Chapter 3…

Chapter 3

=The Rājput League.=—The league formed at this time by the three chief powers of Rajputana has already been noticed in the Annals of Mewar. It was one of self-preservation; and while the Rathors added to Marwar from Gujarat, the Kachhwahas consolidated all the districts in their neighbourhood under Amber. The Shaikhavati federation was compelled to become tributary, and but for the rise of the Jats, the State of Jaipur would have extended from the lake of Sambhar to the Jumna [369].

=Īsari Singh, A.D. 1743-60.=—Isari Singh succeeded to a well-defined territory, heaps of treasure, an efficient ministry, and a good army; but the seeds of destruction lurked in the social edifice so lately raised, and polygamy was again the immediate agent. Isari Singh was the successor of Jai Singh, according to the fixed laws of primogeniture; but Madho Singh, a younger son, born of a princess of Mewar, possessed conventional rights which vitiated those of birth. These have already been discussed, as well as their disastrous issue to the unfortunate Isari Singh, who was not calculated for the times, being totally deficient in that nervous energy of character, without which a Rajput prince can enforce no respect. His conduct on the Abdali invasion admitted the construction of cowardice, though his retreat from the field of battle, when the commander-in-chief, Kamaru-d-din Khan, was killed, might have been ascribed to political motives, were it not recorded that his own wife received him with gibes and reproaches. There is every appearance of Jai Singh having repented of his engagement on obtaining the hand of the Sesodia princess, namely, that her issue should succeed, as he had in his lifetime given an appanage unusually large to Madho Singh, namely, the four parganas of Tonk, Rampura, Phaggi, and Malpura.[9.3.1] The Rana also, who supported his nephew’s claims, assigned to him the rich fief of Rampura Bhanpura in Mewar,[9.3.2] which as well as Tonk Rampura, constituting a petty sovereignty, were, with eighty-four lakhs (£840,000 sterling), eventually made over to Holkar for supporting his claims to the ‘cushion’ of Jaipur. The consequence of this barbarous intervention in the international quarrels of the Rajputs annihilated the certain prospect they had of national independence, on the breaking up of the empire, and subjected them to a thraldom still more degrading, from which a chance of redemption is now offered to them.

=Mādho Singh, A.D. 1760-78.=—Madho Singh, on his accession, displayed great vigour of mind, and though faithful to his engagements, he soon showed the Mahrattas he would admit of no protracted interference in his affairs; and had not the rising power of the Jats distracted his attention and divided his resources, he would, had his life been prolonged, in conjunction with the Rathors, have completely humbled their power. But this near enemy embarrassed all his plans. Although the history of the Jats is now well known, it may not be impertinent shortly to commemorate the rise of a power, which, from a rustic condition, in little more than half a century was able to baffle the armies of Britain, led by the most popular commander it ever had in the East; for till the siege of Bharatpur the name of Lake was always coupled with victory [370].

=The Jāts of Bharatpur.=—The Jats[9.3.3] are a branch of the great Getic race, of which enough has been said in various parts of this work. Though reduced from the rank they once had amongst the ‘Thirty-six Royal Races,’ they appear never to have renounced the love of independence, which they contested with Cyrus in their original haunts in Sogdiana. The name of the Cincinnatus of the Jats, who abandoned his plough to lead his countrymen against their tyrants, was Churaman. Taking advantage of the sanguinary civil wars amongst the successors of Aurangzeb, they erected petty castles in the villages (whose lands they cultivated) of Thun and Sansani,[9.3.4] and soon obtained the distinction of Kazaks, or ‘robbers,’ a title which they were not slow to merit, by their inroads as far as the royal abode of Farrukhsiyar. The Sayyids, then in power, commanded Jai Singh of Amber to attack them in their strongholds, and Thun and Sansani were simultaneously invested. But the Jats, even in the very infancy of their power, evinced the same obstinate skill in defending mud walls, which in later times gained them so much celebrity. The royal astronomer of Amber was foiled, and after twelve months of toil, was ingloriously compelled to raise both sieges.

Not long after this event, Badan Singh, the younger brother of Churaman, and a joint proprietor of the land, was for some misconduct placed in restraint, and had remained so for some years, when, through the intercession of Jai Singh and the guarantee of the other Bhumia Jats, he was liberated. His first act was to fly to Amber, and to bring its prince, at the head of an army, to invest Thun, which, after a gallant defence of six months, surrendered and was razed to the ground. Churaman and his son, Mohkam Singh, effected their escape, and Badan Singh was proclaimed chief of the Jats, and installed, as Raja, by Jai Singh in the town of Dig, destined also in after times to have its share of fame.

Badan Singh had a numerous progeny, and four of his sons obtained notoriety, namely, Surajmall, Sobharam, Partap Singh, and Birnarayan. Badan Singh subjected several of the royal districts to his authority. He abdicated his power in favour of his elder son, Surajmall, having in the first instance assigned the district of Wer,[9.3.5] on which he had constructed a fort, to his son Partap.

Surajmall inherited all the turbulence and energy requisite to carry on the plans of his predecessors. His first act was to dispossess a relative, named Kaima, of the castle [371] of Bharatpur, afterwards the celebrated capital of the Jats.[9.3.6] In the year S. 1820 (A.D. 1764), Surajmall carried his audacity so far as to make an attempt upon the imperial city; but here his career was cut short by a party of Baloch horse, who slew him while enjoying the chase. He had five sons, namely, Jawahir Singh, Ratan Singh, Newal Singh, Nahar Singh, Ranjit Singh, and also an adopted son, named Hardeo Bakhsh, picked up while hunting. Of these five sons, the first two were by a wife of the Kurmi[9.3.7] tribe; the third was by a wife of the Malin, or horticultural class; while the others were by Jatnis or women of his own race.

Jawahir Singh, who succeeded, was the contemporary of Raja Madho Singh, whose reign in Jaipur we have just reached; and to the Jat’s determination to measure swords with him were owing, not only the frustration of his schemes for humbling the Mahratta, but the dismemberment of the country by the defection of the chief of Macheri. Jawahir Singh, in A.H. 1182, having in vain solicited the district of Kamona, manifested his resentment by instantly marching through the Jaipur territories to the sacred lake of Pushkar, without any previous intimation. He there met Raja Bijai Singh of Marwar, who, in spite of his Jat origin, condescended to ‘exchange turbans,’ the sign of friendship and fraternal adoption. At this period, Madho Singh’s health was on the decline, and his counsels were guided by two brothers, named Harsahai and Gursahai, who represented the insulting conduct of the Jat and required instructions. They were commanded to address him a letter warning him not to return through the territories of Amber, and the chiefs were desired to assemble their retainers in order to punish a repetition of the insult. But the Jat, who had determined to abide the consequences, paid no regard to the letter, and returned homewards by the same route. This was a justifiable ground of quarrel, and the united Kothribands marched to the encounter, to maintain the pretensions of their equestrian order against the plebeian Jat. A desperate conflict ensued, which, though it terminated in favour of the Kachhwahas and in the flight of the leader of the Jats, proved destructive to Amber, in the loss of almost every chieftain of note[9.3.8] [372].

=Separation of Mācheri or Alwar State, A.D. 1771-76.=—This battle was the indirect cause of the formation of Macheri into an independent State, which a few words will explain. Partap Singh, of the Naruka clan, held the fief of Macheri; for some fault he was banished the country by Madho Singh, and fled to Jawahir Singh, from whom he obtained saran (sanctuary), and lands for his maintenance. The ex-chieftain of Macheri had, as conductors of his household affairs and his agents at court, two celebrated men, Khushhaliram[9.3.9] and Nandram, who now shared his exile amongst the Jats. Though enjoying protection and hospitality at Bharatpur, they did not the less feel the national insult, in that the Jat should dare thus unceremoniously to traverse their country. Whether the chief saw in this juncture an opening for reconciliation with his liege lord, or that a pure spirit of patriotism alone influenced him, he abandoned the place of refuge, and ranged himself at his old post, under the standard of Amber, on the eve of the battle, to the gaining of which he contributed not a little. For this opportune act of loyalty his past errors were forgiven, and Madho Singh, who only survived that battle four days, restored him to his favour and his fief of Macheri.

Madho Singh died of a dysentery, after a rule of seventeen years. Had he been spared, in all human probability he would have repaired the injurious effects of the contest which gave him the gaddi of Amber; but a minority, and its accustomed anarchy, made his death the point from which the Kachhwaha power declined. He built several cities, of which that called after him Madhopur, near the celebrated fortress of Ranthambhor, the most secure of the commercial cities of Rajwara, is the most remarkable. He inherited no small portion of his father’s love of science, which continued to make Jaipur the resort of learned men, so as to eclipse even the sacred Benares.

=Prithi Singh II., A.D. 1778.=—Prithi Singh II., a minor, succeeded, under the guardianship of the mother of his younger brother, Partap. The queen-regent, a Chondawatni, was of an ambitious and resolute character, but degraded by her paramour, Firoz, a Filban, or ‘elephant-driver,’ whom she made member of her council, which disgusted the chiefs, who alienated themselves from court and remained at their estates. Determined, however, to dispense with their aid, she entertained a mercenary army under the celebrated Ambaji, with which she enforced the collection of the revenue. Arath Ram was at [373] this period the Diwan, or prime minister, and Khushhaliram Bohra, a name afterwards conspicuous in the politics of this court, was associated in the ministry. But though these men were of the highest order of talent, their influence was neutralized by that of the Filban, who controlled both the regent Rani and the State. Matters remained in this humiliating posture during nine years, when Prithi Singh died through a fall from his horse, though not without suspicions that a dose of poison accelerated the vacancy of the gaddi, which the Rani desired to see occupied by her own son. The scandalous chronicle of that day is by no means tender of the reputation of Madho Singh’s widow. Having a direct interest in the death of Prithi Singh, the laws of common sense were violated in appointing her guardian, notwithstanding her claims as Patrani, or chief queen of the deceased. Prithi Singh, though he never emerged from the trammels of minority and the tutelage of the Chondawatni, yet contracted two marriages, one with Bikaner, the other with Kishangarh. By the latter he had a son, Man Singh. Every court in Rajputana has its pretender, and young Man was long the bugbear to the court of Amber. He was removed secretly, on his father’s death, to the maternal roof at Kishangarh; but as this did not offer sufficient security, he was sent to Sindhia’s camp, and has ever since lived on the bounty of the Mahratta chief at Gwalior.[9.3.10]

=Partāp Singh, A.D. 1778-1803.=—Partap Singh[9.3.11] was immediately placed upon the gaddi by the queen-regent, his mother, and her council, consisting of the Filban, and Khushhaliram, who had now received the title of Raja, and the rank of prime minister. He employed the power thus obtained to supplant his rival Firoz, and the means he adopted established the independence of his old master, the chief of Macheri. This chief was the only one of note who absented himself from the ceremony of the installation of his sovereign. He was countenanced by the minister, whose plan to get rid of his rival was to create as much confusion as possible. In order that distress might reach the court, he gave private instructions that the zemindars should withhold their payments; but these minor stratagems would have been unavailing, had he not associated in his schemes the last remnants of power about the Mogul throne. Najaf Khan[9.3.12] was at this time the imperial commander, who, aided by the Mahrattas, proceeded to expel the [374] Jats from the city of Agra. He then attacked them in their stronghold of Bharatpur. Nawal Singh was then the chief of the Jats. The Macheri chief saw in the last act of expiring vigour of the imperialists an opening for the furtherance of his views, and he united his troops to those of Najaf Khan. This timely succour, and his subsequent aid in defeating the Jats, obtained for him the title of Rao Raja, and a sanad for Macheri, to hold direct of the crown. Khushhaliram, who, it is said, chalked out this course, made his old master’s success the basis of his own operations to supplant the Filban. Affecting the same zeal that he recommended to the chief of Macheri, he volunteered to join the imperial standard with all the forces of Amber. The queen-regent did not oppose the Bohra’s plan, but determined out of it still higher to exalt her favourite: she put him at the head of the force, which post the minister had intended for himself. This exaltation proved his ruin. Firoz, in command of the Amber army, met the Rao Raja of Macheri on equal terms in the tent of the imperial commander. Foiled in these schemes of attaining the sole control of affairs, through the measure adopted, the Macheri chief, at the instigation of his associate, resolved to accomplish his objects by less justifiable means. He sought the friendship of the Filban, and so successfully ingratiated himself in his confidence as to administer a dose of poison to him, and in conjunction with the Bohra succeeded to the charge of the government of Amber. The regent queen soon followed the Filban, and Raja Partap was yet too young to guide the state vessel without aid. The Rao Raja and the Bohra, alike ambitious, soon quarrelled, and a division of the imperialists, under the celebrated Hamidan Khan, was called in by the Bohra. Then followed those interminable broils which brought in the Mahrattas. Leagues were formed with them against the imperialists one day, and dissolved the next; and this went on until the majority of Partap, who determined to extricate himself from bondage, and formed that league, elsewhere mentioned, which ended in the glorious victory of Tonga, and for a time the expulsion of all their enemies, whether imperial or Mahrattas.

To give a full narrative of the events of this reign, would be to recount the history of the empire in its expiring moments. Throughout the twenty-five years’ rule of Partap, he and his country underwent many vicissitudes. He was a gallant prince, and not deficient in judgment; but neither gallantry nor prudence could successfully apply the resources of his petty State against its numerous predatory foes and its internal dissensions. The defection of Macheri was a serious blow to Jaipur, and the necessary subsidies soon lightened the hoards accumulated by his predecessors. Two payments [375] to the Mahrattas took away eighty lakhs of rupees (£800,000); yet such was the mass of treasure, notwithstanding the enormous sums lavished by Madho Singh for the support of his claims, besides those of the regency, that Partap expended in charity alone, on the victory of Tonga, A.D. 1789, the sum of twenty-four lakhs, or a quarter of a million sterling.

In A.D. 1791, after the subsequent defeats at Patan, and the disruption of the alliance with the Rathors, Tukaji Holkar invaded Jaipur, and extorted an annual tribute, which was afterwards transferred to Amir Khan, and continues a permanent incumbrance on the resources of Jaipur. From this period to A.D. 1803, the year of Partap’s death, his country was alternately desolated by Sindhia’s armies, under De Boigne or Perron, and the other hordes of robbers, who frequently contested with each other the possession of the spoils.[9.3.13]

=Jagat Singh, A.D. 1803-18.=—Jagat Singh succeeded in A.D. 1803, and ruled for seventeen [fifteen] years, with the disgraceful distinction of being the most dissolute prince of his race or of his age. The events with which his reign is crowded would fill volumes were they worthy of being recorded. Foreign invasions, cities besieged, capitulations and war-contributions, occasional acts of heroism, when the invader forgot the point of honour, court intrigues, diversified, not unfrequently, by an appeal to the sword or dagger, even in the precincts of the court. Sometimes the daily journals (akhbars) disseminated the scandal of the Rawala (female apartments), the follies of the libertine prince with his concubine Raskafur, or even less worthy objects, who excluded from the nuptial couch his lawful mates of the noble blood of Jodha, or Jaisal, the Rathors and Bhattis of the desert. We shall not disgrace these annals with the history of a life which discloses not one redeeming virtue amidst a cluster of effeminate vices, including the rankest, in the opinion of a Rajput—cowardice. The black transaction respecting the princess of Udaipur, has already been related (Vol. I. p. 536), which covered him with disgrace, and inflicted a greater loss, in his estimation, even than that of character—a million sterling. The treasures of the Jai Mandir were rapidly dissipated, to the grief of those faithful hereditary guardians, the Minas of Kalikoh, some of whom committed suicide rather than see these sacred deposits squandered on their prince’s unworthy pursuits. The lofty walls which surrounded the beautiful city of Jai Singh were insulted by every marauder; commerce was interrupted, and agriculture rapidly declined, partly from insecurity, but still more from the perpetual exactions of his minions [376]. One day a tailor[9.3.14] ruled the councils, the next a Bania, who might be succeeded by a Brahman, and each had in turn the honour of elevation to the donjon keep of Nahargarh, the castle where criminals are confined, overlooking the city. The feodal chiefs held both his authority and his person in utter contempt, and the pranks he played with the ‘Essence of Camphor’ (ras-kafur),[9.3.15] at one time led to serious thoughts of deposing him; which project, when near maturity, was defeated by transferring “this queen of half of Amber,” to the prison of Nahargarh. In the height of his passion for this Islamite concubine, he formally installed her as queen of half his dominions, and actually conveyed to her in gift a moiety of the personality of the crown, even to the invaluable library of the illustrious Jai Singh which was despoiled, and its treasures distributed amongst her base relations. The Raja even struck coin in her name, and not only rode with her on the same elephant, but demanded from his chieftains those forms of reverence towards her which were paid only to his legitimate queens. This their pride could not brook, and though the Diwan or prime minister, Misr Sheonarayan, albeit a Brahman, called her ‘daughter,’ the brave Chand Singh of Duni[9.3.16] indignantly refused to take part in any ceremony at which she was present. This contumacy was punished by a mulet of £20,000, nearly four years’ revenue of the fief of Duni!

=Death of Jagat Singh.=—Manu allows that sovereigns may be deposed,[9.3.17] and the aristocracy of Amber had ample justification for such an act. But unfortunately the design became known, and some judicious friend, as a salvo for the Raja’s dignity, propagated a report injurious to the fair fame of his Aspasia, which he affected to believe; a mandate issued for the sequestration of her property, and her incarceration in the castle allotted to criminals. There she was lost sight of, and Jagat continued to dishonour the gaddi of Jai Singh until his death, on a day held especially sacred by the Rajput, the 21st of December 1818, the winter solstice, when, to use their own metaphorical language, “the door of heaven is reopened.”

Raja Jagat Singh left no issue, legitimate or illegitimate, and no provision had been made for a successor during his life. But as the laws of Rajputana, political or religious, admit of no interregnum, and the funereal pyre must be lit by an adopted child if there be no natural issue, it was necessary at once to inaugurate a successor [377]; and the choice fell on Mohan Singh, son of the ex-prince of Narwar. As this selection, in opposition to the established rules of succession, would, but for a posthumous birth, have led to a civil war, it may be proper to touch briefly upon the subject of heirs-presumptive in Rajputana, more especially those of Jaipur: the want of exact knowledge respecting this point, in those to whom its political relations with us were at that time entrusted, might have had the most injurious effects on the British character. To set this in its proper light, we shall explain the principles of the alliance which rendered Jaipur a tributary of Britain.

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Footnote 9.3.1:

[Tonk now in the State of that name; Rāmpura 65 miles E., Phaggi 32 miles E., Mālpura about 50 miles S.W. of Jaipur city.]

Footnote 9.3.2:

[Now lost to Mewār, being included in Indore State.]

Footnote 9.3.3:

It has been seen how the Yadu-Bhatti princes, when they fell from their rank of Rajputs, assumed that of Jats, or Jāts, who are assuredly a mixture of the Rajput and Yuti, Jat or Gete races. See Vol. I. p. 127. [The Author possibly refers to the attack of Cyrus on the Massagetae, whose connexion with the Jāts is not supported by evidence (Herodotus i. 204 ff.).]

Footnote 9.3.4:

[Sansani about 10 miles N.W. of Bharatpur city: Thūn 12 miles W. of Sansani. For the sieges of Thūn by Jai Singh in 1716 and 1722, see Irvine, Army of the Indian Moghuls, 285 ff.; for Sansani, Manucci ii. 320 f. iv. 242.]

Footnote 9.3.5:

[About 28 miles S.W. of Bharatpur city.]

Footnote 9.3.6:

[In 1761 he captured Agra, which the Jāts held till they were ousted by the Marāthas in 1770 (IGI, v. 83).]

Footnote 9.3.7:

The Kurmi (the Kulumbi of the Deccan) is perhaps the most numerous, next to the Jats, of all the agricultural classes. [In 1911 there were 7 million Jāts and 3¾ million Kurmis in India.]

Footnote 9.3.8:

Having given a slight sketch of the origin of the Jats, I may here conclude it. Ratan Singh, the brother of Jawahir, succeeded him. He was assassinated by a Gosain Brahman from Bindraban, who had undertaken to teach the Jat prince the transmutation of metals, and had obtained considerable sums on pretence of preparing the process. Finding the day arrive on which he was to commence operations, and which would reveal his imposture, he had no way of escape but by applying the knife to his dupe. Kesari Singh, an infant, succeeded, under the guardianship of his uncle, Newal Singh. Ranjit Singh succeeded him, a name renowned for the defence of Bharatpur against Lord Lake. He died A.D. 1805, and was succeeded by the eldest of four sons, namely, Randhir Singh, Baldeo Singh, Hardeo Singh, and Lachhman Singh. The infant son of Randhir succeeded, under the tutelage of his uncle; to remove whom the British army destroyed Bharatpur, and plundered it of its wealth, both public and private. [The son of Randhīr Singh was Balwant Singh, who was cast into prison by his cousin, Dūrjansāl. He was captured by Lord Combermere when he stormed Bharatpur in 1826. Balwant Singh was restored, and dying in 1853, was succeeded by Jaswant Singh, who died in 1893, and was succeeded by his son Rām Singh, deposed for misconduct in 1900, and succeeded by his son Kishan Singh, born in 1899 (IGI, viii. 74 ff).]

Footnote 9.3.9:

Father of two men scarcely less celebrated than himself, Chhatarbhuj and Daula Ram.

Footnote 9.3.10:

Two or three times he had a chance of being placed on the gaddi (vide letter of Resident with Sindhia to Government, March 27, 1812), which assuredly ought to be his: once, about 1810, when the nobles of Jaipur were disgusted with the libertine Jagat Singh; and again, upon the death of this dissolute prince, in 1820. The last occasion presented a fit occasion for his accession; but the British Government were then the arbitrators, and I doubt much if his claims were disclosed to it, or understood by those who had the decision of the question, which nearly terminated in a civil war.

Footnote 9.3.11:

[The Author’s dates do not agree with those of Prinsep (Useful Tables, ed. 1834, p. 112) which are given in the margin.]

Footnote 9.3.12:

[Najaf Khān, Amīru-l-Umara, Zulfikāru-d-daula, died A.D. 1782.]

