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CHAPTER 2

=Geography of Bīkaner.=—This region is but little known to Europeans, by

whom it has hitherto been supposed to be a perfect desert, unworthy of

examination. Its present condition bears little comparison with what

tradition reports it to have been in ancient times; and its

deterioration, within three centuries since the Rajputs supplanted the

Jats, almost warrants our belief of the assertion, that these deserts

were once fertile and populous; nay, that they are still capable

(notwithstanding the reported continual increase of the sand) to

maintain an abundant population, there is little room to doubt. The

princes of Bikaner used to take the field at the head of ten thousand of

their kindred retainers; and although they held extraordinary grants

from the empire for the maintenance of these contingents, their ability

to do so from their proper resources was undoubted. To other causes than

positive sterility must be attributed the wretched condition of this

State. Exposed to the continual attacks of organized bands of robbers

from without, subjected internally to the never-ending demands of a

rapacious government, for which they have not a shadow of advantage in

return, it would be strange if aught but progressive decay and

wretchedness were the consequence. In three centuries [197], more than

one-half of the villages, which either voluntarily or by force submitted

to the rule of the founder, Bika, are now without memorial of their

existence, and the rest are gradually approximating to the same

condition. Commercial caravans, which passed through this State and

enriched its treasury with the transit duties, have almost ceased to

frequent it from the increasing insecurity of its territory. Besides the

personal loss to the prince the country suffers from the deterioration

of the commercial towns of Churu, Rajgarh, and Rani, which, as

entrepôts, supplied the country with the productions of Sind and the

provinces to the westward, or those of Gangetic India. Nor is this

confined to Bikaner; the same cause affects Jaisalmer, and the more

eastern principalities, whose misgovernment, equally with Bikaner,

fosters the spirit of rapine: the Maldots of Jaisalmer and the Larkhanis

of Jaipur are as notorious as the Bidawats of Bikaner; and to these may

be added the Sahariyas, Khosas, and Rajars, in the more western desert,

who, in their habits and principles, are as demoralized as the Bedouins

of Arabia.

=Extent, Population, Soil, Tibas or Sandhills.=—The line of greatest

breadth of this State extends from Pugal to Rajgarh, and measures about

one hundred and eighty miles; while the length from north to south,

between Bhatner and Mahajan, is about one hundred and sixty miles: the

area may not exceed twenty-two thousand miles.[6.2.1] Formerly they

reckoned two thousand seven hundred towns, villages, and hamlets

scattered over this space, one-half of which are no longer in existence.

=Population.=—An estimate of the population of this arid region, without

presenting some data, would be very unsatisfactory. The tract to the

north-west of Jethpur is now perfectly desolate, and nearly so from that

point to Bhatner: to the north-east the population is but scanty, which

observation also applies to the parts from the meridian of Bikaner to

the Jaisalmer frontier; while internally, from these points, it is more

uniform, and equals the northern parts of Marwar. From a census of the

twelve principal towns, with an estimate, furnished by well-informed

inhabitants, of the remainder, we may obtain a tolerably accurate

approximation on this point:

Chief Towns. Number of Houses.

Bikaner 12,000

Nohar 2,500

Bahaduran 2,500

Reni 1,500

Rajgarh 3,000

Churu 3,000 [198]

Mahajan 800

Jethpur 1,000

Bidesar 500

Ratangarh 1,000

Desmukh 1,000

Senthal 50

—-—-

28,850

—-—-

100 villages, each having 200 houses 20,000

100 ” ” 150 ” 15,000

200 ” ” 100 ” 20,000

800 hamlets ” 30 each 24,000

—-——

Total number of houses 107,850

—-——

Allowing five souls to each house, we have a total of 539,250 souls,

giving an average of twenty-five to the square mile, which I cannot

think exaggerated, and making the desert regions depending on Bikaner

equal, in the density of population, the highlands of Scotland.[6.2.2]

Of this population, full three-fourths are the aboriginal Jats; the rest

are their conquerors, descendants of Bika, including the Saraswat

Brahmans,[6.2.3] Charans, Bards, and a few of the debased classes, whose

numbers, conjointly, are not one-tenth of the Rajputs.

=Jats.=—The Jats are the most wealthy as well as the most numerous

portion of the community. Many of the old Bhumia landlords,

representatives of their ancient communal heads, are men of substance;

but their riches are of no use to them, and to avoid the rapacity of

their government, they cover themselves with the cloak of poverty, which

is thrown aside only on nuptial festivities. On these occasions they

disinter their hoards, which are lavished with unbounded extravagance.

They even block up the highways to collect visitors, whose numbers form

the measure of the liberality and munificence of the donor of the fête.

=Sarsūt=, =Saraswat Brāhman=.—Sarsut (properly Sarasvati) Brahmans are

found in considerable numbers throughout this tract. They aver that they

were masters of the country prior to the Jat colonists. They are a

peaceable, industrious race, and without a single prejudice of ‘the

order’; they eat meat, smoke tobacco, cultivate the soil, and trade even

in the sacred kine, notwithstanding their descent from Sringi Rishi, son

of Brahma.

=Charans.=—The Charans are the sacred order of these regions; the

warlike tribes esteem [199] the heroic lays of the bard more than the

homily of the Brahman. The Charans are throughout reverenced by the

Rathors, and hold lands, literally, on the tenure of ‘an old song.’ More

will be said of them in the Annals of Jaisalmer.

=Mālis=, =Nāis=.—Malis, Nais, gardeners and barbers, are important

members of every Rajput family, and to be found in all the villages, of

which they are invariably the cooks.

=Chuhras=, =Thoris=.—Chuhras, Thoris, are actually castes of

robbers:[6.2.4] the former, from the Lakhi Jungle; the latter, from

Mewar. Most of the chieftains have a few in their pay, entertained for

the most desperate services. The Bahaduran chief has expelled all his

Rajputs, and retains only Chuhras and Thoris. The Chuhras are highly

esteemed for fidelity, and the barriers and portals throughout this

tract are in their custody. They enjoy a very singular perquisite, which

would go far to prove their being the aborigines of the country; namely,

a fee of four copper coins on every dead subject, when the funeral

ceremonies are over.

=Rājputs.=—The Rathors of Bikaner are unchanged in their martial

qualifications, bearing as high a reputation as any other class in

India; and whilst their brethren of Marwar, Amber, and Mewar have been

for years groaning under the rapacious visitations of Mahrattas and

Pathans, their distance and the difficulties of the country have saved

them from such afflictions; though, in truth, they have had enough to

endure at home, in the tyranny of their own lord. The Rathors of the

desert have fewer prejudices than their more eastern brethren; they will

eat food, without enquiring by whom it was dressed, and will drink

either wine or water, without asking to whom the cup belonged. They

would make the best soldiers in the world if they would submit to

discipline, as they are brave, hardy, easily satisfied, and very

patient; though, on the other hand, they have imbibed some qualities,

since their migration to these regions, which could only be eradicated

in the rising generation: especially the inordinate use of opium, and

smoking intoxicating herbs, in both which accomplishments ‘the sons of

Bika’ are said to bear the palm from the rest of the Chhattis rajkula,

the Thirty-six Royal Tribes of India. The _piyala_, or ‘cup,’ is a

favourite with every Rajput who can afford it, and is, as well as opium,

a panacea for ennui, arising from the absence of all mental stimulants,

in which they are more deficient, from the nature of the country, than

most of their warlike countrymen.

=Face of the Country.=—The whole of this principality, with the

exception of a few isolated spots, or oases, scattered here and there,

consists more or less of sand. From the eastern to the western boundary,

in the line of greatest breadth, it is one continuous [200] plain of

sand, though the _tibas_, or sandhills, commence in the centre of the

country, the principal chain running in the direction of Jaisalmer, and

shooting forth subordinate branches in every direction; or it might be

more correct to designate this main ridge, originating in the tracts

bordering the eastern valley of the Indus, as terminating its elevations

about the heart of Bikaner. On the north-east quarter, from Rajgarh to

Nohar and Rawatsar, the soil is good, being black earth, slightly mixed

with sand, and having water near enough to the surface for irrigation;

it produces wheat, gram, and even rice, in considerable quantities. The

same soil exists from Bhatner to the banks of the Gara. The whole of the

Mohila tract is a fertile oasis, the _tibas_ just terminating their

extreme offsets on its northern limit: being flooded in the periodical

rains, wheat is abundantly produced.

=Products of the Desert.=—But exclusive of such spots, which are “few

and far between,” we cannot describe the desert as a waste where “no

salutary plant takes root, no verdure quickens”; for though the poverty

of the soil refuses to aid the germination of the more luxuriant grains,

Providence has provided a countervailing good, in giving to those it can

rear a richness and superiority unknown to more favoured regions. The

bajra of the desert is far superior to any grown in the rich loam of

Malwa, and its inhabitant retains an instinctive partiality, even when

admitted to revel in the luxurious repasts of Mewar or Amber, for the

_vatis_ or _batis_ or ‘bajra cakes,’ of his native sandhills, and not

more from association than from their intrinsic excellence. In a

plentiful season they save enough for two years’ consumption. The grain

requires not much water, though it is of the last importance that this

little should be timely.

Besides bajra we may mention moth and til;[6.2.5] the former a useful

pulse both for men and cattle; the other the oil-plant, used both for

culinary purposes and burning. Wheat, gram, and barley are produced in

the favoured spots described, but in these are enumerated the staple

products of Bikaner.

Cotton is grown in the tracts favourable for wheat.[6.2.6] The plant is

said to be septennial, even decennial, in these regions. As soon as the

cotton is gathered, the shoots are all cut off, and the root alone left.

Each succeeding year, the plant increases in strength, and at length

attains a size unknown where it is more abundantly cultivated.

Nature has bountifully supplied many spontaneous vegetable products for

the use of man, and excellent pasture for cattle. Guar, Kachri, Kakri,

all of the cucurbitaceous family, and water-melons of a gigantic size,

are produced in great plenty.[6.2.7] The latter is most valuable; for

being cut in slices and dried in the sun, it is stored up [201] for

future use when vegetables are scarce, or in times of famine, on which

they always calculate. It is also an article of commerce, and much

admired even where vegetables are more abundant. The copious mucilage of

the dried melon is extremely nourishing; and deeming it valuable as an

anti-scorbutic in sea voyages, the Author sent some of it to Calcutta

many years ago for experiment.[6.2.8] Our Indian ships would find no

difficulty in obtaining a plentiful supply of this article, as it can be

cultivated to any extent, and thus be made to confer a double benefit on

our seamen and the inhabitants of those desert regions. The superior

magnitude of the water-melons of the desert over those of interior India

gives rise to much exaggeration, and it has been gravely asserted by

travellers in the sand _tibas_,[6.2.9] where they are most abundant,

that the mucilage of one is sufficient to allay the thirst both of a

horse and his rider.

In these arid regions, where they depend entirely on the heavens for

water, and where they calculate on a famine every seventh year, nothing

that can administer to the wants of man is lost. The seeds of the wild

grasses, as the _bharut_, _baru_, _harara_, _sawan_, are collected, and,

mixed with bajra-flour, enter much into the food of the poorer classes.

They also store up great quantities of the wild _ber_, _khair_, and

_karel_ berries; and the long pods of the _khejra_, astringent and

bitter as they are, are dried and formed into a flour. Nothing is lost

in these regions which can be converted into food.

=Trees.=—Trees they have none indigenous (mangoes and tamarind are

planted about the capital), but abundant shrubs, as the _babul_, and

ever-green _pilu_, the _jhal_, and others yielding berries. The

Bidawats, indeed, apply the term ‘tree’ to the _rohira_, which sometimes

attains the height of twenty feet, and is transported to all parts for

house-building; as likewise is the _nima_, so well known throughout

India. The _phog_ is the most useful of all these, as with its twigs

they frame a wicker-work to line their wells, and prevent the sand from

falling in.

