CHAPTER 18
Degraded Condition of the Rājputs.
Alliances with the British.
Treaty with Mewār.
In his passage from Jahazpur, which guards the range on the east to Kumbhalmer on the Aravalli west, a space of 140 miles, the limits of Mewar, only two thinly peopled towns were seen which acknowledged the Rana’s authority. All was desolate; even the traces of the footsteps of man were effaced. The babul (mimosa [acacia] Arabica), and gigantic reed, which harboured the boar and the tiger, grew upon the highways; and every rising ground displayed a mass of ruin. Bhilwara, the commercial entrepôt of Rajputana, which ten years before contained six thousand [473] families, showed not a vestige of existence. All was silent in her streets—no living thing was seen except a solitary dog, that fled in dismay from his lurking-place in the temple, scared at the unaccustomed sight of man.[[4]]
Cession of Kumbhalmer.
Arrival of the Author as Agent.
At four in the afternoon, a deputation, consisting of the officiating prime minister, the representative of the Chondawats, with mace-bearers and a numerous escort, came to announce the Rana’s readiness to receive the mission; which, with all the ‘pomp and circumstance’ peculiar to these countries, was marshalled in front of the residency, thronged by crowds of well-dressed [474] inhabitants, silently gazing at the unusual sight.[[8]] The grand Nakkaras having announced the Rana in court, the mission proceeded through streets which everywhere presented marks of rapine, hailed by the most enthusiastic greetings. “Jai! jai! Farangi ka Raj!” “Victory, victory to the English Government!” resounded from every tongue. The bards were not idle; and the unpoetic name of the Agent was hitched into rhyme. Groups of musicians were posted here and there, who gave a passing specimen of the tappas[[9]] of Mewar; and not a few of the fair, with brazen ewers of water on their heads, welcomed us with the suhelia, or songs of joy. Into each of these vessels the purse-bearer dropped a piece of silver; for neither the songs of the suhelia, the tappas of the minstrel, nor encomiastic stave of the bard, are to be received without some acknowledgement that you appreciate their merit and talents, however you may doubt the value they put upon your own. As we ascended the main street leading to the Tripolia, or triple portal, which guards the sacred enclosure, dense masses of people obstructed our progress, and even the walls of the temple of Jagannath were crowded. According to etiquette, we dismounted at the Porte, and proceeded on foot across the ample terrace; on which were drawn up a few elephants and horse, exercising for the Rana’s amusement.
The Palace at Udaipur.
A band of Sindis guarded the first entrance to the palace; and being Saturday, the Saktawats were on duty in the great hall of assembly. Through lines of Rajputs we proceeded till we came to the marble staircase, the steps of which had taken the form of the segment of an ellipse, from the constant friction of the foot; an image of Ganesha guarded the ascent to the interior of the palace, and the apartment, or landing, is called Ganesha deori, from the Rajput Janus. After proceeding through a suite of saloons, each filled with spectators, the herald’s voice announced to ‘the lord of the world’ that the English envoy was in his presence; on which he arose, and advanced a few paces in front of the throne, the chieftains standing to receive the mission. Everything being ruled by precedent, the seat allotted for the envoy was immediately in front and touching the royal cushion (gaddi): being that assigned to the Peshwa in the height of Mahratta prosperity, the arrangement, which was a subject of regular negotiation, could not be objected to. The apartment chosen for the initiatory visit was the Surya mahall, or ‘hall of the sun,’ so called from a medallion of the orb in basso-rilievo which decorates the wall. Close thereto is placed the Rana’s throne, above which, supported by slender silver columns, rises a velvet canopy. The Gaddi, or throne, in the East is but a huge cushion, over which is thrown an embroidered velvet mantle. The chiefs of the higher grade, or ‘the Sixteen,’ were seated, according to their rank, on the right and left of the Rana; next and below these were the princes Amra and Javan Singh; and at right angles (by which the court formed three sides of a square), the chiefs of the second rank. The civil officers of the State were near the Rana in front, and the seneschal, butler, keeper of the wardrobe, and other confidential officers and inferior chieftains, formed a group standing on the extreme edge of the carpet.
The Rana’s congratulations were hearty and sincere: in a few powerful expressions he depicted the miseries he had experienced, the fallen condition of his State, and the gratitude he felt to the British Government which had interposed between him and destruction; and which for the first moment of his existence allowed him to sleep in peace. There was an intense earnestness in every word he uttered, which, delivered with great fluency of speech and dignity of manner, inspired deep respect and sympathy. The Agent said that the Governor-General was no stranger to the [476] history of his illustrious family, or to his own immediate sufferings; and that it was his earnest desire to promote, by every means in his power, the Rana’s personal dignity and the prosperity of his dominions. After conversing a few minutes, the interview was closed with presents to the Agent and suite: to the former a caparisoned elephant and horse, jewelled aigrette, and pearl necklace, with shawls and brocades; and with the customary presentation of essence of rose and the pan leaf the Rana and court rising, the envoy made his salaam and retired. In a short time the Rana, attended by his second son, ministers, and a select number of the chiefs, honoured the envoy with a visit. The latter advanced beyond his residence to meet the prince, who was received with presented arms by the guard, the officers saluting, and conducted to his throne, which had been previously arranged. Conversation was now unrestrained, and questions were demanded regarding everything which appeared unusual. After sitting half an hour, the Agent presented the Rana with an elephant and two horses, caparisoned with silver and gilt ornaments and velvet embroidered housings, with twenty-one shields[[10]] of shawls, brocades, muslins, and jewels; to prince Amra, unable from sickness to attend his father, a horse and eleven shields; and to his brother, the second prince, Javan Singh, a horse and nine shields; to the ministers and chiefs according to rank: the whole entertainment costing about 20,000 rupees, or £2000. Amidst these ceremonials, receiving and returning visits of the Rana, his chiefs, his ministers, and men of influence and information commercial and agricultural, some weeks passed in silent observation, and in the acquisition of materials for action.[[11]]
Political Divisions of Mewār.
