=Rāja Bhīm Singh, A.D. 1793-1803.=—The intelligence of Bijai Singh’s
death was conveyed by express to his grandson Bhim, at Jaisalmer. In
“twenty-two hours” he was at Jodhpur, and ascending directly to the
citadel, seated himself upon the _gaddi_, while his rival, Zalim Singh,
the rightful heir, little expecting this celerity, was encamped at the
Merta gate, awaiting the “lucky hour” to take possession. That hour
never arrived; and the first intelligence of Bhim being on “the cushion
of Jodha,” was conveyed to the inhabitants by the nakkaras of his rival
on his retreat from the city, who was pursued to Bhilara, attacked,
defeated, and forced to seek shelter at Udaipur, where, with an ample
domain from the Rana, he passed the rest of his days in literary
pursuits. He died in the prime of life: attempting to open a vein with
his own hand, he cut an artery and bled to death. He was a man of great
personal and mental qualifications; a gallant soldier, and no mean
poet.[5.14.1] [137]
=Rāja Bhīm disposes of his Rivals.=—Thus far successful, Raja Bhim
determined to dismiss “compunctious visitings,” and be a king _de facto_
if not _de jure_. Death had carried off three of his uncles, as well as
his father, previous to this event; but there were still two others,
Sher Singh, his adopted father, and Sardar Singh, who stood in his way:
the last was put to death; the former had his eyes put out; and, soon
after, the unfortunate prince released himself from life by dashing out
his brains. Sur Singh, the favourite of all Bijai Singh’s descendants,
remained. His superior claims were fatal to him and his life fell a
sacrifice with the others.
A single claimant alone remained of all the blood royal of Maru to
disturb the repose of Bhim. This was young Man, the adopted son of the
concubine, placed beyond his reach within the walls of Jalor. Could
Bhim’s dagger have reached him, he would have stood alone, the last
surviving scion of the parricide,
With none to bless him,
None whom he could bless:
an instrument, in the hand of divine power, to rid the land of an
accursed stock. Then the issue of Abhai Singh would have utterly
perished, and their ashes might have been given to the winds, and no
memorial of them left. Idar must then have supplied an heir,[5.14.2] and
the doubtful pretensions of Dhonkal,[5.14.3] the posthumous and reputed
son of the wholesale assassin Bhim, to sit upon the _gaddi_ of Ajit,
would never have been brought forward to excite another murderous
contest amongst the sons of Jodha.
=Escape of Mān Singh.=—Having sacrificed all those within his reach who
stood between him and the [139] throne, Bhim tried to secure the last
sole claimant in Jalor. But the siege of such a stronghold with his
feudal levies, or loose mercenary bands, was a tedious operation, and
soon became an imperfect blockade, through which young Man not
unfrequently broke, and by signal formed a junction with his adherents,
and plundered the fiscal lands for support. One of these excursions,
however, an attempt to plunder Pali, had nearly proved fatal to him;
they were attacked on their return, and young Man, whose secluded
education had confined him more to mental than to personal
accomplishments, was unhorsed, and would have been captured, but for the
prowess of the chief of Ahor, who took him up behind him and bore him
off in safety. Nothing but the turbulence of the chiefs who supported
Raja Bhim saved young Man’s life. A disputed succession has always
produced an odious faction; and Bhim, who was not disposed to bend to
this oligarchy, appears to have had all the imprudence of the dethroned
Ram Singh: he threatened those entrusted with the siege to give them
“oxen to ride instead of horses.” The chiefs fired at the insult, and
retired to Ghanerao, the principal fief in Godwar; but, disgusted with
both parties, instead of obeying the invitation of young Man, they
abandoned their country altogether, and sought an asylum in the
neighbouring States. Many fiefs were sequestrated, and Nimaj, the chief
seat of the Udawats, was attacked, and after a twelve months’ defence,
taken; its battlements were ignominiously destroyed, and the victors,
chiefly foreign mercenaries, reinforced the blockade of Jalor.
