Opening…

IV. continued

ANNALS OF MEWAR

Chapter 19

Influence of the hierarchy in Rajputana—Emulation of its princes in grants to the priesthood—Analogy between the customs of the Hindus, in this respect, and those of the ancient people—Superstition of the lower orders—Secret influence of the Brahmans on the higher classes—Their frauds—Ecclesiastical dues from the land, etc.—The Saivas of Rajasthan—The worship and shrine of Eklinga—The Jains—Their numbers and extensive power—The temple of Nathdwara, and worship of Kanhaiya—The privilege of Sanctuary—Predominance of the doctrines of Kanhaiya beneficial to Rajput society 589

Chapter 20

The origin of Kanhaiya or Krishna—Sources of a plurality of gods among the Hindus—Allegories respecting Krishna elucidated—Songs of Jayadeva celebrating the loves of Kanhaiya—The Rasmandal, a mystic dance—Govardhana—Krishna anciently worshipped in caves—His conquest of the ‘Black serpent’ allegorical of the contests between the Buddhists and Vaishnavas—Analogies between the legends of Krishna and Western mythology—Festivals of Krishna—Pilgrimage to Nathdwara—The seven gods of that temple—Its Pontiff 621

APPENDIX 644

Chapter 21

Importance of mythological history—Aboriginal tribes of India—The Rajputs are conquerors—Solar year of the Hindus—Opened at the winter solstice—The Vasant, or spring festival—Birth of the Sun—Common origin assumed of the Rajputs and Getic tribe of Scandinavia—Surya, the sun-god of all nations, Thor, Syrus, Sol—Sun-worship—The Aheria, or spring-hunt, described—Boar-feast—Phalgun festival—The Rajput Saturnalia—Games on horseback—Rites to the Manes—Festival of Sitala as guardian of children—Rana’s birthday—Phuladola, the Rajput Floralia—Festival of Gauri—Compared with the Diana of Egypt—The Isis or Ertha of the Suevi—And the Phrygian Cybele—Anniversary of Rama—Fête of Kamdeva or Cupid—Little Ganggor—Inundation of the capital—Festival of Rambha or Venus—Rajput and Druidic rites—Their analogy—Serpent worship—Rakhi, or Festival of the bracelet 650

Chapter 22

Festivals continued—Adoration of the sword: its Scythic origin—The Dasahra, or military festival: its Scythic origin—Torans or triumphal arcs—Ganesa of the Rajputs and Janus of the Romans—Worship of arms: of the magic brand of Mewar, compared with the enchanted sword, Tyrfing, of the Edda—Birth of Kumara, the Rajput Mars, compared with the Roman divinity—Birth of Ganga: her analogy to Pallas—Adoration of the moon—Worship of Lakshmi, or Fortune; of Yama, or Pluto—Diwali, or festival of lamps, in Arabia, in China, in Egypt, and in India—Annakuta and Jaljatra—Festivals sacred to the Ceres and Neptune of the Hindus—Festival of the autumnal equinox—Reflections on the universal worship of the elements, Fire, Light, Water—Festival sacred to Mithras or Vishnu, as the sun—The Phallus: its etymology—Rajput doctrine of the Triad—Symbols Vishnu, as the sun-god: his messenger Garuda, the eagle: his charioteer Aruna, or the dawn—Sons of Aruna—Fable analogous to that of Icarus—Rites of Vishnu on the vernal equinox and summer solstice—Dolayatra, or festival of the ark, compared with the ark of Osiris, and Argonautic expedition of the Greeks—Etymology of Argonaut—Ethiopia the Lanka of the Hindus—Their sea-king, Sagara—Rama, or Ramesa, chief of the Cushite races of India—Ramesa of the Rajputs and Rameses of Egypt compared—Reflections 679

Chapter 23

The nicer shades of character difficult to catch—Morals more obvious and less changeable than manners—Dissimilarity of manners in the various races of Rajasthan—Rajputs have deteriorated in manners as they declined in power—Regard and deference paid to women in Rajasthan—Seclusion of the Females no mark of their degradation—High spirit of the Rajput princesses—Their unbounded devotion to their husbands—Examples from the chronicles and bardic histories—Anecdotes in more recent times—Their magnanimity—Delicacy—Courage and presence of mind—Anecdote of Sadhu of Pugal and Karamdevi, daughter of the Mohil chief—The seclusion of the females increases their influence—Historical evidences of its extent 707

Chapter 24

Origin of female immolation—The sacrifice of Sati, the wife of Iswara—The motive to it considered—Infanticide—Its causes among the Rajputs, the Rajkumars, and the Jarejas—The rite of Johar—Female captives in war enslaved—Summary of the Rajput character—Their familiar habits—The use of opium—Hunting—The use of weapons—Jethis, or wrestlers—Armouries—Music—Feats of dexterity—Maharaja Sheodan Singh—Literary qualifications of the princes—Household economy—Furniture—Dress, etc. 737

PERSONAL NARRATIVE

Chapter 25

Valley of Udaipur—Departure for Marwar—Encamp on the heights of Tus—Resume the march—Distant view of Udaipur—Deopur—Zalim Singh—Reach Pallana—Ram Singh Mehta—Manikchand—Ex-raja of Narsinghgarh—False policy pursued by the British Government in 1817-18—Departure from Pallana—Aspect and geological character of the country—Nathdwara ridge—Arrival at the city of Nathdwara—Visit from the Mukhya of the temple—Departure for the village of Usarwas—Benighted—Elephant in a bog—Usarwas—A Sannyasi—March to Samecha—The Shera Nala—Locusts—Coolness of the air—Samecha—March to Kelwara, the capital—Elephant’s pool—Murcha—Kherli—Maharaja Daulat Singh—Kumbhalmer—Its architecture, remains, and history—March to the ‘Region of Death,’ or Marwar—The difficult nature of the country—A party of native horsemen—Bivouac in the glen 760

Chapter 26

The Mers or Meras: their history and manners—The Barwatia of Gokulgarh—Forms of outlawry—Ajit Singh, the chief of Ghanerao—Plains of Marwar—Chief of Rupnagarh—Anecdote respecting Desuri—Contrast between the Sesodias of Mewar and the Rathors of Marwar—Traditional history of the Rajputs—Ghanerao—Kishandas, the Rana’s envoy—Local discrimination between Mewar and Marwar—Ancient feuds—The aonla and the bawal—Aspect of Marwar—Nadol—Superiority of the Chauhan race—Guga of Bhatinda—Lakha of Ajmer: his ancient fortress at Nadol—Jain relic there—The Hindu ancient arch or vault—Inscriptions—Antiquities at Nadol—Indara—Its villages—Pali, a commercial mart—Articles of commerce—The bards and genealogists the chief carriers—The ‘Hill of Virtue’—Khankhani—Affray between two caravans—Barbarous self-sacrifices of the Bhats—Jhalamand—March to Jodhpur—Reception en route by the Chiefs of Pokaran and Nimaj—Biography of these nobles—Sacrifice of Surthan of Nimaj—Encamp at the capital—Negotiation for the ceremonies of reception at the Court of Jodhpur 789

Chapter 27

Jodhpur: town and castle—Reception by the Raja—Person and character of Raja Man Singh—Visits to the Raja—Events in his history—Death of Raja Bhim—Deonath, the high-priest of Marwar—His assassination—The acts which succeeded it—Intrigues against the Raja—Dhonkal Singh, a pretender to the gaddi—Real or affected derangement of the Raja—Associates his son in the government—Recalled to the direction of affairs—His deep and artful policy—Visit to Mandor, the ancient capital—Cenotaphs of the Rathors—Cyclopean architecture of Mandor—Nail-headed characters—The walls—Remains of the palace—Toran, or triumphal arch—Than of Thana Pir—Glen of Panchkunda—Statues carved from the rock—Gardens at Mandor—An ascetic—Entertainment at the palace—The Raja visits the envoy—Departure from Jodhpur 820

Chapter 28

Nandla—Bisalpur—Remains of the ancient city—Pachkalia, or Bichkalia—Inscription—Pipar—Inscription confirming the ancient chronicles of Mewar—Geological details—Legend of Lake Sampu—Lakha Phulani—Madreo—Bharunda—Badan Singh—His chivalrous fate—Altar to Partap—Indawar—Jat cultivators—Stratification of Indawar—Merta—Memory of Aurangzeb—Dhonkal Singh—Jaimall, the hero of the Rathors—Tributes to his bravery—Description of the city and plain of Merta—Cenotaphs—Raja Ajit—His assassination by his sons—The consequences of this deed the seeds of the Civil Wars of Marwar—Family of Ajit—Curious fact in the law of adoption amongst the Rathors—Ram Singh—His discourtesy towards his chiefs—Civil War—Defection of the Jarejas from Ram Singh—Battle between Ram Singh and Bakhta Singh—Defeat of the former, and the extirpation of the clan of the Mertias—The Mertia vassal of Mihtri—The field of battle described—Ram Singh invites the Mahrattas into his territory—Bakhta Singh becomes Raja of Marwar—His murder by the Prince of Jaipur—His son, Bijai Singh, succeeds—Jai Apa Sindhia and Ram Singh invade Marwar—They are opposed by Bijai Singh, who is defeated—He flies to Nagor, where he is invested—He cuts through the enemy’s camp—Solicits succour at Bikaner and Jaipur—Treachery of the Raja of Jaipur—Defeated by the chieftain of Rian—Assassination of Apa Sindhia 850

Chapter 29

Mahadaji Sindhia succeeds Jai Apa—Union of the Rathors and Kachhwahas, joined by Ismail Beg and Hamdani, against the Mahrattas—Battle of Tonga—Sindhia defeated—Ajmer retaken, and tributary engagement annulled—Mahadaji Sindhia recruits his army, with the aid of De Boigne—The Rajputs meet him on the frontier of Jaipur—Jealousies of the allies—The Kachhwahas alienated by a scurrilous stanza—Battle of Patan—Effects of the Jaipureans’ treachery, in the defeat of the Rathors—Stanza of the Kachhwaha bard—Suggestion of Bijai Singh: his chiefs reject it, and the prince prepares for war—Treason of the Rathor chief of Kishangarh—The Mahrattas invade Marwar—Resolution of the chiefs of Awa and Asop to conquer or perish—Rathors encamp on the plains of Merta—Golden opportunity lost of destroying the Mahratta army—Fatal compliance of the chiefs with the orders of the civil minister—Rout of the camp—Heroism of the Rathor clans: their destruction—Treachery of the Singwi faction—The chief minister takes poison—Reflections on the Rajput character, with reference to the protective alliance of the British Government—Resumption of journey—Jarau—Cross the field of battle—Siyakot, or Mirage, compared with the Sarrab of Scripture—Desert of Sogdiana—Hissar—At sea—Description of Jarau—Cenotaph of Harakarna Das—Alniawas—Rian—The Mountain Mers—Their descent upon Rian—Slay its chief—Govindgarh—Chase of a hyaena—Lake of Pushkar: geological details—Description of the lake—Its legend—Ajaipal, the founder of Ajmer—Bisaldeva, the Chauhan king of Ajmer—Places of devotion on the ‘Serpent-rock’—Ajmer—View of Daru-l-Khair—Geological details—City of Ajmer—Its rising prosperity 875

Chapter 30

Ajmer—Ancient Jain Temple—Its architecture analysed—Resemblances between it and the Gothic and Saracenic—Fortress of Ajmer—Its lakes—Source of the Luni River—Relics of the Chauhan kings—Quit Ajmer—Bhinai: its castle—Deolia—Dabla—Banera—Raja Bhim—Sketch of his family—His estate—Visit to the castle—Bhilwara—Visit of the merchants—Prosperity of the town—Mandal—Its lake—Arja, Pur—Mines of Dariba—Canton of the Purawats—Antiquity of Pur—The Babas, or infants of Mewar—Rasmi—Reception by the peasantry of Mewar—The Suhaila and Kalas—Trout of the Banas River—Merta—Visit to the source of the Berach—The Udai Sagar—Enter the valley—Appearance of the capital—Site of the ancient Ahar—Cenotaphs of the Rana’s ancestry—Traditions regarding Ahar—Destroyed by volcanic eruption—Remains of antiquity—Oilman’s Caravanserai—Oilman’s Bridge—Meeting with the Rana—Return to Udaipur 896

APPENDIX 914

Chapter 1

The various etymons of Marwar—Authorities for its early history—Yati genealogical roll—The Rathor race, who inhabit it, descended from the Yavan kings of Parlipur—Second roll—Nain Pal—His date—Conquers Kanauj—Utility of Rajput genealogies—The Surya Prakas, or poetic chronicle of the bard Karnidhan—The Raj Rupak Akhyat, or chronicle of Ajit Singh’s minority and reign—The Bijai Vilas—The Khyat, a biographical treatise—Other sources—The Yavanas and Aswas, or Indo-Scythic tribes—The thirteen Rathor families, bearing the epithet Kamdhuj—Raja Jaichand, king of Kanauj—The extent and splendour of that State before the Muhammadan conquest of India—His immense array—Title of Mandalika—Divine honours paid to him—Rite of Swayamvara undertaken by Jaichand—Its failure and consequences—State of India at that period—The four great Hindu monarchies—Delhi—Kanauj—Mewar—Anhilwara—Shihabu-d-din, king of Ghor, invades India—Overcomes the Chauhan king of Delhi—Attacks Kanauj—Destruction of that monarchy after seven centuries’ duration—Death of Jaichand—Date of this event 929

Chapter 2

Emigration of Siahji and Setram, grandsons of Jaichand—Their arrival in the Western Desert—Sketch of the tribes inhabiting the desert to the Indus at that epoch—Siahji offers his services to the chief of Kulumad—They are accepted—He attacks Lakha Phulani, the famed freebooter of Phulra, who is defeated—Setram killed—Siahji marries the Solanki’s daughter—Proceeds by Anhilwara on his route to Dwarka—Again encounters Lakha Phulani, whom he slays in single combat—Massacres the Dabhis of Mewa, and the Gohils of Kherdhar—Siahji establishes himself in ‘the land of Kher’—The Brahman community of Pali invoke the aid of Siahji against the mountaineers—Offer him lands—Accepted—Birth of a son—Siahji massacres the Brahmans, and usurps their lands—Death of Siahji—Leaves three sons—The elder, Asvathama, succeeds—The second, Soning, obtains Idar—Ajmall, the third, conquers Okhamandala, originates the Vadhel tribe of that region—Asvathama leaves eight sons, heads of clans—Duhar succeeds—Attempts to recover Kanauj—Failure—Attempts Mandor—Slain—Leaves seven sons—Raepal succeeds—Revenges his father’s death—His thirteen sons—Their issue spread over Maru—Rao Kanhal succeeds—Rao Jalhan—Rao Chhada—Rao Thida—Carry on wars with the Bhattis and other tribes—Conquest of Bhinmal—Rao Salkha—Rao Biramdeo, killed in battle with the Johyas—Clans, their issue—Rao Chonda—Conquers Mandor from the Parihar—Assaults and obtains Nagor from the Imperialists—Captures Nadol, capital of Godwar—Marries the Princess of Mandor—Fourteen sons and one daughter, who married Lakha Rana of Mewar—Result of this marriage—Feud between Aranyakanwal, fourth son of Chonda, and the Bhatti chieftain of Pugal—Chonda slain at Nagor—Rao Ranmall succeeds—Resides at Chitor—Conquers Ajmer for the Rana—Equalizes the weights and measures of Marwar, which he divides into departments—Rao Ranmall slain—Leaves twenty-four sons, whose issue constitute the present frerage of Marwar—Table of clans 940

Chapter 3

Accession of Rao Jodha—Transfers the seat of government from Mandor to the new capital Jodhpur—The cause—The Vanaprastha, or Druids of India—Their penances—The fourteen sons of Jodha—New settlements of Satalmer, Merta, Bikaner—Jodha dies—Anecdotes regarding him—His personal appearance—Rapid increase of the Rathor race—Names of tribes displaced thereby—Accession of Rao Suja—First conflict of the Rathors with the Imperialists—Rape of the Rathor virgins at Pipar—Gallantry of Suja—His death—Issue—Succeeded by his grandson Rao Ganga—His uncle Saga contests the throne—Obtains the aid of the Lodi Pathans—Civil War—Saga slain—Babur’s invasion of India—Rana Sanga generalissimo of the Rajputs—Rao Ganga sends his contingent under his grandson Raemall—Slain at Bayana—Death of Ganga—Accession of Rao Maldeo—Becomes the first amongst the princes of Rajputana—Reconquers Nagor and Ajmer from the Lodis, Jalor and Siwana from the Sandhals—Reduces the rebellious allodial vassals—Conquest from Jaisalmer—The Maldots—Takes Pokaran—Dismantles Satalmer—His numerous public works—Cantons belonging to Marwar enumerated—Maldeo resumes several of the great estates—Makes a scale of rank hereditary in the line of Jodha—Period favourable to Maldeo’s consolidation of his power—His inhospitality to the Emperor Humayun—Sher Shah invades Marwar—Maldeo meets him—Danger of the Imperial army—Saved by stratagem from destruction—Rathor army retreats—Devotion of the two chief clans—Their destruction—Akbar invades Marwar—Takes Merta and Nagor—Confers them on Rae Singh of Bikaner—Maldeo sends his second son to Akbar’s court—Refused to pay homage in person—The emperor gives the farman of Jodhpur to Rae Singh—Rao Maldeo besieged by Akbar—Defends Jodhpur—Sends his son Udai Singh to Akbar—His reception—Receives the title of Raja—Chandarsen maintains Rathor independence—Retires to Siwana—Besieged, and slain—His sons—Maldeo witnesses the subjection of his kingdom—His death—His twelve sons 947

