Annals and Antiquities of Rajasthan, or the Central and Western Rajput States of India v2.c28.115.3

v2.c28.115.3

Neither the founder, nor his monitor, the ascetic, however, were engineers, and they laid the foundation of this stronghold without considering what an indispensable adjunct to successful defence was good water; but to prevent any slur on the memory of Jodha, they throw the blame of this defect on the hermit. Jodha’s engineer, in tracing the line of circumvallation, found it necessary to include the spot chosen as his hermitage, and his remonstrance for undisturbed possession was treated with neglect; whether by the prince as well as the chief architect, the legend says not. The incensed Jogi pronounced an imprecation, that the new castle should possess only brackish water, and all the efforts made by succeeding princes to obtain a better quality, by blasting the rock, have failed. The memory of the Jogi is sanctified, though his anger compelled them to construct an apparatus, whereby water for the supply of the garrison is elevated from a small lake at the foot of the rock, which, being entirely commanded from the walls, an assailant would find difficult to cut off. This was the third grand event in the fortunes of the Rathors, from the settlement of Siahji.¹