Annals and Antiquities of Rajasthan, or the Central and Western Rajput States of India v3.c43.t1.325

v3.c43.t1.325

Origin of the Name Sesodia.—In these wilds, an ancient Rana of Chitor had sat down to a got (feast) consisting of the game slain in the chase; and being very hungry, he hastily swallowed a piece of meat to which a gad-fly adhered. The fly grievously tormented the Rana’s stomach, and he sent for a physician. The wiseman (bedi) secretly ordered an attendant to cut off the tip of a cow’s ear, as the only means of saving the monarch’s life. On obtaining this forbidden morsel, the Bedi folded it in a piece of thin cloth, and attaching a string to it, made the royal patient swallow it. The gad-fly fastened on the bait, and was dragged to light. The physician was rewarded; but the curious Rana insisted on knowing by what means the cure was effected, and when he heard that a piece of sacred kine had passed his lips, he determined to expiate the enormity in a manner which its heinousness required, and to swallow boiling lead (sisa)! A vessel was put [704] on the fire, and half a ser soon melted, when, praying that his involuntary offence might be forgiven, he boldly drank it off; but lo! it passed through him like water. From that day, the name of the tribe was changed from Aharya to Sesodia.¹ The old Jogi as firmly believed the truth of this absurd tale as he did his own existence, and I allowed him to run on till the temple of Barolli suddenly burst upon my view from amidst the foliage that shrouded it. The transition was grand; we had for some time been picking our way along the margin of a small stream that had worked itself a bed in the rock over which lay our path, and whose course had been our guide to this object of our pilgrimage. As we neared the sacred fane, still following the stream, we reached a level spot overshadowed by the majestic kur and amba,² which had never known the axe. We instantly dismounted, and by a flight of steps attained the court of the temple.