Annals and Antiquities of Rajasthan, or the Central and Western Rajput States of India v2.c29.t2: Conquest of the Johya Tribe
Annals and Antiquities of Rajasthan, or the Central and Western Rajput States of India v2.c29.t2
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- English
Conquest of the Johya Tribe
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To resume our narrative : when the preliminaries were adjusted, by Bika’s swearing to maintain the rights of the community which thus surrendered their liberties to his keeping, they united their arms, and invaded the Johyas. This populous community, which extended over the northern region of the desert, even to the Sutlej, reckoned eleven hundred villages in their canton ; yet now, after the lapse of little more than three centuries, the very name of Johya is extinct. They appear to be the Janjuha of Babur, who, in his irruption into India, found them congregated with the Juds, about the cluster of hills in the first duaba of the Panjab, called ‘the mountains of Jud’ ; a position claimed by the Yadus or Jadons in the very dawn of their history, and called Jadu ka dang, ‘the Jadu hills.’³ This supports the assertion that the Johya is of Yadu race, while it does not invalidate its claims to Yuti or Jat descent, as will be further shown in the early portion of the annals of the Yadu-Bhattis.¹
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³ [Elliot-Dowson iv. 232; the connexion of the mountains of Jūd, to which the Author constantly refers, with the Yādavas is incorrect.
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¹ I presented a work on this race, entitled *The Book of the Johyas* (sent me by the prime minister of Jaisalmer) to the Royal Asiatic Society. Having obtained it just before leaving Rajputana, I never had leisure to examine it, or to pronounce on its value as an historical document; but any work having reference to so singular a community can scarcely fail to furnish matter of interest. [The Joiya or Johya tribe represent the ancient Yaudheya or ‘warlike’ peoples. It is incorrect to say that the name is extinct, because they are found on the banks of the Sutlej down to its confluence with the Indus; in Bīkaner in the old bed of the Ghaggar River below Bhatner, their ancient seat; in Lahore, Firozpur, the Derajāt, Multān, and the Salt Range (Cunningham, *Ancient Geography*, i. 65; Rose, *Glossary*, ii. 410 ff.).]
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The patriarchal head of the Johyas resided at Bharopal;² his name was Sher Singh [185]. He mustered the strength of the canton, and for a long time withstood the continued efforts of the Rajputs and the Godaras; nor was it until “treason had done its worst,” by the murder of their elder, and the consequent possession of Bharopal, that the Johyas succumbed to Rathor domination.
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² [One hundred and ten miles N.N.E. of Bīkaner city.]
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Foundation of Bīkaner, A.D. 1455-88.—With this accession of power, Bika carried his arms westward and conquered Bagor from the Bhattis. It was in this district, originally wrested by the Bhattis from the Jats, that Bika founded his capital, Bikaner, on the 15th Baisakh, S. 1545 (A.D. 1489), thirty years after his departure from the parental roof at Mandor.
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When Bika was thus firmly established, his uncle Kandhal, to whose spirit of enterprise he was mainly indebted for success, departed with his immediate kin to the northward, with a view of settling in fresh conquests. He successively subjugated the communities of Asaich, Beniwal, and Saran, which cantons are mostly occupied by his descendants, styled Kandhalot Rathors, at this day, and although they form an integral portion of the Bikaner State, they evince, in their independent bearing to its chief, that their estates were “the gift of their own swords, not of his patents”; and they pay but a reluctant and nominal obedience to his authority. When necessity or avarice imposes a demand for tribute, it is often met by a flat refusal, accompanied with such a comment as this: “Who made this Raja? Was it not our common ancestor, Kandhal? Who is he, who presumes to levy tribute from us?" Kandhal’s career of conquest was cut short by the emperor’s lieutenant in Hissar; he was slain in attempting this important fortress.
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Death of Bīka. Nūnkaran or Lūnkaran, A.D. 1504-26.—Bika died in S. 1551 (A.D. 1495), leaving two sons by the daughter of the Bhatti chief of Pugal, namely, Nunkaran, who succeeded, and Garsi, who founded Garsisar and Arsisar. The stock of the latter is numerous, and is distinguished by the epithet Garsot Bika, whose principal fiefs are those of Garsisar and Gharibdesar, each having twenty-four villages depending on them.¹
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¹ To the few who will peruse these annals of the desert tribes it will be interesting to observe the development of families, and the maintenance, by such distinctive patronymics, of their origin. In the annals of this remote State I shall not enter at any length into the history of their wars, which are, with a change of names and scene, all pretty much alike; but confine myself, after a succinct and connected genealogical relation, to the manners of the people, the aspect, productions, and government of the country. [Abu-l Fazl (Akbarnāma, i. 375) calls him Rāē Lonkaran. According to Erskine (iii. A. 316) the second chief of Bikaner was Naro or Naruji, son of Bika, who succeeded A.D. 1504, and died childless after a reign of four months.]
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Jeth Singh, A.D. 1526-41.—Nunkaran made several conquests from the Bhattis, on the western frontier. He had four sons; his eldest desiring a separate establishment in his lifetime, for the fief of Mahajan and one hundred and forty villages, renounced his right of primogeniture in favour of his brother Jeth, who succeeded in S. 1569. His brothers had each appanages assigned to them. He had three sons: (1) Kalyan Singh, (2) Siahji, and (3) Aishpal [186]. Jethsi reduced the district of Narnot from some independent Girasia chiefs, and settled it as the appanage of his second son, Siahji. It was Jethsi also who compelled ‘the sons of Bida,’ the first Rathor colonists of this region, to acknowledge his supremacy by an annual tribute, besides certain taxes.
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Kalyān Singh, A.D. 1541-71.—Kalyan Singh succeeded in S. 1603. He had three sons: (1) Rae Singh, (2) Ram Singh, and (3) Prithi Singh.
