=Samarsi, Samar Singh.=—Having established Bappa on the throne of Chitor
S. 784 (A.D. 728), we will proceed to glean from the annals, from the
period of his departure for Iran, S. 820 (A.D. 764) to another halting
point—the reign of Samarsi, S. 1249 (A.D. 1193);[4.4.1] an important
epoch, not only in the history of Mewar, but to the whole Hindu race;
when the diadem of sovereignty was torn from the brow of the Hindu to
adorn that of the Tatar. We shall not, however, overleap the four
intervening centuries, though we may not be able to fill up the reigns
of the eighteen princes[4.4.2] whose “banner at this time was a golden
sun on a crimson field,”[4.4.3] and several of whose names yet live
recorded “with an iron pen on the rock” of their native abodes.
An intermediate period, from Bappa to Samarsi, that of Sakti Kumar, is
fixed by the Aitpur inscription in S. 1024 (A.D. 968); and from the more
perishable yet excellent authority of an ancient Jain MS. the era of
Allat, the ancestor of Sakti Kumar, was S. 922 (A.D. 866), four
generations anterior. From Bappa’s departure for Iran, in A.D. 764, to
the subversion of Hindu dominion in the reign of Samarsi, in A.D. 1193,
we find recorded an intermediate Islamite invasion. This was during the
reign of Khuman, between A.D. 812 and 836, which event forms the chief
subject of the Khuman-Raesa, the most ancient of the poetic chronicles
of Mewar [241].
As the history of India at this period is totally dark, we gladly take
advantage of the lights thus afforded. By combining these facts with
what is received as authentic, though scarcely less obscure or more
exact than these native legends, we may furnish materials for the future
historian. With this view, let us take a rapid sketch of the irruptions
of the Arabians into India, from the rise of Islamism to the foundation
of the Ghaznivid empire, which sealed the fate of the Hindus. The
materials are but scanty. El-Makin, in his history of the Caliphs,
passes over such intercourse almost without notice. Abu-l-Fazl, though
not diffuse, is minute in what he does say, and we can confide in his
veracity. Ferishta has a chapter devoted to this subject, which merits a
better translation than yet exists.[4.4.4] We shall, however, in the
first place, touch on Bappa’s descendants, till we arrive at the point
proper for the introduction of the intended sketch.
Of the twenty-four tribes of Guhilot, several issued from the founder,
Bappa. Shortly after the conquest of Chitor, Bappa proceeded to
Saurashtra and married the daughter of Yusufgol, prince of the island of
Bandardiva.[4.4.5] With his bride he conveyed to Chitor the statue of
Vyanmata, the tutelary goddess of her race, who still divides with
Eklinga the devotion of the Guhilot princes. The temple in which he
enshrined this islandic goddess yet stands on the summit of Chitor, with
many other monuments assigned by tradition to Bappa. This princess bore
him Aparajit, who from being born in Chitor was nominated successor to
the throne, to the exclusion of his less fortunate elder brother, Asil
(born of the daughter of the Kaba (Pramara) prince of Kalibao near
Dwaraka), who, however, obtained possessions in Saurashtra, and founded
a race called the Asila Guhilots,[4.4.6] whose descendants were so
numerous, even in Akbar’s reign, as to [242] be supposed able to bring
into the field fifty thousand men at arms. We have nothing important to
record of the actions of Aparajit, who had two sons, Kalbhoj[4.4.7] and
Nandkumar. Kalbhoj succeeded Aparajit, and his warlike qualities are
extolled in an inscription discovered by the author in the valley of
Nagda. Nandkumar slew Bhimsen Dor (_Doda_), and possessed himself of
Deogarh in the Deccan.
=Khumān I.=—Khuman succeeded Kalbhoj. His name is remarkable in the
history of Mewar. He came to the throne at the beginning of the ninth
century, when Chitor was assailed by another formidable invasion of
Muhammadans. The chief object of the Khuman Raesa is to celebrate the
defence made on this occasion, and the value of this Raesa consists in
the catalogue of the princes who aided in defending this bulwark of the
Hindu faith. The bard, in an animated strain, makes his sovereign on
this occasion successfully defend the ‘crimson standard’ of Mewar, treat
with contempt the demand for tribute, and after a violent assault, in
which the ‘barbarian’ is driven back, follow and discomfit him in the
plan, carrying back the hostile leader, Mahmud, captive. With this
event, which introduces the name of Mahmud two centuries before the
conqueror of Ghazni, we will pause, and resume the promised sketch of
the intercourse of Arabia and Hindustan at this period.
