=Rāna Sanga or Sangrām Singh; A.D. 1508-27=.—Sangram, better known in
the annals of Mewar as Sanga (called Sanka by the Mogul
historians),[4.9.1] succeeded in S. 1565 (A.D. 1509). With this prince
Mewar reached the summit of her prosperity. To use their own metaphor,
“he was the kalas[4.9.2] on the pinnacle of her glory.” From him we
shall witness this glory on the wane; and though many rays of splendour
illuminated her declining career, they served but to gild the ruin.
The imperial chair, since occupied by the Tuar descendant of the Pandus,
and the first and last of the Chauhans, and which had been filled
successively by the dynasties of Ghazni and Ghor, the Khilji and Lodi,
was now shivered to pieces, and numerous petty thrones were constructed
of its fragments. Mewar little dreaded these imperial puppets, “when
Amurath to Amurath succeeded,” and when four kings reigned
simultaneously between Delhi and Benares.[4.9.3] The kings of Malwa,
though leagued with those of Gujarat, conjoined to the rebels, could
make no impression on Mewar when Sanga led her heroes. Eighty thousand
horse, seven Rajas of the highest rank, nine Raos, and one hundred and
four chieftains bearing the titles of Rawal and Rawat, with five hundred
war elephants, followed him into the field. The princes of Marwar and
Amber[4.9.4] did him homage, and the Raos of Gwalior Ajmer, Sikri,
Raesen,[4.9.5] Kalpi, Chanderi [300], Bundi, Gagraun, Rampura, and Abu,
served him as tributaries or held of him in chief.
Sanga did not forget those who sheltered him in his reverses. Karamchand
of Srinagar had a grant of Ajmer and the title of Rao for his son
Jagmall, the reward of his services in the reduction of Chanderi.
=The Administration and Wars of Rāna Sanga.=—In a short space of time,
Sanga entirely allayed the disorders occasioned by the intestine feuds
of his family; and were it permitted to speculate on the cause which
prompted a temporary cession of his rights and his dignities to his more
impetuous brother, it might be discerned in a spirit of forecast, and of
fraternal and patriotic forbearance, a deviation from which would have
endangered the country as well as the safety of his family. We may
assume this, in order to account for an otherwise pusillanimous
surrender of his birthright, and being in contrast to all the subsequent
heroism of his life, which, when he resigned, was contained within the
wreck of a form. Sanga organized his forces, with which he always kept
the field, and ere called to contend with the descendant of Timur, he
had gained eighteen pitched battles against the kings of Delhi and
Malwa. In two of these he was opposed by Ibrahim Lodi in person, at
Bakrol and Ghatoli, in which last battle the imperial forces were
defeated with great slaughter, leaving a prisoner of the blood royal to
grace the triumph of Chitor. The Pilakhal (yellow rivulet) near Bayana
became the northern boundary of Mewar, with the Sind River to the
east,—touching Malwa to the south, while his native hills were an
impenetrable barrier to the west. Thus swaying, directly or by control,
the greater part of Rajasthan, and adored by the Rajputs for the
possession of those qualities they hold in estimation, Sanga was
ascending to the pinnacle of distinction; and had not fresh hordes of
Usbeks and Tatars from the prolific shores of the Oxus and Jaxartes
again poured down on the devoted plains of Hindustan, the crown of the
Chakravartin[4.9.6] might again have encircled the brow of a Hindu, and
the banner of supremacy been transferred from Indraprastha to the
battlements of Chitor. But Babur arrived at a critical time to rally the
dejected followers of the Koran, and to collect them around his own
victorious standard.
=Invasions from Central Asia.=—From the earliest recorded periods of her
history, India has been the prey of [301] the more hardy population from
the central regions of Asia. From this fact we may infer another,
namely, that its internal form of government was the same as at the
present day, partitioned into numerous petty kingdoms, of tribes and
clans, of a feudal federation, a prey to all the jealousies inseparable
from such a condition. The historians of Alexander bear ample testimony
to such form of government, when the Panjab alone possessed many
sovereigns, besides the democracies of cities. The Persians overran it,
and Darius the Mede accounted India the richest of his satrapies. The
Greeks, the Parthians have left in their medals the best proofs of their
power; the Getae or Yuti followed; and from the Ghori Shihabu-d-din to
the Chagatai Babur, in less than three centuries, five invasions are
recorded, each originating a dynasty. Sanga’s opponent was the last, and
will continue so until the rays of knowledge renovate the ancient
nursery of the human race,—then may end the anomaly in the history of
power, of a handful of Britons holding the succession to the Mede, the
Parthian, and the Tatar. But, however surprise may be excited at
witnessing such rapidity of change, from the physical superiority of man
over man, it is immeasurably heightened at the little moral consequence
which in every other region of the world has always attended such
concussions. Creeds have changed, races have mingled, and names have
been effaced from the page of history; but in this corner of
civilization we have no such result, and the Rajput remains the same
singular being, concentrated in his prejudices, political and moral, as
in the days of Alexander, desiring no change himself, and still less to
cause any in others. Whatever be the conservative principle, it merits a
philosophic analysis; but more, a proper application and direction, by
those to whom the destinies of this portion of the globe are confided;
for in this remote spot there is a nucleus of energy, on which may
accumulate a mass for our support or our destruction.
To return: a descendant of the Turushka of the Jaxartes, the ancient foe
of the children of Surya and Chandra, was destined to fulfil the
prophetic Purana which foretold dominion “to the Turushka, the Yavan,”
and other foreign races in Hind; and the conquered made a right
application of the term Turk, both as regards its ancient and modern
signification, when applied to the conquerors from Turkistan. Babur, the
opponent of Sanga, was king of Ferghana, and of Turki race. His
dominions were on both sides the Jaxartes, a portion of ancient [302]
Sakatai, or Sakadwipa (Scythia), where dwelt Tomyris the Getic queen
immortalized by Herodotus, and where her opponent erected Cyropolis, as
did in after-times the Macedonian his most remote Alexandria. From this
region did the same Getae, Jat, or Yuti, issue, to the destruction of
Bactria, two centuries before the Christian era, and also five
subsequent thereto to found a kingdom in Northern India. Again, one
thousand years later, Babur issued with his bands to the final
subjugation of India. As affecting India alone, this portion of the
globe merits deep attention; but as the _officina gentium_, whence
issued those hordes of Asii, Jats, or Yeuts (of whom the Angles were a
branch), who peopled the shores of the Baltic, and the precursors of
those Goths who, under Attila and Alaric, altered the condition of
Europe, its importance is vastly enhanced.[4.9.7] But on this occasion
it was not redundant population which made the descendant of Timur and
Jenghiz abandon the Jaxartes for the Ganges, but unsuccessful ambition:
for Babur quitted the delights of Samarkand as a fugitive, and commenced
his enterprise, which gave him the throne of the Pandus, with less than
two thousand adherents.
