THE NATIVE STATES OF INDIA LONDON : riUXTKD J1Y SrOTTISWOODK AND CO., N !. \V-STIi Kl'.'l AND PARLIAMENT STUEET AN HISTOEICAL SKETCH OF THE NATIVE STATES OF INDIA IN SUBSIDIARY ALLIANCE WITH THE BRITISH GOVERNMENT WITH A NOTICE OF THE MEDIATIZED AND MINOR STATES BY COLONEL G. B. MALLESON, C.S.I. BENGAL STAFF COUPS GUARDIAN OP HIS HIGHNESS THE MAHARAJA OP MYSORE, AND AUTHOR OF 'HISTORY OF THE FRENCH IN INDIA' ETC. 'It is only by attracting attention to the prominent figures in Indian history, by casting light upon the salient features of their career and making them Rtand out boldly from the canvas, that it will ever be possible to interest the general reader in Indian affairs* THB TIMES, Feb. 20, 1872 LONDON LONGMANS, GEEEN, AND CO, 1875 A II rights reserved. M3 , TO THE MOST HONOURABLE THE MARQUIS OP SALISBURY rs COMPILED IN THE KINGDOM OF WHICH BY THE INITIATIVE TAKEN IN THE YEAR 1866 HE MAY BE REGARDED AS THE SECOND FOUNDER, |s RESPECTFULLY INSCRIBED. r f 0/2 T ^ ^. <~* ^p *-J ^ PBEFACE. THE WANT of a condensed historical sketch of the Native dynasties now reigning in India has been felt alike in that country and in England. Proposals to supply the want have from time to time been mooted. Had any of these been carried to their legitimate conclusion, the present publication would never have seen the light. It happened, however, that information reached me in the course of last year that the labours in the same direc- tion of a gentleman most competent to do justice to the subject had been indefinitely postponed. I had just then completed a literary work on which I had for some time been engaged, and the desire to supply a great public want induced me to take up the dropped thread. Indian subjects had long been familiar to me, and the history of several important Native States had previously engaged my study and attention. I should, nevertheless, have felt myself unequal to the task of conducting to completion a work so extensive, had I not possessed in my library all the authorities necessary for the purpose. I made a diligent use of the materials thus at my dis- posal, and gave my undivided time and attention to the subject. The work is now completed. If it should fail PREFACE. to fulfil the expectations of those who have felt the want of such a book of reference, 1 can assure them that I have grudged io toil, and, dependent entirely as I was on ray own exertions, have spared no pains to bring it as nearly as possible to the required stan- dard. Such a work must necessarily be of the nature of "a compilation. This aspires to be nothing more. I have gone to the best authorities and have deliberately robbed them. In the widest sense of the term, I have been ' the burglar of others' intellects.' Of Colonel Tod's ' Annals and Antiquities of Eajasthan ; ' of Captain Grant Duff's 4 History of the Mahrattas ; ' of Sir John Malcolm's 4 Central India,' I have availed myself largely. Chiefly, however, certainly more generally, are my obligations due to Mr. Aitchison's invaluable collection of ' Treaties, Engagements, and Sunnuds,' a work which contains within it all the modern part of the information I have condensed, and which must always constitute a mate- rial basis for such a compilation as the present. I owe much likewise to Elphinstone's ' History of India ; ' to Ferishta's ' History of the Dekkan ; ' to a work published anonymously in 1833, entitled ' An Historical Sketch of the Princes of India ; ' to an admirable summary, evi- dently officially inspired, of the history of the several states of India attached to the ' Agra Gazetteer ' for 1841 or 1842 ; to the Gazetteers of Hamilton and Thornton; and to a printed summary compiled in the Foreign Department in 1869, by Mr. Talboys Wheeler. I have made passing references to various articles in the ' Calcutta Eeview ' and in c Asiatic Eesearches ; ' to the works of Mill, Thorn, Stewart, and others ; but those specially mentioned PREFACE. IX constituted my main sources of supply. Nor, when men- tioning my obligations, can I omit the name of my valued friend Mr. Eunga Charlu, Controller to the house- hold of the Maharaja of Mysore, a gentleman whose vast range of learning, great acquaintance with affairs, sound comprehensive views, and lofty character render him an invaluable ally to anyone engaged in literary work. Of the Native States treated of in the first six parts of this volume, all, I think, may fairly be classed amongst those which are in subsidiary alliance with the British Government. The seventh part gives a brief account of the states and estates, classed as ' Mediatized and Minor/ which though under the suzerainty of, are not in direct alliance with, the British Government. There remain then the countries in Asia which have entered into treaties with the Government of British India. These are practically independent. They may be said broadly to comprise Persia, Beluchistan, Afghanistan and the fron- tier tribes, Nipal, Gurkha, Sikkim, Bhutan, Burma, and Siam; and their history may perhaps form a separate volume. One word as to the mode of division I have adopted. I have thought it convenient, instead of grouping states according to their individual size, to follow the natural order of the divisions in which they lie. Thus beginning with Eajputana the division containing the oldest monarchies in India, probably in the world and taking after it its neighbours in Central India and Bundelkhand, I have followed in succession with Western, Southern, and North- Western India. I have indicated the history of the principal states in these six divisions with such detail as a mere sketch of them seemed to authorise, and X PREFACE. with as much precision as the authorities to which I had access would permit. If I may not have succeeded in accomplishing all that has been desired, I shall at least have opened a pathway to others alike more competent and commanding more secret sources of information. With respect to the spelling of the cities and pro- vinces of India, I have followed the system laid down by Professor Blochmann in his 'Geography of India and Burma.' CONTENTS PAGK PREFACE vii INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER 1 PAKT I. CHAPTER RAJPUTANA. I. UDAIPUR on MEWAR . . . . . .9 II. JA-IPUR ....... 27 III. JODHPUR OR MARWAR ..... 39 IV. Buis T Df ....... 59 V. KOTA ......... G8 VI. JIIALAWAR ...... 7(i VII. TONK ........ 78 VIII. KARAULI ....... 85 IX. KlSHNGARH ....... 89 X. DHOLPUR ....... 92 XI. BHARATPUR ....... 97 XII. ALWAR ....... 105 XIII. BIKANIR Ill XIV. JAISALMIR . . . . . . 117 XV. SIROHI . . . . . .125 XVI. PoxGAurvR, BANSWARA, AND PARTABGARH . . 128 Xli CONTENTS. PART II. CENTRAL INDIA AND MALWA. CHAPTKi; 1>AGK I. GWALIAR, OR TH-E DOMINIONS OF SlNDHIA . 130 II. INDUR, OR THE DOMINIONS OF HOLKAR III. BHOPAL 107 IV. DHAR 206 V. DEWAS ....... 215 VI. JAORA . 210 PART III. B UNDELKHAND. I. REWA . . . . . . . 224 II. UBCHAH OR TEHRI, DATIA, AND SAMPTAR . . . 227 PART IV. WESTERN INDIA. I. BARODAH, OR THE DOMINIONS OF THE GAIKWAR ,, . 235 II. KOLHAPUR . ... . . . 254 III. SAWUNT-WARI. ...... 202 IV. KACHH ....... 270 PART V. SOUTHERN INDIA. I. HAIDERABAD, OR THE DOMINIONS OF THE NIZAM . . 277 II. MYSORE (MAISUR) ...... 207 III. TRATANKUR ....... 323 IV. KOCHIN 090 t OWIL/ CONTENTS. Xlll PART VI. NORTHERN INDIA. CHAPTER PAGE I. THE CIS-SATLAJ STATES . . . .333 II. CASHMERE (KASHMIR) ..... 342 III. MINOR TRANS-SATLAJ STATES . . . . 345 IV. BHAWALPUR 347 PAET VII. MEDIATIZED AND MINOR CHIEFS. 1. CENTRAL INDIA AND MALWA . . . . . 354 2. BUNDELKHAND ...... 360 3. WESTERN INDIA ....... 366 4. SOUTHERN INDIA i 376 5. EASTERN INDIA ....... 377 6. NORTH- WESTERN INDIA 378 APPENDICES. APPENDIX A . . . . . . .383 B 385 C 387 D . .... 391 E . 392 V - 394 LIST OF MAPS. RAJPUTANA ....... To face page 9 CENTRAL INDIA ... 136 WESTERN INDIA . . . . . . 235 SOUTHERN INDIA . . . . . . 277 NORTH WESTERN INDIA . . . . . 333 SKETCH MAP OF BRITISH INDIA 352 HISTOEICAL SKETCH OF THE NATIVE STATES OF INDIA. INTEODUCTOEY CHAPTEE. THE affairs of India command at present an interest far INTEOD. greater than was bestowed upon them at any previous ^ HAF ' - time. This is as true of that not inconsiderable portion of the country which still remains under native rulers as of the larger portion which has come under the direct sway of the British Government. The country has passed through various stages of its political history, and these afford useful subjects of study to the historian and to the statesman. The first stage comprised the long and comparatively peaceful period when, prior to the invasion of Mahmud of Ghizni, the nation owned the sway of sovereigns of its own race and faith. This would un- doubtedly be the most interesting portion of its history for the study of the character and the institutions of the people in their native integrity. But though there are abundant traces of the country having then attained a high degree of prosperity and civilisation, so little is known in regard to the details of the principles of the government, or the condition of the people during this time, and so completely have all traditions connected with them been effaced by the long period of foreign rule which followed, that a study of the history of this epoch 2 . ;;: THE NATIVE STATES OF INDIA. INTROD. seems of value to the investigator of antiquarian re- . CHAP - . searches rather than to the practical statesman. That the energies belonging to this purely native progress long ago exhausted themselves, was seen conspicuously in the manner in which all the once powerful Native States suc- cumbed to the inroads of the Mahomedan invader. The invasion of India by Mahmud of Ghizni, in the early part of the eleventh century, introduces us to the second, or Mahomedan, period of Indian history. The Mahomedan Empire properly commences from the esta- blishment of the seat of government at Delhi, by Kutb- ud-din, in the year 1206 ; and from that date to the decline of the empire in 1707 is one of the longest periods of foreign rule which any country has ever witnessed. This fact is in itself a most instructive sub- ject for study, as bearing on the character of the con- quered and conquering races and their institutions. The Mahomedan rule soon attained the status of a great empire ; and during a considerable portion of the Mogul period, from Akbar to Aurangzib, as well as in some of the preceding reigns, the Courts of Agra and Delhi, alike in their magnificence and in the largeness of their public measures, did not merely rival, but surpass, the best European Governments of the day. The institutions of Akbar in particular, the very advanced principles of toleration and justice to the conquered race which he introduced into his government the influence of which was felt in several succeeding reigns are worthy of imitation by the most enlightened Governments of any period. This great warrior, though belonging to an age which had but scarcely emerged from barbarism, recog- nised the sound principle that a Government must rest on the affections of the people. The measures which he adopted with this view for breaking down the barriers between the conquering and the conquered races are worthy of all praise. With the noble race of Eajpiits, in particular, he entered into intimate relations. He so far INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER. 3 overcame their prejudices that their principal families INTROD. gave their daughters in marriage to himself, and to his ^ CHAr i^ children; while their sons led his armies to the field, achieved his conquests, and filled the principal offices in his administration. The Hindu States of Bajputdna were under his rule more powerful, more prosperous and more influential, that they are at the present day ; and when we are further told that this enlightened ruler authorised Hindu widows to marry, mitigated the horrors of Sati, and forbade marriages before the age of puberty mea- sures the re-introduction of some of which have been laurels to the ablest administrators of our own day it is impossible not to admire the wisdom and large-hearted- ness of his policy. But the Mahomedan rule, like all other despotisms, contained within itself the seeds of decay. A Govern- ment which owes its success entirely to the personal character of the ruler affords no guarantee for continued progress. Akbar was a great ruler, but it was impossible even for Akbar to provide that he should be succeeded by another Akbar. To this defect, inherent in all per- sonal governments, was added another of even greater magnitude in the unsettled rules of succession among children by several wives. The bloody contests and the unfeeling murders resulting from this cause distracted, and still continue to distract, the best of Mahomedan rules, as is painfully witnessed even at the present day, in the troubles which surround our ally of Afghanistan. The latter part of almost every reign of the successors of Akbar was clouded and unsettled by these contests, and when finally the bigoted Aurangzib departed from the wise principles of toleration introduced by his great an- cestor, and by cruelties, persecutions, and repeated acts of faithlessness alienated the affections of his allies and subjects, the Mogul empire began rapidly to decline. After a long and brilliant reign, during which he extended the limits of his empire farther than any of his prede- B 2 4 THE NATIVE STATES OF INDIA. INTROD. cessors, lived to see the death of Sivaji, the founder of the CHAP., p 0wer t h at was to SU pplant his own; even to wreak ven- geance on his successor this great potentate, amidst all his triumphs, felt and felt keenly, before he descended into his grave, that the sceptre Avas departing from the Mogul. ' His last letters,' says Elphinstone, ' showed the failure of his hopes in this world, his dread of that to come.' Upon the ruin of the Mogul rose the power of the Marhatas, whose predatory career forms the third stage in Indian history. For more than a century these active, restless, lawless warriors undoubtedly exercised a pre- dominant sway over Indian affairs, holding a considerable extent of territory under their own direct rule, and ex- torting contributions from most of the other Governments in the country. But their career, which was one of rapine and plunder, has scarcely any claim to the attri- butes of a settled government, much less to those of a great empire. From the final breaking down of the Marhata con- federacy, in 1817, commences the absolute sovereignty of the great power which is yet destined to play an im- portant part in the future history of this ancient nation. The territorial acquisitions and the influence of the English Government commenced from the middle of the eighteenth century, but its undisputed supremacy and claim to empire can properly reckon only from the com- plete crippling of the Marhatas in 1817. The time which has elapsed from that event to the present day is indeed but short, but the rapid changes which have taken place, even in this short interval, and the great strides in material and mental progress which have been made, cannot fail to convince the thoughtful native that his country has now entered upon a career which has no parallel in its previous history, whilst the stable character of the government, and the settled principles of its action, give the guarantee that the career thus com- INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER. 5 menced is destined to progress without material inter- INTROD. ruption. Comparisons have often been challenged and ^ HA1 ;^ made between the Mogul and the British rule in India, but such comparisons between a power which was still enveloped to a certain degree in barbarism, and one which is wielding all the resources, the knowledge, and the enlightened principles of a civilisation entirely modern and very recent, can only be regarded as ostentatious. There are, however, as already noticed, favourable features in the Mahomedan rule which the English Go- vernment cannot lay claim to, and which it would be profitable for the English statesman to lay to heart. The Mahomedan Government was one which in every sense of the term lived in the country, acting upon the people and reacted upon by them in the most direct manner. The splendour of their Courts and the wealth of their aristocracy redounded to the benefit of the people, amongst whom all their acquisitions were spent in a manner calculated to stimulate and encourage native art, whilst the administration of public affairs was to a great extent, if not entirely, in the hands of the natives who held the principal offices in the civil administration, and enjoyed no small share in the command of the armies. These advantages, which touch the mainspring of national life and prosperity, are necessarily wanting in the British system, and it must be admitted that, in the opinion of the natives, this detracts somewhat from the benefits which that system otherwise confers. The superior science and resources of the British nation have annihi- lated whatever native arts or manufactures had been in existence, and have introduced nothing in their stead, whilst the exclusiveness of their national character and the still more exclusive nature of the administrative machinery adopted in India, have shut out the people from all share in the political administration of their affairs. The British Government, in fact, professes to ad- minister the vast vital interests of an extensive nation by 6 THE NATIVE STATES OF INDIA. INTKOD. means of a foreign agency fluctuating and uncertain in CHAi\ -^ character, and without availing itself to any con- siderable extent of the aid and counsels of the people whose interests are mainly affected by its legislation. In making these remarks I am simply asserting a fact to which it is necessary to allude in marking the striking differences between the system of the British rule and of that which preceded it : they are advanced for that pur- pose only. Sure I am that the distinguished statesmen by whom the government of British India has been, and continues to be administered, had and have no object more at heart than the improvement of the country and the advancement of its people. If there should be any doubt upon that subject, the noble despatch of the Duke of Argyll, transmitted to India in 1871, would be suf- ficient to dissipate it. That despatch contained within it the germs of a system by which the natives of India will be gradually brought more largely into the administrative machinery. Meanwhile it is a satisfaction to reflect that, owing to the more recent policy of the British Government, there still survive many native States independent as to their internal action, which afford now, and for years to come will continue to afford, some opening for native talent and native ambition, some opportunities for solving the great question of native advancement. These States, containing nearly 600,000 square miles, and inhabited by forty-eight millions of people, are scattered over the different parts of India. They are peopled by almost all the nationalities into which the country is divided. They thus form so many centres where the Sikh, the Mahomedan, the Eajpiit, the Marhata, and the Dravidian can each bring out to the best advantage whatever may be peculiar and excellent in his national character and national institu- tions, under the generalising influence of English prin- ciples and English civilisation. Their opportunities for this lie essentially in the future. Deprived centuries ago INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER. 7 of their independence, ground down by the Mdrhatas, INTROD. restored to ease and safety by the British in 1817, they > CHAF ' . had not till within the last sixteen years shaken off the mistrust engendered partly by a retrospect of the past, but more even by the sight of the absorbing process occa- sionally put into action around them. But the Eoyal Proclamation transmitted to India by the present Earl of Derby in 1859, and the unmistakable manner in which the spirit of that proclamation has been carried out, have dissipated aj.1 alarms. Never were loyalty and good feel- ing more widely spread amongst the native princes of India than at the present moment. The moral influence thus gained gives the paramount power opportunities for urging the feudatory chiefs to adopt measures of progress and liberality. It is to be hoped that in the course of time there will be cemented between that power and its feudatories a confidence and affection such as can be born only of a complete comprehension of the native modes of thought on the one side, and an appreciation of the great moral ends aimed at by modern civilisation on the other. An understanding of that description would be the certain prelude to the grounding of a system com- pared to which that even of Akbar was < the baseless fabric of a vision.' When not only the higher governing classes who already appreciate the truth but the great mass of Englishmen employed in India shall have schooled themselves to believe that real predominance consists alone, not in belonging to a mis-called dominant race, but in predominance in learning, in ability, in the higher mental qualities and moral powers of a man, irrespective of his colour, his nationality, and his creed ; when, too, the native shall have completely learned, as he is fast learning, that to take part in the affairs of the present age it will be necessary to abandon prejudices which restrict his progress, then only may we feel confident that India is entering upon a path which will tend to her advance- ment in greatness, and open out careers for her sons. 8 THE NATIVE STATES OF INDIA. INTBOD. Judging from the increasing numbers of thoughtful minds who now-a-days devote themselves to the consideration of these important questions, the subject will, it is certain, sooner or later attract earnest attention, and be treated in a manner which its importance demands. Meanwhile it is possible that the task may be facilitated by a sketch giving an insight into the past career and history of the Native States. That career, it must be owned, displays little of the action of the people, but, like the history of all Governments of the past, consists simply in the wars, the exploits, and the successions of their rulers. But the story is by no means wanting in events of interest, or in indications of life and vitality cal- culated in many instances to excite the pride of the rulers and the ruled of these States in their past. And pride in the past, I need hardly say, affords the best guarantee for development and improvement in the future. PAET L-KAJPUTANA: CHAPTER I. tJDAIPUR Or MEWAR. ABBA 11,614 sq. miles. POPULATION 1,161,400. REVENUE About 4,000,000 rupees. 'WiTH the exception of Jaisalmir,' writes the learned author of the 'Annals and Antiquities of Eajasthan,' 'Mewar is the only dynasty of these races which has outlived eight centuries of foreign domination in the same lands where conquest placed them. The Eana still pos- sesses nearly the same extent of territory which his ancestors held when the conqueror from Ghizni first crossed the " blue waters" of the Indus to invade India ; while the other families now ruling in the north-west of Eajasthan are the relics of ancient dynasties driven from their pristine seats of power, or other minor branches who have erected their own fortunes. This circumstance adds to the dignity of the Eanas, and is the cause of the general homage they receive, notwithstanding the diminu- tion of their power. Though we cannot give the princes of Mewar an ancestor in the Persian JSToshirvan, nor assert so confidently as Sir Thomas Eoe his claims to descent from the celebrated Porus, the opponent of Alexander, we can carry him into regions of antiquity more remote than the Persian, and which would satisfy the most fastidious in respect to ancestry.' The origin of the family of the present Eana of 10 THE NATIVE STATES OF INDIA. PART Udaipiir is lost in antiquity. According to the best - r authenticated tradition, the sovereign of that part of the country had been treacherously murdered in the second century of the Christian era. His favourite wife, who was absent at the time, alone escaped the general slaughter. She was then pregnant, and in due course gave birth to a son. As soon after his birth as was prac- ticable she made over the boy to a Brahman woman, with directions that he should be brought up as a Brahman, She then mounted the pile to rejoin her lost lord. The boy was Bappii Eawul, the ancestor of the Eanas of Udaipur. Brought up as a Bhil, amongst the Bhils, the child soon became known as the most daring son of the forest. He killed birds, chased wild beasts, and was the leader of his comrades in all their exploits. One day, after a deed of more than ordinary daring, the youths who accompanied him declared they would elect him as their King. One of them, to note their choice, cut his finger, and with the blood issuing from the wound made the royal mark on his forehead. 1 They then repaired to the chief of the tribe, who confirmed all that they had done. On attaining manhood Bappii Eawul sought a wider field for his operations. He established a great reputa- tion, connected himself by marriage with the royal house of Malwa, expelled the ' barbarians ' who had usurped his family domains, and finally fixed the seat of his government at Chitor, where he ruled the whole of Eajputana. He died at the patriarchal age of a hundred years. 2 1 This remarkable ceremonial is from a Chohan Rajput by a Bhil still kept up, a Bhil being still the mother, was sacrificed, his throat principal actor in the investiture, being cut, and his body thrown into and the material used for marking the river. Vide An Historical being his own blood. It is stated also, Sketch of the Princes of India. and there can be no doubt of the fact, 1833. that the custom was adhered to forty a The legend adds that, * ad- years ago, that whenever the Rana vanced in years, he abandoned his of Udaipur crossed the Mahi river, children and his country, carried his an individual, of a tribe descended arms west to Khorassan, and there tJDAIPUR OR MEWAR. 11 I have stated that the legend records the birth of CHAP. Bappii Eawul as having taken place in the second century ^J; of the Christian era ; but later investigations have proved beyond a doubt that he reigned in the eighth century, his capture of Chitor having taken place about 728 A.D. Between him and Samarsi, the twenty-third king of his race, occurs a break of nearly five hundred years. Of the events of these years the industry of Colonel Tod has obtained a trace, but it would be foreign to my present purpose to enter upon a subject so vast and so remote. Samarsi, who flourished in the twelfth century, was a great warrior. The bard of the period describes him as being the ' Ulysses of the host ; brave, cool, and skilful in the fight ; prudent, wise, and eloquent in council ; pious on all occasions ; beloved by his own chiefs, and revered by the vassals of the Chohan.' In alliance with his brother-in-law Prithwi-Eaj, the Hindu King of Delhi, Samarsi went forth to meet the Tartar invaders of India. The battle which ensued lasted three days (1193) and terminated in the defeat of the Hindus, and the death of Samarsi and all his chiefs. Samarsi was succeeded by his son Kama, and he, a few years later, by his cousin Eahap, son of Samarsi's brother. This prince first changed the title of the Sovereign of Udaipiir from Eawul to Edna, by which it has ever since been known. From Eahap to Lakamsi, a space of half a century, nine princes of Chitor were crowned. Of these nine, six fell in battle. This period is described by contemporary annalists as a period of ' confusion and strife within and without.' I therefore pass it over. Eana Lakamsi succeeded to his father's throne in 1275. It was during his reign that Chitor had the first experience of Mahomedan invasion. Whilst he was yet a lad, his uncle, the Eegent Bhimsi, beat off an attack established himself and married new whom he had a numerous offspring/ wives among the barbarians, by Tod. THE NATIVE STATES OF INDIA. PART of Alla-ii-din, King of Delhi, upon Chitor. But in 1303 _ I ;.. ^ the attack was renewed. The Edna, surrounded by all his sons but one and that one he had sent away to preserve the duration of his race after defending the place to the utmost, met the assailants in the breach and carried death into, or met it in, the ranks of the enemy. Yet the surviving son did not despair. He had, too, with him the son of his eldest brother, the renowned Hamir, destined to be the saviour of his country. Noticing the capacity of the latter, the Eana resigned in a short time the kingdom in his favour. Left untrammelled, Eana Hamir soon made the country so unpleasant to Alla-ii-din that that prince was glad to make over Chitor to Mal- deo, the Eajpiit chief of Jalor, whom he had enrolled amongst his vassals, and to return to Delhi. In a few years (1313) Hamir recovered the capital of his ancestors, and, it is asserted by the Hindu writers, defeated and took prisoner the successor of Alla-u-din, who was marching to recover Chitor ; nor did he release his captive until he had surrendered four conquered districts and paid a lakh of rupees and a hundred elephants for his ransom. Under the rule of this great prince, the glories of Eajputana revived. He was the sole Hindu prince of power left in India. All the ancient dynasties had been crushed ; and the ancestors of the present princes of Jodhpiir and Jaipur, and many others, brought their levies, paid homage, and obeyed the summons of the great ruler who had asserted the valour of the Hindus, and established their rule in the part of India most congenial to them. The administration of Hamir is stated to have been mild and paternal, and to have brought great prosperity to his subjects. He died, full of years, in 1365, c leaving a name, still honoured in Mewar, as one of the wisest and most gallant of her princes, and bequeathing a well- established and extensive power to his son.' 1 The son, Khaitsi Eana, was a worthy successor of his 1 Tod's JRdjdsthdn. tJDAIPtJR OR MEWAR. 13 great father. He added to his dominions by several con- quests, and even obtained a victory over the Emperor Humayiin at Bakrol. Unhappily he was slain in a family broil with his vassal, the chief of Bunaoda, whose daughter he was about to espouse. 1 He was succeeded (1383) by Lakha Kana, an able man, a capable warrior, and a great patron of the arts. He, too, increased his dominions ; but, more than that, he settled his frontier, and discovered and worked silver mines in Jaoara. He was, likewise, victorious against the Ma- homedan King of Delhi, Mahomed Shah L6di, but in driving that monarch's army from Gya was slain. His name still lives as of the ruler who was at once the patron of arts and the benefactor of his country. The death of Lakha Eana left the throne to a minor, Mokalji. His rights were zealously guarded in his early youth by his elder brother Chonda, self-excluded from the inheritance. 2 On his coming of age, he evinced all the high qualities of his race, and he achieved no incon- siderable renown in the field ; but in the midst of his triumphs he was assassinated at Madaria by his uncles, 1 Tod's Rd/dsthdn. at delicacy being sacrificed to wit, 2 The history of the self-exclu- declined accepting the symbol which si on of Chonda is curious. It is his father had even in jest supposed thus told by Colonel Tod : ( Lakha might be intended for him ; and as it Rana was advanced in years, his could not be returned without insult sons and grandsons established in to Rinmul, the old Rana, incensed suitable domains, when " the cocoa at his son's obstinacy, agreed to nut came" from Rinmul, Prince of accept it himself, provided Chonda Marwar, to affiance his daughter with would swear to renounce his birth- Chonda, heir of MSwar. When the right in the event of his having a embassy was announced, Chonda son, and be to the child but the first was absent, and the old chief was of his " Raj puts." He swore to ful- seated in his chair of state, sur- fil his father's wishes.' rounded by his court. The mes- Right loyally he observed them, senger of Hymen was courteously But it was an unfortunate policy that received by Lakha, who observed required the sacrifice. The right of that Chonda would soon return and primogeniture was compromised, and take the gage; "for," added he, draw- the making the elder branch of the ing his fingers over his moustachios, family a powerful vassal clan with " I don't suppose you send such play- claims to the throne proved more things to an old greybeard like me." disastrous in its consequences than This sally was of course applauded the arms of the Moguls and the and repeated : but Chonda, offended Marhatas. 14 THE NATIVE STATES OF INDIA. PAET the natural brothers of his father, for an unintentional - r ' offence. 1 The successor of Mokalji was Kiimbho Eand (1419). He is reported to have been one of the ablest princes who ever sat upon a throne. He possessed, it is said, the energy of Hamir, the artistic tastes of Lakha, and a genius as comprehensive as either, and he was more for- tunate. As a warrior he was unsurpassed amongst Hindu sovereigns. He inflicted, in 1440, a terrible defeat upon the allied Mahomedan sovereigns of Malwa and Gujrat, taking the former prisoner, and ' setting him at liberty not only without ransom, but with gifts.' Subsequently he defeated the forces of the King of Delhi, erected thirty- two fortresses for the defence of his dominions, and fortified the passes. He was a man of literary tastes, and a poet himself. Nor, considering that he married the most beautiful Hindu princess of the age, can he be re- garded as insensible to female beauty. Kumbho Eana had enjoyed a prosperous reign of fifty years when (1523) he was assassinated by his son ! The cause of the parricidal act was simply lust to reign. The parricide, by name Uda, but known in the annals as Hatiaro or the Murderer, did indeed succeed, but he ruled but a short time. In the four years of his adminis- tration he lowered the character of his race and diminished the glory of his country. He was driven from the country by his brother Eaemal, and, fleeing to Delhi, was struck dead by lightning. Eaemal succeeded in 1474. His first act was to defeat the King of Delhi, who had espoused the cause of his nephews, in a pitched battle. He then pardoned the nephews, who became faithful and valiant subjects. He was very successful likewise in the wars he carried on with the Mahomedan King of Malwa. Unfortunately his domestic happiness was marred by the disunion amongst his sons. The episode recounting their feuds is one of 1 Tod. tJDAIPtJR OR MEWAR. 15 the most interesting and instructive in the annals of Eaj- piitana, but it would be out of place in this volume. 1 Eaemal Hand died, after a prosperous reign, in 1509. He was succeeded by his son, Sanga Edna. ' With this prince,' writes Colonel Tod, ' Mewar reached the summit of her prosperity. To use their own metaphor, " he was the urn on the pinnacle of her glory." From him we shall witness this glory on the wane ; and, though many rays of splendour illuminated her declining career, they served but to gild the ruin.' 2 Some idea of the glory of Sanga Eana may be gathered from the enumeration of the retinue by which he was followed when he marched to the battle-field. ' Eighty thousand horses,' writes the authority already quoted, 6 seven Eajas of the highest rank, nine Eaos, and one hundred and four chieftains bearing the title of Edwul and Eawut, with five hundred war elephants, followed him to the field. The Princes of Marwar and Ambar did him homage, and the Eaos of Gwaliar, Ajmir, Sikri, Eaesen, Kalpi, Chanderi, Bundi, Gagraon, Eampura, and Abu served him as tributaries or held of him as chief.' Sanga Eana was a great ruler. His first act was to allay the disorders occasioned by the intestine feuds of his family. He then organised his forces to repulse the in- vasion of the Mahomedans from Delhi and Malwd. These he defeated in eighteen pitched battles, in two of which those of Bakrol and Ghatolli he was opposed by Ibrahim Lodi in person. But the invasion of the famous Baber came then to decide whether Hindostan was to be the spoil of the Mussulman or appanage of the Hindu. Victory seemed at first to smile on the latter. When the vanguards of the two armies met at Kamia, near Sikri, on February 11, 1527, the Tartar invaders, though re- inforced from their main body, were repulsed with heavy loss. ' If,' writes Elphinstone, ' the Eana had pressed on during the first panic it is probable he would have ob- . l Vide Tod's Edjdsthdn. 8 Ibid. ]6 THE NATIVE STATES OF INDIA. PAET tained an easy victory ; he chose to withdraw to his v_^__ encampment after his success, and thus allowed Baber ample time to take up a position and to fortify his camp, so as to make it a difficult matter to assail him.' On March 16 following, the decisive battle took place. Baber sallied from his entrenchments, at the head of all his army, and attacked the Hindus at Biana. For several hours the battle raged fiercely, but, when the result was most doubtful, the chief of Eaysin, by name Sillaidi, who commanded the van of the Hindu host, deserted to the enemy, and Sanga Eana was forced to retire from the field, himself wounded and the choicest of his chieftains slain. He retreated towards the hills of Mewar, having announced his fixed determination never to re-enter Chi tor but with victory. Had his life been spared he might have redeemed the pledge, but the year of his defeat was the last of his existence. He died at Baswa, on the frontier of Mewar, not without suspicion of poison. It is, perhaps, not unfitting to record in this place the account given of the personal form and qualities of one who was not only the most famous representative of the most ancient existing dynasty in the world, but also the most famous Hindu sovereign in India. ; Sanga Eana ' writes the author of the 4 Eajasthan ' c was of the middle stature, but of great muscular strength ; fair in complexion, with unusually large eyes, which appear to be peculiar to his descendants. He exhibited at his death but the frag- ments of a warrior. One eye was lost in the broil with his brother, an arm in the action with the Lodi King of Delhi, and he was a cripple owing to a limb being broken by a cannon ball in another, while he counted eighty wounds from the sword or lance on various parts of his body. He was celebrated for energetic enterprise, of which his capture of Mozafier, King of Malwa, is a cele- brated instance ; and his successful storm of the almost impregnable Einthambor, though defended by the im- perial General, Ali, gained him great renown. He erected UDAIPUR OR MEWAR. 17 a small palace at Kaniia, on the line which he determined CH^P. should be the northern limit of Mewar, and, had he been _ . * _. succeeded by a prince possessed of his foresight and judg- ment, Baber's descendants might not have retained the. sovereignty of India.' Sanga Eana was succeeded, in 1530, by his eldest sur- viving son, Eatna Eana. He reigned only five years, but before he died had the satisfaction of seeing Baber depart, leaving the territories of his father undiminished. He was succeeded, in 1535, by his brother Bikramajit. This prince was daring and foolhardy, but without talent. Defeated in the field by Bahadur, King of Gujrat, he was besieged by that monarch in Chitor. This famous capital, after a desperate and bloody defence, was taken and sacked. But Bahadur, summoned to move against Hu- mayun, soon left his conquest, and Bikramajit Eana recovered his capital. But he had learned nothing and forgotten nothing. His insolence to his nobles caused a rebellion. He was deposed and put to death, and Banbir, natural son of the brother of Sanga Eana, appointed to reign in his stead. Banbir Eana reigned, however, only until such time as the posthumous son of Sanga Eana was able to assert his rights. The name of this prince was TJdai Singh. He ascended the throne in 1541-2. He was a weak, yielding character, born to be ruled by others: Such characters are usually governed by the daring and the unscrupulous. TJdai Singh Eana was no exception to the rule. Attacked in 1568 by the great Akbar, his capital, after another desperate defence, again succumbed. TJdai Singh fled to the forests of Eajpipli, and died there four years later, after an unhappy and inglorious reign. His son, Pertap Eana, ' succeeded to the titles and honours of an illustrious house, but without a capital, without resources his kindred and clans dispirited by reverses.' He possessed, however, many of the noble qualities of his grandfather. Never despairing, nobly supported by his adherents, the princes and clansmen of c j8 THE NATIVE STATES OF INDIA. the family, he established himself at Komulmir, and re- organised the country for a prolonged struggle with the invader. Alone of all the sovereign princes of Bajputana he refused to ally his house with the Mogul. He refused this 'degradation/ as he considered it, whilst yet struggling for existence ; even when he saw the sovereign of Jodhpur enriched by four provinces, bringing with them a revenue of nearly 16,00,000 rupees, for merely making the con- cession. But virtue did not remain always unrewarded. It is true that in the plain of Hulclighat (1576) he met with a crushing defeat from the son of Akbar, afterwards his successor ; and, after a series of encounters with ad- verse fortune, determined, with his family and trusting friends, to abandon Mewar, and found another kingdom on the Indus. He had already set out, when the unexampled devotion of his minister placed in his hands the means of continuing the contest. Turning upon his adversaries, he smote them in the hinder part, and in one short cam- paign (1586) recovered all Mewar Chitor, Ajmir, and Mandelgarh alone excepted. Cut off from Chitor, he established a new capital at Udaipur, a place which sub- sequently gave its name to the kingdom. He died in 1597, leaving behind him a reputation for ' undaunted heroism, inflexible fortitude, that which " keeps heroism bright," and perseverance.' Amra Bana, the eldest son, succeeded to the throne of tJdaipiir. He was too fond of ease and dignity to be a great warrior, but he did, nevertherless, achieve some great things. In 1608 he defeated the Imperial army at Deweir. Jehangir, to revenge himself, made over Chitor to Sugra, uncle of Amra, but who had deserted his family. But the experiment failed. Siigra reigned in solitary grandeur for eight years, without conciliating a single Eajpiit noble. Then his conscience smote him, and he restored Chitor to its rightful owner. With that fortress the Eana acquired no less than eighty of the chief towns or fortresses of Mewar. But a great trial was awaiting him. The Prince CDAIPUR on MEWAK. 19 Khurm, afterwards the Emperor Shah Jehan, was about to invade his dominions. Again did the Eana collect all his disposable forces, 4 the might of their hills.' But all was in vain. He could not resist the overwhelming force of the Moguls, and after seeing his cities captured and his lands laid waste, sued for peace. What followed is thus recorded by the Emperor Jehangir himself : ' On Sunday, the 26th, the Eana, with respect and due attention to etiquette, as other vassals of the empire, paid his respects to my son, and presented a celebrated ruby, well known in possession of this house, and various arms inlaid with gold ; with seven elephants of great price, which alone remained after those formerly captured, and also nine horses as tribute, My son received him with princely generosity and courtesy, when the Eana, taking my son by the knee, begged to be forgiven. He raised his head, and gave him every kind of assurance and protection, and presented him with suitable khiluts, an elephant, horses, and a sword.' In other respects Shah Jehan treated the Eana with great generosity. He restored to him all the country conquered since the time of Akbar, and raised his son, Karran, to a high rank amongst the military chiefs of the empire. But the disgrace had crushed the heart of Amra Eana. He abdicated shortly afterwards in favour of Kar- ran, and shut himself up in a palace a mile outside the city of tJdaipiir, nor did he once again cross its threshold. Karran Eana ascended the throne of his ancestors in 1621. In the rebellion of Khurm (Shah Jehan) against his father, Jehangir, he took the part of Khurm, and afforded him an asylum at tJdaipur. This act of grati- tude to one who had been kind to his father did not affect the feelings of Jehangir towards him. He died after a peaceful reign in 1628. His sou, Juggut Singh, succeeded him. Eegard- ing this prince, the Emperor Jehangir recorded in his c 2 () THE NATIVE STATES OF INDIA. PAET memoirs, when the prince visited him at the age of twelve i ' years, that ' his countenance carried the impression of his illustrious extraction.' He reigned twenty-six years- years of uninterrupted tranquillity. To him tJdaipur is indebted for those magnificent works which bear his name. A full description of these is given by Tod in his 4 Annals of Eajasthan.' I, who have seen them, can bear witness to the accuracy of his description. Eaj Singh Eana, his son, succeeded him in 1654. This prince showed his high blood by bearing off as his bride a Eaj put lady of the house of Marwar, who, solicited in alliance by the bigoted Mahomedan Aurangzib, had ap- pealed to the chivalry of the Eana, sending him this message : ' Is the swan to be the mate of the stork ? a Eajputni, pure in blood, to be wife to the monkey-faced barbarian ? ' Eaj Singh attacked and cut up the imperial guards sent for the lady, and carried her off as his bride to tJdaipur. But he was to come to issue with Aurangzib on grounds upon which he was even more absolutely in the right. About the year 1676 it pleased that fanati- cal prince to re-impose a tax called the jezia, i.e., a poll-tax on unbelievers in Mahomedan orthodoxy. This act of bigotry roused a very bitter feeling amongst the Hindus generally, but especially so in the heart of their representative sovereign, the Eana of TJdaipur. He wrote the noblest letter which a man under such cir- cumstances could pen, and sent it to Aurangzib. 1 But this letter lashed Aurangzib to fury. He summoned his sons and his vassals from all parts of India, and dashed upon tTdaipuT. But Eaj Singh was more than a match even for his hardened warriors. Eetreating before his advanced troops, he drew them into the recesses of the country, and then overwhelmed them. Finally, after more than one great victory, he forced Aurangzib to quit his country, and carried the war into regions ruled by 1 Vide Appendix A. (JDAIPtJR OR MEWAR. 21 the Mahomedans. He died in 1681, when a projected CHAP. peace, signed by his successor, had afforded him the cer- _ I ; . tainty that his labours had not been in vain. He is de- scribed as having possessed, in war, in chivalrous feeling, and in love of art, the qualities which most adorn a man. Jai Singh Bana succeeded his father, and signed the peace alluded to with Aurangzib a peace by which the right of imposing the jezia was renounced. Jai Singh had shown capacity in early youth, but he became in- dolent and uxorious. His reign is almost entirely a reign of domestic broils. He died in 1700, and was suc- ceeded by his son Anira, who had been in revolt against him. Amra II. reigned sixteen years. His rule is chiefly remarkable for the formation of a league amongst the Bajput powers to defend themselves against the Mahome- dans. But this league was unfortunately accompanied by conditions certain to breed, and which did breed, 1 internecine quarrels. These quarrels led in their turn to appeals to a stronger power, and it naturally happened that the stronger power took advantage of the quarrels and the appeals to help itself. It will be seen how "Cdai- piir suffered from this cause. Such sufferings, however, occurred subsequently to the demise of Eana Amra II., which event took place in the year 1716. Kana Sangram Singh succeeded his father and reigned till 1734. Under his rule Mewar was respected, and the greater part of her lost territory was regained. He was 1 This triple alliance was formed issue were females, they should between the Rajas of Jaipur and never be dishonoured by being mar- Jodhpiir on the one side, and the ried to a Mogul. Kana of Udaipur on the other. By But the remedy was worse than it all connection with the Mogul the disease. It was a sacrifice of the empire, domestic or political, was rights of primogeniture, introducing renounced. Nuptial engagements domestic strife, and alternately between the contracting parties, re- giving ingress to the Marhatas as nounced by Udaipur since the time partisans and umpires in family dis- of Akbar, "were to be renewed. It putes a position of which these was stipulated that the sons of such knew well how to take full advan- marriages should be heirs, or if the tage. 22 THE NATIVE STATES OP INDIA. PAKT a patriarchal' ruler, wise, just, and inflexible, steady in . f; , his application to business, and an excellent financier. He had the good fortune to be served by an excellent minister, Behari Das Pancholi. Eana Juggut Singh II., his son and successor, revived the defensive alliance with the Eajpiit States, previously negotiated by Eana Amra. He was too fond of plea- sure to govern. He preferred, it is said, an elephant fight to warfare. Hence, under his rule, the kingdom passed through a rapid stage of decline. He was embar- rassed in the first place by the want of cohesion amongst the Eaj puts engendered by the rivalry of their princes, then by the growing power and increasing audacity of the Marhatas. Then, instead of trusting, as his ancestors had done, to the valour of the Eajpiits, he must needs call in the aid of Miilhar Eao Holkar to fight his battles. These causes contributed to give the Marhatas a firm hold on Eajasthan, and when Eana Juggut Singh died, in 1752, the abasement of his country was sealed. Eana Perta Singh II. lived three inglorious years. During the whole period tJdaipur was subject to inva- sions from the Marhatas, conducted in succession by Sutwaji, Jankoji, and Eagonath Eao. Eana Eaj Singh II. succeeded his father in 1755. He reigned seven years, during which the country became so impoverished by invasions of, and war contributions imposed by, the Marhatas, that the Eana was compelled to ask pecuniary aid from the Brahman collector of the tribute, to enable him to marry the Eahtor chieftain's daughter ! To such a low ebb had the country fallen ! His uncle, Eana Arsi, succeeded him in 1762. The ungovernable temper of this prince and his insolent be- haviour to the highest nobles of his country caused the greatest misfortunes. Not only did the nobles rebel and support the claims of a pretender to the throne, but Sindhia, Holkar, and the Eaj a of Jodhpitr, taking advantage of the distractions of the country, made the fJDAIPUR OR ME WAR. most of their opportunity. In the ten years of his reign Kana Arsi lost in war six of his most important districts, besides having to pay large sums in contributions. Al- though, thanks to the fidelity and daring spirit evinced by a leading merchant, Amra Chand, he triumphed over the pretender, he did not escape the vengeance his cruelty and insolence had provoked from the spear of the assassin. He was murdered in 1772. His son and successor, Kana Hamir, was as unfortu- nate as his father. Throughout his reign c the demorali- sation of Mewar was complete : her fields were deluged with blood, and her soil was the prey of every paltry invader.' 1 Kebellion and invasion went hand in hand, and though these were repressed and subdued during the lifetime of the noble minister, Amra Chand a man of whom it can be recorded that, though many years virtual ruler of tJdaipur, he did not leave behind him 'funds sufficient to cover the funeral expenses,' and whose splendid reputation still lives yet, after his death, confusion became worse confounded, and six more districts were wrenched from the falling kingdom. His brother, Eana Bhim Singh, succeeded in 1778. He enjoyed a long reign of fifty years. It has been said of him that in the course of this period he witnessed greater changes and reverses of fortune than any prince of his illustrious house. And it is true. From his acces- sion to the period of the Marhata war with the Eng- lish his country experienced a treatment not dissimilar to that which had been meted out to it under his imme- diate predecessors. It is true that reverses were tinged by occasional gleams of good fortune, but these were few and far between. It might have been hoped that the humi- liation of the two leading Marhata powers by Lake and Wellesley, in the beginning of the nineteenth century, would have procured some respite for tJdaipur. But the contrary happened. The introduction by Lord Corn- 1 Tod, 24 THE NATIVE STATES OF INDIA. PART wallis of the non-intervention system left that and other ^J^ , Eajput countries a prey to the raids of Sindhia, Holkar, Amir Khan, and subsequently of the Pindaris. ^o such a state of dependency and distress was the Sana eventu- ally reduced, that he the head of all the Hindu dynasties was forced to owe to Zalim Singh, regent of Kota, the receipt of an allowance, for his support, of a thousand rupees a month. This state of degradation exposed him to the insults of his nobles and feudatories, the more powerful of whom retired to their forts, and directed all their efforts, not to save the kingdom, but to maintain their own domains. 1 This state of things lasted till the end of the Pindari war in 1817. The consequence was that when the British army, in the course of that campaign, entered Mewar, they found its fields laid waste and its cities ruined, the authority of the Eana set at naught, all the elements of social order dissolved, or in the course of rapid dis- solution. A remedy was at once applied. The British Govern- ment took the country of tldaipur under its protection, convened the nobles, and prevailed upon them to restore the territories they had usurped from the Eana, whilst he, on his part, promised to protect their rights. With respect to the British, the Eana engaged to acknowledge their supremacy, to abstain from political correspondence, to submit disputes to their arbitration, and to pay one- fourth of the revenue as tribute for five years, thereafter three-eighths in perpetuity. The treaty embodying these conditions was signed on January 13, 1817, and the following month the several bands of plunderers and Marhata horse were expelled the Eana's territories. The disorganisation in the administration had, however, become so rooted that necessity forced upon the officer first nominated as British Agent the Colonel Tod from 1 For the fate of the Rana's the struggle for whose hand ruined beautiful daughter, Kishna Komari, Rajputana, vide Appendix C. UDAIPUR OR MEWAR. 25 whose exhaustive work I have so largely quoted the whole conduct of affairs. The reforms he introduced were so beneficial, that in the course of three years, whilst greatly ameliorating the condition of the children of the soil, they almost doubled the revenue. Having thus practically demonstrated the mode in which it was possible to administer affairs, Colonel Tod, by direction of his Government, transferred the reins to the native authorities of tldaipur. The experiment was not satis- factory. In the two succeeding years large debts were incurred, the revenues were anticipated, the tribute to the British Government left unpaid. Again were the officers of the State put into leading strings, and good management re-introduced. Again, too, in 1826, was the administration re-transferred to the native authorities. Once more, unfortunately, failure supervened. In the course of a few months disorder reigned rampant, and the revenue fell almost to the same low figure from which it had been raised by the decided measures taken in 1818. ' Within a few months the extravagance and oppression became as great as they had ever been before, and the roads became almost impassable to single tra- vellers.' 1 Bhim Singh died in 1828, and was succeeded by his son Jo wan Singh. The new ruler was, unfortunately, a man of no character, addicted to vicious habits and low pursuits. It can be easily imagined that under such a rule State affairs did not prosper. Within a few years of his accession the tribute again fell heavily into arrear, the State became overwhelmed with debt, and there accrued an annual deficit of two lakhs of rupees. To such an extent was maladministration carried that the Kana had to be warned that unless he could keep his engagements with the British Government a territorial or other suffi- cient security would be required. The same year that Jowan Singh received this warning. 1 Aitchison's Treaties. 26 THE NATIVE STATES OF INDIA. PART 1838, he died without natural issue. His adopted son, ._ L _^ Sana Sirdar Singh, succeeded him. He was a harsh, overbearing man, very unpopular with his chiefs. He died in 1842, before the financial embarrassments be- queathed to him by his successors had been cleared off. His younger brother, Eana Sunip Singh, succeeded to the throne. To relieve his government, the British reduced the tribute to two lakhs of rupees annually (June 1846). His reign of nine years is chiefly noticeable for the continual contests in which he was engaged with his feudatory chiefs, most of whom, descendants of former Eanas, possessed exclusive privileges, on which the Eana attempted to infringe. These disputes were finally settled in 1861. In that year Surup Singh died, and was succeeded by his nephew Sambhu Singh, who was a minor. The administration was first entrusted to a council of regency, aided by the advice of the Political Agent. But the mem- bers of the council soon exhibited signs of turbulent op- position and misconduct. Acts of cruelty were allowed to go unpunished, and every kind of opposition was thrown in the way of the Political Agent. At length it became necessary either to form a new council, or to appoint some one chief to act as regent. As no chief to whom this duty could be entrusted was available, it was determined to nominate a council of three, consisting, of a president and two members. As the nobleman nomi- nated as president insisted, however, on absolute and uncontrolled powers, the proposition fell to the ground, and the British Eesident was directed to retain charge of the administration, assisted by two members ; he was also ordered to associate the young Eana with himself in the business of the State, so as to fit him as far as possible for the direct management of affairs. Under this arrange- ment the financial condition of the country improved greatly. Maharana Sambhu Singh attained his majority and as- JAIPUR, 27 sumed the direct government of the country on Novem- ber 17, 1865. Though not without capacity, he was not a successful ruler. Since the foregoing sketch was written, intelligence has been received of the death of the Maharana Sambhu Singh. This event took place at Ud^ipur, on October 7, 1874. Sambhii Singh, who at the period of his demise had lived only twenty-seven years, was childless. His nearest of kin were his two uncles, brothers of his father, Sakat Singh and Sohan Singh ; but the Maharana had the right of excluding both of them by adoption. This right he exercised when his recovery was regarded as impossible, in favour of Surjun Singh, son of the elder uncle, a boy about sixteen years old. This prince has been installed as Maharana. The Maharana has received the right of adoption. He is entitled to a salute of seventeen guns. CHAPTEE II. JAIPUR. ABBA 15,000 sq. miles. POPULATION 1,900,000. REVENUE 36,00,000 rupees. 1 THE kingdom of Jaipur, better known amongst the Eaj- CHAP. puts as the kingdom of Amber or Dhiidar, was founded -- r by Dhola Eae in the year 957. Dhola Eae was thirty- fourth in descent from Eaj a Nal, traditional founder of the kingdom and city of Narwar. Eaj a Nal is said to have been lineally descended from Kush, the second son of Eama, King of Koshula, whose capital was Ayodhia, the modern Oudh. Hence the reigning family in Jaipur 1 A large portion of the revenues the available receipts. Aitchison's of the State is alienated in jaghirs Treaties. and religious grants. I record here 28 THE NATIVE STATES OF INDIA. PART has been known from time immemorial as the Kutcliwa . * . family or rule. The exploits of Dhola Eae can only be traced in the fabulous legends of the period. This .much is clear that he conquered the country inherited by his descen- dants. That part of Eajputana was then divided amongst petty Eaj puts and Mina chiefs, all owing allegiance to the Hindu Kings of Delhi. These he conquered in succession, and marrying the daughter of the Prince of Ajmir, he laid the foundations of a kingdom destined to be per- manent. Killed in battle, Dhola Eae was succeeded by his posthumous son by the daughter of the princess of Ajmir, named Kankal ; he, again, by his son Maidul Eao, a warrior and conquerer ; and he, in his turn, by Hundeo. Kiintal followed him, and he it was who completed the subjugation of the other aboriginal race of the Minas. His successor, Pujun, was one of the most famous of the earlier monarchs of the dynasty. He married the sister of Pirthi Eaj, King of Delhi, and commanded a division of that monarch's armies in many of his most important battles. He twice signalised himself in repel- ling invasions from the north, and, commanding at the time on the frontier, he defeated Shab-u-din in the Khy- ber pass, and pursued him towards Ghizni. His valour mainly contributed to the conquest of Mahoba, the coun- try of the Chundails, of which he was left governor ; and he was one of the sixty-four chiefs who, with a chosen body of retainers, enabled the King of Delhi to carry off the Princess of Kanouj. But in this service Pujun lost his life. From Pujiin to Pirthi Eaj there is nothing to record. The names of the intermediate sovereigns were Malesi, Bijul, Eajdeo, Kitun, Kontul, Junsi, Udaikurn, Nursing Bunbir, Udharun and Khundrasen. The ascent to the throne of Pirthi Eaj marks an era in the dynasty. He had seventeen sons, of whom twelve JAIPUR. 29 reached man's estate. To these twelve and to their sue- CHAP. cessors he assigned twelve chambers in the house of ,_ ^ ^ Kutchwa ; and he limited the future right of his succession in his dominions to the descendants of those twelve chambers. Of Pirthi himself little is known but that he made a pilgrimage to the Indus, and that he was assassinated by his own son, Bhim, ' whose countenance,' says the chronicle, ' was like the mouth of a demon.' From Pirthi Eaj we come down to Baharma, the first prince of the dynasty who paid homage to the Mahomedan power. He followed the fortunes of Baber, and received from Humayun, prior to his expulsion by the Pathan dynasty, a high imperial title as ruler of Amber. His son, Bhagwan Dass, became still more intimately allied with the Mogul dynasty. He was the friend of Akbar, and gave his daughter in marriage to Prince Selim, afterwards Jehangir one of the first instances on record of a prince who ' sullied Eaj put purity by matrimonial alliance with the Islamite.' l Bhagwan Dass had no children, but was succeeded by his nephew Maun Singh, son of his youngest brother. This prince was the most brilliant character at Akbar's court. As the emperor's lieutenant he was entrusted with the most arduous duties, and added conquests to the empire from Khoten to the ocean. Orisa was subjugated by him, Asam humbled and made tributary, and Kabul maintained in her allegiance. He held in succession the governments of Bengal and Behar, of the Dekhan and of Kabul. He had the weakness, however, to interfere in the succession to the throne of Akbar in favour of Khiisru, eldest son of Jehangir, and his own cousin. Though too powerful to be openly chastised, Maun Singh was never forgiven. He died governor of Bengal in 1615. Eao Bhao Singh succeeded him a man of no mark. Nor was Maha, who followed him, of more note. Upon 1 Tod. Elphinstone relates (p. 439) that Baharnial ' had, at an early ' period, given his daughter in marriage to Akbar.' 30 THE NATIVE STATES OF INDIA. PAET his death, Jehangir, on the advice, it is said, of J6da Bai, ._ L _. his Eajputni wife, gave the kingdom of Amber to Jai Singh, nephew to Maun Singh, a young man of great promise. It was a fortunate selection. Jai Singh, known in history as the Mirza Eaja, restored by his conduct the glories of the family name. He performed great services during the reign of Aurangzib, who bestowed on him one of the highest dignities of the empire. He made prisoner the celebrated Sivaji, but afterwards, finding that his pledge of safety was likely to be broken, was accessory to his escape. But this instance of good faith was more than counterbalanced by his previous desertion of Prince Dara, in the war of succession, a desertion which crushed the hopes of that brave prince, and caused the death of his son Soliman. His conduct with respect to Sivaji, combined with the haughtiness of demeanour which he assumed in later years, alienated Aurangzib, who from that moment determined to destroy him. A foolish vaunt which the Eajd was in the habit of making in his durbar, and which reached the Emperor's ears, only in- tensified this resolve. 1 He found it difficult for some time to meet anyone who would or could execute his wishes. He had recourse, therefore, to the diabolical expedient of appealing to the ambition of the Eaja's son. He pro- mised the throne of Jaipur to Kirut Singh, younger son of Jai Singh, to the prejudice of his elder brother, Earn Singh, if he would assassinate his father. Kirut Singh con- sented, mixed poison with his father's opium, then returned to claim the investiture. Aurangzib, however, only gave him a district. From this period, says the chronicle, Am- ber declined. Earn Singh, who succeeded Jai Singh, and his son and 1 It was the custom of the Eaja, ground, he would exclaim: ' There sitting with his twenty-four chiefs goes Satara ; the fate of Delhi is in in durbar, to hold up two glasses, my right hand, and this, with like one of which he called Satara facility, I can cast away ! ' Tod, (Sivaji), the other Delhi (Aurang- whom I have followed almost tex- zib). Then, dashing one to the tually. JAIPUR. 31 successor, Bishen Singh, were men of little mark. The CHAP. third in order, Jai Singh II. better known as Sowae Jai ._ IL _^ Singh, deserves more notice. This prince came to the throne in 1699, eight years prior to the demise of Aurangzib. He served with distinction in the Dekhan, but on the emperor's death he sided with Prince Bedar Bukt, son of Prince Azim, who had at once declared him- self emperor. With these he fought the battle of Dhol- piir (June 1707) which ended in their death and the eleva- tion of Bahadur Shah. For his opposition Jaipur was sequestrated and an imperial governor sent to take pos- session ; but Jai Singh entered his estates, sword in hand, drove out the imperial garrisons, and formed a league with the Eana of "Cdaipur and the Eajd of Jodhpiir for their mutual defence against Mahomedan aggression. 1 Jai Singh II. was, perhaps, the most cultivated sove- reign that ever reigned in India. He was fond of art, of mathematics, and of science. In astronomical knowledge he was not inferior to the best of his European contem- poraries. He drew up a set of tables from which astrono- mical computations are yet made and almanacs con- structed ; he caused Euclid's Elements, the best treatises on plain and spherical trigonometry, and Napier's Loga- rithms, to be translated into Sanscrit. He built a new city for his capital, the marble city of Jaipur, the only one in India erected on a regular plan. He built observatories, with instruments of his own in- vention, at Delhi, Jaipur, Banaras, and Mathura, upon a scale of Asiatic grandeur, and their results were so cor- rect as to astonish the most learned. But besides the construction of a capital arid objects of science of which I have enumerated only a part Jai 1 By one of the clauses of this of such alliances, the issue of the agreement, the Rajas of Jaipur and Udaipur princess should succeed to Jodhpiir, with the view to recover the throne in preference to elder the privilege of marrying with the sons by other wives. It was an un- Udaipur family, forfeited by their fortunate arrangement, and brought matrimonial connection with the great disasters both on Jaipur and Moguls, agreed that, on the occasion tJdaipur. 32 THE NATIVE STATES OF INDIA. Singh erected, at his own expense, caravanserais or public inns, for the free use of travellers in many of the provinces. He carried on these works in the midst of per- petual wars and court intrigues. And although he did not entirely escape the debasing influence of the latter, he not only steered his country through its dangers, but raised it above the principalities around it. He sustained the Mogul empire as long as the representative of the Mogul rights would exert himself to support them, but when he found himself unable to inspire the wretched Farokhsir even ' with the energy of despair,' he gave up the task and devoted himself with renewed energy to his favourite pursuits, astronomy and history. On the accession of Mahomed Shah in December 1720, Jai Singh was called from his philosophical studies and appointed the emperor's lieutenant for the provinces of Agra and Malwa in suc- cession, and it was during this interval of comparative repose that he erected those monuments which irradiate this dark epoch of the history of India. 1 He procured at this time also the repeal of the jezia or polltax on infidels, imposed by the bigotry of Aurangzib, and he repressed the incursions of the Jats. Ke-appointed in 1732 lieutenant for the Mogul in Malwa, he saw that it was vain, in the disorganised state of the empire, to attempt to repel the aggressions of the Marhiitas. With the full consent, then, of Mahomed Shah, he formed an intimacy with the famous Baji Eao, and induced the emperor in 1734 to transfer to his keeping the province of Malwa. The influence he thus obtained was usefully employed in checking the excesses of the Marhatas, and in delaying their advance on the capital. During the invasion of Nadir Shah he wisely held aloof from participating in a contest in which there was no hope of success. Jai Singh II. died in 1743, after a prosperous reign of forty- 1 From his observations of seven tables these were completed in years at the various observatories he 1728. constructed a set of astronomical JAIPUR. 33 four years. They had been years of prosperity for Jaipur CHAP. in the midst of the general declension of the other states . IL _. and kingdoms of Hindostan. He had added to it the districts of Deoti and Eajiir, and he had governed it wisely and well. He is said to have been vain, and fond of strong drink. Yet he will ever be remembered as one of the most remarkable men of his age and nation. ' Science,' says Colonel Tod, ' expired with him.' His eldest son, Isuri Singh, succeeded him. Yet, according to the convention made with tJdaipiir, the right of succession lay with his younger brother, Madhii Singh, son of a princess of Mewar. And Madhii Singh not only pre- ferred his claims, but at a great cost 1 obtained the aid of Holkar to support them. He succeeded, and probably would have proved a successful ruler but for the troubles brought on him by the rising power of the Jats. The long quarrels with that people were brought to an issue by a battle, which, though the Jats were defeated in it, proved destructive to Jaipur in the loss of all her chieftains of note. Madhii Singh himself died four days later. Had he lived, it is thought that he might have prevented the decline of the State of Jaipur. He inherited no small share of his father's learning, and cultivated the society of men of science. He built several cities, of which that called after him, Madhupur, near the celebrated fortress of Einthunbor, the most secure of the commercial cities of Eajwarra, is the most remarkable. Pirthi Singh II., a minor, succeeded, under the guardianship of the mother of his younger brother Pertap. She was an ambitious and unscrupulous woman, under the evil influence of her paramour, a low-born elephant-driver. After nine years of her dissolute sway, Pirthi Singh II. died from a fall from his horse, not how- ever without suspicion of having been poisoned. Before he died he had married two wives, from one -of whom was 1 The districts of Rauipiira Bhau- 840,000/., were assigned to Holkar as pura and Tonk Rampura, with payment for his support. D 34 THE NATIVE STATES OF INDIA. PART begotten a son, Maun Singh. The youth, however, was . L . spirited away by his mother's relatives, and taken, first to his maternal roof, subsequently to Gwaliar, there to grow up under the protection of Sindhia. The half-brother, Pertap Singh, son of the dissolute Eani, succeeded Pirthi Singh II. He ruled the country twenty-five years. During his minority Jaipur was a prey to constant feuds, in the course of which, while she had the good fortune to be rid by poison of the Eani and her elephant-driver, she suffered greatly from Marhata depredations and Marhata insolence. On attaining his majority Eaja Pertap was determined to rid himself of those locusts. He formed accordingly that league with Eaja Bije Singh, of Jodli- piir, which commenced so happily with the defeat of the Marhatas at Tonga (1787). But this triumph was short-lived. The defeats sustained at Patun and Mairta (1791), and the disruption of the alliance with Jodhpur brought back the enemy. Holkar imposed a heavy annual tribute on the State, which he afterwards transferred to Amir Khan. From that period to the year 1803 the country was alternately desolated by Sindhia's armies and hordes of other robbers, who frequently contested with each other the possession of the spoils. Pertap Singh was a gallant prince and not deficient in judgment ; but neither his gallantry nor his prudence could contend successfully against so many obstacles. He died in 1803. His son and successor, Eaja Juggut Singh, ruled for nearly sixteen years with the disgraceful distinction of being the most dissolute prince of his race or of his age. His life did not disclose one redeeming virtue amidst a cluster of effeminate vices, including even cowardice. He was a debauchee, a spendthrift, and a libertine, without a spark of honour or virtue in his composition. It was the lust excited in him by the fame of Kishna Komari, the beautiful daughter of the Eana of IJdaipur, which provoked that contest which, with the aid of the faithless JAIPUR. 35 marauder, Amir Khan, brought ruin to Rajputana. 1 To CHAF. dwell upon the life of such a man would be to record >_ n '_* actions from which an honourable mind recoils. He died unpitied, unlamented, even by his creatures, Decem- ber 21, 1818. Yet during his reign an event occurred which was to connect Jaipur with the British. In 1803 a treaty was signed uniting that country in a subsidiary alliance with the alien nation. The Raja, however, fulfilled his obli- gations very imperfectly, and Lord Cornwallis, who had resolved to abandon the system of subsidiary alliance, declared the connection with Jaipur to be dissolved, and withdrew that State from the protection of the British Government. This policy was pursued by Sir George Barlow, notwithstanding the remonstrances of Lord Lake, made both on the grounds of general policy and good faith. 2 The expediency of the dissolution of this alliance was considered to be very questionable by the Home Government, who in 1813 directed that Jaipur should again be taken under protection whenever an opportunity might offer. But owing to the outbreak of the war with Nepfil it was considered better to postpone any such measure until it could be adopted as part of the general scheme for the suppression of the Pindaris. In 1817, when negotiations were opened, it was found that the cancelment of the previous treaty had rendered the Jaipur State reluctant to enter into a fresh alliance. In time, however, the increasing necessities of the State, the example of its neighbours, and the apprehension of being excluded from British protection, the continued exactions of Amir Khan's troops, and the arrangements in progress for forming separate engagements with the small states dependent on Jaipur, led at length to her accepting a treaty. By this (April 2, 1818) the protection of 'the British Government was extended to Jaipur ; the Maha- 1 Vide Appendix C. 2 Aitchison's Treaties. D 2 3l) THE NATIVE STATES OF INDIA. PART raja agreed to furnish troops on the requisition of the ._ L . British Government, and to pay an annual tribute of eight lakhs of rupees until the revenue should exceed forty lakhs, after which five-sixteenths were to be paid in addition to the eight lakhs. The fresh duty urged on the Maharaja after the conclusion of the treaty was the resumption of the lands usurped by the no- bles, and the reduction of the nobles to their proper relation of subordination to the Maharaja. Through the mediation of Sir David Ochterlony agreements were entered into similar to those formed at Udaipur. The usurped land* were restored to the Maharaja, and the nobles were guaranteed in their legitimate rights and possessions. 1 Eaja Juggut Singh left no issue, legitimate or illegiti- mate, and no provision had been made for a successor during his life. But as it was necessary to inaugurate a successor ' to light the funeral pile,' it became incumbent to nominate some one. The choice fell upon a distant relative, Mohun Singh, son of the ex-prince of Narwar, the fourteenth in descent from Pirthi Baj I., Eaja of Jaipur. But as the election was void, in consequence of its having been made without the due forms and in favour of one not nearest in order of succession, it is probable that a civil war would have ensued but for the timely discovery that one of the widowed queens of Juggut Singh was enceinte. At three o'clock on April 1, a council of sixteen queens, widows of the late prince, and the wives of all the great vassals of the State, assembled to ascertain the fact of pregnancy, whilst all the great barons awaited in the ante-charnbers of the zenana the important response of the council of matrons. When it was declared that the Bhattiani queen was pregnant beyond a doubt, they consulted until seven, and then they sent in a declaration, 1 Aitchison's Treaties, from which the account in the text is almost lite- rail v takt-n. JAIPUR. 37 acknowledging their unanimous belief of the fact ; adding CHAP. that, ' should a son be born, they would acknowledge ^_. IL _. him as their lord, and to none else pledge allegiance.' 1 On April 25, 1819, four months and four days after Juggut Singh's death, a son was ushered into the world with the usual demonstrations of joy, and received as autocrat of the Kutchwas ; whilst the youthful interloper was removed from the throne, and thrust back into his native obscurity. 2 The young child was named Jai Singh. The Govern- ment was assumed in his name by his mother. But during the minority of the young prince, Jaipur was a scene of corruption and misgovernment, and the British Government found it necessary to appoint an officer to reside at the capital, and to authorise him to interfere in the internal administration of the State, with a view of guarding the interests of the British Government, and securing the payment of the tribute. 3 In 1834-35 the British Government having found it necessary to march a force into Shaikhawati for the purpose of settling that province, took possession of the Jaipur share of the Sambhur salt lake as a security for the repayment of the expenses of the campaign. Whilst these, and arrangements connected with Shaikhawati were being matured, Eaja Jai Singh died at Jaipur under cir- cumstances which could not fail to raise the strongest suspicions that his premature demise had been compassed by the minister, Sanghi Jotharam, and Eiipa Budarun, a female attendant in the palace. Jotharam had been the paramour of the late Eani, and under her influence had acquired great power in the State, supplanting in the office of minister the nominee of the British Govern- ment. The agent to the Governor-General proceeded therefore to Jaipur to make inquiries, reform the ad- ministration, and assume the guardianship of the infant left by the Eaja. The strong measures he adopted led 1 Tod. 2 Ibid. 3 Aitchison. 38 THE NATIVE STATES OF INDIA. PAKT to the formation of a conspiracy by Jotharam. The , f; , life of the agent, Colonel Alves, was attempted, and his assistant, Mr. Blake, was murdered. The murderers were seized and executed by order of the minister, and Jotharam and his fellow conspirators were imprisoned for life in the fort of Chanar. 1 The young Eaja, Earn Singh, was placed under the guardianship of the British political agent. Under his superintendence, a council of regency, consisting of five of the principal nobles, was formed, and to their decision all measures of im- portance were submitted. The army was reduced, every branch of the" administration was reformed, and sati, slavery, and infanticide were prohibited. The tribute was found to be far in excess of a due proportion of the revenue ; a remission was therefore made in 1842 of forty-six lakhs of rupees, and the annual amount was reduced to four lakhs. 2 Maharaja Earn Singh did good service during the mutinies. For this he received a grant of the district of Kote-kassim, under a promise to respect the revenue set- tlements made whilst the district had been under British management. He also received the privilege of adoption. 3 Earn Singh -is an intelligent prince, and devotes his best energies to the development of the resources of his country. With this object he has opened out roads, constructed railways, and given a great impulse to edu- cation. During the scarcity of 1868 he abolished transit duties on the importation of grain into his domains ; and in the affairs of government generally he has shown an intelligent appreciation of the requirements of the age. Maharaja Earn Singh is extremely fond of the society of cultivated Englishmen and women. He has twice been a member of the Legislative Council of the Viceroy of India. The Mahdraja is entitled to a salute of seventeen guns. 1 Aitchison. a Aitcliison's Treaties. 3 Ibid. 39 CHAPTEE III. JODHPUR OR MARWAR. ABEA 35,672 sq. miles. POPULATION 1,783,600. REVENUE about 17,50,000 rupees. THE great kingdom of Kanouj, one of the four great CHAP. Hindu sovereignties which existed in Hindostan for - -^ centuries previous to the invasions of Mahnrud of Ghizni, came to an untimely end in the year 1193. Her last monarch, Jaichund, the representative of the race of the Eahtors, proceeding, according to the Hindu legend, 4 from the spine of Indra,' succumbed in that year to the invasion of Shab-ii-din, King of Ghor, and was drowned in the Ganges whilst attempting to escape. With his- death Kanouj ceased to be a Hindu city, and the name of Eahtor ceased to be heard on the banks of the ' sacred stream.' Eighteen years subsequently to this event, two grand- sons of Eaja Jaichund, by name Seoji and Saitrani, aban- doned the land of their birth, and, followed by two hun- dred retainers, and journeying westward towards the great desert, arrived at Kolumund, twenty miles from the pre- sent site of Bikanir, not then in existence. The two brothers offered their services to the chief of the tribe of which Kolumund was the place of abode, then at war with a neighbouring clan. The offer was accepted, and it was mainly due to the efforts of the two Eahtors that victory inclined to Kolumund. In the fight, however, Saitram was slain. The chief, to repay the debt he owed to the surviving brother, gave to Seoji his sister in marriage with an ample dower. Seoji then prosecuted his journey, and, after many adventures, alternately valiantly fighting and treacherously murdering, he planted his 40 THE NATIVE STATES OF INDIA. standard in ' the land of Kher ' amidst the sand-hills of the river Luni. Seoji left three sons, the eldest of whom, Asot'hama, succeeded him. He established his second brother at Idar, on the frontiers of Gujrat, and the youngest at Okamundala, He died, leaving eight sons, all of whom became heads of tribes, of which four still survive. He was succeeded at Kherdhur by his son Diihur. Diihur connected his reign with the past and the future. He endeavoured to recover Kanouj and to conquer Mundiir, destined to be the capital of his race. He failed in both attempts. It will suffice to give the names of his successors, always the eldest sons in order of birth, till I come to the real conqueror of Mundiir. They were Eaepal, Kanhul, Jalhun, Chado, Thido, Silko and Birundeo, all men of renown in local warfare, under whom the family posses- sions were increased. Birundeo was succeeded by his son Chonda, who conquered Mundur, the ancient capital of Marii or Marwar, and made of it the chief city of the Eaht6rs. He conquered likewise Nagore and the pro- vince of Godwar, and finally made firm his fortunes by marrying a daughter of the family he had expelled from Mundur. He was blessed with fourteen sons, the descen- dants of four of whom still exist. Chonda was killed at Fagore in the year 1402. He was succeeded by his son Eao Einmul. Eao Einmul, during the lifetime of Edna Lakha of Mewar, assisted that prince in his wars, and behaved as the first of his vassals. Upon the death of Eana Lakha, however, he interfered in the affairs of Marwar in a manner which brought death to himself, and threatened his dominions with ruin. In a note to the sketch of Udaipur (page 13) I have given the reason why Chonda, the eldest son of Eana Lakha, was content to resign his rights of succession to the JODHPUK OE MABWAE. 41 throne of that kingdom in favour of Mokalji, the youngest CHAP. son of his father by Hansa, 1 daughter of Eao Einmul. -_ IJ ^ On the death of Eana Lakha, Chonda acted as guar- dian to his infant brother. But his administration was thwarted and interfered with by Eao Einmul, whose relatives fastened like locusts on the pleasant pasturages of Mewar. Indeed Einmul seems to have cherished the idea of transferring the rule over the country to the Eahtor family. As a prelude to the carrying out of this idea a brother of Chonda's was assassinated, and the life of the young Eana was threatened. But, at this crisis, Chonda sud- denly swept down upon the Eahtors, killed Eao Einmul, and scattered his followers. The eldest son of Eao Einmul, Joda, succeeded in escaping, but so utterly demoralised that he was forced to leave even Mundiir to its fate. All seemed lost to the Eahtors. But Joda was a man of vigour and capacity. Carefully concealing his movements, he enlisted partisans, surprised two of the sons of Chonda at Mundiir, slew one there ; the other, in his flight, on the boundary of the Godwar province. Then, wisely deeming the renunciation of a portion of his territory to be the most efficacious means of saving the remainder, he sued for peace, offering to restrict the boundary of his dominions to a line passing the spot on which the younger son of Chonda had fallen, ' as the . price of blood and to quench the feud.' That is, he offered to cede the province of Godwar. The cession was ac- cepted, and peace was made. Joda, I have said, was a man of vigour and capacity. He had already displayed the first quality; it now devolved upon him to show what he possessed of the second. Instead of wasting his reign in fruitless wars, he devoted himself to the settlement of his country. He reinstated in their 1 Hansa is variously stated to lie under Mewar as the daughter, under daughter and sister of Rao Rinmul. Marwar as the sister. Even Colonel Tod writes of her 42 THE NATIVE STATES OF INDIA. PART hereditary estates the ancient proprietors of the soil. , L , Then, not satisfied with the ancient capital, he laid in 1459 the foundations of a new city, which he named after himself, Jodpiir or Jodhpur, and which, in its turn, has given its name to the entire territory. He died in 1489 at the age of sixty-one. He had had fourteen sons, of whom the eldest surviving, second in order of birth, Siirajmul, succeeded him. Of this prince the only record is that he reigned twenty-seven years, and had at least the merit of adding to the stock of Seoji. He had five sons, the eldest sur- viving of whom, Ganga, succeeded him. He died almost immediately, leaving a son of the same name, who established himself notwithstanding the armed opposition of his uncle Saga. In his reign, too, the Kahtors had first to encounter in their own land Mahomedan inva- sion. Serving under the command of Sangn, Earui of Mewar, they gained some successes, but had finally to succumb to the prowess of the Emperor Baber at the fatal field of Biana. 1 Ganga died in 1532, and was succeeded by his son, Maldeo. This prince gained a great and lasting renown as a warrior and statesman. He regained Ajmir and Nagore, and made numerous conquests in the countries bordering on his dominions. Not content with this, he enclosed the city of Jodhpur with a strong wall, built many forts and fortresses, and caused fortifications to be erected in the more salient parts of the country. In- vaded by Shir Shah, he raised an army of 50,000 men, and reduced that monarch to great extremities. Shir Shah indeed was able to extricate himself solely by the device of instilling suspicion of some of his adherents into the mind of Maldeo. This caused the prince to counter- mand an assault which could scarcely have failed. The suspected leaders then vindicated their fidelity by an attack with their own followers on the camp of Shir Shah. 1 Vide Udaipur, p. 16. JODUPUR OR MARWAR. 43 Though they nearly penetrated to the quarters of the CHAF. emperor, they were overwhelmed by numbers and almost , _ IIL _. annihilated. Maldeo had then no resource but to submit. An incident, slight in itself, served subsequently to increase the misfortunes of Maldeo. He had refused an asylum to the Emperor Humayun, when Humayun was a fugitive. Yet he lived to see the son of Humayun sitting on the throne of Delhi. Nay more, he lived to see that son, the great Akbar, enter, as an enemy, at the head of an army, the country from which he had repelled his father as a fugitive. It was in 1561 that Akbar invaded Mar war. He captured Malakot and Nagore, and transferred them to another Hindu family. Eight years later Maldeo saw himself compelled to sue for peace. He refused indeed to sue in person, but sent his son, the second in rank, Chundersen, to act for him. But Akbar was so incensed at this slight, as he conceived it, that he consigned Jodh- piir itself to the same Hindu prince, Eae Singh, upon whom he had conferred Malakot and Nagore. Then ensued war to the knife. The old Eahtor chief had to stand a siege in his own capital, and finally on succumb- ing, to pay in the person of his recognised heir, Udai Singh, the homage he had refused before. The brother, Chundersen, held out for seventeen years, remaining all the time irreconcileable alike with his family and the Mahomedan invader. He was finally killed in battle. The old Eaja, Maldeo, broken in spirit, died about 1573. 1 He left twelve sons, 2 of whom the third, tJdai Singh, succeeded him. Under this prince, the independence of Marwar ceased to exist, tidal Singh acknowledged the suzerainty of the 1 Tod says in one place 1615 A.D. Maldeo was then alive, but he did in two others, 1569 A.D. Both are not survive the last event more than manifestly incorrect. Akbar re- one or two years. seated the non-appearance of Maldeo 2 Of the two elder, the eldest had ;:t liis durbar in 1570, and assigned been banished, the second killed at his dominions to Rae Singh in 1572. Biana. 44 THE NATIVE STATES OF IXDIA. PART Mogul. He was the first prince, moreover, of Eajpiit , _^ race who gave his sanction to a matrimonial union be- tween the race of the Eahtors and the Mahomedan conqueror. He allowed his sister, Jod Bai, to marry the Emperor Akbar, not giving indeed, but receiving a dower, in the shape of all the districts wrested from Marwar by the bridegroom, Ajmir excepted, and likewise several rich districts in Malwa, whose revenues doubled the resources of his own domains. With the aid of his brother-in-law, tldai Singh diminished the power of his nobles, and curtailed the overgrown estates of the land- owners for the benefit of the smaller peasantry. In the new settlement which he made he added fourteen hundred new villages to the fisc. In return for the aid thus given to him by Akbar, he supplied him plentifully with troops, of a quality inferior to none others in his army, for his expeditions. tJdai Singh survived his father, Maldeo, thirty-three years. He left thirty-four legitimate children ; of these the eldest, Siir Singh, succeeded him. Siir Singh was a great warrior. He was serving with the emperor's army at Lahore, where he had commanded since 1591-2, when intelligence reached him of his father's death. Much esteemed by Akbar for his military talents and brilliant services, he was commanded by that prince to attack, on his return to his dominions, Sirohi, a town in Eajpiitana, and capital of the hilly districts by which it was surrounded, the chief of which refused to acknowledge the emperor as his liege lord. Having completed this service he carried his arms against the King of Gujrat, completely defeated him at the battle of Dhundoca, and brought about the submission of the country. On the death of Akbar, Siir Singh attended at the court of his successor, Jehdngir, accompanied by his son and heir, Guj Singh, who was invested by the monarch on that occasion with a sword, to mark the distinguished valour he had displayed at the escalade of Jhalur. JODHPUR OR MARWAR. 45 This Eajii added greatly to the beauty of his capital, CHAP. and left several works, some of them of no small utility , ~^1_, which bear his name. He greatly lamented the neces- sity under which he found himself to accompany the Mogul emperor in all his expeditions, and shortly before his death caused a column to be erected on which were engraven words cursing any of his race who should ever in the future even once cross the JNTarbada. Eaja Siir died in 1620, leaving six sons and seven daughters. His eldest son, Guj Singh, succeeded him. He was in the imperial camp at Biirhanpiir, on the river Tapti, when he heard that he had been called to the throne. He, too, grew high in favour at the imperial court, received many favours from Jeharigir, and was nominated his viceroy of the Dekhan. Like his father, too, he was a great warrior, and for his skill and daring obtained the title of ' Bariier of the Host.' He embroiled himself, however, with Prince Khiirm, afterwards Emperor Shah Jehan, for refusing to espouse his cause against his elder brother Khusrii, 1 and when, in consequence, his confiden- tial adviser was murdered by order of Prince Khiirm, he threw up his post in the army and returned to his native land. When, shortly afterwards, Prince Khusru died suddenly, find Khiirm seemed to threaten his father's throne, Jehangir appealed to the Eajput chiefs to support him against filial ingratitude and domestic treason. The appeal was nobly responded to by Eaja Guj and by the Eajas of Jaipur, Kota, and Bundi; and by their efforts the rebellion was put down. When, prior to the decisive battle near Banaras, the Emperor met his Eajput allies, he showed so much pleasure at the zeal displayed by Eaja Guj, that lie not only took him by the hand, but, what was more unusual, kissed it. Eajci Guj was killed in an engagement with some free- 1 Tod says Prince Purvez ; but Khiisrii that cleared his way to the Shah Jehan never feared Purvez. It throne, was the murder of his eldest brother 46 THE NATIVE STATES OF INDIA. PART booters in Gujrat in 1638. He had excluded his eldest _^ t son Amra from the succession in consequence of his violent disposition and turbulent conduct. The throne, there- fore, descended to the second son, the renowned Jeswant Singh. The subsequent career of Prince Amra is one of the most striking and sensational stories in the history of Hindostan. It will be found at the end of this volume. 1 The prince who now ascended the throne has left a name in the annals of Hindostan which will never die. More than once the destinies of India lay in his hands. The fate of Dara and the fortunes of Aurangzib were alike at his disposal. He was not a great man in the true sense of that term, for he acted from interest, not from principle ; was ready to change his side and to employ treachery. It is true that all his treacheries were directed against the Mahomedan enemies of his race and country, his one object being, by exciting divisions amongst them, to rid the country of the hated invaders. He was a scholar, a patron of the arts, a great general, utterly fearless, an active politician, and taken altogether, regard being had to the prevailing morale of the period, a man of whom the Eajpiit race has reason to be proud. His reign embraces forty-three years of the history of Hindostan. I regret that the scope of this work will only allow me to give an outline of it. He ascended the throne in 1638, and from that time to 1658, a period of twenty years, was engaged mainly in the Dekhan under Prince Aurangzib. In this and various other services he greatly distinguished himself. In 1638, the emperor became seriously ill. His eldest son, Dara Sheko, as- sumed the office of Eegent. One of his first acts was to nominate Eaja Jeswant Singh his viceroy in Malwa. When, shortly afterwards, the ambitious designs of Aurangzib began to develop themselves, Jeswant Singh was appointed generalissimo to oppose that prince. In the battle that followed, at a place fifteen miles south 1 Vide Appendix B, JODHPUR OR MARWAR. 47 of Ujjen, since named Futtehabad, Jeswant Singh was CHAP. defeated. He owed his defeat to his too great daring. ^..54^ - He wished to crush the two brothers, Aurangzib and Morad, at one blow, and delayed till their junction had been effected. This gave time to the wily Aurangzib to corrupt the Mahomedans in his army, and their deser- tion on the field of battle brought about a defeat. Both armies remained, however, where they had fought, and Jeswant Singh was allowed to retreat unmolested the next morning. The result of the battle, however, and of another equally successful, fought against Dara, was that Aurangzib drove his brother from the regency, and assumed it himself. One of his first acts after his usurpation was to send a pardon to Jeswant Singh and a summons to his pre- sence to join him in opposing his brother Shuja. Jeswant Singh obeyed the summons. But he did so only to be revenged. When the armies of the rival brothers were about to join battle at Kujwa, midway between Allahabad and Etawah, Jeswant Singh, in pursuance of an agree- ment made with Shuja, suddenly attacked the rear of Aurangzib's army. Had Shuja then attacked, the fate of Aurangzib had been sealed. But he delayed till the sun had risen. Jeswant Singh, then, finding himself unsupported, loaded his camels with the plunder of the camp and set off for Agra, leaving the two brothers to fight it out. In the battle which ensued between them Shuja was defeated. Meanwhile, Jeswant Singh lay in close vicinity to Agra, expecting Prince Dara Sheko, whose claims he was resolved to support. That prince had fled, after his defeat by Aurangzib, to the banks of the Indus. But levying some troops, he entered Gujrat, raised an army there, and set out to effect a junction with Jeswant Singh at Agra. He delayed, however, unhappily, so long that the latter could no longer maintain his position, but was forced to retire upon Jodhpiir. He reached his capital in safety, deposited there his spoils, and then had an in- 43 THE NATIVE STATES OF INDIA. PART terview with Dara at Mairta. The moment for efiec- ._ T ; _. tive movement had, however, been lost. Aurangzib, hav- ing crushed Shiija, was advancing in great force. Still this prince had seen so much of Bajpiit valour in the Dekhan, that he did not feel very confident of the issue of a contest. He sent, with this view, a message to Jes- want Singh, not only assuring him of forgiveness, but offering him the viceroyalty of Gujrat, if he would with- draw from the contest and remain neutral. Jeswant Singh agreed, and accepted a commission to serve under Prince Moazzim against the rising power of Sivaji. Dara, thus deserted, was compelled to succumb to Aurangzib, but Jeswant Singh had no idea of keeping faith with his Mogul lord. Hardly had he reached the Dekhan than he opened a correspondence with Sivaji and planned the death of the imperial general, Shaista Khan, and the proclamation of the young prince as emperor. Information of the transaction reached Au- rangzib, but he concealed his knowledge of it till lie had disposed of all his rivals ; he then replaced Jeswant Singh by Jai Singh, Raja of Jaipur. From that time, neither party trusting the other, it seemed as though he would succeed who showed himself the greater master in wile. Sent again with supreme powers to the Dekhan, Jeswant Singh again so incited the ambition of Prince Moazzim as to necessitate his removal from so dangerous a p6st. He received an order to proceed at once to take up the post of viceroy of Gujrat, but on arriving at Ahniedabad he found it had been a trick to draw him from the Dekhan. He proceeded then to his own dominions. But even there, Aurangzib did not consider himself as secure from the machinations of so powerful a vassal. He had tried secret means to rid himself of him, but these had all failed. He resolved, therefore, to send him to a distance. A rebellion had opportunely broken out in Kabul ; he accordingly sent Jeswant Singh to quell it. JODIIPUR OR MAR WAR. 49 Jeswant set out, leaving his son, Pirtlii Singh, in charge CHAP. of his ancestral domains. . II . 1 '^- But hardly had he reached Kabul than Aurangzib commenced his measures for the destruction of his family. He invited Pirthi Singh to court, treated him with marked affability, and as a sign of his favour, gave him a robe of honour. But the robe was poisoned. Pirthi Singh put it on in the royal presence, and expired a few hours later in great agony. When the news of his son's death reached Jeswant Singh he broke down utterly. He saw that his great enemy had gone beyond him in revenge, and felt his heart pierced by a poisoned sword. Two other sons, Juggut Singh and Dulthumun, fell victims about the same time to the climate of Kabul. Their deaths caused the overflowing of his cup ; he died of a broken heart (1678). At the time of his death his wife was in the seventh month of her pregnancy. In due time she was confined of a boy, who was called Ajit Singh. As soon as she was able to travel she set out on her return home. But the vengeance of Aurangzib had not been satiated. As soon as the party reached Delhi, he demanded from the escort the person of the young prince. It was impos- sible to oppose force to such an order ; but the address of the leader of the party, Diirga Das, supplied its place. Having obtained leave to send off the women of the party to their homes, he first retained one of the attendants to personate the Rani, substituted a child for the young prince, and then sent off the mother and son with the women. But no long time elapsed before the suspicions of Aurangzib were aroused, and he demanded that the Rani and her child should be brought into the citadel. The Rajputs played their parts to perfection by refusing to surrender the widow and son of their Raja. This for some time blinded the suspicions of Aurangzib, but at length they were renewed, and he again insisted, and the escort still refusing, sent troops to enforce his de- E 50 THE NATIVE STATES OP INDIA. PART mands. The Eajpiits, after a desperate resistance, were 1 4 cut to pieces and dispersed. Then, for the first time, did the emperor discover the trick that been played upon him. But it was too late. The Eani and her child had had time to reach Jodhpiir. 