CHAPTER 2

Attack on Bahāwalpur.—The command-in-chief of this brilliant array was conferred on Jethra Mahto, son of the Diwan. On the 13th of Magh 1856 (spring of 1800) he broke ground, and the feudal levies fell in on the march by Kanasar, Rajasar, Keli, Raner, and Anupgarh, the last point of rendezvous. Thence he proceeded by Sheogarh,[39]Mozgarh, and Phulra, all of which were taken after a few weeks’ siege, and from the last they levied a lakh and a quarter of rupees, with other valuables, and nine guns. They advanced to Khairpur,[40]within three miles of theIndus, when being joined by other refractory chiefs, Jethra marched direct on the capital, Bahawalpur, within a short distance of which he encamped preparatory to the attack. The Khan, however, by this delay, was enabled to detach the most considerable of his nobles from the Rajput standard: on which the Bikaner Diwan, satisfied with the honour of having insulted Bahawalpur, retreated with the spoils he had acquired. He was received by the usurper with contempt, and degraded for not fighting.

Bhatti Invasion of Bīkaner.—The Bhattis, smarting with the recollection of their degradation, two years after the battle of Bigor attempted the invasion of Bikaner, but were again repulsed with loss; and these skirmishes continued until S. 1861 (A.D.1805), when Raja Surat attacked the Khan of the Bhattis in his capital, Bhatner. It capitulated after a siege of six months, when Zabita Khan, with his garrison and effects, was permitted to retire to Rania, since which this place has remained an appanage of Bikaner.

Attack on Jodhpur.—The coalition against Jodhpur was ruinous to Surat, who supported the cause of the pretender, on which the usurper expended twenty-four lakhs of rupees, nearly five years’ revenue of this desert region. On this occasion, he led all his troops in person against Jodhpur, and united in the siege, which they were however compelled to abandon with dishonour, and retrograde to their several abodes. In consequence of this, the usurper fell sick, and was at the last extremity; nay, the ceremonies for the dead were actually commenced; but he recovered, to the grief and misery of his subjects. To supply an exhausted treasury, his extortions know no bounds; and having cherished the idea that he might compound his past sins by rites and gifts to the priests, he is surrounded by a group of avaricious Brahmans, who are maintained in luxury at the expense of his subjects. His cruelty keeps pace with his avarice and his fears. The chief of Bhukarka he put to death, notwithstanding his numerous services. Nahar Singh of Sidmukh, Gyan Singh and Guman Singh of Gandeli, amongst the chief [194] feudatories of the State, shared the same fate. Churu was invested a third time, and with its chief, fell into the tyrant’s hands.

With this system of terror, his increasing superstition, and diminished attention to public duties, the country is annually deteriorating in population and wealth; and as if they had notmisery enough within, they have not had a single good season for years.[41]Owing to the disobedience of the northern chiefs, and the continual incursions of the Rahats, or ‘Bhatti robbers,’ who sweep the land of cattle, and often cut and carry off entire crops, the peasant Jat, the ancient lord of the soil, is often left to the alternative of starvation or emigration. Many have consequently sought shelter in the British frontier territories, in Hansi and Hariana, where they are kindly received. Since the English have occupied Sirsa and the lands belonging to the Bhatti Bahadur Khan, the misfortunes of the cultivators of the northern parts of Bikaner have been doubled by the inroads of a band left without resource. In some parts, the Jats combine to protect themselves against these inroads: every hamlet has its post of defence, a tower of earth, on which is perched a watchman and kettledrum, to beat the alarm, which is taken up from village to village, and when an enemy is discovered, all are in arms to defend their property. The unfortunate Jat is obliged to plough his fields under the load of shield andsang, or heavy iron lance; so that, at no distant period, the whole of this region must become as desolate as the tracts once possessed by the Johyas.[42]

Such, at the end of three hundred and twenty-three years, is the change which a Rajput usurper has effected in the once comparatively populous communities of the Jats. From the founder, Bika, to the present tyrannical governor, there have been only eleven descents though thirteen reigns, giving an average of thirty years for the one, and twenty-five for the other: a fact which speaks forcibly for the general morality of the descendants of Bika.