=Siege of Jālor. Death of Rāja Bhīm Singh.=—With the exile of his
partisans and daily diminishing resources, when the lower town was
taken, there appeared no hope for young Man. A small supply of
millet-flour was all the provision left to his half-famished garrison,
whose surrender was now calculated upon, when an invitation came from
the hostile commander for Man to repair to his camp, and adding “he was
now the master; it was his duty to serve.” On that day (the 2nd Kartik
S. 1860, Dec. 1804), after eleven years of defence, his means exhausted,
his friends banished, and death from starvation or the sword inevitable,
intelligence came of Raja Bhim’s demise! This event, as unlooked-for as
it was welcome, could scarcely at first be credited; and the tender of
the homage of the commander to Man as his sovereign, though accompanied
by a letter from the prime minister Induraj, was disregarded till the
Guru Deonath returned from the camp with confirmation of the happy news,
that “not a moustache [140] was to be seen in the camp.”[5.14.4] Thither
the prince repaired, and was hailed as the head of the Rathors.
It is said that the successor of the Guru Atmaram, “who carried all
the troubles of Bijai Singh with him to heaven,” had predicted of
young Man Singh, when at the very zero of adversity, that “his
fortunes would ascend.” What were the means whereby the ghostly
comforter of Raja Bhim influenced his political barometer, we know
not; but prophetic Gurus, bards, astrologers, physicians, and all the
Vaidyas or ‘cunning-men,’[5.14.5] who beset the persons of princes,
prove dangerous companions when, in addition to the office of
compounders of drugs and expounders of dreams, they are invested with
the power of realizing their own prognostications.
=Rāja Mān Singh, A.D. 1803-43.=—On the 5th of Margsir, 1860 (A.D. 1804),
Raja Man, released from his perils, succeeded to the honours and the
feuds of Bijai Singh. He had occupied the ‘cushion of Maru’ but a very
short period, when the Pokaran chief “took offence,” and put himself in
hostility to his sovereign. The name of this proud vassal, the first in
power though only of secondary rank amongst the Champawats, was Sawai
Singh, with whom now remained “the sheath of the dagger which held the
fortunes of Maru.” If the fulfilment of vengeance be a virtue, Sawai was
the most virtuous son on earth. The dagger of Devi Singh, bequeathed to
Sabhala, was no imaginary weapon in the hands of his grandson Sawai, who
held it suspended over the head of Raja Man from his enthronement to his
death-hour. Soon after Raja Man’s accession, Sawai retired with his
partisans to Chopasni, a spot about five miles from the capital, where
the conspiracy was prepared. He told the chiefs that the wife of Raja
Bhim was pregnant, and prevailed on them to sign a declaration, that if
a son was born, he should be installed on the _gaddi_ of Jodha. They
returned in a body to the capital, took the pregnant queen from the
castle, and placed her in a palace in the city, under their own
protection. Moreover, they held a council, at which the Raja was
present, who agreed to recognise the infant, if a male, as the
heir-apparent of Maru, and to enfeoff him in the appanage of Nagor and
Siwana; and that if a female, she should be betrothed to a prince of
Dhundhar [141].
=Dangers from Posthumous Births.=—Posthumous births are never-failing
germs of discord in these States; and the issue is inevitably branded by
one party with the title of ‘supposititious.’ It is likewise a common
saying, almost amounting to a proverb, that a male child is the uniform
result of such a position. In due course, a male infant was born; but,
alarmed for its safety, the mother concealed both its birth and sex, and
placing it in a basket, conveyed it by a faithful servant from the city,
whence it soon reached Sawai Singh at Pokaran. He bestowed upon it the
inauspicious name of Dhonkal, that is, one born to tumult and strife. It
is said that during two years he kept the birth a profound secret, and
it is even added, that it might have remained so, had Raja Man forgot
the history of the past, and dispensed even-handed justice. Wanting,
however, the magnanimity of the Fourth Henry of France, who scorned “to
revenge the wrongs of the prince of Navarre,” he reserved his favours
and confidence for those who supported him in Jalor, whilst he evinced
his dislike to others who, in obedience to their sovereign, served
against him. Of these adherents, only two chiefs of note were of his kin
and clan; the others were Bhatti Rajputs, and a body of those religious
militants called Bishanswamis, under their Mahant, or leader,
Kaimdas.[5.14.6]
=Sawāi Singh supports Dhonkal Singh.=—At the expiration of two years,
Sawai communicated the event to the chiefs of his party, who called upon
Raja Man to redeem his promise and issue the grant for Nagor and Siwana.
