RHYMES OF RAJ PI ■ THE LIBRARY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LOS ANGELES RHYMES OF RAJPUTANA RHYMES OF RAJPUTANA BY Col. G. H. TREVOR, C.S.I. AGE.VT TO THE GOVERNOR-GENERAL FOR RAJPUTANA ^London MACMILLAN AND CO. AND NEW YORK I894 Ail rights reserved PREFACE In 1829 Colonel James Tod, after an intimate personal acquaintance with the Rajput States dating from 1806 to 1822, published in two big volumes his famous work entitled The Annals and Antiquities of Rajas than, which is still the chief authority recognised by natives of the country as well as Europeans in all that pertains to the Rajasthan of former days. In that book he laid open from almost every known source, including the classics of Hindustan, local bards and tradition, a mine of informa- tion and romance regarding his beloved Rajputs, whom he identified as connected with " the Getic nations 861793 vi RHYMES OF RAJPUTANA described by Herodotus " and the Scandinavian Asi and German tribes. " The heroes of Odin," he writes, " never relished a cup of mead more than the Rajpoot his madhva, and the bards of Scandinavia and Rajwarra are alike eloquent in the praise of the bowl." Again : " Even in the heaven of Indra, the Hindoo warrior's paradise, akin to Valhalla, the Rajpoot has his cup which is served by the Apsara, the twin sister of the celestial Hebe of Scania." " Rajasthan," he explains, " is the collective and classical denomination of that portion of India which is the abode of (Rajpoot) princes. In the familiar dialect of these countries it is termed Rajwarra, but by the more refined Raet'hana, corrupted to Rajpootana, the common designa- tion among the British to denote the Rajpoot principalities." The Jat States of Bhurtpore and Dholpore and the Mahomedan State of Tonk have also been included for many years in Rajputana. PREFACE vii Most of the Rhymes in these pages refer to history more or less ancient, and the ground-work of these may be found in Tod's book. For the story of two I am indebted to Powlett's Gazetteer of Bikanir. A few of modern cast are added by way of contrast under the head Miscellaneous. Should they collectively lead any English reader to take an interest in Rajasthan past and present, my object in publishing them, as a farewell tribute of friendship to the Chiefs and people of that delightful country from whom I have received much kindness, will have been accomplished. I trust the Notes at the end will not seem too long : they are mainly extracts from Tod, and the uninitiated would do well to glance at them before reading the Rhymes they explain or illustrate. It will be seen that in some Rhymes I have imagined a local guide or bard speaking to an English traveller, in a way which to those who know the country and how difficult it is to extract viii RHYMES OF RAJPUTANA any information or sentiment from such persons, generally conspicuous by their absence, will seem indeed an effort of imagination. It is an old device, however, and may plead the sanction of usage and Sir Walter Scott. Lastly, must I ask scientific orthography to pardon colloquialisms like Oodeypore, Jeypore, Jodhpore, instead of Udaipur, Jaipur, Jodhpur, for the sake of rhyme, if for nothing else ? I have followed the modern method only in spelling words which I thought would not be familiar to the English reader. Thus, though I cannot dethrone Suttee and nuzzer in favour of Sati and nazar, I write Amra and Jagat where Tod wrote Umra and Juggut ; herein following, with a halting step, a rule now generally accepted in English newspapers and railway time-tables published in this country as well as by the Government of India for official correspondence. The Rhymes entitled " Stepping the Boundary," " A PREFACE ix Petition," " Snake -Bite," "A Thakur at Home" have appeared before in a little volume called Whiffs published by Messrs. Wheeler and Co., Calcutta and Allahabad (Indian Railway Library Series), the copy- right of which belongs to me. Mount Abu, September 1894. CONTENTS PAGE Mount Abu ....... i Ajmere ........ 6 Akbar's Vow ....... 9 Sir Thomas Roe at Ajmere . . . . .10 Dixon Sahib . . . . . . .11 The Mayo College . . . . . .12 At Bhinai. Madlia Bheel . . . . .14 Mkwar — At Oodeypore . . . . . .21 At Chitor— Padmani ....... 27 The Suttee of Gorah's Wife .... 32 The First and Second Sack .... 34 The Third Sack and After ..... 42 Krishna Kumari ...... 50 At Nathdwara . . . . . -57 Xll RHYMES OF RAJPUTANA Marwar and Bikanir — The Rahtores. At Jodhpore .... Amra Singh ...... Ajit Singh . The Founding of Bikanir .... A Raja's Dying Bequest .... Raja Karan Singh of Bikanir .... Raja Gaj Singh of Bikanir to Raja Bijey Singh of Jodhpcue At Jeypore ...... Bijey Singh to Gaj Singh. At Nathdwara Bijey Singh on his Death-bed .... At Tesalmere ...... 59 63 66 74 77 82 9i 95 101 104 At Jeypore — The Kachwahas Infanticide .... In Shekhawati Bundi — Rao Raja Surjan Singh of Bundi at Benares The Discrowning of Umed Singh 107 1 1 1 "5 118 123 KOTAH AND JHALAWAR . Zalim Singh . 130 133 At Bhurtpore- The Jats 140 CONTEXTS xin Ulwar ..... i45 TONK— Amir Khan's Soliloquy . . . . .147 Miscellaneous — Latest Anecdote of Bijey Singh of Marwar . . . 155 The Ulwar Trial 159 The Baori's Request . 162 Stepping the Boundary 165 A Bheel Dispute 169 A Petition .... 172 Snake-Bite ..... 177 A Thakur at Home. (In a British District) 180 A Thakur in a Rage. (In a Native State) 183 Mauled .... . 186 The Present Siege of Bhurtpore 189 A Song of Jodhpore . 191 Famine in Rajputana . 194 The House upon the Lake 196 The House upon the Hill 198 Notes to Rhymes 201 mount Abu Olympus is this hill, from ages Unknown it has been sacred ground ; Rishis and Munis, 1 gods and sages Dwelt in these woods and rocks around. And now perchance when earthquake rumbling Goes muttering thro' the mountain-side, It may be some old god a-grumbling At want of worship, wounded pride. ?L B RHYMES OF RAJPUTANA Yet superstition, which by horror And promise long has reigned supreme, Brings thousands yearly to Dilwarra, Whose temples surely are a dream : A dream beyond all comprehension Of art that e'en a Goth might saint ; No wonder if they draw attention To lore and legend growing faint. The worship of the Jain who raised them Has now diminished thro' the land, But pilgrims who have come and praised them Are not required to understand. MOUNT ABU J The white man smiles and from a guide-book chatters Of Vishnu, Parasnath, of Brahman, Jain ; The brown one looks on worship, faith, as matters Ordained for each race by a different sign. Whether he climb to trace in cave or high nook The footsteps of some deity, or kneel Before Dilwarra's gods or those of Gae Mukh, Enough for him, unlettered soul, to feel, Whoe'er in Abuji ~ may rule as master, Men of an ancient creed or men without The pooja 3 of his childhood and his pastor Is his to follow, let who may have doubt. RHYMES OF RAJPUTANA He hears unmoved how the Chauhan once wrested From the Pramar this mountain hold sublime ; His thoughts are further back, when Vishnu crested Proud Guru Sikr ' in the world's young prime. So the old stream of pilgrims ripples yearly, While some there be who stay awhile and grow To love the Hill and its cool breezes dearly, As refuge from the burning plains below : As clothed with natural, not celestial beauty — A home for children of the Frank, and place For England's soldiers when on foreign duty Health to renew and tired nerve to brace. MOUNT ABU To these the rocks which bear the names of Nitn And Toad, The Gates and Sunset Point, the play Of light upon the Lake from Moon and Sun Are Abu's chief divinities to-day. 1 The Rishis were the great sages ; seven are especially enumerated in the Puranas, among whom Yiswamitra and Vasishta are frequently mentioned in the legendary lore of Abu. Miini is a similar term, meaning any great sage or holy man. 2 The suffix ji denotes respect, honour. Natives generally speak of Abu as Abu/V, and chiefs and others of less degree have always this suffix attached to their names when mentioned by their own countrymen. 3 Worship. 4 Guru Sikr, or the Guru's Pinnacle, is the loftiest peak of Abu, and about ten miles from the civil station. The shrine there has no architectural beauty. The principal objects of worship are contained in a cavern, and consist of a rock of granite bearing the impress of the feet of Data Brija, an incarnation of Vishnu ; and in another corner of the cavern are the "puddaca," or footsteps of Rama Nanda, the great apostle of the Sita ascetics. There are also other caves on Guru Sikr resorted to by the numerous pilgrims to this noted shrine. — Rajputana Gazetteer. AJMERE. 1 Seventeen centuries and a half, they say, Have passed since Aja the Chauhan this town And fortress founded : many a stormy day Since then has Ajmere known : on his way down To Somnath Mahmud Sultan made an end, Nearly nine hundred years ago, of all That Taragarh was helpless to defend. Then he who built the tank which people call The Bisal sagar and who Delhi took Ruled here awhile : his grandson Ana made The lake on which the Moghal loved to look When Shah Jahan long after marble laid AJMERE Upon its bank. From Ana sprang the last Chauhan who reigned at Delhi ; his great name Of Prithi Raj still shines throughout the past, The topmost pinnacle of Rajput fame. Since then what changes in seven hundred years— Since Saiyad Husein, Moslem governor Of Taragarh, of whom the traveller hears At his famed shrine, surprised by the Rahtore, Yielded his life and trust ! When England bled, Ere the third Richard gained his bloody throne, For York and Lancaster, White Rose and Red, Mewar was Aj mere's lord. It came to own Lordship from Malwa after, once again Islam. The Rahtore for a space held sway, Till mighty Akbar heralded long reign 8 RHYMES OF RAJPUTANA Of Moghal, who had ruled perchance to-day- Had Aurangzeb been like him. The last century- Saw Toork, 2 Rahtore, Mahratta, each in turn Snatching and keeping, till " by Heaven's decree " The year which made the British bonfires burn For Waterloo brought Ajmere peace and hope, Safe in old England's arms. Here, Father Time, Let me look back thro' thy kaleidoscope Of war and slaughter, chivalry and crime, Upon this scene of hill, and lake, and town Nestling in lap of Taragarh, most fair, And linger from its memories of renown On four great pictures wondrous to compare. 1 This is the common spelling, which I have followed also in rhyming to Jesalmere, Bikanir, etc., though strictly speaking it would be correct to write and pronounce Ajmer, Jesalmer, Bikaner. 2 The Rajputs and others apply this word generally to all Mahomedans. AKBAR'S VOW AKBAR the King was sad and craved a son, And vowed a vow that if his prayer bore fruit He thanks to render God would walk on foot To Aj mere's famous shrine. The gift was won, The vow fulfilled. Each day the march begun With all the Eastern pomp of drum and flute, Horses and elephants and guns' salute. Three hundred years since then their race have run And the old shrine hath many a pilgrim seen, But never since that long procession glowed And flashed and hummed and trumpeted hath been A sight like that along the Jeypore road, Still marked by Akbar's milestones. Nor, I ween, Hath saint to greater pilgrim favour showed. II SIR THOMAS ROE AT AJMERE A.D. l6l6-l6l8 When James the First of old sent embassy To Ind, Great Britain's first ambassador Sought audience of the Moghal emperor Here at Ajmere, and in his Diary Tells, in old English, how he patiently " Laye " a full year, angling with goodly store Of gifts and compliment, while waiting for The firman which, thro' humble factory And leave to trade, unconscious paved the way To Clive and Warren Hastings. Who could know, As by this lake Jahangir proudly lay, Pavilioned with Eastern pomp and show, The danger to the Peacock Throne that day He gave the firman to Sir Thomas Roe ? Ill DIXON SAHIB a.d. 1S37-57 The name of Colonel Dixon, who ruled over Merwara from a.d. 1836 to 1857, and over Ajmere also for most of that period, is a household word in both districts, and his tomb at Beawur is still an object of veneration and pilgrimage. The land he governed was almost unknown To the great world outside it when he came ; And when he died, tho' thousands there made moan, England at least had never heard his name. For twenty years untrammelled by routine, Scarcely a white face near him, with rare art Tanks, villages, he made : and reigned serene Till the great Mutiny. That broke his heart. For honour he had neither badge nor star, But marked an epoch : people still describe His deeds with love and wonder ; near and far They speak and date from time of " Dixon Sahib." IV THE MAYO COLLEGE 1 A.D. 1890 THE history of Rajwarra reeks with war ; But since there came the long, long reign of peace And ordered law is growing governor, With fruits of knowledge yielding rich increase, A dream was born — to bring the land's chief flower Of Youth to love the bloom of gracious arts That have, or ought to have, a greater power Than swords to force a fellowship of hearts. So this white hall of marble, this green park, And these fair houses where glad school-boys dwell THE MAYO COLLEGE 13 And play arose — a light from out the dark. Ah, noble dream, the buds begin to swell. May summer crown thy spring, and autumn bright Thy message long proclaim " Let there be light." 2 1 Founded at Ajmere in 1875 by the Earl of Mayo, Viceroy and Governor- General of India, for the education of the chiefs and nobility of Rajputana. 2 This is the motto of the College. AT BHINAI MADLIA BHEEL 1 Two hundred feet above the plain Upon this rock he made his nest, And scoured the country round : in vain The wheeling squadron's frequent quest. Nor horse nor man, nor lead nor steel, Could hurt a hair of Madlia Bheel. AT BHIXAI 15 That was three hundred years ago. This hill and those on either side And all around them, you must know, Were jungle ; thick enough to hide A legion : so the Bheel abode In safety, ravaging the road. The King had armies in the south, So convoys passed ; and more than one Was looted near that gorge's mouth : Till news of what the Bheel had done And how his name inspired fear Reached Delhi and the Emperor's ear. 1 6 RHYMES OF RAJPUTANA My ancestor brave Karam Sen Was with the King at Delhi then, A Jodhpore prince. He took a train, It might be of some hundred men, And hither came and camped a mile From this, and planned a stroke of wile. Five seeming robbers herding kine Strayed to the jungle's edge one night, And sate them down to feast, with wine The taste of which was rare delight : When of a sudden on their meal Broke in the outlaw Madlia Bheel. AT BHINAI 17 They hailed him for their hearts' own lord, Pointed toward the kine and laughed A welcome to their feast : they poured Down every throat the luscious draught — Wine such as Bheel could never know. It lured them to their overthrow. For Karam Sen sharp swordsmen had In ambush. In his drunken sleep He killed the Bheel. The King was glad, And gave him all these lands to keep — Almost as far as sees the eye, And made him Raja of Bhinai. 18 RHYMES OF RAJPUTANA The blood of Jodhpore in my veins From Karam Sen of princely line, No village of his broad domains Should now own other rule than mine. But many a one has passed away : Alas, not half remain to-day. Lord of the Eighty-four, 2 the name My fathers bore for many a year Was never mine : not mine the blame. Ah, well ! you do not care to hear That story now ; you only feel An interest in Madlia Bheel. AT BHINAI 19 This eagle's nest, this rugged peak Where once he lived is now my fort. Here in the Rains I've spent a week, But now my breath is getting short For climbing, and the hill is mute, Save only for a chance salute From yonder gun. The kite and crow Muse o'er the fortunes of the place. Bhinai there peacefully below Lies with a smile upon her face, Her tanks and fields, without a thought Of days when Madlia reived and fought. 20 RHYMES OF RAJPUTANA Thus he the Raja, bright with sheen Of pearls and silks of richest hue, And all a peacock's pride of mien : I gazed upon the wide-spread view, And wished that fairer stroke of steel Had robbed the nest of Madlia Bheel. 1 This is little more than a translation in verse of the story of Madlia told me by Raja Mangal Singh, CLE., of Bhinai, while we were standing together on the top of Madlia's Hill. Alas that my good friend, a most picturesque specimen of a Rajput nobleman of the old type, who was constantly dwelling on the decadence of his dignity and possessions as compared with by- gone days, died four years afterwards in 1892. 2 The chaurasi, or eighty-four (villages), was the old designation of the Raja's domain. Tod writes : " The country was partitioned into districts, each containing from fifty to a hundred towns and villages, though sometimes exceeding that proportion. The great number of chaurdsis leads to the con- clusion that portions to the amount of eighty-four had been the general sub- division. Many of these yet remain . . . tantamount to the old hundreds of our Saxon ancestry." — Tod, vol. i. p. 141. AT OODEYPORE On the Pichola Lake A local guide is supposed to be addressing an EnglisJtman who is in a boat fishing. Rama and Krishna both from Manu came (You call him Noah but in our Purans His name is Vaivaszoata, the Sun-born) Thousands of years before your prophet Christ. The Solar Race from Rama, ancestor To Mewar, Marwar, Jeypore, Bikanir ; The Lunar, Krishna-born, holds Jesalmere, Bhatti, Jareja, and some other tribes. 22 RHYMES OF RAJPUTANA That is the answer to your question why Upon the ceiling of the Mayo College Where our young Thakurs go to pick up knowledge The Sun and Moon blaze out in heraldry. A golden sun upon a crimson field Is Mewar's banner ; and a frequent sign The Peacock everywhere, our bird divine. Our tribes and customs all have been revealed By Tod Sahib — was there ever such a man ? You know we are Sesodia, 1 that the scribes Make us the first of six-and-thirty tribes, And that we are the only Rajput clan Who never gave a princess to the line Of Timoor ; against which we held our own — Save at Chitor, our capital of old, Of which a separate story shall be told — Since Bappa Rawal founded there his throne AT OODEYPORE 23 And the old dynasty surnamed Gehlote. Tod makes our Bappa A.D. 72 8, 2 And Oodeypore 3 from Oodey Singh to date, More than eight centuries later — Akbar's time. Our history is full of deeds sublime, Our land of hills and forests — yes, and lakes Most beautiful to see : the traveller makes Pictures of this on which we are afloat (Tis named Pichola), and the Lord Sahib said (Lord Lansdowne fished, Sir, from this very boat) He never saw a more enchanting scene : The Duke 4 too said so — son, Sir, of the Queen. That's the Maharana's palace. Yes, his rank Is very high ; the biggest state may thank Its fortune when it weds with Oodeypore. Our barons too are men of high degree — 24 RHYMES OF RAJPUTANA Thakurs^ we call them — tho' sometimes you see Thakurs in other parts who are no more Than petty squires : they have a theory, Maintained for many a century, that while The Chief and they are one large family, He service to receive is lord and king, First of the brotherhood in everything, But cannot set aside by force or guile Rights in the land which their forefathers held. The Durbars (that's the chiefs) have frequently Troubles with Thakurs, which, at one time quelled By arms, the British Government Now settles : often they are caused or swelled By Brahmans whispering softly in the ear Of both when angry, fostering discontent For private purposes. Their influence here Is strong ; they are a race we all revere. AT OODEYPORE 25 For did not Manu say a Brahman's life Was worth four soldiers', eight of trading men, And sixteen Sudras' ? 6 That is why since then Meddling with Chief or Thakur or Dewan They always manage to put by a bit, And are so clever in creating strife For other people, keeping out of it Themselves, like lawyers feeding on The quarrels of their clients. If you wish To see the city, the Victoria Hall And Lansdowne Hospital, I'll show you all The local sights — Bravo ! you've hooked a fish. 1 The clan takes its name from the town Sesodia in Mewar. 2 See Note, p. 206. 3 "Classically Udyapoora, the City of the East, from Udya, the point of sunrise." 4 His Royal Highness the Duke of Connaught visited Oodeypore in 1889, and the Marquess of Lansdowne as Viceroy in 1890. 26 RHYMES OF RAJPUTANA 5 The first syllable of this word should be pronounced as in the German thaler. 6 As observed by Tod, the following is the climax of Manu's texts protecting the Brahman : — "What prince could gain wealth by oppressing these (Brahmans), who, if angry, could frame other worlds, and regents of worlds, and could give birth to new gods and mortals ? " See Note, p. 207. AT CHITOR A local bard is supposed to be speaking to an English traveller. You have heard the story before — Padmani x the peerless, the fair, Who came from the cinnamon shore Of Ceylon, the Lunkah of yore, And how in Mewar we swear " By the sin of the sack of Chitor " ? Three sacks and a half we count. Of the half I will tell you first : 28 RHYMES OF RAJPUTANA A tale of a traitor accurst And of beauty ill-fated, the fount Of a chivalry such as the Turk Never showed in the days that have been, And of slaughter — alas for that scene ! — God's curse upon Allah-ud-din, His race and their handiwork ! Her beauty all the world inspired, Till he, the King, by passion fired, Resolved to lead an army here And take by craft, or sword and spear, A robber's might, that peerless girl, Brave Bheemsi's 2 queen and Mewar's pearl. The blood of Bappa Rawal spurned To yield the prize for which he burned, But, life to save, allowed his eyes AT CHITOR 29 To look just once upon that prize. Frankly on Rajput faith reposing, He came within our fortress, saw The mirror's face her face disclosing, And straight returned. So by our law Of trust for trust and host and guest, Who on each other's honour rest, Bheemsi descended to the plain To see the King take bridle rein. There foemen set in ambuscade The lofty Rajput's trust betrayed And bore him hence with speed. The Khan, Perfidious like a base Pathan, Sent challenge that to set him free Padmani must his ransom be. So, after counsel, guile with guile To meet, the Rajputs answer sent 30 RHYMES OF RAJPUTANA The pearl thus caught by treacherous wile Would pass unto the monarch's tent Attended like a queen, and pay The ransom for her lord. That day Seven hundred covered litters bore Her train of handmaids from Chitor, Each carried by six men. Alas ! Fate adverse saved the Emperor. The warriors in those litters fought Like demons, and mowed down like grass The legions round him ere they sought The mansions of the Sun. They freed The Rajput chieftain, and a steed Whose feet were as the lightning flashing Carried him safely home, as crashing Upon that outer gate there came In hot pursuit a wall of flame, AT CHITOR 31 A sea of steel, and hosts of hell, On which our heroes clashed and fell. Tho' ancient bards have said that then We lost perchance eight thousand men, We kept brave Bheemsi and his queen And beat back the false Allah-ud-din. 