Bīdāvati.—Before we enter on the physical aspect of the country, we must make mention of Bidavati, the lands of ‘the sons of Bida,’ now an integral portion of Bikaner.[43]It will beborne in mind that Bida, the brother of Bika, led the first Rajput colony from Mandor, in search of a fresh establishment. His first attempt was in the province of Godwar, then belonging to the Rana: but his reception there was so warm, that [195] he moved northward, and was glad to take service with the chief of the Mohils. This ancient tribe is by some termed a branch of the Yadus, but is by others considered a separate race, and one of the ‘Thirty-six Royal Races’: all are agreed as to its antiquity. The residence of the Mohil chief was Chhapar,[44]where, with the title of Thakur, he ruled over one hundred and forty townships. Bida deemed circumvention better than open force to effect his purposes; and as, according to the Rajput maxim, in all attempts ‘to obtain land,’ success hallows the means, he put in train a scheme which, as it affords the least cause for suspicion, has often been used for this object. Bida became the medium of a matrimonial arrangement between the Mohil chief and the prince of Marwar; and as the relation and natural guardian of the bride, he conveyed the nuptial train unsuspected into the castle of the Mohils, whose chiefs were assembled to honour the festivities. But instead of the Rathor fair and her band of maidens, the valorous sons of Jodha rushed sword in hand from the litters and covered vehicles, and treacherously cut off the best men of Mohila. They kept possession of the inner fortress until tidings of their success brought reinforcements from Jodhpur. For this aid, Bida assigned to his father Ladnun and its twelve villages, now incorporated with Jodhpur. The son of Bida, Tej Singh, laid the foundation of a new capital, which he called after his father, Bidesar.[45]The community of the Bidawats is the most powerful in Bikaner, whose prince is obliged to be satisfied with almost nominal marks of supremacy, and to restrict his demands, which are elsewhere unlimited. The little region of the Mohilas, around the ancient capital Chhapar, is an extensive flat, flooded in the periodical rains from the surroundingtibasor ‘sandhills,’ the soil of which is excellent, even wheat being abundantly produced. This Oasis, as it is entitled to be termed, may be twenty-five miles (twelve cos) in extreme length, by about six in breadth. We cannot affirm that the entire Bidawat district of one hundred and forty villages, and to which is assigned a population of fortythousand to fifty thousand souls, one-third being Rathors, ‘the sons of Bida,’ is within this flat. It is subdivided into twelve fiefs, of which five are pre-eminent. Of the ancient possessors, the indigenous Mohils, there are not more than twenty families throughout the land of Mohila; the rest are chiefly Jat agriculturists and the mercantile castes.

We do the sons of Bida no injustice when we style them a community of plunderers. Like the sons of Esau, “their hand is against every man”: and they are too powerful to fear retaliation. In former times they used to unite with the Larkhanis [196], another horde of robbers, and carry their raids into the most populous parts of Jaipur. In these habits, however, they only partake of the character common to all who inhabit desert regions. What nature has denied them, they wrest from those to whom she has been more bountiful. But it is to the absence of good government more than to natural sterility that we must attribute the moral obliquity of the Rajaputras, ‘the offspring of regality,’ spread over these extensive regions, who little discriminate betweenmeumandtuum, in all that refers to their neighbours.

1. [At present greatest length about 320 miles, greatest breadth 170 miles.]

2. [In 1911 the population was 2,057,553.]

3. [In 1911 respectively 125 and 279 per mille.]

4. The district of Sanchor is almost entirely Brahman, forming a distinct tribe, called the Sanchora Brahmans.

5. [At present the horses of Mallāni are most esteemed. By the “Jungle,” the Lākhi Jangal is meant.]

6. [Gawār, the horse bean,Dolichus biflorus.]

7. [In Nāgor district, N.W. of Jodhpur city.]

8. [This variety is grown without irrigation (Erskine iii. A. 103).]

9. [The varieties of soil now recognized are:matiyāli, clayey loam;bhūri, brown-coloured, and with less clay thanmatiyāli;retla, fine sand without clay;magraortharra, on the slopes of hills, hard and containing pebbles (ibid.iii. A. 99).]