He promised compliance if, upon investigation, the infant proved to be
the legitimate offspring of his predecessor. Personal fear overcame
maternal affection, and the queen, who remained at Jodhpur, disclaimed
the child. Her reply being communicated to the chiefs, it was for a time
conclusive, and the subject ceased to interest them, the more especially
as her concealed accouchement had never been properly accounted for.
Though Sawai, with his party, apparently acquiesced, his determination
was taken; but instead of an immediate appeal to arms, he adopted a
deeper scheme of policy, the effects of which he could not have
contemplated, and which involved his own destruction, and with it the
independence of his country, which was transferred to [142] strangers,
their very antipodes in manners, religion, and every moral quality. His
first act was to procure a more powerful protection than Pokaran
afforded; and under the guarantee of Chhattar Singh Bhatti, he was sent
to the saran (sanctuary) of Abhai Singh of Khetri.[5.14.7] Having so far
succeeded, he contrived an underplot, in which his genius for intrigue
appears not below his reputation as a soldier.
=Krishna Kunwāri.=—The late prince Bhim had made overtures to the Rana
of Mewar for the hand of his daughter, but he died before the
preliminaries were adjusted. This simple circumstance was deemed
sufficient by the Champawat for the groundwork of his plot. He contrived
to induce the voluptuous Jagat Singh, the prince of Jaipur, to put
himself in the place of Raja Bhim, and to propose for the fair hand of
Krishna. This being accomplished, and nuptial presents, under a guard of
four thousand men, being dispatched to Udaipur, Sawai intimated to Raja
Man that he would be eternally disgraced if he allowed the prince of
Amber to carry off “the betrothed”; that “it was to the throne of Maru,
not its occupant, she was promised.” The bait was greedily swallowed,
and the summons for the Kher (or levy _en masse_) of the Rathors was
immediately proclaimed. Man instantly assembled three thousand horse,
and joining to them the mercenary bands of Hira Singh then on the
frontier of Mewar, he intercepted the nuptial gifts of Amber. Indignant
at this outrage, Jagat Singh took to arms, and the muster-book was
declared open to all who would serve in the war which was formally
declared against Maru.
=Attack by Rāja Jagat Singh of Jaipur on Mārwār. Treachery of Jaswant
Rāo Holkar.=—Having thus opened the drama, Sawai threw off the mask, and
repaired to Khetri, whence he conveyed the pretender, Dhonkal, to the
court of Jagat Singh at Jaipur. Here his legitimacy was established by
being admitted ‘to eat from the same platter’ with its prince; and his
claims, as the heir of Marwar, were publicly acknowledged and advocated,
by his ‘placing him in the lap of his aunt,’[5.14.8] one of the wives of
the deceased Raja Bhim. His cause thus espoused, and being declared the
nephew of Amber, the nobles of Marwar, who deemed the claims of the
pretender superior to those of Raja Man, speedily collected around his
standard. Amongst these was the prince of Bikaner, whose example (he
being the most powerful of the independents of this house) at once
sanctioned the justice of Dhonkal’s cause, and left that of Raja Man
almost without support. Nevertheless, with the hereditary [143] valour
of his race, he advanced to the frontiers to meet his foes, whose
numbers, led by the Jaipur prince and the pretender, exceeded one
hundred thousand men! This contest, the ostensible object of which was
the princess of Mewar, like the crusades of ancient chivalry, brought
allies from the most remote parts of India. Even the cautious Mahratta
felt an unusual impulse in this rivalry, beyond the stimulants of pay
and plunder which ordinarily rouse him, and corps after corps left their
hordes to support either cause. The weightier purse of Jaipur was the
best argument for the justice of his cause and that of the pretender;
while Raja Man had only the gratitude of Holkar to reckon upon for aid,
to whose wife and family he had given sanctuary when pursued by Lord
Lake to the Attock. But here Sawai again foiled him; and the Mahratta,
then only eighteen miles from Man, and who had promised to join him next
day, made a sudden movement to the south. A bribe of £100,000, in bills
upon Kotah, to be paid on Holkar’s reaching that city, effected this
desertion; which being secured, Jagat Singh and the pretender advanced
to overwhelm their antagonist, who was posted at Gingoli. As the armies
approached each other, Raja Man’s chiefs rode up to salute him,
preparatory, as he thought, to head their clans for the combat; but it
was their farewell obeisance. The cannonade opened, they rallied under
the standard of the pretender, and on Sawai advancing on the right of
the allied line, so entire was the defection, that even the Mertia clan,
whose virtue and boast it is “to adhere to the throne, whoever is the
occupant,” deserted, with the Champawats, Jethawats, and minor chiefs.
