CHAPTER 2
The Chauhān Rāj.
History of the Chauhāns.
Although nominally a single principality, the chieftain of Parkar pays little, if any, submission to his superior of Virawah. Both of them have the ancient Hindu title of Rana, and are said at least to possess the quality of hereditary valour, which is synonymous with Chauhan. It is unnecessary to particularize the extent in square miles of thal in this raj, or to attempt to number its population, which is so fluctuating; but we shall subjoin a brief account of the chief towns, which will aid in estimating the population of Marusthali. We begin with the first division.
Chief Towns.
Nagar Pārkar.
Bakhasar.
Tharād.
Face of the Chauhān Rāj.
Water Production.
Inhabitants.
Kolis and Bhils.
Pital is the chief husbandman of this region, and, with the Bania, the only respectable class. They possess flocks, and are also cultivators, and are said to be almost as numerous as either the Bhils or Kolis. The Pital is reputed synonymous with the Kurmi of Hindustan and the Kulambi of Malwa and the Deccan. There are other tribes, such as the Rabari, or rearer of camels, who will be described with the classes appertaining to the whole desert.
Dhāt and Umrasūmra.
The Horrors of Humāyūn’s March.
We are now in the very region where Humayun suffered these miseries, and in its chief town, Umarkot, Akbar, the greatest monarch India ever knew, first saw the light. Let us throw aside the veil which conceals the history of the race of Humayun’s protector, and notwithstanding he is now but nominal sovereign of Umarkot, and lord [310] of the village of Chor,[[14]] give him “a local habitation and a name,” even in the days of the Macedonian invader of India.
Dhāt.
Aror, Umarsūmra.
Aror.
We may follow Abu-l Fazl and Ferishta in their summaries of the history of ancient Sind, and these races. The former says: “In former times, there lived a Rāja named Siharas, whose capital was Alor. His sway extended eastward, as far as Kashmīr and towards the sea to Mekrān, while the sea confined it on the south and the mountains to the north. An invading army entered the country from Persia, in opposing which the Rāja lost his life. The invaders, contenting themselves with devastating part of the territory, returned. Rāē Sahi,[[21]] the Rāja’s son, succeeded his father, by whose enlightened wisdom and the aid of his intelligent minister Rām, justice was universally administered and the repose of the country secured.... In the caliphate of Walīd bin Abdu’l Malik, when Hajjāj was governor of Irāk, he dispatched on his own authority Muhammad Kāsim, his cousin and son-in-law, to Sind, who fought Dāhir in several engagements.... After Muhammad Kāsim’s death, the sovereignty of this country devolved on the descendants of the Banu Tamīm Ansāri. They were succeeded by the Sūmrah race, who established their rule, and were followed by the Sammas, who asserted their descent from Jamshīd, and each of them assumed the name of Jām.”[[22]]
Ferishta gives a similar version. “On the death of Mahomed Kasim, a tribe who trace their origin from the Ansarias established a government in Sind; after which the zamindars [lords of the soil or indigenous chiefs], denominated in their country Soomura, usurped the power, and held independent rule over the kingdom of Sinde for the space of five hundred years. These [312], the Soomuras, subverted the country of another dynasty called Soomuna [the Samma of Abu-l Fazl], whose chief assumed the title of Jam.”[[23]]
The difficulty of establishing the identity of these tribes from the cacography of both the Greek and Persian writers, is well exemplified in another portion of Ferishta, treating of the same race, called by him Soomuna, and Samma by Abu-l Fazl. “The tribe of Sahna appears to be of obscure origin, and originally to have occupied the tract lying between Bekher and Tatta in Sinde, and pretend to trace their origin from Jemshid.” We can pardon his spelling for his exact location of the tribe, which, whether written Soomuna, Sehna, or Seemeh, is the Summa or Samma tribe of the great Yadu race, whose capital was Summa-ka-kot, or Sammanagari, converted into Minnagara, and its princes into Sambas, by the Greeks.[[24]] Thus the Sodhas appear to have ruled at Aror and Bakhar, or Upper Sind, and the Sammas in the lower,[[25]] when Alexander passed through this region. The Jarejas and Jams of Navanagar in Saurashtra claim descent from the Sammas, hence called elsewhere by Abu-l Fazl “the Sind-Samma dynasty”; but having been, from their amalgamation with the ‘faithful,’ put out of the pale of Hinduism, they desired to conceal their Samma-Yadu descent, which they abandoned for Jamshid, and Samma was converted into Jam.[[26]]
We may, therefore, assume that a prince of the Sodha tribe held that division of the great Puar sovereignty, of which Aror, or the insular Bakhar, was the capital, when Alexander passed down the Indus: nor is it improbable that the army, styled Persian by Abu-l Fazl, which invaded Aror, and slew Raja Siharas, was a Graeco-Bactrian army led by Apollodotus, or Menander, who traversed this region, “ruled by Sigertides” (qu. Raja Siharas?) even to “the country of the Σῶρα,” or Saurashtra,[[27]] where, according to their historian, their medals were existent when he wrote in the second century.[[28]] The histories so largely quoted give us decided proof that Dahir, and his son [313] Raesa, the victims of the first Islamite invasion led by Kasim, were of the same lineage as Raja Siharas; and the Bhatti annals prove to demonstration, that at this, the very period of their settling in the desert, the Sodha tribe was paramount (see p. [1185]); which, together with the strong analogies in names of places and princes, affords a very reasonable ground for the conclusion we have come to, that the Sodha tribe of Puar race was in possession of Upper Sind, when the Macedonian passed down the stream; and that, amidst all the vicissitudes of fortune, it has continued (contesting possession with its ancient Yadu antagonist, the Samma) to maintain some portion of its ancient sovereignty unto these days. Of this portion we shall now instruct the reader, after hazarding a passing remark on the almost miraculous tenacity which has preserved this race in its desert abode during a period of at least two thousand two hundred years,[[29]] bidding defiance to foreign foes, whether Greek, Bactrian, or Muhammadan, and even to those visitations of nature, famines, pestilence, and earthquakes, which have periodically swept over the land, and at length rendered it the scene of desolation it now presents; for in this desert, as in that of Egypt, tradition records that its increase has been and still is progressive, as well in the valley of the Indus as towards the Jumna.
Umarkot.
The Fate of the Sodha Tribe. Assassination of Mīr Bijar.
This episode, which properly belongs to the history of Marwar, or to Sind, is introduced for the purpose of showing the influence of the latter on the destinies of the Sodha princes. It was by Bijar, who fell by the emissaries of Bijai Singh, that the Sodha Raja was driven from Umarkot, the possession of which brought the Sindis into immediate collision with the Bhattis and Rathors. But on his assassination and the defeat of the Sind army on the Rann, Bijai Singh reinducted the Sodha prince to his gaddi of Umarkot; not, however, long to retain it, for on the invasion from Kandahar, this poor country underwent a general massacre and pillage by the Afghans, and Umarkot was assaulted and taken. When Fateh Ali made head against the army of Kandahar, which he was enabled to defeat, partly by the aid of the Rathors, he relinquished, as the price of this aid, the claims of Sind upon Umarkot, of which Bijai Singh took possession, and on whose battlements the flag of the Rathors waved until the last civil war, when the Sindis expelled them. Had Raja Man known how to profit by the general desire of his chiefs to redeem this distant possession, he might have got rid of some of the unquiet spirits by other means than those which have brought infamy on his name.
Chor.
The Sodha, and the Jareja, are the connecting links between the Hindu and the Muslim; for although the farther west we go the greater is the laxity of Rajput prejudice, yet to something more than mere locality must be attributed the denationalized sentiment which allows the Sodha to intermarry with a Sindi: this cause is hunger; and there are few zealots who will deny that its influence is more potent than the laws of Manu. Every third year brings famine, and those who have not stored up against it fly to their neighbours, and chiefly to the valley of the Indus. The [317] connexions they then form often end in the union of their daughters with their protectors; but they still so far adhere to ancient usage as never to receive back into the family caste a female so allied.[[34]] The present Rana of the Sodhas has set the example, by giving daughters to Mir Ghulam Ali and Mir Sohrab, and even to the Khosa chief of Dadar; and in consequence, his brother princes of Jaisalmer, Bah and Parkar, though they will accept a Sodha princess to wife (because they can depend on the purity of her blood), yet will not bestow a daughter on the Rana, whose offspring might perhaps grace the harem of a Baloch. But the Rathors of Marwar will neither give to nor receive daughters of Dhat. The females of this desert region, being reputed very handsome, have become almost an article of matrimonial traffic; and it is asserted, that if a Sindi hears of the beauty of a Dhatiani, he sends to her father as much grain as he deems an equivalent, and is seldom refused her hand. We shall not here further touch on the manners or other peculiarities of the Sodha tribe, though we may revert to them in the general outline of the tribes, with which we shall conclude the sketch of the Indian desert.
Tribes.
Of the Muhammadan there are but two, Kalhora and Sahariya, concerning whose origin any doubt exists, and all those we are about to specify are Nayyads,[[36]] or proselytes chiefly from Rajput or other Hindu tribes:
Zjat; Rajar; Umra; Sumra; Mair, or Mer; Mor, or Mohor; Baloch; Lumria, or Luka; Samaicha; Mangalia; Bagria; Dahya; Johya; Kairui; Jangaria; Undar; Berawi; Bawari; Tawari; Charandia; Khosa; Sadani; Lohanas.
The Nayyāds.
On the Bhattis, the Rathors, the Chauhans, and their offset the Mallani, we have sufficiently expatiated, and likewise on the Sodha; but a few peculiarities of this latter tribe remain to be noticed.
The Sodha Tribe.
The Kaurava Tribe.