Footnote 9.3.13:

[For these campaigns see Compton, European Military Adventurers, 145 ff., 237 ff.]

Footnote 9.3.14:

Rorji Khawass was a tailor by birth, and, I believe, had in early life exercised the trade. He was, however, amongst the Musahibs, or privy councillors of Jagat Singh, and (I think) one of the ambassadors sent to treat with Lord Lake.

Footnote 9.3.15:

Ras-Karpūr or Kapūr, I am aware, means ‘corrosive sublimate,’ but it may also be interpreted ‘essence of camphor’ [Kāfūr].

Footnote 9.3.16:

[About 75 miles S. of Jaipur city.]

Footnote 9.3.17:

[The reference is possibly to the text: “That king who through folly rashly oppresses the kingdom will, with his relations, ere long be deprived of his life and of his kingdom” (Laws, vii. 111).]

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Chapter 4

=The British Alliance, A.D. 1818.=—Jaipur was the last of the principalities of Rajputana to accept the protection tendered by the government of British India. To the latest moment, she delayed her sanction to a system which was to banish for ever the enemies of order. Our overtures and expostulations were rejected, until the predatory powers of India had been, one after another, laid prostrate at our feet. The Pindaris were annihilated; the Peshwa was exiled from Poona to the Ganges; the Bhonsla was humbled; Sindhia palsied by his fears; and Holkar, who had extensive lands assigned him, besides a regular tribute from Jaipur, had received a death-blow to his power in the field of Mahidpur.[9.4.1]

Procrastination is the favourite expedient of all Asiatics; and the Rajput, though a fatalist, often, by protracting the irresistible honhar (destiny), works out his deliverance. Amir Khan, the lieutenant of Holkar, who held the lands and tribute of Jaipur in jaedad, or assignment for his troops, was the sole enemy of social order left to operate on the fears of Jaipur, and to urge her to take refuge in our alliance; and even he was upon the point of becoming one of the illustrious allies, who were to enjoy the “perpetual friendship” of Great Britain. The Khan was at that very moment [378] battering Madhorajpura, a town almost within the sound of cannon-shot of Jaipur, and we were compelled to make an indirect use of this incident to hasten the decision of the Kachhwaha prince. The motives of his backwardness will appear from the following details.

=Hesitation to accept the Treaty.=—Various considerations combined to check the ardour with which we naturally expected our offer of protection would be embraced. The Jaipur court retained a lively, but no grateful remembrance, of the solemn obligations we contracted with her in 1803, and the facility with which we extricated ourselves from them when expediency demanded, whilst we vainly attempted to throw the blame of violating the treaty upon our ally. To use the words of one who has been mixed up with all the political transactions of that eventful period, with reference to the letter delivered by the envoy at the Jaipur court from our viceroy in the East, notifying the dissolution of the alliance: “The justice of these grounds was warmly disputed by the court, which, under a lively sense of that imminent danger to which it had become exposed from this measure, almost forgot for a moment the temper and respect which it owed to the English nation.” But the native envoy from Jaipur, attending the camp of the gallant Lake, took a still higher tone, and with a manly indignation observed, that “this was the first time, since the English government was established in India, that it had been known to make its faith subservient to its convenience”: a reproach the more bitter and unpalatable from its truth.[9.4.2]

The enlarged and prophetic views of Marquess Wellesley, which suggested the policy of uniting all these regular governments in a league against the predatory powers, were counteracted by the timid, temporizing policy of Lord Cornwallis, who could discover nothing but weakness in this extension of our influence.[9.4.3] What misery would not these States have been spared, had those engagements, executed through the noble Lake (a name never mentioned in India, by European or native, without reverence), been maintained; for the fifteen years which intervened between the two periods produced more mischief to Rajwara than the preceding half century, and half a century more will not repair it!

A circumstance that tended to increase this distrust was our tearing Wazir Ali from his sanctuary at Jaipur, which has cast an indelible stain upon the Kachhwaha name.[9.4.4] We have elsewhere[9.4.5] explained the privileges of saran, or ‘sanctuary,’ which, when claimed by the unfortunate or criminal, is sacred in the eye of the Rajput [379]. This trust we forced the Jaipur State to violate, though she was then independent of us. It was no excuse for the act that the fugitive was a foul assassin: we had no right to demand his surrender.[9.4.6]

There were other objections to the proffered treaty of no small weight. The Jaipur court justly deemed one-fifth (eight lakhs) of the gross revenues of the crown, a high rate of insurance for protection; but when we further stipulated for a prospective increase[9.4.7] of nearly one-third of all surplus revenue beyond forty lakhs, they saw, instead of the generous Briton, a sordid trafficker of mercenary protection, whose rapacity transcended that of the Mahratta.

Independent of these state objections, there were abundance of private and individual motives arrayed in hostility to the British offer. For example: the ministers dreaded the surveillance of a resident agent, as obnoxious to their authority and influence; and the chieftains, whom rank and ancient usage kept at court as the counsellors of their prince, saw in prospect the surrender of crown-lands, which fraud, favour, or force had obtained for them. Such were the principal causes which impeded the alliance between Amber and the Government-general of British India; but it would have marred the uniformity of Lord Hastings’ plan to have left a gap in the general protective system by the omission of Jaipur. The events rapidly happening around them—the presence of Amir Khan—the expulsion of the orange flag of the Mahratta, and the substitution of the British banner on the battlements of Ajmer—at length produced a tardy and ungracious assent, and, on the 2nd of April 1818, a treaty of ten articles was concluded, which made the Kachhwaha princes the friends and tributaries in perpetuity of Great Britain.

=Disputed Succession.=—On the 21st of December of the same year, Jagat Singh died, and the choice of a successor speedily evinced to the ministers the impracticability of their exercising, as in days of yore, that “absolute power over their country and dependants,” guaranteed to them by the treaty.[9.4.8] Our office of arbitrating the differences between the Raja and [380] his vassals on the subject of the usurpations from the crown-lands, was easy, and left no unpleasant feeling; but when we intermeddled with the intrigues respecting the succession, our ignorance of established rights and usage rendered the interference offensive, and made the Jaipur chiefs repent the alliance which temporary policy had induced their prince to accept.

=Law of Succession in Rājputāna.=—It may be of use in future negotiations, to explain the usages which govern the different States of Rajputana in respect to succession. The law of primogeniture prevails in all Rajput sovereignties; the rare instances in which it has been set aside, are only exceptions to the rule. The inconclusive dicta of Manu, on this as on many other points, are never appealed to by the Rajputs of modern days.[9.4.9] Custom and precedent fix the right of succession, whether to the gaddi of the State, or to a fief, in the eldest son, who is styled Rajkumar, Patkumar, or simply Kumarji, ‘the prince’; while his brothers have their proper names affixed, as Kumar Jawan Singh, ‘Prince Jawan.’ Seniority is, in fact, a distinction pervading all ranks of life, whether in royal families or those of chieftains; all have their Patkumar, and Patrani, or ‘head child,’ and ‘head queen.’ The privileges of the Patrani are very considerable. In minorities, she is the guardian, by custom as well as nature, of her child; and in Mewar (the oldest sovereignty in India), she is publicly enthroned with the Rana. Seniority in marriage bestows the title of Patrani, but as soon as an heir is given to the State, the queen-mother assumes this title, or that of Maji, simply ‘the mother.’[9.4.10] In the duties of guardian, she is assisted by the chiefs of certain families, who with certain officers of the household enjoy this as an established hereditary distinction.

On the demise of a prince without lawful issue of his body, or that of near kindred, brothers or cousins, there are certain families in every principality (raj) of Rajwara, in whom is vested the right of presumptive heirship to the gaddi. In order to restrict the circle of claimants, laws have been established in every State limiting this right to the issue of a certain family in each principality. Thus, in Mewar, the elder of the Ranawat clans, styled Babas, or ‘the infants,’ possesses the latent right of heir-presumptive. In Marwar, the independent house of Idar, of the family of Jodha; in Bundi, the house of Dagari,[9.4.11] in Kotah, the Apjis of Pulaitha[9.4.12]; in Bikaner, the family of [381] Mahajan[9.4.13]; and in Jaipur, the branch Rajawat (according to seniority) of the stock of Raja Man. Even in this stock there is a distinction between those prior, and those posterior, to Raja Madho Singh; the former are styled simply Rajawat, or occasionally conjoined, Mansinghgot; the other Madhani. The Rajawats constitute a numerous frerage, of which the Jhalai house takes the lead; and in which, provided there are no mental or physical disabilities, the right of furnishing heirs to the gaddi of Jaipur is a long-established, incontrovertible, and inalienable privilege.

We have been thus minute, because, notwithstanding the expressed wish of the government not to prejudge the question, the first exercise of its authority as lord-paramount was to justify a proceeding by which these established usages were infringed, in spite of the eighth article of the treaty: “The Maharaja and his heirs and successors shall remain absolute rulers of their country and dependants according to long-established usage,” etc. “C’est premier pas qui coute”; and this first step, being a wrong one, has involved an interference never contemplated, and fully justifying that wariness on the part of Jaipur, which made her hesitate to link her destiny with ours.

Both the sixth and seventh articles contain the seeds of disunion, whenever it might suit the chicanery or bad faith of the protected, or the avarice of the protector. The former has already been called into operation, and the ‘absolute rulers’ of Jaipur have been compelled to unfold to the resident Agent the whole of their financial and territorial arrangements, to prove that the revenues did not exceed the sum of forty lakhs, as, of the sum in excess (besides the stipulated tributary fifth), our share was to be three-sixteenths.[9.4.14]

While, therefore, we deem ourselves justified in interfering in the two chief branches of government, the succession and finances, how is it possible to avoid being implicated in the acts of the government-functionaries, and involved in the party views and intrigues of a court, stigmatised even by the rest of Rajwara with the epithet of jhutha darbar, the ‘lying court’? While there is a resident Agent at Jaipur, whatever [382] his resolves, he will find it next to impossible to keep aloof from the vortex of intrigue. The purest intentions, the highest talents, will scarcely avail to counteract this systematic vice, and with one party at least, but eventually with all, the reputation of his government will be compromised.

This brings us back to the topic which suggested these remarks, the installation of a youth upon the gaddi of Jaipur. We shall expose the operation of this transaction by a literal translation of an authentic document, every word of which was thoroughly substantiated. As it presents a curious picture of manners, and is valuable as a precedent, we shall give it entire in the Appendix, and shall here enter no further into details than is necessary to unravel the intrigue which violated the established laws of succession.

=The Installation of Mohan Singh.=—The youth, named Mohan Singh, who was installed on the gaddi of Jaipur, on the morning succeeding Jagat Singh’s decease, was the son of Manohar Singh, the ex-Raja of Narwar, who was chased from his throne and country by Sindhia. We have stated that the Jaipur family sprung from that of Narwar eight centuries ago; but the parent State being left without direct lineage, they applied to Amber and adopted a son of Prithiraj I., from whom the boy now brought forward was fourteen generations in descent. This course of proceeding was in direct contravention of usage, which had fixed, as already stated, the heirs-presumptive, on failure of lineal issue to the gaddi of Amber, in the descendants of Raja Man, and the branch Madhani, generally styled Rajawat, of whom the first claimant was the chief of Jhalai,[9.4.15] and supposing his incompetency, Kama, and a dozen other houses of the ‘infantas’ of Jaipur.

The causes of departure from the recognized rule, in this respect, were the following. At the death of Jagat Singh, the reins of power were, and had been for some time, in the hands of the chief eunuch of the rawala (seraglio), whose name was Mohan Nazir,[9.4.16] a man of considerable vigour of understanding, and not without the reputation of good intention in his administration of affairs, although the system of chicanery and force,[9.4.17] by which he attempted to carry his object, savoured more of self-interest than of loyalty. The youth was but nine years of age; and a long minority, with the exclusive possession of power, suggests the true motives of the Nazir. His principal coadjutor, amongst the great vassals of the State, was Megh Singh of Diggi,[9.4.18] a chief who [383] had contrived by fraud and force to double his hereditary fief by usurpations from the crown-lands, to retain which he supported the views of the Nazir with all the influence of his clan (the Khangarot), the most powerful of the twelve great families of Amber.[9.4.19] The personal servants of the crown, such as the Purohits, Dhabhais (domestic chaplains and foster-brothers), and all the subordinate officers of the household, considered the Nazir’s cause as their own: a minority and his favour guaranteed their places, which might be risked by the election of a prince who could judge for himself, and had friends to provide for.

=Objections raised by the Government of India.=—A reference to the “Summary of Transactions” (in the Appendix) will show there was no previous consultation or concert amongst the military vassals, or the queens; on the contrary, acting entirely on his own responsibility, the Nazir, on the morning succeeding the death of his master, placed young Mohan in ‘the car of the sun,’ to lead the funeral procession, and light the pyre of his adopted sire. Scarcely were the ablutions and necessary purifications from this rite concluded, when he received the congratulations of all present as lord of the Kachhwahas, under the revived name of Man Singh the Second. The transactions which followed, as related in the diary, until the final dénouement, distinctly show, that having committed himself, the Nazir was anxious to obtain through the resident agents of the chieftains at court, their acquiescence in the measure under their signs-manual. It will be seen that the communications were received and replied to in that cautious, yet courteous manner, which pledged the writer to nothing, and gained him time for the formation of a deliberate opinion: the decision was thus suspended; all eyes were directed to the paramount power; and the Nazir, whose first desire was to propitiate this, entreated the British functionary at Delhi to send his confidential Munshi to Jaipur without delay. This agent reached Jaipur from Delhi six days after the death of Jagat. He was the bearer of instructions, “requiring a full account of the reasons for placing the son of the Narwar Raja on the masnad; of his family, lineage, right of succession, and by whose counsels the measure was adopted.” On the 11th of January this requisition was reiterated; and it was further asked, whether the measure had the assent of the queens and chiefs, and a declaration to this effect, under their signatures, was required to be forwarded. Nothing could be more explicit, or more judicious, than the tenor of these instructions [384].

The replies of the Nazir and confidential Munshi were such, that on the 7th of February the receipt of letters of congratulation from the British Agent, accompanied by one from the supreme authority, was formally announced, which letters being read in full court, “the naubat (kettledrum) again sounded, and young Man Singh was conducted to the Partap Mahall, and seated on the masnad.” On this formal recognition by the British government, the agents of the chieftains at their sovereign’s court, in reply to the Nazir’s demand, “to know the opinions of the chiefs,” answered that “if he called them, they were ready to obey”; but at the same time they rested their adhesion on that of the chief queen, sister of the Raja of Jodhpur, who breathed nothing but open defiance of the Nazir and his junta. Early in March, public discontent became more manifest: and the Rajawat chief of Jhalai determined to appeal to arms in support of his rights as heir-presumptive, and was soon joined by the chiefs of Sarwar and Isarda,[9.4.20] junior but powerful branches of the same stock.

Another party seemed inclined, on this emergency, to revive the rights of that posthumous son of Prithi Singh, whom we have already described as living in exile at Gwalior, on the bounty of Sindhia; and nothing but the unfavourable report of his intellect and debased habits prevented the elder branch of the sons of Madho Singh recovering their lost honours.

While the paramount authority was thus deluded, and the chieftains were wavering amidst so many conflicting opinions, the queens continued resolute, and the Rajawats were arming—and the Nazir, in this dilemma, determined as a last resource, to make Raja Man of Jodhpur the umpire, hoping by this appeal to his vanity, to obtain his influence over his sister to an acquiescence in the irremediable step, which had been taken “in obedience (as he pretended) to the will of the deceased prince.” Raja Man’s reply is important: “That there could be no occasion for his or his sister’s signature to the required declaration on the right of succession to the masnad of Jaipur, which depended upon, and was vested in, the elders of the twelve tribes of Kachhwahas; that if they approved and signed the declaration, the queen his sister, and afterwards himself, would sign it, if requisite.”

The Nazir and his faction, though aided by the interposition of the Munshi, were now in despair, and in these desperate circumstances, he attempted to get up a marriage between the puppet he had enthroned and the granddaughter of the Rana of Mewar. It was well contrived, and not ill received by the Rana; but there was an influence at his court which at once extinguished the plot, though supported at [385] Delhi by the Rana’s most influential agent. It was proposed that, at the same time, the Rana should consummate his nuptials with the Jaipur Raja’s sister, the preliminaries of which had been settled a dozen years back. Money in abundance was offered, and the Rana’s passion for pageantry and profusion would have prevented any objection to his proceeding to the Jaipur capital. To receive the chief of the universal Hindu race with due honour, the whole nobility of Amber would have left their estates, which would have been construed into, and accepted as, a voluntary acquiescence in the rights of the Nazir’s choice, which the marriage would have completely cemented. Foiled in this promising design, the knot, which the precipitate and persevering conduct of the Nazir had rendered too indissoluble even for his skill to undo, was cut by the annunciation of the advanced pregnancy of the Bhattiani queen.

=Birth of a Posthumous Heir.=—This timely interposition of Mata Janami (the Juno Lucina of Rajwara) might well be regarded as miraculous; and though the sequel of this event was conducted with such publicity as almost to choke the voice of slander, it still found utterance.[9.4.21] It was deemed a sort of prodigy, that an event, which would have caused a jubilee throughout Dhundhar, should have been kept secret until three months after the Raja’s death.[9.4.22] The mysteries of the Rawalas of Rajput princes find their way to the public out of doors; and in Udaipur, more especially, are the common topics of conversation. The variety of character within its walls, the like variety of communicants without, the conflicting interests, the diversified objects of contention of these little worlds, render it utterly impossible that any secret can long be maintained, far less one of such magnitude as the pregnancy of the queen of a prince without issue. That this event should be revealed to the Nazir, the superintendent of the queen’s palace, with all the formality of a new discovery, three months after Jagat Singh’s death, must excite surprise; since to have been the bearer of such joyful intelligence to his master, to whom he was much attached, must have riveted his influence [386].

At three o’clock on the 1st of April, a council of sixteen queens, the widows of the late prince, and the wives of all the great vassals of the State, “assembled to ascertain the fact of pregnancy,” whilst all the great barons awaited in the antechambers of the Zanana Deori the important response of this council of matrons. When it announced that the Bhattiani queen was pregnant beyond a doubt, they consulted until seven, when they sent in a written declaration, avowing their unanimous belief of the fact; and that “should a son be born, they would acknowledge him as their lord, and to none else pledge allegiance.” A transcript of this was given to the Nazir, who was recommended to forward an attested copy to the British Agent at Delhi. From these deliberations, from which there was no appeal, the Nazir was excluded by express desire of the Rathor queen. He made an ineffectual effort to obtain from the chiefs a declaration, that the adoption of the Narwar youth was in conformity to the desire of the deceased prince, their master; but this attempt to obtain indemnity for his illegal acts was defeated immediately on the ground of its untruth.[9.4.23]

By this lawful and energetic exertion of the powers directly vested in the queen-mother and the great council of the chiefs, the tongue of faction was rendered mute; but had it been otherwise, another queen was pronounced to be in the same joyful condition.[9.4.24] On the morning of the 25th of April, four months and four days after Jagat Singh’s death, a son was ushered into the world with the usual demonstrations of joy, and received as the Autocrat of the Kachhwahas; while the infant interloper was removed from the gaddi, and thrust back to his original obscurity. Thus terminated an affair which involved all Rajwara in discussion, and at one time threatened a very serious result. That it was disposed of in this manner was fortunate for all parties, and not least for the protecting power.

Having thus given a connected, though imperfect, sketch of the history of the Jaipur State, from its foundation to the present time, before proceeding with any account of its resources, or the details of its internal administration, we shall delineate the rise, progress, and existing condition of the Shaikhavati federation, which has risen out of, and almost to an equality with, the parent State [387].

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Footnote 9.4.1:

[Mahīdpur, in the Indore State, 24 miles N. of Ujjain, when Sir John Malcolm defeated the Marāthas on December 21, 1817.]

Footnote 9.4.2:

Vide Malcolm’s Political History of India, p. 434.

Footnote 9.4.3:

[The Author, an enthusiastic political officer, ignores the considerations based on the state of the finances of India and the danger of the political situation in Europe which suggested a cautious policy in India. See J. Mill, Hist. of British India, ed. 1817, iii. 702; Seton-Karr, The Marquess Cornwallis, 178 ff.; J. W. Kaye, Life of Lord Metcalfe, i. 326 ff. On the negotiations with Jaipur see Kaye, op. cit. i. 348 ff.]

Footnote 9.4.4:

[Wazīr Ali, the deposed Nawāb of Oudh, murdered Mr. Cherry, the British Resident at Benares, on January 14, 1799. He took refuge in Jaipur, and the Rāja, having made terms with the British, “treacherously delivered him up.” He was confined in Fort William, Calcutta, where he died in 1817 (J. Mill, op. cit. iii. 469 ff).]

Footnote 9.4.5:

Vol. II. p. 613.

Footnote 9.4.6:

A better commentary on the opinions held by the natives upon this subject could not be given than the speech of Holkar’s envoy to the agent of the Governor-General of India, then with Lord Lake: “Holcar’s vakeel demanded, with no slight degree of pertinacity, the cession of the Jeipoor and Boondi tributes; and one of them, speaking of the former, stated, that he no doubt would continue to enjoy the friendship of the English, as he had disgraced himself to please that nation, by giving up Vizier Alli (who had sought his protection) to their vengeance. The vakeel was severely rebuked by the agent (Colonel, now Sir John Malcolm) for this insolent reflection on the conduct of an ally of the British Government, who had delivered up a murderer whom it would have been infamy to shelter”; though the author of the Political History of India might have added—but whom it was still greater infamy, according to their code, to surrender. See Malcolm’s Political History of India, p. 432.

Footnote 9.4.7:

See Article 6 of the Treaty, Appendix, No. IV.

Footnote 9.4.8:

See Article 8 of the Treaty.

Footnote 9.4.9:

[Laws, ix. 105 ff. On the general question see Baden-Powell, The Indian Village Community, 305 f.]

Footnote 9.4.10:

In Mewar, simply Maji; at Jaipur, where they have long used the language and manners of Delhi, they affix the Persian word Sahibah, or ‘lady mother.’

Footnote 9.4.11:

[Dagāri or Dugāri, about 20 miles N. of Būndi city, with a picturesque palace (Rājputāna Gazetteer, 1879, i. 216.)]