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Rāē Singh, A.D. 1571-1611. Bikaner subject to the Mughals. Akbar’s Marriage.—Rae Singh succeeded in S. 1630 (A.D. 1573). Until this reign the Jats had, in a great degree, preserved their ancient privileges. Their maintenance was, however, found rather inconvenient by the now superabundant Rajput population, and they were consequently dispossessed of all political authority. With the loss of independence their military spirit decayed, and they sunk into mere tillers of the earth. In this reign also Bikaner rose to importance amongst the principalities of the empire, and if the Jats parted with their liberties to the Rajput, the latter, in like manner, bartered his freedom to become a Satrap of Delhi. On his father’s death, Rae Singh in person undertook the sacred duty of conveying his ashes to the Ganges. The illustrious Akbar was then emperor of India. Rae Singh and the emperor had married sisters, princesses of Jaisalmer.¹ This connexion obtained for him, on his introduction to court by Raja Man of Amber, the dignity of a leader of four thousand horse, the title of Raja, and the government of Hissar. Moreover, when Maldeo of Jodhpur incurred the displeasure of the king, and was dispossessed of the rich district of Nagor, it was given to Rae Singh. With these honours, and increased power as one of the king’s lieutenants, he returned to his dominions, and sent his brother Ram Singh against Bhatner,² of which he made a conquest. This town was the chief place of a district belonging to the Bhattis, originally Jats³ of Yadu descent, but who assumed this name on becoming proselytes to the faith of Islam.
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¹ [For Rāē Singh see Rogers-Beveridge, Memoirs of Jahāngīr, 130 f. According to the Akbarnāma (ii. 518) Akbar's wife was the daughter of Kahān, brother of Kalyānmall, Rāē of Jaisalmer. The Tuzuk (Āīn, i. 477) says that her father was Rāwal Bhīm, elder brother of Kalyān. Ferishta (ii. 234) says that Kalyānmall was her father, and this statement is accepted by Erskine (iii. A. 316) see Elliot-Dowson v. 336.]
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² [Now known as Hanumāngarh, 144 miles N.E. of Bikaner city (IGI, xiii. 38).]
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³ In the Annals of Jaisalmer the number of offsets from the Yadu-Bhatti tribe, which assumed the name of Jat, will be seen; an additional ground for asserting that the Scythic Yadu is in fact the Yuti.
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Subjugation of the Johyas.—Ram Singh at the same time completely subjugated the Johyas, who, always troublesome, had recently attempted to regain their ancient independence. The Rajputs carried fire and sword into this country, of which they made a desert. Ever since it has remained desolate : the very name of Johya is lost, though the vestiges of considerable towns bear testimony to a remote antiquity.
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Traditions of Greek Settlements.—Amidst these ruins of the Johyas, the name of Sikandar Rumi (Alexander the Great) [187] has fixed itself, and the desert retains the tradition that the ruin called Rangmahall, the ‘painted palace,’ near Dandusar, was the capital of a prince of this region punished by a visitation of the Macedonian conqueror. History affords no evidence of Alexander’s passage of the Gara, though the scene of his severest conflict was in that nook of the Panjab not remote from the lands of the Johyas. But though the chronicler of Alexander does not sanction our indulging in this speculation, the total darkness in which we appear doomed to remain with regard to Bactria and the petty Grecian kingdoms on the Indus, established by him, does not forbid our surmise, that by some of these, perhaps the descendants of Python, such a visitation might have happened.¹ The same traditions assert that these regions were not always either arid or desolate, and the living chronicle alluded to in the note repeated elsewhere given, which dated its deterioration from the drying up of the Hakra river, which came from the Panjab, and flowing through the heart of this country, emptied itself into the Indus between Rohri Bhakkar and Uchh.
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¹ My informant of this tradition was an old inhabitant of Dandusar, and although seventy years of age, had never left the little district of his nativity until he was brought to me, as one of the most intelligent living records of the past. [General Hervey (Some Records of Crime, i. 209) says that a trace of Greek art may be found in the Grecian ram’s head on the hilt of weapons in Bikaner. For traditions of descent from Alexander based on the Graeco-Bactrian kingdom see Sykes, Hist. of Persia, i. 257).]
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The affinity that this word (Hakra) has both to the Ghaggar, and Sankra,² would lead to the conclusion of either being the stream referred to. The former we know as being engulphed in the sands about the Hariana confines, while the Sankra is a stream which, though now dry, was used as a line of demarcation even in the time of Nadir Shah. It ran eastward, parallel with the Indus, and by making it his boundary, Nadir added all the fertile valley of the Indus to his Persian kingdom. (See map.)
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² The natives of these regions cannot pronounce the sibilant; so that, as I have already stated, the s is converted into h. I gave as an example the name Jahilmer, which becomes ‘the hill of fools’ instead of ‘the hill of Jaisal.’ Sankra, in like manner, becomes Hankra. [Uchh in the Bahāwalpur State (IGI, xxiv. 82). For the Hakra depression see Malik Muhammad Din (Bahāwalpur State Gazetteer, i. 3 ff.). The Ghaggar, once an affluent of the Indus, is lost in the sands near Hanumāngarh or Bhatner (IGI, xii. 212 f.).]
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The only date this legendary stanza assigns for the catastrophe is the reign of the Sodha prince, Hamir.
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Ram Singh, having thus destroyed the power of future resistance in the Johyas, turned his arms against the Punia Jats, the last who preserved their ancient liberty. They were vanquished, and the Rajputs were inducted into their most valuable possessions. But the conqueror paid the penalty of his life for the glory of colonizing the lands of the Punias. He was slain in their expiring effort to shake off the yoke of the stranger; and though the Ramsinghgots add to the numerical strength, and enlarge the territory of the heirs of Bika, they, like the Kandhalots, little increase the power [188]. of the State, to which their obedience is nominal. Sidmukh and Sanku are the two chief places of the Ramsinghgots.
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Thus, with the subjugation of the Punias, the political annihilation of the six Jat cantons of the desert was accomplished: they are now occupied in agriculture and their old pastoral pursuits, and are an industrious tax-paying race under their indolent Rajput masters.
