Chapter 28
=Nāndla.=—November 19.—We broke ground for Nandla, distant six miles. The first two miles from the capital was through deep sand; for the remainder of the journey the red sandstone protruded, which gives some relief to the footing of the traveller. About half-way we passed a small sheet of water, called after the mother of the pretender, Dhonkal Singh, the Shaikhawat Talao. This lady has constructed a dharmsala, or ‘hall for travellers,’ on its bank, where she has erected a statue of Hanuman, and a pillar to commemorate her own good works. Not a shrub of any magnitude occurs, for even the stunted khair[4.28.1] is rare in this plain of sand; which does not, however, appear unfavourable to the moth,[4.28.2] a vetch on which they feed the cattle. Near the village we crossed the Jogini, the same stream which we passed between Jhalamand and the capital, and which, joined by the Nagda from Mandor, falls into the Luni. The only supply of water for Nandla is procured from two wells dug on the margin of the stream. The water is abundant, and only four feet from the surface, but brackish. There are a hundred and twenty-five houses in Nandla, which is in the fief of the chieftain of Ahor. A few cenotaphs are on the banks of a tank, now dry. I went to look at them, but they contained names “unknown to fame.”
=Bīsalpur.=—Bisalpur, the next place, is distant six estimated coss of the country, and [737] thirteen miles one furlong by the perambulator: heavy sand the whole way. Nevertheless we saw traces of the last autumnal crop of bajra and juar, two species of millet, which form the chief food of the people of the desert; and the vetch was still in heaps. Bisalpur is situated on a rising ground; the houses are uniform in height and regularly built, and coated with a compost of mud and chaff, so that its appearance is picturesque. It is protected by a circumvallation of thorns, the kanta-ka-kot and the stacks of chaff, as described at Indara. They are pleasing to the eye, as is everything in such a place which shows the hand of industry. There was an ancient city here in former days, which was engulfed by an earthquake, though part of a gateway and the fragment of a wall still mark its site. No inscriptions were observed. The water is obtained from a lake.
=Pachkalia, Bīchkalia.=—November 21.—Pachkalia, or Bichkalia, five coss (11 miles 5 furlongs): crossed and encamped on the Jojri. The soil improving, of a brown sandy texture. Wheat and barley of excellent quality are grown on the banks of the river. It was a relief to meet once more a babul or a nim tree; even our Godwar cypress reared its head on the margin of the Jojri. Although now only containing a hundred houses, this was once a place of some importance. I found a defaced inscription, in which “the son of Sonang, S. 1224,” was still legible; but the mercenary Pathans have ruined the harvest of the antiquary. The village is a grant in fee to a Bhatti chieftain. Water is obtained from wells excavated on the margin of the river.
=Pīpār.=—November 22.—Pipar, four coss (8 miles 2 furlongs). Pursued the course of the river, the most extended arm of the Luni, coming from the hills near Parbatsar, on the frontiers of Jaipur. Its course is marked by the trees already mentioned. The soil, a mixture of black earth and sand, is termed dhamani. Pipar is a town of 1500 houses, one-third of which are inhabited by the Oswals of the Jain faith, the chief merchants of all their country. There are also about two hundred families of Mahesris, or merchants of the Saiva caste. Pipar carries on a considerable traffic, and has a chintz manufactory, which employs thirty families. It is in the grant of the feudal chief of Nimaj, whose death has been already related. A cenotaph, dedicated to one of his ancestors, has been half destroyed by the Goths of India. Pipar is celebrated in the traditions of the desert as one of the cities [738] founded by Gandharvasen, the Pramara monarch of Avanti, prior to the Christian era.[4.28.3] The only inscription I discovered was in a temple of the sea-goddess Lakshmi. It bore the names of Bijai Singh and Delanji, Rajputs of the Guhilot race, with the ancient title of Rawal. It was a happy confirmation of the most ancient chronicle of Mewar, which divides the Guhilots into twenty-four sakha or branches, of which one is called ‘Piparia,’ doubtless from their having conquered this tract from the Takshak Pramara.
There is an abundance of wells, from sixty to eighty feet in depth. Of one recently excavated, I obtained the following details of the strata, which may be gratifying to the geologist. The first twenty feet are composed entirely of that kind of earth called dhamani, chiefly decomposed sandstone with a mixture of black earth, in which occurs a stratum of bluish clay mixed with particles of quartz: this earth is called morar in Marwar, and morand in Jaipur. It was then necessary to cut through a rock of red granite[4.28.4] for thirty feet; then several feet of an almost milk-white steatite, succeeded by stalactitic concretions of sandstone and quartz.
=Legend of the Sāmpu Lake.=—Good water is also obtained from a lake called the Sampu, which is connected with the tradition of the foundation of Pipar. A Brahman of the Pali tribe, whose name was Pipa, was in the habit of carrying milk to a deity of the Serpent (Takshak) race, whose retreat was on the banks of this lake, and who deposited two pieces of gold in return for the Paliwal’s offering. Being compelled to go to Nagor, he gave instructions to his son to perform his charitable office; but the youth, deeming it a good opportunity to become master of the treasure, took a stick with him, and when the serpent issued forth for his accustomed fare, he struck him violently; but the snake being “scotched, not killed,” retreated to his hole. The young Brahman related his adventure to his mother; when the good woman, dreading the vengeance of the serpentine deity, prepared a servant and bullock to convey her son to his father at Nagor. But what was her horror in the morning, when she went to call the youth, to find, instead of him, the huge serpent coiled up in his bed! Pipa, on his return, was inconsolable; but stifling his revenge, he propitiated the serpent with copious libations of milk. The scaly monster was conciliated, and revealed the stores he guarded to Pipa, commanding him to raise a monument which would transmit a knowledge of the event to future ages [739]. Hence Pipar arose from Pipa the Pali, and the name of the lake Sampu, from his benefactor the ‘serpent’ (sampa). All these allegorical tales regard the Takshak races, the followers of the religion of Buddha or Jaina, and their feuds with the Brahmanical sects. It is evident that Pipa the Pali worshipped both; and the very name induces a belief that the whole Paliwal caste are converts from Buddhism.[4.28.5]
=Lākha Phulāni.=—There is a kund or fountain, called after Lakha Phulani, who ruled in ancient times at Phulra, in the farther corner of the desert, but carried his arms even to the ocean. Wherever I have travelled, tradition is loud in praise of Phulani, from the source of the Luni to its embouchure in the Delta of the Indus.[4.28.6]
=Mādreo.=—November 23.—Madreo, five coss (10 miles 2 furlongs). Roads good; soil as yesterday, but the country very desolate; only stunted shrubs since we removed from the margin of the river. This is a moderate-sized village, with a tank of good water.
=Bharūnda.=—November 24.—Bharunda, four coss, or eight miles. The face of the country now changes materially; our route was over a low undulating ridge of sandstone, in which the stunted shrubs of this region find a bed. At one time the elevation was sufficiently great to allow the chasm through which the road passed to be dignified with the name of the Ghasuria Pass, in which a party of the Raja’s men is posted for defence, and the levy of transit duties. Bharunda is in the fief of Gopal Singh, the chief of Kuchaman, one of the most conspicuous of the Mertia clan. It consists of one hundred and fifty houses; the cultivators are Jats, as are those of all the preceding villages.
I paid a visit to the humble cenotaphs of Bharunda; one of them bore the name of Badan Singh, a sub-vassal of Kuchaman, who was slain in the heroic charge against De Boigne’s brigades, in the patriot field of Merta. His name claims the admiration of all who esteem loyalty and patriotism, the inherent virtues of the chivalrous Rajput. Raja Bijai Singh had resumed Bharunda, when the Thakur [740] retired to the adjacent court of Jaipur, where he was well received according to the hospitable customs of the Rajput, and had risen to favour at the period when the Mahrattas invaded his bapota, ‘the land of his fathers.’ Resentment was instantly sacrificed at the altar of patriotism; he put himself at the head of one hundred and fifty horse, and flew to his sovereign’s and his country’s defence. Unhappily, the whole Mahratta army interposed between him and his countrymen. To cut their way through all impediments was the instant resolve of Badan and his brave companions. They fell sword in hand upon a multitude; and, with the exception of a few, who forced their way (amongst whom was the chief whose monument is referred to), they were cut to pieces. Badan Singh lived to reach his ancient estate, which was restored to his family in token of his sovereign’s gratitude for the gallant deed. It is valued at seven thousand rupees annual rent, and has attached to it, as a condition, the service of defending this post. There was another small altar erected to the manes of Partap, who was killed in the defence of this pass against the army of Aurangzeb.
=Indāwar.=—November 25.—Indawar, five coss (10 miles 2 furlongs). This place consists of two hundred houses; the cultivators are Jats. I have said little of these proprietors of the soil, a sturdy, independent, industrious race, who “venerate the plough,” and care little about the votaries of Mars or their concerns, so that they do not impose excessive taxes on them. They are a stout, well-built, though rather murky race. The village is assigned to the ex-prince of Sind, who derives his sole support from the liberality of the princes of Marwar. He is of the tribe called Kalhora,[4.28.7] and claims descent from the Abbassides of Persia. His family has been supplanted by the Talpuris, a branch of the Numris (the foxes) of Baluchistan, who now style themselves Afghans, but who are in fact one of the most numerous of the Getae or Jat colonies from Central Asia. But let us not wander from our subject.
I will beg the reader to descend seventy or eighty feet with me to view the stratification of Indawar. First, three feet of good soil; five feet of red sandy earth, mixed with particles of quartz; six feet of an unctuous indurated clay;[4.28.8] [741]—then follows a sand-rock, through which it was necessary to penetrate about sixty feet; this was succeeded by twenty feet of almost loose sand, with particles of pure quartz embedded; nodules and stalactitic concretions of sandstone, quartz, and mica, agglutinated together by a calcareous cement. The interior of the well throughout this last stratum is faced with masonry: the whole depth is more than sixty-five cubits, or forty yards. At this depth a spring of excellent water broke in upon the excavators, which supplies Indawar.
=Merta.=—November 26.—Merta, four coss (9 miles 1 furlong). The whole march was one extended plain; the Aravalli towering about twenty-five miles to our right. To the west a wide waste, consisting of plains gently undulating, and covered with grass and underwood. Natural sterility is not the cause of this desert aspect, for the soil is rich; but the water is far beneath the surface, and they cannot depend upon the heavens. Juar, moth, and sesamum were cultivated to a considerable extent in the immediate vicinity of the villages, but the product had this season been scanty. The appearance of the town is imposing, its site being on a rising ground. The spires of the mosque which was erected on the ruins of a Hindu temple by the tyrant Aurangzeb overtop the more ponderous and unaspiring mandirs which surround it. Notwithstanding, this monarch was the object of universal execration to the whole Hindu race, more especially to the Rathors (whose sovereign, the brave Jaswant, together with his elder son, he put to death by poison, and kept Ajit twenty long years from his birthright, besides deluging their fields with the richest blood of his nobles); still, such is Hindu toleration, that a marble is placed, inscribed both in Hindi and Persian, to protect the mosque from violence. This mark of liberality proceeded from the pretender Dhonkal Singh, as if with a view of catching golden opinions from the demoralized Pathans, by whose aid he hoped to regain his rights. But how was he deceived! His advances were met by the foul assassination, at one fell swoop, of all his party, by the chief of these mercenaries, Amir Khan.
Merta was founded by Rao Duda of Mandor, whose son, the celebrated Maldeo, erected the castle, which he called Malkot.[4.28.9] Merta, with its three hundred and sixty townships, became the appanage of his son Jaimall, and gave its name of Mertia to the bravest of the brave clans of the Rathors. Jaimall [742] was destined to immortalize his name beyond the limits of Maru. Distrusted by his father, and likely to be deserving of suspicion, from the very ruse to which Sher Shah acknowledged he owed his safety, he was banished from Marwar. He was hospitably received by the Rana, who assigned to the heir of Mandor the rich district of Badnor, equalling his own in extent, and far richer in soil than the plains he had abandoned. How he testified his gratitude for this reception, nobler pens than mine have related. The great Akbar claimed the honour of having with his own hand sealed his fate: he immortalized the matchlock with which he effected it, and which was also the theme of Jahangir’s praise, who raised a statue in honour of this defender of Chitor and the rights of its infant prince.[4.28.10] Abu-l-fazl, Herbert, the chaplain to Sir T. Roe, Bernier, all honoured the name of Jaimall; and the chivalrous Lord Hastings, than whom none was better able to appreciate Rajput valour, manifested his respect by his desire to conciliate his descendant, the present brave baron of Badnor.[4.28.11]
The town of Merta covers a large space of ground, and is enclosed with a strong wall and bastions, composed of earth to the westward, but of freestone to the east. All, however, are in a state of decay, as well as the town itself, which is said to contain twenty thousand houses. Like most Hindu towns, there is a mixture of magnificence and poverty; a straw or mud hut adjoins a superb house of freestone, which “shames the meanness” of its neighbour. The castle is about a gun-shot to the south-west of the town, and encloses an area of a mile and a half. Some small sheets of water are on the eastern and western faces. There are plenty of wells about the town, but the water has an unpleasant taste, from filtering through a stiff clay. There are but two strata before water is found, which is about twenty-five feet from the surface: the first a black mould, succeeded by the clay, incumbent on a loose sand, filled with quartzose pebbles of all hues, and those stalactitic concretions which mark, throughout the entire line from Jodhpur to Ajmer, the stratum in which the springs find a current. There are many small lakes around the town, as the Dudasar, or ‘lake (sar) of Duda’; the Bejpa, the Durani, the Dangolia, etc.
=The Battlefield.=—The plain of Merta is one continuous sepulchre, covered with altars to the manes of the warriors who, either in the civil wars which have distracted this State [743], or in the more patriotic strife with the southron Goths, have drenched it with their blood. It is impossible to pass over this memorable field without a reference to these acts; but they would be unintelligible without going to the very root of dissension, which not only introduced the Mahratta to decide the intestine broils of the Rajput States, but has entailed a perpetuity of discord on that of Marwar. I have already succinctly related the parricidal murder of Raja Ajit, which arose out of the politics of the imperial court, when the Sayyids of Barha[4.28.12]—the Warwicks of the East—deposed the Emperor Farrukhsiyar, and set up a puppet of their own. With his daughter (whose marriage with the emperor originated, as already recorded, the first grant of land to the East-India Company), he retired to his dominions, leaving his son Abhai Singh at court, and refusing his sanction to the nefarious schemes of the Sayyids. They threatened destruction to Marwar, declaring to the son of Ajit that the only mode of averting its ruin was his own elevation, and his subservience to their views, which object could only be obtained by his father’s deposal and death. Even the reasoning resorted to, as well as the dire purpose of the miscreants, is preserved, and may serve as an illustration of Rajput feeling. When Abhai Singh refused or hesitated, he was asked, “Ma bap ka sakha, ya zamin ka sakha?” which, though difficult to render with accuracy, may be translated: “Are you a branch (sakha) of the land or of your parents?” As before said, land is all in all to the Rajput; it is preferred to everything: Abhai’s reply may therefore be inferred. Immediate installation was to be the reward of his revenging the Sayyids. That nature could produce from the same stock two such monsters as the brothers who effected the deed, is, perhaps, hardly conceivable, and would, probably, not be credited, were not the fact proved beyond doubt. I should desire, for the honour of the Rajput race, whose advocate and apologist I candidly avow myself, to suppress the atrocious record: but truth is dearer even than Rajput character. Of the twelve sons of Ajit, Abhai Singh and Bakhta Singh were the two elder; both were by the same mother, a princess of Bundi. To Bakhta Singh, who was with his father, the eldest brother wrote, promising him the independent sovereignty of Nagor (where they then were), with its five hundred and fifty-five townships, as the price of murdering their common sire. Not only was the wretch unstartled by the proposition, but he executed the deed with his own hands, under circumstances of unparalleled atrocity. His [744] mother always dreaded the temperament and disposition of Bakhta, who was bold, haughty, impetuous, with a perpetual thirst for action; and she cautioned her husband never to admit him into his presence after dusk, or when unattended. But the Raja, whose physical strength was equal to his bravery, ridiculed her fears, observing, “Is he not my child? Besides, a slap on the face from me would annihilate the stripling.” Upon receiving the note from his brother, Bakhta, after taking leave of his father, concealed himself in a chamber adjoining that where his parents reposed. When all was still the murderer stole to the bed in which lay the authors of his existence, and from a pallet, on which were placed the arms of Ajit, he seized his sword, and coolly proceeded to exhaust those veins which contained the same blood that flowed in his own. In order that nothing might be wanting to complete the deed of horror, the mother was awakened by the blood of her lord moistening her bosom. Her cries awoke the faithful Rajputs who lay in the adjacent apartments, and who, bursting into the chamber, discovered their prince and father dead: “Treason had done its worst.” The assassin fled to the roof of the palace, barring the gates behind him, which resisted all attempts to force them until morning, when he threw into the court below the letter of his brother, exclaiming, “This put the Maharaja to death, not I.” Abhai Singh was now their sovereign; and it is the actual occupant of the throne whom the Rajput deems entitled to his devotion. Eighty-four Satis took place on this dire occasion, the parent of these unnatural regicidal and parricidal sons leading the funeral procession. So much was Ajit beloved, that even men devoted themselves on his pyre. Such was the tragical end of the great Ajit, lamented by his chiefs, and consecrated by the bard, in stanzas in honour of him and in execration of the assassins; which afford proof of the virtuous independence of the poetic chronicler of Rajasthan.
_Bakhta, Bakhta, bāhira, Kyūn māryo Ajmāl[4.28.13] Hindwāni ro sevro Turkāni ka sāl?_
“Oh Bakhta, in evil hour Why slew you Ajmāl, The pillar of the Hindu, The lance of the Turk?” [745][4.28.14]
=The Sons of Ajīt Singh.=—Bakhta Singh obtained Nagor; and Abhai Singh was rewarded with the viceroyalty of Gujarat, which gift he repaid by aiding in its partition, and annexing the rich districts of Bhinmal, Sanchor, and others, to Marwar; on which occasion he added Jalor to the domain of his brother Bakhta, or, as the bard styles him, bad-bakhta, ‘the unfortunate.’ This additional reward of parricide has been the cause of all the civil wars of Marwar.
We may slightly notice the other sons of Ajit, whose issue affected the political society of Rajputana. Of these,
Devi Singh was given for adoption to Maha Singh, head of the Champawat clan, he having no heirs. Devi Singh then held Bhinmal, but which he could not retain against the Koli tribes around him, and Pokaran was given in exchange. Sabal Singh, Sawai Singh, and Salim Singh (whose escape from the fate of the chieftain of Nimaj has been noticed) are the lineal issue of this adoption.
Anand Singh, another son of Ajit, was in like manner adopted into the independent State of Idar, and his issue are heirs-presumptive to the throne of Marwar.
=Effects of Adoption.=—From these races we derive the knowledge of a curious fact, namely, that the issue of the younger brother maintains a claim, though adopted into a foreign and independent State; while all such claims are totally extinguished by adoption into a home clan. Under no circumstances could the issue of Devi Singh sit on the gaddi of Marwar; when adopted into the Champawat clan, he surrendered all claims derived from his birth, which were merged into his vassal rank. Still the recollection must give weight and influence; and it is evident from the boast of the haughty Devi Singh, when his head was on the block, that there is danger in these adoptions.
Abhai Singh died, leaving a memorial of his prowess in the splendid additions he made to his territories from the tottering empire of Delhi. He was succeeded by his son Ram Singh, on whose accession his uncle Bakhta sent his aged foster-mother, an important personage in Rajwara, with the tika and gifts, and other symbols of congratulation. Ram Singh, who had all the impetuosity of his race, received the lady-ambassador with no friendly terms, asking her if his uncle had no better messenger to salute his new sovereign. He refused the gifts, and commanded her to tell his uncle to surrender Jalor. The offended dame [746] extenuated nothing of the insolence of the message. The reply was, however, courteous, implying that both Jalor and Nagor were at his disposal. The same sarcastic spirit soon precipitated matters between them in the following manner.
Kusal Singh of Awa, the premier noble of Marwar, and of all the clans of Champawat, more brave than courtly, was short in stature, sturdy, boorish, and blunt; he became the object of his young sovereign’s derision, who used to style him the gurji gandhak, or ‘turnspit dog,’ and who had once the audacity to say, “Come, gurji”; when he received the laconic reproof: “Yes; the gurji that dare bite the lion.”
Brooding over this merited retort, he was guilty of another sarcasm, which closed the breach against all reconciliation. Seated one day in the garden of Mandor, he asked the same chief the name of a tree. “The champa,” was the reply, “and the pride of the garden, as I am of your Rajputs.” “Cut it down instantly,” said the prince; “root it out; nothing which bears the name of champa shall exist in Marwar.”
Kaniram of Asop, the chief of the next most powerful clan, the Kumpawat, was alike the object of this prince’s ridicule. His countenance, which was not “cast in nature’s finest mould,” became a butt for his wit, and he would familiarly say to him, ‘ao budha bandar,’ “Come along, old monkey.” Boiling with rage, the chief observed, “When the monkey begins to dance, you will have some mirth.” Leaving the court, with his brother chieftain of Awa, they collected their retainers and families, and marched to Nagor. Bakhta Singh was absent, but being advised by his locum tenens of his visitors, and of their quarrel with his nephew, he lost no time in joining them. It is said he expostulated with them, and offered himself as mediator; but they swore never again to look in the face of Ram Singh as their sovereign. They offered to place Bakhta Singh on the gaddi of Jodha; and threatened, if he refused, to abandon Marwar. He played the part of our Richard for a short time; but the habitual arrogance of his nephew soon brought matters to a crisis. As soon as he heard that the two leaders of all his vassals were received by his uncle, he addressed him, demanding the instant surrender of Jalor. Again he had the courtly reply: “He dare not contend against his sovereign; and if he came to visit him, he would meet him with a vessel of water.”[4.28.15] War, a [747] horrid civil war, was now decided on; the challenge was given and accepted, and the plains of Merta were fixed upon to determine this mortal strife, in which brother was to meet brother, and all the ties of kin were to be severed by the sword. The Mertia clans, the bravest, as they are the most loyal and devoted, of all the brave clans of Maru, united to a man under the sovereign’s standard; the chiefs of Rian, Budsa, Mihtri, Kholar, Bhorawar, Kuchaman, Alniawas, Jusari, Bokri, Bharunda, Irwa, Chandarun, collected around them every vassal who could wield a brand. Most of the clans of Jodha, attracted by the name of swamidharma, ‘fidelity to their lord,’ united themselves to the Mertias; though a few, as Ladnun, Nimbi, were on the adverse side; but the principal leaders, as Khairwa, Govindgarh, and Bhadrajun, were faithful to their salt. Of the services of others, Ram Singh’s insolence deprived him. Few remained neuter. But these defections were nothing to the loss of a body of five thousand Jareja auxiliaries, whom his connexion with a daughter of the prince of Bhuj brought to his aid. When the tents were moved outside the capital, an incident occurred which, while it illustrates the singular character of the Rajput, may be regarded as the real cause of the loss of sovereignty to Ram Singh. An inauspicious raven had perched upon the kanat, or wall of the tent in which was the Jareja queen, who, skilled in the art of the suguni[4.28.16] (augur), determined to avert it. Like all Rajputnis, who can use firearms on occasion, she seized a matchlock at hand, and, ere he “thrice croaked,” she shot him dead. The impetuous Raja, enraged at this instance of audacity and disrespect, without inquiry ordered the culprit to be dragged before him; nor was his anger assuaged when the name of the Rani was given. He reviled her in the grossest terms: “Tell the Rani,” he said, “to depart my dominions, and to return from whence she came.” She entreated and conjured him, by a regard to his own safety, to revoke the decree; but all in vain; and with difficulty could she obtain a short interview, but without effecting any change in her obdurate lord. Her last words were, “With my exile from your presence, you will lose the crown of Marwar.” She marched that instant, carrying with her the five thousand auxiliaries whose presence must have ensured his victory.
The Udawat clans, led by their chiefs of Nimaj, Raepur, and Raus, with all [748] the Karansots under the Thakur of Khinwasar, united their retainers with the Champawats and Kumpawats under the banners of Bakhta Singh.
=Battle between Bakhta Singh and Rāja Rām Singh, A.D. 1752.=—Ram Singh’s array fell far short of his rival’s since the defection of the Jarejas; yet, trusting to the name of sovereign as “a tower of strength,” he boldly marched to the encounter, and when he reached the hostile field encamped near the Ajmer gate of Merta. His rival was not long behind, and marshalled his clans within three miles of the northern portal, called the gate of Nagor. The spot he chose had a sacred character, and was called Mataji ka Than, where there was a shrine of the Hindu Hecate, with a fountain said to have been constructed by the Pandavas.