'Twas some time after, months and more, Before the tyrant sacked Chitor ; But tho' that day we drove him back, We count the slaughter half a sack. 3 1 Padmini in Sanskrit, but commonly called Padmani in Me war. 2 According to Tod, Bheem Singh, an uncle of the Rana, was the husband of Padmani. Another account assigns her to Ratun Singh, the Rana's brother. 3 Though the city was not stormed, the best and bravest were cut off (saka), a.d. 1303. II THE SUTTEE OF GORAH'S WIFE GORAH and Badal, the Chauhans, and kin To fair Padmani, that fierce onslaught led. Badal, a boy, was wounded ; Gorah dead, Covered with wounds and honour, was brought in And laid upon the pyre, while drums made din. His wife, the spirit of the Rajput glowing Within her breast that swelled with love and pride, Questioned the boy of how her lord had died ; What glories crowned his coming and his going ? THE SUTTEE OF GORAH'S WIFE 33 " Mother," the lad replied — " as reapers reap- The wheat so he the harvest of the battle ; And I who followed 'mid the noise and rattle Gleaned in the wake of his terrific sweep. Before he laid him down to rest and sleep He spread a carpet of the slain upon The gory bed of honour, made a prince His pillow, rested joyfully, and since Unto the mansions of the Sun has gone." " I know," she cried — " what more ? go on ! go on ! Tell me again about my love, I pray." He said, " What further, mother, can I tell ? He left no foe to dread or praise." " Farewell," She smiled, " my lord will chide me for delay " — Sprang on the pyre, and with him passed away. D Ill THE FIRST AND SECOND SACK 'TWAS nigh six hundred years ago The Fortress fell, and all our power Was weakened by the vengeful blow That shattered Mewar's bloom and flower. But when the Tartar seized his prey The fruits of conquest had no taste ; No life was there to vex or slay, He entered on a barren waste. THE FIRST AND SECOND SACK 35 The Rana with eleven sons And all our males had fallen in fight ; A caverned mine the ashes held Of those who ere the Johur * rite Were wives and daughters ; all embraced The fire, and since no light or air Has pierced the gloom which shrouds their dust. Padmani's dust is treasured there. Bheem's palace and her rooms upon The lake within it still were left ; What else? The conqueror made a wreck And coldly handed it bereft 36 RHYMES OF RAJPUTANA Of all our monuments of art Unto a slave, the Jhalore chief: Our Rana's one surviving son Nursed in the mountains' depths his grief. And while he reigned the foreign yoke Pressed on the land. By Fate's decree His son to Deccan exile sent Was ancestor to Sivaji, Who founded the Sattara throne And that at Delhi overturned. When Hamir was our chief the plains And villages laid bare and burned THE FIRST AND SECOND SACK 37 By raids from mountain holds so galled The vassal Maldeo in Chitor He sought alliance : Hamir took His daughter unto wife and swore By hook or crook his grandsire's rock Should see the Standard of the Sun Shine from it once again. He kept His oath ; and when the deed was done The Ghilji Mahmood marching down Gave battle by the Chambal ; he Was put to rout and lodged forsooth A prisoner in this Fort for three 38 RHYMES OF RAJPUTANA Whole months. Then liberty he bought By a large ransom — fifty lakhs, With elephants ; and Ranthambor, Ajmere, Nagore surrendered. Tax So glorious brought homage free From Manvar, Jeypore, and each clan From Gwalior to Abuji. Mewar was great thro' Hindusthan. What names, for jewels on her brow. Like Hamir, Lakha, Chonda, he Who built the column here to tell Of many a splendid victory ; THE FIRST AND SECOND SACK 39^ Raised forts around and temples grand At Abu, Sadri ; gave his name To Kumulmer, the Rahtore spoused, And after fifty years of fame Was killed by his own son ? Had such As these, and Prithi Raj the brave, Sanga, whom even Baber feared, Remained our citadel to save, Bahadur Sultan had not stormed Its walls : 2 again in proud despair The awful Johur had not claimed Our dearest dear, our fairest fair. 40 RHYMES OF RAJPUTANA 'Tis said that thirteen thousand passed In flame, and thousands thirty- two Of Rajput warriors of all clans In that fierce fight were slain and slew. O strange for Baber's son to be Our RdkJii bhai z in time of need ! The captor heard his horses' hoofs And fled — would God had given them speed ! A fortnight sooner, and Chitor Had 'scaped that second awful sack ; For when he came a wilderness To Bikramjeet was given back. THE FIRST AND SECOND SACK 41 Unworthy thou, O Bikramjeet, Of Rana Sanga thy great sire, Who led the chiefs of Rajasthan And raised our banner ever hieher. His name Humayun's succour gained, While thine — but barbed is iron Fate. Chitor restored, few years shall pass Before Humayun's son, alas ! Shall thunder at its crate. 1 The last act of a Rajput garrison in extremity was to immolate by fire all their females, to prevent their falling into the hands of the enemy. This rite was called the Johur. See Note, p. 208. 2 Bahadur Shah, Sultan of Guzerat, took Chitor in a.d. 1534. 3 See Note, p. 211. IV THE THIRD SACK (a.d. 1568) AND AFTER Mahadeo 1 sent us Ooda. He knows best — For what know we ? But cursed for all time Is Ooda's name in Mewar : his the crime Of killing Kumbhu, whom Rajwarra blest. He snatched the throne before his time, and found His nobles and his kindred stood afar And shuddered : so he gave Manvar Ajmere and Sambhur — ay, and roods of ground THE THIRD SACK AND AFTER 43 Ancestral, Jodha thus to make his friend. The Deora prince in Abu who had known Our yoke as vassal he let rule alone. And e'er remorse pursued him to his end He offered Delhi (his last gift of shame) A daughter for a bride. Then Heaven to save The house of Bappa Rawal struck the slave By lightning — and we never name his name. But Heaven perchance remembered Ooda's crimes When Guzerat avenged them on Chitor. Yet all that sacrifice, those seas of gore, Sufficed not to appease in after times 44 RHYMES OF RAJPUTANA The wrath of that dread Goddess who aye craved Princes for victims, 2 and from Bikramjeet Wrested the throne. The Bastard in his seat Lost it by pride ; and when the chaonwar 3 waved O'er Oodey Singh once more Mewar was glad. Ah, short-lived joy ! In vain the faithful nurse Doomed her own child, 4 alas ! to bring a curse To manhood. Bappa's line had had Its good and evil, never once before A coward : woman's sway had bred Water in blood. No regal victim led When mighty Akbar thundered on Chitor. THE THIRD SACK AND AFTER So the great goddess hid her face — e'en tho' Jaimul and Patta, whom Akbar carved in stone, Bedla, Madaria, brothers of the throne, And chiefs of other clans, whose names still glow 45 In song, put on the saffron 5 for last deed. Patta of Kelwa, boy of scarce sixteen, Had bride and mother, but with dauntless mien Each seized a lance and when his turn to lead Came, rushed on with him, with him fought and fell. Only for Ooda four inglorious years After that harvest, when the conqueror's spears And axes shattered this proud citadel 46 RHYMES OF RAJPUTAXA Which thirty thousand died to save. Thereafter, Its goddess fled, the wilderness you see Remained, and Oodey's city came to be Our capital. Here every stone and rafter Of the old ruin has a tale. Once more After great Pertap, Oodey's son, cast down And hunted, turned and brought renown, Reconquering all — Amra, his son, Chitor Regained for a short space ; but times soon changed. Rajwarra tore her entrails ; our own fiefs And vassals blossomed into minor chiefs, Servants of Delhi. Peace was then arranged, THE THIRD SACK AND AFTER 47 And Amra's heir upon the Emperor's right Sat at Ajmere : our barons ranked before All others — but supremacy was o'er. No longer sun, but only satellite, The Rana Karan ° took from Shah Jahan Leave to repair this Fort. 'Twas in his time, While Jagat Singh was still in boyhood's prime, That thro' Chitor men came from Inglistan. (That Jagat Singh who built the palaces Jagmander, Jagnewas, upon the lake Pichola.) Then when Arung tried to break Our hearts and faith, made friends of enemies, 48 RHYMES OF RAJPUTANA Amber ' and Marwar once more at our side, 8 What glory might have fallen on the land And made the lotus of our love expand Had only Rajasthan remained allied ! Thro' her own quarrels crept in the sly fox, Soon to become a wolf. We could not see How, worst of all, the race of Sivaji Would eat up all our goodly lands and flocks : That Chitor would look down with helpless eyes On the Mahratta camped beneath her walls, Thirsting to spoil the jewels and bright halls Of Oodeypore : 9 and that his robberies 10 THE THIRD SACK AND AFTER 49 Would last a century and leave Mewar Beggared of almost all but her past fame — Till the red coats and the white faces came, And once again uprose her fortune's star. 1 The Creative Power, the Great God. - See Note, p. 213. 3 When a chief appears in state, a chaonwar, or yak's tail, is waved slowly over his head by an attendant behind, and, like the umbrella, is one of the insignia of royalty. 4 See Note, p. 217. 5 "When a Rajput is determined to hold out to the last in fighting, he always puts on a robe dyed in saffron." — Tod, vol. i. p. 196. 6 See Note, p. 218. 7 The ancient appellation of the state now called Jeypore, the city of which name was founded by the great Jey Singh in a.d. 1728. 8 See Note, p. 218. 9 In a.d. 1768-69 Oodeypore was besieged by Sindhia for more than a year. The siege was raised on Mewar paying over 60 lakhs and ceding four districts, which, though nominally only mortgaged, have never been recovered. 10 Tod is very eloquent on the subject of these robberies. See his Annals of Mewar: "When, in A.D. 1795, a marriage was negotiated between the Rana's sister and the prince of Jeipoor, the Rana was obliged to borrow ,£50,000 from the Mahratta commander Umbaji to purchase the nuptial presents." E KRISHNA KUMARI A.D. 1805 O BEAUTIFUL as moonlight Were her virtues and her grace, And her fame was like the sunlight, For the whole world praised her face As a rose of Gulistan at Which the wild bee honey sips, And flower of the pomegranate Was the blossom of her lips ! KRISHNA KUMARI 51 Ah ! that was Krishna, Flower of Rajasthan, Whom Ajit and the robber Amir Khan (He rose from being a common thief, God help us, to a ruling chief) Did — and we curse them in one breath For that foul doing — did to death. The tale, wherever it is known, Must move methinks a heart of stone. A princess of the purest race, Her matchless form, her peerless face, Were sung abroad in town and camp, Till, like a moth unto the lamp, Came Jeypore, suitor for her hand ; And Jodhpore after made demand. Sindhia's hard yoke was on the land, And he, to wound a father's heart 52 RHYMES OF RAJPUTANA And Jagat Singh's, took Marwar's part. So Jeypore's presents were returned, And half Rajwarra raged and burned. Love rang out war's wild, shrill, alarms As fiery rivals flashed to arms. A mighty army gleaned each field And ate up all Marwar could yield : But Jodha's castle scorned attack. So Jagat Singh perforce, for lack Of food and forage, journeyed back. His friend and ally Amir Khan, True ally, sworn on the Koran, Exchange of turbans, and what not, Bribed by the foe, his oath forgot — And fell upon his friend's worn host (Let Tonk of that proud victory boast !) KRISHNA KUMARI 53 Thus crowned with infamy this thief Sought Oodeypore and stormed our Chief With threats, if Krishna were not given To Raja Man, or else to Heaven. Ajit, Chandawat, then had ear Of Rana Bheem Singh full of fear, And he, base coward, thro' design For self and ill to Bappa's line, Advised, to end the bloody strife, The sacrifice of Krishna's life. Dowlat was asked to use the knife To save the honour of the clan, But answered like a true brave man, " If this be honour, faith is dead, Dust on my loyalty and head." Then Jawan Das, of her own blood, Before the youthful victim stood 54 RHYMES OF RAJPUTANA To slay — but quickly turned and fled. Her virgin innocence and shield Of beauty suddenly revealed Horror of guilt that might appal The hardest heart : so he let fall The dagger in his hand. But cries For mercy, tears from mother's eyes, The mother who had seen the knife And loved her daughter more than life, Availed not ; tho' the steel was spared, Women the poisoned cup prepared, And brought to Krishna in the name Of her weak father, bowed by shame, Amir and Ajit. Calm she drank And said, to soothe with love and pride The frantic mother at her side, KRISHNA KUMARI 55 " O mother dearest, let me thank My father I have lived so long : Weep not, for I have done no wrong. Am I not your own daughter dear ? Why death should Rajput princess fear ? Does it not end our sorrows here ? What joy is there to us on earth, Marked out for sacrifice from birth ? " The poison would not stay — tho' thrice She drank, the lovely sacrifice Was not complete till a fourth draught, With opium added, had been quaffed. She slept : and quickly anguish deep Brought the reft mother the same sleep. Words never told so dark a crime As that which closed thy sixteen years 56 RHYMES OF RAJPUTANA And killed thy mother in her prime The tale is all too deep for tears, Too sorrowful to dwell upon, Krishna Kumari, past and gone ! AT NATHDWARA 1 SACRED to Rajasthan the place which shrines The image of that Krishna deified A thousand years and more — 'tis said, from signs And texts which learned persons have descried- Before our Christ : Nathdwara is its name. The image was at Mathura until, Proscribed by Aurangzeb, 'twas saved from shame Thro' Rana Raj, by whose protecting will 58 RHYMES OF RAJPUTANA The Rajputs brought it to Mewar on wheels Which at this spot sank deep in earth and none Could move them. " Thus," they said, " the god reveals His wish to dwell here." So the town begun. Maharana Bhima Singhji gave a grant, 2 Thro' the chief butler, of such lands and dues And privileges to the hierophant That what he asks no man may dare refuse. Pope of Rajwarra is this priest ; for " he Who doth resume that grant," men know full well 'Tis writ, " for sixty thousand years will be A caterpillar in the depths of hell." 1 Dwdra (portal), Nhth (god). 2 For translation of this grant see Note, p. 219. THE RAHTORES 1 AT JODHPORE 1890 A local bard is supposed to be addressing an English traveller In far Kanauj, the cradle of our race, God knows how many centuries it ruled, Till, broken and by hard misfortune schooled, A handful of our brave went forth to face The dangers of this desert, then a sheer Waste without tilth or township. Well, 'tis near Seven hundred years since then and Seoji, And four since Jodha raised the fort you see. 60 RHYMES OF RAJPUTANA The mausoleums standing at Mundore, Our ancient capital, contain much lore About the fortunes of the bold Rahtore. You may have read how, with Mewar, he strove Against the Moghal Baber, and had won, But for mean treachery, which he does not love. Ah ! that and fierce disunion have undone Rajwarra many a time, until the arms Of Britain leagued with ours dispelled alarms. For seventy years each State has held its own In peace since Delhi ceased to make us groan, And London holds your Queen's imperial throne. But what a power we had in Maldeo's time, Three centuries and a half ago ! — Nagore, Ajmere, Serohi — ay, and many a prime Slice of what now is Tonk, Mewar, Jeypore. He lorded Bika's city. Had he sent THE RAHTORES 61 Aid to Humayun on his weary flight, The babe which first at Umerkote saw light, An angiy mother nursing discontent, Had not deflowered his conquests. But who knows ? The tide of Destiny remorseless flows. How could he read that babe's auspicious star And say, " This Akbar will invade Marwar " — 2 Or tell that ere his seven-and-thirty-year Dominion ceased, not only Bikanir Would fall away, but, many a rich prize lost, Over our famed Panchrangaf tempest-tossed, Would float proud Akbar's banner : that his son Would serve the Emperor, a daughter give In marriage to prolong the Moghal line, And take from Delhi leave to rule and live — " King of the Desert," " Oodey Singh the Fat " ? Maldeo took leave from none ; but after that 62 RHYMES OF RAJPUTANA Times changed : Rajwarra, by great Akbar's wiles And her own feuds divided, grew more tame, Saw fame and fortune in a conqueror's smiles, Her bravest leaders banished under name Of viceroys in the Deccan and elsewhere, Her own blood mixed with Moghal's. Yet where'er The Rahtore went his valour in the air Flashed like a sword, and evermore the same. Nor Malwa, Deccan, Guzerat, nor snows Of Kabul, tide of luck that sank or rose, Moghal, Mahratta, nor the Frenchman's i guns Could chill the fire of Jodha's noble sons. 1 See Note, p. 220. 2 Marwar is a corruption of Maroo-war, classically Maroost'hali or Maroost'han, "the region of death." The bards frequently style it Mord'hur, which is synonymous with Maroo-desa, or, when it suits their rhyme, simply Maroo. Though now restricted to the country subject to the Rahtore race, its ancient and appropriate application comprehended the entire desert from the Sutlej to the ocean. — Tod's Rajasthan. 3 The five-coloured flag of the Rajputs. 4 De Boigne, Sindhia's famous general, who won his chief victories. AMRA SINGH THINK of Gaj Singh, his father Raja Soor, Amra and Jeswant his two sons : those four Were specimens in truth of the Rahtore — Bad in the blood he may be, never poor. You've heard of Amra ? Fire was in his veins. The Deccan knew it : many a glorious fight Attested there the fury of his might. But when it came his turn to hold the reins As chief of Maroo, somehow there was fear ; Which ended in his brother being seated Upon the gadi, and his going from here x Hotter than ever, ready for affray 64 RHYMES OF RAJPUTANA With man or tiger. Soon there came a day When, careless of the Emperor, who had cheated His hopes, he made continual neglect Of service such as emperors expect : Whereat the World's King fumed to be obeyed, Threatened a fine ; bold Amra, unafraid, Replied his fortune lay in his sword-blade. So anger filled the soul of Shah Jahan. To take the fine he sent Salabat Khan With speed : the Bakshi 2 hurried back much faster With words of insult carried to his master. Then Amra, summoned to a full durbar, Strode swiftly past each wondering mansabdar* Up to the Presence, and with one quick dart Buried his dagger in Salabat's heart. The next blow nearly fell upon the King, AMRA SINGH 65 Who fled — a pillar marked the dagger's swing. And ere the Rahtore's work and life were done Five Ameers sought the mansions of the Sun ; While his retainers, clad in saffron, drew Their swords on all around and hacked and slew. Thus Amra entered Amrapura, 4 mad With rage : Champawat and Kumpawat, glad To avenge on Moghal enemy his fate, Rushed also with him thro' that city's gate. Last, his brave Bundi Queen, to prove her clan Of Rajput womanhood not less than man, Bore her lord's body from that carnage dire And passed with it upon the funeral pyre. 1 See Note, p. 222. 2 Paymaster of the troops. 3 "Of the 416 mansabdars, or military commanders, of Akbar*s empire, from leaders of 200 to 10,000 men, 47 were Rajputs, and the aggregate of their quotas amounted to 53,000 horse. : ' — Tod, vol. i. p. 153. 4 An immortal abode. F AJIT SINGH A.D. I 68O-I 725 Jeswant was cool where Amra was aflame. A ruler needs must fence ; but no one hated The Moghal more. Great was his martial fame, Fighting at first for Dara the ill-fated By the Nerbudda, after in the south, And last at Kabul. Aurangzeb the King, Who cast his arrows with a smiling mouth And lies like honey, kept brave Jeswant Singh Afar from Maroo. Forty years our Chief, But ever viceroy in some distant clime, Until he died at Kabul, bowed with grief; AJIT SINGH 67 His only son a martyr in life's prime By poison and the tyrant. " Arung's l sighs Ceased not while Jeswant lived," our bards have sung : But after Jeswant swerga 2 gained, the young Ajit was born to him ; and this, the prize And hope of Maroo-desh, a gallant band Of Rahtores bringing from that northern land, Was stayed at Delhi by the King's command. " Give up the child," he said, " and you shall share His birthright." Faithful to their trust they made Reply. Surrounded by a host they quaffed The last deep draught of opium, 3 and laughed Defiance to false Arung's fiendish craft. The infant prince was first by stealth conveyed, Hid in a basket, by a Meah 4 true, Who safely passed the Moghal ambuscade. 68 RHYMES OF RAJPUTANA Then the Rahtores their wives and daughters drew Into a room where gunpowder was laid. The torch applied, those grim old warriors, free From care, sang each to other joyfully — Let us swim in the ocean of fig] it To the mansions of the Sun ; We have lived and fought in the sight Of our lord whose battles are done ; And we fear no Islamite Tlid he be as fifty to one. The star of a tyra7it abhorred To-day may be in ascendant ; Shall we kneel and feast from his board, On his bounty be dependent ? We have tasted the gifts of our lord, And will make his salt resplendent. AJIT SINGH 69 Let tJie music of sword and shield Begin for the brave Rahtore, His blood shall flow as on field Of renown his fathers' before. Let his eyes by sleep be sealed, He shall wake in Chandrapore? No man might look to ride thro' such a host, But Govind 6 smiled. Heroic Doorga Das (A name for evermore our country's boast, His virtues those of gods above surpass), With a choice few our Jeswant's child regains, And speeds once more towards Maroo's sandy plains. But war is all around : for safety's sake To sacred Abu Maroo's Hope they take, And there in secret among monks, unknown His birth, they rear him for his father's throne. 