CHAPTER 11

Jaimall and Patta.—But the names which shine brightest in this gloomy page of the annals of Mewar, which are still held sacred by the bard and the true Rajput, and immortalized by Akbar’s own pen, are Jaimall of Badnor and Patta of Kelwa, both of the sixteen superior vassals of Mewar. The first was a Rathor of the Mertia house, the bravest of the brave clans of Marwar; the other was head of the Jagawats, another grand shoot from Chonda. The names of Jaimall and Patta are ‘as household words,’ inseparable in Mewar, and will be honoured while the Rajput retains a shred of his inheritance or a spark of his ancient recollections. Though deprived of the stimulus which would have been given had their prince been a witness of their deeds, heroic achievements such as those already recorded were conspicuous on this occasion; and many a fair form threw the buckler over the scarf, and led the most desperate sorties [327].

When Salumbar[34]fell at the gate of the sun, the command devolved on Patta of Kelwa. He was only sixteen:[35]his father had fallen in the last shock, and his mother had survived but to rear this the sole heir of their house. Like the Spartan mother of old, she commanded him to put on the ‘saffron robe,’ and to die for Chitor: but surpassing the Grecian dame, she illustratedher precept by example; and lest any soft ‘compunctious visitings’ for one dearer than herself might dim the lustre of Kelwa, she armed the young bride with a lance, with her descended the rock, and the defenders of Chitor saw her fall, fighting by the side of her Amazonian mother. When their wives and daughters performed such deeds, the Rajputs became reckless of life. They had maintained a protracted defence, but had no thoughts of surrender, when a ball struck Jaimall, who took the lead on the fall of the kin of Mewar. His soul revolted at the idea of ingloriously perishing by a distant blow. He saw there was no ultimate hope of salvation, the northern defences being entirely destroyed, and he resolved to signalize the end of his career. The fatal Johar was commanded, while eight thousand Rajputs ate the last ‘bira’[36]together, and put on their saffron robes; the gates were thrown open, the work of destruction commenced, and few survived ‘to stain the yellow mantle’ by inglorious surrender. Akbar entered Chitor, when thirty thousand of its inhabitants became victims to the ambitious thirst of conquest of this ‘guardian of mankind.’ All the heads of clans, both home and foreign, fell, and seventeen hundred of the immediate kin of the prince sealed their duty to their country with their lives. The Tuar chief of Gwalior appears to have been the only one of note who was reserved for another day of glory.[37]Nine queens, five princesses (their daughters), with two infant sons, and the families of all the chieftains not at their estates, perished in the flames or in the assault of this ever memorable day. Their divinity had indeed deserted them; for it was on Adityawar, the day of the sun,[38]he shed for the last time a ray of glory on Chitor. The rock of their strength was despoiled; the temples, the palaces dilapidated: and, to complete her humiliation and his triumph, Akbar bereft her of all the symbols of [328] regality: the nakkaras,[39]whose reverberations proclaimed, for milesaround, the entrance and exit of her princes; the candelabras from the shrine of the ‘great mother,’ who girt Bappa Rawal with the sword with which he conquered Chitor; and, in mockery of her misery, her portals, to adorn his projected capital, Akbarabad.[40]

Akbar claimed the honour of the death of Jaimall by his own hand: the fact is recorded by Abu-l Fazl, and by the emperor Jahangir, who conferred on the matchlock which aided him to this distinction the title of Sangram.[41]But the conqueror of Chitor evinced a more exalted sense, not only of the value of his conquest, but of the merits of his foes, in erecting statues to the names of Jaimall and Patta at the most conspicuous entrance of his palace at Delhi; and they retained that distinction even when Bernier was in India.[42]

CHITOR.To face page 382.

