CHAPTER 7

111. The religious feelings of the Rajput, though outraged for centuries by Moguls and mercenary Pathans, will not permit him to see the axe applied to the noble pipal or umbrageous bar (Ficus indica), without execrating the destroyer. Unhappy the constitution of mind which knowingly wounds religious prejudices of such ancient date! Yet is it thus with our countrymen in the East, who treat all foreign prejudices with contempt, shoot the bird sacred to the Indian Mars, slay the calves of Bal, and fell the noble pipal before the eyes of the native without remorse. He is unphilosophic and unwise who treats such prejudices with contumely: prejudices beyond the reach of reason. He is uncharitable who does not respect them; impolitic, who does not use every means to prevent such offence by ignorance or levity. It is an abuse of our strength, and an ungenerous advantage over their weakness. Let us recollect who are the guardians of these fanes of Bal, his pipal, and sacred bird (the peacock); the children of Surya and Chandra, and the descendants of the sages of yore, they who fill the ranks of our army, and are attentive, though silent, observers of all our actions: the most attached, the most faithful, and the most obedient of mankind! Let us maintain them in duty, obedience, and attachment, by respecting their prejudices and conciliating their pride. On the fulfilment of this depends the maintenance of our sovereignty in India: but the last fifteen years have assuredly not increased their devotion to us. Let the question be put to the unprejudiced, whether their welfare has advanced in proportion to the dominion they have conquered for us, or if it has not been in the inverse ratio of this prosperity? Have not their allowances and comforts decreased? Does the same relative standard between the currency and conveniences of life exist as twenty years ago? Has not the first depreciated twenty-five per cent, as half-batta stations and duties have increased? For the good of ruler and servant, let these be rectified. With the utmost solemnity, I aver, I have but the welfare of all at heart in these observations. I loved the service, I loved the native soldier. I have proved what he will do, where devoted, when, in 1817, thirty-two firelocks of my guard attacked, defeated, and dispersed a camp of fifteen hundred men, slaying thrice their numbers.[A]Having quitted the scene for ever, I submit my opinion dispassionately for the welfare of the one, and with it the stability or reverse of the other.

A. What says the Thermopylae of India, Corygaum? Five hundred firelocks against twenty thousand men! Do the annals of Napoleon record a more brilliant exploit? Has a column been reared to the manes of the brave, European and native, of this memorable day, to excite to future achievement? What order decks the breast of the gallant Fitzgerald, for the exploit on the field of Nagpur? At another time and place his words, “At my peril be it!Charge!” would have crowned his crest! These things call for remedy! [Korēgāon in Poona District, where Captain Staunton defeated a large force of Mahrattas on January 1, 1818 (Wilson-Mill,Hist. of India, ii. (1846), 303 ff.).]

112. D’Anville’s derivation of German, fromwer(bellum) andmanus. [Possibly O. Irish,gair, ‘neighbour,’ orgairm, ‘battle-cry’ (New Eng. Dict.s.v.).]

Having discussed the ancient genealogies of the martial races of Rajasthan, as well as the chief points in their character and religion analogous to those of early Europe, we proceed to the catalogue of the Chhattis Rajkula, or ‘thirty-six royal races.’[1]

The table before the reader presents, at one view, the authorities on which this list is given: they are as good as abundant. The first is from a detached leaf of an ancient work, obtained from a Yati of a Jain temple at the old city of Nadol, in Marwar. The second is from the poems of Chand,[2]the bard of the last Hindu king of Delhi. The third is from an estimable workcontemporary with Chand’s, the Kumarpal Charitra[3]or “History of the Monarchy of Anhilwara Patan.” The fourth list is from the Khichi bard.[4]The fifth, from a bard of Saurashtra.

From every one of the bardic profession, from all the collectors and collections of Rajasthan, lists have been received, from which the catalogue No. 6 has been formed, admitted by the genealogists to be more perfect than any existing document. From it, therefore, in succession, each race shall have its history rapidly sketched; though, as a text, a single name is sufficient to fill many pages.

The first list is headed by an invocation to Mata Sakambhari Devi, or mother-goddess, protectress of the races (sakha) [the mother of vegetation].

