Annals and Antiquities of Rajasthan, or the Central and Western Rajput States of India v2.c28.s3.t1.41

v2.c28.s3.t1.41

Attack by Rāja Jagat Singh of Jaipur on Mārwār. Treachery of Jaswant Rāo Holkar.—Having thus opened the drama, Sawai threw off the mask, and repaired to Khetri, whence he conveyed the pretender, Dhonkal, to the court of Jagat Singh at Jaipur. Here his legitimacy was established by being admitted ‘ to eat from the same platter ’ with its prince; and his claims, as the heir of Marwar, were publicly acknowledged and advocated, by his ‘ placing him in the lap of his aunt,’¹ one of the wives of the deceased Raja Bhim. His cause thus espoused, and being declared the nephew of Amber, the nobles of Marwar, who deemed the claims of the pretender superior to those of Raja Man, speedily collected around his standard. Amongst these was the prince of Bikaner, whose example (he being the most powerful of the independents of this house) at once sanctioned the justice of Dhonkal’s cause, and left that of Raja Man almost without support. Nevertheless, with the hereditary [143] valour of his race, he advanced to the frontiers to meet his foes, whose numbers, led by the Jaipur prince and the pretender, exceeded one hundred thousand men! This contest, the ostensible object of which was the princess of Mewar, like the crusades of ancient chivalry, brought allies from the most remote parts of India. Even the cautious Mahratta felt an unusual impulse in this rivalry, beyond the stimulants of pay and plunder which ordinarily rouse him, and corps after corps left their hordes to support either cause.