=The Refugee Queen.=—Of the prince’s family, the queen Pushpavati alone
escaped the sack of Valabhi, as well as the funeral pyre, upon which, on
the death of Siladitya, his other wives were sacrificed. She was a
daughter of the Pramara prince of Chandravati [221], and had visited the
shrine of the universal mother, Amba-Bhavani, in her native land, to
deposit upon the altar of the goddess a votive offering consequent to
her expectation of offspring. She was on her return, when the
intelligence arrived which blasted all her future hopes, by depriving
her of her lord, and robbing him, whom the goddess had just granted to
her prayers, of a crown. Excessive grief closed her pilgrimage. Taking
refuge in a cave in the mountains of Malia, she was delivered of a son.
Having confided the infant to a Brahmani of Birnagar named Kamlavati,
enjoining her to educate the young prince as a Brahman, but to marry him
to a Rajputni,[4.2.1] she mounted the funeral pile to join her lord.
Kamlavati, the daughter of the priest of the temple, was herself a
mother, and she performed the tender offices of one to the orphan
prince, whom she designated Goha, or ‘cave-born.’[4.2.2] The child was a
source of perpetual uneasiness to its protectors: he associated with
Rajput children, killing birds, hunting wild animals, and at the age of
eleven was totally unmanageable: to use the words of the legend, “How
should they hide the ray of the sun?”
=The Legend of Goha.=—At this period Idar was governed by a chief of the
savage race of Bhil; his name, Mandalika.[4.2.3] The young Goha
frequented the forests in company with the Bhils, whose habits better
assimilated with his daring nature than those of the Brahmans. He became
a favourite with the Vanaputras, or ‘children of the forest,’ who
resigned to him Idar with its woods and mountains. The fact is mentioned
by Abu-l Fazl,[4.2.4] and is still repeated by the bards, with a
characteristic version of the incident, of which doubtless there were
many. The Bhils having determined in sport to elect a king, the choice
fell on Goha; and one of the young savages, cutting his finger, applied
the blood as the tīka of sovereignty to his forehead. What was done in
sport was confirmed by the old forest chief. The sequel fixes on Goha
the stain of ingratitude, for he slew his benefactor, and no motive is
assigned in the legend for the deed. Goha’s name became the patronymic
of his descendants, who were styled Guhilot, classically Grahilot, in
time softened to Gehlot.
We know very little concerning these early princes but that they dwelt
in this mountainous region for eight generations; when the Bhils, tired
of a foreign rule, assailed Nagaditya, the eighth prince, while hunting,
and deprived him of life and Idar. The descendants of Kamlavati (the
Birnagar Brahmani), who retained the office of priest in the family,
were again the preservers of the line of Valabhi. The infant Bappa, son
of Nagaditya [222], then only three years old, was conveyed to the
fortress of Bhander,[4.2.5] where he was protected by a Bhil of Yadu
descent. Thence he was removed for greater security to the wilds of
Parasar. Within its impervious recesses rose the three-peaked
(_trikuta_) mountain, at whose base was the town of Nagindra,[4.2.6] the
abode of Brahmans, who performed the rites of the ‘great god.’ In this
retreat passed the early years of Bappa, wandering through these Alpine
valleys, amidst the groves of Bal and the shrines of the brazen calf.
The most antique temples are to be seen in these spots—within the dark
gorge of the mountain, or on its rugged summit—in the depths of the
forest, and at the sources of streams, where sites of seclusion, beauty,
and sublimity alternately exalt the mind’s devotion. In these regions
the creative power appears to have been the earliest, and at one time
the sole, object of adoration, whose symbols, the serpent-wreathed
phallus (lingam), and its companion, the bull, were held sacred even by
the ‘children of the forest.’ In these silent retreats Mahadeva
continued to rule triumphant, and the most brilliant festivities of
Udaipur were those where his rites are celebrated in the nine days
sacred to him, when the Jains and Vaishnavas mix with the most zealous
of his votaries; but the strange gods from the plains of the Yamuna and
Ganges have withdrawn a portion of the zeal of the Guhilots from their
patron divinity Eklinga, whose diwan,[4.2.7] or viceregent, is the Rana.
