CHAPTER 13
Rāja Bijai Singh, A.D. 1753-93.
Rām Singh invites Marātha Aid.
The Battle of Merta.
Two accidents occurred during the battle, each sufficient to turn victory from the standard of Bijai Singh, on the very point of fruition. One has elsewhere been related,[[5]] namely, the destruction of the “Silahposhians,” or cuirassiers, the chosen cohort of the Rathors, when returning from a successful charge, who were mistaken for the foe, and mowed down with discharges of grape-shot. This error, at a moment when the courage of the Mahrattas was wavering, might have been retrieved, notwithstanding the superstitious converted the disaster into an omen of evil. Sindhia had actually prepared to quit the field, when another turn of the wheel decided the event in his favour: the circumstance exhibits forcibly the versatile character of the Rajput.
Treachery of Sardār Singh of Kishangarh.
Every clan had to erect tablets for the loss of their best warriors; and as in their civil wars each strove to be foremost in devotion, most of the chieftains of note [124] were amongst the slain.[[8]] The bard metes out a fair measure of justice to their auxiliaries, especially the Saktawats of Mewar, whose swords were unsheathed in the cause of the son-in-law of their prince. Nor is the lance of the Southron passed over without eulogy, to praise which, indeed, is to extol themselves.
Results of Rāthor Defeat.
With this gem, thus rudely torn from her diadem, the independence of Marwar from that hour has been insecure. She has struggled on, indeed, through a century of invasions, rebellions, and crimes, all originating, like the blank leaf on her annals, from the murder of Ajit. In the words of the Doric stanza of the hostile bards on this memorable chastisement:
Yād ghana din āvasi,
Āpawāla hel;
Bhāga tinon bhupati,
Māl khajāna mel.[[10]]
“For many a day will they remember the time (hel) of Apa, when the three sovereigns fled, abandoning their goods and treasures”: alluding to the princes of Marwar, Bikaner, and Kishangarh, who partook in the disasters and disgrace of that day [125].
The youthful heir of Rupnagar claimed, as he justly might, the victory to himself; and going up to Apa to congratulate him, said, in the metaphorical language of his country, “You see I sowed mustard-seed in my hand as I stood”: comparing the prompt success of his stratagem to the rapid vegetation of the seed. But Sardar was a young man of no ordinary promise; for when Sindhia, in gratitude, offered immediately to put him in possession of Rupnagar, he answered, “No; that would be a retrograde movement,” and told him to act for his master Ram Singh, “whose success would best insure his own.” But when treachery had done its worst on Jai Apa, suspicion, which fell on every Rajput in the Mahratta camp, spared not Sardar: swords were drawn in every quarter, and even the messengers of peace, the envoys, were everywhere assailed, and amongst those who fell ere the tumult could be appeased, was Rawat Kabir Singh, the premier noble of Mewar, then ambassador from the Rana with the Mahrattas.[[11]] With his last breath, Jai Apa protected and exonerated Sardar, and enjoined that his pledge of restoration to his patrimony should be redeemed. The body of this distinguished commander was burned at the Taussar, or ‘Peacock pool,’ where a cenotaph was erected, and in the care which the descendants even of his enemies pay to it, we have a test of the merits of both victor and vanquished.
Death of Rām Singh.
The Character of Rāja Rām Singh.
The death of Ram Singh was no panacea to the griefs of Marwar or of its prince. The Mahrattas, who had now obtained a point-d’appui in Rajwara, continued to foster disputes which tended to their advantage, or when opportunity offered, to scour the country in search of pay or plunder. Bijai Singh, young and inexperienced, was left without resources; ruinous wars and yet more ruinous negotiations had dissipated the hoards of wealth accumulated by his predecessors. The crown-lands were uncultivated, the tenantry dispersed; and commerce had diminished, owing to insecurity and the licentious habits of the nobles, who everywhere established their own imposts, and occasionally despoiled entire caravans. While the competitor for the throne was yet living, the Raja was compelled to shut his eyes on these inroads upon his proper power, which reduced him to insignificance even in his own palace.
Power of the Aristocracy of Mārwār.
The Pokaran Fief.
Mercenaries enrolled.