1 Aurangzib, however, with his usual acuteness, feigned to disbelieve the story of the escape, and for many years treated the child he had captured as the undoubted heir of Jodhpiir. The faithful Diirga Das reached Jodhpiir soon after these events, and took the lead in preparing the country for the impending invasion of Aurangzib. Of the war which followed, it is not necessary to give a detailed account. It will suffice to say that for a long time the Mogul arms were irresistible. The country was laid waste, the villages burned, the women and children carried off. This was one result. There was another, even of greater importance. The tie which had till then bound the Eajpiits to the Moguls was severed, never to be renewed. At length the craft of Aurangzib was turned against himself. Diirga Das gained over his son Akbar, who proclaimed himself emperor. He was indeed foiled, but the contest continued with increasing advantage to the Eajpiits. They began, in their turn, a war of reprisals, and with greater or less mitigation, hostilities continued till the death of Aurangzib in 1707. Before this event occurred, Ajit Singh had obtained his majority, and had begun to rule, though not as yet in Jodhpiir. But after Aurangzib's death he recovered his capital, and though he lost it once again,' it was again re- 1 Colonel Tod gives a different in a basket of sweetmeats. Such is version of the escape of the boy. He the Hindu legend, but it is neither states that, rather than surrender so probable nor so well authenticated their prince, the Kajpiits caused the as the account given by Elphinstone, women to be blown up by gun- which I have mainly followed. He powder ; that they then went to credits the Hani, however, with meet death at the hands of the having two sons; but I think it clear Moslems in the streets of Delhi, there was but one. whilst the boy was conveyed away JODHPUR OR MAR WAR. 51 covered, and the kingdom re-established in almost its CHAP. TTT former state of prosperity. It was this prince who entered ^_i,_l^ into the triple alliance with Band Amra of Udaipiir and the Baja of Jaipur, to resist Mahomedan aggression and to undertake no matrimonial engagements with princes of that religion. Ajit Singh was a prince of great vigour of mind and body. Born amid the snows of Kabul, exposed from his earliest youth to the frowns of fortune, he set himself to work to redeem his country from bondage to the invader. This was the one aim the one object, of his life. He inherited an invincible hatred to the very name of Mos- lem, and was never scrupulous as to the means he employed against the members of that hated race. He succeeded. Never could the imperial forces overcome him. He gave deliverance to his country. His death was most tragical. Unable to rid them- selves in any other way of one so much dreaded, the court of Delhi bribed his son, Abhi Singh, then on the spot, by the offer of the viceroyalty of Gujrat, to have his father murdered. Abhi accepted the bribe, and carried out the project by means of his brother, Bukht Singh. Abhi Singh succeeded to the throne of Jodhpiir in 1731, but his whole reign was passed in a contest with his fellow-assassin and brother, Bukht Singh. He was indolent, cruel, and fond of ease and opium. He repaid the gift of the viceroyalty of Gujrat by aiding in its partition, and annexing to Marwar the rich provinces of Birimahl, Sambiir, and others. Colonel Tod truly adds : ' This additional reward of parricide has been the cause of all the civil wars of Marwar.' Abhi Singh died in 1750, and was succeeded by his son, Earn Singh, a youth of nineteen, of an impetuous and overbearing disposition. An insult offered to him at his installation by his uncle, Bukht Singh, the murderer of his grand- father, so enraged the young Eaja that he deprived his uncle of his fief of Jhalur, and moved with an army to E 2 52 THE NATIVE STATES OF INDIA. PART enforce his order. But he was defeated and driven from ; - the throne, which his uncle at once occupied. Eaja Bukht Singh was a man of noble presence, of herculean frame, generous, intrepid, well versed in the literature of his country, and but for his one great crime, would have ranked with the heroes of Marwar. He raised the morale of his country, and inspired his coun- trymen with a determination to resist foreign aggression. He reigned only three years, but in that time he com- pleted the fortifications of Jodhpiir, and developed in many ways the resources of the country. He was poisoned by his relative, the aunt of the expelled Earn Singh. Bijey Singh, his son, succeeded him ; but hardly had he received the homage of his people than he was called upon to meet his cousin, Earn Singh, who was advancing with an army to assert his claims, assisted by the Marhatas. In the battle which ensued, Bijey Singh was defeated, and sought refuge in flight. But the most unfortunate result of the battle for Marwar was that the Marhatas now took root in the land. The murder of their chief, Jyapa, gave them a pretext to change their role of auxiliaries to that of principals, and they speedily availed themselves of it, expelling Earn Singh. This prince died in exile at Jaipur, in 1773. He was succeeded as titular sovereign by his former rival, Bijey Singh, but the Marhatas had for a time real possession of the land. The reign of Bijey was full of vicissitudes and warfare, internal and external. He first planned the diminution of the power of the nobles, already encroaching upon his own. But he was forced, in the course of the contest which ensued, to yield more of his already diminished authority. Seemingly acquiescent, he planned revenge, and inviting the principal chiefs of Marwar to the funeral of his family chaplain, or guru, he had them assassinated. This great blow was decisive. Although the son of one chieftain rose in revolt, lie was speedily subdued ; and Bijey Singh, to divert the JODHPUR OR MARWAR. 53 attention of the others from the past, led them all against CHAP. the robbers of the desert. They conquered Amerkot, ^_i^i_ the key to the valley of the Indus from Sinde ; curtailed the territories of Jaisalmir, on their north-west frontier ; then sweeping back, recovered the rich province of God- war from Me war. Eeturning from these conquests, Bijey Singh allied himself with Pertap Singh, king of Jaipur, for the expulsion of the Marhatas. The two armies met at Tonga, in 1787, and engaged in a battle in which the Marhatas, though aided by the infantry under the Chevalier de Boigne, were defeated. By this victory the Kaja recovered Ajmir. But De Boigne wiped out this defeat on June 20, 1791, at Patan, and on September 12 following at Mairta, in both of which actions the Kajpiits were completely vanquished. By them Ajmir was lost for ever to Marwar, and a contribution was imposed on the country of sixty lakhs of rupees. Bijey Singh did not long survive these losses. His last years saw him the slave of a beautiful concubine, whose insolence estranged the nobles, and procured her own assassination ; not, however, before she had per- suaded the Kaja to adopt one of his grandsons as her son and his successor. Bijey Singh died in 1793. He had had seven sons, six of whom survived him. Their names, in order of birth, were Zalim Singh, Sawant Singh, Shir Singh, Bhim Singh, Goman Singh, and Sirdar Singh. Of these, Zalim Singh was the rightful heir ; but Bijey Singh, to please his concubine, had adopted Maun Singh, his grandson, the son of Shir Singh. But on his death, the fourth sou, Bhim Singh, seized the throne, defeated Zalim Singh, then by poison or the sword killed his four remaining brothers and their sons, the adopted son of the concubine, his own nephew, Maun Singh, alone excepted. This young prince had taken refuge in Jhaliir. Thither Bhim Singh pursued him, and despairing of taking the place by assault, subjected it to a rigorous blockade. But whilst 54 THE NATIVE STATES OF INDIA. PART the blockade continued, be managed to disgust his nobles ._ L , to such an extent that they withdrew from him, and retired to their estates. Nevertheless the blockade was persisted in. It was made more and more rigorous ; the besieged were reduced to something approaching starva- tion, when suddenly, November 1803, Bhim Singh died. The besieged prince naturally succeeded him. Proclaimed at once Kaja, Maun Singh would appear to have retained the follies of heedless youth untempered by the adversities which should have strengthened his character. Just about the time of his accession, the English had triumphed over Sindhia, and were follow- ing Holkar in his headlong flight. With a view to effect a permanent settlement in Rajputana, they offered to Maun Singh the alliance which would have secured to him his territories. He concluded the treaty, but did not ratify it, proposing another. With a fatuity quite incompre- hensible, he at the same time gave aid to the one enemy who could injure him, viz. Jeswant Rao Holkar. The British Government therefore cancelled the treaty, and left Marwar to its own resources. It was this folly on the part of Maun Singh that caused his country to fall, a few years later, a prey to the depredations of Amir Khan. Meanwhile the widow of Bhim Singh had given birth to a posthumous son, Dhokul Singh, to whose cause several of the nobles rallied. Under the charge of the chief of Pokurwa, he was presented to several chiefs as their lord, and then, to preserve him from any attempt on his life, he was sent to the desert, to be cared for by the chiefs of Shaikhawati. The reign of Maun Singh was one of continued warfare brought about by his own folly. He engaged in a disastrous war with Jaipur for the hand of the daughter of the Eana of Udaipur. For the details of this tragical story I must refer the reader to the appendix to this JODIIPUR OR. MARWAR. 55 volume. 1 In the war which followed he was alternately CHAP. opposed and supported by the adventurer, Amir Khan, .- 11 . 1 ' ... whose freebooters devastated the lands of Jaipur, of Mewar, and Marwar, committing atrocities not to be counted. The appearance on the field, too, of the lad Dhokul Singh, as a pretender to the crown, supported by a large party of nobles, added to the troubles and per- plexities of the Eaja. To escape these, he at last feigned madness, and abdicated in favour of his son, Chutter Singh. It was whilst this young prince was holding the reins of sovereignty that the British Government offered, and Amir Khan accepted, the terms which freed Eajpiitana from the depredations of that marauder. This was followed by a treaty between the British Government and Jodhpur (January 1818), by which the British protection was extended to that country, and certain conditions were made assuring the suzerainty to the British. But just at this crisis Chutter Singh died. Within a short interval after his son's death, Eaja Maun Singh threw off his feigned insanity and re-assumed the Government. Secure now against external enemies, liis native character disclosed itself, and he gave loose to all his smothered passions. He put to death or im- prisoned almost all the chiefs who, during his feigned insanity, had shown any unfriendly feeling towards him. He confiscated property to the value of one million sterling. The name of justice became unknown treachery and cold-blooded cruelty were the inspiring deities at Jodhpur. At length a crisis arrived. Many of the nobles, ' the flower of their country,' found asylums in the neighbour- ing states of Kota, Mewar, Bikanir, and Jaipur. Thence they addressed remonstrances to the British authorities. The British authorities induced the Eaja to listen to terms of accommodation, and he promised to reinstate 1 Vide Appendix C. 56 THE NATIVE STATES OF INDIA. PART the self-exiled chiefs in their possessions (February 1824). ._ ]' ^ But he did not alter his line of conduct. Consequently, in 1827, the recusant nobles levied their adherents, and calling on the posthumous son of the late Baja, Dhokul Singh, to lead them, prepared to invade Jodhpur from the Jaipur territory. Upon this, Eaja Maun Singh urged upon the British Government that the time had arrived when he was entitled to the aid of British troops to support him on the throne; that the attack by which he was threatened was not an internal insurrection but a foreign invasion emanating from, and supported by, Jaipur. The answer of the British Government was clear and decided. ' If,' they said, ' insurrection should be so general as to indicate the desire of chiefs and subjects for the downfall of the prince, there does not exist any reason for our forcing on the state of Jodhpur a sovereign whose conduct has totally deprived him of the support and allegiance of his people against unjust usurpation, or against wanton but too powerful rebellion. The princes of protected states may fairly perhaps call upon us for assistance, but not against universal dis- affection and insurrection, caused by their own injustice, incapacity, and misrule. Princes are expected to have the power of controlling their own subjects, and if they drive them into rebellion they must take the con- sequences.' At the same time that the British Government laid down the sound and salutary principles enunciated in this despatch, it administered a sharp remonstrance to the Maharaja of Jaipur, and called upon Dhokul Singh to retire from the confederacy. But the evil day was only adjourned. It is notice- able in the history of sovereigns, European and Asiatic, that those whose youth and middle age have been fiery, tempestuous, passionate, treacherous, and cruel, almost invariably succumb, in the third division of their exist- ence, to the influence of priests. Maun Singh was no JODHFUR OR MAR WAR. 57 exception to this rule. But the priestly influence which CHAP. swayed him made him neither less cruel nor less tyrannical ^ i __. than before. On the contrary, his evil passions became intensified to such an extent that the British Government was forced to interfere. At the close of the rainy^ season of 1839, a force under Colonel Sutherland was marched to Jodhpiir, to restore tranquillity and, if possible, good government to the country. Jodhpiir was occupied five months. Maun Singh then executed an engagement by which he bound himself to respect the ancient usages of the country in determining the rights of the nobles. He agreed that a British political agent should reside at his court to assist the Raja, the council of nobles, and the ministers in carrying on the government. Two of his evil advisers were dismissed, sequestrated lands were restored upon terms agreed to by the parties interested ; an arrange- ment was concluded for the payment of arrears due on account of tribute and legion expenses, and for the punctual payment of such claims for the future ; an amnesty for the past was granted by the Eaja to his nobles who had been in rebellion ; and the British Government consented to extend a pardon to those who had been instrumental in subverting the true interests of Mar war. Eaja Maun Singh died in less than four years after this event, leaving no son, natural or adopted. Dhokul Singh, the posthumous son of Eaja Bhim Singh, then preferred his claims ; but they were rejected. The nearest representative families were those of Idar and Ahmednagar, and it was left to the widows, nobles, and chief officials to select the future ruler. Their choice fell upon Tukht Singh, chief of Ahmednagar, whom, with his son, Jeswant Singh, they invited to Jodhpiir. Some nego- tiation ensued regarding the retention of Ahmednagar by the family of Tukht Singh, but it was decided that the right of succession lapsed by the acceptance of power in 58 THE NATIVE STATES OF INDIA. TAET Jodhpur, and that Ahmednagar should revert to Iclar, ; - from which state it had been separated in 1784. Maharaja Tukht Singh ascended the throne of Jodhpur in 1843. He traces a lineal descent back to Eaja Ajit Singh, of whom he is the great-grandson. But the hopes that had been entertained regarding his capacity for ruling were destined to be blighted. Soon after his accession the country fell into a state of dis- order, little inferior to that which had prevailed under his predecessor. The Eaja showed himself avaricious, careless of affairs, and difficult of access. The manage- ment of the country fell then into the hands of subordi- nates, whose only desire it seemed to be to minister to the ruling passion of their master. To such an extent did misgovernment proceed, that in 1867 the nobles would have organised an insurrection but for their fear of the paramount power. An act of cupidity perpetrated in that year intensified their feeling of dissatisfaction. The case was this. The thakur, or feudal lord, of Ghanerao died, leaving a brother, his rightful heir. Instead, however, of allowing the fief to devolve upon the brother in natural course, the Eaja de- spatched a force to seize it for one of his numerous sons. This emboldened the thakurs to represent their well- founded grievances to the British Government. They showed how they had been tyrannised over and op- pressed, excluded from the royal council, and prohibited from leaving their property to adopted sons. Specific acts of gross misgovernment were dwelt upon, and espe- cially the confiscation of Ghanerao. In reply, the Maharaja was ' called to order,' and it was hoped that the remonstrance of the British Govern- ment might not be without its effect ; but the insolent behaviour of His Highness during the durbars in Eajpu- tiina in 1869-70 would seem to indicate that, like his immediate predecessor, Maun Singh, he is incorrigible. 1 1 When the late Viceroy, the 1871, he held a durbar at Ajmir, to Earl of Mayo, visited llajpiitana in which the Kami of Udaipiir and the JODHPUR OR MARWAR. 50 The State of Jodhpiir did good service during the CHAP. mutinies, and the right of adoption was duly bestowed ,- 11 , 1 ' - upon the Maharaja. CHAPTER IV. BUNDf. AREA -2, 291 sq. miles. . POPULATION 220,000. REVENUE 5,00,000 rupees. THE city of Biindi, which, like all the cities in.Eaj- CHAP. piitana, has given its name to the principality, was >_ : - founded, in the year 1342, by Bao Deva. Eao Deva, in the Hindu legend, is said to have been lineally descended from Anhul or Agnipala, the first Chohan, 1 the date of whose birth loses itself in the mists of time. His later predecessors had felt the Moslem's sword, and had fled from Aser to Mewar. Sallying thence, Eao Deva, in 1342, occupied the Bandii valley, built the city of Bundi, exterminated, or almost exterminated, the indigenous Edja of Jodhpur were invited. It After the durbar \vns over it was had been officially decided some time determined that so great a want previously, in strict accordance with of respect to the Viceroy of Her custom, that on all state occasions Majesty must be noticed. The Raja when they might meet, the Edna of then was directed to leave the camp Udaipiir should take precedence of at Ajmir at daybreak the following the Eaja of Jodhpur. But when morning with the whole of his reti- this decision was communicated to nue. The friendly ceremony usual Jodhpiir he refused to attend the on such occasions was omitted, no durbar. It was explained to him salute was fired, and ultimately, after that the question had long previously due consideration, it was decided been settled and could not be re- that his salute should be diminished opened or discussed. But he re- by two guns. Lord Mayo showed mained obstinate. In vain did the his sense of the loyal feeling of the political agent, in vain did his own Eaja's son by receiving him in pri- son remonstrate with him. He re- vate audience after the durbar, fused to sit below Udaipiir. After 1 The Chohan was the last crea- waiting for him about an hour the tion of the Brahmans to fight their Viceroy held the durbar with Jodh- battles against infidelity, and their pur's seat vacant. only successful creation. (U) THE NATIVE STATES OF INDIA. PART Minds, and called the country Harawati (Harouti), or the s_^-*X_^ country of the Haras. 1 From Eao Deva to Eao Surjun, a period of nearly two hundred years intervenes. Throughout this period the Haras had, whilst possessing independence, been quasi- vassals of the Eanas of Udaipiir, that is, their services had been indented upon in times of emergencies, and they had been given as much on account of the relationship engendered by marriages between the two houses as from any feeling of dependence. But with the accession of Eao Surjun in 1533 a new era began. Eao Surjun had obtained, by means of Sawant Singh, a junior branch of his family, possession of the famous fortress of Einthunbor. This fortress was greatly coveted by the Emperor Akbar. His arms had been victorious in Eajpiitana, Chitor had fallen, but he had ineffectually besieged Einthunbor. According to the Hindu story he then effected by stratagem and courtesy that which he had failed to procure by force of arms. Raja Maun, of Jaipur, had a right of ingress to Einthunbor. He pro- ceeded there, accompanied by Akbar in the disguise of a mace bearer. The Emperor was recognised ; due homage was paid to him, and he then made known his wishes. He offered, if Einthunbor were yielded to him, to excuse the chiefs of Bundi from affiancing a princess to the Mogul sovereign ; to exempt them from the poll- tax, from crossing the Indus, and from customs they con- sidered degrading. He promised to grant them the privilege of entering the hall of audience completely armed ; to respect their sacred edifices ; never to place them under the command of another Hindu leader ; riot to brand their horses with the imperial mark (a flower on the forehead) ; to allow their bands to play in the 1 So called from Ishtpal, ances- and sprinkling Lis dissevered limbs tor of Eao D<va, who lived in 1025. with the water of life, cured him. Ishtpal lay wounded to death, when Hence the name Hara, from liar, the goddess of his race appeared, signifying bone?, thus collected. BUNDI. 61 streets of the capital, as far as the Bed gate ; and that CHAP Biindi should be to the Eaja what the capital of the ^ Moguls was to Akbar. He promised also, a residence and right of sanctuary to the Eao, in the sacred city of Banaras. Above all these, the Emperor offered Siirjun Hara the government of fifty-two districts, whose revenues were to be appropriated without inquiry, on furnishing the cus- tomary contingent. The offer was accepted ; a treaty \vas drawn up on the spot ; Eao Surjun renounced the suzerainty of Udaipiir, and was greeted as Eao Eaja of Blind!. His kins- man, Sawant Singh, who was less pliant, sacrificed his life rather than allow the ownership of the fortress to pass to Akbar, and sacrificed it in vain, Siirjun Singh did good service to his Mogul lord, and, as a reward, had two districts, Banaras and Chunar, added to his government. At the former of these he resided, and his administration greatly benefited not only that city, but the provinces over which he ruled. He established perfect security to life and property in these. He beautified and ornamented the city of Banaras, and constructed eighty -four edifices for various public purposes, and twenty baths. There he died, and was succeeded by his eldest son, Eao Bhoj. This Eao and his second brother accompanied Akbar in his Gujrat campaign, and rendered splendid service, Eao Bhoj, on one occasion, killing with his own hand the leader of the enemy. He remained in the imperial camp till the death of Akbar in 160 5, when he returned to his hereditary dominions. He died shortly afterwards at Bundi, leaving three sons, Eao Euttun, Ilurda Nurayun, and Kesii Das, the eldest of whom succeeded. Faithful to the example of his father, Eao Euttun, with his two sons, Madhii Singh and Heri, joined the im- perial army at Burhanpur, at the time when Shah Jehan was threatening rebellion against his father. In the 62 THE NATIVE STATES OF INDIA. PART operations which followed, and which terminated in the -- ; ' discomfiture and flight of Shah Jehan, the two sons of Eao Euttun were severely wounded. To testify his sense of their and their father's services, and to show his acknowledgment of their fidelity, the emperor bestowed upon Eao Euttun the government of Burhanpur. The reward bestowed upon the second son, Madhii Singh, though possibly equally well intended, dealt in reality a severe blow to the country of the race of Hara. For the emperor bestowed upon Madhu Singh, to be held by him and his heirs direct of the crown, the city of Kota and its dependencies. Now Kota was a city of Harawati, and its dependencies were lands of Harawati. The act of the emperor thus divided Harawati into two parts, under separate rulers, who, though originally allied to each other by the bond of brotherhood, were to diverge more and more widely with the march of time. 1 Eao Euttun was a man of a fine and noble character. He was universally respected. In his time no Moslem dared pollute the quarters where Hindus were stationed with the blood of the sacred kine ; he established tranquillity throughout his government ; founded the township of Euttunpur, and, by an act of vigour and neighbourly conduct, conciliated the esteem of the ancient suzerain of his house, the Eami of Udaipur. He was succeeded by his grandson, Oh utter Sal. This Eao was nominated by the Emperor Shah Jehan governor of the imperial capital, a post which he held nearly throughout his reign. He served also under Aurangzib in the Dekhan, and led the escalade in the storming of Kalberga. When at the time of the illness of Shah Jehan, his four sons each struck for empire, Chutter Sal, though serving in the camp of Aurangzib, was faithful to the summons of his master, and baffling the 1 Colonel Tod is of opinion that this brave race, and well knew that in this division the emperor acted by dividing" he could always rule designedly, ' as he dreaded the union both, the one by the other.' of so much power in the hands of BUXDI. 63 preventive measures taken by Aurangzib, succeeded in CHAP. leaving his camp and reporting himself to the emperor. *-~~^ - Subsequently, the Bao of Biindi, with his Haras clad in their saffron robes, the ensigns of death or victory, formed the vanguard of the army of Dara Sheko at the battle of Dholpiir. Here, fighting valiantly, he was slain, struck in the forehead by a ball. His son, Bharut Singh, nobly continued the contest, but he and the choicest of his clan were slain. This battle, which gave the empire to Au- rangzib, was fought in June 1658. The sins of Chutter Sal were visited by the conqueror on his son and suc- cessor, Bao Bhao. Aurangzib gave a commission to Baja Atmaram, Prince of Sheopur, to reduce ' that turbulent and disaffected race, the Haras,' arid to annex Bundi to the government of Binthunbor. Atmaram attempted the task, and was successful in his first raids ; but the Hara clans assembling, attacked, defeated, and drove him out, arid not content with that, went on to blockade Sheopur. The courage thus displayed by the Haras caused Aurangzib to extend his forgiveness to the Eao Bhao. He summoned him to court, and made him governor of Aurangabad. Here he erected many public edifices, and acquired much fame by his valour, his charity, and his piety. He died in 1682, and having no children, was succeeded by Anurad Eao, grandson of his brother Bhim. The accession of Anurad was confirmed by the emperor, who, in order to testify the esteem in which he held his predecessor, sent his own elephant with the robe of investiture. Anurad accompanied Aurangzib in his wars in the Dekhan, and on one occa- sion performed the important service of rescuing the ladies of the harem from the hands of the enemy. The emperor, in testimony of his gallantry, told him to name his reward. His reply was worthy of a Eajpiit chief. He requested he might be allowed to command the van, instead of the rearguard, of the army. He distinguished himself at the siege and storm of Bijapiir, and subse- 64 THE NATIVE STATES OF INDIA. quently in the Punjab, when engaged in settling the northern countries of the empire. He died whilst engaged in that service. Biidh Singh, his son, succeeded him. In the contest for empire which followed the death of Aurangzib, this prince adhered to the cause of the legitimate heir, Bahadur Shah ; and it was in a great measure owing to his exertions that the terrible battle of Jajao (June 1707) gave victory to that monarch. For the signal services rendered on that day, Biidh Singh received the title of Eao Eaja, was admitted to the intimate friendship of the emperor, and continued to enjoy it till his death. In the civil contentions which followed the death of Ma- homed Shah, the prince of Hara, faithful to the tra- ditions of his family, supported the royal house against the faction of the Seiads, often by demonstrations of force accompanied by loss of life. On the triumph of the Seiads, the Eao Eaja returned to Biindi. He returned, however, only to meet a new enemy in his brother-in-law, Jai Singh, Eaja of Jaipur. This prince, in revenge for a private insult, and to gain for himself the suzerainty over the smaller states of Eajputuna, conferred the title of Eao Eaja of Bundi upon Dulil Singh, Lord of Kurwar, and placed him in possession. His attempt to entrap Biidh Singh failed, owing to the courage of that prince and his Haras. Budh Singh escaped to Beygii, whence he made many attempts, but all fruitless, to recover his patrimony. The Kota Hara, Eaja Bhim, took advantage of his distress to seize upon and annex to Kota the fiscal lands of Bundi east of the river Chambal. Budh Singh died in exile at Beygii. His sons were driven by Eaja Jai Singh even from that place of refuge. But on the death of that prince, in 1744, the eldest son, Omeda, then only thirteen years old, levied troops and attacked and carried some important posts in Bundi, He was aided by the new Eaja of Kota, Diirjim Sal, who, in his turn, had been threatened by the Eaja of Jaipur, 65 successor of Jai Singh. It would take too long to recount CHAP. all the details of the struggle that followed. It must - *~ suffice to state that after fourteen years of exile Biindi was regained by Omeda, and he was recognised as its Eao (1749). Omeda lived a chequered life fifty-one years longer, for he survived till 1804. Still harassed by the tribute due to Jaipur, his energies cramped and contracted by the exactions of the insatiable Marhatas, and his spirit haunted by the memory of a treacherous though well- deserved vengeance on a vassal who had betrayed him, he abdicated in 1771, and became a wandering pil- grim. In this guise, and under the name of Sri-ji, he visited every place of holy resort, of curiosity, or of learning, in Hindostan. He was greeted everywhere as a saint, regarded as an oracle, whilst the knowledge which his observation had accumulated caused his conversation to be courted and every word to be recorded. Whilst on his travels, Omeda was recalled to Biindi by the death of his son, to superintend the education of his grandson. He was received with honour ; and the suspicions with which interested sycophants had filled the mind of his grandson were dispelled. He carefully looked after the young Eao's education for eight years, and died, as I have said, in 1804. Before he died he had an opportunity to prove that the feeling of fidelity to the paramount power which had ever marked this branch of the Haras still burned brightly within his breast. On April 17, 1804, Lord Lake, com- manding the British forces in India, had despatched a detachment under Colonel Monson to observe the move- ments of Jeswant Eao Holkar. Monson advanced as far as Giiri, whence, deeming further progress impossible, he retreated (July 8, 1804). The v events of that retreat are historical. The course of the humiliating flight of our army led it through the territories of Biindi. Omeda cared not for the fact that it was a beaten force, followed 66 THE NATIVE STATES OF INDIA. PART by a revengeful enemy, which was passing through. In r ' his mind it was the army of the paramount power, and he aided it to the utmost of his country's means, and with an absolute disregard of the almost certain consequences. The young grandson, Bishen Singh, succeeded him. He was an honest man, possessed of an excellent heart, and an energetic soul. He cared not for unessential enjoyments, but loved the chase. He would bivouac for days in the lion's lair and would not quit the scene until he had slain the king of the forest, the only prey he deemed worthy of his skill. He had killed with his own hand upwards of a hundred lions, and tigers and boars innumerable. He, too, was true to the paramount power. It happened that the territory of Bundi is so situated as to have been of great importance in 1817 in cutting off the flight of the Pindaris. In this work he co-operated heartily with the British Government, and rendered signal service. As a reward for these efforts, many districts, seized by Holkar half a century before, were restored without qualification, and others taken by Sindhia under conditions. Still, however, the districts seized unjustly by Kota remained attached to that branch of the family. By the treaty of 1818 Bundi was taken under the protection of the British Government. Bishen Singh died on May 14, 1821, and was succeeded by his eldest son, Earn Singh, then eleven years old. He had scarcely reigned nine years before an event occurred, which, but for the supervising power of the British Government, would have caused hostilities be- tween his country and Jodhpur. The Eao had married a daughter of the latter State. Eeport appears to have spoken censoriously of his treatment of his wife, for, in May ]830, a deputation, accompanied by three hundred men, arrived outside the city with the alleged object of securing some modification of the treatment experienced BtJKDl. G7 by the Princess of Jodhpur. On the third day after its CHAP. arrival, the minister of Biindi, Kishen Earn, a man of - ^ - great talents and unblemished character, 1 was murdered by one of the Jodhpur party. The young Kao Eaja was determined not to permit such an offence to pass unpunished. Batteries were opened for three days against the place in which the Jodhpur party had fortified them- selves, and the water of the besieged was cut off. The two leaders of the party and the supposed instigators of the assassination were apprehended in an attempt to escape, and were publicly executed by the Kao Eaja's orders. Persons of inferior note gradually surrendered themselves, and were sent beyond the Biindi frontier. On the sixth day, Batut Singh, a Jodhpur nobleman, who had sworn to kill the Biindi minister, was himself killed. Taking his death, and the death of the two leaders before referred to, into consideration, the Biindi Government considered the assassination of the minister to be suffi- ciently avenged. War with Jodhpur would probably have followed, but the British Government, by its agent on the spot, put in its veto, and pacified matters. During the mutiny of 1857, it would appear that the Maha Kao, Earn Singh, deviated from the traditions of his family, and showed himself indifferent to his allegiance to the paramount power. On this account, friendly in- tercourse was broken off with him and was not resumed till 1860. He received, however, a sunnud, conferring upon him the right of adoption. The Maha Kao is entitled to a salute of seventeen guns. 1 During the administration of treasury ; had increased it from three Kishen Ram, extending over six to five lakhs; had accumulated a years and a half, the entire debt of surplus of two lakhs j had placed all Bundi had been paid off. He had the establishments on an efficient maintained a regular system of footing, and paid the army with finance j had caused the revenue, to regularity. He was succeeded by the last rupee, to be paid into the his son. if 2 ()8 THE NATIVE STATES OF INDIA. CHAPTEE V. KOTA. ABBA 5,000 sq. miles. POPULATION 433,000. EEVENTTE 2,500,000 rupees. PART WE have seen in the preceding chapter that Kota was L ^ an offshoot from Biindi; that in the year 1625, Kota and its dependencies were bestowed by the Emperor Jehangir upon Madhii Singh, second son of Eao Euttun, for his services in the campaign which forced Prince Shah Jehan to flee, almost unattended, from Burhanpiir. The dependencies alluded to consisted of three hundred and sixty townships, yielding an annual revenue of two lakhs of rupees. Madhii Eao, who assumed the rank and title of Eaja, ruled for several years. He added several outlying dis- tricts to his country, until it touched Malwa on the one side, and Biindi on the other. He was succeeded by his eldest son, Mokund Singh. Eaja Mokund Singh came to the throne in the year 1657. The illness of Shah Jehan that year brought about the struggle for empire amongst his sons to which I have alluded in the previous chapter. Mokund Singh, true to the traditions of his family, fought for the legitimate monarch and the son nominated to be his heir. At the battle of Ujjen, 1658, he and his four brothers led their vassals, clad in their saffron-coloured garments, with the bridal coronet, de- noting death or victory, on their heads. The rashness of Jeswant Singh denied them the latter, but a glorious death it was almost impossible to prevent, and all five fell on the field. It happened, however, that the youngest, Kishor Singh, was afterwards dragged from amongst the slain, and though pierced with wounds, recovered. He lived to ascend the throne, and to be one of the most KOTA. conspicuous commanders for the Mogul in the south of CHAP India. ' : Juggut Singh, son of Mokund Singh, succeeded to the dignity of Eaja. He reigned twelve years, passed prin- cipally with the imperial armies in the Dekhan. His cousin, Paini Singh, followed. But he was so invincibly stupid, that the council of chiefs put him, aside after a trial of six months, and sent him ' back to his family fief. He was replaced by Kishor Singh, the same who had so miraculously escaped at Ujjen. He dis- played great military talents in the service of the Mogul. At the siege of Bijapiir, he specially distin- guished himself. He was slain at the escalade of Arcot. His second son, Earn Singh, followed the eldest son having been disinherited for refusing to accompany his father to the Dekhan. In the contest for empire which succeeded the death of Aurangzib, Earn Singh sided with Prince Azim, and was slain at the battle of Jajao (June 1707). Bhim Singh succeeded him. He espoused the cause of the Seiads in their struggles with their masters, the representatives of .the Mogul, and was rewarded by these with high dignities. He seconded, also, the efforts of Jai Singh, of Jaipur, to expel the elder branch of his family from the throne and country of Biindi. He annexed f several districts, and expelling the Bhils from their fast- nesses, took possession of their lands. He was slain in an attempt to intercept and capture the famous Chin Kilich Khan, better known as Azof Jah, Nizain-ul-Mulk, Subadar of the Dekhan. He did not die, however, be- fore he had despoiled Biindi of the regal insignia of the Haras. Eaja Bhim was the first prince of Kota who had the dignity of 'Leader of Five Thousand' conferred upon him. He was likewise the first of his dynasty who bore the title of Maha Eao, or Great Prince a , title conferred by the head of all the Eajput tribes, the Eana of tJdaipur, and confirmed by the paramount 70 THE NATIVE STATES OF INDIA. PART power. He was succeeded by his eldest son, Arjun >.. *' -> Singh. This prince died without issue after a reign of four years. Then ensued a civil war for the succession, in the course of which Kota lost three important dis- tricts, Eampiira, Bhanpiira, and Kalapet. The civil war was terminated by the death of one of the claimants, Siam Singh, the brother next in succession to his prede- cessor. The third brother, Durjun Sal, had then no rival, and occupied the royal seat (1724). His accession was acknowledged by the Emperor Mahomed Shah, at whose court Durjun Sal received the robe of investiture, and obtained the right to prevent the slaughter of kine in every part of the territories frequented by his nation. Durjun Sal was a successful ruler. He conciliated the leader of the Marhatas, the famous Baji Eao, and was presented by him, as an acknowledgment of services rendered, with the castle of Nahrgurh. And though his father had done something more than look on with com- placency whilst the Eaja of Jaipur was engaged in driving the elder branch of the family from- their ances- tral possessions, Durjun Sal not only aided the heir of that house, but finding Kota threatened with the fate of Biindi, he defended his capital with so much vigour and skill that the aggressors were completely foiled. He could not^ however, prevent his State from acknowledging the supremacy of the Marhatas, nor from paying tribute to Holkar. Durjun Sal died without issue. He was succeeded by Ajit Singh, a lineal descendant of the Bishen Singh, who had been disinherited by his father, Eaja Earn Singh, for refusing to accompany him to the wars. He reigned only two years and a half, and was succeeded by his son, Chutter Sal. The prime minister of this prince was the talented Zalim Singh, then quite a young man. Chutter Sal was destined to have to witness, and fortunately to repel, another attack of Jaipur on his principality. This KOTA. 7 1 took place in 1761. The legions of Jaipur came on in CHAP overwhelming numbers, surprised the party left to guard - ._ .X the ford of the Chambal, and swept on triumphantly till they reached Butwarro. Here they found 5,000 Haras drawn up to receive them. Despising so small a number, they dashed upon them as upon an assured prey. But the Haras received them firmly. Not once, but twice, and thrice, the attack was repulsed. A fourth time came on the warriors of Jaipur, and the battle was engaged in with redoubled fury. Whilst it was still doubtful, the cleverness of Zalim Singh decided in favour of Kota. It happened that Mulhar Eao Holkar, retreating from the disastrous field of Panipat, was in close vicinity to the contending armies. He had refused to side with either, though pressed by both. But, at the crisis of the conflict, an idea struck Zalim Singh, which he instantly carried out. He rode to Mulhar Eao, and said: ' The Jaipiireans have left their camp unguarded; you can plunder it!.' No second hint was needed. The news conveyed to the Jaipur host confounded it. They fled in dismay, and the claims of Jaipur were never renewed. Chutter Sal survived this elevation but a few years. He was succeeded by his brother, Gornan Singh. This prince is described as having been at the time in the prime of manhood, full of vigour and intellect, and well calculated to contend with the storms gathering to burst on the devoted lands of Eajpiitana. But fortune smiled not on him. 'It happened that his minister, Zalim Singh, crossed him in love, and, it would seem, successfully. The Eaja did not possess sufficient generosity to forgive a success which was perhaps the highest testimony to his minister's merit, but dismissed Zalim from the office of minister. Zalim left Kota at once, and proceeded straight to the court of Eana Arsi of tJdaipur. He found that monarch under the tutelage of one of his vassals, the chieftain of Delwarra. His reputed talents gained him a warm reception, and the Eana soon confided to 72 THE NATIVE STATES OF INDIA. him the misery of his condition. By a daring plan, which cost the Delwarra prince his life, the Band was released from his bondage. But a rebellion followed, and in the battle which ensued, Zalim Singh was taken pri- soner. He fell into the hands of Trimbuck Bao, father of the celebrated Ambaji Inglia, and formed with him a friendship. Eeleased from this bondage he returned to Kota. The Baja refused to receive him. Whereupon, choosing a favourable moment, he thrust himself into his presence, and was not only pardoned, but employed. Probably the secret of his success lay in the fact that the Marhdtas were swarming into Kota, and the Eaja saw not how to expel them. Probably, too, he recollected Butwarro. Again, but in a different manner, did he succeed. The Marhatas were kept out, but only by the payment to them of six lakhs of rupees. Scarcely had they retired when the Eaja, Goman Singh, died. Before his death, however, he nominated Zalim Singh guardian to his infant son, Umed Singh. Timed Singh was proclaimed as Maha Eao, but thence- forth Zalim Singh was the real chief of the state. He was a wonderful man fond of power, unscrupulous as to the means he used, it must be admitted ; but, on the other hand, he had a keen and vivid intellect, a distinct perception of the ends to strive for ; a daring, a breadth of resources, a power of subduing difficulties, never sur- passed. Under his administration, extending over forty- five years, the Kota territory was respected by all parties Mahomedan, Marhata, and Eajpiit. Whilst the other portions of that region were devastated and despoiled, Kota reached the height of its prosperity, benefiting by the misfortunes of her neighbours. One of these was Biindi, from whom Zalim Singh snatched the rich districts of Indurgurh, Bulwan, and Anterdeh, retained ever since by the despoiler. The success of Zalim Singh was owing, in a great measure, to his personal character, to the justice and good faith fur KOTA. 73 which he was celebrated. His word was regarded as good as the oath of other men, and, during the twelve years which elapsed between 1805 and 1817, few trans- actions occurred and few negotiations were contracted, without the intervention of Zalim Singh. This, too, it must be remembered, at a period when the British Government had withdrawn from all interference in the affairs of Bajputana. When, in 1817, the British Government undertook to put down the Pindaris, Zalim Singh was the first of the Eajpiit chiefs to co-operate with them. By his means a treaty was concluded between the Eaja of Kota and the British Government in December 1817, by which Kota was taken under the protection of the paramount power. The tribute formerly paid to the Marhatas was to be paid to the British Government ; and the Maha Eao was to furnish troops according to his means when required. A supplementary article was added, vesting the administration in Zalim Singh and his descendants. Other clauses were inserted favourable to Zalim Singh, but it must be recorded, to his honour, that whilst the British Government was prepared to make a separate grant to himself personally of four districts ceded by Holkar, Zalim Singh insisted that they should be annexed to the Kota State. The Maha Eao, Umed Singh, who had been all his life a nonentity, died in 1820. His son, Kishor Singh, succeeded him. It became apparent, soon after his accession, that the anomalous system by which one person was recognised as the titular chief, and another was guaranteed as the actual ruler, would not be allowed to remain undisturbed. Nor was it. In December 1820, Maha Eao Kishor Singh left Kota, called to his assistance his chiefs and vassals, and appealed to the neighbouring princes to assist him to expel Zalim Singh. Having assembled about 6,000 men, the Eao advanced from Jaipur into the Kota territory, not- withstanding that he was aware that a body of British 74 , THE NATIVE STATES OF INDIA. PART troops, called out for the purpose, barred his entrance ^--^ * thereto. A contest ensued (September 30, 1821) at Mangrul, in which the Maha Bao's force was defeated, his brother was killed, and his adherents were put to flight. The Maha Bao himself fled to Nathdwara, in Jodhpiir, but, after negotiating satisfactorily, returned on Decem- ber 31 to occupy his pageant throne. He was guaranteed an annual allowance of 164,000 rupees for himself and his establishment ; he was declared supreme within his own palaces, and had 300 men, of whom 100 were cavalry, placed at his disposal. On the other hand he recognised the perpetual administration of Zalim Singh and his heirs. Zalim Singh, who had long previously attained the title of Baj Band, died on June 15, 1824, and was succeeded by his son, Madhii Singh. The unfitness of this man for the office was notorious, but the terms of the treaty were imperative, and his succession was undis- puted. In 1828 Maha Eao Kishor Singh died, and was succeeded by his son, Earn Singh. Shortly after the Maha Eao's accession, Madhii Singh died, and his place and title devolved upon his son, Muddun Singh. The relations between this minister and the Maha Eao were never cordial, and in 1834 they reached such a pitch of hostility that it became necessary to make a rearrange- ment of the offices. It was finally resolved, in 1838, with the consent of the Maha Eao, to rescind the supplementary article of the treaty of 1818, which secured to the descendants of Zalim Singh the office of sole administrator of affairs, and to create a new and independent principality for them by dissevering certain districts from the main body of Kota. This was accord- ingly done. Seventeen districts, yielding a revenue of twelve lakhs of rupees, and denominated the principality of Jhala war, were made over to Muddun Singh. This arrangement formed the basis of a new treaty KOTA. 7 with Kota. The Maha Bao's tribute was reduced by CHAP. eighty thousand rupees, to be paid by Jhalawar, and he - , agreed to maintain an auxiliary force at a cost of not more than three lakhs of rupees. It was with much re- luctance that the Maha Bao agreed to the formation of this force ; and in consequence of his repeated remon- strances the payment was reduced to two lakhs in 1844, and it was agreed that if this sum should prove insuffi- cient, the difference would be paid from the Kota tribute. At the same time the Maha Bao was warned that should he fail to make his payments punctually, a territorial security would be required both for the tribute and the payments for the auxiliary force. 1 The arrangement made to sever Jhalawar from Kota worked well for both states, and caused all disagreements to cease. In 1857, the auxiliary force previously referred to rose in revolt, and murdered the political agent and his two sons. Maha Bao Bam Singh made no attempt to put down the revolt or to aid the British officer. As a mark of the displeasure of Government his salute was reduced by four guns. He was subsequently, however, guaranteed the right of adoption. The Maha Bao B.am Singh died on the evening of March 27, 1866, at the age of sixty-four. As soon as it became generally understood that the Bao's days were numbered, a rumour spread abroad that one of his widows had ex- pressed her determination to perish on the funeral pile. The political agent took measures at once to prevent the possibility of such an occurrence. He caused the apart- ments of the zenana to be locked and guarded, and directed that the news of the Maha Bao's demise should be withheld from the Banis as long as possible. They were kept in ignorance of it for four hours. Then, however, one of the Banis declared her intention of per- forming Sati, and indeed showed herself so violently 1 Aitchison's Treaties. 76 THE NATIVE STATES OF INDIA. determined that she succeeded in bursting open the door. She was prevented, however, from leaving the zenana, and next morning the burning of the corpse took place without crime or disturbance. Earn Singh was succeeded by his son, Maha Eao Chutter Singh. The Viceroy took the opportunity of his accession to restore to him the salute of seventeen guns enjoyed by his father prior to 1857. CHAPTEE VI. JHALAWAK. ABBA 2,500 sq. miles. POPULATION 220,000. REVENUE 14,50,000 rupees. IN the preceding chapter I have related how, in 1838, the bad feeling existing between the Maha Eao of Kota and the descendants of the Eaj Eana Zalim Singh was terminated by the creation of a new principality as a separate provision for those descendants. The princi- pality thus created was called Jhalawar : it consisted of nineteen districts. It was subjected to the payment of a tribute of 80,000 rupees ; and its chief was to receive the title of Maharaj Eana. The main exploits of the hero of the dynasty, Zalim Singh, have been related in the preceding chapter, but no account of his family was then given. His ancestors were petty chieftains of Hulwucl, in the district of Jhalawar, in Kathiwar. Bhao Singh, a younger son of this family, left the paternal roof with a few adherents, to seek fortune amongst the numerous conflicting armies that ranged over India during the contests for supremacy amongst the sons of Aurangzib. His son, Madhu Singh, came to Kota when Eaj a Bhim was in the zenith of his power. Although he had only twenty-five horse in his JHALAWAE. 77 train, it is a proof of the respectability of his family, CHAP. that the prince disdained not his alliance, but marriecj his r- ' son, tJrjiin, to the young adventurer's sister. Not long after, the estate of Nandta was entailed upon him, with the confidential post of Foujdar, which included not only the command of the troops, but that of the castle, the residence of the sovereign. This family connection gave an interest to his authority, and procured him the respectful title of Mamah, or maternal uncle, from the younger members of the prince's family a title which habit has continued to his successors. Muddun Singh succeeded his father in the office of Foujdar, and it then became hereditary in the family. Himmut Singh followed Muddun, and displayed great bravery and skill in many trying emergencies. He seconded the defence of Kota, when it was assailed by the combined Marhata and Jaipur troops, and conducted the treaty which made her tributary to the former with such ability, that he gained influence sufficient to restore the ancient line of succes- sion. 1 Zalim Singh was his nephew. How he gained his reputation has already been related. Muddun Singh, first Maharaj Eana of Jhalawar, was the grandson of Zalim Singh. He died in 1845, and was succeeded by his son, Pirthi Singh. This chief rendered good service during the mutinies by conveying to places of safety several Europeans who had taken refuge in his districts. 2 He has been guaranteed the right of adoption, arid receives a salute of fifteen guns. 1 Tod's Eajasthan. * Aitchison. 78 THE NATIVE STATES OF INDIA. CHAPTEE VII. TONE. ABBA 1,800 sq. miles. POPULATION 182,000. REVENUE 8,00,000 rupees. PART TONE is a town in Eajputana, on the right bank of the ' ' river Bands, 218 miles south-west of Delhi, and the capi- tal of the principality of the same name founded by the famous freebooter, Amir Khan. Born in Eohilkhand, of Afghan parents, in the second half of the eighteenth century, Amir Khan, then twenty years old, and his younger brother, accompanied by ten followers, left their native province for Malwa, and took service there in the local militia, But other prospects soon opened to him. The troubles at Bhopal, caused by the death of Chutta Khan, led to the enlistment of men by different parties. Amir Khan, with six horsemen and sixty foot- men, was engaged by the titular JSTawab, Hayat Mahomed. Here he remained about a year, then left Bhopal to take service with the Eajpiit ex-chiefs of Eagughur, who, ex- pelled from their country by Sindhia, supported them- selves and their followers by plunder. In this service he greatly distinguished himself as a daring, fearless leader. A dispute with one of the chiefs caused him, however, to renounce it, to enlist under the Marhata chief, Balaram Inglia, then engaged, with the connivance of the minister of Bhopal, Miirid Mahomed, in pacifying that country. To Amir Khan was assigned the care of the fort of Futtehgurh, and the custody of the person of the Nawab, Ghous Mahomed. But with the death of Miirid Mahomed, and the retreat of the Marhatas, his connection with Futtehgurh came to an end. He endeavoured indeed to transfer his services to the new minister, Vizir Khan, but before he had been TONE. 79 employed for six months, that discerning statesman dis- CHAP, covered his intriguing character, and dismissed him. v- ,- Just at that time, 1799, the reputation of Jeswant Eao Holkar, as the rising star of the Marhata chiefs, was at its zenith. To him, therefore, Amir Khan re- paired, was received with open arms, and treated more as an equal than as a subordinate. Thenceforth, till the return of Jeswant Eao from Hindostan, 1806, they followed the same path. Jeswant Eao was the prince and leader, but Amir Khan, subordinate only to him, was sole com- mander of his own army, arid entertained and dismissed whom he chose. Still his position was not enviable. For, often in want of money, he was constantly forced to commit outrages and depredations to appease the clamour of his troops for pay, and more than once, when unable to satisfy them, suffered considerable violence at their hands. In fact, his followers were rather depre- dators than soldiers, though undoubtedly able in the hour of need to strike a blow for the cause to which their master had pledged himself. The number of these followers gradually so increased that in the year 1806 they numbered 35,000 men, with 115 pieces of field artillery. Prior to that period Holkar had assigned to Amir Khan estates (Jaghirs) in Malwa and Eajputana, forming the nucleus of the existing principality of Tonk. These Jaghirs, however, were insufficient to support the large number of troops I have noted. His bands, therefore, ranged over every part of Eajputana, Malwa, and Bandelkhand, indenting upon those countries for their support. In 1806-7, leaving his brother-in-law, Guffur Khan, to support his interests at Indiir, Amir Khan entered the service of Juggut Singh, Eaja of Jaipur, then contending with the Eaja of Jodhpiir for the hand of the Princess of tJdaipiir. 1 In the contest that followed, Jaipur was, 1 Vide Appendix C. 80 THE NATIVE STATES OF INDIA. PART at great cost to herself, successful. The Eaja of Jodhpur r ' saw himself reduced to his last resources, when, suddenly appealing to the avarice and ambition of Amir Khan, he induced that chief to change sides. Jaipur was then cruelly ravaged. The indiscriminate pillage and slaughter brought both principalities to the very verge of ruin. The connection with them of Amir Khan was brought to a close by the sack of Nagore, and the treacherous murder of the real author of the war, Sevai Singh, pre- viously chief minister of Jodhpur. Eajputana thus devastated and brought to the verge of ruin, Amir Khan turned his arms against the Marhata family which reigned in Nagpur (1809). It is supposed that it was his intention to plant his own dynasty on the ruins of the Bhonsla. He was yet engaged in this expe- dition when he was recalled by the demonstrations of a British force against his own capital of Seronj. He was summoned almost immediately afterwards to the camp of Holkar, by the pressing messages of Guffur Khan (1810). Having, as he thought, settled affairs in that quarter, he returned to fatten his followers once more on the spoils of Eajputana and Malwa. Nor were these countries relieved from his baneful presence until the success of the British in the Pindari war enabled them to make a satisfactory and permanent settlement of those countries. When the British army advanced, in 1817, towards Malwa, the offer was made to Amir Khan, then engaged in besieging the Jaipur fort of Madhu Eajapiir, to accept the protection of the British Government under the condition that he should reduce his army to a certain specified number, and surrender his artillery at a valuation. On the other hand, he was informed that the Jaghirs originally assigned to him by Holkar would be guaran- , teed to him in sovereignty, but he was to relinquish the conquests made during his predatory career. The offer was a very liberal one. Amir Khan was more a Piudari TONE. 8 1 than the Pindaris. He had no hope that he could re- CHAP "VTT sist the strength put forth by the British, and doubtless r-^ he considered himself fortunate to be in a position to have such terms offered him. He accepted them ; but, like a true waiter upon Providence, he delayed to ratify the treaty until he received intelligence of the result of the battle of Sitabaldi, when, considering the Mar- hata game lost, he gave in, resolved to contribute to the maintenance of tranquillity and to begin a respectable life. By the treaty Amir Khan was confirmed in possession of the districts of Seronj, Pirawa, Gogul, and Mmahera. To these the British Government added, as a free gift, the fort and district of Tonk-Eampiira ; and a loan of three lakhs of rupees, afterwards converted into a gift, was made to him. The district of Palwal was also con- ferred on his son in Jaghir for life. In lieu of the revenue of this district, which it was found inconvenient to make over to the son, a monthly stipend of 12,500 rupees was assigned to him. Prom that time Amir Khan renounced his predatory habits, and employed himself in settling his country, in building palaces and houses for travellers, and in improv- ing his territory. Not content with this, he wrote an account of the events of his chequered life. As he grew older, he made another advance in re- spectability. The man who had nearly ruined Rajputana, and sucked the life-blood of Jaipur and Jodhpiir, became pious and devout ; took to clothing himself in sackcloth, to reading the Koran, and associating himself with Miillas. It is due to him to add that he devoted great pains to the education of his twelve children. In 1832, when he went to Ajmir to pay his respects to the Governor-General, Lord William Bentinck, he was ac- companied by six of his sons, five of them in chain armour. On that occasion he made a favourable impres- sion. His manners are described as most frank and G 82 THE NATIVE STATES OF INDIA. PART agreeable ; and his whole appearance was considered as - r ' forming an agreeable contrast to the ceremonious osten- tation of the hereditary princes of Eajasthan. Amir Khan died in 1834, and was succeeded by his son Vizir Mahomed Khan. This prince rendered good service during the mutinies, and received a sunnud from the Governor-General guaranteeing the succession to his family according to Mahomedan law in the event of the failure of natural heirs. He died on June 18, 1864, and was succeeded by his son, Mahomed Ali Khan. Under the rule of this prince a grave complication arose which terminated fatally to the continuation of his own rule. It happened that in July 1865, the Thakur or lord of Lawa, a Eajpiit vassal of the Nawab, com- plained of the unusual demands which had been made upon him by the administration. Far from listening to the advice of the Governor-General's agent to give these demands a careful consideration, Mahomed Ali Khan assembled his forces and assaulted Lawa. He was, however, repulsed, with serious loss of life on both sides. For the moment, however, the affair was settled by the deputation to the spot of a British officer, and the future relations between the two parties were defined to the satisfaction of both. But the Nawab, Mahomed Ali Khan, was only dissimu- lating in order the better to effect his ends. It appears that the councils of the young Thakur of Lawa, Dhirut Singh by name, had been directed, since the affair of 1865, by his uncle, Eewut Singh, a stout soldier who had pre- viously commanded a body of cavalry in the state of Alwar ; on the advice of this uncle, the young Thakur, whilst steadily maintaining his own rights, had, between the years 1865 and 1867, made constant visits to Tonk to render there his feudal service. It was known, all this time, at Tonk that though he was weak and in- experienced himself, yet he was under the tutelage of his uncle, and that so long as the uncle lived, it would be TONE. S3 difficult to gain an advantage over him. The uncle, there- CHAP. fore, was doomed. < ^-^ To carry out this murderous project, the Nawab, Mahomed Ali Khan, summoned in 1867 the Thakur to Tonk, to be presented with a dress of honour. Thither accordingly, the Thakur repaired, accompanied by his uncle and a few attendants. The reception of the uncle was most favourable. He was informed by the minister that the lands of Lawa which had been resumed by the Nawab would be restored, and his satisfaction, as he returned from the interview, was unbounded. About nine o'clock the same evening, August 1, the uncle, Eewut Singh, was again summoned by the minister to consult with him regarding the dress of honour to be given the following morning. Eewut Singh at once proceeded to the minister's house, accompanied by his son, two kamdars or managers of affairs, and four-, teen attendants. Eewut Singh, his son, and the two kamdars at once went upstairs, where they were mas- sacred. The attendants below were also set upon by a party of Tonk sepoys, and all murdered but one, who escaped by being mistaken, by the colour of his turban, for a sepoy. The house in which the young Thakur had taken up his abode was at the same time surrounded by Tonk troops. For three days the young Thakur de- fended himself, resisting the demands of hunger and thirst, for he had neither food nor water for himself and his followers. On the fourth day, three persons came to him from the JSTawab, and persuaded him, under an assurance of safety, to permit himself to be conducted to the presence of that chieftain. Arriving in his presence the Thakur in- veighed against the mode in which he had been treated, but the Nawab simply informed him in reply that the past could not be recalled, and that if the Thakur had been present with his uncle he would have been treated in the same manner. On returning to his house, the Thakur found it still guarded by Tonk sepoys. There he remained till o 2 84 THE NATIVE STATES OF INDIA. PART August 8, when the arrival of a British officer procured * r ' permission for him to return to Lawa. Whilst these events had occurred at Tonk, a force of 1,000 infantry with 40 swivel guns had appeared before Lawa, and commenced firing upon the forts. It was impossible that the suzerain power, the British Government, should allow so flagrant an outrage to pass unnoticed and unpunished. Nor did they. An inquiry was at once instituted. All the facts I have narrated were fully proved, and the Government decided that Nawab, Mahomed AH Khan, should be deposed and forced to reside outside the Tonk territories ; that the minister, his instrument in the outrage, should be con- stituted a political prisoner, and all the sepoys attached to his office should be discharged ; that the salute of the ruler of Tonk should be reduced from seventeen guns to eleven ; and that Lawa should be for ever separated from Tonk and converted into a separate chiefship under the protec- tion of the British Government. It was further decided to bestow the government of Tonk upon the son of the deposed Nawab, his great uncle, Ibadiilla Khan, conduct- ing the administration during his minority. This decision was made known to the Nawab by the Viceroy by means of a letter addressed to him ; and to the nobles, chiefs, and people of the principality of Tonk by a proclamation of the Government of India. In accordance with it, Ibrahim Ali Khan, the eldest son of the late Nawab, was placed upon the throne in January 1868. He was then twenty years of age ; very illiterate and extravagant. The state was thirteen lakhs of rupees in debt ; there was not a rupee in the treasury, and the soldiers were from four to six months in arrears. On the representation of the great uncle, Ibadiilla Khan, of his own inability to cope with the circumstances that presented themselves, a council of regency was formed, composed of four influential noblemen, presided over by a British -officer. The young Nawab was likewise TOXK. 85 encouraged to attend the meetings of the council, to be CHAP. initiated in state affairs. . vn> . The ex-Nawab was allowed to reside at Banaras, dh the understanding that he should not be permitted to leave the neighbourhood, except with the knowledge of the Governor- General's agent, and for purposes of sport or temporary recreation. He receives sixty thousand rupees a year. His minister and tool, Hakim Surwar Shah, is restricted to a residence in the fortress of Chanar, but he is allowed moderate freedom and exercise, and personal servants. CHAPTER VIII. KARAULI. AREA 1,878 sq. miles. POPULATION 188,000, EEYENUE 3,00,000 nipees. THIS small state lies to the south of Bharatpur. To the CHA east of it is Dholpur ; to the south-east runs the river - Chambal, separating it from Gwaliar ; to the south-west the river Banas, dividing it from Jaipur ; and to the north-west, also, is Jaipur. The early records of this state are very obscure. It would appear to have had no separate history prior to the decline of the Mogul empire. In the history of the Marhatas, the Baja of Karauli is mentioned as a dependant of the Peshwa, to whom the Eaja paid a tribute of 25,000 rupees per annum. He was the first to accept the protection offered by the British Government in 1817. He agreed then to acknowledge the supre- macy of the British Government, and in return for this he was guaranteed in his possessions, and the tribute paid to the Marhatas was remitted. By the fourteenth article of the treaty of Puna (June 13, 1817) the Peshwa had resigned his rights to all 86 THE NATIVE STATES OF INDIA. PAKT his territories north of the Narbada, those in Gujrat ex- r ' cepted, and the Eaja of Karauli had in reality no op- tion but to accept the protection of the British Govern- ment or to be absorbed. He chose the former course. Yet though his territories were thus preserved to him, his mind still hankered after some possessions south of the Chambal formerly belonging to him, and he resented the refusal of the British Government to grant him a guarantee for these. He took an early opportunity to show his ill-feeling. When, in 1825, the British were engaged in hostilities in Burmah, and Durjun Sal, cousin to the Eaja of Bharatpur, rose in rebellion against his liege lord, the Eaja of Karauli assisted the rebel with all the troops he could raise. After the capture of Bharatpur, however, his zeal oozed out rapidly ; he made humble professions of submission, and his misconduct was over- looked. Beyond the adjustment of some border differences between Karauli and Jaipur, there seems to have been but little communication between the British Govern- ment and the Eaja of the principality, Hurbuksh Pal, till he died in 1858. He died childless. A son of his cousin, Pertap Pal, was then nominated to succeed him, in the event of no posthumous child being born. One of the Eanis, however, shortly declared herself pregnant, and subsequently a mother. Her assertions, were, how- ever, disputed by Pertap Pal. A commission of inquiry was instituted ; but no valid proof of the birth of the child having been submitted, the Governor-General's agent declared the statement to be untrue, and in the name of the British Government pronounced Pertap Pal to be Eaja. This final recognition took place at the end of 1839, and early in 1840 the Eaja entered his capital in triumph. The Eanis, after vainly attempting to excite a civil war, quickly retired to Bharatpur, where they were allowed to remain. Pertap Pal died in 1848. His reign had been a series of KARAULI. 87 mismanagements on the part of himself and his ministers. CHAP. Want of money had led to oppression, and oppression to v- ^-^ insubordination and outbreaks. Four times had a British officer been deputed to Karauli to mediate and to settle affairs, but on every occasion he had failed. Pertap Pal died childless. The family adopted Nursing Pal, a minor rela- tive, as his successor. The British Government, however, withheld its recognition of the adoption until the first instalment of the debt of upwards of a lakh and a half of rupees, due to it by Karauli, should have been paid. After some delay the young chief offered payment of the first instalment. But as the offer was not made uncon- ditionally, and the money was to be advanced by a speculator for employment in Karauli, it was not ac- cepted. Meanwhile various parties were struggling for the guardianship of the young Eaja, and as the absence of the recognition of the latter gave these vitality and encouragement, the British Government deemed it ex- pedient to withdraw the condition it had imposed. But in thus recognising the Eaja, a distinct warning was con- veyed to him that payment of the debt would be exacted. At the same time, to control the factions and to baffle intrigue, an agent of the British Government was sent to Karauli with instructions to assume the direct manage- ment of affairs. The Eaja, Nursing Pal, died in 1852. The day before his death he had adopted as heir a distant kinsman, Bharat Pal. The Government of India proposed to treat the state as a lapse, and its annexation ' was only pre- vented by the interference of the Home Government on a threatened motion in the House of Commons. 1 Bharat Pal was, upon this, recognised by the British Government as Eaja of Karauli, and arrangements were made for the due administration of his state during his minority. But meanwhile the various factions, for a long time pre- vious busy at Karauli, had made a discovery. It was 1 Quarterly llevieiv, 1858, p. 269. 8 THE NATIVE STATES OF INDIA. PART ascertained that the adoption of Bharat Pal had been ; ' informal, by reason of the minority of the previous Eaja and the omission of certain necessary ceremonies ; and it was urged that the claims of Madan Pal, as a nearer relative, were superior to those of Bharat Pal. This view was adopted by the chiefs of Bharatpur, Dholpur, Alwar, and Jaipur. The facts above stated having been proved on inquiry, and Madan Pal having been accepted by the Earns, by nine of the most influential Thakurs, by three- fourths of the lesser feudal chiefs of the state, and by the general feeling of the country, the recognition of Bharat Pal was annulled, and the claims of Madan Pal were admitted (1854). The direct interference of the political agent in the internal administration was then withdrawn-, and the agency abolished the following year. But Madan Pal was warned that, in the event of his failing in the regular payment of the annual instalment of the debt (then reduced to 94,312 rupees), one or more districts would be occupied by the British till the whole of the debt should be liquidated. 1 In 1857, Eaja Madan Pal rendered good service, aiding the British authorities by every means in his power. In consideration of this, the debt, which had then risen to 1,17,000 rupees, was remitted; a dress of honour was conferred upon him, and his salute was raised from, fifteen to seventeen guns. In 1859, in consequence of the pecuniary embarrassments of the state, a political agent was deputed to assist the Maharaja in the adjust- ment of his debts. The agent was instructed to put him- self in the position of a friend and adviser to the Maha- raja, and not in that of an authoritative controller of affairs. He was withdrawn in 1861. 2 I am not aware that anything has subsequently occurred calling for special notice. 1 Aitchison's Treaties. 2 Ibid. 89 CHAPTEE IX. K I S II N G A E H. AREA 720 sq. miles. POPULATION 70,000. KEVENTJE 600,000 rupees. THE principality of Kishngarh was founded in the year CHAP. 1613 by Kishn, the ninth son of tJdai Singh, Eaja of . ^i- Jodhpiir. The permission to found this independent state was the price of blood. When Eaja Guj of Jodhpiir had refused to second the ambitious views of Prince Khurm (Shah Jehan) against his father and sove- reign, the Emperor Jehangir, Khurm tried to gain his point by means of Govindas, a Eajput of the Bhati tribe, one of the foreign nobles of Marwar, and con- fidential adviser of the prince. But Govindas ' knew no one but his master and the king.' He refused. For this act of fidelity Khurm had him assassinated. The instru- ment he employed to effect his purpose was Kishn, uncle to Eaja Guj ; and the reward to the murderer was per- mission to found an independent principality. Kishn selected a spot beyond the limits of Marwar, and built there a town which, called after himself, perpetuates the memory of his crime. To follow the history of this small state in minute detail seems unnecessary. In fact, up to 1790, there is nothing to record. The inhabitants are mainly Jats, the government was, and is, patriarchal ; but the territory was too small to allow its ruler to take a prominent part in the many struggles by which the eighteenth century was characterised. Perhaps the small- ness of its extent, combined with the barrenness of its soil, was advantageous to it ; for there can be no reason- able doubt that to this circumstance it owed for a long time its immunity from the payment of tribute alike to the Moguls and the Marhatas. 90 THE NATIVE STATES OF IXDIA. PART In the years 1790-91, however, a circumstance * r ' occurred which did bring the ruler of Kishngarh some- what prominently forward,, and in a manner not very favourable to his character as a patriot. It will be recollected 1 that in 1787 the Eahtors of Jodhpiir had united with the Kutchwas of Jaipur to resist the Mar- hatas, and that they beat them at the battle of Tonga. The defeat was wiped out in 1790 and 1791 at Patun and Mairta. But on these occasions it was Bahadur Singh, chief of Kishngarh, who betrayed his country by leading the Marhatas against his native land. It was no calculating spirit born of a desire to be on the winning side, that prompted him to this act. It was to revenge himself on his feudal lord, the Eaja of Jodhpiir, because he had foiled his attempt to despoil his brother of the share of the possessions which had devolved to him by right. The fatal battle of Mairta ri vetted the chains of the Marhatas on Eajputana, the traitor chief alone being exempted from the general subjection. Kalian Singh succeeded Bahadur Singh. It was during his rule that Kishngarh was brought under British protection (1818). By the treaty then made it was stipulated that the Eaja should acknowledge the supremacy of the British Government and act in subordi- nate co-operation with it ; that he should abstain from entering into negotiations with other states without its sanction, should refrain from aggression, should refer disputes to the arbitration and award of the British Government, and furnish troops when required according to his means. On the other hand, the British Govern- ment agreed to protect him ; they guaranteed that he and his successors should be absolute rulers of the country ; and they promised not to introduce British jurisdiction within it. Shortly after the signature of this treaty, Kalian Singh began to behave in a manner which argued either insanity or a total absence of principle. The personal service due to him by his Thakurs, or lords 1 Vide Chapters II. and III. K1SHXGAEH. 91 of domains, appeared to him to be fairly subject to com- CHAP. mutation for a money payment. But there being no ^ - guarantee that after the payment had been made the services would not be insisted upon, the Thakurs natu- rally refused to comply. One of the Thakurs, indeed, set up claims to independence. These men the Eaja wished to subdue and crush ; but suddenly, in a freak of eccentricity, he started off to Delhi to lay his complaints before the titular sovereign who represented the house of Timour. At Delhi he employed himself in buying honorary privileges from the king, such as the right to wear stockings in the royal presence. Meanwhile his partisans had not been inactive at Kishngarh. They had enlisted troops, and even procured aid from Biindi, whilst the Thakurs had been by no means idle in responding. Hostilities actually commenced between the rival parties, the effects of which were injuriously felt in the British districts adjoining. Upon this it was represented to the Eaja that the British Government held him responsible for the conduct of his chiefs and their troops as well as for his own. This intimation would appear to have alarmed him, for on receiving it he quitted Delhi with some raw levies, reached Kishngarh, summoned his vassals, and marched against his rebellious barons. But his vassals soon showed that they had no intention to aid him in subjugating and oppressing men of their own order. One by one they deserted him, then suddenly uniting, menaced the capital, declaring their intention to depose Kalian Singh, and to proclaim his infant son. The Eaja, upon this, fled to Ajmir, and appealed to the British Government for aid, offering to farm to it the government of his province. The revolted barons like- wise invoked British arbitration. The British Govern- ment, refusing the Eaja's offer, stated that no objection would be offered to his retirement to Delhi, and the formation of a regency to manage the country in his absence. Upon this, negotiations were entered into 92 THE NATIVE STATES OF IXDIA. PART between the chiefs and his barons. These, however, v- r ' produced no result. As a last resource, the barons offered to leave the dispute to the Maharaja of Jodhpur, provided the decision should receive the guarantee of the British Government ; but this guarantee was refused. The chiefs then proclaimed the heir apparent as Eaja, laid siege to Kishngarh, and were on the point of captur- ing it, when the Eaja accepted the mediation of the British political agent. By his intervention terms were agreed upon, and Kalian Singh returned to Kishngarh. A very short period, however, proved that the pacification would not last ; that the Eaja had no intention of keeping the terms to which he had agreed. The nobles again banded together, and shortly afterwards Kalian Singh retired from Kishngarh, and abdicated in favour of his son. He died in 1839, and was succeeded by his son, Pirthi Singh. Since that time nothing has occurred worthy of special notice. The Eaja of Kishngarh has been allowed the privilege of adoption. He is entitled to a salute of fifteen guns. His territories are situated between Ajmir and Jaipur. CHAPTEE X. DIIOLPUR. AREA 1,626 sq. miles. POPULATION 500,000. REVENUE 6,00,000 rupees. DHOLPUR is a small principality bounded on the north and north-east by the district of Agra ; on the south-east by the river Chambal separating it from Gwaliar ; and on the west by Karauli. Although it has only existed as a separate principality for about seventy years, the family DHOLPUK. 93 which rules it figured prominently in the history of India CHAP. for the preceding eighty years. It will be necessary, - , : - then, to go back to the beginning of that period. The ancestors of the present Band of Dholpur were, about a hundred and fifty years ago, zamindars or land- holders of Gohad, then a small village, twenty-eight miles north-east of the fortress of Gwaliar. They belonged to the Jat caste, 1 were industrious, and of a very warlike dispositio n . By the exercise of these qualities, the family brought themselves between the years 1725 and 1740 to the prominent notice of the Peshwa, Baji Bao, and amid the lawlessness and disruptions of the times, managed to assume a quasi-independence as lords of Gohad under suzerainty of the Marhatas. The chief who accom- plished this feat died about the middle of the eighteenth century, and was succeeded by his nephew. He, being likewise a clear-headed man, contrived to enlarge his borders. With a wise prescience he held aloof from the great struggle for empire between the Marhatas and the warriors from the north, and when the fatal day of Panipat (1761) had completely overwhelmed the former, he showed his sense of the importance of the defeat by proclaiming himself Band of Gohad, and seizing the fortress of Gwaliar. That independence remained un- questioned for six years. Bat, in 1767, the Marhdtd power, carefully nursed in the interval, was beginning to feel all the symptoms of revival, and its general, Bagondth Bao, afterwards Peshwa, being then in Hin- dostan, thought that the opportunity should not be lost of reading the Band of Gohad a lesson which he would not forget. Accordingly he marched with his army to attack the town of Gohad. But the Band had in the meanwhile strengthened its defences ; he had drilled his troops ; arid being a hardy, daring man himself, with an especial 1 According to Colonel Tod, no ture of the Rajput and Jit or Gete mean authority, the Jats are a mix- race. 94 THE NATIVE STATES OF INDIA. PART dislike to be ridden over roughshod, he gave the assail- > ^ ' ants some very hard and unpleasant work. He defended himself, in fact, so valiantly, that Eagonath Eao proposed at last to treat. An accommodation was agreed upon, by which, for a consideration of three lakhs of rupees, the Marhatas agreed to retire, and to recognise the in- dependence, under their suzerainty, of the Eana, Lakindar Singh. I have been unable to trace the exact date when the Eana of Gohad lost Gwaliar, but it was probably about this period. It fell into the hands of Madhaji Sindhia. It was in his possession when, in 1779, the British Government entered into an alliance with that ' turbulent tributary' 1 of the Marhatas, the Eana of Gohad. By this treaty the Government agreed to furnish the Eana with a force for the defence of his dominions or for their enlargement from the Marhatas, to share with him their joint conquests, except the territories constituting his jaghir and then in possession of the Marhatas, and to embrace the Eana in any treaty concluded with the Marhatas. In pursuance of the terms of this treaty, a British force of 2,400 men, under the command of Captain William Popham, was sent into the Gohad country to expel thence the Marhata marauders, and to concert measures with the Eana (February 1780). Popham drove out the Marhatas, carried the fort of Lahar by storm, and on August 4 surprised and carried the fortress of Gwaliar, till then reputed impregnable. The fortress was transferred to the Eana of Gohad. By the treaty made by the British with Madhaji Sindhia, dated October 13, 1781, Gwaliar and his other territories were guaranteed to the Eana, ' so long as he observes his treaty with the English.' But the Eana did not observe his treaty with the English. On the contrary, several acts showing that he was quite prepared to aid in the confederacy forming 1 Grant Duff. DHOLPUR. 05 against them in 1781-2 were brought home to him, and as a consequence the treaty of mutual assistance was regarded as abrogated. Consequently, when Madhaji Sindhia, left free by the treaty of Salbye, attacked Gwaliar and Gohad, the English left the Eana to his fate. It was too strong for him, for Gwaliar had to surrender after a protracted siege, Gohad was taken, and the Eana was forced to con- stitute himself a prisoner. But there was to be a turn again in the wheel. In 1802 the British declared war against the successor of Madhaji, Daolat Eao. Ambaji Inglia, his governor of the province of Gohad, seeing the rapid progress of the British arms, revolted, or pretended to revolt, against his master, and joined the British. With these he made a treaty by which he agreed to surrender to them the fortress of Gwaliar and certain districts which they in- tended to transfer to the Eana of Gohad, on being him- self guaranteed the remainder of the territory free of tribute. The ceded districts were made over to Eana Kir at Singh, son and successor of Lakindar Singh, by a treaty dated January 17, 1804, with the exception of the fortress and city of Gwaliar, which the British retained. Subsequently, in consequence of a dispute with Sindhia as to the meaning of the clause in the treaty of Surji Anjengaom, by which he had agreed to renounce all claims on his feudatories with whom the British Government had made treaties, ' provided that none cf the territories belonging to the Maharaja situated to the south- ward of those of the Eajas of Jaipur and Jodhpiir, and the Eana of Gohad, of which the revenues have been col- lected by him and his Amildars, or have been applicable as Serinjami (materials) to the payment of the troops, are granted away by such treaties ' Sindhia contending that the Eana of Gohad could not be included, inasmuch as the pretensions of that family had been extinct, and their terri- tories in Sindhia's possession for thirty years the British Government determined to abandon Gwaliar and Gohad 96 THE NATIVE STATES OF INDIA. PART to Sindhia. But to compensate the Edna, and in cori- ' '<- - sideration of the fact that the failure in the stipulations of the former treaty had arisen from no fault of the Edna, they agreed to grant him the pergunnahs of Dholpiir, Barah, and Eajkerah. Thus it was that the ci-devant Eana of Gohad became Edna of Dholpiir. Edna Kirat Singh accepted the exchange, although, naturally perhaps, he would have preferred that the pre- vious arrangement should remain unaltered. But he never forgave the Sindhia. When, in 1831, the Baiza Bai and her brother were ejected from Gwaliar, he showed his dislike to the government of Gwaliar by giving them a splendid reception. He died in 1836 at a good old age. His son, Eana Bhagwant Singh, succeeded him, and in 1837 was invested with a robe of honour by the British Government. In 1 841 he showed in an unworthy manner that the hatred of Sindhia was in his blood. He dese- crated a Jain temple, by dethroning the god Parasndth. and substituting Mahadeo, the god of his own partisans, simply because the Jain votaries were connected with Gwaliar. Sindhia took up the matter as a personal affront, and appealed to the British Government. But it was explained to him that, however blameworthy the action might have been, it was not one that warranted the interposition of the paramount power. In 1857, Eana Bhagwant Singh did good service by rendering assistance to the British fugitives from Gwaliar. His minister, Deo Hans, however, incurred the displeasure of Government by plundering villages in the Agra dis- trict, and, in 1862, in consequence of the intrigues of that individual, and his endeavours to supplant his prince, it became necessary to remove him to Banaras, and place him under surveillance. Edna Bhagwant Singh has received the right of adoption, and is entitled to a salute of fifteen guns. 97 CHAPTER XI. BIIARATPUR. REA 1,974 sq. miles. POPULATION 650,000. REVENUE 21,00,000 rupees. THE state of Bharatpur is bounded on the north by CHAP the British district of Gurgaon ; on the north-east by ^~- Mathura ; on the east by Agra ; on the south and south- west by Karauli and Jaipur ; and on the west by Alwar. It enjoys the distinction of being the only Jat princi- pality of any magnitude in India, and has, perhaps, the only government of a truly national character where a great proportion of the people belong to the same tribe as the nobles and princes of the state. The tribe of Jats recognised by Colonel Tod 1 as the Getae and Massa- getee of the ancient writers, the Jutes of Jutland, and consequently as the people who founded the first Teu- tonic kingdom in England, 2 is said to have emigrated from the province of Multan, during the seventeenth century, and to have settled in the Duab as cultivators. But they are mentioned before this in history. They were Jats who, in 1026, harassed Mahmud of Ghizni in his march from Somnath to Multan, and who, in the following year were nearly destroyed by him. They were Jats who, in 1398, were encountered and massacred by Tamerlane on his march by Multan towards Delhi ; and, finally, they were Jats who disquieted Baber during his advance through the Punjab in 1525. Migrating, as I have said, to India, in the seventeeth century, they settled down in the Duab. There, the native turbulence of their character brought upon them more than once the imperial wrath, and with it condign punishment. But the disruption which followed the death of the Emperor 1 Journal Asiatiyne, May 1827. 2 Freeman's Old English History. II 98 THE NATIVE STATES OF INDIA. PART Aurangzib offered a full scope for the play of their hardy r^ ' and daring character. Taking advantage of the civil wars which then ensued, they, under their chief, Churanam, erected petty castles in the villages, the lands of which they cultivated, and soon obtained the distinction of being denominated Kuzzdks or robbers, a title which they were not slow to merit, by their inroads as far as the royal abode of the Emperor Farokhsir. The Seiads, then in power, com- manded Jai Singh, Eaja of Jaipur to attack them in their strongholds. But the Jats, even in the very infancy of their power, evinced the same obstinate skill in defending mud walls as that which, in more recent times, gained them such celebrity. They beat off their assailants. Not long after this, Badan Singh, brother of Churanam, and who had been imprisoned by him, made his escape, and, invoking the aid of Eaja Jai Singh, induced him to renew the war. This time it was Jat against Jat, and the as- sailants triumphed. Churanam and his son fled, and Badan Singh was proclaimed chief of the Jats, and in- stalled as Eaja, by Jai Singh, at Dig, destined also in after times to have its share of fame. Badan Singh had a numerous progeny, and four of his sons, Siirajmal, Subharam, Pertap Singh, and Birnarain obtained notoriety. He subjected several of the royal districts to his authority. He abdicated in favour of his eldest son, Siirajmal, having first made a provision for the youngest, Pertap Singh. Surajmal inherited all the tur- bulence and energy requisite to carry on the plans of his predecessors. His first act was to dispossess a relative named Kaima of the fortress of Bharatpiir, and to make it his capital. In 1754 he baffled the allied forces of the Vizir Ghazi-u-din, the Marhatas, and the Eaja of Jaipur, though in the end he preferred to compound with them by the payment of 7,00,000 rupees. Six years later he joined, at the head of 30,000 men, the great Marhata confederacy which, under Seodaseo Bai, marched to Delhi to strike its great blow for the empire of India. BHARATPUR. 99 But the incompetency of the Marhata leader made itself CUAP. so patent, and his insolence was so galling to Siirajmal, - XL _* that he withdrew from the confederacy, and thus escaped the blow at Panipat, which crushed, and for the moment annihilated, the Marhata power. He even did more. Profiting by the confusion consequent upon that terrible defeat, he seized and garrisoned Agra. Three years later he carried his audacity so far as to make an attempt on the imperial city. But when encamped close to the enemy, he went out hunting, was set upon by a party of Beluchi horse, and was slain. His son, Jowahir Singh, succeeded him. He was de- feated in an attempt to invade Jaipur, and was subsequently assassinated. His brother, Eatan Singh, followed. He was assassinated by a Brahman from Mathura, who had undertaken to teach the Jat prince the transmutation of metals, and had obtained considerable sums under the pretence of preparing the process. The day having arrived on which the transmutation was to take place, the Brahman saw no way of escape from the punishment due to his imposture but by driving his knife into his dupe. His son, Kesri Singh, an infant, succeeded, under the guardianship of his uncle, Newal Singh. Newal Singh was a man of great ability, but events were too strong for him. He was unable to make head against his enemies in the field, and was forced to shut himself up in Dig. Here he died of dropsy in 1773. Narnal Singh, third son of Siirajmal, succeeded his brother by right as regent. But his younger brother, Eanjit Singh, ambitious to rule, threw himself into the arms of Mirza Najaf Khan, then wielding the supreme power of the Mogul, and invited him to espouse his cause. The Mirza did so, and took possession of Agra. But called away immediately afterwards into Eohilkhand, Namal Singh, taking heart, determined to carry the war into the enemy's country. He therefore marched on Delhi and occupied Sikunderabad. Attacked, and re- H 2 100 THE NATIVE STATES OF INDIA. PART pulsed thence, he retired, only however to make a second <-. ; . , onward movement, reinforced by the trained mercenaries of Samru. They had reached Hodal, a town sixty miles south of Delhi, when they were attacked and dislodged by Mirza Najaf Khan, who had returned for the purpose, accompanied by Kanjit Singh. ISTamal Singh and Samru then retired, first on Kotban and ultimately on the fortress of Dig, followed by the Mirza. The latter, finding Dig extremely strong, enticed the Jats to Barsana, where he attacked and completely defeated them. Dig resisted for a twelvemonth before it was captured. By this defeat, Eanjit Singh was enabled to get pos- session of Bharatpur, though that alone remained of all the possessions of his family. By the intercession of his mother, however, with Najaf Khan, the latter restored to the family lands yielding nine lakhs of rupees. Subse- quently, when the death of the Mirza in 1782 reopened the seams of disorder, the whole of the territories of the Jats, including Bharatpur, fell into the hands of Sindhia, but, again, on the intercession of the widow of Surajmal, he restored to Ranjit Singh eleven districts, yielding ten lakhs. To these, three districts yielding four lakhs were subsequently added as a reward for services rendered to General Perron. Meanwhile, by the death of his relations nearer to the . succession than himself, Eanjit Singh had become Raj a of Bharatpur. His previous career had not been fortu- nate for his country, but his reign was destined to connect his name and that of his capital with a deed of great daring, and, in Indian annals, of unsurpassed success. Eanjit Singh had been one of the first of the petty chieftains of Hindostan who evinced a desire to connect their interests with the British Government. A treaty was therefore concluded with him at the beginning of the Marhata war, by which he was guaranteed in the inde- pendent possession of his territories, and was permanently relieved from the. payment of tribute to the Marhatas, BHARATPUR. 101 and from the apprehension of exactions or encroachments of any foreign state. In the campaign against Daolat Eao Sindhia which followed, Lord Lake was joined by a Bharatpiir contingent of horse, which did good service at the battle of Laswari, and continued to serve with the British army until the end of the campaign. For his services in this campaign, the British Government trans- ferred to Bharatpur five districts, yielding seven lakhs of rupees. It was on his return from Laswari, in December 1803, that the Commander-in-Chief, Lord Lake, had an interview with Eaja Eanjit Singh, at Kanoar. It must have been in every respect satisfactory, for by his alliance with the British the Eaja had been compensated for the losses of the earlier period of his career, and no cause of dissatis- faction had been given to him. Yet it is certain that very shortly after this time he was in active correspondence with Holkar, then about to measure swords with the British. When war did break out with Holkar, the Eaja of Bharatpiir was called upon to send his contingent to the army. This requisition he first evaded, afterwards refused. His contingent, in fact, joined Holkar, and fought with his troops against the British at Dig. It happened that when the routed troops of Holkar were pursued to the glacis of that fortress, November 1804, the Eaja's troops opened a destructive fire upon the pursuers. This overt act of hostility showed the Eaja of Bharat- piir as a declared enemy. Thenceforth he was so dealt with, and the British army proceeded to attack his forts. Dig was carried by assault on December 23, and Bharat- piir invested on January 7. But Eanjit Singh, seeing that the fall of the fortress would be a certain prelude to his own overthrow, resolved to defend it with all the re- sources at his disposal. In this he was well seconded by his army and his people. He repulsed a first assault on January 9, a second on the 21st, a third on February 20, 102 THE NATIVE STATES OF IXDIA. PART and a fourth on February 21, inflicting on the British % ;_- army in all these a loss in killed and wounded of 3,203 men. But though Eanjit Singh had repulsed the British he was by no means confident of ultimate success. Between February and April Holkar had become once again a fugitive. Weary, then, of his allies, disliking the enormous expenses imposed upon him, and, above all, having a just dread of the pertinacity of the English general, he took advantage of receiving the intimation of the elevation of General Lake to the peerage to offer him his congratula- tions, accompanying them by a profession of his desire for peace, and of his readiness to proceed in person to the British camp. This offer met a corresponding return. Negotiations were opened, and on April 10 the terms of a treaty were agreed upon. By these, Eaja Eanjit Singh agreed to pay an indemnity of twenty lakhs of rupees (seven of which were subsequently remitted), and was guaranteed in the territories he had held prior to the suzerainty of the British Government. The districts which had been granted him in 1803 were resumed. But though the Eaja of Bharatpiir lost by the line he had taken both money and territory, he gained in prestige and credit. His capital was the only fortress in India from whose walls British troops had been repulsed, and this fact alone exalted him in the opinion of the princes and people of India. For more than twenty years subse- quently Bharatpiir was a ' household word ' in their habi- tations ; and it required a reversal of the result of the first siege to deprive the taunt of its efficacy and sting. Eaja Eanjit Singh died in less than two years after his moral triumph, and was succeeded by his eldest son, Eandbhir Singh. As a general rule this chief conducted his policy towards the paramount power by a system of irritating to the utmost limit of forbearance. Peace was however maintained, and in the Pindari war (1817) the Eaja duly furnished his contingent of troops to the British BIIARATPUR. 