The temple of Eklinga, situated in one of the narrow defiles leading to
the capital, is an immense structure, though more sumptuous than
elegant. It is built entirely of white marble, most elaborately carved
and embellished; but lying in the route of a bigoted foe, it has
undergone many dilapidations. The brazen bull, placed under his own
dome, facing the sanctuary of the phallus, is nearly of the natural
size, in a recumbent posture. It is cast (hollow) of good shape, highly
polished and without flaw, except where the hammer of the Tatar had
opened a passage in the hollow flank in search of treasure[4.2.8] [223].
=The Marriage of Bappa.=—Tradition has preserved numerous details of
Bappa’s[4.2.9] infancy, which resembles the adventures of every hero or
founder of a race. The young prince attended the sacred kine, an
occupation which was honourable even to the ‘children of the sun,’ and
which they still pursue: possibly a remnant of their primitive Scythic
habits. The pranks of the royal shepherd are the theme of many a tale.
On the Jhal Jhulni, when swinging is the amusement of the youth of both
sexes, the daughter of the Solanki chief of Nagda and the village
maidens had gone to the groves to enjoy this festivity, but they were
unprovided with ropes. Bappa happened to be at hand, and was called by
the Rajput damsels to forward their sport. He promised to procure a rope
if they would first have a game at marriage. One frolic was as good as
another, and the scarf of the Solankini was united to the garment of
Bappa, the whole of the village lasses joining hands with his as the
connecting link; and thus they performed the mystical number of
revolutions round an aged tree. This frolic caused his flight from
Nagda, and originated his greatness, but at the same time burthened him
with all these damsels; and hence a heterogeneous issue, whose
descendants still ascribe their origin to the prank of Bappa round the
old mango-tree of Nagda. A suitable offer being shortly after made for
the young Solankini’s hand, the family priests of the bridegroom, whose
duty it was, by his knowledge of palmistry, to investigate the fortunes
of the bride, discovered that she was already married: intelligence
which threw the family into the greatest consternation.[4.2.10] Though
Bappa’s power over his brother shepherds was too strong to create any
dread of disclosure as to his being the principal in this affair, yet
was it too much to expect that a secret, in which no less than six
hundred of the daughters of Eve were concerned, could long remain such?
Bappa’s mode of swearing his companions to secrecy is preserved. Digging
a small pit, and taking a pebble in his hand, “Swear,” cried he,
“secrecy and obedience to me in good and in evil; that you will reveal
to me all that you hear, and failing, desire that the good deeds of your
forefathers may, like this pebble (dropping it into the pit) fall into
the Washerman’s well.”[4.2.11] They took the oath. The Solanki chief,
however, heard that [224] Bappa was the offender, who, receiving from
his faithful scouts intimation of his danger, sought refuge in one of
the retreats which abound in these mountains, and which in after-times
proved the preservation of his race. The companions of his flight were
two Bhils: one of Undri, in the valley of the present capital; the other
of Solanki descent, from Oghna Panarwa, in the western wilds. Their
names, Baleo and Dewa, have been handed down with Bappa’s; and the
former had the honour of drawing the tika of sovereignty with his own
blood on the forehead of the prince, on the occasion of his taking the
crown from the Mori.[4.2.12] It is pleasing to trace, through a series
of ages, the knowledge of a custom still ‘honoured in the observance.’
The descendants of Baleo of Oghna and the Undri Bhil still claim the
privilege of performing the tika on the inauguration of the descendants
of Bappa.
=Oghna Panarwa.=—Oghna Panarwa is the sole spot in India which enjoys a
state of natural freedom. Attached to no State, having no foreign
communications, living under its own patriarchal head, its chief, with
the title of Rana, whom one thousand hamlets scattered over the
forest-crowned valleys obey, can, if requisite, appear at ‘the head of
five thousand bows.’ He is a Bhumia Bhil of mixed blood, from the
Solanki Rajput, on the old stock of pure (ujla) Bhils, the autochthones
(if such there be of any country) of Mewar. Besides making the tika of
blood from an incision in the thumb, the Oghna chief takes the prince by
the arm and seats him on the throne, while the Undri Bhil holds the
salver of spices and sacred grains of rice[4.2.13] used in making the
tika.
