CHAPTER 6

Death of Rāja Sūr Singh,A.D.1620: his Character.—Raja Sur died in the Deccan, in S. 1676 (A.D.1620). He added greatly to the lustre of the Rathor name, was esteemed by the emperor, and, as the bard expresses it, “His spear was frightful to the Southron.” Whether Raja Sur disapproved of the exterminating warfare carried on in these regions, or was exasperated at the unlimited service he was doomed to, which detained him from his native land, he, in his last moments, commanded a pillar to be erected with a curse engraven thereon, imprecated upon any of his race who should once cross the Nerbudda. From his boyhood he had been almost an alien to his native land: he had accompanied his father wherever he led the aid of Maru, was serving at Lahore at the period of his accession, and died far from the monuments of his fathers, in the heart of the peninsula. Although the emperor was not ungrateful in his estimate of these services,—for Raja Sur held by patent no less than “sixteen [41] grand fiefs”[10]of the empire, and with the title of Sawai raised above all the princes, his associates at court,—it was deemed no compensation for perpetual absence from the hereditary domain, thus abandoned to the management of servants. The greatvassals, his clansmen, participated in this dissatisfaction, separated from their wives, families, and estates; for to them the pomp of imperial greatness, or the sunshine of court-favour, was as nothing when weighed against the exercise of their influence within their own cherished patrimony. The simple fare of the desert was dearer to the Rathor than all the luxuries of the imperial banquet, which he turned from with disgust to the recollection of “the green pulse of Mandawar,” or his favouriterabri, or ‘maize porridge,’ the prime dish with the Rathor. These minor associations conjoined with greater evils to increase themal de pays, of whose influence no human being is more susceptible than the brave Rajput.

Raja Sur greatly added to the beauty of his capital, and left several works which bear his name; amongst them, not the least useful in that arid region, is the lake called the Sur Sagar, or ‘Warrior’s Sea,’ which irrigates the gardens on its margin. He left six sons and seven daughters, of whose issue we have no account, namely, Gaj Singh, his successor; Sabal Singh, Biramdeo, Bijai Singh, Partap Singh, and Jaswant Singh.

Rāja Gaj Singh,A.D.1620-38.—Raja Gaj, who succeeded his father inA.D.1620, was born at Lahore, and thetikaof investiture found him in the royal camp at Burhanpur. The bearer of it was Darab Khan, the son of the Khankhanan,[11]or premier noble of the emperor’s court, who, as the imperial proxy, girt Raja Gaj with the sword. Besides the “nine castles” (Naukoti Marwar), his patrimony, his patent contained a grant of “seven divisions” of Gujarat, of the district of Jhalai in Dhundhar; and what was of more consequence to him, though of less intrinsic value, that of Masuda in Ajmer, the heirloom of his house. Besides these marks of distinction, he received the highest proof of confidence in the elevated post of viceroy of the Deccan; and, as a special testimony of imperial favour, the Rathor cavaliers composing his contingent were exempted from thedagh,[12]that is, having their steeds branded with the imperial signet. His elder son, Amra Singh, served with [42] his father in all his various battles, to the success of which his conspicuous gallantry on every occasion contributed. In the sieges and battles of Kirkigarh, Golkonda,Khelna, Parnala, Gajangarh, Asir and Satara, the Rathors had their full share of glory, which obtained for their leader the title of Dalthaman, or ‘barrier of the host.’ We have already[13]remarked the direct influence which the Rajput princes had in the succession to the imperial dignity, consequent upon the inter-marriage of their daughters with the crown, and the various interests arising therefrom. Sultan Parvez, the elder son and heir of Jahangir, was the issue of a princess of Marwar,[14]while the second son, Khurram, as his name imports, was the son of a Kachhwaha[15]princess of Amber. Being the offspring of polygamy and variously educated, these princes were little disposed to consider consanguinity as a bond of natural union; and their respective mothers, with all the ambition of their race, thought of nothing but obtaining the diadem for the head of their children. With either of these rival queens, the royal children who were not her own had no affinity with her or hers, and these feelings were imparted from the birth to their issue, and thus it too often happened that the heir of the throne was looked upon with an envious eye, as a bar to be removed at all hazards. This evil almost neutralized the great advantages derived from intermarriage with the indigenous races of India; but it was one which would have ceased with polygamy.

