CHAPTER 14

Gordhan Singh negotiates with the Chiefs.—There was a foreign Rajput, whose valour, fidelity, and conduct had excited the notice and regard of Bakhta Singh, who, in his dying hour, recommended him to the service of his son. To Gordhan, the Khichi, a name of no small note in the subsequent history of this reign, did the young Raja apply in order to restrain his chiefs from revolt. In the true spirit of Rajput sentiment, he advised his prince to confide in their honour, and, unattended, to seek and remonstrate with them, while he went before to secure him a good reception. At daybreak, Gordhan was in the camp of the confederates; he told them that their prince, confiding in their loyalty, was advancing to join them, and besought them to march out to receive him. Deaf, however, to entreaty and to remonstrance, not a man would stir, and the prince reached the camp uninvited and unwelcomed. Decision and confidence are essential in all transactions with a Rajput. Gordhan remained not a moment in deliberation, but instantly carried his master direct to the tent of the Awa chief, the premier noble of Marwar. Here the whole body congregated, and silence was broken by the prince, who demanded why his chiefs had abandoned him?

“Maharaja,” replied the Champawat, “our bodies have but one pinnacle; were there a second, it should be at your disposal.” A tedious discussion ensued; doubts of the future, recriminations respecting the past; till wearied and exhausted, the prince demanded to know the conditions on which they would return to their allegiance, when the following articles were submitted:

1. To break up the force of the Dhabhai;

2. To surrender to their keeping the records of fiefs (pattabahi);

3. That the court should be transferred from the citadel to the town.

There was no alternative but the renewal of civil strife or compliance; and the first article, which was asine qua non, the disbanding of the obnoxious guards, that anomalous appendage to a Rajput prince’s person, was carried into immediate execution. Neither in the first nor last stipulation could the prince feel surprise or displeasure; but the second sapped the very foundation of his rule, by depriving the crown of its dearest prerogative, the power of dispensing favour. This shallow reconciliationbeing effected, the malcontent nobles dispersed, some to their estates [130], and the Chondawat oligarchy to the capital with their prince, in the hope of resuming their former influence over him and the country.

Massacre of the Chiefs.—Thus things remained, when Atmaram, the Guru or ‘ghostly comforter’ of Bijai Singh, fell sick, and as he sedulously attended him, the dying priest would tell him to be of good cheer, for when he departed, he “would take all his troubles with him.” He soon died, and his words, which were deemed prophetic, were interpreted by the Dhabhai. The Raja feigned immoderate grief for the loss of his spiritual friend, and in order to testify his veneration, an ordinance was issued commanding that the Kiryakarma, or ‘rites for the dead,’ should be performed in the castle, while the queens, on pretence of paying their last duty to his remains, descended, carrying with them the guards and retainers as their escort. It was an occasion on which suspicion, even if awake, could not act, and the chiefs ascended to join in the funeral rites to the saint. As they mounted the steps cut out of the rock which wound round the hill of Jodha, the mind of Devi Singh suddenly misgave him, and he exclaimed that “the day was unlucky”; but it passed off with the flattering remark, “you are the pillar of Maru; who dare even look at you?” They paced slowly through the various barriers, until they reached the Alarum Gate.[17]It was shut! “Treachery!” exclaimed the chief of Awa, as he drew his sword, and the work of death commenced. Several were slain; the rest were overpowered. Their captivity was a sufficient presage of their fate; but, like true Rajputs, when the Dhabhai told them they were to die, their last request was, “that their souls might be set at liberty by the sword, not by the unsanctified ball of the mercenary.” The chronicle does not say whether this wish was gratified, when the three great leaders of the Champawats, with Jeth Singh of Awa; Devi Singh of Pokaran; the lord of Harsola; Chhattar Singh, chief of the Kumpawats; Kesari Singh of Chandren; the heir of Nimaj; and the chief of Ras,[18]then theprincipal fief of the Udawats, met their fate. The last hour of Devi Singh was marked with a distinguished peculiarity. Being of the royal line of Maru, they would not spill his blood, but sent him his death-warrant in a jar of opium. On receiving it, and his prince’s command to make his own departure from life, “What!” said the noble spirit, as they presented the jar, “shall Devi [131] Singh take hisamal(opiate) out of an earthen vessel? Let his gold cup be brought, and it shall be welcome.” This last vain distinction being denied, he dashed out his brains against the walls of his prison. Before he thus enfranchised his proud spirit, some ungenerous mind, repeating his own vaunt, demanded, “where was then the sheath of the dagger which held the fortunes of Marwar?” “In Subhala’s girdle at Pokaran,” was the laconic reply of the undaunted Chondawat.