=The Muhammadan Invasion, A.D. 644-55.=—The first intimation of the
Moslems attempting the invasion of India is during the caliphat of Omar,
who built the port of Bassorah at the mouth of the Tigris, chiefly to
secure the trade of Gujarat and Sind; into which latter country a
powerful army penetrated under Abul Aas,[4.4.8] who was killed in battle
at Aror. The Caliph Osman, who succeeded Omar, sent to explore the state
of India, while he prepared an army to invade it in person: a design
which he never fulfilled. The generals of the Caliph Ali made conquests
in Sind, which they abandoned at Ali’s death. While Yazid was governor
of Khorasan several attempts were made on India, as also during the
caliphat of Abdu-l Malik, but without any lasting [243] results. It was
not till the reign of Walid[4.4.9] that any successful invasion took
place. He not only finally conquered Sind and the adjoining continent of
India, but rendered tributary all that part of India on this side the
Ganges.[4.4.10] What an exalted idea must we not form of the energy and
rapidity of such conquests, when we find the arms of Islam at once on
the Ganges and the Ebro, and two regal dynasties simultaneously cut off,
that of Roderic, the last of the Goths of Andaloos, and Dahir Despati in
the valley of the Indus. It was in A.H. 99 (A.D. 712, S. 774) that
Muhammad bin Kasim vanquished and slew Dahir, prince of Sind, after
numerous conflicts. Amongst the spoils of victory sent to the caliph on
this occasion were the daughters of the subjugated monarch, who were the
cause of Kasim’s destruction,[4.4.11] when he was on the eve of carrying
the war against Raja [244] Harchand of Kanauj. Some authorities state
that he actually prosecuted it; and as Sind remained a dependency of the
caliphat during several successive reigns, the successor of Kasim may
have executed his plans. Little is said of India from this period to the
reign of Al-Mansur, except in regard to the rebellion of Yazid in
Khorasan, and the flight of his son to Sind. The eight sovereigns, who
rapidly followed, were too much engaged with the Christians of the west
and the Huns on the Caspian to think of India. Their armies were then in
the heart of France, which was only saved from the Koran by their
overthrow at Tours by Charles Martel.
GUHILOT AND CONTEMPORARY PRINCES[4.4.13]
GUHILOT │ Eras. │ CALIPHS OF │ Eras. │Remarks.
PRINCES │ │ │BAGHDAD and │ │ │
│ S │C.E.│ KINGS OF │ A.H. │ A.D. │
│ │ │ GHAZNI. │ │ │
────────────────┼────┼────┼────────────┼──────────┼───────────┼────────────────────
│ │ │_Caliphs of_│ │ │
│ │ │ _Baghdad._ │ │ │
│ │ │ │ │ │
Bappa, born│769 │713 │ Walid (7th │ 86 to 96 │705 to 715 │Conquered India to
│ │ │ Ummaiya │ │ │the Ganges.
│ │ │ Caliph) │ │ │
│ │ │ │ │ │
——— obtained│784 │728 │ Omar II. │99 to 102 │718 to 721 │Sindi conquered. The
│ │ │ (9th │ │ │
Chitor│ │ │ do.) │ │ │Mori prince of
│ │ │ │ │ │Chitor attacked by
│ │ │ │ │ │Muhammad (son of
│ │ │ │ │ │Kasim), the General
│ │ │ │ │ │of Omar.
│ │ │ │ │ │
——— governs│ │ │Hasham (10th│104 to 125│723 to 742 │Battle of Tours,
│ │ │ do.) │ │ │
Mewar│ │ │ │ │ │A.D. 732, and
│ │ │ │ │ │defeat of the
│ │ │ │ │ │Caliph’s army,
│ │ │ │ │ │under Abdulrahman,
│ │ │ │ │ │by Charles Martel.
│ │ │ │ │ │
——— abandons│820 │764 │ Al-Mansur │136 to 158│754 to 775 │Final conquest of
│ │ │ Abbasi │ │ │
Chitor│ │ │ (2nd do.) │ │ │Sind, and the name
│ │ │ │ │ │of its capital,
│ │ │ │ │ │Aror, changed to
│ │ │ │ │ │Mansura. Bappa,
│ │ │ │ │ │founder of the
│ │ │ │ │ │Guhilot race in
│ │ │ │ │ │Mewar, retires to
│ │ │ │ │ │Iran.
│ │ │ │ │ │
Aparajit, │ │ │ Harunu-r- │170 to 193│786 to 809 │Partition of the
Kalbhoj │ │ │rashid (5th │ │ │caliphat amongst
│ │ │ do.) │ │ │Harun’s sons. The
│ │ │ │ │ │second, Al-Mamun,
│ │ │ │ │ │obtains Zabulistan,
│ │ │ │ │ │Sind, and India,
│ │ │ │ │ │and ruled them till
│ │ │ │ │ │A.D. 813, when he
│ │ │ │ │ │became Caliph.
│ │ │ │ │ │
Khuman │868 │812 │ Al-Mamun │198 to 218│813 to 833 │Invasion and attack
│ │ │ (7th │ │ │
│ to │ to │ do.) │ │ │on Chitor from
│892 │836 │ │ │ │Zabulistan.
│ │ │ │ │ │
Bhartaribhat. │ │ │ │ │ │
Singhji. │ │ │ │ │ │
Allat. │ │ │ │ │ │
Narabahan. │ │ │ _Kings of │ │ │
│ │ │ Ghazni._ │ │ │
Salivahan. │ │ │ │ │ │
Sakti Kumar │1024│968 │ Alptigin │ 350 │ 957 │Inscription of
│ │ │ │ │ │Sakti-kumar from
│ │ │ │ │ │ruins of Aitpur.
│ │ │ │ │ │
Amba Pasao. │ │ │ │ │ │
Naravarman │ │ │ Sabuktigin │ 367 │ 977 │Invasion of India.
Jasuvarman [or │ │ │ Mahmud │387 to 418│997 to 1027│Invasions of India,
Kirtivarman] │ │ │ │ │ │destruction of
│ │ │ │ │ │Aitpur.
────────────────┴────┴────┴────────────┴──────────┴───────────┴────────────────────
Al-Mansur, when only the lieutenant of the Caliph Abbas, held the
government of Sind and of India, and made the island of Bakhar on the
Indus, and the adjacent Aror,[4.4.14] the ancient capital, his
residence, naming it Mansura; and it was during his government that
Bappa Rawal abandoned Chitor for Iran.