103 army. He died, childless, on October 7, 1823, and was succeeded by his brother, Baldeo Singh. Eaja Baldeo Singh reigned only about eighteen months, as he died on February 26, 1825. He left a son six years old, named Balwant Singh, whose succession was recognised by the British Government. His cousin, however, Durjun Sal, supported by the Eaja of Karauli and others, attacked, dethroned, and imprisoned him. Upon this the British Eesident at Delhi, Sir David Ochterlony, who was also the agent for Bharatpiir, promptly assembled a force to reinstate the rightful heir, and there can be little doubt that if he had been allowed to proceed, no serious hostilities would have followed. But the Governor-General, Lord Amherst, trusting that the family differences would be peaceably adjusted, and not considering that the recognition of an heir-apparent during the life- time of the father imposed upon it any obligation to maintain him under the circumstances which had occurred, disapproved of Sir David Ochterlony's policy, and summarily removed him from his post. But in the end, the Government of India was forced to take up and carry out the policy thus rejected, and under cir- cumstances far less favourable. For Diirjan Sal, in the interval, whilst negotiating and professing to leave the decision of his claims to the British Government, had been engaged in strengthening the fortifications, in levying troops, and in soliciting aid, which was secretly promised, from the Eajput and Marhata states. The attitude of Diirjan Sal, combined with the prestige attaching to his capital, produced at last so great an excitement and com- motion throughout the country, that to prevent a general conflagration, the Government resolved in the end to adopt the policy of Sir David Ochterlony, viz., to replace Bal- want Singh and expel the usurper. An army of 25,000 men, well provided with artillery, was collected, and sent, under the personal command of the Commander-in-Chief, Lgrd Comberrnere, against the fortress. The siege was 401 THE XATIYE STATES OF INDIA. begun in December 1825, but as the mud walls were of PAET great height and sixty feet thick, fronted by a deep wet . L _, ditch, mining operations were resorted to. These com- menced on December 23, and the mines were sprung on January 17 following, when a sufficient breach was effected, and the fortress carried by assault on the 18th. Diirjun Sal was made prisoner, and sent to Allahabad ; whilst the young Eaja was installed (February 5, 1826) under the regency of the principal widow of the late Eaja, and the superintendence of a political agent. The regent, however, Eani Mirut Kour, having shown a great disposition to intrigue, and have gone so far on one occasion as to lock herself up with the young Eaja for several days in the palace, threatening to destroy herself if any opposition were offered to her, or any attempt made to remove him, was displaced, and the ministers were formed into a council of regency, with the entire administration of the government in all departments. In 1830 the government of Bharatpiir sustained a great loss by the death of its chief minister, Jawahir Lai. He had been the principal revenue minister for the twenty-five years preceding ; and it is recorded of him that it was his thorough knowledge of revenue matters, com- bined with a degree of temper, patience, and forbearance, which have seldom, perhaps never, been surpassed, that enabled him to discharge the duties of his office in a manner most beneficial to the interests of his country. After his death a change for the worse was quickly , perceptible, and the deterioration became so rapid, that, in June 1831, the British agent suggested the appointment, as finance minister, of Bholanath, a man of some reputation in the town. Matters then improved. In 1835 Eaja Balwant Singh assumed charge of his government, and the political agency was withdrawn. The detachment of troops which had till then been stationed in the capital was also recalled, and the Eaja was left to the independent management of the country. BHARATPUR. 105 This freedom from restraint was not abused. From the CHAP. accession of Baja Balwant Singh to 1840 the affairs of - .- ' the state continued to be managed by the minister Bholanath, and it would have been difficult to point to a state better governed during that period than was Bharatpiir. To such an extent was this appreciated by the British Government that in 1839 it excused the Bharatpiir state from the payment of the accumulated arrears of interest with which the unliquidated war charges incurred in 1825-6, and which amounted to 25,49,000 rupees, were burdened according to agree- ment. Eaja Balwant Singh died in 1853, and was succeeded by his son, Jeswant Singh, a minor. The administration during his minority was conducted by five of the nobles under the superintendence of a political agent. Subsequently nothing of prominent importance has occurred, unless the birth of an heir to the Maharaja on January 26, 1868, be considered such. The Maharaja of Bharatpur has been granted the right of adoption. He is entitled to a salute of seventeen guns. CHAPTER XII. ALWAR. AREA 3,300 sq. miles. POPULATION 1,000,000. REVENUE 16,00,000 rupees. THE state of Alwar is bounded on the north by Gurgaon CHAP and the native district of K6t Kasin ; on the east by v_l^ L , Mathuni and Bharatpur ; on the south by Jaipur, and on the west by Jaipur. The principality itself forms a portion of Mewat, or the country of the Mewatis. 106 THE NATIVE STATES OF INDIA. PART The Mewatis, who have long had the character of % r being a fierce, savage, and predatory race, played rather a prominent part, by the display of the qualities attributed to them, in the time of the early Mahomedan kings of Delhi. Their predatory expeditions, sometimes even to the very gates of the capital, at last roused indignation and desire for revenge. In 1266 Gheias-u-din Bulbun organised an expedition against them, and by a system of extermination, backed by the formation of local garrisons and other precautions, succeeded in ridding the country of upwards of a hundred thousand of them. A century and a half later the Mewatis endeavoured to take advan- tage of the disorder which followed the extinction of the house of Toghlak, but Seiad Mobarik inflicted upon them a crushing defeat (1429). From that time, for 300 years, they appear to have been content to plunder on a smaller scale. Indeed, their strength was insufficient to allow them to enter into competition with the plun- derers on a princely plan. They wanted, too, organisation and a chief. But their time was fast coming. The disruption of law and -order which followed the death of the Emperor Aurangzib incited the Eajii of Jaipur, in 1720, to wrest from the empire several territories, and amongst the number the country of the Mewatis. This remained with Jaipur for about fifty years. But in 1764-74 disorder had reached the state of Jaipur. The nobleman, Pertap Singh, of the clan of the Masukha Kajpiits, upon whom the jaghir of Macheri in Mewat had been conferred, took advantage of the confusion consequent upon a long majority, to strike for indepen- dence. In the war carried on by Mirza Najaf Khan with the Jats, he united his forces at an opportune moment with those of the former, aided him to beat the enemy at Barsana and at Dig ; and as a reward for this service obtained the title of Kao Eaja, and a sunnud for Macheri, to hold it direct from the crown. In this way was Macheri severed for ever from Jaipur. Not content, ALWAK. 107 however, with that, Pertap Singh took advantage of the CHAP. weakness of Bharatpur at this period to wrest from it the -- , - strong hill fort and fortified town of Alwar and other places in its vicinity. Pertap Singh, having thus gained a principality, next attempted to keep it in his family. The plan he is said to have adopted was at least ingenious. He wished so to arrange that the country might offer no temptations to an invader, no smiling fields inviting the encampment of large bodies of troops. His policy, therefore, was to dis- courage cultivation. On the other hand he fortified all the commanding positions, and held them by strong garrisons. Pertap Singh lived for about twenty years after the acquisition of Alwar. He died without male issue, but he had adopted a relative, Buktaor Singh, who succeeded him. In the reign of this chief the country, notwith- standing the precautions of his predecessor, was overrun by the Marhatas, a portion of it, indeed, was conveyed to their partisans. This is sufficient to explain why, when the Marhata wars of 1803-6 broke out, Buktaor pro- fessed himself willing to accept the protection of the British Government, and concluded with it a treaty of offensive and defensive alliance. He co-operated in those wars, and although his Mewatis, in their normal love of plunder, did not spare, occasionally, the baggage of the British, yet he was rewarded for his services by the transfer to himself of the districts originally bestowed upon Bharatpiir, and subsequently forfeited by the Eaja of that place. To suit the convenience of both parties a partial exchange of territories was effected about this time between the Eaja of Alwar and the British. Buktaor Singh evinced no gratitude to the paramount power, nor did he always show that he was guided by common sense. In 1808, for instance, he made an embankment across the Mahnas Nai, the river flowing into the Bharatptir territory, and supplying its people 108 THE NATIVE STATES OF INDIA. PART -with the means of irrigation, and thus cut off a supply : .- absolutely necessary for their fields. The British Govern- ment interfered, but a long time elapsed before the matter could be adjusted. Then, in 1811, the Eaja was seized by a religious frenzy, which could only be gratified by the persecution of his Mahomedan subjects. He destroyed their mosques, and seizing some of their devotees, he mutilated them, and sent their noses and ears to a neighbouring Mahomedan prince. His savage zeal did not stop there ; and among other exploits, he caused the bodies of Mahomedans to be disinterred, and sent their bones out of the country. Just about this time, also (1811), the British Govern- ment discovered that the Eaja had interfered in the affairs of Jaipur in a manner which it was impossible for the paramount power to sanction. As no article in the treaty of 1803 expressly forbade this, a new agreement was drawn up (July 1811), by which the Eaja expressly agreed never to enter into any engagement or nego- tiation whatever with any other state or chief without the knowledge and consent of the British Government. Yet, the very next year (1812) he took possession of the forts of Dhobi and Sikrawa and the territory adjoining, and, though the British Eesident at Delhi remonstrated, refused to restore them. It became necessary, then, to compel him. A force was organised and sent against him, but when the troops were within one march of his capital, Buktacr Singh yielded, restored the usurped territory, and paid three lakhs of rupees for the expenses of the expedition. The Eao Eaja Buktaor Singh died in 1815, leaving a nephew and adopted son, Benei Singh, and an illegitimate son, Balwant Singh, both minors. A dispute then arose as to the succession. The cause of the nephew was supported by the Eajput nobles, that of the illegitimate son by the Mahomedan faction, headed by Nawab Ahmed Baksh Khan. A compromise was effected, and it was ALWAR. 109 agreed that the nephew should enjoy the title, while the CHAP. illegitimate son should exercise the power of the state. ,- - The British Government sanctioned this arrangement. It lasted till both boys had grown up. Then, however, the nephew, Benei Singh, chafing at the restraints im- posed upon him, caused Balwant Singh to be impri- soned, and the life of the Nawab, Ahmed Baksh Khan, then on a visit to the British Eesident at Delhi, to be attempted. The assassin was apprehended, and on in- vestigation, the crime was traced to the instigation of certain persons at the court of Alwar. The surrender of these persons was demanded by the British Govern- ment, in order that they might be tried at Delhi. Eaja Benei Singh refused to surrender them, and he persisted in his refusal until, after the fall of Bharatpur in 1826, he learned that Lord Combermere was on his march to Alwar. He then gave them up. At the same time he made a provision for the dispossessed Balwant Singh. But the conduct of Eaja Benei Singh continued to show a defiant spirit. The persons accused of attempting to murder the Nawab were, indeed, acquitted ; but so strong was the suspicion against them that the Eaja was requested not to employ them in any offices of trust. Far from complying with this request, he bestowed upon those persons the highest offices in the state ! For this reason the British Eesident declined to visit the Eaja of Alwar as he had visited the other chiefs of Eajputana, and the following year (1827) the Governor-General re- fused to receive a deputation from his principality. Again, in 1831, a correspondence was discovered between the courts of Alwar and Jaipur, originating in the desire of Eaja Benei Singh to do fealty to Jaipur, and to receive a dress of investiture, for which he was pre- pared to pay a considerable sum of money. It was pointed out to the Eaja that such correspondence con- stituted a breach of his engagements. In one or two other ways the Eaja continued to 110 THE NATIVE STATES OF INDIA. PART display his defiance, and a threat of the march of British - - r ' troops to enforce the law was almost always necessary to bring him to reason. Eao Eaja Benei Singh died in 1857, just after the outbreak of the Mutiny. After his death the Mahomedan ministers acquired an ascendancy over his son, Seodan Singh, then thirteen years of age, which was obnoxious to the Eajpiit nobles, who rose and expelled them (1858). The ministers were compelled to reside at Banaras under surveillance, and a political agent was appointed to Alwar to advise and assist the council of regency which was formed to conduct the administration during the young chiefs minority. Eao Eaja Seodan Singh attained his majority in September 1863. 1 A political agent con- tinued, however, to remain at Alwar. In 1864 the young Maha Eao paid a visit to Calcutta, and much impressed the Viceroy by his intelligence and force of character, though, in other respects, the im- . pression was not favourable. The Viceroy warned him that in the event of commotions occurring at Alwar he must not expect British assistance to put them down. The warning was needed, for the same year the Maha Eao was accused of murdering his master of the horse, a Mahomedan ; and though the charge of homicide could not be brought home to the Maha Eao, the circumstances were extremely suspicious. Shortly after he caused great scandal by his disputes with his Thakurs and his over- bearing conduct towards Jaipur. By this time the British agent had been recalled, and precautions taken to prevent bloodshed. But the Maha Eao was distinctly informed that he would have to bear the consequences of his own acts. To mark his sense of the Maha Euo's misconduct, the Viceroy felt constrained at this period (1866) to refuse him the dress of investiture in recognition of his assump- tion of power. Subsequently, the conduct of the Maha 1 Aitchison's Treaties. ALWAR. Ill Rao gave promise of amendment, and the Governor- CHAP. General's agent having reported more favourably of his ^j^ IJl l_^ administration, a dress of investiture was bestowed upon him in 1867. The Maha Bao of Alwar has received the right of adoption. He is entitled to a salute of fifteen guns. Subsequently to the writing of the foregoing sketch, Maha Bao Seodan Singh died (October 1874). He left no children, and has been succeeded by Mangal Singh, son of Hurdeo Singh, the representative of the Thana family. CHAPTEB XIII. BIKANIR. AREA 17,676 sq. miles. POPULATION 539,000. REVENUE about 6,00,000 rupees. THE state of Bikanir was founded by Bika Singh, sixth CHAP. son of Baja Joda of Jodhpur. Followed by three hundred ^_ xm - of his clansmen, Bika quitted the paternal roof to found a new city in the wilderness. He of course went sword in hand, with a determination to slay or to be slain. The Sanklas of Janglii fell before him. This brought him in contact with the Bhatis of Pugal, the daughter of whose chief he married. Settling down at Koramdesir, he built there a castle ; then, gradually, by establishing his in- fluence over the race of the Jats or Getes, settled in the land, and of others who immigrated from more remote regions, he came at last to be elected lord of a community of nine cantons, containing 2,670 villages. The people led a pastoral life, their wealth consisting in their cattle, the produce and wool of which they exchanged with their neighbours. The conditions on which they offered 112 THE NATIVE STATES OF IXDIA. PART to bestow the supremacy over their community upon . ; ' Bika Singh were these : 1. That he should make common cause with them against the cantons with which they were at variance. 2. That he would guard the western frontier against the irruption of the Bhatis. 3. That the rights and privileges of the community should be held inviolable. On the fulfilment of these conditions, they relinquished to Bika and his descendants supreme power, assigning to him. in perpetuity, the power to levy dhua, or a hearth tax, of one rupee on each house in the canton, and a land tax of two rupees on each hundred bighas 1 of cultivated land within their limits. As a security for the performance of their part of the contract by Bika and his successors, Bika bound himself and them to receive the mark of inauguration from the hands of the descend- ants of the elders, and that the throne should be deemed vacant until such rite had been administered. Bika then made war with the rival tribe of his new nation, the Johyas, and conquered them ; then advancing against the Bhatis, won Bhagor from them. In this dis- trict he founded his capital, Bikanir (1489), just thirty years after his departure from Mundiir. Bika died in 1495, leaving two sons by his first wife, Nunkarn, who succeeded him, and Garsi, who founded Garsisin and Arsisar. Niinkarn conquered several districts from the Bhatis. He left four sons, the eldest of whom renounced his birthright to have a separate establishment in his father's lifetime. The second brother, Jaetsi, then succeeded Niinkarn. He, too, enlarged his borders. Kalian Singh, his eldest son, followed him, and then succeeded his eldest born, Eai Singh. Eai Singh came to the throne in 1573. In his reign 1 A bigha is five-eighths of an equivalent to six shillings and five acre. The charge, therefore, was pence per hundred acres. BfKANfR. 113 Bikanir rose to importance amongst the principalities of CHAP. the Mogul empire, and Eai Singh became a satrap of his * r-^ brother-in-law, the Emperor Akbar. 1 High honours were bestowed upon him by the emperor. He was made a leader of four thousand horse, received the title of Raja, and the government of Hissar. Moreover, when Maldeo Singh, King of Jodhpur, incurred the displeasure of Akbar, that sovereign transferred to Rai Singh the district of Nagore and afterwards his entire kingdom. Such transfers, however, were in effect nominal. But, armed with the emperor's favour, Eai Singh returned to Bikanir, con- quered Bhutnair, and rooted out the Johyas. Previous to his reign the Rajputs had gradually been ousting the Jats as proprietors of the soil, and the Jats had been sinking to the position of labourers or serfs. This silent revolution was completed under Rai Singh. It was made absolute by the conquest of the territories of the Piinias,. the last race of Jats who had preserved their liberty. Raja Rai Singh led a band of his warriors in all the wars of Akbar. He distinguished himself in the assault of Ahmedabad, slaying the Governor in single combat. He married his daughter to Prince Selim, afterwards Emperor, as Jehangir. Her son Purvez was one of those who unsuccessfully strove for the empire with Shah Jehan. Rai Singh died in 1632, and was succeeded by his only son Karan. Karan supported the claims of Dara Sheko against Aurangzib, and escaped the plot laid by the general of his antagonist to destroy him. He died in 1674, and was followed by his son, Ariop Singh. This prince held the governments of Bijapur and Aurangabad, was nominated a leader of 5,000 horse, accompanied Raja Jeswant Singh to Kabul with the imperial forces, returned, and died at Bikanir in 1709. His son, Sarup Singh, succeeded. Sarup Singh was killed m endeavour- ing to recover the castle and lands of Adorn, bestowed by 1 They had married two sisters, princesses of Jaisalmir. 114 THE NATIVE STATES OF INDIA. PAET Aurangzib on his father, and taken back on his quitting r ' the imperial army. The two next Eaj as, Sujaim Singh and Zorawar Singh, were men of little note. Eaja Guj Singh followed, them. Throughout a long . reign of forty-one years, this prince was engaged in border contests with the Bhatis and Bhawalpiir. He succeeded in rounding his borders by acquisitions from both. But he is chiefly famous for the number of his offspring. He had sixty-one children ; ' though,' remarks the annalist, * all but six were " sons of love.'" He was succeeded in 1787 by his son, Eaj Singh. Eaj Singh enjoyed his dignity only thirteen days, being removed by a dose of poison, administered by the mother of Siirat Singh, fifth son of the late Eaja. He left, however, two sons, Pertap Singh and Jai Singh. But Eaj Singh had not been poisoned without an object. Siirat Singh at once assumed the office of regent, his two elder brothers, Siirtan Singh and Ajit Singh, fleeing the paternal roof to escape the fate of their brother. During the following eighteen months Siirat Singh conducted himself with great circumspection, and by condescension and gifts impressed the chiefs in his favour. Then he disclosed to some of them his determination to rule. His plans were, however, discovered, and the majority of the nobles determined to resist him, unfortunately only passively. Siirat Singh, an active and determined man, levied troops, attacked, and subdued them ; then returned to Bikanir, resolved to remove every obstacle between himself and the throne. One of his nephews had died ; the other remained under the care of the sister of Siirat Singh, a virtuous woman. Unable to deceive her vigilance, Siirat Singh forced her into a marriage which she abhorred, and then, having rid himself of her, strangled, it is said with his own hands, his nephew and sovereign. He then proclaimed himself Eaja, a position in which his defeat of his elder brothers, who had levied a force to dispossess him, confirmed him. BIKAN1K. 115 It was in the year 1801 that Surat Singh became undis- CHAP. turbed ruler of Bikanir. He was a warrior, and made v *, T l - many acquisitions to his country, especially from the Bhatis ; but in the Jodhpiir civil war he unfortunately took the wrong side, supporting the cause of the pretender, Dhokal Singh, and expending nearly five years' revenue in fruitless efforts on his behalf. This failure caused him to become oppressive to his people, and bigotry in his old age, the natural child of riotous and unscrupulous youth, making him more and more superstitious, he withdrew gradually from affairs, leaving his government in the hands of those who had been his associates, and who were not haunted by the same terrors. Before his death in 1828, his country was embraced in the general scheme of subsidiary alliances, formed by the British Government at the time of the Pindari war. The Eaja was bound to subordinate co-operation, and the British Government engaged to protect his territories and to reduce his rebellious subjects to obedience. No tribute was exacted, none having been paid to the Marhatas. Surat Singh left his country in a terrible state of anarchy and dis- order: the chiefs were in open rebellion, the country swept by robbers, the very cultivators of the fields forced to arm in their own defence. He was succeeded by his son, Eatari Singh. One of the first acts of the new Eaja was to proceed to invade the territory of Jaisalmir in revenge for former injuries, or supposed injuries, sustained by his subjects through subjects or servants of the former. The Eaja carried his operations, in direct breach of his treaty with the British Government, to the very gates of his enemy's capital. The ruler of Jaisalmir prepared an army to resent the injury, and the armies of Jodhpiir and Jaipur assembled on their respective frontiers. The peace of Eajputana was in imminent danger, when the British Government interfered, and through the arbitration of i 2 116 THE NATIVE STATES OF INDIA. PART the Band of tJdaipiir the dispute was settled, both parties r ' making reparation for the injuries done. But there was but little improvement in the internal condition of the state. The Eaja continued on bad terms with many of his nobles, and he did not feel himself strong enough to coerce them. Under these circum- stances, he applied for aid to the British Eesident at Delhi (1830). The aid was promised under a misappre- hension. But the British Government interfered, and informed the Eesident that military aid should never be given to native states for the suppression of internal disturbances, except under the specific authority of Government. The Government also expressed an opinion that the case was not one in which they were called upon to interfere. Meanwhile the squabbles between the Eajas of Bikanir and Jaisalmir continued. They had reached such a point in 1835 that a British officer was deputed to effect a reconciliation. His mission was happily attended with success. Both Eajas renounced their previous ill-will to each other, and entered into a pact of friendship. A disposition to border encroachments was, however, manifested by the Eaja in other quarters, especially in the direction of Hissar ; and it was not until strong means had been used that he desisted from his attempts. Eaja Eatan Singh died in 1852. He was succeeded by Sirdar Singh, the present chief. Sirdar Singh did good service in the mutinies, both by sheltering European fugitives and by co-operating against the rebels in the districts of Hansi and Hissar. As a reward for these services he received a grant of forty-one villages, which, some years before, had been declared to belong to the Sirsa district. He received, likewise, the right of adoption. Still the frontier outrages continued, and they pro- ceeded to such a length in the Jodhpur territory, that in 1861 the British Government was constrained to remind BIKANfR. 117 the Eaja of his treaty obligations. In the same year, too, CHAP. his misgovernment of the forty-one Sirsa villages ceded to - XIII> him for his services in the Mutiny, called for the inter- vention of the British Government. An inquiry before the Commissioner of Hissar showed that, whereas the total revenue demand against the villages between 1861 and 1867 had been 90,000 rupees, the Eaja's officials had exacted 2,00,000 rupees in excess of that sum. The Viceroy, upon this, addressed a letter to the Eaja, calling upon his Highness to maintain all concerned in the rights and privileges conferred upon them by the British Government, and to place an official of upright cha- racter in charge of the villages. I am not aware of anything that has occurred subse- quently in Bikanir calling for notice. The Eaja of Bikanir is entitled to a salute of seventeen guns. His territory lies in the Eajputana Desert, east of Bhawalpur. CHAPTEE XIV. JAISALMIE. AREA 12,252 sq. miles. POPULATION 73,700. KEVENUE 5,00,000 rupees. JAISALMIR was founded in the year 1156 by Jaisal, Eawul or Prince of the Bhatis, a branch of the Yadii race, whose power was paramount in India 3,000 years ago. Aban- doning India, this tribe, led by the ancestors of Jaisal, is said to have settled in Merve. Migrating thence, they conquered Afghanistan, making Ghizni their capital. Expelled thence by the King of Khorassan (supposed to have been Antiochus IV., the Great), they settled in and colonised the Punjab, and founded the city of Salabhana, 1 1 Colonel Tod thinks, and it ap- Salabhana and Lahore may have pears to me with some reason, that been one and the same place; at all 118 THE NATIVE STATES OF INDIA. PAKT Driven from the Punjab by the King of Ghizni, 1 they fled ^__^_ to the great Indian desert. There they intermarried with the ruling family of Amirkot, and subsequently with that of Jhalor. They then built a fortress in the desert, which they called Tanot, and made it their capital (A.D. 731). Tanot remained the capital of the Bhati tribe until, about the year 840, it was taken and sacked by the neighbouring clans, and all the people found in it put to the sword. The remnant that escaped under their Kawul, Deoraj, managed, by a cunning device, to build another fortress, which, after himself, he named Deorawal. This prince restored the fortunes of the family, conquering Lodorva, capital of the Lodra Eajputs, and making it his own. His sixth descendant, Jaisal, considering that city open to invasion, built another ten miles from it, which on completion he called Jaisalmir, and transferred to it the royal residence (1156). This city still retains its pre- eminence, and has given its own name to the country. Jaisal survived this event twelve years. I propose to give little more than the names of those of his successors in their order whose exploits do not seem to require special notice ; but every important event will be re- corded. Jaisal was succeeded by Salbahan, a successful warrior, but who was ousted during his absence by his son, Bijil. Salbahan was killed fighting against the Behichis. Bijil did not long survive him. His uncle, Kailan, followed and avenged his brother's death by defeating the Beluchis and slaying their leader. He governed prosperously for nineteen years. Chachick Deo, his son, succeeded in 1219, and ruled the country thirty-two years. His grandson, Karan, events that the intervening distance Salpura, may have been erected on could not have been great between the ruins of "Kampilanagri. the two cities. There is, he adds, a l The Bhatis had retaken Sangala, south of Lahore, near the Ghizni, and made it over to the pltars of Alexander, and a Sealkote. grandson of their prince, who be- Salbahanpore, or simply came a convert to Mahouiedauism. JAISALMIR. 119 followed, ruling twenty-eight years. Both these princes CHAP. were valiant and successful sovereigns. ,_!-- Of Lakhur Sen, who next mounted the throne, it is- recorded that c he was so great a simpleton that when the jackals howled at night, being told that it was from being cold, he ordered quilted dresses to be prepared for them. As the howling still continued, though he was assured his orders had been obeyed, he commanded houses to be built for the animals in the royal preserves.' He ruled only four years, and was replaced by his son, Pompal. But the temper of this prince was so violent that his nobles combined to dethrone him, replacing him by Jaetsi, the elder brother of Eawul Karan, and whose claims had been set aside in deference to the death-bed wishes of Eawul Chachick. Jaetsi reigned eighteen years. In the course of these his capital Jaisalmir was subjected to a siege from the troops of the Emperor AHa-u-din Khilji, 1 in revenge for some marauding carried on by his grandson. The siege, it is stated, had lasted eight years when Eawul Jaetsi died. On the accession of his son, Miilraj, the attacks of the besiegers increased in fury, and, though they were repulsed, the blockade became more strict than before. So great was the distress of the inhabitants, that the Eawul meditated sacrificing all the females of the place, and dying with honour on the field of battle. This plan was, in effect, ultimately carried out. Twenty-four thousand females were sacrificed by fire or the sword, then the men arming themselves, rushed on the foe, and, inflicting great slaughter, were destroyed to a man. The only survivors were the two nephews of Eawul Mulraj and a small force in the field commanded by Deoraj, son of Mul- raj, who was soon afterwards carried off by fever (1295). The Moslem garrison occupied Jaisalmir for two years, when they abandoned it. Some years later the 1 Not as stated by the annalist; Alla-ii-din Ghori, who lived about a century earlier. 120 THE NATIVE STATES OF INDIA. Eahtors of Mehwo caine and settled in the ruins, but they were driven out by the remnant of the Bhatis, led on by Diidii, son of Jesur, who was elected Bawul. Dudii had the imprudence, however, to carry off the horses of the King of Delhi whilst they were being watered at a lake. In consequence, Jaisalmir was again attacked, and sub- mitted to a sacrifice as horrible in all its details as that which preceded it (1306). Meanwhile the two nephews of Eawul Miilraj had been taken to Delhi. By good service rendered there, the elder, Garsi, obtained a grant of his hereditary dominions, with permission to re-establish Jaisalmir. With his own kindred, and the aid of the vassals of his friend, Jagrnal of Mehwo, he repaired thither, soon restored order, and established a sufficient force. He was, however, assassinated by the partisans of the relatives of Diidii, son of Jesur. His brother Kehur succeeded him, and by his consent the widow of Garsi settled the descent to the throne in the family of Hamir, their cousin, grandson of Eawul Miilraj. The next eight generations may be briefly passed over. They were represented by the Ea wills Kailem, Chachick De'o, Bersi, Jait, Nunkarn, Bhim, and Muno- hurdas, under whom the country became not only re- settled, but increased in extent. Munohurdds, the last- named, who had murdered his nephew, the son of his predecessor, Bhim, was succeeded by Sabal Singh, the fourth in descent from Eawul Niinkarn. When he ascended the throne the dependencies of Jaisalmir ex- tended on the north to the Garah Eiver, on the west to the Indus ; on the east and south they were bounded by Bikanir and Mdrwar. Sabal Singh first diminished them by presenting a feudatory l of Mar war with the city and domain of Pokurn, which have since remained severed from Jaisalmir. Amra Singh, son of Sabal, succeeded. He cleared 1 The feudatory in question had been sent by the Raja of Marwar to place Sabal Singh on the throne. JAISALMfR. 121 his country from robbers, and, anticipating an attack CHAP. planned upon him by the Eaja of Bikanir, completely v XL ?' frustrated his designs. He died in 1702, and was followed by Jeswant Singh. The reign of this Eawul was unfortunate. Three districts, Piigul, Barmair, arid Filodi, and other towns and territories were wrested from him by the Eahtors, and the territory bordering the Garah on the north by Daod Khan, an Afghan chief from Shikarpiir. After his death ensued a contest for the throne between the brother and sons of the deceased prince. Ultimately this was decided in favour of the eldest son, Akhi Singh, who reigned forty years. He, too, lost another portion of his dominions, De6rawal and all the tract of Khadal, to the son of Ddod Khan, the founder of Bhawalpiir. Miilraj succeeded him (1762). The unhappy choice of a minister by this Eawul completed the demoralisation of the Bhati principality. This man, named Sariip Singh, in the gratification of his animal desires, had deeply offended the nobles and the Crown Prince, Eai Singh. He was cut down by the latter in his father's presence. Then ensued a state of anarchy, the nobles wishing to depose Miilraj and to substitute Eai Singh, the latter steadily refusing. It ended by Eai Singh and his par- tisans going into exile. But the Eawul Miilraj waited until Salim Singh, son of his slaughtered favourite, Sariip Singh, should be old enough to manage affairs. He then made him minister. Salirn Singh would appear to have been the very incarnation of evil, to have united the subtlety of the serpent to the ferocity of the tiger. He is described as having been in person effeminate, in speech bland ; pliant and courteous in his demeanour ; promising without hesitation, and with all the semblance of sincerity, what he never had the most remote intention to fulfil. He was a signal instance of the fact of the inadequacy of religious professions, though of a severe character, as a 122 THE NATIVE STATES OF INDIA. PART restraint upon moral conduct, for he was most devout > -,:_. amongst the devout. It happened that the nobles exiled with Eai Singh had waylaid this man on his return from a mission to Jodhpiir, but their hearts softening to his entreaties, had allowed him to depart uninjured. As a return for this kindness, he had the nobleman who had been mainly instrumental in saving him, poisoned ; he then dealt to his own brother and his wife, ' who knew too much,' the same fate ; he had the castle in which the heir apparent, Eai Singh, and his wife were dwelling, fired at a time when it was impossible for them to escape, and they were burnt to death ; their children he confined at Eamgurh, a remote corner of the desert, and there had them poisoned. He then declared Guj Singh, the third son of the third son of Mulraj, to be heir apparent. The other sons and grandsons of the Eawul saved themselves by flight. But the measure of Salim's atrocities was not completed by these acts. He put to death all those whose talent he had any reason to fear. The town of Jaisalmir was depopu- lated by his cruelty, and the trade of the country greatly interfered with by his harsh and unscrupulous measures. It was during the reign of Eawul Mulraj that Jaisal- mir first came under the protection of the British. The Eawul would gladly have accepted the British protection in 1808, but the policy which limited the British ascen- dency to the territories east of the Jumna prevented the formation of an alliance with him. In 1818, however, a treaty was concluded by which the state was guaranteed to the posterity of Eawul Mulraj ; he was to be protected from serious invasions and dangers to his state, provided the cause of the quarrel was not attributable to him ; and he was to act in subordination to the British Government. No tribute was demanded. 1 Two years later Eawul Mulraj died, and was suc- ceeded by his grandson, Guj Singh. This prince was 1 Aitohison's Treaties. JAISALMIR. 123 fitted, from his years, his past seclusion, and the examples which had occurred before his eyes, to be the submissive pageant Salim Singh required. He was isolated by his minister from the rest of mankind, except from the creatures in Salim's pay, whose duty it was to watch and report every word and every gesture. 1 Guj Singh was a minor when he ascended the throne. For the four years that Salim Singh yet survived, that minister continued his career of cruelty, extortion, and misgovernment. It was this that led to those raids on the Bikanir frontier, which caused the embroilments I have related in my account of that state. In the same spirit he constantly urged, in the name of his master, claims to territories possessed by other chiefs, and even threatened a visit to Calcutta to urge them. The Eawul was then, however, distinctly informed that it was im- possible, consistently with the engagements subsisting with other states, to attend to claims to territories possessed by those states. In 1824 an attempt was made to assassinate the minister. Salim Singh was so persuaded that the assassin had been instigated by the Eawul, that he sent off his family to his own jaghir. The same year he died, in the conviction, however, that he had fixed for ever the office of minister in his own family ! So firmly was the interest of this man established in the capital, that on his death his eldest son was appointed to the office, in conjunction with a younger son by a different mother, the favourite wife of the father. The eldest son, however, discovering, or pretending to dis- cover, a criminal connection between that lady and her confidential servant, put both to death. For this act Eawul Guj Singh, who had attained his majority, impri- soned him. His partisans rallied in his favour, but as the Eawul was firm, and the British Government declined to 1 Tod's Itajasthan. 124 THE NATIVE STATES OF INDIA. PART interfere with the just authority of the chief of the state, ,_-,!_, the tumult subsided. Subsequently the Eawul took the administration into his own hands, and by measures of a just and conciliatory nature gained great popularity with his people. It was by his tact arid judgment that the way to a pacification and good understanding with Bikanir was made easy. Nor was he ever other than a good friend to the British. His exertions, indeed, to supply the British army of the Indus (1838-9) with camels were such as to elicit the special thanks of the Government of India. In 1844, after the conquest of Sindh, the forts of Shagar, Garsia, and Gatura, which in bygone days had been wrested from Jaisalmir, were restored to that state. These forts were given over by Mir Ali Murad by order of the British Government, but no sunnud appears to have been given to the Eawul on that occasion. 1 Guj Singh died in 1846 without male issue. His widow adopted Eanjit Singh, who received, in 1862, a formal sunnud guaranteeing the right of adoption. He died in 1864 without leaving an heir. The widow of Eanjit Singh adopted his brother, Bairi Sal. The young prince, however, who was only fifteen years old, refused to take his seat on the throne, giving as a reason that he thought he should never be happy as ruler of Jaisalmir. In consideration of his youth, the British Government allowed the question to remain in abeyance, and the installation to be deferred, affairs being, meanwhile, administered by his father, Thakur Kaisri Singh. But in October of the following year (1865) the young prince had* outgrown his scruples. He was then installed as Maha Eawul by the Governor-General's agent, his father, whose administration had given satis- faction to the people, continuing as minister. The Maha Eawul of Jaisalmir is entitled to a salute of fifteen guns. His territories lie south-west of Bikanir. 1 Aitchison's Treaties. 125 CHAPTEE XV. SIROHf. AREA 3,000 sq. miles. PopuLATiON^-55,000. REVENUE 80,900 rupees. THIS territory is bounded on the north by Jodhpur ; on CHAP. the north-east by Godwar ; on the east by Mewar ; and <~J^'_ on the south by the state of which Barodah is the capital. It is separated by the Arawali range from the table lands of Mewar. Sirohi is the one domain in Eajputana which main- tained its independence, acknowledging the suzerainty of neither Mogul, Eahtor, nor Marhata. Euled over by men boasting descent from the Chohan Eajputs, Thakurs as well as Eao, the Bhils, Minas, and Grdsias, who in- habited the country, lived a life of lawlessness and licence amongst their native hills. That life they called liberty, and as such they clung to it. Attacked repeatedly by the Eajas of Jodhpur, they never acknowledged themselves conquered. Wild, and savage, and free, as they were at the beginning, so did they continue to the end. But a time arrived at last when dissension came to weaken them. In the beginning of this century, their Eao, from master and sovereign, became tyrant and oppressor. His name was Udibanji. Such a transformation was not to be borne by the free Thakurs of the hills. Several broke out in revolt, and transferred, their allegiance to more genial lords. Those that remained acted as became a people who loved liberty. Their prince had betrayed his trust and oppressed them. In return they deposed and imprisoned him. To act as regent during his life- time they nominated another. This other was no alien ; he was the brother to the deposed Eao. Sheo Singh by name. TJdibanji, upon this, sent messengers to Jodhpur, 126 THE NATIVE STATES OF INDIA. PAKT to implore the intervention of Baja Maun Singh. Nothing . I - could be more agreeable to Maun Singh. He and his predecessors had long claimed suzerainty over Sirohi, though they had been forced to content themselves with its verbal assertion. They had never been able to en- force it. But now, with a Deora prince, the rightful claimant to the chieftainship, to welcome them, success seemed certain. An expedition was ordered. It marched ; it entered the Sirohi territory, and it retired baffled, beaten, and humiliated. The sons of the hills had been too strong for the invader. "Odibanji remained a prisoner, and died in confinement. But the invasion had been a formidable one, and the danger had been great. The princes of tldaipur, Jodh- piir, and Barodah, the nearest neighbours of the Sirohi chief, lived under the protection of the new paramount power, the British. The value of the protection thus afforded to small states had been felt even in Bajputana. Amir Khan had ceased to desolate, the Pindaris to ravage. Every chief who had accepted it had been a gainer ; he had had his possessions secured to him ; and, in more than one instance notably in that of Amir Khan a suc- cessful and faithless marauder had developed into a pattern sovereign, given to piety and devoted to priests ! The advantages were so patent that the Eegent, Sheo Singh, hastened to ask them for his small principality. They were granted. A treaty was concluded with the British Government, September 11, 1823, by which the regent acknowledged British supremacy, agreed to ab- stain from political intercourse with other chiefs, to govern in accordance with the advice of the British agent, to introduce an efficient administration, and to pay a tribute not exceeding three-eighths of the revenues. On its side the British Government extended its pro- tection to the state, guaranteed the succession to the heirs of tFdibanji, should any of them survive Sheo Singh, and reserved to itself the right of regulating the transit duties. smoiii. 127 tldibanji having died without issue in 1847, Sheo Singh CHAP. was acknowledged as Eao, and his son as heir apparent. --^ - Various circumstances, however, had combined to render the administration of the country at this period a matter of some difficulty. The invasion of Maun Singh, though repulsed, had disquieted the minds of the Thakurs or barons, and some of them felt inclined to strike for in- dependence. Others had fallen off in the reign of tldi- banji. To quell their rebellion, the Eao was compelled to raise a force, and to raise a force he had to borrow from the protecting power. A loan of a lakh and a half of rupees was accordingly made him, and a body of troops was sent by the British against the wild Minas, who supported his most powerful vassal. Subsequently, by the mediation of the British Government, order was restored, and it was arranged that the Thakurs who had 'rebelled subsequently to the deposition of tldibanji should return to their allegiance. In 1845 the Eao made over to the British some lands on Mount Abu, for the establishment of a sanitarium. The grant was fettered by several conditions, one of which was that no kine should be killed. The Eao has always refused to cancel this condition. In 1854, the state, at the earnest request of the Eao, was taken under direct British management. The debt was then about two lakhs of rupees. It was soon found that the tribute, 30,000 rupees, was very much out of proportion to the total revenues of the state, 80,000 rupees, and it was reduced by one-half. The state was under British management in 1857, when the Mutiny broke out. The Eao evinced on this occasion a most friendly disposition towards the paramount power, and as an acknowledgment of this his tribute was again halved, and reduced to 7,500 rupees. In 1861, the Eao, Sheo Singh, being stricken in years, made over the government to his son, timed Singh, he retaining, however, the honours and dignities of office. 128 THE NATIVE STATES OF INDIA. PART jj e di e( j t ] ie same y ear> ]^ u m &[ Singh still continued ' r ' to be assisted by the British political agent, but in 1865, the debt having been entirely liquidated, the agent was withdrawn. The early years of the rule of this chief were dis- turbed by the rebellion of his three brothers, who were dissatisfied with the provision made for them by their father ; but they were subsequently pacified. Since that period nothing of importance has occurred. Some correspondence did indeed take place on the sub- ject of the extradition of criminals claimed by other states, and it was ruled by the British Government that the Eao was bound to comply with all such demands. The Eao of Sirohi has been allowed the right of adop- tion. He is entitled to a salute of fifteen guns. CHAPTEE XVI. DONGARPtJR. AREA 1,000 sq. miles. POPULATION 100,000. REVENUE 75,000 rupees. CHAP. THIS little state is bounded on the north and east by ^ tJdaipiir ; on the south-east by Banswara ; on the south and south-west by the Mahi Kanta districts. The chief or Eawul of Dongarpiir claims to represent a senior branch of the house of "Odaipiir. His ancestors, from the time of Akbar, were dependents of the Moguls ; and on the break-up of their empire after the death of Aurangzib they fell into the hands of the Marhatas, by whom they were ground down and oppressed. The state was rescued from this bondage in 1818, by accepting the protection of the British power, in return for which it transferred from Dhar the tribute of 35,000 rupees it had annually paid to that power. DOXGARPUR. 13 By a separate arrangement a sum of 35,000 rupees CIIAP. was paid in lieu of all arrears, and the annual amount of the tribute was proportionally diminished, until, after the expiration of three years, it should arrive at its maxi- mum of Company's rupees, 27,387. From some old records of this state it was ascertained in 1819 that the revenues had greatly decreased in more recent times, and it was hoped they might be restored to their pristine elasticity ; but these hopes have not been realised. In 1824, in consequence of internal commotions, some of the Thakurs having called in the aid of the Bhils to assist them in their claims against the Eawul, it became necessary to invoke the aid of the British Government. Troops were promised ; but the requisition was sufficient. The Thakurs returned to their allegiance, and the troops to their quarters. The commotions alluded to were due in a great measure to the character of the Eawul, Jeswant Singh, a man incompetent as a ruler, and addicted to the lowest and most degrading vices. For his incompetency and mal- administration he was deposed in 1825, and his adopted son, Kour Dalpat Singh, grandson of Sawant Singh, chief of Partabgarh, was made regent. But under the rule of this chief the resources of the state deteriorated, and he found himself unable to manage his Thakurs. Under these circumstances he applied in 1831 for some assistance from the British Government to enable him to curb the undue pretensions of the refrac- tory chiefs, and to reduce them to their normal condition of lords rendering loyal service to the Eawul. In reply, the British Government informed him that they looked to the ruler of each independent state to adopt such mea- sures as might be necessary to maintain his own power, and to preserve general tranquillity. British troops were, however, occasionally employed K 130 THE NATIVE STATES OF INDIA. PART to assist the regent in repressing the Bhils and other ._ L , plunderers. In 1844, the death of his grandfather, chief of Par- tabgarh, left Dalpat Singh heir to that state. The question then arose whether it might not be possible to unite the two states under one ruler. The Thakurs of Dongarpiir, however, showed themselves greatly averse to such a union, and it was not insisted upon. Finally, it was agreed that Dalpat Singh should be allowed to adopt a successor for Dongarpiir, and take up his own fief of Partabgarh. The boy he adopted, the son of the Thakur of Sabli, being a minor, it was decided that, while ruler at Partabgarh, he should continue at the same time to be regent of Dongarpiir. This arrangement was apparently not agreeable to the late Eawul, Jeswant Singh, for he made an attempt to recover his authority and to adopt as heir the child of another family. He was, however, unsuccessful, and, as a penalty, was removed to Mathura, with an allowance of 1,200 rupees per annum. The double government, as it may be called, though the term is scarcely accurate, was not a success. Dongar- piir had been badly administered whilst her ruler resided in the capital. She fared worse when he lived at Par- tabgarh. Maladministration was, however, endured for eight years, but then becoming quite unbearable, the affairs of Dongarpiir were removed from the hands of Dal- pat Singh, and placed in those of a native agent appointed by the British Government. The Eawul, Udai Singh, has subsequently attained his majority and has assumed the administration of affairs. The chief of Dongarpiir has been guaranteed the right of adoption. He is entitled to a salute of fifteen guns. 131 BAXSWARA. AREA 1,500 sq. miles. POPULATION 150,000. KEVENUE 300,000 rupees. 1 THIS territory is bounded on the north by Dongarpiir and CHAP. TJdaipiir ; on the north-east and east by Partabgarh ; on <-^- the south by the dominions of Holkar, and on the west by a portion of Gujrat. The Eawuls of Banswara are of the same stock as the Bands of tJdaipiir, of whose country Banswara at one time formed a part. They are, in fact, descended from a younger brother of. the founder of Dongarpiir, and their adherents and subjects are composed of the same classes Bajpiit Thakurs, and a large proportion of Bhils as are those of that state. Like Dongarpiir, too, Banswara suffered from the successive tyrannies of the Moguls and Marhatas, . the latter of whom exercised an enormous amount of oppression in the country. The rise of the British power seemed to offer to the rulers and ruled a good opportunity of ridding themselves of these ma- rauders. Accordingly in 1812, the Eawul of Banswara pro- posed to become a tributary to the British Government on the sole condition that the Marhatas should be ex- pelled. He engaged in fact to pay the British Govern- ment three- eighths of the revenue of his country in return for aid to expel the armies of Sindhia, Holkar, and Dhar. The Eesident at Barodah, to whom this offer was made, referred the envoy to the Kesident at Delhi. To him, therefore, the envoy was accredited, and though no steps were taken at the moment, yet five years later, the envoy, acting on the same credentials, concluded a treaty on the terms before offered, viz., the payment of three- eighths of the revenues in return for British protection (September, 1818). 1 Of this sum the feudatories, thirty-three in number, receive 1,10,000 rupees. 132 THE NATIVE STATES OF INDIA. PART The Eawul, however, whose name was Timed Singh, ~_ L _^ either thinking that the time of danger had passed away, or that the terms, though of his own offering, were too exorbitant, refused to ratify the treaty. The British Government insisted that it was binding, but as in the meanwhile they had concluded with Dhar a treaty which transferred to them .the tribute theretofore paid to that state by Dongarpiir and Banswara, they were not un- willing to revise the agreement. Accordingly negotiations were reopened, and a new treaty signed (November 25, 1818). By this the Eawul engaged, in return for British protection and a promise to assist himself, his heirs, and successors against any relatives or connections who might prove refractory, to pay to the British Government all arrears of tribute due to Dhar or any other state, and, annually, whatever tribute the British Government might deem adequate to cover the expenses of protection, pro- vided it did not exceed three-eighths of the revenues. Subsequently all arrears for tribute were limited to 35,000 rupees, and the annual payment settled at a sliding scale for three years, to be eventually fixed at 35,000 rupees, which is rather more than one-sixth of the present net revenue. Up to the year 1824 Banswara continued to be subject to raids of Bhils and other plunderers who made inroads from the neighbouring jungles. In that year, however, a great effort was made to put an end to this organised system of robbery. The effort was successful, and since that time Banswara has enjoyed much internal tranquillity. The effect of the suppression of these raids was shown in the rapid rise of the revenue subsequently to 1824. It was reported by the political agent that the rise would have been even more rapid but for the vices and mis- conduct of the Eawul and his favourite minister. The excesses of these men gradually led to their natural consequences. By 1835 the tribute due to the British Government had fallen considerably into arrear, BANSWARA. 133 the money intended to pay it Laving been spent in de~ CHAP. bauchery by the Eawul, Bhowani Singh, son of the Timed > X \ Im .- Singh who signed the treaty of 1818, and by his minister. It needed the strongest arguments on the part of the British agent to remedy this state of things. Eemon- strances were useless, and it was only when the inevit- able result of persistence in conduct so discreditable was pointed out to the Eawul, that he agreed to dismiss his minister. Arrangements were then made to liquidate the arrears. Bhowani Singh did not long survive the dismissal of his favourite. He left no male heir, but the chiefs, with the concurrence of the political agent, adopted the noble whose claims were best founded, Bahadur Singh. On his death, without issue, the present ruler, Latchman Singh, was elected Eawul. The election was opposed by Maun Singh, Thakur of Khandii, who conceived that his own son had preferable claims, but he eventually withdrew his opposition on receiving a remission of 1,300 rupees a year from the tribute due by him to Banswara. The Eawul of Banswara has been granted the right of adoption. He is entitled to a salute of fifteen guns. PARTABGARH. AREA 1,460 sq. miles. POPULATION 150,000. REVENUE 2,62,400 rupees. 1 THE state of Partabgarh is bounded on the north and north-west by tldaipur ; on the east by Mundisur, Jaora, and Eatlam ; and on the south-east by Banswara. The Eaja of Partabgarh is "descended from a junior branch of the family of tfdaipur. The ancestors of the reigning prince were officers of the Delhi emperors ; and one of them, Salim Singh, was so great a favourite with 1 From this has been deducted 200,000 rupees enjoyed by the feu- datories of the state. ]34 THE NATIVE STATES OF INDIA. Mahomed Shah, that he granted him permission to coin money in his own name. He accordingly founded a mint in Partabgarh, from which rupees called Salim Shahi rupees still continue to be struck off. These rupees are of less value than those of the British currency, the propor- tion being nearly five to four. On the break-up of the Mogul empire the Eaja, Sawant Singh, son of Salim Singh, became tributary to Holkar. He attempted to release himself from those shackles in 1804, and actually made for the purpose a treaty, by which he accepted British protection, and trans- ferred to the British Government the tribute theretofore due to Holkar. This treaty, however, having been dis- solved by the policy of Lord Cornwallis, Partabgarh was doomed to suffer, fourteen years longer, the exactions of the Marhatas. But, in 1818, that policy was revoked, and in common with the other states of Eajpiitana, Par- tabgarh was then taken under British protection, the tribute, amounting now to 56,887 rupees per annum, being paid to the British, but accounted for by them to Holkar. Between the years 1823 and 1826 much confusion and ill-feeling was excited in Partabgarh by the differ- ences between the Eaja Sawant Singh and his son and heir, Kour Dip Singh. Some years before the Eaja had entrusted to his son the administration of the affairs of the territory. But the Kour, having wantonly put to death certain persons who were obnoxious to him, the British Government insisted upon his removal from office and banishment. He was accordingly removed, and ordered to reside at a place called Deolah. Kour Dip Singh went to his place of exile unwillingly, but finding it even more disagreeable than he had antici- pated, he stayed there only a few months and then re- turned to the capital. There his conduct became so out- rageous and threatening that it became necessary to call in British troops to escort the Kour to the fort of Kernora, PARTABGARH. 135 There he died on May 21, 1826. Meanwhile the old Eaja, Sawant Singh, who had virtually abdicated in favour of the Kour about twenty years before, resumed office ; but before his son's death he pardoned him and petitioned the British Government for his release. His prayer would have been complied with but he had paid the debt of nature before the sanction of the British Govern- ment could be acted upon. The infirm state of the Eaja prevented his paying to the affairs of state the attention which they required. Consequently they fell into disorder. The confusion was increased by the carelessness of the Bhils, Thugs, and other marauding and murdering classes. By British in- tervention, however, a successful blow was struck at their depredations. The only grandson of Eaja Sawant Singh, Dalpat Singh, had been adopted, in 1825, into the Dongarpur family. When, therefore, Sawant Singh died, in 1844, he left, according to the strict Hindu law, no real heir. It was arranged, however, as I have stated in the account of Dongarpur, after some discussion, that Dalpat Singh should succeed his natural grandfather at Partabgarh, and act also as regent for Dongarpur during the minority of a newly-adopted ruler to that state. At the end of eight years this arrangement was found so inconvenient that Dalpat Singh thenceforth confined himself to Partabgarh. The Eaja of Partabgarh has been granted the right of adoption. He is entitled to a salute of fifteen guns. 13G THE NATIVE STATES OF INDIA. PART IL-CENTBAL INDIA AND MALWA. CHAPTEE L GWAL1AR, OB THE DOMINIONS OF SINDHIA. AREA 33,000 sq. miles. POPULATION 2,500,000. KEVENTJE 93,10,000 rupees. PART THE founder of the family which now rules the state of _ IL _. which Gwaliar is the capital was Eanoji Sindhia. Of the origin of the family there are two accounts. Sir John Malcolm states that they were Sudras of the tribe of Kumbi, or cultivators, and he thus describes the rise of the man who first made it famous : ' Eanoji Sindhia,' he writes, 1 ' the first who became eminent as a soldier, had succeeded to his hereditary office of Headman, or Patel. of Kumerkerrah, in the district of Wye, before he was taken into the service of the Peshwa Ballaji Bishwanath, after whose death he continued in that of his son Bajirao Bullal. The humble employment of Eanoji was to carry the Peshwa's slippers ; but being near the person of the chief minister of an empire in any capacity is deemed an honour in India. The frequent instances of rapid rise from the lowest to the highest rank led men of respecta- bility to seek such stations ; and it is probable that am- bition, not indigence, influenced the principal officer of a village to become, in the first instance, the menial servant of Ballaji Bishwanath. Eanoji 's advancement, however, 1 Centrallndia, vol. i. p. 110. 138 THE NATIVE STATES OF INDIA. PART courage, talent, and birth. Eanoji, moreover, must j ^ , have been a near relation of one of the Eaja Sahu's wives or princesses, and would, therefore, hardly be allowed to stand in the capacity of a domestic to the Peshwa, who was himself only the minister, or servant of Sahii.' However this may be, it is certain that Eanoji was a man to make the most of his opportunities. He first attracted attention in 1725, when he was regarded as one of the most daring leaders of the Marhata host. In 1736, at Delhi, he contributed greatly to the defeat of a body of 8,000 Mahomedan horse, who had sallied out to attack the Marhata army. Two years later, in the campaign against Nizam-ul-Mulk, he was one of the three principal officers who led the Marhatas into action, and to whose efforts the successful result of the campaign, viz. the first foundation of the three states of Sindhia, Holkar, and Puar, was mainly due. In 1743, his character caused him to be selected as one of the securi- ties for the observance of the treaty between the Peshwa and the Emperor Mahomed Shah. On this occasion he publicly declared that should the Peshwa not observe his contract he would quit his service. Nearly half the conquests achieved by the Marhatas in Hindostan had been made over to Eanoji for the sup- port of his troops. On his death, about 1750, he was in possession of half Malwa, and enjoyed a personal income of about sixty-five and a half lakhs of rupees. Eanoji left three legitimate sons, Jyapa, Duttaji, and Juttabah. Of these the first was murdered at Nagpiir, in 1759, by emissaries of the Eaja of Jodhpiir; Duttaji was killed in action on the plain of Eudber, near Delhi, and Juttabah died at Kamber, near Dig. But he had besides two illegitimate sons, Tukaji and Madhaji. Of these Tukaji * did not survive his father; but Madhaji lived to establish one of the most powerful and lasting native monarchies of Hindostan. But Mad- 1 Grant Duff states lie was slain at Panipat. GWALIAR. 139 liaji did not immediately succeed to the chiefship of the clan. His nephew, Jankaji, who was the son of Jyapa, be - came after his father's death in 1759, its recognised repre- sentative. But at the fatal battle of Panipat, January 6, 1761, Jankaji was taken prisoner and put to death. From that terrible overthrow Madhaji escaped, though at the cost of a wound which rendered him lame for life. Arriving at Puna, alone and unattended, he at once made an application to the Peshwa to be recognised as the chief of his father's house, and the inheritor of his jaghir. After much opposition offered by the Peshwa's uncle, Eagonath Eao, the claims of Madhaji were admitted. From this moment his rise was rapid though not easy. He had to meet and overcome all those obstacles, rather harassing than really formidable, which jealous mediocrity invariably seeks to cast in the way of a man whose ability and ambition are clearly recognised. But Madhaji was equal to every occasion. Appointed general of one of the divisions of the army sent by the Peshwa into Malwa in 1764, to recover the prestige lost at Panipat, Madhaji took advantage of the many opportunities which presented themselves to establish himself firmly in the country north of the Narbadci. He is described by Sir John Malcolm as being, a little subsequent to this period, ' the nominal slave but rigid master of the unfortunate Shah Alum, Emperor of Delhi ; the pretended friend, but the designing rival of the house of Holkar, the professed inferior in all matters of form, but the real superior and oppressor of the Eajput princes of Central India ; and the proclaimed soldier, but the actual plunderer of the family of the Peshwa.' In 1766 Madhaji returned to Puna. Here his nomi- nal employment was that of commandant of the house- hold troops of the Peshwa, but the real influence of his strong practical character was almost irresistible. He used it on this occasion to support the claims of Ahalya J3ai, widow of the deceased representative 'of the house 140 THE NATIVE STATES OF INDIA. of Holkar, to inherit the family possessions. When we come, in the history of that house, to notice the immense benefits conferred upon it by the administration of that illustrious lady, we shall perhaps be inclined to dissent somewhat from the opinion already quoted, that Madhaji was the designing ' rival ' of the house of Holkar. In 1769, Madhaji commanded one of the divisions of the army sent by the Peshwa under Visaji Krishna against Northern India. Of this expedition Madhaji was the soul. It was due to the plan of operations advised by him, that the Mogul Emperor, Shah Alum, was in- duced to throw himself into the arms of the Marhatas. It was under his escort that the emperor re-entered his capital in December 1771. That accomplished, the Marhatas conquered nearly the whole of Kohilkhand, and established in that part of India a footing so firm that it was never seriously contested till they were driven from it thirty years later by Lord Lake. The death of the Peshwa Madho Bao in the following year, recalled Madhaji to Puna. The new Peshwa, Narain Bao, did not long enjoy his honours, and then the mantle fell on the restless Bagonath Bao, the enemy of Madhaji. This latter, however, seeing that Bagonath Bao had enough upon his hands to occupy all his thoughts, employed the following two years in con- solidating his power. This accomplished, he in concert with Tiikaji Holkar, suddenly declared against Bagonath, whose imprudence was already imperilling the Marhata empire. In the contest which followed, Madhaji first came in contact with the English, who had espoused the cause of Bagonath Bao. His first operations were eminently successful. He compelled the troops, commanded by Colonel Cockburn, with Mr. Carnac as his adlatus, 1 to retreat with great loss, to destroy their heavy guns and 1 These officers and Colonel into the snare, were dismissed the Egerton, who had led the army service. GRA^T DUFF. GWALIAR. 141 burn their stores, and finally, lie forced upon them at CHAP. Wargaum the most disgraceful treaty ever signed in India , T ; , by a British commander. The effect on Madhaji's career was marvellous. In no country is prestige more powerful than in India, and Wargaum had given Madhaji prestige. Thenceforth with the Marhatas, as with his own countrymen, his influence was unbounded. The arrival of General Goddard somewhat changed the aspect of affairs. But even in his contest with this general, Madhaji proved his right to be considered a com- mander of no ordinary ability. More acute than all his countrymen, he had thus early discerned in the English the capital enemy with whom the Marhatas would have to contest the empire of India, and he was unwilling to embark in such a contest, until he should have united all the native powers against their common foe. He felt that the contest was, for him, premature. He therefore used all his efforts to negotiate a peace. But Goddard was as far-sighted as Madhaji. It was necessary, he felt, to disarm so powerful an enemy with as little delay as pos- sible. With this view, he attempted, April 3, 1780, to surprise him at Barodah. But though actually taken by surprise, Madhaji drew off his forces with consummate skill and little loss. 1 A second attempt, made on the 19th of the same month, was even less successful, Madhaji skil- fully avoiding an action. By this line of conduct he effec- tually gained his end the prolongation of hostilities until after the commencement of the rainy season. He lost, however, almost immediately afterwards, the fortress of Gwaliar, then reputed impregnable, but which succumbed to the skill and daring of Captain Popham in August of that year, u nable to pursue his operations against Sindhia in the interior, Goddard transferred his operations to the coast, and laid siege to Bassein. On December 10 he 1 These details have already ap- Sindhia in Recreations of an Indian peared in a memoir on Madhaji Official, p. 373. 142 THE NATIVE STATES OF INDIA. PAKT defeated the Marhata force sent to relieve it, and the r- place surrendered on the following day. Other opera- tions, with varying fortunes, ensued, no great success, however, being obtained by the English, and their army on one occasion, April 23, 1781, suffering a decisive de- feat. These operations gave Madhaji the opportunity he coveted, of planting his own power firmly in Central India. General Goddard at last perceived that, by con- fining his attack upon the Marhata possessions to those districts farthest from the possessions of Sindhia, he was in reality playing the game of that ruler, who, whilst he was the mainstay of the Marhata power in the field, cared nothing regarding the nation at whose expense his own possessions were extended. A resolution was accord- ingly arrived at to attack Sindhia in his own territory. The attempt was first made by a British force under Lieutenant-Colonel Camac. The operations of Madhaji, on hearing of this movement, stamp him as a military genius of no common order. Learning that Colonel Camac's force was small, he resolved to overwhelm it be- fore it could be reinforced. He hastened at once, with a large body of troops, in the direction of Sipri, but, too late to save that place, he came up with Camac at Seronj, and surrounded him. The English force was reduced to great straits by famine. Added to this a cannonade of seven days' duration made considerable havoc in its ranks. Feeling that a further continuance in his position would inevitably lead to his destruction, Camac resolved to re- treat, having previously sent to the nearest division of British troops earnest requests for reinforcements. For seventeen days the retreat continued, our troops being followed up and harassed by Madhaji. But on the eighteenth day the Marhata chieftain, for the first time in his life, allowed himself to be completely outwitted. As the only means of escape, Colonel Camac, at the dead of night, on March 28, attempted to surprise his enemy. His movements were entirely successful. Madhaji was com- GWALIAR. 143 pletely defeated, and forced to give tip the pursuit, A CHAP. few days later, Colonel Camac was joined by a force < i under Colonel Muir. Madhaji, however, with the energy and spirit of a true Marhata, soon recovered from his mishap ; and, by his superiority in cavalry, he speedily reduced the English force to a state of inactivity. A few months later, Madhaji, perceiving that he had everything to lose from a contest carried on within his own territory, concluded a treaty with Colonel Muir, by which he bound himself to neutrality, agreed to exercise his good offices to bring about a general peace, recovered all his territory except the fortress of Gwaliar, and obtained from the English a promise to recross the Jumna. This treaty was concluded just at the right time for the interests of Madhaji. The Government of India was, for many reasons, anxious to conclude the war with the Marhatas, to prevent it from attaining the proportions of a deadly struggle for existence. The defection of Madhaji from the confederacy was hailed, therefore, by them with the liveliest satisfaction, and prepared them to show towards that chieftain a consideration such as, under other circumstances, would undoubtedly have been denied him. Nothing could have more advanced the views of Madhaji at this conjuncture than his recogni- tion by the English as an independent prince. Besides the great moral advantages flowing from that recog- nition, it would give him that of which he then stood greatly in need ; it would give him time : time to con- solidate his conquests, to give them a compact form, to gain for himself an independent footing amongst the several rulers of Hindostan ; time, moreover, to watch the opportunity for recovering, free from any interruption on the part of the English, the stolen fortress of Gwaliar. That fortress the English had made over, after its capture, to the Eana of Gohad, to be by him held solely on the condition of good behaviour. It required but a little arrangement on the part of Madhaji to bring about J44 THE XATIVE STATES OF INDIA. PART the apparent infraction of a condition so easy to set < ^ aside. But, before he attempted this, he had been a con- senting party to the treaty of Salbye, between the Peshwa and the English, which restored peace to every part of India but the Carnatic. Mr. Hastings was urged to the conclusion of this treaty by the doubtful fortunes of the struggle between Haider Ali and the coast army, and by the fear lest a man so ambitious as Madhaji might influ- ence the Marhata nation to cast in its lot with the great adventurer of Mysore. Nana Furnawis was anxious for peace, not less on account of the presence of English troops in the Marhata territories, than of jealousy of the increasing power of Madhaji ; whilst Madhaji himself, after long hesitation, after coquetting with Haider Ali and even obtaining the sanction of the Nana to a plan for the invasion of Bengal, came to the conclusion, for reasons already stated, that peace with the English would, for the moment, best advance his interests. The treaty of Salbye, whereby, in addition to the former territories secured by him, he obtained the cession of Bharoch, promised him after the capitulation of War- gaum, had scarcely been signed, when Madhaji had proof of the wisdom of the course he had followed. The si^na- o ture took place on May 17, 1782 ; the treaty was ratified on June 6 following, and was exchanged with the Peshwa on February 24, 1783. In the interval between the first signature and the final exchange, events had oc- curred at Delhi which opened out to Madhaji Sindhia a prospect, the realisation of which had ever been one of his fondest hopes, and had, nearly twenty years earlier, led to the campaign which ended on the fatal field of Panipat. Ever since the retreat of the Marhatas to their own country in 1773, the imperial government had been carried on under the auspices of Mirza JSFajaf Khan, the leader of the anti-Eohilla party in the state. His rule GWAL1AR. 145 146 THE NATIVE STATES OF INDIA. PAET power and the right to exercise it. From this period till r - the defeat of the armies of Daolat Rao Sindhia, by Lord Lake, in 1802, the imperial districts of Northern India were some brief intervals alone excepted administered and governed by the Marhatas, acting in the name of the imprisoned emperor. For the five years following Madhaji's assumption of power at Delhi, he was engaged in a continuous struggle to maintain it. It was scarcely to be supposed that the Mahomedan factions would acquiesce tamely in his ele- vation. The country, moreover, was exhausted, and the necessity for raising a certain amount from its inhabitants did not increase his popularity. The Rajputs, the Jats, the Sikhs, and some of his own followers, too, disputed his supremacy. Yet Madhaji was resolved not lightly to resign the imperial power. He enlisted two battalions of regular infantry under a foreign adventurer, named De Boigne, and as opportunity offered he largely increased this force and added greatly to its efficiency. He improved likewise the irregular troops, enlisting amongst them not only Rajputs, but Mahomedans, and organising them on the basis of a disciplined army. His own energy and force of character not only inspired his men, but supplied even the losses occasioned by the treachery and misconduct of some of his adherents. Thus, after the battle of Jaipur, lost by the desertion of his regular infantry, Madhaji delayed not a moment in securing his strong places ; then, effecting a junction with a considerable force of Jats, he sent a fresh army into the field under Rana Khan and De Boigne. Though this army was defeated near Agra on April 24, 1788, Sindhia so far rallied it as to meet the enemy, and completely beat them on June 18 following. The Moguls, under the ferocious Ghulam Kadir, committed after this event those terrible atrocities upon the unhappy descen- dant of Timour and his family, as well as upon the inha- bitants of Delhi, which have made his name for ever infamous in history. His triumph was short-lived. On GW ALT All. 147 October 11 Delhi was occupied by liana Khan and De CHAP. Boigne, and a few days later Madhaji himself seated the v_ *' _- blinded Shah Alum on his recovered throne. His power and authority were subsequently confirmed and consoli- dated by a great victory obtained by his army on June 20, 1790, over Ismael Beg, the last remaining Mahomedan noble possessing sufficient power and influence to interfere with his ambitious views. A second victory over Ismael Beg's allies, the Eajpiits, was gained on September 12 the following year ; and Madhaji, sensible of the expediency of conciliating rather than driving to extremity that war- like people, granted them peace on easy terms. In the first war with Tippu, 1790-92, Madhaji took no part. He was strongly of opinion that complete vic- tory in such a contest would only be advantageous to the English, from whom a violent and persistent enemy would thus be removed, whilst the maintenance of Tippii at Mysore was by no means inconsistent with Marhata in- terests. He condemned, therefore, strongly the conduct of Nana Furnawis, in aiding the British on such an occasion. He continued, then and subsequently, to consolidate his own authority in Hindostan. to meet the open efforts of Tiikaji Holkar and the secret efforts of Nana Furnawis to overthrow him, and to prepare against any attack from the north-west, constantly threatened as it was by the grandson of the Abdalli. He found, however, in the course of time, that, having placed his dominions in Hindostan on a footing of tolerable security, the best, and indeed the only efficacious mode of thwarting his Marhata rivals was to proceed direct to Puna. Could he become the minister of the Peshwa, as well as the holder of the power of the Mogul, what a vista would open to him ! He would then wield a power such as neither Aurangzib nor Sivaji, with all their efforts, had ever attained. To un- seat Nana Furnawis, always plotting against him, and to occupy his place, became then the fixed and settled pur pose of his mind. For no lighter purpose would he have 1,2 148 THE NATIVE STATES OF INDIA. PART left his territories in Hindostan and Central India, the > -^ ' seat of his real power. But the end he proposed to him- self was so vast, so full of promise, so magnificent, that it seemed to him worth while to encounter even a danger- ous risk. He set out for Puna, and marching slowly, ready at any moment to retrace his steps, he reached that city on June 11, 1793. There was naturally an ostensible reason for his jour- ney. He was to invest the Peshwa with the insignia of the office of vicegerent of the Mogul empire, conferred upon him by the emperor. This he did, despite the secret opposition of Nana Furnawis, with great pomp and ceremony. His secret object, however, was to gain the young Peshwa, Madhii Eao Narain. This too, despite of the opposition, open as well as secret, he would, had he lived, undoubtedly have accomplished. Everything seemed to favour his purpose. Whilst at Puna he re- ceived intelligence of the complete defeat of the fast ad- herent and supporter of Nana Furnawis, Tiikaji Holkar a defeat by which the army of that rival chieftain was almost entirely destroyed ; he learned, too, of the cap- ture of Ismael Beg, his sole Mahomedan adversary. He found, in fact, that he wielded unchecked the whole power of Northern and Western, and a great part of Central Hindostan. The spirit of the young Peshwa, too, chafing under the austere guardianship of the Nana, in- clined more and more every day to the genial warrior, who encouraged him in his aspirations after the sports of the field and the pleasures of the chase. But it was not to be. At the very threshold of his fortunes, when success seemed within his grasp, Madhaji was attacked by fever and died. His death took place on February 12, 1794, in the vicinity of Puna. He had no children, nor had he made any adoption. He had, however, expressed a wish that his grand-nephew, Daolat Eao, grandson of his co-illegitimate brother, Tukaji, might succeed to his possessions ; and this wish, after GWALIAR. 149 some opposition on the part of his widow, was carried CHAP. into effect. . L . By the death of Madhaji Sindhia the Marhatas lost their ablest warrior and their most far-seeing statesman. In his life he had had two main objects: the one to found a kingdom, the other to prepare for the contest for em- pire with the English. In both, it may be said, he suc- ceeded. The kingdom he founded still lives ; and if the army which he formed on the European model was annihilated eight years after his demise by Lake and Wellesley, it had in the interval felt the loss of his guid- ing hand, as on the field it missed his inspiring presence. Had he lived, Sindhia would not have had to meet Lake and Wellesley alone ; Madhaji would have brought under one standard though in different parts of India the horsemen and French contingent of Tippii, the powerful artillery of the Nizam, the whole force of the Eajputs, and every spear which Marhata influence could have collected from Puna, from Indiir, from Barodah, and from Nagpur. The final result might not have been altered, but it would slill have hung longer in the balance, and at least the. great problem, in the terms in which it had presented itself to the mind of the greatest of Marhata leaders the problem of a contest between an united India and the English. would have been fairly fought out. As it was his death settled it. Thence- forth a sinister result became a question only of time. Daolat Eao Sindhia was fifteen years old when he D ao i M ti?jio succeeded to the extensive dominions of his grand-uncle. sindllm - Young as he was, with a character still unformed, this prince had, at the very outset of his reign, to deal with problems which called for the wisdom of a practical statesman. The first of these was that raised by the death of the Peshwa. On October 25, 1795, the Peshwa Madhu Eao, in a fit of profound melancholy, deliberately threw him- self from a terrace of his palace, and injured himself so 150 THE NATIVE STATES OF INDIA. PART much that he died two days later. An event more ^ fraught with importance to India could scarcely have oc- curred. Madhii Eao was young, well-disposed, and entirely dependent upon his minister, the famous Nana Furnawis. His nearest relative was his cousin, Baji Eao, son of Eaghunat Eao, a young man of great talent, utter uii- scrupulousness, and greater ambition, but detested by Nana Furnawis, who even then kept him in restraint in the hill fort of Sewneri. Daolat Eao had already been to Puna. He had taken part in the almost bloodless campaign of 1795 against the Nizam, had renewed at Puna with Nana Furnawis the friendship which had existed, on the surface, between that minister and his father, and had already reached Jamgaon on his return to Hindostan, when he was recalled by an express from the Nana to deliberate as to the succession to the vacant Peshwaship. The plan adopted by the Nana, in consultation with Holkar, Sindhia, and other chiefs, was to put aside Baji Eao, and to authorise one of the widows of Madhii Eao to adopt an heir. But Baji Eao, apprised of this, began to manoeuvre on his side. He first gained over Daolat Eao's chief minister, Balloba Tattai, and then Daolat Eao himself the latter by the offer of territory bringing in a revenue of four lakhs of rupees, and the payment of the whole charge of his army during his stay at Puna. Into the intrigues which followed it is not necessary here to enter. They mostly concern the youthful Daolat Eao in that they were the cause of his concluding a marriage which cannot but be termed unfortunate. In their course Baji Eao, then under surveillance in the camp of Sindhia, had been started off by the minister of the latter, Balloba Tattai, towards Hindostan. Now this escort was commanded by Sukharam. Ghat gay, a man of the most unscrupulous character. Baji Eao gained him over by promising to pay two millions sterling to Daolat Eao on his becoming Peshwa ; to have, then, Ghatgay GWALIAR, 151 appointed as Sindhia's prime minister : he arranged, too, CHAP. that Ghatgay's daughter should marry Daolat Eao ; and - ^ - that Ghatgay should obtain the village of Kagul, in inam. 1 Most of these conditions were subsequently carried out. But before this happened Daolat Eao had asserted the preponderance of his power in a very remarkable manner. A quarrel occurring in the house of Holkar consequent upon the death of Tiikaji Holkar, Daolat Eao interfered to support the party of the imbecile son, Khasi Eao, against his more able brother. The contest resulted in the death of the brother and the capture of his infant son. With a cretin, then, as the representative of Holkar, Daolat Eao had apparently nothing to fear in Central India. He fortified his influence likewise on the western coast by the capture of the fort of Kolabah, imprisoning the ruler, and transferring that principality to his near relative, Babii Eao Angria. But all this time Baji Eao was anxious to get rid of him. He had already rid himself of his able minister, Nairn Furnawis, and now he thought Daolat Eao's turn had come. He executed his plans with an ingenuity of malice not to be surpassed. First, in March 1798, he married Ghatgay's daughter to Sindhia. This caused the latter to expend enormous sums of ir.oney. To meet his necessary payments, he asked Baji Eao to pay him the two millions he had promised. Baji Eao regretted his inability, but told Daolat Eao that if he would appoint Ghatgay his minister, he would know how to raise the necessary sums. Ghatgay was consequently appointed, and he did succeed, by a system of extortion, torture, and oppression, unparalleled in the history of Western India, in screwing enormous sums out of the people. But by this proceeding, the very name of Sindhia became hateful to the masses. iy a gift from t a superior, free from all rent to GoYernment. 152 THE NATIVE STATES OF INDIA. This was what Baji Eao had plotted. He thought now that the pear was ripe. He determined to rid him- self for ever of Daolat Eao. The scene that followed is thus told by the facile pen of Captain Grant Duff: ' In this state of things ' which I have described ' Sindhia's unpopularity having become extreme, Amrat Eao (the adopted brother and prime minister of the Peshwa), with Baji Eao's cognisance, prepared Abba Kali, the com- mander of one of the Peshwa's regular battalions, to be ready to rush in, upon an appointed signal, and seize Sindhia. Daolat Eao was invited, on business, to the Peshwa's palace ; but the invitation being declined, a positive order was sent by Baji Eao desiring his attend- ance. He obeyed the summons, and soon after he sat down, Baji Eao told him he had sent for him to desire an explanation of his conduct ; and, suddenly assuming a tone of authority and decision for which the other was quite unprepared, he required of him to declare whether he was master or servant ? Sindhia having answered with respect and humility, that he was the Peshwa's servant, and ready to show his dependence by his obe- dience, Baji Eao reminded him of the insolence, vio- lence, and cruelty which he and his servants had used, in numberless instances, towards the servants and subjects of his government, in the city, and even in his own palace ; he declared that " the contempt and disrespect thus shown towards his person and authority he could bear no longer, and therefore ordered Sindhia to remove to Jamgaon." Daolat Eao's reply was couched in the mildest terms ; but whilst he expressed his willingness to obey, he declared his inability to move, from want of funds to pay his troops ; " that he had incurred large debts by placing his Highness on the musnud, which it was incumbent on his Highness to discharge ; when that was effected he would immediately quit Puna." At this moment Amrat Eao asked his brother if he should give the signal ; but Baji Eao's heart failed him ; he hac] not GWALIAR. 153 courage to proceed in the design, and thus gave his friends the first decided proof of that imbecility which swayed most of the actions of his life. Sindhia withdrew from the presence in a manner the most respectful, but with a mind filled with suspicion and distrust ; and Baji Eao had afterwards the baseness, as well as the weakness, to tell him what Amrat Eao had intended, and to advise him to be upon his guard.' 1 Then followed a series of intrigues and counter intrigues, which often seemed to threaten open hostili- ties between Daolat Eao and his liege lord. These were complicated by the complaints, ending in revolt, made by the widows of Madhaji that not only did they not receive the attention due to their rank, but that their ordinary comforts were circumscribed. After, as I have said, intrigue and counter intrigue, after shots had been exchanged, the mediation of the British resident solicited, and embassies for aid sent to independent powers, matters were compromised by the dismissal from office of the miscreant Ghatgay and his agent Garway, their confine- ment, and the release of Niina Furnawis. But affairs still continued for some time in a very dis- ordered condition. Daolat Eao's treatment of the widows of his predecessor, still in revolt, had induced a large and influential body of chiefs to join their cause. The re- appointment by Daolat Eao of Balloba Tattai as minister did at least put an end to this scandal, as he used his great influence and judgment with effect in his master's cause, but still affairs did not prosper. There was a laxity of principle about Daolat Eao which manifested itself in all the important transactions of his life. The death of the Peshwa's able minister, Kami Furnawis, in the year 1800. showed him again in the light of a man who would scruple at nothing to seize the property of others. He scrambled with the Peshwa for the dead man's possessions. This was always the case when money was 1 History of the Marl (if (is, vol. iii. 154 THE NATIVE STATES OF INDIA. in question ; but when it was a matter of personal revenge the two chiefs were ready to play into each other's hands. It would be waste of time to pursue further the infamous courses adopted by each, from the displacement of Balloba Tattai in favour of the infamous Ghatgay by Sindhia, to the ruin of the friends and adhe- rents of the deceased Nana by the Peshwa. At length Daolat Eao felt it was absolutely necessary for him to return to Hindostan. The progress of Jeswant Eao Holkar in Malwa was the immediate object which rendered that return imperative. He accordingly set out northwards towards the end of November at the head of the main body of his troops, and having secured bills from the Peshwa to the amount of forty-seven lakhs of rupees. But his return was not allowed to accomplish itself without opposition from the ambitious Jeswant Eao. In June 1801, this daring chieftain inflicted two successive defeats on strong detachments sent by Sindhia for the protection of Ujjen. The following month he made a bold attack upon Sindhia's great park of artillery, defended only by four battalions of infantry and a few cavalry ; and though the gallantry of Sindhia's general, an English- man named Brownrigg, caused his repulse, yet the attack showed to what lengths so determined an enemy might proceed. At the same time the repulse saved Sindhia. Up to this time Daolat Eao had displayed only an impetuosity, a recklessness, and a want of judgment, combined with an entire absence of scruple, which augured ill for the future. But, warned by the danger from which lie had just escaped, he now hastened to concentrate his forces. Having accomplished this, he waited till he had been rejoined by his father-in-law, Ghatgay, and then marched on Indiir. Jeswant Eao moved to its succour, and a battle took place on October 14, which terminated in the complete defeat of Holkar and the sack of his capital, GWAL1AK. 155 Had Daolat Eao followed up this victory, Jeswaut Eao's career was ended for ever. But he never, throughout his life, showed any of the great qualities of a general. He preferred to negotiate, and Jeswant Eao, amusing him for a while, went off suddenly to renew hostilities in Khandesh. A force which Sindhia had despatched to oppose him, under Seodaseo Eao, was completely defeated near Puna on October 25, 1802, by the intrepid Jeswant Eao. But this defeat was more disastrous to the Peshwa than to Sindhia, as it forced the former to accede to the treaty of Bassein, a treaty by which ' he sacrificed his independence as the price of his protection.' To such a result had the divergence from the policy of Madhaji led the Marhata power. He had invited union with a view to combination against the English. The disunion of those who followed him had placed one of the three great Marhata chiefs, the highest in point of rank, very much in the power of the English. Daolat Eao was not insensible to the great mistakes which had been committed. In the treaty of Bassein he saw not only the subversion of the vast plans of his great uncle, but a threat against himself. Though invited to become a party to the defensive portion of the treaty, he expressly refused. And from this time he turned all his efforts to the welding together of the union, which had been the dream of Madhaji, and for the same purpose, viz., the expulsion of the English from Northern, Central, and Western India. But he was too late. Holkar refused to join him. His preparations, though denied, were too patent. The Governor-General, therefore, Marquess Wellesley, with a wise prescience, determined to anticipate him, and to bring the question at once to a crisis. It is no part of my plan to detail the military opera- tions which followed. It will suffice to say that at Aligarh on August 29, at Delhi on September 11, at Assaye on the 23rd, at Agra on October 10 and 18, at 156 THE NATIVE STATES OF INDIA. Laswari on November 1, at Argaum on November 29, 1803, Daolat Eao had to admit the ruin of his am- bitions hopes. His troops, especially those trained by De Boigne, and who greatly distinguished themselves at Laswari, fought remarkably well ; many died in their ranks ; but they were not a match either for British soldiers, or for their own countrymen well led by a sufficient number of British officers. The battalions trained by De Boigne, and officered on a system analo- gous to that now known as the irregular system, could not stand against their countrymen and kinsmen, led by European officers four times as numerous as their own. The result was that Daolat Eao, roughly awakened from his dream, was forced to accept on December 30, 1 803, very unfavourable conditions from his conqueror. By the treaty signed on that day, and known as the Treaty of Surji Anjengaom, Daolat Eao ceded to the British Government and its allies his territory between the Jumna and Ganges, and all situated to the northward of Jaipur, Jodhpur, and Gohad ; the forts of Ahmadnagar and Bharoch and their districts ; his possessions between the Ajunta Ghat and the Godavery. He renounced all his claims on the Mogul emperor, on the Peshwa, the Nizam, and the Gaikwar, as well as on the Eajas who had assisted the British, and whom he declared indepen- dent of his authority. There were other minor con- ditions which it is scarcely necessary to enumerate. One article, however, must be stated. It was left optional to Daolat Eao to become a party to the defensive alliance, receiving a subsidiary force, to be paid from the revenues of the territories already ceded. Daolat Eao eventually agreed to this, and on February 27, 1804, a new treaty was drawn up at Burhanpur, by which Daolat Eao agreed to subscribe to the defensive alliance, and to permit the cantoning, near his boundary, but within British territory, of a subsidiary force of six thousand GWALIAR. 