This was a tremendous sacrifice for the maintenance of authority, of men who had often emptied their veins in defence of their country. But even ultra patriotism, when opposed to foreign aggression, can prove no palliative to treason or mitigate its award, when, availing themselves of the diminished power of the prince, an arrogant and imperious oligarchy presumes to enthral their sovereign. It is the mode in which vengeance was executed at which the mind recoils, and which with other instances appears to justify the imputation of perfidy amongst the traits of Rajput character. But if we look deeply into it, we shall find reason to distrust such conclusion. The Rajput abhors, in the abstract, both perfidy and treason; but the elements of the society in which he lives and acts, unfortunately too often prompt the necessity of sacrificing principles to preservation: but this proceeds from their faulty political constitution; it is neither inculcated in their moral code, nor congenial to their moral habits.

Right of Primogeniture.—The perpetual struggle between the aristocracy and the sovereign, which is an evil inherent in all feudal associations, was greatly aggravated in Marwar, as well as in Mewar, by the sacrifice of that corner-stone even of constitutional monarchy, the rights of primogeniture. But in each case the deviation from custom was a voluntary sacrifice of the respective heirs-apparent to the caprices of parental dotage. In no other country in the world could that article of the Christian decalogue, “Honour thy father and thy mother,” be better illustrated than in Rajputana, where, if we have had to recordtwo horrid examples of deviation from, we have also exhibited splendid proofs of, filial devotion, in Chonda of Mewar, and Champa of Marwar, who resigned the “rods” they were born to wield; and served, when they should have swayed, to gratify their father’s love for the fruit of their old age. These are instances of self-denial hardly to be credited; from such disinterested acts, their successors claimed an importance which, though natural, was totally unforeseen, and which the extent of compensation contributed [132] to foster. They asserted the right, as hereditary premiers of the State, to be the advisers, or rather the tutors, of their sovereigns, more especially in non-age, and in allusion to this surrender of their birthright, arrogantly applied the well-known adage,Pat ka malik main ho, Raj ka malik uha, ‘He is sovereign of the State, but I am the master of the Throne’; and insisted on the privilege of being consulted on every gift of land, and putting their autograph symbol to the deed or grant.[19]These pretensions demanded the constant exertions of the sovereign to resist them; for this purpose, he excited the rivalry of the less powerful members of the federated vassalage, and thus formed a kind of balance of power, which the monarch, if skilful, could always turn to account. But not even the jealousies thus introduced would have so depreciated the regal influence in Marwar, nor even the more recent adoption of a son of the crown into the powerful fief of Pokaran, had not the parricidal sons of Ajit degraded the throne in the eyes of their haughty and always overreaching vassals, who, in the civil strife which followed, were alternately in favour or disgrace, as they adhered to or opposed the successful claimant for power. To this foul blot, every evil which has since overtaken this high-minded race may be traced, as well as the extirpation of that principle of devoted obedience which, in the anterior portion of these annals, has been so signally recorded. To this hour it has perpetuated dissensions between the crown and the oligarchy, leading to deposal and violence to the princes, or sequestration, banishment, and death to the nobles. To break the bonds of this tutelage, Ram Singh’s intemperance lost him the crown, which sat uneasy on the head of his successor, who had no other mode of escape but by the severity which has been related. But though it freed him for a time, the words of the dying chief of Pokaran continued to ring in his ears;and “the dagger left in the girdle of his son” disturbed the dreams of his rest throughout a long life of vicissitudes, poisoning the source of enjoyment until death itself was a relief.