The celebrated Harunu-r-rashid, contemporary of Charlemagne, in
apportioning his immense empire amongst his sons, gave to the second,
Al-Mamun, Khorasan, Zabulistan, Kabulistan, Sind, and Hindustan.[4.4.15]
Al-Mamun, on the death of Harun, deposed his brother, and became caliph
in A.H. 198 or A.D. 813, and ruled to 833, the exact period of the reign
of Khuman, prince of Chitor. The domestic history brings the enemy
assailant of Chitor from Zabulistan; and as the leader’s name is given
_Mahmud Khorasan Pat_, there can be little doubt that it is an error
arising from ignorance of the copyist, and should be _Mamun_.
=Mahmūd’s Invasion.=—Within twenty years after this event, the sword of
conquest and conversion was withdrawn from India, and Sind was the only
province left to Mutawakkil (A.D. 850 [847-861]), the grandson of Harun,
for a century after whom the throne of Baghdad, like that of ancient
Rome, was sold by her praetorians to the highest bidder. From this time
we find no mention whatever of Hindustan, or even of Sind, until
Sabuktigin,[4.4.16] governor of Khorasan, hoisted the standard of
independent sovereignty at Ghazni. In A.H. 365 (A.D. 974) he carried his
arms [245] across the Indus, forcing the inhabitants to abandon the
religion of their ancestors, and to read the Koran from the altars of
Bal and Krishna. Towards the close of this century he made his last
invasion, accompanied by his son, the celebrated Mahmud, destined to be
the scourge of the Hindu race, who early imbibed the paternal lesson
inculcating the extirpation of infidels. Twelve several visitations did
Mahmud make with his Tatar hordes, sweeping India of her riches,
destroying her temples and architectural remains, and leaving the
country plunged in poverty and ignorance. From the effect of these
incursions she never recovered; for though she had a respite of a
century between Mahmud and the final conquest, it was too short to
repair what it had cost ages to rear: the temples of Somnath, of Chitor,
and Girnar are but types of the magnificence of past times. The memorial
of Sakti Kumar proves him to have been the contemporary of Sabuktigin,
and to one of his son’s visitations is attributed the destruction of the
‘city of the sun’ (Aitpur),[4.4.17] his capital.
=Attack on Chitor.=—Having thus condensed the little information
afforded by Muhammadan historians of the connexion between the caliphs
of Baghdad and princes of Hind, from the first to the end of the fourth
century of the Hegira, we shall revert to the first recorded attack on
the Mori prince of Chitor, which brought Bappa into notice. This was
either by Yazid or Muhammad bin Kasim from Sind.[4.4.18] Though in the
histories of the caliphs we can only expect to find recorded those
expeditions which were successful, or had some lasting results, there
are inroads of their revolted lieutenants or their frontier deputies,
which frequently, though indistinctly, alluded to in Hindu annals, have
no place in Muhammadan records. Throughout the period mentioned there
was a stir amongst the Hindu nations, in which we find confusion and
dethronement from an unknown invader, who is described as coming
sometimes by Sind, sometimes by sea, and not unfrequently as a demon and
magician; but invariably as _mlechchha_, or ‘barbarian.’[4.4.19] From S.
750 to S. 780 (A.D. 694 to [246] 724), the annals of the Yadus, the
Chauhans, the Chawaras, and the Guhilots, bear evidence to simultaneous
convulsions in their respective houses at this period. In S. 750 (A.H.
75) the Yadu Bhatti was driven from his capital Salpura in the Panjab,
across the Sutlej into the Indian desert; the invader named Farid. At
the same period Manika Rae, the Chauhan prince of Ajmer, was assailed
and slain.[4.4.20]
=The Muster of the Clans.=—The first of the Khichi princes who occupied
the Duab of Sindsagar in the Panjab, as well as the ancestor of the
Haras established in Golkonda, was expelled at the same time. The
invader is treated in the genuine Hindu style as a Danava, or demon, and
is named Ghairaram[4.4.21] (_i.e._ restless), from Kujliban,[4.4.22] a
term geographically given to a portion of the Himalaya mountains about
the glaciers of the Ganges. The ancestor of the founder of Patan was
expelled from his petty islandic dominion on the coast of Saurashtra at
the same time. This is the period when Yazid was the caliph’s lieutenant
in Khorasan, and when the arms of Walid conquered to the Ganges; nor is
there a doubt that Yazid or Kasim was the author of all these
revolutions in the Hindu dynasties. We are supported in this by the
names of the princes contained in the catalogue who aided to defend
Chitor and the Mori prince on this occasion. It is evident that Chitor
was, alternately with Ujjain, the seat of sovereignty of the Pramara at
this period, and, as it became the rallying point of the Hindus, that
this race was the first in consequence.[4.4.23] We find the prince of
Ajmer, and the quotas of Saurashtra and Gujarat [247]; Angatsi, lord of
the Huns; Busa, the lord of the North; Sheo, the prince of the Jarejas;
the Johya, lord of Jangaldes; the Aswaria, the Sepat, the Kulhar, the
Malan, the Ohir, the Hul, and many others, having nothing of the Hindu
in name, now extinct. But the most conspicuous is ‘Dahir Despati from
Debal.’ This is erroneously written Delhi, the seat of the Tuars;
whereas we recognize the name of the prince of Sind, slain by Kasim,
whose expatriated son doubtless found refuge in Chitor.[4.4.24]
=The Defeat of the Enemy.=—This attack on the Mori prince was defeated
chiefly through the bravery of the youthful Guhilot. The foe from
Kujliban, though stated to have advanced by Mathura, retreated by
Saurashtra and Sind, pursued by Bappa. He found the ancient seat of his
ancestors, Gajni,[4.4.25] still in the possession of the ‘Asur’: a term
as well as _mlechchha_, or ‘barbarian,’ always given to the Islamite at
this period. Salim, who held Gajni, was attacked and forced to
surrender, and Bappa inducted into this stronghold of his ancestors a
nephew of his own. It is no less singular than honourable to their
veracity that the annals should record the fact, so contrary to their
religion, of Bappa having married the daughter of the conquered Salim;
and we have a right to infer that it was from the influence acquired by
this union that he ultimately abandoned the sovereignty of Mewar and the
title of ‘Hindua Suraj’ to become the founder of the ‘one hundred and
thirty tribes of Naushahra [248] Pathans’ of the west. It is fair to
conclude from all these notices regarding the founder of the Guhilot
race in Chitor that he must have abjured his faith for that of Islam;
and it is probable (though the surmise must ever remain unproved) that,
under some new title applicable to such change, we may have, in one of
the early distinguished leaders of ‘the Faith,’ the ancestor of the
Guhilots.