To return: the Dhabhai, having thus secured a band of seven hundred men, and obtained an aid (which we may term scutage) from the chiefs for their maintenance, gradually transferred them from their duties above to the gates of the castle. Somewhat released from the thraldom of faction, the Raja concerted with his foster-brother and the Diwan, Fateh Chand, the means of restoring prosperity and order. So destitute was the prince of resources, that the Dhabhai had recourse to threats of suicide to obtain 50,000 rupees from his mother, acquired as the nurse (dhai) of his sovereign; and so drained was the country of horses, that he was compelled to transport his cavaliers (who were too proud to walk) on cars to Nagor. There, under the pretence of curbing the hill tribes, he formed an army, and dismounting the guns from the walls of the town, marched an ill-equipped force against the border-mountaineers, and being successful he attacked on his return [129] the castle of Silbakri. This was deemed a sufficient indication of his views; the whole feudality of Maru took alarm, and united for mutual safety at Bisalpur, twenty miles east of the capital.
Gordhan Singh negotiates with the Chiefs.
“Maharaja,” replied the Champawat, “our bodies have but one pinnacle; were there a second, it should be at your disposal.” A tedious discussion ensued; doubts of the future, recriminations respecting the past; till wearied and exhausted, the prince demanded to know the conditions on which they would return to their allegiance, when the following articles were submitted:
1. To break up the force of the Dhabhai;
2. To surrender to their keeping the records of fiefs (pattabahi);
3. That the court should be transferred from the citadel to the town.
There was no alternative but the renewal of civil strife or compliance; and the first article, which was a sine qua non, the disbanding of the obnoxious guards, that anomalous appendage to a Rajput prince’s person, was carried into immediate execution. Neither in the first nor last stipulation could the prince feel surprise or displeasure; but the second sapped the very foundation of his rule, by depriving the crown of its dearest prerogative, the power of dispensing favour. This shallow reconciliation being effected, the malcontent nobles dispersed, some to their estates [130], and the Chondawat oligarchy to the capital with their prince, in the hope of resuming their former influence over him and the country.
Massacre of the Chiefs.
This was a tremendous sacrifice for the maintenance of authority, of men who had often emptied their veins in defence of their country. But even ultra patriotism, when opposed to foreign aggression, can prove no palliative to treason or mitigate its award, when, availing themselves of the diminished power of the prince, an arrogant and imperious oligarchy presumes to enthral their sovereign. It is the mode in which vengeance was executed at which the mind recoils, and which with other instances appears to justify the imputation of perfidy amongst the traits of Rajput character. But if we look deeply into it, we shall find reason to distrust such conclusion. The Rajput abhors, in the abstract, both perfidy and treason; but the elements of the society in which he lives and acts, unfortunately too often prompt the necessity of sacrificing principles to preservation: but this proceeds from their faulty political constitution; it is neither inculcated in their moral code, nor congenial to their moral habits.
Right of Primogeniture.
The nuncupatory testament of the Champawat was transmitted across the desert to his son at Pokaran, and the rapidity of its transmission was only equalled by the alacrity of Sabhala, who at the head of his vassals issued forth to execute the vengeance thus bequeathed. First, he attempted to burn and pillage the mercantile town of Pali; foiled in which, he proceeded to another wealthy city of the fisc [133], Bhilwara on the Luni; but here terminated both his life and his revenge. As he led the escalade, he received two balls, which hurled him back amongst his kinsmen, and his ashes next morning blanched the sandy bed of the Luni.
Suppression of Aristocratic Influence.
Rājput Confederation against the Marāthas. Battle of Tonga A.D. 1787. Battles of Pātan and Merta, 20th June, 10th, 12th September 1790.
Ajmer lost to Mārwār.
Influence of Court Morals.
| Raja Ajit had fourteen sons: | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Abhai Singh. | Bakht Singh. | Anand Singh, | Rasa, | Devi Singh, | |||||||||||||||||
| adopted into the | adopted into | adopted into | |||||||||||||||||||
| Idar house. | Jhabua | Pokaran. | |||||||||||||||||||
| Ram Singh. | Bijai Singh. | (in Malwa). | |||||||||||||||||||
| Fateh Singh, | Zalim Singh, | Sawant Singh. | Sher Singh. | Bhum Singh. | Guman Singh. | Sardar Singh, | |||||||||||||||
| died of smallpox | by a princess | killed by | |||||||||||||||||||
| in infancy. | of Mewar, the | adopted | Bhim. | ||||||||||||||||||
| rightful heir of | Sur Singh. | Man Singh. | Bhim Singh. | Man Singh. | |||||||||||||||||
| Bijai Singh. | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Dhonkal Singh | |||||||||||||||||||||
| (Pretender). | |||||||||||||||||||||
Influence of his Concubine on Bijai Singh.
