=Rāna Jai Singh, A.D. 1680-98.=—Rana Jai Singh took possession of the
_Gaddi_[4.14.1] in S. 1737 (A.D. 1681). A circumstance occurred at his
birth, which as descriptive of manners may deserve notice. A few hours
only intervened between his entrance into the world and that of another
son called Bhim. It is customary for the father to bind round the arm of
the new-born infant a root of that species of grass called the
_amardub_, the ‘imperishable’ _dub_, well known for its nutritive
properties and luxuriant vegetation under the most intense heat.[4.14.2]
The Rana first attached the ligature round the arm of the youngest,
apparently an oversight, though in fact from superior affection for his
mother. As the boys approached to manhood, the Rana, apprehensive that
this preference might create dissension, one day drew his sword, and
placing it in the hand of Bhim (the elder), said, it was better to use
it at once on his brother, than hereafter to endanger the safety of the
State. This [392] appeal to his generosity had an instantaneous effect,
and he not only ratified, ‘by his father’s throne,’[4.14.3] the
acknowledgment of the sovereign rights of his brother, but declared, to
remove all fears, “he was not his son if he again drank water within the
pass of Debari”; and, collecting his retainers, he abandoned Udaipur to
court Fortune where she might be kinder. The day was sultry, and on
reaching the barrier he halted under the shade of a sacred fig-tree to
bestow a last look upon the place of his birth. His cup-bearer
(_Paniyari_) brought his silver goblet filled from the cool fountain,
but as he raised it to his lips, he recollected that his vow was
incomplete while within the portal; he poured the libation on the earth
in the name of the Supreme, and casting the cup as an offering to the
deity of the fountain, the huge gates closed upon the valley. He
proceeded to Bahadur Shah, who conferred upon him the dignity (_mansab_)
of a leader of three thousand five hundred horse, with the Bawana, or
fifty-two districts for their support: but quarrelling with the imperial
general, he was detached with his contingent west of the Indus, where he
died.[4.14.4]
=Treaty between Rāna Jai Singh and Aurangzeb.=—Let us return to Jai
Singh (_the lion of victory_). He concluded a treaty with Aurangzeb,
conducted by Prince Azam and Dilir Khan, who took every occasion to
testify his gratitude for the clemency of Rana Raj Singh, when blockaded
in the defiles of the Aravalli. At this conference, the Rana was
attended by ten thousand horse and forty thousand foot, besides the
multitude collected from the mountains to view the ceremony, above one
hundred thousand souls, who set up a shout of joy at the prospect of
revisiting the plains, which disconcerted Azam, while Dilir expatiated
on the perils from which the Rana’s generosity had liberated him. Azam,
who said he was no stranger to the Rana’s illustrious house, concluded a
treaty on the spot, in which, as a salvo for the imperial dignity, a
nominal fine and surrender of three districts were inserted for aiding
Akbar’s rebellion, and a hint that the regal colour (_crimson_) of his
tents and umbrella [393] should be discontinued. That advantages were
gained by the Rana, we may infer from Dilir’s sons being left as
hostages for Azam’s good faith; a fact we learn from his farewell
address to the Rana! “Your nobles are rude, and my children are the
hostages of your safety; but if at the expense of their lives I can
obtain the entire restoration of your country, keep your mind at ease,
for there was friendship between your father and me.”
=The Jaisamund Lake.=—But all other protection than what his sword
afforded was futile; and though Dilir’s intentions were noble, he had
little control over events: in less than five years after his accession,
the Rana was again forced to fly the plains for the inaccessible haunts
of Kamori. Yet, in spite of these untoward circumstances and
uninterrupted warfare, such were the resources of this little State that
the Rana completed a work which perpetuates his name. He threw a dam
across a break in the mountains, the channel of an ever-flowing stream,
by which he formed the largest lake in India,[4.14.5] giving it his own
name, the Jaisamund, or sea of victory. Nature had furnished the hint
for this undertaking, for there had always existed a considerable volume
of water; but the Rana had the merit of uniting these natural
buttresses, and creating a little sea from the Dhebar pool, its ancient
appellation. The circumference cannot be less than thirty miles, and the
benefits to cultivation, especially in respect to the article of rice,
which requires perpetual irrigation, were great. On this huge rampart he
erected a palace for his favourite queen, Komaladevi, a princess of the
Pramara race, familiarly known as the Ruthi Rani, or ‘testy queen.’
