Annals and Antiquities of Rajasthan, vol. 2 of 3, by James Tod

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Crooke’s plan for the renovation of the Tod’s original text, including a discussion of the transliteration of Hindi words, is given in detail in the Preface. It should be noted that the use of the macron to guide pronunciation is very unevenly followed, and there was no intent here to regularize it.

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CHAPTER 19

Influence of the Priesthood.

—In all ages the ascendancy of the hierarchy is observable; it is a tribute paid to religion through her organs. Could the lavish endowments and extensive immunities of the various religious establishments in Rajasthan be assumed as criteria of the morality of the inhabitants, we should be authorized to assign them a high station in the scale of excellence. But they more frequently prove the reverse of their position; especially the territorial endowments, often the fruits of a death-bed repentance,^[1] which, prompted by superstition or fear, compounds for past crimes by posthumous profusion, although vanity not rarely lends her powerful aid. There is scarcely a State in Rajputana in which one-fifth of the soil is not assigned for the support of the temples, their ministers, the secular Brahmans, bards, and [508] genealogists. But the evil was not always so extensive; the abuse is of modern growth.

Weighing of Princes against Gold.

—An anecdote related of the Rajas of Marwar and Amber, always rivals in war, love, and folly, 590will illustrate the motives of these dismemberments. During the annual pilgrimage to the sacred lake of Pushkar, it is the custom for these lords of the earth to weigh their persons against all that is rare, in gold, gems, and precious cloths; which are afterwards distributed to the priests.^[2] The Amber chief had the advantage of a full treasury and a fertile soil, to which his rival could oppose a more extended sway over a braver race; but his country was proverbially poor, and at Pushkar, the weight of the purse ranks above the deeds of the sword. As these princes were suspended in the scale, the Amber Raja, who was balanced against the more costly material, indirectly taunted his brother-in-law on the poverty of his offerings, who would gladly, like the Roman, have made up the deficiency with his sword. But the Marwar prince had a minister of tact, at whose suggestion he challenged his rival (of Amber) to equal him in the magnitude of his gift to the Brahmans. On the gage being accepted, the Rathor exclaimed, “Perpetual charity (sasan)^[3] of all the lands held by the Brahmans in Marwar!” His unreflecting rival had commenced the redemption of his pledge, when his minister stopped the half-uttered vow, which would have impoverished the family for ever; for there were ten Brahmans in Amber who followed secular employments, cultivating or holding lands in usufruct, to one in Marwar. Had these lords of the earth been left to their misguided vanity, the fisc of each state would have been seriously curtailed.

Grants to Brāhmans and Devotees.

—The Brahmans, Sannyasis, and Gosains are not behind those professional flatterers, the Bards; and many a princely name would have been forgotten but for the record of the gift of land. In Mewar, the lands in sasan, or religious grants, amount in value to one-fifth of the 591revenue of the State, and the greater proportion of these has arisen out of the prodigal mismanagement of the last century. The dilapidated state of the country, on the general pacification in A.D. 1818, afforded a noble opportunity to redeem in part these alienations, without the penalty of denunciation attached to the resumer of sacred charities. But death, famine, and exile, which had left but few of the grantees in a capacity to return and reoccupy the lands, in vain coalesced to restore the fisc of Mewar. The Rana dreaded a “sixty thousand [509] years’ residence in hell,” and some of the finest land of his country is doomed to remain unproductive. In this predicament is the township of Menal,^[4] with 50,000 bighas (16,000 acres), which with the exception of a nook where some few have established themselves, claiming to be descendants of the original holders, are condemned to sterility, owing to the agricultural proprietors and the rent-receiving Brahmans being dead; and apathy united to superstition admits their claims without inquiry.

The antiquary, who has dipped into the records of the dark period in European church history, can have ocular illustration in Rajasthan of traditions which may in Europe appear questionable. The vision of the Bishop of Orleans,^[5] who saw Charles Martel in the depths of hell, undergoing the tortures of the damned, for having stripped the churches of their possessions, “thereby rendering himself guilty of the sins of all those who had endowed them,” would receive implicit credence from every Hindu, whose ecclesiastical economy might both yield and derive illustration from a comparison, not only with that of Europe, but with the more ancient Egyptian and Jewish systems, whose endowments, as explained by Moses and Ezekiel, bear a strong analogy to his 592own. The disposition of landed property in Egypt, as amongst the ancient Hindus, was immemorially vested in the cultivator; and it was only through Joseph’s ministry in the famine that “the land became Pharaoh’s, as the Egyptians sold every man his field.”^[6] And the coincidence is manifest even in the tax imposed on them as occupants of their inheritance, being one-fifth of the crops to the king, while the maximum rate among the Hindus is a sixth.^[7] The Hindus also, in visitations such as that which occasioned the dispossession of the ryots of Egypt, can mortgage or sell their patrimony (bapota). Joseph did not attempt to infringe the privileges of the sacred order when the whole of Egypt became crown-land, “except the lands of the priests, which became not Pharaoh’s”; and these priests, according to Diodorus, held for themselves and the sacrifices no less than one-third of the lands of Egypt. But we learn from [510] Herodotus, that Sesostris, who ruled after Joseph’s ministry, restored the lands to the people, reserving the customary tax or tribute.^[8]

The prelates of the middle ages of Europe were often completely feudal nobles, swearing fealty and paying homage as did the lay lords.^[9] In Rajasthan, the sacerdotal caste not bound to the altar may hold lands and perform the duties of vassalage:^[10] but of late years, when land has been assigned to religious establishments, no reservation has been made of fiscal rights, territorial or commercial. This is, however, an innovation; since, formerly, princes never granted, along with territorial assignments, the prerogative of dispensing justice, of levying transit duties, or exemption from personal service of the feudal tenant who held on the land thus assigned. Well may Rajput heirs exclaim with the grandson of Clovis, “our exchequer is impoverished, and our riches are transferred to the clergy.”^[11] But Chilperic had the courage to recall the grants of his predecessors, which, however, the pious Gontram re-established. Many Gontrams could be found, though but few Chilperics, in Rajasthan: we have, indeed, 593one in Jograj,^[12] the Rana’s ancestor, almost a contemporary of the Merovingian king, who not only resumed all the lands of the Brahmans, but put many of them to death, and expelled the rest his dominions.^[13]

It may be doubted whether vanity and shame are not sufficient in themselves to prevent a resumption of the lands of the Mangtas or mendicants, as they style all those ‘who extend the palm,’ without the dreaded penalty, which operates very slightly on the sub-vassal or cultivator, who, having no superfluity, defies their anathemas when they attempt to wrest from him, by virtue of the crown-grant, any of his long-established rights. By these, the threat of impure transmigration is despised; and the Brahman may spill his blood on the threshold of his dwelling or in the field in dispute, which will be relinquished by the owner but with his life. The Pat Rani, or chief queen, on the death of Prince Amra, the heir-apparent, in 1818, bestowed a grant of fifteen bighas of land, in one of the central districts, on a Brahman who had assisted in the funeral rites of her son. With grant in hand [511], he hastened to the Jat proprietor, and desired him to make over to him the patch of land. The latter coolly replied that he would give him all the prince had a right to, namely the tax. The Brahman threatened to spill his own blood if he did not obey the command, and gave himself a gash in a limb; but the Jat was inflexible, and declared that he would not surrender his patrimony (bapota) even if he slew himself.^[14] In short, the

594ryot of Mewar would reply, even to his sovereign, if he demanded his field, in the very words of Naboth to Ahab, king of Israel, when he demanded the vineyard contiguous to the palace: “The Lord forbid it me that I should give the inheritance of my fathers unto thee.”

Tithes, Temples.

—But the tithes, and other small and legally established rights of the hierarchy, are still religiously maintained. The village temple and the village priest are always objects of veneration to the industrious husbandman, on whom superstition acts more powerfully than on the bold marauding Rajput, who does not hesitate to demand salvamenta (rakhwali) from the lands of Kanhaiya or Eklinga. But the poor ryot of the nineteenth century of Vikrama has the same fears as the peasants of Charlemagne, who were made to believe that the ears of corn found empty had been devoured by infernal spirits, reported to have said they owed their feast to the non-payment of tithes.^[15]

Political Influence of Brāhmans.

—The political influence of the Brahmans is frequently exemplified in cases alike prejudicial to the interests of society and the personal welfare of the sovereign. The latter is often surrounded by lay-Brahmans as confidential servants, in the capacities of butler, keeper of the wardrobe, or seneschal,^[16] besides the Guru or domestic chaplain, who to the duty of ghostly comforter sometimes joins that of [512] astrologer 595and physician, in which case God help the prince!^[17] These Gurus and Purohits, having the education of the children, acquire immense influence, and are not backward in improving “the greatness thrust upon them.” They are all continually importuning their prince for grants of land for themselves and the shrines they are attached to; and every chief, as well as every influential domestic, takes advantage of ephemeral favour to increase the endowments of his tutelary divinity. The Peshwas of Satara are the most striking out of numerous examples.

In the dark ages of Europe the monks are said to have prostituted their knowledge of writing to the forging of charters in their own favour: a practice not easily detected in the days of ignorance.^[18] The Brahmans, in like manner, do not scruple to employ this method of augmenting the wealth of their shrines; and superstition and indolence combine to support the deception 596There is not a doubt that the grand charter of Nathdwara was a forgery, in which the prince’s butler was bribed to aid; and report alleges that the Rana secretly favoured an artifice which regard to opinion prevented him from overtly promulgating. Although the copper-plate had been buried under ground, and came out disguised with a coating of verdigris, there were marks which proved the date of its execution to be false. I have seen charters which, it has been gravely asserted, were granted by Rama upwards of three thousand years ago! Such is the origin assigned to one found in a well at the ancient Brahmpuri, in the valley of the capital. If there be sceptics as to its validity, they are silent ones; and this copper-plate of the brazen age [513] is worth gold to the proprietor.^[19] A census ^[20] of the three central districts of Mewar discovered that more than twenty thousand acres of these fertile lands, irrigated by the Berach and Banas rivers, were distributed in isolated portions, of which the mendicant castes had the chief share, and which proved fertile sources of dispute to the husbandman and the officers of the revenue. From the mass of title-deeds of every description by which these lands were held, one deserves to be selected, on account of its being pretended to have been written and bestowed on the incumbent’s ancestor by the deity upwards of three centuries ago, and which has been maintained as a bona-fide grant of Krishna ^[21] ever since. By such credulity and apathy are the Rajput States influenced: yet let the reader check any rising feeling of contempt for Hindu legislation, and cast a retrospective glance at the page of European church history, where he will observe in the time of the most potent of our monarchs that the clergy possessed one-half of the soil:^[22] and the chronicles of France will show him Charlemagne on his death-bed, bequeathing two-thirds of his domains to the church, deeming the remaining third sufficient for the ambition of four sons. The same dread of futurity, and the hope to expiate the sins of a life, at its 597close, by gifts to the organs of religion, is the motive for these unwise alienations, whether in Europe or in Asia. Some of these establishments, and particularly that at Nathdwara, made a proper use of their revenues in keeping up the Sada-Brat, or perpetual charity, though it is chiefly distributed to religious pilgrims: but among the many complaints made of the misapplication of the funds, the diminution of this hospitable right is one; while, at other shrines, the avarice of the priests is observable in the coarseness of the food dressed for sacrifice and offering.

Tithes levied by Brāhmans.

—Besides the crown-grants to the greater establishments, the Brahmans received petty tithes from the agriculturist, and a small duty from the trader, as mapa or metage, throughout every township, corresponding with the scale of the village-chapel. An inscription found by the author at the town of Palod,^[23] and dated nearly seven centuries back, affords a good specimen of the claims of the village [514] priesthood. The following are among the items. The serana, or a ser, in every maund, being the fortieth part of the grain of the unalu, or summer-harvest; the karpa, or a bundle from every sheaf of the autumnal crops, whether makai (Indian corn), bajra or juar (maize) [millet], or the other grains peculiar to that season.^[24]

They also derive a tithe from the oil-mill and sugar-mill, and receive a kansa or platter of food on all rejoicings, as births, marriages, etc., with charai, or the right of pasturage on the village common; and where they have become possessed of landed property they have halma, or unpaid labour in man and beasts, and implements, for its culture: an exaction well known in Europe as one of the detested corvées of the feudal system of France,^[25] the abolition of which was the sole boon the English husbandman obtained by the charter of Runymede. Both the chieftain and the priest exact halma in Rajasthan; but in that country it is mitigated, and abuse is prevented, by a sentiment unknown to the feudal despot of the middle ages of Europe, and 598which, though difficult to define, acts imperceptibly, having its source in accordance of belief, patriarchal manners, and clannish attachments.

Privileges of Saivas and Jains.

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

Worship of Siva.

—Mahadeva, or Iswara, is the tutelary divinity of the Rajputs in Mewar; and from the early annals of the dynasty appears to have been, with his consort Isani, the sole object of Guhilot adoration. Iswara is adored under the epithet of Eklinga,^[26] and is either worshipped in his monolithic symbol, or as Iswara Chaumukhi, the quadriform divinity, represented by a bust with four faces. The sacred bull, Nandi, has his altar attached to all the shrines of Iswara, as was that of Mneves or Apis to those of the Egyptian Osiris. Nandi has occasionally his separate shrines, and there is one in the valley of Udaipur which has the reputation of being oracular as regards the seasons. The bull was the steed of Iswara, and [515] carried him in battle; he is often represented upon it, with his consort Isani, at full speed. I will not stop to inquire whether the Grecian fable of the rape of Europa ^[27] by the tauriform Jupiter may not be derived, with much more of their mythology, from the Hindu pantheon; whether that pantheon was originally erected on the Indus, or 599the Ganges, or the more central scene of early civilization, the banks of the Oxus. The bull was offered to Mithras by the Persian, and opposed as it now appears to Hindu faith, he formerly bled on the altars of the Sun-god, on which not only the Baldan,^[28] ‘offering of the bull,’ was made, but human sacrifices.^[29] We do not learn that the Egyptian priesthood presented the kindred of Apis to Osiris, but as they were not prohibited from eating beef, they may have done so.

The Temple of Eklinga.

—The shrine of Eklinga is situated in a defile about six [twelve] miles north of Udaipur. The hills towering around it on all sides are of the primitive formation, and their scarped summits are clustered with honeycombs.^[30] There are abundant small springs of water, which keep verdant numerous shrubs, the flowers of which are acceptable to the deity; especially the kaner or oleander, which grows in great 600luxuriance on the Aravalli. Groves of bamboo and mango were formerly common, according to tradition; but although it is deemed sacrilege to thin the groves of Bal,^[31] the bamboo has been nearly destroyed: there are, however, still many trees sacred to the deity scattered around. It would be difficult to convey a just [516] idea of a temple so complicated in its details. It is of the form commonly styled pagoda, and, like all the ancient temples of Siva, its sikhara, or pinnacle, is pyramidal. The various orders of Hindu sacred architecture are distinguished by the form of the sikhara, which is the portion springing from and surmounting the perpendicular walls of the body of the temple. The sikhara of those of Siva is invariably pyramidal, and its sides vary with the base, whether square or oblong. The apex is crowned with an ornamental figure, as a sphinx, an urn, a ball, or a lion, which is called the kalas. When the sikhara is but the frustum of a pyramid, it is often surmounted by a row of lions, as at Bijolia. The fane of Eklinga is of white marble and of ample dimensions. Under an open-vaulted temple supported by columns, and fronting the four-faced divinity, is the brazen bull Nandi, of the natural size; it is cast, and of excellent proportions. The figure is perfect, except where the shot or hammer of an infidel invader has penetrated its hollow flank in search of treasure. Within the quadrangle are miniature shrines, containing some of the minor divinities.^[32] The high-priest of Eklinga, like all his order, is doomed to celibacy, and 601the office is continued by adopted disciples. Of such spiritual descents they calculate sixty-four since the Sage Harita, whose benediction obtained for the Guhilot Rajput the sovereignty of Chitor, when driven from Saurashtra by the Parthians.

The priests of Eklinga are termed Gosain or Goswami, which signifies ‘control over the senses’! The distinguishing mark of the faith of Siva is the crescent on the forehead:^[33] the hair is braided and forms a tiara round the head, and with its folds a chaplet of the lotus-seed is often entwined. They smear the body with ashes, and use garments dyed of an orange hue. They bury their dead in a sitting [517] posture, and erect tumuli over them, which are generally conical in form.^[34] It is not uncommon for priestesses to officiate in the temple of Siva. There is a numerous class of Gosains who have adopted celibacy, and who yet follow secular employments both in commerce and arms. The mercantile Gosains ^[35] are amongst the richest individuals in India, and there are several at Udaipur who enjoy high favour, and who were found very useful when the Mahrattas demanded a war-contribution, as their privileged character did not prevent their being offered and taken as hostages for its payment. The Gosains who profess arms, partake of the character of the knights of St. John of Jerusalem. They live in monasteries scattered over the country, possess lands, and beg, or serve for pay when called upon. As defensive soldiers, they are good. Siva, their patron, is the god of war, and like him they make great use of intoxicating herbs, and even of spirituous liquors. In Mewar they can always muster many hundreds of the Kanphara ^[36] Jogi, or ‘split-ear ascetics,’ so called from the habit of piercing the ear and placing therein a ring of the conch-shell, which is their battle-trumpet. 602Both Brahmans and Rajputs, and even Gujars, can belong to this order, a particular account of whose internal discipline and economy could not fail to be interesting. The poet Chand gives an animated description of the body-guard of the King of Kanauj, which was composed of these monastic warriors.

Priestly Functions of the Mewār Rānas.

—The Ranas of Mewar, as the diwans, or vicegerents of Siva, when they visit the temple supersede the high priest in his duties, and perform the ceremonies, which the reigning prince does with peculiar correctness and grace.^[37]

Privileges of Jains.

—The shrine of Eklinga is endowed with twenty-four large villages from the fisc, besides parcels of land from the chieftains; but the privileges of the tutelary divinity have been waning since Kanhaiya fixed his residence amongst them; and as the priests of Apollo complained that the god was driven from the sacred mount [518] Govardhana, in Vraj, by the influence of those of Jupiter ^[38] with Shah Jahan, the latter may now lament that the day of retribution has arrived, when propitiation to the Preserver is deemed more important than to the Destroyer. This may arise from the personal character of the high priests, who, from their vicinity to the court, can scarcely avoid mingling in its intrigues, and thence lose in character: even the Ranis do not hesitate to take mortgages on the estates of Bholanath.^[39] We shall not further enlarge on the immunities to Eklinga, or the forms in which they are conveyed, as these will be fully discussed in the account of the shrine of Krishna; but proceed to notice the privileges of the heterodox Jains—the Vidyavan ^[40] or Magi of Rajasthan. The numbers and power of 603these sectarians are little known to Europeans, who take it for granted that they are few and dispersed. To prove the extent of their religious and political power, it will suffice to remark that the pontiff of the Khadatara-gachchha,^[41] one of the many branches of this faith, has 11,000 clerical disciples scattered over India; that a single community, the Osi or Oswal,^[42] numbers 100,000 families; and that more than half [519] of the mercantile wealth of India passes through the hands of the Jain laity. Rajasthan and Saurashtra are the cradles of the Buddhist or Jain faith, and three out of their five sacred mounts, namely, Abu, Palitana,^[43] and Girnar, are in these countries. The officers 604of the State and revenue are chiefly of the Jain laity, as are the majority of the bankers, from Lahore to the ocean. The chief magistrate and assessors of justice, in Udaipur and most of the towns of Rajasthan, are of this sect; and as their voluntary duties are confined to civil cases, they are as competent in these as they are the reverse in criminal cases, from their tenets forbidding the shedding of blood. To this leading feature in their religion they owe their political debasement: for Kumarpal, the last king of Anhilwara of the Jain faith, would not march his armies in the rains, from the unavoidable sacrifice of animal life that must have ensued. The strict Jain does not even maintain a lamp during that season, lest it should attract moths to their destruction.

Absence of Intolerance.

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

Mewar has, from the most remote period, afforded a refuge to 605the followers of the Jain faith, which was the religion of Valabhi, the first capital of the Rana’s ancestors, and many monuments attest the support this family has granted to its [520] professors in all the vicissitudes of their fortunes. One of the best preserved monumental remains in India is a column most elaborately sculptured, full seventy feet in height, dedicated to Parsvanath, in Chitor.^[44] The noblest remains of sacred architecture, not in Mewar only, but throughout Western India, are Buddhist or Jain:^[45] and the many ancient cities where this religion was fostered, have inscriptions which evince their prosperity in these countries, with whose history their own is interwoven. In fine, the necrological records of the Jains bear witness to their having occupied a distinguished place in Rajput society; and the privileges they still enjoy, prove that they are not overlooked. It is not my intention to say more on the past or present history of these sectarians, than may be necessary to show the footing on which their establishments are placed; to which end little is required beyond copies of a few simple warrants and ordinances in their favour.^[46] Hereafter I may endeavour to add something to the knowledge already possessed of these deists of Rajasthan, whose singular communities contain mines of knowledge hitherto inaccessible to Europeans. The libraries of Jaisalmer in the desert, of Anhilwara, the cradle of their faith, of Cambay, and other places of minor importance, consist of thousands of volumes. These are under the control, not of the priests alone, but of communities of the most wealthy and respectable amongst the laity, and are preserved in the crypts of their temples, which precaution ensured their preservation, as well as that of the statues of their deified teachers, when the temples themselves were destroyed by the Muhammadan invaders, who paid more deference to the images of Buddha than those of Siva or Vishnu. The preservation of the former may be owing to the natural formation of their statues; for while many of Adinath, of Nemi, and of Parsva have escaped the hammer, there is scarcely an 606Apollo or a Venus, of any antiquity, entire, from Lahore to Rameswaram. The two arms of these theists sufficed for their protection; while the statues of the polytheists have met with no mercy.

Grant of Rāna Rāj Singh.

—No. V.^[47] is the translation of a grant by the celebrated Rana Raj Singh, the gallant and successful opponent of Aurangzeb in many a battle. It is at once of a general and special nature, containing a confirmation of the old privileges of the sect, and a mark of favour to a priest of some distinction, called Mana. It is well known [521] that the first law of the Jains, like that of the ancient Athenian lawgiver Triptolemus, is, “Thou shalt not kill,” a precept applicable to every sentient thing. The first clause of this edict, in conformity thereto, prohibits all innovation upon this cherished principle; while the second declares that even the life which is forfeited to the laws is immortal (amara) if the victim but passes near their abodes. The third article defines the extent of saran, or sanctuary, the dearest privilege of the races of these regions. The fourth article sanctions the tithes, both on agricultural and commercial produce; and makes no distinction between the Jain priests and those of Siva and Vishnu in this source of income, which will be more fully detailed in the account of Nathdwara. The fifth article is the particular gift to the priest; and the whole closes with the usual anathema against such as may infringe the ordinance.

The Jain Retreat.

—The edicts Nos. VI. and VII.,^[48] engraved on pillars of stone in the towns of Rasmi and Bakrol, further illustrate the scrupulous observances of the Rana’s house towards the Jains; where, in compliance with their peculiar doctrine, the oil-mill and the potter’s wheel suspend their revolutions for the four months in the year when insects most abound.^[49] Many others of a similar character could be furnished, but these remarks may be concluded with an instance of the influence of the Jains on Rajput society, which passed immediately under the Author’s 607eye. In the midst of a sacrifice to the god of war, when the victims were rapidly falling by the scimitar, a request preferred by one of them for the life of a goat or a buffalo on the point of immolation, met instant compliance, and the animal, become amara or immortal, with a garland thrown round his neck, was led off in triumph from the blood-stained spot.

Nāthdwāra.

—This is the most celebrated of the fanes of the Hindu Apollo. Its etymology is ‘the portal (dwara) of the god’ (nath), of the same import as his more ancient shrine of Dwarka ^[50] at the ‘world’s end.’ Nathdwara is twenty-two [thirty] miles N.N.E. of Udaipur, on the right bank of the Banas. Although the principal resort of the followers of Vishnu, it has nothing very remarkable in its structure or situation. It owes its celebrity entirely to the image of Krishna, said to [522] be the same that has been worshipped at Mathura ever since his deification, between eleven and twelve hundred years before Christ.^[51] As containing the representative of the mildest of the gods of Hind, Nathdwara is one of the most frequented places of pilgrimage, though it must want that attraction to the classical Hindu which the caves of Gaya, the shores of the distant Dwarka, or the pastoral Vraj,^[52] the place of the nativity of Krishna, present to his imagination; for though the groves of Vindra,^[53] in which 608Kanhaiya disported with the Gopis, no longer resound to the echoes of his flute; though the waters of the Yamuna ^[54] are daily polluted with the blood of the sacred kine, still it is the holy land of the pilgrim, the sacred Jordan of his fancy, on whose banks he may sit and weep, as did the banished Israelite of old, the glories of Mathura, his Jerusalem!

It was in the reign of Aurangzeb that the pastoral divinity was exiled from Vraj, that classic soil which, during a period of two thousand eight hundred years, had been the sanctuary of his worshippers. He had been compelled to occasional flights during the visitations of Mahmud and the first dynasties of Afghan invaders; though the more tolerant of the Mogul kings not only reinstated him, but were suspected of dividing their faith between Kanhaiya and the prophet. Akbar was an enthusiast in the mystic poetry of Jayadeva, which paints in glowing colours the loves of Kanhaiya and Radha, in which lovely personification the refined Hindu abjures all sensual interpretation, asserting its character of pure spiritual love.^[55]

The Mughals and Krishna Worship.

—Jahangir, by birth half a Rajput, was equally indulgent to the worship of Kanhaiya: but Shah Jahan, also the son of a Rajput princess, inclined to the [523] doctrines of Siva, in which he was initiated by Siddhrup the Sannyasi. Sectarian animosity is more virulent than faiths totally dissimilar. Here we see Hindu depressing Hindu: the followers of Siva oppressing those of Kanhaiya; the priests of Jupiter driving the pastoral Apollo from the Parnassus of Vraj. At the intercession, however, of a princess of Udaipur, he was replaced on his altar, where he remained till Aurangzeb became emperor of the Moguls. In such detestation did the Hindus hold 609this intolerant king, that in like manner as they supposed the beneficent Akbar to be the devout Mukund in a former birth, so they make the tyrant’s body enclose the soul of Kalyavana the foe of Krishna, ere his apotheosis, from whom he fled to Dwarka, and thence acquired the name of Ranchhor.^[56]

The Image of Krishna removed to Mewār. Founding of Nāthdwāra.

—When Aurangzeb proscribed Kanhaiya, and rendered his shrines impure throughout Vraj, Rana Raj Singh “offered the heads of one hundred thousand Rajputs for his service,” and the god was conducted by the route of Kotah and Rampura to Mewar. An omen decided the spot of his future residence. As he journeyed to gain the capital of the Sesodias the chariot-wheel sunk deep into the earth and defied extrication; upon which the Saguni (augur) interpreted the pleasure of the god, that he desired to dwell there. This circumstance occurred at an inconsiderable village called Siarh, in the fief of Delwara, one of the sixteen nobles of Mewar. Rejoiced at this decided manifestation of favour, the chief hastened to make a perpetual gift of the village and its lands, which was speedily confirmed by the patent of the Rana.^[57] Nathji (the god) was removed from his car, and in due time a temple was erected for his reception, when the hamlet of Siarh became the town of Nathdwara, which now contains many thousand inhabitants of all denominations, who, reposing under the especial protection of the god, are exempt from every mortal tribunal. The site is not uninteresting, nor devoid of the means of defence. To the east it is shut in by a cluster of hills, and to the westward flows the Banas, which nearly bathes the extreme points of the hills. Within these bounds is the sanctuary (saran) of Kanhaiya, where the criminal is free from pursuit; nor dare the rod of justice appear on the mount, or the foot of the pursuer pass the stream; neither within it can blood be spilt, for the pastoral Kanhaiya delights not in offerings of 610this kind [524].^[58] The territory contains within its precincts abundant space for the town, the temple, and the establishments of the priests, as well as for the numerous resident worshippers, and the constant influx of votaries from the most distant regions,

who find abundant shelter from the noontide blaze in the groves of tamarind, pipal, and semal,^[59] where they listen to the mystic hymns of Jayadeva. Here those whom ambition has cloyed, superstition unsettled, satiety disgusted, commerce ruined, or crime disquieted, may be found as ascetic attendants on the mildest of the gods of India. Determined upon renouncing the world, they first renounce the ties that bind them to it, whether family, friends, or fortune, and placing their wealth at the disposal of the deity, stipulate only for a portion of the food dressed for him, and to be permitted to prostrate themselves before him till their allotted time is expired. Here no blood-stained sacrifice scares the timid devotee; no austerities terrify, or tedious ceremonies fatigue him; he is taught to cherish the hope that he has only to ask for mercy in order to obtain it; and to believe that the compassionate deity who guarded the lapwing’s nest ^[60] in the 611midst of myriads of combatants, who gave beatitude to the courtesan ^[61] who as the wall crushed her pronounced the name of ‘Rama,’ will not withhold it from him who has quitted the world and its allurements that he may live only in his presence, be fed by the food prepared for himself, and yield up his last sigh invoking the name of Hari. There [525] have been two hundred individuals at a time, many of whom, stipulating merely for food, raiment, and funeral rites, have abandoned all to pass their days in devotion at the shrine: men of every condition, Rajput merchant, and mechanic; and where sincerity of devotion is the sole expiation, and gifts outweigh penance, they must feel the road smooth to the haven of hope.

Benefactions to Nāthdwāra.

—The dead stock of Krishna’s shrine is augmented chiefly by those who hold life “unstable as the dew-drop on the lotus”; and who are happy to barter “the wealth of Ormuz and of Ind” for the intercessional prayers of the high priest, and his passport to Haripur, the heaven of Hari. From the banks of the Indus to the mouths of the Ganges, from the coasts of the Peninsula to the shores of the Red Sea, the gifts of gratitude or of fear are lavishly poured in; and though the unsettled aspect of the last half-century curtailed the transmission of the more bulky but least valuable benefactions, it less affected the bills of exchange from the successful sons of commerce, or the legacies of the dead. The safe arrival of a galleon from Sofala or Arabia produced as much to the shrine as to the insurance office, for Kanhaiya is the Saint Nicholas of the Hindu navigator, as was Apollo to the Grecian and Celtic sailors, who purchased the charmed arrows of the god to calm the troubled 612sea.^[62] A storm accordingly yields in proportion to its violence, or to the nerve of the owner of the vessel. The appearance of a long-denied heir might deprive him of half his patrimony, and force him to lament his parent’s distrust in natural causes; while the accidental mistake of touching forbidden food on particular fasts requires expiation, not by flagellation or seclusion, but by the penance of the purse.

There is no donation too great or too trifling for the acceptance of Krishna, from the baronial estate to a patch of meadowland; from the gemmed coronet to adorn his image, to the widow’s mite; nor, as before observed, is there a principality [526] in India which does not diminish its fisc to add to his revenues. What effect the milder rites of the shepherd-god have produced on the adorers of Siva we know not, but assuredly Eklinga, the tutelary divinity of Mewar, has to complain of being defrauded of half his dues since Kanhaiya transferred his abode from the Yamuna to the Banas; for the revenues assigned to Kanhaiya, who under the epithet of ‘Yellow mantle’^[63] has a distinguished niche in the domestic chapel of the Rana, far exceed those of the Avenger. The grants or patents of Hindupati,^[64] defining the 613privileges and immunities of the shrine, are curious documents.^[65]

Rights of Sanctuary.

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

Violation of Sanctuary.

—In all ages and countries the rights of sanctuary have been admitted, and however they may be abused, their institution sprung from humane motives. To check the impulse of revenge and to shelter the weak from oppression are noble objects, and the surest test of a nation’s independence is the extent to which they are carried. From the remotest times saran has been the most valued privilege of the Rajputs, the lowest of whom deems his house a refuge against the most powerful. But we merely propose to discuss the sanctuary of holy places, and more immediately that of the shrine of Kanhaiya. When Moses, after the Exodus, made a division of the lands of Canaan amongst the Israelites, and appointed “six cities to be the refuge of him who had slain unwittingly, from the avenger of blood,”^[66] the intention was not to afford facilities for eluding justice, but to check the hasty impulse of revenge; for the slayer was only to be protected “until he stood before the congregation for judgment, or until the death of the high-priest” [527], which event appears to have been considered as the termination of revenge.^[67] The infraction of political sanctuary (saran torna) 614often gives rise to the most inveterate feuds; and its abuse by the priests is highly prejudicial to society. Moses appointed but six cities of refuge to the whole Levite tribe; but the Rana has assigned more to one shrine than the entire possessions of that branch of the Israelites who had but forty-two cities, while Kanhaiya has forty-six.^[68] The motive of sanctuary in Rajasthan may have been originally the same as that of the divine legislator; but the privilege has been abused, and the most notorious criminals deem the temple their best safeguard. Yet some princes have been found hardy enough to violate, though indirectly, the sacred saran. Zalim Singh of Kotah, a zealot in all the observances of religion, had the boldness to draw the line when selfish priestcraft interfered with his police; and though he would not demand the culprit, or sacrilegiously drag him from the altar, he has forced him thence by prohibiting the admission of food, and threatening to build up the door of the temple. It was thus the Greeks evaded the laws, and compelled the criminal’s surrender by kindling fires around the sanctuary.^[69] The towns of Kanhaiya did not often abuse their privilege; but the Author once had to interpose, where a priest of Eklinga gave asylum to a felon who had committed murder within the bounds of his domain of Pahona. As this town, of eight thousand rupees annual revenue belonging to the fisc, had been gained by a forged charter, the Author was glad to seize on the occasion to recommend its resumption, though he thereby incurred the penalty for seizing church land, namely “sixty thousand years in hell.” The unusual occurrence created a sensation, but it was so indisputably just that not a voice was raised in opposition.

Endowments of Nāthdwāra.

—Let us revert to the endowments of Nathdwara. Herodotus ^[70] furnishes a powerful instance of 615the estimation in which sacred offerings were held by the nations of antiquity. He observes that these were transmitted from the remotest nations of Scythia to Delos in Greece; a range far less extensive than the offerings to the [528] Dewal of Apollo in Mewar. The spices of the isles of the Indian archipelago; the balmy spoils of Araby the blest; the nard or frankincense of Tartary; the raisins and pistachios of Persia; every variety of saccharine preparation, from the shakkarkhand (sugar-candy) of the celestial empire, with which the god sweetens his evening repast, to the more common sort which enters into the peras of Mathura, the food of his infancy;^[71] the shawls of Kashmir, the silks of Bengal, the scarfs of Benares, the brocades of Gujarat,

all contribute to enrich the shrine of Nathdwara. But it is with the votaries of the maritime provinces of India that he has most reason to be satisfied; in the commercial cities of Surat, Cambay, Muskat-mandavi, etc., etc., where the Mukhyas, or comptrollers deputed by the high priest, reside, to collect the benefactions, and transmit them as occasion requires. A deputy resides on the part of the high priest at Multan, who invests the distant worshippers with the initiative cordon and necklace. Even from Samarkand the pilgrims repair with their offerings; and a sum, seldom less than ten thousand rupees, is annually transmitted by the votaries from the Arabian ports of Muscat, Mocha, and Jiddah; which contribution is probably augmented not only by the votaries who dwell at the mouths of the Volga ^[72] [529], 616but by the Samoyede ^[73] of Siberia. There is not a petty retailer professing the Vishnu creed who does not carry a tithe of his 617trade to the stores: and thus caravans of thirty and forty cars, double-yoked, pass twice or thrice annually by the upper road to Nathdwara. These pious bounties are not allowed to moulder in the bhandars: the apparel is distributed with a liberal hand as the gift of the deity to those who evince their devotion; and the edibles enter daily into the various food prepared at the shrine.

Food offered to Deities.

—It has been remarked by the celebrated Goguet ^[74] that the custom of offering food to the object of divine homage had its origin in a principle of gratitude, the repast being deemed hallowed by presenting the first portion to him who gave it, since the devotee was unable to conceive aught more acceptable than that whereby life is sustained. From the earliest period such offerings have been tendered; and in the burnt-offering (hom) of Abel, of the firstling of the flock, and the first portion of the repast presented by the Rajput to Annadeva ^[75] ‘the nourisher,’ the motive is the same. But the parsad (such is the denomination of the food sacred to Kanhaiya) is deemed unlucky, if not unholy; a prejudice arising from the heterogeneous sources whence it is supplied—often from bequests of the dead. The Mukhyas [530] of the temple accordingly carry the sacred food to wheresoever the votaries dwell, which proves an irresistible stimulus to backward zeal, and produces an ample return. At 618the same time are transmitted, as from the god, dresses of honour corresponding in material and value with the rank of the receiver: a diadem, or fillet of satin and gold, embroidered; a dagla, or quilted coat of gold or silver brocade for the cold weather; a scarf of blue and gold; or if to one who prizes the gift less for its intrinsic worth than as a mark of special favour, a fragment of the garland worn on some festival by the god; or a simple necklace, by which he is inaugurated amongst the elect.^[76]

Lands dedicated to the Shrine.

—It has been mentioned that the lands of Mewar appropriated to the shrine are equal in value to a baronial appanage, and, as before observed, there is not a principality in India which does not assign a portion of its domain or revenue to this object. The Hara princes of Kotah and Bundi are almost exclusive worshippers of Kanhaiya, and the regent Zalim Singh is devoted to the maintenance of the dignity of the establishment. Everything at Kotah appertains to Kanhaiya. The prince has but the usufruct of the palace, for which £12,000 are annually transmitted to the shrine. The grand lake east of the town, with all its finny tenants, is under his especial protection;^[77] and the extensive suburb adjoining, with its rents, lands, and transit duties, all belong to the god. Zalim Singh moreover transmits to the high priest the most valuable shawls, broadcloths, and horses; and throughout the long period of predatory warfare he maintained two Nishans,^[78] of a hundred firelocks each, for the protection of the temple.temple. His favourite son also, a child of love, is called Gordhandas, the ‘slave of Gordhan,’ one of the many titles of Kanhaiya. The prince of Marwar went mad from the murder of the high priest of Jalandhara, the epithet 619given to Kanhaiya in that State; and the Raja of Sheopur,^[79] the last of the Gaurs, lost his sovereignty by abandoning the worship of Har for that of Hari. The ‘slave’ of Radha ^[80] (such was the name of this prince) almost lived in the temple, and used to dance before the statue. Had he upheld the rights of him who wields [531] the trident, the tutelary deity of his capital, Sivapur, instead of the unwarlike divinity whose unpropitious title of Ranchhor should never be borne by the martial Rajput, his fall would have been more dignified, though it could not have been retarded when the overwhelming torrent of the Mahrattas under Sindhia swept Rajwara.^[81]

Grants to the High Priest.

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

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

Effects of Krishna-worship on the Rājputs.

—The predominance 620of the mild doctrines of Kanhaiya over the dark rites of Siva, is doubtless beneficial to Rajput society. Were the prevention of female immolation the sole good resulting from their prevalence, that alone would conciliate our partiality; a real worshipper of Vishnu should forbid his wife following him to the pyre, as did recently the Bundi prince. In fact, their tenderness to animal life is carried to nearly as great an excess as with the Jains, who shed no blood. Celibacy is not imposed upon the priests of Kanhaiya, as upon those of Siva: on the contrary, they are enjoined to marry, and the priestly office is hereditary by descent. Their wives do not burn, but are committed, like themselves, to the earth. They inculcate tenderness towards all beings; though whether this feeling influences the mass, must depend on the soil which receives the seed, for the outward ceremonies of religion cost far less effort than the practice or essentials. I have often [532] smiled at the incessant aspirations of the Macchiavelli of Rajasthan, Zalim Singh, who, while he ejaculated the name of the god as he told his beads, was inwardly absorbed by mundane affairs; and when one word would have prevented a civil war, and saved his reputation from the stain of disloyalty to his prince, he was, to use his own words, “at fourscore years and upwards, laying the foundation for another century of life.” And thus it is with the prince of Marwar, who esteems the life of a man or a goat of equal value when prompted by revenge to take it. Hope may silence the reproaches of conscience, and gifts and ceremonies may be deemed atonement for a deviation from the first principle of their religion—a benevolence which should comprehend every animated thing. But fortunately the princely worshippers of Kanhaiya are few in number: it is to the sons of commerce we must look for the effects of these doctrines; and it is my pride and duty to declare that I have known men of both sects, Vaishnava and Jain, whose integrity was spotless, and whose philanthropy was unbounded.

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

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

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

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

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

Krishna.

—Hari, Krishna, familiarly Kanhaiya,^[1] was of the celebrated tribe of Yadu, the founder of the fifty-six tribes ^[2] who obtained the universal sovereignty of India, and descended from Yayati, the third son ^[3] of Swayambhuva Manu,^[4] or ‘The Man, Lord of the earth,’ whose daughter Ila ^[5] (Terra) was espoused by Budha (Mercury), son of Chandra ^[6] (the Moon), whence the Yadus are styled Chandravansi, or ‘children of the moon.’ Budha was therefore worshipped as the great [533] ancestor (Pitrideva) of the lunar race; and previous to the apotheosis of Krishna, was adored by all the Yadu race. The principal shrine of Budha was at Dwarka, where he still receives adoration as Budha Trivikrama.^[7] Kanhaiya lived towards the conclusion of the brazen age, calculated to have been about 1100 to 1200 years before Christ.^[8] He was born to the inheritance of Vraj, 622the country of the Suraseni, comprehending the territory round Mathura for a space of eighty miles, of which he was unjustly deprived in his infancy by his relative Kansa. From its vicinity to Delhi we may infer either that there was no lord paramount amongst the Yadus of this period, or that Krishna’s family held as vassals of Hastinapur, then, with Indraprastha or Delhi, the chief seat of Yadu power. There were two princes named Surasen amongst the immediate predecessors of Krishna: one, his grandfather, the other eight generations anterior. Which of these was the founder of Suryapur on the Yamuna, the capital of the Yadus,^[9] we know not, but we may assume that the first gave his name to the region around Mathura, described by Arrian as the country of the Suraseni. Alexander was in India probably about eight centuries after the deification of Krishna, and it is satisfactory to find that the inquiries he instituted into the genealogy of the dynasty then ruling on the [534] Yamuna correspond very closely with those of the Yadus of this distant period; and combined with what Arrian says of the origin of the Pandus, it appears indisputable that the descendants of this powerful branch of the Yadus ruled on the Yamuna when the Macedonian erected the 623altars of Greece on the Indus. That the personage whose epithets of Krishna-Syam designate his colour as ‘the Black Prince,’ was in fact a distinguished chief of the Yadus, there is not a shadow of doubt; nor that, after his death, they placed him among the gods as an incarnation of Vishnu or the Sun; and from this period we may induce the Hindu notion of their Trinity. Arrian ^[10] enumerates the names of Boudyas (Βουδύας) and Kradeuas (Κραδεύας) amongst the early ancestors of the tribe then in power, which would alone convince us that Alexander had access to the genealogies of the Puranas; for we can have little hesitation in affirming these to be Budha and Kroshti, ancestors of Krishna; and that “Mathora and Cleisobora, the chief cities of the Suraseni,” are the Mathura and Suryapur occupied by the descendants of Sursen.^[11] Had Arrian afforded as many hints for discussing the analogy between the Hindu and Grecian Apollos as he has for the Hercules of Thebes and India, we might have come to a conclusion that the three chief divinities ^[12] of Egypt, Greece, and India had their altars first erected on the Indus, Ganges, and Jumna.

Sun and Moon Worship.

—The earliest objects of adoration in these regions were the sun and moon, whose names designated the two grand races, Surya and Chandra of Indu. Budha, son of Indu, married Ila, a grandchild of Surya, from which union sprung the Indu race. They deified their ancestor Budha, who continued to be the chief object of adoration until Krishna: hence the worship of Balnath ^[13] and Budha ^[14] were coeval. That the Nomadic tribes of Arabia, as well as those of Tartary and India, adored the same objects, we learn from the earliest writers; and Job, the probable contemporary of Hasti, the founder of the first capital of the Yadus on the Ganges, boasts in the midst of his griefs that he had always remained uncorrupted by the Sabaeism which surrounded him. “If I beheld the sun when it shined, or the moon walking in brightness, and my mouth had kissed my hand, this also were an iniquity to be punished by the 624judge, for I should have denied the [535] God that is above.”^[15] That there were many Hindus who, professing a pure monotheism like Job, never kissed the hand either to Surya or his herald Budha, we may easily credit from the sublimity of the notions of the ‘One God,’ expressed both by the ancients and moderns, by poets and by princes, of both races;^[16] but more especially by the sons of Budha, who for ages bowed not before graven images, and deemed it impious to raise a temple to

Hence the Jains, the chief sect of the Buddhists,^[17] so called from adoring the spirit (Jina), were untinctured with idolatry until the apotheosis of Krishna,^[18] whose mysteries superseded the simpler worship of Budha. Neminath (the deified Nemi) was the pontiff of Budha, and not only the contemporary of Krishna, but a Yadu, and his near relation; and both had epithets denoting their complexion; for Arishta, the surname of Nemi, has the same import as Syam and Krishna, ‘the black,’ though the latter is of a less Ethiopic hue than Nemi.^[19] It was anterior to this schism amongst the sons of Budha that the creative power was degraded under sensual forms, when the pillar rose to Bal or Surya in Syria and on the Ganges: and the serpent, “subtlest beast of all the field,” worshipped as the emblem of wisdom (Budha), was conjoined with the symbol of the creative power, as at the shrine of Eklinga, where the brazen serpent is wreathed round the lingam.^[20] Budha’s descendants, the Indus, preserved 625the Ophite sign of their race, when Krishna’s followers adopted the eagle as his symbol. These, with the adorers of Surya, form the three idolatrous classes of India, not confined to its modern [536] restricted definition, but that of antiquity, when Industhan or Indu-Scythia extended from the Ganges to the Caspian. In support of the position that the existing polytheism was unknown on the rise of Vaishnavism, we may state, that in none of the ancient genealogies do the names of such deities appear as proper names in society, a practice now common; and it is even recorded that the rites of magic, the worship of the host of heaven, and of idols, were introduced from Kashmir, between the periods of Krishna and Vikrama. The powers of nature were personified, and each quality, mental and physical, had its emblem, which the Brahmans taught the ignorant to adopt as realities, till the pantheon become so crowded that life would be too short to acquire even the nomenclature of their ‘thirty-three millions of gods.’^[21] No object was too high or too base, from the glorious Orb to the Rampi, or paring-knife of the shoemaker. In illustration of the increase of polytheism, I shall describe the seven forms under which Krishna is worshipped, whose statues are established in the various capitals of Rajasthan, and are occasionally brought together at the festival of Annakuta at Nathdwara.

The international wars of the Suryas and the Yadu races, as described in the Ramayana and Mahabharata, are lost between allegory and literal interpretation. The Suryas, or Saivas, were depressed; and the Indus, who counted ‘fifty-six’ grand tribes, under the appellations of Takshak, ‘serpent,’ Aswa, ‘horse,’ Sasa, ‘hare,’ etc., etc., had paramount sway. Krishna’s schism produced a new type, that of the eagle, and the wars of 626the schismatics were depicted under their respective emblems, the eagle and serpent, of which latter were the Kauravas and Takshaks,^[22] the political adversaries of the Pandus, the relatives of Krishna. The [537] allegory of Krishna’s eagle pursuing the serpent Budha, and recovering the books of science and religion with which he fled, is an historical fact disguised: namely, that of Krishna incorporating the doctrines of Budha with his own after the expulsion of the sect from India. Dare we further attempt to lift the veil from this mystery, and trace from the seat of redemption of lost science its original source?^[23] The Gulf of Cutch, the point where the serpent attempted to escape, has been from time immemorial to the present day the entrepôt for the commerce of Sofala, the Red Sea, Egypt, and Arabia. There 627Budha Trivikrama, or Mercury, has been and is yet invoked by the Indian mariners, especially the pirates of Dwarka. Did Budha or Mercury come from, or escape to the Nile? Is he the Hermes of Egypt to whom the ‘four books of science,’ like the four Vedas ^[24] of the Hindus, were sacred? The statues of Nemi,^[25] the representative of Budha, exactly resemble in feature the bust of young Memnon.^[26]

I have already observed that Krishna, before his own deification, worshipped his great ancestor Budha; and his temple at Dwarka rose over the ancient shrine of the latter, which yet stands. In an inscription from the cave of Gaya their characters are conjoined: “Hari who is Budha.” According to Western mythology, Apollo and Mercury exchanged symbols, the caduceus for the lyre; so likewise in India their characters intermingle: and even the Saiva propitiates Hari as the mediator and disposer of the ‘divine spark’ (jyoti) to its reunion with the ‘parent-flame’:—thus, like Mercury, he may be said to be the conveyer of the souls of the dead. Accordingly in funeral lamentation his name only is invoked, and Hari-bol! Hari-bol! is emphatically pronounced by those conveying the corpse to its final abode. The vahan (qu. the Saxon van?) or celestial car of Krishna, in which the souls (ansa) of the just are conveyed to Suryamandal, the ‘mansion of the sun,’ is painted like himself, blue (indicative of space, or as Ouranos), with the eagle’s head; and here he partakes of the Mercury of the [538] Greeks, and of Oulios, the preserver or saviour, one of the titles of Apollo at Delos.^[27]

628

The Forms of Krishna.

—The Tatar nations, who are all of Indu race, like the Rajputs and German tribes, adored the moon as a male divinity, and to his son, Budha, they assign the same character of mediator. The serpent is alike the symbol of the Budha of the Hindus, the Hermes of the Egyptians, and the Mercury of Greece: and the allegory of the dragon’s teeth, the origin of letters, brought by Cadmus from Egypt, is a version of the Hindu fable of Kanhaiya (Apollo) wresting the Vedas (secrets) from Budha or wisdom (Hermes), under his sign, the serpent or dragon. We might still further elucidate the resemblance, and by an analysis of the titles and attributes of the Hindu Apollo, prove that from the Yamuna may have been supplied the various incarnations of this divinity, which peopled the pantheons of Egypt, Greece, and Rome. As Nomios, who attended the herds of Admetus, we have Nonita,^[28] the infantine appellation of Kanhaiya, when he pastured the kine of Kesava in the woods of Vindra, whence the ceremony of the sons of princes assuming the crook, and on particular days tending the flocks.^[29] As Muralidhara, or the ‘flute-holder,’ Kanhaiya is the god of music; and in giving him the shepherd’s reed instead of the vina or lyre, we may conjecture that the simple bamboo (bans) which formed the first flute (bansli) was in use before the chahtara,^[30] the Grecian cithara,^[31] the first invented lyre of Apollo. Thus from the six-wired 629instrument of the Hindus we have the Greek cithara, the English cithern, and the Spanish guitar of modern [539] days. The Greeks, following the Egyptians, had but six notes, with their lettered symbols; and it was reserved for the Italians to add a seventh. Guido Aretine, a monk in the thirteenth century, has the credit of this. I, however, believe the Hindus numbered theirs from the heavenly bodies—the Sun, Moon, Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn,—hence they had the regular octave, with its semi-tones: and as, in the pruriency of their fancy, they converted the ascending and descending notes into grahas, or planetary bodies, so they may have added them to the harmonious numbers, and produced the nauragini, their nine modes of music.^[32] Could we affirm that the hymns composed and set to music by Jayadeva, nearly three thousand years ago,^[33] and still chanted in honour of the Apollo of Vraj, had been handed down with the sentiments of these mystic compositions (and Sir W. Jones sanctions the idea), we should say, from their simplicity, that the musicians of that age had only the diatonic scale; but we have every reason to believe, from the very elaborate character of their written music, which is painful and discordant to the ear from its minuteness of subdivision, that they had also the chromatic scale, said to have been invented by Timotheus in the time of Alexander, who might have carried it from the banks of the Indus.

The Rāsmandal Dance.

—In the mystic dance, the Rasmandal, yet imitated on the annual festival sacred to the sun-god Hari, he is represented with a radiant crown in a dancing attitude, playing on the flute to the nymphs encircling him, each holding a musical instrument.

These nymphs are also called the nauragini, from raga, a mode of song over which each presides, and naurasa, or ‘nine passions,’ excited by the powers [540] of harmony. May we not in this trace the origin of Apollo and the sacred nine? In the manner described above, the rasmandal is typical of the zodiacal phenomena; and in each sign a musical nymph is sculptured in alto-relievo, in the vaulted temples dedicated to the god,^[34] or in secular edifices by way of ornament, as in the triumphal column of Chitor. On the festival of the Janam,^[35] or ‘birth-day,’ there is a scenic representation of Kanhaiya and the Gopis: when are rehearsed in the mellifluous accents of the Ionic land of Vraj, the songs of Jayadeva, as addressed by Kanhaiya to Radha and her companions. A specimen of these, as translated by that elegant scholar, Sir W. Jones, may not be considered inappropriate here.

The Songs of Jayadeva.

—I have had occasion to remark elsewhere,^[36] that the Rajput bards, like the heroic Scalds of the north, lose no opportunity of lauding themselves; of which Jayadeva, the bard of the Yadus, has set an eminent example in the opening of ‘the songs of Govinda.’

“If thy soul be delighted with the remembrance of Hari, or sensible to the raptures of love, listen to the voice of Jayadeva, whose notes are both sweet and brilliant.”

631The poet opens the first interview of Krishna and Radha with an animated description of a night in the rainy season, in which Hari is represented as a wanderer, and Radha, daughter of the shepherd Nanda, is sent to offer him shelter in their cot.^[37] Nanda thus speaks to Radha: “The firmament is obscured by clouds; the woodlands are black with Tamala trees; that youth who roves in the forest will be fearful in the gloom of night; go, my daughter, bring the wanderer to my rustic mansion. Such was the command of Nanda the herdsman, and hence arose the love of Radha and Madhava.”^[38]

The poet proceeds to apostrophize Hari, which the Hindu bard terms rupaka, or ‘personal description’:

“Oh thou who reclinest on the bosom of Kamala, whose ears flame with gems, and whose locks are embellished with sylvan flowers; thou, from whom the [541] day-star derived his effulgence, who slewest the venom-breathing Kaliya, who beamedst like a sun on the tribe of Yadu, that flourished like a lotus; thou, who sittest on the plumage of Garuda, who sippest nectar from the radiant lips of Padma, as the fluttering chakora drinks the moonbeams; be victorious, O Hari.”

Jayadeva then introduces Hari in the society of the pastoral nymphs of Vraj, whom he groups with admirable skill, expressing the passion by which each is animated towards the youthful prince with great warmth and elegance of diction. But Radha, indignant that he should divide with them the affection she deemed exclusively her own, flies his presence. Hari, repentant and alarmed, now searches the forest for his beloved, giving vent at each step to impassioned grief. “Woe is me! she feels a sense of injured honour, and has departed in wrath. How will she conduct herself? How will she express her pain in so long a separation? What is wealth to me? What are numerous attendants? What the pleasures of the world? How can I invite thee to return? Grant me but a sight of thee, oh! lovely Radha, for my passion torments me. O God of love! mistake me not for Siva. Wound me not again. I love already but too passionately; yet have I lost my beloved. Brace not thy bow, thou conqueror of the world! My heart is already pierced by arrows from Radha’s eyes, black and keen as those of the antelope.”

632Radha relents and sends a damsel in quest of Hari, whom she finds in a solitary arbour on the banks of the Yamuna. She describes her mistress as animated by the same despair which controls him:

“Her face is like a water-lily veiled in the dew of tears, and her eyes are as moons eclipsed. She draws thy picture and worships it, and at the close of every sentence exclaims, ‘O Madhava, at thy feet am I fallen!’ Then she figures thee standing before her: she sighs, she smiles, she mourns, she weeps. Her abode, the forest—herself through thy absence is become a timid roe, and love is the tiger who springs on her, like Yama, the genius of death. So emaciated is her beautiful body, that even the light garland which waves o’er her bosom is a load. The palm of her hand supports her aching temple, motionless as the crescent rising at eve. Thus, O divine healer, by the nectar of thy love [542] must Radha be restored to health; and if thou refusest, thy heart must be harder than the thunder-stone.”^[39]

The damsel returns to Radha and reports the condition of Hari, mourning her absence: “Even the hum of the bee distracts him. Misery sits fixed in his heart, and every returning night adds anguish to anguish.” She then recommends Radha to seek him. “Delay not, O loveliest of women; follow the lord of thy heart. Having bound his locks with forest flowers, he hastens to yon arbour, where a soft gale breathes over the banks of Yamuna, and there pronouncing thy name, he modulates his divine reed. Leave behind thee, O friend, the ring which tinkles on thy delicate ankle when thou sportest in the dance. Cast over thee thy azure mantle and run to the shady bower.”

But Radha, too weak to move, is thus reported to Hari by the same fair mediator: “She looks eagerly on all sides in hope of thy approach: she advances a few steps and falls languid to the ground. She weaves bracelets of fresh leaves, and looking at herself in sport, exclaims, behold the vanquisher of Madhu! Then she repeats the name of Hari, and catching at a dark blue cloud,^[40] strives to embrace it, saying, ‘It is my beloved who approaches.’”

633Midnight arrives, but neither Hari nor the damsel returns, when she gives herself up to the frenzy of despair, exclaiming: “The perfidy of my friend rends my heart. Bring disease and death, O gale of Malaya! receive me in thy azure wave, O sister of Yama,^[41] that the ardour of my heart may be allayed.”

The repentant Hari at length returns, and in speech well calculated to win forgiveness, thus pleads his pardon:

“Oh! grant me a draught of honey from the lotus of thy mouth: or if thou art inexorable, grant me death from the arrows of thine eyes; make thy arms my chains: thou art my ornament; thou art the pearl in the ocean of my mortal birth! Thine eyes, which nature formed like blue water-lilies, are become through thy resentment like petals of the crimson lotus! Thy silence affects me; oh! speak with the voice of music, and let thy sweet accents allay my ardour” [543].

“Radha with timid joy, darting her eyes on Govinda while she musically sounded the rings of her ankles and the bells of her zone,^[42] entered the mystic bower of her beloved. His heart was agitated by her sight, as the waves of the deep are affected by the lunar orb.^[43] From his graceful waist flowed a pale yellow robe,^[44] which resembled the golden dust of the water-lily scattered over its blue petals.^[45] His locks interwoven with blossoms, were like a cloud variegated by the moonbeam. Tears of transport gushed in a stream from the full eyes of Radha, and their watery glances beamed on her best beloved. Even shame, which had before taken its abode in their dark pupils, was itself ashamed,^[46] and departed when the fawn-eyed Radha gazed on the bright face of Krishna.”

634The poet proceeds to describe Apollo’s bower on the sable Yamuna, as ‘Love’s recess’; and sanctifies it as

In the morning the blue god aids in Radha’s simple toilet. He stains her eye with antimony “which would make the blackest bee envious,” places “a circle of musk on her forehead,” and intertwines “a chaplet of flowers and peacock’s feathers in her dark tresses,” replacing “the zone of golden bells.” The bard concludes as he commenced, with an eulogium on the inspirations of his muse, which it is evident were set to music. “Whatever is delightful in the modes of music, whatever is graceful in the fine strains of poetry, whatever is exquisite in the sweet art of love, let the happy and wise learn from the songs of Jayadeva.”

The Rāsmandal Dance.

—This mystic dance, the rasmandal, appears analogous to the Pyrrhic dance, or the fire-dance of the Egyptians. The movements of those who personate the deity and his fair companions are full [544] of grace, and the dialogue is replete with harmony.^[48] The Chaubes ^[49] of Mathura and Vindravana have considerable reputation as vocalists; and the effect of the modulated and deep tones of the adult blending with the clear treble of the juvenile performers, while the time is marked by the cymbal or the soothing monotony of the tabor, accompanied occasionally by the murali or flute, is very pleasing.

635

Govardhana.

—We have a Parnassus in Govardhana, from which sacred hill the god derives one of his principal epithets, Gordhan or Gordhannath, ‘God of the mount of wealth.’^[50] Here he first gave proofs of miraculous power, and a cave in this hill was the first shrine, on his apotheosis, whence his miracles and oracles were made known to the Yadus. From this cave (gupha) is derived another of his titles—Guphnath, ‘Lord of the cave,’ distinct from his epithet Gopinath, ‘Lord of the Gopis,’^[51] or pastoral nymphs. On the annual festival held at Govardhana, the sacred mount is purified with copious oblations of milk, for which all the cows of the district are in requisition.

Cave Worship of Krishna.

—The worship of Krishna in ancient days, like that of Apollo amongst the Greeks, was chiefly celebrated in caves, of which there were many scattered over India. The most remarkable were those of Govardhana in Vraj; Gaya in Bihar; Gopnath on the shores of Saurashtra; and Jalandhara ^[52] on the Indus. In these dark and mysterious retreats superstition had her full influence over the votaries who sought the commands and deprecated the wrath of the deity: but, as the Mukhya told the author, “the age of oracles and miracles is past”; and the new wheel, which was miraculously furnished each revolving year to supply the place of that which first indicated his desire to abide at Nathdwara, is no longer forthcoming. The old one, which was the signal of his wish, is, however, preserved as a relic, and greatly reverenced. The statue now worshipped at Nathdwara, as the representative of ‘the god of the mount’ [545], is said to be the identical image raised in the cave of Govardhana, and brought thence by the high priest Balba.^[53]

636

Krishna a Dragon-Slayer.

—As the destroyer of Kaliyanag, ‘the black serpent,’ which infested the waters of the Yamuna, Kanhaiya has the character of the Pythic Apollo. He is represented dragging the monster from the ‘black stream,’ and bruising him with his foot. He had, however, many battles with his hydra-foe ere he vanquished him, and he was once driven by Kalayavana from Vraj to Dwarka, whence his title of Ranchhor. Here we have the old allegory of the schismatic wars of the Buddhists and Vaishnavas.

Parallels to Krishna in other Mythologies.

—Diodorus informs us that Kan was one of the titles of the Egyptian Apollo as the sun; and this is the common contraction for Kanhaiya, whose colour is a dark cerulean blue (nila): and hence his name Nilanath, who, like the Apollo of the Nile, is depicted with the human form and eagle-head, with a lotus in his hand. S and H are permutable letters in the Bhakha, and Syam or Sham, the god of the Yamuna, may be the Ham or Hammon of Egypt. Hari accompanied Rama to Lanka, as did the Egyptian Apollo, Rameses-Sesostris, on his expedition to India: both were attended in their expedition by an army of Satyrs, or tribes bearing the names of different animals: and as we have the Aswas, the Takshaks, and the Sasas of the Yadu tribes, typified under the horse, the serpent, and the hare, so the races of Surya, of which Rama was the head, may have been designated Riksh and Hanuman, or bears and monkeys. The distance of the Nile from the Indian shore forms no objection; the sail spread for Ceylon could waft the vessel to the Red Sea, which the fleets of Tyre, of Solomon, and Hiram covered about this very time. That the Hindus navigated the ocean from the earliest ages, the traces of their religion in the isles of the Indian archipelago sufficiently attest; but on this subject we have already said enough.

The coincidence between the most common epithets of the Apollos of Greece and India, as applied to the sun, are peculiarly striking. Hari, as Bhannath, ‘the lord of beams,’ is Phoebus, and his heaven is Haripur (Heliopolis), or ‘city of Hari.’^[54] Helios (Ἥλιος) was a title of Apollo, whence the Greeks had their 637Elysium, the Haripur or Bhanthan (the abode of the sun), the highest of the [546] heavens or abodes of bliss of the martial Rajput. Hence the eagle (the emblem of Hari as the sun)^[55] was adopted by the western warrior as the symbol of victory.

The Di Majores of the Rajput are the same in number and title as amongst the Greeks and Romans, being the deities who figuratively preside over the planetary system. Their grades of bliss are therefore in unison with the eccentricity of orbit of the planet named. On this account Chandra or Indu, the moon, being a mere satellite of Ila, the earth, though probably originating the name of the Indu race, is inferior in the scale of blissful abodes to that of his son Budha or Mercury, whose heliacal appearance gave him importance even with the sons of Vaivasvata, the sun. From the poetic seers of the martial races we learn that there are two distinct places of reward; the one essentially spiritual, the other of a material nature. The bard inculcates that the warrior who falls in battle in the fulfilment of his duty, “who abandons life through the wave of steel,” will know no “second birth,” but that the unconfined spark (jyotis) will reunite to the parent orb. The doctrine of transmigration through a variety of hideous forms may be considered as a series of purgatories.

The Greeks and Celts worshipped Apollo under the title of Carneios,^[56] which “selon le scholiaste de Théocrite” is derived from Carnos, “qui ne prophétisoit que des malheurs aux Héraclides lors de leur incursion dans le Péloponnèse. Un d’eux appelé Hippotés, le tua d’un coup de flèche.” Now one of the titles of the Hindu Apollo is Karna, ‘the radiant’; from karna, ‘a ray’: and when he led the remains of the Harikulas in company 638with Baldeva (the god of strength), and Yudhishthira, after the great international war, into the Peloponnesus of Saurashtra, they were attacked by the aboriginal Bhils, one of whom slew the divine Karna with an arrow. The Bhils claim to be of Hayavansa, or the race of Haya, whose chief seat was at Maheswar on the Nerbudda: the assassin of Karna would consequently be Hayaputra, or descendant of Haya ^[57] [547].

The most celebrated of the monuments commonly termed Druidic, scattered throughout Europe, is at Carnac in Brittany, on which coast the Celtic Apollo had his shrines, and was propitiated under the title of Karneios, and this monument may be considered at once sacred to the manes of the warriors and the sun-god Karneios. Thus the Roman Saturnalia, the carnivale, has a better etymology in the festival to Karneios, as the sun, than in the ‘adieu to flesh’ during the fast. The character of this festival is entirely oriental, and accompanied with the licentiousness which belonged to the celebration of the powers of nature. Even now, although Christianity has banished the grosser forms, it partakes more of a Pagan than a Christian ceremony.

The Annakūta Festival.

—Of the festivals of Krishna the Annakuta is the most remarkable;^[58] when the seven statues were brought from the different capitals of Rajasthan, and mountains (kuta) of food (anna) piled up for their repast, at a given signal are levelled by the myriads of votaries assembled from all parts. About eighty years ago, on a memorable assemblage at the Annakuta, before warfare had devastated Rajasthan, and circumscribed the means of the faithful disciples of Hari, amongst the multitude of Vaishnavas of every region were almost all the Rajput princes; Rana Arsi of Mewar, Raja Bijai Singh of Marwar, Raja Gaj Singh of Bikaner, and Bahadur Singh of Kishangarh. Rana Arsi presented to the god a tora, or massive golden anklet-chain set with emeralds: Bijai Singh a diamond necklace worth 639twenty-five thousand rupees: the other princes according to their means. They were followed by an old woman of Surat, with infirm step and shaking head, who deposited four coppers in the hand of the high-priest, which were received with a gracious smile, not vouchsafed to the lords of the earth. “The Rand is in luck,” whispered the chief of Kishangarh to the Rana. Soon afterwards the statue of Hari was brought forth, when the same old woman placed at its feet a bill of exchange for seventy thousand rupees. The mighty were humbled, and the smile of the Gosain was explained. Such gifts, and to a yet greater amount, are, or were, by no means uncommon from the sons of commerce, who are only known to belong to the flock from the distinguishing necklace of the sect.^[59]

Interruption of Worship.

—The predatory system which reduced these countries to a state of the most degraded anarchy, greatly diminished the number of pilgrimages to Nathdwara [548]; and the gods of Vraj had sufficient prescience to know that they could guard neither their priests nor followers from the Pathan and Mahratta, to whom the crown of the god, or the nathna (nose-jewel) of Radha, would be alike acceptable: nor would they have scrupled to retain both the deities and priests as hostages for such imposition as they might deem within their means. Accordingly, of late years, there had been no congress of the gods of Vraj, who remained fixtures on their altars till the halcyon days of A.D. 1818 permitted their liberation.^[60]

Seven Forms of Krishna.

—The seven statues of Kanhaiya were brought together by the high-priest Balba, who established 640the festival of the Annakuta. They remained in the same sanctuary until the time of Girdhari, the grandson of Balba, who having seven sons, gave to each a rupa or statue, and whose descendants continue in the office of priest. The names and present abodes of the gods are as follows:

Nonita, or Nonanda, the juvenile Kanhaiya, has his altar separate, though close to Nathji. He is also styled Balamukund, ‘the blessed child,’^[63] and is depicted as an infant with pera^[64] or comfit-ball in his hand. This image, which was one of the penates of a former age, and which, since the destruction of the shrines of [549] Krishna by the Islamites, had lain in the Yamuna, attached itself to the sacerdotal zone (Janeo) of the high-priest Balba, while he was performing his ablutions, who, carrying it home, placed it in a niche of the temple and worshipped it: and Nonanda yet receives the peculiar homage of the high-priest and his family as their household divinity. Of the second image, Mathuranath, there is no particular mention: it was at one time at Khamnor in Mewar, but is now at Kotah.

Balkrishna, the third son, had Dwarkanath, which statue, now at Kankroli in Mewar, is asserted to be the identical image that 641received the adoration of Raja Amaraka, a prince of the solar race who lived in the Satya Yuga, or silver age. The ‘god of the mount’ revealed himself in a dream to his high-priest, and told him of the domicile of this his representative at Kanauj. Thither Balba repaired, and having obtained it from the Brahman, appointed Damodardas Khatri to officiate at his altar.

The fourth statue, that of Gokulnath, or Gokul Chandrama (i.e. the moon of Gokul), had an equally mysterious origin, having been discovered in a deep ravine on the banks of the river; Balba assigned it to his brother-in-law. Gokul is an island on the Jumna,^[65] a few miles below Mathura, and celebrated in the early history of the pastoral divinity. The residence of this image at Jaipur does not deprive the little island of its honours as a place of pilgrimage; for the ‘god of Gokul’ has an altar on the original site, and his rites are performed by an aged priestess, who disowns the jurisdiction of the high-priest of Nathdwara, both in the spiritual and temporal concerns of her shrine; and who, to the no small scandal of all who are interested in Apollo, appealed from the fiat of the high-priest to the British court of justice. The royal grants of the Mogul emperors were produced, which proved the right to lie in the high-priest, though a long period of almost undisturbed authority had created a feeling of independent control in the family of the priestess, which they desired might continue. A compromise ensued, when the Author was instrumental in restoring harmony to the shrines of Apollo.

The fifth, Yadunath, is the deified ancestor of the whole Yadu race. This image, now at Surat, formerly adorned the shrine of Mahaban near Mathura which was destroyed by Mahmud [550].

The sixth, Vitthalnath, or Pandurang,^[66] was found in the Ganges at Benares, Samvat 1572 (A.D. 1516), from which we may judge of their habit of multiplying divinities.

The seventh, Madan Mohana, ‘he who intoxicates with desire,’ the seductive lover of Radha and the Gopis, has his rites performed by a female. The present priestess of Mohana is the mother of Damodara, the supreme head of all who adore the Apollo of Vraj.

642

The Pontiff of Nāthdwāra.

—I am not aware of the precise period of Balba Acharya, who thus collected the seven images of Krishna now in Rajasthan; but he must have lived about the time of the last of the Lodi kings, at the period of the conquest of India by the Moguls (A.D. 1526). The present pontiff, Damodara, as before said, is his lineal descendant; and whether in addressing him verbally or by letter he is styled Maharaja or ‘great prince.’^[67]

As the supreme head of the Vishnu sect his person is held to be Ansa, or ‘a portion of the divinity’; and it is maintained that so late as the father of the present incumbent, the god manifested himself and conversed with the high-priest. The present pontiff is now about thirty years of age. He is of a benign aspect, with much dignity of demeanour: courteous, yet exacting the homage due to his high calling: meek, as becomes the priest of Govinda, but with the finished manners of one accustomed to the first society. His features are finely moulded, and his complexion good. He is about the middle size, though as he rises to no mortal, I could not exactly judge of his height. When I saw him he had one only daughter, to whom he is much attached. He has but one wife, nor does Krishna allow polygamy to his priest. In times of danger, like some of his prototypes in the dark ages of Europe, he poised the lance, and found it more effective than spiritual anathemas, against those who would first adore the god, and then plunder him. Such were the Mahratta chiefs, Jaswant Rao Holkar and Bapu Sindhia. Damodara accordingly made the [551] tour of his extensive diocese at the head of four hundred horse, two standards of foot, and two field-pieces. He rode the finest mares in the country; laid aside his 643pontificals for the quilted dagla, and was summoned to matins by the kettle-drum instead of the bell and cymbal. In this he only imitated Kanhaiya, who often mixed in the ranks of battle, and “dyed his saffron robe in the red-stained field.” Had Damodara been captured on one of these occasions by any marauding Pathan, and incarcerated, as he assuredly would have been, for ransom, the marauder might have replied to the Rana, as did the Plantagenet king to the Pope, when the surrender of the captive church-militant bishop was demanded, “Is this thy son Joseph’s coat?” But, notwithstanding this display of martial principle, which covered with a helmet the shaven crown, his conduct and character are amiable and unexceptionable, and he furnishes a striking contrast to the late head of the Vishnu establishments in Marwar, who commenced with the care of his master’s conscience, and ended with that of the State; meek and unassuming till he added temporal ^[68] to spiritual power, which developed unlimited pride, with all the qualities that too often wait on “a little brief authority,” and to the display of which he fell a victim. Damodara,^[69] similarly circumstanced, might have evinced the same failings, and have met the same end; but though endeavours were made to give him political influence at the Rana’s court, yet, partly from his own good sense, and partly through the dissuasion of the Nestor of Kotah (Zalim Singh), he was not entrained in the vortex of its intrigues, which must have involved the sacrifice of wealth and the proper dignity of his station [552].

8. I shall here subjoin an extract of the rise and progress of Vaishnavism as written at my desire by the Mukhya of the temple:

“Twenty-five years of the Dwapar (the brazen age) were yet unexpired, when the incarnation (avatar) of Sri Krishna took place. Of these, eleven were passed at Gokul,^[A] and fourteen at Mathura. There he used to manifest himself personally, especially at Govardhan. But when the Kaliyug (the iron age) commenced, he retired to Dwarka, an island separated by the ocean from Bharatkand,^[B] where he passed a hundred years before he went to heaven. In Samvat 937 (A.D. 881) God decreed that the Hindu faith should be overturned, and that the Turushka ^[C] should rule. Then the jizya, or capitation tax, was inflicted on the head of the Hindu. Their faith also suffered much from the Jains and the various infidel (asura) sects which abounded. The Jains were so hostile, that Brahma manifested himself in the shape of Sankaracharya who destroyed them and their religion at Benares. In Gujarat, by their magic, they made the moon appear at Amavas.^[D] Sankara foretold to its prince, Siddhraj,^[E] the flood then approaching, who escaped in a boat and fled to Toda, on which occasion all the Vidyas ^[F] (magicians) in that country perished.” [For a more correct version of Krishna’s legend see Growse, Mathura, 3rd ed.; for Vaishnavism, R. G. Bhandarkar, “Vaisnavism, Saivism and Minor Religious Systems,” in Grundriss Indo-Arischen Philologie und Altertumskunde, 1913.

22. The Mahabharata records constant wars from ancient times amongst the children of Surya (the sun), and the Tak or Takshak (serpent races). The horse of the sun, liberated preparatory to sacrifice, by the father of Rama, was seized by the Takshak Ananta; and Janamejaya, king of Delhi, grandson of Pandu, was killed by one of the same race. In both instances the Takshak is literally rendered the snake. The successor of Janamejaya carried war into the seats of this Tak or serpent race, and is said to have sacrificed 20,000 of them in revenge; but although it is specifically stated that he subsequently compelled them to sign tributary engagements (paenama), the Brahmans have nevertheless distorted a plain historical fact by a literal and puerile interpretation. The Paraitakai (Mountain-Tak) of Alexander were doubtless of this race, as was his ally Taxiles, which appellation was titular, as he was called Omphis till his father’s death. It is even probable that this name is the Greek Ὄφις, in which they recognized the tribe of the Tak or Snake. Taxiles may be compounded of is, ‘lord or chief,’ sila, ‘rock or mountain,’ and Tak, ‘lord of the mountain Tak,’ whose capital was in the range west of the Indus. We are indebted to the Emperor Babur for the exact position of the capital of this celebrated race, which he passed in his route of conquest. We have, however, an intermediate notice of it between Alexander and Babur, in the early history of the Yadu Bhatti, who came in conflict with the Taks on their expulsion from Zabulistan and settlement in the Panjab. [The Paraitakai or Paraitakenai have no connexion with Tāk or Takshak, the first part of the name perhaps representing Skt. parvata, ‘a mountain,’ or pahār in the modern dialect. They lived in the hill country between the rivers Oxus and Jaxartes (McCrindle, Alexander, 57). Omphis represents the Āmbhi, king of Taxila, a name supposed to mean ‘rock of the Tāk tribe’ (ibid. 413; Smith, EHI, 60), or, more probably, ‘city of cut stone.’]

No. I

Grant of the Rathor Rani, the Queen-Mother of Udaipur, on the death of her Son, the Heir-Apparent, Prince Amra.

Siddh Sri Bari ^[a4.20.1] Rathorji to the Patels and inhabitants of Girwa.^[a4.20.2] The four bighas of land, belonging to the Jat Roga, have been assigned to the Brahman Kishna on the Anta Samya (final epoch) of Lalji.^[a4.20.3] Let him possess the rents thereof.^[a4.20.4] The dues for wood and forage (khar lakar) contributions (barar) are renounced by the State in favour of the Brahmans.

No. II

“A Brahman’s orphan was compelled by hunger to seek sustenance in driving an oil-mill; instead of oil the receptacle was filled with blood. The frightened oilman demanded of the child who he was; ‘A Brahman’s orphan,’ was the reply. Alarmed at the enormity of his guilt in thus employing the son of a priest, he covered the palm of his hand with earth, in which he sowed the tulasi seed,^[5] and went on a pilgrimage to Dwarka. 645He demanded the presence (darsana) of the god; the priests pointed to the ocean, when he plunged in, and had an interview with Dwarkanath, who presented him with a written order on the Rana for forty-five bighas of land. He returned and threw the writing before the Rana, on the steps of the temple of Jagannath. The Rana read the writing of the god, placed it on his head, and immediately made out the grant. This is three hundred and fifty years ago, as recorded by an inscription on stone, and his descendant, Kosala, yet enjoys it.”

No. III

The Palod inscription is unfortunately mislaid; but in searching for it, another was discovered from Aner, four miles south-west of the ancient Morwan, where there is a temple to the four-armed divinity (Chaturbhuja), endowed in Samvat 1570, by Rana Jagat Singh [553]. On one of the pillars of the temple is inscribed a voluntary gift made in Samvat 1845, and signed by the village Panch, of the first-fruits of the harvest, namely, two sers and a half (five pounds weight) from each khal^[6] of the spring, and the same of the autumnal harvests.

No. IV

Whereas the shrine of Sri Pratap-Iswara (the God of Fortune) has been erected in the meadows of Rasmi, all the groves and trees are sacred to him; whoever cuts down any of them is an offender to the State, and shall pay a fine of three hundred rupees, and the ass^[7] shall be the portion of the officers of government who suffer it.

No. V

To the Nobles, Ministers, Patels,^[8] Patwaris,^[8] of the ten thousand [villages] of Mewar (das sahas Mewar-ra), according to your stations—read!

1. From remote times, the temples and dwellings of the Jains 646have been authorized; let none therefore within their boundaries carry animals to slaughter—this is their ancient privilege.

2. Whatever life, whether man or animal, passes their abode for the purpose of being killed, is saved (amara).^[9]

3. Traitors to the State, robbers, felons escaped confinement, who may fly for sanctuary (saran) to the dwellings (upasra)^[10] of the Yatis,^[11] shall not there be seized by the servants of the court.

4. The kunchi^[12] (handful) at harvest, the mutthi (handful) of kirana, the charity lands (dholi), grounds, and houses, established by them in the various towns, shall be maintained.

5. This ordinance is issued in consequence of the representation of the Rikh ^[13] Mana, to whom is granted fifteen bighas of adhan^[14] land, and twenty-five of maleti.^[14] The same quantity of each kind in each of the districts of Nimach and Nimbahera.—Total in three districts, forty-five bighas of adhan, and seventy-five of mal^[15] [554].

On seeing this ordinance, let the land be measured and assigned, and let none molest the Yatis, but foster their privileges. Cursed be he who infringes them—the cow to the Hindu—the hog and corpse to the Musalman.

No. VI

In the town of Rasmi, whoever slays sheep, buffaloes, goats, or other living thing, is a criminal to the State; his house, cattle, and effects shall be forfeited, and himself expelled the village.

Maharana Jai Singh to the inhabitants of Bakrol; printers, potters, oilmen, etc., etc., commanding.

From the 11th Asarh (June) to the full moon of Asoj (September), none shall drain the waters of the lake; no oil-mill shall work, or earthen vessel be made, during these the four rainy months.^[16]

No. VIII

The village of Siarh in the hills, of one thousand rupees yearly rent, having been chosen by Nathji (the god) for his residence, and given up by Rana Raghude,^[17] I have confirmed it. The Gosain ^[18] and his heirs shall enjoy it for ever.

No. IX

The undermentioned towns and villages were presented to Sriji ^[19] by copper-plate. The revenues (hasil), ^[20] contributions (barar), taxes, dues (lagat-be-lagat), trees, shrubs, foundations and boundaries (nim-sim), shall all belong to Sriji. If of my seed, none will ever dispute this [555].

648Here follows a list of thirty-four entire towns and villages, many from the fisc, or confirmations of the grants of the chiefs, besides various parcels of arable land, from twenty to one hundred and fifty bighas, in forty-six more villages, from chiefs of every class, and patches of meadowland (bira) in twenty more.

No. X

To the towns of Sriji, or to the [personal] lands of the Gosainji,^[21] no molestation shall be offered. No warrants or exactions shall be issued or levied upon them. All complaints, suits, or matters, in which justice is required, originating in Nathdwara, shall be settled there; none shall interfere therein, and the decisions of the Gosainji I shall invariably confirm. The town and transit duties ^[22] (of Nathdwara and villages pertaining thereto), the assay (parkhai)^[22] fees from the public markets, duties on precious metals (kasoti),[4.a.22] all brokerage (dalali), and dues collected at the four gates; all contributions and taxes of whatever kind, are presented as an offering to Sriji; let the income thereof be placed in Sriji’s coffers.

All the products of foreign countries imported by the Vaishnavas,^[23] whether domestic or foreign, and intended for consumption at Nathdwara,^[24] shall be exempt from duties. The right of sanctuary (saran) of Sriji, both in the town and in all his other villages,^[25] will be maintained: the Almighty will take cognisance of any innovation. Wherefore, let all chiefs, farmers of duties, beware of molesting the goods of Nathji (the god), and wherever such may halt, let guards be provided for their security, and let each chief convey them through his bounds in safety. If of my blood, or if my servants, this warrant will be obeyed for ever and for ever. Whoever resumes this grant will be a caterpillar in hell during 60,000 years.

649By command—through the chief butler (Paneri) Eklingdas: written by Surat Singh, son of Nathji Pancholi, Magh sudi 1st, Samvat 1865; A.D. 1809.

No. XI

Personal grant to the high-priest, Damodarji Maharaj. 6000 Swasti Sri, from the abode at Udaipur, Maharana Sri Bhim Singhji, commanding [556].

To all the chieftains, landholders, managers of the crown and deorhi^[26] lands, to all Patels, etc., etc., etc. As an offering to the Sri Gosainji two rupees have been granted in every village throughout Mewar, one in each harvest—let no opposition be made thereto. If of my kin or issue, none will revoke this—the an (oath of allegiance) be upon his head. By command, through Parihara Mayaram, Samvat 1860, Jeth sudi 5th Mangalwar; A.D. 1804.

At one side of the patent, in the Rana’s own hand, “An offering to Sri Girdhariji ^[27] Maharaj—If of my issue none will disobey—who dares, may the Almighty punish!”

No. XII

To the Mandir (minster) of Sri Murali Manohar (flute delighting), situated on the dam of the lake at Mandalgarh, the following grant has been made, with all the dues, income, and privileges, viz.:

2. Three rupees’ worth of saffron monthly from the transit duty chabutra.^[28]

Three tunics (baga) for the idol on each festival, viz. Ashtami, Jaljatra, and Vasant Panchami.^[29]

Five rupees’ worth of oil ^[30] on the Jaljatra, and two and a half in the full moon of Karttik [Oct.-Nov.].

6504. Both gardens under the dam of the lake, with all the fruits and flowers thereof.

7. The income arising from the sale of the estates is to be applied to the repairs of the temple and dam.

CHAPTER 21

The Importance of Mythology.

—It has been observed by that philosophical traveller, Dr. Clarke, that, “by a proper attention to the vestiges of ancient superstition, we are sometimes enabled to refer a whole people to their original ancestors, with as much, if not more certainty, than by observations made upon their language; because the superstition is engrafted upon the stock, but the language is liable to change.”^[1] Impressed with the justness, as well as the originality of the remark, I shall adopt it as my guide in the observations I propose to make on the religious festivals and superstitions of Mewar. However important may be the study of military, civil, and political history, the science is incomplete without mythological history; and he is little imbued with the spirit of philosophy who can perceive in the fables of antiquity nothing but the extravagance of a fervid imagination. Did no other consequence result from the study of mythology than the fact that, in all ages and countries, man has desecrated his reason, and voluntarily reduced himself below the level of the brutes that perish, it must provoke inquiry into the cause of this degradation. Such an investigation would develop, not only the source of history, the handmaid of the arts and sciences, but the origin and application of the latter, in a theogony typical of the seasons, their changes, and products. Thus mythology may be considered the parent of all history.

The Aboriginal Tribes.

—With regard, however, to the rude tribes who still inhabit the mountains and fastnesses of India, 651and who may be regarded as the aborigines of that country, the converse of this doctrine is more probable. Not their language only, but [558] their superstitions, differ from those of the Rajputs: though, from a desire to rise above their natural condition, they have engrafted upon their own the most popular mythologies of their civilized conquerors, who from the north gradually spread themselves over the continent and peninsula, even to the remote isles of the Indian Ocean. Of the primitive inhabitants we may enumerate the Minas, the Meras, the Gonds, the Bhils, the Sahariyas, the Savaras, the Abhiras, the Gujars, and those who inhabit the forests of the Nerbudda, the Son, the Mahanadi, the mountains of Sarguja, and the lesser Nagpur; many of whom are still but little removed from savage life, and whose dialects are as various as their manners. These are content to be called the ‘sons of the earth,’^[2] or ‘children of the forest,’^[3] while their conquerors, the Rajputs, arrogate celestial descent.^[4] How soon after the flood the Suryas, or sun-worshippers, entered India Proper, must ever remain uncertain.^[5] It is sufficient that they were anterior in date to the Indus, or races tracing their descent from the moon (Ind); as the migration of the latter from the central lands of Indo-Scythia was antecedent to that of the Agnikulas, or fire-worshippers, of the Snake race, claiming Takshak as their original progenitor. The Suryas,^[6] who migrated both to the East and West, as population became redundant in these fertile regions, may be considered the Celtic, as the Indu-Getae may be accounted the Gothic, races of India.^[7] To attempt to discriminate these different races, and mark the shades which once separated them, after a system of priestcraft has amalgamated the mass, and identified their superstitions, would be 652fruitless; but the observer of ancient customs may, with the imperfect guidance of peculiar rites, discover things, and even names, totally incongruous with the Brahmanical system, and which could never have originated within the Indus or Atak,—the Rubicon of Gangetic antiquaries, who fear to look beyond that stream for the origin of tribes. A residence amongst the Rajputs would lead to a disregard of such boundaries, either to the moral or physical man, as the annals of Mewar abundantly testify.

Comparative Study of Festivals.

—Sir Wm. Jones remarks, “If the festivals of the old Greeks, Persians, Romans [559], Egyptians, and Goths could be arranged with exactness in the same form with the Indian, there would be found a striking resemblance among them; and an attentive comparison of them all might throw great light on the religion, and perhaps on the history, of the primitive world.”

Analogies to Rājput Customs in Northern Europe.

—In treating of the festivals and superstitions of the Rajputs, wherever there may appear to be a fair ground for supposing an analogy with those of other nations of antiquity, I shall not hesitate to pursue it. The proper names of many of the martial Rajputs would alone point out the necessity of seeking for a solution of them out of the explored paths; and where Sanskrit derivation cannot be assigned, as it happens in many instances, we are not, therefore, warranted in the hasty conclusion that the names must have been adopted since the conquests of Mahmud or Shihabu-d-din, events of comparatively modern date. Let us at once admit the hypothesis of Pinkerton,—the establishment of an original Indu-Getic or Indo-Scythic empire, “extending from the Caspian to the Ganges”; or if this conjecture be too extensive or too vague, let us fix the centre of this Madhya-Bhumi in the fertile region of Sogdiana;^[8] and from the lights which modern history affords on the many migrations from this nursery of mankind, 653even since the time of Muhammad, let us form an opinion of those which have not been recorded, or have been conveyed by the Hindus only in imperfect allegory; and with the aid of ancient customs, obsolete words, and proper names, trace them to Indo-Scythic colonies grafted on the parent stock. The Puranas themselves bear testimony to the incorporation of Scythic tribes with the Hindus, and to the continual irruptions of the Saka, the Pahlavas, the Yavanas,^[9] the Turushkas, names conspicuous amongst the races of Central Asia, and recorded in the pages of the earliest Western historians. Even so early as the period of Rama, when furious international wars were carried on between the military and sacerdotal classes for supremacy, we have the names of these tribes recorded as auxiliaries [560] to the priesthood; who, while admitting them to fight under the banners of Siva, would not scruple to stamp them with the seal of Hinduism. In this manner, beyond a doubt, at a much later period than the events in the Ramayana, these tribes from the North either forced themselves among, or were incorporated with, ‘the races of the sun.’ When, therefore, we meet with rites in Rajputana and in ancient Scandinavia, such as were practised amongst the Getic nations on the Oxus, why should we hesitate to assign the origin of both to this region of earliest civilization? When we see the ancient Asii, and the Iutae, or Jutes, taking omens from the white steed of Thor, shut up in the temple at Upsala; and in like manner, the Rajput of past days offering the same animal in sacrifice to the sun, and his modern descendant taking the omen from his neigh, why are we to refuse our assent to the common origin of the superstition practised by the Getae of the Oxus? Again, when we find the ‘homage to the sword’ performed by all the Getic races of antiquity in Dacia, on the Baltic, as well as by the modern Rajput, shall we draw no conclusion from this testimony of the father of history, who declares that such rites 654were practised on the Jaxartes in the very dawn of knowledge?^[10] Moreover, why hesitate to give Eastern etymologies for Eastern rites, though found on the Baltic? The antiquary of the North (Mallet) may thus be assisted to the etymon of ‘Tir-sing,’ the enchanted sword of Angantýr, in tir, ‘water,’ and singh, ‘a lion’; i.e. in water or spirit like a lion; for even pani, the common epithet for water, is applied metaphorically to ‘spirit.’^[11]

It would be less difficult to find Sanskrit derivations for many of the proper names in the Edda, than to give a Sanskrit analysis of many common amongst the Rajputs, which we must trace to an Indo-Scythic root:^[12] such as Eyvorsél, Udila, Attitai, Pujun, Hamira,^[13] and numerous other proper names of warriors. Of tribes: the Kathi, Rajpali, Mohila, Sariaspah, Aswaria (qu. Assyrian?), Banaphar, Kamari, Silara, Dahima, etc. Of mountains: Drinodhar, Arbuda, Aravalli, Aravindha (the root ara, or mountain, being Scythic, and the expletive adjunct Sanskrit), ‘the hill of Budha,’ ‘of strength,’ ‘of limit.’ To all such as cannot be [561] resolved into the cognate language of India, what origin can we assign but Scythic?^[14]

Festivals in Mewār. Naurātri Festival.

—In a memoir prepared for me by a well-informed public officer in the Rana’s court, on the chief festivals celebrated in Mewar, he commenced with those following the autumnal equinox, in the month Asoj or Aswini, 655opening with the Nauratri, sacred to the god of war. Their fasts are in general regulated by the moon; although the most remarkable are solar, especially those of the equinoxes and solstices, and the Sankrantis, or days on which the sun enters a new sign. The Hindu solar year anciently commenced on the winter solstice, in the month Pausha, and was emphatically called ‘the morning of the gods’; also Sivaratri, or night of Siva, analogous, as has been before remarked, to the ‘mother night,’ which ushered in the new year of the Scandinavian Asi, and other nations of Asiatic origin dwelling in the north.

The Repose of Vishnu.

—They term the summer solstice in the month of Asarh, ‘the night of the gods,’ because Vishnu (as the sun) reposes during the four rainy months on his serpent couch. The lunar year of 360 days was more ancient than the solar, and 656commenced with the month of Asoj or Aswini: “the moon being at the full when that name was imposed on the first lunar station of the Hindu ecliptic.”^[15]

According to another authority, the festivals commenced on Amavas, or the Ides of Chait, near which the vernal equinox falls, the opening of the modern solar year; when, in like manner as at the commencement of the lunar year in Asoj, they [562] dedicate the first nine days of Chait (also called Nauratri) to Iswara and his consort Isani.

Having thus specified both modes of reckoning for the opening of the solar and lunar years, I shall not commence the abstract of the festivals of Mewar with either, but follow the more ancient division of time, when the year closed with the winter solstice in the month of Pus, consequently opening the new year with Magh. By this arrangement, we shall commence with the spring festivals, and let the days dedicated to mirth and gaiety follow each other; preferring the natural to the astrological year, which will enable us to preserve the analogy with the northern nations of Europe, who also reckoned from the winter solstice. The Hindu divides the year into six seasons, each of two months; namely, Vasanta, Grishma, Varsha, Sarad, Sisira, Sita; or spring, summer, rainy, sultry, dewy, and cold.

It is not, however, my intention to detail all the fasts and festivals which the Rajput of Mewar holds in common with the Hindu nation, but chiefly those restricted to that State, or such as are celebrated with local peculiarity, or striking analogies to those of Egypt, Greece, or Scandinavia. The goddess who presides over mirth and idleness preferred holding her court amidst the ruins of Udaipur to searching elsewhere for a dwelling. This determination to be happy amidst calamity, individual and national, has made the court proverbial in Rajwara, in the adage, ‘sat bara, aur nau teohara,’ i.e. nine holidays out of seven days. Although many of these festivals are common to India, and their maintenance is enjoined by religion, yet not only the prolongation and repetition of some, but the entire institution of others, as well as the peculiar splendour of their solemnization, originate with the prince; proving how much individual example may influenceinfluence the manners of a nation.

657

Spring Festival, Vasant Panchami.

—By the arrangement we have adopted, the lovely Vasanti, goddess of the spring, will usher in the festivals of Mewar. In 1819 her rites were celebrated in the kalends of January, and even then, on the verge of the tropic, her birth was premature.

The opening of the spring being on the 5th of the month Magha, is thence called the Vasant panchami, which in 1819 fell on the 30th of January; consequently the first of Pus (the antecedent month), the beginning of the old Hindu [563] year, or ‘the morning of the gods,’ fell on the 25th of December. The Vasant continues forty days after the panchami, or initiative fifth, during which the utmost license prevails in action and in speech; the lower classes regale even to intoxication on every kind of stimulating confection and spirituous beverage, and the most respectable individuals, who would at other times be shocked to utter an indelicate allusion, roam about with the groups of bacchanals, reciting stanzas of the warmest description in praise of the powers of nature, as did the conscript fathers of Rome during the Saturnalia. In this season, when the barriers of rank are thrown down, and the spirit of democracy is let loose, though never abused, even the wild Bhil, or savage Mer, will leave his forest or mountain shade to mingle in the revelries of the capital; and decorating his ebon hair or tattered turban with a garland of jessamine, will join the clamorous parties which perambulate the streets of the capital. These orgies are, however, reserved for the conclusion of the forty days sacred to the goddess of nature.

Bhān Saptami Festival.

—Two days following the initiative fifth is the Bhan saptami or ‘seventh [day] of the sun,’ also called ‘the birth of the sun,’ with various other metaphorical denominations.^[16] On this day there is a grand procession of the Rana, his chiefs and vassals, to the Chaugan, where the sun is worshipped. At the Jaipur court, whose princes claim descent from Kusa, the second son of Rama, the Bhan saptami is peculiarly sacred. The chariot of the sun, drawn by eight horses, is taken from the temple dedicated to that orb, and moved in procession: a ceremony otherwise never observed but on the inauguration of a new prince.

658

Sun Worship.

—In the mythology of the Rajputs, of which we have a better idea from their heroic poetry than from the legends of the Brahmans, the sun-god is the deity they are most anxious to propitiate; and in his honour they fearlessly expend their blood in battle, from the hope of being received into his mansion. Their highest heaven is accordingly the Bhanuthan or Bhanuloka, the ‘region of the sun’: and like the Indu-Scythic Getae, the Rajput warrior of the early ages sacrificed the horse in his honour,^[17] and dedicated to him the first day of the week, namely, Adityawar, contracted to Itwar, also called Thawara ^[18] [564].

The more we attend to the warlike mythology of the north, the more apparent is its analogy with that of the Rajputs, and the stronger ground is there for assuming that both races inherited their creed from the common land of the Yuti of the Jaxartes. What is a more proper etymon for Scandinavian, the abode of the warriors who destroyed the Roman power, than Skanda, the Mars or Kumara of the Rajputs? perhaps the origin of the Cimbri, derived by Mallet from koempfer, ‘to fight.’

Thor, in the eleventh fable of the Edda, is denominated Asa-Thor,^[19] the ‘lord Thor,’ called the Celtic Mars by the Romans. The chariot of Thor is ignobly yoked compared with the car of Surya; but in the substitution of the he-goats for the seven-headed horse Saptasva we have but the change of an adjunct depending on clime, when the Yuti migrated from the plains of Scythia, of which the horse is a native, to Yutland, of whose mountains the goat was an inhabitant prior to any of the race of Asi. The northern warrior makes the palace of the sun-god Thor the most splendid of the celestial abodes, “in which are 659five hundred and forty halls”: vying with the Suryamandala, the supreme heaven of the Rajput. Whence such notions of the Aswa races of the Ganges, and the Asi of Scandinavia, but from the Scythic Saka, who adored the solar divinity under the name of ‘Gaeto-Syrus,’^[20] the Surya of the Sachha Rajput; and as, according to the commentator on the Edda, “the ancient people of the north pronounced the th as the English now do ss,” the sun-god Thor becomes Sor, and is identified still more with Surya whose worship no doubt gave the name to that extensive portion of Asia called Συρία, as it did to the small peninsula of the Sauras, still peopled by tribes of Scythic origin. The Sol of the Romans has probably the same Celto-Etrurian origin; with those tribes the sun was the great object of adoration, and their grand festival, the winter solstice, was called Yule, Hiul, Houl, “which even at this day signifies the Sun, in the language of Bas-Bretagne and Cornwall.”^[21] On the conversion of the descendants of these Scythic Yeuts, who, according to [565] Herodotus, sacrificed the horse (Hi) to the sun (El), the name of the Pagan jubilee of the solstice was transferred to the day of Christ’s nativity, which is thus still held in remembrance by their descendants of the north.^[22]

Sun Worship at Udaipur.

—At Udaipur the sun has universal precedence; his portal (Suryapol) is the chief entrance to the city; his name gives dignity to the chief apartment or hall (Suryamahall) of the palace; and from the balcony of the sun (Suryagokhra) the descendant of Rama shows himself in the dark monsoon as the sun’s representative. A huge painted sun of gypsum in high relief, with gilded rays, adorns the hall of audience, and in front of it is the throne. As already mentioned, the sacred standard bears his image,^[23] as does that Scythic part of the regalia called the changi, a disc of black felt or ostrich feathers, with a 660plate of gold to represent the sun in its centre, borne upon a pole. The royal parasol is termed kirania, in allusion to its shape, like a ray (kiran) of the orb. The last day but one of the month of Magha is called Sivaratri (night of Siva), and is held peculiarly sacred by the Rana, who is styled the Regent of Siva. It is a rigid fast, and the night is passed in vigils, and rites to the phallic representative of Siva.

The Spring Hunt.

—The merry month of Phalgun is ushered in with the Aheria, or spring-hunt.^[24] The preceding day the Rana distributes to all his chiefs and servants either a dress of green, or some portion thereof, in which all appear habited on the morrow, whenever the astrologer has fixed the hour for sallying forth to slay the boar to Gauri, the Ceres of the Rajputs: the Aheria is therefore called the Mahurat ka shikar, or the chase fixed astrologically. As their success on this occasion is ominous of future good, no means are neglected to secure it, either by scouts previously discovering the lair, or the desperate efforts of the hunters to slay the boar when roused. With the sovereign and his sons all the chiefs sally forth, each on his best steed, and all animated by the desire to surpass each other in acts of prowess and dexterity. It is very rare that in some one of the passes or recesses of the valley the hog is not found; the spot is then surrounded by the [566] hunters, whose vociferations soon start the dukkara,^[25] and frequently a drove of hogs. Then each cavalier impels his steed, and with lance or sword, regardless of rock, ravine, or tree, presses on the bristly foe, whose knowledge of the country is of no avail when thus circumvented, and the ground soon reeks with gore, in which not unfrequently is mixed that of horse or rider. On the last occasion there occurred fewer casualties than usual; though the Chondawat Hamira, whom we nicknamed the ‘Red Riever,’ had his leg broken, and the second 661son of Sheodan Singh, a near relation of the Rana, had his neighbour’s lance driven through his arm. The young chief of Salumbar was amongst the distinguished of this day’s sport. It would appal even an English fox-hunter to see the Rajputs driving their steeds at full speed, bounding like the antelope over every barrier—the thick jungle covert, or rocky steep bare of soil or vegetation,—with their lances balanced in the air, or leaning on the saddle-bow slashing at the boar.

The royal kitchen moves out on this occasion, and in some chosen spot the repast is prepared, of which all partake, for the hog is the favourite food of the Rajput, as it was of the heroes of Scandinavia. Nor is the munawwar piyala, or invitation cup, forgotten; and having feasted, and thrice slain their bristly antagonist, they return to the capital, where fame had already spread their exploits—the deeds done by the barchhi (lance) of Padma,^[26] or the khanda (sword) blow of Hamira,^[27] which lopped the head of the foe of Gauri. Even this martial amusement, the Aheria, has a religious origin. The boar is the enemy of Gauri of the Rajputs; it was so held of Isis by the Egyptians, of Ceres by the Greeks, of Freya by the north-man, whose favourite food was the hog: and of such importance was it deemed by the Franks, that the second chapter of the Salic law is entirely penal with regard to the stealers of swine. The heroes of the Edda, even in Valhalla, feed on the fat of the wild boar Saehrimner, while “the illustrious father of armies fattens his wolves Geri and Freki, and takes no other nourishment himself than the interrupted quaffing of wine”: quite the picture of Har, the Rajput god of war, and his sons the Bhairavas, Krodha, and Kala, metaphorically called the ‘sons of slaughter.’ We need hardly repeat that the cup of the Scandinavian god of war, like that of the Rajputs, is the human skull (khopra) [567].^[28]

The Phāg or Holi Festival.

—As Phalgun advances, the bacchanalian mirth increases; groups are continually patrolling the streets, throwing a crimson powder at each other, or ejecting a solution of it from syringes, so that the garments and visages of all are one mass of crimson. On the 8th, emphatically called 662the Phag, the Rana joins the queens and their attendants in the palace, when all restraint is removed and mirth is unlimited. But the most brilliant sight is the playing of the Holi on horseback, on the terrace in front of the palace. Each chief who chooses to join has a plentiful supply of missiles, formed of thin plates of mica or talc, enclosing this crimson powder, called abira, which with the most graceful and dextrous horsemanship they dart at each other, pursuing, caprioling, and jesting. This part of it much resembles the Saturnalia of Rome of this day, when similar missiles are scattered at the Carnivâle. The last day or Punon ends the Holi, when the Nakkaras from the Tripolia summon all the chiefs with their retinues to attend their prince, and accompany him in procession to the Chaugan, their Champ de Mars. In the centre of this is a long sala or hall, the ascent to which is by a flight of steps: the roof is supported by square columns without any walls, so that the court is entirely open. Here, surrounded by his chiefs, the Rana passes an hour, listening to the songs in praise of Holika, while a scurrilous kavya or couplet from some wag in the crowd reminds him, that exalted rank is no protection against the license of the spring Saturnalia; though ‘the Diwan of Eklinga’ has not to reproach himself with a failure of obedience to the rites of the goddess, having fulfilled the command ‘to multiply,’ more than any individual in his kingdom.^[29] While the Rana and his chiefs are thus amused above, the buffoons and itinerant groups mix with the cavalcade, throw powder in their eyes, or deluge their garments with the crimson solution. To resent it would only expose the sensitive party to be laughed at, and draw upon him a host of these bacchanals: so that no alternative exists between keeping entirely aloof or mixing in the fray [568].^[30]

663On the last day, the Rana feasts his chiefs, and the camp breaks up with the distribution of khanda nariyal, or swords and coco-nuts, to the chiefs and all “whom the king delighteth to honour.” These khandas are but ‘of lath,’ in shape like the Andrea Ferrara, or long cut-and-thrust, the favourite weapon of the Rajput. They are painted in various ways, like Harlequin’s sword, and meant as a burlesque, in unison with the character of the day, when war is banished, and the multiplication,^[31] not the destruction, of man is the behest of the goddess who rules the spring. At nightfall, the forty days conclude with ‘the burning of the Holi,’ when they light large fires, into which various substances, as well as the crimson abira, are thrown, and around which groups of children are dancing and screaming in the streets like so many infernals. Until three hours after sunrise of the new month of Chait, these orgies are continued with increased vigour, when the natives bathe, change their garments, worship, and return to the rank of sober citizens; and princes and chiefs receive gifts from their domestics.^[32]

Chait.

—The first of this month is the Samvatsara (vulg. Chamchari), or anniversary of the death of the Rana’s father, to whose memory solemn rites are performed both in the palace and at Ara, the royal cemetery, metaphorically termed Mahasati, or place of ‘great faith.’ Thither the Rana repairs, and offers oblations to the manes of his father; and after purifying in the Gangabheva, a rivulet which flows through the middle of ‘the abode of silence,’ he returns to the palace.

On the 3rd, the whole of the royal insignia proceeds to Bedla, the residence of the Chauhan chief (one of the Sixteen), within the valley of the capital, in order to convey the Rao to court. The Rana advances to the Ganesa Deori ^[33] to receive him; when, 664after salutation, the sovereign and his chief return to the great hall of assembly, hand in hand, but that of the Chauhan above or upon his sovereign’s. In this ceremony we have another singular memorial of the glorious days of Mewar, when almost every chieftain established by deeds of devotion a right to the eternal gratitude of their princes; the decay of whose [569] power but serves to hallow such reminiscences. It is in these little acts of courteous condescension, deviations from the formal routine of reception, that we recognize the traces of Rajput history; for inquiry into these customs will reveal the incident which gave birth to each, and curiosity will be amply repaid, in a lesson at once of political and moral import. For my own part, I never heard the kettledrum of my friend Raj Kalyan strike at the sacred barrier, the Tripolia, without recalling the glorious memory ofmemory of his ancestor at the Thermopylae of Mewar;^[34] nor looked on the autograph lance, the symbol of the Chondawats, without recognizing the fidelity of the founder of the clan;^[35] nor observed the honours paid to the Chauhans of Bedla and Kotharia, without the silent tribute of applause to the manes of their sires.

Sītala’s Festival.

—Chait badi sat, or ‘7th of [the dark fortnight] Chait,’ is in honour of the goddess Sitala, the protectress of children: all the matrons of the city proceed with their offerings to the shrine of the goddess, placed upon the very pinnacle of an isolated hill in the valley. In every point of view, this divinity is the twin-sister of the Mater Montana,^[36] the guardian of infants amongst the Romans, the Grecian or Phrygian Cybele.

Birthday of the Rana.

—This is also the Rana’s birthday,^[37] on which occasion all classes flock with gifts and good wishes that “the king may live for ever”; but it is in the penetralia of the Rawala, where the profane eye enters not, that the greatest festivities of this day are kept.

New Year’s Day. The Festival of Flowers.

—Chait Sudi 1st (15th of the month) is the opening of the luni-solar year of Vikramaditya. Ceremonies, which more especially appertain to the Nauratri of Asoj, are performed on this day; and the sword is worshipped 665in the palace. But such rites are subordinate to those of the fair divinity, who still rules over this the smiling portion of the year. Vasanti has ripened into the fragrant Flora, and all the fair of the capital, as well as the other sex, repair to the gardens and groves, where parties assemble, regale, and swing, adorned with chaplets of roses, jessamine, or oleander, when the Naulakha gardens may vie with the Tivoli of Paris. They return in the evening to the city.

The Festival of Flowers.

—The Rajput Floralia ushers in the rites of the beneficent Gauri, which continue nine days, the number sacred to the creative [570] power. These vie with the Cerealia of Rome, or the more ancient rites of the goddess of the Nile: I shall therefore devote some space to a particular account of them.^[38]

Ganggor Festival.

—Among the many remarkable festivals of Rajasthan, kept with peculiar brilliancy at Udaipur, is that in honour of Gauri, or Isani, the goddess of abundance, the Isis of Egypt, the Ceres of Greece. Like the Rajput Saturnalia, which it follows, it belongs to the vernal equinox, when nature in these regions proximate to the tropic is in the full expanse of her charms, and the matronly Gauri casts her golden mantle over the beauties of the verdant Vasanti.^[39] Then the fruits exhibit their promise to the eye; the koil fills the ear with melody; the air is impregnated with aroma, and the crimson poppy contrasts with the spikes of golden grain, to form a wreath for the beneficent Gauri.

Gauri is one of the names of Isa or Parvati, wife of the greatest of the gods, Mahadeva or Iswara, who is conjoined with her in these rites, which almost exclusively appertain to the women. The meaning of Gauri is ‘yellow,’ emblematic of the ripened harvest, when the votaries of the goddess adore her effigies, which are those of a matron painted the colour of ripe corn; and though her image is represented with only two hands, in one of which she holds the lotos, which the Egyptians regarded as emblematic of reproduction, yet not unfrequently they equip her with the warlike conch, the discus, and the club, to denote that the goddess, whose gifts sustain life, is likewise accessary to the loss of it: uniting, as Gauri and Kali, the characters of life and death, like 666the Isis and Cybele of the Egyptians. But here she is only seen as Annapurna, the benefactress of mankind. The rites commence when the sun enters Aries (the opening of the Hindu year), by a deputation to a spot beyond the city, “to bring earth for the image of Gauri.”^[40] When this is formed, a smaller one of Iswara is made, and they are placed together; a small trench is then excavated, in which barley is sown; the ground is irrigated and artificial heat supplied till the grain germinates, when the females join hands and dance round it, invoking the blessings of Gauri on their husbands.^[41] The young corn is then taken up, distributed, and presented by the females to the men, who wear it in their turbans. Every wealthy family has its image, or at least every purwa or subdivision of the city. These and other [571] rites known only to the initiated having been performed for several days within doors, they decorate the images, and prepare to carry them in procession to the lake. During these days of preparation, nothing is talked of but Gauri’s departure from the palace; whether she will be as sumptuously apparelled as in the year gone by; whether an additional boat will be launched on the occasion; though not a few forget the goddess altogether in the recollection of the gazelle eyes (mrig-nayani) and serpentine locks (nagini-zulf)^[42] of the beauteous handmaids who are selected to attend her. At length the hour arrives, the martial nakkaras give the signal “to the cannonier without,” and speculation is at rest when the guns on the summit of the castle of Eklinggarh announce that Gauri has commenced her excursion to the lake.

The Bathing of the Goddess.

—The cavalcade assembles on the magnificent terrace, and the Rana, surrounded by his nobles, leads the way to the boats, of a form as primitive as that which conveyed the Argonauts to Colchis. The scenery is admirably adapted for these fêtes, the ascent being gradual from the margin of the lake, which here forms a fine bay, and gently rising to the crest of the ridge on which the palace and dwellings of the chiefs are built. Every turret and balcony is crowded with spectators, 667from the palace to the water’s edge; and the ample flight of marble steps which intervene from the Tripolia, or triple portal, to the boats, is a dense mass of females in variegated robes, whose scarfs but half conceal their ebon tresses adorned with the rose and the jessamine. A more imposing or more exhilarating sight cannot be imagined than the entire population of a city thus assembled for the purpose of rejoicing; the countenance of every individual, from the prince to the peasant, dressed in smiles. Carry the eye to heaven, and it rests on ‘a sky without a cloud’: below is a magnificent lake, the even surface of the deep blue waters broken only by palaces of marble, whose arched piazzas are seen through the foliage of orange groves, plantain, and tamarind; while the vision is bounded by noble mountains, their peaks towering over each other, and composing an immense amphitheatre. Here the deformity of vice intrudes not; no object is degraded by inebriation: no tumultuous disorder or deafening clamour, but all await patiently, with eyes directed to the Tripolia, the appearance of Gauri. At length the procession is seen winding down the steep, and in the midst [572], borne on a pat,^[43] or throne, gorgeously arrayed in yellow robes, and blazing with ‘barbaric pearl and gold,’ the goddess appears; on either side the two beauties wave the silver chamara over her head, while the more favoured damsels act as harbingers, preceding her with wands of silver: the whole chanting hymns. On her approach, the Rana, his chiefs and ministers rise and remain standing till the goddess is seated on her throne close to the water’s edge, when all bow, and the prince and court take their seats in the boats. The females then form a circle around the goddess, unite hands, and with a measured step and various graceful inclinations of the body, keeping time by beating the palms at particular cadences, move round the image singing hymns, some in honour of the goddess of abundance, others on love and chivalry; and embodying little episodes of national achievements, occasionally sprinkled with double entendre, which excites a smile and significant nod from the chiefs, and an inclination of the head of the fair choristers. The festival being entirely female, not a single male mixed in the immense groups, and even Iswara himself, the husband of Gauri, attracts no attention, as appears from his ascetic or mendicant form begging his dole 668from the bounteous and universal mother. It is taken for granted that the goddess is occupied in bathing all the time she remains, and ancient tradition says death was the penalty of any male intruding on these solemnities; but the present prince deems them so fitted for amusement, that he has even instituted a second Ganggor. Some hours are thus consumed, while easy and good-humoured conversation is carried on. At length, the ablutions over, the goddess is taken up, and conveyed to the palace with the same forms and state. The Rana and his chiefs then unmoor their boats, and are rowed round the margin of the lake, to visit in succession the other images of the goddess, around which female groups are chanting and worshipping, as already described, with which ceremonies the evening closes, when the whole terminates with a grand display of fireworks, the finale of each of the three days dedicated to Gauri.

Considerable resemblance is to be discerned between this festival of Gauri and that in honour of the Egyptian Diana ^[44] at Bubastis, and Isis at Busiris, within the [573] Delta of the Nile, of which Herodotus says: “They who celebrate those of Diana embark in vessels; the women strike their tabors, the men their flutes; the rest of both sexes clap their hands, and join in chorus. Whatever city they approach, the vessels are brought on shore; the women use ungracious language, dance, and indelicately throw about their garments.”^[45] Wherever the rites of Isis prevailed, we find the boat introduced as an essential emblem in her worship, whether in the heart of Rajasthan, on the banks of the Nile, or in the woods of Germany. Bryant ^[46] 669furnishes an interesting account from Diodorus and Curtius, illustrated by drawings from Pocock, from the temple of Luxor, near Carnac, in the Thebaid, of ‘the ship of Isis,’ carrying an ark; and from a male figure therein, this learned person thinks it bears a mysterious allusion to the deluge. I am inclined to deem the personage in the ark Osiris, husband of Isis, the type of the sun arrived in the sign of Aries (of which the ram’s heads ornamenting both the prow and stem of the vessel are typical), the harbinger of the annual fertilizing inundation of the Nile: evincing identity of origin as an equinoctial festival with that of Gauri (Isis) of the Indu-Scythic races of Rajasthan.

The German Suevi adored Isis, and also introduced a ship in her worship, for which Tacitus ^[47] is at a loss to account, and with his usual candour says he has no materials whence to investigate the origin of a worship denoting the foreign origin of the tribe. This Isis of the Suevi was evidently a form of Ertha, the chief divinity of all the Saxon races, who, with her consort Teutates or Hesus ^[48] (Mercury), were the chief deities of both the Celtic and early Gothic races: the [574] Budha and Ila of the Rajputs; in short, the earth,^[49] the prolific mother, the Isis of Egypt, the Ceres of Greece, the Annapurna (giver of food) of the Rajputs. On some ancient temples dedicated to this Hindu Ceres we have sculptured on the frieze and pedestal of the columns the emblem of abundance, termed the kamakumbha, or vessel of desire, a vase of elegant form, from which branches of the palm are gracefully pendent. Herodotus says that similar water-vessels, filled 670with wheat and barley, were carried in the festival of Isis; and all who have attended to Egyptian antiquities are aware that the god Canopus is depicted under the form of a water-jar, or Nilometer, whose covering bears the head of Osiris.

The Agastya Festival.

—To render the analogy perfect between the vessels emblematic of the Isis of the Nile and the Ganges, there is a festival sacred to the sage Agastya, who presides over the star Canopus, when the sun enters Virgo (Kanya). The kamakumbha is then personified under the epithet kumbhayoni, and the votary is instructed to pour water into a sea-shell, in which having placed white flowers and unground rice, turning his face to the south, he offers it with this incantation: “Hail, Kumbhayoni, born in the sight of Mitra and Varuna (the sun and water divinities), bright as the blossom of the kusa (grass), who sprung from Agni (fire) and the Maruts.” By the prefix of Ganga (the river) to Gauri, we see that the Ganggor festival is essentially sacred to a river-goddess, affording additional proof of the common origin of the rites of the Isis of Egypt and India.

The Egyptians, according to Plutarch, considered the Nile as flowing from Osiris, in like manner as the Hindu poet describes the fair Ganga flowing from the head of Iswara, which Sir W. Jones thus classically paints in his hymn to Ganga:

The Goddess Ganga.

—Ganga, the river-goddess, like the Nile, is the type of fertility, and like that celebrated stream, has her source amidst the eternal glaciers of Chandragiri or Somagiri (the mountains of the moon); the higher peaks of the gigantic 671Himalaya, where Parvati is represented as ornamenting the tiara of Iswara “with a beamy moon.” In this metaphor, and in his title of Somanatha (lord of the moon), we again have evidence of Iswara, or Siva, after representing the sun, having the satellite moon as his ornament.^[50] His Olympus, Kailasa, is studded with that majestic pine, the cedar; thence he is called Kedarnath, ‘lord of the cedar-trees.’^[51] The mysteries of Osiris and those of Eleusis ^[52] were of the same character, commemorative of the first germ of civilization, the culture of the earth, under a variety of names, Ertha, Isis, Diana, Ceres, Ila. It is a curious fact that in the terra-cotta images of Isis, frequently excavated about her temple at Paestum,^[53] she holds in her right hand an exact representation of the Hindu lingam and yoni combined; and on the Indian expedition to Egypt, our Hindu soldiers deemed themselves amongst the altars of their own god Iswara (Osiris), from the abundance of his emblematic representatives.

The Aghori Ascetics.

—In the festival of Ganggor, as before mentioned, Iswara yields to his consort Gauri, and occupies an unimportant position near her at the water’s edge, meanly clad, smoking intoxicating herbs, and, whether by accident or design, holding the stalk of an onion in full blossom as a mace or club—a plant regarded by some of the Egyptians with veneration, and held by the Hindus generally in detestation: and why they should on such an occasion thus degrade Iswara, I know not. Onion-juice is reluctantly taken when prescribed medicinally, as a powerful stimulant, by those who would reject spirituous liquors; and there are classes, as the Aghori, that worship Iswara in his most degraded form, who will not only devour raw flesh, but that of man; and to whom it is a matter of perfect 672indifference whether the victim was slaughtered or died a natural death.death. For the honour of humanity, such monsters are few in number; but that they practise [576] these deeds I can testify, from a personal visit to their haunts, where I saw the cave of one of these Troglodyte monsters, in which by his own command he was inhumed; and which will remain closed, until curiosity and incredulity greater than mine may disturb the bones of the Aghori of Abu.

The ὠμοφαγία, or eating raw flesh with the blood, was a part of the secret mysteries of Osiris, in commemoration of the happy change in the condition of mankind from savage to civilized life, and intended to deter by disgust the return thereto.^[54]

The Buddhists pursued this idea to excess; and in honour of Adiswara, the First, who from his abode of Meru taught them the arts of agriculture, they altogether abandoned that type of savage life, the eating of the flesh of animals,^[55] and confined themselves to the fruits of the earth. With these sectarian anti-idolaters, who are almost all of Rajput descent, the beneficent Lakshmi, Sri, or Gauri, is an object of sincere devotion.

Affinities of Hindu to other Mythologies.

—But we must close this digression; for such is the affinity between the mythology of India, Greece, and Egypt, that a bare recapitulation of the numerous surnames of the Hindu goddess of abundance would lead us beyond reasonable limits; all are forms of Parvati or Durga Mata, the Mater Montana of Greece and Rome, an epithet of Cybele or Vesta (according to Diodorus), as the guardian goddess of children, one of the characters of the Rajput ‘Mother of the Mount,’ whose shrine crowns many a pinnacle in Mewar; and who, with the prolific Gauri, is amongst the amiable forms of the universal mother, whose functions are more varied and extensive than her sisters of Egypt and of Greece. Like the Ephesian Diana, Durga wears the crescent on her head. She is also ‘the turreted Cybele,’ the guardian goddess of all places of strength (durga),^[56] and like her she is drawn or carried by the lion. As Mata Janavi, ‘the Mother of Births,’ she is Juno 673Lucina: as Padma, ‘whose throne is the lotos,’ she is the fair Isis of the Nile: as Tripura,^[57] ‘governing the three worlds,’ and Atmadevi, ‘the Goddess of Souls,’ she is the Hecate Triformis of the Greeks. In short, her power is manifested under every form from the birth, and all the [577] intermediate stages until death; whether Janavi, Gauri, or the terrific Kali, the Proserpine or Kalligeneia of the West.

Whoever desires to witness one of the most imposing and pleasing of Hindu festivals, let him repair to Udaipur, and behold the rites of the lotus-queen Padma, the Gauri of Rajasthan.

Chait (Sudi) 8th, which, being after the Ides, is the 23rd of the month, is sacred to Devi, the goddess of every tribe; she is called Asokashtami, and being the ninth night (nauratri) from the opening of their Floralia, they perform the homa, or sacrifice of fire. On this day a grand procession takes place to the Chaugan, and every Rajput worships his tutelary divinity.

The Birth of Rāma.

—Chait (Sudi) 9th is the anniversary of Rama, the grand beacon of the solar race, kept with great rejoicings at Udaipur. Horses and elephants are worshipped, and all the implements of war. A procession takes place to the Chaugan, and the succeeding day, called the Dasahra or tenth, is celebrated in Asoj.

The Festival of Kamadeva.

—The last days of spring are dedicated to Kamadeva, the god of love. The scorching winds of the hot season are already beginning to blow, when Flora droops her head, and “the god of love turns anchorite”; yet the rose continues to blossom, and affords the most fragrant chaplets for the Rajputnis, amidst all the heats of summer. Of this the queen of flowers, the jessamine (chameli), white and yellow, the mogra,^[58] the champaka, that flourish in extreme heat, the ladies form garlands, which they twine in their dark hair, weave into bracelets, or wear as pendent collars. There is no city in the East where the adorations of the sex to Kamadeva are more fervent than in ‘the city of the rising sun’ (Udayapura). On the 13th and 14th of Chait they sing hymns handed down by the sacred bards:

“Hail, god of the flowery bow:^[59] hail, warrior with a fish on 674thy banner! hail, powerful divinity, who causeth the firmness of the sage to forsake him!”

“Glory to Madana, to Kama,^[60] the god of gods; to Him by whom Brahma [578], Vishnu, Siva, and Indra are filled with emotions of rapture!”—Bhavishya Purana.^[61]

Festivals in the month Baisākh: April-May.

—There is but one festival in this month of any note, when the grand procession denominated the ‘Nakkara ki aswari’ (from the equestrians being summoned, as already described, by the grand kettledrums from the Tripolia), takes place; and this is against the canons of the Hindu church, being instituted by the present Rana in S. 1847, a memorable year in the calendar. It was in this year, on the 2nd of Baisakh, that he commanded a repetition of the rites of Gauri, by the name of the Little Ganggor; but this act of impiety was marked by a sudden rise of the waters of the Pichola, the bursting of the huge embankment, and the inundation of the lake’s banks, to the destruction of one-third of the capital: life, property, mansions, trees, all were swept away in the tremendous rush of water, whose ravages are still marked by the site of streets and bazaars now converted into gardens or places of recreation, containing thousands of acres within the walls, subdivided by hedges of the cactus, the natural fence of Mewar, which alike thrives in the valley or covers the most barren spots of her highest hills. But although the superstitious look grave, and add that a son was also taken from him on this very day, yet the Rana persists in maintaining the fête he established; the barge is manned, he and his chiefs circumnavigate the Pichola, regale on ma’ajun, and terrify Varuna (the water-god) with the pyrotechnic exhibitions.

Although the court calendar of Udaipur notices only those festivals on which State processions occur, yet there are many minor fêtes, which are neither unimportant nor uninteresting. We shall enumerate a few, alike in Baisakh, Jeth, and Asarh, which are blank as to the Nakkara Aswari.

Savitrivrata Festival.

—On the 29th Baisakh there is a fast common to India peculiar to the women, who perform certain rites under the sacred fig-tree (the vata or pipal), to preserve 675them from widowhood; and hence the name of the fast Savitri-vrata.^[62]

Festivals in the month Jeth: May-June.

—On the 2nd of Jeth, when the sun is in the zenith, the Rajput ladies commemorate the birth of the sea-born goddess Rambha, the queen of the naiads or Apsaras,^[63] whose birth, like that of Venus, was from the froth of the waters; and [579] hence the Rajput bards designate all the fair messengers of heaven by the name of Apsaras, who summon the ‘chosen’ from the field of battle, and convey him to the ‘mansion of the sun.’^[64]

The Aranya-Shashthi Festival.

—On the 6th of Jeth the ladies have another festival called the Aranya Shashthi, because on this day those desirous of offspring walk in the woods (aranya) to gather and eat certain herbs. Sir W. Jones has remarked the analogy between this and the Druidic ceremony of gathering the mistletoe (also on the Shashthi, or 6th day of the moon), as a preservative against sterility.

Festivals in the month Āsārh: June-July.

—Asarh, the initiative month of the periodical rains, has no particular festivity at Udaipur, though in other parts of India the Rathayatra, or procession of the car of Vishnu or Jagannatha (lord of the universe) is well known: this is on the 2nd and the 11th, ‘the night of the gods,’ when Vishnu (the sun) reposes four months.

Festivals in the month Sāwan: July-August.

—Sawan, classically Sravana. There are two important festivals, with processions, in this month.

The Tij.

—The third, emphatically called ‘the Tij’ (third), is sacred to the mountain goddess Parvati, being the day on which, after long austerities, she was reunited to Siva: she accordingly declared it holy, and proclaimed that whoever invoked her on that day should possess whatever was desired. The Tij is 676accordingly reverenced by the women, and the husbandman of Rajasthan, who deems it a most favourable day to take possession of land, or to reinhabit a deserted dwelling. When on the expulsion of the predatory powers from the devoted lands of Mewar, proclamations were disseminated far and wide, recalling the expatriated inhabitants, they showed their love of country by obedience to the summons. Collecting their goods and chattels, they congregated from all parts, but assembled at a common rendezvous to make their entry to the bapota, ‘land of their sires,’ on the Tij of Sawan. On this fortunate occasion, a band of three hundred men, women, and children, with colours flying, drums beating, the females taking precedence with brass vessels of water on their heads, and chanting the suhaila (song of joy), entered the town of Kapasan, to revisit their desolate dwellings [580], and return thanks on their long-abandoned altars to Parvati ^[65] for a happiness they had never contemplated.

Red garments are worn by all classes on this day, and at Jaipur clothes of this colour are presented by the Raja to all the chiefs. At that court the Tij is kept with more honour than at Udaipur. An image of Parvati on the Tij, richly attired, is borne on a throne by women chanting hymns, attended by the prince and his nobles. On this day, fathers present red garments and stuffs to their daughters.

The Nāgpanchami Festival: Serpent Worship.

—The 5th is the Nagpanchami, or day set apart for the propitiation of the chief of the reptile race, the Naga or serpent. Few subjects have more occupied the notice of the learned world than the mysteries of Ophite worship, which are to be traced wherever there existed a remnant of civilization, or indeed of humanity; among the savages of the savannahs ^[66] of America, and the magi of Fars, with whom it was the type of evil,—their Ahrimanes.^[67] The Nagas, or serpent-genii of the Rajputs, have a semi-human structure, precisely as Diodorus describes the snake-mother of 677the Scythae, in whose country originated this serpent-worship, engrafted on the tenets of Zardusht, of the Puranas of the priesthood of Egypt, and on the fables of early Greece.^[68] Dupuis, Volney, and other expounders of the mystery, have given an astronomical solution to what they deem a varied ramification of an ancient fable, of which that of Greece, ‘the dragon guarding the fruits of Hesperides,’ may be considered the most elegant version. Had these learned men seen those ancient sculptures in India, which represent ‘the fall,’ they might have changed their opinion. The traditions of the Jains or Buddhists (originating in the land of the Takshaks,^[69] or Turkistan) assert the creation of the human species in pairs, called jugal, who fed off the ever-fructifying kalpa-vriksha, which possesses all the characters of the Tree of Life, like it bearing

which was termed amrita, and rendered them immortal. A drawing, brought by [581] Colonel Coombs, from a sculptured column in a cave temple in the south of India, represents the first pair at the foot of this ambrosial tree, and a serpent entwined among the heavily laden boughs, presenting to them some of the fruit from his mouth. The tempter appears to be at that part of his discourse, when

This is a curious subject to be engraved on an ancient pagan temple; if Jain or Buddhist, the interest would be considerably enhanced. On this festival, at Udaipur, as well as throughout India, they strew particular plants about the threshold, to prevent the entrance of reptiles.

The Rākhi Festival.

—This festival, which is held on the last day of Sawan, was instituted in honour of the good genii, when Durvasas the sage instructed Salono (the genius or nymph presiding over the month of Sawan) to bind on rakhis, or bracelets, as charms to avert evil. The ministers of religion and females alone are privileged to bestow these charmed wrist-bands. The ladies of 678Rajasthan, either by their handmaids or the family priests, send a bracelet as the token of their esteem to such as they adopt as brothers, who return gifts in acknowledgement of the honour. The claims thus acquired by the fair are far stronger than those of consanguinity: for illustration of which I may refer to an incident already related in the annals of this house.^[70] Sisters also present their brothers with clothes on this day, who make an offering of gold in return.^[71]

This day is hailed by the Brahmans as indemnifying them for their expenditure of silk and spangles, with which they decorate the wrists of all who are likely to make a proper return.

Festivals in the month Bhādon: August-September.

—On the 3rd there is a grand procession to the Chaugan; and the 8th, or Ashtami, is the birth of Krishna, which will be described at large in an account of Nathdwara. There are several holidays in this month, when the periodical [582] rains are in full descent; but that on the last but one (Sudi 14, or 29th) is the most remarkable.

Ancestor Worship.

—On this day ^[72] commences the worship of the ancestorial manes (the Pitrideva, or father-gods) of the Rajputs, which continues for fifteen days. The Rana goes to the cemetery at Ara, and performs at the cenotaph of each of his forefathers the rites enjoined, consisting of ablutions, prayers, and the hanging of garlands of flowers, and leaves sacred to the dead, on their monuments. Every chieftain does the same amongst the altars of the ‘great ancients’ (bara burha); or, if absent from their estates, they accompany their sovereign to Ara.

14. Turner, when discussing the history of the Sakai, or Sakaseni, of the Caspian, whom he justly supposes to be the Saxons of the Baltic, takes occasion to introduce some words of Scythic origin (preserved by ancient writers), to almost every one of which, without straining etymology, we may give a Sanskrit origin. [There is no ground for ascribing a Scythic origin to the proper names in the text.]

	Scythic.	Sanskrit or Bhakha.
Exampaios	sacred ways	Agham is the sacred book; pai and pada, a foot; pantha, a path.
Arimu	one	Ad is the first; whence Adima, or man.
Spou	an eye.
Oior	a man.
Pata	to kill	Badh, to kill.
Tahiti	the chief deity is Vesta	Tap is heat or flame; the type of Vesta.
Papaios	” ”	Jupiter Baba, or Bapa, the universal father. The Hindu Jiva-pitri, or Father of Life [?].
Oitosuros	” ” Apollo	Aitiswara, or Sun-God, applicable to Vishnu, who has every attribute of Apollo; from ait, contraction of aditya, the sun.
Artimpasa, or Aripasa	” ” Venus	Apsaras because born from the froth or essence, ‘sara,’ of the waters, ‘ap’ [‘going in the water’].
Thamimasadus	” ” Neptune	Thoenatha; or God of the Waters.
Apia	wife of Papaios, or Earth	Amba, Ama, Uma, is the universal mother; wife of ‘Baba Adam,’ as they term the universal father.

See Turner’s History of the Anglo-Saxons, vol. i. p. 35. [Many of the identifications are obsolete.]

Khadga Sthapana, Sword Worship.

—The festival in which this imposing rite occurs is the Nauratri,^[1] sacred to the god of war, commencing on the first of the month Asoj. It is essentially martial, and confined to the Rajput, who on the departure of the monsoon finds himself at liberty to indulge his passion whether for rapine or revenge, both which in these tropical regions are necessarily suspended during the rains. Arguing from the order of the passions, we may presume that the first objects of emblematic worship were connected with war [583], and we accordingly find the highest reverence paid to arms by every nation of antiquity. The Scythic warrior of Central Asia, the intrepid Gete, admitted no meaner representative of the god of battle than his own scimitar.^[2] He worshipped it, he swore by it; it was buried with him, in order that he might appear before the martial divinity in the other world as became his worshipper on earth: for the Gete of Transoxiana, from the earliest ages, not only believed in the soul’s immortality, and in the doctrine of rewards and punishments hereafter, but, according to the father of history, he was a monotheist; of which fact he has left a memorable proof in the punishment of the celebrated Anacharsis, who, on his return from a visit to Thales and his brother philosophers of Greece, attempted to introduce into the land of the Saka (Sakatai) the corrupted polytheism of Athens.