Chapter 4

Altered conditions of the Princes of Marwar—Installation of Raja Udai Singh—Not acknowledged by the most powerful clans until the death of Chandarsen—Historical retrospect—The three chief epochs of Marwar history, from the conquest to its dependence on the empire—Order of succession changed, with change of capital, in Mewar, Amber, and Marwar—Branches to which the succession is confined—Dangers of mistaking these—Examples—Jodha regulates the fiefs—The eight great nobles of Marwar—These regulations maintained by Maldeo, who added to the secondary fiefs—Fiefs perpetuated in the elder branches—The brothers and sons of Jodha—Various descriptions of fiefs—Antiquity of the Rajput feudal system—Akbar maintains it—Paternity of the Rajput sovereigns not a fiction, as in Europe—The lowest Rajput claims kindred with the sovereign—The name Udai Singh fatal to Rajputana—Bestows his sister Jodh Bai on Akbar—Advantages to the Rathors of this marriage—Numerous progeny of Udai Singh—Establishes the fiefs of Govindgarh and Pisangan—Kishangarh and Ratlam—Remarkable death of Raja Udai Singh—Anecdotes—Issue of Udai Singh—Table of descent 960

Chapter 5

Accession of Raja Sur—His military talents obtain him honours—Reduces Rao Surthan of Sirohi—Commands against the King of Gujarat—Battle of Dhanduka gained by the Raja—Wealth and honours acquired—Gifts to the bards—Commanded against Amra Balecha—Battle of the Rewa—Slays the Chauhan—Fresh honours—Raja Sur and his son Gaj Singh attend the court of Jahangir—The heir of Marwar invested with the sword by the Emperor’s own hands—Escalade of Jalor—Raja Gaj attends Prince Khurram against the Rana of Mewar—Death of Raja Sur—Maledictory pillar erected on the Nerbudda—The Rathor chiefs’ dissatisfaction at their long detention from their native land—Raja Sur embellishes Jodhpur—His issue—Accession of Raja Gaj—Invested with the Raj of Burhanpur—Made Viceroy of the Deccan—The compliment paid to his contingent—His various actions—Receives the title of Dalthaman, or ‘barrier of the host’—Causes of Rajput influence on the Imperial succession—The Sultans Parvez and Khurram, sons of Rajput Princesses—Intrigues of the Queens to secure the succession to their immediate offspring—Prince Khurram plots against his brother—Endeavours to gain Raja Gaj, but fails—The Prince causes the chief adviser of Raja Gaj to be assassinated—Raja Gaj quits the royal army—Prince Khurram assassinates his brother Parvez—Proceeds to depose his father Jahangir, who appeals to the fidelity of the Rajput Princes—They rally round the throne, and encounter the rebel army near Benares—The Emperor slights the Rathor Prince, which proves nearly fatal to his cause—The rebels defeated—Flight of Prince Khurram—Raja Gaj slain on the Gujarat frontier—His second son, Raja Jaswant, succeeds—Reasons for occasional departure from the rules of primogeniture amongst the Rajputs—Amra, the elder, excluded the succession—Sentence of banishment pronounced against him—Ceremony of Desvata, or ‘exile,’ described—Amra repairs to the Mogul court—Honours conferred upon him—His tragical death 969

Chapter 6

Raja Jaswant mounts the gaddi of Marwar—His mother a princess of Mewar—He is a patron of science—His first service in Gondwana—Prince Dara appointed regent of the empire by his father, Shah Jahan—Appoints Jaswant viceroy in Malwa—Rebellion of Aurangzeb, who aspires to the crown—Jaswant appointed generalissimo of the army sent to oppose him—Battle of Fatehabad, a drawn battle—Jaswant retreats—Heroism of Rao Ratna of Ratlam—Aurangzeb proceeds towards Agra—Battle of Jajau—Rajputs overpowered—Shah Jahan deposed—Aurangzeb, now emperor, pardons Jaswant, and summons him to the presence—Commands him to join the army formed against Shuja—Battle of Kajwa—Conduct of Jaswant—Betrays Aurangzeb and plunders his camp—Forms a junction with Dara—This prince’s inactivity—Aurangzeb invades Marwar—Detaches Jaswant from Dara—Appointed viceroy of Gujarat—Sent to serve in the Deccan—Enters into Sivaji’s designs—Plans the death of Shaista Khan, the king’s lieutenant—Obtains this office—Superseded by the prince of Amber—Reappointed to the army of the Deccan—Stimulates Prince Muazzam to rebellion—Superseded by Dalir Khan—Jaswant tries to cut him off—Removed from the Deccan to Gujarat—Outwitted by the king—Ordered against the rebellious Afghans of Kabul—Jaswant leaves his son, Prithi Singh, in charge of Jodhpur—Prithi Singh commanded to court by Aurangzeb, who gives him a poisoned robe—His death—Character—The tidings reach Jaswant at Kabul, and cause his death—Character of Jaswant—Anecdotes illustrative of Rathor character—Nahar Khan—His exploits with the tiger, and against Surthan of Sirohi 979

Chapter 7

The pregnant queen of Jaswant prevented from becoming Sati—Seven concubines and one Rani burn with him—The Chandravati Rani mounts the pyre at Mandor—General grief for the loss of Jaswant—Posthumous birth of Ajit—Jaswant’s family and contingent return from Kabul to Marwar—Intercepted by Aurangzeb, who demands the surrender of the infant Ajit—The chiefs destroy the females and defend themselves—Preservation of the infant prince—The Indhas take Mandor—Expelled—Aurangzeb invades Marwar, takes and plunders Jodhpur, and sacks all the large towns—Destroys the Hindu temples, and commands the conversion of the Rathor race—Impolicy of the measure—Establishes the Jizya, or tax on infidels—The Rathors and Sesodias unite against the king—Events of the war from the Chronicle—The Mertia clan oppose the entire royal army, but are cut to pieces—The combined Rajputs fight the Imperialists at Nadol—Bhim, the son of the Rana, slain—Prince Akbar disapproves the war against the Rajputs—Makes overtures—Coalition—The Rajputs declare Akbar emperor—Treachery and death of Tahawwur Khan—Akbar escapes, and claims protection from the Rajputs—Durga conducts Prince Akbar to the Deccan—Soning, brother of Durga, leads the Rathors—Conflict at Jodhpur—Affair at Sojat—The cholera morbus appears—Aurangzeb offers peace—The conditions accepted by Soning—Soning’s death—Aurangzeb annuls the treaty—Prince Azam left to carry on the war—Muslim garrisons throughout Marwar—The Rathors take post in the Aravalli hills—Numerous encounters—Affairs of Sojat—Charai—Jaitaran—Renpur—Pali—Immense sacrifice of lives—The Bhattis join the Rathors—The Mertia chief assassinated during a truce—Further encounters—Siwana assaulted—The Muslim garrison put to the sword—Nur Ali abducts the Asani damsels—Is pursued and killed—Muslim garrison of Sambhar destroyed—Jalor capitulates to the Rajputs 990

Chapter 8

The clans petition to see the young Raja—Durjan Sal of Kotah joins the Rathor cause—They proceed to Abu—Are introduced to Ajit, who is conveyed to Awa, and makes a tour to all the chieftainships—Consternation of Aurangzeb—He sets up a pretender to Jodhpur—The Rathors and Haras drive the Imperialists from Marwar—They carry the war abroad—Storm of Pur Mandal—The Hara prince slain—Durgadas returns from the Deccan—Defeats Safi Khan, governor of Ajmer, who is disgraced by the king—Safi Khan attempts to circumvent Ajit by negotiation—His failure and disgrace—Rebellion in Mewar—The Rathors support the Rana—Aurangzeb negotiates for the daughter of Prince Akbar left in Marwar—Ajit again driven for refuge into the hills—Affair at Bijapur—Success of the Rathors—Aurangzeb’s apprehension for his granddaughter—The Rana sends the coco-nut to Ajit, who proceeds to Udaipur, and marries the Rana’s niece—Negotiations for peace renewed—Terminate—The surrender of the princess—Jodhpur restored—Magnanimity of Durgadas—Ajit takes possession—Ajit again driven from his capital—Afflictions of the Hindu race—A son born to Ajit, named Abhai Singh—His horoscope—Battle of Dunara—The viceroy of Lahore passes through Marwar to Gujarat—Death of Aurangzeb—Diffuses joy—Ajit attacks Jodhpur—Capitulation—Dispersion and massacre of the king’s troops—Ajit resumes his dominions—Azam, with the title of Bahadur Shah, mounts the throne—Battle of Agra—The king prepares to invade Marwar—Arrives at Ajmer—Proceeds to Bhavi Bilara—Sends an embassy to Ajit, who repairs to the imperial camp—Reception—Treacherous conduct of the emperor—Jodhpur surprised—Ajit forced to accompany the emperor to the Deccan—Discontent of the Rajas—They abandon the king, and join Rana Amra at Udaipur—Triple alliance—Ajit appears before Jodhpur, which capitulates on honourable terms—Ajit undertakes to replace Raja Jai Singh on the gaddi of Amber—Battle of Sambhar, Ajit victorious—Amber abandoned to Jai Singh—Ajit attacks Bikaner—Redeems Nagor—The Rajas threatened by the king—Again unite—The king repairs to Ajmer—The Rajas join him—Receive farmans for their dominions—Ajit makes a pilgrimage to Kurukshetra—Reflections on the thirty years’ war waged by the Rathors against the empire for independence—Eulogium on Durgadas 1007

Chapter 9

Ajit commanded to reduce Nahan and the rebels of the Siwalik mountains—The emperor dies—Civil wars—Ajit nominated viceroy of Gujarat—Ajit commanded to send his son to court—Daring attack on the chief of Nagor, who is slain—Retaliated—The king’s army invades Marwar—Jodhpur invested—Terms—Abhai Singh sent to court—Ajit proceeds to Delhi—Coalesces with the Sayyid ministry of the king—Gives a daughter in marriage to the emperor—Returns to Jodhpur—Repeal of the Jizya—Ajit proceeds to his viceroyalty of Gujarat—Settles the province—Worships at Dwarka—Returns to Jodhpur—The Sayyids summon him to court—The splendour of his train—Leagues with the Sayyids—The emperor visits Ajit—Portents—Husain Ali arrives from the Deccan—Consternation of the opponents of the Sayyids and Ajit—Ajit blockades the palace with his Rathors—The emperor put to death—Successors—Muhammad Shah—He marches against Amber—Its Raja claims sanctuary with Ajit—Obtains the grant of Ahmadabad—Returns to Jodhpur—Ajit unites his daughter to the prince of Amber—The Sayyids assassinated—Ajit warned of his danger—Seizes on Ajmer—Slays the governor—Destroys the mosques, and re-establishes the Hindu rites—Ajit declares his independence—Coins in his own name—Establishes weights and measures, and his own courts of justice—Fixes the gradations of rank amongst his chiefs—The Imperialists invade Marwar—Abhai Singh heads thirty thousand Rathors to oppose them—The king’s forces decline battle—The Rathors ravage the Imperial provinces—Abhai Singh obtains the surname of Dhonkal, or exterminator—Returns to Jodhpur—Battle of Sambhar—Ajit gives sanctuary to Churaman Jat, founder of Bharatpur—The emperor puts himself at the head of all his forces to avenge the defeat of Sambhar—Ajmer invested—Its defence—Ajit agrees to surrender Ajmer—Abhai Singh proceeds to the Imperial camp—His reception—His arrogant bearing—Murder of Ajit by his son—Infidelity of the bard—Blank leaf of the Raj Rupaka, indicative of this event—Extract from that chronicle—Funereal rites—Six queens and fifty-eight concubines determine to become Satis—Expostulations of the Nazir, bards, and purohits—They fail—Procession—Rite concluded—Reflections on Ajit’s life and history 1020

Chapter 10

The parricidal murder of Ajit, the cause of the destruction of Marwar—The parricide, Abhai Singh, invested as Raja by the emperor’s own hand—He returns from court to Jodhpur—His reception—He distributes gifts to the bards and priests—The bards of Rajputana—Karna, the poetic historian of Marwar—Studies requisite to form a Bardai—Abhai Singh reduces Nagor—Bestows it in appanage upon his brother Bakhta—Reduces the turbulent allodialists—Commanded to court—Makes a tour of his domain—Seized by the small-pox—Reaches the court—Rebellion of the viceroy of Gujarat, and of Prince Jangali in the Deccan—Picture of the Mogul court at this time—The bira of foreign service against the rebels described—Refused by the assembled nobles—Accepted by the Rathor prince—He visits Ajmer, which he garrisons—Meeting at Pushkar with the Raja of Amber—Plan the destruction of the empire—At Merta is joined by his brother Bakhta Singh—Reaches Jodhpur—The Kher, or feudal levies of Marwar, assemble—Consecration of the guns—The Minas carry off the cattle of the train—Rajput contingents enumerated—Abhai reduces the Mina strongholds in Sirohi—The Sirohi prince submits, and gives a daughter in marriage as a peace-offering—The Sirohi contingent joins Abhai Singh—Proceeds against Ahmadabad—Summons the viceroy to surrender—Rajput council of war—Bakhta claims to lead the van—The Rathor prince sprinkles his chiefs with saffron water—Sarbuland’s plan of defence—His guns manned by Europeans—His bodyguard of European musketeers—The storm—Victory gained by the Rajputs—Surrender of Sarbuland—He is sent prisoner to the emperor—Abhai Singh governs Gujarat—Rajput contingents enumerated—Conclusion of the chronicles, the Raj Rupaka and Surya Prakas—Abhai Singh returns to Jodhpur—The spoils conveyed from Gujarat 1035

Chapter 11

Mutual jealousies of the brothers—Abhai Singh dreads the military fame of Bakhta—His policy—Prompted by the bard Karna, who deserts Jodhpur for Nagor—Scheme laid by Bakhta to thwart his brother—Attack on Bikaner by Abhai Singh—Singular conduct of his chiefs, who afford supplies to the besieged—Bakhta’s scheme to embroil the Amber prince with his brother—His overture and advice to attack Jodhpur in the absence of his brother—Jai Singh of Amber—His reception of this advice, which is discussed and rejected in a full council of the nobles of Amber—The envoy of Bakhta obtains an audience of the prince of Amber—Attains his object—His insulting letter to Raja Abhai Singh—The latter’s laconic reply—Jai Singh calls out the Kher, or feudal army of Amber—Obtains foreign allies—One hundred thousand men muster under the walls of his capital—March to the Marwar frontier—Abhai Singh raises the siege of Bikaner—Bakhta’s strange conduct—Swears his vassals—Marches with his personal retainers only to combat the host of Amber—Battle of Gangwana—Desperate onset of Bakhta Singh—Destruction of his band—With sixty men charges the Amber prince, who avoids him—Eulogy of Bakhta by the Amber bards—Karna the bard prevents a third charge—Bakhta’s distress at the loss of his men—The Rana mediates a peace—Bakhta loses his tutelary divinity—Restored by the Amber prince—Death of Abhai Singh—Anecdotes illustrating his character 1047

Chapter 12

Ram Singh succeeds—His impetuosity of temper—His uncle, Bakhta Singh, absents himself from the rite of inauguration—Sends his nurse as proxy—Construed by Ram Singh as an insult—He resents it, and resumes the fief of Jalor—Confidant of Ram Singh—The latter insults the chief of the Champawats, who withdraws from the court—His interview with the chief bard—Joins Bakhta Singh—The chief bard gives his suffrage to Bakhta—Civil war—Battle of Merta—Ram Singh defeated—Bakhta Singh assumes the sovereignty—The Bagri chieftain girds him with the sword—Fidelity of the Purohit to the ex-prince, Ram Singh—He proceeds to the Deccan to obtain aid of the Mahrattas—Poetical correspondence between Raja Bakhta and the Purohit—Qualities, mental and personal, of Bakhta—The Mahrattas threaten Marwar—All the clans unite round Bakhta—He advances to give battle—Refused by the Mahrattas—He takes post at the pass of Ajmer—Poisoned by the queen of Amber—Bakhta’s character—Reflections on the Rajput character—Contrasted with that of the European nobles in the dark ages—Judgment of the bards on crimes—Improvised stanza on the princes of Jodhpur and Amber—Anathema of the Sati, wife of Ajit—Its fulfilment—Opinions of the Rajput on such inspirations 1054