The Sin of the Capture of Chitor.—When the Carthaginian gained the battle of Cannae, he measured his success by the bushels of rings taken from the fingers of the equestrian Romanswho fell in that memorable field. Akbar estimated his, by the quantity of cordons (zunnar) of [329] distinction taken from the necks of the Rajputs, and seventy-four mans and a half[43]are the recorded amount. To eternize the memory of this disaster, the numerals ‘74½’ aretalak, or accursed.[44]Marked on the banker’s letter in Rajasthan it is the strongest of seals, for ‘the sin of the slaughter of Chitor’[45]is thereby invoked on all who violate a letter under the safeguard of this mysterious number. He would be a fastidious critic who stopped to calculate the weight of these cordons of the Rajput cavaliers, probably as much over-rated as the trophies of the Roman rings, which are stated at three and a half bushels. It is for the moral impression that history deigns to note such anecdotes, in themselves of trivial import. So long as ‘74½’ shall remain recorded, some good will result from the calamity, and may survive when the event which caused it is buried in oblivion.

Escape of Rāna Udai Singh: Foundation of Udaipur.—When Udai Singh abandoned Chitor, he found refuge with the Gohil in the forests of Rajpipli. Thence he passed to the valley of theGiro in the Aravalli, in the vicinity of the retreat of his great ancestor Bappa, ere he conquered Chitor. At the entrance of this valley, several years previous to this catastrophe, he had formed the lake, still called after him Udai Sagar, and he now raised a dyke between the mountains which dammed up another mountain stream. On the cluster of hills adjoining he raised the small palace called Nauchauki, around which edifices soon arose, and formed a city to which he gave his own name, Udaipur,[46]henceforth the capital of Mewar.

Death of Rāna Udai Singh.—Four years had Udai Singh survived the loss of Chitor, when he expired at Gogunda, at the early age of forty-two; yet far too long for his country’s honour and welfare. He left a numerous issue of twenty-five legitimate sons, whose descendants, all styled Ranawat, pushed aside the more ancient stock, and form that extensive clan distinctively termed the Babas, or ‘infants,’ of Mewar, whether Ranawats, Purawats, or Kanawats. His last act was to entail with a barren sceptre contention upon his children; for, setting aside the established laws of primogeniture, he proclaimed his favourite son Jagmall his successor.

Jagmall proclaimed Rāna.—In Mewar there is no interregnum: even the ceremony ofmatam(mourning) is held at the [330] house of the family priest while the palace is decked out for rejoicing. On the full moon of the spring month of Phalgun, while his brothers and the nobles attended the funeral pyre, Jagmall took possession of the throne in the infant capital, Udaipur: but even while the trumpets sounded, and the heralds called aloud “May the king live for ever!” a cabal was formed round the bier of his father.

Jagmall deposed in favour of Rāna Partāp Singh.—It will be borne in mind that Udai Singh espoused the Sonigira princess; and the Jalor Rao, desirous to see his sister’s son have his right, demanded of Kistna, the ‘great ancient’ of Mewar and the leader of the Chondawats, how such injustice was sanctioned by him. “When a sick man has reached the last extreme and asks for milk to drink, why refuse it?” was the reply; with the addition: “The Sonigira’s nephew is my choice, and my stand by Partap.” Jagmall had just entered the Rasora, and Partap was saddlingfor his departure, when Rawat Kistna entered, accompanied by the ex-prince of Gwalior. Each chief took an arm of Jagmall, and with gentle violence removed him to a seat in front of the ‘cushion’ he had occupied; the hereditary premier remarking, “You had made a mistake, Maharaj; that place belongs to your brother”: and girding Partap with the sword (the privilege of this house), thrice touching the ground, hailed him king of Mewar. All followed the example of Salumbar. Scarcely was the ceremony over, when the young prince remarked, it was the festival of the Aheria, nor must ancient customs be forgotten: “Therefore to horse, and slay a boar to Gauri,[47]and take the omen for the ensuing year.” They slew abundance of game, and in the mimic field of war, the nobles who surrounded the gallant Partap anticipated happier days for Mewar [331].

1. The seraglio, or female palace.

2. Bari, Nai, are names for the barbers, who are thecuisiniersof the Rajputs. [The special duty of the Bāri is making leaf-platters from which Hindus eat: he is also a domestic servant, but does not, like the Nāi, work as a barber.]

