Annals and Antiquities of Rajasthan, or the Central and Western Rajput States of India v3.c43.83.2

v3.c43.83.2

Only bid me retake it, and I am not the son of Nahar Singh if he keeps it a day. Its little castle, erected by these hands, sheltered my wife and children, who, now expelled from my patrimony, are compelled to seek refuge elsewhere. The lands assigned me in lieu of Banwal are waste. For every rupee I can hope to derive from them, I must expend one ; and on Jethpura alone could I raise any funds. Reckoning on this, I paid my fine of two thousand five hundred rupees for my *patta* (grant), and from its produce I looked to maintain my family and followers until the first should be made productive. When I lost this support, my creditors assailed me : to satisfy them, I sold all I had of value, even to my wife’s jewels, and the horse you saw me ride when I came to meet you at Gangapur. I laid my case before Prithinath,¹ and here is his reply, deciding in my favour. I represented it through Jawandas (a natural brother of the Rana), and five hundred rupees were demanded and agreed to by me, provided *bachan* (security) was given me of success. The Bikaneriji’s¹ was given; but the purse of the Thakur of Jethpura is not so long as the chieftain of Lawa’s, and one thousand rupees, offered by him, made his the juster cause! It is [612] this that makes me negligent of my duty; this which incited the Pathans to carry off my little harvest from Salera; and Bhairawi² is still in the hands of the foresters.