Chapter 48

The Langāha Tribe.—As the tribe of Langaha, or Langa, will from this period go hand in hand, in all the international wars of the Yadu-Bhattis, from their expulsion from the Panjab to their final settlement in the Indian desert, it is of some interest to trace its origin and destiny. It is distinctly stated that, at this epoch, the Langahas were Rajputs; and they are in fact a subdivision of the Solanki or Chalukya race, one of the four Agnikula; and it is important to observe that in their gotracharya, or ‘genealogical tree,’ they claim Lohkot in the Panjab as their early location; in all probability prior to their regeneration on Mount Abu, when they adopted Brahmanical principles. From the year S. 787 (A.D.731), when the castle of Tanot was erected by the leader of the Bhatti colony, down to S. 1530 (A.D.1474), a period of seven hundred and forty-three years, perpetual border-strife appears to have occurred between the Bhattis and Langahas, which terminated in that singular combat, or duel, of tribe against tribe, during the reign of Rawal Chachak, in the last-mentioned period. Shortly after this, Babur conquered India, and Multan became a province of the empire, when the authority of tribes ceased. Ferishta, however, comes to our aid and gives us an account of an entire dynasty of this tribe as kings of Multan. The first of this line of five kings began his reignA.H.847 (A.D.1443), or thirty years anterior to the death of Rawal Chachak. The Muslim historian (see Briggs’ Ferishta, vol. iv. p. 379) says that when Khizr Khan Sayyid[27]was emperor of Delhi, he sent Shaikh Yusuf as his lieutenant to Multan, who gained the esteem of the surrounding princes; amongst whom was Rae Sahra, chief of Sivi, head of the tribe of Langaha [238], who came to congratulate him, and to offer his services and a daughter in marriage. The offer was accepted; constant communication was kept up between Sivi and Multan, till at length Rae Sahra disclosed the object of all this solicitude; he threw aside the mask, confined the Shaikh, sent him off to Delhi, and crowned himself king of Multan, under the title of Kutbu-d-din.

Ferishta[28]calls RaeSahraSahraand his tribe of Langaha, Afghans;and Abu-l-fazl says, the inhabitants of Sivi were of the Numri (fox) tribe, which is assuredly one of the most numerous of the Jat or Gete race, though they have all, since their conversion, adopted the distinctive term of Baloch. The Bhatti chronicle calls the Langahas in one page Pathan, and in another Rajput, which are perfectly reconcilable, and by no means indicative that the Pathan or Afghan of that early period, or even in the time of Rae Sahra, was a Muhammadan. The title of Rae is sufficient proof that they were even then Hindus. Mr. Elphinstone scouts the idea of the descent of the Afghans from the Jews; and not a trace of the Hebrew is found in the Pushtu, or language of this tribe, although it has much affinity to the Zend and Sanskrit. I cannot refrain from repeating my conviction of the origin of the Afghans from the Yadu, converted into Yahudi, or ‘Jew.’ Whether these Yadus are or are not Yuti, or Getae, remains to be proved.[29]

To the south of Derawar dwelt the Lodra Rajputs; their capital was Lodorva,[30]an immense city, having twelve gates. The family Purohit, having been offended, took sanctuary (saran) with Deoraj, and stimulated him to dispossess his old masters of their territory. A marriage was proposed to Nripbhan, the chief of the Lodras, which being accepted, Deoraj, at the head of twelve hundred chosen horse, departed for Lodorva. The gates of the city were thrown open as the bridegroom approached; but no sooner had he entered with his suite, than swords were drawn, and Deoraj made himself master of Lodorva.[31]He married thechief’s daughter, left a garrison in Lodorva, and returned to Derawar. Deoraj was now lord of fifty-six thousand horse, and a hundred thousand camels [239].[32]