=Khumān II.=—Let us now proceed to the next irruption of the Islamite
invaders in the reign of Khuman, from A.D. 812 to 836. Though the leader
of this attack is styled ‘Mahmud Khorasan Pat,’ it is evident from the
catalogue of Hindu princes who came to defend Chitor that this ‘lord of
Khorasan’ was at least two centuries before the son of Sabuktigin; and
as the period is in perfect accordance with the partition of the
caliphat by Harun amongst his sons, we can have no hesitation in
assigning such invasion to Mamun, to whose share was allotted Khorasan,
Sind, and the Indian dependencies. The records of this period are too
scanty to admit of our passing over in silence even a barren catalogue
of names, which, as texts, with the aid of collateral information, may
prove of some benefit to the future antiquarian and historian.
"From Gajni came the Guhilot; the Tak from Asir; from Narlai the
Chauhan; the Chalukya from Rahargarh; from Setubandha the Jarkhera; from
Mandor the Khairavi; from Mangrol the Makwahana; from Jethgarh the
Joria; from Taragarh the Rewar; the Kachhwaha from Narwar; from Sanchor
the Kalam; from Junagarh the Dasanoh; from Ajmer the Gaur; from
Lohadargarh the Chandano; from Dasaundi the Dor; from Delhi the Tuar;
from Patan the Chawara, preserver of royalty (_Rajdhar_); from Jalor the
Sonigira; from Sirohi the Deora; from Gagraun the Khichi; the Jadon from
Junagarh; the Jhala from Patri; from Kanauj the Rathor; from Chotiala
the Bala; from Piramgarh the Gohil; from Jaisalgarh the Bhatti; the Busa
from Lahore; the Sankhla from Roneja; the Sehat from Kherligarh; from
Mandalgarh the Nikumbha; the Bargujar from Rajor; from Karangarh the
Chandel; from Sikar the Sikarwal; from Umargarh the Jethwa; from Pali
the Bargota; from Khantargarh the Jareja; from Jirga the Kherwar; from
Kashmir the Parihara."
Of the Guhilot from Gajni we have said enough; nor shall we comment on
the Tak, or his capital, Asir, which now belongs to the British
Government. The Chauhan, who came from Narlai, was a celebrated branch
of the Ajmer [249] house, and claims the honour of being the parent of
the Sonigiras of Jalor and the Deoras of Sirohi. Nadol is mentioned by
Ferishta as falling a prey to one of Mahmud’s invasions, who destroyed
its ancient temples; but from erroneous punctuation it is lost in the
translation as Bazule.[4.4.26] Of Rahargarh and the Jarkhera from
Setubandha (on the Malabar coast) nothing is known.[4.4.27] Of the
Khairavi from Mandor we can only say that it appears to be a branch of
the Pramaras (who reckoned Mandor one of the nine strongholds,
‘_Nau-kot_,’ under its dominion), established anterior to the Pariharas,
who at this period had sovereignty in Kashmir. Both the Dor and his
capital, Dasaundi, are described in ancient books as situated on the
Ganges below Kanauj.
It is a subject of regret that the annals do not mention the name of the
Tuar prince of Delhi, which city could not have been refounded above a
century when this call was made upon its aid. Abu-l Fazl, Ferishta,
their translators, and those who have followed them have been corrected
by the _Edinburgh Review_, whose critical judgment on this portion of
ancient history is eminently good. I possess the original Hindu record
used by Abu-l Fazl, which gives S. 829 for the first Anangpal instead of
S. 429; and as there were but nineteen princes who intervened until his
dynasty was set aside by the Chauhan, it requires no argument to support
the _four_ instead of _eight_ centuries. The former will give the just
average of twenty-one years to a reign. The name of Anangpal was titular
in the family, and the epithet was applied to the last as to the first
of the race.
The name of the Chawara prince of Patan (Anhilwara) being recorded
amongst the auxiliaries of Khuman, is another satisfactory proof of the
antiquity of this invasion; for this dynasty was extinct, and succeeded
by the Solankis, in S. 998 (A.D. 942), fifty years prior to Mahmud of
Ghazni, who captured Patan during the reign of Chawand, the second
Solanki prince.[4.4.28]
The Sonigira, who came from Jalor, is a celebrated branch of the Chauhan
race, but we are ignorant of the extent of time that it held this
fortress: and as nothing can invalidate the testimonies afforded by the
names of the Chawara of [250] Patan, the Kachhwaha of Narwar, the Tuar
of Delhi, and the Rathor from Kanauj, there can be no hesitation at
pointing out the anachronisms of the chronicle, which states the Deora
from Sirohi, the Khichi from Gagraun, or the Bhatti from Jaisalgarh,
amongst the levies on this occasion; and which we must affirm to be
decided interpolations, the two first being at that period in possession
of the Pramara, and the latter not erected for three centuries later.
