CHAPTER 9
Foreign Policy of Zālim Singh.
Zalim’s policy was to create, as regarded himself, a kind of balance of power; to overawe one leader by his influence with another, yet, by the maintenance of a good understanding with all, to prevent individual umbrage, while his own strength was at all times sufficient to make the scale preponderate in his favour.
Placed in the very heart of India, Kotah was for years the centre around which revolved the desultory armies, or ambulant governments, ever strangers to repose; and though its wealth could not fail to attract the cupidity of these vagabond powers, yet, by the imposing attitude which he assumed, Zalim Singh maintained, during more than half a century, the respect, the fear, and even the esteem of all; and Kotah alone, throughout this lengthened period, so full of catastrophes, never saw an enemy [548] at her gates. Although an epoch of perpetual change and political convulsion—armies destroyed, States overturned, famine and pestilence often aiding moral causes in desolating the land—yet did the regent, from the age of twenty-five to eighty-two,[[1]] by his sagacity, his energy, his moderation, his prudence, conduct the bark intrusted to his care through all the shoals and dangers which beset her course. It may not excite surprise that he was unwilling to relinquish the helm when the vessel was moored in calm waters; or, when the unskilful owner, forgetting these tempests, and deeming his own science equal to the task, demanded the surrender, that he should hoist the flag of defiance.
There was not a court in Rajwara, not even the predatory governments, which was not in some way influenced by his opinions, and often guided by his councils. At each he had envoys, and when there was a point to gain, there were irresistible arguments in reserve to secure it. The necessities, the vanities, and weaknesses of man he could enlist on his side, and he was alternately, by adoption, the father, uncle, or brother of every person in power during this eventful period, from the prince upon the throne to the brat of a Pindari. He frequently observed that “none knew the shifts he had been put to”; and when entreated not to use expressions of humility, which were alike unsuited to his age and station, and the reverence he compelled, he would reply, “God grant you long life, but it is become a habit.” For the last ten years he not only made his connexion with Amir Khan subservient to avoiding a collision with Holkar, but converted the Khan into the make-weight of his balance of power; “he thanked God the time was past when he had to congratulate even the slave of a Turk on a safe accouchement, and to pay for this happiness.”
Though by nature irascible, impetuous, and proud, he could bend to the extreme of submission. But while he would, by letter or conversation, say to a marauding Pindari or Pathan, “let me petition to your notice,” or “if my clodpole understanding (bhumia buddh) is worth consulting”; or reply to a demand for a contribution, coupled with a threat of inroad, “that the friendly epistle had been received; that he lamented the writer’s distresses, etc. etc.,” with a few thousand more than was demanded, and a present to the messenger, he would excite a feeling which at least obtained a respite; on the other hand, he was always prepared to repel aggression, and if a single action would have decided his quarrel, he would not have hesitated to engage any power in the circle. But he knew even success, in such a case, to be ruin, and the general [549] feature of his external policy was accordingly of a temporizing and very mixed nature. Situated as he was, amidst conflicting elements, he had frequently a double game to play. Thus, in the coalition of 1806-7, against Jodhpur, he had three parties to please, each requesting his aid, which made neutrality almost impossible. He sent envoys to all; and while appearing as the universal mediator, he gave assistance to none.
It would be vain as well as useless to attempt the details of his foreign policy; we shall merely allude to the circumstances which first brought him in contact with the British Government, in A.D. 1803-4, and then proceed to his domestic administration.
Monson’s Campaign. Gallantry of the Koila Chief.
Besides the Koila chief, and many brave Haras, slain on the retreat of Monson, the Bakhshi, or commander of the force, was made prisoner. As the price of his liberation, and as a punishment for the aid thus given to the British, the Mahratta leader exacted a bond of ten lakhs of rupees from the Bakhshi, threatening on refusal to lay waste with fire and sword the whole line of pursuit. But when the discomfited Bakhshi appeared before the regent, he spurned him from his presence, disavowed his act, and sent him back to Holkar to pay the forfeiture as he might.[[2]] Holkar satisfied himself then with threatening vengeance, and when opportunity permitted, he marched into Haraoti and encamped near the capital. The walls were manned to receive him; the signal had been prepared which would not have left a single house inhabited in the plains, while the Bhils would simultaneously pour down from the hills on Holkar’s supplies or followers. The bond was again presented, and without hesitation disavowed; hostilities appeared inevitable, when the friends of both parties concerted an interview. But Zalim, aware of the perfidy of his foe, declined this, except on his own conditions. These were singular, and will recall to mind another and yet more celebrated meeting. He demanded that they should discuss the terms of peace or war upon the Chambal, to which Holkar acceded. For this purpose Zalim prepared two boats, each capable of containing about twenty armed men. Having moored his own little bark in the middle of the stream, under the cannon of the city, Holkar, accompanied by his cavalcade, embarked in his boat and rowed to meet him. Carpets were spread, and there these extraordinary men, with only one eye[[3]] between them, settled the conditions of peace, and the endearing epithets of ‘uncle’ and ‘nephew’ were bandied, with abundant mirth on the peculiarity of their situation; while—for the fact is beyond a doubt—each boat was plugged, and men were at hand on the first appearance of treachery to have sent them all to the bottom of the river.[[4]] But Holkar’s [551] necessities were urgent, and a gift of three lakhs of rupees averted such a catastrophe, though he never relinquished the threat of exacting the ten lakhs; and when at length madness overtook him, “the bond of Kaka Zalim Singh” was one of the most frequently repeated ravings of this soldier of fortune, whose whole life was one scene of insanity.