Death of Parvez,A.D.1626.—Khurram felt his superiority over his elder brother, Parvez, in all but the accidental circumstance of birth. He was in every respect a better man, and a braver and more successful soldier; and, having his ambition thus early nurtured by the stimulants administered by Bhim of Mewar, and the intrepid Mahabat,[16]he determined to remove this barrierbetween him and the crown. His views were first developed whilst leading the armies in the Deccan, and he communicated them to Raja Gaj of Marwar, who held the post of honour next the prince, and solicited his aid to place him on the throne. Gratitude for the favours heaped upon him by the king, as well as the natural bias to Parvez, made the Raja turn a deaf ear to his application. The prince tried to gain his point through Govinddas, a Rajput of the Bhatti tribe, one of the foreign nobles of Maru, and confidential adviser of his prince; but, as the annals say, “Govinddas reckoned no one but his master and the [43] king.” Frustrated in this, Khurram saw no hopes of success but by disgusting the Rathors, and he caused the faithful Govinddas to be assassinated by Kishan Singh;[17]on which Raja Gaj, in disgust, threw up his post, and marched to his native land. From the assassination of Parvez, which soon followed,[18]the deposal of his father appeared but a step; and Khurram had collected means, which he deemed adequate to the design, when Jahangir appealed to the fidelity of the Rajputs, to support him against filial ingratitude and domestic treason; and, in their general obedience to the call, they afforded a distinguished proof of the operation of the first principle, Gaddi-ka-an, allegiance to the throne, often obeyed without reference to the worth of its occupant. The princes of Marwar, Amber, Kotah, and Bundi put themselves at the head of their household retainers on this occasion, which furnishes a confirmation of a remark already made, that the respective annals of the States of Rajasthan so rarely embrace the contemporaneous events of the rest, as to lead to the conclusion that by the single force of each State this rebellion was put down. This remark will be further exemplified from the annals of Bundi.

Offence given to the Rāthors.—Jahangir was so pleased with the zeal of the Rathor prince—alarmed as he was at the advanceof the rebels—that he not only took him by the hand, but what is most unusual, kissed it. When the assembled princes came in sight of the rebels, near Benares, the emperor gave theharawal, or vanguard, to the Kachhwaha prince, the Mirza raja of Amber. Whether this was a point of policy, to secure his acting against prince Khurram, who was born of this race, or merely, as the Marwar annals state, because he brought the greater number into the field, is immaterial; but it was very nearly fatal in its consequences: for the proud Rathor, indignant at the insult offered to him in thus bestowing the post of honour, which was his right, upon the rival race of Amber, furled his banners, separated from the royal army, and determined to be a quiet spectator of the result. But for the impetuous Bhim of Mewar, the adviser of Khurram, he might that day have been emperor of India. He sent a taunting message to Raja Gaj, either to join their cause or “draw their swords.” The Rathors overlooked the neglect of the king in the sarcasm of one of their own tribe; and Bhim was slain, Govinddas avenged, the rebellion quelled, and Khurram put to flight, chiefly by the Rathors and Haras [44].

Death of Rāja Gaj Singh,A.D.1638.—In S. 1694 (A.D.1638), Raja Gaj was slain in an expedition into Gujarat;[19]but whether in the fulfilment of the king’s commands, or in the chastisement of freebooters on his own southern frontier, the chronicles do not inform us. He left a distinguished name in the annals of his country, and two valiant sons, Amra and Jaswant, to maintain it: another son, Achal, died in infancy.

Rāja Jaswant Singh,A.D.1638-78.—The second son, Jaswant, succeeded, and furnishes another of many instances in the annals of Rajputana, of the rights of primogeniture being set aside. This proceeded from a variety of motives, sometimes merely paternal affection, sometimes incapacity in the child “to head fifty thousand Rathors,” and sometimes, as in the present instance, a dangerous turbulence and ever-boiling impetuosity in the individual, which despised all restraints. While there was an enemy against whom to exert it, Amra was conspicuous for his gallantry, and in all his father’s wars in the south was ever foremost in the battle. His daring spirit collected around him those of his own race, alike in mind, as connected by blood, whose actions, in periods of peace, were the subjects of eternal complaint to his father,who was ultimately compelled to exclude Amra from his inheritance.

Amra, Amar Singh excluded from the Succession.—In the month of Baisakh, S. 1690 (A.D.1634), five years before the death of Raja Gaj, in a convocation of all the feudality of Maru, sentence of exclusion from the succession was pronounced upon Amra, accompanied by the solemn and seldom practised rite of Desvata or exile. This ceremony, which is marked as a day of mourning in the calendar, was attended with all the circumstances of funereal pomp. As soon as the sentence was pronounced, that his birthright was forfeited and assigned to his junior brother, and that he ceased to be a subject of Maru, the khilat of banishment was brought forth, consisting of sable vestments, in which he was clad; a sable shield was hung upon his back, and a sword of the same hue girded round him; a black horse was then led out, being mounted on which, he was commanded, though not in anger, to depart whither he listed beyond the limits of Maru.

