=Menāl.=—In February, I recommenced my march for Udaipur, and having
halted a few days at Bundi, and found all there as my heart could wish,
I resumed the march across the Patar, determined to put into execution
my wish of visiting Menal. About ten miles north, on this side of it, I
halted at Bijolia, one of the principal fiefs of Mewar, held by a chief
of the Pramar tribe, with the title of Rao.[11.14.1] This family,
originally Raos of Jagner, near Bayana, came into Mewar in the time of
the great Amar Singh, with all his _basai_, upwards of two centuries
ago; the Rana having married the daughter of Rao Asoka, to whom he
assigned an estate worth five lakhs annually. I have elsewhere (Vol. I.
p. 206) explained the meaning of a term which embraces bondage
amongst its synonyms, though it is the lightest species of slavery.
Basai, or properly _vasi_, means a ‘settler,’ an ‘inhabitant,’ from
_vas_, ‘a habitation,’ and _vasna_, ‘to inhabit,’ but it does not
distinguish between free settlers and compulsory labourers; but
wheresoever the phrase is used in Rajwara, it may be assumed to imply
the latter. Still, strange to say, the condition includes none of the
accessories of slavery: there is no task-duty of any kind, nor is the
individual accountable for his labour to any one: he pays the usual
taxes, and the only tie upon him appears to be that of a [743]
compulsory residence in his _vas_, and the epithet, which is in itself a
fetter upon the mind of the _vasi_ of Bijolia.
=Bijolia.=—Bijolia (Vindhyavalli) stands amidst the ruins with which
this _uparmal_, or highland, is crowded. From the numerous inscriptions
we here found, we have to choose, for its ancient name, between Ahichpur
and Morakara; the latter is still applied, though the former appears
only on the recording stone. This western frontier teems with traditions
of the Chauhans, and seems to have been a dependency of Ajmer, as these
inscriptions contain many celebrated names of that dynasty, as Bisaldeo,
Someswar, Prithiraj; and chiefly record the martial virtues and piety of
Irnaraj of Morakara, and his offspring, Bahirraj and Kuntpal, who appear
contemporary with their paramount prince and relative, Prithiraj, king
of Delhi and Ajmer.
One inscription records the actions of the dynasty of Chitor, and they
are so intermingled as to render it almost impossible to separate the
Guhilots from the Chauhans. It begins with an invocation to “Sakambhari
Janami Mata, the mother of births, guardian of the races
(_sakham_),[11.14.2] and of mighty castles (_durga_), hills, and ruins,
the Protectress.” Having mentioned the names of nine Chauhans (of
Vats-gotra), it flies off to Srimad Bapparaj, Vindhya Nirpati, or,
‘Bappa, sovereign of the Vindhya Hills,’ the founder of the Ranas of
Mewar; but the names that follow do not belong to his dynasty, which
leads me to imagine that the Chauhans of Uparmal were vassals of Chitor
at that early period. Since antiquarian disquisitions, however, would be
out of place here, we shall only give the concluding portion. It is of
Kuntpal, the grandson of Irnaraj, “who destroyed Jawalapur, and the fame
of whose exploit at the capture of Delhi is engraved on the gate of
Valabhi. His elder brother’s son was Prithiraj, who amassed a _parb_ of
gold, which he gave in charity, and built in Morakara a temple to
Parsvanath. Having obtained the regal dignity, through Someswar, he was
thence called Someswar, for the sake of whose soul this mandir was
erected, and the village of Rewana on the Rewa, bestowed for its
support.—S. 1226 (A.D. 1170).” This appears completely to set at rest
the question whether the Chauhans wrested by force the throne of Delhi
from the Tuars;[11.14.3] and it is singular, that from the most remote
part of the dominions of this illustrious line, we should have a
confirmation of the fact asserted by their great bard Chand. The
inscriptions at Asi (Hansi), and on the column of Delhi, were all
written about the same period as this (see p. 1456). But the appeal made
to “the gate of Valabhi,” the ancient capital of the Guhilots in
Saurashtra, is the most singular part of it, and will only admit of one
construction [744], namely, that when Prithiraj revenged the death of
his father, Someswar, who was slain in battle by the prince of
Saurashtra and Gujarat, Kuntpal must have availed himself of that
opportunity to appropriate the share he had in the capture of Delhi.
