Annals and Antiquities of Rajasthan, or the Central and Western Rajput States of India v1.c18.s2: Chapter 4
Annals and Antiquities of Rajasthan, or the Central and Western Rajput States of India v1.c18.s2
- Language
- English
Contents
- v1.c18.s2.t1 Rajput Pardhans or Premiers — 55 parts
Chapter 4
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Rakhwāli.—I now proceed to another point of striking resemblance between the systems of the east and west, arising from the same causes—the unsettled state of society, and the deficiency of paramount protection. It is here called rakhwāli,³ or ‘ preservation ’; the salvamenta of Europe.⁴ To a certain degree it always existed in these States; but the interminable predatory warfare of the last half century increased it to so frightful an extent that superior authority was required to redeem the abuses it had occasioned. It originated in the necessity of protection ; and the modes of obtaining it, as well as the compensation [176] when obtained, were various. It often consisted of money or kind on the reaping of each harvest : sometimes in a multiplicity of petty privileges and advantages, but the chief object was to obtain *bhum* : and here we have one solution of the constituted *bhumia*,¹ assimilating, as observed, to the allodial proprietor. Bhum thus obtained is irrevocable ; and in the eager anxiety for its acquisition we have another decided proof of every other kind of tenure being deemed resumable by the crown.
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³ See Appendix, Nos. VII., VIII., and IX.
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⁴ This is the ‘ sauvement ou vingtain’ of the French system : there it ceased with the cause. “ Les guerres (feudal) cessèrent avec le régime féodal, et les paysans n'eurent plus besoin de la protection du Seigneur; on ne les força pas moins de réparer son château, et de lui payer le droit qui se nommait de sauvement ou vingtain” (Art. ‘ Château,’ Dict. de l'Ancien Régime).
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¹ The chief might lose his *patta* lands, and he would then dwindle down into the *bhumia* proprietor, which title only lawless force could take from him. See Appendix, No. IX.
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It was not unfrequent that application for protection was made to the nearest chief by the tenants of the fisc ; a course eventually sanctioned by the Government, which could not refuse assent where it could not protect. Here, then, we revert to first principles ; and ‘ seignorial rights ’ may be forfeited, when they cease to yield that which ought to have originated them, viz. benefit to the community. Personal service at stated periods, to aid in the agricultural ² economy of the protector, was sometimes stipulated, when the husbandmen were to find implements and cattle,³ and to attend whenever ordered. The protected calls the chief ‘ patron ’ ; and the condition may not unaptly be compared to that of personal commendation,⁴ like *salvamenta*, founded on the disturbed state of society. But what originated thus was often continued and multiplied by avarice, and the spirit of rapine, which disgraced the Rajput of the last half century, though he had abundance of apologies for ‘ scouring the country.’ But all *salvamenta* and other marks of vassalage, obtained during these times of desolation, were annulled in the settlement which took place between the Rana and his chiefs, in A.D. 1818 ⁵ [177].
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² See Appendix, No. X., Art. II.
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³ This species would come under the distinct term of Hydages due by soccage vassals, who in return for protection supply carriages and work (Hume, vol. ii. p. 308).
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⁴ Hallam, vol. i. p. 169.
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⁵ In indulging my curiosity on this subject, I collected some hundred
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But the crown itself, by some singular proceeding, possesses, or did possess, according to the *Patta Bahi*, or Book of Grants, considerable *salvamenta* right, especially in the districts between the new and ancient capitals, in sums of from twenty to one hundred rupees in separate villages.
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To such an extent has this *rakhwali*¹ been carried when protection was desired, that whole communities have ventured their liberty, and become, if not slaves, yet nearly approaching the condition of slaves, to the protector. But no common visitation ever leads to an evil of this magnitude. I mention the fact merely to show that it does exist; and we may infer that the chief, who has become the arbiter of the lives and fortunes of his followers, must have obtained this power by devoting all to their protection. The term thus originated, and probably now (with many others) written for the first time in English letters in this sense, is *Basai*.
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¹ The method by which the country is brought under this tax is as follows: “When the people are almost ruined by continual robberies and plunders, the leader of the band of thieves, or some friend of his, proposes that, for a sum of money annually paid, he will keep a number of men in arms to protect such a tract of ground, or as many parishes as submit to the contribution. When the terms are agreed upon he ceases to steal, and thereby the contributors are safe: if any one refuse to pay, he is immediately plundered. To colour all this villainy, those concerned in the robberies pay the tax with the rest; and all the neighbourhood must comply or be undone. This is the case (among others), with the whole low country of the shire of Ross” (Extract from Lord Lovat’s Memorial to George I. on the State of the Highlands of Scotland, in A.D. 1724).
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engagements, and many of a most singular nature. We see the chieftain stipulating for fees on marriages; for a dish of the good fare at the wedding feast, which he transfers to a relation of his district if unable to attend himself; portions of fuel and provender; and even wherewithal to fill the wassail cup in his days of merriment. The Rajput’s religious notions are not of so strict a character as to prevent his even exacting his *rakhwali* dues from the church lands, and the threat of slaughtering the sacred flock of our Indian Apollo has been resorted to, to compel payment when withheld. Nay, by the chiefs it was imposed on things locomotive: on caravans, or *Tandas* of merchandise, wherever they halted for the day, *rakhwali* was demanded. Each petty chief through whose district or patch of territory they travelled, made a demand, till commerce was dreadfully shackled; but it was the only way in which it could be secured. It was astonishing how commerce was carried on at all; yet did the cloths of Dacca and the shawls of Kashmir pass through all such restraints, and were never more in request. Where there is demand no danger will deter enterprise; and commerce flourished more when these predatory armies were rolling like waves over the land, than during the succeeding halcyon days of pacification.
