Annals and Antiquities of Rajasthan, or the Central and Western Rajput States of India v3.c42.s1.t4.48

v3.c42.s1.t4.48

The Wanderings of Ummed Singh.—With a small escort of his gallant clansmen, during a long series of years he traversed every region, from the glacial fountains of the Ganges to the southern promontory of Rameswaram;¹ and from the hot-wells of Sita in Arakan,² and the Moloch of Orissa,³ to the shrine of the Hindu Apollo at ‘the world’s end.’⁴ Within these limits of Hinduism, Ummeda saw every place of holy resort, of curiosity, or of learning; and whenever he revisited his paternal domains, his return was greeted not only by his own tribe, but by every prince and Rajput of Rajwara, who deemed his abode hallowed if the princely pilgrim halted there on his route. He was regarded as an oracle, while the treasures of knowledge which his observation had accumulated, caused his conversation to be courted and every word to be recorded. The admiration paid to him while living cannot be better ascertained than by the reverence manifested by every Hara to his memory. To them his word was a law, and every relic of him continues to be held in veneration. Almost his last journey was to the extremity of his nation, the temples at the Delta of the Indus, and the shrine of the Hindu Cybele, the terrific Agnidevi of Hinglaj, on the shores of Makran, even beyond the Rubicon of the Hindus.⁵ As he returned by Dwarka he was beset by a band of Kabas,⁶ a plundering race infesting these regions. But the veteran, uniting the arm of flesh to that of faith, valiantly defended himself, and gained a complete victory, making prisoner their leader, who, as the price of his ransom, took an oath never again to molest the pilgrims to Dwarka.