The _ak_, a species of euphorbia, known in Hindustan as the _madar_,

grows to an immense height and strength in the desert; from its fibres

they make the ropes in general use throughout these regions, and they

are reckoned superior, both in substance and durability, to those formed

of _munj_ (hemp), which is however cultivated in the lands of the

Bidawats.

Their agricultural implements are simple and suited to the soil. The

plough is one [202] of single yoke, either for the camel or ox: that

with double yoke being seldom required, or chiefly by the Malis

(gardeners), when the soil is of some consistence. The drill is

invariably used, and the grains are dropped singly into the ground, at

some distance from each other, and each sends forth a dozen to twenty

stalks. A bundle of bushes forms their harrow. The grain is trodden out

by oxen; and the moth (pulse), which is even more productive than the

bajra, by camels.

=Water.=—This indispensable element is at an immense distance from the

surface throughout the Indian desert, which, in this respect, as well as

many others, differs very materially from that portion of the great

African Desert in the same latitudes. Water at twenty feet, as found at

Mourzook by Captain Lyon, is here unheard of, and the degree of cold

experienced by him at Zuela, on the winter solstice, would have “burnt

up” every natural and cultivated production of our Hindu Sahara. Captain

Lyon describes the thermometer in lat. 26°, within 2° of zero of

Reaumur. Majors Denham and Clapperton never mark it under 40° of

Fahrenheit, and mention ice, which I never saw but once, the thermometer

being 28°; and then not only the mouths of our _mashaks_, or

‘water-skins,’ were frozen, but a small pond, protected from the wind (I

heard, for I saw it not), exhibited a very thin pellicle of ice. When at

30° the cold was deemed intense by the inhabitants of Maru in the tracts

limiting the desert, and the useful _ak_, and other shrubs, were

scorched and withered; and in north lat. 25°, the thermometer being 28°,

desolation and woe spread throughout the land. To use their own phrase,

the crops of gram and other pulses were completely “burnt up, as if

scorched by the lightnings of heaven”; while the sun’s meridian heat

would raise it 50° more, or up to 80°, a degree of variability at least

not recorded by Captain Lyon.

At Deshnokh,[6.2.10] near the capital, the wells are more than two

hundred cubits, or three hundred feet, in depth; and it is rare that

water fit for man is found at a less distance from the surface than

sixty, in the tracts decidedly termed _thal_, or ‘desert’: though some

of the flats, or oases, such as that of Mohila, are exceptions, and

abundance of brackish water, fit for cattle, is found throughout at half

this depth, or about thirty feet. All the wells are lined with

basket-work made of _phog_ twigs, and the water is generally drawn up by

hand-lines [203].[6.2.11]

=Sar, or ‘Salt Lakes.’=—There are a few salt lakes, which, throughout

the whole of the Indian desert, are termed _sar_, though none are of the

same consequence as those of Marwar. The largest is at the town of

Sar,[6.2.12] so named after the lake, which is about six miles in

circumference. There is another at Chhapar about two miles in length,

and although each of them frequently contains a depth of four feet of

water, this entirely evaporates in the hot winds, leaving a thick sheet

of saline incrustation. The salt of both is deemed of inferior quality

to that of the more southerly lakes.

=Physiography of the Country.=—There is little to vary the physiography

of this region, and small occasion to boast either of its physical or

moral beauties; yet, strange to say, I have met with many whose love of

country was stronger than their perceptions of abstract veracity, who

would dwell on its perfections, and prefer a mess of _rabri_, or

porridge made of bajra, to the greater delicacies of more civilized

regions. To such, the _tibas_, or ‘sand-ridges,’ might be more important

than the Himalaya, and their diminutive and scanty brushwood might

eclipse the gigantic foliage of this huge barrier. Verdure itself may be

abhorrent to eyes accustomed to behold only arid sands; and a region

without _tufans_ or ‘whirlwinds’; or armies of locusts rustling like a

tempest, and casting long shadows on the lands, might be deemed by the

prejudiced, deficient in the true sublime. Occasionally the sandstone

formation rises above the surface, resembling a few low isolated hills;

and those who dwell on the boundaries of Nagor, if they have a love of

more decided elevations than their native sandhills afford, may indulge

in a distant view of the terminations of the Aravalli.

=Mineral Productions.=—The mineral productions of this country are

scanty. They have excellent quarries of freestone in several parts,

especially at Hasera, thirteen coss to the north-east of the capital,

which yield a small revenue estimated at two thousand rupees annually.

There are also copper mines at Biramsar and Bidesar; but the former does

not repay the expense of working, and the latter, having been worked for

thirty years, is nearly exhausted.

An unctuous clay is excavated from a pit, near Kolait, in large

quantities, and exported as an article of commerce, besides adding

fifteen hundred rupees annually to the treasury. It is used chiefly to

free the skin and hair from impurities, and the Cutchi ladies are said

to eat it to improve their complexions.[6.2.13]

=Animal Productions.=—The kine of the desert are highly esteemed; as are

the camels, especially those used for expedition and the saddle, which

bear a high price,[6.2.14] and are [204] considered superior to any in

India. They are beautifully formed, and the head possesses much blood

and symmetry. Sheep are reared in great abundance, and find no want of

food in the excellent grasses and shrubs which abound. The _phog_,

_jawas_,[6.2.15] and other prickly shrubs, which are here indigenous,

form the dainties of the camel in other regions. The Nilgae, or elk, and

deer of every kind, are plentiful; and the fox of the desert is a

beautiful little animal. Jackals and hyaenas are not scarce, and even

lions are by no means unknown in Bikaner.

=Commerce and Manufactures.=—Rajgarh[6.2.16] was the great commercial

mart of this country, and the point of rendezvous for caravans from all

parts. The produce of the Panjab and Kashmir came formerly direct by

Hansi-Hisar—that of the eastern countries by Delhi, Rewari, Dadri, etc.,

consisting of silks, fine cloths, indigo, sugar, iron, tobacco, etc.;

from Haraoti and Malwa came opium, which supplied all the Rajput States;

from Sind, via Jaisalmer, and by caravans from Multan and Shikarpur,

dates, wheat, rice, _lungis_ (silk vestments for women), fruits, etc.;

from Pali, the imports from maritime countries, as spices, tin, drugs,

coco-nuts, elephants’ teeth, etc. Much of this was for internal

consumption, but the greater part a mere transit trade, which yielded

considerable revenue.

=Woollens.=—The wool of the sheep pastured in the desert is, however,

the staple commodity both of manufacture and trade in this region. It is

worked into every article of dress, both male and female, and worn by

all, rich and poor. It is produced from the loom, of every texture and

quality, from the coarse _loi_ or ‘blanket,’ at three rupees per pair

(six shillings), to thirty rupees. The quality of these last is very

fine, of an intermediate texture between the shawl and camlet, and

without any nap; it is always bordered with a stripe of chocolate brown

or red. Of this quality are the _dopattas_ or ‘scarfs’ for the ladies.

Turbans are also manufactured of it, and though frequently from forty to

sixty-one feet in length, such is the fineness of the web, that they are

not bulky on the head.

From the milk of the sheep and goats as well as kine, _ghi_ or

‘clarified butter’ is made, and forms an important article of trade.

=Manufactures in Iron.=—The Bikaneris work well in iron, and have shops

at the capital and all the large towns for the manufacture of sword

blades, matchlocks, daggers, iron lances, etc. The sword-handles, which

are often inlaid with variegated steel, or burnished, are in high

request, and exported to various parts of India. They have also expert

artists in ivory, though the articles are chiefly such as are worn by

females, as _churis_, or ‘bracelets’ [205].

Coarse cotton cloths, for internal consumption, are made in considerable

quantities.

=Fairs.=—Annual fairs were held, in the months of Karttik and Phalgun,

at the towns of Kolait and Gajner,[6.2.17] and frequented by the

merchants of the adjacent countries. They were celebrated for cattle,

chiefly the produce of the desert, camels, kine, and horses from Multan

and the Lakhi Jungle,[6.2.18] a breed now almost extinct. These fairs

have lost all their celebrity; in fact, commerce in these regions is

extinct.

=Government Revenues.=—The personal revenues of the Raja were derived

from a variety of sources: from the Khalisa, or ‘crown-lands’ imposts,

taxes on agriculture, and that compendious item which makes up the

deficiencies in all oriental budgets, _dand_, or ‘contribution.’ But

with all these “appliances and means to boot,” the civil list of this

desert king seldom exceeded five lakhs of rupees, or about £50,000 per

annum.[6.2.19] The lands of the feudality are more extensive

proportionally in this region than in any other in Rajputana, arising

out of the original settlement, when the Bidawats and Kandhalots, whose

joint acquisitions exceeded those of Bika, would not admit him to hold

lands in their territory, and made but a slight pecuniary acknowledgment

of his supremacy. The districts in which the crown-lands lie are

Rajgarh, Reni, Nohar, Gharib, Ratangarh, Rania, and more recently Churu.

The following are the items of the revenue: (1) Khalisa, or fiscal

revenue; (2) Dhuan; (3) Anga; (4) Town and transit duties; (5) Paseti,

or ‘plough-tax’; (6) Malba.

=Khālisa Lands.=—1. The fisc. Formerly this branch of revenue yielded

two lakhs of rupees; but with progressive superstition and prodigality,

the raja has alienated almost two-thirds of the villages from which the

revenue was drawn. These amounted to two hundred; now they do not exceed

eighty, and their revenue is not more than one lakh of rupees. Surat

Singh is guided only by caprice; his rewards are uniform, no matter what

the service or the object, whether a Brahman or a camel-driver. The

Khalisa is the only source which he considers he has merely a

life-interest in. To supply the deficiencies, he has direct recourse to

the pockets of his subjects.

=Hearth-Tax.=—2. Dhuan may be rendered hearth-tax, though literally it

is a smoke (_dhuan_) tax. All must eat; food must be dressed; and as

they have neither chimneys nor glass windows on which to lay the tax,

Surat Singh’s chancellor of the exchequer makes the smoke pay a transit

duty ere it gets vent from the various orifices of the edifice. It only

amounts to one rupee on each house or family, but would form an

important item if not evaded by the powerful chiefs; still it yields a

lakh of rupees. The town [206] of Mahajan, which was settled on Ratan

Singh, son of Raja Nunkaran, on the resignation of his right of

primogeniture and succession, enjoys exemption from this tax. It is less

liable to fluctuation than other taxes, for if a village becomes

half-deserted, those who remain are saddled with the whole. Dhuan is

only known to the two western States, Bikaner and Jaisalmer.

=Poll-Tax.=—3. _Anga._ This is not a capitation but a body tax (from

_anga_, the body), and was established by Raja Anup Singh. It might

almost be termed a property-tax, since it embraced quadrupeds as well as

bipeds of every sex and age, and was graduated according to age and sex

in the human species, and according to utility in the brute. Each male

adult was assessed one _anga_, fixed at four annas (about sixpence), and

cows, oxen, buffaloes, were placed upon a level with the lord of the

creation. Ten goats or sheep were estimated as one _anga_; but a camel

was equivalent to four _angas_, or one rupee, which Raja Gaj Singh

doubled. This tax, which is by far the most certain in a country perhaps

still more pastoral than agricultural, is most providently watched, and

though it has undergone many changes since it was originally imposed, it

yet yields annually two lakhs of rupees.