3. [Dr. Tessitori states that the true form of the name is Dahīpra or Dahīpura, and they seem to be the same as the Depla of Gujarāt, where they are said to have been originally Lohānas (BG, ix. Part i. 122).]

4. The laity of the Jain persuasion are so called [srāvak, meaning ‘a disciple’].

5.Bara‘great,’būrha‘aged’; the ‘wise elder’ of Rajasthan, where old age and dignity are synonymous.

6. [On the privilege of eating with the Rāna see p.213above.]

7. [There seems no basis for this tradition. The Bhonslas sprang from a Marātha headman of Deora in Sātāra (IGI, xviii. 306).]

8. Suhaila.

9. Kumbhalmer bidaona.

10. Chand, the heroic bard of the last Hindu emperor. [Cf.Ecclesiastes, x. 16.]

11. Battlements.

12.Badal Mahall.

13. November 23,A.D.1542.

14. The Sodhas, a branch of the Pramaras, see p. 111.

15. "Humaioon mounted his horse at midnight and fled towards Amercot, which is about one hundred coss from Tatta. His horse, on the way, falling down dead with fatigue, he desired Tirdi Beg, who was well mounted, to let him have his; but so ungenerous was this man, and so low was royalty fallen, that he refused to comply with his request. The troops of the raja being close to his heels, he was necessitated to mount a camel, till one Nidim Koka, dismounting his own mother, gave the king her horse, and, placing her on the camel, ran himself on foot by her side."The country through which they fled being an entire sandy desert, the troop began to be in the utmost distress for water. Some ran mad, others fell down dead; nothing was heard but dreadful screams and lamentations. To add, if possible, to this calamity, news arrived of the enemy’s near approach. Humaioon ordered all those who could fight to halt, and let the women and baggage move forward. The enemy not making their appearance, the king rode on in front to see how it fared with his family."Night, in the meantime, coming on, the rear lost their way, and in the morning were attacked by a party of the enemy. Shech Ali, with about twenty brave men, resolved to sell his life dear. Having repeated the creed of martyrdom, he rushed upon the enemy, and the first arrow having reached the heart of the chief of the party, the rest were by the valour of his handful put to flight. The other Moguls joined in the pursuit, and took many of the camels and horses. They then continued their march, found the king sitting by a well which he had fortunately found, and gave him an account of their adventure."Marching forward the next day from this well, they were more distressed than before, there being no water for two days’ journey. On the fourth day of their retreat they fell in with another well, which was so deep, that the only bucket they had took a great deal of time in being wound up, and therefore a drum was beat to give notice to the caffilas when the bucket appeared, that they might repair by turns to drink. The people were so impatient for the water, that as soon as the first bucket appeared, ten or twelve of them threw themselves upon it before it quite reached the brim of the well, by which means the rope broke, and the bucket was lost, and several fell headlong after it. When this fatal accident happened, the screams and lamentations of all became loud and dreadful. Some lolling out their tongues, rolled themselves in agony on the hot sand; while others, precipitating themselves into the well, met with an immediate, and consequently an easier death. What did not the unhappy king feel, when he saw this terrible situation of his few faithful friends!"The next day, though they reached water, was not less fatal than the former. The camels, who had not tasted water for several days, now drank so much that the greatest part of them died. The people, also, after drinking, complained of an oppression of the heart, and in about half an hour a great part of them expired."A few, with the king, after this unheard-of distress, reached Amercote. The raja, being a humane man, took compassion on their misfortunes: he spared nothing that could alleviate their miseries, or express his fidelity to the king.“At Amercote, upon Sunday the fifth of Rigib, in the year nine hundred and forty-nine, the prince Akber was brought forth by Hamida Banu Begum. The king, after returning thanks to God, left his family under the protection of Raja Rana, and, by the aid of that prince, marched against Bicker.” Dow’sFerishta[2nd ed. ii. 136 ff. Compare that of Briggs ii. 93 ff.].

