CHAPTER 4
=Vassalage of Mārwār to the Mughals.=—The death of Maldeo formed an important epoch in the annals of the Rathors. Up to this period the will had waited upon the wish of the gallant descendants of Siva; but now the vassals of Maru acknowledged one mightier than they. The banner of the empire floated pre-eminent over the _panchranga_, the five-coloured flag, which had led the Rathors from victory to victory, and waved from the sandhills of Umarkot to the salt-lake of Sambhar; from the desert bordering the Gara to the peaks of the Aravalli. Henceforward, the Rathor princes had, by their actions or subservience, to ascend by degrees the steps to royal favour. They were required to maintain a contingent of their proud vassals, headed by the heir, to serve at the Mogul’s pleasure. Their deeds won them, not ignobly, the grace of the imperial court; but had slavish submission been the sole path to elevation, the Rathor princes would never have attained a grade beyond the first mansab,[5.4.1] conferred on Udai Singh. Yet though streams of wealth enriched the barren plains of Maru; although a portion of the spoils of Golkonda and Bijapur augmented its treasures, decorated its palaces, and embellished its edifices and mausoleums; although the desert kings took the ‘right hand’ of all the feudality of Hind, whether indigenous or foreign—a feudal assemblage of no less than seventy-six petty kingdoms—yet the Rathor felt the sense of his now degraded condition, and it often burst forth even in the presence of the suzerain.
=Rāo Udai Singh, A.D. 1581-95.=—Maldeo’s death occurred in S. 1625;[5.4.2] but the chronicles do not admit of Udai [31] Singh’s elevation until the death of his brother Chandarsen, from which period we may reckon that he was, though junior, the choice both of his father and the nobles, who did not approve of Udai Singh’s submission to Akbar. In fact, the Raja led the royal forces against the most powerful of his vassals, and resumed almost all the possessions of the Mertias, and weakened the others.
Before we proceed to trace the course pursued by Udai Singh, who was seated upon the cushion of Maldeo in S. 1640 (A.D. 1584), let us cast a short retrospect over the annals of Maru, since the migration of the grandson of the potentate of Kanauj, which, compared with the ample page of western history, present little more than a chronicle of hard names, though not destitute of facts interesting to political science.
=Retrospect of Mārwār History.=—In the table before the reader, aided by the explanations in the text, he will see the whole process of the conquest, peopling, and settlement of an extensive region, with its
## partition or allotments amongst an innumerable frèrage (_bhayyad_),
whose children continue to hold them as vassals of their king and brother, the descendant of their mutual ancestor Siahji.
We may divide the annals of Marwar, from the migration of Siahji from Kanauj to the accession of Udai Singh, into three distinct epochs:
1. From the settlement of Siahji in the land of Kher, in A.D. 1212, to the conquest of Mandor by Chonda, in A.D. 1381.
2. From the conquest of Mandor to the founding of Jodhpur, in A.D. 1459; and
3. From the founding of Jodhpur to the accession of Udai Singh in A.D. 1584, when the Rathors acknowledged the supremacy of the empire.
The two first epochs were occupied in the subjugation of the western portion of the desert from the ancient allodiality; nor was it until Chonda conquered Mandor, on the decline of the Chauhans of the east, that the fertile lands on either side of the Luni were formed into fiefs for the children of Ranmall and Jodha. A change of capital with the Rajput is always productive of change in the internal organisation of the State; and not unfrequently the race changes its appellation with its capital. The foundation of Jodhpur was a new era, and henceforth the throne of Maru could only be occupied by the tribe of Jodha, and from branches not constituting the vassals of the crown, who were cut off from succession. This is a peculiar [32] feature in Rajput policy, and is common to the whole race, as will be hereafter more distinctly pointed out in the annals of Ajmer.