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Rāē Singh in Akbar’s Service.—Raja Rae Singh led a gallant band of his Rathors in all the wars of Akbar. He was distinguished in the assault of Ahmadabad, slaying in single combat the governor, Mirza Muhammad Husain.¹ The emperor, who knew the value of such valorous subjects, strengthened the connexion which already subsisted between the crown and the Rathors, by obtaining for prince Salim (afterwards Jahangir) Rae Singh’s daughter to wife. The unfortunate Parvez was the fruit of this marriage.
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¹ [His services are described in Āīn, i. 357 ff. Ferishta (ii. 243) says that Rāē Singh killed Muhammad Husain after he was captured. According to another account, Akbar spoke kindly to his captive, and gave him into Rāē Singh’s custody (Elliot-Dowson v. 367).]
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Karan Singh, A.D. 1631-69.—Rae Singh was succeeded by his only son, Karan, in S. 1688 (A.D. 1632).²
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² [According to Erskine (iii. A. 319, iii. B. 83) Dalpat Singh and Sūr Singh were Rāos between Rāē Singh and Karan Singh. For these Chiefs see Āīn, i. 359. Karan Singh, according to Musalmān authorities, died in 1666-7 (Manucci ii. 22). In 1660 Aurangzeb sent a force under Amīr Khān to bring him to reason for his insolence in refusing to attend the Emperor’s Court (Jadunath Sarkar, Life of Aurangzib, iii. 29 f.).]
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Karan held the ‘mansab of two thousand,’ and the government of Daulatabad, in his father's lifetime. Being a supporter of the just claims of Dara Shukoh, a plot was laid by the general of his antagonist, with whom he served, to destroy him, but which he was enabled to defeat by the timely intelligence of the Hara prince of Bundi. He died at Bikaner, leaving four sons: (1) Padma Singh, (2) Kesari Singh, (3) Mohan Singh, and (4) Anup Singh.
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This family furnishes another example of the prodigal sacrifice of Rajput blood in the imperial service. The two elder princes were slain in the storm of Bijapur, and the tragical death of the third, Mohan Singh, in the imperial camp, forms an episode in *Ferishta's History of the Dekhan* [189].¹
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¹ [J. Scott, *Ferishta's History of the Dekkan*, ii. 30.] The young desert chieftain, like all his tribe, would find matter for quarrel in the wind blowing in his face. Having received what he deemed an insult from the brother-in-law of the Shahzada, in a dispute regarding a fawn, he appealed to his sword, and a duel ensued even in the presence-chamber, in which young Mohan fell. The fracas was reported to his brother Padma, at no distance from the scene. With the few retainers at hand, he rushed to the spot, and found his brother bathed in his blood. His antagonist, still hanging over his victim, when he saw the infuriated Rathor enter, with sword and shield, prepared for dreadful vengeance, retreated behind one of the columns of the Āmm Khass (*Divan*). But Padma's sword reached him, and avenged his brother's death; as the record says, “he felled him to the earth, cleaving at the same place the pillar in twain.” Taking up the dead body of his brother, and surrounded by his vassals, he repaired to his quarters, where he assembled all the Rajput princes serving with their contingents, as Jaipur, Jodhpur, Haraoti, and harangued them on the insult to their race in the murder of his brother. They all agreed to abandon the king's army, and retire to their own homes. A noble was sent to expostulate by Prince Muazzam; but in vain. He urged that the prince not only forgave, but approved the summary vengeance taken by the Rathor; they refused to listen, and in a body had retired more than twenty miles, when the prince in person joined them, and concessions and expostulations overcoming them, they returned to the camp. It was subsequent to this that the two elder brothers were slain. It is recorded of the surviving brother, that he slew an enormous lion in single combat. For this exploit, which thoroughly entitled him to the name he bore (Kesari), ‘the Lion,’ he received an estate of twenty-five villages from the king. He also obtained great renown for slaying a Habshi or Abyssinian chief, who commanded for one of the southern princes.
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Anūp Singh, A.D. 1669-98.—Anup Singh succeeded in S. 1730 (A.D. 1674). For the services of his family he had the castle and lands of Adoni² conferred upon him, with ‘the mansab of five thousand,' and the governments of Bijapur and Aurangabad. Anup Singh led his clans with the head of his race, the prince of Jodhpur, to quell a rebellion amongst the Afghans of Kabul, which having effected, he returned to the peninsula. Ferishta and the native annals are at variance on his death; the former asserting that he died in the Deccan, while the latter say that he left that country, disgusted with the imperial commander's interference about his ground of encampment, and that he died at Bikaner.¹ He left two sons, Sarup Singh and Sujan Singh.
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² [Adoni in the Bellary District, Madras (*IGI*, v. 24 ff.).]
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¹ [He died at Adoni in 1698 (Erskine iii. A. 322).]
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Sarūp Singh, A.D. 1698-1700.—Sarup, who succeeded in S. 1765 (A.D. 1709), did not long enjoy his honours, being killed in attempting to recover Adoni, which the emperor had resumed on his father's leaving the army.²
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² [According to Erskine (iii. B. 86) he died of smallpox in the Deccan.]
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Sujān Singh, A.D. 1700-1735.—Sujan Singh, his successor, did nothing.
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Zorāwar Singh, A.D. 1735-45.—Zorawar Singh became raja in S. 1793 (A.D. 1737). The domestic incidents of this, as of the preceding reigns, are without interest.
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Gaj Singh, A.D. 1745-88.—Gaj Singh succeeded in S. 1802 (A.D. 1746). Throughout a long reign of forty-one years, this prince carried on border strife with the Bhattis and the Khan of Bahawalpur. From the former he took Rajasar, Kela, Raner, Satasar, Banipura, Mutalai, and other villages of inferior note; and from the Khan he recovered the important frontier castle of Anupgarh.