At this period, a merchant of Derawar, named Jaskaran, having gone to Dharanagari, was imprisoned by its prince, Brajbhan Puar, and compelled to pay a ransom for his liberty. On his return to Derawar, he showed the mark of the iron-collar to his sovereign, who, indignant at the dishonour put upon his subject, swore he would not drink water until he had avenged the insult. But he had not calculated the distance between him and his foe; in order, however, to redeem his pledge, aDharof clay (gar-ra-dhar) was constructed, on which he was about to wreak his vengeance, but there were Pramars in his army, who were at their post ready to defend their mock capital; and, as their astonished prince advanced to destroy it, they exclaimed—

Jān Puār tan Dhār haiAur Dhār tān PuārDhār bina Puār nahīnAur nahīn Puār bina Dhār,

Jān Puār tan Dhār hai

Aur Dhār tān Puār

Dhār bina Puār nahīn

Aur nahīn Puār bina Dhār,

which may be thus translated:

“Wherever there is a Puar, there is a Dhar; and where there is a Dhar, there is a Puar. There is no Dhar without a Puar; neither is there a Puar without a Dhar.”[33]

Under their leaders, Tejsi and Sarang, they protected the mock Dhar, and were cut to pieces to the number of one hundred and twenty.[34]Deoraj approved their valour, and provided for their children. Being thus released from his oath, he proceeded towards Dhar, reducing those who opposed his progress. Brajbhan defended Dhar during five days, and fell with eight hundred of his men; upon which Deoraj unfurled the flag of victory and returned to his late conquest, the city of Lodorva.

Deoraj had two sons, Mund and Chedu; the last, by a wife of the Baraha tribe, had five sons, whose descendants were styled Cheda Rajputs. Deoraj excavated several large lakes in theterritory of Khadal (in which Derawar is situated); one at Tanot is called Tanosar; another, after himself, Deosar. Having one day gone to hunt, slightly attended, he was attacked by an ambush of the Chana Rajputs, and slain with twenty-six of his attendants, after having reigned fifty-five years. His kin and clans shaved their locks and moustaches, excepting[35]

Mund, who succeeded, and performed all the ceremonies during the twelve days. Having made his ablutions with the water from sixty-eight different wells, in which [240] were immersed the leaves of one hundred and eight different shrubs and trees, a female of spotless virtue waved the burning frankincense over his head. Before him was placed the panjamrit, consisting of curds, milk, butter, sugar, and honey; likewise pearls, gems, the royal umbrella, the grass called dub, various flowers, a looking-glass, a young virgin, a chariot, a flag or banner, thevelaflower, seven sorts of grain, two fish, a horse, anakhank(unknown),[36]a bullock, a shell, a lotus, a vessel of water, the tail of the wild ox (chaunri), a sword, a female calf, a litter, yellow clay, and prepared food. Then, seated on the lion’s hide—(on which were painted the seven dwipas or continents of Hindu cosmography, apparelled in the dress of the Jogi, and covered with ashes (bhabut), with themudrain his ears)—the whitechaunri(ox-tail) was waved over his head, and he was inaugurated on thegaddiof Deoraj, while the Purohit and chiefs presented their offerings. Thetika-daurwas against the assassins of his father, who had congregated for defence, eight hundred of whom were put to death. Rawal Mund had one son, who was called Bachera. When about fourteen years of age the coco-nut came from Balabhsen Solanki, Raja of Patan.[37]He forthwith proceeded to Patan,where he married the Solanki princess, and died not long after his father.

Rāwal Bachera or Wachuji.—Bachera succeeded on Saturday the 12th Sravan, S. 1035.[38]The same rites of installation were performed; the Kanphara (split-eared) Jogi was the first to put the regaltilakon his forehead, and “his hand upon his back.” Rawal Bachera had five sons, Dusaj, Singh, Bapi Rao, Ankho, and Malpasao; all of whom had issue, forming clans.

A merchant came to Lodorva with a caravan of horses, of which there was one of a race so superior that a lakh of rupees was fixed as his price; the breed belonged to a Pathan chief, west of the Indus. To obtain it, Dusaj and his son Ankho put themselves at the head of a band, crossed the Indus, slew Ghazi Khan, the Pathan chief, and carried off his stud [241].