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Basāi, Slavery.—Slavery is to be found in successive stages of society of Europe, but we have no parallel in Rajwara (at least in name) to the agricultural serfs and villains of Europe; nor is there any intermediate term denoting a species of slavery between the Gola¹ of the Hindu chief’s household and the free Rajput but the singular one of basai, which must be explained, since it cannot be translated. This class approximates closely to the *tributarii* and *coloni*, perhaps to the *servi*, of the Salic Franks, “who were cultivators of the earth, and subject to residence upon their master’s estate, though not destitute of property or civil rights.”² Precisely the condition of the cultivator in Haraoti who now tills for a taskmaster the fields he formerly owned, degraded to the name of hali,³ a ploughman.
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¹ In Persian *ghulām*, literally ‘slave’; evidently a word of the same origin with the Hindu *gola*. [The words have no connexion.]
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² Hallam, vol. i. p. 217.
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³ From *hal*, ‘a plough.’ *Syl* is ‘a plough’ in Saxon (Turner’s Anglo-Saxons). The *h* and *s* are permutable throughout Rajwara. [The words have no connexion.] In Marwar, Salim Singh is pronounced Halim Hingh.
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“When small proprietors,” says Hallam, “lost their lands by mere rapine, we may believe their liberty was hardly less endangered.” The *hali* of Haraoti knows the bitter truth of this inference, which applies to the subject immediately before us, [178] the *basai*. The portion of liberty the latter has parted with, was not originally lost through compulsion on the part of the protector, but from external violence, which made this desperate remedy necessary. Very different from the *hali* of Kotah, who is servile though without the title—a serf in condition but without the patrimony; compelled to labour for subsistence on the land he once owned; chained to it by the double tie of debt and strict police; and if flight were practicable, the impossibility of bettering his condition from the anarchy around would render it unavailing. This is not the practice under the patriarchal native government, which, with all its faults, retains the old links of society, with its redeeming sympathies; but springs from a *maire du palais*, who pursued an unfeeling and mistaken policy towards this class of society till of late years. Mistaken ambition was the origin of the evil; he saw his error, and remedied it in time to prevent further mischief to the State. This octogenarian ruler, Zalim Singh of Kotah, is too much of a philosopher and politician to let passion overcome his interests and reputation; and we owe to the greatest despot a State ever had the only regular charter which at present exists in Rajasthan, investing a corporate body with the election of their own magistrates and the making of their own laws, subject only to confirmation; with all the privileges which marked in the outset the foundation of the free cities of Europe, and that of boroughs in England.
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It is true that, in detached documents, we see the spirit of these institutions existing in Mewar, and it is as much a matter of speculation, whether this wise ruler promulgated this novelty as a trap for good opinions, or from policy and foresight alone: aware, when all around him was improving, from the shackles of restraint being cast aside, that his retention of them must be hurtful to himself. Liberality in this exigence answered the previous purpose of extortion. His system, even then, was good by comparison; all around was rapine, save in the little oasis kept verdant by his skill, where he permitted no other oppression than his own.
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This charter is appended ¹ as a curiosity in legislation, being given thirty years ago. Another, for the agriculturists' protection, was set up in A.D. 1821. No human being prompted either; though the latter is modelled from the proceedings in Mewar, and may have been intended, as before observed, to entrap applause.
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¹ See Appendix, No. XI.
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In every district of Haraoti the stone was raised to record this ordinance [179].
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Gola—Das (Slaves).—Famine in these regions is the great cause of loss of liberty: thousands were sold in the last great famine. The predatory system of the Pindaris and mountain tribes aided to keep it up. Here, as amongst the Franks, freedom is derived through the mother. The offspring of a goli ² or dasi must be a slave. Hence the great number of golas in Rajput families, whose illegitimate offspring are still adorned in Mewar, as our Saxon slaves were of old, with a silver ring round the left ankle, instead of the neck. They are well treated, and are often amongst the best of the military retainers; ³ but are generally esteemed in proportion to the quality of the mother, whether Rajputni, Muslim, or of the degraded tribes: they hold confidential places about the chiefs of whose blood they are. The great-grandfather of the late chief of Deogarh used to appear at court with three hundred golas ¹ on horseback in his train, the sons of Rajputs, each with a gold ring round his ankle : men whose lives were his own. This chief could then head two thousand retainers, his own vassals.²
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² Female slave.
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³ See Appendix, No. XIX.
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¹ The reader of Dow’s translation of Ferishta [i. 134] may recollect that when Kutbu-d-din was left the viceroy of the conqueror he is made to say : “ He gave the country to Gola the son of Pittu Rai.” [“ He delivered over the country to the Gola, or natural son, of Pithow Ray ” (Briggs’ trans. i. 128).] Dow mistakes this appellation of the natural brother of the last Hindu sovereign for a proper name. He is mentioned by the bard Chand in his exploits of Prithwiraja.
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² I have often received the most confidential messages, from chiefs of the highest rank, through these channels. [There are, at the present day, several bastard castes originally composed of the illegitimate children of men of rank, Rājputs, Brāhmans, Mahājans, and others. These are now recruited from the descendants of such persons, and from recently born illegitimate children (Census Report, Rajputana, 1911, i. 249 f.).]