Amra went not alone; numbers of each clan, who had always regarded him as their future lord, voluntarily partook of his exile. He repaired to the imperial court; and although the emperor approved and sanctioned his banishment, he employed him. His gallantry soon won him the title of Rao and the mansab of a leader of three thousand, with the grant of Nagor as an independent domain, to be held directly from the crown. But the same arrogant and uncontrollable spirit [45] which lost him his birthright, brought his days to a tragical conclusion. He absented himself for a fortnight from court, hunting the boar or the tiger, his only recreation. The emperor (Shah Jahan) reprimanded him for neglecting his duties, and threatened him with a fine. Amra proudly replied that he had only gone to hunt, and as for a fine, he observed, putting his hand upon his sword, that was his sole wealth.

Amra, Amar assassinates Salābat Khān.—The little contrition which this reply evinced determined the king to enforce the fine, and the paymaster-general, Salabat Khan,[20]was sent to Amra’squarters to demand its payment. It was refused, and the observations made by the Sayyid not suiting the temper of Amra, he unceremoniously desired him to depart. The emperor, thus insulted in the person of his officer, issued a mandate for Amra’s instant appearance. He obeyed, and having reached the Amm-khass, or grand divan, beheld the king, “whose eyes were red with anger,” with Salabat in the act of addressing him. Inflamed with passion at the recollection of the injurious language he had just received, perhaps at the king’s confirmation of his exclusion from Marwar, he unceremoniously passed the Omrahs of five and seven thousand, as if to address the king; when, with a dagger concealed in his sleeve, he stabbed Salabat to the heart. Drawing his sword, he made a blow at the king, which descending on the pillar, shivered the weapon in pieces. The king abandoned his throne and fled to the interior apartments. All was uproar and confusion. Amra continued the work of death, indifferent upon whom his blows fell, and five Mogul chiefs of eminence had fallen, when his brother-in-law, Arjun Gaur, under pretence of cajoling him, inflicted a mortal wound, though he continued to ply his dagger until he expired. To avenge his death, his retainers, headed by Balu Champawat and Bhao Kumpawat, put on their saffron garments, and a fresh carnage ensued within the Lal kila.[21]To use the words of their native bard, “The pillars of Agra bear testimony to their deeds, nor shall they ever be obliterated from the record of time: they made their obeisance toAmra in the mansions of the sun.” The faithful band was cut to pieces; and his wife, the princess of Bundi, came in person and [46] carried away the dead body of Amra, with which she committed herself to the flames. The Bokhara gate by which they gained admission was built up, and henceforward known only as “Amra Singh’s gate”; and in proof of the strong impression made by this event,[22]it remained closed through centuries, until opened in 1809 by Capt. Geo. Steell, of the Bengal engineers.[23]

1. [Sawāi means ‘a quarter better than any one else.’]

2. [Dhandhuka about 40 miles W. of Cambay; the account in the text is possibly a confused reference to the insurrection of Muzaffar Husain Mīrza, which began in 1577 and ended in the suicide of the rebel in 1591-92 (BG, i. Part i. 268 ff.).]

3. [Coins, perhaps gold mohurs (Skt.dravya, ‘wealth’)].

4. Balecha is one of the Chauhan tribes. [It does not appear in recent lists.]

5.Gaj, ‘the elephant.’

6. Classical appellation of Jalor.

7. The chronicle says, “In S. 1669 (A.D.1613), the king formed an army against the Rana”; which accords exactly with the date in the emperor’s own memoirs.

8. Ajmer, of which the citadel is styled Taragarh.

9. See Annals of Mewār, Vol. I. p.418.

10. Of these, nine were the subdivisions of his native dominions, styled “The Nine Castles of Maru”; for on becoming one of the great feudatories of the empire, he made a formal surrender of these, receiving them again by grant, renewed on every lapse, with all the ceremonies of investiture and relief. Five were in Gujarat, one in Malwa, and one in the Deccan. We see that thirteen thousand horse was the contingent of Marwar for the lands thus held.

11. [Mirza Abdu-r-rahīm, son of Bairām Khān (Āīn, i. 334 ff.).]

12. [For this branding system seeĀīn, i. 139 f.; Irvine,Army of the Indian Moghuls, 45 ff.]

