Chapter 16…

Chapter 16

=Extent of Mārwār.=—The extreme breadth of Marwar lies between two points in the parallel of the capital, namely, Girab, west, and Shamgarh, on the Aravalli range, east. This line measures two hundred and seventy British miles. The greatest length, from the Sirohi frontier to the northern boundary, is about two hundred and twenty miles.[5.16.1] From the remote angle, N.N.E., in the Didwana district, to the extremity of Sanchor, S.W., the diagonal measurement is three hundred and fifty miles. The limits of Marwar are, however, so very irregular, and present so many salient angles and abutments into other States, that without a trigonometrical process we cannot arrive at a correct estimate of its superficial extent: a nicety not, indeed, required.

=Physical Features, Population.=—The most marked feature that diversifies the face of Maru is the river Luni, which, rising on her eastern frontier at Pushkar, and pursuing a westerly course, nearly bisects the country, and forms the boundary between the fertile and sterile lands of Maru. But although the tracts south of this stream, between it and the Aravalli, are by far the richest part of Marwar, it would be erroneous to describe all the northern part as sterile. An ideal line, passing through Nagor and Jodhpur, to Balotra, will mark the just distinction. South of this line will lie the districts of Didwana, Nagor, Merta, Jodhpur, Pali, Sojat, Godwar, Siwana, Jalor, Bhinmal, and Sanchor, most of which are fertile and populous; and we may [163] assign a population of eighty souls to the square mile. The space north of this line is of a very different character, but this requires a subdivision; for while the north-east portion, which includes a portion of Nagor, the large towns of Phalodi, Pokaran, etc., may be calculated at thirty, the remaining space to the south-west, as Gugadeo-ka-thal, or ‘desert of Guga,’ Sheo, Barmer, Kotra, and Chhotan, can scarcely be allowed ten. In round numbers, the population of Marwar may be estimated at two millions of souls.[5.16.2]

=Classes of Inhabitants.=—Of this amount, the following is the classification of the tribes. The Jats constitute five-eighths, the Rajputs two-eighths,[5.16.3] while the remaining classes, sacerdotal,[5.16.4] commercial, and servile, make up the integral number. If this calculation be near the truth, the Rajputs, men, women, and children, will amount to five hundred thousand souls, which would admit of fifty thousand men capable of bearing arms, especially when we recollect that the Jats or Jāts are the industrious class.

=The Rāthors.=—It is superfluous to expatiate on the peculiarities of the Rathor character, which we have endeavoured to extract from their own actions. It stands deservedly high in the scale of the “Thirty-six Tribes,” and although debased by one besetting sin (the use of opium), the Rathor is yet a noble animal, and requires only some exciting cause to show that the spirit, which set at defiance the resources of the empire in the zenith of its prosperity, is dormant only, not extinct. The reign of the present prince has done more, however, than even the arms of Aurangzeb, to deteriorate the Rathors. Peace would recruit their thinned ranks, but the mistrust sown in every house by unheard-of duplicity, has greatly demoralized the national character, which until lately stood higher than that of any of the circumjacent tribes. A popular prince, until within these very few years, could easily have collected a magnificent army, ek bap ke bete, ‘the sons of one father,’ round the ‘gaddi of Jodha’: in fact, the panchas hazar tarwar Rathoran, meaning the ‘fifty thousand Rathor swords,’ is the proverbial phrase to denote the muster of Maru, of which they estimated five thousand cavalry. This was exclusive of the household and foreign troops supported on the fiscal lands. The Rathor cavalry was the best in India. There were several horse-fairs, especially those of Balotra and Pushkar where the horses of [164] Cutch and Kathiawar, the Jungle, and Multan, were brought in great numbers. Valuable horses were also bred on the western frontier, on the Luni, those of Rardara being in high estimation. But the events of the last twenty years appear to have dried up every source of supply. The breeding studs of Rardara, Cutch, and the Jungle are almost extinct, and supplies from the west of the Indus are intercepted by the Sikhs.[5.16.5] The destruction of the predatory system, which created a constant demand, appears to have lessened the supply. So much for the general peace which the successes of Britain have produced.

In periods of civil commotion, or when the safety of the State was perilled, we hear of one clan (the Champawat) mustering four thousand horse. But if ever so many of “the sons of Champa” were congregated at one time, it is an extraordinary occurrence, and far beyond the demand which the State has upon their loyalty. To estimate what may be demanded of them, we have only to divide the rent-roll by five hundred rupees, the qualification for a cavalier in Maru, and to add, for each horse, two foot-soldiers. A schedule of the greater feudal estates shall be appended.

=Soil, Agriculture, Products.=—The following is the classification of the different heads of soil in Marwar: Bekal, Chikni, Pīla, and Safed. The first (whose etymology I know not) pervades the greater part of the country, being a light sand, having little or no earthy admixture, and only fit to produce bajra (millet), mung, moth (pulse), til (sesamum), melons and gawar.[5.16.6] Chikni (fat), a black earth, pervades the district of Didwana, Merta, Pali, and several of the feudal lands in Godwar. Wheat and grain are its products. The Pīla (yellow) is a sandy clay, chiefly about Khinwasar[5.16.7] and the capital, also Jalor and Balotra, and portions of other districts. It is best adapted for barley, and that kind of wheat called pattagehun (the other is kathagehun);[5.16.8] also tobacco, onions, and other vegetables: the staple millets are seldom grown in this. The Safed (white) is almost pure silex, and grows little or nothing, but after heavy falls of rain.[5.16.9]

The districts south of the Luni, as Pali, Sojat, and Godwar, fertilized by the numerous petty streams flowing from the Aravalli, produce abundantly every species of grain with the exception of bajra, which thrives best in a sandy soil; and in Nagor and Merta considerable quantities of the richer grains are raised by irrigation from wells. The extensive western divisions of Jalor, Sanchor, and Bhinmal, containing [165] five hundred and ten towns and villages, which are Khalisa, or ‘fiscal land,’ possess an excellent soil, with the advantage of the rills from Abu, and the great southern barrier; but the demoralized government of Raja Man never obtains from them one-third of their intrinsic capability, while the encroachment of the Sahariyas, and other robbers from the Sindi desert, encroach upon them often with impunity. Wheat, barley, rice, juar (millet), mung (pulse), til (sesamum), are the chief products of the richer lands; while amidst the sandy tracts they are confined to bajra, mung, and til. With good government, Marwar possesses abundance of means to collect stores against the visitations which afflict these northern regions: but prejudice steps in to aid the ravages of famine, and although water is near the surface in all the southern districts, the number of wells bears no proportion to those in Mewar. The great district of Nagor, of five hundred and sixty towns and villages, the appanage of the heirs-apparent of Maru, in spite of physical difficulties, is, or has been made, an exception; and the immense sheet of sandstone, on which a humid soil is embedded, has been pierced throughout by the energies of ancient days, and contains greater aids to agriculture than many more fertile tracts in the country.

=Natural Productions.=—Marwar can boast of some valuable productions of her sterile plains, which make her an object of no little importance in the most distant and more favoured regions of India. The salt lakes of Pachbhadra, Didwana, and Sambhar, are mines of wealth, and their produce is exported over the greater part of Hindustan; while to the marble quarries of Makrana (which gives its name to the mineral), on her eastern frontier, all the splendid edifices of the imperial cities owe their grandeur. The materials used in the palaces of Delhi, Agra, their mosques, and tombs, have been conveyed from Marwar.[5.16.10] The quarries, until of late years, yielded a considerable revenue; but the age for palace-building in these regions is no more, and posterity will ask with surprise the sources of such luxury. There are also limestone quarries near Jodhpur and Nagor; and the concrete called kankar is abundant in many of the districts, and chiefly used for mortar. Tin and lead are found at Sojat; alum about Pali, and iron is obtained from Bhinmal and the districts adjoining Gujarat.

=Manufactures.=—The manufactures of Marwar are of no great importance in a commercial point of view. Abundance of coarse cotton cloths, and blankets, are [166] manufactured from the cotton and wool produced in the country, but they are chiefly used there. Matchlocks, swords, and other warlike implements are fabricated at the capital and at Pali; and at the latter place they make boxes of iron, tinned, so as to resemble the tin boxes of Europe. Iron platters for culinary purposes are in such great demand as to keep the forges constantly going.

=Commercial Marts.=—None of these States are without traffic; each has her mart, or entrepôt; and while Mewar boasts of Bhilwara, Bikaner of Churu, and Amber of Malpura (the city of wealth), the Rathors claim Pali, which is not only the rival of the places just mentioned, but may make pretensions to the title of emporium of Rajputana. These pretensions we may the more readily admit, when we recollect that nine-tenths of the bankers and commercial men of India are natives of Marudes, and these chiefly of the Jain faith. The laity of the Khadatara sect send forth thousands to all parts of India, and the Oswals, so termed from the town of Osian, near the Luni, estimate one hundred thousand families whose occupation is commerce. All these claim a Rajput descent, a fact entirely unknown to the European enquirer into the peculiarities of Hindu manners. The wealth acquired in foreign lands, from the Sutlej to the ocean, returns chiefly to their native soil; but as neither primogeniture nor majorats are sanctioned by the Jain lawgivers, an equal distribution takes place amongst all the sons, though the youngest (as amongst the Getae of Asia, and the Jutes of Kent), receives often a double portion. This arises when the division takes place while the parent is living, being the portion set apart for his own support, which ultimately falls to the youngest, with whom he probably resides. It would be erroneous to say this practice is extensive; though sufficient instances exist to suppose it once was a principle.[5.16.11] The bare enumeration of the tribes following commerce would fill a short chapter. A priest of the Jains [167] (my own teacher), who had for a series of years devoted his attention to form a catalogue, which then amounted to nearly eighteen hundred classes, renounced the pursuit, on obtaining from a brother priest, from a distant region, one hundred and fifty new names to add to his list.

Pali was the entrepôt for the eastern and western regions, where the productions of India, Kashmir, and China, were interchanged for those of Europe, Africa, Persia, and Arabia. Caravans (kitars), from the ports of Cutch and Gujarat, imported elephants’ teeth, copper, dates, gum-arabic, borax, coco-nuts, broadcloths, silks, sandal-wood, camphor, dyes, drugs, oxide and sulphuret of arsenic, spices, coffee, etc. In exchange, they exported chintzes, dried fruits, jira,[5.16.12] asafoetida from Multan, sugar, opium (Kotah and Malwa), silks and fine cloths, potash, shawls, dyed blankets, arms, and salt of home manufacture.

=Caravans.=—The route of the caravans was by Suigam,[5.16.13] Sanchor, Bhinmal, Jalor to Pali, and the guardians of the merchandise were almost invariably Charans, a character held sacred by the Rajput. The most desperate outlaw seldom dared to commit any outrage on caravans under the safeguard of these men, the bards of the Rajputs. If not strong enough to defend their convoy with sword and shield, they would threaten the robbers with the chandni, or ‘self-immolation’;[5.16.14] and proceed by degrees from a gash in the flesh to a death-wound, or if one victim was insufficient a whole body of women and children was sacrificed (as in the case of the Bamaniya Bhats), for whose blood the marauder is declared responsible hereafter.

=Decay of Commerce. The Opium Trade.=—Commerce has been almost extinguished within these last twenty years; and paradoxical as it may appear, there was tenfold more activity and enterprise in the midst of that predatory warfare, which rendered India one wide arena of conflict, than in these days of universal pacification. The torpedo touch of monopoly has had more effect on the Kitars than the spear of the desert Sahariya, or Barwatia (outlaw) Rajput—against its benumbing qualities the Charan’s dagger would fall innocuous; it sheds no blood, but it dries up its channels. If the products of the salt-lakes of Rajputana were preferred, even at Benares, to the sea-salt of Bengal, high impost duties excluded it from the market. If the opium of Malwa and Haraoti competed in the China market with our Patna monopoly, again we intervened, not with high export duties, which we were competent to impose, but by laying our shackles upon it at the fountain-head. “Aut Caesar, aut nullus,” is our maxim [168] in these regions; and in a country where our Agents are established only to preserve political relations and the faith of treaties, the basis of which is non-interference in the internal arrangement of their affairs—albeit we have not a single foot of land in sovereignty—we set forth our parwanas, as peremptory as any Russian ukase, and command that no opium shall leave these countries for the accustomed outlets, under pain of confiscation. Some, relying on their skill in eluding our vigilance, or tempted by the high price which these measures produce, or perhaps reckoning upon our justice, and upon impunity if discovered, tried new routes, until confiscation brought them to submission.

We then put an arbitrary value upon the drug, and forced the grower to come to us, and even take credit to ourselves for consulting his interests. Even admitting that such price was a remunerating one, founded upon an average of past years, still it is not the less arbitrary. No allowance is made for plentiful or bad seasons, when the drug, owing to a scarcity, will bear a double price. Our legislation is for “all seasons and their change.” But this virtual infraction of the faith of treaties is not confined to the grower or retailer; it affects others in a variety of ways; it injures our reputation and the welfare of those upon whom, for benevolent purposes, we have forced our protection. The transit duties levied on opium formed an item in the revenues of the princes of Rajputana; but confiscation guards the passes of the Aravalli and Gujarat, and unless the smuggler wrap up his cargo in ample folds of deceit, the Rajput may go without his amal-pani, the infusion of this poison, dearer to him than life. It is in vain to urge that sufficient is allowed for home consumption. Who is to be the judge of this? or who is so blind as not to see that any latitude of this kind would defeat the monopoly, which, impolitic in its origin, gave rise in its progress to fraud, gambling, and neglect of more important agricultural economy. But this policy must defeat itself: the excess of quantity produced will diminish the value of the original (Patna) monopoly, if its now deteriorated quality should fail to open the eyes of the quick-sighted Chinese, and exclude it from the market altogether.[5.16.15]

=Fairs.=—There were two annual fairs in his country, Mundwa and Balotra; the first chiefly for cattle. The merchandise of various countries was exposed [169] and purchased by the merchants of the adjoining States. It commenced with the month of Magh, and lasted during six weeks. The other was also for cattle of all kinds, horses, oxen, camels, and the merchandise enumerated amongst the imports and exports of Pali. Persons from all parts of India frequented them; but all these signs of prosperity are vanishing.[5.16.16]

=Administration of Justice.=—The administration of justice is now very lax in these communities; but at no time were the customary criminal laws of Rajputana sanguinary, except in respect to political crimes, which were very summarily dealt with when practicable. In these feudal associations, however, such crimes are esteemed individual offences, and the whole power of the government is concentrated to punish them; but when they are committed against the community, justice is tempered with mercy, if not benumbed by apathy. In cases even of murder, it is satisfied with fine, corporal punishment, imprisonment, confiscation, or banishment. Inferior crimes, such as larcenies, were punished by fine and imprisonment, and, when practicable, restitution; or, in case of inability to pay, corporal punishment and confinement. But under the present lax system, when this impoverished government has to feed criminals, it may be supposed that their prisons are not overstocked. Since Raja Bijai Singh’s death, the judgment-seat has been vacant. His memory is held in high esteem for the administration of justice, though he carried clemency to excess. He never confirmed a sentence of death; and there is a saying of the criminals, yet extant, more demonstrative of his humanity than of good policy: “When at large we cannot even get rabri (porridge), but in prison we eat laddu (sweetmeat).” Here, as at Jaipur, confined criminals are maintained by individual charity; and it is a well-known fact, that at the latter place, but for the humanity of the mercantile classes, especially those of the Jain persuasion, they might starve. Perhaps it is the knowledge of this circumstance, which holds back the hand of the government, or its agents, who may apply to their own uses the prison-fare. When once confined, the criminals are little thought of, and neglect answers all the ends of cruelty. They have, however, a source of consolation unknown to those who have passed “the bridge of sighs,” or become inmates of the oubliettes of more civilized regions. That fortitude and resignation which religion alone can bestow on the one is obtained through superstition by the other; and the prayers of the prison are poured forth for one of those visitations of Providence [170], which, in humbling the proud, prompts acts of mercy to others in order to ensure it to themselves.[5.16.17] The celestial phenomena of eclipses, whether of the sun or moon, although predicted by the Pandits, who for ages have possessed the most approved theory for calculation, are yet looked upon with religious awe by the mass, and as “foreboding change to princes.” Accordingly, when darkness dims the beams of Surya or Chandra, the face of the prisoner of Maru is lighted up with smiles; his deliverance is at hand, and he may join the crowd to hoot and yell, and frighten the monster Rahu[5.16.18] from his hold of the “silver-moon.”[5.16.19] The birth of a son to the prince, and a new reign, are events likewise joyful to him.

=Trial by Ordeal.=—The trial by sagun, literally ‘oath of purgation,’ or ordeal, still exists, and is occasionally had recourse to in Maru, as in other parts of Rajputana; and, if fallen into desuetude, it is not that these judgments of God (as they were styled in the days of European barbarism) are less relied on, but that society is so unhinged that even these appeals to chance find no subjects for practice, excepting by Zalim Singh; and he to the last carried on his antipathy to the Dakins (witches) of Haraoti, who were always submitted to the process by ‘water.’ Trial by ordeal is of very ancient date in India: it was by ‘fire’ that Rama proved the purity of Sita, after her abduction by Ravana, and in the same manner as practised by one of our Saxon kings, by making her walk over a red-hot ploughshare.[5.16.20] Besides the two most common tests, by fire and water, there is a third, that of washing the hands in boiling oil. It should be stated, that, in all cases, not only the selection but the appeal to any of these ordeals is the voluntary act of the litigants, and chiefly after the Panchayats, or courts of arbitration, have failed. Where justice is denied, or bribery shuts the door, the sufferer will dare his adversary to the sagun, or submission to the judgment of God; and the solemnity of the appeal carries such weight, that it brings redress of itself, though cases do occur where the challenge is accepted, and the author has conversed with individuals who have witnessed the operation of each of the ordeals.[5.16.21]

=Panchayats.=—The Panchayats arbitrate in civil cases. From these courts of equity, there is an appeal to the Raja; but as unanimity is required in the judges, and a fee or fine must be paid by the appellant, ere his case can come before the prince [171], litigation is checked. The constitution of this court is simple. The plaintiff lays his case before the Hakim of the district, or the Patel of the village where he resides. The plaintiff and defendant have the right of naming the villages (two, each), from whence the members of the Panchayat are to be drawn. Information is accordingly sent to the Patels of the villages specified, who, with their respective Patwaris (Registers), meet at the Atai or ‘village-court.’ Witnesses are summoned and examined on oath, the most common of which is the gaddi-ki-an, ‘allegiance to the throne,’ resembling the ancient adjuration of the Scythians as recorded by Herodotus.[5.16.22] This oath is, however, more restricted to Rajputs; the other classes have various forms based upon their religious notions. When the proceedings are finished, and judgment is given, the Hakim puts his seal thereto, and carries it into effect, or prepares it for appeal. It is affirmed that, in the good times of Rajputana, these simple tribunals answered every purpose.

=Fiscal Revenues.=—The fiscal revenues of Marwar are derived from various sources; the principal are—

1. The Khalisa, or ‘crown-lands.’ 2. The salt lakes. 3. Transit and impost duties. 4. Miscellaneous taxes, termed Hasil.

The entire amount of personal revenue of the princes of Marwar does not at present exceed ten lakhs of rupees (£100,000 sterling), though in the reign of Bijai Singh half a century ago, they yielded full sixteen lakhs, one-half of which arose from the salt lakes alone. The aggregate revenue of the feudal lands is estimated as high as fifty lakhs, or £500,000. It may be doubted whether at present they yield half this sum.[5.16.23] The feudal contingents are estimated at five thousand horse, besides foot, the qualification being one cavalier and two foot-soldiers for every thousand rupees of income.[5.16.24] This low estimate is to keep up the nominal value of estates, notwithstanding their great deterioration; for a ‘knight’s fee’ of Marwar was formerly estimated at five hundred rupees.

The sum of ten lakhs, mentioned as the gross income of the prince, is what is actually realized by the treasury, for there are many public servants provided for out of the crown-lands, whose estates are not included.

=Methods of Revenue Collection.=—The revenues are collected from the ryots in kind. A corn-rent, the only one recognized in ancient India, and termed Batai, or ‘division,’ is apportioned equally [172] between the prince and the husbandman: a deviation from the more lenient practice of former times, which gave one-fourth, or one-sixth to the sovereign. Besides this, the cultivator has to pay the expense of guarding the crops, and also those who attend the process of division. An assessment of two rupees is made on every ten maunds,[5.16.25] which more than covers the salaries paid to the Shahnas (watchmen), and Kanwaris,[5.16.26] and leaves a surplus divided by the Patel and village register (Patwari). A cart-load of karbi (the stalks of juar and bajra) is exacted from every cultivator as fodder for the prince’s cattle; but this is commuted for a rupee, except in seasons of scarcity, when it is stored up. The other officers, as the Patwaris and Patels, are paid out of the respective shares of the farmer and the crown, namely, one-fourth of a ser each, from every maund of produce, or an eightieth part of the gross amount. The cultivators of the Pattawats or feudal chiefs are much better off than those of the Khalisa: from them only two-fifths are exacted; and in lieu of all other taxes and charges, a land-tax of twelve rupees is levied on every hundred bighas of land cultivated. The cultivators repay this mild assessment by attachment to the chiefs.

=Poll Tax.=—Anga is a poll-tax (from anga, ‘the body’) of one rupee, levied on adults of either sex throughout Marwar.

=Cattle Tax.=—Ghasmali is a graduated tax on cattle, or, as the term imports, the right of pasture. A sheep or goat is estimated at one anna (one-sixteenth of a rupee); a buffalo eight annas, or half a rupee; and each camel, three rupees.

=Door Tax.=—Kewari is a tax on doors (kewar), and is considered peculiarly oppressive. It was first imposed by Bijai Singh, when, towards the latter end of his reign, his chiefs rebelled, and retired in a body to Pali to concert schemes for deposing him. Thither he fruitlessly followed in order to pacify them, and on his return found the gates (kewar) of his capital shut in his face, and Bhim Singh placed upon the gaddi. To supply the pecuniary exigencies consequent upon this embarrassing situation, he appealed to his subjects, and proposed a ‘benevolence,’ in aid of his necessities, of three rupees for each house, giving it a denomination from the cause whence it originated. Whether employed as a punishment of those who aided his antagonist, or as a convenient expedient of finance, he converted this temporary contribution into a permanent tax, which continued until the necessities of the confederacy against the [173] present prince, Raja Man, and the usurpation of the fiscal lands by the Pathans, made him raise it to ten rupees on each house. It is, however, not equally levied; the number of houses in each township being calculated, it is laid on according to the means of the occupants, and the poor man may pay two rupees, while the wealthy pays twenty. The feudal lands are not exempted, except in cases of special favour.

=Sāīr.=—In estimating the amount of the sair, or imposts of Marwar, it must be borne in mind that the schedule appended represents what they have been, and perhaps might again be, rather than what they now are. These duties are subject to fluctuation in all countries, but how much more in those exposed to so many visitations from predatory foes, civil strife, and famine! There is no reason to doubt that, in the “good old times” of Maru, the amount, as taken from old records, may have been realized:—

Jodhpur Rs. 76,000 Nagor 75,000 Didwana 10,000 Parbatsar 44,000 Merta 11,000 Kolia 5,000 Jalor 25,000 Pali 75,000 Jasol and Balotra fairs 41,000 Bhinmal 21,000 Sanchor 6,000 Phalodi 41,000 —-—— TOTAL 430,000

The Danis, or collectors of the customs, have monthly salaries at the large towns, while the numerous petty agents are paid by a percentage on the sums collected. The sair, or imposts, include all those on grain, whether of foreign importation, or the home-grown, in transit from one district to another.