157 infantry. But the conditions of this second treaty were not acted upon. It was, indeed, not the intention of Daolat Eao that the conditions of the treaty of Surji Anjengaom should be considered as binding on him for ever. And a circum- stance occurred early in the following year which gave him great hopes of being able to shake it off altogether. On April 16, 1804, the Marquess Wellesley, unable to obtain any satisfactory assurance from Holkar, de- clared war against that chief. Notwithstanding Colonel Monson's mishap, Holkar was reduced, in the course of the campaign that followed, almost to extremities, when Daolat Eao, instigated by his minister Ghatgay, expressed his determination to aid him. He preceded any overt demonstrations in his favour, however, by seizing the person of Mr. Jenkins, the acting British resident in his camp, and plundering his property. And although the Governor-General accepted the excuses made by Daolat Eao for this outrage, the latter did not relax his prepara- tions, but actually received in his camp Jeswant Eao and other chiefs then fighting against the English. This act was looked upon by the British general as an act of hostility, and he advanced against Sindhia. But the two chiefs retreated to Ajmir. Here their hereditary rivalry broke out again, and Daolat Eao found means to recon- cile himself with the Governor-General. One good effect of the temporary union was the dismissal of the minister Ghatgay. He was succeeded by Ambaji Inglia, a man more inclined to cautious and prudent counsels. The replacement of the illustrious Marquess Wellesley by Lord Cornwallis at this conjuncture gave Daolat Kao the opportunity of altering the treaty of Surji Anjengaom to his own advantage. He had violated it in many par- ticulars. Amongst other infractions he had retained Gohad and Gwaliar, he had allied himself with a chief in arms against the English, he had not respected the sacred character of an envoy. But Lord Cornwallis was pro- 158 THE NATIVE STATES OF INDIA. pared to overlook these errors committed by a prince smarting under defeat. He accordingly agreed to nego- tiate a new treaty on more liberal terms. By virtue of this, signed at Allahabad on November 23, 1805, Gwaliar and Gohad were ceded to Sindhia, the Chambal was con- stituted the northern boundary of his territory ; the British Government bound itself not to make treaties with tJdaipiir, Jodhpiir, Kota, or any chiefs tributary to Sindhia or Malwa, Mewar, or Marwar, or to interfere in any arrangements he might make regarding them ; it likewise granted to Daolat Eao, his wife and daughter, a pension and jaghirs. He, on his part, relinquished the pension of fifteen lakhs of rupees granted to certain officers in his service, and resigned the main districts of Dholpur, Bari, and Eajkerrah, reserved to him by the first treaty. He promised never to re-admit into his ser- vice the ex-minister Ghatgay. Such were the main pro- visions of the treaty ; in other essential points the stipula- tions of the treaty of Surji Anjengaom were adhered to. Though peace was thus restored to the dominions of Daolat Eao, it by no means followed that it should be accompanied by internal tranquillity. And, in fact, the contrary was almost always the case. Daolat Eao spent upon his army far greater sums than the revenues of the country could afford. To meet these constantly increas- ing expenses he had recourse to a system than which a worse could scarcely be devised. He sent his troops out into the districts to feed themselves on what they might wring from the ryots. The system of Napoleon, that of making war support war, lias been often and justly blamed. But he at least made the inhabitants of the enemy's country pay for his victorious soldiers. Daolat Eao made military rapine one of the principles of the administration of his own country. The result is thus recorded by Captain Grant Duff: 'Annies accustomed to rapine and violence in extensive regions were now/ he writes, ' confined to tracts comparatively small ; the GWALIAR. ]59 burden of their exactions became in many places intolera- CHAP. ble, and districts, before cultivated and populous, were ._ L _. fast running to waste and violence.' It can readily be imagined that the revenues of the country suffered in proportion. With every year they diminished. As for Daolat Eao himself, the only reliable source of private income he possessed arose from the pension and jaghirs granted to him and to his family by the British Government. But even with that, so fre- quently was he embarrassed, that he w r as forced to take advances at a ruinous rate of interest from the bankers of the country. The same cause, impecuniosity, probably prevented Daolat Eao from taking advantage of the humiliation of Holkar by the British power, and of the consequent weakness of his dominions ; nor can it be doubted that for many years that followed it was mainly instrumental in keeping him on terms of peace with his former con- querors. When, however, it became necessary for the Govern- ment of India, in 1817, to deal with the Pindaris, a great temptation seemed to offer itself to the restless spirit of Daolat Eao. The Pindaris had been the hangers-on of the Marhata camps during all the wars in the latter half of the eighteenth century. It is true they had plundered as well as fought ; probably indeed plundered more than fought. But to Sindhia they looked up as to their natural protector and liege lord. Strong in their own numbers, with his support they thought they must be irresistible. These, and other reasons at least as potent, were urged upon Daolat Eao. He was very much inclined to give way. He would, indeed, have given way but for the prescience of the Marquis of Hastings, who, informed of his hesitation, promptly placed the British troops in such a commanding position as to force him to an immediate decision. He had grown too w r ise by experience to doubt, then. On November 5, 1817, he signed a treaty 160 THE NATIVE STATES OF INDIA. PART by which he agreed to locate his troops in positions ,- from which they were not to emerge without the or- ders of the British Government; to give up the fort- resses of Assirgarh and Hindia as security for the lines of communication and a guarantee for the performance of his engagements, and to surrender for three years the tribute of the Rajput states. But Daolat Rao had been hesitating regarding other matters likewise. About this time the Peshwa had been endeavouring to resuscitate the old Marhata confederacy, That Daolat Rao, though he dared make no open demon- stration in his favour, favoured secretly his plans, was proved by the fact that on the capture of his fortress of Assirgarh by the British on April 9, 1819, a letter was found in the possession of the Killadar directing him to obey all the orders of the Peshwa, at the time at war with the British. The penalty inflicted for this breach of faith was the permanent cession of the fortress to the English. The year prior to this discovery, Daolat Puio had, by treaty (dated June 25, 1818) readjusted the boundaries of his dominions with the English, he resign- ing Ajmir and other districts, in exchange for lands of equal value. Daolat Rao survived the fall of the Peshwa (June 1818) nearly nine years years of peace, but for him scarcely of prosperity. He died on March 21, 18*27, at the comparatively early age of forty-eight. He had had a stormy and chequered career. The great projects of his predecessor had been scattered to the winds. Still he had fared better than his master, the Peshwa, better even than Holkar. He had, in fact, been preserved by the British power, in spite, as it were, of himself. Twice had he been thus saved. In 1805, the replacement of Marquess Wellesley by Lord Cornwallis secured to him peaceful possession of Gwaliar and Gohad, which he had seized, and with which he would not have parted without a severe struggle; in 1817, the occupa- tiWALIAR 161 tion of his country by the orders of the Marquis of CHAP. Hastings, preserved him from casting in his lot with the v- *' -- Pindaris. It was to these acts of his enemies, far more than to any statesmanlike policy and political foresight of his own, that he left behind him territories capable of realising a revenue, under proper management, of nearly a million and a half sterling. His dominions, in fact, remained at his death almost in the same state in which they had been left by the treaty of 1805. The acquisitions made from him by the British Government comprised the principal part of the Delta of the Ganges and Jamna, from the source of the latter river to near its confluence with the former. They included the city of Delhi, which, however, with a tract of country round it, was continued under the nominal authority of the titular emperor, the real authority being vested in the British Eesident. 1 Daolat Eao left no son. Seeing that he had no prospect of offspring, he sent to the Dekhan, shortly before his death, for the children of some distant relations, that he might select one from amongst them. The candi- dates, five in number, not arriving at Gwaliar till after his death, the right of selection devolved upon his widow, Baiza Bai, daughter of the infamous Ghatgay, and who then filled the office of regent. She selected Miigat Eao, a distant relative, eleven years old. The ceremony of a loption took place on June 17, 1827, and the boy was married the same day to the granddaughter of Daolat Eao, by his daughter married to Dhubari Eao, Senapati. 1 The following day he was placed on the throne, under the auspices of the British Government, with the title of AH Jah Jankoji Eao, Sindhia. The reign of this prince, which lasted over a period ^ n kojl of sixteen years, was characterised by peace with his indhia. neighbours and turbulence within his own borders. In his early youth, and for ten years after his accession, the 1 Historical Sketch of the Princes of India. M 162 THE NATIVE STATES OF IXDIA. PART ambition of his predecessor's widow, the Baiza Bai, ; - caused him and his country endless trouble and annoy- ance. This lady began very soon to show that she in- tended to be the real ruler. Her late husband, she asserted, had nominated her to be regent during her en- tire lifetime. With a spirit worthy of the daughter of Ghatgay she began at once to put her plans into opera- tion. It must be admitted that the conduct of the British Government with respect to her claims was such as to encourage them. It declined to interfere beyond insist- ing that the Maharaja's seal should be always used in official communications. It made no effort to provide for the future good government of the country by in- stilling right principles into the mind of the young prince, nor did it even insist that he should receive any educa- tion at all. As a consequence he remained uneducated. Thus left to their own devices it is easy to under- stand how the stronger mind of the experienced woman triumphed over the youth and inexperience of tiie never strong-minded boy. For the moment the Baiza Bai gained the day. And, had she been endowed with good judgment and sense, she might have kept her position till her death. But she was the worthy daughter of Ghatgay, as unscrupulous, as ambitious, as headstrong, and as impulsive as he had been. Instead of consoli- dating her position by governing the country in such a manner as to gain the confidence of the people instead of endeavouring to win the confidence of her ward she oppressed the former, and she kept the latter in a seclusion which resembled confinement. Vain were his remonstrances. The Baiza Bai was jealous of his possible influence, and made him feel that she was so. To such a mode of procedure there could be only one result. Scarcely had the young prince attained the age of sixteen than (October 1832) he fled from the palace, and took refuge with the British Resident. GWALIAR. 163 In December of the same year, the Governor -General, CHA.P. Lord William Bentinck, paid a visit to Gwaliar. Before i - he arrived the Baiza Bai had become reconciled to the young Maharaja, but the terms on which they lived had not improved, For her, then, the advent of the Governor- General was an event of great importance. He might side with her, or he might side with her ward. The efforts made by both parties to influence the Governor- General were incredible. But they found him impassive. He was apparently willing to recognise the Baiza Bai, so long as she did not attempt to interfere with the future rights of the Maharaja. To all the solicitations of the latter he replied, therefore, that it was impossible for him to interfere, but that if the Maharaja would abstain from all attempts to subvert the Baiza Bai's power, the British Government would prevent the regent adopting any other person, to the prejudice of his claim to the throne. This negative 'policy satisfied nobody. Within seven months, then, of the departure of the Governor-General, the Maharaja again left the palace, and took refuge at the residency ; and although, by . the Eesident's persuasion, he was induced to return to the palace, the news of the step he had taken encouraged those who were discon- tented with the rule of the Baiza Bai to attempt a pro- nunciamento in his favour. In point of fact, the Baiza Bai's rule had become so unpopular in the countrv, that the nobles and the people only wanted an excuse to rise against her. This excuse the conduct of the Maharaja afforded. The day following his flight from and return to the palace, almost all the troops at Gwaliar rose in revolt against the Baiza Bai, and shouted for Jankoji Eao. The Kani, alarmed, attempted to escape, but her flight having been intercepted, she in her turn took refuge at the residency. Here, however, she was allowed to remain only on the condition that she would resign the sovereignty and quit the country. She was forced to agree, and quitted Gwaliar for Dhol- M 2 164 THE NATIVE STATES OF INDIA. PART pur on July 13. The Maharaja had been proclaimed ^ ' sovereign at Gwaliar three days previously. The proceedings of the Resident did not altogether meet the approval of Lord William Bentinck. He was censured for having called out the contingent to support the Maharaja's authority, and the Government of India declared its indifference as to whether the Maharaja or the Bai exercised the administrative power, its only object being to preserve general tranquillity and its own reputation, recognising the ruler supported by the popular voice. In accordance with this view, whilst the Government of India forbade the Baiza Bai to use her asylum in the British territory for the pur- pose of organising an invasion of Gwaliar, it placed no obstacle whatever in the way of the return of that lady to Gwaliar with the view of throwing herself upon the support of her own people. Thenceforth, however, the Baiza Bai had no connec- tion with the administration of Gwaliar, although she troubled the actual rulers in the vexatious manner of which an intriguing woman, in command of a laro-e amount of money, is so well capable. But in the end, seeing every hope vanish, she renounced her ambitious views, and was allowed to return to Gwaliar, where she died in 1862. Jankoji Sindhia was a weak ruler. During the greater part of his reign the administration was in the hands of his maternal uncle, Mamah Sahib. But, to quote* the words of Mr. Aitchison 1 : ' The court was one con- stant scene of feuds and struggles for power amongst the nobles ; the army was in a chronic state of mutiny. The weakness of the internal government prepared the way for the hostilities with the British Government, which broke out shortly after the Maharaja's death, and resulted in an entire change of policy towards the Gwaliar State/ Aitchison's Treaties, vol. iv. p. 208. GWALlXR. 165 I have already stated that the reign of Jankoji was CHAP. undisturbed by war. In fact the only two matters which ^_ L _, connect his reign with foreign governments were the organisation of the contingent and the rounding of the borders of his territory by exchanges. The reform of the contingent took place in the year 1837. Consisting originally, according to the treaty of 1817, of 5,000 horse, and reduced after the termination of the war to 2,000, it was resolved in ] 837 to establish it on the footing of a regiment of cavalry, one of infantry, and a company of artillery, commanded by European officers. To induce Jankoji to agree to this arrangement, it was resolved to restore to him the districts in Khandesh which had been made over temporarily to the British Government, Sindhia paying in lieu a sum equivalent to their net revenues. The expenses of the contingent were defrayed in part from those revenues, in part from the revenues of the retained Sagar districts, and the tributes from the Rajput states, formerly due to Sindhia. Jankoji had no male children. In 1837, however, an attempt was made to substitute a male child for a female, to which his wife had just given birth. But the attempt coming to the knowledge of the Raja, it naturally mis- carried. On the death of his wife the year following, he married her sister, Tara Bai, then little more than a child, the daughter of Jeswant Rao Gurpora. In general matters the government of Jankoji showed itself eminently desirous to keep on good terms with the British Government. He gave every encouragement to the endeavours made by that Government to suppress Thagi and highway robbery till then extremely preva- lent ; and he arranged for the trial and punishment within his own dominions of the prisoners charged and convicted. In 1838, when a mission from Mpal, supposed to entertain intentions hostile to the British Government^ came to Gwaliar, its members were arrested and sent back. Similarly in 1839, he arrested and placed at the 166 THE NATIVE STATES OF INDIA. PART disposal of the British Eesident an envoy from D6st ._ n> . Mahomed, ruler of Afghanistan. In January 1840, Jankoji received a visit from the then Governor-General, the Earl of Auckland. It was merely a complimentary visit, but at an Asiatic court such modes of showing honour are highly esteemed. Just three years later February 7, 1843 Jankoji Sindhia died. It will be seen from the sketch I have given of his life, that, at the best, his was a negative character. He did not possess one tittle of the genius of Madhaji, nor was he endowed even with the boldness and daring of his immediate predecessor. He took but little part in the government of the country. He was in that respect little more than a lay figure. His death, at the early age of twenty-seven, was certainly due neither to excess of work, to excess of horse exercise, nor to in- tellectual study. The death of Jankoji without an heir, and without having adopted an heir, left the throne once more open to the intrigues of interested parties. But on this occa- sion the sound principle was adhered to of adopting the nearest relation. This nearest, though distant relation, was Bagirat Rao, son of Hanwant Eao, usually called Babaji Sindhia, and he was only eight years old. The adoption made by the widow, Tara Bai, with the assent of the great nobles, was approved of by the British Government. But it then became necessary to appoint a regent. Now the prime minister at the time of the death of Jankoji, and indeed for several years previously, had been the Eaja's maternal uncle, Manuih Sahib. Of him the British Eesident had reported only two years previously, that he was ' the most capable of the ministers of state,' and ' certainly the person of most influence at present.' It is true the Eesident had somewhat qualified this testimony to the merits of the Mamah Sahib by an in- sinuation that he owed the retention of his position to the absolute confidence reposed in him by his master, * for,' OWALIAR. 167 he adds, alluding to the influence, ' I am of opinion that CHAP. it is likely to terminate with his nephew's, the Maharaja's, ^._^ > existence.' But when, on the demise of the Maharaja, this second part of the Eesident's report appeared to be falsified by the selection of this very Mamah Sahib by the chiefs present at Gwaliar to be sole regent, and the Eesi- dent reported that this selection had given universal satis- faction, the British Government could not but signify their approval. But a few months showed that, in his report of two years before, the Eesident had rightly divined that the influence of the Mamah Sahib was bound up with the existence of the late sovereign. For three months, indeed, if we may except the revolt of one battalion, speedily sup- pressed, all was quiet. But intrigue had not the less been at work. It was impossible, with a young widow bent on power, it should have been otherwise. Either women in such a position will find men weak enough to bend to their vices, or there will be men ambitious and unscrupu- lous enough to make tools of the women. The intrigue in this case formed no exception to the rule. There happened to be a woman in the palace, pos- sessed, or believed to be possessed, of great influence with Tara Bai, named Morengi. This woman had struck up an intimate friendship with Dada Khasji-wala, a man who had been appointed controller of the palace under the Mamah Sahib. The ' friendship ' was soon suspected to cover a dangerous intrigue, and the woman was re- moved. But Dada Khasji-wala's movements still con- tinued to excite suspicion. Mamah Sahib reported his conduct to the Eesident, and, going further, taxed the Dada in person with want of loyalty. The latter assumed an air of virtuous indignation, denied the charge, and courted inquiry. Nothing could then be proved against him. But soon the object of his machinations became apparent. He assumed a haughtier tone. He openly bearded the regent. Suddenly, when the pear was ripe, 168 THE NATIVE STATES OF INDIA. PART the widowed Eani, Tara Bai, expressed to the British *- - - Eesident her determination to dismiss the Mamah Sahib from office. From subsequent events it appeared that she had been made to believe that the Mamah Sahib, whose daughter had been married to the Maharaja, intended entirely to' supersede her authority. The British Eesident remonstrated, but to no purpose. Mamah Sahib, whose friends fell from him, as though he were infectious, on the news of his disgrace, was dismissed, and fled from Gwaliar. The Dada Khasji-wala be- came minister in his place. The remarks made by the Governor-General at this crisis deserve to be quoted for the good sense they dis- play. The Mamah Sahib, he recorded, was clearly an in- capable, who ' had proved himself quite unfit to manage men or women, and a minister of Gwaliar must manage both.' Lord Ellenborough saw no great offence to the British Government in the removal from office of a minister so incapable, nor did he wish to force upon the state an unpopular regent. * Any form of administering the affairs of the Gwaliar State which may effect the object of frontier, tranquillity will be satisfactory,' he wrote, ' to the British Government.' It will thus be clear that the expulsion of the Mamah Sahib and the installation in his place of the Dada con- stituted no offence to the British Government. Such offence could only be created by divergence on the part of the Dada from the peaceful foreign policy pursued by the government of Sindhia subsequent to the year 1819. Unfortunately for himself, the Dada did make that divergence. Probably having been installed by the favour of the army, he deemed it absolutely essential to keep the troops in a good humour and in a state of devo- tion to himself. The specific so successfully practised at Satory in 1850-51 the specific of ' sausages and cham- pagne' had not then been invented, nor probably would GWALIAR. 169 it have been quite suited to an eastern hemisphere. He CHAP. was forced then upon a dangerous course. The army L had forgotten Assaye and scarcely remembered Laswari. A new race had grown up, a race into whose ears the triumphs of Madhaji, and the commanding position of Daolat Eao had been sung from their earliest childhood. These men thirsted for action, and the Dada soon found that to retain their confidence it would be necessary to fan their hopes. With this object he in a short time dismissed from the army, even with ignominy, all those officers who were favourable to the British, replacing them by the scum of Marhata society men who were ready for plunder and pillage at any price. Large presents of money were made to the soldiery, and they were gradually brought to a state of indiscipline bordering on revolt. But to escape one danger the Dada had provoked another. The British Government could not at any time have tolerated a mutinous and hostile power for its hos- tility was undisguised within fifty miles of Agra. Still less was it possible for it to tolerate the existence of such an army, when another mutinous body of soldiers, the soldiers of the Punjab, threatened its northern boundary. Lord Ellenborough, however, was averse from severe measures. The mischief seemed to have been caused by one man, the Dada Khasji-wala, and he not unreasonably hoped that with the removal of the Dada it would dis- appear. The better to bring about this result, an officer in whom Lord Ellenborough had entire confidence, Colonel Sleeman, was appointed Eesident at Gwaliar. The report of Colonel Sleeman confirmed the pre- existing opinion that the Dada was at the root of the mis- chief. He described him as turbulent, restless, and in- triguing ; an enemy of public order, and a fomenter of troubles with his neighbours ; at the same time so defi- cient in personal courage, that it was his habit, in moments of difficulty, ' to conceal himself in the most sacred of the female apartments.' 170 THE NATIVE STATES OP INDIA. PART This report decided the Government. It determined , r : > to remove Dada Khasji-wala from Gwaliar to a place of security within its own territories. To give force to its orders, it directed the assembly at Agra of an army of exercise. But before the British Government could take any action in the matter, affairs had come to a crisis in Gwaliar. The conservative party in the army, represent- ing the views of those favourable to an alliance with the British, suddenly reasserted their position, and called for the dismissal of the obnoxious Dada, as the cause of all the evil. The Dada, to suppress this revolt, as he termed it, sent against the insurgents the troops who remained faithful to himself. But these were beaten, and the Dada himself was seized. After some discussion he was sent off, under an escort, to the British camp at Agra. But either the escort was merciful, or the Dada was profuse in his promises ; he was allowed to return. After his return the Gwaliar Durbar made one effort to procure permission for the confinement of the Dada within the Gwaliar territories. But Colonel Sleeman was inex- orable. Either, he said, the Dada must be surrendered, or British troops would march on Gwaliar. Still the Durbar hesitated, and the British troops accordingly broke ground. But it was not until the close approach of the Governor-General at the head of an army showed the impossibility of retaining the Dada, that he was surrendered. But by that time, the British army had advanced too far to recede without obtaining a guarantee against the recurrence of such a danger. It continued then to move forward, the Governor-General intimating to the Durbar his wish to settle matters at a personal interview between Tara Bai and the Maharaja on the one side and himself on the other. This interview was fixed for December 26. But the intelligence was extremely distasteful to the Gwaliar GWALIAR. 171 army. They determined then to fight for it. Massing the great body of their troops near the village of Maha- rajpur, they took the Commander-in-Chief, Sir Hugh Gough, by surprise, on the 28th, whilst a smaller detach- ment made a similar demonstration against the disjointed wing of the British army, under General Gray. But it would not do. The Gwdliar troops fought well ; they had everything in their favour ; they inflicted on us considerable loss, but they were beaten ; and Gwaliar lay at the feet of Lord Ellenborough. The way in which this nobleman dealt with the pros- trate State will always be quoted as a masterpiece of policy. He made a friend of it a friend who stood the English in good stead during their troubles fourteen years later. By a treaty concluded on January 13, 1844, the sovereignty of the country was retained for Sindhia ; the government during the minority of the Eaja was to be conducted according to the advice of the British Eesident ; the British Government pledged itself to maintain the just territorial rights of Gwaliar ; a territory yielding eighteen lakhs a year was to be ceded to the British Government for the maintenance of a contingent force, and other lands for the payment of debts due, and the expenses of the war ; and the army was to be reduced to 6,000 cavalry, 3,000 infantry, and 200 gunners with 32 guns. This arrangement ensured peace, an improved admin- istrative system, and gratitude. From 1844 to 1857 the history of Gwaliar was a history of peace and prosperity. In 1854 the young Maharaja Alijah Jaiaji Eao Sindhia became of age, and assumed the administration. NOT throughout the entire period were there the smallest symptoms of any disturbance of the political horizon. But in 1857 the Bengal army mutinied. The prime minister of Jaiaji Eao, for four years previous to the out- Sindlna - break, had been a Brahman, named Dinkar Eao, one of the most honest, most far-seeing, and most capable men that Central India has ever produced. In his brief tenure THE NATIVE STATES OF INDIA. PART O f O ffi ce he h a d introduced large and beneficial reforms in . the internal administration of the country, had swept away numberless abuses, and had made life comparatively easy for the cultivator of the soil. In effecting these reforms it would have been impossible for him not to have given some offence to a few of the ambitious families whose folly had fourteen years before pushed Dada Khasji-wala to defy the British. But in a time of peace and prosperity the machinations of such men were power- less. But the rumbling of the coining mutiny had not been unfelt in Gwaliar. It had given hope to the disaffected, and filled the minds of the aristocracy with ambitious ideas. But there were at least two men in that state free from the prevailing madness. These men were the Maharaja, Jaiaji Eao, and his able minister. From the very first, with the full concurrence and support of that minister, Jaiaji Eao determined to cast in his lot with the British. Not in vain had Lord Ellen- borough, in 1844, displayed the prescient policy of a real statesman. Not in vain had he forborne from the lust of conquest, and restored to the minor sovereign intact his dominions, with a provision to secure their good adminis- tration during his minority. With an opportunity which Madhaji would have made decisive, which Daolat Eao even would have clutched at, Jaiaji Eao took upon him- self the task, which, under the circumstances of the feeling of the country, must have been pre-eminently difficult the task of being loyal to his engagements to the British, even when British supremacy seemed lowered, and British authority had been shaken off in districts within fifty miles of his capital. Full of these loyal ideas, Jaiaji Eao's first movement was to send his own bodyguard to Agra to aid the Lieutenant-Governor of the North-West Provinces in the suppression of the revolt. 1 They rendered excellent ser- 1 Red Pamphlet, Part II. pp. 192-3. GWALIAR. 173 vice. His next was to place his entire contingent at the disposal of the same high officer. The offer was accepted. But it soon became evident that the causes which had in- duced the mutiny in the Bengal army had infected the sepoys of the Gwaliar contingent with the virus of revolt. At Hatras, at Mmach, at Augar, at Lalatpiir, and finally on June 14, at Gwaliar itself, the sepoys of the contingent rose and massacred many of their British officers. No sooner had these men revolted than they placed their services at the disposal of Jaiaji Kao, and begged him to lead them against the British in Agra. To give due credit to the loyalty of Jaiaji Eao Sindhia at this crisis it should be remembered that not only were the in- surgents in possession of the capital of the Moguls, but the entire country to the north-west of Agra was in revolt. British garrisons were beleaguered at Kahnpiir and at Lakhnau, and it seemed as though one decisive blow would finish with the English dominion north of Bengal proper. Had the Maharaja, then, acceded to the request of the sepoys, it was quite possible that with the 20,000 trained soldiers, men who afterwards gave evidence of the excellence of their discipline against General Wyndham at Kahnpur, and against Lord Strath nairn after Jhand, he might have struck that fatal blow. To say that he must have felt his power, is only to credit him with ordinary capacity, and his capacity is at least beyond the average. But he was loyal and true. Had the ablest member of the Council of India been at his ear he could not have inspired him with counsels more calcu- lated to prove beneficial to the British cause than those which he and his minister, with the instinct of loyal natures, followed of their own free will. Not only did the Maharaja not accept the offer of his troops, but by dint of skilful management, by cajoling and by gifts of money, by pretended difficulties in the way of procuring carriage, he detained them. More than that, 174 THE XATIVE STATES OF INDIA. PART when mutinous troops from Man and the territories of v- **' _ Holkar passed through his dominions, he restrained his own troops from joining them. He succeeded, in fact, in retaining them in inaction till after Delhi had fallen, and Kahnpur had been relieved. And when finally he did let them go, it was only that they might fall into the clutches of Sir Hugh Eose and Sir Colin Campbell. It can easily be imagined that the loyalty of Jaiaji Eao to the British alliance had not made him popular with that large and augmenting class of self-seekers which the mutiny had called into existence. It was not long before the hostile feelings of these men were manifested. When in June 1858, the rebel troops under Tantia Topi entered Gwaliar, not only had the power of the Maharaja to restrain his own men vanished entirely, but these made common cause against him, and forced him and his minister to flee for British protection to Agra. He was restored in the course of the same month by Sir Hugh Eose. The loyalty of Jaiaji Eao to the British Government did not pass unnoticed. His conduct, indeed, had been so pre-eminently faithful that nothing could have excused its being passed over. By a treaty dated December 12, 1860, lands were restored to Sindhia yielding three lakhs of rupees a year ; and the exchange of lands he wished for for others of nearly equal value was arranged with the British Government. He received a sunnud conferring upon him the right of adoption, and permission to raise his infantry from 3,000 to 5,000 men. and his guns from 32 to 36. In place of the revolted contingent the British Government agreed to maintain a subsidiary force. Subsequently the name of Jaiaji Sindhia appeared in the first list of the Knights of the Star of India. Since 1859 Jaiaji Eao has been his own prime minister. He has administered the country himself. His former minister, now Sir Dinkar Eao, lives mainly at Agra, in GWALIAR. 17-") which city his son is receiving the education of an English gentleman. It is strange that, like all his predecessors, without one exception, Jaiaji BaoSindhia has no legitimate male descen- dant. He has had three sons, but they died. He pos- sesses the power of adoption, and this power he exercised in November 1865, by the selection of a youth named Ganpat Bao to be his successor. It has, however, been stipulated that in the event of his being blessed with off- spring, his own son shall succeed him, Ganpat Eao being provided with an estate returning an annual income of a lakh of rupees. Of the revenues of the country 78,38,900 rupees are derived from the land ; 14,70,202 from customs ; the re- mainder from the tributes of feudatories. The customs' revenue is realised from transit duties on iron, tobacco, sugar, and salt, all other articles being free, and from jaghir and local taxes. No transit duties are taken on the portion of the Agra and Bombay road and its branches passing through Sindhia's territories, or on the roads con- necting Gwaliar with Itawah, Farrukhabad, Datia, Jhansi, and Kalpi. 1 The Maharaja of Gwaliar receives a salute of nineteen guns. His territories may be described generally as being bounded on the north and north-west by the river Chambal ; on the east by Bundelkhand and the central provinces ; on the north by Bhopal and Dhar ; and on the west by Dholpiir, Karauli, tldaipur, and Kota. 1 Aitchison's Treaties. 176 THE NATIVE STATES OF INDIA. CHAPTER II. INDUE, OR THE DOMINIONS OF HOLKAR. ABBA 8,318 sq miles. POPULATION 576,000. REVENUE 30,00,000 rupees. PART THE father of Mulhar Rao, the founder of the dynasty of _J^ , the Holkars, was a shepherd. To this occupation he added the more profitable trade of a weaver of blankets. He lived in the village of Hoi, on the river Mra, whence he derived the surname Holkar the adjunct kae or kur signifying inhabitant. Mulhar Rao first saw light about the year 1693. His father died when he was five years old, and his mother went shortly afterwards to live with her brother, a land- holder in Khandesh. Mulhar Rao was brought up as a shepherd, but soon disdaining the slothful life, he deter- mined to devote himself to arms, and enlisted in a troop of horse, then on their way to Gujrat. He soon dis- tinguished himself, and, it is said, in one of his first engagements, had the good fortune to slay with his own hand an officer of rank in the enemy's service. For this he obtained the command of twenty-five horsemen. Whilst on duty with this body of men on the family estate of his leader, Kantaji Kadam, a party of the Peshwa's horse, on their way to Malwa, attempted to pass over the lands belonging to it. Mulhar Rao disputed their passage, and displayed so much courage as to attract the notice of the Peshwa, who persuaded him to enter his service as commander of 500 men. This transfer was made with the consent of Kantaji Kadam, and Mulhar Rao showed his obligations to that family by adopting their colours as his own. Mulhar Rao appears to have joined the army of the Peshwa about the year 1724. Starting as the leader of 177 500 horse, he, in four years, raised himself to a far CHAP. higher position. In 1728 he received' from the Peshwa, * : - - as a reward for his services, a grant of twelve districts north of the Narbada ; in 1731 twenty districts were added to these, and at the same time the Peshwa, in a letter written with his own hand, confided the Marhatd interests in Malwa to his charge. The following year he filled the post of principal general under the Peshwa when the army of Dia Bahadur, Subadar of the province of Malwa, was defeated by the Marhatas. Indiir, with the greater portion of the conquered country, was assigned to Mulhar Eao for the support of his troops, and in 1735 he was left as general-in-chief of the Marhata forces north of the Narbada. In 1738 we find him the most daring assailant of the Mogul army under Nizam-iil-Mulk, and conducting to a favourable conclusion a warfare which confirmed to the Marhatas the sovereignty of the country between the Narbada and the Chambal. In 1739 he assisted at the expulsion of the Portuguese from Bassein an enterprise which cost the besiegers, it is said, 500 men. He then rejoined the Peshwa to defend his territories against the threatened onslaught of Nadir Shah. But this never took place. In the eleven years that followed, Mulhar Kao con- tinued to increase his fame and his possessions. In this interval he never met with a single check, and this con- tinued success no doubt served to encourage the ambitious designs which gradually forced themselves upon him, and which, it seemed to him, could be crowned only by the replacement at Delhi of the Moguls by the Marhatas. With this object in view, we find him in 1751 assist- ing the Vizir Safdar Jang in preserving Oudh from the Eohillas. In this war he greatly added to his reputation as a leader. The mode in which on one occasion he succeeded with a small body of troops in a night attack on the masses of the enemy is thus recorded by Sir John Malcolm : ' He directed torches and lights to be tied to 178 THE NATIVE STATES OF IXDTA. PART the horns of several thousand cattle, which were driven . ^ in one direction, while in another he placed lights upon every bush and tree, and, when this was done, marched silently in the dark by a different route to attack. The enemy, pressed in one quarter by an actual assault, and seeing lights in several others, thought themselves sur- rounded and in danger of destruction ; they dispersed and fled in dismay, leaving their camp to be plundered by the conquerors, whose leader acquired just increase of fame from the victory.' For his conduct in this campaign, Holkar received a grant of twelve and a half per cent, on the revenues of Chandiir, and honours in addition. At Panipat Mulhar Rao divided with Sindhia the com- mand of the right wing of the Marhata army. Prior to that battle he had been treated with the greatest indignity and insult by the commander-in-chief, Sudaseo Eao. Again and again had Sudaseo spurned the advice offered him by the practised warrior. ' Who wants the advice of a goatherd? ' was the reception given to these wise counsels. In one of the skirmishes, or rather battles of a secondary rank, on his way to join the headquarter camp, Mulhar Rao had been surprised and defeated, but this had not prevented his junction with the main body, nor had it held him back from inflicting in subsequent skirmishes great losses on the enemy. He had advised Sudaseo to ad- here to Marhata tactics, to retreat, to draw the heavy- armed enemy after him, then suddenly to overwhelm him. The advice, as I have said, was scornfully rejected. The result was that on January 6, 1761, the Marhatd power, was dealt an almost fatal blow on the field of Panipat. It has been asserted that in that fatal battle Mulhar Eao did not fight with his old spirit, and that he left the field early in the day. He did not, it is certain, exhaust all the powers of his men. He kept something in hand in case of -an overthrow. But his partisans assert that he did this because he believed defeat to be certain, and that INDUR. 179 he kept a portion of his troops in reserve to cover the CHAP. retreat of the remainder. It is certain that he alone, of . ** . all the Marhata leaders, retired with some amount of order. After Panipat Mulhar Eao retired to his possessions in Central India, and employed himself in reducing his vast acquisitions to coherence and order. In this he succeeded well, for he was a man of generous instincts, considerate, yet firm, and these qualities ensured his popularity amongst his people. He died in 1765, at the ripe age of seventy-six, leaving a name amongst the Marhatas which, even now, stands second only to that of Madhaji Eao Sindhia, and second to him only in the science of politics. He left behind him a principality bringing in an annual gross revenue of 75,00,000 rupees. Mulhar Eao Holkar had had but one son, Khandi Eao, who was killed at the siege of Khumbir, near Dig, some years before Panipat. But Khandi left behind him by his wife, Ahalya Bai, a son named Mali Eao. This boy, however, who showed symptoms akin to madness, did not survive his grandfather more than nine months. The administration was then assumed by Ahalya Bai. The rule of this estimable lady, which lasted thirty years, was not, however, established without some oppo- sition. The scheming Eagonath Eao, uncle to the then Peshwa, and afterwards Peshwa himself, used all the means in his power to procure the adoption of a child whose movements, by means of his agents, he might always control. But in this attempt he was defeated not less by the firmness and prudence of Ahalya Bai, than by the stedfast attitude assumed by Madhaji Sindhia, who, aided by other Marhata chiefs and the Peshwa himself, declared himself determined to support the legitimate rights of the widow of Mulhar Eao's son. Thus firmly established, the first act of Ahalya Bai was to select a commander-in-chief of her forces. It need not be said that in those days, when the principle was N '2 180 THE NATIVE STATES OF INDIA. PAKT universally recognised that power was to him who wielded . IL _. the sword, this was a task which called for the nicest discrimination of character. Ahalya Bai proved that she was endowed with that discrimination. Her choice fell upon Tukaji Holkar, a man of the same tribe, but not re- lated to her husband's family. He was a man of mature years, unobtrusive and unambitious, whose character was formed, and who had won the respect of all parties. A better choice could not have been made. Bound together by feelings of mutual respect and mutual esteem, Ahalya Bai and Tukaji conducted the affairs of the state for thirty years thirty years of happiness and prosperity for the people, such as they had never known before and have but rarely known since. The mode in which this ' coalition government ' was conducted has been thus described by Sir John Malcolm : * When Tukaji was in the Dekhan,' he writes, ' all the territories of the family south of the Satpura range were managed by him, and the countries north of that limit were under Ahalya Bai, to whom the different tributaries also made their annual payments. While he was in Hindostan he collected the revenues of the territories that had been acquired there and in Bundelkhand, and also the tributes of Eajputana. The districts in Malwa and Nimar continued as usual under the direction of Ahalya Bai ; and her authority was on such occasions ex- tended over the possessions in the Dekhan. The treasures of the family, which were very considerable, remained with Ahalya Bai ; and she had besides personal estates yielding annually four lakhs of rupees, which, with the hoard above mentioned, were entirely expended at her discretion, while all the rest of the receipts were brought into a general account, and applied to the expenditure of the government. The accounts of receipts and dis- bursements were kept with scrupulous exactness ; and Ahalya Bai, after paying the civil and militia charges, IXDtJR. 181 sent the balance that remained in the public treasury to CHAP. supply the exigencies of the army employed abroad/ _ IL - It would appear, moreover, from the same writer, that wherever he might be, Tiikaji always referred, on every occasion in which the general interests of the country were implicated, to Ahalya Bai, and that the ministers at the several foreign courts were deputed directly from her. During thirty years of rule perhaps no prince or princess ever conciliated more respect from foreign sovereigns than did this illustrious Hindu lady. She was extremely pious, much given to devotion, yet she found time to attend to the important affairs of state which pressed themselves daily on her attention. It was her habit to transact business every day in open durbar. ' Her first principle of government,' says Sir John Malcolm, ' appears to have been moderate assessment, and an almost sacred respect for the native rights of village officers and the proprietors of lands. She heard every complaint in person ; and although she continu- ally referred causes to courts of equity and arbitra- tion, and to her ministers for settlement, she was always accessible ; and so strong was her sense of duty on all points connected with the distribution of justice, that she is represented as not only patient, but unwearied in the investigation of the most insignificant causes where appeals were made to her decision.' Her hours for transacting business were from 2 P.M. to 6 P.M., and again from 9 P.M. to 11 P.M. By her un- remitting attention to business she was able during her long reign to maintain such excellent relations with her neighbours that her dominions were but once invaded, and then unsuccessfully. Nor was her internal adminis- tration less successful. In no part of India were the people so hdppy and contented as were those in the dominions of Holkar. Amongst other of the acts by which her reign will be remembered, was the founding of Indur, the present 182 THE NATIVE STATES OF INDIA. capital of the country. A village when she came to the ad- ministration, it was soon transformed, under her auspices, into a wealthy city. She built likewise several forts, and caused to be constructed, at considerable cost, a road over the Vindhya range, where it is almost perpendicular. She spent likewise large sums of money on religious edifices. She died at the age of sixty, worn out with care and fatigue. According to Sir John Malcolm, to whose his- tory of Central India the reader is referred for a more detailed account of this famous lady, ' she was of the middle stature, and very thin ; her complexion, which was of a dark olive, was clear ; and her countenance is described as having been to the last hour of her life agreeable. . . . She was very cheerful, seldom in anger, possessed a cultivated mind, was quick and clear in the transaction of public business, and even flattery appears to have been lost upon her.' Her death, which occurred in 1795, was lamented far and wide. It is not necessary to give more than a cursory glance at the military achievements of Tukaji during the reign of Ahalya Bai. We find him in 1780 employed in Gujrat in conjunction with Madhaji Sindhia against the English, under Colonel Goddard ; and in 1786 aiding the Nawab of Savanor against his master, Tippii Sultan, whose troops he defeated. In 1792 he introduced European tactics and discipline among his troops, four battalions being thus disciplined and placed under a Frenchman, the Chevalier Dudrenec. At the battle of Lukhairi, near Ajmir, these four battalions formed part of Holkar's army, 30,000 strong, which fought against Sindhia's forces, commanded by Gopal Eao Bhao, con- sisting of 20,000 horse, and 9,000 regular infantry, dis- ciplined in the European fashion, and commanded by De Boigne, who planned the attack. Dudrenec's bat- talions fought till they were nearly annihilated, and Holkar INDUE. 183 lost all his guns. The stand made by Dudrenec, however, CHAP. encouraged Tiikaji to persevere in the system. x, **' ^ Tiikaji Holkar survived Ahalya Bai only two years. He died in 1797, leaving four sons, Khasi Eao and Mul- har Eao by his wife, and Wittoji and Jeswant Eao by a concubine. Of the legitimate sons Khasi Eao was half- witted, but Mulhar Eao gave promise of great things. The four young men were invited to the Peshwa's court at Puna on their father's death, and it was hoped that the succession would devolve upon the high-spirited Mulhar Eao. But just at that moment Daolat Eao Sindhia was supreme at the court of the Peshwa, and it suited the ambitious views of that unscrupulous ruler to see Holkar's dominions governed by a fool. He therefore gave the whole might of his support to Khasi Eao, at- tacked Mulhar Eao in the night, slew him, and took his son, Khandi Eao, prisoner. Wittdji and Jeswant Eao escaped, but the former turned freebooter, was captured whilst marauding in the Dekhan, and was put to a cruel death. All the hopes of the subjects of Holkar now turned to Jeswant Eao. This prince, fleeing from Puna, had sought refuge with the Eaja of Nagpiir, but had been treacherously imprisoned. After a short confinement, however, he escaped, and for a year or so led the life of a proscribed fugitive. But in the course of that life he had many opportunities of displaying the innate strength and daring of his nature, his lofty views and his generous ideas. The breezes wafted exaggerations of these quali- ties to Indur, and the whole army longed for him to appear. At length he arrived. Then, as if instinctively, the entire army, including the trained infantry and artillery of the Chevalier Dudrenec, the Patans of Amir Khan, and the Pindari auxiliaries, went over to him in a mass. Jeswant Eao, ignoring the claims of the imbecile Khasi Eao, at once assumed the regency in the name of 184 THE NATIVE STATES OF INDIA. PART his nephew Khandi Bao, but, as he subsequently caused v_,J . the latter to be poisoned, his reign may be said to begin from this date (1798). He found in Indiir a great part of the treasure accumulated by Ahalya Bai, and he com- menced his reign by a declaration that he intended to make regular payments to his troops. But his necessities, exaggerated by an ambitious nature, soon made him burst the bonds he had proposed to himself. He found he was compelled to feed his army by the plunder of others. He did not scruple then to lay waste alike the territories of Sindhia, and the territories of his liege lord the Peshwa. It was the story of these devastations that caused Daolat Rao Sindhia to leave Puna for his own territories. But as a general, Daolat Bao was no match for the daring Jeswant Bao. The latter, counting the initiative as three-fifths of a victory, attacked, in June 1801, the disciplined forces of Sindhia, under Hessing at Ujjen, and completely defeated them. He then, in July, made a daring attack upon Sindhia's great park of artillery on the north bank of the Narbada, and though he was re- pulsed, still succeeded in alarming Sindhia, who advanced upon Indiir. The battle that ensued at that place was most desperately contested. Well had it been for the Marhata power had Holkar triumphed, for the victory of Daolat Bao paved the way to the ruin of the Peshwa and the treaty of Bassein. Jeswant Bao was indeed badly beaten ; and had Sindhia displayed any of the qualities of a politician, his ruin had been assured. But dallying away the time in a fruitless attempt to treat, he left the game in the hands of his vanquished rival. Jeswant Bao had lost his army, but rallying round him the daring spirits who traded in adventure, he first plundered Bajputana, then devastated Khandesh, and marched on Puna. Near this place he defeated, on October 25, the general of Sindhia, and possessed himself of the capital of the Peshwa. 185 Had the Peshwa, Baji Eao, taken counsel of any- thing but his fears, he would have endeavoured to nego- tiate with Holkar, whilst waiting the arrival of Daolat Eao Sindhia, with an overwhelming force. But Baji Eao Peshwa possessed one of those natures that could not wait. To obtain a temporary triumph, he signed a treaty (Bassein) which made him virtually a vassal of the British, and escorted by a British force, thenceforth vir- tually his jailors, recovered his capital. Jeswant Eao then returned to his own dominions, thence to watch, though not to partake in, the war which ensued between Sindhia and the British. Had he lent the weight of his support to his brother Marhata chief- tain, the result might have been different. Why he did not still remains a mystery. Probably he thought, as Napoleon III. thought in 1866, that the struggle would be long and doubtful, and that he might then step in with the overpowering prestige of an arbitrator. But the struggle, though sharp, was short and decisive. Yet no sooner had Sindhia been beaten than Jeswant Eao showed the British Government that he, too, was prepared to meet their conquering forces. He entered into the struggle with a decision and energy characteristic of the man. And at first fortune smiled on him. He compelled Colonel Monson to retreat with great loss. He at once invaded the British terri- tories. But he had to experience then the fate of every native power which has yet contested supremacy with the British. At Futtehgarh, at Dig, and on other minor oc- casions, he was completely beaten. He fled then for refuge to Bharatpur, and aided in the repulse of the British from that place. A peace having been concluded with the Eaja of Bharatpur, he fled to the Punjab. Pur- sued by Lord Lake with the energy w T hich marked all that general's movements, Jeswant Eao, hopeless of all but his life, threw himself on the mercy of the conqueror, admitting that ' his whole kingdom lay i^on his saddle's 186 THE NATIVE STATES OF INDIA. PART bow.' To his surprise the British Government restored ^ to him all his territories, and the few that they alienated at the time they gave back to him the following year. 1 Hardly had Jeswant Eao returned to Indiir than he set himself to work to remodel his army. He carried out this reform on a very intelligent plan. His army had become overgrown, and want of discipline had made it a rabble. He at once reduced its numbers to a figure proportionate to the revenues of his dominions, and amongst the reduced numbers he established a system of order and discipline. The predatory horse, which he had found more prompt to plunder than efficient in the field, he summarily discharged. The result of these innovations was that the disbanded troopers not only turned against him, but actually pro- claimed his nephew, Khandi Eao, a boy of eleven years of age, Eaja in his stead. To rid himself for ever of the prospect of such a rival, Jeswant Eao first pacified the mutineers, and then had his nephew poisoned. By similar means he rid himself very shortly afterwards of his legitimate brother, Khasi Eao, and of his wife, who was then in a state promising to present her husband with an heir. Having thus removed all competitors from his path, he set himself to work with redoubled energy to complete his military reforms. He began to cast cannon, labouring at the forges with his own hands. The effects of this hard labour, aggravated by excessive drinking, soon showed themselves. His temper, always violent, became unbearable. Unless his orders were carried out on the spot, he became excited beyond measure. Gradually his mind began to wander ; the tension on his brain had become too great. His madness became too evident, and in 1808 he was placed under restraint. Many attempts 1 More detailed accounts of Jes- Thorn, and the Author's Essays want Kao's military exploits are to and Lectures on Indian Historical be found in Malcolm, Grant Duff, Subjects Essay ' Lord Lake.' INDUE, 187 were made to bring about his recovery, but they all CHAP. foiled. After remaining one year in a state of madness, ^ - he sank into one of complete fatuity. In this he lingered two years longer, dying at last on October 20, 1811, in the city of Bambiira. Jeswant Eao was of middling stature, and of strong and active build. His complexion was dark, and he had suffered much from the loss of an eye, but its expression was agreeable from the animation given to it by his constitutionally high spirits. His character is thus, and, I think, very fairly, summed up by Grant Duff: 'The chief feature,' he writes, ' of Jeswant Eao Holkar's cha- racter was that hardy spirit of energy and enterprise which, though like that of his countrymen, boundless in success, was also not to be discouraged by trying reverses. He was likewise better educated than Marhatas in general, and could write both the Persian language and his own. His manner was frank, and could be courteous, and he was distinguished by a species of coarse wit very attractive to the Indian soldiery. He had few other com- mendable qualities ; for, although sometimes capriciously lavish, he was rapacious, unfeeling, and cruel, and his disposition was overbearing, jealous, and violent.' On Jeswant Eao becoming insane, the regency had been assumed by his favourite mistress, Tiilsa Bai, a woman of great beauty, most fascinating manners, and considerable talents. She adopted a young boy, then not four years old, the son of another mistress, 1 and during his minority, which would be long, she flattered herself she would be allowed to administer the affairs of the country. As prime minister she retained Balaram Set, who had filled the same office under Jeswant Eao, and whom she believed to be devoted to her interests. 2 1 A woman of low caste, a acquaintance with Jeswant Rao; Kumar or pot-maker. that he saw her, fell in love with a Sir John Malcolm relates that her, and in a few days she was in his Tiilsa Bai was married prior to her house and her husband in prison. 188 THE NATIVE STATES OP INDIA. PART But to keep in proper restraint the newly-formed ,-' - army, proud of its strength and conscious of its power, something more was necessary than the control of a woman whose chief claim to her position was her sur- passing loveliness. The troops almost at once assumed a licence bordering on revolt. Many of the neighbours seized without scruple outlying districts of which they themselves had been robbed. The cohesion which had existed in the dominions of Mulhar Rao and Ahalya Bai was now dissolved, and decay and dismemberment seemed to threaten the entire edifice. The demands of the troops became at last so insolent and so rapacious, that Tiilsa Bai was forced to take refuge in the fortified town of Gungrao. There, in pursuance of a dark intrigue, and instigated by her paramour, Ganpat Rao, a man of no talent, she caused her minister, Balaram Set, to be executed. But this deed of .violence, far from stopping the clamours of the troops, increased them to such an extent that the regent and the infant Raja, worsted in the field, fled for refuge to Alot. 1 Just about this time (1817) the Pindari war broke out. An English force was assembling near tljjen. The opportunity appeared to Tiilsa Bai too advantageous to be lost. She sent to the English commander an earnest request that she and the youthful Raja might be received under British pro- tection. But whilst negotiations were proceeding to effect this object, war broke out between the British and the Peshwa, and a large and predominating party in the durbar of Holkar announced their intention to adhere to the fortunes of the titular chief of all the Marhatas. In this conjuncture the regent, Tiilsa Bai, found herself powerless. The command of the army was seized by Pathan leaders, hostile to any accommodation with the English. As a first preliminary to hostilities with that Eventually, the husband received small sum of money, as compensation for the loss of his l A town sixteen miles south- handsome wife, a horse, a dress, and a west of Gungruo. IXDtJR. 189 nation, these leaders caused the person of the Eaja to be CHAP. seized, the regent Tulsa Bai to be executed, and her - IL _- paramour and minister, Ganpat Eao, to be secured. Tulsa Bai was beheaded on December 20, 1817. Her accomplishments and character are thus described by Sir John Malcolm : c Tiilsa Bai,' he writes, ' was not thirty years old when she was murdered. She was handsome, and alike remarkable for the fascination of her manners and quickness of intellect. Few surpassed her in fluent eloquence, which persuaded those who approached her to promote her wishes. She rode with grace, and was always, when on horseback, attended by a large party of the females of the first families of the state. But there was never a more remarkable instance than in the history of this princess, how the most pro- digal gifts of nature may be perverted by an indulgence of vicious habits. Though not the wife of Jeswant Eao, yet being in charge of his family, and having possession of the child who was declared his heir, she was obeyed as his widow. As the favourite of the deceased, and the guardian of their actual chief, she had among the adherents of the Holkar family the strongest impressions in her favour; but casting all away, she lived unrespected, and died unpitied.' The day after the murder of Tulsa Bai, the army of Holkar, under its Pathan leaders, was completely defeated at Mehidpiir. The little Eaja, Mulhar Eao, then about sixteen, was present at the action, seated on an elephant. He is stated to have behaved with spirit, but to have burst into tears when he saw his men fleeing in confusion. The treaty of Mundisur, concluded a fortnight later (January 6, 1818), deprived him of nearly two-thirds of his dominions, and he was reduced to the position of a dependent sovereign. The terms of the treaty may thus briefly be stated. To the British Government were abandoned all Holkar's possessions within and to the south of the Satpiira range ; he relinquished all claims or conquests from the Eajput 190 THE NATIVE STATES OF INDIA. PART states ; he ceded to the Eaja of Kota four districts J - formerly rented by him ; and to Amir Khan and Gafur Khan the jaghirs held by them of the Holkar family, the latter, however, binding himself to maintain a con- tingent of 600 horse. In return, the British Government took the remaining territories under its protection. These remaining territories yielded then an actual annual re- venue of upwards of twelve lakhs of rupees, but they were capable of much development ; they now produce thirty lakhs. The minister with whom the treaty of Mundisiir had been negotiated, Tantia Jogh, bent all his attention, after the signature of the treaty, to discharge superfluous troops and establishments, and to restore the finances of the country. In this praiseworthy endeavour he re- ceived encouragement and assistance from the British authorities an encouragement and assistance without which all his efforts would have been futile. For the treasury was empty, and the country disorganised. But by small loans from time to time advanced by the British Government, Tantia Jogh was enabled to tide over the difficulty. Two insurrections broke out in 1819, which added greatly to the difficulties of the minister's situation, and Muihar thus retarded the settlement of the country. One of Hoi these was occasioned by an impostor personating Muihar Eao Holkar, and the other by the pretensions of Hari Rao Holkar, cousin of the Maharaja. The impostor, whose real name was Krishna Koer, assembled a consider- able force to the west of the Chambal, and kept the field for some time, supported by a body of mercenaries ; but he was at length encountered by the contingent under British officers formed by the minister at Mehidpur, and his party was broken and dispersed. He then fled to Kota, was recognised and imprisoned, but finally pardoned and released as having been an instrument in the hands of others, The insurrection of Hari Eao Holkar was less INDUR. 191 formidable, for soon becoming sensible of the folly of his enterprise, he threw himself on the generosity of his cousin, who, it is said, was disposed to pardon him, but was dissuaded from this purpose by Tantia Jogh, who deemed it imprudent he should be left at liberty to disturb the peace of the country. He was, therefore, thrown into prison at Mahaisir. In the years 1821 and 1822 further disturbances arose, which were only finally suppressed by the inter- vention of the British troops. In April 1826, the able minister who had striven so zealously to retrieve the fortunes of his country died. He was succeeded by Eaoji Trimbak. But a year later Eaoji was displaced by a relative of the late minister, Daeji Bakshi. But this individual proving himself incompetent, Appah Eao Krishna, a clever, active Pundit, was nomi- nated to the high office. Second only to the tranquillisation of the country, the most important event which characterised the reign of Mulhar Eao was an agreement made with the British Government, securing to it the exclusive right to purchase opium in Malwa. Serious difficulties, however, having resulted from these arrangements, the monopoly was abandoned in 1829, and a transit duty was levied on the opium in its passage through the British territory to the sea-coast. Mulhar Eao Holkar took little part in public affairs himself. He was dissolute and extravagant, and was cursed with the fatal facility of yielding to the influence of worthless favourites. None of the three ministers who had succeeded Eaoji Trimbak were men of mark. As a natural consequence, the revenue had fallen, and the country gradually verged to the state in which it had been before the battle of Mehidpur an empty treasury and a mutinous soldiery. In 1829 the eyes of the Eaja were opened to the impending catastrophe. Giving promises of reform and amendment, he persuaded his 192 THE NATIVE STATES OF INDIA. PART mother, who had made large accumulations, to relieve , ^ . his pecuniary embarrassments, and at her desire the minister Appah Eao Krishna was dismissed, and the executive charge of the government entrusted to Madho Eao Furnawis. Mulhar Eao Holkar died four years later (October 1833), at the early age of twenty-eight, a victim to debauchery and dissipation. He left no issue ; but, at the moment of his death, his widow, Gotuma Bai, with the concurrence of her mother-in-law, adopted the infant son of Bapii Holkar, said to be of the same tribe and lineage as Mulhar Eao, and not many degrees removed from Tiikaji Holkar. This child, not four years old, was publicly installed on January 17, 1834, by the style and title of Maharaja Martand Eao Holkar, the executive government still continuing in the hands of Madho Eao Furnawis. The British Government recognised the suc- cession, though declining to bind itself to support it if it should appear subversive of the authority of any other party, or contrary to the wishes of the majority of the chiefs and followers of the Holkar family. But it soon appeared that the pretensions of Martand Eao were not to pass unquestioned. The cousin of the late Eaja, Hari Eao Holkar, was still alive, though in confinement at Mahaisir. From this he was forcibly released by his partisans on the night of February 2, 1834, and proclaimed without delay at Maindlaisar. Thousands flocked to his ranks ; the infant child was abandoned, and on April 17 Hari Eao Holkar was installed as Maharaja in the presence of the British Eesident. Martand Eao was banished from the country, and granted an allowance of 500 rupees a month on condition of his resigning all claims to the succession. Rao The new sovereign was quite unfit to rule. He was wea k ? timid, and superstitious. An imprisonment of nearly fifteen years had sapped up all his energies. All his acts betrayed incapacity. After, in the manner of his 193 race, wreaking vengeance upon those who had supported CHAP. the pretensions of his rival, he unearthed from a distant T ^- part of India an individual named Eivaji Phansia, a man who for the preceding fifteen years had lived obscure and in poverty, and made him prime minister. The character of Eivaji soon showed itself. He knew nothing of the country, he was naturally devoid of ability, and long poverty had made him avaricious and self-seeking. He was, besides, a drunkard. His first act was to marry his eldest sou, Eaja Bhao, also a drunkard, to a natural daughter of the Maharaja, and to bestow upon them a valuable pergunnah ; thus, by his first act, alienating from the impoverished State at least a twelfth part of its revenues. Under the management of this man the revenues began to decrease and the expenditure to augment, until in 1834 the extraordinary result was reached that whilst the former had dwindled down to 9,25,000 rupees, the latter had become swollen to 23,69,000. But this would appear to have been a part of the minister's system. He thought to trade on the timorous nature of Hari Eao by representing the army as being on the verge of mutiny, which he alone could suppress. Hence he augmented and decreased the number of troops at his pleasure, ac- cording to the fancied exigencies of the moment. To meet the extra expenditure he had recourse to loans from soucars or bankers at a ruinous rate of interest. ^ This state of things could not long continue. In 1835 a conspiracy was formed, mainly, it was said, by Madho Eao Furnawis, the last minister of the Eaja Mulhar Eao. On September 8 of that year a body of 300 armed men, led by two officers of the late Eaja, entered Indur. Far from meeting any opposition in the city they were allowed to reach the palace unmolested, were admitted into it, and were even joined by some of the Eaja's troops. Had they pushed on, the enterprise would have succeeded. But the two leaders went in the first instance to ask instruc- 194 THE NATIVE STATES OF INDIA. PAET tions from the widow of Mulhar Eao, then occupying ^-^ ' rooms in the palace. She received them with reproaches, and refused to lend her support. Meanwhile the troops faithful to Hari Eao attacked the invaders. The two leaders, seeing that all was lost, threw themselves on their own swords. A general massacre then ensued, not a man of the invaders or of those who had joined them escaping. This conspiracy only increased the timidity of Hari Eao ; and his minister, nursing his fear, so fortified the palace that he made of it a prison guarded by a lawless rabble. The proper business of the government fell into stagnation, and the disorder in the finances increased As for Hari Eao, his alarm was so great that for fifteen months after the conspiracy he never once left his apart- ments. At length the crisis came. Eivaji Phansia could raise no more money. He had ruined the credit of the State. He had then no course to pursue but to retire. This he did in November 1836. He was succeeded by Salikram Mantri, the agent of the firm of bankers of which Tantia Jogh had been the head. But the country had become so disorganised that it became necessary (1837-8) for the British Government to interfere. Hari Eao Holkar was accordingly informed that the British Government would consider it its duty to assume the management of the country under its own officers should the Eesident of Indiir be unable at a certain fixed period to report a material amelioration in the state of affairs within his dominions. This notification had a wonderful effect. A capable and well-qualified officer, Abbaji Bulab, was appointed minister, and a very few months later, several important reforms had been effected. Expenses were cut down, the corrupt officers of revenue were removed, remissions were granted in the districts which had suffered most from over- exaction, and an improved revenue system was intro- INDUR. 195 duced. By these means it became possible before long to CHAP. pay off the arrears of the civil and military establishments. * .- In an autograph letter to Hari Eao, the Governor- General, Lord Auckland, expressed himself pleased with the measures thus taken by that prince. Hari Eao died on October 24, 1843, at the age of forty-eight. He left no male offspring, his only son by his wife, Hira Bai, a person of an obscure family, having died when quite young. Two years before his death he had adopted as his heir and successor Khandi Eao, a boy thirteen years of age, son of an obscure zamindar, and very distantly related to the reigning family. Khandi Eao was at once recognised by the British Government. But he lived litttle more than three months. 1 ' He was never married. There was no lineal heir to the State, and there was no one possessing a legitimate right to adopt. The nomination of a successor was therefore de- clared to rest exclusively with the British Government, and the Eesident, Sir Robert Hamilton, was instructed to make a selection in such a way as to show that it was manifestly the sole act of the British Government. The mother of Hari Eao Holkar, who was greatly respected by the people, and had been associated with the Eesident in the administration before Khandi Eao's death, pleaded the claims of Martand Eao, but Government refused to select him, and proposed to nominate the younger son of Bhao Holkar if he should be found, on inquiry, to be the most eligible. The Eesident thereupon declared in full durbar the desire of the British Government to perpetuate the state of Holkar by the selection of a successor from amongst those eligible to such a distinction, that the Mah Sahiba had pointed out the younger son of Bhao Holkar as a fit successor, and that the Governor-General, having a great respect for the Mali Sahiba, had determined to bestow the chieftainship on him. Three days thereafter, without waiting for instructions, the Eesident installed the 1 Aitchison's Treaties, o 2 196 THE NATIVE STATES OF INDIA. PART b y w ith all the formality of an hereditary chieftain. For - r ' this serious departure from his instructions the Eesident was severely censured, and informed that by his proceed- ing an opportunity had been lost to Government of mark- ing an important line of policy. In a letter to the young chief the Governor-General laid down the conditions on which the state was conferred on him. This letter was declared to have the force of a sunnud, and the Maharaja was required to present a nuzzer of 101 gold mohurs on its delivery.' 1 Tukaji The new sovereign, then about ten years old, assumed Hoikar ^ ie name of Tukaji Eao Holkar. He attained his majority in 1852, and from that date has managed the affairs of his state. Little occurred to mark the administration of Tukaji Eao prior to the outbreak of the mutiny in 1857. He had then a military establishment consisting of about 2,000 regular and 4,000 irregular infantry ; of 2,000 regular and 1,200 irregular cavalry ; of 500 artillerymen and 24 field guns. The irregular portion of these broke from his control under the influence of the excited passions of the hour, and suddenly besieged the Eesident, the late Sir Henry Durand, in the Eesidency. With some difficulty, and solely to ensure the safety of the women and children under his charge, Colonel Durand retired to Bhopal. Thence he hastened towards Aurangabad to direct the movements of the column advancing from Bombay to restore order in Central India. He met this force at Assirgarh, and so impressed his strong character on the direction of its movements, that not only was the rebellious fort of Dhar taken, but Nimach was very seasonably re- lieved after two actions fought at Mundisur. These victories not only broke the spirit of Holkar's mutinous soldiers, but also cowed them so completely that at Inclur they ignominiously laid down their arms before the man whose life, only a few weeks earlier, they had 1 Aitchison. INDUE. 197 treacherously attempted. Order was then restored Central India. The Government of India did not connect Tiikaji Holkar with the rebellion and outrages of his troops. He received in 1862 a sunnud guaranteeing to him the right of adoption, and he was subsequently nominated a Knight of the Star of India. From that time to the present day nothing has oc- curred in the territories of Holkar meriting special notice. 1 The matters which have been raised between him and the British Government have been more or less questions of detail, and in respect to these the action of the British Government has been more than liberal. In 1864 arrange- ments were concluded with the Maharaja for the cession of land for a line of railway to connect Indur with the great Indian Peninsula line at Nimar. The present prime minister of Holkar is Sir Madhava Kao, K.C.S.L, a Brahman from the south of India, one of the most acute and accomplished men of his race. The Maharaja is entitled to a salute of nineteen guns. CHAPTEE III. BIIOPAL. AREA 6,764 sq. miles. POPULATION 663,656. EETEXUE 13,76,252 rupees. THE principality of Bhopal was founded at the close of C TT A r the seventeenth century by an Afghan nobleman, Dost > ~L_ Mahomed Khan, who served under the emperor Aurang- zib. Dost Mahomed had been nominated by the emperor, about the year 1690, superintendent of the district of 1 It has been stated, and I believe truly, that throughout Hollar's dominions no private individual possesses permanent, heritable, or alienable rights in land. Every cultivator is a tenant at will of the Maharaja. 198 THE NATIVE STATES OF INDIA. PART Bhairsia, and lie took advantage of the convulsions which ' ^ followed the death of the emperor to declare himself Nawab of the territory which, partly as a reward for services rendered, partly by stratagem, and partly, it is said, by treachery, he had acquired in the emperor's life- time. This territory he called Bhopal, after the principal town within its limits. Dost Mahomed Khan survived the emperor sixteen years. He died in 1723, at the age of sixty-six, leaving behind him a great reputation as a man of capacity and courage. His death was the signal for a struggle for power. There were two claimants to the succession. One, Yar Mahomed, the elder but illegitimate son, the other, Sultan Mahomed, younger but legitimate. The cause of Yar Mahomed was espoused by the Nizam, and Sultan Mahomed resigned in his favour, receiving as com- pensation the fort of Eathgurh and its dependencies. Yar Mahomed possessed little of the ability of his father, nor did his son and successor, Feyz Mahomed, compensate for his sire's deficiencies. Yet they had both one great merit. Though they possessed little ability themselves, they were eager to encourage it in others. During their reigns the affairs of the state were managed by Hindu ministers, men of honesty and singular* talents. Feyz Mahomed was a fanatic or religious recluse. But he was harmless. He was not a persecutor, but was content to practise his austerities upon himself. His death, after a reign of thirty-eight years, was little felt. His brother and successor, Mahomed Yassein, sur- vived him only a few days.- The third brother, Hyat Mahomed, who followed, possessed a proportionate share of the fraternal intellect, and no more. Many stirring events, however, happened during his long reign of twenty-nine years. First may be mentioned the contest of the English with the Marhatas, ending for the moment in the shameful convention of Wargaum. In consequence of that convention the very safety of BHOPAL. 199 British interests on the western coast seemed to depend upon the opportune arrival of a force of 4,000 or 5,000 men, which Warren Hastings, with the wonderful pre- vision for which he was distinguished, had despatched, in anticipation of disturbances, from Bengal. This force, making its way through Central India, met with number- less obstacles and impediments to its progress. The Eajput and other powers whose territories were touched, were all more or less dependent on the Marhatas. They all refused their aid. All, I should have said, but one and that one was Bhopal. When the difficulties in the way of the advance of the English general, Goddard, appeared insurmountable, Bhopal offered him a friendly hand. Not only did she open out a path for him through her territories, but she furnished him plentifully with supplies. This was the beginning of a friendship which has never been broken, and which, genuine on both sides, has operated to the advantage of both. The next stirring events for two came simultaneously in the reign of Hyat Mahomed, were the invasions of the Pindaris and the Marhatas. The former swept like locusts over the land, and the latter, called in to expel them, began to vie with them in plundering. In this crisis, with an imbecile sovereign on the throne, and in- triguers tearing the state to pieces by their selfish ma- noeuvres, Bhopal was saved by the appearance on the stage of a young cousin of the Nawab, Vizir Mahomed by name, who, having been driven into banishment for re- belling against a minister subsequently deceased, returned to offer his sword to his country in her danger. The talents, the daring, the engaging qualities of this young soldier of fortune worked wonders. He expelled the Pindaris, drove out the Marhatas, and in less than eight months restored to Hyat Mahomed the security of his throne. But he had deserved too much for the small minds of the members of the ruling family. The heir apparent, 200 THE NATIVE STATES OF INDIA. Ghous Mahomed, especially looked upon him with sus- picion. He was too popular, and must be got rid of. The office of dewan or prime minister happened to be vacant, and the claims of Vizir Mahomed were in every one's mouth. To get rid of Vizir Mahomed it was neces- sary to appoint some one else to the office, who, looking upon him as a rival, would endeavour to crush him. This policy was carried out. Murid Mahomed Khan, a lineal descendant of the legitimate son of the founder of the family, was made minister. His first act was to send Vizir Mahomed to act against the Marhatas in the field ; his next to ' feather his own nest.' He did this so unblushingly that he drove the people to revolt, and then sent for the Marhatas to support him. This was Vizir Mahomed's opportunity. He flew at once to Bhopal to defend it against the foreign foe. With his inadequate means he might not have succeeded, but, fortunately, a disturbance in the territories of Sindhia caused the Marhatas to be recalled. They left, taking with them the cause of their invasion, Murid Mahomed Khan, who died from terror in their hands. The way was now open for Vizir Mahomed. He be- came minister. He found, it is true, an empty treasury, an impoverished state, and a dwindled army. In return he gave himself to the State. It resulted from this gift that in a short time order was restored to the finances, and victory to the standards of Bhopal. A little longer period and the State would have been pronounced cured of her misfortunes. But again jealousy struck him down. To support him, first the Pindaris, then the Marhata hosts, were called in by the son of the sovereign, the im- becile Ghous Mahomed. Just at this period the father, Nawab Hyat Mahomed, died, and Ghous became ruler. Far from resting his sup- port on his countrymen, however, he recognised the Marhatas only as his protectors. Vizir Mahomed had withdrawn for the moment, but, watching his opportu- BHOPAL. 201 hity, he returned, and expelled the Marhatas. From that moment Ghous Mahomed was but the nominal Nawab ; Vizir Mahomed became real ruler. For the nine years that followed, Vizir Mahomed was engaged in warring for the defence of his country. Com- pelled in 1809 to ally himself with the Pindaris, then pursued by the British, he laid before the British com- mander a clear statement of the necessities of his posi- tion, and expressed his earnest desire to enter into friendly negotiations with the rising power. Nothing was agreed upon at the time, but the design never left the mind of the minister of Bhopal. Four years later he was at- tacked and besieged in the capital by the combined armies of Sindhia and the Kaja of Berar. For nine months he, with a gallantry and fortitude never surpassed, with a garrison very small in proportion to the number of the assailants, withstood their attacks, and had the proud satisfaction of repulsing them. Next year Sindhia threatened to renew the siege, but was withheld by the interference of the British Government, which began now to discern, though still dimly, the importance of Bhopal. Eighteen months later (1816) Vizir Mahomed died at the age of fifty-one, leaving behind him the reputation of being the greatest warrior, the most skilful and dash- ing leader, and the wisest politician of that part of India. He was succeeded as minister by a son worthy of him- self, Nuzzer Mahomed, whose granddaughter now reigns in Bhopal. Though this minister held office for less than four years, his administration was of lasting consequences to his country. He succeeded, the year after his accession (1817), in concluding an arrangement with the British, whereby Bhopal was guaranteed to himself on' condition of his aiding the British army with a contingent, and co-operat- iug with it against the Pindaris a condition which was. faithfully observed. The following year these terms were made the basis of a formal treaty of perpetual friend- THE NATIVE STATES OF INDIA. ship and alliance. In return for furnishing a contingent of 600 horse and 400 infantry, he received five districts in Malwa, subject to an annual assignment on them of 6,000 rupees to their former manager. Under the sway of this able man the finances of the country recovered their elasticity, and districts which had been lost in former wars were recovered. In fact, a new era of prosperity was dawning on the principality, when the accidental discharge of a pistol by his brother-in-law, Foujdar Khan, a child eight years old, deprived Bhopul of her ablest ruler and worthiest citizen. Nuzzer Mahomed had had but one wife, the daughter of Nawab Ghous Mahomed, known as the Kiidsia Begum. She had given birth to but one child, a daughter, Sekun- der Begum, who will live in history as the famous Begum of Bhopal. Upon the death of Nuzzer Mahomed it was arranged, with the consent of the Bhopal nobles and the sanction of the British Government, that his nephew, son of his elder .brother, Munir Mahomed Khan, should marry Sekunder Begum, and should succeed as Nawab, and that, mean- while, until this marriage should have taken place, the regency should be placed in the hands of the widow, Kudsia Begum. This arrangement took effect. The Kudsia Begum, then only seventeen years old, commenced her regency by continuing in office the ministers of her late husband, and by following their advice. But with the inarch of time the love of power grew strong within her. Her daughter had been betrothed to her cousin Munir Mahomed Khan. But when, after six years of rule (1827), this man claimed the hand of his promised bride, and demanded to be in- vested with the sovereign authority, the Kudsia Begum fired up, gave him a point-blank refusal, and cancelled the matrimonial engagement. Though Munir objected to this treatment, the Begum carried the day. Acting in concert with the nobles of the state it was decided that BHOPAL. 203 Kiiclsia Begum should continue to rule for a time un- fettered ; that the engagement with Miinir Mahomed should be cancelled, he receiving, instead, a jaghir of 40,000 rupees, and resigning all his claims in favour of his brother Jehangir Mahomed Khan. This Jehangir was yet young, and the Kudsia Begum, anxious to maintain her power, deferred the celebration of the marriage on various pretences. At last it could no longer be postponed, and it took place in April 1835. But the dissensions were thereby only increased. There were then three parties struggling for power the Kud- sia Begum, her daughter, Sekuncler Begum, and the daughter's husband, Jehangir Mahomed Khan. Had Jehangir^ been content to wait, he would probably have gained the mastery for a time. But in his impatience to be facile princeps, he planned a coup d'etat, his design being to seize the person of the Kudsia Begum and con- fine her. His arrangements were well made, and up to a certain point well carried out; but at the decisive moment his heart failed him. He let the Begum go when she was in his power. The failure rebounded upon himself. A civil war ensued. In the course of this Jehangir was defeated, and then besieged in the Fort of Ashta. The siege lasted two months, at the end of which time both parties agreed to accept the mediation of the British Government. It was then arranged that, in consideration of the Begum re- ceiving a life jaghir of 60,000 rupees, the administration of the state should be entrusted to Jehangir. In accor- dance with this, Jehangir received his investiture on November 29, 1837, with the full consent of the Kudsia Begum. Thenceforth that lady appears no more on the scene. But her absence did not restore peace. In the Sekunder Begum the ISFawab had a wife with abilities far greater than his own, an ambition as lofty, and a mind more even and more resolute. Their quarrels were incessant. At last 204 THE NATIVE STATES OF INDIA. Sekunder Begum, knowing Jehangir's character, and feel- r ' ing that with time and patience the day was her own, left him to go and live with her mother. The result was what she had foreseen. After six years of weak and dissolute rule, Jehangir died. On the occurrence of this event various means were attempted to place her, either alone or conjointly with the Kiidsia Be- gum, at the head of the administration, but they all failed, as the Begum intended they should fail. Eventually, in February 1847, Sekunder Begum was appointed sole regent for her only child, a daughter. In this office the Begum had a large field for the ex- ercise of her talents, and she fully justified all the expec- tations that had been formed of her. In six years she paid off the entire public debt of the state ; she abolished the system of farming the revenue, and made her own arrangements directly with the heads of villages ; she put a stop to monopolies of trades and handicrafts ; she brought the mint under her own management ; re-or- ganised the police, and made many other improvements. In fact she displayed in all departments of the State an energy, an assiduity, and an administrative ability such as would have done credit to a trained statesman. She had originally been appointed regent till her daughter should attain the age of eighteen, but on the marriage of the latter with the commander of the forces, Bukshi Baker Mahomed Khan, the period was extended three years. This, however, did not satisfy the Begum. She desired to be regarded as ruler in her own right, and although, in consequence of the British Government having previously recognised her daughter, Shah Jehan Begum, the request could not be complied with at the time, events soon after occurred which gave her a claim that was irresistible. Meanwhile she remained actual ruler, her daughter having resigned her right to govern during her mother's lifetime. She was guiding the State vessel when, in 1857 the BHOPAL. 205 storm of the mutiny burst upon her. She was equal to CHAP. the occasion, true to the traditions of her country, to ^ her plighted word, to the sentiments of truth and honour. As early as April of that year she communicated to the British agent the contents of a lithographed proclamation which had reached her, urging the overthrow and de- struction of the English. In the month of June she expelled from Bhopal a native whom she found engaged in raising troops for a purpose he did not care to avow. In July she afforded shelter to the British officers who had been driven from Indiir by the mutinous troops of Holkar. She did all this under great difficulties : when the contingent raised in Bhopal and commanded by British officers had mutinied, when her mother, who had become a bigot, and her uncles, who were weak-minded and priest-ridden, were urging her to declare a religious war against the infidel. But the Begum never faltered. She was true to the last. She caused the British officers to be conducted in safety to Hoshungabad; then with infinite tact allayed the excitement in her capital ; put down the mutinous contingent with a strong hand, and finally restored order in every part of the Bhopal terri- tory. Then, when the tide turned, and British supre- macy began to vindicate itself, she was as prompt in another way with her aid. Supplies, soldiers, all that she had that could be useful, she gave with a liberal hand. For these services Sek under Begum received for Bhopal a grant of the district of Bairsia, confiscated from Dhar ; she was recognised (December 1859) as ruler in her own right of Bhopal, with succession to her daughter, and succession to her descendants according to the Mahomedan law ; four guns were presented to her ; and on September 1, 1863, her Highness was invested by the Viceroy with the dignity of the highest grade of the most exalted order of the Star of India. She, too, was liberal and generous. Those of her 206 THE NATIVE STATES OF INDIA. own subjects who rendered good service in 1857 were largely and handsomely rewarded. Two months later her Highness left Bhopal with a suite on a pilgrimage to Mecca, leaving her daughter under the protection of the British Government. It had been at one time her intention to extend her journey to Medina, and thence possibly to England, but the an- noyance she met with from marauders induced her to return after an absence of nearly eight months. She arrived at Bombay in June, 1864, remained there four or five months, and then returned to Bhopal. Her Highness lived four years longer, still governing Bhopal with wisdom and prudence. She died on October 30, 1868. The intelligence was received by the Govern- ment of India ' with profound regret.' An extract from the order issued on that occasion will be found in the appendix. 1 The daughter, Begum ShahJehan, at once succeeded. She, too, has one child, a daughter, Sultan Jehan, who was married on February 1, 1875, to Mir Ahmed Ali Khan Bahadur, a nobleman of Afghan descent. She has learned English. The Begum of Bhopal receives a salute of nineteen guns. CHAPTER IV. DHAR. AREA 2,691 sq. miles. POPULATION 125,000. REVENUE 4,37,000 rupees. THE family of the Puars of Dhar descends from a Eajput tribe settled in Malwa in a remote era, whence the branch now reigning in Dhar emigrated at an early age to the 1 Vide Appendix D. DIIAR. 207 vicinity of Puna. Sivaji Puar, the first of this branch who CHAP. brought himself at all prominently forward, was a Patel 1 ^ of the village of Multan, thirty miles north-east of Puna, where the descendants of that branch of the family re- tained thirty years ago, and probably retain still, the here- ditary office of Patel. Sivaji Puar had one son, Krishnaji, who, as well as his three sons, Babaji, Eyaji, and Keruji, were cultivators of the soil, and at the same time silladars. Babaji had two sons, Sambaji and Kaloji, who became military commanders in the service of the famous Sivaji. Three sons of Sambaji, viz. Oclaji, Anand Eiio, and Jugdeo, fought likewise under the successor of Sivaji, Sahu Eaja, in the Marhata army, and from the circum- stance of that direct service under the chief of all the Marhatas, their descendants claim precedence over Sindhia and Holkar, who had served only under the Peshwa. Of the three members of the family last men- tioned, tldaji Puar attained considerable rank. He was not only entrusted with a high command, but treated with great consideration by Sahu Eaja and his minister, Baji Eao. Udaji Puar, however, incurred the displeasure of the all-powerful Peshwa, and was imprisoned. His name does not again occur in history, though his descendants are still Patels of Multan. The leadership of the family devolved, after the imprisonment of Udaji, upon his brother, Anand Eao, at the time Patel of Kaora. This leader was vested with authority to collect the Marhata share of the revenue of Malwa and Gujrat in 1734. Subsequently he settled in Dhar, and this province, with the adjoining districts and the tributes of some neigh- bouring Eajput chiefs, was then assigned for the support of himself and his adherents. He is thus considered as the founder of the principality of Dhar. Anand Eao Puar died in 1749, and was succeeded by his son, Jeswant Eao. This prince was the first of the 1 Head man or chief. 208 THE NATIVE STATES OF INDIA. PAKT f am ily wno received the title of Eaja of Dhar. He was s ^ ' remarkable alike for his valour and generosity, and his name is still held in remembrance by the inhabitants of Malwa. Like many other of the Marhata leaders, he fell at the fatal battle of Panipat in 1761. His son, Khandi Eao Puar, a boy only two and a half years old, succeeded him. His long minority was most disadvantageous to the family interests. Holkar and Sindhia scrupled not, whilst recognising the young Eaja as their superior in rank, to despoil him of slices of his dominions. But the climax of misfortune seemed to be reached when Eagonath Eao, the Peshwa, harassed by his enemies, sent, in 1774, his chief wife and family to take refuge in Dhar. The wife, Anundi Bai, was delivered there of a son, Baji Eao, afterwards last of the Peshwas. This event caused all the enemies of Eagonath Eao to crowd at once into the principality to seize the person of his heir. Khandi Eao, who, though still under major age, had assumed the direction of affairs, had taken part with Eagonath Eao, and therefore his dominions were considered a fair prey by the invaders. These were at once occupied, and were only restored on the surrender of Anundi Bai and her child, who were carried prisoners to Puna. Khandi Eao Puar did not long survive this event. He died in 1780, at the early age of twenty-one. He left his wife, the daughter of Govind Eao, Gaikwar, pregnant. Six months later she gave birth at Barodah to a son, who was called Anund Eao. Anund Eao Puar remained at Barodah, under the care of his mother and grandfather, till the year 1797. He was then seventeen. His assumption of authority was opposed by the minister, Eung Eao tlrekur, who had conducted the administration in his absence. Eung Eao, however, was unable to maintain his usurped authority, and fled to the court of Holkar. Holkar, whilst pretend- ing to open negotiations with Anund Eao Puar for the BHAR. 209 return of his minister, plundered and laid waste the country. The minister, seeing he was not in earnest, fled to Daolat Eao Sindhia, and instigated that prince to attack Dhar. Daolat Eao, nothing loath, not only threatened to resume the country, basing his threats upon pretended orders from the Peshwa, but, in the course of the seven years that followed, annexed the districts of Augur and Soneil, besides all the Dhar possessions in Haraoti, and extorted large sums from the Eaja. Two years later, one of Sindhia's leaders, Sambaji Jugga, again attacked the weakened principality, and took, after an action fought at Budnaoar, the whole of that district, to satisfy the demand made by order of Sindhia for 75,000 rupees. A desire to regain his terri- tory induced Anund Eao to raise and pay over that sum. But before the territory had been restored, he died. This event, and the confusion that ensued, led to the retention by Sindhia of both money and territory. It. is believed that Anund Eao Puar was poisoned by his sister, who was a very dissolute woman. Her supposed object was to obtain the reins of government which she hoped to guide by means of a child she w^ould have then adopted. But these hopes, if entertained, were completely frustrated. She was seized and put to death, with several real or presumed accomplices, a few days after her brother's death. 1 On the death of Anund Eao Puar, his widow, Mina Bai, assumed the government. She was pregnant at the time. To assure herself, therefore, at such a time, against the intrigues of her enemies, and especially those of Morari Eao, an illegitimate relation of her late husband, she formed a party to support her interests at Dhar, and went to Mandii for her confinement. In due course she gave birth there to a son, whom she called Eamchunder Eao. As soon as she was convalescent she returned to 1 Malcolm. P 210 THE NATIVE STATES OP INDIA. , completely thwarted, by her firmness and prudence, the efforts of Morari Eao ; and then, summoning to her aid from Barodah a body of troops upon whom she could depend, applied all her energies to restore the fortunes of the country. It must not be imagined that the country was properly administered at this period. Nothing could be further from the fact. There was indeed no adminis- tration at all. The principality had been so devastated that no attempt was made to collect a regular revenue. It would have been fruitless to attempt it. Morari Eao, too, still occupied one corner of it, always threatening the remainder. Under these circumstances, the only way to provide supplies for the ordinary wants of the State was to make predatory incursions on the Bajput countries in the neighbourhood. Whilst the administration was thus worked on a hand- to-mouth principle, the boy Eaja, Eamchunder Eao Puar, died. The mother, still resolved to rule, at once adopted, with the concurrence of Holkar and Sindhia, her sister's son, a boy of about the same age, under the name of Eamchunder Puar. During the eight years that followed Dhar continued a prey to her overgrown neighbours. Morari Eao died, but other enemies rose up. She could not even keep out the Pindaris. To such a length did spoliation reach, that when the British entered Malwa in 1817 to annihilate the power of those freebooters, the only portion of the ancient principality remaining in possession of the Eani was the town of Dhar itself, and this had been maintained solely by the firmness and courage of Mina Bai ! The revenue did not exceed from 20,000 to 30,000 rupees ! Then began a new era for the family of Puar. Dhar was taken (January 10, 1819) under the protection of the British Government, several districts which it had lost were recovered and restored to it, and such arrange- ments were made with the paramount power as would ensure to the recovered districts sufficient time to rally from DEAR. 211 the state of impoverishment to which they had been reduced . - , By these arrangements, and by an addition to them made two years later, the principality of Dhar was made to consist of the districts of Dhar. Budnaoar, and Nalcha. It received, likewise, an annual payment of 1.10,000 rupees from the British Government for the district of Bairsia and the tribute of Alli-Mohun, ceded in 1821 to the British Government. Its tributary rights over the Eajput states of Banswara and Dongarpiir had been ceded to the British Government in 1819. From the moment of the interference of the British the condition of Dhar began rapidly to improve. The State had an able minister in the person of Bapii Eago- natli. Under his administration during the minority of the Eaja, the disorderly rabble of foreign mercenaries was dismissed, and their place supplied by an efficient body of 300 horse and 800 foot, which, with the ordinary police of the country, sufficed for all internal purposes ; the revenue, which in the preceding eight years had some- times fallen to 20,000 rupees, rose in 1820 to 2,67,000 ; whilst assured tranquillity gave confidence to the cultiva- tors of the soil. In the following year a marriage took place between the young Eaja, Eamchunder Puar, and Unpura Bai, niece of Daolat Eao Sindhia. The age of the bride- groom was twelve, that of the bride eight years. The marriage was celebrated at Gwaliar with great pomp and ceremony, and gave satisfaction to the nobles of both states. The satisfaction at Dhar was, however, somewhat diminished when it was ascertained that the dower of the bride, which had been estimated at territories bringing in an annual revenue of a lakh of rupees, consisted only of the district of Dektan, a district which, I may add, Sindhia subsequently attempted to resume. A second visit was paid to Daolat Eao Sindhia by the Eaja of Dhar in 182G, with the hope of extracting from r 2 212 THE NATIVE STATES OF INDIA. PART Daolat Eao during the sickness which had then over- ._ "' .