Desolation of Mewār.
The Condition of Udaipur.
Reorganization of the State.
To the Rajput, the moral spectacle of a Peshwa marched into exile with all the quietude of a pilgrimage, effected more than twenty thousand bayonets, and no other auxiliary was required than the judicious use of the impressions from this and other passing events, to relay the foundations of order and prosperity—by never doubting the issue, success was insured. The British force, therefore, after the reduction of the plans enumerated, was marched to cantonments; the rest was left for time and reason to accomplish.
Form of Civil Government.
There are four grand officers of the government:
- 1. The Pardhan, or prime minister.
- 2. Bakhshi, commander of the forces.
- 3. Suratnama, keeper of the records.
- 4. Sahai, keeper of the signet.[[12]]
The first, the Pardhan, or civil premier, must be of the non-militant tribe. The whole of the territorial and financial arrangements are vested in him. He [480] nominates the civil governors of districts, and the collectors of the revenue and custom; and has fourteen thuas, or departments, under him, which embrace all that relates to expenditure.
2. The Bakhshi must also be of a non-militant tribe, and one different from the Pardhan. His duties are mixed civil and military. He takes the musters, and pays mercenaries, or rations, to the feudal tenants when on extra service, and he appoints a deputy to accompany all expeditions, or to head frontier-posts, with the title of Faujdar, or commander. The royal insignia, the standard, and kettle-drums accompany him, and the highest nobles assemble under the general control of this civil officer, never under one of their own body. From the Bakhshi’s bureau all patents are issued, as also all letters of sequestration of feudal land.
The Bakhshi has four secretaries:
- 1. Draws out deeds.
- 2. Accountant.
- 3. Recorder of all patents or grants.
- 4. Keeps duplicates.
3. The Suratnama[[13]] is the auditor and recorder of all the household expenditure and establishments, which are paid by his cheques. He has four assistants also, who make a daily report, and give a daily balance of accounts.
4. The Sahai. He is secretary both for home and foreign correspondence. He draws out the royal grants or patents of estates, and superintends the deeds of grant on copper-plate to religious establishments. Since the privilege appertaining to Salumbar, of confirming all royal grants with his signet the lance, has fallen into desuetude, the Sahai executes this military autograph.[[14]]
To all decrees, from the daily stipend to the patta, or patent of an estate, each minister must append his seal, so that there is a complete system of check. Besides these, the higher officers of government, there are thirty-six karkhanas, or inferior officers, appointed directly by the Rana, the most conspicuous of which are the justiciary,[[15]] the keepers of the register-office, of the mint, of the armoury, of the regalia, of the jewels, of the wardrobe, of the stables, of the kitchen, of the band, of the seneschalsy, and of the seraglio.
There was no want of aspirants to office, here hereditary; but it was vain to look [481] amongst the descendants of the virtuous Pancholi, or the severe Amrachand, and the prediction of the former, “Dust will cover the head of Mewar when virtue wanders in rags,” was strictly fulfilled. There appeared no talent, no influence, no honesty; yet the deficiency was calculated to excite sorrow rather than surprise; to stimulate exertion on their behalf, rather than damp the hope of improvement; though all scope for action, save in the field of intrigue, was lost, and talent was dormant for want of exercise.
Incapacity of the Rāna.
Such were the materials with which the work of reform commenced. The aim was to bring back matters to a correspondence with an era of their history, when the rights of the prince, the vassal, and the cultivator, were alike well defined—that of Amra Singh.
Relations of the Rāna with his Nobles.
Return of the Exiles.
Attraction of Capital.
Trade at Bhīlwāra.
Reform of the Nobility.
Negotiations with the Chiefs.
Enforcement of the Treaty.
It will readily be imagined that a reform, which went to touch the entire feudal association, could not be accomplished without harassing and painful discussions [488], when the object was the renunciation of lands, to which in some cases the right of inheritance could be pleaded, in others, the cognisance of successful revenge, while to many prescriptive possession could be asserted. It was the more painful, because although the shades which marked the acquisition of such lands were varied, no distinction could be made in the mode of settlement, namely, unconditional surrender. In some cases, the Rana had to revoke his own grants, wrung either from his necessities or his weakness; but in neither predicament could arguments be adduced to soften renunciation, or to meet the powerful and pathetic and often angry appeals to justice or to prejudice. Counter-appeals to their loyalty, and the necessity for the re-establishment of their sovereign’s just weight and influence in the social body, without which their own welfare could not be secured, were adduced; but individual views and passions were too absorbing to bend to the general interest. Weeks thus passed in interchange of visits, in soothing pride, and in flattering vanity by the revival of past recollections, which gradually familiarized the subject to the mind of the chiefs, and brought them to compliance. Time, conciliation, and impartial justice, confirmed the victory thus obtained; and when they were made to see that no interest was overlooked, that party views were unknown, and that the system included every class of society in its beneficial operation, cordiality followed concession. Some of these cessions were alienations from the crown of half a century’s duration. Individual cases of hardship were unavoidable without incurring the imputation of favouritism, and the dreaded revival of ancient feuds, to abolish which was indispensable, but required much circumspection. Castles and lands in this predicament could therefore neither be retained by the possessor nor returned to the ancient proprietor without rekindling the torch of civil war. The sole alternative was for the crown to take the object of contention, and make compensation from its own domain. It would be alike tedious and uninteresting to enter into the details of these arrangements, where one chief had to relinquish the levy of transit duties in the most important outlet of the country, asserted to have been held during seven generations, as in the case of the chief of Deogarh. Of another (the Bhindar chief) who held forty-three towns and villages, in addition to his grant; of Amet, of Badesar, of Dabla, of Lawa, and many others who held important fortresses of the crown independent of its will; and other claims, embracing every right [489] and privilege appertaining to feudal society; suffice it, that in six months the whole arrangements were effected.
The Case of Arja.
Badnor and Amet.