The revenue arising from the produce of the salt lakes has deteriorated with the land and commercial revenues; and, though affected by political causes, is yet the most certain branch of income. The following schedule exhibits what has been derived from this lucrative source of wealth [174]:—

Pachbhadra Rs. 200,000

Phalodi 100,000

Didwana 115,000

Sambhar 200,000

Nawa 100,000

—-—-—

TOTAL 715,000

=Banjāras: Salt Trade.=—This productive branch of industry still employs thousands of hands, and hundreds of thousands of oxen, and is almost entirely in the hands of that singular race of beings called Banjaras, some of whose tandas, or caravans, amount to 40,000 head of oxen. The salt is exported to every region of Hindustan, from the Indus to the Ganges, and is universally known and sold under the title of Sambhar Lun, or ‘salt of Sambhar,’ notwithstanding the quality of the different lakes varies, that of Pachbhadra, beyond the Luni, being most esteemed.[5.16.27] It is produced by natural evaporation, expedited by dividing the surface into pans by means of mats of the Sarkanda grass,[5.16.28] which lessens the superficial agitation. It is then gathered and heaped up into immense masses, on whose summit they burn a variety of alkaline plants, such as the sajji,[5.16.29] by which it becomes impervious to the weather.

habits of secreting money. A very large treasure was discovered in Nagor by Bijai Singh, when demolishing some old buildings.

=Military Forces.=—It only remains to state the military resources of the Rathors, which fluctuate with their revenues. The Rajas maintain a foreign mercenary force upon their fiscal revenues to overawe their own turbulent vassalage. These are chiefly Rohilla and Afghan infantry, armed with muskets and matchlocks; and having cannon and sufficient discipline to act in a body, they are formidable to the Rajput cavaliers. Some years ago, Raja Man had a corps of three thousand five hundred foot, and fifteen hundred horse, with twenty-five guns, commanded by Hindal Khan, a native of Panipat. He has been attached to the family ever since the reign of Bijai Singh, and is (or was) familiarly addressed kaka, or ‘uncle,’ by the prince. There was also a brigade of those monastic militants, the Bishanswamis, under their leader, Kaimdas, consisting of seven hundred foot, three hundred horse, and an establishment of rockets (bhan), a very ancient instrument of Indian warfare, and mentioned long before gunpowder was used in Europe. At one period, the Raja maintained a foreign force amounting to, or at least mustered as, eleven thousand men, of which number two thousand five hundred were cavalry, with fifty-five guns, and a rocket establishment. Besides a monthly pay, lands to a considerable amount were granted to the commanders of the different legions. By these overgrown establishments, to maintain a superiority over the feudal lords which has been undermined by the causes related, the demoralization and ruin of this country have been accelerated. The existence of such a species of force, opposed in moral and religious sentiment to the retainers of the State, has only tended to widen the breach between them and their head, and to destroy every feeling of confidence.

In Mewar there are sixteen great chiefs; in Amber, twelve; in Marwar, eight. The following table exhibits their names, clans, residences, and rated revenue. The contingent required by their princes may be estimated by the qualification of a cavalier, namely, one for every five hundred rupees of rent [176].

────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────

Names of │Clans. │Places of │ Revenue.│Remarks. Chiefs. │ │Abode. │ │ ───────────────────┴──────────┴─────────────┴──────────┴──────────────────── FIRST CLASS.

1. Kesari Singh │Champawat │Awa │ 100,000│Premier noble of 2. Bakhtawar │Kumpawat │Asop │ 50,000│Marwar. Of this Singh │ │ │ │sum, half is the │ │ │ │original grant: the │ │ │ │rest is by │ │ │ │usurpation │ │ │ │of the inferior │ │ │ │branches of his │ │ │ │clan. 3. Salim Singh │Champawat │Pokaran │ 100,000│The Pokaran │ │ │ │chief is by far the │ │ │ │most powerful in │ │ │ │Marwar. 4. Surthan │Udawat │Nimaj │ 50,000│The fief of Nimaj Singh │ │ │ │is now under │ │ │ │sequestration, │ │ │ │since the last │ │ │ │incumbent was put to │ │ │ │death by the Raja. 5. .. │Mertia │Rian │ 25,000│The Mertia is deemed │ │ │ │the bravest of all │ │ │ │the Rathor clans. 6. Ajit Singh │Mertia │Ghanerao │ 50,000│This feoff formed │ │ │ │one │ │ │ │of the sixteen great │ │ │ │feoffs of Mewar. 7. .. │Karamsot │Khinwasar │ 40,000│The town, which is │ │ │ │large, has been │ │ │ │dismantled, and │ │ │ │several │ │ │ │villages │ │ │ │sequestrated. 8. .. │Bhatti │Khejarla │ 25,000│The only foreign │ │ │ │chief │ │ │ │in the first grade │ │ │ │of │ │ │ │the nobles of │ │ │ │Marwar.

SECOND CLASS.

1. Sheonath Singh │Udawat │Kuchaman │ 50,000│A chief of │ │ │ │considerable power. 2. Surthan Singh │Jodha │Khari-ka-dewa│ 25,000│ 3. Prithi Singh │Udawat │Chandawal │ 25,000│ 4. Tej Singh │ Do. │Khada │ 25,000│ 5. Anar Singh │Bhatti │Ahor │ 11,000│In exile. 6. Jeth Singh │Kumpawat │Bagori │ 40,000│ 7. Padam Singh │ Do. │Gajsinghpura │ 25,000│ 8. .. │Mertia │Mehtri │ 40,000│ 9. Kartan Singh │Udawat │Marot │ 15,000│ 10. Zalim Singh │Kumpawat │Rohat │ 15,000│ 11. Sawai Singh │Jodha │Chaupar │ 15,000│ 12. .. │ .. │Budsu │ 20,000│ 13. Sheodan Singh │Champawat │Kaota (great)│ 40,000│ 14. Zalim Singh │ Do. │Harsola │ 10,000│ 15. Sawal Singh │ Do. │Degod │ 10,000│ 16. Hukm Singh │ Do. │Kaota │ 11,000│ │ │(little) │ │ ───────────────────┴──────────┴─────────────┴──────────┴────────────────────

These are the principal chieftains of Marwar, holding lands on the tenure of service. There are many who owe allegiance and service on emergencies, the allodial vassals of Marwar, not enumerated in this list; such as Barmer, Kotra, Jasol, Phulsund, Birganw, Bankaria, Kalindri, Barunda, who could muster a strong numerical force if their goodwill were conciliated, and the prince could enforce his requisition. The specified census of the estates may not be exactly correct. The foregoing is from an old record, which is in all probability the best they have; for so rapid are the changes in these countries, amidst the anarchy and rebellion we have been describing, that the civil officers would deem it time thrown away, to form, as in past times, an exact pattabahi, or ‘register’ of feoffs. The ancient qualification was one horseman and two foot soldiers, “when required,” for each five hundred rupees in the rental; but as the estates have been curtailed in extent and diminished in value, in order to keep up their nominal amount, one thousand is now the qualification [178].[5.16.30]

Chapter 1

Bikaner holds a secondary rank amongst the principalities of Rajputana. It is an offset of Marwar, its princes being scions of the house of Jodha, who established themselves by conquest on the northern frontier of the parent State; and its position, in the heart of the desert, has contributed to the maintenance of their independence.

=Rāo Bīka, A.D. 1465-1504.=—It was in S. 1515 (A.D. 1459), the year in which Jodha transferred the seat of government from Mandor to Jodhpur, that his son Bika,[6.1.1] under the guidance of his uncle Kandhal, led three hundred of the sons of Siahji to enlarge the boundaries of Rathor dominion amidst the sands of Maru. Bika was stimulated to the attempt by the success of his brother Bida, who had recently subjugated the territory inhabited by the Mohils for ages.

Such expeditions as that of Bika, undertaken expressly for conquest, were almost [179] uniformly successful. The invaders set out with a determination to slay or be slain; and these forays had the additional stimulus of being on “fated days,” when the warlike creed of the Rajputs made the abstraction of territory from foe or friend a matter of religious duty.

Bika, with his band of three hundred, fell upon the Sankhlas[6.1.2] of Janglu, whom they massacred. This exploit brought them in contact with the Bhattis of Pugal,[6.1.3] the chief of which gave his daughter in marriage to Bika, who fixed his headquarters at Kuramdesar, where he erected a castle, and gradually augmented his conquests from the neighbourhood.

=The Conquest of the Jats.=—Bika now approximated to the settlements of the Jats or Getae, who had for ages been established in these arid abodes; and as the lands they held form a considerable portion of the State of Bikaner, it may not be uninteresting to give a sketch of the condition of this singular people prior to the son of Jodha establishing the feudal system of Rajwara amongst their pastoral commonwealths.

Of this celebrated and widely spread race we have already given a succinct account.[6.1.4] It appears to have been the most numerous as well as the most conspicuous of the tribes of ancient Asia, from the days of Tomyris and Cyrus to those of the present Jat prince of Lahore, whose successor, if he be endued with similar energy, may, on the reflux of population, find himself seated in their original haunts of Central Asia, to which they have already considerably advanced.[6.1.5] In the fourth century we find a Yuti or Jat kingdom established in the Panjab;[6.1.6] but how much earlier this people colonized those regions we are ignorant. At every step made by Muhammadan power in India it encountered the Jats. On their memorable defence of the passage of the Indus against Mahmud, and on the war of extirpation waged against them by Timur, both in their primeval seats in Mawaru-l-nahr,[6.1.7] as well as east of the Sutlej, we have already enlarged; while Babur, in his Commentaries, informs us that, in all his irruptions into India, he was assailed by multitudes of Jats[6.1.8] during his progress through the Panjab, the peasantry of which region, now proselytes to Islam, are chiefly of this tribe; as well as the [180] military retainers, who, as sectarian followers of Nanak, merge the name of Jat, or Jāt, into that of Sikh or ‘disciple.’[6.1.9]

In short, whether as Yuti, Getae, Jats, Juts, or Jāts, this race far surpassed in numbers, three centuries ago, any other tribe or race in India; and it is a fact that they now constitute a vast majority of the peasantry of western Rajwara, and perhaps of northern India.

At what period these Jats established themselves in the Indian desert, we are, as has been already observed, entirely ignorant; but even at the time of the Rathor invasion of these communities their habits confirmed the tradition of their Scythic origin. They led chiefly a pastoral life, were guided, but not governed by the elders, and with the exception of adoration to the ‘universal mother’ (Bhavani), incarnate in the person of a youthful Jatni, they were utter aliens to the Hindu theocracy. In fact, the doctrines of the great Islamite saint, Shaikh Farid,[6.1.10] appear to have overturned the pagan rites brought from the Jaxartes; and without any settled ideas on religion, the Jats of the desert jumbled all their tenets together. They considered themselves, in short, as a distinct class, and, as a Punia Jat informed me, “their watan was far beyond the Five Rivers.” Even in the name of one of the six communities (the Asaich), on whose submission Bika founded his new State, we have nearly the Asi, the chief of the four tribes from the Oxus and Jaxartes, who overturned the Greek kingdom of Bactria.[6.1.11]

The period of Rathor domination over these patriarchal communities was intermediate between Timur’s and Babur’s invasion of India. The former, who was the founder of the Chagatai dynasty, boasts of the myriads of Jat souls he “consigned to perdition” on the desert plains of India, as well as in Transoxiana; so we may conclude that successive migrations of this people from the great “storehouse of nations” went to the lands east of the Indus, and that the communities who elected Bika as their sovereign had been established therein for ages. The extent of their possessions justifies this conclusion; for nearly the whole of the territory forming the boundaries of Bikaner was possessed by the six Jat cantons, namely—

1. Punia. 2. Godara. 3. Saharan. 4. Asaich. 5. Beniwal [or Bhanniwal]. 6. Johya, or Joiya [181].

though this last is by some termed a ramification of the Yadu-Bhatti: an affiliation by no means invalidating their claims to be considered of Jat or Yuti origin.[6.1.12]

Each canton bore the name of the community, and was subdivided into districts. Besides the six Jat cantons, there were three more simultaneously wrested from Rajput proprietors; namely, Bagor, the Kharipatta, and Mohila. The six Jat cantons constituted the central and northern, while those of the Rajputs formed the western and southern frontiers.

Disposition of the Cantons at that period.

Cantons. No. of Districts. Villages. 1. Punia 300 Bahaduran, Ajitpur, Sidmukh,

Rajgarh, Dadrewa, Sanku, etc. 2. Beniwal [or 150 Bhukarka, Sondari, Manoharpur, Bhanniwāl] Kui, Bai, etc. 3. Johya 600 Jethpur, Kumbhana, Mahajan,

Pipasar, Udaipur, etc. 4. Asaich 150 Rawatsar, Barmsar, Dandusar,

Gandeli. 5. Saran 300 Kejar, Phog, Buchawas, Sawai,

Badinu, Sirsila, etc. 6. Godara 700 Pundrasar, Gosainsar (great),

Shaikhsar Garsisar, Gharibdesar,

Rangesar, Kalu, etc. Total in the six 2200 Jat cantons 7. Bagor 300 Bikaner, Nal, Kela, Rajasar,

Satasar, Chhattargarh, Randasar,

Bitnokh, Bhavanipur, Jaimallsar, etc. 8. Mohila 140 Chaupar (capital of Mohila), Sonda,

Hirasar, Gopalpur, Charwas, Bidasar, Ladnun, Malsasar, Kharbuza-ra-kot. 9. Kharipatta, or 30 salt district ——— GRAND TOTAL 2670

With such rapidity were States formed in those times, that in a few years after Bika left his paternal roof at Mandor he was lord over 2670 villages, and by a title far stronger and more legitimate than that of conquest—the spontaneous election of the cantons. But although three centuries have scarcely passed since their amalgamation [182] into a sovereignty, one-half of the villages cease to exist; nor are there now 1300 forming the raj of Surat Singh, the present occupant and lineal descendant of Bika.[6.1.13]

The Jats and Johyas of these regions, who extended over all the northern desert even to the Gara, led a pastoral life, their wealth consisting in their cattle, which they reared in great numbers, disposing of the superfluity, and of the ghi (butter clarified) and wool, through the medium of Sarsot (Sarasvati) Brahmans (who, in these regions, devote themselves to traffic), receiving in return grain and other conveniences or necessaries of life.

=Bīda conquers the Mohil Clan.=—A variety of causes conspired to facilitate the formation of the State of Bikaner, and the reduction of the ancient Scythic simplicity of the Jat communities to Rajput feudal sway; and although the success of his brother Bida over the Mohils in some degree paved the way, his bloodless conquest could never have happened but for the presence of a vice which has dissolved all the republics of the world. The jealousy of the Johyas and Godaras, the two most powerful of the six Jat cantons, was the immediate motive to the propitiation of the “son of Jodha”; besides which, the communities found the band of Bida, which had extirpated the ancient Mohils when living with them in amity, most troublesome neighbours. Further, they were desirous to place between them and the Bhattis of Jaisalmer a more powerful barrier; and last, not least, they dreaded the hot valour and “thirst for land” which characterized Bika’s retainers, now contiguous to them at Janglu. For these weighty reasons, at a meeting of the “elders” of the Godaras, it was resolved to conciliate the Rathor.

Pandu was the patriarchal head of the Godaras; his residence was at Shaikhsar.[6.1.14] The ‘elder’ of Ronia was next in rank and estimation to Pandu, in communities where equality was as absolute as the proprietary right to the lands which each individually held: that of pasture being common.

The elders of Shaikhsar and Ronia were deputed to enter into terms with the Rajput prince, and to invest him with supremacy over their community, on the following conditions:—

First. To make common cause with them, against the Johyas and other cantons, with whom they were then at variance.

Second. To guard the western frontier against the irruption of the Bhattis [183].

Third. To hold the rights and privileges of the community inviolable.

On the fulfilment of these conditions they relinquished to Bika and his descendants the supreme power over the Godaras; assigning to him, in perpetuity, the power to levy dhuan, or a ‘hearth tax,’ of one rupee on each house in the canton, and a land tax of two rupees on each hundred bighas of cultivated land within their limits.

Apprehensive, however, that Bika or his descendants might encroach upon their rights, they asked what security he could offer against such a contingency? The Rajput chief replied that, in order to dissipate their fears on this head, as well as to perpetuate the remembrance of the supremacy thus voluntarily conferred, he would solemnly bind himself and his successors to receive the tika of inauguration from the hands of the descendants of the elders of Shaikhsar and Ronia, and that the gaddi should be deemed vacant until such rite was administered.

In this simple transfer of the allegiance of this pastoral people we mark that instinctive love of liberty which accompanied the Getae in all places and all conditions of society, whether on the banks of the Oxus and the Jaxartes, or in the sandy desert of India; and although his political independence is now annihilated, he is still ready even to shed his blood if his Rajput master dare to infringe his inalienable right to his bapota, his paternal acres.

=Former Owners conferring Titles on their Successors.=—It is seldom that so incontestable a title to supremacy can be asserted as that which the weakness and jealousies of the Godaras conferred upon Bika, and it is a pleasing incident to find almost throughout India, in the observance of certain rites, the remembrance of the original compact which transferred the sovereign power from the lords of the soil to their Rajput conquerors. Thus, in Mewar, the fact of the power conferred upon the Guhilot founder by the Bhil aborigines is commemorated by a custom brought down to the present times. (See Vol. I. p. 262.) At Amber the same is recorded in the important offices retained by the Minas, the primitive inhabitants of that land. Both Kotah and Bundi retain in their names the remembrance of the ancient lords of Haraoti; and Bika’s descendants preserve, in a twofold manner, the recollection of their bloodless conquest of the Jats. To this day the descendant of Pandu applies the unguent of royalty to the forehead of the successors of Bika; on which occasion the prince places ‘the fine of relief,’ consisting of twenty-five pieces of gold, in the hand of the Jat. Moreover, the spot which he selected for his capital was the birthright of a Jat, who would only concede it for this purpose on the condition that his name should be linked in perpetuity with its surrender. Naira, or Nera [184], was the name of the proprietor, which Bika added to his own, thus composing that of the future capital, Bikaner.[6.1.15]

Besides this periodical recognition of the transfer of power, on all lapses of the crown, there are annual memorials of the rights of the Godaras, acknowledged not only by the prince, but by all his Rajput vassal-kin, quartered on the lands of the Jat; and although ‘the sons of Bika,’ now multiplied over the country, do not much respect the ancient compact, they at least recognize, in the maintenance of these formulae, the origin of their power.

On the spring and autumnal[6.1.16] festivals of the Holi and Diwali, the heirs of the patriarchs of Shaikhsar and Ronia give the tika to the prince and all his feudality. The Jat of Ronia bears the silver cup and platter which holds the ampoule of the desert, while his compeer applies it to the prince’s forehead. The Raja in return deposits a nazarana of a gold mohur, and five pieces of silver; the chieftains, according to their rank, following his example. The gold is taken by the Shaikhsar Jat, the silver by the elder of Ronia.

=Conquest of the Johya Tribe.=—To resume our narrative: when the preliminaries were adjusted, by Bika’s swearing to maintain the rights of the community which thus surrendered their liberties to his keeping, they united their arms, and invaded the Johyas. This populous community, which extended over the northern region of the desert, even to the Sutlej, reckoned eleven hundred villages in their canton; yet now, after the lapse of little more than three centuries, the very name of Johya is extinct. They appear to be the Janjuha of Babur, who, in his irruption into India, found them congregated with the Juds, about the cluster of hills in the first duaba of the Panjab, called ‘the mountains of Jud’; a position claimed by the Yadus or Jadons in the very dawn of their history, and called Jadu ka dang, ‘the Jadu hills.’[6.1.17] This supports the assertion that the Johya is of Yadu race, while it does not invalidate its claims to Yuti or Jat descent, as will be further shown in the early portion of the annals of the Yadu-Bhattis.[6.1.18]

The patriarchal head of the Johyas resided at Bharopal;[6.1.19] his name was Sher Singh [185]. He mustered the strength of the canton, and for a long time withstood the continued efforts of the Rajputs and the Godaras; nor was it until “treason had done its worst,” by the murder of their elder, and the consequent possession of Bharopal, that the Johyas succumbed to Rathor domination.

=Foundation of Bīkaner, A.D. 1455-88.=—With this accession of power, Bika carried his arms westward and conquered Bagor from the Bhattis. It was in this district, originally wrested by the Bhattis from the Jats, that Bika founded his capital, Bikaner, on the 15th Baisakh, S. 1545 (A.D. 1489), thirty years after his departure from the parental roof at Mandor.

When Bika was thus firmly established, his uncle Kandhal, to whose spirit of enterprise he was mainly indebted for success, departed with his immediate kin to the northward, with a view of settling in fresh conquests. He successively subjugated the communities of Asaich, Beniwal, and Saran, which cantons are mostly occupied by his descendants, styled Kandhalot Rathors, at this day, and although they form an integral portion of the Bikaner State, they evince, in their independent bearing to its chief, that their estates were “the gift of their own swords, not of his patents”; and they pay but a reluctant and nominal obedience to his authority. When necessity or avarice imposes a demand for tribute, it is often met by a flat refusal, accompanied with such a comment as this: “Who made this Raja? Was it not our common ancestor, Kandhal? Who is he, who presumes to levy tribute from us?” Kandhal’s career of conquest was cut short by the emperor’s lieutenant in Hissar; he was slain in attempting this important fortress.

=Death of Bīka. Nūnkaran or Lūnkaran, A.D. 1504-26.=—Bika died in S. 1551 (A.D. 1495), leaving two sons by the daughter of the Bhatti chief of Pugal, namely, Nunkaran, who succeeded, and Garsi, who founded Garsisar and Arsisar. The stock of the latter is numerous, and is distinguished by the epithet Garsot Bika, whose principal fiefs are those of Garsisar and Gharibdesar, each having twenty-four villages depending on them.[6.1.20]

=Jeth Singh, A.D. 1526-41.=—Nunkaran made several conquests from the Bhattis, on the western frontier. He had four sons; his eldest desiring a separate establishment in his lifetime, for the fief of Mahajan and one hundred and forty villages, renounced his right of primogeniture in favour of his brother Jeth, who succeeded in S. 1569. His brothers had each appanages assigned to them. He had three sons: (1) Kalyan Singh, (2) Siahji, and (3) Aishpal [186]. Jethsi reduced the district of Narnot from some independent Girasia chiefs, and settled it as the appanage of his second son, Siahji. It was Jethsi also who compelled ‘the sons of Bida,’ the first Rathor colonists of this region, to acknowledge his supremacy by an annual tribute, besides certain taxes.

=Kalyān Singh, A.D. 1541-71.=—Kalyan Singh succeeded in S. 1603. He had three sons: (1) Rae Singh, (2) Ram Singh, and (3) Prithi Singh.

=Rāē Singh, A.D. 1571-1611. Bīkaner subject to the Mughals. Akbar’s Marriage.=—Rae Singh succeeded in S. 1630 (A.D. 1573). Until this reign the Jats had, in a great degree, preserved their ancient privileges. Their maintenance was, however, found rather inconvenient by the now superabundant Rajput population, and they were consequently dispossessed of all political authority. With the loss of independence their military spirit decayed, and they sunk into mere tillers of the earth. In this reign also Bikaner rose to importance amongst the principalities of the empire, and if the Jats parted with their liberties to the Rajput, the latter, in like manner, bartered his freedom to become a Satrap of Delhi. On his father’s death, Rae Singh in person undertook the sacred duty of conveying his ashes to the Ganges. The illustrious Akbar was then emperor of India. Rae Singh and the emperor had married sisters, princesses of Jaisalmer.[6.1.21] This connexion obtained for him, on his introduction to court by Raja Man of Amber, the dignity of a leader of four thousand horse, the title of Raja, and the government of Hissar. Moreover, when Maldeo of Jodhpur incurred the displeasure of the king, and was dispossessed of the rich district of Nagor, it was given to Rae Singh. With these honours, and increased power as one of the king’s lieutenants, he returned to his dominions, and sent his brother Ram Singh against Bhatner,[6.1.22] of which he made a conquest. This town was the chief place of a district belonging to the Bhattis, originally Jats[6.1.23] of Yadu descent, but who assumed this name on becoming proselytes to the faith of Islam.