=Rana Jai Singh and his heir Amar Singh.=—Domestic unhappiness appears
to have generated in the Rana inaptitude to state affairs; and,
unluckily, the favoured queen estranged him from his son. Amra, a name
venerated in Mewar, was that of the heir of Jai Singh. His mother was of
the Bundi house, a family which has performed great services to, and
brought great calamities upon, the ancient sovereigns of Mewar. To the
jealousies of the rival queens, one of them mother to the heir, the
other the favourite of the sovereign, are attributed dissensions, which
at such a juncture were a greater detriment than the loss of a battle,
and which afford another illustration, if any were wanting, of the
impolicy of polygamy. The annals of Mewar seldom exhibit those unnatural
contentions for power, from which no other Hindu State was exempt; this
was owing to the wholesome regulation of not investing the princes of
the blood with any [394] political authority; and establishing as a
counterpoise to natural advantages an artificial degradation of their
rank, which placed them beneath the sixteen chief nobles of the State;
which, while it exalted these in their own estimation, lessened the
national humiliation, when the heirs-apparent were compelled to lead
their quota in the _arrière-ban_ of the empire.
=Rebellion of Amar Singh.=—Rana Jai Singh, who had evinced such
gallantry and activity in the wars of Aurangzeb, now secluded himself
with Komala in the retreat of Jaisamund, leaving Amra under the guidance
of the Pancholi[4.14.6] minister, at the capital. But he having
personally insulted this chief officer of the State, in consequence of
receiving a rebuke for turning loose an infuriated elephant in the town,
the Rana left his retreat, and visiting Chitor in his tour, arrived at
Udaipur. Amra awaited not his father’s arrival, but adding his mother’s
resentments to a feeling of patriotic indignation at the abasement his
indolence produced, fled to Bundi, took up arms, and, joined by many of
his own nobles and Hara auxiliaries, returned at the head of ten
thousand men. Desirous of averting civil war, the Rana retired to Godwar
beyond the Aravalli, whence he sent the Ghanerao chieftain, the first
feudatory of that department, to expostulate with his son. But Amra,
supported by three-fourths of the nobles, made direct for Kumbhalmer to
secure the State treasure, saved by the Depra governor for his
sovereign. A failure in this project, the knowledge that the Rathors
fostered the quarrel with a view to obtain Godwar, and the determination
of the few chiefs yet faithful[4.14.7] to the Rana, to defend the
Jhilwara pass to the last, made the prince listen to terms, which were
ratified at the shrine of Eklinga, whereby the Rana was to return to the
capital, and the prince to abide in exile at the new palace during the
life of his father, which closed twenty years after his accession. Had
he maintained the reputation he established in his early years, the
times were well calculated for the redemption of his country’s
independence; but documents which yet exist afford little reason to
doubt that in his latter years a state of indolence, having all the
effects of imbecility, supervened, and but for the formation of ‘the
victorious sea,’ would have left his name a blank in the traditional
history of Mewar.
=Rāna Amar Singh II., A.D. 1698-1710.=—Amra II., who succeeded in S.
1756 (A.D. 1700), had much of the gallantry [395] and active turn of
mind of his illustrious namesake; but the degrading conflict with his
father had much impaired the moral strength of the country, and
counteracted the advantages which might have resulted from the decline
of the Mogul power. The reigns of Raj Singh and Jai Singh illustrate the
obvious truth, that on the personal character of the chief of a feudal
government everything depends. The former, infusing by his talent and
energy patriotic sentiments into all his subordinates, vanquished in a
series of conflicts the vast military resources of the empire, led by
the emperor, his sons, and chosen generals; while his successor, heir to
this moral strength, and with every collateral aid, lowered her to a
stage of contempt from which no talent could subsequently raise her.
Amra early availed himself of the contentions amongst the sons of
Aurangzeb to anticipate events, and formed a private treaty[4.14.8] with
the Mogul heir-apparent, Shah Alam, when commanded to the countries west
of the Indus, on which occasion [396] the Mewar contingent[4.14.9]
accompanied him, and fought several gallant actions under a Saktawat
chieftain.
