CHAPTER 6

13. [The battle was fought at Tarāīn or Talāwari in the Ambāla District, Panjāb, in 1192.]

14. Kalyanrae, slain with his father; Kumbhkaran, who went to Bidar; a third, the founder of the Gorkhas. [This assertion, based on the authority of Chand, is incorrect, Samar Singh being misplaced, and succeeded by Ratan Singh (Erskine ii. A. 146).]

15. This must be the battle mentioned by Ferishta (see Dow, p. 169, vol. ii.).

16. He had a son, Sarwan, who took to commerce. Hence the mercantile Sesodia caste, Sarwania.

17. Dungarpur, so named fromdungar, ‘a mountain.’

18. [The facts are that after "Karan Singh the Mewār family divided into two branches—one with the title of Rāwal, the other Rāna. In the first, or Rāwal, branch were Khem or Kshem Singh, the eldest son of Karan Singh, Sāmant Singh, Kumār Singh, Mathan Singh, Padam Singh, Jeth Singh, Tej Singh, Samar Singh, and Ratan Singh, all of whom reigned at Chitor; while in the Rāna branch were Rāhup, a younger son of Karan Singh, Narpat, Dinkaran, Jaskaran, Nāgpāl, Puranpāl, Prithi Pāl, Bhuvān Singh, Bhīm Singh, Jai Singh, and Lakshman Singh, who ruled at Sesoda, and called themselves Sesodias. Thus, instead of having to fit in something like ten generations between Samar Singh, who, as we know, was alive in 1299, and the siege of Chitor, which certainly took place in 1303, we find that those ten princes were not descendants of Samar Singh at all, but the contemporaries of his seven immediate predecessors on thegaddiof Chitor and of himself, and that both Ratan Singh, the son of Samar Singh, and Lakshman Singh, the contemporary of Ratan Singh, were descended from a common ancestor, Karan Singh I., nine and eleven generations back respectively. It is also possible to reconcile the statement of the Musalmān historians that Ratan Singh (called Rāī Ratan) was ruler of Chitor during the siege—a statement corroborated by an inscription at Rājnagar—with the generally accepted story that it was Rāna Lakshman Singh who fell in defence of the fort" (Erskine ii. A. 15).]

19. So pronounced, but properly written Randhaval, ‘the standard of the field.’

20. See note, p. 252.

21. His second son, Chandra, obtained an appanage on the Chambal, and his issue, well known as Chandarawats, constituted one of the most powerful vassal clans of Mewar. Rampura (Bhanpura) was their residence, yielding a revenue of nine lakhs (£110,000), held on the tenure of service which, from an original grant in my possession from Rana Jagat Singh to his nephew Madho Singh, afterwards prince of Amber, was three thousand horse and foot (see p. 235), and the fine of investiture was seventy-five thousand rupees. Madho Singh, when prince of Amber, did what was invalid as well as ungrateful; he made over this domain, granted during his misfortunes, to Holkar, the first limb lopped off Mewar. The Chandarawat proprietor continued, however, to possess a portion of the original estate with the fortress of Amad, which it maintained throughout all the troubles of Rajwara tillA.D.1821. It shows the attachment to custom that the young Rao applied and received ‘the sword’ of investiture from his old lord paramount, the Rana, though dependent on Holkar’s forbearance. But a minority is proverbially dangerous in India. Disorder from party plots made Amad troublesome to Holkar’s government, which as his ally and preserver of tranquillity we suppressed by blowing up the walls of the fortress. This is one of many instances of the harsh, uncompromising nature of our power, and the anomalous description of our alliances with the Rajputs. However necessary to repress the disorder arising from the claims of ancient proprietors and the recent rights of Holkar, or the new proprietor, Ghafur Khan, yet surrounding princes, and the general population, who know the history of past times, lament to see a name of five hundred years’ duration thus summarily extinguished, which chiefly benefits an upstart Pathan. Such the vortex of the ambiguous, irregular, and unsystematic policy, which marks many of our alliances, which protect too often but to injure, and gives to our office of general arbitrator and high constable of Rajasthan a harsh and unfeeling character. Much of this arises from ignorance of the past history; much from disregard of the peculiar usages of the people; or from that expediency which too often comes in contact with moral fitness, which will go on until the day predicted by the Nestor of India, when “one sikka(seal) alone will be used in Hindustan.”

