Annals and Antiquities of Rajasthan, or the Central and Western Rajput States of India v2.c29.t2.65

v2.c29.t2.65

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.