Each race (sakha) has its Gotracharya,[5]a genealogical creed, describing [82] the essential peculiarities, religious tenets, and pristine locale of the clan. Every Rajput should be able to repeat this; though it is now confined to the family priest or the genealogist. Many chiefs, in these degenerate days, would be astonished if asked to repeat their gotracharya, and would refer to the bard. It is a touchstone of affinities, and guardian of the laws of intermarriage. When the inhibited degrees of propinquity have been broken, it has been known to rectify the mistake, where, however, “ignorance was bliss.”[6]

t.1. The author, after the invocation to “the mother protectress,” says, “I write the names of the thirty-six royal tribes.”

t.2. The bard Chand says, “Of the thirty-six races, the four Agnipalas are the greatest—the rest are born of woman, but these from fire.”

t.3. As the work is chiefly followed with the exploits of Kumarpal, who was of Chauhan tribe, the author reserves it for a peroration to the last “of all the mightiest is the Chauhan.”

t.4. By name Moghji.

Most of the kula (races) are divided into numerous branches[7](sakha), and these sakha subdivided into innumerable clans (gotra),[8]the most important of which shall be given. A few of the kula never ramified: these are termedeka, or ‘single’; and nearly one-third areeka.

A table of the ‘eighty-four’ mercantile tribes, chiefly of Rajput origin, shall also be furnished, in which the remembrance of some races are preserved which would have perished. Lists of the aboriginal, the agricultural and the pastoral tribes are also given to complete the subject.

Solar and Lunar Races.—In the earlier ages there were but two races, Surya and Chandra, to which were added the four Agnikulas[9]; in all six. The others are subdivisions of Surya and Chandra, or the sakha of Indo-Scythic origin, who found no difficulty in obtaining a place (though a low one), before the Muhammadan era, amongst the thirty-six regal races of Rajasthan. The former we may not unaptly consider as to the time, as the Celtic, the latter as the Gothic, races of India. On the generic terms Surya and Chandra, I need add nothing [83].

Grahilot or Guhilot.—Pedigree[10]of the Suryavansi Rana, of royal race, Lord of Chitor, the ornament of the thirty-six royal races.

By universal consent, as well as by the gotra of this race, its princes are admitted to be the direct descendants of Rama, of the Solar line. The pedigree is deduced from him, and connectedwith Sumitra, the last prince mentioned in the genealogy of the Puranas.

As the origin and progressive history of this family will be fully discussed in the “Annals of Mewar,” we shall here only notice the changes which have marked the patronymic, as well as the regions which have been under their sway, from Kanaksen, who, in the second century, abandoned his native kingdom, Kosala, and established the race of Surya in Saurashtra.

On the site of Vairat, the celebrated abode of the Pandavas during exile, the descendant of Ikshwaku established his line, and his descendant Vijaya, in a few generations, built Vijayapur.[11]

They became sovereigns, if not founders, of Valabhi, which had a separate era of its own, called the Valabhi Samvat, according with S. Vikrama 375.[12]Hence they became the Balakaraes, or kings of Valabhi; a title maintained by successive dynasties of Saurashtra for a thousand years after this period, as can be satisfactorily proved by genuine history and inscriptions.

Gajni, or Gaini, was another capital, whence the last prince, Siladitya (who was slain), and his family, were expelled by Parthian invaders in the sixth century.

A posthumous son, called Grahaditya, obtained a petty sovereignty at Idar. The change was marked by his name becoming the patronymic, and Grahilot,vulgoGuhilot, designated the Suryavansa of Rama.

With reverses and migration from the wilds of Idar to Ahar,[13]the Guhilot was changed to Aharya, by which title the race continued to be designated till the twelfth century, when the elder brother, Rahup, abandoned his claim to "the [84] throne of Chitor," obtained[14]by force of arms from the Mori,[15]and settled at Dungarpur,which he yet holds, as well as the title Aharya; while the younger, Mahup, established the seat of power at Sesoda, whence Sesodia set aside both Aharya and Guhilot.

Sesodia is now the common title of the race; but being only a subdivision, the Guhilot holds its rank in the kula.

The Guhilot kula is subdivided into twenty-four sakha,[16]or ramifications, few of which exist:

Yadu, Yādava.—The Yadu was the most illustrious of all the tribes of Ind, and became the patronymic of the descendants of Budha, progenitor of the Lunar (Indu) race. Yudhishthira and Baladeva, on the death of Krishna and their expulsion from Delhi and Dwaraka, the last stronghold of their power, retired by Multan across the Indus. The two first are abandoned bytradition; but the sons of Krishna, who accompanied them after an intermediate halt in the further Duab[17]of the five rivers, eventually left the Indus behind, and passed into Zabulistan,[18]founded Gajni, and peopled these countries even to Samarkand.