=Character of Bābur.=—The Rajput prince had a worthy antagonist in the
king of Ferghana. Like Sanga, he was trained in the school of adversity,
and like him, though his acts of personal heroism were even romantic, he
tempered it with that discretion which looks to its results. In A.D.
1494, at the tender age of twelve, he succeeded to a kingdom; ere he was
sixteen he defeated several confederacies and conquered Samarkand, and
in two short years again lost and regained it. His life was a tissue of
successes and reverses; at one moment hailed lord of the chief kingdoms
of Transoxiana; at another flying, unattended, or putting all to hazard
in desperate single combats, in one of which he slew five champions of
his enemies. Driven at length from Ferghana, in despair he crossed the
Hindu-Kush, and in 1519 the Indus. Between the Panjab and Kabul he
lingered seven years, ere he advanced to measure his sword with Ibrahim
of Delhi. Fortune returned to his standard; Ibrahim was slain, his army
routed and dispersed, and Delhi and Agra opened their gates to the
fugitive king of Ferghana. His reflections on success evince it was his
due: “Not to me, O God! but to thee, be the victory!” says the
chivalrous Babur. A year had elapsed in possession of Delhi, ere he
ventured against the most powerful of his antagonists, Rana Sanga of
Chitor.
[Illustration:
RUINS OF THE FORTRESS OF BAYĀNA.
_To face page 352._
]
With all Babur’s qualities as a soldier, supported by the hardy clans of
the ‘cloud mountains’ (_Belut Tagh_) [303] of Karateghin,[4.9.8] the
chances were many that he and they terminated their career on the
‘yellow rivulet’ of Bayana. Neither bravery nor skill saved him from
this fate, which he appears to have expected. What better proof can be
desired than Babur’s own testimony to the fact, that a horde of invaders
from the Jaxartes, without support or retreat, were obliged to entrench
themselves to the teeth in the face of their Rajput foe, alike brave and
overpowering in numbers? To ancient jealousies he was indebted for not
losing his life instead of gaining a crown, and for being extricated
from a condition so desperate that even the frenzy of religion, which
made death martyrdom in “this holy war,” scarcely availed to expel the
despair which so infected his followers, that in the bitterness of his
heart he says “there was not a single person who uttered a manly word,
nor an individual who delivered a courageous opinion.”
=The Battle of Khānua, March 16, 1527.=—Babur advanced from Agra and
Sikri to oppose Rana Sanga, in full march to attack him at the head of
almost all the princes of Rajasthan. Although the annals state some
points which the imperial historian has not recorded, yet both accounts
of the conflict correspond in all the essential details. On the 5th of
Kartik, S. 1584[4.9.9] (A.D. 1528), according to the annals, the Rana
raised the siege of Bayana, and at Khanua encountered the advanced guard
of the Tatars, amounting to fifteen hundred men, which was entirely
destroyed; the fugitives carrying to the main body the accounts of the
disaster, which paralysed their energies, and made them entrench for
security, instead of advancing with the confidence of victory.
Reinforcements met the same fate, and were pursued to the camp.
Accustomed to reverses, Babur met the check without dismay, and adopted
every precaution [304] that a mind fertile in expedients could suggest
to reassure the drooping spirits of his troops. He threw up
entrenchments, in which he placed his artillery, connecting his guns by
chains, and in the more exposed parts _chevaux de frise_, united by
leather ropes: a precaution continued in every subsequent change of
position. Everything seemed to aid the Hindu cause: even the Tatar
astrologer asserted that as Mars was in the west, whoever should engage
coming from the opposite quarter should be defeated. In this state of
total inactivity, blockaded in his encampment, Babur remained near a
fortnight, when he determined to renounce his besetting sin, and merit
superior aid to extricate himself from his peril: the _naïveté_ of his
vow must be given in his own words.[4.9.10] But the destruction of the
wine flasks would appear only to have added to the existing
consternation, and made him, as a last resort, appeal to their faith.
Having addressed them in a speech of [305] manly courage, though
bordering on despair, he seized the happy moment that his exhortation
elicited, to swear them on the Koran to conquer or perish.[4.9.11]
Profiting by this excitement, he broke up his camp, to which he had been
confined nearly a month, and marched in order of battle to a position
two miles in advance, the Rajputs skirmishing up to his guns. Without a
regular circumvallation, his movable pallisadoes and guns chained, he
felt no security. The inactivity of Sanga can scarcely escape censure,
however we may incline to palliate it by supposing that he deemed his
enemy in the toils, and that every day’s delay brought with it increased
danger to him. Such reasoning would be valid, if the heterogeneous mass
by which the prince of Mewar was surrounded had owned the same patriotic
sentiments as himself: but he ought to have known his countrymen, nor
overlooked the regulating maxim of their ambition, _get land_. Delay was
fatal to this last coalition against the foes of his race. Babur is
silent on the point to which the annals ascribe their discomfiture, a
negotiation pending his blockade at Khanua; but these have preserved it,
with the name of the traitor who sold the cause of his country. The
negotiation[4.9.12] had reached this point, that on condition of Babur
being left Delhi and its dependencies, the Pilakhal at Bayana should be
the boundary of their respective dominions, and even an annual tribute
was offered to the Rana [306]. We can believe that in the position Babur
then was, he would not scruple to promise anything. The chief of Raesen,
by name Salehdi, of the Tuar tribe, was the medium of communication, and
though the arrangement was negatived, treason had effected the salvation
of Babur.
On March 16 the attack commenced by a furious onset on the centre and
right wing of the Tatars, and for several hours the conflict was
tremendous. Devotion was never more manifest on the side of the Rajput,
attested by the long list of noble names amongst the slain as well as
the bulletin of their foe, whose artillery made dreadful havoc in the
close ranks of the Rajput cavalry, which could not force the
entrenchments, nor reach the infantry which defended them. While the
battle was still doubtful, the Tuar traitor who led the van (_harawal_)
went over to Babur, and Sanga was obliged to retreat from the field,
which in the onset promised a glorious victory, himself severely wounded
and the choicest of his chieftains slain: Rawal Udai[4.9.13] Singh of
Dungarpur, with two hundred of his clan; Ratna of Salumbar, with three
hundred of his Chondawat kin; Raemall Rathor, son of the prince of
Marwar, with the brave Mertia leaders Khetsi and Ratna; Ramdas the
Sonigira Rao; Uja the Jhala; Gokuldas Pramara; Manikchand and
Chandrbhan, Chauhan chiefs of the first rank in Mewar; besides a host of
inferior names.[4.9.14] Hasan Khan of Mewat, and a son of the last Lodi
king of Delhi, who coalesced with Sanga, were amongst the
killed.[4.9.15] Triumphal pyramids were raised of the heads of the
slain, and on a hillock which overlooked the field of battle a tower of
skulls was erected; and the conqueror assumed the title of _Ghazi_,
which has ever since been retained by his descendants.
