CHAPTER 26
The Mer Tribe.
A minute account of the Mer, his habits and his history, would be no unimportant feature: but as this must be deferred, I will, in the meanwhile, furnish some details to supply the void.
The Mers are a branch of the Chitas, an important division of the Minas.[[3]] I shall elsewhere enter at large into the history of this race, which consists of as many branches as their conquerors, the Rajputs. All these wild races have the vanity to mingle their pedigree with that of their conquerors, though in doing so they stigmatize themselves. The Chita-Minas accordingly claim descent from a grandson of the last Chauhan emperor of Delhi. Anhul and Anup were the sons of Lakha, the nephew of the Chauhan king. The coco-nut was sent from Jaisalmer, offering princesses of that house in marriage: but an investigation into their maternal ancestry disclosed that they were the issue of a Mina concubine: and their birth being thus revealed, they became exiles from Ajmer, and associates with their maternal relatives.
Anhul espoused the daughter of a Mina chieftain, by whom he had Chita, whose descendants enjoy almost a monopoly of power in Merwara. The sons of Chita, who occupied the northern frontier near Ajmer, became Muhammadans about fifteen generations ago, when Duda, the sixteenth from the founder of the race, was created Dawad Khan by the Hakim of Ajmer; and as Hathun was his residence, the “Khan of Hathun” signified the chief of the Merots. Chang, Jhak, and Rajosi are the principal towns adjoining Hathun. Anup also took a Mina wife, by whom he had Barar, whose descendants have continued true [682] to their original tenets. Their chief places are Barar, Berawara, Mandila, etc. Though the progeny of these Minas may have been improved by the infusion of Rajput blood, they were always notorious for their lawless habits, and for the importance attached to them so far back as the period of Bisaldeo, the celebrated prince of Ajmer, whom the bard Chand states to have reduced them to submission, making them “carry water in the streets of Ajmer.” Like all mountaineers, they of course broke out whenever the hands of power were feeble. In the battle between the Chauhans of Ajmer and the Parihars of Mandor, a body of four thousand Mer bowmen served Nahar Rao, and defended the pass of the Aravalli against Prithiraj in this his first essay in arms. Chand thus describes them:[[4]] “Where hill joins hill, the Mer and Mina thronged. The Mandor chief commanded that the pass should be defended—four thousand heard and obeyed, each in form as the angel of death—men who never move without the omen, whose arrow never flies in vain—with frames like India’s bolt—faithful to their word, preservers of the land and the honour[[5]] of Mandor; whose fortresses have to this day remained unconquered—who bring the spoils of the plains to their dwellings. Of these in the dark recesses of the mountains four thousand lay concealed, their crescent-formed arrows beside them. Like the envenomed serpent, they wait in silence the advance of the foe.
Prithirāj attacks the Mers.
Character of the Mers.
The Merwāra Battalion.
Marriage Customs.
Oaths, Food, Omens.
The Chief of Gokulgarh.
This petty chieftain, who enjoyed the distinctive epithet of outlaw (barwatia), was of the Sonigira clan (a branch of the Chauhans), who for centuries were the lords of Jalor. He was a vassal of Marwar, now sovereign of Jalor, and being expelled for his turbulence by his prince, he had taken post in the old ruined castle of Gokulgarh, on a cliff of the Aravalli, and had become the terror of the country. By his knowledge of the intricacies of the mountains, he eluded pursuit; and his misdeeds being not only connived at, but his spoils participated by the chief of Deogarh, in whose fief was his haunt, he was under no apprehension of surprise. Inability either to seize the Barwatia, or drive him from his retreat, formed a legitimate excuse for the resumption of Gokulgarh, and the dues of ‘blackmail’ he derived from its twelve dependent villages. The last act of the Sonigira was most flagrant; he intercepted in the plains of Godwar a marriage procession, and made captives the bridegroom and bride, whom he conveyed to Gokulgarh, where they long languished for want of ransom. A party was formed to lie in wait for him; but he escaped the snare, and his retreat was found empty. Such was the state of society in these districts. The form of outlawry is singular in this country, where the penal laws are satisfied with banishment, even in cases of treason, instead of the sanguinary law of civilization. The criminal against whom the sentence of exile is pronounced being called into his prince’s presence, is clad in black vestments, and placed upon a black steed, his arms and shield all of the same sombre hue of mourning and [688] disgrace; he is then left to gain the frontier by himself. This custom is very ancient: the Pandu brothers were ‘Barwatias’[[19]] from the Jumna three thousand years ago. The Jaisalmer annals relate the solemnity as practised towards one of their own princes; and the author, in the domestic dissensions of Kotah, received a letter from the prince, wherein he demands either that his rights should be conceded, or that the government would bestow the “black garment,” and leave him to his fate.
