Annals and Antiquities of Rajasthan, or the Central and Western Rajput States of India v2.c26: Chapter 29

Annals and Antiquities of Rajasthan, or the Central and Western Rajput States of India v2.c26

Language: English

Chapter 29 v2.c26.1

Mahadaji Sindhia succeeds Jai Apa—Union of the Rathors and Kachhwahas, joined by Ismail Beg and Hamdani, against the Mahrattas—Battle of Tonga—Sindhia defeated—Ajmer retaken, and tributary engagement annulled—Mahadaji Sindhia recruits his army, with the aid of De Boigne—The Rajputs meet him on the frontier of Jaipur—Jealousies of the allies—The Kachhwahas alienated by a scurrilous stanza—Battle of Patan—Effects of the Jaipureans’ treachery, in the defeat of the Rathors—Stanza of the Kachhwaha bard—Suggestion of Bijai Singh : his chiefs reject it, and the prince prepares for war—Treason of the Rathor chief of Kishangarh—The Mahrattas invade Marwar—Resolution of the chiefs of Awa and Asop to conquer or perish—Rathors encamp on the plains of Merta—Golden opportunity lost of destroying the Mahratta army—Fatal compliance of the chiefs with the orders of the civil minister—Rout of the camp—Heroism of the Rathor clans : their destruction—Treachery of the Singwi faction—The chief minister takes poison—Reflections on the Rajput character, with reference to the protective alliance of the British Government—Resumption of journey—Jarau—Cross the field of battle—Siyakot, or Mirage, compared with the Sarrab of Scripture—Desert of Sogdiana—Hissar—At sea—Description of Jarau—Cenotaph of Harakarna Das—Alniawas—Rian—The Mountain Mers—Their descent upon Rian—Slay its chief—Govindgarh—Chase of a hyaena—Lake of Pushkar : geological details—Description of the lake—Its legend—Ajaipal, the founder of Ajmer—Bisaldeva, the Chauhan king of Ajmer—Places of devotion on the ‘Serpent-rock’—Ajmer—View of Daru-l-Khair—Geological details—City of Ajmer—Its rising prosperity . . . 875

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Ajmer—Ancient Jain Temple—Its architecture analysed—Resemblances between it and the Gothic and Saracenic—Fortress of Ajmer—Its lakes—Source of the Luni River—Relics of the Chauhan kings—Quit Ajmer—Bhinai : its the desert to the Indus at that epoch—Siahji offers his services to the chief of Kulumad—They are accepted—He attacks Lakha Phulani, the famed freebooter of Phulra, who is defeated—Setram killed—Siahji marries the Solanki’s daughter—Proceeds by Anhilwara on his route to Dwarka—Again encounters Lakha Phulani, whom he slays in single combat—Massacres the Dabhis of Mewa, and the Gohils of Kherdhar—Siahji establishes himself in ‘the land of Kher’—The Brahman community of Pali invoke the aid of Siahji against the mountaineers—Offer him lands—Accepted—Birth of a son—Siahji massacres the Brahmans, and usurps their lands—Death of Siahji—Leaves three sons—The elder, Asvathama, succeeds—The second, Soning, obtains Idar—Ajmall, the third, conquers Okhamandala, originates the Vadhel tribe of that region—Asvathama leaves eight sons, heads of clans—Duhar succeeds—Attempts to recover Kanauj—Failure—Attempts Mandor—Slain—Leaves seven sons—Raepal succeeds—Revenges his father’s death—His thirteen sons—Their issue spread over Maru—Rao Kanhal succeeds—Rao Jalhan—Rao Chhada—Rao Thida—Carry on wars with the Bhattis and other tribes—Conquest of Bhinmal—Rao Salkha—Rao Biramdeo, killed in battle with the Johyas—Clans, their issue—Rao Chhonda—Conquers Mandor from the Parihar—Assaults and obtains Nagor from the Imperialists—Captures Nadol, capital of Godwar—Marries the Princess of Mandor—Fourteen sons and one daughter, who married Lakha Rana of Mewar—Result of this marriage—Feud between Aranyakanwal, fourth son of Chhonda, and the Bhatti chieftain of Pugal—Chhonda slain at Nagor—Rao Ranmall succeeds—Resides at Chitor—Conquers Ajmer for the Rana—Equalizes the weights and measures of Marwar, which he divides into departments—Rao Ranmall slain—Leaves twenty-four sons, whose issue constitute the present frerage of Marwar—Table of clans . . . . . . 940