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He laid waste, filling up the wells, a considerable tract of country west of the frontier post of Anupgarh, to prevent the incursions of the Daudputras.³
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³ 'The children of David,' the designation of the tract and inhabitants subject to the State of Bahawalpur, from its founder, Daud Khan, a native of Seistan. [For the Dāūdputra clan see Rose, Glossary, ii. 224 f. Their history is fully given by Malik Muhammad Din, Bahāwalpur State Gazetteer, i. 47 ff.]
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Raja Gaj had some celebrity from the number of his offspring, having had sixty-one children, though all but six were the 'sons of love.' The legitimates were, Chhattar Singh, who died in infancy; Raj Singh, who was poisoned by the mother of Surat Singh, the reigning prince; Surthan Singh and Ajib Singh, both of whom fled the paternal roof to escape the fate of their elder brother, and are now at Jaipur; Surat Singh, Raja of Bikaner; and Shyam Singh, who enjoys a small appanage in Bikaner.
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Rāj Singh, A.D. 1788.—Raj Singh succeeded his father, S. 1843 (A.D. 1787), but he enjoyed the dignity only thirteen days, being removed by a dose of poison by the mother ¹ of Surat Singh, the fifth son of Raja Gaj. The crown thus nefariously obtained, this worthy son [190] of such a parent determined to maintain his authority by like means, and to leave no competitor to contest his claims. He has accordingly removed by death or exile all who stood between him and the ‘gaddi of Bika.’
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¹ She was the sister of the Jhalai chief, heir presumptive to the gaddi of Jaipur, on failure of lineal issue.
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Partāp Singh, A.D. 1788. Usurpation of Sūrat Singh.—Raj Singh left two sons, Partap Singh and Jai Singh. On the death of Raj Singh, the office of regent, a word of ominous import in these regions, was assumed by Surat Singh, who, during eighteen months, conducted himself with great circumspection, and by condescension and gifts impressed the chiefs in his favour. At length he broke his plans to the chiefs of Mahajan and Bahaduran, whose acquiescence in his usurpation he secured by additions to their estates. The faithful Bakhtawar Singh, whose family during four generations had filled the office of Diwan, discovered the scheme, though too late to counteract it, and the attempt was punished by imprisonment. Prepared for the last step, the regent collected foreign troops from Bhatinda ² and other parts, sufficient to overcome all opposition. The infant prince was kept secluded, and at length the regent issued the warrant in his own name for the nobles to assemble at the capital. Except the two traitors enumerated, they to a man refused; but instead of combining to oppose him, they indolently remained at their castles. Collecting all his troops, the usurper passed to Nohar, where he enticed the chief of Bhukarka to an interview, and lodged him in the fortress of Nohar.³ Thence he passed to Ajitpura, which he plundered; and advancing to Sankhu, he attacked it in form. Durjan Singh defended himself with valour, and when reduced to extremity, committed suicide. His heir was put in fetters, and a fine of twelve thousand rupees was levied from the vassals of Sankhu. The commercial town of Churu was next attacked; it held out six months, when the confined chief of Bhukarka, as the price of his own freedom, treacherously offered to put the tyrant in possession. He effected this, and a fine of nearly two lakhs of rupees (£20,000) was offered to spare the town from plunder.
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² [In the Patiāla State, Panjāb.]
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³ [Nohar and Bhukārka are about 120 miles N.E. of Bikaner city.]
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By this act of severity, and the means it furnished, Surat returned to Bikaner, determined to remove the only bar between him and the crown, his prince and nephew. In this he found some difficulty, from the virtue and vigilance of his sister, who never lost sight of the infant. Frustrated in all attempts to circumvent her, and not daring to blazon the murder by open violence, he invited the needy Raja of Narwar to make proposals for her sister’s hand. In vain she urged her advanced period of life; and in order to deter the suitor, that she had already been affianced to Rana Arsi of Mewar. All his scruples vanished at the dower of three lakhs, which the regent offered [191] the impoverished scion of the famous Raja Nala.¹ Her objections were overruled and she was forced to submit; though she not only saw through her brother’s anxiety for her removal, but boldly charged him with his nefarious intentions. He was not content with disavowing them, but at her desire gave her the most solemn assurances of the child’s safety. Her departure was the signal of his death; for not long after he was found strangled, and it is said by the regent’s own hands, having in vain endeavoured to obtain the offices of the Mahajan chieftain as the executioner of his sovereign.
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¹ The story of Nala and Damayanti (or Nal Daman, as it is familiarly called in these regions) is well known in oriental literature. From Nal the famed castle of Narwar is named, of which this suitor for the hand of the Bikaner princess was deprived by Sindhia. [The famous tale of Nala and Damayanti from the Mahābhārata is perhaps best known from Dean Milman’s version. Narwar is now in Gwalior State.]
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Sūrat Singh, A.D. 1788-1828.—Thus, in one short year after the death of Raja Raj, the gaddi of Bika was dishonoured by being possessed by an assassin of his prince. In S. 1857 (A.D. 1801), the elder brothers of the usurper, Surthan Singh and Ajib Singh, who had found refuge in Jaipur, repaired to Bhatner and assembled the vassals of the disaffected nobles and Bhattis in order to dethrone the tyrant. But the recollection of his severities deterred some, while bribes kept back others, and the usurper did not hesitate to advance to meet his foes. The encounter, which took place at Bigor, was obstinate and bloody, and three thousand Bhattis alone fell. This signal victory confirmed Surat’s usurpation. He erected a castle on the field of battle, which he called Fatehgarh, ‘ the fort of victory.’
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Flushed with this brilliant success, Surat Singh determined to make his authority respected both at home and abroad. He invaded his turbulent countrymen, the Bidawats, and levied fifty thousand rupees from their lands. Churu,¹ which had promised aid to the late confederacy, was once more invested and mulcted, and various other places were attacked ere they could join. But one solitary castle was successfully defended, that of Chhani, near Bahaduran. Here the usurper was foiled, and, after six months’ fruitless siege, compelled to return to his capital.
