and transferred to the Deccan; and the pass (bāla-ghāt) rendered the Bālaghāt mountains of the south. There are numerous similar errors. [The Author seems to be mistaken. Dow (iii. 39) speaks of “Brampour, the capital of the Rana’s dominions.” Khāmnor is in W. Mewār, a little distance south of Nāthdwāra.]

26. The details of battles, unless accompanied by exploits of individuals, are very uninteresting. Under this impression, I have suppressed whatever could impair the current of action by amplification, otherwise not only the Rajput bard, but the contemporary Mogul historian, would have afforded abundant matter; but I have deemed both worthy of neglect in such cases. Ferishta’s history is throughout most faulty in its geographical details, rendered still more obscure from the erroneous orthography, often arising from mistaken punctuation of the only translation of this valuable work yet before the public. There is one gentleman (Lieut.-Col. Briggs) well qualified to remedy these defects, and who, with a laudable industry, has made an entire translation of the works of Ferishta, besides collating the best MSS. of the original text. It is to be hoped he will present his performance to the public. [This appeared in four volumes, 1829; reprinted, Calcutta, 1908.]

27. [Memoirs of Jahāngīr, trans. Rogers-Beveridge, p. 70. The incorrect versions of this and other passages in the text have been replaced from the recent translation and that in Elliot-Dowson.]

28. [Memoirs, 256.]

29. [Ibid. 259.]

30. [Ibid. 260.]

31. The giving the hand amongst all nations has been considered as a pledge for the performance or ratification of some act of importance, and the custom amongst the Scythic or Tatar nations, of transmitting its impress as a substitute, is here practically described. I have seen the identical Farman in the Rana’s archives. The hand being immersed in a compost of sandalwood, is applied to the paper, and the palm and five fingers (panja) are yet distinct. In a masterly delineation of Oriental manners (Carne’s Letters from the East) is given an anecdote of Muhammad, who, unable to sign his name to a convention, dipped his hand in ink, and made an impression therewith. It is evident the Prophet of Islam only followed an ancient solemnity, of the same import as that practised by Jahangir.

32. [Memoirs, 272 ff.]

33. [Ibid. 275.]

34. [The Rāna is purposely treated as a mere landowner under the State.]

35. This was to avoid treachery. I have often had the honour to receive the descendant princes, father and son, ‘of these illustrious ones’ together (note by the Author).

36. [Memoirs, 275 f.]

37. [The remaining part of the narrative is fairly correct, and has been allowed to stand, with necessary corrections in transliteration of proper names.]

38. Baz and Tura.

39. [On the famous oxen of Gujarat see Forbes, Rāsmāla, 540; Watt, Comm. Prod. 733 ff.]

40. Of his reign.

41. Such was now the degraded title of the ancient, independent sovereign Mewar. Happy Partap, whose ashes being mingled with his parent earth, was spared his country’s humiliation!

42. [The second month of the Musalmān calendar.]

43. With this the annals state the restoration of many districts: the Kherar, Phulia, Badnor, Mandalgarh, Jiran, Nimach, and Bhainsror, with supremacy over Deolia, and Dungarpur.

44. [The first month of the Muhammadan year.]

45. It must have been this grandson of Amra of whom Sir Thomas Roe thus writes: “The right issue of Porus is here a king in the midst of the Mogul’s dominions, never subdued till last year; and, to say the truth, he is rather bought than conquered: won to own a superior by gifts and not by arms. The pillar erected by Alexander is yet standing at Delhi, the ancient seat of Rama, the successor of Porus” (Extract of a letter to the Archbishop of Canterbury, dated at Ajmere, January 29, 1615).

Copy of a letter written by the great Mogul unto King James, in the Persian tongue, here faithfully translated, which was as follows:

"Unto a king rightly descended from his ancestors, bred in military affairs, clothed with honour and justice, a commander worthy of all command, strong and constant in the religion which the great prophet Christ did teach, King James, whose love hath bred such an impression in my thoughts as shall never be forgotten; but as the smell of amber, or as a garden of fragrant flowers, whose beauty and odour is still increasing, so, be assured, my love shall still grow and increase with yours.

"The letters which you sent me in the behalf of your merchants I have received, whereby I rest satisfied of your tender love towards me, desiring you not to take it ill, that I have not wrote to you heretofore: this present letter I send to you to renew our loves, and herewith do certifie you, that I have sent forth my firmaunes throughout all my countries to this effect, that if any English ships or merchants shall arrive in any of my ports, my people shall permit and suffer them to do what they please, freely in their merchandising causes, aiding and assisting them in all occasion of injuries that shall be offered them, that the least cause of discourtesie be not done unto them; that they may be as free, or freer than my own people.

"And as now, and formerly, I have received from you divers tokens of your love; so I shall still desire your mindfulness of me by some novelties from your countries, as an argument of friendship betwixt us, for such is the custom of princes here.

"And for your merchants, I have given express order through all my dominions, to suffer them to buy, sell, transport, and carry away at their pleasure, without the lett or hinderance of any person whatsoever, all such goods and merchandises as they shall desire to buy; and let this my letter as fully satisfie you in desired peace and love, as if my own son had been messenger to ratifie the same.

"And if any in my countries, not fearing God, nor obeying their king, or any other void of religion, should endeavour to be an instrument to break this league of friendship, I would send my son Sultan Caroom, a souldier approved in the wars, to cut him off, that no obstacle may hinder the continuance and increase of our affections.

"When your majesty shall open this letter, let your royal heart be as fresh as a small garden, let all people make reverence at your gate. Let your throne be advanced higher. Amongst the greatness of the kings of the prophet Jesus, let your majesty be the greatest; and all monarchs derive their wisdom and counsel from your breast, as from a fountain, that the law of the majesty of Jesus may receive, and flourish under your protection.

“The letters of love and friendship which you sent me, the present tokens of your good affection towards me, I have received by the hands of your ambassadour, Sir Thomas Row, who well deserveth to be your trusty servant, delivered to me in an acceptable and happy hour; upon which mine eyes were so fixed, that I could not easily remove them unto any other objects, and have accepted them with great joy and delight, etc.”

The last letter had this beginning: “How gracious is your majesty, whose greatness God preserve. As upon a rose in a garden, so are mine eyes fixed upon you. God maintain your estate, that your monarchy may prosper and be augmented; and that you may obtain all your desires worthy the greatness of your renown; and as the heart is noble and upright, so let God give you a glorious reign, because you strongly defend the law of the majesty of Jesus, which God made yet more flourishing, for that it was confirmed by miracles, etc.” (Della Valle, p. 473).

46. [Sha’bān, the eighth month.]

47. There are frequent mention of such images (putlis), but I know not which they are. [The word in the original is Shoshpari, ‘golden maces.’]

48. [The fourth month.]

49. [On these statues see Smith, HFA, 426 ff.]

50. Golden suns, value £1 : 12s.

51. [The third month.]

52. [He died in 1620.]

53. Increasing the respect to the Ranas by making a prince the bearer of the farman.

54. [The tenth month.]

55. Khurram was son of a Rajput princess of Amber [whose name, according to Beale, was Balmati] of the Kachhwaha tribe, and hence his name was probably Kurm, synonymous to kachhwa, a tortoise. The bards are always punning upon it. [The Persian word khurram, ‘glad, joyful,’ has, of course, no connexion with Hindi kurm, ‘a tortoise.’]

56. Surrendered S. 1672, A.D. 1616 (according to Dow, S. 1669, A.D.. 1613); died 1621 [1620. There seems to be no corroboration of his abdication.]

57. It must have been here that Sultan Khurram visited the Rana. The remains of this palace, about half a mile without the city wall (north), on a cluster of hills, are yet in existence. It was built by Udai Singh on the banks of a lake, under which are gardens and groves, where the author had the Rana’s permission to pitch his tents in the hottest months. [When Khurram was in revolt against his father, he stayed at first in the Rāna’s palace; but as his followers little respected Rājput prejudices, he removed to the Jagmandir, and the island became his home till shortly before his father’s death (Erskine ii. A. 109).]

CHAPTER 13

Rāna Karan Singh II., A.D. 1620-28.

—Karan, or Karna (the radiant), succeeded to the last independent king of Mewar, S. 1677, A.D. 1621. Henceforth we shall have to exhibit these princely ‘children of the sun’ with diminished lustre, moving as satellites round the primary planet; but, unaccustomed to the laws of its attraction, they soon deviated from the orbit prescribed, and in the eccentricity of their movements occasionally displayed their unborrowed effulgence. For fifteen hundred years we have traced each alternation of the fortune of this family, from their establishment in the second, to their expulsion in the fifth century from Saurashtra by the Parthians; the acquisition and loss of Idar; the conquest and surrender of Chitor; the rise of Udaipur and abasement of the red flag to Jahangir; and we shall conclude with not the least striking portion of their history, their unity of interests with Britain.

Karan was deficient neither in courage nor conduct; of both he had given a decided proof, when, to relieve the pecuniary difficulties of his father, with a rapidity unparalleled, he passed through the midst of his foes, surprised and plundered Surat, and carried off a booty which was the means of protracting the evil days of his country. But for the exercise of the chief virtue of the Rajput, he [369] had little scope throughout his reign, and fortunately for his country the powerful esteem and friendship which Jahangir and Prince Khurram evinced for his house, enabled him to put forth the talents he possessed to repair past disasters. He fortified the heights round the capital, which he strengthened with a wall and ditch, partly enlarged the noble dam which retains the waters of the Pichola, and built that entire portion of the palace called the Rawala, still set apart for the ladies of the court.

Terms between Rāna Karan Singh and Jahāngīr.

—When Rana Amra made terms with Jahangir, he stipulated, as a salvo for his dignity and that of his successors, exemption from all personal attendance; and confined the extent of homage to his successors receiving, on each lapse of the crown, the farman or imperial decree in token of subordination, which, more strongly to mark their dependent condition, the Rana was to accept without the walls of his capital; accordingly, though the heirs-apparent of Mewar[1] attended the court, they never did as Rana. Partly to lessen the weight of this sacrifice to independence, and partly to exalt the higher grade of nobles, the princes of the blood-royal of Mewar were made to rank below the Sixteen, a fictitious diminution of dignity which, with similar acts peculiar to this house, enhanced the self-estimation of the nobles, and made them brave every danger to obtain such sacrifices to the ruling passion of the Rajput, a love of distinction.[2] It is mentioned by the emperor that he placed the heir-apparent of Mewar immediately on his right hand, over all the princes of Hindustan; consequently the superior nobles of Mewar, who were all men of royal descent, deemed themselves, and had their [370] claims admitted, to rank above their peers at other courts, and to be seated almost on an equality with their princes.[3]

RĀJMAHALL.
To face page 428.

Sesodias in the Imperial Service.

—The Sesodia chieftains were soon distinguished amongst the Rajput vassals of the Mogul, and had a full share of power. Of these Bhim, the younger brother of Karan, who headed the quota of Mewar, was conspicuous, and became the chief adviser and friend of Sultan Khurram, who well knew his intrepidity. At his son’s solicitation, the emperor conferred upon him the title of Raja, and assigned a small principality on the Banas for his residence, of which Toda was the capital. Ambitious of perpetuating a name, he erected a new city and palace on the banks of the river, which he called Rajmahall, and which his descendants held till about forty years ago. The ruins of Rajmahall[4] bear testimony to the architectural taste of this son of Mewar, as do the fallen fortunes of his descendant to the instability of power: the lineal heir of Raja Bhim serves the chief of Shahpura on half a crown a day!

Revolt and Death of Bhīm Singh.

—Jahangir, notwithstanding his favours, soon had a specimen of the insubordinate spirit of Bhim. Being desirous to separate him from Sultan Khurram, who aspired to the crown in prejudice to his elder brother Parvez, he appointed Bhim to the government of Gujarat, which was distinctly refused. Detesting Parvez, who, it will be recollected, invaded Mewar, and was foiled for his cruelty on this occasion, Bhim advised his friend at once to throw off the mask, if he aspired to reign. Parvez was slain,[5] and Khurram manifested his guilt by flying to arms [371]. He was secretly supported by a strong party of the Rajput interest, at the head of which was Gaj Singh of Marwar, his maternal grandfather, who cautiously desired to remain neutral. Jahangir advanced to crush the incipient revolt; but dubious of the Rathor (Gaj Singh), he gave the van to Jaipur, upon which the prince furled his banners and determined to be a spectator. The armies approached and were joining action, when the impetuous Bhim sent a message to the Rathor either to aid or oppose them. The insult provoked him to the latter course, and Bhim’s party was destroyed, himself slain,[6] and Khurram and Mahabat Khan compelled to seek refuge in Udaipur. In this asylum he remained undisturbed: apartments in the palace were assigned to him; but his followers little respecting Rajput prejudices, the island became his residence, on which a sumptuous edifice was raised, adorned with a lofty dome crowned with the crescent. The interior was decorated with mosaic, in onyx, cornelian, jaspers, and agates, rich Turkey carpets, etc.; and that nothing of state might be wanting to the royal refugee, a throne was sculptured from a single block of serpentine, supported by quadriform female Caryatidae. In the court a little chapel was erected to the Muhammadan saint Madar,[7] and here the prince with his court resided, every wish anticipated, till a short time before his father’s death, when he retired into Persia.[8]

Such was Rajput gratitude to a prince who, when the chances of war made him victor over them, had sought unceasingly to mitigate the misery attendant on the loss of independence! It is pleasing to record to the honour of this calumniated race, that these feelings on the part of Karan were not transient; and that so far from expiring with the object,

The debt immense of endless gratitude.

was transmitted as an heirloom to his issue; and though two centuries have fled, during which Mewar had suffered every variety of woe, pillaged by Mogul [372], Pathan, and Mahratta, yet the turban of Prince Khurram, the symbol of fraternity,[9] has been preserved, and remains in the same folds as when transferred from the head of the Mogul to that of the Rajput prince. The shield is yet held as the most sacred of relics, nor will the lamp which illumines the chapel of Madar want oil while the princes of Udaipur have wherewithal to supply it.[10]

Death of Rāna Karan Singh.

—Rana Karan had enjoyed eight years of perfect tranquillity when he was gathered to his fathers. The sanctuary he gave Prince Khurram had no apparent effect on Jahangir, who doubtless believed that the Rana did not sanction the conduct of his brother Bhim. He was succeeded by his son Jagat Singh, ‘the lion of the world,’ in S. 1684 (A.D. 1628).

JAGMANDIR PALACE, UDAIPUR.
To face page 432.

Rāna Jagat Singh I., A.D. 1628-52.

—The Emperor Jahangir died shortly after his accession [October 28, 1627], and while Khurram was in exile. This event, which gave the throne to the friend of his house, was announced to him by the Rana, who sent his brother and a band of Rajputs to Surat to form the cortege of the emperor, who repaired directly to Udaipur; and it was in the Badal Mahall (‘the cloud saloon’) of his palace that he was first saluted by the title of ‘Shah Jahan,’ by the satraps and tributary princes of the empire.[11] On taking leave, the new monarch restored five alienated districts, and presented the Rana with a ruby of inestimable value, giving him also permission to reconstruct the fortifications of Chitor.[12]

The twenty-six years during which Jagat Singh occupied the throne passed in uninterrupted tranquillity: a state unfruitful to the bard, who flourishes only amidst agitation and strife. This period was devoted to the cultivation of the peaceful arts, especially architecture; and to Jagat Singh Udaipur is indebted for those magnificent works which bear his name, and excite our astonishment, after all the disasters we have related, at the resources he found to accomplish them [373].

Erection of Buildings at Udaipur.

—The palace on the lake (covering about four acres), called the Jagniwas, is entirely his work, as well as many additions to its sister isle, on which is the Jagmandir.[13] Nothing but marble enters into their composition; columns, baths, reservoirs, fountains, all are of this material, often inlaid with mosaics, and the uniformity pleasingly diversified by the light passing through glass of every hue. The apartments are decorated with historical paintings in water-colours, almost meriting the term fresco from their deep absorption in the wall, though the darker tints have blended with and in part obscured the more delicate shades, from atmospheric causes. The walls, both here and in the grand palace, contain many medallions, in considerable relief, in gypsum, portraying the principal historical events of the family, from early periods even to the marriage pomp of the present Rana. Parterres of flowers, orange and lemon groves, intervene to dispel the monotony of the buildings, shaded by the wide-spreading tamarind and magnificent evergreen khirni;[14] while the graceful palmyra and coco wave their plumelike branches over the dark cypress or cooling plantain. Detached colonnaded refectories are placed on the water’s edge for the chiefs, and extensive baths for their use. Here they listened to the tale of the bard, and slept off their noonday opiate amidst the cool breezes of the lake, wafting delicious odours from myriads of the lotus-flower which covered the surface of the waters; and as the fumes of the potion evaporated, they opened their eyes on a landscape to which not even its inspirations could frame an equal: the broad waters of the Pichola, with its indented and well-wooded margin receding to the terminating point of sight, at which the temple of Brahmpuri opened on the pass of the gigantic Aravalli, the field of the exploits of their forefathers. Amid such scenes did the Sesodia princes and chieftains recreate during two generations, exchanging the din of arms for voluptuous inactivity.

Jagat Singh was a highly respected prince, and did much to efface the remembrance of the rude visitations of the Moguls. The dignity of his character, his benevolence of address and personal demeanour, secured the homage of all who had access to him, and are alike attested by the pen of the emperor, the ambassador of England, and the chronicles of Mewar. He had the proud satisfaction [374] of redeeming the ancient capital from ruin; rebuilding the “chaplet bastion,[15] restoring the portals, and replacing the pinnacles on the temples of Chitrakot.” By a princess of Marwar he left two sons, the eldest of whom succeeded.

Rāna Rāj Singh, A.D. 1652-80.

—Raj Singh (the royal lion) mounted the throne in S. 1710 (A.D. 1654). Various causes over which he had no control combined, together with his personal character, to break the long repose his country had enjoyed. The emperor of the Moguls had reached extreme old age, and the ambition of his sons to usurp his authority involved every Rajput in support of their individual pretensions. The Rana inclined to Dara,[16] the legitimate heir to the throne, as did nearly the whole Rajput race; but the battle of Fatehabad[17] silenced every pretension, and gave the lead to Aurangzeb, which he maintained by the sacrifice of whatever opposed his ambition. His father, brothers, nay, his own offspring, were in turn victims to that thirst for power which eventually destroyed the monarchy of the Moguls.

The policy introduced by their founder, from which Akbar, Jahangir, and Shah Jahan had reaped so many benefits, was unwisely abandoned by the latter, who of all had the most powerful reasons for maintaining those ties which connected the Rajput princes with his house. Historians have neglected to notice the great moral strength derived from this unity of the indigenous races with their conquerors; for during no similar period was the empire so secure, nor the Hindu race so cherished, as during the reigns of Jahangir and Shah Jahan: the former born from a Rajput princess of Amber, and the latter from the house of Marwar. Aurangzeb’s unmixed Tatar blood brought no Rajput sympathies to his aid; on the contrary, every noble family shed their best blood in withstanding his accession, and in the defence of Shah Jahan’s rights, while there was a hope of success. The politic Aurangzeb was not blind to this defect, and he tried to remedy it in his successor; for both his declared heir, Shah Alam, and Azam, as well as his favourite grandson,[18] were the offspring of Rajputnis; but, uninfluenced himself by such predilections, his bigotry outweighed his policy, and he visited the Rajputs with an unrelenting and unwise persecution [375].

We shall pass the twice-told tale of the struggle for power which ended in the destruction of the brothers, competitors with Aurangzeb: this belongs to general history, not to the annals of Mewar; and that history is in every hand,[19] in which the magnanimity of Dara,[20] the impetuosity of Murad, and the activity of Suja met the same tragical end.

Princes contemporary with Aurangzeb.

—It has seldom occurred that so many distinguished princes were contemporary as during the reign of Aurangzeb. Every Rajput principality had a head above mediocrity in conduct as in courage. Jai Singh of Amber, surnamed ‘the Mirza Raja’; Jaswant Singh of Marwar, with the Haras of Bundi and Kotah; the Rathors of Bikaner, and Bundelas of Orchha and Datia, were men whose prejudices, properly consulted, would have rendered the Mogul power indissoluble: but he had but one measure of contumely for all, which inspired Sivaji with designs of freedom to Maharashtra, and withdrew every sentiment of support from the princes of Rajasthan. In subtlety and the most specious hypocrisy, in that concentration of resolve which confides its deep purpose to none, in every qualification of the warrior or scholar,[21] Aurangzeb had no superior amongst the many distinguished [376] of his race; but that sin by which ‘angels fell’ had steeped him in an ocean of guilt, and not only neutralized his natural capacities, but converted the means for unlimited power into an engine of self-destruction. “This hypocrisy,” says the eloquent Orme,[22] “encreased with his power, and in order to palliate to his Mahomedan subjects the crimes by which he had become their sovereign, he determined to enforce the conversion of the Hindoos by the severest penalties, and even threatned the sword; as if the blood of his subjects were to wash away the stains, with which he was imbrued by the blood of his family.... Labour left the field and industry the loom, until the decrease of the revenues drew representations from the governors of the provinces; which induced Aurungzebe to substitute a capitation tax[23] as the ballance of the account between the two religions.” The same historian justly characterizes this enactment as one so contrary to all notions of sound policy, as well as of the feelings of humanity, that “reflection seeks the motive with amazement.” In this amazement we might remain, nor seek to develop the motive, did not the ample page of history in all [377] nations disclose that in the name of religion more blood has been shed, and more atrocity committed, than by the united action of the whole catalogue of the passions. Muhammad’s creed was based on conversion, which, by whatever means effected, was a plenary atonement for every crime. In obedience thereto Aurangzeb acted; but though myriads of victims who clung to their faith were sacrificed by him at the fiat of this gladiatorial prophet, yet nor these, nor the scrupulous fulfilment of fanatic observances, could soothe at the dread hour the perturbations of the ‘still small voice’ which whispered the names of father, brother, son, bereft by him of life. Eloquently does he portray these terrors in his letters to his grandson on his death-bed, wherein he says, "Whichever way I look, I see only the divinity"—and that an offended divinity [378].[24]

Rāna Rāj Singh defies Aurangzeb.

—Raj Singh had signalized his accession by the revival of the warlike Tika-daur, and plundered Malpura, which though on the Ajmer frontier, Shah Jahan, when advised to vengeance, replied “it was only a folly of his nephew.”[25] An appeal to his gallantry made him throw down the gauntlet to Aurangzeb in the plenitude of his power, when the valour of the Sesodias again burst forth in all the splendour of the days of Partap; nor did the contest close till after a series of brilliant victories, and with the narrow escape from captivity of the Xerxes of Hindustan. The Mogul demanded the hand of the princess of Rupnagar, a junior branch of the Marwar house, and sent with the demand (a compliance with which was contemplated as certain) a cortège of two thousand horse to escort the fair to court. But the haughty Rajputni, either indignant at such precipitation or charmed with the gallantry of the Rana, who had evinced his devotion to the fair by measuring his sword with the head of her house, rejected with disdain the proffered alliance, and, justified by brilliant precedents in the romantic history of her nation, she entrusted her cause to the arm of the chief of the Rajput race, offering herself as the reward of protection. The family priest (her preceptor) deemed his office honoured by being the messenger of her wishes, and the billet he conveyed is incorporated in the memorial of this reign. “Is the swan to be the mate of the stork: a Rajputni, pure in blood, to be wife to the monkey-faced barbarian!” concluding with a threat of self-destruction if not saved from dishonour. This appeal, with other powerful motives, was seized on with avidity by the Rana as a pretext to throw away the scabbard, in order to illustrate the opening of a warfare, in which he determined to put all to the hazard in defence of his country and his faith. The issue was an omen of success to his warlike and [379] superstitious vassalage. With a chosen band he rapidly passed the foot of the Aravalli and appeared before Rupnagar, cut up the imperial guards, and bore off the prize to his capital. The daring act was applauded by all who bore the name of Rajput, and his chiefs with joy gathered their retainers around the ‘red standard,’ to protect the queen so gallantly achieved.

The Imposition of the Jizya or Capitation Tax.

—The annalist of Rajputana is but an indifferent chronologist, and leaves us doubtful of the exact succession of events at this period. It was not, however, till the death of those two powerful princes, Jaswant Singh of Marwar and Jai Singh of Amber, both poisoned by command of the tyrant, the one at his distant government of Kabul, the other in the Deccan, that he deemed himself free to put forth the full extent of his long-concealed design, the imposition of the jizya or capitation tax on the whole Hindu race. But he miscalculated his measures, and the murder of these princes, far from advancing his aim, recoiled with vengeance on his head. Foiled in his plot to entrap the infant sons of the Rathor by the self-devotion of his vassals,[26] the compound treachery evinced that their only hope lay in a deadly resistance. The mother of Ajit, the infant heir of Marwar, a woman of the most determined character, was a princess of Mewar, and she threw herself upon the Rana as the natural guardian of his rights, for sanctuary (saran) during the dangers of his minority. This was readily yielded, and Kelwa assigned as his residence, where under the immediate safeguard of the brave Durgadas Ajit resided,[27] while she nursed the spirit of resistance at home. A union of interests was cemented between these the chief States of Rajputana, for which they never before had such motive, and but for repeated instances of an ill-judged humanity, the throne of the Moguls might have been completely overturned [380].

Letter of Remonstrance to Aurangzeb.

—On the promulgation of that barbarous edict, the jizya, the Rana remonstrated by letter, in the name of the nation of which he was the head, in a style of such uncompromising dignity, such lofty yet temperate resolve, so much of soul-stirring rebuke mingled with a boundless and tolerating benevolence, such elevated ideas of the Divinity with such pure philanthropy, that it may challenge competition with any epistolary production of any age, clime, or condition.[28] In this are contained the true principles of Christianity, and to the illustrious Gentile, and such as acted as he did, was pointed that golden sentence of toleration, "Those [381] who have not the law, yet do by nature the things contained in the law, shall be a law unto themselves."

Aurangzeb attacks Mewār.

—This letter, the sanctuary afforded Ajit, and (what the historical parasite of the Mogul’s life dared not indite[29]) the carrying off of his betrothed, made him pour out all the phials of his wrath against the devoted Mewar, and his preparations more resembled those for the conquest of a potent kingdom than the subjugation of a Rajput zamindar,[30] a vassal of that colossal empire on whose surface his domain was but a speck. In the very magnitude of these, the Suzerain of Hindustan paid the highest tribute of praise to the tributary Rajput, for he denuded the very extremities of his empire to assemble a host which he deemed must prove irresistible. Akbar was recalled from his province, Bengal; Azam from the distant Kabul; and even Muazzam (the Mogul’s heir) from the war in the Deccan. With this formidable array[31] the emperor entered Mewar, and soon reduced the low countries, which experience had taught them were indefensible, the inhabitants previously retiring with their effects to the hills.[32] Chitor, Mandalgarh, Mandasor, Jiran, and many other strongholds were obtained after the usual form of opposition, and garrisoned by the Moguls. Meanwhile the Rana was animating the might of the Aravalli, where he meditated a resistance proportioned to the peril which threatened every cherished prejudice of his race: not the mere defence of dominion or dignity, but a struggle, pro aris et focis, around which rallied every Rajput with the most deadly determination. Even the primitive races of the western wilds, “the Palindas[33] and Palipats[33] (lord of the passes), with thousands of bows, and hearts devoted in the cause of Hindupat,”[34] assembled round the red banner of Mewar. The Rana divided his forces into three bodies [382]. His eldest son, Jai Singh, was posted on the crest of the Aravalli, ready to act on the invaders from either side of the mountains. Prince Bhim was to the west, to keep up the communications with the outlets to Gujarat; while the Rana, with the main body, took post in the Nai defile, unassailable by the enemy, and hanging on his left flank, ready to turn it, and cut off all retreat the moment the Imperialists entered the mountains. Aurangzeb advanced to Debari, but instead of entering the valley of which it was the gorge, he halted, and by the advice of Tahawwar Khan[35] sent on Prince Akbar with fifty thousand men to the capital. This caution of the wily monarch saved him from the ably planned scheme of the Rajput prince, who evinced a thorough knowledge[36] of the topography of this intricate and romantic portion of his domain. The Girwa, emphatically ‘the Circle,’ from which the valley of the capital is named, has this form to the eye when viewing it from thence as a centre. It is, however, an irregular ellipse of about fourteen miles in length from south to north, and about eleven in breadth from east to west, the capital being situated towards the extremity of the transverse axis, having only the lake Pichola between it and the base of the Aravalli. The mountains of this circular (girwa) valley, ranging from eight to twelve hundred feet in height, are of primitive formation, and raise their fantastic pinnacles in every diversity of shape over each other. To the westward the grand chain rises two thousand feet above the plains, and might be termed the chord, of which the Girwa is an irregular segment of a circle, less in height, and far less compound in character. Towards the plains east, it has three practicable passes; one, the more northern, by Delwara; the other (central), by Debari; a third, leading to the intricacies of Chappan, that of Nai. Of these three passes the emperor chose the most practicable, and encamped near the Udaisagar lake, on the left of its entrance.

The Advance of Prince Akbar.

—Prince Akbar advanced. “Not a soul interrupted his progress to the city. Palaces, gardens, lakes, and isles met his eye, but no living thing: all was silence.” Akbar encamped. Accustomed to this desertion from the desire of the people to avoid a licentious soldiery, and lulled into a hardy security, he was surprised [383] by the heir of Mewar. Some were praying, some feasting, some at chess: “they came to steal and yet fell asleep,” says the annalist, and were dispersed with terrific and unrelenting slaughter. Cut off from the possibility of a junction with the emperor by a movement of a part of the Rana’s personal force, Akbar attempted a retreat to the plains of Marwar by the route of Gogunda. It was a choice of evils, and he took the worst. The allodial vassals of the mountains, with the Bhil auxiliaries, outstripped his retreat, and blocked up farther egress in one of those long-extended valleys termed Nal, closed by a natural rampart or Col, on which they formed abbatis of trees, and manning the crests on each side, hurled destruction on the foe; while the prince, in like manner, blocked up the entrance and barred retrogression. Death menaced them in every form. For several days they had only the prospect of surrender to save them from famine and a justly incensed foe, when an ill-judged humanity on the part of Jai Singh saved them from annihilation. He admitted overtures, confided in protestations to renounce the origin of the war, and gave them guides to conduct them by the defile of Jhilwara, nor did they halt till protected by the walls of Chitor.[37]

Another body of the Imperialists, under the celebrated Dilir Khan,[38] who [384] entered by the Desuri Pass from Marwar (probably with a view of extricating Prince Akbar), were allowed to advance unopposed, and when in the long intricate gorge were assailed by Bikram Solanki[39] and Gopinath Rathor[40] (both nobles of Mewar), and after a desperate conflict entirely destroyed. On each occasion a vast booty fell into the hands of the Rajputs.

So ably concerted was this mountain warfare, that these defeats were the signal for a simultaneous attack by the Rana on Aurangzeb, who, with his son Azam, watched at Debari the result of the operations under Akbar and Dilir. The great home-clans had more than their wonted rivalry to sustain them, for the gallant Durgadas with the Rathor swords (talwār Rāthorān) whetted by an accumulation of wrongs, were to combat with them against their common oppressor; and nobly did they contest the palm of glory. The tyrant could not withstand them: his guns, though manned by Franks, could not protect him against the just cause and avenging steel of the Rajput, and he was beaten and compelled to disgraceful flight, with an immense loss in men and equipment. The Rana had to lament many brave leaders, home and auxiliary; and the imperial standard, elephants, and state equipage fell into his hands, the acquisition of Mohkam and the Saktawats. This glorious encounter occurred in the spring month of Phalgun, S. 1737, March A.D. 1681 [1680].

The discomfited forces formed a junction under the walls of Chitor, whence the emperor dictated the recall of his son, Prince Muazzam, from the Deccan, deeming it of greater moment to regain lost importance in the north than to prevent the independence of Sivaji. Meanwhile the activity of Sawaldas (descended from the illustrious Jaimall) cut off the communication between Chitor and Ajmer, and alarmed the tyrant for his personal safety. Leaving, therefore, this perilous warfare to his sons Azam and Akbar, with instructions how to act till reinforced,—foiled in his vengeance and personally disgraced, he abandoned Mewar, and at the head of his guards repaired to Ajmer. Thence he detached[41] Khan Rohilla, with twelve thousand men, against Sawaldas, with supplies and equipments for his sons. The Rathor, joined by the troops of Marwar, gave him the meeting at Pur Mandal, and defeated the Imperialists with great loss, driving them back on Ajmer [385].

Diversion made by the Rājputs.

—While the Rana, his heir and auxiliaries, were thus triumphant in all their operations, Prince Bhim with the left division was not idle, but made a powerful diversion by the invasion of Gujarat, captured Idar, expelling Hasan and his garrison, and proceeding by Birnagar, suddenly appeared before Patan, the residence of the provincial satrap, which he plundered. Siddhpur, Modasa,[42] and other towns shared the same fate; and he was in full march to Surat, when the benevolence of the Rana, touched at the woes of the fugitives, who came to demand his forbearance, caused him to recall Bhim in the midst of his career.

Contrary to the Rajput character, whose maxim is parcere subjectis, they were compelled by the utter faithlessness of Aurangzeb (chiefly vulnerable through his resources) to retaliate his excesses; and Dayal Sah, the civil minister, a man of high courage and activity, headed another flying force, which ravaged Malwa to the Nerbudda and Betwa. Sarangpur, Dewas, Sironj, Mandu, Ujjain, and Chanderi were plundered, and numerous garrisons put to the sword; and, to use the words of the Chronicle, “husbands abandoned their wives and children, and whatever could not be carried off was given to the flames.” For once they avenged themselves, in imitation of the tyrant, even on the religion of their enemies: “the Kazis were bound and shaved, and the Korans thrown into wells.” The minister was unrelenting and made Malwa a desert, and from the fruits of his incursions repaired the resources of his master. Flushed with success, he formed a junction with the heir of Mewar, and gave battle to Azam near Chitor. On this occasion the flower of Mewar, with the Rathor and Khichi auxiliaries,[43] were engaged, and obtained a glorious victory, the Mogul prince being defeated and pursued with great slaughter to Ranthambhor, which he entered. This was a just revenge, for it was Azam who surprised Chitor the year preceding. In Mewar the contest terminated with the expulsion of the Imperialists from the country; when the Rana, in support of the rights of the minor prince of Marwar, united his arms to the forces of that state, and opened the campaign at Ghanerao, the chief town of [386] Godwar. The heroic mother of the infant Rathor prince, a daughter of Mewar, had, since the death of her husband, well supported his rights, having resisted every aggression and regained many lost advantages over their antagonist. Prince Bhim commanded the Sesodias, who formed a junction with the Rathors, and gave battle to the royal forces led by Akbar and Tahawwar Khan, whom they entirely defeated. The victory is chiefly attributed to a stratagem of a Rajput chief, who, having carried off five hundred camels from the Imperialists, conceived the idea of fixing torches to them and letting them loose in the royal camp; and, in the confusion produced by the charge of such a body, the Rajputs assaulted them.

Plan to dethrone Aurangzeb.

—On their continued successes, the Rana and his allies meditated the project of dethroning the tyrant and setting up his son Akbar. The pernicious example of his father towards Shah Jahan was not lost upon Akbar, who favourably received the overture; but he wanted the circumspection which characterized Aurangzeb, whose penetration defeated the scheme when on the eve of execution.[44] Already had the Rajput armies united with Akbar, and the astrologer had fixed the day which was to exalt him; but the revealer of secrets baffled his own prediction by disclosing it to the emperor. Aurangzeb, attended only by his guards at Ajmer, had recourse to the same artifice which raised him to empire, in order to ward off this danger. Akbar was but one day’s march distant; his elder sons, Muazzam and Azam, yet far off. Not a moment was to be lost: he penned a letter to his son, which by a spy was dropped in the tent of the Rajput leader Durgadas.[45] In this he applauded a pretended scheme by which Akbar was to fall upon them when they engaged the emperor. The same scheme had saved Sher Shah in this country from Maldeo, and has more recently been put in practice, and with like success, in the war with Sivaji. It succeeded. The Rajputs detached themselves from the prince who had apparently betrayed them. Tahawwar Khan, in despair, lost his life in an attempt to assassinate the emperor,[46] and before the artifice was discovered, the reinforcements under Muazzam and Azam arrived, and Aurangzeb was saved. The Rajputs still offered saran (refuge) to Akbar; but aware of his father’s vigour of character, he deemed himself unsafe in his vicinage, and accepted the escort of five hundred Rajputs led by Durgadas [387], who cut their way through every opposition by the defiles of Mewar and Dungarpur, and across the Nerbudda, to the Mahratta leader Sambhaji, at Palargarh, whence he was shortly after conveyed in an English ship to Persia.[47]

Overtures for Peace.

—“The escape of Acbar” (observes an historian,[48] who appreciated the importance of the transactions of this period) “to Sambagee, oppressed Aurengzebe with as much anxiety, as formerly the phantom of his brother Sujah amongst the Pitans; and the consequence of their alliance became a nearer care than the continuance of the war against the Rajpoots, whose gallant activity prevented a speedy decision by the sword; but the dignity of the throne forbad any overtures of peace to a resistance which had attempted the deposal, if not the life, of the monarch. A Rajpoot officer, who had long served with distinction under Delire Khan, solved the difficulty: he quitted the army on the pretence of retiring to his own country and visited the Rana as from courtesy on his journey. The conversation turned on the war, which the Rajpoot perhaps really lamented, and he persuaded the Rana that although Aurengzebe would never condescend to make, he might accept overtures of peace: upon which he was empowered by the Rana to tender them.”[49] The domestic annals confirm this account, and give the name of this mediator, Raja Shyam Singh of Bikaner; but the negotiation was infamously protracted to the rains, the period when operations necessarily cease, and by which time Aurangzeb had recruited his broken forces, and was again enabled to take the field; and it was concluded “without assertion or release of the capitation tax, but with the surrender of the districts taken from Chitor, and the State of Jodhpur was included in the treaty.” How correctly this elegant historian had obtained a knowledge of those events, a translation of the treaty evinces.[50] But these occurrences belong to the succeeding reign, for the Rana died about this period,[51] from wounds and vexation.

Cruel Treatment of Rāja of Golkonda.

—Once more we claim the reader’s admiration on behalf of another patriot prince of Mewar, and ask him to contrast the indigenous Rajput with the emperor of the Moguls [388]; though to compare them would be manifestly unjust, since in every moral virtue they were antipodes to each other. Aurangzeb accumulated on his head more crimes than any prince who ever sat on an Asiatic throne. With all the disregard of life which marks his nation, he was never betrayed, even in the fever of success, into a single generous action; and, contrary to the prevailing principle of our nature, the moment of his foe’s submission was that chosen for the malignant completion of his revenge: witness his scourging the prostrate King of Golkonda.[52] How opposite to the beneficence of the Rajput prince, who, when the most efficient means of self-defence lay in the destruction of the resources of his enemy, feeling for the miseries of the suffering population of his persecutor, recalled his son in the midst of victory! As a skilful general and gallant soldier, in the defence of his country, he is above all [389] praise. As a chivalrous Rajput, his braving all consequences when called upon to save the honour of a noble female of his race, he is without parallel. As an accomplished prince and benevolent man, his dignified letter of remonstrance to Aurangzeb on the promulgation of the capitation edict, places him high in the scale of moral as well as intellectual excellence; and an additional evidence of both, and of his taste for the arts, is furnished by the formation of the inland lake, the Rajsamund, with a slight account of which, and the motives for its execution, we shall conclude the sketch of this glorious epoch in the annals of Mewar.

The Rājsamund Lake.

—This great national work is twenty-five miles north of the capital, and is situated on the declivity of the plain about two miles from the base of the Aravalli. A small perennial stream, called the Gomati or ‘serpentine,’[53] flowing from these mountains, was arrested in its course, and confined by an immense embankment, made to form the lake called after himself, Rajsamund, or ‘royal sea.’ The band or dam forms an irregular segment of a circle, embracing an extent of nearly three miles, and encircling the waters on every side except the space between the north-west and north-east points. This barrier, which confines a sheet of water of great depth, and about twelve miles in circumference, is entirely of white marble, with a flight of steps of the same material, throughout this extent, from the summit to the water’s edge; the whole buttressed by an enormous rampart of earth, which, had the projector lived, would have been planted with trees to form a promenade. On the south side are the town and fortress built by the Rana, and bearing his name, Rajnagar; and upon the embankment stands the temple of Kankroli, the shrine of one of the seven forms (sarup) of Krishna. The whole is ornamented with sculpture of tolerable execution for the age; and a genealogical sketch of the founder’s family is inscribed in conspicuous characters. One million one hundred and fifty thousand pounds sterling,[54] contributed by the Rana, his chiefs and opulent subjects, was expended on this work, of which the material was from the adjacent quarries. But, magnificent, costly, and useful as it is, it derives its chief beauty from the benevolent motive to which it owes its birth: to alleviate the miseries of a starving population, and make their employment conducive to national benefit, during one of those awful visitations [390] of providence, famine, and pestilence with which these states are sometimes afflicted.

The Famine of A.D. 1662.

—It was in S. 1717,[55] only seven years after the accession of Raj Singh, that these combined evils reached Mewar, less subject to them, owing to its natural advantages, than any other State in India;[56] and on Tuesday the 8th of Pus, Hasti Nakshatra (constellation of the elephant), as fixed by the astrologer, the first stone was laid. "The chief of Mewar, deeply meditating on this extreme distress, determined to raise a monument, by which the wretched might be supported and his own name perpetuated. This was seven years in constructing, and at its commencement and termination all the rites of sacrifice and oblation were observed.

"The Rana went to implore favour at the temple of the ‘four-armed’; for though Asarh[57] was over, not a drop of rain fell from the heavens; and, in like manner, the months of Sawan[57] and Bhadon[57] passed away. For want of water the world was in despair, and people went mad with hunger. Things unknown as food were eaten. The husband abandoned the wife, the wife the husband—parents sold their children—time increased the evil; it spread far and wide: even the insects died: they had nothing to feed on. Thousands of all ages became victims to hunger. Those who procured food to-day, ate twice what nature required. The wind was from the west, a pestilential vapour. The constellations were always visible at night, nor was there a cloud in the sky by day, and thunder and lightning were unknown. Such portents filled mankind with dread. Rivers, lakes, and fountains were dried up. Men of wealth meted out the portions of food. The ministers of religion forgot their duties. There was no longer distinction of caste, and the Sudra and Brahman were undistinguishable. Strength, wisdom, caste, tribe, all were abandoned, and food alone was the object. The Charbaran[58] threw away every symbol of separation; all was lost in hunger. Fruits, flowers, every vegetable thing, even trees were stripped of their bark, to appease the cravings [391] of hunger: nay, man ate man! Cities were depopulated. The seed of families was lost, the fishes were extinct, and the hope of all extinguished."[59]

Such is the simple yet terrific record of this pestilence, from which Mewar was hardly freed, when Aurangzeb commenced the religious warfare narrated, with all its atrocities, still further to devastate this fair region. But a just retribution resulted from this disregard to the character and prejudices of the Rajputs, which visited the emperor with shame, and his successors with the overthrow of their power.

1. The contingent of Mewar was one thousand horse.

2. During the progress of my mediation between the Rana and his nobles, in 1818, the conduct of the lineal representative of Jaimall, the defender of Chitor against Akbar, was striking. Instead of surrendering the lands which he was accused of usurping, he placed himself at the door of the threshold of the palace, whence he was immovable. His claims were left to my adjudication: but he complained with great heat of the omission of ceremonials, and especially of the prostration of honours by the prince. I incautiously remarked that these were trivial compared with the other objects in view, and begged him to disregard it. “Disregard it! why, it was for these things my ancestors sacrificed their lives; when such a band[A] as this on my turban was deemed ample reward for the most distinguished service, and made them laugh at wounds and hardships!” Abashed at the inconsiderate remark which provoked this lofty reproof, I used my influence to have the omission rectified: the lands were restored, and the enthusiastic reverence with which I spoke of Jaimall would have obtained even greater proof of the Badnor chief’s regard for the fame of his ancestors than the surrender of them implied. Who would not honour this attachment to such emblems in the days of adversity?

A. Balaband, a fillet or band, sometimes embroidered; often, as in the present case, of silk or gold thread knotted, and tassels tied round the turban. Balaband is synonymous with diadem.

3. This was conceded, as the following anecdote will attest. When the first Peshwa [Bālaji Visvanāth (1707-20)] appeared at the Jaipur court he was accompanied by the Salumbar chieftain. The Jaipur prince divided his gaddi (cushion) with the Peshwa, and the latter made room for the Salumbar chief upon it, observing that their privileges and rank were similar. The same Peshwa had the address to avoid all discussion of rank at Udaipur, by alleging the prerogative of his order to ‘spread his cloth in front of the throne,’ a distinction to which every priest is entitled.