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Accession of Rao Jodha—Transfers the seat of government from Mandor to the new capital Jodhpur—The cause—The Vanaprastha, or Druids of India—Their penances—The fourteen sons of Jodha—New settlements of Satalmer, Merta, Bikaner—Jodha dies—Anecdotes regarding him—His personal appearance—Rapid increase of the Rathor race—Names of tribes displaced thereby—Accession of Rao Suja—First conflict of the Rathors with the Imperialists—Rape of the Rathor virgins at Pipar—Gallantry of Suja—His death—Issue—Succeeded by his grandson Rao Ganga—His uncle Saga contests the throne—Obtains the aid of the Lodi Pathans—Civil War—Saga slain—Babur’s invasion of India—Rana Sanga generalissimo of the Rajputs—Rao Ganga sends his contingent under his grandson Raemall—Slain at Bayana—Death of Ganga—Accession of Rao Maldeo—

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of Gujarat—Battle of Dhanduka gained by the Raja—Wealth and honours acquired—Gifts to the bards—Commanded against Amra Balecha—Battle of the Rewa—Slays the Chauhan—Fresh honours—Raja Sur and his son Gaj Singh attend the court of Jahangir—The heir of Marwar invested with the sword by the Emperor’s own hands—Escalade of Jalor—Raja Gaj attends Prince Khurram against the Rana of Mewar—Death of Raja Sur—Maledictory pillar erected on the Nerbudda—The Rathor chiefs’ dissatisfaction at their long detention from their native land—Raja Sur embellishes Jodhpur—His issue—Accession of Raja Gaj—Invested with the Raj of Burhanpur—Made Viceroy of the Deccan—The compliment paid to his contingent—His various actions—Receives the title of Dalthaman, or ‘barrier of the host’—Causes of Rajput influence on the Imperial succession—The Sultans Parvez and Khurram, sons of Rajput Princesses—Intrigues of the Queens to secure the succession to their immediate offspring—Prince Khurram plots against his brother—Endeavours to gain Raja Gaj, but fails—The Prince causes the chief adviser of Raja Gaj to be assassinated—Raja Gaj quits the royal army—Prince Khurram assassinates his brother Parvez—Proceeds to depose his father Jahangir, who appeals to the fidelity of the Rajput Princes—They rally round the throne, and encounter the rebel army near Benares—The Emperor slights the Rathor Prince, which proves nearly fatal to his cause—The rebels defeated—Flight of Prince Khurram—Raja Gaj slain on the Gujarat frontier—His second son, Raja Jaswant, succeeds—Reasons for occasional departure from the rules of primogeniture amongst the Rajputs—Amra, the elder, excluded the succession—Sentence of banishment pronounced against him—Ceremony of Desvata, or ‘exile,’ described—Amra repairs to the Mogul court—Honours conferred upon him—His tragical death . 969

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Raja Jaswant mounts the gaddi of Marwar—His mother a princess of Mewar—He is a patron of science—His first service in Gondwana—Prince Dara appointed regent of the empire by his father, Shah Jahan—Appoints Jaswant viceroy in Malwa—Rebellion of Aurangzeb, who aspires to the crown—Jaswant appointed generalissimo of the army sent to oppose him—Battle of Fatehabad, a drawn battle—Jaswant retreats—Heroism of Rao Ratna of Ratlam—Aurangzeb proceeds towards Agra—Battle of Jajau—Rajputs overpowered—Shah Jahan deposed—Aurangzeb, now emperor, pardons Jaswant, and summons him to the presence—Commands him to join the army formed against Shuja—Battle of Kajwa—Conduct of Jaswant—Betrays Aurangzeb and plunders his camp—Forms a junction with Dara—This prince’s inactivity—Aurangzeb invades Marwar—Detaches Jaswant from Dara—Appointed viceroy of Gujarat—Sent to serve in the Deccan —Enters into Sivaji’s designs—Plans the death of Shaista Khan, the king’s lieutenant—Obtains this office—Superseded by the prince of Amber—Reappointed to the army of the Deccan—Stimulates Prince Muazzam to rebellion—Superseded by Dalir Khan—Jaswant tries to cut him off—Removed from the Deccan to Gujarat—Outwitted by the king—Ordered against the rebellious Afghans of Kabul—Jaswant leaves his son, Prithi Singh, in charge of Jodhpur—Prithi Singh commanded to court by Aurangzeb, who gives him a poisoned robe—His death—Character—The tidings reach Jaswant at Kabul, and cause his death—Character of Jaswant—Anecdotes illustrative of Rathor character—Nahar Khan—His exploits with the tiger, and against Surthan of Sirohi . 979