^ taken him, some material sign of his goodwill. That, naturally, was not the ostensible reason for the journey. Others more natural were not wanting. The bride of the young Eaja had remained since the wedding at Gwaliar ; and it was to show no unchivalrous impatience that the Eaja himself should set forth to escort her to her new home. Besides, Daolat Eao was sick, and it seemed but natural to go to offer him the condolence of a near relative. Again, however, were the hopes entertained doomed to be disappointed. Eamchunder Puar returned to Dhar, indeed, with his wife, but without any accession of territory. Some rearrangement of the stipulations of the treaty with the British were made in 1828, 1831, and 1835, but as they were of a technical character, not affecting the property of the country or its good relations with the British power, it seems unnecessary particularly to allude to them. Their result may thus briefly be stated. Instead of a fixed sum for the cession of the district of Bairsia, the British agreed to pay the surplus revenues of that district after meeting all its expenses. But in 1832 an event occurred which reproduced disorder and rapine in the country. This was the insurrection occasioned by the pretensions of a youth who gave himself out to be the son of Morari Eao and grandson of Jeswunt Eao Puar, first Eaja of Dhar, killed at the battle of Panipat. The insurrection assumed grave proportions from the fact that the Bhils, who had been greatly attached to Morari Eao, rose as one man in its favour. Its conse- quences were most disastrous, for besides the plundering and burning of numerous villages, the insurgents arc computed to have driven off to their fastnesses and jungles no less than 3,000 head of cattle, besides other booty. In at last invoking the aid of the British to quell these out- rages, the minister of Dhar, Bapu Eagonath, stated that all the villages were deserted and that the country would DHAR. 213 be lost unless something were done at once. The British CHAP. first mediated, but mediation having proved fruitless, ^ ' they interfered. Finally the leader of the insurrection, Uchet Eao, and his followers, agreed to submit their claims to the arbitration of the British. The evidence adduced being greatly in favour of the claim to parentage urged by tJchet Eao, and the grievances of the Bhils having been substantiated, it was decided that a main- tenance allowance for life of 200 rupees per mensem should be assigned to tlchet Eao, on condition that he should desist from his pretensions and restore the cattle and other booty carried off during the insurrection. The griev- ances complained of by the Bhils were at the same time redressed. Eaja Eamchunder Eao Puar died in October 1833, after a short illness of eleven days. He had not quite attained the age of twenty-four. He left no male issue, and but one daughter. Agreeably to the Hindu custom, therefore, his widow, Unpura Bai, adopted the son of one of the nearest relatives of the family of Jeswunt Eao Puar, of Miiltan a descendant of tldaji Puar, before referred to. The adoption having received the sanction of the British Government, the young Eaja, by name Mulhar Eao Puar, was installed in the month of April following. He was about eleven years old at the time. His name on his accession was changed to Jeswunt Eao. It was less than two years after the accession of this prince that Sindhia resumed possession of the district of Dektan, which had formed the dower of the wife of the late Eaja. He did not, however, hold it long. His generals fell out amongst themselves, and the local authorities of Dhar seized that opportunity to recover it. To make assurance doubly sure for the future, the Dhar minister requested the British to hold and manage the province, paying to Dhar the surplus revenues. This request was complied with . The able minister who had so long conducted the 214 THE NATIVE STATES OF INDIA. PAET a ff a i ra O f the State, Bapu Eagonatli, died in 1836. He __,J , was succeeded by his third son, a man of excellent character. The following year the young Eajd was affianced to Nana Bai, daughter of the Patel of Tankwa, a village in the Puna territory. The marriage took place later, but no issue proceeded from it. Nothing occurred to disturb the tranquillity of the country till 1857. In that year the two events happened of which the good effects of one would seem to have neutralised the evil effects of the other. The first was the death of the Eaja, to be succeeded by a minor, his half brother, Anund Eao ; the second, that the State took advantage of the mutiny to rebel against the British. The rebellion was crushed, and the State was confiscated. Various causes, however, contributed to induce the British Government to take a lenient view of the outbreak one of these being, I believe, the minority of the Eaja at the time of its occurrence. The country was, therefore, re- stored as an act of grace, but retained under British management until the young Eaja should attain his majority. The only punishment inflicted was the ex- cision of the district of Bairsia which had for years been under British management from Dhar, and its transfer to the Begum of Bhopal. Anund Eao Puar attained his majority in 1863, but the Government was deterred from making over to him the management of the country by the reports of the local political agents as to his unfitness to undertake so grave a responsibility. But in August 1864, the Viceroy, Sir John Lawrence, determined to give him a fair trial, and on October 1 the administration was made over to the young prince. Certain conditions, however, accom- panied the transfer. Anund Eao Puar agreed to main- tain the then existing system of management ; to respect all leases and engagements until the expiration of the term of settlement ; to be guided in the choice of a prime minister by the advice of the Governor-General's agent ; to maintain the revenue arrangements as regards roads ; DHAR. 215 to alienate no territory or reversion to any of the neigh- bouring chiefs without the concurrence of the agent, and to keep the Dhar fort in its existing condition. Bound by a promise to fulfil these stipulations, it was necessary only to keep it to maintain peace and order, and to ensure contentment amongst the people. The Raja of Dhar has received a sunnud granting to him the right of adoption. He receives a salute of fifteen CHAPTER V. DEWAS. AREA. 256 sq. miles. POPULATION 25,000. REVENUE 4,25,000 rupees. Ix my account of the principality of Dhar, I stated CHAP that the Sambaji Patel left one son, Krishna] i, that he left - ^- three sons, Babaji, Ryaji, and Keriiji, and that Babaji had two, Sambaji and Kaliiji, distinguished military leaders under the Raja Sahu. I have also shown that the Puars of Dhar were descended from Sambaji. I have now to relate how the descendants of his brother Kaliiji also founded a state which still lives. Kaluji had four sons, Krishnaji, Tukaji, Jivvaji, andManaji. Of these, the second and third, Tukaji and Jiwaji, accompanied Baji Rao Peshwa into Malwa in 1725-26. In the subsequent division of that province they were assigned the districts of Dewas, Sarungpiir, Alot, and others, yielding a nominal revenue of 2,42,900 rupees, but subject to a yearly payment of 26,000 rupees to several Grasia chiefs. To this was added an assignment of the tribute of certain districts to the amount of 78,922 rupees, and at a later date, the province of Hamerpiir, in Bundelkhand, and 216 THE NATIVE STATES OF INDIA. PAET O f Kandoba, in the Duab. These, however, they did ^- ^ not very long retain. The constitution of Dewas is peculiar. Originally assigned to the two brothers, Tiikaji and Jiwaji Puar, a disagreement between them caused a division of the territory. Their descendants, however, agreed to revert to the original union of power and authority. And so it has since continued. The two Eajas are equal in rank and pretensions, and share equally in all receipts. ' An inquiry was made,' writes Sir John Malcolm, ' into their exact relations to ascertain how they were to be treated in points of form and ceremony. It was explained by one of their officers saying with a smile, " If a lime is presented by a villager, it must be cut into two equal parts and divided between our two Eajas." It was easily found,' continues Malcolm, ' that though their chiefs were on good terms, their principal servants often came in collision, and in making arrangements for their future welfare, a primary object was to induce them to appoint one minister. To this they agreed, and the nomina- tion of a respectable old servant of the family to this office, has tended greatly to the improvement of their territories.' The immediate successors of Tiikaji and Jiwaji Puar passed through troublous times. Unhappily for them, more so still for their subjects, their principality lay in the most distracted part of Central India. Unable to maintain any force they were alternately plundered and oppressed, not only by Sindhia and Holkar, but by the Pindari chiefs, and indeed by every freebooter of the day. In this way they lost the outlying districts of Hamerpiir and Kandapa. At one time, indeed, their district of Sarungpiir was seized by Sindhia, and only restored after the conclusion of the Pindari war (1817-19). The wonder is, that, living in such an age, and under such conditions, they were allowed to retain even the smallest portion of their dominions. DEWAS. 217 Tukaji Puar left no children. He adopted his grand- CHAP. nephew, Krishnaji,' grandson of his eldest brother of that -^-^ - name. Krishnaji dying likewise without male offspring, adopted his nephew, Tukaji, son of his brother Eanoji. Tukaji died in 1824, and was in his turn succeeded by an adopted son, Eiikmanund Eao, commonly known as Khaseh Sahib. He died in 1860, and Krishnaji Eao, whom he had adopted, was recognised as his successor. He was a minor, and was not invested with full powers till March 23, 1867. It is a curious though by no means a rare fact in connection with the native dynasties of India, that in this branch of the family, not one single instance occurs of its representatives having been succeeded by a son naturally begotten. In every instance the heir has been adopted. The other founder of the State, Jiwaji Puar, left two sons Sudasio, whose line became extinct with the death of his son, Eukma, and Anund Eao. This prince was succeeded by his son Hybut Eao. Hybut, dying childless, adopted Nilkant Eao, grandson of Manaji, the youngest son of Kaloji, founder of the family. Nilkant Eao, on adoption, assumed the name of Anund Eao, but dying without male issue in 1837, was succeeded by his adopted son, Hybut Eao. This prince adopted a son in 1858, on the understanding that his claims should give way to those of a legitimate son in the event of his being blessed with offspring. This occurred in December 1860. On the death of Hybut Eao, nearly four years later (May 12, 1864), this son, called Narain Eao Puar, was recognised as his successor. The State was managed during the minority of the two Eajas by the Kamdar, Govind Eao Eamchunder, subject to the general control and super- vision of the agent to the Governor-General. This state of things lasted till March 23, 1867, when the represen- tative of the elder branch, Krishnaji Eao Puar, having attained his majority, was, as I have already stated, in- vested with full powers. 218 THE NATIVE STATES OP INDIA. PATIT Like the cognate principality of Dhar, Dewas owes - ^ ' its present state of comparative prosperity to the inter- ference of the British in 1818. Still bleeding from the exactions of Sindhia, Holkar, and the Pindaris, it was then taken under British protection. Sindhia was forced to restore its native district of Sarungpur ; the two Rajas were recognised as, in every respect, rulers of their possessions, consisting of the districts of Dewas, Alot, Sarungpur, Giirguchah, Bingnaod, Baghaod; they were also recognised as being entitled to a share of the collections, amounting to seven per cent., of the third parts of the province of Sandarsi, and an equal share of the collection of the province of Diingelah. Subsequently, in 1828, the outlying district of Baghaod, too distant to be properly controlled, was taken under British management, the Rajas being entitled to the sur- plus revenues. Subsequently to the arrangements thus made in 1818 witli the British, the peace of Dewas has been but little disturbed. It is true that some of their dependants, notably the Thakur of Ragughur, endeavoured for some time to parade an affected independence, either by* withholding the tribute due to the Rajas, or by engaging in acts of plunder and robbery. But these lawless acts came to a crisis in 1834 by the imprison- ment of the Thakur, caught in an act of daring robbery. Since that time similar depredations have become rare. Both Rajas of Dewas rendered good service in 1857. On March llth, 1862, a sunnud was transmitted to them conveying the right of adoption. 219 CHAPTER VI. JAOKA. AKKA 872 sq. miles. POPULATION 85,456. REVENUE 6,o5,240 rupees. THE State of Jaora was founded by Gafur Khan, brother- CHAP in-law of the famous Amir Khan, the sketch of whose vi. life is recorded under the heading of Tonk, in the States of Rajputana. Gafur Khan would appear to have been born in Eohilkhand, of Afghan parents, in the last quarter of the eighteenth century. He joined Amir Khan when that leader took service under Holkar in 1798, distinguished himself by his capacity for affairs, and when Jeswant Rao became insane in 1808 was nominated by Amir Khan, of whom he had become the brother-in-law, a member of the regency formed for administering the affairs of Indur. Of this regency Tulsa Bai, the mistress of the late Raja, was the nominal head. Of the conduct of such an ad- ministration, Grant Duff records the following judg- ment : ' There was no regular collection of revenue ; the government had not the power of reducing its army ; and the finances of the state, even under the most skilful management, were inadequate to the support of the establishments The government, if such it may be designated, was alternately swayed by two factions, the Marhatas and the Pathans, which were constantly in- triguing against each other, and nothing could exceed the state of anarchy which prevailed throughout the country. At the court, bribery, executions, and mur- ders ; in the provinces violence, rapine, and bloodshed.' It need scarcely be stated that of the rival factions Gafur Khan led the Putliaiis. Thenceforward he was 220 THE NATIVE STATES OF INDIA. alternately the accomplice and the opponent of the dark intrigues which characterised the career of Tiilsa Bai. 1 In one of the moments of the ascendency of the Marhata party, Gafur Khan retreated with the troops devoted to him to Jaora, tiie lands of which had been assigned to him, and there began not only to exact contributions, but to plunder neighbouring districts as well. The Marhata party sent a force against him, but Gafur Khan was joined by his brother-in-law, who, after a contest lasting over fifteen days, forced the enemy to retire. The Pathan party then regained the ascendency. Amir Khan returned to Eajputana, and Gafur Khan assumed the position of protector of the infant sovereign, Mulhar Kao. Still in- trigue succeeded intrigue, until at last Gafur Khan incited the movement upon the town of Gungrao, which forced Tiilsa Bai to take flight, and brought matters to a crisis. He finally concluded the long contest by assuring himself, on the eve of the battle of Mehidpur, of the person of the young Kaja, and by consigning Tulsa Bai to death. 2 The next day Gafur Khan and the army of Holkar were completely defeated at Mehidpur. But by the twelfth article of the treaty which followed (January 6, 1818) Gafur Khan was guaranteed the districts of the Sujit, Mulhargurh, Taul, Mundaol, Jaora, and Bu- rode ; likewise the tribute of Piplaoda, and the cus- toms of the whole. He was further guaranteed the descent of those districts to his heirs on the condition of his maintaining in constant readiness for foreign service a body of six hundred horse ; ' and further that this quota of troops shall be hereafter increased in proportion to the increasing revenue of the districts granted to him.' 3 It is true that Amir Khan himself claimed the lands thus granted to Gafur Khan, on the ground that the latter had acted only as his agent in the matter, and that he 1 Vide Holkar. India, vol. i. chap, vi., vii. 2 For a detailed account of these 3 Aitchison's Treaties. intrigues, vide Malcolm's Centra] JAORA. 221 was entitled to them by virtue of his engagements with the British Government. But it was proved upon inquiry that Gafiir Khan held them on his own account as a member of Holkar's administration, and that his real dependence on Amir Khan, though the origin of his in- fluence at that court, had ceased before the war of 1 817. Amir Khan's claim was therefore rejected. 1 Such was the origin of the principality of Jaora the successful audacity of an adventurer of Afghan de- scent, his race being as much a foreign race in the eyes of the aboriginal inhabitants as is that of the British. Gafiir Khan survived the treaty of Mundisiir but seven years. He was succeeded in 1825 by his son, Nawab Ghous Mahomed Khan, then only two years old. The arrangements for the management of the state were made by the British Government, but as Jaora was nomi- nally a fief of the Holkar state, though really independent of it, the investiture of the young Nawab was made in the name of Mulhar Rao Holkar, to whom a nuzzerana of two lakhs of rupees was presented, with the approval of the British Government. The elder widow of Gafur Khan was nominated guardian, her son-in-law, Jehan- gir Khan, was appointed her agent ; and they were re- quired to keep open accounts of the State revenues for the inspection of the Governor-General's agent at Indiir. Two years later, in consequence of gross mismanagement and neglect of the agent's advice, the Begum was removed from the guardianship. It was also decided that, in the event of Ghous Mahomed's death, the male relatives of Gafur Khan should succeed, in preference to those in the female line. 2 In the year 1825 the arrangements of the treaty of Mundisiir were modified so as to fix the quota of troops to be maintained by the JSawab of Jaora, at 500 horse, 500 foot, and two guns. But in 1842 the contingent furnished by Jaora was amalgamated witli that furnished 1 Aitcliison's Treaties. 2 Hid. 222 THE NATIVE STATES OF INDIA. PART by Holkar and Dewas, and in lieu a money payment was ^ required. This was slightly reduced in 1859, in reward for the services of Nawab Ghous Mahomed during the mutinies. 1 Ghous Mahomed died on April 29, 1865, leaving a son, Mahomed Ishmael Khan, eleven years of age. Immediately, upon the recommendation of the Governor- General's agent, a council of regency was nominated, con- sisting of Huzrut Niir Khan, the Kamdar, or general manager, of the late Nawab ; two members of the family, and the widow, mother of Mahomed Ishmael. This lady, however, died two days after her husband, and it was found that the single association of the Kamdar with the members of the family would simply serve to revive old family dissensions. It was decided then to maintain the fiction by which Jaora was regarded as a fief of the Holkar family. Accordingly the Governor-General's agent was instructed to cause the investiture of the young chief to take place under the authority of the British Government, but in the name of the Maharaja Holkar, to whom two lakhs of rupees were to be presented as the offering due to a suzerain on succession. But meanwhile, other complications arose. The chief wife of the late Nawab, then absent on a visit to her half-brother, the Nawab of Tonk, claimed the throne for herself. Her half-brother, the Nawab of Tonk, demanded it also for himself, basing his claims on those preferred by Amir Khan in 1818, and rejected by the British Government, and on the statement that the son of the late Nawab, Mahomed Ishmael Khan, was illegitimate. These claims were considered by the Government of 1 The services of the Nawab of General's agent, the late Sir Henry Jaora during the mutinies were by Durand, aware of the understanding- no means inconsiderable. It was between Holkar's troops and the in- mainly owing to him that the surgents ; and when Sir H. Durand British Government was indebted took the field the Nawab of Jaora for correct information in more than was the only chief who boldly and one important conjuncture. It was promptly joined him in his camp, the Nawab who made the Governor- JAORA. 223 India, and by it after due investigation were rejected. Accordingly the investiture took place in the manner directed, the khillut, or honorary dress, being bestowed in the name of the British Government. The administration of Jaora was conducted during the minority of the young chief by the Kamdar, subject to the supervision of the political officer on the spot. But this arrangement ceased on the Nawab attaining his majority in 1872. The Nawab of Jaora received a sunnud from the Governor-General in 1862, guaranteeing the succession to his State according to Mahomedan law, in the event of the failure of natural heirs. He is entitled to a salute of thirteen guns. 24 THE NATIVE STATES OF INDIA. PART IIL-BUNDELKHAND, CHAPTER I. REWA. AREA 12,723 sq. miles. POPULATION 1,280,000. REVENUE About 22,50,000 rupees. PART THIS principality is bounded on the north by the districts r - of Allahabad and Mirzapur ; on the north-east by Mirzapur ; on the south-east by Korea ; on the south by Saugor, and on the west by a portion of the central provinces and Bundelkhand. Eewa would appear to have formed part of the ancient kingdom of Kalinger, and to have been severed from it and nominally annexed to Allahabad during the reign of Aurangzib. The sovereignty over it of the Mogul empire, however, was apparently limited to the exaction of tribute. It is inhabited by a race called Bhagelas. On the disruption of the Mogul empire, the Bhagela chief who is said to have been a descendant of Sid Eai Jai Singh, famous in the twelfth century gained a quasi-independence under the nominal suzerainty of the Peshwa. The events which led to the treaty of Bassein (1802-3), and that treaty itself, freed the chief even from that nominal suzerainty. Then it was that the British Government made to him overtures to extend to him its protection. Thinking probably he could stand his ground without such protection, the chief, known as Raja Jai Singh Deo, refused it. And certainly, his dominions being REWA. 225 removed from the highway of hostilities, he for some years plumed himself upon his prudence. But, in 1812, lie went a step beyond keeping aloof. In the course of that year a body of Pindaris, bent on plunder, were aided and abetted by Eaja Jai Singh Deo, in a marauding incursion into the British district of Mirzapur. The complicity of the Eaja in this act of hostility having been established to the satisfaction of the British Government, he was called upon to accede to a treaty, by which, whilst the British Government acknowledged his rank and title as Eaja of Eewa, and bound itself to friendship and pro- tection towards him, he was required to refer all disputes between himself and neighbouring chiefs to the arbitra- tion of the British Government, and to permit British troops to be marched through, or stationed within, his territories. The Eaja was bound likewise to deliver up enemies, rebels, and criminals who might be found therein. Eaja Jai Singh Deo did sign this treaty, but he did not keep it. On the contrary, he seized the first oppor- tunity of the passage of a body of British sepoys through his territories to attack them (1813). He attempted likewise to reduce them by starvation. In both these attempts he failed, but the act of aggression was palpable. Such conduct called for the display of military force. Troops were accordingly sent into his country. Their appearance was sufficient. The Eaja made no defence, expressed contrition, and submitted unconditionally. The result was the conclusion of a second treaty (June 1813), whereby the Eaja bound himself to engage in no correspondence of a political nature with any foreign State ; to receive a news-writer or other agent ; to permit the establishment of postal arrangements throughout his country, and to punish or aid in punishing certain large landowners who had evinced a contumacious or hostile spirit towards the British Government. This treaty, too, was agreed to by the Eaja, but Q 226 THE NATIVE STATES OF INDIA. having imbibed the idea that its provisions were only binding upon himself personally, he abdicated in favour of his son, Bishnath Singh, before any of them could be put into execution. But this finesse did not succeed. The British Government called upon Bishnath Singh to execute an instrument binding himself to abide by the terms of the treaties negotiated with his father. Bishnath was most unwilling to do this, and it was only after having exhausted evasion that he cojnplied. By a third treaty, made in 1814 with the Eaja, the British Government restored to him certain lands which had previously been forfeited, and renounced the right to interfere between him and his feudatories. Nothing of moment occurred during the following twenty years. In 1834 Eaja Bishnath Singh died, and was succeeded by his son Eagraj Singh, who, according to the native annals, is the thirty-second in order of succession. In 1847, this prince abolished sati through- out his dominions. In 1857 he rendered good and faithful services. For these he was rewarded by the grant of two districts in sovereignty. The right of adoption has been granted to the Eaja of Eewa. In October 1864, he was invested by the Viceroy with the Order of the Star of India. In the following year gangs of robbers from his do- minions plundered the adjoining districts, but the Eaja, warned by the British Government, succeeded in repress- ing and capturing them. The Eaja of Eewa is entitled to a salute of seventeen guns. 227 CHAPTEE II. URCHAH Or TEHRf. AREA 2,160 sq. miles. POPULATION 200,000. REVENUE About 5,50,000 rupees. THIS principality, lying south-east of Agra, and north of CHAP. Saugor, ranks first among the States of Bundelkhand as I , 1 '- being the only State in that province which was never held in subjection by the Peshwa. It is said that when the Eaja presented a nuzzer to the Governor-General in 1818, he remarked that it was the first time that the family had acknowledged the supremacy of any other power. The chronicles of the house of Tehri exhibit, accord- ing to its legendary annals, seventy-two generations, from the first Eaja, the celestial Eamchunder, who reigned at Ayodhia (Oudh). He was succeeded by his second son, Ankiish, from whom Gungrakh, who founded some splendid temples at Gay a, in Behar, is sixteenth in lineal descent. The twentieth Eaja, Buldeo Eakh, founded those at Pryag, or Allahabad, and his son, Indradmun, built the celebrated temples of Juggern&th. It is from Eant Singh, the second son of the thirty-second Eaja, that the Burgiizur Eajpiits derive their origin. The thirty-fourth Eaja, Kurmshya, conquered the province of Banaras. Kemkuru, the second son of the forty-sixth Eaja, having, says the chronicle, performed some religious austerities on the summit of Hinda-Chul, succeeded in propitiating the tutelary goddess of the mountain. He was about to* sacrifice himself, but suddenly, when in the very act, the goddess appeared in all her glory, and a drop of blood having fallen from the wound which he had inflicted on himself, she conveyed to it a portion of the water of immortality, and it assumed the form of a child, 223 THE NATIVE STATES OP INDIA. P m T a ^ erwarc ^ s tne famous Bir Singh, who called his people r-^ ' Bundelas, from Blind, a drop. He soon acquired a dominion, and ruled his people with justice. The sixtieth Eaja, Purtab Eudra, having founded the city of Urcha, entrusted the government to his son while absent on an expedition, from which he never returned. Mudhiikur, proverbial for his justice, power, and charity, was the sixty-second Eaja ; he reigned in the time of Akbar. His eldest son, Eamasa, was appointed to the government of Ayodhia, while the younger son, JSTursingh Deo, was confirmed by Jehangir in tlrcha, and the district of Chanderi was given to Eamasa to reconcile him to the loss of an hereditary demesne. Nursingh Deo had twelve sons ; the third, Pahar Singh, accompanied, at a later period, Aurangzib to Aurangabad, and founded a suburb which now bears his name. With Bhagwan Das, the fourth son, originated the tribe of Kiirers. The sixty- eighth prince was Champut Eae. In consequence of his refusal to pay tribute to Shah Jehan, Bundelkhand was twice invaded by the imperial armies, and the country became a prey to licence and anarchy. But tJrcha was not taken, the Eaja did not submit, and the retiring army was harassed almost to annihilation by the Bundelas. Champut Eae afterwards joined Aurangzib against his brother Dara ; his son, Chutter Sal, then thirteen years old, being placed in the van of the army. To the know- ledge possessed by these princes, father and son, of the passes through the country and across the Jamna the success of Aurangzib has been ascribed. The emperor, however, as was his wont, forgot these services, for, after the death of Champut Eae, he sent an army into Bundel- khand and endeavoured forcibly to convert the inhabit- ants to the Mahomedan faith. The son, Chutter Sal, was at that time serving in the Dekhan, under the orders of Eaja Jai Singh, of Jaipur. He had formed, then, the acquaint- ance of the renowned Sivaji, against whom he was acting in the field. At one of their interviews, Sivaji forcibly URCHAH OR TEHRI. 229 reminded Chutter Sal of his duty to his religion and his CHAP. country, Then, girding a sword on his loins, and com- * ^ mending him to the goddess Bhawani, he urged him to return to his country and achieve its independence. He followed that advice, and after the death of Aurangzib, expelled the invaders, and conquered a great part of Bundelkhand. Such is the legendary history. 1 It would appear certain, however, that the territory conquered by Chutter Sal included Datia, Samptar, Jhansi, and a part of Eewa. After his death, Datia became a separate principality under a prince of the same family ; whilst the portion of his territory which subsequently constituted the State of Jhansi, was bequeathed by him tQ the Peshwa Baji Eao in 1735. The independence of the portion called Tehri, with tJrchah for its capital, was never threatened. But the effect of these severances was great. The revenues of Ohutter Sal, after he had achieved the independence of Bundelkhand generally, were estimated at 20,000,000 rupees ; in 1837 the revenues of Tehri had dwindled down to 600,000 : and they are believed since to have decreased. The first communications between the Eaja of Tehri and the British power occurred in 1809, when the Eaja solicited to be admitted amongst the number of protected allies of the British, on terms similar to those which had been concluded with the Bundela Eajas who had been granted British protection by the terms of the treaty of Bassein. Apparently, however, the policy of totally abstaining from all interference in the affairs of native states introduced by Lord Cornwallis, and adhered to by his immediate successors, prevented the entertainment of his request. But events were too strong for the devotees of that policy. The incursion of the Pindaris into 1 The Princes of India, by an many essentials from this, and it officer of the East India Company. is dffficult to decide which contains There are other legends differing in the true story. 230 THE NATIVE STATES OF INDIA. Mirzapur in 1812, to which I have alhided in the pre- ceding chapter, showed the British Government the advantage that would accrue to it by adopting a policy of conciliation and protection towards the independent Eajas of Bundelkhand. A treaty was thereupon negotiated and concluded with Bikramajit Molunder, Eaja of Urchah, by which the Eaja was admitted among the number of the allies of the British ; his territory, without payment of tribute, was guaranteed to him and his successors, and the British protection assured to them. On the other hand, the Eaja bound himself to refer disagreements, claims, and causes of dispute with foreign powers and other chiefs to the arbitration of the British ; to defend the roads and passes of his country against predatory bodies attempting to enter the British territories ; and to allow the British Government to send its troops through, or to station them within, his dominions. When, four years and a half later, the Marquis of Hastings passed through Tehri with a portion of the army that was to act against the Pindaris, Eaja Bik- ramajit presented his nuzzer in token of fealty. It was upon this occasion he remarked that it was the first time a Eaja of Urchah had ever acknowledged the supremacy of another power. Eaj a Bikrarnaj it died in the year 1834. His only son , Dhurm Pal, had died before him. The succession there- fore devolved upon his brother, Tej Singh. This prince died in 1842, having previously adopted the son of his cousin, Siirjun Singh. But another claimant appeared in the widow of Dhurm Pal, who preferred her right to adopt a successor to the State. Serious disturbances ensued, and it became necessary for the British authorities to make a military demonstration. Finally, the British Government having recognised Surjun Singh, and his claims having been considered well founded by the neighbouring chiefs, he was preferred, the Earn being appointed to act as regent until lie should attain his majority. Surjim URCHAH OE TEHRI. 231 Singh, however, lived long enough to assume the reins C HAP. of power, and no longer. On his death his widow was > - **' -' permitted, with the advice of the principal Bundela chiefs, to adopt a collateral relation of the family, Hamir Singh, The representatives of this prince, who is now about twenty-four years old, rendered good service in 1857. In consideration of this the tribute previously paid by him to Jhansi for the district of Teraoli was remitted. In 1862 he received a sunnud conferring upon him the right of adoption. The Eaja is entitled to a salute of eleven guns. Sati was prohibited in his dominions in 1847. DATIA. AREA 850 sq. miles. POPULATION 120,000. REVENUE 10,00,000 rupees. THE Eajas of this State belong to the same family as those of Urchah or Tehri. Datia was severed from Tehri about the year 1735 ; but even then it attained only a quasi-independence, the suzerainty of the Peshwa being acknowledged. When the Peshwa was forced in 1802-3 to sign the treaty of Bassein, the States in Bundelkhand which acknowledged fealty to him transferred their allegiance to the British Government. Of these Datia was one. Consequently on March 15, 1804, a treaty was entered into with the ruler of the country, Eao Eaja Parichet, on the usual terms -on which protection was accorded. The Eao Eaja having evinced his attachment to the British interests by zealous co-operation during the war which terminated in 1817 in the deposition of the Peshwa, a tract of land on the east of the river Sindh was added to his dominions, and a new treaty, making over to him this tract, was signed July 31, 1818. Eaja Parichet died without issue in 1839, and was succeeded by a foundling whom he had adopted, named 232 THE NATIVE STATES OF INDIA. PAKT Bejey Bahadur. His claims were opposed by a collate- ^. I , IL -^ ral branch of the late Eaja's family on the plea of an old agreement that in the event of the Eaja dying without issue the succession should lie in that branch. But the claim was rejected, on the ground that the British Government had recognised Bejey Bahadur ; that he was governing the country fairly ; and that his succession was agreeable to the people. Bejey Bahadur died in 1857, leaving an adopted son, Bhawani Singh, and an illegitimate son, Urjun Singh. The claims of the former were preferred as being con- sonant to Hindu law and custom. But Urjun Singh did not acquiesce in this view, and his claims were supported by the Eani regent. It became necessary, therefore, to remove him from Datia. Shortly after this the Earn regent rose in revolt and seized the fort of Seonda. It then became necessary to employ British troops. These reduced the fort, and took the garrison prisoners. The leading rebels were sentenced to life imprisonment in the fort of Chunar, and the Eani was placed under close sur- veillance. The claims of the collateral branch of the family were again preferred in 1861 and were again rejected. The Eaja is entitled to a salute of eleven guns. He has been granted the right of adoption. Sati was pro- hibited in 1847. SAMPTAR. AKEA 175 sq. miles. POPULATION 30,000. REVENUE About 4,50,000 rupees. THE small state of Samptar formed part of the Datia ter- ritory till about the year 1762, when it was separated from it under circumstances which have apparently evaded all research. Probably, as Datia acknowledged the suzerainty of the Peshwa, and Samptar claims to have been always independent, it represents that portion of the united territory which took advantage of the humiliation SAMPTAK. 233 of the Marhatas after Panipat, to recover freedom and assert independence. Certainly it always claimed to be independent, and ever regarded the Marhatas as the enemy most to be dreaded. This was shown in 1805, when, after the defeat of both Sindhia and Holkar, the Eaja, Eanjit Singh, pressed to be taken under British protection. A draft of an engagement for that purpose was actually prepared, when the arrival of Lord Corn- wallis entirely altered the policy of the British Govern- ment, and Samptar was left out in the cold. Sub- sequently to that period the Eaja made repeated applica- tions to be admitted within the pale, but his entreaties were not acceded to until the middle of 1817. Samptar was then comprehended in the arrangements made with other powers similarly situated. By the treaty made with him (November 12, 1817), his possessions were guaranteed to him, and protection against enemies was promised, on condition of his furnishing a contingent of horse, and attaching himself to British interests. The body of horse which the Eaja at once furnished was attached to the centre division of the army, and rendered good service. Eaja Eanjit Singh died in 1827, and was succeeded by his son Nindiipat. Nindiipat was only six months old when his father died. His mother w T as appointed regent. But as Nin- diipat grew up he discovered symptoms akin to unsound- ness of mind. He married, indeed, and begat children, but his mental powers remained conspicuous by their absence. As soon as he became of age, then, the Eani, with the concurrence of the officials and Thakurs of the state, placed Nindiipat under restraint, and administered the affairs of the state ostensibly until her eldest son Chut- ter Singh, known as Eaja Bahadur, and who was born about 1843, should attain his majority. But in 1864, Eaja Bahadur, being then twenty-one, complained to the political agent that not only had his mother excluded 234 THE NATIVE STATES OP INDIA. him from the government, but that she was squandering and mismanaging the resources of the State. He brought another charge against her, which need not, however, be more particularly alluded to. In consequence of this representation, the British Government directed that the administration should at once be conferred upon Eaja Bahadur. In compliance with instructions received this was done, and the insane Eaja and the Hani were moved to the district of Alma, there to receive a fourth of the revenues during their natural lives. A council of six was nominated to assist the young Eaja in his administration. The Eaja of Samptar has received the right of adop- tion. He is entitled to a salute of eleven guns. WESTERN INDIA Londvn: Lonqnians & Co. 235 PAET IT-WESTERN INDIA, CHAPTEE I. BARODAII, OR THE DOMINIONS OF THE GAIKWAR, AREA 4,399 sq. miles. POPULATION 1,710,400. REVENUE 60,00,000 rupees. THE first member of this family of whom any mention is made in Indian history was Damaji Gaikwar, an officer who had greatly distinguished himself in the military em- ploy of the Marhatas, especially under the command of one of the most eminent of the leaders of that people, Khandi Eao Dhabari. Damaji died in 1720. He was succeeded in his military office and appointments by his nephew, Pilaji, a man of talent and energy. Pilaji used these qualities to such advantage that in 1731 he was raised to the office of Sena Khass Kheyl, or ' Commander of the sovereign's tribe,' under the governor of Gujrat. He did not long enjoy his new dignity, for the following year he was assassinated by the emissaries of Abhi Singh, Eaja of Jodhpur, who had been nominated by the court of Delhi Siibadar of the province. Pilaji was succeeded in his offices by his son Damaji. A circumstance which occurred shortly afterwards led to the preferring of a claim by the Gaikwars always to salute with the left hand. It appears that there was some delay in the recognition of Damaji Gaikwar. He thereupon raised an army to support his claims, and marched at its head into the Dekhaii. He was induced 236 THE NATIVE STATES OF INDIA. PART by the Eaja of Satara, on a solemn promise to accord r - him satisfaction, to disband this army. No sooner, how- ever, had he done this than the Peshwa, by the Enja's orders, attacked and plundered him. This induced Dtimaji solemnly to swear that he would never pay the compliment of a salaam with the hand which had been pledged in that of his prince with a false oath. Damaji did not allow a long time to elapse before he avenged his father's death. In concert with his uncle, Madhaji Gaikwar, he attacked and took Barodah, which thenceforth became the seat of his administration, then occupied many of the principal districts in the east of Gujrat, and finally, extending his incursions as far as Jodhpur, forced the Eaja of that country to resign Ahmedabad to a deputy in order to proceed to the defence of his paternal dominions. Ahmedabad was not finally taken till 1755, when it surrendered to the united efforts of Eagonath Eao and Damaji Gaikwar. From that time the authority of the court of Delhi over Gujrat ceased entirely, and the country was divided between the Peshwa and the Gaikwar. I have already stated that the Gaikwars were the confidential servants of the Dhabari family. Damaji Gaikwar was destined to become its successor. Un- restrained debauchery had entirely unfitted the repre- sentative of the Dhabari family, Jeswant Eao, from carrying on the duties devolving on the head of a State, and some time before the conquest of Ahmedabad, that nobleman had retired before the increasing influence of the commander of his forces. When, then, the division of the conquered lands of Gujrat took place, the par- tition was made, as I have stated, between the Peshwa and the Gaikwar, to the entire exclusion of the Dhabari interest. From the period of that partition dates the rule of the Gaikwar family. Damaji employed the early period of his rule in con- solidating the territories he had thus gained. He was not BARODAH. 237 deaf, however, to the call of his suzerain, and he led his CHAP. troops in 1761 to the fatal field of Panipat. Escaping * r from that defeat, he returned to Barodah to nurse the resources which had been so terribly tried. But he was not destined to remain in peace. The restlessness of the ambitious Eagonath Eao had brought about a rebellion against the Peshwa, and in this Damaji Gaikwar was induced to take part. He sent to Eagonath Eao troops under the command of his son Govind Eao. But after a campaign, in which no decisive action had been fought, terms were agreed upon very favourable to the Peshwa. The Gaikwar was punished by the imposition of an annual payment of 5,25,000 rupees, and by an obligation to furnish 3,000 horse in times of war. He was also com- pelled to pay 2,54,000 rupees for certain districts which the Peshwa promised to restore to him. The same year, 1768, Damaji Gaikwar died. He left four sons : Syaji, an idiot, Govind Eao, Manaji, and Futteh Singh. Govind Eao claimed the succession, and by- means of a large nuzzer to the Peshwa and by signing the unsigned treaty of 1768 the purport of which is given in the preceding paragraph succeeded in obtaining recognition. His right was not, however, acknowledged by his brother?. The youngest, Futteh Singh, proceeded in 1771 to Puna, to advocate the rights of his idiot brother, Syaji. His arguments were effectual, it being the Peshwa's object to weaken as much as possible the power of the Gaikwars, and he received the nomination of coadjutor to his brother. The terms of the treaty of 1768 were likewise modified in his favour. By this arrange- ment Futteh Singh became virtual ruler. Moreover, he had divined the designs of the Peshwa, and he determined if possible to baffle them. With this object he sought an alliance in 1772, offensive and defensive, with the English. To this proposal, however, the Gpvernor of Bombay was not authorised to accede, and the idea fell for the moment to the ground. A short contract was entered 238 THE NATIVE STATES OP INDIA. PAET into between the two governments on January 13th in *- r-^ ' the following year, conveying an agreement on the part of the British Government to pay to the Gaikwar his share of the revenues of Bharoch, which the British had captured. Futteh Singh administered the affairs of the country for eighteen years. Eleven of these were years of almost unceasing hostility in his neighbourhood. First came the wars of the Peshwa, the restless Eagonath Eao, and his contests with the party that had driven him from his office. Then followed the contests between Madhaji Sindhia and the English, ending in the convention of Wargaum, fol- lowed up by the campaigns of General Goddard. In none of these was the Gaikwar a principal, and their details scarcely belong to the history of his country. It is sufficient to state that on the whole Futteh Singh dis- played tact and discrimination. For although he at first attached himself to the losing cause of Eagonath Eao, he had the good sense in 1780 to unite with the English and espouse their side. The result was that the Gaikwar emerged in 1782 from these long troubles, without any loss of territory or prestige. Seven years later, December 31, 1789, Futteh Singh died from a fall from the upper story of his house. His younger brother, Manaji, who was on the spot, at once assumed charge of the person and government of the idiot brother, Syaji. But the second brother, Govind Eao, who, elbowed out by Futteh Singh, was then residing in a village in the neighbourhood of Puna, presented a petition to the Peshwa, praying to be acknowledged as regent of the Gaikwar's possessions. His claim was just, but Manaji, by paying a nuzzer of thirty-three lakhs thirteen thousand and one rupees, and agreeing to pay up the thirty- six lakhs of arrears due by Futteh Singh, was confirmed in his usurpation. But Madhaji Sindhia espoused the cause of Govind Eao, and procured the reversal of this arrangement. Upon this Manaji appealed to the Govern- BAKODAH. 239 raent of Bombay. A compromise was then suggested. CHAP - This was unpalatable to Govind Eao. The question, ' however, was suddenly settled by the death of Manaji (August 1793). Govind Eao thus became undisputed regent. He set out to assume this office on December 19, 1793, having first signed an engagement to pay large sums to the Peshwa. From other attempted ex- actions he was released by the interference of the English. A few years after Govind Eao Gaikwar had thus as- sumed the reins of government we find him engaged in a conflict with Aba Shelukur, the deputy-governor of the Peshwa's share of Gujrat, who had made raids into the territories of the Gaikwar. Whilst hostilities were in pro- gress the JSTawab of Surat died. The Governor of Bombay proceeded at once by orders of the Governor-General to Surat, to assume charge of the government of that city, and to arrange for the grant to the Nawab's brother and heir of an annual pension, on condition of his renouncing all pretensions to the exercise of authority. The Governor, Mr. Duncan, took advantage then of the arrival of two envoys from Govind Eao Gaikwar to prefer a request that the district immediately surrounding Siirat, and known as the district of Chourasi, might be added to the grant. Govind Eao, hoping to secure the aid of the English in his contest with Aba Shelukur, readily promised the cession, provided the Governor could obtain the sanction of the Peshwa, without which it would not be valid. Not- withstanding this, the Governor evaded his request for aid. But just at this conjuncture, Govind Eao succeeded in taking Ahmedabad, the capital of his enemy, and with it that enemy himself. In consequence of this success, the Peshwa granted his share of the revenue of Gujrat in form to the Barodah government for five years, at five lakhs of rupees annually. But before the agreement could be executed Govind Eao Gaikwar died (September 1800). Govind Eao left b*ehind him eleven sons, four of whom 240 THE NATIVE STATES OF INDIA. were legitimate. He was succeeded by his eldest legiti- mate son, Anund Eao. But as lie was a man of weak intellect and incapable of ruling, various parties began to plot to secure the direction of public affairs. That headed by Kdnhoji Eao, the eldest of the illegitimate sons, and who, for his turbulent behaviour, had been placed in con- finement prior to his father's death, but had subsequently been released, seemed at first to take the lead. Kanhoji became first minister, then dictator. But the usurpation was not acquiesced in. A formidable party, headed by the late prime minister, Eaoji Appaji, went into active opposition, and succeeded in wresting the seals of office from Kanhoji. Both sides then appealed to the Bombay Government to support them in their recourse to arms. Each party had formidable adherents. Eaoji was sup- ported by his brother Babaji, who commanded the Gujrat cavalry, and by the seven thousand Arab mer- cenaries who formed the garrison of the town. Kan- hoji, on the other hand, was aided by the courage, talent, and enterprise of his father's first cousin, Mulhar Eao Gaikwar. This chief, believing that success depended upon taking an active initiative, attacked the town with such vigour as to spread alarm in the highest circles of Barodah. Then came the Bombay Government's opportunity. The Governor had early pressed upon the Governor- General the propriety of interfering efficiently in favour of the old prime minister ; but, receiving no reply, he had recourse to the half measure of interfering inefficiently. He sent a small auxiliary force of 1,600 men to ^ support of Eaoji, under the command of Major Walker. This officer received instructions to settle the affair amicably if possible ; if not, by acting with Babaji. The second course was pursued. The united forces advanced against Mulhar Eao Gaikwar. Mulhar Eao, having lulled his enemies into security by evincing a disposition to re- treat, suddenly assailed them, and wtis only repulsed after BAftODAII. 241 he had inflicted a perceptible loss. Soon after, it was CHAP. discovered that Mulliar E:io had succeeded in gaining , - over many of Babaji's troops. Major Walker's position then became critical. He had an open enemy in front of him, and he had secret enemies in his very camp. For- tunately for Major Walker, Mulhar Eao's plans were not quite ripe, and he had time to send to Bombay for rein- forcements. These arrived on April 29, 1801. The next day Mulhar Eao's camp was attacked, and after a desperate resistance and suffering severe loss, was carried. Mulhar Eao soon afterwards surrendered. He was assigned the town of Neriad and an income of 1,25,000 rupees per annum, with a promise of increase should he behave well. Kanhoji was made prisoner and confined in Barodah. The terms imposed by the British were such as marked their policy in dealing with native States at that period. The Gaikwar was to receive a subsidiary force from the British Government, and to cede the chouth 1 of Surat and the district of Chourasi. A private agreement was also made. with the minister, Eaoji Appaji, guaranteeing to him per- manently the post of minister, and extending the protec- tion of the British Government to him, his son, brother, nephews, relations, and friends. A political resident was also nominated to the court of the Gaikwar. But order had not been entirely restored. The finances were in a state of terrible confusion. The Arab mercenaries occupied a position similar to that, in former days, of the janissaries at Constantinople. Some rebels remained still in arms. The third, difficulty was first met and solved. The first was also boldly encountered and was in process of solution, when it became absolutely necessary to meet the second. In fact, the reforms, retrenchments, and re-or- ganisations going on around them had alarmed these mercenaries. They saw that unless they struck they would 1 A fourth part of the revenue. R 242 THE NATIVE STATES OF INDIA. be swept away. They therefore confined the Gaikwar, permitted Kanhoji to escape, and entered into negotia- tions with Mulhar Eao. Vainly did the British Eesident try to bring them to terms. He therefore called in a regiment of Europeans to aid the subsidiary force, and sent that to assail them in Barodah. After a siege of ten days, in which great losses were inflicted on the besieging force, they surrendered. Liberal terms were made with them, and they agreed to quit the country. Kanhoji was shortly afterwards defeated in a desperate encounter at Sauri (February 6), and again near Kaper- wanj a month later. He then fled to Ujjen. Finally, in 1812, he was removed as an incorrigible disturber of public order, to Madras. Mulhar Eao Gaikwar eventually died a prisoner at Bombay. Amongst the terms made with the Arab mercenaries that which pressed the most heavily on the resources of the State was the liquidation of the arrears of pay due to them. To effect this liquidation it became necessary to raise a loan of 41,38,732 rupees. Of this loan the East India Company advanced about one-half, and guaranteed the remainder to the native bankers who might advance it. The debt thus incurred was to be repaid in three years, with interest at the rate of 9 per cent. ; in default of which certain districts were to be assigned, and their revenues collected and applied by the Company to its ex- tinction. No part of this advance having been repaid in April 1805, it became necessary to draw up a definitive treaty, which should consolidate the stipulations of all former engagements. By this treaty (April 21, 1805) the subsidiary force, which had been augmented to 3,000 men in June 1803, was made permanent, and certain territories together rated as yielding 11,70,000 rupees, were assigned in perpetual sovereignty to the Company to provide for its payment. Other lands were also assigned, rated at 12,95,000 rupees, for the liquidation of the debt due by the Gaikwar to the British Government. BARODAII. 243 The cession in perpetuity of the districts of Chourasi, UHAP. Kaira, Siirat, and Chickly was confirmed by this treaty. ]' ' But under such a steadying load of debt, increased every year by the high rate of interest charged on the loan, the affairs of the Gaikwar did not progress, and in 1809, only four years after the conclusion of the last treaty, they appeared to be almost inextricably involved. It must be admitted that to state the matter as fairly as possible he had not in the interval been assisted by any forbearance on the part of his main creditors. On the contrary,- in 1807, the British Government, finding that the ceded districts did not yield a revenue equal to the support of the subsidiary force, forced the Gaikwar (June 18) to yield more districts, yielding an annual revenue, in addition, of 1,76,168 rupees. The Government of Bombay, unmindful of the heavy loan pressing upon his Highness, offered, in 1812, to restore him all these ceded territories on the payment of a million sterling of money. This would have been a remarkably good bargain for the British, but it was objected to by the Governor-General. The following year a general famine added greatly to the disasters of the country, and rendered the collection of revenue difficult, the meeting the demands of creditors impossible. I have already alluded to the appointment of a British officer as Eesident at the court of the Gaikwar in the year 1802. The choice of the British Government had fallen then upon Major Walker, the same who had been sent to support Eaoji Appaji against Mulhar Bao. Major Walker would appear to have been an officer of singular capacity and prudence. After he had succeeded in introducing some sort of order in the Barodah councils, he had to re- port to his Government (1805) that whilst the receipts of the State amounted to only fifty-five lakhs of rupees the disbursements reached eighty-two. He received then the sanction of the Supreme Government to exercise a more marked and decided interference, with a view to bring R '2 244 THE NATIVE STATES OF INDIA. about an equilibrium. This he partially effected by the disbandment of the Arab mercenaries and the obtaining of the loans already alluded to. At this period the Gaikwar himself, from his natural imbecility, took no part in State affairs. These were administered nominally by a council of State under the control of the Resident in reality by the Resident aided by the advice of the members of the council of State. Major Walker retired in 1811, to be succeeded by Captain, afterwards Sir James Rivett Carnac. Major Walker's talents and industry had accomplished much, but much still remained to be done. The famine of 1813 threw matters back considerably ; so much so that though in 1809 Major Walker had cal- culated that the debt, which in 1805 amounted to about forty-one lakhs, might be paid off in five years, it had risen in 1816 to fifty-five lakhs ! Two years prior to that, in 1814, an agreement which had existed between the Peshwa and the Gaikwar regard- ing the farming of Ahmedabad and Kathiwar, to the latter, for 4,50,000 rupees per annum having expired, the proposal to renew the agreement was met by counter claims preferred by the Gaikwar for the revenues of Bharoch, which the Peshwa had ceded, without his con- sent, to the British, and for the pay of extraordinary troops kept up for the defence of the Peshwa's pos- sessions in Gujrat. To settle the differences which had arisen, the council of State at Barodah despatched one of their members, Gungadhur Shastry, under the guarantee of the British Government, to Puna. Here he was basely murdered by an unprincipled favourite of the Peshwa, Trimbukji Angria. The British, who had guaranteed his safety, at once interfered. They did so with such effect that the assassin was surrendered, though most reluctantly, by the Peshwa. Unfortunately, however, he managed to elude the vigilance of his guards, and appeared in the field at the head of a considerable body of men, with the BARODAII. 245 collate nance and support of the Peshwa. The British Government remonstrated, but ineffectually. They then threatened recourse to arms, and even to surround and attack the city of Puna. The troops had actually sur- rounded it when the Peshwa gave in, and signed a treaty (June 1817) virtually dictated by the British Eesident, Mr. Elph in stone. This satisfactory termination of the dispute led to a new arrangement with the Gaikwar, bringing him impor- tant advantages. By the treaty of Puna, the Peshwa's claims upon him as the head of the Marhata confederacy were renounced for ever ; his unadjusted pecuniary claims were settled for an annual payment of four lakhs of rupees ; the farm of Ahmedabad was renewed on the former terms, but the tribute of Kathiwar was transferred to the British Government as part of an additional sub- sidy, leaving the Peshwa no pretext foj interfering in the affairs of Gujrat. On the other hand, by a treaty made by the British immediately afterwards with the Gaikwar, tli e subsidiary force was to be increased; all the rights the Gaikwar had acquired by the farm of the Peshwa's territories in Gujrat were ceded to the English ; the territories of both governments w r ere consolidated by the exchange of certain districts, whilst the co-operation of their troops in time of war and the mutual surrender of criminals were agreed upon. A mind Eao Gaikwar died October 2, 1819. His demise had been preceded by that of his brother, Fut- teh Singh, who during twelve years had exercised the nominal powers of regent, in which he had been suc- ceeded by his younger brother, Syaji Eao. On the death of Anund Eao, Syaji succeeded to the sovereignty, to the exclusion of the two sons of his elder brother. On the accession of Syaji Eao Gaikwar, the British Government did not consider it expedient to continue the same absolute direction of the internal affairs of the Barodah .government, which had been authorised in con- 246 THE NATIVE STATES OF IXD1A. PAET sequence of the imbecility of Anund Eao. But whilst - ^ - it specified as a condition of this withdrawal that the Gaikwar should respect the guaranteed allowances of his > ministers, the agreements with his tributaries, and the arrangements with his bankers, it did not withdraw from the Eesident the power of control. But to place the relative conditions of the two powers to each other on as clear and satisfactory a basis as possible, the Governor of Bombay, the Hon. Mountstuart Elphinstone, paid a visit in 1820 to Barodah. Here lie held several conferences with Syaji Eao, and finally both parties agreed to con- ditions which may thus be summarised : 1. That all foreign affairs were to remain, as before, under the exclusive management of the British Govern- ment. 2. That the Gaikwar should have the unrestrained management of his^ internal affairs, provided he fulfilled the arrangements, guaranteed by the British Government, with the bankers. The Eesident, moreover, was to be made acquainted with the financial plan of the year ; to have access to the accounts, and to be consulted regard- ing any new plan of large expenditure. 3. That the Gaikwar should observe scrupulously the guarantees of the British Government to ministers and other individuals. 4. That the Gaikwar might choose his own ministers, on condition of consulting the Eesident before nominating them. 5. That the British Government should retain the power of offering advice. It would seem that, placed in these leading strings, it would have been easy for Syaji Eao to run a straight course. But he did not. He failed to pay regularly the instalments due on his debts, which, even in 1820, had increased to upwards of 107 lakhs of rupees, and when, to remedy the evil thus created, the British Govern- ment caused, with the Oraikwar's consent, certain districts BAHODAII. 247 to be farmed for seven years to respectable bankers under regulations which would ensure the ryots against oppres- sion, Syaji Rao entered upon a line of conduct which placed him at direct issue with the Government of Bom- bay. Eager to amass a private treasure of his own, he had accumulated all the State moneys on which he could lay* hand. To this end he paid no regard whatever to the guarantees the British Government had afforded to the State creditors, whilst he oppressed individuals for whose protection that Government stood pledged. In fact, he openly and directly violated the agreement made with Mr. Mountstuart Elphinstone in 1820. Sir John Malcolm, who had succeeded Mr. Elphin- stone as Governor of Bombay, exhausted every effort to persuade Syaji Eao Gaikwar to act in a manner more conformable with his engagements. Nor was it until he had found advice, remonstrance, and threats alike un- availing, that he determined to sequestrate such a portion of his territories as would enable him to provide for the. gradual extinction of the guaranteed debt. This was done in 1828, and districts yielding a gross revenue of twenty-seven lakhs per annum were sequestered by the Bombay Government. Nor was this all. The Gaikwar had bound himself to maintain a body of 3,000 effective cavalry to co-operate with the subsidiary force. The treaty gave, indeed, no right to the British Government to the services of this cavalry except on occasions when the subsidiary force should be employed ; but the prac- tice had grown up of holding it available for police duty in the tributary states. But it was not at all in an efficient condition, and the British Government only exercised a right when in 1830 it called upon the Gaikwar to render two-thirds of it fit for service. He failed to do so ; where- upon the British Government sequestrated lands yielding about 15,00,000 rupees to secure funds for the punctual payment of the force. * There can be no doubt that these sequestrations, how 248 THE NATIVE STATES OF INDIA. ever much he might have brought them on himself, pressed hard on the Gaikwar, and when Lord Clare visited Barodah in 1832 the subject was discussed in more than one interview. Eventually a settlement was ar- rived at. The British Government was released by the bankers from its guarantee on their coming to a satisfac- tory understanding with the Gaikwar for the adjustment of their debts. The bankers were at the same time promised protection against any persecutions which the Gaikwar might subject them to on account of the part they had taken in the discussions regarding the loan. The sequestrated districts, yielding 15,00,000 rupees, were restored to the Gaikwar on his depositing 10,00,000 rupees with the British Government to provide for the pay of the effective cavalry in case his own payments should fail. But Syaji Eao Gaikwar was incorrigible. After the visit of Lord Clare the British Government lost no opportunity of kindly advice or friendly remonstrance to induce him to keep his promises. But he was deaf to both. Nay, more, emboldened by impunity, he had the audacity to deny the validity of the engagements made with the British, and this although one was his personal act, and the others had been those of his immediate pre- decessors. The third article of the arrangement made in 1820 with Mr. Elphinstone, by which he had agreed to observe scrupulously the guarantee of the British Govern- ment to ministers and other individuals, was treated as non-existent. He went so far at last as to bid defiance to all remonstrances. In consequence of this the British Government, under orders from England, was forced in 1837 to retain in deposit collections made by it in certain districts under its agency, arid due to the Gaikwar, to fulfil his and its engagements ; and in the following year the dis- trict of Nausariwas taken possession of for the same purpose. But all this had no effect on Syaji Eao Gaikwar. He still continued the same course. Aided by his minister, Veniram, be acted as though he were anxious to testify BABODAH. 249 to the British Government his absolute contempt for their advice and his indifference to their threats. It would be needless to enumerate the never-ending causes of dissatisfaction lie gave to the British Government. He kept faith with no one ; and it is hard to say which of the two most deserved reprobation, his internal adminis- tration or the relations he assumed and the conduct lie exhibited to the paramount power. Up to the year 1839 * CHAI> - ' 1 Up to the date of the sequestra- tion of Pitlaod, the following- leading demands had accumulated, and been in vain pressed against Syaji: 1. The dismissal of Venfram and the appointment of another min- ister, to be approved by the British Government. 2. The surrender of Narain Ilao Yenkalsh, an officer of the Gaikwar's government, formerly in charge of Okarnandel, charged with having in- stigated certain piracies on British vessels, and with having participated in the booty. 3. The punishment of Mahbula Khan, formerly manager of Amrelli, for violating our tributary engage- ments in Kathiwar. 4. A retrospective confirmation of a settlement concluded by Mr. Blane of the claims of the Chullala Kattis. 5. The surrender of all persons concerned in the murder of Murejo Manik, in Kathiwar. G. A settlement of the claims of Bawa Komaun, a Kathi chief in Kathiwar. 7. Satisfaction for a robbery com- mitted in a village of the Jan of Naonagar, in Kathiwar. 8. The introduction of a bettor system of administration in Kathi- war, and a due observance of our tributary engagements in that pro- A iuce. 0. Satisfaction for the past, and prevention for the future, of the complaints received from British authorities in Gujrat against the Gaikwar and his officer?, of a sys- tematic want of co-operation in mut- ters of police. 10. The surrender of the prison- ers captured at Kansipiir, a settle- ment of the complaints and claims of l*ertab Singh of Aghiir, and the removal of certain obnoxious autho- rities in charge of the district of Bi- japur. 11. Reparation for the violation of the guarantee held by Bhasker Rao Wittal. 12. That the British representa- tive at Barodah be treated with the respect and attention due to his rank and station, and that free and unre- stricted intercourse be allowed be- tween him and all persons at Barodah with whom he may have occasion to communicate. These demands were exclusive of many others of a pecuniary nature, which the British had previously adjusted by resorting to the funds collected on account of tribute. There also were at the above date, either under investigation, or which had been so, the following claims against the Gaikwar : 1. The surrender for trial of the persons concerned in the murder of two coolies of the Main Kan fa, and the grant of compensation to the families of the deceased. 2. Reparation for the infraction of the guarantee of the British Government, held by the late Pflaji Rao Gaikwar, son of the late Anund Rao Giiikwar. 3. The case of the family of the late Siibanji, commandant of the fort of Kaira, who as the price of surrendering the fort without oppr- sition, obtained a provision under our guarantee. 4. Satisfaction for the conduct of 250 THE XATiVE STATES OF INDIA. PART numberless demands had been in vain pressed upon * ' Syaji ; time had been given him; he had left them all unanswered and neglected. Such a state of things could not be allowed to con- tinue very long. It was determined in 1839 to seques- trate Syaji Eao's share of the district of Pitlaod, bringing in a revenue of 7,32,000 rupees, as alike a punishment for his misconduct and a material mark of the displeasure of the sovereign power. He was likewise threatened with deposition, and with the transfer of his dominions to another member of the family. Subsequently to this, a further reform of his contingent took place. To this Syaji llao w^as also opposed, when suddenly, influenced, as has been imagined, by the conduct of the British Government in deposing the Eaja of Satara, Pertab Singh (1839), he tendered his submission and declared his readiness to comply, with one or two exceptions, with all the demands made upon him. The district of Pitlaocl was then restored to him, and the sum of 10,00,000 rupees deposited with the British Government in 1832 was refunded. Thenceforth he was more amenable to advice, though it would be difficult to affirm that his in- ternal administration improved. the Gaikwar officers in respect to offenders obtaining an asylum in the certain persons who committed a Gaikwar's territory, robbery attended with murder at All the chief demands were eni- Bajkdt, in Kathiwar. bodied in a written statement, and 5. Satisfaction for the culpable the Gaikwar was allowed a fixed conduct of the G&ikwar's officers in period within which to comply with Kathiwar, in conniving at the dis- them. Unwilling to push matters turbances committed during several to extremities, another period was to years in that province by a notorious be allowed him at the expiration of outlaw, named Chamraj Walla. which the revenue of the still se- 6. Case of Gopal Rao Ganpat questrated territory was to be de- Gaikwnr of Sunkheira. clared forfeited, and applied to pub- 7. Satisfaction for a robbery lie works and other useful purposes, committed by the Gaikwar's subjects The written statement of the British on the property of certain British demands was finally delivered to officers in the vicinity of Barodah. the Gaikvrar on October 1, with ex- 8. Satisfaction for a robbery com- plicit information of Avhat would milted by certain Waghirs of Oka- ensue, if he did not comply. This niandel, at the village of Inkhau, in producing no effect, Pitlaod was Kachh. taken possession of by a British 9. Measures of prevention against force on November 1. BAKODAII. 251 Syaji Eao Gaikwar died on December 19, 1847. was succeeded by his eldest son, Ganpat Eao. The reign of this prince, extending over a short period of nine years, was not in itself in any way re- markable. It was at least undistinguished by any oc- currence bringing the Gaikwar himself into direct col- lision with the English. Ganpat Eao Gaikwar, like most Oriental rulers born in the purple, cared more for sensual pleasures than the welfare of the people entrusted to his care. In the year of his tlemise (1856), the only act by which his rule may be regarded as worthy of notice took place. In that year he ceded to the British the lands required for the construction of the Bombay and Barodah Eailway, on condition that he should not suffer by the loss of transit duties. Such losses as might be proved were to be calculated every year, and compensated year by year. Ganpat Eao Gaikwar died on November 19, 1856, and, leaving no issue, was succeeded by his next brother, Kh ancle Eao. Very few months after Khande Eao Gaikwar had assumed the direction of affairs, the storm of the mutiny burst over India. The Gaikwar proved true and loyal. In the words of Lord Canning, ' he identified his own cause with that of the British Government.' It is fair to add that his power of doing mischief was small, and his interests were bound up with those of the British, for the power of the Gcaikwiir could never have survived the fall of British rule. For his services he was rewarded in the manner most agreeable to himself. The payment of 3,00,000 rupees annually for the Gujnit Irregular Horse was remitted, whilst the power given to him by a former treaty to reduce the contingent to 1,500 men was cancelled. The contingent was thus replaced on the foot- ing on which it had been fixed by the treaty of 1817, with the additional provision that it should perform ordi- nary police duties in the tributary districts. 252 TUP] NATIVE STATES OF INDIA. rATCT As a further mark of the satisfaction of the British ,-' - Government a sunnud was addressed to the Gaikwar, dated March 11, 1862, conferring upon him the right of adoption. In this he is designated as His Highness the , Maharaja Gaikwar of Barodah. Of the internal administration of the country but little can be advanced in praise. Khande Eiio was, especially in his late years, a spendthrift, careless of his people, a lover of luxury and pomp, and not unamenable to the charge of cruelty. In July 1866, the Governor of Bombay, Sir Bartle Frere, had to ' call him to order ' for having directed that an offending sepoy a man condemned to death for conspiracy should be trampled to death by an elephant. And, in the following year, the same Governor felt it incumbent upon him to disallow the right of the Gaikwar to appoint as his prime minister a man whose name had not been previously submitted to the British Government for approval. Khande Eao died November 28, 1870, and was succeeded by his brother. Mulhar Eao. The short reign of this prince has been fraught with evil to the people of Barodah. The circumstances of his previous life had not been calculated to mould him into the form of a good ruler. Neglected during his child- hood, having received but little education, he was charged in 1863 with having attempted the life of his brother, Khande Eao. In consequence of an investigation which followed that attempt, he was incarcerated as a State prisoner during the remainder of his brother's life. On the death of his brother in 1870, Mulhar Eao jumped at once from a prison to a throne, having received none of the training that would enable him to perform satisfac- torily the duties of his new position. As might have been expected under the circumstances, he at once plunged into a career of misrule, extravagance, and folly. To such an extent did his misgovernment extend that in 1873 the British Government was constniined BABODAH. 253 to appoint a Commission to investigate the complaints brought against him. Every branch of his administra- tion revenue, political, and judicial was then inquired into. Upon the report of this Commission, Mulhar Eao was informed that, unless great improvement should be mani- fested by the end of the year 1875, he would ' be deposed, in the interest of his people, and for the peace and security of the empire.' This warning did not, unfortunately, produce the desired effect. But an unexpected event brought matters to an early crisis. Towards the close of the year 1874 an attempt was made at Barodah to poison the British Eesident, Colonel Phayre, C.B. Subsequent inquiry led the Government of India to suspect that the Gaikwar himself had instigated the criminal attempt. Upon this the Viceroy issued a proclamation, in which he announced the suspension of the Gaikwar from power, with a view to give him an opportunity of clearing him- self before a competent Court of Inquiry from the grave suspicions attaching to him ; and, in consequence, the temporary assumption by the British Government of the administration of Barodah. A subsequent notification of the Government of India published the charges on which Mulhar Eao was to be tried. They are as follows : 1. The offence charged against Mulhar Eao was that he did by agents and in person hold secret communica- tions for improper purposes with some servants em- ployed by Colonel Phayre or attached to the British Residency. 2. That Mulha Eao gave bribes to such servants, or caused bribes to be given them. o. His purpose for holding such communications and giving such bribes was to use the said servants as spies on Colonel Phayre, thereby improperly to obtain infor- mation of secrets and to cause injury to Colonel Phayre, or remove him by means of poison. 254 THE NATIVE STATES OF LVDIA. PART 4. That, in fact, an attempt to poison Colonel Phayre ^-^ - was made by persons instigated thereto by the Gaikwar. The Commissioners appointed to conduct the inquiry, viz., the Chief Justice of the High Court of Calcutta, the Maharajas of Gwaliar and of Jaipur, the Chief Com- missioner of Mysore, Sir Dinkur Eao, 1 and a Commissioner in the Punjab have been requested to meet for that pur- pose February 23, 1875. The Gaikwar receives a salute of nineteen guns. In 1840 sati was prohibited within his territories ; the sale of children in 1849, and slavery in 1856. CHAPTEK II. KOLHAPUR. AREA 3,184 sq. miles. POPULATION 546,156. REVEXTJE 10,00,000 rupees. 2 THE principality of Kolhapiir is bounded on the north and north-west by Satara ; on the east and south by Belgaon ; and on the west by Sawunt-wari and Eatnagiri. It is ruled over by the representative of the younger branch of the family which gave birth to the famous Sivaji Bhonsla. According to Marhata tradition, Sivaji claimed descent from that branch of the royal family of "Udaipur which reigned in Dongarpur. One of the dis- inherited sons of the thirteenth ruler of that family left his father's house for Bijapur, entered the service of the king of that place, and was recompensed for his services by the grant of the district of Modhul, com- prising eighty-four villages, and the title of Eaja. This 1 Vide pp. 171, 172. 2 Two-fifths of this sum are enjoyed by the independent Jaghirdiirs. KOLHAI'UR. 255 man, who was called Stijunsi, had four sons, from the youngest of whom, Sugaji, Sivaji claims to be directly ^ < descended. Sugaji had one son, Bhosaji. Bhosaji left ten sons, the eldest, father of Shahji, father of Sivaji ; the tenth, who settled at Khanwata, is the direct pro- genitor of the Kolhapur family. This is not the place in which to enter into a history of Sivaji. It will suffice to say that, by the exercise of great talents, indefatigable perseverance, matchless audacity harassed by no scruple by the aid of great faith in his own, mission, and by the spirit which he infused into his followers, Sivaji founded an empire destined to replace for a time the already tottering edifice of the Moguls. He died on April 5, 1860, and w r as succeeded by his son, Sambaji. This degenerate son, after an inglorious reign, chiefly marked by tyranny towards his subjects and by sensual indulgence, was, in 1694, surprised by the troops of Aurangzib, and carried captive, with his eldest son, to the camp of the monarch. He was put to death in the most barbarous manner, whilst his son, Sivaji, was spared, and Confided to the charge of a daughter of the emperor. By this lady his name was changed to Sahu. Meanwhile the younger son, Eaja Earn, had been raised to the regency (1695). He lived, however, only three years, dying in June 1698, and leaving two sons, Sivaji and Sambaji, by his two wives, Tara Bai and Kajis Bai. Sivaji succeeded as regent for Sahu, but becoming insane, he was deposed, and confined, in 1703, by his mother, Tara Bai, who thenceforth, till 1707, governed in his name. In that year, however, Sahu was released from confinement, and returned to claim his inheritance. Tara Bai resisted his pretensions ; but in 1712 the death of Sivaji, and a revolution in favour of her stepson, Sambaji, removed her from power. Thence- forth Sahu and Sambaji were the rival claimants for the power and possessions of their great ancestor. 256 THE NATIVE STATES OF INDIA. PART The division between the two branches of the family ^ ' continued unhealed till 1730. In that year Sambaji was surprised, attacked, and completely defeated by the adherents of his cousin. This defeat brought about an accommodation (IT 31) by which Sambaji was forced to acknowledge the right of Sahii to the whole of the Marhtita country, Kolhapur and the territory dependent on it excepted. This was assigned to himself, with the title of Eaja. Sambaji, great-grandson of the renowned Sivaji, was thus the first Eaja of Kolhapur. He died, without issue, in 1760. His widow, called upon then to adopt an heir, selected a sou of the tenth branch of the family of Bhosaji, great-grandfather of Sivaji, called the Khan- wata branch. The child, for he was a minor, was called, in memory of his great relative, Sivaji. During the minority of the young prince, the State was administered by the widow of Sambaji. She held the reins with a loose and careless hand, permitting her subjects to support themselves by plunder and piracy, the victims being the inhabitants of other States, arid especially, in the matter of piracy, the subjects of the English Government of Bombay. To put a stop to this the British Government fitted out and despatched (1765) an expedition against the fort of Mulwan. This was reduced, and the Eegent Eaui then agreed to the conditions imposed by the British Government. She promised to pay seven lakhs and a half of rupees for the expenses of the expedition ; to allow the British to build a factory on the coast in her dominions ; to grant them a monopoly for the importation and sale of cloths and other commodities from Europe ; to put a stop to piracy, and to act as a good friend in general. Upon this Mulwan was restored. But the Earn fulfilled none of her engagements. Piracy by sea and plunder by land continued to be the two guiding principles of her administration until her death, in 1772. KOLHAPUR. 257 Nor with the accession of the young Raja did they cease. He, however, found himself hard pressed by his enemies. The Peshwa attacked him, and took from him some districts which were given to the Putwurdun family. They were, it is true, subsequently restored, but the original cession had begotten covetousness on the part of the Putwurduns, and a family feud, extending over a third of a century, was the result. In the course of this feud, Kolhapur was reduced to very great ex- tremities, and was only saved in the end by the inter- vention of the Peshwa. Then, again, Kolhapur fought with its neighbour, Sawunt-wari. This war lasted twenty- three years, and did not tend to the prosperity of the country. JSTor, whilst these contests were raging, was there any improvement in the internal administration. In fact there was no administration. A puppet Raja, factions struggling for plunder, and plunder supplied by piracy and robbery, such was Kolhapur towards the close of the last century. In the end the British Government, whose traders had suffered greatly from the depredations, was forced to interfere. A second expedition was fitted out (1792) but before it proceeded to action the Eaja signed another treaty by which he bound himself to compensate the British traders, and to allow factories to be erected at Mulwan and at Kolhapur. But the great Marhata empire was approaching the close of its turbulent career. Whether by accident or by calculation, the British seemed to be guided in dealing with it by the sound principle ' Divide et impera.' In October 1812, Kolhapur being then at war with JSTipani, the British interfered, and in return for the renunciation of claims on Nipani and other districts, over which the Peshwa claimed dominion, and for the cession to the British of the harbour of Mulwan, with the lands and ports dependent upon it, the territories that remained to the Raja were guaranteed to him. He received the 258 THE NATIVE STATES OF INDIA. PART protection, and admitted the superiority of the British r ' power. The same year Eaja Sivaji died, and was succeeded by his eldest son Sambaji, also called Abba Sahib. He was ruling Kolhapiir when there broke out with Baji Eao Peshwa the war which terminated (June 3, 1818) by his surrender and political annihilation. In that war Abba Sahib acted as a true and faithful ally of his liege lord, the British Government. In return for the services then rendered, the districts (Chikori and Menaooli) which he had been forced to surrender to the Peshwa by the treaty of 1812 were restored to him. In the reign of this prince the internal administration of the country greatly improved. In the course of his proceedings it happened that the Eaja found it necessary to resume an estate which had been granted to one of his chiefs, Saeji Bai, of the Mohite family. The chief came to Kolhapiir for remonstrance or revenge. He gratified the latter by shooting the Eaja dead in his own palace (July 1821). Abba Sahib left an infant son, who died the following year. The succession then devolved upon Shahji or Bawa Sahib, second son of Eaja Sivaji. Bawa Sahib possessed none of the talents or right feelings of his brother, but was oppressive and profligate. He was governed, too, by an ill-regulated ambition which would fain have shaken off the protecting influence of the British. It happened that in the year 1824 the town of Kittur in Belgaon was the scene of great disturbances, attaining the pitch of actual insur- rection. About the same time Southern India was per- vaded by rumours that a great disaster had befallen the British arms in Burma. The event at Kittur and the rumours regarding Burma seemed to announce to the spirit of Bawa Sahib that the time for action had arrived. He suddenly left his capital at the head of 5,000 infantry, 1,000 horse, and seven guns, nominally on account of a dispute with his neighbour of Sawunt-wari ; and, in. KOLHAPUR. 259 defiance of his engagements with the British, positively CHAP refused either to submit the cause in dispute to their - "' -* arbitration or to accept their award. Not content with this display of independence he attacked the fort and jaghir of Kungal, and captured the fort; notwithstanding that a sunnud for the pos- session of both had been granted by his father to Hindu Eao, a relation of the Maharaja of Gwaliar. Having effected this highway robbery he, without any communica- tion with the British Government, marched to the frontiers of Satara, with intentions so palpably hostile as to induce the Eaja of that State to implore British intervention. It would, indeed, have been impossible for the British to delay interference longer. Towards the close of 1825 a British force therefore inarched into Kolhapur and com- pelled the Eaja to sign a treaty, binding himself to attend to the advice of the British Government in all matters affecting the public peace ; to respect the rights of Hindu Eao and of certain jaghirdars mentioned ; to reduce his force and to maintain it only at a strength not calculated to affect public tranquillity within or without his terri- tories ; and never to grant an asylum to rebels. Shortly after the conclusion of this treaty, Eaja Bawa Sahib proceeded to Puna with the avowed object of inducing the Government of Bombay to release him from the conditions by which he was bound. Failing in this, he returned to Kolhapur, committing extravagancies and aggressions on his road, and behaving himself as indeed he had at Puna in a manner that showed him hardly to be of sane mind. On his arrival at Kolhapur he in- creased, instead of diminishing, his army, and seized on the possessions of jaghirdars guaranteed to them by the British. Nor did he stop there, but began, as soon as he could, to commit aggressions on his neighbours. Again was a British force levied, and this time it reached the capital, the garrison, consisting of between two and three thousand Arabs and Beluchis, evacuating s 2 2")0 THE NATIVE STATES OF INDIA. PAET it as the British force entered. Again was a treaty forced - ^ upon the Eaja. By this he bound himself to reduce his army to 400 horse and 800 foot, exclusive of garrisons for his forts according to a stated list. The districts granted to his brother for good service rendered in 1817 were resumed. The forts of Kolhapiir and Panalagarh were to be garrisoned by British troops at the expense of the Eaja. He had to restore villages which he had resumed, and to see the jaghirdars whom he had molested invested with perpetual, instead of life, guarantees by the British. He had to pay 1,47,948 rupees for damage done by him to his neighbours, material guarantees being taken for such payment ; and to accept a minister appointed by the British Government, and irremovable by him, to administer the affairs of Kolhapiir. Ultimately the right to garrison the port of Pana- lagarh was surrendered, and at a later period, the garrison was withdrawn from Kolhapiir. Later still, the Eaja having indicated some signs of amendment, the minister, who had sadly disappointed the expectations formed regarding him, was withdrawn, and the man- agement of affairs was resumed by the Eaja, he having been informed by the Governor of Bombay, at a personal interview, that should it ever again become necessary to send a garrison to Kolhapiir, it would become there a permanent fixture. The Eaja Bawa Sahib died on November 29, 1838, leaving a minor son, Sivaji. A council of regency was at once formed, consisting of the mother and aunt * of the young Eaja, and four officials. But the members of the council were apparently not formed to act har- moniously together. The strongest mind and most determined will amongst them were possessed by the aunt, lara Bai, and she so managed as to assume the entire control of affairs. Henceforth she is known in the historv of Kolhapiir as Dewan Sahib. 1 She was aunt by marriage being the widow of Abba Sahib. KOLHAPUR. 261 The usurpation of this lady was recognised by the British Government. She managed or rather misman- * aged the State for three years. It was a bad time for Kolhapur, for misrule could scarcely have reached a greater pitch. At length the British Government was forced to interfere. Mild measures were at first tried with her, but as these produced no improvement, the British Government, acting upon the right secured by the treaty of 1827, removed her from the regency, and nominated a minister in whom it had confidence, Daji Krishna Pandit, to administer affairs. The efforts which this minister made in the way of reform excited the bitter hostility of the old corrupt regime the partisans of the Dewan Sahib and culminated, in 1844, in a general rebellion, a rebellion which extended to the neighbouring State of Sawunt-wari. The rebellion was, however, put down by force of arms, and the entire management of the Kolhapur State assumed by the British Government. Under the regime thus introduced great reforms were effected. The forts were dismantled, the system of hereditary garrisons was abolished, the military force was disbanded, and a local force entertained in its stead. The cost of suppressing the rebellion was required to be paid by Kolhapur. In the various administrative de- partments order, regularity, and system were introduced. In 1862 matters had so improved, and the system of management had become so well understood, that Eaja Sivaji was entrusted with the administration. By the treaty made with him upon that occasion, he bound him- self in all matters to follow the advice of the British Government. Eaja Sivaji had previously displayed, in the crisis of 1857, a desire to remain faithful to his engage- ments, notwithstanding that his brother, Ohimma Sahib, had joined the mutineers. Eaja Sivaji lived only four years after his installation, dying on August 4, 1866. He had no male children, 262 THE NATIVE STATES OF INDIA. P ^ T but before his death he adopted Naguji Rao Patankar, ^ r ' an intelligent boy of sixteen years of age, who at once assumed the name of Raj a ram. This prince, with a spirit beyond the majority of his countrymen, resolved in 1869 to visit Europe. Unhappily he died at Florence the following year. The present Raja, his adopted successor, who has assumed the name of Sivaji, is still a minor. He is receiving a capital education under the auspices of the Political Agent, by whom, meanwhile, the country is administered. CHAPTER III. SAWUNT-WARl. AREA 900 sq. miles. POPULATION 152,506. REVENUE 2,00,000 rupees. WARI, or Sawunt- wari, is a small State situated between Goa and the district and harbour of Mulwan, and forms the southern part of the territory known as the Konkan. Khem Sawunt, to whom the rulers of the Wari tribe trace their origin, was an officer serving under the Mahomedan kings of Bijapur, and held part of the Wari country in jaghir during the declining period of that monarchy. When the celebrated Sivaji was in the zenith of his glory, Khem Sawunt transferee! his allegiance to him, and was by him confirmed as Sar-Dessaye over all that part of the Konkan, half of the revenue being made available for Sivaji and the other moiety assigned for the maintenance of a body of three thousand infantry for foreign service, besides the requisite number for garrisons. This arrangement, however, proving unsatis- factory to both parties, Khem Sawunt took the opportunity of a reverse of fortune befalling Sivaji to break it, and to return to his allegiance to Bijapur. In 1662, however. SAWUNT- WARI. 263 Sivaji, having proved his superiority to the king of that CHAP - country, attacked Wari, and speedily overran it, forcing ] <^ - the Sawunts to throw themselves on his clemency. He generously restored to them the country, under the same conditions as had previously existed, and he ever after- wards found them faithful vassals. In 1707 Khem Sawunt received from Sahu Eaja, grandson of Sivaji, a deed con- firming him in his possessions in full sovereignty, and assigning to him, conjointly with the chief of Kolaba, half the revenues of the Salsi Mahal. Khem Sawunt was succeeded (1709) by his nephew, Phond Sawunt, the first of the family who came in contact with the British. About the beginning of the eighteenth century British commerce had suffered greatly from the piratical attacks upon it sanctioned or connived at by the rulers of Kolaba. To put an end to these depredations, and to enlist on their side one at least of the rulers of the western coast, the British concluded in 1730 an offensive and defensive treaty with Phond Sawunt. By this the contracting parties agreed to mutually assist each other against the mutual enemy of both, Kanoji Angria, ruler of Kolaba. It was also agreed that on the conclusion of the war all the conquests made should be given up to Sawunt-wari, with the exception of Gheria and the island of Kenneri, which should be retained by the British. Phond Sawunt died in 1738, and was succeeded by his grandson, Eamchunder Sawunt. After a reign of seven- teen years, unmarked by any incident worthy of special record, he gave way to his son, Khem Sawunt, a minor. This ruler found himself engaged at a very early period in a war with his neighbour of Kolhapiir. The quarrel between the two powers traced back its origin to a period long anterior, and was due to a jealousy entertained by the Kajas of Kolhapur of the position of independence assumed by the Sawunts. Undoubtedly it was provoked by Kolhapur, and was excited and fed by purely per- 264 THE NATIVE STATES OF INDIA. sonal feelings But this was not the only embarrass- ment felt by the guardians of the Sawunt. They fell out, too, with their neighbours of Goa, the Portuguese, and with the British. Both these quarrels arose from the same cause, the practice of piracy by the subjects of the Sawunt. We have seen that to repress that atrocious trade, the ancestor of Khem Sawunt had allied himself with the British. But now the guardians of Khem Sawunt connived at its practice on the British. It was impossible for the latter to allow such a state of things to continue ; accordingly, early in 1765 they despatched an expedition from Bombay, under the joint command of Major Gordon, and Captain John Watson of the Bombay Marine, with instructions to stop the piracies carried on by Kolhapur and Sawunt-wari. This they effectually did for the time. From Sawunt-wari they took the fort of Yeswuntgarh or Eevi, and changed its name to Fort Augustus, intending to keep it. But finding that the acquisition was unprofitable, they agreed to restore it to the Sawunt, on condition of his promising not to molest their ships or trade, to cede all the lands between the rivers Karli and Sarsi from the sea to the foot of the hills, to pay a lakh of rupees for the expenses of the expedition, and to allow the British to build a fort in his dominions. It is probable that had Khem Sawunt been of age, and possessed the ability to manage his affairs, he would have observed the conditions of this treaty. But his turbulent relations, greedy for plunder, broke out almost as soon it had been signed ; consequently, another treaty was forced upon his government. By this the money payment was increased to two lakhs ; and as this money could only be raised by a mortgage on the district of Vingorla for thirteen years, the town, port, and district of Vingorla were made over to the British Government for that period, Sawunt-wari furnishing two hostages for the due observance of the treaty. SAWUJST-WARI. 265 A very curious circumstance happened shortly after CHAP - this, discreditable alike to both contracting parties. The ' - mortgagee, who was to advance to the British the stipu- lated sum, was one Yittoji Kommotim. To enable him to recoup himself for his payments, the British placed him in charge of the district of Vingorla under the security of the British flag and British Sepoys. But very soon after the treaty had been signed the hostages made their escape. Then the Sawunt, levying troops, marched into Viugorla, drove away the. agents of Vittoji engaged in collecting the revenue, and then returned home. Strange to record, this outrage was met by nothing stronger than remonstrance. Nor, when the thirteen years had expired, was any opposition made to the Sawunt, when he attacked Vingorla, took it (June 1780) and appropriated a large quantity of public and private property belonging to the British! It would seem that the main sufferer, though he had the British guarantee, was the mortgagee, Vittoji, who in the interval had been forcibly prevented from collecting the rents of the district. It resulted from the impunity with which the Sawunt was allowed to perpetrate these outrages that the piracy received a fresh impetus ; nor was it checked during the thirty-two years that followed. The system of public plunder was at its height when Khem Sawunt died (1803). He had reigned for forty- eight years years of almost unceasing warfare ; and when he died the war with Kolhapiir was raging with as much fury as ever. Khem Sawunt left four widows, the eldest of whom, Lukshmi Bai, became regent, on account of the minority of Khem Sawunt's only son by Devi Bai, his third wife. 1 Shortly after the assumption of the regency by this lady, the Sawunt-wari troops were defeated by those of Kolhapur, and the fort of Wari was immediately 1 Grant Duff (Bombay edition), he died without male issue. Vide vol. iii. p. 244. Mr. Aitchisou says Treaties, vol. vi. p. 115. 