The Muster of the Clans.
The Defeat of the Enemy.
Khumān II.
"From Gajni came the Guhilot; the Tak from Asir; from Narlai the Chauhan; the Chalukya from Rahargarh; from Setubandha the Jarkhera; from Mandor the Khairavi; from Mangrol the Makwahana; from Jethgarh the Joria; from Taragarh the Rewar; the Kachhwaha from Narwar; from Sanchor the Kalam; from Junagarh the Dasanoh; from Ajmer the Gaur; from Lohadargarh the Chandano; from Dasaundi the Dor; from Delhi the Tuar; from Patan the Chawara, preserver of royalty (Rajdhar); from Jalor the Sonigira; from Sirohi the Deora; from Gagraun the Khichi; the Jadon from Junagarh; the Jhala from Patri; from Kanauj the Rathor; from Chotiala the Bala; from Piramgarh the Gohil; from Jaisalgarh the Bhatti; the Busa from Lahore; the Sankhla from Roneja; the Sehat from Kherligarh; from Mandalgarh the Nikumbha; the Bargujar from Rajor; from Karangarh the Chandel; from Sikar the Sikarwal; from Umargarh the Jethwa; from Pali the Bargota; from Khantargarh the Jareja; from Jirga the Kherwar; from Kashmir the Parihara."
Of the Guhilot from Gajni we have said enough; nor shall we comment on the Tak, or his capital, Asir, which now belongs to the British Government. The Chauhan, who came from Narlai, was a celebrated branch of the Ajmer [249] house, and claims the honour of being the parent of the Sonigiras of Jalor and the Deoras of Sirohi. Nadol is mentioned by Ferishta as falling a prey to one of Mahmud’s invasions, who destroyed its ancient temples; but from erroneous punctuation it is lost in the translation as Bazule.[[26]] Of Rahargarh and the Jarkhera from Setubandha (on the Malabar coast) nothing is known.[[27]] Of the Khairavi from Mandor we can only say that it appears to be a branch of the Pramaras (who reckoned Mandor one of the nine strongholds, ‘Nau-kot,’ under its dominion), established anterior to the Pariharas, who at this period had sovereignty in Kashmir. Both the Dor and his capital, Dasaundi, are described in ancient books as situated on the Ganges below Kanauj.
It is a subject of regret that the annals do not mention the name of the Tuar prince of Delhi, which city could not have been refounded above a century when this call was made upon its aid. Abu-l Fazl, Ferishta, their translators, and those who have followed them have been corrected by the Edinburgh Review, whose critical judgment on this portion of ancient history is eminently good. I possess the original Hindu record used by Abu-l Fazl, which gives S. 829 for the first Anangpal instead of S. 429; and as there were but nineteen princes who intervened until his dynasty was set aside by the Chauhan, it requires no argument to support the four instead of eight centuries. The former will give the just average of twenty-one years to a reign. The name of Anangpal was titular in the family, and the epithet was applied to the last as to the first of the race.
The name of the Chawara prince of Patan (Anhilwara) being recorded amongst the auxiliaries of Khuman, is another satisfactory proof of the antiquity of this invasion; for this dynasty was extinct, and succeeded by the Solankis, in S. 998 (A.D. 942), fifty years prior to Mahmud of Ghazni, who captured Patan during the reign of Chawand, the second Solanki prince.[[28]]
The Sonigira, who came from Jalor, is a celebrated branch of the Chauhan race, but we are ignorant of the extent of time that it held this fortress: and as nothing can invalidate the testimonies afforded by the names of the Chawara of [250] Patan, the Kachhwaha of Narwar, the Tuar of Delhi, and the Rathor from Kanauj, there can be no hesitation at pointing out the anachronisms of the chronicle, which states the Deora from Sirohi, the Khichi from Gagraun, or the Bhatti from Jaisalgarh, amongst the levies on this occasion; and which we must affirm to be decided interpolations, the two first being at that period in possession of the Pramara, and the latter not erected for three centuries later. That the Deoras, the Khichis, and the Bhattis came to the aid of Khuman, we cannot doubt; but the copyist, ignorant even of the names of the ancient capitals of these tribes, Chhotan, Sindsagar, and Tanot, substituted those which they subsequently founded.
The Jadon (Yadu) from Junagarh (Girnar) was of the race of Krishna, and appeared long to have held possession of this territory; and the names of the Khengars, of this tribe, will remain as long as the stupendous monuments they reared on this sacred hill. Besides the Jadon, we find Saurashtra sending forth the Jhalas, the Balas, and the Gohils to the aid of the descendant of the lord of Valabhipura, whose paramount authority they once all acknowledged, and who appeared to have long maintained influence in that distant region.
Of the tribe of Busa, who left their capital, Lahore, to succour Chitor, we have no mention, further than the name being enumerated amongst the unassigned tribes of Rajputs.[[29]] Ferishta frequently notices the princes of Lahore in the early progress of Islamism, though he does not tell us the name of the tribe. In the reign of the caliph Al-Mansur, A.H. 143 (A.D. 761), the Afghans of Kirman and Peshawar, who, according to this authority, were a Coptic colony expelled from Egypt,[[30]] had increased in such numbers as to abandon their residence about the ‘hill of Sulaiman,’ and crossing the Indus, wrested possessions from the Hindu princes of Lahore. This frontier warfare with a tribe which, though it had certainly not then embraced the faith of Islam, brought to their succour the forces of the caliph in Zabulistan, so that in five months seventy battles were fought with varied success; but the last, in which the Lahore prince carried his arms to Peshawar,[[31]] produced a peace. Hence arose a union of interests between them and the hill tribe of Gakkhar, and all the Kohistan west of the Indus was ceded to them [251] on the condition of guarding this barrier into Hindustan against invasion. For this purpose the fortress of Khaibar was erected in the chief pass of the Koh-i-Daman. For two centuries after this event Ferishta is silent on this frontier warfare, stating that henceforth Hindustan was only accessible through Sind. When Aliptigin first crossed the Indus, the prince of Lahore and the Afghans still maintained this alliance and united to oppose him. Jaipal was then prince of Lahore; and it is on this event that Ferishta, for the first time, mentions the tribe of Bhatti,[[32]] “at the advice of whose prince he conferred the command of the united forces on an Afghan chief,” to whom he assigned the provinces of Multan and Lamghan. From this junction of interests the princes of Lahore enjoyed comparative security, until Sabuktigin and Mahmud compelled the Afghans to serve them: then Lahore was captured. The territory dependent upon Lahore, at this period, extended from Sirhind to Lamghan, and from Kashmir to Multan. Bhatinda divided with Lahore the residence of its princes. Their first encounter was at Lingham, on which occasion young Mahmud first distinguished himself, and as the historian says, “the eyes of the heavens were obscured at seeing his deeds.”[[33]] A tributary engagement was the result, which Jaipal soon broke; and being aided by levies from all the princes of Hindustan, marched an army of one hundred thousand men against Sabuktigin, and was again defeated on the banks of the Indus. He was at length invested and taken in Bhatinda by Mahmud, when he put himself to death.[[34]] The successors of Jaipal are mentioned merely as fugitives, and always distinct from the princes of Delhi. It is most probable that they were of the tribe termed Busa in the annals of Mewar, possibly a subdivision of another; though Ferishta calls the prince of Lahore a Brahman.