The groundwork of these states being itself so unstable, their

relations with each other were conducted on no principle but the

law of the stronger. General distrust reigned throughout. Each chief

well knew that his neighbours had won their position as he had won

his own by the gradual absorption of the weaker, and that they were

ready enough whenever opportunity offered to subject his dominions

to the same process. The administration of his territory consisted

merely in levying, within certain limits sanctioned by long usage,

as much revenue as would suffice to maintain himself and his forces

in their position with regard to the surrounding states. When a

foreign enemy appeared there was no co-operation amongst the local

chiefs in resistance. It was a point of honour not to yield except

to a superior force. Each chief, therefore, resisted the demands

made upon him until he considered that he had done enough to satisfy

the family conscience and then, agreeing to the terms proposed, he

allowed the wave of extortion to pass on and deluge the domains of his

neighbour. It should be remembered that the peninsula had never been

subjugated, though overrun times innumerable. The evil of invasion was

thus transitory. To a chief the mere payment of tribute tended in no

wise to derogate from his independence. In his capacity of military

freebooter he acknowledged the principle as just. His country had been

won by the sword and was retained by the sword and not by acquiescence

in the payment of tribute, so that if he could avoid this extortion

he was justified in doing so. If he weakened his state in resisting

foreigners, he knew that his neighbours would certainly take advantage

of the favourable juncture and annex his territory. It was his policy

therefore, after resistance up to a certain point, to succumb.

[The Revenue Raid System.] Owing to this local peculiarity and to

the general want of union in the province, both the Mughals and

Maráthás found it advantageous to follow a system of successive

expeditions rather than to incur the expense of permanently occupying

the peninsula with an army which would necessarily have to be a large

one. There is every reason to believe that in adopting the raid system

the Musalmáns were only pursuing the practice of their predecessors,

who used to take tribute from Jodhpur to Dwárka.

Some of the subhedárs of Ahmedábád divided their tributary district

into three circuits of collection and personally undertook the charge

of one each year. This was the mulakgiri land-raiding system. Besides

this chief expedition, there was the smaller one of the Bábi of

Junágadh and the still more minute operations of the Rával of Bhávnagar

against some of his weaker neighbours. The great Ahmedábád expedition

had long been an annual grievance and was conducted with some show

of system and under special rules called the Raj-ul-Mulak. Three

of these rules are of importance, and seem to have been generally

acquiesced in before the great incursions of Bábáji and Vithalráv

at the beginning of the nineteenth century. The first was that the

paramount power (by which was meant the foreign government which was

strong enough to enforce tribute from all the chiefs) had authority

to interfere in cases of dismemberment, or in proceedings tending

to the depreciation of the revenue or to the dismemberment of any

tributary state. It was again an acknowledged rule that whilst the

mulakgiri expedition of the paramount power was in motion no other

army should be in the field throughout the whole province. The third

provision was not so well established, but it appears to have been

understood that the tribute from each state should be regulated by

some standard of former date. In practice, however, the measure of

the Marátha demand was simply the power to enforce payment.

It is worthy of remark that about the beginning of this century the

resistance to the collection of tribute was stronger towards the west

than in the east and south of the province. In the Mahi Kántha the

lawlessness of the Koli chiefs, who had established themselves in the

ravines and on the hills, necessitated the employment of a military

force for collections. In the neighbourhood of Bijápur and Kadi, the

chiefs would not pay tribute except under the compulsion of a siege

or raid, but the mulakgiri system only reached its full development

west of Dholka.

From these explanatory remarks the system and practice of the Maráthás

can be clearly understood.

[The Maráthás in Sorath.] The Maráthás found their way to Sorath very

early in their Gujarát career. The first raid probably took place

about 1711, when the Muhammadans were occupied near Ahmedábád. After

this incursions were frequent, and under Dámáji Gáikwár became, as

has been seen above, annual. This leader did more. He took to wife a

daughter of the Gohil chief of the small state of Láthi in east central

Káthiáváda, whose dowry in land gave him the standpoint he sought in

the heart of the peninsula. He managed also to secure his position

in what are known as the Amreli Maháls, probably under the force of

circumstances similar to those which caused the weaker Rájputs to

gravitate towards the stronger of their own tribe. His expedition

through the peninsula, generally as near the time of harvest as

possible, was made regularly every year as soon as he had amassed a

sufficient number of troops on the mainland to admit of a force being

detached for mulakgiri. The object of these inroads was plunder, not

conquest; the leaders would readily have entered into negotiations for

the payment of the tribute had the chieftains been disposed to treat

otherwise than after defeat. The expenses of such an army were heavy,

and the more so as the time during which it would be in the field was

quite indefinite, and dependent entirely upon the amount of resistance

offered. In more than one instance the Marátha leaders, who usually

had no artillery for a siege, were obliged to regularly beleaguer a

town. Early in this century the town of Mália successfully defended

itself against a remarkably well equipped force under Bábáji, and the

Junágadh state was usually avoided by the Maráthás as much as possible

on account of the time it would take to reduce its army to terms.

It is not on record that the mulakgiri force habitually devastated

the country over which it passed, or caused much greater hardships

to the ryots than are inseparable from the passage of an army in

the field. There are, however, well authenticated stories of the

depredations and damage committed during these expeditions. A village

is said to have been deserted by order of the bhumia in order that

the timber of its houses might furnish fuel for the Marátha army on

its march. Tortures were doubtless inflicted on men supposed to be

well off, who were suspected to have hidden their property. A Marátha

army was usually, if not always, ill disciplined, as is proved by

the testimony of Mr. Forbes, an eye witness of the campaigns of

1775. [1064] From the same writer it is learned what an immense

proportion the camp followers bore to the actual combatants. If

this were the case in a real campaign against a formidable and

active enemy, it is likely that the irresponsible element was still

larger in an expedition like this of mulakgiri, where the enemy was

insignificant and the country at the mercy of the invaders. It is

probable therefore that the troops have been credited with misconduct

that should in point of fact be attributed to these Pindháris. In

after years, when the expeditions were conducted systematically,

villages on the line of march were always allowed the alternative of

entertaining a pioneer or two as a sort of guarantee. If no bandhári

of this sort were accepted, the army occupied the place. In many cases

the demands for supplies made by these pioneers were so exorbitant

that the villagers preferred to compound in turn with them also for

their absence. Another method by which a chieftain might avoid the

necessity of the army's passing through his territories was by sending

to the commander of the expedition an envoy empowered to treat for

the amount of tribute and to execute a provisional guarantee for

its future liquidation. This deed was destroyed on the subsequent

confirmation by the chief himself of the agreement for the sum fixed.

[Securities.] This habit of taking securities in all engagements was

so prevalent in all parts of the province, and played so prominent

a part in the financial administration of the Gáikwár's home and

tributary domains, that its main features are worth describing.

It is a well known characteristic of Hindu dealings that no transaction

is carried on by two parties alone if a third can possibly be dragged

in. This practice no doubt originated in the former insecure state

of society when no man considered himself safe in person or property

from government on the one hand and his neighbour on the other. With

classes like Kolis and predatory Rájputs, the feeling is intelligible

enough, and from these it spread into other branches of the society. To

such a pitch was distrust carried in the early part of the nineteenth

century, that the Gáikwár himself could find no one to enter into a

contract with him without the guarantee of one of his own subjects. The

consequences of this practice and the power it threw into the hands of

the Arab mercenaries, who were the principal securities for the public

debts, are matters that touch the history of the Baroda State rather

than that of the province. The chiefs in their dealings employed a

special sort of security which owed its validity not to political

consideration like that of the Arab Jamádárs but entirely to its

religious and traditional character.

[Bháts and Chárans, 1807.] A society of the military type like the

Rájput has a tendency towards caste and privilege. Without a leader

the warlike instincts of the tribe would not carry them beyond petty

robberies; whilst with a leader they can achieve greater exploits

of valour and destruction. The successful chief then is idolized,

and after a certain stage the privileges of the chieftainship become

hereditary. Once this system is established, the celebration of

ancestors follows, and when circumstances are favourable to the

perpetuation of the hereditary position, the genealogy of the chief

is a matter of the highest importance, and the person entrusted

with the record of this is vested with peculiar sanctity. It is the

genealogist's duty to enter in the record, not only the direct line

but the names of the more distant relations of the chief by whom he

is retained, and also to be the continual chanter of the glorious

deeds of their common ancestors. He is therefore a referee of the

highest authority in questions of pedigree or of the partition of

inheritance. An injury to his person might entail the loss of the

pedigree of the ruling family (especially as many of the bards kept no

written record) and thus produce a misfortune which would be felt by

the whole tribe. The chief, being a warrior, must take his chance in

the field with the rest, but the person of the genealogist was sacred

and inviolable. Amongst the Rájputs the greatest reverence was paid to

purity of pedigree, and each principal family had its Bhát to record

births and deaths amongst its members and to stimulate pride in their

lineage by the recital of the wars and exploits of their ancestors.

These Bháts necessarily multiplied beyond the number of the families

that could entertain them, so that many took to banking and some

to cultivation. Surrounded as they were by the social system of

the Hindus, it was not long before they became differentiated into

a distinct caste, and the inviolability of their persons, formerly

due only to respect for the pedigree, was now extended to the whole

tribe, even though a large proportion of it performed none of the

duties of genealogists. Similar to the Bháts in many respects,

notably in that of sacredness of person, were the Chárans, numerous

in Káthiáváda, where they had founded villages and lived as ordinary

cultivators. This tribe also claimed divine origin like the race

whose annals they had the privilege of recording. It is said that

Rája Todar Mal, the celebrated minister of the Dehli empire, was the

first to introduce the practice of taking these Bháts as securities

for the Rájputs. The assertion is possibly true, but rests merely on

tradition, and after ages usually find some great man as a sponsor for

all such innovations. It is clear however that for many years before

1807 no dealings of Kolis or Rájputs with the state or with each other

took place without the security of a Bhát being taken. This practice

seems to have been as prevalent on the mainland as in the peninsula,

the Kolis having doubtless borrowed it from their Rájput neighbours

after the Bháts had become a separate caste.

Under this system the Bháts acquired considerable wealth, as they

usually demanded a percentage on the amount for which they became

security. There are instances in which they presumed upon the strength

of their engagements and sacred character to bully or dictate to

their employer. Such was the case of the Rával of Bhávnagar in 1808,

which is also interesting in another way, as showing how the spirit

of industry and commerce tends to sap the old observances which have

their roots in superstition. This chief engaged in trade, fostered

merchants, and increased his revenue. When his security, a Bhát,

got troublesome and interfering, he applied to the power to whom he

paid tribute to have the old security bond cancelled and a fresh one

taken on his own personal responsibility. In doing this he seems to

have been prompted by nothing but his appreciation of the modern code

of commercial honour.

To return to the mulakgiri. The tribute for which preliminary security

had been taken seems to have fluctuated from year to year, but always

with reference to a fixed standard. It was one of the Marátha rules

never to recede from a former demand lest they should be thereby

setting up a precedent for future years. They preferred to secure

a year or two's arrears at the full rate to the payment of all the

arrears due at a reduced rate.

In spite of this fiction of a settled jama or tribute, the Maráthás,

when they had a sufficient force at their back, invariably demanded

a larger sum, the excess being called khará-ját or extra distinct

from the actual tribute. This ingenious plan of increasing the

collections originated, it is said, with Shivrám Gárdi, and was

carried out scrupulously by both Bábáji and Vithalráv in their

tours. In fact during the last few years of the old system Vithalráv

had so good a force with him that the extra demand formed a large

proportion of the whole tribute collected and had been paid only

under strong protest. [British Intervention.] The British had not

long been established in Ránpur, Gogha, and Dhandhuka before a few

petty chiefs of Gohilvád and Sorath applied to the Resident at Baroda

for protection against the mulakgiri of the Nawáb of Junágadh and the

Rával of Bhávnagar, offering to cede the sovereignty of their states

to the British on condition that certain rights and privileges were

preserved to the chiefs and their families. The conditions they named

were not such as were likely to meet with the approval of the British

Government, and do not seem to have received much consideration. The

proposals had, however, the effect of drawing the attention of the

Bombay Government towards the state of Káthiáváda, and permission

to aid the mulakgiri of the Gáikwár by detaching a few companies of

British troops was accorded by the Supreme Government. The outbreak

of hostilities with Sindia led to the whole question as to the

best means of collecting the tribute being for a time deferred. The

internal disputes of some of the more turbulent states, a few years

afterwards, gave the Resident an opportunity of sending an envoy to

one or two courts to see how matters stood, and to open a way for

a settlement in conjunction with the Gáikwár. Affairs at Baroda, as

mentioned above (page 416), detained the Resident there till 1807,

in which year he joined Vithalráv's army with a British contingent,

at a place in the Morvi state.

[Settlement of 1807.] Before treating directly with the chiefs a

circular was sent round to all of them both by the Gáikwár's agent and

by Colonel Walker the Resident, containing the basis of the proposals

with regard to the tribute about to be submitted to them. The position

of the British Government throughout this negotiation is not clearly

defined. Vithalráv in his circular mentions indeed that a British force

was with his own, but urges the chiefs to come to a settlement entirely

with the government he represented. Colonel Walker's note was longer,

more explicit, and conciliatory, but at the same time assumes a tone

of protection and superiority. The replies of the chiefs were various,

and, as a rule, seem to show that they regarded the British Government

as the chief mover in these negotiations. They were probably aware

of the position in which the engagements of the Gáikwár had placed

him with reference to the British, and for some years had had the

latter as their neighbours in the east of the peninsula. They were

therefore not able at once to take in the whole scope of the action

of the British Government in the tribute question.