Singh had a son, Sachharae; his son was Bala, who had two sons, Ratan and Jaga; they attacked the Parihar prince Jagannath of Mandor, and carried off five hundred camels: their descendants are styled Singhrao Rajputs.

Bapi Rao had two sons, Pahu and Mandan. Pahu had likewise two, Biram and Tular, whose numerous issue were styled the Pahu Rajputs. The Pahus issued from their abode of Bikampur, and conquered the lands of the Johyas, as far as Devijhal; and having made Pugal[39]their capital, they dug numerous wells in thethal, which still go by the name of the Pahu wells.

Near Khata, in the Nagor district of Marwar, there dwelt a warrior of the Khichi tribe, named Jadra, who often plundered even to the gates of Pugal, slaying many of the Jaitang Bhattis. Dusaj prepared a kafila (‘caravan’) under pretence of making a pilgrimage to the Ganges, invaded unawares the Khichi chief’s territory, and slew him, with nine hundred of his men.

Dusaj, with his three brothers, went to the land of Kher, where dwelt Partap Singh, chief of the Guhilots,[40]whose daughters they espoused. “In the land of Kher, the Jadon showered gold, enriching it.” In thedaeja(dower) with his daughter, the Guhilot gave fifteen Dewadharis, or ‘virgin lamp-holders.’ Soon after, the Balochs made an inroad into the territory of Khadal; a battle ensued, in which five hundred were killed, and the rest fled beyond the river. Bachera died, and was succeeded by

Rāwal Dusaj.— Dusaj, in the month of Asarh, S. 1100. Hamir, prince of the Sodhas,[41]made an incursion into his territories, which he plundered. Dusaj having unavailingly remonstrated, reminding him of ancient ties, he marched into Dhat, and gained a victory. Dusaj had two sons, Jaisal and Bijairaj, and in his old age a third son, by a Ranawat princess of the house of Mewar, called Lanja Bijairae, who, when Dusaj died, was placed on the throne by the nobles and civil officers of the State. Previous to his elevation, he had espoused a daughter of Siddhraj Jai Singh, Solanki. During the nuptial ceremonies, as the mother of the bride was marking the forehead of the bridegroom [242] with thetilak, or ‘inauguration mark,’ she exclaimed, “My son, do thou become the portal of the north—the barrier between us and the king, whose power is becoming strong.”[42]By the princess of Patan he had a son,who was named Bhojdeo, and who, by the death of his father when he attained the age of twenty-five, became lord of Lodorva. The other sons of Dusaj were at this time advanced in manhood, Jaisal being thirty-five, and Bijairaj thirty-two years of age.

Some years before the death of Dusaj, Raedhawal Puar, son (or descendant) of Udayaditya of Dhar, had three daughters, one of whom he betrothed to Jaipal (Ajaipal) Solanki, son of Siddhraj;[43]another to Bijairaj Bhatti, and the third to the Rana of Chitor. The Bhatti prince left Lodorva for Dhar at the head of seven hundred horse, and arrived at the same time with the Sesodia and Solanki princes. On his return to Lodorva, he erected a temple to Seshalinga, close to which he made a lake. By the Puar princess he had a son named Rahar, who had two sons, Netsi and Keksi.

Bhojdeo had not long occupied thegaddiof Lodorva, when his uncle Jaisal conspired against him; but being always surrounded by a guard of five hundred Solanki Rajputs, his person was unassailable. At this time the prince of Patan was often engaged with the king’s troops from Tatta. Jaisal, in pursuance of his plan, determined to coalesce with the king, and cause an attackon Patan (Anhilwara), by which alone he could hope for the departure of the Solanki body-guard. Jaisal, with his chief kin, escorted by two hundred horse, marched to the Panjnad, where he saw the king of Ghor, who had just overcome the king of Tatta,[44]and placed his own garrison there [243],[45]and he accompanied him to Aror, the ancient capital of Sind. There he unfolded his views, and having sworn allegiance to the king, he obtained a force to dispossess his nephew of his territory. Lodorva was encompassed, and Bhojdeo slain in its defence. In two days the inhabitants were to carry off their effects, and on the third the troops of Ghor were permitted the license of plunder. Lodorva was sacked, and Karim Khan departed for Bakhar with the spoils.