Chand informs us he made a conquest of the whole of Gujarat from Bhola
Bhim.[11.14.4]
We have also two other not unimportant pieces of information: first that
Morakara was an ancient name of Bijolia; and next, that the Chauhan
prince was a disciple of the Jains, which, according to Chand, was not
uncommon, as he tells us that he banished his son Sarangdeo from Ajmer,
for attaching himself to the doctrines of the Buddhists.
Morakara, about half a mile east of Bijolia, is now in ruins; but there
are remains of a Kot, or castle, a palace called the Nauchauki, and no
less than five temples to Parsvanath, the twenty-third of the Jain
pontiffs, all of considerable magnitude and elaborate architectural
details, though not to be compared with Barolia. Indeed, it is
everywhere apparent that there is nothing classical in design or
execution in the architecture of India posterior to the eleventh
century. One of my scribes, who has a talent for design, is delineating
with his reed (_kalam_) these stupendous piles, while my old Jain Guru
is hard at work copying what is not the least curious part of the
antiquities of Bijolia, two inscriptions cut in the rock; one of the
Chauhan race, the other of the Sankhya Purana, appertaining to his own
creed, the Jain. It is fifteen feet long by five in breadth, and has
fifty-two lines.[11.14.5] The other is eleven feet six inches by three
feet six, and contains thirty-one lines; so that the old gentleman has
ample occupation. A stream runs amidst the ruins, called the Mundagni
(fire-extinguishing); and there is a _kund_, or fountain, close to the
temples of Parsva, with the remains of two noble reservoirs. All these
relics indicate that the Jains were of the Digambara sect.[11.14.6] The
genealogy is within the Kot, or precincts of the old castle.
There are likewise three temples dedicated to Siva, of still greater
magnitude, nearer to the town, but without inscriptions; though one in
an adjoining _kund_, called the Rewati, records the piety of the Gohil
chief Rahal, who had bestowed “a patch of land in the Antri,” defining
minutely its limits, and inviting others (not ineffectually, as is
proved by other bequests), in the preamble to his gift, to follow his
example by the declaration that “whoever bathes in the Rewati fountain
will be beloved by her lord, and have a numerous progeny” [745].
The modern castle of Bijolia is constructed entirely out of the ruins of
the old shrines of Morakara, and gods and demons are huddled
promiscuously together. This is very common, as we have repeatedly
noticed; nor can anything better evince that the Hindu attaches no
abstract virtue to the material object or idol, but regards it merely as
a type of some power or quality which he wishes to propitiate. On the
desecration of the receptacle, the idol becomes again, in his
estimation, a mere stone, and is used as such without scruple. All
around, for several miles, are seen the wrecks of past days. At Darauli,
about four miles south, is an inscription dated S. 900 (A.D. 844), but
it is unimportant; and again, at Telsua, two miles farther south, are
four mandirs, a _kund_, and a _toran_, or triumphal arch, but no
inscription. At Jaraula, about six miles distant, there are no less than
seven mandirs and a _kund_—a mere heap of ruins. At Ambaghati, one of
the passes of descent from the table-land into the plain, there are the
remains of an ancient castle and a shrine, and I have the names of four
or five other places, all within five miles of Bijolia, each having two
and three temples in ruins. Tradition does not name the destroyer, but
as it evidently was not Time, we may, without hesitation, divide the
opprobrium between those great iconoclasts, the Ghori king Ala and the
Mogul Aurangzeb, the first of whom is never named without the addition
of Khuni, ‘the sanguinary,’ whilst the other is known as Kalayavana, the
demon-foe of Krishna.
