Chapter 2…

Chapter 2

=Question of Dates.=—The dates of the varied events related in the preceding chapter may be of doubtful accuracy, but we have at length arrived on the terra firma of Bhatti chronology. We may distrust the date, 3008 of Yudishthira’s era, for the victory obtained by the Jadon prince of Gajni over the kings of Rum and Khorasan;[7.2.1] as well as that of S. 72 assigned for the exode of Salbahan and his Yadus from Zabulistan, and their colonization of the Panjab;[7.2.2] but their settlements in the desert, and the foundation of [233] Tanot, their first seat of power, in S. 787 (A.D. 731), are corroborated by incontrovertible synchronisms in almost every subsequent reign of these annals.

=Rāo Kehar I.=—Kehar, a name highly respected in the history of the Bhatti race, and whose exploit has been already recorded, must have been the cotemporary of the celebrated Caliph Al Walid,[7.2.3] the first whose arms extended to the plains of India, and one of whose earliest conquests and chief positions was Aror, the capital of Upper Sind.

=Rāo Tano or Tanuji.=—Kehar[7.2.4] had five sons; namely, Tano, Utirao, Chanar, Kaphrio, Them. All of them had offspring,[7.2.5] who became the heads of clans, retaining the patronymic. All were soldiers of fortune, and they conquered the lands of the Chana Rajputs;[7.2.6] but the latter revenged themselves upon Kehar, whom they attacked and slew as he was hunting.

Tano succeeded. He laid waste the lands of the Barahas,[7.2.7] and those of the Langaha of Multan. But Husain Shah advanced with the Langaha Pathans,[7.2.8] clothed in armour with iron helms, with the men of Dudi,[7.2.9] of Khichi[7.2.10] the Khokhar;[7.2.11] the Mogul, the Johya,[7.2.12] the Jud,[7.2.12] and Sayyid, all mounted on horses, to the number of ten thousand men, to attack the Jadon. They reached the territory of the Barahas, who [234] joined them, and there they encamped. Tano collected his brethren around him, and prepared for defence. During four days they defended the castle; and on the fifth the Rao ordered the gates to be thrown open, and with his son, Bijairae, sallied out sword in hand, and attacked the besiegers. The Barahas were the first to fly, and they were soon followed by the rest of the Asurs. The victors carried the spoils of the field into Tanot. As soon as the armies of Multan and Langaha were driven off, the coco-nut came from Jiju, chief of the Butas of Butaban,[7.2.13] and an alliance offensive and defensive was formed against the prince of Multan.

Tano had five sons, Bijairae, Makar, Jaitang, Alan, and Rakecha. The second son, Makar, had issue Maipa, who had two sons, Mohola and Dakao, the latter of whom excavated the lake known by his name. His issue became carpenters (Sutar), and are to this day known as the Makar Sutar.[7.2.14]

The third son, Jaitang, had two sons, Ratansi and Chohar. The first repaired the ruined city of Bikampur.[7.2.15] Chohar had two sons, Kola and Girraj, who founded the towns of Kolasar and Girrajsar.[7.2.15]

The fourth son, Alan, had four sons, Deosi, Tirpal, Bhaoni, and Rakecha. The descendants of Deosi became Rabaris (who rear camels),[7.2.16] and the issue of Rakecha became merchants (Banias), and are now classed amongst the Oswal tribe.[7.2.17]

Tano having, by the interposition of the goddess Bijaiseni, discovered a hidden treasure, erected a fortress, which he named Bijnot;[7.2.18] and in this he placed a statue of the goddess, on the 13th, the enlightened part of the month Margsir, the Rohini Nakshatra, S. 813 (A.D. 757). He died after ruling eighty years.

=Bijairāē.=—Bijairae succeeded in S. 870 (A.D. 814). He commenced his reign with the tika-daur against his old enemies, the Barahas, whom he defeated and plundered. In S. 892, he had a son by the Buta queen, who was called Deoraj. The Barahas and Langahas once more united to attack the Bhatti prince; but they were defeated [235] and put to flight. Finding that they could not succeed by open warfare, they had recourse to treachery. Having, under pretence of terminating this long feud, invited young Deoraj to marry the daughter of the Baraha chief, the Bhattis attended, when Bijairae and eight hundred of his kin and clan were massacred. Deoraj escaped to the house of the Purohit (of the Barahas, it is presumed), whither he was pursued. There being no hope of escape, the Brahman threw the Brahmanical thread round the neck of the young prince, and in order to convince his pursuers that they were deceived as to the object of their search, he sat down to eat with him from the same dish.[7.2.19] Tanot was invested and taken, and nearly every soul in it put to the sword, so that the very name of Bhatti was for a while extinct.

=Rāo Deorāj.=—Deoraj remained for a long time concealed in the territory of the Barahas; but at length he ventured to Buta, his maternal abode, where he had the happiness to find his mother, who had escaped the massacre at Tanot. She was rejoiced to behold her son’s face, and “waved the salt over his head,” then threw it into the water, exclaiming, “Thus may your enemies melt away!” Soon tired of a life of dependence, Deoraj asked for a single village, which was promised; but the kin of the Buta chief alarmed him, and he recalled it, and limited his grant to such a quantity of land as he could encompass by the thongs cut from a single buffalo’s hide; and this, too, in the depth of the desert. For this expedient he was indebted to the architect Kaikeya, who had constructed the castle of Bhatner.[7.2.20] Deoraj immediately commenced erecting a [236] place of strength, which he called after himself Deogarh, or Derawar,[7.2.21] on Monday, the 5th of the month Magh (sudi), the Pushya Nakshatra, S. 909.

Soon as the Buta chief heard that his son-in-law was erecting, not a dwelling, but a castle, he sent a force to raze it. Deoraj despatched his mother with the keys to the assailants, and invited the leaders to receive the castle and his homage; when the chief men, to the number of a hundred and twenty, entered, they were inveigled, under pretence of consultation, ten at a time, and each party put to death and their bodies thrown over the wall. Deprived of their leaders, the rest took to flight.

Soon after, the prince was visited by his patron, the Jogi who had protected him amongst the Barahas, and who now gave him the title of Siddh.[7.2.22] This Jogi, who possessed the art of transmuting metals, lodged in the same house where Deoraj found protection on the massacre of his father and kindred. One day, the holy man had gone abroad, leaving his jarjarikakantha, or ‘tattered doublet,’ in which was the Raskumbha, or ‘elixir-vessel,’ a drop of which having fallen on the dagger of Deoraj and changed it to gold, he decamped with both, and it was by the possession of this he was enabled to erect Derawar. The Jogi was well aware of the thief whom he now came to visit; and he confirmed him in the possession of the stolen property, on one condition, that he should become his chela and disciple, and, as a token of submission and fidelity, adopt the external symbols of the Jogi. Deoraj assented, and was invested with the Jogi robe of ochre.[7.2.23] He placed the mudra[7.2.24] in his ear, the little horn round his neck, and [237] the bandage (langota) about his loins; and with the gourd (khopra) in his hand, he perambulated the dwellings of his kin, exclaiming, Alakh! Alakh![7.2.25] The gourd was filled with gold and pearls; the title of Rao was abandoned for that of Rawal;[7.2.26] the tika was made on his forehead; and exacting a pledge that these rites of inauguration should be continued to the latest posterity, the Baba Rata (for such was the Jogi’s name) disappeared.

Deoraj determined to wreak his revenge on the Barahas, and he enjoyed it even “to stripping the scarfs from the heads of their females.” On his return to Derawar, he prepared for an attack on Langaha, the heir of which was then on a marriage expedition at Alipur. There, Deoraj attacked and slew a thousand of them, the rest henceforth acknowledged his supremacy. The Langahas were gallant Rajputs.

=The Langāha Tribe.=—As the tribe of Langaha, or Langa, will from this period go hand in hand, in all the international wars of the Yadu-Bhattis, from their expulsion from the Panjab to their final settlement in the Indian desert, it is of some interest to trace its origin and destiny. It is distinctly stated that, at this epoch, the Langahas were Rajputs; and they are in fact a subdivision of the Solanki or Chalukya race, one of the four Agnikula; and it is important to observe that in their gotracharya, or ‘genealogical tree,’ they claim Lohkot in the Panjab as their early location; in all probability prior to their regeneration on Mount Abu, when they adopted Brahmanical principles. From the year S. 787 (A.D. 731), when the castle of Tanot was erected by the leader of the Bhatti colony, down to S. 1530 (A.D. 1474), a period of seven hundred and forty-three years, perpetual border-strife appears to have occurred between the Bhattis and Langahas, which terminated in that singular combat, or duel, of tribe against tribe, during the reign of Rawal Chachak, in the last-mentioned period. Shortly after this, Babur conquered India, and Multan became a province of the empire, when the authority of tribes ceased. Ferishta, however, comes to our aid and gives us an account of an entire dynasty of this tribe as kings of Multan. The first of this line of five kings began his reign A.H. 847 (A.D. 1443), or thirty years anterior to the death of Rawal Chachak. The Muslim historian (see Briggs’ Ferishta, vol. iv. p. 379) says that when Khizr Khan Sayyid[7.2.27] was emperor of Delhi, he sent Shaikh Yusuf as his lieutenant to Multan, who gained the esteem of the surrounding princes; amongst whom was Rae Sahra, chief of Sivi, head of the tribe of Langaha [238], who came to congratulate him, and to offer his services and a daughter in marriage. The offer was accepted; constant communication was kept up between Sivi and Multan, till at length Rae Sahra disclosed the object of all this solicitude; he threw aside the mask, confined the Shaikh, sent him off to Delhi, and crowned himself king of Multan, under the title of Kutbu-d-din.

Ferishta[7.2.28] calls Rae Sahra and his tribe of Langaha, Afghans; and Abu-l-fazl says, the inhabitants of Sivi were of the Numri (fox) tribe, which is assuredly one of the most numerous of the Jat or Gete race, though they have all, since their conversion, adopted the distinctive term of Baloch. The Bhatti chronicle calls the Langahas in one page Pathan, and in another Rajput, which are perfectly reconcilable, and by no means indicative that the Pathan or Afghan of that early period, or even in the time of Rae Sahra, was a Muhammadan. The title of Rae is sufficient proof that they were even then Hindus. Mr. Elphinstone scouts the idea of the descent of the Afghans from the Jews; and not a trace of the Hebrew is found in the Pushtu, or language of this tribe, although it has much affinity to the Zend and Sanskrit. I cannot refrain from repeating my conviction of the origin of the Afghans from the Yadu, converted into Yahudi, or ‘Jew.’ Whether these Yadus are or are not Yuti, or Getae, remains to be proved.[7.2.29]

To the south of Derawar dwelt the Lodra Rajputs; their capital was Lodorva,[7.2.30] an immense city, having twelve gates. The family Purohit, having been offended, took sanctuary (saran) with Deoraj, and stimulated him to dispossess his old masters of their territory. A marriage was proposed to Nripbhan, the chief of the Lodras, which being accepted, Deoraj, at the head of twelve hundred chosen horse, departed for Lodorva. The gates of the city were thrown open as the bridegroom approached; but no sooner had he entered with his suite, than swords were drawn, and Deoraj made himself master of Lodorva.[7.2.31] He married the chief’s daughter, left a garrison in Lodorva, and returned to Derawar. Deoraj was now lord of fifty-six thousand horse, and a hundred thousand camels [239].[7.2.32]

At this period, a merchant of Derawar, named Jaskaran, having gone to Dharanagari, was imprisoned by its prince, Brajbhan Puar, and compelled to pay a ransom for his liberty. On his return to Derawar, he showed the mark of the iron-collar to his sovereign, who, indignant at the dishonour put upon his subject, swore he would not drink water until he had avenged the insult. But he had not calculated the distance between him and his foe; in order, however, to redeem his pledge, a Dhar of clay (gar-ra-dhar) was constructed, on which he was about to wreak his vengeance, but there were Pramars in his army, who were at their post ready to defend their mock capital; and, as their astonished prince advanced to destroy it, they exclaimed—

_Jān Puār tan Dhār hai Aur Dhār tān Puār Dhār bina Puār nahīn Aur nahīn Puār bina Dhār_,

which may be thus translated:

“Wherever there is a Puar, there is a Dhar; and where there is a Dhar, there is a Puar. There is no Dhar without a Puar; neither is there a Puar without a Dhar.”[7.2.33]

Under their leaders, Tejsi and Sarang, they protected the mock Dhar, and were cut to pieces to the number of one hundred and twenty.[7.2.34] Deoraj approved their valour, and provided for their children. Being thus released from his oath, he proceeded towards Dhar, reducing those who opposed his progress. Brajbhan defended Dhar during five days, and fell with eight hundred of his men; upon which Deoraj unfurled the flag of victory and returned to his late conquest, the city of Lodorva.

Deoraj had two sons, Mund and Chedu; the last, by a wife of the Baraha tribe, had five sons, whose descendants were styled Cheda Rajputs. Deoraj excavated several large lakes in the territory of Khadal (in which Derawar is situated); one at Tanot is called Tanosar; another, after himself, Deosar. Having one day gone to hunt, slightly attended, he was attacked by an ambush of the Chana Rajputs, and slain with twenty-six of his attendants, after having reigned fifty-five years. His kin and clans shaved their locks and moustaches, excepting[7.2.35]

Mund, who succeeded, and performed all the ceremonies during the twelve days. Having made his ablutions with the water from sixty-eight different wells, in which [240] were immersed the leaves of one hundred and eight different shrubs and trees, a female of spotless virtue waved the burning frankincense over his head. Before him was placed the panjamrit, consisting of curds, milk, butter, sugar, and honey; likewise pearls, gems, the royal umbrella, the grass called dub, various flowers, a looking-glass, a young virgin, a chariot, a flag or banner, the vela flower, seven sorts of grain, two fish, a horse, a nakhank (unknown),[7.2.36] a bullock, a shell, a lotus, a vessel of water, the tail of the wild ox (chaunri), a sword, a female calf, a litter, yellow clay, and prepared food. Then, seated on the lion’s hide—(on which were painted the seven dwipas or continents of Hindu cosmography, apparelled in the dress of the Jogi, and covered with ashes (bhabut), with the mudra in his ears)—the white chaunri (ox-tail) was waved over his head, and he was inaugurated on the gaddi of Deoraj, while the Purohit and chiefs presented their offerings. The tika-daur was against the assassins of his father, who had congregated for defence, eight hundred of whom were put to death. Rawal Mund had one son, who was called Bachera. When about fourteen years of age the coco-nut came from Balabhsen Solanki, Raja of Patan.[7.2.37] He forthwith proceeded to Patan, where he married the Solanki princess, and died not long after his father.

=Rāwal Bachera or Wachuji.=—Bachera succeeded on Saturday the 12th Sravan, S. 1035.[7.2.38] The same rites of installation were performed; the Kanphara (split-eared) Jogi was the first to put the regal tilak on his forehead, and “his hand upon his back.” Rawal Bachera had five sons, Dusaj, Singh, Bapi Rao, Ankho, and Malpasao; all of whom had issue, forming clans.

A merchant came to Lodorva with a caravan of horses, of which there was one of a race so superior that a lakh of rupees was fixed as his price; the breed belonged to a Pathan chief, west of the Indus. To obtain it, Dusaj and his son Ankho put themselves at the head of a band, crossed the Indus, slew Ghazi Khan, the Pathan chief, and carried off his stud [241].

Singh had a son, Sachharae; his son was Bala, who had two sons, Ratan and Jaga; they attacked the Parihar prince Jagannath of Mandor, and carried off five hundred camels: their descendants are styled Singhrao Rajputs.

Bapi Rao had two sons, Pahu and Mandan. Pahu had likewise two, Biram and Tular, whose numerous issue were styled the Pahu Rajputs. The Pahus issued from their abode of Bikampur, and conquered the lands of the Johyas, as far as Devijhal; and having made Pugal[7.2.39] their capital, they dug numerous wells in the thal, which still go by the name of the Pahu wells.

Near Khata, in the Nagor district of Marwar, there dwelt a warrior of the Khichi tribe, named Jadra, who often plundered even to the gates of Pugal, slaying many of the Jaitang Bhattis. Dusaj prepared a kafila (‘caravan’) under pretence of making a pilgrimage to the Ganges, invaded unawares the Khichi chief’s territory, and slew him, with nine hundred of his men.

Dusaj, with his three brothers, went to the land of Kher, where dwelt Partap Singh, chief of the Guhilots,[7.2.40] whose daughters they espoused. “In the land of Kher, the Jadon showered gold, enriching it.” In the daeja (dower) with his daughter, the Guhilot gave fifteen Dewadharis, or ‘virgin lamp-holders.’ Soon after, the Balochs made an inroad into the territory of Khadal; a battle ensued, in which five hundred were killed, and the rest fled beyond the river. Bachera died, and was succeeded by

=Rāwal Dusaj.=— Dusaj, in the month of Asarh, S. 1100. Hamir, prince of the Sodhas,[7.2.41] made an incursion into his territories, which he plundered. Dusaj having unavailingly remonstrated, reminding him of ancient ties, he marched into Dhat, and gained a victory. Dusaj had two sons, Jaisal and Bijairaj, and in his old age a third son, by a Ranawat princess of the house of Mewar, called Lanja Bijairae, who, when Dusaj died, was placed on the throne by the nobles and civil officers of the State. Previous to his elevation, he had espoused a daughter of Siddhraj Jai Singh, Solanki. During the nuptial ceremonies, as the mother of the bride was marking the forehead of the bridegroom [242] with the tilak, or ‘inauguration mark,’ she exclaimed, “My son, do thou become the portal of the north—the barrier between us and the king, whose power is becoming strong.”[7.2.42] By the princess of Patan he had a son, who was named Bhojdeo, and who, by the death of his father when he attained the age of twenty-five, became lord of Lodorva. The other sons of Dusaj were at this time advanced in manhood, Jaisal being thirty-five, and Bijairaj thirty-two years of age.

Some years before the death of Dusaj, Raedhawal Puar, son (or descendant) of Udayaditya of Dhar, had three daughters, one of whom he betrothed to Jaipal (Ajaipal) Solanki, son of Siddhraj;[7.2.43] another to Bijairaj Bhatti, and the third to the Rana of Chitor. The Bhatti prince left Lodorva for Dhar at the head of seven hundred horse, and arrived at the same time with the Sesodia and Solanki princes. On his return to Lodorva, he erected a temple to Seshalinga, close to which he made a lake. By the Puar princess he had a son named Rahar, who had two sons, Netsi and Keksi.

Bhojdeo had not long occupied the gaddi of Lodorva, when his uncle Jaisal conspired against him; but being always surrounded by a guard of five hundred Solanki Rajputs, his person was unassailable. At this time the prince of Patan was often engaged with the king’s troops from Tatta. Jaisal, in pursuance of his plan, determined to coalesce with the king, and cause an attack on Patan (Anhilwara), by which alone he could hope for the departure of the Solanki body-guard. Jaisal, with his chief kin, escorted by two hundred horse, marched to the Panjnad, where he saw the king of Ghor, who had just overcome the king of Tatta,[7.2.44] and placed his own garrison there [243],[7.2.45] and he accompanied him to Aror, the ancient capital of Sind. There he unfolded his views, and having sworn allegiance to the king, he obtained a force to dispossess his nephew of his territory. Lodorva was encompassed, and Bhojdeo slain in its defence. In two days the inhabitants were to carry off their effects, and on the third the troops of Ghor were permitted the license of plunder. Lodorva was sacked, and Karim Khan departed for Bakhar with the spoils.

=The Foundation of Jaisalmer, c. A.D. 1156.=—Jaisal thus obtained the gaddi of Lodorva; but it being open to invasion, he sought a spot better adapted for defence, and he found one only five coss (ten miles) from Lodorva. Upon the summit of a rocky ridge, he discovered a Brahman, whose solitary hermitage adjoined the fountain of Brahmsar. Having paid homage, and disclosed the purport of his visit, the recluse related the history of the triple-peaked hill, which overlooked his hermitage. He said that in the Treta, or ‘silver age,’ a celebrated ascetic called Kak, or Kaga, resided at this fountain, after whom the rivulet which issued thence had its name of Kaga; that the Pandu Arjun, with Hari Krishna, came there to attend a great sacrifice, on which occasion Krishna foretold that, in some distant age, a descendant of his should erect a town on the margin of that rivulet, and should raise a castle on Trikuta, the triple-peaked mount.[7.2.46] While Krishna thus prophesied, it was observed to him by Arjun that the water was bad, when Krishna smote the rock with his chakra (discus), whereupon a sweet spring bubbled up, and on its margin were inscribed the prophetic stanzas which the hermit Isal now pointed out to the Bhatti prince, who read as follows:

1.