"The country through which they fled being an entire sandy desert, the troop began to be in the utmost distress for water. Some ran mad, others fell down dead; nothing was heard but dreadful screams and lamentations. To add, if possible, to this calamity, news arrived of the enemy’s near approach. Humaioon ordered all those who could fight to halt, and let the women and baggage move forward. The enemy not making their appearance, the king rode on in front to see how it fared with his family.

"Night, in the meantime, coming on, the rear lost their way, and in the morning were attacked by a party of the enemy. Shech Ali, with about twenty brave men, resolved to sell his life dear. Having repeated the creed of martyrdom, he rushed upon the enemy, and the first arrow having reached the heart of the chief of the party, the rest were by the valour of his handful put to flight. The other Moguls joined in the pursuit, and took many of the camels and horses. They then continued their march, found the king sitting by a well which he had fortunately found, and gave him an account of their adventure.

"Marching forward the next day from this well, they were more distressed than before, there being no water for two days’ journey. On the fourth day of their retreat they fell in with another well, which was so deep, that the only bucket they had took a great deal of time in being wound up, and therefore a drum was beat to give notice to the caffilas when the bucket appeared, that they might repair by turns to drink. The people were so impatient for the water, that as soon as the first bucket appeared, ten or twelve of them threw themselves upon it before it quite reached the brim of the well, by which means the rope broke, and the bucket was lost, and several fell headlong after it. When this fatal accident happened, the screams and lamentations of all became loud and dreadful. Some lolling out their tongues, rolled themselves in agony on the hot sand; while others, precipitating themselves into the well, met with an immediate, and consequently an easier death. What did not the unhappy king feel, when he saw this terrible situation of his few faithful friends!

"The next day, though they reached water, was not less fatal than the former. The camels, who had not tasted water for several days, now drank so much that the greatest part of them died. The people, also, after drinking, complained of an oppression of the heart, and in about half an hour a great part of them expired.

"A few, with the king, after this unheard-of distress, reached Amercote. The raja, being a humane man, took compassion on their misfortunes: he spared nothing that could alleviate their miseries, or express his fidelity to the king.

“At Amercote, upon Sunday the fifth of Rigib, in the year nine hundred and forty-nine, the prince Akber was brought forth by Hamida Banu Begum. The king, after returning thanks to God, left his family under the protection of Raja Rana, and, by the aid of that prince, marched against Bicker.” Dow’sFerishta[2nd ed. ii. 136 ff. Compare that of Briggs ii. 93 ff.].

16. [Four are usually reckoned: Islām Shāh, Muhammad Shāh Ādil, Ibrāhīm Shāh, and Sikandar Shāh.]

17.A.D.1554.

18. [At the Sher Mandal in Purāna Kila, Delhi, on January 24, 1556.]

19. There are excellent grounds for a parallel between Akbar and Henry IV. and between Bairam and Sully, who were, moreover, almost contemporaries. The haughty and upright Bairam was at length goaded from rebellion to exile, and died by assassination only four years after Akbar’s accession. [January 31, 1561.] The story is one of the most useful lessons of history. [The life of Akbar has been fully told, with much new evidence, by V. A. Smith,Akbar the Great Mogul, 1917.]

20.A.H.975, orA.D.1567.

21.A.D.1556; both were under thirteen years of age.

22. If we argue this according to a Rajput’s notions, he will reject the compromise, and say that the son of Sanga should have evinced himself worthy of his descent, under whatever circumstances fortune might have placed him.

23. The pulpit or platform of the Islamite preachers.

24. Malik Bāyazīd was the name of the Malwa sovereign ere he came to the throne, corrupted by Europeans to Bajazet. He is always styled ‘Baz Bahadur’ in the annals of Mewar.

25. Battlements.

26. The last book of Chand opens with this vision.

27. [Ferishta ii. 299 ff. “It does not appear when that attempt was made, and it is difficult to find a place for it in Abu-l Fazl’s chronology, but there is also difficulty in believing the alleged fact to be an invention” (Smith,Akbar, the Great Mogul, 81).]

