Annals and Antiquities of Rajasthan, or the Central and Western Rajput States of India v1.c18.s2.43

v1.c18.s2.43

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