=Subjugation of the Johyas.=—Ram Singh at the same time completely subjugated the Johyas, who, always troublesome, had recently attempted to regain their ancient independence. The Rajputs carried fire and sword into this country, of which they made a desert. Ever since it has remained desolate: the very name of Johya is lost, though the vestiges of considerable towns bear testimony to a remote antiquity.

=Traditions of Greek Settlements.=—Amidst these ruins of the Johyas, the name of Sikandar Rumi (Alexander the Great) [187] has fixed itself, and the desert retains the tradition that the ruin called Rangmahall, the ‘painted palace,’ near Dandusar, was the capital of a prince of this region punished by a visitation of the Macedonian conqueror. History affords no evidence of Alexander’s passage of the Gara, though the scene of his severest conflict was in that nook of the Panjab not remote from the lands of the Johyas. But though the chronicler of Alexander does not sanction our indulging in this speculation, the total darkness in which we appear doomed to remain with regard to Bactria and the petty Grecian kingdoms on the Indus, established by him, does not forbid our surmise, that by some of these, perhaps the descendants of Python, such a visitation might have happened.[6.1.24] The same traditions assert that these regions were not always either arid or desolate, and the living chronicle alluded to in the note repeated the stanza elsewhere given, which dated its deterioration from the drying up of the Hakra river, which came from the Panjab, and flowing through the heart of this country, emptied itself into the Indus between Rohri Bhakkar and Uchh.

The affinity that this word (Hakra) has both to the Ghaggar, and Sankra,[6.1.25] would lead to the conclusion of either being the stream referred to. The former we know as being engulphed in the sands about the Hariana confines, while the Sankra is a stream which, though now dry, was used as a line of demarcation even in the time of Nadir Shah. It ran eastward, parallel with the Indus, and by making it his boundary, Nadir added all the fertile valley of the Indus to his Persian kingdom. (See map.) The only date this legendary stanza assigns for the catastrophe is the reign of the Sodha prince, Hamir.

Ram Singh, having thus destroyed the power of future resistance in the Johyas, turned his arms against the Punia Jats, the last who preserved their ancient liberty. They were vanquished, and the Rajputs were inducted into their most valuable possessions. But the conqueror paid the penalty of his life for the glory of colonizing the lands of the Punias. He was slain in their expiring effort to shake off the yoke of the stranger; and though the Ramsinghgots add to the numerical strength, and enlarge the territory of the heirs of Bika, they, like the Kandhalots, little increase the power [188] of the State, to which their obedience is nominal. Sidmukh and Sanku are the two chief places of the Ramsinghgots.

Thus, with the subjugation of the Punias, the political annihilation of the six Jat cantons of the desert was accomplished: they are now occupied in agriculture and their old pastoral pursuits, and are an industrious tax-paying race under their indolent Rajput masters.

=Rāē Singh in Akbar’s Service.=—Raja Rae Singh led a gallant band of his Rathors in all the wars of Akbar. He was distinguished in the assault of Ahmadabad, slaying in single combat the governor, Mirza Muhammad Husain.[6.1.26] The emperor, who knew the value of such valorous subjects, strengthened the connexion which already subsisted between the crown and the Rathors, by obtaining for prince Salim (afterwards Jahangir) Rae Singh’s daughter to wife. The unfortunate Parvez was the fruit of this marriage.

=Karan Singh, A.D. 1631-69.=—Rae Singh was succeeded by his only son, Karan, in S. 1688 (A.D. 1632).[6.1.27]

Karan held the ‘mansab of two thousand,’ and the government of Daulatabad, in his father’s lifetime. Being a supporter of the just claims of Dara Shukoh, a plot was laid by the general of his antagonist, with whom he served, to destroy him, but which he was enabled to defeat by the timely intelligence of the Hara prince of Bundi. He died at Bikaner, leaving four sons: (1) Padma Singh, (2) Kesari Singh, (3) Mohan Singh, and (4) Anup Singh.

This family furnishes another example of the prodigal sacrifice of Rajput blood in the imperial service. The two elder princes were slain in the storm of Bijapur, and the tragical death of the third, Mohan Singh, in the imperial camp, forms an episode in Ferishta’s History of the Dekhan [189].[6.1.28]

=Anūp Singh, A.D. 1669-98.=—Anup Singh succeeded in S. 1730 (A.D. 1674). For the services of his family he had the castle and lands of Adoni[6.1.29] conferred upon him, with ‘the mansab of five thousand,’ and the governments of Bijapur and Aurangabad. Anup Singh led his clans with the head of his race, the prince of Jodhpur, to quell a rebellion amongst the Afghans of Kabul, which having effected, he returned to the peninsula. Ferishta and the native annals are at variance on his death; the former asserting that he died in the Deccan, while the latter say that he left that country, disgusted with the imperial commander’s interference about his ground of encampment, and that he died at Bikaner.[6.1.30] He left two sons, Sarup Singh and Sujan Singh.

=Sarūp Singh, A.D. 1698-1700.=—Sarup, who succeeded in S. 1765 (A.D. 1709), did not long enjoy his honours, being killed in attempting to recover Adoni, which the emperor had resumed on his father’s leaving the army.[6.1.31]

=Sujān Singh, A.D. 1700-1735.=—Sujan Singh, his successor, did nothing.

=Zorāwar Singh, A.D. 1735-45.=—Zorawar Singh became raja in S. 1793 (A.D. 1737). The domestic incidents of this, as of the preceding reigns, are without interest.

=Gaj Singh, A.D. 1745-88.=—Gaj Singh succeeded in S. 1802 (A.D. 1746). Throughout a long reign of forty-one years, this prince carried on border strife with the Bhattis and the Khan of Bahawalpur. From the former he took Rajasar, Kela, Raner, Satasar, Banipura, Mutalai, and other villages of inferior note; and from the Khan he recovered the important frontier castle of Anupgarh.

He laid waste, filling up the wells, a considerable tract of country west of the frontier post of Anupgarh, to prevent the incursions of the Daudputras.[6.1.32]

Raja Gaj had some celebrity from the number of his offspring, having had sixty-one children, though all but six were the ‘sons of love.’ The legitimates were, Chhattar Singh, who died in infancy; Raj Singh, who was poisoned by the mother of Surat Singh, the reigning prince; Surthan Singh and Ajib Singh, both of whom fled the paternal roof to escape the fate of their elder brother, and are now at Jaipur; Surat Singh, Raja of Bikaner; and Shyam Singh, who enjoys a small appanage in Bikaner.

=Rāj Singh, A.D. 1788.=—Raj Singh succeeded his father, S. 1843 (A.D. 1787), but he enjoyed the dignity only thirteen days, being removed by a dose of poison by the mother[6.1.33] of Surat Singh, the fifth son of Raja Gaj. The crown thus nefariously obtained, this worthy son [190] of such a parent determined to maintain his authority by like means, and to leave no competitor to contest his claims. He has accordingly removed by death or exile all who stood between him and the ‘gaddi of Bika.’

=Partāp Singh, A.D. 1788. Usurpation of Sūrat Singh.=—Raj Singh left two sons, Partap Singh and Jai Singh. On the death of Raj Singh, the office of regent, a word of ominous import in these regions, was assumed by Surat Singh, who, during eighteen months, conducted himself with great circumspection, and by condescension and gifts impressed the chiefs in his favour. At length he broke his plans to the chiefs of Mahajan and Bahaduran, whose acquiescence in his usurpation he secured by additions to their estates. The faithful Bakhtawar Singh, whose family during four generations had filled the office of Diwan, discovered the scheme, though too late to counteract it, and the attempt was punished by imprisonment. Prepared for the last step, the regent collected foreign troops from Bhatinda[6.1.34] and other parts, sufficient to overcome all opposition. The infant prince was kept secluded, and at length the regent issued the warrant in his own name for the nobles to assemble at the capital. Except the two traitors enumerated, they to a man refused; but instead of combining to oppose him, they indolently remained at their castles. Collecting all his troops, the usurper passed to Nohar, where he enticed the chief of Bhukarka to an interview, and lodged him in the fortress of Nohar.[6.1.35] Thence he passed to Ajitpura, which he plundered; and advancing to Sankhu, he attacked it in form. Durjan Singh defended himself with valour, and when reduced to extremity, committed suicide. His heir was put in fetters, and a fine of twelve thousand rupees was levied from the vassals of Sankhu. The commercial town of Churu was next attacked; it held out six months, when the confined chief of Bhukarka, as the price of his own freedom, treacherously offered to put the tyrant in possession. He effected this, and a fine of nearly two lakhs of rupees (£20,000) was offered to spare the town from plunder.

By this act of severity, and the means it furnished, Surat returned to Bikaner, determined to remove the only bar between him and the crown, his prince and nephew. In this he found some difficulty, from the virtue and vigilance of his sister, who never lost sight of the infant. Frustrated in all attempts to circumvent her, and not daring to blazon the murder by open violence, he invited the needy Raja of Narwar to make proposals for his sister’s hand. In vain she urged her advanced period of life; and in order to deter the suitor, that she had already been affianced to Rana Arsi of Mewar. All his scruples vanished at the dower of three lakhs, which the regent offered [191] the impoverished scion of the famous Raja Nala.[6.1.36] Her objections were overruled and she was forced to submit; though she not only saw through her brother’s anxiety for her removal, but boldly charged him with his nefarious intentions. He was not content with disavowing them, but at her desire gave her the most solemn assurances of the child’s safety. Her departure was the signal of his death; for not long after he was found strangled, and it is said by the regent’s own hands, having in vain endeavoured to obtain the offices of the Mahajan chieftain as the executioner of his sovereign.

=Sūrat Singh, A.D. 1788-1828.=—Thus, in one short year after the death of Raja Raj, the gaddi of Bika was dishonoured by being possessed by an assassin of his prince. In S. 1857 (A.D. 1801), the elder brothers of the usurper, Surthan Singh and Ajib Singh, who had found refuge in Jaipur, repaired to Bhatner and assembled the vassals of the disaffected nobles and Bhattis in order to dethrone the tyrant. But the recollection of his severities deterred some, while bribes kept back others, and the usurper did not hesitate to advance to meet his foes. The encounter, which took place at Bigor, was obstinate and bloody, and three thousand Bhattis alone fell. This signal victory confirmed Surat’s usurpation. He erected a castle on the field of battle, which he called Fatehgarh, ‘the fort of victory.’

Flushed with this brilliant success, Surat Singh determined to make his authority respected both at home and abroad. He invaded his turbulent countrymen, the Bidawats, and levied fifty thousand rupees from their lands. Churu,[6.1.37] which had promised aid to the late confederacy, was once more invested and mulcted, and various other places were attacked ere they could join. But one solitary castle was successfully defended, that of Chhani, near Bahaduran. Here the usurper was foiled, and, after six months’ fruitless siege, compelled to return to his capital.

Shortly after, he eagerly availed himself of an opportunity to punish the excesses of the Daudputras, and to withdraw attention from himself, by kindling a popular war against these powerful and turbulent neighbours. The occasion was the Kirani chief of Tirhara demanding his aid against his liege lord, Bahawal Khan. As these border feuds are not extinguished even in these days of universal peace, it may not be uninteresting to see the feudal muster-roll of the desert chiefs on such occurrences, as well as the mode in which they carry on hostilities. It was very shortly before that victory had preponderated on the side of the Rathors by a gallant coup-de-main of [192] the lord marcher of Bikaner, who carried the castle of Mozgarh[6.1.38] in a midnight assault. The hero on this occasion was not a Rathor, but a Bhatti chief, in the service of Bikaner, named Hindu Singh, who gained ‘immortality’ by the style in which he scaled the walls, put Muhammad Maaruf Kirani, the governor, and the garrison to the sword, and brought away captive to Bikaner the governor’s wife, who was afterwards ransomed for five thousand rupees and four hundred camels.

The outlaw who sought saran at Bikaner, on this occasion, was of the same tribe, Kirani, his name Khudabakhsh (‘gift of God’), chief of Tirhara, one of the principal fiefs of the Daudputras. With all his retainers, to the amount of three hundred horse and five hundred foot, he threw himself on the protection of Surat Singh, who assigned him twenty villages, and one hundred rupees daily for his support. The Kiranis were the most powerful vassals of Bahawal Khan, who might have paid dear for the resumption of Tirhara, whose chief promised the Rajput nothing less than to extend his conquests to the Indus. Allured by this bait, the Kher was proclaimed and the sons of Bika assembled from all quarters.

Horse. Foot. Guns. Abhai Singh, chief of Bhukarka 300 2000 Rao Ram Singh, of Pugal 100 400 Hathi Singh, of Raner 8 150 Karan Singh, of Satasar 9 150 Anup Singh Jasara 40 250 Khet Singh Jamansar 60 350 Beni Singh, of Janglu 9 250 Bhum Singh, of Bithnok 2 61 ——— ——— Feudal retainers 528 3611 Park under Maji Parihar — 21 Foreign Brigade ┌ Khas Paiga, or household troop 200 — in the ┤ Camp of Ganga Singh 200 1500 4 Raja’s service. └ Do. of Durjan Singh 60 600 4 ┌ Anoka Singh ┐ 300 — │ Lahori Singh ├ Sikh chieftains 250 — Auxiliary ┤ Budh Singh ┘ 250 — Levies. │ Sultan Khan ┐ Afghans 400 — └ Ahmad Khan ┘ ——— ——— ——— TOTAL 2188 5711 29 ——— ——— ——— [193].

=Attack on Bahāwalpur.=—The command-in-chief of this brilliant array was conferred on Jethra Mahto, son of the Diwan. On the 13th of Magh 1856 (spring of 1800) he broke ground, and the feudal levies fell in on the march by Kanasar, Rajasar, Keli, Raner, and Anupgarh, the last point of rendezvous. Thence he proceeded by Sheogarh,[6.1.39] Mozgarh, and Phulra, all of which were taken after a few weeks’ siege, and from the last they levied a lakh and a quarter of rupees, with other valuables, and nine guns. They advanced to Khairpur,[6.1.40] within three miles of the Indus, when being joined by other refractory chiefs, Jethra marched direct on the capital, Bahawalpur, within a short distance of which he encamped preparatory to the attack. The Khan, however, by this delay, was enabled to detach the most considerable of his nobles from the Rajput standard: on which the Bikaner Diwan, satisfied with the honour of having insulted Bahawalpur, retreated with the spoils he had acquired. He was received by the usurper with contempt, and degraded for not fighting.

=Bhatti Invasion of Bīkaner.=—The Bhattis, smarting with the recollection of their degradation, two years after the battle of Bigor attempted the invasion of Bikaner, but were again repulsed with loss; and these skirmishes continued until S. 1861 (A.D. 1805), when Raja Surat attacked the Khan of the Bhattis in his capital, Bhatner. It capitulated after a siege of six months, when Zabita Khan, with his garrison and effects, was permitted to retire to Rania, since which this place has remained an appanage of Bikaner.

=Attack on Jodhpur.=—The coalition against Jodhpur was ruinous to Surat, who supported the cause of the pretender, on which the usurper expended twenty-four lakhs of rupees, nearly five years’ revenue of this desert region. On this occasion, he led all his troops in person against Jodhpur, and united in the siege, which they were however compelled to abandon with dishonour, and retrograde to their several abodes. In consequence of this, the usurper fell sick, and was at the last extremity; nay, the ceremonies for the dead were actually commenced; but he recovered, to the grief and misery of his subjects. To supply an exhausted treasury, his extortions know no bounds; and having cherished the idea that he might compound his past sins by rites and gifts to the priests, he is surrounded by a group of avaricious Brahmans, who are maintained in luxury at the expense of his subjects. His cruelty keeps pace with his avarice and his fears. The chief of Bhukarka he put to death, notwithstanding his numerous services. Nahar Singh of Sidmukh, Gyan Singh and Guman Singh of Gandeli, amongst the chief [194] feudatories of the State, shared the same fate. Churu was invested a third time, and with its chief, fell into the tyrant’s hands.

With this system of terror, his increasing superstition, and diminished attention to public duties, the country is annually deteriorating in population and wealth; and as if they had not misery enough within, they have not had a single good season for years.[6.1.41] Owing to the disobedience of the northern chiefs, and the continual incursions of the Rahats, or ‘Bhatti robbers,’ who sweep the land of cattle, and often cut and carry off entire crops, the peasant Jat, the ancient lord of the soil, is often left to the alternative of starvation or emigration. Many have consequently sought shelter in the British frontier territories, in Hansi and Hariana, where they are kindly received. Since the English have occupied Sirsa and the lands belonging to the Bhatti Bahadur Khan, the misfortunes of the cultivators of the northern parts of Bikaner have been doubled by the inroads of a band left without resource. In some parts, the Jats combine to protect themselves against these inroads: every hamlet has its post of defence, a tower of earth, on which is perched a watchman and kettledrum, to beat the alarm, which is taken up from village to village, and when an enemy is discovered, all are in arms to defend their property. The unfortunate Jat is obliged to plough his fields under the load of shield and sang, or heavy iron lance; so that, at no distant period, the whole of this region must become as desolate as the tracts once possessed by the Johyas.[6.1.42]

Such, at the end of three hundred and twenty-three years, is the change which a Rajput usurper has effected in the once comparatively populous communities of the Jats. From the founder, Bika, to the present tyrannical governor, there have been only eleven descents though thirteen reigns, giving an average of thirty years for the one, and twenty-five for the other: a fact which speaks forcibly for the general morality of the descendants of Bika.

=Bīdāvati.=—Before we enter on the physical aspect of the country, we must make mention of Bidavati, the lands of ‘the sons of Bida,’ now an integral portion of Bikaner.[6.1.43] It will be borne in mind that Bida, the brother of Bika, led the first Rajput colony from Mandor, in search of a fresh establishment. His first attempt was in the province of Godwar, then belonging to the Rana: but his reception there was so warm, that [195] he moved northward, and was glad to take service with the chief of the Mohils. This ancient tribe is by some termed a branch of the Yadus, but is by others considered a separate race, and one of the ‘Thirty-six Royal Races’: all are agreed as to its antiquity. The residence of the Mohil chief was Chhapar,[6.1.44] where, with the title of Thakur, he ruled over one hundred and forty townships. Bida deemed circumvention better than open force to effect his purposes; and as, according to the Rajput maxim, in all attempts ‘to obtain land,’ success hallows the means, he put in train a scheme which, as it affords the least cause for suspicion, has often been used for this object. Bida became the medium of a matrimonial arrangement between the Mohil chief and the prince of Marwar; and as the relation and natural guardian of the bride, he conveyed the nuptial train unsuspected into the castle of the Mohils, whose chiefs were assembled to honour the festivities. But instead of the Rathor fair and her band of maidens, the valorous sons of Jodha rushed sword in hand from the litters and covered vehicles, and treacherously cut off the best men of Mohila. They kept possession of the inner fortress until tidings of their success brought reinforcements from Jodhpur. For this aid, Bida assigned to his father Ladnun and its twelve villages, now incorporated with Jodhpur. The son of Bida, Tej Singh, laid the foundation of a new capital, which he called after his father, Bidesar.[6.1.45] The community of the Bidawats is the most powerful in Bikaner, whose prince is obliged to be satisfied with almost nominal marks of supremacy, and to restrict his demands, which are elsewhere unlimited. The little region of the Mohilas, around the ancient capital Chhapar, is an extensive flat, flooded in the periodical rains from the surrounding tibas or ‘sandhills,’ the soil of which is excellent, even wheat being abundantly produced. This Oasis, as it is entitled to be termed, may be twenty-five miles (twelve cos) in extreme length, by about six in breadth. We cannot affirm that the entire Bidawat district of one hundred and forty villages, and to which is assigned a population of forty thousand to fifty thousand souls, one-third being Rathors, ‘the sons of Bida,’ is within this flat. It is subdivided into twelve fiefs, of which five are pre-eminent. Of the ancient possessors, the indigenous Mohils, there are not more than twenty families throughout the land of Mohila; the rest are chiefly Jat agriculturists and the mercantile castes.

We do the sons of Bida no injustice when we style them a community of plunderers. Like the sons of Esau, “their hand is against every man”: and they are too powerful to fear retaliation. In former times they used to unite with the Larkhanis [196], another horde of robbers, and carry their raids into the most populous parts of Jaipur. In these habits, however, they only partake of the character common to all who inhabit desert regions. What nature has denied them, they wrest from those to whom she has been more bountiful. But it is to the absence of good government more than to natural sterility that we must attribute the moral obliquity of the Rajaputras, ‘the offspring of regality,’ spread over these extensive regions, who little discriminate between meum and tuum, in all that refers to their neighbours.

-----

Footnote 5.16.1:

[At present greatest length about 320 miles, greatest breadth 170 miles.]

Footnote 5.16.2:

[In 1911 the population was 2,057,553.]

Footnote 5.16.3:

[In 1911 respectively 125 and 279 per mille.]

Footnote 5.16.4:

The district of Sanchor is almost entirely Brahman, forming a distinct tribe, called the Sanchora Brahmans.

Footnote 5.16.5:

[At present the horses of Mallāni are most esteemed. By the “Jungle,” the Lākhi Jangal is meant.]

Footnote 5.16.6:

[Gawār, the horse bean, Dolichus biflorus.]

Footnote 5.16.7:

[In Nāgor district, N.W. of Jodhpur city.]

Footnote 5.16.8:

[This variety is grown without irrigation (Erskine iii. A. 103).]

Footnote 5.16.9:

[The varieties of soil now recognized are: matiyāli, clayey loam; bhūri, brown-coloured, and with less clay than matiyāli; retla, fine sand without clay; magra or tharra, on the slopes of hills, hard and containing pebbles (ibid. iii. A. 99).]

Footnote 5.16.10:

[Makrāna is 12 miles W. of Sāmbhar Lake. For its marbles see Sleeman, Rambles, 318; Hervey, Some Records of Crime, i. 100. The best marbles in Rājputāna are found at Makrāna, Tonkra in Kishangarh, Kharwar in Ajmer, and Raiālu in Jaipur; see Watt, Comm. Prod. 715.]

Footnote 5.16.11:

There is nothing which so much employs the assessors of justice, in those tribunals of arbitration, the Panchayats, as the adjudication of questions of property. The highest compliment ever paid to the Author was by the litigants of property amounting to half a million sterling, which had been going the rounds of various Panchayats and appeals to native princes, alike unsatisfactory in their results. They agreed to admit as final the decision of a court of his nomination. It was not without hesitation I accepted the mediation propounded through the British superintendent of Ajmer (Mr. Wilder); but knowing two men, whose integrity as well as powers of investigation were above all encomium, I could not refuse. One of these had given a striking instance of independence in support of the award his penetration had led him to pronounce, and which award being set aside on appeal, through favouritism, he abjured every future call as an arbitrator. He was not a wealthy man, but such was the homage paid to his integrity and talents, that the greatest despot in India found it politic to reassemble the court, have the case reconsidered, and permit justice to take its course. In like manner, his demand was, that, before he agreed to devote his time to unravelling all the intricacies of the case, both litigants should sign a muchalka, or ‘bond,’ to abide by the award. I have no recollection how it terminated.

Footnote 5.16.12:

[Cumin, Cuminum cyminum (Watt, Comm. Prod. 442).]

Footnote 5.16.13:

[Suigām in Pālanpur State, near the Ran of Cutch (BG, v. 348).]

Footnote 5.16.14:

[See p. 815.]

Footnote 5.16.15:

The Author learns that important modifications of this system have been made by the legislative authorities at home: of their extent he is ignorant, except that remuneration to chiefs for the loss of transit duties has not been omitted. This is as it should be! [The opium question is still in a state of transition. Exports to China were closed in 1913, and, owing to the loss of revenue, compensation has been awarded to the Native States by the Government of India. For the trade up to 1911 see IGI, iv. 242 ff.; Watt, Comm. Prod. (1908), 845 ff.]