4. _Sāīr_, or ‘imposts.’ This branch is subject to much fluctuation, and

has diminished greatly since the reign of Surat Singh. The duties levied

in the capital alone formerly exceeded what is collected throughout the

whole of his dominions; being once estimated at above two lakhs, and now

under one. Of this amount, half is collected at Rajgarh, the chief

commercial mart of Bikaner. The dread of the Rahats, who have cut off

the communications with the Panjab, and the want of principle within,

deter merchants from visiting this State, and the caravans from Multan,

Bahawalpur, and Shikarpur, which passed through Bikaner to the eastern

States, have nearly abandoned the route. The only duties of which he is

certain are those on grain, of four rupees on every hundred maunds sold

or exported, and which, according to the average sale price of these

regions, may be about two per cent.

=Paseti.=—5. Paseti is a tax of five[6.2.20] rupees on every plough used

in agriculture. It was introduced by Raja Rae Singh, in commutation of

the corn-tax, or levy in kind, which had long been established at

one-fourth of the gross produce. The Jats were glad to compound, and get

rid of the agents of corruption, by the substitution of the plough-tax.

It formerly yielded two lakhs of rupees, but with decreasing agriculture

has fallen, like every other source, to a little more than one-half, but

still yields a lakh and a quarter.

=Malba.=—6. Malba[6.2.21] is the name of the original tax which the Jat

communities imposed [207] upon themselves, when they submitted to the

sway in perpetuity of Bika and his successors. It is the

land-tax[6.2.22] of two rupees on each hundred bighas of land cultivated

in Bikaner. It is now unproductive, not realizing fifty thousand rupees,

and it is said that a composition has been effected, by which it has

been, or will be, relinquished: if so, Surat Singh gives up the sole

legitimate source of revenue he possesses.

_Recapitulation_

1. Khalisa, or fisc[6.2.23] Rs. 100,000

2. Dhuan 100,000

3. Anga 200,000

4. Sair, imposts[6.2.24] 75,000

5. Paseti, plough-tax 125,000

6. Malba, land-tax 50,000

—-——

TOTAL 650,000

—-——

Besides this, the fullest amount arising to the prince from annual

taxation, there are other items which occasionally replenish the

treasure of Surat Singh.

=Datoi.=—Datoi is a triennial tax of five rupees levied on each

plough.[6.2.25] It was instituted by Raja Zorawar Singh. The whole

country is liable to it, with the exception of fifty villages in

Asaichwati, and seventy of the Beniwals, conditionally exempted, to

guard the borders. It is now frequently evaded by the feudal chieftains,

and seldom yields a lakh of rupees.

In addition to these specific expedients, there are many arbitrary

methods of increasing the “ways and means” to satisfy the necessities or

avarice of the present ruler, and [208] a train of dependent harpies,

who prey upon the cultivating peasantry, or industrious trader. By such

shifts, Surat Singh has been known to double his fixed revenue.

=Dand, Khushhali.=—The terms Dand and Khushhali, though etymologically

the antipodes of each other—the first meaning a ‘compulsory

contribution,’ the other a ‘benevolence, or voluntary,’[6.2.26]—have a

similar interpretation in these regions, and make the subjects of those

parts devoutly pray that their prince’s house may be one rather of

mourning than rejoicing, and that defeat rather than victory may be

attendant on his arms.

The term dand is coeval with Hindu legislation. The bard Chand describes

it, and the chronicler of the life of the great Siddhraj of Anhilwara,

“who expelled the seven Daddas,” or ‘great evils,’ whose initial letter

was _d_, enumerates dand as one of them, and places it with the Dholis

and Dakins, or minstrels and witches, giving it precedence amongst the

seven plagues which his ancestors and tyrant custom had inflicted on the

subject. Unhappily, there is no Siddhraj to legislate for Rajputana; and

were there fourteen Daddas by which Surat Singh could swell his budget,

he would retain them all for the oppression of the impoverished Jats,

who, if they could, would be happy to expel the letter _S_ from amongst

them. But it is from the chieftain, the merchant, and the banker that

the chief sums are realized; though indirectly the poor peasant

contributes his share. There are fourteen collectors of dand,[6.2.27]

one to every _chira_ or division, and these are furnished with arbitrary

schedules according to the circumstances, actual or supposed, of each

individual. So unlimited are these exactions, that the chief of Gandeli

for two years offered the collector of his quarter ten thousand rupees

if he would guarantee him against any further demand during even twelve

months; and being refused, he turned the collector out, shut the gates

of his castle, and boldly bid his master defiance.

One of his expedients to levy a khushhali, or ‘benevolence,’ is worth

relating: it was on the termination of his expedition against Bhatner,

which added this celebrated desert and castle to his territory, and in

which he was attended by the entire feudal army of Bikaner. On his

return, “flushed with conquest,” he demanded from each house throughout

his dominions the sum of ten rupees to cover the expenses of the war. If

the tyrant-ridden subjects of Surat Singh thus rejoice in his successes,

how must they feel for his defeats! To them both are alike ominous, when

every [209] artifice is welcomed, every villainy practised, to

impoverish them. Oppression is at its height, and must work out its own

cure.

=Feudal Levies.=—The disposable force of all these feudal principalities

must depend on the personal character of the Raja. If Surat Singh were

popular, and the national emergencies demanded the assemblage of the

Kher, or _levée en masse_, of the “sons of Bika,” he might bring ten

thousand Rajputs into the field, of whom twelve hundred might be good

horse, besides the foreign troops and park; but under present

circumstances, and the rapid deterioration of every branch of society,

it may be doubted whether one-half could be collected under his

standard.

The household troops consist of a battalion of foreign infantry, of five

hundred men with five guns, and three squadrons of horse, about two

hundred and fifty in number; all under foreign leaders. This is

independent of the garrison of the capital, whose commandant is a Rajput

of the Parihar tribe, who has twenty-five villages assigned for the

payment of his troops.[6.2.28]

_Schedule exhibiting the Fiefs of Bikaner._

─────────────────┬───────────┬───────────┬────────┬────────────────┬─────

│ │ │ │ Retainers: │

Names of │ Clans. │Places of │Revenue.│ │ │Remarks.

Chieftains. │ │ Abode. │ │ Foot. │Horse. │

─────────────────┼───────────┼───────────┼────────┼────────┼───────┼─────

Behri Sal │Bika │Mahajan │ 40,000│ 5,000│ 100 │[A]

│ │ │ │ │ │

│ │ │ │ │ │

Abhai Singh │Benirot │Bhukarka │ 25,000│ 5,000│ 200 │

Anup Singh │Bika │Jasana │ 5,000│ 400│ 40 │

Pem Singh │ Do. │Bai │ 5,000│ 400│ 25 │

Chain Singh │Benirot │Sawa │ 20,000│ 2,000│ 300 │

Himmat Singh │Rawat │Rawatsar │ 20,000│ 2,000│ 300 │

Sheo Singh │Benirot │Churu │ 25,000│ 2,000│ 200 │

Ummed Singh ┐│Bidawat ┌│Bidesar ┐│ 50,000│ 10,000│2,000 │[B]

Jeth Singh ┘│ └│Sondwa ┘│ │ │ │

Bahadur Singh ┐│ ┌│Mainsar ┐│ │ │ │

Suraj Mall ├│Narnot ┤│Tendesar ├│ 40,000│ 4,000│ 500 │

Guman Singh ││ ││Katar ││ │ │ │

Atai Singh ┘│ └│Kachor ┘│ │ │ │

Sher Singh │Narnot │Nimbaj │ 5,000│ 500│ 125 │

Devi Singh ┐│ ┌│Sidmukh ┐│ │ │ │

Ummed Singh ├│Narnot ┤│Karipura ├│ 20,000│ 5,000│ 400 │

Surthan Singh ││ ││Ajitpura ││ │ │ │

Karnidhan ┘│ └│Beasar ┘│ │ │ │

Surthan Singh │Kachhwaha │Nainawas │ 4,000│ 150│ 30 ┐│[C]

Padam Singh │Panwar │Jethsisar │ 5,000│ 200│ 100 ├│

Kishan Singh │Bika │Hayadesar │ 5,000│ 200│ 50 ┘│

Rao Singh │Bhatti │Pugal[29] │ 6,000│ 1,500│ 40 │[D]

Sultan Singh │ Do. │Rajasar │ 1,500│ 200│ 50 │

Laktir Singh │ Do. │Raner │ 2,000│ 400│ 75 │

Karnai Singh │ Do. │Satasar │ 1,100│ 200│ 9 │

Bhum Singh │ Do. │Chakara │ 1,500│ 60│ 4 │

│ │ │ │ │ │

Four Chieftains, │ │ │ │ │ │

[30] viz. │ │ │ │ │ │

1. Bhoni Singh │Bhatti │Bichnok │ 1,500│ 60│ 6 │

2. Zalim Singh │ Do. │Gariala │ 1,100│ 40│ 4 │

3. Sardar Singh │ Do. │Surjara │ 800│ 30│ 2 │

4. Khet Singh │ Do. │Randisar │ 600│ 32│ 2 │

│ │ │ │ │ │

Chand Singh │Karamsot │Nokha │ 11,000│ 1,500│ 500 ┐│

Satidan │Rupawat │Badila │ 5,000│ 200│ 25 ├│[E]

Bhum Singh │Bhatti │Janglu │ 2,500│ 400│ 9 ┘│

Ketsi │ Do. │Jaminsar │ 15,000│ 500│ 150 │[F]

Isari Singh │Mandla │Sarunda │ 11,000│ 2,000│ 150 │

Padam Singh │Bhatti │Kudsu │ 1,500│ 60│ 4 │

Kalyan Singh │ Do. │Nainea │ 1,000│ 40│ 2 │

│ │ │ —————│ —————│ ———— │

│ │TOTAL │ 332,100│ 44,072│5,402 │[210]

─────────────────┴───────────┴───────────┴────────┴────────┴───────┴─────

Footnote 29:

Pugal Patta.

Footnote 30:

These chiefs are called Sardars of Khari Patta, one of the original

conquests of the founder, Bika.

Remarks:

Footnote A:

One hundred and forty villages, attached to this fief, settled on the

heir of Raja Nunkaran, who consequently forfeited the _gaddi_. The

first of the chiefs of Bikaner.

Footnote B:

One hundred and forty _kothri_ (families, lit. _chambers_) of this

class.

Footnote C:

These two fiefs are held by foreign nobles of the house of Amber, and

the ancient Pramara (_vulg._ Panwar).

Footnote D:

The fief of Pugal was wrested from the Bhattis of Jaisalmer.

Footnote E:

Twenty-seven villages dependent on this family from Jodhpur, and

settled here eleven years.

Footnote F:

Twenty-seven villages.

-----

If ever the whole feudal array of Bikaner amounted to this, it would

assuredly be found difficult now, were the ban proclaimed, to assemble

one-fourth of this number [211].

_Foreign Troops_

Foot. Horse. Guns.

Sultan Khan — 200 —

Anokha Singh, Sikh — 250 —

Budh Singh Dewara — 200 —

Durjan Singh’s Battalion 700 4 4

Ganga Singh’s Battalion 1000 25 6

—— —- ——

Total Foreigners 1700 679 10

Park — — 21

—— —— ——

1700 679 31

—— —— ——

-----

Footnote 6.2.1:

[Bīkaner is bounded on N. and W. by Bahāwalpur; S.W. by Jaisalmer; S.

by Mārwār; S.E. by Shaikhāwati of Jaipur; E. by Lohāru and Hissār;

total area 23,311 square miles (_IGI_, viii. 202).]

Footnote 6.2.2:

[In 1911 the population was 573,501, 4·79 souls per house.]

Footnote 6.2.3:

[For the Saraswat or Sarsūt Brāhmans see Rose, _Glossary_, ii. 122

ff.]

Footnote 6.2.4:

[The Chuhras are the criminal branch of the Panjāb sweepers (Rose,

_Glossary_, ii. 182 ff.). The Thoris are said to be connected with the

Aheris, a well-known criminal tribe (_Census Report, Mārwār, 1891_,

ii. 194). In Bahāwalpur they resemble the Dhedh outcastes, who eat the

flesh of dead animals (Malik Muhammad Din, _Gazetteer_, i. 155).]

