Annals and Antiquities of Rajasthan, or the Central and Western Rajput States of India v3.c42.s2.t1.147

v3.c42.s2.t1.147

Zālim Singh and his Servants.—It was to be expected that a man whose name was long synonymous with wisdom [554] should show discernment in the choice of his servants. He had the art of attaching them to his interests, of uniting their regard with a submissive respect, and no kindness, no familiarity, ever made them forget the bounds prescribed. But while he generously provided for all their wants, and granted them every indulgence, he knew too well the caprice of human nature to make them independent of himself. He would provide for them, for their relations and their dependents ; his hand was ever bestowing gratuities on festivals, births, marriages, or deaths ; but he never allowed them to accumulate wealth. It is to be remarked that his most confidential servants were either Pathans or Mahratta pandits: the first he employed in military posts, the other in the more complicated machinery of politics. He rarely employed his own countrymen; and the post of Faujdar, now held by Bishan Singh, a Rajput of the Saktawat clan, is the exception to the rule. Dalil Khan and Mihrab Khan were his most faithful and devoted servants and friends. The stupendous fortifications of the capital, with which there is nothing in India to compete, save the walls of Agra, were all executed by the former. By him also was raised that pride of the regent, the city called after him, Jhalrapatan;¹ while all the other forts were put into a state which makes Kotah the most defensible territory in India. Such was the affectionate esteem in which Dalil was held by the regent, that he used often to say, "he hoped he should not outlive Dalil Khan." Mihrab Khan was the commander of the infantry, which he maintained in a state of admirable discipline and efficiency;² they received their bis roza, or twenty days' pay, each month, with their arrears at the end of every second year [555].