13. See Vol. I. p.435.

14. [Parvez or Parvīz was son of Sāhib Jamāl, daughter of Khwāja Hasan, uncle of Zain Khān Koka; but this is not quite certain (Āīn, i. 310;Tuzuk-i-Jahāngīri, trans. Rogers-Beveridge, 19; Beale,Oriental Biographical Dict.s.v.).]

15. Kachhua and Khurram are synonymous terms for the race which rules Amber—the Tortoises of Rajasthan. [This is an extraordinary misapprehension.Khurramis a Persian word, meaning ‘pleased, glad’; the Author confuses it with Skt.Kūrma, ‘a tortoise.’ The mother of Khurram, Balmati or Jagat Gosāīn, was daughter of Udai Singh of Mārwār; seeTuzuk, 19; Beale, s.v.Shāh Jahān.]

16. A Rajput of the Rana’s house, converted tothe faith. [Mahābat Khān, Khānkhānān, Sipāhsālār Zamāna Beg, was not a Rājput, but son of Ghiyās Beg, Kābuli (Manucci i. 167; Elliot-Dowson vi. 288).

17. This was the founder of Kishangarh; for this iniquitous service he was made an independent Raja in the town which he erected. His descendant is now an ally by treaty with the British Government. [Kishan Singh, bornA.D.1575, founded Kishangarh, a State in the centre of Rājputāna, in 1611, died 1615 (IGI, xv. 311).]

18. [Parvez died at Burhānpur in 1626. “He was first attacked with colic, then he became insensible, and after medical treatment fell into a heavy sleep.... His illness was attributed to excessive drinking” (Elliot-Dowson vi. 429).]

19. [By another account he died at Agra (Erskine iii. A, 59).]

20. Salabat Khan Bakhshi, he is called. The office of Bakhshi is not only one of paymaster (as it implies), but of inspection and audit. We can readily imagine, with such levies as he had to muster and pay, his post was more honourable than secure, especially with such a band as was headed by Amra, ready to take offence if the wind but displaced their moustache. The annals declare that Amra had a feud (vair) with Salabat; doubtless for no better reason than that he fulfilled the trust reposed in him by the emperor. [The title Khān implies that Salābat Khān was a Pathān, not a Sayyid, whose title would be Mīr.]

21. The palace within the citadel (kila), built of red (lal) freestone. [This tragedy occurred on August 5, 1644 (Beale,Oriental Biographical Dict.s.v. “Salābat Khān,” gives July 25, 1644). European writers of the period give varying accounts of what seems to have been the same event. Tavernier (ed. Ball, ii. 219) says that the victim was “the Grand Master of the King’s house,” and that it occurred in 1642. Manucci states that the officer who was assassinated was the Wazīr, Wazīr Khān (i. 207 f.). It forms the subject of a popular song, still sung by the bards (Temple,Legends of the Panjāb, ii. 242 ff.). Though the assassination occurred at Agra, a mark is still shown on a pillar in the Dīwān-i-‘Āmm at Delhi, possibly marking the same occurrence, where a prince of Chitor is said to have stabbed one of the ministers (Sleeman,Rambles, 515). The tomb of Bakhshi Salābat Khān stands between Agra and Sikandra (Syad Muhammad Latif,Agra, 77, 195).]

22. It may be useful to record such facts, by the way of contrast with the state policy of the west, and for the sake of observing that which would actuate the present paramount power of India should any of its tributary princes defy them as Amra did that of the universal potentate of that country. Even these despots borrowed a lesson of mercy from the Rajput system, which does not deem treason hereditary, nor attaints a whole line for the fault of one unworthy link. Shah Jahan, instead of visiting the sins of the father on the son, installed him in his fief of Nagor. This son was Rae Singh; and it devolved to his children and grandchildren,[A]until Indar Singh the fourth in descent, was expelled by the head of the Rathors, who, in the weakness of the empire, reannexed Nagor to Jodhpur. But perhaps we have not hitherto dared to imitate the examples set us by the Mogul and even by the Mahratta; not having sufficient hold of the affections of the subjected to venture to be merciful; and thence our vengeance, like the bolt of heaven, sears the very heart of our enemies. Witness the many chieftains ejected from their possessions; from the unhallowed league against the Rohillas, to that last act of destruction at Bharatpur, where, as arbitrators, we acted the part of the lion in the fable. Our present attitude, however, is so commanding, that we can afford to display the attribute of mercy; and should, unfortunately, its action be required in Rajputana, let it be ample, for there its grateful influence is understood, and it will return, like the dews of heaven, upon ourselves. But if we are only to regulate our political actions by the apprehension of danger, it must one day recoil upon us in awful retribution. Our system is filled with evil to the governed, where a fit of bile in ephemeral political agents, may engender a quarrel leading to the overthrow of a dominion of ages.