The Chief of Ghānērāo.
Our march this morning was but short, and the last two miles were in the plains of Marwar, with merely an occasional rock. Carey joined us, congratulating himself on the ducking which had secured him better fare than we had enjoyed in the pass of Kumbhalmer, and which fastened both on Waugh and myself violent colds. The atmospheric change was most trying: emerging from the cold breezes of the mountains to 96° of Fahrenheit, the effect was most injurious: it was 58° in the morning of our descent into the glen. Alas! for my surviving barometer! Mahesh, my amanuensis, who had been entrusted with it, joined us next day, and told me the quicksilver had contrived to escape; so I lost the opportunity of comparing the level of the desert with the plains of Marwar.
The Chief of Rūpnagar.
The Chief of Ghānērāo. The Rājputs of Mewār and Mārwār compared.—I could well have dispensed with visits this day, the thermometer being 96°; I was besides devoured with inflammatory cold; but there was no declining another polite visit of the chieftain of Ghanerao. His retinue afforded a good opportunity of contrasting the Sesodia Rajput of fertile Mewar with the Rathors of Marwar, and which on the whole would have been favourable to the latter, if we confined our view to those of the valley of Udaipur, or the mountainous region of its southern limit, where climate and situation are decidedly unfavourable. There the Rajput may be said not only to deteriorate in muscular form and strength, but in that fairness of complexion which distinguishes him from the lower orders of Hindus. But the danger of generalizing on such matters will be apparent when it is known that there is a cause continually operating to check and diminish the deteriorating principle arising from the climate and situation (or, as the Rajput would say, from the hawa pani, ‘air and water’) of these unhealthy tracts; namely, the continual influx of the purest blood from every region in Rajputana: and the stream which would become corrupt if only flowing from the commingling of the Chondawats of Salumbar and the Jhalas of Gogunda (both mountainous districts), is refreshed by that of the Rathors of Godwar, the Chauhans of Haraoti, or the Bhatti of the desert. I speak from conviction, the chieftains above mentioned affording proofs of the evil resulting from such repeated intermarriages; for, to use their own adage, “a raven will produce a raven.” But though the personal appearance of the chieftain of Gogunda might exclude him from the table of the sixteen barons of Mewar, his son by a Rathor mother may be exhibited as a redeeming specimen of the Jhalas, and one in every way favourable of the Rajput of Mewar. On such occasion, also, as a formal visit, both chieftain and retainers appear under every advantage of dress and decoration; for even the form of the turban may improve the contour of the face, though [692] the Mertias of Ghanerao have nothing so decidedly peculiar in this way as those of other clans.
After some discourse on the history of past days, with which, like every respectable Rajput, I found him perfectly conversant, the Ghanerao chief took his leave with some courteous and friendly expressions. It is after such a conversation that the mind disposed to reflection will do justice to the intelligence of these people: I do not say this with reference to the baron of Ghanerao, but taking them generally. If by history we mean the relation of events in succession, with an account of the leading incidents connecting them, then are all the Rajputs versed in this science; for nothing is more common than to hear them detail their immediate ancestry or that of their prince for many generations, with the events which have marked their societies. It is immaterial whether he derives this knowledge from the chronicle, the chronicler, or both: it not only rescues him from the charge of ignorance, but suggests a comparison between him and those who constitute themselves judges of nationalities by no means unfavourable to the Rajput.
Godwār.
“Ānwal, ānwal Mewār:
Bāwal, bāwal Mārwār.
