Annals and Antiquities of Rajasthan, or the Central and Western Rajput States of India v3.c43.t1.238

v3.c43.t1.238

It was about this time, in the reign of Jagat Singh II., that Ummeda Singh of Shahpura had the grant of seventy-three villages in Mandalgarh, one-fifth of the whole district, subject only to the fine of three thousand two hundred and fifty rupees annually for ghasmali, with five hundred more to the deputy governor, and two hundred to the Chaudhari, or territorial head of the district. In this lavish manner were estates disposed of. This family continued to hold it until S. 1843, when the minister Somji, in order to obtain his support during the Chondawat rebellion, gave him a formal acquittance for this service, and in addition to these lands, the two subordinate fiefs of Dangarmau and Borwa on the Plateau, and the rich estate of Agoncha on the Khari; in return for which, he exacted a stipulation to serve with four hundred horse : a contract fulfilled only by one chief of the family, who fell leading his contingent at the battle of Ujjain. His descendants seem to have claimed immunity on the score of his service; and the present incumbent is a madman. Great changes, however, have recently been made in the condition of the Bhumias, and these desultory fines have all merged into a duty more accordant with the character of the Rajput; service in the garrisons of Mandalgarh and Jahazpur, and a fixed annual sum from those who are too poor to command even a single horse.