Rebellion of the Clansmen against Bijai Sīngh.
Death of Rāja Bijai Singh.
[1]. [On the N. frontier of Jodhpur.]
[2]. This treaty is termed haldi, or balpatra, ‘a strong deed’ [haldi means ‘turmeric,’ with which the hand-marks on the treaty were made]. The names of the chiefs who signed it were Jankoji Sindhia, Santoji Bolia, Danto Patel, Rana Bhurtiya, Ato Jaswant Rae, Kano, and Jiwa, Jadons; Jiwa Punwar, Piluji and Satwa, Sindhia Malji, Tantia Chitu, Raghu Pagia, Ghusalia Jadon, Mulla Yar Ali, Firoz Khan; all great leaders amongst the ‘Southrons’ of that day.
[3]. [The date of the battle is uncertain. According to Erskine (iii. A. 66) it was fought “about 1756”.]
[4]. The A, to the Rajput of the north-west, is as great a Shibboleth as to the Cockney—thus Apa becomes Hapa.
[6]. Bapji.
[7]. The anecdote is related, p. [870]. The Bijai Vilas states that the prince rewarded the peasant with five hundred bighas of land in perpetuity, which his descendants enjoy, saddled with the petite serjanterie of “curds and bajra cakes,” in remembrance of the fare the Jat provided for his prince on that emergency.
[8]. Rae Singh, chief of the Kumpawats, the second noble in rank of Marwar; Lal Singh, head of the Sisawats, with the leader of the Kutawats, are especially singled out as sealing their fidelity with their blood; but all the ots and awats of the country come in for a share of glory.
[9]. This occurrence has been related in the Personal Narrative, p. 873, but it is more amply narrated in the chronicle, the Bijai Vilas, from which I am now compiling. In this it is said that Jai Apa, during the siege, having fallen sick, the Rathor prince sent his own physician, Surajmall, to attend him; that the doctor at first refused the mission, saying, “You may “On the contrary,” ur, and I shall favour you”; but what was far more strange, Apa objected not, took the medicines of the baid, and recovered.
[10]. [Hel, halla, ‘onset,’ the Marātha invasion.]
[11]. I have many original autograph letters of this distinguished Rajput on the transactions of this period; for it was he who negotiated the treaty between Raja Madho Singh, of Jaipur, the ‘nephew of Mewar,’ and the Mahrattas. At this time, his object was to induce Jai Apa to raise the siege of Nagor.
[12]. [A class of minstrels and buffoons (Census Report, Mārwār, 1891, ii. 178).]
[13]. [Rabāb, ‘a viol’.]
[14]. It will be remembered that Idar was conquered by a brother of Siahji’s.
[15]. We shall explain this by a cutting of the genealogical tree: it may be found useful should we be called on to arbitrate in these matters.
[16]. Purbias, ‘men of the east,’ as the Maghrabis are ‘of the west.’
[17]. The Nakkara Darwaza, where the grand kettledrum is stationed, to give the alarm or summons to the chieftains to repair to the Presence. To this gate Raja Man advanced to meet the Author, then the representative of the Governor-General of India.
[18]. [Rās, 70 miles E. of Jodhpur city.]
[20]. See p. [875] for the details of this battle.
[21]. [It is commonly believed in India that diamond dust is poisonous (Chevers, Manual of Medical Jurisprudence in India, 289 ff.). Powdered glass is used in the same way, as in a recent case at Agra (The Times, 19th December 1912; Labanés, Les Curiosities de la Medicine, 146 ff.).]
[22]. Damraj was not a Rajput, but of the Singhi tribe, one of the civil officers; though it is a curious and little-known fact, that almost all the mercantile tribes of Western India are of Rajput origin, and sank the name and profession of arms when they became proselytes to Jainism, in the reign of Raja Bhim Pramar. The Chitor inscription (see p. [919] and note [7], p. 921) records the name of this prince. He was ancestor of Raja Man, whose date S. 770 (A.D. 714) allows us to place this grand conversion prior to A.D. 650. [The Singhis were originally Brāhmans converted to Jainism (Census Report, Mārwār, 1891, ii. 116).]
[23]. [Pāsbāni, meaning ‘guarding, protecting,’ is a synonym for Gola, the hereditary slave class, illegitimate offspring by Rājputs of women attendants in the Zanāna; they are also known as Dārogha, Khawāss, or Chela (Census Report, Mārwār, 1891, ii. 181).]
[24]. [In the Bhīlāra Hakūmat, in the centre of Jodhpur State.]