Footnote 9.4.12:

[A short distance S. of Kotah city.]

Footnote 9.4.13:

[Mahājan, about 50 miles N.N.W. of Bikaner city.]

Footnote 9.4.14:

Mewar was subjected to the same premium on her reviving prosperity. The Author unsuccessfully endeavoured to have a limit fixed to the demand; but he has heard with joy that some important modifications have since been made in these tributary engagements both with Mewar and Amber: they cannot be made too light. Discontent in Rajputana will not be appeased by a few lakhs of extra expenditure. I gave my opinions fearlessly when I had everything at stake; I will not suppress them now, when I have nothing either to hope or to fear but for the perpetuity of the British power in these regions, and the revival of the happiness and independence of those who have sought our protection. He will prove the greatest enemy to his country, who, in ignorance of the true position of the Rajputs, may aim at further trenching upon their independence. Read the thirty years’ war between Aurangzeb and the Rathors! where is the dynasty of their tyrant? Look at the map: a desert at their back, the Aravalli in front; no enemies to harass or disturb them! How different would a Rajput foe prove from a contemptible Mahratta, or the mercenary array of traitorous Nawabs, whom we have always found easy conquests! Cherish the native army: conciliate the Rajputs; then, laugh at foes!

Footnote 9.4.15:

[Jhalai, about 42 miles S.S.W. of Jaipur city.]

Footnote 9.4.16:

Nazir is the official name, a Muhammadan one, denoting his capacity, as emasculated guardian of the seraglio. Jaipur and Bundi are the only two of the Rajput principalities who, adopting the Muslim custom, have contaminated the palaces of their queens with the presence of these creatures.

Footnote 9.4.17:

See “Summary of Transactions,” Appendix, No. V. [The Author omitted to print this paper owing to its length.]

Footnote 9.4.18:

[Forty miles S.S.W. of Jaipur city.]

Footnote 9.4.19:

The Khangarot clan enumerates twenty-two fiefs, whose united rent-rolls amount to 402,806 rupees annually, and their united quotas for the service of the State, six hundred and forty-three horse. Megh Singh, by his turbulence and intelligence, though only the sixth or seventh in the scale of rank of this body, had taken the lead, and become the organ of his clan at court.

Footnote 9.4.20:

[Sarwar, 45 miles S. of Ajmer; Isarda, 60 miles S.S.W. of Jaipur city.]

Footnote 9.4.21:

The publicity, on this occasion, is precisely of the same character as marked the accouchement of the Duchess de Berri, who, it is said, not only had the usual witnesses to silence the voice of doubt, but absolutely insisted on the Maréchaux as well as the Maréchales of France being in the room at the moment of parturition.

Footnote 9.4.22:

Raja Jagat Singh died December 21, 1818, and the announcement of the Bhattiani being in “the eighth month of her pregnancy,” was on March 24, 1819.

Footnote 9.4.23:

Deeming a record of these transactions useful, not only as descriptive of manners, but as a precedent, inasmuch as they show the powers and position of the different authorities composing a Rajput State in cases of succession, I have inserted it in the Appendix. [As before stated, the Author omitted this paper.]

Footnote 9.4.24:

No notice, that I am aware of, was ever taken of this second annunciation. [The posthumous son of Jagat Singh, Jai Singh III., who succeeded, lived till 1835, during which period the State was a scene of misgovernment and corruption. He was succeeded by Mahārāja Rām Singh (A.D. 1835-80). His adopted son, Kāim Singh, succeeded under the title of Sawāi Mādho Singh II., and has administered the State with conspicuous ability.]

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SHAIKHĀWAT FEDERATION CHAPTER 5

We proceed to sketch the history of the Shaikhawat confederation, which, springing from the redundant feodality of Amber, through the influence of age and circumstances, has attained a power and consideration almost equalling that of the parent State; and although it possesses neither written laws, a permanent congress, nor any visible or recognized head, subsists by a sense of common interest. It must not be supposed, however, that no system of policy is to be found in this confederation, because the springs are not always visible or in action; the moment any common or individual interest is menaced, the grand council of the Barons of Shaikhavati assembles at Udaipur[9.5.1] to decide the course of action to be pursued.

=The Origin of the Shaikhāwats.=—The Shaikhawat chieftains are descended from Balaji, the third son of Raja Udaikaran, who succeeded to the throne of Amber in S. 1445, A.D. 1389. At this period, if we look back to the political state of society, we find that nearly the whole of the tracts, which now obey the Shaikhavati federation, were parcelled out amongst numerous chieftains of the Chauhan or Tuar tribes,[9.5.2] the descendants of the ancient Hindu emperors of Delhi, who evinced no more submission than the sword and their Islamite successors exacted from them.

Balaji, who was the actual founder of the numerous families now designated by the more distinguished name of Shaikhji, his grandson, obtained as an appanage the district of Amritsar,[9.5.3] but whether by his own prowess or by other means, is not mentioned. He had three sons: Mokalji, Khemraj, and Kharad. The first succeeded to the patrimony of Amritsar; the second had a numerous issue styled Balapota, one of whom was adopted into the twelve chambers (barahkothri) of Kachhwahas. The third had a son called Kaman, whose descendants were styled Kamawat, but are now early extinct.

=Shaikhji.=—Mokal had a son who was named Shaikhji, in compliment to a miracle-working Islamite saint, to whose prayers the childless chief was indebted for a son destined to be the patriarch of a numerous race, occupying, under the term Shaikhawat, an important [389] portion of the surface of Rajputana. Shaikh Burhan was the name of this saint, whose shrine (still existing) was about six miles from Achrol, and fourteen from the residence of Mokal. As the period of time was shortly after Timur’s invasion, it is not unlikely he was a pious missionary, who remained behind for the conversion of the warlike but tolerant Rajput, with whom, even if he should fail in his purpose, he was certain of protection and hospitality. The Shaikh in one of his peregrinations had reached the confines of Amritsar, and was passing over an extensive meadow, in which was Mokalji. The Mangta (mendicant) approached with the usual salutation, “Have you anything for me?” “Whatever you please to have, Babaji (sire),” was the courteous reply. The request was limited to a draught of milk, and if our faith were equal to the Shaikhawat’s, we should believe that Shaikh Burhan drew a copious stream from the exhausted udder of a female buffalo. This was sufficient to convince the old chief that the Shaikh could work other miracles; and he prayed that, through his means, he might no longer be childless. In due time he had an heir, who, according to the injunctions of Burhan, was styled, after his own tribe, Shaikh. He directed that he should wear the baddhiya,[9.5.4] which, when laid aside, was to be suspended at the saint’s dargah; and further, that he should assume the blue tunic and cap, abstain from hog’s flesh, and eat no meat “in which the blood remained.” He also ordained that at the birth of every Shaikhawat male infant a goat should be sacrificed, the Kalima (Islamite creed) read, and the child sprinkled with the blood. Although four centuries have passed away since these obligations were contracted by Mokal, they are still religiously maintained by the little nation of his descendants, occupying a space of ten thousand square miles. The wild hog, which, according to immemorial usage, should be eaten once a year by every Rajput, is rarely even hunted by a Shaikhawat; and though they have relaxed in that ordinance, which commanded the suspension of the baddhiyas at the shrine of Burhan, still each infant wears them, as well as the blue tunic and cap, for two years after his birth; and a still greater mark of respect to the memory of the saint is evinced in the blue pennon which surmounts the yellow banner, or national flag, of the Shaikhawats. It is even gravely asserted that those who, from indolence, distance, or less justifiable motives, have neglected the least important injunction, that of depositing the initiatory strings or baddhiyas, have never prospered. But a still stronger proof is furnished of the credulity, the toleration, and yet [390] immutability of the Rajput character, in the fact, that, although Amritsar,[9.5.5] and the lands around the dargah, are annexed to the fisc of Amber, yet the shrine of Shaikh Burhan continues a saran (sanctuary), while lands are assigned to almost a hundred families, the descendants of the saint, who reside in the adjacent town of Tala.

Shaikhji, when he attained man’s estate, greatly augmented the territory left by his father, and had consolidated three hundred and sixty villages under his sway, by conquest from his neighbours, when his reputation and power attracted the jealous notice of the lord paramount of Amber. He was attacked; but by the aid of the Panni Pathans[9.5.6] he successfully withstood the reiterated assaults of his suzerain. Up to this period, they had acknowledged the Amber princes as liege lords, and in token of alliance paid as tribute all the colts reared on the original estate.[9.5.7] A dispute on this point was the ostensible cause (though subordinate to their rapid prosperity), which occasioned a total separation of the Shaikhawat colonies from the parent State, until the reign of Sawai Jai Singh who, with his means as lieutenant of the empire, compelled homage, submission, and pecuniary relief from them. Shaikhji left a well-established authority to his son, Raemall, of whom nothing is recorded. Raemall was followed by Suja, who had three sons, namely, Nunkaran, Raesal, and Gopal. The elder succeeded to the patrimony of Amritsar and its three hundred and sixty townships, while to his brothers, the fiefs of Lambi and Jharli[9.5.8] were respectively assigned. With the second brother, Raesal, the fortunes of the Shaikhawats made a rapid stride, from an occurrence in which the Rajput appears in the position we desire to see him occupy.

Nunkaran, the chief of the Shaikhawats, had a minister named Devidas, of the Bania or mercantile caste, and, like thousands of that caste, energetic, shrewd, and intelligent. He one day held an argument with his lord (which the result proves he maintained with independence), that “genius with good fortune was the first gift of heaven, and to be far more prized than a man’s mere inheritance.” Nunkaran warmly disputed the point, which ended by his telling the minister he might go to Lambi [391] and make experiment of the truth of his argument on his brother Raesal. Devidas lost no time, on this polite dismissal from his office, in proceeding with his family and property to Lambi. He was received with the usual hospitality; but soon discovered that Raesal’s means were too confined to bear an additional burden, and that the field was too restricted to enable him to demonstrate the truth of the argument which lost him his place. He made known his determination to proceed to the imperial city, and advised Raesal to accompany him, and try his luck at court. Raesal, who was valiant and not without ambition, could only equip twenty horse, with which he arrived at Delhi just as an army was forming to oppose one of those Afghan invasions, so common at that period. In the action which ensued, Raesal had the good fortune to distinguish himself by cutting down a leader of the enemy, in the presence of the imperial general, which had a decided influence on the event of the day. Inquiries were made for the brave unknown, who had performed this heroic deed; but as, for reasons which will be perceived, he kept aloof from the quarters of his countrymen, the argument of Devidas would never have been illustrated, had not the imperial commander determined to seek out and reward merit. He ordered a grand ziyafat, or ‘entertainment’ to be prepared for the chiefs of every grade in the army, who were commanded afterwards to pay their respects to the general. As soon as Raesal appeared, he was recognized as the individual of whom they were in search. His name and family being disclosed, his brother, Nunkaran, who was serving with his quota, was called, whose anger was peremptorily expressed at his presuming to appear at court without his permission; but this ebullition of jealousy was of little avail. Raesal was at once introduced to the great Akbar, who bestowed upon him the title of Raesal Darbari,[9.5.9] and a more substantial mark of royal favour, in a grant of the districts of Rewasa and Khasali, then belonging to the Chandela Rajputs. This was but the opening of Raesal’s career, for scarcely had he settled his new possessions, when he was recalled to court to take part in an expedition against Bhatner. Fresh services obtained new favours, and he received a grant of Khandela and Udaipur, then belonging to the Nirwan Rajputs, who disdained to pay allegiance to the empire, and gave themselves up to unlicensed rapine.

=Khandela, the Shaikhawat Capital.=—Raesal, finding it would be a work of difficulty to expel the brave Nirwans from [392] their ancient bapota (patrimony), had recourse to stratagem to effect his object. Previous to the expedition to Bhatner, Raesal had espoused the daughter of the chief of Khandela, and it is related that a casual expression, dropped on that occasion, suggested his desire to obtain it for himself. Being dissatisfied with the dower (daeja) given with his bride, he, with no commendable taste, pertinaciously insisted upon an increase; upon which the Nirwan chief, losing patience, hastily replied, “We have nothing else to give, unless you take the stones of the hill.” The attendant Saguni (augur), immediately turning to Raesal, said, in an undertone, “Tie a knot on the skirt of your garment in remembrance of this.” An expression like this from a prophetic tongue gave birth to the wish to be lord of Khandela; while his services to the king, and the imbecility of its Nirwan possessor, conspired to fulfil it. Watching his opportunity, he marched against the place, and being in all probability supported by his liege lord, it was abandoned without defence, and the inhabitants tendered their submission to him. Henceforth, Khandela was esteemed the principal city of the Shaikhawat confederation; and the descendants of Raesal, using his name as a patronymic, are styled Raesalot, occupying all southern Shaikhavati; while another branch of later origin, called Sadhani, holds the northern tracts. Immediately after the occupation of Khandela, Raesal obtained possession of Udaipur, formerly called Kausambi, also belonging to the Nirwans.[9.5.10]

Raesal accompanied his proper liege lord, the great Raja Man of Amber, against the heroic Rana Partap of Mewar. He was also in the expedition to Kabul, against the Afghans of Kohistan, in all of which enterprises he obtained fresh distinctions. Regarding his death, there is no record;[9.5.11] but his history is another illustration of the Rajput character, whilst it confirms the position of the Bania, that “genius and good fortune are far superior to inheritance.”

Raesal, at his death, had a compact and well-managed territory, out of which he assigned appanages to his seven sons, from whom are descended the various families, who, with relative distinctive patronymics, Bhojansi Sadhanis, Larkhanis, Tajkhanis, Parasurampotas, Harrampotas, are recognized throughout Rajwara by the generic name of Shaikhawat [393].

1. Girdhar Had Khandela and Rewasa. 2. Larkhan ” Kachriawas. 3. Bhojraj ” Udaipur. 4. Tirmall Rao ” Kasli and eighty-four villages. 5. Parasuram ” Bai. 6. Harramji ” Mundari. 7. Tajkhan ” No appanage.

We shall not break the thread of the narrative of the elder branch of Khandela, “chief of the sons of Shaikhji,” to treat of the junior line, though the issue of Bhojraj have eclipsed, both in population and property, the senior descendants of Raesal.

=Girdharji Shaikhāwat.=—Girdharji succeeded to the prowess, the energy, and the estates of his father, and for a gallant action obtained from the emperor the title of Raja of Khandela. At this period, the empire was in a most disordered state, and the mountainous region, called Mewat, was inhabited by a daring and ferocious banditti, called Meos, who pillaged in gangs even to the gates of the capital. The task of taking, dead or alive, the leader of this banditti, was assigned to the chief of Khandela, who performed it with signal gallantry and success. Aware that, by the display of superior force, his enemy would remain in his lurking places, Girdhar put himself on terms of equality with his foe, and with a small but select band hunted the Mewati leader down, and in the end slew him in single combat. The career of Girdhar, short as it was brilliant, was terminated by assassination, while bathing in the Jumna. The anecdote is descriptive of the difference of manners between the rustic Rajput and the debauched retainer of the court.

=Assassination of Girdharji.=—One of the Khandela chief’s men was waiting, in a blacksmith’s shop, while his sword was repaired and sharpened. A Muslim, passing by, thought he might have his jest with the unpolished Rajput, and after asking some impertinent questions, and laughing at the unintelligible replies in the Bhakha of Rajwara, slipped a heated cinder in the turban of the soldier: the insult was borne with great coolness, which increased the mirth of the Musalman, and at length the turban took fire. The sword was then ready, and the Thakur, after feeling the edge, with one blow laid the jester’s head at his feet. He belonged to one of the chief nobles of the court, who immediately led his retainers to the Khandela chief’s quarters, and thence to where he was performing his religious ablutions in the Jumna, and whilst engaged in which act, unarmed and almost unattended, basely murdered him. Girdhar left several children [394].

=Dwārkadās.=—Dwarkadas, his eldest son, succeeded, and soon after his accession nearly fell a victim to the jealousy of the Manoharpur chief, the representative of the elder branch of the family, being the lineal descendant of Nunkaran. The emperor had caught a lion in the toils, and gave out a grand hunt, when the Manoharpur chief observed that his relative, the Raesalot, who was a votary of Naharsingh,[9.5.12] was the proper person to engage the king of the forest. Dwarkadas saw through his relative’s treachery, but cheerfully accepted the proposal. Having bathed and prayed, to the astonishment of the king and court, he entered the arena unarmed, with a brazen platter containing the various articles used in puja (worship), as grains of rice, curds, and sandal ointment, and going directly up to the monster, made the tilak on his forehead, put a chaplet round his neck, and prostrated himself in the usual attitude of adoration before the lion; when, to the amazement of the spectators, the noble beast came gently up, and with his tongue repeatedly licked his face, permitting him to retire without the least indication of anger. The emperor, who concluded that his subject must “wear a charmed life,” desired the Khandela chief to make any request, with the assurance of compliance; when he received a delicate reproof, in the desire “that his majesty would never place another person in the same predicament from which he had happily escaped.”

Dwarkadas was slain by the greatest hero of the age in which he lived, the celebrated Khan Jahan Lodi,[9.5.13] who, according to the legends of the Shaikhawats, also fell by the hand of their lord; and they throw an air of romance upon the transaction, which would grace the annals of chivalry in any age or country. Khan Jahan and the chieftain of Khandela were sworn friends, and when nothing but the life of the gallant Lodi would satisfy the king, Dwarka gave timely notice to his friend of the hateful task imposed upon him, advising either submission or flight. His fate, which forms one of the most interesting episodes in Ferishta’s history,[9.5.14] involved that of the Shaikhawat chief.

=Bīrsinghdeo.=—He was succeeded by his son, Birsinghdeo, who served with his contingent in the conquest of the Deccan, and was made governor of Parnala, which he had materially assisted in reducing.[9.5.15] The Khandela annalist is desirous to make it appear that his service was independent of his liege lord of Amber; but the probability is that he was under the immediate command of the Mirza Raja Jai Singh, at that period the most distinguished general of his nation or of the court.

Birsinghdeo had seven sons, of whom the heir-apparent, Bahadur Singh, remained at [395] Khandela; while estates were assigned to his brothers, namely, Amar Singh, Shyam Singh, Jagdeo, Bhopal Singh, Mukri Singh, and Pem Singh, who all increased the stock of Raesalots. While the Raja was performing his duties in the Deccan, intelligence reached him that his son at home had usurped his title and authority; upon which, with only four horsemen, he left the army for his capital. When within two coss of Khandela, he alighted at the house of a Jatni, of whom he requested refreshment, and begged especial care of his wearied steed, lest he should be stolen; to which she sharply replied, “Is not Bahadur Singh ruler here? You may leave gold in the highway, and no one dare touch it.” The old chieftain was so delighted with this testimony to his son’s discharge of a prince’s duties, that, without disclosing himself or his suspicions, he immediately returned to the Deccan, where he died.

=Bahādur Singh.=—Bahadur Singh succeeded, and on his father’s death repaired to the armies in the south, commanded by Aurangzeb in person. Being insulted by a Muslim chief bearing the same name with himself, and obtaining no redress from the bigoted prince, he left the army in disgust, upon which his name was erased from the list of mansabdars. It was at this time the tyrant issued his mandate for the capitation-tax on all his Hindu subjects, and for the destruction of their temples.[9.5.16]

=Gallantry of Shujāwan Singh.=—To the personal enemy of the Shaikhawat was intrusted the twofold duty of exacting tribute, and the demolition of the temple, the ornament of Khandela, whose chief, degrading the name of Bahadur (warrior), abandoned his capital; and the royal army had arrived within two coss without the appearance of opposition. The news spread over the lands of the confederacy, that Bahadur had fled from Khandela, and that the Turk was bent on the destruction of its shrines. It reached the ear of Shujawan Singh, the chieftain of Chapauli, a descendant of Bhojraj, the second son of Raesal. Imbued with all the spirit of this hero, the brave Bhojani resolved to devote himself to the protection of the temple, or perish in its defence. At the moment the tidings reached him, he was solemnizing his nuptials on the Marwar frontier. Hastening home with his bride, he left her with his mother, and bade both a solemn [396] farewell. In vain his kindred, collecting round him, dissuaded him from his design, urging that it was Bahadur Singh’s affair, not his. “Am not I,” he said, “also of Raesal’s stock, and can I allow the Turk to destroy the dwelling of the Thakur (lord), and not attempt to save it? Would this be acting the part of a Rajput?” As their entreaties were vain, they, to the number of sixty, resolved to accompany him, and share his fate. They were joined by a party of Bahadur’s adherents, and succeeded in entering Khandela. The imperial commander, to whom this unlooked-for opposition was reported, well aware of what a Rajput is capable when excited to action, and perhaps moved by a generous feeling at seeing a handful of men oppose an army, requested that two of their number might be deputed to his camp to confer with him. He told them, that notwithstanding it was the king’s command that he should raze the temple to the ground, he would be satisfied (if accompanied by proper submission) with taking off the kalas, or golden ball which surmounted its pinnacle. They endeavoured to dissuade him; offered money to the utmost possible amount of their means; but the answer was, “The kalas must come down.” One of these noble delegates, no longer able to contain himself, exclaimed, “Break down the kalas!” as with some moist clay at his feet he moulded a ball, which he placed on a little mound before him: and drawing his sword, repeated, “Break down the kalas! I dare you even to break this ball of clay!” The intrepidity of this action gained the applause even of the foe, and they had safe-conduct to rejoin their brethren, and prepare them for the worst.

=The Siege of Khandela.=—At this time, Khandela had no fortifications; there was, however, a gateway half-way up the hill in the route of ascent, which led to the place of residence of its chieftains, adjoining which was the temple. One party was stationed in the gateway, while Shujawan reserved for himself the defence of the temple, in which he took post with his kinsmen. When the mercenaries of the tyrant advanced, the defenders of the gateway, alter dealing many a distant death, marched upon them sword in hand, and perished. When they pushed on to the chief object of attack, the band issued forth in small detached parties, having first made their obeisances to the image, and carried destruction along with them. Shujawan was the last who fell. The temple was levelled to the earth, the idol broken in pieces, and the fragments thrown into the foundation of a mosque erected on its ruins. There is hardly a town of note in Rajwara that has not to relate a similar tale of desperate valour in the defence of their household gods against the iniquitous and impolitic Aurangzeb. Khandela received a royal garrison; but the old officers, both territorial and financial, were retained by the conqueror [397].

