Annals and Antiquities of Rajasthan, or the Central and Western Rajput States of India v3.c42.s1.t2.40

v3.c42.s1.t2.40

The Siege of Chitor.—Chitor was closely invested; the Rao moved by the intricacies of the Patar, took the royal camp by surprise, and made direct for the tent of the generalissimo, cutting down all in his way. Confusion and panic seized the Muslims, who fled in [467] all directions.² The Bundi nakkaras (drums) struck up; and as the morning broke, the besieged had the satisfaction to behold the invaders dispersed and their auxiliaries at hand. Rana Raemall came forth, and conducted his deliverer in triumph to Chitor. All the chiefs assembled to do honour to Bundi's prince, and the ladies ' behind the curtain ' felt so little alarm at their opium-eating knight, that the Rana's niece determined to espouse him, and next day communicated her intentions to the Rana. ' The slave of Narayan ' was too courteous a cavalier to let any fair lady die for his love; the Rana was too sensible of his obligation not to hail with joy any mode of testifying his gratitude, and the nuptials of the Hara and Ketu were celebrated with pomp. With victory and his bride, he returned to the Banda valley; where, however, ‘the flower of gloomy Dis’ soon gained the ascendant even over Kamdeo,¹ and his doses augmented to such a degree, that “he scratched his lady instead of himself, and with such severity that he marred the beauty of the Mewari.” In the morning, perceiving what had happened, yet being assailed with no reproach, he gained a reluctant victory over himself, and “consigned the opium-box to her keeping.” Narayandas ruled thirty-two years, and left his country in tranquillity, and much extended, to his only son.