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Slavery due to Gambling.—Tacitus ³ describes the baneful effects of gambling amongst the German tribes, as involving personal liberty ; their becoming slaves, and being subsequently sold by the winner. The Rajput’s passion for gaming, as remarked in the history of the tribes, is strong ; and we can revert to periods long anterior to Tacitus, and perhaps before the woods of Germany were peopled with the worshippers of Tuisto, for the antiquity of this vice amongst the Rajput warriors, presenting a highly interesting picture of its pernicious effects. Yudhishthira having staked and lost the throne of India to Duryodhana, to recover it hazarded the beautiful and virtuous Draupadi. By the loaded dice of his foes she became the goli of the Kaurava, who, triumphing in his pride, would have unveiled her in public ; but the deity presiding over female modesty preserved her from the rude gaze of the assembled host ; the miraculous scarf lengthened as he withdrew it, till tired, he desisted at the instance of superior interposition. Yudhishthira, not satisfied with this, staked twelve years of his personal liberty, and became an exile from the haunts of Kalindi, a wanderer in the wilds skirting the distant ocean [180].
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³ Germania, xxiv.
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The illegitimate sons of the Rana are called das, literally ‘ slave ’ : they have no rank, though they are liberally provided for. Basai signifies ‘acquired slavery’; in contradistinction to gola, ‘an hereditary slave.’ The gola can only marry a goli: the lowest Rajput would refuse his daughter to a son of the Rana of this kind. The basai can redeem¹ his liberty: the gola has no wish to do so, because he could not improve his condition nor overcome his natural defects. To the basai nothing dishonourable attaches: the class retain their employments and caste, and are confined to no occupation, but it must be exercised with the chief’s sanction. Individuals reclaimed from captivity, in gratitude have given up their liberty: communities, when this or greater evils threatened, have done the same for protection of their lives, religion, and honour. Instances exist of the population of towns being in this situation. The greater part of the inhabitants of the estate of Bijolli are the basai of its chief, who is of the Pramara tribe: they are his subjects; the Rana, the paramount lord, has no sort of authority over them. Twelve generations have elapsed since his ancestor conducted this little colony into Mewar, and received the highest honours and a large estate on the plateau of its border, in a most interesting country.²
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¹ The *das* or ‘slave’ may hold a fief in Rajasthan, but he never can rise above the condition in which this defect of birth has placed him. “L’affranchissement consistait à sortir de la classe des serfs, par l’acquisition d’un fief, ou seulement d’un fonds. La nécessité où s’étaient trouvés les seigneurs féodaux de vendre une partie de leurs terres, pour faire leurs équipages des croisades, avait rendu ces acquisitions communes; mais le fief n’anoblissait qu’à la troisième génération.” Serfs who had twice or thrice been champions, or saved the lives of their masters, were also liberated. “Un évêque d’Auxerre déclara qu’il n’affranchirait gratuitement, qui que ce soit, s’il n’avait reçu quinze blessures à son service” (see Article ‘Affranchissement,’ *Dict. de l’ancien Régime*).
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² I could but indistinctly learn whether this migration, and the species of paternity here existing, arose from rescuing them from Tatar invaders, or from the calamity of famine.
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The only badge denoting the basai is a small tuft of hair on the crown of the head. The term interpreted has nothing harsh in it, meaning ‘occupant, dweller, or settler.’ The numerous towns in India called Basai have this origin: chiefs abandoning their ancient haunts, and settling³ with all their retainers and chattels in new abodes. From this, the town of Basai near Tonk (Rampura), derived its name, when the Solanki prince was compelled to abandon his patrimonial lands in Gujarat; his subjects of all classes accompanying him voluntarily, in preference to submitting to foreign rule. Probably the foundation of Bijolli was similar; though only the name of Basai now attaches to the inhabitants. It is not uncommon [181], in the overflowing of gratitude, to be told, “ You may sell me, I am your basai.” ¹
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³ *Basna*, ‘to settle.’
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¹ I had the happiness to be the means of releasing from captivity some young chiefs, who had been languishing in Mahratta fetters as hostages for the payment of a war contribution. One of them, a younger brother of the Purawat division, had a mother dying to see him; but though he might have taken her house in the way, a strong feeling of honour and gratitude made him forgo this anxious visit: “ I am your Rajput, your gola, your basai.” He was soon sent off to his mother. Such little acts, mingling with public duty, are a compensation for the many drawbacks of solitude, gloom, and vexation, attending such situations. They are no sinecures or beds of roses—ease, comfort, and health, being all subordinate considerations.
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Private Feuds—Composition.—In a state of society such as these sketches delineate, where all depends on the personal character of the sovereign, the field for the indulgence of the passions, and especially of that most incident to the uncontrollable habits of such races—revenge—must necessarily be great. Private feuds have tended, with the general distraction of the times, to desolate this country. Some account of their mode of prosecution, and the incidents thence arising, cannot fail to throw additional light on the manners of society, which during the last half-century were fast receding to a worse than semi-barbarous condition, and, aided by other powerful causes, might have ended in entire annihilation. The period was rapidly advancing, when this fair region of Mewar, the garden of Rajasthan, would have reverted to its primitive sterility. The tiger and the wild boar had already become inmates of the capital, and the bats flitted undisturbed in the palaces of her princes. The ante-courts, where the chieftains and their followers assembled to grace their prince’s cavalcade, were overgrown with dank shrubs and grass, through which a mere footpath conducted the ‘descendant of a hundred kings’ to the ruins of his capital.
