=Vassalage of Mārwār to the Mughals.=—The death of Maldeo formed an
important epoch in the annals of the Rathors. Up to this period the will
had waited upon the wish of the gallant descendants of Siva; but now the
vassals of Maru acknowledged one mightier than they. The banner of the
empire floated pre-eminent over the _panchranga_, the five-coloured
flag, which had led the Rathors from victory to victory, and waved from
the sandhills of Umarkot to the salt-lake of Sambhar; from the desert
bordering the Gara to the peaks of the Aravalli. Henceforward, the
Rathor princes had, by their actions or subservience, to ascend by
degrees the steps to royal favour. They were required to maintain a
contingent of their proud vassals, headed by the heir, to serve at the
Mogul’s pleasure. Their deeds won them, not ignobly, the grace of the
imperial court; but had slavish submission been the sole path to
elevation, the Rathor princes would never have attained a grade beyond
the first mansab,[5.4.1] conferred on Udai Singh. Yet though streams of
wealth enriched the barren plains of Maru; although a portion of the
spoils of Golkonda and Bijapur augmented its treasures, decorated its
palaces, and embellished its edifices and mausoleums; although the
desert kings took the ‘right hand’ of all the feudality of Hind, whether
indigenous or foreign—a feudal assemblage of no less than seventy-six
petty kingdoms—yet the Rathor felt the sense of his now degraded
condition, and it often burst forth even in the presence of the
suzerain.
=Rāo Udai Singh, A.D. 1581-95.=—Maldeo’s death occurred in S.
1625;[5.4.2] but the chronicles do not admit of Udai [31] Singh’s
elevation until the death of his brother Chandarsen, from which period
we may reckon that he was, though junior, the choice both of his father
and the nobles, who did not approve of Udai Singh’s submission to Akbar.
In fact, the Raja led the royal forces against the most powerful of his
vassals, and resumed almost all the possessions of the Mertias, and
weakened the others.
Before we proceed to trace the course pursued by Udai Singh, who was
seated upon the cushion of Maldeo in S. 1640 (A.D. 1584), let us cast a
short retrospect over the annals of Maru, since the migration of the
grandson of the potentate of Kanauj, which, compared with the ample page
of western history, present little more than a chronicle of hard names,
though not destitute of facts interesting to political science.
=Retrospect of Mārwār History.=—In the table before the reader, aided by
the explanations in the text, he will see the whole process of the
conquest, peopling, and settlement of an extensive region, with its
partition or allotments amongst an innumerable frèrage (_bhayyad_),
whose children continue to hold them as vassals of their king and
brother, the descendant of their mutual ancestor Siahji.
We may divide the annals of Marwar, from the migration of Siahji from
Kanauj to the accession of Udai Singh, into three distinct epochs:
1. From the settlement of Siahji in the land of Kher, in A.D. 1212, to
the conquest of Mandor by Chonda, in A.D. 1381.
2. From the conquest of Mandor to the founding of Jodhpur, in A.D. 1459;
and
3. From the founding of Jodhpur to the accession of Udai Singh in A.D.
1584, when the Rathors acknowledged the supremacy of the empire.
The two first epochs were occupied in the subjugation of the western
portion of the desert from the ancient allodiality; nor was it until
Chonda conquered Mandor, on the decline of the Chauhans of the east,
that the fertile lands on either side of the Luni were formed into fiefs
for the children of Ranmall and Jodha. A change of capital with the
Rajput is always productive of change in the internal organisation of
the State; and not unfrequently the race changes its appellation with
its capital. The foundation of Jodhpur was a new era, and henceforth the
throne of Maru could only be occupied by the tribe of Jodha, and from
branches not constituting the vassals of the crown, who were cut off
from succession. This is a peculiar [32] feature in Rajput policy, and
is common to the whole race, as will be hereafter more distinctly
pointed out in the annals of Ajmer.
=Feudalism in Mārwār.=—Jodha, with all the ambition of the founder of a
State, gave a new form to the feudal institutions of his country.