Footnote 6.2.5:

[_Moth_, _phaseolus aconitifolius_; _til_, _sesamum indicum_.]

Footnote 6.2.6:

[Only a few acres of cotton are now grown.]

Footnote 6.2.7:

[_Guār_, _dolichos biflorus_; water-melons are known as _matīra_;

_kakri_, a coarse variety of melon.]

Footnote 6.2.8:

I sent specimens to Mr. Moorcroft so far back as 1813, but never

learned the result.—See Article “On the Preservation of Food,” _Edin.

Review_, No. 45, p. 115.

Footnote 6.2.9:

Mr. Barrow, in his valuable work on Southern Africa, describes the

water-melon as self-sown and abundant.

Footnote 6.2.10:

[Twenty miles S. of Bīkaner city, containing a temple of Karniji, the

guardian deity of the Mahārāja’s family.]

Footnote 6.2.11:

Water is sold, in all the large towns, by the Malis, or ‘gardeners,’

who have the monopoly of this article. Most families have large

cisterns or reservoirs, called _tankas_, which are filled in the rainy

season. They are of masonry, with a small trap-door at the top, made

to exclude the external air, and having a lock and key affixed. Some

large _tankas_ are established for the community, and I understand

this water keeps sweet for eight and twelve months’ consumption. [The

proper form of the word seems to be _tānkh_, _tānkha_ (Yule,

_Hobson-Jobson_, 2nd ed. 898 f.; H. Beveridge, _The Academy_, xlvi.

174).]

Footnote 6.2.12:

[About 40 miles N.W. of Bīkaner city. The chief salt lakes are at

Chhāpar and Lūnkaransar (Erskine iii. A. 350).]

Footnote 6.2.13:

[Multāni mitti, fuller’s earth, found near Madh in the S. of the

State, and sometimes eaten (Erskine iii. A. 251; Watt, _Econ. Prod._

329 f.).]

Footnote 6.2.14:

One thousand rupees have been given for one; one hundred is the

average value.

Footnote 6.2.15:

[The camel thorn, _Alhagi maurorum_.]

Footnote 6.2.16:

[N.W. of Bīkaner city, near the Panjāb frontier.]

Footnote 6.2.17:

[These towns are respectively 25 miles S.W. and 19 miles S.W. of

Bīkaner city.]

Footnote 6.2.18:

[The tract S. of the Sutlej, having its E. limits at Ludhiāna and

Sunām; to the S. of it lay the Bhāti desert (Manucci i. 320, iv. 426).

Its importance is shown by Aurangzeb appointing Muhammad Muizzu-d-dīn,

eldest son of Sultān Muazzam, Faujdār of the Lākhi Jungle, in A.D.

1706 (Bilimoria, _Letters of Aurangzeb_, 75.)]

Footnote 6.2.19:

[At present the normal revenue of the State is about 32 lakhs of

rupees, or £213,000.]

Footnote 6.2.20:

[_Pānch_, from which the tax derives its name.]

Footnote 6.2.21:

[Malba properly means ‘sweepings, rubbish,’ then miscellaneous

revenue.]

Footnote 6.2.22:

_Mal_ is the term for land which has no irrigation but from the

heavens.

Footnote 6.2.23:

Nohar district 84 villages Revenue Rs. 100,000

Reni 24 ” ” 10,000

Rania 44 ” ” 20,000

Jaloli 1 ” ” 5,000

—-——

Total original Fiscal Lands 135,000

—-——

since Rajgarh, Churu, and other places recovered.

Footnote 6.2.24:

Impost Duties in old times, namely:

Town of Nunkaran Rs. 2,000

Rajgarh 10,000

Shaikhsar 5,000

Capital—Bīkaner 75,000

From Churu and other towns 45,000

—-——

137,000

—-——

Footnote 6.2.25:

[_Dānt_, _dānta_, ‘a tooth,’ then ‘a ploughshare.’]

Footnote 6.2.26:

_Khush_ means ‘happiness, pleasure, volition’; _ap ki khushi_, ‘at

your pleasure.’ [hāl = ‘circumstances.’]

Footnote 6.2.27:

This was written in 1813.

Footnote 6.2.28:

[The State now supports for Imperial service the well-known Camel

Corps, called the Ganga Risāla.]

Footnote 6.2.29:

Pugal Patta.

Footnote 6.2.30:

These chiefs are called Sardars of Khari Patta, one of the original

conquests of the founder, Bika.

-----

CHAPTER 3

=Bhatner.=—Bhatner, which now forms an integral part of Bikaner, was

anciently the chief abode of another Jat community, so powerful as at

one time to provoke the vengeance of kings, and at others to succour

them when in distress. It is asserted that its name is in nowise

connected with the Bhattis, who colonized it, but derived from the

Bardai, or Bhat, of a powerful prince, to whom the lands were granted,

and who, desirous to be the founder of a poetic dynasty, gave his

professional title to the abode. In the annals of Jaisalmer, it will be

seen that there is another story accounting for the appellation, which

recalls the founding of Carthage or Byrsa. Both legends are improbable;

and the Bhatti annals confirm what might have been assumed without

suspicion, that to a colony of this race Bhatner owes its name, though

not its existence. The whole of the northern part is called Ner in the

ancient geographical nomenclature of Marusthali; and when some of the

Bhatti clans became proselytes to Islam, they changed the vowel _a_ to

_u_, to distinguish them from the parent stock, namely [212], Bhati for

Bhatti.[6.3.1] We shall, however, furnish evidence by and by, in the

annals of the original race, that in all probability the Yadu-Bhatti is

the original Yuti colony from Central Asia; and that “the Jat prince of

Salpur,” whose inscription is in the first volume of this work, was the

predecessor of these very races.

Neither the tract depending on Bhatner, nor that north of it to the Gara

River, presented formerly the scene of absolute desolation they now

exhibit, and I shall append a list of towns, to which a high antiquity

is assigned, whose vestiges still remain, and from which something might

perhaps be gleaned to confirm or overturn these deductions.

Bhatner has attained great historical celebrity from its position, being

in the route of invasion from Central Asia to India. It is more than

probable that the Jats, who resisted the advance of Mahmud of Ghazni in

a naval warfare on the Indus, had long before that period established

themselves in the desert as well as in the Panjab; and as we find them

occupying a place amongst the Thirty-six Royal Tribes, we may infer that

they had political power many centuries before that conqueror. In A.D.

1205, only twelve years after the conquest of India by Shihabu-d-din,

his successor, Kutb, was compelled to conduct the war in person against

the Jats of the northern desert, to prevent their wresting the important

post of Hansi from the empire;[6.3.2] and when the unfortunate and

intrepid queen Raziyah, the worthy heiress of the great Firoz, was

compelled to abandon her throne to a usurper, she sought and found

protection amongst the Jats, who, with their Scythic brethren, the

Gakkhars, assembled all their forces and marched, with their queen at

their head, like Tomyris of old, to meet her foes.[6.3.3] She was not

destined to enjoy the same revenge, but gained a glorious death in the

attempt to overturn the Salic law of India.[6.3.4] Again, in A.D. 1397,

when Timur invaded India, Bhatner was attacked for “having distressed

him exceedingly on his invasion of Multan,” when he “in person scoured

the country, and cut off a tribe of banditti called Jats.”[6.3.5] In

short, the Bhattis and Jats were so intermingled that distinction was

impossible. Leaving this point, therefore, to be adjusted in the annals

of the Bhattis, we proceed to sketch the history of the colony which

ruled Bhatner when subjugated by the Rathors.

=The Bhatti Migration.=—It was shortly after Timur’s invasion that a

colony of Bhattis migrated from Marot and Phulra, under their leader

Bersi, and assaulted and captured Bhatner from a [213] Muhammadan chief;

but whether one of Timur’s officers, or a dependent of Delhi, remains

unknown, though most probably the former. His name, Chaghat Khan, almost

renders this certain, and they must have made a proper name out of his

tribe, Chagatai, of which he was a noble. This Khan had conquered

Bhatner from the Jats, and had acquired a considerable territory, which

the Bhatti colony took advantage of his return to invade and conquer.

Sixteen generations have intervened since this event, which, bringing it

to the period of Timur’s invasion, furnishes an additional reason for

concluding the Khan of Bhatner to have been one of his nobles, whom he

may have left entrusted with this important point of communication,

should he meditate further intercourse with India.

Bersi ruled twenty-seven years, and was succeeded by his son Bhairon,

when the sons of Chaghat Khan, obtaining aid from the Delhi monarch,

invaded Bhatner, and were twice repulsed with great loss. A third army

succeeded; Bhatner was invested and reduced to great straits, when

Bhairon hung out a flag of truce, and offered to accept any conditions

which would not compromise his castle. Two were named: to embrace

Islamism, or seal his sincerity by giving his daughter to the king. He

accepted the first alternative, and from that day, in order to

distinguish these proselytes, they changed the name of Bhati to Bhatti.

Six chiefs intervened between Bhairon and

Rao Dalich, surnamed Hayat Khan, from whom Rae Singh of Bikaner wrested

Bhatner, and Fatehabad became the future residence of the Bhatti Khans.

He was succeeded by

Husain Khan (the grandson of Hayat), who recaptured Bhatner from Raja

Shujawan Singh, and it was maintained during the time of Husain Mahmud

and Imam Mahmud, until Surat Singh made the final conquest of it from

Bahadur Khan, father to the present titular head of the Bhattis,[6.3.6]

Zabita Khan, who resides at Reni, having about twenty-five villages

dependent thereon.[6.3.7] Reni was founded by Rae Singh of Bikaner, and

named after his queen (_Rani_), to whom it was assigned. It was taken by

Imam Mahmud. The Bhatti Khan is now a robber by profession, and his

revenues, which are said to have sometimes amounted to three lakhs of

rupees, are extorted by the point of his lance. These [214] depredations

are carried to a frightful extent, and the poor Jats are kept eternally

on the alert to defend their property. The proximity of the British

territory preventing all incursions to the eastward, they are thrown

back upon their original haunts, and make the whole of this northern

region their prey. To this circumstance is attributed the desertion of

these lands, which once reared cattle in abundance, and were highly

valued. It is asserted that from the northern boundary of Bhatner to the

Gara there are many tracts susceptible of high cultivation, having water

near the surface, and many large spaces entirely free from _thal_, or

‘sandhills.’ To the drying up of the Hakra, or Ghaggar, many centuries

ago, in conjunction with moral evils, is ascribed the existing

desolation. According to tradition, this stream took a westerly

direction, by Phulra, where it is yet to be traced, and fell into the

Indus below Uchh. The couplet recording its absorption by the sands of

Ner has already been given, in the time of Rao Hamir, prince of Dhat. If

the next European traveller who may pass through the Indian desert will

seek out the representative of the ancient Sodha princes at Chor, near

Umarkot, he may learn from their bard (if they retain such an appendage)

the date of this prince, and that of so important an event in the

physical and political history of their regions. The vestiges of large

towns, now buried in the sands, confirm the truth of this tradition, and

several of them claim a high antiquity; such as the Rangmahall, already

mentioned, west of Bhatner, having subterranean apartments still in good

preservation. An aged native of Dandusar (twenty-five miles south of

Bhatner) replied, to my inquiry as to the recollections attached to this

place, that “it belonged to a Panwar prince who ruled once all these

regions, when Sikandar Rumi attacked them.”

