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Annals and Antiquities of Rajasthan, or the Central and Western Rajput States of India v3.c43.t1: Antiquities at Morwan

Annals and Antiquities of Rajasthan, or the Central and Western Rajput States of India v3.c43.t1

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English

Contents

Antiquities at Morwan

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Morwan has some claims to antiquity; it derives its appellation from the Mori tribe, who ruled here before they obtained Chitor. The ruins of a fort, still known by the name of Chitrang Mori's castle, are pointed out as his residence ere he founded Chitor, or more properly Chitror.² The tradition runs thus: Chitrang, a subordinate of the imperial house of Dhar, held Morwan and the adjacent tract, in appanage. One of his subjects, while ploughing, struck the share against some hard substance, and on examination found it was transmuted to gold. This was the *paras-patthar*,³ or 'philosopher's stone,' and he carried it forthwith to his lord, with whose aid he erected the castle, and enlarged the town of Morwan, and ultimately founded Chitor. The Dhulkot, or site of Mori-ka-patan, is yet pointed out, to the westward of the present Morwan. It was miraculously destroyed through the impieties of its inhabitants by fire, which fate recalls a more celebrated catastrophe; but the act of impiety in the present case was merely seizing a Rishi, or 'hermit,' while performing penance in the forest, and compelling him to carry radishes to market! The tradition, however, is of some value: it proves, first, that there were radishes in those days; and secondly, that volcanic eruptions occurred in this region. Ujjain-Ahar, in the valley of Udaipur, and the lake of which is said in some places to be *atak*, 'deeper than plummet sounded,’ is another proof of some grand commotion of nature. Morwan boasts of three mandirs, or temples, one of which is dedicated to Seshnag, the thousand-headed hydra which supports the globe. Formerly, saffron was the meet offering to this king of reptiles; but he is now obliged to be content with ointment of sandal, produced from the evergreen, which is indigenous to Mewar.

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² [Chitor was called Chitrakot after Chitrang Mori or Maurya, whose tomb and ruined palace are shown on the southern part of the hill (Erskine ii. A. 102).]

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³ In the Hindi *patthar*, Sanskrit *prastara*, 'stone, rock,' we have nearly the *πέτρος* of the Greeks.

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Having heard of an inscription at the township of Aner, five miles distant, to the south-west, I requested my old Guru to take a ride and copy it. It was of modern date, merely confirming the lands of Aner to the Brahmans. The tablet is in the temple of Chaturbhuja (the four-armed divinity), built and endowed by Rana Sangram Singh in S. 1570 (A.D. 1514); to whose pious testament a codicil is added by Rana Jagat Singh, S. 1791, imprecating an anathema on the violator of it. There was also engraved upon one of the columns a voluntary gift, from the village-council of Aner to the divinity, of the first-fruits of each harvest; namely, two and a half sers from each khalla, or heap, of the spring-crops, and the same of the autumnal. The date, S. 1845 (A.D. 1789), shows that it was intended to propitiate the deity during the wars of Mewar [616].

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Directly opposite, and very near the shrine of the “four-armed,” is a small Jain temple, erected, in S. 1774, to cover an image of the great pontiff, Parsvanath, found in digging near this spot. Here at every step are relics of past ages.

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February 2.—An accident has compelled another halt at Morwan. The morning was clear and frosty, not a cloud in the sky, and we rose with the sun; my kinsman, Captain Waugh, to try his Arab at a nilgae, and myself to bag a few of the large rock-pigeons which are numerous about Morwan. My friend, after a hard run, had drawn blood from the elk, and was on the point of spearing him effectually just as he attained a thick part of the jungle, which not heeding, horse and rider came in contact with a tree, and were dashed with violence to the ground. There he lay insensible, and was brought home upon a charpai, or cot, by the villagers, much bruised, but fortunately with no broken bones. A leech was not to be had in any of the adjacent villages; and the patient complaining chiefly of the hip-bone, we could only apply emollients and recommend repose. I returned with no game except one or two black-partridges and batten-quail. The rock-pigeon, or *barr-titar*, though unaccustomed to the fowler, were too wild for me to get a shot at them. The bird bears no analogy to the pigeon, but has all the rich game plumage of the *titar*, or partridge, in which name the ornithologist of the west will see the origin of *tetra*. There are two species of this bird in India, one much smaller than the common partridge; that of which I speak is much larger, and with the peculiarity of being feathered to the toe. I have since discovered it to be the counterpart of a bird in the museum at Chambéry, called ‘*barteveldt des Alpes*’; the ptarmigan of the highlands of Scotland. The male has exactly these redundant white feathers; while that I saw in Savoy was a richly plumaged female *barr-titar*.

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Tale of a Tiger.—Our annual supply of good things having reached us this morning, we were enjoying a bottle of some delicious Burgundy and “La Rose” after dinner, when we were roused by violent screams in the direction of the village. We were all up in an instant, and several men directed to the spot. Our speculations on the cause were soon set at rest by the appearance of two harkaras (messengers), and a lad with a vessel of milk on his head. For this daily supply they had gone several miles, and had nearly reached the camp, when having outwalked the boy, they were alarmed by his vociferations, “Oh, uncle, let go—let go—I am your child, uncle, let me go!” They thought the boy mad, and it being very dark, cursed his uncle, and desired him to make haste; but the same wild exclamations continuing, they ran back, and found a huge [617] tiger hanging to his tattered cold-weather doublet. The harkaras attacked the beast most manfully with their javelin-headed sticks, and adding their screams to his, soon brought the whole village, men, women, and children, armed with all sorts of missiles, to the rescue; and it was their discordant yells that made us exchange our good fare for the jungles of Morwan.

