CHAPTER 5

Bhartribhat III.—Bhartribhat (familiarly Bhato) succeeded. In his reign, and in that of his successor, the territory dependent on Chitor was greatly increased. All the forest tribes, from the banks of the Mahi to Abu, were subjugated, and strongholds erected, of which Dharangarh and Ujargarh still remain to maintain them. He established no less than thirteen[39]of his sons inindependent possessions in Malwa and Gujarat, and these were distinguished as the Bhatera Guhilots.

We shall now leap over fifteen generations; which, though affording a few interesting facts to the antiquary, would not amuse the general reader. We will rest satisfied with stating that the Chauhans of Ajmer and the Guhilots of Chitor were alternately friends and foes; that Durlabh Chauhan was slain by Bersi Rawal in a grand battle fought at Kawaria, of which the Chauhan annals state ‘that their princes were now so powerful as to oppose the chief of Chitor.’ Again, in the next reign, we find the renowned Bisaldeo, son of Durlabh, combining with Rawal Tejsi of Chitor to oppose the progress of Islamite invasion: facts recorded by inscriptions as well as by the annals. We may close these remarks on the fifteen princes, from Khuman to Samarsi, with the words of Gibbon on the dark period of Guelphic annals: “It may be presumed that they were illiterate and valiant; that they plundered in their youth, and reared churches in their old age; that they were fond of arms, horses, and hunting”; and, we may add, continued bickering with their vassals within when left unemployed by the enemy from without [254].

1. [“We now know that Samar Singh was alive up to 1299, only four years before Alāu-d-dīn’s siege of Chitor, and that in several inscriptions his dates are given as 1273, 1274, 1285, etc.... Instead of being the father of Karan Singh I., as stated by Tod, Samar Singh came eight generations after him, and was the father of Ratan Singh I., who, according to Muhammadan historians, was the ruler of Chitor during the reign of Alāu-d-dīn, and the husband of Padmini” (Erskine ii. A. 14 f.)]

2. See Genealogical Table.

3. This, according to the roll, was the standard of Bappa.

4. Amongst the passages which Dow [i. 37] has slurred over in his translation is the interesting account of the origin of the Afghans; who, when they first came in contact with those of the new faith, inA.H.62, dwelt around the Koh-i-Sulaiman. Ferishta, quoting authority, says: "The Afghans were Copts, ruled by Pharaun, many of whom were converted to the laws and religion of Moses; but others, who were stubborn in their worship to their gods, fled towards Hindustan, and took possession of the country adjoining the Koh-i-Sulaiman. They were visited by Kasim from Sind, and in the 143rd year of the Hegira had possessed themselves of the provinces of Kirman, Peshawar, and all within their bounds (sinoran)," which Dow has converted into a province. The whole geographical description of the Kohistan, the etymology of the termRohilla, and other important matter, is omitted by him [see Briggs, trans. i. 6 f.].

5. [The island Diu.] Yūsufgol is stated to have held Chaul on the mainland. He was most probably the father of Vanaraja Chawara, the founder of Patan Anhilwara, whose ancestors, on the authority of the Kumarpal Charitra, were princes of Bandardiva, held by the Portuguese since the time of Albuquerque, who changed its name to Deo. [But Yūsufgol, if he existed, must have been a Musalmān. Vanarāja Chāwara was son of Jayasekhara, said to have been slain in battle,A.D.696, leaving his wife pregnant (BG, i. Part i. 150 f.). Yūsufgol does not appear in the local history.]

