CHAPTER 7
Dīnarām Bohra organizes an Attack on the Sadhānis.
Battle of Fatehpur, Defeat of Jaipur Army by George Thomas, A.D. 1799.—Nearly the whole of the Jaipur mercenary and feudal army was embodied on this occasion, and although far superior in numbers to the confederation, yet the presence of Thomas and his regulars more than counterpoised their numerical inferiority. The attack of Thomas was irresistible; the Jaipur lines led by Rora Ram gave way, and lost several pieces of artillery. To redeem what the cowardice and ill-conduct of the general-in-chief had lost, the chieftain of Chaumun formed a gol or dense band of the feudal chivalry, which he led in person against Thomas’s brigade, charging to the mouths of his guns. His object, the recovery of the guns, was attained with great slaughter on each side. The Chaumun chief (Ranjit Singh) was desperately wounded, and Bahadur Singh, Pahar Singh, chiefs of the Khangarot clans, with many others, were slain by discharges of grape; the guns were retrieved, and Thomas and his auxiliaries were deprived of a victory, and ultimately compelled to retreat.[[2]]
The captive chiefs of Khandela deemed this revolt and union of their countrymen favourable to their emancipation, and addressed them to this effect. A communication was made to the discomfited Rora Ram, who promised his influence, provided an efficient body of Raesalots joined his camp, and by their services seconded their [414] requests. Bagh Singh was selected; a man held in high esteem by both parties, and even the court manager of Khandela found it necessary to retain his services, as it was by his influence only over his unruly brethren that he was enabled to make anything of the new fiscal lands. For this purpose, and to preserve the point of honour, the manager permitted Bagh Singh to remain in the fortified palace of Khandela, with a small party of his brethren; but on being selected to lead the quotas of his countrymen with the court commander, he left his younger brother, Lachhman Singh, as his deputy.
Hanwant Singh captures Khandela.
Manjidas succeeded Dinaram as minister of Jaipur; and Rora Ram, notwithstanding his disgraceful defeat and the lampoons of the bards, continued to be collector of the Shaikhawat tribute, and farmed the fiscal lands of Khandela to a Brahman for twenty thousand rupees annually. This Brahman, in conjunction with another speculative brother, had taken a lease of the Mapa Rahdari, or town and transit duties at Jaipur, which having been profitable, they now agreed to take on lease the sequestrated lands of Khandela. Having not only fulfilled their contract the first year, but put money in their pocket, they renewed it for two more. Aided by a party of the Silahposhians[[3]] of the court, the minister of religion showed he was no messenger of peace, and determined to make the most of his ephemeral power, he not only levied contributions on the yet independent feudatories, but attacked those who resisted, and carried several of their castles sword in hand. The brave ‘sons of Raesal’ could not bear this new mark of contumely and bad faith of the court,—“to be made the sport of a tailor and a Brahman,”—and having received intimation from the captive [415] chiefs that there was no hope of their liberty, they at once threw away the scabbard and commenced a scene of indiscriminate vengeance, which the Rajput often has recourse to when urged to despair. They at once assailed Khandela, and in spite of the resistance of seven thousand Dadupanthis,[[4]] dispossessed the Purohit, and sacked it. Then advancing within the Jaipur domains, they spread terror and destruction, pillaging even the estates of the queen. Fresh troops were sent against them, and after many actions the confederacy was broken up. The Ranoli chief and others of the elder branches made their peace, but the younger branches fled the country, and obtained saran (sanctuary) and subsistence in Marwar and Bikaner: Sangram Singh of Sujawas (cousin to Partap) sought the former, Bagh Singh and Suraj Singh the latter, whose prince gave them lands. There they abode in tranquillity for a time, looking to that justice from the prince which tributary collectors knew not; but when apathy and neglect mistook the motive of this patient suffering, he was aroused from his indifference to the fate of the brave Barwatias, by the tramp of their horses’ feet even at the gates of his capital.