CHAPTER 6

Lakhamsi: Lachhman Singh.—Lakhamsi[1]succeeded his father in S. 1331 (A.D.1275), a memorable era in the annals, when Chitor, the repository of all that was precious yet untouched of the arts of India, was stormed, sacked, and treated with remorseless barbarity by the Pathan [Khilji] emperor, Alau-d-din. Twice it was attacked by this subjugator of India. In the first siege it escaped spoliation, though at the price of its best defenders: that which followed is the first successful assault and capture of which we have any detailed account.

Bhīm Singh: Padmini.—Bhimsi was the uncle of the young prince, and protector during his minority. He had espoused the daughter of Hamir Sank (Chauhan) of Ceylon, the cause of woes unnumbered to the Sesodias. Her name was Padmini,[2]a title bestowed only on the superlatively fair, and transmitted with renown to posterity by tradition and the song of the bard. Her beauty, accomplishments, exaltation, and destruction, with other incidental circumstances, constitute the subject of one of the most popular traditions of Rajwara. The Hindu bard recognizes the fair, in preference to fame and love of conquest, as the motive for the attack of Alau-d-din, who [263] limited his demand to the possession of Padmini; though this was after a long and fruitless siege. At length he restricted his desire to a mere sight of this extraordinary beauty, and acceded to the proposal of beholding her through the medium of mirrors. Relying on the faith of the Rajput, he entered Chitor slightly guarded, and having gratified his wish, returned. The Rajput, unwilling to be outdone in confidence, accompanied the king to the foot of the fortress, amidst many complimentary excuses from his guest at the trouble he thus occasioned. It was for this that Ala risked his own safety, relying on the superior faith of the Hindu. Here he had anambush; Bhimsi was made prisoner, hurried away to the Tatar camp, and his liberty made dependent on the surrender of Padmini.

The Siege of Chitor.—Despair reigned in Chitor when this fatal event was known, and it was debated whether Padmini should be resigned as a ransom for their defender. Of this she was informed, and expressed her acquiescence. Having provided wherewithal to secure her from dishonour, she communed with two chiefs of her own kin and clan of Ceylon, her uncle Gora, and his nephew Badal, who devised a scheme for the liberation of their prince without hazarding her life or fame. Intimation was dispatched to Ala that on the day he withdrew from his trenches the fair Padmini would be sent, but in a manner befitting her own and his high station, surrounded by her females and handmaids; not only those who would accompany her to Delhi, but many others who desired to pay her this last mark of reverence. Strict commands were to be issued to prevent curiosity from violating the sanctity of female decorum and privacy. No less than seven hundred covered litters proceeded to the royal camp. In each was placed one of the bravest of the defenders of Chitor, borne by six armed soldiers disguised as litter-porters. They reached the camp. The royal tents were enclosed withkanats(walls of cloth); the litters were deposited, and half an hour was granted for a parting interview between the Hindu prince and his bride. They then placed their prince in a litter and returned with him, while the greater number (the supposed damsels) remained to accompany the fair to Delhi.[3]But Ala had no intention to permit Bhimsi’s return, and was becoming jealous of the long interview he enjoyed, when, instead of the prince and Padmini, the devoted band issued from their litters: but Ala was too well guarded. Pursuit was ordered, while these covered the retreat till they perished to a man. A fleet horse was in reserve for [264] Bhimsi, on which he was placed, and in safety ascended the fort, at whose outer gate the host of Ala was encountered. The choicest of the heroes of Chitor met the assault. With Gora and Badal at their head, animated by the noblest sentiments, the deliverance of their chief and the honour of their queen, they devoted themselvesto destruction, and few were the survivors of this slaughter of the flower of Mewar. For a time Ala was defeated in his object, and the havoc they had made in his ranks, joined to the dread of their determined resistance, obliged him to desist from the enterprise.