The Bijolia chief is greatly reduced, though his estates, if cultivated,
would yield fifty thousand rupees annually; but he cannot create more
_vasi_, unless he could animate the prostrate forms which lie scattered
around him. It was his daughter who was married to prince Amra, and who,
though only seventeen, withstood all solicitation to save her from the
pyre on his demise.[11.14.7] I made use of the strongest arguments,
through her uncle, then at Udaipur, promising to use my influence to
increase his estate, and doubtless his poverty reinforced his
inclination; but all was in vain—she determined “to expiate the sins of
her lord.” Having remained two or three days, we continued our journey
in quest of the antique and the picturesque, and found both at Menal.
[Illustration:
TEMPLES OF MENĀL.
In Mewār.
_To face page 1800._
]
=Menāl or Mahānāl=, _February 21._—It is fortunate that the pencil can
here portray what transcends the power of the pen; to it we shall,
therefore, leave the architectural wonders of Mahanal, and succinctly
describe the site. It is difficult to conceive what [746] could have
induced the princely races of Chitor or Ajmer to select such a spot as
an appanage for the cadets of their families, which in summer must be a
furnace, owing to the reflection of the sun’s rays from the rock:
tradition, indeed, asserts that it is to the love of the sublime alone
we are indebted for these singular structures. The name is derived from
the position Mahanal, ‘the great chasm,’ or cleft in the western face of
the Patar, presenting an abyss of about four hundred feet in depth, over
which, at a sharp re-entering angle, falls a cascade, and though now but
a rill, it must be a magnificent object in the rainy season. Within this
dell it would be death to enter: gloomy as Erebus, crowded with majestic
foliage entangled by the twisted boughs of the Amarvela, and affording
cover to all description of the inhabitants, quadruped and feathered, of
the forest. On the very brink of the precipice, overhanging the abyss,
is the group of mixed temples and dwellings, which bear the name of
Prithiraj (_vide_ Plate); while those on the opposite side are
distinguished by that of Samarsi of Chitor, the brother-in-law of the
Chauhan emperor of Delhi and Ajmer, whose wife, Pirthabai, has been
immortalized by Chand, with her husband and brother.[11.14.8] Here, the
grand cleft between them, these two last bulwarks of the Rajput races
were accustomed to meet with their families, and pass days of
affectionate intercourse, in which no doubt the political condition of
India was a prominent topic of discussion. If we may believe, and we
have no reason to distrust, the testimony of Chand, had Prithiraj
listened to the counsel of the Ulysses of the Hindus (in which light
Samarsi was regarded by friend and foe), the Islamite never would have
been lord of Hindustan. But the indomitable courage and enthusiastic
enterprise of Prithiraj sunk them all; and when neither wisdom nor
valour could save him from destruction, the heroic prince of Chitor was
foremost to court it. Both fell on the banks of the Ghaggar, amidst
heroes of every tribe in Rajputana. It was indeed to them, as the bard
justly terms it, _pralaya_, the day of universal doom; and the last
field maintained for their national dependence. To me, who have pored
over their poetic legends, and imbibed all those sympathies which none
can avoid who study the Rajput character, there was a melancholy charm
in the solemn ruins of Menal. It was a season, too, when everything
conspired to nourish this feeling; the very trees which were crowded
about these relics of departed glory, appearing by their leafless boughs
and lugubrious aspect to join in the universal mourning.
[Illustration:
SECOND GROUP OF TEMPLES OF MENĀL.
In Mewār.
_To face page 1802._
]
=Inscriptions from Menāl.=—We found many inscriptions at Mahanal, and of
one I shall here insert a free [747] translation, as it may be applied
hereafter to the correction of the chronology of the Haras, of which
race it contains a memorial.
“By Asapurna[11.14.9] [the fulfiller of our desires] the
_kula-devi_[11.14.10] [tutelary goddess] of the race, by whose favour
hidden treasures are revealed, and through whose power many Chauhan
kings have ruled the earth, of which race was Bhanwardhan,[11.14.11] who
in the field of strife attained the desires of victory. Of his race was
the tribe of Hara, of which was Kulan,[11.14.12] of illustrious and pure
descent in both races; whose fame was fair as the rays of the moon. From
him was Jaipal,[11.14.13] who obtained the fruits of the good works of
his former existence in the present garb of royalty; and whose subjects
prayed they might never know another sovereign. From him was
Devaraj,[11.14.14] the lord of the land, who gave whatever was desired,
and whose wish was to render mankind happy. He delighted in the dance
and the song. His son was Harraj,[11.14.15] whose frame was a piece of
fire; who, in the field of battle, conquered renown from the princes of
the land [Bhumeswar], and dragged the spoils of victory from their
pinnacled abodes.