The Dhāti Tribe.
The Lohāna Tribe.
The Arora Tribe.
The Bhātia Tribe.
Brāhmans.
The Rabāri Tribe.
Jat Tribes.
We shall now leave this general account of the Hindu tribes, who throughout Sind are subservient to the will of the Muhammadan, who is remarkable, as before observed, for intolerance. The Hindu is always second: at the well, he must wait patiently until his tyrant has filled his vessel; or if, in cooking his dinner, a Muslim should require fire, it must be given forthwith, or the shoe would be applied to the Hindu’s head.
The Sahariya Tribe.
The Khosa Tribe.
The Samaicha Tribe.
The Rājar Tribe.
The Umar Sūmra Tribe.
The Kalhora, Tālpuri Tribes.
Nūmri, Lūmri, or Lūka Tribe.
The Zott[[54]] or Jat Tribe.—This very original race, far more numerous than perhaps all the Rajput tribes put together, still retains its ancient appellation throughout the whole of Sind, from the sea to Daudputra, but there are few or none in the thal. Their habits differ little from those who surround them. They are amongst the oldest converts to Islam.
The Mer, Mair Tribe.
The Mor, Mohor Tribe.
The Tāwari, Thori, or Tori Tribe.
Johya, Dahya, Mangalia Tribes.
Dāūdputra, Bahāwalpur State.
Daud Khan, the founder of Daudputra, was a native of Shikarpur, west of the Indus, where he acquired too much power for a subject, and consequently drew upon himself the arms of his sovereign of Kandahar. Unable to cope with them, he abandoned his native place, passed his family and effects across the Indus, and followed them into the desert. The royal forces pursued, and coming up with him at Sutiala, Daud had no alternative but to surrender, or destroy the families who impeded his flight or defence. He acted the Rajput, and faced his foes; who, appalled at this desperate act, deemed it unwise to attack him, and retreated. Daud Khan, with his adherents, then settled in the kachhi, or flats of Sind, and gradually extended his authority into the thal. He was succeeded by Mubarik Khan; he, by his nephew Bahawal Khan, whose son is Sadik Muhammad Khan, the present lord of Bahawalpur, or Daudputra, a name applied both to the country and to its possessors, “the children of David.”[[58]] It was Mubarik who deprived the Bhattis of the district called Khadal, so often mentioned in the Annals of Jaisalmer, and whose chief town is Derawar, founded by Rawal Deoraj in the eighth century; and where the successor of Daud established his abode. Derawar was at that time inhabited by a branch of the Bhattis, broken off at a very early period, its chief holding the title of Rawal, and whose family since their expulsion have resided at Ghariala, belonging to Bikaner, on [325] an allowance of five rupees a day, granted by the conqueror. The capital of the “sons of David” was removed to the south bank of the Gara by Bahawal Khan (who gave it his name), to the site of an old Bhatti city, whose name I could not learn. About thirty years ago[[59]] an army from Kandahar invaded Daudputra, invested and took Derawar, and compelled Bahawal Khan to seek protection with the Bhattis at Bikampur. A negotiation for its restoration took place, and he once more pledged his submission to the Abdali king, and having sent his son Mubarik Khan as a hostage and guarantee for the liquidation of the imposition, the army withdrew. Mubarik continued three years at Kabul, and was at length restored to liberty and made Khan of Bahawalpur, on attempting which he was imprisoned by his father, and confined in the fortress of Khangarh, where he remained nearly until Bahawal Khan’s death. A short time previous to this, the principal chiefs of Daudputra, namely, Badera Khairani, chief of Mozgarh, Khudabakhsh of Traihara, Ikhtiyar Khan of Garhi, and Haji Khan of Uchh, released Mubarik Khan from Khangarh and they had reached Murara, when tidings arrived of the death of Bahawal Khan. He continued his route to the capital; but Nasir Khan, son of Alam Khan, Gurgecha (Baloch), having formerly injured him and dreading punishment, had him assassinated, and placed his brother, the present chief, Sadik Muhammad, on the masnad: who immediately shut up his nephews, the sons of Mubarik, together with his younger brothers, in the fortress of Derawar. They escaped, raised a force of Rajputs and Purbias, and seized upon Derawar; but Sadik escaladed it, the Purbias made no defence [326], and both his brothers and one nephew were slain. The other nephew got over the wall, but was seized by a neighbouring chief, surrendered, and slain; and it is conjectured the whole was a plot of Sadik Khan to afford a pretext for their death. Nasir Khan, by whose instigation he obtained the masnad, was also put to death, being too powerful for a subject. But the Khairani lords have always been plotting against their liege; an instance of which has been given in the Annals of Bikaner, when Traihara and Mozgarh were confiscated, and the chiefs sent to the castle of Khangarh, the State prison of Daudputra. Garhi still belongs to Abdulla, son of Haji Khan, but no territory is annexed to it. Sadik Muhammad has not the reputation of his father, whom Bijai Singh, of Marwar, used to style his brother. The Daudputras are much at variance amongst each other, and detested by the Bhattis, from whom they have hitherto exacted a tribute to abstain from plunder. The fear of Kandahar no longer exists at Bahawalpur, whose chief is on good terms with his neighbour of Upper Sind, though he is often alarmed by the threats of Ranjit Singh of Lahore, who asserts supremacy over “the children of David.”
Diseases.
They have the usual infantine and adult diseases, as in the rest of India. Of these the sitala, or ‘smallpox,’ and the tijari, or ‘tertian,’ are the most common. For the first, they merely recommend the little patient to Sitala Mata; and treat the other with astringents in which infusion of the rind of the pomegranate is always (when procurable) an ingredient. The rich, as in other countries, are under the dominion of empirics, who entail worse diseases by administering mineral poisons, of whose effects they are ignorant. Enlargement of the spleen under the influence of these fevers is very common, and its cure is mostly the actual cautery.
Famines.
Productions, Animal and Vegetable.
The Wild Ass.
Rojh or Nilgae, Lions, etc.
Domestic Animals.
Flocks (here termed chang) of goats and sheep are pastured in vast numbers in the desert. It is asserted that the goat can subsist without water from the month of Karttik to the middle of Chait, the autumnal to the spring equinox [329]—apparently an impossibility: though it is well known that they can dispense with it during six weeks when the grasses are abundant. In the thals of Daudputra and Bhattipo, they remove to the flats of Sind in the commencement of the hot weather. The shepherds, like their flocks, go without water, but find a substitute in the chhachh, or buttermilk, after extracting the butter, which is made into ghi, and exchanged for grain, or other necessaries. Those who pasture camels also live entirely upon their milk, and the wild fruits, scarcely ever tasting bread.
Shrubs and Fruits.
The karil, or khair (the capparis, or caper-bush), is well known both in Hindustan and the desert: there they use it as a pickle, but here it is stored up as a culinary article of importance. The bush is from ten to fifteen feet in height, spreading very wide; there are no leaves on its evergreen twig-like branches, which bear a red flower, and the fruit is about the size of a large black currant. When gathered, it is steeped for twenty-four hours in water, which is then poured off, and it undergoes, afterwards, two similar operations, when the deleterious properties are carried off; they are then boiled and eaten with a little salt, or by those who can afford it, dressed in ghi and eaten with bread. Many families possess a stock of twenty maunds.
The sajji is a low, bushy plant, chiefly produced in the northern desert, and most abundant in those tracts of Jaisalmer called Khadal, now subject to Daudputra. From Pugal to Derawar, and thence by Muridkot, Ikhtyar Khan-ki-garhi, to Khairpur (Dair Ali), is one extensive thal, or desert, in which there are very considerable tracts of low, hard flat, termed chittram,[[66]] formed by the lodgment of water [330] after rain, and in these spots only is the sajji plant produced. The salt, which is a sub-carbonate of soda, is obtained by incineration, and the process is as follows: Pits are excavated and filled with the plant, which, when fired, exudes a liquid substance that falls to the bottom. While burning, they agitate the mass with long poles, or throw on sand if it burns too rapidly. When the virtue of the plant is extracted, the pit is covered with sand, and left for three days to cool; the alkali is then taken out, and freed from its impurities by some process. The purer product is sold at a rupee the ser (two pounds weight); of the other upwards of forty sers are sold for a rupee. Both Rajputs and Muhammadans pursue this employment, and pay a duty to the lord paramount of a copper pice on every rupee’s worth they sell. Charans and others from the towns of Marwar purchase and transport this salt to the different marts, whence it is distributed over all parts of India. It is a considerable article of commerce with Sind, and entire caravans of it are carried to Bakhar, Tatta, and Cutch. The virtue of the soda is well understood in culinary purposes, a little sajji added to the hard water soon softening the mess of pulse and rice preparing for their meals; and the tobacconists use considerable quantities in their trade, as it is said to have the power of restoring the lost virtues of the plant.
Grasses.
Melons.
ITINERARY[[69]]
Jaisalmer to Sehwan, on the right bank of the Indus, and Haidarabad, and return by Umarkot to Jaisalmer
Kuldra (5 coss).—A village inhabited by Paliwal Brahmans; two hundred houses; wells.
Gajia-ki-basti (2 do.).—Sixty houses; chiefly Brahmans; wells.
Khaba (3 do.).—Three hundred houses; chiefly Brahmans; a small fort of four bastions on low hills, having a garrison of Jaisalmer.
| Kanohi Sum | (5 do.). (5 do.). | } |
—An assemblage of hamlets of four or five huts on one spot, about a mile distant from each other, conjointly called Sum, having a burj or tower for defence, garrisoned from Jaisalmer; several large wells, termed beria; inhabitants, chiefly Sindis of various tribes, pasture their flocks, and bring salt and khara (natron) from Deo Chandeswar, the latter used as a mordant in fixing colours, exported to all parts. Half-way between Sum and Mulana is the boundary of Jaisalmer and Sind.