Many seemed to take the note as a preliminary to a mulakgiri on the

part of the East India Company. The Rája of Mália, who had just been

causing disturbances in the dominions of all his neighbours, had

repulsed Bábáji and permitted the self-immolation of a Bhát rather

than fulfil an engagement, openly proposed a joint expedition across

the Ran to plunder Kachh and Sindh. From the inquiries made by the

Resident and from information gathered from the Gáikwár's accounts,

it was anticipated that separate engagements need only be entered into

with the twenty-nine chiefs to whom the circular invitation had been

issued, provided that the rights and interests of subordinate members

of the Bháyád were clearly defined in the agreement. When, however,

these rights came to be investigated in the light of the peculiar rules

of Rájput inheritance, it was found that no less than one hundred and

fifty-three persons had a claim to settle independently of each other

for their tribute. This greatly prolonged the settlement, but at last

the agreements were all framed on one principle. The amount settled

was determined by a close scrutiny of the collections of past years,

and Colonel Walker found it advisable to make great reductions in the

item of extras or kharáját, for which the later Gáekwár collectors

had such predilection. The engagements were of the following nature.

[Settlement of 1807. Financial.] First, the chief bound himself his

heirs and successors to pay at Baroda each year the tribute fixed

in perpetuity in 1807. He also procured a counter security for this

payment who engaged himself in this capacity for ten years. The

Honourable Company's government had then to become security on the

part of the Gáikwár for the fixity of the tribute demanded. This

participation of the British in the engagement was insisted upon by

the chiefs, and in all probability Colonel Walker was not averse from

admitting it. Having thus arranged for the payment of the tribute and

guaranteed the amount to be demanded, it was proposed to take measures

to prevent internal quarrels between the chiefs themselves. The

object of a fixed settlement was simply to remove the necessity for

overrunning the country from time to time with an irregular army and

to protect the chiefs against extortion. It was found that if the army

of the paramount power were removed, all means of keeping order in

the province would be lost, and the internecine feuds of the chiefs

would soon destroy the good effects of the permanent settlement

by materially altering the then existing position of the weaker

feudatories and rendering them unable to pay the tribute. It was

also the wish of the British Government to bring about such a state

of things in Káthiáváda that the presence of an army to control the

chiefs would be wholly uncalled-for and that the chiefs themselves

would co-operate to keep order and maintain the permanent settlement.

[Political.] A second agreement therefore was called for from each

signatory state of the nature of a security for good and peaceful

conduct. The counter security to this was usually that of another

chief. This bond was perpetual. On the execution of both these

engagements the chief received a parvána or guarantee that the Gáikwár

government would not take from him more than the tribute agreed upon,

and to this deed the countersignature of the Resident on behalf of

the British Government was affixed. This guarantee, like the promise

of the chief himself, was apparently given in perpetuity. It will be

noted that the amount of tribute was fixed permanently, but that it was

considered advisable to renew the security every ten years. It is also

remarkable that, except in the failzámin or bond for good behaviour,

the name of the Peshwa's government, the rights of which over the

tribute had only been temporarily alienated, does not appear. The

total amount of the tribute thus settled was Rs. 9,79,882.

By means of these engagements the relations of the tributaries to

their paramount power were made a matter of contract, instead of as

heretofore a series of uncertain and arbitrary exactions dependent

upon the respective means of coercion and resistance.

[Peshwa's Share in Káthiáváda.] Seven years of the lease granted to

the Gáikwár in 1804 by the Peshwa still remained unexpired and during

at least six of these the arrangements that had been made about the

Káthiáváda tribute do not seem to have been officially communicated to

the Peshwa's government. It was not until 1815, when the Resident at

Poona was trying to procure the renewal of the lease for the Gáikwár,

that an account of the settlement was drawn up in a draft agreement

which the Resident submitted to Bájiráv. In this draft the curious

mistake was made of mentioning the settlement instead of only the

security bond as decennial. The Peshwa, whose policy was to protract

negotiations, submitted in his turn a second draft which he said he

was willing to sign. In this he seized at once on the supposition

that the tribute was fixed only for ten years and stipulated for

an increase at the expiration of that period. He also demanded

that certain extra collections should be refunded by the Gáikwár,

and assumed the British Government to have become security for the

tribute owed by the chiefs to his own government.

It was evident that no accord would be reached on the lines of either

of these draft agreements as they stood. Before others were prepared,

Gangádhar Shástri had been murdered and the treaty of June 1817 was

a completed act, leaving further negotiations unnecessary.

[Later Arrangements.] Meanwhile the tribute since the expiry of

the farm of 1804 had been collected by a joint British and Gáikwár

expedition, for it was found that partly from their own disputes

and partly owing to the instigation of the agents of Bájiráv, the

chiefs were little disposed to act up to the engagements of 1807,

either with respect to tribute or good conduct. The Peshwa, whose

interference in the affairs of the peninsula had been constantly

discouraged, declined to trouble himself to collect the tribute,

the responsibility of which he asserted rested entirely upon the

British and Gáikwár governments. He subsequently ceded the tribute

to the British Government on account of military expenses. After his

fall in 1819 his territories, including the rights in Gujarát, fell

to the British Government, and in 1820 the Gáikwár arranged that the

whole of the Káthiáváda tribute, except that due from the districts

directly subordinate to Baroda, should be collected by the agency of

the British.

[The Mahi Kántha.] Turning to the events on the mainland, we find that

soon after Colonel Walker's return from the Káthiáváda expedition,

he introduced the Káthiáváda tribute system into the Mahi Kántha,

in spite of the opposition of Sitárám Rávji and the anti-English

party in the Darbár.

[Supplementary Treaty, 1808.] The territory ceded for the payment

of the British contingent in 1805 was found to yield less revenue

than had been anticipated, so in 1808 a treaty supplementary to

the consolidating one of 1805 was drawn up, allotting additional

assignments amounting to about 1,76,168 rupees to the British. This

revenue was derived partly from alienated villages in Nadiád, Mahudha,

Dholka, Mátar, and near the Ranjar Ghát. The ghásdána or tribute of

Bhávnagar was also made over by this agreement. With regard to this

latter acquisition, it is to be noticed that the agreement is drawn up

in the name of the Honourable Company alone, and not in that of the

British Government on account of Ánandráv Gáikwár. It also differs

from other engagements of a similar nature in containing a provision

against the contingency of future irregular demands being made by the

Peshwa's army. The reason for this distinction is evidently that the

Bhávnagar contribution was not part of the Káthiáváda revenue farmed to

the Gáikwár by Bájiráv, and was thus not divisible on the expiration

of the lease. The right to this tribute rested with the British by

virtue of the previous cession of Gogha, of which sub-division the

fifty nine villages of the Bhávnagar Bháyád formed part.

[Okhámandal, 1809.] Next year the Okhámandal chiefs, who had not come

under the settlement of 1807, were driven to engage not to continue

their piratical depredations along the coast, and to admit one Sundarji

Shivji as Resident on behalf of the British Government. The Gáikwár

government then, too, seems to have become their counter security,

an arrangement which led to misunderstandings a short while afterwards.

[Disturbances in Káthiáváda, 1811.] In 1811, some disturbances in

Navánagar and Junágadh and symptoms of discontent in Okhámandal took

the Resident from Baroda into the peninsula with part of the British

contingent.

The Jám of Navánagar had got involved in pecuniary transactions with

the Ráv of Kachh, and the British Government had mediated with a

view of arranging for the repayment by gradual instalments. The Jám,

however, repudiated all the engagements of 1807 both as regards the

debt and the tribute, ejected the Gáikwár's agent from his dominions,

and prepared for war. He also began to incite the neighbouring

chiefs to join in sweeping out the paramount power from the whole of

Káthiáváda. It was not till after a considerable show of force that he

laid down his arms and came to terms. Captain Carnac, the Resident,

got him to submit the Kachh claims to the arbitration of the English

Government, and after fixing them at Rs. 4,33,830, Captain Carnac

made an arrangement similar to that originally intended.

There remained the question of a disputed succession in

Junágadh. Bahádur Khán, son of a slave girl, was put forward in

opposition to a younger aspirant, Salábat Khán, reputed to be the

son of a lady of the Rádhanpur house. The Baroda government with the

concurrence of the Resident had admitted the claims of the latter. On

a report, however, by the Assistant Resident in Káthiáváda, Captain

Carnac was induced to alter his opinion and to support Bahádur Khán,

on the grounds that Salábat Khán was a spurious child, and that Bahádur

was ready to make concessions of value to the Gáikwár government. The

Bombay Council, however, disavowed all countenance of the claims of

Bahádur Khán, and the matter was let drop.

[1812.] In the year 1812 the Gáikwár had paid off the pecuniary

loan borrowed in 1803 from the British Government, but there still

remained the debts for which that government had become bhandári or

security in place of the ejected jamádârs of the Arab force. These

claims could not be paid off for at least two years longer, so that

for that period the Resident was ordered to maintain the same close

supervision of Baroda affairs as heretofore.

[1813-14.] The next two years were spent chiefly in discussions

with the Poona government about the old claims by the Peshwa on the

Gáikwár's estate. There is no doubt that at the time of his death,

Dámáji had not paid up nearly all that he had bound himself in 1753

to pay. On the other hand there had been at least six intermediate

compacts between the Peshwa and various members of the Gáikwár

family. Amongst others was that of 1768 fixing the arrears of the

previous three years, that of 1778 and of 1781, by the tenth clause of

which Fatehsingh was excused payment of arrears for the time during

which he was engaged in hostilities against Rághobá. Then came the

agreement with Govindráv in 1797, to which a sort of debit and credit

account is appended.

[Peshwa Intrigue in Baroda, 1814.] The Peshwa had been content, for

reasons that have been shown above, to let these claims lie dormant

during the currency of the ten years' farm. But, as the question

of the renewal of this agreement became imminent, he gradually

opened more frequent communications with the Baroda council, using

these claims as a pretext for sounding the disposition of the chief

officials and ascertaining their feelings especially towards the

British Government. When the negotiations for the settlement of

these claims were fairly set on foot, he used every possible means to

protract them till he had finally decided what he should do in 1814,

when the Ahmedábád farm expired.

It was easy for Bájiráv to discover who were the malcontents at the

Baroda Court. Sitárám, the adopted son of Rávji Áppáji, having been

found both incompetent and untrustworthy in the management of affairs,

had been practically removed from any post of influence in the council,

and was moreover chafing at the refusal of the British Government

to recognize him in the same way as they had done his father. He had

also been superseded as Suba of Káthiáváda by Vithalráv Deváji. Under

these circumstances, and finding that he had the support of a large

number of the older court party against the authority of the Resident

and of his native agent, he either himself opened communications

with Bájiráv or readily listened to the counsels sent to him direct

from Poona. Before long, agents were sent to the Peshwa's Court by

Takhtbái, wife of Ánandráv, with instructions, it is supposed, to

thwart all the proposals and designs of Gangádhar Shástri, who had been

recently sent as envoy by the Gáikwár council of administration. The

chief obstacle to the settlement of the Peshwa's claims was the

counter-demand made by the Baroda government on account of Broach,

which had been disposed of without the Gáikwár's consent, and also

on account of the damage caused by the inroads of Ába Shelukar,

when accredited agent of Bájiráv in Gujarát.

There is no need to detail here the events that took place in Poona

during these negotiations. On the expiration of the farm in 1814,

Bájiráv appointed Trimbakji Dengle Sarsuba of Ahmedábád. The latter,

however, did not leave Poona, where his presence was indispensable to

his master, but sent agents with instructions rather of a political

than of a fiscal nature. He himself undertook the task of disposing

of Gangádhar Shástri, whom he caused to be assassinated at Pandharpur

in July 1815.

Meanwhile the Jám of Navánagar had died leaving a disputed

succession. The chief's Khavás or family slaves, instigated probably

by agents from Ahmedábád, began to usurp the government, and the

whole question was submitted by the Darbár to the Peshwa as being

lord paramount. The Ahmedábád commander sent a body of two hundred

cavalry to Navánagar, but before they could arrive, the Khavás' revolt

had been quelled by a British force detached from the contingent. They

therefore dispersed through the province inciting discontent and revolt

amongst the Játs and Káthis. In Kaira they instigated a tribe of Kolis

to attack the British lines by night. Sitárám Rávji's adherents also

collected a force at Dhár, a state well-known for lending itself for

such purposes, and kept the frontier in confusion. Severe measures at

Poona and Baroda soon put an end to this state of things, and at last

Trimbakji Dengle was surrendered to the British Government to answer

for his share in the murder of Gangádhar Shástri. The discussion of

the Gáikwár's debts, however, was carried on all through the year

at Poona, whilst Bájiráv was maturing his then vacillating plans for

extirpating the British from the west of India.

[Okhámandal ceded to the Gáikwár.] In 1816 the chiefs of Okhámandal

again betook themselves to piracy. Their territory was occupied by

a British force. It will be remembered that in 1809 the Gáikwár's

government had become counter security for these chiefs, but owing

to the distance of the district from a military post, the Baroda

authorities found themselves unable to spare troops enough to put a

check on the misconduct of their tributaries. In A.D. 1816, at the time

of occupation, the Bombay Government informed the Baroda administration

that they had no wish to permanently establish themselves at so distant

a spot, which contained, moreover, a much frequented shrine of Hindu

worship, and that they were willing to put the Gáikwár in possession

if he would engage to keep up a sufficient force in the district to

protect the neighbouring ports and shores from the pirates and wreckers

that infested the island of Dwárká and the adjoining mainland. The

Bombay Government made a point of asserting on this occasion, in

opposition apparently to some proposal by the Baroda Darbár, that

they could not admit that the mere fact of having become security

or counter-security gave any preferential right to the possession of

the country. Finally, the Gáikwár government agreed to the condition

proposed, and the district was made over to them.