Footnote 5.16.16:

[For these fairs see Erskine iii. A. 206, 208.]

Footnote 5.16.17:

[The State jails have been reorganized, and humane treatment of prisoners is enforced (Erskine iii. A. 163 ff.).]

Footnote 5.16.18:

The Rajputs and Hindus in general hold precisely the same idea, of the cause of eclipses, as the Getae of Scandinavia. [This is a form of sympathetic magic: as prisoners are released, so will the sun and moon be freed from the demon.]

Footnote 5.16.19:

Chandrama. The moon is represented by silver, which is called after her (or him) chandi.

Footnote 5.16.20:

[According to the more common story, she walked through a pile of burning wood.]

Footnote 5.16.21:

[Since the reorganization of the Courts of Justice and the introduction of criminal codes, trial by ordeal has been prohibited (Erskine iii. A. 132 ff.). In 1854 Sir H. Lawrence made a treaty with Mewār which provided that “no person be seized on the plea of sorcery, witchcraft, or incantations” (Lee Warner, Native States of India, ed. 1910, p. 305).]

Footnote 5.16.22:

[The most solemn oath among the Scythians was by the royal hearth (Herodotus iv. 68).]

Footnote 5.16.23:

[The normal revenue of the State at the present time is about 56, and the expenditure 42 lakhs of rupees (Erskine iii. A. 140 ff.).]

Footnote 5.16.24:

[The State now maintains two regiments of Imperial Service Lancers, 1210 men, the whole force, including local troops, being about 2700 (ibid. iii. A. 158 ff.).]

Footnote 5.16.25:

The maund is about seventy-five lbs. weight.

Footnote 5.16.26:

Kan, ‘corn.’

Footnote 5.16.27:

The average selling price at Jodhpur is two rupees the maund; four at Sambhar and Didwana, and five at Pachbhadra, Phalodi, and Nawa. Why the price at the capital is 50 per cent lower than elsewhere, I know not, even if this statement is correct. [On the Rājputāna salt trade see Watt, Comm. Prod. 968 f. The present State income is now about 15 lakhs of rupees per annum (Erskine iii. A. 150 f.).]

Footnote 5.16.28:

[Saccharum sara.]

Footnote 5.16.29:

[On the production of barilla (sajji khar) see Watt, op. cit. 112 ff.]

We may recapitulate what the old archives state of the aggregate fiscal revenues in past times, amounting to nearly thirty lakhs of rupees. It would be hazardous to say to what extent the amount was overrated:

1. Khalisa, or fiscal land, from 1484 towns Rs. and villages 1,500,000

2. Sair or imposts 430,000

3. Salt lakes 715,000

4. Hasil, or miscellaneous taxes; 300,000 fluctuating and uncertain; not less than

—-—-——

Total 2,945,000

Feudal and ministerial estates 5,000,000

—-—-——

GRAND TOTAL 7,945,000

Thus the united fiscal and feudal revenues of Marwar are said to have amounted almost to eighty lakhs of rupees (£800,000). If they ever did reach this sum [175], which may be doubted, we do not err in affirming that they would not be overrated at half that amount. Large fortunes are said to centre in the families of the ex-ministers, especially the Singhi family, reported to be immensely rich. Their wealth is deposited in foreign capitals. But much bullion is lost to the currency of these countries by the

Footnote 5.16.30:

[At the present time the estates and septs of the Rāthor clan to which the twelve nobles belong are: Pokaran, Awa—Champāwat; Rian, Alniawās—Mertia; Rāēpur, Rās, Nīmāj, Agewa—Udāwat; Kharwa, Bhadrājan—Jodha. At a Darbār the Champāwats and Kūmpāwats sit to the right and the Jodhas, Mertias, and Udāwats to the left of the Mahārāja (Erskine iii. B. 40).]

Footnote 6.1.1:

[According to Erskine (iii. B. 85) Bika was born in 1439; left Jodhpur, 1465; founded Bikaner city, 1488.]

Footnote 6.1.2:

[The Sānkhlas are said to be a Panwār clan, but this is not certain (Census Report, Rājputāna, 1911, i. 256). Jānglu is about 20 miles S. of Bīkaner city.]

Footnote 6.1.3:

[About 120 miles N. of Bīkaner city: the ruler at present is one of the leading nobles of the State.]

Footnote 6.1.4:

Vol. I. p. 127, History of the Rajput Tribes—Article, Jats or Getae.

Footnote 6.1.5:

Ranjit has long been in possession of Peshawar, and entertained views on Kabul, the disorganized condition of which kingdom affords him a favourable opportunity of realizing them.

Footnote 6.1.6:

See Inscription, p. 914.

Footnote 6.1.7:

[The land beyond the Oxus.]

Footnote 6.1.8:

“On Friday the 14th (Dec. 29, A.D. 1525), of the first Rabi, we arrived at Sialkot. Every time that I have entered Hindustan, the Jats and Gujars have regularly poured down in prodigious numbers from their hills and wilds, in order to carry off oxen and buffaloes” [Elliot-Dowson iv. 24]. The learned commentator draws a distinction between the Jat inhabitants of the Panjab and of India, which is not maintainable.

Footnote 6.1.9:

“It is worthy of remark,” says Colonel Pitman (who accompanied Mr. Elphinstone to Kabul), “that in the two first Doabehs (return of the embassy) we saw very few Sikhs, the Jat cultivators of the soil being in general Moosulmauns, and in complete subjugation to the Sikhs.”

Footnote 6.1.10:

[Shaikh Farīd, known as Shakkarganj, ‘sugar-store,’ on account of his supposed miraculous power of transmuting dust or salt into sugar, was disciple of the famous Saint, Kutbu-d-dīn Bakhtyār Kāki. His life is supposed to have extended from A.D. 1173 to 1265. His tomb at Ajūdhan in the Montgomery District is a scene of pilgrimage.]

Footnote 6.1.11:

[He perhaps refers to the Asioi of Strabo (xi. 8. 2), who cannot be identified (Smith, EHI, 226). They have no connexion, except resemblance of name, with the Asaich.]

Footnote 6.1.12:

The Jats of the Agra province consider themselves illegitimate descendants of the Yadus of Bayana, and have a tradition that their watan [home] is Kandahar.

Footnote 6.1.13:

[Mahārāja Sūrat Singh reigned A.D. 1788-1828.]

Footnote 6.1.14:

This town is named after the Islamite saint, Shaikh Farid of Pakpattan, who has a dargah here. He was greatly esteemed by the Jats, before the Bona Dea assumed the shape of a Jatni, to whom, under the title of Kirani Mata, ‘a ray of the mother,’ all bend the head. [Her shrine is at Deshnok, about 25 miles S. of Bīkaner city, and is a sanctuary (Hervey, Some Records of Crime, i. 139).]

Footnote 6.1.15:

[This is a folk etymology. The name is derived from Hindi ner, Skt. nagara, ‘city’—the ‘city of Bīka.’]

Footnote 6.1.16:

Vide pp. 661, 695 for an account of these festivals.

Footnote 6.1.17:

[Elliot-Dowson iv. 232; the connexion of the mountains of Jūd, to which the Author constantly refers, with the Yādavas is incorrect.]

Footnote 6.1.18:

I presented a work on this race, entitled The Book of the Johyas (sent me by the prime minister of Jaisalmer) to the Royal Asiatic Society. Having obtained it just before leaving Rajputana, I never had leisure to examine it, or to pronounce on its value as an historical document; but any work having reference to so singular a community can scarcely fail to furnish matter of interest. [The Joiya or Johya tribe represent the ancient Yaudheya or ‘warlike’ peoples. It is incorrect to say that the name is extinct, because they are found on the banks of the Sutlej down to its confluence with the Indus; in Bīkaner in the old bed of the Ghaggar River below Bhatner, their ancient seat; in Lahore, Fīrozpur, the Derajāt, Multān, and the Salt Range (Cunningham, Ancient Geography, i. 65; Rose, Glossary, ii. 410 ff.).]

Footnote 6.1.19:

[One hundred and ten miles N.N.E. of Bīkaner city.]

Footnote 6.1.20:

To the few who will peruse these annals of the desert tribes it will be interesting to observe the development of families, and the maintenance, by such distinctive patronymics, of their origin. In the annals of this remote State I shall not enter at any length into the history of their wars, which are, with a change of names and scene, all pretty much alike; but confine myself, after a succinct and connected genealogical relation, to the manners of the people, the aspect, productions, and government of the country. [Abu-l Fazl (Akbarnāma, i. 375) calls him Rāē Lonkaran. According to Erskine (iii. A. 316) the second chief of Bīkaner was Naro or Naruji, son of Bīka, who succeeded A.D. 1504, and died childless after a reign of four months.]

Footnote 6.1.21:

[For Rāē Singh see Rogers-Beveridge, Memoirs of Jahāngīr, 130 f. According to the Akbarnāma (ii. 518) Akbar’s wife was the daughter of Kahān, brother of Kalyānmall, Rāē of Jaisalmer. The Tuzuk (Āīn, i. 477) says that her father was Rāwal Bhīm, elder brother of Kalyān. Ferishta (ii. 234) says that Kalyānmall was her father, and this statement is accepted by Erskine (iii. A. 316) see Elliot-Dowson v. 336.]

Footnote 6.1.22:

[Now known as Hanumāngarh, 144 miles N.E. of Bīkaner city (IGI, xiii. 38).]

Footnote 6.1.23:

In the Annals of Jaisalmer the number of offsets from the Yadu-Bhatti tribe, which assumed the name of Jat, will be seen; an additional ground for asserting that the Scythic Yadu is in fact the Yuti.

Footnote 6.1.24:

My informant of this tradition was an old inhabitant of Dandusar, and although seventy years of age, had never left the little district of his nativity until he was brought to me, as one of the most intelligent living records of the past. [General Hervey (Some Records of Crime, i. 209) says that a trace of Greek art may be found in the Grecian ram’s head on the hilt of weapons in Bīkaner. For traditions of descent from Alexander based on the Graeco-Bactrian kingdom see Sykes, Hist. of Persia, i. 256.]

Footnote 6.1.25:

The natives of these regions cannot pronounce the sibilant; so that, as I have already stated, the s is converted into h. I gave as an example the name Jahilmer, which becomes ‘the hill of fools’ instead of ‘the hill of Jaisal.’ Sankra, in like manner, becomes Hankra. [Uchh in the Bahāwalpur State (IGI, xxiv. 82). For the Hakra depression see Malik Muhammad Din (Bahāwalpur State Gazetteer, i. 3 ff.). The Ghaggar, once an affluent of the Indus, is lost in the sands near Hanumāngarh or Bhatner (IGI, xii. 212 f.).]

Footnote 6.1.26:

[His services are described in Āīn, i. 357 ff. Ferishta (ii. 243) says that Rāē Singh killed Muhammad Husain after he was captured. According to another account, Akbar spoke kindly to his captive, and gave him into Rāē Singh’s custody (Elliot-Dowson v. 367).]

Footnote 6.1.27:

[According to Erskine (iii. A. 319, iii. B. 83) Dalpat Singh and Sūr Singh were Rāos between Rāē Singh and Karan Singh. For these Chiefs see Āīn, i. 359. Karan Singh, according to Musalmān authorities, died in 1666-7 (Manucci ii. 22). In 1660 Aurangzeb sent a force under Amīr Khān to bring him to reason for his insolence in refusing to attend the Emperor’s Court (Jadunath Sarkar, Life of Aurangzib, iii. 29 f.).]

Footnote 6.1.28:

[J. Scott, Ferishta’s History of the Dekkan, ii. 30.] The young desert chieftain, like all his tribe, would find matter for quarrel in the wind blowing in his face. Having received what he deemed an insult from the brother-in-law of the Shahzada, in a dispute regarding a fawn, he appealed to his sword, and a duel ensued even in the presence-chamber, in which young Mohan fell. The fracas was reported to his brother Padma, at no distance from the scene. With the few retainers at hand, he rushed to the spot, and found his brother bathed in his blood. His antagonist, still hanging over his victim, when he saw the infuriated Rathor enter, with sword and shield, prepared for dreadful vengeance, retreated behind one of the columns of the Āmm Khass (Divan). But Padma’s sword reached him, and avenged his brother’s death; as the record says, “he felled him to the earth, cleaving at the same place the pillar in twain.” Taking up the dead body of his brother, and surrounded by his vassals, he repaired to his quarters, where he assembled all the Rajput princes serving with their contingents, as Jaipur, Jodhpur, Haraoti, and harangued them on the insult to their race in the murder of his brother. They all agreed to abandon the king’s army, and retire to their own homes. A noble was sent to expostulate by Prince Muazzam; but in vain. He urged that the prince not only forgave, but approved the summary vengeance taken by the Rathor; they refused to listen, and in a body had retired more than twenty miles, when the prince in person joined them, and concessions and expostulations overcoming them, they returned to the camp. It was subsequent to this that the two elder brothers were slain. It is recorded of the surviving brother, that he slew an enormous lion in single combat. For this exploit, which thoroughly entitled him to the name he bore (Kesari), ‘the Lion,’ he received an estate of twenty-five villages from the king. He also obtained great renown for slaying a Habshi or Abyssinian chief, who commanded for one of the southern princes.

Footnote 6.1.29:

[Adoni in the Bellary District, Madras (IGI, v. 24 ff.).]

Footnote 6.1.30:

[He died at Adoni in 1698 (Erskine iii. A. 322).]

Footnote 6.1.31:

[According to Erskine (iii. B. 86) he died of smallpox in the Deccan.]

Footnote 6.1.32:

‘The children of David,’ the designation of the tract and inhabitants subject to the State of Bahawalpur, from its founder, Daud Khan, a native of Seistan. [For the Dāūdputra clan see Rose, Glossary, ii. 224 f. Their history is fully given by Malik Muhammad Din, Bahāwalpur State Gazetteer, i. 47 ff.]

Footnote 6.1.33:

She was the sister of the Jhalai chief, heir presumptive to the gaddi of Jaipur, on failure of lineal issue.

Footnote 6.1.34:

[In the Patiāla State, Panjāb.]

Footnote 6.1.35:

[Nohar and Bhukārka are about 120 miles N.E. of Bīkaner city.]

Footnote 6.1.36:

The story of Nala and Damayanti (or Nal Daman, as it is familiarly called in these regions) is well known in oriental literature. From Nal the famed castle of Narwar is named, of which this suitor for the hand of the Bīkaner princess was deprived by Sindhia. [The famous tale of Nala and Damayanti from the Mahābhārata is perhaps best known from Dean Milman’s version. Narwar is now in Gwalior State.]

Footnote 6.1.37:

[Churu, about 100 miles N.E.E. of Bīkaner city.]

Footnote 6.1.38:

[Possibly Mojarh, about 40 miles S.E. of Bahāwalpur city.]

Footnote 6.1.39:

Its former name was Balar, one of the most ancient cities of the desert, as is Phulra, a Johya possession.

Footnote 6.1.40:

[Not the Khairpur in Sind; 38 miles N.E. of Bahāwalpur city.]

Footnote 6.1.41:

This account was drawn up in 1814.

Footnote 6.1.42:

While putting this to the press, rumour says that the chiefs of Bikaner are in open rebellion against the Raja, who has applied, but without success, to the British Government for support. This, if true, is as it should be. [This rebellion occurred in 1815, and the Mahārāja invoked British aid. A treaty was signed on March 9, 1818, by which Sūrat Singh and his successors became subordinate to the British Government. A force under Brigadier-General Arnold restored order (Erskine iii. A. 326).]

Footnote 6.1.43:

[Bīdāvati, now Sūjangarh, bounded on S. by Jodhpur, and E. by Shaikhāwati (ibid. iii. A. 390 f.).]

Footnote 6.1.44:

[On S. frontier of the State.]

Footnote 6.1.45:

[Bidesar or Bidāsar is 64 miles S.S.W. of Bīkaner city.]

-----

Chapter 2

=Geography of Bīkaner.=—This region is but little known to Europeans, by whom it has hitherto been supposed to be a perfect desert, unworthy of examination. Its present condition bears little comparison with what tradition reports it to have been in ancient times; and its deterioration, within three centuries since the Rajputs supplanted the Jats, almost warrants our belief of the assertion, that these deserts were once fertile and populous; nay, that they are still capable (notwithstanding the reported continual increase of the sand) to maintain an abundant population, there is little room to doubt. The princes of Bikaner used to take the field at the head of ten thousand of their kindred retainers; and although they held extraordinary grants from the empire for the maintenance of these contingents, their ability to do so from their proper resources was undoubted. To other causes than positive sterility must be attributed the wretched condition of this State. Exposed to the continual attacks of organized bands of robbers from without, subjected internally to the never-ending demands of a rapacious government, for which they have not a shadow of advantage in return, it would be strange if aught but progressive decay and wretchedness were the consequence. In three centuries [197], more than one-half of the villages, which either voluntarily or by force submitted to the rule of the founder, Bika, are now without memorial of their existence, and the rest are gradually approximating to the same condition. Commercial caravans, which passed through this State and enriched its treasury with the transit duties, have almost ceased to frequent it from the increasing insecurity of its territory. Besides the personal loss to the prince the country suffers from the deterioration of the commercial towns of Churu, Rajgarh, and Rani, which, as entrepôts, supplied the country with the productions of Sind and the provinces to the westward, or those of Gangetic India. Nor is this confined to Bikaner; the same cause affects Jaisalmer, and the more eastern principalities, whose misgovernment, equally with Bikaner, fosters the spirit of rapine: the Maldots of Jaisalmer and the Larkhanis of Jaipur are as notorious as the Bidawats of Bikaner; and to these may be added the Sahariyas, Khosas, and Rajars, in the more western desert, who, in their habits and principles, are as demoralized as the Bedouins of Arabia.

=Extent, Population, Soil, Tibas or Sandhills.=—The line of greatest breadth of this State extends from Pugal to Rajgarh, and measures about one hundred and eighty miles; while the length from north to south, between Bhatner and Mahajan, is about one hundred and sixty miles: the area may not exceed twenty-two thousand miles.[6.2.1] Formerly they reckoned two thousand seven hundred towns, villages, and hamlets scattered over this space, one-half of which are no longer in existence.

=Population.=—An estimate of the population of this arid region, without presenting some data, would be very unsatisfactory. The tract to the north-west of Jethpur is now perfectly desolate, and nearly so from that point to Bhatner: to the north-east the population is but scanty, which observation also applies to the parts from the meridian of Bikaner to the Jaisalmer frontier; while internally, from these points, it is more uniform, and equals the northern parts of Marwar. From a census of the twelve principal towns, with an estimate, furnished by well-informed inhabitants, of the remainder, we may obtain a tolerably accurate approximation on this point:

Chief Towns. Number of Houses. Bikaner 12,000 Nohar 2,500 Bahaduran 2,500 Reni 1,500 Rajgarh 3,000 Churu 3,000 [198] Mahajan 800 Jethpur 1,000 Bidesar 500 Ratangarh 1,000 Desmukh 1,000 Senthal 50 —-—- 28,850 —-—- 100 villages, each having 200 houses 20,000 100 ” ” 150 ” 15,000 200 ” ” 100 ” 20,000 800 hamlets ” 30 each 24,000 —-—— Total number of houses 107,850 —-——

Allowing five souls to each house, we have a total of 539,250 souls, giving an average of twenty-five to the square mile, which I cannot think exaggerated, and making the desert regions depending on Bikaner equal, in the density of population, the highlands of Scotland.[6.2.2]

Of this population, full three-fourths are the aboriginal Jats; the rest are their conquerors, descendants of Bika, including the Saraswat Brahmans,[6.2.3] Charans, Bards, and a few of the debased classes, whose numbers, conjointly, are not one-tenth of the Rajputs.

=Jats.=—The Jats are the most wealthy as well as the most numerous portion of the community. Many of the old Bhumia landlords, representatives of their ancient communal heads, are men of substance; but their riches are of no use to them, and to avoid the rapacity of their government, they cover themselves with the cloak of poverty, which is thrown aside only on nuptial festivities. On these occasions they disinter their hoards, which are lavished with unbounded extravagance. They even block up the highways to collect visitors, whose numbers form the measure of the liberality and munificence of the donor of the fête.

=Sarsūt=, =Saraswat Brāhman=.—Sarsut (properly Sarasvati) Brahmans are found in considerable numbers throughout this tract. They aver that they were masters of the country prior to the Jat colonists. They are a peaceable, industrious race, and without a single prejudice of ‘the order’; they eat meat, smoke tobacco, cultivate the soil, and trade even in the sacred kine, notwithstanding their descent from Sringi Rishi, son of Brahma.

=Charans.=—The Charans are the sacred order of these regions; the warlike tribes esteem [199] the heroic lays of the bard more than the homily of the Brahman. The Charans are throughout reverenced by the Rathors, and hold lands, literally, on the tenure of ‘an old song.’ More will be said of them in the Annals of Jaisalmer.

=Mālis=, =Nāis=.—Malis, Nais, gardeners and barbers, are important members of every Rajput family, and to be found in all the villages, of which they are invariably the cooks.

=Chuhras=, =Thoris=.—Chuhras, Thoris, are actually castes of robbers:[6.2.4] the former, from the Lakhi Jungle; the latter, from Mewar. Most of the chieftains have a few in their pay, entertained for the most desperate services. The Bahaduran chief has expelled all his Rajputs, and retains only Chuhras and Thoris. The Chuhras are highly esteemed for fidelity, and the barriers and portals throughout this tract are in their custody. They enjoy a very singular perquisite, which would go far to prove their being the aborigines of the country; namely, a fee of four copper coins on every dead subject, when the funeral ceremonies are over.

=Rājputs.=—The Rathors of Bikaner are unchanged in their martial qualifications, bearing as high a reputation as any other class in India; and whilst their brethren of Marwar, Amber, and Mewar have been for years groaning under the rapacious visitations of Mahrattas and Pathans, their distance and the difficulties of the country have saved them from such afflictions; though, in truth, they have had enough to endure at home, in the tyranny of their own lord. The Rathors of the desert have fewer prejudices than their more eastern brethren; they will eat food, without enquiring by whom it was dressed, and will drink either wine or water, without asking to whom the cup belonged. They would make the best soldiers in the world if they would submit to discipline, as they are brave, hardy, easily satisfied, and very patient; though, on the other hand, they have imbibed some qualities, since their migration to these regions, which could only be eradicated in the rising generation: especially the inordinate use of opium, and smoking intoxicating herbs, in both which accomplishments ‘the sons of Bika’ are said to bear the palm from the rest of the Chhattis rajkula, the Thirty-six Royal Tribes of India. The piyala, or ‘cup,’ is a favourite with every Rajput who can afford it, and is, as well as opium, a panacea for ennui, arising from the absence of all mental stimulants, in which they are more deficient, from the nature of the country, than most of their warlike countrymen.

=Face of the Country.=—The whole of this principality, with the exception of a few isolated spots, or oases, scattered here and there, consists more or less of sand. From the eastern to the western boundary, in the line of greatest breadth, it is one continuous [200] plain of sand, though the tibas, or sandhills, commence in the centre of the country, the principal chain running in the direction of Jaisalmer, and shooting forth subordinate branches in every direction; or it might be more correct to designate this main ridge, originating in the tracts bordering the eastern valley of the Indus, as terminating its elevations about the heart of Bikaner. On the north-east quarter, from Rajgarh to Nohar and Rawatsar, the soil is good, being black earth, slightly mixed with sand, and having water near enough to the surface for irrigation; it produces wheat, gram, and even rice, in considerable quantities. The same soil exists from Bhatner to the banks of the Gara. The whole of the Mohila tract is a fertile oasis, the tibas just terminating their extreme offsets on its northern limit: being flooded in the periodical rains, wheat is abundantly produced.