Mulana[[70]] (24 coss).—A hamlet of ten huts; chiefly Sindis; situated amidst lofty sandhills. From Sum, the first half of the journey is over alternate sandhills, rocky ridges (termed magra), and occasionally plain; for the next three, rocky ridges and sandhills without any flats, and the remaining nine coss a succession of lofty tibas. In all this space of twenty-four coss there are no wells, nor is a drop of water to be had but after rain, when it collects in some old tanks or reservoirs, called nadi and taba, situated half-way, where in past times there was a town.
It is asserted, that before the Muhammadans conquered Sind and these regions, the valley and desert belonged to Rajput princes of the Pramar and Solanki tribes; that the whole thal (desert) was more or less inhabited, and the remains of old tanks and temples, notwithstanding the drifting of the sands, attest the fact. Tradition records a famine of twelve years’ duration during the time of Lakha Phulani, in the twelfth century, which depopulated the country, when the survivors of the thal fled to the kachhi, or flats of the Sind. There are throughout still many oases or cultivated patches, designated by the local terms from the [332] indispensable element, water, which whether springs or rivulets, are called wah, bah, beria, rar, tar, prefixed by the tribe of those pasturing, whether Sodhas, Rajars, or Samaichas. The inhabitants of one hamlet will go as far as ten miles to cultivate a patch.
| Bhor Palri Rajar-ki-basti Hamlet of Rajars | (2 do.). (3 do.). (2 do.). (2 do.). |
These are all hamlets of about ten huts, inhabited by Rajars, who cultivate patches of land or pasture their flocks of buffaloes, cows, camels, goats, amidst the thal; at each of these hamlets there are plenty of springs; at Rajar-ki-basti there is a pool called Mahadeo-ka-dah. (See p. [1263] above.)
Deo Chandeswar Mahadeo (2 do.).—When the Sodha princes held sway in these regions, there was a town here, and a temple to Mahadeo, the ruins of which still exist, erected over a spring called Suraj kund, or fountain of the Sun. The Islamite destroyed the temple, and changed the name of the spring to Dinbawa, or ‘waters of the faith.’ The kund is small, faced with brick, and has its margin planted with date trees and pomegranates, and a Mulla, or priest from Sind, resides there and receives tribute from the faithful. For twelve coss around this spot there are numerous springs of water, where the Rajars find pasture for their flocks, and patches to cultivate. Their huts are conical like the wigwams of the African, and formed by stakes tied at the apex and covered with grass and leaves, and often but a large blanket of camel’s hair stretched on stakes.
Chandia-ki-basti (2 coss).—Hamlet inhabited by Muslims of the Chandia tribe, mendicants who subsist on the charity of the traveller.
| Rajar-ki-basti Samaicha-ki-do | (2 do.). (2 do.). |  | |
| Rajar Do. Do. Do. Do. Do. | do. do. do. do. do. do. | (2 do.). (2 do.). (2 do.). (2 do.). (2 do.). (2 do.). | |
Purwas, or hamlets of shepherds, Samaichas, Rajars, and others, who are all migratory, and shift with their flocks as they consume the pastures. There is plenty of water in this space for all their wants, chiefly springs.
Udhania (7 do.).—Twelve huts; no water between it and the last hamlet.
Nala (5 do.).—Descent from the thal or desert, which ceases a mile east of the nala or stream, said to be the same which issues from the Indus at Dara, above Rohri-Bakhar; thence it passes east of Sohrab’s Khairpur, and by Jinar to Bersia-ka-rar, whence there is a canal cut to Umarkot and Chor.
Mitrao (4 do.).—Village of sixty houses, inhabited by Baloch; a thana, or post here from Haidarabad; occasional low sandhills.
Mir-ki-kui (6 do.).—Three detached hamlets of ten huts each, inhabited by Aroras.
Sheopuri (3 do.).—One hundred and twenty houses, chiefly Aroras: small fort of six bastions to the south-east, garrisoned from Haidarabad.
Kamera-ka-Nala (6 do.).—This nala issues from the Indus between Kakar-ki-basti and Sakrand, and passes eastward; probably the bed of an old canal, with which the country is everywhere intersected.
Sakrand (2 do.).—One hundred houses, one-third of which are Hindus; patches of cultivation; numerous watercourses neglected; everywhere overgrown with jungle, chiefly jhau and [333] khejra (tamarisk and acacia). Cotton, indigo, rice, wheat, barley, peas, grain, and maize grow on the banks of the watercourses.
Jatui (2 do.).—Sixty houses; a nala between it and Jatui.
Kazi-ka-Shahr (4 do.).—Four hundred houses; two nalas intervene.
Makera (4 coss).—Sixty houses; a nala between it and Jatui.
Kakar-ki-basti (6 do.).—Sixteen houses; half-way the remains of an ancient fortress; three canals or nalas intervening; the village placed upon a mound four miles from the Indus, whose waters overflow it during the periodic monsoon.
Pura or Hamlet (1 do.).—A ferry.
The Indus (1 do.).—Took boat and crossed to
Sewan or Sehwan (1½ do.).—A town of twelve hundred houses on the right bank, belonging to Haidarabad[[71]] [334].
Sehwan to Haidarabad
Jat-ki-basti (2 coss).—The word jāt or jat is here pronounced Zjat. This hamlet ‘basti,’ is of thirty huts, half a mile from the Indus: hills close to the village.
Samaicha-ki-basti (2½ coss).—Small village.
Lakhi (2½ do.).—Sixty houses; one mile and a half from the river: canal on the north side of the village; banks well cultivated. In the hills, two miles west, is a spot sacred to Parbati and Mahadeo, where are several springs, three of which are hot.[[72]]
Umri (2 do.).—Twenty-five houses, half a mile from River; the hills not lofty, a coss west.
Sumri (3 do.).—Fifty houses, on the River hills; one and a half coss west.
Sindu or San (4 do.).—Two hundred houses and a bazar, two hundred yards from the River; hills one and a half coss west.
Manjhand (4½ do.).—On the River two hundred and fifty houses, considerable trade; hills two coss west.
Umar-ki-basti (3 do.).—A few huts, near the river.
Sayyid-ki-basti (3 do.).
Shikarpur (4 do.).—On the river; crossed to the east side.
Haidarabad (3 coss).—One and a half coss from the river Indus. Haidarabad to Nasarpur, nine coss; to Sheodadpur, eleven do.; to Sheopuri, seventeen do.; to Rohri-Bakhar, six do.—total forty-three coss.
Haidarabad via Umarkot, to Jaisalmer
Sindu Khan ki-basti (3 do.).—West bank of Phuleli river.
Tajpur (3 do.).—Large town, north-east of Haidarabad [335].
Katrel (1½ do.).—A hundred houses.
Nasarpur (1½ do.).—East of Tajpur, large town.
Alahyar-ka-Tanda (4 do.).—A considerable town built by Alahyar Khan, brother of the late Ghulam Ali, and lying south-east of Nasarpur. Two coss north of the town is the Sangra Nala or Bawa,[[73]] said to issue from the Indus between Hala and Sakrand and passing Jandila.
Mirbah (5 do.).—Forty houses; Bah, Tanda, Got, Purwa, are all synonymous terms for habitations of various degrees.
Sunaria (7 do.).—Forty houses.
Dangana (4 do.).—To this hamlet extend the flats of Sind. Sandhills five and six miles distant to the north. A small river runs under Dangana.
Karsana (7 do.).—A hundred houses. Two coss east of Karsana are the remains of an ancient city; brick buildings still remaining, with well and reservoirs. Sandhills two to three coss to the northward.
Umarkot (8 do.).—There is one continued plain from Haidarabad to Umarkot, which is built on the low ground at the very extremity of the thal or sand-hills of the desert, here commencing. In all this space, estimated at forty-four kachha coss, or almost seventy miles of horizontal distance, as far as Sunaria the soil is excellent, and plentifully irrigated by bawahs, or canals from the Indus. Around the villages there is considerable cultivation; but notwithstanding the natural fertility, there is a vast quantity of jungle, chiefly babul (Mimosa arabica), the evergreen thal, and thal or tamarisk. From Sunaria to Umarkot is one continued jungle, in which there are a few cultivated patches dependent on the heavens for irrigation; the soil is not so good as the first portion of the route.
Katar (4 do.).—A mile east of Umarkot commences the thal or sandhills, the ascent a hundred and fifty to two hundred feet. A few huts of Samaichas who pasture; two wells.
Dhat-ki-basti (4 do.).—A few huts; one well; Dhats, Sodhas, and Sindis cultivate and pasture.
Dharnas (8 coss).—A hundred houses, chiefly Pokharna Brahmans and Banias, who purchase up the thal from the pastoral tribes, which they export to Bhuj and the valley. It is also an entrepôt for trade; caravans from the east exchange their goods for the thal, here very cheap, from the vast flocks pastured in the Rui.
Kherlu-ka-Par (3 do.).—Numerous springs (thal) and hamlets scattered throughout this tract.
Lanela (1½ do.).—A hundred houses; water brackish; conveyed by camels from Kherlu.
Bhoj-ka-Par (3 do.).—Huts; wells; patches of cultivation.
Bhu (6 do.).—Huts.
Garara (10 do.).—A small town of three hundred houses, belonging to Sawai Singh Sodha, with several thal or hamlets attached to it. This is the boundary between Dhat or the Sodha raj and Jaisalmer. Dhat is now entirely incorporated in Sind. A thal, or collector of the transit duties, resides here.