Necessity, combined with pride, led him to promulgate a statute of
limitation of the sub-infeudations of Maru. The immense progeny of his
father Ranmall, twenty-four sons, and his own, of fourteen, almost all
of whom had numerous issue, rendered it requisite to fix the number and
extent of the fiefs; and amongst them, henceforward constituting
permanently the frèrage of Maru, the lands were partitioned, Kandhal
having emigrated and established his own numerous issue, the Kandhalots,
in Bikaner. The two brothers next to Jodha, namely, Champa and Kumpa,
with his two sons, Duda and Karamsi, and his grandson, Uda, were
declared the heads of the feudal association under their names, the
Champawats, Kumpawats, Mertias (sons of Duda), Karamsots, and Udawats,
and continue to be “the pillars of Maru.” Eight great estates, called
the _ath thakurat_, or ‘eight lordships’ of Marwar, each of the nominal
annual value of fifty thousand rupees (£5000), were settled on these
persons, and their immense influence has obtained many others for
younger branches of their clans. The title of the first noble of Maru
was given to Champa and his issue, who have often made its princes
tremble on their thrones. Besides these, inferior appanages were settled
on the junior branches, brothers, sons, and grandsons of Jodha, which
were also deemed hereditary and irresumable; to use their own phrase,
their _bat_,[5.4.3] or ‘allotment,’ to which they consider their title
as sacred as that of their prince to his throne, of whom they say, “When
our services are acceptable, then is he our lord; when not, we are again
his brothers and kin, claimants, and laying claim to the land.”[5.4.4]
Rao Maldeo confirmed this division of Jodha, though he increased the
secondary fiefs, and as the boundaries of Marwar were completed in his
reign, it was essentially necessary to confirm the limitation. The
feudal States of Marwar are, therefore, perpetuated in the offspring of
the princes from Jodha to Maldeo, and a distinction exists between them
and those subsequently conferred; the first, being [33] obtained by
conquest, are deemed irrevocable, and must be perpetuated by adoption on
the failure of lineal issue; whereas the other may, on lapses, be
resumed and added to the fisc whence it emanated. The fiscal domain of
the Rajput princes cannot, says their traditionary lore, be alienated
for more than a life-interest; but this wise rule, though visible in
anecdotes of past days, has been infringed with their general
disorganization. These instances, it may be asserted, afford the
distinctions of allodial and feudal lands. Of the numerous clans, the
issue of Siahji to Jodha, which are spread over the northern and western
parts of the State, some, partly from the difficulty of their position,
partly from a feeling of respect to their remote ancestry, enjoy almost
entire independence. Yet they recognize the prince of Maru as their
liege lord when his crown is endangered, and render homage on his
accession or any great family event. These clans hold without grant or
fine, and may properly be called the allodial chieftains. Of this number
we may enumerate the lordships of Barmer, Kotra, Sheo, Phulsund, etc.
Others there are who, though less independent, may also be styled the
allodiality of Marwar, who are to furnish their quotas when demanded,
and perform personal homage on all great days of rejoicing; of these are
Mewa, Sindari, etc. The ancient clans scattered over the land, or
serving the more modern chieftains, are recognized by their patronymic
distinctions, by those versed in the chronicles; though many hear the
names of Duharka, Mangalia, Uhar, and Dhandal, without knowing them to
be Rathor. The mystic page of the bard is always consulted previous to
any marriage, in order to prevent a violation of the matrimonial canons
of the Rajputs, which are stricter than the Mosaic, and this keeps up
the knowledge of the various branches of their own and other races,
which would otherwise perish.
Whatever term may be applied to these institutions of a martial race,
and which for the sake of being more readily understood we have
elsewhere called, and shall continue to designate, “feudal,” we have not
a shadow of doubt that they were common to the Rajput races from the
remotest ages, and that Siahji conveyed them from the seat of his
ancestors, Kanauj. A finer picture does not exist of the splendour of a
feudal array than the camp of its last monarch, Jaichand, in the contest
with the Chauhan. The annals of each and every State bear evidence to a
system strictly parallel to that of Europe; more especially Mewar,
where, thirteen hundred years ago, we see the entire feudatories of the
State throwing up their grants, giving their liege lord defiance, and
threatening him with their [34] vengeance. Yet, having “eaten his salt,”
they forbore to proceed to hostilities till a whole year had elapsed, at
the expiration of which they deposed him.[5.4.5] Akbar, who was partial
to Hindu institutions, borrowed much from them, in all that concerned
his own regulations.
In contrasting these customs with analogous ones in the West, the reader
should never lose sight of one point, which must influence the analogy,
namely, the patriarchal form which characterizes the feudal system in
all countries; and as, amongst the Rajputs, all their vassalage is of
their own kin and blood (save a slight mixture of foreign nobles as a
counterpoise), the paternity of the sovereign is no fiction, as in
Europe; so that from the son of Champa, who takes the right hand of his
prince, to the meanest vassal, who serves merely for his _peti_[5.4.6]
(rations), all are linked by the tie of consanguinity, of which it is
difficult to say whether it is most productive of evil or good, since it
has afforded examples as brilliant and as dark as any in the history of
mankind. The devotion which made twelve thousand, out of the fifty
thousand, “sons of Jodha” prove their fidelity to Maldeo has often been
emulated even to the present day.
The chronicles, as before stated, are at variance with regard to the
accession of Udai Singh: some date it from the death of Maldeo, in S.
