CHAPTER 2
Migration of the Rāthors into Rājputāna.
The Tribes of Rājputāna.
The Exploits of Siāhji.
Flushed with success, we hear nothing of the completion of Siahji’s pilgrimage; but obedient to the axiom of the Rajput, “get land,” we find him on the banks of the Luni, exterminating, at a feast, the Dabhis of Mewa,[[3]] and soon after the Gohils of Kherdhar,[[4]] whose chief, Maheshdas, fell by the sword of the grandson of Jaichand. Here, in the “land of Kher,” amidst the sandhills of the Luni (the salt-river of the desert), from which the Gohils were expelled, Siahji planted the standard of the Rathors.
At this period a community of Brahmans held the city and extensive lands about Pali, from which they were termed Paliwal;[[5]] and being greatly harassed by the incursions of the mountaineers, the Mers and Minas, they called in the aid of Siahji’s band, which readily undertook and executed the task of rescuing the Brahmans from their depredations. Aware that they would be renewed, they offered Siahji lands to settle amongst them, which were readily accepted; and here he had a son by the Solankani, to whom he gave the name of Asvatthama. With her, it is recorded, the suggestion originated to make himself lord of Pali; and it affords another example of the disregard of the early Rajputs for the sacred order, that on the Holi, or Saturnalia, he found an opportunity to “obtain land,” putting to death the heads of this community, and adding the district to his conquests [14]. Siahji outlived his treachery only twelve months, leaving his acquisitions as a nucleus for further additions to his children. He had three sons, Asvatthama, Soning, and Ajmall.
Asvatthāma.
Asvatthama died, leaving eight sons, who became the heads of clans, namely, Duhar, Jopsi, Khampsao, Bhopsu, Dhandhal, Jethmall, Bandar, and Uhar; of which, four, Duhar, Dhandhal, Jethmall, and Uhar, are yet known.
Duhar or Dhūhada.
Rāēpāl, Chhada, Thīda, Salkha, Biramdeo, Chonda.
So fluctuating are the fortunes of the daring Rajput, ever courting distinction and coveting bhum, ‘land,’ that but a short time before this success, Chonda had been expelled from all the lands acquired by his ancestors, and was indebted to the hospitality of a bard of the Charan tribe, at Kalu; and they yet circulate the kabit, or quatrain, made by him when, in the days of his greatness, he came and was refused admittance to “the lord of Mandor”; he took post under the balcony, and improvized a stanza, reminding him of the Charan of Kalu: “Chonda nahīn āwē chit, Khichar Kalu tanna? Bhup bhaya bhay-bhit, Mandawar ra mālya?” “Does not Chonda remember the porridge of Kalu, now that the lord of the land looks so terrific from his balcony of Mandawar?” Once established in Mandor, he ventured to assault the imperial garrison of Nagor. Here he was also successful. Thence he carried his arms south, and placed his garrison in Nadol, the capital of the province of Godwar. He married a daughter of the Parihar prince,[[9]] who had the satisfaction to see his grandson succeed to the throne of Mandor. Chonda was blessed with a progeny of fourteen sons, growing up to manhood around him. Their names were Ranmall,[[10]] Satta, Randhir, Aranyakanwal,[[11]] Punja, Bhim, Kana, Ajo, Ramdeo, Bija, Sahasmall, Bagh, Lumba, Seoraj.
Chonda had also one daughter named Hansa, married to Lakha Rana of Mewar [16], whose son was the celebrated Kumbha. It was this marriage which caused that interference in the affairs of Mewar, which had such fatal results to both States.[[12]]
The feud between his fourth son, Aranyakanwal, and the Bhatti prince of Pugal, being deemed singularly illustrative of the Rajput character, has been extracted from the annals of Jaisalmer, in another part of this work.[[13]] The Rathor chronicler does not enter into details, but merely states the result, as ultimately involving the death of Chonda—simply that “he was slain at Nagor with one thousand Rajputs”; and it is to the chronicles of Jaisalmer we are indebted for our knowledge of the manner. Chonda acceded in S. 1438 (A.D. 1382), and was slain in S. 1465 [A.D. 1408-9].
Ranmall killed A.D. 1444.
