Aid sought from Sindhia.
Negotiations by Zālim Singh.
The restriction of the Rana’s power was the cloak under which he disguised all his operations, and it might have been well for the country had his plans succeeded to their full extent. To re-establish the Rana’s authority, and to pay the charges of the reduction of Chitor, he determined that the rebels chiefly should furnish the means, and that from them and the fiscal lands, mostly in their hands, sixty-four lakhs should be levied, of which three-fifths should be appropriated to Sindhia, and the remainder to replenish the Rana’s treasury. Preliminaries being thus arranged, Zalim was furnished with a strong corps under Ambaji Inglia; while Sindhia followed, hanging on the Marwar frontier, to realize the contributions of that State. Zalim Singh and Ambaji moved towards Chitor, levying from the estates of those obnoxious to Zalim’s views. Hamirgarh, whose chief, Dhiraj Singh, a man of talent and courage, was the principal adviser of Bhim Singh, the Salumbar chief, was besieged, and stood several assaults during six weeks’ vigorous operations, when the destruction of the springs of the wells from the concussion of the guns compelled its surrender, and the estate was sequestrated. The force continued their progress, and after a trifling altercation at Basai, a Chondawat fief, also taken, they took up a position at Chitor, and were soon after joined by the main body under Sindhia.
Zālim Singh and Sindhia at Udaipur.
Sindhia’s Instructions to Ambaji.
- 1. The entire restoration of the Rana’s authority and resumption
- of the crown-lands from rebellious chiefs and mercenary Sindis.
- 2. The expulsion of the pretender from Kumbhalmer.
- 3. The recovery of Godwar from the Raja of Marwar.
- 4. To settle the Bundi feud for the murder of Rana Arsi.
A schedule (pandhri)[[17]] for the twenty lakhs stipulated was made and levied; twelve from the Chondawat estates and eight from the Saktawats; and the sum of sixty lakhs was awarded, besides the expense of Ambaji’s army, when the other specified objects should be attained. Within two years the pretender was expelled Kumbhalmer, Jahazpur was recovered from a rebellious Ranawat, and the crown-lands[[18]] were redeemed from the nobles; the personal domain of the Rana, agricultural and commercial, still realized nearly fifty lakhs of rupees. After these services, though Godwar was still unredeemed, the Bundi feud unappeased, and the lands mortgaged to the Mahrattas were not restored, Ambaji assumed the title of Subahdar of Mewar, and identified himself with the parties of the day. Yet so long as he personally upheld the interests of the Rana, his memory is done justice to, notwithstanding he never conformed to the strict letter of his engagements. The Rana’s ministers, fearing lest their brother’s fate should be theirs in the event of the Chondawats again attaining power, and deeming their own and their sovereign’s security dependent on Ambaji’s presence, made a subsidiary engagement with him, and lands to the amount of 75,000 rupees monthly, or eight lakhs annually, were appropriated for his force; but so completely were the resources of the [449] country diverted from their honest use, that when, in S. 1851, a marriage was negotiated between the Rana’s sister and the prince of Jaipur, the Rana was obliged to borrow £50,000 from the Mahratta commander to purchase the nuptial presents. The following year was marked by a triple event—the death of the queen-mother, the birth of a son and heir to the Rana, and the bursting of the embankment of the lake, which swept away a third of the city and a third of its inhabitants. Superstition attributed this catastrophe to the Rana’s impiety, in establishing a new festival[[19]] to Gauri, the Isis of Rajasthan.