26G THE NATIVE STATES OF IXDIA. besieged. In this extremity Lukshmi Bai called upon Wiswas Kao Ghatgay and Appa Dessaye, adherents of Sindhia and the Peshwa, to assist her. Appa Dessaye, with the secret concurrence of the Peshwa, afforded the required aid ; the siege of War! was raised ; and the war was carried into the enemy's country. But this result had hardly been obtained, when Appa Dessaye endea- voured to establish his own authority over Sawunt-wari. At the instance of his chief confidant, and with the con- currence alike of the regent, Lukshmi Bai, and of Phond Sawunt, the next heir to the principality, the young prince was strangled (1807). But Appa Dessaye derived no profit from this atrocious deed. Phond Sawunt took advantage of the diminished number of his troops to assault and drive from the country Appa Dessaye, and to possess himself of the government. Shortly after this the ex-regent, Lukshmi Bai, died. The second widow of the late Sawunt, Durga Bai, laid claim to the office. Phond Sawunt, however, refused to recognise her pretensions, and insisted upon carrying on the government himself. Under the earlier rule of this prince there was no diminution in the practice of piracy. In fact, this mode of raising a revenue seemed to have become a time- honoured principle of administration. But in 1812 the British Government had become alive to the absolute necessity of repressing it at all hazards. Action was accordingly taken, and Phond Sawunt, Dessaye of Sawunt- wari, was bound down (October 1812) to cede the fort of Vingorla and the battery of Gunanimo Tembe, with its port and limits, and to promise to cede the ports of Eeri and Neoti if piracies should be committed in the future. British merchants were to be allowed free ingress and egress to and from the Sawunt-wari territory, on paying the customary duties ; but all articles of con- sumption required for British troops stationed within the territory were to pass duty free. SAWUNT- WARI. 207 Soon after the conclusion of this treaty Phond Sawunt died (1813), and, his son being a minor, the second widow of the late Dessaye, Durga Bai, became regent. This lady commenced her administration by an attack upon Kolhapur, and seized two forts which had been guaranteed to that State by the British Government. As she obstinately refused to restore them, war was declared against her by the British. Two outlying districts were at once taken possession of, and prepara- tions made to march on the capital. But meanwhile an insurrection had broken out in Sawimt-wari Duda Bai, the fourth widow of the Dessaye, Khem Sawunt, having produced a child whom she endeavoured to pass off as the true heir to the principality, the son of Khem Sawunt, who, she alleged, had escaped the murder attempted upon him by Appa Dessaye. Her cause found a large number of adherents, many of whom thought the oppor- tunity a good one to plunder on their own account. But at length the party of Durga Bai gained the upper hand. This, however, unfortunately for her, happened when the Peshwa was engaged in a life-struggle with the British, and she did all in her power to aid and sustain him. It became at length necessary to put an end to this state of things. A force was marched into the country, and a treaty was dictated (February 1819) by which the British Government agreed to protect Sawunt- wari, that State acknowledging British supremacy, ceding the line of sea-coast from the river Karli to the boundaries of the Portuguese possessions, and to receive British troops into Sawunt-wari. In consequence of the readi- ness with which these terms had been accepted, a portion of the ceded territory, yielding a net revenue of 30,000 rupees, was restored the following year. The regent, Diirga Bai, had died before this treaty had been signed, and had been succeeded in her office by the two widows of the preceding chief, Savitri Bai and Naranda Bai. These ladies were very anxious to retain 208 THE NATIVE STATES OF INDIA. TART the power which had thus devolved upon them, and f - ^ ' attempted to debar the young chief, though he had attained his legal majority, from all participation in affairs. At length, however, in 1822 the claims of this youth, Khem Sawunt, could no longer be resisted, and he was installed as ruler. He proved himself incapable, and quite unfit for his position. Affairs under his mode of administration soon drifted into such disorder that he had to invoke, in 1830 and 1832, British aid to suppress the rebellion he himself had caused. On the second occasion he signed a treaty with the British, in the preamble to which he made this humiliating confession : ' My country has been thrown into disorder and confu- sion more than once through my own misconduct ; ' and he bound himself to appoint as his minister a man approved of by the British Government, and not to remove him without the sanction of that Government ; to adopt the measures of reform advised by his minister and sanctioned by the British ; to abdicate, if necessary, should he fail to keep those conditions ; and to pay the cost of any troops required for the settlement of his affairs. Yet, notwithstanding this humiliating confession, the promise, and the self-imposed punishment for breach of faith looming in the future, Khem Sawunt continued to sail very close to the wind. He never, in fact, had any intention of keeping the treaty if he could avoid keeping it. He made constant and repeated complaints against his minister, many of which, on investigation, were proved to be malicious, and all unfounded. His barons became virtually independent, and defied his authority. In 1836 and 1838, British intervention was required for the maintenance of order. On the second occasion the fourth within eight years the state of the country was thus officially described : ' The Sar-Dessaye (the chief) again exhibits the same imbecility and unfitness for the control of his territory. The same insecurity for life and property exists. Phond Sawunt's band is still SAWUNT-WARf. 201) out, increasing in numbers ; other bands of plunderers have broken out, setting defiance to the Sar-Dessaye, plundering the peaceful inhabitants of his villages, and threatening, if not actually causing, disturbances and depredations in our adjoining districts. The leaders of this band have refused the amnesty offered to them by the chief. The Sar-Dessaye exhibits the same obstinacy, surrounded by and under the influence of favourites of an evil and designing character, and refuses support and concurrence in the measures taken by the minister appointed by the British Government, to whose advice he is bound by agreement to attend.' The consequence of such a mode of government showed itself in the rapid abandonment of the country by the best class of the inhabitants, and the prevalence of anarchy amongst those who remained. Under these circumstances, forced, in 1838, to inter- vene, the British Government found it would be impossible to give its support to a system so ruinous and so sub- versive. It decided, therefore, to remove Khern Sawunt from power, making for him an ample provision, and to assume the direct management of the country. This was accordingly done. Under the firm rule of the British, order was restored, confidence returned, and rebellion was crushed. It was no easy task. In 1839 and 1844 the turbulent chiefs who had successfully resisted their liege lord broke into revolt. Even the chief's son, Phond Sawunt, known as Anna Sahib, tried to shake off the firm control of the British. But these rebellions were successfully put down. Gradually a better feeling was introduced into the country, and when the mutiny broke out in 1857, the old chief and Anna Sahib, deprived as they were of power, showed them- selves firmly attached to British interests. Khem Sawunt died in 1867. Anna Sahib was acknow- ledged as his successor by the British Government, but in consequence of his having addicted himself largely to 270 THE NATIVE STATES OF INDIA. PART the practice of opium-eating, certain restrictions were * - ^ ' placed upon his exercise of power, with a view to pre- vent the administration from falling into disorder. These restrictions will be open to revision in the event of his being succeeded by a more competent ruler. The chief of Sawunt-wari has been granted the right of adoption. CHAPTEE IV. KACHH. AREA G,500 sq. miles.' POPULATION 409,522. REVENUE 15,00,000 rupees. THE State of Kachh is bounded on the north and north- west by the province of Sindh ; on the east by the dominions of the Gaikwar ; on the south by the penin- sula of Kathiwar and the Gulf of Kachh, and on the south-west by the Indian Ocean. ' In ancient times,' says Hamilton, ' the province of Kachh appears to have been occupied by pastoral tribes, for the Kumbis or cultivators do not appear at any time to have formed an essential part of the community; and the Chaoras, though formerly the governing class, are now ex- tinct. The Jharejas are a branch of the Samma tribe, which emigrated from Sindh about the fifteenth century, under the leadership of Jam Lakha, son of Jhara.' To distinguish the family of this celebrated chief, Jhara, whose faith, whether it were Hindu or Mahomedan, is still a matter of con- troversy in Kachh, the surname of Jhareja was applied to it, whilst its representative took the title of Jam. The possessions in Kachh were divided by the three grandsons of Jam Lakha. About the year 1540, the three branches of the family were represented by Jam Dadur, Jam Humir, and Jam Eawul. Dadur ruled over Wagur, or 1 Exclusive of tlie Ran of Kachh, which covers 9,000 square miles, KACHII. 271 the eastern district of the province ; Bawul, after mur- dering his kinsman Humir, usurped his possessions and united the western districts, or Kachh proper, under his own government. But Khengah, the son of the murdered Humir, with the help of the king of Ahinedabad, from whom he received the district Morvi and the title of Bao a title held ever since by the rulers of Kachh succeeded not only in recovering his father's possessions, but in expelling Jam Eawul from Kachh and reducing Dadur to subjection. Kachh is mentioned by Abul Fazal in 1582 as an independent State, but its power appears to have reached its zenith about the middle of the eighteenth century, when Bao Dasal is said to have held garrisons in Sindh, Parkar, and Kathiwar. The hold on these provinces was however lost by Bao Lakha, who succeeded in 1751. After a short reign this chief was followed by Bao Ghor, an incapable ruler, under whom anarchy and disorder prevailed. Bao Ghor died in 1778, and was succeeded by Bao Boydhun, the eleventh in succession from Bao Khengar. Bao Boydhun was a man of passionate and un- controllable temper, indulged in to such an extent as to render him insane, and to cause him to be placed by his chiefs in confinement (1786). There ensued then a struggle for power which was ultimately decided (1792) in favour of a soldier of fortune, Jemadar Futteh Maho- med, who had commenced life as a private horseman. A revolution, headed by Bhaiji Bawa, brother to the Bao, expelled Futteh Mahomed in 1802 ; but he speedily recovered a portion of the country, which he governed from Anjar, leaving the remainder in the real power of Hunsraj, the Dewan of the party opposed to him, and having his head-quarters at Mandavi ; the capital, Bhuj, being occupied by the deranged Bao. Kachh was thus in the possession of two rival parties, each ruling independently of the other. No long time elapsed before Futteh Mahomed recovered Bhuj, whence 272 THE NATIVE STATES OF INDIA. PAET l ae made inroads into Gujnit and Kathiwar. at the same -~ r ' time that he lent his countenance to piracy on a large scale. These depredations provoked the interference of the British, who, in October 1809, entered into an engage- ment with Futteh Mahomed and Hunsrai, whereby they bound themselves not to interfere in the countries to the east of the Gulf of Kachh and the Ban ; to suppress piracy ; and to exclude Americans and Europeans from their possessions. Hunsraj was also guaranteed the separate possession of Mandavi until such time as the Bao should re-assume the government. Shortly after this Hunsraj died. This event, and the accession of his son, Sheo Baj, caused a renewal of the civil war, and the British troops were forced to interfere. Ultimately both parties were left in the position they had occupied before the death of Hunsraj. The British Government was forced again to interfere (1813) in consequence of the non-observance of the treaty of 1809. Whilst the negotiations on this subject were pending, Vizir Futteh Mahomed died (October 1813)- The insane Eao, Eoydhun, survived him only a month. He was succeeded, thanks to the support of the two sons of Futteh Mahomed, by his illegitimate son, Eao Bharmul, then eighteen years of age, to the exclusion of the rightful heir, his legitimate nephew. Eao Bharmul suffered under the same infirmity as his father, and he commenced his reign by acts of cruelty and aggression on his neighbours. He soon lost the support of the sons of Futteh Mahomed the one being assassinated in public durbar, the other resigning from conscious incapacity. Uncontrolled, the Eao became then wholly unmanageable, his natural malady being increased by constant intoxication. The outrages perpetrated in- creased so much in atrocity, that it became necessary that the British should forcibly introduce some sort of order in the country. A force was accordingly marched in, and in January 1816 a treaty was concluded, by which the KACIIII. 273 Eao agreed to pay an indemnity for the losses caused by CHAP - the inroads of his subjects, to suppress piracy, to give no * - ' shelter to outlaws ; and to yield in perpetuity the fort of Anjar, the port of Tiirea and adjacent villages, and to pay in perpetuity also an annual sum equal to 70,000 rupees. In return for this cession and payment the British Government agreed to reduce his country to obedience and to restore order within it. This last stipu- lation was carried out within a month. A few months later, in consideration of the great impoverishment of the country, caused by twenty years of turmoil and misrule, the British Government voluntarily remitted the whole of the military expenses it had incurred, and the annual sum which the Rao had agreed to pay. Yet scarcely had these terms been concluded when the Eao returned to his evil ways. He murdered his cousin, the legitimate son of his uncle, the rightful heir, before himself, to the throne. He then began to levy troops for the purpose of assaulting Anjar ; he attacked, ' too, one of the Wagur chiefs whose possessions were under the guarantee of the British, in order ' to show others,' as he openly avowed, ' the punishment which awaited those who depended for protection on the British Government.' His tyranny became at last so insupport- able that the principal Jhareja chiefs earnestly requested the British Government to interfere. There was no other course to pursue. The provisions of the treaty of 1816 were therefore declared to be suspended, and a force, under Sir William Grant Keir, marched into the country. A new arrangement was then made. The Eao, whose intellect was greatly deranged, was deposed, and his son Daisul was appointed ruler in his place. As Eao Daisul was a minor, a regency was formed of six members, one of whom, in compliance with the earnest request of the chiefs, was the British Eesident. A British force was left in the country for its protection, to be reduced or withdrawn at the option of the British T 274 THE NATIVE STATES OF INDIA. PAKT Government. By the terms of the treaty then concluded, r-^ ' October 1819, it was arranged that the government of Kachh should pay for maintaining that force. The provisions of the former treaty, with some trifling ad- ditions, were renewed. Amongst these latter was one which guaranteed their estates to the Jhareja chiefs, and generally to all the Rajput chiefs in Kachh and Wagur the full enjoyment of their possessions. One of the first acts of the regency was to restore their estates to certain Wagur chiefs on their engaging to preserve the peace. In 1822 the town, fort, and district of Anjar were restored to Kachh, in consideration of an annual payment of 88,000 rupees. The annual contribution demanded by the British Government for the maintenance of its subsidiary force in that country had been fixed at two lakhs of rupees. But the inability of the Durbar to pay this sum had led to constant remissions. At length, in 1832 the Court of Directors came to the conclusion that the demands on Kachh on account of the cession of Anjar were excessive, and that they should be per- manently relinquished. This was done, all arrears were remitted, and the total payment limited to two lakhs. And regarding this sum the British Government arranged that it should diminish in proportion as the British should diminish the number of troops in Kachh ; that should the cost fall below 88,000 rupees annually, or should the troops be withdrawn altogether, then only should the amount of the Anjar compensation be demandable. This measure of justice and policy proved a great relief to the resources of Kachh. The following year, 1833, the conduct of the ex-Rao, Bharmul, came under consideration. It had been ascer- tained that by evil counsels and in other ways he was endeavouring to unsettle the right principles which it had been endeavoured to instil into his son ; and that his conduct had caused great uneasiness to those whose special care it was to watch over his proceedings. In KACHir. 275 consequence of this, it was determined to remove him to CHAP. another palace, under such restrictions as would put a ' ^- stop to the evil complained of. At the same time that this was done, the young Eao was admitted to the council of regency, and encouraged to take part in public affairs. In these he displayed so much aptitude that in the month of June 1834, he being then nearly nine- teen, he was placed in sole charge of the administration. Eao Daisul showed by the course he pursued that he well deserved the confidence reposed in him. In Decem- ber 1835 he entered warmly into the views entertained by the British Government regarding the suppression of the traffic in slave children, and issued a proclamation prohibiting, on pain of confiscation, the importation of slaves into his country after six months from the date it bore. In 1838, when the British Government plunged into the Kabul war, the Eao exerted himself to the utmost to afford assistance to the British forces, procuring camels and supplies. In carrying out this policy he incurred considerable expense, for which he refused to accept reimbursement. As an acknowledgment of this libe- rality, when, the following year, a succession of unfavour- able harvests forced him to solicit the postponement of the British demands for one year's subsidy, and the dis- tribution of the payment over the four succeeding years, the British Government agreed without hesitation to his request. It may be added that in 1840 he signed an agree- ment exempting from duty vessels forced into Mandavi by stress of weather, and in 1852, with the assent of the Jhareja chiefs, he abolished sati. Eao Daisul died in 1860, and was succeeded by his eldest son, Eao Pragmul. Since the accession of this prince the affairs of Kachh have called for little comment. The country is prosperous, and it is to be hoped will remain so. T 2 276 THE NATIVE. STATES OF INDIA. The Eao of Kaclih has been granted the right of adoption. It may be added that, owing to the measures taken by the British Government, the crime of infanticide has greatly diminished in this state. In 1842 the pro- portion of males to females of the Jhareja tribe was eight to one. In 1852 it was as three to one. 1 1 Aitcbison's Treaties. oru/<m .lon ffman * & Co. 277 PAET Y.-SOTJTHERN INDIA, CHAPTEE I. HAIDERABAD, OR THE DOMINIONS OP THE NIZAM. AREA 95,337 sq. miles. POPULATION 10,666,080. REVENUE About 2,00,00,000 rupees. THE country known generally under the name of the CHAP. Dekhan formed a portion of that ruled by Mahomedan ^_ L kings of Afghan descent, distinguished as the Brahmani 1 kings, from the year 1347 to 1526. In that year the dynasty finally disappeared from the Haiderabad country to make way for the Turkoman family of Kiili Kiitb. The country was invaded by Akbar in 1599, again by Jehangir in 1612, again by Shah Jehan in 1620 and 1621, and again by Aurangzib in 1650. On the last occasion the Mogul emperor, with the words of peace in his mouth, suddenly and treacherously attacked the city of Haiderabad, capital of the kingdom of Golkonda. The city was taken and sacked, then restored under very hard conditions to its sovereign. But the final intentions of Aurangzib were only veiled. By another equally treacherous attack, made in 1687, he overthrew the ancient dynasty and annexed the country (1688). The viceroyalty of the new conquest was first placed by Aurangzib in the hands of his favourite 1 Elphinstone states that the name he found a treasure, which he made is derived from the word 'Brahman/ over to his landlord, who thence- the founder of the race having leased forth devoted himself to pushing his afield from a Brahman, In tlat field fortunes. 278 THE NATIVE STATES OF INDIA. son, Prince Kambuksh. On the succession of Bahadur Shah, however, Kambuksh revolted (1708), was de- feated, and died of his wounds. The victorious monarch then bestowed the viceroyalty upon his ablest general, Zulfikar Khan ; but his services being required at court, he left as his lieutenant, to administer the state, Daud Khan Pani, a Pathan officer, who had distinguished himself in the wars of Aurangzib. In 1713 Daud Khan was removed, and three years later was defeated and slain by Hiisen Ali, commander-in-chief of the Emperor Farokhsir. The successor of Daud Khan was Chin Kilich Khan, afterwards well known under the titles of Nizam-iil-Mulk and Azof Jah, the founder of the reigning family. Azof Jah, as he will be called, was of a respectable Turk family, the son of Ghazi-u-din, a favourite officer of Aurangzib. He was a man of ability and craft, and utterly without scruple. He continued to exercise the office of viceroy under the Emperor of Delhi until the year 1724, with only a short interlude, during which he officiated as prime minister to the emperor. In 1724, the emperor, who feared him, incited Mobariz Khan, the local governor of Haiderabad, to rise against and supersede him. He attempted to do so, but was defeated and slain in October 1724. Azof Jah wrote to con- gratulate the emperor on the victory he had obtained over his master's nominee, and forwarded with the letter the nominee's head ! From that date Azof Jah conducted himself as an independent prince. To record his intrigues and his wars would be foreign to my present purpose. It will suffice to state that he founded a dynasty, and when he died in 1748, his sway extended from the Narbada to Trichinapali and from Masulipatam to Bijapur. Azof Jah left behind him six sons and six daughters, legitimate and illegitimate. It is necessary to refer to the marriage of one of his daughters, because from it sprang HAIDERABAD. 279 an issue which affected greatly the contest for supremacy between the French and English. Whilst, then, the elder legitimate daughter married the Subadar of Lahore, the younger espoused a nobleman of Haiclerabad. She bore to him a son, Mozuffer Jung, towards whom Azof Jah showed so great an affection, that he was universally regarded as his destined heir. In fact Azof Jah had taken care to obtain a firman from the court of Delhi nominating Mozuffer Jung as his successor. It was not to be supposed that this arrangement would be quietly acquiesced in. Of the six sons, indeed, the eldest, Ghazi-u-din Khan, was high in the imperial service, and preferred pushing his fortunes at the court of Delhi to risking all for a doubtful succession. The second Nazir Jung, had been engaged in constant re- bellion against his father, but he was with him when he died. Of the other four, the fifth, Nizam Ali, proved eventually to be a man of some mark, but he was yet young, and they had all been kept in comparative seclusion. When Azof Jah died, Mozuffer Jung, his intended successor, was at his government at Bijapiir, whilst the second son, Nazir Jung, was on the spot. This prince acted in accordance with the traditions and customs of his age and country. He seized his father's treasures, bought over the leading men of the army, and proclaimed himself Subadar of the Dekhan. Mozuffer Jung not lightly renouncing an inheritance he had been brought up to consider as his own, invoked the aid of the Marhatas, and having obtained the promise of that, succeeded then in securing the important support of the great ruler of Pondichery, M. Dupleix. This last adherence was not at first decisive. At Ambur, indeed, his ally, Chunda Sahib, defeated and slew the Nawab of the Karnatik. But the first events that followed were unpropitious, ending in the surrender by Mozuffer Jung of his own person to Nazir Jung, by whom he was at once put in irons. 280 THE NATIVE STATES OF INDIA. But the French alliance saved him. On April 12 . ' 1750, Nazir Jung's camp was surprised by a party under M. de la Touche. On September 1 his lieu- tenant, Mahomed Ali, was completely beaten by M. d'Auteuil. On the llth of the same month Bussy cap- tured Jinji ; and on December 16 de la Touche again surprised ISTazir Jung's camp, and that leader lost his life. Mozuffer Jung was released, and was at once proclaimed Subadar. But he did not long enjoy the dignity. On his way to take possession of Haiderabad, he was treacherously murdered by the JSTawabs of Kadapah, Karmil, and Savamir (February 1751). He was at once succeeded in his government by Salabat Jung, the third son of Azof Jah. Salabat Jung's reign lasted ten years. It was full of incidents all intimately connected with the rise and fall of the French power in India. This part of the history of Haiderabad is so com- pletely, indeed, the history of the French in India that it would be foreign to the purpose of this book to enter at any length into the subject, more especially as I have dealt with it completely in another work. 1 It will suffice to state that on the overthrow of M. Conflans by Colonel Forde, January 1759, Salabat Jung, who had been marching with a large force to the aid of the former, was terrified into signing a treaty with the English a treaty whereby he renounced the French alliance, agreed never to allow a French contingent in the Dekhan, and ceded to the English a territory yielding an annual revenue of four lakhs. Salabat Jung did not long survive the dis- ruption of the French alliance. His brother, Nizam Ah, conspired successfully against him in 1761, imprisoned him, and had him murdered two years later. Nizam Ali, though unscrupulous and fond of power, was a man of small capacity. In 1761 he repulsed an invasion of the Marhatas. Four years later, watching 1 History of the French in India. Longmans. HAIDERABAD. 281 his opportunity, he made an irruption into the Karnatik, then under the protection of the English, and plundered it. This act was naturally resented, but the English, not being prepared at the moment for active hostilities, deputed Major Calliaud to negotiate with the Nizam as he began then to be styled and to endeavour to place matters on a pacific and satisfactory footing. Calliaud's mission resulted in the treaty of Haiderabad, by virtue of which the East India Company consented to hold the northern Sirkars 1 from the Nizam at an annual rent of nine lakhs of rupees, from which was to be deducted the cost of a subsidiary force, which the Company undertook to furnish whenever that force might be required. The Nizam also engaged to assist the English with his troops. True to this engagement, the English despatched two battalions to aid Nizam Ali in the siege of Bangalur, then held by Haider Ali. But, with his usual manage- ment, Haider succeeded in persuading Nizam Ali to desert the English alliance for his own. The two princes then joined forces and invaded the Karnatik (August 1767). Encouraged by the little opposition they met, they attacked the English detachment, which, under the command of Lieut.-Col. Smith, had been sent to co- operate with Nizam Ali. Smith was forced to retreat to Trinkamali. But, sallying subsequently from this place, he inflicted so much loss on the enemy, that the latter expressed a desire to negotiate. The only terms the Nizam would accept being, however, inadmissible, Smith, who had received reinforcements, again attacked him and his ally near Ambur, and drove them to Kavaripatam. This action forced Nizam Ali to reason ; he accepted the terms offered, and signed a new treaty on Febru- ary 26, 1768. By this he revoked all sunnuds granted to Haider Ali by the Subadars of the Dekhan ; agreed to cede to the English the administration of the Karnatik above the ghats, which had been seized by Haider Ali, on 1 Comprising the districts of Ganjam, Vizagapatam, Godaveri, and Khrisna. 282 THE NATIVE STATES OF IiNDlA. PART condition of their paying him seven lakhs of rupees a * '<- ' year ; not to interfere with the possessions of the Nawab of the Karnatik ; and to accept a reduced payment for the northern Sirkars. Lastly, the English agreed to furnish the Nizam, on requisition, with two battalions of sepoys and guns, on condition of his paying their expenses, and on the understanding that the force was not to be employed against any ally of the English. The provisions of this treaty, so far as they concerned Haider Ali, were not carried out, peace having been concluded with that chief the following year. In 1779 another complication arose, which threatened to embroil the Nizam again with the English, and, it must be admitted, with right and justice on his side. His brother, older than himself, Basalat Jung, held in jaghir from Nizam Ali the district of Guntur, which appertained to the northern Sirkars ; but the Company having acquired, by a sunnud from the emperor, a right to the Sirkar, it had been settled that on the demise of Basalat Jung, it should devolve on the English. This had been confirmed, with certain provisos, by the second article of the treaty of 1768. Now, about 1774, Basalat Jung was induced to take into his pay a body of French troops, and it became necessary to Nizam Ali, as his liege lord, to order him to remove them, as being contrary to his engagements with the English. Basalat Jung did not remove them ; but five years later, threatened by Haider Ali, he implored the aid of the British, agreed to dismiss his French levies, and to replace them by a British detachment; and, what was more, he was induced to allow the British to take possession of the district of Guntur on lease. Nizam Ali was naturally incensed at this transaction. He had been no party to it he had not even been consulted ; and it violated the second article of the treaty of 1768. That lie was right was shown by the subsequent conduct of the Home Government, who, for this and other offences, HAIDERABAD. 283 showed their displeasure by dismissing the Governor of Madras, Sir Thomas Eumbold, and by removing some of the members of his council. But for the moment he obtained no redress. He therefore again united with Haider Ali, and threatened to attack Basalat Jung unless he should cancel his engage- ments with the English. At the same time, encouraged by the success which KalMBlknded Madhaji Sindhia in the operations which led to the convention of Wargaum, he concerted with Haider and the Marhatas a system of hostilities on a large scale winch should rid the native powers of their common foe. But Nizam Ali was incapable of the large views of Madhaji. He possessed besides little stability of character. The decision of the Madras Government regarding Guntiir having been overruled in Bengal, that district was restored to him. 1 At the same time, attempts were made to soothe and bring him to reason. These efforts were so far successful that, with the power to yield important, perhaps decisive, aid, he held aloof from the Haider in the last war that leader waged against the British. Basalat Jung died in 1782. Guntiir lapsed then by right to the British. But Nizam Ali held it, nor did he surrender it for six years (September 1788). The rent, 72,000/., continued to be paid to him until 1823, when it was redeemed by a payment of 1,16,66,666 rupees, or 1,201,201/. sterling, the value of the annuity, to relieve the Nizam from a debt due by him to the firm of Messrs. Palmer and Co., at Haiderabad, incurred to pay off an accumulation of arrears due to an augmented military establishment, arising principally out of the war of 1817-18. The following year, 1789, war ensued between Tippii Sultan and the English. Nizam Ali was forced to take a side. He distrusted Tippii because he felt that, should 1 The Nizara took the French corps into his own service. 284 THE NATIVE STATES OF INDIA. TART j ie succeed against the English, he himself would fall a ^ certain victim to the ambition of his ally. Every motive of policy, then, induced him to side with the English ; and to stimulate this there was at hand also the urgent solicita- tion of Lord Cornwallis, who promised him full participa- tion in the advantages which might result from the war. Nizam Ali was anxious indeed that his own territories should be guaranteed to him, fearing lest, whilst his armies should be engaged with Tippu, the Marhatas should sweep upon his defenceless cities. This guarantee, how- ever, Lord Cornwallis refused to give him, and the treaty was signed without it. By this treaty, to which the Peshwa acceded, it was stipulated that the contracting parties should prosecute the war with vigour, that peace should not be made without the consent of all, and that an equal partition of the conquests should be made. The war did not last very long. In February 1792, Tippu was compelled by the treaty of peace, dictated under the walls of Seringapatam, to yield half his do- minions. The share of the territory apportioned to the Nizam yielded an annual revenue of about 52,64,000 rupees, besides a third of the amount in cash, amounting to three millions sterling, levied upon Tippu. I have already stated that the Nizam had pressed on the attention of Lord Cornwallis the desirability of grant- ing him a guarantee for the retention of his territories prior to his entering into the alliance against Tippii, and that his desire for a guarantee had been inspired by a fear of double-dealing on the part of the Marhatas. A very short interval of time showed that he had had reason for that fear. An unsettled account between the two powers had been allowed to accumulate. The balance was against the Nizam, and as he professed his inability to pay it, the Marhatas signified their intention, in 1794, to enforce their claims. In vain did the Governor- General, Lord Teignmouth, proffer his mediation. The 1TAIDERABAD. 285 Peshwa refused it, and in February 1795, hostilities com- CHAP menced. The war was conducted by Nizam Ali with r - blundering imbecility, and with a caution bordering on pusillanimity. He did indeed fight a drawn battle with the enemy, and had he only encamped where he fought, as urged to do by the leader of his French levies, Eaymond, he would probably have seen them flee before him. But he himself retreated in the night, and took refuge in the small fort of Kurdla. Followed up with vigour by the Marhatas, he was soon hemmed in. His supplies were cut off, and he was forced to sue for peace. The terms granted him were humiliating in the extreme. He was compelled to cede to the Marhatas territories yielding an annual income of thirty-five lakhs ; to pay three millions sterling ; and to yield up his prime minister as a hostage for the fulfilment of these conditions. It may here be added that three-fourths of the territory ceded on this occasion were afterwards recovered during the dissensions which followed the demise of Madho Eao Peshwa. 1 Prior to the commencement of hostilities, the Nizam had implored the Governor-General for the aid of two battalions of British sepoys. Lord Teignmouth, unwilling to break with the Peshwa, with whom he had no quarrel, had refused. But though he refused his active aid, the Governor-General, with a consideration which the Peshwa might have construed as exceeding the bounds of per- missible courtesy, had allowed the British sepoys to maintain the internal peace of the Nizam's dominions, whilst he should concentrate all his forces against the enemy. But notwithstanding this extreme display of goodwill, the refusal of active aid rankled in Nizam Ali's mind. To be entirely independent of British support for the future, he determined to dismiss the subsidiary force furnished him by the British, and to augment the corps 1 Aitcliison's Treaties. 286 THE NATIVE STATES OF INDIA. PART i n his service commanded by French officers, some of r ' whom he had previously taken over from his brother, Basalat Jung. The British battalions, however, had not only received their orders to leave, they had actually started, when an event occurred which induced Nizam Ali to send pressing messengers to recall them. This event was the rebellion of his eldest son, Ali Jah. In rebelling against his father Ali Jah had only followed the traditions of the family. By rebellion against his brother his own father had obtained the post he occupied, and Ali Jah considered the road shorter and more secure than the uncertain process of time and a father's caprice. So he rebelled. He might have succeeded had he possessed more than a small modicum of brain. As he did not possess even that modicum, he failed. The French batta- lions sent after him captured him. Escorted to Haiderabad on an elephant, the minister directed that the howdah in which he sat should be veiled. Ashamed of the indignity thus offered, the greatest a Mahomedan can receive, that of being treated as a woman, Ali Jah took poison and died. Meanwhile the British contingent had returned, and Nizam Ali, feeling still insecure, determined to retain it. But the augmentation of the battalions officered by Frenchmen still continued to be an offence to the British Government. In 1798, the Nizam had in his pay a body of fourteen thousand men, armed and disciplined in the European fashion, and officered by one hundred and twenty-four Frenchmen, giving, in addition to staff officers, about eight officers to a regiment a thousand strong. This formidable body was commanded by M. Raymond. This remarkable man is referred to by many English writers simply as ' an adventurer named Raymond.' That he was an adventurer is true, but he was one in the best sense of the term. Chivalrous, daring, trustworthy, and a splendid organiser, he was one of those e adventurers ' who, like the Garibaldi of our own days, leave their mark IIAIDERABAD. 287 on the history of the country in which their deeds have CHAP. been achieved. His story, briefly summarised, is this. s. L _, Born in 1755, at Serignac, in the province of Gascony, he engaged at the age of twenty as sub-lieutenant in a French corps, commanded by the Chevalier de Lasse in the service of Haider Ali. His distinguished conduct on several occasions brought him to the notice of the French authorities. He obtained the grade of captain in the French army, and when Bussy came out in 1783 to co- operate with Haider Ali against the English, he made Eaymond his aide-de-camp. After the death of Bussy, Eaymond was recommended, in 1786, by the then Governor of Pondichery, to the Nizam, as an officer upon whom he could entirely rely. Nizam Ali commissioned him to raise a regiment of infantry, granting him at the same time a monthly salary of five thousand rupees. The regiment so raised was in every respect so superior to any the Nizani had seen before that Eaymond was en- couraged gradually to increase the number to fourteen. It may be truly said that no Indian prince, not even Madhaji Sindhia, nor his successor, Daolat Eao, ever had a finer or more efficient body in his service. In the cam- paign against the Marhatas in 1796, it was Eaymond and his troops who repulsed the charges of the Marhata cavalry, and would have beaten them back altogether, had not the Nizam and his irregular troops abandoned the field. His reputation, great at the time, still survives him, and it may be said with truth that the name of no European connected with India has survived seventy-six years after the demise of the body, to live with such eternal greenness in the hearts of the people of the country with which he was connected, as does the name of Eaymond in the memories and traditions of the great families of Haiderabad ! The French force under Eaymond was in its highest state of discipline and perfection when the Marquess Wel- lesley, who had succeeded Lord Teignmouth, saw looming 288 IIAI'DEEABAD. in a very proximate future that contest with Tippu Sultan which ended in the overthrow of the Mussulman dynasty in Mysore. To enter upon such a contest with doubtful allies in a high state of discipline on his flank, was totally opposed to those sound maxims of policy by which the Marquess Wellesley was ever guided. He urged therefore upon the Nizam the absolute necessity under which he lay to disband them. Nizam Ali did not at all relish the idea. He looked upon his French officers and their troops as Napoleon regarded his guard. But just at the crisis of his hesitation two circumstances came to sway him. Eaymond died it has been said, with what truth I know not, by poison. The second con- curring influence was the release of the minister left as a hostage with the Peshwa, a minister not only favourable to British interests, but who brought with him a remission of three-fourths of the cessions, territorial and pecuniary, settled by the convention of Kurdlah in 1796. Then the Nizam yielded. He gave his consent to the dismissal of the French corps and the increase of the British subsidiary force. A treaty Avas concluded, Sep- tember 1, 1798, which regulated the duties on which the subsidiary force was to be employed, secured the Nizam in the sovereignty of his dominions, prohibited his entering into political negotiations with other States, and made the British Government the arbiter of his disputes with other powers. No sooner had the treaty been concluded than four battalions of British sepoys with their guns marched to Haidenibad and joined the two battalions formerly stationed there. Some hesitation was even then displayed by the Nizam to break up the French corps, then com- manded by Perron ; but a movement of the British contingent forced him to issue a proclamation informing his disciplined sepoys that lie dismissed his French officers from his service. The episode that ensued can scarcely be wondered at. These men had learned to IIAIDERABAD. 289 look up to their European officers with pride ; they felt CHAP - that they owed the prestige they had acquired to them i - alone ; they would have followed them to the end of the earth ; they knew that their dismissal was owing, not to the wish of the Nizam, but to the insistance of the English. They were not slow to resent this indignity. They broke into open mutiny ; but, unfortunately for them, this probable issue had been foreseen and provided for by the English commander. He surrounded their cantonments. From every commanding point cannon were pointed on them. Eesistance they saw to be hopeless, and they allowed themselves to be disarmed. Their officers were not treated as prisoners of war, but were sent, via England, to France. In the war with Tippii Sultan, which followed, the troops of the Nizam took a part. After the death of that sovereign and the partial dismemberment of his territories, the Nizam received districts yielding about 24,00,000 rupees. To these were subsequently added two-thirds of. the territory offered to, but rejected by, the Peshwa. But all the territories thus acquired, as well as those acquired by the treaty of 1792, and yielding an annual income of about 100,00,000 rupees, were in 1800 ceded to the English in perpetuity, to defray the expenses of the subsidiary force, then augmented to 8,000 infantry, 1,000 cavalry, and a proportion of artillery. It was stipulated in the treaty that, in the event of war, of this force 6,000 infantry with the cavalry and artillery, joined by 6,000 foot and 9,000 horse of the Nizam's own troops, should march to oppose the enemy. Subsequently an article was added to the treaty, requiring the contracting parties to admit the troops of either party into their forts when called upon to do so. Nizam All died in 1803. He had eight sons by dif- ferent wives. The fate of the eldest, Ali Jah, has been already recorded. The second, Sekunder Jah, who suc- ceeded him, had commanded the contingent which ope- u 290 THE NATIVE STATES OF INDIA. PART rated in alliance with the English against Tippu Sultan ' ^ ' in 1792. The others lived obscure lives, and died un- noticed. Sf-kunder rpyg p rmce ^^j man y o f the defects common to oriental princes born in the purple. Only thirty-four years of age, he was fond of ease and luxury and careless of his people's welfare. His want of intellect bordered upon folly. He disliked the English. To this dislike he gave utterance, first, by requesting the Emperor of Delhi to confirm his authority an act which, in the then con- dition of the Mogul empire, conveyed with it no security and secondly, by evincing something more than apathy in the war which the British Government were pro- secuting with Sindhia and Holkar. The British Govern- ment, far from resenting these displays of dislike, renewed with him the treaties made with his father, and, on the successful close of the Marhata war, treated him as though he had materially aided to bring about that issue by allowing him to partake of the spoil. His northern frontier was thus extended to the Indyadri hills and the Warda river. Nothing of any moment disturbed the surface of affairs till 1808. In that year the prime minister, Mir Alim, died. His death threatened to disturb the rela- tions between Haiderabad and Calcutta, for it was due mainly to the influence of the deceased minister that the innate aversion of Sekunder Jah to the British had been partially veiled, and it was feared lest he might appoint as a successor a man who might be incompetent or hostile, or both. There were good reasons for that fear. Then ensued a curious struggle between the strength of will of the predominant, and the obstinacy of the pro- tected, power. The result was quite in accordance with the teachings of all experience. The Nizam contented him- self with the shells, and allowed the British Government to take the oyster. He nominated his own favourite as prime minister, on condition that the prime minister was HA1DERABAD. 291 never to interfere actively in the affairs of the State. CIIAP - The real power was bestowed upon a dependent of the ^ - British, a Hindu, who was, it was imagined, ready to pull the strings as he might be directed. This man, Chundii Sal by name, possessed great acuteness, but his method of administration was ex- tremely primitive in theory, and in action oppressive. Its sole merit, if merit it can be called, was simplicity. He farmed the revenue of the several districts to middle- men. The State was thus made secure of a certain reve- nue without the trouble of collection, whilst the tax- payers and people were absolutely without protection. This misgovernment resulted in universal disorganisation and unchecked tyranny. The people, ground down to the earth, were forced in their turn to become robbers. To repress these again the military were called in ; and as the regular army was officered by British officers, the unseemly spectacle was presented of British officers hunting down the poor wretches who had only risen under the most dire oppression. To put an end to this scandal the British Government sent Sir Charles Metcalfe as Eesident in 1820. Under the firm and vigorous guidance of this able administrator sweeping reforms were inaugurated. British officers were sent to the several districts with instructions t< define the amount of revenue which the government, the district and village officers, were respectively entitled to levy from the people. The several amounts having been settled, the officers were directed to watch, for a series of years, that no more than this amount should be levied. From the inquiries made by these officers, from past averages, from the amount of land in cultivation or fit for cultivation, it became possible generally to form an assessment for a period of five years. On these terms leases were then granted, and a written acceptance of the conditions, and a promise to abide by them, were taken from the people. U "2 292 THE NATIVE STATES OF INDIA. These just and simple measures had a wonderfully restorative effect. The country became tranquillised as if by magic. It no longer became necessary to employ troops for the collection of revenue. The government, from having been hated, became popular ; cultivation increased ; and after a few years there was a natural augmentation of revenue. Prior to the inauguration of these reforms, and partly during the early period of their introduction, the Nizam, or rather his minister acting for him, had taken part with the British in the wars against the Pinddris and the Peshwa, 1817-22. In acknowledgment of the good service rendered by the Haiderabad troops on these occasions, the Nizam received, December 12, 1822, an increase of territory, bringing in an additional annual revenue of 6,26,375 rupees. He bound himself, however, to protect the rights of the landholders in the districts made over to him a promise which subsequently led to ' constant and unpleasant discussions ' 1 with the British Government. It was a little before this period that the minister, Chundu Sal, effected a reform in the regular army. Its number was fixed at 10.244 men, divided into six regi- ments of infantry and four of cavalry. The regiments were clothed like the native regiments in the British service, and were officered by English gentlemen and adventurers. Sekunder Jah lingered on till the middle of 1829. He led a life of seclusion, taking for many years no part in public affairs. He died on May 24, and was suc- ceeded by his eldest son, Nasir-iid-Daola. Almost the first act of this prince after his accession to the Nizamat was to claim the right of administering the affairs of his country in his own way. He requested the British Government, therefore, to withdraw the 1 A : tcli : on'd T.er.tiss. HAIDERABAD. 293 officers introduced by Sir C. Metcalfe, and whose earnest CHAP - endeavours had re-introduced order and prosperity. His - r - request was complied with ; but he was required to maintain inviolate the settlements made by the British officers until the period for which they had been made should expire. Yet, scarcely had the British officers left than these conditions were violated, and renewed misrule produced renewed disorder. ' Every department of the State became disorganised, and the credit of the State was so bad that bankers refused to grant loans.', 1 The disorder was increased by the state of arrears into which the payment of the army was allowed to fall. To remedy this state of things the British Govern- ment was forced once more to interfere. After many negotiations, characterised by generosity and candour and sound counsel on the one side, and the making of pro- mises only to break them on the other, a settlement on the basis of a material guarantee was arrived at in 1853. A treaty was signed that year by which the Nizam ceded, in trust to the British, certain districts yielding a gross annual revenue of fifty lakhs of rupees. For this sum the British engaged to maintain for his Highness's service an auxiliary force of not less than 5,000 infantry, 2,000 cavalry, and four field batteries of artillery, to be officered and commanded by British officers. ' By this treaty the Nizam, while retaining the full use of the subsidiary force and contingent, was released from the obligation of furnishing a large force in time of war ; the contingent ceased to be the Nizam's army, and became an auxiliary force kept up by the British Government for the Nizam's use.' 2 It must be added that it was provided that the accounts of the ceded districts should be rendered annu- ally to the Nizam, and that he should receive all the surplus that might accrue after the cost of the contingent had been met. 1 Aitchison's Treaties, * Ibid. 294 THE NATIVE STATES OF INDIA. It deserves to be recorded that so greatly did the evenues of the ceded districts rise under British adminis- tration that at the end of two years they were found so much to exceed the requirements, that the Governor- General, Lord Dalhousie, restored to the Nizam territory yielding three lakhs of rupees. His successor. Lord Canning, subsequently, in 1860, restored all the districts that had been ceded, with the exeption of Barar, the revenues of which were found then to cover the entire cost of the contingent. Nasir-ud-Daola died in 1857. He had laboured all his life under the unhappy misfortune of estimating his own abilities more highly than he was warranted by their intrinsic value to estimate them. Thus, he began his reign by determining to be his own minister. He soon found himself helplessly drifting into mismanagement and disorder. Finding he could not manage without ministers, he laboured to undermine them. But here again he was foiled. Fond of pomp and show, he strove to keep up an expensive force, whilst every year plunged him more deeply into debt. So heavily was he involved at one time that even the bankers refused him credit. Like his father, and his father's father, he owed his ex- trication from the difficulties which more than once threatened to overwhelm him to the forbearance, the kindly aid, and the generosity of the Government of India. Nasir-ucl-Daola was succeeded by his son, Afzal-ud- Daola. The year had dawned unpropitiously for British interest. In the centenary of Plassey the descendants of the sepoys who had helped to gain that battle for the English had revolted to undo, and more than undo, all that Plassey had enabled their masters to accomplish. For a few brief moments it seemed as though the felon stroke might be fatal. It seemed so, that is to say, to a few princes, to very many soldiers, to all the fanatics, and to a large proportion of the ignorant. It seemed so, cer- IIAIDERABAD. 295 tainly, to a not inconsiderable number of the population of Haiderabad. Nor were those who formed that num- ber content with the idea. They determined that, if possible, it should become a fact. Assembling then, on July 17, these conspirators attacked the palace of the British Eesident. But the Eesident repulsed them. More than that, they were attacked likewise by one who did not belong to any one of the classes I have enurne rated by one who was neither a prince, nor a soldier, nor a fanatic, nor ignorant. They were attacked by the prime minister, Sir Salar Jung, one of the ablest of living Indian statesmen, and were dispersed. Guided by the counsels of that enlightened man, the Nizam steered a straight course during the cyclone of the mutiny. It was partly in reward for his loyalty on this trying occasion, partly to remove difficulties connected with the commercial treaty of 1802, that a new treaty was concluded in December 1860, by which the debt of fifty lakhs due by him to the British was cancelled, and through cessions and exchanges of districts, the territories to be held by the British in trust were reduced to an area yielding 32.00,000 rupees, instead of one yielding 50,00,000 rupees, as had been specified in the treaty of 1853. Afzal -ud-Daola. like all his ancestors, did not love the British. He and his family had been under too many obligations to do that. But at his court British influence was preponderant. This was entirely due to the in- fluence of Sir Salar Jung. When then, in 1861, the Nizam took the resolution to remove that minister from office, the weight of British influence was thrown so forcibly into the opposite scale that the resolution was rescinded. Sir Salar Jung remained, and still remains, notwithstanding an attempt made in 1868 to assassinate him the prime minister of the State, 1 and the hope of the country. 1 The attempt to assassinate Sir man named Reshna Ali, who had Salar Jung was made by a Mussul- long borne a grudge against the ad- 296 THE NATIVE STATES OF INDIA. His master, Afzal-ud-Daola, died February 27, 1869. "- ' He had been nominated a Knight of the Star of India, and he had received from the Government of India a guarantee that any succession to his State, made in ac- cordance with Mahomedan law and the customs of the country, would be recognised. MfrMabub Afzal-ud-Daola was succeeded by his infant son, Ah Khan. ^ r j^]^ [[ Khan, W ] 1O was placed on the musnud on March 1, 1869. Being of a very tender age, only four years old, a council of regency was appointed to conduct, with the aid of the British Eesident, the affairs of the country. Of this council the Nawab Shums-ul-Amra and Sir Salar Jung are members. Little has occurred from that date to the present time to call for remark. The young Nizam has been kept in seclusion in the palace of his grandmother. From this he emerged for the first time on July 24, 1874. Mounted on a richly caparisoned elephant, and followed by about 20,000 armed men, he paraded the city, en route to the tomb of a pious Mahomedan who had died half a century before. He paid his first visit to the Eesident on August 1 following. ministration on account of a divorce with joy by the nobles and people case which had been decided against of Haiderabad, The assassin was him by a district Kazi in strict accor- executed March 21 following the dance with law and justice. The attempt. escape of Sir Salar Jung was hailed MYSORE (MAISUR). 297 CHAPTEE II. 1 MYSORE. (MAISUR). AREA 27,004 sq. miles. POPULATION 5,055,412. ANNUAL REVENUE 1,08,20.000 rupees. SUBSIDY PAID TO BRITISH GOVERNMENT 2,450,000 rupees. THE early history of the territory known as Mysore is CHAP. involved in obscurity. According to the Hindu legend, -_ **' _^ a small territory to the west of the Karnatik, consisting of two fortified places and a few villages, was raised to an independent condition by two young men of the Yadu 2 tribe, who, coming as strangers to a marriage festival at Hadana, near Mysore, slew, with the connivance of the bride and her relatives, the destined bridegroom, a chief of Kariigali. One of them, the elder, married the bride, and became the acknowledged lord of the united territories. This fact, we are informed by Colonel Wilks, is recorded in many manuscripts, but its date is uncer- tain. There are, however, authentic records to show that in 1507, the country was under the rule of Cham Eaj, called the Sixfingered, from his being marked by that peculiarity. At this time, however, the territories under his rule comprehended only a few villages, two or three of which were fortified, and Cham Eaj was more of a zamindar than a king. But small as were his possessions, they were subdivided by his successor, Betad Cham Eaj, in 1524, amongst his three sons. To the youngest of these, Cham Eaj, surnamed the Bald, was assigned the fort of Puragarh with some adjacent villages. This fort was, however, repaired or re-erected in the same year, and its name was changed to Mahesh Asiir, 4 the buffalo-headed monster.' Thence is derived the more modern appella- tion of Maisiir or Mysore. 1 The contents of this chapter were Calcutta Review some years ago. contributed by the author to the 2 Yadu, a name of Krishna. 298 THE XATIVE STATES OF IXDIA. PART Cham Eaj, the Bald, may thus be styled the first ruler 1 of Mysore, for though not the founder of his family though indeed by the failure of issue in his family, his territories devolved afterwards on the descendants of his brothers he was the first ruler of the territory known as Mysore. Not many years after the subdivision I have recorded, the Mahomedan power began to make itself felt south of the Dekhan. In 1564, the Hindu kingdom of Bijianagar succumbed to the four Mussulman sove- reigns of Daolutabad, Bijapur, Golkonda, and Bider. This event proved in the main eminently advantageous to the possessor of Mysore. That little fort, for it was then no more, was situated too much to the south to tempt, at that period, the attacks of the Mahomedans ; whilst the fall of the great Hindu house of the Dekhan released its occupier from the state of vassalage in which he had hitherto been held. For several years, then, the de- scendants of Cham Eaj struggled to obtain an independent position, and at the same time to aggrandise their territories. The representative of the dynasty of Bijianagar had fled after his expulsion from that place to Seringapatam, where he kept up a sort of regal state. In reality, how- ever, he was weak and powerless, and none knew this better than Hira Cham Eaj, the successor of Cham Eaj the Bald. He accordingly evaded the payment of tri- bute, erected a line of fortifications, expelled the royal collectors, and bade defiance to the Eaj a himself. I may pause to note a circumstance which is strongly characteristic of the proceedings of the various houses which have reigned in Hindostan. There has never existed any real loyalty towards the great representative reigning house of the country. When such a house has been struck down, the minor princes, though of the same religion and having the same real interests, have almost invariably hastened to endeavour to profit by MYSORK (MAISUR). 299 its fall, instead of to work towards its recovery. The history of the subversion of the Hindu dynasty of Bijia- uagar forms no exception to this rule. In all its struggles to recover from the blow dealt by the Maho- medans and to re-assert its sovereignty, it was thwarted by its ancient vassals, likewise of the Hindu persuasion, and suffered at least as much from their attempts at independence as from the attacks of its foreign in- vaders. In 1576 Mysore received an accession of territory. In that year Hira Cham Eaj died childless. The succes- sion fell consequently to Betad Wadiar, the grandson of the Eajii who had originally partitioned the territory. The second third, represented by the fort of Hemunkali and the surrounding villages, was therefore reunited to Mysore. A few years later, Betad Wadiar gave way to his brother Eaj Wadiar, who conquered from his cousin the remaining third and the original territory represented by the fort of Kembala. Under the rule of this Eaj Wadiar, who appears to have been a man of considerable ability, the limits of Mysore were greatly extended, and its power was considerably increased. Perhaps the most important of his acquisitions was the famous city of Seringapatain, originally called Siri Eunga Pattan, or the city of the holy liuDga, and which had long been the seat of the expelled sovereign of Bijianagar. There are several versions current as to the manner in which this city came into the hands of Eaj Wadiar, but Colonel Wilks is of opinion that on the death of the Bijianagar sovereign it devolved upon him as the ablest of the Hindu princes in the vicinity. Thenceforth Seringapatam became the seat of government of the Eaj of Mysore. It is curious to note that the oc- cupation of this city was followed by a change of religion on the part of the Eaj a. Before that time the family had professed the religion of the Jangam ; thenceforth 300 THE NATIVE STATES OF INDIA. PART they adopted the forms prescribed for the followers of r ' Vishmi. Several other conquests followed the acquisi- tion of Seringapatam. Kaj Wadiar died in 1617, leaving behind him a very great reputation. Not only had he re-united the three portions of the territories divided by his ancestor, and considerably added thereto, but by the possession of Seringapatam on the demise of the ruler of Bijianagar, he had come to be regarded as the chief of the Hindu sovereigns south of the Krishna. He left his policy behind him. During a reign of twenty years, his grandson, Cham Kaj, added to his dominions, and continued his policy of treating the conquered with leniency. On his death in 1637, he was succeeded by his uncle Imadi Kaj, born after the death of his father. This prince, however, who inherited the martial qualities of Kaj Wadiar, was poi- soned, after a reign of eighteen months, by his minister. As he left no offspring, the throne reverted to the son of the elder brother of Raj Wadiar, by name Kantireva Narsa Kaj. This prince had hitherto lived in obscurity, but lie was endowed with a chivalrous spirit, and with unusual strength and courage. Colonel Wilks relates an instance of his having gone in disguise to the court of Trichinapali to meet in single combat a celebrated champion whose fame was in everyone's mouth. He encountered and slew him ; then, with a modesty equal to his courage, notwithstand- ing the solicitations of the king, returned to his humble abode. It is probable that the minister, who, to retain the actual power in his own hands, had murdered his predecessor, little knew the real character of Kantireva, when he invited him to assume the reins of government at Seringapatam ; nor was the prince aware, when he accepted the offer, of the circumstances which had attended the death of his cousin. The insolence of the minister soon after the prince's arrival brought matters to n crisis ; Kantireva was informed of the fate which had MYSORE (MAIStJR). 301 befallen his predecessor, and which p'robably awaited CHAP. himself ; he determined therefore to strike the first blow. *- ^ ' The minister was accordingly waylaid, and, after a severe struggle, despatched. The throne had been gained just in time, for the fol- lowing year Kantireva had to sustain the first invasion of the Mahomedans. The general of the king of Bijapiir attacked his dominions, and even besieged Seringapatam. A breach was effected in the walls, and a general assault was delivered. Kantireva, however, not only beat back the assailants, but pursued them with great slaughter beyond the border. He then proceeded to consolidate the conquests previously made, to settle the lands, and to introduce an organised system of administration. Amongst other matters he enlarged the fortifications of Seringa- patam, and established a mint. Nor was he less inclined to military enterprises than the most warlike of his pre- decessors. He extended his dominions, by a succession of conquests in the direction of Bijianagar and Madura, and concluded his warlike achievements by gaining a great victory over the Kaja of Magri, whose territories . he annexed. On the death of Kantireva childless, in 1659, the sove- reignty of Mysore devolved upon a distant relative, a descendant of one of his ancestors. The name of this prince was Dud 1 Deo llaj. He repulsed a serious invasion by the Eaja of Bedniir, defeated the Naik of Madura, and by conquests from both, as well as by the absorption of some petty states, added greatly to his dominions; he died in 1672, just about the time when the French were struggling with their early difficulties in a corner of the Karnatik. At this time Mysore may be said to have emerged from the status of a Zamindari, and to have assumed a position of importance in Southern India. Until this 1 Diid, in the langrunge of Mysore, signifies 'great;' Chick 'little;* or senior and junior. \Vilks. 302 THE NATIVE STATES OF ISDIA. period the rulers of the little territory, struggling to enlarge it, had had but little leisure and little opportunity for indulgence in luxury. The desire to extend the limits of the State had been handed down as an hereditary maxim from each sovereign to its successor. We have seen how, up to this point, they had endeavoured to carry with them the feelings of the people, by rating the ryots of the conquered lands at no heavier assessment than their own vassals. The real difficulties of governing were now to begin. The State was, from its size, beginning to attract attention. The Mahomedan power in Southern India, too, was at its zenith. It ruled not only the district known as the Dekhan, but possessed the Karnatik on the eastern, and Bijapur on the western, coast ; it was also known to be actuated by designs on Trichinapali. On the western coast, besides, there was rising a power destined to become the enemy of all authorities, Hindu or Mahomedan the great power of the Marhatas. Mysore would have, indeed, to contend with difficulties in its further progress to greatness. Dud Deo Raj ivas succeeded in 1672 by Chick Deo Raj. In the reign of this monarch the Marhata power had become really formidable. The important posts of Jinji and Vellur fell into the hands of Sivaji, the kingdoms of Bijapur and Golkonda were pushed hard, Tanjiir was overrun and conquered. Yet, though thus approached by such a powerful enemy, Mysore was too far south of the direct line of his movements to fear an attack, unless indeed she should provoke it. But this her sove- reign was especially careful not to do. Whilst main- taining a constant look-out on the frontier, and even taking every opportunity of extending it imperceptibly, he devoted his main energies to placing the internal affairs of the kingdom on a permanent basis. He estab- lished a post office, openly for the transmission of letters, really for obtaining for himself a knowledge of their .contents. The knowledge he thus acquired he used to MYSORE (MAISUR). 303 make himself the centre of all the power of the State. CHAP. He compelled the abolition by all his feudatories and - ^ dependants of the title of Baja, forcing them to fix their residence at Seringapatam, and converting them from rebel- lious princes into obsequious courtiers. His policy in this respect bears a striking analogy to that of Eichelieu in France, during the reign of Louis XIII., arid was in- fluenced by the same motives the desire to repress feudal and quasi-independent rights, and to establish an almost absolute monarchy on their ruins. His other measures were not dictated by the same wisdom. To increase the amount receivable from the land assessments, he had recourse to a variety of vexatious taxes upon the husbandmen, with the view to induce them to compound for the removal of the most objectionable by agreeing to pay a larger amount in the shape of revenue. From this, as a matter of policy, were exempted only lands granted for military service. The vexatious nature of these taxes, which will be referred to hereafter, and which, if applied to Bengal, would startle the ryots of that province, pro- duced a passive resistance amongst the agricultural popu- lation of Mysore. The mode in which the resistance was crushed, by one of the most enlightened monarchs who ever reigned in Mysore, affords a striking contrast to the mild measures adopted in cases of passive resistance to authority by the western rulers of India. It should be recollected that on this occasion there was no revolt, no actual outbreak. It was simply this : that the children of the soil, crushed by the multifarious taxes which inter- fered with their sowing, their reaping, their gathering into store, and the selling of the produce of their fields, suspended their inverted ploughs at the gates of their villages, and generally announced their intention to emi- grate from a land which denied them the fruits of their labour, rather than cultivate on the terms proposed. A few, and only a few, talked of revenge ; the rest were prepared peaceably to depart. But Chick Deo Raj was 304 THE NATIVE STATES OF INDIA. PART too sensible of the value to himself and his kingdom of - these cultivators to allow them to leave. And this is the mode he adopted to prevent them. I tell the story as related by Colonel Wilks : ' An invitation was sent to all the priests of the Jangam,' to which religion the people belonged, ' to meet the Eaja at the great temple of Nanjangod, about 14 miles south of Mysore, osten- sibly to converse with him on the subject of the refractory conduct of their followers. Treachery was apprehended, and the number which assembled was estimated at about four hundred only. A large pit had been previously prepared in a walled enclosure, connected by a series of squares composed of tent-walls with the canopy of audience, at which they were successively received one at a time, and, after making their obeisance, they were desired to retire to a place where, according to custom, they expected to find refreshments prepared at the expense of the Eaja. Expert executioners were in waiting at the square, and every individual in question was so skilfully beheaded, and tumbled into the pit, as to give no alarm to those who followed ; and the business of the public audience went on without interruption or sus- picion.' Having thus quietly rid himself of four hundred priests, the Eaja proceeded to put in operation the plans he had concerted for the extermination or dispersion of their followers. ' Wherever a mob had assembled, a detachment of troops, chiefly cavalry, was collected in the neighbourhood, and prepared to act on one and the same day. The orders were distinct and simple : to charge without parley into the midst of the mob ; to cut down in the first selection every man wearing an orange- coloured robe (the peculiar garb of the Jangam priests) ; and not to cease acting until the crowds had everywhere dispersed.' Having thus paralysed the people by terror, the Eaja, it is said, with very little difficulty ' exacted from every village a written renunciation, ostensibly voluntary, of private property in the land, and an MYSORE (MAISfB). 305 acknowledgment that it was the right of the State.' This occurrence affords one of the few instances on record of the successful warfare by a sovereign against his own people on a question with reference to which the people are of all others the most sensitive the question of their right to the proprietorship of the soil. Meanwhile Sivaji had died. Aurangzib, then at the height of his power, had returned to the Dekhan, conquered the independent Mahomedan sovereignties of Bijapiir and Golkonda, and was engaged in exerting all his energies to crush the Marhatas. Then it was that the chief of Mysore first came into contact with the rivals contending for the possession of Southern India. The Marhata ruler of Tanjiir, who then held possession of the district of Bangaliir, finding that in the coming conflict his hold upon that territory would be precarious, and might lead him into difficulties, sold it to the Eaja of Mysore for three lakhs of rupees. 1 And though the troops of Aurang- zib anticipated the action of the purchaser and seized, the country, they were too glad to yield it to Mysore, on the transfer to' themselves, instead of to Tanjiir, of the promised purchase money. Allying himself then with the great Mahomedan sovereign, the Mysore ruler made conquests at the expense of the Marhatas and the Eaja of Bedmir; and although his own capital was on one occasion suddenly besieged by an army of the former warriors, the invaders were, by the combined skill and stratagem employed by his son, driven ignominiously from the kingdom. It was soon after this that the ruler of Mysore, till then known at the imperial court only as the zamindar of that country, obtained from Aurangzib the title of Eaja, with the privilege of sitting on an ivory throne. The throne made for this purpose was, we are 1 Colonel Wilks very justly re- rupees is a striking instance of the marks (vol. i. p. 91), that the sale insecurity of the tenure of property of the important district of Bangaliir in those days of native rule, for so small a sum as three lakhs of X 306 THE NATIVE STATES OF INDIA. PART informed by Colonel Wilks, always used by the successors - * ' of the Raja ; 'it is the same which, in the year 1799, was found in a lumber room of Tippii Sultan's palace ; was employed in the installation of the present Eaja ; and is always used by him on occasions of public ceremony.' Chick Deo Raj died in 1704, after having added thirteen important districts to his territories, and obtained from Aurangzib the recognition of himself as a sovereign prince independent of all but the Mogul. The dynasty, which had for nearly two hundred years reigned over Mysore, and raised it from a small zamin- dari to the dignity of a kingdom, was now, however, about to suffer a fate inseparable from all despotic dynasties, viz., the fate either of being sterile or of failing to produce a competent representative. The successor of Chick Deo Raj, by name Kantireva Raj, had the misfor- tune to be born deaf and dumb. He did not possess the commanding intellect requisite to balance so great a mis- fortune, and although the energy infused by his pre- decessor into all branches of the administration continued to exercise a perceptible influence during his life-time, yet his own inability to control actively the governing machine contributed to foster a state of things such as eventually led to the overthrow of the dynasty. In des- potic States the sovereign, if he wishes to govern, must be everything ; if he cannot take upon his own shoulders the responsibilities of his position, some one else must and will. And the experience of such states has fully shown it shows every day that the man who has once enjoyed the substance of authority, will use all the means in his power to make its possession hereditary in his family. So it was in Mysore. Kantireva died after a reign of ten years, leaving the crown to his son, Dud Kishen Raj. This sovereign, let it be recollected, was but the third in succession from the prince who had raised Mysore to the dignity of a kingdom. Prior to that MYSORE (MAISUR). 307 date its rulers had been straggling for a position. That CIIAP - position had been obtained. But from the moment of its obtainment how rapid is the downfall! Kantireva a nonenity, Dud Kishen an imbecile, leaving to his suc- cessors but an empty title and a pageant throne ! It would answer no purpose were we to follow Dud Kishen in his inglorious reign. The process of his fall is thus described by Colonel Wilks : ' Whatever portion of vigour or wisdom,' writes this historian, ' appeared in the conduct of this reign, belonged exclusively to the minis- ters, who secured their own authority by appearing with affected humility to study in all things the inclinations and wishes of the Eaja. Weak and capricious in his temper, he committed the most cruel excesses on the persons and property of those who approached him, and as quickly restored them to his favour. While no oppo- sition was made to the establishment of almost incredible absurdity, amounting to a lakh of rupees annually for the maintenance of an alms-house to feed beasts of prey* reptiles, and insects, he believed himself to be an unli- mited despot ; and while amply supplied with the means of sensual pleasure, to which he devoted the largest por- tion of his time, he thought himself the greatest and happiest of monarchs, without understanding or caring to understand, during a reign of nineteen years, the troublesome details through which he was supplied with all that is necessary for animal gratification.' It is easy to understand that under such a sovereign, the ministers who affected humility, in order, by gratifying his inclina- tions, to secure their power, were not unfaithful to the traditions of their class. Prominent amongst them were two, Deva Eaj, and his cousin Nanja Eaj. So long as the Eaja lived they allowed him to enjoy the empty page- antry of power, contenting themselves with its practical exercise; but upon his death in 1701, they treated his distant relative and successor, Cham Eaj, witli undisguised contempt. They were at first, indeed, a little too otit- THE NATIVE STATES 0$ IXDIA. spoken in their proceedings, for Cham Eaj, though a man of contemptible intellect, possessed that special quality of the weak-minded, that he knew how to conspire. Suddenly he removed his ministers, and filled their places with creatures of his own. But he did not possess the force of mind necessary to strengthen his position, and to improve his victory. Deva Eaj plotted in his turn, and taking advantage of the absence of the Eaja from the city, with a slender escort, he seized the palace, gained over the troops, and, seizing the Eaj a, sentenced him to life-imprisonment on the hill of Kabal Drug the climate of which was sufficient to ensure death. As if that were not enough, the Eaj a was supplied during his captivity with unwholesome food a procedure which immediately put an end to his sufferings. From the deposition of Cham Eaj, Colonel Wilks dates the extinction of the dynasty which had reigned for two hundred years in Mysore ; thenceforward, though a member of the old family held the nominal office of Eaj a, all the authority in the state was in the hands of Hindu or Mahomedan usurpers. In tracing the further history of the country, the names of the ministers or actual rulers will principally engage my attention, as the Eaj as were seldom permitted to emerge from the pre- cincts of the palace. The first of these minister rulers, under the nominal sovereign, Chick Kishen Eaj, were the two cousins, Deva Eaj and Mnja Eaj. Shortly after they had secured to their adherents all the important posts in the kingdom, Nanja Eaj died. A few months later, Mysore was invaded by the Nawab of the Karnatik, Dost Ali. He was foiled, however, by the superior address of Deva Eaj, and his army was defeated with great slaughter. Shortly after- wards Deva Eaj acknowledged the supremacy of the Em- peror of Delhi by paying tribute to Nizam-ul-Mulk, Subadar of Dekhan, who demanded it at the head of an army. Then, too old himself to take the field with his MYSORE (MAIStJR). troops, he continued his attention to the internal adminis- tration of the kingdom, making over the command of the army to a younger brother, also named Nanja Eaj, and whose exploits against, and in alliance with, the French and English for the possession of Trichinapali, are re- corded at great length in the pages of Orme. To secure his position Nanja Eaj married his daughter to the titular king, Chick Kishen. 1 But Deva Eaj was destined to find that neither he nor his brother, able as they were, were secure against the same means which he himself had employed against his master. The successful seizure of power always acts as an incentive to men who feel within themselves the consciousness of the possession of great capacities to fol- low the example thus set them. It happened that amongst the soldiers employed by Nanja Eaj, was one Haider Sahib, or Haider Ali, the grandson of Mahomed Bhelol, a religious person, who, coining from the Pun- jab, founded a small mosque near Haiderabad, and the son of Futteh Mahomed, who was killed when fighting for Abdul Easul Khan against Sadut-Ulla for the posses- sion of Sera. This Haider was nearly thirty years old when he entered the service of Mysore, but his talents soon brought him to the notice of Nanja Eaj, and at the close of the first campaign he was appointed to the charge of an independent corps. From that time the name of Haider Ali becomes inse- parably connected with Mysore. It would be, however, foreign to my purpose to enter into a history of his exploits, or of the exploits of the army which, under the command of Nanja Eaj, assisted first the English, and afterwards the French, in their contest for empire. For a long time the two brothers held their power with a firm hand, never allowing a single opportunity to escape them of adding to their wealth. Under their rule the interests 1 The descendants of tlris mar- in 1811; I believe that some of them riage by the female line were alive still survive. 310 THE NATIVE STATES OF INDIA. PART o f the peasantry were but little regarded. The traditions, < r ' however, of the persecutions of Chick Deo Eaj, and their own experience of the imbecility of Dud Kishen, were sufficient to prevent the ryots from indulging in any wish in favour of the confined Eaja of the ancient dynasty. Other causes contributed at this time to the weakness of the kingdom. Its resources had been considerably im- paired by foreign war ; they received a further blow when, in 1755, Deva Eaj, to save Seringapatam from the hands of Salabat Jung, aided by a French force under Bussy, was forced to promise payment of a contribution- tribute of fifty-six lakhs of rupees, a portion of which was supplied by the spoils of the Hindu temples and the plunder of the private property of the Eaja. The year following, a quarrel ensued between the two usurping brothers on the subject of the treatment of the young Eaja, who was beginning to chafe very mildly under his captive state. Deva Eaj would have preferred mild measures, but Nanja Eaj, deeming severity to be the best lesson, opened an artillery fire upon the palace the gates of which had been closed by the Eaja stormed it, and placing the Eaja upon his throne, caused the noses and ears of his principal adherents to be cut off in his presence. This occurred less than a year before the victory of Plassey gave England her first firm footing in Bengal. A few months later the Marhatas appeared before Seringapatam, and compelled Nan] a Eaj to resign a large portion of the territory of Mysore. Meanwhile Deva Eaj, not approving of the conduct of his associate, had left Seringapatam, laden with the plunder he had amassed by his oppression of the people, and the supreme power re- mained in the possession of Nanja Eaj. But the division between the brothers had been Haider's opportunity. Hitherto, though feared, Haider had been caressed and petted by Nanja Eaj, and had been assigned territories MYSORE (MALSUR). 311 which added greatly to his power and influence ; he had CHAP. been saluted by the Eaja and by Nanja Eaj himself as * ^ - Eutteh Haider Bahadur, and Nanja Eaj had invariably plumed himself upon the sagacity he had evinced in bringing forward a man who had shown talents so re- markable. He was now to see that Haider had two sides to his character. This chieftain had determined to attain supreme power. To that end Nanja Eaj was the first ob- stacle. To remove him he concerted a plan with the Queen Dowager, by which he so worked upon the nerves of the usurper, that Nanja Eaj resigned, and, after some show of opposition, agreed to take up his residence at Kunur, twenty-five miles from Mysore. The revenues of more than one-half the kingdom were then assigned to Haider Ali. He continued, however, on one pretence or another, to ask for more, until in 1760, he had ob- tained complete possession of the whole, and this, not- withstanding a desperate and nearly successful attempt to oust him in that very year, he retained to the day of his death. The reign of Haider, his contests with the English, his devastation of the country up to the gates of Madras, are familiar to all the readers of Anglo-Indian history. It will not be necessary then to refer, in this place, to the warlike exploits of this adventurer and his son. It devolves upon us rather to inquire what, during the period of their usurpation, had become of that Hindu dynasty. On the death of the titular Eaja Chick Kishen, in 1766, Haider had invested his eldest son with all the dignities of a sovereign prince ; but learning soon after that the young prince, Nanja Eaj Wadiar, had evinced some of the yearnings for liberty natural to man, he resumed the amount that had been allotted for the maintenance of the sovereign, plundered the palace of all its cash and valuables, with the exception of the orna- ments on the persons of the women, reduced the house- hold, and replaced those who were expelled by his own 312 THE NATIVE STATES OF INDIA. spies. Five years later, during a crisis in Haider's for- tunes, this Eaja attempted to open negotiations with the Marhatas. Detected in this, he was strangled by the order of Haider, and his brother, Cham Eaj, invested in his place. Cham Eaj died in 1775. He was the last male representative of the family, and, for any practical service to the country, the Hindu dynasty might then and there have been pronounced to be extinguished. But it suited the whim of Haider to have a pageant Eaja. He rejected, however, the nearest in order of relation- ship, the grandson in the female line and adopted a mode of his own to provide a successor. The details of this method we transcribe at length from Colonel Wilks : ' About this period,' he writes, ' the pageant Eaja Cham Eaj died ; Haider had hitherto professed to hold Mysore in behalf of the Hindii house ; and amused his subjects on every annual feast of the Dasahra by exhi- biting the pageant, seated on his ivory throne, in the balcony of state ; himself occupying the place of minis- ter and commander-in-chief. This ceremonial, in most countries, would have excited feelings dangerous to the usurper ; but the unhappy Hindus saw their country everywhere sustaining the scourge of Mahomedan rule ; the singular exception of the Marhata state, a wide- spreading example of still more ruthless oppression, restrained their natural preference for rulers of their own persuasion ; and they were soothed with the occasional condescension which treated them and their institutions with a resemblance of respect. Haider saw and indulged the working of these reflections, and determined to have another pageant. The lineal male succession was extinct, and he ordered all the children to be collected from the different branches of the house, who, according to ancient precedent, were entitled to furnish a successor to the throne. The ceremonial observed on this occasion, however childish, was in perfect accordance with the MYSOKE (MAISUR). 313 feelings which he intended to delude, and sufficiently adapted to the superstition of the fatalist. The hall of audience was strewed round with fruits, sweetmeats, and flowers, playthings of various descriptions, arms, books, male and female ornaments, bags of money, and every varied object of puerile or manly pursuit ; the children were introduced together, and were all invited to help themselves to whatever they liked best ; the greater number were quickly engaged in a scramble for the fruits, sweetmeats, and toys ; but one child was attracted by a brilliant little dagger, which he took up in his right hand, and soon afterwards a lime in his left. " That is the Eaja," exclaimed Haider, " his first care is military protection ; his second to realise the produce of his dominions : bring him hither, and let me embrace him." The assembly was in an universal murmur of applause ; and he ordered the child to be conducted to the Hindu palace, and pre- pared for installation. He was of the same name as his predecessor, viz., Cham Eaj^ and was the father of the present (late) Eaja, who was placed by the English at the head of the Hindu house of Mysore on the subversion of the Mahomedan dynasty in 1799.' This Cham Eaj survived the death of Haider Ali in 1782, but continued till his own demise, in 1795, to be kept a prisoner in the palace. On the occurrence of that event, Tippu Sultan determined to continue the farce of a pageant ruler no longer. The son of the late Eaja was but two years old ; yet the palace was ransacked, and he, his mother, and all his relations, were despoiled of their personal ornaments. They were then removed to a wretched hovel in the neighbourhood. In this hovel they were found when Seringapatam was captured on May 4, 1799. Then ensued a new phase in the history of the country. Dividing between himself and the Nizam a considerable portion of the conquered country, Lord Wellesley placed as ruler over the remainder a territory 314 THE NATIVE STATES OF INDIA. PART yielding then an annual revenue of 49 lakhs of rupees "- the boy whom he had found in the hovel, and whose father had owed his elevation to the regal dignity not to birth, not to merit, but to the chance of having on one occasion in his childhood preferred a toy dagger to the other playthings by which he was surrounded. At this time, the family, deprived for many years of power, had entirely lost their influence in the country. Lord Wellesley, however, was apparently influenced in the course he adopted by the fact that he saw in it the means of escape from a choice of difficulties. He could not restore even a dismembered portion of Mysore to the representatives of the warlike house of Haider Ali, without, he thought, laying in store for the English Government the chances of future contests as desperate as those which had gone before ; nor could he, on the other hand, appropriate to the British the entire country without exciting the jealousy, and, with it, the probable hostility of the Nizam and the Marhatas. The assignment to the last recognised descendant of the Hindu house of Mysore of a considerable portion of the dismem- bered territory, in a state of vassalage to the British, seemed to present to the English statesman the means of escape from his dilemma. These were his reasons for placing upon the throne of Mysore a child, six years old, the accident of one of the fancies of Haider Ali, and who had been nurtured in indigence and misery. The arrangements made during the minority of the child, who assumed the name of Krishna Eaj Wadiar, seemed to be dictated by the soundest considerations. Sir Barry Close, one of the ablest political officers of the day, was appointed Resident, the troops were commanded by Colonel Arthur Wellesley, whilst the administration of the country was entrusted to the ablest of the ministers of Tippii, the Brahman Piirnia. I cannot do better than extract the story of this experiment from the Eeport of MYSORE (MALSVR). 315 the Administration of Mysore for 1872. 1 In a concise CHAP - style, and with the most absolute accuracy, the writer - IL - summarises the history of Krishna Eaj Wadiar. Yet it should be always borne in mind by those who, perusing it, might be inclined to regard as hopeless all future attempts to inaugurate native rule, that neither had Krishna Eaj, nor had any of his predecessors, the advan- tage now bestowed upon the present Eaj a, the advantage of a sound education. The education of Krishna Eaj reminds the historical student of the account of the education of Louis XV. as told by Michelet. 4 During the infancy of the Eaj a,' states the Eeport, 'viz. from 1799 to 1810, Purnia virtually governed the country. His rule was despotic, and it may be ques- tioned whether he did not enrich the treasury at the expense of the State by narrowing the resources of the people, for by 1811 he had accumulated a surplus of seventy-five lakhs of pagodas. He was a minister of the old school, and viewed with chagrin any attempts which the Eaj a, as he came to years of discretion, made to assert his prerogative. This provoked the resentment of the young Eaj a, surrounded as he was by parasites who constantly urged him to take the government in his own hands. In 1811 the Eaj a expressed to the Eesident a wish to govern for himself. The Eesident endeavoured to secure a share in the administration for Piirnia, but the latter declined office in the position of a sub- ordinate, and retired to Seringapatam, where he soon after died. ' The Eaj a assumed the government under the best of auspices, with the goodwill of the British Govern- ment, and with a well-filled treasury. His youth was his misfortune, and unhappily he never found a good minister. He was, besides, fond of pleasure ; and although he was shrewd and observant, his aspirations to govern absolutely were in excess of his capacity. He was generous to a 1 This report, though official, is not private, copies being sent to the press. 316 THE NATIVE STATES OF INDIA. fault, and lavish in benefactions to temples. Under such conditions it is not surprising that the administration broke down. In less than two years after the Raja's accession to power, the Eesident was obliged to report to the Supreme Government that the Raja had dissipated all the treasure accumulated by Piirnia. All remon- strances failed to check the Raja's downward course. High offices of state were sold to the highest bidder, while the people were oppressed by the system of " Sharti," which had its origin under Purnia's regency. " Sharti " was a contract made by the Amildar that he would rea- lise for the government a certain amount of revenue ; that if his collections should fall short of that amount he would make good the deficiency, and that if they ex- ceeded it, the surplus should be paid to the government. The amount which the Amildar thus engaged to realise was generally an increase on what had been obtained the year preceding. In the mutchbolika or agreement the Amildar usually bound himself not to oppress the ryots, nor impose any new taxes, nor compel the ryots to pur- chase the government share of garden ; but this proviso was merely formal, for any violation of the contract in any of these points when represented to the govern- ment was taken no notice of. The consequence was that the ryots became impoverished, the revenues most em- barrassed ; and the Amildars themselves frequently suf- fered losses. The distress arising from this state of things, and from the neglect of duties incumbent upon govern- ment, fell heavily upon the ryots, who groaned under the oppression of every tyrannical Sharti, Fouzdar, and Amildar. 4 In 1830 the ryots in portions of the Nagar division (which, it should be observed, formed no part of the dominion of Mysore before Haider's time, and in which, therefore, the hereditary influence of the Raja was weaker than elsewhere,) broke into open revolt ; several of the Paligars assumed independence, and a pretender was set MYSORE (MAISUR). 317 up as the representative of the Eaja who, as we have seen, was dispossessed by Haider. Although the Eaja's troops were generally successful in their skirmishes with the rebels, they failed in subduing the revolt, and the Eaja found it necessary to ask for the aid of British troops, who completely quelled the insurrection. 6 The state of Mysore had been for some time attract- ing the notice of the Government of India, and as it was considered that the insurrection was of so serious a cha- racter as to call for special inquiry, the Governor-General ordered the formation of a committee to ' investigate the origin, progress, and suppression of the recent distur- bances in Mysore.' Their report showed that the mis- government of the Eaja had produced grave and widely- spread discontent, that the revenues were rapidly failing, that maladministration was rampant in all departments of the state. The Governor-General therefore deter- mined upon acting on the fourth and fifth articles of the subsidiary treaty. In a letter addressed to the Eaja, after recounting at some length and in forcible terms the circumstances under which the Eaja had been placed on the throne, the objects of the subsidiary treaty, and the mismanagement, tyranny, and oppression of the Eaja's government, Lord W. Bentinck went on to say " I have in consequence felt it to be indispensable, as well with reference to the stipulations of the treaty above quoted, as from a regard to the obligations of the protective cha- racter which the British Government holds towards the State of Mysore, to interfere for its preservation, and to secure the various interests at stake from further ruin. It has seemed to me that in order to do this effectually, it will be necessary to transfer the entire administration of the country into the hands of British officers, and I have accordingly determined to nominate the Commis- sioners for the purpose, who will proceed immediately to Mysore. ' u I now, therefore, give to your Highness the formal 318 THE NATIVE STATES OF INDIA. PART and final notice, and I request your Highness to consider , ^' . ^ this letter in that light that is, as the notice required by the treaty to be given to your Highness of the measure determined upon for the assumption and management of the Mysore territory in the case stipulated. I beg of your Highness, therefore, to issue the requisite orders and pro- clamations to the officers and authorities of Mysore, within ten days from the date when this letter may be delivered to your Highness, for giving effect to the transfer of the territory, and investing the British Commissioners with full authority in all departments, so as to enable them to proceed to take charge and carry on affairs as they have been ordered, or may be hereafter instructed." To the Eaja, in accordance with the treaty, one lakh of star pagodas per annum was allotted for his private expenses. ' The Eaja peacefully surrendered the reins of govern- ment, and continued to reside in his palace at Mysore. The Governor-General vested the government in the hands of two Commissioners, the senior of whom was appointed by himself, and the junior by the Madras Government. The senior Commissioner, who possessed what was termed a ' casting vote,' and was therefore enabled to overrule his colleague on every point, fell into very much the position of the Eaja, and was aided in financial matters by the Dewan, which latter post was not abolished until 1834. Up to June 1832 the Commissioners were under the Government of Madras ; but in that month they were made immediately subor- dinate to the Government of India. It was soon found that a Board of two Commissioners, who, naturally, constantly differed in opinion, was an agency ill adapted for the organisation of a proper system of govern - ' ment. Accordingly, on April 28, 1834, one Com- missioner (Colonel Morison) was appointed for the whole province. ' The necessity of a still more sweeping change in the MYSORE (MAISUR). 319 administration soon afterwards became apparent. The CI * AP - instructions of the Governor-General to the Madras - >'- - Government on the first assumption of the province had been to the effect that " the agency under the Commis- sioners should be exclusively native ; indeed, that the existing native institutions should be carefully main- tained." These views were subsequently confirmed by the Court of Directors in their letter, dated September 25, 1835, in which they stated that they were " desirous of adhering, as far as can be done, to the native usage, and not to introduce a system which cannot be worked hereafter by native agency." The above instructions were as far as possible adhered to in the early days of the Commission. But in process of time it became known that the machinery of government was rotten to the core. As an instance of maladministration which prevailed, it may be mentioned that the courts of justice had no power to pass sentence, their prerogative being limited to the mere finding of "Guilty," or "Not guilty." The Kaja, who had retained the power of passing sentence, was too indolent to attend to business, and the result was that the jails had remained for years crowded with prisoners, who, if guilty at all, were only guilty of light offences. The powers of the various descriptions of courts were ill-defined, and involved endless appeals. The evils involved by this state of things lay too deep to be remedied by one Commissioner, aided by the existing native agency, and it was therefore determined to sub- stitute four European superintendents for the native Fouzdars. The "Huzur Adalat," composed of native judges, was allowed to remain the highest judicial authority in the province, but its sentences w r ere made subject to the confirmation of the Commissioner, and not long afterwards a Judicial Commissioner was substituted for it. The post of Eesident was abolished in 1843. c Such was the form of administration under General (afterwards Sir Mark) Cubbon, who succeeded Colonel 320 THE NATIVE STATES OF INDIA. PART Morison as Commissioner in June 1834, and occupied - ^ ' that post until February 1861. The history of the province under his rule affords a brilliant illustration to those who maintain the superiority of British over native rule ; for it is the history of a people made happy by release from serfdom, and of a ruined state restored to financial prosperity. The gradual rise of the revenue will be shown in the financial chapter of this Eeport. At the same time no less than seven hundred and sixty-nine petty items of taxation were swept away. Among these were such whimsical taxes as taxes on marriage, on incontinency, on a child being born, on its being given a name, and on its head being shaved. In one village the inhabitants had had to pay a tax because their ancestors had failed to find the stray horse of a Paligar, and any one passing a particular spot in Nagar without keeping his hands close to his side had to pay a tax. All of these taxes were formerly entered in the government records as part of the resources of the State, and all were swept away under Sir Mark Cubbon. In addition, the abuses in the working of the land revenue which had crept in since the time of Piirnia were removed ; the payment of assessment was made as easy as possible to the ryot by dividing it into five instalments payable with reference to the periods of harvest ; the system of " batayi," or payment of assessment in kind, which exposed the ryot to numberless exactions, w r as in great measure abo- lished, and the land assessment in many cases was lowered. c In order to close the historical summary it is only necessary to recur briefly to political affairs. The Eajii, until his death in 1868, continued to reside at Mysore. He had no political power, but the assignment to him of a fifth of the revenue of the province for his personal expenditure enabled him to give reins to the princely liberality which formed one of the main elements of his character. In June 1865, he adopted a scion of 'one of MYSORE (MAIStht). he leading families of his house, who, on his adoption, CHAP. received the name of Chamrajendra. Whether the British ' ^ Government would recognise the adoption was for some time doubtful. In April 1867, the Home Government decided that it should be recognised. Accordingly, on September 23, 1867, six months after the death of Eaja Krishna Eaj, his successor, Chamrajendra Wadiar, at that time between six and seven years of age, was duly installed at Mysore. The following proclamation issued after the death of Krishna Eaj Wadiar by the Governor- General may not unaptly close this historical summary : ' " His Excellency the Eight Honourable the Viceroy and Governor-General in Council announces to the chiefs and people of Mysore, the death of His Highness the Maharaja Krishna Eaj Wadiar Bahadur, Knight, Grand Commander of the Most Exalted Order of the Star of India. This event is regarded with sorrow by the Government of India, with which the late Maharaja had preserved relations of friendship for more than half a century. '"His Highness Chamrajendra Wadiar Bahadur, at present a minor, the adopted son of the late Maharaja, is acknowledged by the Government of India as his suc- cessor and as Maharaja of the Mysore territories. ' " During the minority of his Highness, the said ter- ritories will be administered in his Highness's name by the British Government, and will be governed on the same principles and under the same regulations as here- tofore. ; ' ; When his Highness shall attain the period of majority, that is, the age of eighteen years, and if his Highness shall then be found qualified for the discharge of the duties of his exalted position, the government of the country will be entrusted to him, subject to such conditions as may be determined at that time." : To carry out the scheme thus announced it was decided to place the young Eaja under the immediate Y 322 THE NATIVE STATES OF INDIA. PART V. charge of a British officer, who should exercise the functions and duties of his guardian, training him for his high position, and guarding him from the temptations and evils which had beset the path of his predecessor. The task of the guardian appointed by the British Government began virtually in August 1869. Then, for the first time, was the Raja allowed to leave the walls of the fort in which he had resided. A school was formed in one of the palaces in the healthiest localities of Mysore. To it were invited the sons of the nobles and officers of state, and there, in September 1869, did the Eaja, then six years and a half old, begin his education. From that time to the present his progress has been steady and satisfactory. He is being taught all, with the exception of Latin and Greek, which would be taught in an English school. He has learned to ride, even to hunt with the hounds, to play cricket, to drive. He has manifested a cheerful, steady, and painstaking disposition. He is punctual and methodical in his habits, and evinces an amiability of character which promises well for the future. It requires only the care and interest hitherto bestowed upon him to be continued to make him emi- nently qualified to fulfil the duties which will devolve upon him. To give an idea of the nature of the resources of the country over which he will be called to rule, I append the statistical return from the latest published annual reports : Revenue Collections for 1872-3. Land Revenue Sayer (Customs) Forests . Abkari (Excise) Assessed Taxes Salt . Stamps Post Office' , Rupees 73.50,285 8^85,824 3,76,185 10,80,826 3,88,008 13,437 1,88,243 44,876 Expenditure for 1872-3. Rupees Interest and Refunds 41,440 Land Revenue proper 7,51,509 Revenue Survey . 