Bahadur Singh continued to reside in an adjacent township, and through his Diwan obtained a certain share of the crops and transit duties, namely, a ser out of every maund of the former, and one pice in every rupee of the latter. In process of time the family residence and gardens were given up to him, and when the Sayyids obtained power he regained his country, though a garrison of the royal troops was retained, whose expenses he paid. He left three sons, namely, Kesari Singh, Fateh Singh, and Udai Singh.

=Kesari Singh.=—Kesari, solicitous to hold his lands on the same terms as his ancestors, namely, service to the lord-paramount, assembled his adherents, and with his second brother, Fateh Singh, departed for the imperial camp, to proffer his service. The Manoharpur chief, the elder branch of the family, was in the royal camp, and having regained his lost consequence by the depression of Khandela, was by no means willing again to part with it. He intrigued with the second brother, Fateh Singh, to whom he proposed a division of the lands; the latter lent himself to the intrigue, and the Diwan, seeing that a family quarrel would involve the destruction of them all, repaired to Khandela, and through the mother, a Gaur Rajputni, he advocated the partition. A census was accordingly made of the population, and a measurement of the lands, of which two portions were assigned to Fateh Singh, and the three remaining to the Raja. The town itself was partitioned in the same manner. Henceforth, the brothers held no intercourse with each other, and Kesari preferred Khatu[9.5.17] as his residence, though whenever he came to Khandela, Fateh Singh withdrew. Things remained in this state until the Diwan prompted his master to get rid of the agreement which had secured the ascendancy of Manoharpur in the Shaikhawat federation, by destroying his brother. The Diwan arranged a friendly meeting at Khatu for the avowed purpose of reconciliation, when Fateh Singh fell a victim to assassination; but the instigator to the crime met his proper reward, for a splinter of the sword which slew Fateh Singh entered his neck, and was the occasion of his death.

Kesari Singh, having thus recovered all his lost authority, from the contentions at court conceived he might refuse the tribute of Rewasa, hitherto paid to the Ajmer treasury, while that of Khandela went to Narnol.[9.5.18] Sayyid Abdulla,[9.5.19] then wazir, found leisure to resent this insult, and sent a force against Khandela. Every Raesalot in the country assembled to resist the Turk, and even his foe of Manoharpur sent his quota, led by the Dhabhai (foster-brother), to aid the national cause. Thus strengthened, Kesari determined to oppose the royal forces hand to hand in the plain, and [398] the rival armies encountered at the border town of Deoli.[9.5.20] While victory manifested a wish to side with the confederated Shaikhawats, the old jealousies of Manoharpur revived, and he withdrew his quota from the field, at the same moment that the Kasli chief, on whom much depended, was slain. To crown these misfortunes, the Larkhani chief of Danta, basely deeming this an opportunity to consult his own interest, abandoned the field, to take possession of Rewasa. The ‘lion’ of Khandela (Kesari), observing these defections, when the shout of “Jai! jai!” (victory, victory), already rang in his ears, could not help exclaiming, in the bitterness of despair, “Had Fateh Singh been here, he would not have deserted me.” He disdained, however, to give way, and prepared to meet his fate like a true Raesalot. Sending to where the battle yet raged for his youngest brother, Udai Singh, he urged him to save himself; but the young Rajput scorned obedience to such a behest, until Kesari made known his determination not to quit the field, adding that if he also were slain, there would be an end of his line. Others joined their persuasions, and even attempted to turn Kesari from his purpose. “No,” replied the chief, “I have no desire for life; two black deeds press upon me; the murder of my brother, and the curse of the Charans of Bikaner, whom I neglected at the distribution of the nuptial gifts. I will not add a third by dastardly flight.” As Udai Singh reluctantly obeyed, while the swords rang around him, Kesari made a hasty sacrifice to Avanimata (mother earth), of which flesh, blood, and earth are the ingredients. He cut pieces from his own body, but as scarcely any blood flowed, his own uncle, Mohkam Singh of Aloda, parted with some of his, for so grand an obligation as the retention of Khandela. Mixing his own flesh, and his uncle’s blood, with a portion of his own sandy soil, he formed small balls in dan (gift), for the maintenance of the land to his posterity. The Dom (bard), who repeated the incantations, pronounced the sacrifice accepted, and that seven generations of his line should rule in Khandela.[9.5.21] The brave Kesari was slain, the town taken, and Udai Singh carried to Ajmer, where he remained three years in captivity. At this time, the chiefs of Udaipur and Kasli determined to cut off the royal garrison in Khandela; but apprehensive of the danger it might occasion to their chief, they sent a special messenger to Ajmer, to acquaint the viceroy of their scheme, previous to its execution, to prevent his being implicated. Khandela was surprised, and Deonath and three hundred Turks put to the sword. The viceroy [399], desirous to recover the place, consulted his prisoner, who offered to reinstate him if he granted him liberty. The Nawab demanded a hostage, but the young Rajput said he knew of none but his own mother, who willingly became the pledge for her son. He fulfilled his agreement, and the viceroy was so pleased with his frank and loyal conduct, that on paying a large nazarana, he restored him to his capital.

=Udai Singh.=—Udai Singh’s first act was to assemble his brethren, in order to punish Manoharpur, whose treachery had caused them so much misery. The foster-brother, who commanded on that occasion, was again entrusted with the command; but he fled after a sharp encounter, and Manoharpur was invested. Seeing he had no chance of salvation, he had again recourse to chal (stratagem). There were two feudatories of Nunkaran’s line, joint-holders of Khajroli, who had long been at variance with Dip Singh of Kasli, the principal adviser of the young Raja of Khandela. They were gained over to the purpose of the Manoharpur chief, who sent them with a private message to Dip Singh, that no sooner should Manoharpur fall than he would be deprived of Kasli. These treacherous proceedings were but too common amongst ‘the sons of Shaikhji.’ Dip Singh fell into the snare, and at break of day, when the trumpets sounded for the assault, the drums of the Kasli chief were heard in full march to his estate. Udai Singh, thus deprived of his revenge, followed Dip Singh who, aware of his inability to cope with his immediate chief, fled for succour to Jaipur, and Kasli fell a sacrifice to the artifices which preserved Manoharpur. The great Jai Singh then ruled Amber; he received the suppliant chief, and promised him ample redress, on his swearing to become his vassal and tributary. Dip Singh swore allegiance to the gaddi of Jai Singh, and signed a tributary engagement of four thousand rupees annually!

=Supremacy of Jaipur in Shaikhawati.=—Thus recommenced the supremacy of Amber over the confederated Shaikhawats, which had been thrown off ever since the dispute regarding the colts of Amritsar, the ancient mark of homage, when ‘the sons of Shaikhji’ consisted only of a few hundred armed men. Shortly after this transaction, Jai Singh proceeded to the Ganges to fulfil certain rites upon an eclipse, and while performing his ablutions in the sacred stream, and the gifts for distribution to the priests being collected on the bank, he inquired “who was present to receive dan that day?” The Kasli chief, spreading out the skirt of his garment, replied, he was an applicant. Such dan (gifts) being only given to mangtas, or mendicants, in which class they put priests, poets, and [400] the poor, the Raja asked, laughing, “What is your desire, Thakur?” To which Dip Singh replied, that through his intercession the son of Fateh Singh might obtain his father’s share of Khandela; which request was complied with.

This occurrence was in A.D. 1716, when the Jats were rising into power, and when all the minor Rajas served with their contingents under the great Jai Singh, as lieutenant of the emperor. Along with the princes of Karauli, Bhadauria, Sheopur, and many others of the third rank, was Udai Singh of Khandela. During the siege of Thun, the Shaikhawat chief was reprimanded for neglect of duty, and although he owed a double allegiance to Jai Singh, as his natural liege lord and lieutenant of the king, he would not brook the censure from one of his own race, and indignantly withdrew from the siege. Churaman the Jat, having contrived to make his peace with the Sayyid wazir, when Thun was upon the eve of surrender, and Udai Singh being implicated in this intrigue, Jai Singh, who was mortified at an occurrence which prevented the gratification of a long-cherished resentment against the upstart Jats, determined that the Khandela chief should suffer for his audacity. Attended by the imperialists under Bazid Khan, and all his home clans, he laid siege to the citadel called Udaigarh. Udai Singh held out a month in this castle he had constructed and called by his own name, when his resources failing, he fled to Naru[9.5.22] in Marwar, and his son, Sawai Singh, presented the keys, throwing himself on the clemency of the conqueror. He was well received, and pardoned, on condition of becoming tributary to Amber. He followed the example of the Kasli chief, and signed an engagement to pay annually one lakh of rupees. From this a deduction of fifteen thousand was subsequently made, and in time being reduced twenty thousand more, sixty-five thousand continued to be the tribute of Khandela, until the decay of both the parent State and its scion, when the weakness of the former, and the merciless outrages of the predatory powers, Pathan and Mahratta, rendered its amount uncertain and difficult to realize. Moreover, recalling his promise to Dip Singh, he restored the division of the lands as existing prior to the murder of Fateh Singh, namely, three shares to Sawai Singh, with the title of chief of the Shaikhawats, and two to Dhir Singh, son of Fateh Singh. The young cousin chieftains, now joint-holders of Khandela, attended their liege lord with their contingent; and Udai Singh, taking advantage of their absence, with the aid of a band of outlawed Larkhanis, surprised and took Khandela. Attended by the Jaipur troops, the son performed the dutiful task of expelling his father from his inheritance, who again fled to Naru, where he resided [401] upon a pension of five rupees a day, given by his son, until his death. He, however, outlived Sawai Singh, who left three sons: Bindraban, who succeeded to Khandela; Shambhu, who had the appanage of Ranauli; and Kusal, having that of Piprauli.

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Footnote 9.5.1:

[This Udaipur must not be confounded with the capital of Mewār: it is about 60 miles N. of Jaipur city.]

Footnote 9.5.2:

The lovers of antiquity have only to make the search to find an abundant harvest, throughout all these countries, of ancient capitals and cities, whose names are hardly known even to the modern inhabitants. Of the ancient Rajor I have already spoken, and I now draw the attention of my countrymen to Abhaner, which boasts a very remote antiquity; and from an old stanza, we might imagine that its princes were connected with the Kaian dynasty of Persia. I copied it, some twenty years ago, from an itinerant bard, who had an imperfect knowledge of it himself, and I have doubtless made it more so, but it is still sufficiently intelligible to point at a remarkable coincidence:

_Rājā Chand-kā Ābhāner Bīahah Sanjog, āyo Girnār. Dekh Bharat līyo bulāi. Kiyo bidit, man bikasāi. Byāo Sanjog, Parmalā barī. Kos sāth-so man chit dharī; “Tū betī Kaikum kī, Nām Parmalā[9.4.2.A] ho. Lekhā huā Kartār ko. Yā jāna sabb ko”_[9.4.2.A] [388]

[For the above version of the corrupt lines in the original, the Editor is indebted to Sir G. Grierson, who remarks that the meaning is not clear, and that in the original more than one dialect is used. He offers the following tentative translation: “Sanjog [dwelt] in the midst of Ābhāner of Rāja Chand. He came to Girnār. When Bharat saw him he summoned him. He [Sanjog] made known [his object], and his [Bharat’s] heart expanded. Sanjog married, he chose Parmalā for his bride. From a distance of sixty kos his heart and mind had attracted her. [He said to her] ‘Thou art the daughter of Kaikum. Thy name is Parmalā [i.e. “fairy garland”]. It was the writing of the Creator [i.e. “it was so fated”], this every one knew.’” There is no reason to suppose that the lady was a Persian.]

This is a fragment of a long poem relative to the rivalry of Raja Chand of Abhaner, and Raja Sursen of Indrapuri, who was betrothed to Parmala, daughter of Kaikum, and had gone to Girner, or Girnar, to espouse her, when the Abhaner prince abducted her. Raja Sursen of Indrapuri (Delhi), if the ancestor of the Suraseni, and founder of Surpuri, existed probably twelve hundred years before Christ. That sun-worshippers had established themselves in the peninsula of Saurashtra (whose capital was Junagarh-Girnar), its appellation, in the days of the Greeks of Bactria, as now, proves (see Strabo, Justin, etc.), but whether Kaikum, the father of Parmala, is the Kaiomurs of Firdausi, we shall not stop to inquire. The connexion between this peninsula and Persia was intimate in later times, so as even to give rise to the assertion that the Ranas of Mewar were descended from the Sassanian kings. It was my good fortune to discover Surpuri, on the Jumna, the residence of the rival of Chand of Abhaner, which city I leave to some one imbued with similar taste to visit, and merely add, he will find there an inscription in a kund or fountain dedicated to the Sun. The distance, however, seven hundred coss (kos sath so), whether from Indrapuri or Abhaner, to Girnar, even admitting them to be gao coss, would be too much. I believe this would make it eight hundred miles, and certainly, as the crow flies, it is not seven hundred. Interwoven with the story there is much about Raja Chambha, prince of Jajnagar, a city of great antiquity in Orissa, and containing some of the finest specimens of sculpture I ever saw. There is also mention of a Raja Saer (qu. Sahir or Siharas of Aror) of Parman. In 1804, I passed through Jajnagar, after the conquest of the province of Cuttack, with my regiment. At Jajnagar, my earliest friend, the late Captain Bellet Sealy, employed his pencil for several days with the sculptured remains. These drawings were sent to the authorities at Calcutta: perhaps this notice may rescue from oblivion the remains of Jajnagar, and of my deceased friend’s talent, for Captain Bellet Sealy was an ornament equally to private life and to his profession. He fell a victim to the fever contracted in the Nepal war. The ruins of Abhaner are on the Banganga, three coss east of Lalsont. [The speculations in this note are of no value. For the town of Jājpur in Cuttack, see a full account by Sir W. Hunter, Orissa, i. 265 f.; IGI, xiv. 10 f.]

Footnote 9.4.2.A:

Parī-mālā means ‘fairy garland.’

Footnote 9.5.3:

[About 15 miles N.E. of Jaipur city.]

Footnote 9.5.4:

Strings, or threads, worn crossways by Muhammadan children. [See Herklots, Qanoon-e-Islam, 156, 158.]

Footnote 9.5.5:

The town of Amritsar and forty-five villages are still left to the Manoharpur branch.

Footnote 9.5.6:

The Pannis are a tribe of Duranis, regarding whom Mr. Elphinstone’s account of Kabul may be consulted. In after times, there was a chieftain of this tribe so celebrated for his generosity and hospitality, that his name has become proverbial:

_Banē, to banē Nahīn, Dāūd Khān Panni_:

that is, if they failed elsewhere, there was always Daud Khan in reserve. His gallant bearing, and death in Farrukhsiyar’s reign, are related in Scott’s excellent History of the Dekhan. [Ed. 1794, ii. 140 ff. The Panni are a sept of the Kākar or Ghurghusthi Pathāns; see Rose, Glossary, iii. 198, 223.]

Footnote 9.5.7:

This will recall to the reader’s recollection a similar custom in the ancient Persian empire, where the tribute of the distant Satrapies was of the same kind. Armenia, according to Herodotus, alone gave an annual tribute of twenty thousand colts. [The statement is made by Strabo p. 529.]

Footnote 9.5.8:

[Jhārli is about 40 miles N. of Jaipur city.]

Footnote 9.5.9:

It is always agreeable to find the truth of these simple annals corroborated in the historical remains of the conquerors of the Rajputs. The name of Raesal Darbari will be found, in the Ain-i-Akbari, amongst the mansabdars of twelve hundred and fifty horse; a rank of high importance, being equivalent to that conferred on the sons of potent Rajas. [In Āīn (i. 419) he is called Rāē Sāl Darbāri, son of Rāēmall, Shaikhāwat. The Author represents him to be son of Sūja, and apparently grandson of Rāēmall. He is mentioned in the Akbarnāma (trans. H. Beveridge ii. 390).]

Footnote 9.5.10:

The Nirwan is a sakha, or ramification of the Chauhan race. They had long held possession of these regions, of which Kes, or Kausambi, now Udaipur, was the capital, the city where the grand council of the confederation always meets on great occasions. This may throw light on the Kausambi mentioned on the triumphal pillar at Delhi; the Nirwan capital is more likely to be the town alluded to than Kausāmbi on the Ganges. [The inscription refers to the city in the United Provinces, of which the site is uncertain (V. A. Smith, JRAS, 1898, p. 503).]

Footnote 9.5.11:

[He died, at an advanced age, in the Deccan (Āīn, i. 419).]

Footnote 9.5.12:

[Narasinha, the man-lion incarnation of Vishnu.]

Footnote 9.5.13:

[Khān Jahān Lodi, an Afghān, commanded in the Deccan under Prince Parvez. In 1628, suspected of disloyalty, he took refuge in Bāglān, the headmen of which place refused to surrender him. But he was obliged to fly and, with his son, was killed by the royal troops on January 28, 1631 (Beale, Dict. Oriental Biography, s.v.; BG, i. Part ii. 624 f.; Elliot-Dowson vii. 20 ff.).]

Footnote 9.5.14:

[Not in Ferishta, but in Dow’s continuation (ed. 1812, iii. 112 ff.).]

Footnote 9.5.15:

[Parnāla or Panhāla in the Kolhapur District, taken in 1701 (Manucci iii. 257; BG, xxiv. 314.)]

Footnote 9.5.16:

The numerous ruined shrines and mutilated statues in every town and village, still attest the zeal with which the bigot’s orders were obeyed; nor is there an image of any antiquity with an entire set of features (except in spots impervious to his myrmidons), from Lahore to Cape Comorin. Omkarji, whose temple is on a small island of the Nerbudda, alone, it is said, supported his dignity in the indiscriminate attack on the deities of Hind. “If they are gods (said the tyrannical but witty iconoclast), let them evince their power, and by some miracle resist my commands.” Omkarji received the first blow on his head, as if imbued with mortal feeling, for the blood gushed from his nose and mouth, which prevented a repetition of the injury! This sensibility, though without the power of avenging himself, made Omkar’s shrine doubly respected, and it continues to be one of the best frequented and most venerated in these regions. [Numerous accounts of the destruction of Hindu temples by Aurangzeb have been collected by Jadunath Sarkar (History of Aurangzib, iii. 319 ff.). The Omkār temple at Māndhāta in the Nimār District, Central Provinces, is served by a priest of the Bhīlāla caste, half Bhīl, half Rājput, illustrating the mode by which aboriginal deities have been imported into Hinduism (IGI, xvii. 152; Russell, Tribes and Castes Central Provinces, ii. 294).]

Footnote 9.5.17:

[This is probably the “Kaotah” of the text.]

Footnote 9.5.18:

[Now in the Patiāla State, Panjāb.]

Footnote 9.5.19:

[Sayyid Abdulla of Bārha became wazīr of Farrukhsīyar in A.D. 1713, and died in prison in 1723.]

Footnote 9.5.20:

[About 70 miles S.W. of Ajmer.]

Footnote 9.5.21:

The fifth, as will be seen hereafter, has been expelled, and authority usurped by the Kasli branch of the family, and unless some fortunate change should occur, the devotion of Kesari was useless, and the prophecy must fall to the ground.

Footnote 9.5.22:

[About 25 miles N.W. of Jodhpur city.]

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Chapter 6

=Bindrabandās.=—Bindrabandas steadfastly adhered to Madho Singh in the civil wars which ensued for the gaddi of Amber, and the latter, when success attended his cause, wished to reward the important services of his feudatory. At his request, he consented that the partition of the lands which had caused so much bloodshed should be annulled, and that Bindraban should rule as sole lord of Khandela. Five thousand men were placed under his command for the expulsion of the minor, Indar Singh, grandson of Deo Singh, who made a stout resistance for many months; but at length his little castle was no longer tenable, and he fled to Parsoli, where he again defended himself, and was again on the point of surrender, when an unexpected accident not only saved him from exile, but restored him to his rights.

=Brāhmans commit Suicide.=—The mercenaries were supported at the sole charge of Bindraban, and as his ancestors left no treasury, he was compelled to resort to the contribution called dand from his subjects, not even exempting the hierarchy. Piqued at this unusual demand, some of the wealthiest Brahmans expostulated with the Raja on this indignity to the order. But their appeals were disregarded by their chief, whose existence depended on supplies. The loss of influence as well as wealth being the fruit of this [402] disregard of their remonstrance, they had recourse to that singular species of revenge termed chandni, or self-immolation, and poignarded themselves in his presence, pouring maledictions on his head with their last breath. The blood of Brahmans now rested on the head of Bindraban; even amongst his personal friends he laboured under a species of excommunication, and his liege lord, Madho Singh of Amber, in order to expiate his indirect share in the guilt, recalled his troops, and distributed twenty thousand rupees to the Brahmans of his own capital. Indar Singh had thus time to breathe, and having collected all his retainers, wisely joined the Jaipur army assembling under the command of the celebrated Khushhaliram Bohra to chastise the Rao of Macheri, who was expelled and obliged to seek refuge with the Jats. In this service Indar Singh so much distinguished himself, that, on the payment of a nazarana of fifty thousand rupees, he recovered his lost share of Khandela, by a regular patta, or grant, of the Raja.

=Tribal Feuds.=—Perpetual feuds, however, raged between these two kings of Khandela, each of whom had his castle, or fortified palace. Each day “there was war even in the gates” of Khandela, and at the hazard of prolixity we shall state how it was conducted, challenging the records of any civil war to produce an instance in which all the ties of blood and kindred were more disregarded than in this bellum plusquam civile.