=Products of the Desert.=—But exclusive of such spots, which are “few and far between,” we cannot describe the desert as a waste where “no salutary plant takes root, no verdure quickens”; for though the poverty of the soil refuses to aid the germination of the more luxuriant grains, Providence has provided a countervailing good, in giving to those it can rear a richness and superiority unknown to more favoured regions. The bajra of the desert is far superior to any grown in the rich loam of Malwa, and its inhabitant retains an instinctive partiality, even when admitted to revel in the luxurious repasts of Mewar or Amber, for the vatis or batis or ‘bajra cakes,’ of his native sandhills, and not more from association than from their intrinsic excellence. In a plentiful season they save enough for two years’ consumption. The grain requires not much water, though it is of the last importance that this little should be timely.

Besides bajra we may mention moth and til;[6.2.5] the former a useful pulse both for men and cattle; the other the oil-plant, used both for culinary purposes and burning. Wheat, gram, and barley are produced in the favoured spots described, but in these are enumerated the staple products of Bikaner.

Cotton is grown in the tracts favourable for wheat.[6.2.6] The plant is said to be septennial, even decennial, in these regions. As soon as the cotton is gathered, the shoots are all cut off, and the root alone left. Each succeeding year, the plant increases in strength, and at length attains a size unknown where it is more abundantly cultivated.

Nature has bountifully supplied many spontaneous vegetable products for the use of man, and excellent pasture for cattle. Guar, Kachri, Kakri, all of the cucurbitaceous family, and water-melons of a gigantic size, are produced in great plenty.[6.2.7] The latter is most valuable; for being cut in slices and dried in the sun, it is stored up [201] for future use when vegetables are scarce, or in times of famine, on which they always calculate. It is also an article of commerce, and much admired even where vegetables are more abundant. The copious mucilage of the dried melon is extremely nourishing; and deeming it valuable as an anti-scorbutic in sea voyages, the Author sent some of it to Calcutta many years ago for experiment.[6.2.8] Our Indian ships would find no difficulty in obtaining a plentiful supply of this article, as it can be cultivated to any extent, and thus be made to confer a double benefit on our seamen and the inhabitants of those desert regions. The superior magnitude of the water-melons of the desert over those of interior India gives rise to much exaggeration, and it has been gravely asserted by travellers in the sand tibas,[6.2.9] where they are most abundant, that the mucilage of one is sufficient to allay the thirst both of a horse and his rider.

In these arid regions, where they depend entirely on the heavens for water, and where they calculate on a famine every seventh year, nothing that can administer to the wants of man is lost. The seeds of the wild grasses, as the bharut, baru, harara, sawan, are collected, and, mixed with bajra-flour, enter much into the food of the poorer classes. They also store up great quantities of the wild ber, khair, and karel berries; and the long pods of the khejra, astringent and bitter as they are, are dried and formed into a flour. Nothing is lost in these regions which can be converted into food.

=Trees.=—Trees they have none indigenous (mangoes and tamarind are planted about the capital), but abundant shrubs, as the babul, and ever-green pilu, the jhal, and others yielding berries. The Bidawats, indeed, apply the term ‘tree’ to the rohira, which sometimes attains the height of twenty feet, and is transported to all parts for house-building; as likewise is the nima, so well known throughout India. The phog is the most useful of all these, as with its twigs they frame a wicker-work to line their wells, and prevent the sand from falling in.

The ak, a species of euphorbia, known in Hindustan as the madar, grows to an immense height and strength in the desert; from its fibres they make the ropes in general use throughout these regions, and they are reckoned superior, both in substance and durability, to those formed of munj (hemp), which is however cultivated in the lands of the Bidawats.

Their agricultural implements are simple and suited to the soil. The plough is one [202] of single yoke, either for the camel or ox: that with double yoke being seldom required, or chiefly by the Malis (gardeners), when the soil is of some consistence. The drill is invariably used, and the grains are dropped singly into the ground, at some distance from each other, and each sends forth a dozen to twenty stalks. A bundle of bushes forms their harrow. The grain is trodden out by oxen; and the moth (pulse), which is even more productive than the bajra, by camels.

=Water.=—This indispensable element is at an immense distance from the surface throughout the Indian desert, which, in this respect, as well as many others, differs very materially from that portion of the great African Desert in the same latitudes. Water at twenty feet, as found at Mourzook by Captain Lyon, is here unheard of, and the degree of cold experienced by him at Zuela, on the winter solstice, would have “burnt up” every natural and cultivated production of our Hindu Sahara. Captain Lyon describes the thermometer in lat. 26°, within 2° of zero of Reaumur. Majors Denham and Clapperton never mark it under 40° of Fahrenheit, and mention ice, which I never saw but once, the thermometer being 28°; and then not only the mouths of our mashaks, or ‘water-skins,’ were frozen, but a small pond, protected from the wind (I heard, for I saw it not), exhibited a very thin pellicle of ice. When at 30° the cold was deemed intense by the inhabitants of Maru in the tracts limiting the desert, and the useful ak, and other shrubs, were scorched and withered; and in north lat. 25°, the thermometer being 28°, desolation and woe spread throughout the land. To use their own phrase, the crops of gram and other pulses were completely “burnt up, as if scorched by the lightnings of heaven”; while the sun’s meridian heat would raise it 50° more, or up to 80°, a degree of variability at least not recorded by Captain Lyon.

At Deshnokh,[6.2.10] near the capital, the wells are more than two hundred cubits, or three hundred feet, in depth; and it is rare that water fit for man is found at a less distance from the surface than sixty, in the tracts decidedly termed thal, or ‘desert’: though some of the flats, or oases, such as that of Mohila, are exceptions, and abundance of brackish water, fit for cattle, is found throughout at half this depth, or about thirty feet. All the wells are lined with basket-work made of phog twigs, and the water is generally drawn up by hand-lines [203].[6.2.11]

=Sar, or ‘Salt Lakes.’=—There are a few salt lakes, which, throughout the whole of the Indian desert, are termed sar, though none are of the same consequence as those of Marwar. The largest is at the town of Sar,[6.2.12] so named after the lake, which is about six miles in circumference. There is another at Chhapar about two miles in length, and although each of them frequently contains a depth of four feet of water, this entirely evaporates in the hot winds, leaving a thick sheet of saline incrustation. The salt of both is deemed of inferior quality to that of the more southerly lakes.

=Physiography of the Country.=—There is little to vary the physiography of this region, and small occasion to boast either of its physical or moral beauties; yet, strange to say, I have met with many whose love of country was stronger than their perceptions of abstract veracity, who would dwell on its perfections, and prefer a mess of rabri, or porridge made of bajra, to the greater delicacies of more civilized regions. To such, the tibas, or ‘sand-ridges,’ might be more important than the Himalaya, and their diminutive and scanty brushwood might eclipse the gigantic foliage of this huge barrier. Verdure itself may be abhorrent to eyes accustomed to behold only arid sands; and a region without tufans or ‘whirlwinds’; or armies of locusts rustling like a tempest, and casting long shadows on the lands, might be deemed by the prejudiced, deficient in the true sublime. Occasionally the sandstone formation rises above the surface, resembling a few low isolated hills; and those who dwell on the boundaries of Nagor, if they have a love of more decided elevations than their native sandhills afford, may indulge in a distant view of the terminations of the Aravalli.

=Mineral Productions.=—The mineral productions of this country are scanty. They have excellent quarries of freestone in several parts, especially at Hasera, thirteen coss to the north-east of the capital, which yield a small revenue estimated at two thousand rupees annually. There are also copper mines at Biramsar and Bidesar; but the former does not repay the expense of working, and the latter, having been worked for thirty years, is nearly exhausted.

An unctuous clay is excavated from a pit, near Kolait, in large quantities, and exported as an article of commerce, besides adding fifteen hundred rupees annually to the treasury. It is used chiefly to free the skin and hair from impurities, and the Cutchi ladies are said to eat it to improve their complexions.[6.2.13]

=Animal Productions.=—The kine of the desert are highly esteemed; as are the camels, especially those used for expedition and the saddle, which bear a high price,[6.2.14] and are [204] considered superior to any in India. They are beautifully formed, and the head possesses much blood and symmetry. Sheep are reared in great abundance, and find no want of food in the excellent grasses and shrubs which abound. The phog, jawas,[6.2.15] and other prickly shrubs, which are here indigenous, form the dainties of the camel in other regions. The Nilgae, or elk, and deer of every kind, are plentiful; and the fox of the desert is a beautiful little animal. Jackals and hyaenas are not scarce, and even lions are by no means unknown in Bikaner.

=Commerce and Manufactures.=—Rajgarh[6.2.16] was the great commercial mart of this country, and the point of rendezvous for caravans from all parts. The produce of the Panjab and Kashmir came formerly direct by Hansi-Hisar—that of the eastern countries by Delhi, Rewari, Dadri, etc., consisting of silks, fine cloths, indigo, sugar, iron, tobacco, etc.; from Haraoti and Malwa came opium, which supplied all the Rajput States; from Sind, via Jaisalmer, and by caravans from Multan and Shikarpur, dates, wheat, rice, lungis (silk vestments for women), fruits, etc.; from Pali, the imports from maritime countries, as spices, tin, drugs, coco-nuts, elephants’ teeth, etc. Much of this was for internal consumption, but the greater part a mere transit trade, which yielded considerable revenue.

=Woollens.=—The wool of the sheep pastured in the desert is, however, the staple commodity both of manufacture and trade in this region. It is worked into every article of dress, both male and female, and worn by all, rich and poor. It is produced from the loom, of every texture and quality, from the coarse loi or ‘blanket,’ at three rupees per pair (six shillings), to thirty rupees. The quality of these last is very fine, of an intermediate texture between the shawl and camlet, and without any nap; it is always bordered with a stripe of chocolate brown or red. Of this quality are the dopattas or ‘scarfs’ for the ladies. Turbans are also manufactured of it, and though frequently from forty to sixty-one feet in length, such is the fineness of the web, that they are not bulky on the head.

From the milk of the sheep and goats as well as kine, ghi or ‘clarified butter’ is made, and forms an important article of trade.

=Manufactures in Iron.=—The Bikaneris work well in iron, and have shops at the capital and all the large towns for the manufacture of sword blades, matchlocks, daggers, iron lances, etc. The sword-handles, which are often inlaid with variegated steel, or burnished, are in high request, and exported to various parts of India. They have also expert artists in ivory, though the articles are chiefly such as are worn by females, as churis, or ‘bracelets’ [205].

Coarse cotton cloths, for internal consumption, are made in considerable quantities.

=Fairs.=—Annual fairs were held, in the months of Karttik and Phalgun, at the towns of Kolait and Gajner,[6.2.17] and frequented by the merchants of the adjacent countries. They were celebrated for cattle, chiefly the produce of the desert, camels, kine, and horses from Multan and the Lakhi Jungle,[6.2.18] a breed now almost extinct. These fairs have lost all their celebrity; in fact, commerce in these regions is extinct.

=Government Revenues.=—The personal revenues of the Raja were derived from a variety of sources: from the Khalisa, or ‘crown-lands’ imposts, taxes on agriculture, and that compendious item which makes up the deficiencies in all oriental budgets, dand, or ‘contribution.’ But with all these “appliances and means to boot,” the civil list of this desert king seldom exceeded five lakhs of rupees, or about £50,000 per annum.[6.2.19] The lands of the feudality are more extensive proportionally in this region than in any other in Rajputana, arising out of the original settlement, when the Bidawats and Kandhalots, whose joint acquisitions exceeded those of Bika, would not admit him to hold lands in their territory, and made but a slight pecuniary acknowledgment of his supremacy. The districts in which the crown-lands lie are Rajgarh, Reni, Nohar, Gharib, Ratangarh, Rania, and more recently Churu.

The following are the items of the revenue: (1) Khalisa, or fiscal revenue; (2) Dhuan; (3) Anga; (4) Town and transit duties; (5) Paseti, or ‘plough-tax’; (6) Malba.

=Khālisa Lands.=—1. The fisc. Formerly this branch of revenue yielded two lakhs of rupees; but with progressive superstition and prodigality, the raja has alienated almost two-thirds of the villages from which the revenue was drawn. These amounted to two hundred; now they do not exceed eighty, and their revenue is not more than one lakh of rupees. Surat Singh is guided only by caprice; his rewards are uniform, no matter what the service or the object, whether a Brahman or a camel-driver. The Khalisa is the only source which he considers he has merely a life-interest in. To supply the deficiencies, he has direct recourse to the pockets of his subjects.

=Hearth-Tax.=—2. Dhuan may be rendered hearth-tax, though literally it is a smoke (dhuan) tax. All must eat; food must be dressed; and as they have neither chimneys nor glass windows on which to lay the tax, Surat Singh’s chancellor of the exchequer makes the smoke pay a transit duty ere it gets vent from the various orifices of the edifice. It only amounts to one rupee on each house or family, but would form an important item if not evaded by the powerful chiefs; still it yields a lakh of rupees. The town [206] of Mahajan, which was settled on Ratan Singh, son of Raja Nunkaran, on the resignation of his right of primogeniture and succession, enjoys exemption from this tax. It is less liable to fluctuation than other taxes, for if a village becomes half-deserted, those who remain are saddled with the whole. Dhuan is only known to the two western States, Bikaner and Jaisalmer.

=Poll-Tax.=—3. Anga. This is not a capitation but a body tax (from anga, the body), and was established by Raja Anup Singh. It might almost be termed a property-tax, since it embraced quadrupeds as well as bipeds of every sex and age, and was graduated according to age and sex in the human species, and according to utility in the brute. Each male adult was assessed one anga, fixed at four annas (about sixpence), and cows, oxen, buffaloes, were placed upon a level with the lord of the creation. Ten goats or sheep were estimated as one anga; but a camel was equivalent to four angas, or one rupee, which Raja Gaj Singh doubled. This tax, which is by far the most certain in a country perhaps still more pastoral than agricultural, is most providently watched, and though it has undergone many changes since it was originally imposed, it yet yields annually two lakhs of rupees.

4. Sāīr, or ‘imposts.’ This branch is subject to much fluctuation, and has diminished greatly since the reign of Surat Singh. The duties levied in the capital alone formerly exceeded what is collected throughout the whole of his dominions; being once estimated at above two lakhs, and now under one. Of this amount, half is collected at Rajgarh, the chief commercial mart of Bikaner. The dread of the Rahats, who have cut off the communications with the Panjab, and the want of principle within, deter merchants from visiting this State, and the caravans from Multan, Bahawalpur, and Shikarpur, which passed through Bikaner to the eastern States, have nearly abandoned the route. The only duties of which he is certain are those on grain, of four rupees on every hundred maunds sold or exported, and which, according to the average sale price of these regions, may be about two per cent.

=Paseti.=—5. Paseti is a tax of five[6.2.20] rupees on every plough used in agriculture. It was introduced by Raja Rae Singh, in commutation of the corn-tax, or levy in kind, which had long been established at one-fourth of the gross produce. The Jats were glad to compound, and get rid of the agents of corruption, by the substitution of the plough-tax. It formerly yielded two lakhs of rupees, but with decreasing agriculture has fallen, like every other source, to a little more than one-half, but still yields a lakh and a quarter.

=Malba.=—6. Malba[6.2.21] is the name of the original tax which the Jat communities imposed [207] upon themselves, when they submitted to the sway in perpetuity of Bika and his successors. It is the land-tax[6.2.22] of two rupees on each hundred bighas of land cultivated in Bikaner. It is now unproductive, not realizing fifty thousand rupees, and it is said that a composition has been effected, by which it has been, or will be, relinquished: if so, Surat Singh gives up the sole legitimate source of revenue he possesses.

Recapitulation

1. Khalisa, or fisc[6.2.23] Rs. 100,000 2. Dhuan 100,000 3. Anga 200,000 4. Sair, imposts[6.2.24] 75,000 5. Paseti, plough-tax 125,000 6. Malba, land-tax 50,000 —-—— TOTAL 650,000 —-——

Besides this, the fullest amount arising to the prince from annual taxation, there are other items which occasionally replenish the treasure of Surat Singh.

=Datoi.=—Datoi is a triennial tax of five rupees levied on each plough.[6.2.25] It was instituted by Raja Zorawar Singh. The whole country is liable to it, with the exception of fifty villages in Asaichwati, and seventy of the Beniwals, conditionally exempted, to guard the borders. It is now frequently evaded by the feudal chieftains, and seldom yields a lakh of rupees.

In addition to these specific expedients, there are many arbitrary methods of increasing the “ways and means” to satisfy the necessities or avarice of the present ruler, and [208] a train of dependent harpies, who prey upon the cultivating peasantry, or industrious trader. By such shifts, Surat Singh has been known to double his fixed revenue.

=Dand, Khushhali.=—The terms Dand and Khushhali, though etymologically the antipodes of each other—the first meaning a ‘compulsory contribution,’ the other a ‘benevolence, or voluntary,’[6.2.26]—have a similar interpretation in these regions, and make the subjects of those parts devoutly pray that their prince’s house may be one rather of mourning than rejoicing, and that defeat rather than victory may be attendant on his arms.

The term dand is coeval with Hindu legislation. The bard Chand describes it, and the chronicler of the life of the great Siddhraj of Anhilwara, “who expelled the seven Daddas,” or ‘great evils,’ whose initial letter was d, enumerates dand as one of them, and places it with the Dholis and Dakins, or minstrels and witches, giving it precedence amongst the seven plagues which his ancestors and tyrant custom had inflicted on the subject. Unhappily, there is no Siddhraj to legislate for Rajputana; and were there fourteen Daddas by which Surat Singh could swell his budget, he would retain them all for the oppression of the impoverished Jats, who, if they could, would be happy to expel the letter S from amongst them. But it is from the chieftain, the merchant, and the banker that the chief sums are realized; though indirectly the poor peasant contributes his share. There are fourteen collectors of dand,[6.2.27] one to every chira or division, and these are furnished with arbitrary schedules according to the circumstances, actual or supposed, of each individual. So unlimited are these exactions, that the chief of Gandeli for two years offered the collector of his quarter ten thousand rupees if he would guarantee him against any further demand during even twelve months; and being refused, he turned the collector out, shut the gates of his castle, and boldly bid his master defiance.

One of his expedients to levy a khushhali, or ‘benevolence,’ is worth relating: it was on the termination of his expedition against Bhatner, which added this celebrated desert and castle to his territory, and in which he was attended by the entire feudal army of Bikaner. On his return, “flushed with conquest,” he demanded from each house throughout his dominions the sum of ten rupees to cover the expenses of the war. If the tyrant-ridden subjects of Surat Singh thus rejoice in his successes, how must they feel for his defeats! To them both are alike ominous, when every [209] artifice is welcomed, every villainy practised, to impoverish them. Oppression is at its height, and must work out its own cure.

=Feudal Levies.=—The disposable force of all these feudal principalities must depend on the personal character of the Raja. If Surat Singh were popular, and the national emergencies demanded the assemblage of the Kher, or levée en masse, of the “sons of Bika,” he might bring ten thousand Rajputs into the field, of whom twelve hundred might be good horse, besides the foreign troops and park; but under present circumstances, and the rapid deterioration of every branch of society, it may be doubted whether one-half could be collected under his standard.

The household troops consist of a battalion of foreign infantry, of five hundred men with five guns, and three squadrons of horse, about two hundred and fifty in number; all under foreign leaders. This is independent of the garrison of the capital, whose commandant is a Rajput of the Parihar tribe, who has twenty-five villages assigned for the payment of his troops.[6.2.28]

Schedule exhibiting the Fiefs of Bikaner.

─────────────────┬───────────┬───────────┬────────┬────────────────┬───── │ │ │ │ Retainers: │ Names of │ Clans. │Places of │Revenue.│ │ │Remarks. Chieftains. │ │ Abode. │ │ Foot. │Horse. │ ─────────────────┼───────────┼───────────┼────────┼────────┼───────┼───── Behri Sal │Bika │Mahajan │ 40,000│ 5,000│ 100 │[A] │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ Abhai Singh │Benirot │Bhukarka │ 25,000│ 5,000│ 200 │ Anup Singh │Bika │Jasana │ 5,000│ 400│ 40 │ Pem Singh │ Do. │Bai │ 5,000│ 400│ 25 │ Chain Singh │Benirot │Sawa │ 20,000│ 2,000│ 300 │ Himmat Singh │Rawat │Rawatsar │ 20,000│ 2,000│ 300 │ Sheo Singh │Benirot │Churu │ 25,000│ 2,000│ 200 │ Ummed Singh ┐│Bidawat ┌│Bidesar ┐│ 50,000│ 10,000│2,000 │[B] Jeth Singh ┘│ └│Sondwa ┘│ │ │ │ Bahadur Singh ┐│ ┌│Mainsar ┐│ │ │ │ Suraj Mall ├│Narnot ┤│Tendesar ├│ 40,000│ 4,000│ 500 │ Guman Singh ││ ││Katar ││ │ │ │ Atai Singh ┘│ └│Kachor ┘│ │ │ │ Sher Singh │Narnot │Nimbaj │ 5,000│ 500│ 125 │ Devi Singh ┐│ ┌│Sidmukh ┐│ │ │ │ Ummed Singh ├│Narnot ┤│Karipura ├│ 20,000│ 5,000│ 400 │ Surthan Singh ││ ││Ajitpura ││ │ │ │ Karnidhan ┘│ └│Beasar ┘│ │ │ │ Surthan Singh │Kachhwaha │Nainawas │ 4,000│ 150│ 30 ┐│[C] Padam Singh │Panwar │Jethsisar │ 5,000│ 200│ 100 ├│ Kishan Singh │Bika │Hayadesar │ 5,000│ 200│ 50 ┘│ Rao Singh │Bhatti │Pugal[29] │ 6,000│ 1,500│ 40 │[D] Sultan Singh │ Do. │Rajasar │ 1,500│ 200│ 50 │ Laktir Singh │ Do. │Raner │ 2,000│ 400│ 75 │ Karnai Singh │ Do. │Satasar │ 1,100│ 200│ 9 │ Bhum Singh │ Do. │Chakara │ 1,500│ 60│ 4 │ │ │ │ │ │ │ Four Chieftains, │ │ │ │ │ │ [30] viz. │ │ │ │ │ │ 1. Bhoni Singh │Bhatti │Bichnok │ 1,500│ 60│ 6 │ 2. Zalim Singh │ Do. │Gariala │ 1,100│ 40│ 4 │ 3. Sardar Singh │ Do. │Surjara │ 800│ 30│ 2 │ 4. Khet Singh │ Do. │Randisar │ 600│ 32│ 2 │ │ │ │ │ │ │ Chand Singh │Karamsot │Nokha │ 11,000│ 1,500│ 500 ┐│ Satidan │Rupawat │Badila │ 5,000│ 200│ 25 ├│[E] Bhum Singh │Bhatti │Janglu │ 2,500│ 400│ 9 ┘│ Ketsi │ Do. │Jaminsar │ 15,000│ 500│ 150 │[F] Isari Singh │Mandla │Sarunda │ 11,000│ 2,000│ 150 │ Padam Singh │Bhatti │Kudsu │ 1,500│ 60│ 4 │ Kalyan Singh │ Do. │Nainea │ 1,000│ 40│ 2 │ │ │ │ —————│ —————│ ———— │ │ │TOTAL │ 332,100│ 44,072│5,402 │[210] ─────────────────┴───────────┴───────────┴────────┴────────┴───────┴─────

Footnote 29:

Pugal Patta.

Footnote 30:

These chiefs are called Sardars of Khari Patta, one of the original conquests of the founder, Bika.

Remarks:

Footnote A:

One hundred and forty villages, attached to this fief, settled on the heir of Raja Nunkaran, who consequently forfeited the gaddi. The first of the chiefs of Bikaner.

Footnote B:

One hundred and forty kothri (families, lit. chambers) of this class.

Footnote C:

These two fiefs are held by foreign nobles of the house of Amber, and the ancient Pramara (vulg. Panwar).

Footnote D:

The fief of Pugal was wrested from the Bhattis of Jaisalmer.

Footnote E:

Twenty-seven villages dependent on this family from Jodhpur, and settled here eleven years.