Four chieftains alone abided the evil hour of Raja Man, namely,
Kuchaman, Ahor, Jalor, and Nimaj; and with their quotas alone, and the
auxiliary bands of Bundi, he would have rushed into the battle. Hindered
from this, he attempted his own life: but the design was frustrated by
Sheonath of Kuchaman, who dismounted him from his elephant, and advised
his trusting to the fleetness of his steed, while they covered his
flight. The Raja remarked, he was the first of his race who ever
disgraced the name of Rathor by showing his back to a Kachhwaha. The
position he had taken that morning was favourable to retreat, being a
mile in advance of the pass of Parbatsar:[5.14.9] this was speedily
gained, and nobly defended by the battalions of Bundi, and those of
Hindal Khan, in the pay of Raja Man, which retarded the pursuit, headed
by the Rao of Uniara. Raja Man reached Merta in safety; but deeming it
incapable of long [144] resistance, he continued his flight by Pipar to
the capital, which he reached with a slender retinue, including the four
chiefs, who still shared his fortunes. The camp of Raja Man was
pillaged. Eighteen guns were taken by Bala Rao Inglia, one of Sindhia’s
commanders, and the lighter effects, the tents, elephants, and baggage,
were captured by Amir Khan; while Parbatsar, and the villages in the
neighbourhood, were plundered.
=Rāja Mān Singh defends Jodhpur.=—Thus far, the scheme of Sawai and the
pretender advanced with rapid success. When the allied army reached
Merta, the prince of Jaipur, whose object was the princess of Mewar,
proposed to Sawai to follow up their good fortune, while he repaired to
Udaipur, and solemnized the nuptials. But even in the midst of his
revenge, Sawai could distinguish “between the cause of Man Singh and the
_gaddi_ of Marwar”; and to promote the success of Jaipur, though he had
originated the scheme to serve his own views, was no part of his plan.
He was only helped out of this dilemma by another, which he could not
anticipate. Not dreaming that Raja Man would hold out in the capital,
which had no means of defence, but supposing he would fly to Jalor, and
leave Jodhpur to its fate and to the pretender, Sawai, desirous to avoid
the further advance of the allies into the country, halted the army for
three days at Merta. His foresight was correct: the Raja had reached
Bisalpur in full flight to Jalor, when, at the suggestion of Gyanmall
Singhi, a civil officer in his train, he changed his intention. “There,”
said the Singhi, “lies Jodhpur only nine coss to the right, while Jalor
is sixteen further; it is as easy to gain the one as the other, and if
you cannot hold out in the capital, what chance have you elsewhere?
while you defend your throne your cause is not lost.” Raja Man followed
the advice, reached Jodhpur in a few hours, and prepared for his
defence. This unexpected change, and the halt of the allied army, which
permitted the dispersed bands to gain the capital, defeated the schemes
of Sawai.
