=Rāna Sangrām Singh II., A.D. 1710-34.=—Sangram Singh (the lion of
battle) succeeded; a name renowned in the annals of Mewar, being that of
the opponent of the founder of the Moguls. He ascended the throne about
the same time with Muhammad Shah,[4.15.1] the last of the race of Timur
who deserved the name of emperor of India. During the reign of Sangram,
from A.D. 1716 to 1734, this mighty empire was dismembered; when, in
lieu of one paramount authority, numerous independent governments
started up, which preserved their uncertain existence until the last
revolution, which has given a new combination to these discordant
materials—Muhammadan, Mahratta, and Rajput, in the course of one century
under the dominion of a handful of Britons! Like the Satraps of the
ancient Persian, or the Lieutenants of Alexander, each chief proclaimed
himself master of the province, the government of which was confided to
his loyalty and talents; and it cannot fail to diminish any regret at
the successive prostration of Bengal, Oudh, Haidarabad, and other less
conspicuous States, to remember that they were founded in rebellion, and
erected on ingratitude; and that their rulers were destitute of those
sympathies, which could alone give stability to their ephemeral
greatness, by improving the condition of their subjects. With the
Mahrattas the case is different: their emergence to power claims our
admiration, when tyranny transformed the industrious husbandman, and the
minister of religion, into a hardy and enterprising soldier, and a
skilful functionary of government. Had their ambition been restrained
within legitimate bounds, it would have been no less gratifying than
politically and morally just that the family of Sivaji should have
retained its [406] authority in countries which his active valour
wrested from Aurangzeb. But the genius of conquest changed their natural
habits; they devastated instead of consolidating; and in lieu of that
severe and frugal simplicity, and that energy of enterprise, which were
their peculiar characteristics, they became distinguished for mean
parsimony, low cunning, and dastardly depredation. Had they, retaining
their original character, been content with their proper sphere of
action, the Deccan, they might yet have held the sovereignty of that
vast region, where their habits and language assimilated them with the
people. But as they spread over the north they encountered national
antipathies, and though professing the same creed, a wider difference in
sentiment divided the Mahratta from the Rajput, than from the despots of
Delhi, whose tyrannical intolerance was more endurable, because less
degrading, than the rapacious meanness of the Southron. Rajasthan
benefited by the demolition of the empire: to all but Mewar it yielded
an extension of power. Had the national mind been allowed to repose, and
its energies to recruit, after so many centuries of demoralization, all
would have recovered their strength, which lay in the opinions and
industry of the people, a devoted tenantry and brave vassalage, whom we
have so often depicted as abandoning their habitations and pursuits to
aid the patriotic views of their princes.
=Deposition of Farrukhsīyar: Nizāmu-l-mulk.=—The short reign of
Farrukhsiyar was drawing to a close; its end was accelerated by the very
means by which that monarch hoped to emancipate himself from the
thraldom of the Sayyids, against whose authority the faction of
Inayatu-lla was but a feeble counterpoise, and whose arbitrary habits,
in the re-establishment of the jizya, lost him even the support of the
father of his queen. It was on this occasion that the celebrated
Nizamu-l-mulk,[4.15.2] the founder of the Haidarabad State, was brought
upon the stage: he then held the unimportant charge of the district of
Moradabad; but possessed of high talents, he was bought over, by the
promise of the government of Malwa, to further the views of the Sayyids.
Supported by a body of ten thousand Mahrattas, these makers of kings
soon manifested their displeasure by the deposal of Farrukhsiyar, who
was left without any support but that of the princes of Amber and Bundi.
Yet they would never have abandoned him had he hearkened to their
counsel to take the field, and trust his cause to them: but, cowardly
and infatuated, he refused to quit the walls of his palace, and threw
[407] himself upon the mercy of his enemies, who made him dismiss the
faithful Rajputs and “admit a guard of honour of their troops into the
citadel.”[4.15.3]
=Murder of Farrukhsīyar, May 16, 1719.=—Farrukhsiyar hoped for security
in the inviolability of the harem—but he found no sanctuary even there:
to use the words of the Mogul memoir, "night advanced, and day, like the
fallen star of the emperor, sunk in darkness. The gates of the citadel
were closed upon his friends: the Wazir and Ajit Singh remained within.
This night was dreadful to the inhabitants of the city; no one knew what
was passing in the palace, and the troops under the Amiru-l-umara, with
ten thousand Mahrattas, remained under arms: morning came, and all hope
was extinguished by the royal band (_Naubat_) announcing the deposal of
Farrukhsiyar, in the proclamation of Rafiu-d-darajat, his successor."