A. Namely, Hathi Singh, his son Anup Singh, his son Indar Singh, his son Mokham Singh. This lineal descendant of Raja Gaj, and the rightful heir to the “cushion of Jodha,” has dwindled into one of the petty Thakurs, or lords of Marwar. The system is one of eternal vicissitudes, amidst which the germ of reproduction [47] never perishes.

23. Since these remarks were written, Captain Steell related to the author a singular anecdote connected with the above circumstance. While the work of demolition was proceeding, Captain Steell was urgently warned by the natives of the danger he incurred in the operation, from a denunciation on the closing of the gate, that it should thenceforward be guarded by a huge serpent—when suddenly, the destruction of the gate being nearly completed, a large cobra-de-capello rushed between his legs, as if in fulfilment of the anathema. Captain Steell fortunately escaped without injury. [The south gate of the Agra Fort is known as that of Amar Singh.]

CHAPTER 6

Rāja Jaswant Singh,A.D.1638-78.—Raja Jaswant, who obtained, by the banishment of Amra, the “cushion” of Marwar, was born of a princess of Mewar; and although this circumstance is not reported to have influenced the change of succession, it will be borne in mind that, throughout Rajputana, its princes regarded a connexion with the Rana’s family as a primary honour.

“Jaswant (says the Bardai) was unequalled amongst the princes of his time. Stupidity and ignorance were banished; and science flourished where he ruled: many were the books composed under his auspices.”[1]

The south continued to be the arena in which the martial Rajput sought renown, and the emperor had only rightly to understand his character to turn the national emulation to account. Shah Jahan, in the language of the chronicler, “became a slave to the seraglio,” and sent his sons, as viceroys, to govern the grand divisions of the empire. The first service of Jaswant was in the war of Gondwana, when he led a body composed of “twenty-two different contingents” in the army under Aurangzeb.[2]In this and various other services (to enumerate which would be to go [48] over the ground already passed),[3]the Rathors were conspicuous. Jaswant played a comparatively subordinate part, until the illness of the emperor, inA.D.1658, when his elder son Dara was invested with the powers of regent.[4]Prince Dara increased the mansab of Jaswant to a leader of “five thousand,” and nominated him his viceroy in Malwa.

The War of Succession.—In the struggle for empire amongst the sons of Shah Jahan, consequent upon this illness, the importance of the Rajput princes and the fidelity we have often had occasion to depict, were exhibited in the strongest light. While Raja Jai Singh was commanded to oppose prince Shuja, who advanced from his viceroyalty of Bengal, Jaswant was entrusted with means to quash the designs of Aurangzeb, then commanding in the south, who had long cloaked, under the garb of hypocrisy and religion, views upon the empire.

