CHAPTER 7
Geography of Jaisalmer.—The country still dependent on the Rawal extends between 70° 30´ and 72° 30´ E. long., and between the parallels of 26° 20´ and 27° 50´ N. lat., though a small strip protrudes, in the N.-E. angle, as high as 28° 30´. This irregular surface may be roughly estimated to contain fifteen thousand square miles.[[1]] The number of towns, villages, and hamlets, scattered over this wide space, does not exceed two hundred and fifty; some estimate it at three hundred, and others depress it to two hundred; the mean cannot be wide of the truth. To enable the reader to arrive at a conclusion as to the population of this region, we subjoin a calculation, from data furnished by the best-informed natives, which was made in the year 1815: but we must add, that from the tyranny of the minister, the population of the capital (which is nearly half of the country), has been greatly diminished.
| Fiscal and Feudal. | Number of Houses. | Number of Inhabitants. | Remarks. | |||
| Jaisalmer | Capital | 7,000 | 35,000 | |||
| Bikampur | Pattayat | 500 | 2,000 |  | The chief has the title of Rao,and twenty-four villagesdependent, not included inthis estimate. | |
| Sirara | Do. | 300 | 1,200 | | Kelan Bhatti: the Kelan tribe extends to Pugal. | |
| Nachna | Do. | 400 | 1,600 | Rawalot chief. | ||
| Katori | Fiscal. | 300 | 1,200 | |||
| Kaba | Do. | 300 | 1,200 | |||
| Kuldaro | Do. | 200 | 800 | |||
| Satta | Pattayat | 300 | 1,200 | [279] | ||
| Jinjiniali | Do. | 300 | 1,200 | | Rawalot: first noble of Jaisalmer. | |
| Kuldaro | Do. | 200 | 800 | |||
| Balana | Pattayat | 150 | 600 | |||
| Satiasa | Do. | 100 | 400 | |||
| Baru | Do. | 200 | 800 | | Maldot: has eighteen villages attached, not included in this. | |
| Chaun | Do. | 200 | 800 | |||
| Loharki | Do. | 150 | 600 |  | ||
| Noantala | Do. | 150 | 600 | All of the Rawalot clan. | ||
| Lahti | Do. | 300 | 1,200 | |||
| Dangari | Do. | 150 | 600 | |||
| Bijorai | Fiscal | 200 | 800 | |||
| Mandai | Do. | 200 | 800 | |||
| Ramgarh | Do. | 200 | 800 | |||
| Birsalpur | Pattayat | 200 | 800 | |||
| Girajsar | Do. | 150 | 600 | |||
| 56,400 | ||||||
| Two hundred and twenty-fivevillages and hamlets, fromfour to fifty houses each;say, each average twenty,at four inhabitants to each |  | 18,000 | ||||
| Total | 74,400 | |||||
According to this census, we have a population not superior to one of the secondary cities of Great Britain, scattered over fifteen thousand square miles; nearly one-half, too, belonging to the capital, which being omitted, the result would give from two to three souls only for each square mile.
Face of the Country.
The ridge of hills is a most important feature in the geology of this desert region.[[2]] It is to be traced from Cutch Bhuj, strongly or faintly marked, according to the nature of the country. Sometimes it assumes, as at Chhotan, the character of a mountain; then dwindles into an insignificant ridge scarcely discernible, and often serves as a bulwark for the drifting sands, which cover and render it difficult to trace it at all. As it reaches the Jaisalmer country it is more developed; and at the capital, erected on a peak about two hundred and fifty feet high, its presence is more distinct, and its character defined. The capital of the Bhattis appears as the nucleus of a series of ridges, which diverge from it in all directions for the space of fifteen miles. One branch terminates at Ramgarh, thirty-five miles north-west of Jaisalmer; another branch extends easterly to Pokaran (in Jodhpur), and thence, in a north-east direction, to Phalodi; from whence, at intervals, it is traceable to Gariala, nearly fifty miles due north. It is a yellow-coloured sandstone, in which ochre is abundantly found, with which the people daub their houses.