4. The plate represents Rajmahall, on the Banas, now in the fief of Rao Chand Singh, one of the Jaipur nobles, whose castle of Duni is in the distance. There are many picturesque scenes of this nature on the Banas. Duni made a celebrated defence against Sindhia’s army in 1808, and held out several months, though the Mahratta prince had an army of forty thousand men and a park of eighty pieces of cannon to oppose two hundred Rajputs. They made sorties, captured his foragers, cut his batteries to pieces, and carried off his guns (of which they had none), and, placing them on their walls, with his own shot made the whole army change position, beyond matchlock range. At last their inexpertness rendered them useless, and they obtained honourable terms. On one occasion the foragers of our escort were returning, and met Sindhia’s coming away without their guns and cattle, which had just been taken from them. Our lads, from fellowship, volunteered to recover them, and returned on the captors, who gave them up (if my memory deceive me not) without a struggle, and from respect to the red coat!

5. [Parvez died at Burhānpur, Nimār District, Central Provinces, in his thirty-eighth year, on October 28, 1626.]

6. Man Singh, chief of the Saktawats, and his brother Gokuldas, were Bhim’s advisers, and formed with Mahabat Khan the junta who ruled the Mogul heir-apparent. Man held Sanwar in the Khairar, and was celebrated in Amra’s wars as the great champion of the Sesodias. He counted above eighty wounds, and had at various times "sent a ser (two pounds) of exfoliated bone to the Ganges." Such was the affection between Man and Bhim, that they concealed the death of the latter, sending him food in Bhim’s name; but he no sooner learned the truth than he tore away the bandages and expired. Of Gokuldas the bard says, in allusion to the peaceful reign of Karan, “The wreath of Karan’s renown was fading, but Gokul revived it with his blood.” It was with the Sesodia Rajputs and the Saktawats that Mahabat performed the most daring exploit in Mogul history, making Jahangir prisoner in his own camp: but it is too long for insertion in a note. [This occurred in 1626; see Elphinstone, Hist. of India, 568.]

7. [The saint Madār is said to have been a Jew from Aleppo who lived from A.D. 1050 to 1433, and was buried at Makanpur in the Cawnpur District, where pilgrims visit his tomb (IGI, xvii. 43; Dabistan, trans. Shea-Troyer iii. 244 ff.).]

8. Contemporary historians say to Golkonda. [Khurram was prevented by bad health from going to Persia, and proceeded to the Deccan, whence he returned after his father’s death (Elphinstone, op. cit. 573; Elliot-Dowson vi. 433, 437, 445).]

9. An exchange of turbans is the symbol of fraternal adoption.

10. It is an affecting proof of the perpetuity of true gratitude,

“Which owing, owes not,”

as well as of religious toleration, to find the shrine of the Muhammadan saint maintained in this retreat of the Sesodias, and the priest and establishment kept up, though the son of their benefactor persecuted them with unrelenting barbarity. Are these people worth conciliating? or does the mist of ignorance and egotism so blind us that we are to despise the minds hidden under the cloak of poverty and long oppression? The orange-coloured turban, and the shield of Shah Jahan, have been brought from their sacred niche for my view: that I looked on them with sentiments of reverence, as relics consecrated by the noblest feeling of the mind, will be credited. I bowed to the turban with an irresistible impulse, and a fervour as deep as ever did pilgrim before the most hallowed shrine.

11. Ferishta [Dow iii. 99], whose geography is often quite unintelligible, omits this in his history, and passes the king direct to Ajmer: but the annals are fuller, and describe the royal insignia conveyed by Mahabat, Abdulla, Khan Jahan, and his secretary Sadullah.

12. [According to Manucci (i. 214 f.) Shāhjahān ordered his Wazīr S’adullah Khān to prepare a campaign against the Rāna, but the plan was disclosed by a woman, and the Rāna made terms, ceded territory, and paid a sum of money. Shāhjahān is said to have destroyed the fortifications of Chitor, on the ground that they had been repaired without his father’s permission.]

13. ‘The minster of the world.’ [According to Erskine (ii. A. 109) the Jagmandir was built by Jagat Singh I. (1628-52); the Jagniwās by Jagat Singh II. (1734-51).]

14. [Wrightia tinctoria (Watt, Comm. Prod. 1131 f.).]

15. The Mala Burj, a ‘chaplet bastion’ blown up by Akbar, is a small fortress of itself.

16. I have copies of the original letters written by Dara, Suja, Murad, and Aurangzeb on this occasion, each soliciting the Rana’s aid.

17. [Samūgarh, afterwards called Fatehābād, May 20, 1658 (Jadunath Sarkar, Life of Aurangzib, ii. 32 ff.; Manucci i. 270 ff.; Bernier 49 ff.).]

18. Kambakhsh (son of Jodhpuri, not Udaipuri), ‘the gift of Cupid.’ Of this the Greeks made Cambyses. [Kāmbakhsh was son of Udaipuri, the youngest and best-loved concubine of Aurangzeb (JadunathJadunath Sarkar i. 64). Cambyses is Old Persian Kābuzīya or Kambuzīya (Maspero, Passing of the Empires, 655, note).]

19. Bernier, who was an eye-witness of these transactions, describes them far better than the Mogul historians, and his accounts tally admirably with the Rajput annals. [But he is not always to be trusted (Jadunath Sarkar ii. 10, note).]

20. [The proper form is Dāra Shukoh or Shikoh, ‘equal in splendour to Darius.’]

21. We possess a most erroneous idea of the understanding of Asiatic princes, and the extent of its cultivation. Aurangzeb’s rebuke to his tutor Mulla Sale [Mulla Sālih, Bernier 154; Manucci ii. 30], who beset him with a sycophantic intrusion on his coming to the throne, may correct this, and, with the letter of Rana Raj Singh, give the European world juster notions of the powers of mind both of Hindu and Muhammadan. It is preserved by Bernier, who had ample opportunity to acquire a knowledge of them. (From an edition in the author’s possession, printed A.D. 1684, only three years after these events.)

"‘What is it you would have of me, Doctor? Can you reasonably desire I should make you one of the chief Omrahs of my court? Let me tell you, if you had instructed me as you should have done, nothing would be more just; for I am of this persuasion, that a child well educated and instructed is as much, at least, obliged to his master as to his father. But where are those good documents you have given me? In the first place, you have taught me that all that Frangistan (so it seems they call Europe) was nothing but I know not what little island, of which the greatest king was he of Portugal, and next to him he of Holland, and after him he of England: and as to the other kings, as those of France and Andalusia, you have represented them to me as our petty Rajas; telling me that the kings of Indostan were far above them all together, and that they were the true and only Houmayons, the Ekbars, the Jehan-Guyres, the Chah-Jehans, the fortunate ones, the great ones, the conquerors and kings of the world; and that Persia and Usbec, Kachguer, Tartar and Catay, Pegu, China and Matchina did tremble at the name of the kings of Indostan. Admirable geography! You should rather have taught me exactly to distinguish all those different states of the world, and well to understand their strength, their way of fighting, their customs, religions, governments, and interests; and, by the perusal of solid history, to observe their rise, progress, decay, and whence, how, and by what accidents and errors those great changes and revolutions of empires and kingdoms have happened. I have scarce learnt of you the name of my grandsires, the famous founders of this empire: so far were you from having taught me the history of their life, and what course they took to make such great conquests. You had a mind to teach me the Arabian tongue, to read and to write. I am much obliged to you, forsooth, for having made me lose so much time upon a language that requires ten or twelve years to attain to its perfection; as if the son of a king should think it to be an honour to him to be a grammarian or some doctor of the law, and to learn other languages than those of his neighbours, when he cannot well be without them; he, to whom time is so precious for so many weighty things, which he ought by times to learn. As if there were any spirit that did not with some reluctancy, and even with a kind of debasement, employ itself in so sad and dry an exercise, so longsom and tedious, as is that of learning words.’

"Thus did Arung-Zebe resent the pedantic instructions of his tutor; to which ’tis affirmed in that court, that after some entertainment which he had with others, he further added the following reproof:

"‘Know you not, that childhood well govern’d, being a state which is ordinarily accompanied with an happy memory, is capable of thousands of good precepts and instructions, which remain deeply impressed the whole remainder of a man’s life, and keep the mind always raised for great actions? The law, prayers, and science, may they not as well be learned in our mother-tongue as in Arabick? You told my father, Chah Jehan, that you would teach me philosophy. ’Tis true, I remember very well, that you have entertain’d me for many years with airy questions of things that afford no satisfaction at all to the mind, and are of no use in humane society, empty notions and mere phancies, that have only this in them, that they are very hard to understand and very easie to forget, which are only capable to tire and spoil a good understanding, and to breed an opinion that is insupportable. I still remember, that after you had thus amused me, I know not how long, with your fine philosophy, all I retained of it was a multitude of barbarous and dark words, proper to bewilder, perplex, and tire out the best wits, and only invented the better to cover the vanity and ignorance of men like yourself, that would make us believe that they know all, and that under those obscure and ambiguous words are hid great mysteries which they alone are capable to understand. If you had season’d me with that philosophy which formeth the mind to ratiocination, and insensibly accustoms it to be satisfied with nothing but solid reasons, if you had given me those excellent precepts and doctrines which raise the soul above the assaults of fortune, and reduce her to an unshakeable and always equal temper, and permit her not to be lifted up by prosperity nor debased by adversity; if you had taken care to give me the knowledge of what we are and what are the first principles of things, and had assisted me in forming in my mind a fit idea of the greatness of the universe, and of the admirable order and motion of the parts thereof; if, I say, you had instilled into me this kind of philosophy, I should think myself incomparably more obliged to you than Alexander was to his Aristotle, and believe it my duty to recompense you otherwise than he did him. Should not you, instead of your flattery, have taught me somewhat of that point so important to a king, which is, what the reciprocal duties are of a sovereign to his subjects and those of subjects to their sovereign; and ought not you to have considered, that one day I should be obliged with the sword to dispute my life and the crown with my brothers? Is not that the destiny almost of all the sons of Indostan? Have you ever taken any care to make me learn, what ’tis to besiege a town or to set an army in array? For these things I am obliged to others, not at all to you. Go, and retire to the village whence you are come, and let nobody know who you are or what is become of you.’" [For another version of this speech see Bernier 154 ff., Manucci ii. 30 ff.]

22. [Historical Fragments of the Mogul Empire, ed. 1782, p. 101. The quotation in the text has been corrected.]

23. The Jizya.

24. I deem it right, in order further to illustrate the cultivated understanding of Aurangzeb, to annex the letters written to his sons a few days before his death. With such talents, with so just a conception as these and the rebuke to his tutor evince of his knowledge of the right, what might he not have been had not fell ambition misguided him!

"To Shaw Azim Shaw. [Shāh Āzam Shāh.]

"Health to thee! my heart is near thee. Old age is arrived: weakness subdues me, and strength has forsaken all my members. I came a stranger into this world, and a stranger I depart. I know nothing of myself, what I am, and for what I am destined. The instant which passed in power, hath left only sorrow behind it. I have not been the guardian and protector of the empire. My valuable time has been passed vainly. I had a patron in my own dwelling (conscience), but his glorious light was unseen by my dim sight. Life is not lasting, there is no vestige of departed breath, and all hopes from futurity are lost. The fever has left me, but nothing of me remains but skin and bone. My son (Kaum Buksh), though gone towards Beejapore, is still near; and thou, my son, are yet nearer. The worthy of esteem, Shaw Aulum, is far distant; and my grandson (Azeem Ooshaun), by the orders of God, is arrived near Hindostan. The camp and followers, helpless and alarmed, are like myself, full of affliction, restless as the quicksilver. Separated from their lord, they know not if they have a master or not.

“I brought nothing into this world, and, except the infirmities of man, carry nothing out. I have a dread for my salvation, and with what torments I may be punished. Though I have strong reliance on the mercies and bounty of God, yet, regarding my actions, fear will not quit me; but when I am gone, reflection will not remain. Come then what may, I have launched my vessel to the waves. Though Providence will protect the camp, yet, regarding appearances, the endeavours of my sons are indispensably incumbent. Give my last prayers to my grandson (Bedar Bukht), whom I cannot see, but the desire affects me. The Begum (his daughter) appears afflicted; but God is the only judge of hearts. The foolish thoughts of women produce nothing but disappointment. Farewell! farewell! farewell!” [This letter is printed by H. Bilimoria, Letters of Aurangzeb, 71 f.]

"To the Prince Kaum Buksh. [Kāmbakhsh.]

"My son, nearest to my heart. Though in the height of my power, and by God’s permission, I gave you advice, and took with you the greatest pains, yet, as it was not the divine will, you did not attend with the ears of compliance. Now I depart a stranger, and lament my own insignificance, what does it profit me? I carry with me the fruits of my sins and imperfections. Surprising Providence! I came here alone, and alone I depart. The leader of this caravan hath deserted me. The fever which troubled me for twelve days has left me. Wherever I look, I see nothing but the divinity. My fears for the camp and followers are great: but, alas! I know not myself. My back is bent with weakness, and my feet have lost the powers of motion. The breath which rose is gone, and left not even hope behind it. I have committed numerous crimes, and know not with what punishments I may be seized. Though the protector of mankind will guard the camp, yet care is incumbent also on the faithful and my sons. When I was alive, no care was taken; and now I am gone, the consequence may be guessed. The guardianship of a people is the trust by God committed to my sons. Azim Shaw is near. Be cautious that none of the faithful are slain, or their miseries fall upon my head. I resign you, your mother and son, to God, as I myself am going. The agonies of death come upon me fast. Behadur Shaw is still where he was, and his son is arrived near Hindostan. Bedar Bukht is in Guzarat. Hyaut al Nissa, who has beheld no afflictions of time till now, is full of sorrows. Regard the Begum as without concern. Odiporee,[A] your mother, was a partner in my illness, and wishes to accompany me in death; but every thing has its appointed time.

“The domestics and courtiers, however deceitful, yet must not be ill-treated. It is necessary to gain your views by gentleness and art. Extend your feet no lower than your skirt. The complaints of the unpaid troops are as before. Dara Shekkoh, though of much judgment and good understanding, settled large pensions on his people, but paid them ill and they were ever discontented. I am going. Whatever good or evil I have done, it was for you. Take it not amiss, nor remember what offences I have done to yourself; that account may not be demanded of me hereafter. No one has seen the departure of his own soul; but I see that mine is departing” (Memoirs of Eradut Khan). See Scott’s Hist. of the Dekhan [ii. Part iv.]. [This letter, with some variants, is printed by Bilimoria, 73 f.]

A. Orme [Fragments, 119] calls her a Cashmerian; certainly she was not a daughter of the Rana’s family, though it is not impossible she may have been of one of the great families of Shahpura or Banera (then acting independently of the Rana), and her desire to burn shows her to have been Rajput. [“Such an inference is wrong, because a Hindu princess on marrying a Muslim king lost her caste and religion, and received Islamic burial. We read of no Rajputni of the harem of any of the Mughal emperors having burnt herself with her deceased husband, for the very good reason that a Muslim’s corpse is buried and not burnt. Evidently Udipuri meant that she would kill herself in passionate grief on the death of Aurangzib” (Jadunath Sarkar i. 64, note).]

25. The emperor was the adopted brother of Rana Karan.

26. Two hundred and fifty Rajputs opposed five thousand of the Imperialists at a pass, till the family of Jaswant escaped.

27. The Rana received the young Rathor with the most princely hospitality, and among other gifts a diamond worth ten thousand dinars is enumerated.

28. This letter, first made known to Europe by Orme [Fragments, Notes, xciii. ff.], has by him been erroneously attributed to Jaswant Singh of Marwar, who was dead before the promulgation of the edict, as the mention of Ramsingh sufficiently indicates, whose father, Jai Singh, was contemporary with Jaswant, and ruled nearly a year after his death. My Munshi obtained a copy of the original letter at Udaipur, where it is properly assigned to the Rana. [Compare the version of this letter in Jadunath Sarkar (iii. 325 ff.), who remarks that "the internal evidence and biographical details of the writer apply to Shivaji and not to Raj Singh. In the penultimate paragraph of the letter Rajah Ram Singh is given for Rana Raj Singh by ASBMs and Orme; but no Jaipur chieftain could have been ‘the head of the Hindus.’"] It were superfluous to give a translation after the elegant production of Sir W. B. Rouse.

"Letter from Rana Raj Singh to Aurangzeb.

"All due praise be rendered to the glory of the Almighty, and the munificence of your majesty, which is conspicuous as the sun and moon. Although I, your well-wisher, have separated from your sublime presence, I am nevertheless zealous in the performance of every bounden act of obedience and loyalty. My ardent wishes and strenuous services are employed to promote the prosperity of the Kings, Nobles, Mirzas, Rajahs, and Roys of the provinces of Hindostan, and the chiefs of Æraun, Turaun, Room, and Shawm, the inhabitants of the seven climates, and all persons travelling by land and by water. This my inclination is notorious, nor can your royal wisdom entertain a doubt thereof. Reflecting therefore on my former services, and your majesty’s condescension, I presume to solicit the royal attention to some circumstances, in which the public as well as private welfare is greatly interested.

"I have been informed that enormous sums have been dissipated in the prosecution of the designs formed against me, your well-wisher; and that you have ordered a tribute to be levied to satisfy the exigencies of your exhausted treasury.

"May it please your majesty, your royal ancestor Mahomed Jelaul ul Deen Akbar, whose throne is now in heaven, conducted the affairs of this empire in equity and firm security for the space of fifty-two years, preserving every tribe of men in ease and happiness, whether they were followers of Jesus or of Moses, of David or Mahomed; were they Brahmins, were they of the sect of Dharians, which denies the eternity of matter, or of that which ascribes the existence of the world to chance, they all equally enjoyed his countenance and favour: insomuch that his people, in gratitude for the indiscriminate protection he afforded them, distinguished him by the appellation of Juggut Gooroo (Guardian of Mankind).

"His majesty Mahomed Noor ul Deen Jehangheer, likewise, whose dwelling is now in paradise, extended, for a period of twenty-two years, the shadow of his protection over the heads of his people; successful by a constant fidelity to his allies, and a vigorous exertion of his arm in business.

"Nor less did the illustrious Shah Jehan, by a propitious reign of thirty-two years, acquire to himself immortal reputation, the glorious reward of clemency and virtue.

"Such were the benevolent inclinations of your ancestors. Whilst they pursued these great and generous principles, wheresoever they directed their steps, conquest and prosperity went before them; and then they reduced many countries and fortresses to their obedience. During your majesty’s reign, many have been alienated from the empire, and farther loss of territory must necessarily follow, since devastation and rapine now universally prevail without restraint. Your subjects are trampled under foot, and every province of your empire is impoverished; depopulation spreads, and difficulties accumulate. When indigence has reached the habitation of the sovereign and his princes, what can be the condition of the nobles? As to the soldiery, they are in murmurs; the merchants complaining, the Mahomedans discontented, the Hindoos destitute, and multitudes of people, wretched even to the want of their nightly meal, are beating their heads throughout the day in rage and desperation.

"How can the dignity of the sovereign be preserved who employs his power in exacting heavy tributes from a people thus miserably reduced? At this juncture it is told from east to west, that the emperor of Hindostan, jealous of the poor Hindoo devotee, will exact a tribute from Brahmins, Sanorahs, Joghies, Berawghies, Sanyasees; that, regardless of the illustrious honour of his Timurcan race, he condescends to exercise his power over the solitary inoffensive anchoret. If your majesty places any faith in those books, by distinction called divine, you will there be instructed that God is the God of all mankind, not the God of Mahomedans alone. The Pagan and the Mussulman are equally in His presence. Distinctions of colour are of His ordination. It is He who gives existence. In your temples, to His name the voice is raised in prayer; in a house of images, where the bell is shaken, still He is the object of adoration. To vilify the religion or customs of other men is to set at naught the pleasure of the Almighty. When we deface a picture, we naturally incur the resentment of the painter; and justly has the poet said, presume not to arraign or scrutinize the various works of power divine.

“In fine, the tribute you demand from the Hindoos is repugnant to justice: it is equally foreign from good policy, as it must impoverish the country: moreover, it is an innovation and an infringement of the laws of Hindostan. But if zeal for your own religion hath induced you to determine upon this measure, the demand ought, by the rules of equity, to have been made first upon Ramsing, who is esteemed the principal amongst the Hindoos. Then let your well-wisher be called upon, with whom you will have less difficulty to encounter; but to torment ants and flies is unworthy of an heroic or generous mind. It is wonderful that the ministers of your government should have neglected to instruct your majesty in the rules of rectitude and honour.”

29. It is well known that Aurangzeb forbade the continuation of the history of his life, subsequent to that portion comprehending the first ten years [the Ālamgīrnāma; see Jadunath Sarkar ii. 302].

30. The epithet by which these Tatar sovereigns affected to call the indigenous (bhumia) princes.

31. There were no such field trains in Europe as those of the Moguls. Seventy pieces of heavy ordnance, sixty of horse artillery, and a dromedary corps three hundred strong, mounting swivels, accompanied the emperor on an excursion to Kashmir. Bernier, who gives this detail, describes what he saw [217 f.].

32. [For this campaign see the account in Jadunath Sarkar, Life of Aurangzib, iii. 365 ff.]

33. Pāl is the local term for these long defiles, the residence of the mountaineers: their chiefs are called Indras, Pati, in Bhakha, Pat.

34. Chief of the Hindus.

35. [In the text “Tyber” Khān. His original name was Jān Beg, also known as Bādshāh Kuli Khān, one of Aurangzeb’s great nobles (Manucci ii. 239, note 3, 247, note). His tragical end is told later on.]

36. The Saktawat leader, Gharibdas, has the merit of having prompted this plan. His speech on the advance of Aurangzeb is given in the Annals; and his advice, “Let the king have free entrance through the passes, shut him in, and make famine his foe,” was literally followed, with the hard knocks, which being a matter-of-course accompaniment, the gallant Saktawat deemed it unnecessary to specify.

37. Orme, who has many valuable historical details of this period, makes Aurangzeb in person to have been in the predicament assigned by the annals to his son, and to have escaped from the operation of those high and gallant sentiments of the Rajput, which make him no match for a wily adversary.

“In the meantime Aurengzebe was carrying on the war against the Rana of Cheetore, and the Raja of Marwar, who on the approach of his army at the end of the preceding year, 1678, had abandoned the accessible country, and drew their herds and inhabitants into the vallies, within the mountains; the army advanced amongst the defiles with incredible labour, and with so little intelligence, that the division which moved with Aurengzebe himself was unexpectedly stopped by insuperable defences and precipices in front; whilst the Rajpoots in one night closed the streights in his rear, by felling the overhanging trees; and from their stations above prevented all endeavours of the troops, either within or without, from removing the obstacle. Udeperri, the favourite and Circassian wife of Aurengzebe, accompanied him in this arduous war, and with her retinue and escort was enclosed in another part of the mountains; her conductors, dreading to expose her person to danger or public view, surrendered. She was carried to the Rana, who received her with homage and every attention. Meanwhile the emperor himself might have perished by famine, of which the Rana let him see the risque, by a confinement of two days; when he ordered his Rajpoots to withdraw from their stations, and suffer the way to be cleared. As soon as Aurengzebe was out of danger, the Rana sent back his wife, accompanied by a chosen escort, who only requested in return that he would refrain from destroying the sacred animals of their religion which might still be left in the plains; but Aurengzebe, who believed in no virtue but self-interest, imputed the generosity and forbearance of the Rana to the fear of future vengeance, and continued the war. Soon after he was again well-nigh enclosed in the mountains. This second experience of difficulties beyond his age and constitution, and the arrival of his sons, Azim and Acbar, determined him not to expose himself any longer in the field, but to leave its operations to their conduct, superintended by his own instructions from Azmir; to which city he retired with the households of his family, the officers of his court, and his bodyguard of four thousand men, dividing the army between his two sons, who each had brought a considerable body of troops from their respective governments. They continued the war each in a different part of the country, and neither at the end of the year had forced the ultimate passes of the mountains” [Historical Fragments, 119 f.].

38. [Dilīr Khan, otherwise Jalāl Khān Dā‛ūdzai, died at Aurangābād, 1682-83 (Manucci i. 243). Grant Duff speaks highly of his services in the Deccan (145 f.).]

39. Chief of Rupnagar.

40. Chief of Ghānerāo, in Godwar, now alienated from Mewar.

41. [Some name is wanting here.]

42. [Siddhpur, a famous place of pilgrimage in Baroda State (IGI, xxii. 358 f.); Modāsa, fifty-two miles north-east of Ahmadābād (BG, vi. 346).]

43. Mokham and Ganga Saktawats, Ratan Chondawat of Salumbar, Chandrasen Jhala of Sadri, Sabal Singh Chauhan of Bedla, Berisal Punwar of Bijolia. Four of the chiefs made speeches on the eve preceding the battle, which are recorded in the Chronicle.

44. [For Akbar’s rebellion see Jadunath Sarkar ii. 402 ff.; Elliot-Dowson vii. 298 ff.; Manucci ii. 243 ff.]

45. A portrait of this Rathor hero was given to the author of the present work by his descendants. He was chief of Dunara, on the Luni. He saved his young sovereign’s life from the tyrant, and guarded him during a long minority, heading the Rathors in all the wars for the independence of his country. A bribe of forty thousand gold suns was sent to him by Azam without stipulation, when conveying Akbar out of danger. The object was obvious, yet the Mogul prince dared not even specify his wishes. It is needless to say that Durga spurned the offer. [For the flight of Akbar see Jadunath Sarkar ii. 415 ff.]

46. [For the attempt of Tahawwar Khān to assassinate Aurangzeb see Manucci ii. 247 ff.; Jadunath Sarkar ii. 411 ff.]

47. [Palargarh is perhaps Pālanpur (IGI, xix. 354). Akbar died in Persia, 1706.]

48. “We are not without hopes that some of the many in India who have the means will supply the portions of information which are deficient in these fragments, and must otherwise always continue out of our reach. The knowledge is well worth the inquiry; for, besides the magnitude of the events and the energy of the characters which arise within this period, there are no states or powers on the continent of India, with whom our nation have either connection or concern, which do not owe the origin of their present condition to the reign of Aurengzebe, or to its influence on the reigns of his successors” (Orme’s Fragments [Notes i. f.]).

49. [Orme, Fragments, 150 f.]

50.

"Jawab-sowal [treaty,

Singh (uncle of Rana Raj

with the

Panja, or impress of the Em-

‘Manzuri,’ written by him-

‘question—answer’] of Sur

Singh) and Narhar Bhat

Emperor.

peror’s hand, with the word

self. Manzuri (‘agreed’).

"Your servants, according to your royal pleasure and summons, have been sent by the Rana to represent what is written underneath. We hope you will agree to these requests, besides others which will be made by Padam Singh.

"1. Let Chitor, with the districts adjacent appertaining thereto when it was inhabited, be restored.

"2. In such temples and places of Hindu religious resort as have been converted into mosques, the past cannot be recalled, but let this practice be abolished.

"3. The aid hitherto afforded to the empire by the Rana shall be continued, but let no additional commands be imposed.

"4. The sons and dependants of the deceased Raja Jaswant Singh so soon as enabled to perform their duties, we hope will have their country restored to them.[A]

"Respect prevents inferior demands. May the splendour of your fortune, like the sun illuminating the world, be for ever increasing and never set.

“The Arzi (requests) of your servants, Sur Singh and Narhar Bhat.”

A. S. 1737, A.D. 1681.

51. It was to defend the rights of the heir of Marwar, as well as to oppose the odious jizya, that the Rana took to arms. Ajit was still under the Rana’s safeguard.

52. [Orme, Fragments, 217 f. A different story is told by Khāfi Khān (Elliot-Dowson vii. 334).]

53. [A common error; Gomati, meaning ‘rich in cattle,’ has no connexion with Hindi ghūmna, ‘to twist.’]

54. Ninety-six lakhs of rupees [Erskine ii. A. 9].

55. A.D. 1661.

56. From all I could learn, it was the identical pestilence which has been ravaging India for the last ten years, erroneously called cholera morbus. About thirty-five years ago the same disease carried off multitudes in these countries. Orme [Fragments, 200] gives notice of something similar in A.D. 1684, in the imperial camp near Goa, when five hundred victims daily fell its prey. Mewar was not free from the last visitation of 1818, and the only son of the Rana was the first person attacked.

57. The three months of rain, termed the Barsat. [Asārh is the month June to July, followed by Sāwan and Bhādon.]

58. The four castes, sacerdotal, military, mercantile, and servile.

59. From the Raj Vilas, the chronicle of the reign of Raj Singh.

CHAPTER 14

Rāna Jai Singh, A.D. 1680-98.

—Rana Jai Singh took possession of the Gaddi[1] in S. 1737 (A.D. 1681). A circumstance occurred at his birth, which as descriptive of manners may deserve notice. A few hours only intervened between his entrance into the world and that of another son called Bhim. It is customary for the father to bind round the arm of the new-born infant a root of that species of grass called the amardub, the ‘imperishable’ dub, well known for its nutritive properties and luxuriant vegetation under the most intense heat.[2] The Rana first attached the ligature round the arm of the youngest, apparently an oversight, though in fact from superior affection for his mother. As the boys approached to manhood, the Rana, apprehensive that this preference might create dissension, one day drew his sword, and placing it in the hand of Bhim (the elder), said, it was better to use it at once on his brother, than hereafter to endanger the safety of the State. This [392] appeal to his generosity had an instantaneous effect, and he not only ratified, ‘by his father’s throne,’[3] the acknowledgment of the sovereign rights of his brother, but declared, to remove all fears, “he was not his son if he again drank water within the pass of Debari”; and, collecting his retainers, he abandoned Udaipur to court Fortune where she might be kinder. The day was sultry, and on reaching the barrier he halted under the shade of a sacred fig-tree to bestow a last look upon the place of his birth. His cup-bearer (Paniyari) brought his silver goblet filled from the cool fountain, but as he raised it to his lips, he recollected that his vow was incomplete while within the portal; he poured the libation on the earth in the name of the Supreme, and casting the cup as an offering to the deity of the fountain, the huge gates closed upon the valley. He proceeded to Bahadur Shah, who conferred upon him the dignity (mansab) of a leader of three thousand five hundred horse, with the Bawana, or fifty-two districts for their support: but quarrelling with the imperial general, he was detached with his contingent west of the Indus, where he died.[4]

Treaty between Rāna Jai Singh and Aurangzeb.

—Let us return to Jai Singh (the lion of victory). He concluded a treaty with Aurangzeb, conducted by Prince Azam and Dilir Khan, who took every occasion to testify his gratitude for the clemency of Rana Raj Singh, when blockaded in the defiles of the Aravalli. At this conference, the Rana was attended by ten thousand horse and forty thousand foot, besides the multitude collected from the mountains to view the ceremony, above one hundred thousand souls, who set up a shout of joy at the prospect of revisiting the plains, which disconcerted Azam, while Dilir expatiated on the perils from which the Rana’s generosity had liberated him. Azam, who said he was no stranger to the Rana’s illustrious house, concluded a treaty on the spot, in which, as a salvo for the imperial dignity, a nominal fine and surrender of three districts were inserted for aiding Akbar’s rebellion, and a hint that the regal colour (crimson) of his tents and umbrella [393] should be discontinued. That advantages were gained by the Rana, we may infer from Dilir’s sons being left as hostages for Azam’s good faith; a fact we learn from his farewell address to the Rana! “Your nobles are rude, and my children are the hostages of your safety; but if at the expense of their lives I can obtain the entire restoration of your country, keep your mind at ease, for there was friendship between your father and me.”

The Jaisamund Lake.

—But all other protection than what his sword afforded was futile; and though Dilir’s intentions were noble, he had little control over events: in less than five years after his accession, the Rana was again forced to fly the plains for the inaccessible haunts of Kamori. Yet, in spite of these untoward circumstances and uninterrupted warfare, such were the resources of this little State that the Rana completed a work which perpetuates his name. He threw a dam across a break in the mountains, the channel of an ever-flowing stream, by which he formed the largest lake in India,[5] giving it his own name, the Jaisamund, or sea of victory. Nature had furnished the hint for this undertaking, for there had always existed a considerable volume of water; but the Rana had the merit of uniting these natural buttresses, and creating a little sea from the Dhebar pool, its ancient appellation. The circumference cannot be less than thirty miles, and the benefits to cultivation, especially in respect to the article of rice, which requires perpetual irrigation, were great. On this huge rampart he erected a palace for his favourite queen, Komaladevi, a princess of the Pramara race, familiarly known as the Ruthi Rani, or ‘testy queen.’

Rana Jai Singh and his heir Amar Singh.

—Domestic unhappiness appears to have generated in the Rana inaptitude to state affairs; and, unluckily, the favoured queen estranged him from his son. Amra, a name venerated in Mewar, was that of the heir of Jai Singh. His mother was of the Bundi house, a family which has performed great services to, and brought great calamities upon, the ancient sovereigns of Mewar. To the jealousies of the rival queens, one of them mother to the heir, the other the favourite of the sovereign, are attributed dissensions, which at such a juncture were a greater detriment than the loss of a battle, and which afford another illustration, if any were wanting, of the impolicy of polygamy. The annals of Mewar seldom exhibit those unnatural contentions for power, from which no other Hindu State was exempt; this was owing to the wholesome regulation of not investing the princes of the blood with any [394] political authority; and establishing as a counterpoise to natural advantages an artificial degradation of their rank, which placed them beneath the sixteen chief nobles of the State; which, while it exalted these in their own estimation, lessened the national humiliation, when the heirs-apparent were compelled to lead their quota in the arrière-ban of the empire.

Rebellion of Amar Singh.

—Rana Jai Singh, who had evinced such gallantry and activity in the wars of Aurangzeb, now secluded himself with Komala in the retreat of Jaisamund, leaving Amra under the guidance of the Pancholi[6] minister, at the capital. But he having personally insulted this chief officer of the State, in consequence of receiving a rebuke for turning loose an infuriated elephant in the town, the Rana left his retreat, and visiting Chitor in his tour, arrived at Udaipur. Amra awaited not his father’s arrival, but adding his mother’s resentments to a feeling of patriotic indignation at the abasement his indolence produced, fled to Bundi, took up arms, and, joined by many of his own nobles and Hara auxiliaries, returned at the head of ten thousand men. Desirous of averting civil war, the Rana retired to Godwar beyond the Aravalli, whence he sent the Ghanerao chieftain, the first feudatory of that department, to expostulate with his son. But Amra, supported by three-fourths of the nobles, made direct for Kumbhalmer to secure the State treasure, saved by the Depra governor for his sovereign. A failure in this project, the knowledge that the Rathors fostered the quarrel with a view to obtain Godwar, and the determination of the few chiefs yet faithful[7] to the Rana, to defend the Jhilwara pass to the last, made the prince listen to terms, which were ratified at the shrine of Eklinga, whereby the Rana was to return to the capital, and the prince to abide in exile at the new palace during the life of his father, which closed twenty years after his accession. Had he maintained the reputation he established in his early years, the times were well calculated for the redemption of his country’s independence; but documents which yet exist afford little reason to doubt that in his latter years a state of indolence, having all the effects of imbecility, supervened, and but for the formation of ‘the victorious sea,’ would have left his name a blank in the traditional history of Mewar.

Rāna Amar Singh II., A.D. 1698-1710.

—Amra II., who succeeded in S. 1756 (A.D. 1700), had much of the gallantry [395] and active turn of mind of his illustrious namesake; but the degrading conflict with his father had much impaired the moral strength of the country, and counteracted the advantages which might have resulted from the decline of the Mogul power. The reigns of Raj Singh and Jai Singh illustrate the obvious truth, that on the personal character of the chief of a feudal government everything depends. The former, infusing by his talent and energy patriotic sentiments into all his subordinates, vanquished in a series of conflicts the vast military resources of the empire, led by the emperor, his sons, and chosen generals; while his successor, heir to this moral strength, and with every collateral aid, lowered her to a stage of contempt from which no talent could subsequently raise her.

Amra early availed himself of the contentions amongst the sons of Aurangzeb to anticipate events, and formed a private treaty[8] with the Mogul heir-apparent, Shah Alam, when commanded to the countries west of the Indus, on which occasion [396] the Mewar contingent[9] accompanied him, and fought several gallant actions under a Saktawat chieftain.

Breach between the Rājputs and the Mughal Empire.

—It is important to study the events of this period, which involved the overthrow of the Mogul power, and originated that form of society which paved the way to the dominion of Britain in these distant regions. From such a review a political lesson of great value may be learned, which will show a beacon warning us against the danger of trusting to mere physical power, unaided by the latent, but more durable support of moral influence. When Aurangzeb neglected the indigenous Rajputs, he endangered the keystone of his power; and in despising opinion, though his energetic mind might for a time render him independent of it, yet long before his death the enormous fabric reared by Akbar was tottering to its foundation: demonstrating to conviction that the highest order of talent, either for government or war, though aided by unlimited resources, will not suffice for the maintenance of power, unsupported by the affections of the governed. The empire of Aurangzeb was more extensive than that of Britain at this day—the elements of stability were incomparably more tenacious: he was associated with the Rajputs by blood, which seemed to guarantee a respect for their opinions; he possessed the power of distributing the honours and emoluments of the state, when a service could be rewarded by a province,[10] drawing at will supplies of warriors from the mountains of the west, as a check on his indigenous subjects, while these left the plains of India to control the Afghan amidst the snows of Caucasus. But the most devoted attachment and most faithful service were repaid by insults to their habits, and the imposition of an obnoxious tax; and to the jizya, and the unwise pertinacity with which his successors adhered to it, must be directly ascribed the overthrow of the monarchy. No condition was exempted from this odious and impolitic assessment, which was deemed by the tyrant a mild substitute for the conversion he once meditated of the entire Hindu race to the creed of Islam.[11]

Rājput Apostates.

—An abandonment of their faith was the Rajput’s surest road to the tyrant’s favour [397], and an instance of this dereliction in its consequences powerfully contributed to the annihilation of the empire. Rao Gopal, a branch of the Rana’s family, held the fief of Rampura, on the Chambal,[12] and was serving with a select quota of his clan in the wars of the Deccan, when his son, who had been left at home, withheld the revenues, which he applied to his own use instead of remitting them to his father. Rao Gopal complained to the emperor; but the son discovered that he could by a sacrifice not only appease Aurangzeb, but attain the object of his wishes: he apostatized from his faith, and obtained the emperor’s forgiveness, with the domain of Rampura. Disgusted and provoked at such infurious conduct, Rao Gopal fled the camp, made an unsuccessful attempt to redeem his estate, and took refuge with Rana Amra, his suzerain. This natural asylum granted to a chief of his own kin was construed by the tyrant into a signal of revolt, and Azam was ordered to Malwa to watch the Rana’s motions: conduct thus characterized in the memoirs of a Rajput chieftain,[13] one of the most devoted to Aurangzeb, and who died fighting for his son. “The emperor showed but little favour to his faithful and most useful subjects the Rajputs, which greatly cooled their ardour in his service.” The Rana took up arms, and Malwa joined the tumult; while the first irruption of the Mahrattas across the Nerbudda,[14] under Nima Sindhia, compelled the emperor to detach Raja Jai Singh to join Prince Azam. Amidst these accumulated troubles, the Mahrattas rising into importance, the Rajput feudatories disgusted and alienated, his sons and grandsons ready to commit each individual pretension to the decision of the sword, did Aurangzeb, after a reign of terror of half a century’s duration, breathe his last on the 28th Zilqa’da, A.D. 1707 [February 21], at the city bearing his name—Aurangabad.

Shāh Alam Bahādur Shāh, Emperor, A.D. 1707-12.

—At his death his second son Azam assumed the imperial dignity, and aided by the Rajput princes of Datia and Kotah,[15] who had always served in his division, he marched to Agra to contest the legitimate claims of his eldest brother Muazzam, who was advancing from Kabul supported by the contingents of Mewar and Marwar, and all western Rajwara. The battle of Jajau[16] [398] was fatal to Azam, who with his son Bedarbakht and the princes of Kotah and Datia was slain, when Muazzam ascended the throne under the title of Shah Alam Bahadur Shah. This prince had many qualities which endeared him to the Rajputs, to whom his sympathies were united by the ties of blood, his mother being a Rajput princess.[17] Had he immediately succeeded the beneficent Shah Jahan, the race of Timur, in all human probability, would have been still enthroned at Delhi, and might have presented a picture of one of the most powerful monarchies of Asia. But Aurangzeb had inflicted an incurable wound on the mind of the Hindu race, which for ever estranged them from his successors; nor were the virtues of Bahadur, during the short lustre of his sway, capable of healing it. The bitter fruit of a long experience had taught the Rajputs not to hope for amelioration from any graft of that stem, which, like the deadly Upas, had stifled the vital energies of Rajasthan, whose leaders accordingly formed a league for mutual preservation, which it would have been madness to dissolve merely because a fair portion of virtue was the inheritance of the tyrant’s successor. They had proved that no act of duty or subserviency could guarantee them from the infatuated abuse of power, and they were at length steeled against every appeal to their loyalty, replying with a trite adage, which we may translate ‘quem Deus vult perdere, prius dementat,’—of common application with the Rajput in such a predicament.

The Rise of the Sikhs.

—The emperor was soon made to perceive the little support he had in future to expect from the Rajputs. Scarcely had he quashed the pretensions of Kambakhsh, his youngest brother, who proclaimed himself emperor in the Deccan, than he was forced to the north, in consequence of an insurrection of the Sikhs of Lahore. This singular race, the disciples (sikhs) of a teacher called Nanak, were the descendants of the Scythic Getae,[18] or Jat, of Transoxiana, who so early as the fifth century were established in the tract watered by the five arms (Panjab) of the Indus. Little more than a century has elapsed since their conversion from a spurious Hinduism to the doctrines of the sectarian Nanak, and their first attempt to separate themselves, in temporal as well as spiritual matters, from all control, and they are now the sole independent power within the limits [399] of the Mogul monarchy. On this occasion[19] the princes of Amber and Marwar visited the emperor, but left his camp without permission, and, as the historian[20] adds, manifested a design to struggle for independence. Such was the change in their mutual circumstances that the Mogul sent the heir-apparent to conciliate and conduct them to him; but they came at the head of all their native bands, when “they were gratified with whatever their insolence demanded”:[21] a splenetic effusion of the historian, which well paints their altered position. From the royal urdu,[22] or camp, they repaired to Rana Amra at Udaipur, where a triple league was formed, which once more united them to the head of their nation. This treaty of unity of interests against the common foe was solemnized by nuptial engagements, from which those princes had been excluded since the reigns of Akbar and Partap. To be readmitted to this honour was the basis of this triple alliance, in which they ratified on oath the renunciation of all connexion, domestic or political, with the empire. It was, moreover, stipulated that the sons of such marriage should be heirs, or if the issue were females, that they should never be dishonoured by being married to a Mogul.

Sacrifice of the Right of Primogeniture.

—But this remedy, as will be seen, originated a worse disease; it was a sacrifice of the rights of primogeniture (clung to by the Rajputs with extreme pertinacity), productive of the most injurious effects, which introduced domestic strife, and called upon the stage an umpire not less baneful than the power from whose iron grasp they were on the point of freeing themselves: for although this treaty laid prostrate the throne of Babur, it ultimately introduced the Mahrattas as partisans in their family disputes, who made the bone of contention their own.

The injudicious support afforded by the emperor to the apostate chief of Rampura first brought the triple federation into action. The Rana, upholding the cause of Himmat Singh, made an attack on Rampura, which the apostate usurper Ratan Singh, now Raj Muslim Khan, defeated, and was rewarded for [400] it by the emperor.[23] But the same report conveyed to the king “that the Rana determined to lay waste his country, and retire to the hills,”[24] which was speedily confirmed by the unwelcome intelligence that Sawaldas, an officer of the Rana’s, had attacked Firoz Khan, the governor of Pur Mandal, who was obliged to retreat with great loss to Ajmer;[25] on which occasion this loyal descendant of the illustrious Jaimall lost his life.[26] The brave Durgadas, who conveyed the rebellious Akbar through all opposition to a place of refuge, again appeared upon the stage—his own prince being unable to protect him, he had found a safe asylum at Udaipur, and had the sum of five hundred rupees daily paid for his expenditure—a princely liberality. But the result of this combination was reserved for the following reigns, Shah Alam being carried off by poison,[27] ere he could correct the disorders which were rapidly breaking up the empire from the Hindu-Kush to the ocean. Had his life been spared, his talents for business, his experience, and courteous manners might have retarded the ruin of the monarchy, which the utter unworthiness of his successor sunk beyond the power of man to redeem. Every subsequent succession was through blood; and the sons of Shah Alam performed the part for which they had so many great examples. Two brothers,[28] Sayyids, from the town of Barha in the Duab, were long the Warwicks of Hindustan, setting up and plucking down its puppet kings at their pleasure; they had elevated Farrukhsiyar when the triumvirs of Rajasthan commenced their operations.

