=Lakhamsi: Lachhman Singh.=—Lakhamsi[4.6.1] succeeded his father in S.
1331 (A.D. 1275), a memorable era in the annals, when Chitor, the
repository of all that was precious yet untouched of the arts of India,
was stormed, sacked, and treated with remorseless barbarity by the
Pathan [Khilji] emperor, Alau-d-din. Twice it was attacked by this
subjugator of India. In the first siege it escaped spoliation, though at
the price of its best defenders: that which followed is the first
successful assault and capture of which we have any detailed account.
=Bhīm Singh: Padmini.=—Bhimsi was the uncle of the young prince, and
protector during his minority. He had espoused the daughter of Hamir
Sank (Chauhan) of Ceylon, the cause of woes unnumbered to the Sesodias.
Her name was Padmini,[4.6.2] a title bestowed only on the superlatively
fair, and transmitted with renown to posterity by tradition and the song
of the bard. Her beauty, accomplishments, exaltation, and destruction,
with other incidental circumstances, constitute the subject of one of
the most popular traditions of Rajwara. The Hindu bard recognizes the
fair, in preference to fame and love of conquest, as the motive for the
attack of Alau-d-din, who [263] limited his demand to the possession of
Padmini; though this was after a long and fruitless siege. At length he
restricted his desire to a mere sight of this extraordinary beauty, and
acceded to the proposal of beholding her through the medium of mirrors.
Relying on the faith of the Rajput, he entered Chitor slightly guarded,
and having gratified his wish, returned. The Rajput, unwilling to be
outdone in confidence, accompanied the king to the foot of the fortress,
amidst many complimentary excuses from his guest at the trouble he thus
occasioned. It was for this that Ala risked his own safety, relying on
the superior faith of the Hindu. Here he had an ambush; Bhimsi was made
prisoner, hurried away to the Tatar camp, and his liberty made dependent
on the surrender of Padmini.
=The Siege of Chitor.=—Despair reigned in Chitor when this fatal event
was known, and it was debated whether Padmini should be resigned as a
ransom for their defender. Of this she was informed, and expressed her
acquiescence. Having provided wherewithal to secure her from dishonour,
she communed with two chiefs of her own kin and clan of Ceylon, her
uncle Gora, and his nephew Badal, who devised a scheme for the
liberation of their prince without hazarding her life or fame.
Intimation was dispatched to Ala that on the day he withdrew from his
trenches the fair Padmini would be sent, but in a manner befitting her
own and his high station, surrounded by her females and handmaids; not
only those who would accompany her to Delhi, but many others who desired
to pay her this last mark of reverence. Strict commands were to be
issued to prevent curiosity from violating the sanctity of female
decorum and privacy. No less than seven hundred covered litters
proceeded to the royal camp. In each was placed one of the bravest of
the defenders of Chitor, borne by six armed soldiers disguised as
litter-porters. They reached the camp. The royal tents were enclosed
with _kanats_ (walls of cloth); the litters were deposited, and half an
hour was granted for a parting interview between the Hindu prince and
his bride. They then placed their prince in a litter and returned with
him, while the greater number (the supposed damsels) remained to
accompany the fair to Delhi.[4.6.3] But Ala had no intention to permit
Bhimsi’s return, and was becoming jealous of the long interview he
enjoyed, when, instead of the prince and Padmini, the devoted band
issued from their litters: but Ala was too well guarded. Pursuit was
ordered, while these covered the retreat till they perished to a man. A
fleet horse was in reserve for [264] Bhimsi, on which he was placed, and
in safety ascended the fort, at whose outer gate the host of Ala was
encountered. The choicest of the heroes of Chitor met the assault. With
Gora and Badal at their head, animated by the noblest sentiments, the
deliverance of their chief and the honour of their queen, they devoted
themselves to destruction, and few were the survivors of this slaughter
of the flower of Mewar. For a time Ala was defeated in his object, and
the havoc they had made in his ranks, joined to the dread of their
determined resistance, obliged him to desist from the enterprise.
Mention has already been made of the adjuration,“by the sin of the sack
of Chitor.” Of these sacks they enumerate _three and a half_. This is
the ‘half’; for though the city was not stormed, the best and bravest
were cut off (_sakha_). It is described with great animation in the
Khuman Raesa. Badal was but a stripling of twelve, but the Rajput
expects wonders from this early age. He escaped, though wounded, and a
dialogue ensues between him and his uncle’s wife, who desires him to
relate how her lord conducted himself ere she joins him. The stripling
replies: “He was the reaper of the harvest of battle; I followed his
steps as the humble gleaner of his sword. On the gory bed of honour he
spread a carpet of the slain; a barbarian prince his pillow, he laid him
down, and sleeps surrounded by the foe.” Again she said: "Tell me,
Badal, how did my love (_piyar_) behave?" “Oh! mother, how further
describe his deeds when he left no foe to dread or admire him?” She
smiled farewell to the boy, and adding, “My lord will chide my delay,”
sprung into the flame.