Chapter 13

Accession of Bijai Singh—Receives at Merta the homage of his chiefs—Proceeds to the capital—The ex-prince Ram Singh forms a treaty with the Mahrattas and the Kachhwahas—Junction of the confederates—Bijai Singh assembles the clans on the plains of Merta—Summoned to surrender the gaddi—His reply—Battle—Bijai Singh defeated—Destruction of the Rathor Cuirassiers—Ruse de guerre—Bijai Singh left alone—His flight—Eulogies of the bard—Fortresses surrender to Ram Singh—Assassination of the Mahratta commander—Compensation for the murder—Ajmer surrendered—Tribute or Chauth established—Mahrattas abandon the cause of Ram Singh—Couplet commemorative of this event—Cenotaph to Jai Apa—Ram Singh dies—His character—Anarchy reigns in Marwar—The Rathor oligarchy—Laws of adoption in the case of Pokaran fief—Insolence of its chief to his prince, who entertains mercenaries—This innovation accelerates the decay of feudal principles—The Raja plans the diminution of the aristocracy—The nobles confederate—Gordhan Khichi—His advice to the prince—Humiliating treaty between the Raja and his vassals—Mercenaries disbanded—Death of the prince’s Guru or priest—His prophetic words—Kiryakarma or funeral rites, made the expedient to entrap the chiefs, who are condemned to death—Intrepid conduct of Devi Singh of Pokaran—His last words—Reflections on their defective system of government—Sacrifice of the law of primogeniture—Its consequences—Sabhal Singh arms to avenge his father’s death—Is slain—Power of the nobles checked—They are led against the robbers of the desert—Umarkot seized from Sind—Godwar taken from Mewar—Marwar and Jaipur unite against the Mahrattas, who are defeated at Tonga—De Boigne’s first appearance—Ajmer recovered by the Rathors—Battles of Patan and Merta—Ajmer surrenders—Suicide of the governor—Bijai Singh’s concubine adopts Man Singh—Her insolence alienates the nobles, who plan the deposal of the Raja—Murder of the concubine—Bijai Singh dies 1060

Chapter 14

Raja Bhim seizes upon the gaddi—Discomfiture of his competitor, Zalim Singh—Bhim destroys all the other claimants to succession, excepting Man Singh—Blockaded in Jalor—Sallies from the garrison for supplies—Prince Man heads one of them—Incurs the risk of capture—Is preserved by the Ahor chief; Raja Bhim offends his nobles—They abandon Marwar—The fief of Nimaj attacked—Jalor reduced to the point of surrender—Sudden and critical death of Raja Bhim—Its probable cause—The Vaidyas, or ‘cunning-men,’ who surround the prince—Accession of Raja Man—Rebellion of Sawai Singh of Pokaran—Conspiracy of Chopasni—Declaration of the pregnancy of a queen of Raja Bhim—Convention with Raja Man—Posthumous births—Their evil consequences in Rajwara—A child born—Sent off by stealth to Pokaran, and its birth kept a secret—Named Dhonkal—Raja Man evinces indiscreet partialities—Alienates the Champawats—Birth of the posthumous son of Raja Bhim promulgated—The chiefs call on Raja Man to fulfil the terms of the convention—The mother disclaims the child—The Pokaran chief sends the infant Dhonkal to the sanctuary of Abhai Singh of Khetri—Sawai opens his underplot—Embroils Raja Man with the courts of Amber and Mewar—He carries the pretender Dhonkal to Jaipur—Acknowledged and proclaimed as Raja of Marwar—The majority of the chiefs support the pretender—The Bikaner prince espouses his cause—Armies called in the field—Baseness of Holkar, who deserts Raja Man—The armies approach—Raja Man’s chiefs abandon him—He attempts suicide—Is persuaded to fly—He gains Jodhpur—Prepares for defence—Becomes suspicious of all his kin—Refuses them the honour of defending the castle—They join the allies, who invest Jodhpur—The city taken and plundered—Distress of the besiegers—Amir Khan’s conduct causes a division—His flight from Marwar—Pursued by the Jaipur commander—Battle—Jaipur force destroyed, and the city invested—Dismay of the Raja—Breaks up the siege of Jodhpur—Pays £200,000 for a safe passage to Jaipur—The spoils of Jodhpur intercepted by the Rathors, and wrested from the Kachhwahas—Amir Khan formally accepts service with Raja Man, and repairs to Jodhpur with the four Rathor chiefs 1077

Chapter 15

Amir Khan’s reception at Jodhpur—Engages to extirpate Sawai’s faction—Interchanges turbans with the Raja—The Khan repairs to Nagor—Interview with Sawai—Swears to support the Pretender—Massacre of the Rajput chiefs—Pretender flies—The Khan plunders Nagor—Receives £100,000 from Raja Man—Jaipur overrun—Bikaner attacked—Amir Khan obtains the ascendancy in Marwar—Garrisons Nagor with his Pathans—Partitions lands amongst his chiefs—Commands the salt lakes of Nawa and Sambhar—The minister Induraj and high priest Deonath assassinated—Raja Man’s reason affected—His seclusion—Abdication in favour of his son Chhattar Singh—He falls the victim of illicit pursuits—Madness of Raja Man increased—Its causes—Suspicions of the Raja having sacrificed Induraj—The oligarchy, headed by Salim Singh of Pokaran, son of Sawai, assumes the charge of the government—Epoch of British universal supremacy—Treaty with Marwar framed during the regency of Chhattar Singh—The oligarchy, on his death, offer the gaddi of Marwar to the house of Idar—Rejected—Reasons—Raja Man entreated to resume the reins of power—Evidence that his madness was feigned—The Raja dissatisfied with certain stipulations of the treaty—A British officer sent to Jodhpur—Akhai Chand chief of the civil administration—Salim Singh of Pokaran chief minister—Opposition led by Fateh Raj—British troops offered to be placed at the Raja’s disposal—Offer rejected—Reasons—British Agent returns to Ajmer—Permanent Agent appointed to the court of Raja Man—Arrives at Jodhpur—Condition of the capital—Interview’s with the Raja—Objects to be attained described—Agent leaves Jodhpur—General sequestrations of the fiefs—Raja Man apparently relapses into his old apathy—His deep dissimulation—Circumvents and seizes the faction—Their wealth sequestrated—Their ignominious death—Immense resources derived from sequestrations—Raja Man’s thirst for blood—Fails to entrap the chiefs—The Nimaj chief attacked—His gallant defence—Slain—The Pokaran chief escapes—Fateh Raj becomes minister—Raja Man’s speech to him—Nimaj attacked—Surrender—Raja Man’s infamous violation of his pledge—Noble conduct of the mercenary commander—Voluntary exile of the whole aristocracy of Marwar—Received by the neighbouring princes—Man’s gross ingratitude to Anar Singh—The exiled chiefs apply to the British Government, which refuses to mediate—Raja Man loses the opportunity of fixing the constitution of Marwar—Reflections 1089

Chapter 16

Extent and population of Marwar—Classification of inhabitants—Jats—Rajputs, sacerdotal, commercial, and servile tribes—Soil—Agricultural products—Natural productions—Salt lakes—Marble and limestone quarries—Tin, lead, and iron mines—Alum—Manufactures—Commercial marts—Transit trade—Pali, the emporium of Western India—Mercantile classes—Khadataras and Oswals—Kitars, or caravans—Imports and exports enumerated—Charans, the guardians of the caravans—Commercial decline—Causes—Opium monopoly—Fairs of Mundwa and Balotra—Administration of justice—Punishments—Raja Bijai Singh’s clemency to prisoners, who are maintained by private charity—Gaol deliveries on eclipses, births, and accession of princes—Sagun, or ordeals: fire, water, burning oil—Panchayats—Fiscal revenues and regulations—Batai, or corn-rent—Shahnahs and Kanwaris—Taxes—Anga, or capitation tax—Ghaswali, or pasturage—Kewari, or door tax; how originated—Sair, or imposts; their amount—Dhanis, or collectors—Revenues from the salt-lakes—Tandas, or caravans engaged in this trade—Aggregate revenues—Military resources—Mercenaries—Feudal quotas—Schedule of feoffs—Qualification of a cavalier 1104

Chapter 1

Origin of the State of Bikaner—Bika, the founder—Condition of the aboriginal Jats or Getes—The number and extensive diffusion of this Scythic race, still a majority of the peasantry in Western Rajputana, and perhaps in Northern India—Their pursuits pastoral, their government patriarchal, their religion of a mixed kind—List of the Jat cantons of Bikaner at the irruption of Bika—Causes of the success of Bika—Voluntary surrender of the supremacy of the Jat elders to Bika—Conditions—Characteristic of the Getic people throughout India—Proofs—Invasion of the Johyas by Bika and his Jat subjects—Account of the Johyas—Conquered by Bika—He wrests Bagor from the Bhattis, and founds Bikaner, the capital, A.D. 1489—His uncle Kandhal makes conquests to the north—Death of Bika—His son Nunkaran succeeds—Makes conquests from the Bhattis—His son Jeth succeeds—Enlarges the power of Bikaner—Rae Singh succeeds—The Jats of Bikaner lose their liberties—The State rises to importance—Rae Singh’s connexion with Akbar—His honours and power—The Johyas revolt and are exterminated—Traditions of Alexander the Great amongst the ruins of the Johyas—Examined—The Punia Jats vanquished by Ram Singh the Raja’s brother—Their subjection imperfect—Rae Singh’s daughter weds Prince Salim, afterwards Jahangir—Rae Singh succeeded by his son Karan—The three eldest sons of Karan fall in the imperial service—Anup Singh, the youngest, succeeds—Quells a rebellion in Kabul—His death uncertain—Sarup Singh succeeds—He is killed—Shujawan Singh, Zorawar Singh, Gaj Singh, and Raj Singh succeed—The latter poisoned by his brother by another mother, who usurps the throne, though opposed by the chiefs—He murders the rightful heir, his nephew—Civil war—Muster-roll of the chiefs—The usurper attacks Jodhpur—Present state of Bikaner—Account of Bidavati 1123

Chapter 2

Actual condition and capabilities of Bikaner—Causes of its deterioration—Extent—Population—Jats—Sarasvati Brahmans—Charans—Malis and Nais—Chuhras and Thoris—Rajputs—Face of the country—Grain and vegetable productions—Implements of husbandry—Water—Salt lakes—Local physiography—Mineral productions—Unctuous clay—Animal productions—Commerce and manufactures—Fairs—Government and revenues—The fisc—Dhuan, or hearth-tax—Anga, or capitation-tax—Sair, or imposts—Paseti, or plough-tax—Malba, or ancient land-tax—Extraordinary and irregular resources—Feudal levies—Household troops 1145

Chapter 3

Bhatner, its origin and denomination—Historical celebrity of the Jats of Bhatner—Emigration of Bersi—Succeeded by Bhairon—Embraces Islamism—Rao Dalich—Husain Khan, Husain Mahmud, Imam Mahmud, and Bahadur Khan—Zabita Khan, the present ruler—Condition of the country—Changes in its physical aspect—Ruins of ancient buildings—Promising scene for archaeological inquiries—Zoological and botanical curiosities—List of the ancient towns—Relics of the arrow-head character found in the desert 1163

Chapter 1

Jaisalmer—The derivation of its name—The Rajputs of Jaisalmer called Bhattis, are of the Yadu race—Descended from Bharat, king of Bharatavarsha, or Indo-Scythia—Restricted bounds of India of modern invention—The ancient Hindus a naval people—First seats of the Yadus in India, Prayaga, Mathura, and Dwarka—Their international wars—Hari, king of Mathura and Dwarka, leader of the Yadus—Dispersion of his family—His great-grandsons Nabha and Khira—Nabha driven from Dwarka, becomes prince of Marusthali, conjectured to be the Maru, or Merv, of Iran—Jareja and Judbhan, the sons of Khira—The former founds the Sindsamma dynasty, and Judbhan becomes prince of Bahra in the Panjab—Prithibahu succeeds to Nabha in Maru—His son Bahu—His posterity—Raja Gaj founds Gajni—Attacked by the kings of Syria and Khorasan, who are repulsed—Raja Gaj attacks Kashmir—His marriage—Second invasion from Khorasan—The Syrian king conjectured to be Antiochus—Oracle predicts the loss of Gajni—Gaj slain—Gajni taken—Prince Salbahan arrives in the Panjab—Founds the city of Salbahana, S. 72—Conquers the Panjab—Marries the daughter of Jaipal Tuar of Delhi—Reconquers Gajni—Is succeeded by Baland—His numerous offspring—Their conquests—Conjecture regarding the Jadon tribe of Yusufzai, that the Afghans are Yadus, not Yahudis, or Jews—Baland resides at Salbahana—Assigns Gajni to his grandson Chakito, who becomes a convert to Islam and king of Khorasan—The Chakito Mongols descended from him—Baland dies—His son Bhatti succeeds—Changes the patronymic of Yadu, or Jadon, to Bhatti—Succeeded by Mangal Rao—His brother Masur Rao and sons cross the Gara and take possession of the Lakhi jungle—Degradation of the sons of Mangal Rao—They lose their rank as Rajputs—Their offspring styled Aboharias and Jats—Tribe of Tak—The capital of Taxiles discovered—Mangal Rao arrives in the Indian desert—Its tribes—His son, Majam Rao, marries a princess of Umarkot—His son Kehar—Alliance with the Deora of Jalor—The foundation of Tanot laid—Kehar succeeds—Tanot attacked by the Baraha tribe—Tanot completed, S. 787—Peace with the Barahas—Reflections 1169

Chapter 2

Rao Kehar, contemporary of the Caliph Al Walid—His offspring become heads of tribes—Kehar, the first who extended his conquests to the plains—He is slain—Tano succeeds—He assails the Barahas and Langahas—Tanot invested by the prince of Multan, who is defeated—Rao Tano espouses the daughter of the Buta chief—His progeny—Tano finds a concealed treasure—Erects the castle of Bijnot—Tano dies—Succeeded by Bijai Rae—He assails the Baraha tribe, who conspire with the Langahas to attack the Bhatti prince—Treacherous massacre of Bijai Rae and his kindred—Deoraj saved by a Brahman—Tanot taken—Inhabitants put to the sword—Deoraj joins his mother in Butaban—Erects Derawar, which is assailed by the Buta chief, who is circumvented and put to death by Deoraj—The Bhatti prince is visited by a Jogi, whose disciple he becomes—Title changed from Rao to Rawal—Deoraj massacres the Langahas, who acknowledge his supremacy—Account of the Langaha tribe—Deoraj conquers Lodorva, capital of the Lodra Rajputs—Avenges an insult of the prince of Dhar—Singular trait of patriotic devotion—Assaults Dhar—Returns to Lodorva—Excavates lakes in Khadal—Assassinated—Succeeded by Rawal Mund, who revenges his father’s death—His son Bachera espouses the daughter of Balabhsen, of Patan Anhilwara—Contemporaries of Mahmud of Ghazni—Captures a caravan of horses—The Pahu Bhattis conquer Pugal from the Johyas—Dusaj, son of Bachera, attacks the Khichis—Proceeds with his three brothers to the land of Kher, where they espouse the Guhilot chief’s daughters—Important synchronisms—Bachera dies—Dusaj succeeds—Attacked by the Sodha prince Hamir, in whose reign the Ghaggar ceased to flow through the desert—Traditional couplet—Sons of Dusaj—The youngest, Lanja Bijairae, marries the daughter of Siddhraj Solanki, king of Anhilwara—The other sons of Dusaj, Jaisal, and Bijairae—Bhojdeo, son of Lanja Bijairae, becomes lord of Lodorva on the death of Dusaj—Jaisal conspires against his nephew Bhojdeo—Solicits aid from the Sultan of Ghor, whom he joins at Aror—Swears allegiance to the Sultan—Obtains his aid to dispossess Bhojdeo—Lodorva attacked and plundered—Bhojdeo slain—Jaisal becomes Rawal of the Bhattis—Abandons Lodorva as too exposed—Discovers a site for a new capital—Prophetic inscription on the Brahmsarkund, or fountain—Founds Jaisalmer—Jaisal dies, and is succeeded by Salbahan II. 1190

Chapter 3

Preliminary observations—The early history of the Bhattis not devoid of interest—Traces of their ancient manners and religion—The chronicle resumed—Jaisal survives the change of capital twelve years—The heir of Kailan banished—Salbahan, his younger brother, succeeds—Expedition against the Kathi—Their supposed origin—Application from the Yadu prince of Badarinath for a prince to fill the vacant gaddi—During Salbahan’s absence his son Bijal usurps the gaddi—Salbahan retires to Khadal, and falls in battle against the Baloch—Bijal commits suicide—Kailan recalled and placed on the gaddi—His issue form clans—Khizr Khan Baloch again invades Khadal—Kailan attacks him, and avenges his father’s death—Death of Kailan—Succeeded by Chachak Deo—He expels the Chana Rajputs—Defeats the Sodhas of Umarkot—The Rathors lately arrived in the desert become troublesome—Important synchronisms—Death of Chachak—He is succeeded by his grandson Karan, to the prejudice of the elder, Jethsi, who leaves Jaisalmer—Redresses the wrongs of a Baraha Rajput—Karan dies—Succeeded by Lakhansen—His imbecile character—Replaced by his son Punpal, who is dethroned and banished—His grandson, Raningdeo, establishes himself at Marot and Pugal—On the deposal of Punpal, Jethsi is recalled and placed on the gaddi—He affords a refuge to the Parihar prince of Mandor, when attacked by Alau-d-din—The sons of Jethsi carry off the imperial tribute of Tatta and Multan—The king determines to invade Jaisalmer—Jethsi and his sons prepare for the storm—Jaisalmer invested—First assault repulsed—The Bhattis keep an army in the field—Rawal Jethsi dies—The siege continues—Singular friendship between his son Ratan and one of the besieging generals—Mulraj succeeds—General assault—Again defeated—Garrison reduced to great extremity—Council of war—Determination to perform the sakha—Generous conduct of the Muhammadan friend of Ratan to his sons—Final assault—Rawal Mulraj and Ratan and their chief kin fall in battle—Jaisalmer taken, dismantled, and abandoned 1206

