CHAPTER 11
=Jealousy of Abhai Singh to Bakht Singh.=—The tranquillity which for a while followed the campaign in Gujarat was of no long duration. The love of ease and opium, which increased with the years of Abhai Singh, was disturbed by a perpetual apprehension of the active courage and military genius of his brother, whose appanage of Nagor was too restricted a field for his talents and ambition. Bakhta was also aware that his daring nature, which obtained him the suffrages, as it would the swords, of his turbulent and easily excited countrymen, rendered him an object of distrust, and that without great circumspection, he would be unable to maintain himself in his _imperium in imperio_, the castle and three hundred and sixty townships of Nagor. He was too discreet to support himself by foreign aid, or by fomenting domestic strife; but with the aid of the bard he adopted a line of policy, the relation of which will develop new traits in the Rajput character, and exemplify its peculiarities. Karna, after finishing his historical chronicle, concluding with the war against Sarbuland, abandoned “the gate of Jodhpur for that of Nagor.” Like all his tribe, the bard was an adept in intrigue, and his sacred character forwarded the secret means of executing it. His advice was to embroil their common sovereign with the prince of Amber, and an opportunity was not long wanting [109].
=Abhai Singh attacks Bīkaner.=—The prince of Bikaner,[5.11.1] a junior but independent branch of Marwar, had offended his yet nominal suzerain Abhai Singh, who, taking advantage of the weakness of their common liege lord the emperor, determined to resent the affront, and accordingly invested Bikaner, which had sustained a siege of some weeks, when Bakhta determined to make its release subserve his designs; nor could he have chosen a better expedient. Although the prince of Marwar had led his united vassalage against Bikaner, they were not only lukewarm as to the success of their own arms, but, anomalous as it must appear in the annals even of feudal warfare, they furnished the besieged with the means of defence, who, but for the supplies of opium, salt, and ammunition, would soon have been compelled to surrender. We can account for this: Bikaner was of their own kin, a branch of the great tree of which Siahji was the root, and to which they could cling in emergency; in short, Bikaner balanced the power between themselves and their head.
The scheme being approved, its execution and mode of development to Jai Singh were next canvassed. “Touch his pride,” said Karna; “tell him the insult to Amber, which your ancestor invested, has never been balanced, and that he will never find a time like the present to fling a few shot at Jodhpur.”
=Bakht Singh intrigues to cause War with Jaipur.=—Bakhta addressed a letter to Jai Singh, and at the same time sent instructions to the envoy of Bikaner at his court how to act.
The prince of Amber, towards the close of his career, became partial to ‘the cup’; but, aware of the follies it involved him in, an edict prohibited all official intercourse with him while he was under its influence. The direct overture of Bakhta was canvassed, and all interference between the kindred belligerents was rejected in a full council of the chiefs of Amber. But the envoy had a friend in the famous Vidyadhar,[5.11.2] the chief civil minister of the State, through whose means he obtained permission to make ‘a verbal report, standing.’ “Bikaner,” he said, “was in peril, and without his aid must fall, and that his master did not consider the sovereign of Marwar, but of Amber, as his suzerain.” Vanity and wine did the rest. The prince took up the pen and wrote to Abhai Singh, “That they all formed one great family; to forgive Bikaner and raise his batteries”: and as he took another cup, and [110] curled his moustache, he gave the letter to be folded. “Maharaja,” said the envoy, “put in two more words: ‘or, my name is Jai Singh.’” They were added. The overjoyed envoy retired, and in a few minutes the letter was on transit to its destination by the swiftest camel of the desert. Scarcely had the envoy retired, when the chief of Bansko,[5.11.3] the Mentor of Jai Singh, entered. He was told of the letter, which “would vex his Saga.”[5.11.4] The old chief remonstrated; he said, “Unless you intend to extinguish the Kachhwahas, recall this letter.” Messenger after messenger was sent, but the envoy knew his duty. At the dinner hour all the chiefs had assembled at the (_Rasora_) banquet-hall, when the spokesman of the vassalage, old Dip Singh, in reply to the communication of his sovereign, told him he had done a cruel and wanton act, and that they must all suffer for his imprudence.
