=Jodha, A.D. 1444-88. The Foundation of Jodhpur.=—Jodha was born at
Danla, the appanage of his father in Mewar, in the month Baisakh, S.
1484. In 1511 he obtained Sojat, and in the month Jeth, 1515 (A.D. 1459)
laid the foundation of Jodhpur, to which he transferred the seat of
government from Mandor. With the superstitious Rajput, as with the
ancient Roman [19], every event being decided by the omen or the augur,
it would be contrary to rule if so important an occasion as the change
of capital, and that of an infant State, were not marked by some
propitious prestige, that would justify the abandonment of a city won by
the sword, and which had been for ages the capital of Maru. The
intervention, in this instance, was of a simple nature; neither the
flight of birds, the lion’s lair, or celestial manifestation; but the
ordinance of an anchorite, whose abode, apart from mankind, was a cleft
of the mountains of Bakharchiriya. But the behests of such ascetics are
secondary only to those of the divinity, whose organs they are deemed.
Like the Druids of the Celts, the Vanaprastha Jogi,[5.3.1] from the
glades of the forest (_vana_) or recess in the rocks (_gupha_), issue
their oracles to those whom chance or design may conduct to their
solitary dwellings. It is not surprising that the mandates of such
beings prove compulsory on the superstitious Rajput: we do not mean
those squalid ascetics, who wander about India, and are objects
disgusting to the eye; but the genuine Jogi, he who, as the term
imports, mortifies the flesh, till the wants of humanity are restricted
merely to what suffices to unite matter with spirit; who has studied and
comprehended the mystic works, and pored over the systems of philosophy,
until the full influence of Maya (illusion) has perhaps unsettled his
understanding; or whom the rules of his sect have condemned to penance
and solitude; a penance so severe, that we remain astonished at the
perversity of reason which can submit to it.[5.3.2] To these, the Druids
of India, the prince and the chieftain would resort for instruction.
They requested neither lands nor gold: to them “the boasted wealth of
Bokhara” was as a particle of dust. Such was the ascetic who recommended
Jodha to erect his castle on ‘the Hill of Strife’ (Jodhagir), hitherto
known as Bakharchiriya, or ‘the bird’s nest,’ a projecting elevation of
the same range on which Mandor was placed, and about four miles south of
it. Doubtless its inaccessible position seconded the recommendation of
the hermit, for its scarped summit renders it almost impregnable [20],
while its superior elevation permits the sons of Jodha to command, from
the windows of their palace, a range of vision almost comprehending the
limits of their sway. In clear weather they can view the summits of
their southern barrier, the gigantic Aravalli; but in every other
direction it fades away in the boundless expanse of sandy plains.
Neither the founder, nor his monitor, the ascetic, however, were
engineers, and they laid the foundation of this stronghold without
considering what an indispensable adjunct to successful defence was good
water; but to prevent any slur on the memory of Jodha, they throw the
blame of this defect on the hermit. Jodha’s engineer, in tracing the
line of circumvallation, found it necessary to include the spot chosen
as his hermitage, and his remonstrance for undisturbed possession was
treated with neglect; whether by the prince as well as the chief
architect, the legend says not. The incensed Jogi pronounced an
imprecation, that the new castle should possess only brackish water, and
all the efforts made by succeeding princes to obtain a better quality,
by blasting the rock, have failed. The memory of the Jogi is sanctified,
though his anger compelled them to construct an apparatus, whereby water
for the supply of the garrison is elevated from a small lake at the foot
of the rock, which, being entirely commanded from the walls, an
assailant would find difficult to cut off. This was the third grand
event in the fortunes of the Rathors, from the settlement of
Siahji.[5.3.3]
Such was the abundant progeny of these princes, that the limits of their
conquests soon became too contracted. The issue of the three last
princes, namely, the fourteen sons of Chonda, the twenty-four of
Ranmall, and fourteen of Jodha, had already apportioned amongst them the
best lands of the country, and it became necessary to conquer “fresh
fields in which to sow the Rathor seed.”
Jodha had fourteen sons, namely—
Names of Chiefs. Clans. Fiefs or Remarks.
Chieftainships.
1. Santal, or ┐ —— Satalmer ┌ Three coss from
Satal ┘ └ Pokaran.