Mention has already been made of the adjuration,“by the sin of the sack of Chitor.” Of these sacks they enumeratethree and a half. This is the ‘half’; for though the city was not stormed, the best and bravest were cut off (sakha). It is described with great animation in the Khuman Raesa. Badal was but a stripling of twelve, but the Rajput expects wonders from this early age. He escaped, though wounded, and a dialogue ensues between him and his uncle’s wife, who desires him to relate how her lord conducted himself ere she joins him. The stripling replies: “He was the reaper of the harvest of battle; I followed his steps as the humble gleaner of his sword. On the gory bed of honour he spread a carpet of the slain; a barbarian prince his pillow, he laid him down, and sleeps surrounded by the foe.” Again she said: "Tell me, Badal, how did my love (piyar) behave?" “Oh! mother, how further describe his deeds when he left no foe to dread or admire him?” She smiled farewell to the boy, and adding, “My lord will chide my delay,” sprung into the flame.

Alau-d-din, having recruited his strength, returned to his object, Chitor. The annals state this to have been in S. 1346 (A.D.1290), but Ferishta gives a date thirteen years later.[4]They had not yet recovered the loss of so many valiant men who had sacrificed themselves for their prince’s safety, and Ala carried on his attacks more closely, and at length obtained the hill at the southern point, where he entrenched himself. They still pretend to point out his trenches; but so many have been formed by subsequent attacks that we cannot credit the assertion. The poet has found in the disastrous issue of this siege admirable materials for his song. He represents the Rana, after an arduous day, stretched on his pallet, and during a night of watchful anxiety, pondering on the means by which he might preserve from the general destruction one at least of his twelve sons; when a voice [265] broke on his solitude, exclaiming, “Main bhukhiho”;[5]and raising his eyes, he saw, by the dim glare of the chiragh,[6]advancing between the granite columns, the majestic form of the guardian goddess of Chitor. “Not satiated,” exclaimed the Rana, “though eight thousand of my kin were late an offering to thee?” “I must have regal victims; and if twelve who wear the diadem bleed not for Chitor, the land will pass from the line.” This said, she vanished.

On the morn he convened a council of his chiefs, to whom he revealed the vision of the night, which they treated as the dream of a disordered fancy. He commanded their attendance at midnight; when again the form appeared, and repeated the terms on which alone she would remain amongst them. “Though thousands of barbarians strew the earth, what are they to me? On each day enthrone a prince. Let the kirania,[7]the chhatra and the chamara,[7]proclaim his sovereignty, and for three days let his decrees be supreme: on the fourth let him meet the foe and his fate. Then only may I remain.”

Whether we have merely the fiction of the poet, or whether the scene was got up to animate the spirit of resistance, matters but little, it is consistent with the belief of the tribe; and that the goddess should openly manifest her wish to retain as her tiara the battlements of Chitor on conditions so congenial to the warlike and superstitious Rajput was a gage readily taken up and fully answering the end. A generous contention arose amongst the brave brothers who should be the first victim to avert the denunciation. Arsi urged his priority of birth: he was proclaimed, the umbrella waved over his head, and on the fourth day he surrendered his short-lived honours and his life. Ajaisi, the next in birth, demanded to follow; but he was the favourite son of his father, and at his request he consented to let his brothers precede him. Eleven had fallen in turn, and but one victim remained to the salvation of the city, when the Rana, calling his chiefs around him, said, “Now I devote myself for Chitor.”

The Johar.—But another awful sacrifice was to precede this act of self-devotion in that horrible rite, theJohar,[8]where thefemales are immolated to preserve them from pollution or captivity. The funeral pyre was lighted within the ‘great subterranean retreat,’[9]in chambers impervious to the light [266] of day, and the defenders of Chitor beheld in procession the queens, their own wives and daughters, to the number of several thousands. The fair Padmini closed the throng, which was augmented by whatever of female beauty or youth could be tainted by Tatar lust. They were conveyed to the cavern, and the opening closed upon them, leaving them to find security from dishonour in the devouring element.

A contest now arose between the Rana and his surviving son; but the father prevailed, and Ajaisi, in obedience to his commands, with a small band passed through the enemy’s lines, and reached Kelwara in safety. The Rana, satisfied that his line was not extinct, now prepared to follow his brave sons; and calling around him his devoted clans, for whom life had no longer any charms, they threw open the portals and descended to the plains, and with a reckless despair carried death, or met it, in the crowded ranks of Ala. The Tatar conqueror took possession of an inanimate capital, strewed with brave defenders, the smoke yet issuing from the recesses where lay consumed the once fair object of his desire; and since this devoted day the cavern has been sacred: no eye has penetrated its gloom, and superstition has placed as its guardian a huge serpent, whose ‘venomous breath’ extinguishes the light which might guide intruders to ‘the place of sacrifice.’