28. Of whichhordeis a corruption.

29. There are two villages of this name. This is on the lake called Mansarowar on whose bank I obtained that invaluable inscription (see No. 2) in the nail-headed character, which settled the establishment of the Guhilot in Chitor, at a little more than (as Orme has remarked) one thousand years. To the eternal regret of my Yati Guru and myself, a barbarian Brahman servant, instead of having it copied, broke the venerable column to bring the inscription to Udaipur.

30. It is as perfect as when constructed, being of immense blocks of compact white limestone, closely fitted to each other; its height thirty feet, the base a square of twelve, and summit four feet, to which a staircase conducts. A huge concave vessel was then filled with fire, which served as a night-beacon to this ambulatory city, where all nations and tongues were assembled, or to guide the foragers. Akbar, who was ambitious of being the founder of a new faith as well as kingdom, had tried every creed, Jewish, Hindu, and even made some progress in the doctrines of Christianity, and may have in turn affected those of Zardusht, and assuredly this pyramid possesses more of the appearance of a pyreum than a ‘diwa’; though either would have fulfilled the purport of a beacon. [Mr. V. A. Smith, quoting Kavi Rāj Shyāmal Dās, ‘Antiquities at Nagari’ (JASB, Part i. vol. lvi. (1887), p. 75), corrects the statements in this note. There was no interior staircase, and more accurate measurements are: height, 36 ft. 7 in.; 14 ft. 1 in. square at base; 3 ft. 3 in. square at apex. The tower is solid for 4 ft., then hollow for 20 ft., and solid again up to the top. The building may be very ancient, though used by Akbar as alleged by popular tradition; probably a wooden ladder gave access to the chamber and to the summit. The original purpose of the building, which stands near Nagari, some six miles N.E. of Chitor, is uncertain (Akbar the Great Mogul, 86, note).]

31. The Sangawats, not the sons of Rana Sanga, but of a chieftain of Chonda’s kin, whose name is the patronymic of one of its principal subdivisions, of whom the chief of Deogarh is now head (see p.188).

32. Of the Panchaenot branch.

33. One of the Shaikhavat subdivisions.

34. The abode of the Chondawat leader. It is common to call them by the name of their estates.

35. [He must have been older, as he left two sons, and had already served in defence of Merta (Smith,op. cit.88).]

36. The bira, or pan, the aromatic leaf so called, enveloping spices,terra japonica, calcinedshell-limeshell-lime, and pieces of the areca nut, is always presented on taking leave.

37. [His name appears to have been Sālivāhan, and as he had married a Sesodia princess, he was bound to fight for the Rāna (ASR, ii. 394).]

38. “Chait sudi igārahwān, S. 1624,” 11th Chait, or May,A.D.1568. [The Musalmān writers give February 23, 1568 (Akbarnāma, ii. 471; Elliot-Dowson v. 327;cf.Badaoni ii. 111).]

39. Grand kettle-drums, about eight or ten feet in diameter.

40. Thetija sakha Chitor ra, or ‘third sack of Chitor,’ was marked by the most illiterate atrocity, for every monument spared by Ala or Bayazid was defaced, which has left an indelible stain on Akbar’s name as a lover of the arts, as well as of humanity. Ala’s assault was comparatively harmless, as the care of the fortress was assigned to a Hindu prince; and Bayazid had little time to fulfil this part of the Mosaic law, maintained with rigid severity by the followers of Islamism. Besides, at those periods, they possessed both the skill and the means to reconstruct: not so after Akbar, as the subsequent portion of the annals will show but a struggle for existence. The arts do not flourish amidst penury: the principle to construct cannot long survive, when the means to execute are fled; and in the monumental works of Chitor we can trace the gradations of genius, its splendour and decay. [There is no good evidence that Akbar destroyed the buildings (Smith,op. cit.90).]

41. "He (Akber) named the matchlock with which he shot JeimulSingram, being one of great superiority and choice, and with which he had slain three or four thousand birds and beasts" (Jahangir-namah). [Ed. Rogers-Beveridge 45;Āīn, i. 116, 617; Badaoni ii. 107.]