That the Deoras, the Khichis, and the Bhattis came to the aid of Khuman,
we cannot doubt; but the copyist, ignorant even of the names of the
ancient capitals of these tribes, Chhotan, Sindsagar, and Tanot,
substituted those which they subsequently founded.
The Jadon (Yadu) from Junagarh (Girnar) was of the race of Krishna, and
appeared long to have held possession of this territory; and the names
of the Khengars, of this tribe, will remain as long as the stupendous
monuments they reared on this sacred hill. Besides the Jadon, we find
Saurashtra sending forth the Jhalas, the Balas, and the Gohils to the
aid of the descendant of the lord of Valabhipura, whose paramount
authority they once all acknowledged, and who appeared to have long
maintained influence in that distant region.
Of the tribe of Busa, who left their capital, Lahore, to succour Chitor,
we have no mention, further than the name being enumerated amongst the
unassigned tribes of Rajputs.[4.4.29] Ferishta frequently notices the
princes of Lahore in the early progress of Islamism, though he does not
tell us the name of the tribe. In the reign of the caliph Al-Mansur,
A.H. 143 (A.D. 761), the Afghans of Kirman and Peshawar, who, according
to this authority, were a Coptic colony expelled from Egypt,[4.4.30] had
increased in such numbers as to abandon their residence about the ‘hill
of Sulaiman,’ and crossing the Indus, wrested possessions from the Hindu
princes of Lahore. This frontier warfare with a tribe which, though it
had certainly not then embraced the faith of Islam, brought to their
succour the forces of the caliph in Zabulistan, so that in five months
seventy battles were fought with varied success; but the last, in which
the Lahore prince carried his arms to Peshawar,[4.4.31] produced a
peace. Hence arose a union of interests between them and the hill tribe
of Gakkhar, and all the Kohistan west of the Indus was ceded to them
[251] on the condition of guarding this barrier into Hindustan against
invasion. For this purpose the fortress of Khaibar was erected in the
chief pass of the Koh-i-Daman. For two centuries after this event
Ferishta is silent on this frontier warfare, stating that henceforth
Hindustan was only accessible through Sind. When Aliptigin first crossed
the Indus, the prince of Lahore and the Afghans still maintained this
alliance and united to oppose him. Jaipal was then prince of Lahore; and
it is on this event that Ferishta, for the first time, mentions the
tribe of Bhatti,[4.4.32] “at the advice of whose prince he conferred the
command of the united forces on an Afghan chief,” to whom he assigned
the provinces of Multan and Lamghan. From this junction of interests the
princes of Lahore enjoyed comparative security, until Sabuktigin and
Mahmud compelled the Afghans to serve them: then Lahore was captured.
The territory dependent upon Lahore, at this period, extended from
Sirhind to Lamghan, and from Kashmir to Multan. Bhatinda divided with
Lahore the residence of its princes. Their first encounter was at
Lingham, on which occasion young Mahmud first distinguished himself, and
as the historian says, “the eyes of the heavens were obscured at seeing
his deeds.”[4.4.33] A tributary engagement was the result, which Jaipal
soon broke; and being aided by levies from all the princes of Hindustan,
marched an army of one hundred thousand men against Sabuktigin, and was
again defeated on the banks of the Indus. He was at length invested and
taken in Bhatinda by Mahmud, when he put himself to death.[4.4.34] The
successors of Jaipal are mentioned merely as fugitives, and always
distinct from the princes of Delhi. It is most probable that they were
of the tribe termed Busa in the annals of Mewar, possibly a subdivision
of another; though Ferishta calls the prince of Lahore a Brahman.
The Sankhla from Roneja. Both tribe and abode are well known: it is a
subdivision of the Pramara. Harbuji Sankhla was the Paladin of Marwar,
in which Roneja was situated.
The Sehat from Kherligarh was a northern tribe, dwelling about the
Indus, and though entirely unknown to the modern genealogists of India,
is frequently mentioned in the early history of the Bhattis, when their
possessions extended on both sides of the Hyphasis. As intermarriages
between the Bhattis and Sehats are [252] often spoken of, it must have
been Rajput. It most probably occupied the province of Swat, the Suvat
of D’Anville, a division of the province of Ashthanagar, where dwelt the
Assakenoi of Alexander; concerning which this celebrated geographer
says, “Il est mention de Suvat comme d’un canton du pays d’Ash-nagar
dans la même géographie turque” (_Ecl._ p. 25). The whole of this ground
was sacred to the Jadon tribe from the most remote antiquity, from
Multan, the hills of Jud, to Aswinikot (the Tshehin-kote of D’Anville),
which, built on the point of confluence of the Choaspes of the Greeks
with the Indus, marks the spot where dwelt the Assakenoi, corroborated
by the Puranas, which mention the partition of all these territories
amongst the sons of Bajaswa, the lord of Kampilnagara, the grand
subdivision of the Yadu race. In all likelihood the Sehat, who came to
the aid of Khuman of Chitor, was a branch of these Assakenoi, the
opponents of Alexander.[4.4.35] The modern town of Dinkot appears to
occupy the site of Aswinikot, though D’Anville feels inclined to carry
it into the heart of Bajaur and place it on the rock (_silla_)
Aornos.[4.4.36] Such the Sehat; not improbably the Soha, one of the
eight subdivisions of the Yadu.[4.4.37] When, in S. 785, the Bhatti
chief Rao Tanu was driven across the Sutlej, the Sehats are mentioned
with other tribes as forming the army of Husain Shah, with the Barahas,
the Judis, and Johyas (the Juds and Jinjohyas of Babur), the Butas, and
the ‘men of Dud.’