These barren ridges, and the lofty undulating tibas of sand, are the only objects which diversify the almost uniform sterility of these regions. No trees interpose their verdant foliage to relieve the eye, or shelter the exhausted frame of the traveller. It is nearly a boundless waste, varied only by a few stunted shrubs of the acacia or mimosa family, some succulent plants, or prickly grasses, as the bharut[[3]] or burr, which clings to his garment and increases his miseries. Yet compared with the more northern portion, where “a sea of sand without a sign of vegetation”[[4]] forms the prospect, the vicinity of the capital is a paradise.
There is not a running stream throughout Jaisalmer; but there are many temporary lakes or salt-marshes, termed sar, formed by the collection of waters from the sand-hills, which are easily dammed in to prevent escape. They are ephemeral, seldom lasting but a few months; though after a very severe monsoon they have been known to remain throughout the year. One of these, called the Kanod Sar, extends from Kanod[[5]] to Mohangarh, covering a space of eighteen miles, and in which some water remains throughout the year. When it overflows, a small stream issues from the Sar, and pursues an easterly direction for thirty miles before it is absorbed; its existence [281] depends on the parent lake. The salt which it produces is the property of the crown, and adds something to the revenue.
Soil, Husbandry, and Products.
Implements of Husbandry.
Manufactures.
Commerce.
Revenues and Taxes.
Land-tax.
Dhuan.
Dand.
Since the accession of Gaj Singh, only two years ago,[[17]] Salim Singh has extorted fourteen lakhs (£140,000). Bardhman, a merchant of great wealth and respectability, and whose ancestors are known and respected throughout Rajwara as Sahukars, has been at various times stripped of all his riches by the minister and his father, who, to use the phraseology of the sufferers, “will never be satisfied while a rupee remains in Jaisalmer.”
Establishments, Expenditure.
| Rupees. | |
| Bar[[18]] | 20,000 |
| Rozgar Sardar[[19]] | 40,000 |
| Sihbandis or Mercenaries[[20]] | 75,000 |
| Household horse, 10 elephants, 200 camels, and chariots | 36,000 |
| —-—— | |
| Carry forward | 171,000 |
| Brought forward | 171,000 |
| 500 Bargir[[21]] horse | 60,000 |
| Rani’s or queen’s establishment | 15,000 |
| The wardrobe | 5,000 |
| Gifts | 5,000 |
| The kitchen | 5,000 |
| Guests, in hospitality | 5,000 |
| Feasts, entertainments | 5,000 |
| Annual purchase of horses, camels, oxen, etc. | 20,000 |
| Total | Rs. 291,000 |
The ministers and officers of government receive assignments on the transit-duties, and some have lands. The whole of this State-expenditure was more than covered, in some years, by the transit-duties alone; which have, it is asserted, amounted to the almost incredible sum of three lakhs, or £30,000.
Tribes.
Of its Rajput population, the Bhattis, we have already given an outline in the general essay on the tribes.[[22]] Those which occupy the present limits of Jaisalmer retain their Hindu notions, though with some degree of laxity from their intercourse with the Muhammadans on the northern and western frontiers; while those which long occupied the north-east tracts, towards Phulra and the Gara, on becoming proselytes to Islam ceased to have either interest in or connexion with the parent State. The Bhatti has not, at present, the same martial reputation as the Rathor, Chauhan, or Sesodia, but he is deemed at least to equal if not surpass the Kachhwaha, or any of its kindred branches, Naruka or Shaikhavat. There are occasional instances of Bhatti intrepidity as daring as may be found amongst any other tribe; witness the feud between the chiefs of Pugal and Mandor. But this changes not the national characteristic as conventionally established; though were we to go back to the days of chivalry and Prithiraj, we should select Achalesa Bhatti, one of the bravest of his champions, for the portrait of his race. The Bhatti Rajput, as to physical power, is not perhaps so athletic as the Rathor, or so tall as the Kachhwaha, but generally fairer than either, and possessing those Jewish features which Mr. Elphinstone remarked as characteristic of the Bikaner Rajputs. The Bhatti intermarries with all the families of Rajwara, though seldom with the Ranas of Mewar. The late Jagat Singh of Jaipur had five wives of this stock, and his posthumous son, real or reputed, has a Bhattiani for his mother.[[23]]
Dress.