=The Death of Rāna Sanga.=—Sanga retreated towards the hills of Mewat,
having announced his fixed determination never to re-enter Chitor but
with victory. Had his life been spared to his country, he might have
redeemed the pledge; but the year of his defeat was the last of his
existence, and he died at Baswa,[4.9.16] on the frontier of Mewat, not
without suspicion of poison. It is painful to record the surmise that
his ministers prompted the deed, and the cause is one which would fix a
deep stain on the country; namely, the purchase by regicide of
inglorious ease and stipulated safety, in [307] preference to privations
and dangers, and to emulating the manly constancy of their prince, who
resolved to make the heavens his canopy till his foe was crushed—a
determination which was pursued with the most resolute perseverance by
some of his gallant successors.
=Evils resulting from Polygamy.=—Polygamy is the fertile source of evil,
moral as well as physical, in the East. It is a relic of barbarism and
primeval necessity, affording a proof that ancient Asia is still young
in knowledge. The desire of each wife,[4.9.17] that her offspring should
wear a crown, is natural; but they do not always wait the course of
nature for the attainment of their wishes, and the love of power too
often furnishes instruments for any deed, however base. When we see,
shortly after the death of Sanga, the mother of his second son
intriguing with Babur, and bribing him with the surrender of Ranthambhor
and the trophy of victory, the crown of the Malwa king, to supplant the
lawful heir, we can easily suppose she would not have scrupled to remove
any other bar. On this occasion, however, the suspicion rests on the
ministers alone. That Babur respected and dreaded his foe we have the
best proof in his not risking another battle with him; and the blame
which he bestows on himself for the slackness of his pursuit after
victory is honourable to Sanga, who is always mentioned with respect in
the commentaries of the conqueror: and although he generally styles him
the Pagan, and dignifies the contest with the title of “the holy war,”
yet he freely acknowledges his merit when he says, “Rana Sanga attained
his present high eminence by his own valour and his sword.”
=Appearance of Rāna Sanga.=—Sanga Rana was of the middle stature, but of
great muscular strength; fair in complexion, with unusually large eyes,
which appear to be peculiar to his descendants.[4.9.18] He exhibited at
his death but the fragments of a warrior: one eye was lost in the broil
with his brother; an arm in an action with the Lodi king of Delhi, and
he was a cripple owing to a limb being broken by a cannon-ball in
another [308]; while he counted eighty wounds from the sword or the
lance on various parts of his body. He was celebrated for energetic
enterprise, of which his capture of Muzaffar, king of Malwa, in his own
capital, is a celebrated instance; and his successful storm of the
almost impregnable Ranthambhor, though ably defended by the imperial
general Ali, gained him great renown. He erected a small palace at
Khanua, on the line which he determined should be the northern limit of
Mewar; and had he been succeeded by a prince possessed of his foresight
and judgment, Babur’s descendants might not have retained the
sovereignty of India. A cenotaph long marked the spot where the fire
consumed the remains of this celebrated prince. Sanga had seven sons, of
whom the two elder died in non-age. He was succeeded by the third son,
=Rāna Ratan Singh II., A.D. 1527-31.=—Ratna (S. 1586, A.D. 1530)
possessed all the arrogance and martial virtue of his race. Like his
father, he determined to make the field his capital, and commanded that
the gates of Chitor never should be closed, boasting that “its portals
were Delhi and Mandu.” Had he been spared to temper by experience the
exuberance of youthful impetuosity, he would have well seconded the
resolution of his father, and the league against the enemies of his
country and faith. But he was not destined to pass the age always
dangerous to the turbulent and impatient Rajput, ever courting strife if
it would not find him. He had married by stealth the daughter of
Prithiraj of Amber, probably before the death of his elder brothers made
him heir to Chitor. His double-edged sword, the proxy of the Rajput
cavalier, represented Ratna on this occasion.[4.9.19] Unfortunately it
was kept but too secret; for the Hara prince of Bundi,[4.9.20] in
ignorance of the fact, demanded and obtained her to wife, and carried
her to his capital. The consequences are attributable to the Rana alone,
for he ought, on coming to the throne, to have espoused her; but his
vanity was flattered at the mysterious transaction, which he deemed
would prevent all application for the hand of his ‘affianced’ (_manga_).
The bards of Bundi are rather pleased to record the power of their
princes, who dared to solicit and obtain the hand of the ‘bride’ of
Chitor. The princes of Bundi had long been attached to the Sesodia
house: and from the period when their common ancestors fought together
on the banks of the Ghaggar against [309] Shihabu-d-din, they had
silently grown to power under the wing of Mewar, and often proved a
strong plume in her pinion. The Hara inhabited the hilly tract on her
eastern frontier, and though not actually incorporated with Mewar, they
yet paid homage to her princes, bore her ensigns and titles, and in
return often poured forth their blood. But at the tribunal of
Ananga,[4.9.21] the Rajput scattered all other homage and allegiance to
the winds. The maiden of Amber saw no necessity for disclosing her
secret or refusing the brave Hara, of whom fame spoke loudly, when Ratna
delayed to redeem his proxy.
=Death of Rāna Ratan Singh.=—The unintentional offence sank deep into
the heart of the Rana, and though he was closely connected with the
Hara, having married his sister, he brooded on the means of revenge, in
the attainment of which he sacrificed his own life as well as that of
his rival. The festival of the Aheria[4.9.22] (the spring hunt), which
has thrice been fatal to the princes of Mewar, gave the occasion, when
they fell by each other’s weapons. Though Ratna enjoyed the dignity only
five years, he had the satisfaction to see the ex-king of Ferghana, now
founder of the Mogul dynasty of India, leave the scene before him, and
without the diminution of an acre of land to Mewar since the fatal day
of Bayana. Rana Ratna was succeeded by his brother,
=Rāna Bikramajīt, A.D. 1531-35.=—Bikramajit,[4.9.23] in S. 1591 (A.D.
1535). This prince had all the turbulence, without the redeeming
qualities of character, which endeared his brother to his subjects; he
was insolent, passionate, and vindictive, and utterly regardless of that
respect which his proud nobles rigidly exacted. Instead of appearing at
their head, he passed his time amongst wrestlers and prize-fighters, on
whom and a multitude of ‘paiks,’ or foot soldiers, he lavished those
gifts and that approbation, to which the aristocratic Rajput, the
equestrian order of Rajasthan, arrogated exclusive right. In this
innovation he probably imitated his foes, who had learned the
superiority of infantry, despised by the Rajput, who, except in sieges,
or when ‘they spread the carpet and hamstrung their steeds,’ held the
foot-soldier very cheap. The use of artillery was now becoming general,
and the [310] Muslims soon perceived the necessity of foot for their
protection: but prejudice operated longer upon the Rajput, who still
curses ‘those vile guns,’ which render of comparatively little value the
lance of many a gallant soldier; and he still prefers falling with
dignity from his steed to descending to an equality with his mercenary
antagonist.
An open rupture was the consequence of such innovation, and (to use the
figurative expression for misrule) ‘Papa Bai ka Raj’[4.9.24] was
triumphant; the police were despised; the cattle carried off by the
mountaineers from under the walls of Chitor; and when his cavaliers were
ordered in pursuit, the Rana was tauntingly told to send his paiks.