6. The ancient roll from which this is taken mentions Asil giving his name to a fortress, called Asilgarh. His son, Bijai Pal, was slain in attempting to wrest Khambayat (Cambay) from Sangram Dabhi. One of his wives, from a violent death, was prematurely delivered of a boy, called Setu; and as, in such cases, the Hindu supposes the deceased to become a discontented spirit (churail), Churaila became the name of the tribe. Bija, the twelfth from Asil, obtained Sonal from his maternal uncle, Khengar Dabhi, prince of Girnar, but was slain by Jai Singh Deo, prince of Surat. From these names compounded, Dabi and Churaila, we may have the Dabisalima of Mahmud. [The Asil Guhilots are now included in the Mers of the Kāthiawār coast; their numbers are exaggerated in the text (Āīn, ii. 247;BG, ix. Parti. 126).] [See p.266above.]

7. Also called Karna. He it was who excavated the Boraila lake, and erected the grand temple of Eklinga on the site of the hermitage of Harita, whose descendant, the present officiating priest, reckons sixty-six descents, while the princes of Mewar amount to seventy-two in the same period.

8. [Ferishta (i. 2) calls him Sayyid bin Abiu-l-Aas.]

9. See Table next page.

10. Marigny (quoting El-Makin),Hist. of the Arabians, vol. ii. p. 283;Mod. Univ. Hist.vol. ii. p. 47.

11. “The two young princesses, in order to revenge the death of their father, represented falsely to the Khalif that Muhammad bin Kasim had been connected with them. The Khalif, in a rage, gave order for Muhammad bin Kasim to be sewed up in a raw hide, and sent in that condition to court. When the mandate arrived at Tatta, Kasim was prepared to carry an expedition against Harchand, monarch of Kanauj. When he arrived at court, the Khalif showed him to the daughters of Dahir, who expressed their joy upon beholding their father’s murderer in such a condition” [Āīn, ii. 345; Elliot-Dowson i. 209 f.].

13. [The Mewār dates are quite untrustworthy (see Erskine iii. B. 8 f.).]

14. Aror is seven miles east of Bakhar.

15. Marigny, vol. iii. p. 83;Univ. Hist.vol. ii. p. 162.

16. His father’s name was Aliptigin, termed a slave by Ferishta and his authorities; though El-Makin gives him an ancestor in Yazdegird. [He was a slave (Elliot-Dowson iv. 159).]

17.Ait, contracted fromAditya: henceItwar, ‘Sunday.’

18. [This is not corroborated by Musulmān authorities.]

19. Even from the puerilities of Hindu legends something may be extracted. A mendicant dervesh, called Roshan Ali (i.e.the ‘lightof Ali’), had found his way to Garh Bitli (the ancient name of the Ajmer fortress), and having thrust his hand into a vessel of curds destined for the Raja, had his finger cut off. The disjointed member flew to Mecca, and was recognized as belonging to the saint. An army was equipped in the disguise of horse-merchants, which invaded Ajmer, whose prince was slain. May we not gather from this incident that an insult to the first Islamite missionary, in the person of Roshan Ali, brought upon the prince the arms of the Caliph? The same Chauhan legends state that Ajaipal was prince of Ajmer at this time; that in this invasion by sea he hastened to Anjar (on the coast of Cutch), where he held the ‘guard of the ocean’ (Samudra ki Chauki), where he fell in opposing the landing. An altar was erected on the spot, on which was sculptured the figure of the prince on horseback, with his lance at rest, and which still annually attracts multitudes at the ‘fair (Mela) of Ajaipal.’ The subsequent invasion alluded to in the text, of S. 750 (A.D.694), is marked by a curious anecdote. When the ‘Asurs’ had blockaded Ajmer, Lot, the infant son of Manika Rae, was playing on the battlements, when an arrow from the foe killed the heir of Ajmer, who has ever since been worshipped amongst the lares and penates of the Chauhans; and as he had on a silver chain anklet at the time, this ornament is forbid to the children of the race. In all these Rajput families there is a putra (adolescens) amongst the penates, always one who has come to an untimely end, and chiefly worshipped by females; having a strong resemblance to the rites in honour of Adonis. We have traced several Roman and Grecian terms to Sanskrit origin; may we add that oflares, fromlarla, ‘dear’ or ‘beloved’? [?].