“From him were the lords of Bumbaoda,[11.14.16] whose land yielded to
them its fruits. From Devaraj was Ritpal,[11.14.17] who made the
rebellious bow the head, or trod them under foot, as did Kapila the sons
of Sagara. From him was Kelhan, the chief of his tribe, whose son Kuntal
resembled Dharmaraj; he had a younger brother, called Deda. Of his wife,
Rajaldevi, a son was born to Kuntal, fair as the offspring of the
ocean.[11.14.18] He was named Mahadeva. He was [in wisdom] fathomless as
the sea, and in battle immovable as Sumeru; in gifts he was the
Kalpa-vriksha[11.14.19] of Indra. He laid the dust raised by the hoofs
of hostile steeds, by the blood of his foes. The sword [748] grasped in
his extended arm dazzled the eye of his enemy, as when uplifted o’er the
head of Ami Shah he rescued the Lord of Medpat, and dragged Kaita from
his grasp, as is Chandra from Rahu.[11.14.20] He trod the Sultan’s army
under foot, as does the ox the corn; even as did the Danavas (demons)
churn the ocean, so did Mahadeva the field of strife, seizing the gem
(_ratna_) of victory from the son of the King, and bestowing it on
Kaita, the lord of men. From the centre even to the skirts of space, did
the fame of his actions extend, pure as curdled milk. He had a son,
Durjan, on whom he bestowed the title of Jivaraj[11.14.21] (Jeojraj),
who had two brothers, Subutsal and Kumbhakarna.[11.14.22]
“Here, at Mahanal, the lord of the land, Mahadeva, made a mandir, in
whose variously-sculptured wall this treasure [the inscribed tablet] is
concealed. This (the temple) is an epitome of the universe, whose
pinnacle (_sikhara_) sparkles like a gem. The mind of Mahadeva is bent
on devotion in Mahanal, the emblem of Kailas, where the Brahmans perform
varied rites. While the science of arms endures, may the renown of
Mahadeva never perish;[11.14.23] and until Ganges ceases to flow, and
Sumeru to be immovable, may this memorial of Mahadeva abide fixed at
Mahanal. This invocation _to_ Mahadeva was made _by_ Mahadeva, and by
the Brahman Dhaneswar, the dweller in Chitrakot (Chitor), was this
_prashishta_ composed:
_Arka_, _Gun_, _Chandra_, _Indu_.
“The month of Baisakh (_sudi_), the seventh. By Viradhawal, the
architect (_silpi_), learned in the works of architecture
(_silpasastra_) was this temple erected.”
The cryptographic date, contained in the above four words, is not the
least curious part of this inscription, to which I did not even look
when composing the Bundi annals, and which is another of the many
powerful proofs of the general fidelity of their poetic chronicles
[749].
Arka is the sun, and denotes the number 12; Gun is the three principal
passions of the mind; and Chandra and Indu each stand for one: thus,
Arka, Gun, Chandra, Indu.
12. 3. 1. 1.
and this “concealed (_gupta_) treasure,” alluded to in the inscription,
must be read backwards. But either my expounder, or the Silpi, was out,
and had I not found S. 1446 in a corner, we should never have known the
value of this treasure. Many inscriptions are useless from their dates
being thus enigmatically expressed; and I subjoin, in a note, a few of
the magic runes, which may aid others to decipher them.[11.14.24]
I was more successful in another inscription of Irna or Arnadeva (fam.
Arandeo), who appears to have held the entire Uparmal as a fief of
Ajmer, and who is conspicuous in the Bijolia inscription. Of this,
suffice it to say, that it records his having “made the gateway to
Menal, otherwise termed the city of Someswar”; and the date is
_Anal_, _Nand_, _Ind_, _Ind_.
3. 9. 1. 1.