=Feudalism in Mārwār.=—Jodha, with all the ambition of the founder of a State, gave a new form to the feudal institutions of his country. Necessity, combined with pride, led him to promulgate a statute of limitation of the sub-infeudations of Maru. The immense progeny of his father Ranmall, twenty-four sons, and his own, of fourteen, almost all of whom had numerous issue, rendered it requisite to fix the number and extent of the fiefs; and amongst them, henceforward constituting permanently the frèrage of Maru, the lands were partitioned, Kandhal having emigrated and established his own numerous issue, the Kandhalots, in Bikaner. The two brothers next to Jodha, namely, Champa and Kumpa, with his two sons, Duda and Karamsi, and his grandson, Uda, were declared the heads of the feudal association under their names, the Champawats, Kumpawats, Mertias (sons of Duda), Karamsots, and Udawats, and continue to be “the pillars of Maru.” Eight great estates, called the _ath thakurat_, or ‘eight lordships’ of Marwar, each of the nominal annual value of fifty thousand rupees (£5000), were settled on these persons, and their immense influence has obtained many others for younger branches of their clans. The title of the first noble of Maru was given to Champa and his issue, who have often made its princes tremble on their thrones. Besides these, inferior appanages were settled on the junior branches, brothers, sons, and grandsons of Jodha, which were also deemed hereditary and irresumable; to use their own phrase, their _bat_,[5.4.3] or ‘allotment,’ to which they consider their title as sacred as that of their prince to his throne, of whom they say, “When our services are acceptable, then is he our lord; when not, we are again his brothers and kin, claimants, and laying claim to the land.”[5.4.4]
Rao Maldeo confirmed this division of Jodha, though he increased the secondary fiefs, and as the boundaries of Marwar were completed in his reign, it was essentially necessary to confirm the limitation. The feudal States of Marwar are, therefore, perpetuated in the offspring of the princes from Jodha to Maldeo, and a distinction exists between them and those subsequently conferred; the first, being [33] obtained by conquest, are deemed irrevocable, and must be perpetuated by adoption on the failure of lineal issue; whereas the other may, on lapses, be resumed and added to the fisc whence it emanated. The fiscal domain of the Rajput princes cannot, says their traditionary lore, be alienated for more than a life-interest; but this wise rule, though visible in anecdotes of past days, has been infringed with their general disorganization. These instances, it may be asserted, afford the distinctions of allodial and feudal lands. Of the numerous clans, the issue of Siahji to Jodha, which are spread over the northern and western parts of the State, some, partly from the difficulty of their position,
## partly from a feeling of respect to their remote ancestry, enjoy almost
entire independence. Yet they recognize the prince of Maru as their liege lord when his crown is endangered, and render homage on his accession or any great family event. These clans hold without grant or fine, and may properly be called the allodial chieftains. Of this number we may enumerate the lordships of Barmer, Kotra, Sheo, Phulsund, etc. Others there are who, though less independent, may also be styled the allodiality of Marwar, who are to furnish their quotas when demanded, and perform personal homage on all great days of rejoicing; of these are Mewa, Sindari, etc. The ancient clans scattered over the land, or serving the more modern chieftains, are recognized by their patronymic distinctions, by those versed in the chronicles; though many hear the names of Duharka, Mangalia, Uhar, and Dhandal, without knowing them to be Rathor. The mystic page of the bard is always consulted previous to any marriage, in order to prevent a violation of the matrimonial canons of the Rajputs, which are stricter than the Mosaic, and this keeps up the knowledge of the various branches of their own and other races, which would otherwise perish.
Whatever term may be applied to these institutions of a martial race, and which for the sake of being more readily understood we have elsewhere called, and shall continue to designate, “feudal,” we have not a shadow of doubt that they were common to the Rajput races from the remotest ages, and that Siahji conveyed them from the seat of his ancestors, Kanauj. A finer picture does not exist of the splendour of a feudal array than the camp of its last monarch, Jaichand, in the contest with the Chauhan. The annals of each and every State bear evidence to a system strictly parallel to that of Europe; more especially Mewar, where, thirteen hundred years ago, we see the entire feudatories of the State throwing up their grants, giving their liege lord defiance, and threatening him with their [34] vengeance. Yet, having “eaten his salt,” they forbore to proceed to hostilities till a whole year had elapsed, at the expiration of which they deposed him.[5.4.5] Akbar, who was partial to Hindu institutions, borrowed much from them, in all that concerned his own regulations.
In contrasting these customs with analogous ones in the West, the reader should never lose sight of one point, which must influence the analogy, namely, the patriarchal form which characterizes the feudal system in all countries; and as, amongst the Rajputs, all their vassalage is of their own kin and blood (save a slight mixture of foreign nobles as a counterpoise), the paternity of the sovereign is no fiction, as in Europe; so that from the son of Champa, who takes the right hand of his prince, to the meanest vassal, who serves merely for his _peti_[5.4.6] (rations), all are linked by the tie of consanguinity, of which it is difficult to say whether it is most productive of evil or good, since it has afforded examples as brilliant and as dark as any in the history of mankind. The devotion which made twelve thousand, out of the fifty thousand, “sons of Jodha” prove their fidelity to Maldeo has often been emulated even to the present day.