Footnote F:

Twenty-seven villages.

-----

If ever the whole feudal array of Bikaner amounted to this, it would assuredly be found difficult now, were the ban proclaimed, to assemble one-fourth of this number [211].

Foreign Troops

Foot. Horse. Guns. Sultan Khan — 200 — Anokha Singh, Sikh — 250 — Budh Singh Dewara — 200 — Durjan Singh’s Battalion 700 4 4 Ganga Singh’s Battalion 1000 25 6 —— —- —— Total Foreigners 1700 679 10 Park — — 21 —— —— —— 1700 679 31 —— —— ——

-----

Footnote 6.2.1:

[Bīkaner is bounded on N. and W. by Bahāwalpur; S.W. by Jaisalmer; S. by Mārwār; S.E. by Shaikhāwati of Jaipur; E. by Lohāru and Hissār; total area 23,311 square miles (IGI, viii. 202).]

Footnote 6.2.2:

[In 1911 the population was 573,501, 4·79 souls per house.]

Footnote 6.2.3:

[For the Saraswat or Sarsūt Brāhmans see Rose, Glossary, ii. 122 ff.]

Footnote 6.2.4:

[The Chuhras are the criminal branch of the Panjāb sweepers (Rose, Glossary, ii. 182 ff.). The Thoris are said to be connected with the Aheris, a well-known criminal tribe (Census Report, Mārwār, 1891, ii. 194). In Bahāwalpur they resemble the Dhedh outcastes, who eat the flesh of dead animals (Malik Muhammad Din, Gazetteer, i. 155).]

Footnote 6.2.5:

[Moth, phaseolus aconitifolius; til, sesamum indicum.]

Footnote 6.2.6:

[Only a few acres of cotton are now grown.]

Footnote 6.2.7:

[Guār, dolichos biflorus; water-melons are known as matīra; kakri, a coarse variety of melon.]

Footnote 6.2.8:

I sent specimens to Mr. Moorcroft so far back as 1813, but never learned the result.—See Article “On the Preservation of Food,” Edin. Review, No. 45, p. 115.

Footnote 6.2.9:

Mr. Barrow, in his valuable work on Southern Africa, describes the water-melon as self-sown and abundant.

Footnote 6.2.10:

[Twenty miles S. of Bīkaner city, containing a temple of Karniji, the guardian deity of the Mahārāja’s family.]

Footnote 6.2.11:

Water is sold, in all the large towns, by the Malis, or ‘gardeners,’ who have the monopoly of this article. Most families have large cisterns or reservoirs, called tankas, which are filled in the rainy season. They are of masonry, with a small trap-door at the top, made to exclude the external air, and having a lock and key affixed. Some large tankas are established for the community, and I understand this water keeps sweet for eight and twelve months’ consumption. [The proper form of the word seems to be tānkh, tānkha (Yule, Hobson-Jobson, 2nd ed. 898 f.; H. Beveridge, The Academy, xlvi. 174).]

Footnote 6.2.12:

[About 40 miles N.W. of Bīkaner city. The chief salt lakes are at Chhāpar and Lūnkaransar (Erskine iii. A. 350).]

Footnote 6.2.13:

[Multāni mitti, fuller’s earth, found near Madh in the S. of the State, and sometimes eaten (Erskine iii. A. 251; Watt, Econ. Prod. 329 f.).]

Footnote 6.2.14:

One thousand rupees have been given for one; one hundred is the average value.

Footnote 6.2.15:

[The camel thorn, Alhagi maurorum.]

Footnote 6.2.16:

[N.W. of Bīkaner city, near the Panjāb frontier.]

Footnote 6.2.17:

[These towns are respectively 25 miles S.W. and 19 miles S.W. of Bīkaner city.]

Footnote 6.2.18:

[The tract S. of the Sutlej, having its E. limits at Ludhiāna and Sunām; to the S. of it lay the Bhāti desert (Manucci i. 320, iv. 426). Its importance is shown by Aurangzeb appointing Muhammad Muizzu-d-dīn, eldest son of Sultān Muazzam, Faujdār of the Lākhi Jungle, in A.D. 1706 (Bilimoria, Letters of Aurangzeb, 75.)]

Footnote 6.2.19:

[At present the normal revenue of the State is about 32 lakhs of rupees, or £213,000.]

Footnote 6.2.20:

[Pānch, from which the tax derives its name.]

Footnote 6.2.21:

[Malba properly means ‘sweepings, rubbish,’ then miscellaneous revenue.]

Footnote 6.2.22:

Mal is the term for land which has no irrigation but from the heavens.

Footnote 6.2.23:

Nohar district 84 villages Revenue Rs. 100,000 Reni 24 ” ” 10,000 Rania 44 ” ” 20,000 Jaloli 1 ” ” 5,000 —-—— Total original Fiscal Lands 135,000 —-——

since Rajgarh, Churu, and other places recovered.

Footnote 6.2.24:

Impost Duties in old times, namely:

Town of Nunkaran Rs. 2,000 Rajgarh 10,000 Shaikhsar 5,000 Capital—Bīkaner 75,000 From Churu and other towns 45,000 —-—— 137,000 —-——

Footnote 6.2.25:

[Dānt, dānta, ‘a tooth,’ then ‘a ploughshare.’]

Footnote 6.2.26:

Khush means ‘happiness, pleasure, volition’; ap ki khushi, ‘at your pleasure.’ [hāl = ‘circumstances.’]

Footnote 6.2.27:

This was written in 1813.

Footnote 6.2.28:

[The State now supports for Imperial service the well-known Camel Corps, called the Ganga Risāla.]

Footnote 6.2.29:

Pugal Patta.

Footnote 6.2.30:

These chiefs are called Sardars of Khari Patta, one of the original conquests of the founder, Bika.

-----

Chapter 3

=Bhatner.=—Bhatner, which now forms an integral part of Bikaner, was anciently the chief abode of another Jat community, so powerful as at one time to provoke the vengeance of kings, and at others to succour them when in distress. It is asserted that its name is in nowise connected with the Bhattis, who colonized it, but derived from the Bardai, or Bhat, of a powerful prince, to whom the lands were granted, and who, desirous to be the founder of a poetic dynasty, gave his professional title to the abode. In the annals of Jaisalmer, it will be seen that there is another story accounting for the appellation, which recalls the founding of Carthage or Byrsa. Both legends are improbable; and the Bhatti annals confirm what might have been assumed without suspicion, that to a colony of this race Bhatner owes its name, though not its existence. The whole of the northern part is called Ner in the ancient geographical nomenclature of Marusthali; and when some of the Bhatti clans became proselytes to Islam, they changed the vowel a to u, to distinguish them from the parent stock, namely [212], Bhati for Bhatti.[6.3.1] We shall, however, furnish evidence by and by, in the annals of the original race, that in all probability the Yadu-Bhatti is the original Yuti colony from Central Asia; and that “the Jat prince of Salpur,” whose inscription is in the first volume of this work, was the predecessor of these very races.

Neither the tract depending on Bhatner, nor that north of it to the Gara River, presented formerly the scene of absolute desolation they now exhibit, and I shall append a list of towns, to which a high antiquity is assigned, whose vestiges still remain, and from which something might perhaps be gleaned to confirm or overturn these deductions.

Bhatner has attained great historical celebrity from its position, being in the route of invasion from Central Asia to India. It is more than probable that the Jats, who resisted the advance of Mahmud of Ghazni in a naval warfare on the Indus, had long before that period established themselves in the desert as well as in the Panjab; and as we find them occupying a place amongst the Thirty-six Royal Tribes, we may infer that they had political power many centuries before that conqueror. In A.D. 1205, only twelve years after the conquest of India by Shihabu-d-din, his successor, Kutb, was compelled to conduct the war in person against the Jats of the northern desert, to prevent their wresting the important post of Hansi from the empire;[6.3.2] and when the unfortunate and intrepid queen Raziyah, the worthy heiress of the great Firoz, was compelled to abandon her throne to a usurper, she sought and found protection amongst the Jats, who, with their Scythic brethren, the Gakkhars, assembled all their forces and marched, with their queen at their head, like Tomyris of old, to meet her foes.[6.3.3] She was not destined to enjoy the same revenge, but gained a glorious death in the attempt to overturn the Salic law of India.[6.3.4] Again, in A.D. 1397, when Timur invaded India, Bhatner was attacked for “having distressed him exceedingly on his invasion of Multan,” when he “in person scoured the country, and cut off a tribe of banditti called Jats.”[6.3.5] In short, the Bhattis and Jats were so intermingled that distinction was impossible. Leaving this point, therefore, to be adjusted in the annals of the Bhattis, we proceed to sketch the history of the colony which ruled Bhatner when subjugated by the Rathors.

=The Bhatti Migration.=—It was shortly after Timur’s invasion that a colony of Bhattis migrated from Marot and Phulra, under their leader Bersi, and assaulted and captured Bhatner from a [213] Muhammadan chief; but whether one of Timur’s officers, or a dependent of Delhi, remains unknown, though most probably the former. His name, Chaghat Khan, almost renders this certain, and they must have made a proper name out of his tribe, Chagatai, of which he was a noble. This Khan had conquered Bhatner from the Jats, and had acquired a considerable territory, which the Bhatti colony took advantage of his return to invade and conquer. Sixteen generations have intervened since this event, which, bringing it to the period of Timur’s invasion, furnishes an additional reason for concluding the Khan of Bhatner to have been one of his nobles, whom he may have left entrusted with this important point of communication, should he meditate further intercourse with India.

Bersi ruled twenty-seven years, and was succeeded by his son Bhairon, when the sons of Chaghat Khan, obtaining aid from the Delhi monarch, invaded Bhatner, and were twice repulsed with great loss. A third army succeeded; Bhatner was invested and reduced to great straits, when Bhairon hung out a flag of truce, and offered to accept any conditions which would not compromise his castle. Two were named: to embrace Islamism, or seal his sincerity by giving his daughter to the king. He accepted the first alternative, and from that day, in order to distinguish these proselytes, they changed the name of Bhati to Bhatti. Six chiefs intervened between Bhairon and

Rao Dalich, surnamed Hayat Khan, from whom Rae Singh of Bikaner wrested Bhatner, and Fatehabad became the future residence of the Bhatti Khans. He was succeeded by

Husain Khan (the grandson of Hayat), who recaptured Bhatner from Raja Shujawan Singh, and it was maintained during the time of Husain Mahmud and Imam Mahmud, until Surat Singh made the final conquest of it from Bahadur Khan, father to the present titular head of the Bhattis,[6.3.6]

Zabita Khan, who resides at Reni, having about twenty-five villages dependent thereon.[6.3.7] Reni was founded by Rae Singh of Bikaner, and named after his queen (Rani), to whom it was assigned. It was taken by Imam Mahmud. The Bhatti Khan is now a robber by profession, and his revenues, which are said to have sometimes amounted to three lakhs of rupees, are extorted by the point of his lance. These [214] depredations are carried to a frightful extent, and the poor Jats are kept eternally on the alert to defend their property. The proximity of the British territory preventing all incursions to the eastward, they are thrown back upon their original haunts, and make the whole of this northern region their prey. To this circumstance is attributed the desertion of these lands, which once reared cattle in abundance, and were highly valued. It is asserted that from the northern boundary of Bhatner to the Gara there are many tracts susceptible of high cultivation, having water near the surface, and many large spaces entirely free from thal, or ‘sandhills.’ To the drying up of the Hakra, or Ghaggar, many centuries ago, in conjunction with moral evils, is ascribed the existing desolation. According to tradition, this stream took a westerly direction, by Phulra, where it is yet to be traced, and fell into the Indus below Uchh. The couplet recording its absorption by the sands of Ner has already been given, in the time of Rao Hamir, prince of Dhat. If the next European traveller who may pass through the Indian desert will seek out the representative of the ancient Sodha princes at Chor, near Umarkot, he may learn from their bard (if they retain such an appendage) the date of this prince, and that of so important an event in the physical and political history of their regions. The vestiges of large towns, now buried in the sands, confirm the truth of this tradition, and several of them claim a high antiquity; such as the Rangmahall, already mentioned, west of Bhatner, having subterranean apartments still in good preservation. An aged native of Dandusar (twenty-five miles south of Bhatner) replied, to my inquiry as to the recollections attached to this place, that “it belonged to a Panwar prince who ruled once all these regions, when Sikandar Rumi attacked them.”

An excursion from Hansi Hissar, our western frontier, into these regions, would soon put the truth of such traditions to the test, as far as these reported ruins are concerned; though what might appear the remains of palaces of the Pramaras, the Johyas, and the Jats of ancient days, to the humble occupant of a hut in the desert, may only prove the foundations of some castellated building. But the same traditions are circulated with regard to the more western desert, where the same kind of vestiges is said to exist, and the annals make mention of capitals, the sites of which are now utterly unknown. Considering the safety, and comparative ease, with which such a journey can be made, one cannot imagine a more agreeable pursuit than the prosecution of archaeological inquiries in the northern deserts of Rajputana, where traditions abound, and where the existing manners, amongst such a diversity of tribes, would furnish ample materials [215] for the portfolio, as well as for memoirs. Its productions, spontaneous or cultivated, though its botanical as well as zoological specimens may be limited, we know to be essentially different from those of Gangetic India, and more likely to find a parallel in the natural productions and phenomena of the great African desert. The Bhattis, the Khosas, the Rajars, the Sahariyas, the Mangalias, the Sodhas, and various other nomadic tribes, present a wide field for observation; and the physiologist, when tired of the habits of man, may descend from the nobler animal to the lion, the wild ass, every kind of deer, the flocks of sheep which, fed on the succulent grasses, touch not water for six weeks together, while the various herbs, esculent plants and shrubs, salt lakes, natron beds, etc., would give abundant scope for commentary and useful comparison. He will discover no luxuries, and few signs of civilization; the jhonpra (hut) constructed of poles and twigs, coated inside with mud and covered with grass, being little better than the African’s dwelling.

=Ancient Cities.=—We shall conclude this imperfect sketch of Bikaner and the desert with the names of several of their ancient towns, which may aid the search of the traveller in the regions on its northern border: Abohar; Banjara ka Nagar; Rangmahall; Sodal, or Soratgarh; Machotal; Ratibang; Kalibang; Kalyansar; Phulra; Marot; Tilwara; Gilwara; Bani; Manikkhar; Sursagar; Bamani; Koriwala; Kal-Dherani.[6.3.8]

Some names in this list may be unimportant, but if two, or even one, should be the means of eliciting some knowledge of the past, the record will not be useless.

Phulra and Marot have still some importance: the first is very ancient, and enumerated amongst the ‘Nau-koti Maru-ki,’ in the earliest periods of Pramara (vulg. Panwar) dominion. I have no doubt that inscriptions in the ornamental nail-headed character belonging to the Jains will be found here, having obtained one from Lodorva in the desert, which has been a ruin for nine centuries. Phulra was the residence of Lakha Phulani, a name well known to those versed in the old traditions of the desert. He was cotemporary with Siddh Rae of Anhilwara, and Udayaditya of Dhar [216].

-----

Footnote 6.3.1:

[Bhatner, Bhatti-nagara, ‘town of the Bhattis,’ the Po-to-lu-lo or Bhatosthala of the Buddhist pilgrims (Cunningham, Ancient Geography, 147; ASR, xxiii. (1887), 4 f.).]

Footnote 6.3.2:

[Kutbu-d-dīn [=I]bak (A.D. 1206-10). The leader of the Hindu revolt was Jatwān, who was defeated and slain on the borders of Bāgar (‘the land of the Bāgri, or warriors,’ or according to others, from bāgar, ‘a thorn hedge’), a name still applied to a tract in the Sirsa and Hissār Districts of the Panjāb (Cunningham, Ancient Geography, 247; IGI, xiii. 149 f.). For the revolt see Tabaqāt-i-Nasiri, trans. Raverty, 516 f.; Elliot-Dowson ii. 217 ff.; Ferishta i. 191 f., who calls the leader Jīwan Rāī, general of the forces of Nahrwāla in Gujarāt.]

Footnote 6.3.3:

[Sultān Razīyah (A.D. 1236-40) was supported in her attack on Delhi by a force of Gakkhars and Jats (Ferishta i. 221).]

Footnote 6.3.4:

I presented to Mr. Marsden a unique coin of this ill-fated queen.

Footnote 6.3.5:

[For Timūr’s attack on Bhatner and on the Jats see Elliot-Dowson iii. 420 ff., 487 ff., 428 f., 492 f.]

Footnote 6.3.6:

In S. 1857 (A.D. 1801) the celebrated George Thomas, for the sum of three lakhs, put the Bhattis into the temporary possession of Bhatner; but the succeeding year it was again taken from them by the Rathors.

Footnote 6.3.7:

This memoir was written in 1813-14, and may contain many inaccuracies, from its very remote situation, and the difficulty of obtaining correct information. [Reni is 120 miles N.E. of Bīkaner city, and is said to take its name from a legendary Rāja Renpāl.]

Footnote 6.3.8:

[Few of these names are traceable on modern maps.]

-----

Chapter 1

=Limits of Jaisalmer.=—Jaisalmer is the modern name of a tract of country comprehended, according to ancient geography, in Marusthali, the desert of India. It is termed Mer in the traditional nomenclature of this region, from being a rocky (mer) oasis in the heart of the sandy desert, interesting both from its physical features and its position as the Ultima Thule of independent Hinduism. Yet, however entitled to regard from its local peculiarities or its products, the history of the tribe which inhabits it presents a still more engrossing subject for investigation.

=The Bhatti Tribe.=—This tribe is the Bhatti, a branch of the Yadu or Jadon race, whose power was paramount in India three thousand years ago; and the prince now governing this distant [217] corner of India claims descent from those Yadu kings who ruled from the Yamuna to the ‘world’s end,’[7.1.1] at that remote period.

It were preposterous to expect to find, in the annals of a people so subject to the vicissitudes of fortune, an unbroken series of historical evidence in support of this ancestry; but they have preserved links of the chain which indicate original affinities. In tracing the Yadu-Bhatti history, two hypotheses alternately present themselves to our minds, each of which rests upon plausible grounds; the one supposing the Bhattis to be of Scythic, the other of Hindu origin. This incongruity may be reconciled by presuming the co-mixture of the two primitive races; by enlarging our views, and contemplating the barrier, which in remote ages separated Scythia and India, as ideal; and admitting that the various communities, from the Caspian to the Ganges, were members of one grand family, having a common language and common faith,[7.1.2] in that ancient central empire whose existence has been contended for and denied by the first names in science;[7.1.3] the Bharatavarsha of the Hindus, the Indo-Scythic empire of king Bharat, son of Budha, the ancestor of the Yadu-Bhattis, now confined to a nook of the desert.[7.1.4]

It would be vain to speculate upon the first colonization of India proper by the Rajkula, or ‘royal tribes.’ It appears to have possessed an indigenous population prior to the races of Surya, or Indu, though the genealogies which give the origin of these degraded races of Kabas,[7.1.5] Bhils, Meras, Gonds, etc., assert that they were all from the same stem, and that their political debasement was the effect of moral causes. But as there is no proof of this, we must attribute the fable to the desire of the Brahman [218] archaeologist to account for the origin of all things. Modern inquiries into these matters have been cramped by an erroneous and contracted view of the power of this ancient people, and the direction of that power. It has been assumed that the prejudices originating in Muslim conquests, which prevented the Hindu chieftain from crossing the forbidden waters of the Attock, and still more from “going down to the sea in ships,” had always existed. But were it not far more difficult to part with erroneous impressions than to receive new and correct views, it would be apparent that the first of these restrictions is of very recent origin, and on the other hand, that the Hindus of remote ages possessed great naval power, by which communication must have been maintained with the coasts of Africa,[7.1.6] Arabia, and Persia, as well as the Australian Archipelago.[7.1.7] It is ridiculous,

Since Mr. M. wrote, the revelation of the architectural antiquities in these isles, consequent to British conquests, establishes the fact that they were colonized by the Suryas, whose mythological and heroic history is sculptured in their edifices and maintained in their writings. Nor should we despair that similar discoveries may yet disclose the link which of yore connected India with Egypt, and to which Ceylon was but the first stepping-stone. That Rama possessed great naval means is beyond doubt, inherited from his ancestor Sagara ‘the sea-king,’ twenty generations before the hero of Lanka, which place I have long imagined to be Ethiopia; whence ancient writers assert Egypt to have had her institutions, and that the Ethiopians were of Indian origin. Cuvier, quoting Syncellus, even assigns the reign of Amenophis as the epoch of the colonization of Ethiopia from India.—P. 180 of his ‘Discours,’ etc. [For early Hindu voyages to Java and the neighbouring region see Smith, HFA, 259 ff.; BG, i. Part i. 489 ff.]] with all the knowledge now in our possession, to suppose that the Hindus always confined themselves within their gigantic barriers, the limits of modern India. The cosmography of the Puranas, imperfect and puerile as it is, and some of the texts of Manu, afford abundant evidence of an intimate intercourse between the countries from the Oxus to the Ganges; and even in their allegories, we trace fresh streams of knowledge flowing into India from that central region, stigmatized in latter days as the land of the Barbarian (Mlechchha). Manu corroborates the Puranas, from which we infer the fact that in distant ages one uniform faith extended from Sakadvipa, the continent of the Sakae, to the Ganges.[7.1.8] These observations [219] it is necessary to premise before we attempt, by following the tide of Yadu migration during the lapse of thirty centuries, to trace them from Indraprastha, Suryapura, Mathura, Prayaga, Dwarka, Jadu-ka-dang (the mountains of Jud), Bahra, Gajni in Zabulistan; and again refluent into India, at Salbahana or Salpura in the Panjab, Tanot, Derawar, Lodorva in the desert, and finally Jaisalmer, founded in S. 1212, or A.D. 1156.

Having elsewhere descanted at length on the early history of the Yadus,[7.1.9] we may refer those who are likely to take an interest in this discussion to that paper, and proceed at once to glean what we can from the native annals before us, from the death of their leader, Hari-Krishna, to the dispersion of the Yadus from India. The bare fact of their migration altogether out of India proper proves that the original intercourse, which conducted Budha, the patriarch of the Yadu race, into India[7.1.10] (where he espoused Ila, a princess of the Surya race, and by whom his issue was multiplied), was not forgotten, though fifty generations had elapsed from the patriarchal Budha to Hari—to whom and the chronicle we return.

=Early Legends.=—“Prayaga[7.1.11] is the cradle of the Yadus who are Somavansa (of the lunar race). Thence Mathura founded by Pururavas remained for ages the seat of power. The name of Jadon (Yadu), of whom there were fifty-six tribes,[7.1.12] became famous in the world, and of this race was the mighty Hari-Krishna, who founded Dwarka.”

The grand international conflicts amongst the “fifty-six Yadu tribes,” at Kurukshetra, and subsequently at Dwarka, are sufficiently known to the reader of Hindu history [220], and may be referred to elsewhere.[7.1.13] These events are computed to have happened about 1100 years before Christ. On the dispersion of these races many abandoned India, and amongst these, two of the many sons of Krishna. This deified leader of the Yadus had eight wives, and the offspring of the first and seventh, by a singular fate, now occupy what may be termed the outposts of Hinduism.[7.1.14]

Rukmini was the senior of these wives; and the eldest of her sons was Pradyumna, who was married to a princess of Vidarbha; she bore him two sons, Aniruddha and Vajranabha, and from the latter the Bhattis claim descent. Vajra had two sons, Sankhanabha and Khira.[7.1.15]

“When the Jadons were exterminated in the conflict at Dwarka, and Hari had gone to heaven, Vajra was on his way from Mathura to see his father, but had only marched twenty coss (forty miles), when he received intelligence of that event, which had swept away his kindred. He died upon the spot, when Nabha was elected king and returned to Mathura, but Khira pursued his journey to Dwarka.

“The thirty-six tribes of Rajputs hitherto oppressed by the Yadus, who had long held universal dominion, now determined to be revenged. Nabha was compelled to fly the holy city [Dwarka]; he became prince of Marusthali in the west.

