Annals and Antiquities of Rajasthan, or the Central and Western Rajput States of India v2.c28.s1.t2: Horoscope of Rāja Abhai Singh
Annals and Antiquities of Rajasthan, or the Central and Western Rajput States of India v2.c28.s1.t2
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Horoscope of Rāja Abhai Singh
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In the Janampatri, or horoscope of Abhai Singh (referred to in p. 1011), the 4th, 7th, 8th, 10th, 11th, and 12th houses denote the destinies of the heir of Ajit. In the 4th we have the monster Rahu, the author of eclipses. Of the 7th, or house of heirs, the Moon and Venus have taken possession; of the 8th, or house of strife, the Sun and Mercury. In the 10th is Ketu, brother of Rahu, both signs of evil portent. Mars rides in the house of fate, while Saturn and Jupiter are together in the abode of sovereignty. Like that of every man living, the horoscope of the heir of Maru is filled with good and evil: could the Jotishi or astrological seer have put the parricidal sign in the house of destiny, he might have claimed some merit for superior intelligence. Those who have ever consulted any works on this foolish pursuit will observe that the diagrams of the European astrologers are exact copies of the Hindu, in proof of which I have inserted this; to trace darkness as well as light from the East!
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Ajīt Singh attacks Nāhan.—“ In 1768 Ajīt was sent against Nahan¹ and the chiefs of the snowy mountains, whom he reduced to obedience. Thence he went to the Ganges, where he performed his ablutions, and in the spring he returned to Jodhpur.
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¹ [Now known as Sirmūr, a Hill State in the Panjāb, on the W. bank of the Jumna, and E. of Simla (IGI, xxiii. 3).]
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“ In 1769 Shah Alam² went to heaven. The torch of discord was lighted by his sons, with which they fired their own dwelling. Azim-ush-shan was slain,³ and the umbrella of royalty waved over the head of Muizzu-d-din.⁴ Ajit sent the Bhandari Kaimsi to the presence, who returned with the sanad of the vice-royalty of Gujarat. In the month of Margsir 1769, he prepared an army to take possession of the Sattra-sahas,⁵ when fresh dissensions broke out in the house of the Chagatai. The Sayyids slew Muizzu-d-din, and Farrukhsiyar became king.⁶ Zulfikar Khan was [85] put to death,⁷ and with him departed the strength of the Moguls. Then the Sayyids became headstrong. Ajit was commanded to send his son, Abhai Singh, now seventeen years of age, with his contingent, to court; but Ajit having learned that the traitor Mukund was there and in great favour, sent a trusty band, who slew him even in the middle of Delhi. This daring act brought the Sayyid with an army to Jodhpur.⁸ Ajit sent off the men of wealth to Siwanah, and his son and family to the desert of Rardarra.⁹ The capital was invested, and Abhai Singh demanded as a hostage for the conduct of Ajit, who was also commanded to court. To neither was the Raja inclined, but the advice of the Diwan and still more of Kesar the bard, who gave as a precedent the instance of Rao Ganga when invaded by the Lodi, Daulat Khan, who entrusted his affairs to his son Maldeo, was unanimously approved.¹ Abhai Singh was recalled from Rardarra, and marched with Husain Ali to Delhi, the end of Asarh 1770. The heir of Maru received the mansab of five thousand from the king.
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² [Kutbu-d-dīn Shāh ‘Alam, Bahādur Shah I., died at Lahore, February 17, 1712.]
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³ [Azīmu-sh-shān was drowned in the river Rāvi, after the battle between Jahāndār Shāh and his other brothers, in February 1712.]
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⁴ [Muizzu-d-dīn Jahāndār Shāh, crowned Emperor at Lahore, April 10, 1712, was murdered in 1713, and was buried at Humāyūn’s tomb, Delhi.]
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⁵ The “ seventeen thousand ” towns of Gujarat.
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⁶ [On January 9, 1713.]
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⁷ [Zulfikār Khān, Nasrat Jang, was strangled in January 1713.]
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⁸ [The chronicler is reticent about this campaign which was carried out by Husain Ali Khān and the emperor’s maternal uncle Shāista Khān. It was caused by the expulsion of Mughals from Mārwār by Ajīt Singh (Khāfi Khān in Elliot-Dowson vii. 446 f.).]
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⁹ The tract west of the Luni.
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¹ They slur over the most important demand—a daughter to wife to the king—it is at this Ajit hesitates, and for which the precedent is given.
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“ Ajit followed his son to the court, then held at Delhi. There the sight of the altars raised over the ashes of chiefs who had perished to preserve him in his infancy, kindled all his wrath, and he meditated revenge on the whole house of Timur. Four distinct causes for displeasure had Ajmall :—
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“ 1. The Nauroza.²
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² See Vol. I. p. 400.
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“ 2. The compulsory marriage of their daughters with the king.
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“ 3. The killing of kine.
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“ 4. The Jizya, or capitation tax.” ³
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³ Described Vol. I. p. 441.
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Ajit Singh marries his Daughter to Farrukhsiyar, A.D. 1716.— Here we must interrupt the narrative, in order to supply an important omission of the bard, who slurs over the hardest of the conditions demanded of Ajit on the invasion of the Sayyid, namely, the giving a daughter to Farrukhsiyar, the important political results of which are already related in the first part of this work.⁴ This compulsory marriage only aggravated Ajit’s desire of vengeance, and he entered into the views of the Sayyids with the true spirit of his father; obtaining meanwhile, as the price of coalition, the compliance with the specified demands, besides others of less moment, such as “ that the bell for prayer should be allowed to toll in the [86] quarters of the city allotted to the Rajputs, and that their temples should be held sacred; and last, but not least, the aggrandisement of his hereditary dominions.” Let us again recur to the chronicle.
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⁴ Vol. I. p. 468.
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“ In Jeth 1771, having secured all his wishes, Ajit left the court, and with the renewed patent as viceroy of Gujarat, returned to Jodhpur. Through Kaimsi, his minister, the jizya was repealed. The Hindu race owed eternal obligation to the Mor (crown) of Murdhar, the sanctuary of princes in distress.