70 RHYMES OF RAJPUTANA But six-and-twenty years must pass of war Such as was never waged in days before, Thousands of Rajputs swergds mansions swell, And lakhs of Moslems grind their teeth in hell, And Arung there the nuzzcr" of their curses Receive s — ay, victories, reverses Must pass in shoals ere Jodhpore once again Proclaim her Ajit lord of all the plain. Did Arung dream that Jeswant's babe, concealed And borne by Meah true, thro' hand of Fate Which conquers all, would one day wave the shield Of triumph, thundering at his palace gate — Make and unmake the World's King, take Ajmere, And reign from Sambhur Lake to Jesalmere ? Yet so it came. Had Akbar lived, Chauhan, Sesodia, Hara, Bhattia, Rajasthan AJIT SINGH 71 With all her tribes, had not combined his power (For it was wise) to crush, e'en for an hour. But Arung thrust his Islam down our throats,, Shattered our idols ; 9 so when Lord Ajit Crested the wave and sank the bigot's boats, He made the Rahtore's lordship so complete That rites of Islam not a soul might dare To practise, and in Maroo everywhere Dread silence held the Moslem's call to prayer. This same Ajit (the ways of Fate are deep !) Exiled brave Doorga Das, his staunchest friend ; And by his own son murdered in his sleep, His splendid reign was brought to sudden end. 72 RHYMES OF RAJPUTANA Epilogue 'Twas Ajit's daughter given to Ferokhsir In marriage at the Court of Delhi led, If I may say so, to your presence here. For while the nuptials, as you may have read, Were going on, upon the Emperor fell A sickness, which an English doctor's skill Soon cured ; and so the marriage went off well. The Emperor, grateful, signified his will To let the doctor name his own reward ; And he, instead of asking for a hoard Of silver, sought a firman for a friend To start a factory — which in the end Became a town, Calcutta — brought your Clive And Warren Hastings. Thus a single hive AJIT SINGH 73 Of bees that looked for honey, stinging, slowly Spread over Hindusthan, and merchants lowly Built up the empire of your Empress Queen. That is how Ajit's daughter on the scene Comes in. But as for Doctor Hamilton, I never heard that anything was done For him. Give has a statue — he has none. 10 1 In the language of the bards Aurangzeb is always " Arung." 2 Paradise. 3 This draught was the usual prelude to death or victory in fight. 4 A term of respect applied to a Mahomedan, imputing respectability and experience. 5 City of the Moon. 6 Krishna — the supreme deity. 7 A gift presented in token of homage or respect. 8 Aurangzeb died A.D. I7°7- 9 See Note, p. 222. 10 Tod remarks: "To borrow the phraseology of the Italian historian, ' obligations which do not admit of being fully discharged are often repaid with the coin of ingratitude ' ; the remains of this man rest in the churchyard of Calcutta, without even a stone to mark the spot." THE FOUNDING OF BIKANIR, a.d. 1489 Bika, son of Jodha, addresses the Godarra and Roneali Jits O PATRIARCHS of the desert, ye have heard Of Jodha and the kingdom he hath won ; Strength of the lion, swiftness of the bird, Hath Bika the Rahtore, brave Jodha's son. Your clans are warring, ye have suffered long, Roneah, Godarra, I will make you strong. Ye fear your kindred Jits, ye dread the band Of Bhattis plundering from Jesalmere — THE FOUNDING OF BIKANIR 75 Fear not, my arm and name shall shield your land And cause your enemies in truth to fear. Here will I build a city, ay, and make The wilderness to blossom for your sake. Whose is this land ? The plot of Nera Jit — And he will have my city bear his name ? Well said, my friends, his name and mine shall meet And bring him and your country endless fame. We will set up a noble city here On this high ground and call it Bikanir. Your rights and privileges are secure : I guard them ever as I would mine own. Nay, while the line of Bika shall endure, I promise none shall e'er ascend the throne Till ye have set the tika l on his brow. So, that is done. Your foes are my foes now. 76 RHYMES OF RAJPUTANA I am your Chief : ye know my destiny Karniji at Deshnuk some years ago Foretold ; 2 she hath the seer's prophetic eye. Have I not routed Bhattis ? Yea, ye know What I have done ; 'tis not for me to say. But you shall see what I will do one day. 1 "The unguent of royalty. " See Note, p. 223. 2 " On reaching Deshnuk, 16 miles south of the present city of Bikanir, he paid his respects to a famous Charan woman named Karniji, who was known to be gifted with supernatural power. She said to him, " Your destiny is higher than your father's and many servants will touch your feet." — Powlett's Gazetteer of Bikanir. A RAJA'S DYING BEQUEST 1 BlKANIR, A.D. I 6 I I My sons, in Akbar Badshah's reign (May God confound him and his line !) There was a varlet in my train At Court to whom the King would sign When I was present, make him sit While I was standing, and play chess. 'Twas thus he sharpened sour wit Upon the Rajput : and thro' stress Of circumstance I had to smile And Akbar's condescension thank : My fierce blood boiling all the while At such an insult to my rank. 78 RHYMES OF RAJPUTANA So I resolved it should go hard With that same base-born dog whose fame At chess had won the King's regard. " He shall pay dearly for his game When we get back to Bikanir," Methought ; but somehow thro' some fate Unkind the fellow scented fear (He was the Dewan of the State) And fled to Delhi. (Those who let The hound escape you may be sure My royal wrath did not forget.) Well, there he prospered, and no lure Could tempt him back. When Akbar died Jahangir Badshah called me. Then This Karam Chand Bachawat's pride (I hated him above all men) Was humbled by the hand of Death. A RAJA'S DYING BEQUEST 79 I saw him dying, and my tears Deceived his sons ; but his last breath Revived, 'tis said, their slumbering fears. He warned them that I wept to see Him dying undisgraced, and told Them never to return to me. In vain my grief with theirs condoled, That warning stuck. Xow I am dying All unavenged on him and his : I charge you therefore, cease not trying By all the wiles of Nemesis To lure Bachawats here once more. And when they come — good boys and true, Remembering that slight of yore, You know what I would have you do. 1 Raja Rai Singh, who ruled in Bikanir from a.d. 1571 to A.D. 161 1. 80 rhymes of rajputana The Sequel Praise be to God ! I, Soor Singh When paying homage to the King, Succeeded where my father failed. By solemn promise I prevailed On Karam Chand's two sons to share The office that their father bare. Honoured as Dewans to their side Bachawats flocked and triumph cried, Believing that my father's son Rejoiced o'er ancient wrong undone. They sunned themselves in Fortune's beam. Two months I let them dream their dream, Then swooped upon them with one bound. Four thousand soldiers hemmed them round. A RAJA'S DYING BEQUEST 81 The day of vengeance broke at last — And so they met their fate, and passed. The dogs ground up their jewels, killed Their women — ay, and good blood spilled Of Rajput warriors, but not one Lived to behold the setting sun. I had them in a pretty fix — For what can one man do 'gainst six ? Their homes laid bare, I made that place For evermore a black disgrace To Karam Chand and all his race. 'Tis peopled by the Bojaks l now. So I fulfilled my father's vow. Praise be to God that I his son Have done what he would fain have done ! 1 Jain temple-sweepers. G RAJA KARAN SINGH OF BIKAXIR A.D. I 639- I 669 PROEM You know how two guns more or less In the case of a Raja's salute Will lead him to ban or to bless. And how very important to boot Is the distance you go to receive A Chief, and the place of his seat. And yet you may hardly believe The story I'm going to repeat. Bikaniris still tell it with pride To show what their Rajas could do ; RAJA KARAN SINGH OF BIKANIR 83 And unless their historians have lied It is all undeniably true. Other States may say it is not, Or set it aside with a laugh As a joke at the end of a plot, A comedy acted in chaff. This reading, however, is scouted By bards who punctilio revere And won't for a moment have flouted The dignity of Bikanir. 1 A bard of Bikanir is supposed to be speaking to an Englishman Soor Singh was great, but Karan Singh his son Did what no man in Rajasthan has done ; Made its proud chiefs acknowledge him as first, Bow down to him in durbar (how they cursed ! ). 84 RHYMES OF RAJPUTANA This was the way it came about. His sons Kesri and Padam Singh were brave in fight, And when Prince Dara fought for his own right And lost, they were among the lucky ones Who won. The Emperor, so people say, Brushed from their clothes the dust of battle — yea, With his own hand : great honour : he became Their friend and Karan Singh's. But all the same The crafty Aurangzeb, religion-mad, Broke up the temples at our sacred places Benares and Brindaban, led our races To war beyond the Indus River, had Contrived a scheme when on the other side To humble our religion and our pride, Our Hindusthan to bend upon her knee To Islam ; Akbar's tolerant policy Reversing thus. The bigot's secret plan RATA KARAN SINGH OF BIKAXIR 85 Was whispered to the chiefs of Rajasthan. Their rage was like the ocean in a storm, Their fears were as the snows on Caucasus ; So to dissemble and in cunning form Escape the Emperor's friendship tortuous Seemed wise. To cross the flood were ready then A thousand boats and more ; we sent our men To seize them for our crossing first. "But nay," Cried all the Islamites (a legion they Beside our troops), " we cross, O friends, then you." That they would say this, well our Rajas knew. That was the trick ; for when the stream so wide Was passed, our forces on the hither side, And all the boats sent back, it was agreed They should be broken. Who would take the lead In such a task ? The assembled Rajas said, " O Karan Singh, your country last need dread 86 RHYMES OF RAJPUTAXA The tyrant's vengeance ; he in truth might fear To plough the boundless sands of Bikanir. Therefore be yours to do this daring deed, We helping, and when done let's homeward speed." So said, so done : but Raja Karan Singh Named one condition — " I will do this thing If seated on my throne you pass to-day Before me, all of you, and homage pay." The chiefs of Rajasthan were ill content, But in the end they yielded their assent. So in durbar our prince was hailed as chief. 2 We mark the story as a golden leaf In our State annals, and may well reply, When others boast, that Bikanir ranks high. What did the Emperor do ? You may suppose His wrath at finding that we had retreated RAJA KARAN SINGH OF BIKAXIR 87 And seeing all his dark design defeated. Twas told him Karan Singh was first of those Who led retreat, and how that he had rent The boats in pieces : therefore on return To Delhi was an army straightway sent To march on Bikanir and slay and burn. Ah ! then our chief, remembering in distress That piety is good and saints can bless, Turned to Karniji at her Deshnuk shrine And through entreaty won a grace divine. For lo, the army by some sudden thought Of Aurangzeb's was back to Delhi brought. There came a summons to brave Karan Singh, And scorning fear he went to face the King. vi Let the worst fall," he said, " the Moghal's eye Shall see a Rajput does not quail to die ! " 88 RHYMES OF RAJPUTANA In cloth of gold and jewels bright arrayed The Badshah of the World (they called him so) Sat in his hall of audience. Diamonds made The sunlight dim, but e'en that durbar's glow, Tho' it outshone the star beside the pole, Was darkened by the murder in his soul : For he had ordered that brave Karan's life Should pass in durbar by the assassin's knife. The plot was ripe ; but suddenly the King Beheld beside their father Kesri Singh And Padam Singh, those famous men who fought His battles against Dara, and the thought That Kesri Singh had saved his life uprising Leapt from his lips. On which wise Karan Singh Exclaimed, " The victory of my lord the King Was due to his own piety surprising — He read the Koran all throughout the fight." RAJA KARAN SIXGH OF BIKANIR S9 Whereat the Emperor changed his former spite (The butchers read his sign), and purposed then Not to destroy but use such gallant men. So Karan Singh was spared, thro' his brave lad, And sent on service to Aurangabad. And there he died long after, having founded The village Karanpura and surrounded It with pan gardens. There a temple too He built unto our saint Karniji, who Had saved and guided him all perils through. Saiyads in Bikanir — you ask me how They came. 'Twas Karan Singh who brought them. First Was one who in that tale I told just now Revealed the Emperor's design accursed 90 RHYMES OF RAJPUTANA To stamp out our religion. Him our lord Granted a village free of rent and gave A pice on every house ('twas good reward) In Bikanir. And since the seed of brave And faithful Saiyads grew. They serve us fair, And are not like Mahomedans elsewhere. 1 See Note, p. 224, for another anecdote of punctilio also told in Powlett's Gazetteer of Bikanir. - In Bikanir it is stated that he was saluted as king of the jungle, and the present Maharaja's note-paper bears under a device or crest the inscription, " Jai, fungal dhar badsha " (Triumph, king of the jungle ! ). RAJA GAJ SINGH OF BIKANIR TO RAJA BIJEY SINGH OF JODHPORE 1 At Jeypore, a.d. 1764 We little thought, my friend, our host Was fooling us with elephant fights And fountains playing, feasts and sights And dancing girls. What riles me most Is — not the time in waiting lost To hear if he would send his aid To guard your fort against the raid Of those Mahrattas who are round it And growing much too strong — confound it ! 92 RHYMES OF RAJPUTANA What vexes me is this — that he, After recalling many a year Of friendship 'twixt his house and mine, And saying that he wished to see Those villages of Bikanir Which Ajit Singh unjustly took And you would rather not resign, Returned to me — should secretly Propose that you be brought to book, Not by persuasion, friendship's claims, Which no one of our kindred blames, But by a dungeon's walls, or worse, The assassin's knife. It is the curse Of all our houses that such tricks Should be so common. I refused To have my friend so badly used, On which Jeypore himself excused, GAJ SINGH TO BIJEY SINGH 93 Saying he must go talk to you. Suspecting treachery in the wind, At once I bade my trusty two Follow the crafty one behind. The rest you know ; how in durbar He rose and was about to go — The signal for some sharp tnkvar, Nay fifty, to divide your spine — When those two followers of mine Sprang up and caught Maharaja by The girdle and most courteously Requested him to sit and show Their fears were groundless. But one blow At you and he was a dead man, And I his foe. He saw my plan — And understood it. What is more, 94 RHYMES OF RAJPUTANA He honoured as a chieftain can The courage of the bold Rahtore 2 — Who else had dared to stop such wrong ? Our bards at home shall make a song That thro' the ages loud shall ring In praise of Pern and Hathi Singh. But now, my friend, let us away. I'll see you out of this. Some day This courtesy you may repay. 1 With reference to this and the next Rhyme, see Note, p. 225. 2 The Maharaja forbade any attack on them, " and Bijai Singh, at the sug- gestion of the two Bikanir Thakurs, withdrew, joined Gaj Singh, and they both returned to their camp ; Pern Singh and Hathi Singh remaining behind to apologise and give up their swords to Madho Singh, whom they declared they honoured as their master. They readily obtained the forgiveness of Madho Singh, who permitted the two chiefs to depart on hostages being given for the performance of Gaj Singh's promise to return after seeing Bijai Singh across the boundary." — Powlett's Gazetteer of Bikanir. HIJEY SINGH TO GAJ SINGH At Nathdwara, a.d. about 1770 You were my father's friend — alas That on his name there rests that stain ! E'en gifts to Brahmans are in vain For guilt of parricide to pass. You know he did the deed to raise -His brother Abhey Singh, and how They quarrelled — and in after days How Abhey tried a force to bring Against my sire Bakhtawar Singh, And would have crumpled you as well. 96 RHYMES OF RAJPUTANA There is no need for me to tell My father's friend and mine how Fate Has linked our fortunes, nor relate How his strong arm has added weight To mine. We have been close allies. And rest assured that I do prize The honourable aid you lent (Would all my friends were as well-bred !) That time when like a fool I went, Trusting to Honour's risky laws, And put my very foolish head Into the Jeypore tiger's jaws. The poisoned robe he sent my sire Should have reminded me to dread The venom of his treacherous ire. You got me out of that — and I, You will remember by-the-bye, BIJEY SINGH TO GAJ SINGH 97 Gave you some villages on which You'd set your heart, and sent a rich Donation to Karniji's shrine At Deshnuk. That is past and gone. Touching this question you have mooted I ask you, would you have me hooted ? I see that it would make your name Still greater if through you Mewar Regained this district of Godwar (Though that of course is not your aim), And I would help you if I could As far as loyal ally should. For well you know 'twixt you and me There is no room for jealousy. Sprung like myself from Jodha's veins, No chieftain worthier maintains His lordship — over desert plains. H 98 RHYMES OF RAJPUTANA As for his learning, I declare It makes Nathdwara's Gosain stare. But, O my friend, recall to mind What I have borne through fate unkind, Since first we rode in that great fight When panic cast its fearful blight, As our own guns by strange mischance Scattered the finest cavalry That e'er in Maroo l carried lance. And then a misbegotten lie, That I the King was low and dead, Like a fierce jungle fire spread, And so our armies broke and fled. You know how that same luckless King, Charging whole squadrons thro' and thro', Full many a Rajput's life-blood drew And many a stout Mahratta slew, BIJEY SINGH TO GAJ SINGH 99 Yet at the last, no succour nigh, Was forced (O shame !) to turn and fly, Fly like a bird upon the wing. Then after that my Thakurs, all At feud among themselves, made life A burden to me. Stop their brawl I could not, save by foreign strife. Therefore it was that Umerkote I took, and filched from Jesalmere A slice — poor conquests, not a groat Of gain my treasury to cheer. Then one bright ray of fortune smiled. Mewar, distracted by worse hap Than mine of Thakurs, like a child Placed this rich jewel in my lap To keep for safety. 2 Safe enough It is : now, say you, please restore ? ioo RHYMES OF RAJPUTANA My Thakurs are a trifle rough — Just put that to them. What a roar They make ! I told you — live, let live. You see Godvvar's not mine to give. 1 The old name for Marwar — signifies death. 2 "This district, which was won with the title of Rana from the Purihara, prince of Mundore, before Jodpoor was built, and whose northern boundary was confirmed by the blood of the Chondawut chief in the reign of Joda, was confided by the Rana to the care of Raja Beejy Singh of Jodpoor, to prevent its resources being available to the Pretender, whose residence, Komulmer, com- manded the approach to it." — Tod, vol. i. p. 434. BIJEY SINGH ON HIS DEATH-BED A.D. I794 1 Who says that victory waited on Ram Singh And never on my arms ? Do they forget Tonga ? We charged the Frenchman at his guns, Recovered all that Sindhia took from us, Ay, and redeemed Ajmere. Was that Ram Singh Or I ? Good God ! To think that four years afterwards, Ajmere retaken, the Mahratta yoke Was heavier than ever on our necks. Patan and Merta — bah ! they sicken me, Those names. Jeypore again : the Kachwaha, 102 RHYMES OF RAJPUTANA My father's foe and mine, secured himself, Even when leagued with me against De Boigne. Alone the Rahtore galloped on those guns — Our ally had received his price. No wonder We failed. But worst of all to know our chains Were riveted at Merta by a man Of our own clan — yes — Rahtore — spit upon His name for evermore — Bahadur Singh, The chief of Kishengurh. What next ? what next ? That breaks my heart. Why, Damraj, in whose veins Flowed only Rajput bravery, not blood, When he received my order to deliver Ajmere, obeyed, but saying, " Let the Southron step Over my body," swallowed diamond dust. Alas, 'tis true the fortunes of my house Have darkened ever, thro' no fault of mine ! BIJEY SINGH ON HIS DEATH-BED 103 The curse, the curse — I seem to hear the bards Proclaiming at my mausoleum, " Ah ! The Kamdhuj 2 killed his father brave Ajit : His mother cursed him from the funeral pyre : Her awful ringing curse, The murderer's bones May they not burn in Maroo, was fulfilled, And dogged his son for over thirty years With sad misfortune." 1 See Note, p. 226. 2 A titular appellation of the Rahtore kings which they brought from Kanauj. AT JESALMERE 1 Who would have dreamt in such a waste of sand To find such art in carven work of stone ? A castle worthy of an ancient throne, And this same art proclaim to all the land A fallen greatness. Once the roving band Which Deoraj and Jesal called their own Grew to possess much territory known As Bikanir and Marwar since the hand Which grasped was cold, and evil dogged its days. The desert tribes were always reivers bold AT JESALMERE 105 And fortune swayed as leaders strove to raise The spoil a weaker gauntlet failed to hold. Yet bards resound the ancient Bhatti's praise — The Rajput counts his lineage more than gold. Famed for its camels, Jesal's city wears The camel's hue ; one colour all around Save the blue sky. 