Chapter 4

The Rathors of Mewa settle amidst the ruins of Jaisalmer—Driven out by the Bhatti chieftain Dudu, who is elected Rawal—He carries off the stud of Firoz Shah—Second storm and sakha of Jaisalmer—Dudu slain—Moghul invasion of India—The Bhatti princes obtain their liberty—Rawal Gharsi re-establishes Jaisalmer—Kehar, son of Deoraj—Disclosure of his destiny by a prodigy—Is adopted by the wife of Rawal Gharsi, who is assassinated by the tribe of Jaisar—Kehar proclaimed—Bimaladevi becomes sati—The succession entailed on the sons of Hamir—Matrimonial overture to Jetha from Mewar—Engagement broken off—The brothers slain—Penitential act of Rao Raning—Offspring of Kehar—Soma the elder departs with his basai and settles at Girab—Sons of Rao Raning become Muslims to avenge their father’s death—Consequent forfeiture of their inheritance—They mix with the Aboharia Bhattis—Kailan, the third son of Kehar, settles in the forfeited lands—Drives the Dahyas from Khadal—Kailan erects the fortress of Kara on the Bias or Gara—Assailed by the Johyas and Langahas under Amir Khan Korai, who is defeated—Subdues the Chahils and Mohils—Extends his authority to the Panjnad—Rao Kailan marries into the Samma family—Account of the Samma race—He seizes on the Samma dominions—Makes the river Indus his boundary—Kailan dies—Succeeded by Chachak—Makes Marot his headquarters—League headed by the chief of Multan against Chachak, who invades that territory, and returns with a rich booty to Marot—A second victory—Leaves a garrison in the Panjab—Defeats Maipal, chief of the Dhundis—Asini-, or Aswini-Kot—Its supposed position—Anecdote—Feud with Satalmer—Its consequences—Alliance with Haibat Khan—Rao Chachak invades Pilibanga—The Khokhars or Ghakkars described—The Langahas drive his garrison from Dhuniapur—Rao Chachak falls sick—Challenges the prince of Multan—Reaches Dhuniapur—Rites preparatory to the combat—Worship of the sword—Chachak is slain with all his bands—Kumbha, hitherto insane, avenges his father’s feud—Birsal re-establishes Dhuniapur—Repairs to Kahror—Assailed by the Langahas and Baloch—Defeats them—Chronicle of Jaisalmer resumed—Rawal Bersi meets Rao Birsal on his return from his expedition in the Panjab—Conquest of Multan by Babur—Probable conversion of the Bhattis of the Panjab—Rawal Bersi, Jeth, Nunkaran, Bhim, Manohardas, and Sabal Singh, six generations 1215

Chapter 5

Jaisalmer becomes a fief of the empire—Changes in the succession—Sabal Singh serves with the Bhatti contingent—His services obtain him the gaddi of Jaisalmer—Boundaries of Jaisalmer at the period of Babur’s invasion—Sabal succeeded by his son, Amra Singh, who leads the tika-daur into the Baloch territory—Crowned on the field of victory—Demands a relief from his subjects to portion his daughter—Puts a chief to death who refuses—Revolt of the Chana Rajputs—The Bhatti chiefs retaliate the inroads of the Rathors of Bikaner—Origin of frontier-feuds—Bhattis gain a victory—The princes of Jaisalmer and Bikaner are involved in the feuds of their vassals—Raja Anup Singh calls on all his chiefs to revenge the disgrace—Invasion of Jaisalmer—The invaders defeated—The Rawal recovers Pugal—Makes Barmer tributary—Amra dies—Succeeded by Jaswant—The chronicle closes—Decline of Jaisalmer—Pugal—Barmer—Phalodi wrested from her by the Rathors—Importance of these transactions to the British Government—Khadal to the Gara seized by the Daudputras—Akhai Singh succeeds—His uncle, Tej Singh, usurps the government—The usurper assassinated during the ceremony of Las—Akhai Singh recovers the gaddi—Reigns forty years—Bahawal Khan seizes on Khadal—Rawal Mulraj—Sarup Singh Mehta made minister—His hatred of the Bhatti nobles—Conspiracy against him by the heir-apparent, Rae Singh—Deposal and confinement of the Rawal—The prince proclaimed—Refuses to occupy the gaddi—Mulraj emancipated by a Rajputni—Resumption of the gaddi—The prince Rae Singh receives the black khilat of banishment—Retires to Jodhpur—Outlawry of the Bhatti nobles—Their lands sequestrated and castles destroyed—After twelve years restored to their lands—Rae Singh decapitates a merchant—Returns to Jaisalmer—Sent to the fortress of Dewa—Salim Singh becomes minister—His character—Falls into the hands of his enemies, but is saved by the magnanimity of Zorawar Singh—Plans his destruction, through his own brother’s wife—Zorawar is poisoned—The Mehta then assassinates her and her husband—Fires the castle of Dewa—Rae Singh burnt to death—Murder of his sons—The minister proclaims Gaj Singh—Younger sons of Mulraj fly to Bikaner—The longest reigns in the Rajput annals are during ministerial usurpation—Retrospective view of the Bhatti history—Reflections 1225

Chapter 6

Rawal Mulraj enters into treaty with the English—The Raja dies—His grandson, Gaj Singh, proclaimed—He becomes a mere puppet in the minister’s hands—Third article of the treaty—Inequality of the alliance—Its importance to Jaisalmer—Consequences to be apprehended by the British Government—Dangers attending the enlarging the circle of our political connexions—Importance of Jaisalmer in the event of Russian invasion—British occupation of the valley of the Indus considered—Salim Singh’s administration resumed—His rapacity and tyranny increase—Wishes his office to be hereditary—Report of the British Agent to his Government—Paliwals self-exiled—Bankers’ families kept as hostages—Revenues arising from confiscation—Wealth of the minister—Border feud detailed to exemplify the interference of the paramount power—The Maldots of Baru—Their history—Nearly exterminated by the Rathors of Bikaner—Stimulated by the minister Salim Singh—Cause of this treachery—He calls for British interference—Granted—Result—Rawal Gaj Singh arrives at Udaipur—Marries the Rana’s daughter—Influence of this lady 1235

Chapter 7

Geographical position of Jaisalmer—Its superficial area—List of its chief towns—Population—Jaisalmer chiefly desert—Magra, a rocky ridge, traced from Cutch—Sars, or salt-marshes—Kanod Sar—Soil—Productions—Husbandry—Manufactures—Commerce—Kitars, or caravans—Articles of trade—Revenues—Land and transit taxes—Dani, or Collector—Amount of land-tax exacted from the cultivator—Dhuan, or hearth-tax—Thali, or tax on food—Dand, or forced contribution—Citizens refuse to pay—Enormous wealth accumulated by the minister by extortion—Establishments—Expenditure—Tribes—Bhattis—Their moral estimation—Personal appearance and dress—Their predilection for opium and tobacco—Paliwals, their history—Numbers, wealth, employment—Curious rite or worship—Pali coins—Pokharna Brahmans—Title—Numbers—Singular typical worship—Race of Jat—Castle of Jaisalmer 1244

ILLUSTRATIONS

Portrait of Colonel James Tod Frontispiece

TO FACE PAGE

Kanhaiya and Rādha 630

Columns of Temples at Chandrāvati 670

Portraits of a Rājputni, a Rājput, a Gūsāīn, etc. 708

Valley of Udaipur 760

Citadel of the Hill Fortress of Kūmbhalmer 776

Jain Temple in the Fortress of Kūmbhalmer 780

Ruins in Kūmbhalmer 782

Koli and Bhīl; Chāran or Bard 788

Jāt Peasant of Mārwār. Rājput Foot Soldier of Mārwār 812

Town and Fort of Jodhpur 820

Rock Sculptures at Mandor; Chāmunda, Kankāli 842

Rock Sculptures at Mandor; Mallināth, Nāthji 844

Rock Sculptures at Mandor; Rāmdeo Rāthor, Pābuji, etc. 846

Rock Sculptures at Mandor; Gūga the Chauhān, Harbuji 848 Sānkhla

Rock Sculptures at Mandor; Mehaji Mangalia 850

Paiks of Mārwār 860

Durga Dās; Mahārāja Sher Singh of Rian 866

The Sacred Lake of Pushkar in Mārwār 892

Ancient Jain Temple at Ajmer 896

Fortress and Town of Ajmer 900

Castle of Bhinai 904

Source of the Berach River, and Hunting Seat of the 910 Rāna

Bridge of Nūrābād 914

The late Mahārāja Sir Sumer Singh, of Jodhpur (b. 928 1901; d. 1918), and his brother, the present Mahārāja Ummed Singh (b. 1903)

Horoscope of Rāja Abhai Singh Page 1019

ANNALS AND ANTIQUITIES OF RAJASTHAN

Chapter 19

=Influence of the Priesthood.=—In all ages the ascendancy of the hierarchy is observable; it is a tribute paid to religion through her organs. Could the lavish endowments and extensive immunities of the various religious establishments in Rajasthan be assumed as criteria of the morality of the inhabitants, we should be authorized to assign them a high station in the scale of excellence. But they more frequently prove the reverse of their position; especially the territorial endowments, often the fruits of a death-bed repentance,[4.19.1] which, prompted by superstition or fear, compounds for past crimes by posthumous profusion, although vanity not rarely lends her powerful aid. There is scarcely a State in Rajputana in which one-fifth of the soil is not assigned for the support of the temples, their ministers, the secular Brahmans, bards, and [508] genealogists. But the evil was not always so extensive; the abuse is of modern growth.

=Weighing of Princes against Gold.=—An anecdote related of the Rajas of Marwar and Amber, always rivals in war, love, and folly, will illustrate the motives of these dismemberments. During the annual pilgrimage to the sacred lake of Pushkar, it is the custom for these lords of the earth to weigh their persons against all that is rare, in gold, gems, and precious cloths; which are afterwards distributed to the priests.[4.19.2] The Amber chief had the advantage of a full treasury and a fertile soil, to which his rival could oppose a more extended sway over a braver race; but his country was proverbially poor, and at Pushkar, the weight of the purse ranks above the deeds of the sword. As these princes were suspended in the scale, the Amber Raja, who was balanced against the more costly material, indirectly taunted his brother-in-law on the poverty of his offerings, who would gladly, like the Roman, have made up the deficiency with his sword. But the Marwar prince had a minister of tact, at whose suggestion he challenged his rival (of Amber) to equal him in the magnitude of his gift to the Brahmans. On the gage being accepted, the Rathor exclaimed, “Perpetual charity (sasan)[4.19.3] of all the lands held by the Brahmans in Marwar!” His unreflecting rival had commenced the redemption of his pledge, when his minister stopped the half-uttered vow, which would have impoverished the family for ever; for there were ten Brahmans in Amber who followed secular employments, cultivating or holding lands in usufruct, to one in Marwar. Had these lords of the earth been left to their misguided vanity, the fisc of each state would have been seriously curtailed.

=Grants to Brāhmans and Devotees.=—The Brahmans, Sannyasis, and Gosains are not behind those professional flatterers, the Bards; and many a princely name would have been forgotten but for the record of the gift of land. In Mewar, the lands in sasan, or religious grants, amount in value to one-fifth of the revenue of the State, and the greater proportion of these has arisen out of the prodigal mismanagement of the last century. The dilapidated state of the country, on the general pacification in A.D. 1818, afforded a noble opportunity to redeem in part these alienations, without the penalty of denunciation attached to the resumer of sacred charities. But death, famine, and exile, which had left but few of the grantees in a capacity to return and reoccupy the lands, in vain coalesced to restore the fisc of Mewar. The Rana dreaded a “sixty thousand [509] years’ residence in hell,” and some of the finest land of his country is doomed to remain unproductive. In this predicament is the township of Menal,[4.19.4] with 50,000 bighas (16,000 acres), which with the exception of a nook where some few have established themselves, claiming to be descendants of the original holders, are condemned to sterility, owing to the agricultural proprietors and the rent-receiving Brahmans being dead; and apathy united to superstition admits their claims without inquiry.

The antiquary, who has dipped into the records of the dark period in European church history, can have ocular illustration in Rajasthan of traditions which may in Europe appear questionable. The vision of the Bishop of Orleans,[4.19.5] who saw Charles Martel in the depths of hell, undergoing the tortures of the damned, for having stripped the churches of their possessions, “thereby rendering himself guilty of the sins of all those who had endowed them,” would receive implicit credence from every Hindu, whose ecclesiastical economy might both yield and derive illustration from a comparison, not only with that of Europe, but with the more ancient Egyptian and Jewish systems, whose endowments, as explained by Moses and Ezekiel, bear a strong analogy to his own. The disposition of landed property in Egypt, as amongst the ancient Hindus, was immemorially vested in the cultivator; and it was only through Joseph’s ministry in the famine that “the land became Pharaoh’s, as the Egyptians sold every man his field.”[4.19.6] And the coincidence is manifest even in the tax imposed on them as occupants of their inheritance, being one-fifth of the crops to the king, while the maximum rate among the Hindus is a sixth.[4.19.7] The Hindus also, in visitations such as that which occasioned the dispossession of the ryots of Egypt, can mortgage or sell their patrimony (bapota). Joseph did not attempt to infringe the privileges of the sacred order when the whole of Egypt became crown-land, “except the lands of the priests, which became not Pharaoh’s”; and these priests, according to Diodorus, held for themselves and the sacrifices no less than one-third of the lands of Egypt. But we learn from [510] Herodotus, that Sesostris, who ruled after Joseph’s ministry, restored the lands to the people, reserving the customary tax or tribute.[4.19.8]

The prelates of the middle ages of Europe were often completely feudal nobles, swearing fealty and paying homage as did the lay lords.[4.19.9] In Rajasthan, the sacerdotal caste not bound to the altar may hold lands and perform the duties of vassalage:[4.19.10] but of late years, when land has been assigned to religious establishments, no reservation has been made of fiscal rights, territorial or commercial. This is, however, an innovation; since, formerly, princes never granted, along with territorial assignments, the prerogative of dispensing justice, of levying transit duties, or exemption from personal service of the feudal tenant who held on the land thus assigned. Well may Rajput heirs exclaim with the grandson of Clovis, “our exchequer is impoverished, and our riches are transferred to the clergy.”[4.19.11] But Chilperic had the courage to recall the grants of his predecessors, which, however, the pious Gontram re-established. Many Gontrams could be found, though but few Chilperics, in Rajasthan: we have, indeed, one in Jograj,[4.19.12] the Rana’s ancestor, almost a contemporary of the Merovingian king, who not only resumed all the lands of the Brahmans, but put many of them to death, and expelled the rest his dominions.[4.19.13]

It may be doubted whether vanity and shame are not sufficient in themselves to prevent a resumption of the lands of the Mangtas or mendicants, as they style all those ‘who extend the palm,’ without the dreaded penalty, which operates very slightly on the sub-vassal or cultivator, who, having no superfluity, defies their anathemas when they attempt to wrest from him, by virtue of the crown-grant, any of his long-established rights. By these, the threat of impure transmigration is despised; and the Brahman may spill his blood on the threshold of his dwelling or in the field in dispute, which will be relinquished by the owner but with his life. The Pat Rani, or chief queen, on the death of Prince Amra, the heir-apparent, in 1818, bestowed a grant of fifteen bighas of land, in one of the central districts, on a Brahman who had assisted in the funeral rites of her son. With grant in hand [511], he hastened to the Jat proprietor, and desired him to make over to him the patch of land. The latter coolly replied that he would give him all the prince had a right to, namely the tax. The Brahman threatened to spill his own blood if he did not obey the command, and gave himself a gash in a limb; but the Jat was inflexible, and declared that he would not surrender his patrimony (bapota) even if he slew himself.[4.19.14] In short, the

ryot of Mewar would reply, even to his sovereign, if he demanded his field, in the very words of Naboth to Ahab, king of Israel, when he demanded the vineyard contiguous to the palace: “The Lord forbid it me that I should give the inheritance of my fathers unto thee.”

