CHAPTER 6
Rāja Jaswant Singh, A.D. 1638-78.
“Jaswant (says the Bardai) was unequalled amongst the princes of his time. Stupidity and ignorance were banished; and science flourished where he ruled: many were the books composed under his auspices.”[[1]]
The south continued to be the arena in which the martial Rajput sought renown, and the emperor had only rightly to understand his character to turn the national emulation to account. Shah Jahan, in the language of the chronicler, “became a slave to the seraglio,” and sent his sons, as viceroys, to govern the grand divisions of the empire. The first service of Jaswant was in the war of Gondwana, when he led a body composed of “twenty-two different contingents” in the army under Aurangzeb.[[2]] In this and various other services (to enumerate which would be to go [48] over the ground already passed),[[3]] the Rathors were conspicuous. Jaswant played a comparatively subordinate part, until the illness of the emperor, in A.D. 1658, when his elder son Dara was invested with the powers of regent.[[4]] Prince Dara increased the mansab of Jaswant to a leader of “five thousand,” and nominated him his viceroy in Malwa.
The War of Succession.
Campaign against Aurangzeb, A.D. 1657-58—The Battle of Dharmātpur.
Of all the deeds of heroism performed on this day, those of Ratna of Ratlam, by universal consent, are pre-eminent, and “are wreathed into immortal rhyme by the bard” in the Raesa Rao Ratna.[[10]] He also was a Rathor, the great-grandson of Udai Singh, the first raja of Maru; and nobly did he show that the Rathor blood had not degenerated on the fertile plains of Malwa. If aught were wanting to complete the fame of this memorable day, which gave empire to the scourge of Rajputana [50], it is found in the conduct of Jaswant’s queen, who, as elsewhere related,[[11]] shut the gates of his capital on her fugitive lord, though he “brought back his shield” and his honour.
Battle of Jājau.
Battle of Khajwa.
Policy of Jaswant Singh.
The wily tyrant had, in all these changes, used every endeavour to circumvent Jaswant, and, if the annals are correct, was little scrupulous as to the means. But the Raja was protected by the fidelity of his kindred vassalage. In the words of the bardic chronicler, “The Aswapati,[[16]] Aurang, finding treachery in vain, put the collar of simulated friendship round his neck, and sent him beyond the Attock to die.”
The emperor saw that the only chance of counteracting Jaswant’s inveterate hostility was to employ him where he would be least dangerous. He gladly availed himself of a rebellion amongst the Afghans of Kabul; and with many promises of favour to himself and his family, appointed him to the chief command,[[17]] to lead his turbulent Rajputs against the equally turbulent and almost savage Afghans. Leaving his elder son, Prithi Singh, in charge of his ancestral domains, with his wives, family, and the chosen bands of Maru, Jaswant departed for the land of the “barbarian,” from which he was destined never to return.
Treatment of Prithi Singh by Aurangzeb.
That day was his last!—he was taken ill soon after reaching his quarters, and [53] expired in great torture, and to this hour his death is attributed to the poisoned robe of honour presented by the king.[[19]]
Prithi Singh was the staff of his father’s age, and endowed with all the qualities required to lead the swords of Maru. His death, thus reported, cast a blight on the remaining days of Jaswant, who, in this cruel stroke, saw that his mortal foe had gone beyond him in revenge. The sacrifice of Prithi Singh was followed by the death of his only remaining sons, Jagat Singh and Dalthamman, from the ungenial climate of Kabul, and grief soon closed the existence of the veteran Rathor. He expired amidst the mountains of the north, without an heir to his revenge, in S. 1737 (A.D. 1681), having ruled the tribes of Maru for two-and-forty years. In this year, death released Aurangzeb from the greatest terrors of his life; for the illustrious Sivaji and Jaswant paid the debt to nature within a few months of each other.[[20]] Of the Rathor, we may use the words of the biographer of his contemporary, Rana Raj Singh of Mewar: “Sighs never ceased flowing from Aurang’s heart while Jaswant lived.”
Character of Jaswant Singh.
The Tale of Nāhar Khān.
On another occasion, from the same freedom of speech, he incurred the displeasure of the Shahzada, or prince-royal, who, with youthful levity, commanded the ‘tiger lord’ to attempt a feat which he deemed inconsistent with his dignity, namely, gallop at speed under a horizontal branch of a tree and cling to it while the steed passed on. This feat, requiring both agility and strength, appears to have been a common amusement, and it is related in the Annals of Mewar that the chief of Banera broke his spine in the attempt; and there were few who did not come off with bruises and falls, in which consisted the sport. When Nahar heard the command, he indignantly replied, he “was not a monkey”; that “if the prince wished to see his feats, it must be where his sword had play”; on which he was ordered against Surthan, the Deora prince of Sirohi, for which service he had the whole Rathor contingent at his disposal. The Deora prince, who could not attempt to cope against it in the field, took to his native hills; but while he deemed himself secure, Mukund, with a chosen band, in the dead of night, entered the glen where the Sirohi prince reposed, stabbed the solitary sentinel, bound the prince with his own turban to his pallet, while, environing him with his clansmen, he gave the alarm. The Deoras starting from their rocky beds, collected round their prince, and were preparing for the rescue, when Nahar called aloud, “You see his life is in my hands; be assured it is safe if you are wise; but he dies on the least opposition to my determination to convey him to my prince. My sole object in giving the alarm was that you might behold me carry off my prize.” He conveyed Surthan to Jaswant, who said he must introduce him to the king. The Deora prince was carried to court, and being led between the proper officers to the palace, he was instructed to perform that profound obeisance, from which none were exempted. But the haughty Deora replied, “His life was in the king’s hands, his [57] honour in his own; he had never bowed the head to mortal man, and never would.” As Jaswant had pledged himself for his honourable treatment, the officers of the ceremonies endeavoured by stratagem to obtain a constrained obeisance, and instead of introducing him as usual, they showed him a wicket, knee high, and very low overhead, by which to enter, but putting his feet foremost, his head was the last part to appear.[[24]] This stubborn ingenuity, his noble bearing, and his long-protracted resistance, added to Jaswant’s pledge, won the king’s favour; and he not only proffered him pardon, but whatever lands he might desire. Though the king did not name the return, Surthan was well aware of the terms, but he boldly and quickly replied, “What can your majesty bestow equal to Achalgarh? let me return to it is all I ask.” The king had the magnanimity to comply with his request; Surthan was allowed to retire to the castle of Abu,[[25]] nor did he or any of the Deoras ever rank themselves amongst the vassals of the empire; but they have continued to the present hour a life of almost savage independence.