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¹ [Churu, about 100 miles N.E.E. of Bikaner city.]
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Shortly after, he eagerly availed himself of an opportunity to punish the excesses of the Daudputras, and to withdraw attention from himself, by kindling a popular war against these powerful and turbulent neighbours. The occasion was the Kirani chief of Tirhara demanding his aid against his liege lord, Bahawal Khan. As these border feuds are not extinguished even in these days of universal peace, it may not be uninteresting to see the feudal muster-roll of the desert chiefs on such occurrences, as well as the mode in which they carry on hostilities. It was very shortly before that victory had preponderated on the side of the Rathors by a gallant coup-de-main of [192] the lord marcher of Bikaner, who carried the castle of Mozgarh ² in a midnight assault. The hero on this occasion was not a Rathor, but a Bhatti chief, in the service of Bikaner, named Hindu Singh, who gained ‘ immortality ’ by the style in which he scaled the walls, put Muhammad Maaruf Kirani, the governor, and the garrison to the sword, and brought away captive to Bikaner the governor’s wife, who was afterwards ransomed for five thousand rupees and four hundred camels.
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² [Possibly Mojarh, about 40 miles S.E. of Bahāwalpur city.]
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The outlaw who sought saran at Bikaner, on this occasion, was of the same tribe, Kirani, his name Khudabakhsh (‘ gift of God ’), chief of Tirhara, one of the principal fiefs of the Daudputras. With all his retainers, to the amount of three hundred horse and five hundred foot, he threw himself on the protection of Surat Singh, who assigned him twenty villages, and one hundred rupees daily for his support. The Kiranis were the most powerful vassals of Bahawal Khan, who might have paid dear for the resumption of Tirhara, whose chief promised the Rajput nothing less than to extend his conquests to the Indus. Allured by this bait, the Kher was proclaimed and the sons of Bika assembled from all quarters.
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| | Horse. | Foot. | Guns. |
| Abhai Singh, chief of Bhukarka | 300 | 2000 | |
| Rao Ram Singh, of Pugal | 100 | 400 | |
| Hathi Singh, of . Raner | 8 | 150 | |
| Karan Singh, of . Satasar | 9 | 150 | |
| Anup Singh . . Jasara | 40 | 250 | |
| Khet Singh . . Jamansar | 60 | 350 | |
| Beni Singh, of . Janglu | 9 | 250 | |
| Bhum Singh, of . Bithnok | 2 | 61 | |
| | — | — | — |
| Feudal retainers | 528 | 3611 | |
| Park under Maji Parihar . | | | 21 |
| Foreign Brigade ( Khas Paiga, or household troop | 200 | — | |
| in the ( Camp of Ganga Singh . | 200 | 1500 | 4 |
| Raja's service. ( Do. of Durjan Singh . | 60 | 600 | 4 |
| ( Anoka Singh ) . | 300 | — | |
| Lahori Singh ) Sikh chieftains | 250 | — | |
| Auxiliary Levies. ( Budh Singh ) . | 250 | — | |
| ( Sultan Khan ) Afghans | 400 | — | |
| ( Ahmad Khan ) | | | |
| | — | — | — |
| TOTAL . . 2188 | 5711 | 29 |
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Attack on Bahāwalpur.—The command-in-chief of this brilliant array was conferred on Jethra Mahto, son of the Diwan. On the 13th of Magh 1856 (spring of 1800) he broke ground, and the feudal levies fell in on the march by Kanasar, Rajasar, Keli, Raner, and Anupgarh, the last point of rendezvous. Thence he proceeded by Sheogarh,¹ Mozgarh, and Phulra, all of which were taken after a few weeks' siege, and from the last they levied a lakh and a quarter of rupees, with other valuables, and nine guns. They advanced to Khairpur,² within three miles of the Indus, when being joined by other refractory chiefs, Jethra marched direct on the capital, Bahawalpur, within a short distance of which he encamped preparatory to the attack. The Khan, however, by this delay, was enabled to detach the most considerable of his nobles from the Rajput standard : on which the Bikaner Diwan, satisfied with the honour of having insulted Bahawalpur, retreated with the spoils he had acquired. He was received by the usurper with contempt, and degraded for not fighting.
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¹ Its former name was Balar, one of the most ancient cities of the desert, as is Phulra, a Johya possession.
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² [Not the Khairpur in Sind ; 38 miles N.E. of Bahāwalpur city.]
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Bhatti Invasion of Bikaner.—The Bhattis, smarting with the recollection of their degradation, two years after the battle of Bigor attempted the invasion of Bikaner, but were again repulsed with loss ; and these skirmishes continued until S. 1861 (A.D. 1805), when Raja Surat attacked the Khan of the Bhattis in his capital, Bhatner. It capitulated after a siege of six months, when Zabita Khan, with his garrison and effects, was permitted to retire to Rania, since which this place has remained an appanage of Bikaner.
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Attack on Jodhpur.—The coalition against Jodhpur was ruinous to Surat, who supported the cause of the pretender, on which the usurper expended twenty-four lakhs of rupees, nearly five years' revenue of this desert region. On this occasion, he led all his troops in person against Jodhpur, and united in the siege, which they were however compelled to abandon with dishonour, and retrograde to their several abodes. In consequence of this, the usurper fell sick, and was at the last extremity ; nay, the ceremonies for the dead were actually commenced ; but he recovered, to the grief and misery of his subjects. To supply an exhausted treasury, his extortions know no bounds ; and having cherished the idea that he might compound his past sins by rites and gifts to the priests, he is surrounded by a group of avaricious Brahmans, who are maintained in luxury at the expense of his subjects. His cruelty keeps pace with his avarice and his fears. The chief of Bhukarka he put to death, notwithstanding his numerous services. Nahar Singh of Sidmukh, Gyan Singh and Guman Singh of Gandeli, amongst the chief [194] feudatories of the State, shared the same fate. Churu was invested a third time, and with its chief, fell into the tyrant's hands.
