Annals and Antiquities of Rajasthan, or the Central and Western Rajput States of India v3.c41.s3.159

v3.c41.s3.159

The Lārkhānis.—Having made the reader sufficiently acquainted with the genealogy of the Sadhanis, as well as of the Raesalots, we shall conclude with a brief notice of the Larkhanis, which term, translated ‘the beloved lords,’ ill accords with their occupation, as the most notorious marauders in Rajputana. Larla is a common infantine appellation, meaning ‘beloved’; but whether the adjunct of Khan to this son of Raesal, as well as to that of his youngest, Tajkhan (the crown of princes), was out of compliment to some other Muslim saint, we know not. Larkhan conquered his own [428] appanage, Danta Ramgarh, on the frontiers of Marwar, then a dependency of Sambhar. It is not unlikely that his father’s influence at court secured the possession to him. Besides this district, they have the tappa of Nosal, and altogether about eighty townships, including some held of the Rajas of Marwar, and Bikaner, to secure their abstinence from plunder within their bounds. The Larkhanis are a community of robbers; their name, like Pindari and Kazzak, is held in these regions to be synonymous with ‘freebooter,’ and as they can muster five hundred horse, their raids are rather formidable. Sometimes their nominal liege lord calls upon them for tribute, but being in a difficult country, and Ramgarh being a place of strength, they pay little regard to the call, unless backed by some of the mercenary partisans, such as Amir Khan, who contrived to get payment of arrears of tribute to the amount of twenty thousand rupees.