2. Suja (Suraj) —— —— Succeeded Jodha.
3. Gama [21] —— —— No issue.
┌ Duda took Sambhar
│ from the
│ Chauhans. He
│ had one son,
4. Duda [Dhuhada] Mertia Merta ┤ Biram, whose
│ two sons Jaimall
│ and Jagmall
│ founded the
│ clans Jaimallot
└ and Jagmallot.
5. Birsingh Birsinghgot Nolai In Malwa.
6. Bika Bikayat Bikaner Independent State.
7. Baharmall Baharmallot Bai Bhilara ——
8. Sheoraj Sheorajot Dunara On the Luni.
9. Karamsi Karamsot Khinwasar ——
10. Raemall Raemallot —— ——
11. Savantsi Savantsiot Dawara ——
12. Bida Bidawat Bidavati In Nagor district.
13. Banhar —— —— ┐ Clans and fiefs not
14. Nimba —— —— ┘ mentioned.
=Sāntal, Sātal, 1488-91.=—The eldest son, Santal, born of a female of
Bundi, established himself in the north-west corner, on the lands of the
Bhattis, and built a fort, which he called Satalmer, about five miles
from Pokaran.[5.3.4] He was killed in action by a Khan of the Sahariyas
(the Saracens of the Indian desert), whom he also slew. His ashes were
burnt at Kasma, and an altar was raised over them, where seven of his
wives became satis.
The fourth son, Duda [or Dhūhada], established himself on the plains of
Merta, and his clan, the Mertia, is numerous, and has always sustained
the reputation of being the “first swords” of Maru. His daughter was the
celebrated Mira Bai, wife of Rana Kumbha,[5.3.5] and he was the
grandsire of the heroic Jaimall, who defended Chitor against Akbar, and
whose descendant, Jeth Singh of Badnor, is still one of the sixteen
chief vassals of the Udaipur court.
The sixth son, Bika, followed the path already trod by his uncle Kandal,
with whom he united, and conquered the tracts possessed by the six Jat
communities. He erected a city, which he called after himself, Bikaner,
or Bīkaner.
=Death of Rāo Jodha, A.D. 1488.=—Jodha outlived the foundation of his
new capital thirty years, and beheld his [22] sons and grandsons rapidly
peopling and subjugating the regions of Maru. In S. 1545, aged
sixty-one, he departed this life, and his ashes were housed with those
of his fathers, in the ancestral abode of Mandor. This prince, the
second founder of his race in these regions, was mainly indebted to the
adversities of early life for the prosperity his later years enjoyed;
they led him to the discovery of worth in the more ancient, but
neglected, allodial proprietors displaced by his ancestors, and driven
into the least accessible regions of the desert. It was by their aid he
was enabled to redeem Mandor, when expelled by the Guhilots, and he
nobly preserved the remembrance thereof in the day of his prosperity.
The warriors whose forms are sculptured from the living rock at Mandor
owe the perpetuity of their fame to the gratitude of Jodha; through them
he not only recovered, but enlarged his dominions.[5.3.6] In less than
three centuries after their migration from Kanauj, the Rathors, the
issue of Siahji, spread over a surface of four degrees of longitude and
the same extent of latitude, or nearly 80,000 miles square, and they
amount at this day, in spite of the havoc occasioned, by perpetual wars
and famine, to 500,000 souls.[5.3.7] While we thus contemplate the
renovation of the Rathor race, from a single scion of that magnificent
tree, whose branches once overshadowed the plains of Ganga, let us
withdraw from oblivion some of the many noble names they displaced,
which now live only in the poet’s page. Well may the Rajput repeat the
ever-recurring simile, “All is unstable; life is like the scintillation
of the fire-fly; house and land will depart, but a good name will last
for ever!” What a list of noble tribes could we enumerate now erased
from independent existence by the successes of ‘the children of Siva’
(_Siva-putra_)![5.3.8] Pariharas, Indhas, Sankhlas, Chauhans, Gohils,
Dabhis, Sandhals, Mohils, Sonigiras, Kathis, Jats, Huls, etc., and the
few who still exist only as retainers of the Rathor.
=Sūja or Surajmall, A.D. 1491-1516.=—Suja[5.3.9] (Surajmall) succeeded,
and occupied the _gaddi_ of Jodha during twenty-seven years, and had at
least the merit of adding to the stock of Siahji.