=The Siege of Jodhpur.=—With a body of three thousand men, selected from
Hindal Khan’s brigade, the corps of Bishanswamis, under Kaimdas, and one
thousand foreign Rajputs, consisting of Chauhans, Bhattis, and Indhas
(the ancient lords of Mandor), Raja Man formed a garrison of five
thousand men, on whom he could depend. So ample did he deem this number,
that he dispatched strong garrisons from Hindal’s brigade, with some
Deora Rajputs, to garrison Jalor, and preserve the distant castle of
Umarkot from surprise by the Sindis. Having thus provided against the
storm [145] he fearlessly awaited the result. But so alienated was his
mind from his kindred, that he would not even admit to the honour of
defending his throne the four faithful chieftains who, in the general
desertion, had abided by his fortunes. To all their entreaties to be
received into the castle, that “they might defend the _kunguras_
(battlements) of Jodha,” he replied, they might defend the city if they
pleased; and disgusted with such a return for their fidelity, they
increased the train of his opponents, who soon encompassed Jodhpur.
The town, little capable of defence, was taken and given up to
unlicensed plunder; and with the exception of Phalodi, which was
gallantly defended for three months, and given to Bikaner as the reward
of its alliance, the _an_ of the pretender was proclaimed throughout
Marwar, and his allies only awaited the fall of the capital, which
appeared inevitable, to proclaim him king. But a circumstance occurred,
which, awakening the patriotism of the Rathors, thwarted these fair
prospects, relieved Raja Man from his peril, and involved his
adversaries in the net of destruction which they had woven for him.
The siege had lasted five months without any diminution of the ardour of
the defenders; and although the defences of the north-east angle were
destroyed, the besiegers, having a perpendicular rock of eighty feet to
ascend before they could get to the breach, were not nearer their
object, and, in fact, without shells, the castle of Jodha would laugh a
siege to scorn. The numerous and motley force under the banners of
Jaipur and the pretender, became clamorous for pay; the forage was
exhausted, and the partisan horse were obliged to bivouac in the distant
districts to the south. Availing himself of their separation from the
main body, Amir Khan, an apt pupil of the Mahratta school, began to
raise contributions on the fiscal lands, and Pali, Pipar, Bhilara, with
many others, were compelled to accede to his demands. The estates of the
nobles who espoused the cause of the pretender, fared no better, and
they complained to the Xerxes of this host of the conduct of this
unprincipled commander.
=Amir Khān supports Mān Singh. Defeat of the Jaipur Army A.D. 1806.=—The
protracted defence having emptied the treasury of Amber, the
arch-intriguer of Pokaran was called upon to contribute towards
satisfying the clamour of the troops. Having exhausted the means of his
own party, he applied to the four chieftains who had been induced to
join the cause of the pretender by the suspicions of Raja Man, to
advance a sum of money. This appeal proved a test of [146] their zeal.
They abandoned the pretender, and proceeded direct to the camp of Amir
Khan. It required no powerful rhetoric to detach him from the cause and
prevail upon him to advocate that of Raja Man; nor could they have given
him better counsel towards this end, than the proposal to carry the war
into the enemy’s country: to attack and plunder Jaipur, now left
unguarded. At this critical moment, the Jaipur prince, in consequence of
the representation of the Marwar chiefs, had directed his
commander-in-chief, Sheolal, to chastise Amir Khan for his lawless
conduct. Sheolal put a stop to their deliberations, attacked and drove
them across the Luni, surprised them at Govindgarh, again in a night
attack at Harsuri, and pursued the Khan to Phaggi,[5.14.10] at the very
frontier of Jaipur. Astonished at his own success, and little aware that
the chase was in the direction projected by his enemy, Sheolal deemed he
had accomplished his orders in driving him out of Marwar; halted, and
leaving his camp, repaired to Jaipur to partake of its festivities. The
Khan, who with his allies had reached Pipla near Tonk, no sooner heard
of this, than he called to his aid the heavy brigades of Muhammad Shah
Khan and Raja Bahadur (then besieging Isarda[5.14.11]), and availed
himself of the imprudent absence of his foe to gain over the Haidarabad
Rasala, a legion well known in the predatory wars of that period. Having
effected this object, he assailed the Jaipur force, which,
notwithstanding this defection and the absence of its commander, fought
with great valour, the battalions of Hira Singh being nearly cut to
pieces. The action ended in the entire defeat of the Jaipurians, and the
capture of their camp, guns, and equipage. Prompted by the Rathor
chieftains, whose valour led to this result, Amir Khan rapidly followed
up his success, and Jaipur was dismayed by the presence of the victor at
her gates. The generalship of the Khan was the salvation of Raja Man; it
dissolved the confederacy, and fixed the doom of Sawai, its projector.