_Anal_ (fire) stands for three, denoting the third eye of Mahadeva,
which is eventually to cause _pralaya_, or ‘destruction.’ Nand stands
for _nine_, or the Nau-nand of their ancient histories. _Indu_, the moon
(twice repeated), is _one_, and the whole, read backwards, is S. 1193,
or A.D. 1137.
In the mandir of Samarsi, we found the fragment of another inscription,
dated S. 12-2, and containing the eulogy of Samarsi and Arnaraj, lord of
the region; also the name of “Prithiraj, who destroyed the barbarians”;
and concluding with Sawant Singh.
=Begūn=,[11.14.25] _February_.—We commenced our march at break of day,
along the very crest [750] of the Patar; but the thick woods through
which lay our path did not allow us a peep at the plains of Medpat until
we reached the peak, where once stood the castle of Alu Hara. But silent
were the walls of Bumbaoda; desolation was in the courts of Alu Hara. We
could trace, however, the plan of this famed residence of a hero, which
consisted of an exterior and an interior castle, the latter being a
hundred and seventy cubits by a hundred and twelve. There are the ruins
of three Jain temples, to Siva, Hanuman, and Dharmaraja, the Hindu
Minos; also three tanks, one of which was in excellent preservation.
There are likewise the remains of one hall, called the Andhyari Kothri,
or ‘dark chamber,’ perhaps that in which Alu (according to tradition)
locked up his nephew, when he carried his feud into the desert. The site
commands an extensive view of the plains of Mewar, and of the
Arneo-ghati (pass), down the side of the mountain, to the valley of
Begun. Beneath, on a ledge of rock, guarding the ascent, was the
gigantic statue of Jogini Mata, placed on the very verge of the
precipice, and overlooking one of the noblest prospects in nature. The
hill here forms a re-entering angle of considerable depth, the sides
scarped, lofty, and wooded to the base; all the plain below is covered
with lofty trees, over whose tops the parasitic Amarvela forms an
umbrageous canopy, extending from rock to rock, and if its superfluous
supports were removed, it would form a sylvan hall, where twenty
thousand men might assemble.
Over this magnificent scenery ‘our Queen of the Pass’ looks grimly down;
but now there is neither foe to oppose, nor scion of Bumbaoda to guard.
I could not learn exactly who had levelled the castle of Alu Hara,
although it would appear to have been the act of the lord paramount of
Chitor, on whose land it is situated; it is now within the fief of
Begun. We have already given one legend of Alu; another from the spot
may not be unacceptable.
=Tale of a Bard.=—In one of the twenty-four castles dependent on
Bumbaoda, resided Lalaji, a kinsman of Alu. He had one daughter, in
whose name he sent the coco-nut to his liege lord, the Rana of Chitor;
but the honour was declined. The family priest was returning across the
_antri_, when he encountered the heir of Chitor returning from the
chase, who, on learning the cause of the holy man’s grief, determined to
remove it by taking the nuptial symbol himself. He dismissed the priest,
telling him he should soon appear to claim his bride. Accordingly, with
an escort befitting the heir of Chitor, and accompanied by a bard then
on a visit to the Rana, he set out for Bumbaoda. Bhimsen Bardai was a
native of Benares, and happened to pass through Mewar on his way [751]
to Cutch-Bhuj, at the very period when all ‘the sons of rhyme’ were
under sentence of exile from Mewar: a fate which we frequently find
attending the fraternity in this country. The cause of this expatriation
was as follows; an image of the deity had been discovered in clearing
out the waters of the lake, of a form so exquisitely beautiful as to
enchant every eye. But the position of the arms was singular; one
pointed upwards, another downwards, a third horizontally towards the
observer. The handwriting on the wall could not have more appalled the
despot of Babylon than this _putli_ of Chaturbhuja, or ‘image of the
four-armed god.’ The prophetic seers were convened from all parts; but
neither the Bhats nor the Charans, nor even the cunning Brahman, could
interpret the prodigy; until, at length, the bard of the Jarejas arrived
and expounded the riddle. He showed that the finger pointing upwards
imported that there was one Indra, lord of heaven; and that downwards
was directed to the sovereign of Patal (hell); whilst that which pointed
to the Rana indicated that _he_ was lord of the central region
(Medpat);[11.14.26] which being geographically correct, his
interpretation was approved, and met with such reward, that he became
the _pat-bardai_, or chief bard to Hamir, who, at his intercession,
recalled his banished brethren, exacting in return for such favours that
‘he would extend the palm to no mortal but himself.’ This was the bard
who accompanied the heir of Chitor to espouse the daughter of Bumbaoda.