The Conquests of Alāu-d-dīn.—Thus fell, inA.D.1303, this celebrated capital, in the round of conquest of Alau-d-din, one of the most vigorous and warlike sovereigns who have occupiedthe throne of India. In success, and in one of the means of attainment, a bigoted hypocrisy, he bore a striking resemblance to Aurangzeb; and the title of ‘Sikandaru-s-Sani,’ or the second Alexander, which he assumed and impressed on his coins, was no idle vaunt. The proud Anhilwara, the ancient Dhar and Avanti, Mandor and Deogir, the seats of the Solankis, the Pramaras, the Pariharas and Taks, the entire Agnikula race, were overturned for ever by Ala. Jaisalmer, Gagraun, Bundi, the abodes of the Bhatti, the Khichi, and the Hara, with many of minor importance, suffered all the horrors of assault from this foe of the race, though destined again to raise their heads. The Rathors of Marwar and the [267] Kachhwahas of Amber were yet in a state of insignificance: the former were slowly creeping into notice as the vassals of the Pariharas, while the latter could scarcely withstand the attacks of the original Mina population. Ala remained in Chitor some days, admiring the grandeur of his conquest; and having committed every act of barbarity and wanton dilapidation which a bigoted zeal could suggest, overthrowing the temples and other monuments of art, he delivered the city in charge to Maldeo, the chief of Jalor, whom he had conquered and enrolled amongst his vassals. The palace of Bhim and the fair Padmini alone appears to have escaped the wrath of Ala; it would be pleasing could we suppose any kinder sentiment suggested the exception, which enables the author of these annals to exhibit the abode of the fair of Ceylon.

PALACE OF RĀNA BHĪM AND PADMINI.To face page 312.

The Flight of Rāna Ajai Singh.—The survivor of Chitor, Rana Ajaisi, was now in security at Kelwara, a town situated in the heart of the Aravalli mountains, the western boundary of Mewar, to which its princes had been indebted for twelve centuries of dominion. Kelwara is at the highest part of one of its most extensive valleys, termed the Shero Nala, the richest district of this Alpine region. Guarded by faithful adherents, Ajaisi cherished for future occasion the wrecks of Mewar. It was the last behest of his father that when he attained ‘one hundred years’ (a figurative expression for dying) the son of Arsi, the elder brother, should succeed him. This injunction, from the deficiency of the qualities requisite at such a juncture in his own sons, met a ready compliance. Hamir was this son, destined to redeem the promise of the genius of Chitor and the lost honours of his race, and whose birth and early history fill many a page of their annals. Hisfather, Arsi, being out on a hunting excursion in the forest of Ondua, with some young chiefs of the court, in pursuit of the boar entered a field of maize, when a female offered to drive out the game. Pulling one of the stalks of maize, which grows to the height of ten or twelve feet, she pointed it, and mounting the platform made to watch the corn, impaled the hog, dragged him before the hunters, and departed. Though accustomed to feats of strength and heroism from the nervous arms of their countrywomen, the act surprised them. They descended to the stream at hand, and prepared the repast, as is usual, on the spot. The feast was held, and comments were passing on the fair arm which had transfixed the boar, when a ball of clay from a sling fractured a limb of the prince’s steed. Looking in the direction whence it [268] came, they observed the same damsel, from her elevated stand,[10]preserving her fields from aerial depredators; but seeing the mischief she had occasioned she descended to express her regret and then returned to her pursuit. As they were proceeding homewards after the sports of the day, they again encountered the damsel, with a vessel of milk on her head, and leading in either hand a young buffalo. It was proposed, in frolic, to overturn her milk, and one of the companions of the prince dashed rudely by her; but without being disconcerted, she entangled one of her charges with the horse’s limbs and brought the rider to the ground. On inquiry the prince discovered that she was the daughter of a poor Rajput of the Chandano tribe.[11]He returned the next day to the same quarter and sent for her father, who came and took his seat with perfect independence close to the prince, to the merriment of his companions, which was checked by Arsi asking his daughter to wife. They were yet more surprised by the demand being refused. The Rajput, on going home, told the more prudent mother, who scolded him heartily, made him recall the refusal, and seek the prince. They were married, and Hamir was the son of the Chandano Rajputni.[12]He remained little noticed at the maternal abode till the catastrophe of Chitor. At this period he was twelve years of age, and had led a rustic life, from which the necessity of the times recalled him.