Hamīra of Badesar.
The Case of Āmli.
With these instances, characteristic of individuals and the times, this sketch of the introductory measures for improving the condition of Mewar may be closed. To enter more largely in detail is foreign to the purpose of the work; nor is it requisite for the comprehension of the unity of the object, that a more minute dissection of the parts should be afforded. Before, however, we exhibit the [494] general results of these arrangements, we shall revert to the condition of the more humble, but a most important part of the community, the peasantry of Mewar; and embody, in a few remarks, the fruits of observation or inquiry, as to their past and present state, their rights, the establishment of them, their infringement, and restitution. On this subject much has been necessarily introduced in the sketch of the feudal system, where landed tenures were discussed; but it is one on which such a contrariety of opinion exists, that it may be desirable to show the exact state of landed tenures in a country, where Hindu manners should exist in greater purity than in any other part of the vast continent of India.
FACSIMILE OF NATIVE DRAWING OF PARTĀB SINGH AND RĀĒMALL.
To face page 572.
The Landed System.
If we consider the system from the period described by Arrian, Curtius, and Diodorus, we shall see in the government of townships each commune an ‘imperium in imperio’; a little republic, maintaining its municipal legislation independent of the monarchy, on which it relies for general support, and to which it pays the bhog, or tax in kind, as the price of this protection; for though the prescribed duties of kings are as well defined by Manu[[33]] as by any jurisconsult in Europe, nothing can be more lax than the mutual relations of the governed and governing in Hindu monarchies, which are resolved into unbounded liberty of action. To the artificial regulation of society, which leaves all who depend on manual exertion to an immutable degradation, must be ascribed these multitudinous governments, unknown to the rest of mankind, which, in spite of such dislocation, maintain the bonds of mutual sympathies. Strictly speaking, every State presents the picture of so many hundred or thousand minute republics, without any connexion with each other, giving allegiance (an) and rent (bhog) to a prince, who neither legislates for them, nor even forms a police for their internal protection. It is consequent on this want of paramount interference that, in matters of police, of justice, and of law, the communes act for themselves; and from this want of paternal interference only have arisen those courts of equity, or arbitration, the panchayats.
But to return to the freehold ryot of Mewar, whose bapota is the watan and the miras of the peninsula—words of foreign growth, introduced by the Muhammadan conquerors; the first (Persian) is of more general use in Khandesh; the other (Arabic) in the Carnatic. Thus the great Persian moralist Saadi exemplifies its application: "If you desire to succeed to your father’s inheritance (miras), first obtain his wisdom" [496].
While the term bapota thus implies the inheritance or patrimony, its holder, if a military vassal, is called Bhumia, a term equally powerful, meaning one actually identified with the soil (bhum), and for which the Muhammadan has no equivalent but in the possessive compound watandar, or mirasdar. The Caniatchi[[34]] of Malabar is the Bhumia of Rajasthan.
The emperors of Delhi, in the zenith of their power, bestowed the epithet zamindar upon the Hindu tributary sovereigns: not out of disrespect, but in the true application of their own term Bhumia Raj, expressive of their tenacity to the soil; and this fact affords additional evidence of the proprietary right being in the cultivator (ryot), namely, that he alone can confer the freehold land, which gives the title of Bhumia, and of which both past history and present usage will furnish us with examples. When the tenure of land obtained from the cultivator is held more valid than the grant of the sovereign, it will be deemed a conclusive argument of the proprietary right being vested in the ryot. What should induce a chieftain, when inducted into a perpetual fief, to establish through the ryot a right to a few acres in bhum, but the knowledge that although the vicissitudes of fortune or of favour may deprive him of his aggregate signiorial rights, his claims, derived from the spontaneous favour of the commune, can never be set aside; and when he ceases to be the lord, he becomes a member of the commonwealth, merging his title of Thakur, or Signior, into the more humble one of Bhumia, the allodial tenant of the Rajput feudal system, elsewhere discussed.[[35]] Thus we have touched on the method by which he acquires this distinction, for protecting the community from violence; and if left destitute by the negligence or inability of the government, he is vested with the rights of the crown, in its share of the bhog or rent. But when their own land is in the predicament called galita, or reversions from lapses to the commune, he is ‘seised’ in all the rights of the former proprietor; or, by internal arrangements, they can convey such right by cession of the commune.
The Bhūmia.
Such are the rights and privileges derived from the ryot cultivator alone. The Rana may dispossess the chiefs of Badnor, or Salumbar, of their estates, the grant of the crown—he could not touch the rights emanating from the community; and thus the descendants of a chieftain, who a few years before might have followed his sovereign at the head of one hundred cavaliers, would descend into the humble foot militia of a district. Thousands are in this predicament: the Kanawats, Lunawats, Kumbhawats, and other clans, who, like the Celt, forget not their claims of birth in the distinctions of fortune, but assert their propinquity as “brothers in the nineteenth or thirtieth degree to the prince” on the throne. So sacred was the tenure derived from the ryot, that even monarchs held lands in bhum from their subjects, for an instance of which we are indebted to the great poetic historian of the last Hindu king. Chand relates, that when his sovereign, the Chauhan, had subjugated the kingdom of Anhilwara[[38]] from the Solanki, he returned to the nephew of the conquered prince several districts and seaports, and all the bhum held by the family. In short, the Rajput vaunts his aristocratic distinction derived from the land; and opposes the title of ‘Bhumia Raj,’ or government of the soil, to the ‘Bania Raj,’ or commercial government, which he affixes as an epithet of contempt to Jaipur: where “wealth accumulates and men decay.”