If we look westward from this the central land of earliest 680civilization, to Dacia, Thrace, Pannonia, the seats of the Thyssagetae or western Getae, we find the same form of adoration addressed to the emblem of Mars, as mentioned by Xenophon in his memorable retreat, and practised by Alaric and his Goths, centuries afterwards, in the Acropolis of Athens. If we transport ourselves to the shores of Scandinavia, amongst the Cimbri and Getae of Jutland, to the Ultima Thule, wherever the name of Gete prevails, we shall find the same adoration paid by the Getic warrior to his sword.

The Frisian Frank also of Gothic race, adhered to this worship, and transmitted it with the other rites of the Getic warrior of the Jaxartes; such as the adoration of the steed, sacred to the sun, the great god of the Massagetae, as well as of the Rajput, who sacrificed it at the annual feast, or with his arms and wife burnt it on his funeral pile. Even the kings of the ‘second race’ kept up the religion of their Scythic sires from the Jaxartes, and the bones of the war-horse of Chilperic were exhumed with those of the monarch. These rites, as well as those long-cherished chivalrous notions, for which the Salian Franks have ever been conspicuous [584], had their birth in Central Asia; for though contact with the more polished Arab softened the harsh character of the western warrior, his thirst for glory, the romantic charm which fed his passion, and his desire to please the fair, he inherited from his ancestors on the shores of the Baltic, which were colonized from the Oxus. Whether Charlemagne addressed his sword as Joyeuse,^[3] or the Scandinavian hero Angantýr as the enchanted blade Tyrfing (Hialmar’s bane), each came from one common origin, the people which invented the custom of Khadga Sthapana, or ‘adoration of the sword.’ But neither the falchion ‘made by the dwarfs for Suafurlama,’ nor the redoubled sword of Bayard with which he dubbed the first Francis,—not even the enchanted brand of Ariosto’s hero, can for a moment compare with the double-edged khanda (scimitar) annually worshipped by the chivalry of Mewar. Before I descant on this monstrous blade, I shall give an abstract of the ceremonies on each of the nine days sacred to the god of war.

The Dasahra Festival.

—On the 1st of Asoj, after fasting, ablution, and prayer on the part of the prince and his household, the double-edged khanda is removed from the hall of arms 681(ayudhsala), and having received the homage (puja) of the court, it is carried in procession to the Kishanpol (gate of Kishan), where it is delivered to the Raj Jogi,^[4] the Mahants, and band of Jogis assembled in front of the temple of Devi ‘the goddess,’ adjoining the portal of Kishan.^[5] By these, the monastic militant adorers of Hara, the god of battle, the brand emblematic of the divinity is placed ^[6] on the altar before the image of his divine consort. At three in the afternoon the nakkaras, or grand kettle-drums, proclaim from the Tripolia ^[7] the signal for the assemblage of the chiefs with their retainers; and the Rana and his cavalcade proceed direct to the stables, when a buffalo is sacrificed in honour of the war-horse. Thence the procession moves to the temple of Devi, where the Raja Krishan (Godi) has proceeded. Upon this, the Rana seats himself close to the Raj Jogi, presents two pieces of [585] silver and a coco-nut, performs homage to the sword (khadga), and returns to the palace.

Asoj 2nd. In similar state he proceeds to the Chaugan, their Champ de Mars, where a buffalo is sacrificed; and on the same day another buffalo victim is felled by the nervous arm of a Rajput, near the Toranpol, or triumphal gate. In the evening the Rana goes to the temple of Amba Mata, the universal mother, when several goats and buffaloes bleed to the goddess.

The 3rd. Procession to the Chaugan, when another buffalo is offered; and in the afternoon five buffaloes and two rams are sacrificed to Harsiddh Mata.^[8]

On the 4th, as on every one of the nine days, the first visit is to the Champ de Mars: the day opens with the slaughter of a buffalo. The Rana proceeds to the temple of Devi, when he worships the sword, and the standard of the Raj Jogi, to whom, as the high-priest of Siva, the god of war, he pays homage, and 682makes offering of sugar, and a garland of roses. A buffalo having been previously fixed to a stake near the temple, the Rana sacrifices him with his own hand, by piercing him from his travelling throne (raised on men’s shoulders and surrounded by his vassals) with an arrow. In the days of his strength, he seldom failed almost to bury the feather in the flank of the victim; but on the last occasion his enfeebled arm made him exclaim with Prithiraj, when, captive and blind, he was brought forth to amuse the Tartar despot, “I draw not the bow as in the days of yore.”

On the 5th, after the usual sacrifice at the Chaugan, and an elephant fight, the procession marches to the temple of Asapurna (Hope); a buffalo and a ram are offered to the goddess adored by all the Rajputs, and the tutelary divinity of the Chauhans. On this day the lives of some victims are spared at the intercession of the Nagar-Seth, or chief-magistrate,^[9] and those of his faith, the Jains.

On the 6th, the Rana visits the Chaugan, but makes no sacrifice. In the afternoon, prayers and victims to Devi; and in the evening the Rana visits Bhikharinath, the chief of the Kanphara Jogis, or split-ear ascetics.ascetics.

The 7th. After the daily routine at the Chaugan, and sacrifices to Devi (the goddess of destruction), the chief equerry is commanded to adorn the steeds with their new caparisons, and lead them to be bathed in the lake. At night, the sacred fire (hom) is kindled, and a buffalo and a ram are sacrificed to Devi; the Jogis [586] are called up and feasted on boiled rice and sweetmeats. On the conclusion of this day, the Rana and his chieftains visit the hermitage of Sukharia Baba, an anchorite of the Jogi sect.

8th. There is the homa, or fire-sacrifice in the palace. In the afternoon, the prince, with a select cavalcade, proceeds to the village of Samina, beyond the city walls, and visits a celebrated Gosain.^[10]

9th. There is no morning procession. The horses from the royal stables, as well as those of the chieftains, are taken to the 683lake, and bathed by their grooms, and on returning from purification they are caparisoned in their new housings, led forth, and receive the homage of their riders, and the Rana bestows a largess on the master of the horse, the equerries, and grooms. At three in the afternoon, the nakkaras having thrice sounded, the whole State insignia, under a select band, proceed to Mount Matachal, and bring home the sword. When its arrival in the court of the palace is announced, the Rana advances and receives it with due homage from the hands of the Raj Jogi, who is presented with a khilat; while the Mahant, who has performed all the austerities during the nine days, has his patra^[11] filled with gold and silver coin. The whole of the Jogis are regaled, and presents are made to their chiefs. The elephants and horses again receive homage, and the sword, the shield, and spear are worshipped within the palace. At three in the morning the prince takes repose.

The 10th, or Dasahra,^[12] is a festival universally known in India, and respected by all classes, although entirely military, being commemorative of the day on which the deified Rama commenced his expedition to Lanka for the redemption of Sita;^[13] the ‘tenth of Asoj’ is consequently deemed by the Rajput a fortunate day for warlike enterprise. The day commences with a visit from the [587] prince or chieftain to his spiritual guide. Tents and carpets are prepared at the Chaugan or Matachal mount, where the artillery is sent; and in the afternoon the Rana, his chiefs, and their retainers repair to the field of Mars, worship the khejra tree,^[14] liberate the nilkanth or jay (sacred to Rama), and return amidst a discharge of guns.

68411th. In the morning, the Rana, with all the State insignia, the kettledrums sounding in the rear, proceeds towards the Matachal mount, and takes the muster of his troops, amidst discharges of cannon, tilting, and display of horsemanship. The spectacle is imposing even in the decline of this house. The hilarity of the party, the diversified costume, the various forms, colours, and decorations of the turbans, in which some have the heron plume, or sprigs from some shrub sacred to the god of war; the clusters of lances, shining matchlocks, and black bucklers, the scarlet housings of the steeds, and waving pennons, recall forcibly the glorious days of the devoted Sanga, or the immortal Partap, who on such occasions collected round the black changi and crimson banner of Mewar a band of sixteen thousand of his own kin and clan, whose lives were their lord’s and their country’s. The shops and bazaars are ornamented with festoons of flowers and branches of trees, while the costliest cloths and brocades are extended on screens, to do honour to their prince; the toran (or triumphal arch) is placed before the tent, on a column of which he places one hand as he alights, and before entering makes several circumambulations. All present offer their nazars to the prince, the artillery fires, and the bards raise ‘the song of praise,’ celebrating the glories of the past; the fame of Samra, who fell with thirteen thousand of his kin on the Ghaggar; of Arsi and his twelve brave sons, who gave themselves as victims for the salvation of Chitor; of Kumbha, Lakha, Sanga, Partap, Amra, Raj, all descended of the blood of Rama, whose exploits, three thousand five hundred years before, they are met to celebrate. The situation of Matachal is well calculated for such a spectacle, as indeed is the whole ground from the palace through the Delhi portal to the mount, on which is erected one of the several castles commanding the approaches to the city. The fort is dedicated to Mata, though it would not long remain stable (achal) before a battery of thirty-six pounders. The guns are drawn up about the termination of the slope of the natural glacis; the Rana and his court remain on horseback [588] half up the ascent; and while every chief or vassal is at liberty to leave his ranks, and “witch the world with noble horsemanship,” there is nothing tumultuous, nothing offensive in their mirth.

The steeds purchased since the last festival are named, and as the cavalcade returns, their grooms repeat the appellations 685of each as the word is passed by the master of the horse; as Baj Raj, ‘the royal steed’; Hayamor, ‘the chief of horses’; Manika, ‘the gem’; Bajra, ‘the thunderbolt,’ etc., etc. On returning to the palace, gifts are presented by the Rana to his chiefs. The Chauhan chief of Kotharia claims the apparel which his prince wears on this day, in token of the fidelity of his ancestor to the minor, Udai Singh, in Akbar’s wars. To others, a fillet or balaband for the turban is presented; but all such compliments are regulated by precedent or immediate merit.

The Toran Arch.

—Thus terminates the Nauratri festival sacred to the god of war, which in every point of view is analogous to the autumnal festival of the Scythic warlike nations, when these princes took the muster of their armies, and performed the same rites to the great celestial luminary.^[15] I have presented to the antiquarian reader these details, because it is in minute particulars that analogous customs are detected. Thus the temporary toran, or triumphal arch, erected in front of the tent at Mount Mataehala would scarcely claim the least notice, but that we discover even in this emblem the origin of the triumphal arches of antiquity, with many other rites which may be traced to the Indo-Scythic races of Asia. The toran in its original form consisted of two columns and an architrave, constituting the number three, sacred to Hara, the god of war. In the progress of the arts the architrave gave way to the Hindu arch, which consisted of two or more ribs without the keystone, the apex being the perpendicular junction of the archivaults; nor is the arc of the toran semicircular, or any segment of a circle, but with that graceful curvature which stamps with originality one of the arches of the Normans, who may have brought it from their ancient seats on the Oxus, whence it may also have been [589] carried within the Indus. The cromlech, or trilithic altar in the centre 686of all those monuments called Druidic, is most probably a toran, sacred to the Sun-god Belenus, like Har, or Balsiva, the god of battle, to whom as soon as a temple is raised the toran is erected, and many of these are exquisitely beautiful.

Gates.

—An interesting essay might be written on portes and torans, their names and attributes, and the genii presiding as their guardians. Amongst all the nations of antiquity, the portal has had its peculiar veneration: to pass it was a privilege regarded as a mark of honour. The Jew Haman, in the true Oriental style, took post at the king’s gate as an inexpugnable position. The most pompous court in Europe takes its title from its porte, where, as at Udaipur, all alight. The Tripolia, or triple portal, the entry to the magnificent terrace in front of the Rana’s palace, consists, like the Roman arcs of triumph, of three arches, still preserving the numeral sacred to the god of battle, one of whose titles is Tripura, which may be rendered Tripoli, or lord of the three places of abode, or cities, but applied in its extensive sense to the three worlds, heaven, earth, and hell. From the Sanskrit Pola we have the Greek πύλη, a gate, or pass; and in the guardian or Polia, the πυλωρός or porter; while to this langue mère our own language is indebted, not only for its portes and porters, but its doors (dwara).^[16] Pylos signified also a pass; so in Sanskrit these natural barriers are called Palas, and hence the poetical epithet applied to the aboriginal mountain tribes of Rajasthan, namely, Palipati and Palindra, ‘lords of the pass.’^[17]

Ganesa.

—One of the most important of the Roman divinities was Janus, whence Januae, or portals, of which he was the guardian.^[18] A resemblance between the Ganesa of the Hindu pantheon and the Roman Janus has been pointed out by Sir W. Jones, but his analogy extended little beyond nominal similarity. The fable of the birth of Ganesa furnishes us with the origin of the worship of Janus, and as it has never been given, I shall transcribe it from the bard Chand. Ganesa is the chief of the genii ^[19] attendant on the god of war, and was expressly formed by 687Uma, the Hindu Juno, to guard the entrance of her caverned retreat in the [590] Caucasus, where she took refuge from the tyranny of the lord of Kailasa (Olympus), whose throne is fixed amidst eternal snows on the summit of this peak of the gigantic Caucasus (Koh-khasa).^[20]

“Strife arose between Mahadeo and the faithful Parvati: she fled to the mountains and took refuge in a cave. A crystal fountain tempted her to bathe, but shame was awakened; she dreaded being seen. Rubbing her frame, she made an image of man; with her nail she sprinkled it with the water of life, and placed it as guardian at the entrance of the cave.” Engrossed with the recollection of Parvati,^[21] Siva went to Karttikeya ^[22] for tidings of his mother, and together they searched each valley and recess, and at length reached the spot where a figure was placed at the entrance of a cavern. As the chief of the gods prepared to explore this retreat, he was stopped by the Polia. In a rage he struck off his head with his discus (chakra), and in the gloom discovered the object of his search. Surprised and dismayed, she demanded how he obtained ingress: “Was there no guardian at the entrance?” The furious Siva replied that he had cut off his head. On hearing this, the mountain-goddess was enraged, and weeping, exclaimed, “You have destroyed my child.” The god, determined to recall him to life, decollated a young elephant, replaced the head he had cut off, and naming him Ganesa, decreed that in every resolve his name should be the first invoked.

Thus Ganesa is the chief of the Di minores of the Hindu pantheon, as the etymology of the word indicates,^[25] and like Janus, was entrusted with the gates of heaven [591]; while of his right to preside over peace and war, the fable related affords abundant testimony. Ganesa is the first invoked and propitiated ^[26] on every undertaking, whether warlike or pacific. The warrior implores his counsel; the banker indites his name at the commencement of every letter; the architect places his image in the foundation of every edifice; and the figure of Ganesa is either sculptured or painted at the door of every house as a protection against evil. Our Hindu Janus is represented as four-armed, and holding the disk (chakra), the war-shell, the club, and the lotos. Ganesa is not, however, bifrons, like the Roman guardian of portals. In every transaction he is adi, or the first, though the Hindu does not, like the Roman, open the year with his name. I shall conclude with remarking that one of the portes of every Hindu city is named the Ganesa Pol, as well as some conspicuous entrance to the palace: thus Udaipur has its Ganesa dwara, who also gives a name to the hall, the Ganesa deori; and his shrine will be found on the ascent of every sacred mount, as at Abu, where it is placed close to a fountain on the abrupt face about twelve hundred feet from the base. There is likewise a hill sacred to him in Mewar called Ganesa Gir, tantamount to the Mons Janiculum of the eternal city. The companion of this divinity is a rat, who indirectly receives a portion of homage, and with full as much right as the bird emblematic of Minerva.^[27]

689We have abandoned the temple of the warlike divinity (Devi), the sword of Mars, and the triumphal toran, to invoke Ganesa. It will have been remarked that the Rana aids himself to dismount by placing his hand on one of the columns of the toran, an act which is pregnant with a martial allusion, as are indeed the entire ceremonials of the “worship of the sword.”

Analogies to Western Customs. Oaths by the Sword.

—It might be deemed folly to trace the rites and superstitions of so remote an age and nation to Central Asia; but when we find the superstitions of the Indo-Scythic Getae prevailing within the Indus, in Dacia, and on the shores of the Baltic, we may assume their common origin; for although the worship of arms has prevailed among all warlike tribes, there is a peculiar respect paid to the sword amongst the Getic races. The Greeks and Romans paid devotion to their arms, and swore by them. The Greeks brought their habits from ancient Thrace, where the custom existed of presenting as the greatest gift that peculiar kind of sword called acinaces,^[28] which we dare not derive from the Indo-Scythic or Sanskrit asi, a [592] sword. When Xenophon,^[29] on his retreat, reached the court of Seuthes, he agreed to attach his corps to the service of the Thracian. His officers on introduction, in the true Oriental style, presented their nazars, or gifts of homage, excepting Xenophon, who, deeming himself too exalted to make the common offering, presented his sword, probably only to be touched in recognition of his services being accepted. The most powerful oath of the Rajput, next to his sovereign’s throne (gaddi ka an), is by his arms, ya silah ka an, ‘by this weapon!’ as, suiting the action to the word, he puts his hand on his dagger, never absent from his girdle. Dhal, tarwar, ka an, ‘by my sword and shield!’ The shield is deemed the only fit vessel or salver on which to present gifts; and accordingly at a Rajput court, shawls, brocades, scarfs, and jewels are always spread before the guest on bucklers.^[30]

In the Runic “incantation of Hervor,” daughter of Angantýr, at the tomb of her father, she invokes the dead to deliver the enchanted brand Tyrfing, or “Hjalmr’s bane,” which, according 690to Getic custom, was buried in his tomb; she adjures him and his brothers “by all their arms, their shields, etc.” It is depicted with great force, and, translated, would deeply interest a Rajput, who might deem it the spell by which the Khanda of Hamira, which he annually worships, was obtained.

Hervor—“Awake, Angantýr! Hervor, the only daughter of thee and Suafu, doth awaken thee. Give me out of the tomb the tempered sword which the dwarfs made for Suafurlama.

“Can none of Eyvors’^[31] sons speak with me out of the habitations of the dead? Hervardur,^[31] Hurvardur?”^[31]

The tomb at length opens, the inside of which appears on fire, and a reply is sung within:

Angantýr—“Daughter Hervor, full of spells to raise the dead, why dost thou call so? I was not buried either by father or friends; two who lived after me got Tyrfing, one of whom is now in possession thereof [593].”

Hervor—“The dead shall never enjoy rest unless Angantýr deliver me Tyrfing, that cleaveth shields, and killed Hjalmr.”^[32]

Angantýr—“Young maid, thou art of manlike courage, who dost rove by night to tombs, with spear engraven with magic spells,^[33] with helm and coat of mail, before the door of our hall.”

Angantýr—“The death of Hjalmr ^[34] lies under my shoulders; it is all wrapt up in fire: I know no maid that dares to take this sword in hand.”

Hervor—“I shall take in hand the sharp sword, if I may 691obtain it. I do not think that fire will burn which plays about the site of deceased men.”^[35]

Angantýr—“Take and keep Hjalmr’s bane: touch but the edges of it, there is poison in them both;^[36] it is a most cruel devourer of men.”^[37]

The Magic Sword of Mewār.

—Tradition has hallowed the two-edged sword (khanda) of Mewar, by investing it with an origin as mysterious as “the bane of Hjalmr.” It is supposed to be the enchanted weapon fabricated by Viswakarma,^[38] with which the Hindu Proserpine girded the founder of the race, and led him forth to the conquest of Chitor.^[39] It remained the great heirloom of her princes till the sack of Chitor by the Tatar Ala, when Rana Arsi and eleven of his brave sons devoted themselves at the command of the guardian goddess of their race, and their capital falling into the hands of the invader, the last scion of Bappa became a fugitive amidst the mountains of the west. It was then the Tatar inducted the Sonigira Maldeo [594], as his lieutenant, into the capital of the Guhilots. The most celebrated of the poetic chronicles of Mewar gives an elaborate description of the subterranean palace in Chitor, in one of whose entrances the dreadful sacrifice was perpetuated to save the honour of Padmini and the fair of Chitor from the brutalized Tatars.^[40] The curiosity of Maldeo was more powerful than his superstition, and he determined to explore these hidden abodes, though reputed to be guarded by the serpent genii attendant on Nagnaicha, the 692ancient divinity of its Takshak founders.^[41] Whether it was through the identical caverned passage, and over the ashes of those martyred Kaminis,^[42] that he made good his way into those rock-bound abodes, the legend says not; but though

the intrepid Maldeo paused not until he had penetrated to the very bounds of the abyss, where in a recess he beheld the snaky sorceress and her sister crew seated round a cauldron, in which the materials of their incantation were solving before a fire that served to illume this abode of horror. As he paused, the reverberation of his footsteps caused the infernal crew to look athwart the palpable obscure of their abode, and beholding the audacious mortal, they demanded his intent. The valiant Sonigira replied that he did not come as a spy,

but in search of the enchanted brand of the founder of the Guhilots. Soon they made proof of Maldeo’s hardihood. Uncovering the cauldron, he beheld a sight most appalling: amidst divers fragments of animals was the arm of an infant. A dish of this horrid repast was placed before him, and a silent signal made for him to eat. He obeyed, and returned the empty platter: it was proof sufficient of his worth to wear the enchanted blade, which, drawn forth from its secret abode, was put into the hand of Maldeo, who bowing, retired with the trophy [595].

Rana Hamira recovered this heirloom of his house, and with it the throne of Chitor, by his marriage with the daughter of the 693Sonigira, as related in the annals.^[43] Another version says it was Hamira himself who obtained the enchanted sword, by his incantations to Charani Devi, or the goddess of the bards, whom he worshipped.

The Birth of Kumāra.

—We shall conclude this account of the military festival of Mewar with the birth of Kumara, the god of war, taken from the most celebrated of their mythological poems, the Ramayana, probably the most ancient book in the world.^[44] “Mena, daughter of Meru, became the spouse of Himavat, from whose union sprung the beauteous Ganga, and her sister Uma. Ganga was sought in marriage by all the celestials; while Uma, after a long life of austerity, was espoused by Rudra.”^[45] But neither sister was fortunate enough to have offspring, until Ganga became pregnant by Hutasana (regent of fire), and “Kumara, resplendent as the sun, illustrious as the moon, was produced from the side of Ganga.” The gods, with Indra at their head, carried him to the Krittikas ^[46] to be nursed, and he became their joint care. “As he resembled the fire in brightness, he received the name of Skanda, when the immortals, with Agni (fire) at their head, anointed him as general of the armies of the gods.”^[47]—“Thus (the bard Valmiki speaks), oh! Rama, have I related the story of the production of Kumar.”

694This is a very curious relic of ancient mythology, in which we may trace the most material circumstances of the birth of the Roman divinity of war. Kumara (Mars) was the son of Jahnavi (Juno), and born, like the Romans, without sexual intercourse, but by the agency of Vulcan (regent of fire). Kumara has the peacock (sacred to Juno likewise) as his companion; and as the Grecian goddess is feigned to have her car drawn by peacocks, so Kumara (the evil-striker)^[48] has a peacock for his steed [596]. Ganga, ‘the river goddess,’ has some of the attributes of Pallas, being like the Athenian maid (Ganga never married) born from the head of Jove. The bard of the silver age makes her fall from a glacier of Kailasa (Olympus) on the head of the father of the gods, and remain many years within the folds of his tiara (jata), until at length being liberated, she was precipitated into the plains of Aryavarta. It was in this escape that she burst her rocky barrier (the Himalaya), and on the birth of Kumara exposed those veins of gold called jambunadi, in colour like the jambu fruit, probably alluding to the veins of gold discovered in the rocks of the Ganges in those distant ages.

The Winter Season.

—The last day of the month Asoj ushers in the Hindu winter (sarad rit). On this day, nothing but white vestments and silver (chandi) ornaments are worn, in honour of the moon (Chandra), who gives his ^[49] name to the

695This year there was an entire intercalary month: such are called Laund. There is a procession of all the chiefs to the Chaugan; and on their return, a full court is held in the great hall, which breaks up with ‘obeisance to the lamp’ (jot ka mujra), whose light each reverences; when the candles are lit at home, every Rajput, from the prince to the owner of a “skin (charsa) of land,” seated on a white linen cloth, should worship his tutelary divinity, and feed the priests with sugar and milk.

Karttika.

—This month is peculiarly sacred to Lakshmi, the goddess of wealth, the Juno Moneta of the Romans. The 13th is called the Dhanteras, or thirteenth [day] of wealth, when gold and silver coin are worshipped, as the representatives of the goddess, by her votaries of all classes, but especially by the mercantile [597]. On the 14th, all anoint with oil, and make libations thereof to Yama, the judge of departed spirits. Worship (puja) is performed to the lamp, which represents the god of hell, and is thence called Yamadiwa, ‘the lamp of Pluto’; and on this day partial illumination takes place throughout the city.

The Diwāli, or Festival of Lamps.

—On the Amavas, or Ides of Karttik, is one of the most brilliant fètes of Rajasthan, called the Diwali, when every city, village, and encampment exhibits a blaze of splendour. The potters’ wheels revolve for weeks before solely in the manufacture of lamps (diwa), and from the palace to the peasant’s hut every one supplies himself with them, in proportion to his means, and arranges them according to his fancy. Stuffs, pieces of gold, and sweetmeats are carried in trays and consecrated at the temple of Lakshmi, the goddess of wealth, to whom the day is consecrated. The Rana on this occasion honours his prime minister with his presence to dinner; and this chief officer of the State, who is always of the mercantile caste, pours oil into a terra-cotta lamp, which his sovereign holds; the same libation of oil is permitted by each of the near relations of the minister. On this day, it is incumbent upon every votary of Lakshmi to try the chance of the dice, and from their success in the Diwali, the prince, the chief, the merchant, and the artisan foretell the state of their coffers for the ensuing year.

Lakshmi, though on this festival depicted under the type of riches, is evidently the beneficent Annapurna in another garb, 696for the agricultural community place a corn-measure filled with grain and adorned with flowers as her representative; or, if they adorn her effigies, they are those of Padma, the water-nymph, with a lotos in one hand, and the pasa (or fillet for the head) in the other. As Lakshmi was produced at “the Churning of the Ocean,” and hence called one of the “fourteen gems,” she is confounded with Rambha, chief of the Apsaras, the Venus of the Hindus. Though both were created from the froth (sara) of the waters (ap),^[50] they are as distinct as the representations of riches and beauty can be. Lakshmi became the wife of Vishnu, or Kanhaiya, and is placed at the feet of his marine couch when he is floating on the chaotic waters. As his consort, she merges into the character of Sarasvati, the goddess of eloquence, and here we have the combination of Minerva and Apollo. As of Minerva, the owl [598] is the attendant of Lakshmi;^[51] and when we reflect that the Egyptians, who furnished the Grecian pantheon, held these solemn festivals, also called “the feast of lamps,” in honour of Minerva at Sais, we may deduce the origin of this grand Oriental festival from that common mother-country in Central Asia, whence the Diwali radiated to remote China, the Nile, the Ganges, and the shores of the Tigris; for the Shab-i-barat of Islam is but “the feast of lamps” of the Rajputs. In all these there is a mixture of the attributes of Ceres and Proserpine, of Plutus and Pluto. Lakshmi partakes of the attributes of both the first, while Kuvera,^[52] who is conjoined with her, is Plutus: as Yama is Pluto, the infernal judge. The consecrated lamps and the libations of oil are all dedicated to him; and “torches and flaming brands are likewise kindled and consecrated, to burn the bodies of kinsmen who may be dead in battle in a foreign land, and light them through the shades of death to the mansion of Yama.”^[53]

Festival of Yama.

—To the infernal god Yama, who is “the son of the sun,” the second day following the Amavas, or Ides of Karttika, is also sacred; it is called the Bhratri dvitiya, or ‘the brothers’ second,’ because the river-goddess Yamuna on this day 697entertained her brother (bhratri) Yama, and is therefore consecrated to fraternal affection. At the hour of curfew (godhuli),^[54] when the cattle return from the fields, the cow is worshipped, the herd having been previously tended. From this ceremony no rank is exempted on the preceding day, dedicated to Krishna: prince and peasant all become pastoral attendants on the cow, as the form of Prithivi,^[55] or the earth.

The Annakūta Festival.

—The 1st (Sudi), or 16th of Karttika, is the grand festival of Annakuta, sacred to the Hindu Ceres, which will be described with its solemnities at Nathdwara. There is a State procession, horse-races, and elephant-fights at the Chaugan; the evening closes with a display of fireworks.

The Jaljātra Festival.

—The 14th (Sudi), or 29th, is another solemn festival in honour of Vishnu. It is called the Jaljatra, from being performed on the water (jal). The Rana, chiefs, ministers, and citizens go in procession to the lake, and adore the “spirit of the waters,” on which floating lights are placed, and the whole surface is illuminated by a grand display of pyrotechny. On this day “Vishnu rises from his slumber of four [599] months”;^[56] a figurative expression to denote the sun’s emerging from the cloudy months of the periodical flood.

The Makara Sankrānti Festival.

—The next day (the Punim, or last day of Karttika), being the Makara sankranti, or autumnal equinox, when the sun enters the zodiacal sign Makara,^[57] or Pisces, the Rana and chiefs proceed in state to the Chaugan, and play at ball on horseback. The entire last half of the month Karttika, from Amavas (the Ides) to the Punim, is sacred to Vishnu; who is declared by the Puranas to represent the sun, and whose worship, that of water, and the floating-lights placed thereon—all objects emblematic of fecundity—carry us back to the point whence we started—the adoration of the powers of nature: clearly proving all mythology to be universally founded on an astronomical basis.

698

Mitra Saptami, Bhāskara Saptami Festivals.

—In the remaining months of Aghan, or Margsir, and Pus, there are no festivals in which a state procession takes place, though in each there are marked days, kept not only by the Rajputs, but generally by the Hindu nation; especially that on the 7th of Aghan, which is called Mitra Saptami, or 7th of Mithras, and like the Bhaskara Saptami or the 7th of Magha, is sacred to the sun as a form of Vishnu. On this seventh day occurred the descent of the river-goddess (Ganga) from the foot of Vishnu; or the genius of fertilization, typified under the form of the river-goddess, proceeding from the sun, the vivifying principle, and impended over the head of Iswara, the divinity presiding over generation, in imitation of which his votary pours libations of water (if possible from the sacred river Ganga) over his emblem, the lingam or phallus: a comparison which is made by the bard Chand in an invocation to this god, for the sake of contrasting his own inferiority “to the mighty bards of old.”

“The head of Is ^[58] is in the skies; on his crown falls the ever-flowing stream (Ganga); but on his statue below, does not his votary pour the fluid from his patra?”

Phallicism.

—No satisfactory etymology has ever been assigned for the phallic emblem of generation, adored by Egyptian, Greek, Roman, and even by the Christian, which may be from the same primeval language that formed the Sanskrit.

Phalisa is the ‘fructifier,’ from phala, ‘fruit,’ and Isa, ‘the god.’^[59] Thus the type of Osiris can have a definite interpretation, still wanting to the lingam of Iswara [600]. Both deities presided over the streams which fertilized the countries in which they received divine honours: Osiris over the Nile, from ‘the mountains of the moon,’ in Ethiopia,^[60] Iswara over the Indus ^[61] (also called the Nil), and the Ganges from Chandragiri, ‘the mountains of the moon,’ on a peak of whose glaciers he has his throne.

699

Siva and the Sun.

—Siva occasionally assumes the attributes of the sun-god; they especially appertain to Vishnu, who alone is styled “immortal, the one, creator, and uncreated”; and in whom centre all the qualities (gunan), which have peopled the Hindu pantheon with their ideal representatives. The bard Chand, who has embodied the theological tenets of the Rajputs in his prefatory invocation to every divinity who can aid his intent, apostrophizes Ganesa, and summons the goddess of eloquence (Sarasvati) “to make his tongue her abode”; deprecates the destroying power, “him whom wrath inhabits,” lest he should be cut off ere his book was finished; and lauding distinctly each member of the triad (trimurti), he finishes by declaring them one, and that “whoever believes them separate, hell will be his portion.” Of this One the sun is the great visible type, adored under a variety of names, as Surya, Mitra, Bhaskar, Vivasvat, Vishnu, Karna, or Kana, likewise an Egyptian epithet for the sun.^[62]

The emblem of Vishnu is Garuda, or the eagle,^[63] and the Sun-god both of the Egyptians and Hindus is typified with the bird’s head. Aruna (the dawn), brother of Garuda, is classically styled the charioteer of Vishnu, whose two sons, Sampati and Jatayu, attempting in imitation of their father to reach the sun, the wings of the former were burnt and he fell to the earth: of this the Greeks may have made their fable of Icarus.^[64]

Festivals in Honour of Vishnu.

—In the chief zodiacal phenomena, observation will discover that Vishnu is still the object of worship. The Phuladola,^[65] or Floralia, in the vernal equinox, is so called from the image of Vishnu being carried in a dola, or ark, covered with garlands of flowers (phula). Again, in the month of Asarh, the commencement of [601] the periodical rains, which 700date from the summer solstice, the image of Vishnu is carried on a car, and brought forth on the first appearance of the moon, the 11th of which being the solstice, is called “the night of the gods.” Then Vishnu reposes on his serpent-couch until the cessation of the flood on the 11th of Bhadon, when “he turns on his side.”^[66]

The 4th is also dedicated to Vishnu under his infantine appellation Hari (Ἥλιος), because when a child “he hid himself in the moon.” We must not derogate from Sir W. Jones the merit of drawing attention to the analogy between these Hindu festivals on the equinoxes, and the Egyptian, called the entrance of Osiris into the moon, and his confinement in an ark. But that distinguished writer merely gives the hint, which the learned Bryant aids us to pursue, by bringing modern travellers to corroborate the ancient authorities: the drawings of Pocock from the sun temple of Luxor to illustrate Plutarch, Curtius, and Diodorus. Bryant comes to the same conclusion with regard to Osiris enclosed in the ark, which we adopt regarding Vishnu’s repose during the four months of inundation, the period of fertilization. I have already, in the rites of Annapurna, the Isis of the Egyptians, noticed the crescent form of the ark of Osiris, as well as the ram’s-head ornaments indicative of the vernal equinox, which the Egyptians called Phamenoth, being the birthday of Osiris, or the sun; the Phag, or Phalgun month of the Hindus; the Phagesia of the Greeks, sacred to Dionysus.^[67]

The Argonauts.

—The expedition of Argonauts in search of the golden fleece is a version of the arkite worship of Osiris, the Dolayatra of the Hindus: and Sanskrit etymology, applied to the vessel of the Argonauts, will give the sun (argha) god’s (natha) entrance into the sign of the Ram. The Tauric and Hydra foes, with which Jason had to contend before he obtained the fleece of Aries, are the symbols of the sun-god, both of the Ganges and the Nile; and this fable, which has occupied almost every pen of antiquity, is clearly astronomical, as the names alone of the 701Arghanath, sons of Apollo, Mars, Mercury, Sol, Arcus or Argus,^[68] Jupiter, Bacchus, etc., sufficiently testify, whose voyage is entirely celestial.

Egyptian Influence on Hindu Mythology.

—If it be destined that any portion of the veil which covers these ancient mysteries [602], connecting those of the Ganges with the Nile, shall be removed, it will be from the interpretation of the expedition of Rama, hitherto deemed almost as allegorical as that of the Arghanaths. I shall at once assume an opinion I have long entertained, that the western coast of the Red Sea was the Lanka of the memorable exploit in the history of the Hindus. If Alexander from the mouths of the Indus ventured to navigate those seas with his frail fleet of barks constructed in the Panjab, what might we not expect from the resources of the King of Kosala, the descendant of Sagara, emphatically called the sea-king, whose “60,000 sons” were so many mariners, and who has left his name as a memorial of his marine power at the island (Sagar) at the embouchure of the main arm of the Ganges, and to the ocean itself, also called Sagara? If the embarkation of Ramesa and his heroes for the redemption of Sita had been from the Gulph of Cutch, the grand emporium from the earliest ages, the voyage of Rama would have been but the prototype of that of the Macedonians; but local tradition has sanctified Rameswaram, the southern part of the peninsula, as the rendezvous of his armament. The currents in the Straits of Manar, curiosity, or a wish to obtain auxiliaries from this insular kingdom, may have prompted the visit to Ceylon; and hence the vestiges there found of this event. But even from this “utmost isle, Taprobane,” the voyage across the Erythrean Sea is only twenty-five degrees of longitude, which with a flowing sail they would run down in ten or twelve days. The only difficulty which occurs is in the synchronical existence of Rama and the Pharaoh ^[69] of Moses, which would tend to the opposite of my hypothesis, and show that India received her Phallic rites, her architecture, and symbolic mythology from the Nile, instead of planting them there.

“Est-ce l’Inde, la Phénicie, l’Éthiopie, la Chaldée, ou l’Égypte, 702qui a vu naître ce culte? ou bien le type en a-t-il été fourni aux habitans de ces contrées, par une nation plus ancienne encore?” asks an ingenious but anonymous French author, on the origin of the Phallic worship.^[70] Ramesa, chief of the Suryas, or sun-born race, was king of the city designated from his mother, Kausalya, of which Ayodhya was the capital. His sons were Lava and Kusa, who originated the races we may term the Lavites and Kushites, or Kushwas of India.^[71] Was then Kausalya [603] the mother of Ramesa, a native of Aethiopia,^[72] or Kusadwipa, ‘the land of Cush’? Rama and Krishna are both painted blue (nila), holding the lotus, emblematic of the Nile. Their names are often identified. Ram-Krishna, the bird-headed divinity, is painted as the messenger of each, and the historians of both were contemporaries. That both were real princes there is no doubt, though Krishna assumed to be an incarnation of Vishnu, as Rama was of the sun. Of Rama’s family was Trisankha,^[73] mother of the great apostle of Buddha, whose symbol was the serpent; and the followers of Buddha assert that Krishna and this apostle, whose statues are facsimiles of those of Memnon, were cousins. Were the Hermetic creed and Phallic rites therefore received from the Ethiopic Cush? Could emblematic relics be discovered in the caves of the Troglodytes, who inhabited the range of mountains on the Cushite shore of the Arabian straits, akin to those of Ellora and Elephanta,^[74] whose style discloses physical, mythological, as well as architectural affinity to the Egyptian, the question would at once be set at rest.

I have derived the Phallus from Phalisa, the chief fruit. The Greeks, who either borrowed it from the Egyptians or had it from the same source, typified the Fructifier by a pineapple, the 703form of which resembles the Sitaphala,^[75] or fruit of Sita, whose rape by Ravana carried Rama from the Ganges over many countries ere he recovered her.^[76] In like manner Gauri, the Rajput Ceres, is typified under the coco-nut, or sriphala,^[77] the chief of fruit, or fruit sacred to Sri, or Isa (Isis), whose other elegant emblem of abundance, the kamakumbha, is drawn with branches of the palmyra,^[78] or coco-tree, gracefully pendent from the vase (kumbha).

The Sriphala ^[79] is accordingly presented to all the votaries of Iswara and Isa on the conclusion of the spring-festival of Phalguna, the Phagesia of the Greeks, the [604] Phamenoth of the Egyptian, and the Saturnalia of antiquity; a rejoicing at the renovation of the powers of nature; the empire of heat over cold—of light over darkness.^[80]

704The analogy between the goddess of the spring Saturnalia, Phalguni, and the Phagesia of the Greeks, will excite surprise; the word is not derived from (φαγεῖν) eating, with the Rajput votaries of Holika, as with those of the Dionysia of the Greeks; but from phalguni, compounded of guna, ‘quality, virtue, or characteristic,’ and phala, ‘fruit’; in short, the fructifier. From φαλλός,^[81] to which there is no definite meaning, the Egyptian had the festival Phallica, the Holika of the Hindus. Phula and phala, flower and fruit, are the roots of all, Floralia and Phalaria, the Phallus of Osiris, the Thyrsus of Bacchus, or Lingam of Iswara, symbolized by the Sriphala, or Ananas, the ‘food of the gods,’^[82] or the Sitaphala of the Helen of Ayodhya.

From the existence of this worship in Congo at this day, the author already quoted asks if it may not have originated in Ethiopia, “qui, comme le témoignent plusieurs écrivains de l’antiquité, a fourni ses dieux à l’Égypte.“ On the first of the five complementary days called ”ἠπαγόμεναι ἡμέραι” preceding New Year’s Day, the Egyptians celebrated the birth of the sun-god Osiris, in a similar manner as the Hindus do their solstitial festival, “the morning of the gods,” the Hiul of Scandinavia; on which occasion, “on promenait en procession une figure d’Osiris, dont le Phallus était triple”; a number, he adds, expressing “la pluralité indéfinie.” The number three is sacred to Iswara, chief of the Trimurti or Triad, whose statue adorns the junction (sangam) of all triple streams; hence called Triveni, who is [605] Trinetra, or ‘three-eyed,’ and Tridanta, or ‘god of the trident’; Triloka, ‘god of the triple abode, heaven, earth, and hell’; Tripura, of the triple city, to whom the Tripoli or triple gates are sacred, and of which he has made Ganesa the Janitor, or guardian. The grotesque figure placed by the Hindus during the Saturnalia in the highways, and called Nathurama 705(the god Rama), is the counterpart of the figure described by Plutarch as representing Osiris, “ce soleil printanier,” in the Egyptian Saturnalia or Phamenoth. Even Ramisa and Ravana may, like Osiris and Typhon, be merely the ideal representatives of light and darkness; and the chaste Sita, spouse of the Surya prince, the astronomical Virgo, only a zodiacal sign.^[83]

Wide Extension of Hindu Mythology.

—That a system of Hinduism pervaded the whole Babylonian and Assyrian empires, Scripture furnishes abundant proofs, in the mention of the various types of the sun-god Balnath, whose pillar adorned “every mount” and “every grove”; and to whose other representative, the brazen calf (nandi), the 15th of each month (amavas)^[84] was especially sacred. It was not confined to these celebrated regions of the East, but was disseminated throughout the earth; because from the Aral to the Baltic, colonies were planted from that central region,^[85] the cradle of the Suryas and the Indus, whose branches (sakha),^[86] the Yavan, the Aswa, and the Meda, were the progenitors of the Ionians, the Assyrians, and the Medes;^[87] while in later times, from the same teeming region, the Galati and Getae,^[88] the Kelts and Goths, carried modifications of the system to the shores of Armorica and the Baltic, the cliffs of Caledonia, and the remote isles of the German Ocean. The monumental circles sacred to the sun-god Belenus at once existing in that central region,^[89] in India,^[90] and throughout Europe, is 706conclusive. The apotheosis of the patriarch Noah, whom the Hindu styles Manu-Vaivaswata, ‘the man, son of the sun,’ may have originated the Dolayatra of the Hindus, the ark of Osiris [606], the ship of Isis amongst the Suevi, in memory of “the forty days” noticed in the traditions of every nation of the earth.

The time may be approaching when this worship in the East, like the Egyptian, shall be only matter of tradition; although this is not likely to be effected by such summary means as were adopted by Cambyses, who slew the sacred Apis and whipped his priests, while their Greek and Roman conquerors adopted and embellished the Pantheon of the Nile.^[91] But when Christianity reared her severe yet simple form, the divinities of the Nile, the Pantheon of Rome, and the Acropolis of Athens, could not abide her awful majesty. The temples of the Alexandrian Serapis were levelled by Theophilus,^[92] while that of Osiris at Memphis became a church of Christ. “Muni de ses pouvoirs, et escorté d’une foule de moines, il mit en fuite les prêtres, brisa les idoles, démolit les temples, ou y établit des monastères.”^[93] The period for thus subverting idolatry is passed: the religion of Christ is not of the sword, but one enjoining peace and goodwill on earth. But as from him “to whom much is given,” much will be required, the good and benevolent of the Hindu nations may have ulterior advantages over those Pharisees who would make a monopoly even of the virtues; who “see the mote in their neighbour’s eye, but cannot discern the beam in their own.” While, therefore, we strive to impart a purer taste and better faith, let us not imagine that the minds of those we would reform are the seats of impurity, because, in accordance with an idolatry coeval with the flood, they continue to worship mysteries opposed to our own modes of thinking [607].

The Character of the Rājput. Influence of Custom.

—The manners of a nation constitute the most interesting portion of its history, but a thorough knowledge of them must be the fruit of long and attentive observation: an axiom which applies to a people even less inaccessible than the Rajputs. The importance and necessity of such an illustration of the Rajput character, in a work like the present, call for and sanction the attempt, however inadequate the means. Of what value to mankind would be the interminable narrative of battles, were their moral causes and results passed by unheeded? Although both the Persian and Hindu annalists not unfrequently unite the characters of moralist and historian, it is in a manner unsuitable to the subject, according to the more refined taste of Europe. In the poetic annals of the Rajput, we see him check his war-chariot, and when he should be levelling his javelin, commence a discourse upon ethics; or when the battle is over, the Nestor or Ulysses of the host converts his tent into a lyceum, and delivers lectures on morals or manners. But the reflections which should follow, and form the corollary to each action, are never given; and even if they were, though we might comprehend the moral movements of a nation, we should still be unable to catch the minute shades of character that complete the picture of domestic life, and which are to be collected from those familiar sentiments uttered in social intercourse, when the mind unbends and nature throws aside the trammels of education and of ceremony. Such a picture would represent the manners, which are continually undergoing modifications, in contradistinction to the morals of society; the latter, having a fixed creed for their basis, are definite and unchangeable. The chal of the Rajput, like the mores of the Romans, or costumi of modern Italy, is significant alike of mental and external habit. In the moral point of view it is the path chalked out for him by the sages of antiquity [608]; in the personal, it is that which custom has rendered immutable. Kaisi buri chal men chalta, ‘in what a bad path does he march!’ says the moralist: Bap, Dada ki chal chhori, ‘he abandons 708the usages of his ancestors,’ says the stickler for custom, in Rajasthan.^[1]

Rājput Morals.

—The grand features of morality are few, and nearly the same in every nation not positively barbarous. The principles contained in the Decalogue form the basis of every code—of Manu and of Muhammad, as well as of Moses. These are grand landmarks of the truth of divine history; and are confirmed by the less important traits of personal customs and religious rites, which nations the most remote from each other continue to hold in common. The Koran we know to have been founded on the Mosaic law; the Sastra of Manu, unconsciously, approaches still more to the Jewish Scriptures in spirit and intention; and from its pages might be formed a manual of moral instruction, which, if followed by the disciples of the framer, might put more favoured societies to the blush.

Variety of Customs due to Environment.

—As it has been observed in a former part of this work, the same religion governing all must tend to produce a certain degree of mental uniformity. The shades of moral distinction which separate these races are almost imperceptible: while you cannot pass any grand natural barrier without having the dissimilarity of customs and manners forced upon your observation. Whoever passes from upland Mewar, the country of the Sesodias, into the sandy flats of Marwar, the abode of the Rathors, would feel the force of this remark. Innovations proceeding from external causes, such as conquest by irreligious foes, and the birth of new sects and schisms, operate important changes in manners and customs. We can only pretend, however, to describe facts which are obvious, and those which history discloses, whence some notions may be formed of the prevailing traits of character in the Rajput; his ideas of virtue and vice, the social intercourse and familiar courtesies of Rajasthan, and their recreations, public and private.

“The manners of a people,” says the celebrated Goguet, “always bear a proportion to the progress they have made in the arts and sciences.” If by this test we trace the analogy between past and existing manners amongst the Rajputs, we must conclude at once that they have undergone a decided 709deterioration. Where can we look for sages like those whose systems of philosophy were the [609] prototypes of those of Greece: to whose works Plato, Thales, and Pythagoras were disciples? Where shall we find the astronomers, whose knowledge of the planetary system yet excites wonder in Europe, as well as the architects and sculptors, whose works claim our admiration, and the musicians, “who could make the mind oscillate from joy to sorrow, from tears to smiles, with the change of modes and varied intonation.”^[2] The manners of those days must have corresponded with this advanced stage of refinement, as they must have suffered from its decline: yet the homage paid by Asiatics to precedent has preserved many relics of ancient customs, which have survived the causes that produced them.

Treatment of Women by the Rājputs.

—It is universally admitted that there is no better criterion of the refinement of a nation than the condition Of the fair sex therein. As it is elegantly expressed by Comte Ségur, “Leur sort est une boussole sûreune boussole sûre pour le premier regard d’un étranger qui arrive dans un pays inconnu.”^[3] Unfortunately, the habitual seclusion of the higher classes of females in the East contracts the sphere of observation in regard to their influence on society; but, to borrow again from our ingenious author, “les hommes font les lois, les femmes font les mœurs”; and their incarceration in Rajasthan by no means lessens the application of the adage to that country. Like the magnetic power, however latent, their attraction is not the less certain. “C’est aux hommes à faire des grandes choses, c’est aux femmes à les inspirer,” is a maxim to which every Rajput cavalier would subscribe, with whom the age of chivalry is not fled, though ages of oppression have passed over him. He knows there is no retreat into which the report of a gallant action will not penetrate, and set fair hearts in motion to be the object of his search. The bards, those chroniclers of fame, like the Jongleurs of old, have everywhere access, to the palace as to the hamlet; and a brilliant exploit travels with all the rapidity of a comet, and clothed with the splendid decorations of poetry, from the 710Indian desert to the valley of the Jumna. If we cannot paint the Rajput dame as invested with all the privileges which Ségur assigns to the first woman, “compagne de l’homme et son égale, vivant par lui, pour lui, associée à son bonheur, à ses plaisirs, à la puissance qu’il exerçait sur ce vaste univers,” she is far removed from the condition which demands commiseration [610].

The Seclusion of Women.

—Like the ancient German or Scandinavian, the Rajput consults her in every transaction; from her ordinary actions he draws the omen of success, and he appends to her name the epithet of devi, or ‘godlike.’ The superficial observer, who applies his own standard to the customs of all nations, laments with an affected philanthropy the degraded condition of the Hindu female, in which sentiment he would find her little disposed to join. He particularly laments her want of liberty, and calls her seclusion imprisonment. Although I cordially unite with Ségur, who is at issue with his compatriot Montesquieu on this part of discipline, yet from the knowledge I do possess of the freedom, the respect, the happiness, which Rajput women enjoy, I am by no means inclined to deplore their state as one of captivity. The author of the Spirit of Laws, with the views of a closet philosopher, deems seclusion necessary from the irresistible influence of climate on the passions; while the chivalrous Ségur, with more knowledge of human nature, draws the very opposite conclusion, asserting all restraints to be injurious to morals. Of one thing we are certain, seclusion of females could only originate in a moderately advanced stage of civilization. Amongst hunters, pastors, and cultivators, the women were required to aid in all external pursuits, as well as internal economy. The Jews secluded not their women, and the well, where they assembled to draw water, was the place where marriages were contracted, as with the lower classes in Rajputana. The inundations of the Nile, each house of whose fertile valleys was isolated, is said to have created habits of secluding women with the Egyptians; and this argument might apply to the vast valleys of the Indus and Ganges first inhabited, and which might have diffused example with the spread of population. Assuredly, if India was colonized from the cradle of nations, Central Asia, they did not thence bring these notions within the Indus; for the Scythian women went to the opposite extreme, 711and were polyandrists.^[4] The desire of eradicating those impure habits, described by Herodotus, that the slipper at the tent-door should no longer be a sign, may have originated the opposite extreme in a life of entire seclusion. Both polygamy and polyandry originated in a mistaken view of the animal economy, and of the first great command to people the earth: the one was general amongst all the nations [611] of antiquity; the other rare, though to be found in Scythia, India, and even amongst the Natchez, in the new world; but never with the Rajput, with whom monogamy existed during the patriarchal ages of India, as amongst the Egyptians.^[5] Of all the nations of the world who have habituated the female to a restricted intercourse with society, whether Grecian, Roman, Egyptian, or Chinese, the Rajput has given least cause to provoke the sentiment of pity; for if deference and respect be proofs of civilization, Rajputana must be considered as redundant in evidence of it. The uxoriousness of the Rajput might be appealed to as indicative of the decay of national morals; “chez les barbares (says Ségur) les femmes ne sont rien: les mœurs de ces peuples s’adoucissent-t’-elles, on compte les femmes pour quelque chose: enfin, se corrompent-elles, les femmes sont tout”; and whether from this decay, or the more probable and amiable cause of seeking, in their society, consolation for the loss of power and independence, the women are nearly everything with the Rajput.

It is scarcely fair to quote Manu as an authority for the proper treatment of the fair sex, since many of his dicta by no means tend to elevate their condition. In his lengthened catalogue of things pure and impure he says, however, “The mouth of a woman is constantly pure,”^[6] and he ranks it with the running waters and the sunbeam; he suggests that their names should be “agreeable, soft, clear, captivating the fancy, auspicious, ending in long vowels, resembling words of benediction.”^[7]

712“Where females are honoured” (says Manu), “there the deities are pleased; but where dishonoured, there all religious rites become useless”: and he declares, “that in whatever house a woman not duly honoured pronounces an imprecation, that house, with all that belongs to it, shall utterly perish.”^[8] “Strike not, even with a blossom, a wife guilty of a hundred faults,”^[9] says another sage: a sentiment so delicate, that Reginald de Born, the prince of troubadours, never uttered any more refined.

However exalted the respect of the Rajput for the fair, he nevertheless holds that

The Chief of Sādri and his Wife.

—In the most tempestuous period of the history of Mewar, when the Ranas broke asunder the bonds which united them to the other chiefs of Rajasthan, and bestowed their daughters on the foreign nobles incorporated with the higher class of their own kin, the chief of Sadri, so often mentioned, had obtained a princess to wife. There was a hazard to domestic happiness in such unequal alliance, which the lord 713of Sadri soon experienced. To the courteous request, “Ranawatji, fill me a cup of water,” he received a contemptuous refusal, with the remark, that “The daughter of a hundred kings would not become cup-bearer to the chieftain of Sadri.”—“Very well,” replied the plain soldier, “you may return to your father’s house, if you can be of no use in mine.” A messenger was instantly sent to the court, and the message, with every aggravation, was made known; and she followed on the heels of her messenger. A summons soon arrived for the Sadri chief to attend his sovereign at the capital. He obeyed; and arrived in time to give his explanation just as the Rana was proceeding to hold a full court. As usual, the Sadri chief was placed on his sovereign’s right hand, and when the court broke up, the heir-apparent of Mewar, at a preconcerted sign, stood at the edge of the carpet, performing the menial office of holding the slippers of the chief. Shocked at such a mark of extreme respect, he stammered forth some words of homage, his unworthiness, etc.; to which the Rana replied, “As my son-in-law, no distinction too great can be conferred: take home your wife, she will never again refuse you a cup of water” [613].^[10]

Could authority deemed divine ensure obedience to what is considered a virtue in all ages and countries, the conjugal duties of the Rajputs are comprehended in the following simple text: “Let mutual fidelity continue to death; this, in few words, may be considered as the supreme law between husband and wife.”^[11]

Devotion of Rājput Women.

—That this law governed the 714Rajputs in past ages, as well as the present, in as great a degree as in other stages of society and other countries, we cannot doubt. Nor will the annals of any nation afford more numerous or more sublime instances of female devotion, than those of the Rajputs; and such would never have been recorded, were not the incentive likely to be revered and followed. How easy would it be to cite examples for every passion which can actuate the human mind! Do we desire to see a model of unbounded devotion, resignation, and love, let us take the picture of Sita, as painted by the Milton of their silver age, than which nothing more beautiful or sentimental may be culled even from Paradise Lost. Rama was about to abandon his faithful wife for the purpose of becoming a Vana-prastha or hermit, when she thus pours out her ardent desire to partake of his solitude.

715The publication of Mr. Wilson’s specimens of the Hindu drama has put the English public in possession of very striking features of ancient Hindu manners, amongst which conjugal fidelity and affection stand eminently conspicuous. The Uttara Rama Charitra, the Vikrama and Urvasi, and the Mudra Rakshasa, contain many instances in point. In the latter piece occurs an example, in comparatively humble life, of the strong affection of a Hindu wife. Chandana Das, like Antonio in the Merchant of Venice, is doomed to die, to save his friend. His wife follows him to the scene of execution, with their only child, and the succeeding dialogue ensues:

The Tale of Dewaldai.

—The annals of no nation on earth record a more ennobling or more magnanimous instance of female loyalty than that exemplified by Dewaldai, mother of the Bannaphar brothers, which will at once illustrate the manners of the Rajput fair, and their estimation and influence in society.

The last Hindu emperor of Delhi, the chivalrous Prithiraj of the Chauhan race, had abducted the daughter of the prince of Sameta. Some of the wounded who had covered his retreat were assailed and put to death by Parmal, the Chandel prince of Mahoba.^[12] In order to avenge this insult, the emperor had no sooner conveyed his bride to Delhi than he invaded the territory of the Chandel, whose troops were cut to pieces at Sirswa,^[13] the 716advanced post of his kingdom. While [615] pursuing his success, the Chandel called a council, and by the advice of his queen Malandevi demanded a truce of his adversary, on the plea of the absence of his chieftains Alha and Udala. The brother of the bard of Mahoba was the envoy, who found the Chauhan ready to cross the Pahuj. He presented his gifts, and adjured him, “as a true Rajput, not to take them at such disadvantage.” The gifts were accepted, and the Chauhan pledged himself, “albeit his warriors were eager for the fight,” to grant the truce demanded; and having dismissed the herald, he inquired of his own bard, the prophetic Chand, the cause of the disaffection which led to the banishment of the Bannaphar; to which he thus replies: “Jasraj was the leader of the armies of Mahoba when his sovereign was defeated and put to flight by the wild race of Gonds; Jasraj repulsed the foe, captured Garha their capital, and laid his head at his sovereign’s feet. Parmal returning with victory to Mahoba, in gratitude for his service, embraced the sons of Jasraj, and placed them in his honours and lands, while Malandevi the queen made no distinction between them and her son.” The fief of the young Bannaphar ^[14] chieftains was at the celebrated fortress Kalanjar, where their sovereign happening to see a fine mare belonging to Alha, desired to possess her, and being refused, so far forgot past services as to compel them to abandon the country. On retiring they fired the estates of the Parihara chief who had instigated their disgrace. With their mother and families they repaired to Kanauj, whose monarch received them with open arms, assigning lands for their maintenance. Having thus premised the cause of banishment, Chand conducts us to Kanauj, at the moment when Jagnakh the bard was addressing the exiles on the dangers of Mahoba.

War with Prithirāj.

—“The Chauhan is encamped on the plains of Mahoba; Narsingh and Birsingh have fallen, Sirswa is given to the flames, and the kingdom of Parmal laid waste by the Chauhan. For one month a truce has been obtained: while to you I am sent for aid in his griefs. Listen, O sons of Bannaphar; sad have been the days of Malandevi since you left Mahoba! Oft she looks towards Kanauj; and while she recalls you to 717mind, tears gush from her eyes and she exclaims, ‘The fame of the Chandel is departing’; but when gone, O sons of Jasraj, great will be your self-accusing sorrow: yet, think of Mahoba.”

“Destruction to Mahoba! Annihilation to the Chandel who, without fault [616], expelled us our home: in whose service fell our father, by whom his kingdom was extended. Send the slanderous Parihara—let him lead your armies against the heroes of Delhi. Our heads were the pillars of Mahoba; by us were the Gonds expelled, and their strongholds Deogarh and Chandbari added to his sway. We maintained the field against the Jadon, sacked Hindaun,^[15] and planted his standard on the plains of Katehr.^[16] It was I (continued Alha) who stopped the sword of the conquering Kachhwaha ^[17]—The amirs of the Sultan fled before us.—At Gaya we were victorious, and added Rewa ^[18] to his kingdom. Antarved ^[19] I gave to the flames, and levelled to the ground the towns of Mewat.^[20] From ten princes did Jasraj bring spoil to Mahoba. This have we done; and the reward is exile from our home! Seven times have I received wounds in his service, and since my father’s death gained forty battles; and from seven has Udala conveyed the record of victory ^[21] to Parmal. Thrice my death seemed inevitable. The honour of his house I have upheld—yet exile is my reward!”

The bard replies—“The father of Parmal left him when a child to the care of Jasraj. Your father was in lieu of his own; the son should not abandon him when misfortune makes him call on you. The Rajput who abandons his sovereign in distress will be plunged into hell. Then place on your head the loyalty of your father. Can you desire to remain at Kanauj while he is in 718trouble, who expended thousands in rejoicings for your birth? Malandevi (the queen), who loves you as her own, presses your return. She bids me demand of Dewaldai fulfilment of the oft-repeated vow, that your life and Mahoba, when endangered, were inseparable. The breaker of vows, despised on earth, will be plunged into hell, there to remain while sun and moon endure.”

Dewaldai heard the message of the queen. “Let us fly to Mahoba,” she [617] exclaimed. Alha was silent, while Udala said aloud, “May evil spirits seize upon Mahoba!—Can we forget the day when, in distress, he drove us forth?—Return to Mahoba—let it stand or fall, it is the same to me; Kanauj is henceforth my home.”

“Would that the gods had made me barren,” said Dewaldai, “that I had never borne sons who thus abandon the paths of the Rajput, and refuse to succour their prince in danger!” Her heart bursting with grief, and her eyes raised to heaven, she continued: “Was it for this, O universal lord, thou mad’st me feel a mother’s pangs for these destroyers of Bannaphar’s fame? Unworthy offspring! the heart of the true Rajput dances with joy at the mere name of strife—but ye, degenerate, cannot be the sons of Jasraj—some carl must have stolen to my embrace, and from such ye must be sprung.” The young chiefs arose, their faces withered in sadness. “When we perish in defence of Mahoba, and covered with wounds, perform deeds that will leave a deathless name; when our heads roll in the field—when we embrace the valiant in fight, and treading in the footsteps of the brave, make resplendent the blood of both lines, even in the presence of the heroes of the Chauhan, then will our mother rejoice.”

The envoy having, by this loyal appeal of Dewaldai, attained the object of his mission, the brothers repair to the monarch of Kanauj,^[22] in order to ask permission to return to Mahoba; this is granted, and they are dismissed with magnificent gifts, in which the bardic herald participated;^[23] and the parting valediction was 719“preserve the faith of the Rajputs.” The omens during the march were of the worst kind: as Jagnakh expounded them, Alha with a smile replied, “O bard, though thou canst dive into the dark recesses of futurity, to the brave all omens are happy,^[24] even though our heroes shall fall, and the fame of the Chandel must depart; thus in secret does my soul assure me.” The saras ^[25] was alone on the right—the eagle as he flew dropped his prey—the chakwa ^[26] “separated“separated from his mate—drops fell from the eyes of the warlike steed—the siyal ^[27] sent forth sounds of lamentation; spots were seen on the disc of the sun” [618]. The countenance of Lakhan fell;^[28] these portents filled his soul with dismay: but Alha said, “though these omens bode death, yet death to the valiant, to the pure in faith, is an object of desire not of sorrow. The path of the Rajput is beset with difficulties, rugged, and filled with thorns; but he regards it not, so it but conducts to battle.”—“To carry joy to Parmala alone occupied their thoughts: the steeds bounded over the plain like the swift-footed deer.” The brothers, ere they reached Mahoba, halted to put on the saffron robe, the sign of “no quarter” with the Rajput warrior. The intelligence of their approach filled the Chandela prince with joy, who advanced to embrace his defenders, and conduct them to Mahoba; while the queen Malandevi came to greet Dewaldai, who with the herald bard paid homage, and returned with the queen to the city. Rich gifts were presented, gems resplendent with light. The queen sent for Alha, and extending her hands over his head, bestowed the asis^[29] (blessing)(blessing) as kneeling he swore his head was with Mahoba, and then waved a vessel filled with pearls over his head, which were distributed to his followers.^[30]

720The bardic herald was rewarded with four villages. We are then introduced to the Chauhan camp and council, where Chand the bard is expatiating on the return of the Bannaphars with the succours of Kanauj. He recommends his sovereign to send a herald to the Chandel to announce the expiration of the truce, and requiring him to meet him in the field, or abandon Mahoba. According to the bard’s advice, a dispatch was transmitted to Parmal, in which the cause of war was recapitulated—the murder of the wounded; and stating that, according to Rajput faith, he had granted seven days beyond the time demanded, “and although so many days had passed since succour had arrived from Kanauj, the lion-horn had not yet sounded (singhnad)”: adding, “if he abandon all desire of combat, let him proclaim his vassalage to Delhi, and abandon Mahoba.”

Parmal received the hostile message in despair; but calling his warriors around him, he replied to the herald of the Chauhan, that “on the day of the sun, the first of the month, he would join him in strife” [619].

“On the day sacred to Sukra (Friday), Prithiraj sounded the shell, while the drums thrice struck proclaimed the truce concluded.^[31] The standard was brought forth, around which the warriors gathered; the cup circulated, the prospect of battle filled their souls with joy. They anointed their bodies with fragrant oils, while the celestial Apsaras with ambrosial oils and heavenly perfumes anointed their silver forms, tinged their eyelids, and prepared for the reception of heroes.^[32] The sound of the war-shell reached Kailas; the abstraction of Iswara was at an end—joy seized his soul at the prospect of completing his chaplet of skulls (mundamala). The Yoginis danced with joy, their faces sparkled with delight, as they seized their vessels to drink the blood of the slain. The devourers of flesh, the Palankashas, sung 721songs of triumph at the game of battle between the Chauhan and Chandel.”

In another measure, the bard proceeds to contrast the occupations of his heroes and the celestials preparatory to the combat, which descriptions are termed rupaka. “The heroes gird on their armour, while the heavenly fair deck their persons. They place on their heads the helm crowned with the war-bell (viragantha), these adjust the corset; they draw the girths of the war-steed, the fair of the world of bliss bind the anklet of bells; nets of steel defend the turban’s fold, they braid their hair with golden flowers and gems; the warrior polishes his falchion—the fair tints the eyelid with anjan;^[33] the hero points his dagger, the fair paints a heart on her forehead; he braces on his ample buckler—she places the resplendent orb in her ear; he binds his arms with a gauntlet of brass—she stains her hands with the henna. The hero decorates his hand with the tiger-claw ^[34]—the Apsaras ornaments with rings and golden bracelets; the warrior shakes the ponderous lance—the heavenly fair the garland of love ^[35] to decorate those who fall in the fight; she binds on a necklace of pearls, he a mala of the tulasi.^[36] The warrior strings his bow—the fair assume their killing [620] glances. Once more the heroes look to their girths, while the celestial fair prepare their cars.”

After the bard has finished his rupaka, he exclaims, “Thus says Chand, the lord of verse; with my own eyes have I seen what I describe.” It is important to remark, that the national faith of the Rajput never questions the prophetic power of their chief bard, whom they call Trikala, or cognoscent of the past, the present, and the future—a character which the bard has enjoyed in all ages and climes; but Chand was the last whom they admitted to possess supernatural vision.

722We must now return to Mahoba, where a grand council had assembled at a final deliberation; at which, shaded by screens, the mother of the Bannaphars, and the queen Malandevi, were present. The latter thus opens the debate: “O mother of Alha, how may we succeed against the lord of the world?^[37] If defeated, lost is Mahoba; if we pay tribute, we are loaded with shame.” Dewaldai recommends hearing seriatim the opinions of the chieftains, when Alha thus speaks: “Listen, O mother, to your son; he alone is of pure lineage who, placing loyalty on his head, abandons all thoughts of self, and lays down his life for his prince; my thoughts are only for Parmal. If she lives she will show herself a woman, or emanation of Parvati.^[38] The warriors of Sambhar shall be cut in pieces. I will so illustrate the blood of my fathers, that my fame shall last for ever. My son Indal, O prince! I bequeath to you, and the fame of Dewaldai is in your keeping.”

The queen thus replies: “The warriors of the Chauhan are fierce as they are numerous; pay tribute, and save Mahoba.” The soul of Udala inflamed, and turning to the queen, “Why thought you not thus when you slew the defenceless? but then I was unheard. Whence now your wisdom? thrice I beseeched you to pardon. Nevertheless, Mahoba is safe while life remains in me, and in your cause, O Parmal! we shall espouse celestial brides.”

“Well have you spoken, my son,” said Dewaldai, “nothing now remains but to make thy parent’s milk resplendent by thy deeds. The call of the peasant driven [621] from his home meets the ear, and while we deliberate, our villages are given to the flames.” But Parmal replied: “Saturn ^[39] rules the day, to-morrow we shall meet the foe.” With indignation Alha turned to the king: “He who can look tamely on while the smoke ascends from his ruined towns, his fields laid waste, can be no Rajput—he who succumbs to fear when his country is invaded, his body will be plunged into the hell of hells, his soul a wanderer in the world of spirits for sixty thousand years; but the warrior 723who performs his duty will be received into the mansion of the sun, and his deeds will last for ever.”

But cowardice and cruelty always accompany each other, nor could all the speeches of the brothers “screw his courage to the sticking place.” Parmal went to his queen, and gave fresh vent to his lamentation. She upbraided his unmanly spirit, and bid him head his troops and go forth to the fight. The heroes embraced their wives for the last time, and with the dawn performed their pious rites. The Bannaphar offered oblations to the nine planets, and having adored the image of his tutelary god, he again put the chain round his neck;^[40] then calling his son Indal, and Udala his brother, he once more poured forth his vows to the universal mother “that he would illustrate the name of Jasraj, and evince the pure blood derived from Dewaldai, whene’er he met the foe.”—“Nobly have you resolved,” said Udala, “and shall not my kirwan^[41] also dazzle the eyes of Sambhar’s lord? shall he not retire from before me?”—“Farewell, my children,” said Dewaldai, “be true to your salt, and should you lose your heads for your prince, doubt not you will obtain the celestial crown.” Having ceased, the wives of both exclaimed, “What virtuous wife survives her lord? for thus says Gauriji,^[42] ‘the woman, who survives her husband who falls in the field of battle, will never obtain bliss, but wander a discontented ghost in the region of unhallowed spirits.’”

This is sufficient to exhibit the supreme influence of women, not only on, but also in society.

The extract is taken from the Bardic historian, when Hindu customs were pure, and the Chauhan was paramount sovereign of India. It is worth while to compare it with another written six centuries after the conquest by the Muhammadans; although six dynasties—namely, Ghazni, Ghor, Khilji [622], Sayyid, Lodi, and Mogul, numbering more than thirty kings, had intervened, yet the same uncontrollable spirit was in full force, unchangeable even in misfortune. Both Hindu and Persian historians expatiate with delight on the anecdote; but we prefer the narrative of the ingenuous Bernier, under whose eye the incident occurred.

724

Jaswant Singh and his Wife.

—In the civil war for empire amongst the sons of Shah Jahan, when Aurangzeb opened his career by the deposal of his father and the murder of his brothers, the Rajputs, faithful to the emperor, determined to oppose him. Under the intrepid Rathor Jaswant Singh, thirty thousand Rajputs, chiefly of that clan, advanced to the Nerbudda, and with a magnanimity amounting to imprudence, they permitted the junction of Murad with Aurangzeb, who, under cover of artillery served by Frenchmen, crossed the river almost unopposed. Next morning the action commenced, which continued throughout the day. The Rajputs behaved with their usual bravery; but were surrounded on all sides, and by sunset left ten thousand dead on the field.^[43] The Maharaja retreated to his own country, but his wife, a daughter of the Rana of Udaipur, “disdained (says Ferishta) to receive her lord, and shut the gates of the castle.”

Bernier, who was present, says, “I cannot forbear to relate the fierce reception which the daughter of the Rana gave to her husband Jeswunt Singh [Jessom Seingue], after his defeat and flight. When she heard he was nigh, and had understood what had passed in the battle; that he had fought with all possible courage; that he had but four or five hundred men left; and at last, no longer able to resist the enemy, had been forced to retreat; instead of sending some one to condole him in his misfortunes, she commanded in a dry mood to shut the gates of the castle, and not to let this infamous man enter; that he was not her husband; that the son-in-law of the great Rana could not have so mean a soul; that he was to remember, that being grafted into so illustrious a house, he was to imitate its virtue; in a word, he was to vanquish, or to die. A moment after, she was of another humour; she commands a pile of wood to be laid, that she might 725burn herself; that they abused her; that her husband must needs be dead; that it could not be otherwise. And a little while after, she was seen to change countenance, to [623] fall into a passion, and break into a thousand reproaches against him. In short, she remained thus transported eight or nine days, without being able to resolve to see her husband, till at last her mother coming, brought her in time to herself, composed by assuring her that as soon as the Raja had but refreshed himself he would raise another army to fight Aurangzeb, and repair his honour. By which story one may see,” says Bernier, “a pattern of the courage of the women in that country”; and he adds this philosophical corollary on this and the custom of satis, which he had witnessed: “There is nothing which opinion, prepossession, custom, hope, and the point of honour, may not make men do or suffer.”^[44]

The Tale of Sanjogta.

—The romantic history of the Chauhan emperor of Delhi abounds in sketches of female character; and in the story of his carrying off Sanjogta, the princess of Kanauj, we have not only the individual portrait of the Helen of her country, but in it a faithful picture of the sex. We see her, from the moment when, rejecting the assembled princes, she threw the “garland of marriage” round the neck of her hero, the Chauhan, abandon herself to all the influences of passion—mix in a combat of five days’ continuance against her father’s array, witness his overthrow, and the carnage of both armies, and subsequently, by her seductive charms, lulling her lover into a neglect of every princely duty. Yet when the foes of his glory and power invade India, we see the enchantress at once start from her trance of pleasure, and exchanging the softer for the sterner passions, in accents not less strong because mingled with deep affection, she conjures him, while arming him for the battle, to die for his fame, declaring that she will join him in “the mansions of the sun.” Though it is difficult to extract, in passages sufficiently condensed, what may convey a just idea of this heroine, we shall attempt it in the bard’s own language, rendered into prose. He announces the tidings of invasion by the medium of a dream, which the Chauhan thus relates:

726“‘This night, while in the arms of sleep, a fair, beautiful as Rambha, rudely seized my arm; then she assailed you, and while you were struggling, a mighty elephant,^[45] infuriated, and hideous as a demon, bore down upon me. Sleep fled—nor Rambha nor demon remained—but my heart was panting, and [624] my quivering lips muttering Har! Har!^[46] What is decreed the gods only know.’

“Sanjogta replied, ‘Victory and fame to my lord! O, sun of the Chauhans, in glory, or in pleasure, who has tasted so deeply as you? To die is the destiny not only of man but of the gods: all desire to throw off the old garment; but to die well is to live for ever. Think not of self, but of immortality; let your sword divide your foe, and I will be your ardhanga^[47] hereafter.’

“The“The king sought the bard, who expounded the dream, and the Guru wrote an incantation, which he placed in his turban. A thousand brass vessels of fresh milk were poured in libations to the sun and moon. Ten buffaloes were sacrificed to the supporters of the globe, and gifts were made to all. But will offerings of blood or libations of milk arrest what is decreed? If by these man could undo what is ordained, would Nala or the Pandus have suffered as they did?”

While the warriors assemble in council to consult on the best mode of opposing the Sultan of Ghazni, the king leaves them to deliberate, in order to advise with Sanjogta. Her reply is curious:

“Who asks woman for advice? The world deems their understanding shallow; even when truths issue from their lips, none listen thereto. Yet what is the world without woman? We have the forms of Sakti ^[48] with the fire of Siva; we are at once thieves and sanctuaries; we are vessels of virtue and of vice—of knowledge and of ignorance. The man of wisdom, the astrologer, can from the books calculate the motion and course of the planets; but in the book of woman he is ignorant: and this is not a saying of to-day, it ever has been so: our book has not been mastered, therefore, to hide their ignorance, they say, 727in woman there is no wisdom! Yet woman shares your joys and your sorrows. Even when you depart from the mansion of the sun, we part not. Hunger and thirst we cheerfully partake with you; we are as the lakes, of which you are the swans; what are when absent from our bosoms?”

The army having assembled, and all being prepared to march against the Islamite, in the last great battle which subjugated India, the fair Sanjogta armed her lord for the encounter. InIn vain she sought the rings of his corslet; her eyes were [625] fixed on the face of the Chauhan, as those of the famished wretch who finds a piece of gold. The sound of the drum reached the ear of the Chauhan; it was as a death-knell on that of Sanjogta: and as he left her to head Delhi’s heroes, she vowed that henceforward water only should sustain her. “I shall see him again in the region of Surya, but never more in Yoginipur.”^[49] Her prediction was fulfilled: her lord was routed, made captive and slain; and, faithful to her vow, she mounted the funeral pyre.

The Queen of Ganor.

—Were we called upon to give a pendant for Lucretia, it would be found in the queen of Ganor.^[50] After having defended five fortresses against the foe, she retreated to her last stronghold on the Nerbudda, and had scarcely left the bark, when the assailants arrived in pursuit. The disheartened defenders were few in number, and the fortress was soon in possession of the foe, the founder of the family now ruling in Bhopal. The beauty of the queen of Ganor was an allurement only secondary to his desire for her country, and he invited her to reign over it and him. Denial would have been useless, and would have subjected her to instant coercion, for the Khan awaited her reply in the hall below; she therefore sent a message of assent, with a complimentary reflection on his gallant conduct and determination of pursuit; adding, that he merited her hand for his bravery, and might prepare for the nuptials, which should be celebrated on the terrace of the palace. She demanded two hours for unmolested preparation, that she might appear in appropriate attire, and with the distinction her own and his rank demanded.

728Ceremonials, on a scale of magnificence equal to the shortness of the time, were going on. The song of joy had already stifled the discordant voice of war, and at length the Khan was summoned to the terrace. Robed in the marriage garb presented to him by the queen, with a necklace and aigrette of superb jewels from the coffers of Ganor, he hastened to obey the mandate, and found that fame had not done justice to her charms. He was desired to be seated, and in conversation full of rapture on his side, hours were as minutes while he gazed on the beauty of the queen. But presently his countenance fell—he complained of heat; punkas and water were brought, but they availed him not, and he began to tear the bridal garments from his frame, when the queen thus addressed him [626]: “Know, Khan, that your last hour is come; our wedding and our death shall be sealed together. The vestments which cover you are poisoned; you had left me no other expedient to escape pollution.” While all were horror-struck by this declaration, she sprung from the battlements into the flood beneath. The Khan died in extreme torture, and was buried on the road to Bhopal; and, strange to say, a visit to his grave has the reputation of curing the tertian of that country.^[51]

Rāja Jai Singh and his Wife.

—We may give another anecdote illustrative of this extreme delicacy of sentiment, but without so tragical a conclusion. The celebrated Raja Jai Singh of Amber 729had espoused a princess of Haraoti, whose manners and garb, accordant with the simplicity of that provincial capital, subjected her to the badinage of the more refined court of Amber, whose ladies had added the imperial costume to their own native dress. One day being alone with the prince, he began playfully to contrast the sweeping jupe of Kotah with the more scanty robe of the belles of his own capital; and taking up a pair of scissors, said he would reduce it to an equality with the latter. Offended at such levity, she seized his sword, and assuming a threatening attitude, said, “that in the house to which she had the honour to belong, they were not habituated to jests of this nature; that mutual respect was the guardian, not only of happiness but of virtue”; and she assured him, that if he ever again so insulted her, he would find that the daughter of Kotah could use a sword more effectively than the prince of Amber the scissors; adding, that she would prevent any future scion of her house from being subjected to similar disrespect, by declaring such intermarriages talak, or forbidden, which interdict I believe yet exists.^[52]

A Courageous Rājput Woman.

—I will append an anecdote related by the celebrated Zalim Singh, characteristic of the presence of mind, prowess, and physical strength of the Rajput women. To attend and aid in the minutiae of husbandry is by no means uncommon with them, as to dress and carry the meals of their husbands to the fields is a general practice. In the jungle which skirts the knolls of Pachpahar, a huge bear assaulted a Rajputni as she was carrying her husband’s dinner. As he approached with an air of gallantry upon his hind-legs, doubting whether the food or herself [627] were the intended prey, she retreated behind a large tree, round the trunk of which Bruin, still in his erect attitude, tried all his powers of circumvention to seize her. At length, half exhausted, she boldly grasped his paws, and with so vigorous a hold that he roared with pain, while in vain, with his short neck, did he endeavour to reach the powerful hand which fixed him. While she was in this dilemma, a Pardesi (a foreign soldier of the State) happened to be passing 730to the garrison of Gagraun, and she called out to him in a voice of such unconcern to come and release her for a time, that he complied without hesitation. She had not retired, however, above a dozen yards ere he called loudly for her return, being scarcely able to hold his new friend; but laughingly recommending perseverance, she hastened on, and soon returned with her husband, who laid the monster prostrate with his matchlock, and rescued the Pardesi from his unpleasing predicament.^[53]

Such anecdotes might be multiplied ad infinitum; but I will conclude with one displaying the romantic chivalry of the Rajput, and the influence of the fair in the formation of character; it is taken from the annals of Jaisalmer, the most remote of the States of Rajasthan, and situated in the heart of the desert, of which it is an oasis.

The Wedding of Sādhu.

—Raningdeo was lord of Pugal, a fief of Jaisalmer; his heir, named Sadhu, was the terror of the desert, carrying his raids even to the valley of the Indus, and on the east to Nagor. Returning from a foray, with a train of captured camels and horses, he passed by Aurint, where dwelt Manik Rao, the chief of the Mohils, whose rule extended over 1440 villages. Being invited to partake of the hospitality of the Mohil, the heir of Pugal attracted the favourable regards of the old chieftain’s daughter:

for he had the fame of being the first riever of the desert. Although betrothed to the heir of the Rathor of Mandor, she signified her wish to renounce the throne to be the bride of the chieftain of Pugal; and in spite of the dangers he provoked, and contrary to the Mohil chief’s advice, Sadhu, as a gallant Rajput, dared not reject the overture, and he promised “to accept the coco,”^[54] if sent in form to Pugal [628]. In due time it came, and the nuptials were solemnized at Aurint. The dower was splendid; gems of high price, vessels of gold and silver, a golden bull, and a train of thirteen dewadharis,^[55] or damsels of wisdom and penetration.

731Arankanwal, the slighted heir of Mandor, determined on revenge, and with four thousand Rathors planted himself in the path of Sadhu’s return, aided by the Sankhla Mehraj, whose son Sadhu had slain. Though entreated to add four thousand Mohils to his escort, Sadhu deemed his own gallant band of seven hundred Bhattis sufficient to convey his bride to his desert abode, and with difficulty accepted fifty, led by Meghraj, the brother of the bride.

The rivals encountered at Chondan, where Sadhu had halted to repose; but the brave Rathor scorned the advantage of numbers, and a series of single combats ensued, with all the forms of chivalry. The first who entered the lists was Jaitanga, of the Pahu clan, and of the kin of Sadhu. The enemy came upon him by surprise while reposing on the ground, his saddle-cloth for his couch, and the bridle of his steed twisted round his arm; he was soon recognized by the Sankhla, who had often encountered his prowess, on which he expatiated to Arankanwal, who sent an attendant to awake him; but the gallant Panch Kalyan (for such was the name of his steed) had already performed this service, and they found him upbraiding white-legs ^[56] for treading upon him. Like a true Rajput, “toujours prêt,” he received the hostile message, and sent the envoy back with his compliments, and a request for some amal or opium, as he had lost his own supply. With all courtesy this was sent, and prepared by the domestics of his antagonist; after taking which he lay down to enjoy the customary siesta. As soon as he awoke, he prepared for the combat, girt on his armour, and having reminded Panch Kalyan of the fields he had won, and telling him to bear him well that day, he mounted and advanced. The son of Chonda admiring his sang-froid, and the address with which he guided his steed, commanded Jodha Chauhan, the leader of his party, to encounter the Pahu. “Their two-edged swords soon clashed in combat”; but the gigantic Chauhan fell beneath the Bhatti, who, warmed 732with the fight, plunged amidst his foes, encountering all he deemed worthy of his assault.

The fray thus begun, single combats and actions of equal parties followed, the [629] rivals looking on. At length Sadhu mounted: twice he charged the Rathor ranks, carrying death on his lance; each time he returned for the applause of his bride, who beheld the battle from her car. Six hundred of his foes had fallen, and nearly half his own warriors. He bade her a last adieu, while she exhorted him to the fight, saying, “she would witness his deeds, and if he fell, would follow him even in death.” Now he singled out his rival Arankanwal,^[57] who was alike eager to end the strife, and blot out his disgrace in his blood. They met: some seconds were lost in a courteous contention, each yielding to his rival the first blow, at length dealt out by Sadhu on the neck of the disappointed Rathor. It was returned with the rapidity of lightning, and the daughter of the Mohil saw the steel descend on the head of her lover. Both fell prostrate to the earth: but Sadhu’s soul had sped; the Rathor had only swooned. With the fall of the leaders the battle ceased; and the fair cause of strife, Karamdevi, at once a virgin, a wife, and a widow, prepared to follow her affianced. Calling for a sword, with one arm she dissevered the other, desiring it might be conveyed to the father of her lord—“tell him such was his daughter.” The other she commanded to be struck off, and given, with her marriage jewels thereon, to the bard of the Mohils. The pile was prepared on the field of battle; and taking her lord in her embrace, she gave herself up to the devouring flames. The dissevered limbs were disposed of as commanded; the old Rao of Pugal caused the one to be burnt, and a tank was excavated on the spot, which is still called after the heroine, “the lake of Karamdevi.”

This encounter took place in S. 1462, A.D. 1406. The brunt of the battle fell on the Sankhlas, and only twenty-five out of three hundred and fifty left the field with their leader, Mehraj, himself severely wounded. The rejected lover had four brothers dangerously hurt; and in six months the wounds of Arankanwal opened afresh: he died, and the rites to the manes of these rivals 733in love, the chhamasa^[58] of Sadhu, and the duadasa^[59] of Arankanwal, were celebrated on the same day.

Without pausing to trace the moral springs of that devotion which influenced the Mohila maiden, we shall relate the sequel to the story (though out of place)^[60] in illustration of the prosecution of feuds throughout Rajasthan. The fathers [630] now took up the quarrel of their sons; and as it was by the prowess of the Sankhla vassal of Mandor that the band of Sadhu was discomfited, the old Rao, Raningdeo, drew together the lances of Pugal, and carried destruction into the fief of Mehraj. The Sankhlas yield in valour to none of the brave races who inhabit the “region of death”; and Mehraj was the father of Harbuji Sankhla, the Palladin of Marudes, whose exploits are yet the theme of the erratic bards of Rajasthan. Whether he was unprepared for the assault, or overcome by numbers, three hundred of his kin and clan moistened the sand-hills of the Luni with their blood. Raningdeo, flushed with revenge and laden with spoil, had reached his own frontier, when he was overtaken by Chonda of Mandor, alike eager to avenge the loss of his son Arankanwal, and this destructive inroad on his vassal. A desperate conflict ensued, in which the Rao of Pugal was slain; and the Rathor returned in triumph to Mandor.

Unequal to cope with the princes of Mandor, the two remaining sons of Raningdeo, Tana and Mera, resolved to abandon their faith, in order to preserve the point of honour, and “to take up their father’s feud.”^[61] At this period the king, Khizr Khan,^[62] was at Multan; to him they went, and by offers of service and an open apostacy, obtained a force to march against Chonda, who had recently added Nagor to his growing dominions. While the brothers were thus negotiating, they were joined by Kilan, the third son of their common sovereign, the Rawal of Jaisalmer, who advised the use of chal, which with the Rajput means indifferently stratagem or treachery, so that it facilitates revenge. With the ostensible motive of ending their feuds, and restoring tranquillity to their borderers, whose sole occupation was watching, 734burning, and devastating, Kilan offered a daughter in marriage to Chonda, and went so far as to say, that if he suspected aught unfair, he would, though contrary to custom and his own dignity, send the Bhatti princess to Nagor. This course being deemed the wisest, Chonda acquiesced in his desire “to extinguish the feud (wair bujhana).”

Nāgor taken by Stratagem.

—Fifty covered chariots were prepared as the nuptial cortège, but which, instead of the bride and her handmaids, contained the bravest men of Pugal.^[63] These were preceded by a train of horses led by Rajputs, of whom seven hundred also attended the camels laden with baggage, provisions, and gifts, while a small armed [631] retinue brought up the rear. The king’s troops, amounting to one thousand horse, remained at a cautious distance behind. Chonda left Nagor to meet the cavalcade and his bride, and had reached the chariots ere his suspicions were excited. Observing, however, some matters which little savoured of festivity, the Rathor commenced his retreat. Upon this the chiefs rushed from their chariots and camels, and the royal auxiliaries advancing, Chonda was assailed and fell at the gate of Nagor; and friend and foe entering the city together, a scene of general plunder commenced.

Once more the feud was balanced; a son and a father had fallen on each side, and the petty Rao of Pugal had bravely maintained the wair against the princes of Mandor. The point of honour had been carried to the utmost bound by both parties, and an opportunity of reconciliation was at hand, which prevented the shadow of disgrace either to him who made or him who accepted the overture. The Rathors dreaded the loss of the recent acquisition, Nagor, and proposed to the Bhattis to seal their pacification with the blood of their common foe. United, they fell on the spoil-encumbered Tatars, whom they slew to a man.^[64] Their father’s feud thus revenged, the sons of Raningdeo (who, as apostates from their faith, could no longer hold Pugal in fief, which was retained by Kilan, who had aided their revenge) retired amongst the Aboharia Bhattis, and their descendants are now styled Momin Musalman Bhatti.

735From such anecdotes it will be obvious wherein consists the point of honour with the Rajputs; and it is not improbable that the very cause which has induced an opinion that females can have no influence on the lords of the creation, namely, their seclusion, operates powerfully in the contrary way.

Influence of Women on Rājput Society.

—In spite of this seclusion, the knowledge of their accomplishments and of their personal perfections, radiates wherever the itinerant bard can travel. Though invisible themselves, they can see; and accident often favours public report, and brings the object of renown within the sphere of personal observation: as in the case of Sadhu and the Mohila maiden. Placed behind screens, they see the youths of all countries, and there are occasions when permanent impressions are made, during tournaments and other martial exercises. Here we have just seen that the passion of the [632] daughter of the Mohil was fostered at the risk of the destruction not only of her father’s house, but also that of her lover; and as the fourteen hundred and forty towns, which owned the sway of the former, were not long after absorbed into the accumulating territory of Mandor, this insult may have been the cause of the extirpation of the Mohils, as it was of the Bhattis of Pugal.

The influence of women on Rajput society is marked in every page of Hindu history, from the most remote periods. What led to the wars of Rama? the rape of Sita. What rendered deadly the feuds of the Yadus? the insult to Draupadi. What made prince Nala an exile from Narwar? his love for Damayanti. What made Raja Bhartari abandon the throne of Avanti? the loss of Pingali. What subjected the Hindu to the dominion of the Islamite? the rape of the princess of Kanauj. In fine, the cause which overturned kingdoms, commuted the sceptre to the pilgrim’s staff, and formed the groundwork of all their grand epics, is woman. In ancient, and even in modern times, she had more than a negative in the choice of a husband, and this choice fell on the gallant and the gay. The fair Draupadi was the prize of the best archer, and the Pandu Bhima established his fame, and bore her from all the suitors of Kampila. The princess of Kanauj, when led through ranks of the princes of Hind, each hoping to be the object of her choice, threw the marriage-garland (barmala) over the neck of the effigy of the Chauhan, which her 736father in derision had placed as porter at the gate. Here was incense to fame and incentive to gallantry!^[65]

In the same manner, as related in another part of this work, did the princess of Kishangarh invite Rana Raj Singh to bear her from the impending union with the emperor of the Moguls; and abundant other instances could be adduced of the free agency of these invisibles.

It were superfluous to reason on the effects of traditional histories, such as these, on the minds and manners of the females of Rajasthan. They form the amusement of their lives, and the grand topic in all their conversaziones; they read them with the Purohit, and they have them sung by the itinerant bard or Dholi minstrel [633], who disseminates them wherever the Rajput name extends. The Rajput mother claims her full share in the glory of her son, who imbibes at the maternal fount his first rudiments of chivalry; and the importance of this parental instruction cannot be better illustrated than in the ever-recurring simile, “make thy mother’s milk resplendent”; the full force of which we have in the powerful, though overstrained expression of the Bundi queen’s joy on the announcement of the heroic death of her son: “the long-dried fountain at which he fed, jetted forth as she listened to the tale of his death, and the marble pavement, on which it fell, rent asunder.” Equally futile would it be to reason on the intensity of sentiment thus implanted in the infant Rajput, of whom we may say without metaphor, the shield is his cradle, and daggers his playthings; and with whom the first commandment is, “avenge thy father’s feud”; on which they can heap text upon text, from the days of the great Pandu moralist Vyasa to the not less influential bard of their nation, the Trikala Chand.

9. Of all the religions which have diversified mankind, whatever man might select, woman should choose the Christian. This alone gives her just rank in the scale of creation, whether arising from the demotic principle which pervades our faith, or the dignity conferred on the sex in being chosen to be the mother of the Saviour of man. In turning over the pages of Manu we find many mortifying texts, which I am inclined to regard as interpolations; as the following, so opposed to the beautiful sentiment above quoted: “A wife, a son, a servant, a pupil, and a younger brother, may be corrected when they commit faults with a rope, or the small thong of a cane” [viii. 299]. Such texts might lead us to adopt Ségur’s conclusions, that ever since the days of the patriarchs women were only brilliant slaves—victims, who exhibited, in the wreaths and floral coronets which bedecked them, the sacrifices to which they were destined. In the patriarchal ages their occupations were to season the viands, and bake the bread, and weave cloth for the tents: their recreations limited to respire the fresh evening air under the shade of a fig tree, and sing canticles to the Almighty. Such a fate, indeed, must appear to a Parisian dame, who passes her time between the Feydeau and Tivoli, and whose daily promenade is through the Champs Élysées, worse than death: yet there is no positive hardships in these employments, and it was but the fair division of labour in the primitive ages, and that which characterizes the Rajputni of the present day.

51. [Several of our best authorities—Sir Lauder Brunton, Sir G. Birdwood, Professors A. Keith and A. Doran of the Royal College of Surgeons—have kindly investigated the question of death by poisoned robes, of which various instances are reported in this work. The general result is that it is doubtful if any known poison could be used in this way. Sir Lauder Brunton remarks that a paste of the seeds of Abrus precatorius is used for killing animals. Dr. N. Chevers (Manual of Medical Jurisprudence in India, p. 299) writes: “Any one who has noticed how freely a robust person in India perspires through a thin garment can understand that, if a cloth were thoroughly impregnated with the cantharidine of that very powerful vesicant, the Telini, the result would be as dangerous as an extensive burn.” For telini (Mylabris punctum), used as a substitute for Cantharis vesicatoria, see Sir G. Watt (Dict. Economic Products of India, v. 309). Manucci (i. 149) says that Akbar placed such poisons in charge of a special officer. The stock classical case is that of Herakles killed by an ointment made from the blood of Nessus. An old writer, W. Ramesey (Of Poisons (1660), p. 14 f.) speaks of poisoning done in this way: but he regards some of “these and the like storeyes to be merely Fabulous ... and rather to be attributed to the Subtilty, Craft, and Malice of the Devill” (12 series, Notes and Queries, i. (1916) p. 417).]

The Immolation of Women.

—We now proceed to consider another trait of Rajput character, exemplified in the practice of female immolation, and to inquire whether religion, custom, or affection has most share in such sacrifice. To arrive at the origin of this rite, we must trace it to the recesses of mythology, where we shall discover the precedent in the example of Sati, who to avenge an insult to Iswara, in her own father’s omission to ask her lord to an entertainment, consumed herself in the presence of the assembled gods. With this act of fealty (sati) the name of Daksha’s daughter has been identified; and her regeneration and reunion to her husband, as the mountain-nymph Mena, or Parvati, furnish the incentive to similar [634] acts. In the history of these celestial beings, the Rajputni has a memorable lesson before her, that no domestic differences can afford exemption from this proof of faith: for Jupiter and Juno were not more eminent examples of connubial discord than Mena and Siva, who was not only alike unfaithful, but more cruel, driving Mena from his Olympus (Kailas), and forcing her to seek refuge in the murky caverns of Caucasus. Female immolation, therefore, originated with the sun-worshipping Saivas, and was common to all those nations who adored this the most splendid object of the visible creation. Witness the Scythic Gete or Jat warrior of the Jaxartes, who devoted his wife, horse, arms, and slaves, to the flames; the “giant Gete” of Scandinavia, who forgot not on the shores of the Baltic his Transoxianian habits; and the Frisian Frank and Saxon descended from him, who ages after omitted only the female. Could we assign the primary cause of a custom so opposed to the first law of nature with the same certainty that we can prove its high antiquity, we might be enabled to devise some means for its abolition. The chief characteristic of Satiism is its expiating quality: for by this act of faith, the Sati not only makes atonement for the sins of her husband, and secures the remission of her own, but has the joyful assurance of reunion to the object whose beatitude she procures. Having once imbibed this doctrine, its fulfilment is powerfully aided by that heroism of character inherent to the Rajputni; though we see that the stimulant of religion requires no aid even 738in the timid female of Bengal, who, relying on the promise of regeneration, lays her head on the pyre with the most philosophical composure.

Nothing short of the abrogation of the doctrines which pronounce such sacrifices exculpatory can be effectual in preventing them; but this would be to overturn the fundamental article of their creed, the notion of metempsychosis. Further research may disclose means more attainable, and the sacred Shastras are at once the surest and the safest. Whoever has examined these is aware of the conflict of authorities for and against cremation; but a proper application of them (and they are the highest who give it not their sanction) has, I believe, never been resorted to. Vyasa, the chronicler of the Yadus, a race whose manners were decidedly Scythic, is the great advocate for female sacrifice: he (in the Mahabharata) pronounces the expiation perfect. But Manu inculcates no such doctrine [635]; and although the state of widowhood he recommends might be deemed onerous by the fair sex of the west, it would be considered little hardship in the east. “Let her emaciate her body, by living voluntarily on pure flowers, roots, and fruit; but let her not, when her lord is deceased, even pronounce the name of another man.” Again he says, “A virtuous wife ascends to heaven, if, after the decease of her lord, she devote herself to pious austerity; but a widow, who slights her deceased husband by marrying again, brings disgrace on herself here below, and shall be excluded from the seat of her lord.”^[1]

These and many other texts, enjoining purity of life and manners to the widow, are to be found in this first authority, but none demanding such a cruel pledge of affection. Abstinence from the common pursuits of life, and entire self-denial, are rewarded by “high renown in this world, and in the next the abode of her husband”; and procure for her the title of “sadhwi, or the virtuous.” These are deemed sufficient pledges of affection by the first of sages.^[2] So much has been written on this subject that we shall not pursue it further in this place; but proceed to consider a still more inhuman practice, infanticide.

739Although custom sanctions, and religion rewards, a Sati, the victim to marital selfishness, yet, to the honour of humanity, neither traditionary adage nor religious text can be quoted in support of a practice so revolting as infanticide. Man alone, of the whole animal creation, is equal to the task of destroying his offspring [636]: for instinct preserves what reason destroys. The wife is the sacrifice to his egotism, and the progeny of her own sex to his pride; and if the unconscious infant should escape the influence of the latter, she is only reserved to become the victim of the former at the period when life is most desirous of extension. If the female reasoned on her destiny, its hardships are sufficient to stifle all sense of joy, and produce indifference to life. When a female is born, no anxious inquiries await the mother—no greetings welcome the newcomer, who appears an 740intruder on the scene, which often closes in the hour of its birth. But the very silence with which a female birth is accompanied forcibly expresses sorrow; and we dare not say that many compunctious visitings do not obtrude themselves on those who, in accordance with custom and imagined necessity, are thus compelled to violate the sentiments of nature. Families may exult in the Satis which their cenotaphs portray,^[3] but none ever heard a Rajput boast of the destruction of his infant progeny.

The Origin of Infanticide.

—What are the causes, we may ask, sufficiently powerful to induce the suppression of a feeling which every sentient being has in common for its offspring? To suppose the Rajput devoid of this sentiment would argue his deficiency in the ordinary attributes of humanity: often is he heard to exclaim, “Accursed the day when a woman child was born to me!” The same motive which studded Europe with convents, in which youth and beauty were immured until liberated by death, first prompted the Rajput to infanticide: and, however revolting the policy, it is perhaps kindness compared to incarceration. There can be no doubt that monastic seclusion, practised by the Frisians in France, the Langobardi in Italy, and the Visigoths in Spain, was brought from Central Asia, the cradle of the Goths.^[4] It is, in fact, a modification of the same feeling which characterizes the Rajput and the ancient German warrior—the dread of dishonour to the fair: the former raises the poniard 741to the breast of his wife rather than witness her captivity, and he gives the opiate to the infant, whom, if he cannot portion and marry to her equal, he dare not see degraded [637].

Infanticide.

—Although religion nowhere authorizes this barbarity, the laws which regulate marriage amongst the Rajputs powerfully promote infanticide. Not only is intermarriage prohibited between families of the same clan (khanp), but between those of the same tribe (got); and though centuries may have intervened since their separation, and branches thus transplanted may have lost their original patronymic, they can never be regrafted on the original stem: for instance, though eight centuries have separated the two grand subdivisions of the Guhilots, and the younger, the Sesodia, has superseded the elder, the Aharya, each ruling distinct States, a marriage between any of the branches would be deemed incestuous: the Sesodia is yet brother to the Aharya, and regards every female of the race as his sister. Every tribe has therefore to look abroad, to a race distinct from its own, for suitors for the females. Foreign war, international feuds, or other calamities affect tribes the most remote from each other; nor can war or famine thin the clans of Marwar, without diminishing the female population of Amber: thus both suffer in a twofold degree. Many virtuous and humane princes have endeavoured to check or mitigate an evil, in the eradication of which every parental feeling would co-operate. Sumptuary edicts alone can control it; and the Rajputs were never sufficiently enamoured of despotism to permit it to rule within their private dwellings. The plan proposed, and in some degree followed by the great Jai Singh of Amber, might with caution be pursued, and with great probability of success. He submitted to the prince of every Rajput State a decree, which was laid before a convocation of their respective vassals, in which he regulated the daeja or dower, and other marriage expenditure, with reference to the property of the vassal, limiting it to one year’s income of the estate. This plan was, however, frustrated by the vanity of the Chondawat of Salumbar, who expended on the marriage of his daughter a sum even greater than his sovereign could have afforded; and to have his name blazoned by the bards and genealogists, he sacrificed the beneficent views of one of the wisest of the Rajput race. Until vanity suffers itself to be controlled, and the aristocratic Rajput submit to republican 742simplicity,^[5] the evils arising from nuptial profusion will not cease. Unfortunately, those who could check it find their interest in stimulating it, namely, the whole class of Mangtas [638] (mendicants), bards, minstrels, jugglers, Brahmans who assemble on these occasions, and pour forth their epithalamiums in praise of the virtue of liberality. The Bardais are the grand recorders of fame, and the volume of precedent is always recurred to, in citing the liberality of former chiefs; while the dread of their satire (visarva, literally ‘poison’)^[6] shuts the eyes of the chiefs to consequences, and they are only anxious to maintain the reputation of their ancestors, though fraught with future ruin. “The Dahima emptied his coffers” (says Chand, the pole-star of the Rajputs) “on the marriage of his daughter with Prithiraj; but he filled them with the praises of mankind.” The same bard retails every article of these daejas or ‘dowers,’ which thus become precedents for future ages; and the “lakh pasarna,”^[7] then established for the chief bardai, has become a model to posterity. Even now the Rana of Udaipur, in his season of poverty, at the recent marriage of his daughters bestowed “the gift of a lakh” on the chief bard; though the articles of gold, horses, clothes, etc., were included in the estimate, and at an undue valuation, which rendered the gift not quite so precious as in the days of the Chauhan. Were bonds taken from all the feudal chiefs, and a penal clause inserted, of forfeiture of their fief by all who exceeded a fixed nuptial expenditure, the axe would be laid to the root, the evil would be checked, and the heart of many a mother (and we may add father) be gladdened, by preserving at once the point of honour and their child. When ignorance declaims against the gratuitous love of murder amongst these brave men, our contempt is excited equally by its short-sighted conclusions, and the affected philanthropy which overlooks all remedy but the “sic volo.” Sir John Shore,^[8] when acting on the suggestions of 743the benevolent Duncan for the suppression of this practice amongst the Rajkumars, judged more wisely as a politician, and more charitably in his estimate of human motives. “A prohibition,” says he, “enforced by the denunciation of the severest temporal penalties, would have had little efficacy in abolishing a custom which existed in opposition to the feelings of humanity and natural affection”; but “the sanction of that religion which the Rajkumars professed was appealed to in aid of the ordinances of civil authority; and an engagement binding themselves to desist from the barbarous practice was prepared, and circulated for signature amongst the Rajkumars.” It may well be doubted how far this influence could extend, when the root of the evil [639] remained untouched, though not unseen, as the philanthropic Duncan pointed out in the confession of the Rajkumars: “all unequivocally admitted it, but all did not fully acknowledge its atrocity; and the only reason they assigned for the inhuman practice was the great expense of procuring suitable matches for their daughters, if they allowed them to grow up.” The Rajkumar is one of the Chauhan sakha, chief of the Agnikulas, and in proportion to its high and well-deserved pretensions on the score of honour, it has more infanticides than any other of the “thirty-six royal races.” Amongst those of this race out of the pale of feudalism, and subjected to powers not Rajput, the practice is fourfold greater, from the increased pressure of the cause which gave it birth, and the difficulty of establishing their daughters in wedlock. Raja Jai Singh’s enactment went far to remedy this. Conjoin his plan with Mr. Duncan’s, provide dowers, and infanticide will cease. It is only by removing the cause that the consequences can be averted.^[9]

As to the almost universality of this practice amongst the Jarejas, the leading cause, which will also operate to its continuance, has been entirely overlooked. The Jarejas were Rajputs, a subdivision of the Yadus; but by intermarriage with the Muhammadans, to whose faith they became proselytes, they lost their caste. Political causes have disunited them from the Muhammadans, and they desire again to be considered as pure Rajputs; but having been contaminated, no Rajput will intermarry with them. The owner of a hyde of land, whether Sesodia, 744Rathor, or Chauhan, would scorn the hand of a Jareja princess. Can the “sic volo” be applied to men who think in this fashion?

Johar.

—Having thus pointed out the causes of the sacrifice of widows and of infants, I shall touch on the yet more awful rite of Johar, when a whole tribe may become extinct, of which several instances have been recorded in the annals of Mewar. To the fair of other lands the fate of the Rajputni must appear one of appalling hardship. In each stage of life death is ready to claim her; by the poppy at its dawn, by the flames in riper years; while the safety of the interval depending on the uncertainty of war, at no period is her existence worth a twelve-month’s purchase. The loss of a battle, or the capture of a city, is a signal to avoid captivity and its horrors, which to the Rajputni are worse than death. To the doctrines of Christianity Europe owes the boon of protection to the helpless and the fair, who are [640] comparatively safe amidst the vicissitudes of war; to which security the chivalry of the Middle Ages doubtless contributed. But it is singular that a nation so refined, so scrupulous in its ideas with regard to females, as the Rajput, should not have entered into some national compact to abandon such proof of success as the bondage ^[10] of the sex. We can enter into the feeling, and applaud the deed, which ensured the preservation of their honour by the fatal johar, when the foe was the brutalized Tatar. But the practice was common in the international wars of the Rajputs; and I possess numerous inscriptions (on stone and on brass) which record as the first token of victory the captive wives of the foeman. When “the mother of Sisera looked out of the window, and cried through the lattice, Why tarry the wheels of his chariot—have they not sped? have they not divided the prey; to every man a damsel or two?”^[11] we have a perfect picture of the Rajput mother expecting her son from the foray.

The Jewish law with regard to female captives was perfectly analogous to that of Manu; both declare them “lawful prize,” and both Moses and Manu establish rules sanctioning the marriage of such captives with the captors. “When a girl is made captive by her lover, after a victory over her kinsman,” marriage “is permitted by law.”^[12] That forcible marriage in the Hindu law 745termed Rakshasa, namely, “the seizure of a maiden by force from her house while she weeps and calls for assistance, after her kinsman and friends have been slain in battle,”^[13] is the counterpart of the ordinance regarding the usage of a captive in the Pentateuch,^[14] excepting the “shaving of the head,” which is the sign of complete slavery with the Hindu.^[15] When Hector, anticipating his fall, predicts the fate which awaits Andromache, he draws a forcible picture of the misery of the Rajput; but the latter, instead of a lachrymose and enervating harangue as he prepared for the battle with the same chance of defeat, would have spared her the pain of plying the “Argive loom” by her death. To prevent such degradation, the brave [641] Rajput has recourse to the johar, or immolation of every female of the family: nor can we doubt that, educated as are the females of that country, they gladly embrace such a refuge from pollution. Who would not be a Rajput in such a case? The very term widow (rand) is used in common parlance as one of reproach.^[16]

Manu commands that whoever accosts a woman shall do so 746by the title of “sister,”^[17] and that “way must be made for her, even as for the aged, for a priest, a prince, or a bridegroom”; and in the admirable text on the laws of hospitality, he ordains that “pregnant women, brides, and damsels shall have food before all the other guests”^[18]; which, with various other texts, appears to indicate a time when women were less than now objects of restraint; a custom attributable to the paramount dominion of the Muhammadans, from whose rigid system the Hindus have borrowed. But so many conflicting texts are to be found in the pages of Manu, that we may pronounce the compilation never to have been the work of the same legislator: from whose dicta we may select with equal facility texts tending to degrade as to exalt the sex. For the following he would meet with many plaudits: “Let women be constantly supplied with ornaments at festivals and jubilees, for if the wife be not elegantly attired, she will not exhilarate her husband. A wife gaily adorned, the whole house is embellished.”^[19] In the following text he pays an unequivocal compliment to her power: “A female is able to draw from the right path in this life, not a fool only, but even a sage, and can lead him in subjection to desire or to wrath.” With this acknowledgment from the very fountain of authority, we have some ground for asserting that les femmes font les mœurs, even in Rajputana; and that though immured and invisible, their influence on society is not less certain than if they moved in the glare of open day.

Position of Rājput Women.

—Most erroneous ideas have been formed of the Hindu female from the pictures drawn by those who never left the banks of the Ganges. They are represented [642] as degraded beings, and that not one in many thousands can even read. I would ask such travellers whether they know the name of Rajput, for there are few of the lowest chieftains whose daughters are not instructed both to read and write; though the customs of the country requiring much form in epistolary writing, only the signature is made to letters. But of their intellect, and knowledge of mankind, whoever has had to converse with a Rajputni guardian of her son’s rights, must draw a very different conclusion.^[20] Though excluded by the 747Salic law of India from governing, they are declared to be fit regents during minority; and the history of India is filled with anecdotes of able and valiant females in this capacity.^[21]

Rājput Character.

—The more prominent traits of character will be found disseminated throughout the annals; we shall therefore omit the customary summaries of nationalities, those fanciful debtor and creditor accounts, with their balanced amount, favourable or unfavourable according to the disposition of the observer; and from the anecdotes through these pages leave the reader to form his own judgement of the Rajput. High courage, patriotism, loyalty, honour, hospitality, and simplicity are qualities which must at once be conceded to them; and if we cannot vindicate them from charges to which human nature in every clime is obnoxious; if we are compelled to admit the deterioration of moral dignity, from the continual inroads of, and their consequent collision with, rapacious conquerors; we must yet admire the quantum of virtue which even oppression and bad example have failed to banish. The meaner vices of deceit and falsehood, which the delineators of national character attach to the Asiatic without distinction, I deny to be universal with the Rajputs, though some tribes may have been obliged from position to use these shields of the weak against continuous oppression. Every court in Rajasthan has [643] its characteristic epithet; and there is none held more contemptible than the affix 748of jhutha darbar, ‘the lying court,’ applied to Jaipur; while the most comprehensive measure of praise is the simple epithet of sachha,^[22] ‘the truth-teller.’ Again, there are many shades between deceit and dissimulation: the one springs from natural depravity; the other may be assumed, as with the Rajput, in self-defence. But their laws, the mode of administering them, and the operation of external causes, must be attentively considered before we can form a just conclusion of the springs which regulate the character of a people. We must examine the opinions of the competent of past days, when political independence yet remained to the Rajputs, and not found our judgment of a nation upon a superficial knowledge of individuals. To this end I shall avail myself of the succinct but philosophical remarks of Abu-l-fazl, the wise minister of the wise Akbar, which are equally applicable to mankind at large, as to the particular people we are treating of. “If,” he says, speaking of the Hindus, “a diligent investigator were to examine the temper and disposition of the people of each tribe, he would find every individual differing in some respect or other. Some among them are virtuous in the highest degree, and others carry vice to the greatest excess. They are renowned for wisdom, disinterested friendship, obedience to their superiors, and many other virtues: but, at the same time, there are among them men whose hearts are obdurate and void of shame, turbulent spirits, who for the merest trifle will commit the greatest outrages.”^[23]

Again: “The Hindus are religious, affable, courteous to strangers, cheerful, enamoured of knowledge, lovers of justice, able in business, grateful, admirers of truth, and of unbounded fidelity in all their dealings. Their character shines brightest in adversity. Their soldiers (the Rajputs) know not what it is to fly from the field of battle; but when the success of the combat becomes doubtful, they dismount from their horses, and throw away their lives in payment of the debt of valour.”^[24]

I shall conclude this chapter with a sketch of their familiar habits, and a few of their indoor and outdoor recreations.

Introduction of Melons, Grapes, Tobacco, Opium: the Use of Opium.

—To Babur, the founder of the Mogul dynasty, India is 749indebted for the introduction [644] of its melons and grapes; and to his grandson Jahangir for tobacco.^[25] For the introduction of opium we have no date, and it is not even mentioned in the poems of Chand.^[26] This pernicious plant has robbed the Rajput of half his virtues; and while it obscures these, it heightens his vices, giving to his natural bravery a character of insane ferocity, and to the countenance, which would otherwise beam with intelligence, an air of imbecility. Like all stimulants, its effects are magical for a time; but the reaction is not less certain: and the faded form or amorphous bulk too often attest the debilitating influence of a drug which alike debases mind and body. In the more ancient epics we find no mention of the poppy-juice as now used, though the Rajput has at all times been accustomed to his madhava ra piyala, or ‘intoxicating cup.’ The essence,^[27] whether of grain, of roots, or of flowers, still welcomes the guest, but is secondary to the opiate. Amal lar khana, ‘to eat opium together,’ is the most inviolable pledge; and an agreement ratified by this ceremony is stronger than any adjuration. If a Rajput pays a visit, the first question is, amal khaya? ‘have you had your opiate?’—amal khao, ‘take your opiate.’ On a birthday, when all the chiefs convene to congratulate their brother on another ‘knot to his years,’ the large cup is brought forth, a lump of opiate put therein, upon which water is poured, and by the aid of a stick a solution is made, to which each helps his neighbour, not with a glass, but with the hollow of his hand held to his mouth. To judge by the wry faces on this occasion, none can like it, and to get rid of the nauseous taste, comfit-balls are handed round. It is curious to observe the animation it inspires; a Rajput is 750fit for nothing without his amal, and I have often dismissed their men of business to refresh their intellects by a dose, for when its effects are dissipating they become mere logs [645].^[28] Opium to the Rajput is more necessary than food, and a suggestion to the Rana to tax it highly was most unpopular. From the rising generation the author exacted promises that they would resist initiation in this vice, and many grew up in happy ignorance of the taste of opium. He will be the greatest friend to Rajasthan who perseveres in eradicating the evil. The valley of Udaipur is a poppy garden, of every hue and variety, whence the Hindu Sri may obtain a coronet more variegated than ever adorned the Isis of the Nile.

Pledge by eating Opium.

—A pledge once given by the Rajput, whether ratified by the “eating opium together,” “an exchange of turbans,” or the more simple act of “giving the right hand,” is maintained inviolable under all circumstances.

Hunting and other Sports.

—Their grand hunts have been described. The Rajput is fond of his dog and his gun. The former aids him in pulling down the boar or hare, and with the stalking-horse he will toil for hours after the deer. The greater 751chieftains have their ramnas or preserves, where poaching would be summarily punished, and where the slaughter of all kinds of beasts, elk, hog, hyena, tiger, boar, deer, wild-dog, wolf, or hare, is indiscriminate. Riding in the ring with the lance in tournaments, without the spike, the point being guarded; defence of the sword against the lance, with every variety of “noble horsemanship,” such as would render the most expert in Europe an easy prey to the active Rajput, are some of the chief exercises. Firing at a mark with a matchlock, in which they attain remarkable accuracy of aim; and in some parts of the country throwing a dart or javelin from horseback, are favourite amusements. The practice of the bow is likewise a main source of pastime, and in the manner there adopted it requires both dexterity and strength ^[29] [646]. The Rajput is not satisfied if he cannot bury his arrow either in the earthern target, or in the buffalo, to the feather. The use of the bow is hallowed; Arjuna’s bow in the “great war,” and that of the Chauhan king, Prithiraj, with which the former gained Draupadi and the latter the fair Sanjogta, are immortalized like that of Ulysses. In these martial exercises the youthful Rajput is early initiated, and that the sight of blood may be familiar, he is instructed, before he has strength to wield a sword, to practise with his boy’s scimitar on the heads of lambs and kids. His first successful essay on the animals ‘ferae naturae’ is a source of congratulation to his whole family.^[30] In this manner the spirit of chivalry is continually fed, for everything around him speaks of arms and strife. His very amusements are warlike; and the dance and the song, the burthen of which is the record of his successful gallantry, so far from enervating, serve as fresh incitements to his courage.

Wrestling.

—The exhibition of the Jethis, or wrestlers,^[31] is another mode of killing time. It is a state concern for every prince or chief to entertain a certain number of these champions 752of the glove. Challenges are sent by the most celebrated from one court to another; and the event of the akhara, as the arena is termed, is looked to with great anxiety.

Armouries.

—No prince or chief is without his silah-khana, or armoury, where he passes hours in viewing and arranging his arms. Every favourite weapon, whether sword, matchlock, spear, dagger, or bow, has a distinctive epithet. The keeper of the armoury is one of the most confidential officers about the person of the prince. These arms are beautiful and costly. The sirohi,^[32] or slightly curved blade, is formed like that of Damascus, and is the greatest favourite of all the variety of sabres throughout Rajputana. The long cut-and-thrust, like the Andrea Ferrara, is not uncommon; nor the khanda, or double-edged sword. The matchlocks both of Lahore and the country are often highly finished and inlaid with mother-of-pearl and gold: those of Bundi are the best. The shield of the rhinoceros-hide offers the best resistance, and is often ornamented with animals, beautifully painted, and enamelled in gold and silver. The bow is of buffalo-horn, and the arrows of reed, and barbed in a variety of fashions, as the crescent, the trident, the snake’s tongue, and other fanciful forms.

Sheodān Singh. Music.—The Maharaja Sheodan Singh (whose family are heirs presumptive to the throne) was one of my constant visitors; and the title of ‘adopted brother,’ which he conferred upon me, allowed him to make his visits unreasonably long. The Maharaja had many excellent qualities. He was the best shot in Mewar; he was well read in the classic literature of his nation; deeply versed in the secrets of the chronicles, not only of Mewar but of all Rajwara; conversant with all the mysteries of the bard, and could improvise on every occasion. He was a proficient in musical science [647], and could discourse most fluently on the whole theory of Sangita, which comprehends vocal and instrumental harmony. He could explain each of the ragas, or musical modes, which issued from the five mouths of Siva and his consort Mena, together with the almost endless variations of the ragas, to each of which are allotted six 753consorts or raginis. He had attached to his suite the first vocalists of Mewar, and occasionally favoured me by letting them sing at my house. The chief cantatrice had a superb voice, a contralto of great extent, and bore the familiar appellation of ‘Catalani.’ Her execution of all the basant or ‘spring-songs,’ and the megh or ‘cloud-songs’ of the monsoon, which are full of melody, was perfect. But she had a rival in a singer from Ujjain, and we made a point of having them together, that emulation might excite to excellence. The chieftain of Salumbar, the chief of the Saktawats, and others, frequently joined these parties, as well as the Maharaja: for all are partial to the dance and the song, during which conversation flows unrestrained. Saadatu-lla, whose execution on the guitar would have secured applause even at the Philharmonic, commanded mute attention when he played a tan or symphony, or when, taking any of the simple tappas of Ujjain as a theme, he wandered through a succession of voluntaries. In summer these little parties were held on the terrace or the house-top, where carpets were spread under an awning, while the cool breezes of the lake gave life after the exhaustion of a day passed under 96° of Fahrenheit. The subjects of their songs are various, love, glory, satire, etc. I was invited to similar assemblies by many of the chiefs; though none were so intellectual as those of the Maharaja. On birthdays or other festivals the chief Bardai often appears, or the bard of any other tribe who may happen to be present. Then all is mute attention, broken only by the emphatic “wah, wah!” the measured nod of the head, or fierce curl of the moustache, in token of approbation or the reverse.^[33]

The Maharaja’s talents for amplification were undoubted, and by more than one of his friends this failing was attributed to his long residence at the court of Jaipur, whose cognomen will not have been forgotten. He had one day been amusing us with feats of his youth, his swimming from island to island, and [648] bestriding the alligators for an excursion.^[34] Like Tell, he had 754placed a mark on his son’s head and hit it successfully. He could kill an eagle on the wing, and divide a ball on the edge of a knife, the knife itself unseen. While running on in this manner, my features betraying some incredulity, he insisted on redeeming his word. A day was accordingly appointed, and though labouring under an ague, he came with his favourite matchlocks. The more dangerous experiment was desisted from, and he commenced by dividing the ball on the knife. This he placed perpendicularly in the centre of an earthen vessel filled with water; and taking his station at about twenty paces, perforated the centre of the vessel, and allowed you to take up the fragments of the ball; having previously permitted you to load the piece, and examine the vessel, which he did not once approach himself. Another exhibition was striking an orange from a pole without perforating it. Again, he gave the option of loading to a bystander, and retreating a dozen paces, he knocked an orange off untouched by the ball, which, according to a preliminary proviso, could not be found: the orange was not even discoloured by the powder. He was an adept also at chess ^[35] and chaupar, and could carry on a conversation by stringing flowers in a peculiar manner. If he plumed himself upon his pretensions, his vanity was always veiled under a demeanour full of courtesy and grace; and Maharaja Sheodan Singh would be esteemed a well-bred and well-informed man at the most polished court of Europe.

Every chief has his band, vocal and instrumental; but Sindhia, some years since, carried away the most celebrated vocalists of Udaipur. The Rajputs are all partial to music. The tappa is the favourite measure. Its chief character is plaintive simplicity; and it is analogous to the Scotch, or perhaps still more to the Norman.^[36]

755The Rana, who is a great patron of the art, has a small band of musicians, whose only instrument is the shahna, or hautboy. They played their national [649] tappas with great taste and feeling; and these strains, wafted from the lofty terrace of the palace in the silence of the night, produced a sensation of delight not unmixed with pain, which its peculiarly melancholy character excites. The Rana has also a few flute or flageolet players, who discourse most eloquent music. Indeed, we may enumerate this among the principal amusements of the Rajputs; and although it would be deemed indecorous to be a performer, the science forms a part of education.^[37]

Who that has marched in the stillness of night through the mountainous regions of Central India, and heard the warder sound the turai from his turreted abode, perched like an eyrie on the mountain-top, can ever forget its graduated intensity of sound, or the emphatic ham! ham! “all’s well,”“all’s well,” which follows the lengthened blast of the cornet reverberating in every recess.^[38]

Bagpipes.

—A species of bagpipe, so common to all the Celtic races of Europe, is not unknown to the Rajputs. It is called the mashak,^[39] but is only the rudiment of that instrument whose 756peculiar influence on the physical, through the moral agency of man, is described by our own master-bard. They have likewise the double flageolet; but in the same ratio of perfection to that of Europe as the mashak to the heart-stirring pipe of the north. As to their lutes, guitars, and all the varieties of tintinnabulants (as Dr. Johnson would call them), it would fatigue without interesting the reader to enumerate them.

Literature among the Rajputs. Observatories.

—We now come to the literary attainments of the lords of Rajasthan, of whom there is none without sufficient clerkship to read his grant or agreement for rakhwali or blackmail; and none either so ignorant, or so proud, as the boasted ancestral wisdom of England, whose barons could not even sign their names to the great charter of their liberties. The Rana of Udaipur has unlimited command of [650] his pen, and his letters are admirable; but we may say of him nearly what was remarked of Charles the Second—“he never wrote a foolish thing, and seldom did a wise one.” The familiar epistolary correspondence of the princes and nobles of Rajasthan would exhibit abundant testimony of their powers of mind: they are sprinkled with classical allusions, and evince that knowledge of mankind which constant collision in society must produce. A collection of these letters, which exist in the archives of every principality, would prove that the princes of this country are upon a par with the rest of mankind, not only in natural understanding, but, taking their opportunities into account, even in its cultivation. The prince who in Europe could quote Hesiod and Homer with the freedom that the Rana does on all occasions Vyasa and Valmiki, would be accounted a prodigy; and there is not a divine who could make application of the ordinances of Moses with more facility than the Rana of those of their great lawgiver Manu. When they talk of the wisdom of their ancestors, it is not a mere figure of speech. The instruction of their princes is laid down in rules held sacred, and must have been far more onerous than any system of European university education, for scarcely a branch of human knowledge is omitted. But the cultivation of the mind, and the arts of polished life, must always flourish in the ratio of a nation’s 757prosperity, and from the decline of the one, we may date the deterioration of the other with the Rajput. The astronomer has now no patron to look to for reward; there is no Jai Singh to erect such stupendous observatories as he built at Delhi, Benares, Ujjain, and at his own capital;^[40] to construct globes and armillary spheres, of which, according to their own and our system, the Kotah prince has two, each three feet in diameter. The same prince (Jai Singh) collated De la Hire’s tables with those of Ulugh Beg, and presented the result to the last emperor of Delhi, worthy the name of the Great Mogul. To these tables he gave the name of Zij Muhammad Shahi. It was Jai Singh who, as already mentioned, sought to establish sumptuary laws throughout the nation, to regulate marriages, and thereby prevent infanticide; and who left his name to the capital he founded, the first in Rajasthan.

But we cannot march over fifty miles of country without observing traces of the genius, talent, and wealth of past days: though—whether the more abstruse sciences, or the lighter arts which embellish life—all are now fast disappearing [651]. Whether in the tranquillity secured to them by the destruction of their predatory foes, these arts and sciences may revive, and the nation regain its elevated tone, is a problem which time alone can solve.

Household Furniture.

—In their household economy, their furniture and decorations, they remain unchanged during the lapse of a thousand years. No chairs, no couches adorn their sitting apartments, though the painted and gilded ceiling may be supported by columns of serpentine, and the walls one mass of mirrors, marble, or china;—nothing but a soft carpet, hidden by a white cloth, on which the guests seat themselves according to rank. In fine, the quaint description of the chaplain to the first embassy which England sent to India, more than two hundred years ago, applies now, as it probably will two hundred years hence. “And now for the furniture the greatest men have in them [their houses], it is curta supellex, very little, they (the rooms) being not beautified with hangings, nor with anything besides to line their walls; for they have no chairs, stools, couches, 758tables, beds enclosed with canopies, or curtains, in any of their rooms. And the truth is, that if they had them, the extreme heat would forbid the use of many of them; all their bravery is upon their floors, on which they spread most excellent carpets.”^[41]

Dress.

—It were useless to expatiate on dress, either male or female, the fashion varying in each province and tribe, though the texture and materials are everywhere the same: cotton in summer, and quilted chintz or broadcloth in winter. The ladies have only three articles of parure; the ghaghra, or ‘petticoat’; the kanchuli, ‘or corset’; and the dopatta, or ‘scarf,’ which is occasionally thrown over [652] the head as a veil. Ornaments are without number. For the men, trousers of every shape and calibre, a tunic girded with a ceinture, and a scarf, form the wardrobe of every Rajput. The turban is the most important part of the dress, and is the unerring mark of the tribe; the form and 759fashion are various, and its decorations differ according to time and circumstances. The balaband, or ‘silken fillet,’ was once valued as the mark of the sovereign’s favour, and was tantamount to the courtly “orders” of Europe. The colour of the turban and tunic varies with the season; and the changes are rung upon crimson, saffron, and purple, though white is by far the most common. Their shoes are mere slippers, and sandals are worn by the common classes. Boots are yet used in hunting or war, made of chamois leather, of which material the warrior often has a doublet, being more commodious, and less oppressive, than armour. The dagger or poniard is inseparable from the girdle.

Cookery, Medicine.

—The culinary art will be discussed elsewhere, together with the medical, which is very low, and usurped by empyrics, who waste alike the purse and health of the ignorant by the sale of aphrodisiacs, which are sought after with great avidity. Gums, metals, minerals, all are compounded, and for one preparation, while the author was at Udaipur, 7000 rupees (nearly £1000) were expended by the court-physician.

Superstitions.

—Their superstitions, incantations, charms, and phylacteries against danger, mental or bodily, will appear more appropriately where the subject is incidently introduced [653].

2. Were all Manu’s maxims on this head collected, and with other good authorities, printed, circulated, and supported by Hindu missionaries, who might be brought to advocate the abolition of Satiism, some good might be effected. Let every text tending to the respectability of widowhood be made prominent, and degrade the opponents by enumerating the weak points they abound in. Instance the polyandry which prevailed among the Pandus, whose high priest Vyasa was an illegitimate branch; though above all would be the efficacy of the abolition of polygamy, which in the lower classes leaves women destitute, and in the higher condemns them to mortification and neglect. Whatever result such a course might produce, there can be no danger in the experiment. Such sacrifices must operate powerfully on manners; and, barbarous as is the custom, yet while it springs from the same principle, it ought to improve the condition of women, from the fear that harsh treatment of them might defeat the atonement hereafter. Let the advocate for the abolition of this practice by the hand of power read attentively Mr. Colebrooke’s essay, “On the Duties of a Faithful Hindu Widow,” in the fourth volume of the Asiatic Researches [Essays on the Religion and Philosophy of the Hindus, ed. 1858, p. 70 ff.], to correct the notion that there is no adequate religious ordinance for the horrid sacrifice. Mr. C. observes (p. 220): “Though an alternative be allowed, the Hindu legislators have shown themselves disposed to encourage widows to burn themselves with their husband’s corpse.” In this paper he will find too many authorities deemed sacred for its support; but it is only by knowing the full extent of the prejudices and carefully collecting the conflicting authorities, that we can provide the means to overcome it. Jahangir legislated for the abolition of this practice by successive ordinances. At first he commanded that no woman, being mother of a family, should under any circumstances be permitted, however willing, to immolate herself; and subsequently the prohibition was made entire when the slightest compulsion was required, “whatever the assurances of the people might be.” The royal commentator records no reaction. We might imitate Jahangir, and adopting the partially prohibitive ordinance, forbid the sacrifice where there was a family to rear. [The early texts on the subject of Sati have been collected by H. H. Wilson, Essays and Lectures chiefly on the Religion of the Hindus, 1881, ii. 270 ff. Also see Max Müller, Selected Essays on Language, Mythology, and Religion, 1881, i. 332 ff.

28. Even in the midst of conversation, the eye closes and the head nods as the exciting cause is dissipating, and the countenance assumes a perfect vacuity of expression. Many a chief has taken his siesta in his chair while on a visit to me: an especial failing of my good friend Raj Kalyan of Sadri, the descendant of the brave Shama, who won “the right hand” of the prince at Haldighat. The lofty turban worn by the Raj, which distinguishes this tribe (the Jhala), was often on the point of tumbling into my lap, as he unconsciously nodded. When it is inconvenient to dissolve the opium, the chief carries it in his pocket, and presents it, as we would a pinch of snuff in Europe. In my subaltern days the chieftain of Senthal, in Jaipur, on paying me a visit, presented me with a piece of opium, which I took and laid on the table. Observing that I did not eat it, he said he should like to try the Farangi ka amal, ‘the opiate of the Franks.’ I sent him a bottle of powerful Schiedam, and to his inquiry as to the quantity of the dose, I told him he might take from an eighth to the half, as he desired exhilaration or oblivion. We were to have hunted the next morning; but having no sign of my friend, I was obliged to march without ascertaining the effect of the barter of aphim for the waters of Friesland; though I have no doubt that he found them quite Lethean. [The Rājputs ascribed a divine power to opium owing to the mental exhilaration caused by the drug: hence the taking of it with a chief was a form of solemn communion, and a renewal of the pledge of loyalty (Russell, Tribes and Castes, Central Provinces, i. 170, iii. 164, iv. 425). For opium drinking among Rājputs see Malcolm, Memoir, Central India, 2nd ed. ii. 146 f.; Forbes, Rāsmāla, 557)557).]

41. [E. Terry, A Voyage to East India, ed. 1777, p. 185.] Those who wish for an opinion “of the most excellent moralities which are to be observed amongst the people of these nations” cannot do better than read the 14th section of the observant, intelligent, and tolerant chaplain, who is more just, at least on one point, than the modern missionary, who denies to the Hindu filial affection. “And here I shall insert another most needful particular to my present purpose which deserves a most high commendation to be given unto that people in general, how poor and mean soever they be; and that is, the great exemplary care they manifest in their piety to their parents, that notwithstanding they serve for very little, but five shillings a moon for their whole livelihood and subsistence, yet if their parents be in want, they will impart, at the least, half of that little towards their necessities, choosing rather to want themselves than that their parents should suffer need.” It is in fact one of the first precepts of their religion. The Chaplain thus concludes his chapter “On the Moralities of the Hindu” [232 f.]: “O! what a sad thing is it for Christians to come short of Indians, even in moralities; come short of those, who themselves believe to come short of heaven!” The Chaplain closes his interesting and instructive work with the subject of Conversion, which is as remote from accomplishment at this day as it was at that distant period. “Well known it is that the Jesuits there, who, like the Pharisees that would ‘compass sea and land to make one proselyte’ (Matt. xxiii. 15), have sent into Christendom many large reports of their great conversions of infidels in East India. But all these boastings are but reports; the truth is, that they have there spilt the precious water of Baptism upon some few faces, working upon the necessity of some poor men, who for want of means, which they give them, are contented to wear crucifixes; but for want of knowledge in the doctrine of Christianity are only in name Christians.”^[A]

CHAPTER 25

Leaving Udaipur.