The Foundation of Jaisalmer,c.A.D.1156.—Jaisal thus obtained thegaddiof Lodorva; but it being open to invasion, he sought a spot better adapted for defence, and he found one only five coss (ten miles) from Lodorva. Upon the summit of a rocky ridge, he discovered a Brahman, whose solitary hermitage adjoined the fountain of Brahmsar. Having paid homage, and disclosed the purport of his visit, the recluse related the history of the triple-peaked hill, which overlooked his hermitage. He said that in the Treta, or ‘silver age,’ a celebrated ascetic called Kak, or Kaga, resided at this fountain, after whom the rivulet which issued thence had its name of Kaga; that the Pandu Arjun, with Hari Krishna, came there to attend a great sacrifice, on which occasion Krishna foretold that, in some distant age, a descendant of his should erect a town on the margin of that rivulet, and should raise a castle on Trikuta, the triple-peaked mount.[46]While Krishna thus prophesied, it was observed tohim by Arjun that the water was bad, when Krishna smote the rock with his chakra (discus), whereupon a sweet spring bubbled up, and on its margin were inscribed the prophetic stanzas which the hermit Isal now pointed out to the Bhatti prince, who read as follows:

“Oh prince of Jadu-vansa! come into this land, and on this mountain’s top erect a triangular castle.

“Lodorva is destroyed, but only five coss therefrom is Jasana, a site of twice its strength.

“Prince, whose name is Jaisal, who will be of Yadu race, abandon Lodorpura; here erect thy dwelling.”

The hermit Isal alone knew the existence of the fountain on whose margin these lines were engraved. All that he stipulated for himself was that the fields to the [244] westward of the castle should retain his name, “the fields of Isal.” He foretold that the intended castle should twice and a half times be sacked; that rivers of blood would flow, and that for a time all would be lost to his descendants.

On Rabiwar, ‘the day of the sun’ (a favourite day for commencing any grand undertaking with all these tribes), the 12th of Sravan, the enlightened half of the moon, S. 1212 (A.D.1156), the foundation of Jaisalmer was laid, and soon the inhabitants, with all that was valuable, abandoned Lodorva,[47]and began to erect new habitations. Jaisal had two sons, Kelan and Salbahan. He chose his chief ministers and advisers from the children of Sodal, of the Pahu tribe, who became too powerful. Their old enemies, the Ghana Rajputs, again invaded the lands of Khadal; but they suffered for their audacity. Jaisal survived this event five years, when he died, and was succeeded by his youngest son, Salbahan the Second [245].

1. The emperor Babur tells us, in hisCommentaries, that the people of India apply the term Khorasan to all the regions west of the Indus.

2. Notwithstanding the lapse of eleven hundred years since the expulsion of the Bhattis from the Panjab, and in spite of the revolutions in laws, language, and religion, since the descendants of Salbahan abandoned that region, yet, even to this day, there is abundant testimony in its geographical nomenclature that the Bhattis had dominion there. We have Pindi Bhattia-ka, Bhatti-ka-chak, in the very position where we should look for Salbahanpur.—See Elphinstone’s Map. [Sālbāhanpur is generally identified with Siālkot (ASR, ii. 21).]

3. [Walīd I., seventh Caliph of the house of Ummaya (A.D.705-14).]

4. Although I omit the inverted commas indicative of translation, the reader is to understand that what follows is a free interpretation of the original chronicle.

5. Utirao had five sons, Sorna, Sahasi, Jiva, Chako, and Ajo; their issue had the generic term of Utirao. It is thus their clans and tribes are multipliedad infinitum, and since the skill of the genealogist (Bhat) is required to keep them clear of incestuous marriages, even such uninteresting details have some value, as they stamp their annals with authenticity.