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In these principalities the influence of revenge is universal. Not to prosecute a feud is tantamount to an acknowledgement of self-degradation; and, as in all countries where the laws are insufficient to control individual actions or redress injuries, they have few scruples as to the mode of its gratification. Hence feuds are entailed with the estates from generation to generation. To sheathe the sword till ‘a feud is balanced’ (their own idiomatic expression), would be a blot never to be effaced from the escutcheon.
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In the Hindu word which designates a feud we have another of those striking coincidences in terms to which allusion has already been made: vair is ‘a feud,’ vairi, ‘a foe.’ The Saxon term for the composition of a feud, wergild, is familiar to every man. In some of these States the initial vowel is hard, and [182] pronounced bair. In Rajasthan, bair is more common than vair, but throughout the south-west vair only is used. In these we have the original Saxon word war,¹ the French guer. The Rajput wergild is land or a daughter to wife. In points of honour the Rajput is centuries in advance of our Saxon forefathers, who had a legislative remedy for every bodily injury, when each finger and toe had its price.² This might do very well when the injury was committed on a hind, but the Rajput must have blood for blood. The monarch must be powerful who can compel acceptance of the compensation, or mund-kati.³
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¹ Gilbert on Tenures, art. “Warranty,” p. 169. [Wergild, wer, ‘man,’ gield, gieldan; vair is Skt. vira, ‘hero’; O.E. wer, O.H.G. werran, ‘to embroil,’ Fr. guerre.]
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² “The great toe took rank as it should be, and held to double the sum of the others, for which ten scyllinga was the value without the nail, which was thirty scealta to boot” (Turner’s Anglo-Saxons, vol. ii. p. 133).
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³ Appendix, No. XVIII. The laws of composition were carried to a much greater extent amongst the Hindu nations than even amongst those of the Anglo-Saxons, who might have found in Manu all that was ever written on the subject, from the killing of a Brahman by design to the accidental murder of a dog. The Brahman is four times the value of the soldier, eight of the merchant, and sixteen times of the Sudra. “If a Brahman kill one of the soldier caste (without malice), a bull and one thousand cows is the fine of expiation. If he slays a merchant, a bull and one hundred cows is the fine. If a Sudra or lowest class, ten white cows and a bull to the priest is the expiation” [Laws, xi. 127 ff.]. Manu legislated also for the protection of the brute creation, and if the priest by chance kills a cat, a frog, a dog, a lizard, an owl, or a crow, he must drink nothing but milk for three days and nights, or walk four miles in the night.
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The prosecution of a feud is only to be stopped by a process which is next to impracticable; namely, by the party injured volunteering forgiveness, or the aggressor throwing himself as a suppliant unawares on the clemency of his foe within his own domains: a most trying situation for each to be placed in, yet not unexampled, and revenge in such a case would entail infamy. It was reserved for these degenerate days to produce such an instance.
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Amargarh-Shāhpura Feud.—The Raja of Shahpura, one of the most powerful of the chiefs of Mewar, and of the Raṇa's blood, had a feud with the Ranawat chief, the Bhumia proprietor of Amargarh. Ummeda,¹ the chief of Shahpura, held two estates : one was the grant of the kings of Delhi, the other of his own sovereign, and each amounting to £10,000² of annual rent, besides the duties on commerce. His estate in Mewar was in the district of Mandalgarh, where also lay his antagonist's ; their bounds were in common and some of the lands were intermixed : this led to disputes, threats, and blows, even in the towns of their fathers, between their husbandmen. The Bhumia Dilel was much less powerful ; he was lord of only ten villages, not yielding above £1200 a year ; but they were compact and well managed, and he was [183] popular amongst his brethren, whose swords he could always command. His castle was perched on a rock, and on the towers facing the west (the direction of Shahpura) were mounted some swivels : moreover a belt of forest surrounded it, through which only two or three roads were cut, so that surprise was impossible. Dilel had therefore little to fear, though his antagonist could bring two thousand of his own followers against him. The feud burned and cooled alternately ; but the Raja's exposed villages enabled Dilel to revenge himself with much inferior means. He carried off the cattle, and sometimes the opulent subjects, of his foe, to his donjon-keep in Amargarh for ransom. Meanwhile the husbandmen of both suffered, and agriculture was neglected, till half the villages held by Ummeda in Mandalgarh became deserted. The Raja had merited this by his arrogance and attempts to humble Dilel, who had deserved more of the sympathies of his neighbours than his rival, whose tenants were tired of the payments of *barchi-dohai*.³
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¹ Ummeda, ‘hope.’
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² Together £20,000, equal to £100,000 of England, if the respective value of the necessaries of life be considered.
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³ *Barchi* is ‘a lance.’ In these marauding days, when there was a riever in every village, they sallied out to ‘run the country,’ either to stop the passenger on the highway or the inhabitant of the city. The lance at his breast, he would call out *dohai*, an invocation of aid. During harvest time *barchi-dohai* used to be exacted.