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The ‘lord of the black rock,’ for such is the designation of the tiger, was one of the most ancient bourgeois of Morwan; his freehold is Kala-pahar, between this and Magarwar, and his reign for a long series of years has been unmolested, notwithstanding his numerous acts of aggression on his bovine subjects; indeed, only two nights before, he was disturbed gorging on a buffalo belonging to a poor oilman of Morwan. Whether this tiger was an incarnation of one of the Mori lords of Morwan, tradition does not say; but neither gun, bow, nor spear had ever been raised against him. In return for this forbearance, it is said he never preyed upon man, or if he seized one, would, upon being entreated with the endearing epithet of *mamu* or uncle, let go his hold; and this accounted for the little ragged urchin using a phrase which almost prevented the harkaras returning to his rescue.

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Disastrous Effects of Frost, February 3.—Another halt for our patient, who is doing well, and greatly relieved by the application of leeches obtained from Nimbahera.¹ What a night! the clouds which had been alternately collecting and dispersing ever since we left Marwar, in December last, but had almost disappeared as we commenced our present march, again suddenly gathered. The thermometer, which had averaged 41° at daybreak throughout the last month, this morning rose to 60°. On the 1st the wind changed to the south, with showers, where it continued throughout yesterday; but during the night it suddenly veered to the north, and the thermometer at daybreak was 28°, or four degrees below the freezing point. Reader, do you envy me my *bon vin de Bourgogne et murailles de coton*, with not even a wood fire, labouring under a severe pulmonary affection, with work enough for five men? Only three days ago the thermometer was 86° at noon, and to-day it is less at noon than yesterday at daybreak: even old England, with all her vicissitudes of weather, can scarcely show so rapid a change as this.

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¹ [In Tonk State, about 60 miles E. of Udaipur city.]

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Ill-fated Mewar! all our hopes are blasted; this second visitation has frustrated all our labours. The frost of December, which sunk the mercury to 27° as we passed over the plains of Marwar, was felt throughout Rajwara, and blighted every pod of cotton. All was "burnt up"; but our poor exiles comforted [618] themselves, amidst the general sorrow, with the recollection that the young gram was safe. But even this last hope has now vanished: all is nipped in the bud. Had it occurred a month ago, the young plant would have been headed down with the sickle, and additional blossoms would have appeared. I was too unwell to ride out and see the ravages caused by this frost.

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February 4.—Our patient is doing so well, that we look to moving to-morrow. Thermometer 28° at daybreak, and 31° at sunrise, with a keen cutting wind from the north. Ice closed the orifice of the *mashak*, or leathern water-bag. Even the shallow stream near the tents had a pellicle of ice on its surface: our people huddling and shivering round their fires of bajra sticks, and the cattle of all classes looking very melancholy.

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Temple of Māmā Devi.—My Yati friend returned from Palod, where I had sent him to copy an inscription in a temple dedicated to Mama-devi, the mother of the gods; but he was disappointed, and brought back only the following traditional legend. The shrine, erected by a wealthy Jain disciple, was destined to receive the image of one of their pontiffs; but on its completion, Mama-devi appeared in *propriâ personâ* to the founder, and expressed so strongly her desire to inhabit it, that, heretic as he was, he could not deny the goddess' suit. He stoutly refused, however, to violate the rules of his order: "By my hands the blood neither of goats or buffaloes can be shed," said the Jain. But, grateful for the permission that a niche should be set apart for her *sarup* (form), she told him to go to the Sonigira chief of Chitor, who would attend to the rites of sacrifice. The good Jain, with easy faith, did as he was commanded, and erecting another temple, succeeded at length in enshrining Parsvanath. My old friend, however, discovered in a temple to Mataji, 'the universal mother,'¹ an inscription of great importance, as it fixes the period of one of the most conspicuous kings of the Solanki dynasty of Nahrvala, or correctly, Anhilwara Patan; and, in conjunction with another of the same prince (which I afterwards discovered in Chitor), also bearing the very same date,¹ demonstrates that the Solanki had actually made a conquest of the capital of the Guhilots. The purport is simply that "Kumarpal Solanki and his son Sohanpal, in the month of Pus (the precise day illegible), S. 1207 (winter of A.D. 1151), came to worship the Universal Mother in her shrine at Palod."² The Sesodias try to get rid of this difficulty by saying, that during the banishment [619] of Kumarpal by Siddha-raja, he not only enjoyed *saran* (refuge) at Chitor,³ but held the post of prime minister to Rawal Samarsi, the friend and brother-in-law of the Chauhan emperor of Delhi; but the inscription (given in the first volume), which I found in the temple built by Lakha Rana, is written in the style of a conqueror, “who planted his standard even in Salpur,” the city of the Getae in the Panjab. At all events, it is one more datum in the history of Rajputana.

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¹ See inscription, Vol. II. p. 925.

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² The style of this inscription is perfectly in unison with the inscriptions on the temples and statues of Egypt.

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³ [Kumārapāla, when exiled, went to Kālambapattana, probably Kolam or Quilon in Travancore, and thence to Chitrakūta or Chitor (BG, i. Part i. 183). From thence he went to Ujjain, and it is impossible that he could have served Rāwal Samar Singh, who reigned about A.D. 1274-85, while the date of Kumārapāla's reign is A.D. 1143-74.]