Harsani (10 do.).—Three hundred houses, chiefly Bhattis. It belongs to a Rajput of this tribe, now dependent on Marwar [336].
Jinjiniali (10 do.).—Three hundred houses. This is the fief of the chief noble of Jaisalmer; his name Ketsi,[[74]] Bhatti. It is the border town of Jaisalmer. There is a small mud fortress, and several talaos, or sheets of water, which contain water often during three-fourths of the year; and considerable cultivation in the little valleys formed by the thal, or sand-ridges. About two miles north of Jinjiniali there is a village of Charans.
Gaj Singh-ki-basti (2 do.).—Thirty-five houses. Water scarce, brought on camels from the Charan village.
Hamirdeora (5 do.).—Two hundred houses. There are several thal or pools, about a mile north, whither water is brought on camels, that in the village being saline. The ridge of rocks from Jaisalmer here terminates.
Chelak (5 do.).—Eighty houses; wells; Chelak on the ridge.
Bhopa (7 do.).—Forty houses; wells; small thal or pool.
Bhao (2 do.).—Two hundred houses; pool to the west; small wells.
Jaisalmer (5 do.).—Eighty-five and a half coss from Umarkot to Jaisalmer by this route, which is circuitous. That by Jinjiniali 26 coss, Girab 7, Nilwa 12, Umarkot 25—in all 70 pakka coss, or about 150 miles. Caravans or kitars of camels pass in four days, kasids or messengers in three and a half, travelling night and day. The last 25 coss, or 50 miles, is entire desert: add to this 44 short coss from Haidarabad to Umarkot, making a total of 129½ coss. The most direct road is estimated at 105 pakka coss, which, allowing for sinuosities, is equal to about 195 English miles.
Total of this route, 85½ coss.
Jaisalmer to Haidarabad, by Baisnau
Kuldar (5 coss).
Khaba (5 do.).
Lakha-ka-ganw (30 do.).—Desert the whole way; no hamlets or water.
Baisnau (8 do.).
Bersia-ka-Rar (16 do.).—Wells.
Thipra (3 do.).
Mata-ka-dher (7 do.).—Umarkot distant 20 coss.
Jandila (8 do.).
Alahyar-ka-Tanda[Alahyar-ka-Tanda] (10 do.).—Sankra, or Sangra thal.
| Tajpur (4 do.). Jam-ka-Tanda (2 do.). Haidarabad (5 do.). | In the former route the distance from Alahyar-ka-Tanda, by the town of Nasarpur, is called 13 coss, or two more than this. There are five nalas or canals in the last five coss. |
Total of this route, 103 coss.
Jaisalmer, by Shahgarh, to Khairpur of Mir Sohrab
Anasagar (2 do.).
Chonda (2 do.).
Pani-ka-tar (3 do.).—Tar or Tir, springs [337].
Pani-ki-kuchri (7 do.).—No village.
Kuriala (4 do.).
Shahgarh (20 do.[[75]]).—Rui or waste all this distance. Shahgarh is the boundary; it has a small castle of six bastions, a post of Mir Sohrab, governor of Upper Sind.
Garsia (6 do.).
Garhar (28 do.).—Rui or desert the whole way; not a drop of water. There are two routes branching off from Garhar, one to Khairpur, the other to Ranipur.
| Baloch-ki-basti (5 do.). Samaicha-ki-basti (5 do.). | Hamlets of Baloch and Samaichas. |
Nala (2 do.).—The same stream which flows from Dara, and through the ancient city of Alor; it marks the boundary of the desert.
Khairpur[[76]] (18 coss).—Mir Sohrab, governor of Upper Sind, and brother of the prince of Haidarabad, resides here. He has erected a stone fortress of twelve bastions, called Nawakot or New-castle. The 18 coss from the thal to Khairpur is flat, and marks the breadth of the valley here. The following towns are of consequence.
Khairpur to Larkhana.—Twenty coss west of the Indus, held by Karam Ali, son of the prince of Haidarabad.
Khairpur to Lakhi.—Fifteen coss, and five from Shikarpur.
Khairpur to Shikarpur (20 do.).
Garhar to Ranipur
Pharara (10 do.).—A village of fifty houses, inhabited by Sindis and Karars; several hamlets around. A dani, or collector of transit dues, resides here on the part of Mir Sohrab, the route being travelled by kitars or caravans of camels. The nala from Dara passes two coss east of Pharara, which is on the extremity of the desert. Commencement of the ridge called Takar, five coss west of Pharara, extending to Rohri Bakhar, sixteen coss distant from Pharara. From Pharara to the Indus, eighteen coss, or thirty miles breadth of the valley here.
Ranipur[[77]] (18 do.).
Jaisalmer to Rohri Bakhar
Kuriala (18 do.).—See last route.
Banda (4 do.).—A tribe of Muslims, called Undar, dwell here.
Gotru (16 do.).—Boundary of Jaisalmer and Upper Sind. A small castle and garrison of Mir Sohrab’s; two wells, one inside; and a hamlet of thirty huts of Samaichas and Undars; thal heavy.
Udat (32 do.).—Thirty huts of shepherds; a small mud fortress. Rui, a deep and entire desert, throughout all this space; no water [338].
Sankram or Sangram (16 do.).—Half the distance sand-hills, the rest numerous temporary hamlets constructed of the thal, or maize stalks; several water-courses.
Nala-Sangra (½ do.).—This nala or stream is from Dara, on the Sind, two coss and a half north of Rohri Bakhar; much cultivation; extremity of the sand-hills.
Targatia (½ do.).—A large town; Bankers and Banias, here termed Karar and Samaichas.
Low ridge of hills, called Takar (4 do.).—This little chain of silicious rocks runs north and south; Nawakot, the Newcastle of Sohrab, is at the foot of them; they extend beyond Pharara, which is sixteen coss from Rohri Bakhar. Gumat is six coss from Nawakot.
| Rohri (4 coss). Bakhar (½ do.). Sakhar (½ do.). |
On the ridge, on the left bank of the Indus. Crossed over to Bakhar; breadth of the river near a mile. Bakhar is an island, and the other branch to Sakhar is almost a mile over also. This insulated rock is of silex, specimens of which I possess. There are the remains of the ancient fortress of Mansura, named in honour of the Caliph Al-Mansur, whose lieutenants made it the capital of Sind on the opening of their conquests. It is yet more famed as the capital of the Sogdoi of Alexander; in all probability a corruption of Sodha, the name of the tribe which has ruled from immemorial ages, and who till very lately held Umarkot.
N.B.—Kasids or messengers engage to carry despatches from Jaisalmer to Rohri Bakhar in four days and a half; a distance of one hundred and twelve coss.
Bakhar to Shikarpur
Lakhi, also called Lakhisar (12 do.).
Sindu Nala (3½ do.).
Shikarpur (½ do.).
Total of this route, 16 do.
Bakhar to Larkhana (28 do.).
Shikarpur to Larkhana (20 do.).
Jaisalmer to Dahir Ali Khairpur
Kuriala (18 do.).
Khara (20 do.).—Rui or desert all the way. This is the thal, or mutual boundary of Upper Sind and Jaisalmer, and there is a small thal or mud fort, jointly held by the respective troops; twenty huts and one well.
Sutiala (20 do.).—Rui all the way. A thal for the collection of duties; six wells.
Khairpur (Dahir Ali) (20 do.).—Rui, and deep jungle of the evergreens called thal and thal, from Sutiala to Khairpur.
Total of this route, 78 do.
Khairpur (Dahir Ali) to Ahmadpur
Ubaura (6 do.).—Considerable town; Indus four coss west.
Sabzal-ka-kot (8 do.).—Boundary of Upper Sind and Daudputra. This frontier castle, often disputed, was lately taken by Mir Sohrab from Bahawal Khan. Numerous hamlets and watercourses [339].
Ahmadpur (8 coss).—Considerable garrison town of Daudputra; two battalions and sixteen guns.
Total of this route, 22 coss.
Khairpur (Dahir Ali) to Haidarabad
Mirpur (8 do.).—Four coss from the Indus.
Matela (5 do.).—Four coss from the Indus.
Gotki (7 do.).—Two coss from the Indus.
Dadla (8 do.).—Two coss from the Indus.
Rohri Bakhar (20 do.).—Numerous hamlets and temporary villages, with many water-courses for cultivation in all this space.
| Khairpur (Sohrab-ka-) |  | 8 |  | Six coss from the Indus. |
| Gumat | 8 | The coss in this distance seems a medium between the pakka of two coss and thekachha of one and a half. The medium ofone and three quarter miles to each coss,deducting a tenth for windings, appears,after numerous comparisons, to be just.This is alike applicable to all Upper Sind. | ||
| Ranipur | 2 | |||
| (See route to it from Garhar). | ||||
| Hingor | 5 | |||
| Bhiranapur | 5 | |||
| Haliani | 1 | |||
| Kanjara | 3 | |||
| Naushahra | 8 | |||
| Mora | 7 | |||
| Shahpura | 3 | |||
| Daulatpur | 3 | |||
| Mirpur | 3 |  | On the Indus. Here Madari crossed to Sehwan, and returned to Mirpur. | |
| Kazi-ka-Got | 9 |  | The coss about two miles each; which, deductingone in ten for windings of the road,may be protracted. | |
| Sakrand | 11 | |||
| Hala | 7 | |||
| Khardao | 4 | |||
| Matari | 4 | |||
| Haidarabad | 6 | |||
| Total | 145 | coss | ||
Jaisalmer to Ikhtyar Khan-ki-Garhi
| Brahmsar (4 coss) Mordesar (3 do.) Gugadeo (3 do.) Kaimsar (5 do.) | These villages are all inhabited by Paliwal Brahmans, and are in the tract termed Kandal or Khadal, of which Katori, eight coss north of Jaisalmer, is the chief town of about forty villages.—N.B. All towns with the affix of thal have pools of water. |
Nohar-ki-Garhi (25 do.).—thal or desert throughout this space. The castle of Nohar is of brick, and now belongs to Daudputra, who captured it from the Bhattis of Jaisalmer. About forty huts and little cultivation. It is a place of toll for the kitars or caravans; two rupees for each [340] camel-load of ghi, and four for one with sugar; half a rupee for each camel, and a third for an ox laden with grain.
