_Rajput, Kachhwaha, Cutchwaha_--A celebrated clan of Rajputs included
among the thirty-six royal races, to which the Maharajas of the
important states of Amber or Jaipur and Alwar belong. They are of the
solar race and claim descent from Kash, the second son of the great
king Rama of Ajodhia, the incarnation of Vishnu. Their original seat,
according to tradition, was Rohtas on the Son river, and another of
their famous progenitors was Raja Nal, who migrated from Rohtas and
founded Narwar. [542] The town of Damoh in the Central Provinces
is supposed to be named after Damyanti, Raja Nal's wife. According
to General Cunningham the name Kachhwaha is an abbreviation of
Kachhaha-ghata or tortoise-killer. The earliest appearance of the
Kachhwaha Rajputs in authentic history is in the tenth century, when
a chief of the clan captured Gwalior from the Parihar-Gujar kings of
Kanauj and established himself there. His dynasty had an independent
existence till A.D. 1128, when it became tributary to the Chandel
kings of Mahoba. [543] The last prince of Gwalior was Tejkaran,
called Dulha Rai or the bridegroom prince, and he received from his
father-in-law the district of Daora in the present Jaipur State,
where he settled. In 1150 one of his successors wrested Amber from
the Minas and made it his capital. The Amber State from the first
acknowledged the supremacy of the Mughal emperors, and the chief
of the period gave his daughter in marriage to Akbar. This chief's
son, Bhagwan Das, is said to have saved Akbar's life at the battle
of Sarnal. Bhagwan Das gave a daughter to Jahangir, and his adopted
son, Man Singh, the next chief, was one of the most conspicuous of
the Mughal Generals, and at different periods was governor of Kabul,
Bengal, Bihar and the Deccan. The next chief of note, Jai Singh I.,
appears in all the wars of Aurangzeb in the Deccan. He was commander
of 6000 horse, and captured Sivaji, the celebrated founder of the
Maratha power. The present city of Jaipur was founded by a subsequent
chief, Jai Singh II., in 1728. During the Mutiny the Maharaja of Jaipur
placed all his military power at the disposal of the Political Agent,
and in every way assisted the British Government. At the Durbar of
1877 his salute was raised to 21 guns. Jaipur, one of the largest
states in Rajputana, has an area of nearly 16,000 square miles, and
a population of 2 1/2 million persons. The Alwar State was founded
about 1776 by Pratap Singh, a descendant of a prince of the Jaipur
house, who had separated from it three centuries before. It has an
area of 3000 square miles and a population of nearly a million. [544]
In Colonel Tod's time the Kachhwaha chiefs in memory of their descent
from Rama, the incarnation of the sun, celebrated with great solemnity
the annual feast of the sun. On this occasion a stately car called the
chariot of the sun was brought from Rama's temple, and the Maharaja
ascending into it perambulated his capital. The images of Rama and
Siva were carried with the army both in Alwar and Jaipur. The banner
of Amber was always called the _Panchranga_ or five-coloured flag,
and is frequently mentioned in the traditions of the Rajput bards. But
it does not seem to be stated what the five colours were. Some of
the finest soldiers in the old Sepoy army were Kachhwaha Rajputs. The
Kachhwahas are fairly numerous in the United Provinces and rank with
the highest Rajput clans. [545] In the Central Provinces they are
found principally in the Saugor, Hoshangabad and Nimar Districts.