=Breach between the Rājputs and the Mughal Empire.=—It is important to
study the events of this period, which involved the overthrow of the
Mogul power, and originated that form of society which paved the way to
the dominion of Britain in these distant regions. From such a review a
political lesson of great value may be learned, which will show a beacon
warning us against the danger of trusting to mere physical power,
unaided by the latent, but more durable support of moral influence. When
Aurangzeb neglected the indigenous Rajputs, he endangered the keystone
of his power; and in despising opinion, though his energetic mind might
for a time render him independent of it, yet long before his death the
enormous fabric reared by Akbar was tottering to its foundation:
demonstrating to conviction that the highest order of talent, either for
government or war, though aided by unlimited resources, will not suffice
for the maintenance of power, unsupported by the affections of the
governed. The empire of Aurangzeb was more extensive than that of
Britain at this day—the elements of stability were incomparably more
tenacious: he was associated with the Rajputs by blood, which seemed to
guarantee a respect for their opinions; he possessed the power of
distributing the honours and emoluments of the state, when a service
could be rewarded by a province,[4.14.10] drawing at will supplies of
warriors from the mountains of the west, as a check on his indigenous
subjects, while these left the plains of India to control the Afghan
amidst the snows of Caucasus. But the most devoted attachment and most
faithful service were repaid by insults to their habits, and the
imposition of an obnoxious tax; and to the jizya, and the unwise
pertinacity with which his successors adhered to it, must be directly
ascribed the overthrow of the monarchy. No condition was exempted from
this odious and impolitic assessment, which was deemed by the tyrant a
mild substitute for the conversion he once meditated of the entire Hindu
race to the creed of Islam.[4.14.11]
=Rājput Apostates.=—An abandonment of their faith was the Rajput’s
surest road to the tyrant’s favour [397], and an instance of this
dereliction in its consequences powerfully contributed to the
annihilation of the empire. Rao Gopal, a branch of the Rana’s family,
held the fief of Rampura, on the Chambal,[4.14.12] and was serving with
a select quota of his clan in the wars of the Deccan, when his son, who
had been left at home, withheld the revenues, which he applied to his
own use instead of remitting them to his father. Rao Gopal complained to
the emperor; but the son discovered that he could by a sacrifice not
only appease Aurangzeb, but attain the object of his wishes: he
apostatized from his faith, and obtained the emperor’s forgiveness, with
the domain of Rampura. Disgusted and provoked at such infurious conduct,
Rao Gopal fled the camp, made an unsuccessful attempt to redeem his
estate, and took refuge with Rana Amra, his suzerain. This natural
asylum granted to a chief of his own kin was construed by the tyrant
into a signal of revolt, and Azam was ordered to Malwa to watch the
Rana’s motions: conduct thus characterized in the memoirs of a Rajput
chieftain,[4.14.13] one of the most devoted to Aurangzeb, and who died
fighting for his son. “The emperor showed but little favour to his
faithful and most useful subjects the Rajputs, which greatly cooled
their ardour in his service.” The Rana took up arms, and Malwa joined
the tumult; while the first irruption of the Mahrattas across the
Nerbudda,[4.14.14] under Nima Sindhia, compelled the emperor to detach
Raja Jai Singh to join Prince Azam. Amidst these accumulated troubles,
the Mahrattas rising into importance, the Rajput feudatories disgusted
and alienated, his sons and grandsons ready to commit each individual
pretension to the decision of the sword, did Aurangzeb, after a reign of
terror of half a century’s duration, breathe his last on the 28th
Zilqa’da, A.D. 1707 [February 21], at the city bearing his
name—Aurangabad.
=Shāh Alam Bahādur Shāh, Emperor, A.D. 1707-12.=—At his death his second
son Azam assumed the imperial dignity, and aided by the Rajput princes
of Datia and Kotah,[4.14.15] who had always served in his division, he
marched to Agra to contest the legitimate claims of his eldest brother
Muazzam, who was advancing from Kabul supported by the contingents of
Mewar and Marwar, and all western Rajwara. The battle of Jajau[4.14.16]
[398] was fatal to Azam, who with his son Bedarbakht and the princes of
Kotah and Datia was slain, when Muazzam ascended the throne under the
title of Shah Alam Bahadur Shah. This prince had many qualities which
endeared him to the Rajputs, to whom his sympathies were united by the
ties of blood, his mother being a Rajput princess.[4.14.17] Had he
immediately succeeded the beneficent Shah Jahan, the race of Timur, in
all human probability, would have been still enthroned at Delhi, and
might have presented a picture of one of the most powerful monarchies of
Asia. But Aurangzeb had inflicted an incurable wound on the mind of the
Hindu race, which for ever estranged them from his successors; nor were
the virtues of Bahadur, during the short lustre of his sway, capable of
healing it. The bitter fruit of a long experience had taught the Rajputs
not to hope for amelioration from any graft of that stem, which, like
the deadly Upas, had stifled the vital energies of Rajasthan, whose
leaders accordingly formed a league for mutual preservation, which it
would have been madness to dissolve merely because a fair portion of
virtue was the inheritance of the tyrant’s successor. They had proved
that no act of duty or subserviency could guarantee them from the
infatuated abuse of power, and they were at length steeled against every
appeal to their loyalty, replying with a trite adage, which we may
translate ‘_quem Deus vult perdere, prius dementat_,’—of common
application with the Rajput in such a predicament.
=The Rise of the Sikhs.=—The emperor was soon made to perceive the
little support he had in future to expect from the Rajputs. Scarcely had
he quashed the pretensions of Kambakhsh, his youngest brother, who
proclaimed himself emperor in the Deccan, than he was forced to the
north, in consequence of an insurrection of the Sikhs of Lahore. This
singular race, the disciples (_sikhs_) of a teacher called Nanak, were
the descendants of the Scythic Getae,[4.14.18] or Jat, of Transoxiana,
who so early as the fifth century were established in the tract watered
by the five arms (_Panjab_) of the Indus. Little more than a century has
elapsed since their conversion from a spurious Hinduism to the doctrines
of the sectarian Nanak, and their first attempt to separate themselves,
in temporal as well as spiritual matters, from all control, and they are
now the sole independent power within the limits [399] of the Mogul
monarchy. On this occasion[4.14.19] the princes of Amber and Marwar
visited the emperor, but left his camp without permission, and, as the
historian[4.14.20] adds, manifested a design to struggle for
independence. Such was the change in their mutual circumstances that the
Mogul sent the heir-apparent to conciliate and conduct them to him; but
they came at the head of all their native bands, when “they were
gratified with whatever their insolence demanded”:[4.14.21] a splenetic
effusion of the historian, which well paints their altered position.