[British Aid at Junágadh.] In the same year (A.D. 1816) British aid was

invoked by the Nawáb of Junágadh who was oppressed by a too powerful

minister, backed by the Arab mercenaries. After a settlement of this

dispute had been satisfactorily brought about, the Nawáb, in gratitude,

waived his rights to tribute over the territories recently ceded to the

British in the peninsula, where his family had formerly great influence

and considerable property. The escape of Trimbakji Dengle from Thána,

and the subsequent attempts of the Peshwa to prevent the re-capture

of his favourite and to re-unite the Marátha confederacy, led to the

execution of a fresh treaty on June 13th, 1817, in accordance with

the orders of the Supreme Government.

[Treaty of Poona, 1817.] It was intended to bind the Peshwa in such

a way that he could never again enjoy the ascendancy amongst the

Marátha chiefs to which he aspired. The Resident at Poona took this

opportunity of also putting an end to the discussions about the mutual

claims on each other by the Poona and Baroda governments. The Peshwa

agreed to abandon all claims on any territory in possession of the

Gáikwár and to accept an annual payment of four lákhs of rupees in

satisfaction of all previous debts. The farm of Gujarát was made

perpetual to the Gáikwár on the payment of four and a half lákhs

annually, but the Káthiáváda tribute was made over to the British

Government in liquidation of military expenses. The latter Government,

by this treaty, also entered into possession of the Peshwa's revenue in

Gujarát, except that of Ulpád, which had been assigned to a favourite

officer. All the Peshwa's rights north of the Narbada were also ceded.

[Treaty with the Gáikwár, 1817-18.] These conditions necessitated a

readjustment of the agreements with the Gáikwár. On November 1817,

a definitive treaty, afterwards supplemented by one of November 1818,

was executed between the Baroda and British Governments. The force

furnished by the former state was found inefficient and the employment

of a larger body of British troops was therefore necessary. To pay

for these the Gáikwár ceded his share in the fort of Ahmedábád and the

districts immediately surrounding that city. [1065] He also made over

some districts near Surat, and the town of Umreth in Kaira with the

whole of the rights acquired by the perpetual farm of Ahmedábád. The

British remitted the mughlái or dues taken by the Nawábs of Surat on

the Gáikwár's possessions near that city. Okhámandal having now been

pacified, was also given up to the Gáikwár, but revolted four months

afterwards and was not again subdued for a considerable time.

[1819.] At the final settlement of the dominions of the late Peshwa

in 1819, the whole of his rights in Gujarát passed in sovereignty

to the British, who remitted the four lákhs due from the Gáikwár in

composition of arrears claimed by Bájiráv. [1820.] The next year a

special inquiry was made into the respective shares of the Peshwa and

Baroda governments in the Káthiáváda tribute and in the extra allowance

levied by the Gáikwár called ghás-dána allowance. In the course of

this inquiry so many abuses of power and instances of extortion on

the part of the Gáikwár's officers were brought to light, that the

Bombay Government on these grounds, and on account also of the general

deterioration in the province since the Gáikwár's troops were stationed

there, prevailed upon Sayájiráv, who had now succeeded to the throne,

to let the duty of collection be undertaken and superintended by a

British officer stationed in Káthiáváda, who should, however, employ

the Gáikwár's troops on occasions of necessity. A similar arrangement

was made with regard to the Mahi Kántha, where the effects of the

settlement of 1811 had been much weakened by the disorderly conduct

of the Gáikwár's troops stationed there. The administration of nearly

the whole of the province passed into the hands of the British and

the period of Marátha ascendancy came to an end.

[General Review.] It remains to review generally the nature and

characteristics of the Marátha connection with Gujarát, the chief

events in which have been chronicled above. The most prominent feature

has already been indicated at the beginning of this section and is

apparent throughout the whole narrative. It is, in fact, the small

space in history occupied during this period by the people, compared

with the share appropriated to the actions of the government and

its delegates. The reasons for this are as easily seen as the fact

itself. From first to last the Marátha interests in Gujarát were,

except at one or two special junctures, simply pecuniary ones. In

comparison with other countries within reach of Marátha arms, Gujarát

has always had a very large proportion of inhabitants engaged in

commerce and manufacturing industries. It was the object of Siváji

to get as much booty as he could and carry it away then and there;

hence the commercial classes and manufacturers presented the most

favourable opportunities for pillage, and the agriculturists were at

first only mulcted in forage and provisions. Rapidity of action was

another of Siváji's aims, so not only were his visits short and their

effects transitory, but all his booty consisted of property that could

be carried away by his horsemen. No women or followers accompanied

his expeditions, no prisoners were made excepting the few who could

afford to pay a heavy ransom. Torture was resorted to only when the

captive was suspected of having concealed his treasure. Cows women

and cultivators were, according to Siváji's system, exempted from

capture. Assignments on revenue were seldom made by him for fear

of weakening his own authority. Subsequently the Marátha demands

became more regular and assumed the form of a certain proportion

of the revenue. The sar-deshmukhi and chauth were supposed to be

calculated on the standard assessment so as to avoid subsequent claims

as tribute or over-collection. In reality, however, they consisted of

a fixed share in actual collections together with whatever extras the

officer in charge could manage to extort, and which were, of course,

kept undefined in any agreement. The expeditions, too, moved more

leisurely and in greater force. The passes and roads in their rear were

protected by their own comrades, so that the booty could be brought

to the Dakhan in carts, and more bulky property therefore was removed

than in former times. The times, too, when the demands were likely

to be made were known to the headmen of the district and village,

so that the cultivators could be pressed beforehand to furnish their

share of the contributions. The extortion by this means passed from

the commercial classes down to the agriculturists, the latter having

also the burden of supporting a larger and more cumbrous army for a

longer period.

When the power of the Dábháde and his deputy the Gáikwár was fairly

established, a regular system of administration was introduced. It

will be remembered that by the treaty of 1729 as few Marátha officers

were to be employed as possible beyond those necessary to collect

the Dábháde's share of the revenue. In consequence, however, of

the internal struggles of the Muhammadan chiefs, this minimum quota

grew to be a large establishment, with the usual accompaniment of

alienations and assignments for the support of the officers and their

religious institutions which the weakness of the central power had

allowed to become customary. The Dábháde himself was non-resident and

his deputy usually being too valuable an assistant to be spared from

the arena of Dakhan politics, the collection was left to sub-deputies

and their subordinates, who in turn delegated a great part of their

duties to village officers and even to strangers. The Dábhádes, who

were throughout more interested in the Dakhan than in Gujarát, had,

no doubt, an idea of raising up a power in the latter province in

opposition to the administration of the Peshwa, which was conducted

purely by Bráhman agency. It was soon evident, however, that all that

could be done politically with Gujarát was to make it a treasury for

the support of schemes that had to be carried out in the Dakhan.

The fertility of the soil and the facilities the country afforded

for commerce and manufactures both tended to make it unlikely to

become a field for recruiting. The inhabitants of the towns had

fixed and lucrative occupations; the cultivators were mostly of

a class which on account of the fertility of their land neither

Muhammadan nor Marátha had been able to impoverish. The Maráthás

had still to seek for soldiers in the rugged and barren country on

the Gháts and in the Konkan, where the people could only look for a

hand-to-mouth existence if they remained at home. The warlike tribes

of Gujarát were, as has been already seen, too proud by birth and

position to engage themselves to fight for any but their own race and

interest. The aboriginal races were not likely to prove effective

allies even if they had been willing to move from their own woods

and fortresses. None of the Marátha governors of Gujarát seem to have

consistently attempted to weld the various interests subordinate to

them into a cohesion and unity that they might have made politically

useful against the Poona influence. All that they endeavoured to do

was to draw from their charge as much revenue as possible and to keep

out interlopers. To the taxpayer the result was the same, whether

his district was invaded by Kantáji or Piláji. If one anticipated

the other in carrying off the harvest, the ryot still had to pay the

latter for ejecting the intruder. The only resistance to be feared

by the Maráthás was that, not of the cultivators, but of their own

race or of the Rájput Girásiás. These latter were treated in all

districts as mere robbers, probably because the class which bears

that name near Rájpipla, where the Maráthás first came in contact

with it subsists usually on blackmail. In the north, however, the

Girásiás were landowners of great influence and fixed residence, not

likely to be conciliated by the knowledge that the invaders of their

country classed them along with Bhils and Kolis as mehvásis or outlaws.

In order to relieve the chief officials of direct responsibility for

the revenue, the Gáikwár towards the last quarter of the eighteenth

century if not before, introduced the system of letting out each

revenue sub-division in farm for from one to five years at a fixed

annual rate. The farmer was as often as not an absentee, but the

supervision and administration were never entrusted to any one but a

Marátha Bráhman. The revenue for the year was settled by an inspection

of the accounts of previous years and the crops of each village. The

amount was taken in kind, but the actual distribution of the whole

on individual cultivators was left to the headman, who was in most

cases made responsible for the assessment imposed on his village.

The frequent passages of hostile armies and other causes had left

much culturable land a desert. In order to restore the population and

induce colonists to settle and cultivate in such spots, leases on

favourable terms were granted to desáis, who administered the land

as they pleased, and were directly responsible to the head revenue

authority of the sub-division for the annual rent. The patels and other

village officials also made use of their position with reference to

the foreign supervisors in appropriating large tracts of waste land

to their own uses. The kamávísdár or farmer for the time being was

interested only in recouping himself for the amount he had agreed

to pay the Marátha government, together with a margin for bribes

paid to underlings at head-quarters for good offices with regard

to the farm. He was ready, therefore, to make use of any agency in

collecting his revenue that he found effective, and which saved the

cost of a personal establishment. In many parts of the country there

were hereditary village headmen accustomed to the duty of extorting

money from unwilling ryots. In other places, such for instance as

Dholka, it had been customary for certain Muhammadans called Kasbátis,

to become responsible for the revenue of certain villages in return

for a discount on the jama or amount collected (manoti). These

manotidárs were found so useful by the Marátha officials that they

gradually acquired an hereditary position and claimed proprietary

rights in the villages for which they had been formerly mere agents

for collection. They also acted as desáis or colonists, and succeeded

in getting their leases of certain tracts renewed long after they

had ceased to actively improve the land, which had in fact been all

brought under regular cultivation.

Such was the agency employed in administering the revenue. The

kamávísdár was also the dispenser of justice both civil and

criminal. As his object was to make money and not to improve the

condition of his charge, his punishments consisted chiefly in fines,

and most offences could be paid for. No record of trials was kept

except a memorandum of the amount passed at each decision to the

credit of the farmer. In civil suits sometimes one-fourth of the

amount in dispute was assigned as costs and appropriated by the

court. The Girásiás in their own territory exercised somewhat similar

jurisdiction, but grave crimes with violence were apparently left

to the party injured or his relations to decide after the manner

of the offence. Arbitration, too, was a frequent mode of deciding

differences of both civil and criminal nature, but the kamávísdár or

girásiá usually managed that the State should not be a loser by such

a method of settlement.

The whole system indicates clearly enough the slight hold the Maráthás

had on the province and their desire to make the most out of it

for the furtherance of court intrigues or political ends above the

Gháts. There is nothing to show that they contemplated a permanent

colonization of the country until the British Government undertook

the task of dividing the Marátha nation by the establishment of a

powerful and independent court at Baroda.

The home of the Maráthás was always the Dakhan, and for many

years after they had effected a lodgment in Gujarát, their army

regularly returned for the rainy season to the country from whence

they originally came. Their leaders were encouraged to be as much as

possible near the court by the Dábháde, or the regent on the one side

and by the Peshwa on the other: the former on account of their weight

with the army and the Marátha chiefs, the latter in order that their

influence in a distant dependency might not grow beyond what prudence

recommended or might be counteracted if its tendency to increase became

manifest. For similar reasons no force was allowed to be maintained in

Gujarát sufficient to consolidate the Marátha acquisitions there into

a manageable whole. Dámáji Gáikwár, had he lived, would undoubtedly

have done much towards this end by means of his personal influence;

but, as it happened, the thin crust of Marátha domination rapidly

disappeared before it either was assimilated into the system of the

province or hardened over it. A military occupation of a large and

civilised district at a distance from the mother-country, and prevented

by the jealousy of the central authority and the short-sightedness

of those in charge of its exploitation, from either conforming itself

to the elements it found already established, or absorbing the vital

forces of the government it dispossessed, a system without the breath

of life, without elasticity, without the capacity of self-direction,

imposed bodily upon a foreign people, without even the care of

preparing a foundation, such seems to have been the Marátha government,

containing within itself all that was necessary to ensure a precarious,

but while it lasted, an oppressive existence.

GUJARÁT DISTURBANCES,

1857-1859.

BY L. R. ASHBURNER Esq., C.S.I.,

LATE OF H.M.'s BOMBAY CIVIL SERVICE.

[CONTRIBUTED May 1880.]

GUJARÁT DISTURBANCES,

1857-1859.