The nuncupatory testament of the Champawat was transmitted across the desert to his son at Pokaran, and the rapidity of its transmission was only equalled by the alacrity of Sabhala, who at the head of his vassals issued forth to execute the vengeance thus bequeathed. First, he attempted to burn and pillage the mercantile town of Pali; foiled in which, he proceeded to another wealthy city of the fisc [133], Bhilwara on the Luni; but here terminated both his life and his revenge. As he led the escalade, he received two balls, which hurled him back amongst his kinsmen, and his ashes next morning blanched the sandy bed of the Luni.

Suppression of Aristocratic Influence.—For a time the feudal interest was restrained, anarchy was allayed, commerce again flourished, and general prosperity revived: to use the words of the chronicle, “the subject enjoyed tranquillity, and the tiger and the lamb drank from the same fountain.” Bijai Singh took the best means to secure the fidelity of his chiefs, by finding them occupation. He carried his arms against the desultory hordes of the desert, the Khosas and Sahariyas, which involved him in contests with the nominal sovereign of Sind, and ended in the conquest of Umarkot, the key to the valley of the Indus, and which is now the most remote possession of Marwar. He also curtailed the territories of Jaisalmer, on his north-west frontier. But more important than all was the addition of the rich province of Godwar, from the Rana of Mewar. This tract, which nearly equals in value the whole fiscal domain of Maru, was wrested from the ancient princes of Mandor, prior to the Rathors, and had been in the possession of the Sesodias for nearly five centuries, when civil dissension made the Rana place it for security under the protection of Raja Bijai Singh; since which it has been lost to Mewar.

Rājput Confederation against the Marāthas. Battle of TongaA.D.1787. Battles of Pātan and Merta, 20th June, 10th, 12th September 1790.—Marwar had enjoyed several years of peace, when the rapid strides made by the Mahrattas towards universal rapine, if not conquest, compelled the Rajputs once more to form an union for the defence of their political existence. PartapSingh, a prince of energy and enterprise, was now on thegaddiof Amber. In S. 1843 (A.D.1787), he sent an ambassador to Bijai Singh, proposing a league against the common foe, and volunteering to lead in person their conjoined forces against them. The battle of Tonga ensued, in which Rathor valour shone forth in all its glory. Despising discipline, they charged through the dense battalions of De Boigne, sabring his artillerymen at their guns, and compelling Sindhia to abandon not only the field, but all his conquests for a time.[20]Bijai Singh, by this victory, redeemed the castle of Ajmer, and declared his tributary alliance null and void. But the genius of Sindhia, and the talents of De Boigne, soon recovered this loss; and in four years the Mahratta marched with a force such as Indian warfare was stranger to, to redeem that day’s disgrace. In S. 1847 (A.D.1791), the murderous [134] battles of Patan and Merta took place, in which Rajput courage was heroically but fruitlessly displayed against European tactics and unlimited resources, and where neither intrigue nor treason was wanting. The result was the imposition of a contribution of sixty lakhs of rupees, or £600,000; and as so much could not be drained from the country, goods and chattels were everywhere distrained, and hostages given for the balance.

Ajmer lost to Mārwār.—Ajmer, which had revolted on the short-lived triumph of Tonga, was once more surrendered, and lost for ever to Marwar. When invested by De Boigne, the faithful governor, Damraj, placed in the dilemma of a disgraceful surrender, or disobedience to his prince’s summons, swallowed diamond-powder.[21]“Tell the raja,” said this faithful servant, “thus only could I testify my obedience; and over my dead body alone could a Southron enter Ajmer.”[22]

Influence of Court Morals.—The paramount influence which the morals and manners of a court exert upon a nation, is everywhere admitted. In constitutional governments, there is a barrier even to court influence and corruption, in the vast portion of wealth and worth which cannot be engulphed in their vortex. But in these petty sovereignties no such check is found, and the tone of virtue and action is given from the throne. The laws of semi-barbarous nations, which admit of licentious concubinage, have ever been peculiar to orientals, from the days of the wise king of the Jews to those of Bijai Singh of Marwar; and their political consequence has been the same, the sacrifice of the rights of lawful inheritance to the heirs of illicit affection. The last years of the king of Maru were engrossed by sentimental folly with a young beauty of the Oswal tribe, on whom he lavished all the honours due only to his legitimate queens. Scandal affirms that she frequently returned his passion in a manner little becoming royal dignity, driving him from her presence with the basest of missiles—her shoes. As the effects of this unworthy attachment completed the anarchy of Marwar, and as its consequences on deviating from the established rules of succession have entailed a perpetuity of crime and civil war, under which this unfortunate State yet writhes, we shall be minute, even to dullness, in the elucidation [135] of this portion of their annals, to enable those who have now to arbitrate these differences to bring back a current of uncontaminated blood to sway the destinies of this still noble race.

