Death of Rāna Karan Singh.
JAGMANDIR PALACE, UDAIPUR.
To face page 432.
Rāna Jagat Singh I., A.D. 1628-52.
The twenty-six years during which Jagat Singh occupied the throne passed in uninterrupted tranquillity: a state unfruitful to the bard, who flourishes only amidst agitation and strife. This period was devoted to the cultivation of the peaceful arts, especially architecture; and to Jagat Singh Udaipur is indebted for those magnificent works which bear his name, and excite our astonishment, after all the disasters we have related, at the resources he found to accomplish them [373].
Erection of Buildings at Udaipur.
Jagat Singh was a highly respected prince, and did much to efface the remembrance of the rude visitations of the Moguls. The dignity of his character, his benevolence of address and personal demeanour, secured the homage of all who had access to him, and are alike attested by the pen of the emperor, the ambassador of England, and the chronicles of Mewar. He had the proud satisfaction [374] of redeeming the ancient capital from ruin; rebuilding the “chaplet bastion,[[15]] restoring the portals, and replacing the pinnacles on the temples of Chitrakot.” By a princess of Marwar he left two sons, the eldest of whom succeeded.
Rāna Rāj Singh, A.D. 1652-80.
The policy introduced by their founder, from which Akbar, Jahangir, and Shah Jahan had reaped so many benefits, was unwisely abandoned by the latter, who of all had the most powerful reasons for maintaining those ties which connected the Rajput princes with his house. Historians have neglected to notice the great moral strength derived from this unity of the indigenous races with their conquerors; for during no similar period was the empire so secure, nor the Hindu race so cherished, as during the reigns of Jahangir and Shah Jahan: the former born from a Rajput princess of Amber, and the latter from the house of Marwar. Aurangzeb’s unmixed Tatar blood brought no Rajput sympathies to his aid; on the contrary, every noble family shed their best blood in withstanding his accession, and in the defence of Shah Jahan’s rights, while there was a hope of success. The politic Aurangzeb was not blind to this defect, and he tried to remedy it in his successor; for both his declared heir, Shah Alam, and Azam, as well as his favourite grandson,[[18]] were the offspring of Rajputnis; but, uninfluenced himself by such predilections, his bigotry outweighed his policy, and he visited the Rajputs with an unrelenting and unwise persecution [375].
We shall pass the twice-told tale of the struggle for power which ended in the destruction of the brothers, competitors with Aurangzeb: this belongs to general history, not to the annals of Mewar; and that history is in every hand,[[19]] in which the magnanimity of Dara,[[20]] the impetuosity of Murad, and the activity of Suja met the same tragical end.