42. “I find nothing remarkable at the entry but two great elephants of stone, which are in the two sides of one of the gates. Upon one of them is the statue of Jamel (Jeimul), that famous raja of Cheetore, and upon the other Potter (Putta) his brother. These are two gallant men that, together with their mother, who was yet braver than they, cut out so much work for Ekbar; and who, in the sieges of towns which they maintained against him, gave such extraordinary proofs of their generosity, that at length they would rather be killed in the outfalls (sallies) with their mother, than submit; and for this gallantry it is, that even their enemies thought them worthy to have these statues erected to them. These two great elephants, together with the two resolute men sitting on them, do at the first entry into this fortress make an impression of I know not what greatness and awful terror” (Letter written at Delhi, 1st July 1663, from edition printed in London in 1684, in the author’s possession). [Ed. V. A. Smith, 256.] Such the impression made on a Parisian a century after the event: but far more powerful the charm to the author of these annals, as he pondered on the spot where Jaimall received the fatal shot from Sangram, or placed flowers on the cenotaph that marks the fall of the son of Chonda and the mansion of Patta, whence issued the Sesodia matron and her daughter. Every foot of ground is hallowed by ancient recollections. [For the question of these statues see V. A. Smith,HFA, 426;ASR, i. 225 ff.; Manucci, ii. 11.]In these the reader may in some degree participate, as the plate gives in the distance the ruins of the dwellings both of Jaimall and Patta on the projection of the rock, as well as ‘the ringlet on the forehead of Chitor,’ the column of victory raised by Lakha Rana.

In these the reader may in some degree participate, as the plate gives in the distance the ruins of the dwellings both of Jaimall and Patta on the projection of the rock, as well as ‘the ringlet on the forehead of Chitor,’ the column of victory raised by Lakha Rana.

43. Themanis of four seers: the maund is forty, or seventy-five pounds. Dow, calculating all the captured wealth of India by the latter, has rendered many facts improbable. [Themanin theĀīnwas 55½ lbs.]

44. [Sir H. M. Elliot proved that the use of 74½ is merely a modification of the figures 74¹⁰⁄₁₆, meaning apparently 84, a sacred number (Supplemental Glossary, 197). In the Central Provinces it is said that it originated in Jahāngīr’s slaughter of the Nāgar Brāhmans, when 7450 of them threw away their sacred cords and became Sūdras to save their lives (Russell,Tribes and Castes, ii. 395).]

45. ‘Chitor marya ra pap’:rais the sign of the genitive, in the Doric tongue of Mewar, thekaof the refined.

46. ClassicallyUdayapura, the city of the East; fromudaya(oriens), the point of sunrise, asasta(west) is of sunset.

47. Ceres—The Aheria, orMahurat ka Shikar, will be explained in the Personal Narrative, as it would here break the connexion of events.

Rāna Partāp Singh,A.D.1572-97.—Partap[1]succeeded to the titles and renown of an illustrious house, but without a capital, without resources, his kindred and clans dispirited by reverses: yet possessed of the noble spirit of his race, he meditated the recovery of Chitor, the vindication of the honour of his house, and the restoration of its power. Elevated with this design, he hurried into conflict with his powerful antagonist, nor stooped to calculate the means which were opposed to him. Accustomed to read in his country’s annals the splendid deeds of his forefathers, and that Chitor had more than once been the prison of their foes, he trusted that the revolutions of fortune might co-operate with his own efforts to overturn the unstable throne of Delhi. The reasoning was as just as it was noble; but whilst he gave loose to those lofty aspirations which meditated liberty to Mewar, his crafty opponent was counteracting his views by a scheme of policy which, when disclosed, filled his heart withanguish. The wily Mogul arrayed against Partap his kindred in faith as well as blood. The princes of Marwar, Amber, Bikaner, and even Bundi, late his firm ally, took part with Akbar and upheld despotism. Nay, even his own brother, Sagarji,[2]deserted him, and received, as the price of his treachery, the ancient capital of his race, and the title which that possession conferred [332].