The interval between the deposal and the death of an Asiatic prince is
short, and even while the heralds vociferated “long live the king!” to
the new puppet, the bowstring was on the neck of the contemptible
Farrukhsiyar.
=Accession of Rafiu-d-darajāt.=—The first act of the new reign (A.D.
1719) was one of conciliation towards Ajit Singh and the Rajputs,
namely, the abrogation of the _jizya_; and the Sayyids further showed
their disposition to attach them by conferring the important office of
Diwan on one of their own faith: Raja Ratan Chand was accordingly
inducted into the ministry in lieu of Inayatu-lla.
=Accession of Roshan-Akhtar Muhammad Shah, A.D. 1719-48.=—Three phantoms
of royalty flitted across the scene in a few months, till Roshan-Akhtar,
the eldest son of Bahadur Shah, was [408] enthroned with the title of
Muhammad Shah (A.D. 1720), during whose reign of nearly thirty years the
empire was completely dismembered,[4.15.4] and Mahrattas from the south
disputed its spoils with the Afghan mountaineers. The haughty demeanour
of the Sayyids disgusted all who acted with them, especially their
coadjutor the Nizam,[4.15.5] of whose talents, displayed in restoring
Malwa to prosperity, they entertained a dread. It was impossible to
cherish any abstract loyalty for the puppets they established, and
treason lost its name, when the Nizam declared for independence, which
the possession of the fortresses of Asir and Burhanpur enabled him to
secure. The brothers had just cause for alarm. The Rajputs were called
upon for their contingents,[4.15.6] and the princes of Kotah and Narwar
gallantly interposed their own retainers to cut off the Nizam from the
Nerbudda, on which occasion the Kotah prince was slain. The independence
of the Nizam led to that of Oudh. Saadat Khan was then but the
commandant of Bayana, but he entered into the conspiracy to expel the
Sayyids, and was one of those who drew lots to assassinate the
Amiru-l-umara. The deed was put into execution on the march to reduce
the Nizam, when Haidar Khan buried his poniard in the Amir’s
heart.[4.15.7] The emperor then in camp, being thus freed, returned
against the Wazir, who instantly set up Ibrahim and marched against his
opponents. The Rajputs wisely remained neutral, and both armies met. The
decapitation of Ratan Chand was the signal for the battle, which was
obstinate and bloody; the Wazir was made prisoner, and subjected to the
bowstring. For the part Saadat Khan acted in the conspiracy he was
honoured with the title of Bahadur Jang, and the government of Oudh. The
Rajput princes paid their respects to the [409] conqueror, who confirmed
the repeal of the _jizya_, and as the reward of their neutrality the
Rajas of Amber and Jodhpur, Jai Singh and Ajit, were gratified, the
former with the government of the province of Agra, the last with that
of Gujarat and Ajmer, of which latter fortress he took possession.
Girdhardas[4.15.8] was made governor of Malwa to oppose the Mahrattas,
and the Nizam was invited from his government of Haidarabad to accept
the office of wazir of the empire.
=The Policy of Mewār.=—The policy of Mewar was too isolated for the
times; her rulers clung to forms and unsubstantial homage, while their
neighbours, with more active virtue, plunged into the tortuous policy of
the imperial court, and seized every opportunity to enlarge the
boundaries of their States: and while Amber appropriated to herself the
royal domains almost to the Jumna; while Marwar planted her banner on
the battlements of Ajmer, dismembered Gujarat, and pushed her clans far
into the desert, and even to ‘the world’s end’;[4.15.9] Mewar confined
her ambition to the control of her ancient feudatories of Abu, Idar, and
the petty States which grew out of her, Dungarpur and Banswara. The
motive for this policy was precisely the same which had cost such
sacrifices in former times; she dreaded amalgamating with the imperial
court, and preferred political inferiority to the sacrifice of
principle. The internal feuds of her two great clans also operated
against her aggrandizement; and while the brave Saktawat, Jeth Singh,
expelled the Rathor from Idar, and subdued the wild mountaineers even to
Koliwara, the conquest was left incomplete by the jealousy of his rival,
and he was recalled in the midst of his success. From these and other
causes an important change took place in the internal policy of Mewar,
which tended greatly to impair her energies. To this period none of the
vassals had the power to erect places of strength within their domains,
which, as already stated, were not fixed, but subject to triennial
change; their lands were given for subsistence, their native hills were
their fortresses, and the frontier strongholds defended their families
in time of invasion. As the Mogul power waned, the general defensive
system was [410] abandoned, while the predatory warfare which succeeded
compelled them to stud their country with castles, in order to shelter
their effects from the Mahratta and Pathan, and in later times to
protect rebels.