=The Attack by Bahādur, Sultān of Gujarāt.=—Bahadur, sultan of Gujarat,
determined to take advantage of the Rajput divisions, to revenge the
disgrace of the defeat and captivity of his predecessor
Muzaffar.[4.9.25] Reinforced by the troops of Mandu, he marched against
the Rana, then encamped at Loicha, in the Bundi territory. Though the
force was overwhelming, yet with the high courage which belonged to his
house, Bikramajit did not hesitate to give battle; but he found weak
defenders in his mercenary paiks, while his vassals and kin not only
kept aloof, but marched off in a body to defend Chitor, and the
posthumous son of Sanga Rana, still an infant.
There is a sanctity in the very name of Chitor, which from the earliest
times secured her defenders; and now, when threatened again by ‘the
barbarian,’ such the inexplicable character of the Rajput, we find the
heir of Surajmall abandoning his new capital of Deolia, to pour out the
few drops which yet circulated in his veins in defence of the abode of
his fathers.
‘The son of Bundi,’ with a brave band of five hundred Haras, also came;
as did the Sonigira and Deora Raos of Jalor and Abu, with many
auxiliaries from all parts of Rajwara. This was the most powerful effort
hitherto made by the sultans of Central India, and European
artillerists[4.9.26] are recorded in these [311] annals as brought to
the subjugation of Chitor. The engineer is styled ‘Labri Khan of
Fringan,’ and to his skill Bahadur was indebted for the successful storm
which ensued. He sprung a mine at the ‘Bika rock,’ which blew up
forty-five cubits of the rampart, with the bastion where the brave Haras
were posted. The Bundi bards dwell on this incident, which destroyed
their prince and five hundred of his kin. Rao Durga, with the Chondawat
chieftains Sata and Dudu and their vassals, bravely defended the breach
and repelled many assaults; and, to set an example of courageous
devotion, the queen-mother Jawahir Bai, of Rathor race, clad in armour,
headed a sally in which she was slain. Still the besiegers gained
ground, and the last council convened was to concert means to save the
infant son of Sanga from this imminent peril.
=Crowning of a New Rāna.=—But Chitor can only be defended by royalty,
and again they had recourse to the expedient of crowning a king, as a
sacrifice to the dignity of the protecting deity of Chitor. Baghji,
prince of Deolia, courted the insignia of destruction; the banner of
Mewar floated over him, and the golden sun from its sable field never
shone more refulgent than when the _changi_[4.9.27] was raised amidst
the shouts of her defenders over the head of the son of Surajmall.
=The Johar.=—The infant, Udai Singh, was placed in safety with Surthan,
prince of Bundi,[4.9.28] the garrison put on their saffron robes, while
materials for the _johar_ were preparing. There was little time for the
pyre. The bravest had fallen in defending the breach, now completely
exposed. Combustibles were quickly heaped up in reservoirs and magazines
excavated in the rock, under which gunpowder was strewed. Karnavati,
mother of the prince, and sister to the gallant Arjun Hara, led the
procession of willing victims to their doom, and thirteen thousand
females were thus swept at once from the record of life. The gates were
thrown open, and the Deolia chief, at the head of the survivors, with a
blind and impotent despair, rushed on his fate [312].
Bahadur must have been appalled at the horrid sight on viewing his
conquest;[4.9.29] the mangled bodies of the slain, with hundreds in the
last agonies from the poniard or poison, awaiting death as less dreadful
than dishonour and captivity.[4.9.30] To use the emphatic words of the
annalist, “the last day of Chitor had arrived.” Every clan lost its
chief, and the choicest of their retainers; during the siege and in the
storm thirty-two thousand Rajputs were slain. This is the second _sakha_
of Chitor.
Bahadur had remained but a fortnight, when the tardy advance of Humayun
with his succours warned him to retire.[4.9.31] According to the annals,
he left Bengal at the solicitation of the queen Karnavati; but instead
of following up the spoil-encumbered foe, he commenced a pedantic war of
words with Bahadur, punning on the word ‘Chitor.’ Had Humayun not been
so distant, this catastrophe would have been averted, for he was bound
by the laws of chivalry, the claims of which he had acknowledged, to
defend the queen’s cause, whose knight he had become. The relation of
the peculiarity of a custom analogous to the taste of the chivalrous age
of Europe may amuse. When her Amazonian sister the Rathor queen was
slain, the mother of the infant prince took a surer method to shield him
in demanding the fulfilment of the pledge given by Humayun when she sent
the Rakhi to that monarch.
=The Rākhi.=—‘The festival of the bracelet’ (_Rakhi_) is in spring, and
whatever its origin, it is one of the few when an intercourse of
gallantry of the most delicate nature is established between the fair
sex and the cavaliers of Rajasthan. Though the bracelet may be sent by
maidens, it is only on occasions of urgent necessity or danger. The
Rajput dame bestows with the Rakhi the title of adopted brother; and
while its acceptance secures to her all the protection of a _cavalière
servente_, scandal itself never suggests any other tie to his devotion.
He may hazard his life in her cause, and yet never receive a smile in
reward, for he cannot even see the fair object who, as brother of her
adoption, has constituted him her defender. But there is a charm in the
mystery of such connexion, never endangered by close observation, and
the loyal to the fair may well attach a value [313] to the public
recognition of being the Rakhi-band Bhai, the ‘bracelet-bound brother’
of a princess. The intrinsic value of such pledge is never looked to,
nor is it requisite it should be costly, though it varies with the means
and rank of the donor, and may be of flock silk and spangles, or gold
chains and gems. The acceptance of the pledge and its return is by the
_kachhli_, or corset, of simple silk or satin, of gold brocade and
pearls. In shape or application there is nothing similar in Europe, and
as defending the most delicate part of the structure of the fair, it is
peculiarly appropriate as an emblem of devotion. A whole province has
often accompanied the Kachhli, and the monarch of India was so pleased
with this courteous delicacy in the customs of Rajasthan, on receiving
the bracelet of the princess Karnavati, which invested him with the
title of her brother, and uncle and protector to her infant Udai Singh,
that he pledged himself to her service, “even if the demand were the
castle of Ranthambhor.” Humayun proved himself a true knight, and even
abandoned his conquests in Bengal when called on to redeem his pledge
and succour Chitor, and the widows and minor sons of Sanga Rana.[4.9.32]
Humayun had the highest proofs of the worth of those courting his
protection; he was with his father Babur in all his wars in India, and
at the battle of Bayana his prowess was conspicuous, and is recorded by
Babur’s own pen. He amply fulfilled his pledge, expelled the foe from
Chitor, took Mandu by assault, and, as some revenge for her king’s
aiding the king of Gujarat, he sent for the Rana Bikramajit, whom,
following their own notions of investiture, he girt with a sword in the
captured citadel of his foe.[4.9.33]
The Muhammadan historians, strangers to their customs, or the secret
motives which caused the emperor to abandon Bengal, ascribe it to the
Rana’s solicitation; but we may credit the annals, which are in unison
with the chivalrous notions of the Rajputs, into which succeeding
monarchs, the great Akbar, his son [314] Jahangir, and Shah Jahan,
entered with delight; and even Aurangzeb, two of whose original letters
to the queen-mother of Udaipur are now in the author’s possession, and
are remarkable for their elegance and purity of diction, and couched in
terms perfectly accordant with Rajput delicacy.[4.9.34]
=Restoration of Bikramajīt.=—Bikramajit, thus restored to his capital,
had gained nothing by adversity; or, to employ the words of the
annalist, “experience had yielded no wisdom.” He renewed all his former
insolence to his chiefs, and so entirely threw aside his own dignity,
and, what is of still greater consequence, the reverence universally
shown to old age, as to strike in open court Karamchand of Ajmer, the
protector of his father Sanga in his misfortunes. The assembly rose with
one accord at this indignity to their order; and as they retired, the
Chondawat leader Kanji, the first of the nobles, exclaimed, “Hitherto,
brother chiefs, we have had but a smell of the blossom, but now we shall
be obliged to eat the fruit”; to which the insulted Pramara added, as he
hastily retired, “To-morrow its flavour will be known.”