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Ummeda was eccentric, if the term be not too weak to characterize acts which, in more civilized regions, would have subjected him to coercion. He has taken his son and suspended him by the cincture to the pinnacle of his little chapel at Shahpura, and then called on the mother to come and witness the sight. He would make excursions alone on horseback or on a swift camel, and be missing for days. In one of these moods he and his foe Dilel encountered face to face within the bounds of Amargarh. Dilel only saw a chief high in rank at his mercy. With courtesy he saluted him, invited him to his castle, entertained him, and pledged his health and forgiveness in the *munawwar piyala*:¹ they made merry, and in the cup agreed to extinguish the remembrance of the feud.
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¹ ‘Cup of invitation.’ [*Munawwar*, Pers. ‘bright, splendid.’]
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Both had been summoned to the court of the sovereign. The Raja proposed that they should go together, and invited him to go by Shahpura. Dilel accordingly saddled his twenty steeds, moved out his equipage, and providing himself with fitting raiment, and funds to maintain him at the capital, accompanied the Raja to receive the return of his hospitality. They ate from the same platter,² drank of the same cup and enjoyed the song and dance. They even went together to [184] their devotions, to swear before their deity what they had pledged in the cup—oblivion of the past. But scarcely had they crossed the threshold of the chapel, when the head of the chief of Amargarh was rolling on the pavement, and the deity and the altar were sprinkled with his blood! To this atrocious and unheard-of breach of the laws of hospitality, the Raja added the baseness of the pilferer, seizing on the effects of his now lifeless foe. He is said, also, with all the barbarity and malignity of long-treasured revenge, to have kicked the head with his foot, apostrophising it in the pitiful language of resentment. The son of Dilel, armed for revenge, collected all his adherents, and confusion was again commencing its reign. To prevent this, the Rana compelled restitution of the horses and effects; and five villages from the estate of the Raja were the *mund-kati* (wergild) or compensation to the son of Dilel. The rest of the estate of the murderer was eventually sequestrated by the crown.
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² This is a favourite expression, and a mode of indicating great friendship: ‘to eat of the same platter (*thali*), and drink of the same cup (*piyala*).’
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The feuds of Arja and Sheogarh are elsewhere detailed, and such statements could be multiplied. Avowal of error and demand of forgiveness, with the offer of a daughter in marriage, often stop the progress of a feud, and might answer better than appearing as a suppliant, which requires great delicacy of contrivance.¹ Border disputes ² are most prolific in the production of feuds, and the Rajput lord-marchers have them entailed on them as regularly as their estates. The border chiefs of Jaisalmer and Bikaner carry this to such extent that it often involved both states in hostilities. The vair and its composition in Mandalgarh will, however, suffice for the present to exemplify these things.
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¹ The Bundi feud with the Rana is still unappeased, since the predecessor of the former slew the Rana’s father. It was an indefensible act, and the Bundi prince was most desirous to terminate it. He had no daughter to offer, and hinted a desire to accompany me *incog.* and thus gain admission to the presence of the Rana. The benevolence and generosity of this prince would have insured him success; but it was a delicate matter, and I feared some exposure from any arrogant hot-headed Rajput ere the scene could have been got up. The Raja Bishan Singh of Bundi is since dead [in 1828]; a brave and frank Rajput; he has left few worthier behind. His son [Rām Singh, 1821-89], yet a minor, promises well. The protective alliance, which is to turn their swords into ploughshares, will prevent their becoming foes; but they will remain sulky border-neighbours, to the fostering of disputes and the disquiet of the merchant and cultivator.
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² Sim—Kankar.
Rajput Pardhans or Premiers
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It would not be difficult, amongst the *Majores Domus Regiae* of these principalities, to find parallels to the *Maires du Palais* of France. Imbecility in the chief, whether in the east or west, must have the same consequences; and more than one State in India will present us with the joint appearance of the phantom and the substance of royalty. The details of [185] personal attendance at court will be found elsewhere. When not absent on frontier duties, or by permission at their estates, the chiefs resided with their families at the capital; but a succession of attendants was always secured, to keep up its splendour and perform personal service at the palace. In Mewar, the privileges and exemptions of the higher class are such as to exhibit few of the marks of vassalage observable at other courts. Here it is only on occasion of particular festivals and solemnities that they ever join the prince’s cavalcade, or attend at court. If full attendance is required, on the reception of ambassadors, or in discussing matters of general policy, when they have a right to hear and advise as the hereditary council (panchayat) of the State, they are summoned by an officer, with the prince’s juhar,¹ and his request. On grand festivals the great nakkaras, or kettle-drums, beat at three stated times; the third is the signal for the chief to quit his abode and mount his steed. Amidst all these privileges, when it were almost difficult to distinguish between the prince and his great chiefs, there are occasions well understood by both, which render the superiority of the former apparent: one occurs in the formalities observed on a lapse; another, when at court in personal service, the chief once a week mounts guard at the palace with his clan. On these occasions the vast distance between them is seen. When the chief arrives in the grand court of the palace with his retainers, he halts under the balcony till intimation is given to the prince, who from thence receives his obeisance and duty. This over, he retires to the great darikhana, or hall of audience, appropriated for these ceremonies, where carpets are spread for him and his retainers. At meals the prince sends his compliments, requesting the chief’s attendance at the rasora² or ‘feasting hall,’ where with other favoured chiefs he partakes of dinner with the prince. He sleeps in the hall of audience, and next morning with the same formalities takes his leave. Again, in the summons to the presence from their estates, instant obedience is requisite. But in this, attention to their rank is studiously shown by ruqa, written by the private secretary, with the sign-manual of the prince attached, and sealed with the private finger-ring. For the inferior grades, the usual seal of state entrusted to the minister is used.