Alau-d-din, having recruited his strength, returned to his object,
Chitor. The annals state this to have been in S. 1346 (A.D. 1290), but
Ferishta gives a date thirteen years later.[4.6.4] They had not yet
recovered the loss of so many valiant men who had sacrificed themselves
for their prince’s safety, and Ala carried on his attacks more closely,
and at length obtained the hill at the southern point, where he
entrenched himself. They still pretend to point out his trenches; but so
many have been formed by subsequent attacks that we cannot credit the
assertion. The poet has found in the disastrous issue of this siege
admirable materials for his song. He represents the Rana, after an
arduous day, stretched on his pallet, and during a night of watchful
anxiety, pondering on the means by which he might preserve from the
general destruction one at least of his twelve sons; when a voice [265]
broke on his solitude, exclaiming, “_Main bhukhi ho_”;[4.6.5] and
raising his eyes, he saw, by the dim glare of the chiragh,[4.6.6]
advancing between the granite columns, the majestic form of the guardian
goddess of Chitor. “Not satiated,” exclaimed the Rana, “though eight
thousand of my kin were late an offering to thee?” “I must have regal
victims; and if twelve who wear the diadem bleed not for Chitor, the
land will pass from the line.” This said, she vanished.
On the morn he convened a council of his chiefs, to whom he revealed the
vision of the night, which they treated as the dream of a disordered
fancy. He commanded their attendance at midnight; when again the form
appeared, and repeated the terms on which alone she would remain amongst
them. “Though thousands of barbarians strew the earth, what are they to
me? On each day enthrone a prince. Let the kirania,[4.6.7] the chhatra
and the chamara,[4.6.7] proclaim his sovereignty, and for three days let
his decrees be supreme: on the fourth let him meet the foe and his fate.
Then only may I remain.”
Whether we have merely the fiction of the poet, or whether the scene was
got up to animate the spirit of resistance, matters but little, it is
consistent with the belief of the tribe; and that the goddess should
openly manifest her wish to retain as her tiara the battlements of
Chitor on conditions so congenial to the warlike and superstitious
Rajput was a gage readily taken up and fully answering the end. A
generous contention arose amongst the brave brothers who should be the
first victim to avert the denunciation. Arsi urged his priority of
birth: he was proclaimed, the umbrella waved over his head, and on the
fourth day he surrendered his short-lived honours and his life. Ajaisi,
the next in birth, demanded to follow; but he was the favourite son of
his father, and at his request he consented to let his brothers precede
him. Eleven had fallen in turn, and but one victim remained to the
salvation of the city, when the Rana, calling his chiefs around him,
said, “Now I devote myself for Chitor.”
=The Johar.=—But another awful sacrifice was to precede this act of
self-devotion in that horrible rite, the _Johar_,[4.6.8] where the
females are immolated to preserve them from pollution or captivity. The
funeral pyre was lighted within the ‘great subterranean retreat,’[4.6.9]
in chambers impervious to the light [266] of day, and the defenders of
Chitor beheld in procession the queens, their own wives and daughters,
to the number of several thousands. The fair Padmini closed the throng,
which was augmented by whatever of female beauty or youth could be
tainted by Tatar lust. They were conveyed to the cavern, and the opening
closed upon them, leaving them to find security from dishonour in the
devouring element.
A contest now arose between the Rana and his surviving son; but the
father prevailed, and Ajaisi, in obedience to his commands, with a small
band passed through the enemy’s lines, and reached Kelwara in safety.
The Rana, satisfied that his line was not extinct, now prepared to
follow his brave sons; and calling around him his devoted clans, for
whom life had no longer any charms, they threw open the portals and
descended to the plains, and with a reckless despair carried death, or
met it, in the crowded ranks of Ala. The Tatar conqueror took possession
of an inanimate capital, strewed with brave defenders, the smoke yet
issuing from the recesses where lay consumed the once fair object of his
desire; and since this devoted day the cavern has been sacred: no eye
has penetrated its gloom, and superstition has placed as its guardian a
huge serpent, whose ‘venomous breath’ extinguishes the light which might
guide intruders to ‘the place of sacrifice.’
=The Conquests of Alāu-d-dīn.=—Thus fell, in A.D. 1303, this celebrated
capital, in the round of conquest of Alau-d-din, one of the most
vigorous and warlike sovereigns who have occupied the throne of India.