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With this system of terror, his increasing superstition, and diminished attention to public duties, the country is annually deteriorating in population and wealth ; and as if they had not misery enough within, they have not had a single good season for years.¹ Owing to the disobedience of the northern chiefs, and the continual incursions of the Rahats, or ‘Bhatti robbers,’ who sweep the land of cattle, and often cut and carry off entire crops, the peasant Jat, the ancient lord of the soil, is often left to the alternative of starvation or emigration. Many have consequently sought shelter in the British frontier territories, in Hansi and Hariana, where they are kindly received. Since the English have occupied Sirsa and the lands belonging to the Bhatti Bahadur Khan, the misfortunes of the cultivators of the northern parts of Bikaner have been doubled by the inroads of a band left without resource. In some parts, the Jats combine to protect themselves against these inroads : every hamlet has its post of defence, a tower of earth, on which is perched a watchman and kettledrum, to beat the alarm, which is taken up from village to village, and when an enemy is discovered, all are in arms to defend their property. The unfortunate Jat is obliged to plough his fields under the load of shield and sang, or heavy iron lance ; so that, at no distant period, the whole of this region must become as desolate as the tracts once possessed by the Johyas.²
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¹ This account was drawn up in 1814.
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² While putting this to the press, rumour says that the chiefs of Bikaner are in open rebellion against the Raja, who has applied, but without success, to the British Government for support. This, if true, is as it should be. [This rebellion occurred in 1815, and the Mahārāja invoked British aid. A treaty was signed on March 9, 1818, by which Sūrat Singh and his successors became subordinate to the British Government. A force under Brigadier-General Arnold restored order (Erskine iii. A. 326).]
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Such, at the end of three hundred and twenty-three years, is the change which a Rajput usurper has effected in the once comparatively populous communities of the Jats. From the founder, Bika, to the present tyrannical governor, there have been only eleven descents though thirteen reigns, giving an average of thirty years for the one, and twenty-five for the other : a fact which speaks forcibly for the general morality of the descendants of Bika.
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Bīdāvati.—Before we enter on the physical aspect of the country, we must make mention of Bidavati, the lands of ‘the sons of Bida,’ now an integral portion of Bikaner.³ It will be borne in mind that Bida, the brother of Bika, led the first Rajput colony from Mandor, in search of a fresh establishment. His first attempt was in the province of Godwar, then belonging to the Rana : but his reception there was so warm, that [195] he moved northward, and was glad to take service with the chief of the Mohils. This ancient tribe is by some termed a branch of the Yadus, but is by others considered a separate race, and one of the ‘Thirty-six Royal Races’: all are agreed as to its antiquity. The residence of the Mohil chief was Chhapar,¹ where, with the title of Thakur, he ruled over one hundred and forty townships. Bida deemed circumvention better than open force to effect his purposes ; and as, according to the Rajput maxim, in all attempts ‘to obtain land,’ success hallows the means, he put in train a scheme which, as it affords the least cause for suspicion, has often been used for this object. Bida became the medium of a matrimonial arrangement between the Mohil chief and the prince of Marwar ; and as the relation and natural guardian of the bride, he conveyed the nuptial train unsuspected into the castle of the Mohils, whose chiefs were assembled to honour the festivities. But instead of the Rathor fair and her band of maidens, the valorous sons of Jodha rushed sword in hand from the litters and covered vehicles, and treacherously cut off the best men of Mohila. They kept possession of the inner fortress until tidings of their success brought reinforcements from Jodhpur. For this aid, Bida assigned to his father Ladnun and its twelve villages, now incorporated with Jodhpur. The son of Bida, Tej Singh, laid the foundation of a new capital, which he called after his father, Bidesar.² The community of the Bidawats is the most powerful in Bikaner, whose prince is obliged to be satisfied with almost nominal marks of supremacy, and to restrict his demands, which are elsewhere unlimited. The little region of the Mohilas, around the ancient capital Chhapar, is an extensive flat, flooded in the periodical rains from the surrounding tibas or ‘sandhills,’ the soil of which is excellent, even wheat being abundantly produced. This Oasis, as it is entitled to be termed, may be twenty-five miles (twelve cos) in extreme length, by about six in breadth. We cannot affirm that the entire Bidawat district of one hundred and forty villages, and to which is assigned a population of forty thousand to fifty thousand souls, one-third being Rathors, ‘the sons of Bida,’ is within this flat. It is subdivided into twelve fiefs, of which five are pre-eminent. Of the ancient possessors, the indigenous Mohils, there are not more than twenty families throughout the land of Mohila; the rest are chiefly Jat agriculturists and the mercantile castes.
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³ [Bīdāvati, now Sūjangarh, bounded on S. by Jodhpur, and E. by Shaikhāwaṭi (ibid. iii. A. 390 f.).]
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¹ [On S. frontier of the State.]
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² [Bidesar or Bidāsar is 64 miles S.S.W. of Bikaner city.]
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We do the sons of Bida no injustice when we style them a community of plunderers. Like the sons of Esau, “their hand is against every man”: and they are too powerful to fear retaliation. In former times they used to unite with the Larkhanis [196], another horde of robbers, and carry their raids into the most populous parts of Jaipur. In these habits, however, they only partake of the character common to all who inhabit desert regions. What nature has denied them, they wrest from those to whom she has been more bountiful. But it is to the absence of good government more than to natural sterility that we must attribute the moral obliquity of the Rajputras, ‘the offspring of regality,’ spread over these extensive regions, who little discriminate between *meum* and *tuum*, in all that refers to their neighbours.