“Thus far from the Bhagavat” (says the Bhatti chronicler), and I continue the history of the Bhattis, by the Brahman Sukhdharma of Mathura.

“Nabha had issue Prithibahu.

“Khira had two sons, Jareja and Judhbhan.[7.1.16]

“Judhbhan was on a pilgrimage; the goddess heard his vows; she awoke him from his sleep, and promised whatever he desired. ‘Give me land that I may inhabit,’ said the youth; ‘Rule in these hills,’ replied the goddess, and disappeared. When Judhbhan awoke, and was yet pondering on the vision of the night, a confused noise assailed him; and looking out, he discovered that the prince of the country had just died without issue, and they were disputing who should succeed him. The prime minister said, ‘he dreamed that a descendant of Krishna had arrived at Bahra,’[7.1.17] and proposed [221] to seek him out and invest him as their prince. All assented, and Judhbhan was elected king. He became a great prince, had a numerous progeny, and the place of their abode was henceforth styled Jadu-ka-dang, ‘the mountains of Jadu.’

“Prithibahu (‘the arm of the earth’), son of Nabha, prince of Marusthali, inherited the insignia of Sri-Krishna with the regal umbrella (chhatri) made by Viswakarma. He had a son Bahubal (‘strong arm’), who espoused Kamalavati, daughter of Vijaya Singh, prince of Malwa, who gave in dower (daeja)[7.1.18] one thousand horses of Khorasan, one hundred elephants, pearls, gems, and gold innumerable, and five hundred handmaids, with chariots and bedsteads of gold. The Puar (Pramar) Kamalavati became the chief queen and bore her lord one son,

“Bahu, killed by a fall from his horse; he left one son,

“Subahu, who was poisoned by his wife, a daughter of Mand Raja, Chauhan of Ajmer; he left a son,

“Rajh, who reigned twelve years. He was married to Subhag Sundari, daughter of Ber Singh, prince of Malwa. Having, when pregnant, dreamed that she was delivered of a white elephant, the astrologers, who interpreted this as an indication of greatness, desired he might be named Gaj:[7.1.19] as he approached manhood, the coco-nut came from Judhbhan, prince of Purabdes (the eastern), and was accepted. At the same time tidings arrived that from the shores of the ocean, the barbarians (Mlechchha), who had formerly attacked Subahu,[7.1.20] were again advancing, having Farid Shah of Khorasan at [222] the head of four lakhs of horse, from whom the people fled in dismay. The Raja sent scouts to obtain accurate intelligence, and marched to Hariau to meet him; while the foe encamped two coss from Kunjshahr.[7.1.21] A battle ensued, in which the invader was defeated with the loss of thirty thousand men, and four thousand on the part of the Hindus. But the foeman rallied, and Raja Rajh, who again encountered him, was wounded and died just as prince Gaj returned with Hansavati, his bride, daughter of Judhbhan of the east. In two battles the king of Khorasan was vanquished, when he obtained an auxiliary in the king of Rum (Romi-pati), to establish the Koran and the law of the prophet in infidel lands. While the armies of the Asuras were thus preparing their strength, Raja Gaj called a council of ministers. There being no stronghold of importance, and it being impossible to stand against numbers, it was determined to erect a fortress amidst the mountains of the north. Having summoned his friends to his aid, he sought counsel of the guardian goddess of his race; who [223] foretold that the power of the Hindus was to cease, but commanded him to erect a fort and call it Gajni. While it was approaching completion, news came that the kings of Rum and Khorasan were near at hand:

_Rūmī-pat, Khorāsān-pat, haya, gaya, pākhar, pāī, Chinta teri, chit lagi; sūna Jadpat Rāē._[7.1.22]

The stick wounded the drum of the Jadon prince; the army was formed, gifts were distributed, and the astrologers were commanded to assign such a moment for marching as might secure the victory.

“Thursday (Brihaspati) the 13th of Magh, the enlightened half of the moon, when one ghari[7.1.23] of the day had fled, was the auspicious hour; and the drum of departure sounded. That day he marched eight coss, and encamped at Dulapar. The combined kings advanced, but in the night the Shah of Khorasan died of indigestion. When it was reported to the king of Rum (Shah Sikandar Rumi) that Shah Mamrez was dead, he became alarmed and said, ‘while we mortals have grand schemes in hand, He above has other views for us.’ Still his army advanced like waves of the ocean; caparisons and chains clank on the backs of elephants, while instruments of war resound through the host. Elephants move like walking mountains; the sky is black with clouds of dust; bright helms reflect the rays of the sun. Four coss (eight miles) separated the hostile armies. Raja Gaj and his chieftains performed their ablutions, and keeping the Joginis[7.1.24] in their rear, advanced to the combat. Each host rushed on like famished tigers; the earth trembled; the heavens were overcast; nor was aught visible in the gloom but the radiant helm. War-bells resound; horses neigh; masses of men advance on each other, like the dark rolling clouds of Bhadon. Hissing speeds the feathered dart; the lion roar of the warriors is re-echoed; the edge of the sword deluges the ground with blood; on both sides the blows resound on the crackling bones. Here was Judhrae, there the Khans and Amirs, as if Time had encountered his fellow. Mighty warriors strew the earth; heroes fall in the cause of their lords. The army of the Shah fled; he left twenty-five thousand souls entangled in the net of destruction; he abandoned elephants and horses, and even his throne. Seven thousand Hindus lay dead on the field. The drum of victory resounded, and the Jadon returned triumphant to his capital [224].

“On Sunday, the 3rd of Baisakh, the spring season (Vasant), the Rohini Nakshatra, and Samvat Dharmaraja (Yudhishthira) 3008,[7.1.25] seated on the throne of Gajni, he maintained the Jadon race. With this victory his power became firm: he conquered all the countries to the west, and sent an ambassador to Kashmir to call its prince Kandrapkel[7.1.26] to his presence. But the prince refused the summons: he said the world would scoff at him if he attended the stirrup of another without being first worsted in fight. Raja Gaj invaded Kashmir; and married the daughter of its prince, by whom he had a son, called Salbahan.

“When this child had attained the age of twelve, tidings of another invasion came from Khorasan. Raja Gaj shut himself up for three entire days in the temple of Kuladevi:[7.1.27] on the fourth day the goddess appeared and revealed to him his destiny; the Gajni would pass from his hands, but that his posterity would reinherit it, not as Hindus but as Muslims; and directed him to send his son Salbahan amongst the Hindus of the east, there to erect a city to be named after him. She said that he would have fifteen sons, whose issue would multiply; ‘that he (Raja Gaj) would fall in the defence of Gajni, but would gain a glorious reward hereafter.’

“Having heard his fate revealed Raja Gaj convened his family and kin, and on pretence of a pilgrimage to Juala-mukhi,[7.1.28] he caused them to depart, with the prince Salbahan, for the east.

“Soon after the foe approached within five coss of Gajni. Leaving therein his uncle Sahideo for its defence, Raja Gaj marched to meet him. The king of Khorasan divided his army into five divisions; the Raja formed his into three: a desperate conflict ensued, in which both the king and the Raja were slain. The battle lasted five pahars,[7.1.29] and a hundred thousand Mirs and thirty thousand Hindus strewed the field. The king’s son invested Gajni; for thirty days it was defended by Sahideo, when he performed the Sakha,[7.1.30] and nine thousand valiant men gave up their lives.

=Sālivāhana.=—“When tidings of this fatal event were conveyed to Salbahan, for twelve days the ground became his bed.[7.1.31] He at length reached the Panjab, where he fixed on a spot with abundance of water, and having collected his clansmen around him, he laid the foundation of a city which he named after himself, Salbahanpur. The surrounding [225] Bhumias attended, and acknowledged his supremacy. Seventy-two years of the era of Vikrama had elapsed when Salbahanpur was founded, upon Sunday, the 8th of the month of Bhadon.[7.1.32]

“Salbahan conquered the whole region of the Panjab. He had fifteen sons, who all became Rajas: namely, Baland, Rasalu, Dharmangad, Vacha, Rupa, Sundar, Lekh, Jaskaran, Nema, Mat, Nipak, Gangau, Jagau; all of whom, by the strength of their own arms, established themselves in independence.

“The coco-nut from Raja Jaipal Tuar was sent from Delhi, and accepted.[7.1.33] Baland proceeded to Delhi, whose prince advanced to meet him. On his return with his bride, Salbahan determined to redeem Gajni from the foe and avenge his father’s death. He crossed the Attock to encounter Jalal, who advanced at the head of twenty thousand men. Crowned with victory, he regained possession of Gajni, where he left Baland, and returned to his capital in the Panjab; he soon after died, having ruled thirty-three years and nine months.

=Bāland.=—“Baland succeeded. His brothers had now established themselves in all the mountainous tracts of the Panjab. But the Turks[7.1.34] began rapidly to increase, and to subjugate all beneath their sway, and the lands around Gajni were again in their power. Baland had no minister, but superintended in person all the details of his government. He had seven sons: Bhatti, Bhupati, Kalar, Janj,[7.1.35] Sarmor, Bhainsrekha, Mangreo. The second son Bhupati (i.e. lord of the earth) had a son, Chakito, from whom is descended the Chakito (Chagatai) tribe [226].[7.1.36]

“Chakito had eight sons, namely, Deosi, Bharu, Khemkhan, Nahar, Jaipal,[7.1.37] Dharsi, Bijli Khan, Shah Samand.

“Baland, who resided at Salbahanpur, left Gajni to the charge of his grandson Chakito; and as the power of the barbarian (Mlechchha) increased, he not only entertained troops of that race, but all his nobles were of the same body. They offered, if he would quit the religion of his fathers, to make him master of Balkh, Bokhara, where dwelt the Usbek race, whose king had no offspring but one daughter. Chakito married her, and became king of Balkh, Bokhara, and lord of twenty-eight thousand horse. Between Balkh and Bokhara runs a mighty river, and Chakito was king of all from the gate of Balakhshan to the face of Hindustan; and from him is descended the tribe of Chakito Mongols.[7.1.38]

“Kalar, third son of Baland, had eight sons, whose descendants are designated Kalar.[7.1.39] Their names were, Sheodas, Ramdas, Aso, Kistna, Sama, Ganga, Jassa, Bhaga; almost all of whom became Musalmans. They are a numerous race, inhabiting the mountainous countries west of the river,[7.1.40] and notorious robbers.

“Janj, the fourth son, had seven sons: Champa, Gokul, Mehraj, Hansa, Bhadon, Rasa, Jaga, all whose issue bore the name of Janj;[7.1.41] and in like manner did the other sons become the patriarchs of tribes.

=Bhatti.=—“Bhatti succeeded his father Baland. He conquered fourteen princes, and added [227] their fortunes to his own. Among his effects he reckoned twenty-four thousand mules[7.1.42] laden with treasure, sixty thousand horse, and innumerable foot. As soon as he mounted the gaddi, he assembled all his forces at Lahore preparatory to the tika-daur[7.1.43] destined against Birbhan Baghel, lord of Kanakpur. Birbhan fell in the battle which ensued, at the head of forty thousand men.

“Bhatti had two sons, Mangal Rao and Masur Rao. With Bhatti, the patronymic was changed, and the tribe thenceforth was distinguished by his name.

=Mangal.=—“Mangal Rao succeeded, but his fortune was not equal to that of his fathers. Dhundi, king of Ghazni, with a mighty force, invaded Lahore;[7.1.44] nor did Mangal Rao oppose him, but with his eldest son fled into the wilds on the banks of the river. The foe then invested Salbahanpur, where resided the family of the Raja; but Masur Rao escaped and fled to the Lakhi Jungle.[7.1.45] There being only a cultivating peasantry in this tract, he overcame them, and became master of the country. Masur Rao had two sons, Abhai Rao and Saran Rao. The elder, Abhai Rao, brought the whole Lakhi Jungle under his control, and his issue, which multiplied, became famous as the Aboharia Bhattis.[7.1.46] Saran quarrelled with and separated from his brother, and his issue descended to the rank of cultivators, and are well known as the Saran Jats.[7.1.47]

“Mangal Rao, the son of Bhatti, and who abandoned his kingdom, had six sons: Majam Rao, Kalarsi, Mulraj, Sheoraj, Phul, Kewala.

“When Mangal Rao fled from the king, his children were secreted in the houses of his subjects. A Bhumia named Satidas, of the tribe of Tak,[7.1.48] whose ancestors had been reduced from power and wealth by the ancestors of the Bhatti prince, determined to avenge himself, and informed the king that some of the children were concealed in [228] the house of a banker (sahukar). The king sent the Tak with a party of troops, and surrounded the house of Sridhar, who was carried before the king, who swore he would put all his family to death if he did not produce the young princes of Salbahana. The alarmed banker protested he had no children of the Raja’s, for that the infants who enjoyed his protection were the offspring of a Bhumia, who had fled, on the invasion, deeply in his debt. But the king ordered him to produce them; he demanded the name of the village, sent for the Bhumias belonging to it, and not only made the royal infants of Salbahana eat with them, but marry their daughters. The banker had no alternative to save their lives but to consent: they were brought forth in the peasant’s garb, ate with the husbandmen (Jats), and were married to their daughters. Thus the offspring of Kalarrae became the Kalhora Jats; those of Mundraj and Sheoraj, the Mudna and Seora Jats; while the younger boys, Phul and Kewala, who were passed off as a barber (Nai) and a potter (Kumhar), fell into that class.[7.1.49]

“Mangal Rao, who found shelter in the wilds of the Gara, crossed that stream and subjugated a new territory. At this period, the tribe of Baraha[7.1.50] inhabited the banks of the river; beyond them were the Buta Rajputs of Butaban.[7.1.51] In Pugal dwelt the Pramara;[7.1.52] in Dhat the Sodha[7.1.53] race; and the Lodra[7.1.54] Rajputs in Lodorva. Here Mangal Rao found security, and with the sanction of the Sodha prince, he fixed his future abode in the centre of the lands of the Lodras, the Barahas, and the Sodhas.[7.1.55] On the death of Mangal Rao, he was succeeded by

“Majam Rao, who escaped from Salbahanpur with his father. He was recognized by all the neighbouring princes, who sent the usual presents on his accession, and the [229] Sodha prince of Umarkot made an offer of his daughter in marriage, which was accepted, and the nuptials were solemnized at Umarkot. He had three sons, Kehar, Mulraj,[7.1.56] and Gogli.

=Kehar Rāo.=—“Kehar became renowned for his exploits. Hearing of a caravan (kafila) of five hundred horses going from Aror[7.1.57] to Multan, he pursued them with a chosen band disguised as camel merchants, and came up with his prey across the Panjnad,[7.1.58] where he attacked and captured it, and returned to his abode. By such exploits he became known, and the coco-nut (nariyal) was sent to Majam Rao, and his two elder sons, by Alansi Deora, of Jalor.[7.1.59] The nuptials were celebrated with great splendour, and on their return Kehar laid the foundation of a castle, which he named Tanot in honour of Tana [or Tanuja] Devi. Ere it was completed, Rao Majam died.

=Kehar Rāo.=—“Kehar succeeded. On his accession, Tanot was attacked by Jasrath, chief of the Barahas,[7.1.60] because it was erected on the bounds of his tribe; but Mulraj defended it, and the Barahas were compelled to retire.

“On Mangalwar (Tuesday), the full-moon of Magh, S. 787[7.1.61] (A.D. 731), the fortress of Tanot was completed, and a temple erected to Tana-Mata. Shortly after a treaty of peace was formed with the Barahas, which was concluded by the nuptials of their chief with the daughter of Mulraj [230].”

Having thus fairly fixed the Yadu Bhatti chieftain in the land of Maru, it seems a proper point at which to close this initiatory chapter with some observations on the diversified history of this tribe, crowded into so small a compass; though the notes of explanation, subjoined as we proceeded, will render fewer remarks requisite, since with their help the reader may draw his own conclusions as to the value of this portion of the Bhatti annals, which may be divided into four distinct epochs:

=Recapitulation of Bhatti History.=—1. That of Hari, the ancestor of the Yadu race.

2. Their expulsion, or the voluntary abandonment of India by his children, with their relations of the Harikula and Pandu races, for the countries west of the Indus; their settlements in Marusthali; the founding of Gajni, and combats with the kings of Rum and Khorasan.

3. Their expulsion from Zabulistan, colonization of the Panjab, and creation of the new capital of Salbahanpur.

4. Their expulsion from the Panjab, and settlement in Mer, the rocky oasis of Maru, to the erection of Tanot.

It is the more unnecessary to enter into greater details on these outlines of the early Yadu history, since the subject has been in part treated elsewhere.[7.1.62] A multiplicity of scattered facts and geographical distinctions fully warrants our assent to the general truth of these records, which prove that the Yadu race had dominion in central Asia, and were again, as Islamism advanced, repelled upon India. The obscure legend of their encounters with the allied Syrian and Bactrian kings would have seemed altogether illusory, did not evidence exist that Antiochus the Great was slain in these very regions by an Indo-Scythian prince, called by the Greek writers Sophagasenas: a name in all probability compounded from Subahu and his grandson Gaj (who might have used the common affix of sena), the Yadu princes of Gajni, who are both stated to have had conflicts with the Bactrian (Khorasan) kings.

Sistan (the region of cold, siya)[7.1.63] and both sides of the valley were occupied in the earliest periods by another branch of the Yadus; for the Sind-Samma dynasty was descended from Samba (which like Yadu became a patronymic)—of which the Greeks made Sambos—and one of whose descendants opposed Alexander in his progress down the Indus. The capital of this dynasty was Samma-ka-kot, or Samanagari, yet existing on the lower Indus, and which was corrupted into Minnagara by the Greeks [231].[7.1.64]

=Ancient Sites in Jaisalmer.=—It is an interesting hypothesis, that would make the Chagatais descendants of the Yadus.[7.1.65] In like manner, Bappa, the ancestor of the Ranas of Mewar, abandoned Central India after establishing his line in Chitor, and retired to Khorasan. All this proves that Hinduism prevailed in these distant regions, and that the intercourse was unrestricted between Central Asia and India. We have undiscovered fields of inquiry in Transoxiana, and in the still more accessible region of the Panjab, where much exists to reward the archaeologist; Salbahanpur, Kampilanagari, Bahra, the hill of Jud, perhaps Bucephalia,[7.1.66] the seven towns of Uchh, but, above all, the capital of Taxiles. Let us hope that, in this age of enterprise, these suggestions may be followed up; we can promise the adventurer a very different result from that which tempts the explorer of barbarous Africa, for here he would penetrate into the first haunts of civilization, and might solve one of the great problems which still distract mankind [232].

-----

Footnote 7.1.1:

Jagat Khunt, the point of land beyond Dwarka, the last stronghold of the Yadus when their power was extinguished.

Footnote 7.1.2:

Manu says: “But in consequence of the omission of the sacred rites, and of their not consulting Brāhmanas, the following tribes of Kshatriyas have gradually sunk in the world to the condition of Sūdras: viz. the Paundrakas, the Kodas, the Dravidas, the Kāmbogas, the Yavanas, the Sākas, the Pāradas, the Pahlavas, the Kīnas, the Kirātas, and the Daradas” (Laws, x. 43-44, trans. G. Bühler, Sacred Books of the East, xxv. 412).

It is a great mistake to suppose the Bactrian Greeks are these Yavanas, who are descended from Yavan, fifth son of Yayati, third son of the patriarchal Nahustha, though the Ionians may be of this race. The Sakas are the Sakae, the races of Central Asia (the Sakha Rajput); the Pahlavas, the ancient Persians, or Guebres; the Chinas, the inhabitants of China; and the Chasas, inhabitants of the great snowy mountains (koh), whence Kohchasa (the Casia montes of Ptolemy), corrupted to Caucasus [?].

Footnote 7.1.3:

The illustrious Cuvier questions the existence of an ancient central kingdom, because “ni Moïse, ni Homère, ne nous parlait d’un grand empire dans la Haute-Asie” (Discours sur les révolutions de la surface du globe, p. 206). Who, then, were “the sons of Togarmah” (mentioned by Ezekiel [xxvii. 14]) who conquered and long held Egypt? [Togarmah was N. Assyria (Hastings, Dict. Bible, iv. 789 f.).]

Footnote 7.1.4:

[Bharata, from whom the Kauravas and Pāndavas, more especially the latter, were called Bhāratas, was a prince of the Puru branch of the Lunar race, son of Dushyanta and Sakuntala.]

Footnote 7.1.5:

The Kaba race is almost extinct; it was famed, even in the days of Krishna, as the savage inhabitants of Saurashtra. When the forester Bhil, who mortally wounded Krishna, was expressing his contrition for the unintentional act, he was forgiven, with the remark that it was only retributive justice, as “in a former birth,” as the godlike Rama, Krishna had slain him. Thus Rama appears as the subjugator and civilizer of these indigenous tribes, of whom the Kabas are described as plundering Krishna’s family after his decease. [The Kābas, now extinct, were regarded as savage inhabitants of Saurāshtra in the Krishna tradition, and are said to be the ancestors of the modern Vāghers (BG, viii. 271, 587).]

Footnote 7.1.6:

Whence the Hindu names of towns at the estuaries of the Gambia and Senegal Rivers, the Tambaconda and other kondas, already mentioned?

Footnote 7.1.7:

Mr. Marsden, at an early period of his researches into Hindu literature, shares the merit of discovering with Sir W. Jones that the Malayan language, disseminated throughout the Archipelago, and extending from Madagascar to Easter Island, a space of 200 degs. of longitude, is indebted to the Sanskrit for a considerable number of its terms, and that the intercourse which effected this was many centuries previous to their conversion to the Muhammadan religion. He is inclined to think that the point of communication was from Gujarat. The legends of these islanders also abound with allusions to the Mahabharata and Ramayana. (See Asiatic Researches, vol. iv. p. 226, second edition.) [EB, xvii. 475 ff.

Footnote 7.1.8:

The cosmography of the Agni Purana divides the world then known to the Hindus into seven dwipas, or continents: one of these is “Sakadvipa, whose inhabitants, descended from Bhavya, are termed Sakeswara (i.e. Sakae-lords).” His (Bhavya’s) offspring or descendants were Jalad, Sukamara, Manivaka, Kusumada, Mandaki, Mahadruma, each of whom gave his name to a khand, or division (qu. Sukmarkhand?). The chief ranges of mountains were Jaldas, Raivat, Syama, Indak, Amki, Rim, and Kesari. “There were seven grand rivers, namely, Mag, Magad, Arvarna, etc. The inhabitants worship the sun.”

Slight as this information is, we must believe that this Sakadvipa or Sakatai is the Scythia of the Ancients; and the Sakeswara (the Sakas of Manu), the Sakae so well known to western history, the progenitors of the Parthians, whose first (adi) king was Arsaka. The sun-worship indicates the adorer of Mithras, the Mitra or Surya of the Hindu; the Arvarna recalls the Araxes applied to the Jaxartes; while Jalad, the proper name of the son of the first king of Sakadvipa, appears to be the Yulduz of the Tatar historian Abulghazi, who uses the same term as does the Hindu, to designate a range of mountains. Whence this identity between Puranic and Tatar cosmography? [These speculations possess no value.]

“A chief of the twice-born tribe (i.e. Brahmans) was brought by Vishnu’s eagle from Sakadvipa, and thus have Sakadvipa Brahmans become known in Jambudwipa” (India). Mr. Colebrooke on Indian Classes, Asiatic Researches, vol. v. p. 53. And Manu says that it was only on their ceasing to sanction Brahmans residing amongst them, that the inhabitants of these remote western regions became ‘Mlechchha,’ or barbarians: testimonies which must be held conclusive of perfect intercourse and reciprocity of sentiment between the nations of Central Asia and India at periods the most remote.

Footnote 7.1.9:

Vide “Essay on the Hindu and Theban Hercules,” Transactions of the Royal Asiatic Society, vol. iii.