'Tis strange the desert-bound The love of fatherland so constant bears That e'en the Sett, whose interests and cares In foreign loans and merchandise are found, Clings to the home on his ancestral ground And by the name Marwari proudly swears. It breathes to him the desert air. By chance The desert saved this land for many a year From the Mahratta's desolating lance. 106 RHYMES OF RAJPUTANA Scourged by the Moslem and by sword and spear Of its own factions, how the old romance Reddens with slaughter luckless Jesalmere ! 1 Tod spells the name of the founder as Jessul, and says the site of the town was pointed out by a hermit named Eesul, who stipulated that the fields to the westward of the castle should retain his name. See Note, p. 228. AT JEYPORE The Kachwahas Local guide loquitur FROM Kush the son of Rama we derive Kachwa or Kachwaha our tribal name. There is a word like that which also means The Tortoise, and sometimes our enemies Have taunted us with being slow, altho' They blame us too for being first to give A daughter to the Delhi Emperor In marriage : let that pass — the times Were evil ; chiefs and leaders everywhere 108 RHYMES OF RAJPUTANA Spotted the name of every tribe and state, And we being nearest to the Delhi throne Were first o'ershadovved. What of that ? The others Followed soon after — M£war last of all, Because 'twas far and lay among the hills. But if you come to measure chiefs, Man Singh, Jey Singh, the Mirza Raja, brave Pratap, Will bear comparison in arms, while none, Nay, not a man in Hindusthan, for science Could hold a candle to Siwai Jey Singh. {Siwai, or one-and-quarter, was a title Given to mark that he was head and shoulders Above the common run of chiefs and men.) Amber had been our capital for seven Long centuries since Hamaji had driven The Minas from it, but Siwai Jey Singh Founded and named this city with broad streets AT TEYPORE 109 And room to spread in Seventeen Twenty-eight. So Amber was deserted — the old place Slowly has crumbled to a lovely ruin Delightful to the tourist. Ah ! Jey Singh Was a great man, the Euclid of his day ; Versed in astronomy, observatories He made in other cities besides this. Science, the parent of ingenious arts, Found, if not pupil, patron wise, sagacious, In our last chief Ram Singh, who left a name For help to learning, art, and making laws, For being liberal to the cultivator In time of famine, which the present chief Maharaja Madho Singh will not let die. Look round and see our College, streets with water Laid on from taps, gas-lighted, see our gardens And Albert Hall which Colonel Jacob built, no RHYMES OF RAJPUTANA And ask him (for he has been twenty years Our architect and engineer, bestowing Blessing around in various ways and making His name a household word throughout the state), Ask Dr. Hendley, the authority On Indian Art, when you have seen the Mayo Hospital, the museum he created, And other institutions in the town, If we deserve the name of Tortoise. Ha ! Tis a good joke — the State which spends the most And has the greatest revenue, is first In education — but I will not boast : The Rajputs everywhere are brave and strong, And all of us should use our strength for peace And fruits of peace. Sir, that is our endeavour. INFANTICIDE The outer world and its fast-changing ways Is scarce a theme the Rajput loves to praise. But is there left a man of sword and spear, Who ties his beard and whisker round each ear, So wedded to the ancient beaten track As to desire the days of Suttee back ? Widows there may be, even children, so Encompassed by a lifelong doom of woe That to them stricken the old funeral pyre Seems mercy thro' its swift release by fire ; But the strong hand that quenched the death of flame Is reverenced throughout the land, and shame U2 RHYMES OF RAJPUTANA Now clings to relics of a country's pride — What relic worse than girl-infanticide? The Rajput may not marry in his clan : A daughter's dower has ruined many a man : Chdrans, or bards, who came to bless or ban At every marriage feast, than locusts worse, Beggared the simpletons who feared their curse. 1 And all were simple ; Custom held them down — Custom, the king who laughs at every crown. Infanticide was heir to that same king, And had been conquered by Siwai Jey Singh Had all the States of Rajasthan agreed To join the crusade that he tried to lead. But no, a chief would bear a lifelong load For Charan's praise — it might be one brief ode — And so to pay for marriage song and mirth INFANTICIDE The little girls were smothered at their birth. Jey Singh was wise and counselled a decree That none should spend on marriage feast and fee More than his income for a single year ; But old Rajwarra wisdom would not hear, Or dared not, till, infanticide made crime By English rule, slow-educating time And hard experience brought the lesson home That erst unheeded many a stately home Had marred. An English ruler found Seven years ago an hour when men around Were willing to unite and shake the throne Of that old custom which had made them groan. So the society which bears the name Of Colonel Walter 2 rose, and has done more Than Jey Singh ever dreamed of; but his aim Deserves to be linked with it evermore. I ii 4 RHYMES OF RAJPUTANA After-thought Is it a judgment for the crime that wide Spread the dark guilt of girl-infanticide That even now for Rajput chief 'tis rare To be succeeded by a lineal heir? Look round — how many a throne is filled by one Adopted, not begotten, as a son ! 1 See Note, p. 229. J This society, known as the Walterkrit Rajputra Hitkarini Sabha, founded in A.D. 1888 when Colonel Walter was Governor-General's Agent in Rajputana, has framed, and is successfully working, with the general consent of all the States, rules whose object is to prevent marriages between Rajputs of immature age, and to restrict expenditure on marriages and funerals, which used to be ruinous. IN SHEKHAWATI Here where the sand is deep a hardy breed Of men and horses range ; 'tis Bikanir Or Marwar in the face, Jeypore in name, And tributary to the capital Of gas and water pipes, in sharp contrast. Nor loves the brave Shekhawat to recall That tribute ; often he remembers how A younger son of Amber, given this land In appanage and yearning for a son, Was comforted by prophecy of saint, A holy man of Islam, Sheikh Burhan — no RHYMES OF RAJPUTANA Which, all fulfilled, gave birth to Sheikhji (named After the saint) who founded empire free From yoke of any chief of his own clan. Nearly five hundred years have passed since then : And Sheikhji's sons, by cleavage of home feud Continual, lost the lordship that forsakes The house divided, ere the locust-swarm Of fierce Mahrattas pillaging around In the last century laid waste their land, And left them subject to their suzerain In name and truth. This, when the old blood stirs, Is all forgotten like a vanished dream. Too many chiefs the blight that nipped the flower Of former greatness, manifest the seeds Of weakness in the custom that divides To every son his father's land in shares Equal. Each country has its own fixed ways, IN SHEKHAWATI 117 But by this Shekhawati surely forged Her own subjection, tho' they say 'twas Fate. That Sheikh Burhan should have a shrine, be held In veneration, that his progeny Is numerous and well dowered, is not strange. But that these Rajputs carry reverence So far that every man-child born to them Wears for two years in infancy the garb, Or emblem of the garb of Musalman, And that they should abjure the flesh of hog, Which other Rajputs love and hold it duty To eat of once a year — is that not strange ? BUND I Rao Raja Surjan Singh of Bundi at Benares ABOUT A.D. 1586 I HEARD a voice last night when sleep refused Its opiate, and it said reproachingly : Rao Surjan, head of the brave Hara clan Which sprang from the Chauhan who held Ajmere And with it Ranthambor for centuries Till the great fortress passed unto Mewar : Rao Stir j an, son of Arjan, who put on The saffron at Chitor and glorified The name of Bundi — his departure, bards Have sung, the world amazed beheld. Rao Surjan BUNDI 119 Holding in trust for Mewar Ranthambor Betrayed his trust, bribed by the Emperor. Sdwant the Hara and a virtuous few Scorning to yield set up a pillar graved With curse on Hara prince who should ascend And quit the castle after with his life, And then died fighting. From that day hath been Silence between Meivar and Bundi : now The Hara tuhen he passes turns away His face from Ranthambor lest he behold A monument of shame. Was it for this Rao Surjan bought the name Rao Raja ? Nay, Just think — the Raja Man Singh of Amber, When Akbar's army lay around below The fortress, came to visit me attended By a mace-bearer who, seen thro' disguise, 120 RHYMES OF RAJPUTANA Was Akbar : straightway was a gadi laid, Whereat the Emperor spake, and Raja Man Counselled surrender in return for gifts. I thought of him my sire who at Chitor Fell fighting — thought and spurned : again The memory of Rana Ratna slaying My ancestor his host by treachery Came and I wavered : finally it seemed I could ennoble Bundi and my clansmen Most, the great Emperor being in my hands, By wringing much advantage. Yes, I know He promised government of territory Large, but my heirs will reap the benefit Of more than the Rao Raja then conferred. I stipulated that no Bundi chief Should give a princess to the Delhi throne ; Should pay the poll-tax, serve beyond the Indus ; BUNDI 121 That Bundi vassals should not be required To send their wives or female relatives At the Naoroza festival abhorred To the imperial palace, and when summoned Unto the hall of audience should enter Armed at all points : their sacred edifices Should be respected ; service when exacted Should place them under no Hindu commander : Their horses should not bear the imperial brand ; That they should beat their kettle-drums in Delhi As far as Lai Darwaza, the Red Gate, And should not kowtow entering The Presence ; That Bundi should be evermore to Haras Their capital, as Delhi to the Emperor. Also he gave me residence at Kasi, 1 With right of sanctuary in our holy city. Were these not gifts to Bundi — lacking salt 122 RHYMES OF RAJPUTANA To me perhaps who bought them by unfaith ? But have I not wiped out the evil from them ? Did I not win such victory for the King That he, without petition, bade me take Benares and Chunar and rule them well ? Have I not purged this district of dacoits And banished thieves from villages and towns ? Have I not prayed and built and beautified ? Here in this city public edifices Fourscore, and four-and-twenty baths besides Proclaim my zeal ; while my benevolence Pilgrims from every quarter laud. 'Tis true, 'Tis true — but yet in spite of all these things Would God it had been some one else not I Who gave up Ranthambor ! 2 That deed hath cost Much feed of Brahmans, yet it pricks me still. 1 Benares. 2 See Note, p. 230. THE DISCROWNING OF UMED SINGH 1 a.d. 1 77 1 MY image upon the pyre Hath burned with the hair of my son, And as tho' I had passed thro' the fire The twelve days mourning are done. Thus Umeda the chief of the Haras Resigns what his sword had won. 124 RHYMES OF RAJPUTANA Two hundred years, as ye know, Have passed since Jahangir the King At our greatness struck the first blow, When he gave unto Madho Singh Our Kotah, the pride of the Chambal, By way of thank-offering. For Haras divided he knew Would never be strong: the old tree Lost sap as her torn branches grew ; We fought our own kinsmen, and we Had not only Moghal for suzerain But Amber for enemy. THE DISCROWNING OF UMED SINGH 125 Ye know how hard was his yoke ; My father in exile did die : 'Twas fourteen years ere I broke The usurper and forced him to fly. Ah ! the price that I paid the Mahratta, It hath cost me many a sigh. And still the thought of those years My bosom with anger fills ; Like a queen enslaved and in tears. Oppressed by a thousand ills, Lay our Bundi, queen and a widow, Enthroned in her beautiful hills. 126 RHYMES OF RAJPUTANA The tale of Hanja my steed, Whose statue stands in the square, Ye know, and how in that need, Tho' I spoke the traitor fair, My vassal of Indergarh rebelled And bade me depart elsewhere. I was only a boy at the time, And when I recovered my own Was content to forget his crime — Almost, till eight years had flown, When the coward recalled it by throwing At the name of my sister a stone. THE DISCROWNING OF UMED SINGH 127 So the bride I offered Jeypore Was refused, and after I learned His taunt was the seed of our war When the cocoa-nut was returned. Then I vowed on the cur and his litter The vengeance methought he had earned. I invited them, sire and son And grandson, to meet me one day, And slaughtered them every one At a stroke. My friends, do you say 'Twas a treacherous act ? Yea, I know it. For the soul of Umeda pray. 128 RHYMES OF RAJPUTANA Fifteen years have I ruled Since the life of those men was shed ; The hot blood of youth hath cooled, And ye, O my people, have said That I loved you, and Bundi hath prospered- Ah ! but the thought of those dead, The guilt of that deed, hath been My spectre and constant guest, Hath come in the night between My head and the pillow it pressed ; And therefore this present discrowning, I seek by penance for rest. THE DISCROWNING OF UMED SINGH 129 I retire to wash out that stain In Gunga, 2 to search for increase Of piety, if through much pain The gods will have pity and cease To torment me here and hereafter. Farewell. Let my son rule in peace. 1 See Note, pp. 231-34. 2 The sacred river Ganges. KOTAH AND JHALAWAr Nearly three centuries and a half ago This land, once held by Bheels, then Bundi's fief, Was given by Shah Jahan to its first chief Rao Madho Singh ; and spite of many a blow From warring kinsmen, siege from proud Amber And the Mahratta, stoutly held its own. The bard still sings how Zalim saved the throne When the brave Haras stood and fought in square KOTAH AND JHALAWAR 131 Close to Bhatwarra ; and again ten years After that battle, when he turned aside The hordes of Holkar, spreading far and wide, By skilful payment. Yet what groans and tears Came through the hand that saved, and held in thrall For sixty years his sovereign and his race, Spread corn and wealth upon the country's face To feed his power, protected her from all Dominion save his own ! Zalim, the bold, The handsome, famed for wisdom, wit, Soldier and statesman, matchless hypocrite, Nestor of Rajasthan when blind and old — i 3 2 RHYMES OF RAJPUTANA The Jhala's pride and Hara's curse : whom Fate After his death, to Hara's endless moan, Bequeathed a kingdom x near his fort Gagrone, Reft, as was Kotah, from the parent state. 1 The treaty made by Kotah through Zalim Singh with the British Government provided that he and his heirs should retain the administration of the State under the Chief. This stipulation was cancelled in 1838, Jhalawar, a part of Kotah, being formed into a separate State, the Chief of which must be a descendant of Zalim Singh. ZALIM SINGH a.d. 1818 What will they say of the Jhala, the young Foujdar who became King of the country he served in all but the empty name, Who bowed the pride of the Haras, was unequalled in Rajasthan ? Will they call him only a robber and class him with Amir Khan ? 134 RHYMES OF RAJPUTANA From the day I fought against Amber and held the Mahratta in fee To the time when the British power spread over the land like a sea 'Twas a soldier's fortune to hold what his sword had won by guile, The part of a statesman to meet his enemy's wile by wile. The man who must see behind as well as in front, and sleep At night in an iron cage, why, his thoughts must needs He deep ; To trust in the faith of another is like pouring water on sand : How could I thus unravel the plots I have held in my hand ? ZALIM SINGH 135 Cruel no doubt they will call me, the hot turmoil of strife Has made me value but lightly a Thakur's or peasant's life; Nay, my own have I risked as boldly — it is all a game of chess, Where the winner cares but little if the loser blame or bless. Would my star have mounted higher when I fought for Oodeypore Had the Rajput only driven the Mahratta from her door? But he broke us, I was wounded, a prisoner — all was lost. So I turned again to Kotah, to the Chief whom I had crossed. 136 RHYMES OF RAJPUTANA Crossed in love — well, he forgave me. I rose to power and fame, To the terror of all moneyed men, who would not play my game. For I eased them of their plunder : but ask the ryot now Who made the land a cornfield and multiplied the plough ? Who, when other States were crumbling, kept this one safe and sound, Had friends and spies in the councils of the Durbars all around — When the cut-throat English soldiers were cursed by many a Court Foresaw that tide of conquest, and steered this ship to port? ZALIM SINGH 137 These eyes are blind to the sunlight, and face of friend and foe, Eighty years have chilled and darkened the spirit's fire and glow, But the old man's mind is steady, tho' thin and cold in his veins The blood that careered at twenty like a river after the rains. See, there is the English treaty, signed, sealed, beyond a doubt. It gives me a written charter for all I had without, And which I might have lost, the power and name of regent — nay, It leaves to my heirs the regency for many a coming day. 138 RHYMES OF RAJPUTANA Will they hold it ? Only God knows. I kept my seat by force, And always said a Rajput's throne was on the back of his horse. But times are changing, after I am gone there will be then Some value in a sunnud from this new imperial pen. All the Durbars of Rajwarra will now be coming in To join the English redcoats, because they are strong and will win : They seek not to topple over thrones, or to look behind The rights of the men in power ; they guarantee what they find. ZALIM SINGH 139 What with Moghal and Mahratta, two grindstones grind- ing small, Rajasthan has swayed and tottered, like a man about to fall; Every day a new marauder lifts his head and beats his drums ; Peace, with one strong arm protecting, will be welcome when it comes. My son may see it, but often I think ' will he manage to guide this State ? ' Well, I've done my best, and must leave the rest in the hand of inscrutable Fate. One thing I know, I have ruled this land far better than any king : And men will say the same some day who now curse Zalim Singh. AT BHURTPORE The Jats 1 Local guide loquitur. The Rajput's lineage veiled in cloud May be of longer date than ours — God knows what mysteries enshroud The pedigrees of ruling powers. Enough for us that Jats can claim An ancient history and have made Here and in Punjab such a name That none of us need be afraid To wear it, whether war or peace. Whence came the Sikhs and Ranjit Singh ? AT BHURTPORE 141 Bhurtpore began to make increase When Suraj Mai was chief and king. He built this fort — how long ago? A century and a half perchance : Tis not Chitor, with all the glow Of ancient glory and romance ; Its fame is modern — ninety years Or less since General Lake was here And stormed in vain, tho' prudent fears Led to surrender that same year. Four months had Ranjit bravely held These walls ; the British loss was great ; But all their foes were being quelled, And Ranjit wished to save his State. Lord Lake was strong, had taken Deeg. Holkar, who then was in this Fort A refugee — with whom in league 1 42 RHYMES OF RAJPUTANA We thought to cut the redcoats short — Saw that the game was up : so peace Was made and has remained, save when Hot Durjan Sal by force took lease Of fort and gadi. Then again The redcoats came in Twenty-Six, Stormed, and set up the rightful heir. Bhurtpore has had no politics Since then ; but fearful grief and care Fell on us when the blood-red waves Of mutiny in Fifty-Seven Surged round and thro' and no one knew Where next would work the deadly leaven. Our chief a boy, those round him stood Faithful to British salt and wise ; This Fort the men of fire and blood From Neemuch would have made their prize AT BHURTPORE 143 But for the Durbar. Muttra near, Agra, the North-West, all in flame, Had Rajasthan rebelled that year — Were all of us quite free from blame ? Ask Kotah — foolish men will be In every State ; your records show We let the lawless soldiery Go by and fought them too as foe. Did we remember Najaf Khan A hundred years or so before, And Sindhia later? Rajasthan Remembered, yet in such uproar When men see blood and hear strange cries Tis hard to sunder right from wrong, Wisdom from folly's swift surprise. The British raj had lasted long And was asleep, they said — not one 144 RHYMES OF RAJPUTANA White soldier near : 2 the prophecy That told the hundred years were done Since Panipat when it should die Had spread — thank God, we chose aright. Now in Bhurtpore you may review Troops kept for distant frontier fight. Jodhpore and Jeypore, Ulwar too And Bikanir, such troops maintain Or transport. You should see our Chief Move cavalry upon the plain. He knows the drill-book, every leaf. 3 1 See Note, p. 234. 2 See Note, p. 236. 3 The Chief here referred to, Maharaja Jeswant Singh, G.C.S.I., died in December 1893. ULWAR, 1 1892 Gardens and groves of orange, avenues Of shady trees ; a city at the base Of a steep rock-bound, fort-crowned hill ; bright hues Of flowers and varied tillage ; many a trace Of Western thought in disciplined array Of troops, schools, hospitals ; while all the East Breathes in the palace of a bygone day, Which travellers praise and where they love to feast Their eyes on pearls and books of ancient date And curious arms. These, with a fertile soil And hardy race, are Ulwar — modern State, Twelve decades old ; in ancient times the spoil L 146 RHYMES OF RAJPUTANA Of Moslem from the Rajput, till their creed Mixed with the Jadu's blood — a hybrid strain. Baber and Akbar, Aurangzeb, thro' greed Of power came here and conquered : then again The J at from Bhurtpore raided fifty years ; Till the Narukas, sprung from Jeypore, seized The helm which now their fifth chief calmly steers, Peace on the wave, and tumult all appeased. 