Rāna Partāp Singh resists the Moguls.—But the magnitude of the peril confirmed the fortitude of Partap, who vowed, in the words of the bard, “to make his mother’s milk resplendent”; and he amply redeemed his pledge. Single-handed, for a quarter of a century did he withstand the combined efforts of the empire; at one time carrying destruction into the plains, at another flying from rock to rock, feeding his family from the fruits of his native hills, and rearing the nursling hero Amra, amidst savage beasts and scarce less savage men, a fit heir to his prowess and revenge. The bare idea that “the son of Bappa Rawal should bow the head to mortal man,” was insupportable; and he spurned every overture which had submission for its basis, or the degradation of uniting his family by marriage with the Tatar, though lord of countless multitudes.

The brilliant acts he achieved during that period live in every valley; they are enshrined in the heart of every true Rajput, and many are recorded in the annals of the conquerors. To recount them all, or relate the hardships he sustained, would be to pen what they would pronounce a romance who had not traversed the country where tradition is yet eloquent with his exploits, or conversed with the descendants of his chiefs, whocherish a recollection of the deeds of their forefathers, and melt, as they recite them, into manly tears.[3]

Partap was nobly supported; and though wealth and fortune tempted the fidelity of his chiefs, not one was found base enough to abandon him. The sons of Jaimall shed their blood in his cause, along with the successors of Patta—the house of Salumbar redoubled the claims of Chonda to fidelity; and these five lustres of adversity are the brightest in the chequered page of the history of Mewar. Nay, some chiefs, attracted by the very desperation of his fortunes, pressed to his standard, to combat and die with Partap. Amongst these was the Delwara chief, whose devotion gained him the prince’s ‘right hand.’

The Vow of Rāna Partāp Singh.—To commemorate the desolation of Chitor, which the bardic historian represents as a ‘widow’ despoiled of the ornaments to her loveliness, Partap interdicted to himself and his successors every article of luxury or pomp, until the insignia of her glory should be redeemed. The gold and silver dishes were laid aside [333] forpattras[4]of leaves; their beds henceforth of straw, and their beards left untouched. But in order more distinctly to mark their fallen fortune and stimulate to its recovery, he commanded that the martialnakkaras, which always sounded in the van of battle or processions, should follow in the rear. This last sign of the depression of Mewar still survives; the beard is yet untouched by the shears; and even in the subterfuge by which the patriot king’s behest is set aside, we have a tribute to his memory: for though his descendant eats off gold and silver, and sleeps upon a bed, he places the leaves beneath the one and straw under the other.[5]

Often was Partap heard to exclaim, “Had Udai Singh never been, or none intervened between him and Sanga Rana, noTurk should ever have given laws to Rajasthan.” Hindu society had assumed a new form within the century preceding: the wrecks of dominion from the Jumna and Ganges had been silently growing into importance; and Amber and Marwar had attained such power, that the latter single-handed coped with the imperial Sher Shah; while numerous minor chieftainships were attaining shape and strength on both sides the Chambal. A prince of commanding genius alone was wanting, to snatch the sceptre of dominion from the Islamite. Such a leader they found in Sanga, who possessed every quality which extorts spontaneous obedience, and the superiority of whose birth, as well as dignity, were admitted without cavil, from the Himalaya to Rameswaram.[6]These States had powerful motives to obey such a leader, in the absence of whom their ancient patrimony was lost; and such they would have found renewed in Sanga’s grandson, Partap, had Udai Singh not existed, or had a less gifted sovereign than Akbar been his contemporary.

With the aid of some chiefs of judgment and experience, Partap remodelled his government, adapting it to the exigencies of the times and to his slender resources. New grants were issued, with regulations defining the service required. Kumbhalmer, now the seat of government, was strengthened, as well as Gogunda and other mountain fortresses; and, being unable to keep the field in the plains [334] of Mewar, he followed the system of his ancestors, and commanded his subjects, on pain of death, to retire into the mountains. During the protracted contest, the fertile tracts watered by the Banas and the Berach, from the Aravalli chain west to the eastern tableland, werebe chiragh, ‘without a lamp.’