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February 5, thermometer 30°.—Mounted Bajraj, ‘the royal steed,’ and took a ride over the heights of Morwan, a wild yet fairy scene, with the Patar or table-land bounding the perspective to the east. The downs are covered with the most luxuriant grasses, and the dhak or palas dried by the wintry blast, as if scorched by the lightning, faintly brought to mind the poet’s simile, applied to this tree, even in the midst of spring: “The black leafless kesula.” We entered a village in ruins, whose nim trees bid defiance to winter; the ‘thorny babul’ (mimosa Arabica) grows luxuriantly out of the inner sides of the walls, and no hand invades the airy nest of the imitative papiha, fantastically pendent from the slenderest branches.¹ No trace of the presence of man; but evidence that he has been here. The ground was covered with hoar-frost, and the little stream coated with ice. Many a heavy heart has it caused, and plunged joyous industry into utter despondence. Take one example: yonder Jat, sitting by the side of his field, which he eyes in despair; three months since, he returned, after many years of exile, to the bapota, the land of his sires, without funds, without food, or even the implements for obtaining it. He had been labouring as a serf in other lands, but he heard of peace in his own, and came back to the paternal acres, which had been a stranger to the ploughshare since he was driven from his cot in S. 1844, immediately following the battle of Harkiakhal, when the “Southron” completed the bondage of Mewar. What could he do? his well was dried up, and if not, he had no cattle to irrigate a field of wheat or barley. But Mewar is a kind mother, and she yields her chana crop without water. To the Bohra (the metayer) he promised one-fifth of the produce for the necessary seed and the use of a pair of oxen and a plough; one-fifth more was the share of the state from land so long sterile; there were three-fifths left for himself of his long-neglected but at once luxuriant fields. He watched the crop with paternal solicitude, from the first appearance of verdure to the approach of Basant, the joyous spring. Each night, as he returned to his yet roofless abode, he related the wonders of his field and its rapid vegetation; and as he calculated the produce, he anticipated its application; “so much shall go [620] for a plough, so much for the Bohra, so much in part payment of a pair of bullocks, and the rest will keep me in bread till the makkai crop is ready.” Thus the days passed, until this killing frost nipped his hopes in the bud, and now see him wringing his hands in the bitterest anguish! This is no ideal picture: it is one to be found in every village of Mewar. In this favoured soil there is as much of chana in the rabi harvest as of wheat and barley conjoined, and in the first crop sown in banjar, or soil long sterile, wheat and chana are sown together. It is a sad blow to the exiles; though happily in the crown-lands their distress will be mitigated, as these are rented on leases of five years, and the renters for their own sakes must be lenient, and moreover they are well watched.

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¹ [Possibly the “papya” of the original text represents papiha, a variety of cuckoo, cuculus melanolencos. The baya or weaver-bird is apparently meant.]

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February 6.—Still halting; our patient very well, though he feels his bruises; but we shall put him on an elephant to-morrow. The jealousy of the Mahratta had hitherto prevented the inhabitants from fulfilling their desire to come and visit me; but to-day, the elders forming the Panchayat, heading the procession, they came *en masse*. The authorities need not have feared exposing the nakedness of the land, which is too visible; but they apprehended the contrast of their condition with our poor subjects, who were at least unmolested in their poverty. It was a happiness to learn that this contrast was felt, and as the Patel presented to me an engaging little child, his daughter, he said, “Let not our misfortunes be our faults; we all belong to Mewar, though we are not so happy as to enjoy your protection and care.” I assured him, that although under the Turk, I should look upon them as my children, and the subjects of the Rana; and I have had it in my power to redeem this pledge—for, strange to say, even Amir Khan, seeing that the prosperity of the subject is that of the prince, has commanded his governor of Nimbahera to consult me in everything, and has even gone so far as to beg I would consider the place as under my authority. Already, following our example, he has reduced the transit duties nearly one-half, and begins to think the Farangi notions of economy better than his own, his loss having proved a gain.

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Nikumbh, February 7 : eleven miles.—Midway, passed through Chakurla, a village belonging to Amir Khan. Nikumbh is a taluk of Jawad, which with Mandipia was held by the Pindari freebooter, Fazil, while Jaswant Rao Bhao held them in jaedad. They are now leased to a Pandit by the Hakim of Jawad, which latter is assigned by Sindhia to his father-in-law, the Senapati. Nikumbh is a good village, but more than two-thirds depopulated, and the renter is prevented from being lenient, as he experiences [621] no mercy himself. Notwithstanding they have all been suffering as we have from this frost, an assessment is now levying. One poor fellow said to me, " I returned only three months ago from exile, and I had raised the mud-walls of my hut two feet, when my wife died, leaving me to take care of a boy eight years of age, and to get bread for both. If the walls were two feet higher I would cover it in; but though I have not a foot of land, my roofless half-finished cot is assessed a rupee and a half": a gift of two rupees made him happier than his Hakim!

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The country is beautiful, the soil rich, and water, as already mentioned, about twenty-five feet from the surface. We are now in the region of the flower sacred to "gloomy Dis," the accursed poppy. The crop looks miserable from the frost, but those patches within the influence of the wells are partly saved by the fields being inundated, which expedient is always successful upon such visitations, if applied with judgment. The mountains touching great Sadri lay twelve miles south coming from Partabgarh, and ranging to Salumbar and Udaipur, where they commingle with the giant Aravalli.