20. [The story is “puerile and fictitious: independent of which the Arabs had quite enough to do nearer home” (Elliot-Dowson i. 426).]

21. [Persian: not a likely name.]

22. Signifying ‘Elephant forests,’ and described in a Hindu map (stamped on cloth and painted) of India from Kujliban to Lanka, and the provinces west of the Indus to Calcutta; presented by me to the Royal Asiatic Society.

23. The list of the vassal princes at the court of the Mori confirms the statement of the bard Chand, of the supremacy of Ram Pramara, and the partition of his dominion, as described (see p. 63, note) amongst the princes who founded separate dynasties at this period; hitherto in vassalage or subordinate to the Pramara. We can scarcely suppose the family to have suffered any decay since their ancestor, Chandragupta, connected by marriage with as well as the ally of the Grecian Seleucus, and who held Greeks in his pay. From such connexion, the arts of sculpture and architecture may have derived a character hitherto unnoticed. Amidst the ruins of Barolli are seen sculptured the Grecian helmet; and the elegant ornament, the Kumbha, or ‘vessel of desire,’ on the temple of Annapurna (i.e.‘giver of food’), the Hindu Ceres, has much affinity to the Grecian device. From the inscription (see No. 2) it is evident that Chitor was an appanage of Ujjain, the seat of Pramar empire. Its monarch, Chandragupta (Mori [Maurya]), degraded into the barber (Maurya) tribe, was the descendant of Srenika, prince of Rajagriha, who, according to the Jain work, Kalpadruma Kalka, flourished in the year 477 before Vikramaditya, and from whom Chandragupta was the thirteenth in descent. The names as follows: Kanika, Udsen, and nine in succession of the name of Nanda, thence called the Nau-nanda. These, at twenty-two years to a reign (see p.64), would give 286 years, which -477 = 191 s.v. + 56 = 247A.C.Now it was inA.C.260, according to Bayer, that the treaty was formed between Seleucus and Chandragupta; so that this scrap of Jain history may be regarded as authentic and valuable. Asoka (a name of weight in Jain annals) succeeded Chandragupta. He by Kunala, whose son was Samprati, with whose name ends the line of Srenika, according to the authority from which I made the extract. The name of Samprati is well known from Ajmer to Saurashtra, and his era is given in a valuable chronogrammatic catalogue in an ancient Jain manuscript from the temple of Nadol, at 202 of the Virat Samvat. He is mentioned both traditionally and by books as the great supporter of the Jain faith, and the remains of temples dedicated to Mahavira, erected by this prince, yet exist at Ajmer, on Abu, Kumbhalmer, and Girnar. [Much of this needs correction, which cannot be done in the limits of a note. For the Nanda dynasty see Smith,EHI, 40, and for Chandragupta Maurya and Asoka, 115 ff.]

24. [This and the second catalogue are fictions. They conflict with the conditions then existing in Gujarāt, and such motley arrays are a favourite bardic theme (Forbes,Rāsmāla, 31, note;ASR, ii. 379).]

25. It has already been stated that the ancient name of Cambay was Gaini or Gajni, whose ruins are three miles from the present city [see p. 254 above]. There is also a Gajni on the estuary of the Mahi, and Abu-l Fazl incidentally mentions a Gajnagar as one of the most important fortresses of Gujarat, belonging to Ahmad Shah; in attempting to obtain which by stratagem, his antagonist, Hoshang, king of Malwa, was made prisoner. I am unaware of the site of this place, though there are remains of an extensive fortress near the capital, founded by Ahmad, and which preserves no name. It may be the ancient Gajnagar. [The Author confuses the place in Gujarāt with Jājnagar or Jājpur in Orissa, captured through a stratagem by Hoshang (Āīn, ii. 219; Ferishta iv. 178;BG, i. Part i. 359).]