Use of Opium.
Pāliwāls.
These Brahmans, the Paliwals, as appears by the Annals of Marwar, held the domain of Pali when Siahji, at the end of the twelfth century, invaded that land from Kanauj, and by an act of treachery first established his power.[[26]] It is evident, however, that he did not extirpate them, for the cause of their migration to the desert of Jaisalmer [287] is attributed to a period of a Muhammadan invasion of Marwar, when a general war-contribution (dand) being imposed on the inhabitants, the Paliwals pleaded caste, and refused. This exasperated the Raja; for as their habits were almost exclusively mercantile, their stake was greater than that of the rest of the community, and he threw their principal men into prison. In order to avenge this, they had recourse to a grand chandni, or ‘act of suicide’; but instead of gaining their object, he issued a manifesto of banishment to every Paliwal in his dominions. The greater part took refuge in Jaisalmer, though many settled in Bikaner, Dhat, and the valley of Sind. At one time their number in Jaisalmer was calculated to equal that of the Rajputs. Almost all the internal trade of the country passes through their hands, and it is chiefly with their capital that its merchants trade in foreign parts. They are the Metayers of the desert, advancing money to the cultivators, taking the security of the crop; and they buy up all the wool and ghi (clarified butter), which they transport to foreign parts. They also rear and keep flocks. The minister, Salim Singh, has contrived to diminish their wealth, and consequently to lose the main support of the country’s prosperity. They are also subject to the visits of the Maldots, Tejmallots, and other plunderers; but they find it difficult to leave the country owing to the restrictive cordon of the Mehta. The Paliwals never marry out of their own tribe; and, directly contrary to the laws of Manu,[[27]] the bridegroom gives a sum of money to the father of the bride. It will be deemed a curious incident in the history of superstition, that a tribe, Brahman by name, at least, should worship the bridle of a horse. When to this is added the fact that the most ancient coins discovered in these regions bear the Pali character and the effigies of the horse, it aids to prove the Scythic character of the early colonists of these regions, who, although nomadic (Pali), were equestrian. There is little doubt that the Paliwal Brahmans are the remains of the priests of the Pali race, who, in their pastoral and commercial pursuits, have lost their spiritual power.[[28]]
Pokharna Brāhmans.
Jats or Jāts.
Castle of Jaisalmer.
[1]. [The State, according to later surveys, lies between 26° 4´ and 28° 23´ N. lat. and 69° 30´ and 72° 42´ E. long., with an area of 16,062 square miles. In 1911 the population amounted to 80,891, that of the capital, Jaisalmer, being 7420. There were 471 villages in the State, the average population of which was even lower than of those in Bikaner.]
[2]. [Rocks of Jurassic age, such as sandstone, shales, and limestone, crop up beneath the sand, and a large area of Nummulitic rock occurs to the N.W. of the capital (IGI, xiv. 1).]
[3]. [Cenchrus catharticus.]
[4]. So Mr. Elphinstone describes the tract about Pugal, one of the earliest possessions of the Bhattis, and one of the Naukotī Maru-ki, or ‘nine castles of the desert,’ around whose sand-hills as brave a colony was reared and maintained as ever carried lance. Rao Raning was lord of Pugal, whose son originated that episode given on p. 733. Even these sand-hills which in November appeared to Mr. Elphinstone without a sign of vegetation, could be made to yield good crops of bajra.
[5]. [About 20 miles N.W. of Jaisalmer city.]
[6]. About a hundredweight for two shillings.
[7]. [Hindustāni chhakra, ‘a cart’ (Yule, Hobson-Jobson, 2nd ed. 407 f.).]
[8]. I brought home several pairs of these, with crimson borders, sufficiently fine to be worn as a winter shawl in this country.
[9]. [Commonly known as soapstone or potstone, a soft magnesian or talcose mineral (Watt, Comm. Prod. 1049 f.).]
[10]. Shikarpur, the great commercial mart of the valley of Sind, west of the Indus.
[11]. Chandan is a scented wood for malas, or ‘chaplets.’ [Sandalwood, Pterocarpus santalinus (Watt, Comm. Prod. 909).]