The castle of the Hara was thronged; the sound of mirth and revelry rang
through the castle-halls, and the bards, who from all parts assembled to
sing the glories of the Haras, were loaded with gifts. Bhimsen could not
withstand the offering made by the lord of the Patar, a horse richly
caparisoned, splendid clothes, and a huge bag of money: as the bard of
the Haras (who told me the tale) remarked, “although he had more than
enough, who can forget habit? We are beggars (Mangtas) as well as poets
by profession.” So, after many excuses, he allowed the gift to be left;
but his soul detested the sin of his eye, and resolving to expiate the
crime, he buried his dagger in his heart. Cries rent the air; “the
sacred bard of Chitor is slain!” met the ear of its prince at the very
moment of _hatheli_ (junction of hands). He dropped the hand of his
bride, and demanded vengeance. It was now the Hara’s turn to be
offended; to break off the nuptials at such a moment was redoubling the
insult already offered by his father, and a course which not even the
bard’s death could justify. The heir of Chitor was conducted forthwith
outside Bumbaoda; but he soon returned with the troops of Chitor, and
hostilities commenced where festivity so lately reigned. Phalgun
approached, and the spring-hunt of the Aheria could not be deferred,
though foes were [752] around. Lalaji, father of the bride, went with a
chosen band to slay a boar to Gauri, in the plains of Tukarai; but
Kaitsi heard of it, and attacked them. Alike prepared for the fight or
the feast, the Hara accepted the unequal combat; and the father and
lover of the bride rushed on each other, spear in hand, and fell by
mutual wounds.
The pyres were prepared within the walls of Bumbaoda, whither the
vassals bore the bodies of their lords; on one was placed the prince of
Chitor, on the other the Hara kinsman; and while the virgin bride
ascended with the dead body of the prince, her mother was consumed on
that where her father lay. It was on this event that the imprecation was
pronounced that “Rana and Rao should never meet at the spring-hunt
(Aheria) but death should ensue.” We have recorded, in the annals of the
Haras, two subsequent occasions; and to complete their quatrain, they
have made the defeat of Rana Mokal (called Kumbha in the Annals, see
page 1471) fill up the gap. Thus:
_Hāmu Mokal mariyo,
Lālē Kheta jān,
Sujē Ratan samghāriyo
Ajmal Arasi rān._
In repeating these stanzas, the descendant of Alu Hara may find some
consolation for the mental sufferings he endures when he casts a glance
upon the ruins of Bumbaoda and its twenty-four subordinate castles, not
one of which now contains a Hara:
And there they stand, as stands a lofty mind,
Worn, but unstooping to the baser crowd;
All tenantless, save to the crannying wind,
Or holding dark communion with the cloud.[11.14.27]
That these ruins make a powerful appeal to the Hara, I can prove by
letters I received in October last year, when, in obedience to a mandate
of the ‘Queen of the Pass,’ a band collected at her shrine to obey her
behest, whatever that might be.
* * * * *
Extract from Akhbar (newspaper), dated Bundi, October 18, 1820.
“Warrants were sent to all the chiefs for their attendance at the
capital to celebrate the festival of the Dasahra. The whole of the
chiefs and landholders came, with the exception of the Thakurs of Bar,
who returned the following reply:—'We have received a communication
(_paigham_) from Sri Bhavani of Bumbaoda, who commands us no longer to
put the plough in the soil, but to sell our horses and our cattle [753],
and with the amount to purchase sixty-four[11.14.28] buffaloes and
thirty-two goats, for a general sacrifice to Mataji, by obeying which we
shall repossess Bumbaoda.' Accordingly, no sooner was this known, than
several others joined them, both from Bundi and Kotah. The Thakur of Bar
had prepared dinner near the statue of Mata for two hundred, instead of
which five hundred assembled; yet not only were they all abundantly
satisfied, but some food remained, which convinced the people there that
the story (the communication) was true.”