Rana Sangram ruled eighteen [twenty-four] years; under him Mewar was
respected, and the greater portion of her lost territory was regained.
His selection of Biharidas Pancholi evinced his penetration, for never
had Mewar a more able or faithful minister, and numerous autograph
letters of all the princes of his time attest his talent and his worth
as the oracle of the period. He retained his office during three reigns:
but his skill was unable to stem the tide of Mahratta invasion, which
commenced on the death of Sangram.
=Anecdotes of Rāna Sangrām Singh II.=—Tradition has preserved many
anecdotes of Sangram, which aid our estimate of Rajput character,
whether in the capacity of legislators or the more retired sphere of
domestic manners. They uniformly represent this Rana as a patriarchal
ruler, wise, just, and inflexible,[4.15.10] steady in his application to
business, regulating public and private expenditure, and even the
sumptuary laws, which were rigidly adhered to, and on which the people
still expatiate, giving homely illustrations of the contrast between
them and the existing profusion. The Chauhan of Kotharia, one of the
highest class of chieftains, had recommended an addition to the folds of
the court robe, and as courtesy forbids all personal denial, his wish
was assented to, and he retired to his estate pluming himself on his
sovereign’s acquiescence. But the Rana, sending for the minister,
commanded the sequestration of two villages of Kotharia, which speedily
reaching the ears of the chief, he repaired to court, and begged to know
the fault which had drawn upon him this mark of displeasure. “None,
Raoji; but on a minute calculation I find the revenue of these two
villages will just cover the expense of the superfluity of garment which
obedience to your wishes will occasion me, and as every iota of my own
income is appropriated, I had no other mode of innovating on our ancient
costume than by making you bear the charge attending a compliance with
your suggestion.” It will readily be believed, that the Chauhan prayed
the [411] revocation of this edict, and that he was careful for the
future of violating the sumptuary laws of his sovereign.
On another occasion, from lapse of memory or want of consideration, he
broke the laws he had established, and alienated a village attached to
the household. Each branch had its appropriate fund, whether for the
kitchen, the wardrobe, the privy purse, the queens; these lands were
called _thua_, and each had its officer, or _thuadar_, all of whom were
made accountable for their trust to the prime minister; it was one of
these he had alienated. Seated with his chiefs in the _rasora_, or
banqueting-hall, there was no sugar forthcoming for the curds, which has
a place in the dinner _carte_ of all Rajputs, and he chid the
superintendent for the omission. “Anndata” (giver of food), replied the
officer, "the minister says you have given away the village set apart
for sugar."—“Just,” replied the Rana, and finished his repast without
further remark, and without sugar to his curds.
Another anecdote will show his inflexibility of character, and his
resistance to that species of interference in state affairs which is the
bane of Asiatic governments. Sangram had recently emancipated himself
from the trammels of a tedious minority, during which his mother,
according to custom, acted a conspicuous part in the guardianship of her
son and the State. The chieftain of Dariawad had his estate confiscated:
but as the Rana never punished from passion or pardoned from weakness,
none dared to plead his cause, and he remained proscribed from court
during two years, when he ventured a petition to the queen-mother
through the Bhandarins,[4.15.11] for the reversion of the decree,
accompanied with a note for two lakhs of rupees,[4.15.12] and a liberal
donation to the fair mediators. It was the daily habit of the Rana to
pay his respects to his mother before dinner, and on one of these visits
she introduced the Ranawat’s request, and begged the restoration of the
estate. It was customary, on the issue of every grant, that eight days
should elapse from the mandate to the promulgation of the edict, to
which eight official seals[4.15.13] were attached; but on the present
occasion the Rana commanded the execution of the deed at once, and to
have it ere he left the Rawala. On its being brought, he [412] placed it
respectfully in his mother’s hands, begging her to return the note to
the Ranawat; having made this sacrifice to duty, he bowed and retired.