But the solemnity of being seated on the throne of Mewar is so
expensive, that many of these rites have fallen into disuse. Jagat Singh
was the last prince whose coronation was conducted with the ancient
magnificence of this princely house. It cost the sum of ninety lakhs of
rupees (£1,125,000), nearly one entire year’s revenue of the State in
the days of its prosperity, and which, taking into consideration the
comparative value of money, would amount to upwards of four millions
sterling[4.2.14] [225].
To resume the narrative: though the flight of Bappa and its cause are
perfectly natural, we have another episode; when the bard assuming a
higher strain has recourse to celestial machinery for the _dénouement_
of this simple incident: but “an illustrious race must always be crowned
with its proper mythology.” Bappa who was the founder of a line of a
‘hundred kings,’ feared as a monarch, adored as more than mortal, and,
according to the legend, ‘still living’ (_charanjiva_), deserves to have
the source of his pre-eminent fortune disclosed, which, in Mewar, it
were sacrilege to doubt. While he pastured the sacred kine in the
valleys of Nagindra, the princely shepherd was suspected of
appropriating the milk of a favourite cow to his own use. He was
distrusted and watched, and although indignant, the youth admitted that
they had reason to suspect him, from the habitual dryness of the brown
cow when she entered the pens at even.[4.2.15] He watched, and traced
her to a narrow dell, when he beheld the udder spontaneously pouring its
stores amidst the shrubs. Under a thicket of cane a hermit was reposing
in a state of abstraction, from which the impetuosity of the shepherd
soon roused him. The mystery was revealed in the phallic symbol of the
‘great God,’ which daily received the lacteal shower, and raised such
doubts of the veracity of Bappa.
No eye had hitherto penetrated into this natural sanctuary of the rites
of the Hindu Creator, except the sages and hermits of ancient days (of
whom this was the celebrated Harita),[4.2.16] whom this bounteous cow
also fed.
Bappa related to the sage all he knew of himself, received his blessing,
and retired; but he went daily to visit him, to wash his feet, carry
milk to him, and gather such wild flowers as were acceptable offerings
to the deity. In return he received lessons of morality, and was
initiated into the mysterious rites of Siva: and at length he was
invested with the triple cordon of faith (_tin parwa zunnar_)[4.2.17] by
the hands of the sage, who became his spiritual guide, and bestowed on
his pupil the title of [226] ‘Regent (Diwan) of Eklinga.’ Bappa had
proofs that his attentions to the saint and his devotions to Eklinga
were acceptable, by a visit from his consort, ‘the lion-born goddess.’
From her hand he received the panoply of celestial fabrication, the work
of Viswakarma (the Vulcan of Eastern mythology), which outvies all the
arms ever forged for Greek or Trojan. The lance, bow, quiver, and
arrows; a shield and sword (more famed than Balisarda)[4.2.18] which the
goddess girded on him with her own hand: the oath of fidelity and
devotion was the ‘relief’ of this celestial investiture. Thus initiated
into the mysteries of ‘the first’ (_adi_), admitted under the banners of
Bhavani, Harita resolved to leave his pupil to his fortunes, and to quit
the worship of the symbol for the presence of the deity in the mansions
above. He informed Bappa of his design, and commanded him to be at the
sacred spot early on the following morn; but Bappa showed his
materiality by oversleeping himself, and on reaching the spot the sage
had already made some progress in his car, borne by the Apsaras, or
celestial messengers. He checked his aerial ascent to give a last token
of affection to his pupil; and desiring him to reach up to receive his
blessing, Bappa’s stature was extended to twenty cubits; but as he did
not reach the car, he was commanded to open his mouth, when the sage did
what was recorded as performed, about the same period, by Muhammad, who
spat into the mouth of his favourite nephew, Husain, the son of Ali.