—October 11, 1819.—Two years had nearly sped since we entered the valley of Udaipur, the most diversified and most romantic spot on the continent of India. In all this time none of us had penetrated beyond the rocky barrier which formed the limit of our horizon, affording the vision a sweep of six miles radius. Each hill and dale, tower and tree, had become familiar to us; every altar, cenotaph, and shrine had furnished its legend, till tradition was exhausted. The ruins were explored, their inscriptions deciphered, each fantastic pinnacle had a name, and the most remarkable chieftains and servants of the court had epithets assigned to them, expressive of some quality or characteristic. We had our ‘Red Reaver,’ our ‘Roderic Dhu,’ and a ‘Falstaff,’ at the court; our ‘Catalani,’ our ‘Vestris,’ in the song or the ballet. We had our palace in the city, our cutter on the lake, our villa in the woods, our fairy-islands in the waters; streams to angle in, deer to [654] shoot, much, in short, to please the eye and gratify the taste:—yet did ennui intrude, and all panted to escape from the “happy valley,” to see what was in the world beyond the mountains. In all these twenty moons, the gigantic portals of Debari, which guard the entrance of the Girwa,^[1] had not once creaked on their hinges for our egress; and though from incessant occupation I had wherewithal to lessen the taedium vitae, my companions not having such resources, 761it was in vain that, like the sage Imlac, I urged them not to feel dull in this “blissful captivity”: the scenery had become hideous, and I verily believe had there been any pinion-maker in the capital of the Sesodias, they would have essayed a flight, though it might have terminated in the lake. Never did Rasselas sigh more for escape. At length the day arrived, and although the change was to be from all that constitutes the enchantments of vision, from wood and water, dale and mountain, verdure and foliage, to the sterile plains of the sandy desert of Marwar, it was sufficient that it was change. Our party was composed of Captain Waugh, Lieutenant Carey, and Dr. Duncan, with the whole of the escort, consisting of two companies of foot and sixty of Skinner’s Horse, all alike delighted to quit the valley where each had suffered more or less from the prevalent fevers of the monsoon, during which the valley is peculiarly unhealthy, especially to foreigners, when the wells and reservoirs overflow from the springs which break in, impregnated with putrid vegetation and mineral poisons, covering the surface with a bluish oily fluid. The art of filtrating water to free it from impurities is unknown to the Rajputs, and with some shame I record that we did not make them wiser, though they are not strangers to the more simple process, adopted throughout the desert, of using potash and alum; the former to neutralize the salt and render the water more fit for culinary purposes; the latter to throw down the impurities held suspended. They also use an alkaline nut in washing, which by simply steeping emits a froth which is a good substitute for soap.^[2]

On the 12th October, at five A.M., our trumpet sounded to horse, and we were not slow in obeying the summons; the “yellow boys” with their old native commandant looking even more cheerful than usual as we joined them. Skinner’s Horse ^[3] wear a jamah or tunic of yellow broadcloth, with scarlet turbans and cincture. Who [655] does not know that James Skinner’s men are the most orderly in the Company’s service, and that in every 762other qualification constituting the efficient soldier, they are second to none? On another signal which reverberated from the palace, where the drums announced that the descendant of Surya was no sluggard, we moved on through the yet silent capital towards the gate of the sun, where we found drawn up the quotas of Bhindar, Delwara, Amet, and Bansi, sent as an honorary guard by the Rana, to escort us to the frontiers. As they would have been an incumbrance to me and an inconvenience to the country, from their laxity of discipline, after chatting with their leader, during a sociable ride, I dismissed them at the pass, with my respects to the Rana and their several chieftains. We reached the camp before eight o’clock, the distance being only thirteen miles. The spot chosen (and where I afterwards built a residence) was a rising ground between the villages of Merta and Tus, sprinkled with trees, and for a space of four miles clear of the belt of forest which fringes the granite barriers of the valley. It commanded an entire view of the plains in the direction of Chitor, still covered, excepting a patch of cultivation here and there, with jungle. The tiger-mount, its preserves of game, and the mouldering hunting-seats of the Rana and his chieftains, were three miles to the north; to the south, a mile distant, we had the Berach River, abounding in trout; and the noble lake whence it issues, called after its founder the Udai Sagar, was not more than three to the west. For several reasons it was deemed advisable to choose a spot out of the valley; the health of the party, though not an unimportant, was not a principal motive for choosing such a distance from the court. The wretchedness in which we found it rendered a certain degree of interference requisite, and it was necessary that they should shake this off, in order to preserve their independence. It was dreaded lest the aid requested by the Rana, from the peculiar circumstances on our first going amongst them, might be construed as a precedent for the intrusion of advice on after occasions. The distance between the court and the agent of the British Government was calculated to diminish this impression, and obliged them also to trust to their own resources, after the machine was once set in motion. On the heights of Tus our tents were pitched, the escort paraded, and St. George’s flag displayed. Here camels, almost wild, were fitted for the first time with the pack-saddle, lamenting in discordant gutturals 763the [656] hardship of their fate, though luckily ignorant of the difference between grazing whither they listed in the happy valley, and carrying a load in “the region of death,” where they would only find the thorny mimosa or prickly phog^[4] to satisfy their hunger.

Pallāna.

—October 13.—There being no greater trial of patience than the preparations for a march after a long halt, we left the camp at daybreak amidst the most discordant yells from the throats of a hundred camels, which drowned every attempt to be heard, while the elephants squeaked their delight in that peculiar treble which they emit when happy. There was one little fellow enjoying himself free from all restraints of curbs or pack-saddles, and inserting his proboscis into the sepoy’s baggage, whence he would extract a bag of flour, and move off, pursued by the owner; which was sure to produce shouts of mirth to add to the discord. This little representative of Ganesa was only eight years old, and not more than twelve hands high. He was a most agreeable pet, though the proofs he gave of his wisdom in trusting himself amidst the men when cooking their dinners, were sometimes disagreeable to them, but infinitely amusing to those who watched his actions. The rains having broken up unusually late, we found the boggy ground, on which we had to march, totally unable to bear the pressure of loaded cattle; even the ridges, which just showed their crests of quartz above the surface, were not safe. Our route was over a fine plain well wooded and watered, soil excellent, and studded with numerous large villages; yet all presenting uniformly the effects of warfare and rapine. The landscape, rendered the more interesting by our long incarceration in the valley, was abstractedly pleasing. On our left lay the mountains enclosing the capital, on one of whose elevated peaks are the ruins of Ratakot, overlooking all around; while to the east the eye might in vain seek for a boundary. We passed Deopur, once a township of some consequence, and forming part of the domain of the Bhanej,^[5] Zalim Singh, the 764heir of Marwar, whose history, if it could be given here, would redeem the nobles of Rajputana from the charge of being of uncultivated intellect. In listening to [657] his biography, both time and place were unheeded; the narrator, my own venerable Guru,^[6] had imbibed much of his varied knowledge from this accomplished chieftain, to whom arms and letters were alike familiar. He was the son of Raja Bijai Singh and a princess of Mewar: but domestic quarrels made it necessary to abandon the paternal for the maternal mansion, and a domain was assigned by the Rana, which put him on a footing with his own children. Without neglecting any of the martial amusements and exercises of the Rajput, he gave up all those hours, generally devoted to idleness, to the cultivation of letters. He was versed in philosophical theology, astronomy, and the history of his country; and in every branch of poesy, from the sacred canticles of Jayadeva to the couplets of the modern bard, he was an adept. He composed and improvised with facility, and his residence was the rendezvous for every bard of fame. That my respected tutor did not overrate his acquirements, I had the best proof in his own, for all which (and he rated them at an immeasurable distance compared with the subject of his eulogy) he held himself indebted to the heir of Marwar, who was at length slain in asserting his right to the throne in the desert.

Rām Singh and the Rāja of Narsinghgarh. The Oswāl Mahājans.

—After a four hours’ march, picking our way amidst swamps and treacherous bogs, we reached the advanced tents at Pallana. Like Deopur, it presented the spectacle of a ruin, a corner of which held all its inhabitants; the remains of temples and private edifices showed what it had once been. Both towns formerly belonged to the fisc of the Rana, who, with his usual improvidence, on the death of his nephew included them in the grant to the temple of Kanhaiya. I found at my tents the minister’s right hand, Ram Singh Mehta; Manikchand, the Diwan or factotum of the chieftain of Bhindar; and the ex-Raja 765of Narsinghgarh, now an exile at Udaipur.^[7] The first was a fine specimen of the non-militant class of these countries, and although he had seldom passed the boundaries of Mewar, no country could produce a better specimen of a courteous gentleman: his figure tall, deportment easy, features regular and handsome, complexion fair, with a fine slightly-curled beard and mustachios jet black. Ram Singh, without being conceited, is aware that nature has been indulgent to him, and without any foppery he pays great attention to externals. He is always elegantly attired, and varies with good taste the colours of his turban and ceinture, though his loose tunics are always white; the aroma of the itr is the only mark of the dandy about him: and this forms no criterion [658], as our red coats attest, which receive a sprinkling at every visit. With his dagger and pendent tassel, and the balaband or purple cordon (the Rana’s gift) round his turban, behold the servant “whom the king delighteth to honour.” As he has to support himself by paying court to the Rana’s sister, the queens, and other fair influentials behind the curtain, his personal attraits are no slight auxiliaries. He is of the Jain faith, and of the tribe of Osi, which now reckons one hundred thousand families, all of Rajput origin, and descendants of the Agnikula stock. They proselytized in remote antiquity, and settling at the town of Osi in Marwar, retain this designation, or the still more common one of Oswal. It was from the Pramara and Solanki branches of the Agnikula race that these assumed the doctrines of Buddha or Jaina: not however from the ranks of the Brahmans, but, as I firmly believe, from that faith, whatever it was, which these Scythic or Takshak tribes brought from beyond the Indus. In like manner we found the Chauhan (also an Agnikula) regenerated by the Brahmans on Mount Abu; while the fourth tribe, the Parihara (ancient sovereigns of Kashmir), have left traces in the monuments of their capital, Mandor, that they espoused the then prevailing faith of Rajasthan, namely, that of Buddha.^[8]

Mānikchand.

—Manikchand, also of the Jain faith, but of a different tribe (the Sambhari), was in all the reverse of Ram Singh. 766He was tall, thin, rather bent, and of swarthy complexion, and his tongue and his beads were in perpetual motion. He had mixed in all the intrigues of the last quarter of a century, and, setting Zalim Singh of Kotah aside, had more influenced events than any individual now alive. He was the organ of the Saktawats, and the steward and counsellor of the head of this clan, the Bhindar chief; and being accordingly the irreconcilable foe of the Chondawats, had employed all the resources of his talents and his credit to effect their humiliation. To this end, he has leagued with Sindis, Pathans, and Mahrattas, and would not have scrupled to coalesce with his Satanic Majesty, could he thereby have advanced their revenge: in pursuance of which he has been detained in confinement as a hostage, put to torture from inability to furnish the funds he would unhesitatingly promise for aid, and all the while sure of death if he fell into the hands of his political antagonists. His talent and general information made him always a welcome guest: which was wormwood to the Chondawats, who laid claim to a monopoly of patriotism, and stigmatized the Saktawats as the destroyers [659] of Mewar, though in truth both were equally blind to her interests in their contests for supremacy. He was now beyond fifty, and appeared much older; but was cheerful, good-humoured, and conversant in all the varied occurrences of the times. He at length completely established himself in the Rana’s good graces, who gave his elder son a confidential employment. Had he lived, he would have been conspicuous, for he had all the talent of his father, with the personal adjuncts possessed by Ram Singh; but being sensitive and proud, he swallowed poison, in consequence it was said of the severity of an undeserved rebuke from his father, and died generally regretted. I may here relate the end of poor Manika. It was on the ground we had just quitted that he visited me for the last time, on my return from the journey just commenced. He had obtained the contract for the whole transit duties of the State, at the rate of 250,000 rupees per annum. Whether from the corruption of his numerous deputy collectors, his own cupidity, or negligence, he professed his inability to fulfil the contract by nearly a sixth of the amount, though from his talents and promises, a perfect establishment of this important department, which had been taken from others on his account, was expected. It was difficult to judge charitably of his assertions, 767without giving occasion to his enemies to put a wrong construction on the motives. He pitched his tent near me, and requested an interview. He looked very disconsolate, and remarked, that he had seven several times left his tent, and as often turned back, the bird of omen having each time passed him on the adverse side; but that at length he had determined to disregard it, as having forfeited confidence, he was indifferent to the future. He admitted the profligacy of his inferiors, whom he had not sufficiently superintended, and took his leave, promising by assiduity to redeem his engagements, though his past character for intrigue made his asseverations doubtful. Again failing to make good his promises, or, as was surmised, having applied the funds to his own estate, he took saran with the Raja of Shahpura; where, mortified in all probability by the reflection of the exultation of his rivals over his disgrace, and having lost the confidence of his own chief when he obtained that of the Rana, he had recourse to the usual expedient of these countries when “perplexed in the extreme,”—took poison and died.

The Rāja of Narsinghgarh.

—The last of the trio of visitors on this occasion, the Raja of Narsinghgarh, is now, as before stated, in exile. He is of the tribe of Umat, one of thirty-six divisions [660] of the Pramaras,^[9] settled during fifteen generations in Central India, and giving the name of Umatwara to the petty sovereignty of which Narsinghgarh is the capital. Placed in the very heart of the predatory hordes, the Pindaris and Mahrattas occupied almost every village that owned their sway, and compelled him to the degradation of living under Holkar’s orange standard, which waved over the battlements of his abode. To one or other of the great Mahratta leaders, Sindhia and Holkar, all the petty princes were made tributary dependents, and Umatwara had early acknowledged Holkar, paying the annual sum of eighty thousand rupees: but this vassalage did not secure the Raja from the ravages of the other spoliators, nor from the rapacity of the myrmidons of his immediate lord paramount. In 1817, when 768these countries, for the first time in many centuries, tasted the blessings of peace, Umatwara was, like Mewar, a mass of ruins, its fertile lands being overgrown with the thorny mimosa or the useful kesula. The Raja partook of the demoralization around him; he sought refuge in opium and arak from his miseries, and was totally unfitted to aid in the work of redemption when happier days shone upon them. His son Chain Singh contrived to escape these snares, and was found in every respect competent to cooperate in the work of renovation, and through the intervention of the British agent (Major Henley), an arrangement was effected by which the Raja retired on a stipend and the son carried on the duties of government in his name.^[10]

It was unfortunate for these ancient races, that on the fortunate occasion presented in 1817-18, when both Sindhia and Holkar aimed at the overthrow of our power (the one treacherously cloaking his views, the other disclosing them in the field), our policy did not readily grasp it, to rescue all these States from ruin and dependence. Unfortunately, their peculiar history was little known, or it would have been easily perceived that they presented the exact materials we required between us and the entire occupation of the country. But there was then a strong notion afloat of a species of balance of power, and it was imagined that these demoralized and often humiliated Mahrattas were the fittest materials to throw into the scale—against I know not what, except ourselves: for assuredly the day of our reverses will be a jubilee to them, and will level every spear that they can bring against our existence. They would merit contempt if they acted [661] otherwise. Can they cease to remember that the orange flag which waved in triumph from the Sutlej to the Kistna has been replaced by the cross of St. George? But the snake which flutters in tortuous folds thereon, fitting crest for the wily Mahratta, is only scathed, and may yet call forth the lance of the red cross knight to give the coup de grace.^[11] Let it then be remembered that, both as regards good policy and justice, we owe to these States—independence.

To what does our interference with Umatwara tend, but to realize the tribute of Holkar; to fix a millstone round their necks, 769which, notwithstanding the comparative happiness they enjoy, will keep them always repining, and to secure which will make our interference eternal. Had a due advantage been taken of the hostilities in 1817, it might have obviated these evils by sending the predatory sovereign of half a century’s duration to a more restricted sphere. It may be said that it is easy to devise plans years after the events which immediately called for them: these not only were mine at the time, but were suggested to the proper authorities; and I am still disposed to think my views correct.

After chatting some time with the two chiefs described, and presenting them with itr and pan,^[12] they took leave.

Nāthdwāra.—October 14.—Marched at daybreak, and found the route almost impracticable for camels, from the swampy nature of the soil. The country is much broken with irregular low ridges of micaceous schist, in the shape of a chine or hog’s back, the crest of which has throughout all its length a vein of quartz piercing the slate, and resembling a back-bone; the direction of these veins is uniformly N.N.E., and the inclination about 75° to the east. Crossed the Nathdwara ridge, about four hundred feet in height, and, like the hills encircling the valley, composed of a brown granite intersected with protruding veins of quartz, incumbent on blue compact slate. The ascent was a mile and a half east of the town, and on the summit, which is table-land, there are two small lakes, whence water-courses conduct streams on each side of the road to supply the temple and the town. There are noble trees planted on either side of these rivulets, forming a delightful shade. As we passed through the town to our encampment on the [662] opposite side of the Banas River, the inhabitants crowded the streets, shouting their grateful acknowledgments to the power which had redeemed the sacred precincts of Kanhaiya from the scenes of turpitude amidst which they had grown up. They were all looking forward with much pleasure to the approaching festival of Annakuta.

770October 15.—Halted to allow the baggage to join, which, partly from the swamps and partly from the intractable temper of the cattle, we have not seen since we parted company at Merta. Received a visit from the Mukhya of the temple, accompanied by a pilgrim in the person of a rich banker of Surat. A splendid quilted cloak of gold brocade, a blue scarf with a deep border of gold, and an embroidered band for the head, were brought to me as the gift of the god through his high-priest, in testimony of my zeal. I was also honoured with a tray of the sacred food, which consisted of all the dried fruits, spices, and aromatics of the East. In the evening I had a portion of the afternoon repast, consisting of a preparation of milk; but the days of simplicity are gone, and the Apollo of Vraj has his curds adulterated with rose-water and amber. Perhaps, with the exception of Lodi, where is fabricated the far-famed Parmesan, whose pastures maintain forty thousand kine, there is no other place known which possesses more than the city of the Hindu Apollo, though but a tenth of that of Lodi. But from the four thousand cows, the expenditure of milk and butter for the votaries of Kanhaiya may be judged. I was entertained with the opinions of the old banker on the miraculous and oracular power of the god of Nathdwara. He had just been permitted to prostrate himself before the car which conveyed the deity from the Yamuna, and held forth on the impiety of the age, in withholding the transmission of the miraculous wheels from heaven, which in former days came once in six months. The most devout alone are permitted to worship the chariot of Kanhaiya. The garments which decorate his representative are changed several times a day, to imitate the different stages of his existence, from the youthful Bala to the conqueror of Kansa; or, as the Surat devotee said in broken English, “Oh, sir, he be much great god; he first of all; and he change from de balak, or child, to de fierce chief, with de bow and arrow a hees hands”; while the old Mukhya, whose office it is to perambulate the whole continent of India as one of the couriers of Kanhaiya, lifted up his eyes as he ejaculated, “Sri Krishna! Sri Krishna!” I gave him a paper [663] addressed to all officers of the British Government who might pass through the lands of the church, recommending the protection of the peacocks and pipal trees, and to forbear polluting the precincts of the god with the blood of animals. To avoid offending against their prejudices in this particular, I 771crossed the river, and killed our fowls within our own sanctuary, and afterwards concealed the murder by burying the feathers.

Sagacity of Elephants. Usarwās.

—October 16.—There is nothing so painful as sitting down inactive when the mind is bent upon an object. Our escort was yet labouring in the swamps, and as we could not be worse off than we were, we deemed it better to advance, and accordingly decamped in the afternoon, sending on a tent to Usarwas; but though the distance was only eight miles we were benighted, and had the comfort to find old Fateh, “the victorious,” floundering with his load in a bog, out of which he was picking his way in a desperate rage. It is generally the driver’s fault when such an accident occurs: for if there be but a foot’s breadth of sound footing, so sensible is the animal, that he is sure to avoid danger if left to his own discretion and the free use of his proboscis, with which he thumps the ground as he cautiously proceeds step by step, giving signals to his keeper of the safety or the reverse of advancing, as clearly as if he spoke. Fateh’s signals had been disregarded, and he was accordingly in a great passion at finding himself abused, and kept from his cakes and butter, of which he had always thirty pounds’ weight at sunset. The sagacity of the elephant is well known, and was in no instance better displayed than in the predicament above described. I have seen the huge monster in a position which to him must have been appalling; but, with an instinctive reliance on others, he awaited in tolerable patience the arrival of materials for his extrication, in the shape of fascines and logs of wood, which being thrown to him, he placed deliberately in front, and making a stout resistance with head, teeth, and foot, pressing the wood, he brought up one leg after the other in a most methodical and pioneer-like manner, till he delivered himself from his miry prison. Fateh did not require such aid; but, aware that the fault was not his, he soon indignantly shook the load off his back, and left them to get it out in any manner they chose.

Wolves.

—Waited to aid in reloading, and it being already dusk, pushed on with my dog Belle, who, observing a couple of animals, darted off into the jungles, and led me after her as fast as the devious paths in such a savage scene would permit. But I [664] soon saw her scampering down the height, the game, in the shape of two huge wolves, close at her heels, and delighted to 772find rescue at hand. I have no doubt their retreat from my favourite greyhound was a mere ruse de guerre to lead her beyond supporting distance, and they had nearly effected their object: they went off in a very sulky and leisurely manner. In my subaltern days, when with the subsidiary force in Gohad, I remember scouring the tremendous ravines near the Antri Pass to get a spear at a wolf, my companion (Lieut. now Lieut.-Col. T. D. Smith) and myself were soon surrounded by many scores of these hungry animals, who prowled about our camp all night, having carried off a child the night before. As we charged in one direction, they gave way; but kept upon our quarters without the least fear, and seemingly enjoyed the fun. I do not recollect whether it excited any other feeling than mirth. They showed no symptom of ferocity, or desire to make a meal of us; or a retreat from these ravines, with their superior topographical knowledge, would doubtless have been difficult.

The Banās River. The Fairy Gift Legend.

—We passed the Banas River, just escaping from the rock-bound barriers, our path almost in contact with the water to the left. The stream was clear as crystal, and of great depth; the banks low and verdant, and fringed with wood. It was a lovely, lonely spot, and well deserved to be consecrated by legendary tale. In ancient times, ere these valleys were trod by the infidel Tatar, coco-nuts were here presented to the genius of the river, whose arm appeared above the waters to receive them; but ever since some unhallowed hand threw a stone in lieu of a coco-nut, the arm has been withdrawn.^[13] Few in fact lived, either to supply or keep alive the traditions which lend a charm to a journey through these wild scenes, though full of bogs and wolves. We reached our journey’s end very late, and though no tents were up, we had the consolation to spy the cook in a snug corner with a leg of mutton before some blazing logs, round which he had placed the wall of a tent to check the force of the mountain air. We all congregated round the cook’s fire, and were infinitely happier in the prospect before us, and with the heavens for our canopy, than with all our accustomed conveniences and fare. Every one this day had taken his own road, and each had his adventure to relate. Our repast was delicious; nor did any favourable 773account reach us of tents or other luxuries to mar our enjoyments, till midnight, when the fly of the doctor’s tent arrived, of which we availed ourselves as a protection against the heavy dews of [665] the night; and though our bivouac was in a ploughed field, and we were surrounded by wild beasts in a silent waste, they proved no drawbacks to the enjoyment of repose.

Halted the 17th, to collect the dislocated baggage; for although such scenes, seasoned with romance, might do very well for us, our followers were ignorant of the name of Ann Radcliffe or other conjurers; and though admirers of tradition, like myself, preferred it after dinner. Usarwas is a valuable village, but now thinly inhabited. It was recently given by the Rana, with his accustomed want of reflection, to a Charan bard, literally for an old song. But even this folly was surpassed on his bestowing the township of Sesoda,^[14] in the valley in advance, the place from which his tribe takes its appellation, on another of the fraternity, named Kishna, his master bard, who has the art to make his royal patron believe that opportunity alone is wanting to render his name as famed as that of the illustrious Sanga, or the immortal Partap. I received and returned the visit of an ascetic Sannyasi, whose hermitage was perched upon a cliff not far from our tents. Like most of his brethren, he was intelligent, and had a considerable store of local and foreign legends at command. He was dressed in a loose orange-coloured anga or tunic, with a turban of the same material, in which was twisted a necklace of the lotus-kernel;^[15] he had another in his hand, with which he repeated the name of the deity at intervals. He expressed his own surprise and the sentiments of the inhabitants at the tranquillity they enjoyed, without any tumultuary cause being discoverable; and said that we must be something more than human. This superstitious feeling for a while was felt as well by the prince and the turbulent chief, as by the anchorite of Usarwas.

Samecha.

—October 18.—Marched at daybreak to Samecha, distance twelve miles. Again found our advanced elephant and 774breakfast-tent in a swamp: halted to extricate him from his difficulties. The road from Nathdwara is but a footpath, over or skirting a succession of low broken ridges, covered with prickly shrubs, as the Khair, the Karil, and Babul.^[16] At the village of Gaon Gura, midway in the morning’s journey, we entered the alpine valley called the Shera Nala. The village of Gura is placed in the opening or break in the range through which the river flows, whose serpentine meanderings indicate the only road up this majestic valley. On the banks, or in its bed, which we frequently crossed, lay [666] the remainder of this day’s march. The valley varies in breadth, but is seldom less than half a mile, the hills rising boldly from their base; some with a fine and even surface covered with mango trees, others lifting their splintered pinnacles into the clouds. Nature has been lavish of her beauties to this romantic region. The gular or wild fig, the sitaphal or custard-apple, the peach or aru badam (almond-peach),^[17] are indigenous and abundant; the banks of the stream are shaded by the withy, while the large trees, the useful mango and picturesque tamarind, the sacred pipal and bar, are abundantly scattered with many others, throughout. Nor has nature in vain appealed to human industry and ingenuity to second her intents.

Terrace Cultivation.

—From the margin of the stream on each side to the mountain’s base they have constructed a series of terraces rising over each other, whence by simple and ingenious methods they raise the waters to irrigate the rich crops of sugar-cane, cotton, and rice, which they cultivate upon them. Here we have a proof that ingenuity is the same, when prompted by necessity, in the Jura or the Aravalli. Wherever soil could be found, or time decomposed these primitive rocks, a barrier was raised. When discovered, should it be in a hollow below, or on the summit of a crag, it is alike greedily seized on: even there water is found, and if you leave the path below and ascend a hundred feet above the terraces, you will discover pools or reservoirs dammed in with massive trees, which serve to irrigate such insulated spots, or serve as nurseries to the young rice-plants. Not unfrequently, their labour is entirely destroyed, and the dykes swept away by the periodical inundations; for we observed the high-water mark in the trees considerably up the 775acclivity. The rice crop was abundant, and the juar [millet] or maize was thriving, but scanty; the standard autumnal crop which preceded it, the makai, or ‘Indian corn,’ had been entirely devoured by the locust. The sugar-cane, by far the most valuable product of this curious region, was very fine but sparingly cultivated, from the dread of this insect, which for the last three years had ravaged the valley. There are two species of locusts, which come in clouds, darkening the air, from the desert: the pharka and the tiri are their names;^[18] the first is the great enemy of our incipient prosperity. I observed a colony some time ago proceeding eastward with a rustling, rushing sound, like a distant torrent, or the wind in a forest at the fall of the leaf. We have thus to struggle against natural and artificial obstacles to the rising energies of the country; and dread of the pharkas deters speculators [667] from renting this fertile tract, which almost entirely belongs to the fisc. Its natural fertility cannot be better demonstrated than in recording the success of an experiment, which produced five crops, from the same piece of ground, within thirteen months. It must, however, be understood that two of these are species of millet, which are cut in six weeks from the time of sowing. A patch of ground, for which the cultivator pays six rupees rent, will produce sugar-cane six hundred rupees in value: but the labour and expense of cultivation are heavy, and cupidity too often deprives the husbandman of the greater share of the fruits, ninety rupees having been taken in arbitrary taxes, besides his original rent.

The air of this elevated region gave vigour to the limbs, and appetite to the disordered stomach. There was an exhilarating fraîcheur, which made us quite frantic; the transition being from 96° of Fahrenheit to English summer heat. We breakfasted in a verdant spot under the shade of a noble fig-tree fanned by the cool breezes from the mountains.

Samecha Town. Rājpūt Bhūmias.

—Samecha consists of three separate hamlets, each of about one hundred houses. It is situated at the base of a mountain distinctively termed Rana Pag, from a well-known path, by which the Ranas secured their retreat to the upland wilds when hard pushed by the Moguls. 776It also leads direct to the capital of the district, avoiding the circuitous route we were pursuing. Samecha is occupied by the Kumbhawats, descendants of Rana Kumbha, who came in a body with their elders at their head to visit me, bringing the famed kakri^[19] of the valley (often three feet in length), curds, and a kid as gifts. I rose to receive these Rajaputras, the Bhumias or yeomen of the valley; and though undistinguishable in dress from the commonest cultivator, I did homage to their descent. Indeed, they did not require the auxiliaries of dress, their appearance being so striking as to draw forth the spontaneous exclamation from my friends, “what noble-looking fellows!” Their tall and robust figures, sharp aquiline features, and flowing beards, with a native dignity of demeanour (though excepting their chiefs, who wore turbans and scarfs, they were in their usual labouring dresses, immense loose breeches and turbans), compelled respect and admiration. Formerly they gave one hundred matchlocks for garrison duty at Kumbhalmer; but the Mahrattas have pillaged and impoverished them. These are the real allodial tenants of the land, performing personal local service, and paying an annual quit-rent. I conciliated their good opinion by [668] talking of the deeds of old days, the recollection of which a Rajput never outlives. The assembly under the fig-tree was truly picturesque, and would have furnished a good subject for Gerard Dow. Our baggage joined us at Samecha; but many of our camels were already worn out by labouring through swamps, for which they are by nature incapacitated.

October 19.—Marched to Kelwara, the capital of this mountainous region, and the abode of the Ranas when driven from Chitor and the plains of the Banas; on which occasion these valleys received and maintained a great portion of the population of Mewar. There is not a rock or a stream that has not some legend attached to it, connected with these times. The valley presents the same features as already described. Passed a cleft in the mountain on the left, through which a stream rushes, called the “elephant’s pool”; a short cut may be made by the foot passenger to Kelwara, but it is too intricate for any unaccustomed to these wilds to venture. We could not ascertain the origin of the “elephant’s pool,” but it is most likely connected with ancient warfare. Passed the village of Murcha, held by a 777Rathor chieftain. On the margin of a small lake adjoining the village, a small and very neat sacrificial altar attracted my regard; and not satisfied with the reply that it was sati ka makan, ‘the place of faith,’ I sent to request the attendance of the village seer. It proved to be that of the ancestor of the occupant: a proof of devotion to her husband, who had fallen in the wars waged by Aurangzeb against this country; when, with a relic of her lord, she mounted the pyre. He is sculptured on horseback, with lance at rest, to denote that it is no churl to whom the record is devoted.

Near the “elephant’s pool,” and at the village of Kherli, two roads diverge: one, by the Bargula nal or pass, conducts direct to Nathdwara; the other, leading to Rincher, and the celebrated shrine of the four-armed god,^[20] famed as a place of pilgrimage. The range on our left terminating abruptly, we turned by Uladar to Kelwara, and encamped in a mango-grove, on a tableland half a mile north of the town. Here the valley enlarges, presenting a wild, picturesque, and rugged appearance. The barometer indicated about a thousand feet of elevation above the level of Udaipur, which is about two thousand above the sea: yet we were scarcely above the base of the alpine cliffs which towered around us on all sides. It was the point of divergence for the waters, which, from the numerous fountains in [669] these uplands, descended each declivity, to refresh the arid plains of Marwar to the west, and to swell the lakes of Mewar to the east. Previous to the damming of the stream which forms that little ocean, the Kankroli lake, it is asserted that the supply to the west was very scanty, nearly all flowing eastward, or through the valley; but since the formation of the lake, and consequent saturation of the intermediate region, the streams are ever flowing to the west. The spot where I encamped was at least five hundred feet lower than Aret pol, the first of the fortified barriers leading to Kumbhalmer, whose citadel rose more than seven hundred feet above the terre-pleine of its outworks beneath.

Kūmbhalmer Fort. Mahārāja Daulat Singh.—The Maharaja Daulat Singh, a near relative of the Rana, and governor of Kumbhalmer, attended by a numerous suite, the crimson standard, trumpets, kettledrums, seneschal, and bard, advanced several miles to meet and conduct me to the castle. According to 778etiquette, we both dismounted and embraced, and afterwards rode together conversing on the affairs of the province, and the generally altered condition of the country. Daulat Singh, being of the immediate kin of his sovereign, is one of the Babas or infants of Mewar, enumerated in the tribe called Ranawat, with the title of Maharaja. Setting aside the family of Sheodan Singh, he is the next in succession to the reigning family. He is one of the few over whom the general demoralization has had no power, and remains a simple-minded straightforward honest man; blunt, unassuming, and courteous. His rank and character particularly qualify him for the post he holds on this western frontier, which is the key to Marwar. It was in February 1818 that I obtained possession of this place (Kumbhalmer), by negotiating the arrears of the garrison. Gold is the cheapest, surest, and most expeditious of all generals in the East, amongst such mercenaries as we had to deal with, who change masters with the same facility as they would their turban. In twenty-four hours we were put in possession of the fort, and as we had not above one-third of the stipulated sum in ready cash, they without hesitation took a bill of exchange, written on the drum-head, on the mercantile town of Pali in Marwar: in such estimation is British faith held, even by the most lawless tribes of India! Next morning we saw them winding down the western declivity, while we quietly took our breakfast in an old ruined temple. During this agreeable employment, we were joined by Major Macleod, of the artillery, sent by General Donkin to report on the facilities of reducing the place by siege, and [670] his opinion being, that a gun could not be placed in position in less than six weeks, the grilling spared the European force in such a region was well worth the £4000 of arrears. My own escort and party remained in possession for a week, until the Rana sent his garrison. During these eight days our time was amply occupied in sketching and deciphering the monumental records of this singularly diversified spot. It would be vain to attempt describing the intricacies of approach to this far-famed abode, whose exterior is delineated by the pencil. A massive wall, with numerous towers and pierced battlements, having a strong resemblance to the Etruscan, encloses a space of some miles extent below, while the pinnacle or sikhara rises, like the crown of the Hindu Cybele, tier above tier of battlements, to the summit, which is crowned with the 779Badal Mahall, or ‘cloud-palace’ of the Ranas. Thence the eye ranges over the sandy deserts and the chaotic mass of mountains, which are on all sides covered with the cactus, which luxuriates amidst the rocks of the Aravalli. Besides the Aret ^[21] pol, or barrier thrown across the first narrow ascent, about one mile from Kelwara, there is a second called the Halla ^[22] pol, intermediate to the Hanuman ^[23] pol, the exterior gate of the fortress, between which and the summit there are three more, viz. the gate of victory, the sanguinary gate, and that of Rama, besides the last, or Chaugan ^[24] pol. The barometer stood, at half-past seven A.M., 26° 65´; thermometer 58° Fahr. at the Aret pol: and on the summit at nine, while the thermometer rose to 75°, the barometer had only descended 15´, and stood at 26° 50´,^[25] though we had ascended full six hundred feet.

A Jain Temple.

—Admitting the last range as our guide, the peak of Kumbhalmer will be 3353 ^[26] feet above the level of the ocean. Hence I laid down the positions of many towns far in the desert. Here were subjects to occupy the pencil at least for a month; but we had only time for one of the most interesting views, the Jain temple before the reader, and a sketch of the fortress itself, both finished on the spot. The design of this temple is truly classic. It consists only of the sanctuary, which has a vaulted dome and colonnaded portico all round. The architecture is undoubtedly Jain, which is as distinct in character from the Brahmanical as their religion. There is a chasteness and simplicity in this specimen of monotheistic worship, affording a wide contrast to the elaborately sculptured shrines of the Saivas, and [671] other polytheists of India. The extreme want of decoration best attests its antiquity, entitling us to attribute it to that period when Samprati Raja, of the family of Chandragupta, was paramount sovereign over all these regions (two hundred years before Christ);^[27] to whom tradition ascribes the most ancient monuments 780of this faith, yet existing in Rajasthan and Saurashtra. The proportions and forms of the columns are especially distinct from the other temples, being slight and tapering instead of massive, the general characteristic of Hindu architecture; while the projecting cornices, which would absolutely deform shafts less slight, are peculiarly indicative of the Takshak architect.^[28] Samprati was the fourth prince in descent from Chandragupta, of the Jain faith, and the ally of Seleucus, the Grecian sovereign of Bactriana. The fragments of Megasthenes, ambassador from Seleucus, record that this alliance was most intimate; that the daughter of the Rajput king was married to Seleucus, who, in return for elephants and other gifts, sent a body of Greek soldiers to serve Chandragupta. It is curious to contemplate the possibility, nay the probability, that the Jain temple now before the reader may have been designed by Grecian artists, or that the taste of the artists among the Rajputs may have been modelled after the Grecian. This was our temple of Theseus in Mewar. A massive monolithic emblem of black marble of the Hindu Pitrideva had been improperly introduced into the shrine of the worshippers of the “spirit alone.” Being erected on the rock, and chiselled from the syenite on which it stands, it may bid defiance to time. There was another sacred structure in its vicinity, likewise Jain, but of a distinct character; indeed, offering a perfect contrast to that described. It was three stories in height; each tier was decorated with numerous massive low columns, resting on a sculptured panelled parapet, and sustaining the roof of each story, which, being very low, admitted but a broken light to break the pervading gloom. I should imagine that the sacred architects of the East had studied effect equally with the preservers of learning and the arts in the dark period of Europe, when those monuments, which must ever be her pride, arose on the ruins of paganism. How far the Saxon or Scandinavian pagan contributed to the general design of such structures may be doubted; but that their decorations, especially the 781grotesque, have a powerful resemblance to the most ancient Hindu-Scythic, there is no question, as I shall hereafter more particularly point out [672].

Who, that has a spark of imagination, but has felt the indescribable emotion which the gloom and silence of a Gothic cathedral excites? The very extent provokes a comparison humiliating to the pigmy spectator, and this is immeasurably increased when the site is the mountain pinnacle, where man and his works fade into nothing in contemplating the magnificent expanse of nature. The Hindu priest did not raise the temple for heterogeneous multitudes: he calculated that the mind would be more highly excited when left to its solitary devotions, amidst the silence of these cloistered columns, undisturbed save by the monotony of the passing bell, while the surrounding gloom is broken only by the flare of the censer as the incense mounts above the altar.

Temple of Māma Devi.

—It would present no distinct picture to the eye were I to describe each individual edifice within the scope of vision, either upwards towards the citadel, or below. Looking down from the Jain temple towards the pass, till the contracting gorge is lost in distance, the gradually diminishing space is filled with masses of ruin. I will only notice two of the most interesting. The first is dedicated to Mama Devi, ‘the mother of the gods,’ whose shrine is on the brow of the mountain overlooking the pass. The goddess is placed in the midst of her numerous family, including the greater and lesser divinities. They are all of the purest marble, each about three feet in height, and tolerably executed, though evidently since the decline of the art, of which very few good specimens exist executed within the last seven centuries. The temple is very simple and primitive, consisting but of a long hall, around which the gods are ranged, without either niche or altar.

The most interesting portion of this temple is its court, formed by a substantial wall enclosing a tolerable area. The interior of this wall had been entirely covered with immense tables of black marble, on which was inscribed the history of their gods, and, what was of infinitely greater importance, that of the mortal princes who had erected the tablets in their honour. But what a sight for the antiquary! Not one of the many tables was entire; the fragments were strewed about, or placed in position 782to receive the flesh-pots of the sons of Ishmael, the mercenary Rohilla Afghan [673].^[29]

Memorial of Prithirāj and Tāra Bāi.

—On quitting the temple of Mama Devi, my attention was attracted by a simple monumental shrine on the opposite side of the valley, and almost in the gorge of the pass. It was most happily situated, being quite isolated, overlooking the road leading to Marwar, and consisted of a simple dome of very moderate dimensions, supported by columns, without any intervening object to obstruct the view of the little monumental altar arising out of the centre of the platform. It was the Sybilline temple of Tivoli in miniature. To it, over rock and ruin, I descended. Here repose the ashes of the Troubadour of Mewar, the gallant Prithiraj and his heroine wife, Tara Bai, whose lives and exploits fill many a page of the legendary romances of Mewar.

This fair ‘star’ (tara) was the daughter of Rao Surthan, the chieftain of Badnor. He was of the Solanki tribe, the lineal descendant of the famed Balhara kings of Anhilwara. Thence expelled by the arms of Ala in the thirteenth century, they migrated to Central India, and obtained possession of Tonk-Toda and its lands on the Banas, which from remote times had been occupied (perhaps founded) by the Taks, and hence bore the name of Taksilanagar, familiarly Takatpur and Toda.^[30] Surthan had been deprived of Toda by Lila the Afghan, and now 783occupied Badnor at the foot of the Aravalli, within the bounds of Mewar. Stimulated by the reverses of her family, and by the incentives of its ancient glory, Tara Bai, scorning the habiliments and occupations of her sex, learned to guide the war-horse, and throw with unerring aim the arrow from his back, even while at speed. Armed with the bow and quiver, and mounted on a fiery Kathiawar, she joined the cavalcade in their unsuccessful attempts to wrest Toda from the Afghan. Jaimall, the third son of Rana Raemall, in person made proposals for her hand. “Redeem Toda,” said the star of Badnor, “and my hand is thine.” He assented to the terms: but evincing a rude determination to be possessed of the prize ere he had earned it, he was slain by the indignant father. Prithiraj, the brother of the deceased, was then in exile in Marwar; he had just signalized his valour, and ensured his father’s forgiveness, the redemption of Godwar,^[31] and the [674] catastrophe at Badnor determined him to accept the gage thrown down to Jaimall. Fame and the bard had carried the renown of Prithiraj far beyond the bounds of Mewar; the name alone was attractive to the fair, and when thereto he who bore it added all the chivalrous ardour of his prototype, the Chauhan, Tara Bai, with the sanction of her father, consented to be his, on the simple asseveration that “he would restore to them Toda, or he was no true Rajput.” The anniversary of the martyrdom of the sons of Ali was the season chosen for the exploit.^[32] Prithiraj formed a select band of five hundred cavaliers, and accompanied by his bride, the fair Tara, who insisted on partaking his glory and his danger, he reached Toda at the moment the ta’aziya or bier containing the martyr-brothers was placed in the centre of the chauk or ‘square.’ The prince, Tara Bai, and the faithful Sengar chief, the inseparable companion of Prithiraj, left their cavalcade and joined the procession as it passed under the balcony of the palace in which the Afghan was putting on his dress preparatory to descending. Just as he had asked who were the strange horsemen that had joined the throng, the lance of Prithiraj and an arrow from the bow of his Amazonian bride stretched him on the floor. Before the crowd recovered from the panic, the three had reached the gate of the town, where their exit was obstructed by an elephant. Tara Bai with her 784scimitar divided his trunk, and the animal flying, they joined their cavalcade, which was close at hand.

The Afghans were encountered, and could not stand the attack. Those who did not fly were cut to pieces; and the gallant Prithiraj inducted the father of his bride into his inheritance. A brother of the Afghans, in his attempt to recover it, lost his life. The Nawab Mallu Khan then holding Ajmer determined to oppose the Sesodia prince in person; who, resolved upon being the assailant, advanced to Ajmer, encountered his foe in the camp at daybreak, and after great slaughter entered Garh Bitli, the citadel, with the fugitives. “By these acts,” says the chronicle, “his fame increased in Rajwara: one thousand Rajputs, animated by the same love of glory and devotion, gathered round the nakkaras of Prithiraj. Their swords shone in the heavens, and were dreaded on the earth; but they aided the defenceless.”

Another story is recorded and confirmed by Muhammadan writers as to the result, though they are ignorant of the impulse which prompted the act. Prithiraj on some [675] occasion found the Rana conversing familiarly with an ahadi ^[33] of the Malwa king, and feeling offended at the condescension, expressed himself with warmth. The Rana ironically replied: “You are a mighty seizer of kings; but for me, I desire to retain my land.” Prithiraj abruptly retired, collected his band, made for Nimach, where he soon gathered five thousand horse, and reaching Dipalpur, plundered it, and slew the governor. The king on hearing of the irruption left Mandu at the head of what troops he could collect; but the Rajput prince, in lieu of retreating, rapidly advanced and attacked the camp while refreshing after the march. Singling out the royal tent, occupied by eunuchs and females, the king was made captive, and placed on an express camel beside the prince, who warned the pursuers to follow peaceably, or he would put his majesty to death; adding that he intended him no harm, but that after having made him “touch his father’s feet,” he should restore him to liberty. Having carried him direct to Chitor and to his father’s presence, he turned to him saying, “Send for your friend the ahadi, and ask 785him who this is?” The Malwa king was detained a month within the walls of Chitor, and having paid his ransom in horses, was set at liberty with every demonstration of honour.^[34] Prithiraj returned to Kumbhalmer, his residence, and passed his life in exploits like these from the age of fourteen to twenty-three, the admiration of the country and the theme of the bard.

It could not be expected that long life would be the lot of one who thus courted distinction, though it was closed neither by shot nor sabre, but by poison, when on the eve of prosecuting his unnatural feud against his brother Sanga, the place of whose retreat was made known by his marriage with the daughter of the chieftain of Srinagar, who had dared to give him protection in defiance of his threats.

At the same time he received a letter from his sister, written in great grief, complaining of the barbarous treatment of her lord, the Sirohi prince, from whose tyranny she begged to be delivered and to be restored to the paternal roof; since whenever he had indulged too freely in the ‘essence of the flower,’ or in opium, he used to place her under the bedstead, and leave her to sleep on the floor. Prithiraj instantly departed, reached Sirohi at midnight, scaled the palace, and interrupted the repose of Pabhu Rao by placing his poniard at his throat. His wife, notwithstanding his cruelty, complied with his humiliating appeal for mercy, and begged his life, which was granted on condition of his standing as a suppliant with his wife’s [676] shoes on his head, and touching her feet, the lowest mark of degradation. He obeyed, was forgiven, and embraced by Prithiraj, who became his guest during five days. Pabhu Rao was celebrated for a confection, of which he presented some to his brother at parting. He partook of it as he came in sight of Kumbhalmer; but on reaching the shrine of Mama Devi was unable to proceed. Here he sent a message to the fair Tara to come and bid him farewell; but so subtle was the poison, that death had overtaken him ere she descended from the citadel. Her resolution was soon formed; the pyre was erected, and with the mortal remains of the chivalrous Prithiraj in her embrace, she sought “the regions of the sun.” 786Such the end of the Sesodia prince, and the star of Badnor. From such instances we must form our opinion of the manners of these people. But for the poisoned confection of the chief of Sirohi, Prithiraj would have had the glory of opposing himself to Babur, instead of his heroic brother and successor, Sanga.^[35] Whether, from his superior ardour of temperament, and the love of military glory which attracted similarly constituted minds to his fortunes, he would have been more successful than his brother, it is futile to conjecture.

The Frontier of Mārwār.—October 20.—Halted till noon, that the men might dress their dinners, and prepare for the descent into “the region of death,” or Marwar. The pass by which we had to gain it was represented as terrific; but as both horse and elephant, with the aid of the hatchet, will pick their way wherever man can go, we determined to persevere. Struck the camp at noon, when the baggage filed off, halting ourselves till three; the escort and advanced tents, and part of the cuisine being ordered to clear the pass, while we designed to spend the night midway, in a spot forming the natural boundary of Mewar and Marwar, reported to be sufficiently capacious. Rumour had not magnified the difficulties of the descent, which we found strewed with our baggage, arresting all progress for a full hour. For nearly a mile there was but just breadth sufficient to admit the passage of a loaded elephant, the descent being at an angle of 55° with the horizon, and streams on either side rushing with a deafening roar over their rugged beds. As we gained a firmer footing at the base of this first descent, we found that the gallant Manika, the gift of my friend the Bundi prince, had missed his footing and rolled down the steep, breaking the cantle of the saddle; a little farther appeared the cook, hanging in dismay over the scattered implements of his art, his camel remonstrating against the [677] replacing of his kajavas or panniers. For another mile it became more gentle, when we passed under a tower of Kumbhalmer, erected on a scarped projection of the rock, full five hundred feet above us. The scenery was magnificent; the mountains rising on each side in every variety of form, and their summits, as they caught a ray of the departing sun, reflecting on our sombre path a momentary gleam from the masses of rose-coloured quartz which crested them. Noble 787forest trees covered every face of the hills and the bottom of the glen, through which, along the margin of the serpentine torrent which we repeatedly crossed, lay our path. Notwithstanding all our mishaps, partly from the novelty and grandeur of the scene, and partly from the invigorating coolness of the air, our mirth became wild and clamorous: a week before I was oppressed with a thousand ills; and now I trudged the rugged path, leaping the masses of granite which had rolled into the torrent.

There was one spot where the waters formed a pool or dah. Little Carey determined to trust to his pony to carry him across, but deviating to the left, just as I was leaping from a projecting ledge, to my horror, horse and rider disappeared. The shock was momentary, and a good ducking the only result, which in the end was the luckiest thing that could have befallen him. On reaching the Hathidarra, or ‘barrier of the elephant’ (a very appropriate designation for a mass of rock serving as a rampart to shut up the pass), where we had intended to remain the night, we found no spot capacious enough even for a single tent. Orders accordingly passed to the rear for the baggage to collect there, and wait the return of day to continue the march. The shades of night were fast descending, and we proceeded almost in utter darkness towards the banks of the stream, the roar of whose waters was our guide, and not a little perplexed by the tumultuous rush which issued from every glen, to join that we were seeking. Towards the termination of the descent the path became wider, and the voice of the waters of a deeper and hoarser tone, as they glided to gain the plains of Marwar. The vault of heaven, in which there was not a cloud, appeared as an arch to the perpendicular cliffs surrounding us on all sides, and the stars beamed with peculiar brilliancy from the confined space through which we viewed them. As we advanced in perfect silence, fancy busily at work on what might befall our straggling retinue from the ferocious tiger or plundering mountaineer, a gleam of light suddenly flashed upon us on emerging from the brushwood, and disclosed a party of dismounted cavaliers seated round their night-fires under some magnificent fig-trees [678].^[36]

Meeting with the Mers.

—Halted, and called a council of war to determine our course: we had gained the spot our guides had assigned as the only fitting one for bivouac before we reached the 788plains beyond the mountains; it afforded shade from the dews, and plenty of water. The munitions de bouche having gone on was a good argument that we should follow; but darkness and five miles more of intricate forest, through a path from which the slightest deviation, right or left, might lead us into the jaws of a tiger, or the toils of the equally savage Mer, decided us to halt. We now took another look at the group above-mentioned. Though the excitement of the morning was pretty well chilled by cold and hunger (poor sharpeners of the imagination), it was impossible to contemplate the scene before us without a feeling of the highest interest. From twenty-five to thirty tall figures, armed at all points, were sitting or reposing in groups round their watch-fires, conversing and passing the pipe from hand to hand, while their long black locks, and motley-fashioned turbans, told that they belonged to Marudesa. A rude altar, raised in honour of some “gentle blood” shed by the murky mountaineer, served as a place of rest for the chief of the party, distinguished by the gold band in his turban, and his deer-skin doublet. I gave the usual salutation of “Rama, Rama,” to the chief and his party, and inquired after the health of their chieftain of Ghanerao, to whose courtesy I found I owed this mark of attention. This was the boundary between the two States of Marwar and Mewar, since the district of Godwar was lost by the latter about fifty years ago. The spot has been the scene of many a conflict, and a closer approach disclosed several other altars raised in honour of the slain; each represented a cavalier mounted on his war-steed, with his lance poised, denoting that in such attitude he fell in defending the pass, or redeeming the cattle from the plundering mountain Mer. A square tablet placed on each contained the date on which he gained “the mansions of the sun.” Midnight being past, and bringing no hope of our appetites growing by what they might feed upon, Dr. Duncan and Captain Waugh took the jhul, or broadcloth-housing, from the elephant, and rolling themselves in it, followed the example of the chieftain and reposed upon the ashes of the brave, on an altar adjoining the one he occupied. I soon left them in happy forgetfulness of tigers, Meras, hunger, and all the fatigues of the day, and joined the group to listen to the tale with which they enlivened the midnight hour. This I can repeat, but it would have required the pencil of a master to paint the scene. It was a subject for 789Salvator Rosa; though I should [679] have been perfectly satisfied with one of Captain Waugh’s delineations, had he been disposed at that moment to exert the pictorial art. Several of my friends had encountered the mountaineer on this very spot; and these humble cenotaphs, covering the ashes of their kin, recalled events not likely to be repeated in these halcyon days, when the names of Bhil and Mer cease to be the synonyms of plunderer. As there may be no place more appropriate for a sketch of the mountaineers, the reader may transport himself to the glen of Kumbhalmer, and listen to the history of one of the aboriginal tribes of Rajasthan [680].

CHAPTER 26

The Mer Tribe.

—The Mer or Mera is the mountaineer of Rajputana, and the country he inhabits is styled Merwara, or ‘the region of hills.’ The epithet is therefore merely local, for the Mer is but a branch of the Mina or Maina, one of the aborigines of India. He is also called Merot and Merawat; but these terminations only more correctly define his character of mountaineer.^[1] Merwara is that portion of the Aravalli chain between Kumbhalmer and Ajmer, a space of about ninety miles in length, and varying in breadth from six to twenty. The general character of this magnificent rampart, in the natural and physical geography of Rajputana, is now sufficiently familiar. It rises from three to four thousand feet above the level of the sea, and abounds with a variety of natural productions. In short, I know no portion of the globe which would yield to the scientific traveller more abundant materials for observation than the alpine Aravalli. The architectural antiquary might fill his portfolio, and natural history would receive additions to her page in every department, 790and especially in botany and zoology.^[2] I [681] should know no higher gratification than to be of a scientific party to anatomize completely this important portion of India. I would commence on the Gujarat, and finish on the Shaikhawat frontier. The party should consist of a skilful surveyor, to lay down on a large scale a topographical chart of the mountains; several gentlemen thoroughly versed in natural history; able architectural and landscape draughtsmen, and the antiquary to transcribe ancient inscriptions, as well as to depict the various races. The “Aravalli delineated,” by the hand of science, would form a most instructive and delightful work.

A minute account of the Mer, his habits and his history, would be no unimportant feature: but as this must be deferred, I will, in the meanwhile, furnish some details to supply the void.

The Mers are a branch of the Chitas, an important division of the Minas.^[3] I shall elsewhere enter at large into the history of this race, which consists of as many branches as their conquerors, the Rajputs. All these wild races have the vanity to mingle their pedigree with that of their conquerors, though in doing so they stigmatize themselves. The Chita-Minas accordingly claim descent from a grandson of the last Chauhan emperor of Delhi. Anhul and Anup were the sons of Lakha, the nephew of the Chauhan king. The coco-nut was sent from Jaisalmer, offering princesses of that house in marriage: but an investigation into their maternal ancestry disclosed that they were the issue of a 791Mina concubine: and their birth being thus revealed, they became exiles from Ajmer, and associates with their maternal relatives.

Anhul espoused the daughter of a Mina chieftain, by whom he had Chita, whose descendants enjoy almost a monopoly of power in Merwara. The sons of Chita, who occupied the northern frontier near Ajmer, became Muhammadans about fifteen generations ago, when Duda, the sixteenth from the founder of the race, was created Dawad Khan by the Hakim of Ajmer; and as Hathun was his residence, the “Khan of Hathun” signified the chief of the Merots. Chang, Jhak, and Rajosi are the principal towns adjoining Hathun. Anup also took a Mina wife, by whom he had Barar, whose descendants have continued true [682] to their original tenets. Their chief places are Barar, Berawara, Mandila, etc. Though the progeny of these Minas may have been improved by the infusion of Rajput blood, they were always notorious for their lawless habits, and for the importance attached to them so far back as the period of Bisaldeo, the celebrated prince of Ajmer, whom the bard Chand states to have reduced them to submission, making them “carry water in the streets of Ajmer.” Like all mountaineers, they of course broke out whenever the hands of power were feeble. In the battle between the Chauhans of Ajmer and the Parihars of Mandor, a body of four thousand Mer bowmen served Nahar Rao, and defended the pass of the Aravalli against Prithiraj in this his first essay in arms. Chand thus describes them:^[4] “Where hill joins hill, the Mer and Mina thronged. The Mandor chief commanded that the pass should be defended—four thousand heard and obeyed, each in form as the angel of death—men who never move without the omen, whose arrow never flies in vain—with frames like India’s bolt—faithful to their word, preservers of the land and the honour ^[5] of Mandor; whose fortresses have to this day remained unconquered—who bring the spoils of the plains to their dwellings. Of these in the dark recesses of the mountains four thousand lay concealed, their crescent-formed arrows beside them. Like the envenomed serpent, they wait in silence the advance of the foe.

792

Prithirāj attacks the Mers.

—“Tidings reached the Chauhan that the manly Mina, with bow in hand, stood in the mountain’s gorge. Who would be bold enough to force it? his rage was like the hungry lion’s when he views his prey. He called the brave Kana, and bade him observe those wretches as he commanded him to clear the pass. Bowing he departed, firm as the rock on which he trod. He advanced, but the mountaineer (Mer) was immovable as Sumeru. Their arrows, carrying death, fly like Indra’s bolts—they obscure the sun. Warriors fall from their steeds, resounding in their armour as a tree torn up by the blast. Kana quits the steed; hand to hand he encounters the foe; the feathery shafts, as they strike fire, appear like birds escaping from the flames. The lance flies through the breast, appearing at the back [683], like a fish escaping through the meshes of a net. The evil spirits dance in the mire of blood. The hero of the mountain ^[6] encountered Kana, and his blow made him reel; but like lightning it was returned, and the mountaineer fell: the crash was as the shaking of Sumeru. At this moment Nahar arrived, roaring like a tiger for his prey: he called aloud to revenge their chief, his brother,^[7] and fresh vigour was infused into their souls. On the fall of the mountain-chief, the Chauhan commanded the ‘hymn of triumph’^[8] to be sounded; it startled the mountaineer, but only to nerve his soul afresh. In person the Chauhan sought his foe. The son of Somesa is a bridegroom. His streaming standards flutter like the first falls of rain in Asarh, and as he steps on the bounds which separate Mandor from Ajmer, ‘Victory! victory!’ is proclaimed. Still the battle rages. Elephants roar, horses neigh, terror stalks everywhere. The aids of Girnar ^[9] and of Sind now appeared for Mandor, bearing banners of every colour, varied as the flowers of the spring. Both arrays were clad in mail; their eyes and their finger-nails alone were exposed; each invoked his tutelary protector as he wielded the dodhara.^[10] Prithiraj was refulgent as Indra; the Parihar’s brightness was as the morning star; each was clad in armour of proof, immovable as gods in mortal form. The sword of the Chauhan descended on the steed of the Parihar; 793but as he fell, Nahar sprung erect, and they again darted on each other, their warriors forming a fortress around the persons of their lords. Then advanced the standards of the Pramar, like a black rolling cloud, while the lightnings flashed from his sword. Mohana, the brother of Mandor, received him; they first examined each other—then joining in the strife, the helm of the Pramar was cleft in twain. Now advanced Chawand, the Dahima; he grasped his iron lance,^[11]—it pierced the Parihar, and the head appeared like a serpent looking through the door in his back. The flame (jyot) united with the fire from which it sprung, while the body fell on its parent earth. By his devotion the sins of his life were forgiven. Nobly did the tiger (Nahar) of Mandor meet the lion of the world. He called aloud, ‘Hold your ground as did Bal Raja of old.’ Again the battle rages—Durga gluts herself with blood [684]—the air resounds with the clash of arms and the rattling of banners—the Aswar ^[12] rains on the foe—Khetrpal ^[13] sports in the field of blood—Mahadeva fills his necklace—the eagle gluts itself on the slain—the mien of the warriors expands as does the lotos at the sunbeam—the war-song resounds—with a branch of the tulasi on the helm, adorned in the saffron robe, the warriors on either side salute each other.” The bard here exclaims, “But why should I enlarge on this encounter?”—but as this digression is merely for breathing time, we shall not follow him, the object being to introduce the mountain Mer, whom we now see hors de combat.

Character of the Mers.

—Admitting the exaggeration of the poet, the Mer appears to have been in the twelfth century what he is in the nineteenth, a bold, licentious marauder. He maintained himself throughout the whole of the Mogul domination, alternately succumbing and depredating; and since the Mahrattas crippled these countries, the Mer had regained all his consequence, and was rapidly encroaching upon his Rajput suzerain. But when in 1821 their excesses made it imperative to reduce their holds and fastnesses, they made no stand against the three battalions of sepoys sent against them, and the whole tract was 794compelled to obedience; not, however, till many of the descendants of Chita and Barar had suffered both in person and property.^[14] The facility with which we reduced to entire subjection this extensive association of plunderers, for centuries the terror of these countries, occasioned no little astonishment to our allies. The resistance was indeed contemptible, and afforded a good argument against the prowess of those who had tolerated the existence of a gang at once so mischievous and weak. But this was leaping to a conclusion without looking beneath the surface, or to the moral and political revolution which enervated the arms of Mer and Mahratta, Pindari and Pathan. All rose to power from the common occupation of plunderers, aided by the national jealousies of the Rajputs. If the chieftains of Mewar leagued to assault the mountaineers, they found refuge and support in Marwar; and as their fortresses at all times presented a sanctuary, their Rawats or leaders obtained consequence amongst all parties by granting it. Every Mer community, accordingly, had a perfect understanding with the chieftain whose lands were contiguous to their own, and who enjoyed rights granted by the Rana over these nominal subjects. These rights were all of a feudal nature, as rakhwali or ‘blackmail’ [685], and those petty proofs of subordination, entitled in the feudal law of Europe “petit serjanterie.” The token might be a colt, a hawk, or a bullock, and a nazarana, or pecuniary acknowledgement, perhaps only of half-a-crown on the chieftain’s birthday, or on the Rajput Saturnalia, the Holi. But all these petty causes for assimilation between the Rajput and the lawless Mer were overlooked, as well as the more powerful one which rendered his arms of no avail. Every door was hermetically sealed against him; wherever he looked he saw a foe—the magical change bewildered him; and when their Khan and his adherents were assailed while in fancied security, and cut off in a midnight attack, his self-confidence was annihilated—he saw a red-coat in every glen, and called aloud for mercy.

The Merwāra Battalion.

—A corps of these mountaineers, commanded by English officers, has since been formed, and I have no doubt may become useful.^[15] Notwithstanding their lawless 795habits, they did not neglect agriculture and embanking, as described in the valley of Shera Nala, and a district has been formed in Merwara which in time may yield a lakh of rupees annually to the state.

Marriage Customs.

—Some of their customs are so curious, and so different from those of their lowland neighbours, that we may mention a few. Leaving their superstitions as regards omens and auguries, the most singular part of their habits, till we give a detailed sketch of the Minas hereafter, I will notice the peculiarity of their notions towards females. The Mer, following the customary law handed down from his rude ancestry, and existing long before the written law of Manu, has no objection to a widow as a wife. This contract is termed nata, and his civilized master levies a fine or fee of a rupee and a quarter for the licence, termed kagli. On such marriage the bridegroom must omit in the maur, or nuptial coronet, the graceful palmyra leaf, and substitute a small branch of the sacred pipal wreathed in his turban. Many of the forms are according to the common Hindu ritual. The sat-phera, or seven perambulations round the jars filled with grain, piled over each other—the ganth-jora, or uniting the garments—and the hathleva, or junction of hands of bride and bridegroom, are followed by the Mers. Even the northern clans, who are converts to Islam, return to their ancient habits on this occasion, and have a Brahman priest to officiate. I discovered, on inquiring into the habits of the Mers, that they are not the only race which did not refuse to wed a widow, and that both Brahmans and Rajputs have from ancient times been accustomed not to consider it derogatory [686].^[16] Of the former, the sacerdotal class, the Nagda ^[17] Brahmans, established at this town long before the Guhilots obtained power in Mewar. Of the Rajputs, they are all of the most ancient tribes, now the allodial vassals or Bhumias of Rajputana, as the Chinana, Kharwar, Uten, Daya, names better known in the mystic page of the 796chronicle than now, though occasionally met with in the valleys of the Aravalli. But this practice, so little known, gives rise to an opinion, that many of the scrupulous habits regarding women are the inventions of the priests of more modern days. The facilities for separation are equally simple. If tempers do not assimilate, or other causes prompt them to part, the husband tears a shred from his turban, which he gives to his wife, and with this simple bill of divorce, placing two jars filled with water on her head, she takes whatever path she pleases, and the first man who chooses to ease her of her load becomes her future lord. This mode of divorce is practised not only amongst all the Minas, but by Jats, Gujars, Ahirs, Malis, and other Sudra tribes. Jehar le aur nikali, ‘took the jar and went forth,’ is a common saying amongst the mountaineers of Merwara.

Oaths, Food, Omens.

—Their invocations and imprecations are peculiar. The Chita or northern Mer, since he became acquainted with the name of the prophet, swears by ‘Allah,’ or by his first proselyte ancestor, ‘Duda Dawad Khan,’ or the still more ancient head of the races, ‘Chita, Barar ka an‘. The southern Mers also use the latter oath: “By my allegiance to Chita and Barar”; and they likewise swear by the sun, ‘Suraj ka Sagun,’ and ‘Nath ka Sagun’; or their ascetic priest, called the Nath. The Muhammadan Mer will not now eat hog; the southron refuses nothing, though he respects the cow from the prejudices of those around him, and to please the Nath or Jogi, his spiritual guide. The partridge and the maloli,^[18] or wag-tail, are the chief birds of omen with him, and the former ‘clamouring’ on the left, when he commences a foray, is a certain presage of success. To conclude; colonies of the Mers or Meras will be found as far north as the Chambal, and even in the peninsula of Saurashtra. Merwara is now in subjection to the Rana of Mewar, who has erected small forts amidst the most influential communities to overawe them. The whole tract has been assessed; the chiefs of the districts being brought to the Rana’s presence presented nazarana, swore fidelity, and received according to their rank gold bracelets or turbans. It was an era in the annals of Mewar to see the accumulated arms of Merwara piled upon the [687] terrace of the palace at the capital; but these measures were subsequent to our sojourn 797in the glen of Kumbhalmer, from which we have yet to issue to gain Marwar.

The Chief of Gokulgarh.

—October 21.—All hailed the return of daylight with reverence. Captain Waugh and the Doctor uncoiled from the elephant’s jhul, and I issued from my palki, which had proved a welcome retreat against the chills of the night air. By thirst and hunger our appetite for the picturesque was considerably abated, and the contemplation of the spot where we had bivouaced in that philosophical spirit of silence, which all have experienced who have made a long march before breakfast, lost much of its romantic interest. Nevertheless, could I have consulted merely my own wishes, I would have allowed my friends and escort to follow the canteen, and have pursued an intricate path which branched off to the right, to have had the chance of an interview with the outlaw of Gokulgarh.

This petty chieftain, who enjoyed the distinctive epithet of outlaw (barwatia), was of the Sonigira clan (a branch of the Chauhans), who for centuries were the lords of Jalor. He was a vassal of Marwar, now sovereign of Jalor, and being expelled for his turbulence by his prince, he had taken post in the old ruined castle of Gokulgarh, on a cliff of the Aravalli, and had become the terror of the country. By his knowledge of the intricacies of the mountains, he eluded pursuit; and his misdeeds being not only connived at, but his spoils participated by the chief of Deogarh, in whose fief was his haunt, he was under no apprehension of surprise. Inability either to seize the Barwatia, or drive him from his retreat, formed a legitimate excuse for the resumption of Gokulgarh, and the dues of ‘blackmail’ he derived from its twelve dependent villages. The last act of the Sonigira was most flagrant; he intercepted in the plains of Godwar a marriage procession, and made captives the bridegroom and bride, whom he conveyed to Gokulgarh, where they long languished for want of ransom. A party was formed to lie in wait for him; but he escaped the snare, and his retreat was found empty. Such was the state of society in these districts. The form of outlawry is singular in this country, where the penal laws are satisfied with banishment, even in cases of treason, instead of the sanguinary law of civilization. The criminal against whom the sentence of exile is pronounced being called into his prince’s presence, is clad in black vestments, and placed 798upon a black steed, his arms and shield all of the same sombre hue of mourning and [688] disgrace; he is then left to gain the frontier by himself. This custom is very ancient: the Pandu brothers were ‘Barwatias’^[19] from the Jumna three thousand years ago. The Jaisalmer annals relate the solemnity as practised towards one of their own princes; and the author, in the domestic dissensions of Kotah, received a letter from the prince, wherein he demands either that his rights should be conceded, or that the government would bestow the “black garment,” and leave him to his fate.

The Chief of Ghānērāo.

—Conversing on these and similar subjects with my Marwari friends, we threaded our way for five miles through the jungles of the pass, which we had nearly cleared, when we encountered the chieftain of Ghanerao at the head of his retinue, who of his own accord, and from a feeling of respect to his ancient sovereign the Rana, advanced thus far to do me honour. I felt the compliment infinitely the more, as it displayed that spirit of loyalty peculiar to the Rajput, though the step was dangerous with his jealous sovereign, and ultimately was prejudicial to him. After dismounting and embracing, we continued to ride to the tents, conversing on the past history of the province, of his prince, and the Rana, after whom he affectionately inquired. Ajit Singh is a noble-looking man, about thirty years of age, tall, fair, and sat his horse like a brave Rathor cavalier. Ghanerao is the chief town of Godwar, with the exception of the commercial Pali, and the garrison-post Desuri. From this important district the Rana could command four thousand Rathors holding lands on the tenure of service, of whom the Ghanerao chief, then one of the sixteen nobles of Mewar, was the head. Notwithstanding the course of events had transferred the province, and consequently his services, from the Rana of Udaipur to the Raja of Jodhpur, so difficult is it to eradicate old feelings of loyalty and attachment, that the present Thakur preferred having the sword of investiture bound on him by his ancient and yet nominal suzerain, rather than by his actual sovereign. For this undisguised mark of feeling, Ghanerao was denuded of its walls, which were levelled to the ground; a perpetual memento of disgrace and an incentive to vengeance: and whenever the day arrives that the Rana’s herald may salute him with the old motto, 799“Remember Kumbhalmer,” he will not be deaf to the call. To defend this post was the peculiar duty of his house, and often have his ancestors bled in maintaining it against the Mogul. Even now [689], such is the inveteracy with which the Rajput clings to his honours, that whenever the Ghanerao chief, or any of his near kin, attend the Rana’s court, he is saluted at the porte, or at the champ de Mars, by a silver mace-bearer from the Rana, with the ancient war-cry, “Remember Kumbhalmer,” and he still receives on all occasions of rejoicing a khilat from that prince. He has to boast of being of the Rana’s blood, and is by courtesy called “the nephew of Mewar.” The Thakur politely invited me to visit him; but I was aware that compliance would have involved him in difficulties with his jealous prince, and made excuses of fatigue, and the necessity of marching next morning, the motives of which he could not misunderstand.

Our march this morning was but short, and the last two miles were in the plains of Marwar, with merely an occasional rock. Carey joined us, congratulating himself on the ducking which had secured him better fare than we had enjoyed in the pass of Kumbhalmer, and which fastened both on Waugh and myself violent colds. The atmospheric change was most trying: emerging from the cold breezes of the mountains to 96° of Fahrenheit, the effect was most injurious: it was 58° in the morning of our descent into the glen. Alas! for my surviving barometer! Mahesh, my amanuensis, who had been entrusted with it, joined us next day, and told me the quicksilver had contrived to escape; so I lost the opportunity of comparing the level of the desert with the plains of Marwar.

The Chief of Rūpnagar.

—October 27.—Halted to collect the scattered baggage, and to give the men rest; the day was nearly over before the whole came up, each party bringing lamentable reports of the disastrous descent. I received a visit from the chief of Rupnagar, who, like the Thakur of Ghanerao, owes a divided allegiance to the courts on each side the mountains. His castle, which gives him rank as one of the most conspicuous of the second grade of the Rana’s nobles, was visible from the camp, being placed on the western face of the mountains, and commanding a difficult passage across them. From thence he looks down upon Desuri and his ancient patrimony, now transferred with Godwar to the Rathor prince; and often has he 800measured his lance with the present occupants to retain his ancient bhum, the right derived from the cultivating proprietor of the soil. The chief of Rupnagar is of the Solanki race, a lineal descendant of the sovereigns of Nahrwala, and the inheritor [690] of the war-shell of the celebrated monarch Siddhraj,^[20] one of the most powerful who ever sat on an eastern throne, and who occupied that of Anhilwara from A.D. 1094, during half a century, celebrated as a patron of literature and the arts. When in the thirteenth century this State was destroyed, the branches found refuge, as already described, in Mewar; for the ancestor of Rupnagar was brother to the father of “the star of Badnor,” and was invested with the estate and lands of Desuri by the same gallant prince who obtained her hand by the recovery of her father’s estates. The anecdote is worthy of relation, as showing that the Rajput will stop at nothing “to obtain land.” The intestine feuds amongst Rana Raemall’s sons, and his constant warfare with the kings of Delhi and Malwa, made his authority very uncertain in Godwar. The Mina and Mer possessed themselves of lands in the plains, and were supported by the Madrecha descendant of the once independent Chauhan sovereigns of Nadol, the ancient capital of this region. Sand, the Madrecha, had obtained possession of Desuri, the garrison town. To expel him, the prince had recourse to Sada, the Solanki, whose son was married to the daughter of the Madrecha. The bribe for the reward of this treachery was to be the grant in perpetuity of Desuri and its lands. Sada’s son readily entered into the scheme; and to afford facilities for its execution he went with his wife to reside at Desuri. It was long before an opportunity offered; but at length the marriage of the young Madrecha to the daughter of Sagra the Balecha was communicated to the Solanki by his son; who told his father “to watch the smoke ascending from the tower of Desuri,” as the signal for the attempt to get possession. Anxiously did Sand watch from his castle of Sodhgarh the preconcerted sign, and when the volume of black smoke ascended, he rushed down from the Aravalli at the head of his retainers. The mother-in-law of the young Solanki sent to know why he should make a smoke as if he were burning a corpse, when her son must be returning with his bride. Soon she heard the clash of arms; the Solankis had entered and fired the town, 801and the bridal party appeared before success was attained. Spears and swords were plied. “’Ware the bull!” (sand), said the Madrecha, as he encountered his foe. “My name is the lion (singh) who will [691] devour the bull,” replied the Solanki. The contest was fierce, but the Madrechas were slain, and in the morn Prithiraj was put in possession of Desuri. He drew out a grant upon the spot, inserting in it a curse against any of Sesodia blood who might break the bond which had restored the Rathor authority in Godwar. Although seventeen generations have passed since this event, the feud has continued between the descendants of the lion of Sodhgarh and the bull of Desuri, though the object of dissension is alienated from both.

The Chief of Ghānērāo. The Rājputs of Mewār and Mārwār compared.—I could well have dispensed with visits this day, the thermometer being 96°; I was besides devoured with inflammatory cold; but there was no declining another polite visit of the chieftain of Ghanerao. His retinue afforded a good opportunity of contrasting the Sesodia Rajput of fertile Mewar with the Rathors of Marwar, and which on the whole would have been favourable to the latter, if we confined our view to those of the valley of Udaipur, or the mountainous region of its southern limit, where climate and situation are decidedly unfavourable. There the Rajput may be said not only to deteriorate in muscular form and strength, but in that fairness of complexion which distinguishes him from the lower orders of Hindus. But the danger of generalizing on such matters will be apparent when it is known that there is a cause continually operating to check and diminish the deteriorating principle arising from the climate and situation (or, as the Rajput would say, from the hawa pani, ‘air and water’) of these unhealthy tracts; namely, the continual influx of the purest blood from every region in Rajputana: and the stream which would become corrupt if only flowing from the commingling of the Chondawats of Salumbar and the Jhalas of Gogunda (both mountainous districts), is refreshed by that of the Rathors of Godwar, the Chauhans of Haraoti, or the Bhatti of the desert. I speak from conviction, the chieftains above mentioned affording proofs of the evil resulting from such repeated intermarriages; for, to use their own adage, “a raven will produce a raven.” But though the personal appearance of the chieftain of Gogunda might exclude him from the table of the 802sixteen barons of Mewar, his son by a Rathor mother may be exhibited as a redeeming specimen of the Jhalas, and one in every way favourable of the Rajput of Mewar. On such occasion, also, as a formal visit, both chieftain and retainers appear under every advantage of dress and decoration; for even the form of the turban may improve the contour of the face, though [692] the Mertias of Ghanerao have nothing so decidedly peculiar in this way as those of other clans.

After some discourse on the history of past days, with which, like every respectable Rajput, I found him perfectly conversant, the Ghanerao chief took his leave with some courteous and friendly expressions. It is after such a conversation that the mind disposed to reflection will do justice to the intelligence of these people: I do not say this with reference to the baron of Ghanerao, but taking them generally. If by history we mean the relation of events in succession, with an account of the leading incidents connecting them, then are all the Rajputs versed in this science; for nothing is more common than to hear them detail their immediate ancestry or that of their prince for many generations, with the events which have marked their societies. It is immaterial whether he derives this knowledge from the chronicle, the chronicler, or both: it not only rescues him from the charge of ignorance, but suggests a comparison between him and those who constitute themselves judges of nationalities by no means unfavourable to the Rajput.

Godwār.

—October 28.—Marched at daybreak. The Thakur sent a confidential vassal to accompany me through his domain. We could now look around us, as we receded from the Alpine Aravalli, with nothing to obstruct the vision, over the fertile plains of Godwar. We passed near Ghanerao, whose isolated portals, without tower or curtain to connect them, have a most humiliating appearance. It is to Raja Bhim, some twenty years ago, that their chieftains owe this degradation, in order to lessen their ability to recover the province for its ancient master the Rana. It was indeed one of the gems of his crown, as it is the only dazzling one in that of Marwar. While we marched over its rich and beautiful plains, well watered, well wooded, and abounding in fine towns, I entered into conversation with the Rana’s envoy, who joined me on the march. Kishandas has already been mentioned as one of the few men of integrity and 803wisdom who had been spared to be useful to his country. He was a mine of ancient lore, and his years, his situation, and his character gave force to his sentiments of determined independence. He was as quick as touchwood, which propensity occasionally created a wordy war between me and my friend, who knew my respect for him. “Restore us Godwar,” was his abrupt salutation as he joined me on the march: to which, being a little vexed, as the point could not be agitated by our government, I said in reply, “Why did you [693] let them take it?—where has the Sesodia sword slept this half century?” Adding, “God Almighty never intended that the region on this side the mountains should belong to Mewar;—nature’s own hand has placed the limit between you.” The old envoy’s blood was roused as he exclaimed, “Even on this principle Godwar is ours, for nature has marked our limit by stronger features than mountains. Observe, as you advance, and you will find to the further limit of the province every shrub and flower common to Mewar; pass that limit but a few yards, and they are lost:

“Wherever the anwal puts forth its yellow blossoms, the land is of right ours; we want nothing more. Let them enjoy their stunted babuls, their karil, and the ak; but give us back our sacred pipal, and the anwal of the border.”^[21] In truth, the transition is beyond credence marked: cross but a shallow brook, and you leave all that is magnificent in vegetation; the pipal, bar, and that species of the mimosa resembling the cypress, peculiar to Godwar, are exchanged for the prickly shrubs, as the wild caper, jawas, and many others, more useful than ornamental, on which the camel browses.^[22] The argument was, however, more ingenious than just, and the old envoy was here substituting the effect for the cause; but he shall explain in his own words why Flora should be permitted to mark the line of demarcation instead of the rock-enthroned (Durga) Cybele. The legend now repeated is historical, and the leading incidents of it have already been touched upon;^[23] I shall therefore condense the Pancholi’s description 804into a summary analysis of the cause why the couplet of the bard should be deemed “confirmation strong” of the bounds of kingdoms. These traditionary couplets, handed down from generation to generation, are the most powerful evidence of the past, and they are accordingly employed to illustrate the Khyats, or annals, of Rajputana. When, towards the conclusion of the fourteenth century, the founder of the Chondawats repaid the meditated treachery of Ranmall of Mandor by his death, he took possession of that capital and the entire country of the Rathors (then but of small extent), which he held for several years. The heir of Mandor became a fugitive, concealing himself in the fastnesses of the Aravalli, with little hope that [694] his name (Jodha) would become a patronymic, and that he would be honoured as the second founder of his country: that Mandor itself should be lost in Jodhpur. The recollection of the feud was almost extinct; the young Rana of Chitor had passed the years of Rajput minority, and Jodha continued a fugitive in the wilds of Bhandak-parao, with but a few horse in his train, indebted to the resources of some independents of the desert for the means of subsistence. He was discovered in this retreat by a Charan or bard, who, without aspiring to prophetic powers, revealed to him that the intercession of the queen-mother of Chitor had determined the Rana to restore him to Mandor. Whether the sister of Jodha, to give éclat to the restoration, wished it to have the appearance of a conquest, or whether Jodha, impatient for possession, took advantage of circumstances to make his entrance one of triumph, and thereby redeem the disgrace of a long and humiliating exile, it is difficult to decide; for while the annals of Mewar make the restoration an act of grace, those of Marwar give it all the colours of a triumph. Were the point worthy of discussion, we should say both accounts were correct. The Rana had transmitted the recall of Chonda from Mandor, but concealed from him the motive, and while Jodha even held in his possession the Rana’s letter of restoration, a concatenation of circumstances, in which “the omen” was predominant, occurred to make him anticipate his induction by a measure more consonant to the Rajput, a brilliant coup de main. Jodha had left his retreat in the Run ^[34] to make known to Harbuji Sankhla, Pabuji, and other rievers 805of the desert, the changes which the bard had communicated. While he was there, intelligence was brought that Chonda, in obedience to his sovereign’s command, had proceeded to Chitor. That same night “the bird of omen perched on Jodha’s lance, and the star which irradiated his birth shone bright upon it.” The bard of Mandor revealed the secret of heaven to Jodha, and the heroes in his train: “Ere that star descends in the west, your pennon will wave on the battlements of Mandor.” Unless, however, this “vision of glory” was merely mental, Jodha’s star must have been visible in daylight; for they could never have marched from the banks of the Luni, where the Sankhla resided, to Mandor, between its rising and setting. The elder son of Chonda had accompanied his father, and they had proceeded two coss in their [695] journey, when a sudden blaze appeared in Mandor: Chonda pursued his route, while his son Manja returned to Mandor. Jodha was already in possession; his an had been proclaimed, and the two other sons of Chonda had fallen in its defence. Manja, who fled, was overtaken and slain on the border. These tidings reached Chonda at the pass of the Aravalli; he instantly returned to Mandor, where he was met by Jodha, who showed him the letters of surrender for Mandor, and a command that he should fix with him the future boundary of each State. Chonda thought that there was no surer line of demarcation than that chalked out by the hand of nature; and he accordingly fixed that wherever the “yellow blossom” was found, the land should belong to his sovereign, and the bard was not slow in perpetuating the decree. Such is the origin of

The brave and loyal founder of the Chondawats, who thus sacrificed his revenge to his sovereign’s commands, had his feelings in some degree propitiated by this arrangement, which secured the entire province of Godwar to his prince: his son Manja fell, as he touched the region of the anwalas, and this cession may have been in ‘mundkati,’ the compromise of the price of blood. By such traditional legends, not less true than strange, and to which the rock sculptures taken from Mandor bear evidence, even to the heroes who aided Jodha in his enterprise, the anwal of the Rajputs has been immortalized, like the humble broom of 806the French, whose planta-genesta has distinguished the loftiest name in chivalry, the proudest race emblazoned on the page of heraldry.

Notwithstanding the crops had been gathered, this tract contrasted favourably with Mewar, although amidst a comparative prosperity we could observe the traces of rapine; and numerous stories were rehearsed of the miseries inflicted on the people by the rapacious followers of Amir Khan. We crossed numerous small streams flowing from the Aravalli, all proceeding to join the “Salt River,” or Luni. The villages were large and more populous; yet was there a dulness, a want of that hilarity which pervaded the peasantry of Mewar, in spite of their misfortunes. The Rajputs partook of the feeling, the cause of which a little better acquaintance with their headquarters soon revealed. Mewar had passed through the period [696] of reaction, which in Marwar was about to display itself, and was left unfortunately to its own control, or with only the impulse of a long suppressed feeling of revenge in the bosom of its prince, and the wiles of a miscreant minister, who wished to keep him in durance, and the country in degradation.

Nādol.

—It creates a refreshing sensation to find the camp pitched in a cool and shaded spot; and at Nadol ^[35] we had this satisfaction. Here again there was no time for recreation, for there was abundant, nay, overwhelming matter both for the pen and the pencil; but my readers must be satisfied with the imperfect delineations of the first. Nadol is still a place of some consequence, though, but for its temples, we should not have supposed it to have been the capital of a province. With its neighbour, Narlai, five miles to the westward, it was the abode of a branch of the Chauhans of Ajmer, established at a very early period. From Nadol sprung the Deoras of Sirohi, and the Sonigiras of Jalor. The former still maintain their ground, in spite of all attempts of the Rathors; but the Sonigira, who was immortalized by his struggle against the second Ala, is blotted from the list of independent States; and this valuable domain, consisting of three hundred and sixty towns, is now incorporated with Jodhpur.

There is no spot in Rajputana that does not contain some record of the illustrious Chauhan; and though every race has 807had its career of glory, the sublimity of which, the annals of the Sesodias before the reader sufficiently attest, yet with all my partiality for those with whom I long resided, and with whose history I am best acquainted, my sense of justice compels me to assign the palm of martial intrepidity to the Chauhan over all the “royal races” of India. Even the bards, to whatever family they belong, appear to articulate the very name as if imbued with some peculiar energy, and dwell on its terminating nasal with peculiar complacency. Although they had always ranked high in the list of chivalry, yet the seal of the order was stamped on all who have the name of Chauhan, since the days of Prithiraj, the model of every Rajput, and who had a long line of fame to maintain. Of the many names familiar to the bard is Guga of Bhatinda, who with forty-seven sons “drank of the stream of the sword” on the banks of the Sutlej, in opposing Mahmud.^[36] This conqueror proceeded through the desert to the attack of Ajmer, the chief abode of this race, where his arms were disgraced, the invader wounded, and forced to relinquish his enterprise [697]. In his route to Nahrwala and Somnath he passed Nadol,^[37] whose prince hesitated not to measure his sword even with Mahmud. I was fortunate enough to obtain an inscription regarding this prince, the celebrated Lakha, said to be the founder of this branch from Ajmer, of which it was a fief—its date S. 1039 (A.D. 983).^[38] The fortress attributed to Lakha is on the declivity 808of a low ridge to the westward of the town, with square towers of ancient form, and built of a very curious conglomerate of granite and gneiss, of which the rock on which it stands is composed. There was a second inscription, dated S. 1024 (A.D. 968), which made him the contemporary of the Rana’s ancestor, Sakti Kumar of Aitpur, a city also destroyed, more probably by the father of Mahmud. The Chauhan bards speak in very lofty terms of Rao Lakha, who “collected transit dues from the further gate of Anhilwara, and levied tribute from the prince of Chitor.”

Remains at Nādol.

—It is impossible to do full justice to the architectural remains, which are well worthy of the pencil. Here everything shows that the Jain faith was once predominant, and that their arts, like their religion, were of a character quite distinct from those of Siva. The temple of Mahavira, the last of their twenty-four apostles, is a very fine piece of architecture. Its vaulted roof is a perfect model of the most ancient style of dome in the East; probably invented anterior to the Roman. The principle is no doubt the same as the first substitute of the arch, and is that which marked the genius of Caesar in his bridge over the Rhone, and which appears over every mountain torrent of the ancient Helvetii, from whom he may have borrowed it.^[39] The principle is that of a horizontal instead of a radiating pressure. At Nadol the stones are placed by a gradual projection one over the other, the apex being closed by a circular key-stone. The angles of all these projections being rounded off, the spectator looking up can only describe the vault as a series of gradually diminishing amulets or rings converging to the apex. The effect is very pleasing, though it furnishes a strong argument that the Hindus first became acquainted with the perfect arch through their conquerors. The toran, in front of the altar of Mahavira, is exquisitely sculptured, as well as several statues of marble, discovered about one hundred and fifty years ago in the bed of the river, when it changed its course. It is not unlikely that they were buried during Mahmud’s invasion. But [698] the 809most singular structure of Nadol is a reservoir, called the chana ki baoli, from the cost of it being paid by the return of a single grain of pulse (chana). The excavation is immense; the descent is by a flight of grey granite steps, and the sides are built up from the same materials by piling blocks upon blocks of enormous magnitude, without the least cement.

Inscriptions and Coins.

—My acquisitions here were considerable. Besides copies of inscriptions made by my Sanskrit scribes, I obtained two originals on brass. Of one of these, dated S. 1218, the memorial of Alandeva, I append a translation,^[40] which may be considered curious as a formula of endowment of the Jains. I likewise procured several isolated MS. leaves of very great value, relative to the thirty-six royal races, to the ancient geography of India, and to the founding of ancient cities; also a catalogue of longevity of plants and animals, and an extract from a work concerning the descendants of Srenika and Samprati, the potent princes of the Jain faith between Mahavira and Vikrama. However meagre these fragments may be, I have incorporated their contents into my mosaic. I also made valuable additions to my collection of medals, for I obtained coins of Mahmud, Balban, and Ala, surnamed Khuni, or ‘the sanguinary’; and another of a conqueror equally meriting that title, Nadir Shah. But these were of little consequence compared with what one of my envoys brought from Narlai—a small bag full of curious hieroglyphical (if I may so use the term) medals of the Chauhan princes.^[41] One side represents a warrior on horseback, compounded out of a character to which I have applied the above term; on some there was a bull; while others, retaining the original reverse, have on the obverse the titles of the first Islamite conquerors, in the same manner as the currency of France bears the effigies of Louis XVI. and the emblems of the Republic. Whoever will pay a visit to Nadol will find his labour amply rewarded; I had only leisure to glean a few of these relics, which yet formed a rich harvest. Narlai, Bali, Desuri, Sadri, all ancient seats of the Jains, will yield medals, MSS., and rare specimens of the architectural art. From Abu to Mandor, the 810antiquary might fill many portfolios, and collect matter for volumes of the ancient history of this people, for this is the cradle of their faith. That I was enabled to obtain so much during a rapid march through the country arose partly from previous [699] knowledge, partly from the extent of my means, for I had flying detachments to the right and left of my route, consisting of intelligent natives of each city, accompanied by pandits for deciphering, and others for collecting whatever was the object of research; who, at the close of each day, brought me the fruits of their inquiries. When any remarkable discovery was made, I followed it up in person, or by sending those in whom I could confide. This is not mentioned from a spirit of egotism, but to incite others to the pursuit by showing the rewards which await such research.

Indara.

—October 29.—Camp at Indara, eleven miles. This small town, placed on the north bank of one of the nameless feeders of the ‘salt river,’ is the boundary of Godwar; here the reign of the yellow anwal terminates, and here commences Marusthali, or ‘the region of death.’ The transition is great. We can look back upon fertility, and forward on aridity, which does not, however, imply sterility: for that cunning artist, nature, compensates the want of verdure and foliage to the inhabitants of the desert by many spontaneous bounties. An entire race of cucurbitaceous plants is the eleemosynary equivalent for the mango and exotics of the central lands of Rajputana; while indigenous poverty sends forth her commercial sons from Osi, Pali, and Pokaran, to bring wealth from the Ganges and the Kistna, to the Luni, or to the still more remote oasis, Jaisalmer. From Indara everything assumed a new character: the sand, of which we had before scarcely a sprinkling, became occasionally heavy; the shallow beds of the numerous streams were white with saline incrustations; and the vegetable creation had been gradually diminishing, from the giant race of the sacred fig-tree with leaf “broad as Amazonian targe,” to the dwarfish shrubs of the desert. At once the satiric stanza of the bard of a more favoured region was brought to my mind, and as I repeated it to my old friend the Rana’s envoy, he enjoyed the confession, and afresh urged his wish that nature should decide the question of their boundaries:

Construction of Villages.

—The villages are of a construction totally distinct from anything we have seen, and more approaching the wigwam of the western world. Every commune is surrounded with a circumvallation of thorns, kanta ka kot, and the stacks of bhus, or ‘chaff,’ which are placed at intervals, give it the appearance of a respectable fortification. These bhus stacks are erected to provide provender for the cattle in scanty rainy seasons, when the parched earth denies grass, or full crops of maize. They are erected to the height of twenty or thirty feet, coated with a cement of earth and cow-dung, and with a sprinkling of thorns, to prevent the fowls of the air from reposing in them. In this manner, with a little fresh coating, they will exist ten years, being only resorted to on emergencies, when the kine may be said to devour the village walls. Their appearance is a great relief to the monotony of the march through the desert; which, however, cannot strictly be said to commence till you cross the Luni.

Pāli.

—October 30.—A long march of twenty-one miles, in which there was little to record, brought us to Pali, the great commercial mart of western Rajwara. Like everything else in these regions it bore the marks of rapine; and as in the civil wars of this State its possession was of great importance to either party, the fortifications were razed at the desire of the inhabitants, who did not admire the noise of war within their gates. From the same feeling, when it was proposed to gird the sister mart, Bhilwara, with walls, the opposition to it was universal. The remnants of the walls lend it an air of desolation.^[42] The town is overrated at ten thousand houses. As an emporium its reputation is of ancient 812date: and, politically, it is connected with the establishment of the reigning family in these regions. A community of Brahmans then held Pali in grant from the princes of Mandor: whence comes a numerous class, termed Paliwal, who follow mercantile pursuits. It was in S. 1212 (A.D. 1156) that Siahji, the founder of the Rathor dynasty and son to the emperor of Kanauj, passed Pali on his return from a pilgrimage from Dwarka to the Ganges. The Brahmans sent a deputation to relieve them from two great enemies to their repose, namely, the Minas of the Aravalli, and the lions, which had become very numerous. Siahji relieved them from both; but the opportunity “to acquire land” was too good to be lost, and on the festival of the Holi he put the leading Brahmans to death, and took possession of Pali.

The Commerce of Pāli.

—Commerce, in these regions, is the basis of liberty: even despotism is [701] compelled to leave it unrestrained. Pali, like Bhilwara, Jhalrapatan, Rani, and other marts, enjoys the right of electing its own magistrates, both for its municipal regulations, and the arbitration of all matters connected with commercial pursuits. It was commerce which freed Europe from the bondage of feudality; and the towns above cited only require the same happy geographical position, to play the part of the Hanse towns of Europe. Like Bhilwara, Pali has its own currency, which, amidst universal deterioration, it has retained undebased. From remote times, Pali has been the connecting link between the sea-coast and northern India. Commercial houses established at Muskat-Mandavi, Surat, and Navanagar transmit the products of Persia, Arabia, Africa, and Europe, receiving those of India and Thibet. To enumerate all the articles, it would be necessary to name the various products of each: from the coast, elephants’ teeth, rhinoceros’ hides, copper, tin, pewter, dates dried and moist,^[43] of which there is an immense consumption in these regions; gum-arabic, borax, coco-nuts, broad-cloths, striped silks, called patang; various dyes, particularly the kermes or crimson; drugs, especially the oxides of arsenic and quicksilver; spices, sandal-wood, camphor, tea, momiai or mummy,^[44] which is much sought after in medicine, and 813green glass (kanch). From Bahawalpur, soda (sajji),^[45] the dyes called al ^[46] and majith,^[47] matchlocks, dried fruits, asafoetida, Multan chintzes, and wood for household furniture. From Kotah and Malwa, opium and chintzes. From Jaipur, various cloths and sugars. From Bhuj, swords and horses.

The exports of home production are the two staple articles of salt and woollens; to which we may add coarse cotton cloths, and paper made in the town of Pali. The lois, or blankets, are disseminated throughout India, and may be had at from four to sixty rupees per pair; scarfs and turbans are made of the same material, but not for exportation. But salt is the chief article of export, and the duties arising therefrom equal half the land revenue of the country. Of the agars, or ‘salt lakes,’ Pachbhadra, Phalodi, and Didwana are the principal, the first being several miles in circuit [702].

The commercial duties of Pali yielded 75,000 rupees annually, a large sum in a poor country like Marwar.

Chāran and Bhāt Carriers.

—The Charans and Bhats, or bards and genealogists, are the chief carriers of these regions: their sacred character overawes the lawless Rajput chief; and even the savage Koli and Bhil, and the plundering Sahariya of the desert, dread the anathema of these singular races, who conduct the caravans through the wildest and most desolate regions. The traveller avails himself of such convoy who desires to proceed to the coast by Jalor, Bhinmal, Sanchor, and Radhanpur, whence he may pursue his route to Surat, or Muskat-Mandavi.

Pungiri Temple.

—To the east of Pali about ten miles, there is an isolated hill, called Pungiri, ‘the hill of virtue,’ which is crowned with a small temple, said to have been conveyed by a Buddhist magician from Palitana in Saurashtra. Wherever this ancient and numerous sect exists, magical skill is always asserted. 814Here we found our old friend, Gough, who had been rambling to the south-west amongst Sahariya, Khosas,^[48] and all the wild beings of these uncivilized tracts, in search of new breeds of horses. Halted to enjoy his society.

Khānkāni.

—November 1.—Khankani, on the north bank of the Luni. There was nothing to arrest attention between Pali and the Luni: all is flat and lonely in the thirty miles which intervene. Our halts were at Kairla, which has two small salt lakes, whence its name; in fact, this superabundant product, khar, or salt, gives its name to streams and towns. Both Kairla and Rohat, the intermediate places of halt, are feudal estates, and both chiefs had been involved in the recent civil dissensions: Rohat was under the ban.

Bhāt Customs. Coercion by Threat of Human Sacrifice.

—Here I had an exemplification of the vulgar adage, “two of a trade,” etc. Pema Naik, the leader of one of the largest tandas, or caravans, which frequent the desert for salt, had left his convoy, and with his brethren came to exhibit his wounds and fractures received in a fray with the leaders of another caravan. Both were Bhats; Pema was the head of the Bamania Bhats, so called from the place of their abode, and he counted forty thousand beasts of burthen under his control. Shama had no distinctive epithet: he had no home separate from [703] his tanda. His little State when not in motion was on the highways; hence those who dwell entirely with their cattle are styled upapanti, ‘on the road.’ Shama had taken advantage of the greater portion of Pema’s caravan being detached to revenge an ancient feud; and had shown himself quite an adept in club-law, as the broken heads of his opponents disclosed. To reconcile them was impossible; and as the case was to be decided, not by the scales of abstract justice but by calculating which contributed most in duties, Pema by this summary process, more than from sympathy to his wounded honour, gained a victory by the exclusion of his rival. As before observed, these classes take advantage of their sacred character amongst the Rajputs to become the general 815carriers of the country: but the advantage which might result to the State from the respect paid to them is neutralized by their avarice and constant evasion of the payment of all established duties. A memorable example of this kind occurred during the reign of Amra the First with the ancestor of this same Pema. The Rana would not submit to the insolent demands of the Bhats, when they had recourse to one of the most sanguinary sacrifices ever recorded—the threat alone of which is generally sufficient to extort acquiescence and concession. But the firmness of Amra has been recorded: and he braved them. Collecting the elder portion of their community, men, women, and youths of both sexes, they made a sacrifice to the number of eighty souls with their daggers in the court of the palace. The blood of the victims was on the Rana’s head.^[49] It was a species of excommunication, which would have unsettled a weaker reason; for the Rajput might repose after the murder of a Brahman, but that of the prophetic Vates would rise against him here and hereafter. For once they encountered a mind too strong to be shaken; Amra banished the whole fraternity of Bamania Bhats from his dominions, and the town of Bamani reverted to the fisc. The edict remained uncancelled until these days, when amongst the industrious of all classes whom the proclamations ^[50] brought once more to Mewar, came Pema and his brethren. Although tradition had preserved the causes of their exile, it had made no alteration in their sentiments and opinions, and the dagger was always at hand, to be sheathed in their own flesh whenever provocation called it from the girdle. Pema beset the Rana in all his rides, demanding a reduction [704] or rather abolition of duties for his tanda; and at length he took up a position on the terrace fronting the ‘balcony of the sun,’ threatening a chandni,^[51] for such is the 816term applied to this suicidal revenge. The Rana, who had not the nerve of his ancestor, sent to me to beseech my interference: with his messenger, one from me returned to invite the Bhats to a settlement. They came, as fine, robust, intrepid a set as I ever saw. We soon came to issue: I urged that duties must be paid by all who chose to frequent the passes of Mewar, and that they would get nothing by their present silly mode of endeavouring to obtain remission; that if they would give a written agreement to abide by the scale of duties laid down, they should receive exemption for five hundred out of the forty thousand bullocks of their tanda, and be reinducted into Bamani; if not, there were daggers (showing them some on the table), and they might begin as soon as they pleased. I added that, in addition to Rana Amra’s penalty of banishment, I would recommend confiscation of their entire caravan. Pema was no fool: he accepted Bamani, and the muafi for five hundred, and that day received his gold bracelets and clothes of investiture for Bamani from the Rana.

Jhālamand.

—November 2.—Jhalamand, ten miles. Although within one march of Jodhpur, we were obliged to make an intermediate halt, in order to arrange the ceremonials of reception; a grave matter with all the magnates of the East, who regulate all such affairs by slavish precedent and ancestral wisdom. On such a novel occasion as the reception of an English envoy at this desert court, they were a good deal puzzled how to act. They could very well comprehend how an ambassador direct from majesty should be received, and were not unfamiliar with the formula to be observed towards a viceregal legation. But the present case was an anomaly: the Governor of all India, of course, could appear only as the first servant of a commercial body, which, with whatever privileges invested, never could be made to rank with royalty or its immediate emanation. Accordingly, this always proved a clog to our diplomatic missions, until the diffusion of our power from the Indus to the ocean set speculation at rest on the formalities of reception of the Company’s ambassadors. On the other hand, the eternal rotation of military adventurers enjoying ephemeral power, such as the commanders of the myrmidons of Sindhia and Holkar, compelled all the Rajput princes to forgo much of their dignity; and men like Amir Khan, Jean Baptiste, or Bapu Sindhia, who but a [705] short time ago would 817have deemed themselves honoured with a seat in the ante-chamber, claimed equality of reception with princes. Each made it a subject for boasting, how far he had honoured himself by the humiliation of the descendant of the emperor of Kanauj, or the scion of Rama. At the same time, as the world is always deceived by externals, it was difficult to concede a reception less distinguished than that granted to the leader of a Mahratta horde; and here their darling precedent was available. To what distance did the Raja send the istikbal to meet Amir Khan? what was the rank of the chieftains so deputed? and to what point did the “offspring of the sun” condescend to advance in person to receive this “lord of the period”? All these, and many similar questions, were propounded through the Wakil, who had long been with me, to his sovereign, to whose presence he proceeded in order that they might be adjusted, while I halted at Jhalamand, only five miles from the capital. However individually we may despise these matters, we have no option, as public servants, but to demand the full measure of honour for those we represent. As the present would also regulate future receptions, I was compelled to urge that the Raja would best consult his own dignity by attending to that of the government I represented, and distinctly signified that it could never be tolerated that he should descend to the very foot of his castle to honour Amir Khan, and await the English envoy almost on the threshold of his palace. It ended, as such matters generally do in those countries, by a compromise: it was stipulated that the Raja should receive the mission in his palki or litter, at the central barrier of descent.^[52] These preliminaries being arranged, we left Jhalamand in the afternoon, that we might not derange the habits of slumber of those who were to conduct us to the capital. About half-way we were met by the great feudatory chieftains of Pokaran and Nimaj, then lords of the ascendant, and the joint advisers of their sovereign. We dismounted, embraced, complimented each other in the customary phraseology; then remounted, and rode together until we reached the tents, where, after I had requested them to be the bearers of my homage to their sovereign, we mutually saluted and parted.

818

The Chief of Pokaran.

—Salim Singh ^[53] was the name of the lord of Pokaran, the most wealthy and the [706] most powerful of all the baronies of Marwar. His castle and estate (wrested from Jaisalmer) are in the very heart of the desert; the former is strong both by position and art. It is a family which has often shaken the foundation of the throne of Marwar. During four generations have its bold and turbulent chiefs made the most resolute of these monarchs tremble. Deo Singh, the great grandfather of the present chief, used to sleep in the hall of the royal palace, with five hundred of his Champawats, of which clan he is the chief. “The throne of Marwar is within the sheath of my dagger,” was the boast, as elsewhere mentioned, of this haughty noble to his sovereign. His son, Sabal Singh, followed his father’s steps, and even dethroned the great Bijai Singh: a cannon-shot relieved the prince from this terror of his reign. Sawai Singh, his son and successor, acted the same part towards Raja Bhim, and was involved in the civil wars which commenced in 1806, when he set up the pretender, Dhonkal Singh. The catastrophe of Nagor, in which Amir Khan acted the assassin of the Champawat and all his associates, relieved Raja Man from the evil genius of his house; and the honours this prince heaped on the son of the Champawat, in giving him the first office in the State, were but a trap to ensnare him. From this he escaped, or his life and the honours of Pokaran would have been lost together. Such is a rapid sketch of the family of the chief who was deputed to meet me. He was about thirty-five years of age; his appearance, though not prepossessing, was dignified and commanding. In person he was tall, but more powerful than athletic; his features were good, but his complexion was darker than in general amongst the chieftains of Marwar.

The Chief of Nīmāj.

—His companion, and associate in the councils of his prince, was in every point of personal appearance the reverse of this portrait. Surthan Singh was chief of the Udawats, a clan which can muster four thousand swords, all residing on the land skirting the Aravalli; and of which his 819residence Nimaj,^[54] Raepur, and Chandawal are the principal fiefs. Surthan was a fine specimen of the Rajput; his figure tall and graceful; his complexion fair; his deportment manly and mild; in short, he was a thorough gentleman in appearance, understanding, and manners.

It would be impossible to relate here all the causes which involved him in the catastrophe from which his coadjutor escaped. It was the misfortune of Surthan to have been associated with Salim Singh; but his past services to his prince amply counterbalanced this party bias. It was he who prevented his sovereign from [707] sheathing a dagger in his heart on the disgraceful day at Parbatsar; and he was one of the four chieftains of all Marwar who adhered to his fortunes when beset by the united force of Rajputana. He was also one of the same four who redeemed the spoils of their country from the hands of the multitudinous array which assaulted Jodhpur in 1806, and whose fate carried mourning into every house of Rajasthan.^[55] The death of Surthan Singh was a prodigal sacrifice, and caused a sensation of universal sorrow, in which I unfeignedly participated. His gallant bearing was the theme of universal admiration; nor can I give a better or a juster idea of the chivalrous Rajput than by inserting a literal translation of the letter conveying the account of his death, about eight months after my visit to Jodhpur.

“On the last day of Jeth (the 26th June), an hour before daybreak, the Raja sent the Aligols,^[56] and all the quotas of the chiefs, to the number of eight thousand men, to attack Surthan Singh. They blockaded his dwelling in the city, upon which for three watches they kept up a constant fire of great guns and small arms. Surthan, with his brother Sur Singh, and his kindred and clan, after a gallant defence, at length sallied forth, attacked the foreigners sword in hand, and drove them back. But who can oppose their prince with success? The odds were too great, 820and both brothers fell nobly. Nagoji and forty of the bravest of the clan fell with the Thakur brothers, and forty were severely wounded. Eighty, who remained, made good their retreat with their arms to Nimaj.^[57] Of the Raja’s troops, forty were killed on the spot, and one hundred were wounded. Twenty of the townsfolk suffered in the fray.

“The Pokaran chief, hearing of this, saddled; but the Maharaja sent Sheonath Singh of Kuchaman, the chief of Bhadrajan, and others, to give him confidence, and induce him to stay; but he is most anxious to get away. My nephew and fifteen of my followers were slain on this occasion. The Nimaj chief fell as became a Rathor. The world exclaims ‘applause,’ and both Hindu and Turk say he met [708] his death nobly. Sheonath Singh, Bakhtawar Singh, Rup Singh, and Anar Singh,^[58] performed the funeral rites.”

Such is the Rajput, when the point of honour is at stake! Not a man of his clan would have surrendered while their chief lived to claim their lives; and those who retreated only preserved them for the support of the young lord of the Udawats [709]!

CHAPTER 27

City and Fort of Jodhpur.

—The sand, since we crossed the Luni, had become gradually heavier, and was quite fatiguing as we approached the capital of “the region of death”; but the Marwaris and the camels appeared to move through it as briskly as our men would on the plains of the Ganges. The view before the reader will give a more correct idea of the ‘city of Jodha’ than the most laboured description. The fort is erected on a mole projecting from a low range of hills, so as to be almost isolated, while, being higher than the surrounding objects, it is not commanded. This table-ridge (mountain we can scarcely term it, since its most elevated portion is not more than three hundred feet in height) is a curious feature in these regions of 821uninterrupted aridity. It is about twenty-five miles in length, and, as far as I could determine from a bird’s-eye view and from report, between two and three in breadth, the capital being placed on the highest part at the southern extremity, and may be said to be detached from it. The northern point, which is the highest, and on which the palace is built, is less than three hundred feet. Everywhere it is scarped, but especially at this point, against which the batteries of the League ^[1] were directed in 1806, at least a hundred and twenty feet of perpendicular height. Strong walls and numerous round and square towers encircle the crest of the hill, encompassing a space of great extent, as may be judged from the dimensions of the base, said to be four miles in circuit. Seven barriers are thrown across the circuitous ascent, each having immense portals and their separate guards. There are two small lakes under the walls: the Rani Talab, or ‘Queen’s Lake,’ to the east; and the Gulab Sagar, or ‘Rose-water Sea,’ to the south, from [710] which the garrison draws up water in buckets. There is also inside a kund, or reservoir, about ninety feet in depth, excavated from the rock, which can be filled from these tanks; and there are likewise wells within, but the water is brackish. Within are many splendid edifices, and the Raja’s residence is a succession of palaces, each prince since the founder having left memorials of his architectural taste. The city to the eastward of the citadel is encompassed by a strong wall, three coss, or nearly six miles, in extent, on which a hundred and one bastions or towers are distributed; on the rampart are mounted several rahkalas^[2] or swivels. There are seven gates to the capital, each bearing the name of the city to which it leads. The streets are very regular, and adorned with many handsome edifices of freestone, of which the ridge is composed. The number of families some years ago was stated to be 20,000, probably 80,000 souls, an estimate far too great for the present day.^[3] The Gulab Sagar is the favourite lounge of the inhabitants, who recreate amongst its gardens; and, strange to say, the most incomparable pomegranates (anar) are produced in it, far superior even to those of Kabul, which they resemble in the peculiarity of being be-dana,

822‘without grain’: rather a misnomer for a fruit, the characteristic of which is its granulations; but this is in contradistinction to those of India, which are all grain and little pulp. The anars of the Kagli-ka-bagh, or ‘Ravens’ Garden,’ are sent to the most remote parts as presents. Their beautiful ruby tint affords an abundant resource for metaphor to the Rajput bard, who describes it as “sparkling in the ambrosial cup.”^[4]

Reception by the Rāja.

—On the 4th the Raja received us with due form, advancing beyond the second gate of descent; when, after salutations and greetings, he returned according to etiquette. Giving him time to make his arrangements, we advanced slowly through lines of his clansmen to the upper area, where a display of grandeur met our view for which we were totally unprepared, and far eclipsing the simple and unostentatious state of the Rana. Here everything was imitative of the imperial court of Delhi, where the Rathor, long pre-eminent, had “the right hand of the king of the world.” Lines of gold and silver mace-bearers deafened us with the titles of “Raj-Raj-Iswara!” ‘the king, the lord of kings!’ into whose presence, through mazes of intricate courts filled with his chivalry, all hushed into that mysterious silence which is invariably observed on such occasions, we were at length ushered [711].

Rāja Mān Singh.

—The King of Maru arose from his throne, and advanced a few paces, when he again courteously received the envoy and suite, who were here introduced. The hall of reception was of great extent: from its numerous square columns it is styled Sahas stambha, ‘the thousand-columned hall.’ They were more massive than elegant; and being placed in parallel rows, at not more than twelve feet from each other, they gave an air of cumbrous, if not clumsy grandeur to an immense apartment, the ceiling of which was very low. About the centre, in a niche or recess, the royal gaddi or ‘cushion’ was placed, over which was raised a richly embroidered canopy, supported by silver-gilt columns. On the Rana’s right hand were placed those whom the king honoured, the chieftains of Pokaran and Nimaj, who would have been less at their ease had they known that all the distinctions they then enjoyed were meshes to ensnare them. Several other chieftains and civil officers, whose names would but little interest the reader, were placed around. The wakil, Bishan 823Ram, was seated near me, almost in front of the Raja. The conversation was desultory and entirely complimentary; affording, however, abundant opportunity to the Raja to display his proficiency in that mixed language, the Hindustani, which he spoke with great fluency and much greater purity than those who resided about the court at Delhi. In person the Raja is above the common height, possessing considerable dignity of manner, though accompanied by the stiffness of habitual restraint. His demeanour was commanding and altogether princely; but there was an entire absence of that natural majesty and grace which distinguished the prince of Udaipur, who won without exertion our spontaneous homage. The features of Raja Man are good: his eye is full of intelligence; and though the ensemble of his countenance almost denotes benevolence, yet there is ever and anon a doubtful expression, which, with a peculiarly formed forehead, gave a momentary cast of malignity to it. This might have been owing to that deep dissimulation, which had carried him through a trial of several years’ captivity, during which he acted the maniac and the religious enthusiast, until the assumed became in some measure his natural character.

The biography of Man Singh would afford a remarkable picture of human patience, fortitude, and constancy, never surpassed in any age or country. But in this school of adversity he also took lessons of cruelty: he learned therein to master or rather disguise his passions; and though he showed not the ferocity of the tiger, he acquired [712] the still more dangerous attribute of that animal—its cunning. At that very time, not long after he had emerged from his seclusion, while his features were modelled into an expression of complaisant self-content, indicative of a disdain of human greatness, he was weaving his web of destruction for numberless victims who were basking in the sunshine of his favour. The fate of one of them has been already related.^[5]

Descent of the Rāthors.

—The Rathor, like many other dynasties not confined to the East, claims celestial descent. Of their Bhat, we may say what Gibbon does of the Belgic genealogist who traced the illustrious house of Este from Romulus, that “he riots in all the lust of fiction, and spins from his own bowels a lineage of some thousand years.” We are certain that there were sovereigns of Kanauj in the fifth century, and it is very probable 824that they ruled there prior to the era of Christianity. But this is accounted nothing by these lovers of antiquity, who never stop short of Swayambhuva,^[6] and the ark, in which the antediluvian records of the Rathors may have been preserved with those of the De Courcys. But we will not revert to those “happy times, when a genealogical tree would strike its root into any soil, and the luxuriant plant could flourish and fructify without a seed of truth.” Then the ambition of the Rathor for a solar pedigree could be gratified without difficulty.

But it requires neither Bhat nor bard to illustrate its nobility: a series of splendid deeds which time cannot obliterate has emblazoned the Rathor name on the historical tablet. Where all these races have gained a place in the temple of fame, it is almost invidious to select; but truth compels me to place the Rathor with the Chauhan, on the very pinnacle. The names of Chonda and Jodha are sufficient to connect Siahji, the founder, a scion of Kanauj, with his descendant, Raja Man:^[7] the rest

Let us, therefore, put forth our palm to receive the itr from his august hand, and the pan, acknowledged by a profound salaam, and bringing the right hand to my cocked hat, which etiquette requires we should “apply to the proper use:—’tis for the head,” even in the presence. At all the native courts the head is covered, and the en bas left bare. It would be sadly indecorous to walk in soiled boots over their [713] delicate carpets, covered with white linen, the general seat. The slippers are left at the door, and it is neither inconvenient nor degrading to sit in your socks. The Raja presented me with an elephant and horse caparisoned, an aigrette, necklace, brocades, and shawls, with a portion according to rank to the gentlemen who accompanied me.

On the 6th I paid the Raja another visit, to discuss the affairs of his government. From a protracted conversation of several hours, at which only a single confidential personal attendant of the prince was present, I received the most convincing proofs of his intelligence, and minute knowledge of the past history, not of his own country alone, but of India in general. He was remarkably 825well read; and at this and other visits he afforded me much instruction. He had copies made for me of the chief histories of his family, which are now deposited in the library of the Royal Asiatic Society. He entered deeply into the events of his personal history, and recounted many of the expedients he was obliged to have recourse to in order to save his life, when, in consequence of the murder of his Guru (not only his spiritual but his temporal guide, counsellor, and friend), he relinquished the reins of power, and acquiesced in their assumption by his son. The whole transaction is still involved in mystery, which the Raja alone can unravel. We must enter so far into the State secrets of the court as to disclose the motive for such an act as the destruction of the brave Surthan, and introduce to the reader another high priest of the Rajputs as a pendant for the oracle of the Apollo of Nathdwara.

The parricidal murder of Raja Ajit has been the destruction of Marwar, and even “unto the third and fourth generation” Providence would seem to have visited the act with its vengeance. The crown, which in a few years more would have been transmitted by nature’s law, was torn from the brow of this brave prince, who has redeemed his lost inheritance from Aurangzeb, by the unhallowed arm of his eldest son Abhai Singh; instigated thereto by an imperial bribe of the viceroyalty of Gujarat. His brother, Bakhta Singh, was made almost independent in Nagor by the concession of Abhai and the sanad and titles of his sovereign; and the contests between their issue have moistened the sands of Marwar with the richest blood of her children. Such is the bane of feudal dominion—the parent of the noblest deeds and the deepest crimes.

Deonāthji, the High Priest.

—Raja Man, accordingly, came to the throne with all the advantages and [714] disadvantages of such a state of things; and he was actually defending his existence in Jalor against his cousin and sovereign, when an unexpected event released him from his perils, and placed him on the throne. Bhim Singh had destroyed almost every branch of the blood-royal, which might have served as a nucleus for those intestine wars which desolated the country, and young Man, the sole intervening obstacle to the full accomplishment of his wishes, was reduced to the last extremity, and on the eve of surrendering himself and Jalor to this merciless tyrant, when he was relieved 826from his perilous situation. He attributed his escape to the intercession of the high priest of Marwar, the spiritual leader of the Rathors. This hierarch bore the title of divinity, or Nathji: his praenomen of Deo or Deva was almost a repetition of his title; and both together, Deonath, cannot be better rendered than by ‘Lord God.’ Whether the intercession of this exalted personage was purely of a moral nature, as asserted, or whether Raja Bhim was removed from this vain world to the heaven of Indra by means less miraculous than prayer is a question on which various opinions are entertained; but all agree that nothing could have been better timed for young Man, the sole victim required to fill up the measure of Bhim’s sanguinary policy. When suicide was the sole alternative to avoid surrender to the fangs of this Herod of the Desert, the high priest, assuming the mantle of prophecy, pronounced that no capitulation was inscribed in the book of fate—whose page revealed brighter days for young Man. Such prophets are dangerous about the persons of princes, who seldom fail to find the means to prevent their oracles from being demented. A dose of poison, it is said, was deemed a necessary adjunct to render efficacious the prayers of the pontiff; and they conjointly extricated the young prince from a fate which was deemed inevitable, and placed him on the regal cushion of Marwar. The gratitude of Raja Man had no limits—no honours, no grants were sufficient to mark his sense of obligation. The royal mantle was hallowed by the tread of this sainted being; and the throne itself was exalted when Deonath condescended to share it with his master, who, while this proud priest muttered forth his mysterious benedictions, with folded hands stood before him to receive the consecrated garland. Lands in every district were conferred upon the Nath, until his estates, or rather those of the church of which he was the head, far exceeded in extent those of the proudest nobles of the land, his income [715] amounting to a tenth of the revenues of the State. During the few years he held the keys of his master’s conscience, which were conveniently employed to unlock the treasury, he erected no less than eighty-four mandirs, or places of worship, with monasteries adjoining them, for his well-fed lazy chelas or disciples, who lived at free quarters on the labour of the industrious. Deonath was a striking example of the identity of human nature, under whatever garb and in whatever clime; whether under the cowl 827or the coronet, in the cold clime of Europe, or in the deserts of India. This Wolsey of Marudes exercised his hourly-increasing power to the disgust and alienation of all but his infatuated prince. He leagued with the nominal minister, Induraj, and together they governed the prince and country. Such characters, when exceeding the sphere of their duties, expose religion to contempt. The degradation which the haughty grandees of Marwar experienced made murder in their eyes a venial offence, provoked as they were by the humiliations they underwent through the influence of this arrogant priest, whose character may be given in the language of Gibbon, merely substituting Deonath of Marwar for Paul of Samosata: “His ecclesiastical jurisdiction was venal and rapacious; he extorted frequent contributions from the most opulent of the faithful, and converted to his own use a considerable part of the public revenue. His council chamber and his throne, the splendour with which he appeared in public, the suppliant crowd who solicited his attention, and the perpetual hurry of business in which he was involved, were circumstances much better suited to the state of a civil magistrate than to the humility of a primitive bishop.”^[8] But his “full-blown pride” at length burst under him. Sequestrations from the estates of the chief barons of Maru became frequent in order to swell his rent-roll for the support of his establishments; his retinue on ordinary occasions surpassed that of any chieftain, and not unfrequently he was attended by the whole insignia of the State—the prince attending on such ceremonies. On these occasions the proud Rajput felt that he folded his hands, not to his sovereign, but to his sovereign’s sovereign; to a vindictive and vainglorious priest, who, amidst the mummeries and artifices of religious rites, gratified an inordinate vanity, while he mortified their pride and diminished their revenues. The hatred of such men is soon followed by their vengeance; and though they would not dye their own daggers in his blood, they soon found agents in a race who know not mercy, the myrmidons of [716] that villain Amir Khan, under whose steel, and within the precincts of the palace, Deonath fell a victim. It has been surmised that Raja Man was privy to the murder; that if he did not command or even sanction it, he used no means to prevent it. There are but two in this life who can reveal this mystery—the 828Raja, and the bourreau en chéf of Rajasthan, the aforesaid Amir Khan.

The murder of the high priest was but a prolongation of the drama, in which we have already represented the treacherous destruction of the chieftain of Pokaran and his kindred; and the immolation of Krishna Kunwari, the Helen of Rajasthan. The attack on the gallant Surthan, who conducted us from Jhalamand to the capital, sprung from the seed which was planted so many years back; nor was he the last sacrifice: victim after victim followed in quick succession until the Caligula of the Desert, who could “smile and stab,” had either slain or exiled all the first chieftains of his State. It would be a tedious tale to unravel all these intrigues; yet some of them must be told, in order to account for the ferocity of this man, now a subordinate ally of the British Government in the East.

Accession of Rāja Mān Singh.

—It was in A.D. 1804 ^[9] that Raja Man exchanged the defence of Jalor for the throne of Jodhpur. His predecessor, Raja Bhim, left a widow pregnant; she concealed the circumstance, and when delivered, contrived to convey the child in a basket to Sawai Singh of Pokaran. During two years he kept the secret: he at length convened the Marwar chieftains, with whose concurrence he communicated it to Raja Man, demanding the cession of Nagor and its dependencies as a domain for this infant, named Dhonkal Singh, the heir-apparent of Marwar. The Raja promised compliance if the mother confirmed the truth of the statement. Whether her personal fears overcame her maternal affection, or the whole was an imposture of Pokaran, she disclaimed the child. The chiefs, though not satisfied, were compelled to appear contented with the result of this appeal; and for some years the matter seemed at rest. But this calm was only the presage of a storm, which shook to its base the political edifice of Marwar, and let loose upon her cities a torrent of predatory foes; it dethroned her prince, and, what the planner could not have contemplated, involved his own destruction. The effects of this treachery have for ever destroyed all confidence between the chief and the entire feudal interest. The Pokaran chief, after failing to establish the [717] claims of Dhonkal Singh as pretender to the throne, sent him for safety 829to the Shaikhawat chief of Khetri,^[10] one of the independent nobles of the Jaipur family. Here he left him till an opportunity again arrived to bring him upon the scene, which was afforded by the contest between the princes of Marwar and Jaipur for the hand of the Rana’s daughter. This rivalry, the effects of which are already related, and which brought into conflict all the northern powers of India, was, in fact, only the under-plot of the deep-laid policy of Sawai. When once the gauntlet was thrown down for the hand of this fair lady, the Pokaran chief stepped in with the pretended son of Raja Bhim, whose cause, from the unpopularity of Raja Man, soon brought to his standard almost all the feudality of Marwar. The measures which followed, and the catastrophe, the death of Krishna Kunwari, have already been related.^[11] The assassination of the chief of Pokaran was simultaneous with these events; and it was shortly after that the murder of the pontiff Deonath took place.

Insanity of Rāja Mān Singh.

—After being relieved from all external foes by his own strength of mind, and the aid of a few friends whom no reverse could estrange from him, Raja Man either fell, or affected to fall, into a state of mental despondency bordering on insanity. Suspicious of every one, he would only eat from the hands of his wife, who prepared his food herself; he became sullen and morose; he neglected public business; and finally withdrew entirely from the world. The attempt to rouse him from this real or pretended stupor was fruitless; he did nothing but lament the death of Deonath, and pour forth prayers to the deity. In this state, he was easily induced to associate his son in the government, and he bestowed upon him with his own hand the tika of command. Chhattar Singh was the name of the prince, who was still in his minority; thoughtless, and of dissolute habits, he soon gave himself up to the guidance of a junta of the chiefs, who proclaimed Akhai Chand, of the mercantile caste, the chief civil minister of the State.

British Control of Mārwār. Restoration and Policy of Rāja Mān Singh.

—Such was the condition of Marwar from A.D. 1809 to 1817. At this period the progress of events made the English arbiters of the destinies of Rajasthan. The regent of Marwar sent an ambassador to treat; but before the treaties were ratified and exchanged the young regent was dead. Various causes were 830assigned [718] for his death: by some his dissolute habits, occasioning premature decay; by others, with more probability, the dagger of an indignant Rajput, the honour of whose daughter he had clandestinely attempted. Upon this event, and the change of political circumstances, the chiefs had no alternative but to turn to the secluded prince. If but one half is true that I have heard, and from authority of high credit, the occupations of the years which the Raja passed between the murder of the priest and the death of his son might be deemed an atonement for the deepest crimes. When messengers announced the fate of his son, and that State necessity recalled him to the helm of affairs, he appeared unable to comprehend them. He had so long acted the maniac that he had nearly become one: his beard was never touched, and his hair, clotted and foul, gave him an expression of idiocy; yet throughout these long years he was resolutely tenacious of life. The party who governed the son and the State had their own menials to wait upon him, and many were the attempts to poison him by their means; in avoiding which his simulated madness was so perfect that they deemed he had “a charmed life.” But he had one faithful servant, who throughout this dreadful trial never forsook him, and who carried him food in his turban to replace that which was suspected. When by degrees he was led to understand the emergency, and the necessity of leaving his prison, he persevered in his apparent indifference to everything earthly, until he gathered information and the means for a terrible reaction. The treaty with the English put the ball at his foot: he very soon perceived that he might command a force to put down disorder—such was even volunteered; but with admirable penetration he trusted to the impression of this knowledge amongst his chiefs, as a sufficient auxiliary. By disseminating it, he paralysed that spirit which maintained rights in the soil of Marwar nearly concurrent with those of the sovereign. No higher compliment could be paid to British ascendancy than the sentiments of Raja Man and his nobles; and no better illustration is on record of the opinion of our power than that its name alone served the Raja’s purpose in subjugating men, who, scarcely knowing fear, yet reposing partly on our justice, though mainly on the utter hopelessness of resisting us, were deprived of all moral courage.

In refusing the aid of a mere physical force, the Raja availed 831himself of another weapon; for by this artifice he threw the chiefs off their guard, who confided in his [719] assumed desire to forget the past. Intrigues for power and patronage seemed to strengthen this confidence; and Salim Singh of Pokaran, the military Maire du palais or Bhanjgarh, and Akhai Chand, retained as civil prime minister, were opposed by Jodhraj Singwi, who headed the aspirants to supplant them. The Raja complained of their interested squabbles, but neither party dreamed that they were fostered by him to cloak his deep-laid schemes. Akhai Chand had been minister throughout the son’s administration; the political and pecuniary transactions of the State were known chiefly to him; to cut him off would have been poor revenge, and Raja Man was determined not only to extract from him all the knowledge of State matters transacted during his seclusion, but to make himself master of his coffers, and neither would have been attained by simple murder. Akhai Chand was not blind to the dangers of his position; he dreaded the appui his sovereign derived from the English, and laboured to inspire the Raja with distrust of their motives. It suited his master’s views to flatter this opinion; and the minister and his adherents were lulled into a fatal security.

Maladministration of Rāja Mān Singh.

—Such were the schemes concocting when I visited this court, which were revealed by succeeding events. At this time the Raja appeared in a state of mental depression, involved in difficulties, cautious, fearful of a false step, and surrounded by the satellites of the miscreant Akhai Chand, who, if he could no longer incarcerate his person, endeavoured to seal up the mind of his prince from all communication with those who might stimulate him to exertion. But all his arts only served to entangle him in the web then weaving for his life. The Raja first made him the means of destroying the most powerful of his chieftains, Surthan being the primary sacrifice to his sanguinary proscription; many others followed, until the best of the feudal chieftains sought refuge from his fury in exile, and found the saran (sanctuary) they sought in the surrounding States, the majority in Mewar. The day of vengeance at length arrived, and the minister and his partisans were transferred from their position at the helm of the State to a dungeon. Deceived with hopes of life, and compelled by the application of some summary methods of torture, Akhai Chand gave in a schedule 832of forty lakhs of property, of which the Raja realized a large portion, and then dismissed him to the other world. Nagoji, the kiladar,^[12] and Mulji Dandal, both favourites and advisers of the Raja’s [720] late son, returned on the strength of a general amnesty, and forgot they had been traitors. The wealth which prodigality had heaped upon them, consisting of many of the crown jewels, being recovered, their worldly accounts were settled by a cup of poison, and their bodies thrown over the battlements. Success, and the taste of blood, whetted rather than appeased the appetite of Raja Man. He was well seconded by the new minister, Fateh Raj, the deadly opponent of Akhai Chand, and all the clan of Champawats, whom he deemed the authors of the murder of his brother Induraj, slain at the same time with Deonath. Each day announced a numerous list of victims, either devoted to death, or imprisoned and stripped of their wealth. The enormous sum of a crore of rupees has been stated as the amount of the confiscations.

All these atrocities occurred within six months after my visit to this court, and about eighteen from the time it was received into protective alliance with the British Government. The anomalous condition of all our connexions with the Rajput States has already been described: and if illustration of those remarks be required, it is here in awful characters. We had tied up our own hands: “internal interference” had been renounced, and the sequestration of every merchant’s property, who was connected with the Mehta faction, and the exile of the nobles, had no limit but the will of a bloodthirsty and vindictive tyrant. The objects of his persecution made known everywhere the unparalleled hardships of their case, and asserted that nothing but respect for the British Government prevented their doing themselves justice. In no part of the past history of this State could such proscription of the majority of the kin and clan of the prince have taken place. The dread of our intervention, as an umpire favourable to their chief, deprived them of hope; they knew that if we were exasperated there was no saran to protect them. They had been more than twelve months in this afflicting condition when I left the country; nor have I heard that anything has been done to relieve them, or to adjust these intestine broils. It is abandoning them to that spirit of revenge which is a powerful 833ingredient in their nature, and held to be justifiable by any means when no other hope is left them. In all human probability, Raja Man will end his days by the same expedient which secured him from the fury of his predecessor.^[13]

Interview with Rāja Mān Singh.

—Having lifted the mantle which veiled the future, my reader must forget all that [721] has been said to the disadvantage of Raja Man, and see only the dignified, the courteous, and the well-instructed gentleman and prince. I cannot think that the Raja had coolly formed to himself the plan of the sanguinary measures he subsequently pursued, and which it would require a much more extended narrative to describe. We discoursed freely on past history, in which he was well read, as also in Persian, and his own native dialects. He presented me with no less than six metrical chronicles of his house; of two, each containing seven thousand stanzas, I made a rough translation. In return, I had transcribed and sent to him Ferishta’s great History of the Mahomedan Power in India, and Khulasatu-t-tawarikh,^[14] a valuable epitome of the history of Hindustan. I little imagined that I should then have to exhibit him otherwise than his demeanour and instructive discourse made him appear to me. In our graver conversation I was amused with a discourse on the rules of government, and instructions for the guidance of ambassadors, which my better acquaintance with Chand discovered to be derived from that writer. He carried me, accompanied by a single domestic, to various apartments in the palace, whence he directed my view across the vast plains of the desert, whose monarch I envied not. The low hills in the vicinity alone broke the continuity of this arid region, in which a few isolated nim trees were thinly scattered, to remind one of the absence of all that is grand in vegetation. After a visit of several hours, I descended to my tent, and found my friends, Captain Waugh and Major Gough, just returned from a successful chase of an antelope, which, with the aid of some Rohilla greyhounds, they had run down. I attributed their success to the heavy 834sands, on which I have witnessed many pulled down by dogs of little speed; but the secret was revealed on this animal being sent to the cuisinier. On depriving him of his hide, between it and the flesh the whole carcase was covered with a large, inert, amorphous white maggot. The flesh was buried in the sands, and no venison appeared again on my table while in India.^[15]

Mandor. Rāthor Cenotaphs.

—November 8.—I set out early this morning to ramble amidst the ruins of the ancient capital, Mandor, an important link in the chain of archaeological research, before the panchranga, or ‘five-coloured banner’ of Maru was prostrated to the crescent. Attended by an escort provided by the Raja, I left the perambulator behind; but as the journey occupied an hour and a quarter, and at a very slow pace, the distance must be under five miles. I proceeded through the Sojat gate, to [722] gain the road leading to Nagor; shortly after which I passed the Maha Mandir, or ‘Grand Minster,’ the funds for the erection of which were provided by Raja Man on his escape from ruin at Jalor. I skirted the range, gradually decreasing in height for three miles, in a N.N.E. direction. We then altered our course to N.N.W., and entered the gorge of the mountains which envelop all that is hallowed of the relics of the princes of this house. The pass is narrow; the cliffs are almost perpendicular, in which are numerous caves, the abodes of ascetics. The remains of fortifications thrown across, to bar the entrance of the foe to the ancient capital of the Pariharas, are still visible: a small stream of pure and sweet water issues from this opening, and had a watercourse under an archway. After proceeding a little farther, the interval widened, and passing through the village, which does not exceed two hundred houses, our attention was attracted by a line of lofty temples, rising in graduated succession. These proud monuments proved to be the cenotaphs of the Rathors, erected on the spots where the funeral pyre consumed the crowned heads of Maru, who seldom burnt alone, but were accompanied by all that made life agreeable or poisoned its enjoyment. The small brook already mentioned flows past the southern extremity of 835the chief line of monuments, which extend from south to north. At the former point stands that of Rao Maldeo, the gallant opponent of Sher Shah, the brave usurper of the throne of the Moguls. The farther point terminates with that of Maharaja Ajit Singh; while the princes in regular succession, namely, Sur Singh, Udai Singh, Gaj Singh, and Jaswant Singh, fill up the interval.

