King Mansing of Sirohi was a very brave Rajput; but he had one fault.
He was greatly addicted to opium, of which he used to drink daily vast
quantities from the hand of his favourite queen. Now it so happened
that the Emperor of Delhi came to Rajputana and camped outside the
walls of Sirohi. All night long the emperor and his nobles drank deep
and revelled, while beautiful dancing girls sang to them lascivious
songs. The noise of the music and the dancing could be heard from King
Mansing’s palace; and all one night, as the king slept, his favourite
queen sat up and listened to it. When Mansing awoke, his queen gave him
his opium. As he drank it, she talked about the wonderful revels of the
emperor and the noise of his music and the lights that blazed all night
in his camp. At first Mansing paid no heed to his queen’s chatter; but
at last he got cross and told her not to mention in his presence the
name of the Mleccha emperor. The queen was so infatuated with what she
had seen and heard that she would not stop, but began to compare the
gaiety of the emperor’s camp with the dullness of life in Sirohi. At
last the king lost all patience and boxing his wife’s ears told her
that if she thought so much of the emperor’s camp, she had better go
there.
The queen left the room in a rage and all that day brooded over the
king’s words. That night she took her maid with her and stole out of
the palace and through the city walls into the emperor’s camp. When she
reached his tent, she sent her maid to tell the emperor. He was
listening to the singing of his dancing girls and the music of his
players; but as soon as he learnt that the queen was outside, he
stopped the music and the singing and had the queen brought before him
with the greatest respect. As she entered the tent the whole company
rose and greeted her. The emperor asked her why she had come. She
replied “Grant me a boon, shelter of the world, and I shall tell you.”
The emperor replied “The boon is yours; you have but to name it.” The
queen told the emperor all that had happened and claimed as a boon that
the emperor should marry her. After she had spoken, she took the
emperor’s cup in her hands and drank from it, thus breaking her caste
in the sight of all. The emperor had no wish to quarrel with King
Mansing of Sirohi, but having made the queen a promise, he had to keep
it. He called the kazi and married the queen. The same night he left
Sirohi and marched back to Delhi.
The king had seen the queen leave his room in a rage, but he thought no
more of the matter until next morning, when she did not come with his
opium. He sent for her; but as she did not come he called her maids and
forced from their trembling lips the truth. The king said nothing, but
swallowing a prodigious quantity of opium, he put on his armour and
summoned his chiefs and nobles. When they had assembled, he told them
that the emperor had seduced his queen and then like a coward had run
away to Delhi. The chiefs and nobles all vowed vengeance and bade the
king call out his troops. At noon the king held a great parade; but
when he came to count his warriors, he found that they barely numbered
6,000. On hearing this, the king’s minister Motishah told him that he
could do nothing with only 6,000 men against the 120,000 men led by the
emperor. “What then can I do?” cried the king. “Let us go to Delhi in
disguise,” said Motishah. “There we shall be able to hit on some plan
to win back the queen.” The king agreed; and disguising themselves as
two Rajput soldiers, he and Motishah rode from Sirohi to Delhi. At
Delhi they put up with a mali woman, who worked in the imperial
gardens. From her they learnt that the emperor fearing a rescue, had
dug round the queen’s palace no less than seven trenches. Of these six
were filled with water and the inner one with fire. Outside the
trenches he had built a mighty wall.
That night the king and Motishah disguised as mendicants, but with
swords and shields hidden beneath their yellow robes sallied forth to
the queen’s palace. On coming to the wall, Motishah climbed on to the
king’s shoulders and thence on to the wall. He let down his turban and
by its means hauled the king after him. As both could swim, they easily
crossed the six water trenches. They had hoped to find the fire-trench
burning low at night. But the king’s guards before going home had
filled it with fresh wood and it was burning fiercely. Motishah threw
his shield into the middle and jumped on to it. But so great was the
heat that he soon felt that his legs would be burnt off. So keeping his
right leg on the shield, he kept his left leg as high as he could, to
save it from the flames. He supported himself on his spear while the
king sprang on his shoulders and leapt to the far side of the trench.