26. I presented to the Royal Asiatic Society two inscriptions from Nadol, one dated S. 1024, the other 1039. They are of Prince Lakha, and state as instances of his power that he collected the transit duties at the further barrier of Patan, and levied tribute from the prince of Chitor. He was the contemporary of Mahmud, who devastated Nadol. I also discovered inscriptions of the twelfth century relative to this celebrated Chauhan family, in passing from Udaipur to Jodhpur. [Dow (i. 170) writes “Tilli and Buzule”; Briggs (i. 196) has “Baly and Nadole”; Elliot-Dowson (ii. 229) writes “Pāli and Nandūl,” the differences being due to misreading of the Arabic script.]

27. [Setubandha is the causeway made by Rāma to Lanka or Ceylon (IGI, v. 81).]

28. [Chāmunda reignedA.D.997-1010; Anhilwāra was captured under Bhīma I. (1022-64).]

29. See p.144.

30. [Ferishta i. 6.]

31. The scene of action was between Peshawar and Kirman, the latter lying ninety miles south-west of the former.

32. Dow omits this in his translation [see Briggs i. Introd. 9, i. 16].

33. The sense of this passage has been quite perverted by Dow [see Briggs i. 16].

34. [See Smith,EHI, 382.]

35. [The capital of the Assakenoi was Massaga, near the Malakand Pass (Smith,EHI, 54; McCrindle,Alexander, 334 f.).]

36. [For the site see Smith,EHI, 56, note 2.]

37. See p.104.

38. See p.119f.

39. By name, Kulanagar, Champaner, Choreta, Bhojpur, Lunara, Nimthor, Sodara, Jodhgarh, Sandpur, Aitpur, and Gangabheva. The remaining two are not mentioned.

Although the whole of this chain of ancestry, from Kanaksen in the second, Vijaya the founder of Valabhi in the fourth, to Samarsi in the thirteenth century, cannot be discriminated with perfect accuracy, we may affirm, to borrow a metaphor, that “the two extremities of it are riveted in truth”: and some links have at intervals been recognized as equally valid. We will now extend the chain to the nineteenth century.

Samar Singh, Samarsi: The Tuars of Delhi.—Samarsi was born in S. 1206.[1]Though the domestic annals are not silent on his acts, we shall recur chiefly to the bard of Delhi[2]for his characterand actions, and the history of the period. Before we proceed, however, a sketch of the political condition of Hindustan during the last of the Tuar sovereigns of Delhi, derived from this authority and in the bard’s own words, may not be unacceptable. "In Patan is Bhola Bhim the Chalukya, of iron frame.[3]On the mountain Abu, Jeth Pramara, in battle immovable as the star of the north. In Mewar is Samar Singh, who takes tribute from the mighty, a wave of iron in the path of Delhi’s foe. In the midst of all, strong in his own strength, Mandor’s prince, the arrogant Nahar Rao, the might of Maru, fearing none. In Delhi the chief of all [255] Ananga, at whose summons attended the princes of Mandor, Nagor, Sind, Jalwat,[4]and others on its confines, Peshawar, Lahore, Kangra, and its mountain chiefs, with Kasi,[5]Prayag,[6]and Garh Deogir. The lords of Simar[7]were in constant danger of his power." The Bhatti, since their expulsion from Zabulistan, had successively occupied as capitals, Salivahanapur in the Panjab, Tanot, Derawar, which last they founded, and the ancient Lodorwa, which they conquered in the desert; and at the period in question were constructing their present residence, Jaisalmer. In this nook they had been fighting for centurieswith the lieutenants of the Caliph at Aror, occasionally redeeming their ancient possessions as far as the city of the Tak on the Indus. Their situation gave them little political interest in the affairs of Hindustan until the period of Prithiraj, one of whose principal leaders, Achales, was the brother of the Bhatti prince. Anangpal, from this description, was justly entitled to be termed the paramount sovereign of Hindustan; but he was the last of a dynasty of nineteen princes, who had occupied Delhi nearly four hundred years, from the time of the founder Bilan Deo, who, according to a manuscript in the author’s possession, was only an opulent Thakur when he assumed the ensigns of royalty in the then deserted Indraprastha, taking the name of Anangpal,[8]ever after titular in the family. The Chauhans of Ajmer owed at least homage to Delhi at this time, although Bisaldeo had rendered it almost nominal; and to Someswar, the fourth in descent, Anangpal was indebted for the preservation of this supremacy against the attempts of Kanauj, for which service he obtained the Tuar’s daughter in marriage, the issue of which was Prithiraj, who when only eight years of age was proclaimed successor to the Delhi throne.