These dumb recorders of a nation’s history attest the epochs of Marwar’s glory, which commenced with Maldeo, and ended with the sons of Ajit. The temple-monument of Maldeo, which yet throws into shade the still more simple shrines of Chonda, and Jodha, contrasted with the magnificent mausoleum of Raja Ajit, reads us a lesson on the advancement of luxurious pomp in this desert State. The progression is uniform, both in magnitude and elegance, from Maldeo’s who opposed on equal terms the Afghan king (whose memorable words, “I had nearly lost the throne of India for a handful of barley,”^[16] mark at once the gallantry and the poverty of those whom he encountered), to the last great prince Ajit. Even that of Raja Gaj is plain, compared to his successor’s. These monuments are all erected of a very close-grained freestone, of a dark brown or red [723] tint, with sufficient hardness to allow the sculptor to indulge his fancy. The style of architecture, or rather the composition, is mixed, partaking both of the Saivite and the Buddhist; but the details are decidedly Jain, more especially the columns, which are of the same model as those in Kumbhalmer. I speak more especially of those of Rajas Jaswant and Ajit, drawings of which, on a large scale, executed by the Raja’s chief architect, I brought to Europe; but which it would be too expensive to have engraved. They are raised on immense terraces, faced with large blocks of well-polished freestone. That of Jaswant is somewhat ponderous and massive; but Ajit’s rises with great elegance and perfect symmetry of proportion.

On ascending the terrace you enter through a lofty vaulted porch supported by handsome columns to the sanctum, which is a pyramidal temple, four stories in height, in the Saivite style, 836crowned by the sikhar and kalas, elsewhere described. The sculptural ornaments are worthy of admiration, both for their design and effect; and the numerous columns on the basement, and different stages of ascent, give an air of so much majesty that one might deem these monuments more fitting sepulture for the Egyptian Cheops than a shrine—over what? not even the ashes of the desert king, which were consigned in an urn to the bosom of the Ganges. If the foundations of these necrological monuments have been equally attended to with the superstructure, they bid fair to convey to remote posterity the recollection of as conspicuous a knot of princely characters as ever followed each other in the annals of any age or country. Let us place them in juxtaposition with the worthies of Mewar and the illustrious scions of Timur, and challenge the thrones of Europe to exhibit such a contemporaneous display of warriors, statesmen, or scholars.

From Maldeo to Udai le gros the first Raja (hitherto Raos) of Marwar, and the friend of Akbar, to Jaswant, the implacable foe of Aurangzeb, and Ajit, who redeemed his country from oppression, all were valiant men and patriotic princes.

“Where were the lions’ cubs,” I asked of my conductor, “the brave sons of Ajit, who erected this monument to his manes, and who added provinces to his dominions?” He pointed to two sheds, where the kriya karma^[17] was performed; there was

837but these lowly sheds told, in more forcible, more emphatic language, the cause of this abrupt transition from grandeur to humility than pen ever wrote; and furnished the moral epilogue to the eventful drama of the lives of these kings of the desert. Abhai Singh’s parricidal hand bereft his father of life; yet though his career was one splendid tissue of success and honour, leaving his dominions more than doubled, the contentions of his issue with that of his brother Bakhta Singh, alike accessory, it is said, to the crime, have entailed endless misery upon Marwar, and left them not the power, if they had the inclination, to house his ashes. In the same line with the parricide and his brave brother is the humble monument of the great Bijai Singh, whose life till towards its close was a continued tide of action. I could not avoid an exclamation of surprise: “Shame to the country,” I said, “that has neglected to enshrine the ashes of a name equal to the proudest!” His three sons, amongst them Zalim Singh, with the sketch of whom this narrative opened, have their shrines close to his; and but a few yards removed are those of Raja Bhim, and his elder brother Guman (who died in his minority), the father of the reigning prince, Raja Man. The last, which closed the line, pertained to Chhattar Singh, who, in all probability, was saved by death from the murder of his parent. I passed it in disgust, asking who had been so foolish as to entomb his ashes better than those of some of the worthies of his race? I found that it was the act of maternal fondness.

Ancestor Worship. Sati.

—The Amavas (the Ides) and the Sankrantis (when the sun enters a new sign of the Zodiac) of every month are sacred to the Pitrideva, on which days it is incumbent on the reigning prince to “give water” to his ancestors. But the ignorance of my conductor deprived me of much information which I anticipated [725]; and had I not been pretty well read in the chronicles of the Rathors, I should have little enjoyed this visit to a “nation’s dust.” They related one fact, which was sufficient to inspire horror. No less than sixty-four females accompanied the shade of Ajit to the mansion of the sun. But this is twenty short of the number who became Satis when Raja Budh Singh of Bundi was drowned! The monuments of this noble family of the Haras are far more explicit than those of the Rathors, for every such Sati is sculptured on a small altar in the centre of the cenotaph: which speaks in distinct language the all-powerful 838motive, vanity, the principal incentive to these tremendous sacrifices. Budh Singh was a contemporary of Ajit, and one of the most intrepid generals of Aurangzeb; the period elapsed is about one hundred and twenty years. Mark the difference! When his descendant, my valued friend, the Rao Raja Bishan Singh, died in 1821, his last commands were that none should give such a proof of their affection. He made me guardian of his infant heir;—in a few days I was at Bundi, and his commands were religiously obeyed.

In this account are enumerated the monumental relics below the fort. Upon the mountain, and beyond the walls of the fortress of Mandor, are the dewals of Rao Ranmall, Rao Ganga, and Chonda, who conquered Mandor from the Parihars. Within a hundred yards of this trio of worthies of this house is a spot set apart for the queens who die natural deaths. But this is anticipating; let me in form conduct my readers step by step from the cemetery of the Rathors to the Cyclopean city of the Parihars.

Whoever has seen Cortona, Volterra, or others of the ancient Tuscan cities can form a correct idea of the walls of Mandor, which are precisely of the same ponderous character. It is singular that the ancient races of India, as well as of Europe (and whose name of Pali is the synonym of Galati or Keltoi) should, in equal ignorance of the mechanical arts, have piled up these stupendous monuments, which might well induce their posterity to imagine “there were giants in those days.” This western region, in which I include nearly all Rajputana and Saurashtra, has been the peculiar abode of these “pastor kings,” who have left their names, their monuments, their religion and sacred character as the best records of their supremacy. The Rajpali, or ‘Royal Pastors,’ are enumerated as one of the thirty-six royal races of ancient days: the city of Palitana, ‘the abode of the Pali,’ in Saurashtra (built [726] at the foot of Mount Satrunjaya, sacred to Buddha), and Pali in Godwar, are at once evidences of their political consequence and the religion they brought with them; while the different nail-headed characters are claimed by their descendants, the sectarian Jains of the present day.^[18] There is scarcely an ancient city in Rajputana whence I have not 839obtained copies of inscriptions from columns and rocks, or medals, gold, silver, and copper, bearing this antique character. All are memorials of these races, likewise termed Takshak, the Scythic conquerors of India, ancestors of many of the Rajputs, whose history the antiquary will one day become better acquainted with. The Parihara, it will be recollected, is one of the four Agnikulas: races who obtained a footing in India posterior to the Suryas and Indus. I omitted, however, to mention, in the sketch of the Pariharas, that they claim Kashmir as the country whence they migrated into India: the period is not assigned, but it was when the schismatic wars between the Saivites and Buddhists were carrying on; and it would appear that the former found proselytes and supporters in many of these Agnikulas. But of the numerical extent of the followers of this faith we have this powerful evidence, namely, that three-fourths of the mercantile classes of these regions are the descendants of the martial conquerors of India, and that seven out of the ten and a half niyats or tribes, with their innumerable branches, still profess the Jain faith, which, beyond controversy, was for ages paramount in this country.

The Walls of Mandor.

—Let us now ascend the paved causeway to this gigantic ruin, and leave the description of the serpentine Nagda, which I threaded to its source in the glen of Panchkunda, till our return. Half-way up the ascent is a noble baoli, or ‘reservoir,’ excavated from the solid rock, with a facing of cut stone and a noble flight of steps: on which, however, two enormous gulars^[19] or wild fig-trees have taken root, and threaten it with premature destruction. This memorial bears the name of Nahar Rao, the last of the Parihars.^[20] As I looked up to the stupendous walls,

840Ages have rolled away since these were raised, and ages will yet roll on, and find [727] them immovable, unchanged. The immense blocks are piled upon, and closely fitted to, each other without any cement, the characteristic of all the Etruscan cities termed Cyclopean. We might indeed smuggle a section of Mandor into the pages of Micali,^[21] amongst those of Todi or Volterra, without fear of detection. The walls, following the direction of the crest of the ridge, are irregular; and having been constructed long before artillery was thought of, the Parihar or Pali engineer was satisfied with placing the palace on the most commanding eminence, about the centre of the fortress. The bastions or towers are singularly massive, and like all the most antique, their form is square. Having both fever and ague upon me, I was incapable of tracing the direction of the walls, so as to form any correct judgement of the space they enclose; but satisfied with gaining the summit, I surveyed the ruin from the site of the palace of the Parihars. The remains, though scanty, are yet visible; but the materials have been used in the construction of the new capital Jodhpur, and in the cenotaphs described. A small range of the domestic temples of the palace, and some of the apartments, are yet distinctly to be traced; the sculptured ornaments of their portals prove them to have been the work of a Takshak or Buddhist architect. Symbolical figures are frequently seen carved on the large blocks of the walls, though probably intended merely as guides to the mason. These were chiefly Buddhist or Jain: as the quatre-feuille, the cross; though the mystic triangle, and triangle within a triangle ✡^[22] (a sign of the Saivites, only, I believe), was also to be seen. The chief memorials of the Parihara are a gateway and magnificent Toran, or triumphal arch, placed towards the south-east angle of the castle. It is one mass of sculpture; but the pencil was wanting, 841and I had not leisure even to bring away a rude resemblance of this memento of some victory of the ancient lords of Mandor.

Thāna Pir.

—A little distance to the northward of my position is the Than or ‘station’ of a Muhammadan saint, a disciple of the celebrated Khwaja Kutab, whose shrine at Ajmer is celebrated. This of Thana Pir,^[23] as they call him, was a place of great resort to the unsanctified Kafirs, the mercenary Sindis and Afghans, who long prowled about these regions in quest of [728] prey, or plunder, or both. Nearly in the same direction, beyond the walls, are the cenotaphs of the early Rathors and the Satis already mentioned; but tradition’s voice is mute as to the spot which contains the ashes of the Parihars. To the east and north-east, nature has formed at once a barrier to this antique castle, and a place of recreation for its inhabitants; a lengthened chasm in the whole face, appearing like a dark line, were it not for the superb foliage of gular, mango, and the sacred bar and pipal, which rise above the cleft, planted about the fountain and perpendicular cliffs of the Nagda, and which must have proved a luxurious retreat to the princes of Mandor from the reverberation of the sun’s rays on the rock-built palace; for there is but a scanty brushwood scattered over the surface, which is otherwise destitute of all vegetation.

Let us now descend by the same causeway to the glen of Panchkunda, where there is much to gratify both the lover of the picturesque and the architectural antiquary. At the foot of the causeway, terminated by a reservoir of good water, are two gateways, one conducting to the gardens and their palaces erected by the Rathors; the other, to the statues of the Paladins of the desert. Leaving both for a moment, I pursued the ‘serpentine’ rivulet to its fountain, where

I reposed in meditative indolence, overwhelmed with the recollections such scenes inspire. In a recess or cave is a rude altar sanctified by the name of Nahar Rao, the famed king of Mandor, who met in equal combat the chivalrous Chauhan in the pass of 842the Aravalli.^[24] A Nai, or barber, performs worship to the manes of this illustrious Rajput, in whose praise Chand is most eloquent. Whence the choice of a barber as a priest I know not; but as he has the universal care of the material portion of the Rajput, being always chosen as the cook, so there may be reasons for his having had an interest in the immaterial part in olden days, the tradition of which may have been lost. There is a piece of sculpture containing nine figures, said to represent Ravana, who came from “th’utmost isle Taprobane,”^[25] to marry the daughter of the sovereign of Mandor. There was a lengthened legend to account for the name of Nagda, or, ‘serpentine,’ being applied to the [729] rivulet, but it is too long to relate. We must therefore quit the fountain, where the gallant Prithiraj and his fair bride, the cause of strife between the Chauhans and Pariharas, may have reposed, and visit the most remarkable relic within the precincts of this singular place.

Images of Heroes.

—A short distance from the foot of the causeway, an archway opens into an enclosed court or area, in the retired part of which, and touching the mountain, is an extensive saloon; the roof is supported by a triple row of columns, of that light form peculiar to the Jains. Here are displayed, in all “the pomp and circumstance of war,” the statues of the knights-errant of the desert, armed cap-à-pie, bestriding steeds whose names are deathless as their riders’, all in the costume of the times in which they lived. They are cut out of the rock, but entirely detached from it, and larger than life. Though more conspicuous for strength than symmetry, the grim visages of these worthies, apparently frowning defiance, each attended by his pandu or squire, have a singularly pleasing effect. Each chieftain is armed with lance, sword, and buckler, with quiver and arrows, and poniard in his girdle. All are painted; but whether in the colours they were attached to, or according to the fancy of the architect, I know not. Before, however, entering this saloon, we pass a huge statue of Ganesa, placed as the guardian of the portal, having on each side the two Bhairavas, sons of the god of war. Then appears the statue of Chamunda 843(the goddess of destruction), and that of the terrific mother, Kankali, treading on the black demon Bhainsasur, in whose flank her tiger-courser has buried his bloodthirsty tongue: in each of her eight arms she holds a weapon of destruction. The black Bhairon (son of Time), with a sable flag, bearing argent a horse courant, marshals the way through the field of blood to his mother. Between her and the heroes whose lives passed “in devotion to the sword,” is a statue of the Nathji, or ‘spiritual guide’ of the Rathors: in one hand he holds his mala or ‘chaplet’; in the other his chhari or ‘patriarchal rod,’ for the guidance of his flock. Mallinath ^[26] heads the procession, mounted on a white charger, with a lance over his shoulder, to which is attached a flag; his quiver resting on his horse’s right flank, and his mistress, Padmavati, with a platter of food welcoming him from the raid, and who accompanied him when slain to Suryaloka, or ‘the mansion of the sun.’

Then follows Pabuji,^[27] mounted on his famous charger ‘Black Caesar’ (Kesar [730] Kali), whose exploits are the theme of the itinerant bard and showman, who annually goes his round, exhibiting in pictorial delineations, while he recites in rhyme, the deeds of this warrior to the gossiping villagers of the desert.

Next comes Ramdeo ^[28] Rathor, a name famed in Marudesa, and in whose honour altars are raised in every Rajput village in the country.

Then we have the brave Harbuji Sankhla,^[29] to whom Jodha was indebted for protection in his exile, and for the redemption of Mandor when seized by the Rana of Chitor.

Guga,^[30] the Chauhan, who with his forty-seven sons fell defending the passage of the Sutlej on Mahmud’s invasion. Mehaji Mangalia brings up the rear, a famous chieftain of the Guhilot 844race. It would be tedious to relate any of the exploits of these worthies.

Taintīs Kula Devata Ra Thān.

—Another saloon, of similar architecture and still greater dimensions, adjoins that just described; it is termed Taintis kula ^[31] devata ra than, or ‘abode of the (tutelary) divinities of the thirty-three races’: in short, the Pantheon of the Rajputs. The statues are of gypsum, or stone covered with that substance; they are of large proportions. First, is the creator, Brahma; then Surya, ‘the sun-god,’ with his seven-headed steed; then the monkey-faced deity, Hanuman; Rama, and his beloved Sita; Kanhaiya, in the woods of Vraj, surrounded by the Gopis; and a most grave figure of Mahadeva, with a bull in his hand. These six, with the goddesses of life and death, and of wisdom, constitute the eight chief divinities of the Hindus; whose qualities and attributes, personified, form an assemblage for which St. Peter’s and the Vatican to boot would be a confined dwelling.

Palace and Gardens.—I now retired to the palace and gardens built by Raja Ajit; of which, however superb, it is impossible for the pen to give a definite idea. Suites of colonnaded halls, covered with sculpture of easy and even graceful execution, some with screens of lattice-work to secure the ladies from the public gaze, are on the lower range; while staircases lead to smaller apartments intended for repose. The gardens, though not extensive, as may be supposed, being confined within the adamantine walls reared by the hand of Nature, must be delightfully cool even in summer. Fountains, reservoirs, and water-courses, are everywhere interspersed; and though [731] the thermometer in the open air was 86°,^[32] the cold within doors (if this be not a solecism, considering that there were no doors) was excessive. Some attention was paid to its culture; besides many indigenous shrubs, it boasted of some exotics. There was the golden champa,^[33] whose 845aroma is overpowering, and if laid upon the pillow will produce headache; the pomegranate, at once “rich in flower and fruit”; the apple of Sita, or Sitaphala, which, from similitude of taste, we call the custard-apple; a delicious species of the plantain, whose broad, verdant, glossy leaf alone inspires the mind with the sensation of coolness; the mogra;^[34] the chameli, or jessamine; and the queen of flowers, the barahmasha,^[35] literally the ‘twelve-month,’ because it flowers throughout the year. It is a delightful spot, and I felt a peculiar interest in it. Let the reader imagine the picture of a solitary Englishman scribbling amidst the ruins of Mandor: in front a group of venerable mango-trees; a little further an enormous isolated tamarind, “planted by the hand of a juggler in the time of Nahar Rao, the last of the Pariharas, before whom he exhibited this proof of legerdemain,” and, as the legend goes, from whose branches the juggler met his death:^[36] amidst its boughs the long-armed tribe, the allies of Rama, were skipping and chattering unmolested; while beneath, two Rathor Rajputs were stretched in sleep, their horses dozing beside them, standing as sedately as the statue of ‘Black Caesar’: a grenadier Sepoy of my escort parading by a camp-basket, containing the provender of the morning, completes the calm and quiet scene.

An Atīt Hermit.

—On the summit of the rock, across the narrow valley, several guphas, or caves, the abode of the hermit Atit,^[37] were in sight. How the brains of these ascetics can stand the heat and confined air is a wonder, though, if they possessed any 846portion of that which is supposed to be necessary to the guidance of the machine, they would scarcely occupy such a position, nor consequently, the world’s attention. Mais tout est vanité, a cause which has produced ten times the number of saints that piety has, and ten times of ten these troglodyte philosophers. Having walked out on the terrace or house-top of the palace, to catch a sunbeam and scare away an ague which tormented me, I discovered one of these animals coiled up on a heap of bat’s dung [732], in a corner of an apartment of the palace. He was dreadfully emaciated, and but for the rolling of a pair of eyes in a visage covered with hair, there was nothing which betokened animation, much less humanity. There was none but the bat to dispute his reign, or “the spider which weaves its web in this palace of the Caesars.” I had no inclination to disturb the process of ratiocination, or to ask to which sect of philosophers belonged this Diogenes of Mandor, who might, if he had utterance, have desired me to walk downstairs, and not intercept the sunbeam for whose warmth we were competitors. The day was now nearly departed, and it was time for me to return to my friends in camp. I finished the evening by another visit to the knights of the desert; and inscribing my name on the foot of ‘Black Caesar,’ bade adieu to the ancient Mandor.

November 13.—The Raja having invited us to a dinner at the palace, we sallied forth, belted and padded, to partake of Rajput hospitality. He had made a request which will appear somewhat strange—that we would send our cuisine, as the fare of the desert might prove unpalatable; but this I had often seen done at Sindhia’s camp, when joints of mutton, fowls, and fricassees would diversify the provender of the Mahratta. I intimated that we had no apprehension that we should not do justice to the gastronomy of Jodhpur; however, we sent our tables, and some claret to drink long life to the king of Marudes. Having paid our respects to our host, he dismissed us with the complimentary wish that appetite might wait upon us, and, preceded by a host of gold and silver sticks, we were ushered into a hall, where we found the table literally covered with curries, pillaus, and ragouts of every kind, in which was not forgotten the haria mung Mandor ra, the ‘green pulse of Mandor,’ the favourite dish, next to rabri or maize-porridge, of the simple Rathor. Here, however, we saw displayed the dishes of both the Hindu and Musulman, and nearly all were 847served in silver. The curries were excellent, especially those of the vegetable tribes made of the pulses, the kakris or cucumbers, and of a miniature melon not larger than an egg, which grows spontaneously in these regions, and is transported by kasids, or runners, as presents, for many hundreds of miles around. The hall was an entire new building, and scarcely finished; it is erected on the northern projection of the rock, where the escarpment is most abrupt, and looks down upon the site of the batteries of the league of 1806. It is called the Man mahall [733], and, like the hall of audience, its flat roof is supported by numerous massive hewn columns. The view from it to the east is extensive, and we were told that the pinnacle of Kumbhalmer, though eighty miles distant, has been seen, in those clear days of the monsoon when the atmosphere is purified, after heavy showers, from the sand which is held suspended. Great care was taken that our meal should be uninterrupted, and that we should not be the lions to an hour’s amusement of the court. There was but one trivial occurrence to interrupt the decorum and attention of all present, and that was so slight that we only knew it after the entertainment was over. One of the menials of the court, either from ignorance or design, was inclined to evince contumely or bad breeding. It will be considered perhaps a singular circumstance that the Hindu should place before a European the vessels from which he himself eats: but a little fire purifies any metallic vessels from all such contamination; and on this point the high-blooded Rajput is less scrupulous than the bigoted Muhammadan, whom I have seen throw on the ground with contempt a cup from which his officer had drunk water on a march. But of earthenware there can be no purification. Now there was a handsome china bowl, for which some old dowager fancier of such articles would have almost become a supplicant, which having been filled with curds to the Sudra Farangis could no longer be used by the prince, and it was brought by this menial, perhaps with those words, to my native butler. Kali Khan, or, as we familiarly called him, ‘the black lord,’ was of a temper not to be trifled with; and as the domestic held it in his hand, saying, “Take it, it is no longer of any use to us,” he gave it a tap with his hand which sent it over the battlements, and coolly resuming his work, observed, “That is the way in which all useless things should be served”; a hint which, if reported to Raja Man, he seems to have acted on: for 848not many months after, the minister, Akhai Chand, who dreaded lest European influence should release his master from his faction and thraldom, was treated by him in the same manner as the china bowl by Kali Khan.

The Rāja visits the Author.

—November 16.^[38]—This day had been fixed for the Raja’s visits to the envoy. In order to display his grandeur, he sent his own suite of tents, which were erected near mine [734]. They were very extensive, modelled in every way after those of the Emperors of Delhi, and lined throughout with the royal colour, crimson: but this is an innovation, as will appear from the formulas yet preserved of his despatches, “from the foot of the throne, Jodhpur.” The tent, in fact, was a palace in miniature, the whole surrounded by walls of cloth, to keep at a distance the profane vulgar. The gaddi, or royal cushion and canopy, was placed in the central apartment. At three, all was noise and bustle in the castle and town; nakkaras were reverberating, trumpets sounding the alarm, that the King of Maru was about to visit the Farangi Wakil. As soon as the flags and pennant were observed winding down ‘the hill of strife’ (Jodhagir), I mounted, and with the gentlemen of my suite proceeded through the town to meet the Raja. Having complimented him en route, we returned and received him at the tents. The escort drawn up at the entrance of the tent presented arms, the officers saluting; a mark of attention which gratified him, as did the soldier-like appearance of the men. Hitherto, what he had seen of regulars belonging to the native powers was not calculated to give him a favourable impression of foot-soldiers, who are little esteemed by the equestrian order of Rajputana. His visit continued about an hour, when the shields were brought in, with jewels, brocades, shawls, and other finery, in all nineteen trays, being two less than I presented to the Rana of Udaipur. I likewise presented him with some arms of English manufacture, a telescope, and smaller things much valued by the Rajputs. After the final ceremony of perfumes, and itr-pan (which are admirable hints when you wish to get rid of a tiresome guest, though not so in this instance), the exterior wall was removed, and showed the caparisoned elephant and horses, which were part of the khilat. At the door of the tent we made our salaam, when the Raja gave me his hand, which, by the by, was his first salutation on receiving 849me. It is an ancient Rajput custom, and their bards continually allude to extending the right hand—“dextra extenta.”

Taking Leave of the Rāja.

—November 17.^[39]—I went to take leave of the Raja: I had a long and interesting conversation on this our last interview. I left him in the full expectation that his energy of character would surmount the difficulties by which he was surrounded, though not without a struggle, and condign punishment to some of the miscreants, the misleaders of his son, the assassins of his minister and high priest, and consequently the authors of his humiliating and protracted incarceration [735]. Whether the first gratification of vengeance provoked his appetite, or whether the torrent of his rage, once impelled into motion, became too impetuous to be checked, so that his reason was actually disturbed by the sufferings he had undergone, it is certain he grew a demoniac; nor could any one, who had conversed with the bland, the gentlemanly, I might say gentle, Raja Man, have imagined that he concealed under this exterior a heart so malignant as his subsequent acts evinced. But the day of retribution must arrive; the men who wrote that dignified remonstrance, which is given in another place,^[40] will not tamely bear their wrongs, and as they dare not levy war against their prince, who reposes under British protection, the dagger will doubtless find a way to reach him even in “the thousand-columned hall” of Jodhpur.

Besides the usual gifts at parting, which are matter of etiquette, and remain untouched by the individual, I accepted as a personal token of his favour, a sword, dagger, and buckler, which had belonged to one of his illustrious ancestors. The weight of the sword, which had often been “the angel of death,” would convince any one that it must have been a nervous arm which carried it through a day. With mutual good wishes, and a request for a literary correspondence, which was commenced but soon closed, I bade adieu to Raja Man and the capital of Marwar [736].

Nāndla.

—November 19.—We broke ground for Nandla, distant six miles. The first two miles from the capital was through deep sand; for the remainder of the journey the red sandstone protruded, which gives some relief to the footing of the traveller. About half-way we passed a small sheet of water, called after the mother of the pretender, Dhonkal Singh, the Shaikhawat Talao. This lady has constructed a dharmsala, or ‘hall for travellers,’ on its bank, where she has erected a statue of Hanuman, and a pillar to commemorate her own good works. Not a shrub of any magnitude occurs, for even the stunted khair ^[1] is rare in this plain of sand; which does not, however, appear unfavourable to the moth,^[2] a vetch on which they feed the cattle. Near the village we crossed the Jogini, the same stream which we passed between Jhalamand and the capital, and which, joined by the Nagda from Mandor, falls into the Luni. The only supply of water for Nandla is procured from two wells dug on the margin of the stream. The water is abundant, and only four feet from the surface, but brackish. There are a hundred and twenty-five houses in Nandla, which is in the fief of the chieftain of Ahor. A few cenotaphs are on the banks of a tank, now dry. I went to look at them, but they contained names “unknown to fame.”

Bīsalpur.

—Bisalpur, the next place, is distant six estimated coss of the country, and [737] thirteen miles one furlong by the perambulator: heavy sand the whole way. Nevertheless we saw traces of the last autumnal crop of bajra and juar, two species of millet, which form the chief food of the people of the desert; and the vetch was still in heaps. Bisalpur is situated on a rising ground; the houses are uniform in height and regularly built, and coated with a compost of mud and chaff, so that its appearance is picturesque. It is protected by a circumvallation of thorns, the kanta-ka-kot and the stacks of chaff, as described at Indara. They are pleasing to the eye, as is everything in such a place which shows the hand of industry. There was an ancient city here in former days, which was engulfed by an earthquake, 851though part of a gateway and the fragment of a wall still mark its site. No inscriptions were observed. The water is obtained from a lake.

Pachkalia, Bīchkalia.

—November 21.—Pachkalia, or Bichkalia, five coss (11 miles 5 furlongs): crossed and encamped on the Jojri. The soil improving, of a brown sandy texture. Wheat and barley of excellent quality are grown on the banks of the river. It was a relief to meet once more a babul or a nim tree; even our Godwar cypress reared its head on the margin of the Jojri. Although now only containing a hundred houses, this was once a place of some importance. I found a defaced inscription, in which “the son of Sonang, S. 1224,” was still legible; but the mercenary Pathans have ruined the harvest of the antiquary. The village is a grant in fee to a Bhatti chieftain. Water is obtained from wells excavated on the margin of the river.

Pīpār.

—November 22.—Pipar, four coss (8 miles 2 furlongs). Pursued the course of the river, the most extended arm of the Luni, coming from the hills near Parbatsar, on the frontiers of Jaipur. Its course is marked by the trees already mentioned. The soil, a mixture of black earth and sand, is termed dhamani. Pipar is a town of 1500 houses, one-third of which are inhabited by the Oswals of the Jain faith, the chief merchants of all their country. There are also about two hundred families of Mahesris, or merchants of the Saiva caste. Pipar carries on a considerable traffic, and has a chintz manufactory, which employs thirty families. It is in the grant of the feudal chief of Nimaj, whose death has been already related. A cenotaph, dedicated to one of his ancestors, has been half destroyed by the Goths of India. Pipar is celebrated in the traditions of the desert as one of the cities [738] founded by Gandharvasen, the Pramara monarch of Avanti, prior to the Christian era.^[3] The only inscription I discovered was in a temple of the sea-goddess Lakshmi. It bore the names of Bijai Singh and Delanji, Rajputs of the Guhilot race, with the ancient title of Rawal. It was a happy confirmation of the most ancient chronicle of Mewar, which divides the Guhilots into twenty-four sakha or branches, of which one is called ‘Piparia,’ doubtless from their having conquered this tract from the Takshak Pramara.

852There is an abundance of wells, from sixty to eighty feet in depth. Of one recently excavated, I obtained the following details of the strata, which may be gratifying to the geologist. The first twenty feet are composed entirely of that kind of earth called dhamani, chiefly decomposed sandstone with a mixture of black earth, in which occurs a stratum of bluish clay mixed with particles of quartz: this earth is called morar in Marwar, and morand in Jaipur. It was then necessary to cut through a rock of red granite ^[4] for thirty feet; then several feet of an almost milk-white steatite, succeeded by stalactitic concretions of sandstone and quartz.

Legend of the Sāmpu Lake.

—Good water is also obtained from a lake called the Sampu, which is connected with the tradition of the foundation of Pipar. A Brahman of the Pali tribe, whose name was Pipa, was in the habit of carrying milk to a deity of the Serpent (Takshak) race, whose retreat was on the banks of this lake, and who deposited two pieces of gold in return for the Paliwal’s offering. Being compelled to go to Nagor, he gave instructions to his son to perform his charitable office; but the youth, deeming it a good opportunity to become master of the treasure, took a stick with him, and when the serpent issued forth for his accustomed fare, he struck him violently; but the snake being “scotched, not killed,” retreated to his hole. The young Brahman related his adventure to his mother; when the good woman, dreading the vengeance of the serpentine deity, prepared a servant and bullock to convey her son to his father at Nagor. But what was her horror in the morning, when she went to call the youth, to find, instead of him, the huge serpent coiled up in his bed! Pipa, on his return, was inconsolable; but stifling his revenge, he propitiated the serpent with copious libations of milk. The scaly monster was conciliated, and revealed the stores he guarded to Pipa, commanding him to raise a monument which would transmit a knowledge of the event to future ages [739]. Hence Pipar arose from Pipa the Pali, and the name of the lake Sampu, from his benefactor the ‘serpent’ (sampa). All these allegorical tales regard the Takshak races, the followers of the religion of Buddha or Jaina, and their feuds with the Brahmanical sects. It is evident that Pipa the Pali worshipped both; and the very name 853induces a belief that the whole Paliwal caste are converts from Buddhism.^[5]

Lākha Phulāni.

—There is a kund or fountain, called after Lakha Phulani, who ruled in ancient times at Phulra, in the farther corner of the desert, but carried his arms even to the ocean. Wherever I have travelled, tradition is loud in praise of Phulani, from the source of the Luni to its embouchure in the Delta of the Indus.^[6]

Mādreo.

—November 23.—Madreo, five coss (10 miles 2 furlongs). Roads good; soil as yesterday, but the country very desolate; only stunted shrubs since we removed from the margin of the river. This is a moderate-sized village, with a tank of good water.

Bharūnda.

—November 24.—Bharunda, four coss, or eight miles. The face of the country now changes materially; our route was over a low undulating ridge of sandstone, in which the stunted shrubs of this region find a bed. At one time the elevation was sufficiently great to allow the chasm through which the road passed to be dignified with the name of the Ghasuria Pass, in which a party of the Raja’s men is posted for defence, and the levy of transit duties. Bharunda is in the fief of Gopal Singh, the chief of Kuchaman, one of the most conspicuous of the Mertia clan. It consists of one hundred and fifty houses; the cultivators are Jats, as are those of all the preceding villages.

I paid a visit to the humble cenotaphs of Bharunda; one of 854them bore the name of Badan Singh, a sub-vassal of Kuchaman, who was slain in the heroic charge against De Boigne’s brigades, in the patriot field of Merta. His name claims the admiration of all who esteem loyalty and patriotism, the inherent virtues of the chivalrous Rajput. Raja Bijai Singh had resumed Bharunda, when the Thakur [740] retired to the adjacent court of Jaipur, where he was well received according to the hospitable customs of the Rajput, and had risen to favour at the period when the Mahrattas invaded his bapota, ‘the land of his fathers.’ Resentment was instantly sacrificed at the altar of patriotism; he put himself at the head of one hundred and fifty horse, and flew to his sovereign’s and his country’s defence. Unhappily, the whole Mahratta army interposed between him and his countrymen. To cut their way through all impediments was the instant resolve of Badan and his brave companions. They fell sword in hand upon a multitude; and, with the exception of a few, who forced their way (amongst whom was the chief whose monument is referred to), they were cut to pieces. Badan Singh lived to reach his ancient estate, which was restored to his family in token of his sovereign’s gratitude for the gallant deed. It is valued at seven thousand rupees annual rent, and has attached to it, as a condition, the service of defending this post. There was another small altar erected to the manes of Partap, who was killed in the defence of this pass against the army of Aurangzeb.

Indāwar.

—November 25.—Indawar, five coss (10 miles 2 furlongs). This place consists of two hundred houses; the cultivators are Jats. I have said little of these proprietors of the soil, a sturdy, independent, industrious race, who “venerate the plough,” and care little about the votaries of Mars or their concerns, so that they do not impose excessive taxes on them. They are a stout, well-built, though rather murky race. The village is assigned to the ex-prince of Sind, who derives his sole support from the liberality of the princes of Marwar. He is of the tribe called Kalhora,^[7] and claims descent from the Abbassides of Persia. His family has been supplanted by the Talpuris, a branch of the 855Numris (the foxes) of Baluchistan, who now style themselves Afghans, but who are in fact one of the most numerous of the Getae or Jat colonies from Central Asia. But let us not wander from our subject.

I will beg the reader to descend seventy or eighty feet with me to view the stratification of Indawar. First, three feet of good soil; five feet of red sandy earth, mixed with particles of quartz; six feet of an unctuous indurated clay;^[8] [741]—then follows a sand-rock, through which it was necessary to penetrate about sixty feet; this was succeeded by twenty feet of almost loose sand, with particles of pure quartz embedded; nodules and stalactitic concretions of sandstone, quartz, and mica, agglutinated together by a calcareous cement. The interior of the well throughout this last stratum is faced with masonry: the whole depth is more than sixty-five cubits, or forty yards. At this depth a spring of excellent water broke in upon the excavators, which supplies Indawar.

Merta.

—November 26.—Merta, four coss (9 miles 1 furlong). The whole march was one extended plain; the Aravalli towering about twenty-five miles to our right. To the west a wide waste, consisting of plains gently undulating, and covered with grass and underwood. Natural sterility is not the cause of this desert aspect, for the soil is rich; but the water is far beneath the surface, and they cannot depend upon the heavens. Juar, moth, and sesamum were cultivated to a considerable extent in the immediate vicinity of the villages, but the product had this season been scanty. The appearance of the town is imposing, its site being on a rising ground. The spires of the mosque which was erected on the ruins of a Hindu temple by the tyrant Aurangzeb overtop the more ponderous and unaspiring mandirs which surround it. Notwithstanding, this monarch was the object of universal execration to the whole Hindu race, more especially to the Rathors (whose sovereign, the brave Jaswant, together with his elder son, he put to death by poison, and kept Ajit twenty long years from his birthright, besides deluging their fields with the richest blood of his nobles); still, such is Hindu toleration, that a marble is placed, inscribed both in Hindi and Persian, to protect the mosque from violence. This mark of liberality proceeded from the pretender Dhonkal Singh, as if with a view 856of catching golden opinions from the demoralized Pathans, by whose aid he hoped to regain his rights. But how was he deceived! His advances were met by the foul assassination, at one fell swoop, of all his party, by the chief of these mercenaries, Amir Khan.

Merta was founded by Rao Duda of Mandor, whose son, the celebrated Maldeo, erected the castle, which he called Malkot.^[9] Merta, with its three hundred and sixty townships, became the appanage of his son Jaimall, and gave its name of Mertia to the bravest of the brave clans of the Rathors. Jaimall [742] was destined to immortalize his name beyond the limits of Maru. Distrusted by his father, and likely to be deserving of suspicion, from the very ruse to which Sher Shah acknowledged he owed his safety, he was banished from Marwar. He was hospitably received by the Rana, who assigned to the heir of Mandor the rich district of Badnor, equalling his own in extent, and far richer in soil than the plains he had abandoned. How he testified his gratitude for this reception, nobler pens than mine have related. The great Akbar claimed the honour of having with his own hand sealed his fate: he immortalized the matchlock with which he effected it, and which was also the theme of Jahangir’s praise, who raised a statue in honour of this defender of Chitor and the rights of its infant prince.^[10] Abu-l-fazl, Herbert, the chaplain to Sir T. Roe, Bernier, all honoured the name of Jaimall; and the chivalrous Lord Hastings, than whom none was better able to appreciate Rajput valour, manifested his respect by his desire to conciliate his descendant, the present brave baron of Badnor.^[11]

The town of Merta covers a large space of ground, and is enclosed with a strong wall and bastions, composed of earth to the westward, but of freestone to the east. All, however, are in a state of decay, as well as the town itself, which is said to contain twenty thousand houses. Like most Hindu towns, there is a mixture of magnificence and poverty; a straw or mud hut adjoins a superb house of freestone, which “shames the meanness” of its neighbour. The castle is about a gun-shot to the south-west of the 857town, and encloses an area of a mile and a half. Some small sheets of water are on the eastern and western faces. There are plenty of wells about the town, but the water has an unpleasant taste, from filtering through a stiff clay. There are but two strata before water is found, which is about twenty-five feet from the surface: the first a black mould, succeeded by the clay, incumbent on a loose sand, filled with quartzose pebbles of all hues, and those stalactitic concretions which mark, throughout the entire line from Jodhpur to Ajmer, the stratum in which the springs find a current. There are many small lakes around the town, as the Dudasar, or ‘lake (sar) of Duda’; the Bejpa, the Durani, the Dangolia, etc.

The Battlefield.

—The plain of Merta is one continuous sepulchre, covered with altars to the manes of the warriors who, either in the civil wars which have distracted this State [743], or in the more patriotic strife with the southron Goths, have drenched it with their blood. It is impossible to pass over this memorable field without a reference to these acts; but they would be unintelligible without going to the very root of dissension, which not only introduced the Mahratta to decide the intestine broils of the Rajput States, but has entailed a perpetuity of discord on that of Marwar. I have already succinctly related the parricidal murder of Raja Ajit, which arose out of the politics of the imperial court, when the Sayyids of Barha ^[12]—the Warwicks of the East—deposed the Emperor Farrukhsiyar, and set up a puppet of their own. With his daughter (whose marriage with the emperor originated, as already recorded, the first grant of land to the East-India Company), he retired to his dominions, leaving his son Abhai Singh at court, and refusing his sanction to the nefarious schemes of the Sayyids. They threatened destruction to Marwar, declaring to the son of Ajit that the only mode of averting its ruin was his own elevation, and his subservience to their views, which object could only be obtained by his father’s deposal and death. Even the reasoning resorted to, as well as the dire purpose of the miscreants, is preserved, and may serve as an illustration of Rajput feeling. When Abhai Singh refused or hesitated, he was asked, “Ma bap ka sakha, ya zamin ka sakha?” which, though difficult to render with accuracy, may be translated: “Are you a branch (sakha) of the land or 858of your parents?” As before said, land is all in all to the Rajput; it is preferred to everything: Abhai’s reply may therefore be inferred. Immediate installation was to be the reward of his revenging the Sayyids. That nature could produce from the same stock two such monsters as the brothers who effected the deed, is, perhaps, hardly conceivable, and would, probably, not be credited, were not the fact proved beyond doubt. I should desire, for the honour of the Rajput race, whose advocate and apologist I candidly avow myself, to suppress the atrocious record: but truth is dearer even than Rajput character. Of the twelve sons of Ajit, Abhai Singh and Bakhta Singh were the two elder; both were by the same mother, a princess of Bundi. To Bakhta Singh, who was with his father, the eldest brother wrote, promising him the independent sovereignty of Nagor (where they then were), with its five hundred and fifty-five townships, as the price of murdering their common sire. Not only was the wretch unstartled by the proposition, but he executed the deed with his own hands, under circumstances of unparalleled atrocity. His [744] mother always dreaded the temperament and disposition of Bakhta, who was bold, haughty, impetuous, with a perpetual thirst for action; and she cautioned her husband never to admit him into his presence after dusk, or when unattended. But the Raja, whose physical strength was equal to his bravery, ridiculed her fears, observing, “Is he not my child? Besides, a slap on the face from me would annihilate the stripling.” Upon receiving the note from his brother, Bakhta, after taking leave of his father, concealed himself in a chamber adjoining that where his parents reposed. When all was still the murderer stole to the bed in which lay the authors of his existence, and from a pallet, on which were placed the arms of Ajit, he seized his sword, and coolly proceeded to exhaust those veins which contained the same blood that flowed in his own. In order that nothing might be wanting to complete the deed of horror, the mother was awakened by the blood of her lord moistening her bosom. Her cries awoke the faithful Rajputs who lay in the adjacent apartments, and who, bursting into the chamber, discovered their prince and father dead: “Treason had done its worst.” The assassin fled to the roof of the palace, barring the gates behind him, which resisted all attempts to force them until morning, when he threw into the court below the letter of his brother, 859exclaiming, “This put the Maharaja to death, not I.” Abhai Singh was now their sovereign; and it is the actual occupant of the throne whom the Rajput deems entitled to his devotion. Eighty-four Satis took place on this dire occasion, the parent of these unnatural regicidal and parricidal sons leading the funeral procession. So much was Ajit beloved, that even men devoted themselves on his pyre. Such was the tragical end of the great Ajit, lamented by his chiefs, and consecrated by the bard, in stanzas in honour of him and in execration of the assassins; which afford proof of the virtuous independence of the poetic chronicler of Rajasthan.

The Sons of Ajīt Singh.

—Bakhta Singh obtained Nagor; and Abhai Singh was rewarded with the viceroyalty of Gujarat, which gift he repaid by aiding in its partition, and annexing the rich districts of Bhinmal, Sanchor, and others, to Marwar; on which occasion he added Jalor to the domain of his brother Bakhta, or, as the bard styles him, bad-bakhta, ‘the unfortunate.’ This additional reward of parricide has been the cause of all the civil wars of Marwar.

We may slightly notice the other sons of Ajit, whose issue affected the political society of Rajputana. Of these,

Devi Singh was given for adoption to Maha Singh, head of the Champawat clan, he having no heirs. Devi Singh then held Bhinmal, but which he could not retain against the Koli tribes around him, and Pokaran was given in exchange. Sabal Singh, Sawai Singh, and Salim Singh (whose escape from the fate of the chieftain of Nimaj has been noticed) are the lineal issue of this adoption.

860Anand Singh, another son of Ajit, was in like manner adopted into the independent State of Idar, and his issue are heirs-presumptive to the throne of Marwar.

Effects of Adoption.

—From these races we derive the knowledge of a curious fact, namely, that the issue of the younger brother maintains a claim, though adopted into a foreign and independent State; while all such claims are totally extinguished by adoption into a home clan. Under no circumstances could the issue of Devi Singh sit on the gaddi of Marwar; when adopted into the Champawat clan, he surrendered all claims derived from his birth, which were merged into his vassal rank. Still the recollection must give weight and influence; and it is evident from the boast of the haughty Devi Singh, when his head was on the block, that there is danger in these adoptions.

Abhai Singh died, leaving a memorial of his prowess in the splendid additions he made to his territories from the tottering empire of Delhi. He was succeeded by his son Ram Singh, on whose accession his uncle Bakhta sent his aged foster-mother, an important personage in Rajwara, with the tika and gifts,and gifts, and other symbols of congratulation. Ram Singh, who had all the impetuosity of his race, received the lady-ambassador with no friendly terms, asking her if his uncle had no better messenger to salute his new sovereign. He refused the gifts, and commanded her to tell his uncle to surrender Jalor. The offended dame [746] extenuated nothing of the insolence of the message. The reply was, however, courteous, implying that both Jalor and Nagor were at his disposal. The same sarcastic spirit soon precipitated matters between them in the following manner.

Kusal Singh of Awa, the premier noble of Marwar, and of all the clans of Champawat, more brave than courtly, was short in stature, sturdy, boorish, and blunt; he became the object of his young sovereign’s derision, who used to style him the gurji gandhak, or ‘turnspit dog,’ and who had once the audacity to say, “Come, gurji”; when he received the laconic reproof: “Yes; the gurji that dare bite the lion.”

Brooding over this merited retort, he was guilty of another sarcasm, which closed the breach against all reconciliation. Seated one day in the garden of Mandor, he asked the same chief 861the name of a tree. “The champa,” was the reply, “and the pride of the garden, as I am of your Rajputs.” “Cut it down instantly,” said the prince; “root it out; nothing which bears the name of champa shall exist in Marwar.”

Kaniram of Asop, the chief of the next most powerful clan, the Kumpawat, was alike the object of this prince’s ridicule. His countenance, which was not “cast in nature’s finest mould,” became a butt for his wit, and he would familiarly say to him, ‘ao budha bandar,’ “Come along, old monkey.” Boiling with rage, the chief observed, “When the monkey begins to dance, you will have some mirth.” Leaving the court, with his brother chieftain of Awa, they collected their retainers and families, and marched to Nagor. Bakhta Singh was absent, but being advised by his locum tenens of his visitors, and of their quarrel with his nephew, he lost no time in joining them. It is said he expostulated with them, and offered himself as mediator; but they swore never again to look in the face of Ram Singh as their sovereign. They offered to place Bakhta Singh on the gaddi of Jodha; and threatened, if he refused, to abandon Marwar. He played the part of our Richard for a short time; but the habitual arrogance of his nephew soon brought matters to a crisis. As soon as he heard that the two leaders of all his vassals were received by his uncle, he addressed him, demanding the instant surrender of Jalor. Again he had the courtly reply: “He dare not contend against his sovereign; and if he came to visit him, he would meet him with a vessel of water.”^[15] War, a [747] horrid civil war, was now decided on; the challenge was given and accepted, and the plains of Merta were fixed upon to determine this mortal strife, in which brother was to meet brother, and all the ties of kin were to be severed by the sword. The Mertia clans, the bravest, as they are the most loyal and devoted, of all the brave clans of Maru, united to a man under the sovereign’s standard; the chiefs of Rian, Budsa, Mihtri, Kholar, Bhorawar, Kuchaman, Alniawas, Jusari, Bokri, Bharunda, Irwa, Chandarun, collected around them every vassal who could wield a brand. Most of the clans of Jodha, attracted by the name of 862swamidharma, ‘fidelity to their lord,’ united themselves to the Mertias; though a few, as Ladnun, Nimbi, were on the adverse side; but the principal leaders, as Khairwa, Govindgarh, and Bhadrajun, were faithful to their salt. Of the services of others, Ram Singh’s insolence deprived him. Few remained neuter. But these defections were nothing to the loss of a body of five thousand Jareja auxiliaries, whom his connexion with a daughter of the prince of Bhuj brought to his aid. When the tents were moved outside the capital, an incident occurred which, while it illustrates the singular character of the Rajput, may be regarded as the real cause of the loss of sovereignty to Ram Singh. An inauspicious raven had perched upon the kanat, or wall of the tent in which was the Jareja queen, who, skilled in the art of the suguni^[16] (augur), determined to avert it. Like all Rajputnis, who can use firearms on occasion, she seized a matchlock at hand, and, ere he “thrice croaked,” she shot him dead. The impetuous Raja, enraged at this instance of audacity and disrespect, without inquiry ordered the culprit to be dragged before him; nor was his anger assuaged when the name of the Rani was given. He reviled her in the grossest terms: “Tell the Rani,” he said, “to depart my dominions, and to return from whence she came.” She entreated and conjured him, by a regard to his own safety, to revoke the decree; but all in vain; and with difficulty could she obtain a short interview, but without effecting any change in her obdurate lord. Her last words were, “With my exile from your presence, you will lose the crown of Marwar.” She marched that instant, carrying with her the five thousand auxiliaries whose presence must have ensured his victory.

The Udawat clans, led by their chiefs of Nimaj, Raepur, and Raus, with all [748] the Karansots under the Thakur of Khinwasar, united their retainers with the Champawats and Kumpawats under the banners of Bakhta Singh.

Battle between Bakhta Singh and Rāja Rām Singh, A.D. 1752.

—Ram Singh’s array fell far short of his rival’s since the defection of the Jarejas; yet, trusting to the name of sovereign as “a tower of strength,” he boldly marched to the encounter, and when he reached the hostile field encamped near the Ajmer gate of Merta. His rival was not long behind, and marshalled his 863clans within three miles of the northern portal, called the gate of Nagor. The spot he chose had a sacred character, and was called Mataji ka Than, where there was a shrine of the Hindu Hecate, with a fountain said to have been constructed by the Pandavas.

Bakhta Singh commenced the battle. Leaving his camp standing, he advanced against his nephew and sovereign, whom he saluted with a general discharge of his artillery. A vigorous cannonade was continued on both sides throughout the day, without a single man seeking a closer encounter. It is no wonder they paused ere the sword was literally drawn. Here was no foreign foe to attack; brother met brother, friend encountered friend, and the blood which flowed in the veins of all the combatants was derived from one common fountain. The reluctance proceeded from the στοργή, the innate principle of natural affection. Evening advanced amidst peals of cannon, when an incident, which could only occur in an army of Rajputs, stopped the combat. On the banks of the Bejpa lake, the scene of strife, there is a monastery of Dadupanti ascetics, built by Raja Sur Singh. It was nearly midway between the rival armies, and the shot fell so thick amidst these recluses that they fled in a body, leaving only the old patriarch. Baba (father) Kishandeo disdained to follow his disciples, and to the repeated remonstrances from either party to withdraw, he replied, that if it was his fate to die by a shot he could not avert it; if not, the balls were innoxious: but although he feared not for himself, yet his gardens and monastery were not “charmed,” and he commanded them to fight no longer on that ground. The approach of night, and the sacred character of the old abbot Dadupanti, conspired to make both parties obey his commands, and they withdrew to their respective encampments.

The dawn found the armies in battle-array, each animated with a deadly determination. It was Raja Ram’s turn to open this day’s combat, and he led the van against his uncle. Burning with the recollection of the indignities he had [749] suffered, the chief of Awa, determined to show that “the cur could bite,” led his Champawats to the charge against his sovereign. Incited by loyalty and devotion “to the gaddi of Marwar,” reckless who was its occupant, the brave Mertias met his onset steel in hand. The ties of kin were forgotten, or if remembered, the sense of the 864unnatural strife added a kind of frenzy to their valour, and confirmed their resolution to conquer or die. Here the Mertia, fighting under the eye of this valiant though intemperate prince, had to maintain his ancient fame, as “the first sword of Maru.” There his antagonist, the Champawat, jealous of this reputation, had the like incentive, besides the obligation to revenge the insults offered to his chief. The conflict was awful: the chieftains of each valiant clan met hand to hand, singling out each other by name. Sher Singh, chief of all the Mertias, was the first who sealed his devotion by his death. His place was soon filled by his brother, burning for vengeance. Again he cheered on his Mertias to avenge the death of their lord, as he propelled his steed against the chief of the Champawats. They were the sons of two sisters of the Jaipur house, and had hitherto lived in amity and brotherly love, now exchanged for deadly hate. They encountered, when the “cur” bit the dust, and was borne from the field. The loss of their leaders only inflamed the vassals on both sides, and it was long before either yielded a foot of ground. But numbers, and the repeated charges of Bakhta Singh who led wherever his nephew could be found, at length prevailed; though not until the extinction of the clan of Mertia, who, despising all odds, fought unto the death. Besides their head of Rian, there fell the sub-vassals of Irwa, Sewara, Jusari, and Mithri, with his three gallant sons, and almost all their retainers.

The Death of the Mīthri Chief.

—There is nothing more chivalrous in the days of Edward and Cressy than the death of the heir of Mithri, who, with his father and brothers, sealed his fealty with his blood on this fatal field. He had long engaged the hand of a daughter of a chief of the Narukas, and was occupied with the marriage rites, when tidings reached him of the approach of the rebels to Merta. The knot had just been tied, their hands had been joined—but he was a Mertia—he unlocked his hand from that of the fair Naruki, to court the Apsaras in the field of battle. In the bridal vestments, with the nuptial coronet (maur) encircling his forehead, he took his station with his clan in the second day’s fight, and “obtained a bride in Indra’s [750] abode.”^[17] The 865bards of Maru dwell with delight on the romantic glory of the youthful heir of Mithri, as they repeat in their Doric verse,

The paraphernalia here enumerated are very foreign to the cavalier of the west: “with pearls shining in his ears, and a golden chaplet round his neck, a space of eighty coss came the heir of Mithri.”

The virgin bride followed her lord from Jaipur, but instead of being met with the tabor and lute, and other signs of festivity, wail and lamentation awaited her within the lands of Mithri, where tidings came of the calamity which at once deprived this branch of the Mertias of all its supporters. Her part was soon taken; she commanded the pyre to be erected; and with the turban and tora^[19] which adorned her lord on this fatal day, she followed his shade to the mansions of the sun. I sought out the cenotaph of this son of honour in the blood-stained field; but the only couronne immortelle I could wreathe on the sandy plain was supplied by the Bardai, whose song is full of martial fire as he recounts the gallantry of Kunwar Mithriwala.

The Mertias, and their compeers on the side of the prince, made sad havoc amongst their opponents; and they still maintain that it was owing to the artillery alone that they were defeated. Their brave and loyal leader, Sher Singh of Rian, had fruitlessly endeavoured to recall his brother-in-law from the path of treason, but ineffectually; he spoke with sarcasm of his means to supplant Ram Singh by his uncle. The reply of the old baron of Awa is characteristic: “At least I will turn the land upside down”; to which Sher Singh rejoined, angrily, he would do his best to prevent him. Thus they parted; nor did they meet again till in arms at Merta.

In surveying this field of slaughter, the eye discerns no point d’appui, no village or key of position, to be the object of a struggle: nothing to obstruct the doubly-gorged falconet, which has no 866terrors for the uncontrollable valour of the Rathor; it perceives but a level plain, extended to the horizon, and now covered with the memorials of this day’s strife. Here appears the colonnaded mausoleum, with its airy cupola; there the humble altar, with its simple record of the name, clan, and sakha of him whose ashes repose beneath, with the date of the event [751], inscribed in rude characters. Of these monumental records I had copies made of about a score; they furnish fresh evidence of the singular character of the Rajput.

Ram Singh retired within the walls of the city, which he barricaded; but it being too extensive to afford the chance of defence against the enemy, he formed the fatal resolution of calling to his aid the Mahrattas, who were then rising into notice. At midnight he fled to the south; and at Ujjain found the Mahratta leader, Jai Apa Sindhia, with whom he concerted measures for the invasion of his country. Meantime his uncle being master of the field, repaired, without loss of time, to the capital, where he was formally enthroned; and his an was proclaimed throughout Marwar. As skilful as he was resolute, he determined to meet on his frontier the threatened invasion, and accordingly advanced to Ajmer, in order to interpose between the Mahrattas and Jaipur, whose prince, Isari Singh,^[20] was father-in-lawfather-in-law to his rival. He wrote him a laconic epistle, requiring him either instantly to unite with him in attacking the Mahrattas, or declare himself his foe. The Jaipur prince had many powerful reasons for not supporting Raja Bakhta, but he at the same time dreaded his enmity. In this extremity, he had recourse to an expedient too common in cases of difficulty. Concerting with his wife, a princess of Idar (then ruled by one of the sons of Ajit), the best mode of extrication from his difficulties, he required her aid to revenge the foul murder of Ajit, and to recover his son’s right. “In either case,” said he, “the sword must decide, for he leaves me no alternative: against him I have no hopes of success; and if I march to the aid of an assassin and usurper, I lose the good opinion of mankind.” In short, he made it appear that she alone could rescue him from his perils. It was therefore resolved to punish one crime by the commission of another. Isari Singh signified his assent; and to lull all suspicion, the Rathorni was to visit her uncle in his camp on the 867joint frontier of the three States of Mewar, Marwar, and Amber. A poisoned robe was the medium of revenge. Raja Bakhta, soon after the arrival of his niece, was declared in a fever; the physician was summoned: but the man of secrets, the Vaidya, declared he was beyond the reach of medicine, and bade him prepare for other scenes. The intrepid Rathor, yet undismayed, received the tidings even with a jest: “What, Suja,” said he, “no cure? Why do you take my lands and eat their produce, if you cannot combat my maladies? What is your art good for?” The Vaidya excavated a [752] small trench in the tent, which he filled with water; throwing into it some ingredient, the water became gelid. “This,” said he, “can be effected by human skill; but your case is beyond it: haste, perform the offices which religion demands.” With perfect composure he ordered the chiefs to assemble in his tent; and having recommended to their protection, and received their promise of defending the rights of his son, he summoned the ministers of religion into his presence. The last gifts to the church, and these her organs, were prepared; but with all his firmness, the anathema of the Satis, as they ascended the funeral pyre on which his hand had stretched his father, came into his mind; and as he repeated the ejaculation, “May your corpse be consumed in foreign land!” he remembered he was then on the border. The images which crossed his mental vision it is vain to surmise: he expired as he uttered these words; and over his remains, which were burnt on the spot, a cenotaph was erected, and is still called Bura Dewal, the ‘Shrine of Evil.’

But for that foul stain, Raja Bakhta would have been one of the first princes of his race. It never gave birth to a bolder; and his wisdom was equal to his valour. Before the commission of that act, he was adored by his Rajputs. He was chiefly instrumental in the conquests made from Gujarat; and afterwards, in conjunction with his brother, in defeating the imperial viceroy, Sarbuland.^[21] His elevation could not be called a usurpation, since Ram Singh was totally incapacitated, through his 868ungovernable passions, for sovereign sway; and the brave barons of Marwar, “all sons of the same father with their prince,” have always exercised the right of election, when physical incapacity rendered such a measure requisite. It is a right which their own customary laws, as well as the rules of justice, have rendered sacred. According to this principle, nearly all the feudality of Maru willingly recognized, and swore to maintain, the claims of his successor, Bijai Singh. The Rajas of Bikaner and Kishangarh, both independent branches of this house, gave in their assent. Bijai Singh was accordingly proclaimed and installed at Marot, and forthwith conducted to Merta.

The ex-prince, Ram Singh, accompanied Jai Apa to the siege of Kotah, and subsequently through Mewar, levying contributions as they passed to Ajmer. Here a dispute occurred between the brave Rathor and Sindhia, whose rapacious spirit for plunder received a severe reproof: nevertheless they crossed the frontier [753], and entered Marwar. Bijai Singh, with all the hereditary valour of his race, marched to meet the invaders, at the head of nearly all the chivalry of Maru, amounting to 200,000 men.

Battle of Merta, about A.D. 1756.

—The first day both armies encountered, they limited their hostility to a severe cannonade and partial actions, the inhabitants of Merta supplying the combatants with food, in which service many were killed; even the recluse Dadupantis ran the risk in this patriotic struggle, and several of the old patriarch’s disciples suffered. The second day passed in the same manner, with many desperate charges of cavalry, in which the Mahrattas invariably suffered, especially from a select body of 5000 select horse, all cased in armour, which nothing could withstand. The superior numerical strength of Ram Singh and his allies compelled Bijai Singh not to neglect the means of retreat. Throughout the first and second days’ combat, the cattle of the train had been kept yoked; on the third, they had carried them to a small rivulet in the rear to water. It was at the precise moment of time when the legion of cuirassiers were returning from a charge which had broken to pieces the Mahratta line, as they approached their friends, the word ‘daga’ spread like wildfire; they were mistaken for Ram Singh’s adherents, and a murderous shower of grape opened upon the flower of their own army, who were torn to pieces ere 869the fatal error was discovered. But such was the impression which this band of heroes had just made on the Mahrattas, that they feared to take advantage of this disaster. A feeling of horror pervaded the army of Bijai Singh, as the choice of their chivalry conveyed the slain and the wounded to the camp. A council of war was summoned, and the aid of superstition came to cool that valour which the Mahrattas, in spite of their numbers, could never subdue. The Raja was young—only twenty years of age; and being prudent as well as brave, he allowed experience to guide him. The Raja of Bikaner, of the same kin and clan, took the lead, and advised a retreat. In the accident related, he saw the hand of Providence, which had sent it to serve as a signal to desist. The Raja had a great stake to lose, and doubtless deemed it wise to preserve his auxiliaries for the defence of his own dominions. It was a case which required the energy of Bakhta: but the wavering opinion of the council soon spread throughout the camp, and was not unobserved by the enemy; nor was it till Bikaner marched off with his aid, towards the close of the day, that any advantage was taken of it [754]. Then Ram Singh at the head of a body of Rajputs and Mahrattas poured down upon them, and ‘sauve qui peut’ became the order of the day. To gain Merta was the main object of the discomfited and panic-struck Rathors; but many chiefs with their vassals marched direct for their estates. The guns were abandoned to their fate, and became the first proud trophy the Mahrattas gained over the dreaded Rajputs. The Raja of Kishangarh, also a Rathor, followed the example of his brother prince of Bikaner, and carried off his bands. Thus deserted by his dispirited and now dispersed barons, the young prince had no alternative but flight, and at midnight he took the route of Nagor. In the darkness he mistook the road, or was misled into that of Rain, whose chieftain was the companion of his flight. Calling him by name, Lal Singh, he desired him to regain the right path; but the orders of a sovereign at the head of a victorious army, and those of a fugitive prince, are occasionally received, even amongst Rajputs, with some shades of distinction. The chief begged permission, as he was near home, to visit his family and bring them with him. Too dignified to reply, the young prince remained silent and the Thakur of Rain ^[22] loitered in the rear. The Raja 870reached Kajwana, with only five of his cuirassiers (silahposh) as an escort. Here he could not halt with safety; but as he left the opposite barrier, his horse dropped down dead. He mounted another belonging to one of his attendants, and gained Deswal, three miles farther. Here the steeds, which had been labouring throughout the day under the weight of heavy armour, in addition to the usual burden of their riders, were too jaded to proceed; and Nagor was still sixteen miles distant. Leaving his worn-out escort, and concealing his rank, he bargained with a Jat to convey him before break of day to the gate of Nagor for the sum of five rupees. The peasant, after stipulating that the coin should be bijaishahis,^[23] ‘the new currency,’ which still remains the standard, the common car of husbandry was brought forth, on which the king of Maru ascended, and was drawn by a pair of Nagori oxen. The royal fugitive was but little satisfied with their exertions, though their pace was good, and kept continually urging them, with the customary cry of “hank! hank!“ The honest Jat, conscious that his cattle did their best, at length lost all temper. Repeating the sounds ”hank! hank!” “Who are you,” asked he, “that are hurrying on at this rate? It were more becoming [755] that such a sturdy carl should be in the field with Bijai Singh at Merta, than posting in this manner to Nagor. One would suppose you had the southrons (dakkhinis) at your heels. Therefore be quiet, for not a jot faster shall I drive.” Morning broke, and Nagor was yet two miles distant: the Jat, turning round to view more attentively his impatient traveller, was overwhelmed with consternation when he recognized his prince. He leaped from the vehicle, horror-struck that he should have been sitting ‘on the same level’ with his sovereign, and absolutely refused to sin any longer against etiquette. “I pardon the occasion,” said the prince mildly; “obey.” The Jat resumed his seat, nor ceased exclaiming hank! hank! until he reached the gate of Nagor. Here the prince alighted, paid his price of conveyance, and dismissed the Jat of Deswal, with a promise of further recompense hereafter. On that day the enemy invested Nagor, but not before Bijai Singh had dispatched the chief of Harsor to defend the capital, and issued his proclamations to summon the ban of Marwar.

871

Resistance of Bijai Singh.

—During six months he defended himself gallantly in Nagor, against which the desultory Mahrattas, little accustomed to the operations of a siege, made no impression, while they suffered from the sallies of their alert antagonist. Encouraged by their inactivity, the young prince, imbued with all the native valour of his race, and impelled by that decisive energy of mind which characterized his father, determined upon a step which has immortalized his memory. He resolved to cut his way through the enemy, and solicit succours in person. He had a dromedary corps five hundred strong. Placing on these a devoted band of one thousand Rajputs, in the dead of night he passed the Mahratta lines unobserved, and made direct for Bikaner. Twenty-four hours sufficed to seat him on the same gaddi with its prince, and to reveal to him the melancholy fact, that here he had no hopes of succour. Denied by a branch of his own house, he resorted to a daring experiment upon the supporter of his antagonist. The next morning he was on his way, at the head of his dromedary escort, to the capital of the Kachhwahas, Jaipur. The “ships of the desert” soon conveyed him to that city. He halted under the walls, and sent a messenger to say that in person he had come to solicit his assistance.

Isari Singh, the son and successor of the great Sawai Jai Singh, had neither the talents of his father, nor even the firmness which was the common inheritance [756] of his race. He dreaded the rival Rathor; and the pusillanimity which made him become the assassin of the father, prompted him to a breach of the sacred laws of hospitality (which, with courage, is a virtue almost inseparable from a Rajput soul), and make a captive of the son. But the base design was defeated by an instance of devotion and resolution, which will serve to relieve the Rajput character from the dark shades which the faithful historian is sometimes forced to throw into the picture. Civil war is the parent of every crime, and severs all ties, moral and political; nor must it be expected that Rajputana should furnish the exception to a rule, which applies to all mankind in similar circumstances. The civil wars of England and France, during the conflicts of the White and Red Roses, and those of the League, will disclose scenes which would suffice to dye with the deepest hues an entire dynasty of the Rajputs. Let such deeds as the following 872be placed on the virtuous side of the account, and the crimes on the opposite side be ascribed to the peculiarities of their condition.

Devotion of the Mertias.

—The devoted sacrifice of Sher Singh, the chief of the Mertia clan, has already been recorded. When victory declared against the side he espoused, the victorious Bakhta Singh resumed the estates of Rian from his line, and conferred them on a younger branch of the family. Jawan Singh was the name of the individual, and he was now with the chosen band of the son of his benefactor, soliciting succour from the king of the Kachhwahas. He had married the daughter of the chief of Achrol, one of the great vassals of Jaipur, who was deep in the confidence of his sovereign, to whom he imparted his design to seize the person of his guest and suppliant at the interview he had granted. Aware that such a scheme could not be effected without bloodshed, the Achrol chieftain, desirous to save his son-in-law from danger, under an oath of secrecy revealed the plot, in order that he might secure himself. The Jaipur prince came to the ‘Travellers’ hall’ (dharmsala), where the Rathor had alighted; they embraced with cordiality, and seated themselves on the same gaddi together. While compliments were yet passing, the faithful Mertia, who, true to his pledge, had not even hinted to his master the danger that threatened him, placed himself immediately behind the Jaipur prince, sitting, as if accidentally, on the flowing skirt of his robe. The Raja, turning round to the leader of “the first of the swords of Maru,” remarked “Why, Thakur, have you taken a seat in the background to-day?” “The day requires it, Maharaja” [757], was the laconic reply: for the post of the Mertias was the sovereign’s right hand. Turning to his prince, he said, “Arise, depart, or your life or liberty is endangered.” Bijai Singh arose, and his treacherous host made an attempt to follow, but felt his design impeded by the position the loyal chief had taken on his garment, whose drawn dagger was already pointed to his heart, where he threatened to sheathe it if any hindrance was offered to the safe departure of his sovereign, to whom he coolly said, as the prince left the astonished assembly, “Send me word when you are mounted.” The brave Bijai Singh showed himself worthy of his servant, and soon sent to say, “He now only waited for him”: a message, the import of which was not understood by the treacherous Kachhwaha. The leader 873of the Mertias sheathed his dagger—arose—and coming in front of the Raja, made him a respectful obeisance. The Jaipur prince could not resist the impulse which such devotion was calculated to produce; he arose, returned the salutation, and giving vent to his feelings, observed aloud to his chiefs, “Behold a picture of fidelity! It is in vain to hope for success against such men as these.”

Bijai Singh returns to Nāgor.

—Foiled in all his endeavours, Bijai Singh had no resource but to regain Nagor, which he effected with the same celerity as he quitted it. Six months more passed away in the attempt to reduce Nagor; but though the siege was fruitless, not so were the efforts of his rival Ram Singh in other quarters, to whom almost all the country had submitted: Marot, Parbatsar, Pali, Sojat had received his flag; and besides the capital and the town he held in person, Jalor, Siwana, and Phalodi were the only places which had not been reduced. In this extremity, Bijai Singh listened to an offer to relieve him from these multiplied difficulties, which, in its consequences, alienated for ever the brightest gem in the crown of Marwar.

The Assassination of Jai Āpa Sindhia, A.D. 1759.

—A Rajput and an Afghan, both foot-soldiers on a small monthly pay, offered, if their families were provided for, to sacrifice themselves for his safety by the assassination of the Mahratta commander. Assuming the garb of camp-settlers, they approached the headquarters, feigning a violent quarrel. The simple Mahratta chief was performing his ablutions at the door of his tent, and as they approached they became more vociferous, and throwing a bundle of statements of account on the ground, begged he would decide between them. In this manner they came nearer and nearer, and as he listened to their story, one plunged his dagger in his side, exclaiming, “This for Nagor!” and “This for Jodhpur!” said his companion [758], as he repeated the mortal blow. The alarm was given; the Afghan was slain; but the Rajput called out “Thief!” and mingling with the throng, escaped by a drain into the town of Nagor.^[24] Though the crime was rewarded, the 874Rathor refused to see the criminal. The siege continued, but in spite of every precaution, reinforcements both of men and provisions continued to be supplied. It ill suited the restless Mahratta to waste his time in these desert regions, which could be employed so much more profitably on richer lands: a compromise ensued, in which the cause of Ram Singh was abandoned, on stipulating for a fixed triennial tribute, and the surrender of the important fortress and district of Ajmer in full sovereignty to the Mahratta, in mundkati, or compensation for the blood of Jai Apa. The monsoon was then approaching; they broke up, and took possession of this important conquest, which, placed in the very heart of these regions, may be called the key of Rajputana.

The cross of St. George now waves over the battlements of Ajmer,^[25] planted, if there is any truth in political declarations, not for the purpose of conquest, or to swell the revenues of British India, but to guard the liberties and the laws of these ancient principalities from rapine and disorder. It is to be hoped that this banner will never be otherwise employed, and that it may never be execrated by the brave Rajput.

The deserted Ram Singh continued to assert his rights with the same obstinacy by which he lost them; and for which he staked his life in no less than eighteen encounters against his uncle and cousin. At length, on the death of Isari Singh of Jaipur, having lost his main support, he accepted the Marwar share of the Salt Lake of Sambhar, and Jaipur relinquishing the other half, he resided there until his death [759].

Mahādaji Sindhia, A.D. 1759-94. Battle of Lālsot, A.D. 1787.

—Mahadaji Sindhia succeeded to the command of the horde led by his relation, Jai Apa. He had the genius to discover that his southron horse would never compete with the Rajputs, and he set about improving that arm to which the Mahrattas finally owed success. This sagacious chief soon perceived that the political position of the great States of Rajasthan was most favourable to his views of establishing his power in this quarter. They were not only at variance with each other, but, as it has already appeared, were individually distracted with civil dissensions. The interference of the Rana of Udaipur had obtained for his nephew, Madho Singh, the gaddi of Jaipur; but this advantage was gained only through the introduction of the Mahrattas, and the establishment of a tribute, as in Marwar. This brave people felt the irksomeness of their chains, and wished to shake them off. Madho Singh’s reign was short; he was succeeded by Partap, who determined to free himself from this badge of dependence.^[1] Accordingly, when Mahadaji Sindhia invaded his country, at the head of a powerful army, he called on the Rathors for aid. The cause was their own; and they jointly determined to redeem what had been lost. As the bard of the Rathors observes, they [760] forgot all their just grounds of offence ^[2] against the Jaipur court, and sent the flower of their chivalry under the chieftain of Rian, whose fidelity has been so recently recorded. At Tonga (the battle is also termed that of Lalsot), the rival armies encountered. The celebrated Mogul chiefs, Ismail Beg and Hamdani, added their forces to those of the combined Rajputs, and gained an entire victory, in which 876the Rathors had their full share of glory. The noble chief of Rian formed his Rathor horse into a dense mass, with which he charged and overwhelmed the flower of Sindhia’s army, composed of the regulars under the celebrated De Boigne.^[3] Sindhia was driven from the field, and retired to Mathura; for years he did not recover the severity of this day. The Rathors sent a force under the Dhaibhai, which redeemed Ajmer, and annulled their tributary engagement.

Battle of Pātan, June 20, 1790.

—The genius of General Comte de Boigne ably seconded the energetic Sindhia. A regular force was equipped, far superior to any hitherto known, and was led into Rajputana to redeem the disgrace of Tonga. The warlike Rathors determined not to await the attack within their own limits, but marched their whole force to the northern frontier of Jaipur, and formed a junction with the Kachhwahas at the town of Patan (Tuarvati).^[4] The words of the war-song, which the inspiring bards repeated as they advanced, are still current in Marwar; but an unlucky stanza, which a juvenile Charan had composed after the battle of Tonga, had completely alienated the Kachhwahas from their supporters, to whom they could not but acknowledge their inferiority:

877This stanza was retained in recollection at the battle of Patan; and if universal [761] affirmation may be received as proof, it was the cause of its loss, and with it that of Rajput independence. National pride was humbled: a private agreement was entered into between the Mahrattas and Jaipurians, whereby the latter, on condition of keeping aloof during the fight, were to have their country secured from devastation. As usual, the Rathors charged up to the muzzles of De Boigne’s cannon, sweeping all before them: but receiving no support, they were torn piecemeal by showers of grape and compelled to abandon the field. Then, it is recorded, the brave Rathor showed the difference between fighting on parbhum, or ‘foreign land,’ and on his own native soil. Even the women, it is averred, plundered them of their horses on this disastrous day; so heart-broken had the traitorous conduct of their allies rendered them. The Jaipurians paid dearly for their revenge, and for the couplet which recorded it:

Both these “ribald strains” are still the taunt of either race: by such base agencies are thrones overturned, and heroism rendered abortive!

When the fatal result of the battle of Patan was communicated to Raja Bijai Singh, he called a council of all his nobles, at which the independent branches of his family, the Rajas of Bikaner, Kishangarh, and Rupnagarh, assisted, for the cause was a common one. The Raja gave it as his own opinion, that it was better to 878fulfil the terms of the former treaty, on the murder of Jai Apa, acknowledge the cancelled tribute, and restore Ajmer, which they had recovered by a coup de main. His valorous chieftains opposed the degrading suggestion, and unanimously recommended that they should again try the chances of war ere they signed their humiliation. Their resolution swayed the prince, who issued his summons to every Rathor in his dominions to assemble under their Raja’s banner, once more planted on the ensanguined plains of Merta. A fine army was embodied; not a Rathor who could wield a sword but brought it for service in the cause of his country; and full thirty thousand men assembled on the 10th September 1790, determined to efface the recollections of Patan [762].

Battle of Merta, September 1790 A.D.

—There was one miscreant of Rathor race, who aided on this occasion to rivet his country’s chains, and his name shall be held up to execration—Bahadur Singh, the chief of Kishangarh. This traitor to his suzerain and race held, jointly with his brother of Rupnagarh, a domain of two hundred and ten townships: not a fief emanating from Marwar, but all by grant from the kings; still they received the tika, and acknowledged the supremacy of the head of Jodhpur. The brothers had quarrelled; Bahadur despoiled his brother of his share, and being deaf to all offers of mediation, Bijai Singh marched and re-inducted the oppressed chief into his capital, Rupnagarh. The fatal day of Patan occurred immediately after; and Bahadur, burning with revenge, repaired to De Boigne, and conducted him against his native land. Rupnagarh, it may be supposed, was his first object, and it will afford a good proof of the efficiency of the artillery of De Boigne, that he reduced it in twenty-four hours. Thence he proceeded to Ajmer, which he invested: and here the proposal was made by the Raja for its surrender, and for the fulfilment of the former treaty. Mahadaji in person remained at Ajmer, while his army, led by Lakwa, Jiwa-dada, Sudasheo Bhao, and other Mahratta leaders of horse, with the brigades of De Boigne and eighty pieces of cannon, advanced against the Rathors. The Mahrattas, preceding by one day’s march the regulars under De Boigne, encamped at Natria. The Rathor army was drawn out on the plains of Merta, one flank resting on the village of Dangiwas. Five miles separated the Rathors from the Mahrattas; De Boigne was yet in the rear, his guns being deep sunk in the sandy bed of the Luni. Here a 879golden opportunity was lost, which could never be regained, of deciding ‘horse to horse’ the claims of supremacy; but the evil genius of the Rathor again intervened: and as he was the victim at Patan to the jealousy of the Kachhwaha, so here he became the martyr to a meaner cause, the household jealousies of the civil ministers of his prince. It is customary in all the Rajput States, when the sovereign does not command in person, to send one of the civil ministers as his representative. Him the feudal chiefs will obey, but not one of their own body, at least without some hazard of dissension. Khub Chand Singwi, the first minister, was present with the Raja at the capital: Gangaram Bhandari and Bhimraj Singwi were with the army. Eager to efface the disgrace of Patan, the two great Rathor leaders, Sheo Singh of Awa, and Mahidas of Asop, who had sworn to free their country or die in the [763] attempt, demanded a general movement against the Mahrattas. This gallant impatience was seconded by all the other nobles, as well as by a successful attack on the foragers of the enemy, in which the Mahrattas lost all their cattle. But it was in vain they urged the raging ardour of their clans, the policy of taking advantage of it, and the absence of De Boigne, owing to whose admirable corps and well-appointed park the day at Patan was lost; Bhimraj silenced their clamour for the combat by producing a paper from the minister Khub Chand commanding them on their allegiance not to engage until the junction of Ismail Beg, already at Nagor. They fatally yielded obedience. De Boigne extricated his guns from the sands of Alniawas, and joined the main body. That night the Bikaner contingent, perceiving the state of things, and desirous to husband their resources to defend their own altars, withdrew. About an hour before day-break, De Boigne led his brigade to the attack, and completely surprised the unguarded Rajputs.^[7] They were awoke by showers of grape-shot, which soon broke their position: all was confusion; the resistance was feeble. It was the camp of the irregular infantry and guns which broke, and endeavoured to gain Merta; and the civil commanders took to flight. The alarm reached the more distant quarters of the brothers-in-arms, the chiefs of Awa and Asop. The latter was famed for the immense quantity of opium he consumed; and with difficulty could his companion awake him, with the appalling tidings, “The camp has fled, and 880we are left alone!” “Well, brother, let us to horse.” Soon the gallant band of both was ready, and twenty-two chiefs of note drank opium together for the last time. They were joined by the leaders of other clans; and first and foremost the brave Mertias of Rian, of Alniawas, Irwa, Chanod, Govindgarh; in all four thousand Rathors. When mounted and formed in one dense mass, the Awa chieftain shortly addressed them: “Where can we fly, brothers? But can there be a Rathor who has ties stronger than shame (laj)? If any one exist who prefers his wife and children to honour, let him retire.” Deep silence was the only reply to this heroic appeal; and as the hand of each warrior was raised to his forehead, the Awa chief gave the word “Forward!” They soon came up with De Boigne’s brigade, well posted, and defended by eighty pieces of cannon. “Remember Patan!” was the cry, as, regardless of showers of grape, this heroic band charged up to the cannon’s mouth, driving everything before them, cutting [764] down the line which defended the guns, and passing on to assault the Mahrattas, who were flying in all directions to avoid their impetuous valour. Had there been a reserve at this moment, the day of Merta would have surpassed that of Tonga. But here the skill of De Boigne, and the discipline of his troops, were an overmatch for valour unsustained by discipline and discretion. The Rathor band had no infantry to secure their victory; the guns were wheeled round, the line was re-formed, and ready to receive them on their return. Fresh showers of shot and grape met their thinned ranks; scarcely one of the four thousand left the field. The chiefs of Asop, Irwa, Chanod, Govindgarh, Alniawas, Morira, and others of lesser note, were among the slain; and upon the heaps of wounded, surrounded by his gallant clan, lay the chief of Awa, pierced with seven-and-twenty wounds. He had lain insensible twenty-four hours, when an old servant, during the night, searched for and found him on the field. A heavy shower had fallen, which increased the miseries of the wounded. Blind and faint, the Thakur was dragged out from the bodies of the slain. A little opiate revived him; and they were carrying him off, when they were encountered by Lakwa’s harkaras in search of chiefs of note; the wounded Thakur was conveyed to the headquarters at Merta. Lakwa sent a surgeon to sew up his wounds; but he disdained the courtesy, and refused all aid, until the meanest of his wounded 881vassals was attended to. This brave man, when sufficiently recovered, refused all solicitation from his sympathizing foes that the usual rejoicing might be permitted, and that he would shave and perform the ablutions after sickness, till he could see his sovereign. The Raja advanced from his capital to meet him, and lavished encomiums on his conduct. He now took the bath, preparatory to putting on the honorary dress; but in bathing his wounds opened afresh, and he expired.

Bhimraj Singwi received at Nagor, whither he had fled, a letter of accusation from his sovereign, on which he swallowed poison; but although he was indirectly the cause of the defeat, by his supineness, and subsequent disgraceful flight, it was the minister at the capital whose treason prevented the destruction of the Mahrattas: Khub Chand was jealous of Bhimraj; he dreaded being supplanted by him if he returned from Merta crowned with success; and he therefore penned the dispatch which paralysed their energies, enjoining them to await the junction of Ismail Beg [765].

Thus, owing to a scurrilous couplet of a bard, and to the jealousy of a contemptible court-faction, did the valiant Rathors lose their independence—if it can be called lost—since each of these brave men still deems himself a host, when “his hour should come” to play the hero. Their spirit is not one jot diminished since the days of Tonga and Merta.^[8]

882

British Policy towards the Rajputs.

—By a careful investigation of the circumstances which placed those brave races in their present political position, the paramount protecting power may be enabled to appreciate them, either as allies or as foes; and it will demonstrate more effectually than mere opinions, from whatever source, how admirably qualified they are, if divested of control, to harmonize, in a very important respect, with the British system of government in the East. We have nothing to dread from them, individually or collectively; and we may engage their very hearts’ blood in our cause against whatever foes may threaten us, foreign or domestic, if we only exert our interference when mediation will be of advantage to them, without offence to [766] their prejudices. Nor is there any difficulty in the task; all honour the peacemaker, and they would court even arbitration if once assured that we had no ulterior views. But our strides have been rapid from Calcutta to Rajputana, and it 883were well if they credit what the old Nestor of India (Zalim Singh of Kotah) would not, who, in reply to all my asseverations that we wished for no more territory, said, “I believe you think so; but the time will come when there will be but one sikka^[9] throughout India. You stepped in, Maharaj, at a lucky time, the phut^[10] was ripe and ready to be eaten, and you had only to take it bit by bit. It was not your power, so much as our disunion, which made you sovereigns, and will keep you so.” His reasoning is not unworthy of attention, though I trust his prophecy may never be fulfilled.

Jharāu.

—November 28.—Camp at Jharau, five coss (11 miles). On leaving Merta, we passed over the ground sacred to “the four thousand,” whose heroic deeds, demonstrating at once the Rajput’s love of freedom and his claim to it, we have just related. We this day altered our course from the N.N.E., which would have carried us, had we pursued it, to the Imperial city, for a direction to the southward of east, in order to cross our own Aravalli and gain Ajmer. The road was excellent, the soil very fair; but though there were symptoms of cultivation near the villages, the wastes were frightfully predominant; yet they are not void of vegetation: there is no want of herbage or stunted shrubs. The Aravalli towered majestically in the distant horizon, fading from our view towards the south-east, and intercepted by rising grounds.

The Mirage.—We had a magnificent mirage this morning: nor do I ever recollect observing this singularly grand phenomenon on a more extensive scale, or with greater variety of form. The morning was desperately cold; the thermometer, as I mounted my horse, a little after sunrise, stood at 32°, the freezing-point, with a sharp biting wind from the north-east. The ground was blanched with frost, and the water-skins, or bihishtis mashaks, were covered with ice at the mouth. The slender shrubs, especially the milky ak, were completely burnt up; and as the weather had been hitherto mild, the transition was severely felt, by things animate and inanimate [767].

884It is only in the cold season that the mirage is visible; the sojourners of Maru call it the siya-kot, or ‘castles in the air.’^[11] In the deep desert to the westward, the herdsmen and travellers through these regions style it chitram, ‘the picture’; while about the plains of the Chambal and Jumna they term it disasul, ‘the omen of the quarter.’ This optical deception has been noticed from the remotest times. The prophet Isaiah alludes to it when he says, “and the parched ground shall become a pool”;^[12] which the critic has justly rendered, “and the shārābh ^[13] shall become real water.” Quintus Curtius, describing the mirage in the Sogdian desert, says that “for the space of four hundred furlongs not a drop of water is to be found, and the sun’s heat, being very vehement in summer, kindles such a fire in the sands, that everything is burnt up. There also arises such an exhalation, that the plains wear the appearance of a vast and deep sea”; which is an exact description of the chitram of the Indian desert. But the shārābh and chitram, the true mirage of Isaiah, differ from that illusion called the siya-kot; and though the traveller will hasten to it, in order to obtain a night’s lodging, I do not think he would expect to slake his thirst there.

When we witnessed this phenomenon at first, the eye was attracted by a lofty opaque wall of lurid smoke, which seemed to be bounded by, or to rise from, the very verge of the horizon. By slow degrees the dense mass became more transparent, and assumed a reflecting or refracting power: shrubs were magnified into trees; the dwarf khair appeared ten times larger than the gigantic amli of the forest. A ray of light suddenly broke the 885line of continuity of this yet smoky barrier; and, as if touched by the enchanter’s wand, castles, towers, and trees were seen in an aggregated cluster, partly obscured by magnificent foliage. Every accession of light produced a change in the chitram, which from the dense wall that it first exhibited had now faded into a thin transparent film, broken into a thousand masses, each mass being a huge lens; until at length the [768] too vivid power of the sun dissolved the vision: castles, towers, and foliage melted, like the enchantment of Prospero, into “thin air.”

I had long imagined that the nature of the soil had some effect in producing this illusory phenomenon; especially as the chitram of the desert is seen chiefly on those extensive plains productive of the sajji, or alkaline plant, whence by incineration the natives produce soda,^[14] and whose base is now known to be metallic. But I have since observed it on every kind of soil. That these lands, covered with saline incrustations, tend to increase the effect of the illusion, may be concluded.^[15] But the difference between the sarāb or chitram, and the siya-kot or disasul is, that the latter is never visible but in the cold season, when the gross vapours cannot rise; and that the rarefaction, which gives existence to the other, destroys this, whenever the sun has attained 20° of elevation. A high wind is alike adverse to the phenomenon, and it will mostly be observed that it covets shelter, and its general appearance is a long line which is sure to be sustained by some height, such as a grove or village, as if it required support. The first time I observed it was in the Jaipur country; none of the party had ever witnessed it in the British provinces. It appeared like an immense walled town with bastions, nor could we give credit to our guides, when they talked of the siya-kot, and assured us that the objects were merely “castles in the air.” I have since seen, though but once, this panoramic scene in motion, and nothing can be imagined more beautiful.

It was at Kotah, just as the sun rose, whilst walking on the terraced roof of the garden-house, my residence. As I looked towards the low range which bounds the sight to the south-east, the hills appeared in motion, sweeping with an undulating or rotatory movement along the horizon. Trees and buildings were 886magnified, and all seemed a kind of enchantment. Some minutes elapsed before I could account for this wonder; until I determined that it must be the masses of a floating mirage, which had attained its most attenuated form, and being carried by a gentle current of air past the tops and sides of the hills, while it was itself imperceptible, made them appear in motion.

But although this was novel and pleasing, it wanted the splendour of the scene of this morning, which I never saw equalled but once. This occurred at Hissar, where I went to visit a beloved friend—gone, alas! to a better world [769],—whose ardent and honourable mind urged me to the task I have undertaken. It was on the terrace of James Lumsdaine’s house, built amidst the ruins of the castle of Firoz, in the centre of one extended waste, where the lion was the sole inhabitant, that I saw the most perfect specimen of this phenomenon: it was really sublime. Let the reader fancy himself in the midst of a desert plain, with nothing to impede the wide scope of vision, his horizon bounded by a lofty black wall encompassing him on all sides. Let him watch the first sunbeam break upon this barrier, and at once, as by a touch of magic, shiver it into a thousand fantastic forms, leaving a splintered pinnacle in one place, a tower in another, an arch in a third; these in turn undergoing more than kaleidoscopic changes, until the “fairy fabric” vanishes. Here it was emphatically called Harchand Raja ki puri, or ‘the city of Raja Harchand,’ a celebrated prince of the brazen age of India.^[16] The power of reflection shown by this phenomenon cannot be better described than by stating that it brought the very ancient Agroha,^[17] which is thirteen miles distant, with its fort and bastions, close to my view.

The difference then between the mirage and the siya-kot is, 887that the former exhibits a horizontal, the latter a columnar or vertical stratification; and in the latter case, likewise, a contrast to the other, its maximum of translucency is the last stage of its existence. In this stage, it is only an eye accustomed to the phenomenon that can perceive it at all. I have passed over the plains of Meerut with a friend who had been thirty years in India, and he did not observe a siya-kot then before our eyes: in fact so complete was the illusion, that we only saw the town and fort considerably nearer. Monge gives a philosophical account of this phenomenon in Napoleon’s campaign in Egypt; and Dr. Clarke perfectly describes it in his journey to Rosetta, when “domes, turrets, and groves were seen reflected on the glowing surface of the plain, which appeared like a vast lake extending itself between the city and travellers.” It is on reviewing this account that a critic has corrected the erroneous translation of the Septuagint; and further dilated upon it in a review of Lichtenstein’s travels in Southern Africa,^[18] who exactly describes our siya-kot, of the magnifying and reflecting powers of which he gives a [770] singular instance. Indeed, whoever notices, while at sea, the atmospheric phenomena of these southern latitudes, will be struck by the deformity of objects as they pass through this medium: what the sailors term a fog-bank is the first stage of our siya-kot. I observed it on my voyage home; but more especially in the passage out. About six o’clock on a dark evening, while we were dancing on the waste, I perceived a ship bearing down with full sail upon us so distinctly, that I gave the alarm, in expectation of a collision; so far as I recollect, the helm was instantly up, and in a second no ship was to be seen. The laugh was against me—I had seen the “flying Dutchman,”^[19] according to the opinion of the experienced officer on deck; and I believed it was really a vision of the mind: but I now feel convinced it was either the reflection of our own ship in a passing cloud of this vapour, or a more distant object therein refracted. But enough of this subject: I will only add, whoever has a desire to see one of the grandest phenomena in nature, let him repair to the plains of Merta or Hissar, and watch before the sun rises 888the fairy palace of Harchand, infinitely grander and more imposing than a sunrise upon the alpine Helvetia, which alone may compete with the chitram of the desert.

Cenotaph of a Thākur.

—Jharau is a thriving village appertaining to a sub-vassal of the Mertia chief of Rian. There was a small sheet of water within a musket-shot to the left of the village, on whose margin, peeping through a few nims and the evergreen jhal,^[20] was erected an elegant, though small chhatri, or cenotaph, of an ancestor of the possessor. The Thakur is sculptured on his charger, armed at all points; and close beside him, with folded hands, upon the same stone, his faithful partner, who accompanied the warrior to Indra’s abode. It bore the following epitaph: “On the 2d Margsir, S. 1689 (A.D. 1633), Maharaja Jaswant Singh attacked the enemy’s (Aurangzeb’s) army, in which battle Thakur Harankarna Das, of the Mertia clan, was slain. To him was erected this shrine, in the month of Margsir, S. 1697.”

Water from wells is about thirty-five cubits from the surface; the strata as follows: four cubits of mixed sand and black earth; five of kankar, or calcareous concretions; twenty of stiff clay and sand; six of indurated clay, with particles of quartz and mica [771].

Alniawās.

—November 29.—Alniawas, five coss. Half-way, passed the town of Rian, so often mentioned as the abode of the chief of the Mertia clan. It is large and populous, and surrounded by a well-constructed wall of the calcareous concrete already described, here called morar, and which resists the action of the monsoon. The works have a most judicious slope. The Thakur’s name is Badan Singh, one of the eight great barons of Maru. The town still bears the name of Sher Singh ka Rian, who so gallantly defended to the death the rights of his young sovereign Ram Singh against his uncle. A beautiful landscape is seen from the high ground on which the town stands, in the direction of the mountains; the intermediate space being filled with large villages, relieved by foliage, so unusual in these regions. Here I had a proof of the audacity of the mountaineers of the Aravalli, in an inscription on a cenotaph, which I copied: “On Monday the 3d Magh, S. 1835 (A.D. 1779), Thakur Bhopal Singh fell at the foot of his walls, defending them against the Mers, having first, with 889his own hand, in order to save her honour, put his wife to death.”^[21] Such were the Mers half a century ago, and they had been increasing in boldness ever since. There was scarcely a family on either side the range, whose estates lay at its foot, whose cenotaphs do not bear similar inscriptions, recording the desperate raids of these mountaineers; and it may be asserted that one of the greatest benefits we conferred on Rajputana was the conversion of this numerous banditti, occupying some hundred towns, into peaceful, tax-paying subjects. We can say, with the great Chauhan king, Bisiladeva, whose monument still stands in Firoz’s palace at Delhi, that we made them “carry water in the streets of Ajmer”; and, still more, deposit their arms on the Rana’s terrace at Udaipur. We have, moreover, metamorphosed a corps of them from breakers, into keepers, of the public peace.

Between Rian and Alniawas we crossed a stream, to which the name of the Luni ^[22] is also given, as well as to that we passed subsequently. It was here that De Boigne’s guns are said to have stuck fast.

The soundings of the wells at Rian and Alniawas presented the same results as [772] at Jharau, with the important exception that the substratum was steatite, which was so universal in the first part of my journey from Jodhpur.

Alniawas is also a fief of a Mertia vassal. It is a considerable town, populous, and apparently in easy circumstances. Here again I observed a trait of devotion, recorded on an altar “to the memory of Suni Mall,” who fell when his clan was exterminated in the charge against the rival Champawats, at Merta, in the civil wars.

Govindgarh.

—November 30.—Govindgarh, distance three coss, or six miles. The roads generally good, though sometimes heavy; the soil of a lighter texture than yesterday. The castle and town of Govinda belong to a feudatory of the Jodha clan; its founder, 890Govind, was grandson to Udai le gros; or, as Akbar dubbed him, the “Mota Raja,” from his great bulk. Of this clan is the chief of Khairwa, having sixteen townships in his fief: Banai, and Masuda, with its “fifty-two townships,” both now in Ajmer; having for their present suzerain the “Sarkar Company Bahadur”; though in lapses they will still go to Jodhpur, to be made “belted knights.” These places are beyond the range; but Pisangan, with its twelve villages; Bijathal, and other fiefs west of it, also in Ajmer, might at all events be restored to their ancient princes, which would be considered as a great boon. There would be local prepossessions to contend with, on the part of the British officers in charge of the district; but such objections must give way to views of general good.

Fox-hunting: Hyaenas.

—This was another desperately cold morning; being unprovided with a great-coat, I turned the dagla, or ‘quilted brocade tunic,’ sent me by the high priest of Kanhaiya, to account. We had some capital runs this morning with the foxes of Maru, which are beautiful little animals, and larger than those of the provinces. I had a desperate chase after a hyaena on the banks of the Luni, and had fully the speed of him; but his topographical knowledge was too much for me, and he at length led me through a little forest of reeds or rushes, with which the banks of the river are covered for a great depth. Just as I was about giving him a spear, in spite of these obstacles, we came upon a blind nullah or ‘dry rivulet,’ concealed by the reeds; and Bajraj (the royal steed) was thrown out, with a wrench in the shoulder, in the attempt to clear it: the jhirak laughed at us.

We crossed a stream half a mile west of Govindgarh, called the Sagarmati [773], which, with another, the Sarasvati, joining it, issues from the Pushkar lake. The Sagarmati is also called the Luni; its bed is full of micaceous quartzose rock. The banks are low, and little above the level of the country. Though water is found at a depth of twelve cubits from the surface, the wells are all excavated to the depth of forty, as a precautionary measure against dry seasons. The stratification here was—one cubit sand; three of sand and soil mixed; fifteen to twenty of yellow clayish sand; four of morar, and fifteen of steatite and calcareous concretions, with loose sand, mixed with particles of quartz.

891

Pushkar Lake.

—December 1.—Lake of Pushkar, four coss: the thermometer stood at the freezing-point this morning:—heavy sands the whole way. Crossed the Sarasvati near Nand; its banks were covered with bulrushes, at least ten feet in height—many vehicles were lading with them for the interior, to be used for the purposes of thatching—elephants make a feast among them. We again crossed the Sarasvati, at the entrance of the valley of Pushkar, which comes from Old (burha) Pushkar, four miles east of the present lake, which was excavated by the last of the Pariharas of Mandor. The sand drifted from the plains by the currents of air has formed a complete bar at the mouth of the valley, which is about one mile in breadth; occasionally the tibas, or sand-hills, are of considerable elevation. The summits of the mountains to the left were sparkling with a deep rose-coloured quartz, amidst which, on the peak of Nand, arose a shrine to ‘the Mother.’ The hills preserve the same character: bold pinnacles, abrupt sides, and surface thinly covered. The stratification inclines to the west; the dip of the strata is about twenty degrees. There is, however, a considerable difference in the colour of the mountains: those on the left have a rose tint; those on the right are of greyish granite, with masses of white quartz about their summits.

Pushkar is the most sacred lake in India; that of Mansarovar in Tibet may alone compete with it in this respect. It is placed in the centre of the valley, which here becomes wider, and affords abundant space for the numerous shrines and cenotaphs with which the hopes and fears of the virtuous and the wicked amongst the magnates of India have studded its margin. It is surrounded by sand-hills of considerable magnitude, excepting on the east, where a swamp extends to the very base of the mountains. The form of the lake may be called an irregular ellipse. Around its margin, except towards the marshy outlet, is a display of [774] varied architecture. Every Hindu family of rank has its niche here, for the purposes of devotional pursuits when they could abstract themselves from mundane affairs. The most conspicuous are those erected by Raja Man of Jaipur, Ahalya Bai, the Holkar queen, Jawahir Mall of Bharatpur, and Bijai Singh of Marwar. The cenotaphs are also numerous. The ashes of Jai Apa, who was assassinated at Nagor, are superbly covered; as are those of his brother Santaji, who was killed during the siege of that place.

892

The Brahma Temple.

—By far the most conspicuous edifice is the shrine of the creator Brahma, erected, about four years ago, by a private individual, if we may so designate Gokul Parik, the minister of Sindhia; it cost the sum of 130,000 rupees (about £15,000), though all the materials were at hand, and labour could be had for almost nothing. This is the sole tabernacle dedicated to the One God which I ever saw or have heard of in India.^[23] The statue is quadrifrons; and what struck me as not a little curious was that the sikhar, or pinnacle of the temple, is surmounted by a cross. Tradition was here again at work. Before creation began, Brahma assembled all the celestials on this very spot, and performed the Yajna; around the hallowed spot walls were raised, and sentinels placed to guard it from the intrusion of the evil spirits. In testimony of the fact, the natives point out the four isolated mountains, placed towards the cardinal points, beyond the lake, on which, they assert, rested the kanats, or cloth-walls of inclosure. That to the south is called Ratnagir, or ‘the hill of gems,’ on the summit of which is the shrine of Savitri. That to the north is Nilagir, or ‘the blue mountain.’ East, and guarding the valley, is the Kuchhaturgir; and to the west, Sonachaura, or ‘the golden.’ Nandi, the bull-steed of Mahadeva, was placed at the mouth of the valley, to keep away the spirits of the desert; while Kanhaiya himself performed this office to the north. The sacred fire was kindled: but Savitri, the wife of Brahma, was nowhere to be found, and as without a female the rites could not proceed, a young Gujari took the place of Savitri; who, on her return, was so enraged at the indignity, that she retired to the mountain of gems, where she disappeared. On this spot a fountain gushed up, still called by her name; close to which is her shrine, not the least attractive in the precincts of Pushkar. During these rites, Mahadeva, or, as he is called, Bholanath, represented always in a state of stupefaction from the use of intoxicating [775] herbs, omitted to put out the sacred fire, which spread, and was likely to involve the world in combustion; when Brahma extinguished it with the sand, and hence the tibas of the valley. Such is the origin of the sanctity of 893Pushkar. In after ages, one of the sovereigns of Mandor, in the eagerness of the chase, was led to the spot, and washing his hands in the fountain, was cured of some disorder. That he might know the place again, he tore his turban into shreds, and suspended the fragments to the trees, to serve him as guides to the spot—there he made the excavation. The Brahmans pretend to have a copper-plate grant from the Parihara prince of the lands about Pushkar; but I was able to obtain only a Persian translation of it, which I was heretical enough to disbelieve. I had many grants brought me, written by various princes and chiefs, making provision for the prayers of these recluses at their shrines.

The name of Bisaladeva, the famed Chauhan king of Ajmer, is the most conspicuous here; and they still point out the residence of his great ancestor, Ajaipal, on the Nagpahar, or ‘serpent-rock,’ directly south of the lake, where the remains of the fortress of the Pali or Shepherd-king are yet visible. Ajaipal was, as his name implies, a goatherd, whose piety, in supplying one of the saints of Pushkar with daily libations of goats’ milk, procured him a territory. Satisfied, however, with the scene of his early days, he commenced his castle on the serpent-mount; but his evil genius knocking down in the night what he erected in the day, he sought out another site on the opposite side of the range: hence arose the far-famed Ajamer.^[24] Manika Rae is the most conspicuous connecting link of the Chauhan Pali kings, from the goatherd founder to the famed Bisaladeva.^[25] Manika was slain in the first century of the Hijra, when “the arms of Walid conquered to the Ganges”; and Bisaladeva headed a confederacy 894of the Hindu kings, and chased the descendants of Mahmud from Hindustan, the origin of the recording column at Delhi. Bisaladeva, it appears from inscriptions, was the contemporary of Rawal Tejsi, the monarch of Chitor, and grandfather of the Ulysses of Rajasthan, the brave Samarsi, who fell with 13,000 of his kindred in aid of the last Chauhan Prithiraj, who, according to the genealogies of this race, is the fourth in descent from Bisaladeva. If this is not sufficient proof of the era of this king, be it known that Udayaditya, the prince of the Pramaras (the period of [776] whose death, or A.D. 1096, has now become a datum),^[26] is enumerated amongst the sovereigns who serve under the banners of the Chauhan of Ajmer.

Bhartrihari.

—The ‘serpent-rock’ is also famed as being one of the places where the wandering Bhartrihari, prince of Ujjain, lived for years in penitential devotion; and the slab which served as a seat to this royal saint has become one of the objects of veneration. If all the places assigned to this brother of Vikrama were really visited by him, he must have been one of the greatest tourists of antiquity, and must have lived to an antediluvian old age. Witness his castle at Sehwan, on the Indus; his cave at Alwar; his thans at Abu, and at Benares. We must, in fact, give credit to the couplet of the bards, “the world is the Pramara’s.” There are many beautiful spots about the serpent-mount, which, as it abounds in springs, has from the earliest times been the resort of the Hindu sages, whose caves and hermitages are yet pointed out, now embellished with gardens and fountains. One of the latter issuing from a fissure in the rock is sacred to the Muni Agastya, who performed the very credible exploit of drinking up the ocean.

St. George’s banner waved on a sand-hill in front of the cross on Brahma’s temple, from which my camp was separated by the lake; but though there was no defect of legendary lore to amuse us, we longed to quit “the region of death,” and hie back to our own lakes, our cutter, and our gardens.

Ajmer.—December 2.—Ajmer, three coss. Proceeded up the valley, where lofty barriers on either side, covered with the milky thor (cactus),^[27] and the “yellow anwla of the border,” showed they 895were but the prolongation of our own Aravalli. Granite appeared of every hue, but of a stratification so irregular as to bid defiance to the geologist. The higher we ascended the valley, the loftier became the sand-hills, which appeared to aspire to the altitude of their granitic neighbours. A small rill poured down the valley; there came also a cold blast from the north, which made our fingers tingle. Suddenly we changed our direction from north to east, and ascending the mountain, surveyed through a gap in the range the far-famed Daru-I-Khair. The view which thus suddenly burst upon us was magnificent. A noble plain, with trees, and the expansive lake of Bisaladeva, lay at our feet, while ‘the fortress of the goatherd’ crowned the crest of a majestic isolated hill. The point of descent affords a fine field for the mineralogist; on [777] each side, high over the pass, rise peaks of reddish granite, which are discovered half-way down the descent to be reposing on a blue micaceous slate, whose inclination is westward, at an angle of about 25° with the horizon. The formation is the same to the southward, but the slate there is more compact, and freer from mica and quartz. I picked up a fragment of black marble; its crystals were large and brilliant.

Passed through the city of Ajmer, which, though long a regal abode, does not display that magnificence we might have expected, and, like all other towns of India, exhibits poverty and ease in juxtaposition. It was gratifying to find that the finest part was rising, under the auspices of the British Government and the superintendent of the province, Mr. Wilder. The main street, when finished, will well answer the purpose intended—a place of traffic for the sons of commerce of Rajasthan, who, in a body, did me the honour of a visit: they were contented and happy at the protection they enjoyed in their commercial pursuits. With the prosperity of Bhilwara, that of Ajmer is materially connected; and having no interests which can clash, each town views the welfare of the other as its own: a sentiment which we do not fail to encourage.encourage.

Breakfasted with Mr. Wilder,^[28] and consulted how we could best promote our favourite objects—the prosperity of Ajmer and Bhilwara [778].

8. Three years ago I passed two delightful days with the conqueror of the Rajputs, in his native vale of Chambéry. It was against the croix blanche of Savoy, not the orange flag of the Southron, that four thousand Rajputs fell martyrs to liberty; and although I wish the Comte long life, I may regret he had lived to bring his talents and his courage to their subjugation. He did them ample justice, and when I talked of the field of Merta, the remembrance of past days flitted before him, as he said “all appeared as a dream.” Distinguished by his prince, beloved by a numerous and amiable family, and honoured by his fellow-citizens, the years of the veteran, now numbering more than fourscore, glide in agreeable tranquillity in his native city, which, with oriental magnificence, he is beautifying by an entire new street and a handsome dwelling for himself. By a singular coincidence, just as I am writing this portion of my narrative I am put in possession of a Mémoire of his life, lately published, written under the eye of his son, the Comte Charles de Boigne. From this I extract his account of the battle of Merta. It is not to be supposed that he could then have been acquainted with the secret intrigues which were arrayed in favour of the “white cross” on this fatal day.

“Les forces des Rajepoutes se composaient de trente mille cavaliers, de vingt mille hommes d’infanterie régulière, et de vingt-cinq pièces de canon. Les Marhattes avaient une cavalerie égale en nombre à celle de l’ennemi, mais leur infanterie se bornait aux bataillons de M. de Boigne, soutenus, il est vrai, par quatre-vingts pièces d’artillerie. Le général examina la position de l’ennemi, il étudia le terrain et arrêta son plan de bataille.

“Le dix, avant le jour, la brigade reçut l’ordre de marcher en avant, et elle surprit les Rajepoutes pendant qu’ils faisoient leurs ablutions du matin. Les premiers bataillons, avec cinquante pièces de canon tirant à mitraille, enfoncèrent les lignes de l’ennemi et enlevèrent ses positions. Rohan, qui commandait l’aile droite, à la vue de ce premier avantage, sans avoir reçu aucun ordre, eut l’imprudence de s’avancer hors de la ligne du combat, à la tête de trois bataillons. La cavalerie Rathore profitant de cette faute, fondit à l’instant sur lui et faillit lui couper sa retraite sur le gros de l’armée, qu’il ne parvint à rejoindre qu’avec les plus grandes difficultés. Toute la cavalerie ennemie se mit alors en mouvement, et se jetant avec impétuosité sur la brigade, l’attaqua sur tous les côtés à la fois. Elle eût été infailliblement exterminée sans la présence d’esprit de son chef. M. de Boigne, s’étant aperçu de l’erreur commise par son aile droite et prévoyant les suites qu’elle pouvait entraîner, avait disposé sur-le-champ son infanterie en carré vide (hollow square); et par cette disposition, présentant partout un front à l’ennemi, elle opposa une résistance invincible aux charges furieuses des Rathores, qui furent enfin forcés de lâcher prise. Aussitôt l’infanterie reprit ses positions, et s’avançant avec son artillerie, elle fit une attaque générale sur toute la ligne des Rajepoutes. Déjà sur les neuf heures, l’ennemi était complètement battu; une heure après, les Marhattes prirent possession de son camp avec tous ses canons et bagages; et pour couronner cette journée, à trois heures après midi la ville de Mirtah fut prise d’assaut” (Mémoire sur la carrière militaire et politique de M. le Général Comte De Boigne, Chambéry, 1829).

Ajmer.

—Ajmer has been too long the haunt of Moguls and Pathans, the Goths and Vandals of Rajasthan, to afford much scope to the researches of the antiquary. Whatever time had spared of the hallowed relics of old, bigotry has destroyed, or raised to herself altars of materials, whose sculptured fragments serve now as disjointed memorials of two distinct and distant eras: that of the independent Hindu, and that of the conquering Muhammadan, whose idgahs and mosques, mausoleums and country-seats, constructed from the wrecks of aboriginal art, are fast mouldering to decay. The associations they call forth afford the only motive to wish their preservation; except one “relic of nobler days and noblest arts,” which, though impressed with this double character, every spectator must desire to rescue from the sweeping sentence—the edifice before the reader, a visit to which excited these reflections. Let us rather bless than execrate the hand, though it be that of a Turk, which has spared, from whatever motive, one of the most perfect, as well as the most ancient, monuments of Hindu architecture. It is built on the western declivity of the fortress, and called Arhai din ka jhonpra, or, ‘the shed of two and a half days,’ from its having occupied (as tradition tells) its magical builders only this short period. The skill of the Pali or Takshak architect, the three sacred mounts of these countries abundantly attest: nor had he occasion for any mysterious arts, besides those of masonry, to accomplish them. In discussing the cosmogony of the Hindus, we have had occasion to convert their years into days; here we must reverse the method, and understand (as in [779] interpreting the sacred prophecies of Scripture) their days as meaning years. Had it, indeed, been of more humble pretensions, we might have supposed the monotheistic Jain had borrowed from the Athenian legislator Cecrops, who ordained that no tomb should consist of more work than ten men could finish in three days; to which Demetrius, the Phalerian, sanctioned the addition of a little vessel to contain the ghost’s victuals.^[1]

897

Arhāi din ka jhonpra Mosque.

—The temple is surrounded by a superb screen of Saracenic architecture, having the main front and gateway to the north. From its simplicity, as well as its appearance of antiquity, I am inclined to assign the screen to the first dynasty, the Ghorian sultans, who evidently made use of native architects. The entrance arch is of that wavy kind, characteristic of what is termed the Saracenic, whether the term be applied to the Alhambra of Spain, or the mosques of Delhi; and I am disposed, on close examination, to pronounce it Hindu.^[2] The entire façade of this noble entrance, which I regret I cannot have engraved, is covered with Arabic inscriptions. But, unless my eyes much deceived me, the small frieze over the apex of the arch contained an inscription in Sanskrit,^[3] with which Arabic has been commingled, both being unintelligible. The remains of a minaret still maintain their position on the right flank of the gate, with a door and steps leading to it for the muazzin to call the faithful to prayers. A line of smaller arches of similar form composes the front of the screen. The design is chaste and beautiful, and the material, which is a compact limestone of a yellow colour, admitting almost of as high a polish as the jaune antique, gave abundant scope to the sculptor. After confessing and admiring the taste of the Vandal architect, we passed under the arch to examine the more noble production of the Hindu. Its plan is simple, and consonant with all the more ancient temples of the Jains. It is an extensive saloon, the ceiling supported by a quadruple range of columns, those of the centre being surmounted by a range of vaulted coverings; while the lateral portion, which is flat, is divided into compartments of the most elaborate sculpture. But the columns are most worthy of attention; they are unique in design, and with the exception of the cave-temples, probably amongst the oldest now existing in India. On examining them, ideas entirely novel, even in Hindu [780] 898art, are developed. Like all these portions of Hindu architecture, their ornaments are very complex, and the observer will not fail to be struck with their dissimilarity; it was evidently a rule in the art to make the ornaments of every part unlike the other, and which I have seen carried to great extent. There may be forty columns but no two are alike. The ornaments of the base are peculiar, both as to form and execution; the lozenges, with the rich tracery surmounting them, might be transferred, not inappropriately, to the Gothic cathedrals of Europe. The projections from various parts of the shaft (which on a small scale may be compared to the corresponding projections of the columns in the Duomo at Milan), with the small niches still containing the statues, though occasionally mutilated, of the Pontiffs of the Jains, give them a character which strengthens the comparison, and which would be yet more apparent if we could afford to engrave the details.^[4] The elegant Kamakumbha, the emblem of the Hindu Ceres, with its pendent palmyra-branches, is here lost, as are many emblematical ornaments, curious in design and elegant in their execution. Here and there occurs a richlyrichly carved corbeille, which still further sustains the analogy between the two systems of architecture; and the capitals are at once strong and delicate. The central vault, which is the largest, is constructed after the same fashion as that described at Nadol; but the concentric annulets, which in that are plain, in this are one blaze of ornaments, which with the whole of the ceiling is too elaborate and complicated for description. Under the most retired of the compartments, and nearly about the centre, is raised the mimbar, or pulpit, whence the Mulla enunciates the dogma of Muhammad, “there is but one God”: and for which he dispossessed the Jain, whose creed was like his own, the unity of the Godhead. But this is in unison with the feeling which dictated the external metamorphosis. The whole is of the same materials as already described, from the quarries of the Aravalli close at hand, which are rich in every mineral as well as metallic production:—

Shall we abandon them to cold ‘oblivion’; or restore them to a name already mentioned, Samprati, or Swampriti, the Shah Jahan ^[5] of a period two centuries before the Christian era, and to whom the shrine in Kumbhalmer is ascribed? Of one thing there is no doubt, which is, that both are Jain, and of the most ancient models: and thus advertised, the antiquary will be able to discriminate between the architectural systems of the Saivas and the Jains, which are as distinct as their religions.

Having alluded to the analogy between the details in the columns and those in our Gothic buildings (as they are called), and surmised that the Saracenic arch is of Hindu origin; I may further, with this temple and screen before us, speculate on the possibility of its having furnished some hints to the architects of Europe. It is well known that the Saracenic arch has crept into many of those structures called Gothic, erected in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, when a more florid style succeeded to the severity of the Saxon or Romans; but I believe it has been doubted whence the Saracens obtained their model; certainly it was neither from Egypt nor Persia. The early caliphs of Baghdad, who were as enlightened as they were powerful, kept alive the light of science when Europe was in darkness; and the most accomplished noble who accompanied our Cœur de Lion, though “brave as his sword,” was a clown compared to the infidel Saladin, in mind as well as manners. The influence of these polished foes on European society it would be superfluous to descant upon. The lieutenants of these caliphs, who penetrated 900from the Delta of the Indus to the Ganges from four to five centuries prior to this event, when Walid’s arms triumphed simultaneously on the Indus and the Ebro, produced no trifling results to the arts. This very spot, Ajmer, according to traditional couplets and the poetic legends of its ancient princes, the Chauhans, was visited by the first hostile force which Islam sent across the Indus, and to which Manika Rae fell a sacrifice. What ideas might not this Jain temple have afforded to [782] “the Light of Ali,” for Roshan Ali is the name preserved of him who, “in ships landing at Anjar,” marched through the very heart of India, and took Garh Bitli, the citadel of Ajmer, by assault. The period is one of total darkness in the history of India, save for the scattered and flickering rays which emanate from the chronicles of the Chauhans and Guhilots. But let us leave the temple, and slightly describe the castle of Manika Rae, on whose battlements an infidel’s arrow of Roshan’s army reached the heir of the Chauhan; since which Lot, for such was his name, has been adopted amongst the lares and penates of this celebrated race. This was the first Rajput blood which the arms of conversion shed, and the impression must have been strong to be thus handed down to posterity.

The mind, after all, retires dissatisfied: with me it might be from association. Even the gateway, however elegant, is unsuitable to the genius of the place. Separately considered, they are each magnificent; together, it is as if a modern sculptor were (like our actors of the last age) to adorn the head of Cato with a peruke. I left this precious relic, with a malediction upon all the spoilers of art—whether the Thane who pillaged Minerva’s portico at Athens, or the Turk who dilapidated the Jain temple at Ajmer.^[6]

Ajmer Fort.

—The reader will see as much of this far-famed fortress as I did: for there was nothing to induce me to climb the steep, where the only temple visible was a modern-looking whitewashed mosque, lifting its dazzling minarets over the dingy antique towers of the Chauhan: “he who seven times captured the sultan, and seven times released him.” The hill rises majestically from its base to the height of about eight hundred feet; its crest encircled by the ancient wall and towers raised by Ajaipal—

unless the Cossack should follow the track of Roshan Ali or Mahmud, and try to tear the British flag from the kunguras of Ajmer. On the north side a party of the superintendent’s were unlocking the latent treasures in the bowels of the mountain. The vein is of lead; a sulphuret, or galena [783].^[8]

The Bīsal Tālāb.

—I have already mentioned the lake, called after the excavator, the Bisal Talab. It is about eight miles in circumference, and besides the beauty it adds to the vale of Ajmer, it has a source of interest in being the fountain of the Luni, which pursues its silent course until it unites with the eastern arm of the Delta of the Indus: the point of outlet is at the northern angle of the Daulat Bagh, ‘the gardens of wealth,’ built by Jahangir for his residence when he undertook to conquer the Rajputs. The water is not unwholesome, and there are three outlets at this fountainhead for the escape of the water fitting its periodical altitudes. The stream at its parent source is thence called the Sagarmati. It takes a sweep northward by Bhaonta and Pisangan, and close to where we crossed it, at Govindgarh, it is joined by the Sarasvati from Pushkar; when the united waters (at whose sangam, or confluence, there is a small temple to the manes) are called the Luni.

The gardens erected on the embankment of the lake must have been a pleasant abode for “the king of the world,” while his lieutenants were carrying on the war against the Rana: but the imperial residence of marble, in which he received the submissions of that prince, through his grandson, and the first ambassador sent by England to the Mogul, are now going fast to decay. The walks on which his majesty last paraded, in the state-coach sent by our James the First, are now overgrown with shrubs.

The stratification of the rock, at the point of outlet, would 902interest the geologist, especially an extensive vein of mica, adjoining another of almost transparent quartz.

Anasāgar Lake.

—Eastward of this lake about a mile is another named the Anasagar, after the grandson of Bisaldeo, who has left the reputation of great liberality, and a contrast with Visala. The vestiges of an island are yet seen in the lake, and upon its margin; but the materials have been carried away by the Goths. There are two small buildings on the adjacent heights, called “the annulets of Khwaja Kutb,” and some other saint.

Such are the wonders in the environs of Daru-l-Khair, “celebrated in the history of the Moguls, as well as of the Hindus.” But my search for inscriptions to corroborate the legends of the Chauhans proved fruitless. I was, however, fortunate enough to add to my numismatic treasures some of the currency of these ancient kings, which give interest to a series of the same description, all appertaining [784] to the Buddhists or Jains. The inscription occupying one side is in a most antique character, the knowledge of which is still a desideratum: the reverse bears the effigies of a horse, the object of worship to the Indo-Scythic Rajput.^[9] It is not improbable that the Agnikula Chauhan may have brought these letters with him from higher Asia. Researches in these countries for such monuments may yet discover how far this conjecture is correct. At Pushkar I also found some very ancient coins. Had the antiquary travelled these regions prior to the reign of Aurangzeb he would have had a noble field to explore: many coins were destroyed by this bigot, but many were buried underground, which time or accident may disclose. He was the great foe of Rajput fame; and well might the bard, in the words of the Cambrian minstrel, bid

They did repay his cruelties by the destruction of his race. In one short century from this tyrant, who grasped each shore of the peninsula, the Mogul power was extinct; while the oppressed Rajputs are again on the ascendant. But the illiterate and mercenary Afghan, “the descendant of the lost tribes of Israel,”^[10] if we credit their traditions, may share the iniquity with Aurangzeb: 903for they fulfilled literally a duty which their supposed forefathers pertinaciously refused, and made war against every graven image. Had they even spared us a few of the monsters, the joint conceptions of the poet and the sculptor, I might have presented some specimens of griffins (gras)^[11] and demons almost of a classical taste: but the love of mischief was too strong even to let these escape: the shoe was applied to the prominent features of everything which represented animation.

By a medium of several meridian observations, I made the latitude of Ajmer 26° 19´ north; its longitude, by time and measurement from my fixed meridian, Udaipur, 74° 40´, nearly the position assigned to it by the father of Indian geography, the justly celebrated Rennell.^[12]

Return March to Udaipur.

—December 5.—At daybreak we left the towers of Manika Rae, enveloped in mist, and turned our horses’ heads to the southward, on our return to Udaipur. While at Ajmer, I received accounts of the death of the prince of Kotah, and did intend to proceed direct to that capital, by Shahpura and Bundi; but my presence was desired by the Rana to repair the dilapidations which only two months’ absence had [785] occasioned in the political fabric which I had helped to reconstruct. Other interesting objects intervened: one, a visit to the new castle of Bhimgarh, erecting in Merwara to overawe the Mers; the other to compose the feuds which raged between the sectarian merchants of the new mart, Bhilwara, and which threatened to destroy all my labour. We made two marches to Bhinai, in which there was nothing to record. Bhinai is the residence of a Rathor chieftain, whose position is rather peculiar. Being placed within the district of Ajmer, and paying an annual quit-rent to the British, he may consider the Company as his sovereign; but although this position precludes all political subordination to the chief of the race, the tie would be felt and acknowledged, on a lapse, in the anxiety for the usual tika of recognition to his successor, from the Raja of Marwar. I argue on knowledge of character and customs; though it is possible this individual case might be against me.

904The castle of Bhinai is a picturesque object in these level plains; it is covered with the cactus, or prickly pear, so abundant on the east side of the Aravalli. This was anciently the residence of a branch of the Parihara princes of Mandor, when held as a fief of the Chauhans of Ajmer; and from it originated a numerous mixed class, called the Parihara Minas, a mixture of Rajput and aboriginal blood.

Deolia.

—December 6.—Deolia, near the northern bank of the Khari, the present boundary of Ajmer and Mewar. From Ajmer to Deolia the direction of the road is S.S.E., and the distance forty miles. This important district in the political geography of Rajputana, which, with the posts of Nimach and Mhow, is the connecting link between the British dominions on the Jumna and in the Deccan, was obtained by cession from Sindhia in 1818. A glance at the map is sufficient to show its importance in our existing connexion with Rajputana. The greatest breadth of the district is between the Aravalli west and the Banas east, and measures about eight miles. The greatest length is between the city of Ajmer and Jhak, a post in Merwara, measuring about forty miles. The narrowest portion is that where we now are, Deolia, whence the Kishangarh frontier can be seen over a neck of land of about twelve miles in extent. Within these bounds a great portion of the land is held by feudal chieftains paying a quit-rent, which I believe is fixed. I had to settle a frontier dispute at Deolia, regarding the right of cultivating in the bed of the Khari, which produces very good melons. The soil of Ajmer cannot [786] be called rich, and is better adapted for the lighter than the richer grains. Marks of war and rapine were visible throughout.

Dābla.

—December 7.—This town was a sub-fee of Banera; but the vassal, a Rathor, had learned habits of insubordination during Mahratta influence, which he could not or would not throw aside. In these he was further encouraged by his connexion by marriage with the old ruler of Kotah, who had exemplified his hostility to the Dabla vassal’s liege lord by besieging his castle of Banera. Having so long disobeyed him, his Rajput blood refused to change with the times; and though he condescended, at the head of his twenty retainers, to perform homage on stated days, and take his allotted position in the Banera darbar, he refused to pay the quit-rent, to which numerous deeds proved 905his suzerain had a right. Months passed away in ineffectual remonstrances; it was even proposed that he should hold the inferior dependencies free of quit-rent, but pay those of Dabla. All being in vain, the demand was increased to the complete surrender of Dabla; which elicited a truly Rajput reply: “His head and Dabla were together.” This obstinacy could not be tolerated; and he was told that though one would suffice, if longer withheld both might be required. Like a brave Rathor, he had defended it for months against a large Mahratta force, and hence Dabla was vauntingly called “the little Bharatpur.” Too late he saw his error, but there was no receding; and though he at length offered a nazarana, through the mediation of the Kotah wakil, of 20,000 rupees, to obtain the Rana’s investiture, it was refused and a surrender was insisted on. Being an important frontier-post, it was retained by the Rana, and compensation was made to Banera. Every interest was made for him through the Nestor of Kotah, but in vain; his obstinacy offered an example too pernicious to admit of the least retrocession, and Dabla was forthwith incorporated with the appanage of the heir-apparent, Jawan Singh.

Almost the whole of this, the Badnor division, of 360 townships, is occupied by Rathors, the descendants of those who accompanied Jaimall to Mewar: the proportion of feudal to fiscal land therein is as three to one. It is a rich and fertile tract, and it is to be hoped will maintain in ease and independence the brave men who inhabit it, and who have a long time been the sport of rapine.

I received a visit from the chief vassal of the Badnor chief, then at the capital; and as I found it impossible to visit Merwara, I subsequently deputed Captain [787] Waugh who was hospitably received and entertained at Badnor. He hunted, and played the Holi with the old baron, who shows at all times the frankness of his race: but it being the period of the Saturnalia, he was especially unreserved; though he was the greatest stickler for etiquette amongst my many friends, and was always expatiating on the necessity of attending to the gradations of rank.

Banera.

—December 8.—The castle of Banera is one of the most imposing feudal edifices of Mewar, and its lord one of the greatest of its chieftains. He not only bears the title of Raja, but has all the state-insignia attached thereto. His name happens to 906be the same as that of his sovereign—his being Raja Bhim, the prince’s Rana Bhim,—to whom he is nearly related, and but for blind chance might have been lord of all the Sesodias. It may be recollected that the chivalrous antagonist of Aurangzeb, the heroic Rana Raj, had two sons, twins, if we may so term sons simultaneously born, though by different mothers. The incident which decided the preference of Jai Singh to Bhim has been related;^[13] the circumstance of the latter’s abandoning his country to court fortune under the Imperial standard—his leading his Rajput contingent amongst the mountains of Kandahar—and his death by dislocation of the spine, through urging his horse at speed amongst the boughs of a tree. The present incumbent of Banera is the descendant of that Raja Bhim, who was succeeded in the honours of his family by his son Suraj, killed whilst heading his contingent at the storm of Bijapur. The infant son of Suraj had four districts assigned to him, all taken from his suzerain, the Rana. In such esteem did the emperor hold the family, that the son of Suraj was baptized Sultan. He was succeeded by Sardar Singh, who, on the breaking up of the empire, came under the allegiance of his rightful sovereign the Rana. Rae Singh and Hamir Singh complete the chain to my friend Raja Bhim, who did me the honour to advance two miles from Banera to welcome and conduct me to his castle. Here I had a good opportunity of observing the feudal state and manners of these chiefs within their own domains during a visit of three hours at Banera. I was, moreover, much attached to Raja Bhim, who was a perfectly well-bred and courteous gentleman, and who was quite unreserved with me. From his propinquity to the reigning family, and from his honours and insignia being the gift of the king’s, he had been an object of jealousy to the court, which tended much to retard the restoration [788] of his authority over his sub-vassals of Banera; the chief of Dabla is one instance of this. I found little difficulty in banishing the discord between him and his sovereign, who chiefly complained of the Banera kettle-drums beating, not only as he entered the city, but as far as the Porte—the sacred Tripolia; and the use of Chamar ^[14] in his presence. It was arranged that these emblems of honour, emanating from the great foes of Mewar, should never be obtruded 907on the eye or ear of the Rana; though within his own domain the Banera chieftain might do as he pleased. This was just; and Raja Bhim had too much good sense not to conciliate his “brother and cousin,” Rana Bhim, by such a concession, which otherwise might have been insisted upon. The estate of Banera is in value 80,000 rupees of annual rent, one-half of which is in subinfeudations, his vassals being chiefly Rathors. The only service performed by Raja Bhim is the contributing a quota for the commercial mart of Bhilwara, with the usual marks of subordination, personal duty and homage to the Rana. His estate is much impoverished from its lying in the very track of the freebooters; but the soil is excellent, and time will bring hands to cultivate it, if we exercise a long and patient indulgence.

The ‘velvet cushion’ was spread in a balcony projecting from the main hall of Banera; here the Raja’s vassals were mustered, and he placed me by his side on the gaddi. There was not a point of his rural or domestic economy upon which he did not descant, and ask my advice, as his “adopted brother.” I was also made umpire between him and my old friend the baron of Badnor, regarding a marriage settlement, the granddaughter of the latter being married to the heir of Banera. I had, besides, to wade through old grants and deeds to settle the claims between the Raja and several of his sub-vassals; a long course of disorder having separated them so much from each other as to obliterate their respective rights. All these arbitrations were made without reference to my official situation, but were forced upon me merely by the claims of friendship; but it was a matter of exultation to be enabled to make use of my influence for the adjustment of such disputes, and for restoring individual as well as general prosperity. My friend prepared his gifts at parting; I went through the forms of receiving, but waived accepting them: which may be done without any offence to delicacy. I have been highly gratified to read the kind reception he gave to the respected Bishop Heber, in his tour through Mewar. I wonder, however, that this discerning and elegant-minded man did not [789] notice the peculiar circumstance of the Raja’s teeth being fixed in with gold wire, which produces rather an unpleasant articulation.^[15]

908Banera adjoins the estates of the Rathors, and is no great distance from those of the Sangawats and Jagawats, which lie at the base of the Aravalli. All require a long period of toleration and unmolested tranquillity to emerge from their impoverished condition. My friend accompanied me to my tents, when I presented to him a pair of pistols, and a telescope with which he might view his neighbours on the mountains: we parted with mutual satisfaction, and I believe, mutual regret.

Bhīlwāra.

—December 9.—I encamped about half-a-mile from our good town of Bhilwara, which was making rapid strides to prosperity, notwithstanding drawbacks from sectarian feuds; with which, however, I was so dissatisfied, that I refused every request to visit the town until such causes of retardation were removed. I received a deputation from both parties at my tents, and read them a lecture for their benefit, in which I lamented the privation of the pleasure of witnessing their unalloyed prosperity. Although I reconciled them to each other, I would not confide in their promises until months of improvement should elapse. They abided by their promise, and I fulfilled mine when the death of the Bundi prince afforded an opportunity, en route to that capital, to visit them. My reception was far too flattering to describe, even if this were the proper place. The sentiments they entertained for me had suffered no diminution when Bishop Heber visited the town. But his informant (one of the merchants), when he said it ought to have been called Tod-ganj, meant that it was so intended, and actually received this appellation: but it was changed, at my request, and on pain of withdrawing my entire support from it. The Rana, who used to call it himself in conversation “Tod Sahib ki basti,” would have been gratified; but it would have been wrong to avail myself of his partiality. In all I was enabled to do, from my friendship, not from my official character, I always feared the dangers to his independence from such precedent for interference.^[16]

Māndalgarh.

—December 10.—I deviated from the direct course homewards (to Udaipur) to visit this beautiful spot, formerly the head of a flourishing district; but all was dilapidated. The first revenue derived from Mandal was expended on the repairs of the dam of its lake, which irrigates a great extent of rice-land. The Goths had felled [790] most of the fine trees which had ornamented 909its dam and margin; and several garden-houses, as well as that on the island in the lake, were in ruins. Not many years ago a column of victory, said to have been raised by Bisaladeva of Ajmer, in consequence of a victory over the Guhilots, graced this little isle. Mandal is now rising from its ruins, and one of the exiles was so fortunate as to find a vessel containing several pieces of gold and ornaments, in excavating the ruins of his ancient abode, though not buried by him. It involved the question of manorial rights, of which the Rana waived the enforcement, though he asserted them. To-day I passed between Pansal and Arja, the former still held by a Saktawat, the latter now united to the fisc. I have already related the feud between the Saktawats and the Purawats in the struggle for Arja, which is one of the most compact castles in Mewar, with a domain of 52,000 bighas, or 12,000 acres, attached to it, rendering it well worth a contest; but the Saktawat had no right there, say the Purawats; and in fact it is in the very heart of their lands.

Pur.

—December 11.—This is one of the oldest towns of Mewar, and if we credit tradition, anterior in date to Vikrama. We crossed the Kotasari to and from Mandal, passing by the tin and copper mines of Dariba, and the Purawat estate of Pitawas. Pur means, par eminence, ‘the city,’ and anciently the title was admissible; even now it is one of the chief fiscal towns. It is in the very heart of the canton, inhabited by the Babas, or ‘infants’ of Mewar, embracing a circle of about twenty-five miles diameter. The broken chain of mountains, having Banera on the northern point and Gurla to the south, passes transversely through this domain, leaving the estate of Bagor, the residence of Sheodan Singh, west, and extending to the S.E. to Mangrop, across the Berach. The policy which dictated the establishment of an isolated portion of the blood-royal of Mewar in the very centre of the country was wise; for the Babas rarely or ever mix with the politics of the feudatory chieftains, home or foreign. They are accordingly entrusted with the command of all garrisons, and head the feudal quotas as the representative of their sovereign. They have a particular seat at court, the Baba ka Ol being distinct from the chieftains’, and in front. Though they inhabit the lands about Pur, it is not from these they derive their name, but as descendants from Puru, one of the twenty-five sons of Rana Udai Singh, that blot in the scutcheon of Mewar [791].

910

Garnets.

—About a mile east of Pur there is an isolated hill of blue slate, in which I found garnets embedded. I have no doubt persevering adventurers would be rewarded; but though I tried them with the hammer, I obtained none of any value. They are also to be obtained on the southern frontier of Kishangarh and Ajmer, about Sarwar. I received the visits of the ‘infants’ of Gurla and Gadarmala, both most respectable men, and enjoying good estates, with strong castles, which I passed the next day.