In success, and in one of the means of attainment, a bigoted hypocrisy,
he bore a striking resemblance to Aurangzeb; and the title of
‘Sikandaru-s-Sani,’ or the second Alexander, which he assumed and
impressed on his coins, was no idle vaunt. The proud Anhilwara, the
ancient Dhar and Avanti, Mandor and Deogir, the seats of the Solankis,
the Pramaras, the Pariharas and Taks, the entire Agnikula race, were
overturned for ever by Ala. Jaisalmer, Gagraun, Bundi, the abodes of the
Bhatti, the Khichi, and the Hara, with many of minor importance,
suffered all the horrors of assault from this foe of the race, though
destined again to raise their heads. The Rathors of Marwar and the [267]
Kachhwahas of Amber were yet in a state of insignificance: the former
were slowly creeping into notice as the vassals of the Pariharas, while
the latter could scarcely withstand the attacks of the original Mina
population. Ala remained in Chitor some days, admiring the grandeur of
his conquest; and having committed every act of barbarity and wanton
dilapidation which a bigoted zeal could suggest, overthrowing the
temples and other monuments of art, he delivered the city in charge to
Maldeo, the chief of Jalor, whom he had conquered and enrolled amongst
his vassals. The palace of Bhim and the fair Padmini alone appears to
have escaped the wrath of Ala; it would be pleasing could we suppose any
kinder sentiment suggested the exception, which enables the author of
these annals to exhibit the abode of the fair of Ceylon.
[Illustration:
PALACE OF RĀNA BHĪM AND PADMINI.
_To face page 312._
]
=The Flight of Rāna Ajai Singh.=—The survivor of Chitor, Rana Ajaisi,
was now in security at Kelwara, a town situated in the heart of the
Aravalli mountains, the western boundary of Mewar, to which its princes
had been indebted for twelve centuries of dominion. Kelwara is at the
highest part of one of its most extensive valleys, termed the Shero
Nala, the richest district of this Alpine region. Guarded by faithful
adherents, Ajaisi cherished for future occasion the wrecks of Mewar. It
was the last behest of his father that when he attained ‘one hundred
years’ (a figurative expression for dying) the son of Arsi, the elder
brother, should succeed him. This injunction, from the deficiency of the
qualities requisite at such a juncture in his own sons, met a ready
compliance. Hamir was this son, destined to redeem the promise of the
genius of Chitor and the lost honours of his race, and whose birth and
early history fill many a page of their annals. His father, Arsi, being
out on a hunting excursion in the forest of Ondua, with some young
chiefs of the court, in pursuit of the boar entered a field of maize,
when a female offered to drive out the game. Pulling one of the stalks
of maize, which grows to the height of ten or twelve feet, she pointed
it, and mounting the platform made to watch the corn, impaled the hog,
dragged him before the hunters, and departed. Though accustomed to feats
of strength and heroism from the nervous arms of their countrywomen, the
act surprised them. They descended to the stream at hand, and prepared
the repast, as is usual, on the spot. The feast was held, and comments
were passing on the fair arm which had transfixed the boar, when a ball
of clay from a sling fractured a limb of the prince’s steed. Looking in
the direction whence it [268] came, they observed the same damsel, from
her elevated stand,[4.6.10] preserving her fields from aerial
depredators; but seeing the mischief she had occasioned she descended to
express her regret and then returned to her pursuit. As they were
proceeding homewards after the sports of the day, they again encountered
the damsel, with a vessel of milk on her head, and leading in either
hand a young buffalo. It was proposed, in frolic, to overturn her milk,
and one of the companions of the prince dashed rudely by her; but
without being disconcerted, she entangled one of her charges with the
horse’s limbs and brought the rider to the ground. On inquiry the prince
discovered that she was the daughter of a poor Rajput of the Chandano
tribe.[4.6.11] He returned the next day to the same quarter and sent for
her father, who came and took his seat with perfect independence close
to the prince, to the merriment of his companions, which was checked by
Arsi asking his daughter to wife. They were yet more surprised by the
demand being refused. The Rajput, on going home, told the more prudent
mother, who scolded him heartily, made him recall the refusal, and seek
the prince. They were married, and Hamir was the son of the Chandano
Rajputni.[4.6.12] He remained little noticed at the maternal abode till
the catastrophe of Chitor. At this period he was twelve years of age,
and had led a rustic life, from which the necessity of the times
recalled him.
=Mewār occupied by the Musalmāns: The Exploit of Hamīr.=—Mewar was now
occupied by the garrisons of Delhi, and Ajaisi had besides to contend
with the mountain chiefs, amongst whom Munja Balaicha was the most
formidable, who had, on a recent occasion, invaded the Shero Nala, and
personally encountered the Rana, whom he wounded on the head with a
lance. The Rana’s sons, Sajansi and Ajamsi, though fourteen and fifteen,
an age at which a Rajput ought to indicate his future character, proved
of little aid in the emergency. Hamir was summoned, and accepted the
feud against Munja, promising to return successful or not at all. In a
few days he was seen entering the pass of Kelwara with Munja’s head at
his saddle-bow. Modestly placing the trophy at his uncle’s feet, he
exclaimed: “Recognize the head of your foe!” Ajaisi ‘kissed his
beard,’[4.6.13] and observing that fate had stamped empire on his
forehead, impressed [269] it with a tika of blood from the head of the
Balaicha. This decided the fate of the sons of Ajaisi; one of whom died
at Kelwara, and the other, Sajansi, who might have excited a civil war,
was sent from the country.[4.6.14] He departed for the Deccan, where his
issue was destined to avenge some of the wrongs the parent country had
sustained, and eventually to overturn the monarchy of Hindustan; for
Sajansi was the ancestor of Sivaji, the founder of the Satara throne,
whose lineage[4.6.15] is given in the chronicles of Mewar.