Bakhta Singh commenced the battle. Leaving his camp standing, he advanced against his nephew and sovereign, whom he saluted with a general discharge of his artillery. A vigorous cannonade was continued on both sides throughout the day, without a single man seeking a closer encounter. It is no wonder they paused ere the sword was literally drawn. Here was no foreign foe to attack; brother met brother, friend encountered friend, and the blood which flowed in the veins of all the combatants was derived from one common fountain. The reluctance proceeded from the στοργή, the innate principle of natural affection. Evening advanced amidst peals of cannon, when an incident, which could only occur in an army of Rajputs, stopped the combat. On the banks of the Bejpa lake, the scene of strife, there is a monastery of Dadupanti ascetics, built by Raja Sur Singh. It was nearly midway between the rival armies, and the shot fell so thick amidst these recluses that they fled in a body, leaving only the old patriarch. Baba (father) Kishandeo disdained to follow his disciples, and to the repeated remonstrances from either party to withdraw, he replied, that if it was his fate to die by a shot he could not avert it; if not, the balls were innoxious: but although he feared not for himself, yet his gardens and monastery were not “charmed,” and he commanded them to fight no longer on that ground. The approach of night, and the sacred character of the old abbot Dadupanti, conspired to make both parties obey his commands, and they withdrew to their respective encampments.
The dawn found the armies in battle-array, each animated with a deadly determination. It was Raja Ram’s turn to open this day’s combat, and he led the van against his uncle. Burning with the recollection of the indignities he had [749] suffered, the chief of Awa, determined to show that “the cur could bite,” led his Champawats to the charge against his sovereign. Incited by loyalty and devotion “to the gaddi of Marwar,” reckless who was its occupant, the brave Mertias met his onset steel in hand. The ties of kin were forgotten, or if remembered, the sense of the unnatural strife added a kind of frenzy to their valour, and confirmed their resolution to conquer or die. Here the Mertia, fighting under the eye of this valiant though intemperate prince, had to maintain his ancient fame, as “the first sword of Maru.” There his antagonist, the Champawat, jealous of this reputation, had the like incentive, besides the obligation to revenge the insults offered to his chief. The conflict was awful: the chieftains of each valiant clan met hand to hand, singling out each other by name. Sher Singh, chief of all the Mertias, was the first who sealed his devotion by his death. His place was soon filled by his brother, burning for vengeance. Again he cheered on his Mertias to avenge the death of their lord, as he propelled his steed against the chief of the Champawats. They were the sons of two sisters of the Jaipur house, and had hitherto lived in amity and brotherly love, now exchanged for deadly hate. They encountered, when the “cur” bit the dust, and was borne from the field. The loss of their leaders only inflamed the vassals on both sides, and it was long before either yielded a foot of ground. But numbers, and the repeated charges of Bakhta Singh who led wherever his nephew could be found, at length prevailed; though not until the extinction of the clan of Mertia, who, despising all odds, fought unto the death. Besides their head of Rian, there fell the sub-vassals of Irwa, Sewara, Jusari, and Mithri, with his three gallant sons, and almost all their retainers.
=The Death of the Mīthri Chief.=—There is nothing more chivalrous in the days of Edward and Cressy than the death of the heir of Mithri, who, with his father and brothers, sealed his fealty with his blood on this fatal field. He had long engaged the hand of a daughter of a chief of the Narukas, and was occupied with the marriage rites, when tidings reached him of the approach of the rebels to Merta. The knot had just been tied, their hands had been joined—but he was a Mertia—he unlocked his hand from that of the fair Naruki, to court the Apsaras in the field of battle. In the bridal vestments, with the nuptial coronet (maur) encircling his forehead, he took his station with his clan in the second day’s fight, and “obtained a bride in Indra’s [750] abode.”[4.28.17] The bards of Maru dwell with delight on the romantic glory of the youthful heir of Mithri, as they repeat in their Doric verse,
Kānān moti bulbula Gal sonē ki māla Assi kos khariya āya Kunwar Mīthriwala.[4.28.18]
The paraphernalia here enumerated are very foreign to the cavalier of the west: “with pearls shining in his ears, and a golden chaplet round his neck, a space of eighty coss came the heir of Mithri.”
The virgin bride followed her lord from Jaipur, but instead of being met with the tabor and lute, and other signs of festivity, wail and lamentation awaited her within the lands of Mithri, where tidings came of the calamity which at once deprived this branch of the Mertias of all its supporters. Her part was soon taken; she commanded the pyre to be erected; and with the turban and tora[4.28.19] which adorned her lord on this fatal day, she followed his shade to the mansions of the sun. I sought out the cenotaph of this son of honour in the blood-stained field; but the only couronne immortelle I could wreathe on the sandy plain was supplied by the Bardai, whose song is full of martial fire as he recounts the gallantry of Kunwar Mithriwala.
The Mertias, and their compeers on the side of the prince, made sad havoc amongst their opponents; and they still maintain that it was owing to the artillery alone that they were defeated. Their brave and loyal leader, Sher Singh of Rian, had fruitlessly endeavoured to recall his brother-in-law from the path of treason, but ineffectually; he spoke with sarcasm of his means to supplant Ram Singh by his uncle. The reply of the old baron of Awa is characteristic: “At least I will turn the land upside down”; to which Sher Singh rejoined, angrily, he would do his best to prevent him. Thus they parted; nor did they meet again till in arms at Merta.
In surveying this field of slaughter, the eye discerns no point d’appui, no village or key of position, to be the object of a struggle: nothing to obstruct the doubly-gorged falconet, which has no terrors for the uncontrollable valour of the Rathor; it perceives but a level plain, extended to the horizon, and now covered with the memorials of this day’s strife. Here appears the colonnaded mausoleum, with its airy cupola; there the humble altar, with its simple record of the name, clan, and sakha of him whose ashes repose beneath, with the date of the event [751], inscribed in rude characters. Of these monumental records I had copies made of about a score; they furnish fresh evidence of the singular character of the Rajput.
Ram Singh retired within the walls of the city, which he barricaded; but it being too extensive to afford the chance of defence against the enemy, he formed the fatal resolution of calling to his aid the Mahrattas, who were then rising into notice. At midnight he fled to the south; and at Ujjain found the Mahratta leader, Jai Apa Sindhia, with whom he concerted measures for the invasion of his country. Meantime his uncle being master of the field, repaired, without loss of time, to the capital, where he was formally enthroned; and his an was proclaimed throughout Marwar. As skilful as he was resolute, he determined to meet on his frontier the threatened invasion, and accordingly advanced to Ajmer, in order to interpose between the Mahrattas and Jaipur, whose prince, Isari Singh,[4.28.20] was father-in-law to his rival. He wrote him a laconic epistle, requiring him either instantly to unite with him in attacking the Mahrattas, or declare himself his foe. The Jaipur prince had many powerful reasons for not supporting Raja Bakhta, but he at the same time dreaded his enmity. In this extremity, he had recourse to an expedient too common in cases of difficulty. Concerting with his wife, a princess of Idar (then ruled by one of the sons of Ajit), the best mode of extrication from his difficulties, he required her aid to revenge the foul murder of Ajit, and to recover his son’s right. “In either case,” said he, “the sword must decide, for he leaves me no alternative: against him I have no hopes of success; and if I march to the aid of an assassin and usurper, I lose the good opinion of mankind.” In short, he made it appear that she alone could rescue him from his perils. It was therefore resolved to punish one crime by the commission of another. Isari Singh signified his assent; and to lull all suspicion, the Rathorni was to visit her uncle in his camp on the joint frontier of the three States of Mewar, Marwar, and Amber. A poisoned robe was the medium of revenge. Raja Bakhta, soon after the arrival of his niece, was declared in a fever; the physician was summoned: but the man of secrets, the Vaidya, declared he was beyond the reach of medicine, and bade him prepare for other scenes. The intrepid Rathor, yet undismayed, received the tidings even with a jest: “What, Suja,” said he, “no cure? Why do you take my lands and eat their produce, if you cannot combat my maladies? What is your art good for?” The Vaidya excavated a [752] small trench in the tent, which he filled with water; throwing into it some ingredient, the water became gelid. “This,” said he, “can be effected by human skill; but your case is beyond it: haste, perform the offices which religion demands.” With perfect composure he ordered the chiefs to assemble in his tent; and having recommended to their protection, and received their promise of defending the rights of his son, he summoned the ministers of religion into his presence. The last gifts to the church, and these her organs, were prepared; but with all his firmness, the anathema of the Satis, as they ascended the funeral pyre on which his hand had stretched his father, came into his mind; and as he repeated the ejaculation, “May your corpse be consumed in foreign land!” he remembered he was then on the border. The images which crossed his mental vision it is vain to surmise: he expired as he uttered these words; and over his remains, which were burnt on the spot, a cenotaph was erected, and is still called Bura Dewal, the ‘Shrine of Evil.’
But for that foul stain, Raja Bakhta would have been one of the first princes of his race. It never gave birth to a bolder; and his wisdom was equal to his valour. Before the commission of that act, he was adored by his Rajputs. He was chiefly instrumental in the conquests made from Gujarat; and afterwards, in conjunction with his brother, in defeating the imperial viceroy, Sarbuland.[4.28.21] His elevation could not be called a usurpation, since Ram Singh was totally incapacitated, through his ungovernable passions, for sovereign sway; and the brave barons of Marwar, “all sons of the same father with their prince,” have always exercised the right of election, when physical incapacity rendered such a measure requisite. It is a right which their own customary laws, as well as the rules of justice, have rendered sacred. According to this principle, nearly all the feudality of Maru willingly recognized, and swore to maintain, the claims of his successor, Bijai Singh. The Rajas of Bikaner and Kishangarh, both independent branches of this house, gave in their assent. Bijai Singh was accordingly proclaimed and installed at Marot, and forthwith conducted to Merta.
The ex-prince, Ram Singh, accompanied Jai Apa to the siege of Kotah, and subsequently through Mewar, levying contributions as they passed to Ajmer. Here a dispute occurred between the brave Rathor and Sindhia, whose rapacious spirit for plunder received a severe reproof: nevertheless they crossed the frontier [753], and entered Marwar. Bijai Singh, with all the hereditary valour of his race, marched to meet the invaders, at the head of nearly all the chivalry of Maru, amounting to 200,000 men.
=Battle of Merta, about A.D. 1756.=—The first day both armies encountered, they limited their hostility to a severe cannonade and partial actions, the inhabitants of Merta supplying the combatants with food, in which service many were killed; even the recluse Dadupantis ran the risk in this patriotic struggle, and several of the old patriarch’s disciples suffered. The second day passed in the same manner, with many desperate charges of cavalry, in which the Mahrattas invariably suffered, especially from a select body of 5000 select horse, all cased in armour, which nothing could withstand. The superior numerical strength of Ram Singh and his allies compelled Bijai Singh not to neglect the means of retreat. Throughout the first and second days’ combat, the cattle of the train had been kept yoked; on the third, they had carried them to a small rivulet in the rear to water. It was at the precise moment of time when the legion of cuirassiers were returning from a charge which had broken to pieces the Mahratta line, as they approached their friends, the word ‘daga’ spread like wildfire; they were mistaken for Ram Singh’s adherents, and a murderous shower of grape opened upon the flower of their own army, who were torn to pieces ere the fatal error was discovered. But such was the impression which this band of heroes had just made on the Mahrattas, that they feared to take advantage of this disaster. A feeling of horror pervaded the army of Bijai Singh, as the choice of their chivalry conveyed the slain and the wounded to the camp. A council of war was summoned, and the aid of superstition came to cool that valour which the Mahrattas, in spite of their numbers, could never subdue. The Raja was young—only twenty years of age; and being prudent as well as brave, he allowed experience to guide him. The Raja of Bikaner, of the same kin and clan, took the lead, and advised a retreat. In the accident related, he saw the hand of Providence, which had sent it to serve as a signal to desist. The Raja had a great stake to lose, and doubtless deemed it wise to preserve his auxiliaries for the defence of his own dominions. It was a case which required the energy of Bakhta: but the wavering opinion of the council soon spread throughout the camp, and was not unobserved by the enemy; nor was it till Bikaner marched off with his aid, towards the close of the day, that any advantage was taken of it [754]. Then Ram Singh at the head of a body of Rajputs and Mahrattas poured down upon them, and ‘sauve qui peut’ became the order of the day. To gain Merta was the main object of the discomfited and panic-struck Rathors; but many chiefs with their vassals marched direct for their estates. The guns were abandoned to their fate, and became the first proud trophy the Mahrattas gained over the dreaded Rajputs. The Raja of Kishangarh, also a Rathor, followed the example of his brother prince of Bikaner, and carried off his bands. Thus deserted by his dispirited and now dispersed barons, the young prince had no alternative but flight, and at midnight he took the route of Nagor. In the darkness he mistook the road, or was misled into that of Rain, whose chieftain was the companion of his flight. Calling him by name, Lal Singh, he desired him to regain the right path; but the orders of a sovereign at the head of a victorious army, and those of a fugitive prince, are occasionally received, even amongst Rajputs, with some shades of distinction. The chief begged permission, as he was near home, to visit his family and bring them with him. Too dignified to reply, the young prince remained silent and the Thakur of Rain[4.28.22] loitered in the rear. The Raja reached Kajwana, with only five of his cuirassiers (silahposh) as an escort. Here he could not halt with safety; but as he left the opposite barrier, his horse dropped down dead. He mounted another belonging to one of his attendants, and gained Deswal, three miles farther. Here the steeds, which had been labouring throughout the day under the weight of heavy armour, in addition to the usual burden of their riders, were too jaded to proceed; and Nagor was still sixteen miles distant. Leaving his worn-out escort, and concealing his rank, he bargained with a Jat to convey him before break of day to the gate of Nagor for the sum of five rupees. The peasant, after stipulating that the coin should be bijaishahis,[4.28.23] ‘the new currency,’ which still remains the standard, the common car of husbandry was brought forth, on which the king of Maru ascended, and was drawn by a pair of Nagori oxen. The royal fugitive was but little satisfied with their exertions, though their pace was good, and kept continually urging them, with the customary cry of “hank! hank!“ The honest Jat, conscious that his cattle did their best, at length lost all temper. Repeating the sounds ”hank! hank!” “Who are you,” asked he, “that are hurrying on at this rate? It were more becoming [755] that such a sturdy carl should be in the field with Bijai Singh at Merta, than posting in this manner to Nagor. One would suppose you had the southrons (dakkhinis) at your heels. Therefore be quiet, for not a jot faster shall I drive.” Morning broke, and Nagor was yet two miles distant: the Jat, turning round to view more attentively his impatient traveller, was overwhelmed with consternation when he recognized his prince. He leaped from the vehicle, horror-struck that he should have been sitting ‘on the same level’ with his sovereign, and absolutely refused to sin any longer against etiquette. “I pardon the occasion,” said the prince mildly; “obey.” The Jat resumed his seat, nor ceased exclaiming hank! hank! until he reached the gate of Nagor. Here the prince alighted, paid his price of conveyance, and dismissed the Jat of Deswal, with a promise of further recompense hereafter. On that day the enemy invested Nagor, but not before Bijai Singh had dispatched the chief of Harsor to defend the capital, and issued his proclamations to summon the ban of Marwar.
=Resistance of Bijai Singh.=—During six months he defended himself gallantly in Nagor, against which the desultory Mahrattas, little accustomed to the operations of a siege, made no impression, while they suffered from the sallies of their alert antagonist. Encouraged by their inactivity, the young prince, imbued with all the native valour of his race, and impelled by that decisive energy of mind which characterized his father, determined upon a step which has immortalized his memory. He resolved to cut his way through the enemy, and solicit succours in person. He had a dromedary corps five hundred strong. Placing on these a devoted band of one thousand Rajputs, in the dead of night he passed the Mahratta lines unobserved, and made direct for Bikaner. Twenty-four hours sufficed to seat him on the same gaddi with its prince, and to reveal to him the melancholy fact, that here he had no hopes of succour. Denied by a branch of his own house, he resorted to a daring experiment upon the supporter of his antagonist. The next morning he was on his way, at the head of his dromedary escort, to the capital of the Kachhwahas, Jaipur. The “ships of the desert” soon conveyed him to that city. He halted under the walls, and sent a messenger to say that in person he had come to solicit his assistance.
Isari Singh, the son and successor of the great Sawai Jai Singh, had neither the talents of his father, nor even the firmness which was the common inheritance [756] of his race. He dreaded the rival Rathor; and the pusillanimity which made him become the assassin of the father, prompted him to a breach of the sacred laws of hospitality (which, with courage, is a virtue almost inseparable from a Rajput soul), and make a captive of the son. But the base design was defeated by an instance of devotion and resolution, which will serve to relieve the Rajput character from the dark shades which the faithful historian is sometimes forced to throw into the picture. Civil war is the parent of every crime, and severs all ties, moral and political; nor must it be expected that Rajputana should furnish the exception to a rule, which applies to all mankind in similar circumstances. The civil wars of England and France, during the conflicts of the White and Red Roses, and those of the League, will disclose scenes which would suffice to dye with the deepest hues an entire dynasty of the Rajputs. Let such deeds as the following be placed on the virtuous side of the account, and the crimes on the opposite side be ascribed to the peculiarities of their condition.
=Devotion of the Mertias.=—The devoted sacrifice of Sher Singh, the chief of the Mertia clan, has already been recorded. When victory declared against the side he espoused, the victorious Bakhta Singh resumed the estates of Rian from his line, and conferred them on a younger branch of the family. Jawan Singh was the name of the individual, and he was now with the chosen band of the son of his benefactor, soliciting succour from the king of the Kachhwahas. He had married the daughter of the chief of Achrol, one of the great vassals of Jaipur, who was deep in the confidence of his sovereign, to whom he imparted his design to seize the person of his guest and suppliant at the interview he had granted. Aware that such a scheme could not be effected without bloodshed, the Achrol chieftain, desirous to save his son-in-law from danger, under an oath of secrecy revealed the plot, in order that he might secure himself. The Jaipur prince came to the ‘Travellers’ hall’ (dharmsala), where the Rathor had alighted; they embraced with cordiality, and seated themselves on the same gaddi together. While compliments were yet passing, the faithful Mertia, who, true to his pledge, had not even hinted to his master the danger that threatened him, placed himself immediately behind the Jaipur prince, sitting, as if accidentally, on the flowing skirt of his robe. The Raja, turning round to the leader of “the first of the swords of Maru,” remarked “Why, Thakur, have you taken a seat in the background to-day?” “The day requires it, Maharaja” [757], was the laconic reply: for the post of the Mertias was the sovereign’s right hand. Turning to his prince, he said, “Arise, depart, or your life or liberty is endangered.” Bijai Singh arose, and his treacherous host made an attempt to follow, but felt his design impeded by the position the loyal chief had taken on his garment, whose drawn dagger was already pointed to his heart, where he threatened to sheathe it if any hindrance was offered to the safe departure of his sovereign, to whom he coolly said, as the prince left the astonished assembly, “Send me word when you are mounted.” The brave Bijai Singh showed himself worthy of his servant, and soon sent to say, “He now only waited for him”: a message, the import of which was not understood by the treacherous Kachhwaha. The leader of the Mertias sheathed his dagger—arose—and coming in front of the Raja, made him a respectful obeisance. The Jaipur prince could not resist the impulse which such devotion was calculated to produce; he arose, returned the salutation, and giving vent to his feelings, observed aloud to his chiefs, “Behold a picture of fidelity! It is in vain to hope for success against such men as these.”
=Bijai Singh returns to Nāgor.=—Foiled in all his endeavours, Bijai Singh had no resource but to regain Nagor, which he effected with the same celerity as he quitted it. Six months more passed away in the attempt to reduce Nagor; but though the siege was fruitless, not so were the efforts of his rival Ram Singh in other quarters, to whom almost all the country had submitted: Marot, Parbatsar, Pali, Sojat had received his flag; and besides the capital and the town he held in person, Jalor, Siwana, and Phalodi were the only places which had not been reduced. In this extremity, Bijai Singh listened to an offer to relieve him from these multiplied difficulties, which, in its consequences, alienated for ever the brightest gem in the crown of Marwar.
=The Assassination of Jai Āpa Sindhia, A.D. 1759.=—A Rajput and an Afghan, both foot-soldiers on a small monthly pay, offered, if their families were provided for, to sacrifice themselves for his safety by the assassination of the Mahratta commander. Assuming the garb of camp-settlers, they approached the headquarters, feigning a violent quarrel. The simple Mahratta chief was performing his ablutions at the door of his tent, and as they approached they became more vociferous, and throwing a bundle of statements of account on the ground, begged he would decide between them. In this manner they came nearer and nearer, and as he listened to their story, one plunged his dagger in his side, exclaiming, “This for Nagor!” and “This for Jodhpur!” said his companion [758], as he repeated the mortal blow. The alarm was given; the Afghan was slain; but the Rajput called out “Thief!” and mingling with the throng, escaped by a drain into the town of Nagor.[4.28.24] Though the crime was rewarded, the Rathor refused to see the criminal. The siege continued, but in spite of every precaution, reinforcements both of men and provisions continued to be supplied. It ill suited the restless Mahratta to waste his time in these desert regions, which could be employed so much more profitably on richer lands: a compromise ensued, in which the cause of Ram Singh was abandoned, on stipulating for a fixed triennial tribute, and the surrender of the important fortress and district of Ajmer in full sovereignty to the Mahratta, in mundkati, or compensation for the blood of Jai Apa. The monsoon was then approaching; they broke up, and took possession of this important conquest, which, placed in the very heart of these regions, may be called the key of Rajputana.
The cross of St. George now waves over the battlements of Ajmer,[4.28.25] planted, if there is any truth in political declarations, not for the purpose of conquest, or to swell the revenues of British India, but to guard the liberties and the laws of these ancient principalities from rapine and disorder. It is to be hoped that this banner will never be otherwise employed, and that it may never be execrated by the brave Rajput.
The deserted Ram Singh continued to assert his rights with the same obstinacy by which he lost them; and for which he staked his life in no less than eighteen encounters against his uncle and cousin. At length, on the death of Isari Singh of Jaipur, having lost his main support, he accepted the Marwar share of the Salt Lake of Sambhar, and Jaipur relinquishing the other half, he resided there until his death [759].
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Footnote 4.28.1:
[Acacia catechu.]
Footnote 4.28.2:
[The aconite-leaved kidney-bean, Phaseolus aconitifolius.]
Footnote 4.28.3:
[See p. 913, below.]
Footnote 4.28.4:
Specimens of all these I brought home.
Footnote 4.28.5:
[This seems to be merely an instance of serpent-worship.]
Footnote 4.28.6:
The traditional stanzas are invaluable for obtaining a knowledge both of ancient history and geography:
“Kasyapgarh, Surajpura, Basakgarh, Tako, Udhanigarh, Jagrupura, Jo Phulgarh, i Lakho.”
In this stanza we have the names of six ancient cities in the desert, which belonged to Lakha, the Tako, Tak, or Takshak, i.e. of the race figuratively called the ‘serpent.’ [Many tales are told of Lākha Phulāni, who by one account was a Rāo of Cutch, slain fighting in Kāthiāwār (BG, v. 133, viii. 111 note). Others identify him with Lakha, son of Phulada, who defeated the Chaulukya king, Mūlarāja, in the eleventh century (ibid. i. Part i. 160). By another account, he was father-in-law of the great Siddharāja (Tod, WI, 179). He is mentioned twice later on. He was probably a powerful king of the desert, round whom many legends have collected.]
Footnote 4.28.7:
[The Kalhoras, closely allied to the Dāūdputras, rose to power in the Lower Indus valley at the end of the seventeenth century A.D. They trace their origin to Abbās, uncle of the Prophet. They were expelled by Fateh Ali of Tālpur, and the last of the Kalhoras fled to Jodhpur, where his descendants now hold distinguished rank (IGI, xxii. 397 ff.).]
Footnote 4.28.8:
Mr. Stokes, of the Royal Asiatic Society, pronounces it to be a steatite.
Footnote 4.28.9:
Rao Duda had three sons, besides Maldeo; namely: First, Raemall; second, Birsingh, who founded Amjera in Malwa, still held by his descendants; third, Ratan Singh, father of Mira Bai, the celebrated wife of Kumbha Rana.
Footnote 4.28.10:
[See Vol. I. p. 382, above.]