Murid Kot (24 coss).—thal or desert. Rangarh is four coss east of this.
Ikhtyar-ki-Garhi (15 do.).—thal until the last four coss, or eight miles. Thence the descent from the thal or sand-hills to the valley of the Indus.
| Total of this route, 79 coss. | Ikhtyar | to | Ahmadpur | 18 coss |
| ” | Khanpur | 5 ” | ||
| ” | Sultanpur | 8 ” |
Jaisalmer to Sheo-Kotra, Kheralu, Chhotan, Nagar-Parkar, Mitti, and return to Jaisalmer.
Dabla (3 do.).—Thirty houses, Pokharna Brahmans.
Akali (2 do.).—Thirty houses, Chauhans, well and small talao.
Chor (5 do.).—Sixty houses, mixed classes.
Devikot (2 do.).—A small town of two hundred houses; belongs to the Jaisalmer fisc or khalisa. There is a little fort and garrison. A talao or pool excavated by the Paliwals, in which water remains throughout the year after much rain.
Sangar (6 do.).—N.B. This route is to the east of that (following) by Chincha, the most direct road to Balotra, and the one usually travelled; but the villages are now deserted.
Biasar (2 do.).—Forty houses, and talao. Bhikarae 2 coss distant.
Mandai (frontier) (2½ do.).—Two hundred and fifty houses. Sahib Khan Sahariya with a hundred horse is stationed here; the town is khalisa and the last of Jaisalmer. The ridge from Jaisalmer is close to all the places on this route to Mandi.
Gunga (4½ do.).—thal, or post of Jodhpur.
Sheo (2 do.).—A large town of three hundred houses, but many deserted, some through famine. Chief of a district. A Hakim resides here from Jodhpur; collects the transit dues, and protects the country from the depredations of the Sahariyas.
Kotra (3 do.).—Town of five hundred houses, of which only two hundred are now inhabited. On the north-west side is a fort on the ridge. A Rathor chief resides here. The district of Sheo Kotra was taken from the Bhattis of Jaisalmer by the Rathors of Jodhpur.
Vesala (6 do.).—In ancient times a considerable place; now only fifty houses. A fort on the ridge to the south-west, near two hundred feet high; connected with the Jaisalmer ridge, but often covered by the lofty thal of sand.
Kheralu (7 coss).—Capital of Kherdhar, one of the ancient divisions of Marusthali. Two coss south of Vesala crossed a pass over the hills.
Chhotan (10 do.).—An ancient city, now in ruins, having at present only about eighty houses, inhabited by the Sahariyas [341].
Bankasar (11 do.). Formerly a large city, now only about three hundred and sixty houses.
| Bhil-ki-basti (5 do.) Chauhan-ka-pura (6 do.) | Few huts in each. |
Nagar (3 do.).—A large town, capital of Parkar, containing one thousand five hundred houses, of which one-half are inhabited.
Kaim Khan Sahariya-ki-basti (18 do.).—Thirty houses in the thal; wells, with water near the surface; three coss to the east the boundary of Sind and the Chauhan Raj.
Dhat-ka-pura (15 do.).—A hamlet; Rajputs, Bhils, and Sahariyas.
Mitti or Mittri-ka-kot (3 do.).—A town of six hundred houses in Dhat, or the division of Umarkot belonging to Haidarabad; a relative of whose prince, with the title of Nawab, resides here; a place of great commerce, and also of transit for the caravans; a fortified mahall to the south-west. When the Shah of Kabul used to invade Sind, the Haidarabad prince always took refuge here with his family and valuables. The sand-hills are immensely high and formidable.
Chailasar (10 do.).—Four hundred houses, inhabited by Sahariyas, Brahmans, Bijaranis, and Banias; a place of great importance to the transit trade.
Samaicha-ki-basti (10 do.).—thal from Chailasar.
Nur Ali, Pani-ka-Tar (9 do.).—Sixty houses of Charans, Sultana Rajputs and Kauravas (qu. the ancient Kauravas?) water (thal) plenty in the thal.
Rual (5 do.).—Twelve hamlets termed thal, scattered round a tract of several coss, inhabited by different tribes, after whom they are named, as Sodha, Sahariya, Kaurava, Brahman, Bania and Sutar, as Sodha-ka-bas, Sahariya-ka-bas, or habitations of the Sodhas; of the Sahariyas, etc. etc. (see p. [1263]).
Deli (7 do.).—One hundred houses; a thal, or collector of duties, resides here.
Garara (10 do.).—Described in route from Umarkot to Jaisalmer.
Raedana (11 do.).—Forty houses; a lake formed by damming up the water. thal, or salt-pans.
Kotra (9 do.).
Sheo (3 do.).—The whole space from Nagar to Sheo-Kotra is a continuous mass of lofty sand-hills (thal), scattered with hamlets (thal), in many parts affording abundant pasture for flocks of sheep, goats, buffaloes, and camels; the thal extends south to Nawakot and Balwar, about ten coss south of the former and two of the latter. To the left of Nawakot are the flats of Talpura, or Lower Sind.
Jaisalmer to Sheo Kotra, Barmer, Nagar-Gura and Suigam.
Dhana (5 coss).—Two hundred houses of Paliwals; pool and wells; ridge two to three hundred feet high, cultivation between the ridges.
Chincha (7 do.).—Small hamlet; Sara, half a coss east; ridge, low thal, cultivation.
Jasrana (2 do.).—Thirty houses of Paliwals, as before; Kita to the right half a coss.
Unda (1 do.).—Fifty houses of Paliwals and Jain Rajputs; wells and pools; country as before [342].
Sangar (2 do.).—Sixty houses; only fifteen inhabited, the rest fled to Sind during the famine of 1813; Charans. Grand thal commences.
Sangar-ka-talao (½ do.).—Water remains generally eight months in the talao or pool, sometimes the whole year.
| Bhikarae (1½ do.) Kharel (4 do.) | Between is the thal or boundary of Jaisalmer and Jodhpur. Bhikarae has one hundred and twenty houses of Paliwals; wells and pools at both places. |
Rajarel (1 do.).—Seventy houses; most deserted since famine.
Gonga (4 do.).—Hamlet of twenty huts; thal, or small wells and pools; to this the ridge and thal intermingle.
Sheo (2 do.).—Capital of the district.
Nimla (4 do.).—Forty houses; deserted.
Bhadka (2 do.).—Four hundred houses; deserted. This is “the third year of famine!”
Kapulri (3 do.).—Thirty huts, deserted; wells.
Jalepa (3 do.).—Twenty huts; deserted.
Nagar (Gurha) (20 do.).—This is a large town on the west bank of the Luni River, of four to five hundred houses, but many deserted since the famine, which has almost depopulated this region. In 1813 the inhabitants were flying as far as the Ganges, and selling themselves and offspring into slavery to save life.
Barmer (6 do.).—A town of twelve hundred houses.
Guru (2 do.).—West side of the Luni; town of seven hundred houses; the chief is styled Rana, and of the Chauhan tribe.
Bata (3 do.).—West side of river.
| Patarna (1 do.) Gadla (1 do.) | West side of river. |
Ranas (3 do.).—East side of river.
Charani (2 do.).—Seventy houses; east side.
Chitalwana (2 do.).—Town of three hundred houses; east side of river; belonging to a Chauhan chief, styled Rana. Sanchor seven coss to the south.
Ratra (2 coss).—East side of river; deserted.
Hotiganw (2 do.).—South side of river; temple to Phulmukheswar Mahadeo.
| Dhuta (2 do.) Tapi (2 do.) | North side. On the west side the thal is very heavy; east side is plain; both sides well cultivated. |
Lalpura (2 do.).—West side.
Surpura (1 do.).—Crossed river.
Sanloti (2 do.).—Eighty houses, east side of river.
Butera (2 do.).—East side; relation of the Rana resides here.
Narke (4 do.).—South side river; Bhils and Sonigiras.
Karoi (4 do.).—Sahariyas [343].
Pitlana (2 do.).—Large village; Kolis and Pitals.
Dharanidhar (3 do.).—Seven or eight hundred houses, nearly deserted, belonging to Suigam.
Bah (4 do.).—Capital of Rana Narayan Rao, Chauhan prince of Virawah.
Luna (5 do.).—One hundred houses.
Sui (7 do.).—Residence of Chauhan chief.
Balotra on the Luni River to Pokaran and Jaisalmer.
Panchbhadra (3 do.).—Balotra fair on the 11th Magh—continues ten days. Balotra has four to five hundred houses in the tract called Siwanchi; the ridge unites with Jalor and Siwana. Panchbhadra has two hundred houses, almost all deserted since the famine. Here is the celebrated Agar, or salt-lake, yielding considerable revenue to the government.
Gopti (2 coss).—Forty houses; deserted; one coss north of this the deep thal commences.
Patod (4 do.).—A considerable commercial mart; four hundred houses; cotton produced in great quantities.
Sivai (4 do.).—Two hundred houses, almost deserted.