From the royal _urdu_,[4.14.22] or camp, they repaired to Rana Amra at
Udaipur, where a triple league was formed, which once more united them
to the head of their nation. This treaty of unity of interests against
the common foe was solemnized by nuptial engagements, from which those
princes had been excluded since the reigns of Akbar and Partap. To be
readmitted to this honour was the basis of this triple alliance, in
which they ratified on oath the renunciation of all connexion, domestic
or political, with the empire. It was, moreover, stipulated that the
sons of such marriage should be heirs, or if the issue were females,
that they should never be dishonoured by being married to a Mogul.
=Sacrifice of the Right of Primogeniture.=—But this remedy, as will be
seen, originated a worse disease; it was a sacrifice of the rights of
primogeniture (clung to by the Rajputs with extreme pertinacity),
productive of the most injurious effects, which introduced domestic
strife, and called upon the stage an umpire not less baneful than the
power from whose iron grasp they were on the point of freeing
themselves: for although this treaty laid prostrate the throne of Babur,
it ultimately introduced the Mahrattas as partisans in their family
disputes, who made the bone of contention their own.
The injudicious support afforded by the emperor to the apostate chief of
Rampura first brought the triple federation into action. The Rana,
upholding the cause of Himmat Singh, made an attack on Rampura, which
the apostate usurper Ratan Singh, now Raj Muslim Khan, defeated, and was
rewarded for [400] it by the emperor.[4.14.23] But the same report
conveyed to the king “that the Rana determined to lay waste his country,
and retire to the hills,”[4.14.24] which was speedily confirmed by the
unwelcome intelligence that Sawaldas, an officer of the Rana’s, had
attacked Firoz Khan, the governor of Pur Mandal, who was obliged to
retreat with great loss to Ajmer;[4.14.25] on which occasion this loyal
descendant of the illustrious Jaimall lost his life.[4.14.26] The brave
Durgadas, who conveyed the rebellious Akbar through all opposition to a
place of refuge, again appeared upon the stage—his own prince being
unable to protect him, he had found a safe asylum at Udaipur, and had
the sum of five hundred rupees daily paid for his expenditure—a princely
liberality. But the result of this combination was reserved for the
following reigns, Shah Alam being carried off by poison,[4.14.27] ere he
could correct the disorders which were rapidly breaking up the empire
from the Hindu-Kush to the ocean. Had his life been spared, his talents
for business, his experience, and courteous manners might have retarded
the ruin of the monarchy, which the utter unworthiness of his successor
sunk beyond the power of man to redeem. Every subsequent succession was
through blood; and the sons of Shah Alam performed the part for which
they had so many great examples. Two brothers,[4.14.28] Sayyids, from
the town of Barha in the Duab, were long the Warwicks of Hindustan,
setting up and plucking down its puppet kings at their pleasure; they
had elevated Farrukhsiyar when the triumvirs of Rajasthan commenced
their operations.
=Farrukhsīyar, Emperor, A.D. 1712-19.=—Giving loose to long-suppressed
resentment, the Rajputs abandoned the spirit of toleration which it
would have been criminal to preserve; and profiting by the lessons of
their tyrants, they overthrew the mosques built on the sites of their
altars, and treated the civil and religious officers of the government
with indignity. Of these every town in Rajasthan had its _mulla_ to
proclaim the name of Muhammad, and its _kazi_ for the administration of
justice,—branches of government [401] entirely wrested from the hands of
the native princes,[4.14.29] abusing the name of independence. But for a
moment it was redeemed, especially by the brave Rathors, who had made a
noble resistance, contesting every foot of land since the death of
Jaswant Singh, and now his son Ajit entirely expelled the Moguls from
Marwar. On this occasion the native forces of the triple alliance met at
the salt lake of Sambhar, which was made the common boundary of their
territory, and its revenues were equally divided amongst them.
The pageant of an emperor, guided by the Sayyids, or those who intrigued
to supplant their ministry, made an effort to oppose the threatening
measures of the Rajputs; and one of them, the Amiru-l-umara,[4.14.30]
marched against Raja Ajit, who received private instructions from the
emperor to resist his commander-in-chief, whose credit was strengthened
by the means taken to weaken it, which engendered suspicions of
treachery. Ajit leagued with the Sayyids, who held out to the Rathor an
important share of power at court, and agreed to pay tribute and give a
daughter in marriage to Farrukhsiyar.