Indar Singh had popularity on his side to balance the other’s superior power, and he was briskly pushing an attack on Udaigarh, the castle of his opponent, when he was joined by Raghunath Singh, the younger son of his foeman. This youth, who had the township of Kuchor in appanage, helped himself to three more, to retain which he sided with his father’s foe. Bindraban, in order to create a diversion, sallied out to attack Kuchor; to oppose which, his son, together with his nephew, Prithi Singh of Ranoli and his retainers, withdrew from the batteries to defend it. But the attack on Kuchor had already failed, and Bindraban was on his retreat to regain Khandela when he was intercepted. The battle took place outside the city, whose gates were shut against friend and foe, to prevent a pell-mell entry. At the same time, the siege of Udaigarh was not slackened; it was defended by Govind Singh, the eldest son of Bindraban, while the batteries against it were commanded by another near kinsman, Nahar Singh of Cherana. For several days daily combats ensued, in which were to be seen father and son, uncles and nephews, and cousins within every degree of affinity, destroying each other. At length, both parties were exhausted and a compromise ensued, in which Indar Singh obtained the rights he had so manfully vindicated [403].

=Attack by Najaf Kuli Khān.=—At this time, a dying and desultory effort to regain his lost power was made by Najaf Kuli Khan, at the head of the imperialists, who, conducted by the traitorous Macheri Rao, led the royal army into the lands of the confederacy to raise contributions, for which he was cordially and laudably detested. Nawal Singh of Nawalgarh, Bagh Singh of Khetri, Surajmall of Baswa,[9.6.1] all chieftains of the Sadhanis, unable to comply with the requisitions, were carried off, and retained captive till ransomed for many lakhs of rupees; all eventually raised upon the impoverished husbandman and industrious merchant.

The din of civil war having ended, the ministers of religion never ceased pouring into the ears of Bindraban the necessity of expiation and oblations for the murder of their brethren, and he was daily sacrificing the birthright of his children, in grants of the best lands of Khandela, to these drones of society, when Govind, the heir-apparent, remonstrated, which was followed by the abdication of Bindraban, who, appropriating five townships and the impost duties of Khandela for his support, left the cares of government to his son.[9.6.2]

=Abdication of Bindraban: Govind Singh succeeds.=—Govind Singh did not long enjoy the honours of chief of the Raesalots. The year of his elevation having produced an unfavourable harvest, at the request of his vassal of Ranoli he proceeded to inspect the crops preparatory to a reduction in the assessment. Less superstitious than his father, he persevered in spite of the predictions of the astrologer, who told him, “to beware the ides (amavas) of Pus,“[9.6.3] and not to go abroad that day. In the course of the excursion, one of his personal attendants, a Rajput of Kajroli, had lost some valuable article entrusted to his charge, and the impetuous chief broadly taxed him with theft. His protestations of innocence were unavailing, and considering himself dishonoured by the imputation, which might possibly be followed by some disgraceful punishment, he determined to anticipate his chief, and murdered him that night. Govind left five sons, Narsingh, Surajmall (who had Dodia), Bagh Singh, Jawan Singh, and Ranjit, all of whom had families.

=Murder of Govind Singh: Narsinghdās succeeds.=—Narsinghdas, his eldest son, succeeded. In spite of internal dissensions, occasional chastisement, and pecuniary exactions from the imperial armies, or those of their immediate liege lord of Amber, the confederated frerage of Shaikhavati had increased their territory and population. Only the shadow of a name now remained to the empire of the Great Mogul; and their own lord-paramount, satisfied with a certain degree of homage, tribute, and service on emergencies, was little inclined to trench [404] further upon their national independence. But a new enemy had now arisen, and though of their own faith, far more destructive than even the tolerant Islamite. Happy were the inhabitants of the desert who had an ocean of sand between them and this scourge of India, the insatiable Mahratta. After the fatal day of Merta, where the evil genius of Rajputana enabled De Boigne to give the last blow to her independence, the desultory hordes roved in bands through the lands of the confederation, plundering, murdering, and carrying off captive the principal chiefs or their children, as hostages for contributions they could not realise. These were dragged about after their armies, until the hardships and indignities they underwent made them sell every article of value, or until the charge of keeping, or the trouble of guarding them, rendered their prolonged captivity burdensome to the wandering Southrons.

=Marātha Inroads.=—Let us follow the path of the barbarians, and trace only one day’s acts of outrage. When the Mahrattas entered the lands of the federation, soon after the battle of Merta, they first attacked Bai.[9.6.4] The inhabitants, knowing that they had no hope of mercy from these marauders, fled, carrying away all the effects they could to the larger towns, while a garrison of eighty Rajputs took post in the little castle, to defend the point of honour against this new assailant. Bai was stormed; not one Rajput would accept of quarter, and all were put to the sword. The enemy proceeded to Khandela, the route marked by similar tracks of blood. When within two coss of the town, the horde halted at Hodiganw, and a Pandit[9.6.5] was sent to Rao Indar Singh to settle the contribution, which was fixed at twenty thousand rupees, besides three thousand in ghus[9.6.6] (bribe), for the Brahman negotiator. The two chiefs, who negotiated on the part of the joint Rajas of Khandela, proceeded with the Pandit to the enemy’s camp; their names were Nawal and Dalil. As it was out of their power to realise so large a sum, they were accompanied by the joint revenue officers of Khandela as ol, or hostage, when to their dismay, the Southron commander demurred, and said they themselves must remain. One of the chieftains, with the sang-froid which a Rajput never loses, coolly replied, that should not be, and taking his hukka from his attendant, began unceremoniously to smoke, when a rude Deccani knocked the pipe from his hand [405]. The Thakur’s sword was unsheathed in an instant, but ere he had time to use it a pistol-ball passed through his brain. Dalil Singh’s party, attempting to avenge their companion, were cut off to a man; and Indar Singh, who had left Khandela to learn how the negotiations sped, arrived just in time to see his clansmen butchered. He was advised to regain Khandela: “No,” replied the intrepid Raesalot; “better that I should fall before the gates of Khandela than enter them after such disgrace, without avenging my kinsmen.” Dismounting from his horse, he turned him loose, his adherents following his example; and sword in hand they rushed on the host of assassins and met their fate. Indar Singh was stretched beside his vassals, and, strange to say, Dalil was the only survivor: though covered with wounds, he was taken up alive, and carried to the hostile camp.

Such was the opening scene of the lengthened tragedy enacted in Shaikhavati, when Mahratta actors succeeded to Pathans and Moguls: heirs to their worst feelings, without one particle of their magnanimity or courtesy. But the territory of the confederacy was far too narrow a stage; even the entire plain of India appeared at one time too restricted for the hydra-headed banditti, nor is there a principality, district, or even township, from the Sutlej to the sea, where similar massacres have not been known, and but for our interposition, such scenes would have continued to the present hour.

=Partāp Singh.=—Partap Singh, who succeeded his brave father in his share of the patrimony, was at this crisis with his mother at Sikrai, a strong fort in the hills, ten miles from Khandela. To save the town, the principal men dug up the grain-pits, selling their property to release their minor chief from further trouble. Having obtained all they could, the enemy proceeded to the lands of the Sadhanis. Udaipur was the first assaulted, taken, and sacked; the walls were knocked down, and the floors dug up in search of treasure. After four days’ havoc, they left it a ruin, and marched against the northern chieftains of Singhana, Jhunjhunu, and Khetri. On the departure of the foe, young Partap and his kinsman, Narsingh, took up their abode in Khandela; but scarcely had they recovered from the effects of the Deccani incursion, before demands were made by their liege lord of Amber for the tribute. Partap made his peace by assigning a fourth of the harvest; but Narsingh, in the procrastinating and haughty spirit of his ancestors, despised an arrangement which, he said (and with justice), would reduce him to the level of a common Bhumia landholder.

=Devi Singh.=—At this period, a remote branch of the Khandela Shaikhawats began to disclose a spirit that afterwards gained him distinction. Devi Singh, chieftain of Sikar, a [406] descendant of Rao Tirmall of Kasli, had added to his patrimony by the usurpation of no less than twenty-five large townships, as Lohagarha, Koh, etc.; and he deemed this a good opportunity, his chief being embroiled with the court, to make an attack on Rewasa; but death put a stop to the ambitious views of the Sikar chieftain. Having no issue, he had adopted Lachhman Singh, son of the Shahpura Thakur; but the Jaipur court, which had taken great umbrage at these most unjustifiable assaults of the Sikar chief on his weaker brethren, commanded Nandram Haldia (brother of the prime minister Daulat Ram), collector of the Shaikhawat tribute, to attack and humble him. No sooner were the orders of the court promulgated, than all the Barwatias[9.6.7] gathered round the standard of the collector, to aid in the redemption of their patrimonies wrested from them by Sikar. Besides the Khandela chief in person, there were the Pattawats of Kasli, Bilara, and others of Tirmall’s stock; and even the Sadhanis, who little interfered in the affairs of the Raesalots, repaired with joy with their tribute and their retainers to the camp of the Jaipur commander, to depress the Sikar chief, who was rapidly rising over them all. Nearly the whole troops of the confederacy were thus assembled. Devi Singh, it may be imagined, was no common character, to have excited such universal hatred; and his first care had been to make strong friends at court, in order to retain what he had acquired. He had especially cultivated the minister’s friendship, which was now turned to account. A deputation, consisting of a Chondawat chief, the Diwan of Sikar, and that important character the Dhabhai, repaired to the Haldia, and implored him in the name of the deceased, not to give up his infant son to hungry and revengeful Barwatias. The Haldia said there was but one way by which he could avoid the fulfilment of his court’s command, which was for them, as he approached the place, to congregate a force so formidable from its numbers, as to exonerate him from all suspicion of collusion. With the treasury of Devi Singh, overflowing from the spoliation of the Kaimkhani of Fatehpur, it was easy to afford such indemnity to the Haldia, at whose approach to Sikar ten thousand men appeared to oppose him. Having made a show of investing Sikar, and expended a good deal of ammunition, he addressed his court, where his brother was minister, stating he could make nothing of Sikar without great loss, both of time, men, and money, and advising an acceptance of the proffered submission. Without waiting a reply, he took two lakhs as a fine for his [407] sovereign, and a present of one for himself. The siege was broken up, and Sikar was permitted to prosecute his schemes; in which he was not a little aided by the continued feuds of the co-partner chiefs of Khandela. Partap took advantage of Narsingh’s non-compliance with the court’s requisition, and his consequent disgrace, to settle the feud of their fathers, and unite both shares in his own person; and stipulated in return to be responsible for the whole tribute, be ready with his contingent to serve the court, and pay besides a handsome nazarana or investiture. The Haldia was about to comply, when Rawal Indar Singh of Samod,[9.6.8] chief of the Nathawat clan, interceded for Narsingh, and inviting him on his own responsibility to the camp, acquainted him with the procedure of his rival, in whose name the patent for Khandela was actually made out; “but even now,” said this noble chief, “I will stay it if you comply with the terms of the court.” But Narsingh either would not, or could not, and the Samod chief urged his immediate departure; adding that as he came under his guarantee, he was desirous to see him safe back, for “such were the crooked ways of the Amber house,” that if he prolonged his stay, he might be involved in ruin in his desire to protect him. Accordingly, at dusk, with sixty of his own retainers, he escorted him to Nawalgarh, and the next morning he was in his castle of Govindgarh. The precautions of the Samod chief were not vain, and he was reproached and threatened with the court’s displeasure, for permitting Narsingh’s departure; but he nobly replied, “he had performed the duty of a Rajput, and would abide the consequences.” As the sequel will further exemplify the corruptions of courts, and the base passions of kindred, under a system of feudal government, we shall trespass on the reader’s patience by recording the result.

=Quarrel between Samod and Chaumūn.=—Samod and Chaumun are the chief houses of the Nathawat clan; the elder branch enjoying the title of Rawal, with supremacy over the numerous vassalage. But these two families had often contested the lead, and their feuds had caused much bloodshed. On the disgrace of Indar Singh, as already related, his rival of Chaumun repaired to court, and offered so large a nazarana as to be invested with rights of seniority. Avarice and revenge were good advocates: a warrant was made out and transmitted to Indar Singh (still serving with the collector of the tribute) for the sequestration of Samod. Placing, like a dutiful subject, the warrant to his forehead, he instantly departed for Samod, and commanded the removal of his family, his goods and chattels, from the seat of his ancestors, and went into exile in Marwar. In after times, his Rani had a grant of the village of Piplai, to which the magnanimous, patriotic [408], and loyal Indar Singh, when he found the hand of death upon him, repaired, that he might die in the hands of the Kachhwahas, and have his ashes buried amongst his fathers. This man, who was naturally brave, acted upon the abstract principle of swamidharma, or ‘fealty,’ which is not even now exploded, in the midst of corruption and demoralization. Indar Singh would have been fully justified, according to all the principles which govern these States, in resisting the iniquitous mandate. Such an act might have been deemed rebellion by those who look only at the surface of things; but let the present lords-paramount go deeper, when they have to decide between a Raja and his feudatories, and look to the origin and condition of both, and the ties which alone can hold such associations together.

=Partāp Singh secures Possession of Khandela.=—To return: Partap Singh, having thus obtained the whole of Khandela, commenced the demolition of a fortified gate, whence during the feuds his antagonist used to play some swivels against his castle. While the work of destruction was advancing, an omen occurred, foreboding evil to Partap. An image of Ganesa, the god of wisdom and protector of the arts (more especially of architecture), was fixed in the wall of this gate, which an ill-fated and unintentional blow knocked from its elevated position to the earth, and being of terra-cotta, his fragments lay dishonoured and scattered on the pavement. Notwithstanding this, the demolition was completed, and the long obnoxious gateway levelled with the earth. Partap, having adjusted affairs in the capital, proceeded against Rewasa, which he reduced, and then laid siege to Govindgarh,[9.6.9] aided by a detachment of the Haldia. Having encamped at Gura, two coss from it, and twice that distance from Ranoli, its chief, who still espoused the cause of his immediate head, the unfortunate Narsingh, sent his minister to the Haldia, offering not only to be responsible for all arrears due by Narsingh, but also a handsome douceur, to restore him to his rights. He repaired to Khandela, stationed a party in the fortified palace of Narsingh, and consented that they should be expelled, as if by force of his adherents, from Govindgarh. Accordingly, Surajmall and Bagh Singh, the brothers of Narsingh, in the dead of night, with one hundred and fifty followers, made a mock attack on the Haldia’s followers, expelled them, and made good a lodgment in their ancient dwelling. Partap was highly exasperated; and to render the acquisition useless, he ordered the possession of a point which commanded the mahall; but here he was anticipated by his opponent, whose party now poured into Khandela. He then cut off their supplies of water, by fortifying the reservoirs and wells, and this brought matters to a crisis. An action ensued, in which many were killed on each side, when [409] the traitorous Haldia interposed the five-coloured banner, and caused the combat to cease. Narsingh, at this juncture, joined the combatants in person, from his castle of Govindgarh, and a treaty was forthwith set on foot, which left the district of Rewasa to Partap, and restored to Narsingh his share of Khandela.

These domestic broils continued, however, and occasions were perpetually recurring to bring the rivals in collision. The first was on the festival of the Ganggor;[9.6.10] the next on the Ranoli chief placing in durance a vassal of Partap, which produced a general gathering of the clans: both ended in an appeal to the lord-paramount, who soon merged the office of arbitrator in that of dictator.

The Sadhanis, or chieftains of northern Shaikhavati, began to feel the bad effects of these feuds of the Raesalots, and to express dissatisfaction at the progressive advances of the Jaipur court for the establishment of its supremacy. Until this period they had escaped any tributary engagements, and only recognized their connexion with Amber by marks of homage and fealty on lapses, which belonged more to kindred than political superiority. But as the armies of the court were now perpetually on the frontiers, and might soon pass over, they deemed it necessary to take measures for their safety. The township of Tui, appertaining to Nawalgarh, had already been seized, and Ranoli was battered for the restoration of the subject of Partap. These were grievances which affected all the Sadhanis, who, perceiving they could no longer preserve their neutrality, determined to abandon their internal dissensions, and form a system of general defence. Accordingly, a general assembly of the Sadhani lords, and as many of the Raesalots as chose to attend, was announced at the ancient place of rendezvous, Udaipur. To increase the solemnity of the occasion, and to banish all suspicion of treachery, as well as to extinguish ancient feuds, and reconcile chiefs who had never met but in hostility, it was unanimously agreed that the most sacred pledge of good faith, the Nundab,[9.6.11] or dipping the hand in the salt, should take place.

The entire body of the Sadhani lords, with all their retainers, met at the appointed time, as did nearly all the Raesalots, excepting the joint chieftains of Khandela, too deeply tainted with mutual distrust to take part in this august and national congress of all ‘the children of Shaikhji.’ It was decided in this grand council, that all internal strife should cease; and that for the future, whenever it might occur, there should [410] be no appeals to the arbitration of Jaipur; but that on all such occasions, or where the general interests were endangered, a meeting should take place at ‘the Pass of Udaipur,’ to deliberate and decide, but above all to repel by force of arms, if necessary, the further encroachments of the court. This unusual measure alarmed the court of Amber, and when oppression had generated determined resistance, it disapproved and disowned the proceedings of its lieutenant, who was superseded by Rora Ram, with orders to secure the person of his predecessor. His flight preserved him from captivity in the dungeons of Amber, but his estates, as well as those of the minister his brother, were resumed, and all their property was confiscated.

=Treaty between the Shaikhāwats and Jaipur.=—The new commander, who was a tailor by caste, was ordered to follow the Haldia to the last extremity; for, in these regions, displaced ministers and rebels are identical. It was expected, if they did not lose their heads, to see them in opposition to the orders of their sovereign lord, whose slaves they had so lately proclaimed themselves: in fact, a rebel minister in Rajwara is like an ex-Tory or ex-Whig elsewhere, nor does restoration to the councils of his sovereign, perhaps in a few short months after he carried arms against him, plundered his subjects, and carried conflagration in his towns, excite more than transient emotion. The new commander was eager to obtain the services of the assembled Shaikhawats against the Haldias, but experience had given them wisdom; and they not only exacted stipulations befitting their position, as the price of this aid, but, what was of more consequence, negotiated the conditions of their future connexion with the lord-paramount.

The first article was the immediate restoration of the townships which the Haldia had seized upon, as Tui, Gwala, etc.

The second, that the court should disavow all pretensions to exact tribute beyond what they had voluntarily stipulated, and which they would remit to the capital.

Third, that on no account should the armies of the court enter the lands of the confederation, the consequences of which had been so strongly marked in the atrocities at Khandela.

Fourth, that the confederacy would furnish a contingent for the service of the court, which should be paid by the court while so employed.

The treaty being ratified through the intervention of the new commander, and having received in advance 10,000 rupees for their expenses, the chiefs with their retainers repaired to the capital, and after paying homage to their liege lord, zealously set to work to execute its orders on the Haldia faction, who were dispossessed of their [411] estates. But, as observed in the annals of the parent State, Jaipur had obtained the distinction of the jhutha darbar, or ‘lying court,’ of the justness of which epithet it afforded an illustration in its conduct to the confederated chieftains, who soon discovered the difference between promises and performance. They had done their duty, but they obtained not one of the advantages for which they agreed to serve the court; and they had the mortification to see they had merely displaced the garrisons of the Haldia for those of Rora Ram. After a short consultation, they determined to seek themselves the justice that was denied them; accordingly, they assaulted in succession the towns occupied by Rora Ram’s myrmidons, drove them out, and made them over to their original proprietors.

=Treacherous Arrest of Narsingh and other Chiefs.=—At the same time, the court having demanded the usual tribute from Narsinghdas, which was always in arrear, he had the imprudence to stone the agent, who was a relation of the minister. He hastened to the Presence, “threw his turban at the Raja’s feet,” saying, he was dishonoured for ever. A mandate was instantaneously issued for the sequestration of Khandela and the capture of Narsingh, who bade his liege lord defiance from his castle of Govindgarh: but his co-partner, Partap Singh, having no just cause of apprehension, remained in Khandela, which was environed by the Jaipur troops under Asaram. His security was his ruin; but the wily Bania (Asaram), who wished to seize at once the joint holders of the estate, offered no molestation to Partap, while he laid a plot for the other. He invited his return, on the bachan, or ‘pledge of safety,’ of the Manoharpur chief. Narsingh did not hesitate, for rank as was the character of his countrymen in these degenerate days, no Rajput had ever incurred the epithet of Bachanchuk, tenfold more odious than that of murderer, and which no future action, however brilliant, could obliterate, even from his descendants to the latest posterity. On the faith of this bachan, Narsingh came, and a mock negotiation was carried on for the arrears of tribute, and a time fixed for payment. Narsingh returned to Khandela, and Asaram broke up his camp and moved away. The crafty Bania, having thus successfully thrown him off his guard, on the third day rapidly retraced his steps, and at midnight surrounded Narsingh in his abode, who was ordered to proceed forthwith to the camp. Burning with indignation, he attempted self-destruction, but was withheld; and accompanied by a few Rajputs who swore to protect or die with him, he joined Asaram to see the issue.

A simple plan was adopted to secure Partap, and he fearlessly obeyed the summons. Both parties remained in camp; the one was amused with a negotiation for [412] his liberation on the payment of a fine; the other had higher hopes; and in the indulgence of both, their vassals relaxed in vigilance. While they were at dinner, a party planted in ambuscade rushed out, and before they could seize their arms, made captive both the chiefs. They were pinioned like felons, put into a covered carriage, despatched under the guard of five hundred men to the capital, and found apartments ready for them in the state-prison of Amber. It is an axiom with these people, that the end sanctifies the means; and the prince and his minister congratulated each other on the complete success of the scheme. Khandela was declared khalisa (fiscal), and garrisoned by five hundred men from the camp, while the inferior feudatories, holding estates detached from the capital, were received on terms, and even allowed to hold their fiefs on the promise that they did not disturb the sequestrated lands.

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Footnote 9.6.1:

[Nawalgarh, about 30 miles N.W. of Khandela; Khetri, about the same distance N.E.; Baswa, about 85 miles N.N.W. of Jaipur city.]

Footnote 9.6.2:

His second son, Raghunath, had Kuchor in appanage.

Footnote 9.6.3:

[The Amāvas, or last day of the month, is unlucky for all undertakings, and is kept as a day of rest by traders, shopkeepers, and craftsmen. If the last day falls on a Monday, it is specially taboo, and people bathe in a river or pool and make gifts to Brāhmans (BG, ix. Part i. 397). Pūs falls in January and February.]

Footnote 9.6.4:

[Close to the Jodhpur frontier, about 40 miles N.W. of Jaipur city.]