Farrukhsīyar, Emperor, A.D. 1712-19.

—Giving loose to long-suppressed resentment, the Rajputs abandoned the spirit of toleration which it would have been criminal to preserve; and profiting by the lessons of their tyrants, they overthrew the mosques built on the sites of their altars, and treated the civil and religious officers of the government with indignity. Of these every town in Rajasthan had its mulla to proclaim the name of Muhammad, and its kazi for the administration of justice,—branches of government [401] entirely wrested from the hands of the native princes,[29] abusing the name of independence. But for a moment it was redeemed, especially by the brave Rathors, who had made a noble resistance, contesting every foot of land since the death of Jaswant Singh, and now his son Ajit entirely expelled the Moguls from Marwar. On this occasion the native forces of the triple alliance met at the salt lake of Sambhar, which was made the common boundary of their territory, and its revenues were equally divided amongst them.

The pageant of an emperor, guided by the Sayyids, or those who intrigued to supplant their ministry, made an effort to oppose the threatening measures of the Rajputs; and one of them, the Amiru-l-umara,[30] marched against Raja Ajit, who received private instructions from the emperor to resist his commander-in-chief, whose credit was strengthened by the means taken to weaken it, which engendered suspicions of treachery. Ajit leagued with the Sayyids, who held out to the Rathor an important share of power at court, and agreed to pay tribute and give a daughter in marriage to Farrukhsiyar.

Marriage of Farrukhsīyar: Grant to the British.

—This marriage yielded most important results, which were not confined to the Moguls or Rajputs, for to it may be ascribed the rise of the British power in India. A dangerous malady,[31] rendering necessary a surgical operation upon Farrukhsiyar, to which the faculty of the court were unequal, retarded the celebration of the nuptials between the emperor and the Rajput princess of Marwar, and even threatened a fatal termination. A mission from the British merchants at Surat was at that time at court, and, as a last resource, the surgeon attached to it was called in, who cured the malady, and made the emperor happy in his bride.[32] His gratitude was displayed with oriental magnificence. The emperor desired Mr. Hamilton to name [402] his reward, and to the disinterested patriotism of this individual did the British owe the first royal grant or farman, conferring territorial possession and great commercial privileges. These were the objects of the mission, which till this occurrence had proved unsuccessful.

This gorgeous court ought to have been, and probably was, impressed with a high opinion of the virtuous self-denial of the inhabitants of Britain; and if history has correctly preserved the transaction, some mark of public gratitude should have been forthcoming from those who so signally benefited thereby. But to borrow the phraseology of the Italian historian, “Obligations which do not admit of being fully discharged are often repaid with the coin of ingratitude”: the remains of this man rest in the churchyard of Calcutta, without even a stone to mark the spot![33]

The Jizya Reimposed.

—This marriage, which promised a renewal of interests with the Rajputs, was soon followed by the revival of the obnoxious jizya. The character of this tax, though much altered from its original imposition by Aurangzeb, when it was at once financial and religious, was held in unmitigated abhorrence by the Hindus from the complex association; and although it was revived chiefly to relieve pecuniary wants, it kindled a universal feeling of hatred amongst all classes, and quenched the little zeal which the recent marriage had inspired in the Rajputs of the desert. The mode and channel of its introduction evinced to them that there was no hope that the intolerant spirit which originally suggested it would ever be subdued. The weak Farrukhsiyar, desirous of snapping the leading-strings of the Sayyids, recalled to his court Inayatu-lla Khan,[34] the minister of Aurangzeb, and restored to him his office of Diwan, who, to use the words of the historian of the period, "did not consult the temper of the times, so very different from the reign of Aurangzeb, and the revival of the jizya came with him." Though by no means severe in its operation, not amounting to three-quarters per cent on annual income,[35]—from which the lame, the blind, and very poor were exempt,—it nevertheless raised a general spirit of hostility, particularly from its retaining the insulting distinction of a ‘tax on infidels.’ Resistance to taxation appears to be a universal feeling, in which even the Asiatic forgets the divine right of sovereignty, and which throws us back on the pervading spirit of selfishness which [403] governs human nature. The tamgha,[36] or stamp tax, which preceded the jizya, would appear to have been as unsatisfactory as it was general, from the solemnity of its renunciation by Babur on the field of battle after the victory over infidels, which gave him the crown of India; and though we have no record of the jizya being its substitute, there are indications which authorize the inference.

Rāna Amar Singh asserts Rājput Independence.

—Rana Amra was not an idle spectator of these occurrences; and although the spurious thirst for distinction so early broke up the alliance by detaching Ajit, he redoubled his efforts for personal independence, and with it that of the Rajput nation. An important document attests this solicitude, namely, a treaty[37] with the emperor, in which the second article stipulates emancipation from the galling jizya. It may be well to analyse this treaty, which attests the altered condition of both parties. Its very title marks the subordination of the chief of the Rajputs; but while this is headed a ‘Memorandum of Requests,’ the eighth article discloses the effective means of the Rana, for there he assumes an air of protection towards the emperor. In the opening stipulation for the mansab of 7000, the [404] mind reverts to the great Amra, who preferred abdication to acknowledgment of a superior; but opinion had undergone a change as great as the mutual relations of the Rajputs. In temporal dignities other States had risen to an equality with Mewar, and all had learned to look on the Mogul as the fountain of honour. The abolition of the jizya, freedom from religious restraint, control over the ancient feudatories of his house, and the restoration of all sequestrations, distinguish the other articles, and amply attest the improving attitude of Mewar, and the rapid decay of the Mogul empire. The Mahrattas under Raja Sahu[38] were successfully prosecuting their peculiar system in the south, with the same feelings which characterized the early Gothic invaders of Italy; strangers to settled government, they imposed the taxes of chauth and desmukhi,[39] the fourth and tenth of all territorial income, in the countries they overran. The Jat tribes west of the Chambal likewise bearded their oppressors in this reign, by hoisting the standard of independence at the very threshold of their capital; and from the siege of Sinsini (mentioned in this treaty) to the last storm of Bharatpur, they maintained the consequence thus assumed.

Death of Rāna Amar Singh.

—This treaty was the last act of Rana Amra’s life; he died in A.D. 1716 [1710], leaving the reputation of an active and high-minded prince, who well upheld his station and the prosperity of his country, notwithstanding the anarchy of the period. His encouragement of agriculture and protection of manufactures are displayed in the edicts engraved on pillars, which will hand down his name to posterity. His memory is held in high veneration; nor do the Rajputs admit the absolute degradation of Mewar till the period of the second prince in succession to Amra [405].

1. ‘The Cushion,’ by which a Rajput throne is designated.

2. [Dūb, Cynodon dactylon, the most common and useful Indian grass (Watt, Comm. Prod., 463 f).]

3. Gaddi ki an.

4. I give these anecdotes as related to me by his descendant and representative the Raja of Banera, while seated in a balcony of his castle overlooking the plains of Mewar. Often have I quenched my thirst at the fountain, and listened to their traditionary tales. It is a spot consecrated to recollections: every altar which rises around it is a text for the ‘great ancients’ of the clans to expatiate on; and it is, moreover, a grand place of rendezvous, whether for the traveller or sportsman. Bhim dislocated his spine in a feat of strength. He was celebrated for activity, and could, while his steed was urged to his speed, disengage and suspend himself by the arms from the bough of a tree; and to one of these experiments he owed his death.

5. [The Bhojpur lake, which covered an area of 250 square miles, was much larger, the Jaisamund covering only 21 square miles (Smith, EHI, 396; Erskine ii. A. 8 f.).]

6. [Pancholi, Panchauli, of which the derivation is uncertain, perhaps pancha-kula, ‘five houses,’ is the local title of the Desi or Māthur Kāyasths, or writer caste (Census Report Mārwār, 1891, ii. 111).]

7. Beri Sal of Bijolia, Kandal of Salumbar, Gopinath of Ghanerao, and the Solanki of Desuri.

8. "Private Treaty between the Rana and Shah Alam Bahadur Shah, and bearing his sign-manual.

"Six articles of engagement, just, and tending to the happiness of the people, have been submitted by you, and by me accepted, and with God’s blessing shall be executed without deviation—

"1. The re-establishment of Chitor as in the time of Shah Jahan.

"2. Prohibition of kine-killing.[A]

"3. The restoration of all the districts held in the reign of Shah Jahan.

"4. Freedom of faith and religious worship, as during the government of him whose nest is Paradise (Akbar).

"5. Whoever shall be dismissed by you shall receive no countenance from the king.

“6. The abrogation of the contingent for the service of the Deccan.”[B]

A. From the second of these articles, which alternate between stipulations of a temporal and spiritual nature, we may draw a lesson of great political importance. In all the treaties which have come under my observation, the insertion of an article against the slaughter of kine was prominent. This sacrifice to their national prejudices was the subject of discussion with every ambassador when the States of Rajasthan formed engagements with the British Government in 1817-18, “the prohibition of kine-killing within their respective limits.” From the construction of our armies we could not guarantee this article, but assurances were given that every practical attention would be paid to their wishes; and kine are not absolutely slain within the jurisdiction of any of these Rajput princes. But even long habit, though it has familiarized, has not reconciled them to this revolting sacrifice; nor would the kine-killer in Mewar be looked upon with less detestation than was Cambyses by the Egyptians, when he thrust his lance into the flank of Apis. But in time this will be overlooked, and the verbal assurance will become a dead letter; men of good intention will be lulled into the belief that, because not openly combated, the prejudice is extinct, and that homage to our power has obliterated this article of their creed. Thus Aurangzeb thought, but he avowedly and boldly opposed the religious opinions of his tributaries; we only hold them in contempt, and even protect them when productive of no sacrifice. Yet if we look back on the early page of history, we shall find both policy and benevolence combined to form this legislative protection to one of the most useful of domestic animals, and which would tempt the belief that Triptolemus, the lawgiver of Sparta, had borrowed from Manu [Laws, xi. 60, 69, 71], or rather from the still greater friends of dumb creatures, the Jains, in the law which exempted not only the lordly bull from the knife, but “every living thing.”

B. The Mewar contingent had been serving under Azam in the south, as the following letter from him to the Rana discloses:—“Be it known to Rana Amra Singh, your arzi [petition] arrived, and the accounts of your mother gave me great grief, but against the decrees of God there is no struggling. Pray for my welfare. Raja Rae Singh made a request for you; you are my own; rest in full confidence and continue in your obedience. The lands of your illustrious ancestors shall all be yours—but this is the time to evince your duty—the rest learn from your own servants—continue to think of me.”

“Your Rajputs have behaved well.”

9. It consisted of twenty-two Nakkaraband chiefs, i.e. each entitled to a kettle-drum, and fifteen Turais, or chiefs, entitled to brass trumpets. ["As a mark of favour, kettle-drums (naqqārah) and the right to play them (naubat) might be granted to a subject, but he must be a man of the rank of 2000 sawār (troopers) or upwards. As an invariable condition, however, it was stipulated they should not be used when the Emperor was present, or within a certain distance from his residence" (Irvine, Army of the Indian Moghuls, 30, 208 f.).]

10. In lieu of all, what reward does Britain hold out to the native population to be attached? Heavy duties exclude many products of their industry from the home market. The rates of pay to civil officers afford no security to integrity; and the faithful soldier cannot aspire to higher reward than £120 per annum, were his breast studded with medals. Even their prejudices are often too little considered, prejudices, the violation of which lost the throne of India, in spite of every local advantage, to the descendants of Aurangzeb.

11. [Jizya, meaning ‘tribute,’ was a capitation tax imposed on subjects (zimmi) who did not follow the state religion, Islām. Its hardship lay in the fact that it was additional to, and about the same amount as the revenue demand, the latter being thus nearly doubled. Great merchants in the time of Aurangzeb paid Rs. 13.8; the middle class Rs. 6.12; the poor Rs. 3.8 per annum per head (Manucci ii. 234). On the Jizya see Hughes, Dict. Islām, 248; Smith, Akbar the Great Mogul, 65 f.; Keene, Turks in India, 153 ff.; Grant Duff, Hist. of the Mahrattas, 145; Jadunath Sarkar, Life of Aurangzib, iii. 305 ff.]

12. Rampura Bhanpura (city of the sun) to distinguish it from Rampura Tonk. Rao Gopal was of the Chandarawat clan. See note, p. 306.

13. Rao Dalpat Bundela of Datia, a portion of whose memoirs were presented to me by the reigning prince, his descendant.

14. A.D. 1706-7. [The Mahrattas crossed the Nerbudda in 1705 (Grant Duff, Hist. Mahrattas, 177; Malcolm, Memoir Central India, i. 58 ff.). The latter remarks that they came to attack the government, not the people, and acted with the concurrence of the Hindu chiefs discontented with the policy of Aurangzeb.]

15. Rao Dalpat (Bundela), and Rao Ram Singh (Hara).

16. [Twenty miles south of Agra, June 7, 1707.]

17. [Nawāb Bāi, daughter of the Rāja of Rājauri, Kashmīr, who died in 1690 (Manucci ii. 57, note).]

18. See History of the Tribes, article ‘Jats,’ p. 127.

19. A.D. 1709-10.

20. Memoirs of Iradat Khan, p. 58 [translated by Captain Jonathan Scott; extracts from the work of Irādat Khān will be found in Elliot-Dowson vii. 534 f.]; also autograph letters of all those princes, with files of the regular newspapers (akhbars) of the day, in my possession, dated from the emperor’s camp.

21. Memoirs of Iradat Khan.

22. Hence the corruption of horde.

23. Newspapers, dated 3rd Rajab, San. 3—(3rd year of his reign).

24. Newspapers, 10th Rajab, San. 3.

25. Newspapers, 5th Shavval, San. 3.

26. The following edict, which caused this action, I translated from the archives; it is addressed to the son of Sawaldas:—“Maharana Amra Singh to Rathor Rae Singh Sawaldasot (race of Sawaldas)—Lay waste your villages and the country around you—your families shall have other habitations to dwell in—for particulars consult Daulat Singh Chondawat: obey these.” Asoj, S. 1764 (Dec. A.D. 1708).

27. [February 18] A.D. 1712. [The Musalmān authorities do not corroborate the assertion that he was poisoned.]

28. Husain Ali and Abdu-lla Khan.

29. Next to kine-killing was the article inhibiting the introduction of the Adalat, or British courts of justice, into the Rajput States, in all their treaties with the British Government in A.D. 1817-18, the very name of which is abhorrent to a native.

30. The title of Husain Ali,—as Kutbu-l-mulk (the axis of the State), was that of his brother Abdu-lla.

31. A white swelling or tumour on the back.

32. The ceremony is described, as it was celebrated, with true Asiatic pomp. “The Ameer-ool Omra conducted the festivities on the part of the bride, and the marriage was performed with a splendour and magnificence till then unseen among the princes of Hindust’han. Many pompous insignia were added to the royal cortège upon this occasion. The illuminations rivalled the planets, and seemed to upbraid the faint lustre of the stars. The nuptials were performed at the palace of the Ameer-ool Omra, whence the emperor conveyed his bride with the highest splendour of imperial pomp to the citadel, amidst the resoundings of musical instruments and the acclamations of the people” (Scott’s History of Aurangzeb’s Successors, vol. i. p. 132)p. 132). [For the cure of Farrukhsīyar by Surgeon W. Hamilton see C. R. Wilson, Early Annals of the English in Bengal, ii. 235.]

33. [There is a monument of Hamilton in St. John’s Church, Calcutta (IGI, x. 280).]

34. [Ināyatu-lla Khān, a Persian of Naishapur, was tutor of Zebu-n-nissa Begam, daughter of Aurangzeb, and held high office in his reign and in that of Farrukhsīyar. He died in 1726 (Beale, s.v.).]

35. 13 rupees on every 2000 rupees.

36. [Altamgha, ‘the red seal,’ technically ‘a royal grant’grant’. On its remission by Bābur see Erskine, Hist. of India, i. 467. Elliot remarks that the altamgha as a tax was enforced as early as the time of Alāu-d-dīn and Fīroz Shāh (Elliot-Dowson iii. 365). For the use of the seal see Memoirs of Jahāngīr, trans. Rogers-Beveridge, 23.]

37.

"Memorandum of Requests.

"1. The Mansab of 7000, the highest grade of rank.

"2. Farman of engagement under the panja private seal and sign that the jizya shall be abolished—that it shall no longer be imposed on the Hindu nation; at all events, that none of the Chagatai race shall authorize it in Mewar. Let it be annulled.

"3. The contingent of one thousand horse for service in the Deccan to be excused.

"4. All places of Hindu faith to be rebuilt, with perfect freedom of religious worship.

"5. If my uncles, brothers, or chiefs, repair to the Presence, to meet no encouragement.

"6. The Bhumias of Deolia, Banswara, Dungarpur, and Sirohi, besides other zamindars over whom I am to have control, they shall not be admitted to the Presence.

"7. The forces I possess are my chiefs—what troops you may require for a given period, you must furnish with rations (peti), and when the service is over, their accounts will be settled.

"8. Of the Hakkdars, Zamindars, Mansabdars, who serve you with zeal and from the heart, let me have a list—and those who are not obedient I will punish; but in effecting this no demand is to be made for Paemali."[A]

"List of the districts attached to the Panjhazari,[B] at present under sequestration, to be restored—Phulia, Mandalgarh, Badnor, Pur, Basar, Ghayaspur, Pardhar, Banswara, Dungarpur. Besides the 5000 of old, you had on ascending the throne granted an increase of 1000, and on account of the victory at Sinsini 1000 more, of two and three horse."[C]

"Of three crores of dams[D] in gift (inam), namely, two according to farman, and one for the payment of the contingent in the Deccan, and of which two are immediately required, you have given me in lieu thereof Sirohi.

“Districts now desired—Idar, Kekri, Mandal, Jahazpur, Malpur (and another illegible).”

A. Destruction of property, alluding to the crops which always suffered in the movements of disorderly troops.

B. Mansab of 5000.

C. It was usual to allow two and three horses to each cavalier when favour was intended.

D. 40 dams to the rupee.

38. [Sāhu, ‘the honest, respectable man,’ a title given by Aurangzeb to Sivaji, son of Sambhaji (Grant Duff, 184).]

39. [Desmukhi from Sardesmukh, an officer exercising police and revenue jurisdiction under the Marāthas. These taxes were confirmed in favour of Sivaji in 1665 (Ibid. 94).]

CHAPTER 15

Rāna Sangrām Singh II., A.D. 1710-34.

—Sangram Singh (the lion of battle) succeeded; a name renowned in the annals of Mewar, being that of the opponent of the founder of the Moguls. He ascended the throne about the same time with Muhammad Shah,[1] the last of the race of Timur who deserved the name of emperor of India. During the reign of Sangram, from A.D. 1716 to 1734, this mighty empire was dismembered; when, in lieu of one paramount authority, numerous independent governments started up, which preserved their uncertain existence until the last revolution, which has given a new combination to these discordant materials—Muhammadan, Mahratta, and Rajput, in the course of one century under the dominion of a handful of Britons! Like the Satraps of the ancient Persian, or the Lieutenants of Alexander, each chief proclaimed himself master of the province, the government of which was confided to his loyalty and talents; and it cannot fail to diminish any regret at the successive prostration of Bengal, Oudh, Haidarabad, and other less conspicuous States, to remember that they were founded in rebellion, and erected on ingratitude; and that their rulers were destitute of those sympathies, which could alone give stability to their ephemeral greatness, by improving the condition of their subjects. With the Mahrattas the case is different: their emergence to power claims our admiration, when tyranny transformed the industrious husbandman, and the minister of religion, into a hardy and enterprising soldier, and a skilful functionary of government. Had their ambition been restrained within legitimate bounds, it would have been no less gratifying than politically and morally just that the family of Sivaji should have retained its [406] authority in countries which his active valour wrested from Aurangzeb. But the genius of conquest changed their natural habits; they devastated instead of consolidating; and in lieu of that severe and frugal simplicity, and that energy of enterprise, which were their peculiar characteristics, they became distinguished for mean parsimony, low cunning, and dastardly depredation. Had they, retaining their original character, been content with their proper sphere of action, the Deccan, they might yet have held the sovereignty of that vast region, where their habits and language assimilated them with the people. But as they spread over the north they encountered national antipathies, and though professing the same creed, a wider difference in sentiment divided the Mahratta from the Rajput, than from the despots of Delhi, whose tyrannical intolerance was more endurable, because less degrading, than the rapacious meanness of the Southron. Rajasthan benefited by the demolition of the empire: to all but Mewar it yielded an extension of power. Had the national mind been allowed to repose, and its energies to recruit, after so many centuries of demoralization, all would have recovered their strength, which lay in the opinions and industry of the people, a devoted tenantry and brave vassalage, whom we have so often depicted as abandoning their habitations and pursuits to aid the patriotic views of their princes.

Deposition of Farrukhsīyar: Nizāmu-l-mulk.

—The short reign of Farrukhsiyar was drawing to a close; its end was accelerated by the very means by which that monarch hoped to emancipate himself from the thraldom of the Sayyids, against whose authority the faction of Inayatu-lla was but a feeble counterpoise, and whose arbitrary habits, in the re-establishment of the jizya, lost him even the support of the father of his queen. It was on this occasion that the celebrated Nizamu-l-mulk,[2] the founder of the Haidarabad State, was brought upon the stage: he then held the unimportant charge of the district of Moradabad; but possessed of high talents, he was bought over, by the promise of the government of Malwa, to further the views of the Sayyids. Supported by a body of ten thousand Mahrattas, these makers of kings soon manifested their displeasure by the deposal of Farrukhsiyar, who was left without any support but that of the princes of Amber and Bundi. Yet they would never have abandoned him had he hearkened to their counsel to take the field, and trust his cause to them: but, cowardly and infatuated, he refused to quit the walls of his palace, and threw [407] himself upon the mercy of his enemies, who made him dismiss the faithful Rajputs and “admit a guard of honour of their troops into the citadel.”[3]

Murder of Farrukhsīyar, May 16, 1719.

—Farrukhsiyar hoped for security in the inviolability of the harem—but he found no sanctuary even there: to use the words of the Mogul memoir, "night advanced, and day, like the fallen star of the emperor, sunk in darkness. The gates of the citadel were closed upon his friends: the Wazir and Ajit Singh remained within. This night was dreadful to the inhabitants of the city; no one knew what was passing in the palace, and the troops under the Amiru-l-umara, with ten thousand Mahrattas, remained under arms: morning came, and all hope was extinguished by the royal band (Naubat) announcing the deposal of Farrukhsiyar, in the proclamation of Rafiu-d-darajat, his successor." The interval between the deposal and the death of an Asiatic prince is short, and even while the heralds vociferated “long live the king!” to the new puppet, the bowstring was on the neck of the contemptible Farrukhsiyar.

Accession of Rafiu-d-darajāt.

—The first act of the new reign (A.D. 1719) was one of conciliation towards Ajit Singh and the Rajputs, namely, the abrogation of the jizya; and the Sayyids further showed their disposition to attach them by conferring the important office of Diwan on one of their own faith: Raja Ratan Chand was accordingly inducted into the ministry in lieu of Inayatu-lla.

Accession of Roshan-Akhtar Muhammad Shah, A.D. 1719-48.

—Three phantoms of royalty flitted across the scene in a few months, till Roshan-Akhtar, the eldest son of Bahadur Shah, was [408] enthroned with the title of Muhammad Shah (A.D. 1720), during whose reign of nearly thirty years the empire was completely dismembered,[4] and Mahrattas from the south disputed its spoils with the Afghan mountaineers. The haughty demeanour of the Sayyids disgusted all who acted with them, especially their coadjutor the Nizam,[5] of whose talents, displayed in restoring Malwa to prosperity, they entertained a dread. It was impossible to cherish any abstract loyalty for the puppets they established, and treason lost its name, when the Nizam declared for independence, which the possession of the fortresses of Asir and Burhanpur enabled him to secure. The brothers had just cause for alarm. The Rajputs were called upon for their contingents,[6] and the princes of Kotah and Narwar gallantly interposed their own retainers to cut off the Nizam from the Nerbudda, on which occasion the Kotah prince was slain. The independence of the Nizam led to that of Oudh. Saadat Khan was then but the commandant of Bayana, but he entered into the conspiracy to expel the Sayyids, and was one of those who drew lots to assassinate the Amiru-l-umara. The deed was put into execution on the march to reduce the Nizam, when Haidar Khan buried his poniard in the Amir’s heart.[7] The emperor then in camp, being thus freed, returned against the Wazir, who instantly set up Ibrahim and marched against his opponents. The Rajputs wisely remained neutral, and both armies met. The decapitation of Ratan Chand was the signal for the battle, which was obstinate and bloody; the Wazir was made prisoner, and subjected to the bowstring. For the part Saadat Khan acted in the conspiracy he was honoured with the title of Bahadur Jang, and the government of Oudh. The Rajput princes paid their respects to the [409] conqueror, who confirmed the repeal of the jizya, and as the reward of their neutrality the Rajas of Amber and Jodhpur, Jai Singh and Ajit, were gratified, the former with the government of the province of Agra, the last with that of Gujarat and Ajmer, of which latter fortress he took possession. Girdhardas[8] was made governor of Malwa to oppose the Mahrattas, and the Nizam was invited from his government of Haidarabad to accept the office of wazir of the empire.

The Policy of Mewār.

—The policy of Mewar was too isolated for the times; her rulers clung to forms and unsubstantial homage, while their neighbours, with more active virtue, plunged into the tortuous policy of the imperial court, and seized every opportunity to enlarge the boundaries of their States: and while Amber appropriated to herself the royal domains almost to the Jumna; while Marwar planted her banner on the battlements of Ajmer, dismembered Gujarat, and pushed her clans far into the desert, and even to ‘the world’s end’;[9] Mewar confined her ambition to the control of her ancient feudatories of Abu, Idar, and the petty States which grew out of her, Dungarpur and Banswara. The motive for this policy was precisely the same which had cost such sacrifices in former times; she dreaded amalgamating with the imperial court, and preferred political inferiority to the sacrifice of principle. The internal feuds of her two great clans also operated against her aggrandizement; and while the brave Saktawat, Jeth Singh, expelled the Rathor from Idar, and subdued the wild mountaineers even to Koliwara, the conquest was left incomplete by the jealousy of his rival, and he was recalled in the midst of his success. From these and other causes an important change took place in the internal policy of Mewar, which tended greatly to impair her energies. To this period none of the vassals had the power to erect places of strength within their domains, which, as already stated, were not fixed, but subject to triennial change; their lands were given for subsistence, their native hills were their fortresses, and the frontier strongholds defended their families in time of invasion. As the Mogul power waned, the general defensive system was [410] abandoned, while the predatory warfare which succeeded compelled them to stud their country with castles, in order to shelter their effects from the Mahratta and Pathan, and in later times to protect rebels.

Rana Sangram ruled eighteen [twenty-four] years; under him Mewar was respected, and the greater portion of her lost territory was regained. His selection of Biharidas Pancholi evinced his penetration, for never had Mewar a more able or faithful minister, and numerous autograph letters of all the princes of his time attest his talent and his worth as the oracle of the period. He retained his office during three reigns: but his skill was unable to stem the tide of Mahratta invasion, which commenced on the death of Sangram.

Anecdotes of Rāna Sangrām Singh II.

—Tradition has preserved many anecdotes of Sangram, which aid our estimate of Rajput character, whether in the capacity of legislators or the more retired sphere of domestic manners. They uniformly represent this Rana as a patriarchal ruler, wise, just, and inflexible,[10] steady in his application to business, regulating public and private expenditure, and even the sumptuary laws, which were rigidly adhered to, and on which the people still expatiate, giving homely illustrations of the contrast between them and the existing profusion. The Chauhan of Kotharia, one of the highest class of chieftains, had recommended an addition to the folds of the court robe, and as courtesy forbids all personal denial, his wish was assented to, and he retired to his estate pluming himself on his sovereign’s acquiescence. But the Rana, sending for the minister, commanded the sequestration of two villages of Kotharia, which speedily reaching the ears of the chief, he repaired to court, and begged to know the fault which had drawn upon him this mark of displeasure. “None, Raoji; but on a minute calculation I find the revenue of these two villages will just cover the expense of the superfluity of garment which obedience to your wishes will occasion me, and as every iota of my own income is appropriated, I had no other mode of innovating on our ancient costume than by making you bear the charge attending a compliance with your suggestion.” It will readily be believed, that the Chauhan prayed the [411] revocation of this edict, and that he was careful for the future of violating the sumptuary laws of his sovereign.

On another occasion, from lapse of memory or want of consideration, he broke the laws he had established, and alienated a village attached to the household. Each branch had its appropriate fund, whether for the kitchen, the wardrobe, the privy purse, the queens; these lands were called thua, and each had its officer, or thuadar, all of whom were made accountable for their trust to the prime minister; it was one of these he had alienated. Seated with his chiefs in the rasora, or banqueting-hall, there was no sugar forthcoming for the curds, which has a place in the dinner carte of all Rajputs, and he chid the superintendent for the omission. “Anndata” (giver of food), replied the officer, "the minister says you have given away the village set apart for sugar."—“Just,” replied the Rana, and finished his repast without further remark, and without sugar to his curds.

Another anecdote will show his inflexibility of character, and his resistance to that species of interference in state affairs which is the bane of Asiatic governments. Sangram had recently emancipated himself from the trammels of a tedious minority, during which his mother, according to custom, acted a conspicuous part in the guardianship of her son and the State. The chieftain of Dariawad had his estate confiscated: but as the Rana never punished from passion or pardoned from weakness, none dared to plead his cause, and he remained proscribed from court during two years, when he ventured a petition to the queen-mother through the Bhandarins,[11] for the reversion of the decree, accompanied with a note for two lakhs of rupees,[12] and a liberal donation to the fair mediators. It was the daily habit of the Rana to pay his respects to his mother before dinner, and on one of these visits she introduced the Ranawat’s request, and begged the restoration of the estate. It was customary, on the issue of every grant, that eight days should elapse from the mandate to the promulgation of the edict, to which eight official seals[13] were attached; but on the present occasion the Rana commanded the execution of the deed at once, and to have it ere he left the Rawala. On its being brought, he [412] placed it respectfully in his mother’s hands, begging her to return the note to the Ranawat; having made this sacrifice to duty, he bowed and retired. The next day he commanded dinner an hour earlier, without the usual visit to the Rawala: all were surprised, but none so much as the queen-mother—the day passed—another came—still no visit, and to a confidential message, she received a ceremonious reply. Alarmed for the loss of her son’s affections, she pondered on the cause, but could find none, except the grant—she entreated the minister’s interference; he respectfully intimated that he was interdicted from the discussion of State affairs but with his sovereign—she had recourse to other expedients, which proving alike fruitless, she became sullen, punished her damsels without cause, and refused food: Sangram still remained obdurate. She talked of a pilgrimage to the Ganges, and befitting equipage and escort were commanded to attend her—the moment of departure was at hand, and yet he would not see her. She repaired by Amber on her route to Mathura, to worship the Apollo of Vraj,[14] when the great Raja Jai Singh (married to the Rana’s sister)[15] advanced, and conducted her to his new city of Jaipur, and to evince his respect “put his shoulder to the travelling litter or palki,” and promised to return with her and be a suppliant to his brother-in-law for the restoration of his regard. She made a tour of the sacred places, and on return accepted the escort of the Prince of Amber. The laws of hospitality amongst the Rajputs are rigid: the Rana could not refuse to his guest the request for which he had left his capital: but averse to owing reconciliation to external intercession, and having done enough for the suppression of intrigue, he advanced to meet the cortège when within one march of Udaipur, as if to receive the Amber prince; but proceeding direct to his [413] mother’s tents, he asked her blessing, and having escorted her to the palace, returned to greet and conduct his brother prince; all the allusion he made to the subject was in the simple but pithy expression, “family quarrels should be kept in the family.”

Another anecdote shows him as the vigilant shepherd watching over the safety of his flock. As he sat down to dinner, tidings arrived of an invasion of the Malwa Pathans, who had rifled several villages at Mandasor, carrying the inhabitants into captivity. Pushing the platter from him, he ordered his armour, and the nakkara to beat the assemblage of his chieftains. With all speed a gallant band formed on the terrace below, but they prevailed on the Rana to leave the punishment of the desultory aggression to them, as unworthy of his personal interference. They departed: several hours after, the chief of Kanor arrived, having left a sick-bed, and with a tertian come in obedience to his sovereign’s summons. Vain was his prince’s dissuasion to keep him back, and he joined the band as they came up with the invaders. The foe was defeated and put to flight, but the sick chieftain fell in the charge, and his son was severely wounded by his side. On the young chief repairing to court he was honoured with a bira[16] from the Rana’s own hand, a distinction which he held to be an ample reward for his wounds, and testimonial of the worth of his father. The existence of such sentiments are the strongest tests of character.

On another occasion, some parasite had insinuated suspicions against the chief of the nobles, the Rawat of Salumbar, who had just returned victorious in action with the royal forces at Malwa, and had asked permission to visit his family on his way to court. The Rana spurned the suspicion, and to show his reliance on the chief, he dispatched a messenger for Salumbar to wait his arrival and summon him to the presence. He had reached his domain, given leave to his vassals as they passed their respective abodes, dismounted, and reached the door of the Rawala, when the herald called aloud, “The Rana salutes you, Rawatji, and commands this letter.” With his hand on the door where his wife and children awaited him, he demanded his horse, and simply leaving his ‘duty for his mother,’ he [414] mounted, with half a dozen attendants, nor loosed the rein until he reached the capital. It was midnight; his house empty; no servants; no dinner; but his sovereign had foreseen and provided, and when his arrival was announced, provender for his cattle, and vessels of provision prepared in the royal kitchen, were immediately sent to his abode. Next morning Salumbar attended the court. The Rana was unusually gracious, and not only presented him with the usual tokens of regard, a horse and jewels, but moreover a grant of land. With surprise he asked what service he had performed to merit such distinction, and from a sentiment becoming the descendant of Chonda solemnly refused to accept it; observing, that even if he had lost his head, the reward was excessive; but if his prince would admit of his preferring a request, it would be, that in remembrance of his sovereign’s favour, when he, or his, in after times, should on the summons come from their estate to the capital, the same number of dishes from the royal kitchen should be sent to his abode: it was granted, and to this day his descendants enjoy the distinction. These anecdotes paint the character of Sangram far more forcibly than any laboured effort. His reign was as honourable to himself as it was beneficial to his country, in whose defence he had fought eighteen actions; but though his policy was too circumscribed, and his country would have benefited more by a surrender of some of those antique prejudices which kept her back in the general scramble for portions of the dilapidated monarchy of the Moguls, yet he was respected abroad, as he was beloved by his subjects, of whose welfare he was ever watchful, and to whose wants ever indulgent. Rana Sangram was the last prince who upheld the dignity of the gaddi of Bappa Rawal; with his death commenced Mahratta ascendancy, and with this we shall open the reign of his son and successor.

Rāna Jagat Singh II., A.D. 1734-51. Difficulties of Rājput Combination.

—Jagat Singh II., the eldest of the four sons of Sangram, succeeded S. 1790 (A.D. 1734). The commencement of his reign was signalized by a revival of the triple alliance formed by Rana Amra, and broken by Raja Ajit’s connexion with the Sayyids and the renewal of matrimonial ties with the empire, the abjuration whereof was the basis of the treaty. The present engagement, which included all the minor states, was formed at Hurra, a town in Mewar on the Ajmer frontier, where the confederate princes met at the head of their vassals. To insure unanimity, the Rana was invested with paramount control, and headed the forces which were [415] to take the field after the rains, already set in.[17] Unity of interests was the chief character of the engagement, had they adhered to which, not only the independence, but the aggrandisement, of Rajasthan, was in their power, and they might have alike defied the expiring efforts of Mogul tyranny, and the Parthian-like warfare of the Mahratta. They were indeed the most formidable power in India at this juncture; but difficult as it had ever proved to coalesce the Rajputs for mutual preservation, even when a paramount superiority of power, both temporal and spiritual, belonged to the Ranas, so now, since Amber and Marwar had attained an equality with Mewar, it was found still less practicable to prevent the operation of the principles of disunion. In fact, a moment’s reflection must discover that the component parts of a great feudal federation, such as that described, must contain too many discordant particles—too many rivalries and national antipathies—ever cordially to amalgamate. Had it been otherwise, the opportunities were many and splendid for the recovery of Rajput freedom; but though individually enamoured of liberty, the universality of the sentiment prevented its realization: they never would submit to the control required to work it out, and this, the best opportunity which had ever occurred, was lost. A glance at the disordered fragments of the throne of Akbar will show the comparative strength of the Rajputs.

League of Nizamu-l-mulk with Rājputs and Marāthas.

—Nizamu-l-mulk had completely emancipated himself from his allegiance, and signalized his independence, by sending the head of the imperial general, who [416] ventured to oppose it, as that of a traitor, to the emperor. He leagued with the Rajputs, and instigated Bajirao to plant the Mahratta standard in Malwa and Gujarat. In defending the former, Dayya Bahadur fell;[18] and Jai Singh of Amber, being nominated to the trust, delegated it to the invader, and Malwa was lost. The extensive province of Gujarat soon shared the same fate; for in the vacillating policy of the court, the promise of that government to the Rathors had been broken, and Abhai Singh, son of Ajit, who had expelled Sarbuland Khan[19] after a severe contest, following the example of his brother prince of Amber, connived with the invaders, while he added its most northern districts to Marwar. In Bengal, Behar, and Orissa, Shujau-d-daula, and his deputy Allahwirdi Khan,[20] were supreme, and Safdar Jang[21] (son of Saadat Khan) was established in Oudh. The basest disloyalty marked the rise of this family, which owed everything to Muhammad Shah. It was Saadat Khan who invited Nadir Shah, whose invasion gave the final stab to the empire; and it was his son, Safdar Jang, who, when commandant of the artillery (mir-i-atish), turned it against his sovereign’s palace, and then conveyed it to Oudh. Of the Diwans of Bengal we must speak only with reverence; but, whether they had any special dispensation, their loyalty to the descendant of Farrukhsiyar has been very little more distinguished than that of the satraps enumerated, though the original tenure of Bengal is still apparent, and the feudal obligation to the suzerain of Delhi manifested, in the homage of petite serjanterie, in transmitting with the annual fine of relief (one hundred mohars) the spices of the eastern archipelago. Yet of all those who gloried in the title of fidwi padshah-i-ghazi, the only ‘slave of the victorious king,’ who has been generous to him in the day of his distress, is the Diwan of Bengal, better known as the English East India Company. In the hour of triumph they rescued the blind and aged descendants of the illustrious Babur from a state of degradation and penury, and secured to him all the dignity and comfort which his circumstances could lead him to hope; and the present state of his family, contrasted with the thraldom and misery endured while fortune favoured the Mahratta, is splendid. Yet perhaps the most acute stroke of fortune to this fallen monarch was when the British governor of India lent his aid to the descendant of the rebellious Safdar Jang to mount the throne of Oudh, and to assume, in lieu of the title of wazir of the empire, that of king. We can [417] appreciate and commiserate the feeling; for the days of power were yet too recent[22] for Akbar Sani (the second) to receive such intelligence without a shock, or without comparing his condition with him whose name he bore. It is well to pause upon this page of eastern history, which is full of instruction; since by weighing the abuses of power, and its inevitable loss through placing a large executive trust in the hands of those who exercised it without sympathy towards the governed, we may at least retard the day of our decline.

Marātha Raids. The Campaign of Nādir Shāh.

—The Mahratta establishments in Malwa and Gujarat constituted a nucleus for others to form upon, and like locusts, they crossed the Nerbudda in swarms; when the Holkars, the Sindhias, the Puars, and other less familiar names, emerged from obscurity; when the plough[23] was deserted for the sword, and the goat-herd[24] made a lance of his crook. They devastated, and at length settled upon, the lands of the indigenous Rajputs. For a time the necessity of unity made them act under one standard, and hence the vast masses under the first Bajirao, which bore down all opposition, and afterwards dispersed themselves over those long-oppressed regions. It was in A.D. 1735 that he first crossed the Chambal[25] and appeared before Delhi, which he blockaded, when his retreat was purchased by the surrender of the chauth, or fourth of the gross revenues of the empire. The Nizam, dreading the influence such pusillanimous concession might exert upon his rising power, determined to drive the Mahrattas from Malwa, where, if once fixed, they would cut off his communications with the north. He accordingly invaded Malwa, defeated Bajirao in a pitched battle, and was only prevented from following it up by Nadir Shah’s advance, facilitated by the Afghans, who, on becoming independent in Kabul, laid open the frontiers of Hindustan.[26] In this emergency, “great hopes were placed on the valour of the Rajputs”; but the spirit of devotion in this brave race, by whose aid the Mogul power was made and maintained, was irretrievably alienated, and not one of those high families, who had throughout been so lavish of their blood in its defence, would obey the summons to the royal standard, when the fate of India was decided on the plains of Karnal.[27] A sense [418] of individual danger brought together the great home feudatories, when the Nizam and Saadat Khan (now Wazir) united their forces under the imperial commander; but their demoralized levies were no match for the Persian and the northern mountaineer. The Amiru-l-umara was slain, the Wazir made prisoner, and Muhammad Shah and his kingdom were at Nadir’s disposal. The disloyalty of the Wazir filled the capital with blood, and subjected his sovereign to the condition of a captive. Jealous of the Nizam, whose diplomatic success had obtained him the office of Amiru-l-umara, he stimulated the avarice of the conqueror by exaggerating the riches of Delhi, and declared that he alone could furnish the ransom negotiated by the Nizam. Nadir’s love of gold overpowered his principle; the treaty was broken, the keys of Delhi were demanded, and its humiliated emperor was led in triumph through the camp of the conqueror, who, on March 8, A.D. 1739, took possession of the palace of Timur, and coined money bearing this legend:

King over the kings of the world

Is Nadir, king of kings, and lord of the period.

Plunder and Massacre at Delhi.

—The accumulated wealth of India contained in the royal treasury, notwithstanding the lavish expenditure during the civil wars, and the profuse rewards scattered by each competitor for dominion, was yet sufficient to gratify even avarice itself, amounting in gold, jewels, and plate to forty millions sterling, exclusive of equipages of every denomination. But this enormous spoil only kindled instead of satiating the appetite of Nadir, and a fine of two millions and a half was exacted, and levied with such unrelenting rigour and cruelty on the inhabitants, that men of rank and character could find no means of escape but by suicide. A rumour of this monster’s death excited an insurrection, in which several Persians were killed. The provocation was not lost: the conqueror ascended a mosque,[28] and commanded a general massacre, in which thousands were slain. Pillage accompanied murder; whilst the streets streamed with blood, the city was fired, and the dead were consumed in the conflagration of their late habitations. If a single ray of satisfaction could be felt amidst such a scene of horror, it must have been when Nadir commanded the minister of the wretch who was the author of [419] this atrocity, the infamous Saadat Khan, to send, on pain of death, an inventory of his own and his master’s wealth; demanding meanwhile the two millions and a half, the original composition settled by the Nizam, from the Wazir alone. Whether his ‘coward conscience’ was alarmed at the mischief he had occasioned, or mortification at discovering that his ambition had ‘o’erleaped itself,’ and recoiled with vengeance on his own head, tempted the act, it is impossible to discover, but the guilty Saadat became his own executioner. He swallowed poison;[29] an example followed by his diwan, Raja Majlis Rae, in order to escape the rage of the offended Nadir. By the new treaty, all the western provinces, Kabul, Tatta, Sind, and Multan, were surrendered and united to Persia, and on the vernal equinox, Nadir, gorged with spoil, commenced his march from the desolated Delhi.[30] The philosophic comment of the native historian on these events is so just, that we shall transcribe it verbatim. “The people of Hindustan at this period thought only of personal safety and gratification; misery was disregarded by those who escaped it, and man, centred wholly in self, felt not for his kind. This selfishness, destructive of public and private virtue, was universal in Hindustan at the invasion of Nadir Shah; nor have the people become more virtuous since, and consequently neither more happy nor more independent.”

Results to the Rājputs.

—At this eventful era in the political history of India, the Rajput nation had not only maintained their ground amidst the convulsions of six centuries under the paramount sway of the Islamite, but two of the three chief States, Marwar and [420] Amber, had by policy and valour created substantial States out of petty principalities, junior branches[31] from which had established their independence, and still enjoy it under treaty with the British Government. Mewar at this juncture was defined by nearly the same boundaries as when Mahmud of Ghazni invaded her in the tenth century, though her influence over many of her tributaries, as Bundi, Abu, Idar, and Deolia, was destroyed. To the west, the fertile district of Godwar carried her beyond her natural barrier, the Aravalli, into the desert; while the Chambal was her limit to the east. The Khari separated her from Ajmer, and to the south she adjoined Malwa. These limits comprehended one hundred and thirty miles of latitude and one hundred and forty of longitude, containing 10,000 towns and villages, with upwards of a million sterling of revenue, raised from a fertile soil by an excellent agricultural population, a wealthy mercantile community, and defended by a devoted vassalage. Such was this little patriarchal State after the protracted strife which has been related; we shall have to exhibit her, in less than half a century, on the verge of annihilation from the predatory inroads of the Mahrattas.