=The Confederacy against Jodhpur dissolved.=—The tempest had been some
time gathering; the Rajas of Bikaner and Shahpura had already withdrawn
from the confederacy and marched home, when, like a clap of thunder, the
effeminate Kachhwaha, who had in the outset of this crusade looked to a
full harvest both of glory and of love, learned that his army was
annihilated, and his capital invested by the Khan and a handful of
Rathors. Duped by the representations of Sawai, Rae Chand, Diwan or
prime minister of Jaipur, concealed for some days these disasters from
his sovereign, who received the intelligence by a special messenger sent
by the queen-mother. Enraged, perplexed, and alarmed [147] for his
personal safety, he broke up the siege, and sending on in advance the
spoils of Jodhpur (including forty pieces of cannon), with his own
chieftains, he sent for the Mahratta leaders,[5.14.12] and offered them
£120,000 to escort him in safety to his capital; nay, he secretly
bribed, with a bond of £90,000 more, the author of his disgrace, Amir
Khan, not to intercept his retreat, which was signally ignominious,
burning his tents and equipage at every stage, and at length with his
own hand destroying his favourite elephant, which wanted “speed for the
rapidity of his flight.”
=Jodhpur Booty recovered.=—But the indignities he had to suffer were not
over. The chieftains whose sagacity and valour had thus diverted the
storm from Raja Man, determined that no trophies of Rathor disgrace
should enter Jaipur, united their clans about twenty miles east of
Merta, on the line of retreat, appointing Induraj Singhi their leader.
This person, who had held the office of Diwan under two predecessors of
Raja Man, was driven to a temporary defection from the same suspicions
which made the chiefs join the pretender. But they resolved to wash away
the stain of this brief alienation from Raja Man with the blood of his
enemies, and to present as a token of returning fidelity the recaptured
trophies. The encounter took place on the joint frontier. It was short,
but furious; and the Kachhwahas, who could not withstand the Rathors,
were defeated and dispersed, and the spoils of the spoiler, including
the forty cannon, were safely lodged in Kuchaman. Flushed with success,
the victors addressed the Raja of Kishangarh, who, though a Rathor, had
kept aloof, to advance funds to secure the continuance of Amir Khan’s
aid. Two lakhs of rupees (£20,000) effected this object; and the Khan,
pledging himself to continue his support to Raja Man, repaired to
Jodhpur. The four chiefs who had thus signalized themselves, preceded
him, and were received with open arms: their offences were forgiven, and
their estates restored, while Induraj was appointed Bakhshi or commander
of the forces [148].
-----
Footnote 5.14.1:
My own venerable tutor, Yati Gyanchandra, who was with me for ten
years, said he owed all his knowledge, especially his skill in
reciting poetry (in which he surpassed all the bards at Udaipur), to
Zalim Singh. [He died at Kāchbali in the British District of Merwāra
in 1799 (Erskine iii. A. 70).]
Footnote 5.14.2:
[138] Amongst the numerous autograph correspondence of the princes of
Rajputana with the princes of Mewar, of which I had the free use, I
selected one letter of S. 1784, A.D. 1728, written conjointly by Jai
Singh of Amber and Abhai Singh of Jodhpur, regarding Idar, and which
is so curious, that I give a verbatim translation in the Appendix (No.