2,47,043 Inam Commission 84,787 Sayer (Customs) . 39,210 Miscellaneous Revenue Charges . . . 18,983 Forests .... 1,86,081 MYSORE (MAISUR). 323 Revenue Collections for 1872-3 cont, Eupees Law and Justice . . 4,13,130 Education . . . 1,41,604 Other items . . . 1,14,274 Total . Local and Municipal Funds 1,09,96,692 9,83,223 Expenditure for 1872-3 con t. Rupees Abkari (Excise) Stamps . Mint . Post Office . Administration Palace charges Minor departments Law and Justice (Judicial Courts) Jails Registration Police . Education Religious and Charitable Institutions Medical Stationery and Printing Assignments under Trea- ties and Engagements Miscellaneous . . Superannuation and Com passionate Grants Local Force . Public Works Depart- ment Establishments 5,13,594 Works .... 9,10,188 Total . . 1,01,31,148 Local and Municipal Ex-' 19,695 12,971 25,625 1,51,346 2,91,589 8,53,829 17,716 8,59,856 1,09,561 17,576 4,44,794 2,45,732 2,82,510 1,30,265 33,374 25,66,666 84,096 1,14,583 10,86,529 penditure . 17,88,666 CHAPTEE III. TRAVANKUR. AREA 6,653 sq. miles. POPULATION 1,262,647. REVENUE 42,85,000 rupees. TRAVANKUR is bounded on the north by Kochin and the British district of Koimbatiir, on the east by Madura and Tinniveli, and on the south and west by the Indian Ocean. Y 2 324 THE NATIVE STATES OF INDIA. PART This State presents the example of a territory which, , ^: , from the earliest tradition, has always been under Hindu rule, and governed by Hindu laws. Its early history is obscure. The code of laws which prevailed till 1811 dated from 1496. According to one of those funda- mental laws the succession to the throne invariably de- scends in the female line. Thus, if the sovereign have two sons and a daughter, he is succeeded by the male offspring of his daughter. According to tradition the princesses exercised the authority themselves up to the year 1740, when the reigning princess was persuaded to make over the sovereignty to the Eaja, both for herself and all succeeding princesses. This probably was caused by the fact that, prior to 1740, the country was divided into a number of petty chiefships, all of which claimed independence, and the arm of a strong man was felt neces- sary to reduce them to submission to one master. Such a man appeared, in 1740, in Mastanda Wurmah, in whose favour the reigning princess resigned her pre- tensions. Between that date and the year 1758 Eaja Mastanda subdued many of the petty chiefs, mainly by the aid of a body of troops disciplined in the European fashion by a Flemish officer, named De Lanoy. llajd Mastanda died in 1758. His successor, Wanji Baida Perumal, continuing De Lanoy in his service, completed the task so well begun by Eaja Mastanda, subduing all the remaining chiefs. It was the fortune of this prince, however, to come into contact with Tippu Sultan. He had given offence to Tippii and his father, Haider Ali, in 1778, by granting a free inarch through his territory to the British troops sent to attack Mahe ; and again in 1783, when, alone of all the native princes in Southern India, lie resisted the offers of the usurper of Mysore, and boldly avowed himself the friend of the British. His troops contributed to the victory gained by Colonel M'Leod at Paniani (November 1783), at that time important in its consequences. His TRAVANKUR. 325 zealous co-operation Laving entitled him to be ranked as CHAP. an ally, the British Government included him as such in ^ m '_- the treaty with Tippii in 1784. When, subsequently, Malabar and Kanara had 'been completely subdued by Tippii, the independent princi- pality of Travankiir became isolated by the territories he had acquired. The only obstacle to its immediate absorption was the treaty of 1784. Tippii, however, sought every opportunity to disturb the neutrality ob- served by the Eaja of Travankur, and did succeed by the movement of troops on his frontiers in completely fright- ening him. In his first moments of terror the Eaja applied to the Madras Government (June 1788) for four officers and twelve sergeants to discipline six battalions of infantry. In reply he was informed (August 1788) that it was contrary to the system of the Madras Govern- ment ' to lend officers to command any troops except such as are actually in their own pay ; ' but if the Eaja would ' suggest any plan by which one, two, or even- three battalions of the Company's army might be employed in securing the Travankur territory against any sudden attack of its enemies, it would be taken into consideration.' In consequence of this communication the Eaja agreed to entertain a subsidiary force of two battalions, the monthly subsidy for each of which, during peace, was fixed at 1,755 pagodas, 1 to be paid in cash or pepper. This force had hardly reached its station, on the island of Vipen, before Tippii found a ground of offence against the Eaja, for having purchased from the Dutch the town of Krangamir, to which he laid claim as being- situated on the territory of his tributary, the Eaja of Kochin. Eegardless, then, of the defensive alliance sub- sisting between the Eaja and the British Government, he attacked the Travankur lines early on the morning of December 29, 1789. He was, however, well received 1 About 7,000 rupees. 326 THE NATIVE STATES OF INDIA. PART and repulsed with great loss, escaping almost alone. His ^. ...,! ' palanquin, seals, rings, and all his ornaments fell into the enemy's hands. But he was resolved on revenge. En- deavouring to blind the British as to his real intentions, he made earnest preparations for a renewed attack. This attack took place on May 7 following, and was completely successful. The victorious troops spread desolation over the country, and probably would have endeavoured to occupy it permanently, but that Tippii was called to his own country to defend himself against the British, who had declared war against him for attacking their ally. In the war which followed, Tippii lost half his do- minions, and the territories which had been wrested from Travankiir were restored to that country. The following year (January 1793) the Eaja concluded a commercial treaty with the British Government by which he bound himself to supply a considerable quantity of pepper to the Bombay Government, in exchange for broadcloth, arms, and other articles. The same year, too, he proposed to subsidize three battalions of sepoys, a company of European artillery, and some Lascars, to be stationed in his country, or on the frontier near it, or in any other part of the British territory, as the Eaja might desire. A treaty carrying out these proposals was agreed to in November 1795. Eaja Wanji Baula Perumal died in 1799, and was succeeded by Eaja Kama Warma Perumal. This prince had hardly ascended the throne when a circumstance happened which tended to cool very much his feel- ing of attachment to the British Government. Tra- vankiir had been united with the British in that crusade against Tippii Sultan, which terminated in May 1799, by the death of that ruler at Seringapatam. But the demise of their common enemy proved fatal likewise to the independence of Travankiir. At no remote period subsequent to that event, January 1805,. the Eaja was TRAVANKUR. 327 called upon to pay annually an additional sum (to that CHAP. previously agreed upon) in order to provide for one more ^_ II . 1 ',- regiment, in return for being relieved of the obligation to furnish troops. He was required to concede to the British the power, under certain circumstances, of re- gulating the administration of all branches of public affairs, and of bringing them under the direct manage- ment of the officers of the British Government. Under such circumstances a guarantee would be given to the Raja that his income should not be less than two lakhs of rupees, plus one-fifth of the revenue annually. The Raja was also to bind himself to attend to the advice of the British Government, to hold no communication with any foreign State, and to admit no European foreigner into his service or within his territories without the permission of the British Government. This treaty, in fact, reduced Travankur to the position of a dependent and protected state. This was a position not at all palatable to a large party in Travankur. Discontent spread widely, and rapidly became general. The leader of the malcontents was the Dewan or prime minister, a man who was not disposed to look on calmly whilst his authority was thus virtually taken from him, even though his hopes of success might not be very cheering. The insurgents as- sembled, to the number of 30,000, and surrounded the subsidiary force. With vigour they might have gained the day, but that necessary aid to success was wanting. Several actions were fought, but in the end the insurrec- tion was suppressed. Then the Raja, feeling himself unfit to rule and having no one in whom he could confide, was inclined to make over the management of the affairs of the country to the British Resident. At this crisis he died, and was succeeded by Lutchmi Rani, until a male heir should be born to her. On her assumption of office the British Resident took charge of the administration. For th c countrv it must be admitted the change was beneficial. 828 THE NATIVE STATES OF INDIA. PART The ancient and obsolete code of laws which punished ^_ y ;._^ severely where a light penalty would have sufficed, and lightly where a severe example was required, and which dated back to the year 1490, was abolished ; and a new code, more in accordance with sound principles, was in- troduced. Effectual reforms were also carried out in the departments of revenue and finance. Lutchmi Eani was delivered of a son on April 18, 1813. She continued to act as regent for him, but the following year she bore a second son and died. The regency was then assumed by her sister, and to her, at the close of the year 1814, the Eesident made over the duties of the administration. Aided by his counsels, this lady performed her task with great ability and success. In 1829 the young Eaja, having attained the age of six- teen, was formally invested with the sovereignty. Three years later, the new order of government being regarded as firmly established, the subsidiary force was withdrawn. The Eaja died in 1846, and was succeeded by his brother, Mastanda Eaja. His reign of fourteen years presents no marked incidents for review. On his death, in 1860, the government devolved upon his nephew, Eama Warma, the present ruler. A curious incident in connection with the succession occurred in 1857. I have before referred to the custom of the country which provides that the succession must descend in the female line, that is, to the male children of daughters. But it sometimes happens that a failure in the direct female descent occurs. Such a failure requires the selection and adoption of two or more females from the immediate relatives of the family who reside at certain places in Travankiir. Such an adoption occurred in 1788, when two sisters were selected and adopted. The younger sister died after giving birth to a female child, which also died. From the elder sister the present family of Travankiir is descended, the late Eaja being her daughter's son, and the present her daughter's TRAVANKUR. 329 daughter's son. In 1857 the line of Travankur was CHAP. again threatened with eventual exhaustion. The sister ^Jj 1 '^ of the late Eaja daughter's daughter of the eldest of the two sisters adopted in 1788 left five children, four sons, the second of whom is the present Eaja, and one daughter. This daughter died suddenly, leaving only two sons. The race whence future Eajas were to be supplied thus became extinct, and, on the death of all the male members, the line, unless recruited by adoption, would expire with them. Under these circumstances, the Eaja, with the concurrence of the British Government, adopted, to continue the line, two of the most eligible from amongst his female relatives. 1 The right of adoption has been granted to the Eaja of Travankur. CHAPTER IV. KOCHIN. AREA 1,131 sq. miles. POPULATION 399,060. REVENUE 10,57,497 rupees. THIS small principality is bounded on the north by the province of Malabar, on the south by Travankur, on the east by Dindigal, and on the south-west by the Arabian Sea. Its rulers claim to hold the territory in right of direct descent from the potentates who are said to have wielded in the ninth century supreme authority over the whole extent of territory stretching from Gokuru in North Kanara to Cape Kuraari. It is difficult to trace their history back to a period so remote. There are, however, authentic records to show that the Eajas succumbed at an early period to the Portuguese, who built a fort at 1 Aitchison's Treaties. 330 THE NATIVE STATES OF INDIA. Kochin. In 1662 the fort and town yielded to an attack made upon them by the Dutch, under whose management the town of Kochin attained a high degree of prosperity. The Dutch made no attempt to conquer the remainder of the country, but left the Eaja there to reign supreme. Here, in 1759, the Eaja was attacked by the Zamorin of Malabar ; but lie in his turn was expelled by the Eaja of Travankur, to whom, as a reward for his assistance, the Eaja of Kochin transferred a portion of his territories. Kochin preserved her independence till the year 1776, when the country was conquered by Haider Ali. Haider contented himself with exacting a tribute from the Eaja, who continued in a state of dependence to him and his son Tippu till the breaking out of the war of 1790. In the following year, the Eaja, known as Eaja Veru- lam Tamburan, succeeded, with the aid of the British, in shaking off the Mysore yoke. He simply, however, transferred his allegiance to a new master, the British, he agreeing to pay them an annual subsidy of 100,000 rupees, the same amount he had till then paid to Haider Ali and Tippu. Meanwhile the town of Kochin continued to be occu- pied by the Dutch. But on the breaking out of the war with Holland, the British took possession of it, continuing, however, the practice of Dutch law in all the places where it had theretofore prevailed. The British protection was deemed essential by the Eaja to the preservation of his authority so long as the dynasty of Haider Ali ruled at Mysore, and he clung to it with all his energy. But on the downfall of Tippu, in 1799, his mind was relieved from his fears, and he was gradually led to regard the British connection as pressing upon him with undue might. In 1809 these ideas took practical form. His minister, in correspondence with the minister of Tra- vankur, suddenly raised troops and attacked the British, having previously failed in an attempt to assassinate the KOCHIN. 331 Eesident. The insurrection was put down with little trouble, CHAP. and a new treaty made with the Eaja, by which he was v_^ , obliged to receive a subsidiary force of a battalion of native infantry. To pay for this force his tribute was raised from one lakh of rupees to 276,037 rupees, pay- able yearly in six equal instalments. He was forbidden also to admit Europeans or foreigners into his service without the sanction of the British Government. That Government also reserved to itself the right, under cer- tain circumstances, to take over the management of the country, making a suitable provision for the Eaja. The increase in the amount of the subsidy, making it exceed a moiety of the revenues which at that time amounted only to 480,000 rupees caused great embar- rassment at Kochin. This reached at last such a height that the British Eesident was forced to act himself as Dewan, or minister. But even he was unequal to the task of bringing about an equilibrium. Almost his first act, then, was to reduce the subsidy to 240,000 rupees, or an exact moiety of the estimated revenue. It was subsequently still further reduced to 200,000, at which amount it now stands. The Eesident likewise introduced reforms in the revenue, agricultural, and trading depart- ments, which have borne good fruit. The revenue in the present day exceeds ten lakhs of rupees. In 1814 the Dutch finally ceded their rights in the town of Kochin to the British. A large number of the inhabitants of the town are descendants of that people, who held it in possession for about a century and a half. In 1839 the misconduct of the reigning Eaja rendered it necessary that the Eesident should once again assume the administration of affairs. The result was highly satis- factory. Under the present Eaja, Eavi Vurma, who suc- ceeded to power in 1853, the prosperity of the country has been progressive. Notwithstanding the great im- provements that have been made, by the construction of bridges, canals, roads, and other works of public utility, o<*!2 THE NATIVE STATES OF INDIA. PART the revenue shows a surplus. Great facilities have been ^.^ , afforded to commerce by the removal of all unnecessary imposts and by placing the port of Kochin on the same footing, with certain specified exceptions, as the British ports in India. The Kaja of Kochin has received the right of adop- tion. The succession descends, as in Travankur, through the female branch of the family. TUB CIS-SUTLEJ STATES. PART VI. NORTHERN INDIA. , ._.-,-. 4 . CHAPTEE I. THE C1S-SATLAJ STATES. I. Patidld. AREA 5,412 sq. miles. POPULATION 1,586,000. KEVENUE 30,00,000 rupees. THE Maharaja of Patiala is the recognised chief of the CHAP Phulkean tribe, so called from the ancestor, Choudri -^ Phul, a peasant, who founded a village in the Nabha territory. The second son of Phul, by name Kama, laid the foundations of the sovereign state now known as Patiala. Though belonging to the Jat tribe, the Maharaja is a Sikh. I have been unable to gather any important materials throwing light on the infancy of this State. In the year 1806, it was ruled by one of the descendants of Kama, and stood in a proud position between Kanjit Singh and the British, owing allegiance to neither. But its possession was coveted by Kanjit Singh. In that year, accordingly, deeming that his action would be unnoticed, or at all events would be unobstructed by the British, then in the peaceful mood which followed the departure of Marquess Wellesley, Kanjit determined to strike a blow at the independence of the Cis-Satlaj states. Fortune, at the time, seemed to favour him. A violent quarrel had taken place between the Kajas of Patiala and Xabha, and the latter, the weaker of the two, invoked the assistance of 334 THE NATIVE STATES OF INDIA. Eanjit Singh. Nothing could have been more opportune. In October of that year (1806) Eanjit crossed the Satlaj with his army and dictated terms of reconciliation to the rival sovereigns. He then recrossed into his own territories. He had accomplished all that he desired. He wished, before positively committing himself, to see in what light his interference would be regarded by the British Go- vernment. He had cleared up that point. The British Government had made no objection to his proceeding, and he thought that the game was in his hands. The following year, 1807, he again crossed into the dominions of Patiala. This time he had been appealed to by the wife of the Eaja of that country, who was at variance with her husband. But his action alarmed all the Cis-Satlaj princes, and they made an appeal to Cal- cutta, protesting themselves the servants of the British Government, and imploring its protection. Before a reply could arrive, the Eaja and Eani had settled their differences, and Eanjit had no excuse for remaining. He had received the thanks of both Eaja and Eani, and the present of a diamond necklace and a brass gun. But baulked in his plans, he was foolish enough to show his anger by seizing the forts and confiscating the lands of some petty Eajas. Learning, too, that preparations were being made at Delhi in a sense hostile to his views, he wrote to the Governor-General, claiming all the country west of the Jainna as his own, except the stations occu- pied by the English. This claim was not at the moment openly resisted, but an envoy was sent to Eanjit Singh to remonstrate on its extravagance. This mild procedure only inflamed the passion of Eanjit, and he deliberately recrossed the Satlaj, and seized upon Ambala. Nor was it until the British, convinced of the necessity of strong measures, assembled an army, that he finally withdrew his pretensions, and consented to treat. By the treaty then concluded (April 1809) Eanjit THE CIS-SATLAJ STATES. 335 Singh engaged neither to commit nor to suffer any en- croachments on the possessions or rights of the chiefs on the left bank of the Satlaj. The following May the British Government issued a proclamation, extending its protection to the chiefs of Sirhind and Malwa, without demand of tribute, requiring service in time of war, and defining generally the relation of the protected states to the paramount power. The general scope of the proclamation of 1809 was to establish the chiefs in the states they held before they were received under British protection. At that time there were ten of these chiefs. These were, Sahib Singh, Baja of Patiala ; Bhailal Singh, of Kaital ; Jeswunt Singh, of Nabha; Bhag Singh, of Jhind ; Guru-Dayal Singh, of Ladua ; Jodh Singh, of Kalsia ; Daya Kunwar, Bani of Ambala; Bhanga Singh, Eaja of Thanesur; Soda Singh, of Mahawut ; and Jawahir Singh, of Bharup. By the action of the British Government these chiefs were relieved from all dread of their powerful neighbour on the other side of the Satlaj. But there ensued from this relief a consequence which had not been fore- seen. They began to quarrel among themselves the stronger to oppress the weaker, thus practically to demon- strate the need for the intervention of a strong power. This necessity soon forced itself on the recognition of the British, and in 1811 a second proclamation was issued, directing the restoration of estates that had been usurped, and prohibiting the encroachment of one State upon another. Three years later the British engaged in war with Nipal, and in accordance with the terms of the procla- mation, of 1809, called upon the Eaja of Patmla to aid them with troops. The aid was cheerfully rendered, and was, in its way, effective. As a mark of the appreciation of the British Government portions of the Keonthal and Baghat states, yielding a revenue of 35,000 rupees, were conferred upon him by sunnud, the Eaja paying for them in exchange the sum of 280,000 rupees. 336 THE NATIVE STATES OF INDIA. PAET In 1830, the hill territory of Simla was ceded to the . _ v f ' __* British by the Eaja in exchange for three villages in the district of Beraoli. Nothing further occurred till the first war with the State of Lahore broke out at the close of 1845. In that memorable contest the Maharaja of Patiala cast in his lot with the British, whilst the Eaja of Nabha showed great sympathy with the invaders. As a reward for his loyal service the Maharaja was granted a portion of the territory confiscated from the Eaja of Nabha for his misconduct. At the same time the Maharaja was con- firmed by sunnud for ever, for himself and his heirs, in possession of his ancient estates and those added by the British Government, with all the rights appertaining thereto. In consideration of his renouncing the right to impose custom and transit dues, he was awarded an additional grant of territory confiscated from the Lahore Durbar, with a rental of 10,000 rupees. The service rendered by the Maharaja to the British Government during the mutiny of 1857 can scarcely be exaggerated. The prompt action of himself and the Eajas of Jhind and ISTabha had a marked influence alike on the state of affairs in the Punjab and on the march of the British troops to Delhi. It is not too much to say that hostility or lukewarmness on the part of the Cis- Satlaj Eajas at the early stage of the mutiny would have greatly imperilled the position of the British. The gain of their hearty co-operation can then scarcely be over- estimated. But the Maharaja of Patiala did something more than aid the British by his troops. Whilst these were usefully employed in keeping open the communications and aiding in the field, he lent his money freely, a favour in those troublous times most highly to be appreciated. For his fidelity the Maharaja was amply rewarded by the gift of estates that had been forfeited, bringing with them a considerable accession of income. A sunnud THE CIS-SATLAJ STATES. 337 likewise was given him (1860) granting him and his CHAP. successors the exercise of sovereign powers over their . * _. ancestral and acquired possessions, and binding all depen- dants and' feudatories of every degree to render them obedience. The British Government engaged never to demand any tribute on account of revenue, service, or on any other plea. Other conditions very favourable to the Maharaja were contained in this sunnud. Subsequently, another sunnud was granted, making over to the Maharaja certain lands in liquidation of the debt due to him by the British. Maharaja Narender Singh was granted the right of adoption. He was invested on November 1, 1861, with the insignia of the Most Exalted Order of the Star of India. This Maharaja, who, in the language of Earl Canning, ' had surpassed the former achievements of his race by the constancy and courage he evinced during the mutiny of 1857-8,' whose loyalty had been ' unswerving and con-, spicuous,' died suddenly on November 14, 1862. He was succeeded by his son, then thirteen years old. This prince was associated in 1864 in an investigation which took place at Nabha in October of that year regarding the causes of the death of the Raja of that state. This is more specially referred to under the head of Nabha. The Maharaja of Patiala is entitled to a salute of seventeen guns. II. Jhind. AREA 1,236 sq. miles. POPULATION 311,000. EBVENUE 4,00,000 rupees. THE Eaja of Jhind is of the same family as the Maharaja of Patiala, being like him, descended from Choudri Plrnl. The rise of the two states was contem- poraneous. The Eaja of Jhind, however, had relations with the British earlier than the other. In the pursuit of z 338 THE NATIVE STATES OF INDIA. PAKT Holkar by Lord Lake (1805) Bhag Singh, then Eaja of ._ VL , Jhind, who was maternal uncle of Eanjit Singh, showed the greatest interest in the success of the British, and after the conclusion of the campaign he offered to transfer to them his allegiance. Lord Lake gave him many marks of his esteem and appreciation. In the attempts of Eanjit Singh to annex the Cis-Satlaj states, the Eaja of Jhind sided with his relative of Patiala, and the history of both the states in this crisis and in the Sikh war of 1845-6 is identical. He received also, in money and lands, a proportionate reward for his services, In 1857 the Eaja of Jhind had the merit of being the first person who marched against the mutineers at Delhi. His troops acted as the vanguard of the British army. He remained in the camp before Delhi until the re-occupation of the city, and his troops also took part in the assault. For these services he received territory yielding 1,16,813 rupees per annum, on condition of fidelity and political and military service in time of dif- ficulty and danger. He also received in 1860 a sunnud similar to that given to the Maharaja of Patiala, The present Eaja of Jhind, Sangat Singh, succeeded his predecessor as the nearest of kin, being, however, only a remote kinsman. He did not therefore inherit the acquisitions which had been made by the successors of his and their common ancestor. These, amounting to one-half of the principality, were declared an escheat, and Sangat Singh succeeded only to the ancient family pos- sessions, added to the later grants of the British Govern- ment. In October 1864, the Eaja was engaged in an inves- tigation at Nabha, which will be more especially referred to when dealing with that principality. The Eaja of Jhind has been granted the right of adoption. He is entitled to a salute of eleven guns. THE CIS-SATLAJ STATES. 339 III. Nalhd. AREA. 863 sq. miles. POPULATION 276,000. KEVENUE 4,00,000 rupees. THE Raja of this principality is of the same family and CHAP. stock as the two Rajas previously noticed. Up to the - *' _ year 1845, the history of his dynasty does not vary from that of Patiala, But in that year the Raja who repre- sented it, Deviudar Singh, showed sympathy with the Sikh invaders. He was, in consequence, on the conclusion of the war, deposed, and assigned a pension of 50,000 rupees per annum. One-fourth of his territory also was confiscated, and divided between the Rajas of Patiala and Faridkot. The remainder of the principality was made over to his eldest son, Bhurpur Singh. When the mutiny broke out, this chief made ample amends for his father's lapse. Like the rulers of Patiahi and Jhind he rendered splendid service to the British. For this, he was rewarded by a grant of lands out of the Jhujhar territory, yielding 1,06,000 rupees per annum. He likewise (1860) received a sunnud similar to that granted to the Raja of Patiala, and like him obtained a fresh acquisition of territory in liquidation of the debt due to him by the British Government. On November 9, 1863, this Raja, Bhurpur Singh, died without male issue, and was succeeded by his brother, Bhugwan Singh. But, shortly after the accession of the latter, a rumour was spread that the late Raja had died from the effects of poison administered by members of his own court, and that a lady of rank had also been murdered at the instigation of some people about the court. These rumours obtained so great a currency that an investiga- tion was ordered, presided over by a British officer, with whom were associated the Maharaja of Patiala and the Raja of Jhind. The investigation made it clear that .the late Raja had z -A 340 THE NATIVE STATES OP INDIA. PART died a natural death; and the actual murderer of the . v *' ^ lady was subsequently shown to be a person not at the time suspected ; but it was made evident, likewise, that a native official of high rank, Gurbuksh Singh, had abetted the murder. He was tried for that offence, and though acquitted on account of the unreliable nature of the evi- dence produced, yet he and two other dangerous cha- racters were prohibited from residing henceforth in the territory of Nabha. The Kaja of Nabha has been allowed the right of adoption. He is entitled to a salute of eleven guns. IV. Kalsia. AREA 155 sq. miles. POPULATION 62,000. REVENUE 1,30,000 rupees. THERE is nothing worthy of record in the history of this state. The family came originally from Kalsia, a village in the Manjha. Its chief, after some hesitation, accepted British protection in 1809, and since that time he has been faithful to his engagements. He receives from the British Government, in perpetuity, an annual money pay- ment of 2,851 rupees, to compensate him for custom duties which have been abolished. The Sirdar of Kalsia has received the right of adoption. V. Maler Kotld. AREA 165 sq. miles. POPULATION 462,000. REVENUE 1,00,000 rupees. THIS little state is represented by a Pa than family which originally came from Kabul and occupied places of trust in Sirhind under the Mogul emperors. The connection of the family with the British dates from 1805, when its chief joined Lord Lake, and was granted in 1809 the British protection. The present chief is Nawab Sekunder Ali Khan. He lias received a siinnud assuring him that THE CIS-SATLAJ STATES. 341 any succession in his state, in conformity with the CHAP. Mahomedan law, will be respected. The near relatives of ^_ *'_ the chief enjoy a share in the family estates, and exer- cise sovereign powers therein, in general subordination to the JSTawab. The Nawab of Maler Kotla is entitled to a salute of nine guns. VI. Faridkot. AREA 643 sq. miles. POPULATION 51,000. KEVENUE 75,000 rupees. THE family ruling Faridkot traces itself back to the reign of Akbar, when its representative, named Bhullun, a member of the Burar Jat tribe, rendered signal service and acquired considerable influence. His nephew built the fort of Kot-Kapura and made himself an indepen- dent ruler. Early in the present century the Kot-Kapiira district was seized by the prime minister at Lahore, Mokam Chand. It remained in the possession of his family till the conclusion of the Sikh war in 1845-6, when it was confiscated by the British Government and restored to the chief of Faridkot. That chief, as an additional reward for his services rendered during the campaign, was likewise raised to the rank of Eaja. In 1857 the Eaja of Faridkot rendered good service to the British cause. He is entitled to a salute of eleven- guns. The right of adoption has been conferred upon him, 1 1 For this, and for the history of complete an account of them. > All the other Cis-Satlaj Rajas, I have of them being of comparatively indented largely on Mr. Aitchisou's modern origin, the short sketch of collection of Treaties. Nowhere them given in the text will probably else have I been able to obtain so be deemed sufficient. 342 THE NATIVE STATES OF INDIA. CHAPTEE II. CASHMERE (KASHMIR). ABBA 25,000 sq. miles. POPULATION 1,500,000. REVENUE 6,50,000 rupees. PART ACCORDING to tradition, the valley of Kashmir was / colonised by the Hindus about 2,666 years before the commencement of the Christian era, and ruled by a regular succession of kings of that race. It appears certain, however, that, even at an early period, these princes were subjected to desultory invasions, and even to the temporary occupation of their country by Tartar and other chiefs. Thus it seems clearly ascertained that Ogyges, probably a name of Oghuz Khan, the Scythian, attempted an entrance into the country some time ante- cedent to the Christian era, and though at first repulsed by the ruler of the country, by name Jagma, he even- tually, after a year's struggle, succeeded in forcing his way into the valley. Others of the stream of invaders who followed him must have made similar attempts, for it is recorded that from 150 to 100 B.C., the country was governed by three Tartar princes. From that period until the predatory attacks of Mahmud of Ghizni, the record is uncertain and the details are scanty. But it would appear that, though often temporarily occupied by invaders, Kashmir continued, in the main, under the rule of its Hindu princes. Mahmud of Ghizni is said to have overrun the valley in 1011 and 1012. On the second occasion, however, his army, in retiring, was led into the wrong pass, and suffered very considerably. He passed the passes in 1017, but did not enter them again. CASHMERE (KASHMIR). 343 Kashmir would seem to have enjoyed comparative peace from that time till the beginning of the fourteenth century, when it was definitively conquered by a Tartar prince of the family of Chug. It was ruled with one or two trifling breaks by the descendants of this prince till the year 1587, when it was conquered by Akbar, and its king enrolled among the nobles of Delhi, and assigned a large jaghir in Behar. Akbar himself only paid three visits to Kashmir after his conquest of it, but it became the favourite summer retreat of his successors. Kashmir continued under the dominion of the Moguls till some time after the year 1739, when the conquest of Delhi placed it in the hands of Nadir Shah, by whom it was annexed to the kingdom of Kabul. It remained attached to that kingdom till 1809, when the governor of the province, Mahomed Azim Khan, dis- avowed his allegiance, claimed independence, and set the sovereign of Kabul at defiance. Seven years later an army was sent from Kabul to reconquer the country,, but there was a traitor in the camp, and the army was forced to retreat with heavy loss. In 1819 Eanjit Singh conquered the city of Kashmir, and some portions of the country in its vicinity. The chief of the country, Mahomed Azim Khan, did not, however, readily sur- render the remainder, for in 1820 two persons arrived at Delhi, charged by him with overtures for a treaty of alliance, and with an earnest request that Kashmir should be taken under British protection. The request was refused, and thenceforth the whole country, gradually but surely, fell under the domination of Eanjit Singh. During the whole of this prince's life, and subsequently till 1846, Kashmir was governed by a nobleman ap- pointed by him. On the defeat of the Sikh army in 1845-46, a treaty was negotiated at Lahore (March 1846), by one of the clauses of which Kashmir was transferred to British rule. But the Governor-General of the day, deeming his resources insufficient to guard all 344 THE NATIVE STATES OF INDIA. PART the acquisitions obtained by the treaty, whilst he was .__ v r L ^ obliged to keep a watchful eye on the Sikh nation, humi- liated though not vanquished, determined to make a friend of the astute chief of Jammu, Golab Singh, by con- ferring upon him for a pecuniary consideration the terri- tory of Kashmir, with the rank and title of an independent sovereign, and to make with him a separate treaty. The chieftain so elevated bore the character of being alike cautious and cunning, a "watcher of the atmosphere, always holding back from committing himself, but ever ready to seize the ball when it lay at his feet. He had begun life as a horseman in a troop of cavalry com- manded by the favourite chamberlain of Kanjit Singh. He soon raised himself to an independent command, and in this he distinguished himself by taking prisoner Agar Khan, chief of Eajaori. For this service Eanjit Singh conferred upon his family the principality of Jammu. Here Golab Singh took up his residence, and from it managed soon to extend his authority over his Rajput neighbours, and eventually into Ladakh. In the revolu- tions which preceded the outbreak of the war he was elected minister of the Khalsa, and he took an important part in the negotiations which followed the battle of Sobraon, casting the weight of his influence in favour of the restoration of friendly relations with the British. In the second Sikh war. Golab Singh was true to the character I have recorded of him. From his eyrie in Jammu he watched the course of events. He had an instinctive notion that the victory would be with the British, and though he might have been shaken by the doubtful battle of Chillianwala, yet the fall of Multan and the ' crowning mercy ' of Gujrat soon came to re- assure him. Golab Singh died in 1857, and was succeeded by his son Ranbir Singh. This chief performed excellent ser- vices in the year of the mutiny, sending his troops to Delhi, where they behaved well and loyally. Subsequently CASHMERE (KASHMIR). 315 Maharaja Eanbir Singh was invested with the insignia of CHAT. the Most Exalted Order of the Star of India. In 1867 >_Jl_ he reduced all transit duties through his territories to a payment of five per cent, ad valorem. In this and in other respects the Maharaja has shown a laudable desire to meet the wishes of the British Government. The Maharaja of Kashmir has been granted the right of adoption. CHAPTER III. MINOR TRANS-SATLAJ STATES. I. Kapurthald. AREA 598 sq. miles. POPULATION 212,721. REVENUE 5,77,000 rupees. THE founder of the Kapurthald family was one Jussa Singh, who at the period of turmoil towards the close of the last century, acquired possessions, by conquest and by gift, from Eanjit Singh, on both banks of the Satlaj. Those on the left bank were, by the treaty made with Eanjit Singh in 1809, brought under the suzerainty of the British. By that treaty the Sirdar of Kapiirthala be- came bound to furnish with supplies British troops moving through or cantoned in Cis-Satlaj territory, and, by the British proclamation to those states issued in the month of May following, to join the British during war. In 1826 Ranjit ' Singh made an aggression on the Sirdar of Kapurthald, who appealed to the British Govern- ment for protection. This was accorded, and Ranjit ceased to molest him. Nevertheless in the first Sikh war (1845-6), the Sirdar sided with the Sikhs against the British. >46 THE NATIVE STATES OF INDIA. PART For this act of hostility his possessions on the left ; v , . bank of the Satlaj were coniiscated. Those on the right bank, containing the city of Kapiirthala, were, however, left to him and his heirs on condition of his paying to the British Government a commutation in cash of the service engagements by which he had previously been bound to the government of Lahore. He was likewise required to be loyal to his suzerain, to govern well, to levy neither customs nor duties, and to keep the high roads in repair. His military service was commuted for an annual payment of 1,38,000 rupees, subsequently re- duced to 1,31,000, at which sum it now stands assessed. After the annexation of the Panjab by the British, 1849, the Sirdar of Kapiirthala, Nihal Singh, was created a Baja, He died in 1852, and was succeeded by his son, Bandhir Singh. This prince rendered good service in the stormy years of 1857-58, alike in the Panjab and in Oudh. As a reward for this he received an hereditary jaghir in the Bari Daab, which his father had held in life tenure, but which had been resumed on his death by the British Government ; and, in addition, two estates in Oudh in perpetuity, with remission of half the revenue. Baja Bandhir Singh set out for England towards the end of 1869. But, taken ill at Aden, he died before he could reach Bombay on his return (1870). He was suc- ceeded by his son, Klmrruk Singh. II. Mandi. AREA 1,080 sq. miles. POPULATION 139,259. ELYENUE 3,00,000 rupees. THIS is an ancient Bajput principality, regarding the earlier history of which I have been unable to glean any specific information. It was under the suzerainty of Banjit Singh in 1810, and continued so till after the first Sikh war, when it was transferred to the British, full sovereignty being conceded to the Baja, to his heirs, and MINOR TRANS-SATLAJ STATES. 347 those of his brothers, according to seniority. The prc- CHAP. sent Eaja was born in I8i7. He has received the right ._ I[ T L _. of adoption. He pays a tribute of 1,00,000 rupees to the British. III. Chambd. AREA 3,216 sq. miles. POPULATION 120,000. REVENUE 1,20,000 rupees. Tins principality fell into British possession under circum- stances precisely similar to the preceding, and under con- ditions nearly similar. Part of the country was, how- ever, made over in 1846 to Golab Singh, but in the following year the whole was brought under the British suzerainty. The Eaja pays a tribute of 10,000 rupees. The British Government has conferred upon him the right of adoption. IV. Sakit. AREA 120 sq. miles. POPULATION 44,552. REVENUE 80,000 rupees. This state also came under British suzerainty in 1846, and was treated in the same manner as the others. It has no special history. The Eaja pays a tribute to the British Government of 11,000 rupees. He has the right of adoption. CHAPTEE IV. BIIAVVALPUR. AREA 14,483 sq. miles. POPULATION 365,000. REVENUE 3,00,000 rupees. THE territory of Bhawalpur is a long narrow tract of country, bounded on the north-west by Sindh and the Panjab, and on the east, south-east, and part of the south THE NATIVE STATES OF INDIA. PART by the Bajpiit states of Bikanir and Jaisalmir, and by Bhattiana. The Nawab of Bhawalpur is the head of a clan known as the Daiidpiitri, or sons of David. The clan was originally collected by Daud Khan, or David Khan, a man of some consequence at Shikarpiir in Sindh. Driven thence by his sovereign, the ruler of Kandahar, he and his followers found refuge in the country where they now reside, then peopled for the most part by Hindus of the Jat tribe. Since that period the immigration of pure Hindus, of Beliichis, and of Afghans, has greatly changed the character of the population, in which, now, the Maho- medan element predominates. Daud Khan, taking refuge from his liege lord in a country so barren that it was not considered worth while to pursue him, gradually extended his authority to the fertile strips on the eastern bank of the river line, and assumed the sovereignty of the territory occupied by his followers. He was succeeded by Mobarik Khan. Mobarik improved on the acquisitions of his father, and annexed the district of Khadal, which he conquered from the Bhati tribe, and made its chief town, Derniwul, his capital. Bhawal Khan, who succeeded him, added further to the territories left him by his uncle. On the site of an old Bhati city, on the south bank of the river Ghara, he built a new capital which, after himself, he named Bhawalpiir. But whilst this was yet building, Bhawal Khan was attacked (about 1780) by an army from Kandahar ; Derrawul was invested and taken, and he was forced to acknowledge the suzerainty of the liege lord of his family, and to give his son Mobarik in hos- tage as a pledge of his fidelity. Mobarik remained three years in Kabul, at the end of which time, returning, he appeared in Bhawalpiir as the declared rival of his father. He was imprisoned, but shortly before his father's death was released, only, however, to be assassinated by the chiefs who had taken part against him during the lifetime B HAW ALP UR. 349 of BMwal Khan. His death paved the way for the sue- CHAP. cession of his brother, Sadik Mahomed. But this prince . ^ _. had to fight for the throne with his nephews and brothers, and it was not until he had disposed of these that he felt secure in his seat. The rule of Sadik Mahomed was mainly noticeable for his disputes with his kinsmen and the too powerful chiefs of the country. But as he, by degrees, felt his power, he shook off the suzerainty of Kandahar and asserted his independence. His son and successor, Bhawal Khan, had, however, to fear the encroachment of a new power that had risen. During the first two de- cades of the present century the overshadowing power of Eanjit Singh filled him with dismay, and he made several applications to the British, tendering his allegiance and asking their protection. The applications were, however, declined, but the treaty made in 1809 with Eanjit Singh, referred to in the first chapter of this part, really did give him the protection he sought, as it confined Eanjit Singh to the right bank of the Satlaj. The British subsequently (1830) entered into a com- mercial treaty with Bhawal Khan, by which his indepen- dence within his own territories was acknowledged. The terms of this treaty, which related mainly to the tolls to be levied on the traffic passing through his terri- tories, were modified in 1835, 1838, 1840, 1843, 1847, and 1855. But it is a treaty of another sort, negotiated in 1838 to which it is necessary more particularly to refer. The Nawabs of Bhawalpur had always been de jure vassals of the lords of Kandahar and Kabul, and although the predecessor of Bhawal Khan had broken the yoke from off his neck, yet the prospect of restoring, in the person of Shah Suja, the Durani family, naturally filled him with concern. To maintain his independence the Nawab then negotiated a treaty with the British Govern- ment (October 1838), by the terms of which he plaec-d himself under its supremacy, and bound himself to act in 350 THE NATIVE STATES OF INDIA. PART subordinate co-operation with it, receiving its protection , ^L_ and being recognised as the absolute ruler of the county. In the war which followed, the Nawab acted in perfect good faith, and rendered no unimportant assistance in the way of supplies and in facilitating the passage of the British troops. For the services thus rendered he was rewarded by receiving as an addition to his dominions a portion of the northern part of Sindh, including Subzulkot and the fertile district of Bhiing Bara. In the first contest of the British with the Sikhs the Nawab of Bhawalpur was not concerned, but on the breaking out of the second war, 1848, he volunteered to aid the British with the whole of his disposable force. The offer was accepted. In May of that year, therefore, his army, amounting to about 9,000 men, crossed the Satlaj, and effecting a junction with Captain Herbert Edward.es and General Cortlandt, sustained an attack at the village of Kineri from the army of Mulraj, amount- ing to 8,000 men and four guns, and repulsed them at all points, forcing them to retire into Multau. For this service the Nawab was rewarded with a life pension of a lakh of rupees per annum, besides being reimbursed the expenses of the campaign. Nawab Bhawal Khan died in 1852. He was suc- ceeded by his third son, Sadik Khan the eldest, Futteh Khan, having been disinherited by his father. Futteh Khan did not, however, acquiesce in this arrangement, but, escaping from the place in which he had been con- fined, began to levy troops. A large number of the chiefs rallied to his standard, and Sadik Khan was driven out. An appeal was then made to the British Govern- ment, but it refused to interfere in the internal affairs of the country, Finally it was arranged that Sadik Khan should reside in British ' territory, receiving from his brother an allowance of 1,600 rupees per mensem, he relinquishing for ever, on the part of himself and his heirs, BIIAWALPUR. 35 1 all claim to the principality. Subsequently, however, it CHAP. became necessary to place him in confinement. _i v *___ Futteh Khan died in October 1858, and was suc- ceeded by his eldest son, Eahim Yar Mahomed, seventeen years old, who took the name of his grandfather, Bhawal Khan. The short reign of this prince, lasting only eight years, was wild and stormy. For the first moiety of this period he ruled wisely and well, attending to the counsels of the vizir of his father. But lie then fell into bad courses, put the vizir, who remonstrated, to death, and provoked a rebellion on the part of the leading nobles of his clan. In the course of the contest which followed he caused, it is believed, his three uncles to be murdered, and was only induced by the threats of the British Government to send to the safe custody of British authorities the widow of his grandfather and the two children of one of the murdered uncles. Even then he sent them in an im- poverished condition and without decent clothing. The following year, 1865, another outbreak took place, which though contemptible as to strength, yet, by showing the Nawab to be pusillanimous and nerveless, encouraged a more effective demonstration. This took place in 1866, and was yet undecided when the Nawab died. An interregnum followed. Factions were rampant. Adventurers had clambered into high places, and the safety of the State seemed involved in the maintenance of the legitimate heir, the son of the late Nawab, sup- ported by a power sufficient to put down disorder. After a short interval, during which many changes of fortune occurred, and scenes, sensational if not tragical, were enacted, this policy was followed. The young Nawnb, then a mere child, was nominated successor to his father, whilst, during his minority and until he should attain the age of eighteen, the administration was entrusted to a British officer appointed by the British Government. 352 THE XATT.VE STATES OF INDIA. PAET VII. -MEDIATIZED AND MINOR CHIEFS. 1 PART ALTHOUGH (writes Mr. Aitchison) there is very great r- - diversity in the tenures of the guaranteed chiefs, they may all be divided into two great classes : those chiefs in the administration of whose affairs the interference of the feudal superior is excluded by the express terms of the guarantee, and those chiefs whose sunnuds contain no such stipulation ; and the policy of the British Govern- ment towards them is governed by the following general rules : I. The guarantee given by the British Government descends in all cases to direct heirs. II. When there are no direct heirs, the previous re- cognition by the British Government of an adopted heir is, as a rule, essential to the continuance of the guarantee ; with this previous sanction the guarantee descends to an adopted heir. III. When this previous sanction has not been ob- tained, the guarantee does not descend to adopted heirs unless the adoption subsequently obtains the formal sanc- tion of the British Government. IV. When there are no heirs, direct or adopted, the escheat of the guaranteed estate or tankah is to the suzerain chief and not to the British Government. V. When the interference of the feudal superior in the affairs of the subordinate chief is expressly barred by 1 The details contained in this ( Treaties, Engagements, and Sun- Pavt have mostly been condensed nuds relating to India.' from Mr. Aitchison's valuable work, MEDIATIZED AND MINOR CHIEFS. 353 the terms of the guarantee, the decision of all questions PART relating to succession, direct or by adoption, rests solely ,_^ L _. with the British Government. VI. When there are direct heirs to an estate or tankah, the sunnud for which does not expressly bar the interference of the suzerain chief, the decision regarding the succession and the continuance of the guarantee rests solely with the British Government; but the superior chief has a right to be heard if he has any reasonable objections to bring either (a) to the legitimacy, or (6) the direction of the descent. VII. When there are no direct heirs to such an estate or tankah, and the British Government sanction the suc- cession of an adopted heir, the feudal superior is entitled to a patient hearing of his claim to the escheat ; but he has no concurrent authority with the British Government in deciding the question of succession, nor, where a British guarantee is involved, can he take any steps in recognition of an adopted heir prior to and independently of, the pre- liminary action of the British Government. VEIL Tankahdars have no power over the tankahs beyond their own lines, and no right to burden them with sums payable after their death. IX. When the terms of the guarantee exclude the interference of the superior chief, the subordinate chief is not subject to the payment of nuzzerana. In other cases, a nuzzerana equal to one-fourth of the net revenue of the guaranteed estate or tankah may be levied by the superior chief on the occurrence of a succession by adoption to the guaranteed estate or tankah. On such occasions the superior chief gives to the subordinate a dress of honour equal to one-fourth of the nuzzerana. X. None of the mediatized chiefs have power of life and death. They must submit all trials for heinous crimes and all sentences of death or transportation or imprisonment for life to the local officer of the British Government. A A 354 THE NATIVE STATES OF INDIA. 1. CENTKAL INDIA AND MALWA. Mediatized and Guaranteed Chiefs. Rutlam, Raja of; descended from Ratna, seventh son of "0"dai Singh, Raja of Jodhpur, to whom Rutlam was granted by the Emperor Shah Jehan. Area, 500 square miles ; popula- tion, 94,839 ; revenue, 3,64,064 rupees ; tribute, 84,000 Salim Shahi rupees, equal to 66,150 of British currency. Sillana, Raja of; originally a part of Rutlam, from the chiefs of which the Raja is descended (1709). Area, 103 square miles ; population, 88,978 ; revenue, 2,49,000 ; tribute, 42,000 rupees. Sitamau, Raja of; also originally a part of Rutlam, from the chiefs of which this Raja is descended (1660). Area, 95 square miles ; population, 20,000 ; revenue, 1,50,000 rupees ; pays a tribute of 55,000 Salim Shahi rupees to Sindhia. Punth Piploda, Chief of; receives the tribute of ten villages in the district of Mundavul and Soubah of Mundisur. Piploda, Thakur * of; a feudal vassal of the JXTawab of Jaora, Jamasca, Thakur of; holds several villages in quit -rent tenure, and receives tankah 2 from Sindhia, Holkar, and Dewas ; possesses also lands under Sindhia and Holkar, for which he has no sunnuds. Naolana, Thakur of; receives tankahs from Sindhia and Holkar, and holds certain villages in jaghire, for which he has no sunnuds. Sheogurh, Thakur of ; receives tankahs from Sindhia and Holkar. Dabri, Thakur of ; receives tankahs from Sindhia. Bichrod, Thakur of ; receives tankahs from Sindhia, Holkar, and Dewas ; holds a small amount of land in jaghire under Sindhia, for which he has no sunnud. Kalukhera, Rao of; receives tankahs from Sindhia and Holkar ; holds also certain villages under Sindhia. Narwar, Thakur of; receives tankahs from Sindhia, Holkar, and Dewas, and three villages from Sindhia in quit-rent tenure. 1 Thakur, a lord, heriditaiy bute ; now, an allowance for superin- landowner. tendence of the villages for which it 9 Tunkah, originally forced tri- is paid. MEDIATIZED AND MINOR CHIEFS. 355 Salgurh, Thakur of ; receives tankahs from Sindhia, Holkar, PA i IT and Dewas; holds also villages in jaghire and in quit-rent - tenure. Piplia, Thakur of; receives tankahs from Sindhia and Holkar. Naogong, Thakur of; receives a tankah from Sindhia, and holds small lands from him in jaghire. Dutana, Thakur of ; is in a position similar to the preceding. Ajraoda, Thakur of; receives tankahs from Sindhia and Holkar. Dhulatia, Thakur of ; receives tankahs from Sindhia and Holkar, and holds lands in jaghire in the Mehidpur district. Bichrod, Thakur of; receives tankah from Sindhia, and holds in quit-rent tenure half the village of Bichrod, paying Sindhia an annual rent for the same. Biloda, Thakur of; receives tankahs from Sindhia and Holkar, and holds the village of Biloda in quit-rent tenure under Holkar. Burdia, Rao of ; receives tankahs from Sindhia, Holkar, and Dewas ; also holds villages in jaghire and quit-rent tenure, and one from Sindhia in perpetual tenure at a fixed rent. Alirdjpur, Raja of; pays a tribute of 10,000 rupees per annum to Dhar, through the British Government, The Raja is a Rajput. Jhabua, Raja of; descended from the royal family of Jodhpiir; did good service during the mutinies. Area, 1,500 square miles ; population, 55,000, chiefly Bhils ; revenue, 1,23,000 rupees, of which 35,000 rupees accrue to Holkar from districts held by him. Nunkhera or Tirla, Bhumia 1 of; holds the village of Tirla in hereditary succession, paying tankah to Dhar. KJiota Burkhera or S&repur, Bhumia of; holds villages on three different tenures, paying tankah to Dhar. Mota Burkhera, Bhumia of; holds villages under various tenures, paying tankah to Dhar and Sindhia. Kali Bauri, Bhumia of; holds several villages, paying tankah to Dhar ; receives an annual sum for protecting the district of Dhurrumpuri from robberies, and receives tankah from Sindhia for the village of Bikanir. 1 For Bhumia, vide Appendix F. A A i> 356 THE NATIVE STATES OF INDIA. Multan, Thakur of ; a vassal of the Dhar state, to which he pays a tribute of 18,044 Half rupees, and makes reports. Kachi Baroda, Thakur of ; is in a similar position ; his tribute is 9,459 rupees. Bukhtgurh, Kaja of; is in a similar position; the amount of his tribute is 16,502 rupees. Baisola or Dotra, Thakur of; is in a similar position ; his tribute amounts to 2,501 rupees. Narwar, Kaja of; possesses under Sindhia the district of Parone and six villages. He joined the rebels in 1857, but surrendered on condition of a free pardon and suitable main- tenance being granted him. His former possessions were restored. Kfialtoun, Thakurs of; own three villages under Sindhia, yielding 4,000 rupees annually, on condition of serving the Grovernment faithfully and protecting the high road. Sirsi, Chief of; receives three-fourths of the district of Sirsi, on certain fixed conditions. Ragugarh, Rajas, now Thakurs of; representatives of the third of the twenty-four branches of the Chohan race, called Kychi, one of the oldest families in India. After many reverses of fortune, the Kychiwara lands were divided (1843) amongst the three brothers, representatives of the family, one receiving fifty-two villages, bringing in a rental of 15,000 rupees ; the second, thirty-two villages with 8,000 ; the third, one hundred and twenty villages, supposed to yield a revenue of 31,555 rupees. Certain formal conditions were attached by Sindhia, their liege lord, to the first two allotments, but no sunnud would appear to have been granted for the third. Baroda or Sheopur, Kaja of; a Kajput and a vassal of Sindhia. He holds twelve villages. Burra, Thakur of; receives tankahs from Sinclliia and Holkar, amounting to 5,400 rupees. Barudpura, Bhumia of; receives 500 rupees annually for protecting from robberies that part of the district of Dhurm- puri which lies between the Man and Karan rivers ; holds three villages from Dhar, and one in Mandu, paying 367 rupees annually. Jamnia or Dabir, Bhumia of; receives 2,505 rupees tankah MEDIATIZED AND MINOR CHIEFS. 357 from Holkar for several districts, and pays him 751 rupees for a PART village ; pays 652 rupees to Sindhia for five villages, for which, _ V * I '_- however, no engagement is forthcoming ; he received the villages of Dhar on a quit-rent of 150 rupees, and receives 65 rupees from that state on condition of being responsible for robberies in a portion of the Dhurmpuri districts. Rajgurh, Bhumia of; pays Dhar 101 rupees for a village in Dhurmpuri, and receives 500 rupees from that district to be answerable for all robberies therein ; receives also 50 rupees from Holkar for Hashpur on similar conditions. Ghurri, or Bhysa Kheri, Bhumia of ; holds certain villages in Dhurmpuri ; pays a small annual sum for the same on con- dition of being responsible for robberies effected in them and within others specified. Sillani and Bukhtgurh, Thakurs of; receive tankahs of 4,038 rupees from Sindhia, and of 778 from Holkar ; also a monthly assignment of 400 rupees from the British Govern- ment in continuation of an agreement made in 1820. They also receive annually 1,350 rupees as zamindari dues; 250 rupees from rent-free lands, and 1,100 rupees from other sources. Khangurh, Raja of: holds a jaghir from Sindhia of seven- teen villages, bringing in an annual income of 800 rupees. Jumti, Turvis of ; hold from Sindhia a village which, with cash allowance granted by him, brings in 1,900 rupees a year. Chota Kusrawul, Chiefs of; holds in life tenure from the British Government the village of Chota Kusrawul, subject to a payment of 1,699 rupees per annum; receives dues from other sources in Nirnar aggregating 8,500 rupees per annum ; and inams and dues elsewhere amounting annually to 28,000 rupees. Pithari. Thakur of; receives a tankah of 4,835 rupees from Dewas, under which he holds twelve villages ; also one of 2,687 rupees from Sindhia, and one of 1,145 rupees from Holkar. Bagli, Thakur of, a dependant of Sindhia ; holds fourteen villages on a quit-rent of 6,471 rupees per annum ; and nine other villages at a fixed rent. The time has expired, and it is possible these may have been resumed. Karodia, Thakurs of; enjoy from Sindhia, Holkar, and Bhopal tankahs amounting to 3,427 rupees per annum ; they 358 THE NATIVE STATES OF INDIA. PAKT received, in 1838, from Sindhia the village of Khairi Rajpura ]^ , as blood money. They also hold other villages on quit-rent ; but the amount paid is small, and is not guaranteed. Tonk, Thakur of; receives tankahs from Sindhia, Holkar, and Dewas, aggregating 9,140 rupees per annum; holds a vil- lage and some lands from Sindhia and Holkar, not guaranteed. Patharea, Thakur of; holds one village on a quit-rent of 701 rupees. Dhungong, Chief of ; holds thirty-six villages from Sindhia, on payment of 1,001 rupees per annum; receives tankahs from Sindhia and Holkar aggregating 1,540 rupees. Singhana, Thakur of ; pays to the British Government 240 rupees and to Holkar 56 rupees as tankah ; received a life grant of three villages. Bai, Thakur of; for maintaining the security of the Simrol Pass receives annually a cash payment of 750 rupees, and pays to Holkar 52 rupees 10 annas as collection dues. Mayne, Chief of; seven of the adherents of this chief receive from Holkar two villages on rent, subject after the seventh year to a payment of two rupees per bigah l on condition that the chief made no further collection on passengers and goods between Man and Jam, and was responsible for all robberies, &c. For this purpose they receive 50 rupees per mensem. Dhawra Kanjara, Chief of ; receives 80 rupees per mensem for the protection of the roads between Simrol Ghat and Sigwar. Ragugarh, Thakur of: receives a family allowance of 1,500 rupees from the chiefs of Dewas ; holds a village from Sindhia on a quit-rent of 250 rupees per annum. Neither grant is guaranteed. Kaytlia, Thakur of; receives 1,427 rupees per annum from the chiefs of Dewas. Khursi Jhalaria, Thakurs of; receive annually 225 rupees from Dewas, and 1,750 rupees from Sindhia. Phungat, Thakur of ; holds Phiingat and twelve villages from the British Government, subject to an annual payment of 401 rupees; received a tankah of 112 rupees from Sindhia, and subsequently another of 32 rupees. Bhoja Kkeri, Chief of; pays to Kota annually 100 rupees for the village of Sidra. 1 Varies from one third to two thirds of an acre. MEDIATIZED AOT MINOR CHIEFS, 359 PART Petty chiefs immediately dependent on the British Government. vn. Nawab of; rules over a territory having an area of square miles; a population numbering 22,349, and returning a revenue of 75,000 rupees ; pays neither tankah nor tribute. Mahomedgurh, Nawab of ; pays neither tankah nor tribute ; of the same family as the preceding ; area of country, 80 square miles ; population, 4,000 ; revenue, 7,000 rupees. Basonda, Chief of; the state is an offshoot from Mahomed- gurh; area, 68 square miles; population, 5,000 : revenue, 7,000 rupees. Mediatized and Guaranteed Chiefs. Rdjgarh, Eawut of; belongs to the inferior class of Eajputs. The state, which for the misconduct of the family had been taken under the management of the British Government, was restored free of debt in 1856. The revenues amount to about two lakhs of rupees, of which 85,000 Chunderi rupees are paid to Sindhia for certain villages, and 1,050 rupees of the Kota currency to Jhalawur for another. On the other hand lie receives annually from Sindhia a tankah of 3,187 rupees. Nursingarh, Chief of ; draws a revenue of about 3,25,000 rupees, and expends about 2,25,000 per annum ; pays a tribute of 85,000 Bhopal rupees to Holkar, and receives from Sindhia and Dewas tankahs aggregating 6,301 rupees per annum. Khilchipur, Dewan of; pays a tribute of 13,138 Half rupees to Sindhia. Area of the territory, 204 square miles ; population, 35,500; revenue, 83,317 rupees. Pathari, Nawab of; administers a small territory of 22 square miles, with a population of six, and a revenue of three, thousand. Agra Burkhera, Thakur of; holds a grant of twelve villages from Sindhia, for which he pays 1,001 rupees annually as quit- rent ; receives a tankah of 300 rupees from Kurwar. Dubla Dhw, Thakur of; receives tankahs from Holkar, Sindhia, Dewas, and Bhopal, aggregating 4,250 rupees annually ; holds also three villages in Shujawulpur, for which he^pays annually a quit-rent of 1,401 rupees. DuriaKheri, Thakur of; receives from Sindhia, Dewas, and Bhopal, tankahs aggregating 4,480 rupees ; holds also two vil- lages in Shujawulpur on a quit-rent of 925 rupees per annum. "60 THE NATIVE STATES OF INDIA. PART Kumalpur, Thakur of; receives 4,600 rupees as tankah s^l^ 1 ' from Sindbia ; holds one village in Shujawulpur on a quit-rent of 700 rupees annually. Dubla Ghos i, Thakur of; receives from Sindhia, Dewas, and Bhopal, tankah s aggregating 5,000 rupees ; holds a village in Shujawulpur on a quit-rent of 1,054 rupees. Khursid) Thakur of; receives from Sindhia a tankah of 1,750 Half rupees per annum. Jhalera, Thakur of; receives from Sindhia a tankah of 1,200 Hall rupees per annum. Hirapur, Rao of; receives from Holkar, Sindhia, and Bhopal, tankahs aggregating 6,449 rupees per annum. He holds also two villages on a perpetual rent of 600 rupees. Rdmgarh, Thakurani of; receives from Holkar, Sindhia, Dewas, and Bhopal, tankahs aggregating 8,615 rupees. Kakurkheri, Thakur of ; receives a tankah of 800 rupees ; holds a village in Shujawulpur on a quit-rent of 171 rupees 8 annas. Sutatta, Jaghirdar of; holds in Eajgurh a lease of twelve villages, for which he pays a tankah of 3,400 rupees to the chief of that state. Jabria BJiil, Chiefs of; the descendants of the brother of the notorious Pindari Kheetu. On the death of the brother the estate was divided amongst his five sons, with whom and their children it remains. 2. BUNDELKHAND. Chiefs who hold their states under sunnuds are bound by Ikrarnamas, or deeds of allegiance, and are vassals and de- pendants of the British Government. Pannah, Raja of, is descended from a long line of ancestors, who played a conspicuous part in the history of Bundelkhand. The most famous amongst them was C butter Sal, whose eldest son, Hirdi Sab, inherited from him, with Pannah, territories estimated at an annual value of 38,46,123 rupees. By wars, internal and external, the importance of Pannah has much diminished since that period. The revenues are reduced to four lakhs of rupees ; the area of the country is 688 square miles, and the population 67,500. The present Raja, Nfrpat Singh, is fifth son in descent from MEDIATIZED AND MINOR CHIEFS. 30 i the son of Chutter Sal. He lias received the right of adoption, PATCT and is entitled to a salute of eleven guns. After much trouble, . ^ J - he was induced about fourteen years ago to abolish the rite of sati throughout his territories. Logassi, Rao of. The ancestor of this chief was grandson of Hirdi Sah, above mentioned. He was in possession of seven villages when the British Government assumed supremacy in Bundelkhand, and he was confirmed in these after executing the usual deed of allegiance. The grandfather of the present held, as his predecessors, the title only of Dewan ; but for his services in 1857 he received that of Rao Bahadur, a jaghir of 2,000 rupees per annum, a dress of honour worth 10,000 rupees, and the privilege of adoption. The name of the pre- sent Rao is Hira Singh. The area of Logassi is about 30 square miles, the population about 3,500, and the revenue 17,000 rupees. Chirkari, Raja of. This was a portion of the country over which, by the treaty of Bassein, 1803, the Peshwa ceded to the British his sovereign claims. The ruler of it was then Raja Bikramajit, a direct descendant from Chutter Sal, who, not however without some repugnance, subscribed to terms of alle- giance to the British in 1804. Raja Ratan Singh, grandson of Bikramajit, rendered good service in 1857. For this he was rewarded by receiving an accession of territory of 20,000 rupees per annum, a dress of honour, the privilege of adoption, and the right to a salute of eleven guns. The name of the present Raja is Jai Singh Deo. He rules over a territory, the area of which is 880 square miles, the population 81,000, and the revenue about 5,00,000 rupees. Bijawur, Raja of. The founder of the little state of Bijawur was Bursing Deo, an illegitimate son of Juggut Raj, who was the second son of the famous Chutter Sal. The present ruler, Bhao Pertab Singh, is fourth in descent from Bursing Deo. He rendered good service in the mutinies, for which he received a dress of honour, and the hereditary right to a salute of eleven guns. He has been allowed the right of adoption. The area of Bijawur is 920 square miles, the population 90,000, and the revenue 3,50,000 rupees. Ajaigarh, Raja of, originally styled Raja of Banda. state was comprised originally in the kingdom of Jaitpur, left 362 THE NATIVE STATES OP INDIA. PART to Juggut Raj by his father, Chutter Sal. But the dominions of , ^L^, Juggut Raj were dissevered by internal wars, and his descen- dant, Bukht Singh, was reduced to such indigence that in the latter part of the reign of All Bahadur, he was constrained to accept from that sovereign a pittance of two rupees per diem. His condition improved on the occupation of Bundelkhand by the British, and in 1807 he received a sunnud restoring to him a portion of his ancestral possessions. The present chief, Ranjur Singh, is the fourth in descent from Bukht Siogh. The area of his territory is 340 square miles, the population 50,000, and the revenue 1,75,000 rupees. He has received the right of adoption. Surila, Raja of ; also a lineal descendant of Chutter Sal ; rules over 35 square miles of territory, with a population of 4,500, and a revenue of about 24,000 rupees. The Raja, whose name is Hinduput, has received the right of adoption* Jigni, Rao of; likewise a descendant of Chutter Sal. His territory has an area of 27 square miles, with a population of 2,800, and a revenue of J 2,500 rupees. The chief has been granted the privilege of adoption. The present Rao, Bhopal Singh, is of uusound mind, and the state has been, since 1855, under the direct control of the British Government ; but its affairs are administered by a native superintendent. Jussu, Raja of; an adopted descendant of Chutter Sal, the line having died out in 1860. The present Raja, Satterjit Singh, who belonged to a branch of the same family, was recognised by the British Grovernment in 1862. The area of his territory is 180 square miles, the population 24,000, and the revenue about 30,000 rupees. He has received the right of adoption. Behriy Chief of ; also a descendant of Chutter Sal; administers 30 square miles of territory, with a population of 2,500, and a revenue of 25,000 rupees. The present chief, Bijey Singh, was the cousin and nearest relative of his predecessor. He has re- ceived the right of adoption. Chaterpur, Raja of. This state may be said to have been founded by Sum Sah, a servant of Hinduput, great grandson of Chutter Sal. Hinduput was the second son of his father, but murdering his elder brother and confining the younger, he succeeded to MEDIATIZED AND MIXOR CHIEFS. the inheritance left by Chutter Sal to his eldest son Hirdi Sah. PART After his death, however, civil war ensued, the inheritance , VII> was dissipated, and Suni Sah saw his way to appropriating a portion to himself. After some vicissitudes, he was recognised by the British Government in 1808 as chief of Chaterpur. In 1827, the son of Suni Sah, Pertab Singh, was made a Raja by the British Government. The Raja having died without issue in 1854, the Court of Directors ruled that the state of Chaterpur was clearly an escheat ; but in consideration of the fidelity of the family and the good government of the late Raja, they decided, as an act of grace and favour, to grant the state to a nephew of the late Raja, Juggut Raj, the succession being limited to him and his male descendants. Juggut Raj attained his majority in 1867, but died in 1868, leaving an infant son. His succession was recognised by the British Government, by whom the state is administered through a native superintendent. The Raja has received permission to adopt. The area of Chaterpur is 1,240 square miles, the population 120,000, and the revenue 300,000 rupees. Beronda, Raja of; belongs to a very ancient family of Rajputs totally unconnected with Bundelkhand. The state has neither increased nor diminished in extent since it came under British rule. It contains an area of 275 square miles, a popula- tion of 24,000, and a revenue of 45,000 rupees. The Raja, Surubjit Singh, has received the right of adoption. The Chohey family. The Chohey jaghirs are jaghirs ad- ministered by members of the Chohey family, whose ancestors possessed themselves of Kalinjer and other districts during the distractions which followed the invasions of Ali Bahadur. They had been retainers of the family of Chutter Sal and had no right to the dominions they had usurped, but the British on assuming sovereignty in Bundelkhand left them in possession, on condition of allegiance. Subsequently political necessity required that the fort Kalinjer should be surrendered, but other lands were given i exchange. It is a rule of succession in this family that when heirs fail to any sharer in the fomily estates, the share shall divided amongst the surviving branches of the family. There now remain six sharers. The area of the Chohey jaghirs is estimated at 90 square 36i THE NATIVE STATES OF INDIA. PART miles, the population at 14,000, the revenue at 35,500 , ^^_, rupees. Behut, Rao of; is descended from the earlier members of. the Tehri family ; administers a state of 15 square miles, with a population of 2,500, and a revenue of 15,000 rupees. Has received the power to adopt. Alipura, Rao of; a lineal descendant in the direct male line of Chutter Sal ; ruies over a state having 85 square miles, a population of 9,000, and producing a revenue of 50,000 rupees. Has received the right of adoption. Koti, Jaghirdar of; belongs to an old family of the Bhagelas, which have held the jaghir from time immemorial. The area of the state is 100 square miles, the population 30,000, and the revenue 50,000 rupees. The Jaghirdar has received permission to adopt. Uchera and Nagod, Raja of; belongs likewise to a very old family. The present Raja, Rugovind Singh, did good service in 1857, for which he was rewarded by the grant of an addi- tional jaghir. His estates had been for some time under British management to free them from debt : but they were restored to him in May 1865. The area of the state is 450 suqare miles ; the population 70,000 ; and the revenue 72,400 rupees. Sohdwal, Chief of; descended from Jaghirdars who were feudatories of the Rajas of Pannah ; his independence was recognised by the British in 1809. In consequence of the improvidence of the present Jaghirdar, the state has been for some time under British management. It has an area of 300 square miles ; a population of 50,000 ; and a revenue of 30,000 rupees. The chief has been guaranteed the right of adoption. Gorihar, Rao of; descended from ancestors in the service of the Rajas of Ajaigarh, who first rebelled against their masters, and then started as the leaders of a band of professed plunderers. At the time of the early British occupation, the British Government sanctioned an offer of 30,000 rupees for the capture of the leader, Ram Singh. He finally surrendered on the promise of receiving a territorial possession on terms similar to those granted to the Bundelkhand chiefs. This was done in November 1807. The son of this adventurer rendered good service in 1857. For this he was nominated Rao Bahadur, received a dress of honour worth 10,000 rupees, and the privilege of adoption. MEDIATIZED AXD MINOR CHIEFS. 365 This state comprises an area of 76 square miles, with a PAIlT population of 7,500, and a revenue of 65,000 rupees. -- VI J" - Geraoli, Jaghirdar of; also the descendant of an adven- turer, the most active and daring of all who opposed the occupation of Bundelkhand by the British. The father sub- mitted, however, on condition of receiving a full pardon and a provision of land. This was granted in 1812. The present chief, Kandbir Singh, whose conduct in 1857 was not satisfactory, administers a state with an area of 50 square miles, a population of 5,000, and a revenue of 15,000 rupees. He has received the right of adoption. Niagaon Rebai, Jaghirdar of ; also a descendant of one of the banditti leaders of Bundelkhand. The property consists only of five villages, which are to lapse absolutely at the death of the present Jaghirdar, Juggut Singh. Myhere, Thakur of; descended from a dependant of the Rajas of Rewa. The state has an area of 400 square miles, with a population of 70,000, and a revenue of 74,200 rupees. In consequence of its having been deeply involved in debt by its native ruler, it was for many years under British manage- ment. It was made over to the Thakur in 1865. Baoni, Nawab of; is a lineal descendant of Azof Jah, otherwise known as Chin Kilich Khan, the founder of the family which now rules at Hyderabad. This state is the only state in Bundelkhand ruled by a Mahomedan. It covers an area of 127 square miles, has a population of 19,000, and yields a revenue of 100,000 rupees. The Husht Bhya Jaghirs, Jaghirdars of; are descended from Dewan Rai Singh, himself descended from one of the Rajas of Tehri. Dewan Rai Singh left an estate called Bara- gun, which on his death he willed to be divided into eight shares among his eight sons, whence the name of the Husht Bhya Jaghirs. Of these eight shares two were at an early date merged into the remainder ; one reverted to Tehri, and a fourth was, in 1841, confiscated for the rebellion of its owner. There now remain four Jaghirdars, and four jaghirs covering 85 square miles. The population of all is estimated at 18,000, and the revenue at 81,000 rupees. Kanyadhdna, Jaghirdar of; administers a small jaghir formerly part of the state of Tehri. It first came formally under British sovereignty in 1862. It has a revenue of 30,000 rupees. The population numbers about 6,000. 366 THE NATIVE STATES OF INDIA. PART 3. WESTERN INDIA. VII. * ^ Satdra Jaghirdars ivhose possessions have been guaranteed by the British Government. N.B. These Jaghirdars do not possess the power of life and death. A/culkot, Jaghirdar of, administers an area of 986 square miles, with a population of 77,339, and a revenue of 150,000. The tenure of the jaghir in the present family dates from about 1730. Pant Sacheo Jaghir ; Chief of, is descended from one of the eight hereditary ministers of the old Marhata empire. The area of the jaghir is 500 square miles ; the population 110,193; the revenue 120,000 rupees. The Pant Sacheo pays a tribute of 5,275 rupees to the British Government. Pant Prithi Nidhi Jaghir^ Chief of; is descended by adoption from a family high in esteem under Sivaji, and upon whose representative Eaja Earn conferred the title of ' Prithi Nidhi,' a title higher than that of the Peshwa. The area of the jaghir is 350 square miles; the popula- tion 67,967 ; and the revenue amounts to 75,000 rupees. Jaghir of the Duflay, Chief of; is called the Duflay from Duflapur, a village in the district of Jut. The area of the jaghir is 7,000 square miles ; the population 58,794, and the revenue 65,000 rupees, of which nearly 5,000 are paid to the British Government. Jaghir of the Nimbalkur, or Phultun, Chief of; is descended by adoption from a family which long held the jaghir under the Mahornedan kings of Bijapur, and dis- tinguished itself by its bold opposition to Sivaji. The area of the jaghir is 400 square miles, the population 47,100, and the revenue 75,000 rupees.- Pasur~ii, Jaghirdar of; belongs to the Mahomedan family of Waekur, the representative of which received the jaghir from Eaja Sahu for his fidelity. The income of his lands is about 6,647 rupees, all of which, except a small subsistence allowance, is assigned to his creditors. Southern Mdrhdtd Jaghirdars. N.B. Of these the first-mentioned, the Putwardhur, has alone power to try for capital offences any person but British subjects. The others have power to try for capital offences their own subjects only. The Putwardhur ; a family founded by Huri Bhut, a MEDIATIZED AND MIXOR CHIEFS. 307 Brahman, who became family priest of an influential family P\RT in the vicinity of Kolhapur, and whose three sons rose to high VII. military command under the first Peshwa, receiving grants of land on condition of military service. His grandson, Purus- ram Bhao, was well known to the English as the leader of the Marhata division which co-operated in the reduction of Mysore in 1792. He was killed in battle in 1800, fighting against Kolhapur. The family estates are now divided into five separate parts, held by separate members of the family. They produce in the aggregate a revenue of 980,000 rupees, of which they pay 49,429 rupees to the British Government, in lieu of maintaining a contingent force. To each of the chiefs the right of adoption has been granted. Ramdrug, Chief of; descended from a family to which the Marhatas confided, in the early part of the eighteenth cen- tury, the defence of the two strongest forts in the Konkan, Nurgund and Ramdrug. The two forts became regarded in course of time as separate appanages for members of the same family, and as such they were regarded, when, on the fall of the Peshwa, 1818, they came into British possession. The ruler of Nurgund rebelled and murdered the British political agent in 1857. For this he was hanged, and his estate was confiscated. The Chief of Ramdrug, on the other hand, remained faithful, and was granted the right of adoption. His revenue amounts to about 50,000 rupees. Mudhol, Chief of ; is descended from a family which rose to eminence under the Mahomedan Kings of Bijapur, from whom its members received their estates. The revenues amount to about 1,00,000 rupees, of which 2,618 are paid to the British Government in lieu of military service. Abyssinian Chiefs. Jinjira, Sfdi of, is descended from the Abyssinian admirals of the Mahomedan fleet which served the Kings of Bijapur. In course of time, hard pressed in the fort of Jinjira by the Marhatas, the captains of the fleet formed themselves into a kind of republic, and offered their services to Aurangzib. Their services were accepted; their chief was appointed admiral of the imperial fleet, for the support of which an as- 368 THE NATIVE STATES OF INDIA. PART signment was granted on the revenues of Surat, the trade of ._ v * Ij _^ which port, together with the ships which annually conveyed the pilgrims to Mecca, the admiral was specially bound to pro- tect. The admiral in 1733, Sidi Kasim Yakut Khan, entered in that year into an offensive and defensive alliance with the British Government, to which he and his successors were ever faithful. In 1834 Jinjira was declared to be subject to the British power. It pays no tribute. The area of the territory is 324 square miles, its population 71,000, and its revenues 1,70,000 rupees. The chief has power to try his own subjects only for capital offences. jSachin, Nawab of; descended from a Sidi of Jinjira, to whom the Peshwa made over lands in lieu of Jinjira, of which, however, he never obtained possession. The estate consists of seventeen villages, the revenues from which amount to 85,000 rupees. The population is about 13,000. The Nawab has power to try his own subjects only for capital offences. Other States. Bansda, Raja of; administers a small state, forty-five miles south-east of Surat, the early history of which is unknown. Its population is 19,000, and the revenues amount to 61,000 rupees, of which 7,351 rupees are paid as tribute. The Raja has power to try his own subjects only for capital offences. Dhurmpti/r, Kaja of; administers a small state, south of Bansda, the population of which amounts to 15,000, and the revenue to 90,000 rupees, of which about 6,500 are paid as tribute. The Raja has only power to try his own subjects for capital offences. Jowar, Raja of; descended from a freebooter, who, till checked by the Marhatas in 1760, raised a large revenue by robberies and exactions. At present the state thus acquired covers an area of 300 square miles, has a population of 8,000, and yields a revenue of 25,900 rupees. The powers of the Raja are similar to those of the Raja of Dhurmpur. Kambay^ Nawab of; is descendeclfrom the last but one of the Mahomedan governors of GKijrat. He rules over a MEDIATIZED AXD MINOR CHIEFS. 3G1) small bat compact country with an area of 350 square miles, a population of 175,000, and a revenue of 3,50,000 rupees. The Nawab has received a sunnud guaranteeing any suc- cession that may be legitimate according to Mahomedan law. He has power to try for capital offences any persons except British subjects. Kdthiwar. ^ PRELIMINARY. Of the chiefs in the Gujrat Peninsula, or Kathiwar, one hundred and thirty-seven were, in former days, tributary to the Peshwa, and one hundred and eleven to the' Gaikwar. The tributes, as settled with each chief individually, amounted, in 1809, on account of the former, to 8,54,700 rupees ; on account of the latter to 9,79,882. The Peshwa's share of the tribute was ceded to the British Government in June 1817, and in 1820 the Gaikwar agreed to allow his share to be collected by the British, and to send no troops into Kdthiwar. From that date the supreme authority in the whole of the peninsula has rested with the British Government. Under the authority thus recognised the British Govern- ment established in 1831 a criminal court of justice in Kathf- war, to be presided over by the political agent, aided by three or four chiefs as assessors, for the trial of capital crimes on the estates of chiefs who might be too weak to punish such offences, and of crimes committed by petty chiefs against one another, or otherwise than in the legitimate exercise of authority over their own dependants. Sentences exceeding imprisonment for seven years require to be submitted to the Bombay Government for approval. Of the chiefs, the first five in the order laid down below have power to try for capital offences any persons except British subjects ; the remainder have power to try their own subjects only. The area of Kathiwar is 21,000 square miles ; the popula- tion is estimated at 14,75,685 ; the gross income of the chief may be set down as at least 100,00,000 rupees ; the gross tribute and collections realised in 1862 amounted to 11,81,140 rupees, of which 7,23,370 were for the British Government ; 3,10,000 for the Gaikwar ; 64,000 for the Nawab of Junagarh, and 83,270 for local funds. Subjoined is a list of the chiefs who exercise legal juris- diction. B B 370 THE NATIVE STATES OF IXDIA. PART Junagarh, Nawab of; is the representative of a family ^_ V * L _. founded by Shir Khan Babi, a soldier of fortune, who, during the confusion occasioned by the struggles between the Marhatas and Mogul for supremacy in the province, established himself in the district of Soreth, of which Junagarh is the capital. The present Nawab is seventh in descent from the founder. The revenues of the state are about 6,00,000 rupees ; the Nawab pays to the British Government 28,394, and to the Gaikwar 36,413. He has received the assurance that any succession to his state, legitimate according to the Mahomedan rule, will be upheld. Nawanagar, Jam of; is the head of the Jahrejah Rajputs. The family, of which he is the representative, emigrated from Kachh to Kathiwar, and founded Nawanagar about the year 1542, driving before them the Jetwa family, who formerly pos- sessed the country, but who are now confined to the small state of Purbandur. A predecessor of the present Jam made a futile attempt to shake off the British suzerainty in 1811-12, but he failed to evoke even sympathy with his projects. The Jam of Nawanagar has received power to adopt. His revenues amount to about 6,00,000 rupees. He pays to the British 50,312, to the Gaikwar 64,183, and to the Nawab of Junagarh 4,843 rupees. Bhdpnagar, Thakur of; is descended from a Rajput family, which settled in the peninsula about the year 1200 A.D. He isjbhe richest chief, and his territories are in the most flourish- ing condition of any, in the peninsula. His revenues are estimated at over 8,00,000 rupees. He pays in tribute 1,30,000 rupees to the British Government. He has been guaranteed the right of adoption. Purbandur, Rana of, is a Rajput belonging to the Jetwa tribe, expelled in 1542 from Nawanagar by the family now ruling there. In the year 1808, in return for the aid of the British in the suppression of a rebellion, the ruling Rana ceded to them half the port dues of the port of his chief town. These are rated at about 1 5,000 rupees per annum. The total revenues of his state amount to 2,50,000 rupees. Besides the 15,000 for a moiety of the port dues, he pays the British a tribute of 25,202 rupees. To the Gaikwar he pays 7,1 96, and to Junagarh 5,106. He is considered to be specially entitled to the assistance of the British Government. MEDIATIZED A.XD -MIXOR CHIEFS. 371 Durangdra, Chief of; is bead of the Jhalla Eajputs. His PAKT country has become much impoverished from various causes. ^ Vn - His revenue is rated at about 1,60,000 rupees, and his tribute to the British Government at 40,000. Wdnkanir, Thakur of; has a small district in Muchhii- Kanta. His revenue is not more than 26,000 rupees ; the tri- bute taken is, or was, 12,000 rupees. Morewi, Chief of; is the principal chief in Muchhu-Kanta* ; is stated to be descended from the Raos of Kachh. His estate comprises ninety-seven villages; his revenue is rated at 1,68,641 rupees, and his tribute is 40,001. Rajkot, Thakur of; belongs to a Marhdta family. His revenues are about 75,000 rupees; he pays a tribute to the British of 17,421 rupees, and receives, on the other hand, 2,803 rupees as compensation for land granted by him for a civil station. He pays annually 2,330 rupees to the Nawab of Junagarh. Gundul, Chief of; administers a large district in the divi- sion of Halar. His revenue was rated at 4,00,000 rupees, derived from one hundred and seventy-nine villages, and two flourishing towns. He pays a tribute to the British of 53,000 rupees, and to the Gaikwar of 1,15,000 rupees. He is a Eajput. Limri) Chief of ; is a Eajput. His revenues are estimated at 1,60,000 rupees. His annual tribute to the British amounts to 51,931 rupees annually. Wudivan, Eaja of; is one of the principal chiefs in the Jhalawar division of Kathiwar, His revenues amount to 2,50,000 rupees ; his tribute to the British to about 32,500, and to the Nawab of Junagarh to 62,812. Pcditdn-a, Eaja of; is a relation of the Eaja of Bhaonagar, being descended from the same stock. His capital is the chief place of pilgrimage in Gujrat. Dherol, Chief of; belongs to the Jhareja Eajputs. Jaffardbdd, Sidi of; is subject to the Sidi of Jingiira (vide ' Abyssinian Chiefs,' ante}. His revenues amount to 30,000 rupees. He pays no tribute, either to the British, or to the Gaikwar. Sindfi. Khairptir, Amir of ; rules over the remnant left to the Talpur family after the conquest of Sindh by .Sir Charles B B 2 372 THE NATIVE STATES OF IXDIA. Napier in 1843. Previous to that conquest, AH Murad had been recognised as chief of Khairpur. After it, to obtain a larger share of the territory for himself, he did not hesitate to forge an alteration of the treaty which had made him ruler of the country guaranteed to him before it. The fraud was detected, and on investigation clearly established. Ali Murad was then degraded from the rank of Rais of Khairpur, and deprived of all his territories except those which he held under his father's will. The country still ruled by the Amir is estimated at an area of 5,000 square miles ; it has a population of 105,000, and a revenue estimated at 3,50,000 rupees. The Amir has power to try for capital offences all persons but British subjects. Pdhlanpur Agency. PRELIMINARY. There are eleven states under this agency, of which four are Mahomedan and seven Hindu. The total area of the states is 6,041 square miles, the population 321,645, and the gross revenues 6,40,000 rupees per annum. The chiefs of Pahlanpur and Kadhanpur alone have power to try for capital offences any persons except British subjects. PdkLanpUT) Dewan of; claims his descent from the leader of a tribe of Afghans who occupied Bahar in the reign of Humayun. The head of the family derived his title of Dewan from the Emperor Akbar. The present chief rendered good service in 1857, and has been assured that the British Government will uphold any succession in the state which may be legitimate according to Mahomedan law. The area of the territory is 2,384 square miles; the population 178,051; and the revenues 3,00,000 rupees. The chief pays a tribute of 45,512 rupees to the Gaikwar. Pdhlanpur, Nawab of ; derives his descent from a family which came from Ispahan about two centuries and a half ago. An ancestor, Shir Khan Babi, was Thanadar of the district of Chowal in 1659 ; and in 1713, his grandson, Jawan Murd Khan, was appointed Foujdar of Radhanpur. He had several sons, the elder of whom, bearing the same name, is conspicuous in the Gujrat annals of the period. This chief usurped the Subadhari of Gujrat. Subsequently the family lost several of their possessions to the Gaikwar, but received a suimud for the MEDIATIZED AND MINOR CHIEFS. 373 remainder. The family came under the suzerainty of the PART British in 1820. VJL The area of Radhanpur is 833 square miles ; the population 45,293, and the revenue 2,50,000 rupees. The state pays black mail to the neighbouring tribes of Kuli plunderers, but no tribute. The Nawab has received the right of appointing a successor according to Mahomedan law. Wardi, Nawab of ; administers a state the area of which is 204 square miles; the population 12,000, and the revenue 18,000 rupees. He is a Mahomedan of the Jhut tribe. Terwara, JNawab of; possesses an area of 100 square miles ; with a population of 4,488, and a revenue of 2,000 rupees. Thurad and Morwara., Chief of; possesses an area of 113 square miles, a population of 27,000, and a revenue of 21,000 rupees ; pays no tribute. Wao, Chief of; is a Chohan Rajput ; pays no tribute ; has a revenue of 8,600 rupees. The area of his territory is 360 square miles, and the population 13,000. Suegaum, Chief of; also a Chohan Rajput. The area of his territory is 161 square miles, the population 5,813, and the' revenue 5,500 rupees. Deodur, Chief of; is a Rajput. The area of his territory is 240 square miles, the population 9,000, and the revenue 5,000 rupees. Chomuai and CTiarchut^ Chief of; is a Rajput of the Jhareja tribe. The area of his territory is 440 square miles ; the population 12,000, and the revenue 13,000 rupees. Bhdbwr, Chief of; rules over an area of 72 square miles, with a population of 2,000, and a revenue of 800 rupees. Kankraj, Chief of ; rules over an area of 507 square miles, with a population of 12,945, and a revenue of 18,000 rup< The chief pays 5,593 rupees as tribute to the Gaikwnr. Mahikantd States. PRELIMINARY. The area of Mahikanta is 4,000 square miles; the population is 311,046; and the entire revenues amount to 5,14,000 rupees, of which the Gaikwar receives 1,29,483 as tribute. Besides that of Idar and Ahmadnagar, which will be separately noticed, there are the following 374 THE NATIVE STATES OF INDIA. PART families notorious chiefly as freebooters, and to whom it seems _ ' - unnecessary to make further reference. The chief of Amhara ; the Kulis of Sohar ; the Thakur of Ahima ; the Thakur of Titovi ; the chief of Grajan ; the chief of Anovia ; the heads of villages in the Megraj district. The engagements made with the chiefs may be generally summed up as being engagements on their part not to rob or steal. I proceed now to the only important state in Mahikanta, that of Idar and Ahmadnagar. Idar and Ahmadnagar, Raja of; is a descendant of the brother of Abhi Singh, Raja of Jodhpur. In the second quarter of the eighteenth century his brother, Anand Singh, with another, Rai Singh, left in GKijrat, where their father had been Viceroy, conquered the districts of Idar, Ahmadnagar, and ten others. In the wars which followed they and their descend- ants were stripped of a considerable portion of the territories he thus acquired. Then followed family dissensions, which ended in the dismemberment of the territory, and its division into two distinct principalities of Idar and Ahmadnagar. This separation lasted until on the failure of heirs to Maun Singh, Raja of Jodhpur in 1843, the chief of Ahmadnagar was elected, as one of the nearest collaterals, to succeed him in that ancient kingdom. As a consequence it was decided in 1848, after some objection on the part of her late ruler, that Ahmadnagar should revert to Idar. The Raja of Idar has received the right of adoption. He possesses the power to try for capital offences any persons except British subjects. Reiva Kanta States. PRELIMINARY. Of the chiefs in these states the first in order of place in this record alone has power to try for criminal offences any person except British subjects ; the remaining five have power only to try their own subjects for such offences. But besides these there are fifty-six small pro- prietors, mostly Bhils and Mewasses, plunderers by instinct, and with whom the engagements made relate principally to the prohibition and punishment of plundering, and to the harbouring of plunderers. It would be tedious to give even the designation of the petty holdings. It will suffice to state that the revenues of the chiefs ascend to 33,000 rupees, and MEDIATIZED AND MINOR CHIEFS, 376 descend to 50 rupees per annum. With the exception of PART three, they are all tributaries of the Gaikwar. I now proceed . _ | * ^ to notice the six principal chiefs. Rdjpipld, Chiefs of; are Rajputs whose ancestors main- tained their independence till the time of Akbar. On the decline of the Mahomedan power they fell under the domina- tion of the Gaikwar. In consequence of a quarrel between that prince and the nominal ruler for the nine years antece- dent, the British Government interfered in 1819. Two years later the Graikwar relinquished his control over the territory to the British Grovernment, engaging to receive his tribute through the hands and by the sole intervention of that power. The British Grovernment then assumed, the Raja being a minor, the management of the country, which was almost bankrupt. Since that time the finances have been in a mea- sure restored; the disputes with the Gaikwar satisfactorily settled by the transfer to him of certain villages, and the government restored to its native ruler. The area of Rajpipla is 4,500 square miles, and the revenue 3,75,000 rupees, of which 20,000 rupees are paid annually to the British Grovernment towards the maintenance of the Gujrat Bhil corps. Deoyarh Sana, Raja of; is descended from the Pawaichas of Pawagurh, one of the branches of the Chohan race. Driven from Pawagurh by the Mahomedans, they took refuge in the country of the Bhils, and founded there a new principality. The state was brought under the protection of the British Government after the defeat of Sindhia in the war of 1802-3. Subsequently, however, the country underwent great tribu- lation from Marhata invasions and internal strife. In 1819 it was taken under direct British management, and its finances, which were half ruined, were in a measure restored. The present Raja, Maun Singh, is nineteen years old. The area of the state is 1,600 square miles, and its revenues 75,000 rupees. It pays a tribute of 12,000 rupees to the British Government, Chota Udaipur, Raja of; is descended from the sumo family as the preceding. The state became subject to the British Government in 1822. Its area is about 3,000 square miles, and its revenue about 1,00,000 rupees. It pays an annual tribute of 8,770 rupees to the Gaikwar. Lilnmvdrd, Raja of; ruler of a territory which came under 37(3 THE NATIVE STATES OF INDIA. PART British protection at the time and under the circumstances . T ' _^ related regarding Deogarh Baria. The area of the state is 1,736 square miles, and the revenue 42,000 rupees. It pays 10,653 rupees tribute to the British, and 2,300 rupees to the Babi of Balasinur. Sunth, Raja of ; rules a territory the area of which is 900 square miles, and the revenue 22,000 rupees. He pays a tribute to the British Government of 6,108 rupees. He claims descent from the ancient Kajas of Malwa. Bdldsinur, Babi of ; is descended from the same family as the Nawabs of Junagarh in Kathiwar, and is the representative of the younger branch. It came under the political jurisdiction of the British after the downfall of the Peshwa in 1818. The area of the territory is 400 square miles; and its revenue about 40,000 rupees. It pays a tribute of 11,079 rupees to the British Grovernment. 