Footnote 4.28.11:
See Vol. I. p. 567.
Footnote 4.28.12:
[See Vol. I. p. 467, above.]
Footnote 4.28.13:
The bards give adjuncts to names in order to suit their rhymes: Ajit is the ‘invincible’; Ajmāl, a contraction of Ajayamāl, ‘wealth invincible.’
Footnote 4.28.14:
[Major Luard’s Pandit gives the word in the third line as sihara or sihra, the veil worn by the bridegroom to avert the Evil Eye.]
Footnote 4.28.15:
This reply refers to a custom analogous to the Scythic investiture, by offering “water and soil.” [The Kols and other forest tribes deliver a handful of soil to a purchaser of a piece of land (Macpherson, Memorials of Service, 64).]
Footnote 4.28.16:
Sugun pherna means to avert the omen of evil.
Footnote 4.28.17:
[The authority quoted by Compton (Military Adventurers, 61) speaks of the “serd kopperah wallas” (zard kaprawāla, ‘those wearing yellow wedding garments’), as the forlorn hope in the battle.]
Footnote 4.28.18:
[Major Luard’s Pandit reads in the first line bhalbhala, ‘a lustre,’ and in the third kharoho, ‘rode hard.’]
Footnote 4.28.19:
[A neck ornament.]
Footnote 4.28.20:
[Isari Singh, Mahārāja of Jaipur, A.D. 1742-60.]
Footnote 4.28.21:
[Nawāb Mubārizu-l-mulk, Governor of Gujarāt under Muhammad Shāh, from which office he was removed because he consented to pay blackmail (chauth) to the Marāthas. He refused to give up his post, and fell into disgrace. He was afterwards Governor of Allāhābād, and died A.D. 1745 (Beale, Dict. Oriental Biog. s.v.; BG, i. Part i. 304 ff.).]
Footnote 4.28.22:
Or Rahin in the map, on the road to Jahil from Merta.
Footnote 4.28.23:
[Coins made in the reign of Bijai Singh (A.D. 1753-93), (Webb, Currencies of the Hindu States of Rājputāna, 40).]
Footnote 4.28.24:
[According to Grant Duff (Hist. Mahrattas, 310), Bijai Singh, following the infamous example of his father in regard to Pīlaji Gāēkwār, engaged two persons who, on the promise of a rent-free estate (jāgīr), went to Jai Āpa as accredited envoys, and assassinated him. Hari Charan Dās (Elliot-Dowson viii. 210) says that the Rājput leader warned Jai Āpa to leave Mārwār. Jai Āpa abused him, and the Rājput killed him by a blow with his dagger. Three of the Rājput party were killed, and three, in spite of their wounds, escaped.]
Footnote 4.28.25:
[Surrendered to the British by Daulat Rāo Sindhia by treaty of June 25, 1818, and occupied by the Agent, Mr. Wilder, on July 28 of the same year.]
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Chapter 29
=Mahādaji Sindhia, A.D. 1759-94. Battle of Lālsot, A.D. 1787.=—Mahadaji Sindhia succeeded to the command of the horde led by his relation, Jai Apa. He had the genius to discover that his southron horse would never compete with the Rajputs, and he set about improving that arm to which the Mahrattas finally owed success. This sagacious chief soon perceived that the political position of the great States of Rajasthan was most favourable to his views of establishing his power in this quarter. They were not only at variance with each other, but, as it has already appeared, were individually distracted with civil dissensions. The interference of the Rana of Udaipur had obtained for his nephew, Madho Singh, the gaddi of Jaipur; but this advantage was gained only through the introduction of the Mahrattas, and the establishment of a tribute, as in Marwar. This brave people felt the irksomeness of their chains, and wished to shake them off. Madho Singh’s reign was short; he was succeeded by Partap, who determined to free himself from this badge of dependence.[4.29.1] Accordingly, when Mahadaji Sindhia invaded his country, at the head of a powerful army, he called on the Rathors for aid. The cause was their own; and they jointly determined to redeem what had been lost. As the bard of the Rathors observes, they [760] forgot all their just grounds of offence[4.29.2] against the Jaipur court, and sent the flower of their chivalry under the chieftain of Rian, whose fidelity has been so recently recorded. At Tonga (the battle is also termed that of Lalsot), the rival armies encountered. The celebrated Mogul chiefs, Ismail Beg and Hamdani, added their forces to those of the combined Rajputs, and gained an entire victory, in which the Rathors had their full share of glory. The noble chief of Rian formed his Rathor horse into a dense mass, with which he charged and overwhelmed the flower of Sindhia’s army, composed of the regulars under the celebrated De Boigne.[4.29.3] Sindhia was driven from the field, and retired to Mathura; for years he did not recover the severity of this day. The Rathors sent a force under the Dhaibhai, which redeemed Ajmer, and annulled their tributary engagement.
=Battle of Pātan, June 20, 1790.=—The genius of General Comte de Boigne ably seconded the energetic Sindhia. A regular force was equipped, far superior to any hitherto known, and was led into Rajputana to redeem the disgrace of Tonga. The warlike Rathors determined not to await the attack within their own limits, but marched their whole force to the northern frontier of Jaipur, and formed a junction with the Kachhwahas at the town of Patan (Tuarvati).[4.29.4] The words of the war-song, which the inspiring bards repeated as they advanced, are still current in Marwar; but an unlucky stanza, which a juvenile Charan had composed after the battle of Tonga, had completely alienated the Kachhwahas from their supporters, to whom they could not but acknowledge their inferiority:
Ūdhalti Amber né rākhi Rāthorān.
“The Rathors guarded the petticoats of Amber.”[4.29.5]
This stanza was retained in recollection at the battle of Patan; and if universal [761] affirmation may be received as proof, it was the cause of its loss, and with it that of Rajput independence. National pride was humbled: a private agreement was entered into between the Mahrattas and Jaipurians, whereby the latter, on condition of keeping aloof during the fight, were to have their country secured from devastation. As usual, the Rathors charged up to the muzzles of De Boigne’s cannon, sweeping all before them: but receiving no support, they were torn piecemeal by showers of grape and compelled to abandon the field. Then, it is recorded, the brave Rathor showed the difference between fighting on parbhum, or ‘foreign land,’ and on his own native soil. Even the women, it is averred, plundered them of their horses on this disastrous day; so heart-broken had the traitorous conduct of their allies rendered them. The Jaipurians paid dearly for their revenge, and for the couplet which recorded it:
_Ghoro, joro, pagri, Mūcham Khag Mārwār, Pānch rakam mel līdha Pātan men Rāthor.[4.29.6]_
Verbatim:
“Horse, shoes, turban, Mustachio, sword [of] Marwar, Five things surrendered were At Patan by the Rathor.”
Both these “ribald strains” are still the taunt of either race: by such base agencies are thrones overturned, and heroism rendered abortive!
When the fatal result of the battle of Patan was communicated to Raja Bijai Singh, he called a council of all his nobles, at which the independent branches of his family, the Rajas of Bikaner, Kishangarh, and Rupnagarh, assisted, for the cause was a common one. The Raja gave it as his own opinion, that it was better to fulfil the terms of the former treaty, on the murder of Jai Apa, acknowledge the cancelled tribute, and restore Ajmer, which they had recovered by a coup de main. His valorous chieftains opposed the degrading suggestion, and unanimously recommended that they should again try the chances of war ere they signed their humiliation. Their resolution swayed the prince, who issued his summons to every Rathor in his dominions to assemble under their Raja’s banner, once more planted on the ensanguined plains of Merta. A fine army was embodied; not a Rathor who could wield a sword but brought it for service in the cause of his country; and full thirty thousand men assembled on the 10th September 1790, determined to efface the recollections of Patan [762].
=Battle of Merta, September 1790 A.D.=—There was one miscreant of Rathor race, who aided on this occasion to rivet his country’s chains, and his name shall be held up to execration—Bahadur Singh, the chief of Kishangarh. This traitor to his suzerain and race held, jointly with his brother of Rupnagarh, a domain of two hundred and ten townships: not a fief emanating from Marwar, but all by grant from the kings; still they received the tika, and acknowledged the supremacy of the head of Jodhpur. The brothers had quarrelled; Bahadur despoiled his brother of his share, and being deaf to all offers of mediation, Bijai Singh marched and re-inducted the oppressed chief into his capital, Rupnagarh. The fatal day of Patan occurred immediately after; and Bahadur, burning with revenge, repaired to De Boigne, and conducted him against his native land. Rupnagarh, it may be supposed, was his first object, and it will afford a good proof of the efficiency of the artillery of De Boigne, that he reduced it in twenty-four hours. Thence he proceeded to Ajmer, which he invested: and here the proposal was made by the Raja for its surrender, and for the fulfilment of the former treaty. Mahadaji in person remained at Ajmer, while his army, led by Lakwa, Jiwa-dada, Sudasheo Bhao, and other Mahratta leaders of horse, with the brigades of De Boigne and eighty pieces of cannon, advanced against the Rathors. The Mahrattas, preceding by one day’s march the regulars under De Boigne, encamped at Natria. The Rathor army was drawn out on the plains of Merta, one flank resting on the village of Dangiwas. Five miles separated the Rathors from the Mahrattas; De Boigne was yet in the rear, his guns being deep sunk in the sandy bed of the Luni. Here a golden opportunity was lost, which could never be regained, of deciding ‘horse to horse’ the claims of supremacy; but the evil genius of the Rathor again intervened: and as he was the victim at Patan to the jealousy of the Kachhwaha, so here he became the martyr to a meaner cause, the household jealousies of the civil ministers of his prince. It is customary in all the Rajput States, when the sovereign does not command in person, to send one of the civil ministers as his representative. Him the feudal chiefs will obey, but not one of their own body, at least without some hazard of dissension. Khub Chand Singwi, the first minister, was present with the Raja at the capital: Gangaram Bhandari and Bhimraj Singwi were with the army. Eager to efface the disgrace of Patan, the two great Rathor leaders, Sheo Singh of Awa, and Mahidas of Asop, who had sworn to free their country or die in the [763] attempt, demanded a general movement against the Mahrattas. This gallant impatience was seconded by all the other nobles, as well as by a successful attack on the foragers of the enemy, in which the Mahrattas lost all their cattle. But it was in vain they urged the raging ardour of their clans, the policy of taking advantage of it, and the absence of De Boigne, owing to whose admirable corps and well-appointed park the day at Patan was lost; Bhimraj silenced their clamour for the combat by producing a paper from the minister Khub Chand commanding them on their allegiance not to engage until the junction of Ismail Beg, already at Nagor. They fatally yielded obedience. De Boigne extricated his guns from the sands of Alniawas, and joined the main body. That night the Bikaner contingent, perceiving the state of things, and desirous to husband their resources to defend their own altars, withdrew. About an hour before day-break, De Boigne led his brigade to the attack, and completely surprised the unguarded Rajputs.[4.29.7] They were awoke by showers of grape-shot, which soon broke their position: all was confusion; the resistance was feeble. It was the camp of the irregular infantry and guns which broke, and endeavoured to gain Merta; and the civil commanders took to flight. The alarm reached the more distant quarters of the brothers-in-arms, the chiefs of Awa and Asop. The latter was famed for the immense quantity of opium he consumed; and with difficulty could his companion awake him, with the appalling tidings, “The camp has fled, and we are left alone!” “Well, brother, let us to horse.” Soon the gallant band of both was ready, and twenty-two chiefs of note drank opium together for the last time. They were joined by the leaders of other clans; and first and foremost the brave Mertias of Rian, of Alniawas, Irwa, Chanod, Govindgarh; in all four thousand Rathors. When mounted and formed in one dense mass, the Awa chieftain shortly addressed them: “Where can we fly, brothers? But can there be a Rathor who has ties stronger than shame (laj)? If any one exist who prefers his wife and children to honour, let him retire.” Deep silence was the only reply to this heroic appeal; and as the hand of each warrior was raised to his forehead, the Awa chief gave the word “Forward!” They soon came up with De Boigne’s brigade, well posted, and defended by eighty pieces of cannon. “Remember Patan!” was the cry, as, regardless of showers of grape, this heroic band charged up to the cannon’s mouth, driving everything before them, cutting [764] down the line which defended the guns, and passing on to assault the Mahrattas, who were flying in all directions to avoid their impetuous valour. Had there been a reserve at this moment, the day of Merta would have surpassed that of Tonga. But here the skill of De Boigne, and the discipline of his troops, were an overmatch for valour unsustained by discipline and discretion. The Rathor band had no infantry to secure their victory; the guns were wheeled round, the line was re-formed, and ready to receive them on their return. Fresh showers of shot and grape met their thinned ranks; scarcely one of the four thousand left the field. The chiefs of Asop, Irwa, Chanod, Govindgarh, Alniawas, Morira, and others of lesser note, were among the slain; and upon the heaps of wounded, surrounded by his gallant clan, lay the chief of Awa, pierced with seven-and-twenty wounds. He had lain insensible twenty-four hours, when an old servant, during the night, searched for and found him on the field. A heavy shower had fallen, which increased the miseries of the wounded. Blind and faint, the Thakur was dragged out from the bodies of the slain. A little opiate revived him; and they were carrying him off, when they were encountered by Lakwa’s harkaras in search of chiefs of note; the wounded Thakur was conveyed to the headquarters at Merta. Lakwa sent a surgeon to sew up his wounds; but he disdained the courtesy, and refused all aid, until the meanest of his wounded vassals was attended to. This brave man, when sufficiently recovered, refused all solicitation from his sympathizing foes that the usual rejoicing might be permitted, and that he would shave and perform the ablutions after sickness, till he could see his sovereign. The Raja advanced from his capital to meet him, and lavished encomiums on his conduct. He now took the bath, preparatory to putting on the honorary dress; but in bathing his wounds opened afresh, and he expired.
Bhimraj Singwi received at Nagor, whither he had fled, a letter of accusation from his sovereign, on which he swallowed poison; but although he was indirectly the cause of the defeat, by his supineness, and subsequent disgraceful flight, it was the minister at the capital whose treason prevented the destruction of the Mahrattas: Khub Chand was jealous of Bhimraj; he dreaded being supplanted by him if he returned from Merta crowned with success; and he therefore penned the dispatch which paralysed their energies, enjoining them to await the junction of Ismail Beg [765].
Thus, owing to a scurrilous couplet of a bard, and to the jealousy of a contemptible court-faction, did the valiant Rathors lose their independence—if it can be called lost—since each of these brave men still deems himself a host, when “his hour should come” to play the hero. Their spirit is not one jot diminished since the days of Tonga and Merta.[4.29.8]
=British Policy towards the Rajputs.=—By a careful investigation of the circumstances which placed those brave races in their present political position, the paramount protecting power may be enabled to appreciate them, either as allies or as foes; and it will demonstrate more effectually than mere opinions, from whatever source, how admirably qualified they are, if divested of control, to harmonize, in a very important respect, with the British system of government in the East. We have nothing to dread from them, individually or collectively; and we may engage their very hearts’ blood in our cause against whatever foes may threaten us, foreign or domestic, if we only exert our interference when mediation will be of advantage to them, without offence to [766] their prejudices. Nor is there any difficulty in the task; all honour the peacemaker, and they would court even arbitration if once assured that we had no ulterior views. But our strides have been rapid from Calcutta to Rajputana, and it were well if they credit what the old Nestor of India (Zalim Singh of Kotah) would not, who, in reply to all my asseverations that we wished for no more territory, said, “I believe you think so; but the time will come when there will be but one sikka[4.29.9] throughout India. You stepped in, Maharaj, at a lucky time, the phut[4.29.10] was ripe and ready to be eaten, and you had only to take it bit by bit. It was not your power, so much as our disunion, which made you sovereigns, and will keep you so.” His reasoning is not unworthy of attention, though I trust his prophecy may never be fulfilled.
=Jharāu.=—November 28.—Camp at Jharau, five coss (11 miles). On leaving Merta, we passed over the ground sacred to “the four thousand,” whose heroic deeds, demonstrating at once the Rajput’s love of freedom and his claim to it, we have just related. We this day altered our course from the N.N.E., which would have carried us, had we pursued it, to the Imperial city, for a direction to the southward of east, in order to cross our own Aravalli and gain Ajmer. The road was excellent, the soil very fair; but though there were symptoms of cultivation near the villages, the wastes were frightfully predominant; yet they are not void of vegetation: there is no want of herbage or stunted shrubs. The Aravalli towered majestically in the distant horizon, fading from our view towards the south-east, and intercepted by rising grounds.
=The Mirage.=—We had a magnificent mirage this morning: nor do I ever recollect observing this singularly grand phenomenon on a more extensive scale, or with greater variety of form. The morning was desperately cold; the thermometer, as I mounted my horse, a little after sunrise, stood at 32°, the freezing-point, with a sharp biting wind from the north-east. The ground was blanched with frost, and the water-skins, or bihishtis mashaks, were covered with ice at the mouth. The slender shrubs, especially the milky ak, were completely burnt up; and as the weather had been hitherto mild, the transition was severely felt, by things animate and inanimate [767].
It is only in the cold season that the mirage is visible; the sojourners of Maru call it the siya-kot, or ‘castles in the air.’[4.29.11] In the deep desert to the westward, the herdsmen and travellers through these regions style it chitram, ‘the picture’; while about the plains of the Chambal and Jumna they term it disasul, ‘the omen of the quarter.’ This optical deception has been noticed from the remotest times. The prophet Isaiah alludes to it when he says, “and the parched ground shall become a pool”;[4.29.12] which the critic has justly rendered, “and the _shārāb_h[4.29.13] shall become real water.” Quintus Curtius, describing the mirage in the Sogdian desert, says that “for the space of four hundred furlongs not a drop of water is to be found, and the sun’s heat, being very vehement in summer, kindles such a fire in the sands, that everything is burnt up. There also arises such an exhalation, that the plains wear the appearance of a vast and deep sea”; which is an exact description of the chitram of the Indian desert. But the shārābh and chitram, the true mirage of Isaiah, differ from that illusion called the siya-kot; and though the traveller will hasten to it, in order to obtain a night’s lodging, I do not think he would expect to slake his thirst there.
When we witnessed this phenomenon at first, the eye was attracted by a lofty opaque wall of lurid smoke, which seemed to be bounded by, or to rise from, the very verge of the horizon. By slow degrees the dense mass became more transparent, and assumed a reflecting or refracting power: shrubs were magnified into trees; the dwarf khair appeared ten times larger than the gigantic amli of the forest. A ray of light suddenly broke the line of continuity of this yet smoky barrier; and, as if touched by the enchanter’s wand, castles, towers, and trees were seen in an aggregated cluster, partly obscured by magnificent foliage. Every accession of light produced a change in the chitram, which from the dense wall that it first exhibited had now faded into a thin transparent film, broken into a thousand masses, each mass being a huge lens; until at length the [768] too vivid power of the sun dissolved the vision: castles, towers, and foliage melted, like the enchantment of Prospero, into “thin air.”
I had long imagined that the nature of the soil had some effect in producing this illusory phenomenon; especially as the chitram of the desert is seen chiefly on those extensive plains productive of the sajji, or alkaline plant, whence by incineration the natives produce soda,[4.29.14] and whose base is now known to be metallic. But I have since observed it on every kind of soil. That these lands, covered with saline incrustations, tend to increase the effect of the illusion, may be concluded.[4.29.15] But the difference between the sarāb or chitram, and the siya-kot or disasul is, that the latter is never visible but in the cold season, when the gross vapours cannot rise; and that the rarefaction, which gives existence to the other, destroys this, whenever the sun has attained 20° of elevation. A high wind is alike adverse to the phenomenon, and it will mostly be observed that it covets shelter, and its general appearance is a long line which is sure to be sustained by some height, such as a grove or village, as if it required support. The first time I observed it was in the Jaipur country; none of the party had ever witnessed it in the British provinces. It appeared like an immense walled town with bastions, nor could we give credit to our guides, when they talked of the siya-kot, and assured us that the objects were merely “castles in the air.” I have since seen, though but once, this panoramic scene in motion, and nothing can be imagined more beautiful.
It was at Kotah, just as the sun rose, whilst walking on the terraced roof of the garden-house, my residence. As I looked towards the low range which bounds the sight to the south-east, the hills appeared in motion, sweeping with an undulating or rotatory movement along the horizon. Trees and buildings were magnified, and all seemed a kind of enchantment. Some minutes elapsed before I could account for this wonder; until I determined that it must be the masses of a floating mirage, which had attained its most attenuated form, and being carried by a gentle current of air past the tops and sides of the hills, while it was itself imperceptible, made them appear in motion.
But although this was novel and pleasing, it wanted the splendour of the scene of this morning, which I never saw equalled but once. This occurred at Hissar, where I went to visit a beloved friend—gone, alas! to a better world [769],—whose ardent and honourable mind urged me to the task I have undertaken. It was on the terrace of James Lumsdaine’s house, built amidst the ruins of the castle of Firoz, in the centre of one extended waste, where the lion was the sole inhabitant, that I saw the most perfect specimen of this phenomenon: it was really sublime. Let the reader fancy himself in the midst of a desert plain, with nothing to impede the wide scope of vision, his horizon bounded by a lofty black wall encompassing him on all sides. Let him watch the first sunbeam break upon this barrier, and at once, as by a touch of magic, shiver it into a thousand fantastic forms, leaving a splintered pinnacle in one place, a tower in another, an arch in a third; these in turn undergoing more than kaleidoscopic changes, until the “fairy fabric” vanishes. Here it was emphatically called Harchand Raja ki puri, or ‘the city of Raja Harchand,’ a celebrated prince of the brazen age of India.[4.29.16] The power of reflection shown by this phenomenon cannot be better described than by stating that it brought the very ancient Agroha,[4.29.17] which is thirteen miles distant, with its fort and bastions, close to my view.
The difference then between the mirage and the siya-kot is, that the former exhibits a horizontal, the latter a columnar or vertical stratification; and in the latter case, likewise, a contrast to the other, its maximum of translucency is the last stage of its existence. In this stage, it is only an eye accustomed to the phenomenon that can perceive it at all. I have passed over the plains of Meerut with a friend who had been thirty years in India, and he did not observe a siya-kot then before our eyes: in fact so complete was the illusion, that we only saw the town and fort considerably nearer. Monge gives a philosophical account of this phenomenon in Napoleon’s campaign in Egypt; and Dr. Clarke perfectly describes it in his journey to Rosetta, when “domes, turrets, and groves were seen reflected on the glowing surface of the plain, which appeared like a vast lake extending itself between the city and travellers.” It is on reviewing this account that a critic has corrected the erroneous translation of the Septuagint; and further dilated upon it in a review of Lichtenstein’s travels in Southern Africa,[4.29.18] who exactly describes our siya-kot, of the magnifying and reflecting powers of which he gives a [770] singular instance. Indeed, whoever notices, while at sea, the atmospheric phenomena of these southern latitudes, will be struck by the deformity of objects as they pass through this medium: what the sailors term a fog-bank is the first stage of our siya-kot. I observed it on my voyage home; but more especially in the passage out. About six o’clock on a dark evening, while we were dancing on the waste, I perceived a ship bearing down with full sail upon us so distinctly, that I gave the alarm, in expectation of a collision; so far as I recollect, the helm was instantly up, and in a second no ship was to be seen. The laugh was against me—I had seen the “flying Dutchman,”[4.29.19] according to the opinion of the experienced officer on deck; and I believed it was really a vision of the mind: but I now feel convinced it was either the reflection of our own ship in a passing cloud of this vapour, or a more distant object therein refracted. But enough of this subject: I will only add, whoever has a desire to see one of the grandest phenomena in nature, let him repair to the plains of Merta or Hissar, and watch before the sun rises the fairy palace of Harchand, infinitely grander and more imposing than a sunrise upon the alpine Helvetia, which alone may compete with the chitram of the desert.
=Cenotaph of a Thākur.=—Jharau is a thriving village appertaining to a sub-vassal of the Mertia chief of Rian. There was a small sheet of water within a musket-shot to the left of the village, on whose margin, peeping through a few nims and the evergreen jhal,[4.29.20] was erected an elegant, though small chhatri, or cenotaph, of an ancestor of the possessor. The Thakur is sculptured on his charger, armed at all points; and close beside him, with folded hands, upon the same stone, his faithful partner, who accompanied the warrior to Indra’s abode. It bore the following epitaph: “On the 2d Margsir, S. 1689 (A.D. 1633), Maharaja Jaswant Singh attacked the enemy’s (Aurangzeb’s) army, in which battle Thakur Harankarna Das, of the Mertia clan, was slain. To him was erected this shrine, in the month of Margsir, S. 1697.”