=Tithes, Temples.=—But the tithes, and other small and legally established rights of the hierarchy, are still religiously maintained. The village temple and the village priest are always objects of veneration to the industrious husbandman, on whom superstition acts more powerfully than on the bold marauding Rajput, who does not hesitate to demand salvamenta (rakhwali) from the lands of Kanhaiya or Eklinga. But the poor ryot of the nineteenth century of Vikrama has the same fears as the peasants of Charlemagne, who were made to believe that the ears of corn found empty had been devoured by infernal spirits, reported to have said they owed their feast to the non-payment of tithes.[4.19.15]

=Political Influence of Brāhmans.=—The political influence of the Brahmans is frequently exemplified in cases alike prejudicial to the interests of society and the personal welfare of the sovereign. The latter is often surrounded by lay-Brahmans as confidential servants, in the capacities of butler, keeper of the wardrobe, or seneschal,[4.19.16] besides the Guru or domestic chaplain, who to the duty of ghostly comforter sometimes joins that of [512] astrologer and physician, in which case God help the prince![4.19.17] These Gurus and Purohits, having the education of the children, acquire immense influence, and are not backward in improving “the greatness thrust upon them.” They are all continually importuning their prince for grants of land for themselves and the shrines they are attached to; and every chief, as well as every influential domestic, takes advantage of ephemeral favour to increase the endowments of his tutelary divinity. The Peshwas of Satara are the most striking out of numerous examples.

In the dark ages of Europe the monks are said to have prostituted their knowledge of writing to the forging of charters in their own favour: a practice not easily detected in the days of ignorance.[4.19.18] The Brahmans, in like manner, do not scruple to employ this method of augmenting the wealth of their shrines; and superstition and indolence combine to support the deception There is not a doubt that the grand charter of Nathdwara was a forgery, in which the prince’s butler was bribed to aid; and report alleges that the Rana secretly favoured an artifice which regard to opinion prevented him from overtly promulgating. Although the copper-plate had been buried under ground, and came out disguised with a coating of verdigris, there were marks which proved the date of its execution to be false. I have seen charters which, it has been gravely asserted, were granted by Rama upwards of three thousand years ago! Such is the origin assigned to one found in a well at the ancient Brahmpuri, in the valley of the capital. If there be sceptics as to its validity, they are silent ones; and this copper-plate of the brazen age [513] is worth gold to the proprietor.[4.19.19] A census[4.19.20] of the three central districts of Mewar discovered that more than twenty thousand acres of these fertile lands, irrigated by the Berach and Banas rivers, were distributed in isolated portions, of which the mendicant castes had the chief share, and which proved fertile sources of dispute to the husbandman and the officers of the revenue. From the mass of title-deeds of every description by which these lands were held, one deserves to be selected, on account of its being pretended to have been written and bestowed on the incumbent’s ancestor by the deity upwards of three centuries ago, and which has been maintained as a bona-fide grant of Krishna[4.19.21] ever since. By such credulity and apathy are the Rajput States influenced: yet let the reader check any rising feeling of contempt for Hindu legislation, and cast a retrospective glance at the page of European church history, where he will observe in the time of the most potent of our monarchs that the clergy possessed one-half of the soil:[4.19.22] and the chronicles of France will show him Charlemagne on his death-bed, bequeathing two-thirds of his domains to the church, deeming the remaining third sufficient for the ambition of four sons. The same dread of futurity, and the hope to expiate the sins of a life, at its close, by gifts to the organs of religion, is the motive for these unwise alienations, whether in Europe or in Asia. Some of these establishments, and particularly that at Nathdwara, made a proper use of their revenues in keeping up the Sada-Brat, or perpetual charity, though it is chiefly distributed to religious pilgrims: but among the many complaints made of the misapplication of the funds, the diminution of this hospitable right is one; while, at other shrines, the avarice of the priests is observable in the coarseness of the food dressed for sacrifice and offering.

=Tithes levied by Brāhmans.=—Besides the crown-grants to the greater establishments, the Brahmans received petty tithes from the agriculturist, and a small duty from the trader, as mapa or metage, throughout every township, corresponding with the scale of the village-chapel. An inscription found by the author at the town of Palod,[4.19.23] and dated nearly seven centuries back, affords a good specimen of the claims of the village [514] priesthood. The following are among the items. The serana, or a ser, in every maund, being the fortieth part of the grain of the unalu, or summer-harvest; the karpa, or a bundle from every sheaf of the autumnal crops, whether makai (Indian corn), bajra or juar (maize) [millet], or the other grains peculiar to that season.[4.19.24]

They also derive a tithe from the oil-mill and sugar-mill, and receive a kansa or platter of food on all rejoicings, as births, marriages, etc., with charai, or the right of pasturage on the village common; and where they have become possessed of landed property they have halma, or unpaid labour in man and beasts, and implements, for its culture: an exaction well known in Europe as one of the detested corvées of the feudal system of France,[4.19.25] the abolition of which was the sole boon the English husbandman obtained by the charter of Runymede. Both the chieftain and the priest exact halma in Rajasthan; but in that country it is mitigated, and abuse is prevented, by a sentiment unknown to the feudal despot of the middle ages of Europe, and which, though difficult to define, acts imperceptibly, having its source in accordance of belief, patriarchal manners, and clannish attachments.

=Privileges of Saivas and Jains.=—I shall now briefly consider the privileges of the Saivas and Jains—the orthodox and heterodox sects of Mewar; and then proceed to those of Vishnu, whose worship is the most prevalent in these countries, and which I am inclined to regard as of more recent origin.

=Worship of Siva.=—Mahadeva, or Iswara, is the tutelary divinity of the Rajputs in Mewar; and from the early annals of the dynasty appears to have been, with his consort Isani, the sole object of Guhilot adoration. Iswara is adored under the epithet of Eklinga,[4.19.26] and is either worshipped in his monolithic symbol, or as Iswara Chaumukhi, the quadriform divinity, represented by a bust with four faces. The sacred bull, Nandi, has his altar attached to all the shrines of Iswara, as was that of Mneves or Apis to those of the Egyptian Osiris. Nandi has occasionally his separate shrines, and there is one in the valley of Udaipur which has the reputation of being oracular as regards the seasons. The bull was the steed of Iswara, and [515] carried him in battle; he is often represented upon it, with his consort Isani, at full speed. I will not stop to inquire whether the Grecian fable of the rape of Europa[4.19.27] by the tauriform Jupiter may not be derived, with much more of their mythology, from the Hindu pantheon; whether that pantheon was originally erected on the Indus, or the Ganges, or the more central scene of early civilization, the banks of the Oxus. The bull was offered to Mithras by the Persian, and opposed as it now appears to Hindu faith, he formerly bled on the altars of the Sun-god, on which not only the Baldan,[4.19.28] ‘offering of the bull,’ was made, but human sacrifices.[4.19.29] We do not learn that the Egyptian priesthood presented the kindred of Apis to Osiris, but as they were not prohibited from eating beef, they may have done so.

=The Temple of Eklinga.=—The shrine of Eklinga is situated in a defile about six [twelve] miles north of Udaipur. The hills towering around it on all sides are of the primitive formation, and their scarped summits are clustered with honeycombs.[4.19.30] There are abundant small springs of water, which keep verdant numerous shrubs, the flowers of which are acceptable to the deity; especially the kaner or oleander, which grows in great luxuriance on the Aravalli. Groves of bamboo and mango were formerly common, according to tradition; but although it is deemed sacrilege to thin the groves of Bal,[4.19.31] the bamboo has been nearly destroyed: there are, however, still many trees sacred to the deity scattered around. It would be difficult to convey a just [516] idea of a temple so complicated in its details. It is of the form commonly styled pagoda, and, like all the ancient temples of Siva, its sikhara, or pinnacle, is pyramidal. The various orders of Hindu sacred architecture are distinguished by the form of the sikhara, which is the portion springing from and surmounting the perpendicular walls of the body of the temple. The sikhara of those of Siva is invariably pyramidal, and its sides vary with the base, whether square or oblong. The apex is crowned with an ornamental figure, as a sphinx, an urn, a ball, or a lion, which is called the kalas. When the sikhara is but the frustum of a pyramid, it is often surmounted by a row of lions, as at Bijolia. The fane of Eklinga is of white marble and of ample dimensions. Under an open-vaulted temple supported by columns, and fronting the four-faced divinity, is the brazen bull Nandi, of the natural size; it is cast, and of excellent proportions. The figure is perfect, except where the shot or hammer of an infidel invader has penetrated its hollow flank in search of treasure. Within the quadrangle are miniature shrines, containing some of the minor divinities.[4.19.32] The high-priest of Eklinga, like all his order, is doomed to celibacy, and the office is continued by adopted disciples. Of such spiritual descents they calculate sixty-four since the Sage Harita, whose benediction obtained for the Guhilot Rajput the sovereignty of Chitor, when driven from Saurashtra by the Parthians.

The priests of Eklinga are termed Gosain or Goswami, which signifies ‘control over the senses’! The distinguishing mark of the faith of Siva is the crescent on the forehead:[4.19.33] the hair is braided and forms a tiara round the head, and with its folds a chaplet of the lotus-seed is often entwined. They smear the body with ashes, and use garments dyed of an orange hue. They bury their dead in a sitting [517] posture, and erect tumuli over them, which are generally conical in form.[4.19.34] It is not uncommon for priestesses to officiate in the temple of Siva. There is a numerous class of Gosains who have adopted celibacy, and who yet follow secular employments both in commerce and arms. The mercantile Gosains[4.19.35] are amongst the richest individuals in India, and there are several at Udaipur who enjoy high favour, and who were found very useful when the Mahrattas demanded a war-contribution, as their privileged character did not prevent their being offered and taken as hostages for its payment. The Gosains who profess arms, partake of the character of the knights of St. John of Jerusalem. They live in monasteries scattered over the country, possess lands, and beg, or serve for pay when called upon. As defensive soldiers, they are good. Siva, their patron, is the god of war, and like him they make great use of intoxicating herbs, and even of spirituous liquors. In Mewar they can always muster many hundreds of the Kanphara[4.19.36] Jogi, or ‘split-ear ascetics,’ so called from the habit of piercing the ear and placing therein a ring of the conch-shell, which is their battle-trumpet. Both Brahmans and Rajputs, and even =Gujars=, can belong to this order, a particular account of whose internal discipline and economy could not fail to be interesting. The poet Chand gives an animated description of the body-guard of the King of Kanauj, which was composed of these monastic warriors.

=Priestly Functions of the Mewār Rānas.=—The Ranas of Mewar, as the diwans, or vicegerents of Siva, when they visit the temple supersede the high priest in his duties, and perform the ceremonies, which the reigning prince does with peculiar correctness and grace.[4.19.37]

=Privileges of Jains.=—The shrine of Eklinga is endowed with twenty-four large villages from the fisc, besides parcels of land from the chieftains; but the privileges of the tutelary divinity have been waning since Kanhaiya fixed his residence amongst them; and as the priests of Apollo complained that the god was driven from the sacred mount [518] Govardhana, in Vraj, by the influence of those of Jupiter[4.19.38] with Shah Jahan, the latter may now lament that the day of retribution has arrived, when propitiation to the Preserver is deemed more important than to the Destroyer. This may arise from the personal character of the high priests, who, from their vicinity to the court, can scarcely avoid mingling in its intrigues, and thence lose in character: even the Ranis do not hesitate to take mortgages on the estates of Bholanath.[4.19.39] We shall not further enlarge on the immunities to Eklinga, or the forms in which they are conveyed, as these will be fully discussed in the account of the shrine of Krishna; but proceed to notice the privileges of the heterodox Jains—the Vidyavan[4.19.40] or Magi of Rajasthan. The numbers and power of these sectarians are little known to Europeans, who take it for granted that they are few and dispersed. To prove the extent of their religious and political power, it will suffice to remark that the pontiff of the Khadatara-gachchha,[4.19.41] one of the many branches of this faith, has 11,000 clerical disciples scattered over India; that a single community, the Osi or Oswal,[4.19.42] numbers 100,000 families; and that more than half [519] of the mercantile wealth of India passes through the hands of the Jain laity. Rajasthan and Saurashtra are the cradles of the Buddhist or Jain faith, and three out of their five sacred mounts, namely, Abu, Palitana,[4.19.43] and Girnar, are in these countries. The officers of the State and revenue are chiefly of the Jain laity, as are the majority of the bankers, from Lahore to the ocean. The chief magistrate and assessors of justice, in Udaipur and most of the towns of Rajasthan, are of this sect; and as their voluntary duties are confined to civil cases, they are as competent in these as they are the reverse in criminal cases, from their tenets forbidding the shedding of blood. To this leading feature in their religion they owe their political debasement: for Kumarpal, the last king of Anhilwara of the Jain faith, would not march his armies in the rains, from the unavoidable sacrifice of animal life that must have ensued. The strict Jain does not even maintain a lamp during that season, lest it should attract moths to their destruction.

=Absence of Intolerance.=—The period of sectarian intolerance is now past; and as far as my observation goes, the ministers of Vishnu, Siva, and Buddha view each other without malignity; which feeling never appears to have influenced the laity of either sect, who are indiscriminately respectful to the ministers of all religions, whatever be their tenets. It is sufficient that their office is one of sanctity, and that they are ministers of the Divinity, who, they say, excludes the homage of none, in whatever tongue or whatever manner he is sought; and with this spirit of entire toleration, the devout missionary, or Mulla, would in no country meet more security or hospitable courtesy than among the Rajputs. They must, however, adopt the toleration they would find practised towards themselves, and not exclude, as some of them do, the races of Surya and Chandra from divine mercy, who, with less arrogance, and more reliance on the compassionate nature of the Creator, say, he has established a variety of paths by which the good may attain beatitude.

Mewar has, from the most remote period, afforded a refuge to the followers of the Jain faith, which was the religion of Valabhi, the first capital of the Rana’s ancestors, and many monuments attest the support this family has granted to its [520] professors in all the vicissitudes of their fortunes. One of the best preserved monumental remains in India is a column most elaborately sculptured, full seventy feet in height, dedicated to Parsvanath, in Chitor.[4.19.44] The noblest remains of sacred architecture, not in Mewar only, but throughout Western India, are Buddhist or Jain:[4.19.45] and the many ancient cities where this religion was fostered, have inscriptions which evince their prosperity in these countries, with whose history their own is interwoven. In fine, the necrological records of the Jains bear witness to their having occupied a distinguished place in Rajput society; and the privileges they still enjoy, prove that they are not overlooked. It is not my intention to say more on the past or present history of these sectarians, than may be necessary to show the footing on which their establishments are placed; to which end little is required beyond copies of a few simple warrants and ordinances in their favour.[4.19.46] Hereafter I may endeavour to add something to the knowledge already possessed of these deists of Rajasthan, whose singular communities contain mines of knowledge hitherto inaccessible to Europeans. The libraries of Jaisalmer in the desert, of Anhilwara, the cradle of their faith, of Cambay, and other places of minor importance, consist of thousands of volumes. These are under the control, not of the priests alone, but of communities of the most wealthy and respectable amongst the laity, and are preserved in the crypts of their temples, which precaution ensured their preservation, as well as that of the statues of their deified teachers, when the temples themselves were destroyed by the Muhammadan invaders, who paid more deference to the images of Buddha than those of Siva or Vishnu. The preservation of the former may be owing to the natural formation of their statues; for while many of Adinath, of Nemi, and of Parsva have escaped the hammer, there is scarcely an Apollo or a Venus, of any antiquity, entire, from Lahore to Rameswaram. The two arms of these theists sufficed for their protection; while the statues of the polytheists have met with no mercy.

=Grant of Rāna Rāj Singh.=—No. V.[4.19.47] is the translation of a grant by the celebrated Rana Raj Singh, the gallant and successful opponent of Aurangzeb in many a battle. It is at once of a general and special nature, containing a confirmation of the old privileges of the sect, and a mark of favour to a priest of some distinction, called Mana. It is well known [521] that the first law of the Jains, like that of the ancient Athenian lawgiver Triptolemus, is, “Thou shalt not kill,” a precept applicable to every sentient thing. The first clause of this edict, in conformity thereto, prohibits all innovation upon this cherished principle; while the second declares that even the life which is forfeited to the laws is immortal (amara) if the victim but passes near their abodes. The third article defines the extent of saran, or sanctuary, the dearest privilege of the races of these regions. The fourth article sanctions the tithes, both on agricultural and commercial produce; and makes no distinction between the Jain priests and those of Siva and Vishnu in this source of income, which will be more fully detailed in the account of Nathdwara. The fifth article is the particular gift to the priest; and the whole closes with the usual anathema against such as may infringe the ordinance.

=The Jain Retreat.=—The edicts Nos. VI. and VII.,[4.19.48] engraved on pillars of stone in the towns of Rasmi and Bakrol, further illustrate the scrupulous observances of the Rana’s house towards the Jains; where, in compliance with their peculiar doctrine, the oil-mill and the potter’s wheel suspend their revolutions for the four months in the year when insects most abound.[4.19.49] Many others of a similar character could be furnished, but these remarks may be concluded with an instance of the influence of the Jains on Rajput society, which passed immediately under the Author’s eye. In the midst of a sacrifice to the god of war, when the victims were rapidly falling by the scimitar, a request preferred by one of them for the life of a goat or a buffalo on the point of immolation, met instant compliance, and the animal, become amara or immortal, with a garland thrown round his neck, was led off in triumph from the blood-stained spot.