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Ajit Singh, Viceroy of Gujarāt, A.D. 1715-16.—“ In 1772, Ajit prepared to visit this government : Abhai Singh accompanied his father. He first proceeded to Jalor, where he passed the rainy season. Thence he attacked the Mewasa :¹ first Nimaj, which he took, when the Deoras paid him tribute. Firoz Khan advanced from Palanpur to meet him. The Rao of Tharad paid a lakh of rupees. Cambay was invested and paid ; and the Koli chief, Kemkaran, was reduced. From Patan, Sakta the Champawat, with Bija Bhandari, sent the year preceding to manage the province, came forth to meet him.
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¹ Mewasa is a term given to the fastnesses in the mountains, which the aboriginal tribes, Kolis, Minas, and Mers, and not unfrequently the Rajputs, make their retreats ; and in the present instance the bard alludes to the Mewasa of the Deoras of Sirohi and Abu, which has annoyed the descendants of Ajit to this hour, and has served to maintain the independence of this Chauhan tribe.
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“ In 1773, Ajit reduced the Jhala of Halwad, and Jam of Nawanagar, who paid as tribute three lacs of rupees, with twenty-five choice steeds ;² and having settled the province, he worshipped at Dwarka, and bathed in the Gomati.³ Thence he returned to Jodhpur, where he learned that Indar Singh had regained Nagor ; but he stood not before Ajit.
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² [Tharād in Pālanpur Agency, Bombay (IGI, xix. 346); Halwad in Kāthiāwār (ibid. viii. 13); Nawanagar in Kāthiāwār, the ruler, known as the Jām (Yule, Hobson-Jobson, 447), being a Jādeja Rājput (IGI, xviii. 419 ff.).]
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³ This is all in the district of Okha (Okhamandala), where the Vadhels fixed themselves on the migration of Siahji from Kanauj. It would have been instructive had the bard deigned to have given us any account of the recognition which this visit occasioned, and which beyond a doubt caused the “ books of Chronicles and Kings ” to be opened and referred to.
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Ajit Singh visits Delhi.—“ The year 1774 had now arrived. The Sayyids and their opponents were engaged in civil strife. Husain Ali was in the Deccan, and the mind of Abdulla was alienated from the king. Paper on paper came, inviting Ajit. He marched by Nagor, Merta, Pushkar, Marot, and Sambhar, whose garrisons he strengthened, to Delhi. From Marot he sent Abhai Singh back to take care of Jodhpur. The Sayyid advanced from Delhi to meet the Dhani (lord) of Marwar, who alighted at Allahwirdi's sarai. Here the Sayyid and Ajit formed a league to oppose Jai Singh and the Moguls, while the king remained like a snake coiled up in a closed vessel. To get rid of their chief opponent, Zu-l-faqar Khan, was first determined [87].
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" When the king heard that Ajit had reached Delhi, he sent the Hara Rao Bhim of Kotah, and Khandauran Khan to introduce him to the presence. Ajit obeyed. Besides his own Rathors, he was accompanied by Rao Bishan Singh of Jaisalmer, and Padam Singh of Derawar, with Fateh Singh, a noble of Mewar, Man Singh, Rathor, chief of Sita Mhau, and the Chandarawat, Gopal of Rampura, besides Udai Singh of Kandela, Sakat Singh of Manoharpur, Kishan of Kalchipur, and many others.¹ The meeting took place at the Moti Bagh. The king bestowed the mansab of Haft Hazari (seven thousand horse) on Ajit, and added a crore of dams to his rent-roll. He presented him with the insignia of the Mahi Muratib,² with elephants and horses, a sword and dagger, a diamond aigrette (sarpech) and plume, and a double string of pearls. Having left the presence, Ajit went to visit Abdulla Khan. The Sayyid advanced to meet him, and his reception, with his attendants, was distinguished. They renewed their determination to stand or fall together. Their conference caused dismay to the Moguls, who lay in ambush to put Ajit to death.
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¹ This list well exemplifies the tone now assumed by the Rathors; but this grand feudal assemblage was in virtue of his office of viceroy of Gujarat. Each and all of these chieftainships the author is as familiar with as with the pen he now holds.
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² [The fish symbol, for which see Sleeman, Rambles, 137 f. James Skinner, who recovered Mahādāji Sindhia's order in a fight with the Rājputs, speaks of it as " a brass fish with two chourees (chaunri, horse-hair or yak tails) hanging to it like mustachios " (Irvine, Army of the Indian Moghuls, 33).]
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" On the second day of the bright moon of Pus, 1775 [A.D. 1718], the king honoured Ajit with a visit. Ajit seated the king on a throne formed of bags of rupees to the amount of one lakh,³ and presented elephants, horses, and all that was precious. In the month of Phalgun, Ajit and the Sayyid went to visit the king; and after the conference wrote to Husain Ali revealing their plans, and desiring his rapid march to unite with them from the Deccan. Now the heavens assumed portentous appearances; the Disasul ⁴ was red and fiery; jackasses brayed unusually; dogs barked; thunder rolled without a cloud; the court, late so gay, was now sad and gloomy; all were forebodings of change at Delhi. In twenty days, Husain reached Delhi; his countenance was terrific; his drum, which now beat close to the palace, was the knell of falling greatness. He was accompanied by myriads of horse. Delhi was enveloped in the dust raised by his hostile steeds. They encamped in the north of the city, and Husain joined Ajit and his brother. The trembling king sent congratulations and gifts; the Mogul chiefs kept aloof in their abodes; even as the quail cowers in the grass when the falcon hovers over it, so did the Moguls when Husain reached Delhi.¹ The lord of Amber was like a lamp left without oil [88].
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³ £10,000 to £12,000.
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⁴ Omen of the quarter.
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¹ [For an account of these transactions see Keene, Sketch of the History of Hindustan, 287 ff.]
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The Revolution at Delhi.—"On the second day, all convened at Ajit’s tents, on the banks of the Jumna, to execute the plans now determined upon. Ajit mounted his steed; at the head of his Rathors he marched direct to the palace, and at every post he placed his own men: he looked like the fire destined to cause pralaya.² When the sun appears darkness flies; when the oil fails the lamp goes out: so is it with crowns and kings, when good faith and justice, the oil that feeds their power, is wanting. The crash which shivered the umbrella of Delhi reverberated throughout the land. The royal treasures were plundered. None amidst the Moguls came forward to rescue their king (Farrukhsiyar), and Jai Singh fled from the scene of destruction. Another king was set up, but in four months he was seized with a distemper and died. Then Daula³ was placed on the throne. But the Moguls at Delhi set up Neko Shah⁴ at Agra, and Husain marched against them, leaving Ajit and Abdulla with the king.⁵
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² The final doom.