This was from Bundi; but the following was from my old, steady, and
faithful Brahman, Balgovind, who was actually on the spot, dated “Menal,
1st Kartik:—A few days ago, there was a grand sacrifice to Jogini Mata,
when thirty-one buffaloes and fifty-three goats were slain. Upon two
_bakras_ (he-goats), three Haras tried their swords in vain; they could
not touch a single hair, at which all were much surprised. These goats
were afterwards turned loose to feed where they pleased, and were called
_amar_ (immortal).”
Not a comment was made upon this, either by the sensible Balgovind or
the Yati Gyanji, who was with him. There was, therefore, no time to be
lost in preventing an explosion from five hundred brave Haras, deeming
themselves convened at the express command of Bhavani, to whom the
sacrifice proved thus acceptable; and I sent to the Raja to break up the
party, which was effected. It, however, shows what an easy matter it is
to work upon the credulity through the feelings of these brave men.
I left the spot, hallowed by many feelings towards the silent walls of
Bumbaoda. We wound our way down the rocky steep, giving a look to the
‘mother of the maids of slaughter’ as we passed, and after a short
passage across the entrance of the valley, encamped in a fine grove of
trees close to the town of Begun. The Rawat, descendant of ‘the black
cloud,’ came out to meet me; but he is yet a stranger to the happiness
that awaits him—the restoration of more than half of his estate, which
has been in the hands of the Mahratta Sindhia since A.D. 1791 [754].
-----
Footnote 11.14.1:
[Bijolia, close to the Būndi border, about 112 miles N.E. of Udaipur
city (Erskine ii. A. 99 f.).]
Footnote 11.14.2:
[Sākambhari has no connexion with _sākha_: the name means
herb-nourishing.']
Footnote 11.14.3:
[The story that Vigraharāja or Vīsaladeva, Chauhān, wrested Delhi from
the Tomaras depends on doubtful authority (Smith, _EHI_, 387).]
Footnote 11.14.4:
[Bhīma II. Chaulukya of Gujarāt, known as Bhola, ‘the simpleton’ (A.D.
1179-1242). The statements in the text lack authority (_BG_, i. Part
i. 195 ff.).]
Footnote 11.14.5:
I have never had time to learn the purport of this inscription, but
hold it, together with a host of others, at the service of those who
desire to expound them. For myself, without my old Guru, I am like a
ship without helm or compass (as Chand would say) “in ploughing the
ocean of (Sanskrit) rhyme.” [Both these inscriptions are dated A.D.
1170. That recording the Chauhān genealogy is printed (p. 1456). The
other is a Jain poem called _Unnāthshikar Purān_, still unpublished
(Erskine ii. A. 100).]
Footnote 11.14.6:
[‘Those whose robe is the atmosphere,’ the ‘naked’ section of the
Jains (Bühler-Burgess, _The Indian Sect of the Jainas_, 2).]
Footnote 11.14.7:
See _Transactions Royal Asiatic Society_, vol. i. p. 152.
Footnote 11.14.8:
[Menāl possesses a monastery and Saiva temple constructed, according
to the inscriptions which they bear, in A.D. 1169 by Bhav Brahm,
Sādhu; also a palace and temple built a year earlier by the wife of
the famous Prithirāj, Chauhān, whose name was Suhav Devi, known as
Rūthi Rāni, ‘the testy queen’ (Erskine ii. A. 95, quoting H. Cousens,
_Progress Report Archaeological Survey W. India_, for the year ending
June 30, 1905).]
Footnote 11.14.9:
_Āsā_, is literally, ‘Hope.’
Footnote 11.14.10:
Goddess of the race.
Footnote 11.14.11:
‘The wealth of the bee’; such are the metaphorical appellations
amongst the Rajputs.