An excursion from Hansi Hissar, our western frontier, into these

regions, would soon put the truth of such traditions to the test, as far

as these reported ruins are concerned; though what might appear the

remains of palaces of the Pramaras, the Johyas, and the Jats of ancient

days, to the humble occupant of a hut in the desert, may only prove the

foundations of some castellated building. But the same traditions are

circulated with regard to the more western desert, where the same kind

of vestiges is said to exist, and the annals make mention of capitals,

the sites of which are now utterly unknown. Considering the safety, and

comparative ease, with which such a journey can be made, one cannot

imagine a more agreeable pursuit than the prosecution of archaeological

inquiries in the northern deserts of Rajputana, where traditions abound,

and where the existing manners, amongst such a diversity of tribes,

would furnish ample materials [215] for the portfolio, as well as for

memoirs. Its productions, spontaneous or cultivated, though its

botanical as well as zoological specimens may be limited, we know to be

essentially different from those of Gangetic India, and more likely to

find a parallel in the natural productions and phenomena of the great

African desert. The Bhattis, the Khosas, the Rajars, the Sahariyas, the

Mangalias, the Sodhas, and various other nomadic tribes, present a wide

field for observation; and the physiologist, when tired of the habits of

man, may descend from the nobler animal to the lion, the wild ass, every

kind of deer, the flocks of sheep which, fed on the succulent grasses,

touch not water for six weeks together, while the various herbs,

esculent plants and shrubs, salt lakes, natron beds, etc., would give

abundant scope for commentary and useful comparison. He will discover no

luxuries, and few signs of civilization; the _jhonpra_ (hut) constructed

of poles and twigs, coated inside with mud and covered with grass, being

little better than the African’s dwelling.

=Ancient Cities.=—We shall conclude this imperfect sketch of Bikaner and

the desert with the names of several of their ancient towns, which may

aid the search of the traveller in the regions on its northern border:

Abohar; Banjara ka Nagar; Rangmahall; Sodal, or Soratgarh; Machotal;

Ratibang; Kalibang; Kalyansar; Phulra; Marot; Tilwara; Gilwara; Bani;

Manikkhar; Sursagar; Bamani; Koriwala; Kal-Dherani.[6.3.8]

Some names in this list may be unimportant, but if two, or even one,

should be the means of eliciting some knowledge of the past, the record

will not be useless.

Phulra and Marot have still some importance: the first is very ancient,

and enumerated amongst the ‘Nau-koti Maru-ki,’ in the earliest periods

of Pramara (vulg. Panwar) dominion. I have no doubt that inscriptions in

the ornamental nail-headed character belonging to the Jains will be

found here, having obtained one from Lodorva in the desert, which has

been a ruin for nine centuries. Phulra was the residence of Lakha

Phulani, a name well known to those versed in the old traditions of the

desert. He was cotemporary with Siddh Rae of Anhilwara, and Udayaditya

of Dhar [216].

-----

Footnote 6.3.1:

[Bhatner, Bhatti-nagara, ‘town of the Bhattis,’ the Po-to-lu-lo or

Bhatosthala of the Buddhist pilgrims (Cunningham, _Ancient Geography_,

147; _ASR_, xxiii. (1887), 4 f.).]

Footnote 6.3.2:

[Kutbu-d-dīn [=I]bak (A.D. 1206-10). The leader of the Hindu revolt

was Jatwān, who was defeated and slain on the borders of Bāgar (‘the

land of the Bāgri, or warriors,’ or according to others, from _bāgar_,

‘a thorn hedge’), a name still applied to a tract in the Sirsa and

Hissār Districts of the Panjāb (Cunningham, _Ancient Geography_, 247;

_IGI_, xiii. 149 f.). For the revolt see _Tabaqāt-i-Nasiri_, trans.

Raverty, 516 f.; Elliot-Dowson ii. 217 ff.; Ferishta i. 191 f., who

calls the leader Jīwan Rāī, general of the forces of Nahrwāla in

Gujarāt.]

Footnote 6.3.3:

[Sultān Razīyah (A.D. 1236-40) was supported in her attack on Delhi by

a force of Gakkhars and Jats (Ferishta i. 221).]

Footnote 6.3.4:

I presented to Mr. Marsden a unique coin of this ill-fated queen.

Footnote 6.3.5:

[For Timūr’s attack on Bhatner and on the Jats see Elliot-Dowson iii.

420 ff., 487 ff., 428 f., 492 f.]

Footnote 6.3.6:

In S. 1857 (A.D. 1801) the celebrated George Thomas, for the sum of

three lakhs, put the Bhattis into the temporary possession of Bhatner;

but the succeeding year it was again taken from them by the Rathors.

Footnote 6.3.7:

This memoir was written in 1813-14, and may contain many inaccuracies,

from its very remote situation, and the difficulty of obtaining

correct information. [Reni is 120 miles N.E. of Bīkaner city, and is

said to take its name from a legendary Rāja Renpāl.]

Footnote 6.3.8:

[Few of these names are traceable on modern maps.]

-----

BOOK VII

ANNALS OF JAISALMER

CHAPTER 1

=Limits of Jaisalmer.=—Jaisalmer is the modern name of a tract of

country comprehended, according to ancient geography, in Marusthali, the

desert of India. It is termed Mer in the traditional nomenclature of

this region, from being a rocky (mer) oasis in the heart of the sandy

desert, interesting both from its physical features and its position as

the Ultima Thule of independent Hinduism. Yet, however entitled to

regard from its local peculiarities or its products, the history of the

tribe which inhabits it presents a still more engrossing subject for

investigation.

=The Bhatti Tribe.=—This tribe is the Bhatti, a branch of the Yadu or

Jadon race, whose power was paramount in India three thousand years ago;

and the prince now governing this distant [217] corner of India claims

descent from those Yadu kings who ruled from the Yamuna to the ‘world’s

end,’[7.1.1] at that remote period.

It were preposterous to expect to find, in the annals of a people so

subject to the vicissitudes of fortune, an unbroken series of historical

evidence in support of this ancestry; but they have preserved links of

the chain which indicate original affinities. In tracing the Yadu-Bhatti

history, two hypotheses alternately present themselves to our minds,

each of which rests upon plausible grounds; the one supposing the

Bhattis to be of Scythic, the other of Hindu origin. This incongruity

may be reconciled by presuming the co-mixture of the two primitive

races; by enlarging our views, and contemplating the barrier, which in

remote ages separated Scythia and India, as ideal; and admitting that

the various communities, from the Caspian to the Ganges, were members of

one grand family, having a common language and common faith,[7.1.2] in

that ancient central empire whose existence has been contended for and

denied by the first names in science;[7.1.3] the Bharatavarsha of the

Hindus, the Indo-Scythic empire of king Bharat, son of Budha, the

ancestor of the Yadu-Bhattis, now confined to a nook of the

desert.[7.1.4]

It would be vain to speculate upon the first colonization of India

proper by the Rajkula, or ‘royal tribes.’ It appears to have possessed

an indigenous population prior to the races of Surya, or Indu, though

the genealogies which give the origin of these degraded races of

Kabas,[7.1.5] Bhils, Meras, Gonds, etc., assert that they were all from

the same stem, and that their political debasement was the effect of

moral causes. But as there is no proof of this, we must attribute the

fable to the desire of the Brahman [218] archaeologist to account for

the origin of all things. Modern inquiries into these matters have been

cramped by an erroneous and contracted view of the power of this ancient

people, and the direction of that power. It has been assumed that the

prejudices originating in Muslim conquests, which prevented the Hindu

chieftain from crossing the forbidden waters of the Attock, and still

more from “going down to the sea in ships,” had always existed. But were

it not far more difficult to part with erroneous impressions than to

receive new and correct views, it would be apparent that the first of

these restrictions is of very recent origin, and on the other hand, that

the Hindus of remote ages possessed great naval power, by which

communication must have been maintained with the coasts of

Africa,[7.1.6] Arabia, and Persia, as well as the Australian

Archipelago.[7.1.7] It is ridiculous,

Since Mr. M. wrote, the revelation of the architectural antiquities in

these isles, consequent to British conquests, establishes the fact that

they were colonized by the Suryas, whose mythological and heroic history

is sculptured in their edifices and maintained in their writings. Nor

should we despair that similar discoveries may yet disclose the link

which of yore connected India with Egypt, and to which Ceylon was but

the first stepping-stone. That Rama possessed great naval means is

beyond doubt, inherited from his ancestor Sagara ‘the sea-king,’ twenty

generations before the hero of Lanka, which place I have long imagined

to be Ethiopia; whence ancient writers assert Egypt to have had her

institutions, and that the Ethiopians were of Indian origin. Cuvier,

quoting Syncellus, even assigns the reign of Amenophis as the epoch of

the colonization of Ethiopia from India.—P. 180 of his ‘_Discours_,’

etc. [For early Hindu voyages to Java and the neighbouring region see

Smith, _HFA_, 259 ff.; _BG_, i. Part i. 489 ff.]] with all the knowledge

now in our possession, to suppose that the Hindus always confined

themselves within their gigantic barriers, the limits of modern India.

The cosmography of the Puranas, imperfect and puerile as it is, and some

of the texts of Manu, afford abundant evidence of an intimate

intercourse between the countries from the Oxus to the Ganges; and even

in their allegories, we trace fresh streams of knowledge flowing into

India from that central region, stigmatized in latter days as the land

of the Barbarian (Mlechchha). Manu corroborates the Puranas, from which

we infer the fact that in distant ages one uniform faith extended from

Sakadvipa, the continent of the Sakae, to the Ganges.[7.1.8] These

observations [219] it is necessary to premise before we attempt, by

following the tide of Yadu migration during the lapse of thirty

centuries, to trace them from Indraprastha, Suryapura, Mathura, Prayaga,

Dwarka, Jadu-ka-dang (the mountains of Jud), Bahra, Gajni in Zabulistan;

and again refluent into India, at Salbahana or Salpura in the Panjab,

Tanot, Derawar, Lodorva in the desert, and finally Jaisalmer, founded in

S. 1212, or A.D. 1156.

Having elsewhere descanted at length on the early history of the

Yadus,[7.1.9] we may refer those who are likely to take an interest in

this discussion to that paper, and proceed at once to glean what we can

from the native annals before us, from the death of their leader,

Hari-Krishna, to the dispersion of the Yadus from India. The bare fact

of their migration altogether out of India proper proves that the

original intercourse, which conducted Budha, the patriarch of the Yadu

race, into India[7.1.10] (where he espoused Ila, a princess of the Surya

race, and by whom his issue was multiplied), was not forgotten, though

fifty generations had elapsed from the patriarchal Budha to Hari—to whom

and the chronicle we return.

=Early Legends.=—“Prayaga[7.1.11] is the cradle of the Yadus who are

Somavansa (of the lunar race). Thence Mathura founded by Pururavas

remained for ages the seat of power. The name of Jadon (Yadu), of whom

there were fifty-six tribes,[7.1.12] became famous in the world, and of

this race was the mighty Hari-Krishna, who founded Dwarka.”

The grand international conflicts amongst the “fifty-six Yadu tribes,”

at Kurukshetra, and subsequently at Dwarka, are sufficiently known to

the reader of Hindu history [220], and may be referred to

elsewhere.[7.1.13] These events are computed to have happened about 1100

years before Christ. On the dispersion of these races many abandoned

India, and amongst these, two of the many sons of Krishna. This deified

leader of the Yadus had eight wives, and the offspring of the first and

seventh, by a singular fate, now occupy what may be termed the outposts

of Hinduism.[7.1.14]

Rukmini was the senior of these wives; and the eldest of her sons was

Pradyumna, who was married to a princess of Vidarbha; she bore him two

sons, Aniruddha and Vajranabha, and from the latter the Bhattis claim

descent. Vajra had two sons, Sankhanabha and Khira.[7.1.15]

“When the Jadons were exterminated in the conflict at Dwarka, and Hari

had gone to heaven, Vajra was on his way from Mathura to see his father,

but had only marched twenty coss (forty miles), when he received

intelligence of that event, which had swept away his kindred. He died

upon the spot, when Nabha was elected king and returned to Mathura, but

Khira pursued his journey to Dwarka.