From such anecdotes we learn the character of the tiger lord of Asop; and his brother Rathors of Marwar; men reckless of life when put in competition with distinction and fidelity to their prince, as will be abundantly illustrated in the reign we are about to describe.
[1]. [See Grierson, Vernacular Literature of Hindustān, Index sv. “Jaswant Singh.”]
[2]. [The Bundela Campaign of 1635 against Jujhār Singh (Jadunāth Sarkar, Life of Aurangzib, i. 14 ff.).]
[3]. The new translation of Ferishta’s History, by Lieut.-Col. Briggs, a work much wanted, may be referred to by those who wish to see the opinion of the Muhammadan princes of their Rajput vassalage.
[4]. [It is a mistake to call him Dāra, his name being Dāra Shukoh, ‘majesty like that of Darius.’ He was appointed regent in 1657, when Shāh Jahān fell ill (ibid. i. 304 ff.).]
[5]. [The serpent which upholds the world.]
[6]. [The battle fought at Dharmātpur, 14 miles S.W. of Ujjain, April 15 or 25, 1658. See a full account by Jadunāth Sarkar, ii. 3 ff., who remarks that the description in Bernier (p. 36 ff.) is untrustworthy, while Tod “merely records the wild fictions of the Rajput bards” (ii. 13 note). Fatehābād was the name given to Samūgarh, fought June 8, following.]
[8]. [Dow, 2nd ed. iii. 206.]
[9]. See Kotah annals, which state that that prince and five brothers all fell in this field of carnage.
[10]. Amongst the MSS. presented by the author to the Royal Asiatic Society, is this work, the Raesa Rao Ratna. [“To Ratan Singh of Ratlam a noble monument was raised by his descendants on the spot where his corpse was burnt. Time overwhelmed it, but in 1909 its place was taken by a lofty structure of white marble, decorated with relief-work of a bold but conventional type, and surmounted with a stone horse” (Jadunāth Sarkar ii. 27).]
[12]. [The battle of Samūgarh, nine miles E. of Agra, fought June 8, 1658, or, according to Jadunāth Sarkar (ii. 32) on May 29, 1658.]
[13]. [The battle of Khajwa or Khajuha, in the Fatehpur District, nearly 100 miles N.W. of Allāhābād, on January 14, 1659, or, according to Jadunāth Sarkar, on January 4-5, 1659. The dates fixed by Irvine (IA, xl. 69 ff.) are probably correct, and have been followed in the notes.]
[14]. [June 23, 1665.]
[15]. [Jai Singh seems to have had no direct part in the escape of Sivaji from Delhi, August 29, 1666 (Grant Duff, Hist. Mahrattas, 96).]
[16]. The common epithet of the Islamite emperors, in the dialect of the bard, is Aspat, classically Aswapati, ‘lord of horses.’
[17]. [He was appointed Faujdār of Jamrūd at the mouth of the Khaibar Pass.]
[18]. [A near relation by marriage.]
[19]. This mode of being rid of enemies is firmly believed by the Rajputs, and several other instances of it are recorded in this work. Of course, it must be by porous absorption; and in a hot climate, where only a thin tunic is worn next the skin, much mischief might be done, though it is difficult to understand how death could be accomplished. [See p. [728]. ] That the belief is of ancient date we have only to recall the story of Hercules put into doggerel by Pope:
——“He, whom Dejanire
Wrapp’d in th’ envenom’d shirt, and set on fire.”
[“The Wife of Bath,” [380]-1. The tragical death of Prithi Singh is still the subject for songs of the bards (Temple, Legends of the Panjāb, iii. 252 ff.).]
[20]. [This is an error. Jaswant Singh died December 18, 1678 (Irvine’s note on Manucci ii. 233, IA, xl. 77). Sivaji died probably on April 17, 1680 (Fryer, New Account of East India and Persia, ed. Hakluyt Society, iii. 167).]
[23]. Miyān is a term used by the Hindu to a Muslim, who himself generally applies it to a pedagogue: the village schoolmaster has always the honourable epithet of Miyān-ji!
[24]. [This is a common legend, told of the Nikumbh Rājputs of the United Provinces (Crooke, Tribes and Castes, iv. 87); by Bernier of Shāh Jahān and the Persian ambassador (p. 151 f.); of the Hatkars of the Deccan (BG, xvi. 56 note; Russell, Tribes and Castes of Central Provinces, i. 37 f.).]
[25]. Achalgarh, or ‘the immovable castle,’ is the name of the fortress of the Deora princes of Abu and Sirohi, of which wonderful spot I purpose in another work to give a detailed account [58].