Influence of his Concubine on Bijai Singh.—So infatuated was Bijai Singh with the Pasbani[23]concubine, that on losing the only pledge of their amours, he ‘put into her lap’ (adopted) his own legitimate grandchild, Man Singh. To legalize this adoption, the chieftains were ordained to present theirnazarsand congratulations to the declared heir of Marwar; but the haughty noblesse refused ‘to acknowledge the son of a slave’ as their lord, and the Raja was compelled to a fresh adoption to ensure such token of sanction. Content at having by this method succeeded in her wishes, the Pasbani sent off young Man to the castle of Jalor; but fearing lest the experience of Sher Singh, his adopted father, might prove a hindrance to her control, he was recalled, and her own creatures left to guide the future sovereign of Marwar. The dotage of Bijai Singh, and the insolence of his concubine, produced fresh discord, and the clans assembled at Malkosni[24]to concert his deposal.

Rebellion of the Clansmen against Bijai Sīngh.—Recollecting the success of his former measures to recall them to their duty, Bijai Singh proceeded to their camp; but while he was negotiating, and as he supposed successfully, the confederates wrote to the chieftain of Ras, whose tour of duty was in the castle, to descend with Bhim Singh. The chief acquainted the Pasbani that her presence was required at the camp by the Raja, and that a guard of honour was ready to attend her. She was thrown off her guard, and at the moment she entered her litter, a blow from an unseen hand ended her existence. Her effects were instantly confiscated, and the chief of Ras descended with Bhim, whose tents were pitched at the Nagor barrier of the city. If, instead of encamping there, they had proceeded to the camp of the confederates, his arrival and the dethronement of Bijai Singh would have been simultaneous: but the Raja received the intelligence as soon as the chiefs. Hastening back, he obtained the person of the young aspirant, to whom, to reconcile him to his disappointment, he gave in appanage the districts of Sojat and Siwana, and sent him off to the latter stronghold; while to restrain the resentmentof his eldest son, Zalim Singh, whose birthright he had so unworthily sacrificed, he enfeoffed him with the rich district of Godwar, giving him private orders to attack his brother Bhim, who, though apprised of the design in time to make head against his uncle, was yet defeated and compelled to fly. He found refuge at Pokaran, whence he went to Jaisalmer.

Death of Rāja Bijai Singh.—In the midst of this conflict, his dominions curtailed, his chiefs in rebellion, his sons and grandsons mutually opposed to each other, and the only object which attached him to life thus violently torn from him, Bijai Singh died, in the month Asarh S. 1850, after a reign of thirty-one years [136].

1. [On the N. frontier of Jodhpur.]

2. This treaty is termedhaldi, orbalpatra, ‘a strong deed’ [haldimeans ‘turmeric,’ with which the hand-marks on the treaty were made]. The names of the chiefs who signed it were Jankoji Sindhia, Santoji Bolia, Danto Patel, Rana Bhurtiya, Ato Jaswant Rae, Kano, and Jiwa, Jadons; Jiwa Punwar, Piluji and Satwa, Sindhia Malji, Tantia Chitu, Raghu Pagia, Ghusalia Jadon, Mulla Yar Ali, Firoz Khan; all great leaders amongst the ‘Southrons’ of that day.

3. [The date of the battle is uncertain. According to Erskine (iii. A. 66) it was fought “about 1756”.]

4. TheA, to the Rajput of the north-west, is as great a Shibboleth as to the Cockney—thusApabecomesHapa.

5. See p.868.

6.Bapji.

7. The anecdote is related, p.870. The Bijai Vilas states that the prince rewarded the peasant with five hundred bighas of land in perpetuity, which his descendants enjoy, saddled with the petite serjanterie of “curds and bajra cakes,” in remembrance of the fare the Jat provided for his prince on that emergency.