Bappa showed his disgust and aversion by blinking, and the projected
blessing fell on his foot, by which squeamishness he obtained only
invulnerability by weapons instead of immortality. The saint was soon
lost in the cerulean space. Thus marked as the favourite of heaven, and
having learned from his mother that he was nephew to the Mori prince of
Chitor, he ‘disdained a shepherd’s slothful life,’ and with some
companions from these wilds quitted his retreat, and for the first time
emerged into the plains. But, as if the brand of Bhavani was
insufficient, he met with another hermit in the forest of the Tiger
Mount,[4.2.19] the famed Gorakhnath, who presented to him the
double-edged sword,[4.2.20] which, with the proper incantation, could
‘sever rocks.’ With this he opened the road to fortune leading to the
throne of Chitor [227].
Chitor was at this period held by the Mori prince of the Pramar race,
the ancient lords of Malwa, then paramount sovereigns of Hindustan: but
whether this city was then the chief seat of power is not known. Various
public works, reservoirs, and bastions, yet retain the name of this
race.
Bappa’s connexion with the Mori[4.2.21] obtained him a good reception;
he was enrolled amongst the sawants or leaders, and a suitable estate
conferred upon him. The inscription of the Mori prince’s reign, so often
alluded to, affords a good idea of his power, and of the feudal manners
of his court. He was surrounded by a numerous nobility, holding estates
on the tenure of military service, but whom he had disgusted by his
neglect, and whose jealousy he had provoked by the superior regard shown
to Bappa. A foreign foe appearing at this time, instead of obeying the
summons to attend, they threw up their grants, and tauntingly desired
him to call on his favourite.[4.2.22]
Bappa undertook the conduct of the war, and the chiefs, though
dispossessed of their estates, accompanied him from a feeling of shame.
The foe was defeated and driven out of the country; but instead of
returning to Chitor, Bappa continued his course to the ancient seat of
his family, Gajni, expelled the ‘barbarian’ called Salim, placed on the
throne a chief of the Chaura tribe,[4.2.23] and returned with the
discontented nobles. Bappa, on this occasion, is said to have married
the daughter of his enemy. The nobles quitted Chitor, leaving their
defiance with their prince. In vain were the spiritual preceptor
(_Guru_) and foster-brother (_Dhabhai_) sent as ambassadors: their only
reply was, that as they had ‘eaten his salt,’ they would forbear their
vengeance for twelve months. The noble deportment of Bappa won their
esteem, and they transferred to him their service and homage. With the
temptation of a crown, the gratitude of the Grahilot was given to the
winds. On return they assaulted and carried Chitor, and, in the words of
the chronicle, “Bappa took Chitor from the Mori and became himself the
mor (crown) of the land”: he obtained by universal consent the title of
‘sun of the Hindus (_Hindua suraj_), preceptor of princes (_Raj Guru_),
and universal lord (_Chakravartin_)’ [228].
He had a numerous progeny, some of whom returned to their ancient seats
in Saurashtra, whose descendants were powerful chieftains in that tract
so late as Akbar’s reign.[4.2.24] Five sons went to Marwar, and the
ancient Gohils ‘of the land of Kher,’ expelled and driven to
Gohilwal,[4.2.25] have lost sight of their ancestry, and by a singular
fatality are in possession of the wreck of Valabhipura, ignorant of its
history and their connexion with it, mixing with Arabs and following
marine and mercantile pursuits; and the office of the bard having fallen
into disrepute, they cannot trace their forefathers beyond
Kherdhar.[4.2.26]
The close of Bappa’s career is the strangest part of the legend, and
which it might be expected they would be solicitous to suppress.
