A History of the Mahrattas v2.c55.77

v2.c55.77

Between the middle of the eighth and the close of the thirteenth centuries various petty kingdoms arose. The Jethwas became a powerful tribe in the west of the peninsula; the Jhālas were settled in northern Kāthiāwār by the Anhilvāda kings; the Gohels (now in eastern Kāthiāwār) came from the north in the thirteenth century, retreating before the tide of Muhammadan conquest and founding new seats for themselves on the ruins of Anhilvāda (Pātan, circa 770-1298); the Jādejas and the Kāthis came from the west through Cutch. The sack of Somnāth in 1026 by Mahmud of Ghazni, and the capture of Anhilvāda (or Pātan) in 1197, were the prelude to Muhammadan invasions of Kāthiāwār. In 1572 the country came under the rule of Akbar, and was administered by viceroys from the court of Delhi until the Marāthās supplanted the imperial power. Entering Gujarāt in 1705, the Marāthās had firmly established their rule in 1760. During the latter part of the eighteenth century the Gaekwār, partly for himself and partly for his overlord, the Pēshwā, sent yearly a revenue-collecting army (mulk-giri) to obtain contributions from the chiefs of western and northern Gujarāt. As this armed expedition caused much waste and confusion, the British Government agreed to associate itself with the Gaekwār in recovering the Marāthā tribute from the Kāthiāwār States. Internal warfare and resistance to authority were ended in 1807-8 by the settlement effected by Colonel Walker, the chief feature of which was that tributes were fixed and the work of collection was undertaken by the British Government, which also acquired the Pēshwā’s rights in Kāthiāwār strictly applicable to one district only of that extensive tract, which derives its name from the Kattees, a very peculiar race, who worship the sun. The whole region is inhabited by a warlike people, chiefly Jarejah Rajpoots, who are under separate chiefs, and whose internal divisions had early made them an easy prey to the plundering bands of Kantajee Kudum Banday and Dummajee Gaekwar. The Resident, attended by a British force, repeatedly accompanied the Gaekwar’s army, and contributed much to tranquillize the province, and to improve its revenues. He also humanely exerted himself, though in the end with little success, to suppress the barbarous practice of female infanticide,¹ to which the Jarejah Rajpoots are prone. From all these circumstances, the Baroda government fell much under the control of the British Resident; but as Lieutenant-Colonel Walker was