[The Red Salt Scare, 1857.] Very soon after the outbreak of the

mutinies in the North-West of India in May 1857, an uneasy feeling

began to prevail in the Bombay Presidency, especially in Gujarát. The

story of the greased cartridges had been industriously repeated and

found credulous listeners in every village. A similar incident occurred

in Gujarát. A consignment of salt from the Ran of Kachh having been

carried in bags which had previously held red ochre (sindur) had

become discoloured. This was observed at Sádra in the Mahi Kántha as

the salt was in transit to Rájputána, and a report was at once spread

that the salt had been defiled with cow's blood. It was believed in

Ahmedábád and throughout Gujarát that this was a device of the British

Government to destroy the caste of the people as a preliminary to

their forcible conversion to Christianity.

[The Passing of the Pariah Dog.] About the time that the cakes or

chapátis were being circulated throughout the North-West of India,

a common pariah dog was passed from village to village in the Panch

Maháls and eastern Gujarát. It was never ascertained who first set

the dog in motion, but it came from the Central India frontier with

a basket of food which was given to the village dogs, and a similar

supply with the dog was forwarded to the next village. When pestilence

or other calamity threatens an Indian village, it is the custom to

take a goat or a buffalo to the boundary and drive it into the lands

of the adjoining village, in the hope that it will avert evil from

the community. A similar belief prevailed among the Jews. There is

no reason to suppose that this movement of the dog in Gujarát was

a signal of revolt or had any deeper political significance than a

vague feeling that troublous times were approaching. Still it was by

many regarded as an evil omen and created considerable alarm. [1066]

[Gold Hoarding.] Although Gujarát was apparently tranquil in the hot

season of 1857, those who were most familiar with native opinion were

aware of the existence of very serious discontent, and indications

of the storm which lowered on the horizon were not wanting. When

disturbances are impending natives invariably convert their savings

into gold, because gold is more portable and more easily concealed

than silver. A sudden and unusual demand for gold in the markets,

especially by the native troops, had been observed. This fall of the

political barometer should never be disregarded. It indicates the

approach of a storm with great certainty.

[Seditious Native Press.] The native press, which had been merely

disloyal, now assumed an attitude of decided hostility. Every paper

contained the most exaggerated accounts of the massacre of Europeans

in the North-West Provinces, and absurd rumours were circulated of

the approach of a combined Russian and Persian army, which, it was

said, had reached Attok and would shortly invade Hindustán. It is

much to be regretted that the measures which were found necessary in

1880 for the suppression of seditious publications were not enforced

in 1857. Had this been done much evil would have been averted. The

native mind would not have become familiar with the spectacle of

the British Government held up to the execration and contempt of its

subjects and the vilest motives attributed to every public measure.

[Maulvi Saráj-ud-din.] The native press was not the only source of

sedition. The fall of the British Government was openly predicted

in every masjid, and in Ahmedábád a Maulvi named Saráj-ud-din

became especially prominent by preaching a jehád in the Jáma Masjid

to audiences of native officers and savárs of the Gujarát Horse

and troops from the Ahmedábád cantonment. The Maulvi was expelled

from Ahmedábád and found his way to Baroda, where he was afterwards

arrested; but the impunity he so long enjoyed brought great discredit

upon Government, for it was very naturally supposed that a government

which tamely submitted to be publicly reviled was too weak to resent

the indignity. Oriental races are so accustomed to violent measures

that they seldom appreciate moderation or forbearance. The generation

that had known and suffered from the anarchy of the Peshwa had passed

away. The seditious language of the native press and the masjid was

addressed to a population too ignorant to understand the latent power

of the British Government.

[Apparent Weakness of British Rule.] In 1857 the immense continent

of Hindustán was governed by what appeared to the people to be a

few Englishmen unsupported by troops, for they knew that the native

army was not to be depended on, and the European troops were so few

that they were only seen in the larger military cantonments. It must

have seemed an easy task to dispose of such a handful of men, and it

probably never occurred to those who took part in the insurrection

that the overthrow of the British Government would involve more

serious operations than the capture or murder of the Europeans who

governed the country so easily. They could not perceive that England

would never submit to a defeat, and that the handful of men who ruled

India were supported by the whole power of the nation. The plotters

had no very definite ideas for the future. The Musalmáns regarded

the subversion of a government of Káfirs as a triumph of Islám,

and both Muslims and Hindus looked forward to a period of anarchy

during which they might indulge that appetite for plunder which had

been restrained for so many years. The descendants of the feudal

aristocracy of the Peshwa are an ignorant and improvident race deeply

involved in debt. They could not fail to see that under the operation

of our laws their estates were rapidly passing into the possession

of the more intelligent mercantile classes, and they hoped to recover

their position in the revolution that was about to ensue.

[Administrative Defects.] A great change had taken place in the

character of the administration. The civilians of the school of Duncan,

Malcolm, and Mountstuart Elphinstone, though not deeply learned in the

law, were accomplished earnest men, sufficiently acquainted with the

unalterable principles of right and wrong to administer substantial

justice to a simple people who had not yet learnt the art of lying. The

people asked for justice rather than law. They were satisfied with

the justice they obtained from the able and upright men who ruled

this country during the first half of this century. The writings and

official reports of the officers of that period indicate a knowledge

of native customs and feelings and a sympathy with the people that

is unknown in the present day, for knowledge and sympathy cannot be

acquired except by a long and familiar residence amongst the people

which is now becoming every year more impossible. When the overland

route rendered communication with England more easy and frequent,

a reaction set in against patriarchal administration. Concubinage

with native women, which had been common, was now declared vulgar,

if not immoral; and the relations between Europeans and Natives soon

became less cordial than they had been during the early period of

British rule. About this time a considerable immigration of lawyers

appeared in India. [The Courts Disliked.] These briefless gentlemen,

envious of the official monopoly of the Civil Service, raised an outcry

that justice was being administered by men who had not acquired that

knowledge of law which the formality of eating a certain number of

dinners at the Temple was supposed to guarantee. They worked the press

so industriously to this cry, that in the course of a few years they

had succeeded in impressing their views on the Court of Directors

in London and on the less intelligent members of the Civil Service

in India.

Unfortunately the Sadar Court was then presided over by a succession

of feeble old gentlemen who had not sufficient force of character

to resist this selfish agitation, and by way of refuting the charge

of ignorance of law devoted themselves to the study of those petty

technicalities which have so often brought the administration of

justice into contempt, and which the progress of law reform has

not even now removed from the law of England. In 1827, Mountstuart

Elphinstone had enacted a Civil and Criminal Code which was still the

substantive law of the land. It was simple and admirably suited to the

people, but justice was administered according to the spirit rather

than the letter of the law. A district officer would have incurred

severe censure if his decisions were found to be inequitable, however

they might have been supported by the letter of the law. The national

character for even-handed justice had made the English name respected

throughout India and far across the steppes of Central Asia. But

the demoralizing example of the Sadar Adálat soon extended to the

lower grades of the service. The Civil Service was afflicted with the

foolishness which, we are told, precedes ruin. Its members diligently

searched their law-books for precedents and cases, and rejoiced

exceedingly if they could show their knowledge of law by reversing

the decision of a lower Court on some long-forgotten ruling of the

Courts of Westminster. The first effect of this evil was to fill the

courts with corrupt and unprincipled vakils who perverted the course of

justice by perjury, forgery, and fraud of every description. Litigation

increased enormously, no cause was too rotten, no claim too fraudulent

to deprive it of the chance of success. The grossest injustice was

committed in the name of the law, and though the Civil Service was

above all suspicion of corruption, the evil could hardly have been

greater if the Judges had been corrupt. This state of affairs gave

rise to great discontent, for the administration of justice fell

almost entirely into the hands of the vakils. When men quarrelled

they no longer said, "I'll beat or I'll kill you," but "I'll pay a

vakil Rs. 50 to ruin you," and too often this was no mere idle threat.

[The Inám Commission.] The operations of the Inám Commission and

of the Survey Department were also a fruitful cause of alarm and

discontent. Many of the estates of the more influential Jághírdárs had

been acquired by fraud or violence during the period of anarchy which

preceded the fall of the Peshwa. The Patels and Deshmukhs had also

appropriated large areas of lands and had made grants of villages to

temples and assignments of revenue to Bráhmans, religious mendicants,

and dancing girls. The Peshwa had never recognized these alienations

as any limitation of his rights, for he farmed his revenues, and so

long as a large sum was paid into his treasury by the farmers it was

immaterial to him how much land was alienated. But when the Survey

Department revealed the fact that nearly a fourth part of the fertile

province of Gujarát was unauthorizedly enjoyed by these parasites;

and that in other districts the proportion of alienations was nearly

equally large, a due regard for the public interests demanded that

there should be an investigation into the title on which the lands were

held rent-free. It became the duty of the Inám Commission to make this

inquiry, and though a very small portion of land was resumed or rather

assessed to the land revenue and the rules for the continuation of

cash allowances were extremely liberal, they could hardly be expected

to give satisfaction to those who had so long enjoyed immunity from

any share of the public burdens. The Bráhmans and the priesthood of

every sect deeply resented the scrutiny of the Inám Commission and

excited an intensely fanatical spirit by representing the inquiry as

a sacrilegious attack on their religious endowments and a departure

from the principle of neutrality and toleration which had been the

policy of Government from a very early period.

[The Army Disloyal.] Notwithstanding all these elements of danger

there would probably have been no revolt if the army had remained

loyal. Fortunately the Bombay army was composed of a great variety of

races, Musalmáns of the Shia and Sunni sects, Maráthás of the Dakhan

and Konkan, Parváris, Pardeshis, and a few Jews and Christians. Little

community of sentiment could exist, in so heterogeneous a force,

and to this circumstance we may trace the failure of each mutinous

outbreak in the regiments of the Bombay army. Many of its regiments

had, however, recruited extensively in the North-West Provinces

which were then the centre of the political cyclone, and it was soon

discovered that seditious overtures were being made to them not only

by their brethren in the regiments which had already mutinied, but by

discontented persons of higher rank. [Báiza Bái of Gwálior.] The most

important of these was a clever woman known as the Báiza Bái. She was

the daughter of a Dakhan Sardár named Sirji Ráo Ghátke, and had been

married in early life to His Highness Dowlat Ráo Sindia the Mahárája

of Gwálior. On his death she had been allowed to adopt Jankoji Ráo as

heir to the gádi, and during his minority she had been appointed by

the British Government Regent of the Gwálior state. In this position

the Bái had accumulated great wealth. She had deposited £370,000

(37 lákhs of rupees) for safe custody in the treasury at Benares,

and it was known that she had other resources at Gwálior. Her avarice

and ambition were insatiable. She sent emissaries to all the Marátha

chiefs and Thákors in Western India calling on them to take up arms

and restore the empire of Shiváji. She appealed to the troops, urging

them to emulate the deeds of their comrades in the Bengal army who

had already nearly exterminated the Europeans in the North-West,

and warned them that if they did not now strike in defence of their

religion they would shortly be converted to Christianity and made to

drink the blood of the sacred cow.

[Pársi Riot in Broach, June 1857.] In May and June 1857 our troops

were fighting before Delhi, only just holding their own, and making

little impression on the walls of the city which were strongly held

by the mutinous regiments. Gujarát was still tranquil. It is true

there had been a riot in Broach originating in a long-standing feud

between the Pársis and Musalmáns of that town, but it had no political

significance and had been promptly suppressed. The ringleaders were

arrested, tried, and sentenced to be hanged for the murder of a

Pársi, but there is no reason to suppose that this disturbance had

any immediate connection with the outbreak in the North-West. It

was probably only a coincidence, but the violence of the rioters

was no doubt encouraged by the weakness of our position in Gujarát,

and the exaggerated rumours which reached them of the massacre of

our countrymen.

[Mutiny at Mhow, July 1857.] On July 1st, 1857, the 23rd Bengal Native

Infantry and the 1st Bengal Cavalry stationed at Mhow mutinied and

murdered Colonel Platt, Captain Fagan, Captain Harris, and a number

of European subordinates of the Telegraph Department. The troops

of His Highness Holkar fraternized with the mutineers, attacked the

Residency, and after a desultory fight drove out Colonel Durand the

Resident, who took refuge in Bhopál with the surviving Europeans

of Indor. Information of the mutiny at Mhow soon reached Ahmedábád,

and treasonable negotiations were at once opened for a simultaneous

rising of the Gujarát Horse and of the troops in the cantonment; but

they could not agree to combined operations. The Maráthás hoped for

the restoration of the dynasty of the Peshwa, while the Pardeshis

looked towards Dehli where their brethren were already in arms,

without any very definite comprehension of what they were fighting

for, but with some vague idea that they would establish a Musalmán

Ráj on the throne of the Great Mughal.

[Mutiny at Ahmedábád, July 1857.] On July 9th, 1857, seven savárs

of the Gujarát Horse raised a green flag in their regimental lines

in Ahmedábád and attempted to seize the quarter guard in which

the ammunition was stored; but the guard made some slight show of

resistance, and finding the regiment did not join them the mutineers

left the lines in the direction of Sarkhej. They were followed by the

Adjutant, Lieutenant Pym, with twelve savárs, and Captain Taylor,

the commandant, joined them soon after with three men of the Koli

Corps, whom he had met on the Dholka road. The savárs were overtaken

near the village of Tájpor, and having taken up a strong position

between three survey boundary-marks opened fire on their officers

and the Kolis, the savárs standing aloof. After many shots had

been exchanged without result, Captain Taylor advanced to parley,

and while endeavouring to reason with his men was shot through the

body. The Kolis now re-opened fire and having shot two of the savárs

the rest laid down their arms. They were tried under Act XIV. of 1857

and hanged. The savárs who followed Lieutenant Pym passively declined

to act against their comrades, and if the Kolis had not been present

the mutineers would have escaped. Captain Taylor's wound was severe;

the bullet passed through his body, but he eventually recovered. The

execution of the savárs had a good effect on the troops, but it became

evident that a serious struggle was impending, and Lord Elphinstone,

who was then at the head of the Bombay Government, took all the

precautions that were possible under the circumstances.