Advanced in years, he abandoned his children and his country, carried
his arms west to Khorasan, and there established himself, and married
new wives from among the ‘barbarians,’ by whom he had a numerous
offspring.[4.2.27]
Bappa had reached the patriarchal age of one hundred when he died. An
old volume of historical anecdotes, belonging to the chief of Delwara,
states that he became an ascetic at the foot of Meru, where he was
buried alive after having overcome all the kings of the west, as in
Ispahan, Kandahar, Kashmir, Irak, Iran, Turan, and Kafiristan; all of
whose daughters he married, and by whom he had one hundred and thirty
sons, called the Nausshahra Pathans. Each of these founded a tribe,
bearing the name of the mother. His Hindu children were ninety-eight in
number, and were called Agni-upasi Suryavansi, or ‘sunborn
fire-worshippers.’ The chronicles also record that (in like manner as
did the subjects of the Bactrian king Menander, though from a different
motive) the subjects of Bappa quarrelled for the disposal of his
remains. The Hindu wished the fire to consume them; the ‘barbarian’ to
commit them to earth; but on raising the pall while the dispute was
raging, innumerable flowers of the lotus were found in the place of the
remains of mortality: these were conveyed and planted in the lake. This
is precisely what is related of the end of the Persian Nushirwan[4.2.28]
[229].
=The Question of Dates.=—Having thus briefly sketched the history of the
founder of the Guhilot dynasty in Mewar, we must now endeavour to
establish the epoch of this important event in its annals. Although
Bappa Rawal was nine generations after the sack of Valabhipura, the
domestic annals give S. 191 (A.D. 135) for his birth; which the bards
implicitly following, have vitiated the whole chronology. An important
inscription[4.2.29] in a character little known, establishes the fact of
the Mori dynasty being in possession of Chitor in S. 770 (A.D. 714). Now
the annals of the Rana’s house expressly state Bappa Rawal to be the
nephew of the Mori prince of Chitor; that at the age of fifteen he was
enrolled amongst the chieftains of his uncle, and that the vassals
(before alluded to), in revenge for the resumption of their grants by
the Mori, dethroned him and elevated as their sovereign the youthful
Bappa. Notwithstanding this apparently irreconcilable anachronism, the
family traditions accord with the inscription, except in date. Amidst
such contradictions the development of the truth seemed impossible.
Another valuable inscription of S. 1024 (A.D. 968), though giving the
genealogy from Bappa to Sakti Kumar and corroborating that from Chitor,
and which furnished convincing evidence, was not sanctioned by the
prince or his chroniclers, who would admit nothing as valid that
militated against their established era 191 for the birth of their
founder. After six years’ residence and unremitting search amid ruins,
archives, inscriptions, traditions, and whatever could throw light upon
this point, the author quitted Udaipur with all these doubts in his
mind, for Saurashtra, to prosecute his inquiries in the pristine abodes
of the race. Then it was that he was rewarded, beyond his most sanguine
expectations, by the discovery of an inscription which reconciled these
conflicting authorities and removed every difficulty. This marble, found
in the celebrated temple of Somnath,[4.2.30] made mention of a distinct
era, viz. the Valabhi Samvat, as being used in Saurashtra; which era was
three hundred and seventy-five years subsequent to Vikramaditya.[4.2.31]
On the sack of Valabhi thirty thousand families abandoned this ‘city of
a hundred temples,’ and led by their priests found a retreat for
themselves and their faith [230] in Mordardes (Marwar), where they
erected the towns of Sandrai and Bali, in which latter we recognise the
name of the city whence they were expelled. The religion of Valabhi, and
consequently of the colonists, was the Jain; and it was by a priest
descended from the survivors of this catastrophe, and still with their
descendants inhabiting those towns, that these most important documents
were furnished to the author. The Sandrai roll assigns the year 305
(Valabhi era) for the destruction of Valabhi: another, also from Jain
authority, gives 205; and as there were but nine princes from Vijayasen,
the founder, to its fall, we can readily believe the first a numerical
error. Therefore 205 + 375 = 580 S. Vikrama (A.D. 524), for the invasion
of Saurashtra by ‘the barbarians from the north,’ and sack of
Valabhipura.
Now if from 770, the date of the Mori tablet, we deduct 580, there
remains 190; justifying the pertinacity with which the chroniclers of
Mewar adhered to the date given in their annals for the birth of Bappa,
viz. 191: though they were ignorant that this period was dated from the
flight from Valabhipura.