Rāsmi, on the Banās River.

—December 12.—We had a long march through the most fertile lands of Mewar, all belonging to the Rana’s personal domain. The progress towards prosperity is great; of which Rasmi, the head of a tappa or subdivision of a district, affords evidence, as well as every village. On our way we were continually met by peasants with songs of joy, and our entrance into each village was one of triumph. The Patels and other rustic officers, surrounded by the ryots, came out of the villages; while the females collected in groups, with brass vessels filled with water gracefully resting on their heads, stood at the entrance, their scarfs half covering their faces, chaunting the suhela; a very ancient custom of the Hindu cultivator on receiving the superior, and tantamount to an acknowledgment of supremacy. Whether vanity was flattered, or whether a better sentiment was awakened, on receiving such tokens of gratitude, it is not for me to determine: the sight was pleasing, and the custom was general while I travelled in Mewar. The females bearing the kalas on their heads, were everywhere met with. These were chiefly the wives and daughters of the cultivators, though not unfrequently those of the Rajput sub-vassals. The former were seldom very fair, though they had generally fine eyes and good persons. We met many fragments of antiquity at Rasmi. Captain Waugh and the doctor were gratified with angling in the Banas for trout; but as the fish would not rise to the fly, I set the net, and obtained several dozens: the largest measured seventeen inches, and weighed seventy rupees, or nearly two pounds.

Merta.

—December 16.—After an absence of two months we terminated our circuitous journey, and encamped on the ground whence we started, all rejoiced at the prospect of again entering “the happy valley.” We made four marches across the duab, watered by the Berach and Banas rivers; the land naturally rich, 911and formerly boasting some large towns, but as yet only disclosing the germs of [792] prosperity. There is not a more fertile tract in India than this, which would alone defray the expenses of the court if its resources were properly husbanded. But years must first roll on, and the peasant must meet with encouragement, and a reduction of taxation to the lowest rate; and the lord-paramount must alike be indulgent in the exaction of his tribute. Our camels were the greatest sufferers in the march through the desert, and one-half were rendered useless. I received a deputation conveying the Rana’s congratulation on my return ‘home,’ with a letter full of friendship and importunities to see me; but the register of the heavens—an oracle consulted by the Rajput as faithfully as Moore’s Almanack by the British yeoman—showed an unlucky aspect, and I must needs halt at Merta, or in the valley, until the signs were more favourable to a re-entry into Udaipur. Here we amused ourselves in chalking out the site of our projected residence on the heights of Tus, and in fishing at the source of the Berach. Of this scene I present the reader with a view; and if he allows his imagination to ascend the dam which confines the waters of the lake, he may view the Udaisagar, with its islets; and directing his eye across its expanse, he may gain a bird’s-eye view of the palace of the Kaisar of the Sesodias. The dam thrown across a gorge of the mountains is of enormous magnitude and strength, as is necessary, indeed, to shut in a volume of water twelve miles in circumference. At its base, the point of outlet, is a small hunting-seat of the Rana’s, going to decay for want of funds to repair it, like all those on the Tiger Mount and in the valley. Nor is there any hope that the revenues, burthened as they are with the payment of a clear fourth in tribute, can supply the means of preventing further dilapidation.

December 19.—Tired of two days’ idleness, we passed through the portals of Debari on our way to Ar, to which place the Rana signified his intention of advancing in person, to receive and conduct me ‘home’: an honour as unlooked-for and unsolicited as it was gratifying. Udaipur presents a most imposing appearance when approached from the east. The palace of the Rana, and that of the heir-apparent, the great temple, and the houses of the nobles, with their turrets and cupolas rising in airy elegance, afford a pleasing contrast with the heavy wall and 912pierced battlements of the city beneath. This wall is more extensive than solid. To remedy this want of strength, a chain of fortresses has [793] been constructed, about gunshot from it, commanding every road leading thereto, which adds greatly to the effect of the landscape. These castellated heights contain places of recreation, one of which belongs to Salumbar; but all wear the same aspect of decay.

Ahār.

—Ar, or Ahar,^[17] near which we encamped, is sacred to the manes of the princes of Udaipur, and contains the cenotaphs of all her kings since the valley became their residence; but as they do not disdain association, either in life or death, with their vassals, Ar presents the appearance of a thickly crowded cemetery, in which the mausoleums of the Ranas stand pre-eminent in “the place of great faith.”^[18] The renowned Amra Singh’s is the most conspicuous; but the cenotaphs of all the princes, down to the father of Rana Bhim, are very elegant, and exactly what such structures ought to be; namely, vaulted roofs, supported by handsome columns raised on lofty terraces, the architraves of enormous single blocks, all of white marble, from the quarries of Kankroli. There are some smaller tombs of a singularly elaborate character, and of an antiquity which decides the claims of Ar to be considered as the remains of a very ancient city. The ground is strewed with the wrecks of monuments and old temples, which have been used in erecting the sepulchres of the Ranas. The great city was the residence of their ancestors, and is said to have been founded by Asaditya upon the site of the still more ancient capital of Tambavatinagari, where dwelt the Tuar ancestors of Vikramaditya, before he obtained Avinti, or Ujjain. From Tambavatinagari its name was changed to Anandpur, ‘the happy city,’ and at length to Ahar, which gave the patronymic to the Guhilot race, namely, Aharya. The vestiges of immense mounds still remain to the eastward, called the Dhul-kot, or ‘fort,’ destroyed by ‘ashes’ (dhul) of a volcanic eruption. Whether the lakes of the valley owe their origin to the same cause which is said to have destroyed the ancient Ahar, a more skilful geologist must determine. The chief road from the city is cut through this mound; and as I had observed fragments of sculpture and pottery on the excavated sides, I commenced a regular opening of the mound in search of medals, and obtained a few with the 913effigies of an animal, which I fancied to be a lion, but others the gadha, or ass, attributed to Gandharvasen, the brother of Vikrama, who placed this impress on his coins, the reason of which is given in a long legend.^[19] My impious intentions were soon checked by some designing knaves about the Rana, and I would not offend [794] superstition. But the most superficial observer will pronounce Ar to have been an ancient and extensive city, the walls which enclose this sepulchral abode being evidently built with the sculptured fragments of temples. Some shrines, chiefly Jain, are still standing, though in the last stage of dilapidation, and they have been erected from the ruins of shrines still older, as appears from the motley decorations, where statues and images are inserted with their heads reversed, and Mahavira and Mahadeva come into actual contact: all are in white marble. Two inscriptions were obtained; one very long and complete, in the nail-headed character of the Jains; but their interpretation is yet a desideratum. A topographical map of this curious valley would prove interesting, and for this I have sufficient materials. The Teli-ki-Sarai would not be omitted in such a map, as adding another to the many instances I have met with, among this industrious class, to benefit their fellow-citizens. The ‘Oilman’s Caravanserai’ is not conspicuous for magnitude; but it is remarkable, not merely for its utility, but even for its elegance of design. It is equi-distant from each of the lakes. The Teli-ka-Pul, or ‘Oilman’s Bridge,’ at Nurabad, is, however, a magnificent memorial of the trade, and deserves preservation; and as I shall not be able now to describe the region (Gwalior) where it stands, across the Asan, I will substitute it for the Sarai, of which I have no memorial.^[20] These Telis (oilmen) perambulate the country 914with skins of oil on a bullock, and from hard-earned pence erect the structures which bear their name. India owes much to individual munificence.

The planets were adverse to my happy conjunction with the Sun of the Hindus: and it was determined that I should pass another day amongst the tombs of Ahar; but I invoked upon my own devoted head all the evil consequences, as in this case I was the only person who was threatened. To render this opposition to the decree less noxious, it was agreed that I should make my entrée by the southern, not by the eastern porte, that of the sun. The Rana came, attended by his son, his chiefs, his ministers, and, in fact, all the capital in his train. The most hearty welcomes were lavished upon us all. “Rama! Rama! Tod Sahib!” (the Hindu greeting) resounded from a thousand throats, while I addressed each chief by name. It was not a meeting of formality, but of well-cemented friendship. My companions, Captain Waugh and Dr. Duncan, were busy interchanging smiles and cordial greetings, when the Rana, requesting our presence at the palace next day [795], bade us adieu. He took the direct road to his palace, while we, to avoid evil spirits, made a detour by the southern portal, to gain our residence, the garden of Rampiyari.

APPENDIX

No. I

Memorial of a Gete or Jit prince of the fifth century, discovered 1820, in a temple at Kunswa, near the Chumbul river, south of Kotah.

May the Jit’ha be thy protector! What does this Jit’h resemble? which is the vessel of conveyance across the waters 915of life, which is partly white, partly red? Again, what does it resemble, where the hissing-angered serpents dwell? What may this Jit’ha be compared to, from whose root the roaring flood descends? Such is the Jit’haJit’ha; by it may thou be preserved (1).

The fame of Raja Jit I now shall tell, by whose valour the lands of Salpoora (2) are preserved. The fortunes of Raja Jit are as flames of fire devouring his foe. The mighty warrior Jit Salindra (2) is beautiful in person, and from the strength of his arm esteemed the first amongst the tribes of the mighty; make resplendent, as does the moon the earth, the dominions of Salpoori. The whole world praises the Jit prince, who enlarges the renown of his race, sitting in the midst of haughty warriors, like the lotos in the waters, the moon of the sons of men. The foreheads of the princes of the earth worship the toe of his foot. Beams of light irradiate his countenance, issuing from the gems of his arms of strength. Radiant is his array; his riches abundant; his mind generous and profound as the ocean. Such is he of Sarya (3) race, a tribe renowned amongst the tribes of the mighty, whose princes were ever foes to treachery, to whom the earth surrendered her fruits, and who added the lands of their foes to their own. By sacrifice, the mind of this lord of men has been purified; fair are his territories, and fair is the Fortress of Tak’hya (4). The string of whose bow is dreaded, whose wrath is the reaper of the field of combat; but to his dependents he is as the pearl on the neck; who makes no account of the battle, though streams of blood run through the field. As does the silver lotos bend its head before the fierce rays of the sun, so does his foe stoop to him, while the cowards abandon the field [796].

From this lord of men (Narpati) Salindra sprung Devangli, whose deeds are known even at this remote period.

From him was born Sumbooka, and from him Degali, who married two wives of Yadu race (5), and by one a son named Vira Narindra, pure as a flower from the fountain.

Amidst groves of amba, on whose clustering blossoms hang myriads of bees, that the wearied traveller might repose, was this edifice erected. May it, and the fame of its founder, continue while ocean rolls, or while the moon, the sun, and hills endure. Samvat 597.—On the extremity of Malwa, this minster (Mindra) was erected, on the banks of the river Taveli, by Salichandra (6), son of Virachandra.

Whoever will commit this writing to memory, his sins will be obliterated. Carved by the sculptor Sevanarya, son of Dwarasiva, and composed by Butena, chief of the bards.

916 Note 1.—In the prologue to this valuable relic, which superficially viewed would appear a string of puerilities, we have conveyed in mystic allegory the mythological origin of the Jit or Gete race. From the members of the chief of the gods Iswara or Mahadeva, the god of battle, many races claim birth: the warrior from his arms; the Charun from his spine; the prophetic Bhat (Vates) from his tongue; and the Gete or Jit derive theirs from his tiara, which, formed of his own hair, is called Jit’ha. In this tiara, serpents, emblematic of Time (kal) and Destruction, are wreathed; also implicative that the Jits, who are of Takshac, or the serpent race, are thereby protected. The “roaring flood” which descends from this Jit’ha is the river goddess, Ganga, daughter of Mena, wife of Iswara. The mixed colour of his hair, which is partly white, partly of reddish (panduranga) hue, arises from his character of Ard’hnari, or Hermaphroditus. All these characteristics of the god of war must have been brought by the Scythic Gete from the Jaxartes, where they worshipped him as the Sun (Balnat’h) and as Xamolscis (Yama, vulg. Jama) the infernal divinity.

The 12th chapter of the Edda, in describing Balder the second son of Odin, particularly dwells on the beauty of his hair, whence “the whitest of all vegetables is called the eyebrow of Balder, on the columns of whose temples there are verses engraved, capable of recalling the dead to life.”

How perfectly in unison is all this of the Jits of Jutland and the Jits of Rajast’han. In each case the hair is the chief object of admiration; of Balnath as Balder, and the magical effect of the Runes is not more powerful than that attached by the chief of the Scalds of our Gete prince at the end of this inscription, fresh evidences in support of my hypothesis, that many of the Rajpoot races and Scandinavians have a common origin—that origin, Central Asia.

Note 2.—Salpoora is the name of the capital of this Jit prince, and his epithet of Sal-indra is merely titular, as the Indra, or lord of Sal-poori, ‘the city of Sal,’ which the fortunate discovery of an inscription raised by Komarpal, king of Anhulwarra (Nehrwalla of D’Anville), dated S. 1207, has enabled me to place “at the base of the Sewaluk Mountains.” In order to elucidate this point, and to give the full value to this record of the Jit princes of the Punjab, I append (No. V.) a translation of the Nehrwalla conqueror’s inscription, which will prove beyond a doubt that these Jit princes of Salpoori in the Punjab were the leaders of that very colony of the Yuti from the Jaxartes, who in the fifth century, as recorded by De Guignes, crossed the Indus and possessed themselves of the Punjab; and strange to say, have again risen to power, for the Sikhs (disciples) of Nanuk are almost all of Jit origin.

Note 3.—Here this Jit is called of Sarya Sac’ha, branch or ramification of the Saryas: a very ancient race which is noticed by the genealogists synonymously with the Sariaspa, one of the thirty-six royal races, and very probably the same as the Sarwya of the Komarpal Charitra, with the distinguished epithet “the flower of the martial races” (Sarwya c’shatrya tyn Sar).

917 Note 4.—“The fortress of Takshac.” Whether this Takshacnagari, or castle of the Tâk, is the [797] stronghold of Salpoori, or the name given to a conquest in the environs of the place, whence this inscription, we can only surmise, and refer the reader to what has been said of Takitpoora. As I have repeatedly said, the Tâks and Jits are one race.

Note 5.—As the Jits intermarried with the Yadus at this early period, it is evident they had forced their way amongst the thirty-six royal races, though they have again lost this rank. No Rajpoot would give a daughter to a Jit, or take one from them to wife.

Note 6.—Salichandra is the sixth in descent from the first-named prince, Jit Salindra, allowing twenty-two years to each descent = 132—S. 597, date of ins. = S. 465-56 = A.D. 409; the period of the colonization of the Punjab by the Getes, Yuti, or Jits, from the Jaxartes.^[2]

No. II

Translation of an inscription in the Nail-headed character relative to the Jit race, discovered at Ram Chundrapoora, six miles east of Boondee, in digging a well. It was thence conveyed, and deposited by me in the Museum of the Royal Asiatic Society.

To my foe, salutation! This foe of the race of Jit, Cathida (1), how shall I describe, who is resplendent by the favour of the round bosom of Roodrani (2), and whose ancestor, the warrior Tukhya (3), formed the garland on the neck of Mahadeva. Better than this foe on the earth’s surface, there is none; therefore to him I offer salutation. The sparkling gems on the coronets of kings irradiate the nail of his foot.

Of the race of Botena (4) Raja T’hot was born; his fame expanded through the universe.

918Pure in mind, strong in arm, and beloved by mankind, such was Chandrasen (5). How shall he be described, who broke the strength of his foe, on whom when his sword swims in fight, he appears like a magician. With his subjects he interchanged the merchandise of liberality, of which he reaped the fruits. From him whose history is fair, was born Kritika, the deeds of whose arm were buds of renown, forming a necklace of praise in the eyes of mankind. His queen was dear to him as his own existence—how can she be described? As the flame is inseparable from the fire, so was she from her lord—she was the light issuing from the sun—her name Goon-newasa (6), and her actions corresponded with her name. By her he had two sons, like gems set in bracelets, born to please mankind. The eldest was named Sookunda, the younger Deruka. Their fortunes consumed their foes: but their dependents enjoyed happiness. As the flowers of Calp-vricsha are beloved by the gods, so are these brothers by their subjects, granting their requests, and increasing the glory of the race, whence they sprung.—[A useless descriptive stanza left out (7).]

Deruka had a son, Kuhla, and his was Dhunika, whose deeds ascended high—who could fathom the intentions of mankind—whose mind was deep as the ocean—whose ever-hungry faulchion expelled from their mountains and forests the Meena tribes, leaving them no refuge in the three wolds, levelling their retreats to the ground. His quiver was filled with crescent-formed arrows—his sword the climber (vela) (8), of which pearls are the fruit. With his younger brother Dewaka he reverences gods and Brahmins—and with his own wealth perfumed a sacrifice to the sun [798].

For the much-beloved’s (his wife) pleasure this was undertaken. Now the river of ease, life and death, is crossed over, for this abode will devour the body of the foe, into which the west wind wafts the fragrant perfume from the sandal-covered bosom of Lacshmi (9); while from innumerable lotos the gale from the east comes laden with aroma, the hum of the bees as they hang clustering on the flowers of the padhul is pleasing to the ear.

So long as Soomeru stands on its base of golden sands, so long may this dwelling endure. So long as the wind blows on the koonjeris (10), supporters of the globe, while the firmament endures, or while Lacshmi (11) causes the palm to be extended, so long may his praise and this edifice be stable. Kuhla (12) formed this abode of virtue, and east thereof a temple to Iswara. By Achil, son of the mighty prince Yasooverma (13), has its renown been composed in various forms of speech.

Note 1.—Qu. if this Jit is from (da, the mark of the genitive case) Cathay? the land of the Cat’hae foes of Alexander, and probably of the Cathi of the Saurashtra peninsula, alike Scythic as the Jit, and probably the same race originally?

919 Note 2.—Roodrani, an epithet of the martial spouse of Harar-Siva, the god of war, whom the Jit in the preceding inscription invokes.

Note 3.—Here we have another proof of the Jit being of Takshac race; this at the same time has a mythological reference to the serpent (takhya), which forms the garland of the warlike divinities.

Note 4.—Of this race I have no other notice, unless it should mean the race (cula) was from Butan.

Note 5.—Chandrasen is celebrated in the history of the Pramaras as the founder of several cities, from two of which, Chandrabhaga, at the foot of the central plateau of India, in Northern Malwa, and Chandravati, the ruins of which I discovered at the foot of the Aravulli near Aboo, I possess several valuable memoria, which will, ere long, confirm the opinions I have given of the Takshac architect.

Note 9.—Lacshmi, the apsara or sea-nymph, is feigned residing amongst the waters of the lotos-covered lake. In the hot weather the Rajpoot ladies dip their corsets into an infusion of sandal-wood, hence the metaphor.

Note 10.—Koonjiris are the elephants who support the eight corners of the globe.

Note 11.—Lacshmi is also dame Fortune, or the goddess of riches, whence this image.

Note 13.—Without this name this inscription would have been but of half its value. Fortunately various inscriptions on stone and copper, procured by me from Oojein, settled the era of the death of this prince in S. 1191, which will alike answer for Achil, his son, who was most likely one of the chieftains of Kuhla, who appears to have been of the elder branch of the Pramaras, the foe of the Jit invaders [799].

No. III

Inscription in the Nail-headed character of the Mori Princes of Cheetore, taken from a column on the banks of the lake Mansurwur, near that city.

By the lord of waters may thou be protected! What is there 920which resembles the ocean? on whose margin the red buds of honey-yielding trees are eclipsed by swarms of bees, whose beauty expands with the junction of numerous streams. What is like the ocean, inhaling the perfume of the Paryata (1), who was compelled to yield as tribute, wine, wealth, and ambrosia (2)? Such is the ocean!—may he protect thee.

Of a mighty gift, this is the memorial. This lake enslaves the minds of beholders, over whose expanse the varied feathered tribe skim with delight, and whose banks are studded with every kind of tree. Falling from the lofty-peaked mountain, enhancing the beauty of the scene, the torrent rushes to the lake. The mighty sea-serpent (3), o’erspent with toil in the churning of the ocean, repaired to this lake for repose.

On this earth’s surface was Maheswara (4), a mighty prince, during whose sway the name of foe was never heard; whose fortune was known to the eight quarters (5); on whose arm victory reclined for support. He was the light of the land. The praises of the race of Twast’ha (6) were determined by Brahma’s own mouth.

Fair, filled with pride, sporting amidst the shoals of the lotos, is the swan fed by his hand, from whose countenance issue rays of glory: such was Raja Bheem (7), a skilful swimmer in the ocean of battle, even to where the Ganges pours in her flood (8) did he go, whose abode is Avanti (9). With faces resplendent as the moon, on whose lips yet marked with the wound of their husband’s teeth, the captive wives of his foes, even in their hearts does Raja Bheem dwell. By his arm he removed the apprehensions of his enemies; he considered them as errors to be expunged. He appeared as if created of fire. He could instruct even the navigator (10) of the ocean.

From him was descended Raja Bhoj (11). How shall he be described; he, who in the field of battle divided with his sword the elephant’s head, the pearl from whose brain (12) now adorns his breast; who devours his foe as does Rahoo (13) the sun or moon, who to the verge of space erected edifices in token of victory?

From him was a son whose name was Maun, who was surcharged with good qualities, and with whom fortune took up her abode. One day he met an aged man: his appearance made him reflect that his frame was as a shadow, evanescent; that the spirit which did inhabit it was like the seed of the scented Kadama (14); that the riches of royalty were brittle as a blade of grass; and that man was like a lamp exposed in the light of day. Thus ruminating, for the sake of his race who had gone before him, and for the sake of good works, he made this lake, whose waters are expansive and depth unfathomable. When I look on this ocean-like lake, I ask myself, if it may not be this which is destined to cause the final doom (15).

The warriors and chiefs of Raja Maun (16) are men of skill and valour—pure in their lives and faithful. Raja Maun is a 921heap of virtues—the chief who enjoys his favour may court all the gifts of fortune. When the head is inclined on his lotos foot, the grain of sand which adheres becomes an ornament thereto. Such is the lake, shaded with trees, frequented by birds, which the man of fortune, Sriman Raja Maun, with great labour formed. By the name of its lord (Maun), that of the lake (surwur) is known to the world. By him versed in the alankara, Pushha, the son of Naga Bhut, these stanzas have been framed. Seventy had elapsed beyond seven hundred years (Samvatisir), when the lord of men, the King of Malwa (17) formed this lake. By Sevadit, grandson of Khetri Karug, were these lines cut [800].

Note 1.—The Paryata is also called the Har-singar, or ‘ornament of the neck,’ its flowers being made into collars and bracelets. Its aroma is very delicate, and the blossom dies in a few hours.

Note 2.—Imrita, the food of the immortals, obtained at the churning of the ocean. The contest for this amongst the gods and demons is well known. Vrishpati, or Sookra, regent of the planet Venus, on this occasion lost an eye; and hence this Polyphemus has left the nickname of Sookracharya to all who have but one eye.

Note 4.—A celebrated name in the genealogies of the Takshac Pramara, of which the Mori is a conspicuous Sac’ha or branch. He was the founder of the city of Maheswar, on the southern bank of the Nehrbudda, which commands the ford leading from Awinti and Dhar (the chief cities of the Mori Pramaras) to the Dekhan.

Note 5.—The ancient Hindu divided his planisphere into eight quarters, on which he placed the Koonjerries or elephants, for its support.

Note 6.—Twastha, or Takshac, is the celebrated Nagvansa of antiquity. All are Agniculas. Cheetore, if erected by the Takshac artist, has a right to the appellation Herbert has so singularly assigned it, namely, Tacsila, built by the Tâk; it would be the Tâk-sillā-nagar, the ‘stone fort of the Takshac,’ alluded to in No. 1.

Note 7.—Raja Bheem, the lord of Avanti or Oojein, the king of Malwa, is especially celebrated in the Jain annals. A son of his led a numerous colony into Marwar, and founded many cities between the Looni river and the Aravulli mountains. All became proselytes to the Jain faith, and their descendants, who are amongst the wealthiest and most numerous of these mercantile sectarians, are proud of their Rajpoot descent; and it tells when they are called to responsible offices, when they handle the sword as well as the pen.

Note 8.—Ganga-Sagur, or the Island at the mouth of the Ganges, is specified by name as the limit of Bheem’s conquests. His memoria may yet exist even there.

Note 11.—Raja Bhoj. There is no more celebrated name than this in the annals and literature of the Rajpoots; but there were three princes of the Pramara race who bore it. The period of the last Raja Bhoj, father of Udyadit, is now fixed, by various inscriptions discovered by me, A.D. 1035, and the dates of the two others I had from a leaf of a very ancient Jain MS., obtained at the temple of Nadole, namely, S. 631 and 721, or A.D. 575 and 665. Abulfazil gives the period of the first Bhoj as S. 545; but, as we find that valuable MS. of the period of the last Bhoj confirmed by the date of this inscription of his son Maun, namely, S. 770, we may put perfect confidence in it, and now consider the periods of the three, namely, S. 631, 721, and 1091—A.D. 567, 665, and 1035—as fixed points in Rajpoot chronology.

Note 12.—In the head of that class of elephants called Bhadra, the Hindoo says, there is always a large pearl.

Note 13.—The monster Rahoo of the Rajpoot, who swallows the sun and moon, causing eclipses, is Fenris, the wolf of the Scandinavians. The Asi carried the same ideas West, which they taught within the Indus.

Note 14.—Kadama is a very delicate flower, that decays almost instantaneously.

Note 16.—The MS. annals of the Rana’s family state that their founder, Bappa, conquered Cheetore from Maun Mori. This inscription is therefore invaluable as establishing the era of the conquest of [801] Cheetore by the Gehlotes, and which was immediately following the first irruption of the arms of Islam, as rendered in the annals of Mewar.

Note 17.—As Raja Maun is called King of Malwa, it is evident that Cheetore had superseded both Dhar and Awinti as the seat of power. A palace of Maun Mori is still shown as one of the antiquities in Cheetore.^[3]

No. IV

Inscription in the Devanagari character, discovered in January 1822 in Puttun Somnat’h, on the coast of the Saurashtra peninsula, fixing the era of the sovereigns of Balabhi, the ‘Balhara kings of Nehrwalla.’

Adoration to the Lord of all, to the light of the universe(1). Adoration to the form indescribable; Him! at whose feet all kneel.

In the year of Mohummud 662, and in that of Vicrama 1320, 923and that of Srimad Balabhi 945, and the Siva-Singa Samvat 151, Sunday, the 13th (badi) of the month Asar (2).

The chiefs of Anhulpoor Patun obeyed by numerous princes (here a string of titles), Bhataric Srimad Arjuna Deva (3), of Chauluc race, his minister Sri Maldeva, with all the officers of government, together with Hormuz of Belacool, of the government of Ameer Rookn-oo-Din, and of Khwaja Ibrahim of Hormuz, son of the Admiral (Nakhoda) Noor-oo-Din Feeroz, together with the Chaura chieftains Palookdeva, Ranik Sri Someswadeva, Ramdeva, Bheemsing, and all the Chauras and other tribes of rank being assembled (4);

Nansi Raja, of the Chaura race, inhabiting Deo Puttun (5), assembling all the merchants, established ordinances for the repairs and the support of the temples, in order that flowers, oil, and water should be regularly supplied to Rutna-iswara (6), Choul-iswara (7), and the shrine of Pulinda Devi (8), and the rest, and for the purpose of erecting a wall round the temple of Somnat’h, with a gateway to the north. Keelndeo, son of Modula, and Loonsi, son of Johan, both of the Chaura race, together with the two merchants, Balji and Kurna, bestowed the weekly profits of the market for this purpose. While sun and moon endure, let it not be resumed. Feeroz is commanded to see this order obeyed, and that the customary offerings on festivals are continued, and that all surplus offerings and gifts be placed in the treasury for the purposes afore-named. The Chaura chiefs present, and the Admiral Noor-oo-Din, are commanded to see these orders executed on all classes. Heaven will be the lot of the obedient; hell to the breaker of this ordinance.^[4]

Note 1.—The invocation, which was long, has been omitted by me. But this is sufficient to show that Bal-nat’h, the deity worshipped in Puttun Somnat’h, ‘the city of the lord of the Moon,’ was the sun-god Bal. Hence the title of the dynasties which ruled this region, Bal-ca-Rae, ‘the princes of Bal,’ and hence the capital Balicapoor, ‘the city of the sun,’ familiarly written Balabhi, whose ruins, as well as this inscription, rewarded a long journey. The Rana’s ancestors, the Suryas, or ‘sun-worshippers,’ gave their name to the peninsula Saurashtra, or Syria, and the dynasties of Chaura, and Chauluc, or Solanki, who succeeded them on their expulsion by the Parthians, retained the title of Balicaraes, corrupted by Renaudot’s Arabian travellers into Balhara [802].

Note 2.—The importance of the discovery of these new eras has already been descanted on in the annals. S. 1320-945, the date of this inscription = 375 of Vicrama for the first of the Balabhi era; and 1320-151 gives S. 1169 for the establishment of the Sevasinga era—established by the Gohils of the island of Deo, of whom I have another memorial, dated 927 Balabhi Samvat. The Gohils, Chauras, and Gehlotes are all of one stock.

924 Note 3.—Arjuna-Deva, Chaluc, was prince of Anhulpoor or Anhulwarra, founded by Vanraj Chaura in S. 802—henceforth the capital of the Balica-raes after the destruction of Balabhi.

Note 4.—This evinces that Anhulwarra was still the emporium of commerce which the travellers of Renaudot and Edrisi describe.

Note 5.—From this it is evident that the Islandic Deo was a dependent fief of Anhulwarra.]

No. V

In Samvatsir 1034, the 16th of the month Bysak, was erected this dwelling ^[7] of Nanukswami.

From Anundpoor came he of Brahmin ^[8] race (may he flourish), Muhee Deva Sri Goha Dit, from whom became famous on the earth the Gohil tribe:

11. Singji; whose Ranee Maha Lakmee, of the warlike race of Rashtra (Rahtore), and from her was born:

12. Sri Ullut. To him who subdued the earth and became its lord, was born Haria Devi: her praise was known in Hurspoora; and from her was born a mighty warrior in whose arm victory reposed; the Khetri of the field of battle, who broke the confederacy of his foes, and from the tree of whose fortune riches were the fruit: an altar of learning; from him was

925Such were their (the princes whose names are given) fortunes which I have related. From him was born [803],

15. Secti Koomar. How can he be described?—He who conquered and made his own the three qualifications (sacti);^[10] whose fortunes equalled those of Bhirtrpad. In the abode of wealth Sri Aitpoor, which he had made his dwelling, surrounded by a crowd of princes; the kulpdroom to his people; whose foot-soldiers are many; with vaults of treasure—whose fortunes have ascended to heaven—whose city derives its beauty from the intercourse of merchants; and in which there is but one single evil, the killing darts from the bright eyes of beauty, carrying destruction to the vassals of the prince.^[11]

No. VI

To him who takes delight in the abode of waters; from whose braided locks ambrosial drops continually descend; even this Mahadeva, may he protect thee!

He of Chaulac tribe, having innumerable gems of ancestry, flowing from a sea of splendour, was Moolraj, sovereign of the earth.

What did he resemble, whose renown was bright as a fair sparkling gem, diffusing happiness and ease to the sons of the earth? Many mighty princes there were of his line; but none before had made the great sacrifice.

Generations after him, in the lapse of many years, was Sid Raj, a name known to the world; whose frame was encased in the riches of victory, and whose deeds were sounded over the curtain of the earth; and who, by the fire of his own frame and fortune, heaped up unconsumable wealth.

After him was Kumar Pal Deo. What was he like, who by the strength of his invincible mind crushed all his foes; whose commands the other sovereigns of the earth placed on their fore-heads; who compelled the lord of Sacambhari to bow at his feet: 926who in person carried his arms to Sewaluk, making the mountain lords to bow before him, even in the city of Salpoori?

On the mountain Chutterkote ... ar, the lord of men, in sport placed this [writing] amidst the abode of the gods: even on its pinnacle did he place it. Why? That it might be beyond the reach of the hands of fools!

As Nissa-Nath, the lord who rules the night, looking on the faces of the fair Kamunis below, feels envious of their fairness, and ashamed of the dark spots on his own countenance, even so does Chutterkote blush at seeing this (Prasishta) on her pinnacle.

No. VII

The treasury of knowledge of the Almighty (Jina) cuts the knots and intentions of mankind. Pride, conceit, desire, anger, avarice. It is a partition to the three ^[13] worlds. Such is Mahavira:^[14] may he grant thee happiness!

In ancient times the exalted race of Chohan had sovereignty to the bounds of ocean; and in Nadole swayed Lacshman, Raja. He had a son named Lohia; and his Bulraj, his Vigraha Pal; from him sprung Mahindra Deva; his son was Sri Anhula, the chief amongst the princes of his time, whose fortunes were known to all. His son was Sri Bal Presad; but having no issue, his younger brother, Jaitr Raj, succeeded. His son was Prithwi Pal, endued with strength and fiery qualities; but he having no issue, was succeeded by his younger brother Jul; he by his brother Maun Raja, the abode of fortune. His son was Alandeva.^[15] When he mounted the throne, he reflected this world was a fable: that this frame, composed of unclean elements, of flesh, blood, and dust, was brought to existence in pain. Versed in the books of faith, he reflected on the evanescence of youth, resembling the scintillation of the fire-fly;^[16] that riches were as the dew-drop on the lotos-leaf, for a moment resembling the pearl, but soon to disappear. Thus meditating, he commanded 927his servants, and sent them forth to his chieftains, to desire them to bestow happiness on others, and to walk in the paths of faith.

In Samvat 1218, in the month of Sawun the 29th,^[17] performing the sacrifice to fire, and pouring forth libations to the dispeller of darkness, he bathed the image of the omniscient, the lord of things which move and are immovable, Sudasiva, with the panchamrit^[18] and made the gifts of gold, grain, and clothes to his spiritual teacher, preceptor, and the Brahmins to their hearts’ desire. Taking til in his hand, with rings on his finger of the cusa (grass), holding water and rice in the palm of his hand, he made a gift of five moodras monthly in perpetuity to the Sandera Gatcha^[19] for saffron, sandal-wood, and ghee for the service of the temple of Mahavira in the white market (mandra) of the town. Hence this copper-plate. This charity which I have bestowed will continue as long as the Sandera Gatcha exist to receive, and my issue to grant it.

To whoever may rule hereafter I touch their hands, that it may be perpetual. Whoever bestows charity will live sixty thousand years in heaven; whoever resumes it, the like in hell!

Of Pragvavansa,^[20] his name Dhurnidhur, his son Kurmchund being minister, and the sastri Munorut Ram, with his sons Visala and Sridhara, by writing this inscription made his name resplendent. By Sri Alan’s own hand was this copper-plate bestowed. Samvat 1218 [805].^[21]

TREATY between the Honourable the English East-India Company and Maharana Bheem Sing, Rana of Oudeepoor, concluded by Mr. Charles Theophilus Metcalfe on the part of the Honourable Company, in virtue of full powers granted by his Excellency the Most Noble the Marquis of Hastings, K.G., Governor-General, and by Thakoor Ajeet Sing on the part of the Maharana, in virtue of full powers conferred by the Maharana aforesaid.

First Article.—There shall be perpetual friendship, alliance, and unity of interests between the two states, from generation to generation, and the friends and enemies of one shall be the friends and enemies of both.

Second Article.—The British Government engages to protect the principality and territory of Oudeepoor.

Third Article.—The Maharana of Oudeepoor will always act in subordinate co-operation with the British Government, and acknowledge its supremacy, and will not have any connection with other chiefs or states.

928Fourth Article.—The Maharana of Oudeepoor will not enter into any negotiation with any chief or state without the knowledge and sanction of the British Government; but his usual amicable correspondence with friends and relations shall continue.

Fifth Article.—The Maharana of Oudeepoor will not commit aggressions upon any one; and if by accident a dispute arise with any one, it shall be submitted to the arbitration and award of the British Government.

Sixth Article.—One-fourth of the revenue of the actual territory of Oudeepoor shall be paid annually to the British Government as tribute for five years; and after that term three-eighths in perpetuity. The Maharana will not have connection with any other power on account of tribute, and if any one advance claims of that nature, the British Government engages to reply to them.

Seventh Article.—Whereas the Maharana represents that portions of the dominions of Oudeepoor have fallen, by improper means, into the possession of others, and solicits the restitution of those places: the British Government from a want of accurate information is not able to enter into any positive engagement on this subject; but will always keep in view the renovation of the prosperity of the state of Oudeepoor, and after ascertaining the nature of each case, will use its best exertions for the accomplishment of the object, on every occasion on which it may be proper to do so. Whatever places may thus be restored to the state of Oudeepoor by the aid of the British Government, three-eighths of their revenues shall be paid in perpetuity to the British Government.

Eighth Article.—The troops of the state of Oudeepoor shall be furnished according to its means, at the requisition of the British Government.

Ninth Article.—The Maharana of Oudeepoor shall always be absolute ruler of his own country, and the British jurisdiction shall not be introduced into that principality.

Tenth Article.—The present treaty of ten articles having been concluded at Dihlee, and signed and sealed by Mr. Charles Theophilus Metcalfe and Thakoor Ajeet Sing Buhadoor [806], the ratifications of the same, by his Excellency the Most Noble the Governor-General, and Maharana Bheem Sing, shall be mutually delivered within a month from this date.

CHAPTER 1

Etymology of Mārwār.

—Marwar is a corruption of Maruwar, classically Marusthali or Marusthan, ‘the region of death.’ It is also called Marudesa, whence the unintelligible Mardes of the early Muhammadan writers. The bards frequently style it Mordhar, which is synonymous with Marudesa, or, when it suits their rhyme, simply Maru. Though now restricted to the country subject to the Rathor race, its ancient and appropriate application comprehended the entire ‘desert,’ from the Sutlej to the ocean.

The Rāthors.

—A concise genealogical sketch of the Rathor rulers of Marwar has already been given;^[1] we shall therefore briefly pass over those times “when a genealogical tree would strike root in any soil”; when the ambition of the Rathors, whose branches (sakha) spread rapidly over ‘the region of death,’ was easily gratified with a solar [2] pedigree. As it is desirable, however, to record their own opinions regarding their origin, we shall make extracts from the chronicles (hereafter enumerated), instead of fusing the whole into one mass, as in the Annals of Mewar. The reader will occasionally be presented with simple translations of whatever is most interesting in the Rathor records.

Authorities.

—Let us begin with a statement of the author’s authorities; first, a genealogical roll of the Rathors, furnished by a Yati, or Jain priest, from the temple of Narlai.^[2] This roll 930is about fifty feet in length, commencing, as usual, with a theogony, followed by the production of the ‘first Rathor from the spine (rahat) of Indra,’^[3] the nominal father being ‘Yavanaswa, prince of Parlipur.’ Of the topography of Parlipur, the Rathors have no other notion than that it was in the north; but in the declared race of their progenitor, a Yavan prince, of the Aswa or Asi tribe,^[4] we have a proof of the Scythic origin of this Rajput family.

The chronicle proceeds with the foundation of Kanyakubja,^[5] or Kanauj, and the origin of Kama-dhwaja ^[6] (vulgo Kamdhuj), the titular appellation of its princes, and concludes with the thirteen great Sakha, or ramifications of the Rathors, and their Gotracharya, or genealogical creed.^[7]

Another roll, of considerable antiquity, commences in the fabulous age, with a long string of names, without facts; its sole value consists in the esteem in which the tribe holds it. We may omit all that precedes Nain Pal, who, in the year S. 526 (A.D. 470 ^[8]), conquered Kanauj, slaying its monarch Ajaipal; from which period the race was termed Kanaujia Rathor. The genealogy proceeds to Jaichand, the last monarch of Kanauj; relates the emigration of his nephew Siahji, or Sivaji, and his establishment 931in the desert (Maruwar), with a handful of his brethren (a wreck of the mighty kingdom of Kanauj); and terminates with the death of Raja Jaswant Singh in S. 1735 (A.D. 1679), describing every branch and scion, until we see them spreading over Maru [3].

Genealogy ceases to be an uninteresting pursuit when it enables us to mark the progress of animal vegetation, from the germ to the complete development of the tree, until the land is overshadowed with its branches; and bare as is the chronicle to the moralist or historian, it exhibits to the observer of the powers of the animal economy, data which the annals of no other people on earth can furnish. In A.D. 1193 we see the throne of Jaichand overturned; his nephew, with a handful of retainers, taking service with a petty chieftain in the Indian desert. In less than four centuries we find the descendants of these exiles of the Ganges occupying nearly the whole of the desert; having founded three capitals, studded the land with the castles of its feudality, and bringing into the field fifty thousand men, ek bap ka beta, ‘the sons of one father,’ to combat the emperor of Delhi. What a contrast does their unnoticed growth present to that of the Islamite conquerors of Kanauj, of whom five dynasties passed away in ignorance of the renovated existence of the Rathor, until the ambition of Sher Shah brought him into contact with the descendants of Siahji, whose valour caused him to exclaim “he had nearly lost the crown of India for a handful of barley,” in allusion to the poverty of their land!^[9]

What a sensation does it not excite when we know that a sentiment of kindred pervades every individual of this immense affiliated body, who can point out, in the great tree, the branch of his origin, whilst not one is too remote from the main stem to forget its pristine connexion with it! The moral sympathies created by such a system pass unheeded by the chronicler, who must deem it futile to describe what all sensibly feel, and which renders his page, albeit little more than a string of names, one of paramount interest to the ‘sons of Siahji.’

The third authority is the Suraj Prakas (Surya Prakasa), composed by the bard Karnidhan, during the reign and by command of Raja Abhai Singh. This poetic history, comprised in 7500 stanzas, was copied from the original manuscript, and 932sent to me by Raja Man, in the year 1820.^[10] As usual, the Kavya (bard) commences with the origin of all things, tracing the Rathors from the creation down to Sumitra; from whence is a blank until he recommences with the name of Kamdhuj, which appears to have been the title assumed by Nain Pal, on his conquest of Kanauj. Although Karnidhan must have taken his facts from the [4] royal records, they correspond very well with the roll from Narlai. The bard is, however, in a great hurry to bring the founder of the Rathors into Marwar, and slurs over the defeat and death of Jaichand. Nor does he dwell long on his descendants, though he enumerates them all, and points out the leading events until he reaches the reign of Jaswant Singh, grandfather of Abhai Singh, who “commanded the bard to write the Suraj Prakas.”

The next authority is the Raj Rupak Akhyat, or ‘the royal relations.’ This work commences with a short account of the Suryavansa, from their cradle at Ajodhya; then takes up Siahji’s migration, and in the same strain as the preceding work, rapidly passes over all events until the death of Raja Jaswant; but it becomes a perfect chronicle of events during the minority of his successor Ajit, his eventful reign, and that of Abhai Singh, to the conclusion of the war against Sarbuland Khan, viceroy of Gujarat. Throwing aside the meagre historical introduction, it is professedly a chronicle of the events from S. 1735 (A.D. 1679) to S. 1787 (A.D. 1734), the period to which the Suraj Prakas is brought down.

A portion of the Bijai Vilas, a poem of 100,000 couplets, also fell into my hands: it chiefly relates to the reign of the prince whose name it bears, Bijai Singh, the son of Bakhta Singh. It details the civil wars waged by Bijai Singh and his cousin Ram Singh (son of Abhai Singh), and the consequent introduction of the Mahrattas into Marwar.

From a biographical work named simply Khyat, or ‘Story,’ I obtained that portion which relates to the lives of Raja Udai Singh, the friend of Akbar; his son Raja Gaj, and grandson Jaswant Singh. These sketches exhibit in true colours the character of the Rathors.

Besides these, I caused to be drawn up by an intelligent man, who had passed his life in office at Jodhpur, a memoir of transactions from the death of Ajit Singh, in A.D. 1629, down to the treaty 933with the English Government in A.D. 1818. The ancestors of the narrator had filled offices of trust in the State, and he was a living chronicle both of the past and present.

From these sources, from conversations with the reigning sovereign, his nobles, his ambassadors, and subjects, materials were collected for this sketch of the Rathors—barren, indeed, of events at first, but redundant of them as we advance.

A genealogical table of the Rathors is added, showing the grand offsets, whose [5] descendants constitute the feudal frèrage of the present day. A glance at this table will show the claims of each house; and in its present distracted condition, owing to civil broils, will enable the paramount power to mediate, when necessary, with impartiality, in the conflicting claims of the prince and his feudatories.

Rāthor Origins.

—We shall not attempt to solve the question, whether the Rathors are, or are not, Ravi-vansa, ‘Children of the Sun’; nor shall we dispute either the birth or etymon of the first Rathor (from the rahat or spine of Indra), or search in the north for the kingdom of the nominal father; but be content to conclude that this celestial interference in the household concerns of the Parlipur prince was invented to cover some disgrace. The name of Yavana, with the adjunct Aswa or Asi, clearly indicates the Indo-Scythic ‘barbarian’ from beyond the Indus. In the genealogy of the Lunar races descended of Budha and Ila (Mercury and the Earth—see Table I. Vol. I.Table I. Vol. I.), the five sons of Bajaswa are made to people the countries on and beyond the Indus; and in the scanty records of Alexander’s invasion mention is made of many races, as the Assasenae and Assakenoi, still dwelling in these regions.

This period was fruitful in change to the old-established dynasties of the Hindu continent, when numerous races of barbarians, namely, Huns, Parthians, and Getae, had fixed colonies on her western and northern frontiers.^[11]

“In S. 526 (A.D. 470) Nain Pal obtained Kanauj, from which period the Rathors assumed the title of Kamdhuj. His son was Padarath,^[12] his Punja, from whom sprung the thirteen great families, bearing the patronymic Kamdhuj, namely:

“2nd. Banuda, who fought the Afghans at Kangra, and founded Abhaipur: hence the Abhaipura Kamdhuj.

“3rd. Virachandra, who married the daughter of Hamira Chauhan, of Anhilpur Patan; he had fourteen sons, who emigrated to the Deccan: his descendants called Kapolia Kamdhuj.

“4th. Amrabijai, who married the daughter of the Pramara prince of Koragarh ^[13] on the Ganges;—slew 16,000 Pramaras, and took possession of Kora, whence the Kora Kamdhuj ^[14] [6].

“6th. Padma, who conquered Orissa, and also Bogilana,^[15] from Raja Tejman Yadu.

“8th. Bardeo; his elder brother offered him in appanage Benares, and eighty-four townships; but he preferred founding a city, which he called Parakhpur:^[16] his descendants Parakh Kamdhuj.

“9th. Ugraprabhu, who made a pilgrimage to the shrine of Hinglaj Chandel,^[17] who, pleased with the severity of his penance, caused a sword to ascend from the fountain, with which he conquered the southern countries touching the ocean:^[18] his descendants Chandela Kamdhuj.

“10th. Muktaman, who conquered possessions in the north from Bhan Tuar: his descendants Bira Kamdhuj.

“11th. Bharat, at the age of sixty-one, conquered Kanaksar, under the northern hills, from Rudrasen of the Bargujar tribe: his descendants styled Bhariau Kamdhuj.

“12th. Alankal founded Khairoda; fought the Asuras (Muslims) on the banks of the Attock: his descendants Kherodia Kamdhuj.

935“13th. Chand obtained Tarapur in the north. He married a daughter of the Chauhan of Tahera,^[19] a city well known to the world: with her he came to Benares.

“Bambo,^[20] or Dharma-Bambo, sovereign of Kanauj, had a son, Ajaichand.^[21] For twenty-one generations they bore the titles of Rao; afterwards that of Raja. Udaichand, Narpati, Kanaksen, Sahassal, Meghsen, Birabhadra, Deosen, Bimalsen, Dansen, Mukund, Budha, Rajsen, Tirpal, Sripunja, Bijaichand,^[22] his son Jaichand, who became the Naik of Kanauj, with the surname Dal Pangla.”

Jaichand.

—Nothing is related of the actions of these princes, from the conquest of Kanauj [7] by Nain Pal, in A.D. 470, and the establishment of his thirteen grandsons in divers countries, until we reach Jaichand, in whose person (A.D. 1193) terminated the Rathor sovereignty on the Ganges; and we have only twenty-one names to fill up the space of seven centuries, although the testimony on which it is given ^[23] asserts there were twenty-one princes bearing the title of Rao prior to the assumption of that of Raja. But the important information is omitted as to who was the first to assume this title. There are names in the Yati’s roll that are not in the Suraj Prakas, which we have followed; and one of these, Rangatdhwaj, is said to have overcome Jasraj Tuar, king of Delhi, for whose period we have correct data: yet we cannot incorporate the names in the Yati’s roll with that just given without vitiating each; and as we have no facts, it is useless to perplex ourselves with a barren genealogy. But we can assert that it must have been a splendid dynasty, and that their actions, from the conqueror Nain Pal to the last prince, Jaichand, were well deserving of commemoration. That they were commemorated in written records there cannot be a doubt; for the trade of the bardic chroniclers in India has flourished in all ages.

936

The City of Kanauj.

—Although we have abundant authority to assert the grandeur of the kingdom of Kanauj ^[24] at the period of its extinction, both from the bard Chand and the concurrent testimony of Muhammadan authors, yet are we astonished at the description of the capital, attested not only by the annals of the Rathors, but by those of their antagonists, the Chauhans.

The circumvallation of Kanauj covered a space of more than thirty miles; and its numerous forces obtained for its prince the epithet of ‘Dal Pangla,’ meaning that the mighty host (Dal) was lame or had a halt in its movements owing to its numbers, of which Chand observes that in the march “the van had reached their ground ere the rear had moved off.” The Suraj Prakas gives the amount of this army, which in numbers might compete with the most potent which, in ancient or modern times, was ever sent into the field. “Eighty thousand men in armour; thirty thousand horse covered with pakhar, or quilted mail; three hundred thousand Paiks or infantry; and of bow-men and battle-axes two hundred thousand; besides a cloud of elephants bearing warriors” [8].

This immense army was to oppose the Yavana beyond the Indus; for, as the chronicle says, “The king of Gor and Irak crossed the Attock. There Jai Singh met the conflict, when the Nilab changed its name to Surkhab.^[25] There was the Ethiopic (Habshi) king, and the skilful Frank learned in all arts,^[26] overcome by the lord of Kanauj.”

The chronicles of the Chauhans, the sworn foe of the Rathors, repeat the greatness of the monarch of Kanauj, and give him the title of “Mandalika.”^[27] They affirm that he overcame the king of the north,^[28] making eight tributary kings prisoners; that he twice defeated Siddhraj, king of Anhilwara, and extended his dominions south of the Nerbudda, and that at length, in the fulness of his pride, he had divine honours paid him in the rite Swayamvara.^[29] 937This distinction, which involves the most august ceremony, and is held as a virtual assumption of universal supremacy, had in all ages been attended with disaster. In the rite of Swayamvara every office, down to the scullion of the Rasora, or banquet-hall, must be performed by royal personages; nor had it been attempted by any of the dynasties which ruled India since the Pandu: not even Vikrama, though he introduced his own era, had the audacity to attempt what the Rathor determined to execute. All India was agitated by the accounts of the magnificence of the preparations, and circular invitations were despatched to every prince, inviting him to assist at the pompous ceremony, which was to conclude with the nuptials of the raja’s only daughter, who, according to the customs of those days, would select her future lord from the assembled chivalry of India. The Chauhan bard describes the revelry and magnificence of the scene: the splendour of the Yajnasala, or ‘hall of sacrifice,’ surpassing all powers of description; in which were assembled all the princes of India, “save the lord of the Chauhans, and Samara of Mewar,” who, scorning this assumption of supremacy, Jaichand made their effigies in gold, assigning to them the most servile posts; that of the king of the Chauhans being Poliya, or ‘porter of the hall.’ Prithiraj, whose life was one succession of feats of arms and gallantry, had a double motive for action—love and revenge. He determined to enjoy both, or perish in the attempt; “to spoil the sacrifice and bear away the fair of Kanauj from its halls, though beset [9] by all the heroes of Hind.” The details of this exploit form the most spirited of the sixty-nine books of the bard. The Chauhan executed his purpose, and, with the élite of the warriors of Delhi, bore off the princess in open day from Kanauj. A desperate running-fight of five days took place. To use the words of the bard, “he preserved his prize; he gained immortal renown, but he lost the sinews of Delhi.” So did Jaichand those of Kanauj; and each, who had singly repelled all attacks of the kings, fell in turn a prey to the Ghori Sultan,^[30] who skilfully availed himself of these international feuds, to make a permanent conquest of India.

The Great States of North India.

—We may here briefly describe 938the state of Hindustan at this epoch, and for centuries previous to the invasions of Mahmud.

To one or other of these States the numerous petty princes of India paid homage and feudal service. The boundary between Delhi and Kanauj was the Kalinadi, or ‘black stream’; the Kalindi of the Greek geographers.^[31] Delhi claimed supremacy over all the countries westward to the Indus, embracing the lands watered by its arms, from the foot of the Himalaya,—the desert—to the Aravalli chain. The Chauhan king, successor to the Tuars, enumerated one hundred and eight great vassals, many of whom were subordinate princes.

The power of Kanauj extended north to the foot of the Snowy mountains; eastward to Kasi (Benares); and across the Chambal to the lands of the Chandel (now Bundelkhand); on the south its possessions came in contact with Mewar.

Mewar, or Madhyawar, the ‘central region,’^[32] was bounded to the north by the Aravalli, to the south by the Pramaras of Dhar (dependent on Kanauj), and westward by Anhilwara, which State was bounded by the ocean to the south, the Indus on the west, and the desert to the north.

There are records of great wars amongst all these princes. The Chauhans and Guhilots, whose dominions were contiguous, were generally allies, and the Rathors and Tuars (predecessors of the Chauhans), who were only divided by the Kalinadi, often dyed it with their blood. Yet this warfare was never of an [10] exterminating kind; a marriage quenched a feud, and they remained friends until some new cause of strife arose.

If, at the period preceding Mahmud, the traveller had journeyed 939through the courts of Europe, and taken the line of route, in subsequent ages pursued by Timur, by Byzantium, through Ghazni (adorned with the spoils of India), to Delhi, Kanauj, and Anhilwara, how superior in all that constitutes civilization would the Rajput princes have appeared to him!—in arts immeasurably so; in arms by no means inferior. At that epoch, in the west, as in the east, every State was governed on feudal principles. Happily for Europe, the democratical principle gained admittance, and imparted a new character to her institutions; while the third estate of India, indeed of Asia, remained permanently excluded from all share in the government which was supported by its labour, every pursuit but that of arms being deemed ignoble. To this cause, and the endless wars which feudality engendered, Rajput nationality fell a victim when attacked by the means at command of the despotic kings of the north.

The Invasion of Shihābu-d-dīn.

—Shihabu-d-din, king of Ghor, taking advantage of these dissensions, invaded India. He first encountered Prithiraj, the Chauhan king of Delhi, the outwork and bulwark of India, which fell. Shihabu-d-din then attacked Jaichand, who was weakened by the previous struggle. Kanauj put forth all her strength, but in vain; and her monarch was the last son of “the Yavana of Parlipur” who ruled on the banks of the Ganges. He met a death congenial to the Hindu, being drowned in the sacred stream in attempting to escape.^[33]

This event happened in S. 1249 (A.D. 1193), from which period the overgrown, gorgeous Kanauj ceased to be a Hindu city, when the “thirty-six races” of vassal princes, from the Himalaya to the Vindhya, who served under the banners of Bardai Sena,^[34] retired to their patrimonial estates. But though the Rathor name ceased to exist on the shores of the Ganges, destiny decreed that a scion should be preserved, to produce in a less favoured land a long line of kings; that in thirty-one generations his descendant, Raja Man, “Raj, Rajeswara,” ‘the king, the lord of kings,’ should be as vainglorious of the sceptre of Maru as either Jaichand when he commanded divine honours, or his still more 940remote ancestor Nain Pal fourteen [11] centuries before, when he erected his throne in Kanauj. The Rathor may well boast of his pedigree, when he can trace it through a period of 1360 years, in lineal descent from male to male; and contented with this, may leave to the mystic page of the bard, or the interpolated pages of the Puranas, the period preceding Nain Pal.

CHAPTER 2

Migration of the Rāthors into Rājputāna.

—In S. 1268 (A.D. 1212), eighteen years subsequent to the overthrow of Kanauj, Siahji and Setram, grandsons of its last monarch, abandoned the land of their birth, and with two hundred retainers, the wreck of their vassalage, journeyed westward to the desert, with the intent, according to some of the chronicles, of making a pilgrimage to the shrine of Dwarka;^[1] but according to others, and with more probability, to carve their fortunes in fresh fields, unscathed by the luxuries in which they had been tried, and proud in their poverty and sole heritage, the glory of Kanauj [12].

The Tribes of Rājputāna.

—Let us rapidly sketch the geography of the tribes over whom it was destined these emigrants of the Ganges should obtain the mastery, from the Jumna to the Indus, and the Gara River to the Aravalli hills. First, on the east, the Kachhwahas, under Malesi, whose father, Rao Pajun, was killed in the war of Kanauj. Ajmer, Sambhar, and the best lands of the Chauhans fell rapidly to the Islamite—though the strongholds of the Aravalli yet sheltered some, and Nadol continued for a century more to be governed by a descendant of Bisaldeo. Mansi, Rana of the Indha ^[2] tribe, a branch of the Parihars, still held 941Mandor, and the various Bhumias around paid him a feudal subjection as the first chief of the desert. Northward, about Nagor, lived the community of the Mohils (a name now extinct), whose chief place was Aurint, on which depended 1440 villages. The whole of the tracts now occupied by Bikaner to Bhatner were partitioned into petty republics of Getae or Jats, whose history will hereafter be related. Thence to the Gara River, the Johyas, Dahyas, Kathis, Langahas, and other tribes whose names are now obliterated, partly by the sword, partly by conversion to Islamism. The Bhattis had for centuries been established within the bounds they still inhabit, and little expected that this handful of Rathors was destined to contract them. The Sodha princes adjoined the Bhattis south, and the Jarejas occupied the valley of the Indus and Cutch. The Solankis intervened between them and the Pramaras of Abu and Chandravati, which completed the chain by junction with Nadol. Various chieftains of the more ancient races, leading a life of fearless independence, acknowledging an occasional submission to their more powerful neighbours, were scattered throughout this space; such as the Dabhis of Idar and Mewa; the Gohils of Kherdhar; the Deoras of Sanchor; and Sonigiras of Jalor; the Mohils of Aurint; the Sankhlas of Sandli, etc.; all of whom have either had their birthright seized by the Rathor, or the few who have survived and yet retain them are enrolled amongst their allodial vassals.

The Exploits of Siāhji.

—The first exploit of Siahji was at Kulumad (twenty miles west of the city of Bikaner, not then in existence), the residence of a chieftain of the Solanki tribe. He received the royal emigrants with kindness, and the latter repaid it by the offer of their services to combat his enemy, the Jareja chieftain of Phulra, well known in all the annals of the period, from the Sutlej to the ocean, as Lakha Phulani, the most celebrated riever of Maru, whose castle of Phulra stood amidst the almost inaccessible [13] sandhills of the desert. By this timely succour the Solanki gained a victory over Lakha, but with the loss of Setram and several of his band. In gratitude for this service, the Solanki bestowed upon Siahji his sister in marriage, with an ample dower; and he continued his route by Anhilwara Patan, where he was hospitably entertained by its prince, to the shrine of Dwarka. It was the good fortune of Siahji again to encounter Lakha, whose wandering habits had brought him on a 942foray into the territory of Anhilwara. Besides the love of glory and the ambition of maintaining the reputation of his race, he had the stimulus of revenge, and that of a brother’s blood. He was successful, though he lost a nephew, slaying Lakha in single combat, which magnified his fame in all these regions, of which Phulani was the scourge.

Flushed with success, we hear nothing of the completion of Siahji’s pilgrimage; but obedient to the axiom of the Rajput, “get land,” we find him on the banks of the Luni, exterminating, at a feast, the Dabhis of Mewa,^[3] and soon after the Gohils of Kherdhar,^[4] whose chief, Maheshdas, fell by the sword of the grandson of Jaichand. Here, in the “land of Kher,” amidst the sandhills of the Luni (the salt-river of the desert), from which the Gohils were expelled, Siahji planted the standard of the Rathors.

At this period a community of Brahmans held the city and extensive lands about Pali, from which they were termed Paliwal;^[5] and being greatly harassed by the incursions of the mountaineers, the Mers and Minas, they called in the aid of Siahji’s band, which readily undertook and executed the task of rescuing the Brahmans from their depredations. Aware that they would be renewed, they offered Siahji lands to settle amongst them, which were readily accepted; and here he had a son by the Solankani, to whom he gave the name of Asvatthama. With her, it is recorded, the suggestion originated to make himself lord of Pali; and it affords another example of the disregard of the early Rajputs for the sacred order, that on the Holi, or Saturnalia, he found an opportunity to “obtain land,” putting to death the heads of this 943community, and adding the district to his conquests [14]. Siahji outlived his treachery only twelve months, leaving his acquisitions as a nucleus for further additions to his children. He had three sons, Asvatthama, Soning, and Ajmall.

Asvatthāma.

—One of the chronicles asserts that it was Asvatthama, the successor of Siahji, who conquered “the land of Kher” from the Gohils. By the same species of treachery by which his father attained Pali, he lent his aid to establish his brother Soning in Idar. This small principality, on the frontiers of Gujarat, then appertained, as did Mewa, to the Dabhi race; and it was during the matam, or period of mourning for one of its princes, that the young Rathor chose to obtain a new settlement. His descendants are distinguished as the Hathundia ^[6] Rathors. The third brother, Aja, carried his forays as far as the extremity of the Saurashtra peninsula, where he decapitated Bikamsi, the Chawara chieftain of Okhamandala,^[7] and established himself. From this act his branch became known as the ‘Vadhel’;^[8] and the Vadhels are still in considerable number in that furthest track of ancient Hinduism called the “World’s End.”

Asvatthama died, leaving eight sons, who became the heads of clans, namely, Duhar, Jopsi, Khampsao, Bhopsu, Dhandhal, Jethmall, Bandar, and Uhar; of which, four, Duhar, Dhandhal, Jethmall, and Uhar, are yet known.

Duhar or Dhūhada.

—Duhar succeeded Asvatthama. He made an unsuccessful effort to recover Kanauj; and then attempted to wrest Mandor from the Parihars, but “watered their lands with his blood.” He left seven sons, namely, Raepal, Kiratpal, Behar, Pital, Jugel, Dalu, and Begar.

Rāēpāl, Chhada, Thīda, Salkha, Biramdeo, Chonda.

—Raepal succeeded, and revenged the death of his father, slaying the Parihar of Mandor, of which he even obtained temporary possession. He had a progeny of thirteen sons, who rapidly spread their issue over these regions. He was succeeded by his son Kanhal [or Kānpāl], whose successor was his son Jalhan; he was 944succeeded by his son Chhada, whose successor was his son Thida. All these carried on a desperate warfare with, and made conquests from, their neighbours. Chhada and Thida are mentioned as very troublesome neighbours in the annals of the Bhattis of Jaisalmer, who were compelled to carry the war against them into the “land of Kher.” Rao Thida took the rich district of Bhinmal from the Sonigira, and made other additions to his territory from the Deoras and Balechas [15]. He was succeeded by Salakh or Salkha. His issue, the Salkhawats, now Bhumias, are yet numerous both in Mewa and Rardara. Salkha was succeeded by his son Biramdeo, who attacked the Johyas of the north, and fell in battle. His descendants, styled Biramot and Bijawat, from another son Bija, are numerous at Setru, Siwana, and Dechu. Biramdeo was succeeded by his son Chonda, an important name in the annals of the Rathors. Hitherto they had attracted notice by their valour and their raids, whenever there was a prospect of success; but they had so multiplied in eleven generations that they now essayed a higher flight. Collecting all the branches bearing the name of Rathor, Chonda assaulted Mandor, slew the Parihar prince, and planted the banners of Kanauj on the ancient capital of Maru.

So fluctuating are the fortunes of the daring Rajput, ever courting distinction and coveting bhum, ‘land,’ that but a short time before this success, Chonda had been expelled from all the lands acquired by his ancestors, and was indebted to the hospitality of a bard of the Charan tribe, at Kalu; and they yet circulate the kabit, or quatrain, made by him when, in the days of his greatness, he came and was refused admittance to “the lord of Mandor”; he took post under the balcony, and improvized a stanza, reminding him of the Charan of Kalu: “Chonda nahīn āwē chit, Khichar Kalu tanna? Bhup bhaya bhay-bhit, Mandawar ra mālya?” “Does not Chonda remember the porridge of Kalu, now that the lord of the land looks so terrific from his balcony of Mandawar?” Once established in Mandor, he ventured to assault the imperial garrison of Nagor. Here he was also successful. Thence he carried his arms south, and placed his garrison in Nadol, the capital of the province of Godwar. He married a daughter of the Parihar prince,^[9] who had the 945satisfaction to see his grandson succeed to the throne of Mandor. Chonda was blessed with a progeny of fourteen sons, growing up to manhood around him. Their names were Ranmall,^[10] Satta, Randhir, Aranyakanwal,^[11] Punja, Bhim, Kana, Ajo, Ramdeo, Bija, Sahasmall, Bagh, Lumba, Seoraj.

Chonda had also one daughter named Hansa, married to Lakha Rana of Mewar [16], whose son was the celebrated Kumbha. It was this marriage which caused that interference in the affairs of Mewar, which had such fatal results to both States.^[12]

The feud between his fourth son, Aranyakanwal, and the Bhatti prince of Pugal, being deemed singularly illustrative of the Rajput character, has been extracted from the annals of Jaisalmer, in another part of this work.^[13] The Rathor chronicler does not enter into details, but merely states the result, as ultimately involving the death of Chonda—simply that “he was slain at Nagor with one thousand Rajputs”; and it is to the chronicles of Jaisalmer we are indebted for our knowledge of the manner. Chonda acceded in S. 1438 (A.D. 1382), and was slain in S. 1465 [A.D. 1408-9].

Ranmall killed A.D. 1444.

—Ranmall succeeded. His mother was of the Gohil tribe. In stature he was almost gigantic, and was the most athletic of all the athletes of his nation. With the death of Chonda, Nagor was again lost to the Rathors. Rana Lakha presented Ranmall with the township of Darla and forty villages upon his sister’s marriage, when he almost resided at Chitor, and was considered by the Rana as the first of his chiefs. With the forces of Mewar added to his own, under pretence of conveying a daughter to the viceroy of Ajmer, he introduced his adherents into that renowned fortress, the ancient capital of the Chauhans, putting the garrison to the sword, and thus restored it to Mewar. Khemsi Pancholi, the adviser of this measure, was rewarded with a grant of the township of Kata, then lately captured from the Kaimkhanis.^[14] Ranmall went on a pilgrimage 946to Gaya, and paid the tax exacted for all the pilgrims then assembled.

The bard seldom intrudes the relation of civil affairs into his page, and when he does, it is incidentally. It would be folly to suppose that the princes of Maru had no legislative recorders; but with these the poet had no bond of union. He, however, condescends to inform us of an important measure of Rao Ranmall, namely, that he equalized the weights and measures throughout his dominions, which he divided as at present. The last act of Ranmall, in treacherously attempting to usurp the throne of the infant Rana of Mewar, was deservedly punished, and he was slain by the faithful Chonda, as related in the annals of that State.^[15] This feud originated the line of demarcation of the two States,^[16] and which remained [17] unaltered until recent times, when Marwar at length touched the Aravalli. Rao Ranmall left twenty-four sons, whose issue, and that of his eldest son, Jodha, form the great vassalage of Marwar. For this reason, however barren is a mere catalogue of names, it is of the utmost value to those who desire to see the growth of the frèrage of such a community.^[17]

CHAPTER 3

Jodha, A.D. 1444-88. The Foundation of Jodhpur.

—Jodha was born at Danla, the appanage of his father in Mewar, in the month Baisakh, S. 1484. In 1511 he obtained Sojat, and in the month Jeth, 1515 (A.D. 1459) laid the foundation of Jodhpur, to which he transferred the seat of government from Mandor. With the superstitious Rajput, as with the ancient Roman [19], every event being decided by the omen or the augur, it would be contrary to rule if so important an occasion as the change of capital, and that of an infant State, were not marked by some propitious prestige, that would justify the abandonment of a city won by the sword, and which had been for ages the capital of Maru. The intervention, in this instance, was of a simple 948nature; neither the flight of birds, the lion’s lair, or celestial manifestation; but the ordinance of an anchorite, whose abode, apart from mankind, was a cleft of the mountains of Bakharchiriya. But the behests of such ascetics are secondary only to those of the divinity, whose organs they are deemed. Like the Druids of the Celts, the Vanaprastha Jogi,^[1] from the glades of the forest (vana) or recess in the rocks (gupha), issue their oracles to those whom chance or design may conduct to their solitary dwellings. It is not surprising that the mandates of such beings prove compulsory on the superstitious Rajput: we do not mean those squalid ascetics, who wander about India, and are objects disgusting to the eye; but the genuine Jogi, he who, as the term imports, mortifies the flesh, till the wants of humanity are restricted merely to what suffices to unite matter with spirit; who has studied and comprehended the mystic works, and pored over the systems of philosophy, until the full influence of Maya (illusion) has perhaps unsettled his understanding; or whom the rules of his sect have condemned to penance and solitude; a penance so severe, that we remain astonished at the perversity of reason which can submit to it.^[2] To these, the Druids of India, the prince and the chieftain would resort for instruction. They requested neither lands nor gold: to them “the boasted wealth of Bokhara” was as a particle of dust. Such was the ascetic who recommended Jodha to erect his castle on ‘the Hill of Strife’ (Jodhagir), hitherto known as Bakharchiriya, or ‘the bird’s nest,’ a projecting elevation of the same range on which 949Mandor was placed, and about four miles south of it. Doubtless its inaccessible position seconded the recommendation of the hermit, for its scarped summit renders it almost impregnable [20], while its superior elevation permits the sons of Jodha to command, from the windows of their palace, a range of vision almost comprehending the limits of their sway. In clear weather they can view the summits of their southern barrier, the gigantic Aravalli; but in every other direction it fades away in the boundless expanse of sandy plains. Neither the founder, nor his monitor, the ascetic, however, were engineers, and they laid the foundation of this stronghold without considering what an indispensable adjunct to successful defence was good water; but to prevent any slur on the memory of Jodha, they throw the blame of this defect on the hermit. Jodha’s engineer, in tracing the line of circumvallation, found it necessary to include the spot chosen as his hermitage, and his remonstrance for undisturbed possession was treated with neglect; whether by the prince as well as the chief architect, the legend says not. The incensed Jogi pronounced an imprecation, that the new castle should possess only brackish water, and all the efforts made by succeeding princes to obtain a better quality, by blasting the rock, have failed. The memory of the Jogi is sanctified, though his anger compelled them to construct an apparatus, whereby water for the supply of the garrison is elevated from a small lake at the foot of the rock, which, being entirely commanded from the walls, an assailant would find difficult to cut off. This was the third grand event in the fortunes of the Rathors, from the settlement of Siahji.^[3]

Such was the abundant progeny of these princes, that the limits of their conquests soon became too contracted. The issue of the three last princes, namely, the fourteen sons of Chonda, the twenty-four of Ranmall, and fourteen of Jodha, had already apportioned amongst them the best lands of the country, and it became necessary to conquer “fresh fields in which to sow the Rathor seed.”

Sāntal, Sātal, 1488-91.

—The eldest son, Santal, born of a female of Bundi, established himself in the north-west corner, on the lands of the Bhattis, and built a fort, which he called Satalmer, about five miles from Pokaran.^[4] He was killed in action by a Khan of the Sahariyas (the Saracens of the Indian desert), whom he also slew. His ashes were burnt at Kasma, and an altar was raised over them, where seven of his wives became satis.

The fourth son, Duda [or Dhūhada], established himself on the plains of Merta, and his clan, the Mertia, is numerous, and 951has always sustained the reputation of being the “first swords” of Maru. His daughter was the celebrated Mira Bai, wife of Rana Kumbha,^[5] and he was the grandsire of the heroic Jaimall, who defended Chitor against Akbar, and whose descendant, Jeth Singh of Badnor, is still one of the sixteen chief vassals of the Udaipur court.

The sixth son, Bika, followed the path already trod by his uncle Kandal, with whom he united, and conquered the tracts possessed by the six Jat communities. He erected a city, which he called after himself, Bikaner, or Bīkaner.

Death of Rāo Jodha, A.D. 1488.

—Jodha outlived the foundation of his new capital thirty years, and beheld his [22] sons and grandsons rapidly peopling and subjugating the regions of Maru. In S. 1545, aged sixty-one, he departed this life, and his ashes were housed with those of his fathers, in the ancestral abode of Mandor. This prince, the second founder of his race in these regions, was mainly indebted to the adversities of early life for the prosperity his later years enjoyed; they led him to the discovery of worth in the more ancient, but neglected, allodial proprietors displaced by his ancestors, and driven into the least accessible regions of the desert. It was by their aid he was enabled to redeem Mandor, when expelled by the Guhilots, and he nobly preserved the remembrance thereof in the day of his prosperity. The warriors whose forms are sculptured from the living rock at Mandor owe the perpetuity of their fame to the gratitude of Jodha; through them he not only recovered, but enlarged his dominions.^[6] In less than three centuries after their migration from Kanauj, the Rathors, the issue of Siahji, spread over a surface of four degrees of longitude and the same extent of latitude, or nearly 80,000 miles square, and they amount at this day, in spite of the havoc occasioned, by perpetual wars and famine, to 500,000 souls.^[7] While we thus contemplate the renovation of the Rathor race, from a single scion of that magnificent tree, whose branches once overshadowed the plains of Ganga, let us withdraw from oblivion some of the many noble names they displaced, which now live only in the poet’s page. Well may the Rajput repeat the ever-recurring simile, “All is unstable; 952life is like the scintillation of the fire-fly; house and land will depart, but a good name will last for ever!” What a list of noble tribes could we enumerate now erased from independent existence by the successes of ‘the children of Siva’ (Siva-putra)!^[8] Pariharas, Indhas, Sankhlas, Chauhans, Gohils, Dabhis, Sandhals, Mohils, Sonigiras, Kathis, Jats, Huls, etc., and the few who still exist only as retainers of the Rathor.

Sūja or Surajmall, A.D. 1491-1516.

—Suja ^[9] (Surajmall) succeeded, and occupied the gaddi of Jodha during twenty-seven years, and had at least the merit of adding to the stock of Siahji.

The Rape of the Virgins.

—The contentions for empire, during the vacillating dynasty of the Lodi kings of Delhi, preserved the sterile lands of Maru from their cupidity; and a second dynasty, the Shershahi, intervened ere “the sons of Jodha” were summoned to measure swords with the Imperialists. But in S. 1572 (A.D. 1516), a desultory [23] band of Pathans made an incursion during the fair of the Tij,^[10] held at the town of Pipar, and carried off one hundred and forty of the maidens of Maru. The tidings of the rape of the virgin Rajputnis were conveyed to Suja, who put himself at the head of such vassals as were in attendance, and pursued, overtook, and redeemed them, with the loss of his own life, but not without a full measure of vengeance against the “northern barbarian.” The subject is one chosen by the itinerant minstrel of Maru, who, at the fair of the Tij, still sings the rape of the one hundred and forty virgins of Pipar, and their rescue by their cavalier prince at the price of his own blood.

Suja had five sons, namely: 1. Bhaga, who died in non-age: his son Ganga succeeded to the throne. 2. Uda, who had eleven sons: they formed the clan Udawat, whose chief fiefs are Nimaj, Jaitaran, Gundoj, Baratia, Raepur, etc., besides places in Mewar. 3. Saga, from whom descended the clan Sagawat; located at Barwa. 4. Prayag, who originated the Prayaggot clan. 5. Biramdeo, whose son, Naru, receives divine honours as the Putra of Maru, and whose statue is worshipped at Sojat. His descendants 953are styled Narawat Jodha, of whom a branch is established at Pachpahar, in Haraoti.

Rāo Ganga, A.D. 1516-32.

—Ganga, grandson of Suja, succeeded his grandfather in S. 1572 (A.D. 1516); but his uncle, Saga, determined to contest his right to the gaddi, invited the aid of Daulat Khan Lodi, who had recently expelled the Rathors from Nagor. With this auxiliary a civil strife commenced, and the sons of Jodha were marshalled against each other. Ganga, confiding in the rectitude of his cause, and reckoning upon the support of the best swords of Maru, spurned the offer of compromise made by the Pathan, of a partition of its lands between the claimants, and gave battle, in which his uncle Saga was slain, and his auxiliary, Daulat Khan, ignominiously defeated.

Rāthors join Mewār against Bābur, A.D. 1527.

—Twelve years after the accession of Ganga, the sons of Jodha were called on to unite their forces to Mewar to oppose the invasion of the Moguls from Turkistan. Sanga Rana, who had resumed the station of his ancestors amongst the princes of Hind, led the war, and the king of Maru deemed it no degradation to acknowledge his supremacy, and send his quotas to fight under the standard of Mewar, whose chronicles do more justice to the Rathors than those of their own bards. This, which was the last confederation made by the Rajputs for national independence [24], was defeated, as already related, in the fatal field of Bayana, where, had treachery not aided the intrepid Babur, the Rathor sword would have had its full share in rescuing the nation from the Muhammadan yoke. It is sufficient to state that a Rathor was in the battle, to know that he would bear its brunt; and although we are ignorant of the actual position of the Rana, we may assume that their post was in the van. The young prince Raemall (grandson of Ganga), with the Mertia chieftains Kharto and Ratna, and many others of note, fell against the Chagatai on this eventful day.

Rāo Māldeo, A.D. 1532-62, or 1568-69.

—Maldeo in S. 1588 (A.D. 1532),^[12] a name as distinguished as any of the noble princes 954in the chronicles of Maru. The position of Marwar at this period was eminently excellent for the increase and consolidation of its resources. The emperor Babur found no temptation in her sterile lands to divert him from the rich plains of the Ganges, where he had abundant occupation; and the districts and strongholds on the emperor’s frontier of Maru, still held by the officers of the preceding dynasty, were rapidly acquired by Maldeo, who planted his garrisons in the very heart of Dhundhar. The death of Sanga Rana, and the misfortunes of the house of Mewar, cursed with a succession of minor princes, and at once beset by the Moguls from the north, and the kings of Gujarat, left Maldeo to the uncontrolled exercise of his power, which, like a true Rajput, he employed against friend and foe, and became beyond a doubt the first prince of Rajwara, or, in fact, as styled by the Muhammadan historian Ferishta, “the most potent prince in Hindustan.”^[13]

The year of Maldeo’s installation he redeemed the two most important possessions of his house, Nagor and Ajmer. In S. 1596 he captured Jalor, Siwana, and Bhadrajan from the Sandhals; and two years later dispossessed the sons of Bika of supreme power in Bikaner. Mewa, and the tracts on the Luni, the earliest possessions of his house, which had thrown off all dependence, he once more subjugated, and compelled the ancient allodial tenantry to hold of him in chief, and serve with their quotas. He engaged in war with the Bhattis, and conquered Bikampur, where a branch of his family remained, and are now incorporated with the Jaisalmer State, and, under the name of Maldots,^[14] have the credit of being the most daring robbers of the desert. He even established branches of [25] his family in Mewar and Dhundhar, took, and fortified Chatsu, not twenty miles south of the capital of the Kachhwahas. He captured and restored Sirohi from the Deoras, from which house was his mother. But Maldeo not only acquired, but determined to retain, his conquests, and erected numerous fortifications throughout the country. He enclosed the city of Jodhpur with a strong wall, besides erecting a palace, and adding other works to the fortress. The circumvallations of Merta and its fort, which he called Malkot, cost him £24,000. 955He dismantled Satalmer, and with the materials fortified Pokaran, which he took from the Bhattis, transplanting the entire population, which comprehended the richest merchants of Rajasthan. He erected forts at Bhadrajan, on the hill of Bhimlod, near Siwana, at Gundoj, at Rian, Pipar, and Dunara. He made the Kundalkot at Siwana, and greatly added to that of Phalodi, first made by Hamira Nirawat. He also erected that bastion in Garh Bitli (the citadel of Ajmer) called the Kotburj, and showed his skill in hydraulics by the construction of a wheel to bring water into the fort. The chronicler adds, that “by the wealth of Sambhar,” meaning the resources of this salt lake, he was enabled to accomplish these works, and furnishes a list of the possessions of Jodhpur at this period, which we cannot exclude: Sojat, Sambhar, Merta, Khata, Badnor, Ladnun, Raepur, Bhadrajan, Nagor, Siwana, Lohagarh, Jaikalgarh, Bikaner, Bhinmal, Pokaran, Barmer, Kasoli, Riwaso, Jajawar, Jalor, Baoli, Malar, Nadol, Phalodi, Sanchor, Didwana, Chatsu, Lawen, Malarna, Deora, Fatehpur, Amarsar, Khawar, Baniapur, Tonk, Toda, Ajmer, Jahazpur, and Pramar-ka-Udaipur (in Shaikhavati); in all thirty-eight districts, several of which, as Jalor, Ajmer, Tonk, Toda, and Badnor, comprehended each three hundred and sixty townships, and there were none which did not number eighty. But of those enumerated in Dhundhar, as Chatsu, Lawen, Tonk, Toda, and Jahazpur in Mewar, the possession was but transient; and although Badnor, and its three hundred and sixty townships, were peopled by Rathors, they were the descendants of the Mertias under Jaimall, who became one of the great vassals of Mewar, and would, in its defence, at all times draw their swords against the land which gave them birth.^[15] This branch of the house of Jodha had for some time been too powerful [26] for subjects, and Merta was resumed. To this act Mewar was indebted for the services of this heroic chief. At the same time the growing power of others of the great vassalage of Marwar was checked by resumptions, when Jaitaran from the Udawats, and several other fiefs, were added to the fisc. The feudal allotments had never been regulated, but went on increasing with the energies of the State, and the progeny of its princes, each having on his birth an appanage assigned to him, until the whole 956land of Maru was split into innumerable portions. Maldeo saw the necessity for checking this subdivision, and he created a gradation of ranks, and established its perpetuity in certain branches of the sons of Ranmall and Jodha, which has never been altered.

Inhospitable Conduct of Rāo Māldeo to Humāyūn, A.D. 1542.

—Ten years of undisturbed possession were granted Maldeo to perfect his designs, ere his cares were diverted from these to his own defence. Babur, the founder of the Mogul dynasty, was dead, and his son and successor had been driven from his newly conquered throne by his provincial lieutenant, Sher Shah: so rapidly do revolutions crowd upon each other where the sword is the universal arbitrator. We have elsewhere related that the fugitive monarch sought the protection of Maldeo, and we stigmatized his conduct as unnational; but we omitted to state that Maldeo, then heir-apparent, lost his eldest, perhaps then only son Raemall in the battle of Bayana, who led the aid of Marwar on that memorable day, and consequently the name of Chagatai, whether in fortune or in flight, had no great claims to his regard. But little did Maldeo dream how closely the fortunes of his house would be linked with those of the fugitive Humayun, and that the infant Akbar, born in this emergency, was destined to revenge this breach of hospitality. Still less could the proud Rathor, who traced his ancestry on the throne of Kanauj one thousand years before the birth of the “barbarian” of Ferghana, deem it within the range of probability, that he should receive honours at such hands, or that the first title of Raja, Rajeswar, or ‘raja, lord of rajas,’ would be conferred on his own son by this infant, then rearing amidst the sandhills at the extremity of his desert dominion! It is curious to indulge in the speculative inquiry, whether, when the great Akbar girded Udai Singh with the sword of honour, and marked his forehead with the unguent of Raja-shah, he brought to mind the conduct of Maldeo, which doomed his birth to take place in the dismal castle of Umarkot, instead of in the splendid halls of Delhi [27].

Attack on Mārwār by Sher Shāh, A.D. 1544.

—Maldeo derived no advantage from his inhospitality; for whether the usurper deemed his exertions insufficient to secure the royal fugitive, or felt his own power insecure with so potent a neighbour, he led an army of eighty thousand men into Marwar. Maldeo allowed them to advance, and formed an army of fifty thousand Rajputs 957to oppose him. The judgment and caution he exercised were so great, that Sher Shah, well versed in the art of war, was obliged to fortify his camp at every step. Instead of an easy conquest, he soon repented of his rashness when the admirable dispositions of the Rajputs made him dread an action, and from a position whence he found it impossible to retreat. For a month the armies lay in sight of each other, every day the king’s situation becoming more critical, and from which he saw not the slightest chance of extrication. In this exigence he had recourse to one of those stratagems which have often operated successfully on the Rajput, by sowing distrust in his mind as to the fidelity of his vassals. He penned a letter, as if in correspondence with them, which he contrived to have dropped, as by accident, by a messenger sent to negotiate. Perhaps the severity of the resumptions of estates seconded this scheme of Sher Shah; for when the stipulated period for the attack had arrived, the raja countermanded it. The reasons for this conduct, when success was apparent, were soon propagated; when one or two of the great leaders, in order to demonstrate their groundlessness, gave an instance of that devotion with which the annals of these States abound. At the head of twelve thousand, they attacked and forced the imperial entrenched camp, carrying destruction even to the quarters of the emperor; but multitudes prevailed, and the patriotic clans were almost annihilated. Maldeo, when too late, saw through the stratagem which had made him doubt the loyalty of his vassals. Superstition and the reproaches of his chieftains for his unworthy suspicions, did the rest; and this first levée en masse of the descendants of Siahji, arrayed in defence of their national liberties, was defeated. With justice did the usurper pay homage to their gallantry, when he exclaimed, on his deliverance from this peril, “he had nearly lost the empire of Hindustan for a handful of barley.”^[16]

Attack by Akbar, A.D. 1558-62.

—Maldeo was destined to outlive the Shershahi dynasty, and to see the imperial crown of India once more encircle the brows of the fugitive Humayun.^[17] It had 958[28] been well for the Rathors had his years been lengthened; for his mild disposition and natural indolence of character gave them some chance that these qualities would be their best advocate. But he did not long survive the restoration. Whether the mother of his successor, prince Akbar, not yet fifteen, stimulated by the recollection of her misfortunes, nursed his young animosity against Maldeo for the miseries of Umarkot, or, whether it was merely an act of cautionary policy to curb the Rajput power, which was inconsistent with his own, in S. 1617 (A.D. 1561) he invaded Marwar, and laid siege to Malakot or Merta, which he took after an obstinate and sanguinary defence, part of the garrison cutting their way through his host, and making good their retreat to their prince.^[18] The important castle of Nagor was also captured; and both these strongholds and their lands were conferred by Akbar on the younger branch of the family, Rae Singh, prince of Bikaner, now established in independence of the parent State, Jodhpur.

In 1625 (A.D. 1569), Maldeo succumbed to necessity; and in conformity with the times, sent his second son, Chandarsen,^[19] with gifts to Akbar, then at Ajmer, which had become an integral part of the monarchy; but Akbar was so dissatisfied with the disdainful bearing of the desert king, who refused personally to pay his court, that he not only guaranteed the free possession of Bikaner to Rae Singh, but presented him with the farman for Jodhpur itself, with supremacy over his race. Chandarsen appears to have possessed all the native pride of the Rathor, and to have been prepared to contest his country’s independence, in spite of Akbar and the claims of his elder brother, Udai Singh, who eventually was more supple in ingratiating himself into the monarch’s favour. At the close of life the old Rao had to stand a siege in his capital, and after a brave but fruitless resistance,^[20] was obliged to yield homage, and pay it in the person of his son 959Udai Singh, who, attending with a contingent, was enrolled amongst the commanders of ‘one thousand’; and shortly after was invested with the title of Mota Raja, or ‘the fat Raja,’ by which epithet alone he is designated in the annals of that period.^[21]

Chandarsen, with a considerable number of the brave vassals of Maru, determined to cling to independence and the rude fare of the desert, rather than servilely follow in the train of the despot. When driven from Jodhpur, they took post in Siwana, in the western extremity of the State, and there held out to the death. For seventeen years he maintained his title to the gaddi, and divided the allegiance of [29] the Rathors with his elder brother Udai Singh (though supported by the king), and stood the storm in which he nobly fell, leaving three sons, Ugarsen, Askaran, and Rao Singh, who fought a duel with Rao Surthan, of Sirohi, and was slain, with twenty-four of his chiefs,^[22] near the town of Datani.

Maldeo, though he submitted to acknowledge the supremacy of the emperor, was at least spared the degradation of seeing a daughter of his blood bestowed upon the opponent of his faith; he died soon after the title was conferred on his son, which sealed the dependence of Maru. His latter days were a dismal contrast to those which witnessed his conquests in almost every part of Rajputanapart of Rajputana, but he departed from this world in time to preserve his own honour untarnished, with the character of the most valiant and energetic Rajput of his time. Could he have added to his years and maintained their ancient vigour, he might, by a junction with Partap of Mewar, who single-handed commenced his career just as Maldeo’s closed, have maintained Rajput independence against the rising power of the Moguls.^[23]

CHAPTER 4

Vassalage of Mārwār to the Mughals.

—The death of Maldeo formed an important epoch in the annals of the Rathors. Up to this period the will had waited upon the wish of the gallant descendants of Siva; but now the vassals of Maru acknowledged one mightier than they. The banner of the empire floated pre-eminent over the panchranga, the five-coloured flag, which had led the Rathors from victory to victory, and waved from the sandhills of Umarkot to the salt-lake of Sambhar; from the desert bordering the Gara to the peaks of the Aravalli. Henceforward, the Rathor princes had, by their actions or subservience, to ascend by degrees the steps to royal favour. They were required to maintain a contingent of their proud vassals, headed by the heir, to serve at the Mogul’s pleasure. Their deeds won them, not ignobly, the grace of the imperial court; but had slavish submission been the sole path to elevation, the Rathor princes would never have attained a grade beyond the first mansab,^[1] conferred on Udai Singh. Yet though streams of wealth enriched the barren plains of Maru; although a portion of the spoils of Golkonda and Bijapur augmented its treasures, decorated its palaces, and embellished its edifices and mausoleums; although the desert kings took the ‘right hand’ of all the feudality of 961Hind, whether indigenous or foreign—a feudal assemblage of no less than seventy-six petty kingdoms—yet the Rathor felt the sense of his now degraded condition, and it often burst forth even in the presence of the suzerain.

Rāo Udai Singh, A.D. 1581-95.

—Maldeo’s death occurred in S. 1625;^[2] but the chronicles do not admit of Udai [31] Singh’s elevation until the death of his brother Chandarsen, from which period we may reckon that he was, though junior, the choice both of his father and the nobles, who did not approve of Udai Singh’s submission to Akbar. In fact, the Raja led the royal forces against the most powerful of his vassals, and resumed almost all the possessions of the Mertias, and weakened the others.

Before we proceed to trace the course pursued by Udai Singh, who was seated upon the cushion of Maldeo in S. 1640 (A.D. 1584), let us cast a short retrospect over the annals of Maru, since the migration of the grandson of the potentate of Kanauj, which, compared with the ample page of western history, present little more than a chronicle of hard names, though not destitute of facts interesting to political science.

Retrospect of Mārwār History.

—In the table before the reader, aided by the explanations in the text, he will see the whole process of the conquest, peopling, and settlement of an extensive region, with its partition or allotments amongst an innumerable frèrage (bhayyad), whose children continue to hold them as vassals of their king and brother, the descendant of their mutual ancestor Siahji.

We may divide the annals of Marwar, from the migration of Siahji from Kanauj to the accession of Udai Singh, into three distinct epochs:

1. From the settlement of Siahji in the land of Kher, in A.D. 1212, to the conquest of Mandor by Chonda, in A.D. 1381.

3. From the founding of Jodhpur to the accession of Udai Singh in A.D. 1584, when the Rathors acknowledged the supremacy of the empire.

The two first epochs were occupied in the subjugation of the western portion of the desert from the ancient allodiality; nor 962was it until Chonda conquered Mandor, on the decline of the Chauhans of the east, that the fertile lands on either side of the Luni were formed into fiefs for the children of Ranmall and Jodha. A change of capital with the Rajput is always productive of change in the internal organisation of the State; and not unfrequently the race changes its appellation with its capital. The foundation of Jodhpur was a new era, and henceforth the throne of Maru could only be occupied by the tribe of Jodha, and from branches not constituting the vassals of the crown, who were cut off from succession. This is a peculiar [32] feature in Rajput policy, and is common to the whole race, as will be hereafter more distinctly pointed out in the annals of Ajmer.

Feudalism in Mārwār.

—Jodha, with all the ambition of the founder of a State, gave a new form to the feudal institutions of his country. Necessity, combined with pride, led him to promulgate a statute of limitation of the sub-infeudations of Maru. The immense progeny of his father Ranmall, twenty-four sons, and his own, of fourteen, almost all of whom had numerous issue, rendered it requisite to fix the number and extent of the fiefs; and amongst them, henceforward constituting permanently the frèrage of Maru, the lands were partitioned, Kandhal having emigrated and established his own numerous issue, the Kandhalots, in Bikaner. The two brothers next to Jodha, namely, Champa and Kumpa, with his two sons, Duda and Karamsi, and his grandson, Uda, were declared the heads of the feudal association under their names, the Champawats, Kumpawats, Mertias (sons of Duda), Karamsots, and Udawats, and continue to be “the pillars of Maru.” Eight great estates, called the ath thakurat, or ‘eight lordships’ of Marwar, each of the nominal annual value of fifty thousand rupees (£5000), were settled on these persons, and their immense influence has obtained many others for younger branches of their clans. The title of the first noble of Maru was given to Champa and his issue, who have often made its princes tremble on their thrones. Besides these, inferior appanages were settled on the junior branches, brothers, sons, and grandsons of Jodha, which were also deemed hereditary and irresumable; to use their own phrase, their bat,^[3] or ‘allotment,’ to which they consider their title as sacred as that of their prince 963to his throne, of whom they say, “When our services are acceptable, then is he our lord; when not, we are again his brothers and kin, claimants, and laying claim to the land.”^[4]

Rao Maldeo confirmed this division of Jodha, though he increased the secondary fiefs, and as the boundaries of Marwar were completed in his reign, it was essentially necessary to confirm the limitation. The feudal States of Marwar are, therefore, perpetuated in the offspring of the princes from Jodha to Maldeo, and a distinction exists between them and those subsequently conferred; the first, being [33] obtained by conquest, are deemed irrevocable, and must be perpetuated by adoption on the failure of lineal issue; whereas the other may, on lapses, be resumed and added to the fisc whence it emanated. The fiscal domain of the Rajput princes cannot, says their traditionary lore, be alienated for more than a life-interest; but this wise rule, though visible in anecdotes of past days, has been infringed with their general disorganization. These instances, it may be asserted, afford the distinctions of allodial and feudal lands. Of the numerous clans, the issue of Siahji to Jodha, which are spread over the northern and western parts of the State, some, partly from the difficulty of their position, partly from a feeling of respect to their remote ancestry, enjoy almost entire independence. Yet they recognize the prince of Maru as their liege lord when his crown is endangered, and render homage on his accession or any great family event. These clans hold without grant or fine, and may properly be called the allodial chieftains. Of this number we may enumerate the lordships of Barmer, Kotra, Sheo, Phulsund, etc. Others there are who, though less independent, may also be styled the allodiality of Marwar, who are to furnish their quotas when demanded, and perform personal homage on all great days of rejoicing; of these are Mewa, Sindari, etc. The ancient clans scattered over the land, or serving the more modern chieftains, are recognized by their patronymic distinctions, by those versed in the chronicles; though many hear the names of Duharka, Mangalia, Uhar, and Dhandal, without knowing them to be Rathor. The mystic page of the bard is always consulted previous to any marriage, in order to prevent a violation of the matrimonial canons of the Rajputs, which are stricter than the Mosaic, and this keeps up the knowledge 964of the various branches of their own and other races, which would otherwise perish.perish.

Whatever term may be applied to these institutions of a martial race, and which for the sake of being more readily understood we have elsewhere called, and shall continue to designate, “feudal,” we have not a shadow of doubt that they were common to the Rajput races from the remotest ages, and that Siahji conveyed them from the seat of his ancestors, Kanauj. A finer picture does not exist of the splendour of a feudal array than the camp of its last monarch, Jaichand, in the contest with the Chauhan. The annals of each and every State bear evidence to a system strictly parallel to that of Europe; more especially Mewar, where, thirteen hundred years ago, we see the entire feudatories of the State throwing up their grants, giving their liege lord defiance, and threatening him with their [34] vengeance. Yet, having “eaten his salt,” they forbore to proceed to hostilities till a whole year had elapsed, at the expiration of which they deposed him.^[5] Akbar, who was partial to Hindu institutions, borrowed much from them, in all that concerned his own regulations.

In contrasting these customs with analogous ones in the West, the reader should never lose sight of one point, which must influence the analogy, namely, the patriarchal form which characterizes the feudal system in all countries; and as, amongst the Rajputs, all their vassalage is of their own kin and blood (save a slight mixture of foreign nobles as a counterpoise), the paternity of the sovereign is no fiction, as in Europe; so that from the son of Champa, who takes the right hand of his prince, to the meanest vassal, who serves merely for his peti^[6] (rations), all are linked by the tie of consanguinity, of which it is difficult to say whether it is most productive of evil or good, since it has afforded examples as brilliant and as dark as any in the history of mankind. The devotion which made twelve thousand, out of the fifty thousand, “sons of Jodha” prove their fidelity to Maldeo has often been emulated even to the present day.

The chronicles, as before stated, are at variance with regard to the accession of Udai Singh: some date it from the death of Maldeo, in S. 1625 (A.D. 1569); others from that of his elder brother Chandarsen, slain in the storm of Siwana. The name of 965Udai appears one of evil portent in the annals of Rajasthan.^[7] While “Udai, the fat,” was inhaling the breeze of imperial power, which spread a haze of prosperity over Maru, Partap of Mewar, the idol of the Rajputs, was enduring every hardship in the attempt to work out his country’s independence, which had been sacrificed by his father, Udai Singh. In this he failed, but he left a name hallowed in the hearts of his countrymen, and immortalized in the imperishable verse of the bard.

On the union of the imperial house with that of Jodhpur, by the marriage of Jodh Bai to Akbar,^[8] the emperor not only restored all the possessions he had wrested from Marwar, with the exception of Ajmer, but several rich districts in Malwa, whose revenues doubled the resources of his own fiscal domain. With the aid of his imperial brother-in-law, he greatly diminished the power of the feudal aristocracy [35], and clipped the wings of almost all the greater vassals, while he made numerous sequestrations of the lands of the ancient allodiality and lesser vassals; so that it is stated, that, either by new settlement or confiscation, he added fourteen hundred villages to the fisc. He resumed almost all the lands of the sons of Duda, who, from their abode, were termed Mertia; took Jaitaran from the Udawats, and other towns of less note from the sons of Champa and Kumpa.

Udai Singh was not ungrateful for the favours heaped upon him by the emperor, for whom his Rathors performed many signal services: for the raja was latterly too unwieldy for any steed to bear him to battle. The “king of the Desert” (the familiar epithet applied to him by Akbar) had a numerous progeny; no less than thirty-four legitimate sons and daughters, who added new clans and new estates to the feudal association of Maru: of these the most conspicuous are Govindgarh and Pisangan; while some obtained settlements beyond its limits which became independent and bear the name of the founders. Of these are Kishangarh and Ratlam in Malwa.

Death of Rāo Udai Singh.

—Udai Singh died thirteen years after his inauguration on the cushion of Jodha, and thirty-three 966after the death of Maldeo. The manner of his death, as related in the biographical sketches termed Khyat, affords such a specimen of superstition and of Rajput manners that it would be improper to omit it. The narrative is preceded by some reflections on the moral education of the Rathor princes, and the wise restraints imposed upon them under the vigilant control of chiefs of approved worth and fidelity; so that, to use the words of the text, “they often passed their twentieth year, ignorant of woman.” If the “fat raja” had ever known this moral restraint, in his riper years he forgot it; for although he had no less than twenty-seven queens, he cast the eye of desire on the virgin-daughter of a subject, and that subject a Brahman.

Brāhman sacrifices his Daughter.

—It was on the raja’s return from court to his native land that he beheld the damsel, and he determined, notwithstanding the sacred character of her father and his own obligations as the dispenser of law and justice, to enjoy the object of his admiration. The Brahman was an Ayapanthi,^[9] or votary of Ayamata, whose shrine is at Bhavi-Bhilara. These sectarians of Maru, very different from the abstinent Brahmans of Bengal, eat flesh, drink wine, and share in all the common enjoyments of life with the martial spirits around them. Whether the scruples of the [36] daughter were likely to be easily overcome by her royal tempter, or whether the raja threatened force, the Khyat does not inform us; but as there was no other course by which the father could save her from pollution but by her death, he resolved to make it one of vengeance and horror. He dug a sacrificial pit, and having slain his daughter, cut her into fragments, and mingling therewith pieces of flesh from his own person, made the Homa, or burnt sacrifice to Ayamata, and as the smoke and flames ascended he pronounced an imprecation on the raja: “Let peace be a stranger to him! and in three pahars,^[10] three days, and three years, let me have revenge!” Then exclaiming, “My future dwelling is the Dabhi Baori!” sprung into the flaming pit. The horrid tale was related to the raja, whose imagination was haunted by the shade of the Brahman; 967and he expired at the assigned period, a prey to unceasing remorse.

Superstition is sometimes made available for moral ends; and the shade of the Ayapanthi Brahman of Bhilara has been evoked, in subsequent ages, to restrain and lead unto virtue libidinous princes, when all other control has been unavailing. The celebrated Jaswant Singh, the great-grandson of Udai, had an amour with the daughter of one of his civil officers, and which he carried on at the Dabhi Baori.^[11] But the avenging ghost of the Brahman interposed between him and his wishes. A dreadful struggle ensued, in which Jaswant lost his senses, and no effort could banish the impression from his mind. The ghost persecuted his fancy, and he was generally believed to be possessed with a wicked spirit, which, when exorcised, was made to say he would only depart on the self-sacrifice of a chief equal in dignity to Jaswant. Nahar Khan, “the tiger lord,” chief of the Kumpawat clan, who led the van in all his battles, immediately offered his head in expiation for his prince; and he had no sooner expressed this loyal determination, than the holy men who exorcised the spirit caused it to descend into a vessel of water, and having waved it thrice round his head, they presented it to Nahar Khan, who drank it off, and Jaswant’s senses were instantly restored. This miraculous transfer of the ghost is implicitly believed by every chief of Rajasthan, by whom Nahar was called “the faithful of the faithful.” Previous to dying, he called his son, and imposed on him and his descendants, by the solemnity of an oath, the abjuration of the office of Pardhan, or hereditary premier of Marwar, whose dignity involved such a sacrifice [37]; and from that day the Champawats of Awa succeeded the Kumpawats of Asop, who renounced the first seat on the right for that on the left of their princes.

We shall conclude the reign of Udai Singh with the register of his issue from “the Book of Kings.” It is by no means an unimportant document to such as are interested in these singular communities, and essentially useful to those who are called upon 968to interfere in their national concerns. Here we see the affinities of the branch (sakha) to the parent tree, which in one short century has shaded the whole land; and to which the independents of Kishangarh, Rupnagarh, and Ratlam, as well as the feudal chiefs of Govindgarh, Khairwa, and Pisangan, all issues from Udai Singh, look for protection.

Rāja Sūr Singh, A.D. 1595-1620.—Sur Singh succeeded in S. 1651 (A.D. 1595). He was serving with the Imperial forces at Lahore, where he had commanded since S. 1648, when intelligence reached him of his father’s death. His exploits and services were of the most brilliant nature, and had obtained for him, even during his father’s life, the title of “Sawai Raja,”^[1] and a high grade amongst the dignitaries of the empire. He was commanded by Akbar to reduce the arrogant prince of Sirohi, who, trusting to the natural strength of his mountainous country, still refused to acknowledge a liege lord. This service well accorded with his private views, for he had a feud (wair) with Rao Surthan, which, according to the chronicle, he completely revenged. “He avenged his feud with Surthan and plundered Sirohi. The Rao had not a pallet left to sleep upon, but was obliged to make a bed for his wives upon the earth.” This appears to have humbled the Deora, “who, in his pride, shot his arrows at the sun for daring to shine upon him.”

Campaign in Gujarāt.

—Surthan accepted the imperial [39] farman in token of submission, and agreed to serve with a contingent of his hardy clansmen in the war then entrusted to Raja Sur against the king of Gujarat, whose success we shall relate in the simple language of the chronicle: “The Raja took the pan against the king Muzaffar, with the title of viceroy of Gujarat. The armies met at Dhandhuka,^[2] where a terrible conflict ensued. The Rathors lost many valiant men, but the Shah was defeated, and lost all the insignia of his greatness. He sent the spoil of seventeen thousand towns to the king, but kept a crore of drabs^[3] for himself, which he sent to Jodhpur, and therewith he enlarged the town and fort. For this service Akbar increased his mansab, and sent him a sword, with a khilat, and a grant of fresh lands.”

970Raja Sur, it appears in the sequel, provided liberally for the bards; for no less than “six lords of verse,” whose names are given, had in gift £10,000 each of the spoils of Gujarat, as incentives to song.

On the conquest of Gujarat, Raja Sur was ordered to the Deccan. “He obeyed, and with thirteen thousand horse, ten large guns, and twenty elephants, he fought three grand battles. On the Rewa (Nerbudda) he attacked Amra Balecha,^[4] who had five thousand horse, whom he slew, and reduced all his country. For this service the king sent him a naubat (kettle-drum), and conferred on him Dhar and its domain.”

On Akbar’s death and the accession of Jahangir, Sur Singh attended at court with his son and heir, Gaj Singh, whom the king with his own hands invested with the sword, for his bravery in the escalade of Jalor, which had been conquered by the monarch of Gujarat and added to his domain. The poet thus relates the event: “Gaj ^[5] was commanded against Bihari Pathan; his war-trump sounded; Arbuda [Abu] heard and trembled. What took Alau-d-din years, Gaj accomplished in three months; he escaladed Jalandhara ^[6] sword in hand; many a Rathor of fame was killed, but he put to the sword seven thousand Pathans, whose spoils were sent to the king.”

Raja Sur, it would appear, after the overthrow of the dynasty of Gujarat, remained at the capital, while his son and heir, Gaj Singh, attended the king’s [40] commands, and, soon after the taking of Jalor, was ordered with the Marwar contingent against Rana Amra of Mewar: it was at the very moment of its expiring liberties,^[7] for the chronicle merely adds, “Karan agreed to serve the king, and Gaj Singh returned to Taragarh.^[8] The king increased both his own mansab (dignity) and that of his father, Raja Sur.”

Thus the Rajput chronicler, solicitous only to record the fame of his own princes, does not deem it necessary to concern himself 971with the agents conjoined with them, so that a stranger to the events of the period would imagine, from the high relief given to their actions, that the Rathor princes commanded in all the great events described; for instance, that just mentioned, involving the submission of the Rana, when Raja Gaj was merely one of the great leaders who accompanied the Mogul heir-apparent, Prince Khurram, on this memorable occasion. In the Diary of Jahangir, the emperor, recording this event, does not even mention the Rathor prince, though he does those of Kotah and Datia, as the instruments by which Prince Khurram carried on the negotiation;^[9] from which we conclude that Raja Gaj merely acted a military part in the grand army which then invaded Mewar.

Death of Rāja Sūr Singh, A.D. 1620: his Character.

—Raja Sur died in the Deccan, in S. 1676 (A.D. 1620). He added greatly to the lustre of the Rathor name, was esteemed by the emperor, and, as the bard expresses it, “His spear was frightful to the Southron.” Whether Raja Sur disapproved of the exterminating warfare carried on in these regions, or was exasperated at the unlimited service he was doomed to, which detained him from his native land, he, in his last moments, commanded a pillar to be erected with a curse engraven thereon, imprecated upon any of his race who should once cross the Nerbudda. From his boyhood he had been almost an alien to his native land: he had accompanied his father wherever he led the aid of Maru, was serving at Lahore at the period of his accession, and died far from the monuments of his fathers, in the heart of the peninsula. Although the emperor was not ungrateful in his estimate of these services,—for Raja Sur held by patent no less than “sixteen [41] grand fiefs”^[10] of the empire, and with the title of Sawai raised above all the princes, his associates at court,—it was deemed no compensation for perpetual absence from the hereditary domain, thus abandoned to the management of servants. The great 972vassals, his clansmen, participated in this dissatisfaction, separated from their wives, families, and estates; for to them the pomp of imperial greatness, or the sunshine of court-favour, was as nothing when weighed against the exercise of their influence within their own cherished patrimony. The simple fare of the desert was dearer to the Rathor than all the luxuries of the imperial banquet, which he turned from with disgust to the recollection of “the green pulse of Mandawar,” or his favourite rabri, or ‘maize porridge,’ the prime dish with the Rathor. These minor associations conjoined with greater evils to increase the mal de pays, of whose influence no human being is more susceptible than the brave Rajput.

Raja Sur greatly added to the beauty of his capital, and left several works which bear his name; amongst them, not the least useful in that arid region, is the lake called the Sur Sagar, or ‘Warrior’s Sea,’ which irrigates the gardens on its margin. He left six sons and seven daughters, of whose issue we have no account, namely, Gaj Singh, his successor; Sabal Singh, Biramdeo, Bijai Singh, Partap Singh, and Jaswant Singh.

Rāja Gaj Singh, A.D. 1620-38.

—Raja Gaj, who succeeded his father in A.D. 1620, was born at Lahore, and the tika of investiture found him in the royal camp at Burhanpur. The bearer of it was Darab Khan, the son of the Khankhanan,^[11] or premier noble of the emperor’s court, who, as the imperial proxy, girt Raja Gaj with the sword. Besides the “nine castles” (Naukoti Marwar), his patrimony, his patent contained a grant of “seven divisions” of Gujarat, of the district of Jhalai in Dhundhar; and what was of more consequence to him, though of less intrinsic value, that of Masuda in Ajmer, the heirloom of his house. Besides these marks of distinction, he received the highest proof of confidence in the elevated post of viceroy of the Deccan; and, as a special testimony of imperial favour, the Rathor cavaliers composing his contingent were exempted from the dagh,^[12] that is, having their steeds branded with the imperial signet. His elder son, Amra Singh, served with [42] his father in all his various battles, to the success of which his conspicuous gallantry on every occasion contributed. In the sieges and battles of Kirkigarh, Golkonda, 973Khelna, Parnala, Gajangarh, Asir and Satara, the Rathors had their full share of glory, which obtained for their leader the title of Dalthaman, or ‘barrier of the host.’ We have already ^[13] remarked the direct influence which the Rajput princes had in the succession to the imperial dignity, consequent upon the inter-marriage of their daughters with the crown, and the various interests arising therefrom. Sultan Parvez, the elder son and heir of Jahangir, was the issue of a princess of Marwar,^[14] while the second son, Khurram, as his name imports, was the son of a Kachhwaha ^[15] princess of Amber. Being the offspring of polygamy and variously educated, these princes were little disposed to consider consanguinity as a bond of natural union; and their respective mothers, with all the ambition of their race, thought of nothing but obtaining the diadem for the head of their children. With either of these rival queens, the royal children who were not her own had no affinity with her or hers, and these feelings were imparted from the birth to their issue, and thus it too often happened that the heir of the throne was looked upon with an envious eye, as a bar to be removed at all hazards. This evil almost neutralized the great advantages derived from intermarriage with the indigenous races of India; but it was one which would have ceased with polygamy.

Death of Parvez, A.D. 1626.

—Khurram felt his superiority over his elder brother, Parvez, in all but the accidental circumstance of birth. He was in every respect a better man, and a braver and more successful soldier; and, having his ambition thus early nurtured by the stimulants administered by Bhim of Mewar, and the intrepid Mahabat,^[16] he determined to remove this barrier 974between him and the crown. His views were first developed whilst leading the armies in the Deccan, and he communicated them to Raja Gaj of Marwar, who held the post of honour next the prince, and solicited his aid to place him on the throne. Gratitude for the favours heaped upon him by the king, as well as the natural bias to Parvez, made the Raja turn a deaf ear to his application. The prince tried to gain his point through Govinddas, a Rajput of the Bhatti tribe, one of the foreign nobles of Maru, and confidential adviser of his prince; but, as the annals say, “Govinddas reckoned no one but his master and the [43] king.” Frustrated in this, Khurram saw no hopes of success but by disgusting the Rathors, and he caused the faithful Govinddas to be assassinated by Kishan Singh;^[17] on which Raja Gaj, in disgust, threw up his post, and marched to his native land. From the assassination of Parvez, which soon followed,^[18] the deposal of his father appeared but a step; and Khurram had collected means, which he deemed adequate to the design, when Jahangir appealed to the fidelity of the Rajputs, to support him against filial ingratitude and domestic treason; and, in their general obedience to the call, they afforded a distinguished proof of the operation of the first principle, Gaddi-ka-an, allegiance to the throne, often obeyed without reference to the worth of its occupant. The princes of Marwar, Amber, Kotah, and Bundi put themselves at the head of their household retainers on this occasion, which furnishes a confirmation of a remark already made, that the respective annals of the States of Rajasthan so rarely embrace the contemporaneous events of the rest, as to lead to the conclusion that by the single force of each State this rebellion was put down. This remark will be further exemplified from the annals of Bundi.

Offence given to the Rāthors.

—Jahangir was so pleased with the zeal of the Rathor prince—alarmed as he was at the advance 975of the rebels—that he not only took him by the hand, but what is most unusual, kissed it. When the assembled princes came in sight of the rebels, near Benares, the emperor gave the harawal, or vanguard, to the Kachhwaha prince, the Mirza raja of Amber. Whether this was a point of policy, to secure his acting against prince Khurram, who was born of this race, or merely, as the Marwar annals state, because he brought the greater number into the field, is immaterial; but it was very nearly fatal in its consequences: for the proud Rathor, indignant at the insult offered to him in thus bestowing the post of honour, which was his right, upon the rival race of Amber, furled his banners, separated from the royal army, and determined to be a quiet spectator of the result. But for the impetuous Bhim of Mewar, the adviser of Khurram, he might that day have been emperor of India. He sent a taunting message to Raja Gaj, either to join their cause or “draw their swords.” The Rathors overlooked the neglect of the king in the sarcasm of one of their own tribe; and Bhim was slain, Govinddas avenged, the rebellion quelled, and Khurram put to flight, chiefly by the Rathors and Haras [44].

Death of Rāja Gaj Singh, A.D. 1638.

—In S. 1694 (A.D. 1638), Raja Gaj was slain in an expedition into Gujarat;^[19] but whether in the fulfilment of the king’s commands, or in the chastisement of freebooters on his own southern frontier, the chronicles do not inform us. He left a distinguished name in the annals of his country, and two valiant sons, Amra and Jaswant, to maintain it: another son, Achal, died in infancy.

Rāja Jaswant Singh, A.D. 1638-78.

—The second son, Jaswant, succeeded, and furnishes another of many instances in the annals of Rajputana, of the rights of primogeniture being set aside. This proceeded from a variety of motives, sometimes merely paternal affection, sometimes incapacity in the child “to head fifty thousand Rathors,” and sometimes, as in the present instance, a dangerous turbulence and ever-boiling impetuosity in the individual, which despised all restraints. While there was an enemy against whom to exert it, Amra was conspicuous for his gallantry, and in all his father’s wars in the south was ever foremost in the battle. His daring spirit collected around him those of his own race, alike in mind, as connected by blood, whose actions, in periods of peace, were the subjects of eternal complaint to his father, 976who was ultimately compelled to exclude Amra from his inheritance.

Amra, Amar Singh excluded from the Succession.

—In the month of Baisakh, S. 1690 (A.D. 1634), five years before the death of Raja Gaj, in a convocation of all the feudality of Maru, sentence of exclusion from the succession was pronounced upon Amra, accompanied by the solemn and seldom practised rite of Desvata or exile. This ceremony, which is marked as a day of mourning in the calendar, was attended with all the circumstances of funereal pomp. As soon as the sentence was pronounced, that his birthright was forfeited and assigned to his junior brother, and that he ceased to be a subject of Maru, the khilat of banishment was brought forth, consisting of sable vestments, in which he was clad; a sable shield was hung upon his back, and a sword of the same hue girded round him; a black horse was then led out, being mounted on which, he was commanded, though not in anger, to depart whither he listed beyond the limits of Maru.

Amra went not alone; numbers of each clan, who had always regarded him as their future lord, voluntarily partook of his exile. He repaired to the imperial court; and although the emperor approved and sanctioned his banishment, he employed him. His gallantry soon won him the title of Rao and the mansab of a leader of three thousand, with the grant of Nagor as an independent domain, to be held directly from the crown. But the same arrogant and uncontrollable spirit [45] which lost him his birthright, brought his days to a tragical conclusion. He absented himself for a fortnight from court, hunting the boar or the tiger, his only recreation. The emperor (Shah Jahan) reprimanded him for neglecting his duties, and threatened him with a fine. Amra proudly replied that he had only gone to hunt, and as for a fine, he observed, putting his hand upon his sword, that was his sole wealth.

Amra, Amar assassinates Salābat Khān.

—The little contrition which this reply evinced determined the king to enforce the fine, and the paymaster-general, Salabat Khan,^[20] was sent to Amra’s 977quarters to demand its payment. It was refused, and the observations made by the Sayyid not suiting the temper of Amra, he unceremoniously desired him to depart. The emperor, thus insulted in the person of his officer, issued a mandate for Amra’s instant appearance. He obeyed, and having reached the Amm-khass, or grand divan, beheld the king, “whose eyes were red with anger,” with Salabat in the act of addressing him. Inflamed with passion at the recollection of the injurious language he had just received, perhaps at the king’s confirmation of his exclusion from Marwar, he unceremoniously passed the Omrahs of five and seven thousand, as if to address the king; when, with a dagger concealed in his sleeve, he stabbed Salabat to the heart. Drawing his sword, he made a blow at the king, which descending on the pillar, shivered the weapon in pieces. The king abandoned his throne and fled to the interior apartments. All was uproar and confusion. Amra continued the work of death, indifferent upon whom his blows fell, and five Mogul chiefs of eminence had fallen, when his brother-in-law, Arjun Gaur, under pretence of cajoling him, inflicted a mortal wound, though he continued to ply his dagger until he expired. To avenge his death, his retainers, headed by Balu Champawat and Bhao Kumpawat, put on their saffron garments, and a fresh carnage ensued within the Lal kila.^[21] To use the words of their native bard, “The pillars of Agra bear testimony to their deeds, nor shall they ever be obliterated from the record of time: they made their obeisance to 978Amra in the mansions of the sun.” The faithful band was cut to pieces; and his wife, the princess of Bundi, came in person and [46] carried away the dead body of Amra, with which she committed herself to the flames. The Bokhara gate by which they gained admission was built up, and henceforward known only as “Amra Singh’s gate”; and in proof of the strong impression made by this event,^[22] it remained closed through centuries, until opened in 1809 by Capt. Geo. Steell, of the Bengal engineers.^[23]

22. It may be useful to record such facts, by the way of contrast with the state policy of the west, and for the sake of observing that which would actuate the present paramount power of India should any of its tributary princes defy them as Amra did that of the universal potentate of that country. Even these despots borrowed a lesson of mercy from the Rajput system, which does not deem treason hereditary, nor attaints a whole line for the fault of one unworthy link. Shah Jahan, instead of visiting the sins of the father on the son, installed him in his fief of Nagor. This son was Rae Singh; and it devolved to his children and grandchildren,^[A] until Indar Singh the fourth in descent, was expelled by the head of the Rathors, who, in the weakness of the empire, reannexed Nagor to Jodhpur. But perhaps we have not hitherto dared to imitate the examples set us by the Mogul and even by the Mahratta; not having sufficient hold of the affections of the subjected to venture to be merciful; and thence our vengeance, like the bolt of heaven, sears the very heart of our enemies. Witness the many chieftains ejected from their possessions; from the unhallowed league against the Rohillas, to that last act of destruction at Bharatpur, where, as arbitrators, we acted the part of the lion in the fable. Our present attitude, however, is so commanding, that we can afford to display the attribute of mercy; and should, unfortunately, its action be required in Rajputana, let it be ample, for there its grateful influence is understood, and it will return, like the dews of heaven, upon ourselves. But if we are only to regulate our political actions by the apprehension of danger, it must one day recoil upon us in awful retribution. Our system is filled with evil to the governed, where a fit of bile in ephemeral political agents, may engender a quarrel leading to the overthrow of a dominion of ages.

Rāja Jaswant Singh, A.D. 1638-78.

—Raja Jaswant, who obtained, by the banishment of Amra, the “cushion” of Marwar, was born of a princess of Mewar; and although this circumstance is not reported to have influenced the change of succession, it will be borne in mind that, throughout Rajputana, its princes regarded a connexion with the Rana’s family as a primary honour.

“Jaswant (says the Bardai) was unequalled amongst the princes of his time. Stupidity and ignorance were banished; and science flourished where he ruled: many were the books composed under his auspices.”^[1]

The south continued to be the arena in which the martial Rajput sought renown, and the emperor had only rightly to understand his character to turn the national emulation to account. Shah Jahan, in the language of the chronicler, “became a slave to the seraglio,” and sent his sons, as viceroys, to govern the grand divisions of the empire. The first service of Jaswant was in the war of Gondwana, when he led a body composed of “twenty-two different contingents” in the army under Aurangzeb.^[2] In this and various other services (to enumerate which would be to go [48] over the ground already passed),^[3] the Rathors were conspicuous. Jaswant played a comparatively subordinate part, until the illness of the emperor, in A.D. 1658, when his elder son Dara was invested with the powers of regent.^[4] Prince Dara increased the mansab of Jaswant to a leader of “five thousand,” and nominated him his viceroy in Malwa.

980

The War of Succession.

—In the struggle for empire amongst the sons of Shah Jahan, consequent upon this illness, the importance of the Rajput princes and the fidelity we have often had occasion to depict, were exhibited in the strongest light. While Raja Jai Singh was commanded to oppose prince Shuja, who advanced from his viceroyalty of Bengal, Jaswant was entrusted with means to quash the designs of Aurangzeb, then commanding in the south, who had long cloaked, under the garb of hypocrisy and religion, views upon the empire.

Campaign against Aurangzeb, A.D. 1657-58—The Battle of Dharmātpur.

—The Rathor prince was declared generalissimo of the army destined to oppose Aurangzeb, and he marched from Agra at the head of the united contingents of Rajputana, besides the imperial guards, a force which, to use the hyperbole of the bard, “made Shesnag ^[5] writhe in agony.” Jaswant marched towards the Nerbudda, and had encamped his army in a position fifteen miles south of Ujjain, when tidings reached him of his opponent’s approach. In that field on which the emperor erected a town subsequently designated Fatehabad, or ‘abode of victory,’ Jaswant awaited his foes.^[6] The battle which ensued, witnessed and so circumstantially related by Bernier, as has been already noticed in this work,^[7] was lost by the temerity of the Rathor commander-in-chief, who might have crushed the rebellious hopes of Aurangzeb, to whom he purposely gave time to effect a junction with his brother Murad, from the vainglorious desire “to conquer two princes at once.” Dearly did he pay for his presumption; for he had given time to the wily prince to sow intrigues in his camp, which were disclosed as soon as the battle joined, when the Mogul horse deserted and left him at the head of his thirty thousand Rajputs, deemed, however, by their leader and themselves, sufficient against any odds. “Jaswant, spear in hand, mounted his steed Mahbub, and charged the imperial brothers; ten thousand Muslims fell in the onset, which cost seventeen hundred Rathors [49], besides Guhilots, Haras, Gaurs, 981and some of every clan of Rajwara. Aurang and Murad only escaped because their days were not yet numbered. Mahbub and his rider were covered with blood; Jasa looked like a famished lion, and like one he relinquished his prey.” The bard is fully confirmed in his relation of the day, both by the Mogul historian and by Bernier, who says, that notwithstanding the immense superiority of the imperial princes, aided by a numerous artillery served by Frenchmen, night alone put a stop to the contest of science, numbers, and artillery, against Rajput courage. Both armies remained on the field of battle, and though we have no notice of the anecdote related by the first translator of Ferishta, who makes Jaswant “in bravado drive his car round the field,”^[8] it is certain that Aurangzeb was too politic to renew the combat, or molest the retreat which took place next day towards his native dominions. Although, for the sake of alliteration, the bard especially singles out the Guhilots and Gaurs, the tribes of Mewar and Sheopur, all and every tribe was engaged; and if the Rajput ever dared to mourn the fall of kindred in battle, this day should have covered every house with the emblems of grief; for it is stated by the Mogul historian that fifteen thousand fell, chiefly Rajputs. This was one of the events glorious to the Rajput, showing his devotion to whom fidelity (swamidharma) had been pledged—the aged and enfeebled emperor Shah Jahan, whose “salt they ate”—against all the temptations offered by youthful ambition. It is forcibly contrasted with the conduct of the immediate household troops of the emperor, who, even in the moment of battle, worshipped the rising sun, whilst the Rajput sealed his faith in his blood; and none more liberally than the brave Haras of Kotah and Bundi. The annals of no nation on earth can furnish such an example, as an entire family, six royal brothers, stretched on the field, and all but one in death.^[9]

Of all the deeds of heroism performed on this day, those of Ratna of Ratlam, by universal consent, are pre-eminent, and “are wreathed into immortal rhyme by the bard” in the Raesa Rao Ratna.^[10] He also was a Rathor, the great-grandson of Udai 982Singh, the first raja of Maru; and nobly did he show that the Rathor blood had not degenerated on the fertile plains of Malwa. If aught were wanting to complete the fame of this memorable day, which gave empire to the scourge of Rajputana [50], it is found in the conduct of Jaswant’s queen, who, as elsewhere related,^[11] shut the gates of his capital on her fugitive lord, though he “brought back his shield” and his honour.

Battle of Jājau.

—Aurangzeb, on Jaswant’s retreat, entered the capital of Malwa in triumph, whence, with all the celerity requisite to success, he pursued his march on the capital. At the village of Jajau, thirty miles south of Agra, the fidelity of the Rajputs again formed a barrier between the aged king and the treason of his son; but it served no other purpose than to illustrate this fidelity. The Rajputs were overpowered, Dara was driven from the regency, and the aged emperor deposed.^[12]

Battle of Khajwa.

—Aurangzeb, soon after usurping the throne, sent, through the prince of Amber, his assurances of pardon to Jaswant, and a summons to the presence, preparatory to joining the army forming against his brother Shuja, advancing to vindicate his claims to empire. The Rathor, deeming it a glorious occasion for revenge, obeyed, and communicated to Shuja his intentions. The hostile armies met at Khajwa, thirty miles north of Allahabad.^[13] On the first onset, Jaswant, wheeling about with his Rathor cavaliers, attacked the rearward of the army under prince Muhammad, which he cut to pieces, and plundering the imperial camp (left unprotected), he deliberately loaded his camels with the most valuable effects, which he despatched under part of the force, and leaving the brothers to a contest, which he heartily wished might involve the destruction of both, he followed 983the cortège to Agra. Such was the panic on his appearance at that capital, joined to the rumours of Aurangzeb’s defeat, which had nearly happened, that the wavering garrison required only a summons to have surrendered, when he might have released Shah Jahan from confinement, and with this “tower of strength” have rallied an opposition fatal to the prince.

Policy of Jaswant Singh.

—That this plan suggested itself to Jaswant’s sagacity we cannot doubt; but besides the manifest danger of locking up his army within the precincts of a capital, if victory was given to Aurangzeb, he had other reasons for not halting at Agra. All his designs were in concert with prince Dara, the rightful heir to the throne, whom he had instructed to hasten to the scene of action; but while Jaswant remained hovering in the rear of Aurangzeb, momentarily expecting the junction of the prince, the latter loitered on the southern frontier of Marwar, and thus lost, for [51] ever, the crown within his grasp. Jaswant continued his route to his native dominions, and had at least the gratification of housing the spoils, even to the regal tents, in the castle of Jodha. Dara tardily formed a junction at Merta; but the critical moment was lost, and Aurangzeb, who had crushed Shuja’s force, rapidly advanced, now joined by many of the Rajput princes, to overwhelm this last remnant of opposition. The crafty Aurangzeb, however, who always preferred stratagem to the precarious issue of arms, addressed a letter to Jaswant, not only assuring him of his entire forgiveness, but offering the vice-royalty of Gujarat, if he would withdraw his support from Dara, and remain neuter in the contest. Jaswant accepted the conditions, and agreed to lead the Rajput contingents, under prince Muazzam, in the war against Sivaji, bent on reviving the independence of Maharashtra. From the conduct again pursued by the Rathor, we have a right to infer that he only abandoned Dara because, though possessed of many qualities which endeared him to the Rajput, besides his title to the throne, he wanted those virtues necessary to ensure success against his energetic brother. Scarcely had Jaswant reached the Deccan when he opened a communication with Sivaji, planned the death of the king’s lieutenant, Shaista Khan, on which he hoped to have the guidance of the army, and the young viceroy. Aurangzeb received authentic intelligence of this plot, and the share Jaswant had in it; but he temporized, and even sent letters of congratulation on 984his succeeding to the command in chief. But he soon superseded him by Raja Jai Singh of Amber, who brought the war to a conclusion by the capture of Sivaji.^[14] The honour attending this exploit was, however, soon exchanged for disgrace; for when the Amber prince found that the tyrant had designs upon the life of his prisoner, for whose safety he had pledged himself, he connived at his escape.^[15] Upon this, Jaswant was once more declared the emperor’s lieutenant, and soon inspired prince Muazzam with designs, which again compelled the king to supersede him, and Diler Khan was declared general-in-chief. He reached Aurangabad, and the night of his arrival would have been his last, but he received intimation and rapidly retreated, pursued by the prince and Jaswant to the Nerbudda. The emperor saw the necessity of removing Jaswant from this dangerous post, and he sent him the farman as viceroy of Gujarat, to which he commanded him to repair without delay. He obeyed, reached Ahmadabad, and found the king had outwitted him and his [52] successor in command; he therefore continued his course to his native dominions, where he arrived in S. 1726 (A.D. 1670).

The wily tyrant had, in all these changes, used every endeavour to circumvent Jaswant, and, if the annals are correct, was little scrupulous as to the means. But the Raja was protected by the fidelity of his kindred vassalage. In the words of the bardic chronicler, “The Aswapati,^[16] Aurang, finding treachery in vain, put the collar of simulated friendship round his neck, and sent him beyond the Attock to die.”

The emperor saw that the only chance of counteracting Jaswant’s inveterate hostility was to employ him where he would be least dangerous. He gladly availed himself of a rebellion amongst the Afghans of Kabul; and with many promises of favour to himself and his family, appointed him to the chief command,^[17] to lead his turbulent Rajputs against the equally turbulent and almost savage Afghans. Leaving his elder son, Prithi Singh, in charge of his ancestral domains, with his wives, 985family, and the chosen bands of Maru, Jaswant departed for the land of the “barbarian,” from which he was destined never to return.

Treatment of Prithi Singh by Aurangzeb.

—It is related, in the chronicles of Maru, that Aurangzeb having commanded the attendance at court of Jaswant’s heir, he obeyed, and was received not only with the distinctions which were his due, but with the most specious courtesy; that one day, with unusual familiarity, the king desired him to advance, and grasping firmly his folded hands (the usual attitude of deference) in one of his own, said, “Well, Rathor, it is told me you possess as nervous an arm as your father; what can you do now?” “God preserve your majesty!” replied the Rajput prince, “when the sovereign of mankind lays the hand of protection on the meanest of his subjects, all his hopes are realized; but when he condescends to take both of mine, I feel as if I could conquer the world.” His vehement and animated gesture gave full force to his words, and Aurangzeb quickly exclaimed, “Ah! here is another Khatan”^[18] (the term he always applied to Jaswant); yet, affecting to be pleased with the frank boldness of his speech, he ordered him a splendid dress, which, as customary, he put on, and, having made his obeisance, left the presence in the certain assurance of exaltation.

That day was his last!—he was taken ill soon after reaching his quarters, and [53] expired in great torture, and to this hour his death is attributed to the poisoned robe of honour presented by the king.^[19]

Prithi Singh was the staff of his father’s age, and endowed with all the qualities required to lead the swords of Maru. His death, 986thus reported, cast a blight on the remaining days of Jaswant, who, in this cruel stroke, saw that his mortal foe had gone beyond him in revenge. The sacrifice of Prithi Singh was followed by the death of his only remaining sons, Jagat Singh and Dalthamman, from the ungenial climate of Kabul, and grief soon closed the existence of the veteran Rathor. He expired amidst the mountains of the north, without an heir to his revenge, in S. 1737 (A.D. 1681), having ruled the tribes of Maru for two-and-forty years. In this year, death released Aurangzeb from the greatest terrors of his life; for the illustrious Sivaji and Jaswant paid the debt to nature within a few months of each other.^[20] Of the Rathor, we may use the words of the biographer of his contemporary, Rana Raj Singh of Mewar: “Sighs never ceased flowing from Aurang’s heart while Jaswant lived.”

Character of Jaswant Singh.