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³ [Farrukhsiyar was murdered in prison, and two sickly youths were placed in succession on the throne by the Sayyids—Rafiu-d-darajāt and Rafiu-d-daula—the first of whom died on May 31, the second on September 6, 1719.]
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⁴ [Nekosīyar, son of Muhammad Akbar, youngest son of Aurangzeb, who was defeated and taken prisoner by the Sayyids (Keene, op. cit. 299).]
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⁵ This is both minutely and faithfully related, and fully as much so as the Muhammadan record of this black deed. We have already (Vol. I. p. 475) described it, and given a translation of an autograph letter of the prince of Amber, written on this memorable day. The importance of the transaction, as well as the desire to show the Bardic version, will justify its repetition.
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Muhammad Shah, Emperor, A.D. 1719-48.—“ In 1776, Ajit and the Sayyid moved from Delhi; but the Moguls surrendered Neko Shah, who was confined in Salimgarh. At this time the king died, and Ajit and the Sayyids made another, and placed Muhammad Shah on the throne. Many countries were destroyed, and many were made to flourish, during the dethronement of kings by Ajit. With the death of Farrukhsiyar Jai Singh’s views were crushed, and the Sayyids determined to punish him. The lord of Amber was like water carried in a platter.¹ The king reached the Dargah at Sikri, in progress to Amber, and here the chieftains sought the saran (sanctuary) of Ajit. They said the Kurma² was lost if he protected them not against the Sayyids. Even as Krishna saved Arjun in the Bharat, so did Ajit take Jai Singh under his protection. He sent the chiefs of the Champawats and his minister to dispel his fears; they returned with the lord of Amber, who felt like one who had escaped the doom (pralaya). Ajit placed one monarch on the throne, and saved another from destruction. The king bestowed upon him the grant of Ahmadabad, and gave him permission to visit his home. With Jai Singh of Amber, and Budh Singh Hara of Bundi, he marched for Jodhpur, and in the way contracted a marriage with the daughter of the Shaikhavat [89] chief of Manoharpur. In the month of Asin he reached Jodhagir, when the lord of Amber encamped at Sur Sagar, and the Hara Rao north of the town.
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¹ In allusion to his vacillation, for which the Mirza Rāja was notorious.
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² [That is to say, the Kachhwāha Rāja.]
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Ajit Singh marries his Daughter to Jai Singh.—“ The cold season had fled; the spring (basant) approached. The peacock was intoxicated with the nectar-drops distilled from the sweet-blossomed amba (mango); the rich sap exuded; the humming-bees clustered round the flowers; new leaves budded forth; songs of joy resounded; the hearts of gods, men, and women expanded with mirth. It was then the lord of Amber was bedecked in saffron robes, to espouse the ‘ virgin of the sun ’ (Surya Kumari), the child of Ajit. On this he had consulted the Champawats, and according to ancient usage, the Ad-Pardhan, or chief minister, the Kumpawat: likewise the Bhandari Diwan, and the Guru. But were I to dwell on these festivities, this book would become too large; I therefore say but little!
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The Assassination of the Sayyids. Ajīt Singh asserts his Independence.—“ The rains of 1777 set in, and Jai Singh and Budh Singh remained with Ajit, when a messenger arrived with tidings that the Moguls had assassinated the Sayyids, and were now on the watch for Ajit.¹ He drew his sword, and swore he would possess himself of Ajmer. He dismissed the lord of Amber. In twelve days after Ajit reached Merta. In the face of day he drove the Muslim from Ajmer and made it his own. He slew the king’s governor and seized on Taragarh.² Once more the bell of prayers was heard in the temple, while the bang ³ of the Masjid was silent. Where the Koran was read, the Puran was now heard, and the Mandir took the place of the Mosque. The Kazi made way for the Brahman, and the pit of burnt sacrifice (homa) was dug, where the sacred kine were slain. He took possession of the salt lakes of Sambhar and Didwana, and the records were always moist with inserting fresh conquests. Ajit ascended his own throne; the umbrella of supremacy he waved over his head. He coined in his own name, established his own gaz (measure), and ser (weight), his own courts of justice, and a new scale of rank for his chiefs, with nalkis and mace-bearers, naubats and standards, and every emblem of sovereign rule. Ajmall in Ajmer was equal to Aspati in Delhi.⁴ The intelligence spread over the land; it reached even Mecca and Iran, that Ajit had exalted his own faith, while the rites of Islam were prohibited throughout the land of Maru.
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¹ [For this revolution see Elliot-Dowson vii. 474 ff.]
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² The Star Fort, the castle of Ajmer.
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³ The call to prayer of the Muslim.
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⁴ This exact imitation of the manners of the imperial court is still strictly maintained at Jodhpur. The account of the measures which followed the possession of Ajmer is taken from the chronicle Surya Prakas; the only part not entirely translated from the Raj Rupak Akhyat. Ajmall is a licence of the poet, where it suits his rhyme, for Ajit. Aspati, ‘lord of steeds,’ is the common epithet applied to the emperors of Delhi. It is, however, but the second degree of paramount power—Gajpati, ‘lord of elephants,’ is the first.