Relations with Marāthas and Pindāris.
Even the Pindaris were conciliated with all the respect and courtesy paid to better men. Many of their leaders held grants of land in Kotah: so essential, indeed, was a good understanding with this body, that when Sindhia, in A.D. 1807, entrapped and imprisoned in the dungeons of Gwalior the celebrated Karim,[[6]] Zalim not only advanced the large sum required for his ransom, but had the temerity to pledge himself for his future good conduct: an act which somewhat tarnished his reputation for sagacity, but eventually operated as a just punishment on Sindhia for his avarice.
The scale of munificence on which the regent exercised the rites of sanctuary (saran) towards the chiefs of other countries claiming his protection, was disproportioned to the means of the State. The exiled nobles of Marwar and Mewar [552] have held estates in Kotah greater than their sequestrated patrimonies. These dazzling acts of beneficence were not lost on a community amongst whom hospitality ranks at the head of the virtues. In these regions, where the strangest anomalies and the most striking contradictions present themselves in politics, such conduct begets no astonishment, and rarely provokes a remonstrance from the State whence the suppliant fled. The regent not only received the refugees, but often reconciled them to their sovereigns. He gloried in the title of ‘peace-maker,’ and whether his conduct proceeded from motives of benevolence or policy, he was rewarded with the epithet, sufficiently exalted in itself. “They all come to old Zalim with their troubles,” he remarked, “as if he could find food for them all from 'his handful of soil.'”
To conclude: his defensive was, in its results, the reverse of his offensive policy. Invariable and brilliant success accompanied the one; defeat, disappointment, and great pecuniary sacrifices were the constant fruits of the other. Mewar eluded all his arts, and involved Kotah in embarrassments from which she will never recover, while his attempt to take Sheopur, the capital of the Gaurs, by a coup de main, was signally defeated. Had he succeeded in either attempt, and added the resources of these acquisitions to Kotah, doubtless his views would have been still more enlarged. At an early period of his career, an offer was made to him, by the celebrated Partap Singh of Jaipur, to undertake the duties of chief minister of that State: it is vain to speculate on what might have been the result to the State or himself, had he been able to wield her resources, at that time so little impaired.
Zālim Singh’s Domestic Policy. Character of Mahārāo Ummed Singh.
Zālim Singh and his Servants.
[1]. I may once more repeat, this was written in A.D. 1820-21, when Zalim Singh had reached the age of fourscore and two. [He died, aged 84, in 1824.]
[2]. If my memory betrays me not, this unfortunate commander, unable to bear his shame, took poison.
[3]. It should be remembered that Zalim was quite blind, and that Holkar had lost the use of one eye. [See Vol. II. p. [1234].]
[4]. [Compare the meeting of Alexander I. of Russia and Napoleon at Tilsit on June 25, 1807.]
[5]. [Dīg, in Bharatpur State; Pirāwa, one of the Central India districts included in Tonk State (IGI, xx. 151).]
[6]. [Karīm Khān surrendered to the British in 1818, and was given an estate in Gorakhpur District.]
[7]. Jhālarapātan, ‘the city of the Jhāla,’ the regent’s tribe. [Others explain the name to mean city (pātan) of springs (jhālra): or city of bells, because it contained 108 temples (IGI, xiv. 123).]
[8]. Mihrab Khan was the commandant of one division of Zalim’s contingent, placed at my disposal, which in eight days took possession of every district of Holkar’s adjacent to Haraoti, and which afterwards gained so much credit by the brilliant escalade of the Saudi fortress, when co-operating with General Sir John Malcolm. The Royals (Raj-Paltan) were led by Saif Ali, a gallant soldier, but who could not resist joining the cause of the Maharao and legitimacy in the civil war of 1821.