In the great ‘register of patents’ (patta bahi) of Mewar we find a species of [498] bhum held by the greater vassals on particular crown lands; whether this originated from inability of ceding entire townships to complete the estate to the rank of the incumbent, or whether it was merely in confirmation of the grant of the commune, could not be ascertained. The benefit from this bhum is only pecuniary, and the title is ‘bhum rakhwali’[[39]] or land [in return for] ‘preservation.’ Strange to say, the crown itself holds ‘bhum rakhwali’ on its own fiscal demesnes consisting of small portions in each village, to the amount of ten thousand rupees in a district of thirty or forty townships. This species, however, is so incongruous that we can only state it does exist: we should vainly seek the cause for such apparent absurdity, for since society has been unhinged, the oracles are mute to much of antiquated custom.
Occupiers’ Rights in the Land.
In those districts which afforded protection from innovation, the proprietary right of the ryot will be found in full force; of this the populous and extensive district of Jahazpur, consisting of one hundred and six townships, affords a good specimen. There are but two pieces of land throughout the whole of this tract the property of the crown, and these were obtained by force during the occupancy of Zalim Singh of Kotah. The right thus unjustly acquired was, from the conscientiousness of the Rana’s civil governor, on the point of being annulled by sale and reversion, when the court interfered to maintain its proprietary right to the tanks of Loharia and Itaunda, and the lands which they irrigate, now the bhum of the Rana.[[40]] This will serve as an illustration how bhum may be acquired, and the annals of Kotah will exhibit, unhappily for the ryots of that country, the almost total annihilation of their rights, by the same summary process which originally attached Loharia to the fisc.
The power of alienation being thus proved, it would be superfluous to insist further on the proprietary right of the cultivator of the soil.
Proprietary Rights in Land.
The father to the bough,
And the son to the plough
is practically understood by the Jats and Bhumias[[44]] of Mewar, whose treason is not deemed hereditary, nor a chain of noble acts destroyed because a false link was thrown out. We speak of the military vassals—the cultivator cannot aspire to so dignified a crime as treason.
Village Officials: the Patel.
Opinions are various as to the origin and attributes of the Patel, the most important personage in village sway, whose office is by many deemed foreign to the pure Hindu system, and to which language even his title is deemed alien. But there is no doubt that both office and title are of ancient growth, and even etymological rule proves the Patel to be head (pati) of the community.[[47]] The office of Patel [501] of Mewar was originally elective: he was ‘primus inter pares,’ the constituted attorney or representative of the commune, and as the medium between the cultivator and the government, enjoyed benefits from both. Besides his bapota, and the serano, or one-fortieth of all produce from the ryot, he had a remission of a third or fourth of the rent from such extra lands as he might cultivate in addition to his patrimony. Such was the Patel, the link connecting the peasant with the government, ere predatory war subverted all order: but as rapine increased, so did his authority. He became the plenipotentiary of the community, the security for the contribution imposed, and often the hostage for its payment, remaining in the camp of the predatory hordes till they were paid off. He gladly undertook the liquidation of such contributions as these perpetual invaders imposed. To indemnify himself, a schedule was formed of the share of each ryot, and mortgage of land, and sequestration of personal effects followed till his avarice was satisfied. Who dared complain against a Patel, the intimate of Pathan and Mahratta commanders, his adopted patrons? He thus became the master of his fellow-citizens; and, as power corrupts all men, their tyrant instead of their mediator. It was a system necessarily involving its own decay; for a while glutted with plenty, but failing with the supply, and ending in desolation, exile, and death. Nothing was left to prey on but the despoiled carcase; yet when peace returned, and in its train the exile ryot to reclaim the bapota, the vampire Patel was resuscitated, and evinced the same ardour for supremacy, and the same cupidity which had so materially aided to convert the fertile Mewar to a desert. The Patel accordingly proved one of the chief obstacles to returning prosperity; and the attempt to reduce this corrupted middle-man to his original station in society was both difficult and hazardous, from the support they met in the corrupt officers at court, and other influences ‘behind the curtain.’ A system of renting the crown lands deemed the most expedient to advance prosperity, it was incumbent to find a remedy for this evil. The mere name of some of these petty tyrants inspired such terror as to check all desire of return to the country; but the origin of the institution of the office and its abuses being ascertained, it was imperative, though difficult, to restore the one and banish the other. The original elective right in many townships was therefore returned to the ryot, who nominated new Patels [502], his choice being confirmed by the Rana, in whose presence investiture was performed by binding a turban on the elected, for which he presented his nazar. Traces of the sale of these offices in past times were observable; and it was deemed of primary importance to avoid all such channels for corruption, in order that the ryot’s election should meet with no obstacle. That the plan was beneficial there could be no doubt; that the benefit would be permanent, depended, unfortunately, on circumstances which those most anxious had not the means to control: for it must be recollected, that although “personal aid and advice might be given when asked,” all internal interference was by treaty strictly, and most justly, prohibited.
After a few remarks on the mode of levying the crown-rents, we shall conclude the subject of village economy in Mewar, and proceed to close this too extended chapter with the results of four years of peace and the consequent improved prosperity.
Modes of Collecting Rents.
Improvement in the Condition of the People.
Abstract of the Fiscal Revenues of Mewar in the years
1818-19-20-21-22.
| Spring harvest of | 1818 | Rs. 40,000 | ||
| ” | 1819 | 451,281 | ||
| ” | 1820 | 659,100 | ||
| ” | 1821 | 1,018,478 | ||
| ” | 1822 | 936,640 | { | The active superintendence of the British Agent being almost entirely withdrawn. |
Abstract of Commercial Duties included in the above.
| In 1818 | Nominal | ||
| 1819 | Rs. 96,683 | ||
| 1820 | 165,108 | ||
| 1821 | 220,000 | ||
| 1822 | 217,000 | { | Farmed for three years, from 1822, for 750,000 rupees, which was assigned by the Rana for the liquidation of tribute fallen in arrear. |
Mines and Minerals.
Nothing will better exemplify the progress of prosperity than the comparative population of some of the chief towns before, and after, four years of peace:
| No. of houses in 1818. | No. of houses in 1822. | |||||
| Udaipur | 3,500 | 10,000 | ||||
| Bhilwara | not one | 2,700 | ||||
| Pur | 200 | 1,200 | ||||
| Mandal | 80 | 400 | ||||
| Gosunda | 60 | 350 [505] | ||||
The Feudal Lands.