10. [Makrāna is 12 miles W. of Sāmbhar Lake. For its marbles see Sleeman,Rambles, 318; Hervey,Some Records of Crime, i. 100. The best marbles in Rājputāna are found at Makrāna, Tonkra in Kishangarh, Kharwar in Ajmer, and Raiālu in Jaipur; see Watt,Comm. Prod.715.]

11. There is nothing which so much employs the assessors of justice, in those tribunals of arbitration, the Panchayats, as the adjudication of questions of property. The highest compliment ever paid to the Author was by the litigants of property amounting to half a million sterling, which had been going the rounds of various Panchayats and appeals to native princes, alike unsatisfactory in their results. They agreed to admit as final the decision of a court of his nomination. It was not without hesitation I accepted the mediation propounded through the British superintendent of Ajmer (Mr. Wilder); but knowing two men, whose integrity as well as powers of investigation were above all encomium, I could not refuse. One of these had given a striking instance of independence in support of the award his penetration had led him to pronounce, and which award being set aside on appeal, through favouritism, he abjured every future call as an arbitrator. He was not a wealthy man, but such was the homage paid to his integrity and talents, that the greatest despot in India found it politic to reassemble the court, have the case reconsidered, and permit justice to take its course. In like manner, his demand was, that, before he agreed to devote his time to unravelling all the intricacies of the case, both litigants should sign amuchalka, or ‘bond,’ to abide by the award. I have no recollection how it terminated.

12. [Cumin,Cuminum cyminum(Watt,Comm. Prod.442).]

13. [Suigām in Pālanpur State, near the Ran of Cutch (BG, v. 348).]

14. [See p.815.]

15. The Author learns that important modifications of this system have been made by the legislative authorities at home: of their extent he is ignorant, except that remuneration to chiefs for the loss of transit duties has not been omitted. This is as it should be! [The opium question is still in a state of transition. Exports to China were closed in 1913, and, owing to the loss of revenue, compensation has been awarded to the Native States by the Government of India. For the trade up to 1911 seeIGI, iv. 242 ff.; Watt,Comm. Prod.(1908), 845 ff.]

16. [For these fairs see Erskine iii. A. 206, 208.]

17. [The State jails have been reorganized, and humane treatment of prisoners is enforced (Erskine iii. A. 163 ff.).]

18. The Rajputs and Hindus in general hold precisely the same idea, of the cause of eclipses, as the Getae of Scandinavia. [This is a form of sympathetic magic: as prisoners are released, so will the sun and moon be freed from the demon.]

19. Chandrama. The moon is represented by silver, which is called after her (or him)chandi.

20. [According to the more common story, she walked through a pile of burning wood.]

21. [Since the reorganization of the Courts of Justice and the introduction of criminal codes, trial by ordeal has been prohibited (Erskine iii. A. 132 ff.). In 1854 Sir H. Lawrence made a treaty with Mewār which provided that “no person be seized on the plea of sorcery, witchcraft, or incantations” (Lee Warner,Native States of India, ed. 1910, p. 305).]

22. [The most solemn oath among the Scythians was by the royal hearth (Herodotus iv. 68).]

23. [The normal revenue of the State at the present time is about 56, and the expenditure 42 lakhs of rupees (Erskine iii. A. 140 ff.).]

24. [The State now maintains two regiments of Imperial Service Lancers, 1210 men, the whole force, including local troops, being about 2700 (ibid.iii. A. 158 ff.).]

25. The maund is about seventy-five lbs. weight.

26.Kan, ‘corn.’

27. The average selling price at Jodhpur is two rupees the maund; four at Sambhar and Didwana, and five at Pachbhadra, Phalodi, and Nawa. Why the price at the capital is 50 per cent lower than elsewhere, I know not, even if this statement is correct. [On the Rājputāna salt trade see Watt,Comm. Prod.968 f. The present State income is now about 15 lakhs of rupeesper annum(Erskine iii. A. 150 f.).]

28. [Saccharum sara.]

