Annals and Antiquities of Rajasthan, or the Central and Western Rajput States of India v1.c20.s7.11

v1.c20.s7.11

Rebellion of Amar Singh.—Rana Jai Singh, who had evinced such gallantry and activity in the wars of Aurangzeb, now secluded himself with Komala in the retreat of Jaisamund, leaving Amra under the guidance of the Pancholi¹ minister, at the capital. But he having personally insulted this chief officer of the State, in consequence of receiving a rebuke for turning loose an infuriated elephant in the town, the Rana left his retreat, and visiting Chitor in his tour, arrived at Udaipur. Amra awaited not his father's arrival, but adding his mother's resentments to a feeling of patriotic indignation at the abasement his indolence produced, fled to Bundi, took up arms, and, joined by many of his own nobles and Hara auxiliaries, returned at the head of ten thousand men. Desirous of averting civil war, the Rana retired to Godwar beyond the Aravalli, whence he sent the Ghanerao chieftain, the first feudatory of that department, to expostulate with his son. But Amra, supported by three-fourths of the nobles, made direct for Kumbhalmer to secure the State treasure, saved by the Depra governor for his sovereign. A failure in this project, the knowledge that the Rathors fostered the quarrel with a view to obtain Godwar, and the determination of the few chiefs yet faithful² to the Rana, to defend the Jhilwara pass to the last, made the prince listen to terms, which were ratified at the shrine of Eklinga, whereby the Rana was to return to the capital, and the prince to abide in exile at the new palace during the life of his father, which closed twenty years after his accession. Had he maintained the reputation he established in his early years, the times were well calculated for the redemption of his country's independence; but documents which yet exist afford little reason to doubt that in his latter years a state of indolence, having all the effects of imbecility, supervened, and but for the formation of ‘the victorious sea,’ would have left his name a blank in the traditional history of Mewar.