Sangram Singh headed the band of exiles, which spread fear and desolation over a great portion of Dhundhar. In many districts they established rakhwali;[[5]] and wherever they succeeded in surprising a thana (garrison) of their liege lord, they cut it up without mercy. They sacked the town of Koh, within a few miles of the city of Jaipur, from under whose walls they carried off horses to mount their gang. Animated by successful revenge, and the excitement of a life so suited to the Rajput, Sangram became the leader of a band of several hundred horse, bold enough to attempt anything. Complaints for redress poured in upon the court from all quarters, to which a deaf ear might have been turned, had they not been accompanied with applications for reduction of rent. The court at length, alarmed at this daring desperado, made overtures to him through Shyam Singh Sadhani, the chief of Baswa, on whose bachan (pledge) Sangram consented to appear before his liege lord. As soon as he arrived under the walls of the city, his cavalcade was surrounded by all classes, but particularly the Sikh mercenaries, all of whom recognized their property, some a horse, some a camel, others arms, etc.; but none durst advance a claim to their own, so daring was their attitude and so guarded their conduct. The object of the minister was to secure the person of Sangram, regardless of the infamy which would attach to the chief who, at his desire, had pledged himself for his safety. But Shyam Singh [416], who had heard of the plot, gave Sangram warning. In forty-eight hours, intelligence reached the court that Sangram was in Tuarvati,[[6]] and that, joined by the Tuars and Larkhanis, he was at the head of one thousand horse. He now assailed the large fiscal towns of his prince; contributions were demanded, and if they could not be complied with, he carried off in ol (hostage) the chief citizens, who were afterwards ransomed. If a delay occurred in furnishing either, the place was instantly given over to pillage, which was placed upon a body of camels. The career of this determined Barwatia was at length closed. He had surrounded the town of Madhopur, the estate of one of the queens, when a ball struck him in the head. His body was carried to Ranoli and burnt, and he had his cenotaph amongst the Jujhars[[7]] (those slain in battle) of his fathers. The son of Sangram succeeded to the command and the revenge of his father, and he continued the same daring course, until the court restored his patrimony of Sujawas. Such were the tumultuous proceedings in Shaikhavati, when an event of such magnitude occurred as to prove an epoch in the history of Rajputana, and which not only was like oil effused upon their afflictions, but made them prominent to their own benefit in the transaction.
The War on account of Krishna Kunwāri.
New Treaty with Jaipur.
These preliminaries settled, Shyam Singh Champawat (nephew of the Pokaran [417] chief), with Kirparam repaired to Khetri, whence they conveyed the young pretender, Dhonkal Singh, to the camp of the confederates. They were met by a deputation headed by the princess Anandi Kunwar (daughter of the late Raja Partap, and one of the widows of Raja Bhim of Marwar, father of the pretender), who received the boy in her arms as the child of her adoption, and forthwith returned to the capital, where the army was forming for the invasion of Marwar.
It moved to Khatu, ten coss from Khandela, where they waited the junction of the Bikaner Raja and other auxiliaries. The Shaikhawat lords here sent in their imperative demand for the liberation of the sons of Raesal, “that they might march under a leader of their own, equal in celebrity to the proudest of that assembled host.” Evasion was dangerous; and in a few days their chiefs were formally delivered to them. Even the self-abdicated Bindraban could not resist this general appeal to arms. The princes encamped in the midst of their vassals, nor was there ever such a convocation of ‘the sons of Shaikhji’: Raesalots, Sadhanis, Bhojanis, Larkhanis, and even the Barwatias, flocked around the ‘yellow banner of Raesal.’ The accounts of the expedition are elsewhere narrated,[[9]] and we shall only add that the Shaikhawats participated in all its glory and all its disgrace, and lost both Rao Narsingh and his father ere they returned to their own lands.
Abhai Singh.