1 See Note, p. 236. AMIR KHAN'S SOLILOQUY At Tonk, a.d. 1818 They talk of their lineage old, these Chiefs of the Sun and Moon, And of me as a robber bold who founded a throne by crime ; Let them hurl hard names as they please, my sons and the world will soon Forget how the robber rose ; it is only a question of time. 148 RHYMES OF RAJPUTANA Their Rama and Krishna, methinks, if they ever existed, were thieves, Like Bappa and Jodha and all the strongest men who have made Kingdoms ; the kingdoms of earth, what are they but golden sheaves To be bound by the men who have reaped, whose will is to be obeyed ? Holkar and Sindhia were not so squeamish as these old kings ; I served them well and they paid the labourer worthy of hire. Did I serve Jeypore when he paid ? Did I break the seal and strings Of an oath when my guns spoke false as they raked an ally with fire ? AMIR KHAN'S SOLILOQUY 149 Jeypore perhaps may complain — that is one of my present griefs ; Let it pass as an old mistake, and that of the same false guns Which blundered the day at Nagore when forty of Marwar's chiefs, Who came to feast at my tents as friends, made room for their sons. Is there nothing more to regret ? The cowards say that I slew The girl they poisoned between them ; l they laid her death at my door Because I bullied the chief whose blood is bluest of blue For a fee from that Raja Man, the oily demon Rahtore. 1 5 o RHYMES OF RAJPUTANA Naught else? Nay, how should a man who held the Rajput in thrall, And who started in life with only the sword of a bold Pathan, Stickle at trifles to win, or even remember all The blood that was shed as he fought in Malwa and Rajasthan ? Why doth the brain that steeled break silence kept till to-day With thoughts like these of a womanish hue ? I am lord and king, Have washed my hands and am clean from the blood and smoke of the fray — And shall I begin to fear the prick of a conscience- sting ? AMIR KHAN'S SOLILOQUY 151 Nay, 'tis only the whisper of things I fancy them saying abroad My brother chiefs — they will wince at that name ; for me 'tis enough To have carved my way to a throne by the edge of a fearless sword. Conscience ? A soldier like me is made of a sterner stuff. 1 See Rhyme on Krishna Kumari, page 53. MISCELLANEOUS LATEST ANECDOTE OF BIJEY SINGH OF MARWAR The latest anecdote of Raja Bijey Singh of Marwai is contributed by the Jodhpore Administration Report for 1SS7-SS, which says that he, "being himself a zealous Vishnav, strictly prohibited the manufacture and sale of liquor throughout the country, and that the prohibition remained in force in letter and spirit during a full period of twenty years. The Thakur of Ahwa, named Jet Singh, who had acted in opposition to these prohibitions, was seized and executed in the fort of Jodhpur on pretence of this very offence, though there existed a grudge against him on account of his unbearable insolence and defiance to the authority of the chief. The place, situated outside the ' Singoria Gate ' of the city of Jodhpur, where the Thakur's corpse was burnt, is still worshipped by the Jodhpur kalah (liquor-sellers), who con- sider the Thakur as a hero and martyr who sacrificed his life for their cause." Courtiers Didst thou, O King, an edict frame and seal That whoso brews or sells distilled liquor Shall straightway perish for his country's weal To make and keep it sober all the quicker ? 156 rhymes of rajputana King Tis true ; and from that question I may guess To loosen some one's head is now your notion, Relying on the fact that I profess To sect of Vishnu the most strict devotion. Still I may pardon if need be, why not ? A case may call for reconsideration. Courtiers The Ahwa Thakur is the culprit. King What ! Jet Singh ? This saves a lot of botheration. The beast hath long authority defied — Courtiers We thought the news would very likely please thee. King My royal edict can't be set aside. O holy Vishnu, thus do I appease thee ! LATEST ANECDOTE OF BIJEY SINGH OF MARWAR 157 Jet Singh is beheaded, and sainted as a martyr a hundred years after by the Jodhpur vintners, for whom the following elegy may serve : — Thou wert murdered, brave Jet Singh, By a water-drinking King : Does he know that beef and beer Brought the British soldier here ? Whisky too he drinks no end, Does the Englishman our friend, Who our enemies did scatter, Conquered Moghal and Mahratta. Water never did nor can Suit a Rajput nobleman : Therefore, Thakur, didst thou die In the cause of Libert}- : Liberty to tipple when You like belongs to all free men. " Rightly struggling to be free," 158 RHYMES OF RAJPUTANA Thee we praise, we honour thee. Yes, to honour thee we come, Martyr for our Indian rum, Which the soldier in the barrack Calleth by the name of arrack l And to denizens of Maroo Generally is known as dharoo ; Ages long it has been made, Hot and strong, it's good for trade ; And if opium were not grown We should each a fortune own. So to worship thee we come, Martyr for our Indian rum ! 1 Araq, essence. THE ULWAR TRIAL Kunj Behari Lai, a member of the Uhvur State Council, while dri%-ing in his carriage on a public road in Ulwur, on the 21st May 1S92, was attacked by a party of men, and despatched by swords. The Maharaja having died suddenly at Naini Tal the day after, the inquiry into the murder was con- ducted by the British Government, with the result that four men were convicted by a court composed of two English officers lent to the State. The court found that the murder had been authorised by the Maharaja, and was planned by his right-hand man and staff-officer, Major Ram Chander, who, by means of pressure, had induced the others to accomplish it. Akhey Singh, who, with Ram Chander, was sentenced to death, openly confessed as to the part he and his associates had taken, instigated thereto by Ram Chander and believing the murder had been commanded by the Raj (Maharaja). The following lines reflect bazaar comment in Rajputana after the trial. If the Raj had only lived, father, Where would have been the crime ? Most would have said, " Good riddance, And not before it was time " ; 160 RHYMES OF RAJPUTANA For the man had risen too fast, father, And had few friends in the place : Alas, it was hard for the Raj to die, And leave this sad disgrace ! To kill on a public road, father, Was bad — the best men make (As the ancient proverb hath it) At times, you know, a mistake. Ram Chander lost his sense, father But it seems a terrible thing For doing the Raj's own command To hang poor Akhey Singh. And Buddha to Kdla Pdni 1 For life ; seven years of jail To Chandra the son of Chajju — Alas for the women who wail ! THE ULWAR TRIAL 161 The dead man was not their rival Ram Chander's only — beside, Just think, not one would have suffered If the Raj had never died ! You say the Sirkar - says, father, No Raj has power to kill, But we know they have always done it, And some will do it still. # # # # # This case will make them fear, boy, And save some lives : our eyes Are blind, our weak hearts tremble. The big Sirkar is wise. 1 The common name for transportation across the sea or black water. - The British Government is known as the Sirkar, and the Chief of a State as the Raj or the Durbar. M THE BAORI'S REOUEST " Moghias (or Baoris) invariably select moonless nights for the commission of their crimes ; and in this connection a native official lately informed me that he was present in Court when a Moghia was sentenced to a heavy fine, and actually heard the prisoner beg for permission that payment might be deferred until the nights grew dark ! " — Extract from Report of the Superintendent of Moghias in Kajputana and Central India for 1S93. O FOR a land where the Baori Has plenty to eat and to do ! Nowadays not a single coivrie Can he raise without hullabaloo. Time was that the Setts when we raided Were quick with the melting pot, And the Raj and its Thakurs aided If pursuit were getting hot. THE BAORI'S REQUEST 163 It paid them well : and they fenced us From harm in some ancient keep ; But the Sirkar went against us, And now it's little we reap. There used to be lots for the scrambling When a line of camels showed, Or a fat Mahajan was ambling, At night on a lonely road. But the dear old days have departed, The merry old times are gone ; No wonder a chap's down-hearted When he's always " downed upon." These jails are enough to stifle Men used to the jungle free ; And it's hard to be fined for a trifle That wasn't worth a rupee. 104 RHYMES OF RAJPUTANA They have spoilt the taste and flavour Of life, these wretched police — I ask your Honour a favour : If you let me go in peace The fine shall be paid like rent, Sir, On the day it is due all right — But I hope you will kindly consent, Sir, To wait till a moonless night. STEPPING THE BOUNDARY In days when laws and people Were primitive yet wise, When villagers disputed O'er doubtful boundaries, The Rajput and the Bheel alike Would choose a trusted man, A grey-beard generally, who knew How every field began. 166 RHYMES OF RAJPUTANA How here was waste till such an one Reclaimed it ; there a well, Or watercourse, was made by A (His grandsire used to tell) ; B sowed this land for twenty years ; That patch belonged to C : The Grey-beard would be sure to know The boundary's history. If only he would speak the truth, On which they trusted solely ; For he would carry in his hand A little water holy, And on his head a wild beast's skin, Or goat's, to show that he If perjured of his oath a beast In the next world would be. STEPPING THE BOUNDARY 167 Thus fitted out, and solemnly Adjured by every god, Before the assembled multitude The boundary he trod. And where he stept the line was marked, And all men were content To follow till the trace grew faint That boundary settlement. Some churl perhaps when Grey-beard died, Some soured churl might say, " A jackal that I heard last night Howling in search of prey Reminded me of Grey-beard's voice : I always feared he'd rue Thro' holy Gunga's wrath the day He cut my field in two." 168 RHYMES OF RAJPUTANA But those who know the people well Aver the country-side Is thoroughly convinced and sure That Grey-beard never lied : And modern forms of settlement, So seldom understood, Are not, they think, as honest or In fact one half as good. Yet all agree the stepping mode Is out of date, because Of new inventions — railways, schools, Piece-goods, vakeels and laws, And fifty other things that since It flourished have occurred — To prove that as men " civilise " You cannot trust their word. A BHEEL DISPUTE MEWAR, i 89 i The local manager advises The Bheels are out in Sigri — They're shouting in the name Of Justice; and in Madri The Bheels are all aflame. For the Sigri men say Madri Has cheated them of land : A boundary dispute, you know, Is hard to understand. i 7 o RHYMES OF RAJPUTANA And generally among the Bheels It leads to blood and riot. This one both villages agreed To settle by panchayat : Who took a man from each and made Them swear by gods divine, Hand clasped in hand, impartially To step the boundary line. And so they stept it. Sigri swears That sixty beegahs, sown By them for twenty years, have now Been into Madri thrown : Their man, they say, was small and weak, And Madri's big and strong ; The big man took the line he liked, And forced the weak along. A BHEEL DISPUTE 171 They also say the panch 1 was bad, Or prejudiced, or bought, And would not listen to their pleas Or make the inquiry sought. As far as I can judge, the tale That Sigri tells is true, But, true or false, the question is, What is the Raj to do ? The Sahib has said both sides agreed To arbitration — yes. Therefore the panch must be upheld. That's not so clear, I guess. The Bheels are out, the kiltie's 2 raised And therefore I'm afraid The status quo must be restored And fresh inquiry made. 1 The usual abbreviaton of panchayat, a court of arbitration originally consisting of five {panch) members. 2 War-cry of the Bheels. A PETITION In the restless days of yore, in The time my father was a lad, Lony Ochter 1 Sahib came warring, Built the station Naseerbad ; Formed a regiment of Rasala At Rampura : with it came Mahmood Khan from near Ambala- That, Sir, was my father's name. A PETITION 173 You must know before their coming There had been a lot of trouble, Half the country round was drumming Unto arms, and playing double. Some were secretly inciting ; But the brave Rasala showed What Pathans can do in fighting. Through the district straight they rode. Lony Ochter Sahib soon scattered All his enemies afar ; Mahmood Khan was wounded, battered, And promoted Rasaldar ; Given a jagi'r in this village, Which he founded, where I dwell, Peaceably engaged in tillage, As my neighbours all can tell. 174 RHYMES OF RAJPUTANA This, my son, is the Patwari, He was taught by Ganesh Ram, Who I'm quite sure would be sorry If he came to any harm. Yet this Moonserim 2 is trying To withhold from us our due ; See, that field of mine is drying — He won't let the water through. What's the reason, sir ? God knows it. See, that channel from the tank — I could open it or close it, As the water rose and sank, Give our village what it needed, Store the rest ; but now they say Our supply must be impeded For some land two miles away. A PETITION 175 What would Mahmood Khan or Lony Ochter Sahib have said to this ? Ganesh Ram is widely known, he Is too straight to work amiss : He forgets, though, that Rasala. What could such as he is know Of Mahmood Khan from near Ambala, Him who made this village grow? He is young — young men in work are Sharp and active : I am old. What I say is, let the Sirkar Now the scales of justice hold. # # # * 176 RHYMES OF RAJPUTANA So he spoke, with warmth yet wary, Weaving in and out his tale Lony Ochter — Rasalddri As the words of most avail. 1 Persons resident in the East do not require to be told that the common people have a curious way of speaking of Ochterlony as Lony Ochter. 2 Moonserim, a sub-overseer in the Revenue Department. SNAKE-BITE An Incident of modern Ajmere The woman Khori, the wife Of the herdsman Amar Singh, Who saw her depart this life, And witnessed the cobra spring. There wasn't a doubt of the fact From all that the neighbours said : The snake was killed in the act And brought to the thdnah 1 dead. 1 A Police post, the head of which is called the thdnaddr. N 178 RHYMES OF RAJPUTANA But three weeks after a lad Looked into a disused well : And one month after a sad, Sad story there was to tell. The thanadar came and saw, And (to cut the matter short) Old Amar Singh and his brother-in-law Confessed in the Sessions Court They had put her out of the way Because of her goings-on. She went to the temple each day, Tho' they told her not to. Upon The temple steps she was seen The night she was last alive. And the priest he was young, with a full-fed spleen, While Khori was forty-five. SNAKE-BITE 179 And Rajput honour, you know, Recks little of English laws In a case like that. Xot a blow Was struck at the priest, because All scandal they wished to hide. It was rather fine — was it not ? And hard that no family pride May now wipe out such a blot, Without being chained like a thief, And banished across the seas. There is the story in brief Of a snake-bite — which, if you please, Is common enough. The tale In different forms you may learn To read if you take up the trail Of many a snake-bite return. A THAKUR AT HOME (In a British District) He lives amid a curious pile that towers Above the mud-built dwellings of the herd, Whose friend he is and chief of earthly powers. The sorcerer's spell, the Brahman's blighting word Maintain their sway beside his easy rule, And no one seems to feel the Thakur's thrall, For, save one modern thing, the Government School, Time-honoured custom is the lord of all. A THAKUR AT HOME 181 The sun goes down on droves of goats and kine Streaming within the village gates : the moon Looks on the Thakur boosing o'er his wine And lulled by beat of drum in endless tune. Contentment holds the village and its chief: The scene is one of dirt, but not of grief. II " A stagnant pool," the traveller may say : • " A century breeds no change where grief and mind Alike are not : none looks beyond to-day, Or knows the outer world ; their joys are blind. A man lies down beside the beast he drives, And eats his frugal meal without a sigh : Is that the goal and end of human lives ? — Content to live — content perhaps to die ! " 182 RHYMES OF RAJPUTANA Ah well ! the outer world is pressing in And coming nearer to the stagnant pool, And not to know will soon be held a sin — But is the Pundit happier than the fool ? God help the Thakur when he asks that question. It sticks a little in my own digestion. A THAKUR IN A RAGE (In a Native State) Friend, do you say it is well for us that the big Sirkar Is here to watch over our rights and our children's rights in the land ? It seems to me to be more on the side of a proud Durbar Which laughs secure at my wrong because I am tied foot and hand. 1 84 RHYMES OF RAJPUTANA Forty or fifty years ago this adoption case Would have cost my father no trouble ; his castle was armed for fight, His horses fleet, and his men the pick of an ancient race : A morning's ride and a dozen shots would have settled it all outright. Now I must waste, it seems, a couple of years and more In a game of Vakils and pay a mongrel pleader to scrawl ; He says he is working my case, and has sent already a score Of petitions to Abu and Simla : I'm sick and tired of it all. A THAKUR IN A RAGE 185 Scribes and judges may reap the rupees I have sown broadcast, But the Durbar will never forget it was weak when our house was strong. It seeks to lessen my power ; it owes me a grudge for the past, And is always watching and trying to make me out in the wrong. What do they want me to do ? Go out on the jungle ■ side With all my retainers and earn the name of an outlaw bold ? If they force me ever to that, I will humble somebody's pride ; It shall cost them dear, my revenge — I will pay it a thousandfold. MAULED At Siwai Madhopur (Jeypore) 3 rd January 1893 ONE of an army of beaters, Five or six hundred men, Followed a wounded tigress Down thro' a jungly glen ; Saw her lying, and rashly, Foolishly, threw a stone — (Says a shikari near him) We heard a roar and a groan. MAULED 187 Then four shots. The shikari (May bounce as shikaris can) Says that he dropped the tigress Standing over the man. Whatever the facts, his shooting Deserves a medal to win, For he saved the life of the beater, Tho' he spoilt the tiger's skin. Saved — let's hope : but a broken Arm from a tiger's jaws And wounds upon head and body From those terrible fangs and claws Must heal ere the reckless Naga Can be saved, poor fellow, outright, And show with pride in his village The marks of a tiger's bite. RHYMES OF RAJPUTANA One of an army of beaters, Five or six hundred men, Tracking a wounded tigress Down thro' a jungly glen — Why have I told the story ? Simply because he said, " Tell the Maharaja? 29th January His name was Sheoram Dass — and he's dead. The shikari's name has a Rajput ring, Shekhawat of Sikar is brave Oom Singh. THE PRESENT SIEGE OF BHURTPORE The Genius loci protests They talk of the siege of Bhurtpore, But never a thought they give, As their guns they wipe, whether duck and snipe Would rather die than live. No place like this they declare, And they call it sport and fun As the fowl go by like clouds in the sky To drop them one by one. igo RHYMES OF RAJPUTANA The white man's heart it is strong, We know his courage and pluck ; We are not Jain, 1 yet we cannot divine Why he shoots such myriads of duck. 'Tis good when a tiger dies, But we count it strange and harsh, The passion some feel for duck and teal And snipe in the lonely marsh. 1 The Jains object to the destruction of animal life in any shape, even of a noxious reptile or mad dog. A SOXG OF JODHPORE, 1893 There's a place in Rajputana with a fort of old renown And a liberal-hearted fine old king, And the traveller who visits that most hospitable town Hears a lot about Sir Pratap Singh. He is Minister and Commandant of Cavalry in one, And his fellows, by Jove, can ride ; You should go there for a " pig-stick " if you want to see some fun : There are pigs, Sir, on every side. Chorus Hunting the gallant boar, Englishman and Rahtore, Brothers in sport, ride o'er The sandy plain at Jodhpore. 192 RHYMES OF RAJPUTANA They won the Polo Tournament this year, the plucky team Sir Pratap took to Poona t'other day ; And the liberal-hearted king, Maharaja Jeswant Singh, Says his men can fight as well as play ; We shall find them by our side if we ever have to ride On the frontier far away against the foe, And we feel the brave Rahtore, like his ancestor of yore, Is an ally to be trusted, don't you know ? Chorus Hunting the gallant boar, Englishman and Rahtore, Brothers in sport, ride o'er The sandy plain at Jodhpore. A SONG OF JODHPORE 193 Do we think too much of sport as good training for our youth ? Is the teacher sick or sorry when his art Makes his pupil better man than himself, do what he can ? Nay, he feels an honest pride in his heart. For a victory o'er foe whose strength was never feared Is nothing, and we keep the old rule, Let all rivalry be keen and whoever wins be cheered — That's the lesson we have learnt at school. Chorus Hunting the gallant boar, Englishman and Rahtore, Brothers in sport, ride o'er The sandy plain at Jodhpore. FAMINE IN RAJPUTANA 1892 The goddess of Chitor in olden time Craved regal victims — superstition tells : But this gaunt spectre ravages and dwells Among the poor, in poverty and slime, Tempting despair and maddening to crime. We read in former days how dried -up wells And barren fields brought death : old chronicles Speak of slain hecatombs : but now like chime Of bells o'er hills the railway's scream is heard. The Iron Horse has saved the land and scared FAMINE IN RAJPUTANA 195 The spectre Famine, like some carrion bird Disturbed at its foul feast. Had God but spared The poor man's cattle, ah, what joy had stirred The hearts of those for whom in need He cared ! THE HOUSE UPON THE LAKE Ajmere, 19TH March 1890 In varying mood four years and more These eyes have seen the ripples break And waves arise to wild wind's roar Beside this house upon the lake. Sunrise and sunset, and the play Of light and shadow thro' the year- I know them well, for night and day The lake made music in mine ear. THE HOUSE UPON THE LAKE 197 The green in front, with birds and bloom And ferns and trees that shade the sky ; These marble walls, each quaint cool room — I leave them, not without a sigh, To dwell upon a distant hill Already loved for its own sake : But ah ! to-day my thoughts are still With the old house upon the lake. THE HOUSE UPON THE HILL Mount Abu, 2oth March 1894 FOUR years again have passed and schooled Since mine the task with earnest will To follow better men who ruled From this bright house upon the hill. The names of Lawrence, Sutherland, 1 And others linger round its walls ; Its garden fair a gentler hand, O ferns and flowers, to me recalls. THE HOUSE UPON THE HILL 199 Looking upon the lake below, The hills around, beyond, I seem To hear the sounds of Long Ago As of those days I rhyme and dream. 