Near the palace was a tall palm tree. Mansing climbed it and reaching
the top, tied his turban to one of the branches. He then swung on his
turban to and fro until he was able to swing into one of the windows of
the upper storey of the palace. He tied his turban to the window sill
and went inside. In a room close by he saw his queen sleeping with the
emperor. At first he felt so angry that he would have killed them both,
as they slept. Then he remembered that he was a Rajput and that it was
wrong to kill a helpless enemy. So he woke the queen and with the point
of his sword at her throat, he made her get up without waking the
emperor. Tying a rope round her arms and legs and throwing her like a
bundle across his back, he swung back to the palm tree by his turban
and slid to the ground.
Poor Motishah’s right leg was by this time all but burnt off; but when
he saw the king coming back he put his left leg on the shield and over
his shoulders the king climbed across the fire trench. But he could not
save his minister. No sooner had Mansing reached safety than poor
Motishah fainted and falling into the trench was burnt to ashes.
Mansing swam with his queen on his back across the six water trenches.
By the aid of Motishah’s turban, which still hung from the wall, he
climbed over it and pulled his wife after him. He seated her on his
horse and mounting Motishah’s mare, galloped off towards Sirohi. When
they had ridden some fifty miles, Mansing stopped to have his morning
dose of opium. He then discovered for the first time that he had
dropped his opium box inside the emperor’s palace. Addicted as he was
to the drug, he could do without food, but he could not do without his
opium. It would have been useless for him to ride further, for he would
have fallen off the saddle. After stamping on the ground several times
with rage, he tied his queen to a tree. Then he lay down on the ground
and covering his head with a sheet fell asleep.
In the meantime the emperor had awakened and had missed the Sirohi
queen. He asked his guards and his servants and searched everywhere for
her but in vain. Then his eyes fell on Mansing’s gold opium box. He
picked it up and saw engraved on it the name “Mansing.” He summoned to
him his nobles and called for a volunteer to chase Mansing and bring
him back alive. A Musulman noble famed for his courage rose, saluted
the emperor and promised to bring the king back alive. He galloped
towards Sirohi and after riding 50 miles overtook the king and queen.
Mansing still lay asleep. The Musulman noble untied the queen but he
refused to kill Mansing, although she begged him to. He must bring him
back alive, the Musulman said. He would give the king opium and then
take him back to Delhi. “If you give him opium,” said the queen, “you
will never take him alive, he will kill you.” The Musulman did not heed
her, but mixing opium with water he poured it down Mansing’s throat.
Directly Mansing recovered his senses, he refused to go back to Delhi.
He sprang on his horse and fought the Musulman. But Mansing was still
faint from his long privation and the Musulman disarmed him and tied
him to a tree. Leaving the queen to guard her husband the Musulman went
down the steps of a well to wash his face and hands. The queen seeing
her chance, picked up Mansing’s sword as it lay on the ground and
struck a blow at his head. Mansing jerked his head aside. The blade
missed his head and grazing his side cut through the rope which bound
him. In a moment he was free. Rushing at the queen, he twisted the
sword from her hand and tied her to the tree. He mixed himself some
more opium. Then arming himself with sword and shield, he went to the
mouth of the well and challenged the Musulman to a second fight. The
Musulman came out of the well, but now that Mansing had had his full
dose of opium, no one in the world could have beaten him. With a single
sweep of his sword he severed the Musulman’s head from his body. Then
tying his wife’s hands and feet to her horse, he rode back with her in
triumph to Sirohi. There all the nobles and common people rejoiced at
the king’s feat of arms and were very angry with the queen, who had
first left him and then had tried to kill him. Mansing had her tied to
a pillar in the market place. There everyone threw bricks and stones at
her or hit her head with their shoes. She soon died and her body was
burnt outside the city walls.
The emperor was very angry when he heard that Mansing had killed the
brave Musulman noble. He raised a great army and marched against
Sirohi. Yet small though the Sirohi army was, it won repeated victories
over the Moghul troops. At last the emperor challenged the king to a
duel, but the emperor was no match for the Rajput king. He was soon
wounded and disarmed. As the price of his life, he agreed to make a
treaty by which he gave great wealth and wide lands to the king of
Sirohi.