The Coming of the Marāthas.

—In order to mark with exactitude the introduction of the Mahrattas into Rajasthan, we must revert to the period[32] when the dastardly intrigues of the advisers of Muhammad Shah surrendered to them as tribute the chauth, or fourth of his revenues. Whether in the full tide of successful invasion, these spoilers deemed any other argument than force to be requisite in order to justify their extortions, they had in this surrender a concession of which the subtle Mahrattas were well capable of availing themselves; and as the Mogul claimed sovereignty over the whole of Rajasthan, they might plausibly urge their right of chauth, as applicable to all the territories subordinate to the empire.

The Rājput Coalition.

—The rapidity with which these desultory bands flew from conquest to conquest appears to have alarmed the Rajputs, and again brought about a coalition, which, with the characteristic peculiarity of all such contracts, was commenced by matrimonial alliances. On this occasion, Bijai Singh, the heir of Marwar, was affianced to the Rana’s daughter, who at the same time reconciled the princes [421] of Marwar and Amber, whose positions at the court of the Mogul often brought their national jealousies into conflict, as they alternately took the lead in his councils: for it was rare to find both in the same line of politics. These matters were arranged at Udaipur.[33] But as we have often had occasion to observe, no public [422] or general benefit ever resulted from these alliances, which were obstructed by the multitude of petty jealousies inseparable from clanship; even while this treaty was in discussion, the fruit of the triple league formed against the tyranny of Aurangzeb was about to show its baneful influence, as will presently appear.

Bājirāo visits Mewār. Negotiations with the Marāthas.

—When Malwa was acquired by the Mahrattas, followed by the cession of the chauth, their leader, Bajirao, repaired to Mewar, where his visit created great alarm.[34] The Rana desired to avoid a personal interview, and sent as his ambassadors [423], the chief of Salumbar and his prime minister, Biharidas. Long discussions followed as to the mode of Bajirao’s reception, which was settled to be on the same footing as the Raja of Banera,[35] and that he should be seated in front of the throne. A treaty followed, stipulating an annual tribute, which remained in force during ten years,[36] when grasping at the whole they despised a part, and the treaty became a nullity.[37] The dissensions which arose soon after, in consequence of the Rajput engagements, afforded the opportunity sought for to mix in their internal concerns.

Right of Primogeniture.

—It may be recollected that in the family engagements formed by Rana Amra there was an obligation to invest the issue of such marriage with the rights of primogeniture; and the death of Sawai Jai Singh[38] of Amber, two years after Nadir’s invasion, brought that stipulation into effect. His eldest son, Isari Singh, was proclaimed Raja, but a strong party supported Madho Singh, the Rana’s nephew, and the stipulated, against the natural order of succession. We are [424] left in doubt as to the real designs of Jai Singh in maintaining his guarantee, which was doubtless inconvenient; but that Madho Singh was not brought up to the expectation is evident, from his holding a fief of the Rana Sangram, who appropriated the domain of Rampura for his support, subject to the service of one thousand horse and two thousand foot, formally sanctioned by his father, who allowed the transfer of his services. On the other hand, the letter of permission entitles him Kshema, ‘prosperous,’ an epithet only applied to the heir-apparent of Jaipur. Five years, however, elapsed before any extraordinary exertions were made to annul the rights of Isari Singh, who led his vassals to the Sutlej in order to oppose the first invasion of the Duranis.[39] It would be tedious to give even an epitome of the intrigues for the development of this object, which properly belong to the annals of Amber, and whence resulted many of the troubles of Rajputana. The Rana took the field with his nephew, and was met by Isari Singh,[40] supported by the Mahrattas; but the Sesodias did not evince in the battle of Rajmahall that gallantry which must have its source in moral strength: they were defeated and fled. The Rana vented his indignation in a galling sarcasm; he gave the sword of state to a common courtesan to carry in procession, observing “it was a woman’s weapon in these degenerate times”: a remark the degrading severity of which made a lasting impression in the decline of Mewar. Elated with this success, Isari Singh carried his resentments and his auxiliaries, under Sindhia, against the Haras of Kotah and Bundi, who supported the cause of his antagonist. Kotah stood a siege and was gallantly defended, and Sindhia (Apaji) lost an arm:[41] on this occasion both the States suffered a diminution of territory, and were subjected to tribute. The Rana, following the example of the Kachhwahas, called in as auxiliary Malhar Rao Holkar, and engaged to pay sixty-four lakhs of rupees (£800,000) on the deposal of Isari Singh. To avoid degradation this unfortunate prince resolved on suicide, and a dose of poison gave Madho Singh the gaddi, Holkar his bribe, and the Mahrattas a firm hold upon Rajasthan. Such was the cause of Rajput abasement; the moral force of the vassals was lost in a contest unjust in all its associations, and from this period we have only the degrading spectacle of civil strife and predatory spoliation till the existing treaty of A.D. 1817 [425].

Death of Rāna Jagat Singh II., A.D. 1751.

—In S. 1808 (A.D. 1752) Rana Jagat Singh died. Addicted to pleasure, his habits of levity and profusion totally unfitted him for the task of governing his country at such a juncture; he considered his elephant fights[42] of more importance than keeping down the Mahrattas. Like all his family, he patronized the arts, greatly enlarged the palace, and expended £250,000 in embellishing the islets of the Pichola. The villas scattered over the valley were all erected by him, and many of those festivals devoted to idleness and dissipation, and now firmly rooted at Udaipur, were instituted by Jagat Singh II.

CHAPTER 16

Rāna Partāp Singh II., A.D. 1751-54.

—Partap II. succeeded in A.D. 1752. Of the history of this prince, who renewed the most illustrious name in the annals of Mewar, there is nothing to record beyond the fact, that the three years he occupied the throne were marked by so many Mahratta invasions[1] and war contributions. By a daughter of Raja Jai Singh of Amber he had a son, who succeeded him.

Rāna Rāj Singh II., A.D. 1754-61.

—Rana Raj Singh II. was as little entitled to the name he bore as his predecessor. During the seven years he held the dignity at least seven shoals of the Southrons overran Mewar,[2] and so exhausted this country, that the Rana was compelled to ask pecuniary aid from the Brahman collector of the tribute, to enable him to marry the Rathor chieftain’s daughter. On his death the order of succession retrograded, devolving on his uncle [426],

Rāna ArsiArsi Singh II., A.D. 1761-73.

—Rana Arsi, in S. 1818, A.D. 1762. The levity of Jagat Singh, the inexperience of his successors Partap and Raj Singh, with the ungovernable temper of Rana Arsi, and the circumstances under which he succeeded to power, introduced a train of disorders which proved fatal to Mewar. Until this period not a foot of territory had been alienated. The wisdom of the Pancholi ministers, and the high respect paid by the organ of the Satara government, for a while preserved its integrity; but when the country was divided by factions, and the Mahrattas, ceasing to be a federate body, prowled in search of prey under leaders, each having an interest of his own, they formed political combinations to suit the ephemeral purposes of the former, but from which they alone reaped advantage. An attempt to depose Partap and set up his uncle Nathji introduced a series of rebellions, and constituted Malhar Rao Holkar, who had already become master of a considerable portion of the domain of Mewar, the umpire in their family disputes.

Malhār Rāo Holkar invades Mewār. Famine, A.D. 1764.

—The ties of blood or of princely gratitude are feeble bonds if political expediency demands their dissolution; and Madho Singh, when firmly established on the throne of Amber, repaid the immense sacrifices by which the Rana had effected it by assigning his fief of Rampura, which he had not a shadow of right to alienate, to Holkar: this was the first limb severed from Mewar.[3] Holkar had also become the assignee of the tribute imposed by Bajirao, but from which the Rana justly deemed himself exempt, when the terms of all further encroachment in Mewar were set at nought. On the plea of recovering these arrears, and the rent of some districts[4] on the Chambal, Malhar, after many threatening letters, invaded Mewar, and his threats of occupying the capital were only checked by draining their exhausted resources of six hundred thousand pounds.[5] In the same year[6] a famine afflicted them, when flour and tamarinds were equal in value, and were sold at the rate of a rupee for one pound and a half. Four years subsequent to this, civil war broke out and continued to influence all posterior proceedings, rendering [427] the inhabitants of this unhappy country a prey to every invader until 1817, when they tasted repose under British protection.

Civil War in Mewār. Revolt of Ratan Singh.

—The real cause of this rebellion must ever remain a secret: for while some regard it as a patriotic effort on the part of the people to redeem themselves from foreign domination, others discover its motive in the selfishness of the hostile clans, who supported or opposed the succession of Rana Arsi. This prince is accused of having unfairly acquired the crown, by the removal of his nephew Raj Singh; but though the traditional anecdotes of the period furnish strong grounds of suspicion, there is nothing which affords a direct confirmation of the crime. It is, however, a public misfortune when the line of succession retrogrades in Mewar: Arsi had no right to expect the inheritance he obtained, having long held a seat below the sixteen chief nobles; and as one of the ‘infants’ (babas) he was incorporated with the second class of nobles with an appanage of only £3000 per annum. His defects of character had been too closely contemplated by his compeers, and had kindled too many enmities, to justify expectation that the adventitious dignity he had attained would succeed in obliterating the memory of them; and past familiarity alone destroyed the respect which was exacted by sudden greatness. His insolent demeanour estranged the first of the home nobility, the Sadri chieftain,[7] whose ancestor at Haldighat acquired a claim to the perpetual gratitude of the Sesodias, while to an unfeeling pun on a personal defect of Jaswant Singh of Deogarh is attributed the hatred and revenge of this powerful branch of the Chondawats. These chiefs formed a party which eventually entrained many of lesser note to depose their sovereign, and immediately set up a youth called Ratna Singh, declared to be the posthumous son of the last Rana by the daughter of the chief of Gogunda, though to this hour disputes run high as to whether he was really the son of Raj Singh, or merely the puppet [428] of a faction. Be the fact as it may, he was made a rallying point for the disaffected, who soon comprehended the greater portion of the nobles, while out of the ‘sixteen’ greater chiefs five[8] only withstood the defection: of these, Salumbar, the hereditary premier, at first espoused, but soon abandoned, the cause of the Pretender; not from the principle of loyalty which his descendants take credit for, but from finding the superiority of intellect of the heads of the rebellion[9] (which now counted the rival Saktawats) too powerful for the supremacy he desired. Basant Pal, of the Depra tribe, was invested with the office of Pardhan to the Pretender. The ancestor of this man accompanied Samarsi in the twelfth century from Delhi, where he held a high office in the household of Prithiraj, the last emperor of the Hindus, and it is a distinguished proof of the hereditary quality of official dignity to find his descendant, after the lapse of centuries, still holding office with the nominal title of Pardhan. The Futuri[10] (by which name the court still designates the Pretender) took post with his faction in Kumbhalmer; where he was formally installed, and whence he promulgated his decrees as Rana of Mewar. With that heedlessness of consequences and the political debasement which are invariable concomitants of civil dissension, they had the meanness to invite Sindhia to their aid, with a promise of a reward of more than one million sterling[11] on the dethronement of Arsi.

Zālim Singh of Kotah.

—This contest first brought into notice one of the most celebrated Rajput chiefs of India, Zalim Singh of Kotah, who was destined to fill a distinguished part in the annals of Rajasthan, but more especially in Mewar, where his political sagacity first developed itself. Though this is not the proper place to delineate his history, which will occupy a subsequent portion of the work, it is impossible to trace the events with which he was so closely connected without adverting slightly to the part he acted in these scenes. The attack on Kotah, of which his father was military governor (during the struggle to place Madho Singh on the throne of Amber), by Isari Singh, in conjunction with Sindhia, was the first avenue to his distinguished career, leading to an acquaintance with the Mahratta chiefs, which linked him with their policy for more than half a century [429]. Zalim having lost his prince’s favour, whose path in love he had dared to cross, repaired, on his banishment from Kotah, to the Rana, who, observing his talents, enrolled him amongst his chiefs, and conferred on him, with the title of Raj Rana, the lands of Chitarkhera for his support. By his advice the Mahratta leaders, Raghu Paigawala and Daula Miyan, with their bands, were called in by the Rana, who, setting aside the ancient Pancholi ministry, gave the seals of office to Agarji Mehta. At this period (S. 1824, A.D. 1768), Mahadaji Sindhia was at Ujjain, whither the conflicting parties hastened, each desirous of obtaining the chieftain’s support. But the Pretender’s proposals had been already entertained, and he was then encamped with Sindhia on the banks of the Sipra.[12]

Battle at the Sipra, and Siege of Udaipur, A.D. 1769.

—The Rana’s force, conducted by the chief of Salumbar, the Rajas of Shahpura and Banera, with Zalim Singh and the Mahratta auxiliaries, did not hesitate to attack the combined camp, and for a moment they were victorious, driving Mahadaji and the Pretender from the field, with great loss, to the gates of Ujjain. Here, however, they rallied, and being joined by a fresh body of troops, the battle was renewed with great disadvantage to the Rajputs, who, deeming the day theirs, had broken and dispersed to plunder. The chiefs of Salumbar, Shahpura, and Banera were slain, and the auxiliary Daula Miyan, Raja Man (ex-prince of Narwar), and Raj Kalyan, the heir of Sadri, severely wounded. Zalim Singh had his horse killed under him, and being left wounded on the field, was made prisoner, but hospitably treated by Trimbak Rao, father to the celebrated Ambaji. The discomfited troops retreated to Udaipur while the Pretender’s party remained with Sindhia, inciting him to invest that capital and place Ratna on the throne. Some time, however, elapsed before he could carry this design into execution; when at the head of a large force the Mahratta chief gained the passes and besieged the city. The Rana’s cause now appeared hopeless. Bhim Singh of Salumbar, uncle and successor to the chief slain at Ujjain, with the Rathor chief of Badnor (descendant of Jaimall), were the only nobles of high rank who defended their prince and capital in this emergency; but the energies of an individual saved both.

Amar Chand, Minister of Mewār.

—Amra Chand Barwa, of the mercantile class, had held office in the preceding reigns, when his influence retarded the progress of evils which no human means could avert. He was now displaced, and little solicitous of recovering his [430] transient power, amidst hourly increasing difficulties, with a stubborn and unpopular prince, a divided aristocracy, and an impoverished country. He was aware also of his own imperious temper, which was as ungovernable as his sovereign’s, and which experienced no check from the minor Partap, who regarded him as his father. During the ten years he had been out of office, mercenaries of Sind had been entertained and established on the forfeited lands of the clans, perpetuating discontent and stifling every latent spark of patriotism. Even those who did not join the Pretender remained sullenly at their castles, and thus all confidence was annihilated. A casual incident brought Amra forward at this critical juncture. Udaipur had neither ditch nor walls equal to its defence. Arsi was engaged in fortifying Eklinggarh, a lofty hill south of the city,[13] which it commanded, and attempting to place thereon an enormous piece of ordnance, but it baffled their mechanical skill to get it over the scraggy ascent. Amra happened to be present when the Rana arrived to inspect the proceedings. Excuses were made to avert his displeasure, when turning to the ex-minister, he inquired what time and expense ought to attend the completion of such an undertaking. The reply was, “A few rations of grain and some days”: and he offered to accomplish the task, on condition that his orders should be supreme in the valley during its performance. He collected the whole working population, cut a road, and in a few days gave the Rana a salute from Eklinggarh. The foster-brother of the Rana had succeeded the Jhala chieftain, Raghu Deo, in the ministerial functions. The city was now closely invested on every side but the west, where communications were still kept open by the lake, across which the faithful mountaineers of the Aravalli, who in similar dangers never failed, supplied them with provisions. All defence rested on the fidelity of the mercenary Sindis, and they were at this very moment insolent in their clamours for arrears of pay. Nor were the indecisive measures daily passing before their eyes calculated to augment their respect, or stimulate their courage. Not satisfied with demands, they had the audacity to seize the Rana by the skirt of his robe as he entered the palace, which was torn in the effort to detain him. The haughtiness of his temper gave way to this humiliating proof of the hopelessness of his condition; and while the Dhabhai (foster-brother) counselled escape by water to the mountains, whence he might gain Mandalgarh, the Salumbar chief confessed his inability to offer any advice [431] save that of recourse to Amra Chand. He was summoned, and the uncontrolled charge of their desperate affairs offered to his guidance. He replied that it was a task of which no man could be covetous, more especially himself, whose administration had formerly been marked by the banishment of corruption and disorder, for that he must now call in the aid of these vices, and assimilate the means to the times. “You know also,” he added, "my defect of temper, which admits of no control. Wherever I am, I must be absolute—no secret advisers, no counteraction of measures. With finances ruined, troops mutinous, provisions expended, if you desire me to act, swear that no order, whatever its purport, shall be countermanded, and I may try what can be done: but recollect, Amra ‘the just’ will be the unjust, and reverse his former character." The Rana pledged himself by the patron deity to comply with all his demands, adding this forcible expression: "Should you even send to the queen’s apartment and demand her necklace or nathna,[14] it shall be granted." The advice of the Dhabhai encountered the full flood of Amra’s wrath. “The counsel is such as might be expected from your condition. What will preserve your prince at Mandalgarh if he flies from Udaipur, and what hidden resources have you there for your support? The project would suit you, who might resume your original occupation of tending buffaloes and selling milk, more adapted to your birth and understanding than state affairs; but these pursuits your prince has yet to learn.” The Rana and his chiefs bent their heads at the bold bearing of Amra. Descending to the terrace, where the Sindi leaders and their bands were assembled, he commanded them to follow him, exclaiming, “Look to me for your arrears, and as for your services, it will be my fault if you fail.” The mutineers, who had just insulted their sovereign, rose without reply, and in a body left the palace with Amra, who calculated their arrears and promised payment the next day. Meanwhile he commanded the bhandars (repositories) to be broken open, as the keeper of each fled when the keys of their trust were demanded. All the gold and silver, whether in bullion or in vessels, were converted into money—jewels were pledged—the troops paid and satisfied, ammunition and provisions laid in—a fresh stimulus supplied, the enemy held at defiance, and the siege prolonged during six months [432].

The Pretender’s party had extended their influence over a great part of the crown domain, even to the valley of Udaipur; but unable to fulfil the stipulation to Sindhia, the baffled Mahratta, to whom time was treasure, negotiated with Amra to raise the siege, and abandon the Pretender on the payment of seventy lakhs. But scarcely was the treaty signed, when the reported disposition of the auxiliaries, and the plunder expected on a successful assault, excited his avarice and made him break his faith, and twenty lakhs additional were imposed. Amra tore up the treaty, and sent back the fragments to the faithless Mahratta with defiance. His spirit increased with his difficulties, and he infused his gallantry into the hearts of the most despairing. Assembling the Sindis and the home-clans who were yet true to their prince, he explained to them the transaction, and addressed them in that language which speaks to the souls of all mankind, and to give due weight to his exhortation, he distributed amongst the most deserving, many articles of cumbrous ornament lying useless in the treasury. The stores of grain in the city and neighbourhood, whether public or private, were collected and sent to the market, and it was proclaimed by beat of drum that every fighting man should have six months’ provision on application. Hitherto grain had been selling at little more than a pound for the rupee, and these unexpected resources were matter of universal surprise, more especially to the besiegers.[15] The Sindis, having no longer cause for discontent, caught the spirit of the brave Amra, and went in a body to the palace to swear in public never to abandon the Rana, whom their leader, Adil Beg,[16] thus addressed: “We have long eaten your salt and received numerous favours from your house, and we now come to swear never to abandon you. Udaipur is our home, and we will fall with it. We demand no further pay, and when our grain is exhausted, we will feed on the beasts, and when these fail we will thin the ranks of the Southrons and die sword in hand.” Such were the sentiments that Amra had inspired, the expression of which extorted tears from the Rana—a sight so unusual with this stern prince, as to raise frantic shouts from the Sindis and his Rajputs. The enthusiasm spread and was announced to Sindhia with all its circumstances by a general discharge of cannon on his advanced [433] posts. Apprehensive of some desperate display of Rajput valour, the wary Mahratta made overtures for a renewal of the negotiation. It was now Amra’s turn to triumph, and he replied that he must deduct from the original terms the expense they had incurred in sustaining another six months’ siege. Thus outwitted, Sindhia was compelled to accept sixty lakhs, and three-and-a-half for official expenses.[17]

Cessions made to Sindhia.

—Thirty-three lakhs in jewels and specie, gold and silver plate, and assignments on the chiefs, were immediately made over to Sindhia, and lands mortgaged for the liquidation of the remainder. For this object the districts of Jawad, Jiran, Nimach, and Morwan were set aside to be superintended by joint officers of both governments, with an annual investigation of accounts. From S. 1825 to S. 1831 [A.D. 1768-74]1768-74] no infringement took place of this arrangement; but in the latter year Sindhia dismissed the Rana’s officers from the management, and refused all further settlement; and with the exception of a temporary occupation on Sindhia’s reverse of fortune in S. 1851 [A.D. 1794], these rich districts have remained severed from Mewar. In S. 1831 [A.D. 1774] the great officers of the Mahratta federation began to shake off the trammels of the Peshwa’s authority; and Sindhia retained for the State of which he was the founder, all these lands except Morwan, which was made over to Holkar, who the year after the transaction demanded of the Rana the surrender of the district of Nimbahera, threatening, in the event of non-compliance, to repeat the part his predatory coadjutor Sindhia had just performed. The cession was unavoidable.

Thus terminated, in S. 1826 [A.D. 1769], the siege of Udaipur, with the dislocation of these fine districts from Mewar. But let it be remembered that they were only mortgaged:[18] and although the continued degradation of the country from the same causes has prevented their redemption, the claim to them has never been abandoned. Their recovery was stipulated by the ambassadors of the Rana in the treaty of A.D. 1817 with the British Government; but our total ignorance of the past transactions of these countries, added to our amicable relations with Sindhia [434], prevented any pledge of the reunion of these districts; and it must ever be deeply lamented that, when the treacherous and hostile conduct of Sindhia gave a noble opportunity for their restoration, it was lost, from policy difficult to understand, and which must be subject to the animadversions of future historians of that important period in the history of India. It yet remains for the wisdom of the British Government to decide whether half a century’s abeyance, and the inability to redeem them by the sword, render the claim a dead letter. At all events, the facts here recorded from a multiplicity of public documents, and corroborated by living actors[19] in the scene, may be useful at some future day, when expedience may admit of their being reannexed to Mewar.

Ratan Singh defeated.

—Amra’s defence of the capital, and the retreat of the Mahrattas, was a deathblow to the hopes of the Pretender, who had obtained not only many of the strongholds, but a footing in the valley of the capital. Rajnagar, Raepur, and Untala were rapidly recovered; many of the nobles returned to the Rana and to their allegiance; and Ratna was left in Kumbhalmer with the Depra minister, and but three of the sixteen principal nobles, namely Deogarh, Bhindir, and Amet. These contentions lasted till S. 1831 [A.D. 1774], when the chiefs above named also abandoned him, but not until their rebellion had cost the feather in the crown of Mewar. The rich province of Godwar, the most fruitful of all her possessions, and containing the most loyal of her vassalage, the Ranawats, Rathors, and Solankis, was nearly all held on tenure of feudal service, and furnished three thousand horse besides foot, a greater number than the aggregate of the Chondawats. This district, which was won with the title of Rana from the Parihara prince of Mandor, before Jodhpur was built, and whose northern boundary was confirmed by the blood of the Chondawat chief in the reign of Jodha, was confided by the Rana to the care of Raja Bijai Singh of Jodhpur, to prevent its resources being available to the Pretender, whose residence, Kumbhalmer, commanded the approach to it: and the original treaty yet exists in which the prince of Marwar binds himself to provide and support a body of three thousand men for the Rana’s service, from its revenues.

Assassination of Rāna Ari Singh, A.D. 1773.

—This province might have been recovered; but the evil genius of Arsi Rana at this time led him to Bundi to [435] hunt at the spring festival (the Aheria), with the Hara prince, in spite of the prophetic warning of the suttee, who from the funeral pile denounced a practice which had already thrice proved fatal to the princes of Mewar.[20] Rana Arsi fell by the hand of the Bundi prince, and Godwar, withheld from his minor successor, has since remained severed. The Bundi heir, who perpetrated this atrocious assassination, was said to be prompted by the Mewar nobles, who detested their sovereign, and with whom, since the late events, it was impossible they could ever unite in confidence. Implacable in his disposition, he brooded over injuries, calmly awaiting the moment to avenge them. A single instance will suffice to evince this, as well as the infatuation of Rajput devotion. The Salumbar chief, whose predecessor had fallen in support of the Rana’s cause at the battle of Ujjain, having incurred his suspicions, the Rana commanded him to eat the pan (betel leaf) presented on taking leave. Startled at so unusual an order, he remonstrated, but in vain; and with the conviction that it contained his death-warrant he obeyed, observing to the tyrant, “My compliance will cost you and your family dear”: words fulfilled with fearful accuracy, for to this and similar acts is ascribed the murder of Arsi, and the completion of the ruin of the country. A colour of pretext was afforded to the Bundi chief in a boundary dispute regarding a patch of land yielding only a few good mangoes; but, even admitting this as a palliative, it could not justify the inhospitable act, which in the mode of execution added cowardice to barbarity: for while both were pursuing the boar, the Bundi heir drove his lance through the heart of the Rana. The assassin fell a victim to remorse, the deed being not only disclaimed, but severely reprobated by his father, and all the Hara tribe. A cenotaph still stands on the site of the murder, where the body of Arsi was consumed, and the feud between the houses remains unappeased.

Rāna Hamīr Singh II., A.D. 1773-78.

—Rana Arsi left two sons, Hamir and Bhim Singh. The former, a name of celebrity in their annals, succeeded in S. 1828 (A.D. 1772) to the little enviable title of Rana. With an ambitious mother, determined to control affairs during his minority, a state pronounced by the bard peculiarly dangerous to a Rajput dynasty,—and the vengeful competition of the Salumbar chief (successor to the murdered noble), who was equally resolved to take the lead, combined with an unextinguishable enmity to the Saktawats, who supported the policy of the queen-mother [436], the demoralization of Mewar was complete: her fields were deluged with blood, and her soil was the prey of every paltry marauder.

Outbreak of the Sindis.

—The mercenary Sindis, who, won by the enthusiasm of Amra, had for a moment assumed the garb of fidelity, threw it off at their prince’s death, taking possession of the capital, which it will be remembered had been committed to the charge of the Salumbar chief, whom they confined and were about to subject to the torture of the hot iron[21] to extort their arrears of pay, when he was rescued from the indignity by the unlooked-for return of Amra from Bundi. This faithful minister determined to establish the rights of the infant prince against all other claimants for power. But he knew mankind, and had attained, what is still more difficult, the knowledge of himself. Aware that his resolution to maintain his post at all hazards, and against every competitor, would incur the imputation of self-interest, he, like our own Wolsey, though from far different motives, made an inventory of his wealth, in gold, jewels, and plate, even to his wardrobe, and sent the whole in trays to the queen-mother. Suspicion was shamed and resentment disarmed by this proceeding; and to repeated entreaties that he would receive it back he was inflexible, with the exception of articles of apparel that had already been in use. This imperious woman was a daughter of Gogunda. She possessed considerable talents, but was ruled by an artful intrigante, who, in her turn, was governed by a young homme d’affaires, then holding an inferior office, but who subsequently acted a conspicuous part; slew and was slain, like almost all who entered into the politics of this tempestuous period. The queen-mother, now supported by the Chondawats, opposed the minister, who maintained himself by aid of the Sindis, kept the Mahrattas from the capital, and protected the crown land; but the ungrateful return made to his long-tried fidelity rendered his temper ungovernable. Rampiyari[22] (such the name of the intrigante) repaired on one occasion to the office of the minister, and in the name of the regent queen reviled him for some supposed omission. Amra, losing all temper at this intrusion, applied to the fair abigail the coarsest epithets used to her sex, bidding her begone as a Kothi ki Rand (a phrase we shall not translate), which was reported with exaggeration to the queen, who threw herself into a litter and set off to the Salumbar chief. Amra, anticipating [437] an explosion, met the cavalcade in the street, and enjoined her instant return to the palace. Who dared disobey? Arrived at the door of the Rawala, he made his obeisance, and told her it was a disgrace to the memory of her lord that she should quit the palace under any pretext; that even the potter’s wife did not go abroad for six months after her husband’s death, while she, setting decorum at defiance, had scarcely permitted the period of mourning to elapse. He concluded by saying he had a duty to perform, and that he would perform it in spite of all obstacles, in which, as it involved her own and her children’s welfare, she ought to cooperate, instead of thwarting him. But Baiji Raj (the royal mother) was young, artful, and ambitious, and persevered in her hostility till the demise of this uncompromising minister shortly after, surmised to be caused by poison. His death yielded a flattering comment on his life: he left not funds sufficient to cover the funeral expenses, and is, and will probably continue, the sole instance on record in Indian history of a minister having his obsequies defrayed by subscription among his fellow-citizens.

The man who thus lived and thus died would have done honour to any, even the most civilized, country, where the highest incentives to public virtue exist. What, therefore, does not his memory merit, when amongst a people who, through long oppression, were likely to hold such feelings in little estimation, he pursued its dictates from principle alone, his sole reward that which the world could not bestow, the applause of the monitor within? But they greatly err who, in the application of their own overweening standard of merit, imagine there is no public opinion in these countries; for recollections of actions like this (of which but a small portion is related) they yet love to descant upon, and an act of vigour and integrity is still designated Amrachanda;[23] evincing that if virtue has few imitators in this country, she is not without ardent admirers.

Revolt of the Chief of Begūn.

—In S. 1831 (A.D. 1775) the rebellion of the Begun chief, head of a grand division of the Chondawats, the Meghawat, obliged the queen-mother to call upon Sindhia for his reduction, who recovered the crown lands he had usurped, and imposed on this refractory noble a fine of twelve lakhs of rupees, or £100,000 [438] sterling.[24] But instead of confining himself to punishing the guilty, and restoring the lands to the young Rana, he inducted his own son-in-law Berji Tap into the districts of Ratangarh Kheri and Singoli; and at the same time made over those of Irnia, Jath, Bichor, and Nadwai to Holkar, the aggregate revenue of which amounted to six lakhs annually. Besides these alienations of territory, the Mahrattas levied no less than four grand war contributions in S. 1830-31,[25] while in S. 1836[26] their rapacity exacted three more. Inability to liquidate these exorbitant demands was invariably a signal for further sequestration of land. Amidst such scenes of civil strife and external spoliation, one Mahratta following another in the same track of rapine, Hamir died before he had attained even Rajput majority,[27] in S. 1834 (A.D. 1778).

Recapitulation.

—We may here briefly recapitulate the diminution of territory and wealth in Mewar from the period of the first Mahratta visitation in A.D. 1736, to the death of Hamir. It were a waste of time to enumerate the rapacious individuals who shared in the spoils of this devoted country. We may be content to say their name was ‘legion.’ These forty years were surcharged with evil. The Mogul princes observed at least the forms of government and justice, which occasionally tempered their aggressions; the Mahrattas were associations of vampires, who drained the very life-blood wherever the scent of spoil attracted them. In three payments we have seen the enormous sum of one crore and eighty-one lakhs,[28] upwards of two millions English money, exacted from Mewar, exclusive of individual contributions levied on chiefs, ministers, and the Pretender’s party: and a schedule drawn up by the reigning prince of contributions levied up to his own time, amounts to £5,000,000 sterling. Yet the land would eventually have reimbursed [439] these sums, but the penalty inflicted for deficiencies of payment renders the evil irremediable; for the alienated territory which then produced an annual revenue of twenty-eight lakhs,[29] or £323,000 sterling, exceeds in amount the sum-total now left, whether fiscal or feudal, in the present impoverished state of the country.

1. [September 29, 1719.]

2. [Nizāmu-l-mulk, Asaf Jāh, titles of Chīn Qilīch Khān, a Turkmān officer in the service of Aurangzeb, governor of the Deccan, died May 22, 1748.]

3. Amongst the archives of the Rana to which I had access, I discovered an autograph letter of Raja Jai Singh, addressed at this important juncture to the Rana’s prime minister, Biharidas.

"The Amiru-l-umara has arrived, and engagements through Balaji Pandit have been agreed to: he said that he always had friendship for me, but advised me to march, a measure alike recommended by Kishan Singh and Jiwa Lal. On this I presented an arzi to his Majesty, stated the advice, but desired to have his Majesty’s commands; when the king sanctioning my leave, such being the general desire, on Thursday the 9th of Phālgun I moved, and pitched my tents at Sarbal Sarai. I told the Rao Raja (of Bundi) to accompany me, but it did not reach his mind, and he joined Kutbu-l-mulk, who gave him some horse, and made him encamp with Ajit Singh. Bhim Singh’s (of Kotah) army arrived, and an engagement took place, in which Jeth Singh Hara was killed, and the Rao Raja fled to Allahwirdi Khan’s sarai. I sent troops to his aid; the king has made over the baths and wardrobe to the Sayyids, who have everything their own way. You know the Sayyids; I am on my way back to my own country, and have much to say vivâ voce to the Huzur:[A] come and meet me. Phālgun, S. 19, 1775 (A.D. 1719)."

"Siddh Sri Maharaja dhiraj Sri Sangram Singhji; receive the mujra[B] of Raja Sawai Jai Singh. Here all is well; your welfare is desired; you are the chief, nor is there any separation of interests: my horses and Rajputs are at your service; command when I can be of use. It is long since I have seen the royal mother (Sri Baiji Raj); if you come this way, I trust she will accompany you. For news I refer you to Dip Chand Pancholi. Asoj 6, S. 1777."

A. Huzur signifies the Presence. Such was the respectful style of the Amber prince to the Rana; to illustrate which I shall add another letter from the same prince, though merely complimentary, to the Rana.

B. Mujra is a salutation of respect used to a superior.

4. [For a sketch of the history of this period see Keene, Sketch of the History of Hindustan, 304 ff.]

5. Raja Jai Singh to Biharidas, the Rana’s minister:—“You write that your Lord despatches money for the troops—I have no accounts thereof; put the treasure on camels and send it without delay. The Nawab Nizamu-l-mulk is marching rapidly from Ujjain, and Chhabile Ram is coming hither, and according to accounts from Agra he has crossed at Kalpi. Let the Diwan’s army form a speedy junction. Make no delay; in supplies of cash everything is included.” Bhadon, 4th S. 1776 (A.D. 1720).

6. Letter from Raja Bakhta Singh of Nagor to Biharidas, the Rana’s prime minister:—"Your letter was received, and its contents made me happy. Sri Diwan’s ruqa’ reached me and was understood. You tell me both the Nawabs (Sayyids) had taken the field, that both the Maharajas attended, and that your own army was about to be put in motion, for how could ancient friendships be severed? All was comprehended. But neither of the Nawabs will take the field, nor will either of the Maharajas proceed to the Deccan: they will sit and enjoy themselves quietly in talking at home. But should by some accident the Nawabs take the field, espouse their cause; if you cling to any other you are lost; of this you will be convinced ere long, so guard yourself—if you can wind up our own thread, don’t give it to another to break—you are wise, and can anticipate intentions. Where there is such a servant as you, that house can be in no danger."

7. [Haidar Khān assassinated Husain Ali on September 18, 1720.]

8. Girdhardas was a Nagar Brahman, son of Chhabile Ram, the chief secretary of Ratan Chand.

9. Jagatkhunt, the Jagat point, of our maps, at Dwarka, where the Badhels, a branch of the Rathors, established themselves.

10. In the dialect, chhari mazbūt thi, his rod was strong—a familiar phrase, which might be rendered ‘sceptre’—a long rod with an iron spike on it, often placed before the gaddi, or throne.

11. The dames attendant on the queens,—the Lady Mashams of every female court in Rajasthan.

12. £25,000.

13. There were eight ministers; from this the Mahrattas had their asht pardhans, the number which formed the ministry of Rama.

14. [Krishna.]

15. I discovered the following letter from one of the princesses of Amber to Rana Sangram, written at this period; it is not evident in what relation she stood to him, but I think she must have been his wife, and the sister of Jai Singh:

"To Siddh Sri Sangram Singh, happiness! the Kachhwaha Rani (queen) writes, read her asis[A] (blessing). Here all is well; the welfare of the Sri Diwanji is desired. You are very dear to me; you are great, the sun of Hindustan; if you do not thus act, who else can? the action is worthy of you; with your house is my entire friendship. From ancient times we are the Rajputs of your house, from which both Rajas[B] have had their consequence increased, and I belong to it of old, and expect always to be fostered by it, nor will the Sri Diwanji disappoint us. My intention was to proceed to the feet of the Sri Diwanji, but the wet weather has prevented me; but I shall soon make my appearance." S. 1778 (A.D. 1722).

A. Asis is benediction, which only ladies and holy men employ in epistolary writing or in verbal compliment.

B. Amber and Marwar; this expression denotes the letter to have been written on intermarriage with the Rana’s house, and shows her sense of such honour.

16. The bira is the betel or pan-leaf folded up, containing aromatic spices, and presented on taking leave. The Kanor chieftain, being of the second grade of nobles, was not entitled to the distinction of having it from the sovereign’s own hand.

17.

Treaty.

Sri Eklinga. (a)

Agreed.

Sita Rama jayati. (c)

Agreed.

Vraj Adhis. (b)

Abhai Singh. (d)

1. All are united, in good and in evil, and none will withdraw therefrom, on which oaths have been made, and faith pledged, which will be lost by whoever acts contrary thereto. The honour and shame of one is that of all, and in this everything is contained.

2. No one shall countenance the traitor of another.

3. After the rains the affair shall commence, and the chiefs of each party assemble at Rampura; and if from any cause the head cannot come, he will send his Kunwar (heir), or some personage of weight.

4. Should from inexperience such Kunwar commit error, the Rana alone shall interfere to correct it.

5. In every enterprise all shall unite to effect it.

(a) (b) (c). All these seals of Mewar, Marwar, and Amber bear respectively the names of the tutelary divinity of each prince and his tribe Swasti Sri! By the united chiefs the under-written has been agreed to, from which no deviation can take place. Sawan sudi 13, S. 1791 (A.D. 1735), Camp Hurra.

(a) Ėklinga, or Mahadeva of the Sesodias of Mewar; (b) Vraj Adhis, the lord of Vraj, the country round Mathura; the epithet of Krishna; seal of the Hara prince; (c) Victory to Sita and Rama, the demi-god, ancestor of the princes of Amber; (d) Abhai Singh, prince of Marwar.

18. [Sūbahdār of Mālwa, killed in battle at Tala near Dhār in 1732 (Grant Duff 227).]

19. [Sarbuland Khān was superseded by Abhai Singh (ibid. 226).]

20. [Mahābat Jang, in 1740 usurped the Government of Bengal, over which he reigned for sixteen years, died April 10, 1756 N.S., buried at Murshidābād (Beale, sv.).]

21. [Nephew and son-in-law of Burhānu-l-mulk, Sa’ādat Khān, was appointed Wazīr in 1748, died October 17, 1754.]

22. [Akbar Shāh II., King of Delhi, reigned from 1806 to 1827.] I have conversed with an aged Shaikh who recollected the splendour of Muhammad Shah’s reign before Nadir’s invasion. He was darogah (superintendent) to the Duab canal, and described to me the fête on its opening.

23. Sindhia’s family were husbandmen.

24. Holkar was a goat-herd.

25. The ford near Dholpur still is called Bhaoghat. [Bājirāo appeared at Delhi in 1736 (Grant Duff 226).]

26. A.D. 1740.

27. [Near Pānipat, February 13, 1739 (Elphinstone 717).]

28. It is yet pointed out to the visitor of this famed city. [The Golden Mosque of Roshanu-d-daula (Fanshawe, Delhi Past and Present, 50).]

29. [This is not certain. Many officials committed suicide, and Sa’ādat Khān was believed to have been among these: it is certain that he died the night before the massacre (Keene, Sketch Hist. Hindustan, 324).]

30. As the hour of departure approached, the cruelties of the ruthless invaders increased, to which the words of the narrator, an eye-witness, can alone do justice: "A type of the last day afflicted the inhabitants of this once happy city; hitherto it was a general massacre, but now came the murder of individuals. In every house was heard the cry of affliction. Basant Rae, agent for pensions, killed his family and himself; Khalik Yar Khan stabbed himself; many took poison. The venerable chief magistrate was dishonoured by stripes; sleep and rest forsook the city. The officers of the court were beaten without mercy, and a fire broke out in the imperial farash-khana, and destroyed effects to the amount of a crore (a million sterling). There was a scarcity of grain, two seers of coarse rice sold for a rupee, and from a pestilential disorder crowds died daily in every street and lane. The inhabitants, like the affrighted animals of the desert, sought refuge in the most concealed corners. Yet four or five crores (millions) more were thus extracted." On the 5th April, Nadir’s seals were taken off the imperial repositories, and his farmans sent to all the feudatories of the empire to notify the place and to inculcate obedience ‘to his dear brother,’ which, as a specimen of eastern diplomatic phraseology, is worth insertion. It was addressed to the Rana, the Rajas of Marwar and Amber, Nagor, Satara, the Peshwa Bajirao, etc. “Between us and our dear brother, Muhammad Shah, in consideration of the regard and alliances of the two sovereigns, the connexions of regard and friendship have been renewed, so that we may be esteemed as one soul in two bodies. Now our dear brother has been replaced on the throne of this extensive empire, and we are moving to the conquest of other regions, it is incumbent that ye, like your forefathers, walk in the path of submission and obedience to our dear brother, as they did to former sovereigns of the house of Timur. God forbid it; but if accounts of your rebelling should reach our ears, we will blot you out of the pages of the book of creation” (‘Memoirs of Iradat Khan,’ Scott’s History of Dekhan, vol. ii. p. 213).

31. Bikaner and Kishangarh arose out of Marwar, and Macheri from Amber; to which we might add Shaikhavati, which, though not separate, is tributary to Amber (now Jaipur).

32. A.D. 1735.

33. These documents are interesting, if merely showing the high respect paid by every Rajput prince to the Ranas of Mewar, and illustrating what is recorded in the reign of Partap, who abjured all intercourse with them.

No. 1.

"From Kunwar Bijai Singh of Marwar to the Maharana Sri-Sri-Sri.

"Jagat Singh’s Presence—let my mujra (obedience) be known. You honoured me by sending Rawat Kesari Singh and Biharidas, and commanding a marriage connexion. Your orders are on your child’s head. You have made me a servant. To everything I am agreed, and now I am your child; while I live I am yours. If a true Rajput, my head is at your disposal. You have made 20,000 Rathors your servants. If I fail in this, the Almighty is between us. Whoever is of my blood will obey your commands, and the fruit of this marriage shall be sovereign, and if a daughter, should I bestow her on the Turkana, I am no true Rajput. She shall be married to a proper connexion, and not without your advice; and even should Sri Bavaji (an epithet of respect to his father), or others of our elders, recommend such proceeding, I swear by God I shall not agree. I am the Diwan’s, let others approve or disapprove. Asarh Sudi Punim, Full Moon, Thursday, S. 1791 (A.D. 1735-36).“

”N.B.—This deed was executed in the balcony of the Kishanbilas by Rawat Kesari Singh and Pancholi Biharidas, and written by Pancholi Lalji—namely, marriage-deed of Kunwar Bijai Singh, son of Bakht Singh."

No. 2.

"From Bijai Singh to Rana Jagat Singh.

"Here all is well. Preserve your friendship and favour for me, and give me tidings of your welfare. That day I shall behold you will be without price (amolak). You have made me a thorough Rajput—never shall I fail in whatever service I can perform. You are the father of all the tribes, and bestow gifts on each according to his worth—the support and preservation of all around you—to your enemy destruction; great in knowledge, and wise like Brahma. May the Lord of the world keep the Rana happy. Asarh 13."

No. 3.

"Raja Bakht Singh to the Rana.

"To Maharana Sri-Sri-Sri Jagat Singh, let Bakht Singh’s respects (mujra) be made known. You have made me a thorough Rajput, and by such your favour is known to the world. What service I can perform, you will never find me backward. The day I shall see you I shall be happy, my heart yearns to be with you. Asarh 11."

No. 4.

"Sawai Jai Singh to the Rana.

"May the respects of Sawai Jai Singh be known to the Maharana. According to the Sri Diwan’s commands (hukm), I have entered into terms of friendship with you (Abhai Singh of Marwar). For neither Hindu nor Musalman shall I swerve therefrom. To this engagement God is between us, and the Sri Diwanji is witness. Asarh Sudi 7."