'Tis classic ground, tho' railway near May shriek ; I wonder, Abuji, If ground there be not classic here In Rajasthan so kind to me. The Past and Present to compare, From each its fragrance to distil, Where could be fitter spot, O where, Than this bright house upon the hill ? 1 Lieutenant-Colonel J. Sutherland was Agent to the Governor-General for Rajputana from 1S41 to 1S4S, and Sir Henry Lawrence from 1853 to 1857. NOTES TO RHYMES I venture to preface these Notes with the following extract from the essay on the Rajput States in Sir Alfred Lyall's admirable book, Asiatic Studies (pp. 182-186):— "The region to which we refer is that which is now called, in the adminis,- trative nomenclature of the Indian Empire, Rajputana ; and, by the natives of India, Rajasthan, or the country of the chiefs. It is the region within which the pure-blooded Rajput clans have maintained their independence under their own chieftains, and have in some instances kept together their primitive societies ever since the dominion of the Rajputs over the great plains of North-Western India was cast down and broken to pieces seven centuries ago by the Musalman irruptions from Central Asia. The first Musalman invasions found Rajput dynasties ruling in all the chief cities of the north and over the rich Gangetic plains eastward to the confines of modern Bengal — at Lahore, Delhi, Kanauj, and Ajodhya. Out of these great cities and fertile lands the Rajput chiefs were driven forth southward and westward into the central regions of India, where a more difficult country gave them a second line of defence against the foreigners. And this line they have held not unsuccessfully up to the present day. The boundaries of their actual territory are not easily defined without a map, though no 202 RHYMES OF RAJPUTAXA boundaries of political territory in India have varied so little in historic times. After the earliest Mahomedan conquests the Rajput country seems to have extended (speaking roughly) from the Indus and the Sutlej on the west and north-west right across the Indian continent eastward up to the vicinity of the Jumna River at Agra and Delhi, and southward until it touched the Vindhya range of mountains. This great central region had for its natural barriers on the west and north-west the desert, on the east the rocky, broken tracts which run along west of the Jumna, and on the south the passes and woodlands of the Vindhya mountains. And though in many parts of this country, to the south and south-east especially, the dominion of the Rajputs has been overlaid by Mahomedan or Maratha usurpations, yet everywhere Rajput septs or petty chiefships may still be found existing in various degrees of independence. And there are, of course, Rajput chiefs outside Rajputana altogether, though none of political importance. But Rajputana proper, the country still under the independent rule of the most ancient families of the purest clans, may now be understood generally to mean the great tract that would be crossed by two lines, of which one should be drawTi on the map of India from the frontier of Sind eastward to the gates of Agra ; and the other from the southern border of the Punjab Government near the Sutlej southward and south-eastward until it meets the broad belt of Maratha States under the Guicowar, Holkar, and Sindia, which runs across India from Baroda to Gwalior. This territory is divided into nineteen states, of which sixteen are possessed by Rajput clans, and the chief of the clan or sept is the state's ruler. To the Sesodia clan, the oldest and purest blood in India, belong the States of Oodipoor, Banswarra, Pertabgarh, and Shahpura ; to the Rathore clan, the States of Jodhpoor and Bikanir ; Jeypoor and Ulwar to the Kuchwaha ; and so on. XOTES TO RHYMES 203 '• Of these states the highest in rank and the most important politically are the States of Oodipoor, Jodhpoor, and Jeypoor. The ancestors of the family which now rules in Oodipoor were hereditary leaders of the clan which has held from time immemorial, from a date before the earliest Mahomedan invasion, the country which now forms the territory of their chief; the chiefs of Jodhpoor and Jeypoor are the descendants of families who gave princes to the tribes that were dominant in Upper India before the Musalmans came. In fact, all these states have very much the same territorial origin ; they arc the lands which a clan, or a sept, or a family, has seized and settled upon, and have managed to hold fast through centuries of warfare. And what we know of the manner in which these states were founded gives a very fair sample of the movements and changes of the primitive world. When the dominant Rajput families lost their dominion in the rich Gangetic plains, one part of their clan seems to have remained in the conquered country, having submitted to the foreigner, cultivating in strong communities of villages and federations of villages, and paying such land-tax as the ruler could extract. These communities still exist and nourish in British India, where there are very many more Rajputs than in Rajputana. Another part of the clan, probably the near kinsmen of the defeated chief, followed his family into exile, and helped him to carve out another, but a much poorer, dominion. They discovered a tract just productive enough to yield them food, and wild enough to shelter them from the great armies of the foreigner. Here the chief built himself a fort upon a hill ; his clansmen slew or subdued the tribes they found in possession of the soil, and the lands were all parcelled off among the chiefs kinsfolk, the indigenous proprietors being subjected to payment of a land-tax, but not otherwise degraded. Having thus made a settlement and a city of refuge, the chief and his Rajputs started upon an 204 RHYMES OF RAJPUTANA interminable career of feuds and forays, striving eternally to enlarge their borders at the cost of their neighbours. When the land grew too strait for the support of the chiefs family or of the sept — that is, when there were no vacant allotments — a landless son of the chief would assemble a band and set forth to make room for himself elsewhere. If he was lucky, he found his room ; if not, the family was rid of his company : in either event he was provided for. In this way the whole country of Rajputana was occupied by the clans and septs which we now find there ; and their territories are now called by us states ; but these states are constitutionally quite unlike any others in India. For, while everything else in the political order of India has changed, the Rajput States have managed to preserve unaltered much of their original structure, built up out of the needs and circumstances of primitive life. The strain of incessant warfare, in which these tribal sovereignties were engaged from their foundation centuries ago until the English peace of 1S1S, has served to keep tight the bonds which held them together, without being violent enough to break them asunder. Of course the original type has undergone some modifications ; towns have grown up round the ancient forts ; the lands of each sept have gradually, and by constant friction, rounded themselves off into distinct territories ; and the chiefs have in some instances succeeded in modernising their status toward the likeness of territorial sovereignty. But on the whole there are probably few or no political fabrics having any pretence to be called states, in any part of historic Asia, which have suffered so little essential change between the eleventh and nineteenth centuries — a period which for Rajputana was one long war-time, from the first inroads of the Ghaznevi kings to the final pacification of Central India by the military and political measures of the English Governor-General, Lord Hastings. NOTES TO RHYMES 205 "During these seven centuries or so the Rajput clans had various fortunes. The kings of the early Musalman dynasties in Northern India pierced their country from end to end by rapid rushing invasions, plundering and ravishing, breaking the idols, and razing the beautifully-sculptured temples, Buddhist and Brahmanic. But so long as the object of these incursions was mere booty or fanatical slaughter, there was not much to be got out of the interior of Rajputana. The chiefs retired to their fortresses, great circumvallations of the broad tops of scarped hills, with three or four lines of defence, strong- holds which cost the enemy a siege of some twelve or eighteen months, with the grand finale of a desperate sally en masse upon your lines by the garrison without hope or fear, dressed in saffron garments, drunk with opium and with the blood of their own womankind. The victor in obstinate and dangerous conflicts of this kind found himself paying rather dear for a warlike triumph ; and as for conquest in the sense of establishing permanent dominion, the country was not worth the trouble of holding it against the clans and their faithful allies, the aboriginal non-Aryan tribes of the jungle. So early as the end of the twelfth century, nevertheless, the Mahomedans had dis- covered the great importance, as a point cTappui in the middle of the Rajput country, of Ajmere, a city lying at the foot of an almost impregnable hill fort, well watered for these arid tracts, in a situation at once strong, central, and most picturesque. The fort was taken by the Afghan King Shahab-ud-din at the end of the twelfth century ; and on the crest of the hill the traveller is still shown a grave-yard thick with mounds, where are said to lie the bones of the faithful Islamites who fell in the storm, or in the massacre by which the Rajputs celebrated the fort's recapture a few years later. Since then Ajmere has been lost and won several times ; its possession being the symbol of political predominance in Rajputana : for it is a Castle Dangerous which no 206 RHYMES OF RAJPUTANA government could hold in the midst of the clans without powerful supports and the prestige of military superiority. The Moghal Emperors made it an imperial residence in the seventeenth century ; in the confusion of the eighteenth century the Rajputs got it again for a while, but soon had to yield it to the Maratha chief Sindia, then at the height of his fortunes. By him it was ceded, with the lands adjoining, to the British in 1S18 ; and thus for six centuries or more, with a few intervals, Ajmere has contained the garrison by which the masters of India have enforced their paramount jurisdiction over the unruly clans of Rajputana." THE MEWAR FAMILY. P. 25 The following extract from a sketch of Chitor compiled from Tod and other authorities by Dr. Stratton, resident at Oodeypore a few years ago, relates to the Mewar family : — " In the beginning of the eighth century Chitor was the seat of the Mori division of the Pramar or Puar Rajputs then ruling in Mewar and Malwa ; but it was taken about A.D. 728 by Bashpa, usually called Bappa, the ancestor of the present Maharana, since which time it has, with brief inter- ruption arising from the fortunes of war, continued with the present house. But Chitor and the rich plains of Mewar were not the first possessions of this dynasty on the central plateau of India. For nearly two centuries previously it had ruled in Bhilwar, the wild hill country of the Bhils, which buttresses that plateau on the west, between Idar on the south and modern Udaipur on the north. Prior to that again it had for nearly four centuries held sway in the western peninsula of Saurashtra. now called Kathiawar. The vicissitudes of the family already alluded to were illustrated alike in its NOTES TO RHYMES 207 coming to the Bhil highlands and the Mewar plains, if not also in its earlier migration to the sea-coast province on the west. These stages and their epochs in the course of the Suryabans Rajputs, successively settling in Saurashtra, Bhilwar, and finally in Mewar, are historical, though the details of such remote periods are legendary." TRANSLATION OF A GRANT OF LAND HELD BY A BRAHMAN. P. 26 " Grant held by a Brahmin of Birkhairah. ' : A Brahmin's orphan was compelled by hunger to seek sustenance in driving an oil-mill ; instead of oil the receptacle was filled with blood. The frightened oilman demanded of the child who he was ; ' A Brahmin's orphan,' was the reply. Alarmed at the enormity of his guilt in thus employing the son of a priest, he covered the palm of his hand with earth, in which he sowed the tiilsai seed, and went on a pilgrimage to Dwarica. He demanded the presence (dursuna) of the god ; the priests pointed to the ocean, when he plunged in and had an interview with Dwarica Nath, who presented him with a written order on the Rana for forty-five bigahs of land. He returned and threw the writing before the Rana, on the steps of the temple of Juggernat'h. The Rana read the writing of the god, placed it on his head, and immediately made out the grant. This is three hundred and fifty years ago, as recorded by an inscription on stone, and his descendant Koshala yet enjoys it." — (A true translation. — J. Tod.) Tod, vol. i. p. 552. 2o8 RHYMES OF RATPUTANA THE JOHUR. P. 35 In his Annals of Mewar Tod refers to several instances when a whole tribe has been extinguished by this awful rite, and observes as follows : — " To the fair of other lands the fate of the Rajpootni must appear one of appalling hardship. In each stage of life death is ready to claim her : by the poppy at its dawn, by the flames in riper years ; while the safety of the interval depending on the uncertainty of war, at no period is her existence worth a twelvemonth's purchase. The loss of a battle, or the capture of a city, is a signal to avoid captivity and its horrors, which to the Rajpootni are worse than death. To the doctrines of Christianity Europe owes the boon of protection to the helpless and the fair, who are comparatively safe amidst the vicissitudes of war ; to which security the chivalry of the Middle Ages doubt- less contributed. But it is singular that a nation so refined, so scrupulous in its ideas with regard to females, as the Rajpoot, should not have entered into some national compact to abandon such proof of success as the bondage 1 of the sex. We can enter into the feeling and applaud the deed which ensured the preservation of their honour by the fatal Johur when the foe was the brutalised Tatar. But the practice was common in the international wars of the Rajpoots ; and I possess numerous inscriptions (on stone and on brass) which record as the first token of victory the captive wives of the foeman. When ' the mother of Sisera looked out of the window, and cried through the lattice, Why tarry the wheels of his chariot ? — have they not sped ? have they not divided the prey, to every man a damsel or two ? ' we have a perfect picture of the Rajpoot mother expecting her son from the foray. 1 Bunda is " a bondsman" in Persia ; bandi, "a female slave" in Hindi. NOTES TO RHYMES 209 " The Jewish law with regard to female captives was perfectly analogous to that of Menu; both declare them 'lawful prize,' and both Moses and Menu establish rules sanctioning the marriage of such captives with the captors. ' When a girl is made captive by her lover, after a victory over her kinsman,' marriage 'is permissible by law.' 1 That forcible marriage, in the Hindu law termed rachasa, viz. ' the seizure of a maiden by force from her house while she weeps and calls for assistance, after her kinsman and friends have been slain in battle,' 2 is the counterpart of the ordinance regarding the usage of a captive in the Pentateuch, 3 excepting the ' shaving of the head,' which is the sign of complete slavery with the Hindu. When Hector, anticipating his fall, predicts the fate which awaits Andromache, he draws a forcible picture of the misery of the Rajpoot ; but the latter, instead of a lachrymose and enervating harangue as he prepared for the battle with the same chance of defeat, would have spared her the pain of plying the ' Argive loom ' by her death. To prevent such degradation, the brave Rajpoot has recourse to thzjohur, or immolation of every female of the family : nor can we doubt that, educated as are the females of that country, they gladly embrace such a refuge from pollution. Who would not be a Rajpoot in such 1 Menu, On Marriage, art. 26. 2 Menu, On Marriage, art. 33. 3 "When thou goest forth to war against thine enemies, and the Lord thy God hath delivered them into thine hands, and thou hast taken them captive, and seest among the captives a beautiful woman, and hast a desire unto her, that thou wouldest have her to thy wife ; then thou shalt bring her home to thine house ; and she shall shave her head, and pare her nails ; and she shall put the raiment of her captivity from off her, and shall remain in thine house, and bewail her father and her mother a full month : and after that thou shalt go in unto her, and be her husband, and she shall be thy wife." — Deut. chap. xxi. vv. 10-13. P 210 RHYMES OF RAJPUTANA a case? The very term widow [rand) is used in common parlance as one of reproach. " Menu commands that whoever accosts a woman shall do so by the title of ' sister,' l and that ' way must be made for her, even as for the aged, for a priest, a prince, or a bridegroom ' ; and in the admirable text on the laws of hospitality he ordains that ' pregnant women, brides, and damsels shall have food 2 before all the other guests ' ; which, with various other texts, appears to indicate a time when women were less than now objects of restraint — a custom attributable to the paramount dominion of the Mohamedans, from whose rigid system the Hindus have borrowed. But so many conflicting texts are to be found in the pages of Menu, that we may pronounce the compilation never to have been the work of the same legislator : from whose dicta we may select with equal facility texts tending to degrade as to exalt the sex. For the following he would meet with many plaudits : ' Let women be constantly supplied with ornaments at festivals and jubilees, for if the wife be not elegantly attired, she will not exhilarate her husband.' A wife gaily adorned, ' the whole house is embellished.' 3 In the following text he pays an unequivocal compliment to her power : ' A female is able to draw from the right path in this life, not a fool only, but even a sage, and can lead him in subjection to desire or to wrath.' With this acknowledgment from the very fountain of authority, we have some ground for asserting that ' les femmes font les mceurs,' even in Rajpootana ; and that though immured and invisible, their influence on society is not less certain than if they moved in the glare of open day. 1 Cn Education, art. 129. 