Annals and Antiquities of Rajasthan, or the Central and Western Rajput States of India v2.c27.s7.t2.43

Language: English

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“ Wherever the anwal puts forth its yellow blossoms, the land is of right ours ; we want nothing more. Let them enjoy their stunted babuls, their karil, and the ak ; but give us back our sacred pipal, and the anwal of the border.” ¹ In truth, the transition is beyond credence marked : cross but a shallow brook, and you leave all that is magnificent in vegetation ; the pipal, bar, and that species of the mimosa resembling the cypress, peculiar to Godwar, are exchanged for the prickly shrubs, as the wild caper, jawas, and many others, more useful than ornamental, on which the camel browses.² The argument was, however, more ingenious than just, and the old envoy was here substituting the effect for the cause ; but he shall explain in his own words why Flora should be permitted to mark the line of demarcation instead of the rock-enthroned (Durga) Cybele. The legend now repeated is historical, and the leading incidents of it have already been touched upon ; ³ I shall therefore condense the Pancholi’s description into a summary analysis of the cause why the couplet of the bard should be deemed “ confirmation strong ” of the bounds of kingdoms. These traditional couplets, handed down from generation to generation, are the most powerful evidence of the past, and they are accordingly employed to illustrate the Khyats, or annals, of Rajputana.

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When, towards the conclusion of the fourteenth century, the founder of the Chondawats repaid the meditated treachery of Ranmall of Mandor by his death, he took possession of that capital and the entire country of the Rathors (then but of small extent), which he held for several years. The heir of Mandor became a fugitive, concealing himself in the fastnesses of the Aravalli, with little hope that [694] his name (Jodha) would become a patronymic, and that he would be honoured as the second founder of his country : that Mandor itself should be lost in Jodhpur. The recollection of the feud was almost extinct ; the young Rana of Chitor had passed the years of Rajput minority, and Jodha continued a fugitive in the wilds of Bhandak-parao, with but a few horse in his train, indebted to the resources of some independents of the desert for the means of subsistence. He was discovered in this retreat by a Charan or bard, who, without aspiring to prophetic powers, revealed to him that the intercession of the queen-mother of Chitor had determined the Rana to restore him to Mandor. Whether the sister of Jodha, to give éclat to the restoration, wished it to have the appearance of a conquest, or whether Jodha, impatient for possession, took advantage of circumstances to make his entrance one of triumph, and thereby redeem the disgrace of a long and humiliating exile, it is difficult to decide ;

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for while the annals of Mewar make the restoration an act of grace, those of Marwar give it all the colours of a triumph. Were the point worthy of discussion, we should say both accounts were correct. The Rana had transmitted the recall of Chonda from Mandor, but concealed from him the motive, and while Jodha even held in his possession the Rana’s letter of restoration, a concatenation of circumstances, in which “ the omen ” was predominant, occurred to make him anticipate his induction by a measure more consonant to the Rajput, a brilliant coup de main. Jodha had left his retreat in the Run ¹ to make known to Harbuji Sankhla, Pabuji, and other rievers of the desert, the changes which the bard had communicated. While he was there, intelligence was brought that Chonda, in obedience to his sovereign's command, had proceeded to Chitor. That same night "the bird of omen perched on Jodha's lance, and the star which irradiated his birth shone bright upon it." The bard of Mandor revealed the secret of heaven to Jodha, and the heroes in his train: "Ere that star descends in the west, your pennon will wave on the battlements of Mandor." Unless, however, this "vision of glory" was merely mental, Jodha's star must have been visible in daylight; for they could never have marched from the banks of the Luni, where the Sankhla resided, to Mandor, between its rising and setting.

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The elder son of Chonda had accompanied his father, and they had proceeded two coss in their [695] journey, when a sudden blaze appeared in Mandor: Chonda pursued his route, while his son Manja returned to Mandor. Jodha was already in possession; his *an* had been proclaimed, and the two other sons of Chonda had fallen in its defence. Manja, who fled, was overtaken and slain on the border. These tidings reached Chonda at the pass of the Aravalli; he instantly returned to Mandor, where he was met by Jodha, who showed him the letters of surrender for Mandor, and a command that he should fix with him the future boundary of each State. Chonda thought that there was no surer line of demarcation than that chalked out by the hand of nature; and he accordingly fixed that wherever the "yellow blossom" was found, the land should belong to his sovereign, and the bard was not slow in perpetuating the decree. Such is the origin of