=Marriage of Farrukhsīyar: Grant to the British.=—This marriage yielded
most important results, which were not confined to the Moguls or
Rajputs, for to it may be ascribed the rise of the British power in
India. A dangerous malady,[4.14.31] rendering necessary a surgical
operation upon Farrukhsiyar, to which the faculty of the court were
unequal, retarded the celebration of the nuptials between the emperor
and the Rajput princess of Marwar, and even threatened a fatal
termination. A mission from the British merchants at Surat was at that
time at court, and, as a last resource, the surgeon attached to it was
called in, who cured the malady, and made the emperor happy in his
bride.[4.14.32] His gratitude was displayed with oriental magnificence.
The emperor desired Mr. Hamilton to name [402] his reward, and to the
disinterested patriotism of this individual did the British owe the
first royal grant or farman, conferring territorial possession and great
commercial privileges. These were the objects of the mission, which till
this occurrence had proved unsuccessful.
This gorgeous court ought to have been, and probably was, impressed with
a high opinion of the virtuous self-denial of the inhabitants of
Britain; and if history has correctly preserved the transaction, some
mark of public gratitude should have been forthcoming from those who so
signally benefited thereby. But to borrow the phraseology of the Italian
historian, “Obligations which do not admit of being fully discharged are
often repaid with the coin of ingratitude”: the remains of this man rest
in the churchyard of Calcutta, without even a stone to mark the
spot![4.14.33]
=The Jizya Reimposed.=—This marriage, which promised a renewal of
interests with the Rajputs, was soon followed by the revival of the
obnoxious jizya. The character of this tax, though much altered from its
original imposition by Aurangzeb, when it was at once financial and
religious, was held in unmitigated abhorrence by the Hindus from the
complex association; and although it was revived chiefly to relieve
pecuniary wants, it kindled a universal feeling of hatred amongst all
classes, and quenched the little zeal which the recent marriage had
inspired in the Rajputs of the desert. The mode and channel of its
introduction evinced to them that there was no hope that the intolerant
spirit which originally suggested it would ever be subdued. The weak
Farrukhsiyar, desirous of snapping the leading-strings of the Sayyids,
recalled to his court Inayatu-lla Khan,[4.14.34] the minister of
Aurangzeb, and restored to him his office of Diwan, who, to use the
words of the historian of the period, "did not consult the temper of the
times, so very different from the reign of Aurangzeb, and the revival of
the _jizya_ came with him." Though by no means severe in its operation,
not amounting to three-quarters per cent on annual income,[4.14.35]—from
which the lame, the blind, and very poor were exempt,—it nevertheless
raised a general spirit of hostility, particularly from its retaining
the insulting distinction of a ‘tax on infidels.’ Resistance to taxation
appears to be a universal feeling, in which even the Asiatic forgets the
divine right of sovereignty, and which throws us back on the pervading
spirit of selfishness which [403] governs human nature. The
_tamgha_,[4.14.36] or stamp tax, which preceded the _jizya_, would
appear to have been as unsatisfactory as it was general, from the
solemnity of its renunciation by Babur on the field of battle after the
victory over infidels, which gave him the crown of India; and though we
have no record of the jizya being its substitute, there are indications
which authorize the inference.
=Rāna Amar Singh asserts Rājput Independence.=—Rana Amra was not an idle
spectator of these occurrences; and although the spurious thirst for
distinction so early broke up the alliance by detaching Ajit, he
redoubled his efforts for personal independence, and with it that of the
Rajput nation. An important document attests this solicitude, namely, a
treaty[4.14.37] with the emperor, in which the second article stipulates
emancipation from the galling _jizya._ It may be well to analyse this
treaty, which attests the altered condition of both parties. Its very
title marks the subordination of the chief of the Rajputs; but while
this is headed a ‘Memorandum of Requests,’ the eighth article discloses
the effective means of the Rana, for there he assumes an air of
protection towards the emperor. In the opening stipulation for the
_mansab_ of 7000, the [404] mind reverts to the great Amra, who
preferred abdication to acknowledgment of a superior; but opinion had
undergone a change as great as the mutual relations of the Rajputs. In
temporal dignities other States had risen to an equality with Mewar, and
all had learned to look on the Mogul as the fountain of honour. The
abolition of the jizya, freedom from religious restraint, control over
the ancient feudatories of his house, and the restoration of all
sequestrations, distinguish the other articles, and amply attest the
improving attitude of Mewar, and the rapid decay of the Mogul empire.
The Mahrattas under Raja Sahu[4.14.38] were successfully prosecuting
their peculiar system in the south, with the same feelings which
characterized the early Gothic invaders of Italy; strangers to settled
government, they imposed the taxes of _chauth_ and _desmukhi_,[4.14.39]
the _fourth_ and _tenth_ of all territorial income, in the countries
they overran. The Jat tribes west of the Chambal likewise bearded their
oppressors in this reign, by hoisting the standard of independence at
the very threshold of their capital; and from the siege of Sinsini
(mentioned in this treaty) to the last storm of Bharatpur, they
maintained the consequence thus assumed.