[Mr. Ashburner's Force.] Mr. Ashburner, Assistant Magistrate

of Kaira, was ordered to raise a force of 200 Foot and 30 Horse

for the protection of his districts, and Husain Khán Battangi, a

Musalmán gentleman of Ahmedábád, was authorized to enlist 2000 of

the dangerous classes. It was not expected that this Ahmedábád force

would add to our fighting strength, but the employment of the rabble

of Ahmedábád on good pay kept them out of mischief till the crisis was

passed. Mr. Ashburner's small force was composed of Rájputs, Makránis,

and Kolis. They were a very useful body of men and were afterwards

drafted into the Kaira Police of which they formed the nucleus. It

was this force that suppressed the rising of the Thákors on the Mahi,

which will be described below.

[Genl. Roberts.] General Roberts, a very able soldier, commanded the

Northern Division at this time. He fully realized the critical position

of affairs in Gujarát. He was aware that the troops were on the verge

of mutiny, that the Thákors were sharpening their swords and enlisting

men, and that no relief could be expected till after the rains. But he

was not the man to despond or to shirk the responsibility now thrown

upon him. He proved equal to the occasion and met each emergency as

it arose with the calm determination of a brave man.

[Rising at Amjera.] When the troops at Mhow mutinied, the Rája of

Amjera took up arms and attacked Captain Hutchinson the Political

Agent of Bhopáwar. He fled and was sheltered by the Rája of Jábwa. At

the same time (July 1857) the Musalmán Kanungus or accountants and

Zamíndárs of the [And in the Panch Maháls, July 1857.] Panch Maháls

revolted, laid siege to the fort of Dohad, and threatened the Kaira

district. Captain Buckle, the Political Agent, Rewa Kántha, marched

from Baroda with two guns under Captain Sheppee, R. A., and two

companies of the 8th Regiment Native Infantry, to relieve Dohad,

while Major Andrews, with a wing of the 7th Regiment, two guns

under Captain Saulez, R. A., and 100 Sabres of the Gujarát Horse,

marched on Thásra to support Mr. Ashburner and act generally under

his orders. On the approach of Captain Buckle's force the insurgents

abandoned the siege, and Captain Hutchinson soon after re-established

his authority in Bhopáwar by the aid of the Málwa Bhil Corps which

remained loyal. He arrested the Rája of Amjera and hanged him.

[Mutinies at Abu and Erinpur, 1857.] On the 5th August the Jodhpur

Legion stationed at Abu mutinied. They made a feeble attack on the

barracks of H. M. 33rd Regiment and Captain Hall's bungalow, into

which they fired a volley of musketry, but were repulsed, leaving one

of their men on the ground badly wounded. The fog was so dense that it

was impossible to use firearms effectively. Mr. Lawrence of the Civil

Service was the only person wounded. A party of the 17th Bombay Native

Infantry who were on duty at Ábu, were suspected of complicity with

the Jodhpur Legion and were disarmed. The head-quarters of the Legion

mutinied at Erinpur on the same day as the attack at Ábu; they made

the Adjutant, Lieutenant Conolly, prisoner and plundered the treasury.

[Disturbance at Ahmedábád, 14th Sept. 1857.] An incident occurred early

in September which had an important influence on events. The two Native

regiments quartered at Ahmedábád were the 2nd Regiment of Grenadiers

and the 7th Native Infantry. The Grenadiers were chiefly Pardeshis

from Oudh, while the majority of the 7th Regiment were Maráthás. As

is often the case, an enmity sprang up between the two regiments. One

night Captain Muter of the 2nd Grenadiers was visiting the guards

as officer of the day. On approaching the quarter guard of the 7th

Regiment, the sentry demanded the password which Captain Muter could

not give. The sentry very properly refused to let him pass. Captain

Muter returned to his lines, called out a party of Grenadiers, and made

the sentry a prisoner. Next morning General Roberts put Captain Muter

under arrest and released the sentry. This incident intensified the

ill-feeling between the two regiments, and prevented their combination

when the Grenadiers mutinied a few days later. It had been arranged

that the two Native Regiments and the Golandauz artillery should

mutiny at the same time, but there was mutual distrust between them,

and the Native officers of the artillery had stipulated that they

should make a show of resistance in order to let it appear that they

had been overpowered by a superior force. About midnight on the 14th

September 1857 the Grenadiers turned out and fell in on their parade

ground armed and loaded. The guns were also brought out and loaded on

their own parade ground. A Native officer of the Grenadiers was sent

with a party to take possession of the guns in accordance with the

preconcerted agreement, but the Subhedár of the Artillery threatened

to fire on them, and the Native officer expecting that the guns

would be given up without resistance, thought he had been betrayed,

and retreated with his party, who threw away their arms as they ran

across the parade ground. The Grenadiers were under arms on the parade

waiting for the guns, when seeing the disorder in which the party was

retreating from the Artillery lines, they also were seized with a panic

and broke up in confusion. Then for the first time the Native officers

reported to Colonel Grimes that there had been a slight disturbance

in the lines. The mere accident that the Native officer detached

to take the guns had not been informed of the show of resistance he

was to expect from the Artillery, probably averted the massacre of

every European in Gujarát. Twenty-one loaded muskets were found on

the parade ground, and though the whole regiment was guilty it was

decided to try the owners of those muskets by court martial. They

were sentenced to death. As it was doubtful if the Native troops would

permit the execution it was considered prudent to await the arrival of

the 89th Regiment under Colonel Ferryman and Captain Hatch's battery

of Artillery. They had been landed at Gogha during the monsoon with

great difficulty, and were compelled to make a wide detour to the

north owing to the flooded state of the country. On their arrival

the executions were carried out; five of the mutineers were blown

from guns, three were shot with musketry, and the rest were hanged

in the presence of the whole of the troops. They met their death with

a gentlemanly calmness which won the respect of all who were present.

[Rádhanpur Disloyal.] The example thus made, together with the presence

of the European troops in Gujarát, restored our prestige and gave us

time to attend to affairs on our frontier. The whole country was in

a very disturbed state. On the fall of Delhi on September 28th, 1857,

a treasonable correspondence was found between the Nawáb of Rádhanpur

in Gujarát and the Emperor of Delhi, which deeply implicated the

Nawáb. He and his ministers had forwarded nazránás of gold mohars to

Delhi and asked for orders from the Emperor, offering to attack the

British cantonments at Disa and Ahmedábád. The Nawáb had been on the

most friendly terms with Captain Black the Political Agent, and had

been considered perfectly loyal. Preparations were made to depose him

for this treacherous conduct. We were then so strong in Gujarát that

his estate could have been seized without the least difficulty, but he

was considered too contemptible an enemy and his treason was pardoned.

[Arab Outbreak at Sunth.] Lieutenant Alban, with a party of Gujarát

Horse, was now sent to settle affairs in Sunth, a petty state in the

Rewa Kántha. Mustapha Khán, at the head of a turbulent body of Arabs,

had made the Rája a prisoner in his own palace with a view to extort

arrears of pay and other claims. Lieutenant Alban's orders were to

disarm the Arabs. After some negotiations Mustapha Khán waited on

Lieutenant Alban. He was attended by the whole of his armed followers

with the matches of their matchlocks alight, thinking no doubt to

intimidate Lieutenant Alban. On entering the tent Lieutenant Alban

disarmed him, but imprudently placed his sword on the table. While

they were conversing Mustapha Khán seized his sword and Lieutenant

Alban immediately shot him with a revolver. The Arabs who crowded

round the tent now opened fire on Alban and his men, but they were

soon overpowered. Mustapha Khán, four Arabs, and one savár of the

Gujarát Horse were killed.

[Disturbance in Lunáváda.] Lieutenant Alban, with a party of the 7th

Native Infantry under Lieutenant Cunningham then proceeded to Páli. A

few months before one Surajmal, a claimant of the Lúnáváda gádi, had

attacked the Rája of Lúnáváda, but was repulsed with severe loss and

had since been harboured in the village of Páli. On the approach of

Alban's force, it was attacked by Surajmal's Rájputs and the village

was accordingly burnt. Order was then restored in the Panch Maháls,

and it was not again disturbed till Tátia Topi entered the Maháls.

[Conspiracy at Disa.] In October 1857 a conspiracy was discovered

between the Thákor of Samda near Disa and some Native officers of the

2nd Cavalry and 12th Regiment Native Infantry to attack and plunder

the camp at Disa and to murder the officers; but the evidence was

not very clear, and before the trial could take place the amnesty had

been published under which the suspected men were released. The peace

of Northern Gujarát was much disturbed at this time by the Thákor of

Rova, who plundered the Pálanpur and Sirohi villages at the head of

500 men, and the Thákor of Mandeta was also in arms but was held in

check by a detachment of the 89th Regiment and a squadron of cavalry at

Ahmednagar near Ídar. [1067] [Conspiracy at Baroda.] The two Thákors

were acting in concert with some influential conspirators at Baroda

of whom Malhár Ráo Gáikwár alias Dáda Sáheb was the chief. It was

this man who afterwards became Gáikwár of Baroda and was deposed for

the attempt to murder Colonel Phayre by poison.

[Want of Combination.] It is very remarkable that the sepoy war

did not produce one man who showed any capacity for command. Every

native regiment was in a state of mutiny and a large proportion of

the civil population was ripe for revolt. If only one honest man had

been found who could have secured the confidence and support of his

fellow-countrymen, the fertile province of Gujarát would have been

at his mercy; but amongst natives conflicting interests and mutual

distrust make combination most difficult. In India a conspirator's

first impulse is to betray his associates lest they should anticipate

him. The failure of every mutinous outbreak in Gujarát was due to this

moral defect. This trait may be traced throughout the history of the

war and should be studied by those who advocate the independence of

India, and the capacity of the native for self-government. It is an

apt illustration of native inability to organize combined operations

that the most formidable conspiracy for the subversion of our power

should have been delayed till October 1857. By this time the arrival

of Her Majesty's 89th Regiment and a battery of European artillery at

Ahmedábád had rendered a successful revolt impossible. The mutinies

of the Gujarát Horse and Grenadiers had been promptly suppressed and

severely punished. The termination of the monsoon had opened the ports

and reinforcements were daily expected. Had the outbreak occurred

simultaneously with the mutiny of the Gujarát Horse, the Artillery,

and the Second Grenadiers, Gujarát must have been lost for a time

and every European would have been murdered.

[Marátha Conspiracy.] For many years Govindráo alias Bápu Gáikwár,

a half brother of His Highness the Gáikwár, had resided near the

Sháhibág at Ahmedábád. He had been deported from Baroda for intriguing

against his brother and had been treated as a political refugee. This

man with Malhárráo, another brother of His Highness the Gáikwár, Bháu

Sáheb Pawár, and a Sardár who called himself the Bhonsla Rája, also

related to His Highness by marriage, conceived the design to murder the

Europeans in Baroda Ahmedábád and Kaira and establish a government in

the name of the Rája of Sátára. To Bápu Gáikwár was entrusted the task

of tampering with the troops in Ahmedábád, and frequent meetings of

the Native officers were held at his house every night. The Bhonsla

Rája, with a man named Jhaveri Nálchand, was deputed to the Kaira

district to secure the aid of the Thákors of Umeta, Bhádarva, Kera,

and Dáima, and of the Patels of Ánand and Partábpur.

[Marátha Conspiracy.] These landholders assured Bápu of their support

and the Thákor of Umeta mounted some iron guns and put his fort in a

state of defence. An agent named Maganlál was sent into the Gáikwár's

Kadi Pargana, where he enlisted a body of 2000 foot and 150 horse,

which he encamped near the village of Lodra. The followers of the

Kaira Thákors assembled in the strong country on the banks of the

Mahi near the village of Partábpur with a detachment and advanced to

the Chauk Taláv within five miles of Baroda. The massacre at Baroda

was fixed for the night of October 16th. The native troops in Baroda

had been tampered with and had promised in the event of their being

called out that they would fire blank ammunition only.

[Gathering at Partábpur,] The Thákors had been encamped at Partábpur

for several days, but owing partly to the sympathy of the people and

partly to the terror which they inspired, no report was made to any

British officers till the 15th October, when Mr. Ashburner, who was

encamped at Thásra, marched to attack them with his new levies and a

party of the Kaira police. There was, as usual, disunion in the ranks

of the insurgents; they had no leaders they could depend upon, and

they dispersed on hearing of the approach of Ashburner's force without

firing a shot. Ninety-nine men who had taken refuge in the ravines

of the Mahi were captured and a commission under Act XIV. of 1857 was

issued to Mr. Ashburner and Captain Buckle, the Political Agent in the

Rewa Kántha, to try them. Ten of the ringleaders were found guilty of

treason and blown from guns at Kanvári, nine were transported for life,

and the remainder were pardoned. The turbulent villages of Partábpur

and Angar in Kaira were destroyed and the inhabitants removed to more

accessible ground in the open country. Their strong position in the

ravines of the Mahi river had on several occasions enabled the people

of Partábpur and Angar to set Government at defiance, and this was

considered a favourable opportunity of making an example of them and

breaking up their stronghold.

[And at Lodra.] In the meantime information of the gathering at Lodra

had reached Major Agar, the Superintendent of Police, Ahmedábád. He

marched to attack them with the Koli Corps and a squadron of the

Gujarát Horse. Maganlál fled to the north after a slight skirmish in

which two men were killed and four wounded, and was captured a few days

afterwards by the Thándár of Sammu with eleven followers. They were

tried by General Roberts and Mr. Hadow, the Collector of Ahmedábád,

under Act XIV. of 1857. Three of them were blown from guns at Waizápur,

three were hanged, and the rest were transported for life.