=Rāna Hamīr Singh, A.D. 1301-64.=—Hamir succeeded in S. 1357 (A.D.
1301), and had sixty-four years granted to him to redeem his country
from the ruins of the past century, which period had elapsed since India
ceased to own the paramount sway of her native princes. The day on which
he assumed the ensigns of rule he gave, in the _tika daur_, an earnest
of his future energy, which he signalized by a rapid inroad into the
heart of the country of the predatory Balaicha, and captured their
stronghold Pusalia. We may here explain the nature of this custom of a
barbaric chivalry.
=The Inaugural Foray.=—The tika daur signifies the foray of
inauguration, which obtained from time immemorial on such events, and is
yet maintained where any semblance of hostility will allow its
execution. On the morning of installation, having previously received
the tika of sovereignty, the prince at the head of his retainers makes a
foray into the territory of any one with whom he may have a feud, or
with whom he may be indifferent as to exciting one; he captures a
stronghold or plunders a town, and returns with the trophies. If amity
should prevail with all around, which the prince cares not to disturb,
they have still a mock representation of the custom. For many reigns
after the Jaipur princes united their fortunes to the throne of Delhi
their frontier town, Malpura, was the object of the tika daur of the
princes of Mewar.
=Chitor under a Musalmān Garrison.=—“When Ajmall[4.6.16] went another
road,” as the bard figuratively describes the demise of Rana Ajaisi,
“the son of Arsi unsheathed the sword, thence never stranger to his
hand.” Maldeo remained with the royal garrison at Chitor,[4.6.17] but
Hamir [270] desolated their plains, and left to his enemies only the
fortified towns which could safely be inhabited. He commanded all who
owned his sovereignty either to quit their abodes, and retire with their
families to the shelter of the hills on the eastern and western
frontiers, or share the fate of the public enemy. The roads were
rendered impassable from his parties, who issued from their retreats in
the Aravalli, the security of which baffled pursuit. This destructive
policy of laying waste the resources of their own country, and from this
asylum attacking their foes as opportunity offered, has obtained from
the time of Mahmud of Ghazni in the tenth, to Muhammad, the last who
merited the name of Emperor of Delhi, in the eighteenth century.
=Resistance of Hamīr Singh.=—Hamir made Kelwara[4.6.18] his residence,
which soon became the chief retreat of the emigrants from the plains.
The situation was admirably chosen, being covered by several ranges,
guarded by intricate defiles, and situated at the foot of a pass leading
over the mountain into a still more inaccessible retreat (where
Kumbhalmer now stands),[4.6.19] well watered and wooded, with abundance
of pastures and excellent indigenous fruits and roots. This tract, above
fifty miles in breadth, is twelve hundred feet above the level of the
plains and three thousand above the sea, with a considerable quantity of
arable land, and free communication to obtain supplies by the passes of
the western declivity from Marwar, Gujarat, or the friendly Bhils, of
the west, to whom this house owes a large debt of gratitude. On various
occasions the communities of Oghna and Panarwa furnished the princes of
Mewar with five thousand bowmen, supplied them with provisions, or
guarded the safety of their families when they had to oppose the foe in
the field. The elevated plateau of the eastern frontier presented in its
forests and dells many places of security; but Ala[4.6.20] traversed
these in person, destroying as he went: neither did they possess the
advantages of climate and natural productions arising from the elevation
of the other. Such was the state of Mewar: its places of strength
occupied by the foe, cultivation and peaceful objects neglected from the
persevering hostility of Hamir, when a proposal of marriage came from
the Hindu governor of Chitor, which was immediately accepted, contrary
to the [271] wishes of the prince’s advisers.