[12]. I have no correct data for estimating the revenues of the chieftains. They are generally almost double the land-revenue of the princes in the other States of Rajwara; perhaps about two lakhs, which ought to bring into the field seven hundred horse.
[13]. [The normal revenue at present is about one lakh of rupees. The transit duties have been largely reduced.]
[14]. This, if strictly true and followed, is according to ancient principles; Manu ordains the sixth. I could have wished Colonel Briggs to have known this fact, when he was occupied on his excellent work on The Land-tax of India; but it had entirely escaped my recollection. In this most remote corner of Hindustan, in spite of oppression, it is curious to observe the adherence to primitive custom. These notes on the sources of revenue in Jaisalmer were communicated to me so far back as 1811, and I laid them before the Bengal Government in 1814-15.
[15]. [The Mahesri trading class, which derive their name from that of their caste deity, Mahesh, ‘the great lord,’ a title of Siva or Mahādeo, claim descent from Chauhān, Parihār, or Solanki Rājputs (Census Report, Mārwār, 1891, ii. 131).]
[16]. Pala pasārna, or ‘to spread the cloth or scarf,’ is the figurative language of entreaty, arising from the act of spreading the garment, preparatory to bowing the head thereon in token of perfect submission.
[17]. This was written in 1821-22.
[18]. The Bar includes the whole household or personal attendants, the guards, and slaves. They receive rations of food, and make up the rest of their subsistence by labour in the town. The Bar consists of about 1000 people, and is estimated to cost 20,000 rupees annually.
[19]. Rozgar-Sardar is an allowance termed kansa, or ‘dinner,’ to the feudal chieftains who attend the Presence. Formerly they had an order upon the Danis, or collectors of the transit-duties; but being vexatious, Pansa Sah, minister to Rawal Chaitra, commuted it for a daily allowance, varying, with the rank of the person, from half a silver rupee to seven rupees each, daily. This disbursement is calculated at 40,000 rupees annually.
[20]. Sihbandis are mercenary soldiers in the fort, of whom 1000 are estimated to cost 75,000 rupees annually. [The word seems to mean ‘persons paid quarterly’ (Yule, Hobson-Jobson, 2nd ed. 805).]
[21]. [A man riding his own horse was called Silahdār, ‘equipment-holder’; one riding a horse belonging to the State or to some one else was Bārgīr, ‘burden-taker’ (Irvine, Army of the Indian Moghuls, 37).]
[23]. [Bhatti women have a reputation for strength and beauty. One of them was the mother of Fīroz Shāh Tughlak (Elliot-Dowson iii. 272).]
[24]. The churi of ivory, bone, or shell is the most ancient ornament of the Indo-Scythic dames, and appears in old sculpture and painting. [For bangles made of conch-shell, see J. Hornell, The Sacred Chank of India, Madras, 1914.] I was much struck with some ancient sculptures in a very old Gothic church at Moissac, in Languedoc. The porch is the only part left of this most antique fane, attributed to the age of Dagobert. It represents the conversion of Clovis, and when the subject was still a matter of novelty. But interesting as this is, it is as nothing when compared to some sculptured figures below, of a totally distinct age; in execution as far superior as they are dissimilar in character, which is decidedly Asiatic; the scarf, the champakali or necklace, representing the buds of the jessamine (champa), and churis, such as I have been describing. To whom but the Visigoths can we ascribe them?—and does not this supply the connecting link of this Asiatic race, destined to change the moral aspect of Europe? [?] I recommend all travellers, who are interested in tracing such analogies, to visit the church at Moissac, though it is not known as an object of curiosity in the neighbourhood.
[25]. [There is no evidence in support of this suggestion.]
[27]. [Laws, iii. 31.]
[28]. [For the Pāliwāl Brāhmans see J. Wilson, Indian Caste, ii. 119; Census Report, Mārwār, 1891, ii. 79 f.]
[29]. [See Census Report, Mārwār, 1891, ii. 61 ff.]