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Imperial Attack on Ajmer.—“ In 1778 the king determined to regain Ajmer. He gave the command to Muzaffar, who in the rains advanced towards Marwar. Ajit entrusted the conduct of this war to his son, the ‘shield of Maru,’ the ‘fearless’ (Abhai), with the eight great vassals, and thirty thousand horse; the Champawats on the right, the Kumpawats on the left, while the Karamsots, Mertias, Jodhas, Indhas, Bhattis, Sonigiras, Deoras, Khichis, Dhondals and Gogawats,¹ composed the main body. At Amber, the Rathors and imperialists came in sight; but Muzaffar disgraced himself, and retired within that city without risking an encounter. Abhai Singh, exasperated at this display of pusillanimous bravado, determined to punish the king. He attacked Shahjahanpur, sacked Narnol, levied contributions on Patan (Tuarvati) and Rewari.² He gave the villages to the flames, and spread conflagration and consternation even to Allahwirdi’s Sarai. Delhi and Agra trembled with affright; the Asurs fled without their shoes at the deeds of Abhai, whom they styled Dhonkal, ‘the exterminator.’ He returned by Sambhar and Ludhana, and here he married the daughter of the chief of the Narukas.³
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¹ The two latter tribes are amongst the most ancient of the allodial chieftains of the desert: the Dhondals being descendants of Rao Gango; the Gogawats, of the famous Goga [or Gūga] the Chauhan, who defended the Sutlej in the earliest Muslim invasion recorded. Both Goga and his steed Jawadia are immortal in Rajasthan. The Author had a chestnut Kathiawar, called Jawadia; he was perfection, and a piece of living fire when mounted, scorning every pace but the antelope’s bounds and curvets.
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² [Pātan in Jaipur State; Narnol in Patiāla; Rewāri in Gurgaon District, Panjāb.]
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³ One of the great clans of Amber; of whom more hereafter.
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Muhammad Shāh attacks Ajīt Singh.—“ In 1779, Abhai Singh remained at Sambhar, which he strengthened, and hither his father Ajit came from Ajmer. The meeting was like that between ‘Kasyapa and Surya’;⁴ for he had broken the bow of Muzaffar and made the Hindu happy. The king sent his Chela, Nahar Khan, to expostulate with Ajit; but his language was offensive, and the field of Sambhar devoured the tiger lord (Nahar Khan) and his four thousand followers. The son of Churaman the Jat⁵ now claimed sanctuary with Ajit. Sick of these dissensions, the unhappy Muhammad Shah determined to abandon his crown and retire to Mecca. But, determined to revenge the death of Nahar Khan, he prepared a formidable army. He collected [the contingents of] the twenty-two Satraps⁶ of the empire, and placed at their head Jai Singh of Amber, Haidar Kuli, Iradat Khan Bangash, etc. In the month of Sawan (July), Taragarh was invested; Abhai Singh marched out and left its defence to [91] Amra Singh. It had held out four months, when through the prince of Amber (Jai Singh), Ajit listened to terms, which were sworn to on the Koran by the nobles of the king; and he agreed to surrender Ajmer.¹ Abhai Singh then accompanied Jai Singh to the camp. It was proposed that in testimony of his obedience he should repair to the presence. The prince of Amber pledged himself; but the Fearless (Abhai) placed his hand on his sword, saying, ‘ This is my surety ! ’ ”
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⁴ [The tortoise (Kachhwāha) and the sun (the sun-born tribes).]
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⁵ Founder of the Bharatpur State.
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⁶ The Bāīsa, or ‘twenty-two’ viceroys of India.
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¹ [This was in 1723. The chronicler disguises the defeat of Ajīt Singh.] ² See p. 857.
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Ajīt Singh’s Heir received at the Imperial Court.—The heir of Marwar was received by the king with the utmost honour; but being possessed of a double portion of that arrogance which forms the chief characteristic of his race (more especially of the Rathor and Chauhan, from which he sprang), his reception nearly produced at Delhi a repetition of the scene recorded in the history of his ancestor Amra at Agra. Knowing that his father held the first place on the king’s right hand, he considered himself, as his representative, entitled to the same honour; and little heeding the unbending etiquette of the proudest court in the world, he unceremoniously hustled past all the dignitaries of the State, and had even ascended a step of the throne, when, checked by one of the nobles, Abhai’s hand was on his dagger, and but for the presence of mind of the monarch, “ who threw his own chaplet round his neck ” to restrain him, the Divan would have been deluged with blood.
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The Murder of Ajīt Singh, A.D. 1724.—We shall now drop the chronicles, and in recording the murder of Ajit, the foulest crime in the annals of Rajasthan, exemplify the mode in which their poetic historians gloss over such events. It was against Ajit’s will that his son went to court, as if he had a presentiment of the fate which awaited him, and which has been already circumstantially related.² The authors from whose records this narrative is chiefly compiled, were too polite to suffer such a stigma to appear in their chronicles, “ written by desire ” and under the eye of the parricide, Ajit’s successor. The Surya Prakas merely says, “ at this time Ajit went to heaven ”; but affords no indication of the person who sent him there. The Raj Rupaka, however, not bold enough to avow the mysterious death of his prince, yet too honest to pass it over, has left an expressive blank leaf at this part of his chronicle, certainly not accidental, as it intervenes between Abhai Singh’s reception at court, and the incidents following his father’s death, which I translate verbatim, as they present an excellent picture of the results of a Rajput potentate’s demise [92].
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“ Abhai, a second Ajit, was introduced to the Aspati ; his father heard the news and rejoiced. But this world is a fable—a lie. Time will sooner or later prey on all things. What king, what raja can avoid the path leading to extinction ? The time allotted for our sojourn here is predetermined ; prolong it we cannot. The decree penned by the hand of the Creator is engraven upon each forehead at the hour of birth. Neither addition nor subtraction can be made. Fate (honhar) must be fulfilled. It was the command of Govinda ¹ that Ajit (the Avatar of Indra) should obtain immortality, and leave his renown in the world beneath. Ajit, so long a thorn in the side of his foe, was removed to Parloka.² He kept afloat the faith of the Hindu, and sunk the Muslim in shame. In the face of day, the lord of Maru took the road which leads to Paradise (Vaikuntha). Then dismay seized the city ; each looked with dread in his neighbour’s face as he said, ‘ Our sun has set ! ’ But when the day of Yamaraj ³ arrives, who can retard it ? Were not the five Pandus enclosed in the mansion of Himala ? ⁴ Harchand escaped not the universal decree ; nor will gods, men, or reptiles avoid it, not even Vikrama or Karna ; all fall before Yama. How then could Ajit hope to escape ?
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¹ The sovereign judge of mankind [Krishna].
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² ‘ The other world ’; lit. ‘ another place.’
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³ ‘ Lord of hell.’
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⁴ Hima, ‘ ice,’ and ālaya, ‘ an abode.’