29. [On the production of barilla (sajji khar) see Watt,op. cit.112 ff.112 ff.]We may recapitulate what the old archives state of the aggregate fiscal revenues in past times, amounting to nearly thirty lakhs of rupees. It would be hazardous to say to what extent the amount was overrated:1.Khalisa, or fiscal land, from 1484 towns and villagesRs. 1,500,0002.Sair or imposts430,0003.Salt lakes715,0004.Hasil, or miscellaneous taxes; fluctuating and uncertain; not less than300,000Total2,945,000Feudal and ministerial estates5,000,000Grand Total7,945,000Thus the united fiscal and feudal revenues of Marwar are said to have amounted almost to eighty lakhs of rupees (£800,000). If they ever did reach this sum [175], which may be doubted, we do not err in affirming that they would not be overrated at half that amount. Large fortunes are said to centre in the families of the ex-ministers, especially the Singhi family, reported to be immensely rich. Their wealth is deposited in foreign capitals. But much bullion is lost to the currency of these countries by the

29. [On the production of barilla (sajji khar) see Watt,op. cit.112 ff.112 ff.]

We may recapitulate what the old archives state of the aggregate fiscal revenues in past times, amounting to nearly thirty lakhs of rupees. It would be hazardous to say to what extent the amount was overrated:

Thus the united fiscal and feudal revenues of Marwar are said to have amounted almost to eighty lakhs of rupees (£800,000). If they ever did reach this sum [175], which may be doubted, we do not err in affirming that they would not be overrated at half that amount. Large fortunes are said to centre in the families of the ex-ministers, especially the Singhi family, reported to be immensely rich. Their wealth is deposited in foreign capitals. But much bullion is lost to the currency of these countries by the

30. [At the present time the estates and septs of the Rāthor clan to which the twelve nobles belong are: Pokaran, Awa—Champāwat; Rian, Alniawās—Mertia; Rāēpur, Rās, Nīmāj, Agewa—Udāwat; Kharwa, Bhadrājan—Jodha. At a Darbār the Champāwats and Kūmpāwats sit to the right and the Jodhas, Mertias, and Udāwats to the left of the Mahārāja (Erskine iii. B. 40).]

1. [According to Erskine (iii. B. 85) Bika was born in 1439; left Jodhpur, 1465; founded Bikaner city, 1488.]

2. [The Sānkhlas are said to be a Panwār clan, but this is not certain (Census Report, Rājputāna, 1911, i. 256). Jānglu is about 20 miles S. of Bīkaner city.]

3. [About 120 miles N. of Bīkaner city: the ruler at present is one of the leading nobles of the State.]

4. Vol. I. p.127, History of the Rajput Tribes—Article, Jats or Getae.

5. Ranjit has long been in possession of Peshawar, and entertained views on Kabul, the disorganized condition of which kingdom affords him a favourable opportunity of realizing them.

6. See Inscription, p.914.

7. [The land beyond the Oxus.]

8. “On Friday the 14th (Dec. 29,A.D.1525), of the first Rabi, we arrived at Sialkot. Every time that I have entered Hindustan, the Jats and Gujars have regularly poured down in prodigious numbers from their hills and wilds, in order to carry off oxen and buffaloes” [Elliot-Dowson iv. 24]. The learned commentator draws a distinction between the Jat inhabitants of the Panjab and of India, which is not maintainable.

9. “It is worthy of remark,” says Colonel Pitman (who accompanied Mr. Elphinstone to Kabul), “that in the two first Doabehs (return of the embassy) we saw very few Sikhs, the Jat cultivators of the soil being in general Moosulmauns, and in complete subjugation to the Sikhs.”

10. [Shaikh Farīd, known as Shakkarganj, ‘sugar-store,’ on account of his supposed miraculous power of transmuting dust or salt into sugar, was disciple of the famous Saint, Kutbu-d-dīn Bakhtyār Kāki. His life is supposed to have extended fromA.D.1173 to 1265. His tomb at Ajūdhan in the Montgomery District is a scene of pilgrimage.]

11. [He perhaps refers to the Asioi of Strabo (xi. 8. 2), who cannot be identified (Smith,EHI, 226). They have no connexion, except resemblance of name, with the Asaich.]

12. The Jats of the Agra province consider themselves illegitimate descendants of the Yadus of Bayana, and have a tradition that theirwatan[home] is Kandahar.

13. [Mahārāja Sūrat Singh reignedA.D.1788-1828.]

