Annals and Antiquities of Rajasthan, or the Central and Western Rajput States of India v3.c43.t1.633

v3.c43.t1.633

Bajrāj, the Horse.—Bajraj was worthy of such notice and of his name; he was perfection, and so general a favourite that his death was deemed a public misfortune, for he was as well known throughout all these regions as his master. The general yell of sorrow that burst from all my sepoys and establishment on that event, was astounding, and the whole camp attended his obsequies; many were weeping, and when they began to throw the earth upon the fine beast, wrapped up in his body-clothes, his sais (groom) threw himself into his grave, and was quite frantic with grief. I cut some locks off his mane in remembrance of the noblest beast I ever crossed, and in a few days I observed many huge stones near the spot, which before I left Kotah grew into a noble chabutra, or ‘ altar ’ of hewn stone about twenty feet square and four feet high, on which was placed the effigy of Bajraj large as life, sculptured out of one block of freestone. I was grateful for the attention, but the old regent had caught the infection, and evinced his sense of the worth of Bajraj by a tomb such as his master cannot expect; but in this case perhaps I divided the interest, though there was no prince of Rajwara more proud of his stud than the blind chief of Kotah. From the days of the Pandus to Dewa-Banga of Bundi, many a war has been waged for a horse; nor can we better declare the relative estimation of the noble animal than in the words of that stalwart Hara to the Lodi king: “ There are three things you must not ask of a Rajput, his horse, his mistress, or his sword ” [767].