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“ On Asarh, the 13th, the dark half of the moon of 1780, seventeen hundred warriors of the eight ranks of Maru, for the last time marched before their lord.⁵ They placed his body in a boat,⁶ and carried him to the pyre,⁷ made of sandal-wood and perfumes, with heaps of cotton, oil, and camphor. But this is a subject of grief : how can the bard enlarge on such a theme? The Nazir went to the Rawala¹ and as he pronounced the words ‘Rao siddhi āyē,’ the Chauhani queen, with sixteen damsels in her suite, came forth : ‘This day,’ said she, ‘is one of joy; my race shall be illustrated; our lives have passed together, how then can I leave him?’²
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⁵ Both head and feet are uncovered in funeral processions.
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⁶ Id est, a vehicle formed like a boat, perhaps figurative of the sail crossing the Vaitarani, or Styx of the Hindu.
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⁷ For the mode of conveying princes to their final abode, I refer the reader to a description at vol. i. p. 152, Trans. Royal Asiatic Society.
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¹ The queen’s palace.
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² This is the lady whom Ajit married in his non-age, the mother of the parricide.
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The Sati.—“Of noble race was the Bhattiani queen, a scion (sakha) of Jaisal, and daughter of Birjang. She put up a prayer to the Lord who wields the discus.³ ‘With joy [93] I accompany my lord; that my fealty (sati) may be accepted, rests with thee.’ In like manner did the Gazelle (Mrigavati) of Derawal,⁴ and the Tuar queen of pure blood,⁵ the Chawara Rani,⁶ and her of Shaikh-avati, invoke the name of Hari, as they determined to join their lord. For these six queens death had no terrors; but they were the affianced wives of their lord : the curtain wives of affection, to the number of fifty-eight, determined to offer themselves a sacrifice to Agni.⁷ ‘Such another opportunity,’ said they, ‘can never occur, if we survive our lord; disease will seize and make us a prey in our apartments. Why then quit the society of our lord, when at all events we must fall into the hands of Yama, for whom the human race is but a mouthful? Let us leave the iron age (Kaliyuga) behind us.’ ‘Without our lord, even life is death,’ said the Bhattiani, as she bound the beads of Tulsi⁸ round her neck, and made the tilak with earth from the Ganges. While thus each spoke, Nathu, the Nazir,⁹ thus addressed them : ‘This is no amusement; the sandal-wood you now anoint with is cool : but will your resolution abide, when you remove it with the flames of Agni? When this scorches your tender frames, your hearts may fail, and the desire to recede will disgrace your lord’s memory. Reflect, and remain where you are. You have lived like Indrani,¹ nursed in softness amidst flowers and perfumes ; the winds of heaven never offended you, far less the flames of fire.’ But to all his arguments they replied : ‘The world we will abandon, but never our lord.’ They performed their ablutions, decked themselves in their gayest attire, and for the last time made obeisance to their lord in his car. The ministers, the bards, the family priests (Purohits), in turn, expostulated with them. The chief queen (Patrani) the Chauhani, they told to indulge her affection for her sons, Abhai and Bakhta ; to feed the poor, the needy, the holy, and lead a life of religious devotion. The queen replied : ‘Kunti, the wife of Pandu, did not follow her lord ; she lived to see the greatness of the five brothers, her sons ; but were her expectations realized ?² This life is a vain shadow ; this dwelling one of sorrow ; let us accompany our lord to that of fire, and there close it.’
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³ Krishna [Chakrāyudha, Krishna, or Vishnu].
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⁴ Ancient capital of the Bhattis.
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⁵ Descended from the ancient dynasty of the Hindu kings of Delhi.
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⁶ Tribe of the first dynasty of Anhilwara Patan.
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⁷ The fire.
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⁸ [The sacred basil, Ocymum sanctum.]
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⁹ The Nazir (a Muslim epithet) has the charge of the harem.
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¹ The queen of heaven. ² [Kunti escaped the fire and protected the children of Mādri, the other wife of Pāndu, who was burnt with him.] ³ Hari Krishna is the mediator and preserver of the Hindu Triad ; his name alone is invoked in funeral rites (see p. 621). The following extract from Dr. Wilkins’ translation of the Gīta will best disclose his attributes :—Krishna speaks : “I am the journey of the good ; the comforter ; the creator ; the witness ; the resting-place ; the asylum ; and the friend. I am generation and dissolution ; the place where all things are deposited, and the inexhaustible soul of all nature. I am death and immortality ; I am never-failing time ; the preserver, whose face is turned on all sides. I am all grasping death ; and I am the resurrection of those who are about to die.” ⁴ A name of Durga, the Hindu Juno. ⁵ The sacred lake in Tibet. [See C. A. Sherring, Western Tibet and the British Borderlands, 259 ff.]
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“The drum sounded ; the funeral train moved on ; all invoked the name of [94] Hari.³ Charity was dispensed like falling rain, while the countenances of the queens were radiant as the sun. From heaven Uma⁴ looked down ; in recompense of such devotion she promised they should enjoy the society of Ajit in each successive transmigration. As the smoke, emitted from the house of flame, ascended to the sky, the assembled multitudes shouted Kaman! Kaman! ‘Well done! Well done!’ The pile flamed like a volcano ; the faithful queens laved their bodies in the flames, as do the celestials in the lake of Manasarovar.⁵ They sacrificed their bodies to their lord, and illustrated the races whence they sprung. The gods above exclaimed, ‘Dhan Dhan¹ Ajit! who maintained the faith, and overwhelmed the Asuras.’ Savitri, Gauri, Sarasvati, Ganga, and Gomati² united in doing honour to these faithful queens. Forty-five years, three months, and twenty-two days, was the space of Ajit’s existence, when he went to inhabit Amarapura, an immortal abode!’
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¹ Dhan is ‘riches,’ but is here used in the sense of glory; so that riches and glory are synonymous in term with the Hindu, as in practice in the west; the one may always command the other, at least that species of it for which nine-tenths of mankind contend, and are satisfied with obtaining.
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² Celestial queens.