Water from wells is about thirty-five cubits from the surface; the strata as follows: four cubits of mixed sand and black earth; five of kankar, or calcareous concretions; twenty of stiff clay and sand; six of indurated clay, with particles of quartz and mica [771].
=Alniawās.=—November 29.—Alniawas, five coss. Half-way, passed the town of Rian, so often mentioned as the abode of the chief of the Mertia clan. It is large and populous, and surrounded by a well-constructed wall of the calcareous concrete already described, here called morar, and which resists the action of the monsoon. The works have a most judicious slope. The Thakur’s name is Badan Singh, one of the eight great barons of Maru. The town still bears the name of Sher Singh ka Rian, who so gallantly defended to the death the rights of his young sovereign Ram Singh against his uncle. A beautiful landscape is seen from the high ground on which the town stands, in the direction of the mountains; the intermediate space being filled with large villages, relieved by foliage, so unusual in these regions. Here I had a proof of the audacity of the mountaineers of the Aravalli, in an inscription on a cenotaph, which I copied: “On Monday the 3d Magh, S. 1835 (A.D. 1779), Thakur Bhopal Singh fell at the foot of his walls, defending them against the Mers, having first, with his own hand, in order to save her honour, put his wife to death.”[4.29.21] Such were the Mers half a century ago, and they had been increasing in boldness ever since. There was scarcely a family on either side the range, whose estates lay at its foot, whose cenotaphs do not bear similar inscriptions, recording the desperate raids of these mountaineers; and it may be asserted that one of the greatest benefits we conferred on Rajputana was the conversion of this numerous banditti, occupying some hundred towns, into peaceful, tax-paying subjects. We can say, with the great Chauhan king, Bisiladeva, whose monument still stands in Firoz’s palace at Delhi, that we made them “carry water in the streets of Ajmer”; and, still more, deposit their arms on the Rana’s terrace at Udaipur. We have, moreover, metamorphosed a corps of them from breakers, into keepers, of the public peace.
Between Rian and Alniawas we crossed a stream, to which the name of the Luni[4.29.22] is also given, as well as to that we passed subsequently. It was here that De Boigne’s guns are said to have stuck fast.
The soundings of the wells at Rian and Alniawas presented the same results as [772] at Jharau, with the important exception that the substratum was steatite, which was so universal in the first part of my journey from Jodhpur.
Alniawas is also a fief of a Mertia vassal. It is a considerable town, populous, and apparently in easy circumstances. Here again I observed a trait of devotion, recorded on an altar “to the memory of Suni Mall,” who fell when his clan was exterminated in the charge against the rival Champawats, at Merta, in the civil wars.
=Govindgarh.=—November 30.—Govindgarh, distance three coss, or six miles. The roads generally good, though sometimes heavy; the soil of a lighter texture than yesterday. The castle and town of Govinda belong to a feudatory of the Jodha clan; its founder, Govind, was grandson to Udai le gros; or, as Akbar dubbed him, the “Mota Raja,” from his great bulk. Of this clan is the chief of Khairwa, having sixteen townships in his fief: Banai, and Masuda, with its “fifty-two townships,” both now in Ajmer; having for their present suzerain the “Sarkar Company Bahadur”; though in lapses they will still go to Jodhpur, to be made “belted knights.” These places are beyond the range; but Pisangan, with its twelve villages; Bijathal, and other fiefs west of it, also in Ajmer, might at all events be restored to their ancient princes, which would be considered as a great boon. There would be local prepossessions to contend with, on the part of the British officers in charge of the district; but such objections must give way to views of general good.
=Fox-hunting: Hyaenas.=—This was another desperately cold morning; being unprovided with a great-coat, I turned the dagla, or ‘quilted brocade tunic,’ sent me by the high priest of Kanhaiya, to account. We had some capital runs this morning with the foxes of Maru, which are beautiful little animals, and larger than those of the provinces. I had a desperate chase after a hyaena on the banks of the Luni, and had fully the speed of him; but his topographical knowledge was too much for me, and he at length led me through a little forest of reeds or rushes, with which the banks of the river are covered for a great depth. Just as I was about giving him a spear, in spite of these obstacles, we came upon a blind nullah or ‘dry rivulet,’ concealed by the reeds; and Bajraj (the royal steed) was thrown out, with a wrench in the shoulder, in the attempt to clear it: the jhirak laughed at us.
We crossed a stream half a mile west of Govindgarh, called the Sagarmati [773], which, with another, the Sarasvati, joining it, issues from the Pushkar lake. The Sagarmati is also called the Luni; its bed is full of micaceous quartzose rock. The banks are low, and little above the level of the country. Though water is found at a depth of twelve cubits from the surface, the wells are all excavated to the depth of forty, as a precautionary measure against dry seasons. The stratification here was—one cubit sand; three of sand and soil mixed; fifteen to twenty of yellow clayish sand; four of morar, and fifteen of steatite and calcareous concretions, with loose sand, mixed with particles of quartz.
=Pushkar Lake.=—December 1.—Lake of Pushkar, four coss: the thermometer stood at the freezing-point this morning:—heavy sands the whole way. Crossed the Sarasvati near Nand; its banks were covered with bulrushes, at least ten feet in height—many vehicles were lading with them for the interior, to be used for the purposes of thatching—elephants make a feast among them. We again crossed the Sarasvati, at the entrance of the valley of Pushkar, which comes from Old (burha) Pushkar, four miles east of the present lake, which was excavated by the last of the Pariharas of Mandor. The sand drifted from the plains by the currents of air has formed a complete bar at the mouth of the valley, which is about one mile in breadth; occasionally the tibas, or sand-hills, are of considerable elevation. The summits of the mountains to the left were sparkling with a deep rose-coloured quartz, amidst which, on the peak of Nand, arose a shrine to ‘the Mother.’ The hills preserve the same character: bold pinnacles, abrupt sides, and surface thinly covered. The stratification inclines to the west; the dip of the strata is about twenty degrees. There is, however, a considerable difference in the colour of the mountains: those on the left have a rose tint; those on the right are of greyish granite, with masses of white quartz about their summits.
Pushkar is the most sacred lake in India; that of Mansarovar in Tibet may alone compete with it in this respect. It is placed in the centre of the valley, which here becomes wider, and affords abundant space for the numerous shrines and cenotaphs with which the hopes and fears of the virtuous and the wicked amongst the magnates of India have studded its margin. It is surrounded by sand-hills of considerable magnitude, excepting on the east, where a swamp extends to the very base of the mountains. The form of the lake may be called an irregular ellipse. Around its margin, except towards the marshy outlet, is a display of [774] varied architecture. Every Hindu family of rank has its niche here, for the purposes of devotional pursuits when they could abstract themselves from mundane affairs. The most conspicuous are those erected by Raja Man of Jaipur, Ahalya Bai, the Holkar queen, Jawahir Mall of Bharatpur, and Bijai Singh of Marwar. The cenotaphs are also numerous. The ashes of Jai Apa, who was assassinated at Nagor, are superbly covered; as are those of his brother Santaji, who was killed during the siege of that place.
=The Brahma Temple.=—By far the most conspicuous edifice is the shrine of the creator Brahma, erected, about four years ago, by a private individual, if we may so designate Gokul Parik, the minister of Sindhia; it cost the sum of 130,000 rupees (about £15,000), though all the materials were at hand, and labour could be had for almost nothing. This is the sole tabernacle dedicated to the ONE GOD which I ever saw or have heard of in India.[4.29.23] The statue is quadrifrons; and what struck me as not a little curious was that the sikhar, or pinnacle of the temple, is surmounted by a cross. Tradition was here again at work. Before creation began, Brahma assembled all the celestials on this very spot, and performed the Yajna; around the hallowed spot walls were raised, and sentinels placed to guard it from the intrusion of the evil spirits. In testimony of the fact, the natives point out the four isolated mountains, placed towards the cardinal points, beyond the lake, on which, they assert, rested the kanats, or cloth-walls of inclosure. That to the south is called Ratnagir, or ‘the hill of gems,’ on the summit of which is the shrine of Savitri. That to the north is Nilagir, or ‘the blue mountain.’ East, and guarding the valley, is the Kuchhaturgir; and to the west, Sonachaura, or ‘the golden.’ Nandi, the bull-steed of Mahadeva, was placed at the mouth of the valley, to keep away the spirits of the desert; while Kanhaiya himself performed this office to the north. The sacred fire was kindled: but Savitri, the wife of Brahma, was nowhere to be found, and as without a female the rites could not proceed, a young Gujari took the place of Savitri; who, on her return, was so enraged at the indignity, that she retired to the mountain of gems, where she disappeared. On this spot a fountain gushed up, still called by her name; close to which is her shrine, not the least attractive in the precincts of Pushkar. During these rites, Mahadeva, or, as he is called, Bholanath, represented always in a state of stupefaction from the use of intoxicating [775] herbs, omitted to put out the sacred fire, which spread, and was likely to involve the world in combustion; when Brahma extinguished it with the sand, and hence the tibas of the valley. Such is the origin of the sanctity of Pushkar. In after ages, one of the sovereigns of Mandor, in the eagerness of the chase, was led to the spot, and washing his hands in the fountain, was cured of some disorder. That he might know the place again, he tore his turban into shreds, and suspended the fragments to the trees, to serve him as guides to the spot—there he made the excavation. The Brahmans pretend to have a copper-plate grant from the Parihara prince of the lands about Pushkar; but I was able to obtain only a Persian translation of it, which I was heretical enough to disbelieve. I had many grants brought me, written by various princes and chiefs, making provision for the prayers of these recluses at their shrines.
The name of Bisaladeva, the famed Chauhan king of Ajmer, is the most conspicuous here; and they still point out the residence of his great ancestor, Ajaipal, on the Nagpahar, or ‘serpent-rock,’ directly south of the lake, where the remains of the fortress of the Pali or Shepherd-king are yet visible. Ajaipal was, as his name implies, a goatherd, whose piety, in supplying one of the saints of Pushkar with daily libations of goats’ milk, procured him a territory. Satisfied, however, with the scene of his early days, he commenced his castle on the serpent-mount; but his evil genius knocking down in the night what he erected in the day, he sought out another site on the opposite side of the range: hence arose the far-famed Ajamer.[4.29.24] Manika Rae is the most conspicuous connecting link of the Chauhan Pali kings, from the goatherd founder to the famed Bisaladeva.[4.29.25] Manika was slain in the first century of the Hijra, when “the arms of Walid conquered to the Ganges”; and Bisaladeva headed a confederacy of the Hindu kings, and chased the descendants of Mahmud from Hindustan, the origin of the recording column at Delhi. Bisaladeva, it appears from inscriptions, was the contemporary of Rawal Tejsi, the monarch of Chitor, and grandfather of the Ulysses of Rajasthan, the brave Samarsi, who fell with 13,000 of his kindred in aid of the last Chauhan Prithiraj, who, according to the genealogies of this race, is the fourth in descent from Bisaladeva. If this is not sufficient proof of the era of this king, be it known that Udayaditya, the prince of the Pramaras (the period of [776] whose death, or A.D. 1096, has now become a datum),[4.29.26] is enumerated amongst the sovereigns who serve under the banners of the Chauhan of Ajmer.
=Bhartrihari.=—The ‘serpent-rock’ is also famed as being one of the places where the wandering Bhartrihari, prince of Ujjain, lived for years in penitential devotion; and the slab which served as a seat to this royal saint has become one of the objects of veneration. If all the places assigned to this brother of Vikrama were really visited by him, he must have been one of the greatest tourists of antiquity, and must have lived to an antediluvian old age. Witness his castle at Sehwan, on the Indus; his cave at Alwar; his thans at Abu, and at Benares. We must, in fact, give credit to the couplet of the bards, “the world is the Pramara’s.” There are many beautiful spots about the serpent-mount, which, as it abounds in springs, has from the earliest times been the resort of the Hindu sages, whose caves and hermitages are yet pointed out, now embellished with gardens and fountains. One of the latter issuing from a fissure in the rock is sacred to the Muni Agastya, who performed the very credible exploit of drinking up the ocean.
St. George’s banner waved on a sand-hill in front of the cross on Brahma’s temple, from which my camp was separated by the lake; but though there was no defect of legendary lore to amuse us, we longed to quit “the region of death,” and hie back to our own lakes, our cutter, and our gardens.
=Ajmer.=—December 2.—Ajmer, three coss. Proceeded up the valley, where lofty barriers on either side, covered with the milky thor (cactus),[4.29.27] and the “yellow anwla of the border,” showed they were but the prolongation of our own Aravalli. Granite appeared of every hue, but of a stratification so irregular as to bid defiance to the geologist. The higher we ascended the valley, the loftier became the sand-hills, which appeared to aspire to the altitude of their granitic neighbours. A small rill poured down the valley; there came also a cold blast from the north, which made our fingers tingle. Suddenly we changed our direction from north to east, and ascending the mountain, surveyed through a gap in the range the far-famed Daru-I-Khair. The view which thus suddenly burst upon us was magnificent. A noble plain, with trees, and the expansive lake of Bisaladeva, lay at our feet, while ‘the fortress of the goatherd’ crowned the crest of a majestic isolated hill. The point of descent affords a fine field for the mineralogist; on [777] each side, high over the pass, rise peaks of reddish granite, which are discovered half-way down the descent to be reposing on a blue micaceous slate, whose inclination is westward, at an angle of about 25° with the horizon. The formation is the same to the southward, but the slate there is more compact, and freer from mica and quartz. I picked up a fragment of black marble; its crystals were large and brilliant.
Passed through the city of Ajmer, which, though long a regal abode, does not display that magnificence we might have expected, and, like all other towns of India, exhibits poverty and ease in juxtaposition. It was gratifying to find that the finest part was rising, under the auspices of the British Government and the superintendent of the province, Mr. Wilder. The main street, when finished, will well answer the purpose intended—a place of traffic for the sons of commerce of Rajasthan, who, in a body, did me the honour of a visit: they were contented and happy at the protection they enjoyed in their commercial pursuits. With the prosperity of Bhilwara, that of Ajmer is materially connected; and having no interests which can clash, each town views the welfare of the other as its own: a sentiment which we do not fail to encourage.
Breakfasted with Mr. Wilder,[4.29.28] and consulted how we could best promote our favourite objects—the prosperity of Ajmer and Bhilwara [778].
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Footnote 4.29.1:
[Mādho Singh, A.D. 1760-78: Prithi Singh II. was succeeded within a year by Partāp Singh, 1778-1803.]
Footnote 4.29.2:
_Pat rakhi Partāp ki No koti ka nāth. Gunha agla bagasnē Abē pakriyo hāth._
“The lord of the nine castles preserved the honour of Partāp. He forgave former offences, and again took him by the hand.” [In the third line Major Luard’s Pandit reads bakhas di, ‘forgave.’]
Footnote 4.29.3:
“A la gauche la cavalerie rhatore, au nombre de dix mille hommes, fondit sur les bataillons de M. de Boigne malgré le feu des batteries placées en avant de la ligne. Les pièces bien servies opéraient avec succès; mais les Rhatores, avec le courage opiniâtre qui les caractérise, s’acharnaient à poursuivre l’action, et venaient tuer les artilleurs jusques sur leurs pièces. Alors, les bataillons s’avancèrent, et les Rhatores, qui avaient perdu beaucoup de monde, commencèrent à s’ébranler. M. de Boigne, les voyant se retirer en désordre, réclama l’aide du centre; mais les prières et les menaces furent également inutiles: les vingt-cinq bataillons mogols, restés inactifs pendant toute la journée, et simples spectateurs du combat, demeurèrent encore immobiles dans ce moment décisif. Les deux armées se retirèrent après cette action sanglante, qui n’eut aucun résultat.”
Footnote 4.29.4:
[There is some doubt about the exact date. Grant Duff (_Hist. Mahrattas_, 497) fixes it on June 20, 1790. See Erskine’s note (iii. A. 68), which is followed in the margin. For the battle see Compton, Military Adventurers, 51 ff.]
Footnote 4.29.5:
[The translation in the text seems to be wrong. The best authorities translate: “But for the Rāthors Amber would have run away.”]
Footnote 4.29.6:
[In this version the first and third lines do not scan. According to Dr. Tessitori, a better text runs:
_Ghoro, joro, pāgri, Mūcham tāni maror, Yān pānchām gun agli, Rājpūti Rāthor._
Footnote 4.29.7:
[See the graphic account in Keene, Fall of the Mogul Empire, 205 f.]
Footnote 4.29.8:
Three years ago I passed two delightful days with the conqueror of the Rajputs, in his native vale of Chambéry. It was against the croix blanche of Savoy, not the orange flag of the Southron, that four thousand Rajputs fell martyrs to liberty; and although I wish the Comte long life, I may regret he had lived to bring his talents and his courage to their subjugation. He did them ample justice, and when I talked of the field of Merta, the remembrance of past days flitted before him, as he said “all appeared as a dream.” Distinguished by his prince, beloved by a numerous and amiable family, and honoured by his fellow-citizens, the years of the veteran, now numbering more than fourscore, glide in agreeable tranquillity in his native city, which, with oriental magnificence, he is beautifying by an entire new street and a handsome dwelling for himself. By a singular coincidence, just as I am writing this portion of my narrative I am put in possession of a Mémoire of his life, lately published, written under the eye of his son, the Comte Charles de Boigne. From this I extract his account of the battle of Merta. It is not to be supposed that he could then have been acquainted with the secret intrigues which were arrayed in favour of the “white cross” on this fatal day.
“Les forces des Rajepoutes se composaient de trente mille cavaliers, de vingt mille hommes d’infanterie régulière, et de vingt-cinq pièces de canon. Les Marhattes avaient une cavalerie égale en nombre à celle de l’ennemi, mais leur infanterie se bornait aux bataillons de M. de Boigne, soutenus, il est vrai, par quatre-vingts pièces d’artillerie. Le général examina la position de l’ennemi, il étudia le terrain et arrêta son plan de bataille.
“Le dix, avant le jour, la brigade reçut l’ordre de marcher en avant, et elle surprit les Rajepoutes pendant qu’ils faisoient leurs ablutions du matin. Les premiers bataillons, avec cinquante pièces de canon tirant à mitraille, enfoncèrent les lignes de l’ennemi et enlevèrent ses positions. Rohan, qui commandait l’aile droite, à la vue de ce premier avantage, sans avoir reçu aucun ordre, eut l’imprudence de s’avancer hors de la ligne du combat, à la tête de trois bataillons. La cavalerie Rathore profitant de cette faute, fondit à l’instant sur lui et faillit lui couper sa retraite sur le gros de l’armée, qu’il ne parvint à rejoindre qu’avec les plus grandes difficultés. Toute la cavalerie ennemie se mit alors en mouvement, et se jetant avec impétuosité sur la brigade, l’attaqua sur tous les côtés à la fois. Elle eût été infailliblement exterminée sans la présence d’esprit de son chef. M. de Boigne, s’étant aperçu de l’erreur commise par son aile droite et prévoyant les suites qu’elle pouvait entraîner, avait disposé sur-le-champ son infanterie en carré vide (hollow square); et par cette disposition, présentant partout un front à l’ennemi, elle opposa une résistance invincible aux charges furieuses des Rathores, qui furent enfin forcés de lâcher prise. Aussitôt l’infanterie reprit ses positions, et s’avançant avec son artillerie, elle fit une attaque générale sur toute la ligne des Rajepoutes. Déjà sur les neuf heures, l’ennemi était complètement battu; une heure après, les Marhattes prirent possession de son camp avec tous ses canons et bagages; et pour couronner cette journée, à trois heures après midi la ville de Mirtah fut prise d’assaut” (Mémoire sur la carrière militaire et politique de M. le Général Comte De Boigne, Chambéry, 1829).
Footnote 4.29.9:
[‘Seal,’ ‘coinage.’]
Footnote 4.29.10:
Phūt is a species of pumpkin, or melon, which bursts and flies into pieces when ripe. [Cucumis mormodica, Watt, Comm. Prod. 438 f.] It also means disunion; and Zalim Singh, who always spoke in parables, compared the States of India to this fruit.
Footnote 4.29.11:
Literally, ‘the cold-weather castles.’
Footnote 4.29.12:
Isaiah xxxv. 7.
Footnote 4.29.13:
Sahra is ‘desert’; Arabic sarāb, Hebrew shārābh, ‘the water of the desert,’ a term which the inhabitants of the Arabian and Persian deserts apply to this optical phenomenon. The 18th verse, chap. xli. of Isaiah is closer to the critic’s version: “I will make the wilderness (sahra) a pool of water.“ Doubtless the translators of Holy Writ, ignorant that this phenomenon was called shārābh, ‘water of the waste,’ deemed it a tautological error; for translated literally, “and the water of the desert shall become real water,” would be nonsense: they therefore lopped off the āb, water, and read sahra instead of shārābh, whereby the whole force and beauty of the prophecy is not merely diminished, but lost. [The Author is mistaken, the words shārābh and sahra having no connexion. See Encyclopaedia Biblica, i. 1077. The mirage in Sanskrit is called mrigatrish, ‘deer’s thirst.’ Another name is Gandharvapura, ‘city of the heavenly choristers.’]
Footnote 4.29.14:
Properly a carbonate of soda [barilla, Watt, Econ. Prod. 112 f.].
Footnote 4.29.15:
[Mirage is due to variations in the refractive index of the atmosphere, caused by sporadic variations of temperature (EB, 11th ed. xviii. 573).]
Footnote 4.29.16:
[For the tale of the sufferings of the righteous Harischandra see J. Muir, Original Sanskrit Texts, i. 88 ff.; Dowson, Classical Dict. s.v. For the mirage city compare “The City of Brass” (Burton, Arabian Nights, iii. 295).]
Footnote 4.29.17:
This is in the ancient province of Hariana, and the cradle of the Agarwal race, now mercantile, and all followers of Hari or Vishnu. It might have been the capital of Aggrames, whose immense army threatened Alexander; with Agra it may divide the honour, or both may have been founded by this prince, who was also a Porus, being of Puru’s race. [For Xandrames or Aggrames see Smith, EHI, 40; McCrindle, Alexander, 409. His capital is supposed to have been Pātaliputra, the modern Patna.]
Footnote 4.29.18:
See Edinburgh Review, vol. xxi. pp. 66 and 138.
Footnote 4.29.19:
This phenomenon is not uncommon; and the superstitious sailor believes it to be the spectre of a Dutch pirate, doomed, as a warning and punishment, to migrate about these seas.
Footnote 4.29.20:
[Jhāl, Salvadora persica.]
Footnote 4.29.21:
A second inscription recorded a similar end of Sewa, the Baori, who fell in another inroad of the Mers, in S. 1831.
Footnote 4.29.22:
I must deprecate criticism in respect to many of my geographical details. I find I have omitted this branch; but my health totally incapacitated me from reconstructing my map, which has been composed by the engraver from my disjointed materials. It is well known to all practical surveyors and geographers that none can do this properly but their author, who knows the precise value of each portion. [It is the main stream of the Lūni river.]
Footnote 4.29.23:
[At least three other temples of Brahma are known: at Khed Brahma in Mahikāntha (BG, v. 437 f.); Cebrolu and Māla in S. India (Oppert, Original Inhabitants of Bharatavarsa, 288 ff.). The Author mentions one at Chitor (Vol. I. p. 322).]
Footnote 4.29.24:
[“The name probably suggested the myth [that he was a goatherd, Ajapāla = ‘goatherd’], and it is more reasonable to suppose that the appellation was given to him when, at the close of his life, he became a hermit, and ended his days at the gorge in the hills about ten miles from Ajmer, which is still venerated as the shrine of Ajaipāl. It has been shown, however, by more recent research that Aja or Ajāya flourished about A.D. 1000, and that the foundation of Ajmer must be attributed to this period” (Watson, Gazetteer, i. A. 9).]
Footnote 4.29.25:
Classically, Visaladeva. [Cunningham remarks that the date of Manik Rāē is fixed by a memorial verse in Sambat 741 or 747, but of what era is uncertain. Tod adopts the Vikrama era, and fixes his date twenty years before the invasion of Muhammad bin Kāsim, A.D. 712. He seems to have reigned in the beginning of the ninth century (ASR, ii. 253). Visaladeva lived in the middle of the twelfth century (Smith, EHI, 386). Tej Singh is mentioned in inscriptions A.D. 1260-67 (Erskine ii. B. 10).]
Footnote 4.29.26:
See Transactions of the Royal Asiatic Society, vol. i. p. 223.