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Geography of Bīkaner.—This region is but little known to Europeans, by whom it has hitherto been supposed to be a perfect desert, unworthy of examination. Its present condition bears little comparison with what tradition reports it to have been in ancient times; and its deterioration, within three centuries since the Rajputs supplanted the Jats, almost warrants our belief of the assertion, that these deserts were once fertile and populous; nay, that they are still capable (notwithstanding the reported continual increase of the sand) to maintain an abundant population, there is little room to doubt. The princes of Bikaner used to take the field at the head of ten thousand of their kindred retainers; and although they held extraordinary grants from the empire for the maintenance of these contingents, their ability to do so from their proper resources was undoubted. To other causes than positive sterility must be attributed the wretched condition of this State. Exposed to the continual attacks of organized bands of robbers from without, subjected internally to the never-ending demands of a rapacious government, for which they have not a shadow of advantage in return, it would be strange if aught but progressive decay and wretchedness were the consequence. In three centuries [197], more than one-half of the villages, which either voluntarily or by force submitted to the rule of the founder, Bika, are now without memorial of their existence, and the rest are gradually approximating to the same condition. Commercial caravans, which passed through this State and enriched its treasury with the transit duties, have almost ceased to frequent it from the increasing insecurity of its territory. Besides the personal loss to the prince the country suffers from the deterioration of the commercial towns of Churu, Rajgarh, and Rani, which, as entrepôts, supplied the country with the productions of Sind and the provinces to the westward, or those of Gangetic India. Nor is this confined to Bikaner; the same cause affects Jaisalmer, and the more eastern principalities, whose misgovernment, equally with Bikaner, fosters the spirit of rapine: the Maldots of Jaisalmer and the Larkhanis of Jaipur are as notorious as the Bidawats of Bikaner; and to these may be added the Sahariyas, Khosas, and Rajars, in the more western desert, who, in their habits and principles, are as demoralized as the Bedouins of Arabia.
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Extent, Population, Soil, Tibas or Sandhills.—The line of greatest breadth of this State extends from Pugal to Rajgarh, and measures about one hundred and eighty miles; while the length from north to south, between Bhatner and Mahajan, is about one hundred and sixty miles: the area may not exceed twenty-two thousand miles.¹ Formerly they reckoned two thousand seven hundred towns, villages, and hamlets scattered over this space, one-half of which are no longer in existence.
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¹ [Bikaner is bounded on N. and W. by Bahāwalpur; S.W. by Jaisalmer; S. by Mārwār; S.E. by Shaikhāwati of Jaipur; E. by Lohāru and Hissār; total area 23,311 square miles (IGI, viii. 202).]
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Population.—An estimate of the population of this arid region, without presenting some data, would be very unsatisfactory. The tract to the north-west of Jethpur is now perfectly desolate, and nearly so from that point to Bhatner: to the north-east the population is but scanty, which observation also applies to the parts from the meridian of Bikaner to the Jaisalmer frontier;
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while internally, from these points, it is more uniform, and equals the northern parts of Marwar. From a census of the twelve principal towns, with an estimate, furnished by well-informed inhabitants, of the remainder, we may obtain a tolerably accurate approximation on this point :
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| Chief Towns. | | | | | | Number of Houses. |
| Bikaner | . | . | . | . | . | 12,000 |
| Nohar | . | . | . | . | . | 2,500 |
| Bahaduran | . | . | . | . | . | 2,500 |
| Reni | . | . | . | . | . | 1,500 |
| Rajgarh | . | . | . | . | . | 3,000 |
| Churu | . | . | . | . | . | 3,000 [198] |
| Mahajan | . | . | . | . | . | 800 |
| Jethpur | . | . | . | . | . | 1,000 |
| Bidesar | . | . | . | . | . | 500 |
| Ratangarh | . | . | . | . | . | 1,000 |
| Desmukh | . | . | . | . | . | 1,000 |
| Senthal | . | . | . | . | . | 50 |
| | | | | | | 28,850 |
| 100 villages, each having 200 houses | . | . | 20,000 |
| 100 ,, ,, 150 ,, | . | . | 15,000 |
| 200 ,, ,, 100 ,, | . | . | 20,000 |
| 800 hamlets ,, 30 each | . | . | 24,000 |
| Total number of houses | . | . | 107,850 |
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Allowing five souls to each house, we have a total of 539,250 souls, giving an average of twenty-five to the square mile, which I cannot think exaggerated, and making the desert regions depending on Bikaner equal, in the density of population, the highlands of Scotland.¹
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¹ [In 1911 the population was 573,501, 4·79 souls per house.]
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Of this population, full three-fourths are the aboriginal Jats; the rest are their conquerors, descendants of Bika, including the Saraswat Brahmans,² Charans, Bards, and a few of the debased classes, whose numbers, conjointly, are not one-tenth of the Rajputs.
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² [For the Saraswat or Sarsūt Brāhmans see Rose, Glossary, ii. 122 ff.]
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Jats.—The Jats are the most wealthy as well as the most numerous portion of the community. Many of the old Bhumia landlords, representatives of their ancient communal heads, are men of substance; but their riches are of no use to them, and to avoid the rapacity of their government, they cover themselves with the cloak of poverty, which is thrown aside only on nuptial festivities. On these occasions they disinter their hoards, which are lavished with unbounded extravagance. They even block up the highways to collect visitors, whose numbers form the measure of the liberality and munificence of the donor of the fête.
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Sarsūt, Saraswat Brāhman.—Sarsut (properly Sarasvati) Brahmans are found in considerable numbers throughout this tract. They aver that they were masters of the country prior to the Jat colonists. They are a peaceable, industrious race, and without a single prejudice of ‘the order’; they eat meat, smoke tobacco, cultivate the soil, and trade even in the sacred kine, notwithstanding their descent from Sringi Rishi, son of Brahma.
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Charans.—The Charans are the sacred order of these regions; the warlike tribes esteem [199] the heroic lays of the bard more than the homily of the Brahman. The Charans are throughout reverenced by the Rathors, and hold lands, literally, on the tenure of ‘an old song.’ More will be said of them in the Annals of Jaisalmer.