Campaign against Aurangzeb,A.D.1657-58—The Battle of Dharmātpur.—The Rathor prince was declared generalissimo of the army destined to oppose Aurangzeb, and he marched from Agra at the head of the united contingents of Rajputana, besides the imperial guards, a force which, to use the hyperbole of the bard, “made Shesnag[5]writhe in agony.” Jaswant marched towards the Nerbudda, and had encamped his army in a position fifteen miles south of Ujjain, when tidings reached him of his opponent’s approach. In that field on which the emperor erected a town subsequently designated Fatehabad, or ‘abode of victory,’ Jaswant awaited his foes.[6]The battle which ensued, witnessed and so circumstantially related by Bernier, as has been already noticed in this work,[7]was lost by the temerity of the Rathor commander-in-chief, who might have crushed the rebellious hopes of Aurangzeb, to whom he purposely gave time to effect a junction with his brother Murad, from the vainglorious desire “to conquer two princes at once.” Dearly did he pay for his presumption; for he had given time to the wily prince to sow intrigues in his camp, which were disclosed as soon as the battle joined, when the Mogul horse deserted and left him at the head of his thirty thousand Rajputs, deemed, however, by their leader and themselves, sufficient against any odds. “Jaswant, spear in hand, mounted his steed Mahbub, and charged the imperial brothers; ten thousand Muslims fell in the onset, which cost seventeen hundred Rathors [49], besides Guhilots, Haras, Gaurs,and some of every clan of Rajwara. Aurang and Murad only escaped because their days were not yet numbered. Mahbub and his rider were covered with blood; Jasa looked like a famished lion, and like one he relinquished his prey.” The bard is fully confirmed in his relation of the day, both by the Mogul historian and by Bernier, who says, that notwithstanding the immense superiority of the imperial princes, aided by a numerous artillery served by Frenchmen, night alone put a stop to the contest of science, numbers, and artillery, against Rajput courage. Both armies remained on the field of battle, and though we have no notice of the anecdote related by the first translator of Ferishta, who makes Jaswant “in bravado drive his car round the field,”[8]it is certain that Aurangzeb was too politic to renew the combat, or molest the retreat which took place next day towards his native dominions. Although, for the sake of alliteration, the bard especially singles out the Guhilots and Gaurs, the tribes of Mewar and Sheopur, all and every tribe was engaged; and if the Rajput ever dared to mourn the fall of kindred in battle, this day should have covered every house with the emblems of grief; for it is stated by the Mogul historian that fifteen thousand fell, chiefly Rajputs. This was one of the events glorious to the Rajput, showing his devotion to whom fidelity (swamidharma) had been pledged—the aged and enfeebled emperor Shah Jahan, whose “salt they ate”—against all the temptations offered by youthful ambition. It is forcibly contrasted with the conduct of the immediate household troops of the emperor, who, even in the moment of battle, worshipped the rising sun, whilst the Rajput sealed his faith in his blood; and none more liberally than the brave Haras of Kotah and Bundi. The annals of no nation on earth can furnish such an example, as an entire family, six royal brothers, stretched on the field, and all but one in death.[9]

Of all the deeds of heroism performed on this day, those of Ratna of Ratlam, by universal consent, are pre-eminent, and “are wreathed into immortal rhyme by the bard” in the Raesa Rao Ratna.[10]He also was a Rathor, the great-grandson of UdaiSingh, the first raja of Maru; and nobly did he show that the Rathor blood had not degenerated on the fertile plains of Malwa. If aught were wanting to complete the fame of this memorable day, which gave empire to the scourge of Rajputana [50], it is found in the conduct of Jaswant’s queen, who, as elsewhere related,[11]shut the gates of his capital on her fugitive lord, though he “brought back his shield” and his honour.

Battle of Jājau.—Aurangzeb, on Jaswant’s retreat, entered the capital of Malwa in triumph, whence, with all the celerity requisite to success, he pursued his march on the capital. At the village of Jajau, thirty miles south of Agra, the fidelity of the Rajputs again formed a barrier between the aged king and the treason of his son; but it served no other purpose than to illustrate this fidelity. The Rajputs were overpowered, Dara was driven from the regency, and the aged emperor deposed.[12]

Battle of Khajwa.—Aurangzeb, soon after usurping the throne, sent, through the prince of Amber, his assurances of pardon to Jaswant, and a summons to the presence, preparatory to joining the army forming against his brother Shuja, advancing to vindicate his claims to empire. The Rathor, deeming it a glorious occasion for revenge, obeyed, and communicated to Shuja his intentions. The hostile armies met at Khajwa, thirty miles north of Allahabad.[13]On the first onset, Jaswant, wheeling about with his Rathor cavaliers, attacked the rearward of the army under prince Muhammad, which he cut to pieces, and plundering the imperial camp (left unprotected), he deliberately loaded his camels with the most valuable effects, which he despatched under part of the force, and leaving the brothers to a contest, which he heartily wished might involve the destruction of both, he followedthe cortège to Agra. Such was the panic on his appearance at that capital, joined to the rumours of Aurangzeb’s defeat, which had nearly happened, that the wavering garrison required only a summons to have surrendered, when he might have released Shah Jahan from confinement, and with this “tower of strength” have rallied an opposition fatal to the prince.