“Wherever the anwal puts forth its yellow blossoms, the land is of right ours; we want nothing more. Let them enjoy their stunted babuls, their karil, and the ak; but give us back our sacred pipal, and the anwal of the border.”[[21]] In truth, the transition is beyond credence marked: cross but a shallow brook, and you leave all that is magnificent in vegetation; the pipal, bar, and that species of the mimosa resembling the cypress, peculiar to Godwar, are exchanged for the prickly shrubs, as the wild caper, jawas, and many others, more useful than ornamental, on which the camel browses.[[22]] The argument was, however, more ingenious than just, and the old envoy was here substituting the effect for the cause; but he shall explain in his own words why Flora should be permitted to mark the line of demarcation instead of the rock-enthroned (Durga) Cybele. The legend now repeated is historical, and the leading incidents of it have already been touched upon;[[23]] I shall therefore condense the Pancholi’s description into a summary analysis of the cause why the couplet of the bard should be deemed “confirmation strong” of the bounds of kingdoms. These traditionary couplets, handed down from generation to generation, are the most powerful evidence of the past, and they are accordingly employed to illustrate the Khyats, or annals, of Rajputana. When, towards the conclusion of the fourteenth century, the founder of the Chondawats repaid the meditated treachery of Ranmall of Mandor by his death, he took possession of that capital and the entire country of the Rathors (then but of small extent), which he held for several years. The heir of Mandor became a fugitive, concealing himself in the fastnesses of the Aravalli, with little hope that [694] his name (Jodha) would become a patronymic, and that he would be honoured as the second founder of his country: that Mandor itself should be lost in Jodhpur. The recollection of the feud was almost extinct; the young Rana of Chitor had passed the years of Rajput minority, and Jodha continued a fugitive in the wilds of Bhandak-parao, with but a few horse in his train, indebted to the resources of some independents of the desert for the means of subsistence. He was discovered in this retreat by a Charan or bard, who, without aspiring to prophetic powers, revealed to him that the intercession of the queen-mother of Chitor had determined the Rana to restore him to Mandor. Whether the sister of Jodha, to give éclat to the restoration, wished it to have the appearance of a conquest, or whether Jodha, impatient for possession, took advantage of circumstances to make his entrance one of triumph, and thereby redeem the disgrace of a long and humiliating exile, it is difficult to decide; for while the annals of Mewar make the restoration an act of grace, those of Marwar give it all the colours of a triumph. Were the point worthy of discussion, we should say both accounts were correct. The Rana had transmitted the recall of Chonda from Mandor, but concealed from him the motive, and while Jodha even held in his possession the Rana’s letter of restoration, a concatenation of circumstances, in which “the omen” was predominant, occurred to make him anticipate his induction by a measure more consonant to the Rajput, a brilliant coup de main. Jodha had left his retreat in the Run[[34]] to make known to Harbuji Sankhla, Pabuji, and other rievers of the desert, the changes which the bard had communicated. While he was there, intelligence was brought that Chonda, in obedience to his sovereign’s command, had proceeded to Chitor. That same night “the bird of omen perched on Jodha’s lance, and the star which irradiated his birth shone bright upon it.” The bard of Mandor revealed the secret of heaven to Jodha, and the heroes in his train: “Ere that star descends in the west, your pennon will wave on the battlements of Mandor.” Unless, however, this “vision of glory” was merely mental, Jodha’s star must have been visible in daylight; for they could never have marched from the banks of the Luni, where the Sankhla resided, to Mandor, between its rising and setting. The elder son of Chonda had accompanied his father, and they had proceeded two coss in their [695] journey, when a sudden blaze appeared in Mandor: Chonda pursued his route, while his son Manja returned to Mandor. Jodha was already in possession; his an had been proclaimed, and the two other sons of Chonda had fallen in its defence. Manja, who fled, was overtaken and slain on the border. These tidings reached Chonda at the pass of the Aravalli; he instantly returned to Mandor, where he was met by Jodha, who showed him the letters of surrender for Mandor, and a command that he should fix with him the future boundary of each State. Chonda thought that there was no surer line of demarcation than that chalked out by the hand of nature; and he accordingly fixed that wherever the “yellow blossom” was found, the land should belong to his sovereign, and the bard was not slow in perpetuating the decree. Such is the origin of
Ānwal, ānwal Mewār:
Bāwal, bāwal Mārwār.