Footnote 9.6.5:

The ministers of religion were the only clerks amongst this race of depredators, and they were not behind the most illiterate in cupidity, and to say the truth, courage, when required; and as for skill in negotiation, a Mahratta Brahman stands alone; keen, skilful, and imperturbable, he would have baffled Machiavelli himself.

Footnote 9.6.6:

Ghus is literally ‘a bribe’; and no treaty or transaction was ever carried on without this stipulation. So sacred was the ghus held, from tyrant usage, that the Peshwa ministers, when they ruled the destinies of their nation, stipulated that the ghus should go to the privy purse!

Footnote 9.6.7:

Barwatia is ‘one expatriated,’ from 'bar' [bāhir] ‘out of,’ and watan, ‘a country,’ and it means either an exile or an outlaw, according to the measure of crime which caused his banishment from his country. [See Vol. II. p. 797.]

Footnote 9.6.8:

[About 20 miles N. of Jaipur city.]

Footnote 9.6.9:

[About 30 miles N. of Jaipur city.]

Footnote 9.6.10:

[See Vol. II. p. 665, for an account of this festival.]

Footnote 9.6.11:

Nūn or lūn, ‘salt,’ and dābnā, ‘to dip, bespatter, or sprinkle.’ [Salt, apparently from its power of checking decay, is used in magical rites, and is believed to be efficacious for scaring evil spirits.]

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Chapter 7

=Dīnarām Bohra organizes an Attack on the Sadhānis.=—Dinaram Bohra was now (A.D. 1798-9) prime minister of Jaipur, and he no sooner heard of the success of Asaram, than he proceeded to join him in person, for the purpose of collecting the tribute due by the Sadhani chiefs. Having formed a junction with Asaram at Udaipur, they marched to Parasurampur, a town in the heart of the Sadhanis, whence they issued commands for the tribute to be brought; [413] to expedite which, the ministers sent dhus[9.7.1] to all the townships of the confederacy. This insulting process irritated the Sadhanis to such a degree that they wrote to Dinaram to withdraw his parties instantly, and retrace his steps to Jhunjhunu, or abide the consequences; declaring, if he did so, that the collective tribute, of which ten thousand was then ready, would be forthcoming. All had assented to this arrangement but Bagh Singh, brother of the captive prince of Khandela, who was so incensed at the faithless conduct of the court, after the great services they had so recently performed, that he determined to oppose by force of arms this infraction of their charter, which declared the inviolability of the territory of the confederation so long as the tribute was paid. He was joined by five hundred men of Khetri, with which having levied contributions at Singhana and Fatehpur from the traitorous lord of Sikar, he invited to their aid the celebrated George Thomas, then carving out his fortunes amongst these discordant political elements.

=Battle of Fatehpur, Defeat of Jaipur Army by George Thomas, A.D. 1799=.—Nearly the whole of the Jaipur mercenary and feudal army was embodied on this occasion, and although far superior in numbers to the confederation, yet the presence of Thomas and his regulars more than counterpoised their numerical inferiority. The attack of Thomas was irresistible; the Jaipur lines led by Rora Ram gave way, and lost several pieces of artillery. To redeem what the cowardice and ill-conduct of the general-in-chief had lost, the chieftain of Chaumun formed a gol or dense band of the feudal chivalry, which he led in person against Thomas’s brigade, charging to the mouths of his guns. His object, the recovery of the guns, was attained with great slaughter on each side. The Chaumun chief (Ranjit Singh) was desperately wounded, and Bahadur Singh, Pahar Singh, chiefs of the Khangarot clans, with many others, were slain by discharges of grape; the guns were retrieved, and Thomas and his auxiliaries were deprived of a victory, and ultimately compelled to retreat.[9.7.2]

The captive chiefs of Khandela deemed this revolt and union of their countrymen favourable to their emancipation, and addressed them to this effect. A communication was made to the discomfited Rora Ram, who promised his influence, provided an efficient body of Raesalots joined his camp, and by their services seconded their [414] requests. Bagh Singh was selected; a man held in high esteem by both parties, and even the court manager of Khandela found it necessary to retain his services, as it was by his influence only over his unruly brethren that he was enabled to make anything of the new fiscal lands. For this purpose, and to preserve the point of honour, the manager permitted Bagh Singh to remain in the fortified palace of Khandela, with a small party of his brethren; but on being selected to lead the quotas of his countrymen with the court commander, he left his younger brother, Lachhman Singh, as his deputy.

=Hanwant Singh captures Khandela.=—No sooner did it reach the ears of Hanwant Singh of Saledi, son of the captive Partap, that Bagh Singh had joined the army, than, in the true spirit of these relentless feuds, he determined to attempt the castle. As soon as the darkness of night favoured his design, he hastened its accomplishment, escaladed it, and put the unprepared garrison to the sword. Intelligence of this event reached Bagh Singh at Ranoli, who instantly countermarched, and commenced the assault, into which even the townspeople entered heartily, inspired as they were with indignation at the atrocious murder of the young chief. The day was extremely hot; the defendants fought for their existence, for their leader could not hope for mercy. The assailants were served with the best food; such was the enthusiasm, that even the women forgot their fears, and cheered them on as the ladders were planted against the last point of defence. Then the white flag was displayed, and the gate opened, but the murderer had fled.

Manjidas succeeded Dinaram as minister of Jaipur; and Rora Ram, notwithstanding his disgraceful defeat and the lampoons of the bards, continued to be collector of the Shaikhawat tribute, and farmed the fiscal lands of Khandela to a Brahman for twenty thousand rupees annually. This Brahman, in conjunction with another speculative brother, had taken a lease of the Mapa Rahdari, or town and transit duties at Jaipur, which having been profitable, they now agreed to take on lease the sequestrated lands of Khandela. Having not only fulfilled their contract the first year, but put money in their pocket, they renewed it for two more. Aided by a party of the Silahposhians[9.7.3] of the court, the minister of religion showed he was no messenger of peace, and determined to make the most of his ephemeral power, he not only levied contributions on the yet independent feudatories, but attacked those who resisted, and carried several of their castles sword in hand. The brave ‘sons of Raesal’ could not bear this new mark of contumely and bad faith of the court,—“to be made the sport of a tailor and a Brahman,”—and having received intimation from the captive [415] chiefs that there was no hope of their liberty, they at once threw away the scabbard and commenced a scene of indiscriminate vengeance, which the Rajput often has recourse to when urged to despair. They at once assailed Khandela, and in spite of the resistance of seven thousand Dadupanthis,[9.7.4] dispossessed the Purohit, and sacked it. Then advancing within the Jaipur domains, they spread terror and destruction, pillaging even the estates of the queen. Fresh troops were sent against them, and after many actions the confederacy was broken up. The Ranoli chief and others of the elder branches made their peace, but the younger branches fled the country, and obtained saran (sanctuary) and subsistence in Marwar and Bikaner: Sangram Singh of Sujawas (cousin to Partap) sought the former, Bagh Singh and Suraj Singh the latter, whose prince gave them lands. There they abode in tranquillity for a time, looking to that justice from the prince which tributary collectors knew not; but when apathy and neglect mistook the motive of this patient suffering, he was aroused from his indifference to the fate of the brave Barwatias, by the tramp of their horses’ feet even at the gates of his capital.

Sangram Singh headed the band of exiles, which spread fear and desolation over a great portion of Dhundhar. In many districts they established rakhwali;[9.7.5] and wherever they succeeded in surprising a thana (garrison) of their liege lord, they cut it up without mercy. They sacked the town of Koh, within a few miles of the city of Jaipur, from under whose walls they carried off horses to mount their gang. Animated by successful revenge, and the excitement of a life so suited to the Rajput, Sangram became the leader of a band of several hundred horse, bold enough to attempt anything. Complaints for redress poured in upon the court from all quarters, to which a deaf ear might have been turned, had they not been accompanied with applications for reduction of rent. The court at length, alarmed at this daring desperado, made overtures to him through Shyam Singh Sadhani, the chief of Baswa, on whose bachan (pledge) Sangram consented to appear before his liege lord. As soon as he arrived under the walls of the city, his cavalcade was surrounded by all classes, but particularly the Sikh mercenaries, all of whom recognized their property, some a horse, some a camel, others arms, etc.; but none durst advance a claim to their own, so daring was their attitude and so guarded their conduct. The object of the minister was to secure the person of Sangram, regardless of the infamy which would attach to the chief who, at his desire, had pledged himself for his safety. But Shyam Singh [416], who had heard of the plot, gave Sangram warning. In forty-eight hours, intelligence reached the court that Sangram was in Tuarvati,[9.7.6] and that, joined by the Tuars and Larkhanis, he was at the head of one thousand horse. He now assailed the large fiscal towns of his prince; contributions were demanded, and if they could not be complied with, he carried off in ol (hostage) the chief citizens, who were afterwards ransomed. If a delay occurred in furnishing either, the place was instantly given over to pillage, which was placed upon a body of camels. The career of this determined Barwatia was at length closed. He had surrounded the town of Madhopur, the estate of one of the queens, when a ball struck him in the head. His body was carried to Ranoli and burnt, and he had his cenotaph amongst the Jujhars[9.7.7] (those slain in battle) of his fathers. The son of Sangram succeeded to the command and the revenge of his father, and he continued the same daring course, until the court restored his patrimony of Sujawas. Such were the tumultuous proceedings in Shaikhavati, when an event of such magnitude occurred as to prove an epoch in the history of Rajputana, and which not only was like oil effused upon their afflictions, but made them prominent to their own benefit in the transaction.

=The War on account of Krishna Kunwāri.=—That grand international war, ostensibly for the hand of the Helen of Rajwara, was on the point of bursting forth. The opening scene was in Shaikhavati, and the actors chiefly Sadhanis. It will be recollected, that though this was but the underplot of a tragedy, chiefly got up for the deposal of Raja Man of Jodhpur, in favour of Dhonkal Singh, Racchand was then Diwan, or prime minister, of Jaipur; and to forward his master’s views for the hand of Krishna, supported the cause of the pretender.

=New Treaty with Jaipur.=—The minister sent his nephew, Kirparam, to obtain the aid of the Shaikhawats, who appointed Kishan Singh as interpreter of their wishes, while the Kher[9.7.8] assembled at ‘the Pass of Udaipur.’ There a new treaty was formed, the main article of which was the liberation of their chieftains, the joint Rajas of Khandela, and the renewal of the ancient stipulations regarding the non-interference of the court in their internal arrangements, so long as they paid the regulated tribute. Kishan Singh, the organ of the confederation, together with Kirparam, left the assembly for the capital, where they soon returned with the ratification of their wishes. On these conditions ten thousand of the sons of Shaikhji were embodied, and ready to accompany their lord-paramount wherever he might lead them, receiving peti, or subsistence, while out of their own lands.

These preliminaries settled, Shyam Singh Champawat (nephew of the Pokaran [417] chief), with Kirparam repaired to Khetri, whence they conveyed the young pretender, Dhonkal Singh, to the camp of the confederates. They were met by a deputation headed by the princess Anandi Kunwar (daughter of the late Raja Partap, and one of the widows of Raja Bhim of Marwar, father of the pretender), who received the boy in her arms as the child of her adoption, and forthwith returned to the capital, where the army was forming for the invasion of Marwar.

It moved to Khatu, ten coss from Khandela, where they waited the junction of the Bikaner Raja and other auxiliaries. The Shaikhawat lords here sent in their imperative demand for the liberation of the sons of Raesal, “that they might march under a leader of their own, equal in celebrity to the proudest of that assembled host.” Evasion was dangerous; and in a few days their chiefs were formally delivered to them. Even the self-abdicated Bindraban could not resist this general appeal to arms. The princes encamped in the midst of their vassals, nor was there ever such a convocation of ‘the sons of Shaikhji’: Raesalots, Sadhanis, Bhojanis, Larkhanis, and even the Barwatias, flocked around the ‘yellow banner of Raesal.’ The accounts of the expedition are elsewhere narrated,[9.7.9] and we shall only add that the Shaikhawats participated in all its glory and all its disgrace, and lost both Rao Narsingh and his father ere they returned to their own lands.

=Abhai Singh.=—Abhai Singh, the son of Narsingh, succeeded, and conducted the contingent of his countrymen until the ill-starred expedition broke up, when they returned to Khandela. But the faithless court had no intention of restoring the lands of Khandela. Compelled to look about for a subsistence, with one hundred and fifty horse, they went to Raja Bakhtawar Singh of Macheri; but he performed the duties of kindred and hospitality so meanly, that they only remained a fortnight. In this exigence, Partap and his son repaired to the Mahratta leader, Bapu Sindhia, at Dausa,[9.7.10] while Hanwant, in the ancient spirit of his race, determined to attempt Govindgarh. In disguise, he obtained the necessary information, assembled sixty of his resolute clansmen, whom he concealed at dusk in a ravine, whence, as soon as silence proclaimed the hour was come, he issued, ascended the well-known path, planted his ladders, and cut down the sentinels ere the garrison was alarmed. It was soon mastered, several being killed and the rest turned out. The well-known beat of the Raesalot nakkaras awoke the Larkhanis, Minas, and all the Rajputs in the vicinity, who immediately repaired to the castle. In a few weeks the gallant Hanwant was at the head of two thousand men, prepared to act offensively against [418] his faithless liege lord. Khandela and all the adjacent towns surrendered, their garrisons flying before the victors, and Khushhal Daroga, a name of note in all the intrigues of the darbar of that day, carried to court the tidings of his own disgrace, which, his enemies took care to proclaim, arose from his cupidity: for though he drew pay and rations for a garrison of one hundred men, he only had thirty. Accompanied by Ratan Chand, with two battalions and guns, and the reproaches of his sovereign, he was commanded at his peril to recover Khandela. The gallant Hanwant disdained to await the attack, but advanced outside the city to meet it, drove Khushhal back, and had he not in the very moment of victory been wounded, while the Larkhanis hung behind, would have totally routed them. Hanwant was compelled to retreat within the walls, where he stood two assaults, in one of which he slew thirty Silahposh, or men in armour, the body-guard of the prince; but the only water of the garrison being from tankhas (reservoirs), he was on the point of surrendering at discretion, when an offer of five townships being made, he accepted the towns.

Another change took place in the ministry of Amber at this period; and Khushhaliram, at the age of fourscore and four years, was liberated from the state-prison of Amber, and once more entrusted with the administration of the government. This hoary-headed politician, who, during more than half a century, had alternately met the frowns and the smiles of his prince, at this the extreme verge of existence, entered with all the alacrity of youth into the tortuous intrigues of office, after witnessing the removal of two prime ministers, his rivals, who resigned power and life together. Khushhaliram had remained incarcerated since the reign of Raja Partap, who, when dying, left three injunctions; the first of which was, that ‘the Bohra’ (his caste) should never be enfranchised; but if in evil hour his successor should be induced to liberate him “he should be placed uncontrolled at the head of affairs.”[9.7.11]

When this veteran politician, whose biography would fill a volume,[9.7.12] succeeded to the helm at Jaipur, a solemn deputation of the principal Shaikhawat chieftains repaired to the capital, and begged that through his intercession they might be restored to the lands of their forefathers. The Bohra, who had always kept up, as well from [419] sound principle as from personal feeling, a good understanding with the feudality, willingly became their advocate with his sovereign, to whom he represented that the defence of the State lay in a willing and contented vassalage: for, notwithstanding their disobedience and turbulence, they were always ready, when the general weal was threatened, to support it with all their power. He appealed to the late expedition, when ten thousand of the children of Shaikhji were embodied in his cause, and what was a better argument, he observed, the Mahrattas had only been able to prevail since their dissensions amongst themselves. The Bohra was commanded to follow his own goodwill and pleasure; and having exacted an engagement, by which the future tribute of the Raesalots was fixed at sixty thousand rupees annually, and the immediate payment of a nazarana of forty thousand, fresh pattas of investiture were made out for Khandela and its dependencies. There are so many conflicting interests in all these courts, that it by no means follows that obedience runs on the heels of command; even though the orders of the prince were countersigned by the minister, the Nagas,[9.7.13] who formed the garrison of Khandela, and the inferior fiefs, showed no disposition to comply. The gallant Hanwant, justly suspecting the Bohra’s good faith, proposed to the joint rajas a coup de main, which he volunteered to lead. They had five hundred retainers amongst them; of these Hanwant selected twenty of the most intrepid, and repaired to Udaigarh, to which he gained admission as a messenger from himself; twenty more were at his heels, who also got in, and the rest rapidly following, took post at the gateway. Hanwant then disclosed himself, and presented the fresh patta of Khandela to the Nagas, who still hesitating to obey, he drew his sword, when seeing that he was determined to succeed or perish, they reluctantly withdrew, and Abhai and Partap were once more inducted into the dilapidated abodes of their ancestors. The adversity they had undergone, added to their youth and inexperience, made them both yield a ready acquiescence to the advice of their kinsman, to whose valour and conduct they owed the restoration of their inheritance, and the ancient feuds, which were marked on every stone of their castellated mahalls, were apparently appeased.

=The Shaikhāwats attack Amīr Khān.=—Shortly after this restoration, the Shāikhawat contingents were called out to serve against the common enemy of Rajputana, the notorious Amir Khan, whose general, Muhammad Shah Khan, was closely blockaded in the fortress of Bhumgarh, near Tonk, by the whole strength of Jaipur, commanded by Rao Chand Singh of Dhani An incident occurred, while the siege was approaching a successful conclusion, which [420] well exemplifies the incorrigible imperfections of the feudal system, either for offensive or defensive operations. This incident, trivial as it is in its origin, proved a death-blow to these unfortunate princes, so long the sport of injustice, and appears destined to falsify the Dom, who prophesied, on the acceptance of his self-sacrifice, that seven successive generations of his issue should occupy the gaddi of Khandela. In the disorderly proceedings of this feudal array, composed of all the quotas of Amber, a body of Shaikhawats had sacked one of the townships of Tonk, in which a Gugawat inhabitant was slain, and his property plundered, in the indiscriminate pell-mell. The son of the Gugawat instantly carried his complaints to the besieging general, Chand Singh, the head of his clan, who gave him a party of the Silahposh (men in armour) to recover his property. The Shaikhawats resisted, and reinforced their party; Chand Singh did the same; the Khandela chiefs repaired in person, accompanied by the whole confederacy with the exception of Sikar: and the Gugawat chief, who had not only the ties of clanship, but the dignity of commander-in-chief, to sustain, sent every man he could spare from the blockade. Thus nearly the whole feudal array of Amber was collected round a few hackeries[9.7.14] (carts), ready to cut each other to pieces for the point of honour: neither would relinquish the claim, and swords were already drawn, when the Khangarot chief stepped between them as peacemaker, and proposed an expedient which saved the honour of both, namely, that the plundered property should be permitted to proceed to its destination, the Khandela prince’s quarters, who should transmit it, “of his own accord,” to the commander-in-chief of the army. The Shaikhawats assented; the havoc was prevented; but the pride of Chand Singh was hurt, who saw in this a concession to the commander of the army, but none to the leader of the Gugawats.

Lachhman Singh, the chief of Sikar, who, as before stated, was the only Shaikhawat who kept aloof from the affray, saw the moment was arrived for the accomplishment of his long-concealed desire to be lord of Khandela. The siege of Bhumgarh being broken up, in consequence of these dissensions and the defection of the confederated Shaikhawats, the Sikar chief no sooner saw them move by the circuitous route of the capital, than he marched directly for his estates, and throwing aside all disguise, attacked Sisa, which by an infamous stratagem he secured, by inveigling the commandant, the son of the late Bohra minister. Then making overtures to the enemy, against whom he had just been fighting, for the sum of two lakhs of rupees, he obtained a brigade of the mercenary Pathans, under their leaders Manu and Mahtab Khan [421], the last of whom, but a few days before, had entered into a solemn engagement with Hanwant, as manager for the minor princes, to support whose cause, and to abstain from molesting their estates, he had received fifty thousand rupees! Such nefarious acts were too common at that period even to occasion remark, far less reprehension.

=Siege of Khandela.=—The gallant Hanwant now prepared for the defence of the lands which his valour had redeemed. His foeman made a lavish application of the wealth which his selfish policy had acquired, and Rewasa and other fiefs were soon in his possession. The town of Khandela, being open, soon followed, but the castle held out sufficiently long to enable him to strengthen and provision Kot, which he determined to defend to the last. Having withstood the attacks of the enemy, during three weeks, in the almost ruined castle, he sallied out sword in hand, and gained Kot, where he assembled all those yet faithful to the family, and determined to stand or fall with the last stronghold of Khandela. The other chiefs of the confederation beheld with indignation this unprovoked and avaricious aggression on the minor princes of Khandela, not only because of its abstract injustice, but of the undue aggrandizement of this inferior branch of the Raesalots, and the means employed, namely, the common enemy of their country. Many leagued for its prevention, but some were bribed by the offer of a part of the domain, and those who were too virtuous to be corrupted, found their intentions defeated by the necessity of defending their own homes against the detachments of Amir Khan, sent by desire of Sikar to neutralize their efforts. The court was steeled against all remonstrance, from the unhappy rupture at Bhumgarh, the blockade of which, it was represented, was broken by the conduct of the followers of Khandela.

=Death of Hanwant Singh.=—Hanwant and some hundreds of his brave clansmen were thus left to their own resources. During three months they defended themselves in a position outside the castle, when a general assault was made on his intrenchments. He was advised to retreat into the castle, but he nobly replied, “Khandela is gone for ever, if we are reduced to shelter ourselves behind walls”; and he called upon his brethren to repel the attack or perish. Hanwant cheered on his kinsmen, who charged the battalions sword in hand, drove them from their guns, and completely cleared the intrenchments. But the enemy returned to the conflict, which lasted from morn until nightfall. Another sortie was made; again the enemy was ignominiously dislodged, but the gallant Hanwant, leading his men to the very muzzle of the guns, received a shot which ended his career. The victory remained with the besieged, but the death of their leader [422] disconcerted his clansmen, who retired within the fort. Five hundred of the mercenary Pathans and men of Sikar (a number equal to the whole of the defenders) accompanied to the shades the last intrepid Raesalot of Khandela.