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The pregnant queen of Jaswant prevented from becoming Sati—Seven concubines and one Rani burn with him—The Chandravati Rani mounts the pyre at Mandor—General grief for the loss of Jaswant—Posthumous birth of Ajit—Jaswant’s family and contingent return from Kabul to Marwar—Intercepted by Aurangzeb, who demands the surrender of the infant Ajit—The chiefs destroy the females and defend themselves—Preservation of the infant prince—The Indhas take Mandor—Expelled—Aurangzeb invades Marwar, takes and plunders Jodhpur, and sacks all the large towns—Destroys the Hindu temples, and commands the conversion of the Rathor race—Impolicy of the measure—Establishes the Jizya, or tax on infidels—The Rathors and Sesodias unite against the king—Events of the war from the Chronicle—The Mertia clan oppose the entire royal army, but are cut to pieces—The combined Rajputs fight the Imperialists at Nadol—Bhim, the son of the Rana, slain—Prince Akbar disapproves the war against the Rajputs—Makes overtures—Coalition—The Rajputs declare Akbar emperor—Treachery and death of Tahawwur Khan—Akbar escapes, and claims protection from the Rajputs—Durga conducts Prince Akbar to the Deccan—Soning, brother of Durga, leads the Rathors—Conflict at Jodhpur—Affair at Sojat—The cholera morbus appears—Aurangzeb offers peace—The conditions accepted by Soning—Soning’s death—Aurangzeb annuls the treaty—Prince Azam left to carry on the war—Muslim garrisons throughout Marwar—The Rathors take post in the Aravalli hills—Numerous encounters—Affairs of Sojat—Charai—Jaitaran—Renpur—Pali—Immense sacrifice of lives—The Bhattis join the Rathors—The Mertia chief assassinated during a truce—Further encounters—Siwana assaulted—The Muslim garrison put to the sword—Nur Ali abducts the Asani damsels—Is pursued and killed—Muslim garrison of Sambhar destroyed—Jalor capitulates to the Rajputs . 990

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Retaliated—The king's army invades Marwar—Jodhpur invested—Terms—Abhai Singh sent to court—Ajit proceeds to Delhi—Coalesces with the Sayyid ministry of the king—Gives a daughter in marriage to the emperor—Returns to Jodhpur—Repeal of the Jizya—Ajit proceeds to his viceroyalty of Gujarat—Settles the province—Worships at Dwarka—Returns to Jodhpur—The Sayyids summon him to court—The splendour of his train—Leagues with the Sayyids—The emperor visits Ajit—Portents—Husain Ali arrives from the Deccan—Consternation of the opponents of the Sayyids and Ajit—Ajit blockades the palace with his Rathors—The emperor put to death—Successors—Muhammad Shah—He marches against Amber—Its Raja claims sanctuary with Ajit—Obtains the grant of Ahmadabad—Returns to Jodhpur—Ajit unites his daughter to the prince of Amber—The Sayyids assassinated—Ajit warned of his danger—Seizes on Ajmer—Slays the governor—Destroys the mosques, and re-establishes the Hindu rites—Ajit declares his independence—Coins in his own name—Establishes weights and measures, and his own courts of justice—Fixes the gradations of rank amongst his chiefs—The Imperialists invade Marwar—Abhai Singh heads thirty thousand Rathors to oppose them—The king's forces decline battle—The Rathors ravage the Imperial provinces—Abhai Singh obtains the surname of Dhonkal, or exterminator—Returns to Jodhpur—Battle of Sambhar—Ajit gives sanctuary to Churaman Jat, founder of Bharatpur—The emperor puts himself at the head of all his forces to avenge the defeat of Sambhar—Ajmer invested—Its defence—Ajit agrees to surrender Ajmer—Abhai Singh proceeds to the Imperial camp—His reception—His arrogant bearing—Murder of Ajit by his son—Infidelity of the bard—Blank leaf of the Raj Rupaka, indicative of this event—Extract from that chronicle—Funereal rites—Six queens and fifty-eight concubines determine to become Satis—Expostulations of the Nazir, bards, and purohits—They fail—Procession—Rite concluded—Reflections on Ajit's life and history . . . . . 1020