14. This town is named after the Islamite saint, Shaikh Farid of Pakpattan, who has adargahhere. He was greatly esteemed by the Jats, before the Bona Dea assumed the shape of a Jatni, to whom, under the title of Kirani Mata, ‘a ray of the mother,’ all bend the head. [Her shrine is at Deshnok, about 25 miles S. of Bīkaner city, and is a sanctuary (Hervey,Some Records of Crime, i. 139).]

15. [This is a folk etymology. The name is derived from Hindiner, Skt.nagara, ‘city’—the ‘city of Bīka.’]

16.Videpp. 661, 695 for an account of these festivals.

17. [Elliot-Dowson iv. 232; the connexion of the mountains of Jūd, to which the Author constantly refers, with the Yādavas is incorrect.]

18. I presented a work on this race, entitledThe Book of the Johyas(sent me by the prime minister of Jaisalmer) to the Royal Asiatic Society. Having obtained it just before leaving Rajputana, I never had leisure to examine it, or to pronounce on its value as an historical document; but any work having reference to so singular a community can scarcely fail to furnish matter of interest. [The Joiya or Johya tribe represent the ancient Yaudheya or ‘warlike’ peoples. It is incorrect to say that the name is extinct, because they are found on the banks of the Sutlej down to its confluence with the Indus; in Bīkaner in the old bed of the Ghaggar River below Bhatner, their ancient seat; in Lahore, Fīrozpur, the Derajāt, Multān, and the Salt Range (Cunningham,Ancient Geography, i. 65; Rose,Glossary, ii. 410 ff.).]

19. [One hundred and ten miles N.N.E. of Bīkaner city.]

20. To the few who will peruse these annals of the desert tribes it will be interesting to observe the development of families, and the maintenance, by such distinctive patronymics, of their origin. In the annals of this remote State I shall not enter at any length into the history of their wars, which are, with a change of names and scene, all pretty much alike; but confine myself, after a succinct and connected genealogical relation, to the manners of the people, the aspect, productions, and government of the country. [Abu-l Fazl (Akbarnāma, i. 375) calls him Rāē Lonkaran. According to Erskine (iii. A. 316) the second chief of Bīkaner was Naro or Naruji, son of Bīka, who succeededA.D.1504, and died childless after a reign of four months.]

21. [For Rāē Singh see Rogers-Beveridge,Memoirs of Jahāngīr, 130 f. According to theAkbarnāma(ii. 518) Akbar’s wife was the daughter of Kahān, brother of Kalyānmall, Rāē of Jaisalmer. TheTuzuk(Āīn, i. 477) says that her father was Rāwal Bhīm, elder brother of Kalyān. Ferishta (ii. 234) says that Kalyānmall was her father, and this statement is accepted by Erskine (iii. A. 316) see Elliot-Dowson v. 336.]

22. [Now known as Hanumāngarh, 144 miles N.E. of Bīkaner city (IGI, xiii. 38).]

23. In the Annals of Jaisalmer the number of offsets from the Yadu-Bhatti tribe, which assumed the name of Jat, will be seen; an additional ground for asserting that the Scythic Yadu is in fact the Yuti.

24. My informant of this tradition was an old inhabitant of Dandusar, and although seventy years of age, had never left the little district of his nativity until he was brought to me, as one of the most intelligent living records of the past. [General Hervey (Some Records of Crime, i. 209) says that a trace of Greek art may be found in the Grecian ram’s head on the hilt of weapons in Bīkaner. For traditions of descent from Alexander based on the Graeco-Bactrian kingdom see Sykes,Hist. of Persia,i. 256i. 256.]

25. The natives of these regions cannot pronounce the sibilant; so that, as I have already stated, thesis converted intoh. I gave as an example the name Jahilmer, which becomes ‘the hill of fools’ instead of ‘the hill of Jaisal.’ Sankra, in like manner, becomes Hankra. [Uchh in the Bahāwalpur State (IGI, xxiv. 82). For the Hakra depression see Malik Muhammad Din (Bahāwalpur State Gazetteer, i. 3 ff.). The Ghaggar, once an affluent of the Indus, is lost in the sands near Hanumāngarh or Bhatner (IGI, xii. 212 f.).]