The annals of Jaisalmer, which give this early history of their founder, mix up in a confused manner[19]the cause of their being again driven back into India; so that it is impossible to say whether it was owing to the Greek princes who ruled all these countries for a century after Alexander, or to the rise of Islamism.

Driven back on the Indus, they obtained possession of the Panjab and founded Salivahanpur. Thence expelled, they retired across the Sutlej and Ghara into the Indian deserts; whence expelling the Langahas, the Johyas, Mohilas, etc., they founded successively Tanot, Derawar, and Jaisalmer,[20]in S. 1212,[21]the present capital of the Bhattis, the lineal successors of Krishna.

Bhattiwas the exile from Zabulistan, and as usual with the Rajput races on any such event in their annals, his name set aside the more ancient patronymic, Yadu. The Bhattis subdued all the tracts south of the Ghara; but their power has been greatly circumscribed since the arrival of the Rathors. The Map defines their existing limits, and their annals will detail their past history.

Jāreja, Jādejais the most important tribe of Yadu race next to the Bhatti. Its history is similar. Descended from Krishna, and migrating simultaneously with the remains of the Harikulas, there is the strongest ground for believing that their range was not so wide as that of the elder branch, but that they settled themselves in the valley of the Indus, more especially on the west shore in Seistan; and in nominal and armorial distinctions, even in Alexander’s time, they retained the marks of their ancestry [86].

Sambos, who brought on him the arms of the Grecians, was inall likelihood a Harikula; and the Minnagara of Greek historians Samanagara (‘city of Sama’), his capital.[22]

The most common epithet of Krishna, or Hari, was Shama or Syama, from his dark complexion. Hence the Jareja bore it as a patronymic, and the whole race were Samaputras (children of Sama), whence the titular name Sambos of its princes.[23]

The modern Jareja, who, from circumstances has so mixed with the Muhammadans of Sind as to have forfeited all pretensions to purity of blood, partly in ignorance and partly to cover disgrace, says that his origin is from Sham, or Syria, and of the stock of the Persian Jamshid: consequently, Sam has been converted into Jam[24]; which epithet designates one of the Jareja petty governments, the Jam Raj.

These are the most conspicuous of the Yadu race; but there are others who still bear the original title, of which the head is the prince of the petty State of Karauli on the Chambal.

This portion of the Yadu stock would appear never to have strayed far beyond the ancient limits of the Suraseni,[25]their ancestral abodes. They held the celebrated Bayana; whence expelled, they established Karauli west, and Sabalgarh east, of the Chambal. The tract under the latter, called Yaduvati, has been wrested from the family by Sindhia. Sri Mathura[26]is an independent fief of Karauli, held by a junior branch.

The Yadus, or as pronounced in the dialects Jadon, are scattered over India, and many chiefs of consequence amongst the Mahrattas are of this tribe.

There are eight sakha of the Yadu race:

1.YaduChief Karauli.2.BhattiChief Jaisalmer.3.JarejaChief Cutch Bhuj.4.SamechaMuhammadans in Sind.5.Madecha┐6.Bidman├Unknown [87].7.Badda│8.Soha┘

1.YaduChief Karauli.2.BhattiChief Jaisalmer.3.JarejaChief Cutch Bhuj.4.SamechaMuhammadans in Sind.5.Madecharbracket_80Unknown [87].6.Bidman7.Badda8.Soha

Tuar, Tonwar, Tomara.—The Tuar, though acknowledged as a subdivision of the Yadu, is placed by the best genealogists as one of the ‘thirty-six,’ a rank to which its celebrity justly entitles it.

We have in almost every case the etymon of each celebrated race. For the Tuar we have none; and we must rest satisfied in delivering the dictum of the Bardai, who declares it of Pandu origin.

If it had to boast only of Vikramaditya, the paramount lord of India, whose era, established fifty-six years before the Christian, still serves as the grand beacon of Hindu chronology, this alone would entitle the Tuar to the highest rank. But it has other claims to respect. Delhi, the ancient Indraprastha, founded by Yudhishthira, and which tradition says lay desolate for eight centuries, was rebuilt and peopled by Anangpal Tuar, in S. 848 (A.D.792), who was followed by a dynasty of twenty princes, which concluded with the name of the founder, Anangpal, in S. 1220 (A.D.1164),[27]when, contrary to the Salic law of the Rajputs, he abdicated (having no issue) in favour of his grandchild, the Chauhan Prithviraja.

The Tuar must now rest on his ancient fame; for not an independent possession remains to the race[28]which traces its lineage to the Pandavas, boasts of Vikrama, and which furnished the last dynasty, emperors of Hindustan.