“The thirty-six tribes of Rajputs hitherto oppressed by the Yadus, who

had long held universal dominion, now determined to be revenged. Nabha

was compelled to fly the holy city [Dwarka]; he became prince of

Marusthali in the west.

“Thus far from the Bhagavat” (says the Bhatti chronicler), and I

continue the history of the Bhattis, by the Brahman Sukhdharma of

Mathura.

“Nabha had issue Prithibahu.

“Khira had two sons, Jareja and Judhbhan.[7.1.16]

“Judhbhan was on a pilgrimage; the goddess heard his vows; she awoke him

from his sleep, and promised whatever he desired. ‘Give me land that I

may inhabit,’ said the youth; ‘Rule in these hills,’ replied the

goddess, and disappeared. When Judhbhan awoke, and was yet pondering on

the vision of the night, a confused noise assailed him; and looking out,

he discovered that the prince of the country had just died without

issue, and they were disputing who should succeed him. The prime

minister said, ‘he dreamed that a descendant of Krishna had arrived at

Bahra,’[7.1.17] and proposed [221] to seek him out and invest him as

their prince. All assented, and Judhbhan was elected king. He became a

great prince, had a numerous progeny, and the place of their abode was

henceforth styled Jadu-ka-dang, ‘the mountains of Jadu.’

“Prithibahu (‘the arm of the earth’), son of Nabha, prince of

Marusthali, inherited the insignia of Sri-Krishna with the regal

umbrella (_chhatri_) made by Viswakarma. He had a son Bahubal (‘strong

arm’), who espoused Kamalavati, daughter of Vijaya Singh, prince of

Malwa, who gave in dower (_daeja_)[7.1.18] one thousand horses of

Khorasan, one hundred elephants, pearls, gems, and gold innumerable, and

five hundred handmaids, with chariots and bedsteads of gold. The Puar

(Pramar) Kamalavati became the chief queen and bore her lord one son,

“Bahu, killed by a fall from his horse; he left one son,

“Subahu, who was poisoned by his wife, a daughter of Mand Raja, Chauhan

of Ajmer; he left a son,

“Rajh, who reigned twelve years. He was married to Subhag Sundari,

daughter of Ber Singh, prince of Malwa. Having, when pregnant, dreamed

that she was delivered of a white elephant, the astrologers, who

interpreted this as an indication of greatness, desired he might be

named Gaj:[7.1.19] as he approached manhood, the coco-nut came from

Judhbhan, prince of Purabdes (the eastern), and was accepted. At the

same time tidings arrived that from the shores of the ocean, the

barbarians (Mlechchha), who had formerly attacked Subahu,[7.1.20] were

again advancing, having Farid Shah of Khorasan at [222] the head of four

lakhs of horse, from whom the people fled in dismay. The Raja sent

scouts to obtain accurate intelligence, and marched to Hariau to meet

him; while the foe encamped two coss from Kunjshahr.[7.1.21] A battle

ensued, in which the invader was defeated with the loss of thirty

thousand men, and four thousand on the part of the Hindus. But the

foeman rallied, and Raja Rajh, who again encountered him, was wounded

and died just as prince Gaj returned with Hansavati, his bride, daughter

of Judhbhan of the east. In two battles the king of Khorasan was

vanquished, when he obtained an auxiliary in the king of Rum

(Romi-pati), to establish the Koran and the law of the prophet in

infidel lands. While the armies of the Asuras were thus preparing their

strength, Raja Gaj called a council of ministers. There being no

stronghold of importance, and it being impossible to stand against

numbers, it was determined to erect a fortress amidst the mountains of

the north. Having summoned his friends to his aid, he sought counsel of

the guardian goddess of his race; who [223] foretold that the power of

the Hindus was to cease, but commanded him to erect a fort and call it

Gajni. While it was approaching completion, news came that the kings of

Rum and Khorasan were near at hand:

_Rūmī-pat, Khorāsān-pat, haya, gaya, pākhar, pāī,

Chinta teri, chit lagi; sūna Jadpat Rāē._[7.1.22]

The stick wounded the drum of the Jadon prince; the army was formed,

gifts were distributed, and the astrologers were commanded to assign

such a moment for marching as might secure the victory.

“Thursday (Brihaspati) the 13th of Magh, the enlightened half of the

moon, when one ghari[7.1.23] of the day had fled, was the auspicious

hour; and the drum of departure sounded. That day he marched eight coss,

and encamped at Dulapar. The combined kings advanced, but in the night

the Shah of Khorasan died of indigestion. When it was reported to the

king of Rum (Shah Sikandar Rumi) that Shah Mamrez was dead, he became

alarmed and said, ‘while we mortals have grand schemes in hand, He above

has other views for us.’ Still his army advanced like waves of the

ocean; caparisons and chains clank on the backs of elephants, while

instruments of war resound through the host. Elephants move like walking

mountains; the sky is black with clouds of dust; bright helms reflect

the rays of the sun. Four coss (eight miles) separated the hostile

armies. Raja Gaj and his chieftains performed their ablutions, and

keeping the Joginis[7.1.24] in their rear, advanced to the combat. Each

host rushed on like famished tigers; the earth trembled; the heavens

were overcast; nor was aught visible in the gloom but the radiant helm.

War-bells resound; horses neigh; masses of men advance on each other,

like the dark rolling clouds of Bhadon. Hissing speeds the feathered

dart; the lion roar of the warriors is re-echoed; the edge of the sword

deluges the ground with blood; on both sides the blows resound on the

crackling bones. Here was Judhrae, there the Khans and Amirs, as if Time

had encountered his fellow. Mighty warriors strew the earth; heroes fall

in the cause of their lords. The army of the Shah fled; he left

twenty-five thousand souls entangled in the net of destruction; he

abandoned elephants and horses, and even his throne. Seven thousand

Hindus lay dead on the field. The drum of victory resounded, and the

Jadon returned triumphant to his capital [224].

“On Sunday, the 3rd of Baisakh, the spring season (Vasant), the Rohini

Nakshatra, and Samvat Dharmaraja (Yudhishthira) 3008,[7.1.25] seated on

the throne of Gajni, he maintained the Jadon race. With this victory his

power became firm: he conquered all the countries to the west, and sent

an ambassador to Kashmir to call its prince Kandrapkel[7.1.26] to his

presence. But the prince refused the summons: he said the world would

scoff at him if he attended the stirrup of another without being first

worsted in fight. Raja Gaj invaded Kashmir; and married the daughter of

its prince, by whom he had a son, called Salbahan.

“When this child had attained the age of twelve, tidings of another

invasion came from Khorasan. Raja Gaj shut himself up for three entire

days in the temple of Kuladevi:[7.1.27] on the fourth day the goddess

appeared and revealed to him his destiny; the Gajni would pass from his

hands, but that his posterity would reinherit it, not as Hindus but as

Muslims; and directed him to send his son Salbahan amongst the Hindus of

the east, there to erect a city to be named after him. She said that he

would have fifteen sons, whose issue would multiply; ‘that he (Raja Gaj)

would fall in the defence of Gajni, but would gain a glorious reward

hereafter.’

“Having heard his fate revealed Raja Gaj convened his family and kin,

and on pretence of a pilgrimage to Juala-mukhi,[7.1.28] he caused them

to depart, with the prince Salbahan, for the east.

“Soon after the foe approached within five coss of Gajni. Leaving

therein his uncle Sahideo for its defence, Raja Gaj marched to meet him.

The king of Khorasan divided his army into five divisions; the Raja

formed his into three: a desperate conflict ensued, in which both the

king and the Raja were slain. The battle lasted five _pahars_,[7.1.29]

and a hundred thousand Mirs and thirty thousand Hindus strewed the

field. The king’s son invested Gajni; for thirty days it was defended by

Sahideo, when he performed the Sakha,[7.1.30] and nine thousand valiant

men gave up their lives.

=Sālivāhana.=—“When tidings of this fatal event were conveyed to

Salbahan, for twelve days the ground became his bed.[7.1.31] He at

length reached the Panjab, where he fixed on a spot with abundance of

water, and having collected his clansmen around him, he laid the

foundation of a city which he named after himself, Salbahanpur. The

surrounding [225] Bhumias attended, and acknowledged his supremacy.

Seventy-two years of the era of Vikrama had elapsed when Salbahanpur was

founded, upon Sunday, the 8th of the month of Bhadon.[7.1.32]

“Salbahan conquered the whole region of the Panjab. He had fifteen sons,

who all became Rajas: namely, Baland, Rasalu, Dharmangad, Vacha, Rupa,

Sundar, Lekh, Jaskaran, Nema, Mat, Nipak, Gangau, Jagau; all of whom, by

the strength of their own arms, established themselves in independence.

“The coco-nut from Raja Jaipal Tuar was sent from Delhi, and

accepted.[7.1.33] Baland proceeded to Delhi, whose prince advanced to

meet him. On his return with his bride, Salbahan determined to redeem

Gajni from the foe and avenge his father’s death. He crossed the Attock

to encounter Jalal, who advanced at the head of twenty thousand men.

Crowned with victory, he regained possession of Gajni, where he left

Baland, and returned to his capital in the Panjab; he soon after died,

having ruled thirty-three years and nine months.

=Bāland.=—“Baland succeeded. His brothers had now established themselves

in all the mountainous tracts of the Panjab. But the Turks[7.1.34] began

rapidly to increase, and to subjugate all beneath their sway, and the

lands around Gajni were again in their power. Baland had no minister,

but superintended in person all the details of his government. He had

seven sons: Bhatti, Bhupati, Kalar, Janj,[7.1.35] Sarmor, Bhainsrekha,

Mangreo. The second son Bhupati (_i.e._ lord of the earth) had a son,

Chakito, from whom is descended the Chakito (Chagatai) tribe

[226].[7.1.36]

“Chakito had eight sons, namely, Deosi, Bharu, Khemkhan, Nahar,

Jaipal,[7.1.37] Dharsi, Bijli Khan, Shah Samand.

“Baland, who resided at Salbahanpur, left Gajni to the charge of his

grandson Chakito; and as the power of the barbarian (Mlechchha)

increased, he not only entertained troops of that race, but all his

nobles were of the same body. They offered, if he would quit the

religion of his fathers, to make him master of Balkh, Bokhara, where

dwelt the Usbek race, whose king had no offspring but one daughter.

Chakito married her, and became king of Balkh, Bokhara, and lord of

twenty-eight thousand horse. Between Balkh and Bokhara runs a mighty

river, and Chakito was king of all from the gate of Balakhshan to the

face of Hindustan; and from him is descended the tribe of Chakito

Mongols.[7.1.38]

“Kalar, third son of Baland, had eight sons, whose descendants are

designated Kalar.[7.1.39] Their names were, Sheodas, Ramdas, Aso,

Kistna, Sama, Ganga, Jassa, Bhaga; almost all of whom became Musalmans.

They are a numerous race, inhabiting the mountainous countries west of

the river,[7.1.40] and notorious robbers.

“Janj, the fourth son, had seven sons: Champa, Gokul, Mehraj, Hansa,

Bhadon, Rasa, Jaga, all whose issue bore the name of Janj;[7.1.41] and

in like manner did the other sons become the patriarchs of tribes.

=Bhatti.=—“Bhatti succeeded his father Baland. He conquered fourteen

princes, and added [227] their fortunes to his own. Among his effects he

reckoned twenty-four thousand mules[7.1.42] laden with treasure, sixty

thousand horse, and innumerable foot. As soon as he mounted the _gaddi_,

he assembled all his forces at Lahore preparatory to the

_tika-daur_[7.1.43] destined against Birbhan Baghel, lord of Kanakpur.