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Character of Ajīt Singh.—Thus closed the career of one of the most distinguished princes who ever pressed the ‘cushion’ of Maru; a career as full of incident as any life of equal duration. Born amidst the snows of Kabul, deprived at his birth of both parents, one from grief, the other by suicidal custom; saved from the Herodian cruelty of the king by the heroism of his chiefs, nursed amidst the rocks of Abu or the intricacies of the Aravalli until the day of danger passed, he issued forth, still an infant, at the head of his brave clans, to redeem the inheritance so iniquitously wrested from him. In the history of mankind there is nothing to be found presenting a more brilliant picture of fidelity than that afforded by the Rathor clans in their devotion to their prince, from his birth until he worked out his own and his country’s deliverance. It is one of those events which throw a gleam of splendour upon the dark picture of feudalism, more prolific perhaps in crime than in virtue. That of the Rajputs, indeed, in which consanguinity is superadded to the other reciprocal [95] ties which bind a feudal body, wears the more engaging aspect of a vast family. How affecting is the simple language of these brave men, while daily shedding their blood for a prince whom, until he had attained his seventh year, they had never beheld! “Without the sight of our lord, bread and water have no flavour.” And how successfully does the bard portray the joy of these stern warriors, when he says, “As the lotus expands at the sunbeam, so did the heart of each Rathor at the sight of their infant sovereign; they drank his looks even as the papiha in the month of Asoj sips the drops of amrita (ambrosia) from the Champa.”
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The prodigality with which every clan lavished its blood, through a space of six-and-twenty years, may in part be learned from the chronicle; and in yet more forcible language from the cenotaphs scattered over the country, erected to the manes of those who fell in this religious warfare. Were other testimony required, it is to be found in the annals of their neighbours and their conquerors; while the traditional couplets of the bards, familiar to every Rajput, embalm the memory of the exploits of their forefathers.
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Ajit was a prince of great vigour of mind as well as of frame. Valour was his inheritance; he displayed this hereditary quality at the early age of eleven, when he visited his enemy in his capital, displaying a courtesy which can only be comprehended by a Rajput. Amongst the numerous desultory actions, of which many occurred every year, there were several in which the whole strength of the Rathors was led by their prince. The battle of Sambhar, in S. 1765, fought against the Sayyids, which ended in a union of interests, was one of these; and, for the rest of Ajit’s life, kept him in close contact with the court, where he might have taken the lead had his talent for intrigue been commensurate with his boldness. From this period until his death, Ajit’s agency was recognized in all the intrigues and changes amongst the occupants of Timur’s throne, from Farrukhsiyar to Muhammad. He inherited an invincible hatred to the very name of Muslim, and was not scrupulous regarding the means by which he was likely to secure the extirpation of a race so inimical to his own. Viewing the manifold reasons for this hatred, we must not scrutinize with severity his actions when leagued with the Sayyids, even in the dreadful catastrophe which overwhelmed Farrukhsiyar, to whom he owed the twofold duty of fealty and consanguinity.
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His Conduct to Durgadās.—There is one stain on the memory of Ajit which, though unnoticed in the chronicle [96], is too well ascertained to be omitted in a summary of his character, more especially as it illustrates that of the nation and of the times, and shows the loose system which holds such governments together. The heroic Durgadas, the preserver of his infancy, the instructor of his youth, the guide of his manhood, lived to confirm the proverb, “Put not thy faith in princes.” He, who, by repeated instances of exalted self-denial, had refused wealth and honours that might have raised himself from his vassal condition to an equality with his sovereign, was banished from the land which his integrity, wisdom, and valour had preserved. Why, or when, Ajit loaded himself with this indelible infamy was not known; the fact was incidentally discovered in searching a collection of original newspapers written from the camp of Bahadur Shah,¹ in one of which it was stated, that “ Durgadas was encamped with his household retainers on the banks of the Pichola Lake at Udaipur, and receiving daily five hundred rupees for his support from the Rana; who when called on by the king (Bahadur Shah) to surrender him, magnanimously refused.” Imagining that Ajit had been compelled to this painful sacrifice, which is not noticed in the annals, the compiler mentioned it to a Yati deeply versed in all the events and transactions of this State. Aware of the circumstance, which is not overlooked by the bards, he immediately repeated the couplet composed on the occasion—
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¹ Discovered by the author amongst the Rana's archives.
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Durgo desām kādhiyo
Golām Gāmgāni!
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Durga was exiled, and Gamgani given to a slave.²
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² [Dr. Tessitori writes that the correct version is :
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Gamgani, on the north bank of the Luni, was the chief town of the Karanot fief, of which clan Durga was the head. It is now attached to the Khalisa, or fisc, but whether recently, or ever since Durga, we know not. The Karanots still pay the last rites to their dead at Gamgani, where they have their cenotaphs (chhatris). Whether that of the noble Durga stands there to serve as a memorial of princely ingratitude, the writer cannot say; a portrait of the hero, in the autumn of his days, was given to him by the last lineal descendant of Ajit, as the reader is already
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“ Mahārāja Ajmāl ri Jad parkha jāni. Durgo Saphara dāgajē, Golām Gāmgāni.”
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“ The mind of Mahārāja Ajit Singh then became known (when he saw) Durgadās burned on the banks of the Sipra River and Gāmgāni bestowed on slaves.” According to tradition, the exiled Durgadās died at Ujjain, near which the Sipra flows.]
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aware.¹ Well may we repeat, that the system of feudality is the parent of the most brilliant virtues and the darkest crimes. Here, a long life of uninterrupted fidelity could not preserve Durga from the envenomed breath of slander, or the serpent-tooth [97] of ingratitude : and whilst the mind revolts at the crime which left a blank leaf in the chronicle, it is involuntarily carried back to an act less atrocious, indeed, than one which violates the laws of nature, but which in diminishing none of our horror for Abhai Singh, yet lessens our sympathy for the persecutor of Durgadas
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¹ Vol. I. p. 451.
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Mahārāja Abhai Singh, A.D. 1724–50.—The parricidal murder of Ajit is accounted the germ of destruction, which, taking root in the social edifice of Marwar, ultimately rent it asunder. Bitter has been the fruit of this crime, “ even unto the third and fourth generation ” of his unnatural sons, whose issue, but for this crime, would in all human probability have been the most potent princes in India, able single-handed to have stopped Mahratta aggrandisement.