[30]. [The Mahārāvali palace, the top of which is 987 feet above sea-level, surmounts the main entrance of the fort, and is “an imposing pile crowned by a huge umbrella of metal, a solid emblem of dignity of which the Bhatti chiefs are justly proud; but the interior is ill-arranged, and space is frittered away in numberless small apartments” (Erskine iii. A. 38).]
[31]. It has been reported that the dagger has since rid the land of its tyrant. The means matter little, if the end is accomplished. Even assassination loses much of its odious character when resorted to for such a purpose. [Gaj Singh died in his bed in 1846.]
Printed by R. & R. Clark, Limited, Edinburgh.
Transcriber’s Note
There are references 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.
On p. 703, Tod’s note [28] gives the Persian character ﺙ as ‘p’. The character pe (پ) has the three points below, not above.
Where punctuation is suspect, the correct solution was sought in the text of Tod’s original edition.
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.
| [618.25] | for the protection of the temple[.] | Added. |
| [656.38] | may nfluence the manners of a nation. | Inserted. |
| [664.15] | the glorious [of memory/memory of] his ancestor | Words transposed. |
| [672.2] | died a natural death[.] | Added. |
| [682.20] | or split-ear ascetics[.] | Added. |
| [709.18] | Leur sort est un[e] boussole sûr[e] pour le premier regard | Added. |
| [719.8] | [“]separated from his mate | Added. |
| [719.26] | asis (blessing[)] | Added. |
| [726.14] | [“]The king sought the bard | Added. |
| [727.8] | [“]In vain she sought the rings of his corslet | Removed. |
| [755.16] | [‘/“]all’s well,” | Replaced. |
| [860.20] | with the tika and gifts, [and gifts, ]and other symbols | Removed. |
| [866.23] | was father-in[ /-]law to his rival | Replaced. |
| [895.34] | which we do not fail to encourage[.] | Added. |
| [898.19] | there occurs a ri[g/c]hly carved corbeille | Replaced. |
| [915.3] | Such is the Jit’h[a] | Added. |
| [933.25] | see [Table I. Vol. I.] | Not reprinted. |
| [959.22] | every part o[f] Rajputana | Added. |
| [964.2] | which would otherwise perish[.] | Added. |
| [1035.10] | for the persecutor of Durgadas[.] | Added. |
| [1060.13] | out of Maru[:/.] | Replaced. |
| [1113.29] | or courts o[r/f] arbitration | Replaced. |
The following list contains issues corrected or noted in the footnote text. The reference is to the original page, the resequenced note number, and the line within the note.
| [602.4.5] | that he mraculously | Restored. |
| [725.1.1] | History of the Late Revolution o[f] the Empire | Restored. |
| [750.1.24] | Rāsmāla, 557[)]. | Removed. |
| [819.3.3] | (Yule, Hobson-Jobson, 2nd ed. 15[)]. | Added. |
| [884.3.13] | ‘city of the heavenly choristers.[’] | Added. |
| [839.2.2] | (Erskine iii. A. 196[)]. | Added. |
| [934.1.1] | (IGI, xv. 398[)]. | Added. |
| [935.4.1] | classically Vijayapala, ‘Fosterer of Victory.[’] | Added. |
| [948.2.12] | [“]Even in this, is there much vanity,” | Added. |
| [1037.4.2] | rather Nāgapura[./,] capital of the Nāga sept | Replaced. |
| [1084.2.1] | [Nineteen miles S.W. of Bikaner city.[] | Added. |
| [1118.3.1] | see Watt, op. cit. 112 ff.[).] | Removed. |
| [1134.1.7] | see Sykes, Hist. of Persia, i. 257[)]. | Removed. |
| [1136.1.1] | Ferishta’s History of the Dek[h/k]an | Replaced. |
| [1156.1.5] | (Bilimoria, Letters of Aurangzeb, 75.[)] | Added. |
| [1186.3.9] | See Map, Vol. I. | Actually, Vol. III. |
| [1194.1.70] | and many others[)]. | Added. |
| [1197.37] | Rae S[e/a]hra and his tribe of Langaha | Replaced. |
| [1221.1.3] | [(]Rose, Glossary, ii. 353 f.; ASR, ii. 17). | Added. |