It is much to be regretted that Malhárráo Gáikwár and the Bhonsla Rája

were allowed to escape punishment. There was very clear evidence of the

guilt of the Bhonsla Rája, but His Highness the Gáikwár interceded for

him, and Sir Richmond Shakespeare, the Resident, weakly consented that

his life should be spared on condition that he should be imprisoned

for life at Baroda, a sentence which, it is hardly necessary to say,

was never carried out.

[Partial Disarming.] On the suppression of this abortive insurrection

it was determined to disarm Gujarát, and in January 1858 strong

detachments of the 72nd Highlanders and of Her Majesty's 86th Regiment

with the 8th Regiment Native Infantry, two guns under Captain Conybere,

and a squadron of Gujarát Horse were placed at the disposal of

Mr. Ashburner to carry out this measure. His Highness the Gáikwár

had consented to a simultaneous disarmament of his country, but he

evaded the performance of his promise. In the Kaira district and in the

Jambusar táluka of Broach the disarmament was very strictly enforced;

every male adult of the fighting classes was required to produce an

arm of some kind. The town of Ahmedábád was relieved of 20,000 arms

in the first two days, but the Highlanders and 86th Regiment were

required for operations in Rájputána, and after their departure from

Gujarát it was deemed prudent to postpone this very unpopular measure.

[Náikda Revolt, Oct. 1858.] After these events Gujarát remained

tranquil for nearly a year till, in October 1858, the Náikda Bhils of

Nárukot revolted under Rupa and Keval Náiks, and a few months later

Tátia Topi's scattered force being hard-pressed by Colonel Park's

column, plundered several villages of the Panch Maháls during its

rapid march through that district.

[Tátia Topi, 1858.] In 1858, after his defeat at Gwálior, at the

close of the mutinies in Northern India, Tátia Topi moved rapidly

towards the Dakhan. The chiefs of Jamkhandi and Nárgund had been in

treasonable correspondence with the rebel chiefs in the North-West

and had invoked their aid. It is more than probable that if Tátia

Topi had entered the Dakhan in force, there would have been a general

insurrection of the Marátha population. Tátia's march to the Dakhan

soon assumed the character of a flight. He was closely pressed by two

columns under Generals Somerset and Mitchell, and a very compact and

enterprizing little field force commanded by Colonel Park. Colonel

Park's own regiment, the 72nd Highlanders, many of the men mounted on

camels, formed the main fighting power of this force. His indefatigable

energy in the pursuit of the enemy allowed them no rest, and eventually

brought them to bay at Chhota Udepur. Fearing to face the open country

of Berár with such an uncompromising enemy in pursuit, Tátia recrossed

the Narbada at Chikalda and marched towards Baroda. He had, by means

of an agent named Ganpatráo, for some time been in communication with

the Bháu Sáheb Pavár, a brother-in-law of His Highness the Gáikwár, and

had been led to expect aid from the Baroda Sardárs and the Thákors of

the Kaira and Rewa Kántha districts. Immediately it became known that

Tátia had crossed the Narbada, troops were put in motion from Kaira,

Ahmedábád, and Disa for the protection of the eastern frontier of

Gujarát. Captain Thatcher, who had succeeded to the command of the

irregular levies raised by Mr. Ashburner in Kaira, was ordered to

hold Sankheda with the irregulars and two of the Gáikwár's guns. He

was afterwards reinforced by Captain Collier's detachment of the 7th

Regiment N. I., which fell back from Chhota Udepur on the approach

of the enemy.

[Tátia Topi's Defeat at Chhota Udepur, Dec. 1858.] Tátia Topi at

this time commanded a formidable force composed of fragments of many

mutinous Bengal regiments. He had also been joined by a mixed rabble

of Villáyatis, Rohillás, and Rájputs, who followed his fortune in

hopes of plunder. Ferozsha Nawáb of Kamona and a Marátha Sardár who

was known as the Ráo Sáheb, held subordinate commands. Each fighting

man was followed by one or more ponies laden with plunder which greatly

impeded their movements. It was chiefly owing to this that Colonel Park

was enabled to overtake the rebels and to force them into action. On

reaching Chhota Udepur the troops of the Rája fraternised with the

enemy, and Captain Collier having evacuated the town, Tátia Topi was

allowed to occupy it without opposition. He had intended to halt at

Chhota Udepur to recruit his men and to develop his intrigues with

the Baroda Sardárs, but Park gave him no respite. On the 1st December

1858, he fell upon Tátia's rebel force and defeated it with great

slaughter, his own loss being trifling. After this defeat there was

great confusion in the ranks of the insurgents. Tátia Topi abandoned

his army and did not rejoin it till it had reached the forest lands

of Párona. Discipline which had always been lax, was now entirely

thrown aside. The muster roll of one of Tátia's cavalry regiments was

picked up and showed that out of a strength of 300 sabres only sixteen

were present for duty. The rebel force separated into two bodies,

one doubled back and plundered Park's baggage which had fallen far to

the rear, the other under Ferozsha entered the Panch Maháls and looted

Báriya, Jhálod, Limbdi, and other villages; Godhra being covered by

Muter's force was not attacked. Park's force was so disabled by the

plunder of its baggage and by long continued forced marches, that it

was compelled to halt at Chhota Udepur, but General Somerset took up

the pursuit and rapidly drove Tátia from the Panch Maháls. He fled

in the direction of Salumba. The Thákor of that place was in arms,

and Tátia no doubt expected support from him, but the Thákor was

too cautious to join what was then evidently a hopeless cause. On

reaching Nargad on the 20th February 1859, Ferozsha made overtures

of surrender, and a week later 300 cavalry and a mixed force of

1500 men under Zahur Ali and the Maulvi Vazir Khán laid down their

arms to General Mitchell. They were admitted to the benefit of the

amnesty. The remnant of Tátia's force fled to the north-east.

[Náikda Disturbance, 1858.] In October 1858, instigated by the

intrigues of the Bháu Sáheb Pavár, the Sankheda Náikdás, a very wild

forest tribe, took up arms under Rupa and Keval Náiks, and after having

plundered the outpost, thána, at Nárukot, attacked a detachment of

the 8th Regiment N. I. under Captain Bates at Jámbughoda. They were

repulsed with considerable loss after a desultory fight during the

greater part of two days. On the arrest of Ganpatráo, the Bháu Sáheb's

agent, this troublesome insurrection would probably have collapsed,

but the Naikdás were joined by a number of Villáyatis, matchlock-men,

the fragments of Tátia's broken force, who encouraged them to hold

out. They occupied the very strong country between Chámpáner and

Nárukot, and kept up a harassing warfare, plundering the villages as

far north as Godhra.

A field force commanded by the Political Agent of the Rewa Kántha,

Colonel Wallace, was employed against the Náikdás during the cold

weather of 1858, and in one of the frequent skirmishes with the

insurgents Captain Hayward of the 17th Regiment N. I. was severely

wounded by a matchlock bullet on the 28th January 1859. The only

success obtained by the Náikdás was the surprise of Hassan Ali's

company of Hussein Khán's levy. The Subhedár had been ordered to

protect the labourers who were employed in opening the pass near the

village of Sivrájpur, but the duty was very distasteful to him, and his

son deserted with twenty-four men on the march to Sivrájpur. They were

suddenly attacked by a mixed force of Makránis and Náikdás. Seven men

including the Subhedár were killed and eleven wounded without any loss

to the enemy. The Subhedár neglected to protect his camp by the most

ordinary precautions and his men appear to have behaved badly. They

fled without firing a shot directly they were attacked. But little

progress had been made in pacifying the Náikdás till Captain Richard

Bonner was employed to raise and organize a corps composed chiefly of

Bhils with their head-quarters at Dohad in the Panch Maháls. Captain

Bonner's untiring energy and moral influence soon reduced the Náikdás

to submission. Rupa Náik laid down his arms and accepted the amnesty

of the 10th March 1859, and Keval Náik followed his example soon after.

[Wágher Outbreak, 1859.] In July 1859 the Wághers of Okhámandal,

a mahál in Káthiáváda belonging to His Highness the Gáikwár,

suddenly seized and plundered Dwárka, Barvála, and Bet. They were

led by a Wágher chief named Toda Manik, who alleged that he had been

compelled to take up arms by the oppression of the Gáikwár's kámdárs;

but it is probable that he was encouraged to throw off allegiance

by the weakness of the Baroda administration and the belief that he

would have to deal with the troops of the Darbár only. He soon found

he was in error. Major Christie with 200 sabres of the Gujarát Horse

and a wing of the 17th Regiment Native Infantry from Rájkot marched to

Mandána on the Ran to cut off the communication between Okhámandal and

the Káthiáváda peninsula. The cantonment of Rájkot was reinforced from

Ahmedábád by six guns of Aytoun's battery, a wing of the 33rd Regiment

and a detachment of the 14th Regiment Native Infantry under Captain

Hall, and a naval and military force was at the same time prepared in

Bombay for the recovery of Bet and Dwárka as soon as the close of the

monsoon should render naval operations on the western coast possible.

[Expedition against Bet, 1859.] On the 29th September 1859, the

following force embarked in the transports South Ramillies and

Empress of India, towed by Her Majesty's steam-ships Zenobia and

Victoria, and followed by the frigate Firoz, the gunboat Clyde,

and the schooner Constance:

Her Majesty's 28th Regiment 500 Men.

Her Majesty's 6th Regiment Native Infantry 600 Men.

Marine Battalion 200 Men.

Royal Artillery 60 Men.

Sappers and Miners 90 Men.

The expedition was under the command of Colonel Donovan of Her

Majesty's 28th Regiment, but it was intended that on arrival at

Bet, Colonel Scobie should command the combined naval and military

force. Colonel Scobie marched from Rájkot early in October with the

wings of Her Majesty's 33rd Regiment and 17th Native Infantry, the

12th Light Field Battery and detachments of the 14th Native Infantry

and Gujarát Horse. Had Colonel Donovan waited for this force he

might have effectually invested the fort of Bet, which is situated

on an island, and exterminated the rebels; but he was too anxious

to distinguish himself before he could be relieved of command. He

arrived off Bet on the 4th October 1859, and at sunrise that morning

the steam-ships Firoz, Zenobia, Clyde, and Constance took up their

positions off the fort of Bet and opened fire with shot and shell

at 950 yards. The fort replied feebly with a few small guns. Shells

effectually scorched the fort and temples occupied by the enemy, but

the shot made little impression on the wall which was here thirty feet

thick. The bombardment continued throughout the day and at intervals

during the night. Next morning Dewa Chabasni, the Wágher chief in

command of the fort, opened negotiations for surrender, but he would

not consent to the unconditional surrender which was demanded, and

after an interval of half an hour the artillery fire was resumed and

preparations were made to disembark the troops. They landed under

a heavy musketry fire from the fort and adjacent buildings, and an

attempt was made to escalade. The ladders were placed against the wall

but the storming party of Her Majesty's 28th Regiment and 6th Regiment

Native Infantry were repulsed with heavy loss. Captain McCormack of

Her Majesty's 28th Regiment, Ensign Willaume of the 6th Regiment,

and ten European soldiers were killed; and Captain Glasspoole,

Lieutenant Grant of the 6th Native Infantry, and thirty-seven men of

the 28th Regiment were wounded, many of them severely. One sepoy of

the Marine Battalion was killed and five wounded.

[Bet Fort Taken.] During the night which succeeded this disastrous

attack the Wághers evacuated the fort. They reached the mainland,

taking with them their women the children and the plunder of the

temple, but Dewa Chabasni, the Wágher chief, had been killed the

previous day. Considering the large and well-equipped force at Colonel

Donovan's disposal and the facilities which the insular position of

Bet afforded to a blockading force, the escape of the Wághers almost

with impunity, encumbered with women and plunder, did not enhance

Colonel Donovan's military reputation. Captain D. Nasmyth, R. E.,

Field Engineer of the Okhámandal Force, was directed to destroy the

fort of Bet and carried out his instructions most effectually. Some

of the Hindu temples nearest the walls were severely shaken by

the explosion of the mines, and a great outcry was raised of the

desecration of the temples; but if Hindus will convert their temples

into fortified enclosures, they must take the consequence when they

are occupied by the enemies of the British Government.

Lieutenant Charles Goodfellow, R. E., greatly distinguished himself on

this occasion. He earned the Victoria Cross by carrying off a wounded

man of Her Majesty's 28th Regiment under a very heavy fire. Treasure

valued at 3 1/2 lákhs of rupees was taken on board the Firoz for safe

custody. It was eventually restored to the Pujáris of the temples,

but most of the temples had been carefully plundered by the Wághers

before the entry of the British force.

[Dwárka Fort Taken.] Many of the fugitives from Bet took refuge in

Dwárka, and Colonel Donovan's force having re-embarked proceeded to

Dwárka to await the arrival of Colonel Scobie's small brigade. Scobie's

force did not reach Dwárka till October 20th. The Naval Brigade under

Lieutenant Sedley with sixteen officers and 110 men had already landed

under very heavy matchlock fire, and thrown up a slight breastwork

of loose stone within 150 yards of the walls. A field piece from the

Zenobia and afterwards a thirty-two pounder were placed in position in

this work. The successful result of the siege was mainly due to the

determined bravery of this small naval force. They repulsed repeated

sorties from the fort and inflicted severe losses on the enemy. As

soon as the stores and ammunition could be landed, Colonel Donovan

took up a position to the north-east of the fort, Colonel Scobie to

the south-east, and Captain Hall occupied an intermediate position

with detachments of Her Majesty's 33rd Regiment, the 14th Native

Infantry, and Gujarát Horse under Lieutenant Pym. The garrison made

several determined attempts to break through Captain Hall's position,

but they were on each occasion driven back with loss.