Birbhan fell in the battle which ensued, at the head of forty thousand

men.

“Bhatti had two sons, Mangal Rao and Masur Rao. With Bhatti, the

patronymic was changed, and the tribe thenceforth was distinguished by

his name.

=Mangal.=—“Mangal Rao succeeded, but his fortune was not equal to that

of his fathers. Dhundi, king of Ghazni, with a mighty force, invaded

Lahore;[7.1.44] nor did Mangal Rao oppose him, but with his eldest son

fled into the wilds on the banks of the river. The foe then invested

Salbahanpur, where resided the family of the Raja; but Masur Rao escaped

and fled to the Lakhi Jungle.[7.1.45] There being only a cultivating

peasantry in this tract, he overcame them, and became master of the

country. Masur Rao had two sons, Abhai Rao and Saran Rao. The elder,

Abhai Rao, brought the whole Lakhi Jungle under his control, and his

issue, which multiplied, became famous as the Aboharia Bhattis.[7.1.46]

Saran quarrelled with and separated from his brother, and his issue

descended to the rank of cultivators, and are well known as the Saran

Jats.[7.1.47]

“Mangal Rao, the son of Bhatti, and who abandoned his kingdom, had six

sons: Majam Rao, Kalarsi, Mulraj, Sheoraj, Phul, Kewala.

“When Mangal Rao fled from the king, his children were secreted in the

houses of his subjects. A Bhumia named Satidas, of the tribe of

Tak,[7.1.48] whose ancestors had been reduced from power and wealth by

the ancestors of the Bhatti prince, determined to avenge himself, and

informed the king that some of the children were concealed in [228] the

house of a banker (_sahukar_). The king sent the Tak with a party of

troops, and surrounded the house of Sridhar, who was carried before the

king, who swore he would put all his family to death if he did not

produce the young princes of Salbahana. The alarmed banker protested he

had no children of the Raja’s, for that the infants who enjoyed his

protection were the offspring of a Bhumia, who had fled, on the

invasion, deeply in his debt. But the king ordered him to produce them;

he demanded the name of the village, sent for the Bhumias belonging to

it, and not only made the royal infants of Salbahana eat with them, but

marry their daughters. The banker had no alternative to save their lives

but to consent: they were brought forth in the peasant’s garb, ate with

the husbandmen (Jats), and were married to their daughters. Thus the

offspring of Kalarrae became the Kalhora Jats; those of Mundraj and

Sheoraj, the Mudna and Seora Jats; while the younger boys, Phul and

Kewala, who were passed off as a barber (Nai) and a potter (Kumhar),

fell into that class.[7.1.49]

“Mangal Rao, who found shelter in the wilds of the Gara, crossed that

stream and subjugated a new territory. At this period, the tribe of

Baraha[7.1.50] inhabited the banks of the river; beyond them were the

Buta Rajputs of Butaban.[7.1.51] In Pugal dwelt the Pramara;[7.1.52] in

Dhat the Sodha[7.1.53] race; and the Lodra[7.1.54] Rajputs in Lodorva.

Here Mangal Rao found security, and with the sanction of the Sodha

prince, he fixed his future abode in the centre of the lands of the

Lodras, the Barahas, and the Sodhas.[7.1.55] On the death of Mangal Rao,

he was succeeded by

“Majam Rao, who escaped from Salbahanpur with his father. He was

recognized by all the neighbouring princes, who sent the usual presents

on his accession, and the [229] Sodha prince of Umarkot made an offer of

his daughter in marriage, which was accepted, and the nuptials were

solemnized at Umarkot. He had three sons, Kehar, Mulraj,[7.1.56] and

Gogli.

=Kehar Rāo.=—“Kehar became renowned for his exploits. Hearing of a

caravan (kafila) of five hundred horses going from Aror[7.1.57] to

Multan, he pursued them with a chosen band disguised as camel merchants,

and came up with his prey across the Panjnad,[7.1.58] where he attacked

and captured it, and returned to his abode. By such exploits he became

known, and the coco-nut (_nariyal_) was sent to Majam Rao, and his two

elder sons, by Alansi Deora, of Jalor.[7.1.59] The nuptials were

celebrated with great splendour, and on their return Kehar laid the

foundation of a castle, which he named Tanot in honour of Tana [or

Tanuja] Devi. Ere it was completed, Rao Majam died.

=Kehar Rāo.=—“Kehar succeeded. On his accession, Tanot was attacked by

Jasrath, chief of the Barahas,[7.1.60] because it was erected on the

bounds of his tribe; but Mulraj defended it, and the Barahas were

compelled to retire.

“On Mangalwar (Tuesday), the full-moon of Magh, S. 787[7.1.61] (A.D.

731), the fortress of Tanot was completed, and a temple erected to

Tana-Mata. Shortly after a treaty of peace was formed with the Barahas,

which was concluded by the nuptials of their chief with the daughter of

Mulraj [230].”

Having thus fairly fixed the Yadu Bhatti chieftain in the land of Maru,

it seems a proper point at which to close this initiatory chapter with

some observations on the diversified history of this tribe, crowded into

so small a compass; though the notes of explanation, subjoined as we

proceeded, will render fewer remarks requisite, since with their help

the reader may draw his own conclusions as to the value of this portion

of the Bhatti annals, which may be divided into four distinct epochs:

=Recapitulation of Bhatti History.=—1. That of Hari, the ancestor of the

Yadu race.

2. Their expulsion, or the voluntary abandonment of India by his

children, with their relations of the Harikula and Pandu races, for the

countries west of the Indus; their settlements in Marusthali; the

founding of Gajni, and combats with the kings of Rum and Khorasan.

3. Their expulsion from Zabulistan, colonization of the Panjab, and

creation of the new capital of Salbahanpur.

4. Their expulsion from the Panjab, and settlement in Mer, the rocky

oasis of Maru, to the erection of Tanot.

It is the more unnecessary to enter into greater details on these

outlines of the early Yadu history, since the subject has been in part

treated elsewhere.[7.1.62] A multiplicity of scattered facts and

geographical distinctions fully warrants our assent to the general truth

of these records, which prove that the Yadu race had dominion in central

Asia, and were again, as Islamism advanced, repelled upon India. The

obscure legend of their encounters with the allied Syrian and Bactrian

kings would have seemed altogether illusory, did not evidence exist that

Antiochus the Great was slain in these very regions by an Indo-Scythian

prince, called by the Greek writers Sophagasenas: a name in all

probability compounded from Subahu and his grandson Gaj (who might have

used the common affix of _sena_), the Yadu princes of Gajni, who are

both stated to have had conflicts with the Bactrian (Khorasan) kings.

Sistan (the region of cold, _siya_)[7.1.63] and both sides of the valley

were occupied in the earliest periods by another branch of the Yadus;

for the Sind-Samma dynasty was descended from Samba (which like Yadu

became a patronymic)—of which the Greeks made Sambos—and one of whose

descendants opposed Alexander in his progress down the Indus. The

capital of this dynasty was Samma-ka-kot, or Samanagari, yet existing on

the lower Indus, and which was corrupted into Minnagara by the Greeks

[231].[7.1.64]

=Ancient Sites in Jaisalmer.=—It is an interesting hypothesis, that

would make the Chagatais descendants of the Yadus.[7.1.65] In like

manner, Bappa, the ancestor of the Ranas of Mewar, abandoned Central

India after establishing his line in Chitor, and retired to Khorasan.

All this proves that Hinduism prevailed in these distant regions, and

that the intercourse was unrestricted between Central Asia and India. We

have undiscovered fields of inquiry in Transoxiana, and in the still

more accessible region of the Panjab, where much exists to reward the

archaeologist; Salbahanpur, Kampilanagari, Bahra, the hill of Jud,

perhaps Bucephalia,[7.1.66] the seven towns of Uchh, but, above all, the

capital of Taxiles. Let us hope that, in this age of enterprise, these

suggestions may be followed up; we can promise the adventurer a very

different result from that which tempts the explorer of barbarous

Africa, for here he would penetrate into the first haunts of

civilization, and might solve one of the great problems which still

distract mankind [232].

-----

Footnote 7.1.1:

Jagat Khunt, the point of land beyond Dwarka, the last stronghold of

the Yadus when their power was extinguished.

Footnote 7.1.2:

Manu says: “But in consequence of the omission of the sacred rites,

and of their not consulting Brāhmanas, the following tribes of

Kshatriyas have gradually sunk in the world to the condition of

Sūdras: viz. the Paundrakas, the Kodas, the Dravidas, the Kāmbogas,

the Yavanas, the Sākas, the Pāradas, the Pahlavas, the Kīnas, the

Kirātas, and the Daradas” (_Laws_, x. 43-44, trans. G. Bühler, _Sacred

Books of the East_, xxv. 412).

It is a great mistake to suppose the Bactrian Greeks are these

Yavanas, who are descended from Yavan, fifth son of Yayati, third son

of the patriarchal Nahustha, though the Ionians may be of this race.

The Sakas are the Sakae, the races of Central Asia (the Sakha Rajput);

the Pahlavas, the ancient Persians, or Guebres; the Chinas, the

inhabitants of China; and the Chasas, inhabitants of the great snowy

mountains (_koh_), whence Kohchasa (the Casia montes of Ptolemy),

corrupted to Caucasus [?].

Footnote 7.1.3:

The illustrious Cuvier questions the existence of an ancient central

kingdom, because “ni Moïse, ni Homère, ne nous parlait d’un grand

empire dans la Haute-Asie” (_Discours sur les révolutions de la

surface du globe_, p. 206). Who, then, were “the sons of Togarmah”

(mentioned by Ezekiel [xxvii. 14]) who conquered and long held Egypt?

[Togarmah was N. Assyria (Hastings, _Dict. Bible_, iv. 789 f.).]

Footnote 7.1.4:

[Bharata, from whom the Kauravas and Pāndavas, more especially the

latter, were called Bhāratas, was a prince of the Puru branch of the

Lunar race, son of Dushyanta and Sakuntala.]

Footnote 7.1.5:

The Kaba race is almost extinct; it was famed, even in the days of

Krishna, as the savage inhabitants of Saurashtra. When the forester

Bhil, who mortally wounded Krishna, was expressing his contrition for

the unintentional act, he was forgiven, with the remark that it was

only retributive justice, as “in a former birth,” as the godlike Rama,

Krishna had slain him. Thus Rama appears as the subjugator and

civilizer of these indigenous tribes, of whom the Kabas are described

as plundering Krishna’s family after his decease. [The Kābas, now

extinct, were regarded as savage inhabitants of Saurāshtra in the

Krishna tradition, and are said to be the ancestors of the modern

Vāghers (_BG_, viii. 271, 587).]

Footnote 7.1.6:

Whence the Hindu names of towns at the estuaries of the Gambia and

Senegal Rivers, the Tambaconda and other _kondas_, already mentioned?

Footnote 7.1.7:

Mr. Marsden, at an early period of his researches into Hindu

literature, shares the merit of discovering with Sir W. Jones that the

Malayan language, disseminated throughout the Archipelago, and

extending from Madagascar to Easter Island, a space of 200 degs. of

longitude, is indebted to the Sanskrit for a considerable number of

its terms, and that the intercourse which effected this was many

centuries previous to their conversion to the Muhammadan religion. He

is inclined to think that the point of communication was from Gujarat.

The legends of these islanders also abound with allusions to the

Mahabharata and Ramayana. (See _Asiatic Researches_, vol. iv. p. 226,

second edition.) [_EB_, xvii. 475 ff.