6. The tribe of Chana is now extinct.

7. These Indo-Scythic tribes were designated by the names of animals. The Barahas are the hogs; the Numris, the foxes; Takshaks, the snakes; Aswas or Asi, the horses, etc. [possibly an indication of totemism].

8. These Langaha Pathans were proselytes from the Solanki Rajputs, one of the four Agnikula races. Probably they inhabited the district of Lamghan, west of the Indus. It is curious and interesting to find that the Solanki gotracharya, or ‘genealogical creed,’ claims Lohkot as their settlement. The use of the word Pathan by no means precludes their being Hindus. [The Langāhs, originally Afghāns, are now agriculturists (Rose,Glossary, iii. 30 f.).]

9. Babur, in his valuableAutobiography, gives us the names of all the tribes he met in his passage into India, and this enumeration goes far to prove the authenticity of the early annals of the Bhattis. Babur does not mention “the men of Dudi.”

10. The introduction of the name of this tribe here is highly important, and very interesting to those who have studied, in the Rajput bards, their early history. The bards of the Khichis give them this northern origin, and state that all Sindsagar, one of the duabs of the Panjab, belonged to them.

11. The Khokhar is most probably the Ghakkar. Babur writes the name Gakar, a singular race, and decidedly Scythic in their habits even in his day. [The Khokhar and Ghakkar tribes are often confused (Rose ii. 554).]

12. Of the Judis and Johyas we have already spoken as inhabiting the range called in the native annals Jadu-ka-dang, and by Babur “the hill of Jud,” skirting the Behat. The position of Bahara is laid down in that monument of genius and industry, the Memoir of Rennel (who calls it Bheera), in 32° N. and 72° 10´ E.; and by Elphinstone in 32° 10´, but a whole degree further to the east, or 73° 15´. This city, so often mentioned in the Yadu-Bhatti annals as one of their intermediate places of repose, on their expulsion from India and migration to Central Asia, has its position minutely pointed out by the Emperor Babur (p. 259), who, in his attack on the hill tribes of Jats, Gujars, Ghakkars, etc., adjoining Kashmir, “expelled Hati Guker from Behreh, on the Behut River, near the cave temples of Gar-kotri at Bikrum,” of which the able annotator remarks, that as well as those of But Bamian, they were probably Buddhist. Babur (p. 294) also found the Jats masters of Sialkot, most likely the Salpur of the Inscription (p. 916 above), conquered from a Jat prince in the twelfth century by the Patan prince, and presumed to be the Salbahanpur founded by the fugitive Yadu prince of Gajni [see p.1183above].

13. Butaban, probably fromvana, pronounced in the dialectban, the ‘wild’ or ‘forest’ of Buta.

14. Illegitimate children can never overcome this natural defect amongst the Rajputs. Thus we find among all classes of artisans in India, some of royal but spurious descent. [This is a good instance of high-caste blood in artisan castes; see Russell,Tribes and Castes of Central Provinces, ii. 200.]

15. These towns and lakes are well known, but have been seized by Bikaner. See Map. [Bīkampur, 95 miles N.E. of Jaisalmer city.]

16. [The Rabāris say that they were created by Siva to take care of the first camel which Pārvati formed for her amusement (Census Report, Mārwār, 1891, ii. 157). Rose (Glossary, iii. 269) writes Rahbāri, probably Persianrahwār, ‘active.’]

17. The Oswal is the richest and most numerous of the eighty-four mercantile tribes of India, and is said to amount to one hundred thousand families. They are called ‘Oswal’ from their first settlement, the town of Osian. They are all of pure Rajput birth, of no single tribe, but chiefly Puars, Solankis, and Bhattis. All profess the Jain tenets, and it is a curious fact, though little known, that the pontiffs of that faith must be selected from the youth of Osian. The wealthy bankers and merchants of these regions scattered throughout India, are all known under one denomination, Marwari, which is erroneously supposed to apply to the Jodhpur territory, whereas, in fact, it means belonging to the desert. It is singular that the wealth of India should centre in this region of comparative sterility.