“Oh prince of Jadu-vansa! come into this land, and on this mountain’s top erect a triangular castle.

2.

“Lodorva is destroyed, but only five coss therefrom is Jasana, a site of twice its strength.

3.

“Prince, whose name is Jaisal, who will be of Yadu race, abandon Lodorpura; here erect thy dwelling.”

The hermit Isal alone knew the existence of the fountain on whose margin these lines were engraved. All that he stipulated for himself was that the fields to the [244] westward of the castle should retain his name, “the fields of Isal.” He foretold that the intended castle should twice and a half times be sacked; that rivers of blood would flow, and that for a time all would be lost to his descendants.

On Rabiwar, ‘the day of the sun’ (a favourite day for commencing any grand undertaking with all these tribes), the 12th of Sravan, the enlightened half of the moon, S. 1212 (A.D. 1156), the foundation of Jaisalmer was laid, and soon the inhabitants, with all that was valuable, abandoned Lodorva,[7.2.47] and began to erect new habitations. Jaisal had two sons, Kelan and Salbahan. He chose his chief ministers and advisers from the children of Sodal, of the Pahu tribe, who became too powerful. Their old enemies, the Ghana Rajputs, again invaded the lands of Khadal; but they suffered for their audacity. Jaisal survived this event five years, when he died, and was succeeded by his youngest son, Salbahan the Second [245].

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Footnote 7.2.1:

The emperor Babur tells us, in his Commentaries, that the people of India apply the term Khorasan to all the regions west of the Indus.

Footnote 7.2.2:

Notwithstanding the lapse of eleven hundred years since the expulsion of the Bhattis from the Panjab, and in spite of the revolutions in laws, language, and religion, since the descendants of Salbahan abandoned that region, yet, even to this day, there is abundant testimony in its geographical nomenclature that the Bhattis had dominion there. We have Pindi Bhattia-ka, Bhatti-ka-chak, in the very position where we should look for Salbahanpur.—See Elphinstone’s Map. [Sālbāhanpur is generally identified with Siālkot (ASR, ii. 21).]

Footnote 7.2.3:

[Walīd I., seventh Caliph of the house of Ummaya (A.D. 705-14).]

Footnote 7.2.4:

Although I omit the inverted commas indicative of translation, the reader is to understand that what follows is a free interpretation of the original chronicle.

Footnote 7.2.5:

Utirao had five sons, Sorna, Sahasi, Jiva, Chako, and Ajo; their issue had the generic term of Utirao. It is thus their clans and tribes are multiplied ad infinitum, and since the skill of the genealogist (Bhat) is required to keep them clear of incestuous marriages, even such uninteresting details have some value, as they stamp their annals with authenticity.

Footnote 7.2.6:

The tribe of Chana is now extinct.

Footnote 7.2.7:

These Indo-Scythic tribes were designated by the names of animals. The Barahas are the hogs; the Numris, the foxes; Takshaks, the snakes; Aswas or Asi, the horses, etc. [possibly an indication of totemism].

Footnote 7.2.8:

These Langaha Pathans were proselytes from the Solanki Rajputs, one of the four Agnikula races. Probably they inhabited the district of Lamghan, west of the Indus. It is curious and interesting to find that the Solanki gotracharya, or ‘genealogical creed,’ claims Lohkot as their settlement. The use of the word Pathan by no means precludes their being Hindus. [The Langāhs, originally Afghāns, are now agriculturists (Rose, Glossary, iii. 30 f.).]

Footnote 7.2.9:

Babur, in his valuable Autobiography, gives us the names of all the tribes he met in his passage into India, and this enumeration goes far to prove the authenticity of the early annals of the Bhattis. Babur does not mention “the men of Dudi.”

Footnote 7.2.10:

The introduction of the name of this tribe here is highly important, and very interesting to those who have studied, in the Rajput bards, their early history. The bards of the Khichis give them this northern origin, and state that all Sindsagar, one of the duabs of the Panjab, belonged to them.

Footnote 7.2.11:

The Khokhar is most probably the Ghakkar. Babur writes the name Gakar, a singular race, and decidedly Scythic in their habits even in his day. [The Khokhar and Ghakkar tribes are often confused (Rose ii. 554).]

Footnote 7.2.12:

Of the Judis and Johyas we have already spoken as inhabiting the range called in the native annals Jadu-ka-dang, and by Babur “the hill of Jud,” skirting the Behat. The position of Bahara is laid down in that monument of genius and industry, the Memoir of Rennel (who calls it Bheera), in 32° N. and 72° 10´ E.; and by Elphinstone in 32° 10´, but a whole degree further to the east, or 73° 15´. This city, so often mentioned in the Yadu-Bhatti annals as one of their intermediate places of repose, on their expulsion from India and migration to Central Asia, has its position minutely pointed out by the Emperor Babur (p. 259), who, in his attack on the hill tribes of Jats, Gujars, Ghakkars, etc., adjoining Kashmir, “expelled Hati Guker from Behreh, on the Behut River, near the cave temples of Gar-kotri at Bikrum,” of which the able annotator remarks, that as well as those of But Bamian, they were probably Buddhist. Babur (p. 294) also found the Jats masters of Sialkot, most likely the Salpur of the Inscription (p. 916 above), conquered from a Jat prince in the twelfth century by the Patan prince, and presumed to be the Salbahanpur founded by the fugitive Yadu prince of Gajni [see p. 1183 above].

Footnote 7.2.13:

Butaban, probably from vana, pronounced in the dialect ban, the ‘wild’ or ‘forest’ of Buta.

Footnote 7.2.14:

Illegitimate children can never overcome this natural defect amongst the Rajputs. Thus we find among all classes of artisans in India, some of royal but spurious descent. [This is a good instance of high-caste blood in artisan castes; see Russell, Tribes and Castes of Central Provinces, ii. 200.]

Footnote 7.2.15:

These towns and lakes are well known, but have been seized by Bikaner. See Map. [Bīkampur, 95 miles N.E. of Jaisalmer city.]

Footnote 7.2.16:

[The Rabāris say that they were created by Siva to take care of the first camel which Pārvati formed for her amusement (Census Report, Mārwār, 1891, ii. 157). Rose (Glossary, iii. 269) writes Rahbāri, probably Persian rahwār, ‘active.’]

Footnote 7.2.17:

The Oswal is the richest and most numerous of the eighty-four mercantile tribes of India, and is said to amount to one hundred thousand families. They are called ‘Oswal’ from their first settlement, the town of Osian. They are all of pure Rajput birth, of no single tribe, but chiefly Puars, Solankis, and Bhattis. All profess the Jain tenets, and it is a curious fact, though little known, that the pontiffs of that faith must be selected from the youth of Osian. The wealthy bankers and merchants of these regions scattered throughout India, are all known under one denomination, Marwari, which is erroneously supposed to apply to the Jodhpur territory, whereas, in fact, it means belonging to the desert. It is singular that the wealth of India should centre in this region of comparative sterility.

Footnote 7.2.18:

See Map.

Footnote 7.2.19:

[Such tales are common, and generally imply a flaw in the pedigree.]

Footnote 7.2.20:

This deception practised by the Bhatti chief to obtain land on which to erect a fortress is not unknown in other parts of India, and in more remote regions. Bhatner owes its name to this expedient, from the division (bantna) of the hide. The etymology of Calcutta is the same, but should be written Khalkata, from the cuttings of the hide (khal). Byrsa, the castle of Carthage, originates from the same story. If there existed any affinity between the ancient Pali languages of India and the Punic or Phoenician (as the names of its princes and their adjuncts of bal would indicate), and the letters B and Ch were as little dissimilar in Punic as in Sanskrit, then Byrsa would become charsa, ‘hide’ or ‘skin,’ which might have originated the capital of the African Mauritania, as of the Indian Maruthan. Thus Marocco may be from Maruka, of or belonging to Maru, the desert, also probably the origin of the Merv of Iran. The term Moor may likewise be corrupted from Mauri, an inhabitant of Maruka, while the Sahariya of our Indian desert is the brother in name and profession of the Saracen of Arabia, from Sahra, a desert, and zadan, to assault. The Nomadic princes of Mauritania might therefore be the Pali or shepherd kings of Maruthan, the great African desert. And who were these Philita or Pali kings of Barbary and Egypt? It is well known that the Berbers who inhabited Abyssinia and the south coast of the Red Sea, migrated to the northern coast, not only occupying it, as well as Mount Atlas, but pushing their tribes far into the grand sahra, or desert. To those colonists, that coast owes its name of Barbary. From the days of Solomon and his contemporary Shishak, an intimate communication subsisted between the eastern coast of Africa and India; and I have already hazarded the opinion, that we must look to this coast of Aethiopia and Abyssinia for the Lanka of the Rameses (Rameswar) of India; and from the former country the most skilful archaeologists assert that Egypt had her mythology, and more especially that mystery—the prominent feature of both systems—the Phallic rites, or worship of the lingam. Berber, according to Bruce, means a shepherd, and as ber is a sheep in the language of India, Berber is a shepherd in the most literal sense, and consequently the synonym of Pali. It has been asserted that this race colonized these coasts of Africa from India about the time of Amenophis, and that they are the Hyksos, or ‘shepherd-kings,’ who subjugated Egypt. On this account a comparison of the ancient architectural remains of Abyssinia and Aethiopia with those of the ancient Hindus is most desirable. It is asserted, and with appearance of truth, that the architecture of the Pyramids is distinct from the Pharaonic, and that they are at once Astronomic and Phallic. In India, the symbolic pinnacle surmounting the temples of the sun-god are always pyramidal. If the forthcoming history of the Berbers should reveal the mystery of their first settlements in Abyssinia, a great object would be attained; and if search were made in the old cave-temples of that coast, some remains of the characters they used might aid in tracing their analogy to the ancient Pali of the East; an idea suggested by an examination of the few characters found in the grand desert inhabited by the Tuaregs, which have a certain resemblance to the Punic, and to the unknown characters attributed to the Indo-Scythic tribes of India, as on their coins and cave-temples. Wide asunder as are these regions, the mind that will strive to lessen the historical separation may one day be successful, when the connexion between Aethiopia (qu. from aditya and contracted ait, the Sun?) and Surashtra, ‘the land of the Sun,’ or Syria of India, may become more tangible. Ferishta (vide Briggs’ translation, vol. iv. p. 402), quoting original authorities, says, “the inhabitants of Selandip, or the island of Ceylon, were accustomed to send vessels to the coast of Africa, to the Red Sea, and Persian Gulf, from the earliest ages, and Hindu pilgrims resorted to Mecca and Egypt for the purpose of paying adoration to the idols. It is related also that this people trading from Ceylon became converts to the true faith at so early a period as the first caliphs”; all which confirms the fact of early intercourse between Egypt and India.—See Vol. II. p. 702. [It is unnecessary to criticize in detail the etymologies suggested in this note, a good instance of the Author’s manner. The etymology of Calcutta is unknown, the most recent suggestion being that it is Khālkata, ‘a place where a flood cut a creek’ (Yule, Hobson-Jobson, 2nd ed. 146; Hoernle, JASB, 1898, p. 48 f.; K. Blechynden, Calcutta Past and Present, 1905, p. 5). Bhatner means ‘city of the Bhattis.’ Berber is either Greek βάρβαροι, or a tribal term, Barabara; that of Aethiopia is unknown (EB, 11th ed. iii. 764, ix. 845). The story of fixing the limits of a territory by riding round it or by encircling it with strips of hide, as in the story of Carthage, is common in India (Bradley-Birt, Chota Nagpore, 16 f.; Brett, Chhattisgarh Gazetteer, i. 192; BG, xiii. Part i. 169, and many others).]

Footnote 7.2.21:

Deorawal is in the map; it was one of the points of halt in Elphinstone’s mission to Kabul. This discloses to us the position of the Buta territory, and as astronomical data are given, those inclined to prove or disprove the Bhatti chronology have ample means afforded.

Footnote 7.2.22:

[‘One who has attained beatitude.’]

Footnote 7.2.23:

Called geru; garments coloured with this dye are worn by all classes of mendicants.

Footnote 7.2.24:

The mudra is a round prickly seed worn by the ascetics as ear-rings.

Footnote 7.2.25:

The Supreme Being; the universal and One God.

Footnote 7.2.26:

Rawal [rājakula, ‘of the royal house’] is still the title of the princes of Jaisalmer, as it once was that of the Mewar house.

Footnote 7.2.27:

[Khizr Khān was left in charge of Delhi after the sack of that city by Timūr in A.D. 1398; possessed little power, and died in 1421.]

Footnote 7.2.28:

[iv. 380, 383 f. Abu-l-fazl (Āīn, ii. 337) calls them Nohmardi; see Census Report, Baluchistan, 1911, i. 171.]

Footnote 7.2.29:

[The theory of the Jewish descent of the Afghāns is not now accepted by any serious student. They are probably of Aryan origin, though the Yadu theory in the text is not supported by good evidence. They link India on the east with Persia on the west (Sykes, Hist. of Persia, ii. 306; Bellew, Races of Afghanistan, 15 ff.).]

Footnote 7.2.30:

[Lodorwa, 10 miles N. of Jaisalmer. For its temples see Erskine iii. A. 17.]

Footnote 7.2.31:

We are not told of what race (kula) was the Lodra Rajput; in all probability it was Pramara, or Puar, which at one time occupied the whole desert of India. Lodorva, as will be seen, became the capital of the Bhattis, until the founding of their last and present capital, Jaisalmer; it boasts a high antiquity, though now a ruin, occupied by a few families of shepherds. Many towns throughout the desert were formerly of celebrity, but are now desolate, through the conjoined causes of perpetual warfare and the shifting sands. I obtained a copper-plate inscription of the tenth century from Lodorva, of the period of Bijairaj, in the ornamental Jain character; also some clay signets, given to pilgrims, bearing Jain symbols. All these relics attest the prevailing religion to have been Jain.

Footnote 7.2.32:

A gross exaggeration of the annalist, or a cypher in each added by the copyist.

Footnote 7.2.33:

Dhar, or Dharanagari, was the most ancient capital of this tribe, the most numerous of the Agnikula races. See a sketch of the Puars, or Pramaras, Vol. I. p. 107. [The proverb is repeated by Forbes, Rāsmāla, 115.]

Footnote 7.2.34:

[The story reads like a piece of sympathetic or imitative magic.]

Footnote 7.2.35:

There is no interregnum in Rajwara; the king never dies.

Footnote 7.2.36:

[? Nikhang, ‘a quiver.’]

Footnote 7.2.37:

This affords a most important synchronism, corroborative of the correctness of these annals. Raja Valabhsen of Patan (Anhilwara) immediately followed Chamund Rae, who was dispossessed of the throne by Mahmud of Ghazni, in the year A.D. 1011, or S. 1067. [Valabhsen Durlabha, A.D. 1010-22.] Valabhsen died the year of his installation, and was succeeded by Durlabh, whose period has also been synchronically fixed by an inscription belonging to the Pramaras.—See Transactions of the Royal Asiatic Society, vol. i. p. 223. [The annalist seems to have confounded Anhilwāra Pātan in Gujarāt with Patan Munām, also called Fatan or Patanpur, five miles from Rahīmyār Railway Station, on E. bank of the Indus, locally called Sej (Malik Muhammad Dīn, Bahāwalpur State Gazetteer, A. 376 f.).]

Footnote 7.2.38:

This date, S. 1035, is evidently an error of the copyist. Bachera married Balabhsen’s daughter in S. 1067, and he died in S. 1100; so that it should be either S. 1055 or 1065. It is important to clear this point, as Rawal Bachera was the opponent of Mahmud of Ghazni in his invasion of India, A.H. 303, A.D. 1000, = S. 1056 or S. 1066, the Samvat era being liable to a variation of ten years (Colebrooke). If we are right, a passage of Ferishta, which has puzzled the translators, should run thus: “Mahmud directed his march against the Bhatti, and passing Multan arrived at Bahra, a Bhatti city.”—Compare Dow, vol. i. p. 39 (2nd ed.), and Briggs, vol. i. p. 38.

Footnote 7.2.39:

See Map. This was one of the points touched at in Mr. Elphinstone’s journey. [The town is about 48 miles N.W. of Bīkaner city.]

Footnote 7.2.40:

The chief of the Guhilots is now settled at Bhavnagar, at the estuary of the Mahi; where I visited him in 1823. The migration of the family from Kherdhar occurred about a century after that period, according to the documents in the Rao’s family. And we have only to look at the opening of the Annals of Marwar to see that from its colonization by the Rathors the Gohil community of Kherdhar was finally extinguished. To the general historian these minute facts may be unimportant, but they cease to be so when they prove the character of these annals for fidelity.

Footnote 7.2.41:

If this is the Hamira alluded to in the Annals of Bikaner, in whose time the Ghaggar River ceased to flow in these lands, we have another date assigned to a fact of great physical importance.

Footnote 7.2.42:

Here we have another synchronism. In the Kumarpal Charitra, or history of the kings of Anhilwara Patan, the reign of Siddhraj was from S. 1150 to S. 1201, or A.D. 1094 to 1145 [1094-1143]; the point of time intermediate between the invasion of Mahmud of Ghazni and the final conquest of India by Shihabu-d-din, during which there were many irruptions into India by the lieutenants of the monarchs of Ghazni. There was one in the reign of Masud, in A.H. 492 (A.D. 1098), four years after the accession of Siddhraj; another in A.D. 1120, in the reign of Bairam Shah, during which, according to Ferishta, the Ghaznevide general, Balin, rebelled and assailed the Hindu Rajas from Nagor, where he established himself. [His real name was Muhammad Bahlīm (Ferishta i. 151).] In all probability this is the event alluded to by the queen of Patan, when she nominated the Bhatti prince as her champion.

Footnote 7.2.43:

[Siddharāja Jayasingha had no son, and he was succeeded by Kumārapāla; and Ajayapāla, who succeeded in A.D. 1174, was son of Mahipāla, brother of Kumārapāla (BG, i. Part i. 194).] The mention of these simultaneous intermarriages in three of the principal Rajput monarchies of that day, namely, Dhar, Patan, and Chitor, is important, not only as establishing fresh synchronisms, but as disclosing the intercourse between the Bhattis and the more ancient princely families of India. The period of Udayaditya Pramar has been established beyond cavil (see Trans. R.A.S. vol. i. p. 223), and that of Siddhraj, likewise, whose son and successor, Ajaipal, had but a short reign when he was deposed by Kumarpal, whose date is also found from inscriptions. It is a singular fact that all the Rajput dynasties of these regions were established about the same epoch, namely, Patan by the Chawaras, Chitor by the Guhilots, Delhi, refounded by the Tuars, and the Bhatti principality by the descendant of Salbahan. This was in the middle of the eighth century of Vikramaditya, when the older Hindu governments were broken up. The admission of the Bhatti to intermarry with their families proves one of two facts: either that they were considered Rajputs, notwithstanding their being inhabitants of the regions beyond the Indus; or, that the families mentioned, with which they intermarried, were Indo-Scythic like themselves.

Footnote 7.2.44:

At every step we see, however meagre may be the outline, the correctness of this historical sketch. It was, according to Ferishta, in A.H. 555 (A.D. 1159 [1150], or S. 1215) that the prince of Ghor conquered Ghazni, and immediately after overran Multan and Sind (see Briggs, vol. i. p. 153); and doubtless it was on this occasion that the Bhatti prince swore allegiance to Shihabu-d-din, and obtained the force which drove his nephew from Lodorva, which being sacked by his auxiliaries, he founded Jaisalmer in S. 1212. The three years’ discrepancy between the Muhammadan and Hindu dates is of little consequence; but even this could be remedied, when we recollect that the Samvat, according to Mr. Colebrooke, is liable to a variation of ten years.

Footnote 7.2.45:

Tatta was not then in existence. It was founded about the middle of the fifteenth century.