Footnote 11.14.12:
This is the prince who crawled to Kedarnath (see p. 1463), and son of
Rainsi, the emigrant prince from Asir, who is perhaps here designated
as ‘the wealth of the bee.’ This was in S. 1353, or A.D. 1297.
Footnote 11.14.13:
Jaipal (‘fosterer of victory’) must be the prince familiarly called
Bango in the Annals (p. 1464), and not the grandson but the son of
Kulan—there said to have taken Menal or Mahanal.
Footnote 11.14.14:
Dewa is the son of Banga (p. 1464), and founder of Bundi, in S. 1398,
or A.D. 1342.
Footnote 11.14.15:
Harraj, elder son of Dewa, became lord of Bumbaoda by the abdication
of his father, who thenceforth resided at his conquest at Bundi. (See
p. 1467.)
Footnote 11.14.16:
Harraj had twelve sons, the eldest of whom, the celebrated Alu Hara,
succeeded to Bumbaoda. (See p. 1470.)
Footnote 11.14.17:
Here we quit the direct line of descent, going back to Dewa. Ritpal,
in all probability, was the offspring of one of the twelve sons of
Harraj, having Menal as a fief of Bumbaoda.
Footnote 11.14.18:
In the original, “fair as Chandrama (the moon), the offspring of
Samudra (the ocean).” In Hindu mythology, the moon is a male divinity,
and son of the ocean, which supplies a favourite metaphor to the
Bardai,—the sea expanding with delight at the sight of his child,
denoting the ebb and flow of the waters.
Footnote 11.14.19:
[The Kalpatara, Kalpalata, or Kalpavriksha is one of the fabulous
trees in Swarga, the paradise of Indra, which grants all desires.]
Footnote 11.14.20:
This Ami Shah can only be the Pathan [Mughal] emperor Humayun, who
enjoyed a short and infamous celebrity; and Mahadeo, the Hara prince
of Mahanal, who takes the credit of rescuing prince Kaitsi, must have
been one of the great feudatories, perhaps generalissimo of the armies
of Mewar (Medpat). It will be pleasing to the lovers of legendary lore
to learn, from a singular tale, which we shall relate when we get to
Bumbaoda, that if on one occasion he owed his rescue to the Hara, the
last on another took the life he gave; and as it is said he abdicated
in favour of his son Durjan, whom he constituted Jivaraj, or king
(_raj_), while he was yet in life (_jiva_), it is not unlikely that,
in order to atone for the crime of treason to his sovereign lord, he
abandoned the _gaddi_ of Menal.
Footnote 11.14.21:
Here it is distinctly avowed that Mahadeva, having constituted his son
Jivaraj, passed his days in devotion in the temple he had founded.
Footnote 11.14.22:
Pronounced Kumbhkaran, ‘a ray of the Kumbha,’ the vessel emblematic of
Ceres, and elsewhere described. [Kumbhakarna means ‘having ears like
waterpots,’ the name of a demon, brother of Rāvana, killed by Rāma,
according to the story in the Rāmāyana epic.]
Footnote 11.14.23:
It appears he did not forget he _had_ been a warrior.
Footnote 11.14.24:
_Indu_ (the moon) 1
_Paksheo_ (the two fortnights) 2
_Netra_ (the three eyes of Siva) 3
_Veda_ (the four holy books) 4
_Sar_ (the five arrows of Kamdeo, or Cupid) 5
_Shashth_ (the six seasons, of two months each) 6
_Jaladhi_ (the seven seas, or Samudras) 7
_Sidah_ 8
_Nidh_ (the nine planets) 9
_Dik_ (the ten corners of the globe) 10
_Rudra_ (a name of Siva) 11
_Arka_ (the sun) 12
Footnote 11.14.25:
[Begūn about 20 miles E.N.E. of Udaipur city.]
Footnote 11.14.26:
[Medpāt means ‘land of the Med tribe.’]
Footnote 11.14.27:
[Byron, _Childe Harold_, ii. 47.]
Footnote 11.14.28:
A number sacred (according to Chand) to this goddess, who is chief of
the sixty-four Joginis.
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