The brave and loyal founder of the Chondawats, who thus sacrificed his revenge to his sovereign’s commands, had his feelings in some degree propitiated by this arrangement, which secured the entire province of Godwar to his prince: his son Manja fell, as he touched the region of the anwalas, and this cession may have been in ‘mundkati,’ the compromise of the price of blood. By such traditional legends, not less true than strange, and to which the rock sculptures taken from Mandor bear evidence, even to the heroes who aided Jodha in his enterprise, the anwal of the Rajputs has been immortalized, like the humble broom of the French, whose planta-genesta has distinguished the loftiest name in chivalry, the proudest race emblazoned on the page of heraldry.
Notwithstanding the crops had been gathered, this tract contrasted favourably with Mewar, although amidst a comparative prosperity we could observe the traces of rapine; and numerous stories were rehearsed of the miseries inflicted on the people by the rapacious followers of Amir Khan. We crossed numerous small streams flowing from the Aravalli, all proceeding to join the “Salt River,” or Luni. The villages were large and more populous; yet was there a dulness, a want of that hilarity which pervaded the peasantry of Mewar, in spite of their misfortunes. The Rajputs partook of the feeling, the cause of which a little better acquaintance with their headquarters soon revealed. Mewar had passed through the period [696] of reaction, which in Marwar was about to display itself, and was left unfortunately to its own control, or with only the impulse of a long suppressed feeling of revenge in the bosom of its prince, and the wiles of a miscreant minister, who wished to keep him in durance, and the country in degradation.
Nādol.
There is no spot in Rajputana that does not contain some record of the illustrious Chauhan; and though every race has had its career of glory, the sublimity of which, the annals of the Sesodias before the reader sufficiently attest, yet with all my partiality for those with whom I long resided, and with whose history I am best acquainted, my sense of justice compels me to assign the palm of martial intrepidity to the Chauhan over all the “royal races” of India. Even the bards, to whatever family they belong, appear to articulate the very name as if imbued with some peculiar energy, and dwell on its terminating nasal with peculiar complacency. Although they had always ranked high in the list of chivalry, yet the seal of the order was stamped on all who have the name of Chauhan, since the days of Prithiraj, the model of every Rajput, and who had a long line of fame to maintain. Of the many names familiar to the bard is Guga of Bhatinda, who with forty-seven sons “drank of the stream of the sword” on the banks of the Sutlej, in opposing Mahmud.[[36]] This conqueror proceeded through the desert to the attack of Ajmer, the chief abode of this race, where his arms were disgraced, the invader wounded, and forced to relinquish his enterprise [697]. In his route to Nahrwala and Somnath he passed Nadol,[[37]] whose prince hesitated not to measure his sword even with Mahmud. I was fortunate enough to obtain an inscription regarding this prince, the celebrated Lakha, said to be the founder of this branch from Ajmer, of which it was a fief—its date S. 1039 (A.D. 983).[[38]] The fortress attributed to Lakha is on the declivity of a low ridge to the westward of the town, with square towers of ancient form, and built of a very curious conglomerate of granite and gneiss, of which the rock on which it stands is composed. There was a second inscription, dated S. 1024 (A.D. 968), which made him the contemporary of the Rana’s ancestor, Sakti Kumar of Aitpur, a city also destroyed, more probably by the father of Mahmud. The Chauhan bards speak in very lofty terms of Rao Lakha, who “collected transit dues from the further gate of Anhilwara, and levied tribute from the prince of Chitor.”
Remains at Nādol.
Inscriptions and Coins.
Indara.
Āk ra jhonpra,
Phog ra vār,
Bājra ri roti,
Motham hari dāl,
Dekho ho Raja, teri Marwar.
‘Huts of the āk,
Barriers of thorns,
Bread of maize,
Lentils of the vetch,
Behold Raja, your Marwar!’ [700].
Construction of Villages.
Pāli.
The Commerce of Pāli.
JĀT PEASANT OF MĀRWĀR.
RĀJPUT FOOT-SOLDIER OF MĀRWĀR.
To face page 812.