The Chandel, from Karangarh, occupied the tracts now termed Bundelkhand.
We shall pass over the other auxiliary tribes and conclude with the
Parihar, who came from Kashmir on this occasion; a circumstance entirely
overlooked in the dissertation on this tribe;[4.4.38] nor does this
isolated fact afford room for further discussion on a race which
expelled the Pramaras from Mandor.
Such aids, who preserved Khuman when assailed by the ‘Khorasan Pat,’
fully demonstrate the antiquity of the annals, which is further attested
by inscriptions. Khuman fought twenty-four great battles, and his name,
like that of Caesar, became a family distinction. At Udaipur, if you
make a false step, or even sneeze, you hear the ejaculation of ‘Khuman
aid you!’ Khuman, by the advice of the Brahmans, resigned the gaddi to
his younger son, Jograj; but again resumed [253] it, slaying his
advisers and execrating the name of Brahman, which he almost
exterminated in his own dominions. Khuman was at length slain by his own
son, Mangal; but the chiefs expelled the parricide, who seized upon
Lodorwa in the northern desert, and there established the Mangalia
Guhilots.
=Bhartribhat III.=—Bhartribhat (familiarly Bhato) succeeded. In his
reign, and in that of his successor, the territory dependent on Chitor
was greatly increased. All the forest tribes, from the banks of the Mahi
to Abu, were subjugated, and strongholds erected, of which Dharangarh
and Ujargarh still remain to maintain them. He established no less than
thirteen[4.4.39] of his sons in independent possessions in Malwa and
Gujarat, and these were distinguished as the Bhatera Guhilots.
We shall now leap over fifteen generations; which, though affording a
few interesting facts to the antiquary, would not amuse the general
reader. We will rest satisfied with stating that the Chauhans of Ajmer
and the Guhilots of Chitor were alternately friends and foes; that
Durlabh Chauhan was slain by Bersi Rawal in a grand battle fought at
Kawaria, of which the Chauhan annals state ‘that their princes were now
so powerful as to oppose the chief of Chitor.’ Again, in the next reign,
we find the renowned Bisaldeo, son of Durlabh, combining with Rawal
Tejsi of Chitor to oppose the progress of Islamite invasion: facts
recorded by inscriptions as well as by the annals. We may close these
remarks on the fifteen princes, from Khuman to Samarsi, with the words
of Gibbon on the dark period of Guelphic annals: “It may be presumed
that they were illiterate and valiant; that they plundered in their
youth, and reared churches in their old age; that they were fond of
arms, horses, and hunting”; and, we may add, continued bickering with
their vassals within when left unemployed by the enemy from without
[254].
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Footnote 4.4.1:
[“We now know that Samar Singh was alive up to 1299, only four years
before Alāu-d-dīn’s siege of Chitor, and that in several inscriptions
his dates are given as 1273, 1274, 1285, etc.... Instead of being the
father of Karan Singh I., as stated by Tod, Samar Singh came eight
generations after him, and was the father of Ratan Singh I., who,
according to Muhammadan historians, was the ruler of Chitor during the
reign of Alāu-d-dīn, and the husband of Padmini” (Erskine ii. A. 14
f.)]
Footnote 4.4.2:
See Genealogical Table.
Footnote 4.4.3:
This, according to the roll, was the standard of Bappa.
Footnote 4.4.4:
Amongst the passages which Dow [i. 37] has slurred over in his
translation is the interesting account of the origin of the Afghans;
who, when they first came in contact with those of the new faith, in
A.H. 62, dwelt around the Koh-i-Sulaiman. Ferishta, quoting authority,
says: "The Afghans were Copts, ruled by Pharaun, many of whom were
converted to the laws and religion of Moses; but others, who were
stubborn in their worship to their gods, fled towards Hindustan, and
took possession of the country adjoining the Koh-i-Sulaiman. They were
visited by Kasim from Sind, and in the 143rd year of the Hegira had
possessed themselves of the provinces of Kirman, Peshawar, and all
within their bounds (_sinoran_)," which Dow has converted into a
province. The whole geographical description of the Kohistan, the
etymology of the term _Rohilla_, and other important matter, is
omitted by him [see Briggs, trans. i. 6 f.].
Footnote 4.4.5:
[The island Diu.] Yūsufgol is stated to have held Chaul on the
mainland. He was most probably the father of Vanaraja Chawara, the
founder of Patan Anhilwara, whose ancestors, on the authority of the
Kumarpal Charitra, were princes of Bandardiva, held by the Portuguese
since the time of Albuquerque, who changed its name to Deo. [But
Yūsufgol, if he existed, must have been a Musalmān. Vanarāja Chāwara
was son of Jayasekhara, said to have been slain in battle, A.D. 696,
leaving his wife pregnant (_BG_, i. Part i. 150 f.). Yūsufgol does not
appear in the local history.]