The reply, a laconic defiance, was brought back with like celerity; it was opened and read by Jai Singh to his chiefs: “By what right do you dictate to me, or interfere between me and my servants? If your name is ‘Lion of Victory’ (Jai Singh), mine is ‘the Lion without Fear’ (Abhai Singh).”[5.11.5]
The ancient chief, Dip Singh, said: “I told you how it would be; but there is no retreat, and our business is to collect our friends.” The Kher, or ‘levy _en masse_,’ was proclaimed: Every Kachhwaha was commanded to repair to the great standard planted outside the capital. The home-clans came pouring in, and aid was obtained from the Haras of Bundi, the Jadons of Karauli, the Sesodias of Shahpura, the Khichis, and the Jats, until one hundred thousand men were formed beneath the castle of Amber. This formidable array proceeded, march after march, until they reached Gangwana, a village on the frontier of Marwar.[5.11.6] Here they encamped, and, with all due courtesy, awaited the arrival of the ‘Fearless Lion.’
=Battle of Gangwāna.=—They were not long in suspense. Mortally offended at such wanton interference, which compelled him to relinquish his object on the very eve of attainment, Abhai Singh raised his batteries from besieging Bikaner and rapidly advanced to the encounter.
Bakhta now took alarm. He had not calculated the length to which his intrigues would involve his country; he had sought but to embroil the border princes, but [111] had kindled a national warfare. Still his fears were less for the discovery of his plot than for the honour of Marwar, about to be assailed by such odds. He repaired to his brother and liege lord, and implored him not to raise the siege; declaring that he alone, with the vassals of Nagor, would receive the Bhagatia’s[5.11.7] battle, and, by God’s blessing, would give a good account of him. Abhai Singh, not averse to see his brother punished for his conduct, though determined to leave him to the brunt of the battle, rejected with scorn the intriguing proposition.
The Nakkara sounded the assembly for the chivalry of Nagor. Bakhta took post on the balcony over the Delhi gate, with two brazen vessels; in the one was an infusion of opium, in the other saffron-water. To each Rajput as he entered he presented opium, and made the impress of his right hand on his heart with the saffron-water. Having in this manner enrolled eight thousand Rajputs, sworn to die with him, he determined to select the most resolute; and marching to the edge of an extensive field of luxuriant Indian corn[5.11.8] (_bajra_), he halted his band, and thus addressed them: “Let none follow me who is not prepared for victory or death: if there be any amongst you who desire to return, let them do so in God’s name.” As he spoke, he resumed the march through the luxuriant fields, that it might not be seen who retired. More than five thousand remained, and with these he moved on to the combat.
The Amber prince awaited them at Gangwana: soon as the hostile lines approached, Bakhta gave the word, and, in one dense mass, his gallant legion charged with lance and sword the deepened lines of Amber, carrying destruction at every pass. He passed through and through this host; but when he pulled up in the rear, only sixty of his band remained round his person. At this moment the chief of Gajsinghpura, head of all his vassals, hinted there was a jungle in the rear: “And what is there in front,” said the intrepid Rathor, “that we should not try the road we came?” and as he espied the Panchranga, or five-coloured flag, which denoted the headquarters of Amber, the word again was given. The cautious Kumbhani[5.11.9] advised his prince to avoid the charge: with some difficulty he was made to leave the field, and as a salvo to his honour, by a flank movement towards Kandela north, that it might not be said he turned his back on his foe. As he [112] retreated, he exclaimed, “Seventeen battles have I witnessed, but till this day never one decided by the sword.” Thus, after a life of success, the wisest, or at least the most learned and most powerful prince of Rajwara, incurred the disgrace of leaving the field in the face of a handful of men, strengthening the adage “that one Rathor equalled ten Kachhwahas.”
Jai Singh’s own bards could not refrain from awarding the meed of valour to their foes, and composed the following stanzas on the occasion: “Is it the battle cry of Kali, or the war-shout of Hanumanta, or the hissing of Seshnag, or the denunciation of Kapaliswar? Is it the incarnation of Narsingh, or the darting beam of Surya? or the death-glance of the Dakini?[5.11.10] or that from the central orb of Trinetra?[5.11.11] Who could support the flames from this volcano of steel, when Bakhta’s sword became the sickle of Time?”