=Death of Rāna Amar Singh.=—This treaty was the last act of Rana Amra’s
life; he died in A.D. 1716 [1710], leaving the reputation of an active
and high-minded prince, who well upheld his station and the prosperity
of his country, notwithstanding the anarchy of the period. His
encouragement of agriculture and protection of manufactures are
displayed in the edicts engraved on pillars, which will hand down his
name to posterity. His memory is held in high veneration; nor do the
Rajputs admit the absolute degradation of Mewar till the period of the
second prince in succession to Amra [405].
-----
Footnote 4.14.1:
‘_The Cushion_,’ by which a Rajput throne is designated.
Footnote 4.14.2:
[Dūb, _Cynodon dactylon_, the most common and useful Indian grass
(Watt, _Comm. Prod._, 463 f).]
Footnote 4.14.3:
_Gaddi ki an._
Footnote 4.14.4:
I give these anecdotes as related to me by his descendant and
representative the Raja of Banera, while seated in a balcony of his
castle overlooking the plains of Mewar. Often have I quenched my
thirst at the fountain, and listened to their traditionary tales. It
is a spot consecrated to recollections: every altar which rises around
it is a text for the ‘_great ancients_’ of the clans to expatiate on;
and it is, moreover, a grand place of rendezvous, whether for the
traveller or sportsman. Bhim dislocated his spine in a feat of
strength. He was celebrated for activity, and could, while his steed
was urged to his speed, disengage and suspend himself by the arms from
the bough of a tree; and to one of these experiments he owed his
death.
Footnote 4.14.5:
[The Bhojpur lake, which covered an area of 250 square miles, was much
larger, the Jaisamund covering only 21 square miles (Smith, _EHI_,
396; Erskine ii. A. 8 f.).]
Footnote 4.14.6:
[Pancholi, Panchauli, of which the derivation is uncertain, perhaps
_pancha-kula_, ‘five houses,’ is the local title of the Desi or Māthur
Kāyasths, or writer caste (_Census Report Mārwār, 1891_, ii. 111).]
Footnote 4.14.7:
Beri Sal of Bijolia, Kandal of Salumbar, Gopinath of Ghanerao, and the
Solanki of Desuri.
Footnote 4.14.8:
"_Private Treaty between the Rana and Shah Alam Bahadur Shah, and
bearing his sign-manual._
"Six articles of engagement, just, and tending to the happiness of the
people, have been submitted by you, and by me accepted, and with God’s
blessing shall be executed without deviation—
"1. The re-establishment of Chitor as in the time of Shah Jahan.
"2. Prohibition of kine-killing.[4.14.8.A]
"3. The restoration of all the districts held in the reign of Shah
Jahan.
"4. Freedom of faith and religious worship, as during the government
of him whose _nest is Paradise_ (Akbar).
"5. Whoever shall be dismissed by you shall receive no countenance
from the king.
“6. The abrogation of the contingent for the service of the
Deccan.”[4.14.8.B]
Footnote 4.14.8.A:
From the second of these articles, which alternate between
stipulations of a temporal and spiritual nature, we may draw a lesson
of great political importance. In all the treaties which have come
under my observation, the insertion of an article against the
slaughter of kine was prominent. This sacrifice to their national
prejudices was the subject of discussion with every ambassador when
the States of Rajasthan formed engagements with the British Government
in 1817-18, “the prohibition of kine-killing within their respective
limits.” From the construction of our armies we could not guarantee
this article, but assurances were given that every practical attention
would be paid to their wishes; and kine are not absolutely slain
within the jurisdiction of any of these Rajput princes. But even long
habit, though it has familiarized, has not reconciled them to this
revolting sacrifice; nor would the kine-killer in Mewar be looked upon
with less detestation than was Cambyses by the Egyptians, when he
thrust his lance into the flank of Apis. But in time this will be
overlooked, and the verbal assurance will become a dead letter; men of
good intention will be lulled into the belief that, because not openly
combated, the prejudice is extinct, and that homage to our power has
obliterated this article of their creed. Thus Aurangzeb thought, but
he avowedly and boldly opposed the religious opinions of his
tributaries; we only hold them in contempt, and even protect them when
productive of no sacrifice. Yet if we look back on the early page of
history, we shall find both policy and benevolence combined to form
this legislative protection to one of the most useful of domestic
animals, and which would tempt the belief that Triptolemus, the
lawgiver of Sparta, had borrowed from Manu [_Laws_, xi. 60, 69, 71],
or rather from the still greater friends of dumb creatures, the Jains,
in the law which exempted not only the lordly bull from the knife, but
“every living thing.”