No. 5.

"Raja Bakht Singh to the Rana.

"Your Khas ruqa’ (note in the Rana’s own hand) I received, read, and was happy. Jai Singh’s engagement you will have received, and mine also will have reached you. At your commands I entered into friendship with him, and as to my preserving it have no doubts, for having given you as my guarantee, no deviation can occur; do you secure his. Whether you may be accounted my father, brother, or friend, I am yours; besides you I care for neither connexion nor kin. Asarh 6."

No. 6.

"From Raja Abhai Singh to the Rana.

"To the Presence of Maharana Jagat Singh, Maharaja Abhai Singh writes—read his respects (mujra). God is witness to our engagement, whoever breaks it may he fare ill. In good and in evil we are joined; with one mind let us remain united, and let no selfishness disunite us. Your chiefs are witnesses, and the true Rajput will not deviate from his engagement. Asoj 3, Thursday."

Abhai Singh and Bakht Singh were brothers, sons of Raja Ajit of Marwar, to whom the former succeeded, while Bakht Singh held Nagor independently. His son was Bijai Singh, with whom this marriage was contracted. He ultimately succeeded to the government of Marwar or Jodhpur. He will add another example of political expediency counteracting common gratitude, in seizing on domestic convulsions to deprive the Rana’s grandson of the province of Godwar. Zalim Singh was the fruit of this marriage, who resided during his elder brother’s (Fateh Singh) lifetime at Udaipur. He was brave, amiable, and a distinguished poet. The Yati (priest), who attended me during twelve years, my assistant in these researches, was brought up under the eye of this prince as his amanuensis, and from him he imbibed his love of history and poetry, in reading which he excelled all the bards of Rajwara.

34.

Letters from Rana Jagat Singh to Biharidas Pancholi.

No. 1.

“Swasti Sri, chief of ministers, Pancholiji, read my Juhar.[A] The remembrance of you never leaves me. The Deccani question you have settled well, but if a meeting is to take place,[B] let it be beyond Deolia—nearer is not advisable. Lessen the number of your troops, by God’s blessing there will be no want of funds. Settle for Rampura according to the preceding year, and let Daulat Singh know the opportunity will not occur again. The royal mother is unwell. Gararao and Gaj Manik fought nobly, and Sundar Gaj played a thousand pranks.[C] I regretted your absence. How shall I send Sobharam? Asoj 6, S. 1791 (A.D. 1735).”

No. 2.—To the Same.

"I will not credit it, therefore send witnesses and a detail of their demands. Bajirao is come, and he will derive reputation from having compelled a contribution from me, besides his demand of land. He has commenced with my country, and will take twenty times more from me than other Rajas—if a proportionate demand, it might be complied with. Malhar came last year, but this was nothing—Bajirao this, and he is powerful. But if God hears me he will not get my land. From Devichand learn particulars.

"Thursday.            S. 1792.

“At the Holi all was joy at the Jagmandir,[D] but what is food without salt? what Udaipur without Biharidas?”

No. 3.—Same to the Same.

"With such a man as you in my house I have no fears for its stability; but why this appearance of poverty? perhaps you will ask, what fault have you committed, that you sit and move as I direct? The matter is thus: money is all in all, and the troubles on foot can only be settled by you, and all other resolutions are useless. You may say, you have got nothing, and how can you settle them—but already two or three difficulties have occurred, in getting out of which, both your pinions and mine, as to veracity, have been broken, so that neither scheming nor wisdom is any longer available. Though you have been removed from me for some time, I have always considered you at hand; but now it will be well if you approach nearer to me, that we may raise supplies, for in the act of hiding you are celebrated, and the son[E] (beta) hides none: therefore your hoarding is useless, and begets suspicions. Therefore, unless you have a mind to efface all regard for your master and your own importance at my court, you will get ready some jewels and bonds under good security and bring them to me. There is no way but this to allay these troubles: but should you think you have got ever so much time, and that I will send for you at all events, then have I thrown away mine in writing you this letter. You are wise—look to the future, and be assured I shall write no second letter. S. 1792."

This letter will show that the office of prime minister is not a bed of roses. The immediate descendants of Biharidas are in poverty like their prince, though some distant branches of the family are in situations of trust; his ambassador to Delhi, and who subsequently remained with me as medium of communication with the Rana, was a worthy and able man—Kishandas Pancholi.

I shall subjoin another letter from the Satara prince to Rana Jagat Singh, though being without date it is doubtful whether it is not addressed to Jagat Singh the First; this is, however, unimportant, as it is merely one of compliment, but showing the high respect paid by the sovereign of the Peshwas to the house whence they originally sprung.

"Swasti Sri, worthy of all praise (opma), from whose actions credit results; the worshipper of the remover of troubles; the ambrosia of the ocean of the Rajput race[F] (amrita ratnakara kshatriya kula); resplendent as the sun; who has made a river of tears from the eyes of the wives of your warlike foes; in deeds munificent. Sriman Maharaja dhiraj Maharana Sri Jagat Singhji, of all the princes chief, Sriman Sahu Chatarpati Raja writes, read his Ram, Ram! Here all is well; honour me by good accounts, which I am always expecting, as the source of happiness.

“Your favour was received by the Pandit PardhanPardhan[G] with great respect; and from the period of the arrival of Raj Sri Rawat Udai Singh to this time my goodwill has been increasing towards him: let your favour between us be enlarged: what more can I write?”

A. A compliment used from a superior to any inferior.

B. To the Peshwa is the allusion.

C. As the Rana never expected his confidential notes to be translated into English, perhaps it is illiberal to be severe on them; or we might say, his elephants are mentioned more con amore than his sick mother or state affairs. I obtained many hundreds of these autograph notes of this prince to his prime minister.

D. The Hindu saturnalia held in the island, ‘The Minster of the world.’

E. The Rana always styled him ‘father.’

F. The ocean has the poetical appellation of ratnakara, or ‘house of gems’ [‘mine of jewels’]; the fable of the churning of the ocean is well known, when were yielded many bounties, of which the amrita or ‘immortal food’ of the gods was one, to which the Rana, as head of all the Rajput tribes, is likened.

G. This expression induces the belief that the letter is written by the Peshwa in his sovereign’s name, as they had at this time commenced their usurpation of his power. It was to the second Jagat Singh that an offer was made to fill the Satara throne by a branch of his family, then occupied by an imbecile. A younger brother of the Rana, the ancestor of the present heir presumptive, Sheodan Singh, was chosen, but intrigues prevented it, the Rana dreading a superior from his own family.

35. The descendant of Bhim, son of Rana Raj Singh. The seat assigned to Bajirao was made the precedent for the position of the representative of the British Government. [The Rāwat of Banera, on succession, has the right of receiving a sword, on the arrival of which he goes to Udaipur to be installed (Erskine ii. A. 92).]

36. The amount was 160,000 rupees, divided into three shares of 53,333 0 4½ assigned to Holkar, Sindhia, and the Puar. The management was entrusted to Holkar; subsequently Sindhia acted as receiver-general. This was the only regular tributary engagement Mewar entered into.

37. See letter No. 2, in note, p. 492.

38. A.D. 1743.

39. A.D. 1747.

40. The great Jai Singh built a city which he called after himself, and henceforth Jaipur will supersede the ancient appellation, Amber.

41. [Āpaji was one of Sindhia’s best officers. Suffering from a painful disease, he committed suicide in 1797 by drowning himself in the Jumna (Compton, European Military Adventurers, 132).]

42. See letters from Rana Jagat Singh to Biharidas, p. 492.

1. The leaders of these invasions were Satwaji, Jankoji, and Raghunath Rao.

2. In S. 1812, Raja Bahadur; in 1813, Malhar Rao Holkar and Vitthal Rao; in 1814, Ranaji Burtia;Burtia; in 1813 three war contributions were levied, namely, by Sudasheo Rao, Govind Rao, and Kanaji Jadon.

3. This was in S. 1808 (A.D. 1752); portions, however, remained attached to the fisc of Mewar for several years, besides a considerable part of the feudal lands of the Chandarawat chief of Amad. Of the former, the Rana retained Hinglajgarh and the Tappas of Jarda Kinjera, and Budsu. These were surrendered by Raj Singh, who rented Budsu under its new appellation of Malhargarh.

4. Budsu, etc.

5. Holkar advanced as far as Untala, where Arjun Singh of Kurabar and the Rana’s foster-brothers met him, and negotiated the payment of fifty-one lakhs of rupees.

6. S. 1820, A.D. 1764.

7. An autograph letter of this chief’s to the minister of the day I obtained, with other public documents, from the descendant of the Pancholi:

“To Jaswant Rao Pancholi, Raj Rana Raghudeo writes. After compliments. I received your letter—from old times you have been my friend, and have ever maintained faith towards me, for I am of the loyal to the Rana’s house. I conceal nothing from you, therefore I write that my heart is averse to longer service, and it is my purpose in Asarh to go to Gaya.[A] When I mentioned this to the Rana, he sarcastically told me I might go to Dwarka.[B] If I stay, the Rana will restore the villages in my fief, as during the time of Jethji. My ancestors have performed good service, and I have served since I was fourteen. If the Darbar intends me any favour, this is the time.”

A. Gaya is esteemed the proper pilgrimage for the Rajputs.

B. Dwarka, the resort for religious and unwarlike tribes.

8. Salumbar (Chondawat), Bijolia, Amet, Ghanerao, and Badnor.

9. Bhindir (Saktawat), Deogarh, Sadri, Gogunda, Delwara, Bedla, Kotharia, and Kanor.

10. Agitator, or disturber.

11. One crore and twenty-five lakhs.

12. [The Sipra River in Mālwa, passes Ujjain, and finally joins the Chambal (IGI, xxiii. 14 f.).]

13. [Eklinggarh, two miles south of Udaipur city; 2469 feet above sea-level.]

14. The nose-jewel, which even to mention is considered a breach of delicacy.

15. To Amra’s credit it is related, that his own brother-in-law was the first and principal sufferer, and that to his remonstrance and hope that family ties would save his grain pits, he was told, that it was a source of great satisfaction that he was enabled through him to evince his disinterestedness.

16. See grant to this chief’s son, p. 233.

17. Mutasadi kharch [mutasadi, ‘a clerk, accountant’; kharch, ‘expenses’] or douceur to the officers of government, was an authorized article of every Mahratta mu’āmala, or war contribution.

18. Little Maloni, now Gangapur, with its lands, was the only place decidedly alienated, being a voluntary gift to Sindhia, to endow the establishment of his wife, Ganga Bai, who died there.

19. Zalim Singh of Kotah, and Lalaji Belal, both now dead.

20. [In 1382 Rāna Khet Singh was murdered by Lāl Singh of Banbaoda, brother of Bar Singh, Rāo of Būndi. Rāna Ratan Singh II. and Rāo Sūrajmall killed each other while shooting at Būndi in 1531. The feud between the two houses is not yet forgotten (Erskine ii. A. 25).]

21. A heated platter used for baking bread, on which they place the culprit.

22. ‘The beloved of Rama.’

23. Amra Chand, it will be recollected, was the name of the minister.

24. The treaty by which Sindhia holds these districts yet exists, which stipulates their surrender on the liquidation of the contribution.contribution. The Rana still holds this as a responsible engagement, and pleaded his rights in the treaty with the British Government in A.D. 1817-18. But half a century’s possession is a strong bond, which we dare not break; though the claim now registered may hereafter prove of service to the family.

25. 1830, Mahadaji Sindhia’s contribution (mu’āmala) on account of Begun; 1831, Berji Tap’s mu’āmala through Govind and Ganpat Rao; 1831, Ambaji Inglia, Bapu Holkar, and Daduji Pandit’s joint mu’āmala.

26. 1. Apaji and Makaji Getia, on Holkar’s account; 2. Tukuji Holkar’s, through Somji; 3. Ali Bahadur’s, through Somji.

27. The age of eighteen.

28.

Namely, S. | 1808, by Rana Jagat Singh to Holkar | Lakhs | 66
| 1820, Partap and Arsi Rana to Holkar |  | 51
| 1826, Arsi Rana to Mahadaji Sindhia |  |  64
| Total. |  | 181

29.

S. | 1808, Rampura, Bhanpura | Lakhs | 9
| 1826, Jawad, Jiran, Nimach, Nimbahera |  | 4½
| 1831, Ratangarh Kheri, Singoli, Irnia, Jath, Nadwai, etc. etc. |  | 6
| 1831, Godwar |  |  9
| Total |  | 28½

CHAPTER 17

Rāna Bhīm Singh, A.D. 1778-1828.

—Rana Bhim Singh (the reigning prince), who succeeded his brother in S. 1834 (A.D. 1778), was the fourth minor in the space of forty years who inherited Mewar; and the half century during which he has occupied the throne has been as fruitful in disaster as any period of her history already recorded. He was but eight years of age on his accession, and remained under his mother’s tutelage long after his minority had expired. This subjection fixed his character; naturally defective in energy, and impaired by long misfortune, he continued to be swayed by faction and intrigue. The cause of the Pretender, though weakened, was yet kept alive; but his insignificance eventually left him so unsupported, that his death is not even recorded [440].

Feud of Chondāwats and Saktāwats.

—In S. 1840 (A.D. 1784) the Chondawats reaped the harvest of their allegiance and made the power thus acquired subservient to the indulgence of ancient animosities against the rival clan of Saktawat. Salumbar with his relatives Arjun Singh[1] of Kurabar and Partap Singh[2] of Amet, now ruled the councils, having the Sindi mercenaries under their leaders Chandan and Sadik at their command. Mustering therefore all the strength of their kin and clans, they resolved on the prosecution of the feud, and invested Bhindar, the castle of Mohkam the chief of the Saktawats, against which they placed their batteries.

Sangram Singh, a junior branch of the Saktawats, destined to play a conspicuous part in the future events of Mewar, was then rising into notice, and had just completed a feud with his rival the Purawat, whose abode, Lawa,[3] he had carried by escalade; and now, determined to make a diversion in favour of his chief, he invaded the estate of Kurabar, engaged against Bhindar, and was driving off the cattle, when Salim Singh the heir of Kurabar intercepted his retreat, and an action ensued in which Salim[4] was slain by the lance of Sangram. The afflicted father, on hearing the fate of his son, ‘threw the turban off his head,’ swearing never to replace it till he had tasted revenge. Feigning a misunderstanding with his own party he withdrew from the siege, taking the road to his estate, but suddenly abandoned it for Sheogarh, the residence of Lalji the father of Sangram. The castle of Sheogarh, placed amidst the mountains and deep forests of Chappan, was from its difficulty of access deemed secure against surprise; and here Sangram had placed the females and children of his family. To this point Arjun directed his revenge, and found Sheogarh destitute of defenders save the aged chief; but though seventy summers had whitened his head, he bravely met the storm, and fell in opposing the foe; when the children of Sangram were dragged [441] out and inhumanly butchered, and the widow[5] of Lalji ascended the pyre. This barbarity aggravated the hostility which separated the clans, and together with the minority of their prince and the yearly aggressions of the Mahrattas, accelerated the ruin of the country. But Bhim Singh, the Chondawat leader, was governed by insufferable vanity, and not only failed in respect to his prince, but offended the queen regent. He parcelled out the crown domain from Chitor to Udaipur amongst the Sindi bands, and whilst his sovereign was obliged to borrow money to defray his marriage at Idar, this ungrateful noble had the audacity to disburse upwards of £100,000 on the marriage of his own daughter. Such conduct determined the royal mother to supplant the Chondawats, and calling in the Saktawats to her aid, she invested with power the chiefs of Bhindar and Lawa. Aware, however, that their isolated authority was insufficient to withstand their rivals, they looked abroad for support, and made an overture to Zalim Singh of Kotah, whose political and personal resentments to the Chondawats, as well as his connexion by marriage with their opponents, made him readily listen to it. With his friend the Mahratta, Lalaji Belal, he joined the Saktawats with a body of 10,000 men. It was determined to sacrifice the Salumbar chief, who took post in the ancient capital of Chitor, where the garrison was composed chiefly of Sindis, thus effacing his claim to his prince’s gratitude, whom he defied, while the pretender still had a party in the other principal fortress, Kumbhalmer.

MAHĀRĀJA BHĪM SINGH, PRINCE OF UDAIPUR.
To face page 512.

Battle of Lālsot, May 1787.

—Such was the state of things, when the ascendancy of Mahadaji Sindhia received a signal check from the combined forces of Marwar and Jaipur; and the battle of Lalsot, in which the Mahratta chief was completely defeated, was the signal for the Rajputs to resume their alienated territory.[6] Nor was the Rana backward on the occasion, when there appeared a momentary gleam of the active virtue of past days. Maldas Mehta was civil minister, with Mauji Ram as his deputy, both men of talent and energy. They first effected the reduction of Nimbahera and the smaller garrisons of Mahrattas in its vicinity, who from a sense of common danger assembled their detachments in Jawad, which was also invested. Sivaji Nana, the governor, capitulated, and was allowed to march out with his [442] effects. At the same time, the ‘sons of the black cloud’[7] assembling, drove the Mahrattas from Begun, Singoli, etc., and the districts on the plateau; while the Chondawats redeemed their ancient fief of Rampura, and thus for a while the whole territory was recovered. Elated by success, the united chiefs advanced to Chardu on the banks of the Rarkia, a streamlet dividing Mewar from Malwa, preparatory to further operations. Had these been confined to the maintenance of the places they had taken, and which had been withheld in violation of treaties, complete success might have crowned their efforts; but in including Nimbahera in their capture they drew upon them the energetic Ahalya Bai, the regent-queen of the Holkar State, who unluckily for them was at hand and who coalesced with Sindhia’s partisans to check this reaction of the Rajputs. Tulaji Sindhia and Sri Bhai, with five thousand horse, were ordered to support the discomfited Siva Nana, who had taken refuge in Mandasor, where he rallied all the garrisons whom the Rajputs had unwisely permitted to capitulate.

Defeat of the Rājputs. Murder of Somji.

—On Tuesday, the 4th of Magh S. 1844,[8] the Rana’s troops were surprised and defeated with great slaughter, the minister slain, the chiefs of Kanor and Sadri with many others severely wounded, and the latter made prisoner.[9] The newly made conquests were all rapidly lost, with the exception of Jawad, which was gallantly maintained for a month by Dip Chand, who, with his guns and rockets, effected a passage through the Mahrattas, and retired with his garrison to Mandalgarh. Thus terminated an enterprise which might have yielded far different results but for a misplaced security. All the chiefs and clans were united in this patriotic struggle except the Chondawats, against whom the queen-mother and the new minister, Somji, had much difficulty to contend for the establishment of the minor’s authority. At length overtures were made to Salumbar, when the fair Rampiyari was employed to conciliate the obdurate chief, who condescended to make his appearance at Udaipur and to pay his respects to the prince. He pretended to enter into the views of the minister and to coalesce in his plans; but this was only a web to ensnare his victim, whose talent had diminished his authority, and was a bar to the prosecution of [443] his ambitious views. Somji was seated in his bureau when Arjun Singh of Kurabar and Sardar Singh[10] of Badesar entered, and the latter, as he demanded how he dared to resume his fief, plunged his dagger into the minister’s breast. The Rana was passing the day at one of the villas in the valley called the Sahelia Bari, ‘the garden of nymphs,’ attended by Jeth Singh of Badnor, when the brothers[11] of the minister suddenly rushed into the presence to claim protection against the murderers. They were followed by Arjun of Kurabar, who had the audacity to present himself before his sovereign with his hands yet stained with the blood of Somji. The Rana, unable to punish the insolent chief, branding him as a traitor, bade him begone; when the whole of the actors in this nefarious scene, with their leader Salumbar, returned to Chitor. Sheodas and Satidas, brothers to the murdered minister, were appointed to succeed him, and with the Saktawats fought several actions against the rebels, and gained one decisive battle at Akola, in which Arjun of Kurabar commanded. This was soon balanced by the defeat of the Saktawats at Kheroda. Every triumph was attended with ruin to the country. The agriculturist, never certain of the fruits of his labour, abandoned his fields, and at length his country; mechanical industry found no recompense, and commerce was at the mercy of unlicensed spoliation. In a very few years Mewar lost half her population, her lands lay waste, her mines were unworked, and her looms, which formerly supplied all around, forsaken. The prince partook of the general penury; instead of protecting, he required protection; the bonds which united him with his subjects were snapped, and each individual or petty community provided for itself that defence which he could not give. Hence arose a train of evils: every cultivator, whether fiscal or feudal, sought out a patron, and [444] entered into engagements as the price of protection. Hence every Rajput who had a horse and lance, had his clients; and not a camel-load of merchandise could pass the abode of one of these cavaliers without paying fees. The effects of such disorder were felt long after the cause ceased to exist, and claims difficult to adjust arose out of these licentious times, for the having prescriptive right was deemed sufficient to authorize their continuance.[12] Here were displayed the effects of a feudal association, where the powers of government were enfeebled. These feuds alone were sufficient to ruin the country; but when to such internal ills shoals of Mahratta plunderers were added, no art is required to describe the consequences.

Aid sought from Sindhia.

—The Rana and his advisers at length determined to call in Sindhia to expel the rebellious Chondawats from the ancient capital; a step mainly prompted by Zalim Singh (now Regent of Kotah), who with the Rana’s ministers was deputed to the Mahratta chieftain, then enjoying himself at the sacred lake of Pushkar.[13] Since the overthrow of Lalsot he had reorganized his brigades under the celebrated De Boigne,[14] through whose conduct he had redeemed his lost influence in Rajputana by the battles of Merta and Patan, in which the brave Rathors, after acts of the most devoted gallantry, were completely overthrown. Sindhia’s plans coincided entirely with the object of the deputation, and he readily acquiesced in the Rana’s desire. This event introduced on the political stage some of the most celebrated men of that day, whose actions offer a fair picture of manners, and may justify our entering a little into details.[15]

Negotiations by Zālim Singh.

—Zalim Singh had for some years become regent of Kotah, and though to maintain himself in power, and the State he controlled in an attitude to compel the respect of surrounding foes, was no slight task, yet he found the field too contracted for his ambition, and his secret views had long been directed to permanent influence in Mewar. His skill in reading character convinced him that the Rana would be no bar to his wishes, the attainment of which, by giving him the combined resources of Haraoti and Mewar, would bestow the lead in Rajasthan. The Jaipur court he disregarded, whose effeminate army he had himself defeated single-handed [445] with the Kotah troops, and the influence he established amongst the leading chiefs of Marwar held out no fear of counteraction from that quarter. The stake was high, the game sure, and success would have opened a field to his genius which might have entirely altered the fate of Hindustan; but one false move was irretrievable, and instead of becoming the arbitrator of India, he left only the reputation of being the Nestor of Rajputana.

The restriction of the Rana’s power was the cloak under which he disguised all his operations, and it might have been well for the country had his plans succeeded to their full extent. To re-establish the Rana’s authority, and to pay the charges of the reduction of Chitor, he determined that the rebels chiefly should furnish the means, and that from them and the fiscal lands, mostly in their hands, sixty-four lakhs should be levied, of which three-fifths should be appropriated to Sindhia, and the remainder to replenish the Rana’s treasury. Preliminaries being thus arranged, Zalim was furnished with a strong corps under Ambaji Inglia; while Sindhia followed, hanging on the Marwar frontier, to realize the contributions of that State. Zalim Singh and Ambaji moved towards Chitor, levying from the estates of those obnoxious to Zalim’s views. Hamirgarh, whose chief, Dhiraj Singh, a man of talent and courage, was the principal adviser of Bhim Singh, the Salumbar chief, was besieged, and stood several assaults during six weeks’ vigorous operations, when the destruction of the springs of the wells from the concussion of the guns compelled its surrender, and the estate was sequestrated. The force continued their progress, and after a trifling altercation at Basai, a Chondawat fief, also taken, they took up a position at Chitor, and were soon after joined by the main body under Sindhia.

Zālim Singh and Sindhia at Udaipur.

—Zalim, to gratify Mahadaji’s vanity, who was desirous of a visit from the Rana, which even the Peshwa considered an honour, proceeded to Udaipur to effect this object; when the Rana, placing himself under his guidance, marched for this purpose, and was met at the Tiger Mount, within a few miles of his capital, by Sindhia, who received the Rana, and escorted him to the besieging army. But in this short interval, Ambaji, who remained with the army at Chitor, intrigued with the rebel Chondawat to supplant the predominant influence of his friend Zalim Singh, and seized the opportunity of his absence to counteract him, by [446] communicating his plans to Salumbar; aware that, unless he broke with Zalim, he could only hope to play a secondary part under him. Though the ulterior views of Zalim were kept to his own breast, they could not escape the penetration of the crafty Mahratta; his very anxiety to hide them furnished Ambaji with the means of detection. Had Zalim possessed an equal share of meanness with his political antagonist, he might have extricated himself from the snare; but once overreached, he preferred sinking to grasping at an unworthy support. Bhim Singh (Salumbar) privately negotiated with Ambaji the surrender of Chitor, engaging to humble himself before the Rana, and to pay a contribution of twenty lakhs, levied on the clans, provided Zalim Singh was ordered to retire. This suggestion, apparently founded on the rebellious chief’s antipathy to Zalim, but in reality prompted by Ambaji, ensured the approbation, as it suited the views, of all parties, but especially Sindhia, who was desirous of repairing to Poona. Zalim, the sole obstacle to this arrangement, furnished to his enemies the means of escape from the dilemma, and lost the opportunity of realizing his long-cherished scheme of wielding the united resources of Mewar and Haraoti. Zalim had always preserved a strict amity with Ambaji wherever their interests did not clash, and his regard had the cement of gratitude to the Mahratta, whose father Trimbakji had saved Zalim’s life and procured his liberty, when left wounded and a prisoner at the battle of Ujjain. On Zalim’s return with the Rana, Ambaji touched on the terms of Bhim Singh’s surrender, hinting that Zalim’s presence was the sole obstacle to this desirable result; who, the more to mask his views, which any expressed reluctance to the measure might expose, went beyond probability in asseverations of readiness to be no bar to such arrangement, even so far as to affirm that, besides being tired of the business from the heavy expense it entailed on him, he had his prince’s wish for his return to Kotah. There is one ingredient in Zalim’s character, which has never been totally merged in the vices acquired from the tortuous policy of a long life, and which in the vigour of youth had full sway—namely, pride, one of the few virtues left to the Rajput, defrauded of many others by long oppression. But Zalim’s pride was legitimate, being allied to honour, and it has retained him an evident superiority through all the mazes of ambition. Ambaji skilfully availed himself of this defect in his friend’s political character. "A pretty [447] story, indeed!—you tell this to me! it might find credit with those who did not know you." The sarcasm only plunged him deeper into asseveration. “Is it then really your wish to retire?” “Assuredly.” “Then,” retorted the crafty Ambaji, “your wish shall be gratified in a few minutes.” Giving him no time to retract, he called for his horse and galloped to Sindhia’s tent. Zalim relied on Sindhia not acceding to the proposition; or if he did, that the Rana, over whom he imagined he had complete influence, would oppose it. His hopes of Sindhia rested on a promise privately made to leave troops under his authority for the restoration of order in Mewar; and a yet stronger claim, the knowledge that without Zalim he could not realize the stipulated sums for the expulsion of the Chondawat from Chitor. Ambaji had foreseen and prepared a remedy for these difficulties, and upon their being urged offered himself to advance the amount by bills on the Deccan. This argument was irresistible; money, and the consequent prosecution of his journey to Poona, being attained, Sindhia’s engagements with Zalim and the Rana ceased to be a matter of importance. He nominated Ambaji his lieutenant, with the command of a large force, by whose aid he would reimburse himself for the sums thus advanced. Having carried his object with Sindhia, Ambaji proceeded direct from his tent to that of the Rana’s ministers, Sheodas and Satidas, with whom, by the promise of co-operation in their views, and perfect subserviency to the Rana’s interests, he was alike successful. Ambaji, with the rapidity necessary to ensure success, having in a few hours accomplished his purpose, hastened back to Zalim, to acquaint him that his wish to retire had met with general acquiescence; and so well did he manage, that the Rana’s mace-bearer arrived at the same moment to announce that the khilat of leave awaited his acceptance. Zalim being thus outwitted, the Salumbar chief descended from Chitor, and touched the Rana’s feet. Sindhia pursued his march to the Deccan, and Ambaji was left sole arbiter of Mewar. The Saktawats maintained the lead at court, and were not backward in consigning the estates of their rivals to the incubus now settled on the country: while the mortified Zalim, on his retreat, recorded his expenses, to be produced on some fitting occasion.

Sindhia’s Instructions to Ambaji.

—Ambaji remained eight years in Mewar, reaping its revenues and amassing those hoards of wealth which subsequently gave him the lead in Hindustan, and enabled him nearly to assert his independence. Yet, although he accumulated [448] £2,000,000 sterling from her soil,[16] exacting one-half of the produce of agricultural industry, the suppression of feuds and exterior aggressions gave to Mewar a degree of tranquillity and happiness to which she had long been a stranger. The instructions delivered to Ambaji were—

1. The entire restoration of the Rana’s authority and resumption

of the crown-lands from rebellious chiefs and mercenary Sindis.

2. The expulsion of the pretender from Kumbhalmer.

3. The recovery of Godwar from the Raja of Marwar.

4. To settle the Bundi feud for the murder of Rana Arsi.

A schedule (pandhri)[17] for the twenty lakhs stipulated was made and levied; twelve from the Chondawat estates and eight from the Saktawats; and the sum of sixty lakhs was awarded, besides the expense of Ambaji’s army, when the other specified objects should be attained. Within two years the pretender was expelled Kumbhalmer, Jahazpur was recovered from a rebellious Ranawat, and the crown-lands[18] were redeemed from the nobles; the personal domain of the Rana, agricultural and commercial, still realized nearly fifty lakhs of rupees. After these services, though Godwar was still unredeemed, the Bundi feud unappeased, and the lands mortgaged to the Mahrattas were not restored, Ambaji assumed the title of Subahdar of Mewar, and identified himself with the parties of the day. Yet so long as he personally upheld the interests of the Rana, his memory is done justice to, notwithstanding he never conformed to the strict letter of his engagements. The Rana’s ministers, fearing lest their brother’s fate should be theirs in the event of the Chondawats again attaining power, and deeming their own and their sovereign’s security dependent on Ambaji’s presence, made a subsidiary engagement with him, and lands to the amount of 75,000 rupees monthly, or eight lakhs annually, were appropriated for his force; but so completely were the resources of the [449] country diverted from their honest use, that when, in S. 1851, a marriage was negotiated between the Rana’s sister and the prince of Jaipur, the Rana was obliged to borrow £50,000 from the Mahratta commander to purchase the nuptial presents. The following year was marked by a triple event—the death of the queen-mother, the birth of a son and heir to the Rana, and the bursting of the embankment of the lake, which swept away a third of the city and a third of its inhabitants. Superstition attributed this catastrophe to the Rana’s impiety, in establishing a new festival[19] to Gauri, the Isis of Rajasthan.

Anarchy in Mewār.

—Ambaji, who was this year nominated by Sindhia his viceroy in Hindustan, left Ganesh Pant as his lieutenant in Mewar, with whom acted the Rana’s officers, Sawai and Shirji Mehta;[20] who applied themselves to make the most of their ephemeral power with so rapacious a spirit, that Ambaji was compelled to displace Ganesh Pant and appoint the celebrated Rae Chand. To him they would not yield, and each party formed a nucleus for disorder and misrule. It would be uninteresting and nauseating to the reader to carry him through all the scenes of villainy which gradually desolated this country; for whose spoil pilfering Mahrattas, savage Rohillas, and adventurous Franks were all let loose. The now humbled Chondawats, many of whose fiefs were confiscated, took to horse, and in conjunction with lawless Sindis scoured the country. Their estates were attacked, Kurabar was taken, and batteries were placed against Salumbar, whence the Sindis fled and found refuge in Deogarh. In this exigence, the Chondawats determined to send an envoy to Ambaji, who was then engaged in the siege of Datia; and Ajit Singh, since prominent in the intrigues of Mewar, was the organ of his clan on this occasion. For the sum of ten lakhs the avaricious Mahratta agreed to recall his deputy from Mewar,[21] to renounce Sheodas and the Saktawats, and lend his support to the Chondawats. The Salumbar chief again took the lead at court, and with Agarji Mehta[22] as minister, the Saktawats [450] were attacked, the stipulated ten lakhs raised from their estates, and two fiefs of note, Hintha and Semari, confiscated [451].

Death of Mahādaji Sindhia, January 12, 1794.

—The death of Mahadaji Sindhia,[23] and the accession of his nephew Daulatrao, his murder of the Shenvi Brahmans, and his quarrels with the Bais (‘princesses,’ wives of the deceased Sindhia), all occurred at this time, and materially influenced the events in Mewar. The power of Ambaji as Subahdar of Hindustan was strengthened by the minority of Sindhia, although contested by Lakwa and the Bais, supported by the Khichi prince, Durjan Sal, and the Datia Raja, who fought and died for the princesses. Lakwa wrote to the Rana to throw off Ambaji’s yoke and expel his lieutenant; while Ambaji commanded his deputy to eject the Shenvi[24] Brahmans, supporters of Lakwa, from all the lands in Mewar. To this end Ganesh Pant called on the Rana’s ministers and chiefs, who, consulting thereon, determined to play a deep game; and while they apparently acquiesced in the schemes of Ganesh, they wrote the Shenvis to advance from Jawad and attack him, promising them support. They met at Sawa; Nana was defeated with the loss of his guns, and retired on Chitor. With a feint of support, the Chondawats made him again call in his garrison and try another battle, which he also lost and fled to Hamirgarh; then, uniting with his enemies, they invested the place with 15,000 men. Nana bravely maintained himself, making many sallies, in one of which both the sons of Dhiraj Singh, the chief of Hamirgarh, were slain. Shortly after, Nana was relieved by some battalions of the new raised regulars sent by Ambaji under Gulab Rao Kadam, upon which he commenced his retreat on Ajmer. At Musamusi he was forced to action, and success had nearly crowned the efforts of the clans, when a horseman, endeavouring to secure a mare, calling out [452], "Bhagi! bhagi!" “She flies! she flies!” the word spread, while those who caught her, exclaiming "Milgayi! milgayi!" “She is taken!” but equally significant with ‘going over’ to the enemy, caused a general panic, and the Chondawats, on the verge of victory, disgraced themselves, broke and fled. Several were slain, among whom was the Sindi leader Chandan. Shahpura opened its gates to the fugitives led by the Goliath of the host, the chief of Deogarh.[25] It was an occasion not to be lost by the bards of the rival clan, and many a ribald stanza records this day’s disgrace. Ambaji’s lieutenant, however, was so roughly handled that several chiefs redeemed their estates, and the Rana much of the fisc, from Mahratta control.

Contest of Ambaji and Lakwa.

—Mewar now became the arena on which the rival satraps Ambaji and Lakwa contested the exalted office of Sindhia’s lieutenancy in Hindustan. Lakwa was joined by all the chiefs of Mewar, his cause being their own; and Hamirgarh, still held by Nana’s party, was reinvested. Two thousand shot had made a practicable breach, when Bala Rao Inglia, Bapu Sindhia, Jaswant Rao Sindhia, a brigade under the European ‘Mutta field,’[26] with the auxiliary battalions of Zalim Singh of Kotah, the whole under the command of Ambaji’s son, arrived to relieve the lieutenant. Lakwa raised the siege, and took post with his allies under the walls of Chitor; whilst the besieged left the untenable Hamirgarh, and joined the relief at Gosunda. The rival armies were separated only by the Berach river, on whose banks they raised batteries and cannonaded each other, when a dispute arose in the victor camp regarding the pay of the troops, between Bala Rao (brother of Ambaji) and Nana, and the latter withdrew and retreated to Sanganer. Thus disunited, it might have been expected that these congregated masses would have dissolved, or fallen upon each other, when the Rajputs might have given the coup de grâce to the survivors; but they were Mahrattas, and their politics were too complicated to end in simple strife: almost all the actors in these scenes lived to contest with, and be humiliated by, the British.

George Thomas.

—The defection of Nana equalized the parties; but Bala Rao, never partial to fighting, opportunely recollected a debt of gratitude to Lakwa, to whose clemency he owed his life when taken by storm in Gugal Chapra. He also wanted money [453] to pay his force, which a private overture to Lakwa secured. They met, and Bala Rao retired boasting of his gratitude, to which, and the defection of Nana, soon followed by that of Bapu Sindhia, the salvation of Lakwa was attributed. Sutherland[27] with a brigade was detached by Ambaji to aid Nana: but a dispute depriving him of this reinforcement, he called in a partisan of more celebrity, the brave George Thomas.[28] Ambaji’s lieutenant and Lakwa were once more equal foes, and the Rana, his chiefs and subjects being distracted between these conflicting bands, whose leaders alternately paid their respects to him, were glad to obtain a little repose by espousing the cause of either combatant, whose armies during the monsoon encamped for six weeks within sight of each other.[29]

Pillage in Mewār.

—Durjan Sal (Khichi), with the nobles of Mewar, hovered round Nana’s camp with five thousand horse to cut off his supplies; but Thomas escorted the convoys from Shahpura with his regulars, and defied all their efforts. Thomas at length advanced his batteries against Lakwa, on whose position a general assault was about taking place, when a tremendous storm, with torrents of rain which filled the stream, cut off his batteries from the main body, burst the gates of Shahpura, his point d’appui, and laid the town in ruins.[30] Lakwa seized the moment, and with the Mewar chiefs stormed and carried the isolated batteries, capturing fifteen pieces of cannon; and the Shahpura Raja, threatened at once by his brother-nobles and the vengeance of heaven, refused further provision to Nana, who was compelled to abandon his position and retreat to Sanganer. The discomfited lieutenant vowed vengeance against the estates of the Mewar chieftains, and after the rains, being reinforced by Ambaji, again took the field. Then commenced a scene of carnage, pillage, and individual defence. The whole of the Chondawat estates under the Aravalli range were laid waste, their castles assaulted, some taken and destroyed, and heavy sums levied on all. Thomas besieged Deogarh and Amet, and both fought and paid. Kasital and Lasani were captured, and the latter razed for its gallant resistance. Thus they were proceeding in the work of destruction, when Ambaji [454] was dispossessed of the government of Hindustan, to which Lakwa was nominated,[31] and Nana was compelled to surrender all the fortresses and towns he held in Mewar.

Daulat Rāo Sindhia reduces Mewār.

—From this period must be dated the pretensions of Sindhia to consider Mewar as tributary to him. We have traced the rise of the Mahrattas, and the progress of their baneful influence in Mewar. The abstractions of territory from S. 1826 to 1831 [A.D. 1769-74], as pledges for contributions, satisfied their avarice till 1848 [A.D. 1791], when the Salumbar rebellion brought the great Sindhia to Chitor, leaving Ambaji as his lieutenant, with a subsidiary force, to recover the Rana’s lost possessions. We have related how these conditions were fulfilled; how Ambaji, inflated with the wealth of Mewar, assumed almost regal dignity in Hindustan, assigning the devoted land to be governed by his deputies, whose contest with other aspirants made this unhappy region the stage for constant struggles for supremacy; and while the secret policy of Zalim Singh stimulated the Saktawats to cling to Ambaji, the Chondawats gave their influence and interest to his rival Lakwa. The unhappy Rana and the peasantry paid for this rivalry; while Sindhia, whose power was now in its zenith, fastened one of his desultory armies on Mewar, in contravention of former treaties, without any definite views, or even instructions to its commander. It was enough that a large body should supply itself without assailing him for prey, and whose services were available when required.

Lakwa Dāda Marātha Viceroy.

—Lakwa, the new viceroy, marched to Mewar: Agarji Mehta was appointed minister to the Rana, and the Chondawats again came into power. For the sum of six lakhs Lakwa dispossessed the Shahpura of Jahazpur, for the liquidation of which thirty-six of its towns were mortgaged. Zalim Singh, who had long been manœuvring to obtain Jahazpur, administered to the necessities of the Mahratta, paid the note of hand, and took possession of the city and its villages. A contribution of twenty-four lakhs was imposed throughout the country, and levied by force of arms, after which first act of the new viceroy he quitted Mewar for Jaipur, leaving Jaswant Rao Bhao as his deputy. Mauji Ram, the deputy of Agarji (the Rana’s minister), determined to adopt the European mode of discipline, now become general amongst all the native powers of India. But when the chiefs were [455] called upon to contribute to the support of mercenary regulars and a field-artillery, they evinced their patriotism by confining this zealous minister. Satidas was once more placed in power, and his brother Sheodas recalled from Kotah, whither he had fled from the Chondawats, who now appropriated to themselves the most valuable portions of the Rana’s personal domain.

Holkar defeated at Indore. Plunder of Nāthdwāra: image removed.

—The battle of Indore,[32] in A.D. 1802, where at least 150,000 men assembled to dispute the claim to predatory empire, wrested the ascendancy from Holkar, who lost his guns, equipage, and capital, from which he fled to Mewar, pursued by Sindhia’s victorious army led by Sadasheo and Bala Rao. In his flight he plundered Ratlam, and passing Bhindar, the castle of the Saktawat chief, he demanded a contribution, from which and his meditated visit to Udaipur, the Rana and his vassal were saved by the activity of the pursuit. Failing in these objects, Holkar retreated on Nathdwara, the celebrated shrine of the Hindu Apollo.[33] It was here this active soldier first showed symptoms of mental derangement. He upbraided Krishna, while prostrate before his image, for the loss of his victory; and levied three lakhs of rupees on the priests and inhabitants, several of whom he carried to his camp as hostages for the payment. The portal (dwara) of the god (Nath) proving no bar either to Turk or equally impious Mahratta, Damodarji, the high priest, removed the god of Vraj from his pedestal and sent him with his establishment to Udaipur for protection. The Chauhan chief of Kotharia (one of the sixteen nobles), in whose estate was the sacred fane, undertook the duty, and with twenty horsemen, his vassals, escorted the shepherd god by intricate passes to the capital. On his return he was intercepted by a band of Holkar’s troops, who insultingly desired the surrender of their horses. But the descendant of the illustrious Prithiraj preferred death to dishonour: dismounting, he hamstrung his steed, commanding his vassals to follow his example; and sword in hand courted his fate in the unequal conflict, in which he fell, with most of his gallant retainers. There are many such isolated exploits in the records of this eventful period, of which the Chauhans of Kotharia had their full share. Spoil, from whatever source, being welcome to these depredators, Nathdwara[34] remained long abandoned; and Apollo, after six months’ residence at Udaipur, finding [456] insufficient protection, took another flight to the mountains of Ghasyar, where the high priest threw up fortifications for his defence; and spiritual thunders being disregarded, the pontiff henceforth buckled on the armour of flesh, and at the head of four hundred cavaliers with lance and shield, visited the minor shrines in his extensive diocese.

The Inroad of Holkar.

—To return to Holkar. He pursued his route by Banera and Shahpura, levying from both, to Ajmer, where he distributed a portion of the offerings of the followers of Krishna amongst the priests of Muhammad at the mosque of Khwaja Pir. Thence he proceeded towards Jaipur. Sindhia’s leaders on reaching Mewar renounced the pursuit, and Udaipur was cursed with their presence, when three lakhs of rupees were extorted from the unfortunate Rana, raised by the sale of household effects and the jewels of the females of his family. Jaswant Rao Bhao, the Subahdar of Mewar, had prepared another schedule (pandhri), which he left with Tantia, his deputy, to realize. Then followed the usual scene of conflict—the attack of the chieftain’s estates, distraining of the husbandman, seizure of his cattle, and his captivity for ransom, or his exile.

Mewār Quarrels.

—The celebrated Lakwa, disgraced by his prince, died at this time[35] in sanctuary at Salumbar; and Bala Rao, brother to Ambaji, returned, and was joined by the Saktawats and the minister Satidas, who expelled the Chondawats for their control over the prince. Zalim Singh, in furtherance of his schemes and through hatred of the Chondawats, united himself to this faction, and Devi Chand, minister to the Rana, set up by the Chondawats, was made prisoner. Bala Rao levied and destroyed their estates with unexampled ferocity, which produced a bold attempt at deliverance. The Chondawat leaders assembled at the Chaugan (the Champ de Mars) to consult on their safety. The insolent Mahratta had preceded them to the palace, demanding the surrender of the minister’s deputy, Mauji Ram. The Rana indignantly refused them—the Mahratta importuned, threatened, and at length commanded his troops to advance to the palace, when the intrepid minister pinioned the audacious plunderers, and secured his adherents (including their old enemy, Nana Ganesh), Jamalkar, and Uda Kunwar. The latter, a notorious villain, had an elephant’s chain put round his neck, while Bala Rao was confined in a bath. The [457] leaders thus arrested, the Chondawats sallied forth and attacked their camp in the valley, which surrendered; though the regulars under Hearsey[36] retreated in a hollow square, and reached Gadarmala in safety. Zalim Singh determined to liberate his friend Bala Rao from peril; and aided by the Saktawats under the chiefs of Bhindar and Lawa, advanced to the Chaija Pass, one of the defiles leading to the capital. Had the Rana put these chiefs to instant death, he would have been justified, although he would have incurred the resentment of the whole Mahratta nation. Instead of this, he put himself at the head of a motley levy of six thousand Sindis, Arabs, and Gosains, with the brave Jai Singh and a band of his gallant Khichis, ever ready to poise the lance against a Mahratta. They defended the pass for five days against a powerful artillery. At length the Rana was compelled to liberate Bala Rao, and Zalim Singh obtained by this interference possession of the fortress and entire district of Jahazpur. A schedule of war contribution, the usual finale to these events, followed Bala’s liberation, and no means were left untried to realize the exaction, before Holkar, then approaching, could contest the spoil.