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Mālis, Nāis.—Malis, Nais, gardeners and barbers, are important members of every Rajput family, and to be found in all the villages, of which they are invariably the cooks.
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Chuhras, Thoris.—Chuhras, Thoris, are actually castes of robbers:¹ the former, from the Lakhi Jungle; the latter, from Mewar. Most of the chieftains have a few in their pay, entertained for the most desperate services. The Bahaduran chief has expelled all his Rajputs, and retains only Chuhras and Thoris. The Chuhras are highly esteemed for fidelity, and the barriers and portals throughout this tract are in their custody. They enjoy a very singular perquisite, which would go far to prove their being the aborigines of the country; namely, a fee of four copper coins on every dead subject, when the funeral ceremonies are over.
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¹ [The Chuhras are the criminal branch of the Panjāb sweepers (Rose, Glossary, ii. 182 ff.). The Thoris are said to be connected with the Aheris, a well-known criminal tribe (Census Report, Mārwār, 1891, ii. 194). In Bahāwalpur they resemble the Dhedh outcastes, who eat the flesh of dead animals (Malik Muhammad Din, Gazetteer, i. 155).]
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Rājputs.—The Rathors of Bikaner are unchanged in their martial qualifications, bearing as high a reputation as any other class in India; and whilst their brethren of Marwar, Amber, and Mewar have been for years groaning under the rapacious visitations of Mahrattas and Pathans, their distance and the difficulties of the country have saved them from such afflictions; though, in truth, they have had enough to endure at home, in the tyranny of their own lord. The Rathors of the desert have fewer prejudices than their more eastern brethren; they will eat food, without enquiring by whom it was dressed, and will drink either wine or water, without asking to whom the cup belonged. They would make the best soldiers in the world if they would submit to discipline, as they are brave, hardy, easily satisfied, and very patient; though, on the other hand, they have imbibed some qualities, since their migration to these regions, which could only be eradicated in the rising generation: especially the inordinate use of opium, and smoking intoxicating herbs, in both which accomplishments ‘the sons of Bika’ are said to bear the palm from the rest of the Chhattis rajkula, the Thirty-six Royal Tribes of India. The piyala, or ‘cup,’ is a favourite with every Rajput who can afford it, and is, as well as opium, a panacea for ennui, arising from the absence of all mental stimulants, in which they are more deficient, from the nature of the country, than most of their warlike countrymen.
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Face of the Country.—The whole of this principality, with the exception of a few isolated spots, or oases, scattered here and there, consists more or less of sand. From the eastern to the western boundary, in the line of greatest breadth, it is one continuous [200] plain of sand, though the tibas, or sandhills, commence in the centre of the country, the principal chain running in the direction of Jaisalmer, and shooting forth subordinate branches in every direction; or it might be more correct to designate this main ridge, originating in the tracts bordering the eastern valley of the Indus, as terminating its elevations about the heart of Bikaner. On the north-east quarter, from Rajgarh to Nohar and Rawatsar, the soil is good, being black earth, slightly mixed with sand, and having water near enough to the surface for irrigation; it produces wheat, gram, and even rice, in considerable quantities. The same soil exists from Bhatner to the banks of the Gara. The whole of the Mohila tract is a fertile oasis, the tibas just terminating their extreme offsets on its northern limit : being flooded in the periodical rains, wheat is abundantly produced.
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Products of the Desert.—But exclusive of such spots, which are “few and far between,” we cannot describe the desert as a waste where “no salutary plant takes root, no verdure quickens” ; for though the poverty of the soil refuses to aid the germination of the more luxuriant grains, Providence has provided a countervailing good, in giving to those it can rear a richness and superiority unknown to more favoured regions. The bajra of the desert is far superior to any grown in the rich loam of Malwa, and its inhabitant retains an instinctive partiality, even when admitted to revel in the luxurious repasts of Mewar or Amber, for the vatis or batis or ‘bajra cakes,’ of his native sandhills, and not more from association than from their intrinsic excellence. In a plentiful season they save enough for two years’ consumption. The grain requires not much water, though it is of the last importance that this little should be timely.
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Besides bajra we may mention moth and til;¹ the former a useful pulse both for men and cattle ; the other the oil-plant, used both for culinary purposes and burning. Wheat, gram, and barley are produced in the favoured spots described, but in these are enumerated the staple products of Bikaner.
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¹ [Moth, phaseolus aconitifolius ; til, sesamum indicum.]
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Cotton is grown in the tracts favourable for wheat.² The plant is said to be septennial, even decennial, in these regions. As soon as the cotton is gathered, the shoots are all cut off, and the root alone left. Each succeeding year, the plant increases in strength, and at length attains a size unknown where it is more abundantly cultivated.
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² [Only a few acres of cotton are now grown.]
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Nature has bountifully supplied many spontaneous vegetable products for the use of man, and excellent pasture for cattle. Guar, Kachri, Kakri, all of the cucurbitaceous family, and water-melons of a gigantic size, are produced in great plenty.³ The latter is most valuable ; for being cut in slices and dried in the sun, it is stored up [201] for future use when vegetables are scarce, or in times of famine, on which they always calculate. It is also an article of commerce, and much admired even where vegetables are more abundant. The copious mucilage of the dried melon is extremely nourishing; and deeming it valuable as an antiscorbutic in sea voyages, the Author sent some of it to Calcutta many years ago for experiment.¹ Our Indian ships would find no difficulty in obtaining a plentiful supply of this article, as it can be cultivated to any extent, and thus be made to confer a double benefit on our seamen and the inhabitants of those desert regions. The superior magnitude of the water-melons of the desert over those of interior India gives rise to much exaggeration, and it has been gravely asserted by travellers in the sand tibas,² where they are most abundant, that the mucilage of one is sufficient to allay the thirst both of a horse and his rider.
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Linked texts (2)
- Tārīkh-i Firishta — Muḥammad Qāsim Hindū Shāh Firishta 1606, Persian
- Mahābhārata — Vyāsa, Sanskrit