Even the ferocious Khan, when the instrument of his infamy, Ajit, reported the issue, received him with contempt, and spurned him from his presence, tauntingly asking “if this were the boasted Rajput valour?” But the wily traitor had to encounter language far more bitter from his political adversary, whom he detested. Sangram Saktawat reached the capital only four days after the catastrophe—a man in every respect the reverse of Ajit; audaciously brave, he neither feared the frown of his sovereign nor the sword of his enemy. Without introduction he rushed into the presence, where he found seated the traitor Ajit. “Oh dastard! who hast thrown dust on the Sesodia race, whose blood which has flowed in purity through a hundred ages has now been defiled! this sin will check its course for ever; a blot so foul in our annals that no Sesodia[[58]] will ever again hold up his head! A sin to which no punishment were equal. But the end of our race is approaching! The line of Bappa Rawal is at an end! Heaven has ordained this, a signal of our destruction.” The Rana hid his face with his hands, when turning to Ajit, he exclaimed, "Thou stain on the Sesodia race, thou impure of Rajput blood, dust be on thy head as thou hast covered us all with shame. May you die childless, and your name die with you![[59]] Why this indecent haste? Had the Pathan stormed the city? Had he attempted to violate the sanctity of the Rawala? And though he had, could you not die as Rajputs, like your ancestors? Was it thus they gained a name? Was it thus our race became renowned—thus they opposed the might of kings? Have you forgotten the Sakhas of Chitor? But whom do I address—not Rajputs? Had the honour of your females been endangered, had you sacrificed them all and rushed sword in hand on the enemy, your name would have lived, and the Almighty would have secured the seed of Bappa Rawal. But to owe preservation [467] to this unhallowed deed! You did not even await the threatened danger. Fear seems to have deprived you of every faculty, or you might have spared the blood of Sriji,[[60]] and if you did not scorn to owe your safety to deception, might have substituted some less noble victim! But the end of our race approaches!"
Fate of the Murderers.
The elder brother of Javana[[64]] died two years ago. Had he lived he would have been Amra the Third. With regard to Ajit, the curse has been fully accomplished. Scarcely a month after, his wife and two sons were numbered with the dead; and the hoary traitor has since been wandering from shrine to shrine, performing penance and alms in expiation of his sins, yet unable to fling from him ambition; and with his beads in one hand, Rama! Rama! ever on his tongue, and subdued passion in his looks, his heart is deceitful as ever. Enough of him: let us exclaim with Sangram, “Dust on his head,”[[65]] which all the waters of the Ganges could not purify from the blood of the virgin Krishna, but
rather would the multitudinous sea incarnadine [468].
Amīr Khan rewarded by the British.
The mind sickens at the contemplation of these unvarying scenes of atrocity; but this unhappy State had yet to pass through two more lustres of aggravated sufferings (to which the author of these annals was an eye-witness) before their [469] termination, upon the alliance of Mewar with Britain. From the period of the forcing of the passes, the dismissal of the Jaipur embassy by Sindhia, and the murder of Krishna Kunwari, the embassy of Britain was in the train of the Mahratta leader, a witness of the evils described—a most painful predicament—when the hand was stretched out for succour in vain, and the British flag waved in the centre of desolation, unable to afford protection. But this day of humiliation is past, thanks to the predatory hordes who goaded us on to their destruction; although the work was incomplete, a nucleus being imprudently left in Sindhia for the scattered particles again to form.
Ruin of Mewār by the Marāthas.
Sindhia’s father-in-law, when expelled that chief’s camp, according to the treaty, enjoyed the ephemeral dignity of minister to the Rana, when he abstracted the most valuable records, especially those of the revenue [470].
Kumbhalmer was obtained by the minister Satidas from Jaswant Rao Bhao for seventy thousand rupees, for which assignments were given on this district, of which he retained possession. Amir Khan in A.D. 1809 led his myrmidons to the capital, threatening the demolition of the temple of Eklinga if refused a contribution of eleven lakhs of rupees. Nine were agreed to, but which by no effort could be raised, upon which the Rana’s envoys were treated with indignity, and Kishandas[[68]] wounded. The passes were forced, Amir Khan entering by Debari, and his coadjutor and son-in-law, the notorious Jamshid, by the Chirwa, which made but a feeble resistance. The ruffian Pathans were billeted on the city, subjecting the Rana to personal humiliation, and Jamshid[[69]] left with his licentious Rohillas in the capital. The traces of their barbarity are to be seen in its ruins. No woman could safely venture abroad, and a decent garment or turban was sufficient to attract their cupidity.