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“ It was in 1781 (says the bard) Ajit went to heaven. With his own hand did the emperor Muhammad Shah put the tika on the forehead of Abhai Singh, girded him with the sword, bound the turah² on his head, placed a dagger set with gems [98] in his girdle, and with Chaunris, Naubats, and Nakkaras,³ and many valuable gifts, invested the young prince in all the dignities of his father. Even Nagor was resumed from the son of Amra and included in his sanad. With these marks of royal favour, he took leave of the court, and returned to his paternal dominions. From village to village, as he journeyed homeward, the kalas was raised on the head.⁴ When he reached Jodhpur, he distributed gifts to all his chiefs, and to the Bardais (bards and Charans), and lands to the family priests (Purohits).”
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² [A plumed crest worn on the turban.]
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³ [Fly-flappers, bands of music, kettledrums.]
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⁴ The kalas is a brazen vessel, of household use. A female of each family, filling one of these with water, repairs to the house of the head of the village, when, being all convened, they proceed in a body to meet the person to
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A day at the court of the desert king, related in the phraseology of the chronicle, would be deemed interesting as a picture of manners. It would also make the reader more familiar with Karna, the most celebrated bard in the latter days of Rajput independence : but this must be reserved for an equally appropriate vehicle,¹ and we shall at present rest satisfied with a slight sketch of the historian of Maru.
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¹ I hope some day to present a few of the works of the great bard Chand, with a dissertation on the Bardais, and all the ‘sons of song.’ [Karan flourished about A.D. 1730 : see Grierson, Modern Vernacular Literature of Hindustan, 98.]
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Karan, the Bard.—Karna-Kavya, or simply Karna, who traced his descent from the last household bard of the last emperor of Kanauj, was at once a politician, a warrior, and a scholar, and in each capacity has left ample proofs of his abilities. In the first he took a distinguished part in all the events of the civil wars ; in the second, he was one of the few who survived a combat almost without parallel in the annals even of Rajput chivalry ; and as a scholar, he has left us, in the introduction to his work,² the most instructive proof, not only of his inheriting the poetic mantle of his fathers, but of the course he pursued for the maintenance of its lustre. The bare enumeration of the works he had studied evinces that there was no royal road to Parnassus for the Rajput Kaviswar,³ but that, on the contrary, it was beset with difficulties not a little appalling. The mere nomenclature of works on grammar and historical epics, which were to be mastered ere he could hope for fame, must have often made Karna exclaim, “ How hard it is to climb the steeps ” on which from afar he viewed her temple. Those who desire to see, under a new aspect, an imperfectly known but interesting family of the human race, will be made acquainted with the qualifications of our bardic historians, and the particular course of studies which [99] fitted
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² Entitled the Surya Prakas, of 7500 stanzas.
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³ Kaviswar, or kāvya-īswara, ‘lord of verse,’ from kāvya, ‘poesy,’ and īswara, ‘lord.’
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whom they render honour, singing the suhaila, or ‘song of joy.’ The presenting water is a token of homage and regard, and one which the author has often had paid to him, especially in Mewar, where every village met him in this way.
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Karna “ to sit in the gate ¹ of Jodhagir,” and add a new book to the chronicles of its kings.
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These festivities of the new reign were not of long duration, and were succeeded by warlike preparations against Nagor, which, during the contentions between Ajit and the emperor, had been assigned to the descendant of the ancient princes of Mandor.
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“ When Ajmer was invested by the collective force of the empire,² Iradat Khan (Bangash), collector of the Jizya,³ took the Indha by the arm, and seated him in Nagor.⁴ But as soon as the Holi ⁵ was past, the ‘ Avatars of Jawalamukhi ’ ⁶ were consecrated : goats were sacrificed, and the blood, with oil and vermilion, was sprinkled upon them. The tents were moved out. Hearing this, Rao Indra produced the imperial patent, with the personal guarantee of Jai Singh of Amber. Abhai heeded not, and invested Nagor ; but Indra left his honour and his castle to the Fearless,⁷ who bestowed it on Bakhta his brother. He received the congratulations of Mewar, Jaisalmer, Bikaner, and Amber, and returned to his capital amidst the rejoicings of his subjects. This was in S. 1781.
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² In the original, “ by the bāīsa,” the ‘ twenty-two,’ meaning the collective force of the twenty-two subahdars, ‘ or satraps of the provinces.’
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³ Capitation tax.
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⁴ The poet calls it by its classic appellation, Nāgadurga, the ‘ castle of the serpent ’ [rather Nāgapura, capital of the Nāga sept of Rājputs].
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⁵ For this festival see p. 661.
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⁶ Jawalamukhi, the ‘ mouth of flame,’ the cannon, which are thus consecrated before action. They are called avatars, or ‘ incarnations ’ of Jawalamukhi, the Etna of India, at the edge of whose crater the Hindu poet very properly places the temple of Jawali Rani, ‘ the terrific ’ Kali Ma, the Hindu Hecate. [Jawālamukhi in the Kāngra District, Panjāb (IGI, xiv. 86 f.).]
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⁷ Abhai, the name of the prince, means ‘ fearless,’ from bhai, ‘ fear,’ and privative prefix.
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“ In S. 1782 he was employed in restraining the turbulent Bhumias on the western frontiers of his dominions ; when the
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¹ The portal of the palace appears to have been the bard’s post. Pope gives the same position to his historic bards in ‘ the Temple of Fame ’ :
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“ Full in the passage of each spacious gate,
The sage Historians in white garments wait ;
Grav’d o’er their seats the form of Time was found,
His scythe revers’d, and both his pinions bound.” [l. 145-8.]
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Sindhals, the Deoras, the Balas, the Boras, the Balechas, and the Sodhas were compelled to servitude.
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Abhai Singh summoned to Delhi, A.D. 1726.—“ In S. 1783 a farman of summons arrived, calling the prince to attend the Presence at Delhi. He put it to his head, assembled all his chiefs, and on his passage to court made a tour of his dominions, examining his garrisons, redressing [100] wrongs, and adjusting whatever was in disorder. At Parbatsar¹ he was attacked by the small-pox: the nation called on Jagrani² to shield him from evil.
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¹ [On the Kishangarh border, N.E. of Jodhpur State.]
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² Jagrani (I write all these phrases exactly as pronounced in the western dialect), ‘Queen of the world.’ Sitala Mata is the common name for the goddess who presides over this scourge of infancy.