But for Karna the bard, one of the few remaining about his person, Bakhta would a third time have plunged into the ranks of the foe; nor was it till the host of Amber had left the field that he was aware of the extent of his loss.[5.11.12] Then, strange inconsistency! the man, who but a few minutes before had affronted death in every shape, when he beheld the paucity of survivors, sat down and wept like an infant. Still it was more the weakness of ambition than humanity; for, never imagining that his brother would fail to support him, he thought destruction had overtaken Marwar; nor was it until his brother joined and assured him he had left him all the honour of the day, that he recovered his port. Then “he curled his whiskers and swore an oath, that he would yet drag the ‘Bhagat’ from his castle of Amber.”
Jai Singh, though he paid dear for his message, gained his point, the relief of Bikaner; and the Rana of Udaipur mediated to prevent the quarrel going further, which was the less difficult since both parties had gained their ends, though Jai Singh obtained his by the loss of a battle.
=Marriage of a God.=—It is related that the tutelary deity of Bakhta Singh fell into the hands of the Amber prince, who carried home the sole trophy he could boast, married the Rathor deity to a female divinity of Amber, and returned him with his compliments to Bakhta. Such were the courteous usages of Rajput chivalry. The triple alliance [113] of the chief Rajput princes followed this battle, cemented by the union of the rival houses to daughters of Mewar. There they met, attended by their vassalage, and, in the nuptial festivities and the ‘cup,’ forgot this bitter strife, while enmity and even national jealousy were banished by general courtesy. Such is the Rajput, who can be judged after no known standard: he stands alone in the moral history of man.[5.11.13]
=Death and Character of Abhai Singh.=—This is the last conspicuous act of Abhai Singh’s life on record. He died in S. 1806 (A.D. 1750) at Jodhpur. His courage, which may be termed ferocious, was tempered only by his excessive indolence, regarding which they have preserved many amusing anecdotes; one of these will display the exact character of the man. The chronicle says: “When Ajit went to marry the Chauhani, he found two lions in his path—the one asleep, the other awake. The interpretation of the Saguni (augur) was, that the Chauhani would bear him two sons; that one would be a _soti kan_ (sluggard), the other an
## active soldier.” Could the augur have revealed that they would imbrue
their hands in a father’s blood, he might have averted the ruin of his country, which dates from this black deed.
The Rathors profess a great contempt for the Kachhwahas as soldiers; and Abhai Singh’s was not lessened for their prince, because he happened to be father-in-law to the prince of Amber, whom he used to mortify, even in the ‘Presence,’ with such sarcasm as, “You are called a Kachhua, or properly Kuswa, from the Kusa; and your sword will cut as deep as one of its blades”:[5.11.14] alluding to the grass thus called. Irritated, yet fearing to reply, he formed a plan to humble his arrogance in his only vulnerable point, the depreciation of his personal strength. While it was the boast of Jai Singh to mingle the exact sciences of Europe with the more ancient of India, Abhai’s ambition was to be deemed the first swordsman of Rajwara. The scientific prince of Amber gave his cue to Kirparam, the paymaster-general, a favourite with the king, from his skill at chess, and who had often the honour of playing with him while all the nobles were standing. Kirparam praised the Rathor prince’s dexterity in smiting off a buffalo’s head; on which the king called out, “Rajeswar, I have heard much of your skill with the sword.” “Yes, Hazrat, I can use it on an occasion.” A huge animal [114] was brought into the area, fed in the luxuriant pastures of Hariana. The court crowded out to see the Rathor exhibit; but when he beheld the enormous bulk, he turned to the king and begged permission to retire to his post, the imperial guardroom, to refresh himself. Taking a double dose of opium, he returned, his eyes glaring with rage at the trick played upon him, and as he approached the buffalo they fell upon Jai Singh who had procured this monster with a view to foil him. The Amber chief saw that mischief was brewing, and whispered his majesty not to approach too near his son-in-law. Grasping his sword in both hands, Abhai gave the blow with such force that the buffalo’s head “dropped upon his knees,” and the raja was thrown upon his back. All was well; but, as the chronicle says, “the king never asked the raja to decollate another buffalo.”