Policy of Jaswant Singh.—That this plan suggested itself to Jaswant’s sagacity we cannot doubt; but besides the manifest danger of locking up his army within the precincts of a capital, if victory was given to Aurangzeb, he had other reasons for not halting at Agra. All his designs were in concert with prince Dara, the rightful heir to the throne, whom he had instructed to hasten to the scene of action; but while Jaswant remained hovering in the rear of Aurangzeb, momentarily expecting the junction of the prince, the latter loitered on the southern frontier of Marwar, and thus lost, for [51] ever, the crown within his grasp. Jaswant continued his route to his native dominions, and had at least the gratification of housing the spoils, even to the regal tents, in the castle of Jodha. Dara tardily formed a junction at Merta; but the critical moment was lost, and Aurangzeb, who had crushed Shuja’s force, rapidly advanced, now joined by many of the Rajput princes, to overwhelm this last remnant of opposition. The crafty Aurangzeb, however, who always preferred stratagem to the precarious issue of arms, addressed a letter to Jaswant, not only assuring him of his entire forgiveness, but offering the vice-royalty of Gujarat, if he would withdraw his support from Dara, and remain neuter in the contest. Jaswant accepted the conditions, and agreed to lead the Rajput contingents, under prince Muazzam, in the war against Sivaji, bent on reviving the independence of Maharashtra. From the conduct again pursued by the Rathor, we have a right to infer that he only abandoned Dara because, though possessed of many qualities which endeared him to the Rajput, besides his title to the throne, he wanted those virtues necessary to ensure success against his energetic brother. Scarcely had Jaswant reached the Deccan when he opened a communication with Sivaji, planned the death of the king’s lieutenant, Shaista Khan, on which he hoped to have the guidance of the army, and the young viceroy. Aurangzeb received authentic intelligence of this plot, and the share Jaswant had in it; but he temporized, and even sent letters of congratulation onhis succeeding to the command in chief. But he soon superseded him by Raja Jai Singh of Amber, who brought the war to a conclusion by the capture of Sivaji.[14]The honour attending this exploit was, however, soon exchanged for disgrace; for when the Amber prince found that the tyrant had designs upon the life of his prisoner, for whose safety he had pledged himself, he connived at his escape.[15]Upon this, Jaswant was once more declared the emperor’s lieutenant, and soon inspired prince Muazzam with designs, which again compelled the king to supersede him, and Diler Khan was declared general-in-chief. He reached Aurangabad, and the night of his arrival would have been his last, but he received intimation and rapidly retreated, pursued by the prince and Jaswant to the Nerbudda. The emperor saw the necessity of removing Jaswant from this dangerous post, and he sent him the farman as viceroy of Gujarat, to which he commanded him to repair without delay. He obeyed, reached Ahmadabad, and found the king had outwitted him and his [52] successor in command; he therefore continued his course to his native dominions, where he arrived in S. 1726 (A.D.1670).

The wily tyrant had, in all these changes, used every endeavour to circumvent Jaswant, and, if the annals are correct, was little scrupulous as to the means. But the Raja was protected by the fidelity of his kindred vassalage. In the words of the bardic chronicler, “The Aswapati,[16]Aurang, finding treachery in vain, put the collar of simulated friendship round his neck, and sent him beyond the Attock to die.”

The emperor saw that the only chance of counteracting Jaswant’s inveterate hostility was to employ him where he would be least dangerous. He gladly availed himself of a rebellion amongst the Afghans of Kabul; and with many promises of favour to himself and his family, appointed him to the chief command,[17]to lead his turbulent Rajputs against the equally turbulent and almost savage Afghans. Leaving his elder son, Prithi Singh, in charge of his ancestral domains, with his wives,family, and the chosen bands of Maru, Jaswant departed for the land of the “barbarian,” from which he was destined never to return.

Treatment of Prithi Singh by Aurangzeb.—It is related, in the chronicles of Maru, that Aurangzeb having commanded the attendance at court of Jaswant’s heir, he obeyed, and was received not only with the distinctions which were his due, but with the most specious courtesy; that one day, with unusual familiarity, the king desired him to advance, and grasping firmly his folded hands (the usual attitude of deference) in one of his own, said, “Well, Rathor, it is told me you possess as nervous an arm as your father; what can you do now?” “God preserve your majesty!” replied the Rajput prince, “when the sovereign of mankind lays the hand of protection on the meanest of his subjects, all his hopes are realized; but when he condescends to take both of mine, I feel as if I could conquer the world.” His vehement and animated gesture gave full force to his words, and Aurangzeb quickly exclaimed, “Ah! here is another Khatan”[18](the term he always applied to Jaswant); yet, affecting to be pleased with the frank boldness of his speech, he ordered him a splendid dress, which, as customary, he put on, and, having made his obeisance, left the presence in the certain assurance of exaltation.