Prithiraj.—Jaichand of Kanauj and Prithiraj bore the same relative situation to Anangpal; Bijaipal, the father of the former, as well as Someswar, having had a daughter of the Tuar to wife. This originated the rivalry between the Chauhans and Rathors, which ended in the destruction of both. When Prithiraj mounted the throne of Delhi, Jaichand not only refused to acknowledge his supremacy, but set forth his own claims to this distinction. In these he was supported by the prince of Patan [256] Anhilwara (the eternal foe of the Chauhans), and likewise by the Parihars of Mandor. But the affront given by the latter, in refusing to fulfil the contract of bestowing his daughter on the young Chauhan, brought on a warfare, in which this first essay was but the presage of his future fame. Kanauj and Patan had recourse to the dangerous expedient of entertaining bands of Tatars, through whom the sovereign of Ghazni was enabled to take advantage of their internal broils.

Samarsi, prince of Chitor, had married the sister of Prithiraj, and their personal characters, as well as this tie, bound them to each other throughout all these commotions, until the last fatal battle on the Ghaggar. From these feuds Hindustan never was free. But unrelenting enmity was not a part of their character: having displayed the valour of the tribe, the bard or Nestor of the day would step in, and a marriage would conciliate and maintain in friendship such foes for two generations. From time immemorial such has been the political state of India, as represented by their own epics, or in Arabian or Persian histories: thus always the prey of foreigners, and destined to remain so. Samarsi had to contend both with the princes of Patan and Kanauj; and although the bard says “he washed his blade in the Jumna,” the domestic annals slur over the circumstance of Siddharaja-Jayasingha having actually made a conquest of Chitor; for it is not only included in the eighteen capitals enumerated as appertaining to this prince, but the author discovered a tablet[9]in Chitor, placed there by his successor, Kumarpal, bearing the date S. 1206, the period of Samarsi’s birth. The first occasion of Samarsi’s aid being called in by the Chauhan emperor was on the discovery of treasure at Nagor, amounting to seven millions of gold, the deposit of ancient days. The princes of Kanauj and Patan, dreading the influence which such sinews of war would afford their antagonist, invited Shihabu-d-din to aid their designs of humiliating the Chauhan, who in this emergency sent an embassy to Samarsi. The envoy was Chand Pundir, the vassal chief of Lahore, and guardian of that frontier. He is conspicuous from this time to the hour “when he planted his lance at the ford of the Ravi,” and fell in opposing the passage of Shihabu-d-din. The presents he carries, the speech with which he greets the Chitor prince, his reception, reply, and dismissal are all preserved by [257] Chand. The style of address and the apparel of Samarsi betoken that he had not laid aside the office and ensigns of a ‘Regent of Mahadeva.’ A simple necklace of the seeds of the lotus adorned his neck; his hair was braided, and he is addressed as Jogindra, or chief of ascetics. Samarsi proceeded to Delhi; and it was arranged, as he was connected by marriage with the prince of Patan, that Prithiraj should march against this prince, while he should oppose the army from Ghazni. He(Samarsi) accordingly fought several indecisive battles, which gave time to the Chauhan to terminate the war in Gujarat and rejoin him. United, they completely discomfited the invaders, making their leader prisoner. Samarsi declined any share of the discovered treasure, but permitted his chiefs to accept the gifts offered by Chauhan. Many years elapsed in such subordinate warfare, when the prince of Chitor was again constrained to use his buckler in defence of Delhi and its prince, whose arrogance and successful ambition, followed by disgraceful inactivity, invited invasion with every presage of success. Jealousy and revenge rendered the princes of Patan, Kanauj, Dhar, and the minor courts indifferent spectators of a contest destined to overthrow them all.