8. Rae Singh, chief of the Kumpawats, the second noble in rank of Marwar; Lal Singh, head of the Sisawats, with the leader of the Kutawats, are especially singled out as sealing their fidelity with their blood; but all theotsandawatsof the country come in for a share of glory.

9. This occurrence has been related in the Personal Narrative, p. 873, but it is more amply narrated in the chronicle, the Bijai Vilas, from which I am now compiling. In this it is said that Jai Apa, during the siege, having fallen sick, the Rathor prince sent his own physician, Surajmall, to attend him; that the doctor at first refused the mission, saying, “You may “On the contrary,” ur, and I shall favour you”; but what was far more strange, Apa objected not, took the medicines of thebaid, and recovered.

10. [Hel,halla, ‘onset,’ the Marātha invasion.]

11. I have many original autograph letters of this distinguished Rajput on the transactions of this period; for it was he who negotiated the treaty between Raja Madho Singh, of Jaipur, the ‘nephew of Mewar,’ and the Mahrattas. At this time, his object was to induce Jai Apa to raise the siege of Nagor.

12. [A class of minstrels and buffoons (Census Report, Mārwār, 1891, ii. 178).]

13. [Rabāb, ‘a viol’.]

14. It will be remembered that Idar was conquered by a brother of Siahji’s.

15. We shall explain this by a cutting of the genealogical tree: it may be found useful should we be called on to arbitrate in these matters.

16. Purbias, ‘men of the east,’ as the Maghrabis are ‘of the west.’

17. The Nakkara Darwaza, where the grand kettledrum is stationed, to give the alarm or summons to the chieftains to repair to the Presence. To this gate Raja Man advanced to meet the Author, then the representative of the Governor-General of India.

18. [Rās, 70 miles E. of Jodhpur city.]

19. See Vol. I. p.235.

20. See p.875for the details of this battle.

21. [It is commonly believed in India that diamond dust is poisonous (Chevers,Manual of Medical Jurisprudence in India, 289 ff.). Powdered glass is used in the same way, as in a recent case at Agra (The Times, 19th December 1912; Labanés,Les Curiosities de la Medicine, 146 ff.).]

22. Damraj was not a Rajput, but of the Singhi tribe, one of the civil officers; though it is a curious and little-known fact, that almost all the mercantile tribes of Western India are of Rajput origin, and sank the name and profession of arms when they became proselytes to Jainism, in the reign of Raja Bhim Pramar. The Chitor inscription (see p.919and note7, p. 921) records the name of this prince. He was ancestor of Raja Man, whose date S. 770 (A.D.714) allows us to place this grand conversion prior toA.D.650. [The Singhis were originally Brāhmans converted to Jainism (Census Report, Mārwār, 1891, ii. 116).]

23. [Pāsbāni, meaning ‘guarding, protecting,’ is a synonym for Gola, the hereditary slave class, illegitimate offspring by Rājputs of women attendants in the Zanāna; they are also known as Dārogha, Khawāss, or Chela (Census Report, Mārwār, 1891, ii. 181).]

24. [In the Bhīlāra Hakūmat, in the centre of Jodhpur State.]

Rāja Bhīm Singh,A.D.1793-1803.—The intelligence of Bijai Singh’s death was conveyed by express to his grandson Bhim, at Jaisalmer. In “twenty-two hours” he was at Jodhpur, and ascending directly to the citadel, seated himself upon thegaddi, while his rival, Zalim Singh, the rightful heir, little expecting this celerity, was encamped at the Merta gate, awaiting the “lucky hour” to take possession. That hour never arrived; and the first intelligence of Bhim being on “the cushion of Jodha,” was conveyed to the inhabitants by the nakkaras of his rival on his retreat from the city, who was pursued to Bhilara, attacked, defeated, and forced to seek shelter at Udaipur, where, with an ample domain from the Rana, he passed the rest of his days in literary pursuits. He died in the prime of life: attempting to open a vein with his own hand, he cut an artery and bled to death. He was a man of great personal and mental qualifications; a gallant soldier, and no mean poet.[1][137]

Rāja Bhīm disposes of his Rivals.—Thus far successful, Raja Bhim determined to dismiss “compunctious visitings,” and be a kingde factoif notde jure. Death had carried off three of his uncles, as well as his father, previous to this event; but therewere still two others, Sher Singh, his adopted father, and Sardar Singh, who stood in his way: the last was put to death; the former had his eyes put out; and, soon after, the unfortunate prince released himself from life by dashing out his brains. Sur Singh, the favourite of all Bijai Singh’s descendants, remained. His superior claims were fatal to him and his life fell a sacrifice with the others.