Footnote 4.4.6:
The ancient roll from which this is taken mentions Asil giving his
name to a fortress, called Asilgarh. His son, Bijai Pal, was slain in
attempting to wrest Khambayat (Cambay) from Sangram Dabhi. One of his
wives, from a violent death, was prematurely delivered of a boy,
called Setu; and as, in such cases, the Hindu supposes the deceased to
become a discontented spirit (_churail_), Churaila became the name of
the tribe. Bija, the twelfth from Asil, obtained Sonal from his
maternal uncle, Khengar Dabhi, prince of Girnar, but was slain by Jai
Singh Deo, prince of Surat. From these names compounded, Dabi and
Churaila, we may have the Dabisalima of Mahmud. [The Asil Guhilots are
now included in the Mers of the Kāthiawār coast; their numbers are
exaggerated in the text (_Āīn_, ii. 247; _BG_, ix. Parti. 126).] [See
p. 266 above.]
Footnote 4.4.7:
Also called Karna. He it was who excavated the Boraila lake, and
erected the grand temple of Eklinga on the site of the hermitage of
Harita, whose descendant, the present officiating priest, reckons
sixty-six descents, while the princes of Mewar amount to seventy-two
in the same period.
Footnote 4.4.8:
[Ferishta (i. 2) calls him Sayyid bin Abiu-l-Aas.]
Footnote 4.4.9:
See Table next page.
Footnote 4.4.10:
Marigny (quoting El-Makin), _Hist. of the Arabians_, vol. ii. p. 283;
_Mod. Univ. Hist._ vol. ii. p. 47.
Footnote 4.4.11:
“The two young princesses, in order to revenge the death of their
father, represented falsely to the Khalif that Muhammad bin Kasim had
been connected with them. The Khalif, in a rage, gave order for
Muhammad bin Kasim to be sewed up in a raw hide, and sent in that
condition to court. When the mandate arrived at Tatta, Kasim was
prepared to carry an expedition against Harchand, monarch of Kanauj.
When he arrived at court, the Khalif showed him to the daughters of
Dahir, who expressed their joy upon beholding their father’s murderer
in such a condition” [_Āīn_, ii. 345; Elliot-Dowson i. 209 f.].
Footnote 4.4.13:
[The Mewār dates are quite untrustworthy (see Erskine iii. B. 8 f.).]
Footnote 4.4.14:
Aror is seven miles east of Bakhar.
Footnote 4.4.15:
Marigny, vol. iii. p. 83; _Univ. Hist._ vol. ii. p. 162.
Footnote 4.4.16:
His father’s name was Aliptigin, termed a slave by Ferishta and his
authorities; though El-Makin gives him an ancestor in Yazdegird. [He
was a slave (Elliot-Dowson iv. 159).]
Footnote 4.4.17:
_Ait_, contracted from _Aditya_: hence _Itwar_, ‘Sunday.’
Footnote 4.4.18:
[This is not corroborated by Musulmān authorities.]
Footnote 4.4.19:
Even from the puerilities of Hindu legends something may be extracted.
A mendicant dervesh, called Roshan Ali (_i.e._ the ‘_light_ of Ali’),
had found his way to Garh Bitli (the ancient name of the Ajmer
fortress), and having thrust his hand into a vessel of curds destined
for the Raja, had his finger cut off. The disjointed member flew to
Mecca, and was recognized as belonging to the saint. An army was
equipped in the disguise of horse-merchants, which invaded Ajmer,
whose prince was slain. May we not gather from this incident that an
insult to the first Islamite missionary, in the person of Roshan Ali,
brought upon the prince the arms of the Caliph? The same Chauhan
legends state that Ajaipal was prince of Ajmer at this time; that in
this invasion by sea he hastened to Anjar (on the coast of Cutch),
where he held the ‘guard of the ocean’ (_Samudra ki Chauki_), where he
fell in opposing the landing. An altar was erected on the spot, on
which was sculptured the figure of the prince on horseback, with his
lance at rest, and which still annually attracts multitudes at the
‘fair (Mela) of Ajaipal.’ The subsequent invasion alluded to in the
text, of S. 750 (A.D. 694), is marked by a curious anecdote. When the
‘Asurs’ had blockaded Ajmer, Lot, the infant son of Manika Rae, was
playing on the battlements, when an arrow from the foe killed the heir
of Ajmer, who has ever since been worshipped amongst the lares and
penates of the Chauhans; and as he had on a silver chain anklet at the
time, this ornament is forbid to the children of the race. In all
these Rajput families there is a putra (_adolescens_) amongst the
penates, always one who has come to an untimely end, and chiefly
worshipped by females; having a strong resemblance to the rites in
honour of Adonis. We have traced several Roman and Grecian terms to
Sanskrit origin; may we add that of _lares_, from _larla_, ‘dear’ or
‘beloved’? [?].
Footnote 4.4.20:
[The story is “puerile and fictitious: independent of which the Arabs
had quite enough to do nearer home” (Elliot-Dowson i. 426).]
Footnote 4.4.21:
[Persian: not a likely name.]
Footnote 4.4.22:
Signifying ‘Elephant forests,’ and described in a Hindu map (stamped
on cloth and painted) of India from Kujliban to Lanka, and the
provinces west of the Indus to Calcutta; presented by me to the Royal
Asiatic Society.