=The Recovery of Chitor.=—Whether this was intended as a snare to entrap
him, or merely as an insult, every danger was scouted by Hamir which
gave a chance to the recovery of Chitor. He desired that ‘_the
coco-nut_[4.6.21] _might be retained_’ coolly remarking on the dangers
pointed out, "My feet shall at least tread in the rocky steps in which
my ancestors have moved. A Rajput should always be prepared for
reverses; one day to abandon his abode covered with wounds, and the next
to reascend with the _maur_ (crown) on his head." It was stipulated that
only five hundred horse should form his suite. As he approached Chitor,
the five sons of the Chauhan advanced to meet him, but on the portal of
the city no toran,[4.6.22] or nuptial emblem, was suspended. He,
however, accepted the unsatisfactory reply to his remark on this
indication of treachery, and ascended for the first time the ramp of
Chitor. He was received in the ancient halls of his ancestors by Rao
Maldeo, his son Banbir, and other chiefs, _with folded hands_. The bride
was brought forth, and presented by her father without any of the
solemnities practised on such occasions; ‘the knot of their garments
tied and their hands united,’ and thus they were left. The family priest
recommended patience, and Hamir retired with his bride to the apartments
allotted for them. Her kindness and vows of fidelity overcame his
sadness upon learning that he had married a widow. She had been wedded
to a chief of the Bhatti tribe, shortly afterwards slain, and when she
was so young as not to recollect even his appearance. He ceased to
lament the insult when she herself taught him how it might be avenged,
and that it might even lead to the recovery of Chitor. It is a privilege
possessed by the bridegroom to have one specific favour complied with as
a part of the dower (_daeja_), and Hamir was instructed by his bride to
ask for Jal, one of the civil [272] officers of Chitor, and of the Mehta
tribe. With his wife so obtained, and the scribe whose talents remained
for trial, he returned in a fortnight to Kelwara. Khetsi was the fruit
of this marriage, on which occasion Maldeo made over all the hill tracts
to Hamir. Khetsi was a year old when one of the penates
(Khetrpal)[4.6.23] was found at fault, on which she wrote to her parents
to invite her to Chitor, that the infant might be placed before the
shrine of the deity. Escorted by a party from Chitor, with her child she
entered its walls; and instructed by the Mehta, she gained over the
troops who were left, for the Rao had gone with his chief adherents
against the Mers of Madri. Hamir was at hand. Notice that all was ready
reached him at Bagor. Still he met opposition that had nearly defeated
the scheme; but having forced admission, his sword overcame every
obstacle, and the oath of allegiance (_an_) was proclaimed from the
palace of his fathers.
The Sonigira on his return was met with ‘a salute of arabas,’[4.6.24]
and Maldeo himself carried the account of his loss to the Khilji king
Mahmud, who had succeeded Ala. The ‘standard of the sun’ once more shone
refulgent from the walls of Chitor, and was the signal for return to
their ancient abodes from their hills and hiding-places to the adherents
of Hamir. The valleys of Kumbhalmer and the western highlands poured
forth their ‘streams of men,’ while every chief of true Hindu blood
rejoiced at the prospect of once more throwing off the barbarian yoke.
So powerful was this feeling, and with such activity and skill did Hamir
follow up this favour of fortune, that he marched to meet Mahmud, who
was advancing to recover his lost possessions. The king unwisely
directed his march by the eastern plateau, where numbers were rendered
useless by the intricacies of the country. Of the three steppes which
mark the physiognomy of this tract, from the first ascent from the plain
of Mewar to the descent at Chambal, the king had encamped on the
central, at Singoli, where he was attacked, defeated, and made prisoner
by Hamir, who slew Hari Singh, brother of Banbir, in single combat. The
king suffered a confinement of three months in Chitor, nor was liberated
till he had surrendered Ajmer, Ranthambor, Nagor, and Sui Sopur, besides
paying fifty lakhs of rupees and one hundred elephants. Hamir would
exact no promise of cessation from further inroads, but contented
himself with assuring him that from such he should be prepared to defend
Chitor, not within, but without the walls [273].[4.6.25]
Banbir, the son of Maldeo, offered to serve Hamir, who assigned the
districts of Nimach, Jiran, Ratanpur, and the Kerar to maintain the
family of his wife in becoming dignity; and as he gave the grant he
remarked: “Eat, serve, and be faithful. You were once the servant of a
Turk, but now of a Hindu of your own faith; for I have but taken back my
own, the rock moistened by the blood of my ancestors, the gift of the
deity I adore, and who will maintain me in it; nor shall I endanger it
by the worship of a fair face, as did my predecessor.” Banbir shortly
after carried Bhainsror by assault, and this ancient possession guarding
the Chambal was again added to Mewar. The chieftains of Rajasthan
rejoiced once more to see a Hindu take the lead, paid willing homage,
and aided him with service when required.
=The Power of Rāna Hamīr Singh.=—Hamir was the sole Hindu prince of
power now left in India: all the ancient dynasties were crushed, and the
ancestors of the present princes of Marwar and Jaipur brought their
levies, paid homage, and obeyed the summons of the prince of Chitor, as
did the chiefs of Bundi, Gwalior, Chanderi, Raesin, Sikri, Kalpi, Abu,
etc.