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The Chāran Tribe. Marla, February 8 : seven miles.—Crossed two ridges running northward to Badesar. The intervening valleys, as usual, fertile, with numerous villages, but alienated to the southern Goths or the partisan Pathan. Passed many large townships, formerly in the fisc of Mewar, as Bari, Banota, Bambori, etc. In the distance, saw "the umbrella of the earth," the far-famed Chitor. Marla is an excellent township, inhabited by a community of Charans, of the tribe Kachhela, who are Banjaras (carriers) by profession, though poets by birth. The alliance is a curious one, and would appear incongruous, were not gain the object generally in both cases. It was the sanctity of their office which converted our Bardais into Banjaras, for their persons being sacred, the immunity extended likewise to their goods, and saved them from all imposts; so that in process of time they became the free-traders of Rajputana. I was highly gratified with the reception I received from the community, which collectively advanced to me at some distance from the town. The procession was headed by the village-band, and all the fair Charanis, who, as they approached, gracefully waved their scarfs over me, until I was fairly made captive by the muses of Marla! It was a novel and interesting scene: the manly persons of the Charans, clad in the flowing white robe, with the high loose folded turban inclined on one side, from which the mala, or chaplet, was gracefully suspended; the Naiks, or leaders, with their massive necklaces of gold, with the image of the pitrideva (manes) depending therefrom, gave the whole an air of opulence and dignity. The females were uniformly [622] attired in a skirt of dark brown camlet, having a bodice of light-coloured stuff, with gold ornaments worked into their fine black hair; and all had the favourite churis, or rings of hathi-dant (elephant's tooth), covering the arm, from the wrist to the elbow, and even above it. Never was there a nobler subject for the painter in any age or country; it was one which Salvator Rosa would have seized, full of picturesque contrasts: the rich dark tints of the female attire harmonizing with the white garments of their husbands; but it was the mien, the expression, the gestures, denoting that though they paid homage they expected a full measure in return. And they had it; for if ever there was a group which bespoke respect for the natural dignity of man and his consort, it was the Charan community of Marla.

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It was not until the afternoon, when the Naiks again came to see me at my camp, that I learned the full value of my escape from the silken bonds of the fair Charanis. This community had enjoyed for five hundred years the privilege of making prisoner any Rana of Mewar who may pass through Marla, and keeping him in bondage until he gives them a got, or entertainment; and their chains are neither galling, nor the period of captivity, being thus in the hands of the captivated, very long. The patriarch told me that I was in jeopardy, as the Rana's representative; but not knowing how I might have relished the joke, had it been carried to its conclusion, they let me escape, though they lost a feast by it. But I told them I was too much delighted with old customs not to keep up this; and immediately sent money to the ladies with my respects, and a request that they would hold their got (feast). The patriarch and his subordinate Naiks and their sons remained with me to discourse on the olden time.

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The founders of this little colony accompanied Rana Hamir from Gujarat in the early part of his reign, and although five centuries have elapsed, they have not parted with one iota of their nationality or their privileges since that period: neither in person, manners, or dress, have they anything analogous to those amidst whom they dwell. Indeed, their air is altogether foreign to India, and although they have attained a place, and that a high one, amongst the tribes of Hind, their affinity to the ancient Persian is striking; the loose robe, high turban, and flowing beard being more akin to the figures on the temples of the Guebres than to anything appertaining to the Charbaran, or four classes of the Hindus. But I must give the tale accounting for their settlement in Mewar. Rana Hamir, so celebrated in the history of Mewar, had a leprous spot on his hand, to remove which he made a pilgrimage to the shrine of Hinglaj, upon the [623] coast of Mekran, the division Oreitai of Arrian’s geography.¹ He had reached the frontiers of Cutch Bhuj, when alighting near a tanda, or encampment of Charans, a young damsel abandoned the meal she was preparing, and stepped forward to hold the stranger’s steed. Thanking her for her courtesy, he jocosely observed that he wished his people had as good a breakfast as she was preparing, when she immediately made an offering of the contents of the vessel; on which Hamir observed, it would go but a short way to satisfy so many hungry mouths. “Not if it pleased Hinglajji,” she promptly replied; and placing the food before the Rana and his train, it sufficed for all their wants. A little well, which she excavated in the sand, was soon filled with a copious supply of water, which served to quench their thirst. It was an evident interposition of the goddess of Hinglaj in favour of this her royal votary. He returned from her shrine cured, and the young Charani’s family were induced to accompany him to Mewar, where he bestowed upon them the lands of Marla, with especial immunities in their mercantile capacity : and as a perpetual remembrance of the miraculous feast, permission was granted to the Charani damsels to make captive of their sovereign as related above.

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¹ [The name of the Oreitai is supposed to be represented in that of the Aghor River: they are the Neoritai of Diodorus (McCrindle, Alexander, 168, note 1; Smith, EHI, 106 f.).]

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The colony, which now consists of some thousands of both sexes, presented an enigma to our young Englishmen, who think “ all black fellows alike,” and equally beneath notice : it was remarked how comfortable they looked in house and person, though there was not a vestige of cultivation around their habitations. The military policy of the troubled period accounts for the first ; and a visit to the altars of Marla will furnish the cause of the neglect of the agrarian laws of Mewar. As the community increased in numbers, the subdivision of the lands continued, according to the customs of Cutch, until a dispute regarding limits produced a civil war. A ferocious combat ensued, when the wives of the combatants who were slain ascended the funeral pile ; and to prevent a similar catastrophe, imprecated a curse on whomever from that day should cultivate a field in Marla ; since which the land has lain in absolute sterility ! Such is the implicit reverence for the injunction of a Sati, at this moment of awful inspiration, when about to take leave of the world. In Mewar, the most solemn of all oaths is that of the Sati. Maha sati an-ki-an, ‘ by the great Satis,’ is an adjuration frequently used in the royal patents.