Footnote 4.29.27:
[Euphorbia neriifolia.]
Footnote 4.29.28:
[Mr. Wilder was in charge of Ajmer, 1818-24.]
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Chapter 30
=Ajmer.=—Ajmer has been too long the haunt of Moguls and Pathans, the Goths and Vandals of Rajasthan, to afford much scope to the researches of the antiquary. Whatever time had spared of the hallowed relics of old, bigotry has destroyed, or raised to herself altars of materials, whose sculptured fragments serve now as disjointed memorials of two distinct and distant eras: that of the independent Hindu, and that of the conquering Muhammadan, whose idgahs and mosques, mausoleums and country-seats, constructed from the wrecks of aboriginal art, are fast mouldering to decay. The associations they call forth afford the only motive to wish their preservation; except one “relic of nobler days and noblest arts,” which, though impressed with this double character, every spectator must desire to rescue from the sweeping sentence—the edifice before the reader, a visit to which excited these reflections. Let us rather bless than execrate the hand, though it be that of a Turk, which has spared, from whatever motive, one of the most perfect, as well as the most ancient, monuments of Hindu architecture. It is built on the western declivity of the fortress, and called Arhai din ka jhonpra, or, ‘the shed of two and a half days,’ from its having occupied (as tradition tells) its magical builders only this short period. The skill of the Pali or Takshak architect, the three sacred mounts of these countries abundantly attest: nor had he occasion for any mysterious arts, besides those of masonry, to accomplish them. In discussing the cosmogony of the Hindus, we have had occasion to convert their years into days; here we must reverse the method, and understand (as in [779] interpreting the sacred prophecies of Scripture) their days as meaning years. Had it, indeed, been of more humble pretensions, we might have supposed the monotheistic Jain had borrowed from the Athenian legislator Cecrops, who ordained that no tomb should consist of more work than ten men could finish in three days; to which Demetrius, the Phalerian, sanctioned the addition of a little vessel to contain the ghost’s victuals.[4.30.1]
=Arhāi din ka jhonpra Mosque.=—The temple is surrounded by a superb screen of Saracenic architecture, having the main front and gateway to the north. From its simplicity, as well as its appearance of antiquity, I am inclined to assign the screen to the first dynasty, the Ghorian sultans, who evidently made use of native architects. The entrance arch is of that wavy kind, characteristic of what is termed the Saracenic, whether the term be applied to the Alhambra of Spain, or the mosques of Delhi; and I am disposed, on close examination, to pronounce it Hindu.[4.30.2] The entire façade of this noble entrance, which I regret I cannot have engraved, is covered with Arabic inscriptions. But, unless my eyes much deceived me, the small frieze over the apex of the arch contained an inscription in Sanskrit,[4.30.3] with which Arabic has been commingled, both being unintelligible. The remains of a minaret still maintain their position on the right flank of the gate, with a door and steps leading to it for the muazzin to call the faithful to prayers. A line of smaller arches of similar form composes the front of the screen. The design is chaste and beautiful, and the material, which is a compact limestone of a yellow colour, admitting almost of as high a polish as the jaune antique, gave abundant scope to the sculptor. After confessing and admiring the taste of the Vandal architect, we passed under the arch to examine the more noble production of the Hindu. Its plan is simple, and consonant with all the more ancient temples of the Jains. It is an extensive saloon, the ceiling supported by a quadruple range of columns, those of the centre being surmounted by a range of vaulted coverings; while the lateral portion, which is flat, is divided into compartments of the most elaborate sculpture. But the columns are most worthy of attention; they are unique in design, and with the exception of the cave-temples, probably amongst the oldest now existing in India. On examining them, ideas entirely novel, even in Hindu [780] art, are developed. Like all these portions of Hindu architecture, their ornaments are very complex, and the observer will not fail to be struck with their dissimilarity; it was evidently a rule in the art to make the ornaments of every part unlike the other, and which I have seen carried to great extent. There may be forty columns but no two are alike. The ornaments of the base are peculiar, both as to form and execution; the lozenges, with the rich tracery surmounting them, might be transferred, not inappropriately, to the Gothic cathedrals of Europe. The projections from various parts of the shaft (which on a small scale may be compared to the corresponding projections of the columns in the Duomo at Milan), with the small niches still containing the statues, though occasionally mutilated, of the Pontiffs of the Jains, give them a character which strengthens the comparison, and which would be yet more apparent if we could afford to engrave the details.[4.30.4] The elegant Kamakumbha, the emblem of the Hindu Ceres, with its pendent palmyra-branches, is here lost, as are many emblematical ornaments, curious in design and elegant in their execution. Here and there occurs a richly carved corbeille, which still further sustains the analogy between the two systems of architecture; and the capitals are at once strong and delicate. The central vault, which is the largest, is constructed after the same fashion as that described at Nadol; but the concentric annulets, which in that are plain, in this are one blaze of ornaments, which with the whole of the ceiling is too elaborate and complicated for description. Under the most retired of the compartments, and nearly about the centre, is raised the mimbar, or pulpit, whence the Mulla enunciates the dogma of Muhammad, “there is but one God”: and for which he dispossessed the Jain, whose creed was like his own, the unity of the Godhead. But this is in unison with the feeling which dictated the external metamorphosis. The whole is of the same materials as already described, from the quarries of the Aravalli close at hand, which are rich in every mineral as well as metallic production:—
I ask’d of Time for whom those temples rose, That prostrate by his hand in silence lie; His lips disdain’d the myst’ry to disclose, And borne on swifter wing, he hurried by! The broken columns whose? I ask’d of Fame: (Her kindling breath gives life to works sublime;) With downcast looks of mingled grief and shame, She heaved the uncertain sigh, and follow’d Time [781]. Wrapt in amazement o’er the mouldering pile, I saw Oblivion pass with giant stride; And while his visage wore Pride’s scornful smile, Haply thou know’st, then tell me, whose I cried, Whose these vast domes that ev’n in ruin shine? I reck not whose, he said: they now are mine.
Shall we abandon them to cold ‘oblivion’; or restore them to a name already mentioned, Samprati, or Swampriti, the Shah Jahan[4.30.5] of a period two centuries before the Christian era, and to whom the shrine in Kumbhalmer is ascribed? Of one thing there is no doubt, which is, that both are Jain, and of the most ancient models: and thus advertised, the antiquary will be able to discriminate between the architectural systems of the Saivas and the Jains, which are as distinct as their religions.
Having alluded to the analogy between the details in the columns and those in our Gothic buildings (as they are called), and surmised that the Saracenic arch is of Hindu origin; I may further, with this temple and screen before us, speculate on the possibility of its having furnished some hints to the architects of Europe. It is well known that the Saracenic arch has crept into many of those structures called Gothic, erected in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, when a more florid style succeeded to the severity of the Saxon or Romans; but I believe it has been doubted whence the Saracens obtained their model; certainly it was neither from Egypt nor Persia. The early caliphs of Baghdad, who were as enlightened as they were powerful, kept alive the light of science when Europe was in darkness; and the most accomplished noble who accompanied our Cœur de Lion, though “brave as his sword,” was a clown compared to the infidel Saladin, in mind as well as manners. The influence of these polished foes on European society it would be superfluous to descant upon. The lieutenants of these caliphs, who penetrated from the Delta of the Indus to the Ganges from four to five centuries prior to this event, when Walid’s arms triumphed simultaneously on the Indus and the Ebro, produced no trifling results to the arts. This very spot, Ajmer, according to traditional couplets and the poetic legends of its ancient princes, the Chauhans, was visited by the first hostile force which Islam sent across the Indus, and to which Manika Rae fell a sacrifice. What ideas might not this Jain temple have afforded to [782] “the Light of Ali,” for Roshan Ali is the name preserved of him who, “in ships landing at Anjar,” marched through the very heart of India, and took Garh Bitli, the citadel of Ajmer, by assault. The period is one of total darkness in the history of India, save for the scattered and flickering rays which emanate from the chronicles of the Chauhans and Guhilots. But let us leave the temple, and slightly describe the castle of Manika Rae, on whose battlements an infidel’s arrow of Roshan’s army reached the heir of the Chauhan; since which Lot, for such was his name, has been adopted amongst the lares and penates of this celebrated race. This was the first Rajput blood which the arms of conversion shed, and the impression must have been strong to be thus handed down to posterity.
The mind, after all, retires dissatisfied: with me it might be from association. Even the gateway, however elegant, is unsuitable to the genius of the place. Separately considered, they are each magnificent; together, it is as if a modern sculptor were (like our actors of the last age) to adorn the head of Cato with a peruke. I left this precious relic, with a malediction upon all the spoilers of art—whether the Thane who pillaged Minerva’s portico at Athens, or the Turk who dilapidated the Jain temple at Ajmer.[4.30.6]
=Ajmer Fort.=—The reader will see as much of this far-famed fortress as I did: for there was nothing to induce me to climb the steep, where the only temple visible was a modern-looking whitewashed mosque, lifting its dazzling minarets over the dingy antique towers of the Chauhan: “he who seven times captured the sultan, and seven times released him.” The hill rises majestically from its base to the height of about eight hundred feet; its crest encircled by the ancient wall and towers raised by Ajaipal—
There was a day when they were young and proud, Banners on high, and battles passed below; But they who fought are in a bloody shroud, And those which waved are shredless dust ere now, And the bleak battlements shall bear no future blow;[4.30.7]
unless the Cossack should follow the track of Roshan Ali or Mahmud, and try to tear the British flag from the kunguras of Ajmer. On the north side a party of the superintendent’s were unlocking the latent treasures in the bowels of the mountain. The vein is of lead; a sulphuret, or galena [783].[4.30.8]
=The Bīsal Tālāb.=—I have already mentioned the lake, called after the excavator, the Bisal Talab. It is about eight miles in circumference, and besides the beauty it adds to the vale of Ajmer, it has a source of interest in being the fountain of the Luni, which pursues its silent course until it unites with the eastern arm of the Delta of the Indus: the point of outlet is at the northern angle of the Daulat Bagh, ‘the gardens of wealth,’ built by Jahangir for his residence when he undertook to conquer the Rajputs. The water is not unwholesome, and there are three outlets at this fountainhead for the escape of the water fitting its periodical altitudes. The stream at its parent source is thence called the Sagarmati. It takes a sweep northward by Bhaonta and Pisangan, and close to where we crossed it, at Govindgarh, it is joined by the Sarasvati from Pushkar; when the united waters (at whose sangam, or confluence, there is a small temple to the manes) are called the Luni.
The gardens erected on the embankment of the lake must have been a pleasant abode for “the king of the world,” while his lieutenants were carrying on the war against the Rana: but the imperial residence of marble, in which he received the submissions of that prince, through his grandson, and the first ambassador sent by England to the Mogul, are now going fast to decay. The walks on which his majesty last paraded, in the state-coach sent by our James the First, are now overgrown with shrubs.
The stratification of the rock, at the point of outlet, would interest the geologist, especially an extensive vein of mica, adjoining another of almost transparent quartz.
=Anasāgar Lake.=—Eastward of this lake about a mile is another named the Anasagar, after the grandson of Bisaldeo, who has left the reputation of great liberality, and a contrast with Visala. The vestiges of an island are yet seen in the lake, and upon its margin; but the materials have been carried away by the Goths. There are two small buildings on the adjacent heights, called “the annulets of Khwaja Kutb,” and some other saint.
Such are the wonders in the environs of Daru-l-Khair, “celebrated in the history of the Moguls, as well as of the Hindus.” But my search for inscriptions to corroborate the legends of the Chauhans proved fruitless. I was, however, fortunate enough to add to my numismatic treasures some of the currency of these ancient kings, which give interest to a series of the same description, all appertaining [784] to the Buddhists or Jains. The inscription occupying one side is in a most antique character, the knowledge of which is still a desideratum: the reverse bears the effigies of a horse, the object of worship to the Indo-Scythic Rajput.[4.30.9] It is not improbable that the Agnikula Chauhan may have brought these letters with him from higher Asia. Researches in these countries for such monuments may yet discover how far this conjecture is correct. At Pushkar I also found some very ancient coins. Had the antiquary travelled these regions prior to the reign of Aurangzeb he would have had a noble field to explore: many coins were destroyed by this bigot, but many were buried underground, which time or accident may disclose. He was the great foe of Rajput fame; and well might the bard, in the words of the Cambrian minstrel, bid
Ruin seize thee, ruthless king.
They did repay his cruelties by the destruction of his race. In one short century from this tyrant, who grasped each shore of the peninsula, the Mogul power was extinct; while the oppressed Rajputs are again on the ascendant. But the illiterate and mercenary Afghan, “the descendant of the lost tribes of Israel,”[4.30.10] if we credit their traditions, may share the iniquity with Aurangzeb: for they fulfilled literally a duty which their supposed forefathers pertinaciously refused, and made war against every graven image. Had they even spared us a few of the monsters, the joint conceptions of the poet and the sculptor, I might have presented some specimens of griffins (gras)[4.30.11] and demons almost of a classical taste: but the love of mischief was too strong even to let these escape: the shoe was applied to the prominent features of everything which represented animation.
By a medium of several meridian observations, I made the latitude of Ajmer 26° 19´ north; its longitude, by time and measurement from my fixed meridian, Udaipur, 74° 40´, nearly the position assigned to it by the father of Indian geography, the justly celebrated Rennell.[4.30.12]
=Return March to Udaipur.=—December 5.—At daybreak we left the towers of Manika Rae, enveloped in mist, and turned our horses’ heads to the southward, on our return to Udaipur. While at Ajmer, I received accounts of the death of the prince of Kotah, and did intend to proceed direct to that capital, by Shahpura and Bundi; but my presence was desired by the Rana to repair the dilapidations which only two months’ absence had [785] occasioned in the political fabric which I had helped to reconstruct. Other interesting objects intervened: one, a visit to the new castle of Bhimgarh, erecting in Merwara to overawe the Mers; the other to compose the feuds which raged between the sectarian merchants of the new mart, Bhilwara, and which threatened to destroy all my labour. We made two marches to Bhinai, in which there was nothing to record. Bhinai is the residence of a Rathor chieftain, whose position is rather peculiar. Being placed within the district of Ajmer, and paying an annual quit-rent to the British, he may consider the Company as his sovereign; but although this position precludes all political subordination to the chief of the race, the tie would be felt and acknowledged, on a lapse, in the anxiety for the usual tika of recognition to his successor, from the Raja of Marwar. I argue on knowledge of character and customs; though it is possible this individual case might be against me.
The castle of Bhinai is a picturesque object in these level plains; it is covered with the cactus, or prickly pear, so abundant on the east side of the Aravalli. This was anciently the residence of a branch of the Parihara princes of Mandor, when held as a fief of the Chauhans of Ajmer; and from it originated a numerous mixed class, called the Parihara Minas, a mixture of Rajput and aboriginal blood.
=Deolia.=—December 6.—Deolia, near the northern bank of the Khari, the present boundary of Ajmer and Mewar. From Ajmer to Deolia the direction of the road is S.S.E., and the distance forty miles. This important district in the political geography of Rajputana, which, with the posts of Nimach and Mhow, is the connecting link between the British dominions on the Jumna and in the Deccan, was obtained by cession from Sindhia in 1818. A glance at the map is sufficient to show its importance in our existing connexion with Rajputana. The greatest breadth of the district is between the Aravalli west and the Banas east, and measures about eight miles. The greatest length is between the city of Ajmer and Jhak, a post in Merwara, measuring about forty miles. The narrowest portion is that where we now are, Deolia, whence the Kishangarh frontier can be seen over a neck of land of about twelve miles in extent. Within these bounds a great portion of the land is held by feudal chieftains paying a quit-rent, which I believe is fixed. I had to settle a frontier dispute at Deolia, regarding the right of cultivating in the bed of the Khari, which produces very good melons. The soil of Ajmer cannot [786] be called rich, and is better adapted for the lighter than the richer grains. Marks of war and rapine were visible throughout.
=Dābla.=—December 7.—This town was a sub-fee of Banera; but the vassal, a Rathor, had learned habits of insubordination during Mahratta influence, which he could not or would not throw aside. In these he was further encouraged by his connexion by marriage with the old ruler of Kotah, who had exemplified his hostility to the Dabla vassal’s liege lord by besieging his castle of Banera. Having so long disobeyed him, his Rajput blood refused to change with the times; and though he condescended, at the head of his twenty retainers, to perform homage on stated days, and take his allotted position in the Banera darbar, he refused to pay the quit-rent, to which numerous deeds proved his suzerain had a right. Months passed away in ineffectual remonstrances; it was even proposed that he should hold the inferior dependencies free of quit-rent, but pay those of Dabla. All being in vain, the demand was increased to the complete surrender of Dabla; which elicited a truly Rajput reply: “His head and Dabla were together.” This obstinacy could not be tolerated; and he was told that though one would suffice, if longer withheld both might be required. Like a brave Rathor, he had defended it for months against a large Mahratta force, and hence Dabla was vauntingly called “the little Bharatpur.” Too late he saw his error, but there was no receding; and though he at length offered a nazarana, through the mediation of the Kotah wakil, of 20,000 rupees, to obtain the Rana’s investiture, it was refused and a surrender was insisted on. Being an important frontier-post, it was retained by the Rana, and compensation was made to Banera. Every interest was made for him through the Nestor of Kotah, but in vain; his obstinacy offered an example too pernicious to admit of the least retrocession, and Dabla was forthwith incorporated with the appanage of the heir-apparent, Jawan Singh.
Almost the whole of this, the Badnor division, of 360 townships, is occupied by Rathors, the descendants of those who accompanied Jaimall to Mewar: the proportion of feudal to fiscal land therein is as three to one. It is a rich and fertile tract, and it is to be hoped will maintain in ease and independence the brave men who inhabit it, and who have a long time been the sport of rapine.
I received a visit from the chief vassal of the Badnor chief, then at the capital; and as I found it impossible to visit Merwara, I subsequently deputed Captain [787] Waugh who was hospitably received and entertained at Badnor. He hunted, and played the Holi with the old baron, who shows at all times the frankness of his race: but it being the period of the Saturnalia, he was especially unreserved; though he was the greatest stickler for etiquette amongst my many friends, and was always expatiating on the necessity of attending to the gradations of rank.
=Banera.=—December 8.—The castle of Banera is one of the most imposing feudal edifices of Mewar, and its lord one of the greatest of its chieftains. He not only bears the title of Raja, but has all the state-insignia attached thereto. His name happens to be the same as that of his sovereign—his being Raja Bhim, the prince’s Rana Bhim,—to whom he is nearly related, and but for blind chance might have been lord of all the Sesodias. It may be recollected that the chivalrous antagonist of Aurangzeb, the heroic Rana Raj, had two sons, twins, if we may so term sons simultaneously born, though by different mothers. The incident which decided the preference of Jai Singh to Bhim has been related;[4.30.13] the circumstance of the latter’s abandoning his country to court fortune under the Imperial standard—his leading his Rajput contingent amongst the mountains of Kandahar—and his death by dislocation of the spine, through urging his horse at speed amongst the boughs of a tree. The present incumbent of Banera is the descendant of that Raja Bhim, who was succeeded in the honours of his family by his son Suraj, killed whilst heading his contingent at the storm of Bijapur. The infant son of Suraj had four districts assigned to him, all taken from his suzerain, the Rana. In such esteem did the emperor hold the family, that the son of Suraj was baptized Sultan. He was succeeded by Sardar Singh, who, on the breaking up of the empire, came under the allegiance of his rightful sovereign the Rana. Rae Singh and Hamir Singh complete the chain to my friend Raja Bhim, who did me the honour to advance two miles from Banera to welcome and conduct me to his castle. Here I had a good opportunity of observing the feudal state and manners of these chiefs within their own domains during a visit of three hours at Banera. I was, moreover, much attached to Raja Bhim, who was a perfectly well-bred and courteous gentleman, and who was quite unreserved with me. From his propinquity to the reigning family, and from his honours and insignia being the gift of the king’s, he had been an object of jealousy to the court, which tended much to retard the restoration [788] of his authority over his sub-vassals of Banera; the chief of Dabla is one instance of this. I found little difficulty in banishing the discord between him and his sovereign, who chiefly complained of the Banera kettle-drums beating, not only as he entered the city, but as far as the Porte—the sacred Tripolia; and the use of Chamar[4.30.14] in his presence. It was arranged that these emblems of honour, emanating from the great foes of Mewar, should never be obtruded on the eye or ear of the Rana; though within his own domain the Banera chieftain might do as he pleased. This was just; and Raja Bhim had too much good sense not to conciliate his “brother and cousin,” Rana Bhim, by such a concession, which otherwise might have been insisted upon. The estate of Banera is in value 80,000 rupees of annual rent, one-half of which is in subinfeudations, his vassals being chiefly Rathors. The only service performed by Raja Bhim is the contributing a quota for the commercial mart of Bhilwara, with the usual marks of subordination, personal duty and homage to the Rana. His estate is much impoverished from its lying in the very track of the freebooters; but the soil is excellent, and time will bring hands to cultivate it, if we exercise a long and patient indulgence.
The ‘velvet cushion’ was spread in a balcony projecting from the main hall of Banera; here the Raja’s vassals were mustered, and he placed me by his side on the gaddi. There was not a point of his rural or domestic economy upon which he did not descant, and ask my advice, as his “adopted brother.” I was also made umpire between him and my old friend the baron of Badnor, regarding a marriage settlement, the granddaughter of the latter being married to the heir of Banera. I had, besides, to wade through old grants and deeds to settle the claims between the Raja and several of his sub-vassals; a long course of disorder having separated them so much from each other as to obliterate their respective rights. All these arbitrations were made without reference to my official situation, but were forced upon me merely by the claims of friendship; but it was a matter of exultation to be enabled to make use of my influence for the adjustment of such disputes, and for restoring individual as well as general prosperity. My friend prepared his gifts at parting; I went through the forms of receiving, but waived accepting them: which may be done without any offence to delicacy. I have been highly gratified to read the kind reception he gave to the respected Bishop Heber, in his tour through Mewar. I wonder, however, that this discerning and elegant-minded man did not [789] notice the peculiar circumstance of the Raja’s teeth being fixed in with gold wire, which produces rather an unpleasant articulation.[4.30.15]
Banera adjoins the estates of the Rathors, and is no great distance from those of the Sangawats and Jagawats, which lie at the base of the Aravalli. All require a long period of toleration and unmolested tranquillity to emerge from their impoverished condition. My friend accompanied me to my tents, when I presented to him a pair of pistols, and a telescope with which he might view his neighbours on the mountains: we parted with mutual satisfaction, and I believe, mutual regret.
=Bhīlwāra.=—December 9.—I encamped about half-a-mile from our good town of Bhilwara, which was making rapid strides to prosperity, notwithstanding drawbacks from sectarian feuds; with which, however, I was so dissatisfied, that I refused every request to visit the town until such causes of retardation were removed. I received a deputation from both parties at my tents, and read them a lecture for their benefit, in which I lamented the privation of the pleasure of witnessing their unalloyed prosperity. Although I reconciled them to each other, I would not confide in their promises until months of improvement should elapse. They abided by their promise, and I fulfilled mine when the death of the Bundi prince afforded an opportunity, en route to that capital, to visit them. My reception was far too flattering to describe, even if this were the proper place. The sentiments they entertained for me had suffered no diminution when Bishop Heber visited the town. But his informant (one of the merchants), when he said it ought to have been called Tod-ganj, meant that it was so intended, and actually received this appellation: but it was changed, at my request, and on pain of withdrawing my entire support from it. The Rana, who used to call it himself in conversation “Tod Sahib ki basti,” would have been gratified; but it would have been wrong to avail myself of his partiality. In all I was enabled to do, from my friendship, not from my official character, I always feared the dangers to his independence from such precedent for interference.[4.30.16]
=Māndalgarh.=—December 10.—I deviated from the direct course homewards (to Udaipur) to visit this beautiful spot, formerly the head of a flourishing district; but all was dilapidated. The first revenue derived from Mandal was expended on the repairs of the dam of its lake, which irrigates a great extent of rice-land. The Goths had felled [790] most of the fine trees which had ornamented its dam and margin; and several garden-houses, as well as that on the island in the lake, were in ruins. Not many years ago a column of victory, said to have been raised by Bisaladeva of Ajmer, in consequence of a victory over the Guhilots, graced this little isle. Mandal is now rising from its ruins, and one of the exiles was so fortunate as to find a vessel containing several pieces of gold and ornaments, in excavating the ruins of his ancient abode, though not buried by him. It involved the question of manorial rights, of which the Rana waived the enforcement, though he asserted them. To-day I passed between Pansal and Arja, the former still held by a Saktawat, the latter now united to the fisc. I have already related the feud between the Saktawats and the Purawats in the struggle for Arja, which is one of the most compact castles in Mewar, with a domain of 52,000 bighas, or 12,000 acres, attached to it, rendering it well worth a contest; but the Saktawat had no right there, say the Purawats; and in fact it is in the very heart of their lands.