Though the Rajput looks up to his sovereign as to a divinity, and is
enjoined implicit obedience by his religion, which rewards him
accordingly hereafter, yet this doctrine has its limits, and precedents
are abundant for deposal, when the acts of the prince may endanger the
realm. But there is a bond of love as well as of awe which restrains
them, and softens its severity in the paternity of sway; for these
princes are at once the father and king of their people: not in fiction,
but reality—for he is the representative of the common ancestor of the
aristocracy—the sole lawgiver of Rajasthan.
=Death of Rāna Bikramajīt.=—Sick of these minors (and they had now a
third in prospect), which in a few years had laid prostrate the throne
of Mewar, her nobles on leaving their unworthy prince repaired to
Banbir, the natural son of the heroic Prithiraj, and offered “to seat
him on the throne of Chitor.” He had the virtue to resist the
solicitation; and it was only on painting the dangers which threatened
the country, if its chief at such a period had not their confidence,
that he gave his consent. The step between the deposal and death of a
king is necessarily short [315], and the cries of the females, which
announced the end of Bikramajit, were drowned in the acclamations raised
on the elevation of the _changi_ over the head of the bastard Banbir.
-----
Footnote 4.8.1:
[The dates given in the margin are based on recently found
inscriptions (Har Bilas Sarda, _Maharana Kumbha: Sovereign, Soldier,
Scholar_, Ajmer, 1917, p. 2).]
Footnote 4.8.2:
The _Raj Ratana_, by Ranchhor Bhat, says: “The Mandor Rao was pardhan,
or premier to Mokal, and conquered Nawa and Didwana for Mewar.”
Footnote 4.8.3:
[It is the generosity of Rāna Sanga to Muzaffar Shāh of which Abu-l
Fazl speaks (_Āīn_, ii. 221).]
Footnote 4.8.4:
[The Musalmān historians give a different account. Ferishta says that
Mahmūd stormed the lower part of Chitor, and that the Rāna fled (iv.
209). At any rate, Mahmūd erected a tower of victory at Māndu (_IGI_,
xvii. 173). The result was probably indecisive. For Kūmbha’s pillar
see Fergusson, _Hist. Indian Architecture_, ii. 59; Smith, _HFA_, 202
f.]
Footnote 4.8.5:
Pronounced _Kumalmer_.
Footnote 4.8.6:
[Grandson of Asoka (Smith, _EHI_, 192 f.).]
Footnote 4.8.7:
[For the Ābu temples see Tod, _Western India_, 75 ff.; Erskine iii. A.
295.]
Footnote 4.8.8:
A powerful phrase, indicating ‘possessor of the soil.’
Footnote 4.8.9:
The Rana’s minister, of the Jain faith, and of the tribe Porwar (one
of the twelve and a half divisions), laid the foundation of this
temple in A.D. 1438. It was completed by subscription. It consists of
three stories, and is supported by numerous columns of granite,
upwards of forty feet in height. The interior is inlaid with mosaics
of cornelian and agate. The statues of the Jain saints are in its
subterranean vaults. We could not expect much elegance at a period
when the arts had long been declining, but it would doubtless afford a
fair specimen of them, and enable us to trace their gradual descent in
the scale of refinement. This temple is an additional proof of the
early existence of the art of inlaying. That I did not see it is now
to me one of the many vain regrets which I might have avoided.
Footnote 4.8.10:
_Gita Govinda._
Footnote 4.8.11:
[She was daughter of Ratiya Rāna, and was married to Kūmbha in 1413.
Her great work is the Rāg Gobind (Grierson, _Modern Literature of
Hindustan_, 12; Macauliffe, _The Sikh Religion_, vi. 342 ff.; _IA_,
xxv. 19, xxxii. 329 ff.; _ASR_, xxiii. 106). As an illustration of the
uncertainty of early Mewār history, according to Har Bilas Sarda,
author of the monograph on Rāna Kūmbha, Mīra Bāi was not wife of
Kūmbha, but of Bhojrāj, son of Rāna Sanga. She was daughter of Ratan
Singh of Merta, fourth son of Rāo Duda (A.D. 1461-62). She was married
to Bhojrāj A.D. 1516, and died in 1546.]
Footnote 4.8.12:
_Jagat Khunt_, or Dwarka.
Footnote 4.8.13:
The darkest of the rainy months.
Footnote 4.8.14:
Jodha laid the foundation of his new capital in S. 1515 [A.D. 1459],
ten years anterior to the event we are recording.
Footnote 4.8.15:
[See p. 268 above.]
Footnote 4.8.16:
He had observed that his father, ever since the victory over the king
at Jhunjhunu, before he took a seat, thrice waved his sword in circles
over his head, pronouncing at the same time some incantation. Inquiry
into the meaning of this was the cause of his banishment.
Footnote 4.8.17:
During the rains of 1820, when the author was residing at Udaipur, the
Rana fell ill; his complaint was an intermittent (which for several
years returned with the monsoon), at the same time that he was
jaundiced with bile. An intriguing Brahman, who managed the estates of
the Rana’s eldest sister, held also the twofold office of physician
and astrologer to the Rana. He had predicted that year as one of evil
in his horoscope, and was about to verify the prophecy, since, instead
of the active medicines requisite, he was administering the _Haft
dhat_, or ‘seven metals,’ compounded. Having a most sincere regard for
the Rana’s welfare, the author seized the opportunity of a full court
being assembled on the distribution of swords and coco-nuts
preparatory to the military festival, to ask a personal favour. The
Rana, smiling, said that it was granted, when he was entreated to
leave off the poison he was taking. He did so; the amendment was soon
visible, and, aided by the medicines of Dr. Duncan, which he readily
took, his complaint was speedily cured. The ‘man of fate and physic’
lost half his estates, which he had obtained through intrigue. He was
succeeded by Amra the bard, who is not likely to ransack the
pharmacopoeia for such poisonous ingredients; his ordinary
prescription being the ‘amrit.’