Footnote 7.2.46:

If there were no better support for the assumed descent of the Bhatti founder of Jaisalmer from the Yadus of the Bharat than this prophecy, we should be confirmed in our suspicion that they are a colony of the Yuti, and that the Brahmans took advantage of the nominal resemblance to incorporate them in the Chhattis Rajkula, or Thirty-six Royal Races.

Footnote 7.2.47:

Lodorva remains in ruins; a journey thither might afford subject-matter for the antiquary, and enable him to throw light upon the origin of the Bhatti tribe. I omitted to place it in the Map; it is ten miles N.W. of the present capital.

-----

Chapter 3

Having thus epitomized the Bhatti annals, from the expulsion of the tribe from the Panjab, and the establishment of Tanot in the Indian desert, in A.D. 731, to the foundation of the existing capital, Jaisalmer, in A.D. 1156, we shall continue the sketch to the present day, nearly in the language of the chronicle, adding explanatory notes as we proceed.

=Retrospect of Bhatti History.=—The interval between the erection of the castle of Tanot and the present time is exactly eleven hundred years; during which the historical narrative, whatever may be its value, is at least continuous, and the events recorded are corroborated, even in the darkest period, by numerous synchronisms in the annals of the other States; and viewed synoptically, it presents matter of deep interest to the explorer of Indian history. The period of four hundred and twenty-five years, embraced in the preceding chapter, is full of incidents. It is a record of a people who once deemed their consequence and their fame imperishable. And even were it less diversified by anecdotes descriptive of manners, it would still possess claims to interest as a simple relation of the gradual peopling of a great portion of the Indian desert. We see tribes and cities disappearing; new races and new capitals taking their place; and although not a syllable is written which [246] bears directly upon religion, we can see, incidentally, the analogy of these Indo-Scythic tribes, from Zabulistan and Salbahana, with the Hindu, confirming what Manu says, that the Sakas, Yavanas, Pahlavas, and the Khasas[7.3.1] of Central Asia, were all Chhattris or Rajputs. We now proceed with the chronicle.

Jaisal, the founder of Jaisalmer, survived the change of capital only twelve years. His elder son, Kailan, having given displeasure to the Pahu minister, was expelled, and his younger brother placed upon the gaddi.

=Rāwal Sālivāhan I.=—Salbahan, a name of celebrity in the annals, renewed in the son of Jaisal, succeeded in S. 1224 (A.D. 1168). His first expedition was against the Kathi tribe, who, under their leader, Jagbhan, dwelt between the city of Jalor and the Aravalli.[7.3.2] The Kathi Rao was killed, and his horses and camels were carried to Jaisalmer. The fame of this exploit exalted the reputation of Salbahan. He had three sons, Bijar, Banar, and Haso.

=Embassy from Badarināth.=—In the mountains of Badarinath, there was a State whose princes were of the Jadon (Yadu) race, descended from the first Salbahan at the period of the expulsion from Gajni.[7.3.3] At this time, the prince of this State dying without issue, a deputation came to Jaisalmer to obtain a prince to fill the vacant gaddi. Haso was accordingly sent, but died just as he arrived. His wife, who was pregnant, was taken with the pains of labour on the journey, and was delivered of a son under the shade of a palas tree, whence the child was called Palasia. This infant succeeding, the raj (principality) was named after him Palasia.[7.3.4]

Proposals of marriage came from Mansi Deora of Sirohi.[7.3.5] The Rawal left Jaisalmer [247] to the care of his eldest son Bijal. Soon after his departure, the foster-brother (Dhabhai) of the young prince propagated the report of the Rawal’s death in an encounter with a tiger, and prompted Bijal to assume the dignity. Salbahan, on his return, finding his seat usurped, and having in vain expostulated with his traitorous son, proceeded to Khadal, of which Derawar is the capital, where he was slain, with three hundred of his followers, in repelling an irruption of the Balochs. Bijal did not long enjoy the dignity; having in a fit of passion struck the Dhabhai, the blow was returned, upon which, stung with shame and resentment, he stabbed himself with his dagger.

=Rāwal Kailan, c. A.D. 1200-19.=—Kailan, the elder brother of Salbahan, who was expelled by the Pahus, was now (A.D. 1200) recalled, and installed at the age of fifty. He had six sons, Chachakdeo, Palhan, Jaichand, Pitamsi, Pitamchand, and Asrao. The second and third had numerous issue, who are styled Jaser and Sihana Rajputs.

Khizr Khan Baloch, with five thousand men, at this time again crossed the Mihran (Indus), and invaded the land of Khadal, which was the second irruption since he slew Salbahan. Kailan marched against him at the head of seven thousand Rajputs, and, after a severe engagement, slew the Baloch leader and fifteen hundred of his men. Kailan ruled nineteen years.

=Rāwal Chāchakdeo I., c. A.D. 1219-41.=—Chachakdeo succeeded, in S. 1275 (A.D. 1219). Soon after his accession, he carried on war against the Chana Rajputs (now extinct), of whom he slew two thousand, capturing fourteen thousand cows, and compelling the tribe to take refuge with the Johyas. Soon after, the Rawal invaded the lands of Rana Armsi, prince of the Sodhas, who, though taken by surprise, assembled four thousand horse; but was defeated, and forced to fly for shelter to the walls of his capital, Umarkot. The Puar was glad to obtain the absence of his foe by the offer of his daughter in marriage.[7.3.6]

The Rathors, recently established in the land of Kher, had become troublesome [248] neighbours; Chachak obtained the aid of the Sodha troops to chastise them, and he proceeded to Jasal and Bhalotra, where they were established; but Chhadu and his son Thida averted his wrath by giving him a daughter to wife.[7.3.7]

Rawal Chachak ruled thirty-two years. He had only one son, Tej Rao, who died at the age of forty-two, from the smallpox, leaving two sons, Jethsi and Karan. To the youngest the Rawal was much attached; and having convened the chiefs around his death-bed, he entreated they would accede to his last wish, that his youngest grandson might be his successor.

=Rāwal Karan Singh I., A.D. 1241-71.=—Karan having succeeded, his elder brother, Jethsi, abandoned his country, and took service with the Muhammadans in Gujarat. About this time, Muzaffar Khan, who occupied Nagor with five thousand horse, committed great outrages. There was a Bhumia of the Baraha tribe, named Bhagawatidas, who resided fifteen coss from Nagor, and was master of one thousand five hundred horse. He had an only daughter, who was demanded by the Khan, and being unwilling to comply, and unable to resist, he resolved to abandon the country. For this purpose he prepared carriages, in which he placed his family and chattels, and at night proceeded towards Jaisalmer; but the Khan, gaining intelligence of his motions, intercepted the convoy. A battle ensued, in which four hundred of the Barahas were killed, and his daughter and other females were carried off. The afflicted Baraha continued his route to Jaisalmer, and related his distress to Rawal Karan, who immediately put himself at the head of his followers, attacked the Khan, whom he slew, with three thousand of his people, and re-inducted the Bhumia in his possessions. Karan ruled twenty-eight years, and was succeeded, in S. 1327, by his son,

=Rāwal Lākhansen, A.D. 1271-75.=—He was so great a simpleton, that when the jackals howled at night, being told that it was from being cold, he ordered quilted dresses (daglas) to be prepared for them. As the howling still continued, although he was assured his orders had been fulfilled, he commanded houses to be built for the animals in the royal preserves (ramna), many of which yet remain. Lakhan was the contemporary of Kanirdeo Sonigira, whose life was saved by his (Lakhan’s) wife’s knowledge of omens. Lakhan was ruled by this Rani, who was of the Sodha tribe. She invited her brethren from Umarkot; but the madman, her husband, put [249] them to death, and threw their bodies over the walls. He was allowed to rule four years, and was then replaced by his son,

=Rāwal Pūnpāl, A.D. 1275-76.=—This prince was of a temper so violent that the nobles dethroned him, and recalled the exiled Jethsi from Gujarat. Punpal had a residence assigned him in a remote quarter of the State. He had a son, Lakamsi, who had a son called Rao Raningdeo, who by a stratagem pointed out by a Kharal[7.3.8] Rajput, took Marot from the Johyas, and Pugal from the Thoris, thieves by profession, whose chief, styled Rao, he made captive; and in Pugal he settled his family. Rao Raning had a son called Sadul, who alternately bathed in the sea of pleasure, and struggled in that of action: to their retreat the father and son conveyed the spoils seized from all around them.

=Rāwal Jeth Singh I., A.D. 1276-94.=—Jethsi obtained the gaddi in S. 1332 (A.D. 1276). He had two sons, Mulraj and Ratansi. Deoraj, the son of Mulraj, espoused the daughter of the Sonigira chief of Jalor. Muhammad [Khuni][7.3.9] Padshah invaded the dominions of Rana Rupsi, the Parihar prince of Mandor,[7.3.10] who, when defeated, fled with his twelve daughters, and found refuge with the Rawal, who gave him Baru[7.3.11] as a residence.

=Alāu-d-din attacks Jaisalmer.=—Deoraj, by his Sonigira wife, had three sons, Janghan, Sarwan, and Hamir. This Hamir was a mighty warrior, who attacked Kumpa Sen of Mewa,[7.3.12] and plundered his lands. He had issue three sons, Jetha, Lunkaran, and Mairu. At this period, Ghori Alau-d-din commenced the war against the castles of India. The tribute of Tatta and Multan, consisting of fifteen hundred horses and fifteen hundred mules laden with treasure and valuables, was at Bakhar in progress to the king at Delhi. The sons of Jethsi determined to lay an ambush and capture the tribute. Disguised as grain-merchants, with seven thousand horse and twelve hundred camels, they set out on their expedition, and on the banks of the Panjnad found the convoy, escorted by four hundred Mogul and the like number of Pathan horse. The Bhattis encamped near the convoy; and in the night they rose upon and slew the escort, carrying the treasure to Jaisalmer. The survivors carried the news to the king, who prepared to punish this insult. When tidings reached Rawal Jethsi that the king was encamped on the Anasagar at Ajmer, he prepared Jaisalmer for defence. He laid in immense stores of grain, and deposited all round the ramparts of the fort large round stones to hurl on the besiegers. All the aged, the infirm, and his female grandchildren were [250] removed into the interior of the desert, while the country around the capital for many miles was laid waste, and the towns made desolate. The Rawal, with his two elder sons and five thousand warriors, remained inside for the defence of the castle, while Deoraj and Hamir formed an army to act against the enemy from without. The sultan in person remained at Ajmer and sent forward an immense force of Khorasanis and Kuraishes, cased in steel armour, “who rolled on like the clouds in Bhadon.” The fifty-six bastions were manned, and three thousand seven hundred heroes distributed amongst them for their defence, while two thousand remained in reserve to succour the points attacked. During the first week that the besiegers formed their entrenchments, seven thousand Musalmans were slain, and Mir Muhabbat and Ali Khan remained on the field of battle. For two years the invaders were confined to their camp by Deoraj and Hamir, who kept the field, after cutting off their supplies, which came from Mandor, while the garrison was abundantly furnished from Khadal, Barmer, and Dhat. Eight years[7.3.13] had the siege lasted, when Rawal Jethsi died, and his body was burnt inside the fort.

During this lengthened siege, Ratansi had formed a friendship with the Nawab Mahbub Khan, and they had daily friendly meetings under a khejra[7.3.14] tree, between the advanced posts, each attended by a few followers. They played at chess together, and interchanged expressions of mutual esteem. But when duty called them to oppose each other in arms, the whole world was enamoured with their heroic courtesy. Jethsi had ruled eighteen years when he died.

=Rāwal Mūlrāj III., A.D. 1294-95.=—Mulraj III., in S. 1350 (A.D. 1294), ascended the gaddi surrounded by foes. On this occasion, the customary rejoicings on installation took place at the moment when the two friends, Ratansi and Mahbub Khan, had met, as usual, under the khejra tree. The cause of rejoicing being explained to the Nawab, he observed that the Sultan had heard of, and was offended with, these meetings, to which he attributed the protracted defence of the castle, and acquainted Ratansi that next day a general assault was commanded, which he should lead in person. The attack took place; it was fierce, but the defence was obstinate, and the assailants were beaten back with the loss of nine thousand men. But the foe obtained reinforcements, and towards the conclusion of the year the garrison was reduced to the greatest privations, and the blockade being perfect, Mulraj assembled his kinsmen and thus addressed them: “For so many years [251] we have defended our dwellings; but our supplies are expended, and there is no passage for more. What is to be done?” The chiefs, Sahar and Bikamsi, replied, “A sakha must take place; we must sacrifice ourselves”: but that same day the royal army, unaware of the distress of the besieged, retreated.

=The Sati: Johar.=—The friend of Ratansi had a younger brother, who, on the retreat of the royal forces, was carried inside the fort, when, seeing the real state of things, he escaped and conveyed intelligence of it, upon which the siege was renewed. Mulraj reproached his brother as the cause of this evil, and asked what was fit to be done? to which Ratansi replied, “There is but one path open: to immolate the females, to destroy by fire and water whatever is destructible, and to bury what is not; then open wide the gates, and sword in hand rush upon the foe, and thus attain Swarga.” The chiefs were assembled; all were unanimous to make Jaisalnagar resplendent by their deeds, and preserve the honour of the Jadon race. Mulraj thus replied: “You are of a warlike race, and strong are your arms in the cause of your prince; what heroes excel you, who thus tread in the Chhatri’s path? In battle, not even the elephant could stand before you. For the maintenance of my honour the sword is in your hands; let Jaisalmer be illumined by its blows upon the foe.” Having thus inspired the chiefs and men, Mulraj and Ratan repaired to the palace of their queens. They told them to take the sohag,[7.3.15] and prepare to meet in heaven, while they gave up their lives in defence of their honour and their faith. Smiling, the Sodha Rani replied, “This night we shall prepare, and by the morning’s light we shall be inhabitants of Swarga” (heaven); and thus it was with the chiefs and all their wives. The night was passed together for the last time in preparation for the awful morn. It came; ablutions and prayers were finished, and at the Rajdwara[7.3.16] were convened bala, praurha, and briddhu.[7.3.17] They bade a last farewell to all their kin; the Johar commenced, and twenty-four thousand females, from infancy to old age, surrendered their lives, some by the sword, others in the volcano of fire. Blood flowed in torrents, while the smoke of the pyre ascended to the heavens: not one feared to die, every valuable was consumed with them, not the worth of a straw was preserved for the foe. This work done, the brothers looked upon the spectacle with horror. Life was now a burden, and they prepared to quit it. They purified themselves with water, paid adoration to the divinity, made gifts [252] to the poor, placed a branch of the Tulsi[7.3.18] in their casques, the Salagram[7.3.18] round their neck; and having cased themselves in armour and put on the saffron robe, they bound the mor[7.3.19] (crown) around their heads, and embraced each other for the last time. Thus they awaited the hour of battle. Three thousand eight hundred warriors, with faces red with wrath, prepared to die with their chiefs.

Ratansi had two sons, named Gharsi and Kanar, the eldest only twelve years of age. He wished to save them from the impending havoc, and applied to his courteous foeman. The Muslim chief swore he would protect them, and sent two confidential servants to receive the trust; to whom, bidding them a last farewell, their father consigned them. When they reached the royal camp they were kindly welcomed by the Nawab, who, putting his hand upon their heads, soothed them, and appointed two Brahmans to guard, feed, and instruct them.

On the morrow, the army of the Sultan advanced to the assault. The gates were thrown wide, and the fight began. Ratan was lost in the sea of battle; but one hundred and twenty Amirs fell before his sword ere he lay in the field. Mulraj plied his lance on the bodies of the barbarians: the field swam in blood. The unclean spirits were gorged with slaughter; but at length the Jadon chief fell, with seven hundred of the choice of his kin. With his death the battle closed; the victors ascended the castle, and Mahbub Khan caused the bodies of the brothers to be carried from the field and burned. The sakha took place in S. 1351, or A.D. 1295. Deoraj, who commanded the force in the field, was carried off by a fever. The royal garrison kept possession of the castle during two years, and at length blocked up the gateways, and dismantled and abandoned the place, which remained long deserted, for the Bhattis had neither means to repair the kunguras (battlements) nor men to defend them [253].

-----

Footnote 7.3.1:

[Manu, Laws, x. 44, which does not name the Khasas.] There is a race in the desert, now Muhammadan, and called Khosas. Elphinstone mentions the Khasa-Khel. Kashgar is ‘the region of the Khasas,’ the Casia Regia of Ptolemy [?]. [The Khosas are a Muhammadan tribe, driven from Sind in A.D. 1786, who lived beside the Rann of Cutch, and levied blackmail on their neighbours. They are believed to be a branch of the Rind, and it is improbable that they can be connected with the Khasas of Manu (Laws, x. 22).]

Footnote 7.3.2:

We can scarcely refuse our assent to the belief that the Kathi or Katti tribe, here mentioned, is the remnant of the nation which so manfully opposed Alexander. It was then located about Multan, at this period occupied by the Langahas. The colony attacked by the Bhatti was near the Aravalli, in all probability a predatory band from the region they peopled and gave their name to, Kathiawar, in the Surashtra peninsula. [The Kāthis were probably a nomadic Central Asian tribe, driven down the valley of the Indus by the tide of early Muhammadan invasions. Their appearance in Jaisalmer at the end of the twelfth century A.D. probably marks a stage in their southerly progress. Thence they seem to have moved into Mālwa, thence to Cutch, and finally to Kāthiāwār (BG, ix. Part i. 252 ff., viii. 128).]

Footnote 7.3.3:

Mr. Elphinstone enumerates the Jadon as a subdivision of the Yusufzais, one of the great Afghan tribes, who were originally located about Kabul and Ghazni. I could not resist surmising the probability of the term Jadon, applied to a subdivision of the Afghan race, originating from the Hindu-Scythic Jadon, or Yadu; whence the boasted descent of the Afghans from Saul, king of the Jews (Yahudis). The customs of the Afghans would support this hypothesis: “The Afghans (says the Emperor Babur, p. 159), when reduced to extremities in war, come into the presence of their enemy with grass between their teeth, being as much as to say, ‘I am your ox.’” This custom is entirely Rajput, and ever recurring in inscriptions recording victories. They have their bards or poets in like manner, of whom Mr. Elphinstone gives an interesting account. In features, also, they resemble the Northern Rajputs, who have generally aquiline noses, or, as Mr. Elphinstone expresses it in the account of his journey through the desert, “Jewish features”; though this might tempt one to adopt the converse of my deduction, and say that these Yadus of Gajni were, with the Afghans, also of Yahudi origin: from the lost tribes of Israel. [The Jadūn, as Rose writes their name, are not Yūsufzais, but live S. of them, and have no connexion with the Rājput Jādons (Glossary, ii. 272 f., iii. 254).]

Footnote 7.3.4:

See Mr. Elphinstone’s map for the position of the Jadon branch of the Yusufzais at the foot of the Siwalik hills.

Footnote 7.3.5:

[“If this is correct, the date of the foundation of Jaisalmer must be wrong, for Mān Singh’s father is known to have been alive in 1249. Moreover the Deora sept did not exist, as it took the name from Mān Singh’s son Deoraj” (Erskine iii. A. 11).]

Footnote 7.3.6:

In this single passage we have revealed the tribe (got), race (kula), capital, and proper name of the prince of Dhat. The Sodha tribe, as before stated, is an important branch of the Pramara (Puar) race, and with the Umras and Sumras gave dynasties to the valley of Sind from the most remote period. The Sodhas, I have already observed, were probably the Sogdoi of Alexander, occupying Upper Sind when the Macedonian descended that stream. The Sumra dynasty is mentioned by Ferishta from ancient authorities, but the Muhammadan historians knew nothing, and cared nothing, about Rajput tribes. It is from such documents as these, scattered throughout the annals of these principalities, and from the ancient Hindu epic poems, that I have concentrated the “Sketches of the Rajput Tribes,” introductory to the first volume, which, however slight they appear, cost more research than the rest of the book. I write this note chiefly for the information of the patriarch of oriental lore on the Continent, the learned and ingenious De Sacy. If this mentor ask, “Where are now the Sodhas?” I reply, the ex-prince of Umarkot, with whose ancestors Humayun took refuge—in whose capital in the desert the great Akbar was born—and who could on the spur of the moment oppose four thousand horse to invasion, has only one single town, that of Chor, left to him. The Rathors, who, in the time of Armsi Rana and Rawal Chachak, were hardly known in Marudes, have their flag waving on the battlements of the ‘immortal castle’ (Amarkuta), and the Amirs of Sind have incorporated the greater part of Dhat with their State of Haidarabad. [Umarkot is not the ‘immortal castle,’ but the fort of Umar, chief of the Sūmra tribe (IGI, xxiv. 118).]