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The tanda or caravan, consisting of four thousand bullocks, has been kept up amidst all the evils which have beset this land, through Mogul and Mahratta tyranny. The utility of these caravans, as general carriers to conflicting armies, and as regular tax-paying subjects, has proved their safeguard, and they were too strong [624] to be pillaged by any petty marauder, as any one who has seen a Banjara encampment will be convinced. They encamp in a square ; their grain-bags piled over each other breast-high, with interstices left for their matchlocks, make no contemptible fortification. Even the ruthless Turk, Jamshid Khan, set up a protecting tablet in favour of the Charans of Marla, recording their exemption from dand contributions, and that there should be no increase in duties, with threats to all who should injure the community. As usual, the sun and moon are appealed to as witnesses of good faith, and sculptured on the stone. Even the forester Bhil and mountain Mer have set up their signs of immunity and protection to the chosen of Hinglaj; and the figures of a cow and its kheri (calf), carved in rude relief, speak the agreement that they should not be slain or stolen within the limits of Marla.

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Nimbahera : seven miles.—The soil, as usual, excellent; but from Ranikhera to Nimbahera the blue schist at intervals penetrates the surface, and there is but little superincumbent soil even to the bed of the stream, which makes an entire disclosure of the rock, over which flows a clear rivulet abounding with small fish, amongst which the speckled trout were visible. Ranikhera, through which we passed, is the largest township of this district, and was built by the Rani of Arsi Rana, mother of the present ruler of Mewar, at whose expense the temple, the baori or ‘reservoir,’ and the paved street, were constructed. Although in the alienated territory, I had a visit from its elders to complain of an indignity to the community by the Bhangi, or scavenger, of Lesrawan, who had killed a hog and thrown it into the reservoir, whose polluted waters being thus rendered unfit for use, the inhabitants were compelled to get a purer element from the adjacent villages. This baori is about half-a-mile from the town, and being upon the highway, the council and train very wisely stopped at the spot where the aggression had happened : and although the cavalcade of the Hakim of Nimbahera was in sight, advancing to welcome me, it was impossible to proceed until I heard the whole grievance, when adjured by “subjects of Mewar, and children of the Rana, though unhappily under the Turk,” to see their wrongs redressed. I might not have recorded this incident, but for its consequence; as the hog thrown into the reservoir of Baijiraj, ‘the royal mother,’ of Mewar, affords an instance of the extent to which mortgage is carried.

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The Bhangis, or scavengers, of Ranikhera, the very refuse of mankind, had mortgaged their rights in the dead carcases of their town to a professional brother of Lesrawan; but, on the return of these halcyon days, they swerved from their bond [625]. The chieftain of Lesrawan espoused his vassal’s cause, and probably pointed out the mode of revenge. One morning, therefore, not having the fear of Jamshid of Nimbahera before his eyes, the said mortgagee slew his pig; and, albeit but the wreck of a human being, contrived to cast his victim into the pure fountain of ‘Queenstown,’ and immediately fled for saran to Bhindar. But what could be done to a wretch, who for former misdeeds had already suffered the dismemberment of an arm, a leg, and his nose? Here is the sentence! “To be paraded, mounted on an ass, his face blackened, with a chaplet of shoes round his neck, and drummed out of the limits of Ranikhera!” The fountain is now undergoing purification; and when the polluted waters are baled out, it is to be lustrated with the holy stream of the Ganges, and the ceremony will conclude with a *got*, or feast, to one hundred Brahmans. Previous to this, I took a peep at the humble altars of Ranikhera. All is modern; but there is one tablet which pleasingly demonstrates that both public feeling and public gratitude exist in these regions.

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This tablet, set up by the council of the town, recorded that Kistna, the Silpi or stone-cutter, did at his own expense and labour repair all the altars then going to decay; for which pious act they guaranteed to him and his successors for ever six *thalis* or platters of various viands, saffron, oil, butter, and several pieces of money, at every village fête. Doubtless such traits are not confined to Ranikhera. I accepted with kindness the offerings of the elders and assembled groups—a pot of curds and sundry blessings—and continued my journey to meet the impatient cavaliers of Nimbahera, who, to fill up the interlude, were *karowling*,¹ with matchlock and spear, their well-caparisoned chargers. The Khan was in the centre of the group, and we had a friendly, unceremonious *dastabazi*, or shaking of hands, without dismounting. He is a gentlemanly Pathan, of middle age, courteous and affable, and a very different personage from the two-handed Jamshid his predecessor, who lately died from a cancer in his back: a judgment, if we are to credit our Mewar friends, for his horrible cruelties and oppressions over all these regions, as lieutenant of Amir Khan during many years. The Khan welcomed me to Nimbahera with true Oriental *politesse*, saying, “that the place was mine”;

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and that he had received the “positive instructions of the Nawab Sahib (Amir Khan, whose son-in-law he is) to look upon me as himself.” I replied, that, in accepting such a trust, I could not say more than that I would, whenever occasion presented itself, act for him as if Nimbahera were really my own. The Khan had reason to find that his confidence was not misplaced; and while enabled to benefit him, I had also the opportunity of protecting the interests [626] of the feudatories, who by this alienation (as is fully related in the Annals of Mewar) were placed beyond the pale of the Rana’s power. The Khan, after accompanying me to my tents, took leave; but paid me a long visit in the evening, when we discussed all that concerned the welfare of his charge and the peace of the borders. As matters stand, it is a duty to conciliate and to promote prosperity; but it is melancholy to see this fertile appanage of Mewar in the hand of so consummate a villain as Amir Khan; a traitor to his master Holkar, for which he obtained the “sovereignty in perpetuity” of many rich tracts both in Mewar and Amber, without rendering the smallest service in return. Let this be borne in mind when another day of reckoning comes. Nimbahera is a considerable town, with an excellent stone circumvallation; and, being on the high road between Malwa and Hindustan, it enjoys a good share of traffic.