Bappa, when he succeeded to the Mori prince, is said to have been
fifteen years old; and his birth being one year anterior to the Mori
inscription of 770 + 14 = S.V. 784 (A.D. 728),[4.2.32] is the period for
the foundation of the Guhilot dynasty in Mewar: since which, during a
space of eleven hundred years, fifty-nine princes lineally descended
from Bappa have sat on the throne of Chitor.
Though the bards and chroniclers will never forgive the temerity which
thus curtails the antiquity of their founder, he is yet placed in the
dawn of chivalry, when the Carlovingian dynasty was established in the
west, and when Walid, whose bands planted ‘the green standard’ on the
Ebro, was ‘commander of the faithful.’
From the deserted and now forgotten ‘city of the sun,’ Aitpur, the abode
of wild beasts and savage Bhils, another memorial[4.2.33] of the princes
of Mewar was obtained. It relates to the prince Sakti Kumar. Its date is
S. 1024 (A.D. 968), and it contains the names of fourteen of his
ancestors in regular succession. Amongst these is Bappa, or Saila. When
compared with the chronicles and [231] family archives, it was highly
gratifying to find that, with the exception of one superfluous name and
the transposition of others, they were in perfect accordance.
Hume says, “Poets, though they disfigure the most certain history by
their fictions, and use strange liberties with truth, when they are the
sole historians, as among the Britons, have commonly some foundation for
their wildest exaggerations.” The remark is applicable here; for the
names which had been mouldering for nine centuries, far from the abode
of man, are the same they had worked into their poetical legends. It was
at this exact epoch that the arms of Islam, for the first time, crossed
the Indus. In the ninety-fifth year of the Hegira,[4.2.34] Muhammad bin
Kasim, the general of the Caliph Walid, conquered Sind, and penetrated
(according to early Arabian authors) to the Ganges; and although Elmacin
mentions only Sind, yet other Hindu States were at this period convulsed
from the same cause: witness the overthrow of Manikrae of Ajmer, in the
middle of the eighth century, by a foe ‘coming in ships,’ Anjar
specified as the point where they landed. If any doubt existed that it
was Kasim who advanced to Chitor[4.2.35] and was defeated by Bappa, it
was set at rest by finding at this time in Chitor ‘Dahir,[4.2.36] the
prince of Debil.’ Abu-l Fazl[4.2.37] records, from Arabian authorities,
that Dahir was lord of Sind, and resided at his capital, Debal, the
first place captured by Kasim in 95. His miserable end, and the
destruction of his house, are mentioned by the historian, and account
for the son being found with the Mori prince of Chitor.
Nine princes intervened between Bappa and Sakti Kumar, in two centuries
(twenty-two years to each reign): just the time which should elapse from
the founder, who ‘abandoned his country for Iran,’ in S. 820, or A.D.
764. Having thus established four epochs in the earlier history of the
family, viz.—Kanaksen’, A.D. 144; 2, Siladitya, and sack of Valabhi,
A.D. 524; 3, Establishment in Chitor and Mewar, A.D. 720; 4, Sakti
Kumar, A.D. 1068;[4.2.38] we may endeavour to relieve this narrative by
the notices which regard their Persian descent [232].
-----
Footnote 4.2.1:
[This corroborates Bhandarkar’s theory that the Guhilots sprang from
Nāgar Brāhmans.]
Footnote 4.2.2:
[This is a folk-etymology to explain the name Guhilot, probably
derived from Guha or Guhasena (A.D. 559-67), the fourth and apparently
the first great Valabhi monarch (_BG_, i. Part i. 85).]
Footnote 4.2.3:
[Mandalīka seems to mean ‘ruler of a district’ (_mandal_), (Bayley,
_Dynasties of Gujarāt_, 183).]
Footnote 4.2.4:
[_Āīn_, ii. 268.]
Footnote 4.2.5:
Fifteen miles south-west of Jharol, in the wildest region in India.
[In Gwalior State, _IGI_, viii. 72.]
Footnote 4.2.6:
Or Nagda, still a place of religious resort, about ten miles north of
Udaipur. Here I found several very old inscriptions relative to the
family, which preserve the ancient denomination Gohil instead of
Gehlot. One of these is about nine centuries old. [The ancient name
was Nāgahrida (Erskine ii. A. 106).]