Extensive as was the power of Mewar before the Tatar occupation of
India, it could scarcely have surpassed the solidity of sway which she
enjoyed during the two centuries following Hamir’s recovery of the
capital. From this event to the next invasion from the same Cimmerian
abode, led by Babur, we have a succession of splendid names recorded in
her annals, and though destined soon to be surrounded by new Muhammadan
dynasties, in Malwa and Gujarat as well as Delhi, yet successfully
opposing them all. The distracted state of affairs when the races of
Khilji, Lodi, and Sur alternately struggled for and obtained the seat of
dominion, Delhi, was favourable to Mewar, whose power was now so
consolidated that she not only repelled armies from her territory, but
carried war abroad, leaving tokens of victory at Nagor, in Saurashtra,
and to the walls of Delhi.
=Public Works.=—The subjects of Mewar must have enjoyed not only a long
repose, but high prosperity during this period, judging from their
magnificent public works, when a triumphal [274] column must have cost
the income of a kingdom to erect, and which ten years’ produce of the
crown-lands of Mewar could not at this time defray. Only one of the
structures prior to the sack of Chitor was left entire by Ala, and is
yet existing, and this was raised by private and sectarian hands. It
would be curious if the unitarian profession of the Jain creed was the
means of preserving this ancient relic from Ala’s wrath.[4.6.26] The
princes of this house were great patrons of the arts, and especially of
architecture; and it is a matter of surprise how their revenues, derived
chiefly from the soil, could have enabled them to expend so much on
these objects and at the same time maintain such armies as are
enumerated. Such could be effected only by long prosperity and a mild,
paternal system of government; for the subject had his monuments as well
as the prince, the ruins of which may yet be discovered in the more
inaccessible or deserted portions of Rajasthan. Hamir died full of
years, leaving a name still honoured in Mewar, as one of the wisest and
most gallant of her princes, and bequeathing a well-established and
extensive power to his son.
=Kshetra or Khet Singh, A.D. 1364-82.=—Khetsi succeeded in S. 1421 (A.D.
1365) to the power and to the character of his father. He captured Ajmer
and Jahazpur from Lila Pathan, and reannexed Mandalgarh, Dasor, and the
whole of Chappan (for the first time) to Mewar. He obtained a victory
over the Delhi monarch Humayun[4.6.27] at Bakrol; but unhappily his life
terminated in a family broil with his vassal, the Hara chief of
Bumbaoda, whose daughter he was about to espouse.
=Laksh Singh, A.D. 1382-97.=—Lakha Rana, by this assassination, mounted
the throne in Chitor in S. 1439 (A.D. 1373). His first act was the
entire subjugation of the mountainous region of Merwara, and the
destruction of its chief stronghold, Bairatgarh, where he erected
Badnor. But an event of much greater importance than settling his
frontier, and which most powerfully tended to the prosperity of the
country, was the discovery of the tin and silver mines of Jawara, in the
tract wrested by Khetsi from the Bhils of Chappan.[4.6.28] Lakha Rana
has the merit of having first worked them, though their existence is
superstitiously alluded to so early as the period of the founder. It is
said the ‘seven metals’ (_haft-dhat_)[4.6.29] were formerly [275]
abundant; but this appears figurative. We have no evidence for the gold,
though silver, tin, copper, lead, and antimony were yielded in abundance
(the first two from the same matrix), but the tin that has been
extracted for many years past yields but a small portion of
silver.[4.6.30] Lakha Rana defeated the Sankhla Rajputs of
Nagarchal,[4.6.31] at Amber. He encountered the emperor Muhammad Shah
Lodi, and on one occasion defeated a royal army at Badnor; but he
carried the war to Gaya, and in driving the barbarian from this sacred
place was slain.[4.6.32] Lakha is a name of celebrity, as a patron of
the arts and benefactor of his country. He excavated many reservoirs and
lakes, raised immense ramparts to dam their waters, besides erecting
strongholds. The riches of the mines of Jawara were expended to rebuild
the temples and palaces levelled by Ala. A portion of his own palace yet
exists, in the same style of architecture as that, more ancient, of
Ratna and the fair Padmini; and a minster (_mandir_) dedicated to the
creator (Brahma), an enormous and costly fabric, is yet entire. Being to
‘the One,’ and consequently containing no idol, it may thus have escaped
the ruthless fury of the invaders.
Lakha had a numerous progeny, who have left their clans called after
them, as the Lunawats and Dulawats, now the sturdy allodial proprietors
of the Alpine regions bordering on Oghna, Panarwa, and other tracts in
the Aravalli.[4.6.33] But a circumstance which set aside the rights of
primogeniture, and transferred the crown of Chitor from his eldest son,
Chonda, to the younger, Mokal, had nearly carried it to another line.
The consequences of making the elder branch a powerful vassal clan with
claims to the throne, and which have been the chief cause of its
subsequent prostration, we will reserve for another chapter [276].
-----
Footnote 4.6.1:
[Rāna Lachhman Singh was not, strictly speaking, ruler of Chitor. He
belonged to the Rāna branch, and succeeded Jai Singh. When Chitor was
invested he came to help his relation, Rāwal Ratan Singh, husband of
Padmini, and ruler of Chitor, and was killed, with seven of his sons
(Erskine ii. B. 10).]