Footnote 7.1.8:

The cosmography of the Agni Purana divides the world then known to the

Hindus into seven _dwipas_, or continents: one of these is “Sakadvipa,

whose inhabitants, descended from Bhavya, are termed Sakeswara (_i.e._

Sakae-lords).” His (Bhavya’s) offspring or descendants were Jalad,

Sukamara, Manivaka, Kusumada, Mandaki, Mahadruma, each of whom gave

his name to a _khand_, or division (_qu._ Sukmarkhand?). The chief

ranges of mountains were Jaldas, Raivat, Syama, Indak, Amki, Rim, and

Kesari. “There were seven grand rivers, namely, Mag, Magad, Arvarna,

etc. The inhabitants worship the sun.”

Slight as this information is, we must believe that this Sakadvipa or

Sakatai is the Scythia of the Ancients; and the Sakeswara (the Sakas

of Manu), the Sakae so well known to western history, the progenitors

of the Parthians, whose first (_adi_) king was Arsaka. The sun-worship

indicates the adorer of Mithras, the Mitra or Surya of the Hindu; the

Arvarna recalls the Araxes applied to the Jaxartes; while Jalad, the

proper name of the son of the first king of Sakadvipa, appears to be

the Yulduz of the Tatar historian Abulghazi, who uses the same term as

does the Hindu, to designate a range of mountains. Whence this

identity between Puranic and Tatar cosmography? [These speculations

possess no value.]

“A chief of the twice-born tribe (_i.e._ Brahmans) was brought by

Vishnu’s eagle from Sakadvipa, and thus have Sakadvipa Brahmans become

known in Jambudwipa” (India). Mr. Colebrooke on Indian Classes,

_Asiatic Researches_, vol. v. p. 53. And Manu says that it was only on

their ceasing to sanction Brahmans residing amongst them, that the

inhabitants of these remote western regions became ‘Mlechchha,’ or

barbarians: testimonies which must be held conclusive of perfect

intercourse and reciprocity of sentiment between the nations of

Central Asia and India at periods the most remote.

Footnote 7.1.9:

_Vide_ “Essay on the Hindu and Theban Hercules,” _Transactions of the

Royal Asiatic Society_, vol. iii.

Footnote 7.1.10:

The Bhagavat says: “Budha (a wise man—a patriarch) came to Bharatkhand

to perform penitential rites, and espoused Ila, by whom he had

Pururavas (founder of Mathura), who had six sons, namely, Ayu, etc.,

who carried on the lunar (Indu) races in India.” Now this Ayu is

likewise the patriarch of the Tatars, and in that language signifies

the moon, a male divinity both with Tatars and Rajputs. Throughout

there are traces of an original identity, which justifies the

application of the term Indo-Scythic to the Yadu race.—_Vide_

Genealogical table, Vol. I.

Footnote 7.1.11:

Prayaga is the modern Allahabad, at the confluence of the Jumna and

Ganges, the capital of the Prasioi of Megasthenes. [Their capital was

Pātaliputra, Patna.]

Footnote 7.1.12:

This is alternately called Chhappan Kula and Chhappan Kror, “fifty-six

tribes,” and “fifty-six millions,” of Yadus. As they were long supreme

over India, this number is not inadmissible.

Footnote 7.1.13:

_Transactions of the Royal Asiatic Society_, vol. iii. _Vide_ paper

entitled “Comparison of the Hindu and Theban Hercules.”

Footnote 7.1.14:

Jambuvati was the name of the seventh wife, whose eldest son was

called Samba; he obtained possession of the tracts on both sides the

Indus, and founded the Sind-Samma dynasty, from which the Jarejas are

descended. There is every probability that Sambus, of Sambanagari

(Minnagara), the opponent of Alexander, was a descendant of Samba, son

of Krishna [?]. The Jareja chronicles, in ignorance of the origin of

this titular appellation, say that their “ancestors came from Sham, or

Syria.” [These speculations possess no value.]

Footnote 7.1.15:

[This name does not appear in the Vishnu Purāna list.]

Footnote 7.1.16:

Jad, Jud, Jadon, are the various modes of pronouncing Yadu in the

Bhakha, or spoken dialects of the west. Judh-bhan, ‘the rocket of the

Yadus,’ would imply the knowledge of gunpowder at a very remote period

[?].

Footnote 7.1.17:

The precise knowledge of the topography of these regions, displayed in

the Bhatti annals, is the most satisfactory proof of their

authenticity. In the present day, it would be in vain to ask any

native of Jaisalmer the position of the “hill of Jud,” or the site of

Bahra; and but for the valuable translation of Babur’s _Memoirs_, by

Mr. Erskine, we should have been unable to adduce the following

testimony. Babur crossed the Indus the 17th February 1519, and on the

19th, between that river and one of its great towns, the Behat, he

reached the very tract where the descendant of Krishna established

himself twenty-five centuries before. Babur says, “Seven kos from

Behreh to the north there is a hill. This hill in the Zefer Nameh

(History of Timoor), and other books, is called the Hill of Jud. At

first I was ignorant of the origin of its name, but afterwards

discovered that in this hill there were two races of men descended of

the same father. One tribe is called Jud, the other Jenjuheh. From old

times they have been the rulers and lords of the inhabitants of this

hill, and of the Ils and Uluses (political divisions) between Nilab

and Behreh. Their power is exerted in a friendly and brotherly way.

They cannot take from them whatever they please. They take as their

share a portion that has been fixed from very remote times. The Jud is

divided into various branches or families, as well as the Jenjuheh.

The chief man amongst them gets the name of Rae.”—Erskine’s _Baber_,

p. 254.

Here is a decided confirmation that this Hindu colony preserved all

their original manners and customs even to Babur’s day. The tribe of

Janjuhahs, beyond a doubt, is the tribe of Johya, so celebrated in the

region skirting the Sutlej, and which will be noticed hereafter. I

presented a small work entirely relating to their history to the Royal

Asiatic Society. As Babur says they are of the same family as the

Juds, they are probably the descendants of Janj, the brother of

Bhatti, who changed the family patronymic from Jadu or Judu to Bhatti;

and thus it appears that when the elder branch was driven from Gajni,

they retreated amongst their relations of the hills of Jud. Babur was

quite enamoured with the beauty of the hill of Jud, which, with its

lake and valleys, he describes as a miniature Kashmir.—P. 255.

Footnote 7.1.18:

The Pramars were formerly the most powerful potentates of Central

India. Handmaids, and bedsteads of gold, were always a part of the

_daeja_ or dower of Hindu princesses.

Footnote 7.1.19:

Abulfazl [? Abulghazi] mentions Joga as prince of Gasmien and Kashmir,

who was slain by Aghuz Khan, the Patriarch of the Tatar tribes.

Footnote 7.1.20:

In this early portion of the annals there is a singular mixture of

historical facts, and it appears that the Yadu scribes confound their

connexions with the Syrian and Bactrian Greeks, and with the first

Muslim conquerors. Imperfect as is this notice of Subahu, his son

Rajh, and grandson Gaj, who were thus assailed by Farid of Khorasan

(Bactria), and his auxiliary, the king of Rum (Syria), we have a

powerful allusion to Antiochus the Great, who, two hundred and four

years before Christ, invaded Bactria and India. Amongst the few facts

left of this expedition is his treaty with Sophagasenas, the Indian

monarch, in which the Syrian king stipulated for a tribute in

elephants. There are, even in this medley of incidents, grounds for

imagining that Sophagasenas is the Yadu prince of Gajni. Whether, out

of Subahu and Gaj, the Greeks manufactured their Sophagasenas, or

whether prince Gaj could have been entitled Subhagsen, in compliment

to his mother, Subhag-Sundari, of Malwa, must be left for the

speculative to decide. It is not unlikely that the nature of the

tribute, said to have been elephants, which the Indian agreed to

furnish to the Greek prince, may have originated with the name of

_Gaj_, which means ‘elephant.’ [Sophagasenas, mentioned by Polybius

(xi. 34) was probably an Indian king, Subhāgasena, who ruled in the

Kābul valley.]

There is at the same time much that refers to the early progress of

Islam in these regions of Central Asia. Price, in his excellent

history, extracting from the Khulasatu-l-Akhbar, says, “Hejauge was

entrusted with the government of Khorasan, and Obaidoolah with

Seistan, who had orders from Hejauge, his superior, to invade Caubul,

whose prince was Reteil or Retpeil, whom the Author supposes either a

Tatar or Hindoo prince. Artfully retiring, he drew the Mohamedan army

into the defiles, and blocking up the rear, cut off their retreat, and

Obaidoolah was compelled to purchase his liberation by the payment of

seven hundred thousand dirhems.” [See Elliot-Dowson ii. 417; “Retpeil”

is possibly Ratnapāla.]

This was the seventy-eighth year of the Hegira, or A.D. 697. Conjoined

to what follows, it appears to have reference to Rajh, father of Gaj.

Again,

“Obaidoolah and Abdoorehman invaded Seistan with forty thousand men.

The prince of Caubul tried the same manœuvre, but was outwitted by

the Mohamedan, who conquered a great part of Caubul and acquired great

booty, with which he returned to Seistan, to the great displeasure of

Hejauge; and Abdoorehman entered into a confederacy with Retpeil to

attack Hejauge, and absolve Caubul from tribute. Moghairah was the

successor of Abdoorehman in Khorasan, while his father, Mohilel, was

employed beyond the Jehoon, but died at Meru of a burning diarrhoea,

bequeathing his government to Yezzid.”

This account of Mughaira’s (the governor of Khorasan) death, while

carrying on war against the Hindu “Retpeil” of Kabul, has much analogy

to the sudden death of Mamrez, the foe of Rajh of Zabulistan. One

thing is now proved, that princes of the Hindu faith ruled over all

these regions in the first ages of Islamism, and made frequent

attempts, for centuries after, to reconquer them. Of this fact, Babur

gives us a most striking instance in his description of Gajni, or, as

he writes, Ghazni. He says, “I have seen, in another history, that

when the Rai of Hind besieged Subaktegin in Ghazni, Subaktegin ordered

dead flesh and other impurities to be thrown into the fountain, when

there instantly arose a tempest and hurricane, with rain and snow, and

by this device he drove away the enemy.” Babur adds, “I made then

inquiry in Ghazni for this well, but nobody could give me the

slightest information regarding it” (p. 150). Doubtless, when Babur

conquered India, and became better acquainted with the Hindu warriors,

he would have got to the bottom of this anecdote, and have seen that

the success of the ruse of Sabuktegin arose out of the religion of his

foes, who could not use water thus contaminated by the flesh of the

sacred kine. The celebrated Valabhi was reduced by the same stratagem.

Footnote 7.1.21:

Neither of these towns appears in any map. “There is a Koonj Reshak in

Khorasan, and a Penjher in Balk.” Sir W. Ouseley’s _Ebn Haukal_, pp.

213-223.

Footnote 7.1.22:

“The king of Rum and the king of Khorasan, with horse (_haya_),

elephants (_gaya_ or _gaj_), caparisons (_pākhar_), and foot-soldiers

(_pāē_ or _pāyik_) [are at hand]. Beware, let it enter your mind, O

Rāē, Lord of the Jadus!“

Footnote 7.1.23:

[A _ghari_ = 24 minutes.]

Footnote 7.1.24:

The unclean spirits of Rajput martial mythology, who feed on the

slain.

Footnote 7.1.25:

This date is circumstantial, and might be fixed or disproved by

calculation; if the heterogeneous mixture of such widely separated

incidents as those in Syro-Macedonian and Muhammadan history did not

deter us from the attempt.

Footnote 7.1.26:

No such name appears in Wilson’s _Raj Taringini_. [Nor in Stein’s

Index.]

Footnote 7.1.27:

Tutelary goddess, or “of the race (_kula_).”

Footnote 7.1.28:

This volcano [or rather jets of combustible gas] is a well-known place

of pilgrimage in the Siwalik mountains [in the Kāngra District,

Panjāb].