=Nāthdwāra.=—This is the most celebrated of the fanes of the Hindu Apollo. Its etymology is ‘the portal (dwara) of the god’ (nath), of the same import as his more ancient shrine of Dwarka[4.19.50] at the ‘world’s end.’ Nathdwara is twenty-two [thirty] miles N.N.E. of Udaipur, on the right bank of the Banas. Although the principal resort of the followers of Vishnu, it has nothing very remarkable in its structure or situation. It owes its celebrity entirely to the image of Krishna, said to [522] be the same that has been worshipped at Mathura ever since his deification, between eleven and twelve hundred years before Christ.[4.19.51] As containing the representative of the mildest of the gods of Hind, Nathdwara is one of the most frequented places of pilgrimage, though it must want that attraction to the classical Hindu which the caves of Gaya, the shores of the distant Dwarka, or the pastoral Vraj,[4.19.52] the place of the nativity of Krishna, present to his imagination; for though the groves of Vindra,[4.19.53] in which Kanhaiya disported with the Gopis, no longer resound to the echoes of his flute; though the waters of the Yamuna[4.19.54] are daily polluted with the blood of the sacred kine, still it is the holy land of the pilgrim, the sacred Jordan of his fancy, on whose banks he may sit and weep, as did the banished Israelite of old, the glories of Mathura, his Jerusalem!

It was in the reign of Aurangzeb that the pastoral divinity was exiled from Vraj, that classic soil which, during a period of two thousand eight hundred years, had been the sanctuary of his worshippers. He had been compelled to occasional flights during the visitations of Mahmud and the first dynasties of Afghan invaders; though the more tolerant of the Mogul kings not only reinstated him, but were suspected of dividing their faith between Kanhaiya and the prophet. Akbar was an enthusiast in the mystic poetry of Jayadeva, which paints in glowing colours the loves of Kanhaiya and Radha, in which lovely personification the refined Hindu abjures all sensual interpretation, asserting its character of pure spiritual love.[4.19.55]

=The Mughals and Krishna Worship.=—Jahangir, by birth half a Rajput, was equally indulgent to the worship of Kanhaiya: but Shah Jahan, also the son of a Rajput princess, inclined to the [523] doctrines of Siva, in which he was initiated by Siddhrup the Sannyasi. Sectarian animosity is more virulent than faiths totally dissimilar. Here we see Hindu depressing Hindu: the followers of Siva oppressing those of Kanhaiya; the priests of Jupiter driving the pastoral Apollo from the Parnassus of Vraj. At the intercession, however, of a princess of Udaipur, he was replaced on his altar, where he remained till Aurangzeb became emperor of the Moguls. In such detestation did the Hindus hold this intolerant king, that in like manner as they supposed the beneficent Akbar to be the devout Mukund in a former birth, so they make the tyrant’s body enclose the soul of Kalyavana the foe of Krishna, ere his apotheosis, from whom he fled to Dwarka, and thence acquired the name of Ranchhor.[4.19.56]

=The Image of Krishna removed to Mewār. Founding of Nāthdwāra.=—When Aurangzeb proscribed Kanhaiya, and rendered his shrines impure throughout Vraj, Rana Raj Singh “offered the heads of one hundred thousand Rajputs for his service,” and the god was conducted by the route of Kotah and Rampura to Mewar. An omen decided the spot of his future residence. As he journeyed to gain the capital of the Sesodias the chariot-wheel sunk deep into the earth and defied extrication; upon which the Saguni (augur) interpreted the pleasure of the god, that he desired to dwell there. This circumstance occurred at an inconsiderable village called Siarh, in the fief of Delwara, one of the sixteen nobles of Mewar. Rejoiced at this decided manifestation of favour, the chief hastened to make a perpetual gift of the village and its lands, which was speedily confirmed by the patent of the Rana.[4.19.57] Nathji (the god) was removed from his car, and in due time a temple was erected for his reception, when the hamlet of Siarh became the town of Nathdwara, which now contains many thousand inhabitants of all denominations, who, reposing under the especial protection of the god, are exempt from every mortal tribunal. The site is not uninteresting, nor devoid of the means of defence. To the east it is shut in by a cluster of hills, and to the westward flows the Banas, which nearly bathes the extreme points of the hills. Within these bounds is the sanctuary (saran) of Kanhaiya, where the criminal is free from pursuit; nor dare the rod of justice appear on the mount, or the foot of the pursuer pass the stream; neither within it can blood be spilt, for the pastoral Kanhaiya delights not in offerings of this kind [524].[4.19.58] The territory contains within its precincts abundant space for the town, the temple, and the establishments of the priests, as well as for the numerous resident worshippers, and the constant influx of votaries from the most distant regions,

From Samarcand, by Oxus, Temir’s throne, Down to the golden Chersonese,

who find abundant shelter from the noontide blaze in the groves of tamarind, pipal, and semal,[4.19.59] where they listen to the mystic hymns of Jayadeva. Here those whom ambition has cloyed, superstition unsettled, satiety disgusted, commerce ruined, or crime disquieted, may be found as ascetic attendants on the mildest of the gods of India. Determined upon renouncing the world, they first renounce the ties that bind them to it, whether family, friends, or fortune, and placing their wealth at the disposal of the deity, stipulate only for a portion of the food dressed for him, and to be permitted to prostrate themselves before him till their allotted time is expired. Here no blood-stained sacrifice scares the timid devotee; no austerities terrify, or tedious ceremonies fatigue him; he is taught to cherish the hope that he has only to ask for mercy in order to obtain it; and to believe that the compassionate deity who guarded the lapwing’s nest[4.19.60] in the midst of myriads of combatants, who gave beatitude to the courtesan[4.19.61] who as the wall crushed her pronounced the name of ‘Rama,’ will not withhold it from him who has quitted the world and its allurements that he may live only in his presence, be fed by the food prepared for himself, and yield up his last sigh invoking the name of Hari. There [525] have been two hundred individuals at a time, many of whom, stipulating merely for food, raiment, and funeral rites, have abandoned all to pass their days in devotion at the shrine: men of every condition, Rajput merchant, and mechanic; and where sincerity of devotion is the sole expiation, and gifts outweigh penance, they must feel the road smooth to the haven of hope.

=Benefactions to Nāthdwāra.=—The dead stock of Krishna’s shrine is augmented chiefly by those who hold life “unstable as the dew-drop on the lotus”; and who are happy to barter “the wealth of Ormuz and of Ind” for the intercessional prayers of the high priest, and his passport to Haripur, the heaven of Hari. From the banks of the Indus to the mouths of the Ganges, from the coasts of the Peninsula to the shores of the Red Sea, the gifts of gratitude or of fear are lavishly poured in; and though the unsettled aspect of the last half-century curtailed the transmission of the more bulky but least valuable benefactions, it less affected the bills of exchange from the successful sons of commerce, or the legacies of the dead. The safe arrival of a galleon from Sofala or Arabia produced as much to the shrine as to the insurance office, for Kanhaiya is the Saint Nicholas of the Hindu navigator, as was Apollo to the Grecian and Celtic sailors, who purchased the charmed arrows of the god to calm the troubled sea.[4.19.62] A storm accordingly yields in proportion to its violence, or to the nerve of the owner of the vessel. The appearance of a long-denied heir might deprive him of half his patrimony, and force him to lament his parent’s distrust in natural causes; while the accidental mistake of touching forbidden food on particular fasts requires expiation, not by flagellation or seclusion, but by the penance of the purse.

There is no donation too great or too trifling for the acceptance of Krishna, from the baronial estate to a patch of meadowland; from the gemmed coronet to adorn his image, to the widow’s mite; nor, as before observed, is there a principality [526] in India which does not diminish its fisc to add to his revenues. What effect the milder rites of the shepherd-god have produced on the adorers of Siva we know not, but assuredly Eklinga, the tutelary divinity of Mewar, has to complain of being defrauded of half his dues since Kanhaiya transferred his abode from the Yamuna to the Banas; for the revenues assigned to Kanhaiya, who under the epithet of ‘Yellow mantle’[4.19.63] has a distinguished niche in the domestic chapel of the Rana, far exceed those of the Avenger. The grants or patents of Hindupati,[4.19.64] defining the privileges and immunities of the shrine, are curious documents.[4.19.65]

=Rights of Sanctuary.=—The extension of the sanctuary beyond the vicinage of the shrine became a subject of much animadversion; and in delegating judicial authority over the whole of the villages in the grant to the priests, the Rana committed the temporal welfare of his subjects to a class of men not apt to be lenient in the collection of their dues, which not unfrequently led to bloodshed. In alienating the other royalties, especially the transit duties, he was censured even by the zealots. Yet, however important such concessions, they were of subordinate value to the rights of sanctuary, which were extended to the whole of the towns in the grant, thereby multiplying the places of refuge for crime, already too numerous.

=Violation of Sanctuary.=—In all ages and countries the rights of sanctuary have been admitted, and however they may be abused, their institution sprung from humane motives. To check the impulse of revenge and to shelter the weak from oppression are noble objects, and the surest test of a nation’s independence is the extent to which they are carried. From the remotest times saran has been the most valued privilege of the Rajputs, the lowest of whom deems his house a refuge against the most powerful. But we merely propose to discuss the sanctuary of holy places, and more immediately that of the shrine of Kanhaiya. When Moses, after the Exodus, made a division of the lands of Canaan amongst the Israelites, and appointed “six cities to be the refuge of him who had slain unwittingly, from the avenger of blood,”[4.19.66] the intention was not to afford facilities for eluding justice, but to check the hasty impulse of revenge; for the slayer was only to be protected “until he stood before the congregation for judgment, or until the death of the high-priest” [527], which event appears to have been considered as the termination of revenge.[4.19.67] The infraction of political sanctuary (saran torna) often gives rise to the most inveterate feuds; and its abuse by the priests is highly prejudicial to society. Moses appointed but six cities of refuge to the whole Levite tribe; but the Rana has assigned more to one shrine than the entire possessions of that branch of the Israelites who had but forty-two cities, while Kanhaiya has forty-six.[4.19.68] The motive of sanctuary in Rajasthan may have been originally the same as that of the divine legislator; but the privilege has been abused, and the most notorious criminals deem the temple their best safeguard. Yet some princes have been found hardy enough to violate, though indirectly, the sacred saran. Zalim Singh of Kotah, a zealot in all the observances of religion, had the boldness to draw the line when selfish priestcraft interfered with his police; and though he would not demand the culprit, or sacrilegiously drag him from the altar, he has forced him thence by prohibiting the admission of food, and threatening to build up the door of the temple. It was thus the Greeks evaded the laws, and compelled the criminal’s surrender by kindling fires around the sanctuary.[4.19.69] The towns of Kanhaiya did not often abuse their privilege; but the Author once had to interpose, where a priest of Eklinga gave asylum to a felon who had committed murder within the bounds of his domain of Pahona. As this town, of eight thousand rupees annual revenue belonging to the fisc, had been gained by a forged charter, the Author was glad to seize on the occasion to recommend its resumption, though he thereby incurred the penalty for seizing church land, namely “sixty thousand years in hell.” The unusual occurrence created a sensation, but it was so indisputably just that not a voice was raised in opposition.

=Endowments of Nāthdwāra.=—Let us revert to the endowments of Nathdwara. Herodotus[4.19.70] furnishes a powerful instance of the estimation in which sacred offerings were held by the nations of antiquity. He observes that these were transmitted from the remotest nations of Scythia to Delos in Greece; a range far less extensive than the offerings to the [528] Dewal of Apollo in Mewar. The spices of the isles of the Indian archipelago; the balmy spoils of Araby the blest; the nard or frankincense of Tartary; the raisins and pistachios of Persia; every variety of saccharine preparation, from the shakkarkhand (sugar-candy) of the celestial empire, with which the god sweetens his evening repast, to the more common sort which enters into the peras of Mathura, the food of his infancy;[4.19.71] the shawls of Kashmir, the silks of Bengal, the scarfs of Benares, the brocades of Gujarat,

... the flower and choice Of many provinces from bound to bound,

all contribute to enrich the shrine of Nathdwara. But it is with the votaries of the maritime provinces of India that he has most reason to be satisfied; in the commercial cities of Surat, Cambay, Muskat-mandavi, etc., etc., where the Mukhyas, or comptrollers deputed by the high priest, reside, to collect the benefactions, and transmit them as occasion requires. A deputy resides on the part of the high priest at Multan, who invests the distant worshippers with the initiative cordon and necklace. Even from Samarkand the pilgrims repair with their offerings; and a sum, seldom less than ten thousand rupees, is annually transmitted by the votaries from the Arabian ports of Muscat, Mocha, and Jiddah; which contribution is probably augmented not only by the votaries who dwell at the mouths of the Volga[4.19.72] [529], but by the Samoyede[4.19.73] of Siberia. There is not a petty retailer professing the Vishnu creed who does not carry a tithe of his trade to the stores: and thus caravans of thirty and forty cars, double-yoked, pass twice or thrice annually by the upper road to Nathdwara. These pious bounties are not allowed to moulder in the bhandars: the apparel is distributed with a liberal hand as the gift of the deity to those who evince their devotion; and the edibles enter daily into the various food prepared at the shrine.

=Food offered to Deities.=—It has been remarked by the celebrated Goguet[4.19.74] that the custom of offering food to the object of divine homage had its origin in a principle of gratitude, the repast being deemed hallowed by presenting the first portion to him who gave it, since the devotee was unable to conceive aught more acceptable than that whereby life is sustained. From the earliest period such offerings have been tendered; and in the burnt-offering (hom) of Abel, of the firstling of the flock, and the first portion of the repast presented by the Rajput to Annadeva[4.19.75] ‘the nourisher,’ the motive is the same. But the parsad (such is the denomination of the food sacred to Kanhaiya) is deemed unlucky, if not unholy; a prejudice arising from the heterogeneous sources whence it is supplied—often from bequests of the dead. The Mukhyas [530] of the temple accordingly carry the sacred food to wheresoever the votaries dwell, which proves an irresistible stimulus to backward zeal, and produces an ample return. At the same time are transmitted, as from the god, dresses of honour corresponding in material and value with the rank of the receiver: a diadem, or fillet of satin and gold, embroidered; a dagla, or quilted coat of gold or silver brocade for the cold weather; a scarf of blue and gold; or if to one who prizes the gift less for its intrinsic worth than as a mark of special favour, a fragment of the garland worn on some festival by the god; or a simple necklace, by which he is inaugurated amongst the elect.[4.19.76]

=Lands dedicated to the Shrine.=—It has been mentioned that the lands of Mewar appropriated to the shrine are equal in value to a baronial appanage, and, as before observed, there is not a principality in India which does not assign a portion of its domain or revenue to this object. The Hara princes of Kotah and Bundi are almost exclusive worshippers of Kanhaiya, and the regent Zalim Singh is devoted to the maintenance of the dignity of the establishment. Everything at Kotah appertains to Kanhaiya. The prince has but the usufruct of the palace, for which £12,000 are annually transmitted to the shrine. The grand lake east of the town, with all its finny tenants, is under his especial protection;[4.19.77] and the extensive suburb adjoining, with its rents, lands, and transit duties, all belong to the god. Zalim Singh moreover transmits to the high priest the most valuable shawls, broadcloths, and horses; and throughout the long period of predatory warfare he maintained two Nishans,[4.19.78] of a hundred firelocks each, for the protection of the temple. His favourite son also, a child of love, is called Gordhandas, the ‘slave of Gordhan,’ one of the many titles of Kanhaiya. The prince of Marwar went mad from the murder of the high priest of Jalandhara, the epithet given to Kanhaiya in that State; and the Raja of Sheopur,[4.19.79] the last of the Gaurs, lost his sovereignty by abandoning the worship of Har for that of Hari. The ‘slave’ of Radha[4.19.80] (such was the name of this prince) almost lived in the temple, and used to dance before the statue. Had he upheld the rights of him who wields [531] the trident, the tutelary deity of his capital, Sivapur, instead of the unwarlike divinity whose unpropitious title of Ranchhor should never be borne by the martial Rajput, his fall would have been more dignified, though it could not have been retarded when the overwhelming torrent of the Mahrattas under Sindhia swept Rajwara.[4.19.81]

=Grants to the High Priest.=—A distinction is made between the grants to the temple and those for the personal use of the pontiff, who at least affects never to apply any portion of the former to his own use, and he can scarcely have occasion to do so; but when from the stores of Apollo could be purchased the spices of the isles, the fruits of Persia, and the brocades of Gujarat, we may indulge our scepticism in questioning this forbearance: but the abuse has been rectified, and traffic banished from the temple. The personal grant (Appendix, No. XI.) to the high priest ought alone to have sufficed for his household expenditure, being twenty thousand rupees per annum, equal to £10,000 in Europe. But the ten thousand towns of Mewar, from each of which he levied a crown, now exist only in the old rent-roll, and the heralds of Apollo would in vain attempt to collect their tribute from two thousand villages.

The Appendix, No. XII., being a grant of privileges to a minor shrine of Kanhaiya, in his character of Muralidhar or ‘flute-player,’ contains much information on the minutiae of benefactions, and will afford a good idea of the nature of these revenues.