—The life of Jaswant Singh is one of the most extraordinary in the annals of Rajputana, and a full narrative of it would afford a perfect and deeply interesting picture of the history and manners of the period. Had his abilities, which were far above mediocrity, been commensurate with his power, credit, and courage, he might, with the concurrent aid of the many powerful enemies of Aurangzeb, have overturned the Mogul throne. Throughout the long period of two-and-forty years, events of magnitude crowded upon each other, from the period of his first contest with Aurangzeb, in the battle of the Nerbudda, to his conflicts with the Afghans amidst the snows of Caucasus. Although the Rathor had a preference amongst the sons of Shah Jahan, esteeming the frank Dara above the crafty Aurangzeb, yet he detested the whole race as inimical to the religion and the independence of his own; and he only fed the hopes of any of the brothers, in their struggles for empire, expecting that they would end in the ruin of all. His blind [54] arrogance lost him the battle of the Nerbudda, and the supineness of Dara prevented his reaping the fruit of his treachery at Khajwa. The former event, as it reduced the means and lessened the fame of Jaswant, redoubled his hatred to the conqueror. Jaswant neglected no opportunity which gave a chance of revenge. Impelled 987by this motive, more than by ambition, he never declined situations of trust, and in each he disclosed the ruling passion of his mind. His overture to Sivaji (like himself the implacable foe of the Mogul), against whom he was sent to act; his daring attempt to remove the imperial lieutenants, one by assassination, the other by open force; his inciting Muazzam, whose inexperience he was sent to guide, to revolt against his father, are some among the many signal instances of Jaswant’s thirst for vengeance. The emperor, fully aware of this hatred, yet compelled from the force of circumstances to dissemble, was always on the watch to counteract it, and the artifices this mighty king had recourse to in order to conciliate Jaswant, perhaps to throw him off his guard, best attest the dread in which he held him. Alternately he held the vice-royalty of Gujarat, of the Deccan, of Malwa, Ajmer, and Kabul (where he died), either directly of the king, or as the king’s lieutenant, and second in command under one of the princes. But he used all these favours merely as stepping-stones to the sole object of his life. Accordingly, if Jaswant’s character had been drawn by a biographer of the court, viewed merely in the light of a great vassal of the empire, it would have reached us marked with the stigma of treachery in every trust reposed in him; but, on the other hand, when we reflect on the character of the king, the avowed enemy of the Hindu faith, we only see in Jaswant a prince putting all to hazard in its support. He had to deal with one who placed him in these offices, not from personal regard, but because he deemed a hollow submission better than avowed hostility, and the raja, therefore, only opposed fraud to hypocrisy, and treachery to superior strength. Doubtless the Rathor was sometimes dazzled by the baits which the politic king administered to his vanity; and when all his brother princes eagerly contended for royal favour, it was something to be singled out as the first amongst his peers in Rajputana. By such conflicting impulses were both parties actuated in their mutual conduct throughout a period in duration nearly equal to the life of man; and it is no slight testimony to Aurangzeb’s skill in managing such a subject, that he was able to neutralize the hatred and the power of Jaswant throughout this lengthened [55] period. But it was this vanity, and the immense power wielded by the kings who could reward service by the addition of a vice-royalty to their hereditary domains, that made the Rajput princes slaves; 988for, had all the princely contemporaries of Jaswant—Jai Singh of Amber, the Rana Raj of Mewar, and Sivaji—coalesced against their national foe, the Mogul power must have been extinct. Could Jaswant, however, have been satisfied with the mental wounds he inflicted upon the tyrant, he would have had ample revenge; for the image of the Rathor crossed all his visions of aggrandizement. The cruel sacrifice of his heir, and the still more barbarous and unrelenting ferocity with which he pursued Jaswant’s innocent family, are the surest proofs of the dread which the Rathor prince inspired while alive.

The Tale of Nāhar Khān.

—Previous, however, to entering on this and the eventful period which followed Jaswant’s death, we may record a few anecdotes illustrative of the character and manners of the vassal chieftains, by whose aid he was thus enabled to brave Aurangzeb. Nor can we do better than allow Nahar Khan, chief of the Kumpawats and premier noble, to be the representative portrait of the clans of Maru. It was by the vigilance of this chief, and his daring intrepidity, that the many plots laid for Jaswant’s life were defeated; and in the anecdote already given, when in order to restore his prince from a fit of mental delusion,^[21] he braved the superstitions of his race, his devotion was put to a severer test than any which could result from personal peril. The anecdote connected with his nom de guerre of Nahar (tiger) Khan, exemplifies his personal, as the other does his mental, intrepidity. The real name of this individual, the head of the Kumpawat clan, was Mukunddas. He had personally incurred the displeasure of the emperor, by a reply which was deemed disrespectful to a message sent by the royal Ahadi,^[22] for which the tyrant condemned him to enter a tiger’s den, and contend for his life unarmed. Without a sign of fear he entered the arena, where the savage beast was pacing, and thus contemptuously accosted him: “Oh, tiger of the Miyan,^[23] face the tiger of Jaswant”; exhibiting to the king of the forest a pair of eyes, which anger and opium had rendered little less inflamed than his own. The animal, startled by so unaccustomed a salutation, for a moment looked at his visitor, put down his 989head, turned round and [56] stalked from him. “You see,” exclaimed the Rathor, “that he dare not face me, and it is contrary to the creed of a true Rajput to attack an enemy who dares not confront him.” Even the tyrant, who beheld the scene, was surprised into admiration, presented him with gifts, and asked if he had any children to inherit his prowess. His reply, “How can we get children, when you keep us from our wives beyond the Attock?” fully shows that the Rathor and fear were strangers to each other. From this singular encounter he bore the name of Nahar Khan, ‘the tiger lord.’

On another occasion, from the same freedom of speech, he incurred the displeasure of the Shahzada, or prince-royal, who, with youthful levity, commanded the ‘tiger lord’ to attempt a feat which he deemed inconsistent with his dignity, namely, gallop at speed under a horizontal branch of a tree and cling to it while the steed passed on. This feat, requiring both agility and strength, appears to have been a common amusement, and it is related in the Annals of Mewar that the chief of Banera broke his spine in the attempt; and there were few who did not come off with bruises and falls, in which consisted the sport. When Nahar heard the command, he indignantly replied, he “was not a monkey”; that “if the prince wished to see his feats, it must be where his sword had play”; on which he was ordered against Surthan, the Deora prince of Sirohi, for which service he had the whole Rathor contingent at his disposal. The Deora prince, who could not attempt to cope against it in the field, took to his native hills; but while he deemed himself secure, Mukund, with a chosen band, in the dead of night, entered the glen where the Sirohi prince reposed, stabbed the solitary sentinel, bound the prince with his own turban to his pallet, while, environing him with his clansmen, he gave the alarm. The Deoras starting from their rocky beds, collected round their prince, and were preparing for the rescue, when Nahar called aloud, “You see his life is in my hands; be assured it is safe if you are wise; but he dies on the least opposition to my determination to convey him to my prince. My sole object in giving the alarm was that you might behold me carry off my prize.” He conveyed Surthan to Jaswant, who said he must introduce him to the king. The Deora prince was carried to court, and being led between the proper officers to the palace, he was instructed to perform that profound 990obeisance, from which none were exempted. But the haughty Deora replied, “His life was in the king’s hands, his [57] honour in his own; he had never bowed the head to mortal man, and never would.” As Jaswant had pledged himself for his honourable treatment, the officers of the ceremonies endeavoured by stratagem to obtain a constrained obeisance, and instead of introducing him as usual, they showed him a wicket, knee high, and very low overhead, by which to enter, but putting his feet foremost, his head was the last part to appear.^[24] This stubborn ingenuity, his noble bearing, and his long-protracted resistance, added to Jaswant’s pledge, won the king’s favour; and he not only proffered him pardon, but whatever lands he might desire. Though the king did not name the return, Surthan was well aware of the terms, but he boldly and quickly replied, “What can your majesty bestow equal to Achalgarh? let me return to it is all I ask.” The king had the magnanimity to comply with his request; Surthan was allowed to retire to the castle of Abu,^[25] nor did he or any of the Deoras ever rank themselves amongst the vassals of the empire; but they have continued to the present hour a life of almost savage independence.

From such anecdotes we learn the character of the tiger lord of Asop; and his brother Rathors of Marwar; men reckless of life when put in competition with distinction and fidelity to their prince, as will be abundantly illustrated in the reign we are about to describe.

CHAPTER 7

Fate of the Family of Jaswant Singh.

—“When Jaswant died beyond the Attock, his wife, the (future) mother of Ajit, determined to burn with her lord, but being in the seventh month of her pregnancy, she was forcibly prevented by Uda Kumpawat. 991His other queen and seven Patras (concubines) mounted the pyre; and as soon as the tidings reached Jodhpur, the Chandravati queen, taking a turban of her late lord, ascended the pile at Mandor. The Hindu race was in despair at the loss of the support of their faith. The bells of the temple were mute; the sacred shell no longer sounded at sunrise; the Brahmans vitiated their doctrines and learned the Muslim creed.”^[1]

Birth of Ajīt Singh.

—The queen was delivered of a boy, who received the name of Ajit. As soon as she was able to travel, the Rathor contingent, with their infant prince, his mother, the daughters, and establishment of their late sovereign, prepared to return to their native land. But the unrelenting tyrant, carrying his vengeance towards Jaswant even beyond the grave, as soon they reached Delhi, commanded that the infant should be surrendered to his custody. “Aurang offered to divide Maru amongst [59] them if they would surrender their prince; but they replied, ‘Our country is with our sinews, and these can defend both it and our Lord.’ With eyes red with rage, they left the Amm-khass. Their abode was surrounded by the host of the Shah. In a basket of sweetmeats they sent away the young prince, and prepared to defend their honour; they made oblations to the gods, took a double portion of opium, and mounted their steeds. Then spoke Ranchhor, and Govind the son of Jodha, and Chandarbhan the Darawat, and the son of Raghu, on whose shoulders the sword had been married at Ujjain, with the fearless Baharmall the Udawat, and the Sujawat, Raghunath. ‘Let us swim,’ they exclaimed, ‘in the ocean of fight. Let us root up these Asuras, and be carried by the Apsaras to the mansions of the sun.’ As thus each spoke, Suja the bard took the word: ‘For a day like this,’ said he, ‘you enjoy your fiefs (pattas), to give in your lord’s cause your bodies to the sword, and in one mass to gain swarga (heaven). As for me, who enjoyed his friendship and his gifts, this day will I make his salt resplendent. My father’s fame will I uphold, and lead the death in this day’s fight, that future bards may hymn my praise.’ Then spake Durga, son of Asa: ‘The teeth of the Yavans are whetted, but by the lightning emitted from our swords, Delhi shall witness our deeds; and the flame of our anger shall consume the troops of the Shah.’ 992As thus the chiefs communed, and the troops of the king approached, the Rajloka ^[2] of their late lord was sent to inhabit Swarga. Lance in hand, with faces resembling Yama,^[3] the Rathors rushed upon the foe. Then the music of swords and shields commenced. Wave followed wave in the field of blood. Sankara ^[4] completed his chaplet in the battle fought by the children of Duhar in the streets of Delhi. Ratna contended with nine thousand of the foe; but his sword failed, and as he fell, Rambha ^[5] carried him away. Dila the Darawat made a gift of his life;^[6] the salt of his lord he mixed with the water of the field.^[7] Chandarbhan was conveyed by the [60] Apsaras to Chandrapur.^[8] The Bhatti was cut piecemeal and lay on the field beside the son of Surthan. The faithful Udawat appeared like the crimson lotus; he journeyed to Swarga to visit Jaswant. Sanda the bard, with a sword in either hand, was in the front of the battle, and gained the mansion of the moon.^[9] Every tribe and every clan performed its duty in this day’s pilgrimage to the stream of the sword, in which Durgadas ground the foe and saved his honour.”^[10]

The Johar.

—When these brave men saw that nothing short of the surrender of all that was dear to a Rajput was intended 993by the fiend-like spirit of the king, their first thought was the preservation of their prince; the next to secure their own honour and that of their late master. The means by which they accomplished this were terrific. The females of the deceased, together with their own wives and daughters, were placed in an apartment filled with gunpowder, and the torch applied—all was soon over. This sacrifice accomplished, their sole thought was to secure a niche in that immortal temple, which the Rajput bard, as well as the great minstrel of the west, peoples with “youths who died, to be by poets sung.” For this, the Rajput’s anxiety has in all ages been so great, as often to defeat even the purpose of revenge, his object being to die gloriously rather than to inflict death; assured that his name would never perish, but, preserved in “immortal rhyme” by the bard, would serve as the incentive to similar deeds. Accordingly, “the battle fought by the sons of Duharia ^[11] in the streets of Delhi” is one of the many themes of everlasting eulogy to the Rathors; and the seventh of Sravan, S. 1736 (the second month of the Monsoon of A.D. 1680), is a sacred day in the calendar of Maru.

In the midst of this furious contest, the infant prince was saved. To avoid suspicion the heir of Maru, concealed in a basket of sweetmeats, was entrusted to a Muslim, who religiously executed his trust and conveyed him to the appointed spot, where he was joined by the gallant Durgadas with the survivors who had cut their way through all opposition, and who were doomed often to bleed for the prince thus miraculously preserved. It is pleasing to find that if to “the leader [61] of the faithful,” the bigoted Aurangzeb, they owed so much misery, to one (and he of humble life), of the same faith, they owed the preservation of their line. The preserver of Ajit lived to witness his manhood and the redemption of his birthright, and to find that princes are not always ungrateful; for he was distinguished at court, was never addressed but as Kaka, or uncle, by the prince; and to the honour of his successors be it told, the lands then settled upon him are still enjoyed by his descendants.

The Youth of Ajīt Singh. Campaign of Aurangzeb in Mārwār.

—With the sole surviving scion of Jaswant, the faithful Durga 994and a few chosen friends repaired to the isolated rock of Abu, and placed him in a monastery of recluses. There the heir of Maru was reared in entire ignorance of his birth. Still rumours prevailed, that a son of Jaswant lived; that Durga and a few associates were his guardians; and this was enough for the loyal Rajput, who, confiding in the chieftain of Dunara, allowed the mere name of Dhani (lord) to be his rallying-word in the defence of his rights. These were soon threatened by a host of enemies, amongst whom were the Indhas, the ancient sovereigns of Maru, who saw an opening for the redemption of their birthright, and for a short time displayed the flag of the Parihars on the walls of Mandor. While the Indhas were rejoicing at the recovery of their ancient capital, endeared to them by tradition, an attempt was made by Ratna,^[12] the son of Amra Singh (whose tragical death has been related), to obtain the seat of power, Jodhpur. This attempt, instigated by the king, proved futile; and the clans, faithful to the memory of Jaswant and the name of Ajit, soon expelled the Indhas from Mandor, and drove the son of Amra to his castle of Nagor. It was then that Aurangzeb, in person, led his army into Maru; the capital was invested; it fell and was pillaged, and all the great towns in the plains, as Merta, Didwana, and Rohat, shared a similar fate. The emblems of religion were trampled under foot, the temples thrown down, mosques were erected on their site, and nothing short of the compulsory conversion to the tenets of Islam of every Rajput in Marwar would satisfy his revenge.^[13] The consequences of this fanatical and impolitic conduct recoiled not only upon the emperor but his whole race, for it roused an opposition to this iron yoke, which ultimately broke it in pieces. The emperor promulgated that famous edict, the Jizya, against the whole Hindu race, which cemented into one compact union all who cherished either patriotism or religion. It was at this period of time, when the Rathors and Sesodias united [62] against the tyrant, that Rana

995Raj Singh indited that celebrated epistle, which is given in a preceding part of this work.^[14]

“Seventy thousand men,” says the bard,^[15] “under Tahawwur Khan, were commanded to destroy the Rajputs, and Aurang followed in person to Ajmer. The Mertia clan assembled, and advanced to Pushkar to oppose him. The battle was in front of the temple of Varaha, where the swords of the Mertias, always first in the fight, played the game of destruction on the heads of the Asuras. Here the Mertias were all slain on the 11th Bhadon, S. 1736.

“Tahawwur continued to advance. The inhabitants of Murdhar fled to the mountains. At Gura the brothers Rupa and Kumbha took post with their clan to oppose him; but they fell with twenty-five of their brethren. As the cloud pours water 996upon the earth, so did Aurang pour his barbarians over the land. He remained but five days at Ajaidurg (Ajmer), and marched against Chitor. It fell: it appeared as if the heavens had fallen. Ajit was protected by the Rana, and the Rathors led the van in the host of the Sesodias. Seeing the strength of the Yavans, they shut up the young prince, like a flame confined in a vessel. Delhipat (the king of Delhi) came to Debari,^[16] at whose pass he was opposed by Kumbha, Ugarsen, and Uda, all Rathors. While Aurangzeb attacked Udaipur, Azam was left at Chitor. Then the king learned that Durgadas had invaded Jalor; he abandoned his conquest, and returned to Ajmer, sending Mukarrab Khan to aid Bihari at Jalor; but Durga had raised contributions [63] (dand), and passed to Jodhpur, alike forced to contribute; for the son of Indar Singh, on the part of the king, now commanded in Trikuta (triple-peaked mount). Aurang Shah measured the heavens; he determined to have but one faith in the land. Prince Akbar was sent to join Tahawwur Khan. Rapine and conflagration spread over the land. The country became a waste; fear stalked triumphant. Providence had willed this affliction. The Indhas were put in possession of Jodhpur; but were encountered at Ketapur and put to the sword by the Champawats. Once more they lost the title of Raos of Murdardes, and thus the king’s intentions of bestowing sovereignty on the Parihars were frustrated on the 13th day of Jeth, S. 1736.

Retreat of the Rathors.

—“The Aravalli gave shelter to the Rathors. From its fastnesses they issued, and mowed down entire harvests of the Muslim, piling them in khallas.^[17] Aurang had no repose. Jalor was invaded by one body, Siwana by another of the faithful chiefs of Ajit, whose an ^[18] daily increased, while Aurang’s was seldom invoked. The king gave up the war against the Rana to send all his troops into Maru; but the Rana, who provoked the rage of Aurang from granting refuge to Ajit, sent his troops under his own son, Bhim, who joined the Rathors, led by Indarbhan and Durgadas in Godwar. Prince Akbar and Tahawwur Khan advanced upon them, and a battle took place 997at Nadol. The Sesodias had the right. The combat was long and bloody. Prince Bhim fell at the head of the Mewaris: he was a noble bulwark to the Rathors.^[19] Indarbhan was slain, with Jeth the Udawat, performing noble deeds; and Soning Durga did wonders on that day, the 14th Asoj, S. 1737” (the winter of A.D. 1681).

The Rebellion of Prince Akbar, A.D. 1681.

—The gallant bearing of the Rajputs in this unequal combat, their desperate devotion to their country and prince, touched the soul of Prince Akbar, who had the magnanimity to commiserate the sufferings he was compelled to inflict, and to question the policy of his father towards these gallant vassals. Ambition came to the aid of compassion for the sufferings of the Rathors, and the persecution of the minor son of Jaswant. He opened his mind to Tahawwur Khan, and exposed the [64] disgrace of bearing arms in so unholy a warfare, and in severing from the crown such devoted and brave vassals as the Rathors. Tahawwur was gained over, and an embassy sent to Durgadas offering peace, and expressing a wish for a conference. Durga convened the chiefs, and disclosed the overture; but some suspected treachery in the prince, others selfish views on the part of Durga. To prevent the injurious operation of such suspicions, Durga observed, that if assent were not given to the meeting, it would be attributed to the base motive of fear. “Let us proceed in a body,” said he, “to this conference; who ever heard of a cloud being caught?” They met; mutual views were developed; a treaty was concluded, and the meeting ended by Akbar waving the umbrella of regality over his head.^[20] He coined in his own name; he established his own weights and measures. The poisoned intelligence was 998poured into Aurang’s ear at Ajmer; his soul was troubled; he had no rest; he plucked his beard in grief when he heard that Durga and Akbar had united. Every Rathor in the land flocked to Akbar’s standard. The house of Delhi was divided, and Govind ^[21] again supported the Hindu faith.

The dethronement of the tyrant appeared inevitable. The scourge of the Rajputs was in their power, for he was almost alone and without the hope of succour. But his energies never forsook him; he knew the character of his foes, and that on an emergency his grand auxiliary, stratagem, was equal to an army. As there is some variation both in the Mogul historian’s account of this momentous transaction and in the annals of Mewar and Marwar,^[22] we present the latter verbatim from the chronicle.

“Akbar, with multitudes of Rajputs, advanced upon Ajmer. But while Aurang prepared for the storm, the prince gave himself up to women and the song, placing everything in the hands of Tahawwur Khan. We are the slaves of fate; puppets that dance as it pulls the strings. Tahawwur allowed himself to dream of treason; it was whispered in his ear that if he could deliver Akbar to his father, high rewards would follow. At night he went privily to Aurangzeb, and thence wrote to the Rathors: ‘I was the bond of union betwixt you and Akbar, but the dam which separated the waters has broken down. Father and son again are one. Consider the pledges, given and received, as restored, and depart for your own lands.’ Having sealed this with his signet, and dispatched a messenger to the Rathors, he appeared before Aurangzeb to receive the fruit of his service. But his treason met its [65] reward, and before he could say, the imperial orders were obeyed, a blow of the mace from the hand of the monarch sent his soul to hell. At midnight the Dervesh messenger reached the Rathor camp; he put the letter into their hand, which stated father and son were united; and added from himself that Tahawwur Khan was slain. All was confusion; the Rathors saddled and mounted, and moved a coss from Akbar’s camp. The panic spread to his troops, who fled like the dried leaves of the sugar-cane when carried up in a whirlwind, while the prince was attending to the song and the wiles of the wanton.”

999

The Rāthors abandon Akbar.

—This narrative exemplifies most strongly the hasty unreflecting character of the Rajput, who always acts from the impulse of the moment. They did not even send to Akbar’s camp, although close to their own, to inquire the truth or falsehood of the report, but saddled and did not halt until they were twenty miles asunder. It is true, that in these times of peril they did not know in whom to confide; and being headed by one of their own body, they could not tell how far he might be implicated in the treachery.

The next day they were undeceived by the junction of the prince, who, when made acquainted with the departure of his allies, and the treason and death of Tahawwur Khan, could scarcely collect a thousand men to abide by his fortunes. With these he followed his panic-struck allies, and threw himself and his family upon their hospitality and protection—an appeal never made in vain to the Rajput. The poetic account, by the bard Karnidhan, of the reception of the prince by the chivalry of Maru, is remarkably minute and spirited:—the warriors and senators enter into a solemn debate as to the conduct to be pursued to the prince now claiming saran (sanctuary), when the bard takes occasion to relate the pedigree and renown of the chiefs of every clan. Each chief delivers his sentiments in a speech full of information respecting their national customs and manners. It also displays a good picture of “the power of the swans, and the necessity of feeding them with pearls,” to enable them to sing with advantage. The council breaks up with the declaration of its determination to protect Akbar at all hazards, and Jetha, the brother of the head of the Champawats, is nominated to the charge of protector of Akbar’s family. The gallant Durga, the Ulysses of the Rathors, is the manager of this dramatic convention, the details of which are wound up with an eulogy in true oriental hyperbole, in the Doric accents of Maru: [66]—

1000“O mother! produce such sons as Durgadas, who first supported the dam of Murdhara, and then propped the heavens.”

Character of Durgadās.

—This model of a Rajput, as wise as he was brave, was the saviour of his country. To his suggestion it owed the preservation of its prince, and to a series of heroic deeds, his subsequent and more difficult salvation. Many anecdotes are extant recording the dread Aurangzeb had of this leader of the Rathors, one of which is amusing. The tyrant had commanded pictures to be drawn of two of the most mortal foes to his repose, Sivaji and Durga: “Siva was drawn seated on a couch; Durga in his ordinary position, on horseback, toasting bātis or barley-cakes, with the point of his lance, on a fire of maize-stalks. Aurangzeb, at the first glance, exclaimed, ‘I may entrap that fellow (meaning Sivaji), but this dog is born to be my bane.s’”

Durga at the head of his bands, together with young Akbar, moved towards the western extremity of the State, in hopes that they might lead the emperor in pursuit amongst the sandhills of the Luni; but the wily monarch tried other arts, and first attempted to corrupt Durga. He sent him eight thousand gold mohurs,^[24] which the Rajput instantly applied to the necessities of Akbar, who was deeply affected at this proof of devotion, and distributed a portion of it amongst Durga’s retainers. Aurangzeb, seeing the futility of this plan, sent a force in pursuit of his son, who, knowing he had no hope of mercy if he fell into his father’s hands, was anxious to place distance between them. Durga pledged himself for his safety, and relinquished all to ensure it. Making over the guardianship of young Ajit to his elder brother, Soning, and placing himself at the head of one thousand chosen men, he turned towards the south. The bard enumerates the names and families of all the chieftains of note who formed the bodyguard of prince Akbar in this desperate undertaking. The Champawats were the most numerous, but he specifies several of the home clans, as the Jodha and Mertia, and amongst the foreign Rajputs, the Jadon, Chauhan, Bhatti, Deora, Sonigira, and Mangalia [67].

Escape of Prince Akbar.

—“The king followed their retreat: his troops surrounded the Rathors; but Durga with one thousand chosen men left the north on their backs, and with the speed of 1001the winged quitted the camp. Aurang continued the pursuit to Jalor, when he found he had been led on a wrong scent, and that Durga, with the prince, keeping Gujarat on his right, and Chappan ^[25] on his left, had made good his retreat to the Nerbudda. Rage so far got the better of his religion, that he threw the Koran at the head of the Almighty. In wrath, he commanded Azam to exterminate the Rathors, but to leave Udaipur on one side,^[26] and every other design, and first secure his brother. The deeds of Kamunda ^[27] removed the troubles of Mewar, as the wind disperses the clouds which shade the brightness of the moon. In ten days after Azam marched, the emperor himself moved, leaving his garrisons in Jodhpur and Ajmer. Durga’s name was the charm which made the hosts of locusts quit their ground.^[28] Durga was the sea-serpent; Akbar the mountain with which they churned the ocean Aurang, and made him yield the fourteen gems, one of which our religion regained, which is Lakshmi, and our faith, which is Dhanwantari ^[29] the sage.

“In fidelity who excelled the Khichis Sheo Singh and Mukund, who never left the person of Ajit, when his infancy was concealed in the mountains of Arbud? to them alone, and the faithful Sonigira, did Durga confide the secret of his retreat. The vassals of the Nine Castles of Maru knew that he was concealed; but where or in whose custody all were ignorant. Some thought he was at Jaisalmer; others at Bikampur; others at Sirohi. The eight divisions nobly supported the days of their exile; their sinews sustained the land of Murdhar. Raos, Rajas, and Ranas applauded their deeds, for all were alike enveloped in the net of destruction. In all the nine thousand [towns] of Murdhar, and the ten thousand of Mewar,^[30] inhabitants there were none. Inayat Khan was left with ten thousand men to preserve Jodhpur; but the Champawat is the Sumer ^[31] of Maru, and without fear was Durga’s brother, Soning. With Khemkaran the Karanot, and 1002Sabhal the Jodha, Bijmall the Mahecha, Jethmall Sujot, Kesari Karanot, and the Jodha brethren Sheodan and Bhim, and many more collected their clans and kin, and as soon as they heard that the king was within four coss of Ajmer they blockaded the Khan [68] in the city of Jodha; but twenty thousand Moguls came to the rescue. Another dreadful conflict ensued at the gates of Jodhpur, in which the Jadon Kishor, who led the battle, and many other chiefs were slain, yet not without many hundreds of the foe; the 9th Asarh, S. 1737.

“Soning carried the sword and the flame into every quarter. Aurang could neither advance nor retreat. He was like the serpent seizing the musk-rat, which, if liberated, caused blindness; but if swallowed, was like poison. Harnath and Kana Singh took the road to Sojat. They surrounded and drove away the cattle, which brought the Asurs to the rescue. A dreadful strife ensued; the chief of the Asurs was slain, but the brothers and all their kin bedewed the land with their blood. This, the sakha of Sojat, was when 1737 ended and 1738 commenced, when the sword and the pestilence (mari^[32]) united to clear the land.

1003“Soning was the Rudra of the field; Agra and Delhi trembled at his deeds; he looked on Aurang as the waning moon. The king sent an embassy to Soning; it was peace he desired. He offered the mansab of Sat Hazari for Ajit,^[33] and what dignities he might demand for his brethren—the restoration of Ajmer, and to make Soning its governor. To the engagement was added, ‘the panja is affixed in ratification of this treaty, witnessed by God Almighty.’^[34] The Diwan, Asad Khan, was the negotiator, and the Aremdi,^[35] who was with him, solemnly swore to its maintenance. The treaty concluded, the king, whose thoughts could not be diverted from Akbar, departed for the Deccan. Asad Khan was left at Ajmer, and Soning at Merta [69]. But Soning was a thorn in the side of Aurangzeb; he bribed the Brahmans, who threw pepper into the Homa (burnt sacrifice) and secured for Soning a place in Suraj Mandala (the mansion of the sun). The day following the treaty, by the incantations of Auranga, Soning was no more.^[36] Asoj the 6th, S. 1738.

“Asad sent the news to the king. This terror being removed, the king withdrew his panja from his treaty, and in joy departed for the Deccan. The death of Soning shed gloom and grief over the land. Then Mukund Singh Mertia, son of Kalyan, abandoned his mansab and joined his country’s cause. A desperate encounter soon followed with the troops of Asad Khan near Merta, in which Ajit, the son of Bitaldas, who led the fight, was slain, with many of each clan, which gave joy to the Asurs, but grief to the faithful Rajput; on the second day of the bright half of the moon of Kartik, S. 1738.

“Prince Azam was left with Asad Khan; Inayat at Jodhpur; and their garrisons were scattered over the land, as their tombs (gor) everywhere attest. The lord of Chandawal, Shambhu Kumpawat, now led the Rathors with Udang Singh Bakhshi, and Tejsi, the young son of Durga, the bracelet on the arm of Mahadeva, with Fateh Singh and Ram Singh, just returned from 1004placing Akbar safely in the Deccan, and many other valiant Rathors.^[37] They spread over the country even to Mewar, sacked Pur-Mandal, and slew the governor Kasim Khan.”

These desultory and bloody affrays, though they kept the king’s troops in perpetual alarm and lost them myriads of men, thinned the ranks of the defenders of Maru, who again took refuge in the Aravalli. From thence, watching every opportunity, they darted on their prey. On one occasion they fell upon the garrison of Jaitaran, which they routed and expelled, or as the chronicle quaintly says, “with the year 1739 they also fled.” At the same time, the post of Sojat was carried by Bija Champawat, while the Jodhawats, under Ram Singh, kept their foes in play to the northward, and led by Udaibhan attacked the Mirza Nur Ali at Charai: “the contest lasted for three hours; the dead bodies of the Yavans lay in heaps in the Akhara; who even abandoned their Nakkaras.”^[38]

“After the affair of Jaitaran, when Udai Singh Champawat and Mohkam Singh Mertia were the leaders, they made a push for Gujarat, and had penetrated to [70] Kheralu,^[39] when they were attacked, pursued, and surrounded in the hills at Renpur, by Sayyid Muhammad, the Hakim of Gujarat. All night they stood to their arms. In the morning the sword rained and filled the cars of the Apsaras. Karan and Kesari were slain, with Gokuldas Bhatti, with all their civil officers, and Ram Singh himself renounced life on this day.^[40] But the Asurs pulled up the reins, having lost many men. Pali was also attacked in the month of Bhadon this year 1739; then the game of destruction was played with Nur Ali, three hundred Rathors against five hundred of the king’s troops, which were routed, losing their leader, Afzal Khan, after a desperate struggle.

“Bala was the hero who drove the Yavan from this post. Udaya attacked the Sidi at Sojat. Jaitaran was again reinforced. In Baisakh, Mohkam Singh Mertia attacked the royal post at Merta, slew Sayyid Ali, and drove out the king’s troops.”

1005

Assistance given by the Bhattis.

—The year 1739 was one of perpetual conflict, of captures and recaptures, in which many parties of twenty and thirty on each side fell. They afford numerous examples of heroic patriotism, in which Rathor blood was lavishly shed; but while to them each warrior was a loss not to be replaced, the despot continued to feed the war with fresh troops. The Bhattis of Jaisalmer came forward this year, and nobly shed their blood in seconding the efforts of the Rathors in this patriotic warfare.

“In S. 1740, Azam and Asad Khan joined the emperor in the Deccan, and Inayat Khan was left in command at Ajmer—being enjoined not to relax the war in Marwar, even with the setting in of the rains. Merwara afforded a place of rendezvous for the Rathors, and security for their families. Here eleven thousand of the best troops of Inayat invaded the hills to attack the united Jodhas and Champawats, who retaliated on Pali, Sojat, and Godwar. The ancient Mandor, which was occupied by a garrison under Khwaja Salah, was attacked by the Mandecha Bhatti and driven out. At Bagri, a desperate encounter took place in the month of Baisakh, when Ram Singh and Samant Singh, both Bhatti chiefs, fell, with two hundred of their vassals, slaying one thousand of the Moguls. The Karamsots and Kumpawats, under Anup Singh, scoured the banks of the Luni, and put to the sword the garrisons of Ustara and Gangani. Mohkam, with his Mertias, made a descent on his patrimonial lands, and drew upon him the whole force of its [71] governor, Muhammad Ali. The Mertias met him on their own native plains. The Yavan proposed a truce, and at the interview assassinated the head of the Mertias, tidings of whose death rejoiced the Shah in the Deccan.

“At the beginning of 1741, neither strife nor fear had abated. Sujan Singh led the Rathors in the south, while Lakha Champawat and Kesar Kumpawat, aided by the Bhattis and Chauhans, kept the garrison of Jodhpur in alarm. When Sujan was slain, the bard was sent to Sangram, who held a mansab and lands from the king; he was implored to join his brethren; he obeyed, and all collected around Sangram.^[41] Siwancha ^[42] was attacked, and with Bhalotra and Panchbhadra were plundered; while the 1006blockaded garrisons were unable to aid. An hour before sunset every gate of Maru was shut. The Asurs had the strongholds in their power; but the plains resounded with the An ^[43] of Ajit. Udaibhan, with his Jodhawats, appeared before Bhadrajun; he assaulted the foe and captured his guns and treasure. An attempt from Jodhpur made to recapture the trophies, added to the triumph of the Jodha.

Abduction of the Asāni Girls.

—“Purdil Khan ^[44] held Siwana; and Nahar Khan Mewati, Kunari. To attack them, the Champawats convened at Mokalsar. Their thirst for vengeance redoubled at the tidings that Nur Ali had abducted two young women of the tribe of Asani. Ratna led the Rathors; they reached Kunari and engaged Purdil Khan, who was put to the sword with six hundred of his men. The Rathors left one hundred in the field that day, the ninth of Chait. The Mirza ^[45] no sooner heard of this defeat than he fled towards Toda, with the Asani damsels, gazing on the mangoes as they ripened, and having reached Kuchal, he encamped. Subhal Singh, the son of Askaran, heard it; he took his opium, and though the Mirza was surrounded by pillars, the dagger of Askaran’s son reached his heart; but the Bhatti ^[46] was cut in pieces. The roads were now impassable; the Thanas ^[47] of the Yavans were reduced to great straits [72].

“The year 1742 commenced with the slaughter of the king’s garrison at Sambhar by the Lakhawats and Asawats;^[48] while from Godwar the chiefs made incursions to the gates of Ajmer. A battle took place at Merta, where the Rathors were defeated and dispersed; but in revenge Sangram burned the suburbs of Jodhpur, and then came to Dunara, where once more the clans assembled. They marched, invested Jalor, when Bihari, left without succour, was compelled to capitulate, and the gate of honour (dharmadwara) was left open to him. And thus ended 1742.”

15. It may be well to exhibit the manner in which the poetic annalist of Rajputana narrates such events, and to give them in his own language rather than in an epitome, by which not only the pith of the original would be lost, but the events themselves deprived of half their interest. The character of historic fidelity will thus be preserved from suspicion, which could scarcely be withheld if the narrative were exhibited in any but its native garb. This will also serve to sustain the Annals of Marwar, formed from a combination of such materials, and dispose the reader to acknowledge the impossibility of reducing such animated chronicles to the severe style of history. But more than all, it is with the design to prove what, in the preface of this work, the reader was compelled to take on credit; that the Rajput kingdoms were in no ages without such chronicles: and if we may not compare them with Froissart, or with Monstrelet, they may be allowed to compete with the Anglo-Saxon chronicles, and they certainly surpass those of Ulster. But we have stronger motives than even legitimate curiosity, in allowing the bard to tell his own tale of the thirty years’ war of Rajputana; the desire which has animated this task from its commencement, to give a correct idea of the importance of these events, and to hold them up as a beacon to the present governors of these brave men. How well that elegant historian, Orme, appreciates their importance, as bearing on our own conduct in power, the reader will perceive by reference to his Fragments [ed. 1782, note i.], where he says, “There are no states or powers on the continent of India, with whom our nation has either connexion or concern, which do not owe the origin of their present condition to the reign of Aurangzebe, or to its influence on the reigns of his successors.” It behoves us, therefore, to make ourselves acquainted with the causes as well as the characters of those who occasioned the downfall of our predecessors in the sovereignty of India. With this object in view, the bard shall tell his own tale from the birth of Ajit, in S. 1737, to 1767, when he had vanquished all opposition to Aurangzeb, and regained the throne of Maru.

32. Mari, or ‘death’ personified, is the name for that fearful scourge the spasmodic cholera morbus, which has caused the loss of so many lives for the last thirteen years throughout India. It appears to have visited India often, of which we have given a frightful record in the Annals of Mewar in the reign of Rana Raj Singh (see Vol. I. p. 454), in S. 1717 or A.D. 1661 (twenty years prior to the period we treat of); and Orme [Fragments, ed. 1782, p. 200] describes it as raging in the Deccan in A.D. 1684. They had likewise a visitation of it within the memory of many individuals now living.

Regarding the nature of this disease, whether endemic, epidemic, or contagious, and its cure, we are as ignorant now as the first day of our experience. There have been hundreds of conflicting opinions and hypotheses, but none satisfactory. In India, nine medical men out of ten, as well as those not professional, deny its being contagious. At Udaipur, the Rana’s only son, hermetically sealed in the palace against contact, was the first seized with the disorder; a pretty strong proof that it was from atmospheric communication. He was also the last man in his father’s dominions likely, from predisposition, to be attacked, being one of the most athletic and prudent of his subjects. I saw him through the disorder. We were afraid to administer remedies to the last heir of Bappa Rawal, but I hinted to Amarji, who was both bard and doctor, that strong doses of musk (12 grs. each) might be beneficial. These he had, and I prevented his having cold water to drink, and also checking the insensible perspiration by throwing off the bedclothes. Nothing but his robust frame and youth made him resist this tremendous assailant.

Ajīt Singh produced to the Rāthors, A.D. 1686.

—“In the year 1743, the Champawats, Kumpawats, Udawats, Mertias, Jodhas, Karamsots, and all the assembled clans of Maru, became impatient to see their sovereign. They sent for the Khichi Mukund, and prayed that they might but [73] behold him; but the faithful to his trust replied: ‘He,^[1] who confided him to me, is yet in the Deccan.’—‘Without the sight of our Lord, bread and water have no flavour.’ Mukund could not withstand their suit. The Hara prince Durjan Sal, having come to their aid with one thousand horse from Kotah,^[2] they repaired to the hill of Abu, when on the last day of Chait 1743 they saw their prince. As the lotus expands at the sunbeam, so did the heart of each Rathor at the sight of their infant sovereign; they drank his looks, even as the papiha in the month Asoj sips drops of amrita (ambrosia) from the Champa.^[3] There were present, Udai Singh, Sangram Singh, Bijaipal, Tej Singh, Mukund Singh, and Nahar son of Hari, all Champawats; Raj Singh, Jagat Singh, Jeth Singh, Samant Singh, of the Udawats; Ram Singh, Fateh Singh, and Kesari, Kumpawats. There was also the Uhar chief of pure descent,^[4] besides the Khichi Mukund, the Purohit, the Parihar, and the Jain priest, Yati Gyan, Bijai. In a fortunate hour, Ajit became known to the world. The Hara Rao first made his salutation; he was followed by all Marwar with offerings of gold, pearls, and horses.

“Inayat conveyed the tidings to Aurang Shah; the Asur chief said to the king, ‘If without a head so long they had combated him, what could now be expected?’ He demanded reinforcements.

1008

Ajīt Singh installed.

—“In triumph they conveyed the young Raja to Awa, whose chief made the badhava^[5] with pearls, and presented him with horses; here he was entertained, and here they prepared the tika daur.^[6] Thence, taking Raepur, Bilara, and Barunda in his way, and receiving the homage and nazars of their chiefs, he repaired to Asop, where he was entertained by the head of the Kumpawats. From Asop he went to the Bhatti fief of Lawera; thence to Rian, the chief abode of the Mertias; thence to Khinwasar, of the Karamsots. Each chief entertained their young lord, around whom all the clans gathered. Then he repaired to Kalu, the abode of Pabhu Rao Dhandal,^[7] who came forth with all his bands; and at length [74] he reached Pokaran, where he was joined by Durgadas from the Deccan, the 10th of Bhadon 1744.

“Inayat Khan was alarmed. He assembled a numerous array to quell this fresh tumult, but death pounced upon him. The king was afflicted thereat. He tried another stratagem, and set up a pretended son of Jaswant, styled Muhammad Shah, and offered Ajit the mansab of five thousand to submit to his authority.^[8] The pretender also died as he set out for Jodhpur, and Shujaat Khan ^[9] was made the governor of Marwar in place of Inayat. Now the Rathors and Haras united, having cleared Maru of their foes, attacked them in a foreign land. The garrisons of Malpura and Pur Mandal were put to the sword, and here the Hara prince was killed by a cannon shot in leading the storm. Here they levied eight thousand mohurs in contribution and returned to Marwar, while the civil officers and Purohits made collections in his country; and thus passed 1744.

“The year 1745 commenced with proposals from Shujaat Khan to hold Marwar in farm; he promised one-fourth of all transit duties if the Rathors would respect foreign commerce: to this they agreed. The son of Inayat left Jodhpur for Delhi; he had reached Renwal, but was overtaken by the Jodha Harnath, 1009who released him both of wives and wealth. The Khan fled to the Kachhwahas for shelter. Suja Beg, who left Ajmer to release him, fared no better: he was attacked, defeated, and plundered by Mukunddas Champawat.

War with the Mughals.

—“In 1747, Safi Khan was Hakim of Ajmer: Durga determined to attack him. The Hakim took post in the pass which defends the road; there Durga assailed him, and made him fly to Ajmer. The tidings reached the king; he wrote to the Khan, if he discomfited Durgadas, he would raise him over all the Khans of the empire; if he failed, he should send him bracelets,^[10] and order Shujaat from Jodhpur to supersede him. Safi, before abandoning his trust, tried to retain his honours by the circumvention of Ajit. He addressed a letter to him, saying he held the imperial sanad for the restoration of his paternal domains, but that, as the king’s representative, he must come and receive it. Ajit marched at the head of twenty thousand Rathors, sending in advance Mukund Champawat to observe whether any treachery was contemplated. The snare was discovered and reported to Ajit, as he arrived at the foot of the pass beyond the mountains. ‘Let us, however, have [75] a sight of Ajaidurg as we are so near,’ said the young prince, ‘and receive the compliments of the Khan.’ They moved on towards the city, and Safi Khan had no alternative but to pay his obeisance to Ajit. To enjoy his distress, one said, ‘Let us fire the city.’ The Hakim sat trembling for its safety and his own; he brought forth jewels and horses which he presented to Ajit.

“In 1748, the troubles recommenced in Mewar. Prince Amra rebelled against his father, Rana Jai Singh, and was joined by all his chiefs. The Rana fled to Godwar, and at Ghanerao collected a force, which Amra prepared to attack. The Rana demanded succour of the Rathors, and all the Mertias hastened to relieve him; and soon after Ajit sent Durgadas and Bhagwan, with Ranmall Jodha, and ‘the eight ranks of Rathors,’ to espouse the father’s cause. But the Chondawats and Saktawats, the Jhalas and Chauhans, rather than admit foreign interference in their quarrel, thought it better to effect a reconciliation between father and son; and thus the Rana was indebted to Marwar for the support of his throne.

Aurangzeb negotiates about Akbar’s Daughter.

—“The year 10101749 passed in negotiation to obtain the daughter of prince Akbar, left in charge of Durgadas, for whose honour Aurangzeb was alarmed, as Ajit was reaching manhood; Narayandas Kulumbi was the medium of negotiation, and Safi Khan caused all hostilities to cease while it lasted.

“In 1750, the Muslim governors of Jodhpur, Jalor, and Siwana combined their forces against Ajit, who was again compelled to retreat to the mountains. Akha, the Bala, received their attack, but was defeated in the month of Magh. Another combat was hastened by the wanton slaughter of a sand,^[11] when the Hakim of Chank, with all his train, were made prisoners at Mokalsar by the Champawat Mukanddas.

“To such straits were the Muslims put in 1751, that many districts paid chauth, others tribute, and many, tired of this incessant warfare, and unable to conquer their bread, took service with the Rathors. This year, Kasim Khan and Lashkar Khan marched against Ajit, who took post at Bijaipur. Durga’s son led the onset, and the Khan was defeated. With each year of Ajit grew the hopes of the Rathors; while Aurangzeb was afflicted at each month’s growth of his granddaughter. He wrote to Shujaat, the Hakim of Jodhpur, to secure his honour at whatever cost; his applications for Akbar’s daughter were unwearied [76].

Ajīt Singh marries a Princess of Mewar.

—“This year the coco-nut studded with gems,^[12] two elephants and ten steeds, all richly caparisoned, were sent by the Rana to affiance the daughter of his younger brother, Gaj Singh, to Ajit. The present was accepted, and in the month of Jeth, the prince of the Rathors repaired to Udaipur, where the nuptials were solemnized. In Asarh he again married at Deolia.^[13]

“In 1753, negotiations were renewed through Durgadas, and the protracted restoration of the Sultani obtained the seat of his ancestors for the Jodhani. Durga was offered for himself the mansab of five thousand, which he refused; he preferred that Jalor, Siwanchi, Sanchor, and Tharad ^[14] should revert to his 1011country. Even Aurang admired the honourable and distinguished treatment of his granddaughter.

“In Pus 1757,^[15] Ajit regained possession of his ancestral abode: on his reaching Jodhpur he slew a buffalo at each of its five gates.^[16] The Shahzada Sultan led the way, Shujaat being dead.^[17]

“In 1759, Azam Shah again seized on Jodhpur, and Ajit made Jalor his abode. Some of his chiefs now served the foe, some the Rana whose hopes were on Eklinga alone; while the lord of Amber served the king in the Deccan. The enormities of the Asurs had reached their height; the sacred kine were sacrificed even at Mathura, Prayag, and Okhamandal; the Jogis and Bairagis invoked heaven for protection, but iniquity prevailed as the Hindu strength decayed. Prayers were everywhere offered up to heaven to cleanse the land from the iniquities of the barbarians.^[18] In this year, the month of Magh 1759, the Mithun Lagan (the ‘sun in Gemini’), a son was born of the Chauhani, who was called Abhai Singh. (See end of this chapter, p. 1019, for the Horoscope of Abhai Singh.)

“In 1761, Yusuf was superseded by Murshid Kuli as Hakim of Jodhpur. On his arrival he presented the royal sanad for the restoration of Merta to Ajit. Kusal Singh, the Mertia Sarmor, with the Dhandhal Govinddas, were ordered to [77] take the charge, which incensed the son of Indar (Mohkam Singh), who deemed his faithful service during his minority overlooked by this preference. He wrote to the king to nominate him to the command of Marwar, and that he would fulfil his charge to the satisfaction both of Hindu and Muslim.

“In 1761 the star of the foe began to decline. Murshid Kuli, the Mogul, was relieved by Jaafar Khan. Mohkam’s letter was intercepted. He had turned traitor to his prince, and joined 1012the king’s troops. Ajit marched against them; he fought them at Dunara; the king’s troops were defeated, and the rebel Indhawat was slain. This was in 1762.

Death of Aurangzeb, March 3, 1707.

—“In 1763, Ibrahim Khan, the king’s lieutenant ^[19] at Lahore, passed through Marwar to relieve Azam in the vice-royalty of Gujarat. On the second day of Chait, the obscure half of the moon, the joyful tidings arrived of the death of the king.^[20] On the fifth, Ajit took to horse; he reached the town of Jodha, and sacrificed to the gates, but the Asurs feared to face him. Some hid their faces in fear, while others fled. The Mirza came down, and Ajit ascended to the halls of his ancestors. The wretched Yavans, now abandoned to the infuriated Rajputs smarting under twenty-six years of misery, found no mercy. In hopeless despair they fled, and the wealth which they had amassed by extortion and oppression returned to enrich the proprietor. The barbarians, in turn, were made captive; they fought, were slaughtered and dispersed. Some sought saran (sanctuary), and found it; even the barbarian leader himself threw fear to the winds in the unconcealed sanctuary of the Kumpawat. But the triumph of the Hindu was complete, when, to escape from perdition, their flying foes invoked Sitaram and Hargovind, begging their bread in the day, and taking to their heels at night. The chaplet of the Mulla served to count the name of Rama, and a handful of gold was given to have their beards removed.^[21] Nothing but the despair and flight of the Mlechchha was heard throughout Murdhar. Merta was evacuated, and the wounded Mohkam fled to Nagor. Sojat and Pali were regained, and the land returned to the Jodhani. Jodhgarh was purified from the contaminations of the barbarian with the water of the Ganges and the sacred Tulasi, and Ajit received the tilak of sovereignty.

“Then Azam marched from the south and Muazzam from the north. At Agra a [78] mighty battle for empire took place 1013between the two Asurs, but Alam ^[22] prevailed and got the throne. The tidings soon reached the king, that Ajit had plundered his armies in Maru and taken possession of the ‘cushion’ of his fathers.

Campaign of Bahādur Shāh.

—“The rainy season of 1764 had vanished, the king had no repose; he formed an army and came to Ajmer. Then Haridas, the son of Bhagwan, with the Uhar and Mangalia chiefs,^[23] and Ratna the leader of the Udawats, with eight hundred of their clan, entered the castle and swore to Ajit, that whatever might be his intentions, they were resolved to maintain the castle to the death. The royal army encamped at Bhavi Bilara, and Ajit prepared for the storm; but the king was advised to try peaceful arts, and an overture was made, and the messenger was sent back to the king accompanied by Nahar Khan. The embassy returned bearing the royal farman to Ajit; but before he would accept it, he said he would view the royal army, and on the first day of Phalgun he left the hill of Jodha and reached Bisalpur. Here he was received by a deputation from the king, headed by Shujaat Khan, son of the Khankhanan accompanied by the Raja of the Bhadaurias and Rao Budh Singh of Bundi—the place of meeting was Pipar. That night passed in adjusting the terms of the treaty.^[24] The ensuing morn he marched forward at the head of all the men of Maru; and at Anandpur the eyes of the king of the barbarians (Mlechchha) fell on those of the lord of the earth. He gave him the title of Tegh Bahadur.^[25] But fate decreed that the city of Jodha was coveted by the king; by stealth he sent Mahrab Khan to take possession, accompanied by the traitor Mohkam. Ajit burned with rage when he heard of this treachery, but he was compelled to dissimulate and accompany Alam to the Deccan, and to serve 1014under Kambakhsh. Jai Singh of Amber ^[26] was also with the king, and had a like cause for discontent, a royal garrison being placed in Amber, and the gaddi of the Raja bestowed on his younger brother, Bijai Singh. Now the army rolled on like a sea overflowing its bounds. As soon as the king crossed the Nerbudda,^[27] the Rajas executed their designs, and, without saying a word, at the head of their vassals retrograded to Rajwara. They repaired to Udaipur, and were received by Rana Amra with rejoicing and distinction [79], who advanced to conduct them to his capital. Seated together, the chaunri waving over their heads, they appeared like the Trianga,^[28] Brahma, Vishnu and Mahesa. From this hour the fortunes of the Asurs sunk, and virtue again began to show herself.^[29] From Udaipur the two Rajas passed to Marwar. They reached Awa, and here the Champawat Sangram, son of Udaibhan, spread the foot-carpet (pagmanda) for his lord.

“The month of Sawan 1765 set in, and the hopes of the Asur expired. Mahrab was in consternation when he heard that Ajit had returned to his native land. On the 7th the hall of Jodha was surrounded by thirty thousand Rathors. On the 12th the gate of honour was thrown open to Mahrab; he had to thank the son of Askaran ^[30] for his life. He was allowed an honourable retreat, and Ajit once more entered the capital of Maru.

“Jai Singh encamped upon the banks of the Sur Sagar; but a prince without a country, he was unhappy. But as soon as the rains were passed, Ajmall, the sanctuary of the Kachhwaha, proposed to reinstate him in Amber. When conjoined they had reached Merta, Agra and Delhi trembled. When they arrived at Ajmer its governor sought saran with the saint,^[31] and paid the contributions demanded. Then, like the falcon, Ajit darted upon 1015Sambhar; and here the vassals of Amber repaired from all quarters to the standard of their lord. With twelve thousand men, the Sayyid advanced along the edge of the salt lake, to encounter Ajmall. The Kumpawat led the charge; a desperate battle ensued; Husain, with six thousand men, lay on the field, while the rest took to flight and sought refuge in the castle.^[32] His lieutenant, the Parihar, chief Pandu,^[33] here fell into the hands of Ajit; he then felt he had recovered Mandor. On intelligence of this history, the Asurs abandoned Amber, and having placed a garrison in Sambhar, in the month of Margsir, Ajit restored Jai Singh to Amber, and prepared to attack Bikaner. Ajit committed the administration of all civil affairs to the faithful Raghunath Bhandari, with the [80] title of Diwan. He was well qualified, both from his experience in civil affairs and from his valour as a soldier.

Death of Prince Kāmbakhsh.

—“In Bhadon of the year 1766, Aurangzeb put to death Kambakhsh,^[34] and Jai Singh entered into negotiations with the king. Ajit now went against Nagor; but Indar Singh being without resource, came forth and embraced Ajit’s feet, who bestowed Ladnun upon him as a heritage. But this satisfied not him who had been the lord of Nagor, and Indar carried his complaints to Delhi.^[35] The king was enraged—his threats reached the Rajas, who deemed it safe again to reunite. They met at Kolia near Didwana, and the king soon after reached Ajmer. Thence he sent his firmans and the panja as terms of friendship to the Rajas: Nahar Khan, Chela of the king, was the bearer. They were accepted, and on the 1st Asarh both the Rajas repaired to Ajmer. Here the king received them 1016graciously, in the face of the world; to Ajit he presented the sanad of the Nine Castles of Maru, and to Jai Singh that of Amber. Having taken leave of the king, the two Rajas went on the parab^[36] to the sacred lake of Pushkar. Here they separated for their respective domains, and Ajit reached Jodhpur in Sawan 1767. In this year he married a Gaur Rani, and thus quenched the feud caused by Arjun, who slew Amra Singh in the Ammkhass.^[37] Then he went on a pilgrimage to Kurukshetra, the field of battle of the Mahabharata, and made his ablutions in the fountain of Bhishma.^[38] Thus 1767 passed away” [81].

1017

Eulogy of Durgadās.

—Here let us, for a while, suspend the narrative of the chronicler, and take a retrospective glance at the transactions of the Rathors, from the year 1737 [A.D. 1680], the period of Raja Jaswant’s death at Kabul, to the restoration of Ajit, presenting a continuous conflict of thirty years’ duration. In vain might we search the annals of any other nation for such inflexible devotion as marked the Rathor character through this period of strife, during which, to use their own phrase, “hardly a chieftain died on his pallet.” Let those who deem the Hindu warrior void of patriotism read the rude chronicle of this thirty years’ war; let them compare it with that of any other country, and do justice to the magnanimous Rajput. This narrative, the simplicity of which is the best voucher for its authenticity, presents an uninterrupted record of patriotism and disinterested loyalty. It was a period when the sacrifice of these principles was rewarded by the tyrant king with the highest honours of the state; nor are we without instances of the temptation being too strong to be withstood; but they are rare, and serve only to exhibit, in more pleasing colours, the virtues of the tribe which spurned the attempts at seduction. What a splendid example is the heroic Durgadas of all that constitutes the glory of the Rajput! Valour, loyalty, integrity, combined with prudence in all the difficulties which surrounded him, are qualities which entitle him to the admiration which his memory continues to enjoy. The temptations held out to him were almost irresistible: not merely the 1018gold, which he and thousands of his brethren would alike have spurned, but the splendid offer of power in the proffered mansab of five thousand, which would at once have lifted him from his vassal condition to an equality with the [82] princes and chief nobles of the land. Durga had, indeed, but to name his reward; but, as the bard justly says, he was amol, beyond all price, anokha, unique. Not even revenge, so dear to the Rajput, turned him aside from the dictates of true honour. The foul assassination of his brother, the brave Soning, effected through his enemies, made no alteration in his humanity whenever the chance of war placed his foe in his power; and in this, his policy seconded his virtue. His chivalrous conduct, in the extrication of prince Akbar from inevitable destruction had he fallen into his father’s hands, was only surpassed by his generous and delicate behaviour towards the prince’s family, which was left in his care, forming a marked contrast to that of the enemies of his faith on similar occasions. The virtue of the granddaughter of Aurangzeb, in the sanctuary (saran) of Dunara,^[39] was in far better keeping than in the trebly-walled harem of Agra. Of his energetic mind, and the control he exerted over those of his confiding brethren, what a proof is given, in his preserving the secret of the abode of his prince throughout the six first years of his infancy! But, to conclude our eulogy in the words of their bard: he has reaped the immortality destined for good deeds; his memory is cherished, his actions are the theme of constant praise, and his picture on his white horse, old, yet in vigour, is familiar amongst the collections of portraits of Rajputana.^[40]

But there was not a clan, or family, that did not produce men of worth in this protracted warfare, which incited constant emulation; and the bards of each had abundant materials to emblazon the pages of their chronicles. To the recollection of these, their expatriated descendants allude in the memorial ^[41] of their hardships from the cruel policy of the reigning chief, the last lineal descendant of the prince, whose history has just been narrated. We now resume the narrative in the language of the chronicle [83].

In the Janampatri, or horoscope of Abhai Singh (referred to in p. 1011), the 4th, 7th, 8th, 10th, 11th, and 12th houses denote the destinies of the heir of Ajit. In the 4th we have the monster Rahu, the author of eclipses. Of the 7th, or house of heirs, the Moon and Venus have taken possession; of the 8th, or house of strife, the Sun and Mercury. In the 10th is Ketu, brother of Rahu, both signs of evil portent. Mars rides in the house of fate, while Saturn and Jupiter are together in the abode of sovereignty. Like that of every man living, the horoscope of the heir of Maru is filled with good and evil: could the Jotishi or astrological seer have put the parricidal sign in the house of destiny, he might have claimed some merit for superior intelligence. Those who have ever consulted any works on this foolish pursuit will observe that the diagrams of the European astrologers are exact copies of the Hindu, in proof of which I have inserted this; to trace darkness as well as light from the East!

38. There is an anecdote regarding the fountain of this classic field of strife, the Troad of Rajasthan, which well exemplifies the superstitious belief of the warlike Rajput. The emperor Bahadur Shah was desirous to visit this scene of the exploits of the heroes of antiquity, stimulated, no doubt, by his Rajputni queen, or his mother, also of this race. He was seated under a tree which shaded the sacred fount, named after the great leader of the Kauravas, his queen by his side, surrounded by kanats to hide them from profane eyes, when a vulture perched upon the tree with a bone in its beak, which falling in the fountain, the bird set up a scream of laughter. The king looked up in astonishment, which was greatly increased when the vulture addressed him in human accents, saying “that in a former birth she was a Jogini, and was in the field of slaughter of the Great War, whence she flew away with the dissevered arm of one of its mighty warriors, with which she alighted on that very tree, that the arm was encumbered with a ponderous golden bracelet, in which, as an amulet, were set thirteen brilliant symbols of Siva, and that after devouring the flesh, she dropped the bracelet, which fell into the fountain, and it was this awakened coincidence which had caused the scream of laughter.” We must suppose that this, the palada of the field of slaughter, spoke Sanskrit or its dialect, interpreted by his Rajput queen. Instantly the pioneers were commanded to clear the fountain, and behold the relic of the Mahabharata, with the symbolic emblems of the god all-perfect! and so large were they, that the emperor remarked they would answer excellently well for “slaves of the carpet.”^[A] The Hindu princes then present, among whom were the Rajas Ajit and Jai Singh, were shocked at this levity, and each entreated of the king one of the phallic symbols. The Mirza Raja obtained two, and both are yet at Jaipur, one in the Temple of Silah Devi,^[B] the other in that of Govinda. Ajit had one, still preserved and worshipped at the shrine of Girdhari at Jodhpur. My old tutor and friend, the Yati Gyanchandra, who told the story while he read the chronicles as I translated them, has often seen and made homage to all the three relics. There is one, he believed, at Bundi or Kotah, and the Rana by some means obtained another. They are of pure rock crystal, and as each weighs some pounds, there must have been giants in the days of the Bharat, to have supported thirteen in one armlet. Homer’s heroes were pigmies to the Kauravas, whose bracelet we may doubt if Ajax could have lifted. My venerable tutor, though liberal in his opinions, did not choose to dissent from the general belief, for man, he said, had beyond a doubt greatly degenerated since the heroic ages, and was rapidly approximating to the period, the immediate forerunner of a universal renovation, when only dwarfs would creep over the land.

Ajīt Singh attacks Nāhan.

—“In 1768 Ajit was sent against Nahan ^[1] and the chiefs of the snowy mountains, whom he reduced to obedience. Thence he went to the Ganges, where he performed his ablutions, and in the spring he returned to Jodhpur.

“In 1769 Shah Alam ^[2] went to heaven. The torch of discord was lighted by his sons, with which they fired their own dwelling. Azim-ush-shan was slain,^[3] and the umbrella of royalty waved over the head of Muizzu-d-din.^[4] Ajit sent the Bhandari Kaimsi to the presence, who returned with the sanad of the vice-royalty of Gujarat. In the month of Margsir 1769, he prepared an army to take possession of the Sattra-sahas,^[5] when fresh dissensions broke out in the house of the Chagatai. The Sayyids slew Muizzu-d-din, and Farrukhsiyar became king.^[6] Zulfikar Khan was [85] put to death,^[7] and with him departed the strength of the Moguls. Then the Sayyids became headstrong. Ajit was commanded to send his son, Abhai Singh, now seventeen years of age, with his contingent, to court; but Ajit having learned that the traitor Mukund was there and in great favour, sent a trusty band, who slew him even in the middle of Delhi. This daring act brought the Sayyid with an army to Jodhpur.^[8] Ajit sent off the men of wealth to Siwanah, and his son and family to the desert of Rardarra.^[9] The capital was invested, and Abhai 1021Singh demanded as a hostage for the conduct of Ajit, who was also commanded to court. To neither was the Raja inclined, but the advice of the Diwan and still more of Kesar the bard, who gave as a precedent the instance of Rao Ganga when invaded by the Lodi, Daulat Khan, who entrusted his affairs to his son Maldeo, was unanimously approved.^[10] Abhai Singh was recalled from Rardarra, and marched with Husain Ali to Delhi, the end of Asarh 1770. The heir of Maru received the mansab of five thousand from the king.

“Ajit followed his son to the court, then held at Delhi. There the sight of the altars raised over the ashes of chiefs who had perished to preserve him in his infancy, kindled all his wrath, and he meditated revenge on the whole house of Timur. Four distinct causes for displeasure had Ajmall:—

Ajit Singh marries his Daughter to Farrukhsīyar, A.D. 1716.

—Here we must interrupt the narrative, in order to supply an important omission of the bard, who slurs over the hardest of the conditions demanded of Ajit on the invasion of the Sayyid, namely, the giving a daughter to Farrukhsiyar, the important political results of which are already related in the first part of this work.^[13] This compulsory marriage only aggravated Ajit’s desire of vengeance, and he entered into the views of the Sayyids with the true spirit of his father; obtaining meanwhile, as the price of coalition, the compliance with the specified demands, besides others of less moment, such as “that the bell for prayer should be allowed to toll in the [86] quarters of the city allotted to the Rajputs, and that their temples should be held sacred; and last, but not least, the aggrandisement of his hereditary dominions.” Let us again recur to the chronicle.

“In Jeth 1771, having secured all his wishes, Ajit left the court, and with the renewed patent as viceroy of Gujarat, returned to 1022Jodhpur. Through Kaimsi, his minister, the jizya was repealed. The Hindu race owed eternal obligation to the Mor (crown) of Murdhar, the sanctuary of princes in distress.

Ajīt Singh, Viceroy of Gujarāt, A.D. 1715-16.

—“In 1772, Ajit prepared to visit this government: Abhai Singh accompanied his father. He first proceeded to Jalor, where he passed the rainy season. Thence he attacked the Mewasa:^[14] first Nimaj, which he took, when the Deoras paid him tribute. Firoz Khan advanced from Palanpur to meet him. The Rao of Tharad paid a lakh of rupees. Cambay was invested and paid; and the Koli chief, Kemkaran, was reduced. From Patan, Sakta the Champawat, with Bija Bhandari, sent the year preceding to manage the province, came forth to meet him.

“In 1773, Ajit reduced the Jhala of Halwad, and Jam of Nawanagar, who paid as tribute three lacs of rupees, with twenty-five choice steeds;^[15] and having settled the province, he worshipped at Dwarka, and bathed in the Gomati.^[16] Thence he returned to Jodhpur, where he learned that Indar Singh had regained Nagor; but he stood not before Ajit.

Ajīt Singh visits Delhi.

—“The year 1774 had now arrived. The Sayyids and their opponents were engaged in civil strife. Husain Ali was in the Deccan, and the mind of Abdulla was alienated from the king. Paper on paper came, inviting Ajit. He marched by Nagor, Merta, Pushkar, Marot, and Sambhar, whose garrisons he strengthened, to Delhi. From Marot he sent Abhai Singh back to take care of Jodhpur. The Sayyid advanced from Delhi to meet the Dhani (lord) of Marwar, who alighted at 1023Allahwirdi’s sarai. Here the Sayyid and Ajit formed a league to oppose Jai Singh and the Moguls, while the king remained like a snake coiled up in a closed vessel. To get rid of their chief opponent, Zu-l-faqar Khan, was first determined [87].

“When the king heard that Ajit had reached Delhi, he sent the Hara Rao Bhim of Kotah, and Khandauran Khan to introduce him to the presence. Ajit obeyed. Besides his own Rathors, he was accompanied by Rao Bishan Singh of Jaisalmer, and Padam Singh of Derawar, with Fateh Singh, a noble of Mewar, Man Singh, Rathor, chief of Sita Mhau, and the Chandarawat, Gopal of Rampura, besides Udai Singh of Kandela, Sakat Singh of Manoharpur, Kishan of Kalchipur, and many others.^[17] The meeting took place at the Moti Bagh. The king bestowed the mansab of Haft Hazari (seven thousand horse) on Ajit, and added a crore of dams to his rent-roll. He presented him with the insignia of the Mahi Muratib,^[18] with elephants and horses, a sword and dagger, a diamond aigrette (sarpech) and plume, and a double string of pearls. Having left the presence, Ajit went to visit Abdulla Khan. The Sayyid advanced to meet him, and his reception, with his attendants, was distinguished. They renewed their determination to stand or fall together. Their conference caused dismay to the Moguls, who lay in ambush to put Ajit to death.

“On the second day of the bright moon of Pus, 1775 [A.D. 1718], the king honoured Ajit with a visit. Ajit seated the king on a throne formed of bags of rupees to the amount of one lakh,^[19] and presented elephants, horses, and all that was precious. In the month of Phalgun, Ajit and the Sayyid went to visit the king; and after the conference wrote to Husain Ali revealing their plans, and desiring his rapid march to unite with them from the Deccan. Now the heavens assumed portentous appearances; the Disasul ^[20] was red and fiery; jackasses brayed unusually; 1024dogs barked; thunder rolled without a cloud; the court, late so gay, was now sad and gloomy; all were forebodings of change at Delhi. In twenty days, Husain reached Delhi; his countenance was terrific; his drum, which now beat close to the palace, was the knell of falling greatness. He was accompanied by myriads of horse. Delhi was enveloped in the dust raised by his hostile steeds. They encamped in the north of the city, and Husain joined Ajit and his brother. The trembling king sent congratulations and gifts; the Mogul chiefs kept aloof in their abodes; even as the quail cowers in the grass when the falcon hovers over it, so did the Moguls when Husain reached Delhi.^[21] The lord of Amber was like a lamp left without oil [88].

The Revolution at Delhi.

—“On the second day, all convened at Ajit’s tents, on the banks of the Jumna, to execute the plans now determined upon. Ajit mounted his steed; at the head of his Rathors he marched direct to the palace, and at every post he placed his own men: he looked like the fire destined to cause pralaya.^[22] When the sun appears darkness flies; when the oil fails the lamp goes out: so is it with crowns and kings, when good faith and justice, the oil that feeds their power, is wanting. The crash which shivered the umbrella of Delhi reverberated throughout the land. The royal treasures were plundered. None amidst the Moguls came forward to rescue their king (Farrukhsiyar), and Jai Singh fled from the scene of destruction. Another king was set up, but in four months he was seized with a distemper and died. Then Daula ^[23] was placed on the throne. But the Moguls at Delhi set up Neko Shah ^[24] at Agra, and Husain marched against them, leaving Ajit and Abdulla with the king.^[25]

1025

Muhammad Shah, Emperor, A.D. 1719-48.

—“In 1776, Ajit and the Sayyid moved from Delhi; but the Moguls surrendered Neko Shah, who was confined in Salimgarh. At this time the king died, and Ajit and the Sayyids made another, and placed Muhammad Shah on the throne. Many countries were destroyed, and many were made to flourish, during the dethronement of kings by Ajit. With the death of Farrukhsiyar Jai Singh’s views were crushed, and the Sayyids determined to punish him. The lord of Amber was like water carried in a platter.^[26] The king reached the Dargah at Sikri, in progress to Amber, and here the chieftains sought the saran (sanctuary) of Ajit. They said the Kurma ^[27] was lost if he protected them not against the Sayyids. Even as Krishna saved Arjun in the Bharat, so did Ajit take Jai Singh under his protection. He sent the chiefs of the Champawats and his minister to dispel his fears; they returned with the lord of Amber, who felt like one who had escaped the doom (pralaya). Ajit placed one monarch on the throne, and saved another from destruction. The king bestowed upon him the grant of Ahmadabad, and gave him permission to visit his home. With Jai Singh of Amber, and Budh Singh Hara of Bundi, he marched for Jodhpur, and in the way contracted a marriage with the daughter of the Shaikhavat [89] chief of Manoharpur. In the month of Asin he reached Jodhagir, when the lord of Amber encamped at Sur Sagar, and the Hara Rao north of the town.

Ajīt Singh marries his Daughter to Jai Singh.

—“The cold season had fled; the spring (basant) approached. The peacock was intoxicated with the nectar-drops distilled from the sweet-blossomed amba (mango); the rich sap exuded; the humming-bees clustered round the flowers; new leaves budded forth; songs of joy resounded; the hearts of gods, men, and women expanded with mirth. It was then the lord of Amber was bedecked in saffron robes, to espouse the ‘virgin of the sun’ (Surya Kumari), the child of Ajit. On this he had consulted the Champawats, and according to ancient usage, the Ad-Pardhan, or chief minister, the Kumpawat: likewise the Bhandari Diwan, and the Guru. But were I to dwell on these festivities, this book would become too large; I therefore say but little!

1026

The Assassination of the Sayyids. Ajīt Singh asserts his Independence.

—“The rains of 1777 set in, and Jai Singh and Budh Singh remained with Ajit, when a messenger arrived with tidings that the Moguls had assassinated the Sayyids, and were now on the watch for Ajit.^[28] He drew his sword, and swore he would possess himself of Ajmer. He dismissed the lord of Amber. In twelve days after Ajit reached Merta. In the face of day he drove the Muslim from Ajmer and made it his own. He slew the king’s governor and seized on Taragarh.^[29] Once more the bell of prayers was heard in the temple, while the bang^[30] of the Masjid was silent. Where the Koran was read, the Puran was now heard, and the Mandir took the place of the Mosque. The Kazi made way for the Brahman, and the pit of burnt sacrifice (homa) was dug, where the sacred kine were slain. He took possession of the salt lakes of Sambhar and Didwana, and the records were always moist with inserting fresh conquests. Ajit ascended his own throne; the umbrella of supremacy he waved over his head. He coined in his own name, established his own gaz (measure), and ser (weight), his own courts of justice, and a new scale of rank for his chiefs, with nalkis and mace-bearers, naubats and standards, and every emblem of sovereign rule. Ajmall in Ajmer was equal to Aspati in Delhi.^[31] The intelligence spread over the land; it reached even Mecca [90] and Iran, that Ajit had exalted his own faith, while the rites of Islam were prohibited throughout the land of Maru.

Imperialist Attack on Ajmer.

—“In 1778 the king determined to regain Ajmer. He gave the command to Muzaffar, who in the rains advanced towards Marwar. Ajit entrusted the conduct of this war to his son, the ‘shield of Maru,’ the ‘fearless’ (Abhai), with the eight great vassals, and thirty thousand horse; the 1027Champawats on the right, the Kumpawats on the left, while the Karamsots, Mertias, Jodhas, Indhas, Bhattis, Sonigiras, Deoras, Khichis, Dhondals and Gogawats,^[32] composed the main body. At Amber, the Rathors and imperialists came in sight; but Muzaffar disgraced himself, and retired within that city without risking an encounter. Abhai Singh, exasperated at this display of pusillanimous bravado, determined to punish the king. He attacked Shahjahanpur, sacked Narnol, levied contributions on Patan (Tuarvati) and Rewari.^[33] He gave the villages to the flames, and spread conflagration and consternation even to Allahwirdi’s Sarai. Delhi and Agra trembled with affright; the Asurs fled without their shoes at the deeds of Abhai, whom they styled Dhonkal, ‘the exterminator.’ He returned by Sambhar and Ludhana, and here he married the daughter of the chief of the Narukas.^[34]

Muhammad Shah attacks Ajīt Singh.

—“In 1779, Abhai Singh remained at Sambhar, which he strengthened, and hither his father Ajit came from Ajmer. The meeting was like that between ‘Kasyapa and Surya’;^[35] for he had broken the bow of Muzaffar and made the Hindu happy. The king sent his Chela, Nahar Khan, to expostulate with Ajit; but his language was offensive, and the field of Sambhar devoured the tiger lord (Nahar Khan) and his four thousand followers. The son of Churaman the Jat ^[36] now claimed sanctuary with Ajit. Sick of these dissensions, the unhappy Muhammad Shah determined to abandon his crown and retire to Mecca. But, determined to revenge the death of Nahar Khan, he prepared a formidable army. He collected [the contingents of] the twenty-two Satraps ^[37] of the empire, and placed at their head Jai Singh of Amber, Haidar Kuli, Iradat 1028Khan Bangash, etc. In the month of Sawan (July), Taragarh was invested; Abhai Singh marched out and left its defence to [91] Amra Singh. It had held out four months, when through the prince of Amber (Jai Singh), Ajit listened to terms, which were sworn to on the Koran by the nobles of the king; and he agreed to surrender Ajmer.^[38] Abhai Singh then accompanied Jai Singh to the camp. It was proposed that in testimony of his obedience he should repair to the presence. The prince of Amber pledged himself; but the Fearless (Abhai) placed his hand on his sword, saying, ‘This is my surety!’”

Ajīt Singh’s Heir received at the Imperial Court.

—The heir of Marwar was received by the king with the utmost honour; but being possessed of a double portion of that arrogance which forms the chief characteristic of his race (more especially of the Rathor and Chauhan, from which he sprang), his reception nearly produced at Delhi a repetition of the scene recorded in the history of his ancestor Amra at Agra. Knowing that his father held the first place on the king’s right hand, he considered himself, as his representative, entitled to the same honour; and little heeding the unbending etiquette of the proudest court in the world, he unceremoniously hustled past all the dignitaries of the State, and had even ascended a step of the throne, when, checked by one of the nobles, Abhai’s hand was on his dagger, and but for the presence of mind of the monarch, “who threw his own chaplet round his neck” to restrain him, the Divan would have been deluged with blood.

The Murder of Ajīt Singh, A.D. 1724.

—We shall now drop the chronicles, and in recording the murder of Ajit, the foulest crime in the annals of Rajasthan, exemplify the mode in which their poetic historians gloss over such events. It was against Ajit’s will that his son went to court, as if he had a presentiment of the fate which awaited him, and which has been already circumstantially related.^[39] The authors from whose records this narrative is chiefly compiled, were too polite to suffer such a stigma to appear in their chronicles, “written by desire” and under the eye of the parricide, Ajit’s successor. The Surya Prakas merely says, “at this time Ajit went to heaven”; but affords no indication of the person who sent him there. The Raj Rupaka, however, 1029not bold enough to avow the mysterious death of his prince, yet too honest altogether to pass it over, has left an expressive blank leaf at this part of his chronicle, certainly not accidental, as it intervenes between Abhai Singh’s reception at court, and the incidents following his father’s death, which I translate verbatim, as they present an excellent picture of the results of a Rajput potentate’s demise [92].

“Abhai, a second Ajit, was introduced to the Aspati; his father heard the news and rejoiced. But this world is a fable—a lie. Time will sooner or later prey on all things. What king, what raja can avoid the path leading to extinction? The time allotted for our sojourn here is predetermined; prolong it we cannot. The decree penned by the hand of the Creator is engraven upon each forehead at the hour of birth. Neither addition nor subtraction can be made. Fate (honhar) must be fulfilled. It was the command of Govinda ^[40] that Ajit (the Avatar of Indra) should obtain immortality, and leave his renown in the world beneath. Ajit, so long a thorn in the side of his foe, was removed to Parloka.^[41] He kept afloat the faith of the Hindu, and sunk the Muslim in shame. In the face of day, the lord of Maru took the road which leads to Paradise (Vaikuntha). Then dismay seized the city; each looked with dread in his neighbour’s face as he said, ‘Our sun has set!’ But when the day of Yamaraj ^[42] arrives, who can retard it? Were not the five Pandus enclosed in the mansion of Himala?^[43] Harchand escaped not the universal decree; nor will gods, men, or reptiles avoid it, not even Vikrama or Kama; all fall before Yama. How then could Ajit hope to escape?

“On Asarh, the 13th, the dark half of the moon of 1780, seventeen hundred warriors of the eight ranks of Maru, for the last time marched before their lord.^[44] They placed his body in a boat,^[45] and carried him to the pyre,^[46] made of sandal-wood and 1030perfumes, with heaps of cotton, oil, and camphor. But this is a subject of grief: how can the bard enlarge on such a theme? The Nazir went to the Rawala ^[47] and as he pronounced the words ‘Rao siddhi āyē,’ the Chauhani queen, with sixteen damsels in her suite, came forth: ‘This day,’ said she, ‘is one of joy; my race shall be illustrated; our lives have passed together, how then can I leave him?’^[48]

The Sati.

—“Of noble race was the Bhattiani queen, a scion (sakha) of Jaisal, and daughter of Birjang. She put up a prayer to the Lord who wields the discus.^[49] ‘With joy [93] I accompany my lord; that my fealty (sati) may be accepted, rests with thee.’ In like manner did the Gazelle (Mrigavati) of Derawal,^[50] and the Tuar queen of pure blood,^[51] the Chawara Rani,^[52] and her of Shaikhavati, invoke the name of Hari, as they determined to join their lord. For these six queens death had no terrors; but they were the affianced wives of their lord: the curtain wives of affection, to the number of fifty-eight, determined to offer themselves a sacrifice to Agni.^[53] ‘Such another opportunity,’ said they, ‘can never occur, if we survive our lord; disease will seize and make us a prey in our apartments. Why then quit the society of our lord, when at all events we must fall into the hands of Yama, for whom the human race is but a mouthful? Let us leave the iron age (Kaliyuga) behind us.’ ‘Without our lord, even life is death,’ said the Bhattiani, as she bound the beads of Tulsi ^[54] round her neck, and made the tilak with earth from the Ganges. While thus each spoke, Nathu, the Nazir,^[55] thus addressed them: ‘This is no amusement; the sandal-wood you now anoint with is cool: but will your resolution abide, when you remove it with the flames of Agni? When this scorches your tender frames, your hearts may fail, and the desire to recede will disgrace your lord’s memory. Reflect, and remain where you are. You have 1031lived like Indrani,^[56] nursed in softness amidst flowers and perfumes; the winds of heaven never offended you, far less the flames of fire.’ But to all his arguments they replied: ‘The world we will abandon, but never our lord.’ They performed their ablutions, decked themselves in their gayest attire, and for the last time made obeisance to their lord in his car. The ministers, the bards, the family priests (Purohits), in turn, expostulated with them. The chief queen (Patrani) the Chauhani, they told to indulge her affection for her sons, Abhai and Bakhta; to feed the poor, the needy, the holy, and lead a life of religious devotion. The queen replied: ‘Kunti, the wife of Pandu, did not follow her lord; she lived to see the greatness of the five brothers, her sons; but were her expectations realized?^[57] This life is a vain shadow; this dwelling one of sorrow; let us accompany our lord to that of fire, and there close it.’

“The drum sounded; the funeral train moved on; all invoked the name of [94] Hari.^[58] Charity was dispensed like falling rain, while the countenances of the queens were radiant as the sun. From heaven Uma ^[59] looked down; in recompense of such devotion she promised they should enjoy the society of Ajit in each successive transmigration. As the smoke, emitted from the house of flame, ascended to the sky, the assembled multitudes shouted Kaman! Kaman! ‘Well done! Well done!’ The pile flamed like a volcano; the faithful queens laved their bodies in the flames, as do the celestials in the lake of Manasarovar.^[60] They sacrificed their bodies to their lord, and illustrated the 1032races whence they sprung. The gods above exclaimed, ‘Dhan Dhan ^[61] Ajit! who maintained the faith, and overwhelmed the Asuras.’ Savitri, Gauri, Sarasvati, Ganga, and Gomati ^[62] united in doing honour to these faithful queens. Forty-five years, three months, and twenty-two days, was the space of Ajit’s existence, when he went to inhabit Amarapura, an immortal abode!”

Character of Ajīt Singh.

—Thus closed the career of one of the most distinguished princes who ever pressed the ‘cushion’ of Maru; a career as full of incident as any life of equal duration. Born amidst the snows of Kabul, deprived at his birth of both parents, one from grief, the other by suicidal custom; saved from the Herodian cruelty of the king by the heroism of his chiefs, nursed amidst the rocks of Abu or the intricacies of the Aravalli until the day of danger passed, he issued forth, still an infant, at the head of his brave clans, to redeem the inheritance so iniquitously wrested from him. In the history of mankind there is nothing to be found presenting a more brilliant picture of fidelity than that afforded by the Rathor clans in their devotion to their prince, from his birth until he worked out his own and his country’s deliverance. It is one of those events which throw a gleam of splendour upon the dark picture of feudalism, more prolific perhaps in crime than in virtue. That of the Rajputs, indeed, in which consanguinity is superadded to the other reciprocal [95] ties which bind a feudal body, wears the more engaging aspect of a vast family. How affecting is the simple language of these brave men, while daily shedding their blood for a prince whom, until he had attained his seventh year, they had never beheld! “Without the sight of our lord, bread and water have no flavour.” And how successfully does the bard portray the joy of these stern warriors, when he says, “As the lotus expands at the sunbeam, so did the heart of each Rathor at the sight of their infant sovereign; they drank his looks even as the papiha in the month of Asoj sips the drops of amrita (ambrosia) from the Champa.”

1033The prodigality with which every clan lavished its blood, through a space of six-and-twenty years, may in part be learned from the chronicle; and in yet more forcible language from the cenotaphs scattered over the country, erected to the manes of those who fell in this religious warfare. Were other testimony required, it is to be found in the annals of their neighbours and their conquerors; while the traditional couplets of the bards, familiar to every Rajput, embalm the memory of the exploits of their forefathers.

Ajit was a prince of great vigour of mind as well as of frame. Valour was his inheritance; he displayed this hereditary quality at the early age of eleven, when he visited his enemy in his capital, displaying a courtesy which can only be comprehended by a Rajput. Amongst the numerous desultory actions, of which many occurred every year, there were several in which the whole strength of the Rathors was led by their prince. The battle of Sambhar, in S. 1765, fought against the Sayyids, which ended in a union of interests, was one of these; and, for the rest of Ajit’s life, kept him in close contact with the court, where he might have taken the lead had his talent for intrigue been commensurate with his boldness. From this period until his death, Ajit’s agency was recognized in all the intrigues and changes amongst the occupants of Timur’s throne, from Farrukhsiyar to Muhammad. He inherited an invincible hatred to the very name of Muslim, and was not scrupulous regarding the means by which he was likely to secure the extirpation of a race so inimical to his own. Viewing the manifold reasons for this hatred, we must not scrutinize with severity his actions when leagued with the Sayyids, even in the dreadful catastrophe which overwhelmed Farrukhsiyar, to whom he owed the twofold duty of fealty and consanguinity.

His Conduct to Durgadās.

—There is one stain on the memory of Ajit which, though unnoticed in the chronicle [96], is too well ascertained to be omitted in a summary of his character, more especially as it illustrates that of the nation and of the times, and shows the loose system which holds such governments together. The heroic Durgadas, the preserver of his infancy, the instructor of his youth, the guide of his manhood, lived to confirm the proverb, “Put not thy faith in princes.” He, who, by repeated instances of exalted self-denial, had refused wealth and honours 1034that might have raised himself from his vassal condition to an equality with his sovereign, was banished from the land which his integrity, wisdom, and valour had preserved. Why, or when, Ajit loaded himself with this indelible infamy was not known; the fact was incidentally discovered in searching a collection of original newspapers written from the camp of Bahadur Shah,^[63] in one of which it was stated, that “Durgadas was encamped with his household retainers on the banks of the Pichola Lake at Udaipur, and receiving daily five hundred rupees for his support from the Rana; who when called on by the king (Bahadur Shah) to surrender him, magnanimously refused.” Imagining that Ajit had been compelled to this painful sacrifice, which is not noticed in the annals, the compiler mentioned it to a Yati deeply versed in all the events and transactions of this State. Aware of the circumstance, which is not overlooked by the bards, he immediately repeated the couplet composed on the occasion—

Gamgani, on the north bank of the Luni, was the chief town of the Karanot fief, of which clan Durga was the head. It is now attached to the Khalisa, or fisc, but whether recently, or ever since Durga, we know not. The Karanots still pay the last rites to their dead at Gamgani, where they have their cenotaphs (chhatris). Whether that of the noble Durga stands there to serve as a memorial of princely ingratitude, the writer cannot say; a portrait of the hero, in the autumn of his days, was given to him by the last lineal descendant of Ajit, as the reader is already 1035aware.^[65] Well may we repeat, that the system of feudality is the parent of the most brilliant virtues and the darkest crimes. Here, a long life of uninterrupted fidelity could not preserve Durga from the envenomed breath of slander, or the serpent-tooth [97] of ingratitude: and whilst the mind revolts at the crime which left a blank leaf in the chronicle, it is involuntarily carried back to an act less atrocious, indeed, than one which violates the laws of nature, but which in diminishing none of our horror for Abhai Singh, yet lessens our sympathy for the persecutor of Durgadas.Durgadas.

CHAPTER 10

Mahārāja Abhai Singh, A.D. 1724-50.

—The parricidal murder of Ajit is accounted the germ of destruction, which, taking root in the social edifice of Marwar, ultimately rent it asunder. Bitter has been the fruit of this crime, “even unto the third and fourth generation” of his unnatural sons, whose issue, but for this crime, would in all human probability have been the most potent princes in India, able single-handed to have stopped Mahratta aggrandisement.

“It was in 1781 (says the bard) Ajit went to heaven. With his own hand did the emperor Muhammad Shah put the tika on the forehead of Abhai Singh, girded him with the sword, bound the turah^[1] on his head, placed a dagger set with gems [98] in his girdle, and with Chaunris, Naubats, and Nakkaras,^[2] and many valuable gifts, invested the young prince in all the dignities of his father. Even Nagor was resumed from the son of Amra and included in his sanad. With these marks of royal favour, he took leave of the court, and returned to his paternal dominions. From village to village, as he journeyed homeward, the kalas was raised on the head.^[3] When he reached Jodhpur, he distributed 1036gifts to all his chiefs, and to the Bardais (bards and Charans), and lands to the family priests (Purohits).”

A day at the court of the desert king, related in the phraseology of the chronicle, would be deemed interesting as a picture of manners. It would also make the reader more familiar with Karna, the most celebrated bard in the latter days of Rajput independence: but this must be reserved for an equally appropriate vehicle,^[4] and we shall at present rest satisfied with a slight sketch of the historian of Maru.

Karan, the Bard.

—Karna-Kavya, or simply Karna, who traced his descent from the last household bard of the last emperor of Kanauj, was at once a politician, a warrior, and a scholar, and in each capacity has left ample proofs of his abilities. In the first he took a distinguished part in all the events of the civil wars; in the second, he was one of the few who survived a combat almost without parallel in the annals even of Rajput chivalry; and as a scholar, he has left us, in the introduction to his work,^[5] the most instructive proof, not only of his inheriting the poetic mantle of his fathers, but of the course he pursued for the maintenance of its lustre. The bare enumeration of the works he had studied evinces that there was no royal road to Parnassus for the Rajput Kaviswar,^[6] but that, on the contrary, it was beset with difficulties not a little appalling. The mere nomenclature of works on grammar and historical epics, which were to be mastered ere he could hope for fame, must have often made Kama exclaim, “How hard it is to climb the steeps” on which from afar he viewed her temple. Those who desire to see, under a new aspect, an imperfectly known but interesting family of the human race, will be made acquainted with the qualifications of our bardic historians, and the particular course of studies which [99] fitted 1037Karna “to sit in the gate ^[7] of Jodhagir,” and add a new book to the chronicles of its kings.

These festivities of the new reign were not of long duration, and were succeeded by warlike preparations against Nagor, which, during the contentions between Ajit and the emperor, had been assigned to the descendant of the ancient princes of Mandor.

“When Ajmer was invested by the collective force of the empire,^[8] Iradat Khan (Bangash), collector of the Jizya,^[9] took the Indha by the arm, and seated him in Nagor.^[10] But as soon as the Holi ^[11] was past, the ‘Avatars of Jawalamukhi’^[12] were consecrated: goats were sacrificed, and the blood, with oil and vermilion, was sprinkled upon them. The tents were moved out. Hearing this, Rao Indra produced the imperial patent, with the personal guarantee of Jai Singh of Amber. Abhai heeded not, and invested Nagor; but Indra left his honour and his castle to the Fearless,^[13] who bestowed it on Bakhta his brother. He received the congratulations of Mewar, Jaisalmer, Bikaner, and Amber, and returned to his capital amidst the rejoicings of his subjects. This was in S. 1781.

“In S. 1782 he was employed in restraining the turbulent Bhumias on the western frontiers of his dominions; when the 1038Sindhals, the Deoras, the Balas, the Boras, the Balechas, and the Sodhas were compelled to servitude.

Abhai Singh summoned to Delhi, A.D. 1726.

—“In S. 1783 a farman of summons arrived, calling the prince to attend the Presence at Delhi. He put it to his head, assembled all his chiefs, and on his passage to court made a tour of his dominions, examining his garrisons, redressing [100] wrongs, and adjusting whatever was in disorder. At Parbatsar ^[14] he was attacked by the small-pox: the nation called on Jagrani ^[15] to shield him from evil.

“In 1784 the prince reached Delhi. Khandauran, the chief noble of the empire, was deputed by the emperor to conduct him to the capital; and when he reached the Presence, his majesty called him close to his person, exclaiming, ‘Welcome, Khushbakht,^[16] Maharaja Rajeswar,^[17] it is long since we met; this day makes me happy; the splendour of the Ammkhass is redoubled.’ When he took leave, the king sent to his quarters, at Abhaipur, choice fruits of the north, fragrant oils, and rose-water.”

The prince of Maru was placed at the head of all the nobility. About the end of S. 1784, Sarbuland Khan’s rebellion broke out,^[18] which gave ample scope for the valour of the Rathors and materials for the bard, who thus circumstantially relates it:

“The troubles in the Deccan increased. The Shahzada Jangali ^[19] rebelled, and forming an army of sixty thousand men, attacked the provincial governors of Malwa, Surat, and Ahmadpur, 1039slaying the king’s lieutenants, Girdhar Bahadur, Ibrahim Kuli,^[20] Rustam Ali, and the Mogul Shujaat.

Rebellion of Sarbuland Khan. Scene at the Imperial Court.

—“Hearing this, the king appointed Sarbuland Khan to quash the rebellion. He marched at the head of fifty thousand men, having a crore of rupees for their subsistence; but his advanced army of ten thousand men being defeated in the first encounter, he entered into terms with the rebels, and agreed to a partition of the country.”

It was at this time the prince of Marwar begged permission to retire to his hereditary dominions. The bard’s description of the court, and of the emperor’s distress on this occasion, though prolix, deserves insertion:

“The king was seated on his throne, attended by the seventy-two grand Omras of the empire, when tidings reached him of the revolt of Sarbuland. There was the wazir Kamaru-din Khan, Itimadu-Daula, Khandauran, commander-in-chief [101] (Mir Bakhshi), Samsamu-d-daula, the Amiru-Umara, Mansur Ali, Roshanu-d-daula, Tura Baz Khan, the Lord Marcher (Sim ka Bakhshi); Rustam Jang, Afghan Khan, Khwaja Sayyidu-d-din, commandant of artillery (Mir Atish); Saadat Khan,^[21] grand chamberlain (Darogha Khawass), Burhanu-l-Mulk, Abdul Samad Khan, Dalil Khan, Zafariyab Khan, governor of Lahore, Dalel Khan, Mir Jumla, Khankhanan; Zafar Jang, Iradat Khan, Murshid Kuli Khan, Ja’far Khan, Allahwirdi Khan,^[22] Muzaffar Khan, governor of Ajmer. Such and many more were assembled in the Presence.

“It was read aloud that Sarbuland had reduced Gujarat, and proclaimed his own an; that he had ground the Kolis to dust; that he had vanquished the Mandalas, the Jhalas, the Chudasamas, the Baghels, and the Gohils, and had nearly exterminated the Balas; that Halar had agreed to pay tribute, and that such was the fire of this Yavan, that the Bhumias of themselves abandoned their strongholds to seek sanctuary with him 1040whom the ‘seventeen thousand’^[23] now called sovereign; that he had set himself up a king in Ahmadabad, and made a league with the ‘Southron.’

“The emperor saw that if this defection was not quelled, all the viceroys would declare themselves independent. Already had Jagaria Khan in the north, Saadat Khan in the east, and the Mlechchha Nizamu-l-mulk in the south, shown the blackness of their designs. The tap (verve) of the empire had fled.

“The bira was placed on a golden salver, which the Mir Tajik bore in his extended arms, slowly passing in front of the nobles ranged on either side of the throne, mighty men, at the sight of whose faces the rustic would tremble: but in vain he passed both lines; no hand was stretched forth; some looked awry; some trembled; but none cast an eye upon the bira.

“The ‘almighty monarch’ (Parameswar Padshah), who could make the beggar an Omra of twelve thousand, and the noble of twelve thousand a beggar, was without resource. ‘Who,’ said one, ‘would grasp the forked lightning, let him engage Sarbuland!’ Another exclaimed, ‘Who would seize the vessel, and plunge with her in the whirlpool, he may contend with Sarbuland.’ And a third, ‘Whoever [102] dare seize the forked tongue of the serpent, let him engage Sarbuland.’ The king was troubled; he gave a sign to the Mir Tajik to return the bira to him.

“The Rathor prince saw the monarch’s distress, and as he was about to leave the Ammkhass, he stretched forth his hand, and placed the bira in his turban, as he said, ‘Be not cast down, O king of the world; I will pluck down this Sarbuland:^[24] leafless shall be the boughs of his ambition, and his head (sar) the forfeit of his arrogant exaltation (buland).’

“When Abhai Singh grasped the bira, the breasts of the mighty were ready to burst with the fulness of envy, even like the ripe pomegranate, as the king placed the grant of Gujarat into the hands of the Rathor. The Shah’s heart was rejoiced, as he said, ‘Thus acted your ancestors in support of the throne; thus was quelled the revolt of Khurram and Bhim in the time of Jahangir; that of the Deccan settled; and in like manner do 1041I trust that by you the honour and the throne of Muhammad Shah will be upheld.’

“Rich gifts, including seven gems of great price, were bestowed upon the Rathor; the treasury was unlocked and thirty-one lakhs of coin were assigned for the troops. The guns were taken from the arsenals, and with the patent of the vice-royalties of Ahmadabad and Ajmer, in the month of Asarh (1786), Abhai took leave of the king.”^[25]

Abhai Singh starts for Gujarat, A.D. 1730.

—The political arrondissement of Marwar dates from this period; for the rebellion of Sarbuland was the forerunner of the disintegration of the empire. It was in June A.D. 1730 that the prince of Marwar left the court of Delhi. He had a double motive in proceeding direct to Ajmer, of which province he was viceroy; first, to take possession of his stronghold (the key not only of Marwar but of every State in Rajputana); and second, to consult with the prince of Amber on the affairs of that critical conjuncture. What was the cause of Jai Singh’s presence at Ajmer the chronicle says not; but from circumstances elsewhere related, it may be conjectured that it was for the purpose of celebrating “the rites of the Pitrideva” (manes of his ancestors) at Pushkar. The bard gives a most prolix account of the meeting, even to the pagtar, ‘or foot-clothes’ spread for “the kings of the Hindus” to walk on, “who feasted together, and together plotted the destruction of the [103] empire”: from which we perceive that Karna, the bard, had a peep behind the curtain.

Having installed his officers in Ajmer, Abhai Singh proceeded to Merta, when he was met by his brother, Bakhta Singh, on which occasion the grant of Nagor was bestowed upon the latter. The brothers continued their route to the capital, when all the chiefs were dismissed to their homes with injunctions to assemble their vassals for the ensuing campaign against Sarbuland. At the appointed time, the Kher (feudal array) of Marwar assembled under the walls of Jodhpur. The occasion is a delightful one to the bard, who revels in all “the pomp and circumstance of war”: from the initiatory ceremony, the moving out the tents, to the consecration of the ‘mighty tubes’ (balwannal), the ‘volcanos of the field,’ or, as he terms them, the ‘crocodile-mouths’ (magarmukhan), 1042‘emblems of Yama,’ which were sprinkled abundantly with the blood of goats slain under their muzzles. He describes each clan as it arrives, their steeds, and caparisons.

Abhai Singh attacks Sirohi.

—Instead, however, of proceeding direct to the main object of the war, Abhai Singh took advantage of the immense army thus placed under his command, as viceroy of Gujarat, to wreak his own vengeance upon his neighbour, the gallant prince of Sirohi, who, trusting to his native strength, had spurned every compromise which involved his independence. This resolution he maintained by his natural position, strengthened by alliances with the aboriginal races who hemmed his little State on all sides, excepting that towards Marwar.

These Minas, the mountaineers of the Aravalli, had given offence to Abhai Singh; for while the prince, between his arrival at Jodhpur and the assemblage of the Kher, gave himself up to indolence and opium, they carried off the whole cattle of the train to the mountains. When this was reported to Abhai Singh, he coolly said, “Let them go, they knew we were short of forage, and have only taken them to their own pastures in the mountains.” Strange to say, they did return them, and in excellent condition, as soon as he prepared to march. When he heard of this, he observed, “Did I not tell you these Minas were faithful subjects?”

The order to march was now given, when the bard enumerates the names and strength of the different Rajput princes, whose contingents formed this array, in which there were only two Muhammadan leaders of distinction: “The Haras of Kotah and Bundi; the Khichis of Gagraun; the Gaurs of Sheopur; the Kachhwahas of [104] Amber, and [even] the Sodhas of the desert, under their respective princes or chiefs, were under the command of the Marwar prince. His native retainers, the united clans of Marwar, formed the right wing of the whole army, headed by his brother Bakhta.

“On the 10th Chait (Sudi) S. 1786, Abhai marched from Jodhpur, by Bhadrajun and Malgarh, Siwana and Jalor. Rewara was assaulted; the swords of the enemy showered, and the Champawat fell amidst heaps of slain. The Deoras abandoned the hill and fled. The trees were levelled to the summit; a garrison was posted, and the array moved on to Pusalia. Then Abu shook with affright. Affliction seized Sirohi; its prince was 1043in despair when he heard Rewara and Pusalia were destroyed.^[26] The Chauhan preferred decking his daughter in the bridal vestments to arraying his army to oppose Abhaimall.”

Submission of Sirohi to Abhai Singh.

—Rao Narayan Das, through the intervention of a Rajput chieftain, named Mayaram, of the Chawara tribe, made overtures to the Rathor, proposing his niece (daughter of Man Singh his predecessor) in marriage.^[27] “In the midst of strife ‘the coco-nut,’ with eight choice steeds and the price of four elephants, were sent and accepted. The drum of battle ceased; the nuptials were solemnized, and in the tenth month Ram Singh was born at Jodhpur.” The bard, however, lets us into the secret, and shows that the Rajputs had ‘secret articles,’ as well as the more polished diplomacy of Europe; for besides the fair Chauhani, the Rao consented to pay Peshachchanni a ‘concealed tribute.’

The Deora chiefs united their contingents to the royal army, for the subjugation of Sarbuland, and the march recommenced by Palanpur and Siddhpur, or the Sarasvati. Here they halted, and “an envoy was dispatched to Sarbuland, summoning him to surrender the imperial equipments, cannons, and stores; to account for the revenues, and to withdraw his garrisons from Ahmadabad and all the strongholds of the province.” The reply was laconic and dignified; “that he himself was king, and his head was with Ahmadabad” [105].

A grand council of war was convened in the Rajput camp, 1044which is described con amore by the bard. The overture and its reception were communicated, and the debates and speeches which ensued thereon, as to the future course of proceeding, are detailed. The bard is, however, satisfied with recording the speeches of ‘the chiefs of the eight grades of Maru.’

“First spoke the chief of the children of Champa, Kusal, son of Harnath of Awa, whose seat is on the right of the throne. Then Kanairam of Asop, leader of the Kumpawats, whose place is on the left: ‘let us, like the Kilkila,^[28] dive into the waters of battle.’ He was followed by Kesari, the Mertia Sarmor—then by the veteran who led the Udawats: old and brave, many a battle had he seen. Then the chief of Khanua, who led the clan of Jodha, protested he would be the first to claim the immortal garland from the hand of the Apsaras:^[29] ‘Let us stain our garments with saffron, and our lances with crimson, and play at ball with this Sarbuland.’^[30] Fateh the Jethawat, and Karnavat Abhaimall, re-echoed his words. All shouted ‘battle!’ ‘battle!’ while some put on the coloured garments, determined to conquer Bhanuloka. Kama, the Champawat, said aloud, ‘With sparkling cup the Apsaras will serve us in the mansion of the sun.’^[31] Every clan, every chief, and every bard re-echoed ‘battle!’

1045“Then Bakhta stood up to claim the onset, to lead the van in battle against Sarbuland, while his brother and prince should await the result in his tents. A jar of saffron-water was placed before the prince, with which he sprinkled each chief, who shouted, ‘They would people Amarapur.’”^[32]

The bard then describes the steeds of the Rajput chivalry, in which the Bhimthadi [106]^[33] of the Deccan takes precedence; he is followed by the horses of Dhat and Rardara in Marwar, and the Kathiawar of Saurashtra.

The Battle with Sarbuland.

—Sarbuland’s plans of defence are minutely detailed. At each gate he posted two thousand men and five guns, “manned by Europeans,” of whom he had a body of musketeers round his person. The cannonade had been kept up three days on both sides, in which the son of Sarbuland was killed. At length, Bakhta led the storm, when all the ots and awats performed prodigies of valour. The Champawat Kusal was the first to be carried to the “immortal abode”; but though “the sun stood still to see the deeds of the son of Harnath” we cannot particularize the bard’s catalogue of heroes transferred to Suryaloka ^[34] on this day, when the best blood of Rajputana was shed on the walls of Ahmadabad. Both the princely brothers had their share in “the play of swords,” and each slew more than one leader of note. Amra, who had so often defended Ajmer, slew five chiefs of the grades of two and three thousand horse.

“Eight gharis of the day remained, when Sarbuland fled; but Aliyar, the leader of his vanguard, made a desperate resistance, until he fell by the hand of Bakhta Singh. The drum of victory sounded. The Nawab left his pani in the Rankund.^[35] The ‘would-be-king’ was wounded; his elephant showed the speed of the deer. Four thousand four hundred and ninety-three were 1046slain, of whom one hundred were Palkinishins, eight Hathinishins,^[36] and three hundred entitled to the Tazim on entering the Diwan-i-amm.^[37]

“One hundred and twenty of Abhai Singh’s chieftains of note, with five hundred horse, were slain, and seven hundred wounded.

“The next morning, Sarbuland surrendered with all his effects. He was escorted towards Agra, his wounded Moguls dying at every stage; but the soul of the ‘Fearless’ was sad at the loss of his kin.^[38] Abhaimall ruled over the seventeen [107] thousand towns of Gujarat, and the nine thousand of Marwar, besides one thousand elsewhere. The princes of Idar, of Bhuj, of Parkar, of Sind, and of Sirohi, the Chalukya Ran of Fatehpur, Jhunjunu, Jaisalmer, Nagor, Dungarpur, Banswara, Lunawara, Halwad, every morning bowed the head to Abhaimall.

“Thus, in the enlightened half of the moon, on the victorious tenth ^[39] (S. 1787, A.D. 1731), the day on which Ramachandra captured Lanka, the war against Sarbuland, an Omrah (lord) of twelve thousand, was concluded.”^[40]

1047Having left a garrison of seventeen thousand men for the duties of the capital and province, Abhai Singh returned to Jodhpur with the spoils of Gujarat, and there he deposited four crores of rupees, and one thousand four hundred guns of all calibres, besides military stores of every description. With these, in the declining state of the empire, the desert king strengthened his forts and garrisons, and determined, in the general scramble for dominion, not to neglect his own interests [108].

CHAPTER 11

Jealousy of Abhai Singh to Bakht Singh.

—The tranquillity which for a while followed the campaign in Gujarat was of no long duration. The love of ease and opium, which increased with the years of Abhai Singh, was disturbed by a perpetual apprehension of the active courage and military genius of his brother, whose appanage of Nagor was too restricted a field for his talents and ambition. Bakhta was also aware that his daring nature, which obtained him the suffrages, as it would the swords, of his turbulent and easily excited countrymen, rendered him an object of distrust, and that without great circumspection, he would be unable to maintain himself in his imperium in imperio, the castle and three hundred and sixty townships of Nagor. He was too discreet to support himself by foreign aid, or by fomenting domestic strife; but with the aid of the bard he adopted a line of policy, the relation of which will develop new traits in the Rajput character, and exemplify its peculiarities. Karna, after finishing his historical chronicle, concluding with the war against Sarbuland, abandoned “the gate of Jodhpur for that of Nagor.” Like all his tribe, the bard was an adept in intrigue, and his sacred character forwarded the secret means of executing it. His advice was to embroil their common sovereign with the prince of Amber, and an opportunity was not long wanting [109].

Abhai Singh attacks Bīkaner.

—The prince of Bikaner,^[1] a junior but independent branch of Marwar, had offended his yet nominal suzerain Abhai Singh, who, taking advantage of the weakness of their common liege lord the emperor, determined 1048to resent the affront, and accordingly invested Bikaner, which had sustained a siege of some weeks, when Bakhta determined to make its release subserve his designs; nor could he have chosen a better expedient. Although the prince of Marwar had led his united vassalage against Bikaner, they were not only lukewarm as to the success of their own arms, but, anomalous as it must appear in the annals even of feudal warfare, they furnished the besieged with the means of defence, who, but for the supplies of opium, salt, and ammunition, would soon have been compelled to surrender. We can account for this: Bikaner was of their own kin, a branch of the great tree of which Siahji was the root, and to which they could cling in emergency; in short, Bikaner balanced the power between themselves and their head.

The scheme being approved, its execution and mode of development to Jai Singh were next canvassed. “Touch his pride,” said Karna; “tell him the insult to Amber, which your ancestor invested, has never been balanced, and that he will never find a time like the present to fling a few shot at Jodhpur.”

Bakht Singh intrigues to cause War with Jaipur.

—Bakhta addressed a letter to Jai Singh, and at the same time sent instructions to the envoy of Bikaner at his court how to act.

The prince of Amber, towards the close of his career, became partial to ‘the cup’; but, aware of the follies it involved him in, an edict prohibited all official intercourse with him while he was under its influence. The direct overture of Bakhta was canvassed, and all interference between the kindred belligerents was rejected in a full council of the chiefs of Amber. But the envoy had a friend in the famous Vidyadhar,^[2] the chief civil minister of the State, through whose means he obtained permission to make ‘a verbal report, standing.’ “Bikaner,” he said, “was in peril, and without his aid must fall, and that his master did not consider the sovereign of Marwar, but of Amber, as his suzerain.” Vanity and wine did the rest. The prince took up the pen and wrote to Abhai Singh, “That they all formed one great family; to forgive Bikaner and raise his batteries”: and as he took another cup, and [110] curled his moustache, he gave the letter 1049to be folded. “Maharaja,” said the envoy, “put in two more words: ‘or, my name is Jai Singh.’” They were added. The overjoyed envoy retired, and in a few minutes the letter was on transit to its destination by the swiftest camel of the desert. Scarcely had the envoy retired, when the chief of Bansko,^[3] the Mentor of Jai Singh, entered. He was told of the letter, which “would vex his Saga.”^[4] The old chief remonstrated; he said, “Unless you intend to extinguish the Kachhwahas, recall this letter.” Messenger after messenger was sent, but the envoy knew his duty. At the dinner hour all the chiefs had assembled at the (Rasora) banquet-hall, when the spokesman of the vassalage, old Dip Singh, in reply to the communication of his sovereign, told him he had done a cruel and wanton act, and that they must all suffer for his imprudence.

The reply, a laconic defiance, was brought back with like celerity; it was opened and read by Jai Singh to his chiefs: “By what right do you dictate to me, or interfere between me and my servants? If your name is ‘Lion of Victory’ (Jai Singh), mine is ‘the Lion without Fear’ (Abhai Singh).”^[5]

The ancient chief, Dip Singh, said: “I told you how it would be; but there is no retreat, and our business is to collect our friends.” The Kher, or ‘levy en masse,’ was proclaimed: Every Kachhwaha was commanded to repair to the great standard planted outside the capital. The home-clans came pouring in, and aid was obtained from the Haras of Bundi, the Jadons of Karauli, the Sesodias of Shahpura, the Khichis, and the Jats, until one hundred thousand men were formed beneath the castle of Amber. This formidable array proceeded, march after march, until they reached Gangwana, a village on the frontier of Marwar.^[6] Here they encamped, and, with all due courtesy, awaited the arrival of the ‘Fearless Lion.’

Battle of Gangwāna.

—They were not long in suspense. Mortally offended at such wanton interference, which compelled him to relinquish his object on the very eve of attainment, Abhai 1050Singh raised his batteries from besieging Bikaner and rapidly advanced to the encounter.

Bakhta now took alarm. He had not calculated the length to which his intrigues would involve his country; he had sought but to embroil the border princes, but [111] had kindled a national warfare. Still his fears were less for the discovery of his plot than for the honour of Marwar, about to be assailed by such odds. He repaired to his brother and liege lord, and implored him not to raise the siege; declaring that he alone, with the vassals of Nagor, would receive the Bhagatia’s ^[7] battle, and, by God’s blessing, would give a good account of him. Abhai Singh, not averse to see his brother punished for his conduct, though determined to leave him to the brunt of the battle, rejected with scorn the intriguing proposition.

The Nakkara sounded the assembly for the chivalry of Nagor. Bakhta took post on the balcony over the Delhi gate, with two brazen vessels; in the one was an infusion of opium, in the other saffron-water. To each Rajput as he entered he presented opium, and made the impress of his right hand on his heart with the saffron-water. Having in this manner enrolled eight thousand Rajputs, sworn to die with him, he determined to select the most resolute; and marching to the edge of an extensive field of luxuriant Indian corn ^[8] (bajra), he halted his band, and thus addressed them: “Let none follow me who is not prepared for victory or death: if there be any amongst you who desire to return, let them do so in God’s name.” As he spoke, he resumed the march through the luxuriant fields, that it might not be seen who retired. More than five thousand remained, and with these he moved on to the combat.

The Amber prince awaited them at Gangwana: soon as the hostile lines approached, Bakhta gave the word, and, in one dense mass, his gallant legion charged with lance and sword the deepened lines of Amber, carrying destruction at every pass. He passed through and through this host; but when he pulled up in the rear, only sixty of his band remained round his person. At this moment the chief of Gajsinghpura, head of all his vassals, hinted there was a jungle in the rear: “And what is there in front,” said 1051the intrepid Rathor, “that we should not try the road we came?” and as he espied the Panchranga, or five-coloured flag, which denoted the headquarters of Amber, the word again was given. The cautious Kumbhani ^[9] advised his prince to avoid the charge: with some difficulty he was made to leave the field, and as a salvo to his honour, by a flank movement towards Kandela north, that it might not be said he turned his back on his foe. As he [112] retreated, he exclaimed, “Seventeen battles have I witnessed, but till this day never one decided by the sword.” Thus, after a life of success, the wisest, or at least the most learned and most powerful prince of Rajwara, incurred the disgrace of leaving the field in the face of a handful of men, strengthening the adage “that one Rathor equalled ten Kachhwahas.”

Jai Singh’s own bards could not refrain from awarding the meed of valour to their foes, and composed the following stanzas on the occasion: “Is it the battle cry of Kali, or the war-shout of Hanumanta, or the hissing of Seshnag, or the denunciation of Kapaliswar? Is it the incarnation of Narsingh, or the darting beam of Surya? or the death-glance of the Dakini?^[10] or that from the central orb of Trinetra?^[11] Who could support the flames from this volcano of steel, when Bakhta’s sword became the sickle of Time?”

But for Karna the bard, one of the few remaining about his person, Bakhta would a third time have plunged into the ranks of the foe; nor was it till the host of Amber had left the field that he was aware of the extent of his loss.^[12] Then, strange inconsistency! the man, who but a few minutes before had affronted death in every shape, when he beheld the paucity of survivors, sat down and wept like an infant. Still it was more the weakness of ambition than humanity; for, never imagining that his brother would fail to support him, he thought destruction had overtaken Marwar; nor was it until his brother joined and assured him he had left him all the honour of the day, that he recovered his port. Then “he curled his whiskers and swore an oath, that he would yet drag the ‘Bhagat’ from his castle of Amber.”

1052Jai Singh, though he paid dear for his message, gained his point, the relief of Bikaner; and the Rana of Udaipur mediated to prevent the quarrel going further, which was the less difficult since both parties had gained their ends, though Jai Singh obtained his by the loss of a battle.

Marriage of a God.

—It is related that the tutelary deity of Bakhta Singh fell into the hands of the Amber prince, who carried home the sole trophy he could boast, married the Rathor deity to a female divinity of Amber, and returned him with his compliments to Bakhta. Such were the courteous usages of Rajput chivalry. The triple alliance [113] of the chief Rajput princes followed this battle, cemented by the union of the rival houses to daughters of Mewar. There they met, attended by their vassalage, and, in the nuptial festivities and the ‘cup,’ forgot this bitter strife, while enmity and even national jealousy were banished by general courtesy. Such is the Rajput, who can be judged after no known standard: he stands alone in the moral history of man.^[13]

Death and Character of Abhai Singh.

—This is the last conspicuous act of Abhai Singh’s life on record. He died in S. 1806 (A.D. 1750) at Jodhpur. His courage, which may be termed ferocious, was tempered only by his excessive indolence, regarding which they have preserved many amusing anecdotes; one of these will display the exact character of the man. The chronicle says: “When Ajit went to marry the Chauhani, he found two lions in his path—the one asleep, the other awake. The interpretation of the Saguni (augur) was, that the Chauhani would bear him two sons; that one would be a soti kan (sluggard), the other an active soldier.” Could the augur have revealed that they would imbrue their hands in a father’s blood, he might have averted the ruin of his country, which dates from this black deed.

The Rathors profess a great contempt for the Kachhwahas as soldiers; and Abhai Singh’s was not lessened for their prince, because he happened to be father-in-law to the prince of Amber, whom he used to mortify, even in the ‘Presence,’ with such sarcasm as, “You are called a Kachhua, or properly Kuswa, from the Kusa; and your sword will cut as deep as one of its 1053blades”:^[14] alluding to the grass thus called. Irritated, yet fearing to reply, he formed a plan to humble his arrogance in his only vulnerable point, the depreciation of his personal strength. While it was the boast of Jai Singh to mingle the exact sciences of Europe with the more ancient of India, Abhai’s ambition was to be deemed the first swordsman of Rajwara. The scientific prince of Amber gave his cue to Kirparam, the paymaster-general, a favourite with the king, from his skill at chess, and who had often the honour of playing with him while all the nobles were standing. Kirparam praised the Rathor prince’s dexterity in smiting off a buffalo’s head; on which the king called out, “Rajeswar, I have heard much of your skill with the sword.” “Yes, Hazrat, I can use it on an occasion.” A huge animal [114] was brought into the area, fed in the luxuriant pastures of Hariana. The court crowded out to see the Rathor exhibit; but when he beheld the enormous bulk, he turned to the king and begged permission to retire to his post, the imperial guardroom, to refresh himself. Taking a double dose of opium, he returned, his eyes glaring with rage at the trick played upon him, and as he approached the buffalo they fell upon Jai Singh who had procured this monster with a view to foil him. The Amber chief saw that mischief was brewing, and whispered his majesty not to approach too near his son-in-law. Grasping his sword in both hands, Abhai gave the blow with such force that the buffalo’s head “dropped upon his knees,” and the raja was thrown upon his back. All was well; but, as the chronicle says, “the king never asked the raja to decollate another buffalo.”

Invasion of Nādir Shāh.

—It was during the reign of Abhai Singh that Nadir Shah ^[15] invaded India; but the summons to the Rajput princes, to put forth their strength in support of the tottering throne of Timur, was received with indifference. Not a chief of note led his myrmidons to the plains of Karnal; and Delhi was invested, plundered, and its monarch dethroned, without exciting a sigh. Such was their apathy in the cause, when the 1054imbecility of Muhammad Shah succeeded to the inheritance of Aurangzeb, that with their own hands these puppets of despotism sapped the foundations of the empire.

Unfortunately for Rajputana, the demoralization of her princes prevented their turning to advantage this depression of the empire, in whose follies and crimes they participated.

With the foul and monstrous murder of the Raja Ajit (A.D. 1750) commenced those bloody scenes which disgrace the annals of Marwar; yet even in the history of her crimes there are acts of redeeming virtue, which raise a sentiment of regret that the lustre of the one should be tarnished by the presence of the other. They serve, however, to illustrate that great moral truth, that in every stage of civilization crime will work out its own punishment; and grievously has the parricidal murder of Ajit been visited on his race and country. We shall see it acting as a blight on that magnificent tree, which, transplanted from the native soil of the Ganges, took root and flourished amidst the arid sands of the desert, affording a goodly shade for a daring race, who acquired fresh victories with poverty—we shall see its luxuriance checked, and its numerous and widely spread branches, as if [115] scorched by the lightnings of heaven, wither and decay; and they must utterly perish, unless a scion, from the uncontaminated stem of Idar,^[16] be grafted upon it: then it may revive, and be yet made to yield more vigorous fruit.

CHAPTER 12

Rāja Rām Singh, A.D. 1750-52.

—Ram Singh succeeded at that dangerous age when parental control is most required to restrain the turbulence of passion. Exactly twenty years had elapsed since the nuptials at Sirohi, when Hymen extinguished the torch of discord, and his mother was the bearer of the olive branch to Abhai Singh, to save her house from destruction. The Rajput, who attaches everything to pedigree, has a right to lay an interdict on the union of the race of Agni,^[1] with the already too 1055fiery blood of the Rathor. Ram Singh inherited the arrogance of his father, with all the impetuosity of the Chauhans; and the exhibition of these qualities was simultaneous with his coronation. We are not told why his uncle, Bakhta Singh, absented himself from the ceremony of his prince’s and nephew’s installation, when the whole kin and clans of Maru assembled to ratify their allegiance by their presence. As the first in blood and rank, it was his duty to make the first mark of inauguration on the [116] forehead of his prince. The proxy he chose on the occasion was his Dhai, or ‘nurse,’ a personage of no small importance in those countries. Whether by such a representative the haughty warrior meant to insinuate that his nephew should yet be in leading strings, the chronicle affords us no hint; but it reprehends Ram Singh’s conduct to this venerable personage, whom, instead of treating, according to usage, with the same respect as his mother, he asked, “if his uncle took him for an ape, that he sent an old hag to present him with the tika?” and instantly dispatched an express desiring the surrender of Jalor. Ere his passion had time to cool, he commanded his tents to be moved out, that he might chastise the insult to his dignity. Despising the sober wisdom of the counsellors of the state, he had given his confidence to one of the lowest grade of these hereditary officers, by name Amia, the Nakkarchi,^[2] a man headstrong like himself. The old chief of the Champawats, on hearing of this act of madness, repaired to the castle to remonstrate; but scarcely had he taken his seat before the prince assailed him with ridicule, desiring “to see his frightful face as seldom as possible.” “Young man,” exclaimed the indignant chief, as with violence he dashed his shield reversed upon the carpet, “you have given mortal offence to a Rathor, who can turn Marwar upside down as easily as that shield.” With eyes darting defiance, he arose and left the Presence, and collecting his retainers, marched to Mundiavar.^[3] This was the residence of the Pat-Bardai, or ‘chief bard,’ the lineal descendant of the Bardai Roera, who left Kanauj with Siahji. The esteem in which his sacred office was held may be appreciated by his estate, which equalled that of the first noble, being one lakh of rupees (£10,000) of revenue.

1056The politic Bakhta, hearing of the advance of the chief noble of Maru on the border of his territory, left Nagor, and though it was midnight, advanced to welcome him. The old chief was asleep; Bakhta forbade his being disturbed, and placed himself quietly beside his pallet. As he opened his eyes, he called as usual for his pipe (hukka), when the attendant pointing to the prince, the old chief scrambled up. Sleep had cooled his rage, and the full force of his position rushed upon him; but seeing there was now no retreat, that the Rubicon was crossed, “Well, there is my head,” said he; “now it is yours.” The bard, who was present at the interview, was sounded by being requested to bring the chief’s wife and family from [117] Awa to Nagor; and he gave his assent in a manner characteristic of his profession: “farewell to the gate of Jodhpur,” alluding to the station of the bard. The prince immediately replied, “there was no difference between the gate of Jodhpur and Nagor; and that while he had a cake of bajra he would divide it with the bard.”

Civil War between Rām Singh and Bakht Singh.

—Ram Singh did not allow his uncle much time to collect a force; and the first encounter was at Kherli. Six actions rapidly followed; the last was at Lunawas, on the plains of Merta, with immense loss of life on both sides. This sanguinary battle has been already related,^[4] in which Ram Singh was defeated, and forced to seek safety in flight; when Jodhpur was surrendered, and Bakhta invested with the Rajtilak and sword by the hands of the Jethawat chief of Bagri, whose descendants continue to enjoy this distinction, with the title of Marwar ka bar Kewar, ‘the bar to the portal of Marwar.’

Accession of Bakht Singh, A.D. 1752-53.

—With the possession of the seat of government, and the support of a great majority of the clans, Bakhta Singh felt secure against all attempts of his nephew to regain his lost power. But although his popularity with his warlike kindred secured their suffrages for his maintenance of the throne which the sword had gained him, there were other opinions which Bakhta Singh was too politic to overlook. The adhesion of the hereditary officers of the State, especially those personal to the sovereign, is requisite to cloak the crime of usurpation, in which light only, whatever the extent of provocation, Bakhta’s conduct could be regarded. The military 1057premier, as well as the higher civil authorities, were won to his cause, and of those whose sacred office might seem to sanctify the crime, the chief bard had already changed his post “for the gate of Nagor.” But there was one faithful servant, who, in the general defection, overlooked the follies of his prince, in his adherence to the abstract rules of fidelity; and who, while his master found refuge at Jaipur, repaired to the Deccan to obtain the aid of the Mahrattas, the mercenaries of Rajputana. Jaga was the name of this person; his office, that of Purohit, the ghostly adviser of his prince and tutor to his children. Bakhta, at once desirous to obtain his suffrage, and to arrest the calamity of foreign invasion, sent a couplet in his own hand to the Purohit:

“The flower, O bee, whose aroma regaled you, has been assailed by the blast; not a leaf of the rose-tree is left; why longer cling to the thorns?” [118]

The reply was in character: “In this hope does the bee cling to the denuded rose-tree; that spring may return, and fresh flowers bud forth.”^[5]

Intervention of Mahādaji Sindhia.

—There was a joyousness of soul about Bakhta which, united to an intrepidity and a liberality alike unbounded, made him the very model of a Rajput. To these qualifications were superadded a majestic mien and Herculean frame, with a mind versed in all the literature of his country, besides poetic talent of no mean order; and but for that one damning crime, he would have been handed down to posterity as one of the noblest princes Rajwara ever knew. These qualities not only riveted the attachment of the household clans, but secured the respect of all his exterior relations, so that when the envoy of the expatriated prince obtained Sindhia’s aid for the restoration of Ram Singh, the popularity of Bakhta formed an army which appalled the “Southron,” who found arrayed against him all the choice swords of Rajwara. The whole allodial power of the desert, “the sons of Siahji” of every rank, rose to oppose 1058this first attempt of the Mahrattas to interfere in their national quarrels, and led by Bakhta in person, advanced to meet Mahadaji, the Patel.^[6] But the Mahratta, whose object was plunder rather than glory, satisfied that he had little chance of either, refused to measure his lance (barchhi) with the sang and sirohi^[7] of the Rajput.

Bakht Singh Poisoned.

—Poison effected what the sword could not accomplish. Bakhta determined to remain encamped in that vulnerable point of access to his dominions, the passes near Ajmer. Hither, the Rathor queen of Madho Singh, prince of Amber, repaired to compliment her relative, and to her was entrusted the task of removing the enemy of her nephew, Ram Singh. The mode in which the deed was effected, as well as the last moments of the heroic but criminal Bakhta, have been already related.^[8] He died in S. 1809 (A.D. 1753), leaving a disputed succession, and all the horrors of impending civil strife, to his son, Bijai Singh.

Repression of Islām.

—During his three years of sovereignty, Bakhta had found both time and resources to strengthen and embellish the strongholds of Marwar. He completed the fortifications [119] of the capital, and greatly added to the palace of Jodha, from the spoils of Ahmadabad. He retaliated the injuries on the intolerant Islamite, and threw down his shrines and his mosques in his own fief of Nagor, and with the wrecks restored the edifices of ancient days. It was Bakhta also who prohibited, under pain of death, the Islamite’s call to prayer throughout his dominions, and the order remains to this day unrevoked in Marwar. Had he been spared a few years to direct the storm then accumulating, which transferred power from the haughty Tatar of Delhi to the peasant soldier of the Kistna, the probability was eminently in favour of the Rajputs resuming their ancient rights throughout India. Every principality had the same motive for union in one common cause, the destruction of a power inimical to their welfare: but crimes, moral and political, rendered an opportunity, 1059such as never occurred in their history, unavailing for their emancipation from temporal and spiritual oppression.

Rājput Morals compared with those of Europe in the Middle Ages.

—We will here pause, and anticipating the just horror of the reader, at finding crime follow crime—one murder punished by another—prevent his consigning all the Rajput dynasties to infamy, because such foul stains appear in one part of their annals. Let him cast his eyes over the page of western history; and commencing with the period of Siahji’s emigration in the eleventh century, when the curtain of darkness was withdrawn from Europe, as it was simultaneously closing upon the Rajput, contrast their respective moral characteristics. The Rajput chieftain was imbued with all the kindred virtues of the western cavalier, and far his superior in mental attainments. There is no period on record when these Hindu princes could not have signed their names to a charter; many of them could have drawn it up, and even invested it, if required, in a poetic garb; and although this consideration perhaps enhances, rather than palliates, crime, what are the instances in these States, we may ask, compared to the wholesale atrocities of the ‘Middle Ages’ of Europe?

The reader would also be wrong if he leaped to the conclusion that the bardic chronicler passed no judgment on the princely criminal. His “empoisoned stanzas” (vishwa sloka), transmitted to posterity by the mouth of the peasant and the prince, attest the reverse. One couplet has been recorded, stigmatizing Bakhta for the murder of his father; there is another of the chief bard, improvised while his prince Abhai Singh and Jai Singh of Amber were passing the period devoted [120] to religious rites at the sacred lake of Pushkar. These ceremonies never stood in the way of festivity; and one evening, while these princes and their vassals were in the height of merriment, the bard was desired to contribute to it by some extemporaneous effusion. He rose, and vociferated in the ears of the horror-struck assembly the following quatrain:—

“[The princes of] Jodhpur and Amber can dethrone the 1060enthroned. But the Kurma ^[9] slew his son; the Kamdhaj ^[10] murdered his father.”

The words of the poetic seer sank into the minds of his hearers, and passed from mouth to mouth. They were probably the severest vengeance either prince experienced in this world, and will continue to circulate down to the latest posterity. It was the effusion of the same undaunted Karna, who led the charge with his prince against the troops of Amber.

The Curse of a Sati.

—We have also the anathema of the prophetic Sati, wife of Ajit, who, as she mounted the pyre with her murdered lord, pronounced that terrific sentence to the ears of the patriotic Rajput: “May the bones of the murderer be consumed out of Maru.Maru.”^[11] In the value they attach to the fulfilment of the prophecy, we have a commentary on the supernatural power attached to these self-devoted victims. The record of the last moments of Bakhta, in the dialogue with his doctor,^[12] is a scene of the highest dramatic and moral interest; and, if further comment were required, demonstrates the operations of the hell within, as well as the abhorrence the Rajput entertains for such crimes [121].

CHAPTER 13

Rāja Bijai Singh, A.D. 1753-93.

—Bijai Singh, then in his twentieth year, succeeded his father, Bakhta. His accession was acknowledged not only by the emperor, but by all the princes around him, and he was inaugurated at the frontier town of Marot,^[1] when proceeding to Merta, where he passed the period of matam or mourning. Hither the independent branches of his family, of Bikaner, Kishangarh, and Rupnagarh, came simultaneously with their condolence and congratulations. Thence he advanced to the capital, and concluded the rites on death and accession with gifts and charities which gratified all expectations.

1061

Rām Singh invites Marātha Aid.

—The death of his uncle afforded the ex-prince, Ram Singh, the chance of redeeming his birthright; and in conjunction with the prince of Amber, he concluded a treaty ^[2] with the Mahrattas, the stipulations of which were sworn to by their leaders. The “Southrons” advanced by Kotah and Jaipur, where Ram Singh [122], with his personal adherents and a strong auxiliary band of Amber, united their forces, and they proceeded to the object in view, the dethronement of Bijai Singh.

The Battle of Merta.

—Bijai Singh was prepared for the storm, and led his native chivalry to the plains of Merta, where, animated with one impulse, a determination to repel foreign interference, they awaited the Mahrattas, to decide the rival claims to the throne of the desert.^[3] The bard delights to enumerate the clans who mustered all their strength; and makes particular allusion to the allodial Pattawats, who were foremost on this occasion. From Pushkar, where the combined army halted, a summons was sent to Bijai Singh “to surrender the gaddi of Maru.” It was read in full convention and answered with shouts of “Battle! Battle!” “Who is this Hapa,^[4] thus to scare us, when, were the firmament to fall, our heads would be pillars of support to preserve you?” Such is the hyperbole of the Rajput when excited, nor does his action fall far short of it. The numerical odds were immense against the Rathors; but they little esteemed the Kachhwahas, and their courage had very different aliment to sustain it, from the mercenary Southron. The encounter was of the most desperate description, and the bard deals out a full measure of justice to all.

Two accidents occurred during the battle, each sufficient to turn victory from the standard of Bijai Singh, on the very point of fruition. One has elsewhere been related,^[5] namely, the destruction 1062of the “Silahposhians,” or cuirassiers, the chosen cohort of the Rathors, when returning from a successful charge, who were mistaken for the foe, and mowed down with discharges of grape-shot. This error, at a moment when the courage of the Mahrattas was wavering, might have been retrieved, notwithstanding the superstitious converted the disaster into an omen of evil. Sindhia had actually prepared to quit the field, when another turn of the wheel decided the event in his favour: the circumstance exhibits forcibly the versatile character of the Rajput.

Treachery of Sardār Singh of Kishangarh.

—The Raja of Kishangarh had deprived his relative of Rupnagar of his estates; both were junior branches of Marwar, but held direct from the emperor. Sawant Singh, chieftain of Rupnagar, either from constitutional indifference or [123] old age, retired to the sanctuary of Brindaban on the Jumna, and, before the shrine of the Hindu Apollo, poured forth his gratitude for “his escape from hell,” in the loss of his little kingdom. But it was in vain he attempted to inspire young Sardar with the like contempt of mundane glory; to his exhortations the youth replied, “It is well for you, Sire,^[6] who have enjoyed life, to resign its sweets so tranquilly; but I am yet a stranger to them.” Taking advantage of the times, he determined to seek a stronger auxiliary for the recovery of his rights than the poetic homilies of Jayadeva. Accordingly, he joined the envoy of Ram Singh, and returned with the Mahratta army, on whose successful operations his hope of reconquering his patrimony rested. It was at that moment of doubt that Apa, the Mahratta commander, thus addressed young Sardar: “Your star, young man, is united to Ram Singh’s, which fortune does not favour; what more is to be done before we move off?” Inexperienced as he was, Sardar knew his countrymen, and their vacillation when touched by superstition; and he obtained permission to try a ruse, as a last resort. He dispatched a horseman of his own clan to the division which pressed them most, who, coming up to the Mainot minister, as if of his own party, asked “what they were fighting for, as Bijai Singh lay dead, killed by a cannon-shot in another part of the field?” Like the ephemeral tribe of diplomacy, the Mainot saw his sun was set. He left the field, followed by the panic-struck clans, amongst whom the report circulated like wildfire. Though accustomed to these stratagems, 1063with which their annals teem, the Rajputs are never on their guard against them; not a man inquired into the truth of the report, and Bijai Singh,—who, deeming himself in the very career of victory, was coolly performing his devotions amidst the clash of swords,—was left almost alone, even without attendants or horses. The lord of Marwar, who, on that morning, commanded the lives of one hundred thousand Rajputs, was indebted for his safety to the mean conveyance of a cart and pair of oxen.^[7]

Every clan had to erect tablets for the loss of their best warriors; and as in their civil wars each strove to be foremost in devotion, most of the chieftains of note [124] were amongst the slain.^[8] The bard metes out a fair measure of justice to their auxiliaries, especially the Saktawats of Mewar, whose swords were unsheathed in the cause of the son-in-law of their prince. Nor is the lance of the Southron passed over without eulogy, to praise which, indeed, is to extol themselves.

Results of Rāthor Defeat.

—With the loss of this battle and the dispersion of the Rathors, the strongholds rapidly fell. The cause of Ram Singh was triumphing, and the Mahrattas were spreading over the land of Maru, when foul assassination checked their progress.^[9] But the death of Jai Apa, which converted his hordes from auxiliaries to principals in the contest, called aloud for vengeance, that was only to be appeased by the cession of Ajmer, and a fixed triennial tribute on all the lands of Maru, both feudal and fiscal. This arrangement being made, the 1064Mahrattas displayed the virtue common to such mercenary allies: they abandoned Ram Singh to his ‘evil star,’ and took possession of this stronghold, which, placed in the very heart of Rajasthan, perpetuated their influence over its princes.