Footnote 7.3.7:

To those interested in the migration of these tribes, it must be gratifying to see these annals thus synchronically corroborating each other. About two centuries before this, in the reign of Dusaj, when the Bhatti capital was at Lodorva, an attack was made on the land of Kher, then occupied by the Guhilots, who were, as related in the Annals of Marwar, dispossessed by the Rathors. None but an inquirer into these annals of the desert tribes can conceive the satisfaction arising from such confirmation.

Footnote 7.3.8:

This tribe is unknown to Central India. [They are a branch of the Parihārs.]

Footnote 7.3.9:

[Alāu-d-dīn.]

Footnote 7.3.10:

The title, tribe, and capital of this race show that the Bhattis were intimately connected with the neighbouring States.

Footnote 7.3.11:

[About 100 miles N.N.E. of Jodhpur city.]

Footnote 7.3.12:

[In Mallāni, the ‘cradle of the Rāthors.’]

Footnote 7.3.13:

This can mean nothing more than that desultory attacks were carried on against the Bhatti capital. It is certain that Ala never carried his arms in person against Jaisalmer. [It is impossible to reconcile the dates, and this siege is not mentioned by Muhammadan historians. It is said to have lasted from A.D. 1286 to 1295. Balban reigned 1266-1286-7, and Alāu-d-dīn did not ascend the throne till 1296. Much of the narrative is a fiction of the Bhatti bards.]

Footnote 7.3.14:

[Prosopis spicigera.]

Footnote 7.3.15:

Sohagan, one who becomes Sati previous to her lord’s death; Duhagan, who follows him after death.

Footnote 7.3.16:

Literally, ‘the royal gate’; an allusion to the female apartments, or Rajloka.

Footnote 7.3.17:

Bala, is under sixteen; praurha, middle-aged; briddhu, when forty.

Footnote 7.3.18:

The funereal qualities of the tulsi plant, and the emblematic Salagram, or stone found in the Gandak River, have been often described.

Footnote 7.3.19:

On two occasions the Rajput chieftain wears the mor [maur], or ‘coronet’: on his marriage, and when going to die in battle; symbolic of his nuptials with the Apsaras, or ‘fair of heaven.’

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Chapter 4

=Rāthor Settlement at Jaisalmer. Dūda Rāwal, A.D. 1295-1306.=—Some years subsequent to this disastrous event in the Bhatti annals, Jagmall, son of Maloji Rathor, chief of Mewa, attempted a settlement amidst the ruins of Jaisalmer, and brought thither a large force, with seven hundred carts of provisions. On hearing this, the Bhatti chiefs, Dudu and Tilaksi, the sons of Jaisar, assembled their kinsmen, surprised the Rathors, drove them from the castle, and captured the supplies. Dudu, for this exploit, was elected Rawal, and commenced the repairs of Jaisalmer. He had five sons. Tilaksi, his brother, was renowned for his exploits. He despoiled the Baloch, the Mangalea, the Meawa, and the Deoras and Sonagiras of Abu and Jalor felt his power. He even extended his raids to Ajmer, and carried off the stud of Firoz Shah from the Anasagar (lake), where they were accustomed to be watered.[7.4.1] This indignity provoked another attack upon Jaisalmer, attended with the same disastrous results. Again the sakha was performed, in which sixteen thousand [254] females[7.4.2] were destroyed; and Dudu, with Tilaksi and seventeen hundred of the clan, fell in battle, after he had occupied the gaddi ten years.

=Gharsi Rāwal, A.D. 1306-35. Jaisalmer restored.=—On the death of Rawal Dudu, in S. 1362 (A.D. 1306), the young princes, Gharsi and Kanar, by the death of their patron Mahbub, were left to the protection of his sons, Zulfikar and Ghazi Khan. Kanar went privately to Jaisalmer, and Gharsi obtained leave to proceed westward to the Mewa tract, where he married Bimaladevi, a widow, sister to the Rathor, who had been betrothed[7.4.3] to the Deora. While engaged in these nuptials, he was visited by his relation Soningdeo, a man of gigantic strength, who agreed to accompany him on his return to Delhi. The king made trial of his force, by giving him to string an iron bow sent by the king of Khorasan, which the nervous Bhatti not only bent but broke. The invasion of Delhi by Timur Shah[7.4.4] having occurred at this time, the services of Gharsi were so conspicuous that he obtained a grant of his hereditary dominions, with permission to re-establish Jaisalmer. With his own kindred, and the aid of the vassals of his friend Jagmall of Mewa, he soon.restored order, and had an efficient force at command. Hamir and his clansmen gave their allegiance to Gharsi, but the sons of Jaisar were headstrong.

=The Adoption of Kehar. Rāwal Gharsi assassinated.=—Deoraj, who married the daughter of Rupra, Rana of Mandor, had a son named Kehar, who, when Jaisalmer was about to be invested by the troops of the Sultan, was conveyed to Mandor with his mother. When only twelve years of age, he used to accompany the cow-herds of the old Rao’s kine, and his favourite amusement was penning up the calves with twigs of the ak, to imitate the picketing of horses. One day, tired of this occupation, young Kehar fell asleep upon the hole of a serpent, and the reptile issuing therefrom, arose and spread its hood over him as he slept. A Charan (bard, or genealogist), passing that way, reported the fact and its import immediately to the Rana, who, proceeding to the spot, found it was his own grandson whom fate had thus pointed out for sovereignty.[7.4.5] Gharsi, having no offspring by Bimaladevi, proposed to her to adopt a son. All the Bhatti youth were assembled, but none equalled Kehar, who [255] was chosen. But the sons of Jaisar were displeased, and conspired to obtain the gaddi. At this time, Rawal Gharsi was in the daily habit of visiting a tank, which he was excavating, and they seized an occasion to assassinate him; whereupon, in order to defeat their design, Bimaladevi immediately had Kehar proclaimed. The widowed queen of Gharsi, with the view of securing the completion of an object which her lord had much at heart, namely, finishing the lake Gharsisar, as well as to ensure protection to her adopted son Kehar, determined to protract the period of self-immolation; but when six months had elapsed, and both these objects were attained, she finished her days on the pyre. Bimaladevi named the children of Hamir as the adopted sons and successors of Kehar. These sons were Jetha and Lunkaran.

The coco-nut was sent by Kumbha, Rana of Chitor, to Jetha. The Bhatti prince marched for Mewar, and when within twelve coss of the Aravalli hills, was joined by the famous Sankhla Miraj, chief of Salbahni. Next morning, when about to resume the march, a partridge began to call from the right; a bad omen, which was interpreted by the brother-in-law of the Sankhla, deeply versed in the science of the Suguni and the language of birds.[7.4.6] Jetha drew the rein of his horse, and to avert the evil, halted that day. Meanwhile, the partridge was caught and found to be blind of an eye, and its ovary quite filled. The next morning, as soon as they had taken horse, a tigress began to roar, and the Suguni chieftain was again called upon to expound the omen. He replied that the secrets of great houses should not be divulged, but he desired them to dispatch a youth, disguised as a female Nai (barber class), to Kumbhalmer, who there would learn the cause. The youth gained admission to ‘the ruby of Mewar’ (Lala Mewari), who was anointing for the nuptials. He saw things were not right, and returning made his report; upon hearing which, the Bhatti prince married Marad, the daughter of the Sankhla chief. The Rana was indignant at this insult, but a sense of shame prevented his resenting it; and instead of proclaiming the slight, he offered his daughter’s hand to the famous Khichi prince, Achaldas of Gagraun, and it was accepted.[7.4.7] Jetha met his death, together with his brother Lunkaran, and his brother-in-law, in an attempt to surprise Pugal: he fell with a hundred and twenty followers. When the old Rao, Raningdeo, discovered against whom he had thus successfully defended himself, he clad himself in black garments [256], and in atonement performed pilgrimage to all the shrines in India.[7.4.8] On his return, he was forgiven and condoled with by Kehar.

=Lachhman Rāwal, c. A.D. 1402.=—Kehar had eight sons: (1) Somaji, who had a numerous offspring, called the Soma-Bhattis; (2) Lachhman;[7.4.9] (3) Kailan, who forcibly seized Bikampur, the appanage of his elder brother Soma, who departed with all his basai,[7.4.10] and settled at Girab; (4) Kilkaran; (5) Satal, who gave his name to an ancient town, and called it Satalmer. The names of the rest were Bija, Tana, and Tejsi.

When the sons of Raningdeo became converts to Islam, in order to avenge their father’s feud with the Rathor prince of Nagor, they forfeited their inheritance of Pugal and Marot, and thenceforward mixed with the Aboharia Bhattis, and their descendants are termed Mumin Musalman Bhatti. On this event, Kailan, the third son of the Rawal, took possession of the forfeited lands, and besides Bikampur, regained Derawar, which had been conquered by their ancient foes, the Dahya Rajputs.

Kailan built a fort on the Bias, called, after his father, Kara, or Karor, which again brought the Bhattis into collision with the Johyas and Langahas, whose chief, Amir Khan Korai, attacked him, but was defeated. Kailan became the terror of the Chahils,[7.4.11] the Mohils,[7.4.11] and Johyas,[7.4.11] who lived in this quarter, and his authority extended as far as the Panjnad. Kailan married into the Samma family of Jam,[7.4.12] and [257] arbitrated their disputes on succession, which had caused much bloodshed. Shujaat Jam, whom he supported, accompanied him to Marot, on whose death, two years after, Kailan possessed himself of all the Samma territory, when the Sind River became the boundary of his dominion. Kailan died at the age of seventy-two, and was succeeded by[7.4.13]

=Chāchakdeo Rāwal, c. A.D. 1448.=—Chachakdeo made Marot his headquarters, to cover his territories from the attacks of Multan, which took umbrage at the return of the Bhattis across the Gara. The chief of Multan united in a league all the ancient foes of the Bhattis, the Langahas, the Johyas, the Khichis, and all the tribes of that region. Chachak formed an army of seventeen thousand horse and fourteen thousand foot, and crossed the Bias to meet his foes. The encounter was desperate; but the Bhattis were victorious, and returned with rich spoil to Marot. In the year following another battle took place, in which seven hundred and forty Bhattis were slain, and three thousand of the men of Multan. By this success, the conquests of Chachak were extended, and he left a garrison (thana) under his son in Asinikot, beyond the Bias, and returned to Pugal. He then attacked Maipal, chief of the Dhundis,[7.4.14] whom he defeated. After this victory he repaired to Jaisalmer, to visit his brother Lachhman, reserving the produce of the lands dependent on Asinikot[7.4.15] for his expenses at court. On his return home by Baru, he was accosted by a Janjua Rajput,[7.4.16] pasturing an immense flock of goats, who presented the best of his flock, and demanded protection against the raids of Birjang Rathor. This chief had wrested the celebrated fortress of Satalmer,[7.4.17] the abode of wealthy merchants, from a Bhatti chief, and extended his forays far into the desert, and the Janjua was one of those who had suffered by his success [258]. Not long after Rao Chachak had passed by the pastures of the Janjua, he received a visit from him, to complain of another inroad, which had carried off the identical goat, his offering. Chachak assembled his kinsmen, and formed an alliance with Shumar Khan, chief of the Seta tribe,[7.4.18] who came with three thousand horse. It was the custom of the Rathors of Satalmer to encamp their horse at a tank some distance from the city, to watch, while the chief citizens used daily to go abroad. Chachak surprised and made prisoners of the whole. The bankers and men of wealth offered large sums for their ransom; but he would not release them from bondage, except on condition of their settling in the territory of Jaisalmer. Three hundred and sixty-five heads of families embraced this alternative, and hence Jaisalmer dates the influx of her wealth. They were distributed over the principal cities, Derawar, Pugal, Marot, etc.[7.4.19] The three sons of the Rathor were also made prisoners; the two youngest were released, but Mera, the eldest, was detained as a hostage for his father’s good conduct. Chachak dismissed his ally, the Seta chief, whose granddaughter, Sonaldevi, he married. The father of the bride, Haibat Khan,[7.4.20] gave with her in daeja (dower) fifty horses, thirty-five slaves, four palkis, and two hundred female camels, and with her Chachak returned to Marot.

=War with the Khokhars.=—Two years after this, Chachak made war on Tharraj Khokhar, the chief of Pilibanga,[7.4.21] on account of a horse stolen from a Bhatti. The Khokhars were defeated and plundered; but his old enemies the Langahas, taking advantage of this occasion, made head against Chachak, and drove his garrison from the new possession of Dhuniapur.[7.4.22] Disease at length seized on Rawal Chachak, after a long course of victorious warfare, in which he subdued various tracts of country, even to the heart of the Panjab. In this state he determined to die as he had lived, with arms in his hands; but having [259] no foe near with whom to cope, he sent an embassy to the Langaha prince of Multan, to beg, as a last favour, the Juddhdan, or ‘gift of battle,’ that his soul might escape by the steel of his foeman, and not fall a sacrifice to slow disease.[7.4.23] The prince, suspecting treachery, hesitated; but the Bhatti messenger pledged his word that his master only wished an honourable death, and that he would only bring five hundred men to the combat. The challenge being accepted, the Rawal called his clansmen around him, and on recounting what he had done, seven hundred select Rajputs, who had shared in all his victories, volunteered to take the last field, and make Sankalp (oblation) of their lives with their leader. Previous to setting forth, he arranged his affairs. His son Gaj Singh, by the Seta Rani, he sent with her to her father’s house. He had five other sons, namely, Kumbha, Barsal, Bhimdeo (by Lala Rani, of the Sodha tribe), Rata and Randhir, whose mother was Surajdevi, of Chauhan race. Barsal, his eldest son, he made heir to all his dominions, except the land of Khadal (whose chief town is Derawar), which he bestowed upon Randhir, and to both he gave the tika, making them separate States. Barsal marched to Kahror,[7.4.24] his capital, at the head of seventeen thousand men.

=Heroic Death of Rāwal Chachakdeo.=—Meanwhile, Rawal Chachak marched to Dhuniapur, “to part with life.” There he heard that the prince of Multan was within two coss. His soul was rejoiced; he performed his ablutions, worshipped the sword[7.4.25] and the gods, bestowed charity, and withdrew his thoughts from this world.

The battle lasted four gharis (two hours), and the Jadon prince fell with all his kin after performing prodigies of valour. Two thousand Khans fell beneath their swords; rivers of blood flowed in the field; but the Bhatti gained the abode of Indra, who shared his throne with the hero. The king crossed the Bias, and returned to Multan.

While Randhir was performing at Derawar the rites of the twelve days of matam, or ‘mourning,’ his elder brother, Kumbha, afflicted with insanity, rushed into the assembly and swore to avenge his father’s death. That day he departed, accompanied by a single slave, and reached the prince’s camp. It was surrounded by a [260] ditch eleven yards wide, over which the Bhatti leaped his horse in the dead of night, reached the harem, and cut off the head of Kalu Shah, with which he rejoined his brethren at Derawar. Barsal re-established Dhuniapur, and then went to Kahror. His old foes, the Langahas, under Haibat Khan, again attacked him, but they were defeated with great slaughter. At the same time, Husain Khan Baloch invaded Bikampur.[7.4.26]

=Rāwal Bersi, c. A.D. 1436-40.=—Rawal Bersi,[7.4.27] who at this time occupied the gaddi of Jaisalmer, went forth to meet Rao Barsal on his return from his expedition in the Panjab. In S. 1530 (A.D. 1474) he made the gates and palace of Bikampur.

We may, in this place, desert the literal narrative of the chronicle; what follows is a record of similar border-feuds and petty wars, between ‘the sons of Kailan’[7.4.28] and the chiefs of the Panjab, alternately invaders and invaded, which is pregnant with mighty words and gallant deeds, but yielding no new facts of historical value. At length the numerous offspring of Kailan separated, and divided amongst them the lands on both sides of the Gara; and as Sultan Babur soon after this period made a final conquest of Multan from the Langahas, and placed therein his own governor, in all probability the Bhatti possessors of Kahrorkot and Dhuniapur, as well as Pugal and Marot (now Muhammadans), exchanged their faith (sanctioned even by Manu) for the preservation of their estates.[7.4.29] The bard is so much occupied with this Pugal branch that the chronicle appears almost devoted solely to them.

He passes from the main stem, Rawal Bersi, to Rawals Jeth, Nunkaran, Bhim, Manohardas, to Sabal Singh, five generations, with little further notice than the mere enumeration of their issue. With this last prince, Sabal Singh, an important change occurred in the political condition of the Bhattis [261].

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Footnote 7.4.1:

[If the dates are approximately correct, this was Jalālu-d-dīn Fīroz Shāh, Sultān of Delhi, A.D. 1290-96.]

Footnote 7.4.2:

The Rajputs, by their exterminating sakhas, facilitated the views of the Muhammadans. In every State we read of these horrors.

Footnote 7.4.3:

The mere act of being betrothed disqualifies from a second marriage; the affianced becomes a rand (widow), though a kumari (maid).

Footnote 7.4.4:

Even these anachronisms are proofs of the fidelity of these Annals. Ignorant native scribes, aware but of one great Moghul invasion, consider the invader to be Timur; but there were numerous Moghul invasions during the reign of Alau-d-din. In all probability that for which the services of the Bhatti prince obtained him the restoration of his dominions was that of Ibak Khan, general of the king of Transoxiana, who invaded India in A.H. 705 (A.D. 1305), and was so signally defeated that only three thousand out of fifty-seven thousand horse escaped the sword, and these were made prisoners and trod to death by elephants, when pillars of skulls were erected to commemorate the victory.—See Briggs’ Ferishta, vol. i. p. 363 f. [Elliot-Dowson iii. 199.]

Footnote 7.4.5:

[Another version of a common folk-tale (Vol. I. 342).]

Footnote 7.4.6:

It is scarcely necessary to repeat that this is a free translation of the chronicle.

Footnote 7.4.7:

The Khichi prince, we may suppose, had no follower skilled in omens—they lived very happily, as appears by the Khichi chronicle, and she bore him a son, who was driven from Gagraun. The scandal propagated against the ‘ruby of Mewar’ was no doubt a ruse of the Sankhla chief, as the conclusion shows. However small the intrinsic worth of these anecdotes, they afford links of synchronisms, which constitute the value of the annals of all these States.

Footnote 7.4.8:

Sadhu was the son and heir of Raningdeo, and it was from this portion of the Bhatti annals I extracted that singular story, related at p. 730, to illustrate the influence which the females of Rajputana have on national manners. The date of this tragical event was S. 1462, according to the Bhatti annals; and Rana Mokal, the contemporary of Rawal Jeth and Rao Raningdeo, was on the throne of Mewar from S. 1454 to S. 1475. The annals of this State (Vol. I. p. 331) notice the marriage of the ‘Ruby’ to Dhiraj, son of Achaldas, but say nothing on the other point. A vague recollection of some matrimonial insult being offered evidently yet prevails, for when a marriage was contracted in A.D. 1821, through the Author’s intervention, between the Rana of Udaipur’s daughter and the present Rawal Gaj Singh of Jaisalmer, it was given out that there was no memorial of any marriage-alliance between the two houses. After all, it may be a vainglorious invention of the Bhatti annalist.

Footnote 7.4.9:

[The date of Lachhman Rāwal is uncertain. Inscriptions at Jaisalmer mention him as reigning in A.D. 1402 and 1416 (Erskine iii. B. 9).]

Footnote 7.4.10:

The term basai has been explained in Vol. I. p. 206. The Basai is a slave in the mildest sense; one who in distress sells his liberty. His master cuts the choti, or lock of hair, from the centre of the head, as a mark of bondage. They are transferable, like cattle. This custom prevails more in the desert States than in central Rajwara; there every great man has his Basai. Shyam Singh Champawat of Pokaran had two hundred when he fled to Jaipur, and they all fell with him fighting against the Mahrattas. All castes, Brahmans and Rajputs, become Basais; they can redeem their liberty by purchase.