The next morning an armistice for the removal of the wounded and obsequies of the dead was agreed to, during which terms were offered, and refused by the garrison. As soon as the death of Hanwant was known, the Udaipur chief, who from the first had upheld the cause of justice, sent additional aid both in men and supplies; and had the Khetri chief been at his estates, the cause would have been further supported; but he was at court, and had left orders with his son to act according to the advice of the chief of Baswa, who had been gained over to the interests of Sikar by the bribe of participation in the conquered lands. Nevertheless, the garrison held out, under every privation, for five weeks longer, their only sustenance at length being a little Indian corn introduced by the exertions of individual Minas. At this extremity, an offer being made of ten townships, they surrendered. Partap Singh took his share of this remnant of his patrimony, but his co-heir Abhai Singh inherited too much of Raesal’s spirit to degrade himself by owing aught to his criminal vassal and kinsman. It would have been well for Partap had he shown the same spirit; for Lachhman Singh, now lord of Khandela, felt too acutely the injustice of his success, to allow the rightful heir to remain upon his patrimony; and he only allowed sufficient time to elapse for the consolidation of his acquisition, before he expelled the young prince. Both the co-heirs, Abhai Singh and Partap, now reside at Jhunjhunu, where each receives five rupees a day, from a joint purse made for them by the Sadhanis, nor at present[9.7.15] is there a ray of hope of their restoration to Khandela.

In 1814, when Misr Sheonarayan, then minister of Jaipur, was involved in great pecuniary difficulties, to get rid of the importunities of Amir Khan, he cast his eyes towards the Sikar chief, who had long been desirous to have his usurpation sanctioned by the court; and it was stipulated that on the payment of nine lakhs of rupees (namely, five from himself, with the authority and force of Jaipur to raise the rest from the Sadhanis), he should receive the patta of investiture of Khandela. Amir Khan, the mutual agent on this occasion, was then at Ranoli, where Lachhman Singh met him and paid the amount, receiving his receipt, which was exchanged for the grant under the great seal.

=Lachhman Singh gains Influence at Jaipur.=—Immediately after, Lachhman Singh proceeded to court, and upon the further payment [423] of one year’s tribute in advance, henceforth fixed at fifty-seven thousand rupees, he received from the hands of his liege lord, the Raja Jagat Singh, the khilat of investiture. Thus, by the ambition of Sikar, the cupidity of the court, and the jealousies and avarice of the Sadhanis, the birthright of the lineal heirs of Raesal was alienated.

Lachhman Singh, by his talents and wealth, soon established his influence at the court of his sovereign; but the jealousy which this excited in the Purohit minister of the day very nearly lost him his dearly bought acquisition. It will be recollected that a Brahman obtained the lease of the lands of Khandela, and that for his extortions he was expelled with disgrace. He proceeded, however, in his career of ambition; subverted the influence of his patron Sheonarayan Misr, forcing him to commit suicide, ruined the prospects of his son, and by successful and daring intrigue established himself in the ministerial chair of Amber. The influence of Lachhman Singh, who was consulted on all occasions, gave him umbrage, and he determined to get rid of him. To drive him into opposition to his sovereign was his aim, and to effect this there was no better method than to sanction an attack upon Khandela. The Sadhanis, whose avarice and jealousies made them overlook their true interests, readily united to the troops of the court, and Khandela was besieged. Lachhman Singh, on this occasion, showed he was no common character. He tranquilly abided the issue at Jaipur, thus neutralizing the malignity of the Purohit, while, to ensure the safety of Khandela, a timely supply of money to the partisan, Jamshid Khan, brought his battalions to threaten the Purohit in his camp. Completely foiled by the superior tact of Lachhman Singh, the Brahman was compelled to abandon the undertaking and to return to the capital, where his anger made him throw aside the mask, and attempt to secure the person of his enemy. The Sikar chief had a narrow escape: he fled with fifty horse, hotly pursued by his adversary, while his effects, and those of his partisans (amongst whom was the Samod chief) were confiscated. The Sadhanis, led by the chiefs of Khetri and Baswa, even after the Purohit had left them, made a bold attempt to capture Khandela, which was defeated, and young Abhai Singh, who was made a puppet on the occasion, witnessed the last defeat of his hopes.

If necessity or expediency could palliate or justify such nefarious acts, it would be shown in the good consequences that have resulted from evil. The discord and bloodshed produced by the partition of authority between the sons of Bahadur [424] Singh are now at an end. Lachhman Singh is the sole tyrant in Khandela, and so long as the system which he has established is maintained, he may laugh at the efforts, not only of the Sadhanis, but of the court itself, to supplant him.

Let us, in a few words, trace the family of Lachhman Singh. It will be recollected that Raesal, the first Raja amongst the sons of Shaikhji, had seven sons, the fourth of whom, Tirmall (who obtained the title of Rao), held Kasli and its eighty-four townships in appanage. His son, Hari Singh, wrested the district of Bilara, with its one hundred and twenty-five townships, from the Kaimkhanis of Fatehpur, and shortly after, twenty-five more from Rewasa. Sheo Singh, the son of Hari, captured Fatehpur itself, the chief abode of the Kaimkhanis, where he established himself. His son, Chand Singh, founded Sikar, whose lineal descendant, Devi Singh, adopted Lachhman Singh, son of his near kinsman, the Shahpura Thakur. The estates of Sikar were in admirable order when Lachhman succeeded to his uncle, whose policy was of the exterminating sort. Lachhman improved upon it; and long before he acquired Khandela, had demolished all the castles of his inferior feudatories, not even sparing that of Shahpura, the place of his nativity, as well as Bilara, Bathoti, and Kasli; and so completely did he allow the ties of adoption to supersede those of blood, that his own father preferred exile, to living under a son who, covered with ‘the turban of Sikar,’ forgot the author of his life, and retired to Jodhpur.

Lachhman Singh has now a compact and improving country, containing five hundred towns and villages, yielding a revenue of eight lakhs of rupees. Desirous of transmitting his name to posterity, he erected the castle of Lachhmangarh,[9.7.16] and has fortified many other strongholds, for the defence of which he has formed a little army, which, in these regions, merits the title of regulars, consisting of eight battalions of Aligol,[9.7.17] armed with matchlocks, with a brigade of guns to each battalion. He has besides an efficient cavalry, consisting of one thousand horse, half of which are Bargirs,[9.7.18] or stipendiary; the other half Jagirdars, having lands assigned for their support. With such means, and with his ambition, there is very little doubt that, had not the alliance of his liege lord of Amber with the English Government put a stop to the predatory system, he would, by means of the same worthy allies by whose [425] aid he obtained Khandela,[9.7.19] before this time have made himself supreme in Shaikhavati.

Having thus brought to a conclusion the history of the princes of Khandela, we shall give a brief account of the other branches of the Shaikhawats, especially the most powerful, the Sadhani.

=The Sādhāni Shaikhāwats.=—The Sadhanis are descended from Bhojraj, the third son of Raesal, and in the division of fiefs amongst his seven sons, obtained Udaipur and its dependencies. Bhojraj had a numerous issue, styled Bhojani, who arrogated their full share of importance in the infancy of the confederacy, and in process of time, from some circumstance not related, perhaps the mere advantage of locality, their chief city became the rendezvous for the great council of the federation, which is still in the defile of Udaipur.[9.7.20]

Several generations subsequent to Bhojraj, Jagram succeeded to the lands of Udaipur. He had six sons, the eldest of whom, Sadhu, quarrelled with his father, on some ceremonial connected with the celebration of the military festival, the Dasahra,[9.7.21] and quitting the paternal roof, sought his fortunes abroad. At this time, almost all the tract now inhabited by the Sadhanis was dependent on Fatehpur (Jhunjhunu), the residence of a Nawab of the Kaimkhani tribe of Afghans,[9.7.22] who held it as a fief of the empire. To him Sadhu repaired, and was received with favour, and by his talents and courage rose in consideration, until he was eventually intrusted with the entire management of affairs. There are two accounts of the mode of his ulterior advancement: both may be correct. One is, that the Nawab, having no children, adopted young Sadhu, and assigned to him Jhunjhunu and its eighty-four dependencies, which he retained on the Kaimkhani’s death. The other, and less favourable though equally probable account, is that, feeling his influence firmly established, he hinted to his patron, that the township of —— was prepared for his future residence, where he should enjoy a sufficient pension, as he intended to retain possession of his delegated authority. So completely had he supplanted the Kaimkhani, that he found himself utterly unable to make a party against the ungrateful Shaikhawat. He therefore fled from Jhunjhunu to Fatehpur, the other division of his authority, or at [426] least one of his own kin, who espoused his cause, and prepared to expel the traitor from Jhunjhunu. Sadhu, in this emergency, applied to his father, requesting him to call upon his brethren, as it was a common cause. The old chief, who, in his son’s success, forgave and forgot the conduct which made him leave his roof, instantly addressed another son, then serving with his liege lord, the Mirza Raja Jai Singh, in the imperial army, to obtain succour for him; and some regular troops with guns were immediately dispatched to reinforce young Sadhu and maintain his usurpation, which was accomplished, and moreover Fatehpur was added to Jhunjhunu. Sadhu bestowed the former with its dependencies, equal in value to his own share, on his brother, for his timely aid, and both, according to previous stipulation, agreed to acknowledge their obligations to the Raja by an annual tribute and nazarana on all lapses, as lord-paramount. Sadhu soon after wrested Singhana, containing one hundred and twenty-five villages, from another branch of the Kaimkhanis; Sultana, with its Chaurasi, or division of eighty-four townships, from the Gaur Rajputs; and Khetri and its dependencies from the Tuars, the descendants of the ancient emperors of Delhi: so that, in process of time, he possessed himself of a territory comprising more than one thousand towns and villages. Shortly before his death he divided the conquered lands amongst his five sons, whose descendants, adopting his name as the patronymic, are called Sadhani; namely, Zorawar Singh, Kishan Singh, Nawal Singh, Kesari Singh, and Pahar Singh.

Zorawar Singh, besides the paternal and original estates, had, in virtue of primogeniture, the town of Chokri and its twelve subordinate villages, with all the other emblems of state, as the elephants, palkis, etc.; and although the cupidity of the Khetri chief, the descendant of the second son, Kishan, has wrested the patrimony from the elder branch, who has now only Chokri, yet the distinctions of birth are never lost in those of fortune, and the petty chief of Chokri, with its twelve small townships, is looked upon as the superior of Abhai Singh, though the lord of five hundred villages.

The descendants of the other four sons, now the most distinguished of the Sadhanis, are,[9.7.23]

Abhai Singh of Khetri; Shyam Singh of Baswa; Gyan Singh of Nawalgarh;[9.7.24] Sher Singh of Sultana [427].

Besides the patrimonies assigned to the five sons of Sadhu, he left the districts of Singhana, Jhunjhunu, and Surajgarh (the ancient Oricha), to be held in joint heirship by the junior members of his stock. The first, with its one hundred and twenty-five villages, has been usurped by Abhai Singh of Khetri, but the others still continue to be frittered away in sub-infeudations among this numerous and ever-spreading frerage.

Abhai Singh has assumed the same importance amongst the Sadhanis that Lachhman Singh has amongst the Raesalots, and both by the same means, crime and usurpation. The Sikar chief has despoiled his senior branch of Khandela; and the Khetri chief has not only despoiled the senior, but also the junior, of the five branches of Sadhu. The transaction which produced the last result, whereby the descendant of Sher Singh lost Sultana, is so peculiarly atrocious, that it is worth relating, as a proof to what lengths the Rajput will go ‘to get land.’

=Bāgh Singh seizes Sultāna.=—Pahar Singh had an only son, named Bhopal, who being killed in an attempt on Loharu, he adopted the younger son of his nephew, Bagh Singh of Khetri. On the death of his adopted father, the Sultana chief, being too young to undertake the management of his fief in person, remained under the paternal roof. It would appear as if this alienation of political rights could also alienate affection and rupture all the ties of kindred, for this unnatural father imbrued his hands in the blood of his own child, and annexed Sultana to Khetri. But the monster grievously suffered for the deed; he became the scorn of his kinsmen, “who spit at him and threw dust on his head,” until he secluded himself from the gaze of mankind. The wife of his bosom ever after refused to look upon him; she managed the estates for her surviving son, the present Abhai Singh. During twelve years that Bagh Singh survived, he never quitted his apartment in the castle of Khetri, until carried out to be burned, amidst the execrations and contempt of his kinsmen.

=The Lārkhānis.=—Having made the reader sufficiently acquainted with the genealogy of the Sadhanis, as well as of the Raesalots, we shall conclude with a brief notice of the Larkhanis, which term, translated ‘the beloved lords,’ ill accords with their occupation, as the most notorious marauders in Rajputana. Larla is a common infantine appellation, meaning ‘beloved’; but whether the adjunct of Khan to this son of Raesal, as well as to that of his youngest, Tajkhan (the crown of princes), was out of compliment to some other Muslim saint, we know not. Larkhan conquered his own [428] appanage, Danta Ramgarh, on the frontiers of Marwar, then a dependency of Sambhar. It is not unlikely that his father’s influence at court secured the possession to him. Besides this district, they have the tappa of Nosal, and altogether about eighty townships, including some held of the Rajas of Marwar, and Bikaner, to secure their abstinence from plunder within their bounds. The Larkhanis are a community of robbers; their name, like Pindari and Kazzak, is held in these regions to be synonymous with ‘freebooter,’ and as they can muster five hundred horse, their raids are rather formidable. Sometimes their nominal liege lord calls upon them for tribute, but being in a difficult country, and Ramgarh being a place of strength, they pay little regard to the call, unless backed by some of the mercenary partisans, such as Amir Khan, who contrived to get payment of arrears of tribute to the amount of twenty thousand rupees.

=Revenues.=—We conclude this sketch with a rough statement of the revenues of Shaikhavati, which might yield in peace and prosperity, now for the first time beginning to beam upon them, from twenty-five to thirty lakhs of rupees; but at present they fall much short of this sum, and full one-half of the lands of the confederation are held by the chiefs of Sikar and Khetri—

Rupees. Lachhman Singh, of Sikar, including Khandela 800,000 Abhai Singh, of Khetri, including Kotputli, given by Lord Lake 600,000 Shyam Singh, of Baswa, including his brother Ranjit’s share of 40,000 (whom he killed) 190,000 Gyan Singh, of Nawalgarh, including Mandao, each fifty villages 70,000 Lachhman Singh, Mendsar, the chief sub-infeudation of Nawalgarh 30,000 Tain and its lands, divided amongst the twenty-seven great-grandsons of Zorawar Singh, eldest son of Sadhu 100,000 Udaipurvati 100,000 Manoharpur[9.7.25] 30,000 Larkhanis 100,000 Harramjis 40,000 Girdharpotas 40,000 Smaller estates 200,000 ————- 2,300,000 ————— [429.]

The tribute established by Jaipur is as follows:—

Rupees. Sadhanis 200,000 Fatehpur 64,000 Udaipur and Babhai 22,000 Kasli 4,000 ———— 350,000 ————

Thus, supposing the revenues, as stated, at twenty-three lakhs, to be near the truth, and the tribute at three and a half, it would be an assessment of one-seventh of the whole, which is a fair proportion, and a measure of justice which the British Government would do well to imitate.

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Footnote 9.7.1:

Dhūs is an expedient to hasten the compliance of a demand from a dependent. A party of horse proceeds to the township, and are commanded to receive so much per day till the exaction is complied with. If the dhūs is refused, it is considered tantamount to an appeal to arms. [Dhūsnā means ‘to butt like an ox,’ hence ‘to coerce.’]

Footnote 9.7.2:

Franklin, in his Life of George Thomas, describes this battle circumstantially; but makes it appear an affair of the Jaipur court, with Thomas and the Mahrattas, in which the Shaikhawats are not mentioned. Thomas gives the Rajput chivalry full praise for their gallant bearing.—Memoir of George Thomas, p. 109. [The battle was fought early in 1799 at Fatehpur, about 145 miles N.W. of Jaipur city (Compton, European Military Adventurers, 146 ff.).]

Footnote 9.7.3:

[Men clad in armour (Irvine, Army of the Indian Moghuls, 164).]

Footnote 9.7.4:

[See Vol. II. p. 863.]

Footnote 9.7.5:

The salvamenta, or blackmail of our own feudal system. See Vol. I. p. 203.

Footnote 9.7.6:

[See Vol. II. p. 876.]

Footnote 9.7.7:

[Such cenotaphs, known as pāliya, are common in Gujarāt (Forbes, Rās Māla, 691; Tod, Western India, 301).]

Footnote 9.7.8:

[Tribal levy.]

Footnote 9.7.9:

[Vol. II. p. 1095.]

Footnote 9.7.10:

[Twenty-five miles E. of Jaipur city.]

Footnote 9.7.11:

The second injunction was to keep the office of Faujdar, or commander of the forces, in the family of Shambhu Singh, Gugawat, a tribe always noted for their fidelity, and like the Mertias of Marwar, even a blind fidelity, to the gaddi whoever was the occupant. The third injunction is left blank in my manuscript.

Footnote 9.7.12:

His first act, after his emancipation from the dungeons of Amber, was the delicate negotiation at Dhani, the castle of Chand Singh, Gugawat. He died at Baswa, April 22, 1812, on his return from Macheri to Jaipur, where he had been unsuccessfully attempting a reconciliation between the courts. It will not be forgotten that the independence of the Naruka chief in Macheri had been mainly achieved by the Bohra, who was originally the homme d’affaires of the traitorous Naruka.

Footnote 9.7.13:

[These corps of militant devotees were commonly employed in Indian Native armies in the eighteenth century (Irvine, Army of the Indian Moghuls, 163; Broughton, Letters from a Mahratta Camp, 96, 106, 123; Russell, Tribes and Castes of the Central Provinces, iii. 157).]

Footnote 9.7.14:

[A corruption of Hindi chhakra (Yule, Hobson-Jobson, 2nd ed. 407 f.).]

Footnote 9.7.15:

This was written in 1813-14.

Footnote 9.7.16:

Lachhmangarh, or ‘the castle of Lachhman,’ situated upon a lofty mountain [about 75 miles N.W. of Jaipur city], was erected in S. 1862, or A.D. 1806, though probably on the ruins of some more ancient fortress. It commands a most extensive prospect, and is quite a beacon in that country, studded with hill-castles. The town is built on the model of Jaipur, with regular streets intersecting each other at right angles, in which there are many wealthy merchants, who enjoy perfect security.

Footnote 9.7.17:

[The Ālīgol, ‘lofty, exalted troop,’ were irregular infantry in the Marātha service. Sometimes they were identified with the fanatical Ghāzis of the Afghān frontier (Irvine, Army of the Indian Moghuls, 164; Yule, Hobson-Jobson, 2nd ed. 15).]

Footnote 9.7.18:

[Cavalry provided with horses by the State, Vol. II. p. 819.]

Footnote 9.7.19:

Khandela is said to have derived its name from the Khokhar Rajputs [?]. The Khokhar is often mentioned in the Bhatti Annals, whom I have supposed to be the Ghakkar, who were certainly Indo-Scythic. [The Khokhars and Ghakkars or Gakkhars are often confounded (Rose, Glossary, ii. 540).] Khandela has four thousand houses, and eighty villages dependent on it.

Footnote 9.7.20:

The ancient name of Udaipur is said to be Kais; it contains three thousand houses, and has forty-five villages attached to it, divided into four portions.

Footnote 9.7.21:

[See Vol. II. p. 680.]

Footnote 9.7.22:

[The Kāimkhāni or Qāimkhāni are a sept of Muslim Chauhān Rājputs found in the Jīnd State and in Jaipur (Rose, Glossary, iii. 257). In the Rājputāna Census Report of 1911, however, they are classed among “Miscellaneous” Rājput septs (i. 286).]

Footnote 9.7.23:

It must be borne in mind that this was written in 1814.

Footnote 9.7.24:

Nawalgarh contains four thousand houses, environed by a shahrpanāh or rampart. It is on a more ancient site called Rolani, whose old castle in ruins is to the south-east, and the new one midway between it and the town, built by Nawal Singh in S. 1802, or A.D. 1746.

Footnote 9.7.25:

The Manoharpur chief was put to death by Raja Jagat Singh (vide Madari Lal’s Journal of A.D. 1814), and his lands were sequestrated and partitioned amongst the confederacy: the cause, his inciting the Rahtis or Ratis (an epithet for the proselyte Bhatti plunderers of Bhattiana) to invade and plunder the country.

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Chapter 8

We have thus developed the origin and progress of the Kachhwaha tribe, as well as its scions of Shaikhavati and Macheri. To some, at least, it may be deemed no uninteresting object to trace in continuity the issue of a fugitive individual, spreading, in the course of eight hundred years, over a region of fifteen thousand square miles; and to know that forty thousand of his flesh and blood have been marshalled in the same field, defending, sword in hand, their country and their prince. The name of ‘country’ carries with it a magical power in the mind of the Rajput. The name of his wife or his mistress must never be mentioned at all, nor that of his country but with respect, or his sword is instantly unsheathed. Of these facts, numerous instances abound in these Annals; yet does the ignorant Pardesi (foreigner) venture to say there are no indigenous terms either for patriotism or gratitude in this country.