Holkar plunders Udaipur.

—This chief, having recruited his shattered forces, again left the south.[37] Bhindar felt his resentment for non-compliance with his demands on his retreat after the battle of Indore; the town was nearly destroyed, but spared for two lakhs of rupees, for the payment of which villages were assigned. Thence he repaired to Udaipur, being met by Ajit Singh, the Rana’s ambassador, when the enormous sum of forty lakhs, or £500,000, was demanded from the country, of which one-third was commanded to be instantly forthcoming. The palace was denuded of everything which could be converted into gold; the females were deprived of every article of luxury and comfort: by which, with contributions levied on the city, twelve lakhs were obtained; while hostages from the household of the Rana and chief citizens were delivered as security for the remainder, and immured in the Mahratta camp. Holkar then visited the Rana. Lawa and Badnor were attacked, taken, and restored on large payments. Deogarh alone was mulcted four and a half lakhs. Having devastated Mewar during eight months, Holkar [458] marched to Hindustan,[38] Ajit Singh accompanying him as the Rana’s representative; while Bala Ram Seth was left to levy the balance of the forty lakhs. Holkar had reached Shahpura when Sindhia entered Mewar, and their camps formed a junction to allow the leaders to organize their mutual plans of hostility to the British Government. These chieftains, in their efforts to cope with the British power, had been completely humiliated, and their resources broken. But Rajasthan was made to pay the penalty of British success, which riveted her chains, and it would be but honest, now we have the power, to diminish that penalty.

Sindhia and Holkar in Mewār.

—The rainy season of A.D. 1805 found Sindhia and Holkar encamped in the plains of Badnor, desirous, but afraid, to seek revenge in the renewal of war. Deprived of all power in Hindustan, and of the choicest territory north and south of the Nerbudda, with numerous discontented armies now let loose on these devoted countries, their passions inflamed by defeat, and blind to every sentiment of humanity, they had no alternative to pacify the soldiery and replenish their own ruined resources but indiscriminate pillage. It would require a pen powerful as the pencil of Salvator Rosa to paint the horrors which filled up the succeeding ten years, to which the author was an eye-witness, destined to follow in the train of rapine, and to view in the traces of Mahratta camps[39] the desolation and political annihilation of all the central States of India,[40] several of which aided the British in their early struggle for dominion, but were now allowed to fall without a helping hand, the scapegoats of our successes. Peace between the Mahrattas and British was, however, doubtful, as Sindhia made the restoration of the rich provinces of Gohad and Gwalior a sine qua non: and unhappily for their legitimate ruler, who [459] had been inducted into the seat of his forefathers, a Governor-General (Lord Cornwallis) of ancient renown, but in the decline of life, with views totally unsuited to the times, abandoned our allies, and renounced all for peace, sending an ambassador[41] to Sindhia to reunite the bonds of ‘perpetual friendship.’

Holkar saves Mewār from Sindhia.

—The Mahratta leaders were anxious, if the war should be renewed, to shelter their families and valuables in the strongholds of Mewar, and their respective camps became the rendezvous of the rival factions. Sardar Singh, the organ of the Chondawats, represented the Rana at Sindhia’s court, at the head of whose councils Ambaji had just been placed.[42] His rancour to the Rana was implacable, from the support given in self-defence to his political antagonist, Lakwa, and he agitated the partition of Mewar amongst the great Mahratta leaders. But whilst his baneful influence was preparing this result, the credit of Sangram Saktawat with Holkar counteracted it. It would be unfair and ungallant not to record that a fair suitor, the Baiza Bai,[43] Sindhia’s wife, powerfully contributed to the Rana’s preservation on this occasion. This lady, the daughter of the notorious Sarji Rao, had unbounded power over Sindhia. Her sympathies were awakened on behalf of the supreme head of the Rajput nation, of which blood she had to boast, though she was now connected with the Mahrattas. Even the hostile clans stifled their animosities on this occasion, and Sardar Singh Chondawat left Sindhia’s camp to join his rival Sangram with Holkar, and aided by the upright Kishandas Pancholi, united in their remonstrances, asking Holkar if he had given his consent to sell Mewar to Ambaji. Touched by the picture of the Rana’s and their country’s distresses, Holkar swore it should not be; advised unity amongst themselves, and caused the representatives of the rival clans ‘to eat opium together.’ Nor did he stop here, but with the envoys repaired to Sindhia’s tents, descanted on the Rana’s high descent, ‘the master of their master’s master,’[44] urging that it did not become them to overwhelm him, and that they should even renounce the mortgaged lands which their fathers had too long unjustly held, himself setting the example by the restitution of [460] Nimbahera. To strengthen his argument, he expatiated with Sindhia on the policy of conciliating the Rana, whose strongholds might be available in the event of a renewal of hostilities with the British. Sindhia appeared a convert to his views, and retained the envoys in his camp. The Mahratta camps were twenty miles apart, and incessant torrents of rain had for some days prevented all intercourse. In this interim, Holkar received intelligence that Bhairon Bakhsh, as envoy from the Rana, was in Lord Lake’s camp negotiating for the aid of British troops, then at Tonk, to drive the Mahrattas from Mewar. The incensed Holkar sent for the Rana’s ambassadors, and assailed them with a torrent of reproach; accusing them of treachery, he threw the newspaper containing the information at Kishandas, asking if that were the way in which the Mewaris kept faith with him? “I cared not to break with Sindhia in support of your master, and while combating the Farangis (Franks), when all the Hindus should be as brothers, your sovereign the Rana, who boasts of not acknowledging the supremacy of Delhi, is the first to enter into arms with them. Was it for this I prevented Ambaji being fastened on you?” Kishandas here interrupted and attempted to pacify him, when Alikar Tantia, Holkar’s minister, stopped him short, observing to his prince, “You see the faith of these Rangras;[45] they would disunite you and Sindhia, and ruin both. Shake them off: be reconciled to Sindhia, dismiss Sarji Rao, and let Ambaji be Subahdar of Mewar, or I will leave you and take Sindhia into Malwa.” The other councillors, with the exception of Bhao Bhaskar, seconded this advice: Sarji Rao was dismissed; and Holkar proceeded northward, where he was encountered and pursued to the Panjab by the British under the intrepid and enterprising Lake, who dictated terms to the Mahratta at the altars of Alexander.[46]

Holkar protects Mewār Interests.

—Holkar had the generosity to stipulate, before his departure from Mewar, for the security of the Rana and his country, telling Sindhia he should hold him personally amenable to him if Ambaji were permitted to violate his guarantee. But in his misfortunes this threat was disregarded, and a contribution of sixteen lakhs was levied immediately on Mewar; Sadasheo Rao, with Baptiste’s[47] brigade, was detached from the camp in June 1806, for the double purpose of levying it, and driving from [461] Udaipur a detachment of the Jaipur prince’s troops, bringing proposals and preliminary presents for this prince’s marriage with the Rana’s daughter.

The Tragedy of Krishna Kunwāri.

—It would be imagined that the miseries of Rana Bhim were not susceptible of aggravation, and that fortune had done her worst to humble him; but his pride as a sovereign and his feelings as a parent were destined to be yet more deeply wounded. The Jaipur cortège had encamped near the capital, to the number of three thousand men, while the Rana’s acknowledgments of acceptance were dispatched, and had reached Shahpura. But Raja Man of Marwar also advanced pretensions, founded on the princess having been actually betrothed to his predecessor; and urging that the throne of Marwar, and not the individual occupant, was the object, he vowed resentment and opposition if his claims were disregarded. These were suggested, it is said, by his nobles to cloak their own views; and promoted by the Chondawats (then in favour with the Rana), whose organ, Ajit, was bribed to further them, contrary to the decided wishes of their prince.

Krishna Kunwari (the Virgin Krishna) was the name of the lovely object, the rivalry for whose hand assembled under the banners of her suitors (Jagat Singh of Jaipur and Raja Man of Marwar), not only their native chivalry, but all the predatory powers of India; and who, like Helen of old, involved in destruction her own and the rival houses. Sindhia having been denied a pecuniary demand by Jaipur, not only opposed the nuptials, but aided the claims of Raja Man, by demanding of the Rana the dismissal of the Jaipur embassy: which being refused, he advanced his brigades and batteries, and after a fruitless resistance, in which the Jaipur troops joined, forced the pass, threw a corps of eight thousand men into the valley, and following in person, encamped within cannon-range of the city. The Rana had now no alternative but to dismiss the nuptial cortège, and agree to whatever was demanded. Sindhia remained a month in the valley, during which an interview took place between him and the Rana at the shrine of Eklinga [462].[48]

Battle of Parbatsar. Defeat of the Mārwār Forces.

—The heralds of Hymen being thus rudely repulsed and its symbols intercepted, the Jaipur prince prepared to avenge his insulted pride and disappointed hopes, and accordingly arrayed a force such as had not assembled since the empire was in its glory. Raja Man eagerly took up the gauntlet of his rival, and headed ‘the swords of Maru.’ But dissension prevailed in Marwar, where rival claimants for the throne had divided the loyalty of the clans, introducing there also the influence of the Mahrattas. Raja Man, who had acquired the sceptre by party aid, was obliged to maintain himself by it, and to pursue the demoralizing policy of the period by ranging his vassals against each other. These nuptials gave the malcontents an opportunity to display their long-curbed resentments, and following the example of Mewar, they set up a pretender, whose interests were eagerly espoused, and whose standard was erected in the array of Jaipur; the prince at the head of 120,000 men advancing against his rival, who with less than half the number met him at Parbatsar, on their mutual frontier. The action was short, for while a heavy cannonade opened on either side, the majority of the Marwar nobles went over to the pretender. Raja Man turned his poniard against himself: but some chiefs yet faithful to him wrested the weapon from his hand, and conveyed him from the field. He was pursued to his capital, which was invested, besieged, and gallantly defended during six months. The town was at length taken and plundered, but the castle of Jodha ‘laughed a siege to scorn’; in time with the aid of finesse, the mighty host of Jaipur, which had consumed the forage of these arid plains for twenty miles around, began to crumble away; intrigue spread through every rank, and the siege ended in pusillanimity and flight. The Xerxes of Rajwara, the effeminate Kachhwaha, alarmed at length for his personal safety, sent on the spoils of Parbatsar and Jodhpur to his capital; but the brave nobles of Marwar, drawing the line between loyalty and patriotism, and determined that no trophy of Rathor degradation should be conveyed by the Kachhwahas from Marwar, attacked the cortège and redeemed the symbols of their disgrace. The colossal array of the invader was soon dismembered, and the ‘lion of the world’ (Jagat Singh), humbled and crestfallen [463], skulked from the desert retreat of his rival, indebted to a partisan corps for safety and convoy to his capital, around whose walls the wretched remnants of this ill-starred confederacy long lagged in expectation of their pay, while the bones of their horses and the ashes of their riders whitened the plain, and rendered it a Golgotha.[49]

Nawāb Amīr Khān.

—By the aid of one of the most notorious villains India ever produced, the Nawab Amir Khan,[50] the pretender’s party was treacherously annihilated. This man with his brigade of artillery and horse was amongst the most efficient of the foes of Raja Man; but the auri sacra fames not only made him desert the side on which he came for that of the Raja, but for a specific sum offer to rid him of the pretender and all his associates. Like Judas, he kissed whom he betrayed, took service with the pretender, and at the shrine of a saint of his own faith exchanged turbans with their leaders; and while the too credulous Rajput chieftains celebrated this acquisition to their party in the very sanctuary of hospitality, crowned by the dance and the song, the tents were cut down, and the victims thus enveloped, slaughtered in the midst of festivity by showers of grape.

Thus finished the under-plot; but another and more noble victim was demanded before discomfited ambition could repose, or the curtain drop on this eventful drama. Neither party would relinquish his claim to the fair object of the war; and the torch of discord could be extinguished only in her blood. To the same ferocious Khan is attributed the unhallowed suggestion, as well as its compulsory execution. The scene was now changed from the desert castle of Jodha to the smiling valley of Udaipur, soon to be filled with funereal lamentation.

The Tragedy of Krishna Kunwāri.

—Krishna Kunwari Bai, the ‘Virgin Princess Krishna,’ was in her sixteenth year: her mother was of the Chawara race, the ancient kings of Anhilwara. Sprung from the noblest blood of Hind, she added beauty of face and person to an engaging demeanour, and was justly proclaimed the ‘flower of Rajasthan.’ When the Roman father pierced the bosom of the dishonoured Virginia, appeased virtue applauded the deed. When Iphigenia was led to the sacrificial altar, the salvation of her country yielded a noble consolation. The votive victim of Jephthah’s success had [464] the triumph of a father’s fame to sustain her resignation, and in the meekness of her sufferings we have the best parallel to the sacrifice of the lovely Krishna: though years have passed since the barbarous immolation, it is never related but with a faltering tongue and moistened eyes, ‘albeit unused to the melting mood.’

The rapacious and bloodthirsty Pathan, covered with infamy, repaired to Udaipur, where he was joined by the pliant and subtle Ajit. Meek in his demeanour, unostentatious in his habits; despising honours, yet covetous of power,—religion, which he followed with the zeal of an ascetic, if it did not serve as a cloak, was at least no hindrance to an immeasurable ambition, in the attainment of which he would have sacrificed all but himself. When the Pathan revealed his design, that either the princess should wed Raja Man, or by her death seal the peace of Rajwara, whatever arguments were used to point the alternative, the Rana was made to see no choice between consigning his beloved child to the Rathor prince, or witnessing the effects of a more extended dishonour from the vengeance of the Pathan, and the storm of his palace by his licentious adherents—the fiat passed that Krishna Kunwari should die.

But the deed was left for women to accomplish—the hand of man refused it. The Rawala[51] of an Eastern prince is a world within itself; it is the labyrinth containing the strings that move the puppets which alarm mankind. Here intrigue sits enthroned, and hence its influence radiates to the world, always at a loss to trace effects to their causes. Maharaja Daulat Singh,[52] descended four generations ago from one common ancestor with the Rana, was first sounded ‘to save the honour of Udaipur’; but, horror-struck, he exclaimed, “Accursed the tongue that commands it! Dust on my allegiance, if thus to be preserved!” The Maharaja Jawandas, a natural brother, was then called upon; the dire necessity was explained, and it was urged that no common hand could be armed for the purpose. He accepted the poniard, but when in youthful loveliness Krishna appeared before him, the dagger fell from his hand, and he returned more wretched than the victim. The fatal purpose thus revealed, the shrieks of the frantic mother reverberated through the palace, as she implored mercy, or execrated the murderers of her child, who alone was resigned to her fate. But death was arrested, not averted [465]. To use the phrase of the narrator, "she was excused the steel—the cup was prepared,"—and prepared by female hands! As the messenger presented it in the name of her father, she bowed and drank it, sending up a prayer for his life and prosperity. The raving mother poured imprecations on his head, while the lovely victim, who shed not a tear, thus endeavoured to console her: “Why afflict yourself, my mother, at this shortening of the sorrows of life? I fear not to die! Am I not your daughter? Why should I fear death? We are marked out for sacrifice[53] from our birth; we scarcely enter the world but to be sent out again; let me thank my father that I have lived so long!”[54] Thus she conversed till the nauseating draught refused to assimilate with her blood. Again the bitter potion was prepared. She drained it off, and again it was rejected; but, as if to try the extreme of human fortitude, a third was administered; and, for the third time, Nature refused to aid the horrid purpose. It seemed as if the fabled charm, which guarded the life of the founder of her race,[55] was inherited by the Virgin Krishna. But the blood-hounds, the Pathan and Ajit, were impatient till their victim was at rest; and cruelty, as if gathering strength from defeat, made another and a fatal attempt. A powerful opiate was presented—the kusumbha draught.[56] She received it with a smile, wished the scene over, and drank it. The desires [466] of barbarity were accomplished. ‘She slept!’[57] a sleep from which she never awoke.

The wretched mother did not long survive her child; nature was exhausted in the ravings of despair; she refused food; and her remains in a few days followed those of her daughter to the funeral pyre.

Even the ferocious Khan, when the instrument of his infamy, Ajit, reported the issue, received him with contempt, and spurned him from his presence, tauntingly asking “if this were the boasted Rajput valour?” But the wily traitor had to encounter language far more bitter from his political adversary, whom he detested. Sangram Saktawat reached the capital only four days after the catastrophe—a man in every respect the reverse of Ajit; audaciously brave, he neither feared the frown of his sovereign nor the sword of his enemy. Without introduction he rushed into the presence, where he found seated the traitor Ajit. “Oh dastard! who hast thrown dust on the Sesodia race, whose blood which has flowed in purity through a hundred ages has now been defiled! this sin will check its course for ever; a blot so foul in our annals that no Sesodia[58] will ever again hold up his head! A sin to which no punishment were equal. But the end of our race is approaching! The line of Bappa Rawal is at an end! Heaven has ordained this, a signal of our destruction.” The Rana hid his face with his hands, when turning to Ajit, he exclaimed, "Thou stain on the Sesodia race, thou impure of Rajput blood, dust be on thy head as thou hast covered us all with shame. May you die childless, and your name die with you![59] Why this indecent haste? Had the Pathan stormed the city? Had he attempted to violate the sanctity of the Rawala? And though he had, could you not die as Rajputs, like your ancestors? Was it thus they gained a name? Was it thus our race became renowned—thus they opposed the might of kings? Have you forgotten the Sakhas of Chitor? But whom do I address—not Rajputs? Had the honour of your females been endangered, had you sacrificed them all and rushed sword in hand on the enemy, your name would have lived, and the Almighty would have secured the seed of Bappa Rawal. But to owe preservation [467] to this unhallowed deed! You did not even await the threatened danger. Fear seems to have deprived you of every faculty, or you might have spared the blood of Sriji,[60] and if you did not scorn to owe your safety to deception, might have substituted some less noble victim! But the end of our race approaches!"

Fate of the Murderers.

—The traitor to manhood, his sovereign, and humanity, durst not reply. The brave Sangram is now dead, but the prophetic anathema has been fulfilled. Of ninety-five children, sons and daughters, but one son (the brother of Krishna)[61] is left to the Rana; and though his two remaining daughters have been recently married to the princes of Jaisalmer and Bikaner, the Salic law, which is in full force in these States, precludes all honour through female descent. His hopes rest solely on the prince, Javana Singh,[62] and though in the flower of youth and health, the marriage bed (albeit boasting no less than four young princesses) has been blessed with no progeny.[63]

The elder brother of Javana[64] died two years ago. Had he lived he would have been Amra the Third. With regard to Ajit, the curse has been fully accomplished. Scarcely a month after, his wife and two sons were numbered with the dead; and the hoary traitor has since been wandering from shrine to shrine, performing penance and alms in expiation of his sins, yet unable to fling from him ambition; and with his beads in one hand, Rama! Rama! ever on his tongue, and subdued passion in his looks, his heart is deceitful as ever. Enough of him: let us exclaim with Sangram, “Dust on his head,”[65] which all the waters of the Ganges could not purify from the blood of the virgin Krishna, but

rather would the multitudinous sea incarnadine [468].

Amīr Khan rewarded by the British.

—His coadjutor, Amir Khan, is now linked by treaties “in amity and unity of interests” with the sovereigns of India; and though he has carried mourning into every house of Rajasthan, yet charity might hope forgiveness would be extended to him, could he cleanse himself from this deed of horror—‘throwing this pearl away, richer than all his tribe!’ His career of rapine has terminated with the caresses of the blind goddess, and placed him on a pinnacle to which his sword would never have traced the path. Enjoying the most distinguished post amongst the foreign chieftainschieftains of Holkar’s State, having the regulars and park under his control, with large estates for their support, he added the epithet of traitor to his other titles, when the British Government, adopting the leading maxim of Asiatic policy, divide et impera, guaranteed to him the sovereignty of these districts on his abandoning the Mahrattas, disbanding his legions, and surrendering the park. But though he personally fulfilled not, nor could fulfil, one single stipulation, this man, whose services were not worth the pay of a single sepoy—who fled from his camp[66] unattended, and sought personal protection in that of the British commander—claimed and obtained the full price of our pledge, the sovereignty of about one-third of his master’s dominions; and the districts of Sironj, Tonk, Rampura, and Nimbahera, form the domain of the Nawab Amir Khan, etc., etc., etc.!! This was in the fitful fever of success, when our arms were everywhere triumphant. But were the viceroy of Hind to summon the forty tributaries[67] now covered by the aegis of British protection to a meeting, the murderer of Krishna would still occupy a place (though low) in this illustrious divan. Let us hope that his character being known, he would feel himself ill at ease; and let us dismiss him likewise in the words of Sangram, “Dust on his head!”

The mind sickens at the contemplation of these unvarying scenes of atrocity; but this unhappy State had yet to pass through two more lustres of aggravated sufferings (to which the author of these annals was an eye-witness) before their [469] termination, upon the alliance of Mewar with Britain. From the period of the forcing of the passes, the dismissal of the Jaipur embassy by Sindhia, and the murder of Krishna Kunwari, the embassy of Britain was in the train of the Mahratta leader, a witness of the evils described—a most painful predicament—when the hand was stretched out for succour in vain, and the British flag waved in the centre of desolation, unable to afford protection. But this day of humiliation is past, thanks to the predatory hordes who goaded us on to their destruction; although the work was incomplete, a nucleus being imprudently left in Sindhia for the scattered particles again to form.

Ruin of Mewār by the Marāthas.

—In the spring of 1806, when the embassy entered the once-fertile Mewar, from whose native wealth the monuments the pencil will portray were erected, nothing but ruin met the eye—deserted towns, roofless houses, and uncultured plains. Wherever the Mahratta encamped, annihilation was ensured; it was a habit; and twenty-four hours sufficed to give to the most flourishing spot the aspect of a desert. The march of destruction was always to be traced for days afterwards by burning villages and destroyed cultivation. Some satisfaction may result from the fact, that there was scarcely an actor in these unhallowed scenes whose end was not fitted to his career. Ambaji was compelled to disgorge the spoils of Mewar, and his personal sufferings made some atonement for the ills he had inflicted upon her. This satrap, who had almost established his independence in the fortress and territory of Gwalior, suffered every indignity from Sindhia, whose authority he had almost thrown off. He was confined in a mean tent, manacled, suffered the torture of small lighted torches applied to his fingers, and even attempted suicide to avoid the surrender of his riches; but the instrument (an English penknife) was inefficient: the surgeon to the British embassy sewed up the wounds, and his coffers were eased of fifty-five lakhs of rupees! Mewar was, however, once more delivered over to him; he died shortly after. If report be correct, the residue of his treasures was possessed by his ancient ally, Zalim Singh. In this case, the old politician derived the chief advantage of the intrigues of S. 1848, without the crimes attendant on the acquisition.

Sindhia’s father-in-law, when expelled that chief’s camp, according to the treaty, enjoyed the ephemeral dignity of minister to the Rana, when he abstracted the most valuable records, especially those of the revenue [470].

Kumbhalmer was obtained by the minister Satidas from Jaswant Rao Bhao for seventy thousand rupees, for which assignments were given on this district, of which he retained possession. Amir Khan in A.D. 1809 led his myrmidons to the capital, threatening the demolition of the temple of Eklinga if refused a contribution of eleven lakhs of rupees. Nine were agreed to, but which by no effort could be raised, upon which the Rana’s envoys were treated with indignity, and Kishandas[68] wounded. The passes were forced, Amir Khan entering by Debari, and his coadjutor and son-in-law, the notorious Jamshid, by the Chirwa, which made but a feeble resistance. The ruffian Pathans were billeted on the city, subjecting the Rana to personal humiliation, and Jamshid[69] left with his licentious Rohillas in the capital. The traces of their barbarity are to be seen in its ruins. No woman could safely venture abroad, and a decent garment or turban was sufficient to attract their cupidity.

Bāpu Sindhia Sūbahdār of Mewār.

—In S. 1867 (A.D. 1811) Bapu Sindhia arrived with the title of Subahdar, and encamped in the valley, and from this to 1814 these vampires, representing Sindhia and Amir Khan, possessed themselves of the entire fiscal domain, with many of the fiefs, occasionally disputing for the spoils; to prevent which they came to a conference at the Dhaula Magra (the white hill), attended by a deputation[70] from the Rana, when the line of demarcation was drawn between the spoilers. A schedule was formed of the towns and villages yet inhabited, the amount to be levied from each specified, and three and a half lakhs adjudged to Jamshid, with the same sum to Sindhia; but this treaty was not better kept than the former ones. Mewar was rapidly approaching dissolution, and every sign of civilization fast disappearing; fields laid waste, cities in ruins, inhabitants exiled, chieftains demoralized, the prince and his family destitute of common comforts. Yet had Sindhia the audacity to demand compensation for the loss of his tribute stipulated to Bapu Sindhia [471],[71] who rendered Mewar a desert, carrying her chiefs, her merchants, her farmers, into captivity and fetters in the dungeons of Ajmer, where many died for want of ransom, and others languished till the treaty with the British, in A.D. 1817, set them free.

1. Brother of Ajit, the negotiator of the treaty with the British.

2. Chief of the Jagawat clan, also a branch of the Chondawats; he was killed in a battle with the Mahrattas.

3. It is yet held by the successor of Sangram, whose faithful services merited the grant he obtained from his prince, and it was in consequence left unmolested in the arrangement of 1817, from the knowledge of his merits.

4. The father of Rawat Jawan Singh, whom I found at Udaipur as military minister, acting for his grand-uncle Ajit the organ of the Chondawats, whose head, Padam Singh, was just emerging from his minority. It was absolutely necessary to get to the very root of all these feuds, when as envoy and mediator I had to settle the disputes of half a century, and make each useful to detect their joint usurpations of the crown domain.

5. She was the grandmother of Man Singh, a fine specimen of a Saktawat cavalier.

6. [Lālsot, about 40 miles south of Jaipur city. For an account of the battle see Compton, European Military Adventurers, 346 f.]

7. Megh Singh was the chief of Begun, and founder of that subdivision of the Chondawats called after him Meghawat, and his complexion being very dark (kala), he was called ‘Kala Megh,’ the ‘black cloud.’ His descendants were very numerous and very refractory.

8. A.D. 1788.

9. He did not recover his liberty for two years, nor till he had surrendered four of the best towns in his fief.

10. Father of the present Hamir Singh, the only chief with whom I was compelled to use severity; but he was incorrigible. He was celebrated for his raids in the troubles, and from his red whiskers bore with us the name of the ‘Red Riever’ of Badesar—more of him by and by.

11. Sheodas and Satidas, with their cousin Jaichand. They revenged their brother’s death by that of his murderer, and were both in turn slain. Such were these times! The author more than once, when resuming the Chondawat lands, and amongst them Badesar, the fief of the son of Sardar, was told to recollect the fate of Somji; the advice, however, excited only a smile; he was deemed more of a Saktawat than a Chondawat, and there was some truth in it, for he found the good actions of the former far outweigh the other, who made a boast and monopoly of their patriotism. It was a curious period in his life; the stimulus to action was too high, too constant, to think of self; and having no personal views, being influenced solely by one feeling, the prosperity of all, he despised the very idea of danger, though it was said to exist in various shapes, even in the hospitable plate put before him! But he deemed none capable of such treachery, though once he was within a few minutes’ march to the other world; but the cause, if the right one, came from his own cuisinier, or rather boulanger, whom he discharged.

12. See the Essay on a Feudal System.

13. S. 1847 (A.D. 1791).

14. [Count Benoit de Boigne, a Savoyard, born at Chambery, 1751: served under Mahādaji Sindhia, and won for him his battles of Pātan and Merta in 1790: defeated Holkar at Lakheri in 1793: resigned his command in 1795, and left India in the next year: died June 21, 1830 (Compton, European Military Adventurers, 15 ff.; Buckland, Dict. of Indian Biography, s.v.).]

15. Acquired from the actors in those scenes: the prince, his ministers, Zalim Singh and the rival chiefs have all contributed.

16. It was levied as follows:

Salumbar | Lakhs | 3
Deogarh | ” | 3
Singingir Gosain, their adviser | ” | 2
Kosital | ” | 1
Amet | ” | 2
Kurabar | ” | 1
Lakhs |  | 12

17. [Pāndhri, Pāndharapatti, a tax on shops, artisans, traders, and persons not engaged in agriculture, levied on their persons, implements, places of work, or traffic; the same as the Mahtarafa (Wilson, Glossary, s.v.).]

18. Raepur Rajnagar from the Sindis; Gurla and Gadarmala from the Purawats; Hamirgarh from Sardar Singh, and Kurj Kawaria from Salumbar.

19. In Bhadon, the third month of the rainy season. An account of this festival will hereafter be given.

20. The first of these is now the manager of Prince Jawan Singh’s estates, a man of no talent; and the latter, his brother, was one of the ministers on my arrival at Udaipur. He was of invincible good humour, yet full of the spirit of intrigue, and one of the bars to returning prosperity. The cholera carried off this Falstaff of the court, not much to my sorrow.

21. S. 1853, A.D. 1797.

22. This person was nominated the chief civil minister on the author’s arrival at Udaipur, an office to which he was every way unequal. The affairs of Mewar had never prospered since the faithful Pancholis were deprived of power. Several productions of the descendants of Biharidas have fallen into my hands; their quaint mode of conveying advice may authorize their insertion here.

The Pancholis, who had performed so many services to the country, had been for some time deprived of the office of prime minister, which was disposed of as it suited the views of the factious nobles who held power for the time being; and who bestowed it on the Mehtas, Depras, or Dhabhais. Amongst the papers of the Pancholis, several addressed to the Rana and to Agarji Mehta, the minister of the day, are valuable for the patriotic sentiments they contain, as well as for the general light they throw upon the period. In S. 1853 (A.D. 1797) Amrit Rao devised a plan to remedy the evils that oppressed the country. He inculcated the necessity of dispensing with the interference of the Saktawats and Chondawats in the affairs of government, and strengthening the hands of the civil administration by admitting the foreign chieftains to the power he proposed to deprive the former of. He proceeds in the following quaint style:

“Disease fastened on the country from the following causes, envy and party spirit. With the Turks disease was introduced; but then the prince, his ministers, and chiefs, were of one mind, and medicine was ministered and a cure effected. During Rana Jai Singh’s time the disorder returned, which his son Amra put down. He recovered the affairs of government from confusion, gave to every one his proper rank and dignity, and rendered all prosperous. But Maharana Sangram Singh put from under his wing the Chandarawat of Rampura, and thus a pinion of Mewar was broken. The calamity of Biharidas, whose son committed suicide, increased the difficulties. The arrival of the Deccanis under Bajirao, the Jaipur affair[A] and the defeat at Rajmahall, with the heavy expenditure thereby occasioned, augmented the disorder. Add to this in Jagat Singh’s time the enmity of the Dhabhais towards the Pancholis, which lowered their dignities at home and abroad, and since which time every man has thought himself equal to the task of government. Jagat Singh was also afflicted by the rebellious conduct of his son Partap, when Shyama Solanki and several other chiefs were treacherously cut off. Since which time the minds of the nobles have never been loyal, but black and not to be trusted. Again, on the accession of Partap, Maharaja Nathji allowed his thoughts to aspire, from which all his kin suffered. Hence animosities, doubts, and deceits, arose on all sides. Add to this the haughty proceeding of Amra Chand now in office; and besides the strife of the Pancholis with each other, their enmity to the Depras. Hence parties were formed which completely destroyed the credit of all. Yet, notwithstanding, they abated none of their strife, which was the acme to the disease. The feud between Kuman Singh and the Saktawats for the possession of Hintha, aggravated the distresses. The treacherous murder of Maharaja Nathji, and the consequent disgust and retreat of Jaswant Singh of Deogarh; the setting up the impostor Ratna Singh and Jhala Raghudeo’s struggle for office, with Amra Chand’s entertaining the mercenaries of Sind, brought it to a crisis. The negligence arising out of luxury, and the intrigues of the Dhabhais of Rana Arsi, made it spread so as to defeat all attempt at cure. In S. 1829, on the treacherous murder of the Rana by the Bundi prince, and the accession of the minor Hamir, every one set up his own authority, so that there was not even the semblance of government. And now you (to the Rana), listening to the advice of Bhim Singh (Salumbar), and his brother, Arjun, have taken foreigners[B] into pay, and thus riveted all the former errors. You and Sri Baiji Raj (the royal mother), putting confidence in foreigners and Deccanis, have rendered the disease contagious; besides, your mind is gone. What can be done? Medicine may yet be had. Let us unite and struggle to restore the duties of the minister and we may conquer, or at least check its progress. If now neglected, it will hereafter be beyond human power. The Deccanis are the great sore. Let us settle their accounts, and at all events get rid of them, or we lose the land for ever. At this time there are treaties and engagements in every corner. I have touched on every subject. Forgive whatever is improper. Let us look the future in the face, and let chiefs, ministers, and all unite. With the welfare of the country all will be well. But this is a disease which, if not now conquered, will conquer us.”

A second paper as follows:

"The disease of the country is to be considered and treated as a remittent.

"Amra Singh cured it and laid a complete system of government and justice.

"In Sangram’s time it once more gained ground.

"In Jagat Singh’s time the seed was thrown into the ground thus obtained.

"In Partap’s time it sprung up.

"In Raj Singh’s time it bore fruit.

"In Rana Arsi’s time it was ripe.

"In Hamir’s time it was distributed, and all have had a share.

“And you, Bhim Singh (the present Rana), have eaten plentifully thereof. Its virtues and flavour you are acquainted with, and so likewise is the country; and if you take no medicine you will assuredly suffer much pain, and both at home and abroad you will be lightly thought of. Be not therefore negligent, or faith and land will depart from you.”

A third paper to Agarji Mehta (then minister):

"If the milk is curdled it does not signify. Where there is sense butter may yet be extracted; and if the butter-milk (chhachh) is thrown away it matters not. But if the milk be curdled and black it will require wisdom to restore its purity. This wisdom is now wanted. The foreigners are the black in the curdled milk of Mewar. At all hazards remove them. Trust to them and the land is lost.

"In moonlight what occasion for a blue light? (Chandra jot).[C]

"Who looks to the false coin of the juggler?

"Do not credit him who tells you he will make a pigeon out of a feather.

“Abroad it is said there is no wisdom left in Mewar, which is a disgrace to her reputation.”

A. The struggle to place the Rana’s nephew, Madho Singh, on the throne of Jaipur.

B. The Pancholi must allude to the Mahratta subsidiary force under Ambaji.

C. Literally, a ‘moonlight.’ The particular kind of firework which we call a ‘blue light.’

23. [Mahādaji Sindhia, commonly and erroneously called Mādhava Rāo, died near Poona, January 12, 1794. See his life by H. G. Keene, ‘Rulers of India’ series; Grant Duff, Hist. of Mahrattas, 343 ff.; W. Franklin, Hist. of Shah-Aulum, 119 ff.]

24. There are three classes of Mahratta Brahmans: Shenvi, Prabhu, and Mahratta. Of the first was Lakwa, Balabha Tantia, Jiwa Dada, Sivaji Nana, Lalaji Pandit, and Jaswant Rao Bhao, men who held the mortgaged lands of Mewar. [There are four groups of Marātha Brāhmans: Konkanasthas, Deshasthas, Karhādas, and Kanvas. The Prabhus are not Brāhmans, but the writer caste, like the Kāyasths of Hindustān (J. Wilson, Indian Caste, 1877, ii. 17 ff.). The word Shenvi is a corruption of chhiyānavē, ‘ninety-six,’ from the supposed number of their sections.]

25. I knew him well. He stood six feet six inches, and was bulky in proportion. His limbs rivalled those of the Hercules Farnese. His father was nearly seven feet, and died at the early age of twenty-two, in a vain attempt to keep down, by regimen and medicine, his enormous bulk.

26. [This is perhaps Captain Butterfield, who served in Sindhia’s force under Colonel Sutherland. He behaved gallantly in action against Lakwa Dāda, for which he received a flattering letter from Perron: no further mention of him has been traced (Compton, Military Adventurers, 344).]

27. [For Colonel Robert Sutherland, known to natives as ‘Sutlej Sahib,’ see Compton, 410 ff.]

28. [For the remarkable career of George Thomas, who nearly succeeded in forming a kingdom of his own on the ruins of the Empire in N. India, see Compton, 109 f.; W. Franklin, Military Memoirs of Mr. G. Thomas, 1803.]

29. Both camps were on the right bank of the Banas: Lakwa’s at Amli, about ten miles south of Shahpura, and Nana’s at Kadera, between these towns.

30. Lakwa at this time [S. 1856, A.D. 1799] put the Shahpura Raja in possession of the important fortress and district of Jahazpur, which, although the Rana consented to it, covertly receiving from the Raja two lakhs of rupees, disgusted the nobles with Lakwa.

31. Balabha Tantia and Bakhshu Narayan Rao were Sindhia’s ministers at this period, of the same tribe (the Shenvi) as Lakwa.

32. [October 14, 1801 (Grant Duff 555).]

33. [Krishna.]

34. Five-and-twenty [about thirty] miles north of Udaipur. On this subject we shall have much to say hereafter.

35. S. 1859 (A.D. 1803).

36. [Hyder Young Hearsey (1782-3-1840), son of Captain Harry Thomas Hearsey by a Jāt lady, served Sindhia under Perron, and also George Thomas, joined Lord Lake at Dīg in 1804: taken prisoner in the Nepāl war of 1815: present at the siege of Bharatpur: died near Budāun (Buckland, Dict. Indian Biography, s.v.).]

37. In S. 1860 (A.D. 1804).

38. At this juncture an officer of Holkar’s, Harnath Chela, on passing through Bansain, had some camels carried off by the Bhils of the Satola estate. Harnath summoned Gulab Singh Chondawat, who came with eight of his relatives, when he was told he should be detained till the cattle were restored; and in the morning, as the Mahratta mounted his elephant, he commanded the Raghaut chieftain to be seized. Gulab drew his sword and made at Harnath, but his sword broke in the howda, when he plunged his dagger into the elephant; but at length he and all his relations, who nobly plied their swords on the Mahrattas, were cut to pieces.

39. [For a graphic account of these camps see T. D. Broughton, Letters written in a Mahratta Camp during the year 1809, ed. 1892.]

40. The Rana of Gohad and Gwalior, the Khichi chiefs of Raghugarh and Bahadurgarh, and the Nawab of Bhopal, made common cause with us in Warren Hastings’ time. The first three possess not a shadow of independence; the last fortunately formed a link in our own policy, and Lord Hastings, in 1818, repaid with liberal interest the services rendered to the government of Warren Hastings in 1782. It was in his power, with equal facility, to have rescued all the other States, and to have claimed the same measure of gratitude which Bhopal is proud to avow. But there was a fatality in the desire to maintain terms with Sindhia, whose treachery to our power was overlooked.

41. The author, then a subaltern, was attached to the suite of the ambassador, Mr. Græme Mercer. He left the subsidiary force at Gwalior in December 1805, and the embassy reached Sindhia’s court in the spring of 1806, then encamped amidst the ruins of Mewar.

42. The ministers of Sindhia were Ambaji, Bapu Chitnavis, Madhuba Huzuria, and Anaji Bhaskar.

43. [Baiza Bāi, widow of Daulat Rāo Sindhia, who died in 1827, was an unscrupulous, designing woman, whose intrigues at Gwalior forced her to take refuge in British territory. She returned after an interval and lived at Gwalior until her death in 1862 (IGI, xii. 424).]

44. That is, chief of the race from which issued the Satara sovereigns, whose minister, the Peshwa, accounted Sindhia and Holkar his feudatories.

45. Rangra is an epithet applied to the Rajputs, implying turbulent, from rana, ‘strife.’ [Rāngar is the title of a body of turbulent, predatory Muhammadans, who claim Rājput descent, occupying parts of the E. Panjāb and W. districts of the Ganges-Jumna Duāb. The derivation suggested is very doubtful (Crooke, Tribes and Castes, N.W.P. and Oudh, v. 227 ff.).]

46. [In October 1805 (Grant Duff 601).]

47. [Jean Baptiste de la Fontaine Filoze (1775-1840) assisted in the campaign against Thomas in 1801. In the war with the English, part of his brigade under Dupont was defeated at Assaye. He was afterwards ill-treated by Sindhia, but was reinstated. Some of his descendants are still in Sindhia’s service (Compton, European Military Adventurers, 352 ff.; Sleeman, Rambles, 115, note). He is frequently mentioned in Broughton, Letters written in a Mahratta Camp.]

48. To increase his importance, Sindhia invited the British envoy and suite to be present on the occasion, when the princely demeanour of the Rana and his sons was advantageously contrasted with that of the Mahratta and his suite. It was in this visit that the regal abode of this ancient race, its isles and palaces, acted with irresistible force on the cupidity of this scion of the plough, who aspired to, yet dared not seat himself in, ‘the halls of the Caesars.’ It was even surmised that his hostility to Jaipur was not so much from the refused war-contribution, as from a mortifying negative to an audacious desire to obtain the hand of this princess himself. The impression made on the author upon this occasion by the miseries and noble appearance of ‘this descendant of a hundred kings,’ was never allowed to weaken, but kindled an enthusiastic desire for the restoration of his fallen condition, which stimulated his perseverance to obtain that knowledge by which alone he might be enabled to benefit him. Then a young Sub., his hopes of success were more sanguine than wise; but he trusted to the rapid march of events, and the discordant elements by which he was surrounded, to effect the redemption of the prince from thraldom. It was a long dream—but after ten years of anxious hope, at length realized—and he had the gratification of being instrumental in snatching the family from destruction, and subsequently of raising the country to comparative prosperity.

49. I witnessed the commencement and the end of this drama, and have conversed with actors in all the intermediate scenes. In June 1806 the passes of Udaipur were forced; and in January 1808, when I passed through Jaipur in a solitary ramble, the fragments of this contest were scattered over its sandy plains.

50. [Amīr Khān, ally of the Pindāris and ancestor of the present Nawābs of Tonk. A treaty between him and the British was signed on December 19, 1817, by which his State was recognized. He died in 1834. See his Life by Basāwan Lāl, translated by Thoby Prinsep; Malcolm, Memoirs of Central India, 2nd ed. ii. 325 ff.]

51. Harem.

52. I knew him well—a plain honest man.

53. Alluding to the custom of infanticide—here, very rare; indeed, almost unknown.

54. With my mind engrossed with the scenes in which I had passed the better part of my life, I went two months after my return from Rajputana, in 1823, to York Cathedral, to attend the memorable festival of that year. The sublime recitations of Handel in ‘Jephtha’s Vow,’ the sonorous woe of Sapio’s ‘Deeper and deeper still,’ powerfully recalled the sad exit of the Rajputni; and the representation shortly after of Racine’s tragedy of ‘Iphigénie,’ with Talma as Achille, Duchesnois as Clytemnestre, and a very interesting personation of the victim daughter of Agamemnon, again served to waken the remembrance of this sacrifice. The following passage, embodying not only the sentiments, but couched in the precise language in which the ‘Virgin Krishna’ addressed her father—proving that human nature was but one mode of expression for the same feelings—I am tempted to transcribe:

... “Mon père,

Cessez de vous troubler, vous n’êtes point trahi.

Quand vous commanderez, vous serez obéi:

Ma vie est votre bien. Vous voulez le reprendre,

Vos ordres, sans détour, pouvaient se faire entendre;

D’un œil aussi content, d’un cœur aussi soumis,

Que j’acceptais l’époux que vous m’aviez promis,

Je saurai, s’il le faut, victime obéissante

Tendre au fer de Calchas une tête innocente;

Et respectant le coup par vous-même ordonné,

Vous rendre tout le sang que vous m’avez donné.”