I.). [See end of Vol. III.] I little thought at the time how
completely it would prove Abhai Singh’s determination to cut off all
but his own parricidal issue from the succession. An inspection of the
genealogy (p. 1075) will show that Anand Singh, of Idar, who was not
to be allowed “to escape alive,” was his younger brother, adopted into
that house.
Footnote 5.14.3:
Dhonkal Singh, the posthumous issue of Bhim, the last of the
parricidal line, whether real or supposititious, must be set aside,
and the pure current of Rathor blood, derived from Siahji, Jodha,
Jaswant, and Ajit, be brought from Idar, and installed on “the gaddi
of Jodha.” This course of proceeding would meet universal approbation,
with the exception of some selfish miscreants about the person of this
pretended son of Bhim, or the chieftain of Pokaran, in furtherance of
his and his grandfather’s yet unavenged feud. A sketch of the events,
drawn from their own chronicles, and accompanied by reflections,
exposing the miseries springing from an act of turpitude, would come
home to all, and they would shower blessings on the power which, while
it fulfilled the duties of protector, destroyed the germ of internal
dissension, and gave them a prince of their own pure blood, whom all
parties could honour and obey. If a doubt remained of the probable
unanimity of such policy, let it be previously submitted to a
_panchayat_, composed of the princes of the land, namely, of Mewar,
Amber, Kotah, Bundi, Jaisalmer, etc., leaving out whichever may be
influenced by marriage connexions with Dhonkal Singh.
Footnote 5.14.4:
This mark of mourning is common to all India. Where this evidence of
manhood is not yet visible, the hair is cut off; often both.
Footnote 5.14.5:
_Vaidya_, or ‘learned man’; the term _veda_ is also used to denote
cunning, magic, or knowledge of whatever kind.
Footnote 5.14.6:
They follow the doctrines of Vishnu (Bishan). They ate termed Gosains,
as well as the more numerous class of church militants, devoted to
Siva. Both are _célibataires_, as Gosain imports, from mastery
(_sain_) over the sense (_go_). They occasionally come in contact,
when their sectarian principles end in furious combats. At the
celebrated place of pilgrimage, Haridwar (Hardwar), on the Ganges, we
are obliged to have soldiers to keep the peace, since a battle
occurred, in which they fought almost to extirpation, about twenty
years ago. They are the Templars of Rajasthan. [Gosāīn, Skt.
_gosvāmin_, ‘master of cows: one who is master of his organs of
sense.’ The Bishan or Vishnuswāmis are a group of Bairāgi ascetics,
who are said to have come to Mārwār about A.D. 1779, in the reign of
Bijai Singh. Some of them are now employed as State sepoys (_Census
Report, Mārwār, 1891_, ii. 86). In 1760 the rival mobs of Gosāīns and
Bairāgis fought a battle, in which 1800 are said to have perished
(_IGI_, xiii. 53).]
Footnote 5.14.7:
One of the principal chiefs of the Shaikhawat confederation. [Khetri
is about 80 miles N. of Jaipur city (_IGI_, xv. 276).]
Footnote 5.14.8:
[_Godlenā_, ‘to take on the lap,’ the technical form of adoption, or
of recognition of legitimacy.]
Footnote 5.14.9:
[About 110 miles N.E. of Jodhpur city, S.W. of the Sāmbhar Lake.]
Footnote 5.14.10:
[About 32 miles S. of Jaipur city.]
Footnote 5.14.11:
[About 60 miles S.S.W. of Jaipur city.]
Footnote 5.14.12:
Bapu Sindkia, Bala Rao Inglia, with the brigade of Jean Baptiste, all
Sindhia’s dependents. This was early in 1806. The author was then in
Sindhia’s camp and saw these troops marched off; and in 1807, in a
geographical tour, he penetrated to Jaipur, and witnessed the wrecks
of the Jaipur army. The sands round the capital were white with the
bones of horses, and the ashes of their riders, who had died in the
vain expectation of getting their arrears of pay.
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