26. [His services are described inĀīn, i. 357 ff. Ferishta (ii. 243) says that Rāē Singh killed Muhammad Husain after he was captured. According to another account, Akbar spoke kindly to his captive, and gave him into Rāē Singh’s custody (Elliot-Dowson v. 367).]

27. [According to Erskine (iii. A. 319, iii. B. 83) Dalpat Singh and Sūr Singh were Rāos between Rāē Singh and Karan Singh. For these Chiefs seeĀīn, i. 359. Karan Singh, according to Musalmān authorities, died in 1666-7 (Manucci ii. 22). In 1660 Aurangzeb sent a force under Amīr Khān to bring him to reason for his insolence in refusing to attend the Emperor’s Court (Jadunath Sarkar,Life of Aurangzib, iii. 29 f.).]

28. [J. Scott,Ferishta’s History of theDekkanDekkan, ii. 30.] The young desert chieftain, like all his tribe, would find matter for quarrel in the wind blowing in his face. Having received what he deemed an insult from the brother-in-law of the Shahzada, in a dispute regarding a fawn, he appealed to his sword, and a duel ensued even in the presence-chamber, in which young Mohan fell. The fracas was reported to his brother Padma, at no distance from the scene. With the few retainers at hand, he rushed to the spot, and found his brother bathed in his blood. His antagonist, still hanging over his victim, when he saw the infuriated Rathor enter, with sword and shield, prepared for dreadful vengeance, retreated behind one of the columns of the Āmm Khass (Divan). But Padma’s sword reached him, and avenged his brother’s death; as the record says, “he felled him to the earth, cleaving at the same place the pillar in twain.” Taking up the dead body of his brother, and surrounded by his vassals, he repaired to his quarters, where he assembled all the Rajput princes serving with their contingents, as Jaipur, Jodhpur, Haraoti, and harangued them on the insult to their race in the murder of his brother. They all agreed to abandon the king’s army, and retire to their own homes. A noble was sent to expostulate by Prince Muazzam; but in vain. He urged that the prince not only forgave, but approved the summary vengeance taken by the Rathor; they refused to listen, and in a body had retired more than twenty miles, when the prince in person joined them, and concessions and expostulations overcoming them, they returned to the camp. It was subsequent to this that the two elder brothers were slain. It is recorded of the surviving brother, that he slew an enormous lion in single combat. For this exploit, which thoroughly entitled him to the name he bore (Kesari), ‘the Lion,’ he received an estate of twenty-five villages from the king. He also obtained great renown for slaying a Habshi or Abyssinian chief, who commanded for one of the southern princes.

29. [Adoni in the Bellary District, Madras (IGI, v. 24 ff.).]

30. [He died at Adoni in 1698 (Erskine iii. A. 322).]

31. [According to Erskine (iii. B. 86) he died of smallpox in the Deccan.]

32. ‘The children of David,’ the designation of the tract and inhabitants subject to the State of Bahawalpur, from its founder, Daud Khan, a native of Seistan. [For the Dāūdputra clan see Rose,Glossary, ii. 224 f. Their history is fully given by Malik Muhammad Din,Bahāwalpur State Gazetteer, i. 47 ff.]

33. She was the sister of the Jhalai chief, heir presumptive to thegaddiof Jaipur, on failure of lineal issue.

34. [In the Patiāla State, Panjāb.]

35. [Nohar and Bhukārka are about 120 miles N.E. of Bīkaner city.]

36. The story of Nala and Damayanti (or Nal Daman, as it is familiarly called in these regions) is well known in oriental literature. From Nal the famed castle of Narwar is named, of which this suitor for the hand of the Bīkaner princess was deprived by Sindhia. [The famous tale of Nala and Damayanti from theMahābhāratais perhaps best known from Dean Milman’s version. Narwar is now in Gwalior State.]

37. [Churu, about 100 miles N.E.E. of Bīkaner city.]

38. [Possibly Mojarh, about 40 miles S.E. of Bahāwalpur city.]

39. Its former name was Balar, one of the most ancient cities of the desert, as is Phulra, a Johya possession.

40. [Not the Khairpur in Sind; 38 miles N.E. of Bahāwalpur city.]