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Upwards of one hundred villages are attached to it, and it was estimated at three lakhs of rupees, of annual rent.

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¹ [Qarāvali, ‘skirmishing, a running fight.’]

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The Patār Plateau. Kanera, February 13 : nine miles.—A new feature in the face of Mewar was this day disclosed to us. At the termination of our short march, we ascended the Patar, or plateau of Central India, the grand natural rampart defending Mewar on the east. As we approached it, the level line of its crest, so distinct from the pinnacled Aravalli, at once proclaimed it to be a tableland, or rock of the secondary formation. Although its elevation is not above four hundred feet from its western base, the transition is remarkable, and it presents from the summit one of the most diversified scenes, whether in a moral, political, or picturesque point of view, that I [627] ever beheld. From this spot the mind’s eye embraces at once all the grand theatres of the history of Mewar. Upon our right lies Chitor, the palladium of Hinduism; on the west, the gigantic Aravalli, enclosing the new capital, and the shelter of her heroes; here, at our feet, or within view, all the alienated lands now under the ‘barbarian Turk’ or Mahratta, as Jawad, Jiran, Nimach, Nimbahera, Kheri, Ratangarh. What associations, what aspirations, does this scene conjure up to one who feels as a Rajput for this fair land! The rich flat we have passed over—a space of nearly seventy English miles from one table-range to the other—appears as a deep basin, fertilized by numerous streams, fed by huge reservoirs in the mountains, and studded with towns, which once were populous, but are for the most part now in ruins, though the germ of incipient prosperity is just appearing. From this height I condensed all my speculative ideas on a very favourite subject—the formation of a canal to unite the ancient and modern capitals of Mewar, by which her soil might be made to return a tenfold harvest, and famine be shut out for ever from her gates. My eye embraced the whole line of the Berach, from its outlet at the Udaisagar, to its passage within a mile of Chitor, and the benefit likely to accrue from such a work appeared incalculable.¹ What new ideas would be opened to the Rajput, on seeing the trains of oxen, which now creep slowly along with merchandise for the capital, exchanged for boats gliding along the canal; and his fields, for many miles on each side, irrigated by lateral cuts, instead of the cranking Egyptian wheel, as it is called, but which is indigenous to India!² If the reader will turn to the map, he will perceive the great facilities for such an undertaking. He will there see two grand reservoirs within six miles of each other, the Pichola, or internal lake, having an elevation of eighty feet above the external one, the Udaisagar, whose outlet forms the Berach River; but for which the valley of the capital would be one wide lake and which, for want of proper regulation, once actually submerged a third of it. The Pichola may be called the parent of the other, although it is partly fed by the minor lake at the villa of Suheli-ki-bari. Both are from twelve to fourteen miles in circumference, in some places thirty-five feet deep, and being fed by the perennial streams from the Aravalli, they contain a constant supply of water. From the external lake to Chitor, the fall is so slight that few locks would be required; and the soil being a yielding one throughout, the expense of the undertaking would be moderate. There is plenty of material in the neighbouring hills and forests, and by furnishing occupation for the wild population, the work would tend not a little to reclaim them. But [628] where are the means? With this difficulty, and the severe blow to our incipient prosperity in this untimely frost, our schemes dissipate like the mist of the morning. But I cannot relinquish the conviction that the undertaking, if executed, would not only enable the Rana to pay his tribute, but to be more merciful to his subjects, for whose welfare it is our chief duty to labour.¹

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¹ [Irrigation projects in Mewār have recently been studied by Sir Swinton Jacob and Mr. Manners Smith. "Among the most promising projects are a canal from Nāogāon on the Banās, two reservoirs on the Kothāri, and a reservoir on the Banās at Amarpura which, if carried out, will be one of the grandest works of the kind in India" (Erskine ii. A. 47).]

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² [Usually known in India as the Persian wheel, represented in Egypt by the Sākieh (Lane, Modern Egyptians, 5th ed. ii. 26).]

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¹ Even now, as I transcribe this from my journal, I would almost (when “The Annals” are finished) risk a couple of years’ residence in “the happy valley,” where I scarcely ever enjoyed one day of health, to execute this and another favourite project—the reopening of the tin-mines of Jawara.

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The summit of the Patar has a fertile soil, well-watered and well-wooded, and producing the mango, mahua, and nim; and were the appearance of the crops a criterion, we should say it was equal in fertility to the best part of Mewar. In ancient inscriptions, the term Uparmal is applied, as well as Patar, to this marked feature in the geological structure of Central India: the first being rendered exactly by the German oberland; the other signifying ‘flat,’ or table-land.

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In the indented recesses of this elevated land, which covers an immense portion of Central India, there are numerous spots of romantic beauty, which enthusiasm has not failed to identify with religious associations. Wherever there is a deep glen, a natural fountain, or a cascade, the traveller will infallibly discover some traces of the ‘Great God’ (Mahadeva) of the Hindus, the creator and destroyer of life.