Footnote 4.8.18:
[Ferishta does not mention these campaigns (iv. 236 ff.), and
Ghiyāsu-d-dīn (A.D. 1469-99) is said to have spent his life in luxury
and never to have left his palace (_BG_, i. Part i. 362 ff.).]
Footnote 4.8.19:
His name classically is Sangram Singh, ‘the lion of war.’
Footnote 4.8.20:
[Infusion of opium.]
Footnote 4.8.21:
About ten miles east of Udaipur.
Footnote 4.8.22:
_Singhasan_ is the ancient term for the Hindu throne, signifying ‘the
lion-seat.’ Charans, bards, who are all _Maharajas_, ‘great princes,’
by courtesy, have their seats of the hide of the lion, tiger, panther,
or black antelope.
Footnote 4.8.23:
Nearly ten miles south-east of Ajmer.
Footnote 4.8.24:
Jai Singh Baleo and Jaimu Sindhal.
Footnote 4.8.25:
[A common folk-tale, told of Malhar Rāo Holkar and many other princes
(Crooke, _Popular Religion Northern India_, ii. 142; Malcolm, _Memoir
of Central India_, 2nd ed. i. 143 f.; E. S. Hartland, _Ritual and
Belief_, 323 f.).]
Footnote 4.8.26:
Called the _devi_, about the size of the wagtail, and like it, black
and white.
Footnote 4.8.27:
Chhatrdhāri.
Footnote 4.8.28:
The names of his followers were, Jasa Sindhal, Sangam (Dabhi), Abha,
Jana, and a Badel Rathor.
Footnote 4.8.29:
The grant in the preamble denounces a curse on any of Prithiraj’s
descendants who should resume it. I have often conversed with this
descendant, who held Sodhgarh and its lands, which were never resumed
by the princes of Chitor, though they reverted to Marwar. The chief
still honours the Rana, and many lives have been sacrificed to
maintain his claims, and with any prospect of success he would not
hesitate to offer his own.
Footnote 4.8.30:
This is a genuine Hindu name, ‘the Hero’s refuge,’ from _sur_, ‘a
warrior,’ and _than_, ‘an abode.’
Footnote 4.8.31:
[There is an error here: there was no contemporary Sultan of Mālwa of
this name.]
Footnote 4.8.32:
Near Chitor.
Footnote 4.8.33:
‘Regent’; the title the Rana is most familiarly known by.
Footnote 4.8.34:
_Thali_, ‘a brass platter.’ This is the highest mark of confidence and
friendship.
Footnote 4.8.35:
This compound of the betel or areca-nut, cloves, mace, _Terra
japonica_, and prepared lime, is always taken after meals, and has not
unfrequently been a medium for administering poison.
Footnote 4.8.36:
Hours of twenty-two minutes each.
Footnote 4.8.37:
Familiar contraction of Surajmall.
Footnote 4.8.38:
[_Anogeissus latifolia._]
Footnote 4.8.39:
The Hindu Proserpine, or Calligenia. Is this Grecian handmaid of
Hecate also Hindu, ‘born of time’ (_Kali-janama_)? [Καλλιγένεια,
‘bearer of fair offspring,’ has, of course, no connexion with Kāli.]
Footnote 4.8.40:
Gaunda, or Gaunra, is the name of such temporary places of refuge; the
origin of towns bearing this name.
Footnote 4.8.41:
Such grants are irresumable, under the penalty of sixty thousand years
in hell. This fine district is eaten up by these mendicant Brahmans.
One town alone, containing 52,000 bighas (about 15,000 acres) of rich
land, is thus lost; and by such follies Mewar has gradually sunk to
her present extreme poverty.
Footnote 4.8.42:
[Kānthal, in Partābgarh State, is the boundary (_Kāntha_) between
Mewār on the north, Bāgar on the west, and Mālwa on the east and
south.]
Footnote 4.8.43:
[The statement in the text that Sūrajmall, son of Uda, retired to
Deolia is incorrect. Sūrajmall was first-cousin, not son of Uda, and
it was his great-grandson, Bīka, who conquered the Kānthal and founded
the town of Deolia at least fifty years later (Erskine ii. A. 197).]
Footnote 4.8.44:
The walls of his palace are still pointed out.
Footnote 4.9.1:
[_Āīn_, ii. 270.]
Footnote 4.9.2:
The ball or urn which crowns the pinnacle (_sikhar_).
Footnote 4.9.3:
Delhi, Bayana, Kalpi, and Jaunpur.
Footnote 4.9.4:
Prithiraj was yet but Rao of Amber, a name now lost in Jaipur. The
twelve sons of this prince formed the existing subdivisions or clans
of the Kachhwahas, whose political consequence dates from Humayun, the
son and successor of Babur.
Footnote 4.9.5:
[Sīkri, afterwards Fatehpur Sīkri, the site of Akbar’s palace; Rāēsen
in Bhopāl State (_IGI_, xxi. 62 f.).]
Footnote 4.9.6:
Universal potentate: [“he whose chariot wheels run everywhere without
obstruction”]; the Hindus reckon only six of these in their history.
Footnote 4.9.7:
[As usual, the Indian Jāts are identified with the Getae, Iutae or
Iuti, Jutes of Bede.]
Footnote 4.9.8:
[The author borrows from Elphinstone, _Caubul_, i. 118.] The literary
world is much indebted to Mr. Erskine for his _Memoirs of Baber_, a
work of a most original stamp and rare value for its extensive
historical and geographical details of a very interesting portion of
the globe. The king of Ferghana, like Caesar, was the historian of his
own conquests, and unites all the qualities of the romantic troubadour
to those of the warrior and statesman. It is not saying too much when
it is asserted, that Mr. Erskine is the only person existing who could
have made such a translation, or preserved the great charm of the
original—its elevated simplicity; and though his modesty makes him
share the merit with Dr. Leyden, it is to him the public thanks are
due. Mr. Erskine’s introduction is such as might have been expected
from his well-known erudition and research, and with the notes
interspersed adds immensely to the value of the original. [A new
translation by Mrs. Beveridge is in course of publication.] With his
geographical materials, those of Mr. Elphinstone, and the journal of
the _Voyage d’Orenbourg à Bokhara_, full of merit and modesty, we now
possess sufficient materials for the geography of the nursery of
mankind. I would presume to amend one valuable geographical notice
(Introd. p. 27), and which only requires the permutation of a vowel,
Kas-_mer_ for Kas-_mir_; when we have, not ‘the country of the Kas,’
but the _Kasia Montes_ (mer) of Ptolemy: the Kho (_mer_) Kas, or
_Caucasus_. _Mir_ has no signification, _Mer_ is ‘mountain’ in
Sanskrit, as is _Kho_ in Persian. [The origin of the name Kashmīr is
very doubtful: but the view in the text cannot be accepted (see Stein,
_Rājatarangini_, ii. 353, 386; Smith, _EHI_, 38, note; _IA_, xliii.
