Annals and Antiquities of Rajasthan, or the Central and Western Rajput States of India v1.c20.s9.t1.3

v1.c20.s9.t1.3

The Condition of Udaipur.—The capital will serve as a specimen of the country. Udaipur, which formerly reckoned fifty thousand houses within the walls, had not now three thousand occupied, the rest were in ruin, the rafters being taken for firewood. The realization of the spring harvest of 1818, from the entire fiscal land, was about £4000! Grain sold for seven sers the rupee, though thrice the quantity was procurable within the distance of eighty miles. Insurance from the capital to Nathdwara (twenty-five miles) was eight per cent. The Kotharia chief, whose ancestors are immortalized for fidelity, had not a horse to conduct him to his prince's presence, though his estates were of fifty thousand rupees annual value. All were in ruins; and the Rana, the descendant of those patriot Rajputs who opposed Babur, Akbar, and Aurangzeb, in the days of Mogul splendour, had not fifty horse to attend him, and was indebted for all the comforts he possessed to the liberality of Kotah.