A single claimant alone remained of all the blood royal of Maru to disturb the repose of Bhim. This was young Man, the adopted son of the concubine, placed beyond his reach within the walls of Jalor. Could Bhim’s dagger have reached him, he would have stood alone, the last surviving scion of the parricide,

With none to bless him,None whom he could bless:

With none to bless him,

None whom he could bless:

an instrument, in the hand of divine power, to rid the land of an accursed stock. Then the issue of Abhai Singh would have utterly perished, and their ashes might have been given to the winds, and no memorial of them left. Idar must then have supplied an heir,[2]and the doubtful pretensions of Dhonkal,[3]theposthumous and reputed son of the wholesale assassin Bhim, to sit upon thegaddiof Ajit, would never have been brought forward to excite another murderous contest amongst the sons of Jodha.

Escape of Mān Singh.—Having sacrificed all those within his reach who stood between him and the [139] throne, Bhim tried to secure the last sole claimant in Jalor. But the siege of such a stronghold with his feudal levies, or loose mercenary bands, was a tedious operation, and soon became an imperfect blockade, through which young Man not unfrequently broke, and by signal formed a junction with his adherents, and plundered the fiscal lands for support. One of these excursions, however, an attempt to plunder Pali, had nearly proved fatal to him; they were attacked on their return, and young Man, whose secluded education had confined him more to mental than to personal accomplishments, was unhorsed, and would have been captured, but for the prowess of the chief of Ahor, who took him up behind him and bore him off in safety. Nothing but the turbulence of the chiefs who supported Raja Bhim saved young Man’s life. A disputed succession has always produced an odious faction; and Bhim, who was not disposed to bend to this oligarchy, appears to have had all the imprudence of the dethroned Ram Singh: he threatened those entrusted with the siege to give them “oxen to ride instead of horses.” The chiefs fired at the insult, and retired to Ghanerao, the principal fief in Godwar; but, disgusted with both parties, instead of obeying the invitation of young Man, they abandoned their country altogether, and sought an asylum in the neighbouring States. Many fiefs were sequestrated, and Nimaj, the chief seat of the Udawats, was attacked, and after a twelve months’ defence, taken; its battlements were ignominiously destroyed, and the victors, chiefly foreign mercenaries, reinforced the blockade of Jalor.

Siege of Jālor. Death of Rāja Bhīm Singh.—With the exile of his partisans and daily diminishing resources, when the lower town was taken, there appeared no hope for young Man. A small supply of millet-flour was all the provision left to his half-famished garrison, whose surrender was now calculated upon,when an invitation came from the hostile commander for Man to repair to his camp, and adding “he was now the master; it was his duty to serve.” On that day (the 2nd Kartik S. 1860, Dec. 1804), after eleven years of defence, his means exhausted, his friends banished, and death from starvation or the sword inevitable, intelligence came of Raja Bhim’s demise! This event, as unlooked-for as it was welcome, could scarcely at first be credited; and the tender of the homage of the commander to Man as his sovereign, though accompanied by a letter from the prime minister Induraj, was disregarded till the Guru Deonath returned from the camp with confirmation of the happy news, that “not a moustache [140] was to be seen in the camp.”[4]Thither the prince repaired, and was hailed as the head of the Rathors.

It is said that the successor of the Guru Atmaram, “who carried all the troubles of Bijai Singh with him to heaven,” had predicted of young Man Singh, when at the very zero of adversity, that “his fortunes would ascend.” What were the means whereby the ghostly comforter of Raja Bhim influenced his political barometer, we know not; but prophetic Gurus, bards, astrologers, physicians, and all the Vaidyas or ‘cunning-men,’[5]who beset the persons of princes, prove dangerous companions when, in addition to the office of compounders of drugs and expounders of dreams, they are invested with the power of realizing their own prognostications.