The first battery opened fire on the northern face of the fort on

October 28th, while the Zenobia and the Firoz poured a well-directed

fire of shells on the houses and temples which sheltered the enemy

towards the sea. The shells did immense execution and relieved the

attack on the Naval Brigade which continued to hold its position

with the greatest gallantry though several times surrounded by the

enemy. On the night of the 31st October the garrison evacuated the

fort and cut its way through a picket of Her Majesty's 28th Regiment,

wounding Ensign Hunter and four men. A detachment under Colonel

Christie followed the fugitives next morning and overtook them near

Vasatri. A skirmish ensued, but they escaped without much loss and

took refuge in the Barda hill. They continued to disturb the peace

of Káthiáváda for several years. In one of the desultory skirmishes

which followed, Lieutenants LaTouche and Hebbert were killed.

[Rising in Nagar Párkar.] While these events were in progress,

Karranji Hati the Rána of Nagar Párkar on the Sindh frontier of

Gujarát, took up arms at the head of a band of Sodhás, plundered

the treasury and telegraph office at Nagar Párkar, and released the

prisoners in the jail. Colonel Evans commanded the field force which

was employed against him for many months without any very definite

results. The country is a desert and the Sodhás avoided a collision

with the troops. The Rána eventually submitted and peace was restored.

APPENDIX III.

BHINMÁL.

[Description.] Bhinmál, [1068] North Latitude 24° 42' East Longitude

72° 4', the historical Shrimál, the capital of the Gurjjaras from

about the sixth to the ninth century, lies about fifty miles west of

Ábu hill. The site of the city is in a wide plain about fifteen miles

west of the last outlier of the Ábu range. To the east, between the

hills and Bhinmál, except a few widely-separated village sites, the

plain is chiefly a grazing ground with brakes of thorn and cassia

bushes overtopped by standards of the camel-loved pilu Salvadora

persica. To the south, the west, and the north the plain is smooth and

bare passing westwards into sand. From the level of the plain stand

out a few isolated blocks of hill, 500 to 800 feet high, of which

one peak, about a mile west of the city, is crowned by the shrine

of Chámunda the Srí or Luck of Bhinmál. From a distance the present

Bhinmál shows few traces of being the site of an ancient capital. Its

1500 houses cover the gentle slope of an artificial mound, the level

of their roofs broken by the spires of four Jain temples and by the

ruined state office at the south end of the mound. Closer at hand

the number and size of the old stone-stripped tank and fortification

mounds and the large areas honeycombed by diggers for bricks show that

the site of the present Bhinmál was once the centre of a great and

widespread city. Of its fortifications, which, as late as A.D. 1611,

the English merchant Nicholas Ufflet, in a journey from Jhálor to

Ahmedábád, describes as enclosing a circuit of thirty-six miles

(24 kos) containing many fine tanks going to ruin, almost no trace

remains. [1069] The names of some of the old gates are remembered,

Surya in the north-east, Srí Lakshmí in the south-east, Sanchor in the

west, and Jhálor in the north. Sites are pointed out as old gateways

five to six miles to the east and south-east of the present town, and,

though their distance and isolation make it hard to believe that these

ruined mounds were more than outworks, Ufflet's testimony seems to

establish the correctness of the local memory. [1070] Besides these

outlying gateways traces remain round the foot of the present Bhinmál

mound of a smaller and later wall. To the east and south the line of

fortification has been so cleared of masonry and is so confused with

the lines of tank banks, which perhaps were worked into the scheme

of defence, that all accurate local knowledge of their position has

passed. The Gujarát gate in the south of the town though ruined

is well marked. From the Gujarát gateway a line of mounds may be

traced south and then west to the ruins of Pipalduara perhaps the

western gateway. The wall seems then to have turned east crossing the

watercourse and passing inside that is along the east bank of the

watercourse north to the south-west corner of the Jaikop or Yaksha

lake. From this corner it ran east along the south bank of Jaikop to

the Jhálor or north gate which still remains in fair preservation its

pointed arch showing it to be of Musalmán or late (17th-18th century)

Ráhtor construction. From the Jhálor gate the foundations of the wall

may be traced east to the Kanaksen or Karáda tank. The area to the

east of the town from the Karáda tank to the Gujarát gate has been so

quarried for brick to build the present Bhinmál that no sign remains

of a line of fortifications running from the Karáda tank in the east

to the Gujarát gate in the south.

The site of the present town the probable centre of the old city, is a

mound stretching for about three-quarters of a mile north and south and

swelling twenty to thirty feet out of the plain. On almost all sides

its outskirts are protected by well made thorn fences enclosing either

garden land or the pens and folds of Rabáris and Bhíls. The streets

are narrow and winding. The dwellings are of three classes, the flat

mud-roofed houses of the Mahájans or traders and of the better-to-do

Bráhmans and craftsmen with canopied doors and fronts plastered with

white clay: Second the tiled sloping-roofed sheds of the bulk of

the craftsmen and gardeners and of the better-off Rabáris and Bhíls:

and Third the thatched bee-hive huts of the bulk of the Rabáris and

Bhíls and of some of the poorer craftsmen and husbandmen. Especially

to the north-west and west the houses are skirted by a broad belt of

garden land. In other parts patches of watered crops are separated

by the bare banks of old tanks or by stretches of plain covered with

thorn and cassia bushes or roughened by the heaps of old buildings

honeycombed by shafts sunk by searchers for bricks. Besides the four

spired temples to Párasnáth the only outstanding building is the old

kacheri or state office a mass of ruins which tops the steep south

end of the city mound.

[People.] Of the 1400 inhabited houses of Bhinmál the details are:

Mahájans 475, chiefly Oswál Vánis of many subdivisions; Shrimáli

Bráhmans, 200; Shevaks 35, Maga Bráhmans worshippers of the sun

and priests to Oswáls; Sonárs, 30; Bándháras or Calico-printers,

35; Kásáras or Brass-smiths 4, Ghánchis or Oilpressers, 30; Mális or

Gardeners, 25; Káthias or Woodworkers, 12; Bháts 120 including 80 Gunas

or Grain-carriers, and 40 Rájbhats or Bráhm Bháts, Genealogists [1071];

Kumbhárs or Potters, 12; Musalmán Potters, 4; Rehbáris or Herdsmen,

70 [1072]; Shádhs Beggars, 10; Shámia Aliks Beggars, 10; Kotwál and

Panjára Musalmáns, 15; Lohárs or Blacksmiths, 3; Darjis or Tailors,

12; Nais or Barbers, 7; Bhumiás that is Solanki Jágirdárs, 15 [1073];

Kavás Bhumiás servants, 12; Játs Cultivators, 2; Deshantris or Saturday

Oilbeggars, 1; Achárayas or Funeral Bráhmans, 1; Dholis Drumbeaters,

12; Pátrias or Professionals that is Dancing Girls, 30 [1074];

Turki Vohorás that is Memons, 2; Vishayati Musalmán Padlock-makers,

1; Rangrez or Dyers, 2; Mochis or Shoemakers, 30; Karias or Salávats

that is Masons, 6; Churigars Musalmán Ivory bangle-makers, 2; Jatiyas

[1075] or Tanners, 17; Khátiks or Butchers working as tanners, 1;

Sargaras, Bhíl messengers, 1; Bhíls, 120; Tirgars or Arrowmakers,

5; Gorádas priests to Bombias leather-workers, 2; Bombias literally

Weavers now Leather-workers, 40; Wághria Castrator, 1; Mirásis Musalmán

Drummers, 8; Mehtars or Sweepers, 1.

[Objects. In the Town.] Inside of the town the objects of interest

are few. The four temples of Párasnáth are either modern or altered

by modern repairs. A rest-house to the south of a temple of Barági

or Varáha the Boar in the east of the town has white marble pillars

with inscriptions of the eleventh and thirteenth centuries which show

that the pillars have been brought from the ruined temple of the

sun or Jag Svámi Lord of the World on the mound about eighty yards

east of the south or modern Gujarát gate. In the west of the town,

close to the wall of the enclosure of the old Mahálakshmi temple, is

a portion of a white marble pillar with an inscription dated S. 1342

(A.D. 1286) which apparently has been brought from the same ruined

sun temple. In the kacheri ruins at the south end of the mound the

only object of interest is a small shrine to Máta with two snakes

supporting her seat and above in modern characters the words Nágáne

the kuldevi or tribe guardian of the Ráhtors.

[Surroundings.] The chief object of interest at Bhinmál is the ruined

temple of the Sun on a mound close to the south of the town. Of this

temple and its inscriptions details are given below. About fifty

yards west of the Sun temple are the remains of a gateway known

as the Gujarát gateway. This modern name and the presence near

it of blocks of the white quartz-marble of the Sun temple make it

probable that the gateway is not older than Musalmán or eighteenth

century Ráhtor times. Close to the west of the gate is Khári Báva

the Salt Well an old step and water-bag well with many old stones

mixed with brick work. About a hundred yards south of the Gujarát

gate, in a brick-walled enclosure about sixteen yards by eight and

nine feet high topped by a shield parapet, is the shrine of Mahádeva

Naulákheshwar. An inscription dated S. 1800 (A.D. 1744) states that

the enclosure marks the site of an old temple to Naulákheshwar. About

fifty yards east of the Naulákheshwar shrine is a large brick enclosure

about seventy-five yards square with walls about twelve feet high and

a pointed-arched gateway in the Moslim wave-edged style. On entering,

to the left, is a plinth with a large Hanumán and further to the

left in domed shrines are a Ganpati and a Máta. A few paces south is

Brahma's Pool or Brahmakhund with steep steps on the west and north,

a rough stone and brick wall to the east, and a circular well to the

south. The pool walls and steps have been repaired by stones taken

from Hindu temples or from former decorations of the pool on some of

which are old figures of Matás in good repair. The story is that Som,

according to one account the builder of the Sun temple according

to another account a restorer of Shrimál, wandering in search of a

cure for leprosy, came to the south gate of Shrimál. Som's dog which

was suffering from mange disappeared and soon after appeared sound

and clean. The king traced the dog's footmarks to the Brahmakhund,

bathed in it, and was cured. As a thank-offering he surrounded the

pool with masonry walls. To the south of the pool, to the right, are

an underground ling sacred to Patáleshwar the lord of the Under World

and south of the ling a small domed shrine of Chandi Devi. To the left,

at the east side of a small brick enclosure is a snake-canopied ling

known as Chandeshwar hung about with strings of rudráksh Elæocarpus

ganitrus beads. [1076] In front of Chandeshwar's shrine is a small

inscribed stone with at its top a cow and calf recording a land grant

to Shrimáli Bráhmans. About forty yards north-east of the Brahmakhund

a large straggling heap of brick and earth, now known as Lakshamíthala

or Lakshmí's settlement, is said to be the site of a temple to Lakshmí

built, according to the local legend, by a Bráhman to whom in return

for his devotedness Lakshmí had given great wealth. The hollow to the

south-east is known as the Khandália pool. About fifty yards south-east

at the end of a small enclosure is a shrine and cistern of Jageshwar,

said to be called after a certain Jag who in return for the gift

of a son built the temple. Several old carved and dressed stones

are built into the walls of this temple. About seventy-five yards

further south-east a large area rough with heaps of brick is said to

be the site of an old Vidhya-Sála or Sanskrit College. This college

is mentioned in the local Mahátmya as a famous place of learning

the resort of scholars from distant lands. [1077] The local account

states that as the Bhils grew too powerful the Bráhmans were unable

to live in the college and retired to Dholka in north Gujarát.