143 ff.).] _Kas_ was the race inhabiting these: and _Kasgar_, the
Kasia Regio of Ptolemy [Chap. 15]. _Gar_ [or _garh_] is a Sanskrit
word still in use for a ‘region,’ as _Kachhwahagar_, _Gujargar_. [See
Elliot, _Supplementary Glossary_, 237.] A new edition of Erskine’s
translation, edited by Professor White King, is in course of
publication.
Footnote 4.9.9:
According to the _Memoirs of Baber_, February 11, 1527. [The battle
was fought at Khānua or Kanwāha, now in the Bharatpur State, about
twenty miles from Agra (Abu-l Fazl, _Akbarnāma_, i. 259 f.; Ferishta
ii. 55), on March 16, 1527. Ferishta says that the provocation came
from Rāna Sanga, who attacked Nāzim Khān, Governor of Bayāna, on which
the latter appealed to Bābur (ii. 51). Bābur says that Sanga broke his
engagement (Elliot-Dowson iv. 264; Badaoni, _Muntakhabu-t-tawārīkh_,
i. 444, 470).]
Footnote 4.9.10:
"On Monday, the 23rd of the first Jemadi, I had mounted to survey my
posts, and in the course of my ride was seriously struck with the
reflection, that I had always resolved, one time or another, to make
an effectual repentance, and that some traces of a hankering after the
renunciation of forbidden works had ever remained in my heart: I said
to myself, ‘O, my soul.’
(_Persian Verse._)
"‘How long wilt thou continue to take pleasure in sin?
Repentance is not unpalatable—taste it.
(_Turki Verse._)
"‘How great has been thy defilement from sin!
How much pleasure thou didst take in despair!
How long hast thou been the slave of thy passions!
How much of thy life hast thou thrown away!
Since thou hast set out on a holy war,
Thou hast seen death before thine eyes for thy salvation.
He who resolves to sacrifice his life to save himself
Shall attain that exalted state which thou knowest.
Keep thyself far away from all forbidden enjoyments;
Cleanse thyself from all thy sins.’
"Having withdrawn myself from such temptation, I vowed never more to
drink wine. Having sent for the gold and silver goblets and cups, with
all the other utensils used for drinking parties, I directed them to
be broken, and renounced the use of wine, purifying my mind. The
fragments of the goblets and other utensils of gold and silver I
directed to be divided among derwishes and the poor. The first person
who followed me in my repentance was Asas, who also accompanied me in
my resolution of ceasing to cut the beard, and of allowing it to grow.
That night and the following, numbers of Amirs and courtiers,
soldiers, and persons not in the service, to the number of nearly
three hundred men, made vows of reformation. The wine which we had
with us we poured on the ground. I ordered that the wine brought by
Baba Dost should have salt thrown into it, that it might be made into
vinegar. On the spot where the wine had been poured out I directed a
wāīn to be sunk and built of stone, and close by the wāīn an almshouse
to be erected. In the month of Moharrem in the year 935, when I went
to visit Gualiar, in my way from Dholpur to Sikri, I found this wāīn
completed. I had previously made a vow, that if I gained the victory
over Rana Sanka the Pagan, I would remit the Temgha (or stamp-tax)
levied from Musulmans. At the time when I made my vow of penitence,
Derwish Muhammed Sarban and Sheikh Zin put me in mind of my promise. I
said, ‘You did right to remind me of this: I renounce the temgha in
all my dominions, so far as concerns Musulmans’; and I sent for my
secretaries, and desired them to write and send to all my dominions
firmans conveying intelligence of the two important incidents that had
occurred" (_Memoirs of Baber_, p. 354). [Elliot-Dowson iv. 269.]
Footnote 4.9.11:
"At this time, as I have already observed, in consequence of preceding
events, a general consternation and alarm prevailed among great and
small. There was not a single person who uttered a manly word, nor an
individual who delivered a courageous opinion. The Vazirs, whose duty
it was to give good counsel, and the Amirs, who enjoyed the wealth of
kingdoms, neither spoke bravely, nor was their counsel or deportment
such as became men of firmness. During the whole course of this
expedition, Khalifeh conducted himself admirably, and was unremitting
and indefatigable in his endeavours to put everything in the best
order. At length, observing the universal discouragement of my troops,
and their total want of spirit, I formed my plan. I called an assembly
of all the Amirs and officers, and addressed them: ‘Noblemen and
soldiers! Every man that comes into the world is subject to
dissolution. When we are passed away and gone, God only survives,
unchangeable. Whoever comes to the feast of life must, before it is
over, drink from the cup of death. He who arrives at the inn of
mortality must one day inevitably take his departure from that house
of sorrow, the world. How much better it is to die with honour than to
live with infamy!
"‘With fame, even if I die, I am contented;
Let fame be mine, since my body is death’s.
"‘The most high God has been propitious to us, and has now placed us
in such a crisis, that if we fall in the field we die the death of
martyrs; if we survive, we rise victorious, the avengers of the cause
of God. Let us, then, with one accord, swear on God’s holy word, that
none of us will even think of turning his face from this warfare, nor
desert from the battle and slaughter that ensues, till his soul is
separated from his body.’
“Master and servant, small and great, all with emulation, seizing the
blessed Koran in their hands, swore in the form that I had given. My
plan succeeded to admiration, and its effects were instantly visible
far and near, on friend and foe” (_Memoirs of Baber_, p. 357).
Footnote 4.9.12:
Babur says, “Although Rana Sanka (Sanga) the Pagan, when I was at
Cabul, sent me ambassadors, and had arranged with me that if I would
march upon Delhi he would on Agra; but when I took Delhi and Agra, the
Pagan did not move” (_Memoirs of Baber_, p. 339).
Footnote 4.9.13:
In the translation of Babur’s _Memoirs_, Udai Singh is styled ‘Wali of
the country,’ confounding him with Udai Singh, successor of Sanga. He
was Wali (sovereign) of Dungarpur, not ‘Oodipoor,’ which was not then
in existence. [Erskine, in his later work (_Hist. India_, i. 473,
note), admits his error.]
Footnote 4.9.14:
[A list of the slain, nearly identical, is given by Abu-l Fazl,
_Akbarnāma_, i. 265.]
Footnote 4.9.15:
[The author confuses Hasan Khān, Mewāti, an important officer
(Ferishta ii. 55; Bayley, _Muhammad Dynasties of Gujarāt_, 278), whom
Badaoni (_Muntakhabu-l-tawārīkh_, i. 447) calls a Jogi in form and
appearance, with Hasan Khān, Lodi (_Āīn_, i. 503).]
Footnote 4.9.16:
[About eighty-five miles north-north-west of Jaipur city. Bābur says
that he intended to pursue Sanga to Chitor, but was prevented by the
defeat of his forces advancing on Lucknow (Elliot-Dowson iv. 277).]
