Zālim Singh of Kotah.
Battle at the Sipra, and Siege of Udaipur, A.D. 1769.
Amar Chand, Minister of Mewār.
The Pretender’s party had extended their influence over a great part of the crown domain, even to the valley of Udaipur; but unable to fulfil the stipulation to Sindhia, the baffled Mahratta, to whom time was treasure, negotiated with Amra to raise the siege, and abandon the Pretender on the payment of seventy lakhs. But scarcely was the treaty signed, when the reported disposition of the auxiliaries, and the plunder expected on a successful assault, excited his avarice and made him break his faith, and twenty lakhs additional were imposed. Amra tore up the treaty, and sent back the fragments to the faithless Mahratta with defiance. His spirit increased with his difficulties, and he infused his gallantry into the hearts of the most despairing. Assembling the Sindis and the home-clans who were yet true to their prince, he explained to them the transaction, and addressed them in that language which speaks to the souls of all mankind, and to give due weight to his exhortation, he distributed amongst the most deserving, many articles of cumbrous ornament lying useless in the treasury. The stores of grain in the city and neighbourhood, whether public or private, were collected and sent to the market, and it was proclaimed by beat of drum that every fighting man should have six months’ provision on application. Hitherto grain had been selling at little more than a pound for the rupee, and these unexpected resources were matter of universal surprise, more especially to the besiegers.[[15]] The Sindis, having no longer cause for discontent, caught the spirit of the brave Amra, and went in a body to the palace to swear in public never to abandon the Rana, whom their leader, Adil Beg,[[16]] thus addressed: “We have long eaten your salt and received numerous favours from your house, and we now come to swear never to abandon you. Udaipur is our home, and we will fall with it. We demand no further pay, and when our grain is exhausted, we will feed on the beasts, and when these fail we will thin the ranks of the Southrons and die sword in hand.” Such were the sentiments that Amra had inspired, the expression of which extorted tears from the Rana—a sight so unusual with this stern prince, as to raise frantic shouts from the Sindis and his Rajputs. The enthusiasm spread and was announced to Sindhia with all its circumstances by a general discharge of cannon on his advanced [433] posts. Apprehensive of some desperate display of Rajput valour, the wary Mahratta made overtures for a renewal of the negotiation. It was now Amra’s turn to triumph, and he replied that he must deduct from the original terms the expense they had incurred in sustaining another six months’ siege. Thus outwitted, Sindhia was compelled to accept sixty lakhs, and three-and-a-half for official expenses.[[17]]
Cessions made to Sindhia.
Thus terminated, in S. 1826 [A.D. 1769], the siege of Udaipur, with the dislocation of these fine districts from Mewar. But let it be remembered that they were only mortgaged:[[18]] and although the continued degradation of the country from the same causes has prevented their redemption, the claim to them has never been abandoned. Their recovery was stipulated by the ambassadors of the Rana in the treaty of A.D. 1817 with the British Government; but our total ignorance of the past transactions of these countries, added to our amicable relations with Sindhia [434], prevented any pledge of the reunion of these districts; and it must ever be deeply lamented that, when the treacherous and hostile conduct of Sindhia gave a noble opportunity for their restoration, it was lost, from policy difficult to understand, and which must be subject to the animadversions of future historians of that important period in the history of India. It yet remains for the wisdom of the British Government to decide whether half a century’s abeyance, and the inability to redeem them by the sword, render the claim a dead letter. At all events, the facts here recorded from a multiplicity of public documents, and corroborated by living actors[[19]] in the scene, may be useful at some future day, when expedience may admit of their being reannexed to Mewar.