In conclusion, it is to be hoped that the years of oppression that have swept the land will be held in remembrance by the protecting power, and that neither petulance nor indolence will lessen the benevolence which restored life to Mewar, or mar the picture of comparative happiness it created.
The Sixteen chief Nobles of Mewar, their Titles, Names, Clans, Tribes, Estates,
number of Villages in each, and their Value.
| Titles. | Names. | Clan. | Tribe. | Estate. | Number of Villages. | Value, A.D. 1760. | Remarks | |
| Raj | Chandan Singh | Jhala | Jhala | Sadri | 127 | 100,000 |  | These estates are all diminished one-half in nominal amount; and their revenues still more. |
| Rao | Partap Singh | Chauhan | Chauhan | Bedia | 80 | 100,000 | ||
| Rao | Mohkam Singh | Chauhan | Chauhan | Kotharia | 65 | 80,000 | ||
| Rawat | Padma Singh | Chondawat | Sesodia | Salumbar | 85 | 84,000 | Would realize this if cultivated. | |
| Thakur | Zorawar Singh | Rathor | Mertia | Ghanerao | 100 | 100,000 | This chief ceases to be one of the 16 since the Rana lost the province of Godwar. | |
| Rao | Keshodas | —— | Pramar | Bijolia | 40 | 45,000 | Would realize this if cultivated. | |
| Rawat | Gokuldas | Sangawat | Sesodia | Deogarh | 125 | 80,000 | Would realize more if cultivated. | |
| Rawat | Maha Singh | Meghawat | Sesodia | Begun | 150 | 200,000 | This includes usurpations—now seized by Sindhia. The estate would realize 70,000 if cultivated. | |
| Raj | Kalyan Singh | Jhala | Jhala | Delwara | 125 | 100,000 | Would realize two-thirds if cultivated. | |
| Rawat | Salim Singh | Jagawat | Jagawat | Amet | 60 | 60,000 | Do., do. | |
| Raj | Chhattar Sal | Jhala | Jhala | Gogunda | 50 | 50,000 | Would realize this if cultivated. | |
| Rawat | Fateh Singh | Sarangdevot | Sesodia | Kanor | 50 | 95,000 | Would realize half if cultivated. | |
| Maharaja | Zorawar Singh | Saktawat | Sesodia | Bhindar | 64 | 64,000 | Would realize this if cultivated. | |
| Thakur | Jeth Singh | Mertia | Rathor | Badnor | 80 | 80,000 | Do., do. | |
| Rawat | Salim Singh | Saktawat | Sesodia | Bansi | 40 | 40,000 | | These chiefs have lost all influence and half their their estates. |
| Rao | Surajmall Singh | Chauhan | Chauhan | Parsoli | 40 | 40,000 | ||
| Rawat | Kesari Singh | Kishanawat | Sesodia | Bhainsror | 60 | 60,000 |  | These chiefs have taken rank on the depression of the above—they never appear at court on the same day. |
| Rawat | Jawan Singh | Kishanawat | Sesodia | Kurabar | 35 | 35,000 | ||
Note.—The inferior grades possessed estates to a still larger amount, conjointly yielding a revenue of thirty lakhs of rupees; and as each thousand rupees of estate furnished on emergency three horses completely equipped, the feudal interest could supply nine thousand horse besides foot, of which they make little account. [Accounts of the present condition of these nobles will be found in Erskine ii. A. under the headings of their estates.]
[1]. See Appendix, No. [VIII]., for treaty with the Rana.
[2]. Commanded by Major-General Sir R. Donkin, K.C.B.
[3]. The author had the honour to be selected by the Marquess of Hastings to represent him at the Rana’s court, with the title of ‘Political Agent to the Western Rajput States.’ During the campaign of 1817-18 he was placed as the point of communication to the various divisions of the northern army; at the same time being intrusted with the negotiations with Holkar (previous to the rupture), and with those of Kotah and Bundi. He concluded the treaty with the latter State en route to Udaipur, where, as at the latter, there were only the benefits of moral and political existence to confer.
[4]. The author had passed through Bhilwara in May 1806, when it was comparatively flourishing. On this occasion (Feb. 1818) it was entirely deserted. It excited a smile, in the midst of regrets, to observe the practical wit of some of the soldiers, who had supplied the naked representative of Adinath with an apron—not of leaves, but scarlet cloth.
[5]. The Agent had seen him when a boy, at a meeting already described; but he could scarcely have hoped to find in one, to the formation of whose character the times had been so unfavourable, such a specimen as this descendant of Partap.
[6]. A description of the city and valley will be more appropriate elsewhere.
[8]. The escort consisted of two companies of foot, each of one hundred men, with half a troop of cavalry. The gentlemen attached to the mission were Captain Waugh (who was secretary and commandant of the escort), with Lieutenant Carey as his subaltern. Dr. Duncan was the medical officer.
[9]. [Modes in music.]
[10]. The buckler is the tray in which gifts are presented by the Rajputs.
[11]. If we dare compare the moral economy of an entire people to the physical economy of the individual, we should liken this period in the history of Mewar to intermittent pulsation of the heart—a pause in moral as in physical existence; a consciousness thereof, inertly awaiting the propelling power to restore healthful action to a state of languid repose; or what the Rajput would better comprehend, his own condition when the opiate stimulant begins to dissipate, and mind and body are alike abandoned to helpless imbecility. Who has lived out of the circle of mere vegetation, and not experienced this temporary deprivation of moral vitality? for no other simile would suit the painful pause in the sympathies of the inhabitants of this once fertile region, where experience could point out but one page in their annals, one period in their history, when the clangour of the war trumpet was suspended, or the sword shut up in its scabbard. The portals of Janus at Rome were closed but twice in a period of seven hundred years; and in exactly the same time from the conquest by Shihabu-d-din to the great pacification, but twice can we record peace in Mewar—the reign of Numa has its type in Shah Jahan, while the more appropriate reign of Augustus belongs to Britain. Are we to wonder then that a chilling void now occupied (if the solecism is admissible) the place of interminable action? when the mind was released from the anxiety of daily, hourly, devising schemes of preservation, to one of perfect security—that enervating calm, in which, to use their own homely phrase, Bher aur bakri ekhi thali se piye, ‘The wolf and the goat drank from the same vessel.’ [Another, and more usual form is—Āj kal, sher bakrī ek ghāt pāni pitē hain, ‘Nowadays the tiger and the goat drink from the same stream.’] But this unruffled torpidity had its limit: the Agrarian laws of Mewar were but mentioned, and the national pulse instantly rose.
