Annals and Antiquities of Rajasthan, or the Central and Western Rajput States of India v2.c28.194

v2.c28.194

Superstition is sometimes made available for moral ends; and the shade of the Ayapanthi Brahman of Bhilara has been evoked, in subsequent ages, to restrain and lead unto virtue libidinous princes, when all other control has been unavailing. The celebrated Jaswant Singh, the great-grandson of Udai, had an amour with the daughter of one of his civil officers, and which he carried on at the Dabhi Baori.¹ But the avenging ghost of the Brahman interposed between him and his wishes. A dreadful struggle ensued, in which Jaswant lost his senses, and no effort could banish the impression from his mind. The ghost persecuted his fancy, and he was generally believed to be possessed with a wicked spirit, which, when exorcised, was made to say he would only depart on the self-sacrifice of a chief equal in dignity to Jaswant. Nahar Khan, "the tiger lord," chief of the Kumpawat clan, who led the van in all his battles, immediately offered his head in expiation for his prince; and he had no sooner expressed this loyal determination, than the holy men who exorcised the spirit caused it to descend into a vessel of water, and having waved it thrice round his head, they presented it to Nahar Khan, who drank it off, and Jaswant's senses were instantly restored. This miraculous transfer of the ghost is implicitly believed by every chief of Rajasthan, by whom Nahar was called "the faithful of the faithful." Previous to dying, he called his son, and imposed on him and his descendants, by the solemnity of an oath, the abjuration of the office of Pardhan, or hereditary premier of Marwar, whose dignity involved such a sacrifice [37]; and from that day the Champawats of Awa succeeded the Kumpawats of Asop, who renounced the first seat on the right for that on the left of their princes.¹