The next day he commanded dinner an hour earlier, without the usual
visit to the Rawala: all were surprised, but none so much as the
queen-mother—the day passed—another came—still no visit, and to a
confidential message, she received a ceremonious reply. Alarmed for the
loss of her son’s affections, she pondered on the cause, but could find
none, except the grant—she entreated the minister’s interference; he
respectfully intimated that he was interdicted from the discussion of
State affairs but with his sovereign—she had recourse to other
expedients, which proving alike fruitless, she became sullen, punished
her damsels without cause, and refused food: Sangram still remained
obdurate. She talked of a pilgrimage to the Ganges, and befitting
equipage and escort were commanded to attend her—the moment of departure
was at hand, and yet he would not see her. She repaired by Amber on her
route to Mathura, to worship the Apollo of Vraj,[4.15.14] when the great
Raja Jai Singh (married to the Rana’s sister)[4.15.15] advanced, and
conducted her to his new city of Jaipur, and to evince his respect “put
his shoulder to the travelling litter or palki,” and promised to return
with her and be a suppliant to his brother-in-law for the restoration of
his regard. She made a tour of the sacred places, and on return accepted
the escort of the Prince of Amber. The laws of hospitality amongst the
Rajputs are rigid: the Rana could not refuse to his guest the request
for which he had left his capital: but averse to owing reconciliation to
external intercession, and having done enough for the suppression of
intrigue, he advanced to meet the cortège when within one march of
Udaipur, as if to receive the Amber prince; but proceeding direct to his
[413] mother’s tents, he asked her blessing, and having escorted her to
the palace, returned to greet and conduct his brother prince; all the
allusion he made to the subject was in the simple but pithy expression,
“family quarrels should be kept in the family.”
Another anecdote shows him as the vigilant shepherd watching over the
safety of his flock. As he sat down to dinner, tidings arrived of an
invasion of the Malwa Pathans, who had rifled several villages at
Mandasor, carrying the inhabitants into captivity. Pushing the platter
from him, he ordered his armour, and the _nakkara_ to beat the
assemblage of his chieftains. With all speed a gallant band formed on
the terrace below, but they prevailed on the Rana to leave the
punishment of the desultory aggression to them, as unworthy of his
personal interference. They departed: several hours after, the chief of
Kanor arrived, having left a sick-bed, and with a tertian come in
obedience to his sovereign’s summons. Vain was his prince’s dissuasion
to keep him back, and he joined the band as they came up with the
invaders. The foe was defeated and put to flight, but the sick chieftain
fell in the charge, and his son was severely wounded by his side. On the
young chief repairing to court he was honoured with a _bira_[4.15.16]
from the Rana’s own hand, a distinction which he held to be an ample
reward for his wounds, and testimonial of the worth of his father. The
existence of such sentiments are the strongest tests of character.
On another occasion, some parasite had insinuated suspicions against the
chief of the nobles, the Rawat of Salumbar, who had just returned
victorious in action with the royal forces at Malwa, and had asked
permission to visit his family on his way to court. The Rana spurned the
suspicion, and to show his reliance on the chief, he dispatched a
messenger for Salumbar to wait his arrival and summon him to the
presence. He had reached his domain, given leave to his vassals as they
passed their respective abodes, dismounted, and reached the door of the
Rawala, when the herald called aloud, “The Rana salutes you, Rawatji,
and commands this letter.” With his hand on the door where his wife and
children awaited him, he demanded his horse, and simply leaving his
‘duty for his mother,’ he [414] mounted, with half a dozen attendants,
nor loosed the rein until he reached the capital. It was midnight; his
house empty; no servants; no dinner; but his sovereign had foreseen and
provided, and when his arrival was announced, provender for his cattle,
and vessels of provision prepared in the royal kitchen, were immediately
sent to his abode. Next morning Salumbar attended the court. The Rana
was unusually gracious, and not only presented him with the usual tokens
of regard, a horse and jewels, but moreover a grant of land. With
surprise he asked what service he had performed to merit such
distinction, and from a sentiment becoming the descendant of Chonda
solemnly refused to accept it; observing, that even if he had lost his
head, the reward was excessive; but if his prince would admit of his
preferring a request, it would be, that in remembrance of his
sovereign’s favour, when he, or his, in after times, should on the
summons come from their estate to the capital, the same number of dishes
from the royal kitchen should be sent to his abode: it was granted, and
to this day his descendants enjoy the distinction. These anecdotes paint
the character of Sangram far more forcibly than any laboured effort. His
reign was as honourable to himself as it was beneficial to his country,
in whose defence he had fought eighteen actions; but though his policy
was too circumscribed, and his country would have benefited more by a
surrender of some of those antique prejudices which kept her back in the
general scramble for portions of the dilapidated monarchy of the Moguls,
yet he was respected abroad, as he was beloved by his subjects, of whose
welfare he was ever watchful, and to whose wants ever indulgent. Rana
Sangram was the last prince who upheld the dignity of the _gaddi_ of
Bappa Rawal; with his death commenced Mahratta ascendancy, and with this
we shall open the reign of his son and successor.