=The Rape of the Virgins.=—The contentions for empire, during the
vacillating dynasty of the Lodi kings of Delhi, preserved the sterile
lands of Maru from their cupidity; and a second dynasty, the Shershahi,
intervened ere “the sons of Jodha” were summoned to measure swords with
the Imperialists. But in S. 1572 (A.D. 1516), a desultory [23] band of
Pathans made an incursion during the fair of the Tij,[5.3.10] held at
the town of Pipar, and carried off one hundred and forty of the maidens
of Maru. The tidings of the rape of the virgin Rajputnis were conveyed
to Suja, who put himself at the head of such vassals as were in
attendance, and pursued, overtook, and redeemed them, with the loss of
his own life, but not without a full measure of vengeance against the
“northern barbarian.” The subject is one chosen by the itinerant
minstrel of Maru, who, at the fair of the Tij, still sings the rape of
the one hundred and forty virgins of Pipar, and their rescue by their
cavalier prince at the price of his own blood.
Suja had five sons, namely: 1. Bhaga, who died in non-age: his son Ganga
succeeded to the throne. 2. Uda, who had eleven sons: they formed the
clan Udawat, whose chief fiefs are Nimaj, Jaitaran, Gundoj, Baratia,
Raepur, etc., besides places in Mewar. 3. Saga, from whom descended the
clan Sagawat; located at Barwa. 4. Prayag, who originated the Prayaggot
clan. 5. Biramdeo, whose son, Naru, receives divine honours as the Putra
of Maru, and whose statue is worshipped at Sojat. His descendants are
styled Narawat Jodha, of whom a branch is established at Pachpahar, in
Haraoti.
=Rāo Ganga, A.D. 1516-32.=—Ganga, grandson of Suja, succeeded his
grandfather in S. 1572 (A.D. 1516); but his uncle, Saga, determined to
contest his right to the _gaddi_, invited the aid of Daulat Khan Lodi,
who had recently expelled the Rathors from Nagor. With this auxiliary a
civil strife commenced, and the sons of Jodha were marshalled against
each other. Ganga, confiding in the rectitude of his cause, and
reckoning upon the support of the best swords of Maru, spurned the offer
of compromise made by the Pathan, of a partition of its lands between
the claimants, and gave battle, in which his uncle Saga was slain, and
his auxiliary, Daulat Khan, ignominiously defeated.
=Rāthors join Mewār against Bābur, A.D. 1527.=—Twelve years after the
accession of Ganga, the sons of Jodha were called on to unite their
forces to Mewar to oppose the invasion of the Moguls from Turkistan.
Sanga Rana, who had resumed the station of his ancestors amongst the
princes of Hind, led the war, and the king of Maru deemed it no
degradation to acknowledge his supremacy, and send his quotas to fight
under the standard of Mewar, whose chronicles do more justice to the
Rathors than those of their own bards. This, which was the last
confederation made by the Rajputs for national independence [24], was
defeated, as already related, in the fatal field of Bayana, where, had
treachery not aided the intrepid Babur, the Rathor sword would have had
its full share in rescuing the nation from the Muhammadan yoke. It is
sufficient to state that a Rathor was in the battle, to know that he
would bear its brunt; and although we are ignorant of the actual
position of the Rana, we may assume that their post was in the van. The
young prince Raemall (grandson of Ganga), with the Mertia chieftains
Kharto and Ratna, and many others of note, fell against the Chagatai on
this eventful day.
Ganga died[5.3.11] four years after this event, and was succeeded by
=Rāo Māldeo, A.D. 1532-62, or 1568-69.=—Maldeo in S. 1588 (A.D.
1532),[5.3.12] a name as distinguished as any of the noble princes in
the chronicles of Maru. The position of Marwar at this period was
eminently excellent for the increase and consolidation of its resources.