The Death of Samar Singh.—The bard gives a good description of the preparations for his departure from Chitor, which he was destined never to see again. The charge of the city was entrusted to a favourite and younger son, Karna: which disgusted the elder brother, who went to the Deccan to Bidar, where he was well received by an Abyssinian chief,[10]who had there established himself in sovereignty. Another son, either on this occasion or on the subsequent fall of Chitor, fled to the mountains of Nepal, and there spread the Guhilot line.[11]It is in this, the last of the books of Chand, termedThe Great Fight, that we have the character of Samarsi fully delineated. His arrival at Delhi is hailed with songs of joy as a day of deliverance. Prithiraj and his court advance seven miles to meet him, and the description of the greeting of the king of Delhi and his sister, and the chiefs on either side who recognize ancient friendships, is most animated. Samarsi reads his brother-in-law an indignant lecture on his unprincely inactivity, and throughout the book divides attention with him.

In the planning of the campaign, and march towards the Ghaggar to meet the foe [258], Samarsi is consulted, and his opinions are recorded. The bard represents him as the Ulysses of the host: brave, cool, and skilful in the fight; prudent, wise, and eloquent in council; pious and decorous on all occasions; beloved by his own chiefs, and reverenced by the vassals of the Chauhan. In the line of march no augur or bard could betterexplain the omens, none in the field better dress the squadrons for battle, none guide his steed or use his lance with more address. His tent is the principal resort of the leaders after the march or in the intervals of battle, who were delighted by his eloquence or instructed by his knowledge. The bard confesses that his precepts of government are chiefly from the lips of Khuman;[12]and of his best episodes and allegories, whether on morals, rules for the guidance of ambassadors, choice of ministers, religious or social duties (but especially those of the Rajput to the sovereign), the wise prince of Chitor is the general organ.

On the last of three days’ desperate fighting Samarsi was slain, together with his son Kalyan, and thirteen thousand of his household troops and most renowned chieftains.[13]His beloved Pirtha, on hearing the fatal issue, her husband slain, her brother captive, the heroes of Delhi and Chitor “asleep on the banks of the Ghaggar, in the wave of the steel,” joined her lord through the flame, nor waited the advance of the Tatar king, when Delhi was carried by storm, and the last stay of the Chauhans, Prince Rainsi, met death in the assault. The capture of Delhi and its monarch, the death of his ally of Chitor, with the bravest and best of their troops, speedily ensured the further and final success of the Tatar arms; and when Kanauj fell, and the traitor to his nation met his fate in the waves of the Ganges, none were left to contend with Shihabu-d-din the possession of the regal seat of the Chauhan. Scenes of devastation, plunder, and massacre commenced, which lasted through ages; during which nearly all that was sacred in religion or celebrated in art was destroyed by these ruthless and barbarous invaders. The noble Rajput, with a spirit of constancy and enduring courage, seized every opportunity to turn upon his oppressor. By his perseverance and valour he wore out entire dynasties of foes, alternately yielding ‘to his fate,’ or restricting the circle of conquest. Every road in Rajasthan was moistened with torrents of blood of the [259] spoiled and the spoiler. But all was of no avail; fresh supplies were ever pouring in, and dynasty succeeded dynasty, heir to the same remorseless feeling which sanctified murder, legalized spoliation, and deified destruction.In these desperate conflicts entire tribes were swept away whose names are the only memento of their former existence and celebrity.