4. SOUTHEKN INDIA. Pudukottd, Kaja of; is known as the Tondiman Kaja. His connection with respect to the British Grovernment is peculiar. He has no treaty with it, pays no tribute, and his courts of justice are under no exterior supervision. Yet he is under the suzerainty of the British. His small state, possessing an area of 1 ,037 square miles, is surrounded by British districts ; he keeps up only 126 regular infantry and 21 troopers, besides militia and watchmen ; and the British Grovernment receives complaints from his servants, and sends them to be dealt with by the political agent, who is also entitled to advise and re- monstrate with the Kaja on all subjects, but more especially as regards expenditure. His subjects, too, are amenable to British courts for crimes committed within the British ter- ritory. The Tondiman Rajas are the oldest and truest allies of the British in Southern India. They most materially aided them in their contest for supremacy with the French, especially in the stirring events in the neighbourhood of Trichinapali, and subsequently in the wars against the Mahomedan dynasty of Mysore. The British Government of former days was not backward in recognising and substantially rewarding those services. MEDIATIZED AND MINOR CHIEFS. 377 The Raja Las received the right of adoption. The popula- PART tion of his territory is 268,780 square miles, and the revenue . YIL 3,24,136 rupees. The present Raja, as a punishment for his reckless expenditure, has been deprived of some of his titles. Sandur, Raja of; is descended from the family of the famous Morari Rao, of whose principality Sandur formed a part. It was conquered by the British in 1817, restored in 1818, and a sunnud granting it to the present family for ever issued in 1826. The present Raja was an adopted son. He has received power to adopt. The area of the territory is 1 45 square miles ; its population 13,446 ; and its revenue 37,821 rupees. Bdngapdli, Jaghirdar of; administers a territory having an area of 500 square miles, a population of 35,200, and a revenue of 1,66,175 rupees. He administers civil and criminal justice except in cases involving capital punishment. Certain conditions are imposed on him to ensure as far as may be security against oppression for his subjects. He has received the power to adopt. Kananur, Raja of; is a Mapillah. He holds, in addition to his estate on the mainland, the southern Laccadive islands; The descent, as in the royal families of Travankur and Kochin, lies with the male descendants of sisters. N.B. Besides Kananiir, there are on the Malabar coasts several other states subordinate to British authority, with whom engagements on revenue matters have been made by the British Government. None of these states have any political status, and it is unnecessary to enumerate any of them in a work of this kind. The mention even of Kananiir is superfluous, 5. EASTEKN INDIA. Hill Tiparah, Raja of; has no treaty with the British Government, though he receives his investiture from it. His country was never subjected by the Mogul or his lieutenants and representatives. The area of his territory is 2,879 square miles ; the population 69,000. Kasad Hill States. These are twenty-five in number ; over five of these, called the semi-independent states, their chief exercise civil and criminal jurisdiction over their own people only. The twenty minor states, which it is unnecessary to enume- rate, are virtually dependent on the British Government. 378 THE NATIVE STATES OF INDIA. PART Chutid Nagpiir, tributary Mahals of; consist of several ^ t ' - petty states which it is unnecessary to enumerate, as they are all under the undefined authority of the British commissioner. Or-isd, tributary Mahals of ; sixteen in number, held by petty Rajas, who administer criminal and civil justice, con- trolled only by the undefined authority of the British super- intendent. Manipur, Raja of; is in subordinate alliance with the British. The relations with him are conducted through a poli- tical agent. The area of his territory is 7,584 square miles ; the population 75,840, and the revenue 14.250 rupees. He pays no tribute. Koch Bihar, Raja of; descended from a family which began its connection with the British in 1772 by its chief, then a minor and a prisoner in the hands of the Bhutias, offering to pay to them half his revenue if they would assist him to expel the Bhutias from his country. They were expelled. Since that period Koch Bihar has remained annexed to Bengal, and half its revenues are paid to the British Government. The management of the country is left, however, in the sole care of the Raja and his officers. The area of the country is 1,300 square miles, the popula- tion 100,000, the revenue 7,00,000 rupees. 6. NORTH-WESTERN INDIA. Rampur, Nawab of; is the lineal descendant of Ali Ma- homed Khan, the adopted son of Baud Khan, himself the son of an Afghan who settled in Rohilkhand. Ali Mahomed Khan was the first to establish absolute supremacy in Rohilkhand, and to take the title of Nawab. The commotions prevalent in North-Western India upon the break-up of the Mogul empire, affected the position of the heir of Ali Mahomed, and in the end he was glad to compound for the possession of the estate of Rampur, on condition of military service to the Vizir of Oudh, a condition commuted in 1783, under the guarantee of the British Government, to a cash payment of 15,00,000 rupees. A portion of the estate was subsequently cut off and annexed to Rohilkhand, but when that province came into British possession in 1801, the position then held bv the Nawab was continued to him. MEDIATIZED AND MINOR CHIEFS. 379 The Nawab of Rampur, Mahomed Yussuf All Khan, ren- TART dered good service in 1857. For this he received a grant of v _ VII i land yielding 1,04,000 rupees. He was subsequently nominated a Knight of the Most Exalted Order of the Star of India, and received a sunnud assuring him regarding the succession. The area, of Rampur is 1,140 square miles, the population 3,90,232, and the revenue about 10,00,000 rupees. Bandras, Raja of; is descended from the nephew of Cheit Singh, the chief who made himself famous in the time of Warren Hastings. Had he displayed in that crisis a presence of mind and directness of aim corresponding to the circum- stances in which he had been placed, the history of India might have been changed. As it was, he was dethroned, and his ter- ritory given, with greatly restricted powers, and a considerable increase of tribute (from twenty-two and a half to forty lakhs), to his nephew. The family derives its origin from a Zamindar named Mansa Ram, who originally possessed no more than half the village of Grungapur, but who, through the favour of the Subadar of the province, and by the modes then usual in Hindostan, acquired in nineteen years districts yielding a gross revenue of 24,50,000 rupees. These, his son, Balwant Singh, increased to a yield of 35,00,000 rupees. Cheit Singh was the son of Balwant Singh. From the time cf the expulsion of Cheit Singh, the ad- ministration has been entirely in the hands of the British, the Raja retaining his authority only over certain patrimonial lands of inconsiderable extent, a certain share of the surplus revenue or excess above the fixed tribute being assigned for his personal expenses. He has received the right of adoption, and is allowed a salute of thirteen guns. Garhivdl, Raja of; administers a country possessing an area of 4,500 square miles, with a population of 200,000 and a revenue of 80,000 rupees. This comprises only a portion of the territory formerly held by his house. But prior to the Nipal war of 1834-5, the Gurkhas had deprived him of the whole, and the British who, on the conclusion of the war, found him living in great poverty at Dehra, restored him the portion which lay to the west of the Alikamanda river. The Raja rendered valuable service to the British in 1857. A sunnud has been granted to the present ruler guaranteeing to him the right of adoption. ISO THE NATIVE STATES OF INDIA. PAKT Shakpura, Raja of; is descended from an ancient Rana of _5^, Udaipur, from whom he is tenth in lineal descent. The founder of the family acquired the district of Kbeirar in Mewar from his father, whilst his son received the possessions in Ajmir as a reward for his gallant services to Shah Jehan. The present Raja thus holds under two suzerains, the Rana of Udaipur and the British Grovernment. His revenue is estimated at 3,00,000 rupees. He pays a tribute to the British Grovern- ment of 10,000 rupees, an amount liable to decrease under certain circumstances. He has been guaranteed the right of adoption. Minor Cis-Satlaj Chiefs. These are eighty in number, receiving revenues varying from 250 rupees to 68,303 rupees per annum, and paying tribute from 36 rupees to 5,645 rupees. With the exception of two of them, the Nawab of Kunipura and the Mir of Kolatiar, they possess no higher status than that of ordinary Jaghirdars. Certain privileges, which it is not necessary to enumerate, have been extended to a limited number amongst them for their lives. Succession to these estates is governed by the following rules : 1. That no widow shall succeed. 2. That no descendants in the female line shall inherit. 3. That on failure of a direct heir, a collateral male heir may succeed, if the common ancestors of the deceased and of the collateral claimant should have been in possession of the share at or since 1808-9. The Delhi Territory. Dojana, Nawab of; holds his estates on condition of fidelity to the British Grovernment and military service when required. The sunnud conferring the tenure in perpetuity dates from 1806, but accessions of territory have since been made. Lohdru, Chiefs of; trace their descent from a Vakil of the Raja of Alwar, from whom, at the beginning of the present century, the head of the family received Loharu in perpetuity. The conduct of the two chiefs in 1857 was suspicious, and they were 'placed under surveillance after the capture of Delhi, but they were subsequently released and reinstated. The family at one time possessed the district of Ferozpur, MEDIATIZED AND MINOR CHIEFS. 381 but it was confiscated on account of the murder, by one of its PART members, of Mr. Fraser, the Governor-General's agent at Delhi, ^_ Y ^'_. in 1835. The gross revenue of the district is about 60,000 rupees. Patdodi, Nawab of, grandson of the original grantee, who received the estate in 1806 in perpetual jaghir as a reward for co-operating with Lord Lake against Holkar. The revenue is about 45,000 rupees. These three Nawtlbs have received sunnuds guaranteeing the succession according to Mahomedan law. Hill States. Sirmur, or Ndhan, Chief of; is a Rajput. Came under the suzerainty of the British in 1815. The population of his country is 75,000, and the revenue is about 1,00,000 rupees. He pays no tribute, but is hound to render feudal service. The Raja rendered good service in the mutinies, and received in reward a salute of seven guns, and a khillut of 5,000 rupees. Kahlur (Bilaspur), Kaja of; also a Rajput. Came under British suzerainty in 1815. The population of his country is 66,848, and the revenue 70,000 rupees. In other respects the remarks made regarding the Raja of Sirmur apply to him. Hindur (Ndldgark), chief of ; also a Rajput. The population is 49,678, the revenue 60,000 rupees; pays a tribute of 5,000 rupees. Busdhir, Raja of; is a Rajput. The population of Busahir i^s 55,025 ; the revenue 70,000 rupees. The Raja pays a tri- bute of 3,945 rupees. Keonthal, Raja of; is a Rajput. Receives tribute from four chiefs, aggregating 1,500 rupees, as their liege lord. The population is 1 8,083, the revenues are 30,000 rupees. The father of the present chief was created a Raja for his services in 1857, and received also a dress of honour worth 1,000 rupees. Jubul, Rana of, first became independent after 1815, having previously been tributary to Sirmur. The population is 17,262; the revenue 18,000 rupees. The Rana pays 2,520 rupees tribute, and is bound to render feudal service. Bfiuji, Rana of; rules over 9,000 people, and draws a revenue of 15,000 rupees. He pays 1,440 rupees annually to the British Government; is bound in case of war to join the British in person, with all his retainers ; is Lemuel likewise to ' construct roads four yards broad in his territory.' 382 Tilt: NATIVE STATES OF INDIA. PART Kumhdrsin, Eana of; is a Rajput. The family first became ' ' ' independent in 1815. The population amounts to 7,829; the revenue to 9,000 rupees. The Eana pays a tribute of 2,000 rupees to the British. Kothar, Eana of; a Rajput. The sunnud of his state dates 1815. The population amounts to 3,990, the revenue to 5,000 rupees; pays a tribute of 1,080 rupees. Dhami, Eana of; first became independent in 1815. The population amounts to 2,853 ; the revenue to 4,000 rupees ; the tribute to 360 rupees. Baghdty Eana of; a Rajput. This state has been twice treated as a lapse, and has twice been restored. Its size is but one-fourth of what it was before the Gurkha war, during which the conduct of the chief was unfriendly. The present Raja was restored in 1862. Bulsun, Eana of; dates his separate existence from 1815. The present chief was created a Eana in 1858 for his services in the mutiny. The population is 4,892 ; the revenue amounts to 6,000 rupees ; the tribute to 1,080 rupees. Meilog, Thakur of; possesses a territory containing a popu- lation of 7,358, and producing a revenue of 8,000 rupees. He pays a tribute of 1,450 rupees. Bijah, Thakur of; rules over a population of 981, with a revenue of 2,000 rupees; pays a tribute of 180 rupees, but receives 100 rupees as compensation for land used by the British. Turoch, Thakur of; is lord of a population of 3,082, and receives a revenue of 2,500 rupees ; pays a tribute of 280 rupees. Kunhiar, Thakur of; rules over a population of 1,906, and receives a revenue of 3,000 rupees: pays 180 rupees as tribute. Mungul, Eana of; is chief amongst a population of 917, and receives a revenue of 1,000 rupees; pays 92 rupees tribute. Durkotiy Eana of, pays no tribute ; has an income of 500 rupees. The population numbers 612. All these chiefs are, with respect to each other, as nearly as possible in the same position as they had been before they were brought under British suzerainty in 1815. The right of adoption has been guaranteed to all of them. In 1847 transit duties were abolished throughout their states. A yearly sum of 13,935 rupees is paid to them in compensation by the Government of India. 383 APPENDIX A. I APPEND the letter from Rana Raj Singh to the Emperor APPX. Aurangzib, erroneously attributed by Orme and the writers __^'__ who followed him to Jeswunt Singh. Colonel Tod states that his Munshi obtained a copy of the original letter at tJdaipur, where it is properly assigned to the Rana Raj Singh. The following is the text of it : Letter from Rand Raj Singh to Aurangzib. ' All due praise be rendered to the glory of the Almighty, and the munificence of your Majesty, which is conspicuous as. the sun and moon. Although I, your well-wisher, have sepa- rated myself from your sublime presence, I am nevertheless zealous in the performance of every bounden act of obedience and loyalty. My ardent wishes and strenuous services are employed to promote the prosperity of the Kings, Nobles, Mirzas, Rajas, and Rajs of the provinces of Hindostan, and the chiefs of Iran, Turan, Rum, and Shan, the inhabitants of the seven climates, and all persons travelling by land and by water. This, my inclination, is notorious, nor can your royal wisdom entertain a doubt thereof. Reflecting, therefore, on my former services, and your Majesty's condescension, I presume to solicit the royal attention to some circumstances in which the public as well as private welfare is greatly interested. 4 1 have been informed that enormous sums have been dissi- pated in the prosecution of the designs formed against mr, your well-wisher, and that you have ordered a tribute to be levied to satisfy the exigencies of your exhausted treasury. ' May it please your Majesty, your royal ancestor, Mahomed Julal-u-din Akbar, whose throne is now in heaven, conducted the affairs of this empire in equity and firm security for the o 84 APPENDIX A, space of fifty-two years, preserving every tribe of men in ease and happiness, whether they were followers of Jesus, or of Moses, of David, or Mahomed ; were they Brahmans, were they of the sect of Dharians which denies the eternity of matter, or of that which ascribes the existence of the world to chance, they all equally enjoyed his countenance and favour, insomuch that his people, in gratitude for the indiscriminate protection he afforded them, distinguished him by the appellation of Juggut Gruru (Guardian of Mankind). ' His Majesty Mahomed Nur-ul-din Jehangir, likewise, whose dwelling is now in paradise, extended for a period of twenty-two years the shadow of his protection over the heads of his people. Successful by a constant fidelity to his allies and a vigorous exertion of his arm in business. 'Nor less did the illustrious Shah Jehan, by a propitious reign of thirty-two years, acquire to himself immortal reputa- tion, the glorious reward of clemency and virtue. 'Such were the benevolent inclinations of your ancestors. Whilst they pursued these great and generous principles, wheresoever they directed their steps, conquest and prosperity went before them : and then they reduced many countries and fortresses to their obedience. During your Majesty's reign many have been alienated from the empire, and further loss of territory must necessarily follow, since devastation and rapine now universally prevail without restraint. Your subjects are trampled under foot, and every province of } 7 our empire is impoverished ; depopulation spreads, and difficulties accumu- late. When indigence has reached the habitation of the sovereign and his princes, what can be the condition of the nobles ? As to the soldiery, they are in murmurs ; the mer- chants complaining, the Mahometans discontented, the Hindus destitute, and multitudes of people wretched, even to the want of their nightly meal, are beating their heads throughout the day in rage and desperation. ' How can the dignity of the sovereign be preserved who employs his power in exacting heavy tributes from a people thus miserably reduced ? At this juncture it is told from east to west that the Emperor of Hindostan, jealous of the poor Hindu devotee, will exact a tribute from Brahmans, Sanoras, Jogis, Beragis, Sanyasis ; that, regardless of the illustrious honour of his Timurean race, he condescends to exercise his APPENDIX A. 385 power over the solitary inoffensive anchoret. If your Majesty APPX. places any faith in those books, by distinction called Divine, A ' ^ you will there be instructed that Grod is the (rod of all man- kind, not the Grod of Mahomedans alone. The Pagan and the Mussulman are equal in his presence. Distinctions of colour are of his ordination. It is he who gives existence. In your temples to his name the voice is raised in prayer ; in a house of images, where the bell is shaken, still he is the object of ador- ation. To vilify the religion or customs of other men is to set at naught the pleasure of the Almighty. When we deface a picture, we naturally incur the resentment of the painter ; and justly has the poet said, ' presume not to arraign or scru- tinise the various works of power divine. 7 'In fine, the tribute you demand from the Hindus is repugnant to justice ; it is equally foreign from good policy, as it must impoverish the country. Moreover, it is an innovation and an infringement of the laws of Hindostan. But if zeal for your own religion hath induced you to determine upon this measure, the demand ought, by the rules of equity, to have been made first upon Kam Singh, who is esteemed the principal amongst the Hindus. Then let your well-wisher be called upon, 'with whom you will have less difficulty to encounter, but to torment ants and flies is unworthy of an heroic or generous mind. It is wonderful that the ministers of your government should have neglected to instruct your Majesty in the rules of rectitude and honour.' TOD'S 'Rajasthan.' APPENDIX B. THE subsequent adventures of Prince Amra, as given by Colonel Tod, are so extraordinary, that I transcribe them from the 'Annals of Rajasthan ''In the month of Bysak, S. 1690 (A.D. 1634), five years before the death of Raj& Gruj, in a convocation of all the feudality of Maru, 1 sentence of exclusion from the succession was pronounced upon Amra, accompanied by the solemn and seldom practised rite of Des-vatoh or exile. This ceremony, which is marked as a day of mourning in the calendar, was attended with all the circumstances of funeral pomp. As soon 1 Maru-Mtirwar. C C 386 APPENDIX B. as the sentence was pronounced that his birth-right was for- feited and assigned to his junior brother, and that he ceased to be a subject of Maru, the khelat 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. 6 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 Kao and the munsub of a leader of three thousand, with the grant of Nagore as an independent domain, to be held directly from the ctown. But the same arrogant and uncontrollable spirit which lost him his birth-right 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 Jehan) reprimanded him for neglecting his duties, and threa- tened 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. ' The little contrition which this reply evinced, determined the king to enforce the fine, and the paymaster-general, Salabat Khan, was sent to Amra's quarters to demand its payment. It was refused, and the observations made by the Synd 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 aum-khas, 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 uncere- moniously 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 con- APPENDIX B. 387 fusion. Amra continued the work of death, indifferent upon APPX. whom his blows fell, and five Mogul chiefs of eminence had B- fallen, when his brother-in-law, Urjun Gror, 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 Bullu Khampawut and Bhao Khumpawut, put on their saffron garments, and a fresh carnage ensued within the lollkelah. 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 the obeisance to Amra in the mansions of the sun," The faithful band was cut to pieces ; and his wife, the princess of Bundi, came in person and 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 Grate ;" and in proof of the strong impression made by this event, it remained closed through centuries, until opened in 1 809 by Captain Greorge Steel, of the Bengal Engineers.' APPENDIX C. THE Princess Kishna Komari, daughter of Rana Bhim Singh, of TJdaipur, had the reputation of possessing extraordinary beauty. Her birth contributed to make an alliance with her the highest aspiration of a Rajput prince. Bhim Singh, Raja of Jodhpur, was the fortunate aspirant to her hand. To him she had been betrothed ; but Raja Bhim Singh died in 1804. On his death Maun Singh succeeded to the throne, and with it to the hopes of his predecessor. But one Sevai Singh, who had been formerly minister to Bhim Singh, and whose object it- was to sow dissension between Jaipur and Jodhpur, so worked upon the sensual mind of Juggiit Singh, Raja of Jaipur, that he determined to demand the princess in marriage for himself. He sent an embassy for the purpose, but it was contemptuously dismissed. Thenfollowed a desolating war between the rival aspirants. The marauder Amir Khan, summoned first by one party, then selling himself to the other, ruined Rajpuklna by his exactions. c c '2 388 APPENDIX C. APPX. There was scarcely an infamy of which he and his followers . C ' , were not guilty. Treachery succeeded murder, and plunder accompanied both. But meanwhile neither of the rival princes would relinquish his claim ; the country continued to be inun- dated with blood. So long as the cause remained, the flame would continue. It was decided then, at the instance, it is said, of Amir Khan, that the cause should disappear, that the ' Flower of Rajasthan ' should die. I quote a description of her and the ruin that ensued, from the glowing pen of Colonel Tod:- 6 Kishna Komari Bai, the " Virgin Princess Kishna," was in her sixteenth year. Her mother was of the Chawura race, the ancient kings of Anhulwara. Sprung from the noblest blood of Hind, she added beauty of face and person to an engaging demeanour, and was justly proclaimed the " Flower of Kajas- than." When the Eoman father pierced the bosom of the dishonoured Virginia, appeased virtue applauded the deed. When Iphigenia was led to the sacrificial altar, the salvation of her country yielded a noble consolation. The votive victim of Jephtha's success had the triumph of a father's fame to sustain her resignation, and in the meekness of her sufferings we have the best parallel to the sacrifice of the lovely Kishna. Though years have passed since the barbarous immolation, it is never related but with a faltering tongue and moistened eyes, " albeit unused to the melting mood." 'The rapacious and blood-thirsty Pathan, covered with infamy, repaired to tldaipur, where he was joined by the pliant and subtle Ajit. Meek in his demeanour, unostentatious in his habits, despising honours, yet covetous of power; religion, which he followed with the zeal of an Asiatic, if it did not serve as a cloak, was at least no hindrance to an immeasurable ambi- tion, in the attainment of which he would have sacrificed all but himself. When the Pathan revealed his design that either the princess should wed Raja Maun, or by her death seal the peace of Rajwarra, whatever arguments were used to point the alternative, the Rana was made to see no choice between consigning his beloved child to the Rahtor prince, or witness- ing the effects of a more extended dishonour from the ven- geance of the Pathan, and the storm of his palace by his licentious adherents. The fiat passed that Kishna Komari should die. APPENDIX C. 389 ' But the deed was left for women to accomplish the hand APPX of man refused it. The harem of an eastern prince is a n - world of itself; it is the labyrinth containing the strings that move the puppets which alarm mankind. Here intrigue sits enthroned, and hence its influence radiates to the world, always at a loss to trace effects to their causes. Mahdraja Daolut Singh, descended four generations ago from one common ancestor with the Bana, was first sounded " to save the honour of TJdaipur," but horror-struck he exclaimed, " accursed the tongue that commands it ! Dust on my allegiance, if thus to be pre- served." The Maharaja Jowandas, a natural brother, was then called upon ; the dire necessity was explained, and it was urged that no common hand could be armed for the purpose. He accepted the poniard, but when in youthful loveliness Kishna appeared before him, the dagger fell from his hand, and he returned more wretched than the victim. The fatal purpose thus revealed, the shrieks of the frantic mother reverberated through the palace, as she implored mercy or execrated the murderers of her child, who alone was resigned to her fate. But death was arrested, not averted. To use the phrase of the narrator, " she was excused the steel the cup was prepared," and prepared by female hands ! As the messenger presented it in the name of her father, she bowed and drank it, sending up a prayer for his life and prosperity. The raving mother poured imprecations on his head, while the lovely victim, who shed not a tear, thus endeavoured to console her : " Why afflict yourself, my mother, at this shortening of the sorrows of life ? I fear not to die ! Am I not your daughter ; why should I fear death ? We are marked out for sacrifice from our birth, we scarcely enter the world but to be sent out again ; let me thank my father that I have lived so long ! " Thus she con- versed till the nauseating draught refused to assimilate with her blood. Again the bitter potion was prepared. She drained it off, and again it was rejected ; but, as if to try the extreme of human fortitude, a third was administered, and, for the third time, nature refused to aid the horrid purpose. It seemed as if the fabled charm, which guarded the life of the founder of her race, was inherited by the virgin Kishna. But the blood- hounds, the Pathan and Ajit, were impatient till their victim was at rest, and cruelty, as if gathering strength from defeat, made another and fatal attempt. A powerful opiate was pre- 390 APPENDIX C. sented the kasumba draught. She received it with a smile, wished the scene over, and drank it. The desires of barbarity were accomplished. " She slept ! " a sleep from which she never awoke. ' The wretched mother did not long survive her child ; nature was exhausted in the ravings of despair. She refused food, and her remains in a few days followed those of her daughter to the funeral pyre. ' Even the ferocious Khan, when the instrument of his infamy, Ajit, reported the issue, received him with contempt and spurned him from his presence, tauntingly asking " if this were the boasted Rajput valour ? " But the wily traitor had to encounter language far more bitter from his political adver- sary, whom he detested. Sangram Suktawut reached the capital only four days after the catastrophe : a man in every respect the reverse of Ajit. Audaciously brave, he neither feared the frown of his sovereign nor the sword of his .enemy. Without intro- duction he rushed into the presence, where he found seated the traitor Ajit. "Oh, dastard! who hast thrown dust on the Sisodia race, whose blood, which has flowed in purity through a hundred ages, has now been denied ; this sin will check its course for ever a blot so foul in our annals that no Sisodia will ever again hold up his head a sin to which no punishment were equal. But the end of our race is approaching. The line of Bappu Rawul is at an end ; Heaven has ordained this as a signal for our destruction." The Rana hid his face with his hands, when, turning to Ajit he exclaimed, " Thou stain on the Sisodia race, thou impure of Rajput blood, dust be on thy head as thou hast covered us all with shame. May thou die child- less, and your name die with you ! Why this indecent haste ? Had the Pathan stormed the city ? Had he attempted to vio- late the sanctity of the harem ? And though he had, could you not die as Rajputs like your ancestors. Was it thus they gained a name ? Was it thus our race became renowned thus they opposed the might of kings ? Have you forgotten the Sakas of Chitor ? But whom do I address? Not Rajputs? Had the honour of your females been endangered, had you sacri- ficed them all and rushed sword in hand on the enemy, your name would have lived, and the Almighty would have secured the seed of Bappu Rawul. But to owe preservation to this unhallowed deed ; you did not even await the threatened APPENDIX C. 391 danger. Fear seems to have deprived you of every faculty, or APPX. you might have spared the blood of your family, and if you did c - _ not scorn to owe your safety to deception, might have substituted some less noble victim. But the end of our race approaches." ' The traitor to manhood, his sovereign, and humanity, durst not reply. The brave Sangram is now dead, but the prophetic anathema has been fulfilled. Of ninety-five children, sons and daughters, but one son (the brother of Kishna) is left to the Kana ; and though his two remaining daughters have been recently married to the princes of Jaisalmir and Bikanir, the Salic law, which is in full force in these states, precludes all honour through female descent. His hopes rest solely on the prince, Jo wan Singh, and though in the flower of youth and health, the marriage bed (albeit boasting no less than four young princesses) has been blessed with no progeny. 1 ' The elder brother of Jowan died two years ago ; had he lived he would have been Amra the Third. With regard to Ajit, the curse has been fully accomplished. Scarcely a month after his wife and two sons were numbered with the dead, and the hoary traitor has since been wandering from shrine to shrine, performing penance and alms in expiation of his sins, yet unable to fling from him ambition ; and with his beads in one hand, " Kama ! Kama ! " ever on his tongue, and subdued passion in his looks, his heart is as deceitful as ever. Enough of him. Let us exclaim, with Sangram, " Dust on his head," which all the waters of the Ganges could not purify from the blood of the virgin Kishna, but ' Bather would the multitudinous sea incarnadine.' APPENDIX D. THE following is an extract from the order of the Government of India, issued on the occasion of the death of the late Begum of Bhopal. After stating the profound regret with which the Grovernment had received intelligence of the demise of that illustrious lady, the document went on to add : ' Her Highness had conducted the administration of this principality since the year 1847, when she was first appointed regent, with ability and 1 Jowan Singh did succeed his father, but he died without natural issue. 392 APPENDIX D. APPX. success, until the day of her decease. In the early years of . p - her rule she improved the system by which the revenue of the state is collected, abolished monopolies, regulated the mint, reorganised the police, and gradually increased the revenue, while she effectually diminished the public debt. In later times, by her support of the cause of male and female educa- tion, by her superintendence of works intended to supply her capital with pure and wholesome water, by the construction of serais and roads, and by other improvements, she gave con- vincing indications of real and abiding interest in the progress of her people and in the prosperity of her country. 6 But it was by her firm conduct during the great mutiny that she established a more direct title to the acknowledgments of the head of the administration. 6 Her unswerving fidelity, her skill in the management of affairs at an important crisis, the bold front which she presented to the enemies of the British power, and the vigilance with which she watched over the preservation of Englishmen, were acknowledged by Lord Canning, in open durbar, in terms of well-deserved praise and commendation, and the gratitude of the British Government was further evinced by a grant of territory which its owner had justly forfeited for open rebellion, by a recognition of the right of succession according to the custom of the principality and the Mahomedan law, and by the bestowal of one of those titles which the Sovereign of Great Britain, as the fountain of honour, has instituted to reward good services performed in India either by the natives of the country, or by the British servants of the Crown.' APPENDIX E. I THINK that the following statement, showing the war material and fighting men at the disposal of the native chiefs of India, may not be uninteresting. It has been arranged in the order of States followed in the body of the book. It will be seen that the native chiefs command collectively 5,252 guns, 9,390 trained artillerymen, 64,172 cavalry, and 241,063 foot soldiers. They are distributed as follows : APPENDIX E. 393 Names of Divisions Guns Infantry Cavalry Rajputana ..... 2.003 69,028 24,287 Central India ..... 893 65,664 15321 Central Provinces .... Western India 1,083 2,115 32,770 140 9,331 734 38401 8262 109 5,264 404 Northern and North-Western India . 428 37,799 6,407 APPX. E. The appended list will show how these forces are distributed among the more important States : I. States. Guns. Infantry. Cavalry. 1. Udaipiir .... II. Jaipur ..... 538 312 15,100 10,500 6,240 3,530 III. Jodhpiir .... 220 4,000 5,600 IV. Biindi 68 2,000 200 V. Kota 119 4,600 700 VI. Jhalawar .... 90 3,500 400 VII. Tonk 53 2,288 430 VIII. Karauli .... 40 3,200 400 IX. Kishngarh .... X. Dholpiir^ .... XI. Bharatpiir .... XII Alwar , 35 32 38 351 2,000 3,650 8,500 5,633 150 610 1,460 2,280 XIII Bikanir 53 940 670 XIV. Jaisalmir .... 12 400 500 XV Sirohi 350 375 (Dongarpur .... 4 632 57 XVI. -1 Banswara .... 3 500 60 (Partabgarh .... 12 950 275 II. I Gwaliar .... 210 16,050 6,068 II Indiir 102 5,500 3,000 III Bhopal . . 39 4,766 1,194 IV Dhar 4 790 370 V. Dewas III. Rewa Other States in Bundelkhand . 35 421 2 ; 000 22,163 905 2,677 IV. 30 11,000 3,098 258 1,502 154 III. Kachh IV. Kathiwar 38 508 600 15,306 300 3,033 394 APPENDIX E. APPX. E. States G-uns Infantry Cavalry V. I. Haiderabad .... 725 6 36,890 1,000 8,202 35 III. Travankur .... IV Kochin 6 3 1,211 300 60 VI. I. Cis-Satlaj States II. Kashmir 141 96 7,185 18,436 3,191 1,393 III. Trans-Satlaj States . IV. Bhawalpur . , ... VII Petty States ..... 27 80 302 3,275 2,484 18,000 300 360 4,000 APPX. F. APPENDIX F. THE following graphic description of the Bhumia class is taken from the Kajputana correspondence of the ' Pioneer ' newspaper, dated Allahabad, November 24. 1874: Some months ago I touched upon the subject of Bhumia Thakurs and Bhum holdings. Since then I have had access to a singularly clear report on the Bhumia Thakurs of the Ajmir district, and I have more than once meditated giving you a precis of its contents. There seems to have been a considerable confusion of ideas upon the status and duties of this class, and no one seemed able to say what privileges they were entitled to enjoy, and what services they were pledged to render in return for their holdings. After the new order of things had been established, the Commissioner appointed a committee to sift the whole matter of their rights and duties. A very careful and interesting report was submitted by the committee, the report to which I alluded above, and on it the Commissioner framed his suggestions for the future regulation of our demands from the Bhumia holders. The orders of the Supreme Govern- ment on his recommendations have lately been received. The proposals of the committee have been favourably entertained, and it now only remains to have them put into execution. APPENDIX F. 395 Let me give you some idea of who the Bhumia Thakurs APPX. in Ajmir are, and what their history has been. In certain F - ^ parts of India there is an impression abroad that the holders of Bhum lands are little more than village watchmen. However much support there may be for this belief as regards the Bhumias of other provinces, there is no ground for its applica- tion to Eajputana. So far from being a tenure of low repute, it is much sought after even by the wealthy and well-born. So far from the Bhumias being poor, ill-born, and despised, they are very often the most influential men in the village, riding their own cattle, owning their own herds and flocks, and play- ing second fiddle to no man. If this apparent prosperity be not sufficient to establish his gentle blood, there is another decisive test which admits of no doubt. Watch a district official receiving the magnates of the village, and you will see that while the patail puts forward the mean rupee in his extended palm, the Bhumia Thakur presents his ancestral sword. No surer sign of gentle blood in this once warlike province. This, then, is the first fact to commit to memory, namely, that whatever the circumstances of their private affairs, our friends the Bhumias are sprung from good stock, and are circled about, by a certain dignity which is not to be extinguished even by the curse of poverty. Their tenure, moreover, is the only one which is not legally resumable by the Cro^vn, except for dis- loyalty and rebellion. But in order to attain this perfect security of possession it is necessary that every grant should have obtained the sanction of the power ruling at the time of the grant. There are instances, notably in Mewar, after the general pacification in 1818, when the sovereign resumed lands granted in Bhum, on the grounds that their grant had not met with his sanction. In point of fact, therefore, until the sanc- tion of the ruling power has been accorded, no grant professing to be Bhum is really Bhum. There are four kinds of Bhum grants:- 1. Bhum granted for ' Mundkati.' 2. That granted to quell a feud. 3. A gift bestowed for services in the field ; and, 4, a grant from the Kaj to protect a border, or from a village to perform the duties of watch and ward. Lands surrendered on this tenure are held rent-free. Of the four kinds above-mentioned there are no examples of the first or second in the Ajmir district, and of the third there are only two authenticated instances. The 396 APPENDIX F. APPX. fourth description may, therefore, be said to be the only one . ^' existing in the Ajmir district. We have next to examine the duties and responsibilities of this class. They are : 1. The protection of the property of travellers within their circle. 2. The protection of their villages from dacoits. 3. The pecuniary indemnification of sufferers from crime within the limits of their charge. The committee then proceed to define Bhurn as it exists in the Ajmir district, as follows : 1. It is a hereditary property, inalienable, rent-free, and requiring the sanction of the ruling power. 2. It is resumable for offences against the State, and other misdemeanours for which confiscation of immovable property is the penalty prescribed. 3. When resumed proprietary and revenue free rights both vanish, these being inseparable. 4. Neglect or remissness creates liability to fine or attach- ment till the fine is realised. 5. If alienated without sanction of the State, it is liable to forfeiture, and may be settled upon anyone. Though the Bhumias are described as not liable for rent or assessment, it is easy to imagine that, in the troubled times which ushered in and cradled the present century they did not get off scot-free. Accordingly, we find an exaction called the Bhum Bab in full force during the Mahratta rule. One must do them the credit to admit that the idea was not of their origination. It was first levied by Maharaja Tukht Singh in 1752, but he only exacted it once, and there is no record of the amount he took, and the number subjected to it were few. When Sivaji Nana fastened on the district it seems to have struck him as an excellent idea ; so he immediately reinaugu- rated it on true Marhata principles, that is, he fixed no rate, but squeezed as much as he could out of them. In nine years he levied the tax three times, and his successor improved on this and introduced the custom of taking it every second year. Altogether it was collected ten times before we came into posses- sion. It seems, however, that some escaped the infliction a sad stain upon the Marhata reputation for catholic rapacity. Tukht Singh was new to the work, so that it is not strange that APPENDIX F. 397 he taxed only 16 out of some 108 holdings, and to these the APPX. investigations of the Marhatas add 87 more, making a total of F ;J 103; but as the tax was irregularly collected, it appears that only 76 holdings had paid since 1818. Those who managed to secure exemption entirely seem to have done so through the support of influential nobles. Some years after we entered into possession we abolished some of the perquisites the Bhumias had been in the habit of obtaining, so that they had very little to be grateful for to us, as we kept up the collection of Bhum Bab up to the year 1842, when it was abolished by order of Grovern- ment. The Bhumias seem, however, to have managed to retain a number of perquisites, such as presents on the Holi and Dusserah, on the marriage of their eldest sons, and on the occa- sion of every marriage in their village. They received a goat or a buffalo yearly, a skin for drawing water from the well from the leather trade, seventy heads of Indian corn, or a handful of wheat from each field. Their forts were also repaired by free labour. Alas ! all these delightful things followed the odious Bhum Bab all bound for the limbo of the superannuated. Meanwhile, these unfortunate men had been cruelly maligned by our district officials, who insisted on considering them no better than chowkeedars, thought these lofty lineaged ones atavis editas regibus, the counterpart of the cudgel-armed knave who coughs a guttural warning to all approaching his neighbourhood, or snores in forgetful slumbers in the verandahs. However, those days of slighted reputation are past. The pa- tient and discriminating committee, rem acu tetigerunt, and in future no man shall revile the Bhumia with the name of chowkeedar. His fate I must leave to another letter, for I have discoursed too much already. A SELECTED LIST OF STANDARD PUBLICATIONS & REMAINDERS Offered for Sale at remarkably low prices b\ JOHN GRANT, BOOKSELLER, 25 & 34 George IV. Bridge, EDINBURGH. Robert Burns' Poetical Works, edited by W. Scott Douglas, with Explanatory Notes, Various Readings, and Glossary, illustrated with portraits, vignettes, and frontispieces by Sam Bough, R.S.A., and W. E. 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Scottish Arms, being a Collection of Armorial Bearings, A.D. 1370-1678, Reproduced in Facsimile from Contemporary Manuscripts, with Heraldic and Genealogical Notes, by R. R. Stodart, of the Lyon Office, 2 vols, folio, cloth extra, gilt tops (pub ^12 I2S), ^4 IOS. _ Impression limited to 300 copies. Several of the manuscripts from which these Arms are taken have hitherto been unknown to heraldic antiquaries in this country. The Arms of upwards of 600 families are given, all of which are described in upwards of 400 pages of letter- press by Mr Stodart. The book is uniform with Lyndsay's Heraldic Manuscript, and care was taken not to reproduce any Arms which are in that volume, unless there are variations, or from older manuscripts. Strut fs Sylva Britannia et Scotia; or, Portraits of Forest Trees Distinguished for their Antiquity, Magnitude, or Beauty, drawn from Nature, with 50 highly finished etchings, imp. folio, half morocco extra, gilt top, a handsome volume (pub 9 9 S )> 2 2s. The Modern Cupid (en Chemin de Fer), by M. Mounet- Sally, of the Comedie Francais, illustrations by Ch. Daux. A Bright, Attractive Series of Verses, illustrative of Love on the Rail, with dainty drawings reproduced in photogravure plates, and printed in tints, folio, edition limited to 350 copies, each copy numbered. Estes & Lauriat. Proofs on Japan paper, in parchment paper portfolio, only 65 copies printed (pub 635), i is. Proofs on India paper, in white vellum cloth portfolio, 65 copies printed (pub 505), i6s. Ordinary copy proofs on vellum paper, in cloth portfolio, 250 copies printed (pub 305), IDS 6d. The Costumes of all Nations, Ancient and Modern, exhibiting the Dresses and Habits of all Classes, Male and Female, from the Earliest Historical Records to the Nineteenth Century, by Albert Kretschmer and Dr Rohrbach, 104 coloured plates displaying nearly 2000 full-length figures, complete in one hand- some volume, 4to, half morocco (pub ^4 45), 455. Sotheran. Walpole's (Horace) Anecdotes of Painting in England, with some Account of the Principal Artists, enlarged by Rev. James Dallaway ; and Vertue's Catalogue of Engravers who have been born or resided in England, last and best edition, revised with additional notes by Ralph N. Wornum, illustrated with eighty portraits of the principal artists, and woodcut portraits of the minor artists, 3 handsome vols, 8vo, cloth (pub 275), 145 6d. Bickers. The same, 3 vols, half morocco, gilt top, by one of the best Edinburgh binders (pub 455), i 8s. John Grant, Bookseller, Works on Edinburgh : Edinburgh and its Neighbourhood in the Days of our Grandfathers, a Series of Eighty Illustrations of the more remark- able Old and New Buildings and Picturesque Scenery of Edin- burgh, as they appeared about 1830, with Historical Introduction and Descriptive Sketches, by James Gowans, royal 8vo, cloth elegant (pub I2s 6d), 6s. J. C. Nimmo. " The chapters are brightly and Veil written, and are all, from first to last, readable and full of information. The volume is in all respects handsome." Scotsman. Edinburgh University Account of the Tercentenary Fes- tival of the University, including the Speeches and Addresses on the Occasion, edited by R. Sydney Marsden, crown 8vo, cloth (pub 35), is. Blackwood & Sons. Historical Notices of Lady Yester's Church and Parish, by James J. Hunter, revised and corrected by the Rev. Dr Gray, crown 8vo, cloth (pub 2s 6d), Qd. Of interest to the antiquarian, containing notices of buildings and places now fast disappearing. History of the Queen's Edinburgh Rifle Volunteer Brigade, with an Account of the City of Edinburgh and Midlothian Rifle Association, the Scottish Twenty Club, &c.. by Wm. Stephen, crown 8vo, cloth (pub 53), 2s. Blackwood & Sons. " This opportune volume has far more interest for readers generally than might have been expected, while to members of the Edinburgh Volunteer Brigade it cannot fail to be very interesting indeed." St James's Gazette. Leighton's (Alexander) Mysterious Legends of Edinburgh, illustrated, crown Svo, boards, is 6d. CONTENTS : Lord Kames' Puzzle, Mrs Corbet's Amputated Toe, The Brownie of the West Bow, The Ancient Bureau, A Legend of Halkerstone's Wynd, Deacon Macgillvray's Disappearance, Lord Braxfield's Case of the Red Night-cap, The Strange Story of Sarah Gowanlock, and John Cameron's Life Policy. Steven's (Dr William) History of the High School of Edinburgh, from the beginning of the Sixteenth Century, based upon Researches of the Town Council Records and other Authentic Documents, illustrated with view, also facsimile of a School Exercise by Sir Walter Scott when a pupil in 1783, crown Svo, cloth, a handsome volume (pub 75 6d), 2s. Appended is a list of the distinguished pupils who have been educated in this Institution, which has been patronised by Royalty from the days of James VI. The Authorised Library Edition. Trial of the Directors of the City of Glasgow Bank, before the Petition for Bail, reported by Charles Tennant Couper, Advocate, the Speeches and Opinions, revised by the Council and Judges, and the Charge by the Lord Justice Clerk, illustrated with lithographic facsimiles of the famous false Balance-sheets, one large volume, royal Svo, cloth (pub 155), 35 6d. Edinburgh. Wilson's (Dr Daniel) Memorials of Edinburgh in the Olden Time, with numerous fine engravings and woodcuts, 2 vols, 4to, cloth (pub 2 2s), 1 6s 6d. Sent Carriage Free to any part of the United Kingdom on receipt of Postal Order for the amount. JOHN GRANT, 25 & 34 George IY, Bridge, Edinburgh, __ 25 & 34 George IV. Bridge, Edinburgh. 5 Works on the Highlands of Scotland :- Disruption Worthies of the Highlands, a Series of Bio- graphies of Eminent Free Church Ministers who Suffered in the North of Scotland in 1843 for the Cause of Religious Liberty, enlarged edition, with additional Biographies, and an Introduc- tion by the Rev. Dr Duff, illustrated with 24 full-page portraits and facsimiles of the autographs of eminent Free Churchmen, 4to, handsomely bound in cloth, gilt (pub \ is), 8s 6d. Gaelic Names of Plants, Scottish and Irish, Collected and Arranged in Scientific Order, with Notes on the Etymology, their Uses, Plant Superstitions, &c., among the Celts, with Copious Gaelic, English, and Scientific Indices, by John Came- ron, 8vo, cloth (pub 73 6d), 35 6d. Blackwood c^ Sons. " It is impossible to withhold a tribute of admiration from a work on which the author spent ten years of his life, and which necessitated not only voluminous reading in Gaelic and Irish, but long journeys through the Highlands in search of Gaelic names for plants, or rather, in this case, plants for names already existing. " Scotsjnan. Grant (Mrs, of Laggan) Letters from the Mountains, edited, with Notes and Additions, by her son, J. P. Grant, best edition, 2 vols, post 8vo, cloth (pub 2 is), 45 6d. London. Lord Jeffrey says : " Her 'Letters from the Mountains' are among the most interesting collections of real letters that have been given to the public : and being indebted for no part of their interest to the celebrity of the names they contain, or the importance of the events they narrate, afford, in their suc- cess, a more honourable testimony of the talents of the author. The great charm of the correspondence indeed is its perfect independence of artificial helps, and the air of fearlessness and originality which it has consequently assumed." Historical Sketches of the Highland Clans of Scotland, containing a concise account of the origin, &c., of the Scottish Clans, with twenty-two illustrative coloured plates of the Tartan worn by each, post 8vo, cloth, 2s 6d. " The object of this treatise is to give a concise account of the origin, seat, and characteristics of the Scottish Clans, together with a representation of the distinguishing tartan worn by each." Preface. Keltie (John S.)A History of ' I 'he Scottish Highlands, Highland Clans, and Highland Regiments, with an Account of the Gaelic Literature and Music by Dr M'Lauchlan, and an Essay on Highland Scenery by Professor Wilson, coloured illus- trations of the Tartans of Scotland, also many steel engravings, 2 vols, imperial 8vo, half morocco, gilt top (pub ^"3 IDS), ,\ 175 6d Mackenzie (Alexander] The History of the Highland Clearances, containing a reprint of Donald Macleod's 4i Gloomy Memories of the Highlands," "Isle of Skye in 1882," and a Verbatim Report of the Trial of the Brae Crofters, thick vol, crown 8vo. cloth (pub 73 6d), 3s 6d. Inverness. " Some people may ask, Why rake up all this iniquity just now? We answer, That the same laws which permitted the cruelties, the inhuman atrocities, described in this book, are still the laws of the country, and any tyrant who may may If folly repeat the same proceedings whenever he may take it into his head to do so. be indifferent to the healthier public opinion which now prevails, may If folly Stewart's (General David, of Garth} Sketches of the Character, Institutions, and Customs of the Highlanders of Scot- land, crown 8vo, cloth (pub 55), 2s. Inverness. Stewart's sketches of the Highlands and Highland regiments are worthy to rank beside the Highland works of Sir Walter Scott,' or even more worthy, for facts are stronger than fiction. Every Scottish lad should have the book in his hands as soon as he is able to read. John Grant, Bookseller, Scottish Literature : The genial Author of " Noctes Ambrosiana" Christopher North A Memoir of Professor John Wilson, compiled from Family Papers and other sources, by his daughter, Mrs Gordon, new edition, with portrait and illustrations, crown 8vo, cloth (pub 6s), 2s 6d. " A writer of the most ardent and enthusiastic genius.'' HENRY HALLAM. " The whole literature of England does not contain a more brilliant series of articles than those with which Wilson has enriched the pages of Black-Mood's Magazine." Sir ARCHIBALD ALISON. Cockburn (Henry] Journals of, being a Continuation of the Memorials of his Time, 1831-1854, 2 vols, Svo, cloth (pub 2is), 8s 6d. Edinburgh. Cochran- Patrick (R. W.) Records of the Coinage of Scotland, from the Earliest Period to the Union, numerous illustrations of coins, 2 vols, 4to, half citron morocco, gilt top, 4 los. David Douglas. Also uniform. Cochran-Patrick (R. W.)The Medals of Scotland, a Descriptive Catalogue of the Royal and other Medals relating to Scotland, 410, half citron morocco, gilt top, 2 55. David Douglas. Also uniform. Cochran-Patrick (R. W.} Early Records relating to Mining in Scotland, 4to, half citron morocco, i ?s 6d. David Douglas. "The future historians of Scotland will be very fortunate if many parts of their materials are so carefully worked up for them, and set before them in so complete and taking a form." Athencpimi. " We have in these records of the coinage of Scotland not the production of a dilettante but of a real student, who with rare pains and the most scholarly dili- gence has set to work and collected into two massive volumes a complete history of the coinage of Scotland, so far as it can be gathered from ancient records." Academy. "Such a book .... revealing as it does the first developments of an industry which has become the mainspring of the national prosperity, ought to be specially interesting to all patriotic Scotsmen." Saturday AVe'/t'zc'. Crieff: Its Traditions and Characters, with Anecdotes of Strathearn, Reminiscences of Obsolete Customs, Traditions, and Superstitions, Humorous Anecdotes of Schoolmasters, Ministers, and other Public Men, crown Svo, is. "A book which will have considerable value in the eyes of all collectors of Scottish literature. A gathering up of stones about well-known inhabitants, memorable local occurrences, and descriptions of manners and customs." Scotsman Se?2t Carriage Free to any part of t]ie United Kingdom on receipt of Postal Order for tJie amount. JOOT GRANT, 25 & 34 George IV, Bridge, Edinburgh. 2 5 & 34 George IV. Bridge, Edinburgh. 7 Scottish Literature continued : Douglas' ( Gavin, Bishop of Dunkeld, 1475-1522} Poetical ]Vorks, edited, with Memoir, Notes, and full Glossary, by John Small, M.A., F.S.A. Scot., illustrated with specimens of manu- script, title-page, and woodcuts of the early editions in facsimile, 4 vols, beautifully printed on thick paper, post 8vo, cloth (pub ^3 3 S )> l 2S 6d. W. Paterson. ' The latter part of the fifteenth and beginning of the sixteenth century, a period almost barren in the annals of English poetry, was marked by a remark- able series of distinguished poets in Scotland. During this period flourished Uunbar, Henryson, Mercier, Harry the Minstrel, Gavin Douglas, Bellenden, Kennedy, and Lyndesay. Of these, although the palm of excellence must beyond all doubt be awarded to Dunbar, next to Burns probably the greatest poet of his country, the voice of contemporaries, as well as of the age that immediately followed, pronounced in favour of him who, ' In barbarous age, Gave rude Scotland Virgil's page,' Gavin Douglas. We may confidently predict that this will longremain the standard edition of Gavin Douglas ; and we shall be glad to see the works of other of the old Scottish poets edited with equal sympathy and success." Athena-inn. Lyndsay's (Sir David, of the Mount, 1490-1568) Poetical Works, best edition, edited, with Life and Glossary, by David Laing, 3 vols, crown 8vo, cloth (pub 635), 1 8s 6d. - Another cheaper edition by the same editor, 2 vols, I2mo, cloth (pub 155), 55. W. Paterson. "When it is said that the revision, including Preface, Memoir, and Notes, has been executed by Dr David Laing, it is said that all has been done that Me by thorough scholarship, good judgment, and conscientiousness." Scotsman. Lyttcil ( William, M. A.) Landmarks of Scottish Life and Language, crown Svo, cloth (pub 7s 6d), 2s. Edinburgh. Introductory Observations ; Cumbrae Studies, or an "Alphabet" of Cumbrae Local Names; Arran Studies, or an "Alphabet'' of Arran Local Names; Lochranza Places ; Sannox Scenes and Sights ; Short Sketches of Notable Places ; A Glance Round Bute ; Symbols ; Explanations, c. &c. M'Kerlie's (P. H., F.S.A. Scot.) History of the Lands and their Owners in Galloway, illustrated by woodcuts of Notable Places and Objects, with a Historical Sketch of the District, 5 handsome vols, crown Svo, roxburghe style (pub $ 155), 26s 6d. W. Paterson. Ramsay (Allan} The Gentle Shepherd, New Edition, with Memoir and Glossary, and illustrated with the original graphic plates by David Allan ; also, all the Original Airs to the Songs, royal 410, cloth extra (pub 2is), 55. W. & A. K. Johnston. The finest edition of the celebrated Pastoral ever produced. The paper has been made expressly for the edition, a large clear type has been selected, and the printing in black and red is of the highest class. The original plates by David Allan have been restored, and are here printed in tint. The volume con- tains a Prologue, which is published for the first time. Sent Carriage Free to any part of the United Kingdom on receipt of Postal Order for the amount. JOHN GRANT, 25 & 34 George IT, Bridge, Edinburgh, John Grant, Bookseller, Scottish Literature continued : The. Earliest known Printed English Ballad. Scottysche Kynge A Ballad of the, written by John Skelton, Poet Laureate to King Henry VI II., reproduced in facsimile, with an Historical and Biographical Introduction, by John Ashton, beautifully printed on thick paper, small 4to, cloth, uncut edges (pub i6s), 35 6d. Elliot Stock. Southey says of him : "The power, the strangeness, the volubility of his language, the audacity of his satire, and the perfect "originality of his manner, made Skelton one of the most extraordinary writers of any age or country." This unique ballad was printed by Richard Fawkes, the King's printer, in 1513, immediately after the battle of Flodden Field, wnich is described in it, and is of great interest. Every justice has been done to the work in this beautiful volume, the paper, printing, and binding of which are all alike excellent. One of the Earliest Presidents of the Court of Session. Seton (Alexander, Earl of Dunfermline, Chancellor of Scotland, 1555-1622) Memoir of, with an Appendix contain- ing a List of the various Presidents of the Court, and Genealogical Tables of the Legal Families of Erskine, Hope, Dalrymple, and Dundas, by George Seton, Advocate, with exquisitely etched portraits of Chancellor Seton, and George, seventh Lord Seton, and his family ; also the Chancellor's Signatures, Seals, and Book- Stamp ; with etchings of Old Dalgety Church, Fyvie Castle, and Pinkie House, small 4to. cloth (pub 2 is) 6s 6d. Blackwood & Sons. " We have here everything connected with the subject of the book that could interest the historical student, the herald, the genealogist, and the archaeologist. The result is a book worthy of its author's high reputation." Notes and Queries. Warden's (Alex. J.) History of Angus or Forfar shire, its Land and People, Descriptive and Historical, illustrated with maps, facsimiles, &c., 5 vols, 4to, cloth (published to subscribers only at 2 175 6d), i 175 6d. Dundee. Sold separate!}^ vol 2, 35 6d ; vol 3, 33 6d ; vols 4 and 5, 7s 6d ; vol 5, 35 6cl. A most tisefnl Work of Reference. Wilson's Gazetteer of Scotland, demy 8vo (473 pp.), cloth gilt (pub 73 6d), 35. W. & A. K. Johnston. This work embraces every town and village in the country of any importance as existing at the present day, and is portable in form and very moderate in price. In addition to the usual information as to towns and places, the work gives the statistics of real property, notices of public works, public buildings, churches, schools, &c., whilst the natural history and historical incidents con- nected with particular localities have not been omitted. The Scotsman says : " It entirely provides for a want which has been greatly felt." Younger (John, shoemaker, St Boswells, Author of " River Angling for Salmon and Trout" " Corn Law Rhymes" &.) A^^tobiography , with portrait, crown Svo (457 pages), cloth (pub 73 6d), 2s. " 'The shoemaker of St Boswells,' as he was designated in all parts of Scot- land, was an excellent prose writer, a respectable poet, a marvellously gifted man in conversation. His life will be read with great interest ; the simple heart- stirring narrative of the life-struggle of a highly-gifted, humble, and honest mechanic, a life of care, but also a life of virtue." London Review. Sent Carriage Free to any part of the United Kingdom on receipt of Postal Order for the amount. JOHN GRANT, 25 & 34 George IY, Bridge, Edinburgh. 2 5 & 34 George IV. Bridge, Edinburgh. 9 Grampian Club Publications, of valuable MSS. and Works of Original Research in Scottish History, Privately printed for the Members : The Diocesan Registers of Glasgow Liber Protocollorum M. Cuthberti Simonis, notarii et scriboe capituli Glasguensis, A.D. 1499-1513; also, Rental Book of the Diocese of Glasgow, A.D. 1 5 9-i57o, edited by Joseph Bain and the Rev. Dr Charles Rogers, with facsimiles, 2 vols, 8vo, cl, 1875 (P ub 2 2s), 75 6d. Rental Book of the Cistercian Abbey of Coupar-Angus, with the Breviary of the Register, edited by the Rev. Dr Charles Rogers, with facsimiles of MSS., 2 vols, 8vo, cloth, 1879-80 (nub ^2 I2s 6d), IQS 6d. The same, vol II., comprising the Register of Tacks of the Abbey of Cnpar, Rental of St Marie's Monastery, and Appendix, 8vo, cloth (pub i is), 35 6d. Estimate of the Scottish Nobility during the Minority of James VI., edited, with an Introduction, from the original MS. in the Public Record Office, by Dr Charles Rogers, 8vo, cloth (pub IDS 6d), is. 6cl. The reprint of a manuscript discovered in the Public Record Office. The details are extremely curious. Genealogical Memoirs of the Families of Colt and Coutts, by Dr Charles Rogers, 8vo, cloth (pub IDS 6d), 2s 6d. An old Scottish family, including the eminent bankers of that name, the Baroness Burdett-Coutts, &c. Rogers' 1 (Dr Charles} Memorials of the Earl of Stirling and of the House of Alexander, portraits, 2 vols, 8vo, cloth (pub ^"3 35), IDs 6cl. Edinburgh, 1877. This work embraces not only a history of Sir William Alexander, first Earl of Stirling, but also a genealogical account of the family of Alexander in all its branches ; many interesting historical details connected with Scottish State affairs in the seventeenth century ; also with the colonisation of America. Sent Carriage Free to any part of the United Kingdom on receipt of Postal Order for the amount. JOHN GRANT, 25 & 34 George IT, Bridge, Edinburgh. io John Grant, Bookseller, Histories of Scotland, complete set in IO vols for 3 3s. This grand national scries of the Early Chronicles of Scotland, edited by the most eminent Scottish antiquarian scholars of the present day, is now completed, and as sets are becoming few in number, early application is necessary in order to secure them at the reduced price. The Series comprises : Scoticronicon of John de For dun, from the Contemporary MS. (if not the author's autograph) at the end of the Fourteenth Century, preserved in the Library of Wolfenbuttel, in the Duchy of Brunswick, collated with other known MSS. of the original chronicle, edited by W. F. Skene, LL.D., Historiographer-Royal, 2 vols (pub 305), not sold separately. The Metrical Chronicle of Andrew Wyntoun, Prior of St Serfs Inch at Lochleven, who died about 1426, the work now printed entire for the first time, from the Royal MS. in the British Museum, collated with other MSS., edited by the late D. Laing, LL.D., 3 vols (pub 505), vols I and 2 not sold separately. Vol 3 sold separately (pub 2 is), IDS 6d. Lives of Saint Ninian and St Kentigern, compiled in the 1 2th century, and edited from the best MSS. by the late A. P. Forbes, D.C.L., Bishop of Brechin (pub 155), not sold separately. Life of Saint Columba, founder of Hy, written by Adamnan, ninth Abbot of that Monastery, edited by Wm. Reeves, D.D., M.R.I. A., translated by the late A. P. Forbes, D.C.L., Bishop of Brechin, with Notes arranged by W. F. Skene, LL.D. (pub 155), not sold separately. The Book of Pluscarden, being unpublished Continuation of Fordun's Chronicle by M. Buchanan, Treasurer to the Dauphi- ness of France, edited and translated by Skene, 2 vols (pub 305), I2S 6d, sold separately. A Critical Essay on the Ancient Inhabitants of Scotland, by Thomas Innes of the Sorbonne, with Memoir of the Author by George Grubb, LL.D., and Appendix of Original Documents by Wm. F. Skene, LL.D., illustrated with charts (pub 2is), IDS 6d, sold separately In connection with the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland, a uniform series of the Historians of Scotland, accompanied by English translations, and illustrated by notes, critical and explanatory, was commenced some years since and has recently been finished. So much has recently been done for the history of Scotland, that the necessity for a more critical edition of the earlier historians has become very apparent. The history of Scotland, prior to the isth century, must always be based to a great extent upon the work of Fordun ; but his original text has been made the basis of continuations, and has been largely altered and interpolated by his con- tinuators, whose statements are usually quoted as if they belonged to the original work of Fordun. An edition discriminating between the original text of Fordun and the additions and alterations of his continuators, and at the same time trac- ing out the sources of Fordun's narrative, would obviously be of great importance to the right understanding of Scottish history. The complete set forms ten handsome volumes, demy Svo, illustrated with facsimiles. Sent Carriage Free to any part of the United Kingdom on receipt of Postal Order for tJie amotint. JOM GRANT, 25 & 34 George IV, Bridge, Edinburgh. 2 5 &* 34 George IV. Bridge, Edinburgh. 1 1 Campbell (Colin, Lord Clyde] Life of, illustrated by Extracts from his Diary and Correspondence, by Lieut. -Gen. Shadwell, C.B., with portrait, maps, and plans, 2 vols, Svo, cloth (pub 365), 6s 6d. Blackwood & Sons. "In all the annals of 'Self-Help,' there is not to be found a life more truly worthy of study than that of the gallant old soldier. The simple, self-denying, friend-helping, brave, patriotic soldier stands proclaimed in every line of General Shadwell's admirable memoir." Blackwood 's Alagazinc. De Witfs (John, Grand Pensionary of Holland) Life ; or, Twenty Years of a Parliamentary Republic, by M. A. Pon- talis, translated by S. E. Stephenson, 2 vols, Svo, cloth (pub 365), 6s 6d. Longman. Uniform with the favourite editions of Motley's " Netherlands" and "John of Barnveld," &c. Johnson (Doctor] : His Friends and his Critics, by George Birkbeck Hill, D.C.L., crown Svo, cloth (pub Ss), 2. Smith, Elder, & Co. "The public now reaps the advantage of Dr Hill's researches in a most readable volume. Seldom has a pleasanter commentary been written on a literary masterpiece. . . . Throughout the author of this pleasant volume has spared no pains to enable the present generation to realise more completely the sphere in which Johnson talked and taught." Saturday AVr'Arc. Mathews (Charles James, the Actor} Life of, chiefly Autobiographical, with Selections from his Correspondence and Speeches, edited by Charles Dickens, portraits, 2 vols, Svo, cloth (pub 253), 5s. Macmillan, 1879. "The book is a charming one from first to last, and Mr Dickens Reserves a full measure of credit for the care and discrimination he has exercised in the business of editing." Globe. Brazil and JavaThe Coffee Culture in America, Asia, and Africa, by C. F. Van Delden Lavine, illustrated with numerous plates, maps, and diagrams, thick Svo, cloth (pub 25*), 33 6d. Allen. A useful work to those interested in the production of coffee. The author was charged with a special mission to Brazil on behalf of the coffee culture and coffee commerce in the Dutch possessions in India. Smith (Captain John, 1579-1631) The Adventures and Discoveries of, sometime President of Virginia and Admiral of New- England, newly ordered by John Ashton, with illustrations taken by him from original sources, post Svo, cloth (pub 55), 2s. " Full of 'interesting particulars. Captain John Smith's life was one peculiarly adventurous, bordering almost on the romantic ; and his adventures are related by himself with a terse and rugged brevity that is very charming. LD. Philip's Handy General Atlas of America, comprising a series of 23 beautifully executed coloured maps of the United States, Canada, c., with Index and Statistical Notes by John Bartholomew, F.R.G.S., crown folio, cloth (pub l is), 5s. Philip & Son. Embraces Alphabetical Indices to the most important towns of Canada and Newfoundland, to the counties of Canada, the principal cities and counties United States, and the most important towns in Central America, Mexico, th West Indies, and South America. Sent Carriage Free to anv part of the United Kingdom on receipt of Postal Order for the amount. JOHN GRANT, 25 & 34 George IY, Bridge, Edinburgh, 12 John Grant, Bookseller, Little's (/. Stanley} South Africa, a Sketch-Book of Men and Manners, 2 vols, Svo, cloth (pub 2 is), 7s 6d. Sonnenschein. Oliphant (Laurence] The Land of Gilead, with Ex- cursions in the Lebanon, illustrations and maps, 8vo, cloth (pub 2is), 8s 6d. Blackwood & Sons. "A most fascinating book." Observer. "A singularly agreeable narrative of a journey through regions more replete, perhaps, with varied and striking associations than any other in the world. The writing throughout is highly picturesque and effective." Athenteuni. " A most fascinating volume of travel. . . . His remarks on manners, customs, and superstitions are singularly interesting." St James's Gazette. " The reader will find in this book a vast amount of most curious and valuable information on the strange races and religions scattered about the country." Saturday Revieiv. "An admirable work, both as a record of travel and as a contribution to physical science." I'anity Fair. Patterson (R. If.) The New Golden Age, and Influence of the Precious Metals upon the War, 2 vols, Svo, cloth (pub 3 is 6d), 6s. Blackwood & Sons. CONTENTS. VOL I. THE PERIOD OF DISCOVERY AND ROMANCE OF THE NEW GOLDEN AGE, 1848-56. The First Tidings Scientific Fears, and General Enthusiasm- The Great Emigration General Effects of the Gold Discoveries upon Commerce Position of Great Britain, and First Effects on it of the Gold Discoveries The Golden Age in California and Australia Life at the Mines. A RETROSPECT. History and Influence of the Precious Metals down to the Birth of Modern Europe The Silver Age in America Effects of the Silver Age upon Europe Production of the Precious Metals during the Silver Age (1492-1810) Effects of the Silver Age upon the Value of Money (1492-1800). VOL II. PERIOD OF RENEWED SCARCITY. Renewed Scarcity of the Precious Metals, A.D. 1800-30 The Period of Scarcity. Part II. Effects upon Great Britain The Scarcity lessens Beginnings of a New Gold Supply General Distress before the Gold Discoveries. "CHEAP" AND "DEAR" MONEY On the Effects of Changes in the Quantity and Value of Money. THE NEW GOLDEN AGE. First Getting of the New Gold First Diffusion of the New Gold Indus- trial Enterprise in Europe Vast Expansion of Trade with the East (A.D. 1855- 75) Total Amount of the New Gold and Silver Its Influence upon the World at large Close of the Golden Age, 1876-80 Total Production of Gold and Silver. PERIOD 1492-1848. Production of Gold and Silver subsequent to 1848 Changes in the Value of Money subsequent to A.D. 1492. PERIOD A.D. 1848 and subsequently. PERIOD A.D. 1782-1865. Illusive Character of the Board of Trade Returns since 1853 Growth of our National Wealth. Tunis, Past and Present, with a Narrative of the French Conquest of the Regency, by A. M. Broadley, Correspondent of the Times during the War in Tunis, with numerous illustrations and maps, 2 vols, post Svo, cloth (pub 255), 6s. Blackwood & Sons. " Mr Broadley has had peculiar facilities in collecting materials for his volumes. Possessing a thorough knowledge of Arabic, he has for years acted as confidential adviser to the Bey. . . . The information which he is able to place before the reader is novel and amusing. ... A standard work on Tunis has been long required. This deficiency has been admirably supplied by the author. " Morning Post. Sent Carriage Free to any part of the United Kingdom on receipt of Postal Order for the amount, JOHN GRANT, 25 & 34 George IV, Bridge, Edinburgh.. 2 5 & 34 George IV. Bridge, Edinburgh. 13 Burnet (Bishop] History of the Reformation of the Church of England, with numerous Illustrative Notes and copious Index, 2 vols, royal 8vo, cloth (pubaos), los. Reeves & Turner, 1880. " Burnet, in his immortal History of the Reformation, has fixed the Protestant religion in this country as long as any religion remains among us. Burnet is, without doubt, the English Kusebius." Dr APTHOKI-E. Burnefs History of his Own Time, from the Restoration of Charles II. to the Treaty of the Peace of Utrecht, with Historical and Biographical Notes, and a copious Index, com- plete in i thick volume, imperial 8vo, portrait, cloth (pub \ 55), 55 6d. " I am reading Burnet's Own Times. Did you ever read that garrulous pleasant history? full of scandal, which all true history is ; no palliatives, but all the stark wickedness that actually gave the momentum to national actors ; none of that cursed Huiiuictn indifference, so cold, and unnatural, and inhuman, "&c. CHARLES LAMB. Creasy (Sir Edward S.) History of England, from the Earliest Times to the End of the Middle Ages, 2 vols (520 pp each), 8vo, cloth (pub 255), 6s. Smith, Elder, & Co. Crime Pike's (Liike Owen) History of Crime in England, illustrating the Changes of the Laws in the Progress of Civilisa- tion from the Roman Invasion to the Present Time, Index, 2 very thick vols, 8vo, cloth (pub 365) IDS. Smith, Elder, & Co. Globe (TJie] Encyclopcedia of Useful Information, edited by John M. Ross, LL.D., with numerous woodcut illustrations, 6 handsome vols, in half-dark persian leather, gilt edges, or in half calf extra, red edges (pub ^4 i6s), 2 8s. Edinburgh. " A work of reference well suited for popular use, and may fairly claim to be the best of the cheap encyclopaedias." Atketueuttt. History of tJie }Var of Frederick /. against the Communes of Lombard)', by Giovanni B. Testa, translated from the Italian, and dedicated by the Author to the Right Hon. W. E. Gladstone, (466 pages), 8vo, cloth (pub 155) 2s. Smith, Elder, & Co. Freemasonry Paton's (Brother C. /.) freemasonry and its Jurisprudence, according to the Ancient Landmarks and Charges, and the Constitution, Laws, and Practices of Lodges and Grand Lodges, 8vo, cloth (pub IDS 6d), 33 6d. Reeves & Turner. Freemasonry, its Symbolism, Religious Nature, and Law of Perfection, 8vo, cloth (pub IDS 6d), 2s 6d. Reeves & Turner, Freemasonry, its Two Great Doctrines, The Exist- ence of God, and A Future State ; also, Its Three Masonic Graces, Faith, Hope, and Charity in I vol, 8vo, cloth (pub los), 2s 6d. Reeves & Turner. The fact that no such similar works exist, that there is no standard of autho- rity to which reference can be made, notwithstanding the great and growing number of Freemasons and Lodges at home, and of those in the British Colonies and other countries holding Charters from Scotland, or affiliated with Scottish Lodges, warrants the author to hope that they may prove acceptable to the Order. All the oldest and best authorities the ablest writers, home and foreign on the history and principles of Freemasonry have been carefully con- sulted. Sent Carriage Free to any part of the United Kingdom on receipt of Postal Order for the amount. GRANT, 25 & 34 George IV, Bridge, Edinburgh, 14 John Grant, Bookseller, Arnold" s (Cecil) Great Sayings of Shakespeare, a Com- prehensive Index to Shakespearian Thought, being a Collection of Allusions, Reflections, Images, Familiar and Descriptive Pas- sages, and Sentiments from the Poems and Plays of Shakespeare, Alphabetically Arranged and Classified under Appropriate Head- ings, one handsome volume of 422 pages, thick Svo, cloth (pub 7s 6d), 35. Bickers. Arranged in a manner similar to Southgate's " Many Thoughts of Many Minds.'' This index differs from all other books in being much more com- prehensive, while care has been taken to follow the most accurate text, and to cope, in the best manner possible, with the difficulties of correct classification. TJie most Beautiful and CJicapest Birthday Book Published* Birthday Book Friendship's Diary for Every Day in the Year, with an appropriate Verse or Sentence selected from the great Writers of all Ages and Countries, each page ornamented by a richly engraved border, illustrated throughout, crown Svo, cloth, bevelled boards, exquisitely gilt and tooled, gold edges, a perfect gem (pub 35 6d), is 96. Hodder & Stoughton. This book practically has never been published. It only requires to be seen to be appreciated. Dolison ( W. T.) The Classic Poets, their Lives and their Times, with the Epics Epitomised, 452 pages, crown Svo, cloth (pub 95), 2s 6d. Smith, Elder, & Co. CONTENTS. Homer's Iliad, The Lay of the Nibelungen, Cid Campeador, Dante's Divina Commedia, Ariosto's Orlando Furioso, Camoens' Lusiad, Tasso's Jerusalem Delivered, Spenser's Fairy Queen, Milton's Paradise Lost, Milton's Paradise Regained. English literature : A Study of the Prologue and Epilogue in English Literature, from Shakespeare to Dryclen, by G. S. B., crown Svo, cloth (pub 5s), is 6d. Kegan Paul, 1884. Will no doubt prove useful to writers undertaking more ambitious researches into the wider domains of dramatic or social history. Bibliographer (The), a Magazine of Old-Time Literature, contains Articles on Subjects interesting to all Lovers of Ancient and Modern Literature, complete in 6 vols, 410, antique boards (pub 2 5s), 155. Elliot Stock. " It is impossible to open these volumes anywhere without alighting on some amusing anecdote, or some valuable literary or historical note." Saturday Review. Book-Lore, a Magazine devoted to the Study of Biblio- graphy, complete in 6 vols, 410, antique boards (pub 2 55), 155. Elliot Stock. A vast store of interesting and out-of-the-way information, acceptable to the lover of books. Antiquary (The), a Magazine devoted to the Study of the Past, complete set in 15 vols, 4to, antique boards (pub $ I2s 6d), /i 153. Elliot Stock. A perfect mine of interesting matter, for the use of the student, of the times of our forefathers, and their customs and habits. Sent Carriage Free to any part of the United Kingdom on receipt of Postal, Order for the amount. GRANT, 25 & 34 George IY, Bridge, Edinburgh, 2 S & 34 George IV. Bridge, Edinburgh. 15 Chaffers' Marks and Monograms on European and Oriental Pottery and Porcelain, with Historical Notices of each Manufactory, preceded by an Introductory Essay on the Fictilia of the Greek, Romano- British, and Mediaeval Kras, 7th edition, revised and considerably augmented, with upwards of 3000 potters' marks and illustrations, royal Svo, cloth extra, gilt top, i 15$. London. Civil Costume of England, from the Conquest to the Present Time, drawn from Tapestries, Monumental Effigies, Illuminated MSS., by Charles Martin, Portraits, &c., 61 full-page plates, royal Svo, cloth (pub IDS 6d), 35 6cl. Bohn. In addition there are inserted at the end of the volume 25 plates illustrating Greek costume by T. Hope. Dyer (Thomas H., LL.D.} Imitative Art, its Principles and Progress, with Preliminary Remarks on Beauty, Sublimity, and Taste, Svo, cloth (pub 145)'. 2s. Bell & Sons, 1882. Great Diamonds of the World, their History and Romance, Collected from Official, Private, and other Sources. by Edwin W. Streeter, edited and annotated by Joseph Hatioi, and A. H. Keane, Svo, cloth (pub IDS 6d), 2s 6d. Bell & Sons. Hamilton's (Lady, the Mistress of Lord Nelson) Attitudes. illustrating in 25 full-page plates the great Heroes and Heroines of Antiquity in their proper Costume, forming a useful study for drawing from correct and chaste models of Grecian and Roman Sculpture, 4to, cloth (pub i is), 3s 6d. Jeivitt (Llewellyn, F.S.A.) Half-Hours among some English Antiquities, illustrated with 320 wood engravings, crown Svo, cloth gilt (pub (5s), 2s. Allen & Co. CONTENTS : Cromlechs, Implements of Flint and Stone, Bronxe Implements among the Celts, Roman Roads, Temples, Altars. Sepulchral Inscripti cient Pottery, Arms and Arni>niv. Mabs and Bra , Church Bell-. Encaustic Tiles. Tapestry, Personal Ornaments, &c. &c. King (Rev. C. W.) Natural History of Gems and Decorative Stones, fine paper edition, post Svo, cloth (pub IDs 6d), 4s. Bell cc Sons. " Contains so much information, and of so varied a na; work . . . by far the best treatise on this branch of mineral in this or any other language."- Leeclis (John} Children of the Mobility, Drawn from Nature, a Series of Humorous Sketches of our Young I'li/i including portrait of Leech, with Letter on the Author's Genius by John Ruskin, 410, cloth, 1841 (pub ;s 6d), 3s 6d. Repro- duced 1875, Bentley .A: Son. Mo relli (G.) Italian Masters in German Ga. translated from the German by L. M. Richter, post 8v<-. (pub Ss 6d), 2s. Bell & S " Sigiior M:.ivl!i h (thing less than a revolution in ar - a remarkable impulse to s .mm knowledge and independent opinion.' - Sent Carriage Free to any part of the United Kingdom on '// of Postal 'Order for the amount. JOHN GRANT, 25 & 34 George IV. Bridge, Edinburgh 1 6 John Grant, Bookseller. Exquisitely beautiful Works by Sir J. Noel Paton at a remarkably low price. Pafon's (Noel} Compositions from Shakespeare's Tempest, a Series of Fifteen Large Outline Engravings illustrating the Great Drama of our National Poet, with descriptive letterpress, oblong folio, cloth (pub 2 is), 35. Chapman & Hall. Uniform with the above. Pat on' s (Noel] Compositions from Shelley 's Prometheus Unbound, a Series of Twelve Large Outline Engravings, oblong folio, cloth (pub 2 is), 35. Chapman & Hall. Smith (J. Moyr] Ancient Greek Female Costume, illus- trated by 112 fine outline engravings and numerous smaller illustrations, with Explanatory Letterpress, and Descriptive Passages from the Works of Homer, Hesiod, Herodotus, /Eschy- lus, Euripides, and other Greek Authors, printed in brown, crown 8vo, cloth elegant, red edges (pub 75 6cl), 33. Sampson Low. Bacon (Francis, Lord] Works, both English and Latin, with an Introductory Essay, Biographical and Critical, and copious Indices, steel portrait, 2 vols, royal 8vo, cloth (originally pub 2 2s, ) I2s. 1879. " All his works are, for expression as well as thought, the glory of our nation, and of all later ages." SHEFFIELD, Duke of Buckinghamshire. ''Lord Bacon was more and more known, and his books more and more delighted in ; so that those men who had more than ordinary knowledge in human affairs, esteemed him one of the most capable spirits of that age." Burn (R. Scot f} The Practical Directory for ^ the Im- provement of Landed Property, Rural and Suburban, and the Economic Cultivation of its Farms (the most valuable work on the subject), plates and woodcuts, 2 vols, 410, cloth (pub ^3 35), 155. Paterson. Martineau (Harriet} The History of British Rule in India, foolscap 8vo (356 pages), cloth (pub 2s 6d), Qd. Smith, Elder, & Co. A concise sketch, which will give the ordinary reader a general notion of what pur Indian empire is, how we came by it, and what has gone forward in it since it first became connected with England. The book will be found to state the broad facts of Anglo-Indian history in a clear and enlightening manner; and it cannot fail to give valuable information to those readers who have neither time nor inclination to study the larger works on the subject. Selkirk (J. Brown) Ethics and ^Esthetics of Modern Poetry, crown 8vo, cloth gilt (pub 7s), 2s. Smith, Elder, & Co. Sketches from Shady Places, being Sketches from the Criminal and Lower Classes, by Thor Fredur, crown 8vo, cloth (pub 6s), is. Smith, Elder, & Co. "Descriptions of the criminal and semi-criminal (if such a word maybe coined) classes, which are full of power, sometimes of a disagreeable kind." AtJunceum. Southey's (Robert} Commonplace Book, the Four Series complete, edited by his Son-in-Law, J. W. Warter, 4 thick vols, 8vo, cloth (pub 425), 145. Longmans. Warren's (Samuel] Ten Thousand a Year, early edition, with Notes, 3 vols, I2mo, cloth (pub i8s), 45 6d. Blackwood, 1853. Sent Carriage Free to any part of the United Kingdom on receipt of Postal Order for the amount. JOHN GRANT, 25 & 34 George IY, Bridge, Edinburgh. 2 5 & 34 George IV. Bridge, Edinburgh. 1 7 Jones' (Professor T. Rymer) General Outline of the Or- ganization of the Animal Kingdom, and Manual of Comparative Anatomy, illustrated with 571 engravings, thick 8vo, half roan, gilt top (pub ;i us 6d), 6s. Van Voorst. Jones' (Professor T. Rymer) Natural History of Animals, Lectures delivered before the Royal Institution of Great Britain, 209 illustrations, 2 vols, post Svo, cloth (pub 245), 3s 6d. Van Voorst. Hunter's (Dr John) Essays on Natural History, Ana- tomy, PJiysiology, Psychology, and Geology, to which are added Lectures on the Hunterian Collection of Fossil Remains, edited by Professor Owen, portrait, 2 vols, Svo, cloth (pub 325), 55. Van Voorst. Forestry and Forest Products Prize Essays of the Edinburgh International Forestry Exhibition, 1884, edited by John Rattray, M.A., and Hugh Robert Mill, illustrated with 10 plates and 21 woodcuts, Svo, cloth (pub i6s), 5 s - David Douglas. COMPRISES : BRACE'S Formation and Management of Forest Tree Nurseries. The same, by THOMAS BERWICK. STALKER'S Formation and Management of Plantations on different Sites, Altitudes, and Exposures. The same, by R. E. HODSON. MILNE'S Afforesting of Waste Land in Aberdeenshire by Means of the Planting Iron. MACLEAN'S Culture of Trees on the Margin of Streams and Lochs in Scotland, with a View to the Preservation of the Banks and the Conservation of Fish. CANNON'S Economical Pine Planting, with Remarks on Pine Nurseries and on Insects and Fungi destructive to Pines. ALEXANDER on the Various Methods of Producing and Harvesting Cinchona Bark. ROBERTSON on the Vegetation of Western Australia. BRACE'S Formation and Management of Eucalypus Plantations. CARRICK'S Present and Prospective Sources of the Timber Supplies of Great Britain. OLDRIEVE on the best Method of Maintaining the Supply of Teak, with Remarks on its Price, Size, and Quality ; and on the Best Substitutes for Building Purposes. On the same, by J. C. KEMP. ALEXANDER'S Notes on the Ravages of Tree and Timber Destroying Insects. WEBSTER'S Manufacture and Uses of Charcoal. BOULGER'S Bye-Products, Utilisation of Coppice and of Branches and other Fragments of Forest Produce, with the View of Diminishing Waste. STONHILL'S Paper Pulp from Wood, Straw, and other Fibres in the Past and Present. GREEN'S Production of Wood Pulp. T. ANDERSON REID'S Preparation of Wood Pulp by the Soda Process. CROSS and BEVAN'S Report on Wood Pulp Processes. YOSHIDA'S Lacquer (Urushi), Description, Cultivation, and Treatment of the Tree, the Chemistry of its Juice, and its Industrial Applications. Sent Carriage Free to any part of the United Kingdom on receipt of Postal Order for the amount. JOHN GRANT, 25 & 34 George IV, Bridge, Edinburgh, 1 8 John Grant, Bookseller, Johnston's (W. & A. K.) Instructive Series : Scientific Industries Explained, showing how some of the important Articles of Commerce are made, by Alexander Watt, F.R.S.S.A., First Series, containing Articles on Aniline Colours, Pigments, Soap-making, Candle-making, Paper-making. Gun- powder, Glass, Alcohol, Beer, Acids, Alkalies, Phosphorus, Bleaching Powder, Inks, Vinegar-making, Acetic Acid, Fireworks, Coloured Fires, Gun-cotton, Distillation, &c. &c., crown 8vo, cloth (pub 2s 6d), is. " Mr Watt discourses of aniline pigments and dyes ; of candles and paper ; of gunpowder and glass ; of inks and vinegar ; of fireworks and gun-cotton ; . . . excursions over the whole field of applied science ; . . one of the best is that on ' gilding \vatch-movements. A systematic arrangement of the subjects has been purposely avoided, in order that the work may be regarded as a means of intellectual recreation." A cademy. Scientific Industries Explained, Second Series, containing Articles on Electric Light, Gases, Cheese, Preservation of Food, Borax, Scientific Agriculture, Oils, Isinglass, Tanning, Nickel- plating, Cements and Glues, Tartaric Acid, Stained Glass, Arti- ficial Manures, Vulcanised India-rubber, Ozone, Galvanic Batteries, Magnesia, The Telephone, Electrotyping, &c. &c., with illustra- tions, crown Svo, cloth (pub 2s 6d), is. Mechanical Industries Explained, showing how many useful Arts are practised, with illustrations, by Alexander Watt, containing articles on Carving Irish Bog-oak, Etching, Galvanised Iron, Cutlery, Goldbeating, Bookbinding, Lithography, Jewellery, Crayons, Balloons, Needles, Lapidary, Ironfounding, Pottery and Porcelain, Typefounding, Bread-making, Bronze-casting, Tile- making, Ormolu, Papier-mache, &c. &c., crown Svo, cloth (pub 2s 6d), is. " It would form a useful present for any boy with mechanical tastes." Engineer. Science in a Nut-Shell, in which rational Amusement is blended with Instruction, with numerous illustrations, by Alex- ander Watt, crown Svo, illustrated boards (pub is), 6d. CONTENTS : Absorption of Carbonic Acid by Plants. The Air-Pump. Amalgams. To Produce Artificial Ices. Attraction : Capillary Attraction. Carbon. Carmine. How to Make Charcoal. To Prepare Chlorine. Contrac- tion of Water Crystallisation. Distillation. Effect of Carbonic Acid on Animal Life. Electricity. Evaporation, Expansion by Heat, &c. Heat. Hydrogen Gas. Light. To Prepare Oxygen. Photographic Printing. How to Make a Fountain. Refractive Power of Liquids. Refrigeration. Repulsion. Solar Spectrum. Specific Gravity Explained. Structure of Crystals Sympathetic Ink, &c. &c. Sent Carriage Free to any part of the United Kingdom on receipt of Postal Order for the amount. JOHN GRANT, 25 & 34 George IT, Bridge, Edinburgh, 2 5 & 34 George IV. Bridge, Edinburgh. 19 Stewart's (Dugald) Collected Works, best edition, edited by Sir William Hamilton, with numerous Notes and Emendations, II handsome vols, Svo, cloth (pub 6 I2s), the few remaining sets for 2 IDS. T. & T. Clark. Elements of the Philosophy of the Human Mind, 3 vols, 8vo, cloth (pub i i6s), 8s 6d. Philosophy of the Active Powers, 2 vols, Svo, cloth (pub i 4s), 6s 6d. Principles of Political Economy, 2 vols, Svo, cloth (pub 1 4s), 5 s - ' As the names of Thomas Reid, of Dugald Stewart, and of Sir William Hamil- ton will be associated hereafter in the history of Philosophy in Scotland, as closely as those of Xenophanes, Parmenides, and Zeno in the School of Elea, it is a singular fortune that Sir William Hamilton should be the collector and editor of the works of his predecessors. . . . The chair which he filled for many years, not otherwise undistinguished, he rendered illustrious." A t/iaueititi. Dante The Divina Commedia, translated into English Verse by James Ford, A.M., medallion frontispiece, 430 pages, crown 8vo, cloth, bevelled boards (pub I2s), 2s 6d. Smith, Elder, & Co. " Air Ford has succeeded better than might have been expected ; his rhymes are good, and his translation deserves praise for its accuracy and fidelity. ' \\ c cannot refrain from acknowledging the many good qualities of Air Ford's trans- lation, and his labour of love will not have been in vain, if he is able to induce those who enjoy true poetry to study once more the masterpiece of that literature from whence the great founders of English poetry drew so much of their sweet- ness and power." Athenteiun. Pollotis (Robert] The Course of Time, a Poem, beauti- fully printed edition, with portrait and numerous illustrations, I2mo, 6d. Blackwood & Sons. " 'The Course of Time' is a very extraordinary poem, vast in its conception, vast in its plan, vast in its materials, and vast, if very far from perfect, in its achievement." D. M. MOIR. Monthly Interpreter, a New Expository Magazine, edited by the Rev. Joseph S. Exell, M.A., joint-editor of the "Pulpit Commentary," &c., complete from the commencement to its close, 4 vols, 8vo, cloth (pub i IDS), IDS 6d. T. & T. Clark. Vols. i, 3, 4, separately, 2s each. The aim of The Monthly lntcrf>rctt'r is to meet in some adequate way the wants of the present-day student of the Bible, by furnishing him in a convenient and accessible form with what is being said and clone by the ablest British, Ameri- can, and foreign theologians, thinkers, and Biblical critics, in matters Biblical, theological, scientific, philosophical, and social. Parked s (Dr Joseph, of the City Temple] Wearer Stephen : or The Odds and Evens of English Religion, 8vo, cloth (pub 7s' 6d), 35 6d. Sonnenschein. " Dr Parker is no repeater of old remarks, nor is he a superfluous commentator His track is his own, and the jewels which he lets fall in his progress are from his own casks ; this will give a permanent value to his works, when the produc- tions of copyists will be forgotten." C. H. SPUKGEON. Skene (William R, LL.D., Historiographer-Royal for Scotland] The Gospel History for the Young, being Lessons on the Life of Christ, adapted for use in Families and in Sunday Schools, 3 maps, 3 vols, crown Svo, cloth (pub 155), 6s. Douglas. ''In a spirit altogether unsectarian provides for the young a simple, interest- ing and thoroughly charming history of our Lord.''- Literary World. " The ' Gospel History for the Young is one of the most valuable books of the kind." The Churchman. 20 John Grant, Bookseller, Edinburgh, By the Authoress of " 77ie Land o 1 the Leal.' 1 g. j> t Nairne's (Baroness) Life and Songs, with a Memoir, and Poems of Caroline Oliphant the Younger, edited by Dr Charles Rogers, portrait and other illustrations, crown 8vo, cloth (pub 55) Griffin 026 " This publication is a good service to the memory of an excellent and gifted lady, and to all lovers of Scottish Song." Scotsman. Ossian's Poems, translated by Macpherson, 24mo, best red cloth, gilt (pub 2s 6d) I 6 A dainty pocket edition. Perthshire Woods, Forests, and Estates of Perthshire, with Sketches of the Principal Families of the County, by Thomas Hunter, Editor of the Perthshire Consti- tutional and Journal, illustrated with jo wood engravings, crown Svo (564 pp), cloth (pub 12s 6d) Perth 046 "Altogether a choice and most valuable addition to the County Histories of Scotland." Glasgow Daily Mail. Duncan (John, Scotch Weaver and Botanist) Life of, with Sketches of his Friends and Notices of the Times, by Win. Jolly, F.R.S.E., H.M. Inspector of Schools, etched portrait, crown Svo, cloth (pub gs) Kegan Paul 036 "We must refer the reader to the book itself for the many quaint traits of character, and the minute personal descriptions, which, taken together, seem to give a life-like presentation of this humble philosopher. . . , The many inci- dental notices which the work contains of the weaver caste, the workman's esprit de corps, and his wanderings about the country, either in the performance of his work or, when that was slack, taking a hand at the harvest, form an interest- ing chapter of social history. The completeness of the work is considerably enhanced by detailed descriptions of the district he lived in, and of his numerous friends and acquaintance." Athetuetiw. Scots (Ancient) An Examination of the An- cient History of Ireland and Iceland, in so far as it concerns the Origin of the Scots ; Ireland not the Hibernia of the Ancients ; Interpolations in Bede's Ecclesiastical History and other Ancient Annals affecting the Early History of Scotland and Ireland the three Essays in one volume, crown Svo, cloth (pub 45) Edinburgh, 1883 O I o The first of the above treatises is mainly taken up with an investigation of the early History of Ireland and Iceland, in order to ascertain which has the better claim to be considered the original country of the Scots. In the second and third an attempt is made to show that Iceland was the ancient Hibernia, and the country from which the Scots came to Scotland ; and further, contain a review of the evidence furnished by the more genuine of the early British Annals against the idea that Ireland was the ancient Scoti-i. Traditional Ballad Airs, chiefly of the North- Eastern Districts Of Scotland, from Copies gathered in the Counties of Aberdeen, Banff, and Moray, by Dean Christie, and William Christie, Monquhitter, with the Words for Singing and the Music arranged for the Pianoforte and Harmonium, illustrated with Notes, giving an Account of both Words and Music, their Origin, &c., 2 handsome vols, 4to, half citron morocco, gilt top, originally published at 4. 45 by Edmonston & Douglas, reduced to I 10 O Sent Carriage free to any part of the United Kingdom on receipt of Postal Order for the amount. JOHN GRANT, 25 & 34 George IT, Bridge, Edinburgh. LIBRARY USE RETURN TO DESK FROM WHICH BORROWED MAIN LIBRARY CIRCULATION DEPARTMENT THIS BOOK IS DUB BEFORE CLOSING TIME ON LAST DATE STAMPED BELOW IKF NflV 131975. FEB I 9 1987 no.wsc.t 8 '86 LD62A-30m-7,'73 (R227slO)9412-A-32 General Library University of California Berkeley '^ 00057 GENERAL LIBRARY -U.C. BERKELEY BD008SST75