Annals and Antiquities of Rajasthan, or the Central and Western Rajput States of India v2.c28.s2.12

v2.c28.s2.12

Intervention of Mahādaji Sindhia.—There was a joyousness of soul about Bakhta which, united to an intrepidity and a liberality alike unbounded, made him the very model of a Rajput. To these qualifications were superadded a majestic mien and Herculean frame, with a mind versed in all the literature of his country, besides poetic talent of no mean order; and but for that one damning crime, he would have been handed down to posterity as one of the noblest princes Rajwara ever knew. These qualities not only riveted the attachment of the household clans, but secured the respect of all his exterior relations, so that when the envoy of the expatriated prince obtained Sindhia’s aid for the restoration of Ram Singh, the popularity of Bakhta formed an army which appalled the “ Southron,” who found arrayed against him all the choice swords of Rajwara. The whole allodial power of the desert, “ the sons of Siahji ” of every rank, rose to oppose this first attempt of the Mahrattas to interfere in their national quarrels, and led by Bakhta in person, advanced to meet Mahadaji, the Patel.¹ But the Mahratta, whose object was plunder rather than glory, satisfied that he had little chance of either, refused to measure his lance (*barchhi*) with the *sang* and *sirohi*² of the Rajput.