Another change took place in the ministry of Amber at this period; and Khushhaliram, at the age of fourscore and four years, was liberated from the state-prison of Amber, and once more entrusted with the administration of the government. This hoary-headed politician, who, during more than half a century, had alternately met the frowns and the smiles of his prince, at this the extreme verge of existence, entered with all the alacrity of youth into the tortuous intrigues of office, after witnessing the removal of two prime ministers, his rivals, who resigned power and life together. Khushhaliram had remained incarcerated since the reign of Raja Partap, who, when dying, left three injunctions; the first of which was, that ‘the Bohra’ (his caste) should never be enfranchised; but if in evil hour his successor should be induced to liberate him “he should be placed uncontrolled at the head of affairs.”[[11]]
When this veteran politician, whose biography would fill a volume,[[12]] succeeded to the helm at Jaipur, a solemn deputation of the principal Shaikhawat chieftains repaired to the capital, and begged that through his intercession they might be restored to the lands of their forefathers. The Bohra, who had always kept up, as well from [419] sound principle as from personal feeling, a good understanding with the feudality, willingly became their advocate with his sovereign, to whom he represented that the defence of the State lay in a willing and contented vassalage: for, notwithstanding their disobedience and turbulence, they were always ready, when the general weal was threatened, to support it with all their power. He appealed to the late expedition, when ten thousand of the children of Shaikhji were embodied in his cause, and what was a better argument, he observed, the Mahrattas had only been able to prevail since their dissensions amongst themselves. The Bohra was commanded to follow his own goodwill and pleasure; and having exacted an engagement, by which the future tribute of the Raesalots was fixed at sixty thousand rupees annually, and the immediate payment of a nazarana of forty thousand, fresh pattas of investiture were made out for Khandela and its dependencies. There are so many conflicting interests in all these courts, that it by no means follows that obedience runs on the heels of command; even though the orders of the prince were countersigned by the minister, the Nagas,[[13]] who formed the garrison of Khandela, and the inferior fiefs, showed no disposition to comply. The gallant Hanwant, justly suspecting the Bohra’s good faith, proposed to the joint rajas a coup de main, which he volunteered to lead. They had five hundred retainers amongst them; of these Hanwant selected twenty of the most intrepid, and repaired to Udaigarh, to which he gained admission as a messenger from himself; twenty more were at his heels, who also got in, and the rest rapidly following, took post at the gateway. Hanwant then disclosed himself, and presented the fresh patta of Khandela to the Nagas, who still hesitating to obey, he drew his sword, when seeing that he was determined to succeed or perish, they reluctantly withdrew, and Abhai and Partap were once more inducted into the dilapidated abodes of their ancestors. The adversity they had undergone, added to their youth and inexperience, made them both yield a ready acquiescence to the advice of their kinsman, to whose valour and conduct they owed the restoration of their inheritance, and the ancient feuds, which were marked on every stone of their castellated mahalls, were apparently appeased.
The Shaikhāwats attack Amīr Khān.
Lachhman Singh, the chief of Sikar, who, as before stated, was the only Shaikhawat who kept aloof from the affray, saw the moment was arrived for the accomplishment of his long-concealed desire to be lord of Khandela. The siege of Bhumgarh being broken up, in consequence of these dissensions and the defection of the confederated Shaikhawats, the Sikar chief no sooner saw them move by the circuitous route of the capital, than he marched directly for his estates, and throwing aside all disguise, attacked Sisa, which by an infamous stratagem he secured, by inveigling the commandant, the son of the late Bohra minister. Then making overtures to the enemy, against whom he had just been fighting, for the sum of two lakhs of rupees, he obtained a brigade of the mercenary Pathans, under their leaders Manu and Mahtab Khan [421], the last of whom, but a few days before, had entered into a solemn engagement with Hanwant, as manager for the minor princes, to support whose cause, and to abstain from molesting their estates, he had received fifty thousand rupees! Such nefarious acts were too common at that period even to occasion remark, far less reprehension.
Siege of Khandela.
Death of Hanwant Singh.