18. SeeMap.

19. [Such tales are common, and generally imply a flaw in the pedigree.]

20. This deception practised by the Bhatti chief to obtain land on which to erect a fortress is not unknown in other parts of India, and in more remote regions. Bhatner owes its name to this expedient, from the division (bantna) of the hide. The etymology of Calcutta is the same, but should be written Khalkata, from the cuttings of the hide (khal). Byrsa, the castle of Carthage, originates from the same story. If there existed any affinity between the ancient Pali languages of India and the Punic or Phoenician (as the names of its princes and their adjuncts ofbalwould indicate), and the letters B and Ch were as little dissimilar in Punic as in Sanskrit, then Byrsa would become charsa, ‘hide’ or ‘skin,’ which might have originated the capital of the African Mauritania, as of the Indian Maruthan. Thus Marocco may be from Maruka, of or belonging to Maru, the desert, also probably the origin of the Merv of Iran. The term Moor may likewise be corrupted from Mauri, an inhabitant of Maruka, while the Sahariya of our Indian desert is the brother in name and profession of the Saracen of Arabia, from Sahra, a desert, and zadan, to assault. The Nomadic princes of Mauritania might therefore be the Pali or shepherd kings of Maruthan, the great African desert. And who were these Philita or Pali kings of Barbary and Egypt? It is well known that the Berbers who inhabited Abyssinia and the south coast of the Red Sea, migrated to the northern coast, not only occupying it, as well as Mount Atlas, but pushing their tribes far into the grandsahra, or desert. To those colonists, that coast owes its name of Barbary. From the days of Solomon and his contemporary Shishak, an intimate communication subsisted between the eastern coast of Africa and India; and I have already hazarded the opinion, that we must look to this coast of Aethiopia and Abyssinia for the Lanka of the Rameses (Rameswar) of India; and from the former country the most skilful archaeologists assert that Egypt had her mythology, and more especially that mystery—the prominent feature of both systems—the Phallic rites, or worship of the lingam. Berber, according to Bruce, means a shepherd, and asberis a sheep in the language of India, Berber is a shepherd in the most literal sense, and consequently the synonym of Pali. It has been asserted that this race colonized these coasts of Africa from India about the time of Amenophis, and that they are the Hyksos, or ‘shepherd-kings,’ who subjugated Egypt. On this account a comparison of the ancient architectural remains of Abyssinia and Aethiopia with those of the ancient Hindus is most desirable. It is asserted, and with appearance of truth, that the architecture of the Pyramids is distinct from the Pharaonic, and that they are at once Astronomic and Phallic. In India, the symbolic pinnacle surmounting the temples of the sun-god are always pyramidal. If the forthcoming history of the Berbers should reveal the mystery of their first settlements in Abyssinia, a great object would be attained; and if search were made in the old cave-temples of that coast, some remains of the characters they used might aid in tracing their analogy to the ancient Pali of the East; an idea suggested by an examination of the few characters found in the grand desert inhabited by the Tuaregs, which have a certain resemblance to the Punic, and to the unknown characters attributed to the Indo-Scythic tribes of India, as on their coins and cave-temples. Wide asunder as are these regions, the mind that will strive to lessen the historical separation may one day be successful, when the connexion between Aethiopia (qu.fromadityaand contractedait, the Sun?) and Surashtra, ‘the land of the Sun,’ or Syria of India, may become more tangible. Ferishta (videBriggs’ translation, vol. iv. p. 402), quoting original authorities, says, “the inhabitants of Selandip, or the island of Ceylon, were accustomed to send vessels to the coast of Africa, to the Red Sea, and Persian Gulf, from the earliest ages, and Hindu pilgrims resorted to Mecca and Egypt for the purpose of paying adoration to the idols. It is related also that this people trading from Ceylon became converts to the true faith at so early a period as the first caliphs”; all which confirms the fact of early intercourse between Egypt and India.—See Vol. II. p.702. [It is unnecessary to criticize in detail the etymologies suggested in this note, a good instance of the Author’s manner. The etymology of Calcutta is unknown, the most recent suggestion being that it isKhālkata, ‘a place where a flood cut a creek’ (Yule,Hobson-Jobson, 2nd ed. 146; Hoernle,JASB, 1898, p. 48 f.; K. Blechynden,Calcutta Past and Present, 1905, p. 5). Bhatner means ‘city of the Bhattis.’ Berber is either Greek βάρβαροι, or a tribal term, Barabara; that of Aethiopia is unknown (EB, 11th ed. iii. 764, ix. 845). The story of fixing the limits of a territory by riding round it or by encircling it with strips of hide, as in the story of Carthage, is common in India (Bradley-Birt,Chota Nagpore, 16 f.; Brett,Chhattisgarh Gazetteer, i. 192;BG, xiii. Part i. 169, and manyothers).others).]