Footnote 4.2.7:
Ekling-ka-Diwan is the common title of the Rana.
Footnote 4.2.8:
Amongst the many temples where the brazen calf forms part of the
establishment of Balkesar, there is one sacred to Nandi alone, at Nain
in the valley. This lordly bull has his shrine attended as devoutly as
was that of Apis at Memphis; nor will Eklinga yield to his brother
Serapis. The changes of position of the Apis at Nain are received as
indications of the fruitfulness of the seasons, though it is not
apparent how such are contrived.
Footnote 4.2.9:
_Bappa_ is not a proper name, it signifies merely a ‘child.’ [This is
wrong: it is the old Prākrit form of _bāp_, ‘father’ (_IA_, xv. 275
f.; _BG_, i. Part i. 84).] He is frequently styled _Saila_, and in
inscriptions _Sailadīsa_, ‘the mountain lord.’
Footnote 4.2.10:
[The legend implies that Bāpa, from association with Bhīls, was
regarded to be of doubtful origin.]
Footnote 4.2.11:
Deemed in the East the most impure of all receptacles. These wells are
dug at the sides of streams, and give a supply of pure water filtering
through the sand.
Footnote 4.2.12:
[The right is said to have been enjoyed by the Bhils till the time of
Rāna Hamīr Singh, who died A.D. 1364, and it was recognised in
Dungarpur till fairly recent times (Erskine ii. A. 228). The Jāts have
the same right in Bīkaner (Rose, _Glossary_, ii. 301): Mers in
Porbandar (Wilberforce-Bell, _Hist. of Kathiawad_, 53): Kandhs in
Kalahandi (Russell, _Tribes and Castes Central Provinces_, iii. 465,
and cf. ii. 280).]
Footnote 4.2.13:
Hence, perhaps, the name _khushka_ for tika. [_Khushka_, _khushk_,
‘dry,’ is plain boiled rice without seasoning.] Grains of ground rice
in curds is the material of the primitive tika, which the author has
had applied to him by a lady in Gujargarh, one of the most savage
spots in India, amidst the _levée en masse_, assembled hostilely
against him, but separated amicably.
Footnote 4.2.14:
Such the pride of these small kingdoms in days of yore, and such their
resources, till reduced by constant oppression! But their public works
speak what they could do, and have done; witness the stupendous work
of marble, and its adjacent causeway, which dams the lake of Rajsamand
at Kankrauli, and which cost upwards of a million. When the spectator
views this expanse of water, this ‘royal sea’ (_rajsamand_) on the
borders of the plain; the pillar of victory towering over the plains
of Malwa, erected on the summit of Chitor by Rana Mokal; their palaces
and temples in this ancient abode; the regal residence erected by the
princes when ejected, must fill the observer with astonishment at the
resources of the State. They are such as to explain the metaphor of my
ancient friend Zalim Singh, who knew better than we the value of this
country: “Every pinch of the soil of Mewar contains gold.”
Footnote 4.2.15:
_Godhūli_, the dust raised at the time when the cows come home.
Footnote 4.2.16:
On this spot the celebrated temple of Eklinga was erected, and the
present high priest traces sixty-six descents from Harita to himself.
To him (through the Rana) I was indebted for the copy of the Sheo
(_Siva_) Purana presented to the Royal Asiatic Society.
Footnote 4.2.17:
[_Zunnār_ is an Arabic word, the Hindi _janeo_.]
Footnote 4.2.18:
[The sword stolen from Orlando by Brunello, given to Rogero (Ariosto,
_Orlando Furioso_).]
Footnote 4.2.19:
The _Nahra Magra_, seven miles from the eastern pass leading to the
capital, where the prince has a hunting seat surrounded by several
others belonging to the nobles, but all going to decay. The tiger and
wild boar now prowl unmolested, as none of the ‘unlicensed’ dare shoot
in these royal preserves.