The next morning an armistice for the removal of the wounded and obsequies of the dead was agreed to, during which terms were offered, and refused by the garrison. As soon as the death of Hanwant was known, the Udaipur chief, who from the first had upheld the cause of justice, sent additional aid both in men and supplies; and had the Khetri chief been at his estates, the cause would have been further supported; but he was at court, and had left orders with his son to act according to the advice of the chief of Baswa, who had been gained over to the interests of Sikar by the bribe of participation in the conquered lands. Nevertheless, the garrison held out, under every privation, for five weeks longer, their only sustenance at length being a little Indian corn introduced by the exertions of individual Minas. At this extremity, an offer being made of ten townships, they surrendered. Partap Singh took his share of this remnant of his patrimony, but his co-heir Abhai Singh inherited too much of Raesal’s spirit to degrade himself by owing aught to his criminal vassal and kinsman. It would have been well for Partap had he shown the same spirit; for Lachhman Singh, now lord of Khandela, felt too acutely the injustice of his success, to allow the rightful heir to remain upon his patrimony; and he only allowed sufficient time to elapse for the consolidation of his acquisition, before he expelled the young prince. Both the co-heirs, Abhai Singh and Partap, now reside at Jhunjhunu, where each receives five rupees a day, from a joint purse made for them by the Sadhanis, nor at present[[15]] is there a ray of hope of their restoration to Khandela.
In 1814, when Misr Sheonarayan, then minister of Jaipur, was involved in great pecuniary difficulties, to get rid of the importunities of Amir Khan, he cast his eyes towards the Sikar chief, who had long been desirous to have his usurpation sanctioned by the court; and it was stipulated that on the payment of nine lakhs of rupees (namely, five from himself, with the authority and force of Jaipur to raise the rest from the Sadhanis), he should receive the patta of investiture of Khandela. Amir Khan, the mutual agent on this occasion, was then at Ranoli, where Lachhman Singh met him and paid the amount, receiving his receipt, which was exchanged for the grant under the great seal.
Lachhman Singh gains Influence at Jaipur.
Lachhman Singh, by his talents and wealth, soon established his influence at the court of his sovereign; but the jealousy which this excited in the Purohit minister of the day very nearly lost him his dearly bought acquisition. It will be recollected that a Brahman obtained the lease of the lands of Khandela, and that for his extortions he was expelled with disgrace. He proceeded, however, in his career of ambition; subverted the influence of his patron Sheonarayan Misr, forcing him to commit suicide, ruined the prospects of his son, and by successful and daring intrigue established himself in the ministerial chair of Amber. The influence of Lachhman Singh, who was consulted on all occasions, gave him umbrage, and he determined to get rid of him. To drive him into opposition to his sovereign was his aim, and to effect this there was no better method than to sanction an attack upon Khandela. The Sadhanis, whose avarice and jealousies made them overlook their true interests, readily united to the troops of the court, and Khandela was besieged. Lachhman Singh, on this occasion, showed he was no common character. He tranquilly abided the issue at Jaipur, thus neutralizing the malignity of the Purohit, while, to ensure the safety of Khandela, a timely supply of money to the partisan, Jamshid Khan, brought his battalions to threaten the Purohit in his camp. Completely foiled by the superior tact of Lachhman Singh, the Brahman was compelled to abandon the undertaking and to return to the capital, where his anger made him throw aside the mask, and attempt to secure the person of his enemy. The Sikar chief had a narrow escape: he fled with fifty horse, hotly pursued by his adversary, while his effects, and those of his partisans (amongst whom was the Samod chief) were confiscated. The Sadhanis, led by the chiefs of Khetri and Baswa, even after the Purohit had left them, made a bold attempt to capture Khandela, which was defeated, and young Abhai Singh, who was made a puppet on the occasion, witnessed the last defeat of his hopes.
If necessity or expediency could palliate or justify such nefarious acts, it would be shown in the good consequences that have resulted from evil. The discord and bloodshed produced by the partition of authority between the sons of Bahadur [424] Singh are now at an end. Lachhman Singh is the sole tyrant in Khandela, and so long as the system which he has established is maintained, he may laugh at the efforts, not only of the Sadhanis, but of the court itself, to supplant him.