The chronicles, as before stated, are at variance with regard to the accession of Udai Singh: some date it from the death of Maldeo, in S. 1625 (A.D. 1569); others from that of his elder brother Chandarsen, slain in the storm of Siwana. The name of Udai appears one of evil portent in the annals of Rajasthan.[5.4.7] While “Udai, the fat,” was inhaling the breeze of imperial power, which spread a haze of prosperity over Maru, Partap of Mewar, the idol of the Rajputs, was enduring every hardship in the attempt to work out his country’s independence, which had been sacrificed by his father, Udai Singh. In this he failed, but he left a name hallowed in the hearts of his countrymen, and immortalized in the imperishable verse of the bard.
On the union of the imperial house with that of Jodhpur, by the marriage of Jodh Bai to Akbar,[5.4.8] the emperor not only restored all the possessions he had wrested from Marwar, with the exception of Ajmer, but several rich districts in Malwa, whose revenues doubled the resources of his own fiscal domain. With the aid of his imperial brother-in-law, he greatly diminished the power of the feudal aristocracy [35], and clipped the wings of almost all the greater vassals, while he made numerous sequestrations of the lands of the ancient allodiality and lesser vassals; so that it is stated, that, either by new settlement or confiscation, he added fourteen hundred villages to the fisc. He resumed almost all the lands of the sons of Duda, who, from their abode, were termed Mertia; took Jaitaran from the Udawats, and other towns of less note from the sons of Champa and Kumpa.
Udai Singh was not ungrateful for the favours heaped upon him by the emperor, for whom his Rathors performed many signal services: for the raja was latterly too unwieldy for any steed to bear him to battle. The “king of the Desert” (the familiar epithet applied to him by Akbar) had a numerous progeny; no less than thirty-four legitimate sons and daughters, who added new clans and new estates to the feudal association of Maru: of these the most conspicuous are Govindgarh and Pisangan; while some obtained settlements beyond its limits which became independent and bear the name of the founders. Of these are Kishangarh and Ratlam in Malwa.
=Death of Rāo Udai Singh.=—Udai Singh died thirteen years after his inauguration on the cushion of Jodha, and thirty-three after the death of Maldeo. The manner of his death, as related in the biographical sketches termed Khyat, affords such a specimen of superstition and of Rajput manners that it would be improper to omit it. The narrative is preceded by some reflections on the moral education of the Rathor princes, and the wise restraints imposed upon them under the vigilant control of chiefs of approved worth and fidelity; so that, to use the words of the text, “they often passed their twentieth year, ignorant of woman.” If the “fat raja” had ever known this moral restraint, in his riper years he forgot it; for although he had no less than twenty-seven queens, he cast the eye of desire on the virgin-daughter of a subject, and that subject a Brahman.
=Brāhman sacrifices his Daughter.=—It was on the raja’s return from court to his native land that he beheld the damsel, and he determined, notwithstanding the sacred character of her father and his own obligations as the dispenser of law and justice, to enjoy the object of his admiration. The Brahman was an Ayapanthi,[5.4.9] or votary of Ayamata, whose shrine is at Bhavi-Bhilara. These sectarians of Maru, very different from the abstinent Brahmans of Bengal, eat flesh, drink wine, and share in all the common enjoyments of life with the martial spirits around them. Whether the scruples of the [36] daughter were likely to be easily overcome by her royal tempter, or whether the raja threatened force, the Khyat does not inform us; but as there was no other course by which the father could save her from pollution but by her death, he resolved to make it one of vengeance and horror. He dug a sacrificial pit, and having slain his daughter, cut her into fragments, and mingling therewith pieces of flesh from his own person, made the Homa, or burnt sacrifice to Ayamata, and as the smoke and flames ascended he pronounced an imprecation on the raja: “Let peace be a stranger to him! and in three pahars,[5.4.10] three days, and three years, let me have revenge!” Then exclaiming, “My future dwelling is the Dabhi Baori!” sprung into the flaming pit. The horrid tale was related to the raja, whose imagination was haunted by the shade of the Brahman; and he expired at the assigned period, a prey to unceasing remorse.