21. Deorawal is in the map; it was one of the points of halt in Elphinstone’s mission to Kabul. This discloses to us the position of the Buta territory, and as astronomical data are given, those inclined to prove or disprove the Bhatti chronology have ample means afforded.

22. [‘One who has attained beatitude.’]

23. Calledgeru; garments coloured with this dye are worn by all classes of mendicants.

24. The mudra is a round prickly seed worn by the ascetics as ear-rings.

25. The Supreme Being; the universal and One God.

26. Rawal [rājakula, ‘of the royal house’] is still the title of the princes of Jaisalmer, as it once was that of the Mewar house.

27. [Khizr Khān was left in charge of Delhi after the sack of that city by Timūr inA.D.1398; possessed little power, and died in 1421.]

28. [iv. 380, 383 f. Abu-l-fazl (Āīn, ii. 337) calls them Nohmardi; seeCensus Report, Baluchistan, 1911, i. 171.]

29. [The theory of the Jewish descent of the Afghāns is not now accepted by any serious student. They are probably of Aryan origin, though the Yadu theory in the text is not supported by good evidence. They link India on the east with Persia on the west (Sykes,Hist. of Persia, ii. 306; Bellew,Races of Afghanistan, 15 ff.).]

30. [Lodorwa, 10 miles N. of Jaisalmer. For its temples see Erskine iii. A. 17.]

31. We are not told of what race (kula) was the Lodra Rajput; in all probability it was Pramara, or Puar, which at one time occupied the whole desert of India. Lodorva, as will be seen, became the capital of the Bhattis, until the founding of their last and present capital, Jaisalmer; it boasts a high antiquity, though now a ruin, occupied by a few families of shepherds. Many towns throughout the desert were formerly of celebrity, but are now desolate, through the conjoined causes of perpetual warfare and the shifting sands. I obtained a copper-plate inscription of the tenth century from Lodorva, of the period of Bijairaj, in the ornamental Jain character; also some clay signets, given to pilgrims, bearing Jain symbols. All these relics attest the prevailing religion to have been Jain.

32. A gross exaggeration of the annalist, or a cypher in each added by the copyist.

33. Dhar, or Dharanagari, was the most ancient capital of this tribe, the most numerous of the Agnikula races. See a sketch of the Puars, or Pramaras, Vol. I. p.107. [The proverb is repeated by Forbes,Rāsmāla, 115.]

34. [The story reads like a piece of sympathetic or imitative magic.]

35. There is no interregnum in Rajwara; the king never dies.

36. [?Nikhang, ‘a quiver.’]

37. This affords a most important synchronism, corroborative of the correctness of these annals. Raja Valabhsen of Patan (Anhilwara) immediately followed Chamund Rae, who was dispossessed of the throne by Mahmud of Ghazni, in the yearA.D.1011, or S. 1067. [Valabhsen Durlabha,A.D.1010-22.] Valabhsen died the year of his installation, and was succeeded by Durlabh, whose period has also been synchronically fixed by an inscription belonging to the Pramaras.—SeeTransactions of the Royal Asiatic Society, vol. i. p. 223. [The annalist seems to have confounded Anhilwāra Pātan in Gujarāt with Patan Munām, also called Fatan or Patanpur, five miles from Rahīmyār Railway Station, on E. bank of the Indus, locally called Sej (Malik Muhammad Dīn,Bahāwalpur State Gazetteer, A. 376 f.).]