=Effects of Krishna-worship on the Rājputs.=—The predominance of the mild doctrines of Kanhaiya over the dark rites of Siva, is doubtless beneficial to Rajput society. Were the prevention of female immolation the sole good resulting from their prevalence, that alone would conciliate our partiality; a real worshipper of Vishnu should forbid his wife following him to the pyre, as did recently the Bundi prince. In fact, their tenderness to animal life is carried to nearly as great an excess as with the Jains, who shed no blood. Celibacy is not imposed upon the priests of Kanhaiya, as upon those of Siva: on the contrary, they are enjoined to marry, and the priestly office is hereditary by descent. Their wives do not burn, but are committed, like themselves, to the earth. They inculcate tenderness towards all beings; though whether this feeling influences the mass, must depend on the soil which receives the seed, for the outward ceremonies of religion cost far less effort than the practice or essentials. I have often [532] smiled at the incessant aspirations of the Macchiavelli of Rajasthan, Zalim Singh, who, while he ejaculated the name of the god as he told his beads, was inwardly absorbed by mundane affairs; and when one word would have prevented a civil war, and saved his reputation from the stain of disloyalty to his prince, he was, to use his own words, “at fourscore years and upwards, laying the foundation for another century of life.” And thus it is with the prince of Marwar, who esteems the life of a man or a goat of equal value when prompted by revenge to take it. Hope may silence the reproaches of conscience, and gifts and ceremonies may be deemed atonement for a deviation from the first principle of their religion—a benevolence which should comprehend every animated thing. But fortunately the princely worshippers of Kanhaiya are few in number: it is to the sons of commerce we must look for the effects of these doctrines; and it is my pride and duty to declare that I have known men of both sects, Vaishnava and Jain, whose integrity was spotless, and whose philanthropy was unbounded.

-----

Footnote 4.19.1:

Manu commands, “Should the king be near his end through some incurable disease, he must bestow on the priests all his riches accumulated from legal fines: and having duly committed his kingdom to his son, let him seek death in battle, or, if there be no war, by abstaining from food” (Laws, ix. 323). The annals of all the Rajput States afford instances of obedience to this text of their divine legislator. [The injunction to seek death by starvation is an addition by the commentator, and is not included in the original text.]

Footnote 4.19.2:

[The practice of a devotee weighing himself against gold was common in ancient Hindu times, was known as tulāpurushadāna, and is still performed by the Mahārāja of Travancore (Thurston, Tribes and Castes of S. India, vii. 202 ff.; BG, i. Part ii. 415; Forbes, Rāsmāla, 84). Akbar used to have himself weighed against precious substances twice a year, on his solar and lunar birthdays, the articles being given to Brāhmans, and Jahāngīr followed the same custom (Āīn, i. 266 ff.; Elliot-Dowson v. 307, 453; Memoirs of Jahāngīr, trans. Rogers-Beveridge, 78, 81, 111, 183).]

Footnote 4.19.3:

[Sāsan, a grant by charter of rent-free lands, made in favour of Brāhmans and devotees. For the formula used in such grants see Barnett, Antiquities of India, 129.]

Footnote 4.19.4:

[Menāl, Mahānāl, ‘the great chasm,’ in the Begun Estate, E. Mewār.]

Footnote 4.19.5:

“Saint Eucher, évêque d’Orléans, eut une vision qui étonna les princes. Il faut que je rapporte à ce sujet la lettre que les évêques, assemblés à Reims, écrivent à Louis-le-Germanique, qui étoit entré dans les terres de Charles le Chauve, parce qu’elle est très-propre à nous faire voir quel étoit, dans ces temps-là, l’état des choses, et la situation des esprits. Ils disent que ‘Saint Eucher ayant été ravi dans le ciel, il vit Charles Martel tourmenté dans l’enfer inférieur par l’ordre des saints qui doivent assister avec Jésus-Christ au jugement dernier; qu’il avoit été condamné à cette peine avant le temps pour avoir dépouillé les églises de leurs biens, et s’être par là rendu coupable des péchés de tous ceux qui les avoient dotées’” (Montesquieu, L’Esprit des Lois, livre xxxi. chap. xi. p. 460).

Footnote 4.19.6:

Genesis xlvii. 20-26.

Footnote 4.19.7:

Manu, Laws, vii. 130.

Footnote 4.19.8:

Origin of Laws and Government, vol. i. p. 54, and vol. ii. p. 13. [Herodotus ii. 109.]

Footnote 4.19.9:

Hallam, Middle Ages, vol. ii. p. 212.

Footnote 4.19.10:

“A Brahman unable to subsist by his duties just mentioned (sacerdotal), may live by the duty of a soldier” (Manu x. 81).

Footnote 4.19.11:

Montesquieu.

Footnote 4.19.12:

[One of the legendary Rānas, twenty-fifth on the list, to whom no date can be assigned.]

Footnote 4.19.13:

“Le clergé recevoit tant, qu’il faut que, dans les trois races, on lui ait donné plusieurs fois tous les biens du royaume. Mais si les rois, la noblesse, et le peuple, trouvèrent le moyen de leur donner tous leurs biens, ils ne trouvèrent pas moins celui de les leur ôter” (Montesquieu, L’Esprit des Lois, livre xxxi. chap. x.).

Footnote 4.19.14:

These worshippers of God and Mammon, when threats fail, have recourse to maiming, and even destroying, themselves, to gain their object. In 1820, one of the confidential servants of the Rana demanded payment of the petty tax called gugri, of one rupee on each house, from some Brahmans who dwelt in the village, and which had always been received from them. They refused payment, and on being pressed, four of them stabbed themselves mortally. Their bodies were placed upon biers, and funeral rites withheld till punishment should be inflicted on the priest-killer. But for once superstition was disregarded, and the rights of the Brahmans in this community were resumed. See Appendix to this Part, No. I [p. 644].

Footnote 4.19.15:

“Mais le bas peuple n’est guère capable d’abandonner ses intérêts par des exemples. Le synode de Francfort lui présenta un motif plus pressant pour payer les dîmes. On y fit un capitulaire dans lequel il est dit que, dans la dernière famine, on avoit trouvé les épis de blé vides, qu’ils avoient été dévorés par les démons, et qu’on avoit entendu leurs voix qui reprochoient de n’avoir pas payé la dîme: et, en conséquence, il fut ordonné à tous ceux qui tenoient les biens ecclésiastiques de payer la dîme, et, en conséquence encore, on l’ordonna à tous” (L’Esprit des Lois, livre xxxi. chap. xii.).

Footnote 4.19.16:

These lay Brahmans are not wanting in energy or courage; the sword is as familiar to them as the mala (chaplet). The grandfather of Ramnath, the present worthy seneschal of the Rana, was governor of the turbulent district of Jahazpur, which has never been so well ruled since. He left a curious piece of advice to his successors, inculcating vigorous measures. “With two thousand men you may eat khichri; with one thousand dalbhat; with five hundred juti (the shoe)” Khichri is a savoury mess of pulse, rice, butter, and spices; dalbhat is simple rice and pulse; the shoe is indelible disgrace.

Footnote 4.19.17:

Manu, in his rules on government, commands the king to impart his momentous counsel and entrust all transactions to a learned and distinguished Brahman (Laws, vii. 58). There is no being more aristocratic in his ideas than the secular Brahman or priest, who deems the bare name a passport to respect. The Kulin Brahman of Bengal piques himself upon this title of nobility granted by the last Hindu king of Kanauj (whence they migrated to Bengal), and in virtue of which his alliance in matrimony is courted. But although Manu has imposed obligations towards the Brahman little short of adoration, these are limited to the “learned in the Vedas”: he classes the unlearned Brahman with “an elephant made of wood, or an antelope of leather”; nullities, save in name. And he adds further, that “as liberality to a fool is useless, so is a Brahman useless if he read not the holy texts”: comparing the person who gives to such an one, to a husbandman “who, sowing seed in a barren soil, reaps no gain”; so the Brahman “obtains no reward in heaven.” These sentiments are repeated in numerous texts, holding out the most powerful inducements to the sacerdotal class to cultivate their minds, since their power consists solely in their wisdom. For such, there are no privileges too extensive, no homage too great. “A king, even though dying with want, must not receive any tax from a Brahman learned in the Vedas.” His person is sacred. “Never shall the king slay a Brahman, though convicted of all possible crimes,” is a premium at least to unbounded insolence, and unfits them for members of society, more especially for soldiers; banishment, with person and property untouched, is the declared punishment for even the most heinous crimes. “A Brahman may seize without hesitation, if he be distressed for a subsistence, the goods of his Sudra slave.” But the following text is the climax: “What prince could gain wealth by oppressing these [Brahmans], who, if angry, could frame other worlds, and regents of worlds, and could give birth to new gods and mortals?” (Manu, Laws, ii. iii. vii. viii. ix.).

Footnote 4.19.18:

Hallam’s Middle Ages, vol. i. p. 204.

Footnote 4.19.19:

These forgeries of charters cannot be considered as invalidating the arguments drawn from them, as we may rest assured nothing is introduced foreign to custom, in the items of the deeds.

Footnote 4.19.20:

Suggested by the Author, and executed under his superintendence, who waded through all these documents, and translated upwards of a hundred of the most curious.

Footnote 4.19.21:

See the Appendix to this Part, No. II [p. 644].

Footnote 4.19.22:

Hallam.

Footnote 4.19.23:

See Appendix to this Part, No. III [p. 645].

Footnote 4.19.24:

Each bundle consists of a specified number of ears, which are roasted and eaten in the unripe state with a little salt. [A ser or seer = 2·057 lbs. avoirdupois.]

Footnote 4.19.25:

Dict. de l’Ancien Régime, p. 131, art. “Corvée.”

Footnote 4.19.26:

That is, with one (ek) lingam or phallus—the symbol of worship being a single cylindrical or conical stone. There are others, termed Sahaslinga and Kotiswara, with a thousand or a million of phallic representatives, all minutely carved on the monolithic emblem, having then much resemblance to the symbol of Bacchus, whose orgies, both in Egypt and Greece, are the counterpart of those of the Hindu Baghis, thus called from being clad in a tiger’s or leopard’s hide: Bacchus had the panther’s for his covering. There is a very ancient temple to Kotiswara at the embouchure of the eastern arm of the Indus; and here are many to Sahaslinga in the peninsula of Saurashtra. [Bacchus has no connexion with a Hindu tiger-god.]

Footnote 4.19.27:

It might have appeared fanciful, some time ago, to have given a Sanskrit derivation to a Greek proper name: but Europa might be derived from Surupa, ‘of the beautiful face’—the initial syllable su and eu having the same signification in both languages, namely, good—Rupa is ‘countenance.’ [Europa is probably Assyrian ereb, irib, ‘land of the rising sun’ (EB, ix. 907). Another explanation is that it is a cult title, meaning ‘goddess of the flourishing willow-withies’ (A. B. Cook, Zeus, 531).]

Footnote 4.19.28:

In this sacrifice four altars are erected, for offering the flesh to the four gods, Lakshmi-Narayana, Umamaheswar, Brahma, and Ananta. The nine planets, and Prithu, or the earth, with her ten guardian-deities, are worshipped. Five Vilwa, five Khadira, five Palasha, and five Udumbara posts are to be erected, and a bull tied to each post. Clarified butter is burnt on the altar, and pieces of the flesh of the slaughtered animals placed thereon. This sacrifice was very common (Ward, On the Religion of the Hindus, vol. ii. p. 263). [Balidāna, ‘an offering to the gods.’]

Footnote 4.19.29:

First a covered altar is to be prepared; sixteen posts are then to be erected of various woods; a golden image of a man, and an iron one of a goat, with golden images of Vishnu and Lakshmi, a silver one of Siva, with a golden bull, and a silver one of Garuda ‘the eagle,’ are placed upon the altar. Animals, as goats, sheep, etc., are tied to the posts, and to one of them, of the wood of the mimosa, is to be tied the human victim. Fire is to be kindled by means of a burning glass. The sacrificing priest, hota, strews the grass called dub or immortal, round the sacred fire. Then follows the burnt sacrifice to the ten guardian deities of the earth—to the nine planets, and to the Hindu Triad, to each of whom clarified butter is poured on the sacred fire one thousand times. Another burnt-sacrifice, to the sixty-four inferior gods, follows, which is succeeded by the sacrifice and offering of all the other animals tied to the posts. The human sacrifice concludes, the sacrificing priest offering pieces of the flesh of the victim to each god as he circumambulates the altar (ibid, 260).

Footnote 4.19.30:

This is to be taken in its literal sense; the economy of the bee being displayed in the formation of extensive colonies which inhabit large masses of black comb adhering to the summits of the rocks. According to the legends of these tracts, they were called in as auxiliaries on Muhammadan invasions, and are said to have thrown the enemy more than once into confusion. [Stories of idols protected from desecration by swarms of hornets are common (BG, viii. 401; Sleeman, Rambles, 54).]

Footnote 4.19.31:

See Appendix to this Part, No. IV [p. 645].

Footnote 4.19.32:

In June 1806 I was present at a meeting between the Rana and Sindhia at the shrine of Eklinga. The rapacious Mahratta had just forced the passes to the Rana’s capital, which was the commencement of a series of aggressions involving one of the most tragical events in the history of Mewar—the immolation of the Princess Krishna and the subsequent ruin of the country. I was then an attaché of the British embassy to the Mahratta prince, who carried the ambassador to the meeting to increase his consequence. In March 1818 I again visited the shrine, on my way to Udaipur, but under very different circumstances—to announce the deliverance of the family from oppression, and to labour for its prosperity. While standing without the sanctuary, looking at the quadriform divinity, and musing on the changes of the intervening twelve years, my meditations were broken by an old Rajput chieftain, who, saluting me, invited me to enter and adore Baba Adam, ‘Father Adam,’ as he termed the phallic emblem. I excused myself on account of my boots, which I said I could not remove, and that with them I would not cross the threshold: a reply which pleased them, and preceded me to the Rana’s court.

Footnote 4.19.33:

Siva is represented with three eyes: hence his title of Trinetra and Trilochan, the Triophthalmic Jupiter of the Greeks. From the fire of the central eye of Siva is to proceed Pralaya, or the final destruction of the universe: this eye placed vertically, resembling the flame of a taper, is a distinguishing mark on the foreheads of his votaries.

Footnote 4.19.34:

I have seen a cemetery of these, each of very small dimensions, which may be described as so many concentric rings of earth, diminishing to the apex, crowned with a cylindrical stone pillar. One of the disciples of Siva was performing rites to the manes, strewing leaves of an evergreen [probably bel, Aegle marmelos] and sprinkling water over the graves.

Footnote 4.19.35:

For a description of these, vide Transactions of the Royal Asiatic Society, vol. i. p. 217.

Footnote 4.19.36:

[The more usual form is Kanphata, with the same meaning.]

Footnote 4.19.37:

The copy of the Siva Purana which I presented to the Royal Asiatic Society was obtained for me by the Rana from the temple of Eklinga.

Footnote 4.19.38:

Jiva-pitri, the ‘Father of Life,’ would be a very proper epithet for Mahadeva, the creative ‘power,’ whose Olympus is Kailas. [Jīva-pitri means ‘a child whose father is alive.’ Jupiter=Skt. Dyaus-pitā.]

Footnote 4.19.39:

Bholanath, or the ‘Simple God,’ is one of the epithets of Siva, whose want of reflection is so great that he would give away his own divinity if asked.

Footnote 4.19.40:

Vidyavan, the ‘Man of Secrets or Knowledge,’ is the term used by way of reproach to the Jains, having the import of magician. Their opponents believe them to be possessed of supernatural skill; and it is recorded of the celebrated Amara, author of the Kosa or dictionary called after him, that he raculously’ “made the full moon appear on Amavas”—the ides of the month, when the planet is invisible.

Footnote 4.19.41:

Khadatara signifies ‘true’ [?], an epithet of distinction which was bestowed by that great supporter of the Buddhists or Jains, Siddharaj, king of Anhilwara Patan, on one of the branches (gachchha), in a grand religious disputation (badha) at that capital in the eleventh century. The celebrated Hemacharya was head of the Khadatara-gachchha; and his spiritual descendant honoured Udaipur with his presence in his visit to his dioceses in the desert in 1821. My own Yati tutor was a disciple of Hemacharya, and his pattravali, or pedigree, registered his descent by spiritual successions from him. [For the Jain gachchhas see Bühler, The Indian Sect of the Jainas, 77 ff. As usual, the author confounds Jains with Buddhists.] This pontiff was a man of extensive learning and of estimable character. He was versed in all the ancient inscriptions, to which no key now exists, and deciphered one for me which had been long unintelligible. His travelling library was of considerable extent, though chiefly composed of works relating to the ceremonies of his religion: it was in the charge of two of his disciples remarkable for talent, and who, like himself, were perfectly acquainted with all these ancient characters. The pontiff kindly permitted my Yati to bring for my inspection some of the letters of invitation written by his flocks in the desert. These were rolls, some of them several feet in length, containing pictured delineations of their wishes. One from Bikaner represented that city, in one division of which was the school or college of the Jains, where the Yatis were all portrayed at their various studies. In another part, a procession of them was quitting the southern gate of the city, the head of which was in the act of delivering a scroll to a messenger, while the pontiff was seen with his cortège advancing in the distance. To show the respect in which these high priests of the Jains are held, the princes of Rajputana invariably advance outside the walls of their capital to receive and conduct them to it—a mark of respect paid only to princes. On the occasion of the high priest of the Khadataras passing through Udaipur, as above alluded to, the Rana received him with every distinction.