Mewār occupied by the Musalmāns: The Exploit of Hamīr.—Mewar was now occupied by the garrisons of Delhi, and Ajaisi had besides to contend with the mountain chiefs, amongst whom Munja Balaicha was the most formidable, who had, on a recent occasion, invaded the Shero Nala, and personally encountered the Rana, whom he wounded on the head with a lance. The Rana’s sons, Sajansi and Ajamsi, though fourteen and fifteen, an age at which a Rajput ought to indicate his future character, proved of little aid in the emergency. Hamir was summoned, and accepted the feud against Munja, promising to return successful or not at all. In a few days he was seen entering the pass of Kelwara with Munja’s head at his saddle-bow. Modestly placing the trophy at his uncle’s feet, he exclaimed: “Recognize the head of your foe!” Ajaisi ‘kissed his beard,’[13]and observing that fate had stamped empire on his forehead, impressed [269] it with a tika of blood from the head of the Balaicha. This decided the fate of the sons of Ajaisi; one of whom died at Kelwara, and the other, Sajansi, who might have excited a civil war, was sent from the country.[14]He departed for the Deccan, where his issue was destined to avenge some of the wrongs the parent country had sustained, and eventually to overturn the monarchy of Hindustan; for Sajansi was the ancestor of Sivaji, the founder of the Satara throne, whose lineage[15]is given in the chronicles of Mewar.

Rāna Hamīr Singh,A.D.1301-64.—Hamir succeeded in S. 1357 (A.D.1301), and had sixty-four years granted to him to redeem his country from the ruins of the past century, which period had elapsed since India ceased to own the paramount sway of her native princes. The day on which he assumed the ensigns of rule he gave, in thetika daur, an earnest of his future energy, which he signalized by a rapid inroad into the heart of the country of the predatory Balaicha, and captured their stronghold Pusalia. We may here explain the nature of this custom of a barbaric chivalry.

The Inaugural Foray.—The tika daur signifies the foray of inauguration, which obtained from time immemorial on such events, and is yet maintained where any semblance of hostility will allow its execution. On the morning of installation, having previously received the tika of sovereignty, the prince at the head of his retainers makes a foray into the territory of any one with whom he may have a feud, or with whom he may be indifferent as to exciting one; he captures a stronghold or plunders a town, and returns with the trophies. If amity should prevail with all around, which the prince cares not to disturb, they have still a mock representation of the custom. For many reigns after the Jaipur princes united their fortunes to the throne of Delhi their frontier town, Malpura, was the object of the tika daur of the princes of Mewar.

Chitor under a Musalmān Garrison.—“When Ajmall[16]went another road,” as the bard figuratively describes the demise of Rana Ajaisi, “the son of Arsi unsheathed the sword, thence never stranger to his hand.” Maldeo remained with the royal garrison at Chitor,[17]but Hamir [270] desolated their plains, and left to his enemies only the fortified towns which could safely be inhabited. He commanded all who owned his sovereignty either to quit their abodes, and retire with their families to the shelter of the hills on the eastern and western frontiers, or share the fate of the public enemy. The roads were rendered impassable from his parties, who issued from their retreats in the Aravalli, the securityof which baffled pursuit. This destructive policy of laying waste the resources of their own country, and from this asylum attacking their foes as opportunity offered, has obtained from the time of Mahmud of Ghazni in the tenth, to Muhammad, the last who merited the name of Emperor of Delhi, in the eighteenth century.