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¹ A salutation, only sent by a superior to an inferior.
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² The kitchen is large enough for a fortress, and contains large eating halls. Food for seven hundred of the prince’s court is daily dressed. This is not for any of the personal servants of the prince, or female establishments; all these are separate.
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But these are general duties. In all these States some great court favourite [186], from his talents, character, or intrigue, holds the office of premier. His duties are proportioned to his wishes, or the extent of his talents and ambition; but he does not interfere with the civil administration, which has its proper minister. They, however, act together. The Rajput premier is the military minister, with the political government of the fiefs; the civil minister is never of this caste. Local customs have given various appellations to this officer. At Udaipur he is called bhanjgarh; at Jodhpur, pardhan; at Jaipur (where they have engrafted the term used at the court of Delhi) musahib; at Kotah, kiladar, and diwan or regent. He becomes a most important personage, as dispenser of the favours of the sovereign. Through him chiefly all requests are preferred, this being the surest channel to success. His influence, necessarily, gives him unbounded authority over the military classes, with unlimited power over the inferior officers of the State. With a powerful body of retainers always at his command, it is surprising we have not more frequently our ‘mayors of Burgundy and Dagoberts,’¹ our ‘Martels and Pepins,’ in Rajasthan.
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¹ Dagobert commended his wife and son Clovis to the trust of Ega, with whom she jointly held the care of the palace. On his death, with the aid of more powerful lords, she chose another mayor. He confirmed their grants for life. They made his situation hereditary; but which could only have held good from the crowd of imbeciles who succeeded Clovis, until the descendant of this mayor thrust out his children and seized the crown. This change is a natural consequence of unfitness; and if we go back to the genealogies (called sacred) of the Hindus, we see there a succession of dynasties forced from their thrones by their ministers. Seven examples are given in the various dynasties of the race of Chandra. (See Genealogical Tables, No. II.) [The above is in some ways inaccurate, but it is unnecessary to correct it, as it is not connected with the question of premiers in Rājputāna: see EB, xvii. 938.]
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We have our hereditary Rajput premiers in several of these States: but in all the laws of succession are so regulated that they could not usurp the throne of their prince, though they might his functions.
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When the treaty was formed between Mewar and the British Government, the ambassadors wished to introduce an article of guarantee of the office of pardhan to the family of the chief noble of the country, the Rawat of Salumbar. The fact was, as stated, that the dignity was hereditary in this family; but though the acquisition was the result of an act of virtue, it had tended much towards the ruin of the country, and to the same cause are to be traced all its rebellions.
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The ambassador was one of the elders of the same clan, being the grand uncle of the hereditary pardhan. He had taken a most active share in the political events of the last thirty years, and had often controlled the councils of his prince during this period, and actually held the post of premier himself when stipulating [187] for his minor relative. With the ascendancy he exercised over the prince, it may be inferred that he had no intention of renouncing it during his lifetime; and as he was educating his adopted heir to all his notions of authority, and initiating him in the intrigues of office, the guaranteed dignity in the head of his family would have become a nonentity,¹ and the Ranas would have been governed by the deputies of their mayors. From both those evils the times have relieved the prince. The crimes of Ajit had made his dismissal from office a point of justice, but imbecility and folly will never be without ‘mayors.’
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¹ So many sudden deaths had occurred in this family, that the branch in question (Ajit Singh’s) were strongly suspected of ‘heaping these mortal murders on their crown,’ to push their elders from their seats. The father of Padma, the present chief, is said to have been taken off by poison; and Pahar Singh, one generation anterior, returning grievously wounded from the battle of Ujjain, in which the southrons first swept Mewar, was not permitted to recover. The mother of the present young chief of the Jhala tribe of the house of Gogunda, in the west, was afraid to trust him from her sight. She is a woman of great strength of mind and excellent character, but too indulgent to an only son. He is a fine bold youth, and, though impatient of control, may be managed. On horseback with his lance, in chase of the wild boar, a more resolute cavalier could not be seen. His mother, when he left the estate alone for court, which he seldom did without her accompanying him, never failed to send me a long letter, beseeching me to guard the welfare of her son. My house was his great resort: he delighted to pull over my books, or go fishing or riding with me.
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SALÚMBAR.
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When a Rana of Udaipur leaves the capital, the Salumbar chief is invested with the government of the city and charge of the palace during his absence. By his hands the sovereign is girt with the sword, and from him he receives the mark of inauguration on his accession to the throne. He leads, by right, the van in battle; and in case of the siege of the capital, his post is the surajpol,² and the fortress which crowns it, in which this family had a handsome palace, which is now going fast to decay.
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² Surya, ‘sun’; and pol, ‘gate.’ Poliya, ‘a porter.’
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It was the predecessor of the present chief of Salumbar who set up a pretender and the standard of rebellion; but when foreign aid was brought in, he returned to his allegiance and the defence of the capital. Similar sentiments have often been awakened in patriotic breasts, when roused by the interference of foreigners in their internal disputes. The evil entailed on the State by these hereditary offices will appear in its annals.