Footnote 7.4.11:

These three tribes are either extinct, or were lost on becoming proselytes to Islam.

Footnote 7.4.12:

The Sama or Samma tribe, which is well known in Muhammadan history, as having given a dynasty to Sind in modern times, is a great branch of the Yadus, and descended from Samba, son of Krishna; and while the other branch colonized Zabulistan, maintaining the original name of Yadus, the sons of Samba made his name the patronymic in Seistan and the lower valley of the Indus. Samma-ka-kot, or Sammanagari, was the capital, which yet exists, and doubtless originated the Minnagara of the Greeks. Sambos, the opponent of Alexander, it is fair to infer, was the chief of the Samma tribe. Samba, meaning ‘of, or belonging to, Sham or Syama’ (an epithet of Krishna, from his dark complexion), was son of Jambuvati, one of the eight wives of this deified Yadu. The Jarejas of Cutch and Jams of Sind and Saurashtra are of the same stock. The Sind-Samma dynasty, on the loss of their faith and coming into contact with Islam, to which they became proselytes, were eager to adopt a pedigree which might give them importance in the eyes of their conquerors; Sam was transformed into Jam, and the Persian king, Jamshīd, was adopted as the patriarch of the Sammas, in lieu of the legitimate Samba. Ferishta gives an account of this dynasty, but was ignorant of their origin. He says, “The Zemindars of Sinde were originally of two tribes or families, Somuna and Soomura; and the chief of the former was distinguished by the appellation of Jam.”—Briggs’ Ferishta, vol. iv. p. 424. The historian admits they were Hindus until A.H. 782 (A.D. 1380, S. 1436); a point of little doubt, as we see the Bhatti prince intermarrying with this family about twenty years subsequent even to the date assigned by Ferishta for their proselytism. I may here again state, once for all, that I append these notes in order not to interfere with the text, which is abridged from the original chronicle.

Footnote 7.4.13:

It is said that Ranmall succeeded; but this was only to the northern portion, his appanage: he lived but two months.

Footnote 7.4.14:

Probably a branch of the Panwārs (Rose, Glossary, ii. 240).

Footnote 7.4.15:

Position unknown, unless it be the Tchin-kot of D’Anville at the confluence of the river of Kabul with the Indus. There is no doubt that this castle of the Bhatti prince was in the Panjab; and coupled with his alliance with the chief of Sehat or Swat, that it is the Tchin-kot, or Ashnagar of that celebrated geographer, whence the Acesines of the Greeks. [The Acesines or Chīnāb is the Vedik Asikni.]

Footnote 7.4.16:

I may here repeat that the Janjūa or Janjūba and Johya were no doubt branches of the same race; the Janjūha of Babur, who locates them about the mountains of Jud. [(Rose, Glossary, ii. 353 f.; ASR, ii. 17).]

Footnote 7.4.17:

Now belonging to Marwar, and on its north-western frontier; but I believe in ruins. [Near Pokaran, 85 miles N.W. of Jodhpur city. It is in ruins.]

Footnote 7.4.18:

Most likely the Swatis, or people of Swat, described by Mr. Elphinstone (Vol. I. p. 506) as of Indian origin, and as possessing a kingdom from the Hydaspes to Jalalabad, the Souastene of Ptolemy. [Souastēnē is the basin of the Souastos, the river of Swāt, the original form of the name being Subhavastu, which, by the usual mode of contraction, becomes Subhāstu or Suvāstu (McCrindle, Ptolemy, 106 f.). It seems hardly likely that this tribe interfered in the politics of the Indian desert.]

Footnote 7.4.19:

It must not be forgotten that Satalmer was one of the Bhatti castles wrested from them by the Rathors, who have greatly curtailed their frontiers.

Footnote 7.4.20:

From this and many other instances we come to the conclusion that the Tatar or Indo-Scythic title of Khan is by no means indicative of the Muhammadan faith. Here we see the daughter of the prince of Swat, or Suvat, with a genuine Hindi name.

Footnote 7.4.21:

The position of Pilibanga is unknown; in all probability it has undergone a metamorphosis with the spread of ‘the faith’ over these regions. As before mentioned, I believe this race called Khokhar to be the Gakkhar, so well known to Babur, and described as his inveterate foes in all his irruptions into India. Their manners, especially that distinctive mark, polyandry, mentioned by Ferishta, mark the Ghakkars as Indo-Scythic. The names of their chiefs are decidedly Hindu. They were located with the Judis in the upper part of the Panjab, and, according to Elphinstone, they retain their old position, contiguous to the Yusufzai Jadons. [See Rose, Glossary, ii. 540. They have no connexion with the Rājput Jādons.]

Footnote 7.4.22:

Dhuniapur is not located.

Footnote 7.4.23:

In this chivalrous challenge, or demand of the Juddhdan, we recognize another strong trait of Scythic manners, as depicted by Herodotus. The ancient Getae of Transoxiana could not bear the idea of dying of disease; a feeling which his offspring carried with them to the shores of the Baltic, to Yeut-land, or Jutland! [?]

Footnote 7.4.24:

This fortress, erected by Rao Kailan, is stated to be twenty-two coss, about forty miles, from Bahawalpur; but though the direction is not stated, there is little doubt of its being to the northward, most probably in that duab called Sind-Sagar. [Probably Kahror in Multān District, about 20 miles from Bahāwalpur.]

Footnote 7.4.25:

Couple this martial rite with the demand of Juddhdan, and there is an additional reason for calling these Yadus Indo-Scythic. See p. 680 for an account of the worship of the sword, or Khadga-sthapna.

Footnote 7.4.26:

The foregoing (from p. 1219), including the actions of Kailan, Chachak, and Barsal, must be considered as an episode, detailing the exploits of the Raos of Pugal, established by Kailan, third son of Rawal Kehar of Jaisalmer. It was too essential to the annals to be placed in a note.

Footnote 7.4.27:

[Rāwal Bersi, son of Lachhman, son of Kehar, is mentioned in inscriptions as Chief of Jaisalmer, A.D. 1436, and 1440 (Erskine iii. B. 9)].]

Footnote 7.4.28:

Rao Kailan had established his authority over nine castles, heads of districts, namely, Asini, or Aswinikot, Bikampur, Marot, Pugal, Derawar, Kahror (twenty-two coss, or about forty miles, from Bahawalpur), Guman, Bahan, Nadno, and Matela, on the Indus.

Footnote 7.4.29:

There never was anything so degrading to royalty as the selfish protection guaranteed to it by this Lycurgus of the Hindus, who says, “Against misfortune, let him preserve his wealth; at the expense of his wealth, let him preserve his wife; but let him at all events preserve himself, even at the hazard of his wife and riches.”—Manu, Laws, vii. 213. The entire history of the Rajputs shows they do not pay much attention to such unmanly maxims.

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Chapter 5

=Jaisalmer a Mughal Fief.=—We have now reached that period in the Bhatti annals when Shah Jahan was emperor of India. Elsewhere, we have minutely related the measure which the great Akbar adopted to attach his Rajput vassalage to the empire; a policy pursued by his successors. Sabal Singh, the first of the princes of Jaisalmer who held his dominions as a fief of the empire, was not the legitimate heir to the ‘gaddi of Jaisal [262].’[7.5.1] Manohardas had obtained the gaddi by the assassination of his nephew, Rawal Nathu, the son and heir of Bhim, who was returning from his nuptials at Bikaner, and had passed the day at Phalodi,[7.5.2] then a town of Jaisalmer, when poison was administered to him by the hands of a female. But it was destined that the line of the assassin should not rule, and the dignity fell to Sabal Singh, the third in descent from Maldeo, second son of Rawal Nunkaran.

=Rāwal Sabal Singh, A.D. 1651-61.=—The good qualities of young Sabal, and the bad ones of Ramchand, son of the usurper, afforded another ground for the preference of the former. Moreover, Sabal was nephew to the prince of Amber, under whom he held a distinguished post in the government of Peshawar, where he saved the royal treasure from being captured by the Afghan mountaineers. For this service, and being a favourite of the chiefs who served with their contingents, the king gave Jaswant Singh of Jodhpur command to place him on the gaddi. The celebrated Nahar Khan Kumpawat[7.5.3] was entrusted with this duty, for the performance of which he received the city and domain of Pokaran, ever since severed from Jaisalmer.

=Pokaran lost to Jaisalmer.=—This was the first considerable abstraction from the territories which had been progressively increased by Rawal Jaisal and his successors, but which have since been woefully curtailed. A short time before Babur’s invasion, the dependencies of Jaisalmer extended on the north to the Gara River,[7.5.4] west to the Mihran or Indus; and on the east and south they were bounded by the Rathors of Bikaner and Marwar who had been gradually encroaching for two centuries, and continue to do so to this day. The entire thal of Barmer and Kotra,[7.5.5] in the south, were Bhatti chieftainships, and eastward to the site of Bikaner itself.

=Rāwal Amār Singh, A.D. 1661-1702.=—Amra Singh, son of Sabal, succeeded. He led the tika-daur against the Balochs, who had invaded the western tracts, and was installed on the field of victory. Soon after, he demanded aid from his subjects to portion his daughter, and being opposed by his Rajput minister, Raghunath, he put him to death. The Chana Rajputs, from the north-east, having renewed their old raids, he in person attacked and compelled them to give bonds, or written obligations, for their future good conduct.

Provoked by the daily encroachments of the Kandhalot Rathors, Sundardas and Dalpat, chiefs of Bikampur, determined to retaliate: “let us get a name in the [263] world,” said Dalpat, “and attack the lands of the Rathors.” Accordingly, they invaded, plundered, and fired the town of Jaju, on the Bikaner frontier. The Kandhalots retaliated on the towns of Jaisalmer, and an action took place, in which the Bhattis were victorious, slaying two hundred of the Rathors. The Rawal partook in the triumph of his vassals. Raja Anup Singh[7.5.6] of Bikaner was then serving with the imperial armies in the Deccan. On receiving this account, he commanded his minister to issue a summons to every Kandhalot capable of carrying arms to invade Jaisalmer, and take and raze Bikampur, or he would consider them traitors. The minister issued the summons; every Rathor obeyed it, and he added, as an auxiliary, a Pathan chief with his band from Hissar. Rawal Amra collected his Bhattis around him, and instead of awaiting the attack, advanced to meet it; he slew many of the chiefs, burnt the frontier towns, and recovered Pugal, forcing the Rathor chiefs of Barmer and Kotra to renew their engagements of fealty and service.

Amra had eight sons, and was succeeded by Jaswant, the eldest, in S. 1758 (A.D. 1702), whose daughter was married to the heir-apparent of Mewar.

* * * * *

Here ends the chronicle, of which the foregoing is an abstract: the concluding portion of the annals is from a MS. furnished by a living chronicler, corrected by other information. It is but a sad record of anarchy and crime.

Soon after the death of Rawal Amra, Pugal, Barmer, Phalodi, and various other towns and territories in Jaisalmer, were wrested from this State by the Rathors.[7.5.7]

The territory bordering the Gara was taken by Daud Khan, an Afghan chieftain from Shikarpur, and it became the nucleus of a State called after himself, Daudputra.[7.5.8]

=Rāwal Jaswant Singh, A.D. 1702-22.=—Jaswant Singh succeeded. He had five sons, Jagat Singh, who committed suicide, Isari Singh, Tej Singh, Sardar Singh, and Sultan Singh. Jagat Singh had three sons, Akhai Singh, Budh Singh, and Zorawar Singh.

=Rāwal Akhai Singh, A.D. 1722-62.=—Akhai Singh succeeded. Budh Singh died of the smallpox; Tej Singh, uncle to the Rawal, usurped the government, and the princes fled to Delhi to save their lives. At this period, their grand-uncle, Hari Singh (brother of Rawal Jaswant), was serving the king, and he returned in order to displace the usurper. It is customary for the [264] prince of Jaisalmer to go annually in state to the lake Gharsisar, to perform the ceremony of Las, or clearing away the accumulation of mud and sand.[7.5.9] The Raja first takes out a handful, when rich and poor follow his example. Hari Singh chose the time when this ceremony was in progress to attack the usurper. The attempt did not altogether succeed; but Tej Singh was so severely wounded that he died, and was succeeded by his son,

Sawai Singh, an infant of three years of age. Akhai Singh collected the Bhattis from all quarters, stormed the castle, put the infant to death, and regained his rights.

Akhai Singh ruled forty years. During this reign, Bahawal Khan, son of Daud Khan, took Derawar, and all the tract of Khadal, the first Bhatti conquest, and added it to his new State of Bahawalpur, or Daudputra.

=Rāwal Mūlrāj, A.D. 1762-1820. Conspiracy against Mūlrāj.=—Mulraj succeeded in S. 1818 (A.D. 1762). He had three sons, Rae Singh, Jeth Singh, and Man Singh. The unhappy choice of a minister by Mulraj completed the demoralization of the Bhatti principality. This minister was named Sarup Singh, a Bania of the Jain faith and Mehta family, destined to be the exterminators of the laws and fortunes of the ‘sons of Jaisal.’ The cause of hatred and revenge of this son of commerce to the Bhatti aristocracy arose out of a disgraceful dispute regarding a Bakhtan, a fair frail one, a favourite of the Mehta, but who preferred the Rajput, Sardar Singh, of the tribe of Aef.[7.5.10] The Bhatti chief carried his complaint of the minister to the heir-apparent, Rae Singh, who had also cause of grievance in the reduction of his income. It was suggested to the prince to put this presumptuous minister to death; this was effected by the prince’s own hand, in his father’s presence; and as the Mehta, in falling, clung to Mulraj for protection, it was proposed to take off Mulraj at the same time. The proposition, however, was rejected with horror by the prince, whose vengeance was satisfied. The Rawal was allowed to escape to the female apartments; but the chieftains, well knowing they could not expect pardon from the Rawal, insisted on investing Rae Singh, and if he refused, on placing his brother on the gaddi. The an of Rae Singh was proclaimed; but no entreaty or threat would induce him to listen to the proposal of occupying the throne; in lieu of which he used a pallet (khat). Three months and five days had passed since the deposal and bondage of Mulraj, when a female resolved to emancipate him: this female was the wife of the chief conspirator, and confidential adviser of the regent prince. This noble dame, a Rathor Rajputni, of the Malecha clan, was the wife of Anup Singh of Jinjiniali, the premier noble of Jaisalmer, and who, wearied with the tyranny of the minister and the weakness of his [265] prince, had proposed the death of the one and the deposal of the other. We are not made acquainted with any reason, save that of Swamidharma, or ‘fealty,’ which prompted the Rathorni to rescue her prince even at the risk of her husband’s life; but her appeal to her son Zorawar, to perform his duty, is preserved, and we give it verbatim: “Should your father oppose you, sacrifice him to your duty, and I will mount the pyre with his corpse.” The son yielded obedience to the injunction of his magnanimous parent, who had sufficient influence to gain over Arjun, the brother of her husband, as well as Megh Singh, chief of Baru. The three chieftains forced an entrance into the prison where their prince was confined, who refused to be released from his manacles, until he was told that the Mahechi had promoted the plot for his liberty. The sound of the grand nakkara, proclaiming Mulraj’s repossession of the gaddi, awoke his son from sleep; and on the herald depositing at the side of his pallet the sable saropa,[7.5.11] and all the insignia of exile—the black steed and black vestments—the prince, obeying the command of the emancipated Rawal, clad himself therein, and accompanied by his party, bade adieu to Jaisalmer and took the road to Kotra. When he arrived at this town, on the southern frontier of the State, the chiefs proposed to “run the country”; but he replied, “the country was his mother, and every Rajput his foe who injured it.” He repaired to Jodhpur, but the chieftains abided about Sheo Kotra and Barmer, and during the twelve years they remained outlaws, plundered even to the gates of Jaisalmer. In the first three years they devastated the country, their castles were dismantled, the wells therein filled up, and their estates sequestrated. At the end of the twelve, having made the talak, or oath against further plunder, their estates were restored, and they were readmitted into their country.

The banished prince remained two years and a half with Raja Bijai Singh, who treated him like a son. But he carried his arrogant demeanour with him to Jodhpur; for one day, as he was going out to hunt, a Bania, to whom he was indebted, seized his horse by the bridle, and invoking the an of Bijai Singh, demanded payment of his debt. The prince, in turn, required him, with the invocation “by Mulraj!” to unloose his hold. But the man of wealth, disregarding the appeal, insolently replied, “What is Mulraj to me?” It was the last word he spoke; the sword of Rae Singh was unsheathed, and the Bania’s head rolled on the ground: then, turning his horse’s [266] head to Jaisalmer, he exclaimed, “Better be a slave at once than live on the bounty of another.” His unexpected arrival outside his native city brought out the entire population to see him. His father, the Rawal, sent to know what had occasioned his presence, and he replied that it was merely preparatory to pilgrimage. He was refused admittance; his followers were disarmed, and he was sent to reside at the fortress of Dewa, together with his sons Abhai Singh and Dhonkal Singh, and their families.

=Sālim Singh, Prime Minister.=—Salim Singh, who succeeded his father as prime minister of Jaisalmer, was but eleven years of age at the time of his murder. His young mind appears, even at that early age, to have been a hotbed for revenge; and the seeds which were sown soon quickened into a luxuriance rarely equalled even in those regions, where human life is held in little estimation. Without any of that daring valour which distinguishes the Rajput, he overcame, throughout a long course of years, all who opposed him, uniting the subtlety of the serpent to the ferocity of the tiger. In person he was effeminate, in speech bland; pliant and courteous in demeanour; promising, without hesitation, and with all the semblance of sincerity, what he never had the most remote intention to fulfil. Salim, or, as he was generally designated by his tribe, the Mehta, was a signal instance of a fact of which these annals exhibit too many examples, namely, the inadequacy of religious professions, though of a severe character, as a restraint on moral conduct; for though the tenets of his faith (the Jain) imperatively prescribe the necessity of “hurting no sentient being,” and of sitting in the dark rather than, by luring a moth into the flame of a lamp, incur the penalty attached to the sin of insect-murder, this man has sent more of ‘the sons of Jassa’ to Yamaloka[7.5.12] than the sword of their external foes during his long administration. He had scarcely attained man’s estate when the outlawed chiefs were restored to their estates by a singular intervention. Raja Bhim Singh had acceded to the gaddi of Marwar, and the Mehta was chosen by the prince of Jaisalmer, as his representative, to convey his congratulations, and the tika of acknowledgment on his succession, to Raja Bijai Singh. On his return from this mission, he was waylaid and captured by the outlawed chieftains, who instantly passed sentence of death upon the author of their miseries. The sword was uplifted, when, “placing his turban at the feet of Zorawar Singh,” he implored his protection—and he found it! Such is the Rajput—an anomaly amongst his species; his character a compound of the opposite and antagonistical qualities which impel mankind to virtue and to crime. Let me recall to the mind of the reader that the protector of this vampire [267] was the virtuous son of the virtuous Rajputni who, with an elevation of mind equal to whatever is recorded of Greek or Roman heroines, devoted herself, and a husband whom she loved, to the one predominant sentiment of the Rajput, Swamidharma, or ‘fealty to the sovereign.’ Yet had the wily Mehta effected the disgrace of this brave chief, to whom the Rawal owed his release from bondage and restoration to his throne, and forced him to join the outlaws amidst the sand-hills of Barmer. Nothing can paint more strongly the influence of this first of the Bhatti chiefs over his brethren than the act of preserving the life of their mortal foe, thus cast into their hands; for not only did they dissuade him from the act, but prophesied his repentance of such mistaken clemency. Only one condition was stipulated, their restoration to their homes. They were recalled, but not admitted to court: a distinction reserved for Zorawar alone.