The exports of home production are the two staple articles of salt and woollens; to which we may add coarse cotton cloths, and paper made in the town of Pali. The lois, or blankets, are disseminated throughout India, and may be had at from four to sixty rupees per pair; scarfs and turbans are made of the same material, but not for exportation. But salt is the chief article of export, and the duties arising therefrom equal half the land revenue of the country. Of the agars, or ‘salt lakes,’ Pachbhadra, Phalodi, and Didwana are the principal, the first being several miles in circuit [702].
The commercial duties of Pali yielded 75,000 rupees annually, a large sum in a poor country like Marwar.
Chāran and Bhāt Carriers.
Pungiri Temple.
Kairla, 30th.
Rohat, 31st.
Khānkāni.
Bhāt Customs. Coercion by Threat of Human Sacrifice.
Jhālamand.
The Chief of Pokaran.
The Chief of Nīmāj.
It would be impossible to relate here all the causes which involved him in the catastrophe from which his coadjutor escaped. It was the misfortune of Surthan to have been associated with Salim Singh; but his past services to his prince amply counterbalanced this party bias. It was he who prevented his sovereign from [707] sheathing a dagger in his heart on the disgraceful day at Parbatsar; and he was one of the four chieftains of all Marwar who adhered to his fortunes when beset by the united force of Rajputana. He was also one of the same four who redeemed the spoils of their country from the hands of the multitudinous array which assaulted Jodhpur in 1806, and whose fate carried mourning into every house of Rajasthan.[[55]] The death of Surthan Singh was a prodigal sacrifice, and caused a sensation of universal sorrow, in which I unfeignedly participated. His gallant bearing was the theme of universal admiration; nor can I give a better or a juster idea of the chivalrous Rajput than by inserting a literal translation of the letter conveying the account of his death, about eight months after my visit to Jodhpur.
“Jodhpur, 2d Asarh, or 28th June 1820.
“On the last day of Jeth (the 26th June), an hour before daybreak, the Raja sent the Aligols,[[56]] and all the quotas of the chiefs, to the number of eight thousand men, to attack Surthan Singh. They blockaded his dwelling in the city, upon which for three watches they kept up a constant fire of great guns and small arms. Surthan, with his brother Sur Singh, and his kindred and clan, after a gallant defence, at length sallied forth, attacked the foreigners sword in hand, and drove them back. But who can oppose their prince with success? The odds were too great, and both brothers fell nobly. Nagoji and forty of the bravest of the clan fell with the Thakur brothers, and forty were severely wounded. Eighty, who remained, made good their retreat with their arms to Nimaj.[[57]] Of the Raja’s troops, forty were killed on the spot, and one hundred were wounded. Twenty of the townsfolk suffered in the fray.
“The Pokaran chief, hearing of this, saddled; but the Maharaja sent Sheonath Singh of Kuchaman, the chief of Bhadrajan, and others, to give him confidence, and induce him to stay; but he is most anxious to get away. My nephew and fifteen of my followers were slain on this occasion. The Nimaj chief fell as became a Rathor. The world exclaims ‘applause,’ and both Hindu and Turk say he met [708] his death nobly. Sheonath Singh, Bakhtawar Singh, Rup Singh, and Anar Singh,[[58]] performed the funeral rites.”
Such is the Rajput, when the point of honour is at stake! Not a man of his clan would have surrendered while their chief lived to claim their lives; and those who retreated only preserved them for the support of the young lord of the Udawats [709]!
[1]. Meru is ‘a [fabulous] mountain’ in Sanskrit; Merawat and Merot, ‘of or belonging to the mountain.’ I have before remarked that the name of the Albanian mountaineer, Mainote, has the same signification. I know not the etymology of Mina, of which the Mer is a branch. [Needless to say, whatever the meaning of the title Mer may be, it has no connexion with Mt. Meru. The traditions of the Mers point to Mīna ancestry. For the Mīna tribe see Rose, Glossary, iii. 102 ff.; Watson, Rajputāna Gazetteer, i. A. 29 ff.]
[2]. I had hoped to have embodied these subjects with, and thereby greatly to have increased the interest, of my work; but just as Lord Hastings had granted my request, that an individual eminently qualified for those pursuits should join me, a Higher Power deemed it fit to deny what had been long near my heart.
