Rāna Karan Singh II., A.D. 1620-28.
Karan was deficient neither in courage nor conduct; of both he had given a decided proof, when, to relieve the pecuniary difficulties of his father, with a rapidity unparalleled, he passed through the midst of his foes, surprised and plundered Surat, and carried off a booty which was the means of protracting the evil days of his country. But for the exercise of the chief virtue of the Rajput, he [369] had little scope throughout his reign, and fortunately for his country the powerful esteem and friendship which Jahangir and Prince Khurram evinced for his house, enabled him to put forth the talents he possessed to repair past disasters. He fortified the heights round the capital, which he strengthened with a wall and ditch, partly enlarged the noble dam which retains the waters of the Pichola, and built that entire portion of the palace called the Rawala, still set apart for the ladies of the court.
Terms between Rāna Karan Singh and Jahāngīr.
RĀJMAHALL.
To face page 428.
Sesodias in the Imperial Service.
Revolt and Death of Bhīm Singh.
Such was Rajput gratitude to a prince who, when the chances of war made him victor over them, had sought unceasingly to mitigate the misery attendant on the loss of independence! It is pleasing to record to the honour of this calumniated race, that these feelings on the part of Karan were not transient; and that so far from expiring with the object,
The debt immense of endless gratitude.
was transmitted as an heirloom to his issue; and though two centuries have fled, during which Mewar had suffered every variety of woe, pillaged by Mogul [372], Pathan, and Mahratta, yet the turban of Prince Khurram, the symbol of fraternity,[[9]] has been preserved, and remains in the same folds as when transferred from the head of the Mogul to that of the Rajput prince. The shield is yet held as the most sacred of relics, nor will the lamp which illumines the chapel of Madar want oil while the princes of Udaipur have wherewithal to supply it.[[10]]