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Shrine of Sukhdeo. Human Scapegoats.—By the stupidity of my guide, and the absence of the indefatigable Balgovind, my Brahman antiquarian pioneer, I lost the opportunity of seeing the shrine of Sukhdeo, situated in a dark cleft of the rock, not two miles from the pass where I ascended. In excuse, he said he thought, as my camp was near, that it would be easy to descend to the shrine of the “ease-giving” god, Sukhdeo (from sukh, ‘ease’);² but revocare gradum was an evil which, added to the necessity of extracting all the information I could from some of the opium-growers in attendance, deterred me. The abode of Sukhdeo is in a deep recess, well-wooded, with a cascade bursting from the rock near its summit, under a ledge of which the symbolic representative is enshrined. Around it are several guphas or caves of the anchorite devotees ; but the most conspicuous object is a projecting ledge, named Daitya-ka-har, or ‘ Giant’s-bone,’ on which those who are in search of “ ease ” jump from above. This is called the Vira-jhamp, or ‘ warrior’s-leap,’ and is made in fulfilment of vows either for temporal or future good.¹ Although most of the leapers perish, some instances of escape are recorded. The love of offspring is said to be the principal motive to this pious act of [629] saltation ; and I was very gravely told of one poor woman, whose philoprogenitive bump was so great, that she vowed to take the leap herself with her issue ; and such, says the legend, was her faith, that both escaped. A Teli, or oilman, was the last jumper of Sukhdeo, and he was no less fortunate ; to him the ‘ giant’s-bone ’ was a bed of roses. So much for the faith of the oilman of Jawad ! There are many such Leucotheas in this region of romance :² that at Omkar, on the Nerbudda, and the sacred mount Girnar, are the most celebrated.

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² [Sukhada, ‘giving pleasure,’ an epithet of Vishnu.]

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¹ [Vīra, ‘a hero’; Skt. jhampa, Hindi, jhapat, ‘a spring, leap.’ In Rājasthāni, as Sir G. Grierson writes, the m may easily have been preserved, or more probably the a would be long, and the m converted into a pure nasal, Jhāp being written Jhamp. Another common form is Bhairava Jhamp, ‘the leap in honour of Bhairava,’ a form of Siva. For human “scape-goats” of this kind see Crooke, Popular Religion and Folklore, 2nd ed. i. 256; Frazer, The Golden Bough, 3rd ed., The Scapegoat, 196 ff.).]

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² [Ino Leucothea, when Athamas, in a fit of madness, killed Learchus, their son, fled with her other son, Melicertes, across the plain of Megaris and threw herself with the boy (or, according to Euripides (Medea, 1289) with her two sons) into the sea. A. B. Cook, Zeus, i. 674.]

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Until the last sixty years, the whole of the plateau, as far as the Chambal, belonged to Mewar ; but all, with the exception of Kanera, are now in the hands of Sindhia. Kanera is the chief township of a small district of twenty-two villages, which, by the change of events, has fortunately reverted to the Rana, although it was not extricated from the grasp of the Mahrattas without some difficulty ; it was taken first, and the right of repossession argued afterwards. Would we had tried the same process with all the rest of the plateau ; but unhappily they were rented to old Lalaji Balal, a lover of order, and an ally of old Zalim Singh ! But let me repeat, for the tenth time, that all these lands are only held by Sindhia on mortgage for war-contributions, paid over and over again ; and when an opportunity occurs, let this be a record, and the Patar west of the Chambal be restored to Mewar.

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I was delighted to see that the crops of Kanera had only partially suffered from the ravages of the frost of the 3rd, 4th, to 25th, which extended over Malwa, and that although the gram was destroyed, the wheat, barley, sugar-cane, and poppy, were abundant and little injured; though we could have wished that the last-named pernicious plant, which is annually increasing all over these regions, had been sacrificed in lieu of the noble crops of vetches (gram).

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That the culture of the poppy, to the detriment of more useful husbandry, is increasing to an extent which demands the strong hand of legislative restraint, must strike the most superficial observer in these regions. When the sumptuary laws of this patriarchal government were in force, a restraint was at the same time imposed on an improvident system of farming which, of course, affected the prince, whose chief revenues were derived from the soil; and one of the agrarian laws of Mewar was, that there should be to each charas, or skin of land, only one bigha of opium, and the same quantity of cane, with the usual complement of corn. But the feverish excitement produced by our monopoly of the drug has extended its culture in every direction, and even in tracts where hitherto it has never entered into their agricultural economy. Whatever [630], therefore, be the wisdom or policy of our interference in this matter, of the result there can be no doubt, namely, that it converted the agricultural routinières into speculators and gamblers.

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The History of Opium.—A slight sketch of the introduction and mode of culture of this drug, which has tended more to the physical and moral degradation of the inhabitants than the combined influence of pestilence and war, may not be without interest.¹

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¹ [For a good summary of the history of opium cultivation see Watt, Comm. Prod. 845 ff.]