Gallant Resistance of the Rājputs.—What nation on earth would have maintained the semblance of civilization, the spirit or the customs of their forefathers, during so many centuries of overwhelming depression but one of such singular character as the Rajput? Though ardent and reckless, he can, when required, subside into forbearance and apparent apathy, and reserve himself for the opportunity of revenge. Rajasthan exhibits the sole example in the history of mankind of a people withstanding every outrage barbarity can inflict, or human nature sustain, from a foe whose religion commands annihilation, and bent to the earth, yet rising buoyant from the pressure, and making calamity a whetstone to courage. How did the Britons at once sink under the Romans, and in vain strive to save their groves, their druids, or the altars of Bal from destruction! To the Saxons they alike succumbed; they, again, to the Danes; and this heterogeneous breed to the Normans. Empire was lost and gained by a single battle, and the laws and religion of the conquered merged in those of the conquerors. Contrast with these the Rajputs; not an iota of their religion or customs have they lost, though many a foot of land. Some of their States have been expunged from the map of dominion; and, as a punishment of national infidelity, the pride of the Rathor, and the glory of the Chalukya, the overgrown Kanauj and gorgeous Anhilwara, are forgotten names! Mewar alone, the sacred bulwark of religion, never compromised her honour for her safety, and still survives her ancient limits; and since the brave Samarsi gave up his life, the blood of her princes has flowed in copious streams for the maintenance of this honour, religion, and independence.

Karan Singh I.: Ratan Singh.—Samarsi had several sons;[14]but Karna was his heir, and during his minority his mother, Kuramdevi, a princess of Patan, nobly maintained what his father left. She headed her Rajputs and gave battle[15]in person to Kutbu-d-din,near [260] Amber, when the viceroy was defeated and wounded. Nine Rajas, and eleven chiefs of inferior dignity with the title of Rawat, followed the mother of their prince.

Karna (the radiant) succeeded in S. 1249 (A.D.1193); but he was not destined to be the founder of a line in Mewar.[16]The annals are at variance with each other on an event which gave the sovereignty of Chitor to a younger branch, and sent the elder into the inhospitable wilds of the west, to found a city[17]and perpetuate a line.[18]It is stated generally that Karna had two sons, Mahup and Rahup; but this is an error: Samarsi and Surajmall were brothers: Karna was the son of the former and Mahup was his son, whose mother was a Chauhan of Bagar. Surajmall had a son named Bharat, who was driven from Chitor by a conspiracy. He proceeded to Sind, obtained Aror from its prince, a Musalman, and married the daughter of the Bhatti chief of Pugal, by whom he had a son named Rahup. Kama died of grief for the loss of Bharat and the unworthiness of Mahup, who abandoned him to live entirely with his maternal relations, the Chauhans.

The Sonigira chief of Jalor had married the daughter of Karna,by whom he had a child named Randhol,[19]whom by treachery he placed on the throne of Chitor, slaying the chief Guhilots. Mahup being unable to recover his rights, and unwilling to make any exertion, the chair of Bappa Rawal would have passed to the Chauhans but for an ancient bard of the house. He pursued his way to Aror, held by old Bharat as a fief of Kabul. With the levies of Sind he marched to claim the right abandoned by Mahup and at Pali encountered and defeated the Sonigiras. The retainers of Mewar flocked to his standard, and by their aid he enthroned himself in Chitor. He sent for his father and mother, Ranangdevi, whose dwelling on the Indus was made over to a younger brother, who bartered his faith for Aror, and held it as a vassal of Kabul.