=Death of Rāe Singh.=—When Rae Singh was incarcerated in Dewa, his eldest son, Abhai Singh, Rajkumar, ‘heir-apparent,’ with the second son, Dhonkal, were left at Barmer, with the outlawed chiefs. The Rawal, having in vain demanded his grandchildren, prepared an army and invested Barmer. It was defended during six months, when a capitulation was acceded to, and the children were given up to Mulraj on the bare pledge of Zorawar Singh, who guaranteed their safety; and they were sent to the castle of Dewa, where their father was confined. Soon after, the castle was fired, and Rae Singh and his wife were consumed in the flames. On escaping this danger, which was made to appear accidental, the young princes were confined in the fortress of Ramgarh, in the most remote corner of the desert, bordering the valley of Sind, for their security and that of the Rawal (according to the Mehta’s account), and to prevent faction from having a nucleus around which to form. But Zorawar, who entertained doubts of the minister’s motives, reminded the Rawal that the proper place for the heir-apparent was the court, and that his honour stood pledged for his safety. This was sufficient for the Mehta, whose mind was instantly intent upon the means to rid himself of so conscientious an adviser. Zorawar had a brother named Ketsi, whose wife, according to the courtesy of Rajwara, had adopted the minister as her brother. Salim sounded his adopted sister as to her wish to see her husband become lord of Jinjiniali. The tempter succeeded: he furnished her with poisoned comfits, which she administered to the gallant Zorawar; and her lord was inducted into the estates of Jinjiniali. Having thus disposed of the soul of the Bhatti nobility, he took off in detail the chiefs of Baru, Dangri, and many others, chiefly by the same means, though some by [268] the dagger. Ketsi, who, whether innocent or a guilty participant in his brother’s death, had benefited thereby, was marked in the long list of proscription of this fiend, who determined to exterminate every Rajput of note. Ketsi knew too much, and those connected with him shared in this dangerous knowledge: wife, brother, son, were therefore destined to fall by the same blow. The immediate cause of enmity was as follows. The minister, who desired to set aside the claims of the children of Rae Singh to the gaddi, and to nominate the youngest son of Mulraj as heir-apparent, was opposed by Ketsi, as it could only be effected by the destruction of the former; and he replied, that “no co-operation of his should sanction the spilling of the blood of any of his master’s family.” Salim treasured up the remembrance of this opposition to his will, though without any immediate sign of displeasure. Soon after, Ketsi and his brother Sarup were returning from a nuptial ceremony at Kanera, in the district of Balotra. On reaching Bhikarai, on the Jaisalmer frontier, where the ministers of the Mehta’s vengeance were posted, the gallant Zorawar and his brother were conducted into the castle, out of which their bodies were brought only to be burnt. Hearing of some intended evil to her lord, Ketsi’s wife, with her infant son, Megha, sought protection in the minister’s own abode, where she had a double claim, as his adopted sister, to sanctuary and protection. For five days, the farce was kept up of sending food for herself and child; but the slave who conveyed it remarking, in coarse, unfeeling language, that both her husband and her brother were with their fathers, she gave a loose to grief and determined on revenge. This being reported to the Mehta, he sent a dagger for her repose.

The princes, Abhai Singh and Dhonkal Singh, confined in the fortress of Ramgarh, soon after the murder of Ketsi were carried off, together with their wives and infants, by poison. The murderer then proclaimed Gaj Singh, the youngest but one of all the posterity of Mulraj, as heir-apparent. His brothers sought security in flight from this fiend-like spirit of the minister, and are now refugees in the Bikaner territory. The following slip from the genealogical tree will show the branches so unmercifully lopped off by this monster:

Mulraj. │ ┌─────────────────┼─────────────────────┐ │ │ │ Rae Singh, Jeth Singh (kana), Man Singh, poisoned. living. killed by a fall from his horse. │ │ │ ├───────┐ │ ┌───────┬─────┼────────┐ Abhai Singh, │ Maha Singh, │ Devi Singh, │ Fateh Singh, poisoned. │ blind. │ in exile. │ in exile. │ │ │ Dhonkal Singh, Tej Singh, Gaj Singh, poisoned. in exile. reigning prince.

[269.]

Maha Singh, being blind of one eye[7.5.13] (kana), could not succeed; and Man Singh being killed by a fall from his horse, the Mehta was saved the crime of adding one more “mortal murther to his crown.”

=Long Reigns of Rājput Princes.=—It is a singular fact, that the longest reigns we know of in Rajwara occurred during ministerial usurpations. The late Maharao of Kotah occupied the gaddi upwards of half a century, and the Rawal Mulraj swayed the nominal sceptre of this oasis of the desert upwards of fifty-eight years. His father ruled forty years, and I doubt whether, in all history, we can find another instance of father and son reigning for a century.[7.5.14] This century was prolific in change to the dynasty, whose whole history is full of strange vicissitudes. If we go back to Jaswant Singh, the grandfather of Mulraj, we find the Bhatti principality touching the Gara on the north, which divided it from Multan; on the west it was bounded by the Panjnad, and thus included a narrow slip of the fertile valley of Sind; and we have seen it stretch, at no remote period, even to the ancient capital Mansura, better known to the Hindu as Rori-Bakhar,[7.5.15] the islandic capital of the Sogdoi (Sodha) of Alexander. To the south, it rested on Dhat, including the castles of Sheo, Kotra, and Barmer, seized on by Marwar; and in the east embraced the districts of Phalodi, Pokaran, and other parts, also in the possession of Marwar or Bikaner. The whole of the State of Bahawalpur is formed out of the Bhatti dominion, and the Rathors have obtained therefrom not a small portion of their western frontier. This abstraction of territory will account for the heartburnings and border-feuds which continually break out between the Bhattis and Rathors, and ‘the children of David (Daudputras).’

Could the same prophetic steel which carved upon the pillar of Brahmsar the destinies of the grandson of the deified Hari, eleven hundred years before Christ, have subjoined to that of Jaisal the fate which awaited his descendant Mulraj, he would doubtless have regarded the prophecy as conveying a falsehood too gross for belief. That the offspring of the deified prince of Dwarka, who founded Ghazni, and fought the [270] united kings of Syria and Bactria, should, at length, be driven back on India, and compelled to seek shelter under the sign of the cross, reared amidst their sand-hills by a handful of strangers, whose ancestors, when they were even in the maturity of their fame, were wandering in their native woods, with painted bodies, and offering human sacrifices to the sun-god—more resembling Balsiva than Balkrishna—these would have seemed prodigies too wild for faith.

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Footnote 7.5.1:

Nunkaran had three sons, Harraj, Maldeo, and Kalyandas; each had issue. Harraj had Bhim (who succeeded his grandfather Nunkaran). Maldeo had Ketsi, who had Dayaldas, father of Sabal Singh, to whom was given in appanage the town of Mandila, near Pokaran. The third son, Kalyandas, had Manohardas, who succeeded Bhim. Ramchand was the son of Manohardas. A slip from the genealogical tree will set this in a clear light.

1. Nunkaran │ ┌─────────────┼─────────────┐ │ │ │ Harraj. Maldeo. Kalyandas. | | │ 2. Bhim. Ketsi. 3. Manohardas. │ │ │ Nathu. Dayaldas. Ramchand. │ 4. Sabal Singh.

Footnote 7.5.2:

[About 75 miles N.W. of Jodhpur city.]

Footnote 7.5.3:

Another synchronism (see Annals of Marwar for an account of Nahar Khan) of some value, since it accounts for the first abstraction of territory by the Rathors from the Bhattis.

Footnote 7.5.4:

The Gara is invariably called the Bias in the chronicle. Gara, or Ghara, is so called, in all probability, from the mud (gar) suspended in its waters. The Gara is composed of the waters of the Bias and Sutlej. [See IGI, vii. 139, xxiii. 179.]

Footnote 7.5.5:

[About 60 miles S. of Jaisalmer city.]

Footnote 7.5.6:

[A.D. 1669-95.]

Footnote 7.5.7:

The most essential use to which my labours can be applied is that of enabling the British Government, when called upon to exercise its functions, as protector and arbitrator of the international quarrels of Rajputana, to understand the legitimate and original grounds of dispute. Here we perceive the germ of the border-feuds, which have led to so much bloodshed between Bikaner and Jaisalmer, in which the former was the first aggressor; but as the latter, for the purpose of redeeming her lost territory, most frequently appeals as the agitator of public tranquillity, it is necessary to look for the remote cause in pronouncing our award.

Footnote 7.5.8:

[Bahāwalpur.]

Footnote 7.5.9:

[Lāsa, ‘anything clammy,’ like mud. This is a common pious act, performed at sacred tanks, and by some castes, like the Idaiyans of Madras, at marriages (North Indian Notes and Queries, ii. 111; Thurston, Tribes and Castes of S. India, i. 360 f.).]

Footnote 7.5.10:

[This tribe has not been traced.]

Footnote 7.5.11:

Saropa is the Rajput term for khilat, and is used by those who, like the Rana of Udaipur, prefer the vernacular dialect to the corrupt jargon of the Islamite. Sar-o-pa (from ‘head,’ sar, to ‘foot,’ pa) means a complete dress; in short, cap-à-pied. [See Yule, Hobson-Jobson, 2nd ed. 808.]

Footnote 7.5.12:

Pluto’s realm.

Footnote 7.5.13:

A person blind of one eye is incompetent to succeed, according to Hindu law. Kana is the nickname given to a person labouring under this personal defect, which term is merely an anagram of ânka, ‘the eye.’ [This is wrong. It is derived from Skt. kāna, ‘one-eyed’.] The loss of an eye does not deprive an occupant of his rights—of which we had a curious example in the siege of the imperial city of Delhi, which gave rise to the remark, that the three greatest men therein had only the complement of one man amongst them: the emperor had been deprived of both eyes by the brutality of Ghulam Kadir; the besieging chief Holkar was kana, as was the defender, Sir D. Ochterlony. Holkar’s name has become synonymous with kana, and many a horse, dog, and man, blind of an eye, is called after this celebrated Mahratta leader. The Hindus, by what induction I know not, attach a degree of moral obliquity to every individual kana, and appear to make no distinction between the natural and the acquired defect; though to all kanas they apply another and more dignified appellation, Sukracharya [the regent of the planet Venus], the Jupiter of their astromythology, which very grave personage came by his misfortune in no creditable way—for, although the Guru, or spiritual head of the Hindu gods, he set as bad a moral example to them as did the classical Jupiter to the tenants of the Greek and Roman Pantheon.

Footnote 7.5.14:

[Ummed Singh of Kotah, A.D. 1771-1819; Mūlrāj of Jaisalmer, 1762-1820; Akhai Singh of Jaisalmer, 1722-62.]

Footnote 7.5.15:

Mansura was many miles south of Bakhar.

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Chapter 6

=Treaty with the British.=—It was in the Samvat (era) of Vikrama, 1818,[7.6.1] that Rawal Mulraj was inaugurated on the throne of Jaisal; and it was in the year of our Lord 1818, that a treaty of “perpetual friendship, alliance, and unity of interests” was concluded between the Honourable East-India Company and Maha Rawal Mulraj, the Raja of Jaisalmer, his heirs and successors, the latter agreeing “to act in subordinate co-operation with the British Government, and with submission to its supremacy.”[7.6.2] This was almost the last act of Rawal Mulraj, who had always been a mere puppet in the hands of Mehta Salim Singh or his father. He died A.D. 1820, when his grandson, Gaj Singh, was proclaimed.

=Maharāwal Gaj Singh, A.D. 1820-46.=—Rawal Gaj Singh was fitted, from his years, his past seclusion, and the examples which had occurred before his eyes, to be the submissive pageant Salim Singh required. Isolated, in every sense, from intercourse with the rest of mankind, by the [271] policy of the minister, he had no community of sympathy with them, and no claim upon their aid. Surrounded by the creatures of Salim Singh, who, even to their daily dole, ascribe everything to this man’s favour, each word, each gesture, is watched and reported. The prince himself, his wives and family, are alike dependents on the minister’s bounty, often capriciously exercised. If he requires a horse, he must solicit it; or if desirous of bestowing some recompense, he requests to be furnished with the means, and deems himself fortunate if he obtain a moiety of his suit.

It will be observed from the date of this treaty (Dec. 1818), that Jaisalmer was the last of the States of India received under the protection of the British Government. Its distance made it an object of little solicitude to us; and the minister, it is said, had many long and serious consultations with his oracles before he united his destiny with ours. He doubted the security of his power if the Rawal should become subordinate to the British Government; and he was only influenced by the greater risk of being the sole State in Rajwara without the pale of its protection, which would have left him to the mercy of those enemies whom his merciless policy had created around him. The third and most important article of the treaty[7.6.3] tranquillized his apprehensions as to external foes; with these apprehensions all fear as to the consequences arising from ministerial tyranny towards the princely exiles was banished, and we shall presently find that this alliance, instead of checking his rapacity and oppression, incited them. But it is necessary, in the first place, to bestow a few remarks on the policy of the alliance as regards the British Government.

=The Treaty of Alliance.=—Its inequality requires no demonstration; the objects to be attained by it to the respective parties having no approximation to parity. The advantages to Jaisalmer were immediate; and to use the phraseology of the treaty, were not only of “great magnitude,” but were vitally important. From the instant the treaties were exchanged, her existence as a permanent State, which was not worth half a century’s purchase, was secured. Her power had been gradually declining, and reign after reign was narrowing her possessions to the vicinity of the capital. One State, Bahawalpur, had been formed from her northern territory; while those of Sind, Bikaner, and Jodhpur, had been greatly aggrandized at her expense; and all were inclined, as occasion arose, to encroach upon her feebleness. The faithless character of the minister, Salim Singh [272], afforded abundant pretexts for quarrel, and the anarchy of her neighbours proved her only safeguard during the later years of her independent existence. Now, the British Government having pledged itself to exert its power for the protection of the principality, in the event of any “serious invasion,” her fears either of Sindis, Daudputras, or of Rathors, are at rest. The full extent of this pledge may not have been contemplated when it was given; like all former alliances, it is the base of another step in advance. Instead of restricting the vast circle of our political connexions, it at once carried us out of India, placing us in actual contact and possible collision with the rulers of Sind and the people beyond the Indus. Marwar and Bikaner being already admitted to our alliance, the power of settling their feuds with the Bhattis is comparatively simple; but with Daudputra we have no political connexions, and with Sind, only those of “perpetual friendship and mutual intercourse”; but no stipulation ensuring respect to our remonstrances in case of the aggression of their subjects on our Bhatti ally. Are we then to push our troops through the desert to repel such acts, or must we furnish pecuniary subsidies (the cheapest mode), that she may entertain mercenaries for that object? We must view it, in this light, as an event, not only not improbable, but of very likely occurrence. Our alliance with Cutch involved us in this perplexity in 1819. Our armies were formed and moved to the frontier, and a declaration of war was avoided only by accepting a tardy amende in no way commensurate with the insult of invading, massacring, and pillaging our allies.[7.6.4] In this instance, our means of chastisement were facilitated by our maritime power of grappling with the enemy; but if the insult proceeds from the government of Upper Sind (only nominally dependent on Haidarabad), or from Bahawalpur, how are we to cope with these enemies of our ally? Such wars might lead us into a terra incognita beyond the Indus, or both the spirit and letter of the treaty will be null.

=The Strategical Importance of Jaisalmer.=—What, therefore, are the advantages we can hold out to ourselves for the volunteer of our amity and protection to this oasis of the desert? To have disregarded the appeal of Jaisalmer for protection, to have made her the sole exception in all Rajputana from our amicable relations, would have been to consign her to her numerous enemies, and to let loose the spirit of rapine and revenge, which it was the main object [273] of all these treaties to suppress; the Bhattis would have become a nation of robbers, the Bedouins of the Indian desert. Jaisalmer was the first link in a chain of free States, which formerly united the commerce of the Ganges with that of the Indus, but which interminable feuds had completely severed; the possibility of reunion depending upon a long continuance of tranquillity and confidence. This object alone would have warranted our alliance with Jaisalmer. But if we look to futurity, to the possible invasion of India, which can be best effected through the maritime provinces of Persia, the valley of the Indus will be the base of the invader’s operations. The possession of Jaisalmer would then be of vital importance, by giving us the command of Upper Sind, and enabling us to act against the enemy simultaneously with our armies east of the Delta, the most practicable point of advance into India. We may look upon invasion by the ancient routes pursued by Alexander, Mahmud, and Timur, as utterly visionary, by an army encumbered with all the matériel necessary to success, and thus the valley of Sind presents the only practicable route. But it would be a grand error, both in a political and military point of view, to possess ourselves of this valley, even if an opportunity were again to occur. It is true, the resources of that fertile region, so analogous to Egypt, would soon, under our management, maintain an army sufficient to defend it; and this would bring us at once into contact with the power (Persia) which clings to us for support, and will be adverse to us only when rendered subservient to Russia. It were well to view the possible degradation and loss of power to Russia, in Europe, as likely to afford a fresh stimulant to her ancient schemes of oriental aggrandizement. By some these schemes are looked upon as Quixotic, and I confess myself to be of the number. The better Russia is acquainted with the regions she would have to pass, the less desire will she evince for an undertaking, which, even if successful in the outset, would be useless; for if she conquered, she could not maintain India.[7.6.5] But, to me, it still appears imperative that this power should formally renounce such designs; the state of perpetual preparation rendered necessary by her menacing position, being so injurious to our finances, is worse than the actual attempt, which would only entail upon her inevitable loss. We lost, through our unwise economy, a noble opportunity of maintaining an ascendancy at the court of Kabul, which would have been easily prevailed upon, for our pecuniary aid, to make over to us the sovereignty of Sind (were this desirable), which is still considered a grand division of Kabul.

But setting the political question aside, and considering our possession of the [274] valley of Sind only in a military point of view, our occupation of it would be prejudicial to us. We should have a long line to defend, and rivers are no barriers in modern warfare. Whilst an impassable desert is between us, and we have the power, by means of our allies, of assailing an enemy at several points, though we are liable to attack but from one, an invader could not maintain himself a single season. On this ground, the maintenance of friendship with this remote nook of Rajput civilization is defensible, and we have the additional incitement of rescuing the most industrious and wealthy commercial communities in India from the fangs of a harpy; to whom, and the enormities of his government, we return.

=Effect of the Treaty on the Policy of Sālim Singh.=—No language can adequately represent the abuse of power with which the treaty has armed the rapacious minister of Jaisalmer, and it is one of the many instances of the inefficacy of our system of alliances to secure prosperity, or even tranquillity to these long-afflicted regions; which, although rescued from external assailants, are still the prey of discord and passion within. It will not be difficult, at the proper time and place, to make this appear.[7.6.6] The Mehta felt the advantages which the treaty gave him, in respect to neighbouring States; but he also felt that he had steeped himself too deeply in the blood of his master’s family, and in that of his noblest chieftains, to hope that any repentance, real or affected, could restore to him the confidence of those he had so outraged. With commercial men, with the industrious husbandman or pastoral communities, he had so long forfeited all claim to credit, that his oath was not valued at a single grain of the sand of their own desert dominion.

The bardic annalist of Rajputana, when compelled to record the acts of a tyrant, first announces his moral death; then comes the metempsychosis—the animating his frame with the spirit of a demon. In this manner is delineated the famed Bisaldeo, the Chauhan king of Ajmer. Whether the Bhatti minister will obtain such a posthumous apology for his misdeeds, a future historian will learn; but assuredly he is never mentioned, either in poetry or prose, but as a vampire, draining the life-blood of a whole people. For a short time after the treaty was formed, he appeared to fall in with the march of universal reformation; but whether it was that his crimes had outlawed him from the sympathies of all around, or that he could feel no enjoyment but in his habitual crimes, he soon gave indulgence to his rapacious spirit. The cause of his temporary forbearance was attributed to his anxiety to have [275] an article added to the treaty, guaranteeing the office of prime minister in his family, perhaps with a view to legalize his plunder; but seeing no hope of fixing an hereditary race of vampires on the land, his outrages became past all endurance, and compelled the British agent, at length, to report to his government (on December 17, 1821), that he considered the alliance disgraceful to our reputation, by countenancing the idea that such acts can be tolerated under its protection. Representations to the minister were a nullity; he protested against their fidelity; asserted in specious language his love of justice and mercy; and recommenced his system of confiscations, contributions, and punishments, with redoubled severity.