The emperor Babur found no temptation in her sterile lands to divert him
from the rich plains of the Ganges, where he had abundant occupation;
and the districts and strongholds on the emperor’s frontier of Maru,
still held by the officers of the preceding dynasty, were rapidly
acquired by Maldeo, who planted his garrisons in the very heart of
Dhundhar. The death of Sanga Rana, and the misfortunes of the house of
Mewar, cursed with a succession of minor princes, and at once beset by
the Moguls from the north, and the kings of Gujarat, left Maldeo to the
uncontrolled exercise of his power, which, like a true Rajput, he
employed against friend and foe, and became beyond a doubt the first
prince of Rajwara, or, in fact, as styled by the Muhammadan historian
Ferishta, “the most potent prince in Hindustan.”[5.3.13]
The year of Maldeo’s installation he redeemed the two most important
possessions of his house, Nagor and Ajmer. In S. 1596 he captured Jalor,
Siwana, and Bhadrajan from the Sandhals; and two years later
dispossessed the sons of Bika of supreme power in Bikaner. Mewa, and the
tracts on the Luni, the earliest possessions of his house, which had
thrown off all dependence, he once more subjugated, and compelled the
ancient allodial tenantry to hold of him in chief, and serve with their
quotas. He engaged in war with the Bhattis, and conquered Bikampur,
where a branch of his family remained, and are now incorporated with the
Jaisalmer State, and, under the name of Maldots,[5.3.14] have the credit
of being the most daring robbers of the desert. He even established
branches of [25] his family in Mewar and Dhundhar, took, and fortified
Chatsu, not twenty miles south of the capital of the Kachhwahas. He
captured and restored Sirohi from the Deoras, from which house was his
mother. But Maldeo not only acquired, but determined to retain, his
conquests, and erected numerous fortifications throughout the country.
He enclosed the city of Jodhpur with a strong wall, besides erecting a
palace, and adding other works to the fortress. The circumvallations of
Merta and its fort, which he called Malkot, cost him £24,000. He
dismantled Satalmer, and with the materials fortified Pokaran, which he
took from the Bhattis, transplanting the entire population, which
comprehended the richest merchants of Rajasthan. He erected forts at
Bhadrajan, on the hill of Bhimlod, near Siwana, at Gundoj, at Rian,
Pipar, and Dunara. He made the Kundalkot at Siwana, and greatly added to
that of Phalodi, first made by Hamira Nirawat. He also erected that
bastion in Garh Bitli (the citadel of Ajmer) called the Kotburj, and
showed his skill in hydraulics by the construction of a wheel to bring
water into the fort. The chronicler adds, that “by the wealth of
Sambhar,” meaning the resources of this salt lake, he was enabled to
accomplish these works, and furnishes a list of the possessions of
Jodhpur at this period, which we cannot exclude: Sojat, Sambhar, Merta,
Khata, Badnor, Ladnun, Raepur, Bhadrajan, Nagor, Siwana, Lohagarh,
Jaikalgarh, Bikaner, Bhinmal, Pokaran, Barmer, Kasoli, Riwaso, Jajawar,
Jalor, Baoli, Malar, Nadol, Phalodi, Sanchor, Didwana, Chatsu, Lawen,
Malarna, Deora, Fatehpur, Amarsar, Khawar, Baniapur, Tonk, Toda, Ajmer,
Jahazpur, and Pramar-ka-Udaipur (in Shaikhavati); in all thirty-eight
districts, several of which, as Jalor, Ajmer, Tonk, Toda, and Badnor,
comprehended each three hundred and sixty townships, and there were none
which did not number eighty. But of those enumerated in Dhundhar, as
Chatsu, Lawen, Tonk, Toda, and Jahazpur in Mewar, the possession was but
transient; and although Badnor, and its three hundred and sixty
townships, were peopled by Rathors, they were the descendants of the
Mertias under Jaimall, who became one of the great vassals of Mewar, and
would, in its defence, at all times draw their swords against the land
which gave them birth.[5.3.15] This branch of the house of Jodha had for
some time been too powerful [26] for subjects, and Merta was resumed. To
this act Mewar was indebted for the services of this heroic chief. At
the same time the growing power of others of the great vassalage of
Marwar was checked by resumptions, when Jaitaran from the Udawats, and
several other fiefs, were added to the fisc. The feudal allotments had
never been regulated, but went on increasing with the energies of the
State, and the progeny of its princes, each having on his birth an
appanage assigned to him, until the whole land of Maru was split into
innumerable portions. Maldeo saw the necessity for checking this
subdivision, and he created a gradation of ranks, and established its
perpetuity in certain branches of the sons of Ranmall and Jodha, which
has never been altered.