Serara (1 do.).—Sixty houses. To Patod the tract is termed Siwanchi; from thence Indhavati, from the ancient lords of the Indha tribe.
| Bungara (3 do.) Solankitala (4 do.) Pongali (5 do.) | Bungara has seventy houses, Solankitala four hundred, and Pongali sixty. Throughout sand-hills. This tract is called Thalecha, and the Rathors who inhabit it, Thalecha Rathors. There are many of the Jat or Jāt tribe as cultivators. Pongali a Charan community. |
Bakri (5 do.).—One hundred houses; inhabited by Charans.
Dholsar (4 do.).—Sixty houses, inhabited by Paliwal Brahmans.
Pokaran (4 do.).—From Bakri commences the Pokaran district; all flat, and though sandy, no thal or hills.
Udhania (6 coss).—Fifty houses; a pool the south side.
Lahti (7 do.).—Three hundred houses; Paliwal Brahmans.
| Sodhakur (2 do.) Channda (4 do.) | Sodhakur has thirty houses and Chandan fifty; Paliwals. Dry thal at the latter; water obtained by digging in its bed. |
Bhojka (3 do.).—One coss to the left is the direct road to Basanki, seven coss from Chandan.
Basanki-talao (5 do.).—One hundred houses; Paliwals.
Moklet (1½ do.).—Twelve houses; Pokharna Brahmans.
Jaisalmer (4 do.).—From Pokaran to Udhania, the road is over a low ridge of rocks; thence to Lahti is a well-cultivated plain, the ridge being on the left. A small thal intervenes at Sodhakur, thence to Chandan, plain. From Chandan to Basanki the road again traverses the low ridge, increasing in height, and with occasional cultivation, to Jaisalmer [344].
Bikaner to Ikhtyar Khan-ki Garhi, on the Indus.
| Nai-ki-basti (4 do.) Gajner (5 do.) Gurha (5 do.) Bitnok (5 do.) Girajsar (8 do.) Narai (4 do.) | Sandy plains; water at all these villages. From Girajsar, the Jaisalmer frontier, the thal, or sand-hills commence, and continue moderate to Bikampur. | |
| Bikampur (9 do.) Mohangarh (16 do.) | Bikampur to Mohangarh, thal or desert all the way, having considerable sand-hills and jungle. |
Nachna (16 do.).—thal, or sand-hills throughout this space.
Narai (9 do.).—A Brahman village.
Nohar-ki-Garhi (24 do.).—Deep thal or desert; the frontier garrison of Sind; the garhi, or castle, held by Haji Khan.
Murid Kot (24 coss).—thal, high sand-hills.
Garhi Ikhtyar Khan-ki (18 do.)—The best portion of this through the Kachhi, or flats of the valley. Garhi on the Indus.
Total 147 coss, equal to 220½ miles, the coss being about a mile and a half each; 200 English miles of horizontal distance to be protracted [345].
[1]. From par, ‘beyond,’ and kar or khar, synonymous with Luni, the ‘salt-river.’ We have several Khari Nadis, or salt-rivulets, in Rajputana, though only one Luni. The sea is frequently called the Luna-pani, ‘the salt-water,’ or Khara-pani, metamorphosed into Kala-pani, or ‘the black water,’ which is by no means insignificant. [The proposed etymology of Pārkar is impossible, and Khārā, ‘saline,’ has no connexion with Kālā, ‘black.’]
[2]. [An account of the travels of Withington or Whithington is given in Purchas his Pilgrimes, ed. 1625, i. 483. Mr. W. Foster, who is engaged on a new edition, describes the story as interesting, but muddled in history and geography.]
[3]. [Briggs’ trans. i. 69, but compare Elliot-Dowson iv. 180.]
[5]. [Dharanīdhar, the Kūrma or tortoise, ‘supporter of the earth,’ the second incarnation of Vishnu. At Dhema in Tharād a fair is held in honour of Dharanīdharji (BG, v. 300, 342).]
[6]. One of my journals mentions that a branch of the Luni passes by Sui, the capital of Virawah, where it is four hundred and twelve paces in breadth: an error, I imagine. [Sūigām is on the E. shore of the Rann, and the Lūni does not pass by it or by Virawāh.]
[7]. Pursa, the standard measure of the desert, is here from six to seven feet, or the average height of a man, to the tip of his finger, the hand being raised vertically over the head. It is derived from purush, ‘man.’
[8]. [Pital is another name for the Kalbi farming caste, Kalbi being apparently the local form of the name Kanbi or Kunbi (Census Report, Mārwār, 1891, ii. 343). The caste does not appear in the 1911 Census Report of Rājputāna.]
[9]. [Arabic zunnār, probably Greek ζωνάριον The Hindi janeo is Skt. yajnopavīta, the investiture of youths with the sacred thread, and later the thread itself.]
[10]. [For a full account of the Kolis see BG, ix. Part i. 237 ff.]
[11]. [Iguanas (Yule, Hobson-Jobson, 2nd ed. 379 f.)[379 f.)]]
[12]. [That is to say, from Bahāwalpur on the N. to Baliāri on the N. shore of the Rann of Cutch, a distance, as the crow flies, of some 380 miles.]
[13]. [The original is condensed. “The lands of the Rāthor, who rules nine districts, are for the most part all sand; they have little or no water. The wells in some places are so deep that the water is drawn with the help of oxen. When water is to be drawn, those who set the animals to work beat a drum as a warning that the pot is at the mouth of the well, and they are about to draw water” (Manucci ii. 432).]
[14]. [About 15 miles N. of Umarkot. See Elliot-Dowson i. 532.]
[15]. [The name Dhāt has disappeared from modern maps, and is not to be found in the IGI.]
[16]. See table of tribes, and sketch of the Pramaras, Vol. I. pp. [98] and [107].
[17]. Ferishta [iv. 411], Abu-l Fazl [Āīn, ii. 337, 340 ff.].
[18]. [A better version runs:
“Pirthī barā Panwār, Pirthi Panwārān tāni;
Ek Ujjaini Dhār, dūjē Ābū baithno.”
“The Panwār the greatest on earth, and the world belongs to the Panwārs. Their early seats were Ujjain, Dhār, and Mount Ābū” (Census Report, Mārwār, 1891, ii. 29).]
[19]. [St. Martin fixes the capital of the Sogdoi at Alor or Aror, but Cunningham would place it higher up stream, about midway between Alor and Uchh, at the village of Sirwahi (McCrindle, Alexander, 354).]
[20]. To convince the reader I do not build upon nominal resemblance, when localities do not bear me out, he is requested to call to mind, that we have elsewhere assigned to the Yadus of the Panjab the honour of furnishing the well-known king named Porus; although the Puar, the usual pronunciation of Pramar, would afford a more ready solution. [This is doubtful (Smith, EHI, 40 note).]
[21]. Colonel Briggs, in his translation [iv. 406], writes it Hully Sa, and in this very place remarks on the “mutilation of Hindu names by the early Mahomedan writers, which are frequently not to be recognized”; or, we might have learned that the adjunct Sa to Hully (qu. Heri), the son of Sehris, was the badge of his tribe, Soda. The Roy-sahy, or Rae-sa of Abulfazil, means ‘Prince Sa’ or ‘Prince of the Sodas.’ Of the same family was Dahir, whose capital, in A.H. 99, was (says Abu-l fazil) “Alore or Debeil,” in which this historian makes a geographical mistake: Alore or Arore being the capital of Upper Sinde, and Debeil (correctly Dewul, the temple), or Tatta, the capital of Lower Sinde. In all probability Dahir held both. We have already dilated, in the Annals of Mewar, on a foreign prince named “Dahir Despati,” or the sovereign prince, Dahir, being amongst her defenders, on the first Mooslem invasion, which we conjectured must have been that of Mahomed Kasim, after he had subdued Sinde. Bappa, the lord of Cheetore, was nephew of Raja Maun Mori, shewing a double motive in the exiled son of Dahir to support Cheetore against his own enemy Kasim. The Moris and Sodas were alike branches of the Pramar (see Vol. I. p. [111]). It is also worth while to draw attention to the remark elsewhere made (p. 286) on the stir made by Hejauje of Khorasan (who sent Kasim to Sinde) amongst the Hindu princes of Zabulist’han: dislocated facts, all demonstrating one of great importance, namely, the wide dominion of the Rajpoot race, previous to the appearance of Mahomed. Oriental literature sustained a loss which can scarcely be repaired, by the destruction of the valuable MSS. amassed by Colonel Briggs, during many years, for the purpose of a general history of the early transactions of the Mahomedans. [This note has been reprinted as it stands in the original text. Many statements must be received with caution. See Elliot-Dowson i. 120 ff.]
[22]. Of the latter stock he gives us a list of seventeen princes. Gladwin’s translation of Ayeen Akberi, vol. ii. p. 122. [This has been replaced by that of Jarrett, Āīn, ii. 343 ff.]
[23]. See Briggs’ Ferishta, vol. iv. pp. 411 and 422.
[24]. [For Minnagara see Vol. I. p. [255].]
[25]. The four races called Agnikula (of which the Pramar was the most numerous), at every step of ancient Hindu history are seen displacing the dynasty of Yadu. Here the struggle between them is corroborated by the two best Muhammadan historians, both borrowing from the same source, the more ancient histories, few of which have reached us. It must be borne in mind that the Sodhas, the Umars, the Sumras, were Pramars (vulg. Puar); while the Sammas were Yadus, for whose origin see Annals of Jaisalmer, p. #[1185]# above.
[26]. [This is very doubtful. See Yule, Hobson-Jobson, 2nd ed. 447.]
[27]. [Sora is supposed to represent the Chola Kingdom in S. India (McCrindle, Ptolemy, 64 f.).]
