The Institutes of Akbar 336: XII. Commanders of Twelve Hundred and Fifty.

336

106. Rai Sal Darbari, Shaikhawat.
He is also called Rajah Rai Sal Darbari, and is the son of Rai Rai Mall Shaikhawat, in whose service Hasan Khan Sur (father of Sher Shah) was for some time. As remarked above (p. 328, No. 23), the Kachhwahahs are divided into Rajawats and Shaikhawats. To the latter branch belong Rajahs Lon Karan, Rai Sal, &c.; the former contains Man Singh's posterity (the present rulers of Jaipur).
The term Shaikhawat, or Shekhawat, as it is generally pronounced, is explained as follows. One of the ancestors of this branch had no sons. A Muhammadan Shaikh, however, had pity on him, and prayed for him till he got a son. From motives of gratitude, the boy was called Shaikh. Hence his descendants are called the Shaikhawat Branch.
Rai Sal was employed at Court, as his title of Darbari indicates. He was in charge of the Harem. During the reign of Jahangir, he was promoted, and served in the Dak'hin. He died there at an advanced age. He had twenty-one sons, each of whom had a numerous posterity.
Whilst Rai Sal was in the Dak'hin, Madho Singh and other grandchildren of his, collected a lot of ruffians, and occupied Rai Sal's paternal possessions. But Mathura Das, a Bengali, who was Rai Sal’s Munshi and Vakil, recovered a portion of his master's lands.
“After Rai Sal's death, his sons and grandsons lived, according to the custom of the Zamindars of the age, in feud with their neighbours and with each other. Rajah Girdhar, Rai Sal’s son, is almost the only one that distinguished himself at Court.
From the Akbarnámah we see that Rai Sal entered early Akbar’s service; for he was present in the battle of Khairábád (p. 382), in the fight at Sarnál (p. 333), and accompanied the Emperor on his forced march to Patan and Ahmadábád (p. 416, note).
The Pádisháhnámah (I.,b., p. 314) mentions another son of Rai Sal’s, Bhoj Raj, who was a Commander of Eight Hundred, 400 horse.
The Tabaqát says that Rai Sal was, in 1001, a Commander of Two Thousand. Abulfazl calls him in this list a Commander of 1250. This manṣab is unusual, and Rai Sál stands alone in this class. It does not occur in the lists of Grandees in the Pádisháhnámah. From other histories also it is clear that the next higher Manṣab after the Hazárí was the Hazár o pánṣadí, or Commander of Fifteen Hundred.