55. Bappa Rawal.

56. The kusumbha draught is made of flowers and herbs of a cooling quality; into this an opiate was introduced.

57. The simple but powerful expression of the narrator.

58. The tribe of the Rana.

59. That is, without adoption even to perpetuate it.

60. A respectful epithet to the prince—sire.

61. By the same mother.

62. He was nearly carried off by that awful scourge, the cholera, and, singular to remark, was the first person attacked at Udaipur. I remained by his bedside during the progress of this terrible visitation, and never shall I forget his grateful exclamation of surprise, when after a salutary sleep he opened his eyes to health. Shirji Mehta, his chief adviser and manager of his estates, merry as ever, though the heir of Mewar was given over, was seized with the complaint as his master recovered—was dead and his ashes blanching on the sands of the streamlet of Ar within twelve hours! Jovial and good-humoured as he was, “we could have better spared a better man.” He was an adept in intrigue; of Ambaji’s school; and till death shall extinguish the whole of this, and better morals are born, the country will but slowly improve. [Mahārāna Jawān Singh (1828-38) succeeded on the death of his father, Bhīm Singh, on March 31, 1828. He gave himself up to debauchery, and died without issue on August 30, 1838, being succeeded by his adopted son, Sardār Singh.]

63. Since this work has gone to press, the author has been rejoiced to find that an heir has been born from the last marriage by a princess of Riwa of the Baghela tribe.

64. See genealogical descendants of Rana Jagat Singh. Appendix, No. VIII.

65. This was written at Udaipur in 1820. This old intriguer then attempted to renew the past, as the organ of the Chondawats, but his scheme ended in exile to the sacred city of Benares; and there he may now be seen with his rosary on the consecrated ghat of the Ganges.

66. Brigadier-General Alexander Knox had the honour of dissolving these bands in the only way worthy of us. He marched his troops to take their guns and disperse their legions; and, when in order of battle, the gallant General taking out his watch, gave them half an hour to reflect, their commander Jamshid, second only in villainy to his master, deeming ‘discretion the better part of valour,’ surrendered.

67. There are full this number of princes holding under the British.

68. This veteran attended me during all these troubles, as the medium of communication with the Rana. Though leagued with the Chondawats, he was a loyal subject and good servant. I saw him expire, and was of opinion, as well as the doctor who accompanied me, that his death was caused by poison. The general burst of sorrow from hundreds collected around his house, when the event was announced, is the best encomium on his public character.

69. This monstrous villain (for he was a Goliath) died soon after Mewar was rescued, from a cancer in his back.

70. Satidas, Kishandas, and Rup Ram.

71. Bapu Sindhia shortly outlived his expulsion from Ajmer, and as he had to pass through Mewar in his passage to his future residence, he was hooted by the population he had plundered. While I was attending the Rana’s court, some one reporting Bapu Sindhia’s arrival at his destination, mentioned that some pieces of ordnance formerly taken from Udaipur had, after saluting him, exuded a quantity of water, which was received with the utmost gravity by the court, until I remarked they were crying because they should never again be employed in plunder: an idea which caused a little mirth.

CHAPTER 18

Degraded Condition of the Rājputs.

—The history of the Rana’s family has now been traced through all the vicissitudes of its fortunes, from the second to the nineteenth century, whilst contending for existence, alternately with Parthians, Bhils, Tartars, and Mahrattas, till at length it has become tributary to Britain. The last chapter portrays the degraded condition of their princes, and the utter desolation of their country, in a picture which embodied the entire Rajput race. An era of repose at length dawned upon them. The destruction of that vast predatory system, under the weight of which the prosperity of these regions had so long been repressed, was effected by one short campaign in 1817; which if less brilliant than that of 1803, is inferior to none in political results. The tardy policy of the last-named period, at length accomplished, placed the power of Britain in the East on an expugnable position, and rescued the Rajputs from a progressing destruction.

Alliances with the British.

—To prevent the recurrence of this predatory system it was deemed politic to unite all these settled States, alike interested with ourselves in its overthrow, in one grand confederation. Accordingly the Rajput States were invited to shelter [472] under our protecting alliance; and with one exception (Jaipur), they eagerly embraced the invitation. The ambassadors of the various governments followed each other in quick succession to Delhi, where the treaties were to be negotiated, and in a few weeks all Rajputana was united to Britain by compacts of one uniform character;[1] insuring to them external protection with internal independence, as the price of acknowledged supremacy, and a portion of revenue to the protecting government. By this comprehensive arrangement, we placed a most powerful barrier between our territories and the strong natural frontier of India; and so long as we shall respect their established usages, and by contributing to the prosperity of the people preserve our motives from distrust, it will be a barrier impenetrable to invasion.

Treaty with Mewār.

—Of all the princes who obtained succour at this momentous crisis in the political history of India, none stood more in need of it than the Rana of Udaipur. On January 16, 1818, the treaty was signed, and in February an envoy was nominated; who immediately proceeded to the Rana’s court, to superintend and maintain the newly formed relations.[2] The right wing of the grand army[3] had already preceded him to compel the surrender of such territory as was unjustly held by the lawless partisans of Sindhia, and to reduce to obedience the refractory nobles, to whom anarchy was endeared from long familiarity. The strongholds in the plains as Raepur, Rajnagar, etc., soon surrendered; and the payment of the arrears of the garrison of Kumbhalmer put this important fortress in our possession.

In his passage from Jahazpur, which guards the range on the east to Kumbhalmer on the Aravalli west, a space of 140 miles, the limits of Mewar, only two thinly peopled towns were seen which acknowledged the Rana’s authority. All was desolate; even the traces of the footsteps of man were effaced. The babul (mimosa [acacia] Arabica), and gigantic reed, which harboured the boar and the tiger, grew upon the highways; and every rising ground displayed a mass of ruin. Bhilwara, the commercial entrepôt of Rajputana, which ten years before contained six thousand [473] families, showed not a vestige of existence. All was silent in her streets—no living thing was seen except a solitary dog, that fled in dismay from his lurking-place in the temple, scared at the unaccustomed sight of man.[4]

Cession of Kumbhalmer.

—An envoy was dispatched by the Rana to congratulate the Agent, who joined him in the British camp at Nathdwara; and while he returned to arrange the formalities of reception, the Agent obtained the cession of Kumbhalmer; which, with the acquisitions before mentioned, paved the way for a joyful reception. The prince, Javan Singh, with all the State insignia, and a numerous cortège, advanced to receive the mission, and conduct it to the capital. A spot was fixed on in a grove of palmyras, about two miles from the city, where carpets were spread, and where the prince received the Agent and suite in a manner at once courteous and dignified.[5] Of him it might have been said, in the language applied by Jahangir to the son of Rana Amra—“His countenance carried the impression of his illustrious extraction.”

Arrival of the Author as Agent.

—We entered the city[6] by the gate of the sun; and through a vista of ruin the mission was inducted into its future residence, once the abode of the fair Rampiyari.[7] Like all the mansions of Rajputana, it was a quadrangular pile, with an open paved area, the suites of apartments carried round the sides, with latticed or open corridors extending parallel to each suite. Another deputation with the mehmani, consisting of a hundred trays of sweetmeats, dried fruits, and a purse of one thousand rupees for distribution amongst the domestics, brought the Rana’s welcome upon our arrival in his capital, and fixed the next day for our introduction at court.

At four in the afternoon, a deputation, consisting of the officiating prime minister, the representative of the Chondawats, with mace-bearers and a numerous escort, came to announce the Rana’s readiness to receive the mission; which, with all the ‘pomp and circumstance’ peculiar to these countries, was marshalled in front of the residency, thronged by crowds of well-dressed [474] inhabitants, silently gazing at the unusual sight.[8] The grand Nakkaras having announced the Rana in court, the mission proceeded through streets which everywhere presented marks of rapine, hailed by the most enthusiastic greetings. “Jai! jai! Farangi ka Raj!” “Victory, victory to the English Government!” resounded from every tongue. The bards were not idle; and the unpoetic name of the Agent was hitched into rhyme. Groups of musicians were posted here and there, who gave a passing specimen of the tappas[9] of Mewar; and not a few of the fair, with brazen ewers of water on their heads, welcomed us with the suhelia, or songs of joy. Into each of these vessels the purse-bearer dropped a piece of silver; for neither the songs of the suhelia, the tappas of the minstrel, nor encomiastic stave of the bard, are to be received without some acknowledgement that you appreciate their merit and talents, however you may doubt the value they put upon your own. As we ascended the main street leading to the Tripolia, or triple portal, which guards the sacred enclosure, dense masses of people obstructed our progress, and even the walls of the temple of Jagannath were crowded. According to etiquette, we dismounted at the Porte, and proceeded on foot across the ample terrace; on which were drawn up a few elephants and horse, exercising for the Rana’s amusement.

The Palace at Udaipur.

—The palace is a most imposing pile, of a regular form, built of granite and marble, rising at least a hundred feet from the ground, and flanked with octagonal towers, crowned with cupolas. Although built at various periods, uniformity of design has been very well preserved; nor is there in the East a more striking or majestic structure. It stands upon the very crest of a ridge running parallel to, but considerably elevated above, the margin of the lake. The terrace, which is at the east and chief front of the palace, extends throughout its length, and is supported by a triple row of arches from the declivity of the ridge. The height of this arcaded wall is fully fifty feet; and although all is hollow beneath, yet so admirably is it constructed, that an entire range of stables is built on the extreme verge of the terrace, on which the whole personal force of the Rana, elephants, horse, and foot, are often assembled. From this terrace the city and the valley lay before the spectator, whose vision is bounded only by the [475] hills shutting out the plains; while from the summit of the palace nothing obstructs its range over lake and mountain.

A band of Sindis guarded the first entrance to the palace; and being Saturday, the Saktawats were on duty in the great hall of assembly. Through lines of Rajputs we proceeded till we came to the marble staircase, the steps of which had taken the form of the segment of an ellipse, from the constant friction of the foot; an image of Ganesha guarded the ascent to the interior of the palace, and the apartment, or landing, is called Ganesha deori, from the Rajput Janus. After proceeding through a suite of saloons, each filled with spectators, the herald’s voice announced to ‘the lord of the world’ that the English envoy was in his presence; on which he arose, and advanced a few paces in front of the throne, the chieftains standing to receive the mission. Everything being ruled by precedent, the seat allotted for the envoy was immediately in front and touching the royal cushion (gaddi): being that assigned to the Peshwa in the height of Mahratta prosperity, the arrangement, which was a subject of regular negotiation, could not be objected to. The apartment chosen for the initiatory visit was the Surya mahall, or ‘hall of the sun,’ so called from a medallion of the orb in basso-rilievo which decorates the wall. Close thereto is placed the Rana’s throne, above which, supported by slender silver columns, rises a velvet canopy. The Gaddi, or throne, in the East is but a huge cushion, over which is thrown an embroidered velvet mantle. The chiefs of the higher grade, or ‘the Sixteen,’ were seated, according to their rank, on the right and left of the Rana; next and below these were the princes Amra and Javan Singh; and at right angles (by which the court formed three sides of a square), the chiefs of the second rank. The civil officers of the State were near the Rana in front, and the seneschal, butler, keeper of the wardrobe, and other confidential officers and inferior chieftains, formed a group standing on the extreme edge of the carpet.

The Rana’s congratulations were hearty and sincere: in a few powerful expressions he depicted the miseries he had experienced, the fallen condition of his State, and the gratitude he felt to the British Government which had interposed between him and destruction; and which for the first moment of his existence allowed him to sleep in peace. There was an intense earnestness in every word he uttered, which, delivered with great fluency of speech and dignity of manner, inspired deep respect and sympathy. The Agent said that the Governor-General was no stranger to the [476] history of his illustrious family, or to his own immediate sufferings; and that it was his earnest desire to promote, by every means in his power, the Rana’s personal dignity and the prosperity of his dominions. After conversing a few minutes, the interview was closed with presents to the Agent and suite: to the former a caparisoned elephant and horse, jewelled aigrette, and pearl necklace, with shawls and brocades; and with the customary presentation of essence of rose and the pan leaf the Rana and court rising, the envoy made his salaam and retired. In a short time the Rana, attended by his second son, ministers, and a select number of the chiefs, honoured the envoy with a visit. The latter advanced beyond his residence to meet the prince, who was received with presented arms by the guard, the officers saluting, and conducted to his throne, which had been previously arranged. Conversation was now unrestrained, and questions were demanded regarding everything which appeared unusual. After sitting half an hour, the Agent presented the Rana with an elephant and two horses, caparisoned with silver and gilt ornaments and velvet embroidered housings, with twenty-one shields[10] of shawls, brocades, muslins, and jewels; to prince Amra, unable from sickness to attend his father, a horse and eleven shields; and to his brother, the second prince, Javan Singh, a horse and nine shields; to the ministers and chiefs according to rank: the whole entertainment costing about 20,000 rupees, or £2000. Amidst these ceremonials, receiving and returning visits of the Rana, his chiefs, his ministers, and men of influence and information commercial and agricultural, some weeks passed in silent observation, and in the acquisition of materials for action.[11]

Political Divisions of Mewār.

—For the better comprehension of the internal relations, past and present, of Mewar [477], a sketch is presented, showing the political divisions of the tribes and the fiscal domain, from which a better idea may be formed of Rajput feudal economy than from a chapter of dissertation. The princes of Mewar skilfully availed themselves of their natural advantages in the partition of the country. The mountain-barriers east and west were allotted to the chiefs to keep the mountaineers and foresters in subjection, whose leading passes were held by a lord-marcher, and the quotas of his quarter; and while strong forts guarded the exposed northern and southern entrances, the crown-land lay in the centre, the safest and the richest. The exterior, thus guarded by a cordon of feudal levies composed of the quotas of the greater fiefs; the minor and most numerous class of vassals, termed gol, literally ‘the mass,’ and consisting of ten thousand horse, each holding directly of the crown independent of the greater chiefs, formed its best security against both external aggression and internal commotions.

Desolation of Mewār.

—Such is a picture of the feudal economy of Mewar in the days of her renown; but so much had it been defaced through time and accident, that with difficulty could the lineaments be traced with a view to their restoration: her institutions a dead letter, the prince’s authority despised, the nobles demoralized and rebellious, internal commerce abandoned, and the peasantry destroyed by the combined operation of war, pestilence, and exile. Expression might be racked for phrases which could adequately delineate the miseries all classes had endured. It is impossible to give more than a sketch of the state of the das sahas Mewar, ‘the ten thousand townships’ which once acknowledged her princes, and of which above three thousand still exist. All that remained to them was the valley of the capital; and though Chitor and Mandalgarh were maintained by the fidelity of the Rana’s servants, their precarious revenues scarcely sufficed to maintain their garrisons. The Rana was mainly indebted to Zalim Singh of Kotah for the means of subsistence; for in the struggle for existence his chiefs thought only of themselves, of defending their own estates, or buying off their foes; while those who had succumbed took to horse, scoured the country, and plundered without distinction. Inferior clanships declared themselves independent of their superiors, who in their turn usurped the crown domain, or by bribing the necessities of their prince, obtained his patent for lands, to which, as they yielded him nothing, he became indifferent. The crown-tenants purchased of these chiefs the protection (rakhwali) which the [478] Rana could not grant, and made alienations of the crown taxes, besides private rights of the community, which were often extorted at the point of the lance. Feuds multiplied, and the name of each clan became the watchword of alarm or defiance to its neighbour: castles were assaulted, and their inmates, as at Sheogarh and Lawa, put to the sword; the Meras and Bhils descended from their hills, or emerged from their forests, and planted ambuscades for the traveller or merchant, whom they robbed or carried to their retreats, where they languished in durance till ransomed. Marriage processions were thus intercepted, and the honeymoon was passed on a cliff of the Aravalli, or in the forests on the Mahi. The Rajput, whose moral energies were blunted, scrupled not to associate and to divide the spoil with these lawless tribes, of whom it might be said, as of the children of Ishmael, “Their hands were against every man, and every man’s hand against them.” Yet notwithstanding such entire disorganization of society, external commerce was not stagnant; and in the midst of this rapine, the produce of Europe and Kashmir would pass each other in transit through Mewar, loaded it is true by a multiplicity of exactions, but guarded by those who scorned all law but the point of honour, which they were paid for preserving.

The Condition of Udaipur.

—The capital will serve as a specimen of the country. Udaipur, which formerly reckoned fifty thousand houses within the walls, had not now three thousand occupied, the rest were in ruin, the rafters being taken for firewood. The realization of the spring harvest of 1818, from the entire fiscal land, was about £4000! Grain sold for seven sers the rupee, though thrice the quantity was procurable within the distance of eighty miles. Insurance from the capital to Nathdwara (twenty-five miles) was eight per cent. The Kotharia chief, whose ancestors are immortalized for fidelity, had not a horse to conduct him to his prince’s presence, though his estates were of fifty thousand rupees annual value. All were in ruins; and the Rana, the descendant of those patriot Rajputs who opposed Babur, Akbar, and Aurangzeb, in the days of Mogul splendour, had not fifty horse to attend him, and was indebted for all the comforts he possessed to the liberality of Kotah.

Reorganization of the State.

—Such was the chaos from which order was to be evoked. But the elements of prosperity, though scattered, were not extinct; and recollections of the past, deeply engraved in the national mind, became available to reanimate their moral and physical existence. To call these forth demanded only the exertion of moral [479] interference, and every other was rejected. The lawless freebooter, and even the savage Bhil, felt awed at the agency of a power never seen. To him moral opinion (compared with which the strength of armies is nought) was inexplicable, and he substituted in its stead another invisible power—that of magic: and the belief was current throughout the intricate region of the West, that a single individual could carry an army in his pocket, and that our power could animate slips of paper cut into the figures of armed men, from which no precaution could guard their retreats. Accordingly, at the mere name of the British power, rapine ceased, and the inhabitants of the wilds of the West, the ‘forest lords,’ who had hitherto laughed at subjection, to the number of seven hundred villages, put each the sign of the dagger to a treaty, promising abstinence from plunder and a return to industrious life—a single individual of no rank the negotiator. Moreover, the treaty was religiously kept for twelve months; when the peace was broken, not by them, but against them.

To the Rajput, the moral spectacle of a Peshwa marched into exile with all the quietude of a pilgrimage, effected more than twenty thousand bayonets, and no other auxiliary was required than the judicious use of the impressions from this and other passing events, to relay the foundations of order and prosperity—by never doubting the issue, success was insured. The British force, therefore, after the reduction of the plans enumerated, was marched to cantonments; the rest was left for time and reason to accomplish.

Form of Civil Government.

—Before proceeding further, it may be convenient to sketch the form of civil government in Mewar, and the characters of its most conspicuous members: the former we shall describe as it was when the machine was in regular action; it will be found simple, and perfectly suited to its object.

There are four grand officers of the government:

1. The Pardhan, or prime minister.

2. Bakhshi, commander of the forces.

3. Suratnama, keeper of the records.

4. Sahai, keeper of the signet.[12]

The first, the Pardhan, or civil premier, must be of the non-militant tribe. The whole of the territorial and financial arrangements are vested in him. He [480] nominates the civil governors of districts, and the collectors of the revenue and custom; and has fourteen thuas, or departments, under him, which embrace all that relates to expenditure.

2. The Bakhshi must also be of a non-militant tribe, and one different from the Pardhan. His duties are mixed civil and military. He takes the musters, and pays mercenaries, or rations, to the feudal tenants when on extra service, and he appoints a deputy to accompany all expeditions, or to head frontier-posts, with the title of Faujdar, or commander. The royal insignia, the standard, and kettle-drums accompany him, and the highest nobles assemble under the general control of this civil officer, never under one of their own body. From the Bakhshi’s bureau all patents are issued, as also all letters of sequestration of feudal land.

The Bakhshi has four secretaries:

1. Draws out deeds.

2. Accountant.

3. Recorder of all patents or grants.

4. Keeps duplicates.

3. The Suratnama[13] is the auditor and recorder of all the household expenditure and establishments, which are paid by his cheques. He has four assistants also, who make a daily report, and give a daily balance of accounts.

4. The Sahai. He is secretary both for home and foreign correspondence. He draws out the royal grants or patents of estates, and superintends the deeds of grant on copper-plate to religious establishments. Since the privilege appertaining to Salumbar, of confirming all royal grants with his signet the lance, has fallen into desuetude, the Sahai executes this military autograph.[14]

To all decrees, from the daily stipend to the patta, or patent of an estate, each minister must append his seal, so that there is a complete system of check. Besides these, the higher officers of government, there are thirty-six karkhanas, or inferior officers, appointed directly by the Rana, the most conspicuous of which are the justiciary,[15] the keepers of the register-office, of the mint, of the armoury, of the regalia, of the jewels, of the wardrobe, of the stables, of the kitchen, of the band, of the seneschalsy, and of the seraglio.

There was no want of aspirants to office, here hereditary; but it was vain to look [481] amongst the descendants of the virtuous Pancholi, or the severe Amrachand, and the prediction of the former, “Dust will cover the head of Mewar when virtue wanders in rags,” was strictly fulfilled. There appeared no talent, no influence, no honesty; yet the deficiency was calculated to excite sorrow rather than surprise; to stimulate exertion on their behalf, rather than damp the hope of improvement; though all scope for action, save in the field of intrigue, was lost, and talent was dormant for want of exercise.

Incapacity of the Rāna.

—The Rana’s character was little calculated to supply his minister’s deficiencies. Though perfectly versed in the past history of his country, its resources, and their management; though able, wise, and amiable, his talents were nullified by numerous weak points. Vain shows, frivolous amusements, and an ill-regulated liberality alone occupied him; and so long as he could gratify these propensities, he trusted complacently to the exertions of others for the restoration of order and his proper authority. He had little steadiness of purpose, and was particularly obnoxious to female influence. It is scarcely to be wondered that he coveted repose, and was little desirous to disturb the only moment his existence had presented of enjoying it, by inviting the turmoils of business. No man, however, was more capable of advising: his judgment was good, but he seldom followed its dictates; in short, he was an adept in theory, and a novice in practice. The only man about the court at once of integrity and efficiency was Kishandas, who had long acted as ambassador, and to whose assiduity the sovereign and the country owed much; but his services were soon cut off by death.

Such were the materials with which the work of reform commenced. The aim was to bring back matters to a correspondence with an era of their history, when the rights of the prince, the vassal, and the cultivator, were alike well defined—that of Amra Singh.

Relations of the Rāna with his Nobles.

—The first point to effect was the recognition of the prince’s authority by his nobles; the surest sign of which was their presence at the capital, where some had never been, and others only when it suited their convenience or their views. In a few weeks the Rana saw himself surrounded by a court such as had not been known for half a century. It created no small curiosity to learn by what secret power they were brought into each other’s presence. Even the lawless Hamira, who but a short while before had plundered the marriage dower of the Hari queen [482] coming from Kotah, and the chief of the Sangawat clan, who had sworn “he might bend his head to woman, but never to his sovereign,” left their castles of Badesar and Deogarh, and “placing the royal rescript on their heads,” hastened to his presence; and in a few weeks the whole feudal association of Mewar was embodied in the capital.

Return of the Exiles.

—To recall the exiled population was a measure simultaneous with the assembling of the nobles; but this was a work requiring time: they had formed ties, and incurred obligations to the societies which had sheltered them, which could not at once be disengaged or annulled. But wherever a subject of Mewar existed, proclamations penetrated, and satisfactory assurances were obtained, and realized to an extent which belied in the strongest manner the assertion that patriotism is unknown to the natives of Hindustan. The most enthusiastic and cheering proofs were afforded that neither oppression from without, nor tyranny within, could expel the feeling for the bapota, the land of their fathers. Even now, though time has chastened the impressions, we should fear to pen but a tithe of the proofs of devotion of the husbandman of Mewar to the solum natale: it would be deemed romance by those who never contemplated humanity in its reflux from misery and despair to the ‘sweet influences’ of hope; he alone who had witnessed the day of trouble, and beheld the progress of desolation—the standing corn grazed by Mahratta horse—the rifled towns devoted to the flames—the cattle driven to the camp, and the chief men seized as hostages for money never to be realized—could appreciate their deliverance. To be permitted to see these evils banished, to behold the survivors of oppression congregated from the most distant provinces, many of them strangers to each other, and the aged and the helpless awaiting the lucky day to take possession of their ruined abodes, was a sight which memory will not part with. Thus on the 3rd of Sawan (July),[16] a favourite day with the husbandman, three hundred of all conditions, with their waggons and implements of labour, and preceded by banners and music, marched into Kapasan;[17] and Ganesha was once again invoked as they reconsecrated their dwellings, and placed his portrait as the Janus of the portals. On the same day, and within eight months subsequent to the signature of the treaty, above three hundred towns and villages were simultaneously reinhabited; and the land, which for many years had been a stranger to the plough-share, was broken up. Well might [483] the superstitious fancy that miracles were abroad; for even to those who beheld the work in progression it had a magical result, to see the waste covered with habitations, and the verdant corn growing in the fields where lately they had roused the boar from his retreat! It was a day of pride for Britain! By such exertions of her power in these distant lands her sway is hallowed. By Britain alone can this fair picture be defaced; the tranquillity and independence she has conferred, by her alone may be disturbed!

Attraction of Capital.

—To these important preliminary measures, the assembly of the nobles and recall of the population, was added a third, without which the former would have been nugatory. There was no wealth, no capital, to aid their patriotism and industry. Foreign merchants and bankers had abandoned the devoted land; and those who belonged to it partook of her poverty and her shame. Money was scarce, and want of faith and credit had increased the usury on loans to a ruinous extent. The Rana borrowed at thirty-six per cent; besides twenty-five to forty per cent discount for his barats, or patents empowering collection on the land; a system pursued for some time even after his restoration to authority. His profusion exceeded even the rapidity of renovation; and the husbandman had scarcely broken up his long-waste fields, when a call was made by the harpies of the State for an advance on their produce, while he himself had been compelled to borrow at a like ruinous rate for seed and the means of support, to be paid by expectations. To have hoped for the revival of prosperity amidst such destitution, moral and pecuniary, would have been visionary. It was as necessary to improve the one as to find the other; for poverty and virtue do not long associate, and certainly not in Mewar. Proclamations were therefore prepared by the Rana, inviting foreign merchants and bankers to establish connexions in the chief towns throughout the country; but as in the days of demoralization little faith was placed in the words of princes, similar ones were prepared by the Agent, guaranteeing the stipulations, and both were distributed to every commercial city in India. The result was as had been foreseen: branch banks were everywhere formed, and mercantile agents fixed in every town in the country, whose operations were only limited by the slow growth of moral improvement. The shackles which bound external commerce were at once removed, and the multifarious posts for the collections of transit duties abolished; in lieu of which chain of stations, all levies on goods in transit were confined to the frontiers. The scale of duties [484] was revised; and by the abolition of intermediate posts, they underwent a reduction of from thirty to fifty per cent. By this system, which could not for some time be comprehended, the transit and custom duties of Mewar made the most certain part of the revenue, and in a few years exceeded in amount what had ever been known.

Trade at Bhīlwāra.

—The chief commercial mart, Bhilwara, which showed not a vestige of humanity, rapidly rose from ruin, and in a few months contained twelve hundred houses, half of which were occupied by foreign merchants. Bales of goods, the produce of the most distant lands, were piled up in the streets lately overgrown with grass, and a weekly fair was established for the home manufactures. A charter of privileges and immunities was issued, exempting them from all taxation for the first year, and graduating the scale for the future; calculated with the same regard to improvement, by giving the mind the full range of enjoying the reward of its exertions. The right of electing their own chief magistrates and the assessors of justice, was above all things indispensable, so as to render them as independent as possible of the needy servants of the court. A guard was provided by the government for their protection, and a competent authority nominated to see that the full extent of their privileges, and the utmost freedom of action, were religiously maintained. The entire success of this plan may at once be recorded to prevent repetition. In 1822, Bhilwara contained nearly three thousand dwellings, which were chiefly inhabited by merchants, bankers, or artisans. An entire new street had been constructed in the centre of the town, from the duties levied, and the shops and houses were rented at a moderate rate; while many were given up to the proprietors of their sites, returning from exile, on their paying the price of construction. But as there is no happiness without alloy, so even this pleasing picture had its dark shades to chasten the too sanguine expectation of imparting happiness to all. Instead of a generous emulation, a jealous competition checked the prosperity of Bhilwara: the base spirit of exclusive monopoly desired a distinction between the native and the stranger-merchant, for which they had a precedent in the latter paying an addition to the town-duty of metage (mapa). The unreasonableness of this was discussed, and it was shown to be more consonant to justice that he who came from Jaisalmer, Surat, Benares, or Delhi, should pay less than the merchant whose domicile was on the spot. When at length the parties acquiesced in this opinion, and were intreated and promised to know [485] none other distinction than that of ‘inhabitant of Bhilwara,’ sectarian differences, which there was less hope of reconciling, became the cause of disunion. All the Hindu merchants belong either to the Vaishnava or Jain sects; consequently each had a representative head, and ‘the Five’ for the adjudication of their internal arrangements; and these, the wise men of both parties, formed the general council for the affairs of Bhilwara. But they carried their religious differences to the judgement-seat, where each desired pre-eminence. Whether the point in dispute hinged on the interpretation of law, which with all these sects is of divine origin, or whether the mammon of unrighteousness was the lurking cause of their bickerings, they assuredly did much harm, for their appeals brought into play what of all things was least desired, the intrigues of the profligate dependents of the court. It will be seen hereafter,[18] in visits to Bhilwara, how these disputes were in some degree calmed. The leaders on both sides were distinctly given to understand they would be made to leave the place. Self-interest prevented this extremity; but from the withdrawing of that active interference (which the state of the alliance did not indeed warrant, but which humanity interposed for their benefit) together with the effect of appeals to the court, it is to be apprehended that Bhilwara may fail to become what it was intended to be, the chief commercial mart of Central India.[19]

Reform of the Nobility.

—Of the three measures simultaneously projected and pursued for the restoration of prosperity, the industrious portion has been described. The feudal interest remains, which was found the most difficult to arrange. The agricultural and commercial classes required only protection and stimulus, and we could repay the benefits their industry conferred by the lowest scale of taxation, which, though in fact equally beneficial to the government, was constructed as a boon. But with the feudal lords there was no such equivalent to offer in return for the sacrifices many had to make for the re-establishment of society. Those who were well inclined, like Kotharia, had everything to gain, and nothing left to surrender; while those who, like Deogarh, Salumbar, or Badnor, had preserved their power by foreign aid, intrigue, or prowess, dreaded the high price they might be called upon to pay [486] for the benefit of security which the new alliance conferred. All dreaded the word ‘restitution,’ and the audit of half a century’s political accounts; yet the adjustment of these was the corner-stone of the edifice, which anarchy and oppression had dismantled. Feuds were to be appeased, a difficult and hazardous task; and usurpations, both on the crown and each other, to be redeemed. ‘To bring the wolf and the goat to drink from the same vessel,’ was a task of less difficulty than to make the Chondawat and Saktawat labour in concert for the welfare of the prince and the country. In fine, a better idea cannot be afforded of what was deemed the hopelessness of success than the opinion of Zorawar Singh, the chief of the latter clan, who had much to relinquish: “Were Parameswara (the Almighty) to descend, he could not reform Mewar.” We judged better of them than they did of each other.

Negotiations with the Chiefs.

—It were superfluous to detail all the preparatory measures for the accomplishment of this grand object; the meetings and adjournments, which only served to keep alive discontent. On the 27th of April, the treaty with the British Government was read, and the consequent change in their relations explained. Meanwhile, a charter, defining the respective rights of the crown and of the chiefs, with their duties to the community, was prepared, and a day named for a general assembly of the chieftains to sanction and ratify this engagement. The 1st of May was fixed: the chiefs assembled; the articles, ten in number, were read and warmly discussed; when with unmeaning expressions of duty, and objections to the least prominent, they obtained through their speaker, Gokuldas of Deogarh, permission to reassemble at his house to consider them, and broke up with the promise to attend next day. The delay, as apprehended, only generated opposition, and the 2nd and 3rd passed in inter-communications of individual hope and fear. It was important to put an end to speculation. At noon, on the 4th of May, the grand hall was again filled, when the Rana, with his sons and ministers, took their seats. Once more the articles were read, objections raised and combated, and midnight had arrived without the object of the meeting being advanced, when an adjournment, proposed by Gokuldas, till the arrival of the Rana’s plenipotentiary from Delhi, met with a firm denial; and the Rana gave him liberty to retire, if he refused his testimony of loyalty. The Begun chief, who had much to gain, at length set the example, followed by the chiefs of Amet and Deogarh, and in succession by all the sixteen nobles, who also signed as the proxies of their [487] relatives, unable from sickness to attend. The most powerful of the second grade also signed for themselves and the absent of their clans, each, as he gave in his adhesion, retiring; and it was three in the morning of the 5th of May ere the ceremony was over. The chief of the Saktawats, determined to be conspicuous, was the last of his own class to sign. During this lengthened and painful discussion of fifteen hours’ continuance, the Rana conducted himself with such judgment and firmness, as to give sanguine hopes of his taking the lead in the settlement of his affairs.

Enforcement of the Treaty.

—This preliminary adjusted, it was important that the stipulations of the treaty[20] should be rigidly if not rapidly effected. It will not be a matter of surprise, that some months passed away before the complicated arrangements arising out of this settlement were completed; but it may afford just grounds for gratulation, that they were finally accomplished without a shot being fired, or the exhibition of a single British soldier in the country, nor, indeed, within one hundred miles of Udaipur. ‘Opinion’ was the sole and all-sufficient ally effecting this political reform. The Rajputs, in fact, did not require the demonstration of our physical strength; its influence had reached far beyond Mewar. When the few firelocks defeated hundreds of the foes of public tranquillity, they attributed it to ‘the strength of the Company’s salt,’[21] the moral agency of which was proclaimed the true basis of our power. ‘Sachha Raj’ was the proud epithet applied by our new allies to the British Government in the East; a title which distinguished the immortal Alfred, ‘the upright.’

It will readily be imagined that a reform, which went to touch the entire feudal association, could not be accomplished without harassing and painful discussions [488], when the object was the renunciation of lands, to which in some cases the right of inheritance could be pleaded, in others, the cognisance of successful revenge, while to many prescriptive possession could be asserted. It was the more painful, because although the shades which marked the acquisition of such lands were varied, no distinction could be made in the mode of settlement, namely, unconditional surrender. In some cases, the Rana had to revoke his own grants, wrung either from his necessities or his weakness; but in neither predicament could arguments be adduced to soften renunciation, or to meet the powerful and pathetic and often angry appeals to justice or to prejudice. Counter-appeals to their loyalty, and the necessity for the re-establishment of their sovereign’s just weight and influence in the social body, without which their own welfare could not be secured, were adduced; but individual views and passions were too absorbing to bend to the general interest. Weeks thus passed in interchange of visits, in soothing pride, and in flattering vanity by the revival of past recollections, which gradually familiarized the subject to the mind of the chiefs, and brought them to compliance. Time, conciliation, and impartial justice, confirmed the victory thus obtained; and when they were made to see that no interest was overlooked, that party views were unknown, and that the system included every class of society in its beneficial operation, cordiality followed concession. Some of these cessions were alienations from the crown of half a century’s duration. Individual cases of hardship were unavoidable without incurring the imputation of favouritism, and the dreaded revival of ancient feuds, to abolish which was indispensable, but required much circumspection. Castles and lands in this predicament could therefore neither be retained by the possessor nor returned to the ancient proprietor without rekindling the torch of civil war. The sole alternative was for the crown to take the object of contention, and make compensation from its own domain. It would be alike tedious and uninteresting to enter into the details of these arrangements, where one chief had to relinquish the levy of transit duties in the most important outlet of the country, asserted to have been held during seven generations, as in the case of the chief of Deogarh. Of another (the Bhindar chief) who held forty-three towns and villages, in addition to his grant; of Amet, of Badesar, of Dabla, of Lawa, and many others who held important fortresses of the crown independent of its will; and other claims, embracing every right [489] and privilege appertaining to feudal society; suffice it, that in six months the whole arrangements were effected.

The Case of Arja.

—In the painful and protracted discussions attendant on these arrangements, powerful traits of national character were developed. The castle and domain of Arja half a century ago belonged to the crown, but had been usurped by the Purawats, from whom it was wrested by storm about fifteen years back by the Saktawats, and a patent sanctioning possession was obtained, on the payment of a fine of £1000 to the Rana. Its surrender was now required from Fateh Singh, the second brother of Bhindar, the head of this clan; but being regarded as the victorious completion of a feud, it was not easy to silence their prejudices and objections. The renunciation of the forty-three towns and villages by the chief of the clan caused not half the excitation, and every Saktawat seemed to forgo his individual losses in the common sentiment expressed by their head: “Arja is the price of blood, and with its cession our honour is surrendered.” To preserve the point of honour, it was stipulated that it should not revert to the Purawats, but be incorporated with the fisc, which granted an equivalent; when letters of surrender were signed by both brothers, whose conduct throughout was manly and confiding.

Badnor and Amet.

—The Badnor and Amet chiefs, both of the superior grade of nobles, were the most formidable obstacles to the operation of the treaty of the 4th of May. The first of these, by name Jeth Singh (the victorious [chief] lion), was of the Mertia clan, the bravest of the brave race of Rathor, whose ancestors had left their native abodes on the plains of Marwar, and accompanied the celebrated Mira Bai on her marriage with Rana Kumbha. His descendants, amongst whom was Jaimall, of immortal memory, enjoyed honour in Mewar equal to their birth and high deserts. It was the more difficult to treat with men like these, whose conduct had been a contrast to the general license of the times, and who had reason to feel offended, when no distinction was observed between them and those who had disgraced the name of Rajput. Instead of the submission expected from the Rathor, so overwhelmed was he from the magnitude of the claims, which amounted to a virtual extinction of his power, that he begged leave to resign his estates and quit the country. In prosecution of this design, he took post in the chief hall of the palace, from which no entreaties could make him move;[22] until the Rana, to [490] escape his importunities, and even restraint, obtained his promise to abide by the decision of the Agent. The forms of the Rana’s court, from time immemorial, prohibit all personal communication between the sovereign and his chiefs in matters of individual interest, by which indecorous altercation is avoided. But the ministers, whose office it was to obtain every information, did not make a rigid scrutiny into the title-deeds of the various estates previous to advancing the claims of the crown. This brave man had enemies, and he was too proud to have recourse to the common arts either of adulation or bribery to aid his cause. It was a satisfaction to find that the two principal towns demanded of him were embodied in a grant of Sangram Singh’s reign; and the absolute rights of the fisc, of which he had become possessed, were cut down to about fifteen thousand rupees of annual revenue. But there were other points on which he was even more tenacious than the surrender of these. Being the chief noble of the fine district of Badnor, which consisted of three hundred and sixty towns and villages, chiefly of feudal allotments (many of them of his own clan), he had taken advantage of the times to establish his influence over them, to assume the right of wardship of minors, and secure those services which were due to the prince, but which he wanted the power to enforce. The holders of these estates were of the third class of vassals or gol (the mass), whose services it was important to reclaim, and who constituted in past times the most efficient force of the Ranas, and were the preponderating balance of their authority when mercenaries were unknown in these patriarchal states. Abundant means towards a just investigation had been previously procured; and after some discussion, in which all admissible claims were recognized, and argument was silenced by incontrovertible facts, this chieftain relinquished all that was demanded, and sent in, as from himself, his written renunciation to his sovereign. However convincing the data by which his proper rights and those of his prince were defined, it was to feeling and prejudice that we were mainly indebted for so satisfactory an adjustment. An appeal to the name of Jaimall, who fell defending Chitor against Akbar,[23] and the contrast of his ancestor’s loyalty and devotion with his own contumacy, acted as a talisman, and wrung tears from his eyes and the deed from his hand. It will afford some idea of the difficulties encountered, as well as the invidiousness of the task of arbitrating such matters, to give his own comment verbatim: "I remained faithful when his own kin deserted him, and was [491] one of four chiefs who alone of all Mewar fought for him in the rebellion; but the son of Jaimall is forgotten, while the ‘plunderer’ is his boon companion, and though of inferior rank, receives an estate which elevates him above me"; alluding to the chief of Badesar, who plundered the queen’s dower. But while the brave descendant of Jaimall returned to Badnor with the marks of his sovereign’s favour, and the applause of those he esteemed, the ‘runner’ went back to Badesar in disgrace, to which his prince’s injudicious favour further contributed.

Hamīra of Badesar.

—Hamira of Badesar was of the second class of nobles, a Chondawat by birth. He succeeded to his father Sardar Singh, the assassin of the prime minister even in the palace of his sovereign;[24] into whose presence he had the audacity to pursue the surviving brother, destined to avenge him.[25] Hamira inherited all the turbulence and disaffection, with the estates, of his father; and this most conspicuous of the many lawless chieftains of the times was known throughout Rajasthan as Hamira ‘the runner’ (daurayat). Though not entitled to hold lands beyond thirty thousand annually, he had become possessed to the amount of eighty thousand, chiefly of the fisc or khalisa, and nearly all obtained by violence, though since confirmed by the prince’s patent. With the chieftain of Lawa (precisely in the same predicament), who held the fortress of Kheroda and other valuable lands, Hamira resided entirely at the palace, and obtaining the Rana’s ear by professions of obedience, kept possession, while chiefs in every respect his superiors had been compelled to surrender; and when at length the Saktawat of Lawa was forbid the court until Kheroda and all his usurpations were yielded up, the son of Sardar displayed his usual turbulence, ‘curled his moustache’ at the minister, and hinted at the fate of his predecessor. Although none dared to imitate him, his stubbornness was not without admirers, especially among his own clan; and as it was too evident that fear or favour swayed the Rana, it was a case for the Agent’s interference, the opportunity for which was soon afforded. When [492] forced to give letters of surrender, the Rana’s functionaries, who went to take possession, were insulted, refused admittance, and compelled to return. Not a moment could be lost in punishing this contempt of authority; and as the Rana was holding a court when the report arrived, the Agent requested an audience. He found the Rana and his chiefs assembled in ‘the balcony of the sun,’ and amongst them the notorious Hamira. After the usual compliments, the Agent asked the minister if his master had been put in possession of Syana. It was evident from the general constraint, that all were acquainted with the result of the deputation; but to remove responsibility from the minister, the Agent, addressing the Rana as if he were in ignorance of the insult, related the transaction, and observed that his government would hold him culpable if he remained at Udaipur while his highness’s commands were disregarded. Thus supported, the Rana resumed his dignity, and in forcible language signified to all present his anxious desire to do nothing which was harsh or ungracious; but that, thus compelled, he would not recede from what became him as their sovereign. Calling for a bira, he looked sternly at Hamira, and commanded him to quit his presence instantly, and the capital in an hour; and, but for the Agent’s interposition, he would have been banished the country. Confiscation of his whole estate was commanded, until renunciation was completed. He departed that night; and, contrary to expectation, not only were all the usurpations surrendered, but, what was scarcely contemplated by the Agent, the Rana’s flag of sequestration was quietly admitted into the fortress of Badesar.[26]

The Case of Āmli.

—One more anecdote may suffice. The lands and fortress of Amli had been in the family of Amet since the year 27, only five years posterior to the date to which these arrangements extended; their possession verged on half a century. The lords of Amet were of the Sixteen, and were chiefs of the clan Jagawat. The present representative enjoyed a fair character: he could, with the chief of Badnor, claim the succession of the loyal; for Partap and Jaimall, their respective ancestors, were rivals and martyrs on that memorable day when the genius of Chitor abandoned the Sesodias. But the heir of Amet had not this alone [493] to support his claims; for his predecessor Partap had lost his life in defending his country against the Mahrattas, and Amli had been his acquisition. Fateh Singh (such was his name) was put forward by the more artful of his immediate kin, the Chondawat interest; but his disposition, blunt and impetuous, was little calculated to promote their views: he was an honest Rajput, who neither could nor cared to conceal his anger, and at a ceremonious visit paid him by the Agent, he had hardly sufficient control over himself to be courteous, and though he said nothing, his eyes, inflamed with opium and disdain, spoke his feelings. He maintained a dogged indifference, and was inaccessible to argument, till at length, following the example of Badnor, he was induced to abide by the Agent’s mediation. He came attended by his vassals, who anxiously awaited the result, which an unpremeditated incident facilitated. After a long and fruitless expostulation, he had taken refuge in an obstinate silence; and seated in a chair opposite to the envoy, with his shield in front, placed perpendicularly on his knees, and his arms and head reclined thereon, he continued vacantly looking on the ground. To interrupt this uncourteous silence in his own house, the envoy took a picture, which with several others was at hand, and placing it before him, remarked, "That chief did not gain his reputation for swamidharma[27] (loyalty) by conduct such as yours." His eyes suddenly recovered their animation and his countenance was lighted with a smile, as he rapidly uttered, “How did you come by this—why does this interest you?” A tear started in his eye as he added, "This is my father!"—“Yes,” said the Agent, "it is the loyal Partap on the day he went forth to meet his death; but his name yet lives, and a stranger does homage to his fame."—“Take Amli, take Amli,” he hurriedly repeated, with a suppressed tone of exultation and sorrow, “but forget not the extent of the sacrifice.” To prolong the visit would have been painful to both, but as it might have been trusting too much to humanity to delay the resumption, the Agent availed himself of the moment to indite the chhorchitthi[28] of surrender for the lands.