Footnote 4.14.8.B:
The Mewar contingent had been serving under Azam in the south, as the
following letter from him to the Rana discloses:—“Be it known to Rana
Amra Singh, your arzi [petition] arrived, and the accounts of your
mother gave me great grief, but against the decrees of God there is no
struggling. Pray for my welfare. Raja Rae Singh made a request for
you; you are my own; rest in full confidence and continue in your
obedience. The lands of your illustrious ancestors shall all be
yours—but this is the time to evince your duty—the rest learn from
your own servants—continue to think of me.”
“Your Rajputs have behaved well.”
Footnote 4.14.9:
It consisted of twenty-two _Nakkaraband_ chiefs, _i.e._ each entitled
to a kettle-drum, and fifteen _Turais_, or chiefs, entitled to brass
trumpets. ["As a mark of favour, kettle-drums (_naqqārah_) and the
right to play them (_naubat_) might be granted to a subject, but he
must be a man of the rank of 2000 sawār (troopers) or upwards. As an
invariable condition, however, it was stipulated they should not be
used when the Emperor was present, or within a certain distance from
his residence" (Irvine, _Army of the Indian Moghuls_, 30, 208 f.).]
Footnote 4.14.10:
In lieu of all, what reward does Britain hold out to the native
population to be attached? Heavy duties exclude many products of their
industry from the home market. The rates of pay to civil officers
afford no security to integrity; and the faithful soldier cannot
aspire to higher reward than £120 per annum, were his breast studded
with medals. Even their prejudices are often too little considered,
prejudices, the violation of which lost the throne of India, in spite
of every local advantage, to the descendants of Aurangzeb.
Footnote 4.14.11:
[Jizya, meaning ‘tribute,’ was a capitation tax imposed on subjects
(_zimmi_) who did not follow the state religion, Islām. Its hardship
lay in the fact that it was additional to, and about the same amount
as the revenue demand, the latter being thus nearly doubled. Great
merchants in the time of Aurangzeb paid Rs. 13.8; the middle class Rs.
6.12; the poor Rs. 3.8 per annum per head (Manucci ii. 234). On the
_Jizya_ see Hughes, _Dict. Islām_, 248; Smith, _Akbar the Great
Mogul_, 65 f.; Keene, _Turks in India_, 153 ff.; Grant Duff, _Hist. of
the Mahrattas_, 145; Jadunath Sarkar, _Life of Aurangzib_, iii. 305
ff.]
Footnote 4.14.12:
Rampura Bhanpura (city of the sun) to distinguish it from Rampura
_Tonk_. Rao Gopal was of the Chandarawat clan. See note, p. 306.
Footnote 4.14.13:
Rao Dalpat Bundela of Datia, a portion of whose memoirs were presented
to me by the reigning prince, his descendant.
Footnote 4.14.14:
A.D. 1706-7. [The Mahrattas crossed the Nerbudda in 1705 (Grant Duff,
_Hist. Mahrattas_, 177; Malcolm, _Memoir Central India_, i. 58 ff.).
The latter remarks that they came to attack the government, not the
people, and acted with the concurrence of the Hindu chiefs
discontented with the policy of Aurangzeb.]
Footnote 4.14.15:
Rao Dalpat (Bundela), and Rao Ram Singh (Hara).
Footnote 4.14.16:
[Twenty miles south of Agra, June 7, 1707.]
Footnote 4.14.17:
[Nawāb Bāi, daughter of the Rāja of Rājauri, Kashmīr, who died in 1690
(Manucci ii. 57, note).]
Footnote 4.14.18:
See _History of the Tribes_, article ‘Jats,’ p. 127.
Footnote 4.14.19:
A.D. 1709-10.
Footnote 4.14.20:
_Memoirs of Iradat Khan_, p. 58 [translated by Captain Jonathan Scott;
extracts from the work of Irādat Khān will be found in Elliot-Dowson
vii. 534 f.]; also autograph letters of all those princes, with files
of the regular newspapers (_akhbars_) of the day, in my possession,
dated from the emperor’s camp.
Footnote 4.14.21:
_Memoirs of Iradat Khan._
Footnote 4.14.22:
Hence the corruption of _horde_.
Footnote 4.14.23:
Newspapers, dated 3rd Rajab, San. 3—(3rd year of his reign).
Footnote 4.14.24:
Newspapers, 10th Rajab, San. 3.
Footnote 4.14.25:
Newspapers, 5th Shavval, San. 3.
Footnote 4.14.26:
The following edict, which caused this action, I translated from the
archives; it is addressed to the son of Sawaldas:—“Maharana Amra Singh
to Rathor Rae Singh Sawaldasot (race of Sawaldas)—Lay waste your
villages and the country around you—your families shall have other
habitations to dwell in—for particulars consult Daulat Singh
Chondawat: obey these.” Asoj, S. 1764 (Dec. A.D. 1708).
Footnote 4.14.27:
[February 18] A.D. 1712. [The Musalmān authorities do not corroborate
the assertion that he was poisoned.]
Footnote 4.14.28:
Husain Ali and Abdu-lla Khan.