=Rāna Jagat Singh II., A.D. 1734-51. Difficulties of Rājput
Combination.=—Jagat Singh II., the eldest of the four sons of Sangram,
succeeded S. 1790 (A.D. 1734). The commencement of his reign was
signalized by a revival of the triple alliance formed by Rana Amra, and
broken by Raja Ajit’s connexion with the Sayyids and the renewal of
matrimonial ties with the empire, the abjuration whereof was the basis
of the treaty. The present engagement, which included all the minor
states, was formed at Hurra, a town in Mewar on the Ajmer frontier,
where the confederate princes met at the head of their vassals. To
insure unanimity, the Rana was invested with paramount control, and
headed the forces which were [415] to take the field after the rains,
already set in.[4.15.17] Unity of interests was the chief character of
the engagement, had they adhered to which, not only the independence,
but the aggrandisement, of Rajasthan, was in their power, and they might
have alike defied the expiring efforts of Mogul tyranny, and the
Parthian-like warfare of the Mahratta. They were indeed the most
formidable power in India at this juncture; but difficult as it had ever
proved to coalesce the Rajputs for mutual preservation, even when a
paramount superiority of power, both temporal and spiritual, belonged to
the Ranas, so now, since Amber and Marwar had attained an equality with
Mewar, it was found still less practicable to prevent the operation of
the principles of disunion. In fact, a moment’s reflection must discover
that the component parts of a great feudal federation, such as that
described, must contain too many discordant particles—too many rivalries
and national antipathies—ever cordially to amalgamate. Had it been
otherwise, the opportunities were many and splendid for the recovery of
Rajput freedom; but though individually enamoured of liberty, the
universality of the sentiment prevented its realization: they never
would submit to the control required to work it out, and this, the best
opportunity which had ever occurred, was lost. A glance at the
disordered fragments of the throne of Akbar will show the comparative
strength of the Rajputs.
=League of Nizamu-l-mulk with Rājputs and Marāthas.=—Nizamu-l-mulk had
completely emancipated himself from his allegiance, and signalized his
independence, by sending the head of the imperial general, who [416]
ventured to oppose it, as that of a traitor, to the emperor. He leagued
with the Rajputs, and instigated Bajirao to plant the Mahratta standard
in Malwa and Gujarat. In defending the former, Dayya Bahadur
fell;[4.15.18] and Jai Singh of Amber, being nominated to the trust,
delegated it to the invader, and Malwa was lost. The extensive province
of Gujarat soon shared the same fate; for in the vacillating policy of
the court, the promise of that government to the Rathors had been
broken, and Abhai Singh, son of Ajit, who had expelled Sarbuland
Khan[4.15.19] after a severe contest, following the example of his
brother prince of Amber, connived with the invaders, while he added its
most northern districts to Marwar. In Bengal, Behar, and Orissa,
Shujau-d-daula, and his deputy Allahwirdi Khan,[4.15.20] were supreme,
and Safdar Jang[4.15.21] (son of Saadat Khan) was established in Oudh.
The basest disloyalty marked the rise of this family, which owed
everything to Muhammad Shah. It was Saadat Khan who invited Nadir Shah,
whose invasion gave the final stab to the empire; and it was his son,
Safdar Jang, who, when commandant of the artillery (_mir-i-atish_),
turned it against his sovereign’s palace, and then conveyed it to Oudh.