1625 (A.D. 1569); others from that of his elder brother Chandarsen,
slain in the storm of Siwana. The name of Udai appears one of evil
portent in the annals of Rajasthan.[5.4.7] While “Udai, the fat,” was
inhaling the breeze of imperial power, which spread a haze of prosperity
over Maru, Partap of Mewar, the idol of the Rajputs, was enduring every
hardship in the attempt to work out his country’s independence, which
had been sacrificed by his father, Udai Singh. In this he failed, but he
left a name hallowed in the hearts of his countrymen, and immortalized
in the imperishable verse of the bard.
On the union of the imperial house with that of Jodhpur, by the marriage
of Jodh Bai to Akbar,[5.4.8] the emperor not only restored all the
possessions he had wrested from Marwar, with the exception of Ajmer, but
several rich districts in Malwa, whose revenues doubled the resources of
his own fiscal domain. With the aid of his imperial brother-in-law, he
greatly diminished the power of the feudal aristocracy [35], and clipped
the wings of almost all the greater vassals, while he made numerous
sequestrations of the lands of the ancient allodiality and lesser
vassals; so that it is stated, that, either by new settlement or
confiscation, he added fourteen hundred villages to the fisc. He resumed
almost all the lands of the sons of Duda, who, from their abode, were
termed Mertia; took Jaitaran from the Udawats, and other towns of less
note from the sons of Champa and Kumpa.
Udai Singh was not ungrateful for the favours heaped upon him by the
emperor, for whom his Rathors performed many signal services: for the
raja was latterly too unwieldy for any steed to bear him to battle. The
“king of the Desert” (the familiar epithet applied to him by Akbar) had
a numerous progeny; no less than thirty-four legitimate sons and
daughters, who added new clans and new estates to the feudal association
of Maru: of these the most conspicuous are Govindgarh and Pisangan;
while some obtained settlements beyond its limits which became
independent and bear the name of the founders. Of these are Kishangarh
and Ratlam in Malwa.
=Death of Rāo Udai Singh.=—Udai Singh died thirteen years after his
inauguration on the cushion of Jodha, and thirty-three after the death
of Maldeo. The manner of his death, as related in the biographical
sketches termed Khyat, affords such a specimen of superstition and of
Rajput manners that it would be improper to omit it. The narrative is
preceded by some reflections on the moral education of the Rathor
princes, and the wise restraints imposed upon them under the vigilant
control of chiefs of approved worth and fidelity; so that, to use the
words of the text, “they often passed their twentieth year, ignorant of
woman.” If the “fat raja” had ever known this moral restraint, in his
riper years he forgot it; for although he had no less than twenty-seven
queens, he cast the eye of desire on the virgin-daughter of a subject,
and that subject a Brahman.
=Brāhman sacrifices his Daughter.=—It was on the raja’s return from
court to his native land that he beheld the damsel, and he determined,
notwithstanding the sacred character of her father and his own
obligations as the dispenser of law and justice, to enjoy the object of
his admiration. The Brahman was an Ayapanthi,[5.4.9] or votary of
Ayamata, whose shrine is at Bhavi-Bhilara. These sectarians of Maru,
very different from the abstinent Brahmans of Bengal, eat flesh, drink
wine, and share in all the common enjoyments of life with the martial
spirits around them. Whether the scruples of the [36] daughter were
likely to be easily overcome by her royal tempter, or whether the raja
threatened force, the Khyat does not inform us; but as there was no
other course by which the father could save her from pollution but by
her death, he resolved to make it one of vengeance and horror. He dug a
sacrificial pit, and having slain his daughter, cut her into fragments,
and mingling therewith pieces of flesh from his own person, made the
Homa, or burnt sacrifice to Ayamata, and as the smoke and flames
ascended he pronounced an imprecation on the raja: “Let peace be a
stranger to him! and in three pahars,[5.4.10] three days, and three
years, let me have revenge!” Then exclaiming, “My future dwelling is the
Dabhi Baori!” sprung into the flaming pit. The horrid tale was related
to the raja, whose imagination was haunted by the shade of the Brahman;
and he expired at the assigned period, a prey to unceasing remorse.
Superstition is sometimes made available for moral ends; and the shade
of the Ayapanthi Brahman of Bhilara has been evoked, in subsequent ages,
to restrain and lead unto virtue libidinous princes, when all other
control has been unavailing. The celebrated Jaswant Singh, the
great-grandson of Udai, had an amour with the daughter of one of his
civil officers, and which he carried on at the Dabhi Baori.[5.4.11] But
the avenging ghost of the Brahman interposed between him and his wishes.