Superstition is sometimes made available for moral ends; and the shade of the Ayapanthi Brahman of Bhilara has been evoked, in subsequent ages, to restrain and lead unto virtue libidinous princes, when all other control has been unavailing. The celebrated Jaswant Singh, the great-grandson of Udai, had an amour with the daughter of one of his civil officers, and which he carried on at the Dabhi Baori.[5.4.11] But the avenging ghost of the Brahman interposed between him and his wishes. A dreadful struggle ensued, in which Jaswant lost his senses, and no effort could banish the impression from his mind. The ghost persecuted his fancy, and he was generally believed to be possessed with a wicked spirit, which, when exorcised, was made to say he would only depart on the self-sacrifice of a chief equal in dignity to Jaswant. Nahar Khan, “the tiger lord,” chief of the Kumpawat clan, who led the van in all his battles, immediately offered his head in expiation for his prince; and he had no sooner expressed this loyal determination, than the holy men who exorcised the spirit caused it to descend into a vessel of water, and having waved it thrice round his head, they presented it to Nahar Khan, who drank it off, and Jaswant’s senses were instantly restored. This miraculous transfer of the ghost is implicitly believed by every chief of Rajasthan, by whom Nahar was called “the faithful of the faithful.” Previous to dying, he called his son, and imposed on him and his descendants, by the solemnity of an oath, the abjuration of the office of Pardhan, or hereditary premier of Marwar, whose dignity involved such a sacrifice [37]; and from that day the Champawats of Awa succeeded the Kumpawats of Asop, who renounced the first seat on the right for that on the left of their princes.
We shall conclude the reign of Udai Singh with the register of his issue from “the Book of Kings.” It is by no means an unimportant document to such as are interested in these singular communities, and essentially useful to those who are called upon to interfere in their national concerns. Here we see the affinities of the branch (_sakha_) to the parent tree, which in one short century has shaded the whole land; and to which the independents of Kishangarh, Rupnagarh, and Ratlam, as well as the feudal chiefs of Govindgarh, Khairwa, and Pisangan, all issues from Udai Singh, look for protection.
Issue of Raja Udai Singh:—
1. Sur Singh, succeeded. 2. Akhairaj. 3. Bhagwandas; had issue Bala, Gopaldas, Govinddas, who founded Govindgarh. 4. Narardas ┐ 5. Sakat Singh ├ had no issue attaining eminence. 6. Bhopat ┘ 7. Dalpat had four sons: 1. Maheshdas, whose son, Ratna, founded Ratlam;[5.4.12] 2. Jaswant Singh; 3. Partap Singh; 4. Kaniram. 8. Jeth had four sons: 1. Har Singh; 2. Amra; 3. Kaniram; 4. Premraj, whose descendants held lands in the tract called Balati and Khairwa. 9. Kishan, in S. 1669 (A.D. 1613), founded Kishangarh; he had three sons, Sahasmall, Jagmall, Biharmall, who had Hari Singh, who had Rup Singh, who founded Rupnagarh. 10. Jaswant, his son Man founded Manpura, his issue called Manpura Jodha. 11. Kesho founded Pisangan. 12. Ramdas. ┐ 13. Puranmall. │ 14. Madhodas. ├ No mention of them. 15. Mohandas. │ 16. Kirat Singh. │ 17. —— ┘
And seventeen daughters not registered in the chronicle [38].
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Footnote 5.4.1:
[Rank, prescribing precedence and gradation of pay (Irvine, _Army of the Indian Moghuls_, 3 ff.).]
Footnote 5.4.2:
[The dates are uncertain; those in the margin follow Erskine (iii. B. 25).]
Footnote 5.4.3:
From _batna_, ‘to divide, to partition.’
Footnote 5.4.4:
See the remonstrance of the vassal descendants of these chiefs, expelled their patrimony by their prince, to the English enemy, Vol. I. p. 230.
Footnote 5.4.5:
See Vol. I. p. 266.
Footnote 5.4.6:
Literally, ‘a bellyful.’
Footnote 5.4.7:
Instead of being, as it imports, the ‘ascending,’ (Skt. _udaya_), it should for ever, in both the houses of Maru and Mewar, signify ‘setting’; the pusillanimity of the one sunk Mewar, that of the other Marwar.
Footnote 5.4.8:
[There has been some controversy about Jodh Bāī, but it is clear that she was wife of Jahāngīr, not of Akbar (_Āīn_, i. 619).]
Footnote 5.4.9:
[This is one of the Jogi orders (Rose, _Glossary_, ii. 9). The Author (_Western India_, 136) says that Ayāmāta is tutelary goddess of the Koli tribe. One branch of the Lohānas specially worship her (_Census Report, Mārwār_, 1891, ii. 139).]
Footnote 5.4.10:
A pahar is a watch of the day, about three hours.
Footnote 5.4.11:
A reservoir excavated by one of the Dabhi tribe. [This is a mistake. The proper name is Tāpi Bāori or ‘pit of fire’ (_Census Report, Mārwār_, 1891, ii. 65). For similar ghost stories see Crooke, _Popular Religion and Folklore of N. India_, i. 193 ff. The original name of Nāhar Khān, before his conversion to Islām, was Mukunddās.]
Footnote 5.4.12:
Ratlam, Kishangarh, and Rupnagarh are independent, and all under the separate protection of the British Government.
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