Rāja Mān Singh,A.D.1803-43.—On the 5th of Margsir, 1860 (A.D.1804), Raja Man, released from his perils, succeeded to the honours and the feuds of Bijai Singh. He had occupied the ‘cushion of Maru’ but a very short period, when the Pokaran chief “took offence,” and put himself in hostility to his sovereign. The name of this proud vassal, the first in power though only of secondary rank amongst the Champawats, was Sawai Singh, with whom now remained “the sheath of the dagger which held the fortunes of Maru.” If the fulfilment of vengeance be a virtue, Sawai was the most virtuous son on earth. The dagger of Devi Singh, bequeathed to Sabhala, was no imaginary weapon in thehands of his grandson Sawai, who held it suspended over the head of Raja Man from his enthronement to his death-hour. Soon after Raja Man’s accession, Sawai retired with his partisans to Chopasni, a spot about five miles from the capital, where the conspiracy was prepared. He told the chiefs that the wife of Raja Bhim was pregnant, and prevailed on them to sign a declaration, that if a son was born, he should be installed on thegaddiof Jodha. They returned in a body to the capital, took the pregnant queen from the castle, and placed her in a palace in the city, under their own protection. Moreover, they held a council, at which the Raja was present, who agreed to recognise the infant, if a male, as the heir-apparent of Maru, and to enfeoff him in the appanage of Nagor and Siwana; and that if a female, she should be betrothed to a prince of Dhundhar [141].

Dangers from Posthumous Births.—Posthumous births are never-failing germs of discord in these States; and the issue is inevitably branded by one party with the title of ‘supposititious.’ It is likewise a common saying, almost amounting to a proverb, that a male child is the uniform result of such a position. In due course, a male infant was born; but, alarmed for its safety, the mother concealed both its birth and sex, and placing it in a basket, conveyed it by a faithful servant from the city, whence it soon reached Sawai Singh at Pokaran. He bestowed upon it the inauspicious name of Dhonkal, that is, one born to tumult and strife. It is said that during two years he kept the birth a profound secret, and it is even added, that it might have remained so, had Raja Man forgot the history of the past, and dispensed even-handed justice. Wanting, however, the magnanimity of the Fourth Henry of France, who scorned “to revenge the wrongs of the prince of Navarre,” he reserved his favours and confidence for those who supported him in Jalor, whilst he evinced his dislike to others who, in obedience to their sovereign, served against him. Of these adherents, only two chiefs of note were of his kin and clan; the others were Bhatti Rajputs, and a body of those religious militants called Bishanswamis, under their Mahant, or leader, Kaimdas.[6]

Sawāi Singh supports Dhonkal Singh.—At the expiration of two years, Sawai communicated the event to the chiefs of his party, who called upon Raja Man to redeem his promise and issue the grant for Nagor and Siwana. He promised compliance if, upon investigation, the infant proved to be the legitimate offspring of his predecessor. Personal fear overcame maternal affection, and the queen, who remained at Jodhpur, disclaimed the child. Her reply being communicated to the chiefs, it was for a time conclusive, and the subject ceased to interest them, the more especially as her concealed accouchement had never been properly accounted for.

Though Sawai, with his party, apparently acquiesced, his determination was taken; but instead of an immediate appeal to arms, he adopted a deeper scheme of policy, the effects of which he could not have contemplated, and which involved his own destruction, and with it the independence of his country, which was transferred to [142] strangers, their very antipodes in manners, religion, and every moral quality. His first act was to procure a more powerful protection than Pokaran afforded; and under the guarantee of Chhattar Singh Bhatti, he was sent to the saran (sanctuary) of Abhai Singh of Khetri.[7]Having so far succeeded, he contrived an underplot, in which his genius for intrigue appears not below his reputation as a soldier.