The individual, John Tod, was a cousin of my own, and possessed an intellect of the highest order. He was only twenty-two years of age when he died, and had only been six months in India. He was an excellent classical scholar, well versed in modern languages and every branch of natural history. His manners, deportment, and appearance were all in unison with these talents. Had it pleased the Almighty to have spared him, this work would have been more worthy of the public notice. [An officer named Tod was murdered at Nāhar Magra, near Udaipur, in May 1804 (Malcolm, Memoir Central India, 2nd ed. i. 237).]
[3]. [The Mers are supposed to be a foreign tribe, like the Gurjaras and Mālavas, which passed into Kāthiāwār through the Panjāb, Sind, and N. Gujarāt (BG, i. Part i. 136 ff.; Elliot-Dowson i. 519 ff.).]
[4]. I cannot discover by what part of the range the invasion of Mandor was attempted; it might have been the pass we are now in, for it is evident it was not from the frontier of Ajmer.
[5]. Laj is properly ‘shame,’ which word is always used in lieu of honour: laj rakho, ‘preserve my shame,’ i.e. my honour from shame.
[6]. Parbat Vira.
[7]. The Parihar prince bestowed this epithet merely in compliment.
[8]. Sindhu Raga.
[9]. [The sacred Jain mountain in Kāthiāwār.]
[10]. With two (do) edges (dhara).
[11]. Sang is the iron lance, either wholly of iron, or having plates for about ten feet; these weapons are much used in combats from camels in the Desert.
[12]. ‘Sword’—Aswar in the dialect.
[13]. [The field guardian deity.]
[14]. [For an account of the Mer rebellion in 1820 and its suppression see Watson, Rājputāna Gazetteer, i. A. 14.]
[15]. [The 44th Merwāra Infantry, formerly known as the Merwāra Battalion, formed in 1822, did good service in the Mutiny of 1857, and in the Afghān campaign of 1878 (Watson, Gazetteer, i. A. 119 ff.; Cardew, Sketch of the Services of the Bengal Native Army, 338 ff.)].
[16]. [No class of Brāhmans or Rājputs, claiming respectability, now permits widow marriage.]
[17]. [Nāgda, near the shrine of Eklingji, one of the most ancient places in Mewār.]
[18]. [Elsewhere known as Khanjarīt or Khanjan, a well-known bird of omen.]
[19]. This term is a compound of bāhar and watan, literally ‘ex patria.’
[20]. He ruled from A.D. 1094 to 1143.
[21]. [Ānwal, āonla, Phyllanthus emblica; bāwal, babūl, Acacia arabica; karīl, Capparis aphylla; āk, Calotropis gigantea; pīpal, Ficus religiosa.]
[22]. [Bar, Ficus bengalensis; jawās, Hedysarum alhagi.]
[34]. An alp, or spot in these mountainous regions, where springs, pasture, and other natural conveniences exist.
[35]. [About seventy miles south-south-west of Jodhpur city.]
[36]. [Bhatinda, now Govindgarh, in the Patiāla State (IGI, xii. 343). The author’s accounts of Gūga or Gugga are contradictory (see Index, s.v.). For this famous saga see Temple, Legends of the Panjāb, i. 121 ff., iii. 261 ff. The cult of the hero has passed as far south as Gujarāt, his festival being held on 9th dark half of Bhādon (Aug.-Sept.), known as Gūga navami (BG, ix. Part i. 524 f.).]
[37]. Ferishta, or his copyist, by a false arrangement of the points, has lost Nadole in Buzule, using the ب for the ن and the ذ for the د. [It was Kutbu-d-dīn who, on his way to Gujarāt, passed the forts of “Tilli and Buzule” (Dow, ed. 1812, i. 147). Briggs (Ferishta i. 196) writes “Baly and Nadole.” In the Tāju-l-Ma-āsir of Hasan Nizāmi the names are given as “Pāli and Nandūl” (Elliot-Dowson ii. 229). This illustrates the difficulty of tracing place names in the Muhammadan historians.]
[38]. [Towards the end of the tenth century, Lākhan or Lakshman Singh, a younger brother of Wākpatirāj, the Chauhān Rāja of Sāmbhar, settled at Nādol, and his descendants ruled the territory till their defeat by Kutbu-d-dīn Ibak in 1206-10 (Erskine iii. A. 181 f.).]