Footnote 4.9.17:
The number of queens is determined only by state necessity and the
fancy of the prince. To have them equal in number to the days of the
week is not unusual, while the number of _handmaids_ is unlimited. It
will be conceded that the prince who can govern such a household, and
maintain equal rights when claims to pre-eminence must be perpetually
asserted, possesses no little tact. The government of the kingdom is
but an amusement compared with such a task, for it is within the
_Rawala_ that intrigue is enthroned.
Footnote 4.9.18:
I possess his portrait, given to me by the present Rana, who has a
collection of full-lengths of all his royal ancestors, from Samarsi to
himself, of their exact heights and with every bodily peculiarity,
whether of complexion or form. They are valuable for the costume. He
has often shown them to me while illustrating their actions.
Footnote 4.9.19:
[The practice of sending his sword to represent the bridegroom
probably originated in the desire for secrecy, and has since been
observed, as among the Rāj Gonds of the Central Provinces, for the
sake of convenience, and in order to avoid expense (Forbes, _Rāsmāla_,
624; _BG_, ix. Part i. 143, 145 f.; Russell, _Tribes and Castes,
Central Provinces_, iii. 77).]
Footnote 4.9.20:
Surajmall.
Footnote 4.9.21:
The Hindu Cupid, implying ‘incorporeal,’ from _anga_, ‘body,’ with the
privative prefix ‘_an_.’
Footnote 4.9.22:
I have given the relation of this duel in the narrative of my journeys
on my visit to the cenotaph of Ratna, erected where he fell. It was
the pleasure of my life to listen to the traditional anecdotes
illustrative of Rajput history on the scenes of their transactions.
Footnote 4.9.23:
The Bhakha orthography for Vikramaditya.
Footnote 4.9.24:
The government of Papa Bai, a princess of ancient time, whose
mis-managed sovereignty has given a proverb to the Rajput. [Major
Luard informs me that Pāpa Bāi is said to have been the daughter of a
Rājput of Siddal. She and Shiral Seth, a corn-merchant who, in return
for his penances, asked to be made a king for three _ghatikas_
(twenty-four minutes each), and gave indiscriminately alms to rich and
poor, are bywords for foolish extravagance. She is worshipped at a
shrine in Ujjain by all who desire good crops, especially sugar.
Another name for such a period of misrule is Harbong kā rāj (Elliot,
_Supplemental Glossary_, 466 ff.).]
Footnote 4.9.25:
Taken by Prithiraj and carried to Rana Raemall, who took a large sum
of money and seven hundred horses as his ransom.
Footnote 4.9.26:
We have, in the poems of Chand, frequent indistinct notices of
firearms, especially the nal-gola or _tube_-ball; but whether
discharged by percussion or the expansive force of gunpowder is
dubious. The poet also repeatedly speaks of “the volcano of the
field,” giving to understand great guns; but these may be
interpolations, though I would not check a full investigation of so
curious a subject by raising a doubt. Babur was the first who
introduced field guns in the Muhammadan wars, and Bahadur’s invasion
is the first notice of their application in sieges, for in
Alau-d-din’s time, in the thirteenth century, he used the catapult or
battering-ram, called manjanik. To these guns Babur was indebted for
victory over the united cavalry of Rajasthan. They were served by Rumi
Khan, probably a Roumeliot, or Syrian Christian. The Franks
(Faringis), with Bahadur, must have been some of Vasco di Gama’s crew.
[For the use of artillery in Mogul times see the full account by
Irvine (_Army of the Indian Moghuls_, 113 ff.). Manjanīk is the Greek
μάγγανον. Rūmi Khān was an Ottoman Turk, called Khudāwand Khān, who
learned the science in Turkish service (Erskine, _Hist. of India_, ii.
49; _Āīn_, i. 441). Akbar is said to have used Chinese artillery, and
to have employed English gunners from Surat (Manucci, i. 139; Irvine,
_op. cit._ 152).]
Footnote 4.9.27:
The _Changi_, the chief insignia of regality in Mewar, is a sun of
gold in the centre of a disc of black ostrich feathers or felt, about
three feet in diameter, elevated on a pole, and carried close to the
prince. It has something of a Scythic cast about it. What _changi_
imports I never understood. [Probably Pers. _chang_, ‘anything bent.’]
Footnote 4.9.28:
The name of the faithful Rajput who preserved Udai Singh, Chakasen
Dhundera, deserves to be recorded.
Footnote 4.9.29:
The date, “Jeth sudi 12th, S. 1589,” A.D. 1533, and according to
Ferishta A.H. 949, A.D. 1532-33. [Chitor was taken in 1534. The
_Mirāt-i-Sikandari_ states that on March 24, 1533, Bahādur received
the promised tribute, and moved his camp from Chitor (Bayley,
_Muhammadan Dynasties of Gujarāt_, 372).]
Footnote 4.9.30:
From ancient times, leading the females captive appears to have been
the sign of complete victory. Rajput inscriptions often allude to “a
conqueror beloved by the wives of his conquered foe,” and in the early
parts of Scripture the same notion is referred to. The mother of
Sisera asks: “Have they not divided the prey; to every man a damsel or
two?” (Judges v. 30.)
Footnote 4.9.31:
[Ferishta ii. 75 f. Badaoni says that Humāyūn hesitated to interfere
because Bahādur was attacking an infidel (_Muntakhabu-t-tawārīkh_, i.
453 f.).]
Footnote 4.9.32:
Many romantic tales are founded on ‘the gift of the Rakhi.’ The
author, who was placed in the enviable situation of being able to do
good, and on the most extensive scale, was the means of restoring many
of these ancient families from degradation to affluence. The greatest
reward he could, and the only one he would, receive, was the courteous
civility displayed in many of these interesting customs. He was the
Rakhi-band Bhai of, and received ‘the bracelet’ from, three queens of
Udaipur, Bundi, and Kotah, besides Chand Bai, the maiden sister of the
Rana; as well as many ladies of the chieftains of rank, with whom he
interchanged letters. The sole articles of ‘barbaric pearl and gold,’
which he conveyed from a country where he was six years supreme, are
these testimonies of friendly regard. Intrinsically of no great value,
they were presented and accepted in the ancient spirit, and he retains
them with a sentiment the more powerful, because he can no longer
render them any service. [The Rākhi (Skt. _raksha_, ‘protection’) is
primarily a protective amulet assumed at the full moon of Sāwan
(July-August) (Forbes, _Rāsmāla_, 609). It was worn on this date to
avert the unhealthiness of the rainy season. Jahāngīr and Akbar
followed the custom, introduced by their Hindu ladies (Jahangir,
_Memoirs_, 246; Badaoni, _op. cit._ ii. 269).]
Footnote 4.9.33:
[Probably policy, rather than romance, caused Humāyūn to interfere.]
Footnote 4.9.34:
He addresses her as “dear and virtuous sister,” and evinces much
interest in her welfare. We are in total ignorance of the refined
sentiment which regulates such a people—our home-bred prejudices deem
them beneath inquiry; and thus indolence and self-conceit combine to
deprive the benevolent of a high gratification.
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