Of the Diwans of Bengal we must speak only with reverence; but, whether
they had any special dispensation, their loyalty to the descendant of
Farrukhsiyar has been very little more distinguished than that of the
satraps enumerated, though the original tenure of Bengal is still
apparent, and the feudal obligation to the suzerain of Delhi manifested,
in the homage of _petite serjanterie_, in transmitting with the annual
fine of relief (one hundred mohars) the spices of the eastern
archipelago. Yet of all those who gloried in the title of _fidwi
padshah-i-ghazi_, the only ‘slave of the victorious king,’ who has been
generous to him in the day of his distress, is the Diwan of Bengal,
better known as the English East India Company. In the hour of triumph
they rescued the blind and aged descendants of the illustrious Babur
from a state of degradation and penury, and secured to him all the
dignity and comfort which his circumstances could lead him to hope; and
the present state of his family, contrasted with the thraldom and misery
endured while fortune favoured the Mahratta, is splendid. Yet perhaps
the most acute stroke of fortune to this fallen monarch was when the
British governor of India lent his aid to the descendant of the
rebellious Safdar Jang to mount the throne of Oudh, and to assume, in
lieu of the title of wazir of the empire, that of king. We can [417]
appreciate and commiserate the feeling; for the days of power were yet
too recent[4.15.22] for Akbar Sani (the second) to receive such
intelligence without a shock, or without comparing his condition with
him whose name he bore. It is well to pause upon this page of eastern
history, which is full of instruction; since by weighing the abuses of
power, and its inevitable loss through placing a large executive trust
in the hands of those who exercised it without sympathy towards the
governed, we may at least retard the day of our decline.
=Marātha Raids. The Campaign of Nādir Shāh.=—The Mahratta establishments
in Malwa and Gujarat constituted a nucleus for others to form upon, and
like locusts, they crossed the Nerbudda in swarms; when the Holkars, the
Sindhias, the Puars, and other less familiar names, emerged from
obscurity; when the plough[4.15.23] was deserted for the sword, and the
goat-herd[4.15.24] made a lance of his crook. They devastated, and at
length settled upon, the lands of the indigenous Rajputs. For a time the
necessity of unity made them act under one standard, and hence the vast
masses under the first Bajirao, which bore down all opposition, and
afterwards dispersed themselves over those long-oppressed regions. It
was in A.D. 1735 that he first crossed the Chambal[4.15.25] and appeared
before Delhi, which he blockaded, when his retreat was purchased by the
surrender of the _chauth_, or fourth of the gross revenues of the
empire. The Nizam, dreading the influence such pusillanimous concession
might exert upon his rising power, determined to drive the Mahrattas
from Malwa, where, if once fixed, they would cut off his communications
with the north. He accordingly invaded Malwa, defeated Bajirao in a
pitched battle, and was only prevented from following it up by Nadir
Shah’s advance, facilitated by the Afghans, who, on becoming independent
in Kabul, laid open the frontiers of Hindustan.[4.15.26] In this
emergency, “great hopes were placed on the valour of the Rajputs”; but
the spirit of devotion in this brave race, by whose aid the Mogul power
was made and maintained, was irretrievably alienated, and not one of
those high families, who had throughout been so lavish of their blood in
its defence, would obey the summons to the royal standard, when the fate
of India was decided on the plains of Karnal.[4.15.27] A sense [418] of
individual danger brought together the great home feudatories, when the
Nizam and Saadat Khan (now Wazir) united their forces under the imperial
commander; but their demoralized levies were no match for the Persian
and the northern mountaineer. The Amiru-l-umara was slain, the Wazir
made prisoner, and Muhammad Shah and his kingdom were at Nadir’s
disposal. The disloyalty of the Wazir filled the capital with blood, and
subjected his sovereign to the condition of a captive. Jealous of the
Nizam, whose diplomatic success had obtained him the office of
Amiru-l-umara, he stimulated the avarice of the conqueror by
exaggerating the riches of Delhi, and declared that he alone could
furnish the ransom negotiated by the Nizam. Nadir’s love of gold
overpowered his principle; the treaty was broken, the keys of Delhi were
demanded, and its humiliated emperor was led in triumph through the camp
of the conqueror, who, on March 8, A.D. 1739, took possession of the
palace of Timur, and coined money bearing this legend:
King over the kings of the world
Is Nadir, king of kings, and lord of the period.
=Plunder and Massacre at Delhi.=—The accumulated wealth of India
contained in the royal treasury, notwithstanding the lavish expenditure
during the civil wars, and the profuse rewards scattered by each
competitor for dominion, was yet sufficient to gratify even avarice
itself, amounting in gold, jewels, and plate to forty millions sterling,
exclusive of equipages of every denomination. But this enormous spoil
only kindled instead of satiating the appetite of Nadir, and a fine of
two millions and a half was exacted, and levied with such unrelenting
rigour and cruelty on the inhabitants, that men of rank and character
could find no means of escape but by suicide. A rumour of this monster’s
death excited an insurrection, in which several Persians were killed.