Let us, in a few words, trace the family of Lachhman Singh. It will be recollected that Raesal, the first Raja amongst the sons of Shaikhji, had seven sons, the fourth of whom, Tirmall (who obtained the title of Rao), held Kasli and its eighty-four townships in appanage. His son, Hari Singh, wrested the district of Bilara, with its one hundred and twenty-five townships, from the Kaimkhanis of Fatehpur, and shortly after, twenty-five more from Rewasa. Sheo Singh, the son of Hari, captured Fatehpur itself, the chief abode of the Kaimkhanis, where he established himself. His son, Chand Singh, founded Sikar, whose lineal descendant, Devi Singh, adopted Lachhman Singh, son of his near kinsman, the Shahpura Thakur. The estates of Sikar were in admirable order when Lachhman succeeded to his uncle, whose policy was of the exterminating sort. Lachhman improved upon it; and long before he acquired Khandela, had demolished all the castles of his inferior feudatories, not even sparing that of Shahpura, the place of his nativity, as well as Bilara, Bathoti, and Kasli; and so completely did he allow the ties of adoption to supersede those of blood, that his own father preferred exile, to living under a son who, covered with ‘the turban of Sikar,’ forgot the author of his life, and retired to Jodhpur.
Lachhman Singh has now a compact and improving country, containing five hundred towns and villages, yielding a revenue of eight lakhs of rupees. Desirous of transmitting his name to posterity, he erected the castle of Lachhmangarh,[[16]] and has fortified many other strongholds, for the defence of which he has formed a little army, which, in these regions, merits the title of regulars, consisting of eight battalions of Aligol,[[17]] armed with matchlocks, with a brigade of guns to each battalion. He has besides an efficient cavalry, consisting of one thousand horse, half of which are Bargirs,[[18]] or stipendiary; the other half Jagirdars, having lands assigned for their support. With such means, and with his ambition, there is very little doubt that, had not the alliance of his liege lord of Amber with the English Government put a stop to the predatory system, he would, by means of the same worthy allies by whose [425] aid he obtained Khandela,[[19]] before this time have made himself supreme in Shaikhavati.
Having thus brought to a conclusion the history of the princes of Khandela, we shall give a brief account of the other branches of the Shaikhawats, especially the most powerful, the Sadhani.
The Sādhāni Shaikhāwats.
Several generations subsequent to Bhojraj, Jagram succeeded to the lands of Udaipur. He had six sons, the eldest of whom, Sadhu, quarrelled with his father, on some ceremonial connected with the celebration of the military festival, the Dasahra,[[21]] and quitting the paternal roof, sought his fortunes abroad. At this time, almost all the tract now inhabited by the Sadhanis was dependent on Fatehpur (Jhunjhunu), the residence of a Nawab of the Kaimkhani tribe of Afghans,[[22]] who held it as a fief of the empire. To him Sadhu repaired, and was received with favour, and by his talents and courage rose in consideration, until he was eventually intrusted with the entire management of affairs. There are two accounts of the mode of his ulterior advancement: both may be correct. One is, that the Nawab, having no children, adopted young Sadhu, and assigned to him Jhunjhunu and its eighty-four dependencies, which he retained on the Kaimkhani’s death. The other, and less favourable though equally probable account, is that, feeling his influence firmly established, he hinted to his patron, that the township of —— was prepared for his future residence, where he should enjoy a sufficient pension, as he intended to retain possession of his delegated authority. So completely had he supplanted the Kaimkhani, that he found himself utterly unable to make a party against the ungrateful Shaikhawat. He therefore fled from Jhunjhunu to Fatehpur, the other division of his authority, or at [426] least one of his own kin, who espoused his cause, and prepared to expel the traitor from Jhunjhunu. Sadhu, in this emergency, applied to his father, requesting him to call upon his brethren, as it was a common cause. The old chief, who, in his son’s success, forgave and forgot the conduct which made him leave his roof, instantly addressed another son, then serving with his liege lord, the Mirza Raja Jai Singh, in the imperial army, to obtain succour for him; and some regular troops with guns were immediately dispatched to reinforce young Sadhu and maintain his usurpation, which was accomplished, and moreover Fatehpur was added to Jhunjhunu. Sadhu bestowed the former with its dependencies, equal in value to his own share, on his brother, for his timely aid, and both, according to previous stipulation, agreed to acknowledge their obligations to the Raja by an annual tribute and nazarana on all lapses, as lord-paramount. Sadhu soon after wrested Singhana, containing one hundred and twenty-five villages, from another branch of the Kaimkhanis; Sultana, with its Chaurasi, or division of eighty-four townships, from the Gaur Rajputs; and Khetri and its dependencies from the Tuars, the descendants of the ancient emperors of Delhi: so that, in process of time, he possessed himself of a territory comprising more than one thousand towns and villages. Shortly before his death he divided the conquered lands amongst his five sons, whose descendants, adopting his name as the patronymic, are called Sadhani; namely, Zorawar Singh, Kishan Singh, Nawal Singh, Kesari Singh, and Pahar Singh.