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“ In 1784 the prince reached Delhi. Khandauran, the chief noble of the empire, was deputed by the emperor to conduct him to the capital; and when he reached the Presence, his majesty called him close to his person, exclaiming, ‘Welcome, Khushbakht,³ Maharaja Rajeswar,⁴ it is long since we met; this day makes me happy; the splendour of the Ammkhass is redoubled.’ When he took leave, the king sent to his quarters, at Abhaipur, choice fruits of the north, fragrant oils, and rose-water.”
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³ ‘Of happy fortune.’
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⁴ Mahārāja-Rājeswar, the pompous title of the kings of Maru; ‘great Raja, lord of Rajas.’
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The prince of Maru was placed at the head of all the nobility. About the end of S. 1784, Sarbuland Khan’s rebellion broke out,⁵ which gave ample scope for the valour of the Rathors and materials for the bard, who thus circumstantially relates it:
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⁵ [Sarbuland Khān was Governor of Gujarāt, A.D. 1724, and was removed from office in 1730 because he consented to pay Chauth or blackmail to the Marāthas. He opposed the installation of Abhai as his successor, and defeated him at Adālaj (Beale, Dict. Oriental Biography, s.v.; Grant Duff 217).]
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“ The troubles in the Deccan increased. The Shahzada Jangali⁶ rebelled, and forming an army of sixty thousand men, attacked the provincial governors of Malwa, Surat, and Ahmadpur, slaying the king’s lieutenants, Girdhar Bahadur, Ibrahim Kuli,¹ Rustam Ali, and the Mogul Shujaat.
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⁶ In none of the Muhammadan histories of this period is it mentioned, that there was an imperial prince at the head of the first Mahratta irruption; probably he was a mere tool for the purposes of others. [The ‘Boorish Prince,’ as the name implies, was a nickname of Hāmid Khān Bahādur, uncle of Nizāmu-l-mulk, Āsaf Jāh (Grant Duff 217; BG, i. Part i. 303 ff.).]
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¹ [Girdhar Bahādur was a Nāgar Brāhman; Ibrāhīm Kuli, son of Shujā’at Khān.]
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Rebellion of Sarbuland Khan. Scene at the Imperial Court.—“ Hearing this, the king appointed Sarbuland Khan to quash the rebellion. He marched at the head of fifty thousand men, having a crore of rupees for their subsistence; but his advanced army of ten thousand men being defeated in the first encounter, he entered into terms with the rebels, and agreed to a partition of the country.”
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It was at this time the prince of Marwar begged permission to retire to his hereditary dominions. The bard’s description of the court, and of the emperor’s distress on this occasion, though prolix, deserves insertion:
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“ The king was seated on his throne, attended by the seventy-two grand Omras of the empire, when tidings reached him of the revolt of Sarbuland. There was the wazir Kamaru-din Khan, Itimadu-Daula, Khandauran, commander-in-chief [101] (Mir Bakhshi), Samsamu-d-daula, the Amiru-Umara, Mansur Ali, Roshanu-d-daula, Tura Baz Khan, the Lord Marcher (Sim ka Bakhshi); Rustam Jang, Afghan Khan, Khwaja Sayyidu-d-din, commandant of artillery (Mir Atish); Saadat Khan,² grand chamberlain (Darogha Khawass), Burhanu-l-Mulk, Abdul Samad Khan, Dalil Khan, Zafariyab Khan, governor of Lahore, Dalel Khan, Mir Jumla, Khankhanan; Zafar Jang, Iradat Khan, Murshid Kuli Khan, Ja’far Khan, Allahwirdi Khan,³ Muzaffar Khan, governor of Ajmer. Such and many more were assembled in the Presence.
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² Afterwards Wazir of Oudh, a State founded and maintained by consummate treason.
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³ Nawab of Bengal, another traitor.
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“ It was read aloud that Sarbuland had reduced Gujarat, and proclaimed his own an; that he had ground the Kolis to dust; that he had vanquished the Mandalas, the Jhalas, the Chudasamas, the Baghels, and the Gohils, and had nearly exterminated the Balas; that Halar had agreed to pay tribute, and that such was the fire of this Yavan, that the Bhumias of themselves abandoned their strongholds to seek sanctuary with him whom the ‘seventeen thousand’¹ now called sovereign; that he had set himself up a king in Ahmadabad, and made a league with the ‘Southron.’
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¹ This number of cities, towns, and villages constituted the kingdom of Gujarat under its ancient sovereigns.
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“The emperor saw that if this defection was not quelled, all the viceroys would declare themselves independent. Already had Jagaria Khan in the north, Saadat Khan in the east, and the Mlechchha Nizam-u-l-mulk in the south, shown the blackness of their designs. The tap (verve) of the empire had fled.
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“The *bira* was placed on a golden salver, which the Mir Tajik bore in his extended arms, slowly passing in front of the nobles ranged on either side of the throne, mighty men, at the sight of whose faces the rustic would tremble : but in vain he passed both lines; no hand was stretched forth; some looked awry; some trembled; but none cast an eye upon the *bira*.
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“The ‘almighty monarch’ (*Parameswar Padshah*), who could make the beggar an Omra of twelve thousand, and the noble of twelve thousand a beggar, was without resource. ‘Who,’ said one, ‘would grasp the forked lightning, let him engage Sarbuland!’ Another exclaimed, ‘Who would seize the vessel, and plunge with her in the whirlpool, he may contend with Sarbuland.’ And a third, ‘Whoever [102] dare seize the forked tongue of the serpent, let him engage Sarbuland.’ The king was troubled; he gave a sign to the Mir Tajik to return the *bira* to him.
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“The Rathor prince saw the monarch’s distress, and as he was about to leave the Ammkhass, he stretched forth his hand, and placed the *bira* in his turban, as he said, ‘Be not cast down, O king of the world; I will pluck down this Sarbuland :² leafless shall be the boughs of his ambition, and his head (*sar*) the forfeit of his arrogant exaltation (*buland*).’
First 143 of 213 passages. Read on
Linked texts (13)
- Abhaya — Sanskrit
- Mahābhārata — Vyāsa, Sanskrit
- Purāṇa — Sanskrit
- Bhagavadgītā — Vyāsa, Sanskrit
- Surat
- Mandor
- Bikaner (desert theris)
- Ahmadâbâd
- Adâlaj
- Amber
- Sipra
- Ahmadpur
- Sambhar