With this gem, thus rudely torn from her diadem, the independence of Marwar from that hour has been insecure. She has struggled on, indeed, through a century of invasions, rebellions, and crimes, all originating, like the blank leaf on her annals, from the murder of Ajit. In the words of the Doric stanza of the hostile bards on this memorable chastisement:

“For many a day will they remember the time (hel) of Apa, when the three sovereigns fled, abandoning their goods and treasures”: alluding to the princes of Marwar, Bikaner, and Kishangarh, who partook in the disasters and disgrace of that day [125].

The youthful heir of Rupnagar claimed, as he justly might, the victory to himself; and going up to Apa to congratulate him, said, in the metaphorical language of his country, “You see I sowed mustard-seed in my hand as I stood”: comparing the prompt success of his stratagem to the rapid vegetation of the seed. But Sardar was a young man of no ordinary promise; for when Sindhia, in gratitude, offered immediately to put him in possession of Rupnagar, he answered, “No; that would be a retrograde movement,” and told him to act for his master Ram Singh, “whose success would best insure his own.” But when treachery had done its worst on Jai Apa, suspicion, which fell on every Rajput in the Mahratta camp, spared not Sardar: swords were drawn in every quarter, and even the messengers of peace, the envoys, were everywhere assailed, and amongst those who fell ere the tumult could be appeased, was Rawat Kabir Singh, the premier noble of Mewar, then ambassador from the Rana with the Mahrattas.^[11] With his last breath, Jai Apa protected 1065and exonerated Sardar, and enjoined that his pledge of restoration to his patrimony should be redeemed. The body of this distinguished commander was burned at the Taussar, or ‘Peacock pool,’ where a cenotaph was erected, and in the care which the descendants even of his enemies pay to it, we have a test of the merits of both victor and vanquished.

Death of Rām Singh.

—This was the last of twenty-two battles, in which Ram Singh was prodigal of his life for the recovery of his honours. The adversity of his later days had softened the asperity of his temper, and made his early faults be forgotten, though too late for his benefit. He died in exile at Jaipur in A.D. 1773. His person was gigantic; his demeanour affable and courteous; and he was generous to a fault. His understanding was excellent and well cultivated, but his capricious temperament, to which he gave vent with an unbridled vehemence, disgusted the high-minded nobles of Maru, and involved him in exile and misery till his death. It is universally admitted that, both in exterior and accomplishments, not even the great Ajit could compare with Ram Singh, and witchcraft, at the instigation of the chieftain of Asop, is assigned to account for his fits of insanity, which might be better attributed to the early and immoderate use of opium. But in spite of his errors, the fearless courage he displayed, against all odds, kept some of the [126] most valiant of the clans constant to his fortunes, especially the brave Mertias, under the heroic Sher Singh of Rian, whose deeds can never be obliterated from the recollections of the Rathor. Not the least ardent of his adherents was the allodial chief Rup Singh, of the almost forgotten clan, Pattawat; who held out in Phalodi against all attempts, and who, when provisions failed, with his noble associates, slew and ate their camels. The theme is a favourite one for the Kamarya ^[12] minstrel of Maru, who sings the fidelity of Rupa and his band to the notes of his rabab,^[13] to their ever attentive descendants.

The Character of Rāja Rām Singh.

—We may sum up the 1066character of Ram Singh in the words of the bard, as he contrasts him with his rival. “Fortune never attended the stirrup of Bijai Singh, who never gained a battle, though at the head of a hundred thousand men; but Ram Singh, by his valour and conduct, gained victories with a handful.”

The death of Ram Singh was no panacea to the griefs of Marwar or of its prince. The Mahrattas, who had now obtained a point-d’appui in Rajwara, continued to foster disputes which tended to their advantage, or when opportunity offered, to scour the country in search of pay or plunder. Bijai Singh, young and inexperienced, was left without resources; ruinous wars and yet more ruinous negotiations had dissipated the hoards of wealth accumulated by his predecessors. The crown-lands were uncultivated, the tenantry dispersed; and commerce had diminished, owing to insecurity and the licentious habits of the nobles, who everywhere established their own imposts, and occasionally despoiled entire caravans. While the competitor for the throne was yet living, the Raja was compelled to shut his eyes on these inroads upon his proper power, which reduced him to insignificance even in his own palace.

Power of the Aristocracy of Mārwār.

—The aristocracy in Marwar has always possessed more power than in any of the sister principalities around. The cause may be traced to their first settlement in the desert; and it has been kept in action by the peculiarities of their condition, especially in that protracted struggle for the rights of the minor Ajit, against the despotism of the empire. There was another cause, which, at the present juncture, had a very unfortunate influence on the increase of this preponderance, and which arose out of the laws of adoption.

The Pokaran Fief.

—The fief of Pokaran, the most powerful (although a junior) branch of the Champawat clan, adopted a son of Raja Ajit as their chief; his name was Devi Singh [127]. The right of adoption, as has been already explained, rests with the widow of the deceased and the elders of the clan. Why they exercised it as they did on this occasion does not appear; but not improbably at the suggestion of the dying chief, who wished to see his sovereign’s large family provided for, having no sons of his own: or, the immediate claimants may not have possessed the qualities necessary to lead a clan of Maru. Although the 1067moment such adoption takes place, when “the turban of the late incumbent encircled the new lord of Pokaran,” he ought to forget he had any other father than him he succeeded, yet we can easily imagine that, in the present case, his propinquity to the throne, which under other circumstances he might soon have forgotten, was continually forced upon his recollection by the contentions of his parricidal brothers and their offspring for the ‘cushion’ of Marwar. It exemplifies another feature in Rajput institutions, which cut off this son (guiltless of all participation in the treason) from succession, because he was identified with the feudality; while the issue of another, and junior brother, at the same period adopted into the independent house of Idar,^[14] were heirs presumptive to Marwar; nay, must supply it with a ruler on failure of heirs, though they should have but one son and be compelled to adopt in his room.^[15]

Mercenaries enrolled.

—The Champawats determined to maintain their influence over the sovereign and the country; and Devi Singh leagued with Awa and the other branches of this clan to the exclusion of all competitors. They formed of their own body a guard of honour for the person of the prince, one half remaining on duty in the castle, the other half being in the town below. While the Raja would lament the distracted state of his country, the inroads of the hill tribes, and the depredations of his own chiefs, Devi Singh of Pokaran would reply, “Why trouble yourself about Marwar? it is in the sheath of my dagger.” The young prince used to unburthen his griefs to his foster-brother Jaga, a man of caution and experience, which qualities he instilled into his sovereign. By dissimulation, and an apparent acquiescence in their plans, he not only eluded suspicion, but, availing himself of their natural indolence of character, at length obtained leave not only to entertain some men of Sind as guards for the town, but to provide supplies for their subsistence: the first approximation towards a standing mercenary force, till then unknown in their annals [128]. We do not mean that the Rajput princes never employed any other than their own feudal clans; they had foreign Rajputs in their pay, but still on the same tenure, holding lands for service; but never till this period had they 1068soldiers entertained on monthly stipend. These hired bands were entirely composed of infantry, having a slight knowledge of European tactics, the superiority of which, even over their high-minded cavaliers, they had so severely experienced in their encounters with the Mahrattas. The same causes had operated on the courts of Udaipur and Jaipur to induce them to adopt the like expedient; to which, more than to the universal demoralization which followed the breaking up of the empire, may be attributed the rapid decay of feudal principles throughout Rajputana. These guards were composed either of Purbia ^[16] Rajputs, Sindis, Arabs, or Rohillas. They received their orders direct from the prince, through the civil officers of the State, by whom they were entrusted with the execution of all duties of importance or dispatch. Thus they soon formed a complete barrier between the prince and his vassals, and consequently became objects of jealousy and of strife. In like manner did all the other States make approaches towards a standing army; and though the motive in all cases was the same, to curb, or even to extinguish, the strength of the feudal chiefs, it has failed throughout, except in the solitary instance of Kotah, where twenty well-disciplined battalions, and a hundred pieces of artillery, are maintained chiefly from the feudal sequestrations.

To return: the Dhabhai, having thus secured a band of seven hundred men, and obtained an aid (which we may term scutage) from the chiefs for their maintenance, gradually transferred them from their duties above to the gates of the castle. Somewhat released from the thraldom of faction, the Raja concerted with his foster-brother and the Diwan, Fateh Chand, the means of restoring prosperity and order. So destitute was the prince of resources, that the Dhabhai had recourse to threats of suicide to obtain 50,000 rupees from his mother, acquired as the nurse (dhai) of his sovereign; and so drained was the country of horses, that he was compelled to transport his cavaliers (who were too proud to walk) on cars to Nagor. There, under the pretence of curbing the hill tribes, he formed an army, and dismounting the guns from the walls of the town, marched an ill-equipped force against the border-mountaineers, and being successful he attacked on his return [129] the castle of Silbakri. This was deemed a sufficient indication of his views; the whole feudality of Maru 1069took alarm, and united for mutual safety at Bisalpur, twenty miles east of the capital.

Gordhan Singh negotiates with the Chiefs.

—There was a foreign Rajput, whose valour, fidelity, and conduct had excited the notice and regard of Bakhta Singh, who, in his dying hour, recommended him to the service of his son. To Gordhan, the Khichi, a name of no small note in the subsequent history of this reign, did the young Raja apply in order to restrain his chiefs from revolt. In the true spirit of Rajput sentiment, he advised his prince to confide in their honour, and, unattended, to seek and remonstrate with them, while he went before to secure him a good reception. At daybreak, Gordhan was in the camp of the confederates; he told them that their prince, confiding in their loyalty, was advancing to join them, and besought them to march out to receive him. Deaf, however, to entreaty and to remonstrance, not a man would stir, and the prince reached the camp uninvited and unwelcomed. Decision and confidence are essential in all transactions with a Rajput. Gordhan remained not a moment in deliberation, but instantly carried his master direct to the tent of the Awa chief, the premier noble of Marwar. Here the whole body congregated, and silence was broken by the prince, who demanded why his chiefs had abandoned him?

“Maharaja,” replied the Champawat, “our bodies have but one pinnacle; were there a second, it should be at your disposal.” A tedious discussion ensued; doubts of the future, recriminations respecting the past; till wearied and exhausted, the prince demanded to know the conditions on which they would return to their allegiance, when the following articles were submitted:

There was no alternative but the renewal of civil strife or compliance; and the first article, which was a sine qua non, the disbanding of the obnoxious guards, that anomalous appendage to a Rajput prince’s person, was carried into immediate execution. Neither in the first nor last stipulation could the prince feel surprise or displeasure; but the second sapped the very foundation of his rule, by depriving the crown of its dearest prerogative, the power of dispensing favour. This shallow reconciliation 1070being effected, the malcontent nobles dispersed, some to their estates [130], and the Chondawat oligarchy to the capital with their prince, in the hope of resuming their former influence over him and the country.

Massacre of the Chiefs.

—Thus things remained, when Atmaram, the Guru or ‘ghostly comforter’ of Bijai Singh, fell sick, and as he sedulously attended him, the dying priest would tell him to be of good cheer, for when he departed, he “would take all his troubles with him.” He soon died, and his words, which were deemed prophetic, were interpreted by the Dhabhai. The Raja feigned immoderate grief for the loss of his spiritual friend, and in order to testify his veneration, an ordinance was issued commanding that the Kiryakarma, or ‘rites for the dead,’ should be performed in the castle, while the queens, on pretence of paying their last duty to his remains, descended, carrying with them the guards and retainers as their escort. It was an occasion on which suspicion, even if awake, could not act, and the chiefs ascended to join in the funeral rites to the saint. As they mounted the steps cut out of the rock which wound round the hill of Jodha, the mind of Devi Singh suddenly misgave him, and he exclaimed that “the day was unlucky”; but it passed off with the flattering remark, “you are the pillar of Maru; who dare even look at you?” They paced slowly through the various barriers, until they reached the Alarum Gate.^[17] It was shut! “Treachery!” exclaimed the chief of Awa, as he drew his sword, and the work of death commenced. Several were slain; the rest were overpowered. Their captivity was a sufficient presage of their fate; but, like true Rajputs, when the Dhabhai told them they were to die, their last request was, “that their souls might be set at liberty by the sword, not by the unsanctified ball of the mercenary.” The chronicle does not say whether this wish was gratified, when the three great leaders of the Champawats, with Jeth Singh of Awa; Devi Singh of Pokaran; the lord of Harsola; Chhattar Singh, chief of the Kumpawats; Kesari Singh of Chandren; the heir of Nimaj; and the chief of Ras,^[18] then the 1071principal fief of the Udawats, met their fate. The last hour of Devi Singh was marked with a distinguished peculiarity. Being of the royal line of Maru, they would not spill his blood, but sent him his death-warrant in a jar of opium. On receiving it, and his prince’s command to make his own departure from life, “What!” said the noble spirit, as they presented the jar, “shall Devi [131] Singh take his amal (opiate) out of an earthen vessel? Let his gold cup be brought, and it shall be welcome.” This last vain distinction being denied, he dashed out his brains against the walls of his prison. Before he thus enfranchised his proud spirit, some ungenerous mind, repeating his own vaunt, demanded, “where was then the sheath of the dagger which held the fortunes of Marwar?” “In Subhala’s girdle at Pokaran,” was the laconic reply of the undaunted Chondawat.

This was a tremendous sacrifice for the maintenance of authority, of men who had often emptied their veins in defence of their country. But even ultra patriotism, when opposed to foreign aggression, can prove no palliative to treason or mitigate its award, when, availing themselves of the diminished power of the prince, an arrogant and imperious oligarchy presumes to enthral their sovereign. It is the mode in which vengeance was executed at which the mind recoils, and which with other instances appears to justify the imputation of perfidy amongst the traits of Rajput character. But if we look deeply into it, we shall find reason to distrust such conclusion. The Rajput abhors, in the abstract, both perfidy and treason; but the elements of the society in which he lives and acts, unfortunately too often prompt the necessity of sacrificing principles to preservation: but this proceeds from their faulty political constitution; it is neither inculcated in their moral code, nor congenial to their moral habits.

Right of Primogeniture.

—The perpetual struggle between the aristocracy and the sovereign, which is an evil inherent in all feudal associations, was greatly aggravated in Marwar, as well as in Mewar, by the sacrifice of that corner-stone even of constitutional monarchy, the rights of primogeniture. But in each case the deviation from custom was a voluntary sacrifice of the respective heirs-apparent to the caprices of parental dotage. In no other country in the world could that article of the Christian decalogue, “Honour thy father and thy mother,” be better illustrated than in Rajputana, where, if we have had to record 1072two horrid examples of deviation from, we have also exhibited splendid proofs of, filial devotion, in Chonda of Mewar, and Champa of Marwar, who resigned the “rods” they were born to wield; and served, when they should have swayed, to gratify their father’s love for the fruit of their old age. These are instances of self-denial hardly to be credited; from such disinterested acts, their successors claimed an importance which, though natural, was totally unforeseen, and which the extent of compensation contributed [132] to foster. They asserted the right, as hereditary premiers of the State, to be the advisers, or rather the tutors, of their sovereigns, more especially in non-age, and in allusion to this surrender of their birthright, arrogantly applied the well-known adage, Pat ka malik main ho, Raj ka malik uha, ‘He is sovereign of the State, but I am the master of the Throne’; and insisted on the privilege of being consulted on every gift of land, and putting their autograph symbol to the deed or grant.^[19] These pretensions demanded the constant exertions of the sovereign to resist them; for this purpose, he excited the rivalry of the less powerful members of the federated vassalage, and thus formed a kind of balance of power, which the monarch, if skilful, could always turn to account. But not even the jealousies thus introduced would have so depreciated the regal influence in Marwar, nor even the more recent adoption of a son of the crown into the powerful fief of Pokaran, had not the parricidal sons of Ajit degraded the throne in the eyes of their haughty and always overreaching vassals, who, in the civil strife which followed, were alternately in favour or disgrace, as they adhered to or opposed the successful claimant for power. To this foul blot, every evil which has since overtaken this high-minded race may be traced, as well as the extirpation of that principle of devoted obedience which, in the anterior portion of these annals, has been so signally recorded. To this hour it has perpetuated dissensions between the crown and the oligarchy, leading to deposal and violence to the princes, or sequestration, banishment, and death to the nobles. To break the bonds of this tutelage, Ram Singh’s intemperance lost him the crown, which sat uneasy on the head of his successor, who had no other mode of escape but by the severity which has been related. But though it freed him for a time, the words of the dying chief of Pokaran continued to ring in his ears; 1073and “the dagger left in the girdle of his son” disturbed the dreams of his rest throughout a long life of vicissitudes, poisoning the source of enjoyment until death itself was a relief.

The nuncupatory testament of the Champawat was transmitted across the desert to his son at Pokaran, and the rapidity of its transmission was only equalled by the alacrity of Sabhala, who at the head of his vassals issued forth to execute the vengeance thus bequeathed. First, he attempted to burn and pillage the mercantile town of Pali; foiled in which, he proceeded to another wealthy city of the fisc [133], Bhilwara on the Luni; but here terminated both his life and his revenge. As he led the escalade, he received two balls, which hurled him back amongst his kinsmen, and his ashes next morning blanched the sandy bed of the Luni.

Suppression of Aristocratic Influence.

—For a time the feudal interest was restrained, anarchy was allayed, commerce again flourished, and general prosperity revived: to use the words of the chronicle, “the subject enjoyed tranquillity, and the tiger and the lamb drank from the same fountain.” Bijai Singh took the best means to secure the fidelity of his chiefs, by finding them occupation. He carried his arms against the desultory hordes of the desert, the Khosas and Sahariyas, which involved him in contests with the nominal sovereign of Sind, and ended in the conquest of Umarkot, the key to the valley of the Indus, and which is now the most remote possession of Marwar. He also curtailed the territories of Jaisalmer, on his north-west frontier. But more important than all was the addition of the rich province of Godwar, from the Rana of Mewar. This tract, which nearly equals in value the whole fiscal domain of Maru, was wrested from the ancient princes of Mandor, prior to the Rathors, and had been in the possession of the Sesodias for nearly five centuries, when civil dissension made the Rana place it for security under the protection of Raja Bijai Singh; since which it has been lost to Mewar.

Rājput Confederation against the Marāthas. Battle of Tonga A.D. 1787. Battles of Pātan and Merta, 20th June, 10th, 12th September 1790.

—Marwar had enjoyed several years of peace, when the rapid strides made by the Mahrattas towards universal rapine, if not conquest, compelled the Rajputs once more to form an union for the defence of their political existence. Partap 1074Singh, a prince of energy and enterprise, was now on the gaddi of Amber. In S. 1843 (A.D. 1787), he sent an ambassador to Bijai Singh, proposing a league against the common foe, and volunteering to lead in person their conjoined forces against them. The battle of Tonga ensued, in which Rathor valour shone forth in all its glory. Despising discipline, they charged through the dense battalions of De Boigne, sabring his artillerymen at their guns, and compelling Sindhia to abandon not only the field, but all his conquests for a time.^[20] Bijai Singh, by this victory, redeemed the castle of Ajmer, and declared his tributary alliance null and void. But the genius of Sindhia, and the talents of De Boigne, soon recovered this loss; and in four years the Mahratta marched with a force such as Indian warfare was stranger to, to redeem that day’s disgrace. In S. 1847 (A.D. 1791), the murderous [134] battles of Patan and Merta took place, in which Rajput courage was heroically but fruitlessly displayed against European tactics and unlimited resources, and where neither intrigue nor treason was wanting. The result was the imposition of a contribution of sixty lakhs of rupees, or £600,000; and as so much could not be drained from the country, goods and chattels were everywhere distrained, and hostages given for the balance.

Ajmer lost to Mārwār.

—Ajmer, which had revolted on the short-lived triumph of Tonga, was once more surrendered, and lost for ever to Marwar. When invested by De Boigne, the faithful governor, Damraj, placed in the dilemma of a disgraceful surrender, or disobedience to his prince’s summons, swallowed diamond-powder.^[21] “Tell the raja,” said this faithful servant, “thus only could I testify my obedience; and over my dead body alone could a Southron enter Ajmer.”^[22]

1075

Influence of Court Morals.

—The paramount influence which the morals and manners of a court exert upon a nation, is everywhere admitted. In constitutional governments, there is a barrier even to court influence and corruption, in the vast portion of wealth and worth which cannot be engulphed in their vortex. But in these petty sovereignties no such check is found, and the tone of virtue and action is given from the throne. The laws of semi-barbarous nations, which admit of licentious concubinage, have ever been peculiar to orientals, from the days of the wise king of the Jews to those of Bijai Singh of Marwar; and their political consequence has been the same, the sacrifice of the rights of lawful inheritance to the heirs of illicit affection. The last years of the king of Maru were engrossed by sentimental folly with a young beauty of the Oswal tribe, on whom he lavished all the honours due only to his legitimate queens. Scandal affirms that she frequently returned his passion in a manner little becoming royal dignity, driving him from her presence with the basest of missiles—her shoes. As the effects of this unworthy attachment completed the anarchy of Marwar, and as its consequences on deviating from the established rules of succession have entailed a perpetuity of crime and civil war, under which this unfortunate State yet writhes, we shall be minute, even to dullness, in the elucidation [135] of this portion of their annals, to enable those who have now to arbitrate these differences to bring back a current of uncontaminated blood to sway the destinies of this still noble race.

1076

Influence of his Concubine on Bijai Singh.

—So infatuated was Bijai Singh with the Pasbani ^[23] concubine, that on losing the only pledge of their amours, he ‘put into her lap’ (adopted) his own legitimate grandchild, Man Singh. To legalize this adoption, the chieftains were ordained to present their nazars and congratulations to the declared heir of Marwar; but the haughty noblesse refused ‘to acknowledge the son of a slave’ as their lord, and the Raja was compelled to a fresh adoption to ensure such token of sanction. Content at having by this method succeeded in her wishes, the Pasbani sent off young Man to the castle of Jalor; but fearing lest the experience of Sher Singh, his adopted father, might prove a hindrance to her control, he was recalled, and her own creatures left to guide the future sovereign of Marwar. The dotage of Bijai Singh, and the insolence of his concubine, produced fresh discord, and the clans assembled at Malkosni ^[24] to concert his deposal.

Rebellion of the Clansmen against Bijai Sīngh.

—Recollecting the success of his former measures to recall them to their duty, Bijai Singh proceeded to their camp; but while he was negotiating, and as he supposed successfully, the confederates wrote to the chieftain of Ras, whose tour of duty was in the castle, to descend with Bhim Singh. The chief acquainted the Pasbani that her presence was required at the camp by the Raja, and that a guard of honour was ready to attend her. She was thrown off her guard, and at the moment she entered her litter, a blow from an unseen hand ended her existence. Her effects were instantly confiscated, and the chief of Ras descended with Bhim, whose tents were pitched at the Nagor barrier of the city. If, instead of encamping there, they had proceeded to the camp of the confederates, his arrival and the dethronement of Bijai Singh would have been simultaneous: but the Raja received the intelligence as soon as the chiefs. Hastening back, he obtained the person of the young aspirant, to whom, to reconcile him to his disappointment, he gave in appanage the districts of Sojat and Siwana, and sent him off to the latter stronghold; while to restrain the resentment 1077of his eldest son, Zalim Singh, whose birthright he had so unworthily sacrificed, he enfeoffed him with the rich district of Godwar, giving him private orders to attack his brother Bhim, who, though apprised of the design in time to make head against his uncle, was yet defeated and compelled to fly. He found refuge at Pokaran, whence he went to Jaisalmer.

Death of Rāja Bijai Singh.

—In the midst of this conflict, his dominions curtailed, his chiefs in rebellion, his sons and grandsons mutually opposed to each other, and the only object which attached him to life thus violently torn from him, Bijai Singh died, in the month Asarh S. 1850, after a reign of thirty-one years [136].

CHAPTER 14

Rāja Bhīm Singh, A.D. 1793-1803.

—The intelligence of Bijai Singh’s death was conveyed by express to his grandson Bhim, at Jaisalmer. In “twenty-two hours” he was at Jodhpur, and ascending directly to the citadel, seated himself upon the gaddi, while his rival, Zalim Singh, the rightful heir, little expecting this celerity, was encamped at the Merta gate, awaiting the “lucky hour” to take possession. That hour never arrived; and the first intelligence of Bhim being on “the cushion of Jodha,” was conveyed to the inhabitants by the nakkaras of his rival on his retreat from the city, who was pursued to Bhilara, attacked, defeated, and forced to seek shelter at Udaipur, where, with an ample domain from the Rana, he passed the rest of his days in literary pursuits. He died in the prime of life: attempting to open a vein with his own hand, he cut an artery and bled to death. He was a man of great personal and mental qualifications; a gallant soldier, and no mean poet.^[1] [137]

Rāja Bhīm disposes of his Rivals.

—Thus far successful, Raja Bhim determined to dismiss “compunctious visitings,” and be a king de facto if not de jure. Death had carried off three of his uncles, as well as his father, previous to this event; but there 1078were still two others, Sher Singh, his adopted father, and Sardar Singh, who stood in his way: the last was put to death; the former had his eyes put out; and, soon after, the unfortunate prince released himself from life by dashing out his brains. Sur Singh, the favourite of all Bijai Singh’s descendants, remained. His superior claims were fatal to him and his life fell a sacrifice with the others.

A single claimant alone remained of all the blood royal of Maru to disturb the repose of Bhim. This was young Man, the adopted son of the concubine, placed beyond his reach within the walls of Jalor. Could Bhim’s dagger have reached him, he would have stood alone, the last surviving scion of the parricide,

an instrument, in the hand of divine power, to rid the land of an accursed stock. Then the issue of Abhai Singh would have utterly perished, and their ashes might have been given to the winds, and no memorial of them left. Idar must then have supplied an heir,^[2] and the doubtful pretensions of Dhonkal,^[3] the 1079posthumous and reputed son of the wholesale assassin Bhim, to sit upon the gaddi of Ajit, would never have been brought forward to excite another murderous contest amongst the sons of Jodha.

Escape of Mān Singh.

—Having sacrificed all those within his reach who stood between him and the [139] throne, Bhim tried to secure the last sole claimant in Jalor. But the siege of such a stronghold with his feudal levies, or loose mercenary bands, was a tedious operation, and soon became an imperfect blockade, through which young Man not unfrequently broke, and by signal formed a junction with his adherents, and plundered the fiscal lands for support. One of these excursions, however, an attempt to plunder Pali, had nearly proved fatal to him; they were attacked on their return, and young Man, whose secluded education had confined him more to mental than to personal accomplishments, was unhorsed, and would have been captured, but for the prowess of the chief of Ahor, who took him up behind him and bore him off in safety. Nothing but the turbulence of the chiefs who supported Raja Bhim saved young Man’s life. A disputed succession has always produced an odious faction; and Bhim, who was not disposed to bend to this oligarchy, appears to have had all the imprudence of the dethroned Ram Singh: he threatened those entrusted with the siege to give them “oxen to ride instead of horses.” The chiefs fired at the insult, and retired to Ghanerao, the principal fief in Godwar; but, disgusted with both parties, instead of obeying the invitation of young Man, they abandoned their country altogether, and sought an asylum in the neighbouring States. Many fiefs were sequestrated, and Nimaj, the chief seat of the Udawats, was attacked, and after a twelve months’ defence, taken; its battlements were ignominiously destroyed, and the victors, chiefly foreign mercenaries, reinforced the blockade of Jalor.

Siege of Jālor. Death of Rāja Bhīm Singh.

—With the exile of his partisans and daily diminishing resources, when the lower town was taken, there appeared no hope for young Man. A small supply of millet-flour was all the provision left to his half-famished garrison, whose surrender was now calculated upon, 1080when an invitation came from the hostile commander for Man to repair to his camp, and adding “he was now the master; it was his duty to serve.” On that day (the 2nd Kartik S. 1860, Dec. 1804), after eleven years of defence, his means exhausted, his friends banished, and death from starvation or the sword inevitable, intelligence came of Raja Bhim’s demise! This event, as unlooked-for as it was welcome, could scarcely at first be credited; and the tender of the homage of the commander to Man as his sovereign, though accompanied by a letter from the prime minister Induraj, was disregarded till the Guru Deonath returned from the camp with confirmation of the happy news, that “not a moustache [140] was to be seen in the camp.”^[4] Thither the prince repaired, and was hailed as the head of the Rathors.

It is said that the successor of the Guru Atmaram, “who carried all the troubles of Bijai Singh with him to heaven,” had predicted of young Man Singh, when at the very zero of adversity, that “his fortunes would ascend.” What were the means whereby the ghostly comforter of Raja Bhim influenced his political barometer, we know not; but prophetic Gurus, bards, astrologers, physicians, and all the Vaidyas or ‘cunning-men,’^[5] who beset the persons of princes, prove dangerous companions when, in addition to the office of compounders of drugs and expounders of dreams, they are invested with the power of realizing their own prognostications.

Rāja Mān Singh, A.D. 1803-43.

—On the 5th of Margsir, 1860 (A.D. 1804), Raja Man, released from his perils, succeeded to the honours and the feuds of Bijai Singh. He had occupied the ‘cushion of Maru’ but a very short period, when the Pokaran chief “took offence,” and put himself in hostility to his sovereign. The name of this proud vassal, the first in power though only of secondary rank amongst the Champawats, was Sawai Singh, with whom now remained “the sheath of the dagger which held the fortunes of Maru.” If the fulfilment of vengeance be a virtue, Sawai was the most virtuous son on earth. The dagger of Devi Singh, bequeathed to Sabhala, was no imaginary weapon in the 1081hands of his grandson Sawai, who held it suspended over the head of Raja Man from his enthronement to his death-hour. Soon after Raja Man’s accession, Sawai retired with his partisans to Chopasni, a spot about five miles from the capital, where the conspiracy was prepared. He told the chiefs that the wife of Raja Bhim was pregnant, and prevailed on them to sign a declaration, that if a son was born, he should be installed on the gaddi of Jodha. They returned in a body to the capital, took the pregnant queen from the castle, and placed her in a palace in the city, under their own protection. Moreover, they held a council, at which the Raja was present, who agreed to recognise the infant, if a male, as the heir-apparent of Maru, and to enfeoff him in the appanage of Nagor and Siwana; and that if a female, she should be betrothed to a prince of Dhundhar [141].

Dangers from Posthumous Births.

—Posthumous births are never-failing germs of discord in these States; and the issue is inevitably branded by one party with the title of ‘supposititious.’ It is likewise a common saying, almost amounting to a proverb, that a male child is the uniform result of such a position. In due course, a male infant was born; but, alarmed for its safety, the mother concealed both its birth and sex, and placing it in a basket, conveyed it by a faithful servant from the city, whence it soon reached Sawai Singh at Pokaran. He bestowed upon it the inauspicious name of Dhonkal, that is, one born to tumult and strife. It is said that during two years he kept the birth a profound secret, and it is even added, that it might have remained so, had Raja Man forgot the history of the past, and dispensed even-handed justice. Wanting, however, the magnanimity of the Fourth Henry of France, who scorned “to revenge the wrongs of the prince of Navarre,” he reserved his favours and confidence for those who supported him in Jalor, whilst he evinced his dislike to others who, in obedience to their sovereign, served against him. Of these adherents, only two chiefs of note were of his kin and clan; the others were Bhatti Rajputs, and a body of those religious militants called Bishanswamis, under their Mahant, or leader, Kaimdas.^[6]

1082

Sawāi Singh supports Dhonkal Singh.

—At the expiration of two years, Sawai communicated the event to the chiefs of his party, who called upon Raja Man to redeem his promise and issue the grant for Nagor and Siwana. He promised compliance if, upon investigation, the infant proved to be the legitimate offspring of his predecessor. Personal fear overcame maternal affection, and the queen, who remained at Jodhpur, disclaimed the child. Her reply being communicated to the chiefs, it was for a time conclusive, and the subject ceased to interest them, the more especially as her concealed accouchement had never been properly accounted for.

Though Sawai, with his party, apparently acquiesced, his determination was taken; but instead of an immediate appeal to arms, he adopted a deeper scheme of policy, the effects of which he could not have contemplated, and which involved his own destruction, and with it the independence of his country, which was transferred to [142] strangers, their very antipodes in manners, religion, and every moral quality. His first act was to procure a more powerful protection than Pokaran afforded; and under the guarantee of Chhattar Singh Bhatti, he was sent to the saran (sanctuary) of Abhai Singh of Khetri.^[7] Having so far succeeded, he contrived an underplot, in which his genius for intrigue appears not below his reputation as a soldier.

Krishna Kunwāri.

—The late prince Bhim had made overtures to the Rana of Mewar for the hand of his daughter, but he died before the preliminaries were adjusted. This simple circumstance was deemed sufficient by the Champawat for the groundwork of his plot. He contrived to induce the voluptuous Jagat Singh, the prince of Jaipur, to put himself in the place of Raja 1083Bhim, and to propose for the fair hand of Krishna. This being accomplished, and nuptial presents, under a guard of four thousand men, being dispatched to Udaipur, Sawai intimated to Raja Man that he would be eternally disgraced if he allowed the prince of Amber to carry off “the betrothed”; that “it was to the throne of Maru, not its occupant, she was promised.” The bait was greedily swallowed, and the summons for the Kher (or levy en masse) of the Rathors was immediately proclaimed. Man instantly assembled three thousand horse, and joining to them the mercenary bands of Hira Singh then on the frontier of Mewar, he intercepted the nuptial gifts of Amber. Indignant at this outrage, Jagat Singh took to arms, and the muster-book was declared open to all who would serve in the war which was formally declared against Maru.

Attack by Rāja Jagat Singh of Jaipur on Mārwār. Treachery of Jaswant Rāo Holkar.

—Having thus opened the drama, Sawai threw off the mask, and repaired to Khetri, whence he conveyed the pretender, Dhonkal, to the court of Jagat Singh at Jaipur. Here his legitimacy was established by being admitted ‘to eat from the same platter’ with its prince; and his claims, as the heir of Marwar, were publicly acknowledged and advocated, by his ‘placing him in the lap of his aunt,’^[8] one of the wives of the deceased Raja Bhim. His cause thus espoused, and being declared the nephew of Amber, the nobles of Marwar, who deemed the claims of the pretender superior to those of Raja Man, speedily collected around his standard. Amongst these was the prince of Bikaner, whose example (he being the most powerful of the independents of this house) at once sanctioned the justice of Dhonkal’s cause, and left that of Raja Man almost without support. Nevertheless, with the hereditary [143] valour of his race, he advanced to the frontiers to meet his foes, whose numbers, led by the Jaipur prince and the pretender, exceeded one hundred thousand men! This contest, the ostensible object of which was the princess of Mewar, like the crusades of ancient chivalry, brought allies from the most remote parts of India. Even the cautious Mahratta felt an unusual impulse in this rivalry, beyond the stimulants of pay and plunder which ordinarily rouse him, and corps after corps left their hordes to support either cause. 1084The weightier purse of Jaipur was the best argument for the justice of his cause and that of the pretender; while Raja Man had only the gratitude of Holkar to reckon upon for aid, to whose wife and family he had given sanctuary when pursued by Lord Lake to the Attock. But here Sawai again foiled him; and the Mahratta, then only eighteen miles from Man, and who had promised to join him next day, made a sudden movement to the south. A bribe of £100,000, in bills upon Kotah, to be paid on Holkar’s reaching that city, effected this desertion; which being secured, Jagat Singh and the pretender advanced to overwhelm their antagonist, who was posted at Gingoli. As the armies approached each other, Raja Man’s chiefs rode up to salute him, preparatory, as he thought, to head their clans for the combat; but it was their farewell obeisance. The cannonade opened, they rallied under the standard of the pretender, and on Sawai advancing on the right of the allied line, so entire was the defection, that even the Mertia clan, whose virtue and boast it is “to adhere to the throne, whoever is the occupant,” deserted, with the Champawats, Jethawats, and minor chiefs. Four chieftains alone abided the evil hour of Raja Man, namely, Kuchaman, Ahor, Jalor, and Nimaj; and with their quotas alone, and the auxiliary bands of Bundi, he would have rushed into the battle. Hindered from this, he attempted his own life: but the design was frustrated by Sheonath of Kuchaman, who dismounted him from his elephant, and advised his trusting to the fleetness of his steed, while they covered his flight. The Raja remarked, he was the first of his race who ever disgraced the name of Rathor by showing his back to a Kachhwaha. The position he had taken that morning was favourable to retreat, being a mile in advance of the pass of Parbatsar:^[9] this was speedily gained, and nobly defended by the battalions of Bundi, and those of Hindal Khan, in the pay of Raja Man, which retarded the pursuit, headed by the Rao of Uniara. Raja Man reached Merta in safety; but deeming it incapable of long [144] resistance, he continued his flight by Pipar to the capital, which he reached with a slender retinue, including the four chiefs, who still shared his fortunes. The camp of Raja Man was pillaged. Eighteen guns were taken by Bala Rao Inglia, one of Sindhia’s commanders, and the lighter effects, the tents, elephants, and baggage, were captured by 1085Amir Khan; while Parbatsar, and the villages in the neighbourhood, were plundered.

Rāja Mān Singh defends Jodhpur.

—Thus far, the scheme of Sawai and the pretender advanced with rapid success. When the allied army reached Merta, the prince of Jaipur, whose object was the princess of Mewar, proposed to Sawai to follow up their good fortune, while he repaired to Udaipur, and solemnized the nuptials. But even in the midst of his revenge, Sawai could distinguish “between the cause of Man Singh and the gaddi of Marwar”; and to promote the success of Jaipur, though he had originated the scheme to serve his own views, was no part of his plan. He was only helped out of this dilemma by another, which he could not anticipate. Not dreaming that Raja Man would hold out in the capital, which had no means of defence, but supposing he would fly to Jalor, and leave Jodhpur to its fate and to the pretender, Sawai, desirous to avoid the further advance of the allies into the country, halted the army for three days at Merta. His foresight was correct: the Raja had reached Bisalpur in full flight to Jalor, when, at the suggestion of Gyanmall Singhi, a civil officer in his train, he changed his intention. “There,” said the Singhi, “lies Jodhpur only nine coss to the right, while Jalor is sixteen further; it is as easy to gain the one as the other, and if you cannot hold out in the capital, what chance have you elsewhere? while you defend your throne your cause is not lost.” Raja Man followed the advice, reached Jodhpur in a few hours, and prepared for his defence. This unexpected change, and the halt of the allied army, which permitted the dispersed bands to gain the capital, defeated the schemes of Sawai.

The Siege of Jodhpur.

—With a body of three thousand men, selected from Hindal Khan’s brigade, the corps of Bishanswamis, under Kaimdas, and one thousand foreign Rajputs, consisting of Chauhans, Bhattis, and Indhas (the ancient lords of Mandor), Raja Man formed a garrison of five thousand men, on whom he could depend. So ample did he deem this number, that he dispatched strong garrisons from Hindal’s brigade, with some Deora Rajputs, to garrison Jalor, and preserve the distant castle of Umarkot from surprise by the Sindis. Having thus provided against the storm [145] he fearlessly awaited the result. But so alienated was his mind from his kindred, that he would not 1086even admit to the honour of defending his throne the four faithful chieftains who, in the general desertion, had abided by his fortunes. To all their entreaties to be received into the castle, that “they might defend the kunguras (battlements) of Jodha,” he replied, they might defend the city if they pleased; and disgusted with such a return for their fidelity, they increased the train of his opponents, who soon encompassed Jodhpur.

The town, little capable of defence, was taken and given up to unlicensed plunder; and with the exception of Phalodi, which was gallantly defended for three months, and given to Bikaner as the reward of its alliance, the an of the pretender was proclaimed throughout Marwar, and his allies only awaited the fall of the capital, which appeared inevitable, to proclaim him king. But a circumstance occurred, which, awakening the patriotism of the Rathors, thwarted these fair prospects, relieved Raja Man from his peril, and involved his adversaries in the net of destruction which they had woven for him.

The siege had lasted five months without any diminution of the ardour of the defenders; and although the defences of the north-east angle were destroyed, the besiegers, having a perpendicular rock of eighty feet to ascend before they could get to the breach, were not nearer their object, and, in fact, without shells, the castle of Jodha would laugh a siege to scorn. The numerous and motley force under the banners of Jaipur and the pretender, became clamorous for pay; the forage was exhausted, and the partisan horse were obliged to bivouac in the distant districts to the south. Availing himself of their separation from the main body, Amir Khan, an apt pupil of the Mahratta school, began to raise contributions on the fiscal lands, and Pali, Pipar, Bhilara, with many others, were compelled to accede to his demands. The estates of the nobles who espoused the cause of the pretender, fared no better, and they complained to the Xerxes of this host of the conduct of this unprincipled commander.

Amir Khān supports Mān Singh. Defeat of the Jaipur Army A.D. 1806.

—The protracted defence having emptied the treasury of Amber, the arch-intriguer of Pokaran was called upon to contribute towards satisfying the clamour of the troops. Having exhausted the means of his own party, he applied to the four chieftains who had been induced to join the cause of the pretender by the suspicions of Raja Man, to advance a sum of money. 1087This appeal proved a test of [146] their zeal. They abandoned the pretender, and proceeded direct to the camp of Amir Khan. It required no powerful rhetoric to detach him from the cause and prevail upon him to advocate that of Raja Man; nor could they have given him better counsel towards this end, than the proposal to carry the war into the enemy’s country: to attack and plunder Jaipur, now left unguarded. At this critical moment, the Jaipur prince, in consequence of the representation of the Marwar chiefs, had directed his commander-in-chief, Sheolal, to chastise Amir Khan for his lawless conduct. Sheolal put a stop to their deliberations, attacked and drove them across the Luni, surprised them at Govindgarh, again in a night attack at Harsuri, and pursued the Khan to Phaggi,^[10] at the very frontier of Jaipur. Astonished at his own success, and little aware that the chase was in the direction projected by his enemy, Sheolal deemed he had accomplished his orders in driving him out of Marwar; halted, and leaving his camp, repaired to Jaipur to partake of its festivities. The Khan, who with his allies had reached Pipla near Tonk, no sooner heard of this, than he called to his aid the heavy brigades of Muhammad Shah Khan and Raja Bahadur (then besieging Isarda ^[11]), and availed himself of the imprudent absence of his foe to gain over the Haidarabad Rasala, a legion well known in the predatory wars of that period. Having effected this object, he assailed the Jaipur force, which, notwithstanding this defection and the absence of its commander, fought with great valour, the battalions of Hira Singh being nearly cut to pieces. The action ended in the entire defeat of the Jaipurians, and the capture of their camp, guns, and equipage. Prompted by the Rathor chieftains, whose valour led to this result, Amir Khan rapidly followed up his success, and Jaipur was dismayed by the presence of the victor at her gates. The generalship of the Khan was the salvation of Raja Man; it dissolved the confederacy, and fixed the doom of Sawai, its projector.

The Confederacy against Jodhpur dissolved.

—The tempest had been some time gathering; the Rajas of Bikaner and Shahpura had already withdrawn from the confederacy and marched home, when, like a clap of thunder, the effeminate Kachhwaha, who had in the outset of this crusade looked to a full harvest both of glory 1088and of love, learned that his army was annihilated, and his capital invested by the Khan and a handful of Rathors. Duped by the representations of Sawai, Rae Chand, Diwan or prime minister of Jaipur, concealed for some days these disasters from his sovereign, who received the intelligence by a special messenger sent by the queen-mother. Enraged, perplexed, and alarmed [147] for his personal safety, he broke up the siege, and sending on in advance the spoils of Jodhpur (including forty pieces of cannon), with his own chieftains, he sent for the Mahratta leaders,^[12] and offered them £120,000 to escort him in safety to his capital; nay, he secretly bribed, with a bond of £90,000 more, the author of his disgrace, Amir Khan, not to intercept his retreat, which was signally ignominious, burning his tents and equipage at every stage, and at length with his own hand destroying his favourite elephant, which wanted “speed for the rapidity of his flight.”

Jodhpur Booty recovered.

—But the indignities he had to suffer were not over. The chieftains whose sagacity and valour had thus diverted the storm from Raja Man, determined that no trophies of Rathor disgrace should enter Jaipur, united their clans about twenty miles east of Merta, on the line of retreat, appointing Induraj Singhi their leader. This person, who had held the office of Diwan under two predecessors of Raja Man, was driven to a temporary defection from the same suspicions which made the chiefs join the pretender. But they resolved to wash away the stain of this brief alienation from Raja Man with the blood of his enemies, and to present as a token of returning fidelity the recaptured trophies. The encounter took place on the joint frontier. It was short, but furious; and the Kachhwahas, who could not withstand the Rathors, were defeated and dispersed, and the spoils of the spoiler, including the forty cannon, were safely lodged in Kuchaman. Flushed with success, the victors addressed the Raja of Kishangarh, who, though a Rathor, 1089had kept aloof, to advance funds to secure the continuance of Amir Khan’s aid. Two lakhs of rupees (£20,000) effected this object; and the Khan, pledging himself to continue his support to Raja Man, repaired to Jodhpur. The four chiefs who had thus signalized themselves, preceded him, and were received with open arms: their offences were forgiven, and their estates restored, while Induraj was appointed Bakhshi or commander of the forces [148].

CHAPTER 15

Amīr Khān received at Jodhpur.

—Amir Khan was received by Raja Man with distinguished honours; a palace in the castle was assigned as his residence; valuable gifts were presented to him and great rewards held in perspective, if, through his agency, the rebellion should be completely subdued. He swore to extirpate Sawai’s faction, and in token of identity of views with Raja Man, he was admitted to the honour of that last proof of devotion to his cause, “an interchange of turbans,” with an advance of three lakhs, or £30,000, for the immediate payment of his bonds.

On the raising of the siege of Jodhpur, Sawai conducted the pretender to the appanage of the heirs of Marwar, the city of Nagor. There they were deliberating as to their future plans, when a message was brought from Amir Khan from [149] Mundiawar,^[1] ten miles distant, begging permission to perform his devotions at the shrine of the Muslim saint, Pir Tarkin, the sole relic of the Islamite, which Bakhta Singh had spared. His request being complied with, he with a slight cavalcade left his camp, and having gone through the mummeries of devotion, paid his respects to Sawai. When about to take leave, he threw out hints of Raja Man’s ungrateful return for his services, and that his legions might have been better employed. Sawai greedily caught at the bait; he desired the Khan to name his terms, and offered £200,000 on the day that Dhonkal should possess the gaddi of Jodhpur. The Khan accepted the conditions and ratified the engagement on the Koran, and to add to the solemnity 1090of the pledge, he exchanged turbans with Sawai. This being done, he was introduced to the pretender, received the usual gifts, pledged his life in his cause, took leave, and returned to his camp, whither he invited the prince and his chiefs on the following day to accept of an entertainment.

Amīr Khān massacres the Chiefs.

—On the morning of the 19th of Chait, S. 1864 (A.D. 1808), Sawai, attended by the chief adherents of the pretender and about five hundred followers, repaired to the camp of the Khan, who had made every preparation for the more effectual perpetration of the bloody and perfidious deed he meditated. A spacious tent was pitched in the centre of his camp for the reception of his guests, and cannon were loaded with grape ready to be turned against them. The visitors were received with the most distinguished courtesy; turbans were again exchanged; the dancing-girls were introduced, and nothing but festivity was apparent. The Khan arose, and making an excuse to his guests for a momentary absence, retired. The dancing continued, when at the word ‘dhaga,’ pronounced by the musicians, down sunk the tent upon the unsuspicious Rajputs, who fell an easy prey to the ferocious Pathans. Forty-two chieftains were thus butchered in the very sanctuary of hospitality, and the heads of the most distinguished were sent to Raja Man. Their adherents, taken by surprise, were slaughtered by the soldiery, or by cannon charged with grape, as they fled. The pretender escaped from Nagor, which was plundered by the Khan, when not only all the property of the party, but the immense stores left by Bakhta Singh, including three hundred pieces of cannon, were taken, and sent to Sambhar and other strongholds held by the Khan. Having thus fulfilled his instructions, he repaired to Jodhpur, and received ten lakhs or £100,000, and [150] two large towns, Mundiawar and Kuchilawas, of thirty thousand rupees annual rent, besides one hundred rupees daily for table-allowance, as the reward of his signal infamy.

Thus, by the murder of Sawai and his powerful partisans, the confederacy against Raja Man was extinguished; but though the Raja had thus, miraculously as it were, defeated the gigantic schemes formed against him, the mode by which it was effected entailed upon him and upon his country unexampled miseries. The destruction of the party of the pretender was followed by retaliation on the various members of the league. The Jaipur 1091territory was laid waste by the troops of Amir Khan, and an expedition was planned against Bikaner. An army consisting of twelve thousand of Raja Man’s feudal levies, under the command of Induraj, with a brigade of Amir Khan, and that of Hindal Khan with thirty-five guns, marched against the chief of the independent Rathors. The Bikaner Raja formed an army little inferior in numbers, and gave his suzerain the meeting at Bapri; but after a partial encounter, in which the former lost two hundred men, he fell back upon his capital, pursued by the victors, who halted at Gajner.^[2] Here terms were offered; two lakhs as the expenses of the war, and the surrender of the bone of contention, the town of Phalodi, which had been assigned to Bikaner as the price of joining the confederacy.

Amīr Khān rules Mārwār.

—The Khan was now the arbiter of Marwar. He stationed Ghafur Khan with a garrison in Nagor, and partitioned the lands of Merta amongst his followers. He likewise placed his garrison in the castle of Nawa, which gave him the command of the salt-lakes of Nawa and Sambhar. Induraj and the high-priest Deonath were the only counsellors of Raja Man, and all the oppressions which the chieftains suffered through this predominant foreign interference, were attributed to their advice. To cut them off the chiefs in their turn applied to Amir Khan, who for seven lakhs (£70,000), readily consented to rid them of their enemies. A plot was laid, in which some of his Pathans, under pretence of quarrelling with Induraj for their arrears, put this minister and the high-priest to death.

Insanity of Mān Singh.

—The loss of Deonath appeared to affect the reason of Raja Man. He shut himself up in his apartments, refused to communicate with any one, and soon omitted every duty, whether political or religious, until at length he was recommended to name his only son Chhattar Singh as his successor. To this he acceded [151], and with his own hand made the mark of inauguration on his forehead. But youth and base panders to his pleasure seduced him from his duties, and he died, some say the victim of illicit pursuits, others from a wound given by the hand of one of the chieftains, whose daughter he attempted to seduce.

The premature death of his only son, before he had attained the years of majority, still more alienated the mind of Raja Man 1092from all State affairs, and his suspicions of treacherous attempts on his person extended even to his wife. He refused all food, except that which was brought by one faithful menial. He neglected his ablutions, allowed his face to be covered with hair, and at length either was, or affected to be insane. He spoke to no one, and listened with the apathy of an idiot to the communications of the ministers, who were compelled to carry on the government. By many it is firmly believed that the part he thus acted was feigned, to escape the snares laid for his life; while others think that it was a melancholy mania, arising from remorse at having consented to the murder of Induraj, which incidentally involved that of the Guru.^[3] In short, his alliance with the atrocious Khan exposed him to the suspicion of a participation in his crimes, which the bent of his policy too much favoured. In this condition—the government being managed by an oligarchy headed by Salim Singh (son of Sawai)—did Raja Man remain, until the tide of events carried the arms of Britain even to the desert of Maru.

British Intervention. Restoration of Mān Singh.

—When, in 1817, we invited the Rajputs to disunite from the predatory powers, and to join us in establishing order throughout India, the young son of Raja Man, or rather his ministers, sent envoys to Delhi. But ere the treaty was ratified, this dissipated youth was no more. On this event, the Pokaran faction, dreading Raja Man’s resumption of the government, made an application to Idar for a son to adopt as their sovereign. But splendid as was the offer, the Raja, who had but one son, rejected it, unless the demand were sustained by the unanimous suffrages of the nobles. Unanimity being unattainable, the faction had no alternative save the restoration of Raja Man; but it was in vain they explained the new position of Marwar, the alliance with the English, which awaited his sanction, and the necessity that he, as the last prop of the royal family, should resume the reins of power. He listened to all with the most apathetic indifference [152]. But although he saw in this new crisis of the political condition of his country, motives for effecting his escape from bondage, his mind was so tutored by bitter experience that he never for an instant betrayed its workings. When at length he allowed himself to comprehend the full nature of the changes which made even the 1093faction desire his egress from solitude, so far from expressing any joy, he even disapproved of part of the treaty, and especially the article relating to the armed contingent of his vassals to be at the disposal of the protecting power, in which he wisely saw the germ of discord, from the certainty of interference it would lead to.

Treaty with the British.

—It was in December 1817 that the treaty ^[4] was negotiated at Delhi by a Brahman named Byas Bishan Ram, on the part of the regent prince, and in December 1818, an officer of the British government ^[5] was deputed to report on its actual condition. Notwithstanding the total disorganization of the government, from the combination of causes already described, the court had lost nothing of its splendour or regularity; the honour of all was concerned in preserving the dignity of the gaddi, though its incumbent was an object of distrust and even detestation. The ministry at this period was conducted by Akhai Chand (Diwan), and Salim Singh of Pokaran, as the representative of the aristocracy, with the title of Bhanjghar. All the garrisons and offices of trust throughout the country were held by the creatures of a junto, of which these were the heads. There was, however, already the nucleus of an opposition in the brother of the murdered minister, named Fateh Raj, who was entrusted with the care of the city. The instructions of the agent were to offer the aid of the British government towards the settlement of Raja Man’s affairs; and at a private interview, three days after the agent’s arrival, troops were offered to be placed at his disposal. But the wariness of his character will be seen in the use he made of this offer. He felt that the lever was at hand to crush faction to the dust; and with a Machiavellian caution, he determined that the existence of this engine should suffice; that its power should be felt, but never seen; that he should enjoy all the advantages this influence would give, without risking any of its dangers if called into action. Thus, while he rejected, though with thanks, the essential benefit tendered, qualifying his refusal with a sufficient reason—“reliance on himself to restore his State to order”—he failed not to [153] disseminate the impression amongst his chiefs, which was enough for his purpose, and which besides checked the dictation and interference that uniformly result from such unequal alliances.

1094Energetic counsels and rapid decision are unknown to Asiatic governments, whose subjects are ever prone to suspicion whenever unusual activity is visible; and Raja Man had been schooled into circumspection from his infancy. He appeared anxious to bury the past in oblivion, by choosing men of both parties for the inferior duties of the ministry; and the blandness of his manners and his conciliatory address lulled the most suspicious into security. After a short residence, the Agent returned to Ajmer, having in vain tried to convince Raja Man that his affairs were irretrievable without the direct aid of the paramount power, which he persisted in repudiating, assigning as his reason that he felt convinced, from “the measures then in train,” he should accomplish the task himself: of these measures conciliation appeared to be the basis.

The Author appointed Envoy to Jodhpur.

—At this period ^[6] an envoy was appointed, with powers direct from the Governor-General to Raja Man, but he was for some months prevented from proceeding to his court, from various causes.^[7]

1095

Demoralization at Jodhpur.

—The Agent, who reached Jodhpur early in the month of November, found matters [154] in nearly the same state as on his predecessor’s departure in February. The same faction kept the prince and all the officers of government at their disposal. The Raja interfered but little with their measures, except to acquiesce in or confirm them. The mercenary bands of Sindis or Pathans were in miserable plight and clamorous for their pay, not having been accounted with for three years; and they were to be seen begging in the streets of the capital, or hawking bundles of forage on their heads to preserve them from starvation. On the approach of the Agent of the British Government, the forms of accounts were gone through, and they gave in acquittances in full of demands, on condition of receiving 30 per cent of their arrears; but this was only a form, and with his departure (in about three weeks), they despaired even of that.

The name of justice was unknown:—though, in allusion to the religion of the men in power, it was common to hear it said, “You may commit murder and no one will notice it; but woe to him who beats or maims a brute, for dogs are publicly fed while the soldier starves.” In short, the sole object of the faction was to keep at a distance all interposition that might lead the prince to emancipate himself from their control. During the Agent’s stay of nearly three weeks, he had several private interviews with Raja Man. The knowledge he had of the history of his ancestry and his own situation, and of the causes which had produced it, failed not to beget a corresponding confidence; and these interviews were passed in discussions on the ancient history of the country as well as on his own immediate affairs. The Agent took leave with these words: “I know all the perils through which you have passed; I am aware how you surmounted them. 1096By your resolution, your external enemies are now gone: you have the British Government as a friend; rely upon it with the same fortitude, and, in a very short time, all will be as you could desire.”

Raja Man listened eagerly to these observations. His fine features, though trained to bear no testimony to the workings within, relaxed with delight as he rapidly replied, “In one twelve-months, my affairs will be as friendship could wish.” To which the Agent rejoined, “In half the time, Maharaja, if you are determined”: though the points to which he had to direct his mind were neither few nor slight, for they involved every branch of government; as

Reforms in Mārwār.

—1. Forming an efficient administration [155].

2. Consideration of the finances; the condition of the crown lands; the feudal confiscations, which, often unjust, had caused great discontent.

3. The reorganization and settlement of the foreign troops, on whose service the Raja chiefly depended.

4. An effective police on all the frontiers, to put down the wholesale pillage of the Mers in the south, the Larkhanis in the north, and the desert Sahariyas and Khosas in the west; reformation of the tariff, or scale of duties on commerce, which were so heavy as almost to amount to prohibition; and at the same time to provide for its security.

Scarcely had the Agent left Jodhpur, before the faction, rejoiced at the removal of the only restraint on their narrow-minded views, proceeded in the career of disorder. Whether the object were to raise funds, or to gratify ancient animosities, the course pursued by the Diwan and his junto was the same. Ghanerao, the chief fief of Godwar, was put under sequestration, and only released by a fine of more than a year’s revenue. All the minor chiefs of this rich tract suffered in the same manner, besides the indignity of having their lands placed under the control of a brother of the minister. Chandawal ^[8] was put under sequestration, and only released on a very heavy fine. At length the Diwan had the audacity to put his hand on Awa, the chief fief of Marwar; but the descendant of Champa replied, “My estate is not of to-day, nor thus to be relinquished.” Gloom, mistrust, and resentment 1097pervaded the whole feudal body. They saw a contemptible faction sporting with their honour and possessions, from an idea they industriously propagated, that an unseen but mighty power was at hand to support their acts, given out as those of the prince. If the Raja did dictate them, he took especial care it should not be seen; for in the absence of the British Agent, he once more resumed his sequestered habits, and appeared to take no interest in the government further than to promote a coalition between Akhai Chand and Fateh Raj, who was supported by a strong party of the chiefs, and the influence of the favourite queen. But Akhai Chand, who commanded, through his creatures, all the resources of the country, and its strongholds, even to the castle of Jodhpur, rejected these overtures, and feigning that there were plots against his personal safety, left the city; and the better to exclude his adversaries from the prince, resided entirely in the citadel.

Cruelty of Rāja Mān Singh.

—Six months had thus fled. The fiat of Akhai Chand was supreme; he alone was [156] visible; his orders alone were obeyed. Raja Man was only heard of as an automaton, moving as the Diwan pleased. But while the latter was thus basking in the full sunshine of prosperity, enriching himself and his dependents, execrated by the nobles and envied by his fellow-citizens, they heard of his fall! Then, the insanity of his master proved to be but a cloak to the intensity of his resentment. But a blind revenge would not have satisfied Raja Man. The victims of his deep dissimulation, now in manacles, were indulged with hopes of life, which, with the application of torture, made them reveal the plunder of prince and subject. A schedule of forty lakhs, or £400,000, was given in by the Diwan and his dependents, and their accounts being settled in this world, they were summarily dismissed to the other, with every mark of ignominy which could add to the horrors of death. Nagji, the Kiladar,^[9] and misleader of the late regent prince, with Mulji Dandal, one of the old allodial stock, had each a cup of poison, and their bodies were thrown over the ‘Gate of Victory’ (Fateh Pol). Jivaraj, a brother of the Dandal, with Biharidas Khichi, and the tailor, had their heads shaved, and their bodies were flung into the cascade beneath. Even the sacred character of “expounder of the Vedas,” and that of 1098“revealer of the secrets of heaven,” yielded no protection; and Byas Sheodas, with Srikishan, Jotishi, the astrologer, were in the long list of proscriptions. Nagji, commandant of the citadel, and Mulji, had retired on the death of the regent-prince; and with the wealth they had accumulated, while administering to his follies, had erected places of strength. On the restoration of Raja Man, and the general amnesty which prevailed, they returned to their ancient offices in the castle, rose into favour, and forgot they had been traitors. Having obtained their persons, Man secured the ancient jewels of the crown, bestowed on these favourites during the ephemeral sway of his son. Their condemnation was then passed, and they were hurled over the battlements of the rock which it was their duty to guard. With such consummate skill was the plot contrived, that the creatures of the minister, in the most remote districts, were imprisoned simultaneously with himself. Of the many subordinate agents thus confined, many were liberated on the disclosure of their wealth; and by these sequestrations, Raja Man obtained abundant supplies. The enormous sum of a crore, or near one million sterling, was stated; but if they yielded one-half (and this was not unlikely), they gave the means, which he was not slow to use, for the prosecution of what he termed a just punishment, though it [157] better deserves the name of a savage revenge. Had he been satisfied with inflicting the last penalty of the law on the nefarious Akhai Chand, and some of the household officers whose fidelity ought ever to be firm, and with the sequestration of the estates of some two or three of the vassals whose power had become dangerous, or their treason too manifest to be overlooked, he would have commanded the services of the rest, and the admiration of all conversant with these events. But this first success added fuel to his revenge, and he sought out more noble victims to glut it. His circumspection and dissimulation were strengthened, not relaxed, by his success. Several of the chiefs, who were marked out for death, had received, only a few days before, the highest proof of favour in additional lands to their rent-roll, and accident alone prevented a group of the most conspicuous from falling into the snare which had inveigled Akhai Chand. Salim Singh of Pokaran, and his constant associate Surthan of Nimaj, with Anar Singh of Ahor, and the minors of their clans, whose duty daily carried them to the court, as the 1099chief advisers of the prince, formed a part of the administration of the Diwan, and they naturally took alarm upon his confinement. To obviate this, a deputation was sent by the prince to tranquillize them by the assurance that, in the confinement of the minister, whose rapacity and misconduct deserved punishment, the Raja had attained all his ends. Thus, in order to encompass the destruction of the Pokaran chief, he would not have scrupled to involve all the rest. The prince, with his own mouth, desired the confidential servant of Anar Singh, who was his personal friend, to attend with the others. Their distrust saved him. The same night, the mercenary bands, to the number of eight thousand men, with guns, attacked Surthan Singh in his dwelling. With one hundred and eighty of his clan, he defended himself against great guns and small arms, as long as the house was tenable, and then sallied out sword in hand, and, with his brother and eighty of his kin, fell nobly in the midst of his foes. The remainder retreated with their arms to defend Nimaj and their infant chief. This gallant defence, in which many of the townspeople were slain, prevented a repetition of the attempt against the Pokaran chief, who remained on the defensive; until, seeing an opportunity, he fled to his asylum in the desert, or he would that day have renounced “the sheath of the dagger which held the fortunes of Marwar,” and which now contained the accumulated revenge of four generations: of Deo Singh, of Sabhala, of Sawai, and his own. His death would have terminated this branch of Ajit’s issue, adopted into the house of [158] Pokaran, in the history of which we have a tolerable picture of the precariousness of existence in Marwar.^[10]

What better commentary can be made on Raja Man’s character, than the few recorded words addressed to Fateh Raj, 1100whom he sent for to the Presence, on the day succeeding these events? “Now you may perceive the reasons why I did not sooner give you office.” This individual, the brother of the late Induraj, was forthwith installed in the post of Diwan; and with the sinews of war provided by the late sequestrations, the troops were satisfied, while by the impression so sedulously propagated and believed, that he had only to call on the British power for what aid he required, the whole feudal body was appalled: and the men, who would have hurled the tyrant from his throne, now only sought to avoid his insidious snares, more dangerous than open force.

Nimaj was besieged and nobly defended; but at length the son of Surthan capitulated, on receiving the sign-manual of his prince promising pardon and restoration, guaranteed by the commander of the mercenary bands. To the eternal disgrace of the Raja, he broke this pledge, and the boy had scarcely appeared in the besieging camp, when the civil officer produced the Raja’s mandate for his captivity and transmission to the Presence. If it is painful to record this fact, it is pleasing to add, that even the mercenary commander spurned the infamous injunction. “No,” said he; “on the faith of my pledge (bachan) he surrendered; and if the Raja breaks his word, I will maintain mine, and at least place him in security.” He kept his promise, and conveyed him to the Aravalli mountains, whence he passed over to, and received protection in Mewar.

Estrangement of the Chiefs.

—This and similar acts of treachery and cold-blooded tyranny completely estranged all the chiefs. Isolated as they were, they could make no resistance against the mercenary battalions, amounting to ten thousand men, exclusive of the quotas; and they dared not league for defence, from the dreaded threat held over them, of calling in the British troops; and in a few months the whole feudal association of [159] Marwar abandoned their homes and their country, seeking shelter in the neighbouring States from the Raja’s cruel and capricious tyranny. To his connexion with the British Government alone he was indebted for his being able thus to put forth the resources of his policy, which otherwise he never could have developed either with safety or effect; nor at any former period of the history of Marwar could the most daring of its princes have undertaken, with any prospect of success, what Raja Man accomplished under this alliance.

1101These brave men found asyla in the neighbouring States of Kotah, Mewar, Bikaner, and Jaipur. Even the faithful Anar Singh, whose fidelity no gratitude could ever repay, was obliged to seek refuge in exile. He had stood Man’s chief shield against the proscription of Raja Bhim, when cooped up in Jalor, and sold his wife’s ornaments, “even to her nose-ring,” to procure him the means of subsistence and defence. It was Anar Singh who saved him when, in the attempt upon Pali, he was unhorsed and nearly made prisoner. He was among the four chiefs who remained by his fortunes when the rest deserted to the standard of the pretender; and he was one of the same body, who rescued the trophies of their disgrace from the hands of their enemies when on the road to Jaipur. Last of all, he was mainly instrumental in the Raja’s emancipation and in his resumption of the reins of government. Well might the fury of his revenge deserve the term of madness! In A.D. 1821, the greater chieftains of Marwar, thus driven into exile, were endeavouring to obtain the mediation of the British authorities; but another year had elapsed without the slightest advance to accommodation. Their conduct has been exemplary, but their degrading position, dependent on the scanty resources of others, must of itself work a cure. Their manly remonstrance addressed to the British functionary is already before the reader.^[11] He did not hesitate to tell them, that if in due time no mediation was held out, they must depend on themselves for redress!

Such was the political condition of Marwar until the year 1823. Had a demoniacal spirit of revenge not blinded Raja Man, he had a fine opportunity to lay the principles of order on a permanent basis, and to introduce those reforms necessary for his individual welfare as well as for that of the State. He had it in his power to modify the institutions, to curb without destroying the feudal chiefs, and [160] to make the whole subservient to the altered condition of affairs. Instead of having the glory of fixing the constitution of his country, he has (reposing on external protection) broken up the entire feudal association, and rendered the paramount power an object of hatred instead of reverence.

Retrospect of Mārwār History.

—Having thus rapidly sketched the history of this interesting branch of the Rajput race, from 1102the destruction of their ancient seat of empire, Kanauj, and their settlement in the Indian desert more than six centuries ago, to the present day, it is impossible to quit the subject without a reflection on the anomalous condition of their alliance with the British Government, which can sanction the existence of such a state of things as we have just described. It illustrates the assertions made in an early part of this work,^[12] of the ill-defined principles which guide all our treaties with the Rajputs, and which, if not early remedied, will rapidly progress to a state of things full of misery to them, and of inevitable danger to ourselves. These “men of the soil,” as they emphatically designate themselves, cling to it, and their ancient and well-defined privileges, with an unconquerable pertinacity; in their endeavours to preserve them, whole generations have been swept away, yet has their strength increased in the very ratio of oppression. Where are now the oppressors? the dynasties of Ghazni, of Ghor, the Khiljis, the Lodis, the Pathans, the Timurs, and the demoralizing Mahratta? The native Rajput has flourished amidst these revolutions, and survived their fall; and but for the vices of their internal sway, chiefly contracted from such association, would have risen to power upon the ruin of their tyrants. But internal dissension invited the spoiler; and herds of avaricious Mahrattas and ferocious Pathans have reaped the harvest of their folly. Yet all these faults were to be redeemed in their alliances with a people whose peculiar boast was, that wisdom, justice, and clemency were the corner-stones of their power: seeking nothing from them beyond the means for their defence, and an adherence to the virtues of order. How far the protecting power has redeemed its pledge, in allowing years to pass away without some attempt to remedy the anarchy we have described, the reader is in a condition to judge. If it be said that we have tied up our hands by leaving them free agents in their internal administration, then let no offer of support be given to the head, for the oppression of the vassal and his rights, co-equal with those of the sovereign [161]; and if our mediation cannot be exerted, let us withdraw altogether the checks upon the operation of their own system of government, and leave them free agents in reality. A wiser, more humane, and liberal policy would be, to impose upon ourselves the task of understanding their political condition, 1103and to use our just influence for the restoration of their internal prosperity, and with it the peace, present as well as prospective, of an important part of our empire. The policy which such views would suggest, is to support the opinion of the vast majority of the Rathors, and to seize the first opportunity to lend at least our sanction to an adoption, from the Idar branch, of Rathor blood, not only uncontaminated, but heirs-presumptive to Jodha, and exclude the parricidal line which will continue to bring misery on the country. If, however, we apply only our own monarchical, nay, despotic principles to this feudal society, and interfere but to uphold a blind tyranny, which must drive these brave chiefs to despair, it will be well to reflect and consider, from the acts we have related, of what they are capable. Very different, indeed, would be the deeds of proscribed Rajputs from those of vagabond Pindaris, or desultory Mahrattas; and what a field for aggression and retreat! Rumour asserts that they have already done themselves justice; and that, driven to desperation, and with no power to mediate, the dagger has reached the heart of Raja Man! If this be true, it is a retribution which might have been expected; it was the only alternative left to the oppressed chiefs to do themselves justice. It is also said, that the ‘pretended’ son of Raja Bhim is now on the gaddi of Jodha. This is deeply to be lamented. Raja Dhonkal will see only the party who espoused his pretensions, and the Pokaran chief and faction will hold that place in the councils of his sovereign, which of right belongs to the head of his clan, the Champawat chief of Awa, an exile in Mewar.^[13] Jealousy, feuds, and bloodshed will be the consequence, which would at once be averted by an adoption from Idar. Were a grand council of Rajputs to be convened, in order to adjust the question, nine-tenths would decide as proposed; the danger of 1104interference would be neutralized, and peace and tranquillity would be the boon bestowed upon thousands, and, what is of some consequence, future danger to ourselves would be avoided [162].

7. One of these was an unpleasant altercation, which took place between the townspeople of the Commercial Mart of Pali and an English gentleman, sent unofficially to feel his way as to the extension of commercial enterprise, carrying specimens of the staple commodities of our trade. This interference with the very fountain-head of their trade alarmed the monopolists of Pali, who, dreading such competition, created or took advantage of an incident to rid themselves of the intruder. The commercial men of these regions almost all profess the Jain religion, whose first rule of faith is the preservation of life, in beast as in man. By them, therefore, the piece-goods, the broad-cloths and metals of the Christian trader, were only less abhorred than his flesh-pots, and the blood of the goats sworn to have been shed by his servants within the bounds of Pali, rose in judgment against their master, of whom a formal complaint was laid before Raja Man. It lost none of its acrimony in coming through the channel of his internuncio at Udaipur, the Brahman, Bishan Ram. Mr. Rutherford rebutted the charge, and an investigation took place at the capital on oath, upon which, as the merchants and the governor of Pali (a nephew of the minister) could not substantiate their charge, the latter was severely reprimanded for his incivility. But whether the story was true or false, it was quite enough for their purpose. The interdict between Mr. Rutherford and the inhabitants of Pali was more effectual than the sanitary cordon of any prince in Christendom. The feeling of resentment against him reached the Agent of government, who was obliged to support what appeared the cause of truth, even according to the deposition made before their own judgment-seat, and he was consequently deemed inimical to the prince and the faction which then guided his councils. Mr. Rutherford proceeded afterwards to Kotah, to exhibit the same wares; but he was there equally an object of jealousy, though from letters of recommendation from the Agent, it was less strongly manifested. It furnished evidence that such interference would never succeed. It is well his mission did not appear to be sanctioned by the government. What evil might not be effected by permitting unrestricted and incautious intercourse with such people, who can, and do obtain all they require of our produce without the presence of the producers, who, whether within or without the pale of the Company’s service, will not, I trust, be prematurely forced on Rajputana, or it will assuredly hasten the day of inevitable separation!

CHAPTER 16

Extent of Mārwār.

—The extreme breadth of Marwar lies between two points in the parallel of the capital, namely, Girab, west, and Shamgarh, on the Aravalli range, east. This line measures two hundred and seventy British miles. The greatest length, from the Sirohi frontier to the northern boundary, is about two hundred and twenty miles.^[1] From the remote angle, N.N.E., in the Didwana district, to the extremity of Sanchor, S.W., the diagonal measurement is three hundred and fifty miles. The limits of Marwar are, however, so very irregular, and present so many salient angles and abutments into other States, that without a trigonometrical process we cannot arrive at a correct estimate of its superficial extent: a nicety not, indeed, required.

Physical Features, Population.

—The most marked feature that diversifies the face of Maru is the river Luni, which, rising on her eastern frontier at Pushkar, and pursuing a westerly course, nearly bisects the country, and forms the boundary between the fertile and sterile lands of Maru. But although the tracts south of this stream, between it and the Aravalli, are by far the richest part of Marwar, it would be erroneous to describe all the northern part as sterile. An ideal line, passing through Nagor and Jodhpur, to Balotra, will mark the just distinction. South of this line will lie the districts of Didwana, Nagor, Merta, Jodhpur, Pali, Sojat, Godwar, Siwana, Jalor, Bhinmal, and Sanchor, most of which are fertile and populous; and we may [163] assign a population of eighty souls to the square mile. The space north of this line is of a very different character, but this requires a subdivision; for while the north-east portion, which includes a portion of Nagor, the large towns of Phalodi, Pokaran, etc., may be calculated at thirty, the remaining space to the south-west, as Gugadeo-ka-thal, or ‘desert of Guga,’ Sheo, Barmer, Kotra, and Chhotan, can 1105scarcely be allowed ten. In round numbers, the population of Marwar may be estimated at two millions of souls.^[2]

Classes of Inhabitants.

—Of this amount, the following is the classification of the tribes. The Jats constitute five-eighths, the Rajputs two-eighths,^[3] while the remaining classes, sacerdotal,^[4] commercial, and servile, make up the integral number. If this calculation be near the truth, the Rajputs, men, women, and children, will amount to five hundred thousand souls, which would admit of fifty thousand men capable of bearing arms, especially when we recollect that the Jats or Jāts are the industrious class.

The Rāthors.

—It is superfluous to expatiate on the peculiarities of the Rathor character, which we have endeavoured to extract from their own actions. It stands deservedly high in the scale of the “Thirty-six Tribes,” and although debased by one besetting sin (the use of opium), the Rathor is yet a noble animal, and requires only some exciting cause to show that the spirit, which set at defiance the resources of the empire in the zenith of its prosperity, is dormant only, not extinct. The reign of the present prince has done more, however, than even the arms of Aurangzeb, to deteriorate the Rathors. Peace would recruit their thinned ranks, but the mistrust sown in every house by unheard-of duplicity, has greatly demoralized the national character, which until lately stood higher than that of any of the circumjacent tribes. A popular prince, until within these very few years, could easily have collected a magnificent army, ek bap ke bete, ‘the sons of one father,’ round the ‘gaddi of Jodha’: in fact, the panchas hazar tarwar Rathoran, meaning the ‘fifty thousand Rathor swords,’ is the proverbial phrase to denote the muster of Maru, of which they estimated five thousand cavalry. This was exclusive of the household and foreign troops supported on the fiscal lands. The Rathor cavalry was the best in India. There were several horse-fairs, especially those of Balotra and Pushkar where the horses of [164] Cutch and Kathiawar, the Jungle, and Multan, were brought in great numbers. Valuable horses were also bred on the western frontier, on the Luni, those of Rardara being in high estimation. But the events of the last twenty 1106years appear to have dried up every source of supply. The breeding studs of Rardara, Cutch, and the Jungle are almost extinct, and supplies from the west of the Indus are intercepted by the Sikhs.^[5] The destruction of the predatory system, which created a constant demand, appears to have lessened the supply. So much for the general peace which the successes of Britain have produced.

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

Soil, Agriculture, Products.

—The following is the classification of the different heads of soil in Marwar: Bekal, Chikni, Pīla, and Safed. The first (whose etymology I know not) pervades the greater part of the country, being a light sand, having little or no earthy admixture, and only fit to produce bajra (millet), mung, moth (pulse), til (sesamum), melons and gawar.^[6] Chikni (fat), a black earth, pervades the district of Didwana, Merta, Pali, and several of the feudal lands in Godwar. Wheat and grain are its products. The Pīla (yellow) is a sandy clay, chiefly about Khinwasar ^[7] and the capital, also Jalor and Balotra, and portions of other districts. It is best adapted for barley, and that kind of wheat called pattagehun (the other is kathagehun);^[8] also tobacco, onions, and other vegetables: the staple millets are seldom grown in this. The Safed (white) is almost pure silex, and grows little or nothing, but after heavy falls of rain.^[9]

1107The districts south of the Luni, as Pali, Sojat, and Godwar, fertilized by the numerous petty streams flowing from the Aravalli, produce abundantly every species of grain with the exception of bajra, which thrives best in a sandy soil; and in Nagor and Merta considerable quantities of the richer grains are raised by irrigation from wells. The extensive western divisions of Jalor, Sanchor, and Bhinmal, containing [165] five hundred and ten towns and villages, which are Khalisa, or ‘fiscal land,’ possess an excellent soil, with the advantage of the rills from Abu, and the great southern barrier; but the demoralized government of Raja Man never obtains from them one-third of their intrinsic capability, while the encroachment of the Sahariyas, and other robbers from the Sindi desert, encroach upon them often with impunity. Wheat, barley, rice, juar (millet), mung (pulse), til (sesamum), are the chief products of the richer lands; while amidst the sandy tracts they are confined to bajra, mung, and til. With good government, Marwar possesses abundance of means to collect stores against the visitations which afflict these northern regions: but prejudice steps in to aid the ravages of famine, and although water is near the surface in all the southern districts, the number of wells bears no proportion to those in Mewar. The great district of Nagor, of five hundred and sixty towns and villages, the appanage of the heirs-apparent of Maru, in spite of physical difficulties, is, or has been made, an exception; and the immense sheet of sandstone, on which a humid soil is embedded, has been pierced throughout by the energies of ancient days, and contains greater aids to agriculture than many more fertile tracts in the country.

Natural Productions.

—Marwar can boast of some valuable productions of her sterile plains, which make her an object of no little importance in the most distant and more favoured regions of India. The salt lakes of Pachbhadra, Didwana, and Sambhar, are mines of wealth, and their produce is exported over the greater part of Hindustan; while to the marble quarries of Makrana (which gives its name to the mineral), on her eastern frontier, all the splendid edifices of the imperial cities owe their grandeur. The materials used in the palaces of Delhi, Agra, their mosques, and tombs, have been conveyed from Marwar.^[10] The quarries, until of late years, yielded a considerable 1108revenue; but the age for palace-building in these regions is no more, and posterity will ask with surprise the sources of such luxury. There are also limestone quarries near Jodhpur and Nagor; and the concrete called kankar is abundant in many of the districts, and chiefly used for mortar. Tin and lead are found at Sojat; alum about Pali, and iron is obtained from Bhinmal and the districts adjoining Gujarat.

Manufactures.

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

Commercial Marts.

—None of these States are without traffic; each has her mart, or entrepôt; and while Mewar boasts of Bhilwara, Bikaner of Churu, and Amber of Malpura (the city of wealth), the Rathors claim Pali, which is not only the rival of the places just mentioned, but may make pretensions to the title of emporium of Rajputana. These pretensions we may the more readily admit, when we recollect that nine-tenths of the bankers and commercial men of India are natives of Marudes, and these chiefly of the Jain faith. The laity of the Khadatara sect send forth thousands to all parts of India, and the Oswals, so termed from the town of Osian, near the Luni, estimate one hundred thousand families whose occupation is commerce. All these claim a Rajput descent, a fact entirely unknown to the European enquirer into the peculiarities of Hindu manners. The wealth acquired in foreign lands, from the Sutlej to the ocean, returns chiefly to their native soil; but as neither primogeniture nor majorats are sanctioned by the Jain lawgivers, an equal distribution takes place amongst all the sons, though the youngest (as amongst the Getae of Asia, and the Jutes of Kent), receives often a double portion. This arises when the division takes place while the parent is living, being the portion set apart for his own 1109support, which ultimately falls to the youngest, with whom he probably resides. It would be erroneous to say this practice is extensive; though sufficient instances exist to suppose it once was a principle.^[11] The bare enumeration of the tribes following commerce would fill a short chapter. A priest of the Jains [167] (my own teacher), who had for a series of years devoted his attention to form a catalogue, which then amounted to nearly eighteen hundred classes, renounced the pursuit, on obtaining from a brother priest, from a distant region, one hundred and fifty new names to add to his list.

Pali was the entrepôt for the eastern and western regions, where the productions of India, Kashmir, and China, were interchanged for those of Europe, Africa, Persia, and Arabia. Caravans (kitars), from the ports of Cutch and Gujarat, imported elephants’ teeth, copper, dates, gum-arabic, borax, coco-nuts, broadcloths, silks, sandal-wood, camphor, dyes, drugs, oxide and sulphuret of arsenic, spices, coffee, etc. In exchange, they exported chintzes, dried fruits, jira,^[12] asafoetida from Multan, sugar, opium (Kotah and Malwa), silks and fine cloths, potash, shawls, dyed blankets, arms, and salt of home manufacture.

Caravans.

—The route of the caravans was by Suigam,^[13] Sanchor, Bhinmal, Jalor to Pali, and the guardians of the merchandise 1110were almost invariably Charans, a character held sacred by the Rajput. The most desperate outlaw seldom dared to commit any outrage on caravans under the safeguard of these men, the bards of the Rajputs. If not strong enough to defend their convoy with sword and shield, they would threaten the robbers with the chandni, or ‘self-immolation’;^[14] and proceed by degrees from a gash in the flesh to a death-wound, or if one victim was insufficient a whole body of women and children was sacrificed (as in the case of the Bamaniya Bhats), for whose blood the marauder is declared responsible hereafter.

Decay of Commerce. The Opium Trade.

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

1111We then put an arbitrary value upon the drug, and forced the grower to come to us, and even take credit to ourselves for consulting his interests. Even admitting that such price was a remunerating one, founded upon an average of past years, still it is not the less arbitrary. No allowance is made for plentiful or bad seasons, when the drug, owing to a scarcity, will bear a double price. Our legislation is for “all seasons and their change.” But this virtual infraction of the faith of treaties is not confined to the grower or retailer; it affects others in a variety of ways; it injures our reputation and the welfare of those upon whom, for benevolent purposes, we have forced our protection. The transit duties levied on opium formed an item in the revenues of the princes of Rajputana; but confiscation guards the passes of the Aravalli and Gujarat, and unless the smuggler wrap up his cargo in ample folds of deceit, the Rajput may go without his amal-pani, the infusion of this poison, dearer to him than life. It is in vain to urge that sufficient is allowed for home consumption. Who is to be the judge of this? or who is so blind as not to see that any latitude of this kind would defeat the monopoly, which, impolitic in its origin, gave rise in its progress to fraud, gambling, and neglect of more important agricultural economy. But this policy must defeat itself: the excess of quantity produced will diminish the value of the original (Patna) monopoly, if its now deteriorated quality should fail to open the eyes of the quick-sighted Chinese, and exclude it from the market altogether.^[15]

Fairs.

—There were two annual fairs in his country, Mundwa and Balotra; the first chiefly for cattle. The merchandise of various countries was exposed [169] and purchased by the merchants of the adjoining States. It commenced with the month of Magh, and lasted during six weeks. The other was also for cattle of all kinds, horses, oxen, camels, and the merchandise enumerated amongst the imports and exports of Pali. Persons from all parts 1112of India frequented them; but all these signs of prosperity are vanishing.^[16]

Administration of Justice.

—The administration of justice is now very lax in these communities; but at no time were the customary criminal laws of Rajputana sanguinary, except in respect to political crimes, which were very summarily dealt with when practicable. In these feudal associations, however, such crimes are esteemed individual offences, and the whole power of the government is concentrated to punish them; but when they are committed against the community, justice is tempered with mercy, if not benumbed by apathy. In cases even of murder, it is satisfied with fine, corporal punishment, imprisonment, confiscation, or banishment. Inferior crimes, such as larcenies, were punished by fine and imprisonment, and, when practicable, restitution; or, in case of inability to pay, corporal punishment and confinement. But under the present lax system, when this impoverished government has to feed criminals, it may be supposed that their prisons are not overstocked. Since Raja Bijai Singh’s death, the judgment-seat has been vacant. His memory is held in high esteem for the administration of justice, though he carried clemency to excess. He never confirmed a sentence of death; and there is a saying of the criminals, yet extant, more demonstrative of his humanity than of good policy: “When at large we cannot even get rabri (porridge), but in prison we eat laddu (sweetmeat).” Here, as at Jaipur, confined criminals are maintained by individual charity; and it is a well-known fact, that at the latter place, but for the humanity of the mercantile classes, especially those of the Jain persuasion, they might starve. Perhaps it is the knowledge of this circumstance, which holds back the hand of the government, or its agents, who may apply to their own uses the prison-fare. When once confined, the criminals are little thought of, and neglect answers all the ends of cruelty. They have, however, a source of consolation unknown to those who have passed “the bridge of sighs,” or become inmates of the oubliettes of more civilized regions. That fortitude and resignation which religion alone can bestow on the one is obtained through superstition by the other; and the prayers of the prison are poured forth for one of those visitations of Providence [170], which, in humbling 1113the proud, prompts acts of mercy to others in order to ensure it to themselves.^[17] The celestial phenomena of eclipses, whether of the sun or moon, although predicted by the Pandits, who for ages have possessed the most approved theory for calculation, are yet looked upon with religious awe by the mass, and as “foreboding change to princes.” Accordingly, when darkness dims the beams of Surya or Chandra, the face of the prisoner of Maru is lighted up with smiles; his deliverance is at hand, and he may join the crowd to hoot and yell, and frighten the monster Rahu ^[18] from his hold of the “silver-moon.”^[19] The birth of a son to the prince, and a new reign, are events likewise joyful to him.

Trial by Ordeal.

—The trial by sagun, literally ‘oath of purgation,’ or ordeal, still exists, and is occasionally had recourse to in Maru, as in other parts of Rajputana; and, if fallen into desuetude, it is not that these judgments of God (as they were styled in the days of European barbarism) are less relied on, but that society is so unhinged that even these appeals to chance find no subjects for practice, excepting by Zalim Singh; and he to the last carried on his antipathy to the Dakins (witches) of Haraoti, who were always submitted to the process by ‘water.’ Trial by ordeal is of very ancient date in India: it was by ‘fire’ that Rama proved the purity of Sita, after her abduction by Ravana, and in the same manner as practised by one of our Saxon kings, by making her walk over a red-hot ploughshare.^[20] Besides the two most common tests, by fire and water, there is a third, that of washing the hands in boiling oil. It should be stated, that, in all cases, not only the selection but the appeal to any of these ordeals is the voluntary act of the litigants, and chiefly after the Panchayats, or courts ofof arbitration, have failed. Where justice is denied, or bribery shuts the door, the sufferer will dare his adversary to the sagun, or submission to the 1114judgment of God; and the solemnity of the appeal carries such weight, that it brings redress of itself, though cases do occur where the challenge is accepted, and the author has conversed with individuals who have witnessed the operation of each of the ordeals.^[21]

Panchayats.

—The Panchayats arbitrate in civil cases. From these courts of equity, there is an appeal to the Raja; but as unanimity is required in the judges, and a fee or fine must be paid by the appellant, ere his case can come before the prince [171], litigation is checked. The constitution of this court is simple. The plaintiff lays his case before the Hakim of the district, or the Patel of the village where he resides. The plaintiff and defendant have the right of naming the villages (two, each), from whence the members of the Panchayat are to be drawn. Information is accordingly sent to the Patels of the villages specified, who, with their respective Patwaris (Registers), meet at the Atai or ‘village-court.’ Witnesses are summoned and examined on oath, the most common of which is the gaddi-ki-an, ‘allegiance to the throne,’ resembling the ancient adjuration of the Scythians as recorded by Herodotus.^[22] This oath is, however, more restricted to Rajputs; the other classes have various forms based upon their religious notions. When the proceedings are finished, and judgment is given, the Hakim puts his seal thereto, and carries it into effect, or prepares it for appeal. It is affirmed that, in the good times of Rajputana, these simple tribunals answered every purpose.

Fiscal Revenues.

—The fiscal revenues of Marwar are derived from various sources; the principal are—

The entire amount of personal revenue of the princes of Marwar 1115does not at present exceed ten lakhs of rupees (£100,000 sterling), though in the reign of Bijai Singh half a century ago, they yielded full sixteen lakhs, one-half of which arose from the salt lakes alone. The aggregate revenue of the feudal lands is estimated as high as fifty lakhs, or £500,000. It may be doubted whether at present they yield half this sum.^[23] The feudal contingents are estimated at five thousand horse, besides foot, the qualification being one cavalier and two foot-soldiers for every thousand rupees of income.^[24] This low estimate is to keep up the nominal value of estates, notwithstanding their great deterioration; for a ‘knight’s fee’ of Marwar was formerly estimated at five hundred rupees.

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

Methods of Revenue Collection.

—The revenues are collected from the ryots in kind. A corn-rent, the only one recognized in ancient India, and termed Batai, or ‘division,’ is apportioned equally [172] between the prince and the husbandman: a deviation from the more lenient practice of former times, which gave one-fourth, or one-sixth to the sovereign. Besides this, the cultivator has to pay the expense of guarding the crops, and also those who attend the process of division. An assessment of two rupees is made on every ten maunds,^[25] which more than covers the salaries paid to the Shahnas (watchmen), and Kanwaris,^[26] and leaves a surplus divided by the Patel and village register (Patwari). A cart-load of karbi (the stalks of juar and bajra) is exacted from every cultivator as fodder for the prince’s cattle; but this is commuted for a rupee, except in seasons of scarcity, when it is stored up. The other officers, as the Patwaris and Patels, are paid out of the respective shares of the farmer and the crown, namely, one-fourth of a ser each, from every maund of produce, or an eightieth part of the gross amount. The cultivators of 1116the Pattawats or feudal chiefs are much better off than those of the Khalisa: from them only two-fifths are exacted; and in lieu of all other taxes and charges, a land-tax of twelve rupees is levied on every hundred bighas of land cultivated. The cultivators repay this mild assessment by attachment to the chiefs.

Poll Tax.

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

Cattle Tax.

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

Door Tax.

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

Sāīr.

—In estimating the amount of the sair, or imposts of Marwar, it must be borne in mind that the schedule appended represents what they have been, and perhaps might again be, rather than what they now are. These duties are subject to fluctuation in all countries, but how much more in those exposed to so many visitations from predatory foes, civil strife, and famine! There is no reason to doubt that, in the “good old 1117times” of Maru, the amount, as taken from old records, may have been realized:—

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

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

Banjāras: Salt Trade.

—This productive branch of industry still employs thousands of hands, and hundreds of thousands of oxen, and is almost entirely in the hands of that singular race of beings called Banjaras, some of whose tandas, or caravans, amount to 40,000 head of oxen. The salt is exported to every region of Hindustan, from the Indus to the Ganges, and is universally 1118known and sold under the title of Sambhar Lun, or ‘salt of Sambhar,’ notwithstanding the quality of the different lakes varies, that of Pachbhadra, beyond the Luni, being most esteemed.^[27] It is produced by natural evaporation, expedited by dividing the surface into pans by means of mats of the Sarkanda grass,^[28] which lessens the superficial agitation. It is then gathered and heaped up into immense masses, on whose summit they burn a variety of alkaline plants, such as the sajji,^[29] by which it becomes impervious to the weather.

1119habits of secreting money. A very large treasure was discovered in Nagor by Bijai Singh, when demolishing some old buildings.

Military Forces.

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

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

These are the principal chieftains of Marwar, holding lands on the tenure of service. There are many who owe allegiance and service on emergencies, the allodial vassals of Marwar, not enumerated in this list; such as Barmer, Kotra, Jasol, Phulsund, 1121Birganw, Bankaria, Kalindri, Barunda, who could muster a strong numerical force if their goodwill were conciliated, and the prince could enforce his requisition. The specified census of the estates may not be exactly correct. The foregoing is from an old record, which is in all probability the best they have; for so rapid are the changes in these countries, amidst the anarchy and rebellion we have been describing, that the civil officers would deem it time thrown away, to form, as in past times, an exact pattabahi, or ‘register’ of feoffs. The ancient qualification was one horseman and two foot soldiers, “when required,” for each five hundred rupees in the rental; but as the estates have been curtailed in extent and diminished in value, in order to keep up their nominal amount, one thousand is now the qualification [178].^[30]

CHAPTER 1

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

Rāo Bīka, A.D. 1465-1504.

—It was in S. 1515 (A.D. 1459), the year in which Jodha transferred the seat of government from Mandor to Jodhpur, that his son Bika,^[1] under the guidance of his uncle Kandhal, led three hundred of the sons of Siahji to enlarge the boundaries of Rathor dominion amidst the sands of Maru. Bika was stimulated to the attempt by the success of his brother Bida, who had recently subjugated the territory inhabited by the Mohils for ages.

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

Bika, with his band of three hundred, fell upon the Sankhlas ^[2] 1124of Janglu, whom they massacred. This exploit brought them in contact with the Bhattis of Pugal,^[3] the chief of which gave his daughter in marriage to Bika, who fixed his headquarters at Kuramdesar, where he erected a castle, and gradually augmented his conquests from the neighbourhood.

The Conquest of the Jats.

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

Of this celebrated and widely spread race we have already given a succinct account.^[4] It appears to have been the most numerous as well as the most conspicuous of the tribes of ancient Asia, from the days of Tomyris and Cyrus to those of the present Jat prince of Lahore, whose successor, if he be endued with similar energy, may, on the reflux of population, find himself seated in their original haunts of Central Asia, to which they have already considerably advanced.^[5] In the fourth century we find a Yuti or Jat kingdom established in the Panjab;^[6] but how much earlier this people colonized those regions we are ignorant. At every step made by Muhammadan power in India it encountered the Jats. On their memorable defence of the passage of the Indus against Mahmud, and on the war of extirpation waged against them by Timur, both in their primeval seats in Mawaru-l-nahr,^[7] as well as east of the Sutlej, we have already enlarged; while Babur, in his Commentaries, informs us that, in all his irruptions into India, he was assailed by multitudes of Jats ^[8] during his progress through the Panjab, the peasantry of 1125which region, now proselytes to Islam, are chiefly of this tribe; as well as the [180] military retainers, who, as sectarian followers of Nanak, merge the name of Jat, or Jāt, into that of Sikh or ‘disciple.’^[9]

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

At what period these Jats established themselves in the Indian desert, we are, as has been already observed, entirely ignorant; but even at the time of the Rathor invasion of these communities their habits confirmed the tradition of their Scythic origin. They led chiefly a pastoral life, were guided, but not governed by the elders, and with the exception of adoration to the ‘universal mother’ (Bhavani), incarnate in the person of a youthful Jatni, they were utter aliens to the Hindu theocracy. In fact, the doctrines of the great Islamite saint, Shaikh Farid,^[10] appear to have overturned the pagan rites brought from the Jaxartes; and without any settled ideas on religion, the Jats of the desert jumbled all their tenets together. They considered themselves, in short, as a distinct class, and, as a Punia Jat informed me, “their watan was far beyond the Five Rivers.” Even in the name of one of the six communities (the Asaich), on whose submission Bika founded his new State, we have nearly the Asi, the chief of the four tribes from the Oxus and Jaxartes, who overturned the Greek kingdom of Bactria.^[11]

1126The period of Rathor domination over these patriarchal communities was intermediate between Timur’s and Babur’s invasion of India. The former, who was the founder of the Chagatai dynasty, boasts of the myriads of Jat souls he “consigned to perdition” on the desert plains of India, as well as in Transoxiana; so we may conclude that successive migrations of this people from the great “storehouse of nations” went to the lands east of the Indus, and that the communities who elected Bika as their sovereign had been established therein for ages. The extent of their possessions justifies this conclusion; for nearly the whole of the territory forming the boundaries of Bikaner was possessed by the six Jat cantons, namely—

though this last is by some termed a ramification of the Yadu-Bhatti: an affiliation by no means invalidating their claims to be considered of Jat or Yuti origin.^[12]

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

With such rapidity were States formed in those times, that in a few years after Bika left his paternal roof at Mandor he was lord over 2670 villages, and by a title far stronger and more legitimate than that of conquest—the spontaneous election of the cantons. But although three centuries have scarcely passed since their amalgamation [182] into a sovereignty, one-half of the villages cease to exist; nor are there now 1300 forming the raj of Surat Singh, the present occupant and lineal descendant of Bika.^[13]

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

Bīda conquers the Mohil Clan.

—A variety of causes conspired 1128to facilitate the formation of the State of Bikaner, and the reduction of the ancient Scythic simplicity of the Jat communities to Rajput feudal sway; and although the success of his brother Bida over the Mohils in some degree paved the way, his bloodless conquest could never have happened but for the presence of a vice which has dissolved all the republics of the world. The jealousy of the Johyas and Godaras, the two most powerful of the six Jat cantons, was the immediate motive to the propitiation of the “son of Jodha”; besides which, the communities found the band of Bida, which had extirpated the ancient Mohils when living with them in amity, most troublesome neighbours. Further, they were desirous to place between them and the Bhattis of Jaisalmer a more powerful barrier; and last, not least, they dreaded the hot valour and “thirst for land” which characterized Bika’s retainers, now contiguous to them at Janglu. For these weighty reasons, at a meeting of the “elders” of the Godaras, it was resolved to conciliate the Rathor.

Pandu was the patriarchal head of the Godaras; his residence was at Shaikhsar.^[14] The ‘elder’ of Ronia was next in rank and estimation to Pandu, in communities where equality was as absolute as the proprietary right to the lands which each individually held: that of pasture being common.

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

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

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

On the fulfilment of these conditions they relinquished to Bika and his descendants the supreme power over the Godaras; assigning to him, in perpetuity, the power to levy dhuan, or a 1129‘hearth tax,’ of one rupee on each house in the canton, and a land tax of two rupees on each hundred bighas of cultivated land within their limits.

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

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

Former Owners conferring Titles on their Successors.

—It is seldom that so incontestable a title to supremacy can be asserted as that which the weakness and jealousies of the Godaras conferred upon Bika, and it is a pleasing incident to find almost throughout India, in the observance of certain rites, the remembrance of the original compact which transferred the sovereign power from the lords of the soil to their Rajput conquerors. Thus, in Mewar, the fact of the power conferred upon the Guhilot founder by the Bhil aborigines is commemorated by a custom brought down to the present times. (See Vol. I. p. 262.) At Amber the same is recorded in the important offices retained by the Minas, the primitive inhabitants of that land. Both Kotah and Bundi retain in their names the remembrance of the ancient lords of Haraoti; and Bika’s descendants preserve, in a twofold manner, the recollection of their bloodless conquest of the Jats. To this day the descendant of Pandu applies the unguent of royalty to the forehead of the successors of Bika; on which occasion the prince places ‘the fine of relief,’ consisting of twenty-five pieces of gold, in the hand of the Jat. Moreover, the spot which he selected for his capital was the birthright of a Jat, who 1130would only concede it for this purpose on the condition that his name should be linked in perpetuity with its surrender. Naira, or Nera [184], was the name of the proprietor, which Bika added to his own, thus composing that of the future capital, Bikaner.^[15]

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

On the spring and autumnal ^[16] festivals of the Holi and Diwali, the heirs of the patriarchs of Shaikhsar and Ronia give the tika to the prince and all his feudality. The Jat of Ronia bears the silver cup and platter which holds the ampoule of the desert, while his compeer applies it to the prince’s forehead. The Raja in return deposits a nazarana of a gold mohur, and five pieces of silver; the chieftains, according to their rank, following his example. The gold is taken by the Shaikhsar Jat, the silver by the elder of Ronia.

Conquest of the Johya Tribe.

—To resume our narrative: when the preliminaries were adjusted, by Bika’s swearing to maintain the rights of the community which thus surrendered their liberties to his keeping, they united their arms, and invaded the Johyas. This populous community, which extended over the northern region of the desert, even to the Sutlej, reckoned eleven hundred villages in their canton; yet now, after the lapse of little more than three centuries, the very name of Johya is extinct. They appear to be the Janjuha of Babur, who, in his irruption into India, found them congregated with the Juds, about the cluster of hills in the first duaba of the Panjab, called ‘the mountains of Jud’; a position claimed by the Yadus or Jadons in the very dawn of their history, and called Jadu ka dang, ‘the Jadu hills.’^[17] This supports the assertion that the Johya is of Yadu race, while it does not invalidate its claims to Yuti or Jat descent, 1131as will be further shown in the early portion of the annals of the Yadu-Bhattis.^[18]

The patriarchal head of the Johyas resided at Bharopal;^[19] his name was Sher Singh [185]. He mustered the strength of the canton, and for a long time withstood the continued efforts of the Rajputs and the Godaras; nor was it until “treason had done its worst,” by the murder of their elder, and the consequent possession of Bharopal, that the Johyas succumbed to Rathor domination.

Foundation of Bīkaner, A.D. 1455-88.

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

When Bika was thus firmly established, his uncle Kandhal, to whose spirit of enterprise he was mainly indebted for success, departed with his immediate kin to the northward, with a view of settling in fresh conquests. He successively subjugated the communities of Asaich, Beniwal, and Saran, which cantons are mostly occupied by his descendants, styled Kandhalot Rathors, at this day, and although they form an integral portion of the Bikaner State, they evince, in their independent bearing to its chief, that their estates were “the gift of their own swords, not of his patents”; and they pay but a reluctant and nominal obedience to his authority. When necessity or avarice imposes a demand for tribute, it is often met by a flat refusal, accompanied with such a comment as this: “Who made this Raja? Was it not our common ancestor, Kandhal? Who is he, who presumes 1132to levy tribute from us?” Kandhal’s career of conquest was cut short by the emperor’s lieutenant in Hissar; he was slain in attempting this important fortress.

Death of Bīka. Nūnkaran or Lūnkaran, A.D. 1504-26.

—Bika died in S. 1551 (A.D. 1495), leaving two sons by the daughter of the Bhatti chief of Pugal, namely, Nunkaran, who succeeded, and Garsi, who founded Garsisar and Arsisar. The stock of the latter is numerous, and is distinguished by the epithet Garsot Bika, whose principal fiefs are those of Garsisar and Gharibdesar, each having twenty-four villages depending on them.^[20]

Jeth Singh, A.D. 1526-41.

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

Kalyān Singh, A.D. 1541-71.

—Kalyan Singh succeeded in S. 1603. He had three sons: (1) Rae Singh, (2) Ram Singh, and (3) Prithi Singh.

Rāē Singh, A.D. 1571-1611. Bīkaner subject to the Mughals. Akbar’s Marriage.

—Rae Singh succeeded in S. 1630 (A.D. 1573). Until this reign the Jats had, in a great degree, preserved their ancient privileges. Their maintenance was, however, found rather inconvenient by the now superabundant Rajput population, 1133and they were consequently dispossessed of all political authority. With the loss of independence their military spirit decayed, and they sunk into mere tillers of the earth. In this reign also Bikaner rose to importance amongst the principalities of the empire, and if the Jats parted with their liberties to the Rajput, the latter, in like manner, bartered his freedom to become a Satrap of Delhi. On his father’s death, Rae Singh in person undertook the sacred duty of conveying his ashes to the Ganges. The illustrious Akbar was then emperor of India. Rae Singh and the emperor had married sisters, princesses of Jaisalmer.^[21] This connexion obtained for him, on his introduction to court by Raja Man of Amber, the dignity of a leader of four thousand horse, the title of Raja, and the government of Hissar. Moreover, when Maldeo of Jodhpur incurred the displeasure of the king, and was dispossessed of the rich district of Nagor, it was given to Rae Singh. With these honours, and increased power as one of the king’s lieutenants, he returned to his dominions, and sent his brother Ram Singh against Bhatner,^[22] of which he made a conquest. This town was the chief place of a district belonging to the Bhattis, originally Jats ^[23] of Yadu descent, but who assumed this name on becoming proselytes to the faith of Islam.

Subjugation of the Johyas.

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

Traditions of Greek Settlements.

—Amidst these ruins of the 1134Johyas, the name of Sikandar Rumi (Alexander the Great) [187] has fixed itself, and the desert retains the tradition that the ruin called Rangmahall, the ‘painted palace,’ near Dandusar, was the capital of a prince of this region punished by a visitation of the Macedonian conqueror. History affords no evidence of Alexander’s passage of the Gara, though the scene of his severest conflict was in that nook of the Panjab not remote from the lands of the Johyas. But though the chronicler of Alexander does not sanction our indulging in this speculation, the total darkness in which we appear doomed to remain with regard to Bactria and the petty Grecian kingdoms on the Indus, established by him, does not forbid our surmise, that by some of these, perhaps the descendants of Python, such a visitation might have happened.^[24] The same traditions assert that these regions were not always either arid or desolate, and the living chronicle alluded to in the note repeated the stanza elsewhere given, which dated its deterioration from the drying up of the Hakra river, which came from the Panjab, and flowing through the heart of this country, emptied itself into the Indus between Rohri Bhakkar and Uchh.

The affinity that this word (Hakra) has both to the Ghaggar, and Sankra,^[25] would lead to the conclusion of either being the stream referred to. The former we know as being engulphed in the sands about the Hariana confines, while the Sankra is a stream which, though now dry, was used as a line of demarcation even in the time of Nadir Shah. It ran eastward, parallel with the Indus, and by making it his boundary, Nadir added all the fertile valley of the Indus to his Persian kingdom. (See map.) 1135The only date this legendary stanza assigns for the catastrophe is the reign of the Sodha prince, Hamir.

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

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

Rāē Singh in Akbar’s Service.

—Raja Rae Singh led a gallant band of his Rathors in all the wars of Akbar. He was distinguished in the assault of Ahmadabad, slaying in single combat the governor, Mirza Muhammad Husain.^[26] The emperor, who knew the value of such valorous subjects, strengthened the connexion which already subsisted between the crown and the Rathors, by obtaining for prince Salim (afterwards Jahangir) Rae Singh’s daughter to wife. The unfortunate Parvez was the fruit of this marriage.

Karan Singh, A.D. 1631-69.

—Rae Singh was succeeded by his only son, Karan, in S. 1688 (A.D. 1632).^[27]

Karan held the ‘mansab of two thousand,’ and the government 1136of Daulatabad, in his father’s lifetime. Being a supporter of the just claims of Dara Shukoh, a plot was laid by the general of his antagonist, with whom he served, to destroy him, but which he was enabled to defeat by the timely intelligence of the Hara prince of Bundi. He died at Bikaner, leaving four sons: (1) Padma Singh, (2) Kesari Singh, (3) Mohan Singh, and (4) Anup Singh.

This family furnishes another example of the prodigal sacrifice of Rajput blood in the imperial service. The two elder princes were slain in the storm of Bijapur, and the tragical death of the third, Mohan Singh, in the imperial camp, forms an episode in Ferishta’s History of the Dekhan [189].^[28]

Anūp Singh, A.D. 1669-98.

—Anup Singh succeeded in S. 1730 (A.D. 1674). For the services of his family he had the castle and lands of Adoni ^[29] conferred upon him, with ‘the mansab of five 1137thousand,’ and the governments of Bijapur and Aurangabad. Anup Singh led his clans with the head of his race, the prince of Jodhpur, to quell a rebellion amongst the Afghans of Kabul, which having effected, he returned to the peninsula. Ferishta and the native annals are at variance on his death; the former asserting that he died in the Deccan, while the latter say that he left that country, disgusted with the imperial commander’s interference about his ground of encampment, and that he died at Bikaner.^[30] He left two sons, Sarup Singh and Sujan Singh.

Sarūp Singh, A.D. 1698-1700.

—Sarup, who succeeded in S. 1765 (A.D. 1709), did not long enjoy his honours, being killed in attempting to recover Adoni, which the emperor had resumed on his father’s leaving the army.^[31]

Sujān Singh, A.D. 1700-1735.

—Sujan Singh, his successor, did nothing.

Zorāwar Singh, A.D. 1735-45.

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

Gaj Singh, A.D. 1745-88.

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

He laid waste, filling up the wells, a considerable tract of country west of the frontier post of Anupgarh, to prevent the incursions of the Daudputras.^[32]

Raja Gaj had some celebrity from the number of his offspring, having had sixty-one children, though all but six were the ‘sons of love.’ The legitimates were, Chhattar Singh, who died in infancy; Raj Singh, who was poisoned by the mother of Surat Singh, the reigning prince; Surthan Singh and Ajib Singh, both of whom fled the paternal roof to escape the fate of their elder 1138brother, and are now at Jaipur; Surat Singh, Raja of Bikaner; and Shyam Singh, who enjoys a small appanage in Bikaner.

Rāj Singh, A.D. 1788.

—Raj Singh succeeded his father, S. 1843 (A.D. 1787), but he enjoyed the dignity only thirteen days, being removed by a dose of poison by the mother ^[33] of Surat Singh, the fifth son of Raja Gaj. The crown thus nefariously obtained, this worthy son [190] of such a parent determined to maintain his authority by like means, and to leave no competitor to contest his claims. He has accordingly removed by death or exile all who stood between him and the ‘gaddi of Bika.’

Partāp Singh, A.D. 1788. Usurpation of Sūrat Singh.

—Raj Singh left two sons, Partap Singh and Jai Singh. On the death of Raj Singh, the office of regent, a word of ominous import in these regions, was assumed by Surat Singh, who, during eighteen months, conducted himself with great circumspection, and by condescension and gifts impressed the chiefs in his favour. At length he broke his plans to the chiefs of Mahajan and Bahaduran, whose acquiescence in his usurpation he secured by additions to their estates. The faithful Bakhtawar Singh, whose family during four generations had filled the office of Diwan, discovered the scheme, though too late to counteract it, and the attempt was punished by imprisonment. Prepared for the last step, the regent collected foreign troops from Bhatinda ^[34] and other parts, sufficient to overcome all opposition. The infant prince was kept secluded, and at length the regent issued the warrant in his own name for the nobles to assemble at the capital. Except the two traitors enumerated, they to a man refused; but instead of combining to oppose him, they indolently remained at their castles. Collecting all his troops, the usurper passed to Nohar, where he enticed the chief of Bhukarka to an interview, and lodged him in the fortress of Nohar.^[35] Thence he passed to Ajitpura, which he plundered; and advancing to Sankhu, he attacked it in form. Durjan Singh defended himself with valour, and when reduced to extremity, committed suicide. His heir was put in fetters, and a fine of twelve thousand rupees was levied from the vassals of Sankhu. The commercial town of 1139Churu was next attacked; it held out six months, when the confined chief of Bhukarka, as the price of his own freedom, treacherously offered to put the tyrant in possession. He effected this, and a fine of nearly two lakhs of rupees (£20,000) was offered to spare the town from plunder.

By this act of severity, and the means it furnished, Surat returned to Bikaner, determined to remove the only bar between him and the crown, his prince and nephew. In this he found some difficulty, from the virtue and vigilance of his sister, who never lost sight of the infant. Frustrated in all attempts to circumvent her, and not daring to blazon the murder by open violence, he invited the needy Raja of Narwar to make proposals for his sister’s hand. In vain she urged her advanced period of life; and in order to deter the suitor, that she had already been affianced to Rana Arsi of Mewar. All his scruples vanished at the dower of three lakhs, which the regent offered [191] the impoverished scion of the famous Raja Nala.^[36] Her objections were overruled and she was forced to submit; though she not only saw through her brother’s anxiety for her removal, but boldly charged him with his nefarious intentions. He was not content with disavowing them, but at her desire gave her the most solemn assurances of the child’s safety. Her departure was the signal of his death; for not long after he was found strangled, and it is said by the regent’s own hands, having in vain endeavoured to obtain the offices of the Mahajan chieftain as the executioner of his sovereign.

Sūrat Singh, A.D. 1788-1828.

—Thus, in one short year after the death of Raja Raj, the gaddi of Bika was dishonoured by being possessed by an assassin of his prince. In S. 1857 (A.D. 1801), the elder brothers of the usurper, Surthan Singh and Ajib Singh, who had found refuge in Jaipur, repaired to Bhatner and assembled the vassals of the disaffected nobles and Bhattis in order to dethrone the tyrant. But the recollection of his severities deterred some, while bribes kept back others, and the usurper did not hesitate to advance to meet his foes. The encounter, 1140which took place at Bigor, was obstinate and bloody, and three thousand Bhattis alone fell. This signal victory confirmed Surat’s usurpation. He erected a castle on the field of battle, which he called Fatehgarh, ‘the fort of victory.’

Flushed with this brilliant success, Surat Singh determined to make his authority respected both at home and abroad. He invaded his turbulent countrymen, the Bidawats, and levied fifty thousand rupees from their lands. Churu,^[37] which had promised aid to the late confederacy, was once more invested and mulcted, and various other places were attacked ere they could join. But one solitary castle was successfully defended, that of Chhani, near Bahaduran. Here the usurper was foiled, and, after six months’ fruitless siege, compelled to return to his capital.

Shortly after, he eagerly availed himself of an opportunity to punish the excesses of the Daudputras, and to withdraw attention from himself, by kindling a popular war against these powerful and turbulent neighbours. The occasion was the Kirani chief of Tirhara demanding his aid against his liege lord, Bahawal Khan. As these border feuds are not extinguished even in these days of universal peace, it may not be uninteresting to see the feudal muster-roll of the desert chiefs on such occurrences, as well as the mode in which they carry on hostilities. It was very shortly before that victory had preponderated on the side of the Rathors by a gallant coup-de-main of [192] the lord marcher of Bikaner, who carried the castle of Mozgarh ^[38] in a midnight assault. The hero on this occasion was not a Rathor, but a Bhatti chief, in the service of Bikaner, named Hindu Singh, who gained ‘immortality’ by the style in which he scaled the walls, put Muhammad Maaruf Kirani, the governor, and the garrison to the sword, and brought away captive to Bikaner the governor’s wife, who was afterwards ransomed for five thousand rupees and four hundred camels.

The outlaw who sought saran at Bikaner, on this occasion, was of the same tribe, Kirani, his name Khudabakhsh (‘gift of God’), chief of Tirhara, one of the principal fiefs of the Daudputras. With all his retainers, to the amount of three hundred horse and five hundred foot, he threw himself on the protection of Surat Singh, who assigned him twenty villages, and one hundred rupees daily for his support. The Kiranis were the most powerful vassals 1141of Bahawal Khan, who might have paid dear for the resumption of Tirhara, whose chief promised the Rajput nothing less than to extend his conquests to the Indus. Allured by this bait, the Kher was proclaimed and the sons of Bika assembled from all quarters.

Attack on Bahāwalpur.

—The command-in-chief of this brilliant array was conferred on Jethra Mahto, son of the Diwan. On the 13th of Magh 1856 (spring of 1800) he broke ground, and the feudal levies fell in on the march by Kanasar, Rajasar, Keli, Raner, and Anupgarh, the last point of rendezvous. Thence he proceeded by Sheogarh,^[39] Mozgarh, and Phulra, all of which were taken after a few weeks’ siege, and from the last they levied a lakh and a quarter of rupees, with other valuables, and nine guns. They advanced to Khairpur,^[40] within three miles of the 1142Indus, when being joined by other refractory chiefs, Jethra marched direct on the capital, Bahawalpur, within a short distance of which he encamped preparatory to the attack. The Khan, however, by this delay, was enabled to detach the most considerable of his nobles from the Rajput standard: on which the Bikaner Diwan, satisfied with the honour of having insulted Bahawalpur, retreated with the spoils he had acquired. He was received by the usurper with contempt, and degraded for not fighting.

Bhatti Invasion of Bīkaner.

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

Attack on Jodhpur.

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

With this system of terror, his increasing superstition, and diminished attention to public duties, the country is annually deteriorating in population and wealth; and as if they had not 1143misery enough within, they have not had a single good season for years.^[41] Owing to the disobedience of the northern chiefs, and the continual incursions of the Rahats, or ‘Bhatti robbers,’ who sweep the land of cattle, and often cut and carry off entire crops, the peasant Jat, the ancient lord of the soil, is often left to the alternative of starvation or emigration. Many have consequently sought shelter in the British frontier territories, in Hansi and Hariana, where they are kindly received. Since the English have occupied Sirsa and the lands belonging to the Bhatti Bahadur Khan, the misfortunes of the cultivators of the northern parts of Bikaner have been doubled by the inroads of a band left without resource. In some parts, the Jats combine to protect themselves against these inroads: every hamlet has its post of defence, a tower of earth, on which is perched a watchman and kettledrum, to beat the alarm, which is taken up from village to village, and when an enemy is discovered, all are in arms to defend their property. The unfortunate Jat is obliged to plough his fields under the load of shield and sang, or heavy iron lance; so that, at no distant period, the whole of this region must become as desolate as the tracts once possessed by the Johyas.^[42]

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

Bīdāvati.

—Before we enter on the physical aspect of the country, we must make mention of Bidavati, the lands of ‘the sons of Bida,’ now an integral portion of Bikaner.^[43] It will be 1144borne in mind that Bida, the brother of Bika, led the first Rajput colony from Mandor, in search of a fresh establishment. His first attempt was in the province of Godwar, then belonging to the Rana: but his reception there was so warm, that [195] he moved northward, and was glad to take service with the chief of the Mohils. This ancient tribe is by some termed a branch of the Yadus, but is by others considered a separate race, and one of the ‘Thirty-six Royal Races’: all are agreed as to its antiquity. The residence of the Mohil chief was Chhapar,^[44] where, with the title of Thakur, he ruled over one hundred and forty townships. Bida deemed circumvention better than open force to effect his purposes; and as, according to the Rajput maxim, in all attempts ‘to obtain land,’ success hallows the means, he put in train a scheme which, as it affords the least cause for suspicion, has often been used for this object. Bida became the medium of a matrimonial arrangement between the Mohil chief and the prince of Marwar; and as the relation and natural guardian of the bride, he conveyed the nuptial train unsuspected into the castle of the Mohils, whose chiefs were assembled to honour the festivities. But instead of the Rathor fair and her band of maidens, the valorous sons of Jodha rushed sword in hand from the litters and covered vehicles, and treacherously cut off the best men of Mohila. They kept possession of the inner fortress until tidings of their success brought reinforcements from Jodhpur. For this aid, Bida assigned to his father Ladnun and its twelve villages, now incorporated with Jodhpur. The son of Bida, Tej Singh, laid the foundation of a new capital, which he called after his father, Bidesar.^[45] The community of the Bidawats is the most powerful in Bikaner, whose prince is obliged to be satisfied with almost nominal marks of supremacy, and to restrict his demands, which are elsewhere unlimited. The little region of the Mohilas, around the ancient capital Chhapar, is an extensive flat, flooded in the periodical rains from the surrounding tibas or ‘sandhills,’ the soil of which is excellent, even wheat being abundantly produced. This Oasis, as it is entitled to be termed, may be twenty-five miles (twelve cos) in extreme length, by about six in breadth. We cannot affirm that the entire Bidawat district of one hundred and forty villages, and to which is assigned a population of forty 1145thousand to fifty thousand souls, one-third being Rathors, ‘the sons of Bida,’ is within this flat. It is subdivided into twelve fiefs, of which five are pre-eminent. Of the ancient possessors, the indigenous Mohils, there are not more than twenty families throughout the land of Mohila; the rest are chiefly Jat agriculturists and the mercantile castes.

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

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

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

CHAPTER 2

Geography of Bīkaner.

—This region is but little known to Europeans, by whom it has hitherto been supposed to be a perfect desert, unworthy of examination. Its present condition bears little comparison with what tradition reports it to have been in ancient times; and its deterioration, within three centuries since the Rajputs supplanted the Jats, almost warrants our belief of the assertion, that these deserts were once fertile and populous; nay, that they are still capable (notwithstanding the reported continual increase of the sand) to maintain an abundant population, there is little room to doubt. The princes of Bikaner used to take the field at the head of ten thousand of their kindred retainers; and although they held extraordinary grants from the empire for the maintenance of these contingents, their ability to do so from their proper resources was undoubted. To other causes than positive sterility must be attributed the wretched condition of this State. Exposed to the continual attacks of 1146organized bands of robbers from without, subjected internally to the never-ending demands of a rapacious government, for which they have not a shadow of advantage in return, it would be strange if aught but progressive decay and wretchedness were the consequence. In three centuries [197], more than one-half of the villages, which either voluntarily or by force submitted to the rule of the founder, Bika, are now without memorial of their existence, and the rest are gradually approximating to the same condition. Commercial caravans, which passed through this State and enriched its treasury with the transit duties, have almost ceased to frequent it from the increasing insecurity of its territory. Besides the personal loss to the prince the country suffers from the deterioration of the commercial towns of Churu, Rajgarh, and Rani, which, as entrepôts, supplied the country with the productions of Sind and the provinces to the westward, or those of Gangetic India. Nor is this confined to Bikaner; the same cause affects Jaisalmer, and the more eastern principalities, whose misgovernment, equally with Bikaner, fosters the spirit of rapine: the Maldots of Jaisalmer and the Larkhanis of Jaipur are as notorious as the Bidawats of Bikaner; and to these may be added the Sahariyas, Khosas, and Rajars, in the more western desert, who, in their habits and principles, are as demoralized as the Bedouins of Arabia.

Extent, Population, Soil, Tibas or Sandhills.

—The line of greatest breadth of this State extends from Pugal to Rajgarh, and measures about one hundred and eighty miles; while the length from north to south, between Bhatner and Mahajan, is about one hundred and sixty miles: the area may not exceed twenty-two thousand miles.^[1] Formerly they reckoned two thousand seven hundred towns, villages, and hamlets scattered over this space, one-half of which are no longer in existence.

Population.

—An estimate of the population of this arid region, without presenting some data, would be very unsatisfactory. The tract to the north-west of Jethpur is now perfectly desolate, and nearly so from that point to Bhatner: to the north-east the population is but scanty, which observation also applies to the parts from the meridian of Bikaner to the Jaisalmer frontier; 1147while internally, from these points, it is more uniform, and equals the northern parts of Marwar. From a census of the twelve principal towns, with an estimate, furnished by well-informed inhabitants, of the remainder, we may obtain a tolerably accurate approximation on this point:

Allowing five souls to each house, we have a total of 539,250 souls, giving an average of twenty-five to the square mile, which I cannot think exaggerated, and making the desert regions depending on Bikaner equal, in the density of population, the highlands of Scotland.^[2]

Of this population, full three-fourths are the aboriginal Jats; the rest are their conquerors, descendants of Bika, including the Saraswat Brahmans,^[3] Charans, Bards, and a few of the debased classes, whose numbers, conjointly, are not one-tenth of the Rajputs.

1148

Jats.

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

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

Charans.

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

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

Chuhras, Thoris.—Chuhras, Thoris, are actually castes of robbers:^[4] the former, from the Lakhi Jungle; the latter, from Mewar. Most of the chieftains have a few in their pay, entertained for the most desperate services. The Bahaduran chief has expelled all his Rajputs, and retains only Chuhras and Thoris. The Chuhras are highly esteemed for fidelity, and the barriers and portals throughout this tract are in their custody. They enjoy a very singular perquisite, which would go far to prove their being the aborigines of the country; namely, a fee of four 1149copper coins on every dead subject, when the funeral ceremonies are over.

Rājputs.

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

Face of the Country.

—The whole of this principality, with the exception of a few isolated spots, or oases, scattered here and there, consists more or less of sand. From the eastern to the western boundary, in the line of greatest breadth, it is one continuous [200] plain of sand, though the tibas, or sandhills, commence in the centre of the country, the principal chain running in the direction of Jaisalmer, and shooting forth subordinate branches in every direction; or it might be more correct to designate this main ridge, originating in the tracts bordering the eastern valley of the Indus, as terminating its elevations about the heart of Bikaner. On the north-east quarter, from Rajgarh to Nohar and Rawatsar, the soil is good, being black earth, slightly mixed with sand, and having water near enough to the surface for irrigation; it produces wheat, gram, and even rice, in considerable 1150quantities. The same soil exists from Bhatner to the banks of the Gara. The whole of the Mohila tract is a fertile oasis, the tibas just terminating their extreme offsets on its northern limit: being flooded in the periodical rains, wheat is abundantly produced.

Products of the Desert.

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

Besides bajra we may mention moth and til;^[5] the former a useful pulse both for men and cattle; the other the oil-plant, used both for culinary purposes and burning. Wheat, gram, and barley are produced in the favoured spots described, but in these are enumerated the staple products of Bikaner.

Cotton is grown in the tracts favourable for wheat.^[6] The plant is said to be septennial, even decennial, in these regions. As soon as the cotton is gathered, the shoots are all cut off, and the root alone left. Each succeeding year, the plant increases in strength, and at length attains a size unknown where it is more abundantly cultivated.

Nature has bountifully supplied many spontaneous vegetable products for the use of man, and excellent pasture for cattle. Guar, Kachri, Kakri, all of the cucurbitaceous family, and water-melons of a gigantic size, are produced in great plenty.^[7] The latter is most valuable; for being cut in slices and dried in the 1151sun, it is stored up [201] for future use when vegetables are scarce, or in times of famine, on which they always calculate. It is also an article of commerce, and much admired even where vegetables are more abundant. The copious mucilage of the dried melon is extremely nourishing; and deeming it valuable as an anti-scorbutic in sea voyages, the Author sent some of it to Calcutta many years ago for experiment.^[8] Our Indian ships would find no difficulty in obtaining a plentiful supply of this article, as it can be cultivated to any extent, and thus be made to confer a double benefit on our seamen and the inhabitants of those desert regions. The superior magnitude of the water-melons of the desert over those of interior India gives rise to much exaggeration, and it has been gravely asserted by travellers in the sand tibas,^[9] where they are most abundant, that the mucilage of one is sufficient to allay the thirst both of a horse and his rider.

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

Trees.

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

The ak, a species of euphorbia, known in Hindustan as the 1152madar, grows to an immense height and strength in the desert; from its fibres they make the ropes in general use throughout these regions, and they are reckoned superior, both in substance and durability, to those formed of munj (hemp), which is however cultivated in the lands of the Bidawats.

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

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

At Deshnokh,^[10] near the capital, the wells are more than two 1153hundred cubits, or three hundred feet, in depth; and it is rare that water fit for man is found at a less distance from the surface than sixty, in the tracts decidedly termed thal, or ‘desert’: though some of the flats, or oases, such as that of Mohila, are exceptions, and abundance of brackish water, fit for cattle, is found throughout at half this depth, or about thirty feet. All the wells are lined with basket-work made of phog twigs, and the water is generally drawn up by hand-lines [203].^[11]

Sar, or ‘Salt Lakes.’—There are a few salt lakes, which, throughout the whole of the Indian desert, are termed sar, though none are of the same consequence as those of Marwar. The largest is at the town of Sar,^[12] so named after the lake, which is about six miles in circumference. There is another at Chhapar about two miles in length, and although each of them frequently contains a depth of four feet of water, this entirely evaporates in the hot winds, leaving a thick sheet of saline incrustation. The salt of both is deemed of inferior quality to that of the more southerly lakes.

Physiography of the Country.

—There is little to vary the physiography of this region, and small occasion to boast either of its physical or moral beauties; yet, strange to say, I have met with many whose love of country was stronger than their perceptions of abstract veracity, who would dwell on its perfections, and prefer a mess of rabri, or porridge made of bajra, to the greater delicacies of more civilized regions. To such, the tibas, or ‘sand-ridges,’ might be more important than the Himalaya, and their diminutive and scanty brushwood might eclipse the gigantic foliage of this huge barrier. Verdure itself may be abhorrent to eyes accustomed to behold only arid sands; and a region without tufans or ‘whirlwinds’; or armies of locusts rustling like a 1154tempest, and casting long shadows on the lands, might be deemed by the prejudiced, deficient in the true sublime. Occasionally the sandstone formation rises above the surface, resembling a few low isolated hills; and those who dwell on the boundaries of Nagor, if they have a love of more decided elevations than their native sandhills afford, may indulge in a distant view of the terminations of the Aravalli.

Mineral Productions.

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

An unctuous clay is excavated from a pit, near Kolait, in large quantities, and exported as an article of commerce, besides adding fifteen hundred rupees annually to the treasury. It is used chiefly to free the skin and hair from impurities, and the Cutchi ladies are said to eat it to improve their complexions.^[13]

Animal Productions.

—The kine of the desert are highly esteemed; as are the camels, especially those used for expedition and the saddle, which bear a high price,^[14] and are [204] considered superior to any in India. They are beautifully formed, and the head possesses much blood and symmetry. Sheep are reared in great abundance, and find no want of food in the excellent grasses and shrubs which abound. The phog, jawas,^[15] and other prickly shrubs, which are here indigenous, form the dainties of the camel in other regions. The Nilgae, or elk, and deer of every kind, are plentiful; and the fox of the desert is a beautiful little animal. Jackals and hyaenas are not scarce, and even lions are by no means unknown in Bikaner.

Commerce and Manufactures.

—Rajgarh ^[16] was the great commercial mart of this country, and the point of rendezvous for caravans from all parts. The produce of the Panjab and Kashmir 1155came formerly direct by Hansi-Hisar—that of the eastern countries by Delhi, Rewari, Dadri, etc., consisting of silks, fine cloths, indigo, sugar, iron, tobacco, etc.; from Haraoti and Malwa came opium, which supplied all the Rajput States; from Sind, via Jaisalmer, and by caravans from Multan and Shikarpur, dates, wheat, rice, lungis (silk vestments for women), fruits, etc.; from Pali, the imports from maritime countries, as spices, tin, drugs, coco-nuts, elephants’ teeth, etc. Much of this was for internal consumption, but the greater part a mere transit trade, which yielded considerable revenue.

Woollens.

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

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

Manufactures in Iron.

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

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

Fairs.

—Annual fairs were held, in the months of Karttik and Phalgun, at the towns of Kolait and Gajner,^[17] and frequented by 1156the merchants of the adjacent countries. They were celebrated for cattle, chiefly the produce of the desert, camels, kine, and horses from Multan and the Lakhi Jungle,^[18] a breed now almost extinct. These fairs have lost all their celebrity; in fact, commerce in these regions is extinct.

Government Revenues.

—The personal revenues of the Raja were derived from a variety of sources: from the Khalisa, or ‘crown-lands’ imposts, taxes on agriculture, and that compendious item which makes up the deficiencies in all oriental budgets, dand, or ‘contribution.’ But with all these “appliances and means to boot,” the civil list of this desert king seldom exceeded five lakhs of rupees, or about £50,000 per annum.^[19] The lands of the feudality are more extensive proportionally in this region than in any other in Rajputana, arising out of the original settlement, when the Bidawats and Kandhalots, whose joint acquisitions exceeded those of Bika, would not admit him to hold lands in their territory, and made but a slight pecuniary acknowledgment of his supremacy. The districts in which the crown-lands lie are Rajgarh, Reni, Nohar, Gharib, Ratangarh, Rania, and more recently Churu.

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

Khālisa Lands.

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

1157

Hearth-Tax.

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

Poll-Tax.

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

4. Sāīr, or ‘imposts.’ This branch is subject to much fluctuation, and has diminished greatly since the reign of Surat Singh. The duties levied in the capital alone formerly exceeded what is collected throughout the whole of his dominions; being once estimated at above two lakhs, and now under one. Of this amount, half is collected at Rajgarh, the chief commercial mart of Bikaner. The dread of the Rahats, who have cut off the communications with the Panjab, and the want of principle within, deter merchants from visiting this State, and the caravans from Multan, Bahawalpur, and Shikarpur, which passed through 1158Bikaner to the eastern States, have nearly abandoned the route. The only duties of which he is certain are those on grain, of four rupees on every hundred maunds sold or exported, and which, according to the average sale price of these regions, may be about two per cent.

Paseti.

—5. Paseti is a tax of five ^[20] rupees on every plough used in agriculture. It was introduced by Raja Rae Singh, in commutation of the corn-tax, or levy in kind, which had long been established at one-fourth of the gross produce. The Jats were glad to compound, and get rid of the agents of corruption, by the substitution of the plough-tax. It formerly yielded two lakhs of rupees, but with decreasing agriculture has fallen, like every other source, to a little more than one-half, but still yields a lakh and a quarter.

Malba.

—6. Malba ^[21] is the name of the original tax which the Jat communities imposed [207] upon themselves, when they submitted to the sway in perpetuity of Bika and his successors. It is the land-tax ^[22] of two rupees on each hundred bighas of land cultivated in Bikaner. It is now unproductive, not realizing fifty thousand rupees, and it is said that a composition has been effected, by which it has been, or will be, relinquished: if so, Surat Singh gives up the sole legitimate source of revenue he possesses.

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

Datoi.

—Datoi is a triennial tax of five rupees levied on each plough.^[25] It was instituted by Raja Zorawar Singh. The whole country is liable to it, with the exception of fifty villages in Asaichwati, and seventy of the Beniwals, conditionally exempted, to guard the borders. It is now frequently evaded by the feudal chieftains, and seldom yields a lakh of rupees.

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

Dand, Khushhali.

—The terms Dand and Khushhali, though etymologically the antipodes of each other—the first meaning a ‘compulsory contribution,’ the other a ‘benevolence, or voluntary,’^[26]—have a similar interpretation in these regions, and make the subjects of those parts devoutly pray that their prince’s house may be one rather of mourning than rejoicing, and that defeat rather than victory may be attendant on his arms.

The term dand is coeval with Hindu legislation. The bard Chand describes it, and the chronicler of the life of the great 1160Siddhraj of Anhilwara, “who expelled the seven Daddas,” or ‘great evils,’ whose initial letter was d, enumerates dand as one of them, and places it with the Dholis and Dakins, or minstrels and witches, giving it precedence amongst the seven plagues which his ancestors and tyrant custom had inflicted on the subject. Unhappily, there is no Siddhraj to legislate for Rajputana; and were there fourteen Daddas by which Surat Singh could swell his budget, he would retain them all for the oppression of the impoverished Jats, who, if they could, would be happy to expel the letter S from amongst them. But it is from the chieftain, the merchant, and the banker that the chief sums are realized; though indirectly the poor peasant contributes his share. There are fourteen collectors of dand,^[27] one to every chira or division, and these are furnished with arbitrary schedules according to the circumstances, actual or supposed, of each individual. So unlimited are these exactions, that the chief of Gandeli for two years offered the collector of his quarter ten thousand rupees if he would guarantee him against any further demand during even twelve months; and being refused, he turned the collector out, shut the gates of his castle, and boldly bid his master defiance.