The bard seldom intrudes the relation of civil affairs into his page, and when he does, it is incidentally. It would be folly to suppose that the princes of Maru had no legislative recorders; but with these the poet had no bond of union. He, however, condescends to inform us of an important measure of Rao Ranmall, namely, that he equalized the weights and measures throughout his dominions, which he divided as at present. The last act of Ranmall, in treacherously attempting to usurp the throne of the infant Rana of Mewar, was deservedly punished, and he was slain by the faithful Chonda, as related in the annals of that State.[[15]] This feud originated the line of demarcation of the two States,[[16]] and which remained [17] unaltered until recent times, when Marwar at length touched the Aravalli. Rao Ranmall left twenty-four sons, whose issue, and that of his eldest son, Jodha, form the great vassalage of Marwar. For this reason, however barren is a mere catalogue of names, it is of the utmost value to those who desire to see the growth of the frèrage of such a community.[[17]]
| Names. | Clans. | Chieftainships or Fiefs. | |||
| 1. | Jodha (succeeded) | Jodha. | |||
| 2. | Kandal. |  | Kandalot, conquered lands in |  | Bikaner. |
| 3. | Champa | Champawat | | Awa, Kata, Palri, Harsola, Rohat, Jawala, Satlana, Singari. | |
| 4. | Akhairaj had seven sons: 1st Kumpa |  | Kumpawat |  | Asop, Kantalia, Chandawal, Siryari, Kharla, Harsor, Balu, Bajoria, Surpura, Dewaria. |
| 5. | Mandla | Mandlot | Sarunda. | ||
| 6. | Patta | Pattawat |  | Kurnichari, Bara, and Desnokh.[[18]] | |
| 7. | Lakha | Lakhawat | —— | ||
| 8. | Bala | Balawat | Dunara. | ||
| 9. | Jethmall | Jethmallot | Palasni. | ||
| 10. | Karna | Karnot | Lunawas. | ||
| 11. | Rupa | Rupawat | Chutila. | ||
| 12. | Nathu | Nathawat | Bikaner. | ||
| 13. | Dungra | Dungrot |  | Estates not mentioned; their descendants have become dependent on the greater clanships. | |
| 14. | Sanda | Sandawat | |||
| 15. | Manda | Mandot | |||
| 16. | Biru | Birot | |||
| 17. | Jagmall | Jagmallot | |||
| 18. | Hampa [18] | Hampawat | |||
| 19. | Sakta | Saktawat | |||
| 20. | Karimchand | ——— | |||
| 21. | Arival | Arivalot | |||
| 22. | Ketsi | Ketsiot | |||
| 23. | Satrasal | Satrasalot | |||
| 24. | Tejmall | Tejmallot | |||
[1]. [The date of Siha or Siāhji, the traditional founder of the Mārwār dynasty, was until recently uncertain. An inscription on a memorial stone gives the date as Vikrama Sambat 1330, A.D. 1387, and for his grandson, Dhūhada V.S. 1336, A.D. 1393. He is called the eldest son of Asvatthāma mentioned in the text (IA, xi. 301). The tradition is vitiated by the fact that this was not the first appearance of Rāthors in Rājputāna. An inscription at Bījapur states that five of this clan ruled at Hathūndi (Hastikūndi) in the tenth century (Erskine iii. A. 54; IGI, vi. 247 f.).]
[2]. [The Indhas occupy the W. tract of Mārwār; will not eat the flesh of the boar; believe that no member of the clan can be struck by lightning, owing to the prediction of Khākhaji, one of their ancestors; no epidemic ever breaks out in their territory as it is under the protection of their goddess, Chāwanda Māta (Census Report, Mārwār, 1891, ii. 31).]
[3]. The Dabhi was one of the thirty-six royal races; and this is almost the last mention of their holding independent possessions. See Vol. I. p. [138], and the map for the position of Mewa at the bend of the Luni. [Kher is now a ruined village near Jasol, about 60 miles S.W. of Jodhpur city, on the left bank of the Lūni.]
[4]. In my last journey through these regions, I visited the chief of the Gohils at Bhavnagar, in the Gulf of Cambay. I transcribed their defective annals, which trace their migration from ‘Kherdhar,’ but in absolute ignorance where it is! See Vol. I. p. [137].
[5]. [Pāli, 45 miles S.S.E. of Jodhpur city. The Pāliwāls have some remarkable customs; they do not observe the Rākhi festival because of a tradition that on the day the town was sacked by Shihābu-d-dīn, the sacred cords of the men slain and the bangles of those women who immolated themselves weighed respectively 9 and 84 maunds. Compare the story of Chitor (Vol. I. p. [383]) (Census Report, Mārwār, 1891, ii. 79).]
[6]. [Who take their name from their capital, Hathūndi, now ruined, near Bījapur in S.E. Mārwār.]
[7]. On the western coast of the Saurashtra peninsula. [The Okhamandal legend calls the Rāthor leaders Virāval and Bījal, who overcame the Chāwaras, and abandoning the name Rāthor, called themselves Vādhel, ‘slayers’ (BG, v. 590 f.).]
[8]. From badh, vadh, ‘to slay.’
[9]. He was of the Indha branch of the Parihars, and his daughter is called the Indhavatni.
[10]. The descendants of those numbering 1, 2, 4, 7 still exist.
[11]. This is the prince mentioned in the extraordinary feud related (p. 731) from the annals of Jaisalmer. Incidentally, we have frequent synchronisms in the annals of these States, which, however slight, are of high import.
[14]. [The Kāim or Qāimkhānis were originally Chauhāns, converted to Islām in the time of Fīroz Shāh. They are said to derive their name from the first famous convert. It is a rule with them not to use wooden planks in their doorways (Census Report, Mārwār, 1891, ii. 37 f.; Rose, Glossary, iii. 257).]
[17]. It is only by the possession of such knowledge that we can exercise with justice our right of universal arbitration.
[18]. Brave soldiers, but, safe in the deep sands, they refuse to serve except on emergencies.