=Misgovernment of Sālim Singh.=—All Rajwara felt an interest in these proceedings, as the bankers of Jaisalmer, supported by the capital of that singular class, the Paliwals, are spread all over India. But this rich community, amounting to five thousand families, are nearly all in voluntary exile, and the bankers fear to return to their native land with the fruits of their industry, which they would renounce for ever, but that he retains their families as hostages. Agriculture is almost unknown, and commerce, internal or external, has ceased through want of security. The sole revenue arises from confiscation. It is asserted that the minister has amassed no less than two crores, which wealth is distributed in the various cities of Hindustan, and has been obtained by pillage and the destruction of the most opulent families of his country during the last twenty years. He has also, it is said, possessed himself of all the crown-jewels and property of value, which he has sent out of the country. Applications were continually being made to the British agent for passports (parwanas), by commercial men, to withdraw their families from the country. But all have some ties which would be hazarded by their withdrawing, even if such a step were otherwise free from danger; for while the minister afforded passports, in obedience to the wish of the agent, he might cut them off in the desert. This makes many bear the ills they have.[7.6.7]

=A Border Feud.=—We shall terminate our historical sketch of Jaisalmer with the details of a border feud, which called into operation the main condition of the British alliance—the right of universal arbitration in the international quarrels of Rajputana. The predatory habits of the Maldots of Baru originated a rupture, which threatened to involve the two States in war, and produced an invasion of the Rathors, sufficiently serious to warrant British interference. It will hardly be credited that this aggression, which drew down upon the Maldots the vengeance of Bikaner, was covertly stimulated by the minister, for the express purpose of their extirpation, for reasons which will [276] appear presently; yet he was the first to complain of the retaliation. To understand this matter, a slight sketch of the Maldot tribe is requisite.

=The Maldot Tribe.=—The Maldots, the Kailans, the Birsangs, the Pohars, and Tejmalots, are all Bhatti tribes; but, from their lawless habits, these names have become, like those of Bedouin, Kazzak, or Pindari, synonymous with ‘robber.’ The first are descended from Rao Maldeo, and hold the fief (patta) of Baru, consisting of eighteen villages, adjoining the tract called Kharipatta, wrested from the Bhattis by the Rathors of Bikaner, who, to confess the truth, morally deserve the perpetual hostility of this Bhatti lord-marcher, inasmuch as they were the intruders, and have deprived them (the Bhattis) of much territory. But the Rathors, possessing the right of the strongest, about twenty-five years ago exercised it in the most savage manner; for, having invaded Baru, they put almost the entire community to the sword, without respect to age or sex, levelled the towns, filled up the wells, and carried off the herds and whatever was of value. The survivors took shelter in the recesses of the desert, and propagated a progeny, which, about the period of connexion with the British, reoccupied their deserted lands. The minister, it is asserted, beheld the revival of this infant colony with no more favourable eye than did their enemies of Bikaner, whom, it is alleged, he invited once more to their destruction. The lawless habits of this tribe would have been assigned by the minister as his motive for desiring their extermination; but if we look back (p. 1232), we shall discover the real cause in his having incurred the lasting enmity of this clan for the foul assassination of their chief, who had been a party to the views of the heir-apparent, Rae Singh, to get rid of this incubus on their freedom. The opportunity afforded to take vengeance on the Maldots arose out of a service indirectly done to the British Government. On the revolt of the Peshwa, he sent his agents to Jaisalmer to purchase camels. One herd, to the number of four hundred, had left the Bhatti frontiers, and whilst passing through the Bikaner territory, were set upon by the Maldots, who captured the whole and conveyed them to Baru. It is scarcely to be supposed that such an aggression on the independence of Bikaner would have prompted her extensive armament, or the rapidity with which her troops passed the Bhatti frontier to avenge the insult, without some private signal from the minister, who was loud in his call for British interference; though not until Nokh[7.6.8] and Baru, their principal towns, were levelled, the chief killed, the wells filled up, and the victorious army following up its success by a rapid march on Bikampur, in which the fiscal lands began to suffer. The minister then discovered he had overshot the mark, and claimed [277] our interference,[7.6.9] which was rapid and effectual; and the Bikaner commander the more willingly complied with the request to retire within his own frontier, having effected more than his object.

The tortuous policy, the never-ending and scarcely-to-be-comprehended border feuds of these regions, must, for a long while, generate such appeals. Since these associated bands attach no dishonour to their predatory profession, it will be some time before they acquire proper notions; but when they discover there is no retreat in which punishment may not reach them, they will learn the benefits of cultivating the arts of peace, of whose very name no trace exists in their history.

We have lost sight of the Rawal, the title of the prince of Jaisalmer, in the prominent acts of his minister. Gaj Singh, who occupies the gaddi of Jaisal, to the prejudice of his elder brothers, who are still in exile in Bikaner, appears very well suited to the minister’s purpose, and to have little desire beyond his horses, and vegetating in quiet. The physiognomists of Jaisalmer, however, prognosticate the development of moral worth in due season; a consummation devoutly to be wished, and the first symptom of which must be the riddance of his minister by whatever process. The artful Salim deemed that it would redound to his credit, and bolster up his interest, to seek a matrimonial alliance with the Rana’s family of Mewar. The overture was accepted, and the coco-symbol transmitted to the Rawal, who put himself at the head of the Bhatti chivalry to wed and escort his bride through the desert. The Rathor princes of Bikaner and Kishangarh, who were at the same time suitors for the hands of another daughter and a granddaughter of the Rana, simultaneously arrived at Udaipur with their respective cortèges; and this triple alliance threw a degree of splendour over the capital of the Sesodias, to which it had long been a stranger. Gaj Singh lives very happily with his wife, who has given him an heir to his desert domain. The influence of high rank is seen in the respect paid to the Ranawatji (the title by which she is designated), even by the minister, and she exerts this influence most humanely for the amelioration of her subjects[7.6.10] [278].

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Footnote 7.6.1:

[A.D. 1762.]

Footnote 7.6.2:

See Appendix No. III. for a copy of this treaty. [See end of Vol. III.]

Footnote 7.6.3:

Art. III. “In the event of any serious invasion directed towards the overthrow of the principality of Jessulmer, or other danger of great magnitude occurring to that principality, the British Government will exert its power for the protection of the principality, provided that the cause of the quarrel be not ascribable to the Raja of Jessulmer.”

Footnote 7.6.4:

The attitude assumed by the energetic governor of Bombay, Mr. Elphinstone, on that occasion, will for a long time remain a lesson to the triumvirate government of Sind. To the Author it still appears a subject of regret, that, with the adequate preparation, the season, and everything promising a certainty of success, the pacific tone of Lord Hastings’ policy should have prevented the proper assertion of our dignity, by chastising an insult, aggravated in every shape. A treaty of amity and mutual intercourse was the result of this armament; but although twelve years have since elapsed, our intercourse has remained in statu quo; but this is no ground for quarrel. [Rāo Bharmall of Cutch, on account of his disloyalty to the British Government, was coerced by a force commanded by Captain MacMurdo, the Resident, which, on 25th March 1819, escaladed the fort of Bhuj, and compelled the Rāo to surrender (BG, v. 162).

Footnote 7.6.5:

[This prediction has been fulfilled by recent events.]

Footnote 7.6.6:

It is my intention (if space is left) to give a concise statement of the effects of our alliances, individually and collectively, in the States of Rajwara, with a few hints towards amending the system, at the conclusion of this volume. [This was not done.]

Footnote 7.6.7:

[“Up to 1823 Sālim Singh constantly urged, in the name of his master, claims to the territories of other chiefs, but these were rejected as the investigation of them was inconsistent with the engagements subsisting between the British Government and other States. In 1824 Sālim Singh was wounded by a Rājput, and as there was some fear that the wound might heal, his wife gave him poison.” Some support was given for the succession of his eldest son as prime minister, but the British Government declined to interfere in the appointment or punishment of a minister, on which all parties returned to their allegiance, and Rāwal Gaj Singh assumed personal charge of the administration (Erskine iii. A. 15 f.).]

Footnote 7.6.8:

[Nokh, 96 miles N.E. of Jaisalmer city.]

Footnote 7.6.9:

The Author has omitted to mention that he was political agent for Jaisalmer; so that his control extended uninterruptedly, almost from Sind to Sind; i.e. from the Indus, or great Sindh, to the Chhota-Sindh, or little river (see map). There are several streams designated Sindh, in Central India, a word purely Tatar, or Scythic. Abusin, ‘the Father-river,’ is one of the many names of the Indus. [Sindhu is a Sanskrit word, probably connected with the root syand, ‘to flow.’]

Footnote 7.6.10:

I had the honour of receiving several letters from this queen of the desert, who looked to her father’s house and his friends, as the best objects for support, whilst such a being as Sālim was the master of her own and her husband’s destiny. [Gaj Singh earned the special thanks of the British Government for his services in supplying camel transport in the Afghān war of 1838-39; and in 1844, after the conquest of Sind, the forts of Shāhgarh, Gharsia, and Ghotāru, which had formerly belonged to Jaisalmer, were restored to that State. Gaj Singh died without issue in 1846, and his widow adopted his nephew, Ranjīt Singh, who died without an heir in 1864 (Erskine iii. A. 16).]

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Chapter 7

=Geography of Jaisalmer.=—The country still dependent on the Rawal extends between 70° 30´ and 72° 30´ E. long., and between the parallels of 26° 20´ and 27° 50´ N. lat., though a small strip protrudes, in the N.-E. angle, as high as 28° 30´. This irregular surface may be roughly estimated to contain fifteen thousand square miles.[7.7.1] The number of towns, villages, and hamlets, scattered over this wide space, does not exceed two hundred and fifty; some estimate it at three hundred, and others depress it to two hundred; the mean cannot be wide of the truth. To enable the reader to arrive at a conclusion as to the population of this region, we subjoin a calculation, from data furnished by the best-informed natives, which was made in the year 1815: but we must add, that from the tyranny of the minister, the population of the capital (which is nearly half of the country), has been greatly diminished.

──────────┬──────────┬─────────┬────────────┬───────────────────────────────────── │ Fiscal │Number │ Number │ │ and │ of │ of │ Remarks. │ Feudal. │Houses. │Inhabitants.│ ──────────┼──────────┼─────────┼────────────┼───────────────────────────────────── Jaisalmer │ Capital │ 7,000 │ 35,000│ │ │ │ │┌ The chief has the title of Rao, Bikampur │ Pattayat │ 500 │ 2,000││ and twenty-four villages │ │ │ ││ dependent, not included in │ │ │ │└ this estimate. Sirara │ Do. │ 300 │ 1,200│┌ Kelan Bhatti: the Kelan │ │ │ │└ tribe extends to Pugal. Nachna │ Do. │ 400 │ 1,600│ Rawalot chief. Katori │ Fiscal │ 300 │ 1,200│ Kaba │ Do. │ 300 │ 1,200│ Kuldaro │ Do. │ 200 │ 800│ Satta │ Pattayat │ 300 │ 1,200│ [279] Jinjiniali│ Do. │ 300 │ 1,200│┌ Rawalot: first noble of │ │ │ │└ Jaisalmer. Devi-Kot │ Fiscal │ 200 │ 800│ Bhap │ Do. │ 200 │ 800│ Balana │ Pattayat │ 150 │ 600│ Satiasa │ Do. │ 100 │ 400│ │ │ │ │┌ Maldot: has eighteen Baru │ Do. │ 200 │ 800││ villages attached, not │ │ │ │└ included in this. Chaun │ Do. │ 200 │ 800│ Loharki │ Do. │ 150 │ 600│┐ Noantala │ Do. │ 150 │ 600││ All of the Rawalot clan. Lahti │ Do. │ 300 │ 1,200│┘ Dangari │ Do. │ 150 │ 600│ Bijorai │ Fiscal │ 200 │ 800│ Mandai │ Do. │ 200 │ 800│ Ramgarh │ Do. │ 200 │ 800│ Birsalpur │ Pattayat │ 200 │ 800│ Girajsar │ Do. │ 150 │ 600│ │ │ │ ————│ │ │ │ 56,400│ │ │ │ │ Two hundred and twenty-five ┐│ │ villages and hamlets, from ││ │ four to fifty houses each; ││ │ say, each average twenty, ││ 18,000│ at four inhabitants to each ┘│ │ │ ————│ TOTAL │ 74,400│ ───────────────────────────────┴────────────┴─────────────────────────────────────

According to this census, we have a population not superior to one of the secondary cities of Great Britain, scattered over fifteen thousand square miles; nearly one-half, too, belonging to the capital, which being omitted, the result would give from two to three souls only for each square mile.

=Face of the Country.=—The greater part of Jaisalmer is thal, or rui, both terms meaning ‘a desert waste.’ From Lohwar, on the Jodhpur frontier, to Khara, the remote angle touching Sind, the country may be described as a continuous tract of arid sand, frequently rising into lofty tibas (sand-hills), in some parts covered with low jungle. This line, which nearly bisects Jaisalmer, is also the line of demarcation of positive sterility and comparative cultivation. To the north is one uniform and naked waste; to the south are ridges of rock termed magra, rui, and light soil [280].

The ridge of hills is a most important feature in the geology of this desert region.[7.7.2] It is to be traced from Cutch Bhuj, strongly or faintly marked, according to the nature of the country. Sometimes it assumes, as at Chhotan, the character of a mountain; then dwindles into an insignificant ridge scarcely discernible, and often serves as a bulwark for the drifting sands, which cover and render it difficult to trace it at all. As it reaches the Jaisalmer country it is more developed; and at the capital, erected on a peak about two hundred and fifty feet high, its presence is more distinct, and its character defined. The capital of the Bhattis appears as the nucleus of a series of ridges, which diverge from it in all directions for the space of fifteen miles. One branch terminates at Ramgarh, thirty-five miles north-west of Jaisalmer; another branch extends easterly to Pokaran (in Jodhpur), and thence, in a north-east direction, to Phalodi; from whence, at intervals, it is traceable to Gariala, nearly fifty miles due north. It is a yellow-coloured sandstone, in which ochre is abundantly found, with which the people daub their houses.

These barren ridges, and the lofty undulating tibas of sand, are the only objects which diversify the almost uniform sterility of these regions. No trees interpose their verdant foliage to relieve the eye, or shelter the exhausted frame of the traveller. It is nearly a boundless waste, varied only by a few stunted shrubs of the acacia or mimosa family, some succulent plants, or prickly grasses, as the bharut[7.7.3] or burr, which clings to his garment and increases his miseries. Yet compared with the more northern portion, where “a sea of sand without a sign of vegetation”[7.7.4] forms the prospect, the vicinity of the capital is a paradise.

There is not a running stream throughout Jaisalmer; but there are many temporary lakes or salt-marshes, termed sar, formed by the collection of waters from the sand-hills, which are easily dammed in to prevent escape. They are ephemeral, seldom lasting but a few months; though after a very severe monsoon they have been known to remain throughout the year. One of these, called the Kanod Sar, extends from Kanod[7.7.5] to Mohangarh, covering a space of eighteen miles, and in which some water remains throughout the year. When it overflows, a small stream issues from the Sar, and pursues an easterly direction for thirty miles before it is absorbed; its existence [281] depends on the parent lake. The salt which it produces is the property of the crown, and adds something to the revenue.

=Soil, Husbandry, and Products.=—Notwithstanding the apparent poverty of this desert soil, nature has not denied it the powers of production; it is even favourable to some grains, especially the bajra, which prefers a light sand. In a favourable season they grow sufficient for the consumption of two and even three years, and then they import only wheat from Sind. When those parts favourable for bajra have been saturated with two or three heavy showers, they commence sowing, and the crops spring up rapidly. The great danger is that of too much rain when the crops are advanced, for, having little tenacity, they are often washed away. The bajra of the sand-hills is deemed far superior to that of Hindustan, and prejudice gives it a preference even to wheat, which does not bear a higher price, in times of scarcity. Bajra, in plentiful seasons, sells at one and a half maunds for a rupee;[7.7.6] but this does not often occur, as they calculate five bad seasons for a good one. Juar is also grown, but only in the low flats. Cotton is produced in the same soil as the bajra. It is not generally known that this plant requires but a moderate supply of water; it is deteriorated in the plains of India from over-irrigation; at least such is the idea of the desert-farmer, who perhaps does not make sufficient allowance for the cooler substratum of his sand-hills, compared with the black loam of Malwa. A variety of pulses grows on the sheltered sides of the tibas, as mung, moth, etc.; also the oil-plant (til) and abundance of the gawar, a diminutive melon, not larger than a hen’s egg, which is sent hundreds of miles, as a rarity. Around the capital, and between the ridges where soil is deposited or formed, and where they dam up the waters, are grown considerable quantities of wheat of very good quality, turmeric, and garden-stuffs. Barley and gram are, in good seasons, reared in small quantities, but rice is entirely an article of import from the valley of Sind.

=Implements of Husbandry.=—Where the soil is light, it will be concluded that the implements are simple. They have two kinds of plough, for one or two oxen, or for the camel, which animal is most in requisition. They tread out the grain with oxen, as in all parts of India, and not unfrequently they yoke the cattle to their hakerries,[7.7.7] or carts, and pass the whole over the grain.

=Manufactures.=—There is little scope for the ingenuity of the mechanic in this tract. They make coarse cotton cloths, but the raw material is almost all exported. Their grand article of manufacture is from the wool of the sheep pastured in the desert [282], which is fabricated into lois, or blankets, scarfs,[7.7.8] petticoats, turbans, of every quality. Cups and platters are made from a mineral called abrak, a calcareous substance, of a dark chocolate ground, with light brown vermiculated stripes;[7.7.9] female ornaments of elephants’ teeth, and arms of an inferior quality. These comprehend the artificial productions of this desert capital.

=Commerce.=—Whatever celebrity Jaisalmer possesses, as a commercial mart, arises from its position as a place of transit between the eastern countries, the valley of the Indus, and those beyond that stream, the Kitars (the term for a caravan of camels) to and from Haidarabad, Rori-Bakhar, Shikarpur and Uchh, from the Gangetic provinces, and the Panjab, passing through it. The indigo of the Duab, the opium of Kotah and Malwa, the famed sugar-candy of Bikaner, iron implements from Jaipur, are exported to Shikarpur[7.7.10] and lower Sind; whence elephants’ teeth (from Africa), dates, coco-nuts, drugs, and chandan,[7.7.11] are imported, with pistachios and dried fruits from Bahawalpur.

=Revenues and Taxes.=—The personal revenue of the princes of Jaisalmer[7.7.12] is, or rather was, estimated at upwards of four lakhs of rupees, of which more than one lakh was from the land.[7.7.13] The transit duties were formerly the most certain and most prolific branch of the fiscal income; but the bad faith of the minister, the predatory habits of the Bhatti chiefs proceeding mainly from thence, and the general decrease of commerce, have conspired nearly to annihilate this source of income, said at one time to reach three lakhs of rupees. These imposts are termed dan, and the collector dani, who was stationed at convenient points of all the principal routes which diverge from the capital.

=Land-tax.=—From one-fifth to one-seventh of the gross produce of the land is set aside as the tax of the crown, never exceeding the first nor falling short of the last.[7.7.14] It is paid in kind, which is purchased on the spot by the Paliwal Brahmans, or Banias, and the value remitted to the treasury [283].

=Dhuan.=—The third and now the most certain branch of revenue is the dhuan, literally ‘smoke,’ and which we may render ‘chimney or hearth-tax,’ though they have neither the one nor the other in these regions. It is also termed thali, which is the brass or silver platter out of which they eat, and is tantamount to a table-allowance. It never realizes above twenty thousand rupees annually, which, however, would be abundant for the simple fare of Jaisalmer. No house is exempt from the payment of this tax.

=Dand.=—There is an arbitrary tax levied throughout these regions, universally known and detested under the name of dand, the make-weight of all their budgets of ways and means. It was first imposed in Jaisalmer in S. 1830 (A.D. 1774), under the less odious appellation of ‘additional dhuan or thali,’ and the amount was only two thousand seven hundred rupees, to be levied from the monied interest of the capital. The Mahesris[7.7.15] agreed to pay their share, but the Oswals (the two chief mercantile classes) holding out, were forcibly sent up to the castle, and suffered the ignominious punishment of the bastinado. They paid the demand, but immediately on their release entered into a compact on oath, never again to look on the Rawal’s (Mulraj’s) face, which was religiously kept during their mutual lives. When he passed through the streets of his capital, the Oswals abandoned their shops and banking-houses, retiring to the interior of their habitations in order to avoid the sight of him. This was strenuously persevered in for many years, and had such an effect upon the prince, that he visited the principal persons of this class, and ‘spreading his scarf’ (pala pasarna),[7.7.16] intreated forgiveness, giving a writing on oath never again to impose dand, if they would make the dhuan a permanent tax. The Oswals accepted the repentance of their prince, and agreed to his terms. In S. 1841 and 1852, his necessities compelling him to raise money, he obtained by loan, in the first period, twenty-seven thousand, and in the latter, forty thousand rupees, which he faithfully repaid. When the father of the present minister came into power, he endeavoured to get back the bond of his sovereign abrogating the obnoxious dand, and offered, as a bait, to renounce the dhuan. The Oswals placed more value on the virtue of this instrument than it merited, for in spite of the bond, he in S. 1857 levied sixty thousand, and in 1863, eighty thousand rupees. A visit of the Rawal to the Ganges was seized upon as a fit opportunity by his subjects to get this oppression redressed, and fresh oaths were made by the prince, and broken by the minister, who has bequeathed his rapacious spirit to his son [284].