Footnote 7.1.10:

The Bhagavat says: “Budha (a wise man—a patriarch) came to Bharatkhand to perform penitential rites, and espoused Ila, by whom he had Pururavas (founder of Mathura), who had six sons, namely, Ayu, etc., who carried on the lunar (Indu) races in India.” Now this Ayu is likewise the patriarch of the Tatars, and in that language signifies the moon, a male divinity both with Tatars and Rajputs. Throughout there are traces of an original identity, which justifies the application of the term Indo-Scythic to the Yadu race.—Vide Genealogical table, Vol. I.

Footnote 7.1.11:

Prayaga is the modern Allahabad, at the confluence of the Jumna and Ganges, the capital of the Prasioi of Megasthenes. [Their capital was Pātaliputra, Patna.]

Footnote 7.1.12:

This is alternately called Chhappan Kula and Chhappan Kror, “fifty-six tribes,” and “fifty-six millions,” of Yadus. As they were long supreme over India, this number is not inadmissible.

Footnote 7.1.13:

Transactions of the Royal Asiatic Society, vol. iii. Vide paper entitled “Comparison of the Hindu and Theban Hercules.”

Footnote 7.1.14:

Jambuvati was the name of the seventh wife, whose eldest son was called Samba; he obtained possession of the tracts on both sides the Indus, and founded the Sind-Samma dynasty, from which the Jarejas are descended. There is every probability that Sambus, of Sambanagari (Minnagara), the opponent of Alexander, was a descendant of Samba, son of Krishna [?]. The Jareja chronicles, in ignorance of the origin of this titular appellation, say that their “ancestors came from Sham, or Syria.” [These speculations possess no value.]

Footnote 7.1.15:

[This name does not appear in the Vishnu Purāna list.]

Footnote 7.1.16:

Jad, Jud, Jadon, are the various modes of pronouncing Yadu in the Bhakha, or spoken dialects of the west. Judh-bhan, ‘the rocket of the Yadus,’ would imply the knowledge of gunpowder at a very remote period [?].

Footnote 7.1.17:

The precise knowledge of the topography of these regions, displayed in the Bhatti annals, is the most satisfactory proof of their authenticity. In the present day, it would be in vain to ask any native of Jaisalmer the position of the “hill of Jud,” or the site of Bahra; and but for the valuable translation of Babur’s Memoirs, by Mr. Erskine, we should have been unable to adduce the following testimony. Babur crossed the Indus the 17th February 1519, and on the 19th, between that river and one of its great towns, the Behat, he reached the very tract where the descendant of Krishna established himself twenty-five centuries before. Babur says, “Seven kos from Behreh to the north there is a hill. This hill in the Zefer Nameh (History of Timoor), and other books, is called the Hill of Jud. At first I was ignorant of the origin of its name, but afterwards discovered that in this hill there were two races of men descended of the same father. One tribe is called Jud, the other Jenjuheh. From old times they have been the rulers and lords of the inhabitants of this hill, and of the Ils and Uluses (political divisions) between Nilab and Behreh. Their power is exerted in a friendly and brotherly way. They cannot take from them whatever they please. They take as their share a portion that has been fixed from very remote times. The Jud is divided into various branches or families, as well as the Jenjuheh. The chief man amongst them gets the name of Rae.”—Erskine’s Baber, p. 254.

Here is a decided confirmation that this Hindu colony preserved all their original manners and customs even to Babur’s day. The tribe of Janjuhahs, beyond a doubt, is the tribe of Johya, so celebrated in the region skirting the Sutlej, and which will be noticed hereafter. I presented a small work entirely relating to their history to the Royal Asiatic Society. As Babur says they are of the same family as the Juds, they are probably the descendants of Janj, the brother of Bhatti, who changed the family patronymic from Jadu or Judu to Bhatti; and thus it appears that when the elder branch was driven from Gajni, they retreated amongst their relations of the hills of Jud. Babur was quite enamoured with the beauty of the hill of Jud, which, with its lake and valleys, he describes as a miniature Kashmir.—P. 255.

Footnote 7.1.18:

The Pramars were formerly the most powerful potentates of Central India. Handmaids, and bedsteads of gold, were always a part of the daeja or dower of Hindu princesses.

Footnote 7.1.19:

Abulfazl [? Abulghazi] mentions Joga as prince of Gasmien and Kashmir, who was slain by Aghuz Khan, the Patriarch of the Tatar tribes.

Footnote 7.1.20:

In this early portion of the annals there is a singular mixture of historical facts, and it appears that the Yadu scribes confound their connexions with the Syrian and Bactrian Greeks, and with the first Muslim conquerors. Imperfect as is this notice of Subahu, his son Rajh, and grandson Gaj, who were thus assailed by Farid of Khorasan (Bactria), and his auxiliary, the king of Rum (Syria), we have a powerful allusion to Antiochus the Great, who, two hundred and four years before Christ, invaded Bactria and India. Amongst the few facts left of this expedition is his treaty with Sophagasenas, the Indian monarch, in which the Syrian king stipulated for a tribute in elephants. There are, even in this medley of incidents, grounds for imagining that Sophagasenas is the Yadu prince of Gajni. Whether, out of Subahu and Gaj, the Greeks manufactured their Sophagasenas, or whether prince Gaj could have been entitled Subhagsen, in compliment to his mother, Subhag-Sundari, of Malwa, must be left for the speculative to decide. It is not unlikely that the nature of the tribute, said to have been elephants, which the Indian agreed to furnish to the Greek prince, may have originated with the name of Gaj, which means ‘elephant.’ [Sophagasenas, mentioned by Polybius (xi. 34) was probably an Indian king, Subhāgasena, who ruled in the Kābul valley.]

There is at the same time much that refers to the early progress of Islam in these regions of Central Asia. Price, in his excellent history, extracting from the Khulasatu-l-Akhbar, says, “Hejauge was entrusted with the government of Khorasan, and Obaidoolah with Seistan, who had orders from Hejauge, his superior, to invade Caubul, whose prince was Reteil or Retpeil, whom the Author supposes either a Tatar or Hindoo prince. Artfully retiring, he drew the Mohamedan army into the defiles, and blocking up the rear, cut off their retreat, and Obaidoolah was compelled to purchase his liberation by the payment of seven hundred thousand dirhems.” [See Elliot-Dowson ii. 417; “Retpeil” is possibly Ratnapāla.]

This was the seventy-eighth year of the Hegira, or A.D. 697. Conjoined to what follows, it appears to have reference to Rajh, father of Gaj. Again,

“Obaidoolah and Abdoorehman invaded Seistan with forty thousand men. The prince of Caubul tried the same manœuvre, but was outwitted by the Mohamedan, who conquered a great part of Caubul and acquired great booty, with which he returned to Seistan, to the great displeasure of Hejauge; and Abdoorehman entered into a confederacy with Retpeil to attack Hejauge, and absolve Caubul from tribute. Moghairah was the successor of Abdoorehman in Khorasan, while his father, Mohilel, was employed beyond the Jehoon, but died at Meru of a burning diarrhoea, bequeathing his government to Yezzid.”

This account of Mughaira’s (the governor of Khorasan) death, while carrying on war against the Hindu “Retpeil” of Kabul, has much analogy to the sudden death of Mamrez, the foe of Rajh of Zabulistan. One thing is now proved, that princes of the Hindu faith ruled over all these regions in the first ages of Islamism, and made frequent attempts, for centuries after, to reconquer them. Of this fact, Babur gives us a most striking instance in his description of Gajni, or, as he writes, Ghazni. He says, “I have seen, in another history, that when the Rai of Hind besieged Subaktegin in Ghazni, Subaktegin ordered dead flesh and other impurities to be thrown into the fountain, when there instantly arose a tempest and hurricane, with rain and snow, and by this device he drove away the enemy.” Babur adds, “I made then inquiry in Ghazni for this well, but nobody could give me the slightest information regarding it” (p. 150). Doubtless, when Babur conquered India, and became better acquainted with the Hindu warriors, he would have got to the bottom of this anecdote, and have seen that the success of the ruse of Sabuktegin arose out of the religion of his foes, who could not use water thus contaminated by the flesh of the sacred kine. The celebrated Valabhi was reduced by the same stratagem.

Footnote 7.1.21:

Neither of these towns appears in any map. “There is a Koonj Reshak in Khorasan, and a Penjher in Balk.” Sir W. Ouseley’s Ebn Haukal, pp. 213-223.

Footnote 7.1.22:

“The king of Rum and the king of Khorasan, with horse (haya), elephants (gaya or gaj), caparisons (pākhar), and foot-soldiers (pāē or pāyik) [are at hand]. Beware, let it enter your mind, O Rāē, Lord of the Jadus!“

Footnote 7.1.23:

[A ghari = 24 minutes.]

Footnote 7.1.24:

The unclean spirits of Rajput martial mythology, who feed on the slain.

Footnote 7.1.25:

This date is circumstantial, and might be fixed or disproved by calculation; if the heterogeneous mixture of such widely separated incidents as those in Syro-Macedonian and Muhammadan history did not deter us from the attempt.

Footnote 7.1.26:

No such name appears in Wilson’s Raj Taringini. [Nor in Stein’s Index.]

Footnote 7.1.27:

Tutelary goddess, or “of the race (kula).”

Footnote 7.1.28:

This volcano [or rather jets of combustible gas] is a well-known place of pilgrimage in the Siwalik mountains [in the Kāngra District, Panjāb].

Footnote 7.1.29:

A pahar is one-fourth of the day.

Footnote 7.1.30:

For a description of this rite see Vol. I. pp. 85, 309.

Footnote 7.1.31:

In conformity with the Hindu ordinances of matam, or mourning.

Footnote 7.1.32:

Here is another circumstantial date, S. 72, or A.D. 16, for the foundation of Salbahana in the Panjab, by the fugitive Yadu prince from Gajni. Of its exact position we have no means of judging, but it could not have been remote from Lahore. It may be deemed a fortunate coincidence that I should discover that ancient inscription (p. 914) of this capital, styled Salpur, governed by a Gete or Jat in the fourth century; which suggested the idea (which many facts tend to prove), whether these Yadus (whose illegitimate issue, as will appear in the sequel, are called Jats) may not be the Yuti or Getes from Central Asia. The coincidence of the date of Salbahan-Yadu with that of the Saka Salivahan, the Tak, will not fail to strike the inquirer into Hindu antiquities: and it is not the least curious circumstance, that these Yadus, or Yuti, displaced the Takshak, or Tak, from this region, as will appear immediately. In further corroboration, see notes 2 and 4, p. 916 f., and Inscriptions II. p. 917 and VI. p. 925.]

Footnote 7.1.33:

At every page of these annals, it is evident that they have been transcribed by some ignoramus, who has jumbled together events of ancient and modern date. The prince of Delhi might have been Jaipal, but if we are to place any faith in the chronology of the Tuar race, no prince of this family could be synchronous with the Yadu Salbahan. I am inclined to think that the emigration of Salbahan’s ancestors from Gajni was at a much later period than S. 72, as I shall note as we proceed. [As will be seen later on, the whole story swarms with anachronisms.]

Footnote 7.1.34:

Turk is the term in the dialects which the Hindus apply to the races from central Asia, the Turushka of the Puranas.

Footnote 7.1.35:

Doubtless the ancestor of the Johya race, termed the Janjuha by Babur, and who dwelt with the Juds in the hills of Jud, the Jadu-ka-dang of the Bhatti MSS.

Footnote 7.1.36:

However curious this assertion, of the Chagatais being descended from the Yadus, it ought not to surprise us: I repeat, that all these tribes, whether termed Indo-Scythic or Tatar, prior to Islamism professed a faith which may be termed Hinduism.

Footnote 7.1.37:

As it is evident the period has reference to the very first years of Islamism, and it is stated that the sons of Gaj were to be proselytes, it is by no means improbable that this is Jaipal, the infidel prince of Khwarizm.—See Price’s Mahomedan History.

Footnote 7.1.38:

This is a most important admission of the proselytism of the ancient Indo-Scythic Yadu princes to the faith of Islam, though there can be no reasonable doubt of it. Temugin, better known by his nomme de guerre, Jangiz, the father of Chagatai, according to the Muhammadan historians, is termed an infidel, and so was Takash, the father of Muhammad of Khwarizm: the one was of the Getic or Yuti race; the other, as his name discloses, of the Tak or Takshak, the two grand races of Central Asia. The insertion of this pedigree in this place completely vitiates chronology; yet for what purpose it could have been interpolated, if not founded on some fact, we cannot surmise.

Footnote 7.1.39:

We can, by means of the valuable translation of the Commentaries of Babur, trace many of these tribes.

Footnote 7.1.40:

It has already been stated that the fifteen brothers of Baland established themselves in the mountainous parts of the Panjab, and that his sons inherited those west of the Indus, or Daman. The Afghan tribes, whose supposed genealogy from the Jews has excited so much curiosity, and who now inhabit the regions conquered by the sons of Salbahan, are possibly Yadus, who, on conversion, to give more éclat to their antiquity, converted Yadu into Yahudi or Jew, and added the rest of the story from the Koran. That grand division of Afghans called the Yusufzai, or ‘Sons of Joseph,’ whose original country was Kabul and Ghazni, yet retain the name of Jadon (vulgar of Yadu) as one of their principal subdivisions; and they still occupy a position in the hilly region east of the Indus, conquered by the sons of Baland. It would be a curious fact could we prove the Afghans not Yahudis but Yadus [?].

Footnote 7.1.41:

Doubtless the junction of Janj with that of Johya, another numerous tribe, formed the Janjuha of Babur; the Johyas of the Bhatti annals, now known only by name, but whose history forms a volume. The sons of Janj have left numerous traces—Janjian on the Gara; Jinjiniali in the desert, etc.

Footnote 7.1.42:

Even the mention of an animal unknown in the desert of India evinces the ancient source whence these annals are compiled. Had the Yadu colony at this period obtained a footing in the desert, south of the Sutlej, the computation would have been by camel-loads, not by mules.

Footnote 7.1.43:

See Vol. I. p. 315, for an account of this military foray.

Footnote 7.1.44:

This would almost imply that Lahore and Salbahana were one and the same place, but from what follows, the intervening distance could not have been great between the two cities. There is a Sangala, south of Lahore, near the altars of Alexander, and a Sialkot in our modern maps. Salbahana, Salbahanpur, or simply Salpura, may have been erected on the ruins of Kampilanagari. We may hope that researches in that yet untouched region, the Panjab, will afford much to the elucidation of ancient history. [Sālbahanpur is usually identified with Siālkot (Cunningham, ASR, ii. 21).]

Footnote 7.1.45:

The Lakhi Jungle is well known in India for its once celebrated breed of horses, extinct within the last twenty years.

Footnote 7.1.46:

[They take their name from the old town of Abohar in the Firozpur District, Panjāb (IGI, v. 2). Compare the local legend with that from Hissār (Rose, Glossary, ii. 103 f.).]

Footnote 7.1.47:

Thus it is that the most extensive agricultural races spread all over India, called Jāts or Jats, have a tradition that they are descended from the Yadu race (qu. Yuti?), and that their original country is Kandahar. Such was stated to me as the origin of the Jats of Bayana and Bharatpur. Why the descendants of Saran assumed the name of Jats is not stated.

Footnote 7.1.48:

This incidental mention of the race of Tak, and of its being in great consideration on the settlement of the Yadus in the Panjab, is very important. I have given a sketch of this tribe (Vol. I. p. 123), but since I wrote it I have discovered the capital of the Tak, and on the very spot where I should have expected the site of Taxila, the capital of Taxiles, the friend of Alexander. In that sketch I hesitated not to say that the name was not personal, but arose from his being the head of the Takshak or Naga tribe, which is confirmed. It is to Babur, or rather to his translator, that I am indebted for this discovery. In describing the limits of Banu, Babur thus mentions it: “And on the west is Dasht, which is also called Bazar and Tak”; to which the erudite translator adds, “Tak is said long to have been the capital of Daman.” In Mr. Elphinstone’s map, Bazar, which Babur makes identical with Tak, is a few miles north of the city of Attok. There is no question that both the river and city were named after the race of Tak or Takshak, the Nagas, Nagvansi, or snake race, who spread over India. Indeed, I would assume that the name of Omphis, which young Taxiles had on his father’s death, is Ophis, the Greek version of Tak, the ‘serpent.’ The Taks appear to have been established in the same regions at the earliest period. The Mahabharata describes the wars between Janamejaya and the Takshaks, to revenge on their king the death of his father Parikshit, emperor of Indraprastha, or Delhi. [These theories have no foundation. Omphis is the Greek form of Skt. Āmbhi, and has no connexion with a snake cult (Smith, EHI, 60).]

Footnote 7.1.49:

[This is a series of folk etymologies intended to explain the intermixture of these tribes. For the Kalhora tribe see Rose, Glossary, ii. 440 ff.]

Footnote 7.1.50:

The names of these Rajput races, several of which are now blotted from the page of existence, prove the fidelity of the original manuscript. The Barahas are now Muhammadans.

Footnote 7.1.51:

The Buta is amongst the extinct tribes.

Footnote 7.1.52:

Pugal from the most remote times has been inhabited by the Pramar race. It is one of the Nau-koti Maru-ki, the nine castles of the desert.

Footnote 7.1.53:

The Sodhas of Umarkot have inhabited the desert from time immemorial, and are in all probability the Sogdoi of Alexander. See Vol. I. p. 111.

Footnote 7.1.54:

Lodorva will be described hereafter.

Footnote 7.1.55:

[The above series of legends of the Bhatti settlement in the desert is a mass of fiction. “We are told that Sālivāhan founded the city of Sālbāhanpur in Vikrama Sambat 72, or about A.D. 16; that the third in succession to him, Mangal Rāo, was driven southward into the desert, and that Mangal Rāo’s grandson, Kehar, laid the foundations of a castle called Tanot (still in Jaisalmer territory), which was completed in A.D. 731; or, in other words, that Sālivāhan and his five immediate successors reigned for more than seven hundred years. Again, it is said that in Sālivāhan’s time the coconut, an offer of marriage, came from Rāja Jaipāl Tonwar of Delhi, whereas the Tonwar dynasty ruled at Delhi for just a century from about A.D. 1050.” This Sālivāhana cannot be the hero who is said to have conquered the Indo-Scythians, but some of the many legends connected with him may have suggested the fictions of the Bhatti bards (Erskine iii. A. 96).]

Footnote 7.1.56:

Mulraj had three sons, Rajpal, Lohwa, and Chubar. The elder son had two sons, Rana and Giga; the first of whom had five sons, Dhukur, Pohor, Budh, Kulru, Jaipal, all of whom had issue, and became heads of clans. The descendants of Giga bore the name of Khengar (qu. chiefs of Girnar?). The annals of all these States abound with similar minute genealogical details, which to the Rajputs are of the highest importance in enabling them to trace the affinities of families, but which it is imperative to omit, as they possess no interest for the European reader. I have extracted the names of the issue of Mulraj to show this. The Khengars were famed in the peninsula of Surashtra—nine of them ruled in Junagarh Girnar; and but for this incidental relation, their origin must have ever remained concealed from the archaeologist, as the race has long been extinct. On some future day I hope to present a sketch of Khengar’s palace, on the sacred mount Girnar, to the public. [The famous well, at least, is attributed to Rāo Khengār II. (A.D. 1098-1125) (BG, viii. 444).]

Footnote 7.1.57:

The remains of this once famous town, the ancient capital of the upper valley of the Indus, I had the happiness to discover by means of one of my parties, in 1811. It is the Alor of Abu-l-fazl, the capital of Raja Siharas, whose kingdom extended north to Kashmir, and south to the ocean; and the Azour of D’Anville, who, on the authority of Ebn Haukal, says, “Azour est presque comparable à Multan pour la grandeur.” He adds, that Azizi places it “trente parasanges de Mansora.” If Mansura is the ancient Bakhar (capital of the Sogdoi), we should read three instead of thirty. See Map, Vol. I.[Mansūra was near Bāhmanābād.]

Footnote 7.1.58:

Panjnad is the name which the Indus bears immediately below the point of confluence of the five streams (panj-nadi). The mere mention of such terms as the Panjnad, and the ancient Aror, stamps these annals with authenticity, however they may be deformed by the interpolations and anachronisms of ignorant copyists. Of Aror, or the Panjnad, excepting the regular kasids, or messengers, perhaps not an individual living in Jaisalmer could not speak.

Footnote 7.1.59:

[This is another anachronism. The Deora sept of the Chauhāns, of which the Rāja of Sirohi is head, did not come into existence until the thirteenth century, and Jālor was then held by the Paramāras, who kept possession till they were ousted by the Chauhāns at the end of the twelfth century (Erskine iii. A. 10).]

Footnote 7.1.60:

This shows that the Baraha tribe was of the same faith with the Yadu Bhatti; in fact ‘the star of Islam’ did not shine in these regions for some time after, although Umar, in the first century, had established a colony of the faithful at Bakhar, afterwards Mansura. The Barahas are mentioned by Pottinger in his travels in Balochistan.

Footnote 7.1.61:

There are but six descents given from Salbahan, the leader of the Yadu colony from Zabulistan into the Panjab, and Kehar, the founder of their first settlement in the desert of India. The period of the first is S. 72, of the other S. 787. Either names are wanting, or the period of Salbahan is erroneous. Kehar’s period, namely, S. 787, appears a landmark, and is borne out by numerous subsequent most valuable synchronisms. Were we to admit one hundred years to have elapsed between Salbahan and Kehar, it would make the period of expulsion from Zabulistan about S. 687, which is just about the era of Muhammad.

Footnote 7.1.62:

See “Essay on the Hindu and Theban Hercules,” Transactions of the Royal Asiatic Society, vol. iii.

Footnote 7.1.63:

[Sīstān is Sakastēnē, “The Saka country”.]

Footnote 7.1.64:

[The capital of Sambos was Sindimana, probably Sihwān (Smith, EHI, 101).]

Footnote 7.1.65:

Mr. Wilson discovered the name of Pandu in Ptolemy’s Geography of Sogdiana; and according to Ebn Haukal, the city of Herat is also called Hari. This adjoins Maru, or Merv, and to Marusthali the Pandu and Harikula races retired on their exile from India. If ever these remote regions are searched for ancient inscriptions, we may yet ascend the ladder of Time. What was that Hamiri language, inscribed on the gate of Samarkand? (Ouseley, Ebn Haukal, p. 254). The lamented death of that enterprising traveller, Mr. Brown, when he was about visiting Transoxiana, leaves a fine field to the adventurous. The Buddhist colossal sculptures and caves at Bamian, with such inscriptions as they may contain, are of the highest importance; and I have little doubt, will be found of the same character as those discovered in the cave temples of India, attributed to the Pandus. [The author depended on Wilford (Asiatic Researches, vi. 462 ff.). For Bamiān see EB, 11th ed. iii. 304 f.]

Footnote 7.1.66:

In a portion of the essay “On the Theban and Hindu Hercules,” which I suppressed as better suited to an intended dissertation “On the Sepulchral Monuments of the Rajpoots,” where I trace a close analogy between their customs and those of the Scythic and Scandinavian Warriors, my particular attention was drawn to that singular monument discovered by Elphinstone, called the “Tope Manikiala.” I had before (Trans. R.A.S. vol. i. p. 330) conjectured it to be one of the many mausoleums erected to Menander, but on observing the geography of St. Croix, in his Examen Critique des Historiens d’Alexandre, who places the city of Bucephalus on the very spot where the monument found by Mr. E. exists, I gave up Menander for Alexander’s horse, and this, long anterior to its reported excavation by the Chev. Ventura, for whose subsequent observations we impatiently wait. [Mānikiāla, in the Rāwalpindi District; the Stūpa marks the spot where Gautama Buddha offered his body to appease the hunger of seven tiger cubs (IGI, xvii. 182 f.). The site of Boukephala is practically identical with the modern Jihlam (Smith, EHI, 71).]

-----