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In Marwar the dignity is hereditary in the house of Awa; but the last brave chief who held it became the victim of a revengeful and capricious sovereign,¹ [188] who was jealous of his exploits; and dying, he bequeathed a curse to his posterity who should again accept the office. It was accordingly transferred to the next in dignity, the house of Asop. The present chief, wisely distrusting the prince whose reign has been a series of turmoils, has kept aloof from court. When the office was jointly held by the chiefs of Nimaj and Pokaran, the tragic end of the former afforded a fine specimen of the prowess and heroism of the Rathor Rajput. In truth, these pardhans of Marwar have always been mill-stones round the necks of their princes; an evil interwoven in their system when the partition of estates took place amidst the sons of Jodha in the infancy of this State. It was, no doubt, then deemed politic to unite to the interests of the crown so powerful a branch, which when combined could always control the rest; but this gave too much equality.
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¹ “The cur can bite,” the reply of this chief, either personally, or to the person who reported that his sovereign so designated him, was never forgiven.
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The Chief of Pokaran.—Deo Singh, the great-grandfather of the Pokaran chief alluded to, used to sleep in the great hall of the palace with five hundred of his clan around him. “The throne of Marwar is in the sheath of my dagger,” was the repeated boast of this arrogant chieftain. It may be anticipated that either he or his sovereign would die a violent death. The lord of Pokaran was entrapped, and instant death commanded; yet with the sword suspended over his head, his undaunted spirit was the same as when seated in the hall, and surrounded by his vassals. “Where, traitor, is now the sheath that holds the fortunes of Marwar?” said the prince. The taunt recoiled with bitterness when he loftily replied, “With my son at Pokaran I have left it.” No time was given for further insult; his head rolled at the steps of the palace; but the dagger of Pokaran still haunts the imaginations of these princes, and many attempts have been made to get possessed of their stronghold on the edge of the desert.² The narrow escape of the present chief will be related hereafter, with the sacrifice of his friend and coadjutor, the chief of Nimaj.
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² His son, Sabal Singh, followed in his footsteps, till an accidental cannon-shot relieved the terrors of the prince.
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Premiers in Kotah and Jaisalmer.—In Kotah and Jaisalmer the power of the ministers is supreme. We might describe their situation in the words of Montesquieu. “The Pepins kept their princes in a state of imprisonment in the palace, showing them once a year to the people. On this occasion they made such ordinances as were directed [189] by the mayor; they also answered ambassadors, but the mayor framed the answer.”¹
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¹ L’Esprit des Loix, chap. vi. livre 31.
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Like those of the Merovingian race, these puppets of royalty in the east are brought forth to the Champ de Mars once a year, at the grand military festival, the Dasahra. On this day, presents provided by the minister are distributed by the prince. Allowances for every branch of expenditure are fixed, nor has the prince the power to exceed them. But at Kotah there is nothing parsimonious, though nothing superfluous. On the festival of the birth of Krishna, and other similar feasts, the prince likewise appears abroad, attended by all the insignia of royalty. Elephants with standards precede; lines of infantry and guns are drawn up; while a numerous cavalcade surrounds his person. The son of the minister sometimes condescends to accompany his prince on horseback; nor is there anything wanting to magnificence, but the power to control or alter any part of it. This failing, how humiliating to a proud mind, acquainted with the history of his ancestors and imbued with a portion of their spirit, to be thus muzzled, enchained, and rendered a mere pageant of state! This chain would have been snapped, but that each link has become adamantine from the ties this ruler has formed with the British Government. He has well merited our protection; though we never contemplated to what extent the maintenance of these ties would involve our own character. But this subject is connected with the history of an individual who yields to none of the many extraordinary men whom India has produced, and who required but a larger theatre to have drawn the attention of the world. His character will be further elucidated in the Annals of Haravati [190].
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Adoption.—The hereditary principle, which perpetuates in these States their virtues and their vices, is also the grand preservative of their political existence and national manners : it is an imperishable principle, which resists time and innovation : it is this which made the laws of the Medes and Persians, as well as those of the Rajputs, unalterable. A chief of Mewar, like his sovereign, never dies : he disappears to be regenerated. ‘*Le roi est mort, vive le roi !*’ is a phrase, the precise virtue of which is there well understood. Neither the crown nor the greater fiefs are ever without heirs. Adoption is the preservative of honours and titles ; the great fiefs of Rajasthan can never become extinct.¹ But, however valuable this privilege, which the law of custom has made a right, it is often carried to the most hurtful and foolish extent. They have allowed the limit which defined it to be effaced, and each family, of course, maintains a custom, so soothing to vanity, as the prospect of having their names revived in their descendants. This has resulted from the weakness of the prince and the misery of the times. Lands were bestowed liberally which yielded nothing to their master, who, in securing a nominal obedience and servitude, had as much as the times made them worth when given ; but with returning prosperity and old customs, these great errors have become too visible. Adoptions are often made during the life of the incumbent when without prospect of issue. The chief and his wife first agitate the subject in private ; it is then confided to the little council of the fief, and when propinquity and merit unite, they at once petition the prince to confirm their wishes, which are generally acceded to. So many interests are to be consulted on this occasion, that the blind partialiality of the chief to any particular object is always counterpoised by the elders of the clan, who must have a pride in seeing a proper Thakur ² at their head, and who prefer the nearest of kin, to prevent the disputes which would be attendant on neglect in this point [191].
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¹ [The abandonment of the policy of escheat or lapse, and the recognition of the right of adoption were announced by Lord Canning in 1859.]
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² As in Deogarh.
