Bappa related to the sage all he knew of himself, received his blessing, and retired; but he went daily to visit him, to wash his feet, carry milk to him, and gather such wild flowers as were acceptable offerings to the deity. In return he received lessons of morality, and was initiated into the mysterious rites of Siva: and at length he was invested with the triple cordon of faith (tin parwa zunnar)[[17]] by the hands of the sage, who became his spiritual guide, and bestowed on his pupil the title of [226] ‘Regent (Diwan) of Eklinga.’ Bappa had proofs that his attentions to the saint and his devotions to Eklinga were acceptable, by a visit from his consort, ‘the lion-born goddess.’ From her hand he received the panoply of celestial fabrication, the work of Viswakarma (the Vulcan of Eastern mythology), which outvies all the arms ever forged for Greek or Trojan. The lance, bow, quiver, and arrows; a shield and sword (more famed than Balisarda)[[18]] which the goddess girded on him with her own hand: the oath of fidelity and devotion was the ‘relief’ of this celestial investiture. Thus initiated into the mysteries of ‘the first’ (adi), admitted under the banners of Bhavani, Harita resolved to leave his pupil to his fortunes, and to quit the worship of the symbol for the presence of the deity in the mansions above. He informed Bappa of his design, and commanded him to be at the sacred spot early on the following morn; but Bappa showed his materiality by oversleeping himself, and on reaching the spot the sage had already made some progress in his car, borne by the Apsaras, or celestial messengers. He checked his aerial ascent to give a last token of affection to his pupil; and desiring him to reach up to receive his blessing, Bappa’s stature was extended to twenty cubits; but as he did not reach the car, he was commanded to open his mouth, when the sage did what was recorded as performed, about the same period, by Muhammad, who spat into the mouth of his favourite nephew, Husain, the son of Ali. Bappa showed his disgust and aversion by blinking, and the projected blessing fell on his foot, by which squeamishness he obtained only invulnerability by weapons instead of immortality. The saint was soon lost in the cerulean space. Thus marked as the favourite of heaven, and having learned from his mother that he was nephew to the Mori prince of Chitor, he ‘disdained a shepherd’s slothful life,’ and with some companions from these wilds quitted his retreat, and for the first time emerged into the plains. But, as if the brand of Bhavani was insufficient, he met with another hermit in the forest of the Tiger Mount,[[19]] the famed Gorakhnath, who presented to him the double-edged sword,[[20]] which, with the proper incantation, could ‘sever rocks.’ With this he opened the road to fortune leading to the throne of Chitor [227].
Chitor was at this period held by the Mori prince of the Pramar race, the ancient lords of Malwa, then paramount sovereigns of Hindustan: but whether this city was then the chief seat of power is not known. Various public works, reservoirs, and bastions, yet retain the name of this race.
Bappa’s connexion with the Mori[[21]] obtained him a good reception; he was enrolled amongst the sawants or leaders, and a suitable estate conferred upon him. The inscription of the Mori prince’s reign, so often alluded to, affords a good idea of his power, and of the feudal manners of his court. He was surrounded by a numerous nobility, holding estates on the tenure of military service, but whom he had disgusted by his neglect, and whose jealousy he had provoked by the superior regard shown to Bappa. A foreign foe appearing at this time, instead of obeying the summons to attend, they threw up their grants, and tauntingly desired him to call on his favourite.[[22]]
Bappa undertook the conduct of the war, and the chiefs, though dispossessed of their estates, accompanied him from a feeling of shame. The foe was defeated and driven out of the country; but instead of returning to Chitor, Bappa continued his course to the ancient seat of his family, Gajni, expelled the ‘barbarian’ called Salim, placed on the throne a chief of the Chaura tribe,[[23]] and returned with the discontented nobles. Bappa, on this occasion, is said to have married the daughter of his enemy. The nobles quitted Chitor, leaving their defiance with their prince. In vain were the spiritual preceptor (Guru) and foster-brother (Dhabhai) sent as ambassadors: their only reply was, that as they had ‘eaten his salt,’ they would forbear their vengeance for twelve months. The noble deportment of Bappa won their esteem, and they transferred to him their service and homage. With the temptation of a crown, the gratitude of the Grahilot was given to the winds. On return they assaulted and carried Chitor, and, in the words of the chronicle, “Bappa took Chitor from the Mori and became himself the mor (crown) of the land”: he obtained by universal consent the title of ‘sun of the Hindus (Hindua suraj), preceptor of princes (Raj Guru), and universal lord (Chakravartin)’ [228].
He had a numerous progeny, some of whom returned to their ancient seats in Saurashtra, whose descendants were powerful chieftains in that tract so late as Akbar’s reign.[[24]] Five sons went to Marwar, and the ancient Gohils ‘of the land of Kher,’ expelled and driven to Gohilwal,[[25]] have lost sight of their ancestry, and by a singular fatality are in possession of the wreck of Valabhipura, ignorant of its history and their connexion with it, mixing with Arabs and following marine and mercantile pursuits; and the office of the bard having fallen into disrepute, they cannot trace their forefathers beyond Kherdhar.[[26]]
The close of Bappa’s career is the strangest part of the legend, and which it might be expected they would be solicitous to suppress. Advanced in years, he abandoned his children and his country, carried his arms west to Khorasan, and there established himself, and married new wives from among the ‘barbarians,’ by whom he had a numerous offspring.[[27]]
Bappa had reached the patriarchal age of one hundred when he died. An old volume of historical anecdotes, belonging to the chief of Delwara, states that he became an ascetic at the foot of Meru, where he was buried alive after having overcome all the kings of the west, as in Ispahan, Kandahar, Kashmir, Irak, Iran, Turan, and Kafiristan; all of whose daughters he married, and by whom he had one hundred and thirty sons, called the Nausshahra Pathans. Each of these founded a tribe, bearing the name of the mother. His Hindu children were ninety-eight in number, and were called Agni-upasi Suryavansi, or ‘sunborn fire-worshippers.’ The chronicles also record that (in like manner as did the subjects of the Bactrian king Menander, though from a different motive) the subjects of Bappa quarrelled for the disposal of his remains. The Hindu wished the fire to consume them; the ‘barbarian’ to commit them to earth; but on raising the pall while the dispute was raging, innumerable flowers of the lotus were found in the place of the remains of mortality: these were conveyed and planted in the lake. This is precisely what is related of the end of the Persian Nushirwan[[28]] [229].
The Question of Dates.
On the sack of Valabhi thirty thousand families abandoned this ‘city of a hundred temples,’ and led by their priests found a retreat for themselves and their faith [230] in Mordardes (Marwar), where they erected the towns of Sandrai and Bali, in which latter we recognise the name of the city whence they were expelled. The religion of Valabhi, and consequently of the colonists, was the Jain; and it was by a priest descended from the survivors of this catastrophe, and still with their descendants inhabiting those towns, that these most important documents were furnished to the author. The Sandrai roll assigns the year 305 (Valabhi era) for the destruction of Valabhi: another, also from Jain authority, gives 205; and as there were but nine princes from Vijayasen, the founder, to its fall, we can readily believe the first a numerical error. Therefore 205 + 375 = 580 S. Vikrama (A.D. 524), for the invasion of Saurashtra by ‘the barbarians from the north,’ and sack of Valabhipura.
Now if from 770, the date of the Mori tablet, we deduct 580, there remains 190; justifying the pertinacity with which the chroniclers of Mewar adhered to the date given in their annals for the birth of Bappa, viz. 191: though they were ignorant that this period was dated from the flight from Valabhipura.