Annals and Antiquities of Rajasthan, or the Central and Western Rajput States of India v3.c43.t1.211

v3.c43.t1.211

Kachola or Kachaura, October 3.—Execrable roads! Our route continued through the same valley, occasionally expanding to the westward. Half-way, we passed the baronial castle of Amargarh, whose chief, Rawat Dalil Singh, is now on duty with his quota at Jahazpur, but his uncle Pahar Singh, who is a great favourite with our party (by whom he is known as ‘the mountain-lion’), came to meet and conduct me to the castle. But I was too unwell, or should on many accounts have desired to visit this somewhat celebrated abode of one of the Babas (infants) of Mewar, whose feud I maintained for him against his potent neighbour of Shahpura, which has elsewhere been related.¹ It is quite unassailable, being built on an isolated rock, and, except by a circuitous path on one side, there is no passage through the dense jungle that surrounds it : a mode of fortifying recommended by Manu,² but which, if universally followed in this land so studded with fortresses, would waste no small portion of the sovereignty. I was quite satisfied with this view of the castle of Dalil, and enjoyed from the point of descent a noble prospect. In the foreground is the cenotaph of Rana Arsi, in the centre of the valley, which extended and gradually opened towards Mandalgarh, whose blue ridge was distinctly visible in the distance. The hills to the right were broken abruptly into masses, and as far as the eye could stretch [676] on every side, were disordered heaps of gigantic rocks. To reclaim this district, the largest in Mewar, I am now intent, having convoked all the Bhumias and Patels of its three hundred and sixty townships at the chief city, Mandalgarh. My friend, Pahar Singh, as locum tenens of his uncle, expended powder on the occasion ; and must have charged his patereroes ³ to the muzzle. Paharji joined me on his Panchkalyan (so they term a horse with four white legs and a white nose), and determined to escort me to Mandalgarh ; a service, as he said, not only due from his family, but in accordance with the commands of his sovereign the Rana, of whom Pahar was a faithful, zealous, and valiant supporter during his adversity. The Bhumias of Mandalgarh, in fact, generally deserve the praise of having maintained this stronghold without either command or assistance throughout the whole period of his misfortunes.