[28]. Of these, the author was so fortunate as to obtain one of Menander and three of Apollodotus, whose existence had heretofore been questioned: the first of the latter from the wreck of Suryapura, the capital of the Surasenakas of Manu [Laws, ii. 19, vii. 193] and Arrian; another from the ancient Avanti, or Ujjain, whose monarch, according to Justin, held a correspondence with Augustus; and the third, in company with a whole jar of Hindu-Scythic and Bactrian medals, at Agra, which was dug up several years since in excavating the site of the more ancient city. This, I have elsewhere surmised, might have been the abode of Aggrames, Agra-gram-eswar, the “lord of the city of Agra,” mentioned by Arrian as the most potent monarch in the north of India, who, after the death of Porus, was ready to oppose the further progress of Alexander. Let us hope that the Panjab may yet afford us another peep into the past. For an account of these medals, see Transactions of the Royal Asiatic Society, vol. i. p. 313. [Aggrames, King of the Gangaridae and Prasii, also known as Xandrames, probably the Hindu Chandra, belonged to the Nanda dynasty (Smith, EHI, 40; McCrindle, Ancient India in Classical Literature, 43).]
[29]. Captain, now Colonel, Pottinger, in his interesting work on Sind and Baluchistan, in extracting from the Persian work Mu’jamu-l Waridat, calls the ancient capital of Sind, Ulaor, and mentions the overthrow of the dynasty of ‘Sahir’ (the Siharas of Abu-l Fazl), whose ancestors had governed Sind for two thousand years.
[30]. [The present population is 4924.]
[31]. [In Shikārpur, Sind, near the frontier of Bahāwalpur.]
[32]. [By another story, Abdu-n-nabi Khān, brother of Ghulām Nabi Khān, prince of Sind, assassinated his too successful general, Mīr Bijar, in A.D. 1781 (IGI, xxii. 399).]
[33]. The memoir adds: Fateh Ali was succeeded by his brother, the present Ghulam Ali, and he by his son, Karam Ali. The general correctness of this outline is proved by a very interesting work (which has only fallen into my hands in time to make this note), entitled Narrative of a Visit to the Court of Sinde, by Dr. Burnes. Bijar Khan was minister to the Kalhora rulers of Sind, whose cruelties at length gave the government to the family of the minister. As it is scarcely to be supposed that Raja Bijai Singh would furnish assassins to the Kalhora, who could have little difficulty in finding them in Sind, the insult which caused the fate of Bijar may have proceeded from his master, though he may have been made the scapegoat. It is much to be regretted that the author of the Visit to Sinde did not accompany the Amirs to Sehwan (of which I shall venture an account obtained nearly twenty years ago). With the above memoir and map (by his brother, Lieut. Burnes) of the Rann, a new light has been thrown on the history and geography of this most interesting and important portion of India. It is to be desired that to a gentleman so well prepared may be entrusted the examination of this still little-known region. I had long entertained the hope of passing through the desert, by Jaisalmer to Uchh, and thence, sailing down to Mansura, visiting Aror, Sehwan, Sammanagari, and Bamanwasa. The rupture with Sind in 1820 gave me great expectations of accomplishing this object, and I drew up and transmitted to Lord Hastings a plan of marching a force through the desert, and planting the cross on the insular capital of the Sogdoi; but peace was the order of the day. I was then in communication with Mir Sohrab, governor of Upper Sind, who, I have little doubt, would have come over to our views.
[34]. [The chief connexion of the Sodhas with Cutch is through the marriage of their daughters with leading Jāreja and Musalmān families. Their women are of great natural ability, but ambitious and intriguing, not scrupling to make away with their husbands in order that their sons may obtain the estate (BG, v. 67).]
[35]. See sketch of the tribes, Vol. I. p. [98].
[36]. Nayyad is the noviciate, literally new (naya), or original converts, I suppose. [In other parts of India they are known as Naumuslim.]
[37]. Dagra is very common in Rajputana for a ‘path-way’; but the substitute here used for rassa, a rope, I am not acquainted with. [For a large collection of similar taboo names for persons, animals, and things see Sir J. Frazer, The Golden Bough, “Taboo and Perils of the Soul,” 318 ff.]
[38]. [The name cannot be traced in recent Census Reports.]
[39]. [Salvadora oleoides or persica (Watt, Econ. Dict. vi. Part ii. 447 ff.).]
[40]. [In Cutch they claim to be Rāthors from Multān, and are said to have been driven by the Muhammadans from the Panjāb into Cutch. In Gujarāt they are Vaishnavas, and are particular about their food and drink, but in Sind they are more lax (BG, v. 54 ff., ix. Part i. 122; Burton, Sindh, 314).]
[41]. [They are numerous in S.W. Panjāb, where Rose (Glossary, ii. 16 ff.) gives a full account of them.]
[42]. [On their connexion with the Bhatti Rājputs see Crooke, Tribes and Castes N.W.P. and Oudh, ii. 37; Russell, Tribes and Castes Central Provinces, i. 380; BG, v. 37 f.]
[43]. [About 45 miles S. of Umarkot.]
[44]. [These desert Brāhmans, whose laxity of custom is notorious, have no connexion with other orthodox Brāhmans, and are probably priests or medicine-men who now claim that rank.]
[45]. [Census Report, Bombay, 1911, i. 298.]
[46]. Abu-l Fazl, in describing the province of Bajaur, inhabited by the Yusufzais, says: “The whole of the tract [Swāt] of hill and plain is the domain of the Yūsufzai clan. In the time of Mīrza Ulugh Beg of Kābul, they migrated from Kābul to this territory and wrested it from the Sultāns who affected to be descendants of Alexander Bicornutus” (Āīn, ii. 392 f.). Mr. Elphinstone inquired in vain for this offspring of Alexander the Great.
[47]. [These derivations are impossible; the name is possibly connected with that of the Savara tribe.]
[48]. [Nawakot and Mitti in the interior of Thar-Pārkar; Baliāri on the shore of the Great Rann.]
[49]. [The Rājar are recorded as a section of the Saman, an aboriginal tribe in Sind (Census Report, Bombay, 1911, i. 233).]
[50]. [See Elliot-Dowson i. 489.]
[51]. [The true reading is Nohmardi (Āīn, ii. 337).]
[52]. [Cf. Hindi lokri or lokhri.]
[53]. [Max Müller derived Baloch from Skt. mlechchha, ‘a barbarian,’ but this is doubtful.]
[54]. [Zott is the Arabic form of Jat or Jāt (Sykes, Hist. of Persia, ii. 79).]
[55]. [The ascription of Bhatti origin to the Mers is obviously intended to correspond with the assertion that they are a branch of the Mīna or Maina tribe (Elliot-Dowson i. 523 f.).]
[56]. [In the Panjāb Mor is the name of a Jāt sept which worship the peacock (mor) because it is said to have saved their ancestor from a snake (Rose, Glossary, iii. 129). There was a settlement of this tribe at Sārangpur on the Kāli Sind River (ASR, ii. 228).]
[57]. [Account of the Kingdom of Caubul, 2nd ed. (1842) i. 22 ff. For a full account of the Abbāsi Dāūdputras of Bahāwalpur see the State Gazetteer by Malik Muhammad Din (1908), i. 47 ff.[47 ff.].]
[58]. [The succession runs: Bahāwal Khān II. (A.D. 1772-1809); Sādik Muhammad Khān (1809-25); Muhammad Bahāwal Khān III. (1825-52); Sādik Muhammad Khān II. (1853-58); Muhammad Bahāwal Khān IV. (1858-66); Sādik Muhammad Khān III., a minor, installed in 1879.]
[59]. This memorandum was written, I think, in 1811 or 1812.
[60]. My friend Dr. Joseph Duncan (attached to the Residency when I was Political Agent at Udaipur) was attacked by the narua in a very aggravated form. It fixed itself in the ankle-joint, and being broken in the attempt to extricate it, was attended by all the evil results I have described, ending in lameness, and generally impaired health, which obliged him to visit the Cape for recovery, where I saw him on my way home eighteen months after, but he had even then not altogether recovered from the lameness. [Guinea-worm (Dracontiasis), a disease due to the Filaria medinensis or Dracunculus, known in Persia as rīshtah, infests the Persian Gulf and many parts of India. See Curzon, Persia, ii. 234; Fryer, New Account of East India and Persia, ed. 1912, i. 175; Sleeman, Rambles, 76; Asiatic Researches, vi. 58 ff.; EB, 11th ed. xix. 361. The disease from which Job suffered (Job ii. 7) is generally believed to be elephantiasis (A. B. Davidson, The Book of Job, 13).]
[61]. [Since this was written Rājputāna has suffered from terrible famines in 1868-69, 1877-78, 1891-92, and 1899-1900, besides several seasons of scarcity.]
[62]. [These camel corps have been placed at the service of the Indian Government, and have done excellent service in several recent campaigns.]
[63]. [The wild ass (Equus hemionus) seems to have almost entirely disappeared in Jaisalmer. It is seldom seen in Mārwār, and no specimen has appeared in Bīkaner for many years (Erskine iii. A. 7, 50, 311; Blanford, Mammalia of India, 470 f.). Herodotus (vii. 86) says that the Indian chariots in the army of Xerxes were drawn by horses or wild asses.]
[64]. [Nīlgāē, Boselaphus tragocamelus, is not a deer, but belongs to the order Bovidae (Blanford, 517 ff.).]
[65]. [The fruits or small red berries of the pilu (Salvadora persica) have a strong aromatic smell and a pungent taste, like mustard or garden cress, while the shoots and leaves are eaten as a salad (Watt, Econ. Dict. vi. Part ii. 449; Burnes, Travels into Bokhara, iii. 122).]