=Inhospitable Conduct of Rāo Māldeo to Humāyūn, A.D. 1542.=—Ten years of
undisturbed possession were granted Maldeo to perfect his designs, ere
his cares were diverted from these to his own defence. Babur, the
founder of the Mogul dynasty, was dead, and his son and successor had
been driven from his newly conquered throne by his provincial
lieutenant, Sher Shah: so rapidly do revolutions crowd upon each other
where the sword is the universal arbitrator. We have elsewhere related
that the fugitive monarch sought the protection of Maldeo, and we
stigmatized his conduct as unnational; but we omitted to state that
Maldeo, then heir-apparent, lost his eldest, perhaps then only son
Raemall in the battle of Bayana, who led the aid of Marwar on that
memorable day, and consequently the name of Chagatai, whether in fortune
or in flight, had no great claims to his regard. But little did Maldeo
dream how closely the fortunes of his house would be linked with those
of the fugitive Humayun, and that the infant Akbar, born in this
emergency, was destined to revenge this breach of hospitality. Still
less could the proud Rathor, who traced his ancestry on the throne of
Kanauj one thousand years before the birth of the “barbarian” of
Ferghana, deem it within the range of probability, that he should
receive honours at such hands, or that the first title of Raja,
Rajeswar, or ‘raja, lord of rajas,’ would be conferred on his own son by
this infant, then rearing amidst the sandhills at the extremity of his
desert dominion! It is curious to indulge in the speculative inquiry,
whether, when the great Akbar girded Udai Singh with the sword of
honour, and marked his forehead with the unguent of Raja-shah, he
brought to mind the conduct of Maldeo, which doomed his birth to take
place in the dismal castle of Umarkot, instead of in the splendid halls
of Delhi [27].
=Attack on Mārwār by Sher Shāh, A.D. 1544.=—Maldeo derived no advantage
from his inhospitality; for whether the usurper deemed his exertions
insufficient to secure the royal fugitive, or felt his own power
insecure with so potent a neighbour, he led an army of eighty thousand
men into Marwar. Maldeo allowed them to advance, and formed an army of
fifty thousand Rajputs to oppose him. The judgment and caution he
exercised were so great, that Sher Shah, well versed in the art of war,
was obliged to fortify his camp at every step. Instead of an easy
conquest, he soon repented of his rashness when the admirable
dispositions of the Rajputs made him dread an action, and from a
position whence he found it impossible to retreat. For a month the
armies lay in sight of each other, every day the king’s situation
becoming more critical, and from which he saw not the slightest chance
of extrication. In this exigence he had recourse to one of those
stratagems which have often operated successfully on the Rajput, by
sowing distrust in his mind as to the fidelity of his vassals. He penned
a letter, as if in correspondence with them, which he contrived to have
dropped, as by accident, by a messenger sent to negotiate. Perhaps the
severity of the resumptions of estates seconded this scheme of Sher
Shah; for when the stipulated period for the attack had arrived, the
raja countermanded it. The reasons for this conduct, when success was
apparent, were soon propagated; when one or two of the great leaders, in
order to demonstrate their groundlessness, gave an instance of that
devotion with which the annals of these States abound. At the head of
twelve thousand, they attacked and forced the imperial entrenched camp,
carrying destruction even to the quarters of the emperor; but multitudes
prevailed, and the patriotic clans were almost annihilated. Maldeo, when
too late, saw through the stratagem which had made him doubt the loyalty
of his vassals. Superstition and the reproaches of his chieftains for
his unworthy suspicions, did the rest; and this first _levée en masse_
of the descendants of Siahji, arrayed in defence of their national
liberties, was defeated. With justice did the usurper pay homage to
their gallantry, when he exclaimed, on his deliverance from this peril,
“he had nearly lost the empire of Hindustan for a handful of
barley.”[5.3.16]
=Attack by Akbar, A.D. 1558-62.=—Maldeo was destined to outlive the
Shershahi dynasty, and to see the imperial crown of India once more
encircle the brows of the fugitive Humayun.[5.3.17] It had [28] been
well for the Rathors had his years been lengthened; for his mild
disposition and natural indolence of character gave them some chance
that these qualities would be their best advocate. But he did not long
survive the restoration. Whether the mother of his successor, prince
Akbar, not yet fifteen, stimulated by the recollection of her
misfortunes, nursed his young animosity against Maldeo for the miseries
of Umarkot, or, whether it was merely an act of cautionary policy to
curb the Rajput power, which was inconsistent with his own, in S. 1617
(A.D. 1561) he invaded Marwar, and laid siege to Malakot or Merta, which
he took after an obstinate and sanguinary defence, part of the garrison
cutting their way through his host, and making good their retreat to
their prince.[5.3.18] The important castle of Nagor was also captured;
and both these strongholds and their lands were conferred by Akbar on
the younger branch of the family, Rae Singh, prince of Bikaner, now
established in independence of the parent State, Jodhpur.