Footnote 4.19.42:

So called from the town of Osi or Osian, in Marwar [about 30 miles N. of Jodhpur city].

Footnote 4.19.43:

Palitana, or ‘the abode of the Pali’ [?], is the name of the town at the foot of the sacred mount Satrunjaya (signifying ‘victorious over the foe’), on which the Jain temples are sacred to Buddhiswara, or the ‘Lord of the Buddhists’ [?]. I have little doubt that the name of Palitana is derived from the pastoral (pali) Scythic invaders bringing the Buddhist faith in their train—a faith which appears to me not indigenous to India [?]. Palestine, which, with the whole of Syria and Egypt, was ruled by the Hyksos or Shepherd kings, who for a season expelled the old Coptic race, may have had a similar import to the Palitana founded by the Indo-Scythic Pali. The Author visited all these sacred mounts. [The Author describes Pālitāna in WI, 274 ff.; see also BG, viii. 603 f. All this confusion between Buddhists and Jains and the suggested derivation, in which the Author unfortunately relied on Wilford (Asiatic Researches, iii. 72 ff., viii. 321), are out of date.]

Footnote 4.19.44:

[The Kīrtti-Stambha, erected by a merchant named Jīja in the twelfth century A.D., and dedicated to Ādināth, the first Jain Tīrthakara (Fergusson, Hist. Indian Architecture, ii. 57 ff.; Erskine ii. A. 104).]

Footnote 4.19.45:

[Buddhism and Jainism are again confused. For Buddhist remains in Rājputāna see IGI, xxi. 103.]

Footnote 4.19.46:

See Appendix to this Part [p. 645].

Footnote 4.19.47:

See Appendix to this part [p. 645].

Footnote 4.19.48:

See Appendix to this article [p. 646].

Footnote 4.19.49:

[This is the Pachusan, the four months of Jain retreat, the Vassa or Vassavāsa of the Buddhists. It was held in the rainy season, during which travelling was forbidden, in order to avoid injury to the insect life which abounds at this time (BG, ix. Part i. 113 f.; Kern, Manual of Indian Buddhism, 80 f.).]

Footnote 4.19.50:

Dwarka is at the point called Jagat Khunt, of the Saurashtra peninsula. Ka is the mark of the genitive case [?]: Dwarkanath would be the ‘gate of the god’ [‘Lord of Dvārakā’].

Footnote 4.19.51:

Fifty-seven descents are given, both in their sacred and profane genealogies, from Krishna to the princes supposed to have been contemporary with Vikramaditya. The Yadu Bhatti or Shama Bhatti (the Ahsham Bhatti of Abu-l Fazl) [Āīn, ii. 339], draw their pedigree from Krishna or Yadunath, as do the Jarejas of Cutch.

Footnote 4.19.52:

With Mathura as a centre and a radius of eighty miles, describe a circle: all within it is Vraj, which was the seat of whatever was refined in Hinduism, and whose language, the Vraj-bhasha, was the purest dialect of India. Vraj is tantamount to the land of the Suraseni, derived from Sursen, the ancestor of Krishna, whose capital, Surpuri, is about fifty miles south of Mathura on the Yamuna (Jumna). The remains of this city (Surpuri) the Author had the pleasure of discovering. The province of the Surseni, or Suraseni, is defined by Manu [Laws, ii. 19, vii. 193, who calls them Surasenakas], and particularly mentioned by the historians of Alexander.

Footnote 4.19.53:

Vindravana, or the ‘forests of Vindra,’ in which were placed many temples sacred to Kanhaiya, is on the Yamuna, a few miles above Mathura. A pilgrimage to this temple is indispensable to the true votary of Krishna.

Footnote 4.19.54:

This river is called the Kal Yamuna, or black Yamuna, and Kalidah or the ‘black pool,’ from Kanhaiya having destroyed the hydra Kaliya which infested it. Jayadeva calls the Yamuna ‘the blue daughter of the sun.’

Footnote 4.19.55:

[The popular worship of Krishna and Rādha is decidedly erotic.] It affords an example of the Hindu doctrine of the Metempsychosis, as well as of the regard which Akbar’s toleration had obtained him, to mention, that they held his body to be animated by the soul of a celebrated Hindu gymnosophist: in support of which they say he (Akbar) went to his accustomed spot of penance (tapasya) at the confluence of the Yamuna and Ganges, and excavated the implements, namely, the tongs, gourd, and deer-skin, of his anchorite existence. [For the tale of Akbar and the Brāhman Mukunda see Asiatic Researches, ix. 158.]

Footnote 4.19.56:

Ran, the ‘field of battle,’ chhor, from chhorna, ‘to abandon.’ Hence Ranchhor, one of the titles under which Krishna is worshipped at Dwarka, is most unpropitious to the martial Rajput. Kalyavana, the foe from whom he fled, and who is figured as a serpent, is doubtless the Tak, the ancient foe of the Yadus, who slew Janamejaya, emperor of the Pandus. [Kālyavana has been identified with Gonanda I. of Kashmīr, but was more probably one of the Bactrian chiefs of the Panjāb (Growse, Mathura, 3rd ed. 56).]

Footnote 4.19.57:

See Appendix to this Part, No. VIII [p. 647].

Footnote 4.19.58:

[The right of sanctuary was maintained until quite recent times (Erskine ii. A. 120).]

Footnote 4.19.59:

The cotton tree, Bombax malabaracum, which grows to an immense height.

Footnote 4.19.60:

Whoever has unhooded the falcon at a lapwing, or even scared one from her nest, need not be told of its peculiarly distressing scream, as if appealing to sympathy. The allusion here is to the lapwing scared from her nest, as the rival armies of the Kurus and Pandus joined in battle, when the compassionate Krishna, taking from an elephant’s neck a war-bell (viraghanta), covered the nest, in order to protect it. When the majority of the feudal nobles of Marwar became self-exiled, to avoid the almost demoniac fury of their sovereign, since his alliance with the British Government, Anar Singh, the chief of Ahor, a fine specimen of the Rathor Rajput, brave, intelligent, and amiable, was one day lamenting, that while all India was enjoying tranquillity under the shield of Britain, they alone were suffering from the caprice of a tyrant; concluding a powerful appeal to my personal interposition with the foregoing allegory, and observing on the beauty of the office of mediator: “You are all-powerful,” added he, “and we may be of little account in the grand scale of affairs; but Krishna condescended to protect even the lapwing’s egg in the midst of battle.” This brave man knew my anxiety to make their peace with their sovereign, and being acquainted with the allegory, I replied with some fervour, in the same strain, “Would to God, Thakur Sahib, I had the viraghanta to protect you.” The effect was instantaneous, and the eye of this manly chieftain, who had often fearlessly encountered the foe in battle, filled with tears as, holding out his hand, he said, “At least you listen to our griefs, and speak the language of friendship. Say but the word, and you may command the services of twenty thousand Rathors.” There is, indeed, no human being more susceptible of excitement, and, under it, of being led to any desperate purpose, whether for good or for evil, than the Rajput.

Footnote 4.19.61:

Chand, the bard, gives this instance of the compassionate nature of Krishna, taken, as well as the former, from the Mahabharata. [On Krishna worship see J. Kennedy, JRAS, October 1907, p. 960 ff.]

Footnote 4.19.62:

Near the town of Avranches, on the coast of Normandy, is a rock called Mont St. Michel, in ancient times sacred to the Galli or Celtic Apollo, or Belenus; a name which the author from whom we quote observes, “certainly came from the East, and proves that the littoral provinces of Gaul were visited by the Phoenicians.”—“A college of Druidical priestesses was established there, who sold to seafaring men certain arrows endowed with the peculiar virtue of allaying storms, if shot into the waves by a young mariner. Upon the vessel arriving safe, the young archer was sent by the crew to offer thanks and rewards to the priestesses. His presents were accepted in the most graceful manner; and at his departure the fair priestesses, who had received his embraces, presented to him a number of shells, which afterwards he never failed to use in adorning his person” (Tour through France).

When the early Christian warrior consecrated this mount to his protector St. Michel, its name was changed from Mons Jovis (being dedicated to Jupiter) to Tumba, supposed from tumulus, a mound; but as the Saxons and Celts placed pillars on all these mounts, dedicated to the Sun-god Belenus, Bal, or Apollo, it is not unlikely that Tumba is from the Sanskrit thambha, or sthambha, ‘a pillar’ [?].

Footnote 4.19.63:

[Pītāmbara.]

Footnote 4.19.64:

Hindupati, vulgo Hindupat, ‘chief of the Hindu race,’ is a title justly appertaining to the Ranas of Mewar. It has, however, been assumed by chieftains scarcely superior to some of his vassals, though with some degree of pretension by Sivaji, who, had he been spared, might have worked the redemption of his nation, and of the Rana’s house, from which he sprung.

Footnote 4.19.65:

See Appendix to this paper, Nos. IX. and X. [p. 647].

Footnote 4.19.66:

Numbers, chap. xxxv. 11, 12.

Footnote 4.19.67:

Numbers, chap. xxxv. 25, and Joshua, chap. xx. 6. There was an ancient law of Athens analogous to the Mosaic, by which he who committed ‘chance-medley’ should fly the country for a year, during which his relatives made satisfaction to the relatives of the deceased. The Greeks had asyla for every description of criminals, which could not be violated without infamy. Gibbon [ed. W. Smith, iv. 377 f.] gives a memorable instance of disregard to the sanctuary of St. Julian in Auvergne, by the soldiers of the Frank king Theodoric, who divided the spoils of the altar, and made the priests captives: an impiety not only unsanctioned by the son of Clovis, but punished by the death of the offenders, the restoration of the plunder, and the extension of the right of sanctuary five miles around the sepulchre of the holy martyr.

Footnote 4.19.68:

[The chief sanctuaries in Rājputāna are: Nāgor; Barli, a few miles distant; Chaupāsni; Udaimandir and Mahmandir, close to Jodhpur. The system is a serious obstacle to the detection of crime (General Hervey, Some Records of Crime, i. 122 f., ii. 327 ff.).]

Footnote 4.19.69:

[Smith, Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities, 3rd ed. i. 235.]

Footnote 4.19.70:

[iv. 33; L. R. Farnell, Cults of the Greek States, iv. 101 ff.]

Footnote 4.19.71:

[Perā, a sweetmeat made of cream, sugar and spices, for which Mathura is famous.]

Footnote 4.19.72:

Pallas gives an admirable and evidently faithful account of the worship of Krishna and other Hindu divinities in the city of Astrakhan, where a Hindu mercantile colony is established. They are termed Multani, from the place whence they migrated—Multan, near the Indus. This class of merchants of the Hindu faith is disseminated over all the countries, from the Indus to the Caspian: and it would have been interesting had the professor given us any account of their period of settlement on the western shore of the Caspian Sea. In costume and feature, as represented in the plate given by that author, they have nothing to denote their origin; though their divinities might be seated on any altar on the Ganges. The Multanis of Indeskoi Dvor, or ‘Indian court,’ at Astrakhan, have erected a pantheon, in which Krishna, the god of all Vaishnava merchants, is seated in front of Jagannath, Rama, and his brothers, who stand in the background; while Siva and his consort Ashtabhuja ‘the eight-armed,’ form an intermediate line, in which is also placed a statue which Pallas denominates Murali; but Pallas mistook the flute (murali) of the divine Krishna for a rod. The principal figure we shall describe in his own words. “In the middle was placed a small idol with a very high bonnet, called Gupaledshi. At its right there was a large black stone, and on the left two smaller ones of the same colour, brought from the Ganges, and regarded by the Hindus as sacred. These fossils were of the species called Sankara, and appeared to be an impression of a bivalve muscle.” Minute as is the description, our judgment is further aided by the plate. Gupaledshi is evidently Gopalji, the pastoral deity of Vraj (from gao, a cow, and pala, a herdsman). The head-dress worn by him and all the others is precisely that still worn by Krishna, in the sacred dance at Mathura: and so minute is the delineation that even the pera or sugar-ball is represented, although the professor appears to have been ignorant of its use, as he does not name it. He has likewise omitted to notice the representation of the sacred mount of Govardhana, which separates him from the Hindu Jove and the turreted Cybele (Durga), his consort. The black stones are the Salagramas, worshipped by all Vaishnavas. In the names of ‘Nhandigana and Gori,’ though the first is called a lion saddled, and the other a male divinity, we easily recognise Nandi, the bull-attendant (Gana) of Siva and his consort Gauri. Were all travellers to describe what they see with the same accuracy as Pallas, they would confer important obligations on society, and might defy criticism. It is with heartfelt satisfaction I have to record, from the authority of a gentleman who has dwelt amongst the Hindkis of Astrakhan, that distance from their ancient abodes has not deteriorated their character for uprightness. Mr. Mitchell, from whose knowledge of Oriental languages the Royal Asiatic Society will some day derive benefit, says that the reputation of these Hindu colonists, of whom there are about five hundred families, stands very high, and that they bear a preference over all the merchants of other nations settled in this great commercial city.

Footnote 4.19.73:

Other travellers besides Pallas have described Hinduism as existing in the remote parts of the Russian empire, and if nominal resemblances may be admitted, we would instance the strong analogy between the Samoyedes and Tchoudes of Siberia and Finland and the Syama Yadus and Joudes of India [?]. The languages of the two former races are said to have a strong affinity, and are classed as Hindu-Germanic by M. Klaproth, on whose learned work, Asia Polyglotta, M. Rémusat has given the world an interesting critique, in his Mélanges Asiatiques (tome i. p. 267), in which he traces these tribes to Central Asia; thus approaching the land of the Getae or Yuti. Now the Yutis and Yadus have much in their early history to warrant the assertion of more than nominal analogy. The annals of the Yadus of Jaisalmer state that long anterior to Vikrama they held dominion from Ghazni to Samarkand: that they established themselves in those regions after the Mahabharata, or great war; and were again impelled, on the rise of Islamism, within the Indus. As Yadus of the race of Sham or Syam (a title of Krishna), they would be Sama-Yadus; in like manner as the Bhatti tribe are called Shama-bhatti, the Ahsham Bhatti of Abu-l Fazl. The race of Joude was existing near the Indus in the Emperor Babur’s time, who describes them as occupying the mountainous range in the first Duab, the very spot mentioned in the annals of the Yadus as their place of halt, on quitting India twelve centuries before Christ, and thence called Jadu or Yadu-ka-dang, the ‘hills of Jadu or Yadu.’ The peopling of all these regions, from the Indus to remote Tartary, is attributed to the race of Ayu or Indu, both signifying the moon, of which are the Haihayas, Aswas (Asi), Yadus, etc., who spread a common language over all Western Asia. Amongst the few words of Hindu-Germanic origin which M. Rémusat gives to prove affinity between the Finnish and Samoyede languages is “Miel, Mod, dans le dialecte Caucasien, et Méd, en Slave,” and which, as well as mead, the drink of the Scandinavian warrior, is from the Sanskrit Madhu, a bee [honey]. Hence intoxicating beverage is termed Madhva, which supplies another epithet for Krishna, Madhu or Madhava. [These speculations possess no value.]

Footnote 4.19.74:

Origin of Laws and Government.

Footnote 4.19.75:

Literally ‘the giver of food.’

Footnote 4.19.76:

Kanhaiya ka kantha bāndhna, ‘to bind on [the neck] the chaplet of Kanhaiya,’ is the initiatory step.

Footnote 4.19.77:

I had one day thrown my net into this lake, which abounded with a variety of fish, when my pastime was interrupted by a message from the regent, Zalim Singh: “Tell Captain Tod that Kotah and all around it are at his disposal; but these fish belong to Kanhaiya.” I, of course, immediately desisted, and the fish were returned to the safeguard of the deity. [The killing of fish at certain lakes and streams is forbidden on account of their harmlessness (ahimsā), and thus naturally associated with the cult of a gentle deity like Krishna, and because they are believed to contain the spirits of the dead (Stein, Rājatarangini, i. 185; Crooke, Things Indian, 221 ff.).]

Footnote 4.19.78:

A Nishan, or standard, is synonymous with a company.

Footnote 4.19.79:

Sheopur or Sivapur, the city of Sheo or Siva, the god of war, whose battle-shout is Har; and hence one of Vishnu’s epithets, as Hari is that of Krishna or Kanhaiya.

Footnote 4.19.80:

Radha was the name of the chief of the Gopis or nymphs of Vraj, and the beloved of Kanhaiya.

Footnote 4.19.81:

In October 1807 I rambled through all these countries, then scarcely known by name to us. At that time Sheopur was independent, and its prince treated me with the greatest hospitality. In 1809 I witnessed its fall, when following with the embassy in the train of the Mahratta leader. [It is now included in the Gwalior State (IGI, xxii. 271 f.).]

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