=Boundaries and Extent.=—The boundaries of Amber and its dependencies are best seen by an inspection of the map. Its greatest breadth lies between Sambhar, touching the Marwar frontier on the west, and the town of Suraut, on the Jat frontier, east. This line is one hundred and twenty British miles, whilst its greatest breadth from north to south, including Shaikhavati, is one hundred and eighty. Its form is [430] very irregular. We may, however, estimate the surface of the parent State, Dhundhar or Jaipur, at nine thousand five hundred square miles, and Shaikhavati at five thousand four hundred; in all, fourteen thousand nine hundred square miles.[9.8.1]

=Population.=—It is difficult to determine with exactitude the amount of the population of this region; but from the best information, one hundred and fifty souls to the square mile would not be too great a proportion in Amber, and eighty in Shaikhavati; giving an average of one hundred and twenty-four to the united area, which consequently contains 185,670; and when we consider the very great number of large towns in this region, it may not be above, but rather below, the truth. Dhundhar, the parent country, is calculated to contain four thousand townships, exclusive of purwas, or hamlets, and Shaikhavati about half that number, of which Lachhman Singh of Sikar and Khandela, and Abhai Singh of Khetri, have each about five hundred, or the half of the lands of the federation.[9.8.2]

=Classification of Inhabitants.=—Of this population, it is still more difficult to classify its varied parts, although it may be asserted with confidence that the Rajputs bear but a small ratio to the rest,[9.8.3] whilst they may equal in number any individual class, except the aboriginal Minas, who, strange to say, are still the most numerous. The following are the principal tribes, and the order in which they follow may be considered as indicative of their relative numbers. 1. Minas; 2. Rajputs; 3. Brahmans; 4. Banias; 5. Jats; 6. Dhakar, or Kirar (qu. Kirata?); 7. Gujars.[9.8.4]

=The Mīna Tribe.=—The Minas are subdivided into no less than thirty-two distinct clans or classes, but it would extend too much the Annals of this State to distinguish them. Moreover, as they belong to every State in Rajwara, we shall find a fitter occasion to give a general account of them. The immunities and privileges preserved to the Minas best attest the truth of the original induction of the exiled prince of Narwar to the sovereignty of Amber; and it is a curious fact, showing that such establishment must have been owing to adoption, not conquest, that this event was commemorated on every installation by a Mina of Kalikoh marking with his blood the tika of sovereignty on the forehead of the prince. The blood was obtained by incision of the great toe, and though, like many other antiquated usages, this has fallen into desuetude here (as has the same mode of inauguration of the Ranas by the Oghna Bhils), yet both in the one case and in the other, there cannot be more convincing evidence that these now outcasts were originally the masters. The Minas still enjoy the most confidential posts about the persons of the princes of Amber, having charge of the archives [431] and treasure in Jaigarh; they guard his person at night, and have that most delicate of all trusts, the charge of the rawala, or seraglio. In the earlier stages of Kachhwaha power, these their primitive subjects had the whole insignia of state, as well as the person of the prince, committed to their trust; but presuming upon this privilege too far, when they insisted that, in leaving their bounds, he should leave these emblems, the nakkaras and standards, with them, their pretensions were cancelled in their blood. The Minas, Jats, and Kirars are the principal cultivators, many of them holding large estates.[9.8.5]

=Jāts.=—The Jats nearly equal the Minas in numbers, as well as in extent of possessions, and are, as usual, the most industrious of all husbandmen.

=Brāhmans.=—Of Brahmans, following secular as well as sacred employments, there are more in Amber than in any other State in Rajwara; from which we are not to conclude that her princes were more religious than their neighbours, but, on the contrary, that they were greater sinners.

=Rājputs.=—It is calculated that, even now, on an emergency, if a national war roused the patriotism of the Kachhwaha feudality, they could bring into the field thirty thousand of their kin and clan, or, to repeat their own emphatic phrase, “the sons of one father,” which includes the Narukas and the chiefs of the Shaikhawat federation.[9.8.6] Although the Kachhwahas, under their popular princes, as Pajun, Raja Man, and the Mirza Raja, have performed exploits as brilliant as any other tribes, yet they do not now enjoy the same reputation for courage as either the Rathors or Haras. This may be in part accounted for by the demoralization consequent upon their proximity to the Mogul court, and their participation in all enervating vices; but still more from the degradations they have suffered from the Mahrattas, and to which their western brethren have been less exposed. Every feeling, patriotic or domestic, became corrupted wherever their pernicious influence prevailed.

=Soil, Husbandry, Products.=—Dhundhar contains every variety of soil, and the kharif and rabi, or autumnal and spring crops, are of nearly equal importance. Of the former bajra predominates over juar, and in the latter barley over wheat. The other grains, pulses, and vegetables, reared all over Hindustan, are here produced in abundance, and require not to be specified [432]. The sugar-cane used to be cultivated to a very great extent, but partly from extrinsic causes, and still more from its holding out such an allurement to the renters, the husbandman has been compelled to curtail this lucrative branch of agriculture; for although land fit for ikh (cane) is let at four to six rupees per bigha, sixty have been exacted before it was allowed to be reaped. Cotton of excellent quality is produced in considerable quantities in various districts, as are indigo and other dyes common to India. Neither do the implements of husbandry or their application differ from those which have been described in this and various other works sufficiently well known.[9.8.7]

=Farming System.=—It is the practice in this State to farm its lands to the highest bidder; and the mode of farming is most pernicious to the interests of the State and the cultivating classes, both of whom it must eventually impoverish. The farmers-general are the wealthy bankers and merchants, who make their offers for entire districts; these they underlet in tappas, or subdivisions, the holders of which again subdivide them into single villages, or even shares of a village. With the profits of all these persons, the expenses attending collections, quartering of barkandazes, or armed police, are the poor Bhumias and Ryots saddled. Could they only know the point where exaction must stop, they would still have a stimulus to activity; but when the crops are nearly got in, and all just demands satisfied, they suddenly hear that a new renter has been installed in the district, having ousted the holder by some ten or twenty thousand rupees, and at the precise moment when the last toils of the husbandman were near completion. The renter has no remedy; he may go and “throw his turban at the door of the palace, and exclaim dohai, Raja Sahib!” till he is weary, or marched off to the Kotwal’s chabutra, and perhaps fined for making a disturbance.[9.8.8] Knowing, however, that there is little benefit to be derived from such a course, they generally submit, go through the whole accounts, make over the amount of collections, and with the host of vultures in their train, who, never unprepared for such changes, have been making the most of their ephemeral power by battening on the hard earnings of the peasantry, retire for this fresh band of harpies to pursue a like course. Nay, it is far from uncommon for three different renters to come upon the same district in one season, or even the crop of one season, for five or ten thousand rupees, annulling the existing engagement, no matter how far advanced. Such was the condition of this State; and when to these evils were superadded the exactions called dand, or barar, forced contributions to pay those armies of robbers who swept the lands, language cannot exaggerate the extent of misery. The love of country must be powerful indeed which can enchain man to a land so misgoverned, so unprotected [433].

=Revenues.=—It is always a task of difficulty to obtain any correct account of the revenues of these States, which are ever fluctuating. We have now before us several schedules, both of past and present reigns, all said to be copied from the archives, in which the name of every district, together with its rent, town and transit duties, and other sources of income, are stated; but the details would afford little satisfaction, and doubtless the resident authorities have access to the fountain-head. The revenues of Dhundhar, of every description, fiscal, feudal, and tributary, or impost, are stated, in round numbers, at one crore of rupees, or about a million of pounds sterling, which, estimating the difference of the price of labour, may be deemed equivalent to four times that sum in England.[9.8.9] Since this estimate was made, there have been great alienations of territory, and no less than sixteen rich districts have been wrested from Amber by the Mahrattas, or her own rebel son, the Naruka chief of Macheri.

The following is the schedule of alienations:—

1. Kama[9.8.10] ┐ Taken by General Perron, for his master Sindhia; 2. Khori │ since rented to the Jats, and retained by them. 3. Pahari ┘ 4. Kanti ┐ 5. Ukrod │ 6. Pandapan │ 7. Ghazi-ka-thana │ Seized by the Macheri Rao 8. Rampara (karda) ├ [now in Alwar State] 9. Ganwnri │ 10. Reni │ 11. Parbeni │ 12. Mozpur Harsana ┘ 13. Kanod or Kanaund[9.8.11] ┌ Taken by De Boigne and given to 14. Narnol │ Murtaza Khan, Baraich, confirmed └ in them by Lord Lake. ┌ Taken in the war of 1803-4, from the Mahrattas, 15. Kotputli │ and given by Lord Lake to Abhai Singh of └ Khetri. 16. Tonk ┌ Granted to Holkar by Raja Madho Singh; confirmed 17. Rampura │ in sovereignty to Amir Khan by Lord └ Hastings.

It must, however, be borne in mind, that almost all these alienated districts had but for a comparatively short period formed an integral portion of Dhundhar; and that the major part were portions of the imperial domains, held in jaedad, or ‘assignment,’ by the princes of this country, in their capacity of lieutenants of the emperor. In Raja Prithi Singh’s reign, about half a century ago, the rent-roll of Amber and her tributaries was [434] seventy-seven lakhs: and in a very minute schedule formed in S. 1858 (A.D. 1802), the last year of the reign of Raja Partap Singh, they were estimated at seventy-nine lakhs: an ample revenue, if well administered, for every object. We shall present the chief items which form the budget of ways and means of Amber.

Schedule of the Revenues of Amber for S. 1858, (A.D. 1802-3), _the year of Raja Jagat Singh’s accession. Khalisa, or Fiscal Land._

Rupees. Managed by the Raja, or rented 2,055,000 Deori taluka, expenses of the queen’s household 500,000

Shagirdpesha, servants of the household 300,000 Ministers, and civil officers 200,000 Jagirs for the Silahposh, or men-at-arms 150,000 Jagirs to army, namely, ten battalions of infantry 714,000 with cavalry Total Fiscal Land ———————— 3,919,000

Feudal lands (of Jaipur Proper) 1,700,000 Udak,[9.8.12] or charity lands, chiefly to 1,600,000 Brahmans Dan and Mapa, or transit and impost duties of the 190,000 country Kachahri, of the capital, includes town-duties, 215,000 fines, contributions, etc., etc. Mint 60,000 Hundi-bara, insurance, and dues on bills of 60,000 exchange Faujdari, or commandant of Amber (annual fine) 12,000 Do. do. of city Jaipur 8,000 Bid’at, petty fines from the Kachahri, or hall of 16,000 justice Sabzimandi, vegetable market 3,000 ———————— Total Lakhs 7,783,000 ┌ Shaikhavati 350,000 Tribute ┤ Rajawat and other feudatories of │ Jaipur[9.8.13] 30,000 └ Kothris of Haraoti[9.8.14] 20,000 ——————— Total Tribute 400,000 ——————— Add Tribute 400,000 ———————— Grand Total Rs. 8,183,000

[435].

If this statement is correct, and we add thereto the Shaikhawat, Rajawat, and Hara tributes, the revenues fiscal, feudal, commercial, and tributary, of Amber, when Jagat Singh came to the throne, would exceed eighty lakhs of rupees, half of which is khalisa, or appertaining to the Raja—nearly twice the personal revenue of any other prince in Rajwara. This sum (forty lakhs) was the estimated amount liable to tribute when the treaty was formed with the British Government, and of which the Raja has to pay eight lakhs annually, and five-sixteenths of all revenue surplus to this amount. The observant reader will not fail to be struck with the vast inequality between the estates of the defenders of the country, and these drones the Brahmans,—a point on which we have elsewhere treated:[9.8.15] nor can anything more powerfully mark the utter prostration of intellect of the Kachhwaha princes, than their thus maintaining an indolent and baneful hierarchy, to fatten on the revenues which would support four thousand Kachhwaha cavaliers. With a proper application of her revenues, and princes like Raja Man to lead a brave vassalage, they would have foiled all the efforts of the Mahrattas; but their own follies and vices have been their ruin.

=Foreign Army.=—At the period (A.D. 1803) this schedule was formed of the revenues of Amber, she maintained a foreign army of thirteen thousand men, consisting of ten battalions of infantry with guns, a legion of four thousand Nagas, a corps of Aligols[9.8.16] for police duties, and one of cavalry, seven hundred strong. With these, the regular contingent of feudal levies, amounting to about four thousand efficient horse, formed a force adequate to repel any insult; but when the kher, or levée en masse, was called out, twenty thousand men, horse and foot, were ready to back the always embodied force.[9.8.17]

A detailed schedule of the feudal levies of Amber may diversify the dry details of these annals, obviate repetition, and present a perfect picture of a society of clanships. In this list we shall give precedence to the kothriband, the holders of the twelve great fiefs (barah-kothri) of Amber—

Schedule of the names and appanages of the twelve sons of Raja Prithiraj, whose descendants form the Barah-kothri, or twelve great fiefs of Amber[9.8.18] [436].

──────────────────┬──────────────┬──────────┬─────────────────┬─────────┬─────── Sons of │Names of │Names of │Present Chiefs. │Revenues.│Personal Prithiraj. │Families. │Fiefs. │ │ │ Quotas. ──────────────────┼──────────────┼──────────┼─────────────────┼────────┼──────── 1. Chhattarbhuj │Chhattarbhujot│Pinar and │ │ │ │ │Bhagru │Bagh Singh │ 18,000│ 28 2. Kalyan │Kalyanot │Lotwara │Ganga Singh │ 25,000│ 47 3. Nathu │Nathawat │Chaumun │Kishan Singh │ 115,000│ 205 4. Balbhadar │Balbhadarot │Achrol │Kaim Singh │ 28,850│ 57 5. Jagmall his ┐│ │ │ │ │ son Khangar ┘│Khangarot │Thodri │Prithi Singh │ 25,000│ 40 6. Sultan │Sultanot │Chandsar │ — │ —│ — 7. Pachain │Pachainot │Sambra │Sali Singh │ 17,700│ 32 8. — │Gugawat │Dhuni │Rao Chand Singh │ 70,000│ 88 9. Kaim │Kumbhani │Banskoh │Padam Singh │ 21,535│ 31 10. Kumbha │Kumbhawat │Mahar │Rawat Sarup Singh│ 27,538│ 45 11. Surat │Sheobaranpota │Nindar │Rawat Hari Singh │ 10,000│ 19 12. Banbir │Banbirpota │Balkoh │Sarup Singh │ 19,000│ 35 ──────────────────┴──────────────┴──────────┴─────────────────┴────────┴────────

It will be remarked that the estates of these, the chief vassals of Amber, are, with the exception of two, far inferior in value to those of the sixteen great chiefs of Mewar, or the eight of Marwar; and a detailed list of all the inferior feudatories of each Kothri, or clan, would show that many of them have estates greater than those of their leaders: for instance, Kishan Singh of Chaumun has upwards of a lakh, while Beri Sal of Samod, the head of the clan (Nathawat), has only forty thousand; again, the chief of Balaheri holds an estate of thirty-five thousand, while that of the head of his clan is but twenty-five thousand. The representative of the Sheobaranpotas has an estate of only ten thousand, while the junior branch of Gura has thirty-six thousand. Again, the chief of the Khangarots has but twenty-five thousand, while no less than three junior branches hold lands to double that amount; and the inferior of the Balbhadarots holds upwards of a lakh, while the superior of Achrol has not a third of this rental. The favour of the prince, the turbulence or talents of individuals, have caused these inequalities; but, however disproportioned the gifts of fortune, the attribute of honour always remains with the lineal descendant and representative of the original fief.

We shall further illustrate this subject of the feudalities of Amber by inserting a general list of all the clans, with the number of subdivisions, the resources of each, and the quotas they ought to furnish. At no remote period this was held to be correct, and will serve to give a good idea of the Kachhwaha aristocracy. It was my [437] intention to have given a detailed account of the subdivisions of each fief, their names, and those of their holders, but on reflection, though they cost some diligence to obtain, they would have little interest for the general reader.

Schedule of the Kachhwaha clans; the number of fiefs or estates in each; their aggregate value, and quotas of horse for each estate.[9.8.19]

─────────────┬──────────────────────┬────────────────┬────────────┬────────── │ Names of Clans. │Number of Fiefs │ Aggregate │Aggregate │ │in each Clanship│ Revenue. │ Quotas. │ │ or Clan. │ │ ─────────────┼──────────────────────┼────────────────┼────────────┼────────── ┌│Chhattarbhujot │ 6 │ 53,800│ 92 ││Kalyanot │ 19 │ 245,196│ 422 ││Nathawat │ 10 │ 220,800│ 371 ││Balbhadarot │ 2 │ 130,850│ 157 ││Khangarot │ 22 │ 402,806│ 643 12[9.8.20] ┤│Sultanot │ — │ —│ — ││Pachainot │ 3 │ 24,700│ 45 ││Gugawat │ 13 │ 167,900│ 273 ││Kumbhani [or Kumani] │ 2 │ 23,787│ 35 ││Kumbhawat │ 6 │ 40,738│ 68 ││Sheobaranpota │ 3 │ 49,500│ 73 └│Banbirpota │ 3 │ 26,575│ 48 ┌│Rajawat │ 16 │ 198,137│ 392 4[9.8.21] ┤│Naruka[9.8.21] │ 6 │ 91,069│ 92 ││Bankawat │ 4 │ 34,600│ 53 └│Puranmallot │ 1 │ 10,000│ 19 ┌│Bhatti │ 4 │ 104,039│ 205 ││Chauhan │ 4 │ 30,500│ 61 ││Bargujar │ 6 │ 32,000│ 58 ││Chandarawat │ 1 │ 14,000│ 21 10[9.8.22] ┤│Sakarwar │ 2 │ 4,500│ 8 ││Gujars │ 3 │ 15,300│ 30 ││Rangras │ 6 │ 291,105│ 549 ││Khatris │ 4 │ 120,000│ 281 ││Brahmans │ 12 │ 312,000│ 606 └│Musalman │ 9 │ 141,400│ 274 │ │ │ │ [438]. ─────────────┴──────────────────────┴────────────────┴────────────┴──────────

=Ancient Towns.=—We shall conclude the annals of Amber with the names of a few of the ancient towns, in which research may recover something of past days.

=Mora.=—Nine coss east of Dausa or Daosa; built by Mordhwaj, a Chauhan Raja.

=Abhaner.=—Three coss east of Lalsont; very ancient; capital of a Chauhan sovereignty.

=Bangarh.=—Five coss from Tholai; the ruins of an ancient town and castle in the hills, built by the old princes of Dhundhar, prior to the Kachhwahas.

=Amargarh.=—Three coss from Kushalgarh; built by the Nagvansa.

=Bairat.=[9.8.23]—Three coss from Basai in Macheri, attributed to the Pandus.

=Patan= and =Ganipur=.—Both erected by the ancient Tuar kings of Delhi.

=Kharar=, or =Khandar=.—Near Ranthambhor.

=Utgir.=—On the Chambal.

=Amber=, or =Ambikeswara=, a title of Siva, whose symbol is in the centre of a kund or tank in the middle of the old town. The water covers half the lingam; and a prophecy prevails, that when it is entirely submerged the State of Amber will perish! There are inscriptions [439].

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Footnote 9.8.1:

[The area of the Jaipur State, according to the last surveys, is 15,579 square miles.]

Footnote 9.8.2:

[According to the census of 1911, the population of Jaipur State was 2,636,647, 169 per square mile.]

Footnote 9.8.3:

[The proportion of Rājputs to the total population was, in 1911, 45 per 1000.]

Footnote 9.8.4:

[The present order, in numbers, of the castes is—Brāhmans, Jāts, Mīnas, Chamārs, Banias or Mahājans, Gūjars, Rājputs, Mālis. Dhākar Rājputs are found in the Central Ganges-Jumna Duāb, and in Rohilkhand (Elliot, Supplementary Glossary, 263). There are now 89,000 Dhākars in Rājputāna. Kirār is a term generally applied in the Panjāb to traders to distinguish them from the Banias of Hindustān, and the name has no connexion with the Kirāta, a forest tribe of E. India (Rose, Glossary, ii. 552; Russell, Tribes and Castes of the Central Provinces, iii. 485 ff.).]

Footnote 9.8.5:

[The Mīnas are a notorious criminal tribe (M. Kennedy, Notes on the Criminal Tribes in the Bombay Presidency, 207 ff.; C. Hervey, Some Records of Crime, i. 328 ff.).]

Footnote 9.8.6:

[In 1911 there were 96,242 Kachhwāhas in Rājputāna, of whom about two-thirds are in Jaipur.]

Footnote 9.8.7:

[Reference may be made to the artistic industry in brass-work (Hendley, Jaipur Museum Catalogue; Journal Indian Art, 1886, i. No. 12, 1891, i. No. 11).]

Footnote 9.8.8:

[Chabūtra, the platform on which the Kotwāl or chief police officer does business. For the cry dohāi see Yule, Hobson-Jobson, 2nd ed. 321.]

Footnote 9.8.9:

[The normal revenue is now believed to be about 65 lakhs of rupees, roughly speaking, £433,000 (IGI, xiii. 395).]

Footnote 9.8.10:

[This may possibly be Kamban in Bharatpur State.]

Footnote 9.8.11:

Kanod was the fief of Amir Singh, Khangarot, one of the twelve great lords of Amber.

Footnote 9.8.12:

[Udaka means the rite of offering water to deceased relations; hence, assignments of lands to Brāhmans at such rites (H. T. Colebrooke, Essays on the Religion and Philosophy of the Hindus, ed. 1858, p. 115; Monier-Williams, Brāhmanism and Hinduism, 4th ed. p. 304).]

Footnote 9.8.13:

Barwara, Khirni, Sawar, Isarda, etc., etc.

Footnote 9.8.14:

Antardah, Balwan, and Indargarh.

Footnote 9.8.15:

See Dissertation on the Religious Establishments of Mewār, Vol. II. p. 590.

Footnote 9.8.16:

[See pp. 1416, 1422.]

Footnote 9.8.17:

[At present the military forces of the State consist of about 5000 infantry, 5000 Nāgas, 700 cavalry, 860 artillery-men, and 100 mounted on camels (IGI, xiii. 397).]

Footnote 9.8.18:

[There have been several changes in this list of fiefs since the Author’s time. A later, but apparently inaccurate, list is given in Rājputāna Gazetteer, 1879, ii. 139. An earlier list, made in 1790 by W. Hunter, appears in “A Narrative of a Journey from Agra to Oujein,” Asiatic Researches, vi. 69.]

Footnote 9.8.19:

[A fuller and more correct list will be found in Rājputāna Census Report, 1911, i. 255.]

Footnote 9.8.20:

The first twelve are the Barah-kothris, or twelve great fiefs of Amber.

Footnote 9.8.21:

The next four are of the Kachhwaha stock, but not reckoned amongst the Kothribands.

Footnote 9.8.22:

The last ten are foreign chieftains, of various tribes and classes.

No doubt great changes have taken place since this list was formed, especially amongst the mercenary Pattayats, or Jagirdars. The quotas are also irregular, though the qualification of a cavalier in this State is reckoned at five hundred rupees of income.

Footnote 9.8.23:

[Forty-two miles N.N.E. of Jaipur city, the ancient Vairāta (IGI, vi. 217; ASR, ii. 242 ff.).]

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