[12]. Or rather, who makes the monogrammatic signet Sahi (‘correct’) to all deeds, grants, etc.
[13]. [Properly Sūratnavīs, ‘statement-writer.’]
[14]. The Salumbar chief had his deputy, who resided at court for this sole duty, for which he held a village. See p. [235].
[15]. Niyao, Daftar, Taksala, Silah, Gaddi, Gahna, Kapra-bandar, Ghora, Rasora, Nakkar-khana, Jaleb, Rawala.
[16]. [Sāwan sudi tīj, third of the bright half of the month Sāwan (July to August), a festival celebrated throughout North India.]
[17]. [About 45 miles north of Udaipur city.]
[18]. In the Personal Narrative.
[19]. Although Bhilwara has not attained that high prosperity my enthusiasm anticipated, yet the philanthropic Heber records that in 1825 (three years after I had left the country) it exhibited “a greater appearance of trade, industry, and moderate but widely diffused wealth and comfort, than he had witnessed since he left Delhi[Delhi]” [Diary, ed. 1861, ii. 56 f.]. The record of the sentiments of the inhabitants towards me, as conveyed by the bishop, was gratifying, though their expression could excite no surprise in any one acquainted with the characters and sensibilities of these people. [The author’s anticipation of the prosperity of this town have not been completely realized; but it is still an important centre of trade, noted for the manufacture of cooking utensils, and possessing a ginning factory and a cotton-press (Erskine ii. A. 97 f.).]
[20]. A literal translation of this curious piece of Hindu legislation will be found at the end of the Appendix. If not drawn up with all the dignity of the legal enactments of the great governments of the West, it has an important advantage in conciseness; the articles cannot be misinterpreted, and require no lawyer to expound them.
[21]. "Kampani Sahib ke namak ke zor se“ is a common phrase of our native soldiery; and ”Dohai! Kampani ki!" is an invocation or appeal against injustice; but I never heard this watchword so powerfully applied as when a Sub. with the Resident’s escort in 1812. One of our men, a noble young Rajput about nineteen years of age, and six feet high, had been sent with an elephant to forage in the wilds of Narwar. A band of at least fifty predatory horsemen assailed him, and demanded the surrender of the elephant, which he met by pointing his musket and giving them defiance. Beset on all sides, he fired, was cut down, and left for dead, in which state he was found, and brought to camp upon a litter. One sabre-cut had opened the back entirely across, exposing the action of the viscera, and his arms and wrists were barbarously hacked: yet he was firm, collected, and even cheerful; and to a kind reproach for his rashness, he said, "What would you have said, Captain Sahib, had I surrendered the Company’s musket (Kampani ki banduq) without fighting?" From their temperate habits, the wound in the back did well; but the severed nerves of the wrists brought on a lockjaw of which he died. The Company have thousands who would alike die for their banduq. It were wise to cherish such feelings.
[22]. [An instance of the practice of ‘sitting dharna’ to enforce a claim (Yule-Burnell, Hobson-Jobson, 2nd ed. 315 f.).]
[23]. See p. 380.
[25]. It will fill up the picture of the times to relate the revenge. When Jamshid, the infamous lieutenant of the infamous Amir Khan, established his headquarters at Udaipur, which he daily devastated, Sardar Singh, then in power, was seized and confined as a hostage for the payment of thirty thousand rupees demanded of the Rana. The surviving brothers of the murdered minister Somji ‘purchased their foe’ with the sum demanded, and anticipated his clansmen, who were on the point of effecting his liberation. The same sun shone on the head of Sardar, which was placed as a signal of revenge over the gateway of Rampiyari’s palace. I had the anecdotes from the minister Siyahal, one of the actors in these tragedies, and a relative of the brothers, who were all swept away by the dagger. A similar fate often seemed to him, though a brave man, inevitable during these resumptions; which impression, added to the Rana’s known inconstancy of favour, robbed him of half his energies.
[26]. Nearly twelve months after this, my public duty called me to Nimbahera en route to Kotah. The castle of Hamira was within an hour’s ride, and at night he was reported as having arrived to visit me, when I appointed the next day to receive him. Early next morning, according to custom, I took my ride, with four of Skinner’s Horse, and galloped past him, stretched with his followers on the ground not far from my camp, towards his fort. He came to me after breakfast, called me his greatest friend, “swore by his dagger he was my Rajput,” and that he would be in future obedient and loyal; but this, I fear, can never be.
[27]. Literally faith (dharma) to his lord (swami).
[28]. Paper of relinquishment.
[29]. The dūb grass [[[]Cynodon dactylon] flourishes in all seasons, and most in the intense heats; it is not only amara or ‘immortal,’ but akshay, ‘not to be eradicated’; and its tenacity to the soil deserves the distinction.
[30]. From bap, ‘father,’ and the termination of, or belonging to, and by which clans are distinguished; as Karansot, ‘descended of Karan’; Mansinghgot, ‘descended of Mansingh.’ It is curious enough that the mountain clans of Albania, and other Greeks, have the same distinguishing termination, and the Mainote of Greece and the Mairot of Rajputana alike signify mountaineer, or ‘of the mountain,’ maina in Albanian; mairu or meru in Sanskrit. [The words have no connexion.]