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The parricidal murder of Ajit, the cause of the destruction of Marwar—The parricide, Abhai Singh, invested as Raja by the emperor's own hand—He returns from court to Jodhpur—His reception—He distributes gifts to the bards and priests—The bards of Rajputana—Karna, the poetic historian of Marwar—Studies requisite to form a Bardai—Abhai Singh reduces Nagor—Bestows it in appanage upon his brother Bakhta—Reduces the turbulent allodialists—Commanded to court—Makes a tour of his domain—Seized by the smallpox—Reaches the court—Rebellion of the viceroy of Gujarat, and of Prince Jangali in the Deccan—Picture of the Mogul court at this time—The bira of foreign service against the rebels described—Refused by the assembled nobles—Accepted by the Rathor prince—He visits Ajmer, which he garrisons—Meeting at Pushkar with the Raja of Amber—Plan the destruction of the empire—At Merta is joined by his brother Bakhta Singh—Reaches Jodhpur—The Kher, or feudal levies of Marwar, assemble—Consecration of the guns—The Minas carry off the cattle of the train—Rajput contingents enumerated—Abhai reduces the Mina strongholds in Sirohi—The Sirohi prince submits, and gives a daughter in marriage as a peace-offering—The Sirohi contingent joins Abhai Singh—Proceeds against Ahmadabad—Summons the viceroy to surrender—Rajput council of war—Bakhta claims to lead the van—The Rathor prince sprinkles his chiefs with saffron water—Sarbuland’s plan of defence—His guns manned by Europeans—His bodyguard of European musketeers—The storm—Victory gained by the Rajputs—Surrender of Sarbuland—He is sent prisoner to the emperor—Abhai Singh governs Gujarat—Rajput contingents enumerated—Conclusion of the chronicles, the Raj Rupaka and Surya Prakas—Abhai Singh returns to Jodhpur—The spoils conveyed from Gujarat . . . . . 1035

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Mutual jealousies of the brothers—Abhai Singh dreads the military fame of Bakhta—His policy—Prompted by the bard Karna, who deserts Jodhpur for Nagor—Scheme laid by Bakhta to thwart his brother—Attack on Bikaner by Abhai Singh—Singular conduct of his chiefs, who afford supplies to the besieged—Bakhta’s scheme to embroil the Amber prince with his brother—His overture and advice to attack Jodhpur in the absence of his brother—Jai Singh of Amber—His reception of this advice, which is discussed and rejected in a full council of the nobles of Amber—The envoy of Bakhta obtains an audience of the prince of Amber—Attains his object—His insulting letter to Raja Abhai Singh—The latter’s laconic reply—Jai Singh calls out the Kher, or feudal army of Amber—Obtains foreign allies—One hundred thousand men muster under the walls of his capital—March to the Marwar frontier—Abhai Singh raises the siege of Bikaner—Bakhta’s strange conduct—Swears his vassals—Marches with his personal retainers only to combat the host of Amber—Battle of Gangwana—Desperate onset of Bakhta Singh—Destruction of his band—With sixty men charges the Amber prince, who avoids him—Eulogy of Bakhta by the Amber bards—Karna the bard prevents a third charge—Bakhta’s distress at the loss of his men—The Rana mediates a peace—Bakhta loses his tutelary divinity—Restored by the Amber prince—Death of Abhai Singh—Anecdotes illustrating his character . 1047

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Extent and population of Marwar—Classification of inhabitants—Jats—Rajputs, sacerdotal, commercial, and servile tribes—Soil—Agricultural products—Natural productions—Salt lakes—Marble and limestone quarries—Tin, lead, and iron mines—Alum—Manufactures—Commercial marts—Transit trade—Pali, the emporium of Western India—Mercantile classes—Khadataras and Oswals—Kitars, or caravans—Imports and exports enumerated—Charans, the guardians of the caravans—Commercial decline—Causes—Opium monopoly—Fairs of Mundwa and Balotra—Administration of justice—Punishments—Raja Bijai Singh’s clemency to prisoners, who are maintained by private charity—Gaol deliveries on eclipses, births, and accession of princes—Sagun, or ordeals : fire, water, burning oil—Panchayats—Fiscal revenues and regulations—Batai; or corn-rent—Shahnahs and Kanwaris—Taxes—Anga, or capitation tax—Ghaswali, or pasturage—Kewari, or door tax; how originated—Sair, or imposts; their amount—Dhanis, or collectors—Revenues from the salt-lakes—Tandas, or caravans engaged in this trade—Aggregate revenues—Military resources—Mercenaries—Feudal quotas—Schedule of feoffs—Qualification of a cavalier . . . 1104

Annals and Antiquities of Rajasthan, or the Central and Western Rajput States of India v2.c26: Chapter 29

Chapter 29

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