Resistance of Hamīr Singh.—Hamir made Kelwara[18]his residence, which soon became the chief retreat of the emigrants from the plains. The situation was admirably chosen, being covered by several ranges, guarded by intricate defiles, and situated at the foot of a pass leading over the mountain into a still more inaccessible retreat (where Kumbhalmer now stands),[19]well watered and wooded, with abundance of pastures and excellent indigenous fruits and roots. This tract, above fifty miles in breadth, is twelve hundred feet above the level of the plains and three thousand above the sea, with a considerable quantity of arable land, and free communication to obtain supplies by the passes of the western declivity from Marwar, Gujarat, or the friendly Bhils, of the west, to whom this house owes a large debt of gratitude. On various occasions the communities of Oghna and Panarwa furnished the princes of Mewar with five thousand bowmen, supplied them with provisions, or guarded the safety of their families when they had to oppose the foe in the field. The elevated plateau of the eastern frontier presented in its forests and dells many places of security; but Ala[20]traversed these in person, destroying as he went: neither did they possess the advantages of climate and natural productions arising from the elevation of the other. Such was the state of Mewar: its places of strength occupied by the foe, cultivation and peaceful objects neglected from the persevering hostility of Hamir, when a proposal of marriage came from the Hindu governor of Chitor, which was immediately accepted, contrary to the [271] wishes of the prince’s advisers.

The Recovery of Chitor.—Whether this was intended as a snareto entrap him, or merely as an insult, every danger was scouted by Hamir which gave a chance to the recovery of Chitor. He desired that ‘the coco-nut[21]might be retained’ coolly remarking on the dangers pointed out, "My feet shall at least tread in the rocky steps in which my ancestors have moved. A Rajput should always be prepared for reverses; one day to abandon his abode covered with wounds, and the next to reascend with themaur(crown) on his head." It was stipulated that only five hundred horse should form his suite. As he approached Chitor, the five sons of the Chauhan advanced to meet him, but on the portal of the city no toran,[22]or nuptial emblem, was suspended. He, however, accepted the unsatisfactory reply to his remark on this indication of treachery, and ascended for the first time the ramp of Chitor. He was received in the ancient halls of his ancestors by Rao Maldeo, his son Banbir, and other chiefs,with folded hands. The bride was brought forth, and presented by her father without any of the solemnities practised on such occasions; ‘the knot of their garments tied and their hands united,’ and thus they were left. The family priest recommended patience, and Hamirretired with his bride to the apartments allotted for them. Her kindness and vows of fidelity overcame his sadness upon learning that he had married a widow. She had been wedded to a chief of the Bhatti tribe, shortly afterwards slain, and when she was so young as not to recollect even his appearance. He ceased to lament the insult when she herself taught him how it might be avenged, and that it might even lead to the recovery of Chitor. It is a privilege possessed by the bridegroom to have one specific favour complied with as a part of the dower (daeja), and Hamir was instructed by his bride to ask for Jal, one of the civil [272] officers of Chitor, and of the Mehta tribe. With his wife so obtained, and the scribe whose talents remained for trial, he returned in a fortnight to Kelwara. Khetsi was the fruit of this marriage, on which occasion Maldeo made over all the hill tracts to Hamir. Khetsi was a year old when one of the penates (Khetrpal)[23]was found at fault, on which she wrote to her parents to invite her to Chitor, that the infant might be placed before the shrine of the deity. Escorted by a party from Chitor, with her child she entered its walls; and instructed by the Mehta, she gained over the troops who were left, for the Rao had gone with his chief adherents against the Mers of Madri. Hamir was at hand. Notice that all was ready reached him at Bagor. Still he met opposition that had nearly defeated the scheme; but having forced admission, his sword overcame every obstacle, and the oath of allegiance (an) was proclaimed from the palace of his fathers.