Zorawar Singh, besides the paternal and original estates, had, in virtue of primogeniture, the town of Chokri and its twelve subordinate villages, with all the other emblems of state, as the elephants, palkis, etc.; and although the cupidity of the Khetri chief, the descendant of the second son, Kishan, has wrested the patrimony from the elder branch, who has now only Chokri, yet the distinctions of birth are never lost in those of fortune, and the petty chief of Chokri, with its twelve small townships, is looked upon as the superior of Abhai Singh, though the lord of five hundred villages.
The descendants of the other four sons, now the most distinguished of the Sadhanis, are,[[23]]
Abhai Singh of Khetri;
Shyam Singh of Baswa;
Gyan Singh of Nawalgarh;[[24]]
Sher Singh of Sultana [427].
Besides the patrimonies assigned to the five sons of Sadhu, he left the districts of Singhana, Jhunjhunu, and Surajgarh (the ancient Oricha), to be held in joint heirship by the junior members of his stock. The first, with its one hundred and twenty-five villages, has been usurped by Abhai Singh of Khetri, but the others still continue to be frittered away in sub-infeudations among this numerous and ever-spreading frerage.
Abhai Singh has assumed the same importance amongst the Sadhanis that Lachhman Singh has amongst the Raesalots, and both by the same means, crime and usurpation. The Sikar chief has despoiled his senior branch of Khandela; and the Khetri chief has not only despoiled the senior, but also the junior, of the five branches of Sadhu. The transaction which produced the last result, whereby the descendant of Sher Singh lost Sultana, is so peculiarly atrocious, that it is worth relating, as a proof to what lengths the Rajput will go ‘to get land.’
Bāgh Singh seizes Sultāna.
The Lārkhānis.
Revenues.
| Rupees. | |
| Lachhman Singh, of Sikar, including Khandela | 800,000 |
| Abhai Singh, of Khetri, including Kotputli, given by Lord Lake | 600,000 |
| Shyam Singh, of Baswa, including his brother Ranjit’s share of 40,000 (whom he killed) | 190,000 |
| Gyan Singh, of Nawalgarh, including Mandao, each fifty villages | 70,000 |
| Lachhman Singh, Mendsar, the chief sub-infeudation of Nawalgarh | 30,000 |
| Tain and its lands, divided amongst the twenty-seven great-grandsons of Zorawar Singh, eldest son of Sadhu | 100,000 |
| Udaipurvati | 100,000 |
| Manoharpur[[25]] | 30,000 |
| Larkhanis | 100,000 |
| Harramjis | 40,000 |
| Girdharpotas | 40,000 |
| Smaller estates | 200,000 |
| 2,300,000 | |
| [429.] |
The tribute established by Jaipur is as follows:—
| Rupees. | |
| Sadhanis | 200,000 |
| Fatehpur | 64,000 |
| Udaipur and Babhai | 22,000 |
| Kasli | 4,000 |
| 350,000 |
Thus, supposing the revenues, as stated, at twenty-three lakhs, to be near the truth, and the tribute at three and a half, it would be an assessment of one-seventh of the whole, which is a fair proportion, and a measure of justice which the British Government would do well to imitate.
[1]. Dhūs is an expedient to hasten the compliance of a demand from a dependent. A party of horse proceeds to the township, and are commanded to receive so much per day till the exaction is complied with. If the dhūs is refused, it is considered tantamount to an appeal to arms. [Dhūsnā means ‘to butt like an ox,’ hence ‘to coerce.’]
[2]. Franklin, in his Life of George Thomas, describes this battle circumstantially; but makes it appear an affair of the Jaipur court, with Thomas and the Mahrattas, in which the Shaikhawats are not mentioned. Thomas gives the Rajput chivalry full praise for their gallant bearing.—Memoir of George Thomas, p. 109. [The battle was fought early in 1799 at Fatehpur, about 145 miles N.W. of Jaipur city (Compton, European Military Adventurers, 146 ff.).]
