Annals and Antiquities of Rajasthan, or the Central and Western Rajput States of India v3.c43.33

v3.c43.33

Hinta, January 30.—This was a short march of three and a half coss, or nine miles, over the same extensive plain of rich black loam, or *mal*, whence the province of Malwa has its name.³ We were on horseback long before sunrise; the air was pure and invigorating; the peasantry were smiling at the sight of the luxuriant young crops of wheat, barley, and gram, aware that no ruthless hand could now step between them and the bounties of Heaven. Fresh thatch, or rising walls, gave signs of the exiles' return, who greeted us, at each step of our journey, with blessings and looks of joy mingled with sadness. Passed the hamlet, or purwa, of Amarpura, attached to Kheroda, and to our left the township of Mainar, held in sasan¹ (religious grant) by a community of Brahmans. This place affords a fine specimen of “ the wisdom of ancestors ” in Mewar, where fifty thousand bighas, or about sixteen thousand acres of the richest crown land, have been given in perpetuity to these drones of society; and although there are only twenty families left of this holy colony, said to have been planted by Raja Mandhata in the Treta-yug, or silver age of India, yet superstition and indolence conspire to prevent the resumption even of those portions which have none to cultivate them. A “ sixty thousand [599] years’ residence in hell ” is undoubtedly no comfortable prospect, and to those who subscribe to the doctrine of transmigration, it must be rather mortifying to pass from the purple of royalty into “ a worm in ordure,” one of the delicate purgatories which the Rajput soul has to undergo, before it can expiate the offence of resuming the lands of the church! I was rejoiced, however, to find that some of “ the sons of Sakta,” as they increased in numbers, in the inverse ratio of their possessions, deemed it better to incur all risks than emigrate to foreign lands in search of bhum; and both Hinta and Dundia have been established on the lands of the church. Desirous of preserving every right of every class, I imprecated on my head all the anathemas of the order, if the Rana should resume all beyond what the remnant of this family could require. I proposed that a thousand bighas of the best land should be retained by them; that they should not only be furnished with cattle, seed, and implements of agriculture, but that there should be wells cleared out, or fresh ones dug for them. At this time, however, the astrologer was a member of the cabinet, and being also physician in ordinary, he, as one of the order, protected his brethren of Menar, who, as may be supposed, were in vain called upon to produce the tamra-pattra, or copper-plate warrant, for these lands.