41. This account was drawn up in 1814.

42. While putting this to the press, rumour says that the chiefs of Bikaner are in open rebellion against the Raja, who has applied, but without success, to the British Government for support. This, if true, is as it should be. [This rebellion occurred in 1815, and the Mahārāja invoked British aid. A treaty was signed on March 9, 1818, by which Sūrat Singh and his successors became subordinate to the British Government. A force under Brigadier-General Arnold restored order (Erskine iii. A. 326).]

43. [Bīdāvati, now Sūjangarh, bounded on S. by Jodhpur, and E. by Shaikhāwati (ibid.iii. A. 390 f.).]

44. [On S. frontier of the State.]

45. [Bidesar or Bidāsar is 64 miles S.S.W. of Bīkaner city.]

Geography of Bīkaner.—This region is but little known to Europeans, by whom it has hitherto been supposed to be a perfect desert, unworthy of examination. Its present condition bears little comparison with what tradition reports it to have been in ancient times; and its deterioration, within three centuries since the Rajputs supplanted the Jats, almost warrants our belief of the assertion, that these deserts were once fertile and populous; nay, that they are still capable (notwithstanding the reported continual increase of the sand) to maintain an abundant population, there is little room to doubt. The princes of Bikaner used to take the field at the head of ten thousand of their kindred retainers; and although they held extraordinary grants from the empire for the maintenance of these contingents, their ability to do so from their proper resources was undoubted. To other causes than positive sterility must be attributed the wretched condition of this State. Exposed to the continual attacks oforganized bands of robbers from without, subjected internally to the never-ending demands of a rapacious government, for which they have not a shadow of advantage in return, it would be strange if aught but progressive decay and wretchedness were the consequence. In three centuries [197], more than one-half of the villages, which either voluntarily or by force submitted to the rule of the founder, Bika, are now without memorial of their existence, and the rest are gradually approximating to the same condition. Commercial caravans, which passed through this State and enriched its treasury with the transit duties, have almost ceased to frequent it from the increasing insecurity of its territory. Besides the personal loss to the prince the country suffers from the deterioration of the commercial towns of Churu, Rajgarh, and Rani, which, as entrepôts, supplied the country with the productions of Sind and the provinces to the westward, or those of Gangetic India. Nor is this confined to Bikaner; the same cause affects Jaisalmer, and the more eastern principalities, whose misgovernment, equally with Bikaner, fosters the spirit of rapine: the Maldots of Jaisalmer and the Larkhanis of Jaipur are as notorious as the Bidawats of Bikaner; and to these may be added the Sahariyas, Khosas, and Rajars, in the more western desert, who, in their habits and principles, are as demoralized as the Bedouins of Arabia.

Extent, Population, Soil, Tibas or Sandhills.—The line of greatest breadth of this State extends from Pugal to Rajgarh, and measures about one hundred and eighty miles; while the length from north to south, between Bhatner and Mahajan, is about one hundred and sixty miles: the area may not exceed twenty-two thousand miles.[1]Formerly they reckoned two thousand seven hundred towns, villages, and hamlets scattered over this space, one-half of which are no longer in existence.

Population.—An estimate of the population of this arid region, without presenting some data, would be very unsatisfactory. The tract to the north-west of Jethpur is now perfectly desolate, and nearly so from that point to Bhatner: to the north-east the population is but scanty, which observation also applies to the parts from the meridian of Bikaner to the Jaisalmer frontier;while internally, from these points, it is more uniform, and equals the northern parts of Marwar. From a census of the twelve principal towns, with an estimate, furnished by well-informed inhabitants, of the remainder, we may obtain a tolerably accurate approximation on this point:

Allowing five souls to each house, we have a total of 539,250 souls, giving an average of twenty-five to the square mile, which I cannot think exaggerated, and making the desert regions depending on Bikaner equal, in the density of population, the highlands of Scotland.[2]

Of this population, full three-fourths are the aboriginal Jats; the rest are their conquerors, descendants of Bika, including the Saraswat Brahmans,[3]Charans, Bards, and a few of the debased classes, whose numbers, conjointly, are not one-tenth of the Rajputs.

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