[3]. [Men clad in armour (Irvine, Army of the Indian Moghuls, 164).]
[5]. The salvamenta, or blackmail of our own feudal system. See Vol. I. p. [203].
[7]. [Such cenotaphs, known as pāliya, are common in Gujarāt (Forbes, Rās Māla, 691; Tod, Western India, 301).]
[8]. [Tribal levy.]
[10]. [Twenty-five miles E. of Jaipur city.]
[11]. The second injunction was to keep the office of Faujdar, or commander of the forces, in the family of Shambhu Singh, Gugawat, a tribe always noted for their fidelity, and like the Mertias of Marwar, even a blind fidelity, to the gaddi whoever was the occupant. The third injunction is left blank in my manuscript.
[12]. His first act, after his emancipation from the dungeons of Amber, was the delicate negotiation at Dhani, the castle of Chand Singh, Gugawat. He died at Baswa, April 22, 1812, on his return from Macheri to Jaipur, where he had been unsuccessfully attempting a reconciliation between the courts. It will not be forgotten that the independence of the Naruka chief in Macheri had been mainly achieved by the Bohra, who was originally the homme d’affaires of the traitorous Naruka.
[13]. [These corps of militant devotees were commonly employed in Indian Native armies in the eighteenth century (Irvine, Army of the Indian Moghuls, 163; Broughton, Letters from a Mahratta Camp, 96, 106, 123; Russell, Tribes and Castes of the Central Provinces, iii. 157).]
[14]. [A corruption of Hindi chhakra (Yule, Hobson-Jobson, 2nd ed. 407 f.).]
[15]. This was written in 1813-14.
[16]. Lachhmangarh, or ‘the castle of Lachhman,’ situated upon a lofty mountain [about 75 miles N.W. of Jaipur city], was erected in S. 1862, or A.D. 1806, though probably on the ruins of some more ancient fortress. It commands a most extensive prospect, and is quite a beacon in that country, studded with hill-castles. The town is built on the model of Jaipur, with regular streets intersecting each other at right angles, in which there are many wealthy merchants, who enjoy perfect security.
[17]. [The Ālīgol, ‘lofty, exalted troop,’ were irregular infantry in the Marātha service. Sometimes they were identified with the fanatical Ghāzis of the Afghān frontier (Irvine, Army of the Indian Moghuls, 164; Yule, Hobson-Jobson, 2nd ed. 15).]
[18]. [Cavalry provided with horses by the State, Vol. II. p. [819].]
[19]. Khandela is said to have derived its name from the Khokhar Rajputs [?]. The Khokhar is often mentioned in the Bhatti Annals, whom I have supposed to be the Ghakkar, who were certainly Indo-Scythic. [The Khokhars and Ghakkars or Gakkhars are often confounded (Rose, Glossary, ii. 540).] Khandela has four thousand houses, and eighty villages dependent on it.
[20]. The ancient name of Udaipur is said to be Kais; it contains three thousand houses, and has forty-five villages attached to it, divided into four portions.
[21]. [See Vol. II. p. [680].]
[22]. [The Kāimkhāni or Qāimkhāni are a sept of Muslim Chauhān Rājputs found in the Jīnd State and in Jaipur (Rose, Glossary, iii. 257). In the Rājputāna Census Report of 1911, however, they are classed among “Miscellaneous” Rājput septs (i. 286).]
[23]. It must be borne in mind that this was written in 1814.
[24]. Nawalgarh contains four thousand houses, environed by a shahrpanāh or rampart. It is on a more ancient site called Rolani, whose old castle in ruins is to the south-east, and the new one midway between it and the town, built by Nawal Singh in S. 1802, or A.D. 1746.
[25]. The Manoharpur chief was put to death by Raja Jagat Singh (vide Madari Lal’s Journal of A.D. 1814), and his lands were sequestrated and partitioned amongst the confederacy: the cause, his inciting the Rahtis or Ratis (an epithet for the proselyte Bhatti plunderers of Bhattiana) to invade and plunder the country.