The Sonigira on his return was met with ‘a salute of arabas,’[24]and Maldeo himself carried the account of his loss to the Khilji king Mahmud, who had succeeded Ala. The ‘standard of the sun’ once more shone refulgent from the walls of Chitor, and was the signal for return to their ancient abodes from their hills and hiding-places to the adherents of Hamir. The valleys of Kumbhalmer and the western highlands poured forth their ‘streams of men,’ while every chief of true Hindu blood rejoiced at the prospect of once more throwing off the barbarian yoke. So powerful was this feeling, and with such activity and skill did Hamir follow up this favour of fortune, that he marched to meet Mahmud,who was advancing to recover his lost possessions. The king unwisely directed his march by the eastern plateau, where numbers were rendered useless by the intricacies of the country. Of the three steppes which mark the physiognomy of this tract, from the first ascent from the plain of Mewar to the descent at Chambal, the king had encamped on the central, at Singoli, where he was attacked, defeated, and made prisoner by Hamir, who slew Hari Singh, brother of Banbir, in single combat. The king suffered a confinement of three months in Chitor, nor was liberated till he had surrendered Ajmer, Ranthambor, Nagor, and Sui Sopur, besides paying fifty lakhs of rupees and one hundred elephants. Hamir would exact no promise of cessation from further inroads, but contented himself with assuring him that from such he should be prepared to defend Chitor, not within, but without the walls [273].[25]

Banbir, the son of Maldeo, offered to serve Hamir, who assigned the districts of Nimach, Jiran, Ratanpur, and the Kerar to maintain the family of his wife in becoming dignity; and as he gave the grant he remarked: “Eat, serve, and be faithful. You were once the servant of a Turk, but now of a Hindu of your own faith; for I have but taken back my own, the rock moistened by the blood of my ancestors, the gift of the deity I adore, and who will maintain me in it; nor shall I endanger it by the worship of a fair face, as did my predecessor.” Banbir shortly after carried Bhainsror by assault, and this ancient possession guarding the Chambal was again added to Mewar. The chieftains of Rajasthan rejoiced once more to see a Hindu take the lead, paid willing homage, and aided him with service when required.

The Power of Rāna Hamīr Singh.—Hamir was the sole Hindu prince of power now left in India: all the ancient dynasties werecrushed, and the ancestors of the present princes of Marwar and Jaipur brought their levies, paid homage, and obeyed the summons of the prince of Chitor, as did the chiefs of Bundi, Gwalior, Chanderi, Raesin, Sikri, Kalpi, Abu, etc.

Extensive as was the power of Mewar before the Tatar occupation of India, it could scarcely have surpassed the solidity of sway which she enjoyed during the two centuries following Hamir’s recovery of the capital. From this event to the next invasion from the same Cimmerian abode, led by Babur, we have a succession of splendid names recorded in her annals, and though destined soon to be surrounded by new Muhammadan dynasties, in Malwa and Gujarat as well as Delhi, yet successfully opposing them all. The distracted state of affairs when the races of Khilji, Lodi, and Sur alternately struggled for and obtained the seat of dominion, Delhi, was favourable to Mewar, whose power was now so consolidated that she not only repelled armies from her territory, but carried war abroad, leaving tokens of victory at Nagor, in Saurashtra, and to the walls of Delhi.

Public Works.—The subjects of Mewar must have enjoyed not only a long repose, but high prosperity during this period, judging from their magnificent public works, when a triumphal [274] column must have cost the income of a kingdom to erect, and which ten years’ produce of the crown-lands of Mewar could not at this time defray. Only one of the structures prior to the sack of Chitor was left entire by Ala, and is yet existing, and this was raised by private and sectarian hands. It would be curious if the unitarian profession of the Jain creed was the means of preserving this ancient relic from Ala’s wrath.[26]The princes of this house were great patrons of the arts, and especially of architecture; and it is a matter of surprise how their revenues, derived chiefly from the soil, could have enabled them to expend so much on these objects and at the same time maintain such armies as are enumerated. Such could be effected only by long prosperity and a mild, paternal system of government; for the subject had his monuments as well as the prince, the ruins of which may yet be discovered in the more inaccessible or deserted portions of Rajasthan. Hamir died full of years, leaving a name stillhonoured in Mewar, as one of the wisest and most gallant of her princes, and bequeathing a well-established and extensive power to his son.

Kshetra or Khet Singh,A.D.1364-82.—Khetsi succeeded in S. 1421 (A.D.1365) to the power and to the character of his father. He captured Ajmer and Jahazpur from Lila Pathan, and reannexed Mandalgarh, Dasor, and the whole of Chappan (for the first time) to Mewar. He obtained a victory over the Delhi monarch Humayun[27]at Bakrol; but unhappily his life terminated in a family broil with his vassal, the Hara chief of Bumbaoda, whose daughter he was about to espouse.