Many tales are related of the unrelenting severity with which Partap enforced obedience to this stern policy. Frequently, with a few horse, he issued forth to see that his commands were obeyed. The silence of the desert prevailed in the plains; grass had usurped the place of the waving corn; the highways were choked with the thorny babul,[7]and beasts of prey made their abode in the habitations of his subjects. In the midst of this desolation, a single goatherd, trusting to elude observation, disobeyed his prince’s injunction, and pastured his flock in theluxuriant meadows of Untala, on the banks of the Banas. After a few questions, he was killed and hung upin terrorem. By such patriotic severity Partap rendered ‘the garden of Rajasthan’ of no value to the conqueror, and the commerce already established between the Mogul court and Europe, conveyed through Mewar from Surat and other ports, was intercepted and plundered.

Akbar attacks Rāna Partāp Singh,A.D.1576.—Akbar took the field against the Rajput prince, establishing his headquarters at Ajmer. This celebrated fortress, destined ultimately to be one of the twenty-two subahs of his empire and an imperial residence, had admitted for some time a royal garrison. Maldeo of Marwar, who had so ably opposed the usurper Sher Shah, was compelled to follow the example of his brother prince, Bhagwandas of Amber, and to place himself at the footstool of Akbar: only two years subsequent to Partap’s accession, after a brave but fruitless resistance in Merta and Jodhpur, he sent his son, Udai Singh, to pay homage to the king.[8]Akbar received him at Nagor, on his route to Ajmer, on which occasion the Raos of Mandor were made Rajas; and as the heir of Marwar was of uncommon bulk, the title by which he was afterwards known in Rajasthan was Mota Raja,[9]and henceforth the descendants of the kings of Kanauj had the ‘right hand’ of the emperor of the Moguls. But the Rathor was greater in his native pride than with all the accession of dignity or power which accrued on his sacrifice of Rajput principles [335]. Udai ‘le gros’ was the first of his race who gave a daughter in marriage to a Tatar. The bribe for which he bartered his honour was splendid; for four provinces,[10]yielding £200,000 of annual revenue, were given in exchange for Jodh Bai,[11]at once doubling the fisc of Marwar. With such examplesas Amber and Marwar, and with less power to resist the temptation, the minor chiefs of Rajasthan, with a brave and numerous vassalage, were transformed into satraps of Delhi, and the importance of most of them was increased by the change. Truly did the Mogul historian designate them “at once the props and the ornaments of the throne.”

Rāna Partāp Singh deserted by Rājput Princes.—But these were fearful odds against Partap: the arms of his countrymen thus turned upon him, derived additional weight from their self-degradation, which kindled into jealousy and hatred against the magnanimous resolution they wanted the virtue to imitate. When Hindu prejudice was thus violated by every prince in Rajasthan (that of Bundi alone excepted[12]), the Rana renounced all alliance with those who were thus degraded; and in order to carry on the line, he sought out and incorporated with the first class of nobles of his own kin the descendants of the ancient princes of Delhi, of Patan, of Marwar, and of Dhar. To the eternal honour of Partap and his issue be it told, that to the very close of the monarchy of the Moguls, they not only refused such alliance with the throne, but even with their brother princes of Marwar and Amber. It is a proud triumph of virtue to record, from the autograph letters of the most powerful of their princes, Bakhta Singh and Jai Singh, that whilst they had risen to greatness from the surrender of principle, as Mewar had decayed from her adherence to it, they should, even while basking in court favour, solicit, and that humbly, to be readmitted to the honour of matrimonial intercourse—‘to be purified,’ ‘to be regenerated,’ ‘to be made Rajputs’: and that this was granted only on condition of their abjuring the contaminating practice which had disunited them for more than a century; with the additional stipulation, that the issue of marriage with the house [336] of Mewar should be the heirs to those they entered: conditions which the decline of the empire prevented from being broken.

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