Footnote 4.2.20:
They surmise that this is the individual blade which is yet annually
worshipped by the sovereign and chiefs on its appropriate day, one of
the nine sacred to the god of war; a rite completely Scythic. I had
this relation from the chief genealogists of the family, who gravely
repeated the incantation: “By the preceptor, Gorakhnath and the great
god, Eklinga; by Takshka the serpent, and the sage Harita; by Bhavani
(Pallas) strike!”
Footnote 4.2.21:
Bappa’s mother was a Pramar, probably from Abu or Chandravati, near to
Idar; and consequently Bappa was nephew to every Pramar in existence.
[The Morya or Maurya sub-clan of the Pramārs still exists (_Census
Report, Rajputana, 1911_, i. 255). For traces of the Mauryas in W.
India see _BG_, i. Part ii. 284, note.]
Footnote 4.2.22:
We are furnished with a catalogue of the tribes which served the Mori
prince, which is extremely valuable, from its acquainting us with the
names of tribes no longer existing.
Footnote 4.2.23:
[See p. 121, above.]
Footnote 4.2.24:
See _Āīn_, ii. 247, which speaks of fifty thousand [8000] Guhilots in
Sorath.
Footnote 4.2.25:
Pepara Guhilots.
Footnote 4.2.26:
The ‘land of Kher,’ on the south-west frontier of Marwar, near the
Luni river.
Footnote 4.2.27:
The reigning prince told the author that there was no doubt of Bappa
having ended his days among ‘the Turks’: a term now applied to all
Muhammadans by the Hindu, but at that time confined to the inhabitants
of Turkistan, the Turushka of the Puranas, and the Takshak of early
inscriptions.
Footnote 4.2.28:
[Recent inquiries identify Bappa, whose name is merely a title, with
either Mahendrāji ii. or Kālbhoja, early chiefs of Mewār (Erskine ii.
B. 8). It has been suggested that his legend is mixed up with that of
Bappa or Saila of Valabhi, the story of his retreat to Irān
representing the latter being carried as a captive to Mansūra on the
fall of Valabhi or Gandhār (_BG_, i. Part i. 94, note 2). In any case,
the whole story is mere legend, a tale like that of the mysterious
disappearance of Romulus and other kings (Sir J. Frazer, _Lectures on
the Early History of the Kingship_, 269 ff.). A similar tale is told
of Rāna Uda in later Mewār history.]
Footnote 4.2.29:
_Vide_ Appendix, Translation, No. II.
Footnote 4.2.30:
See Translation, No. III.
Footnote 4.2.31:
[The Valabhi era begins in A.D. 318-19.]
Footnote 4.2.32:
This will make Bappa’s attainment of Chitor fifteen years posterior to
Muhammad bin Kasim’s invasion. I have observed generally a discrepancy
of ten years between the Samvat and Hegira; the Hegira reckoned from
the sixteenth year of Muhammad’s mission, and would if employed
reconcile this difficulty. [The traditional dates are untrustworthy,
being based on a confused reminiscence of Valabhi history (_IA_, xv.
275). A list of the chiefs of Mewār, with the dates as far as can be
ascertained, is given by Erskine (ii. B. 8 ff.).]
Footnote 4.2.33:
See Translation of Inscription, No. IV.
Footnote 4.2.34:
A.D. 713, or S. 769: the Inscription 770 of Man Mori, against whom
came the ‘barbarian.’
Footnote 4.2.35:
I was informed by a friend, who had seen the papers of Captain
Macmurdo, that he had a notice of Kasim’s having penetrated to
Dungarpur. Had this gentleman lived, he would have thrown much light
on these Western antiquities. [Muhammad bin Kāsim does not seem to
have attacked Ajmer: the place was not founded till A.D. 1000 (Watson,
_Gazetteer_, i. A. 9).]
Footnote 4.2.36:
By an orthographical error, the modern Hindu, ignorant of Debal, has
written Delhi. But there was no lord of Delhi at this time: he is
styled Dahir, Despat (lord) of Debal, from _des_, ‘a country,’ and
_pat_, ‘the head.’
Footnote 4.2.37:
_Āīn_, ii. 344 f.
Footnote 4.2.38:
[The dates are open to much question. It is known from inscriptions
that Sakti Kumār was alive in A.D. 977.]
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