Footnote 4.6.2:
[‘The Lotus.’ Ferishta in his account of the siege says nothing of
Padmini (i. 353 f.). Her story is told in _Āīn_, ii. 269 f.]
Footnote 4.6.3:
[A folk-tale of the ‘Horse of Troy’ type, common in India; see Rhys
Davids, _Buddhist India_, 4 f.; Ferishta ii. 115; Grant Duff, _Hist.
Mahrattas_, 64, note; cf. Herodotus v. 20.]
Footnote 4.6.4:
[Chitor was captured in August 1303 (Ferishta i. 353; Elliot-Dowson
iii. 77).]
Footnote 4.6.5:
‘I am hungry.’
Footnote 4.6.6:
Lamp.
Footnote 4.6.7:
These are the insignia of royalty. The _kirania_ is a parasol, from
_kiran_, ‘a ray’: the _chhatra_ is the umbrella, always red; the
_chamara_, the flowing tail of the wild ox, set in a gold handle, and
used to drive away the flies.
Footnote 4.6.8:
[Sir G. Grierson informs me that _Johar_ or _Jauhar_ is derived from
_Jatugriha_, ‘a house built of lac or other combustibles,’ in allusion
to the story in the _Mahābhārata_ (i. chap. 141-151) of the attempted
destruction of the Pāndavas by setting such a building on fire. For
other examples of the rite see Ferishta i. 59 f.; Elliot-Dowson i.
313, 536 f., iii. 426, 433, iv. 277, 402, v. 101; Forbes, _Rās Māla_,
286; Malcolm, _Memoir Central India_, 2nd ed. i. 483. For recent cases
Irvine, _Army of the Indian Moghuls_, 242; _Punjab Notes and Queries_,
iv. 102 ff.]
Footnote 4.6.9:
The Author has been at the entrance of this retreat, which, according
to the Khuman Raesa, conducts to a subterranean palace, but the
mephitic vapours and venomous reptiles did not invite to adventure,
even had official situation permitted such slight to these prejudices.
The Author is the only Englishman admitted to Chitor since the days of
Herbert, who appears to have described what he saw.
Footnote 4.6.10:
A stand is fixed upon four poles in the middle of a field, on which a
guard is placed armed with a sling and clay balls, to drive away the
ravens, peacocks, and other birds that destroy the corn.
Footnote 4.6.11:
One of the branches of the Chauhan.
Footnote 4.6.12:
[The same tale is told of Dhadīj, grandson of Prithirāj, the ancestor
of the Dahiya Jāts (Rose, _Glossary_, ii. 220; Risley, _People of
India_, 2nd ed., 179 f.).]
Footnote 4.6.13:
This is an idiomatic phrase; Hamir could have had no beard.
Footnote 4.6.14:
_Des desa._
Footnote 4.6.15:
Ajaisi, Sajansi, Dalipji, Sheoji, Bhoraji, Deoraj, Ugarsen, Mahulji,
Kheluji, Jankoji, Satuji, Sambhaji, Sivaji (the founder of the
Mahratta nation), Sambhaji, Ramraja, usurpation of the Peshwas. The
Satara throne, but for the jealousies of Udaipur, might on the
imbecility of Ramraja have been replenished from Mewar. It was offered
to Nathji, the grandfather of the present chief Sheodan Singh,
presumptive heir to Chitor. Two noble lines were reared from princes
of Chitor expelled on similar occasions; those of Sivaji and the
Gorkhas of Nepal. [This pedigree is largely the work of the bards. But
the Mahrattas, who seem to be chiefly sprung from the Kunbi peasantry,
claim Rājput origin, and several of their clans bear Rājput names. It
is said that in 1836 the Rāna of Mewār was satisfied that the Bhonslas
and certain other families had the right to be regarded as Rājputs
(_Census Report, Bombay_, 1901, i. 184 f.; Russell, _Tribes and Castes
Central Provinces_, iv. 199 ff.).]
Footnote 4.6.16:
This is a poetical version of the name of Ajaisi; a liberty frequently
taken by the bards for the sake of rhyme.
Footnote 4.6.17:
[From an inscription at Chitor it appears that the fort remained in
the charge of Muhammadans up to the time of Muhammad Tughlak
(1324-51), who appointed Māldeo of Jālor governor (Erskine ii. A.
16).]
Footnote 4.6.18:
The lake he excavated here, the Hamir-talao, and the temple of the
protecting goddess on its bank, still bear witness of his acts while
confined to this retreat.
Footnote 4.6.19:
See Plate, view of Kumbhalmer.
Footnote 4.6.20:
I have an inscription, and in Sanskrit, set up by an apostate chief or
bard in his train, which I found in this tract.
Footnote 4.6.21:
This is the symbol of an offer of marriage.