That day was his last!—he was taken ill soon after reaching his quarters, and [53] expired in great torture, and to this hour his death is attributed to the poisoned robe of honour presented by the king.[19]

Prithi Singh was the staff of his father’s age, and endowed with all the qualities required to lead the swords of Maru. His death,thus reported, cast a blight on the remaining days of Jaswant, who, in this cruel stroke, saw that his mortal foe had gone beyond him in revenge. The sacrifice of Prithi Singh was followed by the death of his only remaining sons, Jagat Singh and Dalthamman, from the ungenial climate of Kabul, and grief soon closed the existence of the veteran Rathor. He expired amidst the mountains of the north, without an heir to his revenge, in S. 1737 (A.D.1681), having ruled the tribes of Maru for two-and-forty years. In this year, death released Aurangzeb from the greatest terrors of his life; for the illustrious Sivaji and Jaswant paid the debt to nature within a few months of each other.[20]Of the Rathor, we may use the words of the biographer of his contemporary, Rana Raj Singh of Mewar: “Sighs never ceased flowing from Aurang’s heart while Jaswant lived.”

Character of Jaswant Singh.—The life of Jaswant Singh is one of the most extraordinary in the annals of Rajputana, and a full narrative of it would afford a perfect and deeply interesting picture of the history and manners of the period. Had his abilities, which were far above mediocrity, been commensurate with his power, credit, and courage, he might, with the concurrent aid of the many powerful enemies of Aurangzeb, have overturned the Mogul throne. Throughout the long period of two-and-forty years, events of magnitude crowded upon each other, from the period of his first contest with Aurangzeb, in the battle of the Nerbudda, to his conflicts with the Afghans amidst the snows of Caucasus. Although the Rathor had a preference amongst the sons of Shah Jahan, esteeming the frank Dara above the crafty Aurangzeb, yet he detested the whole race as inimical to the religion and the independence of his own; and he only fed the hopes of any of the brothers, in their struggles for empire, expecting that they would end in the ruin of all. His blind [54] arrogance lost him the battle of the Nerbudda, and the supineness of Dara prevented his reaping the fruit of his treachery at Khajwa. The former event, as it reduced the means and lessened the fame of Jaswant, redoubled his hatred to the conqueror. Jaswant neglected no opportunity which gave a chance of revenge. Impelledby this motive, more than by ambition, he never declined situations of trust, and in each he disclosed the ruling passion of his mind. His overture to Sivaji (like himself the implacable foe of the Mogul), against whom he was sent to act; his daring attempt to remove the imperial lieutenants, one by assassination, the other by open force; his inciting Muazzam, whose inexperience he was sent to guide, to revolt against his father, are some among the many signal instances of Jaswant’s thirst for vengeance. The emperor, fully aware of this hatred, yet compelled from the force of circumstances to dissemble, was always on the watch to counteract it, and the artifices this mighty king had recourse to in order to conciliate Jaswant, perhaps to throw him off his guard, best attest the dread in which he held him. Alternately he held the vice-royalty of Gujarat, of the Deccan, of Malwa, Ajmer, and Kabul (where he died), either directly of the king, or as the king’s lieutenant, and second in command under one of the princes. But he used all these favours merely as stepping-stones to the sole object of his life. Accordingly, if Jaswant’s character had been drawn by a biographer of the court, viewed merely in the light of a great vassal of the empire, it would have reached us marked with the stigma of treachery in every trust reposed in him; but, on the other hand, when we reflect on the character of the king, the avowed enemy of the Hindu faith, we only see in Jaswant a prince putting all to hazard in its support. He had to deal with one who placed him in these offices, not from personal regard, but because he deemed a hollow submission better than avowed hostility, and the raja, therefore, only opposed fraud to hypocrisy, and treachery to superior strength. Doubtless the Rathor was sometimes dazzled by the baits which the politic king administered to his vanity; and when all his brother princes eagerly contended for royal favour, it was something to be singled out as the first amongst his peers in Rajputana. By such conflicting impulses were both parties actuated in their mutual conduct throughout a period in duration nearly equal to the life of man; and it is no slight testimony to Aurangzeb’s skill in managing such a subject, that he was able to neutralize the hatred and the power of Jaswant throughout this lengthened [55] period. But it was this vanity, and the immense power wielded by the kings who could reward service by the addition of a vice-royalty to their hereditary domains, that made the Rajput princes slaves;for, had all the princely contemporaries of Jaswant—Jai Singh of Amber, the Rana Raj of Mewar, and Sivaji—coalesced against their national foe, the Mogul power must have been extinct. Could Jaswant, however, have been satisfied with the mental wounds he inflicted upon the tyrant, he would have had ample revenge; for the image of the Rathor crossed all his visions of aggrandizement. The cruel sacrifice of his heir, and the still more barbarous and unrelenting ferocity with which he pursued Jaswant’s innocent family, are the surest proofs of the dread which the Rathor prince inspired while alive.

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