2 On Marriage, art. 114. z On Marriage, arts. 57, 60-63. NOTES TO RHYMES 211 " Most erroneous ideas have been formed of the Hindu female from the pictures drawn by those who never left the banks of the Ganges. They are represented as degraded beings, and that not one in many thousands can even read. I would ask such travellers whether they know the name of Rajpoot, for there are few of the lowest chieftains whose daughters are not instructed both to read and write ; though, the customs of the country requiring much form in epistolary writing, only the signature is made to letters. But of their intellect, and knowledge of mankind, whoever has had to converse with a Rajpootni guardian of her son's rights must draw a very different conclusion. Though excluded by the Salic Law of India from governing, they are declared to be fit regents during minority ; and the history of India is filled with anecdotes of able and valiant females in this capacity." KAKHI BHAI. P. 40 In his Annals of Mcwar Tod writes : — " Buhadoor had remained but a fortnight, when the tardy advance of Hemayoon with his succours warned him to retire. According to the annals, he left Bengal at the solicitation of the queen Kurnavati ; but instead of following up the spoil-encumbered foe, he commenced a pedantic war of words with Buhadoor, punning on the word 'Cheetore.' Had Hemayoon not been so distant, this catastrophe would have been averted, for he was bound by the laws of chivalry, the claims of which he had acknowledged, to defend the queen's cause, whose knight he had become. The relation of the peculiarity of a custom analogous to the taste of the chivalrous age of Europe may amuse. When her Amazonian sister the Rahtore queen was slain, the mother of the infant prince took a surer method to shield him in demanding 212 RHYMES OF RAJPUTANA the fulfilment of the pledge given by Hemayoon when she sent the Rdkhi to that monarch. " ' The festival of the bracelet ' (Rdkhi) is in spring, and whatever its origin, it is one of the few when an intercourse of gallantry of the most delicate nature is established between the fair sex and the cavaliers of Rajast'han. Though the bracelet may be sent by maidens, it is only on occasions of urgent necessity or danger. The Rajpoot dame bestows with the Rakhi the title of adopted brother ; and while its acceptance secures to her all the protection of a ' cavaliere serviente, ' scandal itself never suggests any other tie to his devotion. He may hazard his life in her cause, and yet never receive a smile in reward, for he cannot even see the fair object who, as brother of her adoption, has constituted him her defender. But there is a charm in the mystery of such connexion, never endangered by close observa- tion, and the loyal to the fair may well attach a value to the public recognition of being the Rdkhi-lmnd Bhde, the ' bracelet-bound brother ' of a princess. The intrinsic value of such pledge is never looked to, nor is it requisite it should be costly, though it varies with the means and rank of the donor, and may be of flock silk and spangles, or gold chains and gems. The acceptance of the pledge and its return is by the katchli, or corset, of simple silk or satin, or gold brocade and pearls. In shape or application there is nothing similar in Europe ; and as defending the most delicate part of the structure of the fair, it is peculiarly appropriate as an emblem of devotion. A whole province has often accompanied the katchli, and the monarch of India was so pleased with this courteous delicacy in the customs of Rajast'han, on receiving the bracelet of the princess Kurnavati, which invested him with the title of her brother, and uncle and protector to her infant Oody Sing, that he pledged himself to her service, ' even if the NOTES TO RHYMES 213 demand were the castle of Rinthumbor.' Hemayoon proved himself a true knight, and even abandoned his conquests in Bengal when called on to redeem his pledge, and succour Cheetore, and the widows and minor sons of Sanga Rana. 1 Hemayoon had the highest proofs of the worth of those courting his protection ; he was with his father Baber in all his wars in India, and at the battle of Biana his prowess was conspicuous, and is recorded by Babers own pen. He amply fulfilled his pledge, expelled the foe from Cheetore, took Mandoo by assault, and, as some revenge for her king's aiding the king of Guzzerat, he sent for the Rana Bikramajeet, whom, following their own notions of investiture, he girt with a sword in the captured citadel of his foe." " THE WRATH OF THAT DREAD GODDESS WHO AYE CRAVED PRINCES FOR VICTIMS." P. 44 The following is taken from Stratton"s sketch of Chitor, referred to in a previous note : — " Superstition had it that when the fortress was in danger the goddess 1 "Many romantic tales are founded on 'the gift of the Rakhi.' The author, who was placed in the enviable situation of being able to do good, and on the most extensive scale, was the means of restoring many of these ancient families from degradation to affluence. The greatest reward he could, and the only one he would, receive, was the courteous civility displayed in many of these interesting customs. He was the ' Rakhi-bund Bhae ' of, and received ' the bracelet ' from, three queens of Oodipoor, Boondi, and Kotah, besides Chund-Bae, the maiden sister of the Rana ; as well as many ladies of the chieftains of rank, with whom he interchanged letters. The sole articles of ' barbaric pearl and gold ' which he conveyed from a country where he was six years supreme are these testi- monies of friendly regard. Intrinsically of no great value, they were presented and accepted in the ancient spirit, and he retains them with a sentiment the more powerful because he can no longer render them any service." — Tod, vol. i. p. 313. 214 RHYMES OF RAJPUTANA of Chitor always required the sacrifice of a crowned head in its defence. Twelve had perished on the first occasion, and on the second, though the Rana himself had not, the Prince of Deolia (Pertabgarh), a branch of the Chitor house, was killed with the ensign of Mewar waving over him. It was an evil omen, therefore, when, during this third siege, Udai Sing departed from Chitor, though there was no lack of chieftains of Mewar and allies from elsewhere, including the Tuar Prince of Gwalior, who failed not in its defence ; as with the Sisodias and many of the related tribes of Rajputs, Chitor was considered as much a sanctuary of the Hindu religion as a fortress of Hindu power. " The Rao of Salumbar was killed at the Surajpol, i.e. the Gate of the Sun, on the eastern brow. Indeed, the list of chiefs who fought and fell would be one of all the highest nobles of Mewar, and of many from neighbouring territories. But the two whose names have been remembered most, and were singularly immortalised by Akbar himself, were Patta Sing of Kailwa, a Sisodia of the Salumbar branch, and Jai Mai Rahtor of Bednor. When the Rao of Salumbar fell and the father of Patta Sing was also slain, important command devolved on the latter, then merely a lad of sixteen and lately married. His widowed mother thought she could do her country better service by dying in fight than resigning herself in sati. So making Patta put on clothes of saffron colour to mark his resolve, she armed herself, and in order that there might be no looking back on the part of her son for his young bride left behind, she armed her too with a lance, and the three — Patta Sing, his mother, and his girl -wife — descended the hill, and all fell fighting at its foot. " With such example before them, the garrison had no thought of surrender ; but when, after a lengthened siege, the northern defences had been destroyed, NOTES TO RHYMES 215 the garrison weakened by famine, and Jai Mai of Bednor, the commander, had been wounded, no means remained of longer resistance. The wounding of Jai Mai is thus described. He was on the battlements at night directing repairs, when Akbar, said to have been accompanied by the Jaipur chief, was moving through the advanced lines of his camp. Seeing a light on the fort wall he fired his favourite matchlock. Next day it was known the ball, "shot at a venture" in the night, had wounded Jai Mai; and Mussulman records state that Akbar, who previously called his matchlock ' durust andaz,' or the straight-thrower, thereon dubbed it ' Singram,' as meriting now the name of a hero. Jai Mai, scorning to die by a distant shot, was, in the next attempt of the garrison to drive back the enemy, carried out on the shoulders of a stalwart clansman, and so was killed fighting as he wished. All, however, was of no avail, and again the fearful closing scenes of the two earlier sieges were repeated, the ladies and women in thousands being .sacrificed ; the men then going out to their last fight, and the conqueror coming in. Whether Akbar was irritated at the prolonged defence or his troops were out of hand, it is said that the work of subsequent slaughter and demolition was even greater and more deliberate on this than on the two former occasions. Yet he marked his appreciation of the valour of Jai Mai and Patta in a singular way — by having effigies of them carved in stone, which he placed on stone elephants at the gateway of his palace at Delhi. There they were seen and described a century later by the traveller Bernier in A.D. 1563 ; but subsequently they were removed by Aurangzeb as savour- ing of image-making. Some time ago they were discovered, and are now to be seen at Delhi, not the least interesting of the archaeological remains there, though whether t they were meant by Akbar in honour of his Rajput opponents, or of himself as the conqueror of such men, is a doubtful point. 216 RHYMES OF RAJPUTANA "With this, the last of the three great sacks by the Mussulmans, the stirring story of old Chitor may be said to close. Though recovered in Jahangir's time by Rana Amra Sing, grandson of Udai Sing, from an uncle of the latter, in whose hands the Emperor had found it politic to place it, and though always held the chief fortress of Mewar, it was not thereafter maintained by the Ranas as their capital of residence, its buildings were left unrepaired, and its subsequent history, which has been comparatively uneventful, may be summed up in the word — decay — as can be read also in its crumbling ruins." The condition of Chitor in the time of Akbar's successor was thus noticed by the ambassador, Sir Thomas Roe, who passed it on his way up country in 1615 : — ****** " Cytor, an ancient citie ruined on a hill, but so that it appears a tomb of wonderful magnificence. There stands upon above one hundred churches, all of carved stone, many faire towers and landthornes cut throw many pillars, and innumerable houses, but no one inhabitant. There is but one ascent to the hill, it being precipitous, sloaping up, cut out of the rock, having four gates in the ascent before one arrive at the citie gate, which is magnificent. The citie is incompassed at the top about eight course, and at the south-west end a goodly old castle. I lodged by a poor village at the foot of the hill. This citie stands in the country of one Raima, a Prince newly subdued by this King, or rather brought to confesse tribute. This citie was wonne by Ecbarsha, father to this Mogoll." The ambassador's chaplain, the Rev. Edward Terry, similarly described it : — "Chitor, an antient great kingdome, the chief citie so called, which standeth on a mighty high hill fiat on the top, walled about at the least ten NOTES TO RHYMES 217 English miles. There appear to this day above an hundred ruin'd churches and divers fair palaces, which are lodged in like manner among their ruins, besides many exquisite pillars of carved stone, and the ruins likewise of an hundred thousand stone houses. ... It was won from Ranas, an antient Indian Prince, who was forced to live himself ever after in high mountainous places adjoining to that province, and his posterity to live there ever since. Taken from him it was by Achabar Padsha (the father of that King who lived and reigned when I was in those parts) after a very long siege which famished the besieged, without which it could never have been gotten." It may be noted that Jai Mai's descendants are still strong at Bednor, and those of Patta Sing at Amet. "DOOMED HER OWN CHILD:' P. 44 " Oody Sing was about six years of age. He had gone to sleep after his rice and milk, when his nurse was alarmed by screams from the ra-zvula, 1 and the Bari, 2 coming in to take away the remains of the dinner, informed her of the cause, the assassination of the Rana. Aware that one murder was the precursor of another, the faithful nurse put her charge into a fruit basket, and covering it with leaves she delivered it to the Bari, enjoining him to escape with it from the fort. Scarcely had she time to substitute her own infant in the room of the prince, when Bunbeer, entering, inquired for him. Her lips refused their office ; she pointed to the cradle, and beheld the murderous steel buried in the heart of her babe. The little victim to fidelity was burnt amidst the tears of the rawula, the inconsolable household of their late 1 The seraglio, or female palace. - Bari, Xae\ are names for the barbers, who are the cuisiniers of the Rajpoots. 218 RHYMES OF RAJPUTANA sovereign, who supposed that their grief was given to the last pledge of the illustrious Sanga. The nurse (Dhae) was a Rajpootnee of the Kheechee tribe, her name Punna, or ' the Diamond.' Having consecrated with her tears the ashes of her child, she hastened after that she had preserved. But well had it been for Mewar had the poniard fulfilled its intention, and had the annals never recorded the name of Oody Sing in the catalogue of her princes." — Tod's Annals of Mewar. THE RAN A KARAN. P. 47 Rana Karan, A.D. 1 62 1, was the first chief who waited on the Emperor (Jahangir), the independence of Mewar having departed with his father Amra. Jagat Singh succeeded A.D. 1628. "AMBER AND MARWAR ONCE MORE AT OUR SIDE." P. 48 "The princes of Amber and Marwar repaired to Rana Umra at Oodipoor, where a triple league was formed, which once more united them to the head of their nation. This treaty of unity of interests against the common foe was solemnised by nuptial engagements, from which those princes had been excluded since the reigns of Akber and Pertap. To be readmitted to this honour was the basis of this triple alliance, in which they ratified on oath the renunciation of all connexion, domestic or political, with the empire. It was moreover stipulated that the sons of such marriage should be heirs, or if the issue were females, that they should never be dishonoured by being married to a Mogul. " But this remedy, as will be seen, originated a worse disease ; it was a sacrifice of the rights of primogeniture (clung to by the Rajpoots with extreme NOTES TO RHYMES 219 pertinacity), productive of the most injurious effects, which introduced domestic strife, and called upon the stage an umpire not less baneful than the power from whose iron grasp they were on the point of freeing themselves : for although this treaty laid prostrate the throne of Baber, it ultimately introduced the Mahrattas as partisans in their family disputes, who made the bone of contention their own.' : — Tod, vol. i. p. 399. TRANSLATION OF THE GRANT FOR NATHDWARA. F. 58 " Sri Mahrana Bhima Sing-ji, commanding. "To the towns of Sri-ji, or to the (personal) lands of the Gosaen-ji, 1 no molestation shall be offered. No warrants or exactions shall be issued or levied upon them. All complaints, suits, or matters, in which justice is required, originating in Nat'hdwara, shall be settled there ; none shall interfere therein, and the decisions of the Gosae'n-ji I shall invariably confirm. The town and transit duties 2 (of Nat'hdwara and villages pertaining thereto), the assay {purkhaye) 2 fees from the public markets, duties on precious metals {kasoti), 2 all brokerage (didali), and dues collected at the four gates ; all contributions and taxes of whatever kind, are presented as an offering to Sri-ji ; let the income thereof be placed in Sri-ji's coffers. "All the products of foreign countries imported by the Vaishnuvas, 3 whether domestic or foreign, and intended for consumption at Nat'hdwara, 4 1 The high-priest. 2 All these are royalties, and the Rana was much blamed, even by his Vishnuva ministers, for sacrificing them even to Kaniya. 3 Followers of Vishnu, Crishna, or Kaniya, chiefly mercantile. 4 Many merchants, by the connivance of the conductors of the caravans of Nat'h-ji's goods, contrived to smuggle their goods to Nat'hdwara, and, to the 220 RHYMES OF RAJPUTANA shall be exempt from duties. The right of sanctuary (sirna) of Sri-ji, both in the town and in all his other villages, 1 will be maintained : the Almighty will take cognisance of any innovation. Wherefore, let all chiefs, farmers of duties, beware of molesting the goods of Nat'h-ji (the god), and wherever such may halt, let guards be provided for their security, and let each chief convey them through his bounds in safety. If of my blood, or if my servants, this warrant will be obeyed for ever and for ever. Whoever resumes this grant will be a caterpillar in hell during 60,000 years. " By command — through the chief butler {panairi) Eklingdas : written by Surut Sing, sen of Nat'hji Pancholi, Mah-sud 1st, Samvat 1865 ; A.D. 1809." — From Tod's Annals of Mewar. THE RAHTORES. P. 59 Seoji, 12 1 2 a.d. Jodha founded Jodhpur 1489 A.D. Bika, sixth son of Jodha, founded Bikanir after Jodha Ganga A.D. 15 16. In his time Mar war united with Mewar to oppose Moghal invasion under Baber, but were defeated in the fatal field of Biana by treachery. Maldeo succeeded Ganga A.D. 1532, and so employed his power against friend and foe that he became the first prince in Rajwarra, or, in the words of Ferishta, " the most potent prince in Hindustan. 1 ' He redeemed the two most disgrace of the high-priest or his underlings, this traffic was sold for their personal advantage. It was a delicate thing to search these caravans, or to prevent the loss to the state from the evasion of the duties. The Rana durst not interfere lest he might incur the penalty of his own anathemas. The author's influence with the high-priest put a stop to this. 1 This extent of sanctuary is an innovation of the present Rana's, with many others equally unwise. NOTES TO RHYMES 221 important possessions of his house, Nagore and Ajmere, and among other conquests dispossessed the sons of Bika of supreme power in Bikanir, captured and restored Serohi from" the Deoras, from which house was his mother. Akbar, born at Umerkote during the flight of Humayoon, invaded Mar war a.d. 1 56 1, and established Bikanir in independence of the parent state Jodhpur. Maldeo died A.D. 1569, and at his death "the banner of the empire floated pre-eminent over the panck ranga, the five-coloured flag which had led the Rahtores from victory to victory and waved from the sandhills of Umerkote to the salt lake of Sambhur." Oodey Singh, his son, gave a daughter in marriage to Akbar, who conferred on him the title of Raja and used to call him the " King of the Desert " and " Oodey the Fat." He restored to Oodey Singh all the possessions he had wrested from Marvvar except Ajmere. Soor Singh succeeded his father Oodey Singh a.d. 1595, and died in the Deccan A.D. 1620. He was succeeded by Guj Singh, who died a.d. 1638. Then came Jeswant Singh, who ruled forty-two years, dying at Kabul A.D. 16S1. In the struggle for empire among the sons of Shah Jahan he fought for Prince Dara, who nominated him Viceroy of Malwa. Kishen, ninth son of Oodey Singh, founded Kishengurh a.d. 161 3, and was made an independent Raja for assassinating, by order of Prince Khoorm, son of Jahangir by a princess of Amber, Govind Das, a faithful Rajput. This was done to disgust the Rahtores, and it drove Raja Guj Singh away from the court at Delhi. Prince Khoorm next had his elder brother Parve'z assassinated, and proceeded to the deposition of his father, who rallied the Rajput princes to his aid. 222 RHYMES OF RAJPUTANA AMRA SINGH. P. 63 " In the month of Bysak, s. 1690 (a.d. 1634), five years before the death of Raja Guj, in a convocation of all the feudality of Maroo, sentence of exclusion from the succession was pronounced upon Umra, accompanied by the solemn and seldom-practised rite of Des-vatoli 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 as the sentence was pronounced, that his birthright was forfeited and assigned to his junior brother, and that he ceased to be a subject of Maroo, the khilat of banishment was brought forth, consisting of sable vestments, in which he was clad ; a sable shield was hung upon his back, and a sword of the same hue girded round him ; a black horse was then led out, being mounted on which, he was commanded, though not in anger, to depart whither he listed beyond the limits of Maroo." — Tod's Annals of Mat-war. "BUT A RUNG THRUST HIS ISLAM DOWN OUR THROATS." P. 71 " In such detestation did the Hindus hold this intolerant king, that in like manner as they supposed the beneficent Akber to be the devout Mokund in a former birth, so they make the tyrant's body enclose the soul of Kal- Yamun, the foe of Crishna, ere his apotheosis, from whom he fied to Dwarica, and thence acquired the name of Rinchor. " Rin, the 'field of battle' — chor, from chorna, 'to abandon.'" — Tod, vol. i. p. 523. NOTES TO RHYMES 223 In his poem of Akbar's Di-eam Tennyson represents the liberality of Akbar's creed and the intolerance of Aurangzeb's. ' ' I hate the rancour of their castes and creeds, I let men worship as they will, I reap No revenue from the field of unbelief. I cull from every faith and race the best And bravest soul for counsellor and friend. I loathe the very name of infidel. I stagger at the Koran and the sword. I shudder at the Christian and the stake." In his vision after death Akbar says — ' ' I watched my son, And those that followed, loosen, stone from stone, All my fair work ; and from the ruin arose The shriek and curse of trampled millions, even As in the time before ; but while I groaned, From out the sunset poured an alien race, Who fitted stone to stone again, and Truth, Peace, Love and Justice came and dwelt therein ; Nor in the field without were seen or heard Fires of suttee, nor wail of baby-wife, Or Indian widow ; and in sleep I said, ' All praise to Alia by whatever hands My mission be accomplished ! ' " FOUNDING OF BIKANIR. P. 75 "It is seldom that so incontestable a title to supremacy can be asserted as that which the weakness and jealousies of the Godarras conferred upon Beeka ; and it is a pleasing incident to find almost throughout India, in the observance of certain rites, the remembrance of the original compact which transferred the sovereign power from the lords of the soil to their Rajpoot 224 RHYMES OF RAJPUTANA conquerors. Thus in Mewar the fact of the power conferred upon the Ghelote founder by the Bhil aborigines is commemorated by a custom brought down to the present times. At Amber the same is recorded in the important offices retained by the Meenas, the primitive inhabitants of that land. Both Kotah and Boondi retain in their names the remembrance of the ancient lords of Harouti ; and Beeka's descendants preserve, in a twofold manner, the recollection of their bloodless conquest of the Jits. To this day the descendant of Pandu applies the unguent of royalty to the forehead of the successors of Beeka ; on which occasion the prince places ' the fine of relief,' consisting of twenty-five pieces of gold, in the hand of the Jit. Moreover, the spot which he selected for his capital was the birthright of a Jit, who would only concede it for this purpose on the condition that his name should be linked in perpetuity with its surrender. Naira, or Nera, was the name of the proprietor, which Beeka added to his own, thus composing that of the future capital, Bikaner." — Tod's Annals of Bikaner. ANECDOTE OF PUNCTILIO RELATED IN POWLETT'S "GAZETTEER OF BIKANIR." P. 83 "In Sambat 1S70 (A.D. 1813) the two chiefs of Bikanir and Jodhpur became friends, a Guru, Aishji by name, having acted as peacemaker between them. Surat Singh agreed to meet Man Singh at Nagor, and on his way visited Karniji's temple, walking on foot through the surrounding wood. At Nagore a difficulty occurred, owing to Man Singh's objecting to meet Surat Singh on terms of perfect equality. At length Aishji overcame the difficulty by arranging that the Maharajas should neither of them sit on a cushion, which was to be occupied by the Guru alone, while the chiefs sat on NOTES TO RHYMES 225 a carpet. Another sacred character having to occupy a seat lower than the Maharaja vindicated his dignity by tying up his head during the durbar. The Guru exhorted the chiefs to brotherly kindness and caused them to eat together/' RAJA GAJ SINGH OF BIKANIR AND RAJA BIJEY SINGH OF JODHPORE. P. 91 Gaj Singh was Raja of Bikanir from 1745 A.D. to 178S A. D. He success- fully resisted an invasion upon Bikanir territory from Jodhpur under Raja Abhai Singh, and helped Bakht Singh to defeat his brother Abhai Singh and oust him from the Gadi (a.d. i 75 i). On the death of Bakht Singh his son Bijai Singh received great assistance from Gaj Singh in various fights besides the incident referred to in the Rhyme. 