Footnote 4.4.23:
The list of the vassal princes at the court of the Mori confirms the
statement of the bard Chand, of the supremacy of Ram Pramara, and the
partition of his dominion, as described (see p. 63, note) amongst the
princes who founded separate dynasties at this period; hitherto in
vassalage or subordinate to the Pramara. We can scarcely suppose the
family to have suffered any decay since their ancestor, Chandragupta,
connected by marriage with as well as the ally of the Grecian
Seleucus, and who held Greeks in his pay. From such connexion, the
arts of sculpture and architecture may have derived a character
hitherto unnoticed. Amidst the ruins of Barolli are seen sculptured
the Grecian helmet; and the elegant ornament, the Kumbha, or ‘vessel
of desire,’ on the temple of Annapurna (_i.e._ ‘giver of food’), the
Hindu Ceres, has much affinity to the Grecian device. From the
inscription (see No. 2) it is evident that Chitor was an appanage of
Ujjain, the seat of Pramar empire. Its monarch, Chandragupta (Mori
[Maurya]), degraded into the barber (Maurya) tribe, was the descendant
of Srenika, prince of Rajagriha, who, according to the Jain work,
Kalpadruma Kalka, flourished in the year 477 before Vikramaditya, and
from whom Chandragupta was the thirteenth in descent. The names as
follows: Kanika, Udsen, and nine in succession of the name of Nanda,
thence called the Nau-nanda. These, at twenty-two years to a reign
(see p. 64), would give 286 years, which -477 = 191 s.v. + 56 = 247
A.C. Now it was in A.C. 260, according to Bayer, that the treaty was
formed between Seleucus and Chandragupta; so that this scrap of Jain
history may be regarded as authentic and valuable. Asoka (a name of
weight in Jain annals) succeeded Chandragupta. He by Kunala, whose son
was Samprati, with whose name ends the line of Srenika, according to
the authority from which I made the extract. The name of Samprati is
well known from Ajmer to Saurashtra, and his era is given in a
valuable chronogrammatic catalogue in an ancient Jain manuscript from
the temple of Nadol, at 202 of the Virat Samvat. He is mentioned both
traditionally and by books as the great supporter of the Jain faith,
and the remains of temples dedicated to Mahavira, erected by this
prince, yet exist at Ajmer, on Abu, Kumbhalmer, and Girnar. [Much of
this needs correction, which cannot be done in the limits of a note.
For the Nanda dynasty see Smith, _EHI_, 40, and for Chandragupta
Maurya and Asoka, 115 ff.]
Footnote 4.4.24:
[This and the second catalogue are fictions. They conflict with the
conditions then existing in Gujarāt, and such motley arrays are a
favourite bardic theme (Forbes, _Rāsmāla_, 31, note; _ASR_, ii. 379).]
Footnote 4.4.25:
It has already been stated that the ancient name of Cambay was Gaini
or Gajni, whose ruins are three miles from the present city [see p.
254 above]. There is also a Gajni on the estuary of the Mahi, and
Abu-l Fazl incidentally mentions a Gajnagar as one of the most
important fortresses of Gujarat, belonging to Ahmad Shah; in
attempting to obtain which by stratagem, his antagonist, Hoshang, king
of Malwa, was made prisoner. I am unaware of the site of this place,
though there are remains of an extensive fortress near the capital,
founded by Ahmad, and which preserves no name. It may be the ancient
Gajnagar. [The Author confuses the place in Gujarāt with Jājnagar or
Jājpur in Orissa, captured through a stratagem by Hoshang (_Āīn_, ii.
219; Ferishta iv. 178; _BG_, i. Part i. 359).]
Footnote 4.4.26:
I presented to the Royal Asiatic Society two inscriptions from Nadol,
one dated S. 1024, the other 1039. They are of Prince Lakha, and state
as instances of his power that he collected the transit duties at the
further barrier of Patan, and levied tribute from the prince of
Chitor. He was the contemporary of Mahmud, who devastated Nadol. I
also discovered inscriptions of the twelfth century relative to this
celebrated Chauhan family, in passing from Udaipur to Jodhpur. [Dow
(i. 170) writes “Tilli and Buzule”; Briggs (i. 196) has “Baly and
Nadole”; Elliot-Dowson (ii. 229) writes “Pāli and Nandūl,” the
differences being due to misreading of the Arabic script.]
Footnote 4.4.27:
[Setubandha is the causeway made by Rāma to Lanka or Ceylon (_IGI_, v.
81).]
Footnote 4.4.28:
[Chāmunda reigned A.D. 997-1010; Anhilwāra was captured under Bhīma I.
(1022-64).]
Footnote 4.4.29:
See p. 144.
Footnote 4.4.30:
[Ferishta i. 6.]
Footnote 4.4.31:
The scene of action was between Peshawar and Kirman, the latter lying
ninety miles south-west of the former.
Footnote 4.4.32:
Dow omits this in his translation [see Briggs i. Introd. 9, i. 16].
Footnote 4.4.33:
The sense of this passage has been quite perverted by Dow [see Briggs
i. 16].
Footnote 4.4.34:
[See Smith, _EHI_, 382.]
Footnote 4.4.35:
[The capital of the Assakenoi was Massaga, near the Malakand Pass
(Smith, _EHI_, 54; McCrindle, _Alexander_, 334 f.).]
Footnote 4.4.36:
[For the site see Smith, _EHI_, 56, note 2.]
Footnote 4.4.37:
See p. 104.
Footnote 4.4.38:
See p. 119 f.
Footnote 4.4.39:
By name, Kulanagar, Champaner, Choreta, Bhojpur, Lunara, Nimthor,
Sodara, Jodhgarh, Sandpur, Aitpur, and Gangabheva. The remaining two
are not mentioned.
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