Annals and Antiquities of Rajasthan, or the Central and Western Rajput States of India v3.c43.t1.431

v3.c43.t1.431

Heroism of Amar Singh Hāra.—The auxiliary band of Kotah was led by the Hara chief of Kolai, his name Amar Singh. On receiving the orders of the English commander, he prepared, in the old Hara style, to obey them. The position he selected was about a quarter of a mile west of Lucan, on the north bank of the Amjar, his left protected by the village of [727] Pipli, which stands on a gentle eminence gradually shelving to the stream, the low abrupt bank of which would secure him from any charge in front. Here, dismounting from his horse, Amar Singh, surrounded by one thousand men, “spread his carpet,” resolved to defend the passage of the Amjar. His force was chiefly infantry, who met the enemy with volleys of matchlocks, and filled the stream with their bodies; but just as he was about to close with them, a ball hit him in the forehead and another in the right breast. He fell, but immediately rose again, and reclining against a sugar mill-stone, encouraged his men to the charge. The calmness of his manner indicated no danger, but it was the dying effort of a Hara: pointing with his sword to the foe, he fell back and expired. Four hundred and fifty of his men were either killed or wounded around their chief, and among the latter, the Palaitha¹ chief, the next in rank to Koila, and the Bakhshi, or paymaster-general of Kotah, was made prisoner, and forced to sign a bond for ten lakhs of rupees as a ransom, a penalty for siding with the English.