In 1625 (A.D. 1569), Maldeo succumbed to necessity; and in conformity
with the times, sent his second son, Chandarsen,[5.3.19] with gifts to
Akbar, then at Ajmer, which had become an integral part of the monarchy;
but Akbar was so dissatisfied with the disdainful bearing of the desert
king, who refused personally to pay his court, that he not only
guaranteed the free possession of Bikaner to Rae Singh, but presented
him with the farman for Jodhpur itself, with supremacy over his race.
Chandarsen appears to have possessed all the native pride of the Rathor,
and to have been prepared to contest his country’s independence, in
spite of Akbar and the claims of his elder brother, Udai Singh, who
eventually was more supple in ingratiating himself into the monarch’s
favour. At the close of life the old Rao had to stand a siege in his
capital, and after a brave but fruitless resistance,[5.3.20] was obliged
to yield homage, and pay it in the person of his son Udai Singh, who,
attending with a contingent, was enrolled amongst the commanders of ‘one
thousand’; and shortly after was invested with the title of Mota Raja,
or ‘the fat Raja,’ by which epithet alone he is designated in the annals
of that period.[5.3.21]
Chandarsen, with a considerable number of the brave vassals of Maru,
determined to cling to independence and the rude fare of the desert,
rather than servilely follow in the train of the despot. When driven
from Jodhpur, they took post in Siwana, in the western extremity of the
State, and there held out to the death. For seventeen years he
maintained his title to the _gaddi_, and divided the allegiance of [29]
the Rathors with his elder brother Udai Singh (though supported by the
king), and stood the storm in which he nobly fell, leaving three sons,
Ugarsen, Askaran, and Rao Singh, who fought a duel with Rao Surthan, of
Sirohi, and was slain, with twenty-four of his chiefs,[5.3.22] near the
town of Datani.
Maldeo, though he submitted to acknowledge the supremacy of the emperor,
was at least spared the degradation of seeing a daughter of his blood
bestowed upon the opponent of his faith; he died soon after the title
was conferred on his son, which sealed the dependence of Maru. His
latter days were a dismal contrast to those which witnessed his
conquests in almost every part of Rajputana, but he departed from this
world in time to preserve his own honour untarnished, with the character
of the most valiant and energetic Rajput of his time. Could he have
added to his years and maintained their ancient vigour, he might, by a
junction with Partap of Mewar, who single-handed commenced his career
just as Maldeo’s closed, have maintained Rajput independence against the
rising power of the Moguls.[5.3.23]
Maldeo, who died S. 1625 (A.D. 1569), had twelve sons:
1. Ram Singh, who was banished, and found refuge with the Rana of Mewar; he
had seven sons, the fifth of whom, Keshodas, fixed at Chuli Maheshwar.
2. Raemall, who was killed in the battle of Bayana.
3. Udai Singh, Raja of Marwar.
4. Chandarsen, by a wife of the Jhala tribe; had three sons, the eldest,
Ugarsen, got Binai; he had three sons, Karan, Kanji, and Kahan.
5. Askaran; descendants at Junia.
6. Gopaldas; killed at Idar.
7. Prithiraj; descendants at Jalor.
8. Ratansi; descendants at Bhadrajun.
9. Bheraj; descendants at Ahari.
10. Bikramajit ┐
11. Bhan ├ No notice of them [30].
12. —— ┘
-----
Footnote 5.3.1:
[The Vanaprastha or anchorite stage (_āsrama_) of a Brāhman’s life
(Manu, _Laws_, vi. 1 ff.).]
Footnote 5.3.2:
We have seen one of these objects, self-condemned never to lie down
during forty years, and there remained but three to complete the term.