The provocation was not lost: the conqueror ascended a mosque,[4.15.28]
and commanded a general massacre, in which thousands were slain. Pillage
accompanied murder; whilst the streets streamed with blood, the city was
fired, and the dead were consumed in the conflagration of their late
habitations. If a single ray of satisfaction could be felt amidst such a
scene of horror, it must have been when Nadir commanded the minister of
the wretch who was the author of [419] this atrocity, the infamous
Saadat Khan, to send, on pain of death, an inventory of his own and his
master’s wealth; demanding meanwhile the two millions and a half, the
original composition settled by the Nizam, from the Wazir alone. Whether
his ‘coward conscience’ was alarmed at the mischief he had occasioned,
or mortification at discovering that his ambition had ‘o’erleaped
itself,’ and recoiled with vengeance on his own head, tempted the act,
it is impossible to discover, but the guilty Saadat became his own
executioner. He swallowed poison;[4.15.29] an example followed by his
diwan, Raja Majlis Rae, in order to escape the rage of the offended
Nadir. By the new treaty, all the western provinces, Kabul, Tatta, Sind,
and Multan, were surrendered and united to Persia, and on the vernal
equinox, Nadir, gorged with spoil, commenced his march from the
desolated Delhi.[4.15.30] The philosophic comment of the native
historian on these events is so just, that we shall transcribe it
verbatim. “The people of Hindustan at this period thought only of
personal safety and gratification; misery was disregarded by those who
escaped it, and man, centred wholly in self, felt not for his kind. This
selfishness, destructive of public and private virtue, was universal in
Hindustan at the invasion of Nadir Shah; nor have the people become more
virtuous since, and consequently neither more happy nor more
independent.”
=Results to the Rājputs.=—At this eventful era in the political history
of India, the Rajput nation had not only maintained their ground amidst
the convulsions of six centuries under the paramount sway of the
Islamite, but two of the three chief States, Marwar and [420] Amber, had
by policy and valour created substantial States out of petty
principalities, junior branches[4.15.31] from which had established
their independence, and still enjoy it under treaty with the British
Government. Mewar at this juncture was defined by nearly the same
boundaries as when Mahmud of Ghazni invaded her in the tenth century,
though her influence over many of her tributaries, as Bundi, Abu, Idar,
and Deolia, was destroyed. To the west, the fertile district of Godwar
carried her beyond her natural barrier, the Aravalli, into the desert;
while the Chambal was her limit to the east. The Khari separated her
from Ajmer, and to the south she adjoined Malwa. These limits
comprehended one hundred and thirty miles of latitude and one hundred
and forty of longitude, containing 10,000 towns and villages, with
upwards of a million sterling of revenue, raised from a fertile soil by
an excellent agricultural population, a wealthy mercantile community,
and defended by a devoted vassalage. Such was this little patriarchal
State after the protracted strife which has been related; we shall have
to exhibit her, in less than half a century, on the verge of
annihilation from the predatory inroads of the Mahrattas.
=The Coming of the Marāthas.=—In order to mark with exactitude the
introduction of the Mahrattas into Rajasthan, we must revert to the
period[4.15.32] when the dastardly intrigues of the advisers of Muhammad
Shah surrendered to them as tribute the _chauth_, or fourth of his
revenues. Whether in the full tide of successful invasion, these
spoilers deemed any other argument than force to be requisite in order
to justify their extortions, they had in this surrender a concession of
which the subtle Mahrattas were well capable of availing themselves; and
as the Mogul claimed sovereignty over the whole of Rajasthan, they might
plausibly urge their right of _chauth_, as applicable to all the
territories subordinate to the empire.
=The Rājput Coalition.=—The rapidity with which these desultory bands
flew from conquest to conquest appears to have alarmed the Rajputs, and
again brought about a coalition, which, with the characteristic
peculiarity of all such contracts, was commenced by matrimonial
alliances. On this occasion, Bijai Singh, the heir of Marwar, was
affianced to the Rana’s daughter, who at the same time reconciled the
princes [421] of Marwar and Amber, whose positions at the court of the
Mogul often brought their national jealousies into conflict, as they
alternately took the lead in his councils: for it was rare to find both
in the same line of politics. These matters were arranged at
Udaipur.[4.15.33] But as we have often had occasion to observe, no
public [422] or general benefit ever resulted from these alliances,
which were obstructed by the multitude of petty jealousies inseparable
from clanship; even while this treaty was in discussion, the fruit of
the triple league formed against the tyranny of Aurangzeb was about to
show its baneful influence, as will presently appear.