[31]. Laws, ix. 44.
[32]. [“When he [the king] has gained victory, let him duly worship the gods and honour righteous Brāhmanas, let him grant exemptions, and let him cause promises of safety to be proclaimed. But having fully ascertained the wishes of all the (conquered), let him place then a relation of (the vanquished ruler on the throne), and let him impose his conditions. Let him make authoritative the lawful customs of the inhabitants, just as they are stated to be” (Manu, Laws, vii. 201 f., trans. Bühler, Sacred Books of the East, xxv. 248 f.).]
[33]. [“Let him [the king] cause his annual revenue in his kingdom to be collected by trusty (officials), let him obey the sacred law (in his transactions with) the people, and behave as a father to all men” (Manu, Laws, vii. 80). “Not to turn back in battle, to protect the people, to honour the Brāhmanas, is the best means for a king to secure happiness” (ib. vii. 88). “From the people let him (the king) learn (the theory) of the (various) trades and professions” (ib. vii. 43). “But (he who is given) to these vices (loses) even his life” (ib. vii. 46), trans. Bühler, Sacred Books of the East, xxv.]
[34]. Cani, ‘land,’ and atchi, ‘heritage’: Report, p. 289.—I should be inclined to imagine the atchi, like the ot and awat, Rajput terminations, implying clanship. [Tamil kāniyātchi, ‘that which is held in free and hereditary property’; kāni, ‘land,’ ātchi, ‘inheritance’ (Wilson, Glossary, s.v.; Madras Manual of Administration, iii. 58).]
[37]. See Sketch of Feudal System, p. 170.
[38]. Nahrwala of D’Anville; the Balhara sovereignty of the Arabian travellers of the eighth and ninth centuries. I visited the remains of this city on my last journey, and from original authorities shall give an account of this ancient emporium of commerce and literature.
[39]. Salvamenta of the European system.
[40]. The author has to acknowledge with regret that he was the cause of the Mina proprietors not re-obtaining their bapota: this arose, partly from ignorance at the time, partly from the individual claimants being dead, and more than all, from the representation that the intended sale originated in a bribe to Sadaram the governor, which, however, was not the case.
[41]. Claims to the bapota appear to be maintainable if not alienated longer than one hundred and one years; and undisturbed possession (no matter how obtained) for the same period appears to confer this right. The miras of Khandesh appears to have been on the same footing. See Mr. Elphinstone’s Report, October 25, 1819, ed. 1872, p. 17 f., quoted in BG, xii. 266. [The word mīrās means ‘inherited estate,’ the right of disposal of which rests with the holder. The Jāts certainly did not bring the custom to Kent.]
[42]. The sawmy begum of the peninsula in Fifth Report, pp. 356-57; correctly swami bhoga, ‘lord’s rent,’ in Sanskrit.
[43]. Manu, Laws, ix. 52-54, on the Servile Classes. [Bühler’s version differs, but the meaning is practically the same as that of the text.]
[44]. Patel.
[45]. Patel barar.
[46]. The Gharginti barar, and Kharlakar, or wood and forage, explained in the Feudal System.
[47]. In copper-plate grants dug from the ruins of the ancient Ujjain (presented to the Royal Asiatic Society), the prince’s patents (patta) conferring gifts are addressed to the Patta-silas and Ryots. I never heard an etymology of this word, but imagine it to be from patta, ‘grant,’ or ‘patent,’ and sila, which means a nail, or sharp instrument; [? sila, the stone on which the grant is engraved]; metaphorically, that which binds or unites these patents; all, however, having pati, or chief, as the basis (see Transactions of the Royal Asiatic Society, vol. i. p. 237). [Pati, ‘chief,’ has no connexion with patta, ‘a grant,’ the latter being the origin of patel. For the position of the Patel see Baden-Powell, The Indian Village Community, 10 ff.; Malcolm, Memoir of Central India, 2nd ed. ii. 14 ff.]
[48]. [Kan, ‘grain,’ kūt, ‘valuation,’ batāi from batānā, ‘to divide.’]
[49]. Mui, Barak, and Kapasan.
[50]. To effect this, indispensable alike for unity of government and the establishment of a police, the individual statements of their holders were taken for the revenues they had derived from them, and money payments three times the amount were adjudged to them. They were gainers by this arrangement, and were soon loaded with jewels and ornaments, but the numerous train of harpies who cheated them and abused the poor ryot were eternally at work to defeat all such beneficial schemes; and the counteraction of the intrigues was painful and disgusting.
[51]. Manu [Laws, vii. 119] ordains the division into tens, hundreds, and thousands.
[52]. Farmed for the ensuing three years, from 1822, for seven lakhs of rupees.
[53]. In S. 1816, Jawara yielded Rs. 222,000 and Dariba Rs. 80,000. The tin of these mines contains a portion of silver. [What the Author calls the tin mines are probably the lead and zinc mines at Jāwar, 16 miles south of Udaipur city. They seem now to be exhausted, and search might be made for other untouched pockets of ore. Those at Darība, which formerly yielded a considerable revenue, have long been closed (Erskine ii, A. 53).]
[54]. There are between two and three thousand towns, villages, and hamlets, besides the fiscal land of Mewar; but the tribute of the British Government is derived only from the fiscal; it would have been impossible to collect from the feudal lands, which are burthened with service, and form the army of the State.
[55]. Sir John Malcolm’s wise and philanthropic measures for the reclamation of this race in Malwa will support my assertions [Memoir of Central India, 2nd ed. i. 516 ff., ii. 179 ff.].
Printed by R. & R. Clark, Limited, Edinburgh.
Transcriber’s Note
There are references in all three volumes to Genealogical Tables in Volume I, which were not reprinted in this Crooke edition.
The spelling of names and places is variable, as noted in the Editor’s introduction to Volume I, as the system of transliteration underwent many changes in the intervening century. The use of macrons was not yet introduced in James Tod’s day. This text, with very few exceptions, follows the text as printed.