1 Allied by marriage with Jesalmere and on friendly terms with Jeypore, Jodhpore, and Mewar, Gaj Singh exalted the Bikanir raj considerably. Once after consulting Karniji, a Charan woman worshipped as an incarnation of Devi, and the patron saint of Bikanir, he accompanied Bijai Singh of Jodhpur to Nathdwara, the famous temple of Sri Krishn, and is said to have astonished even the Gosain there by his learning. The Maharana of Mewar begged him to mediate between him and Jodhpur for the restoration of Godwar which had been entrusted to the latter by Mewar for merely temporary custody, but in this he was unsuccessful. Powlett in his Gazetteer for Bikanir writes as follows on this point (p. 62) :— 1 Tod gives quite a different version of this story. He attributes the saving of the Raja to one of the Jeypore nobles who sat on the skirt of the Maharaja's robe and prevented his rising, and he does not mention the Raja of Bikanir or his two Thakurs. 226 RHYMES OF RAJPUTANA "The Rana begged Gaj Singh to help him to arrange his difficulties with his nobles and Bijai Singh. Gaj Singh did his best to get Bijai to act in concert with him, but Bijai did not wish the anarchy which then prevailed in Mewar to cease, as it strengthened his hold on Godwar, and both the Rana and the Kishengurh chief told Gaj Singh that it was useless his incurring further trouble and expense by remaining at Nathdwara in hopes of prevailing with the Jodhpur chief. Gaj Singh was convinced of the truth of this, but he resolved on a last effort to induce Bijai Singh to give up Godwar, and with that object he arranged to visit the temple with him, where the Rana by previous agreement also came. Gaj Singh on meeting Bijai in the presence of the Rana again urged him to restore Godwar, and when he failed the Gosain of the temple told Bijai that it was the command of the deity that he should comply. The Jodhpur chief thus pressed turned to his followers and said, 'Well, the Rana must have your pergunna,' whereupon Zorawur Singh of Kiusar, always forward, and perhaps perceiving that his master wanted support, exclaimed : ' Hear, ye nobles of Marwar, Godwar is not Bijai Singh's to give : he is indeed lord of the Rahtors but not of the land : that you must get from us, and we will die before we part with it, and you will die before you get it.' This speech settled the matter and the chiefs parted." BIJEY SINGH ON HIS DEATH-BED. P. 101 Bijey Singh's ill-luck was proverbial, though his personal gallantry was never doubted. Tod quotes a native bard as saying — " Fortune never attended the stirrup of Bijey Singh, who never gained a battle though at the head of a hundred thousand men ; but Ram Singh (his cousin and rival) by his valour and conduct gained victories by the handful." NOTES TO RHYMES 227 The following extract from a subsequent page of the same historian shows that Bijey Singh's misfortunes in the field were not due to him personally, though at the end of his reign, which lasted thirty-one years, the license of his morals even in that loose age and an imbecile attachment to a woman helped to estrange his nobles and complete the anarchy of the country. " Marwar had enjoyed several years of peace, when the rapid strides made by the Mahrattas towards universal rapine, if not conquest, compelled the Rajpoots once more to form an union for the defence of their political existence. Pertap Sing, a prince of energy and enterprise, was now on the gadi of Amber. In S. 1843 (a.d. 1787) he sent an ambassador to Beejy Sing, proposing a league against the common foe, and volunteering to lead in person their conjoined forces against them. The battle of Tonga ensued, in which Rahtore valour shone forth in all its glory. Despising discipline, they charged through the dense battalions of De Boigne, sabring his artillery- men at their guns, and compelling Sindia to abandon not only the field, but all his conquests for a time. Beejy Sing, by this victory, redeemed the castle of Ajmer, and declared his tributary alliance null and void. But the genius of Sindia, and the talents of De Boigne, soon recovered this loss ; and in four years the Mahratta marched with a force such as Indian warfare was stranger to, to redeem that day's disgrace. In S. 1847 (a.d. 1791) the murderous battles of Patun and Mairta took place, in which Rajpoot courage was heroically but fruitlessly displayed against European tactics and unlimited resources, and where neither intrigue nor treason was wanting. The result was the imposition of a contribution of sixty lacs of rupees, or .£600,000 ; and as so much could not be drained from the country, goods and chattels were everywhere distrained, and hostages given for the balance. "Ajmer, which had revolted on the short-lived triumph of Tonga, was 228 RHYMES OF RAJPUTANA once more surrendered, and lost for ever to Marwar. When invested by De Boigne, the faithful governor, Dumraj, placed in the dilemma of a disgraceful surrender or disobedience to his prince's summons, swallowed diamond-powder. ' Tell the raja,' said this faithful servant, ' thus only could I testify my obedience ; and over my dead body alone could a Southron enter Ajmer.'" — Tod, vol. ii. pp. 133-134. JESALMERE. P. 104 "The majority of the inhabitants of Jaisalmer State are Yadu Bhati Rajputs and claim a very ancient lineage. They take their name from an ancestor named Bhati, who was renowned as a warrior when the tribe were settled in the Punjab. The clan was driven southwards by the King of Ghazni across the Sutlej and found a refuge in the Indian Desert, which has been henceforth their home. It is probable, according to Tod, that, like the Rahtore Rajputs, the clan is descended from one of the Indo-Scythic tribes, who penetrated into Hindustan at a very remote period. The Bhatis, subsequent to their entry into the desert tract, engaged in constant struggles with the neighbouring tribes, whom they overcame. They established themselves successively at Tarnot, Deorawal, and Jaisalmer. Deorawal was founded by Deoraj, who is esteemed the real founder of the present ruling family. Deoraj was the first to take the title of Rawal. He is said to have been born in 836 A. D. In 1 156 Jaisal, the sixth in succession from Deoraj, founded the fort and city of Jaisalmer, and made it his capital. Jaisal was succeeded by several warlike princes, who were constantly engaged in raids and battles. But the taste for freebooting proved disastrous. On two occasions, namely in 1294 and shortly afterwards, the Bhatis so enraged NOTES TO RHYMES 229 the Emperor Ala-ud-din that the imperial army captured and sacked the fort and city of Jaisalmer, which for some time remained deserted. The reign of Rawal Sabal Singh marks an epoch in Bhati history, for this prince, by acknowledging the supremacy of Shah Jahan, was the first of his line to hold his dominions as a fief of the Delhi Empire. Jaisalmer had now arrived at the height of its power ; the territory extended north to the Sutlej, comprised the whole of Bahawalpur westward to the Indus, and to the east and south included many districts subsequently annexed by the Rahtores, and incorporated in Jodhpur and Bikaner. But from this time till the accession of Rawal Mulrij in 1762 the fortunes of the State rapidly declined, and most of the outlying provinces were wrested from Jaisalmer. Owing, however, to its isolated situation, the State escaped the ravages of the Marathas." {Imperial Gazetteer of India.) According to Tod, the local bards say that when Jesalmere was stormed and captured by Nawab Mahboob Khan in a.d. 1295 it had been besieged for nine years. 16,000 Musalmans and all the garrison, with 24,000 females immolated at the Johur, are said to have perished. The Mahome- dans kept the castle for two years and then abandoned the place. A few years after Dudha repaired Jesalmere and raided on Ajmere. This led to a second assault by the Mahomedans. For services rendered to Timoor Shah the chief Gursi obtained a grant of his hereditary domains and re-established Jesalmere a.d. 1306. INFANTICIDE. R 112 "The Dahima emptied his coffers" (says Chund, the pole-star of the Rajpoots) " on the marriage of his daughter with Pirthiraj ; but he filled them ' with the praises of mankind.' The same bard retails every article of 230 RHYMES OF RAJPUTANA these daejas or ' dowers,' which thus become precedents for future ages ; and the ' lac passao ' then established for the chief bardai has become a model to posterity. Even now the Rana of Oodipoor, in his season of poverty, at the recent marriage of his daughter bestowed ' the gift of a lac ' on the chief bard ; though the articles of gold, horses, clothes, etc., were included in the estimate, and at an undue valuation, which rendered the gift not quite so precious as in the days of the Chohan." — Tod, vol. i. p. 638. RANTHAMBOR. P. 122 " From the time of its surrender by Rao Soorjun to Akber, the importance of this castle was established by its becoming the first sircar, or 'department,' in the province of Ajmer, consisting of no less than ' eighty-three mahals,' or extensive fiefs, in which were comprehended not only Boondi and Kotah, and all their dependencies, but the entire state of Scopoor, and all the petty fiefs south of the Bangunga, the aggregate of which now constitutes the state of Amber. In fact, with the exception of Mahmoodabad in Bengal, Rinthumbor was the most extensive sircar of the empire. In the decrepitude of the empire, this castle was maintained by a veteran commander as long as funds and provisions lasted ; but these failing, in order to secure it from falling into the hands of the Mahrattas, and thus being lost for ever to the throne, he sought out a Rajpoot prince, to whom he might entrust it. He applied to Boondi ; but the Hara, dreading to compromise his fealty if unable to maintain it, refused the boon, and having no alternative, he resigned it to the prince of Amber as a trust which he could no longer defend.'" — Tod, vol. ii. pp. 492-493- NOTES TO RHYMES 231 THE DISCROWNING OF UMED SINGH. P. 123 In his Annals of Haraoti (chapter iv. ) Tod tells how the young Omecla fought against the Jeypore army. "The steed of Onieda was struck by a cannon-ball, and the intestines protruded from the wound. The intrepidity of the youthful hero, nobly seconded by his kin and clan, was unavailing ; and the chieftains, fearing he would throw away a life the preservation of which they all desired, entreated he would abandon the contest ; observing ' that if he survived, Boondi must be theirs ; but if he was slain, there was an end of all their hopes.' " With grief he submitted ; and as they gained the Sowalli Pass, which leads to Indurgurh, he dismounted to breathe his faithful steed ; and as he loosened the girths, it expired. Omeda sat down and wept. Hunja was worthy of such a mark of his esteem : he was a steed of Irak, the gift of the king to his father, whom he had borne in many an encounter. Nor was this natural ebullition of the young Hara a transient feeling : Hunja's memory was held in veneration, and the first act of Omeda, when he recovered his throne, was to erect a statue to the steed who bore him so nobly on the day of Dublana. It stands in the square {choitk) of the city, and receives the reverence of each Hara, who links his history with one of the brightest of their achievements, though obscured by momentary defeat. "Omeda gained Indurgurh, which was close at hand, on foot; but this traitor to the name of Hara, who had acknowledged the supremacy of Amber, not only refused his prince a horse in his adversity, but warned him off the domain, asking ' if he meant to be the ruin of Indurgurh as well as Boondi ? ' Disdaining to drink water within its bounds, the young prince, stung by this perfidious mark of inhospitality, took the direction of Kurwain. 232 RHYMES OF RAJPUTANA Its chief made amends for the other's churlishness : he advanced to meet him, offered such aid as he had to give, and presented him with a horse. Dismissing his faithful kinsmen to their homes, and begging their swords when fortune might be kinder, he regained his old retreat, the ruined palace of Rampoora, amongst the ravines of the Chumbul." Tod adds the following foot-note : — " I have made my salaam to the representative of Hunja, and should have graced his neck with a chaplet on every military festival, had I dwelt among the Haras." The act which led to the abdication of Umed Singh after he had recovered his dominions is thus related : — "An act of revenge stained the reputation of Omeda, naturally virtuous, and but for which deed we should have to paint him as one of the bravest, wisest, and most faultless characters which Rajpoot history has recorded. Eight years had elapsed since the recovery of his dominions, and we have a right to infer that his wrongs and their authors had been forgotten, or rather forgiven, for human nature can scarcely forget so treacherous an act as that of his vassal of Indurgurh, on the defeat of Dublana. As so long a time had passed since the restoration without the penalty of his treason being exacted, it might have been concluded that the natural generosity of this high-minded prince had co-operated with a wise policy, in passing over the wrong without foregoing his right to avenge it. The degenerate Rajpoot, who could at such a moment witness the necessities of his prince and refuse to relieve them, could never reflect on that hour without self-abhorrence ; but his spirit was too base to offer reparation by a future life of duty ; he cursed the magnanimity of the man he had injured, hated him for his very forbearance, and aggravated the part he had acted by fresh injuries, and on a NOTES TO RHYMES 233 point too delicate to admit of being overlooked. Omeda had ' sent the coco-nut,' the symbol of matrimonial alliance, to Madhu Sing, in the name of his sister. It was received in a full assembly of all the nobles of the court, and with the respect due to one of the most illustrious races of Rajpootana. Deo Sing of Indurgurh was at that time on a visit at Teipoor. and the compliment was paid him by the Raja of asking ' what fame said of the daughter of Boodh Sing ? ' It is not impossible that he might have sought this opportunity of further betraying his prince : for his reply was an insulting innuendo, leading to doubts as to the purity of her blood. That it was grossly false was soon proved by the solicitation of her hand by Raja Beejy Sing of Marwar. The coco-nut was returned to Boondi — an insult never to be forgiven by a Rajpoot. "In S. 1813 (a.d. 1757) Omeda went to pay his devotions at the shrine of Beejaseni Mata ('the mother of victory'), near Kurwur. Being in the vicinity of Indurgurh, he invited its chief to join the assembled vassals with their families ; and though dissuaded, Deo Sing obeyed, accompanied by his son and grandson. All were cut off at one fell swoop, and the line of the traitor was extinct : as if the air of heaven should not be contaminated by the smoke of their ashes, Omeda commanded that the body of the calumnious traitor and his issue should be thrown into the lake. His fief of Indurgurh was given to his brother, between whom and the present incumbent four generations have passed away. " Fifteen years elapsed, during which the continual scenes of disorder around him furnished ample occupation for his thoughts. Yet, in the midst of all, would intrude the remembrance of this single act, in which he had usurped the powers of Him to whom alone it belongs to execute vengeance. Though no voice was lifted up against the deed, though he had a moral 234 RHYMES OF RAJPUTANA conviction that a traitor's death was the due of Deo Sing, his soul, generous as it was brave, revolted at the crime, however sanctified by custom, 1 which confounds the innocent with the guilty. To appease his conscience, he determined to abdicate the throne and pass the rest of his days in penitential rites, and traversing, in the pilgrim's garb, the vast regions of India, to visit the sacred shrines of his faith. "In S. 1827 (A.D. 1771) the imposing ceremony of 'joograj,' which terminated the political existence of Ome'da, was performed. An image of the prince was made, and a pyre was erected, on which it was consumed. The hair and whiskers of Ajit, his successor, were taken off, and offered to the manes ; lamentation and wailing were heard in the rinwas, 2 and the twelve days of rnatum, or ' mourning,' were passed as if Omeda had really deceased ; on the expiration of which, the installation of his successor took place, when Ajit Sing was proclaimed prince of the Haras of Boondi." — Tod, vol. ii. pp. 494-495- THE J ATS. P. 140 In his History of the Rajput Tribes Tod writes : — "In all the ancient catalogues of the thirty-six royal races of India the Jit has a place, though by none is he ever styled ' Rajpoot ' ; nor am I aware of any instance of a Rajpoot's intermarriage with a Jit. It is a name widely disseminated over 1 ' ' The laws of revenge are dreadfully absolute : had the sons of Deo Sing survived, the feud upon their liege lord would have been entailed with their estate. It is a nice point for a subject to balance between fidelity to his prince and a father's feud." 2 The queen's apartments. NOTES TO RHYMES 235 India, though it does not now occupy a very elevated place amongst the inhabitants, belonging chiefly to the agricultural classes. " In the Punjab they still retain their ancient name of Jit. On the Jumna and Ganges they are styled Jats, of whom the chief of Bhurtpoor is the most conspicuous. On the Indus and on Saurashtra they are termed Juts. The greater portion of the husbandmen in Rajast'han are Jits ; and there are numerous tribes beyond the Indus, now proselytes to the Mahomedan religion, who derive their origin from this class." Sir Lepel Griffin in his recent book on Ranjit Singh {Rulers of India series) writes : — " The origin of the Jats is shrouded in much uncertainty and has been the subject of long discussion. Some distinguished writers have found for them a Getic origin, but the traditions of the Punjab Jats in almost all cases refer to a Rajput descent, and emigration to the Punjab from Central India." ****** " They hold a social place below the Brahman, the Rajput, and the Khattri, but they themselves assert an equality with the second and a superiority over the third of these castes, a claim which their historical record and present importance justify. They are seen at their best in the Sikh districts above the rivers Beas and Sutlej." ***-:: * * "The virtues of the Jats are thus identical with those of the Sikhs who have come out of this caste." 236 RHYMES OF RAJPUTANA "NOT ONE WHITE SOLDIER NEAR." Pp. 143, 144 In his narrative of events in Rajputana during the Mutiny the Governor- General's Agent, Brigadier-General G. St. P. Lawrence, wrote : — "There was not a single European soldier in Rajpootana " ; and in a later paragraph thus described the loyal attitude of the Rajput princes and people generally during the Mutiny : — " I would point out that with three distinct mutinies in its heart, with every element for both Moslem and Hindoo fanaticism, with a dangerous combination among Marwar and other malcontent nobles, with a rebel nucleus at Mundisore close to its southern frontier, with thousands of discarded Hindoos of the lowest class in the ranks of the armies of its princes in Rajpootana, the revolt in India was met with no sympathy from Rajpoot rulers, nobles, or population generally ; that whilst our provinces have been disorganised scenes of riot and slaughter, this vast territory has hardly called for any armed interference, but has remained a rock of strength, and blessed the wise and just policy which has made the British power, relieving that of the Tartar and Mahratta dynasty, so respected and welcome, as to make the Rajpoot feel his interests identical with ours, and his independent freedom in the scale with the maintenance of British supremacy." ULWAR. P. 145 We hear of Mewat, the country which now comprises more than half the Ulwar State, doing homage to Bisaldeo Chauhan of Ajmere in A.D. 764. It appears then to have belonged to Jadu Rajputs. In a.d. 1235 it was apparently under the control of Emperor Shamsuddin Altamash, and the NOTES TO RHYMES 237 Mewattis generally had accepted the faith, with Hindu observances still grafted on to it, of their Mahomedan conquerors. The famous Bahadur Nahar, the reputed founder of the Khanzadas, was originally a Jadu Rajput, and the Mewatti chief Hasun Khan assisted the Rajputs in resisting Babai who subjugated the country in a.d. 1526. Aurangzeb gave Ulwar in jagir to Sav.ai Jai Singh of Jeypore who held it for a few years. The Jats from Bhurtpore overran the country from A.D. 1720 to about 1770, when the Narukas, a sept descended from the Kachwahas of Jeypore, joined in the struggle, and their first chief Partap Singh held the fort and town from 1775 t0 I 79 I > when he was succeeded by Bukhtawar Singh who ruled till 181 5. Then the third chief Banni Singh, who is held in high estimation by his people, ruled till 1857, when he was succeeded by Sheodan Singh who died in 1S74, being succeeded by Mungal Singh. THE EXD Printed by R. & R. Clark, Edinburgh. /J- UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LIBRARY Los Angeles This book is DUE on the last date stamped below. Form L9-50w7,'54 (5990)444 THE LIBRARY UNIVERSITY OF CALIFO*?nt* PR Trevor - 567U Rhymes of T6r Ra jputana . PR S67U T6r L 006 027 0£ UC SOUTHERN REGIONAL LIBRARY FACILITY AA 000 383 744