A dreadful struggle ensued, in which Jaswant lost his senses, and no
effort could banish the impression from his mind. The ghost persecuted
his fancy, and he was generally believed to be possessed with a wicked
spirit, which, when exorcised, was made to say he would only depart on
the self-sacrifice of a chief equal in dignity to Jaswant. Nahar Khan,
“the tiger lord,” chief of the Kumpawat clan, who led the van in all his
battles, immediately offered his head in expiation for his prince; and
he had no sooner expressed this loyal determination, than the holy men
who exorcised the spirit caused it to descend into a vessel of water,
and having waved it thrice round his head, they presented it to Nahar
Khan, who drank it off, and Jaswant’s senses were instantly restored.
This miraculous transfer of the ghost is implicitly believed by every
chief of Rajasthan, by whom Nahar was called “the faithful of the
faithful.” Previous to dying, he called his son, and imposed on him and
his descendants, by the solemnity of an oath, the abjuration of the
office of Pardhan, or hereditary premier of Marwar, whose dignity
involved such a sacrifice [37]; and from that day the Champawats of Awa
succeeded the Kumpawats of Asop, who renounced the first seat on the
right for that on the left of their princes.
We shall conclude the reign of Udai Singh with the register of his issue
from “the Book of Kings.” It is by no means an unimportant document to
such as are interested in these singular communities, and essentially
useful to those who are called upon to interfere in their national
concerns. Here we see the affinities of the branch (_sakha_) to the
parent tree, which in one short century has shaded the whole land; and
to which the independents of Kishangarh, Rupnagarh, and Ratlam, as well
as the feudal chiefs of Govindgarh, Khairwa, and Pisangan, all issues
from Udai Singh, look for protection.
Issue of Raja Udai Singh:—
1. Sur Singh, succeeded.
2. Akhairaj.
3. Bhagwandas; had issue Bala, Gopaldas, Govinddas, who founded
Govindgarh.
4. Narardas ┐
5. Sakat Singh ├ had no issue attaining eminence.
6. Bhopat ┘
7. Dalpat had four sons: 1. Maheshdas, whose son, Ratna, founded
Ratlam;[5.4.12] 2. Jaswant Singh; 3. Partap Singh; 4. Kaniram.
8. Jeth had four sons: 1. Har Singh; 2. Amra; 3. Kaniram; 4. Premraj,
whose descendants held lands in the tract called Balati and
Khairwa.
9. Kishan, in S. 1669 (A.D. 1613), founded Kishangarh; he had three
sons, Sahasmall, Jagmall, Biharmall, who had Hari Singh, who had
Rup Singh, who founded Rupnagarh.
10. Jaswant, his son Man founded Manpura, his issue called Manpura
Jodha.
11. Kesho founded Pisangan.
12. Ramdas. ┐
13. Puranmall. │
14. Madhodas. ├ No mention of them.
15. Mohandas. │
16. Kirat Singh. │
17. —— ┘
And seventeen daughters not registered in the chronicle [38].
-----
Footnote 5.4.1:
[Rank, prescribing precedence and gradation of pay (Irvine, _Army of
the Indian Moghuls_, 3 ff.).]
Footnote 5.4.2:
[The dates are uncertain; those in the margin follow Erskine (iii. B.
25).]
Footnote 5.4.3:
From _batna_, ‘to divide, to partition.’
Footnote 5.4.4:
See the remonstrance of the vassal descendants of these chiefs,
expelled their patrimony by their prince, to the English enemy, Vol.
I. p. 230.
Footnote 5.4.5:
See Vol. I. p. 266.
Footnote 5.4.6:
Literally, ‘a bellyful.’
Footnote 5.4.7:
Instead of being, as it imports, the ‘ascending,’ (Skt. _udaya_), it
should for ever, in both the houses of Maru and Mewar, signify
‘setting’; the pusillanimity of the one sunk Mewar, that of the other
Marwar.
Footnote 5.4.8:
[There has been some controversy about Jodh Bāī, but it is clear that
she was wife of Jahāngīr, not of Akbar (_Āīn_, i. 619).]
Footnote 5.4.9:
[This is one of the Jogi orders (Rose, _Glossary_, ii. 9). The Author
(_Western India_, 136) says that Ayāmāta is tutelary goddess of the
Koli tribe. One branch of the Lohānas specially worship her (_Census
Report, Mārwār_, 1891, ii. 139).]
Footnote 5.4.10:
A pahar is a watch of the day, about three hours.
Footnote 5.4.11:
A reservoir excavated by one of the Dabhi tribe. [This is a mistake.
The proper name is Tāpi Bāori or ‘pit of fire’ (_Census Report,
Mārwār_, 1891, ii. 65). For similar ghost stories see Crooke, _Popular
Religion and Folklore of N. India_, i. 193 ff. The original name of
Nāhar Khān, before his conversion to Islām, was Mukunddās.]
Footnote 5.4.12:
Ratlam, Kishangarh, and Rupnagarh are independent, and all under the
separate protection of the British Government.
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