Since the accession of Gaj Singh, only two years ago,[7.7.17] Salim Singh has extorted fourteen lakhs (£140,000). Bardhman, a merchant of great wealth and respectability, and whose ancestors are known and respected throughout Rajwara as Sahukars, has been at various times stripped of all his riches by the minister and his father, who, to use the phraseology of the sufferers, “will never be satisfied while a rupee remains in Jaisalmer.”

=Establishments, Expenditure.=—We subjoin a rough estimate of the household establishment, etc., of this desert king:

Rupees.

Bar[7.7.18] 20,000

Rozgar Sardar[7.7.19] 40,000

Sihbandis or Mercenaries[7.7.20] 75,000

Household horse, 10 elephants, 200 camels, and 36,000 chariots

—-——

Carry forward 171,000

Brought forward 171,000

500 Bargir[7.7.21] horse 60,000

Rani’s or queen’s establishment 15,000

The wardrobe 5,000

Gifts 5,000

The kitchen 5,000

Guests, in hospitality 5,000

Feasts, entertainments 5,000

Annual purchase of horses, camels, oxen, etc. 20,000

—-—-—

TOTAL Rs. 291,000

—-—-—

The ministers and officers of government receive assignments on the transit-duties, and some have lands. The whole of this State-expenditure was more than covered, in some years, by the transit-duties alone; which have, it is asserted, amounted to the almost incredible sum of three lakhs, or £30,000.

=Tribes.=—We shall conclude our account of Jaisalmer with a few remarks on the [285] tribes peculiar to it; though we reserve the general enumeration for a sketch of the desert.

Of its Rajput population, the Bhattis, we have already given an outline in the general essay on the tribes.[7.7.22] Those which occupy the present limits of Jaisalmer retain their Hindu notions, though with some degree of laxity from their intercourse with the Muhammadans on the northern and western frontiers; while those which long occupied the north-east tracts, towards Phulra and the Gara, on becoming proselytes to Islam ceased to have either interest in or connexion with the parent State. The Bhatti has not, at present, the same martial reputation as the Rathor, Chauhan, or Sesodia, but he is deemed at least to equal if not surpass the Kachhwaha, or any of its kindred branches, Naruka or Shaikhavat. There are occasional instances of Bhatti intrepidity as daring as may be found amongst any other tribe; witness the feud between the chiefs of Pugal and Mandor. But this changes not the national characteristic as conventionally established; though were we to go back to the days of chivalry and Prithiraj, we should select Achalesa Bhatti, one of the bravest of his champions, for the portrait of his race. The Bhatti Rajput, as to physical power, is not perhaps so athletic as the Rathor, or so tall as the Kachhwaha, but generally fairer than either, and possessing those Jewish features which Mr. Elphinstone remarked as characteristic of the Bikaner Rajputs. The Bhatti intermarries with all the families of Rajwara, though seldom with the Ranas of Mewar. The late Jagat Singh of Jaipur had five wives of this stock, and his posthumous son, real or reputed, has a Bhattiani for his mother.[7.7.23]

=Dress.=—The dress of the Bhattis consists of a jama, or tunic of white cloth or chintz reaching to the knee; the kamarband, or ceinture, tied so high as to present no appearance of waist; trousers very loose, and in many folds, drawn tight at the ankle, and a turban, generally of a scarlet colour, rising conically full a foot from the head. A dagger is stuck in the waistband; a shield is suspended by a thong of deer-skin from the left shoulder, and the sword is girt by a belt of the same material. The dress of the common people is the dhoti, or loin-robe, generally of woollen stuff, with a piece of the same material as a turban. The dress of the Bhattianis, which discriminates the sex, consists of a ghaghra, or petticoat, extending to thirty feet in width, made generally of the finer woollen, dyed a brilliant red, with a scarf of the same material. The grand ornament of rich and poor, though varying in the materials, is the churi, or rings of ivory or bone, with which they cover their arms from the shoulder to [286] the wrist.[7.7.24] They are in value from sixteen to thirty-five rupees a set, and imported from Maskat-Mandavi, though they also manufacture them at Jaisalmer. Silver karis (massive rings or anklets) are worn by all classes, who deny themselves the necessaries of life until they attain this ornament. The poorer Rajputnis are very masculine, and assist in all the details of husbandry.

=Use of Opium.=—The Bhatti is to the full as addicted as any of his brethren to the immoderate use of opium. To the amalpani, or ‘infusion,’ succeeds the pipe, and they continue inhaling mechanically the smoke long after they are insensible to all that is passing around them; nay, it is said, you may scratch or pinch them while in this condition without exciting sensation. The hukka is the dessert to the amalpani; the panacea for all the ills which can overtake a Rajput, and with which he can at any time enjoy a paradise of his own creation. To ask a Bhatti for a whiff of his pipe would be deemed a direct insult.

=Pāliwāls.=—Next to the lordly Rajputs, equalling them in numbers and far surpassing them in wealth, are the Paliwals. They are Brahmans, and denominated Paliwal from having been temporal proprietors of Pali, and all its lands, long before the Rathors colonized Marwar. Tradition is silent as to the manner in which they became possessed of this domain; but it is connected with the history of the Pali, or pastoral tribes, who from the town of Pali to Palitana, in Saurashtra, have left traces of their existence;[7.7.25] and I am much mistaken if it will not one day be demonstrated, that all the ramifications of the races figuratively denominated Agnikula, were Pali in origin; more especially the Chauhans, whose princes and chiefs for ages retained the distinctive affix of pal.

These Brahmans, the Paliwals, as appears by the Annals of Marwar, held the domain of Pali when Siahji, at the end of the twelfth century, invaded that land from Kanauj, and by an act of treachery first established his power.[7.7.26] It is evident, however, that he did not extirpate them, for the cause of their migration to the desert of Jaisalmer [287] is attributed to a period of a Muhammadan invasion of Marwar, when a general war-contribution (dand) being imposed on the inhabitants, the Paliwals pleaded caste, and refused. This exasperated the Raja; for as their habits were almost exclusively mercantile, their stake was greater than that of the rest of the community, and he threw their principal men into prison. In order to avenge this, they had recourse to a grand chandni, or ‘act of suicide’; but instead of gaining their object, he issued a manifesto of banishment to every Paliwal in his dominions. The greater part took refuge in Jaisalmer, though many settled in Bikaner, Dhat, and the valley of Sind. At one time their number in Jaisalmer was calculated to equal that of the Rajputs. Almost all the internal trade of the country passes through their hands, and it is chiefly with their capital that its merchants trade in foreign parts. They are the Metayers of the desert, advancing money to the cultivators, taking the security of the crop; and they buy up all the wool and ghi (clarified butter), which they transport to foreign parts. They also rear and keep flocks. The minister, Salim Singh, has contrived to diminish their wealth, and consequently to lose the main support of the country’s prosperity. They are also subject to the visits of the Maldots, Tejmallots, and other plunderers; but they find it difficult to leave the country owing to the restrictive cordon of the Mehta. The Paliwals never marry out of their own tribe; and, directly contrary to the laws of Manu,[7.7.27] the bridegroom gives a sum of money to the father of the bride. It will be deemed a curious incident in the history of superstition, that a tribe, Brahman by name, at least, should worship the bridle of a horse. When to this is added the fact that the most ancient coins discovered in these regions bear the Pali character and the effigies of the horse, it aids to prove the Scythic character of the early colonists of these regions, who, although nomadic (Pali), were equestrian. There is little doubt that the Paliwal Brahmans are the remains of the priests of the Pali race, who, in their pastoral and commercial pursuits, have lost their spiritual power.[7.7.28]

=Pokharna Brāhmans.=— Another singular tribe, also Brahmanical, is the Pokharna, of whom it is calculated there are fifteen hundred to two thousand families in Jaisalmer. They are also numerous in Marwar and Bikaner, and are scattered over the desert and valley of the Indus. They follow agricultural and pastoral pursuits chiefly, having little or no concern in trade. The tradition of their origin is singular; it is said that they were Beldars, and excavated the sacred lake of Pushkar or Pokhar, for which act they obtained the favour of the deity and the grade of Brahmans, with the title of Pokharna. Their chief object of emblematic worship, the kudala, a kind of pick-axe used in digging, seems to favour this tradition [288].[7.7.29]

=Jats or Jāts.=—The Jats here, as elsewhere, form a great part of the agricultural population; there are also various other tribes, which will be better described in a general account of the desert.

=Castle of Jaisalmer.=—The castle of this desert king is erected on an almost insulated peak, from two hundred to two hundred and fifty feet in height, a strong wall running round the crest of the hill. It has four gates, but very few cannon mounted. The city is to the north, and is surrounded by a shahrpanah, or circumvallation, encompassing a space of nearly three miles, having three gates and two wickets. In the city are some good houses belonging to rich merchants, but the greater part consists of huts. The Raja’s palace is said to possess some pretension to grandeur, perhaps comparative.[7.7.30] Were he on good terms with his vassalage, he could collect for its defence five thousand infantry and one thousand horse, besides his camel-corps; but it may be doubted whether, under the oppressive system of the monster who has so long continued to desolate that region, one half of this force could be brought together [289].[7.7.31]

-----

Footnote 7.7.1:

[The State, according to later surveys, lies between 26° 4´ and 28° 23´ N. lat. and 69° 30´ and 72° 42´ E. long., with an area of 16,062 square miles. In 1911 the population amounted to 80,891, that of the capital, Jaisalmer, being 7420. There were 471 villages in the State, the average population of which was even lower than of those in Bikaner.]

Footnote 7.7.2:

[Rocks of Jurassic age, such as sandstone, shales, and limestone, crop up beneath the sand, and a large area of Nummulitic rock occurs to the N.W. of the capital (IGI, xiv. 1).]

Footnote 7.7.3:

[Cenchrus catharticus.]

Footnote 7.7.4:

So Mr. Elphinstone describes the tract about Pugal, one of the earliest possessions of the Bhattis, and one of the Naukotī Maru-ki, or ‘nine castles of the desert,’ around whose sand-hills as brave a colony was reared and maintained as ever carried lance. Rao Raning was lord of Pugal, whose son originated that episode given on p. 733. Even these sand-hills which in November appeared to Mr. Elphinstone without a sign of vegetation, could be made to yield good crops of bajra.

Footnote 7.7.5:

[About 20 miles N.W. of Jaisalmer city.]

Footnote 7.7.6:

About a hundredweight for two shillings.

Footnote 7.7.7:

[Hindustāni chhakra, ‘a cart’ (Yule, Hobson-Jobson, 2nd ed. 407 f.).]

Footnote 7.7.8:

I brought home several pairs of these, with crimson borders, sufficiently fine to be worn as a winter shawl in this country.

Footnote 7.7.9:

[Commonly known as soapstone or potstone, a soft magnesian or talcose mineral (Watt, Comm. Prod. 1049 f.).]

Footnote 7.7.10:

Shikarpur, the great commercial mart of the valley of Sind, west of the Indus.

Footnote 7.7.11:

Chandan is a scented wood for malas, or ‘chaplets.’ [Sandalwood, Pterocarpus santalinus (Watt, Comm. Prod. 909).]

Footnote 7.7.12:

I have no correct data for estimating the revenues of the chieftains. They are generally almost double the land-revenue of the princes in the other States of Rajwara; perhaps about two lakhs, which ought to bring into the field seven hundred horse.

Footnote 7.7.13:

[The normal revenue at present is about one lakh of rupees. The transit duties have been largely reduced.]

Footnote 7.7.14:

This, if strictly true and followed, is according to ancient principles; Manu ordains the sixth. I could have wished Colonel Briggs to have known this fact, when he was occupied on his excellent work on The Land-tax of India; but it had entirely escaped my recollection. In this most remote corner of Hindustan, in spite of oppression, it is curious to observe the adherence to primitive custom. These notes on the sources of revenue in Jaisalmer were communicated to me so far back as 1811, and I laid them before the Bengal Government in 1814-15.

Footnote 7.7.15:

[The Mahesri trading class, which derive their name from that of their caste deity, Mahesh, ‘the great lord,’ a title of Siva or Mahādeo, claim descent from Chauhān, Parihār, or Solanki Rājputs (Census Report, Mārwār, 1891, ii. 131).]

Footnote 7.7.16:

Pala pasārna, or ‘to spread the cloth or scarf,’ is the figurative language of entreaty, arising from the act of spreading the garment, preparatory to bowing the head thereon in token of perfect submission.

Footnote 7.7.17:

This was written in 1821-22.

Footnote 7.7.18:

The Bar includes the whole household or personal attendants, the guards, and slaves. They receive rations of food, and make up the rest of their subsistence by labour in the town. The Bar consists of about 1000 people, and is estimated to cost 20,000 rupees annually.

Footnote 7.7.19:

Rozgar-Sardar is an allowance termed kansa, or ‘dinner,’ to the feudal chieftains who attend the Presence. Formerly they had an order upon the Danis, or collectors of the transit-duties; but being vexatious, Pansa Sah, minister to Rawal Chaitra, commuted it for a daily allowance, varying, with the rank of the person, from half a silver rupee to seven rupees each, daily. This disbursement is calculated at 40,000 rupees annually.

Footnote 7.7.20:

Sihbandis are mercenary soldiers in the fort, of whom 1000 are estimated to cost 75,000 rupees annually. [The word seems to mean ‘persons paid quarterly’ (Yule, Hobson-Jobson, 2nd ed. 805).]

Footnote 7.7.21:

[A man riding his own horse was called Silahdār, ‘equipment-holder’; one riding a horse belonging to the State or to some one else was Bārgīr, ‘burden-taker’ (Irvine, Army of the Indian Moghuls, 37).]

Footnote 7.7.22:

Vol. I. p. 102.

Footnote 7.7.23:

[Bhatti women have a reputation for strength and beauty. One of them was the mother of Fīroz Shāh Tughlak (Elliot-Dowson iii. 272).]

Footnote 7.7.24:

The churi of ivory, bone, or shell is the most ancient ornament of the Indo-Scythic dames, and appears in old sculpture and painting. [For bangles made of conch-shell, see J. Hornell, The Sacred Chank of India, Madras, 1914.] I was much struck with some ancient sculptures in a very old Gothic church at Moissac, in Languedoc. The porch is the only part left of this most antique fane, attributed to the age of Dagobert. It represents the conversion of Clovis, and when the subject was still a matter of novelty. But interesting as this is, it is as nothing when compared to some sculptured figures below, of a totally distinct age; in execution as far superior as they are dissimilar in character, which is decidedly Asiatic; the scarf, the champakali or necklace, representing the buds of the jessamine (champa), and churis, such as I have been describing. To whom but the Visigoths can we ascribe them?—and does not this supply the connecting link of this Asiatic race, destined to change the moral aspect of Europe? [?] I recommend all travellers, who are interested in tracing such analogies, to visit the church at Moissac, though it is not known as an object of curiosity in the neighbourhood.

Footnote 7.7.25:

[There is no evidence in support of this suggestion.]

Footnote 7.7.26:

See p. 942.

Footnote 7.7.27:

[Laws, iii. 31.]

Footnote 7.7.28:

[For the Pāliwāl Brāhmans see J. Wilson, Indian Caste, ii. 119; Census Report, Mārwār, 1891, ii. 79 f.]

Footnote 7.7.29:

[See Census Report, Mārwār, 1891, ii. 61 ff.]

Footnote 7.7.30:

[The Mahārāvali palace, the top of which is 987 feet above sea-level, surmounts the main entrance of the fort, and is “an imposing pile crowned by a huge umbrella of metal, a solid emblem of dignity of which the Bhatti chiefs are justly proud; but the interior is ill-arranged, and space is frittered away in numberless small apartments” (Erskine iii. A. 38).]

Footnote 7.7.31:

It has been reported that the dagger has since rid the land of its tyrant. The means matter little, if the end is accomplished. Even assassination loses much of its odious character when resorted to for such a purpose. [Gaj Singh died in his bed in 1846.]

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Printed by R. & R. CLARK, LIMITED, Edinburgh.

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Transcriber’s Note

There are references to Genealogical Tables in Volume I, which were not reprinted in this Crooke edition.

The spelling of names and places is variable, as noted in the Editor’s introduction to Volume I, as the system of transliteration underwent many changes in the intervening century. The use of macrons was not yet introduced in James Tod’s day. This text, with very few exceptions, follows the text as printed.

Hyphenation of compound words follows the text, with the rare exception of when it occurs on a line break and the preponderance of other instances provides clear guidance.

On p. 703, Tod’s note 28 gives the Persian character ﺙ as ‘p’. The character pe (پ) has the three points below, not above.

Where punctuation is suspect, the correct solution was sought in the text of Tod’s original edition.

Errors deemed most likely to be the printer’s have been corrected, and are noted here.

This list contains issues in the main text. References are to the page and line in the original.

618.25 for the protection of the temple[.] Added.

656.38 may [i]nfluence the manners of a nation. Inserted.

664.15 the glorious [of memory/memory of] his Words ancestor transposed.

672.2 died a natural death[.] Added.

682.20 or split-ear ascetics[.] Added.

709.18 Leur sort est un[e] boussole sûr[e] pour le Added. premier regard

719.8 [“]separated from his mate Added.

719.26 asis (blessing[)] Added.

726.14 [“]The king sought the bard Added.

727.8 [“]In vain she sought the rings of his corslet Removed.

755.16 [‘/“]all’s well,” Replaced.

860.20 with the tika and gifts, [and gifts, ]and Removed. other symbols

866.23 was father-in[ /-]law to his rival Replaced.

895.34 which we do not fail to encourage[.] Added.

898.19 there occurs a ri[g/c]hly carved corbeille Replaced.

915.3 Such is the Jit’h[a] Added.

933.25 see [Table I. Vol. I.] Not reprinted.

959.22 every part o[f] Rajputana Added.

964.2 which would otherwise perish[.] Added.

1035.10 for the persecutor of Durgadas[.] Added.

1060.13 out of Maru[:/.] Replaced.

1113.29 or courts o[r/f] arbitration Replaced.

The following list contains issues corrected or noted in the footnote text. The reference is to the original page, the resequenced note number, and the line within the note.

602.4.5 that he m[i]raculously Restored.

725.1.1 History of the Late Revolution o[f] the Empire Restored.

750.1.24 Rāsmāla, 557[)]. Removed.

819.3.3 (Yule, Hobson-Jobson, 2nd ed. 15[)]. Added.

884.3.13 ‘city of the heavenly choristers.[’] Added.

839.2.2 (Erskine iii. A. 196[)]. Added.

934.1.1 (IGI, xv. 398[)]. Added.

935.4.1 classically Vijayapala, ‘Fosterer of Added. Victory.[’]

948.2.12 [“]Even in this, is there much vanity,” Added.

1037.4.2 rather Nāgapura[./,] capital of the Nāga sept Replaced.

1084.2.1 [Nineteen miles S.W. of Bikaner city.[]] Added.

1118.3.1 see Watt, op. cit. 112 ff.[).] Removed.

1134.1.7 see Sykes, Hist. of Persia, i. 257[)]. Removed.

1136.1.1 Ferishta’s History of the Dek[h/k]an Replaced.

1156.1.5 (Bilimoria, Letters of Aurangzeb, 75.[)] Added.

1186.3.9 See Map, Vol. I. Actually, Vol. III.

1194.1.70 and many others[)]. Added.

1197.37 Rae S[e/a]hra and his tribe of Langaha Replaced.

1221.1.3 [(]Rose, Glossary, ii. 353 f.; ASR, ii. Added. 17).