He had travelled much, was intelligent and learned; but far from
having contracted the moroseness of the recluse, there was a benignity
of mien, and a suavity and simplicity of manner in him, quite
enchanting. He talked of his penance with no vainglory, and of its
approaching term without any sensation. The resting position of this
Druid (_vanaprastha_) was by means of a rope suspended from the bough
of a tree, in the manner of a swing, having a cross-bar, on which he
reclined. The first years of this penance, he says, were dreadfully
painful; swollen limbs affected him to that degree, that he expected
death; but this impression had long since worn off. “Even in this, is
there much vanity,” and it would be a nice point to determine whether
the homage of man or the approbation of the Divinity most sustains the
energies under such appalling discipline.
Footnote 5.3.3:
Pali did not remain to Siahji’s descendants, when they went westward
and settled on the Luni: the Sesodias took it with other lands from
the Parihar of Mandor. It was the feud already adverted to with Mewar
which obtained for him the fertile districts of Pali and Sojat, by
which his territories at length touched the Aravalli, and the fears of
the assassin of Rana Kumbha made his parricidal son relinquish the
provinces of Sambhar and Ajmer (see Vol. I. p. 339).
Footnote 5.3.4:
[Now in ruins, about 85 miles N.W. of Jodhpur city, containing a large
Jain temple and monuments of the Chief’s family.]
Footnote 5.3.5:
See Vol. I. p. 337.
Footnote 5.3.6:
See p. 842.
Footnote 5.3.7:
[The present area of Mārwār is 34,963 square miles; population
2,057,776, of which Rājputs form 27·9 per cent.]
Footnote 5.3.8:
Siahji is the Bhakha for Siva;—the _ji_ is merely an adjunct of
respect.
Footnote 5.3.9:
One of the chronicles makes Satal occupy the _gaddi_ after Jodha,
during three years; but this appears a mistake—he was killed in
defending Satalmer.
Footnote 5.3.10:
For a description of this festival see p. 675.
Footnote 5.3.11:
The Yati’s roll says Ganga was poisoned; but this is not confirmed by
any other authority.
Footnote 5.3.12:
[The dates are doubtful. See the legend of the marriage of Rāo Māldeo
to Uma, daughter of the Bhatti Chief of Jaisalmer (_IA_, iii. 96
ff.).]
Footnote 5.3.13:
[“The most powerful of the Hindu princes who still retained their
independence,” trans. Briggs, ii. 121.]
Footnote 5.3.14:
Mr. Elphinstone apprehended an attack from the Maldots on his way to
Kabul.
Footnote 5.3.15:
Such is the Rajput’s notion of _swamidharma_, or “fidelity to him
whose salt they eat,” their immediate lord, even against their king.
Footnote 5.3.16:
In allusion to the poverty of the soil, as unfitted to produce richer
grains [Ferishta ii. 123; see pp. 835, 931 above].
Footnote 5.3.17:
There is a biographical account of this monarch, during his exile in
Persia, written by his Abdar, or ‘cup-bearer,’ in the library of Major
W. Yule, of Edinburgh, and which, when translated, will complete the
series of biography of the members of the house of Timur. [The
_Tazkirātu-l-wāki‘āt_ of Jauhar, extracts from which are translated in
Elliot-Dowson v. 136 ff.]
Footnote 5.3.18:
[The capture of Merta in 1562 by Sharafu-dīn Husain Mirza is described
in _Akbarnāma_, trans. H. Beveridge, ii. 247 f.; Smith, _Akbar_, 59.]
Footnote 5.3.19:
[The statement that Chandarsen was second son of Māldeo rests on the
Author’s account, and is not mentioned in the _Akbarnāma_.]
Footnote 5.3.20:
[For the capture of Jodhpur, “the strongest fort in that country,” by
Husain Kuli Khān see _Akbarnāma_, ii. 305.]
Footnote 5.3.21:
[See _Āīn_, i. 429 f. Erskine (iii. A. 587) suggests that Mota means
‘good, potent’.]
Footnote 5.3.22:
It was fought with a certain number on each side, Rathors against
Deoras, a branch of the Chauhans, the two bravest of all the Rajput
races. It reminds us of some of the duels related by Froissart.
Footnote 5.3.23:
See Vol. I. 385 ff.
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