Rāhup.—Rahup obtained Chitor in S. 1257 (A.D.1201), and shortly after sustained the attack of Shamsu-d-din, whom he met and overcame in a battle at Nagor. Two [261] great changes were introduced by this prince; the first in the title of the tribe, to Sesodia; the other in that of its prince, from Rawal to Rana. The puerile reason for the former has already been noticed;[20]the cause of the latter is deserving of more attention. Amongst the foes of Rahup was the Parihar prince of Mandor: his name Mokal, with the title of Rana. Rahup seized him in his capital and brought him to Sesoda, making him renounce the rich district of Godwar and his title of Rana, which he assumed himself, to denote the completion of his feud. He ruled thirty-eight years in a period of great distraction, and appears to have been well calculated, not only to uphold the fallen fortunes of the State, but to rescue them from utter ruin. His reign is the more remarkable by contrast with his successors, nine of whom are ‘pushed from their stools’ in the same or even a shorter period than that during which he upheld the dignity.

From Rahup to Lakhamsi [Lakshman Singh], in the short space of half a century, nine princes of Chitor were crowned, and at nearly equal intervals of time followed each other to ‘the mansions of the sun.’ Of these nine, six fell in battle. Nor did they meet their fate at home, but in a chivalrous enterprise to redeem the sacred Gaya from the pollution of the barbarian.For this object these princes successively fell, but such devotion inspired fear, if not pity or conviction, and the bigot renounced the impiety which Prithimall purchased with his blood, and until Alau-d-din’s reign, this outrage to their prejudices was renounced. But in this interval they had lost their capital, for it is stated as the only occurrence in Bhonsi’s[21]reign that he [262] “recovered Chitor” and made the name of Rana be acknowledged by all. Two memorials are preserved of the nine princes from Rahup to Lakhamsi, and of the same character: confusion and strife within and without. We will, therefore, pass over these to another grand event in the vicissitudes of this house, which possesses more of romance than of history, though the facts are undoubted.

1. [For the error in his date see p.281above.]

2. The work of Chand is a universal history of the period in which he wrote. In the sixty-nine books, comprising one hundred thousand stanzas, relating to the exploits of Prithiraj, every noble family of Rajasthan will find some record of their ancestors. It is accordingly treasured amongst the archives of each race having any pretensions to the name of Rajput. From this he can trace his martial forefathers who ‘drank of the wave of battle’ in the passes of Kirman when the ‘cloud of war rolled fromHimachal’Himachal’to the plains of Hindustan. The wars of Prithiraj, his alliances, his numerous and powerful tributaries, their abodes and pedigrees, make the works of Chand invaluable as historic and geographical memoranda, besides being treasures in mythology, manners, and the annals of the mind. To read this poet well is a sure road to honour, and my own Guru was allowed, even by the professional bards, to excel therein. As he read I rapidly translated about thirty thousand stanzas. Familiar with the dialects in which it is written, I have fancied that I seized occasionally the poet’s spirit; but it were presumption to suppose that I embodied all his brilliancy, or fully comprehended the depth of his allusions. But I knew for whom he wrote. The most familiar of his images and sentiments I heard daily from the mouths of those around me, the descendants of the men whose deeds he rehearses. I was enabled thus to seize his meaning, where one more skilled in poetic lore might have failed, and to make my prosaic version of some value. [For Chand Bardāi see Grierson,Modern Literary History of Hindustan, 3 f.]

3. [Bhīma II., Chaulukya, known as Bhola, ‘the simpleton,’A.D.1179-1242.]

4. Unknown, unless the country on the ‘waters’ (jal) of Sind.

5. Benares.

6. Allahabad.

7. The cold regions (si, ‘cold’).

8.Anangais a poetical epithet of the Hindu Cupid, literally ‘incorporeal’; but, according to good authority, applicable to the founder of the desolate abode,palnabeing ‘to support,’ andanga, with the primitivean, ‘without body.’

9. See Inscription No. 5.

10. Styled Habshi Padshah.

11. [The Gorkhas or Gurkhas are said to have reached Nepal through Kumaun after the fall of Chitor (IGI, xix. 32).]

12. I have already mentioned that Khuman became a patronymic and title amongst the princes of Chitor.

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