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We are indebted to the commentaries of the imperial autobiographers, Babur, Akbar, and Jahangir, for the most valuable information on the introduction of exotics into the horticultural economy of India; and we are proud to pay our tribute of applause to the illustrious house of Timur, whose princes, though despots by birth and education, and albeit the bane of Rajputana, we must allow, present a more remarkable succession of great characters, historians, statesmen, and warriors, than any contemporaneous dynasty, in any region of the world.¹

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¹ In all the branches of knowledge which have reference to the comforts, the elegancies, and the luxuries of life, they necessarily bore away the palm from the Rajput, who was cooped up within the barriers of superstition. The court of Samarkand, with which the kings of Farghana were allied, must have been one of the most brilliant in the world, for talents as well as splendour; and to all the hereditary instruction there imbibed, Babur, the conqueror of India, added that more useful and varied knowledge only to be acquired by travel, and constant intercourse with the world. When, therefore, his genius led him from ‘the frosty Caucasus’ into the plains of Hindustan, the habit of observation and noting in a book, as set before him by Hazrat Timur, all that appeared novel, never escaped him; and in so marked a transition from the highlands of Central India to the region of the sun, his pen had abundant occupation. No production, whether in the animal or vegetable kingdom, which appeared different from his own, escaped notice in his book, which must be looked upon as one of the most remarkable contributions to literature ever made by royalty; for in no age or country will a work be found at once so comprehensive and so simple as the Commentaries of Babur; and this in a region where everything is exaggerated. Whether he depicts a personal encounter on which his life and prospects hinged, or a battle which gave him the empire of India, all is in keeping; and when he relates the rewards he bestowed on Mir Muhammad Jaliban, his architect, for successfully executing his noble design of throwing a bridge over the Ganges, “before he had been three years sovereign of Hindustan,” and with the same simplicity records his own “introduction of melons and grapes into India,” we are tempted to humiliating reflections on the magniloquence with which we paint our own few works of public good, and contrast them unfavourably with those of the Transoxianic monarch, not then twenty-five years of age! Nor let the reader who may be induced to take up the volume fail to give homage to the translator,¹ whose own simple, yet varied and vigorous mind has transferred the very soul of Babur into his translation.

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¹ William Erskine, Esq., of Blackburne, who honours me with his friendship, and has stimulated my exertions to the task in which I am engaged, and another in which I trust to be engaged, some of the Books of the Poet Chand, so often alluded to in this work. [The Memoirs of Bābur or Bābar, translated by J. Leyden and W. Erskine, were published in 1826, and a reprint, edited by Sir Lucas King, is about to be issued by the Oxford University Press. An abridged version by Lieut.-Col. F. G. Talbot appeared in 1909. A new translation from an improved text, by Mrs. H. Beveridge, is now in course of publication.]

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Akbar followed up the plans of Babur, and introduced the gardeners of Persia and Tartary, who succeeded with many of their fruits, as peaches, almonds (both indigenous to Rajputana), pistachios, etc. To Jahangir’s Commentaries we owe the knowledge that tobacco was introduced into India in his reign; but of the period when the poppy became an object of culture, for the manufacture of opium, we have not the least information. Whatever may be the antiquity of this drug, for medicinal uses, it may be asserted that its abuse is comparatively recent, or not more than three [631] centuries back.¹ In none of the ancient heroic poems of Hindustan is it ever alluded to. The guest is often mentioned in them as welcomed by the *munawwar piyala*, or ‘cup of greeting,’² but nowhere by the *amal-pani*, or ‘infused opiate,’ which has usurped the place of the *phul-ra-arak*, or ‘essence of flowers.’ Before, however, the art of extracting the properties of the poppy, as at present, was practised, they used the opiate in its crudest form, by simply bruising the capsules, which they steeped a certain time in water, afterwards drinking the infusion, to which they give the name of *tijara*, and not unfrequently *post*, ‘the poppy.’ This practice still prevails in the remote parts of Rajputana, where either ignorance of the more refined process, prejudice, or indolence, operates to maintain old habits.

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¹ [For a statement of the evidence see Watt, *op. cit.* 845 ff.]

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² [*Munawwar* means ‘illuminated, bright, splendid.’]

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The culture of opium was at first confined to the *duab*, or tract between the Chambal and Sipra, from their sources to their junction; but although tradition has preserved the fact of this being the original poppy-nursery of Central India, it has long ceased to be the only place of the poppy’s growth, it having spread not only throughout Malwa, but into various parts of Rajputana, especially Mewar and Haraoti.³ But though all classes, Kunbis and Jats, Banias and Brahmans, try the culture, all yield the palm of superior skill to the Kunbi, the original cultivator, who will extract one-fifth more from the plant than any of his competitors.

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³ [In S.E. Mewār, near Mālwa, opium used to be almost as common as wheat and barley, but the area has greatly decreased since 1899, with the fall in the price of the drug (Erskine ii. A. 44). Sir G. Watt, writing in 1908, says it was then restricted to Mālwa, Bihār, and the United Provinces (*Comm. Prod.* 851 ff.). Since then, under arrangements with the Chinese, the cultivation has been still further restricted.]

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It is a singular fact, that the cultivation of opium increased in the inverse ratio of general prosperity; and that as war, pestilence, and famine, augmented their virulence, and depopulated Rajputana, so did the culture of this baneful weed appear to thrive. The predatory system, which succeeded Mogul despotism, soon devastated this fair region, and gradually restricted agricultural pursuits to the richer harvests of barley, wheat, and gram; till at length even these were confined to a bare sustenance for the families of the cultivator, who then found a substitute in the poppy. From the small extent of its culture, he was able to watch it, or to pay for its protection from pillage; this he could not do for his corn, which a troop of horse might save him the trouble of cutting. A kind of moral barometer might, indeed, be constructed, to show that the maximum of oppression in Mewar was the maximum of the culture of the poppy in Malwa. Emigration commenced in S. 1840 (A.D. 1784); it was at its height in S. 1856 (A.D. 1800), and went on gradually depopulating that country until S. 1874 (A.D. 1818). Its consumption, of course, kept pace with its production, it having found a vent in foreign markets.

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