[39]. [The temple of Mahāvīra contains three inscriptions, dated A.D. 1609, recording its construction from charitable funds. Garrett disputes the author’s reference to Caesar, as the buildings are not superior to many others in Rājputāna (ASR, xxiii. (1887) 93).]
[40]. See Appendix, No. [VII].]
[41]. These will appear more appropriately in a disquisition on Hindu medals found by me in India, in the Transactions of the Royal Asiatic Society. [The well-known “Bull and Horseman” type (IGI, ii. 142 f.).]
[42]. [All traces of those walls have disappeared, but in Jūna or ‘Old’ Pāli there are some fine temples (ASR, xxiii. (1887) 86 ff.).]
[43]. The kharak and pind khajūr. [Kharak is the stage when the date becomes red or yellow, according to variety; pind, when it is quite ripe (Watt, Econ. Dict. vi. Part i. 205).]
[44]. Mom in the language of Egypt signifies ‘wax,’ says some ancient authority: so it is the usual name of that article in Persian. Mummy is probably thence derived. I remember playing a trick on old Silu, our khabardar [spy] at Sindhia’s camp, who had been solicited to obtain a piece of momiai for a chieftain’s wife. As we are supposed to possess everything valuable in the healing art, he would take no refusal; so I substituted a piece of indiarubber. [For the virtues of momiāi see Crooke, Popular Religion and Folklore of N. India, ii. 176 ff.]
[45]. [Barilla, Watt, Econ. Prod. 112 f.]
[46]. [Morinda citrifolia, ibid. 783 f.]
[47]. [Madder, Rubia cordifolia, ibid. 926 f.]
[48]. [The Khosa is a Baloch tribe, many of them found in Sind, where, it is said, they were given lands by the Emperor Humāyūn (Census Report, Baluchistan, 1901, i. 95 f.).]
[49]. [Numerous instances of this custom among Bhāts will be found in BG, ix. Part i. 209 ff.]
[51]. [Platts (Hindustāni Dict., s.v.) gives chāndni, ‘moonlight’; chāndni mār-jāna, ‘to be moonstruck, paralysed by a stroke of the moon’; chāndni karan, ‘the practice of Brāhmans and others wounding themselves in order to extort the payment of a debt.’ Here the threat is fear of the ghost of the man who took his life. Sir G. Grierson notes that in Gujarāti and Marāthi chāndi karan means ‘to reduce to white ashes,’ hence ‘to ruin or destroy completely.’ Here chāndi, usually meaning ‘silver,’ means ‘anything white,’ and hence ‘white ashes.’ This, he suggests, seems to be a more probable explanation than ‘moonstruck.’]
[52]. Mr. Wilder, the superintendent of Ajmer, was deputed by General Sir D. Ochterlony, in December 1818, to the court of Jodhpur, and was very courteously received by the Raja.
[53]. The sibilant is the Shibboleth of the Rajput of Western India, and will always detect him. The ‘lion’ (singh) of Pokaran is degraded into ‘asafoetida’ (hing); as Halim Hing. [Pokaran, 85 miles N.W. of Jodhpur city, held by the premier noble of the Champāwat clan of Rāthors.]
[54]. [Nīmāj, about 60 miles E.S.E. of Jodhpur city, fief of a noble of the Udāwat Rāthors.]
[55]. See Vol. I. p. [539] for the murder of the princess of Udaipur, one of its results.
[56]. The mercenary Rohilla battalions, who are like the Walloons and independent companies which formed the first regular armies of Europe. [‘Alīgol, ‘noble troop’ (Yule, Hobson-Jobson, 2nd ed. 15).[2nd ed. 15).]]
[57]. Which they afterwards nobly defended during many months.
[58]. The last, a brave and excellent man, was the writer of this letter. He, who had sacrificed all to save his prince, and, as he told me himself, supported him, when proscribed by his predecessor, by the sale of all his property, even to his wife’s jewels, yet became an exile, to save his life from an overwhelming proscription. To the anomalous state of our alliances with these States is to be ascribed many of these mischiefs.
TOWN AND FORT OF JODHPUR.
(From the south-east.)
To face page 820.