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

Feudal Levies.

—The disposable force of all these feudal principalities must depend on the personal character of the Raja. If Surat Singh were popular, and the national emergencies demanded the assemblage of the Kher, or levée en masse, of the “sons of Bika,” he might bring ten thousand Rajputs into the field, of whom twelve hundred might be good horse, besides the foreign troops and park; but under present circumstances, and the 1161rapid deterioration of every branch of society, it may be doubted whether one-half could be collected under his standard.

The household troops consist of a battalion of foreign infantry, of five hundred men with five guns, and three squadrons of horse, about two hundred and fifty in number; all under foreign leaders. This is independent of the garrison of the capital, whose commandant is a Rajput of the Parihar tribe, who has twenty-five villages assigned for the payment of his troops.^[28]

1163If ever the whole feudal array of Bikaner amounted to this, it would assuredly be found difficult now, were the ban proclaimed, to assemble one-fourth of this number [211].

CHAPTER 3

Bhatner.

—Bhatner, which now forms an integral part of Bikaner, was anciently the chief abode of another Jat community, so powerful as at one time to provoke the vengeance of kings, and at others to succour them when in distress. It is asserted that its name is in nowise connected with the Bhattis, who colonized it, but derived from the Bardai, or Bhat, of a powerful prince, to whom the lands were granted, and who, desirous to be the founder of a poetic dynasty, gave his professional title to the abode. In the annals of Jaisalmer, it will be seen that there is another story accounting for the appellation, which recalls the founding of Carthage or Byrsa. Both legends are improbable; and the Bhatti annals confirm what might have been assumed without suspicion, that to a colony of this race Bhatner owes its name, though not its existence. The whole of the northern part is called Ner in the ancient geographical nomenclature of Marusthali; and when some of the Bhatti clans became proselytes to Islam, they changed the vowel a to u, to distinguish them from the parent stock, namely [212], Bhati for Bhatti.^[1] We shall, 1164however, furnish evidence by and by, in the annals of the original race, that in all probability the Yadu-Bhatti is the original Yuti colony from Central Asia; and that “the Jat prince of Salpur,” whose inscription is in the first volume of this work, was the predecessor of these very races.

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

Bhatner has attained great historical celebrity from its position, being in the route of invasion from Central Asia to India. It is more than probable that the Jats, who resisted the advance of Mahmud of Ghazni in a naval warfare on the Indus, had long before that period established themselves in the desert as well as in the Panjab; and as we find them occupying a place amongst the Thirty-six Royal Tribes, we may infer that they had political power many centuries before that conqueror. In A.D. 1205, only twelve years after the conquest of India by Shihabu-d-din, his successor, Kutb, was compelled to conduct the war in person against the Jats of the northern desert, to prevent their wresting the important post of Hansi from the empire;^[2] and when the unfortunate and intrepid queen Raziyah, the worthy heiress of the great Firoz, was compelled to abandon her throne to a usurper, she sought and found protection amongst the Jats, who, with their Scythic brethren, the Gakkhars, assembled all their forces and marched, with their queen at their head, like Tomyris of old, to meet her foes.^[3] She was not destined to enjoy the same revenge, but gained a glorious death in the attempt to overturn the Salic law of India.^[4] Again, in A.D. 1397, when Timur invaded India, 1165Bhatner was attacked for “having distressed him exceedingly on his invasion of Multan,” when he “in person scoured the country, and cut off a tribe of banditti called Jats.”^[5] In short, the Bhattis and Jats were so intermingled that distinction was impossible. Leaving this point, therefore, to be adjusted in the annals of the Bhattis, we proceed to sketch the history of the colony which ruled Bhatner when subjugated by the Rathors.

The Bhatti Migration.

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

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

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

Husain Khan (the grandson of Hayat), who recaptured 1166Bhatner from Raja Shujawan Singh, and it was maintained during the time of Husain Mahmud and Imam Mahmud, until Surat Singh made the final conquest of it from Bahadur Khan, father to the present titular head of the Bhattis,^[6]

Zabita Khan, who resides at Reni, having about twenty-five villages dependent thereon.^[7] Reni was founded by Rae Singh of Bikaner, and named after his queen (Rani), to whom it was assigned. It was taken by Imam Mahmud. The Bhatti Khan is now a robber by profession, and his revenues, which are said to have sometimes amounted to three lakhs of rupees, are extorted by the point of his lance. These [214] depredations are carried to a frightful extent, and the poor Jats are kept eternally on the alert to defend their property. The proximity of the British territory preventing all incursions to the eastward, they are thrown back upon their original haunts, and make the whole of this northern region their prey. To this circumstance is attributed the desertion of these lands, which once reared cattle in abundance, and were highly valued. It is asserted that from the northern boundary of Bhatner to the Gara there are many tracts susceptible of high cultivation, having water near the surface, and many large spaces entirely free from thal, or ‘sandhills.’ To the drying up of the Hakra, or Ghaggar, many centuries ago, in conjunction with moral evils, is ascribed the existing desolation. According to tradition, this stream took a westerly direction, by Phulra, where it is yet to be traced, and fell into the Indus below Uchh. The couplet recording its absorption by the sands of Ner has already been given, in the time of Rao Hamir, prince of Dhat. If the next European traveller who may pass through the Indian desert will seek out the representative of the ancient Sodha princes at Chor, near Umarkot, he may learn from their bard (if they retain such an appendage) the date of this prince, and that of so important an event in the physical and political history of their regions. The vestiges of large towns, now buried in the sands, confirm the truth of this tradition, and several of 1167them claim a high antiquity; such as the Rangmahall, already mentioned, west of Bhatner, having subterranean apartments still in good preservation. An aged native of Dandusar (twenty-five miles south of Bhatner) replied, to my inquiry as to the recollections attached to this place, that “it belonged to a Panwar prince who ruled once all these regions, when Sikandar Rumi attacked them.”

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

Ancient Cities.

—We shall conclude this imperfect sketch of 1168Bikaner and the desert with the names of several of their ancient towns, which may aid the search of the traveller in the regions on its northern border: Abohar; Banjara ka Nagar; Rangmahall; Sodal, or Soratgarh; Machotal; Ratibang; Kalibang; Kalyansar; Phulra; Marot; Tilwara; Gilwara; Bani; Manikkhar; Sursagar; Bamani; Koriwala; Kal-Dherani.^[8]

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

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

CHAPTER 1

Limits of Jaisalmer.

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

The Bhatti Tribe.

—This tribe is the Bhatti, a branch of the Yadu or Jadon race, whose power was paramount in India three thousand years ago; and the prince now governing this distant [217] corner of India claims descent from those Yadu kings who ruled from the Yamuna to the ‘world’s end,’^[1] at that remote period.

It were preposterous to expect to find, in the annals of a people so subject to the vicissitudes of fortune, an unbroken series of historical evidence in support of this ancestry; but they have preserved links of the chain which indicate original affinities. In tracing the Yadu-Bhatti history, two hypotheses alternately present themselves to our minds, each of which rests upon plausible 1170grounds; the one supposing the Bhattis to be of Scythic, the other of Hindu origin. This incongruity may be reconciled by presuming the co-mixture of the two primitive races; by enlarging our views, and contemplating the barrier, which in remote ages separated Scythia and India, as ideal; and admitting that the various communities, from the Caspian to the Ganges, were members of one grand family, having a common language and common faith,^[2] in that ancient central empire whose existence has been contended for and denied by the first names in science;^[3] the Bharatavarsha of the Hindus, the Indo-Scythic empire of king Bharat, son of Budha, the ancestor of the Yadu-Bhattis, now confined to a nook of the desert.^[4]

It would be vain to speculate upon the first colonization of India proper by the Rajkula, or ‘royal tribes.’ It appears to have possessed an indigenous population prior to the races of Surya, or Indu, though the genealogies which give the origin of these degraded races of Kabas,^[5] Bhils, Meras, Gonds, etc., assert 1171that they were all from the same stem, and that their political debasement was the effect of moral causes. But as there is no proof of this, we must attribute the fable to the desire of the Brahman [218] archaeologist to account for the origin of all things. Modern inquiries into these matters have been cramped by an erroneous and contracted view of the power of this ancient people, and the direction of that power. It has been assumed that the prejudices originating in Muslim conquests, which prevented the Hindu chieftain from crossing the forbidden waters of the Attock, and still more from “going down to the sea in ships,” had always existed. But were it not far more difficult to part with erroneous impressions than to receive new and correct views, it would be apparent that the first of these restrictions is of very recent origin, and on the other hand, that the Hindus of remote ages possessed great naval power, by which communication must have been maintained with the coasts of Africa,^[6] Arabia, and Persia, as well as the Australian Archipelago.^[7] It is ridiculous,

Since Mr. M. wrote, the revelation of the architectural antiquities in these isles, consequent to British conquests, establishes the fact that they were colonized by the Suryas, whose mythological and heroic history is sculptured in their edifices and maintained in their writings. Nor should we despair that similar discoveries may yet disclose the link which of yore connected India with Egypt, and to which Ceylon was but the first stepping-stone. That Rama possessed great naval means is beyond doubt, inherited from his ancestor Sagara ‘the sea-king,’ twenty generations before the hero of Lanka, which place I have long imagined to be Ethiopia; whence ancient writers assert Egypt to have had her institutions, and that the Ethiopians were of Indian origin. Cuvier, quoting Syncellus, even assigns the reign of Amenophis as the epoch of the colonization of Ethiopia from India.—P. 180 of his ‘Discours,’ etc. [For early Hindu voyages to Java and the neighbouring region see Smith, HFA, 259 ff.; BG, i. Part i. 489 ff.]] 1172with all the knowledge now in our possession, to suppose that the Hindus always confined themselves within their gigantic barriers, the limits of modern India. The cosmography of the Puranas, imperfect and puerile as it is, and some of the texts of Manu, afford abundant evidence of an intimate intercourse between the countries from the Oxus to the Ganges; and even in their allegories, we trace fresh streams of knowledge flowing into India from that central region, stigmatized in latter days as the land of the Barbarian (Mlechchha). Manu corroborates the Puranas, from which we infer the fact that in distant ages one uniform faith extended from Sakadvipa, the continent of the Sakae, to the Ganges.^[8] These observations [219] it is necessary to premise before we attempt, by following the tide of Yadu migration during the lapse of thirty centuries, to trace them from Indraprastha, 1173Suryapura, Mathura, Prayaga, Dwarka, Jadu-ka-dang (the mountains of Jud), Bahra, Gajni in Zabulistan; and again refluent into India, at Salbahana or Salpura in the Panjab, Tanot, Derawar, Lodorva in the desert, and finally Jaisalmer, founded in S. 1212, or A.D. 1156.

Having elsewhere descanted at length on the early history of the Yadus,^[9] we may refer those who are likely to take an interest in this discussion to that paper, and proceed at once to glean what we can from the native annals before us, from the death of their leader, Hari-Krishna, to the dispersion of the Yadus from India. The bare fact of their migration altogether out of India proper proves that the original intercourse, which conducted Budha, the patriarch of the Yadu race, into India ^[10] (where he espoused Ila, a princess of the Surya race, and by whom his issue was multiplied), was not forgotten, though fifty generations had elapsed from the patriarchal Budha to Hari—to whom and the chronicle we return.

Early Legends.

—“Prayaga ^[11] is the cradle of the Yadus who are Somavansa (of the lunar race). Thence Mathura founded by Pururavas remained for ages the seat of power. The name of Jadon (Yadu), of whom there were fifty-six tribes,^[12] became famous in the world, and of this race was the mighty Hari-Krishna, who founded Dwarka.”

The grand international conflicts amongst the “fifty-six Yadu tribes,” at Kurukshetra, and subsequently at Dwarka, are sufficiently known to the reader of Hindu history [220], and may 1174be referred to elsewhere.^[13] These events are computed to have happened about 1100 years before Christ. On the dispersion of these races many abandoned India, and amongst these, two of the many sons of Krishna. This deified leader of the Yadus had eight wives, and the offspring of the first and seventh, by a singular fate, now occupy what may be termed the outposts of Hinduism.^[14]

Rukmini was the senior of these wives; and the eldest of her sons was Pradyumna, who was married to a princess of Vidarbha; she bore him two sons, Aniruddha and Vajranabha, and from the latter the Bhattis claim descent. Vajra had two sons, Sankhanabha and Khira.^[15]

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

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

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

“Judhbhan was on a pilgrimage; the goddess heard his vows; 1175she awoke him from his sleep, and promised whatever he desired. ‘Give me land that I may inhabit,’ said the youth; ‘Rule in these hills,’ replied the goddess, and disappeared. When Judhbhan awoke, and was yet pondering on the vision of the night, a confused noise assailed him; and looking out, he discovered that the prince of the country had just died without issue, and they were disputing who should succeed him. The prime minister said, ‘he dreamed that a descendant of Krishna had arrived at Bahra,’^[17] and proposed [221] to seek him out and invest him as their prince. All assented, and Judhbhan was elected king. He became a great prince, had a numerous progeny, and the place of their abode was henceforth styled Jadu-ka-dang, ‘the mountains of Jadu.’

“Prithibahu (‘the arm of the earth’), son of Nabha, prince 1176of Marusthali, inherited the insignia of Sri-Krishna with the regal umbrella (chhatri) made by Viswakarma. He had a son Bahubal (‘strong arm’), who espoused Kamalavati, daughter of Vijaya Singh, prince of Malwa, who gave in dower (daeja)^[18] one thousand horses of Khorasan, one hundred elephants, pearls, gems, and gold innumerable, and five hundred handmaids, with chariots and bedsteads of gold. The Puar (Pramar) Kamalavati became the chief queen and bore her lord one son,

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

“Rajh, who reigned twelve years. He was married to Subhag Sundari, daughter of Ber Singh, prince of Malwa. Having, when pregnant, dreamed that she was delivered of a white elephant, the astrologers, who interpreted this as an indication of greatness, desired he might be named Gaj:^[19] as he approached manhood, the coco-nut came from Judhbhan, prince of Purabdes (the eastern), and was accepted. At the same time tidings arrived that from the shores of the ocean, the barbarians (Mlechchha), who had formerly attacked Subahu,^[20] were again advancing, 1177having Farid Shah of Khorasan at [222] the head of four lakhs of horse, from whom the people fled in dismay. The Raja sent scouts to obtain accurate intelligence, and marched to Hariau to meet him; while the foe encamped two coss from Kunjshahr.^[21] A battle ensued, in which the invader was defeated with the loss 1178of thirty thousand men, and four thousand on the part of the Hindus. But the foeman rallied, and Raja Rajh, who again encountered him, was wounded and died just as prince Gaj returned with Hansavati, his bride, daughter of Judhbhan of the east. In two battles the king of Khorasan was vanquished, when he obtained an auxiliary in the king of Rum (Romi-pati), to establish the Koran and the law of the prophet in infidel lands. While the armies of the Asuras were thus preparing their strength, Raja Gaj called a council of ministers. There being no stronghold of importance, and it being impossible to stand against numbers, it was determined to erect a fortress amidst the mountains of the north. Having summoned his friends to his aid, he sought counsel of the guardian goddess of his race; who [223] foretold that the power of the Hindus was to cease, but commanded him to erect a fort and call it Gajni. While it was approaching completion, news came that the kings of Rum and Khorasan were near at hand:

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

“Thursday (Brihaspati) the 13th of Magh, the enlightened half of the moon, when one ghari ^[23] of the day had fled, was the auspicious hour; and the drum of departure sounded. That day he marched eight coss, and encamped at Dulapar. The combined kings advanced, but in the night the Shah of Khorasan died of indigestion. When it was reported to the king of Rum (Shah Sikandar Rumi) that Shah Mamrez was dead, he became alarmed and said, ‘while we mortals have grand schemes in hand, He above has other views for us.’ Still his army advanced like waves of the ocean; caparisons and chains clank on the backs of elephants, while instruments of war resound through the host. Elephants move like walking mountains; the sky is black with 1179clouds of dust; bright helms reflect the rays of the sun. Four coss (eight miles) separated the hostile armies. Raja Gaj and his chieftains performed their ablutions, and keeping the Joginis ^[24] in their rear, advanced to the combat. Each host rushed on like famished tigers; the earth trembled; the heavens were overcast; nor was aught visible in the gloom but the radiant helm. War-bells resound; horses neigh; masses of men advance on each other, like the dark rolling clouds of Bhadon. Hissing speeds the feathered dart; the lion roar of the warriors is re-echoed; the edge of the sword deluges the ground with blood; on both sides the blows resound on the crackling bones. Here was Judhrae, there the Khans and Amirs, as if Time had encountered his fellow. Mighty warriors strew the earth; heroes fall in the cause of their lords. The army of the Shah fled; he left twenty-five thousand souls entangled in the net of destruction; he abandoned elephants and horses, and even his throne. Seven thousand Hindus lay dead on the field. The drum of victory resounded, and the Jadon returned triumphant to his capital [224].

“On Sunday, the 3rd of Baisakh, the spring season (Vasant), the Rohini Nakshatra, and Samvat Dharmaraja (Yudhishthira) 3008,^[25] seated on the throne of Gajni, he maintained the Jadon race. With this victory his power became firm: he conquered all the countries to the west, and sent an ambassador to Kashmir to call its prince Kandrapkel ^[26] to his presence. But the prince refused the summons: he said the world would scoff at him if he attended the stirrup of another without being first worsted in fight. Raja Gaj invaded Kashmir; and married the daughter of its prince, by whom he had a son, called Salbahan.

“When this child had attained the age of twelve, tidings of another invasion came from Khorasan. Raja Gaj shut himself up for three entire days in the temple of Kuladevi:^[27] on the fourth day the goddess appeared and revealed to him his destiny; the Gajni would pass from his hands, but that his posterity would 1180reinherit it, not as Hindus but as Muslims; and directed him to send his son Salbahan amongst the Hindus of the east, there to erect a city to be named after him. She said that he would have fifteen sons, whose issue would multiply; ‘that he (Raja Gaj) would fall in the defence of Gajni, but would gain a glorious reward hereafter.’

“Having heard his fate revealed Raja Gaj convened his family and kin, and on pretence of a pilgrimage to Juala-mukhi,^[28] he caused them to depart, with the prince Salbahan, for the east.

“Soon after the foe approached within five coss of Gajni. Leaving therein his uncle Sahideo for its defence, Raja Gaj marched to meet him. The king of Khorasan divided his army into five divisions; the Raja formed his into three: a desperate conflict ensued, in which both the king and the Raja were slain. The battle lasted five pahars,^[29] and a hundred thousand Mirs and thirty thousand Hindus strewed the field. The king’s son invested Gajni; for thirty days it was defended by Sahideo, when he performed the Sakha,^[30] and nine thousand valiant men gave up their lives.

Sālivāhana.

—“When tidings of this fatal event were conveyed to Salbahan, for twelve days the ground became his bed.^[31] He at length reached the Panjab, where he fixed on a spot with abundance of water, and having collected his clansmen around him, he laid the foundation of a city which he named after himself, Salbahanpur. The surrounding [225] Bhumias attended, and acknowledged his supremacy. Seventy-two years of the era of Vikrama had elapsed when Salbahanpur was founded, upon Sunday, the 8th of the month of Bhadon.^[32]

1181“Salbahan conquered the whole region of the Panjab. He had fifteen sons, who all became Rajas: namely, Baland, Rasalu, Dharmangad, Vacha, Rupa, Sundar, Lekh, Jaskaran, Nema, Mat, Nipak, Gangau, Jagau; all of whom, by the strength of their own arms, established themselves in independence.

“The coco-nut from Raja Jaipal Tuar was sent from Delhi, and accepted.^[33] Baland proceeded to Delhi, whose prince advanced to meet him. On his return with his bride, Salbahan determined to redeem Gajni from the foe and avenge his father’s death. He crossed the Attock to encounter Jalal, who advanced at the head of twenty thousand men. Crowned with victory, he regained possession of Gajni, where he left Baland, and returned to his capital in the Panjab; he soon after died, having ruled thirty-three years and nine months.

Bāland.

—“Baland succeeded. His brothers had now established themselves in all the mountainous tracts of the Panjab. But the Turks ^[34] began rapidly to increase, and to subjugate all beneath their sway, and the lands around Gajni were again in their power. Baland had no minister, but superintended in person all the details of his government. He had seven sons: Bhatti, Bhupati, Kalar, Janj,^[35] Sarmor, Bhainsrekha, Mangreo. The second son Bhupati (i.e. lord of the earth) had a son, Chakito, from whom is descended the Chakito (Chagatai) tribe [226].^[36]

1182“Chakito had eight sons, namely, Deosi, Bharu, Khemkhan, Nahar, Jaipal,^[37] Dharsi, Bijli Khan, Shah Samand.

“Baland, who resided at Salbahanpur, left Gajni to the charge of his grandson Chakito; and as the power of the barbarian (Mlechchha) increased, he not only entertained troops of that race, but all his nobles were of the same body. They offered, if he would quit the religion of his fathers, to make him master of Balkh, Bokhara, where dwelt the Usbek race, whose king had no offspring but one daughter. Chakito married her, and became king of Balkh, Bokhara, and lord of twenty-eight thousand horse. Between Balkh and Bokhara runs a mighty river, and Chakito was king of all from the gate of Balakhshan to the face of Hindustan; and from him is descended the tribe of Chakito Mongols.^[38]

“Kalar, third son of Baland, had eight sons, whose descendants are designated Kalar.^[39] Their names were, Sheodas, Ramdas, Aso, Kistna, Sama, Ganga, Jassa, Bhaga; almost all of whom became Musalmans. They are a numerous race, inhabiting the mountainous countries west of the river,^[40] and notorious robbers.

1183“Janj, the fourth son, had seven sons: Champa, Gokul, Mehraj, Hansa, Bhadon, Rasa, Jaga, all whose issue bore the name of Janj;^[41] and in like manner did the other sons become the patriarchs of tribes.

Bhatti.

—“Bhatti succeeded his father Baland. He conquered fourteen princes, and added [227] their fortunes to his own. Among his effects he reckoned twenty-four thousand mules ^[42] laden with treasure, sixty thousand horse, and innumerable foot. As soon as he mounted the gaddi, he assembled all his forces at Lahore preparatory to the tika-daur^[43] destined against Birbhan Baghel, lord of Kanakpur. Birbhan fell in the battle which ensued, at the head of forty thousand men.

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

Mangal.

—“Mangal Rao succeeded, but his fortune was not equal to that of his fathers. Dhundi, king of Ghazni, with a mighty force, invaded Lahore;^[44] nor did Mangal Rao oppose him, but with his eldest son fled into the wilds on the banks of 1184the river. The foe then invested Salbahanpur, where resided the family of the Raja; but Masur Rao escaped and fled to the Lakhi Jungle.^[45] There being only a cultivating peasantry in this tract, he overcame them, and became master of the country. Masur Rao had two sons, Abhai Rao and Saran Rao. The elder, Abhai Rao, brought the whole Lakhi Jungle under his control, and his issue, which multiplied, became famous as the Aboharia Bhattis.^[46] Saran quarrelled with and separated from his brother, and his issue descended to the rank of cultivators, and are well known as the Saran Jats.^[47]

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

“When Mangal Rao fled from the king, his children were secreted in the houses of his subjects. A Bhumia named Satidas, of the tribe of Tak,^[48] whose ancestors had been reduced from 1185power and wealth by the ancestors of the Bhatti prince, determined to avenge himself, and informed the king that some of the children were concealed in [228] the house of a banker (sahukar). The king sent the Tak with a party of troops, and surrounded the house of Sridhar, who was carried before the king, who swore he would put all his family to death if he did not produce the young princes of Salbahana. The alarmed banker protested he had no children of the Raja’s, for that the infants who enjoyed his protection were the offspring of a Bhumia, who had fled, on the invasion, deeply in his debt. But the king ordered him to produce them; he demanded the name of the village, sent for the Bhumias belonging to it, and not only made the royal infants of Salbahana eat with them, but marry their daughters. The banker had no alternative to save their lives but to consent: they were brought forth in the peasant’s garb, ate with the husbandmen (Jats), and were married to their daughters. Thus the offspring of Kalarrae became the Kalhora Jats; those of Mundraj and Sheoraj, the Mudna and Seora Jats; while the younger boys, Phul and Kewala, who were passed off as a barber (Nai) and a potter (Kumhar), fell into that class.^[49]

“Mangal Rao, who found shelter in the wilds of the Gara, crossed that stream and subjugated a new territory. At this period, the tribe of Baraha ^[50] inhabited the banks of the river; beyond them were the Buta Rajputs of Butaban.^[51] In Pugal dwelt the Pramara;^[52] in Dhat the Sodha ^[53] race; and the Lodra ^[54] Rajputs in Lodorva. Here Mangal Rao found security, and 1186with the sanction of the Sodha prince, he fixed his future abode in the centre of the lands of the Lodras, the Barahas, and the Sodhas.^[55] On the death of Mangal Rao, he was succeeded by

“Majam Rao, who escaped from Salbahanpur with his father. He was recognized by all the neighbouring princes, who sent the usual presents on his accession, and the [229] Sodha prince of Umarkot made an offer of his daughter in marriage, which was accepted, and the nuptials were solemnized at Umarkot. He had three sons, Kehar, Mulraj,^[56] and Gogli.

Kehar Rāo.

—“Kehar became renowned for his exploits. Hearing of a caravan (kafila) of five hundred horses going from Aror ^[57] to Multan, he pursued them with a chosen band disguised 1187as camel merchants, and came up with his prey across the Panjnad,^[58] where he attacked and captured it, and returned to his abode. By such exploits he became known, and the coco-nut (nariyal) was sent to Majam Rao, and his two elder sons, by Alansi Deora, of Jalor.^[59] The nuptials were celebrated with great splendour, and on their return Kehar laid the foundation of a castle, which he named Tanot in honour of Tana [or Tanuja] Devi. Ere it was completed, Rao Majam died.

Kehar Rāo.

—“Kehar succeeded. On his accession, Tanot was attacked by Jasrath, chief of the Barahas,^[60] because it was erected on the bounds of his tribe; but Mulraj defended it, and the Barahas were compelled to retire.

“On Mangalwar (Tuesday), the full-moon of Magh, S. 787 ^[61] (A.D. 731), the fortress of Tanot was completed, and a temple erected to Tana-Mata. Shortly after a treaty of peace was formed 1188with the Barahas, which was concluded by the nuptials of their chief with the daughter of Mulraj [230].”

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

Recapitulation of Bhatti History.

—1. That of Hari, the ancestor of the Yadu race.

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

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

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

It is the more unnecessary to enter into greater details on these outlines of the early Yadu history, since the subject has been in part treated elsewhere.^[62] A multiplicity of scattered facts and geographical distinctions fully warrants our assent to the general truth of these records, which prove that the Yadu race had dominion in central Asia, and were again, as Islamism advanced, repelled upon India. The obscure legend of their encounters with the allied Syrian and Bactrian kings would have seemed altogether illusory, did not evidence exist that Antiochus the Great was slain in these very regions by an Indo-Scythian prince, called by the Greek writers Sophagasenas: a name in all probability compounded from Subahu and his grandson Gaj (who might have used the common affix of sena), the Yadu princes of Gajni, who are both stated to have had conflicts with the Bactrian (Khorasan) kings.

Sistan (the region of cold, siya)^[63] and both sides of the valley 1189were occupied in the earliest periods by another branch of the Yadus; for the Sind-Samma dynasty was descended from Samba (which like Yadu became a patronymic)—of which the Greeks made Sambos—and one of whose descendants opposed Alexander in his progress down the Indus. The capital of this dynasty was Samma-ka-kot, or Samanagari, yet existing on the lower Indus, and which was corrupted into Minnagara by the Greeks [231].^[64]

Ancient Sites in Jaisalmer.

—It is an interesting hypothesis, that would make the Chagatais descendants of the Yadus.^[65] In like manner, Bappa, the ancestor of the Ranas of Mewar, abandoned Central India after establishing his line in Chitor, and retired to Khorasan. All this proves that Hinduism prevailed in these distant regions, and that the intercourse was unrestricted between Central Asia and India. We have undiscovered fields of inquiry in Transoxiana, and in the still more accessible region of the Panjab, where much exists to reward the archaeologist; Salbahanpur, Kampilanagari, Bahra, the hill of Jud, perhaps Bucephalia,^[66] the seven towns of Uchh, but, above all, the capital of 1190Taxiles. Let us hope that, in this age of enterprise, these suggestions may be followed up; we can promise the adventurer a very different result from that which tempts the explorer of barbarous Africa, for here he would penetrate into the first haunts of civilization, and might solve one of the great problems which still distract mankind [232].

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

CHAPTER 2

Question of Dates.

—The dates of the varied events related in the preceding chapter may be of doubtful accuracy, but we have at length arrived on the terra firma of Bhatti chronology. We may distrust the date, 3008 of Yudishthira’s era, for the victory obtained by the Jadon prince of Gajni over the kings of Rum and Khorasan;^[1] as well as that of S. 72 assigned for the exode of Salbahan and his Yadus from Zabulistan, and their colonization of the Panjab;^[2] but their settlements in the desert, and the foundation of [233] Tanot, their first seat of power, in S. 787 (A.D. 731), are corroborated by incontrovertible synchronisms in almost every subsequent reign of these annals.

Rāo Kehar I.

—Kehar, a name highly respected in the history of the Bhatti race, and whose exploit has been already recorded, must have been the cotemporary of the celebrated Caliph Al Walid,^[3] the first whose arms extended to the plains of India, and one of whose earliest conquests and chief positions was Aror, the capital of Upper Sind.

1191

Rāo Tano or Tanuji.

—Kehar ^[4] had five sons; namely, Tano, Utirao, Chanar, Kaphrio, Them. All of them had offspring,^[5] who became the heads of clans, retaining the patronymic. All were soldiers of fortune, and they conquered the lands of the Chana Rajputs;^[6] but the latter revenged themselves upon Kehar, whom they attacked and slew as he was hunting.

Tano succeeded. He laid waste the lands of the Barahas,^[7] and those of the Langaha of Multan. But Husain Shah advanced with the Langaha Pathans,^[8] clothed in armour with iron helms, with the men of Dudi,^[9] of Khichi ^[10] the Khokhar;^[11] the Mogul, the Johya,^[12] the Jud,^[12] and Sayyid, all mounted on horses, to the 1192number of ten thousand men, to attack the Jadon. They reached the territory of the Barahas, who [234] joined them, and there they encamped. Tano collected his brethren around him, and prepared for defence. During four days they defended the castle; and on the fifth the Rao ordered the gates to be thrown open, and with his son, Bijairae, sallied out sword in hand, and attacked the besiegers. The Barahas were the first to fly, and they were soon followed by the rest of the Asurs. The victors carried the spoils of the field into Tanot. As soon as the armies of Multan and Langaha were driven off, the coco-nut came from Jiju, chief of the Butas of Butaban,^[13] and an alliance offensive and defensive was formed against the prince of Multan.

Tano had five sons, Bijairae, Makar, Jaitang, Alan, and Rakecha. The second son, Makar, had issue Maipa, who had two sons, Mohola and Dakao, the latter of whom excavated the lake known by his name. His issue became carpenters (Sutar), and are to this day known as the Makar Sutar.^[14]

The third son, Jaitang, had two sons, Ratansi and Chohar. The first repaired the ruined city of Bikampur.^[15] Chohar had two sons, Kola and Girraj, who founded the towns of Kolasar and Girrajsar.^[15]

The fourth son, Alan, had four sons, Deosi, Tirpal, Bhaoni, and 1193Rakecha. The descendants of Deosi became Rabaris (who rear camels),^[16] and the issue of Rakecha became merchants (Banias), and are now classed amongst the Oswal tribe.^[17]

Tano having, by the interposition of the goddess Bijaiseni, discovered a hidden treasure, erected a fortress, which he named Bijnot;^[18] and in this he placed a statue of the goddess, on the 13th, the enlightened part of the month Margsir, the Rohini Nakshatra, S. 813 (A.D. 757). He died after ruling eighty years.

Bijairāē.

—Bijairae succeeded in S. 870 (A.D. 814). He commenced his reign with the tika-daur against his old enemies, the Barahas, whom he defeated and plundered. In S. 892, he had a son by the Buta queen, who was called Deoraj. The Barahas and Langahas once more united to attack the Bhatti prince; but they were defeated [235] and put to flight. Finding that they could not succeed by open warfare, they had recourse to treachery. Having, under pretence of terminating this long feud, invited young Deoraj to marry the daughter of the Baraha chief, the Bhattis attended, when Bijairae and eight hundred of his kin and clan were massacred. Deoraj escaped to the house of the Purohit (of the Barahas, it is presumed), whither he was pursued. There being no hope of escape, the Brahman threw the Brahmanical thread round the neck of the young prince, and in order to convince his pursuers that they were deceived as to the object of their search, he sat down to eat with him from the same dish.^[19] Tanot was invested and taken, and nearly every soul in it put to the sword, so that the very name of Bhatti was for a while extinct.

1194

Rāo Deorāj.

—Deoraj remained for a long time concealed in the territory of the Barahas; but at length he ventured to Buta, his maternal abode, where he had the happiness to find his mother, who had escaped the massacre at Tanot. She was rejoiced to behold her son’s face, and “waved the salt over his head,” then threw it into the water, exclaiming, “Thus may your enemies melt away!” Soon tired of a life of dependence, Deoraj asked for a single village, which was promised; but the kin of the Buta chief alarmed him, and he recalled it, and limited his grant to such a quantity of land as he could encompass by the thongs cut from a single buffalo’s hide; and this, too, in the depth of the desert. For this expedient he was indebted to the architect Kaikeya, who had constructed the castle of Bhatner.^[20] Deoraj 1195immediately commenced erecting a [236] place of strength, which he called after himself Deogarh, or Derawar,^[21] on Monday, the 5th of the month Magh (sudi), the Pushya Nakshatra, S. 909.

Soon as the Buta chief heard that his son-in-law was erecting, not a dwelling, but a castle, he sent a force to raze it. Deoraj despatched his mother with the keys to the assailants, and invited 1196the leaders to receive the castle and his homage; when the chief men, to the number of a hundred and twenty, entered, they were inveigled, under pretence of consultation, ten at a time, and each party put to death and their bodies thrown over the wall. Deprived of their leaders, the rest took to flight.

Soon after, the prince was visited by his patron, the Jogi who had protected him amongst the Barahas, and who now gave him the title of Siddh.^[22] This Jogi, who possessed the art of transmuting metals, lodged in the same house where Deoraj found protection on the massacre of his father and kindred. One day, the holy man had gone abroad, leaving his jarjarikakantha, or ‘tattered doublet,’ in which was the Raskumbha, or ‘elixir-vessel,’ a drop of which having fallen on the dagger of Deoraj and changed it to gold, he decamped with both, and it was by the possession of this he was enabled to erect Derawar. The Jogi was well aware of the thief whom he now came to visit; and he confirmed him in the possession of the stolen property, on one condition, that he should become his chela and disciple, and, as a token of submission and fidelity, adopt the external symbols of the Jogi. Deoraj assented, and was invested with the Jogi robe of ochre.^[23] He placed the mudra ^[24] in his ear, the little horn round his neck, and [237] the bandage (langota) about his loins; and with the gourd (khopra) in his hand, he perambulated the dwellings of his kin, exclaiming, Alakh! Alakh!^[25] The gourd was filled with gold and pearls; the title of Rao was abandoned for that of Rawal;^[26] the tika was made on his forehead; and exacting a pledge that these rites of inauguration should be continued to the latest posterity, the Baba Rata (for such was the Jogi’s name) disappeared.

Deoraj determined to wreak his revenge on the Barahas, and he enjoyed it even “to stripping the scarfs from the heads of their females.” On his return to Derawar, he prepared for an attack on Langaha, the heir of which was then on a marriage expedition at Alipur. There, Deoraj attacked and slew a thousand 1197of them, the rest henceforth acknowledged his supremacy. The Langahas were gallant Rajputs.

The Langāha Tribe.

—As the tribe of Langaha, or Langa, will from this period go hand in hand, in all the international wars of the Yadu-Bhattis, from their expulsion from the Panjab to their final settlement in the Indian desert, it is of some interest to trace its origin and destiny. It is distinctly stated that, at this epoch, the Langahas were Rajputs; and they are in fact a subdivision of the Solanki or Chalukya race, one of the four Agnikula; and it is important to observe that in their gotracharya, or ‘genealogical tree,’ they claim Lohkot in the Panjab as their early location; in all probability prior to their regeneration on Mount Abu, when they adopted Brahmanical principles. From the year S. 787 (A.D. 731), when the castle of Tanot was erected by the leader of the Bhatti colony, down to S. 1530 (A.D. 1474), a period of seven hundred and forty-three years, perpetual border-strife appears to have occurred between the Bhattis and Langahas, which terminated in that singular combat, or duel, of tribe against tribe, during the reign of Rawal Chachak, in the last-mentioned period. Shortly after this, Babur conquered India, and Multan became a province of the empire, when the authority of tribes ceased. Ferishta, however, comes to our aid and gives us an account of an entire dynasty of this tribe as kings of Multan. The first of this line of five kings began his reign A.H. 847 (A.D. 1443), or thirty years anterior to the death of Rawal Chachak. The Muslim historian (see Briggs’ Ferishta, vol. iv. p. 379) says that when Khizr Khan Sayyid ^[27] was emperor of Delhi, he sent Shaikh Yusuf as his lieutenant to Multan, who gained the esteem of the surrounding princes; amongst whom was Rae Sahra, chief of Sivi, head of the tribe of Langaha [238], who came to congratulate him, and to offer his services and a daughter in marriage. The offer was accepted; constant communication was kept up between Sivi and Multan, till at length Rae Sahra disclosed the object of all this solicitude; he threw aside the mask, confined the Shaikh, sent him off to Delhi, and crowned himself king of Multan, under the title of Kutbu-d-din.

Ferishta ^[28] calls Rae SahraSahra and his tribe of Langaha, Afghans; 1198and Abu-l-fazl says, the inhabitants of Sivi were of the Numri (fox) tribe, which is assuredly one of the most numerous of the Jat or Gete race, though they have all, since their conversion, adopted the distinctive term of Baloch. The Bhatti chronicle calls the Langahas in one page Pathan, and in another Rajput, which are perfectly reconcilable, and by no means indicative that the Pathan or Afghan of that early period, or even in the time of Rae Sahra, was a Muhammadan. The title of Rae is sufficient proof that they were even then Hindus. Mr. Elphinstone scouts the idea of the descent of the Afghans from the Jews; and not a trace of the Hebrew is found in the Pushtu, or language of this tribe, although it has much affinity to the Zend and Sanskrit. I cannot refrain from repeating my conviction of the origin of the Afghans from the Yadu, converted into Yahudi, or ‘Jew.’ Whether these Yadus are or are not Yuti, or Getae, remains to be proved.^[29]

To the south of Derawar dwelt the Lodra Rajputs; their capital was Lodorva,^[30] an immense city, having twelve gates. The family Purohit, having been offended, took sanctuary (saran) with Deoraj, and stimulated him to dispossess his old masters of their territory. A marriage was proposed to Nripbhan, the chief of the Lodras, which being accepted, Deoraj, at the head of twelve hundred chosen horse, departed for Lodorva. The gates of the city were thrown open as the bridegroom approached; but no sooner had he entered with his suite, than swords were drawn, and Deoraj made himself master of Lodorva.^[31] He married the 1199chief’s daughter, left a garrison in Lodorva, and returned to Derawar. Deoraj was now lord of fifty-six thousand horse, and a hundred thousand camels [239].^[32]

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

“Wherever there is a Puar, there is a Dhar; and where there is a Dhar, there is a Puar. There is no Dhar without a Puar; neither is there a Puar without a Dhar.”^[33]

Under their leaders, Tejsi and Sarang, they protected the mock Dhar, and were cut to pieces to the number of one hundred and twenty.^[34] Deoraj approved their valour, and provided for their children. Being thus released from his oath, he proceeded towards Dhar, reducing those who opposed his progress. Brajbhan defended Dhar during five days, and fell with eight hundred of his men; upon which Deoraj unfurled the flag of victory and returned to his late conquest, the city of Lodorva.

Deoraj had two sons, Mund and Chedu; the last, by a wife of the Baraha tribe, had five sons, whose descendants were styled Cheda Rajputs. Deoraj excavated several large lakes in the 1200territory of Khadal (in which Derawar is situated); one at Tanot is called Tanosar; another, after himself, Deosar. Having one day gone to hunt, slightly attended, he was attacked by an ambush of the Chana Rajputs, and slain with twenty-six of his attendants, after having reigned fifty-five years. His kin and clans shaved their locks and moustaches, excepting ^[35]

Mund, who succeeded, and performed all the ceremonies during the twelve days. Having made his ablutions with the water from sixty-eight different wells, in which [240] were immersed the leaves of one hundred and eight different shrubs and trees, a female of spotless virtue waved the burning frankincense over his head. Before him was placed the panjamrit, consisting of curds, milk, butter, sugar, and honey; likewise pearls, gems, the royal umbrella, the grass called dub, various flowers, a looking-glass, a young virgin, a chariot, a flag or banner, the vela flower, seven sorts of grain, two fish, a horse, a nakhank (unknown),^[36] a bullock, a shell, a lotus, a vessel of water, the tail of the wild ox (chaunri), a sword, a female calf, a litter, yellow clay, and prepared food. Then, seated on the lion’s hide—(on which were painted the seven dwipas or continents of Hindu cosmography, apparelled in the dress of the Jogi, and covered with ashes (bhabut), with the mudra in his ears)—the white chaunri (ox-tail) was waved over his head, and he was inaugurated on the gaddi of Deoraj, while the Purohit and chiefs presented their offerings. The tika-daur was against the assassins of his father, who had congregated for defence, eight hundred of whom were put to death. Rawal Mund had one son, who was called Bachera. When about fourteen years of age the coco-nut came from Balabhsen Solanki, Raja of Patan.^[37] He forthwith proceeded to Patan, 1201where he married the Solanki princess, and died not long after his father.

Rāwal Bachera or Wachuji.

—Bachera succeeded on Saturday the 12th Sravan, S. 1035.^[38] The same rites of installation were performed; the Kanphara (split-eared) Jogi was the first to put the regal tilak on his forehead, and “his hand upon his back.” Rawal Bachera had five sons, Dusaj, Singh, Bapi Rao, Ankho, and Malpasao; all of whom had issue, forming clans.

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

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

Bapi Rao had two sons, Pahu and Mandan. Pahu had likewise two, Biram and Tular, whose numerous issue were styled the Pahu Rajputs. The Pahus issued from their abode of Bikampur, and conquered the lands of the Johyas, as far as Devijhal; and having made Pugal ^[39] their capital, they dug numerous wells in the thal, which still go by the name of the Pahu wells.

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

1202Dusaj, with his three brothers, went to the land of Kher, where dwelt Partap Singh, chief of the Guhilots,^[40] whose daughters they espoused. “In the land of Kher, the Jadon showered gold, enriching it.” In the daeja (dower) with his daughter, the Guhilot gave fifteen Dewadharis, or ‘virgin lamp-holders.’ Soon after, the Balochs made an inroad into the territory of Khadal; a battle ensued, in which five hundred were killed, and the rest fled beyond the river. Bachera died, and was succeeded by

Rāwal Dusaj.

— Dusaj, in the month of Asarh, S. 1100. Hamir, prince of the Sodhas,^[41] made an incursion into his territories, which he plundered. Dusaj having unavailingly remonstrated, reminding him of ancient ties, he marched into Dhat, and gained a victory. Dusaj had two sons, Jaisal and Bijairaj, and in his old age a third son, by a Ranawat princess of the house of Mewar, called Lanja Bijairae, who, when Dusaj died, was placed on the throne by the nobles and civil officers of the State. Previous to his elevation, he had espoused a daughter of Siddhraj Jai Singh, Solanki. During the nuptial ceremonies, as the mother of the bride was marking the forehead of the bridegroom [242] with the tilak, or ‘inauguration mark,’ she exclaimed, “My son, do thou become the portal of the north—the barrier between us and the king, whose power is becoming strong.”^[42] By the princess of Patan he had a son, 1203who was named Bhojdeo, and who, by the death of his father when he attained the age of twenty-five, became lord of Lodorva. The other sons of Dusaj were at this time advanced in manhood, Jaisal being thirty-five, and Bijairaj thirty-two years of age.

Some years before the death of Dusaj, Raedhawal Puar, son (or descendant) of Udayaditya of Dhar, had three daughters, one of whom he betrothed to Jaipal (Ajaipal) Solanki, son of Siddhraj;^[43] another to Bijairaj Bhatti, and the third to the Rana of Chitor. The Bhatti prince left Lodorva for Dhar at the head of seven hundred horse, and arrived at the same time with the Sesodia and Solanki princes. On his return to Lodorva, he erected a temple to Seshalinga, close to which he made a lake. By the Puar princess he had a son named Rahar, who had two sons, Netsi and Keksi.

Bhojdeo had not long occupied the gaddi of Lodorva, when his uncle Jaisal conspired against him; but being always surrounded by a guard of five hundred Solanki Rajputs, his person was unassailable. At this time the prince of Patan was often engaged with the king’s troops from Tatta. Jaisal, in pursuance of his plan, determined to coalesce with the king, and cause an attack 1204on Patan (Anhilwara), by which alone he could hope for the departure of the Solanki body-guard. Jaisal, with his chief kin, escorted by two hundred horse, marched to the Panjnad, where he saw the king of Ghor, who had just overcome the king of Tatta,^[44] and placed his own garrison there [243],^[45] and he accompanied him to Aror, the ancient capital of Sind. There he unfolded his views, and having sworn allegiance to the king, he obtained a force to dispossess his nephew of his territory. Lodorva was encompassed, and Bhojdeo slain in its defence. In two days the inhabitants were to carry off their effects, and on the third the troops of Ghor were permitted the license of plunder. Lodorva was sacked, and Karim Khan departed for Bakhar with the spoils.

The Foundation of Jaisalmer, c. A.D. 1156.

—Jaisal thus obtained the gaddi of Lodorva; but it being open to invasion, he sought a spot better adapted for defence, and he found one only five coss (ten miles) from Lodorva. Upon the summit of a rocky ridge, he discovered a Brahman, whose solitary hermitage adjoined the fountain of Brahmsar. Having paid homage, and disclosed the purport of his visit, the recluse related the history of the triple-peaked hill, which overlooked his hermitage. He said that in the Treta, or ‘silver age,’ a celebrated ascetic called Kak, or Kaga, resided at this fountain, after whom the rivulet which issued thence had its name of Kaga; that the Pandu Arjun, with Hari Krishna, came there to attend a great sacrifice, on which occasion Krishna foretold that, in some distant age, a descendant of his should erect a town on the margin of that rivulet, and should raise a castle on Trikuta, the triple-peaked mount.^[46] While Krishna thus prophesied, it was observed to 1205him by Arjun that the water was bad, when Krishna smote the rock with his chakra (discus), whereupon a sweet spring bubbled up, and on its margin were inscribed the prophetic stanzas which the hermit Isal now pointed out to the Bhatti prince, who read as follows:

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

On Rabiwar, ‘the day of the sun’ (a favourite day for commencing any grand undertaking with all these tribes), the 12th of Sravan, the enlightened half of the moon, S. 1212 (A.D. 1156), the foundation of Jaisalmer was laid, and soon the inhabitants, with all that was valuable, abandoned Lodorva,^[47] and began to erect new habitations. Jaisal had two sons, Kelan and Salbahan. He chose his chief ministers and advisers from the children of Sodal, of the Pahu tribe, who became too powerful. Their old enemies, the Ghana Rajputs, again invaded the lands of Khadal; but they suffered for their audacity. Jaisal survived this event five years, when he died, and was succeeded by his youngest son, Salbahan the Second [245].

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

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

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

Retrospect of Bhatti History.

—The interval between the erection of the castle of Tanot and the present time is exactly eleven hundred years; during which the historical narrative, whatever may be its value, is at least continuous, and the events recorded are corroborated, even in the darkest period, by numerous synchronisms in the annals of the other States; and viewed synoptically, it presents matter of deep interest to the explorer of Indian history. The period of four hundred and twenty-five years, embraced in the preceding chapter, is full of incidents. It is a record of a people who once deemed their consequence and their fame imperishable. And even were it less diversified by anecdotes descriptive of manners, it would still possess claims to interest as a simple relation of the gradual peopling of a great portion of the Indian desert. We see tribes and cities disappearing; new races and new capitals taking their place; and although not a syllable is written which [246] bears directly upon religion, we can see, incidentally, the analogy of these Indo-Scythic tribes, from Zabulistan and Salbahana, with the Hindu, confirming what Manu says, that the Sakas, Yavanas, Pahlavas, and the Khasas ^[1] of Central Asia, were all Chhattris or Rajputs. We now proceed with the chronicle.

Jaisal, the founder of Jaisalmer, survived the change of capital only twelve years. His elder son, Kailan, having given displeasure 1207to the Pahu minister, was expelled, and his younger brother placed upon the gaddi.

Rāwal Sālivāhan I.

—Salbahan, a name of celebrity in the annals, renewed in the son of Jaisal, succeeded in S. 1224 (A.D. 1168). His first expedition was against the Kathi tribe, who, under their leader, Jagbhan, dwelt between the city of Jalor and the Aravalli.^[2] The Kathi Rao was killed, and his horses and camels were carried to Jaisalmer. The fame of this exploit exalted the reputation of Salbahan. He had three sons, Bijar, Banar, and Haso.

Embassy from Badarināth.

—In the mountains of Badarinath, there was a State whose princes were of the Jadon (Yadu) race, descended from the first Salbahan at the period of the expulsion from Gajni.^[3] At this time, the prince of this State dying without 1208issue, a deputation came to Jaisalmer to obtain a prince to fill the vacant gaddi. Haso was accordingly sent, but died just as he arrived. His wife, who was pregnant, was taken with the pains of labour on the journey, and was delivered of a son under the shade of a palas tree, whence the child was called Palasia. This infant succeeding, the raj (principality) was named after him Palasia.^[4]

Proposals of marriage came from Mansi Deora of Sirohi.^[5] The Rawal left Jaisalmer [247] to the care of his eldest son Bijal. Soon after his departure, the foster-brother (Dhabhai) of the young prince propagated the report of the Rawal’s death in an encounter with a tiger, and prompted Bijal to assume the dignity. Salbahan, on his return, finding his seat usurped, and having in vain expostulated with his traitorous son, proceeded to Khadal, of which Derawar is the capital, where he was slain, with three hundred of his followers, in repelling an irruption of the Balochs. Bijal did not long enjoy the dignity; having in a fit of passion struck the Dhabhai, the blow was returned, upon which, stung with shame and resentment, he stabbed himself with his dagger.

Rāwal Kailan, c. A.D. 1200-19.

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

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

Rāwal Chāchakdeo I., c. A.D. 1219-41.

—Chachakdeo succeeded, in S. 1275 (A.D. 1219). Soon after his accession, he carried on war against the Chana Rajputs (now extinct), of whom he slew 1209two thousand, capturing fourteen thousand cows, and compelling the tribe to take refuge with the Johyas. Soon after, the Rawal invaded the lands of Rana Armsi, prince of the Sodhas, who, though taken by surprise, assembled four thousand horse; but was defeated, and forced to fly for shelter to the walls of his capital, Umarkot. The Puar was glad to obtain the absence of his foe by the offer of his daughter in marriage.^[6]

The Rathors, recently established in the land of Kher, had become troublesome [248] neighbours; Chachak obtained the aid of the Sodha troops to chastise them, and he proceeded to Jasal and Bhalotra, where they were established; but Chhadu and his son Thida averted his wrath by giving him a daughter to wife.^[7]

Rawal Chachak ruled thirty-two years. He had only one son, 1210Tej Rao, who died at the age of forty-two, from the smallpox, leaving two sons, Jethsi and Karan. To the youngest the Rawal was much attached; and having convened the chiefs around his death-bed, he entreated they would accede to his last wish, that his youngest grandson might be his successor.

Rāwal Karan Singh I., A.D. 1241-71.

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

Rāwal Lākhansen, A.D. 1271-75.

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

Rāwal Pūnpāl, A.D. 1275-76.

—This prince was of a temper so violent that the nobles dethroned him, and recalled the exiled 1211Jethsi from Gujarat. Punpal had a residence assigned him in a remote quarter of the State. He had a son, Lakamsi, who had a son called Rao Raningdeo, who by a stratagem pointed out by a Kharal ^[8] Rajput, took Marot from the Johyas, and Pugal from the Thoris, thieves by profession, whose chief, styled Rao, he made captive; and in Pugal he settled his family. Rao Raning had a son called Sadul, who alternately bathed in the sea of pleasure, and struggled in that of action: to their retreat the father and son conveyed the spoils seized from all around them.

Rāwal Jeth Singh I., A.D. 1276-94.

—Jethsi obtained the gaddi in S. 1332 (A.D. 1276). He had two sons, Mulraj and Ratansi. Deoraj, the son of Mulraj, espoused the daughter of the Sonigira chief of Jalor. Muhammad [Khuni]^[9] Padshah invaded the dominions of Rana Rupsi, the Parihar prince of Mandor,^[10] who, when defeated, fled with his twelve daughters, and found refuge with the Rawal, who gave him Baru ^[11] as a residence.

Alāu-d-din attacks Jaisalmer.

—Deoraj, by his Sonigira wife, had three sons, Janghan, Sarwan, and Hamir. This Hamir was a mighty warrior, who attacked Kumpa Sen of Mewa,^[12] and plundered his lands. He had issue three sons, Jetha, Lunkaran, and Mairu. At this period, Ghori Alau-d-din commenced the war against the castles of India. The tribute of Tatta and Multan, consisting of fifteen hundred horses and fifteen hundred mules laden with treasure and valuables, was at Bakhar in progress to the king at Delhi. The sons of Jethsi determined to lay an ambush and capture the tribute. Disguised as grain-merchants, with seven thousand horse and twelve hundred camels, they set out on their expedition, and on the banks of the Panjnad found the convoy, escorted by four hundred Mogul and the like number of Pathan horse. The Bhattis encamped near the convoy; and in the night they rose upon and slew the escort, carrying the treasure to Jaisalmer. The survivors carried 1212the news to the king, who prepared to punish this insult. When tidings reached Rawal Jethsi that the king was encamped on the Anasagar at Ajmer, he prepared Jaisalmer for defence. He laid in immense stores of grain, and deposited all round the ramparts of the fort large round stones to hurl on the besiegers. All the aged, the infirm, and his female grandchildren were [250] removed into the interior of the desert, while the country around the capital for many miles was laid waste, and the towns made desolate. The Rawal, with his two elder sons and five thousand warriors, remained inside for the defence of the castle, while Deoraj and Hamir formed an army to act against the enemy from without. The sultan in person remained at Ajmer and sent forward an immense force of Khorasanis and Kuraishes, cased in steel armour, “who rolled on like the clouds in Bhadon.” The fifty-six bastions were manned, and three thousand seven hundred heroes distributed amongst them for their defence, while two thousand remained in reserve to succour the points attacked. During the first week that the besiegers formed their entrenchments, seven thousand Musalmans were slain, and Mir Muhabbat and Ali Khan remained on the field of battle. For two years the invaders were confined to their camp by Deoraj and Hamir, who kept the field, after cutting off their supplies, which came from Mandor, while the garrison was abundantly furnished from Khadal, Barmer, and Dhat. Eight years ^[13] had the siege lasted, when Rawal Jethsi died, and his body was burnt inside the fort.

During this lengthened siege, Ratansi had formed a friendship with the Nawab Mahbub Khan, and they had daily friendly meetings under a khejra ^[14] tree, between the advanced posts, each attended by a few followers. They played at chess together, and interchanged expressions of mutual esteem. But when duty called them to oppose each other in arms, the whole world was enamoured with their heroic courtesy. Jethsi had ruled eighteen years when he died.

1213

Rāwal Mūlrāj III., A.D. 1294-95.

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

The Sati: Johar.

—The friend of Ratansi had a younger brother, who, on the retreat of the royal forces, was carried inside the fort, when, seeing the real state of things, he escaped and conveyed intelligence of it, upon which the siege was renewed. Mulraj reproached his brother as the cause of this evil, and asked what was fit to be done? to which Ratansi replied, “There is but one path open: to immolate the females, to destroy by fire and water whatever is destructible, and to bury what is not; then open wide the gates, and sword in hand rush upon the foe, and thus attain Swarga.” The chiefs were assembled; all were unanimous to make Jaisalnagar resplendent by their deeds, and preserve the honour of the Jadon race. Mulraj thus replied: “You are of a warlike race, and strong are your arms in the cause of your prince; what heroes excel you, who thus tread in the Chhatri’s path? In battle, not even the elephant could stand before you. For the maintenance of my honour the sword is in your hands; let Jaisalmer be illumined by its blows upon the foe.” Having thus inspired the chiefs and men, Mulraj and Ratan repaired to the palace of their queens. They told them 1214to take the sohag,^[15] and prepare to meet in heaven, while they gave up their lives in defence of their honour and their faith. Smiling, the Sodha Rani replied, “This night we shall prepare, and by the morning’s light we shall be inhabitants of Swarga” (heaven); and thus it was with the chiefs and all their wives. The night was passed together for the last time in preparation for the awful morn. It came; ablutions and prayers were finished, and at the Rajdwara ^[16] were convened bala, praurha, and briddhu.^[17] They bade a last farewell to all their kin; the Johar commenced, and twenty-four thousand females, from infancy to old age, surrendered their lives, some by the sword, others in the volcano of fire. Blood flowed in torrents, while the smoke of the pyre ascended to the heavens: not one feared to die, every valuable was consumed with them, not the worth of a straw was preserved for the foe. This work done, the brothers looked upon the spectacle with horror. Life was now a burden, and they prepared to quit it. They purified themselves with water, paid adoration to the divinity, made gifts [252] to the poor, placed a branch of the Tulsi ^[18] in their casques, the Salagram^[18] round their neck; and having cased themselves in armour and put on the saffron robe, they bound the mor^[19] (crown) around their heads, and embraced each other for the last time. Thus they awaited the hour of battle. Three thousand eight hundred warriors, with faces red with wrath, prepared to die with their chiefs.

Ratansi had two sons, named Gharsi and Kanar, the eldest only twelve years of age. He wished to save them from the impending havoc, and applied to his courteous foeman. The Muslim chief swore he would protect them, and sent two confidential servants to receive the trust; to whom, bidding them a last farewell, their father consigned them. When they reached the royal camp they were kindly welcomed by the Nawab, who, 1215putting his hand upon their heads, soothed them, and appointed two Brahmans to guard, feed, and instruct them.

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

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

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

CHAPTER 4

Rāthor Settlement at Jaisalmer. Dūda Rāwal, A.D. 1295-1306.

—Some years subsequent to this disastrous event in the Bhatti annals, Jagmall, son of Maloji Rathor, chief of Mewa, attempted a settlement amidst the ruins of Jaisalmer, and brought thither a large force, with seven hundred carts of provisions. On hearing this, the Bhatti chiefs, Dudu and Tilaksi, the sons of Jaisar, assembled their kinsmen, surprised the Rathors, drove them from the castle, and captured the supplies. Dudu, for this exploit, was elected Rawal, and commenced the repairs of Jaisalmer. He had five sons. Tilaksi, his brother, was renowned for his exploits. He despoiled the Baloch, the Mangalea, the Meawa, and the Deoras and Sonagiras of Abu and Jalor felt his power. He even extended his raids to Ajmer, and carried off the stud of Firoz Shah from the Anasagar (lake), where they were accustomed to be watered.^[1] This indignity provoked another attack upon Jaisalmer, attended with the same disastrous results. Again the 1216sakha was performed, in which sixteen thousand [254] females ^[2] were destroyed; and Dudu, with Tilaksi and seventeen hundred of the clan, fell in battle, after he had occupied the gaddi ten years.

Gharsi Rāwal, A.D. 1306-35. Jaisalmer restored.

—On the death of Rawal Dudu, in S. 1362 (A.D. 1306), the young princes, Gharsi and Kanar, by the death of their patron Mahbub, were left to the protection of his sons, Zulfikar and Ghazi Khan. Kanar went privately to Jaisalmer, and Gharsi obtained leave to proceed westward to the Mewa tract, where he married Bimaladevi, a widow, sister to the Rathor, who had been betrothed ^[3] to the Deora. While engaged in these nuptials, he was visited by his relation Soningdeo, a man of gigantic strength, who agreed to accompany him on his return to Delhi. The king made trial of his force, by giving him to string an iron bow sent by the king of Khorasan, which the nervous Bhatti not only bent but broke. The invasion of Delhi by Timur Shah ^[4] having occurred at this time, the services of Gharsi were so conspicuous that he obtained a grant of his hereditary dominions, with permission to re-establish Jaisalmer. With his own kindred, and the aid of the vassals of his friend Jagmall of Mewa, he soon.restored order, and had an efficient force at command. Hamir and his clansmen gave their allegiance to Gharsi, but the sons of Jaisar were headstrong.

The Adoption of Kehar. Rāwal Gharsi assassinated.

—Deoraj, who married the daughter of Rupra, Rana of Mandor, had a son named Kehar, who, when Jaisalmer was about to be invested by the troops of the Sultan, was conveyed to Mandor with his mother. When only twelve years of age, he used to accompany the cow-herds 1217of the old Rao’s kine, and his favourite amusement was penning up the calves with twigs of the ak, to imitate the picketing of horses. One day, tired of this occupation, young Kehar fell asleep upon the hole of a serpent, and the reptile issuing therefrom, arose and spread its hood over him as he slept. A Charan (bard, or genealogist), passing that way, reported the fact and its import immediately to the Rana, who, proceeding to the spot, found it was his own grandson whom fate had thus pointed out for sovereignty.^[5] Gharsi, having no offspring by Bimaladevi, proposed to her to adopt a son. All the Bhatti youth were assembled, but none equalled Kehar, who [255] was chosen. But the sons of Jaisar were displeased, and conspired to obtain the gaddi. At this time, Rawal Gharsi was in the daily habit of visiting a tank, which he was excavating, and they seized an occasion to assassinate him; whereupon, in order to defeat their design, Bimaladevi immediately had Kehar proclaimed. The widowed queen of Gharsi, with the view of securing the completion of an object which her lord had much at heart, namely, finishing the lake Gharsisar, as well as to ensure protection to her adopted son Kehar, determined to protract the period of self-immolation; but when six months had elapsed, and both these objects were attained, she finished her days on the pyre. Bimaladevi named the children of Hamir as the adopted sons and successors of Kehar. These sons were Jetha and Lunkaran.

The coco-nut was sent by Kumbha, Rana of Chitor, to Jetha. The Bhatti prince marched for Mewar, and when within twelve coss of the Aravalli hills, was joined by the famous Sankhla Miraj, chief of Salbahni. Next morning, when about to resume the march, a partridge began to call from the right; a bad omen, which was interpreted by the brother-in-law of the Sankhla, deeply versed in the science of the Suguni and the language of birds.^[6] Jetha drew the rein of his horse, and to avert the evil, halted that day. Meanwhile, the partridge was caught and found to be blind of an eye, and its ovary quite filled. The next morning, as soon as they had taken horse, a tigress began to roar, and the Suguni chieftain was again called upon to expound the omen. He replied that the secrets of great houses should not be 1218divulged, but he desired them to dispatch a youth, disguised as a female Nai (barber class), to Kumbhalmer, who there would learn the cause. The youth gained admission to ‘the ruby of Mewar’ (Lala Mewari), who was anointing for the nuptials. He saw things were not right, and returning made his report; upon hearing which, the Bhatti prince married Marad, the daughter of the Sankhla chief. The Rana was indignant at this insult, but a sense of shame prevented his resenting it; and instead of proclaiming the slight, he offered his daughter’s hand to the famous Khichi prince, Achaldas of Gagraun, and it was accepted.^[7] Jetha met his death, together with his brother Lunkaran, and his brother-in-law, in an attempt to surprise Pugal: he fell with a hundred and twenty followers. When the old Rao, Raningdeo, discovered against whom he had thus successfully defended himself, he clad himself in black garments [256], and in atonement performed pilgrimage to all the shrines in India.^[8] On his return, he was forgiven and condoled with by Kehar.

Lachhman Rāwal, c. A.D. 1402.

—Kehar had eight sons: (1) Somaji, who had a numerous offspring, called the Soma-Bhattis; (2) Lachhman;^[9] (3) Kailan, who forcibly seized Bikampur, the appanage of his elder brother Soma, who departed with all his 1219basai,^[10] and settled at Girab; (4) Kilkaran; (5) Satal, who gave his name to an ancient town, and called it Satalmer. The names of the rest were Bija, Tana, and Tejsi.

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

Kailan built a fort on the Bias, called, after his father, Kara, or Karor, which again brought the Bhattis into collision with the Johyas and Langahas, whose chief, Amir Khan Korai, attacked him, but was defeated. Kailan became the terror of the Chahils,^[11] the Mohils,^[11] and Johyas,^[11] who lived in this quarter, and his authority extended as far as the Panjnad. Kailan married into the Samma family of Jam,^[12] and [257] arbitrated their disputes 1220on succession, which had caused much bloodshed. Shujaat Jam, whom he supported, accompanied him to Marot, on whose death, two years after, Kailan possessed himself of all the Samma territory, when the Sind River became the boundary of his dominion. Kailan died at the age of seventy-two, and was succeeded by ^[13]

Chāchakdeo Rāwal, c. A.D. 1448.

—Chachakdeo made Marot his headquarters, to cover his territories from the attacks of Multan, which took umbrage at the return of the Bhattis across the Gara. The chief of Multan united in a league all the ancient foes of the Bhattis, the Langahas, the Johyas, the Khichis, and all the tribes of that region. Chachak formed an army of seventeen thousand horse and fourteen thousand foot, and crossed the Bias to meet his foes. The encounter was desperate; but the Bhattis were victorious, and returned with rich spoil to Marot. In the year following another battle took place, in which seven hundred and forty Bhattis were slain, and three thousand of the men of Multan. By this success, the conquests of Chachak were extended, and he left a garrison (thana) under his son in Asinikot, beyond the Bias, and returned to Pugal. He then attacked Maipal, chief of the Dhundis,^[14] whom he defeated. After this victory he repaired to Jaisalmer, to visit his brother Lachhman, reserving the produce of the lands dependent on Asinikot ^[15] for his expenses at court. On his return home by Baru, he was accosted by a 1221Janjua Rajput,^[16] pasturing an immense flock of goats, who presented the best of his flock, and demanded protection against the raids of Birjang Rathor. This chief had wrested the celebrated fortress of Satalmer,^[17] the abode of wealthy merchants, from a Bhatti chief, and extended his forays far into the desert, and the Janjua was one of those who had suffered by his success [258]. Not long after Rao Chachak had passed by the pastures of the Janjua, he received a visit from him, to complain of another inroad, which had carried off the identical goat, his offering. Chachak assembled his kinsmen, and formed an alliance with Shumar Khan, chief of the Seta tribe,^[18] who came with three thousand horse. It was the custom of the Rathors of Satalmer to encamp their horse at a tank some distance from the city, to watch, while the chief citizens used daily to go abroad. Chachak surprised and made prisoners of the whole. The bankers and men of wealth offered large sums for their ransom; but he would not release them from bondage, except on condition of their settling in the territory of Jaisalmer. Three hundred and sixty-five heads of families embraced this alternative, and hence Jaisalmer dates the influx of her wealth. They were distributed over the principal cities, Derawar, Pugal, Marot, etc.^[19] The three sons of the Rathor were also made prisoners; the two youngest were released, but Mera, the eldest, was detained as a hostage for his father’s good conduct. Chachak dismissed his ally, the Seta chief, whose granddaughter, Sonaldevi, he married. The father of the bride, Haibat Khan,^[20] gave with her in daeja (dower) 1222fifty horses, thirty-five slaves, four palkis, and two hundred female camels, and with her Chachak returned to Marot.

War with the Khokhars.

—Two years after this, Chachak made war on Tharraj Khokhar, the chief of Pilibanga,^[21] on account of a horse stolen from a Bhatti. The Khokhars were defeated and plundered; but his old enemies the Langahas, taking advantage of this occasion, made head against Chachak, and drove his garrison from the new possession of Dhuniapur.^[22] Disease at length seized on Rawal Chachak, after a long course of victorious warfare, in which he subdued various tracts of country, even to the heart of the Panjab. In this state he determined to die as he had lived, with arms in his hands; but having [259] no foe near with whom to cope, he sent an embassy to the Langaha prince of Multan, to beg, as a last favour, the Juddhdan, or ‘gift of battle,’ that his soul might escape by the steel of his foeman, and not fall a sacrifice to slow disease.^[23] The prince, suspecting treachery, hesitated; but the Bhatti messenger pledged his word that his master only wished an honourable death, and that he would only bring five hundred men to the combat. The challenge being accepted, the Rawal called his clansmen around him, and on recounting what he had done, seven hundred select Rajputs, who had shared in all his victories, volunteered to take the last field, and make Sankalp (oblation) of their lives with their leader. Previous to setting forth, he 1223arranged his affairs. His son Gaj Singh, by the Seta Rani, he sent with her to her father’s house. He had five other sons, namely, Kumbha, Barsal, Bhimdeo (by Lala Rani, of the Sodha tribe), Rata and Randhir, whose mother was Surajdevi, of Chauhan race. Barsal, his eldest son, he made heir to all his dominions, except the land of Khadal (whose chief town is Derawar), which he bestowed upon Randhir, and to both he gave the tika, making them separate States. Barsal marched to Kahror,^[24] his capital, at the head of seventeen thousand men.

Heroic Death of Rāwal Chachakdeo.

—Meanwhile, Rawal Chachak marched to Dhuniapur, “to part with life.” There he heard that the prince of Multan was within two coss. His soul was rejoiced; he performed his ablutions, worshipped the sword ^[25] and the gods, bestowed charity, and withdrew his thoughts from this world.

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

While Randhir was performing at Derawar the rites of the twelve days of matam, or ‘mourning,’ his elder brother, Kumbha, afflicted with insanity, rushed into the assembly and swore to avenge his father’s death. That day he departed, accompanied by a single slave, and reached the prince’s camp. It was surrounded by a [260] ditch eleven yards wide, over which the Bhatti leaped his horse in the dead of night, reached the harem, and cut off the head of Kalu Shah, with which he rejoined his brethren at Derawar. Barsal re-established Dhuniapur, and then went to Kahror. His old foes, the Langahas, under Haibat Khan, again attacked him, but they were defeated with great slaughter. At the same time, Husain Khan Baloch invaded Bikampur.^[26]

1224

Rāwal Bersi, c. A.D. 1436-40.

—Rawal Bersi,^[27] who at this time occupied the gaddi of Jaisalmer, went forth to meet Rao Barsal on his return from his expedition in the Panjab. In S. 1530 (A.D. 1474) he made the gates and palace of Bikampur.

We may, in this place, desert the literal narrative of the chronicle; what follows is a record of similar border-feuds and petty wars, between ‘the sons of Kailan’^[28] and the chiefs of the Panjab, alternately invaders and invaded, which is pregnant with mighty words and gallant deeds, but yielding no new facts of historical value. At length the numerous offspring of Kailan separated, and divided amongst them the lands on both sides of the Gara; and as Sultan Babur soon after this period made a final conquest of Multan from the Langahas, and placed therein his own governor, in all probability the Bhatti possessors of Kahrorkot and Dhuniapur, as well as Pugal and Marot (now Muhammadans), exchanged their faith (sanctioned even by Manu) for the preservation of their estates.^[29] The bard is so much occupied with this Pugal branch that the chronicle appears almost devoted solely to them.

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

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

Jaisalmer a Mughal Fief.

—We have now reached that period in the Bhatti annals when Shah Jahan was emperor of India. Elsewhere, we have minutely related the measure which the great Akbar adopted to attach his Rajput vassalage to the empire; a policy pursued by his successors. Sabal Singh, the first of the princes of Jaisalmer who held his dominions as a fief of the empire, was not the legitimate heir to the ‘gaddi of Jaisal [262].’^[1] Manohardas had obtained the gaddi by the assassination of his nephew, Rawal Nathu, the son and heir of Bhim, who was returning from his nuptials at Bikaner, and had passed the day at Phalodi,^[2] then a town of Jaisalmer, when poison was administered to him by the hands of a female. But it was destined that the line of the assassin should not rule, and the dignity fell to Sabal Singh, the third in descent from Maldeo, second son of Rawal Nunkaran.

Rāwal Sabal Singh, A.D. 1651-61.

—The good qualities of young Sabal, and the bad ones of Ramchand, son of the usurper, afforded another ground for the preference of the former. Moreover, Sabal was nephew to the prince of Amber, under whom he held a distinguished post in the government of Peshawar, where he saved the royal treasure from being captured by the Afghan 1226mountaineers. For this service, and being a favourite of the chiefs who served with their contingents, the king gave Jaswant Singh of Jodhpur command to place him on the gaddi. The celebrated Nahar Khan Kumpawat ^[3] was entrusted with this duty, for the performance of which he received the city and domain of Pokaran, ever since severed from Jaisalmer.

Pokaran lost to Jaisalmer.

—This was the first considerable abstraction from the territories which had been progressively increased by Rawal Jaisal and his successors, but which have since been woefully curtailed. A short time before Babur’s invasion, the dependencies of Jaisalmer extended on the north to the Gara River,^[4] west to the Mihran or Indus; and on the east and south they were bounded by the Rathors of Bikaner and Marwar who had been gradually encroaching for two centuries, and continue to do so to this day. The entire thal of Barmer and Kotra,^[5] in the south, were Bhatti chieftainships, and eastward to the site of Bikaner itself.

Rāwal Amār Singh, A.D. 1661-1702.

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

Provoked by the daily encroachments of the Kandhalot Rathors, Sundardas and Dalpat, chiefs of Bikampur, determined to retaliate: “let us get a name in the [263] world,” said Dalpat, “and attack the lands of the Rathors.” Accordingly, they invaded, plundered, and fired the town of Jaju, on the Bikaner frontier. The Kandhalots retaliated on the towns of Jaisalmer, and an action took place, in which the Bhattis were victorious, 1227slaying two hundred of the Rathors. The Rawal partook in the triumph of his vassals. Raja Anup Singh ^[6] of Bikaner was then serving with the imperial armies in the Deccan. On receiving this account, he commanded his minister to issue a summons to every Kandhalot capable of carrying arms to invade Jaisalmer, and take and raze Bikampur, or he would consider them traitors. The minister issued the summons; every Rathor obeyed it, and he added, as an auxiliary, a Pathan chief with his band from Hissar. Rawal Amra collected his Bhattis around him, and instead of awaiting the attack, advanced to meet it; he slew many of the chiefs, burnt the frontier towns, and recovered Pugal, forcing the Rathor chiefs of Barmer and Kotra to renew their engagements of fealty and service.

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

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

Soon after the death of Rawal Amra, Pugal, Barmer, Phalodi, and various other towns and territories in Jaisalmer, were wrested from this State by the Rathors.^[7]

The territory bordering the Gara was taken by Daud Khan, an Afghan chieftain from Shikarpur, and it became the nucleus of a State called after himself, Daudputra.^[8]

Rāwal Jaswant Singh, A.D. 1702-22.

—Jaswant Singh succeeded. He had five sons, Jagat Singh, who committed suicide, Isari Singh, Tej Singh, Sardar Singh, and Sultan Singh. Jagat Singh had three sons, Akhai Singh, Budh Singh, and Zorawar Singh.

1228

Rāwal Akhai Singh, A.D. 1722-62.

—Akhai Singh succeeded. Budh Singh died of the smallpox; Tej Singh, uncle to the Rawal, usurped the government, and the princes fled to Delhi to save their lives. At this period, their grand-uncle, Hari Singh (brother of Rawal Jaswant), was serving the king, and he returned in order to displace the usurper. It is customary for the [264] prince of Jaisalmer to go annually in state to the lake Gharsisar, to perform the ceremony of Las, or clearing away the accumulation of mud and sand.^[9] The Raja first takes out a handful, when rich and poor follow his example. Hari Singh chose the time when this ceremony was in progress to attack the usurper. The attempt did not altogether succeed; but Tej Singh was so severely wounded that he died, and was succeeded by his son,

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

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

Rāwal Mūlrāj, A.D. 1762-1820. Conspiracy against Mūlrāj.

—Mulraj succeeded in S. 1818 (A.D. 1762). He had three sons, Rae Singh, Jeth Singh, and Man Singh. The unhappy choice of a minister by Mulraj completed the demoralization of the Bhatti principality. This minister was named Sarup Singh, a Bania of the Jain faith and Mehta family, destined to be the exterminators of the laws and fortunes of the ‘sons of Jaisal.’ The cause of hatred and revenge of this son of commerce to the Bhatti aristocracy arose out of a disgraceful dispute regarding a Bakhtan, a fair frail one, a favourite of the Mehta, but who preferred the Rajput, Sardar Singh, of the tribe of Aef.^[10] The Bhatti chief carried his complaint of the minister to the heir-apparent, Rae Singh, who had also cause of grievance in the reduction of his income. It was suggested to the prince to put this presumptuous minister to death; this was effected by the prince’s own hand, 1229in his father’s presence; and as the Mehta, in falling, clung to Mulraj for protection, it was proposed to take off Mulraj at the same time. The proposition, however, was rejected with horror by the prince, whose vengeance was satisfied. The Rawal was allowed to escape to the female apartments; but the chieftains, well knowing they could not expect pardon from the Rawal, insisted on investing Rae Singh, and if he refused, on placing his brother on the gaddi. The an of Rae Singh was proclaimed; but no entreaty or threat would induce him to listen to the proposal of occupying the throne; in lieu of which he used a pallet (khat). Three months and five days had passed since the deposal and bondage of Mulraj, when a female resolved to emancipate him: this female was the wife of the chief conspirator, and confidential adviser of the regent prince. This noble dame, a Rathor Rajputni, of the Malecha clan, was the wife of Anup Singh of Jinjiniali, the premier noble of Jaisalmer, and who, wearied with the tyranny of the minister and the weakness of his [265] prince, had proposed the death of the one and the deposal of the other. We are not made acquainted with any reason, save that of Swamidharma, or ‘fealty,’ which prompted the Rathorni to rescue her prince even at the risk of her husband’s life; but her appeal to her son Zorawar, to perform his duty, is preserved, and we give it verbatim: “Should your father oppose you, sacrifice him to your duty, and I will mount the pyre with his corpse.” The son yielded obedience to the injunction of his magnanimous parent, who had sufficient influence to gain over Arjun, the brother of her husband, as well as Megh Singh, chief of Baru. The three chieftains forced an entrance into the prison where their prince was confined, who refused to be released from his manacles, until he was told that the Mahechi had promoted the plot for his liberty. The sound of the grand nakkara, proclaiming Mulraj’s repossession of the gaddi, awoke his son from sleep; and on the herald depositing at the side of his pallet the sable saropa,^[11] and all the insignia of exile—the black steed and black vestments—the prince, obeying the command of the emancipated Rawal, clad himself therein, and accompanied by 1230his party, bade adieu to Jaisalmer and took the road to Kotra. When he arrived at this town, on the southern frontier of the State, the chiefs proposed to “run the country”; but he replied, “the country was his mother, and every Rajput his foe who injured it.” He repaired to Jodhpur, but the chieftains abided about Sheo Kotra and Barmer, and during the twelve years they remained outlaws, plundered even to the gates of Jaisalmer. In the first three years they devastated the country, their castles were dismantled, the wells therein filled up, and their estates sequestrated. At the end of the twelve, having made the talak, or oath against further plunder, their estates were restored, and they were readmitted into their country.

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

Sālim Singh, Prime Minister.

—Salim Singh, who succeeded his father as prime minister of Jaisalmer, was but eleven years of age at the time of his murder. His young mind appears, even at that early age, to have been a hotbed for revenge; and the seeds which were sown soon quickened into a luxuriance rarely equalled even in those regions, where human life is held in little estimation. Without any of that daring valour which distinguishes the Rajput, he overcame, throughout a long course of years, all who opposed him, uniting the subtlety of the serpent 1231to the ferocity of the tiger. In person he was effeminate, in speech bland; pliant and courteous in demeanour; promising, without hesitation, and with all the semblance of sincerity, what he never had the most remote intention to fulfil. Salim, or, as he was generally designated by his tribe, the Mehta, was a signal instance of a fact of which these annals exhibit too many examples, namely, the inadequacy of religious professions, though of a severe character, as a restraint on moral conduct; for though the tenets of his faith (the Jain) imperatively prescribe the necessity of “hurting no sentient being,” and of sitting in the dark rather than, by luring a moth into the flame of a lamp, incur the penalty attached to the sin of insect-murder, this man has sent more of ‘the sons of Jassa’ to Yamaloka ^[12] than the sword of their external foes during his long administration. He had scarcely attained man’s estate when the outlawed chiefs were restored to their estates by a singular intervention. Raja Bhim Singh had acceded to the gaddi of Marwar, and the Mehta was chosen by the prince of Jaisalmer, as his representative, to convey his congratulations, and the tika of acknowledgment on his succession, to Raja Bijai Singh. On his return from this mission, he was waylaid and captured by the outlawed chieftains, who instantly passed sentence of death upon the author of their miseries. The sword was uplifted, when, “placing his turban at the feet of Zorawar Singh,” he implored his protection—and he found it! Such is the Rajput—an anomaly amongst his species; his character a compound of the opposite and antagonistical qualities which impel mankind to virtue and to crime. Let me recall to the mind of the reader that the protector of this vampire [267] was the virtuous son of the virtuous Rajputni who, with an elevation of mind equal to whatever is recorded of Greek or Roman heroines, devoted herself, and a husband whom she loved, to the one predominant sentiment of the Rajput, Swamidharma, or ‘fealty to the sovereign.’ Yet had the wily Mehta effected the disgrace of this brave chief, to whom the Rawal owed his release from bondage and restoration to his throne, and forced him to join the outlaws amidst the sand-hills of Barmer. Nothing can paint more strongly the influence of this first of the Bhatti chiefs over his brethren than the act of preserving the life of their mortal foe, thus cast into their hands; for not only did they 1232dissuade him from the act, but prophesied his repentance of such mistaken clemency. Only one condition was stipulated, their restoration to their homes. They were recalled, but not admitted to court: a distinction reserved for Zorawar alone.

Death of Rāe Singh.

—When Rae Singh was incarcerated in Dewa, his eldest son, Abhai Singh, Rajkumar, ‘heir-apparent,’ with the second son, Dhonkal, were left at Barmer, with the outlawed chiefs. The Rawal, having in vain demanded his grandchildren, prepared an army and invested Barmer. It was defended during six months, when a capitulation was acceded to, and the children were given up to Mulraj on the bare pledge of Zorawar Singh, who guaranteed their safety; and they were sent to the castle of Dewa, where their father was confined. Soon after, the castle was fired, and Rae Singh and his wife were consumed in the flames. On escaping this danger, which was made to appear accidental, the young princes were confined in the fortress of Ramgarh, in the most remote corner of the desert, bordering the valley of Sind, for their security and that of the Rawal (according to the Mehta’s account), and to prevent faction from having a nucleus around which to form. But Zorawar, who entertained doubts of the minister’s motives, reminded the Rawal that the proper place for the heir-apparent was the court, and that his honour stood pledged for his safety. This was sufficient for the Mehta, whose mind was instantly intent upon the means to rid himself of so conscientious an adviser. Zorawar had a brother named Ketsi, whose wife, according to the courtesy of Rajwara, had adopted the minister as her brother. Salim sounded his adopted sister as to her wish to see her husband become lord of Jinjiniali. The tempter succeeded: he furnished her with poisoned comfits, which she administered to the gallant Zorawar; and her lord was inducted into the estates of Jinjiniali. Having thus disposed of the soul of the Bhatti nobility, he took off in detail the chiefs of Baru, Dangri, and many others, chiefly by the same means, though some by [268] the dagger. Ketsi, who, whether innocent or a guilty participant in his brother’s death, had benefited thereby, was marked in the long list of proscription of this fiend, who determined to exterminate every Rajput of note. Ketsi knew too much, and those connected with him shared in this dangerous knowledge: wife, brother, son, were therefore destined to fall by the same blow. The immediate cause of 1233enmity was as follows. The minister, who desired to set aside the claims of the children of Rae Singh to the gaddi, and to nominate the youngest son of Mulraj as heir-apparent, was opposed by Ketsi, as it could only be effected by the destruction of the former; and he replied, that “no co-operation of his should sanction the spilling of the blood of any of his master’s family.” Salim treasured up the remembrance of this opposition to his will, though without any immediate sign of displeasure. Soon after, Ketsi and his brother Sarup were returning from a nuptial ceremony at Kanera, in the district of Balotra. On reaching Bhikarai, on the Jaisalmer frontier, where the ministers of the Mehta’s vengeance were posted, the gallant Zorawar and his brother were conducted into the castle, out of which their bodies were brought only to be burnt. Hearing of some intended evil to her lord, Ketsi’s wife, with her infant son, Megha, sought protection in the minister’s own abode, where she had a double claim, as his adopted sister, to sanctuary and protection. For five days, the farce was kept up of sending food for herself and child; but the slave who conveyed it remarking, in coarse, unfeeling language, that both her husband and her brother were with their fathers, she gave a loose to grief and determined on revenge. This being reported to the Mehta, he sent a dagger for her repose.

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

1234Maha Singh, being blind of one eye ^[13] (kana), could not succeed; and Man Singh being killed by a fall from his horse, the Mehta was saved the crime of adding one more “mortal murther to his crown.”

Long Reigns of Rājput Princes.

—It is a singular fact, that the longest reigns we know of in Rajwara occurred during ministerial usurpations. The late Maharao of Kotah occupied the gaddi upwards of half a century, and the Rawal Mulraj swayed the nominal sceptre of this oasis of the desert upwards of fifty-eight years. His father ruled forty years, and I doubt whether, in all history, we can find another instance of father and son reigning for a century.^[14] This century was prolific in change to the dynasty, whose whole history is full of strange vicissitudes. If we go back to Jaswant Singh, the grandfather of Mulraj, we find the Bhatti principality touching the Gara on the north, which divided it from Multan; on the west it was bounded by the Panjnad, and thus included a narrow slip of the fertile valley of Sind; and we have seen it stretch, at no remote period, even to the ancient capital Mansura, better known to the Hindu as Rori-Bakhar,^[15] the islandic capital of the Sogdoi (Sodha) of Alexander. To the south, it rested on Dhat, including the castles of Sheo, Kotra, and 1235Barmer, seized on by Marwar; and in the east embraced the districts of Phalodi, Pokaran, and other parts, also in the possession of Marwar or Bikaner. The whole of the State of Bahawalpur is formed out of the Bhatti dominion, and the Rathors have obtained therefrom not a small portion of their western frontier. This abstraction of territory will account for the heartburnings and border-feuds which continually break out between the Bhattis and Rathors, and ‘the children of David (Daudputras).’

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

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

CHAPTER 6

Treaty with the British.

—It was in the Samvat (era) of Vikrama, 1818,^[1] that Rawal Mulraj was inaugurated on the throne of Jaisal; and it was in the year of our Lord 1818, that a treaty of “perpetual friendship, alliance, and unity of interests” was concluded between the Honourable East-India Company and Maha Rawal Mulraj, the Raja of Jaisalmer, his heirs and successors, the latter agreeing “to act in subordinate co-operation with the British Government, and with submission to its supremacy.”^[2] This was almost the last act of Rawal Mulraj, who had always been a mere puppet in the hands of Mehta Salim Singh or his father. He died A.D. 1820, when his grandson, Gaj Singh, was proclaimed.

1236

Maharāwal Gaj Singh, A.D. 1820-46.

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

It will be observed from the date of this treaty (Dec. 1818), that Jaisalmer was the last of the States of India received under the protection of the British Government. Its distance made it an object of little solicitude to us; and the minister, it is said, had many long and serious consultations with his oracles before he united his destiny with ours. He doubted the security of his power if the Rawal should become subordinate to the British Government; and he was only influenced by the greater risk of being the sole State in Rajwara without the pale of its protection, which would have left him to the mercy of those enemies whom his merciless policy had created around him. The third and most important article of the treaty ^[3] tranquillized his apprehensions as to external foes; with these apprehensions all fear as to the consequences arising from ministerial tyranny towards the princely exiles was banished, and we shall presently find that this alliance, instead of checking his rapacity and oppression, incited them. But it is necessary, in the first place, to bestow a few remarks on the policy of the alliance as regards the British Government.

The Treaty of Alliance.

—Its inequality requires no demonstration; the objects to be attained by it to the respective parties 1237having no approximation to parity. The advantages to Jaisalmer were immediate; and to use the phraseology of the treaty, were not only of “great magnitude,” but were vitally important. From the instant the treaties were exchanged, her existence as a permanent State, which was not worth half a century’s purchase, was secured. Her power had been gradually declining, and reign after reign was narrowing her possessions to the vicinity of the capital. One State, Bahawalpur, had been formed from her northern territory; while those of Sind, Bikaner, and Jodhpur, had been greatly aggrandized at her expense; and all were inclined, as occasion arose, to encroach upon her feebleness. The faithless character of the minister, Salim Singh [272], afforded abundant pretexts for quarrel, and the anarchy of her neighbours proved her only safeguard during the later years of her independent existence. Now, the British Government having pledged itself to exert its power for the protection of the principality, in the event of any “serious invasion,” her fears either of Sindis, Daudputras, or of Rathors, are at rest. The full extent of this pledge may not have been contemplated when it was given; like all former alliances, it is the base of another step in advance. Instead of restricting the vast circle of our political connexions, it at once carried us out of India, placing us in actual contact and possible collision with the rulers of Sind and the people beyond the Indus. Marwar and Bikaner being already admitted to our alliance, the power of settling their feuds with the Bhattis is comparatively simple; but with Daudputra we have no political connexions, and with Sind, only those of “perpetual friendship and mutual intercourse”; but no stipulation ensuring respect to our remonstrances in case of the aggression of their subjects on our Bhatti ally. Are we then to push our troops through the desert to repel such acts, or must we furnish pecuniary subsidies (the cheapest mode), that she may entertain mercenaries for that object? We must view it, in this light, as an event, not only not improbable, but of very likely occurrence. Our alliance with Cutch involved us in this perplexity in 1819. Our armies were formed and moved to the frontier, and a declaration of war was avoided only by accepting a tardy amende in no way commensurate with the insult of invading, massacring, and pillaging our allies.^[4] In this instance, our means of chastisement 1238were facilitated by our maritime power of grappling with the enemy; but if the insult proceeds from the government of Upper Sind (only nominally dependent on Haidarabad), or from Bahawalpur, how are we to cope with these enemies of our ally? Such wars might lead us into a terra incognita beyond the Indus, or both the spirit and letter of the treaty will be null.

The Strategical Importance of Jaisalmer.

—What, therefore, are the advantages we can hold out to ourselves for the volunteer of our amity and protection to this oasis of the desert? To have disregarded the appeal of Jaisalmer for protection, to have made her the sole exception in all Rajputana from our amicable relations, would have been to consign her to her numerous enemies, and to let loose the spirit of rapine and revenge, which it was the main object [273] of all these treaties to suppress; the Bhattis would have become a nation of robbers, the Bedouins of the Indian desert. Jaisalmer was the first link in a chain of free States, which formerly united the commerce of the Ganges with that of the Indus, but which interminable feuds had completely severed; the possibility of reunion depending upon a long continuance of tranquillity and confidence. This object alone would have warranted our alliance with Jaisalmer. But if we look to futurity, to the possible invasion of India, which can be best effected through the maritime provinces of Persia, the valley of the Indus will be the base of the invader’s operations. The possession of Jaisalmer would then be of vital importance, by giving us the command of Upper Sind, and enabling us to act against the enemy simultaneously with our armies east of the Delta, the most practicable point of advance into India. We may look upon invasion by the ancient routes pursued by Alexander, 1239Mahmud, and Timur, as utterly visionary, by an army encumbered with all the matériel necessary to success, and thus the valley of Sind presents the only practicable route. But it would be a grand error, both in a political and military point of view, to possess ourselves of this valley, even if an opportunity were again to occur. It is true, the resources of that fertile region, so analogous to Egypt, would soon, under our management, maintain an army sufficient to defend it; and this would bring us at once into contact with the power (Persia) which clings to us for support, and will be adverse to us only when rendered subservient to Russia. It were well to view the possible degradation and loss of power to Russia, in Europe, as likely to afford a fresh stimulant to her ancient schemes of oriental aggrandizement. By some these schemes are looked upon as Quixotic, and I confess myself to be of the number. The better Russia is acquainted with the regions she would have to pass, the less desire will she evince for an undertaking, which, even if successful in the outset, would be useless; for if she conquered, she could not maintain India.^[5] But, to me, it still appears imperative that this power should formally renounce such designs; the state of perpetual preparation rendered necessary by her menacing position, being so injurious to our finances, is worse than the actual attempt, which would only entail upon her inevitable loss. We lost, through our unwise economy, a noble opportunity of maintaining an ascendancy at the court of Kabul, which would have been easily prevailed upon, for our pecuniary aid, to make over to us the sovereignty of Sind (were this desirable), which is still considered a grand division of Kabul.

But setting the political question aside, and considering our possession of the [274] valley of Sind only in a military point of view, our occupation of it would be prejudicial to us. We should have a long line to defend, and rivers are no barriers in modern warfare. Whilst an impassable desert is between us, and we have the power, by means of our allies, of assailing an enemy at several points, though we are liable to attack but from one, an invader could not maintain himself a single season. On this ground, the maintenance of friendship with this remote nook of Rajput civilization is defensible, and we have the additional incitement of rescuing the most industrious and wealthy commercial communities 1240in India from the fangs of a harpy; to whom, and the enormities of his government, we return.

Effect of the Treaty on the Policy of Sālim Singh.

—No language can adequately represent the abuse of power with which the treaty has armed the rapacious minister of Jaisalmer, and it is one of the many instances of the inefficacy of our system of alliances to secure prosperity, or even tranquillity to these long-afflicted regions; which, although rescued from external assailants, are still the prey of discord and passion within. It will not be difficult, at the proper time and place, to make this appear.^[6] The Mehta felt the advantages which the treaty gave him, in respect to neighbouring States; but he also felt that he had steeped himself too deeply in the blood of his master’s family, and in that of his noblest chieftains, to hope that any repentance, real or affected, could restore to him the confidence of those he had so outraged. With commercial men, with the industrious husbandman or pastoral communities, he had so long forfeited all claim to credit, that his oath was not valued at a single grain of the sand of their own desert dominion.

The bardic annalist of Rajputana, when compelled to record the acts of a tyrant, first announces his moral death; then comes the metempsychosis—the animating his frame with the spirit of a demon. In this manner is delineated the famed Bisaldeo, the Chauhan king of Ajmer. Whether the Bhatti minister will obtain such a posthumous apology for his misdeeds, a future historian will learn; but assuredly he is never mentioned, either in poetry or prose, but as a vampire, draining the life-blood of a whole people. For a short time after the treaty was formed, he appeared to fall in with the march of universal reformation; but whether it was that his crimes had outlawed him from the sympathies of all around, or that he could feel no enjoyment but in his habitual crimes, he soon gave indulgence to his rapacious spirit. The cause of his temporary forbearance was attributed to his anxiety to have [275] an article added to the treaty, guaranteeing the office of prime minister in his family, perhaps with a view to legalize his plunder; but seeing no hope of fixing an hereditary 1241race of vampires on the land, his outrages became past all endurance, and compelled the British agent, at length, to report to his government (on December 17, 1821), that he considered the alliance disgraceful to our reputation, by countenancing the idea that such acts can be tolerated under its protection. Representations to the minister were a nullity; he protested against their fidelity; asserted in specious language his love of justice and mercy; and recommenced his system of confiscations, contributions, and punishments, with redoubled severity.

Misgovernment of Sālim Singh.

—All Rajwara felt an interest in these proceedings, as the bankers of Jaisalmer, supported by the capital of that singular class, the Paliwals, are spread all over India. But this rich community, amounting to five thousand families, are nearly all in voluntary exile, and the bankers fear to return to their native land with the fruits of their industry, which they would renounce for ever, but that he retains their families as hostages. Agriculture is almost unknown, and commerce, internal or external, has ceased through want of security. The sole revenue arises from confiscation. It is asserted that the minister has amassed no less than two crores, which wealth is distributed in the various cities of Hindustan, and has been obtained by pillage and the destruction of the most opulent families of his country during the last twenty years. He has also, it is said, possessed himself of all the crown-jewels and property of value, which he has sent out of the country. Applications were continually being made to the British agent for passports (parwanas), by commercial men, to withdraw their families from the country. But all have some ties which would be hazarded by their withdrawing, even if such a step were otherwise free from danger; for while the minister afforded passports, in obedience to the wish of the agent, he might cut them off in the desert. This makes many bear the ills they have.^[7]

1242

A Border Feud.

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

The Maldot Tribe.

—The Maldots, the Kailans, the Birsangs, the Pohars, and Tejmalots, are all Bhatti tribes; but, from their lawless habits, these names have become, like those of Bedouin, Kazzak, or Pindari, synonymous with ‘robber.’ The first are descended from Rao Maldeo, and hold the fief (patta) of Baru, consisting of eighteen villages, adjoining the tract called Kharipatta, wrested from the Bhattis by the Rathors of Bikaner, who, to confess the truth, morally deserve the perpetual hostility of this Bhatti lord-marcher, inasmuch as they were the intruders, and have deprived them (the Bhattis) of much territory. But the Rathors, possessing the right of the strongest, about twenty-five years ago exercised it in the most savage manner; for, having invaded Baru, they put almost the entire community to the sword, without respect to age or sex, levelled the towns, filled up the wells, and carried off the herds and whatever was of value. The survivors took shelter in the recesses of the desert, and propagated a progeny, which, about the period of connexion with the British, reoccupied their deserted lands. The minister, it is asserted, beheld the revival of this infant colony with no more favourable eye than did their enemies of Bikaner, whom, it is alleged, he invited once more to their destruction. The lawless habits of this tribe would have been assigned by the minister as his motive for desiring their extermination; but if we look back (p. 1232), we shall discover the real cause in his having incurred the lasting enmity of this clan for the foul assassination of their chief, who had been a party to the views of the heir-apparent, Rae Singh, to get rid of this incubus on their freedom. The opportunity 1243afforded to take vengeance on the Maldots arose out of a service indirectly done to the British Government. On the revolt of the Peshwa, he sent his agents to Jaisalmer to purchase camels. One herd, to the number of four hundred, had left the Bhatti frontiers, and whilst passing through the Bikaner territory, were set upon by the Maldots, who captured the whole and conveyed them to Baru. It is scarcely to be supposed that such an aggression on the independence of Bikaner would have prompted her extensive armament, or the rapidity with which her troops passed the Bhatti frontier to avenge the insult, without some private signal from the minister, who was loud in his call for British interference; though not until Nokh ^[8] and Baru, their principal towns, were levelled, the chief killed, the wells filled up, and the victorious army following up its success by a rapid march on Bikampur, in which the fiscal lands began to suffer. The minister then discovered he had overshot the mark, and claimed [277] our interference,^[9] which was rapid and effectual; and the Bikaner commander the more willingly complied with the request to retire within his own frontier, having effected more than his object.

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

We have lost sight of the Rawal, the title of the prince of Jaisalmer, in the prominent acts of his minister. Gaj Singh, who occupies the gaddi of Jaisal, to the prejudice of his elder brothers, who are still in exile in Bikaner, appears very well suited to the minister’s purpose, and to have little desire beyond his horses, and vegetating in quiet. The physiognomists of Jaisalmer, 1244however, prognosticate the development of moral worth in due season; a consummation devoutly to be wished, and the first symptom of which must be the riddance of his minister by whatever process. The artful Salim deemed that it would redound to his credit, and bolster up his interest, to seek a matrimonial alliance with the Rana’s family of Mewar. The overture was accepted, and the coco-symbol transmitted to the Rawal, who put himself at the head of the Bhatti chivalry to wed and escort his bride through the desert. The Rathor princes of Bikaner and Kishangarh, who were at the same time suitors for the hands of another daughter and a granddaughter of the Rana, simultaneously arrived at Udaipur with their respective cortèges; and this triple alliance threw a degree of splendour over the capital of the Sesodias, to which it had long been a stranger. Gaj Singh lives very happily with his wife, who has given him an heir to his desert domain. The influence of high rank is seen in the respect paid to the Ranawatji (the title by which she is designated), even by the minister, and she exerts this influence most humanely for the amelioration of her subjects ^[10] [278].

CHAPTER 7

Geography of Jaisalmer.—The country still dependent on the Rawal extends between 70° 30´ and 72° 30´ E. long., and between the parallels of 26° 20´ and 27° 50´ N. lat., though a small strip protrudes, in the N.-E. angle, as high as 28° 30´. This irregular surface may be roughly estimated to contain fifteen thousand square miles.^[1] The number of towns, villages, and hamlets, 1245scattered over this wide space, does not exceed two hundred and fifty; some estimate it at three hundred, and others depress it to two hundred; the mean cannot be wide of the truth. To enable the reader to arrive at a conclusion as to the population of this region, we subjoin a calculation, from data furnished by the best-informed natives, which was made in the year 1815: but we must add, that from the tyranny of the minister, the population of the capital (which is nearly half of the country), has been greatly diminished.

According to this census, we have a population not superior 1246to one of the secondary cities of Great Britain, scattered over fifteen thousand square miles; nearly one-half, too, belonging to the capital, which being omitted, the result would give from two to three souls only for each square mile.

Face of the Country.

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

The ridge of hills is a most important feature in the geology of this desert region.^[2] It is to be traced from Cutch Bhuj, strongly or faintly marked, according to the nature of the country. Sometimes it assumes, as at Chhotan, the character of a mountain; then dwindles into an insignificant ridge scarcely discernible, and often serves as a bulwark for the drifting sands, which cover and render it difficult to trace it at all. As it reaches the Jaisalmer country it is more developed; and at the capital, erected on a peak about two hundred and fifty feet high, its presence is more distinct, and its character defined. The capital of the Bhattis appears as the nucleus of a series of ridges, which diverge from it in all directions for the space of fifteen miles. One branch terminates at Ramgarh, thirty-five miles north-west of Jaisalmer; another branch extends easterly to Pokaran (in Jodhpur), and thence, in a north-east direction, to Phalodi; from whence, at intervals, it is traceable to Gariala, nearly fifty miles due north. It is a yellow-coloured sandstone, in which ochre is abundantly found, with which the people daub their houses.

These barren ridges, and the lofty undulating tibas of sand, are the only objects which diversify the almost uniform sterility of these regions. No trees interpose their verdant foliage to relieve the eye, or shelter the exhausted frame of the traveller. It is nearly a boundless waste, varied only by a few stunted shrubs of the acacia or mimosa family, some succulent plants, or prickly 1247grasses, as the bharut^[3] or burr, which clings to his garment and increases his miseries. Yet compared with the more northern portion, where “a sea of sand without a sign of vegetation”^[4] forms the prospect, the vicinity of the capital is a paradise.

There is not a running stream throughout Jaisalmer; but there are many temporary lakes or salt-marshes, termed sar, formed by the collection of waters from the sand-hills, which are easily dammed in to prevent escape. They are ephemeral, seldom lasting but a few months; though after a very severe monsoon they have been known to remain throughout the year. One of these, called the Kanod Sar, extends from Kanod ^[5] to Mohangarh, covering a space of eighteen miles, and in which some water remains throughout the year. When it overflows, a small stream issues from the Sar, and pursues an easterly direction for thirty miles before it is absorbed; its existence [281] depends on the parent lake. The salt which it produces is the property of the crown, and adds something to the revenue.

Soil, Husbandry, and Products.

—Notwithstanding the apparent poverty of this desert soil, nature has not denied it the powers of production; it is even favourable to some grains, especially the bajra, which prefers a light sand. In a favourable season they grow sufficient for the consumption of two and even three years, and then they import only wheat from Sind. When those parts favourable for bajra have been saturated with two or three heavy showers, they commence sowing, and the crops spring up rapidly. The great danger is that of too much rain when the crops are advanced, for, having little tenacity, they are often washed away. The bajra of the sand-hills is deemed far superior to that of Hindustan, and prejudice gives it a preference even to wheat, which does not bear a higher price, in times of scarcity. Bajra, in plentiful seasons, sells at one and a half maunds for a rupee;^[6] 1248but this does not often occur, as they calculate five bad seasons for a good one. Juar is also grown, but only in the low flats. Cotton is produced in the same soil as the bajra. It is not generally known that this plant requires but a moderate supply of water; it is deteriorated in the plains of India from over-irrigation; at least such is the idea of the desert-farmer, who perhaps does not make sufficient allowance for the cooler substratum of his sand-hills, compared with the black loam of Malwa. A variety of pulses grows on the sheltered sides of the tibas, as mung, moth, etc.; also the oil-plant (til) and abundance of the gawar, a diminutive melon, not larger than a hen’s egg, which is sent hundreds of miles, as a rarity. Around the capital, and between the ridges where soil is deposited or formed, and where they dam up the waters, are grown considerable quantities of wheat of very good quality, turmeric, and garden-stuffs. Barley and gram are, in good seasons, reared in small quantities, but rice is entirely an article of import from the valley of Sind.

Implements of Husbandry.

—Where the soil is light, it will be concluded that the implements are simple. They have two kinds of plough, for one or two oxen, or for the camel, which animal is most in requisition. They tread out the grain with oxen, as in all parts of India, and not unfrequently they yoke the cattle to their hakerries,^[7] or carts, and pass the whole over the grain.

Manufactures.

—There is little scope for the ingenuity of the mechanic in this tract. They make coarse cotton cloths, but the raw material is almost all exported. Their grand article of manufacture is from the wool of the sheep pastured in the desert [282], which is fabricated into lois, or blankets, scarfs,^[8] petticoats, turbans, of every quality. Cups and platters are made from a mineral called abrak, a calcareous substance, of a dark chocolate ground, with light brown vermiculated stripes;^[9] female ornaments of elephants’ teeth, and arms of an inferior quality. These comprehend the artificial productions of this desert capital.

Commerce.

—Whatever celebrity Jaisalmer possesses, as a commercial mart, arises from its position as a place of transit 1249between the eastern countries, the valley of the Indus, and those beyond that stream, the Kitars (the term for a caravan of camels) to and from Haidarabad, Rori-Bakhar, Shikarpur and Uchh, from the Gangetic provinces, and the Panjab, passing through it. The indigo of the Duab, the opium of Kotah and Malwa, the famed sugar-candy of Bikaner, iron implements from Jaipur, are exported to Shikarpur ^[10] and lower Sind; whence elephants’ teeth (from Africa), dates, coco-nuts, drugs, and chandan,^[11] are imported, with pistachios and dried fruits from Bahawalpur.

Revenues and Taxes.

—The personal revenue of the princes of Jaisalmer ^[12] is, or rather was, estimated at upwards of four lakhs of rupees, of which more than one lakh was from the land.^[13] The transit duties were formerly the most certain and most prolific branch of the fiscal income; but the bad faith of the minister, the predatory habits of the Bhatti chiefs proceeding mainly from thence, and the general decrease of commerce, have conspired nearly to annihilate this source of income, said at one time to reach three lakhs of rupees. These imposts are termed dan, and the collector dani, who was stationed at convenient points of all the principal routes which diverge from the capital.

Land-tax.

—From one-fifth to one-seventh of the gross produce of the land is set aside as the tax of the crown, never exceeding the first nor falling short of the last.^[14] It is paid in kind, which is purchased on the spot by the Paliwal Brahmans, or Banias, and the value remitted to the treasury [283].

1250

Dhuan.

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

Dand.

—There is an arbitrary tax levied throughout these regions, universally known and detested under the name of dand, the make-weight of all their budgets of ways and means. It was first imposed in Jaisalmer in S. 1830 (A.D. 1774), under the less odious appellation of ‘additional dhuan or thali,’ and the amount was only two thousand seven hundred rupees, to be levied from the monied interest of the capital. The Mahesris ^[15] agreed to pay their share, but the Oswals (the two chief mercantile classes) holding out, were forcibly sent up to the castle, and suffered the ignominious punishment of the bastinado. They paid the demand, but immediately on their release entered into a compact on oath, never again to look on the Rawal’s (Mulraj’s) face, which was religiously kept during their mutual lives. When he passed through the streets of his capital, the Oswals abandoned their shops and banking-houses, retiring to the interior of their habitations in order to avoid the sight of him. This was strenuously persevered in for many years, and had such an effect upon the prince, that he visited the principal persons of this class, and ‘spreading his scarf’ (pala pasarna),^[16] intreated forgiveness, giving a writing on oath never again to impose dand, if they would make the dhuan a permanent tax. The Oswals accepted the repentance of their prince, and agreed to his terms. In S. 1841 and 1852, his necessities compelling him to raise money, he obtained by loan, in the first period, twenty-seven thousand, and in the latter, forty thousand rupees, which he faithfully 1251repaid. When the father of the present minister came into power, he endeavoured to get back the bond of his sovereign abrogating the obnoxious dand, and offered, as a bait, to renounce the dhuan. The Oswals placed more value on the virtue of this instrument than it merited, for in spite of the bond, he in S. 1857 levied sixty thousand, and in 1863, eighty thousand rupees. A visit of the Rawal to the Ganges was seized upon as a fit opportunity by his subjects to get this oppression redressed, and fresh oaths were made by the prince, and broken by the minister, who has bequeathed his rapacious spirit to his son [284].

Since the accession of Gaj Singh, only two years ago,^[17] Salim Singh has extorted fourteen lakhs (£140,000). Bardhman, a merchant of great wealth and respectability, and whose ancestors are known and respected throughout Rajwara as Sahukars, has been at various times stripped of all his riches by the minister and his father, who, to use the phraseology of the sufferers, “will never be satisfied while a rupee remains in Jaisalmer.”

Establishments, Expenditure.

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

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

Tribes.

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

Of its Rajput population, the Bhattis, we have already given an outline in the general essay on the tribes.^[22] Those which occupy the present limits of Jaisalmer retain their Hindu notions, though with some degree of laxity from their intercourse with the Muhammadans on the northern and western frontiers; while those which long occupied the north-east tracts, towards Phulra and the Gara, on becoming proselytes to Islam ceased to have either interest in or connexion with the parent State. The Bhatti has not, at present, the same martial reputation as the Rathor, Chauhan, or Sesodia, but he is deemed at least to equal if not surpass the Kachhwaha, or any of its kindred branches, Naruka or Shaikhavat. There are occasional instances of Bhatti intrepidity as daring as may be found amongst any other tribe; witness the feud between the chiefs of Pugal and Mandor. But this changes not the national characteristic as conventionally established; though were we to go back to the days of chivalry 1253and Prithiraj, we should select Achalesa Bhatti, one of the bravest of his champions, for the portrait of his race. The Bhatti Rajput, as to physical power, is not perhaps so athletic as the Rathor, or so tall as the Kachhwaha, but generally fairer than either, and possessing those Jewish features which Mr. Elphinstone remarked as characteristic of the Bikaner Rajputs. The Bhatti intermarries with all the families of Rajwara, though seldom with the Ranas of Mewar. The late Jagat Singh of Jaipur had five wives of this stock, and his posthumous son, real or reputed, has a Bhattiani for his mother.^[23]

Dress.

—The dress of the Bhattis consists of a jama, or tunic of white cloth or chintz reaching to the knee; the kamarband, or ceinture, tied so high as to present no appearance of waist; trousers very loose, and in many folds, drawn tight at the ankle, and a turban, generally of a scarlet colour, rising conically full a foot from the head. A dagger is stuck in the waistband; a shield is suspended by a thong of deer-skin from the left shoulder, and the sword is girt by a belt of the same material. The dress of the common people is the dhoti, or loin-robe, generally of woollen stuff, with a piece of the same material as a turban. The dress of the Bhattianis, which discriminates the sex, consists of a ghaghra, or petticoat, extending to thirty feet in width, made generally of the finer woollen, dyed a brilliant red, with a scarf of the same material. The grand ornament of rich and poor, though varying in the materials, is the churi, or rings of ivory or bone, with which they cover their arms from the shoulder to [286] the wrist.^[24] They are in value from sixteen to thirty-five 1254rupees a set, and imported from Maskat-Mandavi, though they also manufacture them at Jaisalmer. Silver karis (massive rings or anklets) are worn by all classes, who deny themselves the necessaries of life until they attain this ornament. The poorer Rajputnis are very masculine, and assist in all the details of husbandry.

Use of Opium.

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

Pāliwāls.

—Next to the lordly Rajputs, equalling them in numbers and far surpassing them in wealth, are the Paliwals. They are Brahmans, and denominated Paliwal from having been temporal proprietors of Pali, and all its lands, long before the Rathors colonized Marwar. Tradition is silent as to the manner in which they became possessed of this domain; but it is connected with the history of the Pali, or pastoral tribes, who from the town of Pali to Palitana, in Saurashtra, have left traces of their existence;^[25] and I am much mistaken if it will not one day be demonstrated, that all the ramifications of the races figuratively denominated Agnikula, were Pali in origin; more especially the Chauhans, whose princes and chiefs for ages retained the distinctive affix of pal.

These Brahmans, the Paliwals, as appears by the Annals of Marwar, held the domain of Pali when Siahji, at the end of the twelfth century, invaded that land from Kanauj, and by an act of treachery first established his power.^[26] It is evident, however, that he did not extirpate them, for the cause of their migration to 1255the desert of Jaisalmer [287] is attributed to a period of a Muhammadan invasion of Marwar, when a general war-contribution (dand) being imposed on the inhabitants, the Paliwals pleaded caste, and refused. This exasperated the Raja; for as their habits were almost exclusively mercantile, their stake was greater than that of the rest of the community, and he threw their principal men into prison. In order to avenge this, they had recourse to a grand chandni, or ‘act of suicide’; but instead of gaining their object, he issued a manifesto of banishment to every Paliwal in his dominions. The greater part took refuge in Jaisalmer, though many settled in Bikaner, Dhat, and the valley of Sind. At one time their number in Jaisalmer was calculated to equal that of the Rajputs. Almost all the internal trade of the country passes through their hands, and it is chiefly with their capital that its merchants trade in foreign parts. They are the Metayers of the desert, advancing money to the cultivators, taking the security of the crop; and they buy up all the wool and ghi (clarified butter), which they transport to foreign parts. They also rear and keep flocks. The minister, Salim Singh, has contrived to diminish their wealth, and consequently to lose the main support of the country’s prosperity. They are also subject to the visits of the Maldots, Tejmallots, and other plunderers; but they find it difficult to leave the country owing to the restrictive cordon of the Mehta. The Paliwals never marry out of their own tribe; and, directly contrary to the laws of Manu,^[27] the bridegroom gives a sum of money to the father of the bride. It will be deemed a curious incident in the history of superstition, that a tribe, Brahman by name, at least, should worship the bridle of a horse. When to this is added the fact that the most ancient coins discovered in these regions bear the Pali character and the effigies of the horse, it aids to prove the Scythic character of the early colonists of these regions, who, although nomadic (Pali), were equestrian. There is little doubt that the Paliwal Brahmans are the remains of the priests of the Pali race, who, in their pastoral and commercial pursuits, have lost their spiritual power.^[28]

Pokharna Brāhmans.

— Another singular tribe, also Brahmanical, is the Pokharna, of whom it is calculated there are fifteen 1256hundred to two thousand families in Jaisalmer. They are also numerous in Marwar and Bikaner, and are scattered over the desert and valley of the Indus. They follow agricultural and pastoral pursuits chiefly, having little or no concern in trade. The tradition of their origin is singular; it is said that they were Beldars, and excavated the sacred lake of Pushkar or Pokhar, for which act they obtained the favour of the deity and the grade of Brahmans, with the title of Pokharna. Their chief object of emblematic worship, the kudala, a kind of pick-axe used in digging, seems to favour this tradition [288].^[29]

Jats or Jāts.

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

Castle of Jaisalmer.

—The castle of this desert king is erected on an almost insulated peak, from two hundred to two hundred and fifty feet in height, a strong wall running round the crest of the hill. It has four gates, but very few cannon mounted. The city is to the north, and is surrounded by a shahrpanah, or circumvallation, encompassing a space of nearly three miles, having three gates and two wickets. In the city are some good houses belonging to rich merchants, but the greater part consists of huts. The Raja’s palace is said to possess some pretension to grandeur, perhaps comparative.^[30] Were he on good terms with his vassalage, he could collect for its defence five thousand infantry and one thousand horse, besides his camel-corps; but it may be doubted whether, under the oppressive system of the monster who has so long continued to desolate that region, one half of this force could be brought together [289].^[31]

Transcriber’s Note

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

618.25	for the protection of the temple[.]	Added.
656.38	may [i]nfluence the manners of a nation.	Inserted.
664.15	the glorious [of memory/memory of] his ancestor	Words transposed.
672.2	died a natural death[.]	Added.
682.20	or split-ear ascetics[.]	Added.
709.18	Leur sort est un[e] boussole sûr[e] pour le premier regard	Added.
719.8	[“]separated from his mate	Added.
719.26	asis (blessing[)]	Added.
726.14	[“]The king sought the bard	Added.
727.8	[“]In vain she sought the rings of his corslet	Removed.
755.16	[‘/“]all’s well,”	Replaced.
860.20	with the tika and gifts, [and gifts, ]and other symbols	Removed.
866.23	was father-in[ /-]law to his rival	Replaced.
895.34	which we do not fail to encourage[.]	Added.
898.19	there occurs a ri[g/c]hly carved corbeille	Replaced.
915.3	Such is the Jit’h[a]	Added.
933.25	see [Table I. Vol. I.]	Not reprinted.
959.22	every part o[f] Rajputana	Added.
964.2	which would otherwise perish[.]	Added.
1035.10	for the persecutor of Durgadas[.]	Added.
1060.13	out of Maru[:/.]	Replaced.
1113.29	or courts o[r/f] arbitration	Replaced.

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

602.4.5	that he m[i]raculously	Restored.
725.1.1	History of the Late Revolution o[f] the Empire	Restored.
750.1.24	Rāsmāla, 557[)].	Removed.
819.3.3	(Yule, Hobson-Jobson, 2nd ed. 15[)].	Added.
884.3.13	‘city of the heavenly choristers.[’]	Added.
839.2.2	(Erskine iii. A. 196[)].	Added.
934.1.1	(IGI, xv. 398[)].	Added.
935.4.1	classically Vijayapala, ‘Fosterer of Victory.[’]	Added.
948.2.12	[“]Even in this, is there much vanity,”	Added.
1037.4.2	rather Nāgapura[./,] capital of the Nāga sept	Replaced.
1084.2.1	[Nineteen miles S.W. of Bikaner city.[]]	Added.
1118.3.1	see Watt, op. cit. 112 ff.[).]	Removed.
1134.1.7	see Sykes, Hist. of Persia, i. 257[)].	Removed.
1136.1.1	Ferishta’s History of the Dek[h/k]an	Replaced.
1156.1.5	(Bilimoria, Letters of Aurangzeb, 75.[)]	Added.
1186.3.9	See Map, Vol. I.	Actually, Vol. III.
1194.1.70	and many others[)].	Added.
1197.37	Rae S[e/a]hra and his tribe of Langaha	Replaced.
1221.1.3	[(]Rose, Glossary, ii. 353 f.; ASR, ii. 17).	Added.

Portrait of Colonel James Tod	Frontispiece
	TO FACE PAGE

Kanhaiya and Rādha	630

Columns of Temples at Chandrāvati	670

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

Valley of Udaipur	760

Citadel of the Hill Fortress of Kūmbhalmer	776

Jain Temple in the Fortress of Kūmbhalmer	780

Ruins in Kūmbhalmer	782

Koli and Bhīl; Chāran or Bard	788

Jāt Peasant of Mārwār. Rājput Foot Soldier of Mārwār	812

Town and Fort of Jodhpur	820

Rock Sculptures at Mandor; Chāmunda, Kankāli	842

Rock Sculptures at Mandor; Mallināth, Nāthji	844

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

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

Rock Sculptures at Mandor; Mehaji Mangalia	850

Paiks of Mārwār	860

Durga Dās; Mahārāja Sher Singh of Rian	866

The Sacred Lake of Pushkar in Mārwār	892

Ancient Jain Temple at Ajmer	896

Fortress and Town of Ajmer	900

Castle of Bhinai	904

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

Bridge of Nūrābād	914

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

Horoscope of Rāja Abhai Singh	Page 1019

1. Nonita	Nathdwara.
2. Mathuranath	Kotah.
3. Dwarkanath	Kankroli.^[61]
4. Gokulnath, or Gokulchandrama	Jaipur.
5. Yadunath	Surat.
6. Vitthalnath ^[62]	Kotah.
7. Madan Mohana	Jaipur.

Rajput	Scandinavian and Saxon.
Suryavar	Sun-day.
Som, or Induvar	Moon-day.
Budhvar	Tuis-day.
Mangalvar	Wodens-day.
Brihaspativar[a]	Thors-day.
Sukravar[b]	Frey-day.
Sani, or } -var	Satur-day[c]
Sanichara }

Names of Chiefs.		Clans.		Fiefs or Chieftanships.	Remarks.
1.	Santal, or Satal		——	Satalmer	Three coss from Pokaran.
2.	Suja (Suraj)		——	——	Succeeded Jodha.
3.	Gama [21]		——	——	No issue.
4.	Duda [Dhuhada]		Mertia	Merta	Duda took Sambhar from the Chauhans. He had one son, Biram, whose two sons Jaimall and Jagmall founded the clans Jaimallot and Jagmallot.
5.	Birsingh		Birsinghgot	Nolai	In Malwa.
6.	Bika		Bikayat	Bikaner	Independent State.
7.	Baharmall		Baharmallot	Bai Bhilara	——
8.	Sheoraj		Sheorajot	Dunara	On the Luni.
9.	Karamsi		Karamsot	Khinwasar	——
10.	Raemall		Raemallot	——	——
11.	Savantsi		Savantsiot	Dawara	——
12.	Bida		Bidawat	Bidavati	In Nagor district.
13.	Banhar		——	——	Clans and fiefs not mentioned.
14.	Nimba		——	——	Clans and fiefs not mentioned.

1.	Ram Singh, who was banished, and found refuge with the Rana of Mewar; he had seven sons, the fifth of whom, Keshodas, fixed at Chuli Maheshwar.
2.	Raemall, who was killed in the battle of Bayana.
9603.	Udai Singh, Raja of Marwar.
4.	Chandarsen, by a wife of the Jhala tribe; had three sons, the eldest, Ugarsen, got Binai; he had three sons, Karan, Kanji, and Kahan.
5.	Askaran; descendants at Junia.
6.	Gopaldas; killed at Idar.
7.	Prithiraj; descendants at Jalor.
8.	Ratansi; descendants at Bhadrajun.
9.	Bheraj; descendants at Ahari.
10. 11. 12.	Bikramajit Bhan ——	No notice of them [30].

Mewar.		Marwar.		Delhi.
Rana Sanga		Rao Maldeo		Babur and Sher Shah.
		Rao Sur Singh		Humayun.
Rana Partap		Raja Udai Singh		Akbar.
Rana Amra I. Rana Karan	}	Raja Gaj Singh	{	Jahangir and Shah Jahan.
Rana Raj		Raja Jaswant Singh		Aurangzeb.
Rana Jai Singh Rana Amra II.	}	Raja Ajit Singh	{	All the competitors for the throne after Farrukhsiyar [724].

Names.		Clans.	Chieftainships or Fiefs.
1.	Jodha (succeeded)	Jodha.
2.	Kandal.	Kandalot, conquered lands in	Bikaner.
3.	Champa	Champawat	947Awa, Kata, Palri, Harsola, Rohat, Jawala, Satlana, Singari.
4.	Akhairaj had seven sons: 1st Kumpa	Kumpawat	Asop, Kantalia, Chandawal, Siryari, Kharla, Harsor, Balu, Bajoria, Surpura, Dewaria.
5.	Mandla	Mandlot	Sarunda.
6.	Patta	Pattawat	Kurnichari, Bara, and Desnokh.^[18]
7.	Lakha	Lakhawat	——
8.	Bala	Balawat	Dunara.
9.	Jethmall	Jethmallot	Palasni.
10.	Karna	Karnot	Lunawas.
11.	Rupa	Rupawat	Chutila.
12.	Nathu	Nathawat	Bikaner.
13.	Dungra	Dungrot	Estates not mentioned; their descendants have become dependent on the greater clanships.
14.	Sanda	Sandawat
15.	Manda	Mandot
16.	Biru	Birot
17.	Jagmall	Jagmallot
18.	Hampa [18]	Hampawat
19.	Sakta	Saktawat
20.	Karimchand	———
21.	Arival	Arivalot
22.	Ketsi	Ketsiot
23.	Satrasal	Satrasalot
24.	Tejmall	Tejmallot

1.	Sur Singh, succeeded.
2.	Akhairaj.
3.	Bhagwandas; had issue Bala, Gopaldas, Govinddas, who founded Govindgarh.
4.	Narardas	┐
5.	Sakat Singh	├	had no issue attaining eminence.
6.	Bhopat	┘
7.	Dalpat had four sons: 1. Maheshdas, whose son, Ratna, founded Ratlam;^[12] 2. Jaswant Singh; 3. Partap Singh; 4. Kaniram.
8.	Jeth had four sons: 1. Har Singh; 2. Amra; 3. Kaniram; 4. Premraj, whose descendants held lands in the tract called Balati and Khairwa.
9.	Kishan, in S. 1669 (A.D. 1613), founded Kishangarh; he had three sons, Sahasmall, Jagmall, Biharmall, who had Hari Singh, who had Rup Singh, who founded Rupnagarh.
10.	Jaswant, his son Man founded Manpura, his issue called Manpura Jodha.
11.	Kesho founded Pisangan.
12.	Ramdas.	┐
13.	Puranmall.	│
14.	Madhodas.	├	No mention of them.
15.	Mohandas.	│
16.	Kirat Singh.	│
17.	——	┘

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

Total	430,000

Pachbhadra	Rs. 200,000
Phalodi	100,000
Didwana	115,000
Sambhar	200,000
Nawa	100,000
Total	715,000

Names of Chiefs.		Clans.	Places of Abode.	Revenue.	Remarks.

		FIRST CLASS.

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

		SECOND CLASS.

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

	Cantons.	No. of Villages.	Districts.
1.	Punia	300	Bahaduran, Ajitpur, Sidmukh, Rajgarh, Dadrewa, Sanku, etc.
2.	Beniwal [or Bhanniwāl]	150	Bhukarka, Sondari, Manoharpur, Kui, Bai, etc.
3.	Johya	600	Jethpur, Kumbhana, Mahajan, Pipasar, Udaipur, etc.
4.	Asaich	150	Rawatsar, Barmsar, Dandusar, Gandeli.
11275.	Saran	300	Kejar, Phog, Buchawas, Sawai, Badinu, Sirsila, etc.
6.	Godara	700	Pundrasar, Gosainsar (great), Shaikhsar Garsisar, Gharibdesar, Rangesar, Kalu, etc.
	Total in the six Jat cantons	2200
7.	Bagor	300	Bikaner, Nal, Kela, Rajasar, Satasar, Chhattargarh, Randasar, Bitnokh, Bhavanipur, Jaimallsar, etc.
8.	Mohila	140	Chaupar (capital of Mohila), Sonda, Hirasar, Gopalpur, Charwas, Bidasar, Ladnun, Malsasar, Kharbuza-ra-kot.
9.	Kharipatta, or salt district	30
	Grand Total	2670

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

1.	Khalisa, or fiscal land, from 1484 towns and villages	Rs. 1,500,000
2.	Sair or imposts	430,000
3.	Salt lakes	715,000
4.	Hasil, or miscellaneous taxes; fluctuating and uncertain; not less than	300,000
	Total	2,945,000
	Feudal and ministerial estates	5,000,000
	Grand Total	7,945,000

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

	1. Nunkaran


Harraj.	Maldeo.	Kalyandas.

2. Bhim.	Ketsi.	3. Manohardas.

Nathu.	Dayaldas.	Ramchand.

	4. Sabal Singh.

1. Khalisa, or fisc ^[23]	Rs. 100,000
2. Dhuan	100,000
3. Anga	200,000
11594. Sair, imposts ^[24]	75,000
5. Paseti, plough-tax	125,000
6. Malba, land-tax	50,000
Total	650,000

Names of Chieftains.	Clans.		Places of Abode.		Revenue.	Retainers:			Remarks.
						Foot.	Horse.
Behri Sal	Bika		Mahajan		40,000	5,000	100		One hundred and forty villages, attached to this fief, settled on the heir of Raja Nunkaran, who consequently forfeited the gaddi. The first of the chiefs of Bikaner.
Abhai Singh	Benirot		Bhukarka		25,000	5,000	200
Anup Singh	Bika		Jasana		5,000	400	40
Pem Singh	Do.		Bai		5,000	400	25
Chain Singh	Benirot		Sawa		20,000	2,000	300
Himmat Singh	Rawat		Rawatsar		20,000	2,000	300
Sheo Singh	Benirot		Churu		25,000	2,000	200
Ummed Singh	Bidawat		Bidesar		50,000	10,000	2,000		One hundred and forty kothri (families, lit. chambers) of this class.
Jeth Singh			Sondwa
Bahadur Singh		Narnot			Bidesar		40,000	4,000	500
Suraj Mall				Tendesar
Guman Singh				Katar
Atai Singh				Kachor
Sher Singh	Narnot		Nimbaj		5,000	500	125
Devi Singh	Narnot		Sidmukh		20,000	5,000	400
Ummed Singh			Karipura
Surthan Singh			Ajitpura
Karnidhan			Beasar
Surthan Singh	Kachhwaha		Nainawas		4,000	150	30		These two fiefs are held by foreign nobles of the house of Amber, and the ancient Pramara (vulg. Panwar).
Padam Singh	Panwar		Jethsisar		5,000	200	100
Kishan Singh	Bika		Hayadesar		5,000	200	50
Rao Singh	Bhatti		Pugal ^[29]		6,000	1,500	40		The fief of Pugal was wrested from the Bhattis of Jaisalmer.
Sultan Singh	Do.		Rajasar		1,500	200	50
Laktir Singh	Do.		Raner		2,000	400	75
Karnai Singh	Do.		Satasar		1,100	200	9
Bhum Singh	Do.		Chakara		1,500	60	4

Four Chieftains,^[30] viz.
1. Bhoni Singh	Bhatti		Bichnok		1,500	60	6
2. Zalim Singh	Do.		Gariala		1,100	40	4
3. Sardar Singh	Do.		Surjara		800	30	2
4. Khet Singh	Do.		Randisar		600	32	2

Chand Singh	Karamsot		Nokha		11,000	1,500	500		Twenty-seven villages dependent on this family from Jodhpur, and settled here eleven years.
Satidan	Rupawat		Badila		5,000	200	25
Bhum Singh	Bhatti		Janglu		2,500	400	9
Ketsi	Do.		Jaminsar		15,000	500	150		Twenty-seven villages.
Isari Singh	Mandla		Sarunda		11,000	2,000	150
Padam Singh	Bhatti		Kudsu		1,500	60	4
Kalyan Singh	Do.		Nainea		1,000	40	2
			Total		332,100	44,072	5,402		[210]

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

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

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

	Rupees.

Bar ^[18]	20,000
Rozgar Sardar ^[19]	40,000
Sihbandis or Mercenaries ^[20]	75,000
Household horse, 10 elephants, 200 camels, and chariots	36,000
	—-——
Carry forward	171,000
1252Brought forward	171,000
500 Bargir ^[21] horse	60,000
Rani’s or queen’s establishment	15,000
The wardrobe	5,000
Gifts	5,000
The kitchen	5,000
Guests, in hospitality	5,000
Feasts, entertainments	5,000
Annual purchase of horses, camels, oxen, etc.	20,000
Total	Rs. 291,000

ANNALS AND ANTIQUITIES OF RAJASTHAN

CONTENTS

ILLUSTRATIONS

BOOK IV—Continued RELIGIOUS ESTABLISHMENTS, FESTIVALS, AND CUSTOMS OF MEWĀR

CHAPTER 19

Influence of the Priesthood.

Weighing of Princes against Gold.

Grants to Brāhmans and Devotees.

Tithes, Temples.

Political Influence of Brāhmans.

Tithes levied by Brāhmans.

Privileges of Saivas and Jains.

Worship of Siva.

The Temple of Eklinga.

Priestly Functions of the Mewār Rānas.

Privileges of Jains.

Absence of Intolerance.

Grant of Rāna Rāj Singh.

The Jain Retreat.

Nāthdwāra.

The Mughals and Krishna Worship.

The Image of Krishna removed to Mewār. Founding of Nāthdwāra.

Benefactions to Nāthdwāra.

Rights of Sanctuary.

Violation of Sanctuary.

Endowments of Nāthdwāra.

Food offered to Deities.

Lands dedicated to the Shrine.

Grants to the High Priest.

Effects of Krishna-worship on the Rājputs.

CHAPTER 20

Krishna.

Sun and Moon Worship.

The Forms of Krishna.

The Rāsmandal Dance.

The Songs of Jayadeva.

The Rāsmandal Dance.

Govardhana.

Cave Worship of Krishna.

Krishna a Dragon-Slayer.

Parallels to Krishna in other Mythologies.

The Annakūta Festival.

Interruption of Worship.

Seven Forms of Krishna.

The Pontiff of Nāthdwāra.

APPENDIX

No. I

No. II

No. III

No. IV

No. V

No. VI

No. VII

No. VIII

No. IX

No. X

No. XI

No. XII

CHAPTER 21

The Importance of Mythology.

The Aboriginal Tribes.

Comparative Study of Festivals.

Analogies to Rājput Customs in Northern Europe.

Festivals in Mewār. Naurātri Festival.

The Repose of Vishnu.

Spring Festival, Vasant Panchami.

Bhān Saptami Festival.

Sun Worship.

Sun Worship at Udaipur.

The Spring Hunt.

The Phāg or Holi Festival.

Chait.

Sītala’s Festival.

Birthday of the Rana.

New Year’s Day. The Festival of Flowers.

The Festival of Flowers.

Ganggor Festival.

The Bathing of the Goddess.

The Agastya Festival.

The Goddess Ganga.

ANNALS AND ANTIQUITIES
OF
RAJASTHAN

BOOK IV—Continued
RELIGIOUS ESTABLISHMENTS, FESTIVALS,
AND CUSTOMS OF MEWĀR