Krishna Kunwāri.—The late prince Bhim had made overtures to the Rana of Mewar for the hand of his daughter, but he died before the preliminaries were adjusted. This simple circumstance was deemed sufficient by the Champawat for the groundwork of his plot. He contrived to induce the voluptuous Jagat Singh, the prince of Jaipur, to put himself in the place of RajaBhim, and to propose for the fair hand of Krishna. This being accomplished, and nuptial presents, under a guard of four thousand men, being dispatched to Udaipur, Sawai intimated to Raja Man that he would be eternally disgraced if he allowed the prince of Amber to carry off “the betrothed”; that “it was to the throne of Maru, not its occupant, she was promised.” The bait was greedily swallowed, and the summons for the Kher (or levyen masse) of the Rathors was immediately proclaimed. Man instantly assembled three thousand horse, and joining to them the mercenary bands of Hira Singh then on the frontier of Mewar, he intercepted the nuptial gifts of Amber. Indignant at this outrage, Jagat Singh took to arms, and the muster-book was declared open to all who would serve in the war which was formally declared against Maru.

Attack by Rāja Jagat Singh of Jaipur on Mārwār. Treachery of Jaswant Rāo Holkar.—Having thus opened the drama, Sawai threw off the mask, and repaired to Khetri, whence he conveyed the pretender, Dhonkal, to the court of Jagat Singh at Jaipur. Here his legitimacy was established by being admitted ‘to eat from the same platter’ with its prince; and his claims, as the heir of Marwar, were publicly acknowledged and advocated, by his ‘placing him in the lap of his aunt,’[8]one of the wives of the deceased Raja Bhim. His cause thus espoused, and being declared the nephew of Amber, the nobles of Marwar, who deemed the claims of the pretender superior to those of Raja Man, speedily collected around his standard. Amongst these was the prince of Bikaner, whose example (he being the most powerful of the independents of this house) at once sanctioned the justice of Dhonkal’s cause, and left that of Raja Man almost without support. Nevertheless, with the hereditary [143] valour of his race, he advanced to the frontiers to meet his foes, whose numbers, led by the Jaipur prince and the pretender, exceeded one hundred thousand men! This contest, the ostensible object of which was the princess of Mewar, like the crusades of ancient chivalry, brought allies from the most remote parts of India. Even the cautious Mahratta felt an unusual impulse in this rivalry, beyond the stimulants of pay and plunder which ordinarily rouse him, and corps after corps left their hordes to support either cause.The weightier purse of Jaipur was the best argument for the justice of his cause and that of the pretender; while Raja Man had only the gratitude of Holkar to reckon upon for aid, to whose wife and family he had given sanctuary when pursued by Lord Lake to the Attock. But here Sawai again foiled him; and the Mahratta, then only eighteen miles from Man, and who had promised to join him next day, made a sudden movement to the south. A bribe of £100,000, in bills upon Kotah, to be paid on Holkar’s reaching that city, effected this desertion; which being secured, Jagat Singh and the pretender advanced to overwhelm their antagonist, who was posted at Gingoli. As the armies approached each other, Raja Man’s chiefs rode up to salute him, preparatory, as he thought, to head their clans for the combat; but it was their farewell obeisance. The cannonade opened, they rallied under the standard of the pretender, and on Sawai advancing on the right of the allied line, so entire was the defection, that even the Mertia clan, whose virtue and boast it is “to adhere to the throne, whoever is the occupant,” deserted, with the Champawats, Jethawats, and minor chiefs. Four chieftains alone abided the evil hour of Raja Man, namely, Kuchaman, Ahor, Jalor, and Nimaj; and with their quotas alone, and the auxiliary bands of Bundi, he would have rushed into the battle. Hindered from this, he attempted his own life: but the design was frustrated by Sheonath of Kuchaman, who dismounted him from his elephant, and advised his trusting to the fleetness of his steed, while they covered his flight. The Raja remarked, he was the first of his race who ever disgraced the name of Rathor by showing his back to a Kachhwaha. The position he had taken that morning was favourable to retreat, being a mile in advance of the pass of Parbatsar:[9]this was speedily gained, and nobly defended by the battalions of Bundi, and those of Hindal Khan, in the pay of Raja Man, which retarded the pursuit, headed by the Rao of Uniara. Raja Man reached Merta in safety; but deeming it incapable of long [144] resistance, he continued his flight by Pipar to the capital, which he reached with a slender retinue, including the four chiefs, who still shared his fortunes. The camp of Raja Man was pillaged. Eighteen guns were taken by Bala Rao Inglia, one of Sindhia’s commanders, and the lighter effects, the tents, elephants, and baggage, were captured byAmir Khan; while Parbatsar, and the villages in the neighbourhood, were plundered.

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