38. This date, S. 1035, is evidently an error of the copyist. Bachera married Balabhsen’s daughter in S. 1067, and he died in S. 1100; so that it should be either S. 1055 or 1065. It is important to clear this point, as Rawal Bachera was the opponent of Mahmud of Ghazni in his invasion of India,A.H.303,A.D.1000, = S. 1056 or S. 1066, the Samvat era being liable to a variation of ten years (Colebrooke). If we are right, a passage of Ferishta, which has puzzled the translators, should run thus: “Mahmud directed his march against the Bhatti, and passing Multan arrived at Bahra, a Bhatti city.”—Compare Dow, vol. i. p. 39 (2nd ed.), and Briggs, vol. i. p. 38.

39. See Map. This was one of the points touched at in Mr. Elphinstone’s journey. [The town is about 48 miles N.W. of Bīkaner city.]

40. The chief of the Guhilots is now settled at Bhavnagar, at the estuary of the Mahi; where I visited him in 1823. The migration of the family from Kherdhar occurred about a century after that period, according to the documents in the Rao’s family. And we have only to look at the opening of the Annals of Marwar to see that from its colonization by the Rathors the Gohil community of Kherdhar was finally extinguished. To the general historian these minute facts may be unimportant, but they cease to be so when they prove the character of these annals for fidelity.

41. If this is the Hamira alluded to in the Annals of Bikaner, in whose time the Ghaggar River ceased to flow in these lands, we have another date assigned to a fact of great physical importance.

42. Here we have another synchronism. In the Kumarpal Charitra, or history of the kings of Anhilwara Patan, the reign of Siddhraj was from S. 1150 to S. 1201, orA.D.1094 to 1145 [1094-1143]; the point of time intermediate between the invasion of Mahmud of Ghazni and the final conquest of India by Shihabu-d-din, during which there were many irruptions into India by the lieutenants of the monarchs of Ghazni. There was one in the reign of Masud, inA.H.492 (A.D.1098), four years after the accession of Siddhraj; another inA.D.1120, in the reign of Bairam Shah, during which, according to Ferishta, the Ghaznevide general, Balin, rebelled and assailed the Hindu Rajas from Nagor, where he established himself. [His real name was Muhammad Bahlīm (Ferishta i. 151).] In all probability this is the event alluded to by the queen of Patan, when she nominated the Bhatti prince as her champion.

43. [Siddharāja Jayasingha had no son, and he was succeeded by Kumārapāla; and Ajayapāla, who succeeded inA.D.1174, was son of Mahipāla, brother of Kumārapāla (BG, i. Part i. 194).] The mention of these simultaneous intermarriages in three of the principal Rajput monarchies of that day, namely, Dhar, Patan, and Chitor, is important, not only as establishing fresh synchronisms, but as disclosing the intercourse between the Bhattis and the more ancient princely families of India. The period of Udayaditya Pramar has been established beyond cavil (seeTrans. R.A.S.vol. i. p. 223), and that of Siddhraj, likewise, whose son and successor, Ajaipal, had but a short reign when he was deposed by Kumarpal, whose date is also found from inscriptions. It is a singular fact that all the Rajput dynasties of these regions were established about the same epoch, namely, Patan by the Chawaras, Chitor by the Guhilots, Delhi, refounded by the Tuars, and the Bhatti principality by the descendant of Salbahan. This was in the middle of the eighth century of Vikramaditya, when the older Hindu governments were broken up. The admission of the Bhatti to intermarry with their families proves one of two facts: either that they were considered Rajputs, notwithstanding their being inhabitants of the regions beyond the Indus; or, that the families mentioned, with which they intermarried, were Indo-Scythic like themselves.

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