=Pur.=—December 11.—This is one of the oldest towns of Mewar, and if we credit tradition, anterior in date to Vikrama. We crossed the Kotasari to and from Mandal, passing by the tin and copper mines of Dariba, and the Purawat estate of Pitawas. Pur means, par eminence, ‘the city,’ and anciently the title was admissible; even now it is one of the chief fiscal towns. It is in the very heart of the canton, inhabited by the Babas, or ‘infants’ of Mewar, embracing a circle of about twenty-five miles diameter. The broken chain of mountains, having Banera on the northern point and Gurla to the south, passes transversely through this domain, leaving the estate of Bagor, the residence of Sheodan Singh, west, and extending to the S.E. to Mangrop, across the Berach. The policy which dictated the establishment of an isolated portion of the blood-royal of Mewar in the very centre of the country was wise; for the Babas rarely or ever mix with the politics of the feudatory chieftains, home or foreign. They are accordingly entrusted with the command of all garrisons, and head the feudal quotas as the representative of their sovereign. They have a particular seat at court, the Baba ka Ol being distinct from the chieftains’, and in front. Though they inhabit the lands about Pur, it is not from these they derive their name, but as descendants from Puru, one of the twenty-five sons of Rana Udai Singh, that blot in the scutcheon of Mewar [791].
=Garnets.=—About a mile east of Pur there is an isolated hill of blue slate, in which I found garnets embedded. I have no doubt persevering adventurers would be rewarded; but though I tried them with the hammer, I obtained none of any value. They are also to be obtained on the southern frontier of Kishangarh and Ajmer, about Sarwar. I received the visits of the ‘infants’ of Gurla and Gadarmala, both most respectable men, and enjoying good estates, with strong castles, which I passed the next day.
=Rāsmi, on the Banās River.=—December 12.—We had a long march through the most fertile lands of Mewar, all belonging to the Rana’s personal domain. The progress towards prosperity is great; of which Rasmi, the head of a tappa or subdivision of a district, affords evidence, as well as every village. On our way we were continually met by peasants with songs of joy, and our entrance into each village was one of triumph. The Patels and other rustic officers, surrounded by the ryots, came out of the villages; while the females collected in groups, with brass vessels filled with water gracefully resting on their heads, stood at the entrance, their scarfs half covering their faces, chaunting the suhela; a very ancient custom of the Hindu cultivator on receiving the superior, and tantamount to an acknowledgment of supremacy. Whether vanity was flattered, or whether a better sentiment was awakened, on receiving such tokens of gratitude, it is not for me to determine: the sight was pleasing, and the custom was general while I travelled in Mewar. The females bearing the kalas on their heads, were everywhere met with. These were chiefly the wives and daughters of the cultivators, though not unfrequently those of the Rajput sub-vassals. The former were seldom very fair, though they had generally fine eyes and good persons. We met many fragments of antiquity at Rasmi. Captain Waugh and the doctor were gratified with angling in the Banas for trout; but as the fish would not rise to the fly, I set the net, and obtained several dozens: the largest measured seventeen inches, and weighed seventy rupees, or nearly two pounds.
=Merta.=—December 16.—After an absence of two months we terminated our circuitous journey, and encamped on the ground whence we started, all rejoiced at the prospect of again entering “the happy valley.” We made four marches across the duab, watered by the Berach and Banas rivers; the land naturally rich, and formerly boasting some large towns, but as yet only disclosing the germs of [792] prosperity. There is not a more fertile tract in India than this, which would alone defray the expenses of the court if its resources were properly husbanded. But years must first roll on, and the peasant must meet with encouragement, and a reduction of taxation to the lowest rate; and the lord-paramount must alike be indulgent in the exaction of his tribute. Our camels were the greatest sufferers in the march through the desert, and one-half were rendered useless. I received a deputation conveying the Rana’s congratulation on my return ‘home,’ with a letter full of friendship and importunities to see me; but the register of the heavens—an oracle consulted by the Rajput as faithfully as Moore’s Almanack by the British yeoman—showed an unlucky aspect, and I must needs halt at Merta, or in the valley, until the signs were more favourable to a re-entry into Udaipur. Here we amused ourselves in chalking out the site of our projected residence on the heights of Tus, and in fishing at the source of the Berach. Of this scene I present the reader with a view; and if he allows his imagination to ascend the dam which confines the waters of the lake, he may view the Udaisagar, with its islets; and directing his eye across its expanse, he may gain a bird’s-eye view of the palace of the Kaisar of the Sesodias. The dam thrown across a gorge of the mountains is of enormous magnitude and strength, as is necessary, indeed, to shut in a volume of water twelve miles in circumference. At its base, the point of outlet, is a small hunting-seat of the Rana’s, going to decay for want of funds to repair it, like all those on the Tiger Mount and in the valley. Nor is there any hope that the revenues, burthened as they are with the payment of a clear fourth in tribute, can supply the means of preventing further dilapidation.
December 19.—Tired of two days’ idleness, we passed through the portals of Debari on our way to Ar, to which place the Rana signified his intention of advancing in person, to receive and conduct me ‘home’: an honour as unlooked-for and unsolicited as it was gratifying. Udaipur presents a most imposing appearance when approached from the east. The palace of the Rana, and that of the heir-apparent, the great temple, and the houses of the nobles, with their turrets and cupolas rising in airy elegance, afford a pleasing contrast with the heavy wall and pierced battlements of the city beneath. This wall is more extensive than solid. To remedy this want of strength, a chain of fortresses has [793] been constructed, about gunshot from it, commanding every road leading thereto, which adds greatly to the effect of the landscape. These castellated heights contain places of recreation, one of which belongs to Salumbar; but all wear the same aspect of decay.
=Ahār.=—Ar, or Ahar,[4.30.17] near which we encamped, is sacred to the manes of the princes of Udaipur, and contains the cenotaphs of all her kings since the valley became their residence; but as they do not disdain association, either in life or death, with their vassals, Ar presents the appearance of a thickly crowded cemetery, in which the mausoleums of the Ranas stand pre-eminent in “the place of great faith.”[4.30.18] The renowned Amra Singh’s is the most conspicuous; but the cenotaphs of all the princes, down to the father of Rana Bhim, are very elegant, and exactly what such structures ought to be; namely, vaulted roofs, supported by handsome columns raised on lofty terraces, the architraves of enormous single blocks, all of white marble, from the quarries of Kankroli. There are some smaller tombs of a singularly elaborate character, and of an antiquity which decides the claims of Ar to be considered as the remains of a very ancient city. The ground is strewed with the wrecks of monuments and old temples, which have been used in erecting the sepulchres of the Ranas. The great city was the residence of their ancestors, and is said to have been founded by Asaditya upon the site of the still more ancient capital of Tambavatinagari, where dwelt the Tuar ancestors of Vikramaditya, before he obtained Avinti, or Ujjain. From Tambavatinagari its name was changed to Anandpur, ‘the happy city,’ and at length to Ahar, which gave the patronymic to the Guhilot race, namely, Aharya. The vestiges of immense mounds still remain to the eastward, called the Dhul-kot, or ‘fort,’ destroyed by ‘ashes’ (dhul) of a volcanic eruption. Whether the lakes of the valley owe their origin to the same cause which is said to have destroyed the ancient Ahar, a more skilful geologist must determine. The chief road from the city is cut through this mound; and as I had observed fragments of sculpture and pottery on the excavated sides, I commenced a regular opening of the mound in search of medals, and obtained a few with the effigies of an animal, which I fancied to be a lion, but others the gadha, or ass, attributed to Gandharvasen, the brother of Vikrama, who placed this impress on his coins, the reason of which is given in a long legend.[4.30.19] My impious intentions were soon checked by some designing knaves about the Rana, and I would not offend [794] superstition. But the most superficial observer will pronounce Ar to have been an ancient and extensive city, the walls which enclose this sepulchral abode being evidently built with the sculptured fragments of temples. Some shrines, chiefly Jain, are still standing, though in the last stage of dilapidation, and they have been erected from the ruins of shrines still older, as appears from the motley decorations, where statues and images are inserted with their heads reversed, and Mahavira and Mahadeva come into actual contact: all are in white marble. Two inscriptions were obtained; one very long and complete, in the nail-headed character of the Jains; but their interpretation is yet a desideratum. A topographical map of this curious valley would prove interesting, and for this I have sufficient materials. The Teli-ki-Sarai would not be omitted in such a map, as adding another to the many instances I have met with, among this industrious class, to benefit their fellow-citizens. The ‘Oilman’s Caravanserai’ is not conspicuous for magnitude; but it is remarkable, not merely for its utility, but even for its elegance of design. It is equi-distant from each of the lakes. The Teli-ka-Pul, or ‘Oilman’s Bridge,’ at Nurabad, is, however, a magnificent memorial of the trade, and deserves preservation; and as I shall not be able now to describe the region (Gwalior) where it stands, across the Asan, I will substitute it for the Sarai, of which I have no memorial.[4.30.20] These Telis (oilmen) perambulate the country with skins of oil on a bullock, and from hard-earned pence erect the structures which bear their name. India owes much to individual munificence.
The planets were adverse to my happy conjunction with the Sun of the Hindus: and it was determined that I should pass another day amongst the tombs of Ahar; but I invoked upon my own devoted head all the evil consequences, as in this case I was the only person who was threatened. To render this opposition to the decree less noxious, it was agreed that I should make my entrée by the southern, not by the eastern porte, that of the sun. The Rana came, attended by his son, his chiefs, his ministers, and, in fact, all the capital in his train. The most hearty welcomes were lavished upon us all. “Rama! Rama! Tod Sahib!” (the Hindu greeting) resounded from a thousand throats, while I addressed each chief by name. It was not a meeting of formality, but of well-cemented friendship. My companions, Captain Waugh and Dr. Duncan, were busy interchanging smiles and cordial greetings, when the Rana, requesting our presence at the palace next day [795], bade us adieu. He took the direct road to his palace, while we, to avoid evil spirits, made a detour by the southern portal, to gain our residence, the garden of Rampiyari.
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Footnote 4.30.1:
See Archbishop Potter’s Archaeologia, vol. i. p. 192. [Cicero, De Legibus, ii. 25, 26; Grote, Hist. of Greece, ed. 1869, xii. 184.]
Footnote 4.30.2:
[Fergusson (Hist. Indian Arch. ii. 210 f.) says it was begun in A.D. 1200, and completed during the reign of Iyaltimish (1211-36). The temple may have been originally Jain, but it had been altered by Hindus.]
Footnote 4.30.3:
[Cunningham searched in vain for the Sanskrit inscription. “I am inclined to believe that Tod may have mistaken some of the square Cufic writing for ancient Sanskrit. It is, indeed, possible that the square Cufic inscription which records the building of the mosque in A.H. 596 (A.D. 1200) may once have occupied the position described by Tod over the apex of the central arch” (ASR, ii. 262 f.).]
Footnote 4.30.4:
[“It is certain that they are not Jain pillars, as I found many four-armed figures sculptured on them, besides a single figure of the skeleton goddess, Kāli” (ibid. 259).]
Footnote 4.30.5:
Both epithets imply ‘Lord of the Universe,’ [?] and of which the name of Prithiraj, that of the last Chauhan emperor, is another version.
Footnote 4.30.6:
Chance obtained me the drawing of this temple; I wish it had also given me the name of its author to grace the page.
Footnote 4.30.7:
Childe Harold, Canto iii. [47].
Footnote 4.30.8:
[The Tāragarh hill is rich in lead, and iron and copper mines have been worked, but did not pay expenses. The lead is purer than European pig lead, but lack of fuel and cheap transport have driven it from the market. (Watson i. A. 60 f.)]
Footnote 4.30.9:
[Probably the “Bull and Horseman” type, see p. 809, above. The inscription is in Hindi characters.]
Footnote 4.30.10:
They claim Ishmael as their common ancestor.
Footnote 4.30.11:
[The grāsda or sārdūla, a figure of a horned lion or panther (Fergusson-Burgess, Cave Temples of India, 439).]
Footnote 4.30.12:
[He was nearly right—Ajmer, 26° 27´ N. lat., 74° 37´ E. long.; Udaipur, 24° 35´ N. lat., 73° 42´ E. long.]
Footnote 4.30.13:
See Vol. I. p. 456.
Footnote 4.30.14:
[The yak tail, one of the insignia of royalty.]
Footnote 4.30.15:
[Bishop Heber writes: “He was an elderly man, and had lost many teeth, which made it very difficult for me to understand him” (Narrative of a Journey, ed. 1861, ii. 55).]
Footnote 4.30.16:
See Vol. I. p. 562.
Footnote 4.30.17:
[See p. 924.]
Footnote 4.30.18:
[The Mahāsati.]
Footnote 4.30.19:
[These rude Indo-Sassanian coins, also known as Tātariya dirhams, are popularly called Gadhiya paisa, or “ass copper money,” because the worn-down representation of a fire temple was believed to be the head of an ass (Cunningham, Ancient Geography, 313; Elliot-Dowson i. 3, note; BG, i. Part i. 469, note). Gandharvasen, as a punishment for offending Indra, was condemned to assume the form of an ass during the day: he consorted with a princess, and their offspring was Vikramāditya (Asiatic Researches, vi. 35 f.; W. Ward, The Hindoos, 2nd ed. i. 22).]
Footnote 4.30.20:
[Nūrābād is on the old road from Agra to Gwalior, 63 miles S. of the former, and 15 miles N. of the latter. “There is a fair sketch of the bridge in Tod’s ‘Rajasthan,’ which, however, scarcely does justice to it, as it is deficient in those architectural details which form the most pleasing part of the structure” (ASR, ii. 397).]
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Appendix
Translations of Inscriptions, chiefly in the Nail-headed character of the Takshak Races and Jains, fixing eras in Rajput history.[4.30a.1]
No. I
Memorial of a Gete or Jit prince of the fifth century, discovered 1820, in a temple at Kunswa, near the Chumbul river, south of Kotah.
May the Jit’ha be thy protector! What does this Jit’h resemble? which is the vessel of conveyance across the waters of life, which is partly white, partly red? Again, what does it resemble, where the hissing-angered serpents dwell? What may this Jit’ha be compared to, from whose root the roaring flood descends? Such is the Jit’ha; by it may thou be preserved (1).
The fame of RAJA JIT I now shall tell, by whose valour the lands of SALPOORA (2) are preserved. The fortunes of Raja Jit are as flames of fire devouring his foe. The mighty warrior JIT SALINDRA (2) is beautiful in person, and from the strength of his arm esteemed the first amongst the tribes of the mighty; make resplendent, as does the moon the earth, the dominions of SALPOORI. The whole world praises the JIT prince, who enlarges the renown of his race, sitting in the midst of haughty warriors, like the lotos in the waters, the moon of the sons of men. The foreheads of the princes of the earth worship the toe of his foot. Beams of light irradiate his countenance, issuing from the gems of his arms of strength. Radiant is his array; his riches abundant; his mind generous and profound as the ocean. Such is he of SARYA (3) race, a tribe renowned amongst the tribes of the mighty, whose princes were ever foes to treachery, to whom the earth surrendered her fruits, and who added the lands of their foes to their own. By sacrifice, the mind of this lord of men has been purified; fair are his territories, and fair is the FORTRESS OF TAK’HYA (4). The string of whose bow is dreaded, whose wrath is the reaper of the field of combat; but to his dependents he is as the pearl on the neck; who makes no account of the battle, though streams of blood run through the field. As does the silver lotos bend its head before the fierce rays of the sun, so does his foe stoop to him, while the cowards abandon the field [796].
From this lord of men (Narpati) SALINDRA sprung DEVANGLI, whose deeds are known even at this remote period.
From him was born SUMBOOKA, and from him DEGALI, who married two wives of YADU race (5), and by one a son named VIRA NARINDRA, pure as a flower from the fountain.
Amidst groves of amba, on whose clustering blossoms hang myriads of bees, that the wearied traveller might repose, was this edifice erected. May it, and the fame of its founder, continue while ocean rolls, or while the moon, the sun, and hills endure. Samvat 597.—On the extremity of MALWA, this minster (MINDRA) was erected, on the banks of the river TAVELI, by SALICHANDRA (6), son of VIRACHANDRA.
Whoever will commit this writing to memory, his sins will be obliterated. Carved by the sculptor SEVANARYA, son of DWARASIVA, and composed by BUTENA, chief of the bards.
Note 1.—In the prologue to this valuable relic, which superficially viewed would appear a string of puerilities, we have conveyed in mystic allegory the mythological origin of the Jit or Gete race. From the members of the chief of the gods ISWARA or Mahadeva, the god of battle, many races claim birth: the warrior from his arms; the Charun from his spine; the prophetic Bhat (Vates) from his tongue; and the Gete or Jit derive theirs from his tiara, which, formed of his own hair, is called Jit’ha. In this tiara, serpents, emblematic of TIME (kal) and DESTRUCTION, are wreathed; also implicative that the Jits, who are of Takshac, or the serpent race, are thereby protected. The “roaring flood” which descends from this Jit’ha is the river goddess, Ganga, daughter of Mena, wife of Iswara. The mixed colour of his hair, which is partly white, partly of reddish (panduranga) hue, arises from his character of ARD’HNARI, or Hermaphroditus. All these characteristics of the god of war must have been brought by the Scythic Gete from the Jaxartes, where they worshipped him as the Sun (Balnat’h) and as XAMOLSCIS (Yama, vulg. Jama) the infernal divinity.
The 12th chapter of the Edda, in describing BALDER the second son of Odin, particularly dwells on the beauty of his hair, whence “the whitest of all vegetables is called the eyebrow of Balder, on the columns of whose temples there are verses engraved, capable of recalling the dead to life.”
How perfectly in unison is all this of the Jits of Jutland and the Jits of Rajast’han. In each case the hair is the chief object of admiration; of Balnath as Balder, and the magical effect of the Runes is not more powerful than that attached by the chief of the Scalds of our Gete prince at the end of this inscription, fresh evidences in support of my hypothesis, that many of the Rajpoot races and Scandinavians have a common origin—that origin, Central Asia.
Note 2.—Salpoora is the name of the capital of this Jit prince, and his epithet of Sal-indra is merely titular, as the Indra, or lord of Sal-poori, ‘the city of Sal,’ which the fortunate discovery of an inscription raised by Komarpal, king of Anhulwarra (Nehrwalla of D’Anville), dated S. 1207, has enabled me to place “at the base of the Sewaluk Mountains.” In order to elucidate this point, and to give the full value to this record of the Jit princes of the Punjab, I append (No. V.) a translation of the Nehrwalla conqueror’s inscription, which will prove beyond a doubt that these JIT princes of SALPOORI in the Punjab were the leaders of that very colony of the Yuti from the Jaxartes, who in the fifth century, as recorded by De Guignes, crossed the Indus and possessed themselves of the Punjab; and strange to say, have again risen to power, for the Sikhs (disciples) of Nanuk are almost all of Jit origin.
Note 3.—Here this Jit is called of SARYA SAC’HA, branch or ramification of the Saryas: a very ancient race which is noticed by the genealogists synonymously with the SARIASPA, one of the thirty-six royal races, and very probably the same as the SARWYA of the Komarpal Charitra, with the distinguished epithet “the flower of the martial races” (Sarwya c’shatrya tyn Sar).
Note 4.—“The fortress of Takshac.” Whether this TAKSHACNAGARI, or castle of the Tâk, is the [797] stronghold of SALPOORI, or the name given to a conquest in the environs of the place, whence this inscription, we can only surmise, and refer the reader to what has been said of Takitpoora. As I have repeatedly said, the Tâks and Jits are one race.
Note 5.—As the Jits intermarried with the Yadus at this early period, it is evident they had forced their way amongst the thirty-six royal races, though they have again lost this rank. No Rajpoot would give a daughter to a Jit, or take one from them to wife.
Note 6.—Salichandra is the sixth in descent from the first-named prince, JIT SALINDRA, allowing twenty-two years to each descent = 132—S. 597, date of ins. = S. 465-56 = A.D. 409; the period of the colonization of the Punjab by the Getes, Yuti, or Jits, from the Jaxartes.[4.30a.2]
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Footnote 4.30a.1:
[The Inscriptions quoted in this appendix have been reprinted as they stand in the original text: partly, because it would have been necessary to discard the Author’s versions, and to replace them by the translations of recent scholars; partly, as an example of the Author’s methods of translation and annotation. With the help of Mr. Vincent A. Smith and Pandit Gaurishankar Ojha of the Rājputāna Museum, Ajmer, references have been added to modern translations of the Inscriptions.]
Footnote 4.30a.2:
[This Inscription is on a stone built into a wall of a temple of Mahādeva, at Kanaswa, near Kotah. The Author’s “Jit prince” of Sālpur is due to a misunderstanding, and in all probability owes its origin to the words Sambhor-jjatā, ‘the matted hair of Sambhu,’ a title of Siva, in line 2 of the Inscription. The Inscription begins with verses in honour of Siva as Sambhu and Sthānu, and glorifies the Maurya race, and a king of that race named Dhavala. Dhavala had as his friend a prince of the Brāhman caste, named Sankuha, whose wife, Degini, bore to him the prince Sivagana, who built a temple to Siva, and endowed it with the revenues of two villages. The date is A.D. 738-9 (IA, xix. 55 ff.).]
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No. II
Translation of an inscription in the Nail-headed character relative to the Jit race, discovered at Ram Chundrapoora, six miles east of Boondee, in digging a well. It was thence conveyed, and deposited by me in the Museum of the Royal Asiatic Society.
To my foe, salutation! This foe of the race of JIT, CATHIDA (1), how shall I describe, who is resplendent by the favour of the round bosom of ROODRANI (2), and whose ancestor, the warrior TUKHYA (3), formed the garland on the neck of Mahadeva. Better than this foe on the earth’s surface, there is none; therefore to him I offer salutation. The sparkling gems on the coronets of kings irradiate the nail of his foot.
Of the race of BOTENA (4) RAJA T’HOT was born; his fame expanded through the universe.
Pure in mind, strong in arm, and beloved by mankind, such was CHANDRASEN (5). How shall he be described, who broke the strength of his foe, on whom when his sword swims in fight, he appears like a magician. With his subjects he interchanged the merchandise of liberality, of which he reaped the fruits. From him whose history is fair, was born KRITIKA, the deeds of whose arm were buds of renown, forming a necklace of praise in the eyes of mankind. His queen was dear to him as his own existence—how can she be described? As the flame is inseparable from the fire, so was she from her lord—she was the light issuing from the sun—her name GOON-NEWASA (6), and her actions corresponded with her name. By her he had two sons, like gems set in bracelets, born to please mankind. The eldest was named SOOKUNDA, the younger DERUKA. Their fortunes consumed their foes: but their dependents enjoyed happiness. As the flowers of Calp-vricsha are beloved by the gods, so are these brothers by their subjects, granting their requests, and increasing the glory of the race, whence they sprung.—[A useless descriptive stanza left out (7).]
DERUKA had a son, KUHLA, and his was DHUNIKA, whose deeds ascended high—who could fathom the intentions of mankind—whose mind was deep as the ocean—whose ever-hungry faulchion expelled from their mountains and forests the MEENA tribes, leaving them no refuge in the three wolds, levelling their retreats to the ground. His quiver was filled with crescent-formed arrows—his sword the climber (vela) (8), of which pearls are the fruit. With his younger brother Dewaka he reverences gods and Brahmins—and with his own wealth perfumed a sacrifice to the sun [798].
For the much-beloved’s (his wife) pleasure this was undertaken. Now the river of ease, life and death, is crossed over, for this abode will devour the body of the foe, into which the west wind wafts the fragrant perfume from the sandal-covered bosom of Lacshmi (9); while from innumerable lotos the gale from the east comes laden with aroma, the hum of the bees as they hang clustering on the flowers of the padhul is pleasing to the ear.
So long as Soomeru stands on its base of golden sands, so long may this dwelling endure. So long as the wind blows on the koonjeris (10), supporters of the globe, while the firmament endures, or while Lacshmi (11) causes the palm to be extended, so long may his praise and this edifice be stable. KUHLA (12) formed this abode of virtue, and east thereof a temple to Iswara. By ACHIL, son of the mighty prince YASOOVERMA (13), has its renown been composed in various forms of speech.