The slope and skirts of the town beyond the thorn-fenced enclosures

of Bhils and Rabáris lie in heaps honeycombed with holes hollowed

by searchers for bricks. Beyond this fringe of fenced enclosures

from a half to a whole mile from the city are the bare white banks

of pools and tanks some for size worthy to be called lakes. Of

these, working from the south northwards, the three chief are the

Nimbáli or Narmukhsarovar, the Goni or Gayakund, and the Talbi or

Trambaksarovar. The Nimbáli tank, about 300 yards south-east of the

college site, is a large area opening eastwards whence it draws

its supply of water and enclosed with high bare banks scattered

with bricks along the south-west and north. The lake is said to be

named Nimbáli after a Váni to whom Mahádeva granted a son and for

whom Mahádeva formed the hollow of the lake by ploughing it with his

thunderbolt. About half a mile north-east of Nimbáli a horseshoe bank

fifteen to thirty feet high, except to the open east, is the remains

of the Goni lake. Lines of stone along the foot of the north-west and

north-east banks shew that portions at least of these sides were once

lined with masonry. A trace of steps remains at a place known as the

Gau Ghát or Cowgate. The lake is said to have been named Goni after a

Bráhman whose parents being eaten by a Rákshas went to hell. For their

benefit Goni devoted his life to the worship of Vishnu and built a

temple and lake. In reward Vishnu gave to the water of the lake the

merit or cleansing virtue of the water of Gáya. In the foreground

a row of small chatris or pavilions marks the burying ground of the

Mahajan or high Hindu community of Bhinmál. Behind the pavilions are

the bare banks of the Talbi lake. At the west end is the Bombáro well

and near the south-west is the shrine of Trímbakeshvar Mahádev. This

lake is said to have been made in connection with a great sacrifice

or yag, that is yajna, held by Bráhmans to induce or to compel the

god Trimbakeshwar to slay the demon Tripurásur. Beginning close

to the south of Talbi lake and stretching north-west towards the

city is the Karádá Sarovar or Karádá lake said to have been built

by Kanaksen or Kanishka the great founder of the Skythian era

(A.D. 78). On the western bank of the lake stands an open air ling

of Karaiteshwar. [1078] At the south end of the Karádá lake, which

stretches close to the fenced enclosures round the city, are the

remains of a modern bastion and of a wall which runs north-west to

the Jhálor gate. Beyond the site of the bastion is an enclosure and

shrine of Maheshwar Mahádev. To the north and north-west of the Karait

sea lie four large tanks. Of these the most eastern, about 300 yards

north-west of Karádá, is Brahmasarovar a large area fed from the north

and with high broken banks. Next, about 500 yards north-west, lies the

far-stretching Vánkund or Forest Pool open to the north-east. About

800 yards west is Gautam's tank which holds water throughout the

year. The banks of brick and kankar form nearly a complete circle

except at the feeding channels in the east and south. In the centre of

the lake is an islet on which are the white-stone foundations (18' ×

12') of Gautam's hermitage. On the bank above the east feeding-channel

is an image of Hanumán and on the east side of the southern channel at

the foot of the bank is a white inscribed stone with letters so worn

that nothing but the date S. 1106 (A.D. 1049) has been made out. Of

the balls of kankar or nodular limestone which are piled into the

bank of the tank those which are pierced with holes are lucky and are

kept to guard wooden partitions against the attacks of insects. The

last and westmost of the north row of tanks is the Jaikop properly

Jakshkop that is the Yaksha's Pool about 600 yards south-west of

the Gautam tank and close to the north-west of the town. [1079]

This tank holds water throughout the year and supplies most of the

town's demand. Along the south bank of the Jaikop, where are tombs,

a shrine to Bhairav and a ruined mosque, the line of the later city

walls used to run. At the south-east corner of the tank are three

square masonry plinths each with a headstone carved with the figure of

a man or woman. One of the plinths which is adorned with a pillared

canopy has a stone carved with a man on horseback and a standing

woman in memory of a Tehsildar of Bhinmál of recent date (S. 1869;

A.D. 1812) whose wife became Sati. About 200 yards south-east is

a row of white pália or memorial slabs of which the third from the

south end of the row is dated S. 1245 (A.D. 1186). On the south-east

bank is the shrine of Nimghoria Bhairav at which Shrávaks as well

as other Hindus worship. In the centre of the shrine is a leaning

pillar about five feet high with four fronts, Hanumán on the east,

a standing Snake on the south, a Sakti on the west, and Bhairav

on the north. To the south of the pillar, about a foot out of the

ground rises a five-faced ling or pillar-home of the god one facing

each quarter of the heaven and one uncarved facing the sky. Close to

a well within the circuit of the lake near the south-east corner is

a stone inscribed with letters which are too worn to be read. At the

east end of the north bank under a pilu Salvadora persica tree is a

massive seated figure still worshipped and still dignified though the

features have been broken off, and the left lower arm and leg and both

feet have disappeared. This is believed to be the image of the Yaksha

king who made the tank. Details are given Below pages 456-458. To the

west of the seated statue are the marks of the foundations of a temple,

shrine hall and outer hall, which is believed to have originally been

the shrine of Yaksh. About a hundred yards west, under a pillared

canopy of white quartz, are two Musalmán graves in honour of Ghazni

Khán and Hamál Khán who were killed about 400 years ago at Jhálor

fighting for Shrimál. In obedience to their dying request their Bháts

brought the champions' bodies to Yaksh's tank. The white quartz, the

shape of the pillars, and an inscription on one of them dated S. 1333

(A.D. 1276), go to show that the stones have been brought from the

Sun temple to the south of the town. To the north of the canopy is a

large step-well the Dadeli Well separated into an outer and an inner

section by a row of Hindu pillars supporting flat architraves. Some of

the stones have figures of goddesses and in a niche is an old goddess'

image. The upper part of the well and the parapet are of recent brick

work. On a low mound about 150 yards to the north is the shrine of

Nilkanth Máhádev, with, about a hundred paces to the south-east,

a fine old step-well. The lake was fed from the south-west corner

where is a silt trap built of stones in many cases taken from old

temples and carved with the chaitya or horse-shoe ornament. Some of

the stones have apparently been brought from the great white quartz

Sun temple. Several of them have a few letters of the fourteenth

century character apparently the names of masons or carvers. Some of

the blocks are of a rich red sandstone which is said to be found only

in the Rupe quarries eight miles south of Bhinmál.

On the right, about half a mile south of the south-west corner of

the Jaikop lake, is a ruined heap hid among trees called the Pipal

Duára or Gateway perhaps the remains of the western Gateway which

may have formed part of the later line of fortifications which can

be traced running south along the inner bank of the Jaikop feeding

channel. About a mile south of the Pipal Duára are the bare banks of

the large lake Bansarovar the Desert Sea. To the north-west north and

north-east its great earthen banks remain stripped of their masonry

gradually sloping to the west and south the direction of its supply

of water. The island in the centre is Lakhára. This lake was made by

Gauri or Párvati when she came from Sunda hill to slay the female

demon Uttamiyár. When Párvati killed the demon she piled over her

body Shri's hill which she had brought with her to form a burial

mound. At the same time Párvati scooped the tank, and crowned Shri's

hill with a tower-like temple. This hill, where lives the Srí or Luck

of Shrimál, rises 500 feet out of the plain about a mile west of the

town. It is approached from the south by a flight of unhewn stones

roughly laid as steps. The hill-top is smoothed into a level pavement

of brick and cement. The pavement is supported on the east side by

a lofty bastion-like wall. It is surrounded by a parapet about two

feet high. On the platform two shrines face eastwards. To the left

or south is the main temple of Lakshmí and to the right or north the

smaller shrine of Sunda Máta. The main shrine has a porch with pillars

and shield frieze of white quartz limestone apparently spoils of the

great Sun Temple. Three or four bells hang from the roof of the porch

and some loose white stones apparently also from the Sun temple are

scattered about. In the west wall of the main shrine facing east is

the image of the Guardian of Bhinmál covered with red paint and gold

leaf. The only trace of ornament on the outside of Lakshmí's shrine

is in the north-face portion of a belt of the horse-shoe or chaitya

pattern and a disc perhaps the disc of the Sun. The smaller shrine

of Sunda Máta to the right or north is square and flat-roofed. The

ceiling is partly made of carved stones apparently prepared for,

perhaps formerly the centre slabs of domes. The door posts and lintels

are of white quartz marble. On the right door post are two short

inscriptions of A.D. 1612 and 1664 (S. 1669 and 1691). A second

pillar bears the date A.D. 1543 (S. 1600). The roof is supported

by four square central pillars which with eight wall pilasters form

four shallow domes with lotus carved roof-stones from some other or

some older temple. In a recess in the west wall, surmounted with a

stone carved in the chaitya or horse-shoe pattern, is the Trident or

Trisula of Sunda Máta the only object of worship.

From the hill-top the mound of Bhinmál hardly seems to stand out of

the general level. The mound seems hidden in trees. Only in the south

gleam the white pillars of the Sun Temple and to the north rise the

high mound of the old offices, and still further north the spires

of the four temples of Párasnáth. Beyond the town to the south and

west spread green gardens fenced with dry thorn hedges. Outside of

the garden enclosures to the south-east south and south-west run the

lofty bare banks of dry lakes confused in places with the lines of old

fortifications. To the north-west and north shine the waters of the

Jaikop and Gautam tanks. Westwards the plain, dark with thorn brake

and green with acacias, stretches to the horizon. On other sides the

sea-like level of the plain is broken by groups of hills the Borta

range along the north and north-east and to the east the handsomer

Ratanágar, Thur, and Ram Sen rising southwards to the lofty clear-cut

ranges of Dodala and Sunda.

Only two objects of interest in Bhinmál require special description,

the massive broken statue of the Jaksha or Yaksha on the north bank of

the Jaikop lake, and the temple to Jagsvámi the Sun at the south-east

entrance to the city.

[Jaikop.] On the north bank of the Jaikop or Yaksha Lake, [1080]

leaning against the stem of a pilu or jál Salvadora persica tree,

is a massive stone about 4' high by 2' 6'' broad and 1' thick. The

block is carved with considerable skill into the seated figure of

a king. The figure is greatly damaged by the blows of a mace. The

nose and mouth are broken off, half of the right hand and the whole

of the left hand and leg are gone and the feet and almost the whole

of the seat or throne have disappeared. The figure is seated on a

narrow lion-supported throne or sinhásan the right hand resting on

the right knee and holding a round ball of stone about six inches in

diameter. The left foot was drawn back like the right foot and the

left hand apparently lay on the left knee, but, as no trace remains

except the fracture on the side of the stone the position of the left

hand and of the left leg is uncertain. The head is massive. The hair

falls about two feet from the crown of the head in four long lines of

curls on to the shoulders, and, over the curls, or what seems more

likely the curled wig, is a diadem or mukut with a central spike

and two upright side ornaments connected by two round bands. The

face is broken flat. It seems to have been clean shaved or at least

beardless. A heavy ring hangs from each ear. A stiff collar-like

band encircles the neck and strings of beads or plates hang on the

chest too worn to be distinguished. On both arms are upper armlets,

a centre lion-face still showing clear on the left armlet. On the

right hand is a bracelet composed of two outer bands and a central

row of beads. A light belt encircles the waist. Lower down are the

kandora or hip girdle and the kopul or dhotar knot. [1081] In spite

of its featureless face and its broken hands and feet the figure has

considerable dignity. The head is well set and the curls and diadem

are an effective ornament. The chest and the full rounded belly are

carved with skill. The main fault in proportion, the overshortened

lower arm and leg and the narrowness of the throne, are due to the

want of depth in the stone. The chief details of interest are the

figure's head-dress and the ball of stone in its right hand. The

head-dress seems to be a wig with a row of crisp round curls across

the brow and four lines of long curls hanging down to the shoulders

and crisp curls on the top of the head. The mukut or diadem has three

upright faces, a front face over the nose and side faces over the

ears joined together by two rounded bands. At first sight the stone

ball in the right hand seems a cocoanut which the king might hold in

dedicating the lake. Examination shows on the left side of the ball an

outstanding semicircle very like a human ear. Also that above the ear

are three rolls as if turban folds. And that the right ear may be hid

either by the end of the turban drawn under the chin or by the fingers

of the half-closed hand. That the front of the ball has been wilfully

smashed further supports the view that it was its human features that

drew upon it the Muslim mace. The local Bráhmans contend that the ball

is either a round sweetmeat or a handful of mud held in the right hand

of the king during the dedication service. But Tappa a Bráhm-Bhát,

a man of curiously correct information, was urgent that the stone

ball is a human head. Tappa gives the following tale to explain why

the king should hold a human head in his hand. An evil spirit called

Satka had been wasting the Bráhmans by carrying off the head of each

bridegroom so soon as a wedding ceremony was completed. The king vowed

that by the help of his goddess Chamunda he would put a stop to this

evil. The marriage of a hundred Bráhman couples was arranged for one

night. The king sat by. So long as the king remained awake the demon

dared not appear. When the hundredth marriage was being performed

the king gave way to sleep. Satka dashed in and carried off the last

bridegroom's head. The girl-bride awoke the king and said I will curse

you. You watched for the others, for me you did not watch. The king

said to his Luck Chamunda, What shall I do. Chamunda said Ride after

Satka. The king rode after Satka. He overtook her fourteen miles out

of Shrimál and killed her. But before her death Satka had eaten the

bridegroom's head. What is to be done the king asked Chamunda. Trust me

said his guardian. The king rode back to Shrimál. As he was entering

the city the goddess pointed out to him a gardener or Máli and said

off with his head. The king obeyed. The goddess caught the falling

head, stuck it to the bridegroom's neck, and the bridegroom came to

life. Thus, ends the tale, the local Bráhmans are known as Shrimális

that is men with gardeners' heads. This meaning-making pun and the

likeness of the stone-ball to a human head may be the origin of this

story. On the other hand the story may be older than the image and

may be the reason why the king is shown holding a human head in his

hand. On the whole it seems likely that the story was made to explain

the image and that the image is a Bhairav holding the head of a human

sacrifice and acting as gatekeeper or guardian of some Buddhist or

Sun-worshipping temple. [1082] The appearance of the figure, its

massive well-proportioned and dignified pose, and the long wiglike

curls, like the bag wig on the figure of Chánd on the south-west or

marriage compartment of the great Elephanta Cave, make it probable

that this statue is the oldest relic of Shrimál, belonging like

the Elephanta wigged figures to the sixth or early seventh century

the probable date of the founding or refounding of the city by the

Gurjjarás. [1083] According to the local story the image stands about

twenty paces east of the temple where it was originally enshrined

and worshipped. The lie of the ground and traces of foundations seem

to show about fifty paces west of the present image the sites of an

entrance porch, a central hall or mandap, and a western shrine. The

surface of what seemed the site of the shrine was dug about two feet

deep on the chance that the base of the throne might still be in

site. Nothing was found but loose brickwork. Mutilated as he is the

Yaksha is still worshipped. His high day is the A'shad (July-August)

fullmoon when as rain-mediator between them and Indra the villagers

lay in front of him gugri that is wheat boiled in water and milk,

butter, flour, molasses, and sugar.