Laksh Singh,A.D.1382-97.—Lakha Rana, by this assassination, mounted the throne in Chitor in S. 1439 (A.D.1373). His first act was the entire subjugation of the mountainous region of Merwara, and the destruction of its chief stronghold, Bairatgarh, where he erected Badnor. But an event of much greater importance than settling his frontier, and which most powerfully tended to the prosperity of the country, was the discovery of the tin and silver mines of Jawara, in the tract wrested by Khetsi from the Bhils of Chappan.[28]Lakha Rana has the merit of having first worked them, though their existence is superstitiously alluded to so early as the period of the founder. It is said the ‘seven metals’ (haft-dhat)[29]were formerly [275] abundant; but this appears figurative. We have no evidence for the gold, though silver, tin, copper, lead, and antimony were yielded in abundance (the first two from the same matrix), but the tin that has been extracted for many years past yields but a small portion of silver.[30]Lakha Rana defeated the Sankhla Rajputs of Nagarchal,[31]at Amber. He encountered the emperor Muhammad Shah Lodi, and on oneoccasion defeated a royal army at Badnor; but he carried the war to Gaya, and in driving the barbarian from this sacred place was slain.[32]Lakha is a name of celebrity, as a patron of the arts and benefactor of his country. He excavated many reservoirs and lakes, raised immense ramparts to dam their waters, besides erecting strongholds. The riches of the mines of Jawara were expended to rebuild the temples and palaces levelled by Ala. A portion of his own palace yet exists, in the same style of architecture as that, more ancient, of Ratna and the fair Padmini; and a minster (mandir) dedicated to the creator (Brahma), an enormous and costly fabric, is yet entire. Being to ‘the One,’ and consequently containing no idol, it may thus have escaped the ruthless fury of the invaders.

Lakha had a numerous progeny, who have left their clans called after them, as the Lunawats and Dulawats, now the sturdy allodial proprietors of the Alpine regions bordering on Oghna, Panarwa, and other tracts in the Aravalli.[33]But a circumstance which set aside the rights of primogeniture, and transferred the crown of Chitor from his eldest son, Chonda, to the younger, Mokal, had nearly carried it to another line. The consequences of making the elder branch a powerful vassal clan with claims to the throne, and which have been the chief cause of its subsequent prostration, we will reserve for another chapter [276].

1. [Rāna Lachhman Singh was not, strictly speaking, ruler of Chitor. He belonged to the Rāna branch, and succeeded Jai Singh. When Chitor was invested he came to help his relation, Rāwal Ratan Singh, husband of Padmini, and ruler of Chitor, and was killed, with seven of his sons (Erskine ii. B. 10).]

2. [‘The Lotus.’ Ferishta in his account of the siege says nothing of Padmini (i. 353 f.). Her story is told inĀīn, ii. 269 f.]

3. [A folk-tale of the ‘Horse of Troy’ type, common in India; see Rhys Davids,Buddhist India, 4 f.; Ferishta ii. 115; Grant Duff,Hist. Mahrattas, 64, note; cf. Herodotus v. 20.]

4. [Chitor was captured in August 1303 (Ferishta i. 353; Elliot-Dowson iii. 77).]

5. ‘I am hungry.’

6. Lamp.

7. These are the insignia of royalty. Thekiraniais a parasol, fromkiran, ‘a ray’: thechhatrais the umbrella, always red; thechamara, the flowing tail of the wild ox, set in a gold handle, and used to drive away the flies.

8. [Sir G. Grierson informs me thatJoharorJauharis derived fromJatugriha, ‘a house built of lac or other combustibles,’ in allusion to the story in theMahābhārata(i. chap. 141-151) of the attempted destruction of the Pāndavas by setting such a building on fire. For other examples of the rite see Ferishta i. 59 f.; Elliot-Dowson i. 313, 536 f., iii. 426, 433, iv. 277, 402, v. 101; Forbes,Rās Māla, 286; Malcolm,Memoir Central India, 2nd ed. i. 483. For recent cases Irvine,Army of the Indian Moghuls, 242;Punjab Notes and Queries, iv. 102 ff.]

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