Note 1.—Qu. if this Jit is from (da, the mark of the genitive case) Cathay? the land of the Cat’hae foes of Alexander, and probably of the Cathi of the Saurashtra peninsula, alike Scythic as the Jit, and probably the same race originally?
Note 2.—Roodrani, an epithet of the martial spouse of Harar-Siva, the god of war, whom the Jit in the preceding inscription invokes.
Note 3.—Here we have another proof of the Jit being of Takshac race; this at the same time has a mythological reference to the serpent (takhya), which forms the garland of the warlike divinities.
Note 4.—Of this race I have no other notice, unless it should mean the race (cula) was from Butan.
Note 5.—Chandrasen is celebrated in the history of the Pramaras as the founder of several cities, from two of which, Chandrabhaga, at the foot of the central plateau of India, in Northern Malwa, and CHANDRAVATI, the ruins of which I discovered at the foot of the Aravulli near Aboo, I possess several valuable memoria, which will, ere long, confirm the opinions I have given of the Takshac architect.
Note 6.—The habitation of virtues.
Note 7.—This shows these foresters always had the same character.
Note 8.—Vela is the climber or ivy, sacred to Mahadeva.
Note 9.—Lacshmi, the apsara or sea-nymph, is feigned residing amongst the waters of the lotos-covered lake. In the hot weather the Rajpoot ladies dip their corsets into an infusion of sandal-wood, hence the metaphor.
Note 10.—Koonjiris are the elephants who support the eight corners of the globe.
Note 11.—Lacshmi is also dame Fortune, or the goddess of riches, whence this image.
Note 12.—Kuhl is the fifth in descent from the opponent of the Jit.
Note 13.—Without this name this inscription would have been but of half its value. Fortunately various inscriptions on stone and copper, procured by me from Oojein, settled the era of the death of this prince in S. 1191, which will alike answer for Achil, his son, who was most likely one of the chieftains of KUHLA, who appears to have been of the elder branch of the Pramaras, the foe of the Jit invaders [799].
No. III
Inscription in the Nail-headed character of the Mori Princes of Cheetore, taken from a column on the banks of the lake Mansurwur, near that city.
By the lord of waters may thou be protected! What is there which resembles the ocean? on whose margin the red buds of honey-yielding trees are eclipsed by swarms of bees, whose beauty expands with the junction of numerous streams. What is like the ocean, inhaling the perfume of the Paryata (1), who was compelled to yield as tribute, wine, wealth, and ambrosia (2)? Such is the ocean!—may he protect thee.
Of a mighty gift, this is the memorial. This lake enslaves the minds of beholders, over whose expanse the varied feathered tribe skim with delight, and whose banks are studded with every kind of tree. Falling from the lofty-peaked mountain, enhancing the beauty of the scene, the torrent rushes to the lake. The mighty sea-serpent (3), o’erspent with toil in the churning of the ocean, repaired to this lake for repose.
On this earth’s surface was Maheswara (4), a mighty prince, during whose sway the name of foe was never heard; whose fortune was known to the eight quarters (5); on whose arm victory reclined for support. He was the light of the land. The praises of the race of TWAST’HA (6) were determined by Brahma’s own mouth.
Fair, filled with pride, sporting amidst the shoals of the lotos, is the swan fed by his hand, from whose countenance issue rays of glory: such was RAJA BHEEM (7), a skilful swimmer in the ocean of battle, even to where the Ganges pours in her flood (8) did he go, whose abode is Avanti (9). With faces resplendent as the moon, on whose lips yet marked with the wound of their husband’s teeth, the captive wives of his foes, even in their hearts does Raja Bheem dwell. By his arm he removed the apprehensions of his enemies; he considered them as errors to be expunged. He appeared as if created of fire. He could instruct even the navigator (10) of the ocean.
From him was descended RAJA BHOJ (11). How shall he be described; he, who in the field of battle divided with his sword the elephant’s head, the pearl from whose brain (12) now adorns his breast; who devours his foe as does RAHOO (13) the sun or moon, who to the verge of space erected edifices in token of victory?
From him was a son whose name was MAUN, who was surcharged with good qualities, and with whom fortune took up her abode. One day he met an aged man: his appearance made him reflect that his frame was as a shadow, evanescent; that the spirit which did inhabit it was like the seed of the scented Kadama (14); that the riches of royalty were brittle as a blade of grass; and that man was like a lamp exposed in the light of day. Thus ruminating, for the sake of his race who had gone before him, and for the sake of good works, he made this lake, whose waters are expansive and depth unfathomable. When I look on this ocean-like lake, I ask myself, if it may not be this which is destined to cause the final doom (15).
The warriors and chiefs of RAJA MAUN (16) are men of skill and valour—pure in their lives and faithful. RAJA MAUN is a heap of virtues—the chief who enjoys his favour may court all the gifts of fortune. When the head is inclined on his lotos foot, the grain of sand which adheres becomes an ornament thereto. Such is the lake, shaded with trees, frequented by birds, which the man of fortune, SRIMAN RAJA MAUN, with great labour formed. By the name of its lord (Maun), that of the lake (surwur) is known to the world. By him versed in the alankara, PUSHHA, the son of NAGA BHUT, these stanzas have been framed. Seventy had elapsed beyond seven hundred years (Samvatisir), when the lord of men, the KING OF MALWA (17) formed this lake. By SEVADIT, grandson of KHETRI KARUG, were these lines cut [800].
Note 1.—The Paryata is also called the Har-singar, or ‘ornament of the neck,’ its flowers being made into collars and bracelets. Its aroma is very delicate, and the blossom dies in a few hours.
Note 2.—Imrita, the food of the immortals, obtained at the churning of the ocean. The contest for this amongst the gods and demons is well known. Vrishpati, or Sookra, regent of the planet Venus, on this occasion lost an eye; and hence this Polyphemus has left the nickname of Sookracharya to all who have but one eye.
Note 3.—His name Matolae.
Note 4.—A celebrated name in the genealogies of the TAKSHAC Pramara, of which the Mori is a conspicuous Sac’ha or branch. He was the founder of the city of Maheswar, on the southern bank of the Nehrbudda, which commands the ford leading from Awinti and Dhar (the chief cities of the Mori Pramaras) to the Dekhan.
Note 5.—The ancient Hindu divided his planisphere into eight quarters, on which he placed the Koonjerries or elephants, for its support.
Note 6.—TWASTHA, or Takshac, is the celebrated Nagvansa of antiquity. All are Agniculas. Cheetore, if erected by the Takshac artist, has a right to the appellation Herbert has so singularly assigned it, namely, Tacsila, built by the Tâk; it would be the Tâk-sillā-nagar, the ‘stone fort of the Takshac,’ alluded to in No. 1.
Note 7.—Raja Bheem, the lord of Avanti or Oojein, the king of Malwa, is especially celebrated in the Jain annals. A son of his led a numerous colony into Marwar, and founded many cities between the Looni river and the Aravulli mountains. All became proselytes to the Jain faith, and their descendants, who are amongst the wealthiest and most numerous of these mercantile sectarians, are proud of their Rajpoot descent; and it tells when they are called to responsible offices, when they handle the sword as well as the pen.
Note 8.—Ganga-Sagur, or the Island at the mouth of the Ganges, is specified by name as the limit of Bheem’s conquests. His memoria may yet exist even there.
Note 9.—Avanti-Nat’h, Lord of Avanti or Oojein.
Note 10.—Paryataca, a navigator.
Note 11.—Raja BHOJ. There is no more celebrated name than this in the annals and literature of the Rajpoots; but there were three princes of the Pramara race who bore it. The period of the last Raja Bhoj, father of Udyadit, is now fixed, by various inscriptions discovered by me, A.D. 1035, and the dates of the two others I had from a leaf of a very ancient Jain MS., obtained at the temple of Nadole, namely, S. 631 and 721, or A.D. 575 and 665. Abulfazil gives the period of the first Bhoj as S. 545; but, as we find that valuable MS. of the period of the last BHOJ confirmed by the date of this inscription of his son MAUN, namely, S. 770, we may put perfect confidence in it, and now consider the periods of the three, namely, S. 631, 721, and 1091—A.D. 567, 665, and 1035—as fixed points in Rajpoot chronology.
Note 12.—In the head of that class of elephants called Bhadra, the Hindoo says, there is always a large pearl.
Note 13.—The monster Rahoo of the Rajpoot, who swallows the sun and moon, causing eclipses, is Fenris, the wolf of the Scandinavians. The Asi carried the same ideas West, which they taught within the Indus.
Note 14.—Kadama is a very delicate flower, that decays almost instantaneously.
Note 15.—Maha-pralaya!
Note 16.—The MS. annals of the Rana’s family state that their founder, Bappa, conquered Cheetore from MAUN MORI. This inscription is therefore invaluable as establishing the era of the conquest of [801] Cheetore by the Gehlotes, and which was immediately following the first irruption of the arms of Islam, as rendered in the annals of Mewar.
Note 17.—As RAJA MAUN is called King of Malwa, it is evident that Cheetore had superseded both Dhar and Awinti as the seat of power. A palace of Maun Mori is still shown as one of the antiquities in Cheetore.[4.30a.3]
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Footnote 4.30a.3:
[For this Inscription see ASR, Progress Report West Circle, 1903-4 p. 56.]
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No. IV
Inscription in the Devanagari character, discovered in January 1822 in Puttun Somnat’h, on the coast of the Saurashtra peninsula, fixing the era of the sovereigns of BALABHI, the ‘Balhara kings of Nehrwalla.’
Adoration to the Lord of all, to the light of the universe(1). Adoration to the form indescribable; Him! at whose feet all kneel.
In the year of Mohummud 662, and in that of Vicrama 1320, and that of Srimad Balabhi 945, and the Siva-Singa Samvat 151, Sunday, the 13th (badi) of the month Asar (2).
The chiefs of Anhulpoor Patun obeyed by numerous princes (here a string of titles), Bhataric Srimad Arjuna Deva (3), of Chauluc race, his minister Sri Maldeva, with all the officers of government, together with Hormuz of Belacool, of the government of Ameer Rookn-oo-Din, and of Khwaja Ibrahim of Hormuz, son of the Admiral (Nakhoda) Noor-oo-Din Feeroz, together with the CHAURA chieftains Palookdeva, Ranik Sri Someswadeva, Ramdeva, Bheemsing, and all the Chauras and other tribes of rank being assembled (4);
NANSI RAJA, of the Chaura race, inhabiting Deo Puttun (5), assembling all the merchants, established ordinances for the repairs and the support of the temples, in order that flowers, oil, and water should be regularly supplied to Rutna-iswara (6), Choul-iswara (7), and the shrine of Pulinda Devi (8), and the rest, and for the purpose of erecting a wall round the temple of Somnat’h, with a gateway to the north. Keelndeo, son of Modula, and Loonsi, son of Johan, both of the Chaura race, together with the two merchants, Balji and Kurna, bestowed the weekly profits of the market for this purpose. While sun and moon endure, let it not be resumed. Feeroz is commanded to see this order obeyed, and that the customary offerings on festivals are continued, and that all surplus offerings and gifts be placed in the treasury for the purposes afore-named. The Chaura chiefs present, and the Admiral Noor-oo-Din, are commanded to see these orders executed on all classes. Heaven will be the lot of the obedient; hell to the breaker of this ordinance.[4.30a.4]
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Note 1.—The invocation, which was long, has been omitted by me. But this is sufficient to show that BAL-NAT’H, the deity worshipped in PUTTUN SOMNAT’H, ‘the city of the lord of the Moon,’ was the sun-god Bal. Hence the title of the dynasties which ruled this region, BAL-CA-RAE, ‘the princes of Bal,’ and hence the capital BALICAPOOR, ‘the city of the sun,’ familiarly written Balabhi, whose ruins, as well as this inscription, rewarded a long journey. The Rana’s ancestors, the Suryas, or ‘sun-worshippers,’ gave their name to the peninsula Saurashtra, or Syria, and the dynasties of CHAURA, and CHAULUC, or SOLANKI, who succeeded them on their expulsion by the Parthians, retained the title of BALICARAES, corrupted by Renaudot’s Arabian travellers into BALHARA [802].
Note 2.—The importance of the discovery of these new eras has already been descanted on in the annals. S. 1320-945, the date of this inscription = 375 of Vicrama for the first of the Balabhi era; and 1320-151 gives S. 1169 for the establishment of the Sevasinga era—established by the Gohils of the island of Deo, of whom I have another memorial, dated 927 Balabhi Samvat. The Gohils, Chauras, and Gehlotes are all of one stock.
Note 3.—Arjuna-Deva, Chaluc, was prince of Anhulpoor or Anhulwarra, founded by Vanraj Chaura in S. 802—henceforth the capital of the Balica-raes after the destruction of Balabhi.
Note 4.—This evinces that Anhulwarra was still the emporium of commerce which the travellers of Renaudot and Edrisi describe.
Note 5.—From this it is evident that the Islandic Deo was a dependent fief of Anhulwarra.]
Note 6.—The great temple of Somnath.
Note 7.—The tutelary divinity of the Chauluc race.
Note 8.—The goddess of the Bhil tribes.
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No. V
Inscription from the ruins of Aitpoor.[4.30a.6]
In Samvatsir 1034, the 16th of the month Bysak, was erected this dwelling[4.30a.7] of Nanukswami.
From Anundpoor came he of Brahmin[4.30a.8] race (may he flourish), Muhee Deva Sri Goha Dit, from whom became famous on the earth the Gohil tribe:
2. Bhoj.
3. Mahindra.
4. Naga.
5. Syeela.
6. Aprajit.
7. Mahindra, no equal as a warrior did then exist on the earth’s surface.
8. Kalbhoj was resplendent as the sun.[4.30a.9]
9. Khoman, an unequalled warrior; from him
10. Bhirtrpad, the Tiluk of the three worlds; and from whom was
11. Singji; whose Ranee Maha Lakmee, of the warlike race of Rashtra (Rahtore), and from her was born:
12. Sri Ullut. To him who subdued the earth and became its lord, was born Haria Devi: her praise was known in Hurspoora; and from her was born a mighty warrior in whose arm victory reposed; the Khetri of the field of battle, who broke the confederacy of his foes, and from the tree of whose fortune riches were the fruit: an altar of learning; from him was
13. Nirvahana. By the daughter of Sri Jaijah, of Chauhana race, was born
14. Salvahana.
Such were their (the princes whose names are given) fortunes which I have related. From him was born [803],
15. Secti Koomar. How can he be described?—He who conquered and made his own the three qualifications (sacti);[4.30a.10] whose fortunes equalled those of Bhirtrpad. In the abode of wealth Sri Aitpoor, which he had made his dwelling, surrounded by a crowd of princes; the kulpdroom to his people; whose foot-soldiers are many; with vaults of treasure—whose fortunes have ascended to heaven—whose city derives its beauty from the intercourse of merchants; and in which there is but one single evil, the killing darts from the bright eyes of beauty, carrying destruction to the vassals of the prince.[4.30a.11]
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Footnote 4.30a.4:
[See IA, xi. 242 f.]
Footnote 4.30a.6:
[This name is wrongly transliterated. It is Ātapura, now Ād, Āhad or Āhar, 2 miles E. of Udaipur (IA, xxxix., 1910, p. 186 ff.).]
Footnote 4.30a.7:
Aitun.
Footnote 4.30a.8:
Vipra cula.
Footnote 4.30a.9:
Ark.
Footnote 4.30a.10:
1. ┐ Pribhoo.
2. │ Three Ootchha. Sactis.
3. Muntri. ┘
Footnote 4.30a.11:
[Erskine, who obtained a correct copy of this Inscription from Pandit Gaurishankar H. Ojha, writes: “In his translation Tod left out several names, namely, Mattat, Khumān II., Mahāyak, Khumān III., and Bhartari Bhat II.; but with the help of a copy recently discovered at Māndal in the house of a descendant of the Pandit whom Tod employed, it has been possible to supply the omissions, and it may be added that these names are confirmed by other inscriptions” (ii. A. 14). Erskine gives a corrected list of the Chiefs of Mewār in ii. B. 8 ff.]
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No. VI
Inscription of Kumar Pal Solanki, in the Mindra of Brimha, in Cheetore, recording his conquest of Salpoori, in the Punjab.
To him who takes delight in the abode of waters; from whose braided locks ambrosial drops continually descend; even this Mahadeva, may he protect thee!
He of Chaulac tribe, having innumerable gems of ancestry, flowing from a sea of splendour, was Moolraj, sovereign of the earth.
What did he resemble, whose renown was bright as a fair sparkling gem, diffusing happiness and ease to the sons of the earth? Many mighty princes there were of his line; but none before had made the great sacrifice.
Generations after him, in the lapse of many years, was Sid Raj, a name known to the world; whose frame was encased in the riches of victory, and whose deeds were sounded over the curtain of the earth; and who, by the fire of his own frame and fortune, heaped up unconsumable wealth.
After him was Kumar Pal Deo. What was he like, who by the strength of his invincible mind crushed all his foes; whose commands the other sovereigns of the earth placed on their fore-heads; who compelled the lord of Sacambhari to bow at his feet: who in person carried his arms to Sewaluk, making the mountain lords to bow before him, even in the city of Salpoori?
On the mountain Chutterkote ... ar, the lord of men, in sport placed this [writing] amidst the abode of the gods: even on its pinnacle did he place it. Why? That it might be beyond the reach of the hands of fools!
As Nissa-Nath, the lord who rules the night, looking on the faces of the fair Kamunis below, feels envious of their fairness, and ashamed of the dark spots on his own countenance, even so does Chutterkote blush at seeing this (Prasishta) on her pinnacle.
Samvat 1207 (month and day broken off) [804].[4.30a.12]
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Footnote 4.30a.12:
[See Epigraphia Indica, ii. 422 ff.]
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No. VII
Inscriptions on copper-plates found at Nadole relative to the Chohan princes.
The treasury of knowledge of the Almighty (JINA) cuts the knots and intentions of mankind. Pride, conceit, desire, anger, avarice. It is a partition to the three[4.30a.13] worlds. Such is MAHAVIRA:[4.30a.14] may he grant thee happiness!
In ancient times the exalted race of Chohan had sovereignty to the bounds of ocean; and in NADOLE swayed Lacshman, Raja. He had a son named LOHIA; and his BULRAJ, his VIGRAHA PAL; from him sprung MAHINDRA DEVA; his son was SRI ANHULA, the chief amongst the princes of his time, whose fortunes were known to all. His son was SRI BAL PRESAD; but having no issue, his younger brother, JAITR RAJ, succeeded. His son was PRITHWI PAL, endued with strength and fiery qualities; but he having no issue, was succeeded by his younger brother JUL; he by his brother MAUN RAJA, the abode of fortune. His son was ALANDEVA.[4.30a.15] When he mounted the throne, he reflected this world was a fable: that this frame, composed of unclean elements, of flesh, blood, and dust, was brought to existence in pain. Versed in the books of faith, he reflected on the evanescence of youth, resembling the scintillation of the fire-fly;[4.30a.16] that riches were as the dew-drop on the lotos-leaf, for a moment resembling the pearl, but soon to disappear. Thus meditating, he commanded his servants, and sent them forth to his chieftains, to desire them to bestow happiness on others, and to walk in the paths of faith.
In Samvat 1218, in the month of Sawun the 29th,[4.30a.17] performing the sacrifice to fire, and pouring forth libations to the dispeller of darkness, he bathed the image of the omniscient, the lord of things which move and are immovable, Sudasiva, with the panchamrit[4.30a.18] and made the gifts of gold, grain, and clothes to his spiritual teacher, preceptor, and the Brahmins to their hearts’ desire. Taking til in his hand, with rings on his finger of the cusa (grass), holding water and rice in the palm of his hand, he made a gift of five moodras monthly in perpetuity to the Sandera Gatcha[4.30a.19] for saffron, sandal-wood, and ghee for the service of the temple of MAHAVIRA in the white market (mandra) of the town. Hence this copper-plate. This charity which I have bestowed will continue as long as the SANDERA GATCHA exist to receive, and my issue to grant it.
To whoever may rule hereafter I touch their hands, that it may be perpetual. Whoever bestows charity will live sixty thousand years in heaven; whoever resumes it, the like in hell!
Of Pragvavansa,[4.30a.20] his name Dhurnidhur, his son Kurmchund being minister, and the sastri Munorut Ram, with his sons Visala and Sridhara, by writing this inscription made his name resplendent. By SRI ALAN’S own hand was this copper-plate bestowed. Samvat 1218 [805].[4.30a.21]
TREATY between the Honourable the English East-India Company and Maharana Bheem Sing, Rana of Oudeepoor, concluded by Mr. Charles Theophilus Metcalfe on the part of the Honourable Company, in virtue of full powers granted by his Excellency the Most Noble the Marquis of Hastings, K.G., Governor-General, and by Thakoor Ajeet Sing on the part of the Maharana, in virtue of full powers conferred by the Maharana aforesaid.
First Article.—There shall be perpetual friendship, alliance, and unity of interests between the two states, from generation to generation, and the friends and enemies of one shall be the friends and enemies of both.
Second Article.—The British Government engages to protect the principality and territory of Oudeepoor.
Third Article.—The Maharana of Oudeepoor will always act in subordinate co-operation with the British Government, and acknowledge its supremacy, and will not have any connection with other chiefs or states.
Fourth Article.—The Maharana of Oudeepoor will not enter into any negotiation with any chief or state without the knowledge and sanction of the British Government; but his usual amicable correspondence with friends and relations shall continue.
Fifth Article.—The Maharana of Oudeepoor will not commit aggressions upon any one; and if by accident a dispute arise with any one, it shall be submitted to the arbitration and award of the British Government.
Sixth Article.—One-fourth of the revenue of the actual territory of Oudeepoor shall be paid annually to the British Government as tribute for five years; and after that term three-eighths in perpetuity. The Maharana will not have connection with any other power on account of tribute, and if any one advance claims of that nature, the British Government engages to reply to them.
Seventh Article.—Whereas the Maharana represents that portions of the dominions of Oudeepoor have fallen, by improper means, into the possession of others, and solicits the restitution of those places: the British Government from a want of accurate information is not able to enter into any positive engagement on this subject; but will always keep in view the renovation of the prosperity of the state of Oudeepoor, and after ascertaining the nature of each case, will use its best exertions for the accomplishment of the object, on every occasion on which it may be proper to do so. Whatever places may thus be restored to the state of Oudeepoor by the aid of the British Government, three-eighths of their revenues shall be paid in perpetuity to the British Government.
Eighth Article.—The troops of the state of Oudeepoor shall be furnished according to its means, at the requisition of the British Government.
Ninth Article.—The Maharana of Oudeepoor shall always be absolute ruler of his own country, and the British jurisdiction shall not be introduced into that principality.
Tenth Article.—The present treaty of ten articles having been concluded at Dihlee, and signed and sealed by Mr. Charles Theophilus Metcalfe and Thakoor Ajeet Sing Buhadoor [806], the ratifications of the same, by his Excellency the Most Noble the Governor-General, and Maharana Bheem Sing, shall be mutually delivered within a month from this date.
Done at Dihlee, this thirteenth day of January, A.D. 1818.
(Signed) C. T. METCALFE (L.S.). THAKOOR AJEET SING (L.S.)
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Footnote 4.30a.13:
Tribhawun-loca; or Patala, Mirtha, Swerga.
Footnote 4.30a.14:
Mahavira, to whom the temple was thus endowed by the Chohan prince, follower of Siva, was the last of the twenty-four Jinas, or apostles of the Jains.
Footnote 4.30a.15:
The prince being the twelfth from Lacshman, allowing twenty-two years to a reign, 264-1218; date of inscription, S. 954, or A.D. 898, the period of Lacshman.
Footnote 4.30a.16:
Kudheata.
Footnote 4.30a.17:
Sudi choudus.
Footnote 4.30a.18:
Milk, curds, clarified butter, honey, butter, and sugar.
Footnote 4.30a.19:
One of eighty-four divisions of Jain tribes.
Footnote 4.30a.20:
Poorval, a branch of the Oswal race of Jain laity.
Footnote 4.30a.21:
[See Epigraphia Indica ii. 422 ff.]
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Chapter 1
=Etymology of Mārwār.=—Marwar is a corruption of Maruwar, classically Marusthali or Marusthan, ‘the region of death.’ It is also called Marudesa, whence the unintelligible Mardes of the early Muhammadan writers. The bards frequently style it Mordhar, which is synonymous with Marudesa, or, when it suits their rhyme, simply Maru. Though now restricted to the country subject to the Rathor race, its ancient and appropriate application comprehended the entire ‘desert,’ from the Sutlej to the ocean.