Footnote 4.6.22:
The toran is the symbol of marriage. It consists of three wooden bars,
forming an equilateral triangle; mystic in shape and number, and
having the apex crowned with the effigies of a peacock, it is placed
over the portal of the bride’s abode. At Udaipur, when the princes of
Jaisalmer, Bikaner, and Kishangarh simultaneously married the two
daughters and granddaughter of the Rana, the torans were suspended
from the battlements of the tripolia, or three-arched portal, leading
to the palace. The bridegroom on horseback, lance in hand, proceeds to
break the toran (_toran torna_), which is defended by the damsels of
the bride, who from the parapet assail him with missiles of various
kinds, especially with a crimson powder made from the flowers of the
_palasa_, at the same time singing songs fitted to the occasion,
replete with double-entendres. At length the toran is broken amidst
the shouts of the retainers; when the fair defenders retire. The
similitude of these ceremonies in the north of Europe and in Asia
increases the list of common affinities, and indicates the violence of
rude times to obtain the object of affection; and the lance, with
which the Rajput chieftain breaks the toran, has the same emblematic
import as the spear, which, at the marriage of the nobles in Sweden,
was a necessary implement in the furniture of the marriage chamber
(vide Mallett, _Northern Antiquities_). [The custom perhaps represents
a symbol of marriage by capture, but it has also been suggested that
it symbolizes the luck of the bride’s family which the bridegroom
acquires by touching the arch with his sword (see Luard, _Ethnographic
Survey Central India_, 22; Enthoven, _Folk-lore Notes Gujarāt_, 69;
Russell, _Tribes and Castes Central Provinces_, ii. 410).]
Footnote 4.6.23:
[Khetrpāl, Kshetrapāla, is guardian of the field (_Kshetra_).]
Footnote 4.6.24:
A kind of arquebuss [properly the gun-carriage. Irvine, _Army of the
Indian Moghuls_, 140 ff.]
Footnote 4.6.25:
Ferishta does not mention this conquest over the Khilji emperor; but
as Mewar recovered her wonted splendour in this reign, we cannot doubt
the truth of the native annals. [There is a mistake here. The
successor of Alāu-d-dīn was Kutbu-d-dīn Mubārak, who came to the
throne in 1316. Ferishta says that Rāī Ratan Singh of Chitor, who had
been taken prisoner in the siege, was released by the cleverness of
his daughter, and that Alāu-d-dīn ordered his son, Khizr Khān, to
evacuate the place, on which the Rāī became tributary to Alāu-d-dīn.
Also in 1312 the Rājputs threw the Muhammadan officers over the
ramparts and asserted their independence (Ferishta, trans. Briggs, i.
363, 381). Erskine says that the attack was made by Muhammad Tughlak
(1324-51).]
Footnote 4.6.26:
[The Jain tower, known as Kirtti Stamb, ‘pillar of fame,’ erected in
the twelfth or thirteenth century by Jīja, a Bagherwāl Mahājan, and
dedicated to Ādināth, the first Jain Tīrthankara or saint.]
Footnote 4.6.27:
[The contemporary of Khet Singh at Delhi was Fīroz Shāh Tughlak.]
Footnote 4.6.28:
[The mines at Jāwar, sixteen miles south of Udaipur city, produce
lead, zinc, and some silver. The mention of tin in the text seems
wrong (Watt, _Dict. Econ. Prod._ vi. Part iv. 356; _Comm. Prod._
1077).]
Footnote 4.6.29:
_Haft-dhat_, corresponding to the planets, each of which ruled a
metal: hence Mihr, ‘the sun,’ for gold; Chandra, ‘the moon,’ for
silver.
Footnote 4.6.30:
They have long been abandoned, the miners are extinct, and the
protecting deities of mines are unable to get even a flower placed on
their shrines, though some have been reconsecrated by the Bhils, who
have converted Lakshmi into Sitalamata (Juno Lucina), whom the Bhil
females invoke to pass them through danger.
Footnote 4.6.31:
Jhunjhunu, Singhana, and Narbana formed the ancient Nagarchal
territory.
Footnote 4.6.32:
[There was no Sultān Muhammad Shāh Lodi, and that dynasty did not
begin till 1451. Fīroz Shāh (1351-88) was contemporary of Laksh Singh
at Delhi. It is not likely that a Rājput in the fourteenth century
conducted a campaign at Gaya in Bengal; but, according to Har Bilas
Sarda, author of a recent monograph on Rāna Kūmbha, the fact is
corroborated by inscriptions, Peterson, _Bhaunagar Inscriptions_, 96,
117, 119.]
Footnote 4.6.33:
The Sarangdeot chief of Kanor (on the borders of Chappan), one of the
sixteen lords of Mewar, is also a descendant of Lakha, as are some of
the tribes of Sondwara, about Pharphara and the ravines of the Kali
Sind.
-----