=Bājirāo visits Mewār. Negotiations with the Marāthas.=—When Malwa was
acquired by the Mahrattas, followed by the cession of the _chauth_,
their leader, Bajirao, repaired to Mewar, where his visit created great
alarm.[4.15.34] The Rana desired to avoid a personal interview, and sent
as his ambassadors [423], the chief of Salumbar and his prime minister,
Biharidas. Long discussions followed as to the mode of Bajirao’s
reception, which was settled to be on the same footing as the Raja of
Banera,[4.15.35] and that he should be seated in front of the throne. A
treaty followed, stipulating an annual tribute, which remained in force
during ten years,[4.15.36] when grasping at the whole they despised a
part, and the treaty became a nullity.[4.15.37] The dissensions which
arose soon after, in consequence of the Rajput engagements, afforded the
opportunity sought for to mix in their internal concerns.
=Right of Primogeniture.=—It may be recollected that in the family
engagements formed by Rana Amra there was an obligation to invest the
issue of such marriage with the rights of primogeniture; and the death
of Sawai Jai Singh[4.15.38] of Amber, two years after Nadir’s invasion,
brought that stipulation into effect. His eldest son, Isari Singh, was
proclaimed Raja, but a strong party supported Madho Singh, the Rana’s
nephew, and the stipulated, against the natural order of succession. We
are [424] left in doubt as to the real designs of Jai Singh in
maintaining his guarantee, which was doubtless inconvenient; but that
Madho Singh was not brought up to the expectation is evident, from his
holding a fief of the Rana Sangram, who appropriated the domain of
Rampura for his support, subject to the service of one thousand horse
and two thousand foot, formally sanctioned by his father, who allowed
the transfer of his services. On the other hand, the letter of
permission entitles him _Kshema_, ‘prosperous,’ an epithet only applied
to the heir-apparent of Jaipur. Five years, however, elapsed before any
extraordinary exertions were made to annul the rights of Isari Singh,
who led his vassals to the Sutlej in order to oppose the first invasion
of the Duranis.[4.15.39] It would be tedious to give even an epitome of
the intrigues for the development of this object, which properly belong
to the annals of Amber, and whence resulted many of the troubles of
Rajputana. The Rana took the field with his nephew, and was met by Isari
Singh,[4.15.40] supported by the Mahrattas; but the Sesodias did not
evince in the battle of Rajmahall that gallantry which must have its
source in moral strength: they were defeated and fled. The Rana vented
his indignation in a galling sarcasm; he gave the sword of state to a
common courtesan to carry in procession, observing “it was a woman’s
weapon in these degenerate times”: a remark the degrading severity of
which made a lasting impression in the decline of Mewar. Elated with
this success, Isari Singh carried his resentments and his auxiliaries,
under Sindhia, against the Haras of Kotah and Bundi, who supported the
cause of his antagonist. Kotah stood a siege and was gallantly defended,
and Sindhia (Apaji) lost an arm:[4.15.41] on this occasion both the
States suffered a diminution of territory, and were subjected to
tribute. The Rana, following the example of the Kachhwahas, called in as
auxiliary Malhar Rao Holkar, and engaged to pay sixty-four lakhs of
rupees (£800,000) on the deposal of Isari Singh. To avoid degradation
this unfortunate prince resolved on suicide, and a dose of poison gave
Madho Singh the _gaddi_, Holkar his bribe, and the Mahrattas a firm hold
upon Rajasthan. Such was the cause of Rajput abasement; the moral force
of the vassals was lost in a contest unjust in all its associations, and
from this period we have only the degrading spectacle of civil strife
and predatory spoliation till the existing treaty of A.D. 1817 [425].
=Death of Rāna Jagat Singh II., A.D. 1751.=—In S. 1808 (A.D. 1752) Rana
Jagat Singh died. Addicted to pleasure, his habits of levity and
profusion totally unfitted him for the task of governing his country at
such a juncture; he considered his elephant fights[4.15.42] of more
importance than keeping down the Mahrattas. Like all his family, he
patronized the arts, greatly enlarged the palace, and expended £250,000
in embellishing the islets of the Pichola. The villas scattered over the
valley were all erected by him, and many of those festivals devoted to
idleness and dissipation, and now firmly rooted at Udaipur, were
instituted by Jagat Singh II.