Footnote 4.14.29:
Next to kine-killing was the article inhibiting the introduction of
the _Adalat_, or British courts of justice, into the Rajput States, in
all their treaties with the British Government in A.D. 1817-18, the
very name of which is abhorrent to a native.
Footnote 4.14.30:
The title of Husain Ali,—as Kutbu-l-mulk (the axis of the State), was
that of his brother Abdu-lla.
Footnote 4.14.31:
A white swelling or tumour on the back.
Footnote 4.14.32:
The ceremony is described, as it was celebrated, with true Asiatic
pomp. “The Ameer-ool Omra conducted the festivities on the part of the
bride, and the marriage was performed with a splendour and
magnificence till then unseen among the princes of Hindust’han. Many
pompous insignia were added to the royal cortège upon this occasion.
The illuminations rivalled the planets, and seemed to upbraid the
faint lustre of the stars. The nuptials were performed at the palace
of the Ameer-ool Omra, whence the emperor conveyed his bride with the
highest splendour of imperial pomp to the citadel, amidst the
resoundings of musical instruments and the acclamations of the people”
(Scott’s _History of Aurangzeb’s Successors_, vol. i. p. 132). [For
the cure of Farrukhsīyar by Surgeon W. Hamilton see C. R. Wilson,
_Early Annals of the English in Bengal_, ii. 235.]
Footnote 4.14.33:
[There is a monument of Hamilton in St. John’s Church, Calcutta
(_IGI_, x. 280).]
Footnote 4.14.34:
[Ināyatu-lla Khān, a Persian of Naishapur, was tutor of Zebu-n-nissa
Begam, daughter of Aurangzeb, and held high office in his reign and in
that of Farrukhsīyar. He died in 1726 (Beale, _s.v._).]
Footnote 4.14.35:
13 rupees on every 2000 rupees.
Footnote 4.14.36:
[Altamgha, ‘the red seal,’ technically ‘a royal grant’. On its
remission by Bābur see Erskine, _Hist. of India_, i. 467. Elliot
remarks that the _altamgha_ as a tax was enforced as early as the time
of Alāu-d-dīn and Fīroz Shāh (Elliot-Dowson iii. 365). For the use of
the seal see _Memoirs of Jahāngīr_, trans. Rogers-Beveridge, 23.]
Footnote 4.14.37:
"_Memorandum of Requests._
"1. The _Mansab_ of 7000, the highest grade of rank.
"2. Farman of engagement under the _panja_ private seal and sign that
the jizya shall be abolished—that it shall no longer be imposed on the
Hindu nation; at all events, that none of the Chagatai race shall
authorize it in Mewar. Let it be annulled.
"3. The contingent of one thousand horse for service in the Deccan to
be excused.
"4. All places of Hindu faith to be rebuilt, with perfect freedom of
religious worship.
"5. If my uncles, brothers, or chiefs, repair to the Presence, to meet
no encouragement.
"6. The Bhumias of Deolia, Banswara, Dungarpur, and Sirohi, besides
other zamindars over whom I am to have control, they shall not be
admitted to the Presence.
"7. The forces I possess are my chiefs—what troops you may require for
a given period, you must furnish with rations (_peti_), and when the
service is over, their accounts will be settled.
"8. Of the Hakkdars, Zamindars, Mansabdars, who serve you with zeal
and from the heart, let me have a list—and those who are not obedient
I will punish; but in effecting this no demand is to be made for
_Paemali_."[4.14.37.A]
"List of the districts attached to the _Panjhazari_,[4.14.37.B] at
present under sequestration, to be restored—Phulia, Mandalgarh,
Badnor, Pur, Basar, Ghayaspur, Pardhar, Banswara, Dungarpur. Besides
the 5000 of old, you had on ascending the throne granted an increase
of 1000, and on account of the victory at Sinsini 1000 more, of two
and three horse."[4.14.37.C]
"Of three crores of _dams_[4.14.37.D] in gift (_inam_), namely, two
according to farman, and one for the payment of the contingent in the
Deccan, and of which two are immediately required, you have given me
in lieu thereof Sirohi.
“Districts now desired—Idar, Kekri, Mandal, Jahazpur, Malpur (and
another illegible).”
Footnote 4.14.37.A:
Destruction of property, alluding to the crops which always suffered
in the movements of disorderly troops.
Footnote 4.14.37.B:
Mansab of 5000.
Footnote 4.14.37.C:
It was usual to allow two and three horses to each cavalier when
favour was intended.
Footnote 4.14.37.D:
40 dams to the rupee.
Footnote 4.14.38:
[Sāhu, ‘the honest, respectable man,’ a title given by Aurangzeb to
Sivaji, son of Sambhaji (Grant Duff, 184).]
Footnote 4.14.39:
[_Desmukhi_ from _Sardesmukh_, an officer exercising police and
revenue jurisdiction under the Marāthas. These taxes were confirmed in
favour of Sivaji in 1665 (_Ibid._ 94).]
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