=Invasion of Nādir Shāh.=—It was during the reign of Abhai Singh that Nadir Shah[5.11.15] invaded India; but the summons to the Rajput princes, to put forth their strength in support of the tottering throne of Timur, was received with indifference. Not a chief of note led his myrmidons to the plains of Karnal; and Delhi was invested, plundered, and its monarch dethroned, without exciting a sigh. Such was their apathy in the cause, when the imbecility of Muhammad Shah succeeded to the inheritance of Aurangzeb, that with their own hands these puppets of despotism sapped the foundations of the empire.
Unfortunately for Rajputana, the demoralization of her princes prevented their turning to advantage this depression of the empire, in whose follies and crimes they participated.
With the foul and monstrous murder of the Raja Ajit (A.D. 1750) commenced those bloody scenes which disgrace the annals of Marwar; yet even in the history of her crimes there are acts of redeeming virtue, which raise a sentiment of regret that the lustre of the one should be tarnished by the presence of the other. They serve, however, to illustrate that great moral truth, that in every stage of civilization crime will work out its own punishment; and grievously has the parricidal murder of Ajit been visited on his race and country. We shall see it acting as a blight on that magnificent tree, which, transplanted from the native soil of the Ganges, took root and flourished amidst the arid sands of the desert, affording a goodly shade for a daring race, who acquired fresh victories with poverty—we shall see its luxuriance checked, and its numerous and widely spread branches, as if [115] scorched by the lightnings of heaven, wither and decay; and they must utterly perish, unless a scion, from the uncontaminated stem of Idar,[5.11.16] be grafted upon it: then it may revive, and be yet made to yield more vigorous fruit.
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Footnote 5.11.1:
[Sujān Singh (A.D. 1700-35) served in the Deccan from 1707 to 1719.]
Footnote 5.11.2:
Vidyadhar was a Brahman of Bengal, a scholar and man of science. The plan of the modern city of Amber, named Jaipur, was his: a city as regular as Darmstadt. He was also the joint compiler of the celebrated genealogical tables which appear in the first volume of this work.
Footnote 5.11.3:
[One of the twelve kothris or houses of Jaipur, the Kumbhāni.]
Footnote 5.11.4:
_Saga_ is a term denoting a connexion by marriage [more generally a blood relation].
Footnote 5.11.5:
I write the names as pronounced, and as familiar to the readers of Indian history. _Jaya_, in Sanskrit, is ‘victory,’ _Abhai_, ‘fearless.’
Footnote 5.11.6:
[Now in Ajmer District, about 8 miles N.N.W. of Ajmer city.]
Footnote 5.11.7:
_Bhagatia_ is ‘a devotee’: the term is here applied reproachfully to Jai Singh, on account of his very religious habits.
Footnote 5.11.8:
[Rather millet, _Pennisetum typhoideum_.]
Footnote 5.11.9:
The clan of the Bansko chief.
Footnote 5.11.10:
The witch of India is termed _Dakini_.
Footnote 5.11.11:
A title of Siva, god of destruction, the ‘three-eyed.’
Footnote 5.11.12:
Though the bard does not state, it is to be supposed that the main body came up and caused this movement.
Footnote 5.11.13:
This singular piece of Rajput history, in the Annals of Mārwār, is confirmed by every particular in the “one hundred and nine acts” of the Great Jai Singh of Amber. The foe does ample justice to Rathor valour.
Footnote 5.11.14:
[A pun on Kachhwāha, _Kachhua_, ‘a tortoise,’ and the sacred _Kusa_, grass, _poa cynosuroides_.]
Footnote 5.11.15:
[Nādir Shāh, King of Persia, invaded India and defeated the forces of the Emperor, Muhammad Shāh, at Karnāl, near the historic field of Pānīpat on February 13, 1739; entered Delhi, which was sacked and a terrible massacre perpetrated, and returned home with the Peacock Throne and immense treasures.]
Footnote 5.11.16:
The heir of Idar is heir presumptive to the _gaddi_ of Marwar.
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