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On sudden lapses, the wife is allowed the privilege, in conjunction with those interested in the fief, of nomination, though the case is seldom left unprovided for : there is always a presumptive heir to the smallest sub-infeudation of these estates. The wife of the deceased is the guardian of the minority of the adopted.
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The Case of Deogarh.—The chief of Deogarh, one of the sixteen Omras¹ of Mewar, died without issue. On his death-bed he recommended to his wife and chiefs Nahar Singh for their adoption. This was the son of the independent chieftain of Sangramgarh, already mentioned. There were nearer kin, some of the seventh and eighth degrees, and young Nahar was the eleventh. It was never contemplated that the three last gigantic² chieftains of Deogarh would die without issue, or the branches, now claimants from propinquity, would have been educated to suit the dignity ; but being brought up remote from court, they had been compelled to seek employment where obtainable, or to live on the few acres to which their distant claim of birth restricted them. Two of these, who had but the latter resource to fly to, had become mere boors ; and of two who had sought service abroad by arms, one was a cavalier in the retinue of the prince, and the other a hanger-on about court : both dissipated and unfitted, as the frerage asserted, ‘to be the chieftains of two thousand Rajputs, the sons of one father.’³ Much interest and intrigue were carried on for one of these, and he was supported by the young prince and a faction. Some of the senior Pattawats of Deogarh are men of the highest character, and often lamented the sombre qualities of their chief, which prevented the clan having that interest in the State to which its extent and rank entitled it. While these intrigues were in their infancy, they adopted a decided measure ; they brought home young Nahar from his father’s residence, and ‘bound round his head the turban of the deceased.’ In his name the death of the late chief was announced. It was added, that he hoped to see his friends after the stated days of *matam* or mourning; and he performed all the duties of the son of Deogarh, and lighted the funeral pyre.
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¹ [Umara, plural of Amīr, ‘a chief.’]
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² Gokuldas, the last chief, was one of the finest men I ever beheld in feature and person. He was about six feet six, perfectly erect, and a Hercules in bulk. His father at twenty was much larger, and must have been nearly seven feet high. It is surprising how few of the chiefs of this family died a natural death. It has produced some noble Rajputs.
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³ Ek bap ka beta.
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When these proceedings were reported, the Rana was highly and justly incensed. The late chief had been one of the rebels of S. 1848 ;¹ and though pardon had been [192] granted, yet this revived all the recollection of the past, and he felt inclined to extinguish the name of Sangawat.²
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¹ A.D. 1792.
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² That of the clan of Deogarh.
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In addition to the common sequestration, he sent an especial one with commands to collect the produce of the harvest then reaping, charging the sub-vassals with the design of overturning his lawful authority. They replied very submissively, and artfully asserted that they had only given a son to Gokuldas, not an heir to Deogarh ; that the sovereign alone could do this, and that they trusted to his nominating one who would be an efficient leader of so many Rajputs in the service of the Rana. They urged the pretensions of young Nahar, at the same time leaving the decision to the sovereign. Their judicious reply was well supported by their ambassador at court, who was the bard of Deogarh, and had recently become, though *ex officio*, physician to the prince.³ The point was finally adjusted, and Nahar was brought to court, and invested with the sword by the hand of the sovereign, and he is now lord of Deogarh Madri, one of the richest and most powerful fiefs⁴ of Mewar Madri was the ancient name of the estate; and Sangramgarh, of which Nahar was the heir, was severed from it, but by some means had reverted to the crown, of which it now holds. The adoption of Nahar by Gokuldas leaves the paternal estate without an immediate heir; and his actual father being mad, if more distant claims are not admitted, it is probable that Sangramgarh will eventually revert to the fisc.
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³ Apollo [Krishna] is the patron both of physicians and poets; and though my friend Amra does not disgrace him in either calling, it was his wit, rather than his medical degree, that maintained him at court. He said it was not fitting that the sovereign of the world should be served by clowns or opium-eaters; and that young Nahar, when educated at court under the Rana's example, would do credit to the country: and what had full as much weight as any of the bard's arguments was, that the fine of relief on the *Talwar bandhai* (or girding on of the sword) of a lac of rupees, should be immediately forthcoming.
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⁴ Patta. [About 30 miles south of Udaipur city.]
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Reflections.—The system of feuds must have attained considerable maturity amongst the Rajputs, to have left such traces, notwithstanding the desolation that has swept the land: but without circumspection these few remaining customs will become a dead letter. Unless we abstain from all internal interference, we must destroy the links which connect the prince and his vassals; and, in lieu of a system decidedly imperfect, we should leave them none at all, or at least not a system of feuds, the only one they can comprehend. Our friendship has rescued them from exterior foes, and time will restore the rest. With the dignity and [193] establishments of their chiefs, ancient usages will revive; and *nazarana* (relief), *kharg bandhai* (investiture), *dasaundh* (aids or benevolence, literally ‘the tenth’), and other incidents, will cease to be mere ceremonies. The desire of every liberal mind, as well as the professed wish of the British Government, is to aid in their renovation, and this will be best effected by not meddling with what we but imperfectly understand.¹
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Linked texts (3)
- Mānava Dharmaśāstra — Manu & Bhṛgu, Sanskrit
- Pṛthvīrāj Rāso — Cand Bardāī, Hindi
- Ṭabaqāt-i Nāṣirī — Minhāj al-Dīn Jūzjānī