It would be a fact unparalleled in the history of the world, could we establish to conviction that the last Anangpal Tuar was the lineal descendant of the founder of Indraprastha; that the issue of Yudhishthira sat on the throne which he erected, after a lapse of 2250years.years.Universal consent admits it, and the fact isas well established as most others of a historic nature of such a distant period: nor can any dynasty or family of Europe produce evidence so strong as the Tuar, even to a much less remote antiquity.

The chief possessions left to the Tuars are the district of Tuargarh, on the right bank of the Chambal towards its junction with the Jumna, and the small [88] chieftainship of Patan Tuarvati in the Jaipur State, and whose head claims affinity with the ancient kings of Indraprastha.

Rāthor.—A doubt hangs on the origin of this justly celebrated race. The Rathor genealogies trace their pedigree to Kusa, the second son of Rama; consequently they would be Suryavansa. But by the bards of this race they are denied this honour; and although Kushite, they are held to be the descendants of Kasyapa, of the Solar race, by the daughter of a Daitya (Titan). The progeny of Hiranyakasipu is accordingly stigmatized as being of demoniac origin. It is rather singular that they should have succeeded to the Lunar race of Kusanabha, descendants of Ajamidha, the founders of Kanauj. Indeed, some genealogists maintain the Rathors to be of Kusika race.

The pristine locale of the Rathors is Gadhipura, or Kanauj, where they are found enthroned in the fifth century; and though beyond that period they connect their line with the princes of Kosala or Ayodhya, the fact rests on assertion only.

From the fifth century their history is cleared from the mist of ages, which envelops them all prior to this time; and in the period approaching the Tatar conquest of India, we find them contesting with the last Tuar and Chauhan kings of Delhi, and the Balakaraes of Anhilwara, the right to paramount importance amidst the princes of Ind. The combats for this phantom supremacy destroyed them all. Weakened by internal strife, the Chauhan of Delhi fell, and his death exposed the north-west frontier. Kanauj followed; and while its last prince, Jaichand, found a grave in the Ganges, his son sought an asylum in Marusthali, ‘the regions of death.’[29]Siahji was this son; the founder of the Rathor dynasty in Marwar, on the ruins of the Pariharas of Mandor. Here they brought their ancient martial spirit, and a more valiant being exists not than can be found amongst the sons of Siahji. The Mogul emperors were indebted for half theirconquests to theLakh Tarwar Rathoran, ‘the 100,000 swords of the Rathors’; for it is beyond a doubt that 50,000 of the blood of Siahji have been embodied at once. But enough of the noble Rathors for the present.

The Rathor has twenty-four sakha: Dhandal, Bhadel, Chachkit, Duharia, Khokra, Badara, Chajira, Ramdeva, Kabria, Hatundia, Malavat, Sunda, Katecha, Maholi, Gogadeva, Mahecha, Jaisingha, Mursia, Jobsia, Jora, etc., etc.[30][89].

Rathor Gotracharya.—Gotama[31]Gotra (race),—Mardawandani Sakha (branch),—Sukracharya Guru (Regent of the planet Venus, Preceptor),—Garupata Agni,[32]—Pankhani Devi (tutelary goddess, winged).[33]

Kachhwāha.—The Kachhwaha race[34]is descended from Kusa, the second son of Rama. They are the Kushites[35]as the Rajputs of Mewar are the Lavites of India. Two branches migrated from Kosala: one founded Rohtas on the Son, the other established a colony amidst the ravines of the Kuwari, at Lahar.[36]In the course of time they erected the celebrated fortress of Narwar, or Nirwar, the abode of the celebrated Raja Nala, whose descendants continued to hold possession throughout all the vicissitudes of the Tatar and Mogul domination, when they were deprived ofit by the Mahrattas, and the abode of Nala is now a dependency of Sindhia.

In the tenth century a branch emigrated and founded Amber, dispossessing the aborigines, the Minas, and adding from the Rajput tribe Bargujar, who held Rajor and large possessions around. But even in the twelfth century the Kachhwahas were but principal vassals to the Chauhan king of Delhi; and they have to date their greatness, as the other families (especially the Ranas of Mewar) of Rajasthan their decline, from the ascent of the house of Timur to the throne of Delhi. The map shows the limits of the sway of the Kachhwahas, including their branches, the independent Narukas of Macheri, and the tributary confederated Shaikhavats. The Kachhwaha subdivisions have been mislaid;[37]but the present partition into Kothris (chambers), of which there are twelve, shall be given in their annals.

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