With these instances, characteristic of individuals and the times, this sketch of the introductory measures for improving the condition of Mewar may be closed. To enter more largely in detail is foreign to the purpose of the work; nor is it requisite for the comprehension of the unity of the object, that a more minute dissection of the parts should be afforded. Before, however, we exhibit the [494] general results of these arrangements, we shall revert to the condition of the more humble, but a most important part of the community, the peasantry of Mewar; and embody, in a few remarks, the fruits of observation or inquiry, as to their past and present state, their rights, the establishment of them, their infringement, and restitution. On this subject much has been necessarily introduced in the sketch of the feudal system, where landed tenures were discussed; but it is one on which such a contrariety of opinion exists, that it may be desirable to show the exact state of landed tenures in a country, where Hindu manners should exist in greater purity than in any other part of the vast continent of India.

FACSIMILE OF NATIVE DRAWING OF PARTĀB SINGH AND RĀĒMALL.
To face page 572.

The Landed System.

—The ryot (cultivator) is the proprietor of the soil in Mewar. He compares his right therein to the akshay duba,[29] which no vicissitudes can destroy. He calls the land his bapota, the most emphatic, the most ancient, the most cherished, and the most significant phrase his language commands for patrimonial[30] inheritance. He has nature and Manu in support of his claim, and can quote the text, alike compulsory on prince and peasant, “cultivated land is the property of him who cut away the wood, or who cleared and tilled it,”[31] an ordinance binding on the whole Hindu race, and which no international wars, or conquest, could overturn. In accordance with this principle is the ancient adage, not of Mewar only but all Rajputana, Bhog ra dhanni Raj ho: bhum ra dhanni ma cho: ‘the government is owner of the rent, but I am the master of the land.’ With the toleration and benevolence of the race the conqueror is commanded “to respect the deities adored by the conquered, also their virtuous priests, and to establish the laws of the conquered nation as declared in their books.”[32] If it were deemed desirable to recede to the system of pure Hindu agrarian law, there is no deficiency of materials. The customary laws contained in the various reports of able men, superadded to the general ordinances of Manu, would form a code at once simple and efficient: for though innovation from foreign conquest has placed many principles in abeyance, and modified others, yet he has observed to little purpose [495] who does not trace a uniformity of design, which at one time had ramified wherever the name of Hindu prevailed: language has been modified, and terms have been corrupted or changed, but the primary pervading principle is yet perceptible; and whether we examine the systems of Khandesh, the Carnatic, or Rajasthan, we shall discover the elements to be the same.

If we consider the system from the period described by Arrian, Curtius, and Diodorus, we shall see in the government of townships each commune an ‘imperium in imperio’; a little republic, maintaining its municipal legislation independent of the monarchy, on which it relies for general support, and to which it pays the bhog, or tax in kind, as the price of this protection; for though the prescribed duties of kings are as well defined by Manu[33] as by any jurisconsult in Europe, nothing can be more lax than the mutual relations of the governed and governing in Hindu monarchies, which are resolved into unbounded liberty of action. To the artificial regulation of society, which leaves all who depend on manual exertion to an immutable degradation, must be ascribed these multitudinous governments, unknown to the rest of mankind, which, in spite of such dislocation, maintain the bonds of mutual sympathies. Strictly speaking, every State presents the picture of so many hundred or thousand minute republics, without any connexion with each other, giving allegiance (an) and rent (bhog) to a prince, who neither legislates for them, nor even forms a police for their internal protection. It is consequent on this want of paramount interference that, in matters of police, of justice, and of law, the communes act for themselves; and from this want of paternal interference only have arisen those courts of equity, or arbitration, the panchayats.

But to return to the freehold ryot of Mewar, whose bapota is the watan and the miras of the peninsula—words of foreign growth, introduced by the Muhammadan conquerors; the first (Persian) is of more general use in Khandesh; the other (Arabic) in the Carnatic. Thus the great Persian moralist Saadi exemplifies its application: "If you desire to succeed to your father’s inheritance (miras), first obtain his wisdom" [496].

While the term bapota thus implies the inheritance or patrimony, its holder, if a military vassal, is called Bhumia, a term equally powerful, meaning one actually identified with the soil (bhum), and for which the Muhammadan has no equivalent but in the possessive compound watandar, or mirasdar. The Caniatchi[34] of Malabar is the Bhumia of Rajasthan.

The emperors of Delhi, in the zenith of their power, bestowed the epithet zamindar upon the Hindu tributary sovereigns: not out of disrespect, but in the true application of their own term Bhumia Raj, expressive of their tenacity to the soil; and this fact affords additional evidence of the proprietary right being in the cultivator (ryot), namely, that he alone can confer the freehold land, which gives the title of Bhumia, and of which both past history and present usage will furnish us with examples. When the tenure of land obtained from the cultivator is held more valid than the grant of the sovereign, it will be deemed a conclusive argument of the proprietary right being vested in the ryot. What should induce a chieftain, when inducted into a perpetual fief, to establish through the ryot a right to a few acres in bhum, but the knowledge that although the vicissitudes of fortune or of favour may deprive him of his aggregate signiorial rights, his claims, derived from the spontaneous favour of the commune, can never be set aside; and when he ceases to be the lord, he becomes a member of the commonwealth, merging his title of Thakur, or Signior, into the more humble one of Bhumia, the allodial tenant of the Rajput feudal system, elsewhere discussed.[35] Thus we have touched on the method by which he acquires this distinction, for protecting the community from violence; and if left destitute by the negligence or inability of the government, he is vested with the rights of the crown, in its share of the bhog or rent. But when their own land is in the predicament called galita, or reversions from lapses to the commune, he is ‘seised’ in all the rights of the former proprietor; or, by internal arrangements, they can convey such right by cession of the commune.

The Bhūmia.

—The privilege attached to the bhum,[36] and acquired from the community by the protection afforded to it, is the most powerful argument for the recognition of its original rights. The Bhumia, thus vested, may at pleasure drive his own plough [497], the right to the soil. His bhum is exempt from the jarib (measuring rod); it is never assessed, and his only sign of allegiance is a quit-rent, in most cases triennial, and the tax of kharlakar,[37] a war imposition, now commuted for money. The State, however, indirectly receives the services of these allodial tenants, the yeomen of Rajasthan, who constitute, as in the districts of Kumbhalmer and Mandalgarh, the landwehr, or local militia. In fact, since the days of universal repose set in, and the townships required no protection, an arrangement was made with the Bhumias of Mewar, in which the crown, foregoing its claim of quit-rent, has obtained their services in the garrisons and frontier stations of police at a very slight pecuniary sacrifice.

Such are the rights and privileges derived from the ryot cultivator alone. The Rana may dispossess the chiefs of Badnor, or Salumbar, of their estates, the grant of the crown—he could not touch the rights emanating from the community; and thus the descendants of a chieftain, who a few years before might have followed his sovereign at the head of one hundred cavaliers, would descend into the humble foot militia of a district. Thousands are in this predicament: the Kanawats, Lunawats, Kumbhawats, and other clans, who, like the Celt, forget not their claims of birth in the distinctions of fortune, but assert their propinquity as “brothers in the nineteenth or thirtieth degree to the prince” on the throne. So sacred was the tenure derived from the ryot, that even monarchs held lands in bhum from their subjects, for an instance of which we are indebted to the great poetic historian of the last Hindu king. Chand relates, that when his sovereign, the Chauhan, had subjugated the kingdom of Anhilwara[38] from the Solanki, he returned to the nephew of the conquered prince several districts and seaports, and all the bhum held by the family. In short, the Rajput vaunts his aristocratic distinction derived from the land; and opposes the title of ‘Bhumia Raj,’ or government of the soil, to the ‘Bania Raj,’ or commercial government, which he affixes as an epithet of contempt to Jaipur: where “wealth accumulates and men decay.”

In the great ‘register of patents’ (patta bahi) of Mewar we find a species of [498] bhum held by the greater vassals on particular crown lands; whether this originated from inability of ceding entire townships to complete the estate to the rank of the incumbent, or whether it was merely in confirmation of the grant of the commune, could not be ascertained. The benefit from this bhum is only pecuniary, and the title is ‘bhum rakhwali’[39] or land [in return for] ‘preservation.’ Strange to say, the crown itself holds ‘bhum rakhwali’ on its own fiscal demesnes consisting of small portions in each village, to the amount of ten thousand rupees in a district of thirty or forty townships. This species, however, is so incongruous that we can only state it does exist: we should vainly seek the cause for such apparent absurdity, for since society has been unhinged, the oracles are mute to much of antiquated custom.

Occupiers’ Rights in the Land.

—We shall close these remarks with some illustrative traditions and yet existing customs, to substantiate the ryot’s right in the soil of Mewar. After one of those convulsions described in the annals, the prince had gone to espouse the daughter of the Raja of Mandor, the (then) capital of Marwar. It is customary at the moment of hathleva, or the junction of hands, that any request preferred by the bridegroom to the father of the bride should meet compliance, a usage which has yielded many fatal results; and the Rana had been prompted on this occasion to demand a body of ten thousand Jat cultivators to repeople the deserted fisc of Mewar. An assent was given to the unprecedented demand, but when the inhabitants were thus despotically called on to migrate, they denied the power and refused. “Shall we,” said they, "abandon the lands of our inheritance (bapota), the property of our children, to accompany a stranger into a foreign land, there to labour for him? Kill us you may, but never shall we relinquish our inalienable rights." The Mandor prince, who had trusted to this reply, deemed himself exonerated from his promise, and secured from the loss of so many subjects: but he was deceived. The Rana held out to them the enjoyment of the proprietary rights escheated to the crown in his country, with the lands left without occupants by the sword, and to all, increase of property. When equal and absolute power was thus conferred, they no longer hesitated to exchange the arid soil of Marwar for the garden of Rajwara; and the descendants of these Jats still occupy the flats watered by the Berach and Banas [499].

In those districts which afforded protection from innovation, the proprietary right of the ryot will be found in full force; of this the populous and extensive district of Jahazpur, consisting of one hundred and six townships, affords a good specimen. There are but two pieces of land throughout the whole of this tract the property of the crown, and these were obtained by force during the occupancy of Zalim Singh of Kotah. The right thus unjustly acquired was, from the conscientiousness of the Rana’s civil governor, on the point of being annulled by sale and reversion, when the court interfered to maintain its proprietary right to the tanks of Loharia and Itaunda, and the lands which they irrigate, now the bhum of the Rana.[40] This will serve as an illustration how bhum may be acquired, and the annals of Kotah will exhibit, unhappily for the ryots of that country, the almost total annihilation of their rights, by the same summary process which originally attached Loharia to the fisc.

The power of alienation being thus proved, it would be superfluous to insist further on the proprietary right of the cultivator of the soil.

Proprietary Rights in Land.

—Besides the ability to alienate as demonstrated, all the overt symbols which mark the proprietary right in other countries are to be found in Mewar; that of entire conveyance by sale, or temporary by mortgage; and numerous instances could be adduced, especially of the latter. The fertile lands of Horla, along the banks of the Khari, are almost all mortgaged, and the registers of these transactions form two considerable volumes, in which great variety of deeds may be discovered: one extended for one hundred and one years;[41] when redemption was to follow, without regard to interest on the one hand; or the benefits from the land on the other, but merely by repayment of the sum borrowed. To maintain the interest during abeyance, it is generally stipulated that a certain portion of the harvest shall be reserved for the mortgagee—a fourth, a fifth, or gugri—a share so small as to be valued only as a mark of proprietary recognition.[42] The mortgagees were chiefly of the commercial classes of the large frontier towns; in [500] many cases the proprietor continues to cultivate for another the lands his ancestor mortgaged four or five generations ago, nor does he deem his right at all impaired. A plan had been sketched to raise money to redeem these mortgages, from whose complex operation the revenue was sure to suffer. No length of time or absence can affect the claim to the bapota, and so sacred is the right of absentees, that land will lay sterile and unproductive from the penalty which Manu denounces on all who interfere with their neighbour’s rights: “for unless there be an especial agreement between the owner of the land and the seed, the fruits belong clearly to the land-owner”; even “if seed conveyed by water or by wind should germinate, the plant belongs to the land-owner, the mere sower takes not the fruit.”[43] Even crime and the extreme sentence of the law will not alter succession to property, either to the military or cultivating vassal; and the old Kentish adage, probably introduced by the Jats from Scandinavia, who under Hengist established that kingdom of the heptarchy, namely:

The father to the bough,

And the son to the plough

is practically understood by the Jats and Bhumias[44] of Mewar, whose treason is not deemed hereditary, nor a chain of noble acts destroyed because a false link was thrown out. We speak of the military vassals—the cultivator cannot aspire to so dignified a crime as treason.

Village Officials: the Patel.

—The officers of the townships are the same as have been so often described, and are already too familiar to those interested in the subject to require illustration. From the Patel, the Cromwell of each township, to the village gossip, the ascetic Sannyasi, each deems his office, and the land he holds in virtue thereof in perpetuity, free of rent to the State, except a small triennial quit-rent,[45] and the liability, like every other branch of the State, to two war taxes.[46]

Opinions are various as to the origin and attributes of the Patel, the most important personage in village sway, whose office is by many deemed foreign to the pure Hindu system, and to which language even his title is deemed alien. But there is no doubt that both office and title are of ancient growth, and even etymological rule proves the Patel to be head (pati) of the community.[47] The office of Patel [501] of Mewar was originally elective: he was ‘primus inter pares,’ the constituted attorney or representative of the commune, and as the medium between the cultivator and the government, enjoyed benefits from both. Besides his bapota, and the serano, or one-fortieth of all produce from the ryot, he had a remission of a third or fourth of the rent from such extra lands as he might cultivate in addition to his patrimony. Such was the Patel, the link connecting the peasant with the government, ere predatory war subverted all order: but as rapine increased, so did his authority. He became the plenipotentiary of the community, the security for the contribution imposed, and often the hostage for its payment, remaining in the camp of the predatory hordes till they were paid off. He gladly undertook the liquidation of such contributions as these perpetual invaders imposed. To indemnify himself, a schedule was formed of the share of each ryot, and mortgage of land, and sequestration of personal effects followed till his avarice was satisfied. Who dared complain against a Patel, the intimate of Pathan and Mahratta commanders, his adopted patrons? He thus became the master of his fellow-citizens; and, as power corrupts all men, their tyrant instead of their mediator. It was a system necessarily involving its own decay; for a while glutted with plenty, but failing with the supply, and ending in desolation, exile, and death. Nothing was left to prey on but the despoiled carcase; yet when peace returned, and in its train the exile ryot to reclaim the bapota, the vampire Patel was resuscitated, and evinced the same ardour for supremacy, and the same cupidity which had so materially aided to convert the fertile Mewar to a desert. The Patel accordingly proved one of the chief obstacles to returning prosperity; and the attempt to reduce this corrupted middle-man to his original station in society was both difficult and hazardous, from the support they met in the corrupt officers at court, and other influences ‘behind the curtain.’ A system of renting the crown lands deemed the most expedient to advance prosperity, it was incumbent to find a remedy for this evil. The mere name of some of these petty tyrants inspired such terror as to check all desire of return to the country; but the origin of the institution of the office and its abuses being ascertained, it was imperative, though difficult, to restore the one and banish the other. The original elective right in many townships was therefore returned to the ryot, who nominated new Patels [502], his choice being confirmed by the Rana, in whose presence investiture was performed by binding a turban on the elected, for which he presented his nazar. Traces of the sale of these offices in past times were observable; and it was deemed of primary importance to avoid all such channels for corruption, in order that the ryot’s election should meet with no obstacle. That the plan was beneficial there could be no doubt; that the benefit would be permanent, depended, unfortunately, on circumstances which those most anxious had not the means to control: for it must be recollected, that although “personal aid and advice might be given when asked,” all internal interference was by treaty strictly, and most justly, prohibited.

After a few remarks on the mode of levying the crown-rents, we shall conclude the subject of village economy in Mewar, and proceed to close this too extended chapter with the results of four years of peace and the consequent improved prosperity.

Modes of Collecting Rents.

—There are two methods of levying the revenues of the crown on every description of corn—kankut and batai, for on sugar-cane, poppy, oil, hemp, tobacco, cotton, indigo, and garden stuffs, a money payment is fixed, varying from two to six rupees per bigha. The kankut[48] is a conjectural assessment of the standing crop, by the united judgement of the officers of government, the Patel, the Patwari, or registrar, and the owner of the field. The accuracy with which an accustomed eye will determine the quantity of grain on a given surface is surprising: but should the owner deem the estimate overrated, he can insist on batai, or division of the corn after it is threshed; the most ancient and only infallible mode by which the dues either of the government or the husbandman can be ascertained. In the batai system the share of the government varies from one-third to two-fifths of the spring harvest, as wheat and barley; and sometimes even half, which is the invariable proportion of the autumnal crops. In either case, kankut or batai, when the shares are appropriated, those of the crown may be commuted to a money payment at the average rate of the market. The kut is the most liable to corruption. The ryot bribes the collector, who will underrate the crop; and when he betrays his duty, the shahnah, or watchman, is not likely to be honest: and as the makai, or Indian corn, the grand autumnal crop of Mewar, is eaten green, the crown may be defrauded of half its dues. The system is one of uncertainty, from which eventually the ryot derives no advantage, though it [503] fosters the cupidity of patels and collectors; but there was a barar, or tax, introduced to make up for this deficiency, which was in proportion to the quantity cultivated, and its amount at the mercy of the officers. Thus the ryot went to work with a mill-stone round his neck; instead of the exhilarating reflection that every hour’s additional labour was his own, he saw merely the advantage of these harpies, and contented himself with raising a scanty subsistence in a slovenly and indolent manner, by which he forfeited the ancient reputation of the Jat cultivator of Mewar.

Improvement in the Condition of the People.

—Notwithstanding these and various other drawbacks to the prosperity of the country, in an impoverished court, avaricious and corrupt officers, discontented Patels, and bad seasons, yet the final report in May 1822 could not but be gratifying when contrasted with that of February 1818. In order to ascertain the progressive improvement, a census had been made at the end of 1821, of the three central fiscal districts[49] watered by the Berach and Banas. As a specimen of the whole, we may take the tappa or subdivision of Sahara. Of its twenty-seven villages, six were inhabited in 1818, the number of families being three hundred and sixty-nine, three-fourths of whom belonged to the resumed town of Amli. In 1821 nine hundred and twenty-six families were reported, and every village of the twenty-seven was occupied, so that population had almost trebled. The number of ploughs was more than trebled, and cultivation quadrupled; and though this, from the causes described, was not above one-third of what real industry might have effected, the contrast was abundantly cheering. The same ratio of prosperity applied to the entire crown demesne of Mewar. By the recovery of Kumbhalmer, Raepur, Rajnagar, and Sadri-Kanera from the Mahrattas; of Jahazpur from Kotah; of the usurpations of the nobles; together with the resumption of all the estates of the females of his family, a task at once difficult and delicate;[50] and by the subjugation of the mountain districts of Merwara, a thousand towns and villages were united to form the fiscal demesne of the Rana, composing twenty-four districts of various magnitudes, divided, as in ancient times, and with the primitive [504] appellations, into portions tantamount to the tithings and hundreds of England, the division from time immemorial amongst the Hindus.[51] From these and the commercial duties[52] a revenue was derived sufficient for the comforts, and even the dignities of the prince and his court, and promising an annual increase in the ratio of good government: but profusion scattered all that industry and ingenuity could collect; the artificial wants of the prince perpetuated the real necessities of the peasant, and this, it is to be feared, will continue till the present generation shall sleep with their forefathers.

Abstract of the Fiscal Revenues of Mewar in the years

1818-19-20-21-22.

Spring harvest of | 1818 | Rs. 40,000 |  |
” | 1819 | 451,281 |  |
” | 1820 | 659,100 |  |
” | 1821 | 1,018,478 |  |
” | 1822 | 936,640 | { | The active superintendence of the British Agent being almost entirely withdrawn.

Abstract of Commercial Duties included in the above.

In 1818 | Nominal |  |
1819 | Rs. 96,683 |  |
1820 | 165,108 |  |
1821 | 220,000 |  |
1822 | 217,000 | { | Farmed for three years, from 1822, for 750,000 rupees, which was assigned by the Rana for the liquidation of tribute fallen in arrear.

Mines and Minerals.

—There are sources of wealth in Mewar yet untouched, and to which her princes owe much of their power. The tin mines of Jawara and Dariba alone, little more than half a century ago, yielded above three lakhs annually;[53] besides rich copper mines in various parts. From such, beyond a doubt, much of the wealth of Mewar was extracted, but the miners are now dead, and the mines filled with water. An attempt was made to work them, but it was so unprofitable that the design was soon abandoned.

Nothing will better exemplify the progress of prosperity than the comparative population of some of the chief towns before, and after, four years of peace:

| No. of houses in 1818. | No. of houses in 1822.
Udaipur |  | 3,500 |  |  | 10,000 |
Bhilwara |  | not one |  |  | 2,700 |
Pur |  | 200 |  |  | 1,200 |
Mandal |  | 80 |  |  | 400 |
Gosunda |  | 60 |  |  | 350 [505] |

The Feudal Lands.

—The feudal lands, which were then double the fiscal, did not exhibit the like improvement, the merchant and cultivator residing thereon not having the same certainty of reaping the fruits of their industry; still great amelioration took place, and few were so blind as not to see their account in it.[54] The earnestness with which many requested the Agent to back their expressed intentions with his guarantee to their communities of the same measure of justice and protection as the fiscal tenants enjoyed was proof that they well understood the benefits of reciprocal confidence; but this could not be tendered without danger. Before the Agent left the country he greatly withdrew from active interference, it being his constant, as it was his last impressive lesson, that they should rely upon themselves if they desired to retain a shadow of independence. To give an idea of the improved police, insurance which has been described as amounting to eight per cent in a space of twenty-five miles became almost nominal, or one-fourth of a rupee per cent from one frontier to the other. It would, however, have been quite Utopian to have expected that the lawless tribes would remain in that stupid subordination which the unexampled state of society imposed for a time (as described in the opening of these transactions), when they found that real restraints did not follow imaginary terrors. Had the wild tribes been under the sole influence of British power, nothing would have been so simple as effectually, not only to control, but to conciliate and improve them; for it is a mortifying truth, that the more remote from civilization, the more tractable and easy was the object to manage, more especially the Bhil.[55] But these children of nature were incorporated in the demesnes of the feudal chiefs, who when they found our system did not extend to perpetual control, returned to their old habits of oppression: this provoked retaliation, which to subdue requires more power than the Rana yet possesses, and, in the anomalous state of our alliances, will always be an embarrassing task to whosoever may exercise political control.

In conclusion, it is to be hoped that the years of oppression that have swept the land will be held in remembrance by the protecting power, and that neither petulance nor indolence will lessen the benevolence which restored life to Mewar, or mar the picture of comparative happiness it created.

The Sixteen chief Nobles of Mewar, their Titles, Names, Clans, Tribes, Estates,

number of Villages in each, and their Value.

Titles. | Names. | Clan. | Tribe. | Estate. | Number of Villages. | Value, A.D. 1760. | Remarks
Raj | Chandan Singh | Jhala | Jhala | Sadri | 127 | 100,000 |  | These estates are all diminished one-half in nominal amount; and their revenues still more.
Rao | Partap Singh | Chauhan | Chauhan | Bedia | 80 | 100,000
Rao | Mohkam Singh | Chauhan | Chauhan | Kotharia | 65 | 80,000
Rawat | Padma Singh | Chondawat | Sesodia | Salumbar | 85 | 84,000 | Would realize this if cultivated.
Thakur | Zorawar Singh | Rathor | Mertia | Ghanerao | 100 | 100,000 | This chief ceases to be one of the 16 since the Rana lost the province of Godwar.
Rao | Keshodas | —— | Pramar | Bijolia | 40 | 45,000 | Would realize this if cultivated.
Rawat | Gokuldas | Sangawat | Sesodia | Deogarh | 125 | 80,000 | Would realize more if cultivated.
Rawat | Maha Singh | Meghawat | Sesodia | Begun | 150 | 200,000 | This includes usurpations—now seized by Sindhia. The estate would realize 70,000 if cultivated.
Raj | Kalyan Singh | Jhala | Jhala | Delwara | 125 | 100,000 | Would realize two-thirds if cultivated.
Rawat | Salim Singh | Jagawat | Jagawat | Amet | 60 | 60,000 | Do.,     do.
Raj | Chhattar Sal | Jhala | Jhala | Gogunda | 50 | 50,000 | Would realize this if cultivated.
Rawat | Fateh Singh | Sarangdevot | Sesodia | Kanor | 50 | 95,000 | Would realize half if cultivated.
Maharaja | Zorawar Singh | Saktawat | Sesodia | Bhindar | 64 | 64,000 | Would realize this if cultivated.
Thakur | Jeth Singh | Mertia | Rathor | Badnor | 80 | 80,000 | Do.,           do.
Rawat | Salim Singh | Saktawat | Sesodia | Bansi | 40 | 40,000 |  | These chiefs have lost all influence and half their their estates.
Rao | Surajmall Singh | Chauhan | Chauhan | Parsoli | 40 | 40,000
Rawat | Kesari Singh | Kishanawat | Sesodia | Bhainsror | 60 | 60,000 |  | These chiefs have taken rank on the depression of the above—they never appear at court on the same day.
Rawat | Jawan Singh | Kishanawat | Sesodia | Kurabar | 35 | 35,000

Note.—The inferior grades possessed estates to a still larger amount, conjointly yielding a revenue of thirty lakhs of rupees; and as each thousand rupees of estate furnished on emergency three horses completely equipped, the feudal interest could supply nine thousand horse besides foot, of which they make little account. [Accounts of the present condition of these nobles will be found in Erskine ii. A. under the headings of their estates.]

1. See Appendix, No. VIII., for treaty with the Rana.

2. Commanded by Major-General Sir R. Donkin, K.C.B.

3. The author had the honour to be selected by the Marquess of Hastings to represent him at the Rana’s court, with the title of ‘Political Agent to the Western Rajput States.’ During the campaign of 1817-18 he was placed as the point of communication to the various divisions of the northern army; at the same time being intrusted with the negotiations with Holkar (previous to the rupture), and with those of Kotah and Bundi. He concluded the treaty with the latter State en route to Udaipur, where, as at the latter, there were only the benefits of moral and political existence to confer.

4. The author had passed through Bhilwara in May 1806, when it was comparatively flourishing. On this occasion (Feb. 1818) it was entirely deserted. It excited a smile, in the midst of regrets, to observe the practical wit of some of the soldiers, who had supplied the naked representative of Adinath with an apron—not of leaves, but scarlet cloth.

5. The Agent had seen him when a boy, at a meeting already described; but he could scarcely have hoped to find in one, to the formation of whose character the times had been so unfavourable, such a specimen as this descendant of Partap.

6. A description of the city and valley will be more appropriate elsewhere.

7. See p. 508.

8. The escort consisted of two companies of foot, each of one hundred men, with half a troop of cavalry. The gentlemen attached to the mission were Captain Waugh (who was secretary and commandant of the escort), with Lieutenant Carey as his subaltern. Dr. Duncan was the medical officer.

9. [Modes in music.]

10. The buckler is the tray in which gifts are presented by the Rajputs.

11. If we dare compare the moral economy of an entire people to the physical economy of the individual, we should liken this period in the history of Mewar to intermittent pulsation of the heart—a pause in moral as in physical existence; a consciousness thereof, inertly awaiting the propelling power to restore healthful action to a state of languid repose; or what the Rajput would better comprehend, his own condition when the opiate stimulant begins to dissipate, and mind and body are alike abandoned to helpless imbecility. Who has lived out of the circle of mere vegetation, and not experienced this temporary deprivation of moral vitality? for no other simile would suit the painful pause in the sympathies of the inhabitants of this once fertile region, where experience could point out but one page in their annals, one period in their history, when the clangour of the war trumpet was suspended, or the sword shut up in its scabbard. The portals of Janus at Rome were closed but twice in a period of seven hundred years; and in exactly the same time from the conquest by Shihabu-d-din to the great pacification, but twice can we record peace in Mewar—the reign of Numa has its type in Shah Jahan, while the more appropriate reign of Augustus belongs to Britain. Are we to wonder then that a chilling void now occupied (if the solecism is admissible) the place of interminable action? when the mind was released from the anxiety of daily, hourly, devising schemes of preservation, to one of perfect security—that enervating calm, in which, to use their own homely phrase, Bher aur bakri ekhi thali se piye, ‘The wolf and the goat drank from the same vessel.’ [Another, and more usual form is—Āj kal, sher bakrī ek ghāt pāni pitē hain, ‘Nowadays the tiger and the goat drink from the same stream.’] But this unruffled torpidity had its limit: the Agrarian laws of Mewar were but mentioned, and the national pulse instantly rose.

12. Or rather, who makes the monogrammatic signet Sahi (‘correct’) to all deeds, grants, etc.

13. [Properly Sūratnavīs, ‘statement-writer.’]

14. The Salumbar chief had his deputy, who resided at court for this sole duty, for which he held a village. See p. 235.

15. Niyao, Daftar, Taksala, Silah, Gaddi, Gahna, Kapra-bandar, Ghora, Rasora, Nakkar-khana, Jaleb, Rawala.

16. [Sāwan sudi tīj, third of the bright half of the month Sāwan (July to August), a festival celebrated throughout North India.]

17. [About 45 miles north of Udaipur city.]

18. In the Personal Narrative.

19. Although Bhilwara has not attained that high prosperity my enthusiasm anticipated, yet the philanthropic Heber records that in 1825 (three years after I had left the country) it exhibited “a greater appearance of trade, industry, and moderate but widely diffused wealth and comfort, than he had witnessed since he left DelhiDelhi” [Diary, ed. 1861, ii. 56 f.]. The record of the sentiments of the inhabitants towards me, as conveyed by the bishop, was gratifying, though their expression could excite no surprise in any one acquainted with the characters and sensibilities of these people. [The author’s anticipation of the prosperity of this town have not been completely realized; but it is still an important centre of trade, noted for the manufacture of cooking utensils, and possessing a ginning factory and a cotton-press (Erskine ii. A. 97 f.).]

20. A literal translation of this curious piece of Hindu legislation will be found at the end of the Appendix. If not drawn up with all the dignity of the legal enactments of the great governments of the West, it has an important advantage in conciseness; the articles cannot be misinterpreted, and require no lawyer to expound them.

21. "Kampani Sahib ke namak ke zor se“ is a common phrase of our native soldiery; and ”Dohai! Kampani ki!" is an invocation or appeal against injustice; but I never heard this watchword so powerfully applied as when a Sub. with the Resident’s escort in 1812. One of our men, a noble young Rajput about nineteen years of age, and six feet high, had been sent with an elephant to forage in the wilds of Narwar. A band of at least fifty predatory horsemen assailed him, and demanded the surrender of the elephant, which he met by pointing his musket and giving them defiance. Beset on all sides, he fired, was cut down, and left for dead, in which state he was found, and brought to camp upon a litter. One sabre-cut had opened the back entirely across, exposing the action of the viscera, and his arms and wrists were barbarously hacked: yet he was firm, collected, and even cheerful; and to a kind reproach for his rashness, he said, "What would you have said, Captain Sahib, had I surrendered the Company’s musket (Kampani ki banduq) without fighting?" From their temperate habits, the wound in the back did well; but the severed nerves of the wrists brought on a lockjaw of which he died. The Company have thousands who would alike die for their banduq. It were wise to cherish such feelings.

22. [An instance of the practice of ‘sitting dharna’ to enforce a claim (Yule-Burnell, Hobson-Jobson, 2nd ed. 315 f.).]

23. See p. 380.

24. See p. 514 and note.

25. It will fill up the picture of the times to relate the revenge. When Jamshid, the infamous lieutenant of the infamous Amir Khan, established his headquarters at Udaipur, which he daily devastated, Sardar Singh, then in power, was seized and confined as a hostage for the payment of thirty thousand rupees demanded of the Rana. The surviving brothers of the murdered minister Somji ‘purchased their foe’ with the sum demanded, and anticipated his clansmen, who were on the point of effecting his liberation. The same sun shone on the head of Sardar, which was placed as a signal of revenge over the gateway of Rampiyari’s palace. I had the anecdotes from the minister Siyahal, one of the actors in these tragedies, and a relative of the brothers, who were all swept away by the dagger. A similar fate often seemed to him, though a brave man, inevitable during these resumptions; which impression, added to the Rana’s known inconstancy of favour, robbed him of half his energies.

26. Nearly twelve months after this, my public duty called me to Nimbahera en route to Kotah. The castle of Hamira was within an hour’s ride, and at night he was reported as having arrived to visit me, when I appointed the next day to receive him. Early next morning, according to custom, I took my ride, with four of Skinner’s Horse, and galloped past him, stretched with his followers on the ground not far from my camp, towards his fort. He came to me after breakfast, called me his greatest friend, “swore by his dagger he was my Rajput,” and that he would be in future obedient and loyal; but this, I fear, can never be.

27. Literally faith (dharma) to his lord (swami).

28. Paper of relinquishment.

29. The dūb grass [[Cynodon dactylon] flourishes in all seasons, and most in the intense heats; it is not only amara or ‘immortal,’ but akshay, ‘not to be eradicated’; and its tenacity to the soil deserves the distinction.

30. From bap, ‘father,’ and the termination of, or belonging to, and by which clans are distinguished; as Karansot, ‘descended of Karan’; Mansinghgot, ‘descended of Mansingh.’ It is curious enough that the mountain clans of Albania, and other Greeks, have the same distinguishing termination, and the Mainote of Greece and the Mairot of Rajputana alike signify mountaineer, or ‘of the mountain,’ maina in Albanian; mairu or meru in Sanskrit. [The words have no connexion.]

31. Laws, ix. 44.

32. [“When he [the king] has gained victory, let him duly worship the gods and honour righteous Brāhmanas, let him grant exemptions, and let him cause promises of safety to be proclaimed. But having fully ascertained the wishes of all the (conquered), let him place then a relation of (the vanquished ruler on the throne), and let him impose his conditions. Let him make authoritative the lawful customs of the inhabitants, just as they are stated to be” (Manu, Laws, vii. 201 f., trans. Bühler, Sacred Books of the East, xxv. 248 f.).]

33. [“Let him [the king] cause his annual revenue in his kingdom to be collected by trusty (officials), let him obey the sacred law (in his transactions with) the people, and behave as a father to all men” (Manu, Laws, vii. 80). “Not to turn back in battle, to protect the people, to honour the Brāhmanas, is the best means for a king to secure happiness” (ib. vii. 88). “From the people let him (the king) learn (the theory) of the (various) trades and professions” (ib. vii. 43). “But (he who is given) to these vices (loses) even his life” (ib. vii. 46), trans. Bühler, Sacred Books of the East, xxv.]

34. Cani, ‘land,’ and atchi, ‘heritage’: Report, p. 289.—I should be inclined to imagine the atchi, like the ot and awat, Rajput terminations, implying clanship. [Tamil kāniyātchi, ‘that which is held in free and hereditary property’; kāni, ‘land,’ ātchi, ‘inheritance’ (Wilson, Glossary, s.v.; Madras Manual of Administration, iii. 58).]

35. See p. 195.

36. See p. 195.

37. See Sketch of Feudal System, p. 170.

38. Nahrwala of D’Anville; the Balhara sovereignty of the Arabian travellers of the eighth and ninth centuries. I visited the remains of this city on my last journey, and from original authorities shall give an account of this ancient emporium of commerce and literature.

39. Salvamenta of the European system.

40. The author has to acknowledge with regret that he was the cause of the Mina proprietors not re-obtaining their bapota: this arose, partly from ignorance at the time, partly from the individual claimants being dead, and more than all, from the representation that the intended sale originated in a bribe to Sadaram the governor, which, however, was not the case.

41. Claims to the bapota appear to be maintainable if not alienated longer than one hundred and one years; and undisturbed possession (no matter how obtained) for the same period appears to confer this right. The miras of Khandesh appears to have been on the same footing. See Mr. Elphinstone’s Report, October 25, 1819, ed. 1872, p. 17 f., quoted in BG, xii. 266. [The word mīrās means ‘inherited estate,’ the right of disposal of which rests with the holder. The Jāts certainly did not bring the custom to Kent.]

42. The sawmy begum of the peninsula in Fifth Report, pp. 356-57; correctly swami bhoga, ‘lord’s rent,’ in Sanskrit.

43. Manu, Laws, ix. 52-54, on the Servile Classes. [Bühler’s version differs, but the meaning is practically the same as that of the text.]

44. Patel.

45. Patel barar.

46. The Gharginti barar, and Kharlakar, or wood and forage, explained in the Feudal System.

47. In copper-plate grants dug from the ruins of the ancient Ujjain (presented to the Royal Asiatic Society), the prince’s patents (patta) conferring gifts are addressed to the Patta-silas and Ryots. I never heard an etymology of this word, but imagine it to be from patta, ‘grant,’ or ‘patent,’ and sila, which means a nail, or sharp instrument; [? sila, the stone on which the grant is engraved]; metaphorically, that which binds or unites these patents; all, however, having pati, or chief, as the basis (see Transactions of the Royal Asiatic Society, vol. i. p. 237). [Pati, ‘chief,’ has no connexion with patta, ‘a grant,’ the latter being the origin of patel. For the position of the Patel see Baden-Powell, The Indian Village Community, 10 ff.; Malcolm, Memoir of Central India, 2nd ed. ii. 14 ff.]

48. [Kan, ‘grain,’ kūt, ‘valuation,’ batāi from batānā, ‘to divide.’]

49. Mui, Barak, and Kapasan.

50. To effect this, indispensable alike for unity of government and the establishment of a police, the individual statements of their holders were taken for the revenues they had derived from them, and money payments three times the amount were adjudged to them. They were gainers by this arrangement, and were soon loaded with jewels and ornaments, but the numerous train of harpies who cheated them and abused the poor ryot were eternally at work to defeat all such beneficial schemes; and the counteraction of the intrigues was painful and disgusting.

51. Manu [Laws, vii. 119] ordains the division into tens, hundreds, and thousands.

52. Farmed for the ensuing three years, from 1822, for seven lakhs of rupees.

53. In S. 1816, Jawara yielded Rs. 222,000 and Dariba Rs. 80,000. The tin of these mines contains a portion of silver. [What the Author calls the tin mines are probably the lead and zinc mines at Jāwar, 16 miles south of Udaipur city. They seem now to be exhausted, and search might be made for other untouched pockets of ore. Those at Darība, which formerly yielded a considerable revenue, have long been closed (Erskine ii, A. 53).]

54. There are between two and three thousand towns, villages, and hamlets, besides the fiscal land of Mewar; but the tribute of the British Government is derived only from the fiscal; it would have been impossible to collect from the feudal lands, which are burthened with service, and form the army of the State.

55. Sir John Malcolm’s wise and philanthropic measures for the reclamation of this race in Malwa will support my assertions [Memoir of Central India, 2nd ed. i. 516 ff., ii. 179 ff.].

Printed by R. & R. Clark, Limited, Edinburgh.

Transcriber’s Note

There are references in all three volumes to Genealogical Tables in Volume I, which were not reprinted in this Crooke edition.

The spelling of names and places is variable, as noted in the Editor’s introduction to Volume I, as the system of transliteration underwent many changes in the intervening century. The use of macrons was not yet introduced in James Tod’s day. This text, with very few exceptions, follows the text as printed.

Hyphenation of compound words follows the text, with the rare exception of when it occurs on a line break and the preponderance of other instances provides clear guidance.

Errors deemed most likely to be the printer’s have been corrected, and are noted here.

The sole footnote on p. 311 had no reference in the text. Based on the content of the note, the reference has been inserted at the end of the first paragraph on the page.

The correction to note 2 was made in order to close a quotation beginning with ‘cloud of war’, but lacking a closing quote. Earlier editions supplied the resolution.

Errors deemed most likely to be the printer’s have been corrected, and are noted here.

This list contains issues in the main text. References are to the page and line in the original.

x.36 | Imperial Gazetteer of India[,] | Added.
xlvii.15 | Muntakhab[at/u-t]-tawārikh | Replaced.
lx.26 | the least suspicious kind of historical evidence[.] | Added.
9.24 | in the respective historical portions[.] | Added.
29.5 | the burning plains of Ind[.] | Added.
32.18 | were learned in the Vedas[.] | Added.
48.5 | other eight generations anterior[.] | Added.
48.7 | inhabitants had their appellation, we cannot say[.] | Added.
55.22 | descendants of Rama[.] | Added.
104.33 | after a lapse of 2250 years[.] | Added.
110.1 | the power of the Pramaras[.] | Added.
110.13 | to have been patrons of science[.] | Added.
166.4 | the principality of the Rana of Mewar[.] | Added.
222.23 | and most powerful fiefs of Mewar[.] | Added.
235.19 | Pancholi Raechand a[m/n]d Mehta Mul Das | Replaced.
251.36 | the contemporary of Vikramaditya, [A/B].C. 56. | Replaced.
271.10 | 1[,] Kanaksen | Added.
275.16 | ‘the rhymer of Aurangabad.[’] | Added.
326.5 | by a Bhatti Rajput of Jaisalmer[.] | Added.
496.17 | Rāna Ar[s]i Singh II. | Inserted.
504.25 | From S. 1825 to S. 1831 [A.D. 1768-74[)/]] | Replaced.
544.9 | the foreign chieft[ia/ai]ns | Transposed.

The following list contains issues corrected or noted in the footnote text. The reference is to the original page and note, and the line within the note (which may appear on a later page).

lx.1.2 | (Smith, EHI, 387, note; IA, i. 269 ff., iii. 17 ff., xxxii. 167 f.[)] | Added.
25.3.1 | Baghes, ‘the tiger lord.[’] | Added.
128.2.6 | and said to be built by Puru.[’/”] | Replaced.
156.1.11 | ‘household.[”/’] | Replaced.
166.1.3 | smaller units being called Byālisa, 42, or Ch[a]ubīsa, 24 | Restored.
166.1.4 | Supplemental Glossary, 178 ff.[)] | Added.
176.1.13 | 1i. 319.[)] | Added.
184.1.8 | Art. ‘Relief,[’] | Added.
201.3.7 | the fief of his vassal without his consent.[’/”] | Replaced.
241.1.7 | et les seconds de le régaler quand i[t/l] passait par leur bourg. | Replaced.
255.1.3 | the name of Min[n]agara was changed | Removed.
262.2.6 | Mers in Porbandar (Wilberforce-Bell, Hist. of Kathiawad, 53) | Added.
265.3.4 | (Census Report, Rajputana, 1911, i. 255[)]. | Added.
297.1.7 | ‘cloud of war rolled from Himachal[’] | Added.
333.1.3 | Maharana Kumbha: Sovereign, Soldier, Scholar, Ajmer, 1917, p. 2[)]. | Added.
381.1.2 | calcined shell-li[n/m]e | Replaced.
386.2.5 | upon [s/t]heir refusal to intermarry | Replaced.
398.3.1 | A colloqu[ai/ia]l contraction for Partap. | Transposed.
435.1.3 | J[u/a]dunath Sarkar | Replaced.
468.2.11 | (Scott’s History of Aurangzeb’s Successors, vol. i. p. 132). | Added.
469.3.1 | ‘a royal grant[’] | Added.
491.1.64 | Your favour was received by the Pandit Pardhan[)] | Removed.
496.2.2 | in 1814, Ranaji Burtia[:/;] in 1813 | Replaced.
509.2.2 | on the liquidation of the contribution[,/.] | Replaced.
563.1.5 | since he left De[hl/lh]i | Transposed.
573.1.1 | [[]Cynodon dactylon] | Opening bracket added.

Transcription of the plate on p. 10.

Each feature on the plate is summarized below, including both the original transliteration from Tod’s original text and the version used by Crooke in the text of this edition.

Section thro’ Central India in 25° N. Lat. from Aboo [Abu] to Bundelkhund [Bundelkhand].

Plateau of Central India——Trap formation

Mt. Aboo [Mt. Abu]

Aravalli Mountains

Oodipoor [Udaipur]

Jawud [E]

Ruttunghur

Rampoora [Rampura]

Chumbul R. [Chambal R.]

Kotah

Parbatty R. [Parbati R.]

Shahabad [F]

Sinde R.

Kunneadanna [H]

Betwa R.

Kotra [I]

A. B. | The isolated Aboo 24 miles Circumference at base_____Granite and Gneis.
C. D. | The Aravalli Chain._______Granite reposing on compact blue slate.
D. E. | Plains of Mewar.
E. F. | Patar or Plateau of Central India.__________Trap
F. G. | Valley of the Sinde.
G. H. | Table Mountain the Eastern limit of Rajpootna, structure doubtful.
H. I. | Plains of the Betwa, Bundelkhund.

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