[66]. Chittram, the name applied to these flats of hard soil (which Mr. Elphinstone happily describes, by saying that it rings under the horses’ hoofs in marching over it), is literally ‘the picture,’ from the circumstance of such spots almost constantly presenting the mirage, here termed chittram. How far the soil, so deeply impregnated with alkaline matter, may tend to heighten, if not to cause this, we have elsewhere noted in a general account of this optical phenomenon in various parts of northern India.
[67]. [Sarkanda, Saccharum sara or arundinaceum; dhāman, Pennisetum cenchroides; dūb, Cynodon dactylon; gokhru, Tribulus lancigenosus; bharūt, Cenchrus catharticus.]
[68]. [The tomato, introduced in modern times into India, generally called wilāyati baingan, ‘the foreign egg-plant.’]
[69]. [Many of the places named in this Itinerary are merely temporary halting-places in the desert, which do not appear in modern maps. Hence, in several cases, the transliteration is conjectural, and depends on the method of the Author in the case of well-known localities. A series of similar routes is given by Lieut. A. H. E. Boileau, Narrative of a Tour through Rajwara in 1835 (Calcutta, 1837), p. 192 ff.]
[70]. There are two routes from Mulana to Sehwan. The Dhati went the longest on account of water. The other is by Sakrand, as follows:
| Coss. | Coss. | ||||
| Palri | 5 | Sakrand | 3 | ┐ | [[A]] |
| Padshah-ki-basti | 6 | Nala | 0-½ | │ | This |
| Udani | 5 | Makrand | 4 | │ | appears |
| Mitrao | 10 | Koka-ki-basti | 6 | │ | very |
| Mir-ki-khoi | 6 | The Sind | 10 | │ | circuitous. |
| Supari | 5 | Sehwan | 0-½ | ┘ | |
| Kambhar-ka-nala | 9 |
[A]. Town high road from Upper to Lower Sind.
[71]. Sehwan is erected on an elevation within a few hundred yards of the river, having many clumps of trees, especially to the south. The houses are built of clay, often three stories high, with wooden pillars supporting the floors. To the north of the town are the remains of a very ancient and extensive fortress, sixty of its bastions being still visible; and in the centre the vestiges of a palace still known as Raja Bhartrihari-ka-Mahall, who is said to have reigned here when driven from Ujjain by his brother Vikramaditya. Although centuries have flown since the Hindus had any power in these regions, their traditions have remained. They relate that Vikrama, the eldest son of Gandharap Sen, was so devoted to his wife, that he neglected the affairs of government, which made his brother expostulate with him. This coming to his wife’s ears, she insisted on the banishment of Vikrama. Soon after a celebrated ascetic reached his court, and presented to Bhartrihari the Amarphul, or ‘fruit of immortality,’ the reward of years of austere devotion at the shrine of Mahadeo. Bhartrihari gave it to his wife, who bestowed it on an elephant-driver, her paramour; he to a common prostitute, his mistress; who expecting to be highly rewarded for it, carried it to the raja. Incensed at such a decided proof of infidelity, Bhartrihari, presenting himself before his queen, asked for the prize—she had lost it. Having produced it, she was so overwhelmed with shame that she rushed from his presence, and precipitating herself from the walls of the palace, was dashed to pieces. Raja Bhartrihari consoled himself with another wife, Rani Pingula, to whose charms he in like manner became enslaved; but experience had taught him suspicion. Having one day gone a-hunting, his huntsman shot a deer, whose doe coming to the spot, for a short time contemplated the body, then threw herself on his antlers and died. The Shikari, or huntsman, who had fallen asleep, was killed by a huge snake. His wife came to seek him, supposing him still asleep, but at length seeing he was dead, she collected leaves, dried reeds, and twigs, and having made a pyre, placed the body under it; after the usual perambulations she set fire to, and perished with it. The raja, who witnessed these proceedings, went home and conversed with Pingulani on these extraordinary Satis, especially the Shikari’s, which he called unparalleled. Pingulani disputed the point, and said it was the sacrifice of passion, not of love; had it been the latter, grief would have required no pyre. Some time after, having again gone a-hunting, Bhartrihari recalled this conversation, and having slain a deer, he dipped his clothes in the blood, and sent them by a confidential messenger to report his death in combat with a tiger. Pingulani heard the details; she wept not, neither did she speak, but prostrating herself before the sun, ceased to exist. The pyre was raised, and her remains were consuming outside the city as the raja returned from his excursion. Hastening to the spot of lamentation, and learning the fatal issue of his artifice, he threw off the trappings of sovereignty, put on the pilgrim’s garb, and abandoned Ujjain to Vikrama. The only word which he uttered, as he wandered to and fro, was the name of his faithful Pingulani! “Hae Pingula! Hae Pingula!” The royal pilgrim at length fixed his abode at Sehwan; but although they point out the ruins of a palace still known even to the Islamite as the Am-khass of Raja Bhartrihari, it is admitted that the fortress is of more ancient date. There is a mandir, or shrine, to the south of the town, also called, after him, Bhartri-ka-mandir. In this the Islamite has deposited the mortal remains of a saint named Lal Pir Shahbaz, to whom they attribute their victorious possession of Sind.[[A]] The cenotaph of this saint, who has the character of a proselyte Hindu, is in the centre of the mandir, and surrounded by wooden stakes. It is a curious spectacle to see both Islamite and Hindu paying their devotions in the same place of worship; and although the first is prohibited from approaching the sacred enceinte of the Pir, yet both adore a large salagram, that vermiculated fossil sacred to Vishnu, placed in a niche in the tomb. The fact is a curious one, and although these Islamite adorers are the scions of conversion, it perhaps shows in the strongest manner that this conversion was of the sword, for, generally speaking, the converted Hindu makes the most bigoted and intolerant Musalman. My faithful and intelligent emissaries, Madari Lal and the Dhati, brought me a brick from the ruins of this fortress of Sehwan. It was about a cubit in length, and of symmetrical breadth and thickness, uncommonly well burnt, and rang like a bell. They also brought me some charred wheat, from pits where it had been burned. The grains were entire and reduced to a pure carbon. Tradition is again at work, and asserts its having lain there for some thousand years. There is very little doubt that this is the site of one of the antagonists of the Macedonian conqueror, perhaps Mousikanos,[[B]] or Mukh-Sehwan, the chief of Sehwan. The passage of the Grecian down the Indus was marked by excesses not inferior to those of the Ghaznavede king in later times, and doubtless they fired all they could not plunder to carry to the fleet. There is also a Nanak-bara, or place of worship sacred to Nanak, the great apostle of the Sikhs, placed between the fortress and the river. Sehwan is inhabited by Hindus and Islamites in equal proportions: of the former, the mercantile tribe of Mahesri from Jaisalmer, is the most numerous, and have been fixed here for generations. There are also many Brahmans of the Pokharna[[C]] caste, Sunars or goldsmiths, and other Hindu artisans; of the Muslims the Sayyid is said to be the most numerous class. The Hindus are the monied men. Cotton and indigo, and great quantities of rice in the husk (paddy), grown in the vicinage of Sehwan, are exported to the ports of Tatta and Karachi Bandar by boats of considerable burthen, manned entirely by Muhammadans. The Hakim of Sehwan is sent from Haidarabad. The range of mountains which stretch from Tatta nearly parallel with the Indus, approaches within three miles of Sehwan, and there turns off to the north-west. All these hills are inhabited as far as the shrine of Hinglaj Mata[[D]] on the coast of Mekran (placed in the same range) by the Lumri, or Numri tribe, who though styling themselves Baloch, are Jats in origin.[[E]]
[A]. [The reference is to Lāl Shāhbāz, Qalandar, head of the Jalāli order, who died at Sehwān, A.D. 1274. For a full account see R. F. Burton, Sindh, 211 f.]
[B]. [Mousikanos was the stiff-necked king of Alor or Aror who opposed Alexander, was captured and executed (Smith, EHI, 100 f.; McCrindle, Alexander, 395).]
[C]. See Annals of Jaisalmer, Vol. II. p. [1256].
[D]. This famous shrine of the Hindu Cybele, yet frequented by numerous votaries, is nine days’ journey from Tatta by Karachi Bandar, and about nine miles from the seashore.
[E]. These are the Nomurdies of Rennel. [See p. [1299] above.]
[72]. These springs are frequented, despite the difficulties and dangers of the route from the savage Numri, by numerous Hindu pilgrims. Two of them are hot, and named Suryakund and Chandrakund, or fountains of the sun and moon, and imbued with especial virtues; but before the pilgrim can reap any advantage by purification in their waters, he must undergo the rite of confession to the attendant priests, who, through intercession with Mahadeo, have the power of granting absolution. Should a sinner be so hardened as to plunge in without undergoing this preparatory ordeal, he comes out covered with boils!!! This is a curious confirmation that the confessional rite is one of very ancient usage amongst the Hindus, even in the days of Rama of Kosala.—See Vol. I. p. [94].
[73]. This is the Sankra of Nadir Shah’s treaty with Muhammad Shah of India, which the conqueror made the boundary between India and Persia, by which he obtained the whole of that fertile portion of the valley of Sind, east of that stream. Others say it issues from Dara, above Rohri Bakhar.
[74]. See Annals of Jaisalmer for an account of the murder of this chieftain, Vol. II. p. [1233].
[75]. Shaikh Abu-l-barakat makes the distance only nine coss from Shahgarh to Kuriala, and states the important fact of crossing the dry bed of the Ghaggar, five coss west of Kuriala; water found plentifully by digging in the bed. Numerous thal, to which the shepherds drive their flocks.
[76]. [IGI, xv. 215 f.]
[77]. Considerable town on the high road from Upper to Lower Sind. See subsequent route.