=The Rāthors.=—A concise genealogical sketch of the Rathor rulers of Marwar has already been given;[5.1.1] we shall therefore briefly pass over those times “when a genealogical tree would strike root in any soil”; when the ambition of the Rathors, whose branches (sakha) spread rapidly over ‘the region of death,’ was easily gratified with a solar [2] pedigree. As it is desirable, however, to record their own opinions regarding their origin, we shall make extracts from the chronicles (hereafter enumerated), instead of fusing the whole into one mass, as in the Annals of Mewar. The reader will occasionally be presented with simple translations of whatever is most interesting in the Rathor records.
=Authorities.=—Let us begin with a statement of the author’s authorities; first, a genealogical roll of the Rathors, furnished by a Yati, or Jain priest, from the temple of Narlai.[5.1.2] This roll is about fifty feet in length, commencing, as usual, with a theogony, followed by the production of the ‘first Rathor from the spine (rahat) of Indra,’[5.1.3] the nominal father being ‘Yavanaswa, prince of Parlipur.’ Of the topography of Parlipur, the Rathors have no other notion than that it was in the north; but in the declared race of their progenitor, a Yavan prince, of the Aswa or Asi tribe,[5.1.4] we have a proof of the Scythic origin of this Rajput family.
The chronicle proceeds with the foundation of Kanyakubja,[5.1.5] or Kanauj, and the origin of Kama-dhwaja[5.1.6] (vulgo Kamdhuj), the titular appellation of its princes, and concludes with the thirteen great Sakha, or ramifications of the Rathors, and their Gotracharya, or genealogical creed.[5.1.7]
Another roll, of considerable antiquity, commences in the fabulous age, with a long string of names, without facts; its sole value consists in the esteem in which the tribe holds it. We may omit all that precedes Nain Pal, who, in the year S. 526 (A.D. 470[5.1.8]), conquered Kanauj, slaying its monarch Ajaipal; from which period the race was termed Kanaujia Rathor. The genealogy proceeds to Jaichand, the last monarch of Kanauj; relates the emigration of his nephew Siahji, or Sivaji, and his establishment in the desert (Maruwar), with a handful of his brethren (a wreck of the mighty kingdom of Kanauj); and terminates with the death of Raja Jaswant Singh in S. 1735 (A.D. 1679), describing every branch and scion, until we see them spreading over Maru [3].
Genealogy ceases to be an uninteresting pursuit when it enables us to mark the progress of animal vegetation, from the germ to the complete development of the tree, until the land is overshadowed with its branches; and bare as is the chronicle to the moralist or historian, it exhibits to the observer of the powers of the animal economy, data which the annals of no other people on earth can furnish. In A.D. 1193 we see the throne of Jaichand overturned; his nephew, with a handful of retainers, taking service with a petty chieftain in the Indian desert. In less than four centuries we find the descendants of these exiles of the Ganges occupying nearly the whole of the desert; having founded three capitals, studded the land with the castles of its feudality, and bringing into the field fifty thousand men, ek bap ka beta, ‘the sons of one father,’ to combat the emperor of Delhi. What a contrast does their unnoticed growth present to that of the Islamite conquerors of Kanauj, of whom five dynasties passed away in ignorance of the renovated existence of the Rathor, until the ambition of Sher Shah brought him into contact with the descendants of Siahji, whose valour caused him to exclaim “he had nearly lost the crown of India for a handful of barley,” in allusion to the poverty of their land![5.1.9]
What a sensation does it not excite when we know that a sentiment of kindred pervades every individual of this immense affiliated body, who can point out, in the great tree, the branch of his origin, whilst not one is too remote from the main stem to forget its pristine connexion with it! The moral sympathies created by such a system pass unheeded by the chronicler, who must deem it futile to describe what all sensibly feel, and which renders his page, albeit little more than a string of names, one of paramount interest to the ‘sons of Siahji.’
The third authority is the Suraj Prakas (Surya Prakasa), composed by the bard Karnidhan, during the reign and by command of Raja Abhai Singh. This poetic history, comprised in 7500 stanzas, was copied from the original manuscript, and sent to me by Raja Man, in the year 1820.[5.1.10] As usual, the Kavya (bard) commences with the origin of all things, tracing the Rathors from the creation down to Sumitra; from whence is a blank until he recommences with the name of Kamdhuj, which appears to have been the title assumed by Nain Pal, on his conquest of Kanauj. Although Karnidhan must have taken his facts from the [4] royal records, they correspond very well with the roll from Narlai. The bard is, however, in a great hurry to bring the founder of the Rathors into Marwar, and slurs over the defeat and death of Jaichand. Nor does he dwell long on his descendants, though he enumerates them all, and points out the leading events until he reaches the reign of Jaswant Singh, grandfather of Abhai Singh, who “commanded the bard to write the Suraj Prakas.”
The next authority is the Raj Rupak Akhyat, or ‘the royal relations.’ This work commences with a short account of the Suryavansa, from their cradle at Ajodhya; then takes up Siahji’s migration, and in the same strain as the preceding work, rapidly passes over all events until the death of Raja Jaswant; but it becomes a perfect chronicle of events during the minority of his successor Ajit, his eventful reign, and that of Abhai Singh, to the conclusion of the war against Sarbuland Khan, viceroy of Gujarat. Throwing aside the meagre historical introduction, it is professedly a chronicle of the events from S. 1735 (A.D. 1679) to S. 1787 (A.D. 1734), the period to which the Suraj Prakas is brought down.
A portion of the Bijai Vilas, a poem of 100,000 couplets, also fell into my hands: it chiefly relates to the reign of the prince whose name it bears, Bijai Singh, the son of Bakhta Singh. It details the civil wars waged by Bijai Singh and his cousin Ram Singh (son of Abhai Singh), and the consequent introduction of the Mahrattas into Marwar.
From a biographical work named simply Khyat, or ‘Story,’ I obtained that portion which relates to the lives of Raja Udai Singh, the friend of Akbar; his son Raja Gaj, and grandson Jaswant Singh. These sketches exhibit in true colours the character of the Rathors.
Besides these, I caused to be drawn up by an intelligent man, who had passed his life in office at Jodhpur, a memoir of transactions from the death of Ajit Singh, in A.D. 1629, down to the treaty with the English Government in A.D. 1818. The ancestors of the narrator had filled offices of trust in the State, and he was a living chronicle both of the past and present.
From these sources, from conversations with the reigning sovereign, his nobles, his ambassadors, and subjects, materials were collected for this sketch of the Rathors—barren, indeed, of events at first, but redundant of them as we advance.
A genealogical table of the Rathors is added, showing the grand offsets, whose [5] descendants constitute the feudal frèrage of the present day. A glance at this table will show the claims of each house; and in its present distracted condition, owing to civil broils, will enable the paramount power to mediate, when necessary, with impartiality, in the conflicting claims of the prince and his feudatories.
=Rāthor Origins.=—We shall not attempt to solve the question, whether the Rathors are, or are not, Ravi-vansa, ‘Children of the Sun’; nor shall we dispute either the birth or etymon of the first Rathor (from the rahat or spine of Indra), or search in the north for the kingdom of the nominal father; but be content to conclude that this celestial interference in the household concerns of the Parlipur prince was invented to cover some disgrace. The name of Yavana, with the adjunct Aswa or Asi, clearly indicates the Indo-Scythic ‘barbarian’ from beyond the Indus. In the genealogy of the Lunar races descended of Budha and Ila (Mercury and the Earth—see Table I. Vol. I.), the five sons of Bajaswa are made to people the countries on and beyond the Indus; and in the scanty records of Alexander’s invasion mention is made of many races, as the Assasenae and Assakenoi, still dwelling in these regions.
This period was fruitful in change to the old-established dynasties of the Hindu continent, when numerous races of barbarians, namely, Huns, Parthians, and Getae, had fixed colonies on her western and northern frontiers.[5.1.11]
“In S. 526 (A.D. 470) Nain Pal obtained Kanauj, from which period the Rathors assumed the title of Kamdhuj. His son was Padarath,[5.1.12] his Punja, from whom sprung the thirteen great families, bearing the patronymic Kamdhuj, namely:
“1st. Dharma Bambo: his descendants styled Danesra Kamdhuj.
“2nd. Banuda, who fought the Afghans at Kangra, and founded Abhaipur: hence the Abhaipura Kamdhuj.
“3rd. Virachandra, who married the daughter of Hamira Chauhan, of Anhilpur Patan; he had fourteen sons, who emigrated to the Deccan: his descendants called Kapolia Kamdhuj.
“4th. Amrabijai, who married the daughter of the Pramara prince of Koragarh[5.1.13] on the Ganges;—slew 16,000 Pramaras, and took possession of Kora, whence the Kora Kamdhuj[5.1.14] [6].
“5th. Sujan Binod: his descendants Jarkhera Kamdhuj.
“6th. Padma, who conquered Orissa, and also Bogilana,[5.1.15] from Raja Tejman Yadu.
“7th. Aihar, who took Bengal from the Yadus: hence Aihara Kamdhuj.
“8th. Bardeo; his elder brother offered him in appanage Benares, and eighty-four townships; but he preferred founding a city, which he called Parakhpur:[5.1.16] his descendants Parakh Kamdhuj.
“9th. Ugraprabhu, who made a pilgrimage to the shrine of Hinglaj Chandel,[5.1.17] who, pleased with the severity of his penance, caused a sword to ascend from the fountain, with which he conquered the southern countries touching the ocean:[5.1.18] his descendants Chandela Kamdhuj.
“10th. Muktaman, who conquered possessions in the north from Bhan Tuar: his descendants Bira Kamdhuj.
“11th. Bharat, at the age of sixty-one, conquered Kanaksar, under the northern hills, from Rudrasen of the Bargujar tribe: his descendants styled Bhariau Kamdhuj.
“12th. Alankal founded Khairoda; fought the Asuras (Muslims) on the banks of the Attock: his descendants Kherodia Kamdhuj.
“13th. Chand obtained Tarapur in the north. He married a daughter of the Chauhan of Tahera,[5.1.19] a city well known to the world: with her he came to Benares.
“And thus the race of Surya multiplied.
“Bambo,[5.1.20] or Dharma-Bambo, sovereign of Kanauj, had a son, Ajaichand.[5.1.21] For twenty-one generations they bore the titles of Rao; afterwards that of Raja. Udaichand, Narpati, Kanaksen, Sahassal, Meghsen, Birabhadra, Deosen, Bimalsen, Dansen, Mukund, Budha, Rajsen, Tirpal, Sripunja, Bijaichand,[5.1.22] his son Jaichand, who became the Naik of Kanauj, with the surname Dal Pangla.”
=Jaichand.=—Nothing is related of the actions of these princes, from the conquest of Kanauj [7] by Nain Pal, in A.D. 470, and the establishment of his thirteen grandsons in divers countries, until we reach Jaichand, in whose person (A.D. 1193) terminated the Rathor sovereignty on the Ganges; and we have only twenty-one names to fill up the space of seven centuries, although the testimony on which it is given[5.1.23] asserts there were twenty-one princes bearing the title of Rao prior to the assumption of that of Raja. But the important information is omitted as to who was the first to assume this title. There are names in the Yati’s roll that are not in the Suraj Prakas, which we have followed; and one of these, Rangatdhwaj, is said to have overcome Jasraj Tuar, king of Delhi, for whose period we have correct data: yet we cannot incorporate the names in the Yati’s roll with that just given without vitiating each; and as we have no facts, it is useless to perplex ourselves with a barren genealogy. But we can assert that it must have been a splendid dynasty, and that their actions, from the conqueror Nain Pal to the last prince, Jaichand, were well deserving of commemoration. That they were commemorated in written records there cannot be a doubt; for the trade of the bardic chroniclers in India has flourished in all ages.
=The City of Kanauj.=—Although we have abundant authority to assert the grandeur of the kingdom of Kanauj[5.1.24] at the period of its extinction, both from the bard Chand and the concurrent testimony of Muhammadan authors, yet are we astonished at the description of the capital, attested not only by the annals of the Rathors, but by those of their antagonists, the Chauhans.
The circumvallation of Kanauj covered a space of more than thirty miles; and its numerous forces obtained for its prince the epithet of ‘Dal Pangla,’ meaning that the mighty host (Dal) was lame or had a halt in its movements owing to its numbers, of which Chand observes that in the march “the van had reached their ground ere the rear had moved off.” The Suraj Prakas gives the amount of this army, which in numbers might compete with the most potent which, in ancient or modern times, was ever sent into the field. “Eighty thousand men in armour; thirty thousand horse covered with pakhar, or quilted mail; three hundred thousand Paiks or infantry; and of bow-men and battle-axes two hundred thousand; besides a cloud of elephants bearing warriors” [8].
This immense army was to oppose the Yavana beyond the Indus; for, as the chronicle says, “The king of Gor and Irak crossed the Attock. There Jai Singh met the conflict, when the Nilab changed its name to Surkhab.[5.1.25] There was the Ethiopic (Habshi) king, and the skilful Frank learned in all arts,[5.1.26] overcome by the lord of Kanauj.”
The chronicles of the Chauhans, the sworn foe of the Rathors, repeat the greatness of the monarch of Kanauj, and give him the title of “Mandalika.”[5.1.27] They affirm that he overcame the king of the north,[5.1.28] making eight tributary kings prisoners; that he twice defeated Siddhraj, king of Anhilwara, and extended his dominions south of the Nerbudda, and that at length, in the fulness of his pride, he had divine honours paid him in the rite Swayamvara.[5.1.29] This distinction, which involves the most august ceremony, and is held as a virtual assumption of universal supremacy, had in all ages been attended with disaster. In the rite of Swayamvara every office, down to the scullion of the Rasora, or banquet-hall, must be performed by royal personages; nor had it been attempted by any of the dynasties which ruled India since the Pandu: not even Vikrama, though he introduced his own era, had the audacity to attempt what the Rathor determined to execute. All India was agitated by the accounts of the magnificence of the preparations, and circular invitations were despatched to every prince, inviting him to assist at the pompous ceremony, which was to conclude with the nuptials of the raja’s only daughter, who, according to the customs of those days, would select her future lord from the assembled chivalry of India. The Chauhan bard describes the revelry and magnificence of the scene: the splendour of the Yajnasala, or ‘hall of sacrifice,’ surpassing all powers of description; in which were assembled all the princes of India, “save the lord of the Chauhans, and Samara of Mewar,” who, scorning this assumption of supremacy, Jaichand made their effigies in gold, assigning to them the most servile posts; that of the king of the Chauhans being Poliya, or ‘porter of the hall.’ Prithiraj, whose life was one succession of feats of arms and gallantry, had a double motive for action—love and revenge. He determined to enjoy both, or perish in the attempt; “to spoil the sacrifice and bear away the fair of Kanauj from its halls, though beset [9] by all the heroes of Hind.” The details of this exploit form the most spirited of the sixty-nine books of the bard. The Chauhan executed his purpose, and, with the élite of the warriors of Delhi, bore off the princess in open day from Kanauj. A desperate running-fight of five days took place. To use the words of the bard, “he preserved his prize; he gained immortal renown, but he lost the sinews of Delhi.” So did Jaichand those of Kanauj; and each, who had singly repelled all attacks of the kings, fell in turn a prey to the Ghori Sultan,[5.1.30] who skilfully availed himself of these international feuds, to make a permanent conquest of India.
=The Great States of North India.=—We may here briefly describe the state of Hindustan at this epoch, and for centuries previous to the invasions of Mahmud.
There were four great kingdoms, namely—
1. Delhi, under the Tuars and Chauhans. 2. Kanauj, under the Rathors. 3. Mewar, under the Guhilots. 4. Anhilwara, under the Chauras and Solankis.
To one or other of these States the numerous petty princes of India paid homage and feudal service. The boundary between Delhi and Kanauj was the Kalinadi, or ‘black stream’; the Kalindi of the Greek geographers.[5.1.31] Delhi claimed supremacy over all the countries westward to the Indus, embracing the lands watered by its arms, from the foot of the Himalaya,—the desert—to the Aravalli chain. The Chauhan king, successor to the Tuars, enumerated one hundred and eight great vassals, many of whom were subordinate princes.
The power of Kanauj extended north to the foot of the Snowy mountains; eastward to Kasi (Benares); and across the Chambal to the lands of the Chandel (now Bundelkhand); on the south its possessions came in contact with Mewar.
Mewar, or Madhyawar, the ‘central region,’[5.1.32] was bounded to the north by the Aravalli, to the south by the Pramaras of Dhar (dependent on Kanauj), and westward by Anhilwara, which State was bounded by the ocean to the south, the Indus on the west, and the desert to the north.
There are records of great wars amongst all these princes. The Chauhans and Guhilots, whose dominions were contiguous, were generally allies, and the Rathors and Tuars (predecessors of the Chauhans), who were only divided by the Kalinadi, often dyed it with their blood. Yet this warfare was never of an [10] exterminating kind; a marriage quenched a feud, and they remained friends until some new cause of strife arose.
If, at the period preceding Mahmud, the traveller had journeyed through the courts of Europe, and taken the line of route, in subsequent ages pursued by Timur, by Byzantium, through Ghazni (adorned with the spoils of India), to Delhi, Kanauj, and Anhilwara, how superior in all that constitutes civilization would the Rajput princes have appeared to him!—in arts immeasurably so; in arms by no means inferior. At that epoch, in the west, as in the east, every State was governed on feudal principles. Happily for Europe, the democratical principle gained admittance, and imparted a new character to her institutions; while the third estate of India, indeed of Asia, remained permanently excluded from all share in the government which was supported by its labour, every pursuit but that of arms being deemed ignoble. To this cause, and the endless wars which feudality engendered, Rajput nationality fell a victim when attacked by the means at command of the despotic kings of the north.
=The Invasion of Shihābu-d-dīn.=—Shihabu-d-din, king of Ghor, taking advantage of these dissensions, invaded India. He first encountered Prithiraj, the Chauhan king of Delhi, the outwork and bulwark of India, which fell. Shihabu-d-din then attacked Jaichand, who was weakened by the previous struggle. Kanauj put forth all her strength, but in vain; and her monarch was the last son of “the Yavana of Parlipur” who ruled on the banks of the Ganges. He met a death congenial to the Hindu, being drowned in the sacred stream in attempting to escape.[5.1.33]
This event happened in S. 1249 (A.D. 1193), from which period the overgrown, gorgeous Kanauj ceased to be a Hindu city, when the “thirty-six races” of vassal princes, from the Himalaya to the Vindhya, who served under the banners of Bardai Sena,[5.1.34] retired to their patrimonial estates. But though the Rathor name ceased to exist on the shores of the Ganges, destiny decreed that a scion should be preserved, to produce in a less favoured land a long line of kings; that in thirty-one generations his descendant, Raja Man, “Raj, Rajeswara,” ‘the king, the lord of kings,’ should be as vainglorious of the sceptre of Maru as either Jaichand when he commanded divine honours, or his still more remote ancestor Nain Pal fourteen [11] centuries before, when he erected his throne in Kanauj. The Rathor may well boast of his pedigree, when he can trace it through a period of 1360 years, in lineal descent from male to male; and contented with this, may leave to the mystic page of the bard, or the interpolated pages of the Puranas, the period preceding Nain Pal.
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Footnote 5.1.1:
See Vol. I. p. 105.
Footnote 5.1.2:
An ancient town in Marwar [about 80 miles S.E. of Jodhpur city].
Footnote 5.1.3:
[A folk etymology, the name being derived from Rāshtrakūta, which may mean the chief, as opposed to the rank and file of the Ratta dynasty; but it has also been connected with Reddi, a Dravidian caste in S. India (BG, i. Part i. 119, Part ii. 22 note, 178, 383 ff.).]
Footnote 5.1.4:
One of the four tribes which overturned the Greek kingdom of Bactria. The ancient Hindu cosmographers claim the Aswa as a grand branch of their early family, and doubtless the Indo-Scythic people, from the Oxus to the Ganges, were one race.
Footnote 5.1.5:
From kubja (the spine) of the virgin (kanya) [referring to the legend of the hundred daughters of Kusanābha rendered crooked by Vāyu].
Footnote 5.1.6:
Kama-dhwaja, ‘the banner of Cupid.’
Footnote 5.1.7:
Gotama Gotra, Mardwandani Sakha, Sukracharya Guru, Garapatya Agni, Pankhani Devi.
Footnote 5.1.8:
It is a singular fact, that there is no available date beyond the fourth century for any of the great Rajput families, all of whom are brought from the north. This was the period of one of the grand irruptions of the Getic races from Central Asia, who established kingdoms in the Panjab and on the Indus. Pal or Pali, the universal adjunct to every proper name, indicates the pastoral race of these invaders [?]. [The reason why the Rājput genealogies do not go back to an early date is that many of them were recruited from Gurjara and other foreign tribes. The tale of the origin of the Rāthors from Kanauj is a myth, as the dynasty of that place belonged to the Gahadvāla or Gaharwār clan. The object of the story was to affiliate the tribe to the heroic Jaichand (Smith, EHI, 385).]
Footnote 5.1.9:
[See p. 835.]
Footnote 5.1.10:
This manuscript is deposited in the library of the Royal Asiatic Society.
Footnote 5.1.11:
Cosmas. Annals of Mewār. Getae or Jat Inscription, Appendix, Vol. I.
Footnote 5.1.12:
Called Bharat in the Yati’s roll; an error of one or other of the authorities in transcribing from the more ancient records.
Footnote 5.1.13:
[In the Fatehpur District (IGI, xv. 398).]
Footnote 5.1.14:
An inscription given in the Transactions of the Royal Asiatic Society (vol. ix. p. 440), found at Kora, relates to a branch of the Kanauj family.
Footnote 5.1.15:
[? Bāglān in Nāsik District, Bombay (IGI, vi. 190).]
Footnote 5.1.16:
Qu. Parkar, towards the Indus?
Footnote 5.1.17:
On the coast of Mekran.
Footnote 5.1.18:
If we can credit these legends, we see the Rathor Rajputs spreading over all India. I give these bare facts verbatim, as some traces may yet remain of the races in those countries. [These are pure legends, see Smith, EHI, 377 ff.]
Footnote 5.1.19:
[Bahra] a city often mentioned by Ferishta [i. Introd. lxxii.] in the early times of the Muhammadans.
Footnote 5.1.20:
Naīn Pal must have preceded Dharma-Bambo by five or six generations.
Footnote 5.1.21:
Called Abhaichand, in the Suraj Prakas.
Footnote 5.1.22:
Also styled Bijaipal; classically Vijayapala, ‘Fosterer of Victory.’
Footnote 5.1.23:
The Suraj Prakas.
Footnote 5.1.24:
See Inscriptions of Jaichand, Vijayachand, and Kora, in the 9th and 14th vols. of the Asiatic Researches.
Footnote 5.1.25:
The Nilab, or ‘blue water,’ the Indus, changed its name to the ‘Redstream’ (Surkhab), or ‘ensanguined.’
Footnote 5.1.26:
It is singular that Chand likewise mentions the Frank as being in the army of Shihabu-d-din, in the conquest of his sovereign Prithiraj. If this be true, it must have been a desultory or fugitive band of crusaders.
Footnote 5.1.27:
[Ruler of a district (mandal).]
Footnote 5.1.28:
They thus style the kings west of the Indus.
Footnote 5.1.29:
[The “Seonair” of the text seems to represent swayamvara, the rite of selection of her husband by a maiden.]
Footnote 5.1.30:
[Shihābu-d-dīn, A.D. 1175-1206.]
Footnote 5.1.31:
[The Kālindi River, the name of which was corrupted into Kālinadi, rises in the Muzaffarnagar District, and joins the Ganges near Kanauj, 310 miles from its source (IGI, xiv. 309).]
Footnote 5.1.32:
[The word Mewār represents the original Medapāta, “land of the Med tribe.” The bulk of the army of Chashtana, the Western Satrap, appears to have consisted of Mevas or Medas, from whose settlement in Central Rājputāna the province seems to have received its present name, Mewāda (BG, i. Part i. 33).]
Footnote 5.1.33:
[His corpse was recognized by his false teeth, “a circumstance which throws some light on the state of manners” (Elphinstone 365).]
Footnote 5.1.34:
Another title of the monarch of Kanauj, “the bard of the host,” from which we are led to understand he was as well versed in the poetic art as his rival, the Chauhan prince of Delhi.
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