Hyphenation of compound words follows the text, with the rare exception of when it occurs on a line break and the preponderance of other instances provides clear guidance.
Errors deemed most likely to be the printer’s have been corrected, and are noted here.
The sole footnote on p. [311] had no reference in the text. Based on the content of the note, the reference has been [inserted] at the end of the first paragraph on the page.
The correction to note [2] was made in order to close a quotation beginning with ‘cloud of war’, but lacking a closing quote. Earlier editions supplied the resolution.
Errors deemed most likely to be the printer’s have been corrected, and are noted here.
This list contains issues in the main text. References are to the page and line in the original.
| [x.36] | Imperial Gazetteer of India[,] | Added. |
| [xlvii.15] | Muntakhab[at/u-t]-tawārikh | Replaced. |
| [lx.26] | the least suspicious kind of historical evidence[.] | Added. |
| [9.24] | in the respective historical portions[.] | Added. |
| [29.5] | the burning plains of Ind[.] | Added. |
| [32.18] | were learned in the Vedas[.] | Added. |
| [48.5] | other eight generations anterior[.] | Added. |
| [48.7] | inhabitants had their appellation, we cannot say[.] | Added. |
| [55.22] | descendants of Rama[.] | Added. |
| [104.33] | after a lapse of 2250 years[.] | Added. |
| [110.1] | the power of the Pramaras[.] | Added. |
| [110.13] | to have been patrons of science[.] | Added. |
| [166.4] | the principality of the Rana of Mewar[.] | Added. |
| [222.23] | and most powerful fiefs of Mewar[.] | Added. |
| [235.19] | Pancholi Raechand a[m/n]d Mehta Mul Das | Replaced. |
| [251.36] | the contemporary of Vikramaditya, [A/B].C. 56. | Replaced. |
| [271.10] | 1[,] Kanaksen | Added. |
| [275.16] | ‘the rhymer of Aurangabad.[’] | Added. |
| [326.5] | by a Bhatti Rajput of Jaisalmer[.] | Added. |
| [496.17] | Rāna Ar | Inserted. |
| [504.25] | From S. 1825 to S. 1831 [A.D. 1768-74[)/] | Replaced. |
| [544.9] | the foreign chieft[ia/ai]ns | Transposed. |
The following list contains issues corrected or noted in the footnote text. The reference is to the original page and note, and the line within the note (which may appear on a later page).
| [lx.1.2] | (Smith, EHI, 387, note; IA, i. 269 ff., iii. 17 ff., xxxii. 167 f.[)] | Added. |
| [25.3.1] | Baghes, ‘the tiger lord.[’] | Added. |
| [128.2.6] | and said to be built by Puru.[’/”] | Replaced. |
| [156.1.11] | ‘household.[”/’] | Replaced. |
| [166.1.3] | smaller units being called Byālisa, 42, or Ch[a]ubīsa, 24 | Restored. |
| [166.1.4] | Supplemental Glossary, 178 ff.[)] | Added. |
| [176.1.13] | 1i. 319.[)] | Added. |
| [184.1.8] | Art. ‘Relief,[’] | Added. |
| [201.3.7] | the fief of his vassal without his consent.[’/”] | Replaced. |
| [241.1.7] | et les seconds de le régaler quand i[t/l] passait par leur bourg. | Replaced. |
| [255.1.3] | the name of Min[n]agara was changed | Removed. |
| [262.2.6] | Mers in Porbandar (Wilberforce-Bell, Hist. of Kathiawad, 53) | Added. |
| [265.3.4] | (Census Report, Rajputana, 1911, i. 255[)]. | Added. |
| [297.1.7] | ‘cloud of war rolled from Himachal[’] | Added. |
| [333.1.3] | Maharana Kumbha: Sovereign, Soldier, Scholar, Ajmer, 1917, p. 2[)]. | Added. |
| [381.1.2] | calcined shell-li[n/m]e | Replaced. |
| [386.2.5] | upon [s/t]heir refusal to intermarry | Replaced. |
| [398.3.1] | A colloqu[ai/ia]l contraction for Partap. | Transposed. |
| [435.1.3] | J[u/a]dunath Sarkar | Replaced. |
| [468.2.11] | (Scott’s History of Aurangzeb’s Successors, vol. i. p. 132). | Added. |
| [469.3.1] | ‘a royal grant[’] | Added. |
| [491.1.64] | Your favour was received by the Pandit Pardhan[)] | Removed. |
| [496.2.2] | in 1814, Ranaji Burtia[:/;] in 1813 | Replaced. |
| [509.2.2] | on the liquidation of the contribution[,/.] | Replaced. |
| [563.1.5] | since he left De[hl/lh]i | Transposed. |
| [573.1.1] | []Cynodon dactylon] | Opening bracket added. |
Transcription of the plate on p. [10].
Each feature on the plate is summarized below, including both the original transliteration from Tod’s original text and the version used by Crooke in the text of this edition.
Section thro’ Central India in 25° N. Lat. from Aboo [Abu] to Bundelkhund [Bundelkhand].
Plateau of Central India——Trap formation
Mt. Aboo [Mt. Abu]
Aravalli Mountains
Oodipoor [Udaipur]
Jawud [E]
Ruttunghur
Rampoora [Rampura]
Chumbul R. [Chambal R.]
Kotah
Parbatty R. [Parbati R.]
Shahabad [F]
Sinde R.
Kunneadanna [H]
Betwa R.
Kotra [I]
| A. B. | The isolated Aboo 24 miles Circumference at base_____Granite and Gneis. |
| C. D. | The Aravalli Chain._______Granite reposing on compact blue slate. |
| D. E. | Plains of Mewar. |
| E. F. | Patar or Plateau of Central India.__________Trap |
| F. G. | Valley of the Sinde. |
| G. H. | Table Mountain the Eastern limit of Rajpootna, structure doubtful. |
| H. I. | Plains of the Betwa, Bundelkhund. |