[19]. [By another account he died at Agra (Erskine iii. A, 59).]
[20]. Salabat Khan Bakhshi, he is called. The office of Bakhshi is not only one of paymaster (as it implies), but of inspection and audit. We can readily imagine, with such levies as he had to muster and pay, his post was more honourable than secure, especially with such a band as was headed by Amra, ready to take offence if the wind but displaced their moustache. The annals declare that Amra had a feud (vair) with Salabat; doubtless for no better reason than that he fulfilled the trust reposed in him by the emperor. [The title Khān implies that Salābat Khān was a Pathān, not a Sayyid, whose title would be Mīr.]
[21]. The palace within the citadel (kila), built of red (lal) freestone. [This tragedy occurred on August 5, 1644 (Beale, Oriental Biographical Dict. s.v. “Salābat Khān,” gives July 25, 1644). European writers of the period give varying accounts of what seems to have been the same event. Tavernier (ed. Ball, ii. 219) says that the victim was “the Grand Master of the King’s house,” and that it occurred in 1642. Manucci states that the officer who was assassinated was the Wazīr, Wazīr Khān (i. 207 f.). It forms the subject of a popular song, still sung by the bards (Temple, Legends of the Panjāb, ii. 242 ff.). Though the assassination occurred at Agra, a mark is still shown on a pillar in the Dīwān-i-‘Āmm at Delhi, possibly marking the same occurrence, where a prince of Chitor is said to have stabbed one of the ministers (Sleeman, Rambles, 515). The tomb of Bakhshi Salābat Khān stands between Agra and Sikandra (Syad Muhammad Latif, Agra, 77, 195).]
[22]. It may be useful to record such facts, by the way of contrast with the state policy of the west, and for the sake of observing that which would actuate the present paramount power of India should any of its tributary princes defy them as Amra did that of the universal potentate of that country. Even these despots borrowed a lesson of mercy from the Rajput system, which does not deem treason hereditary, nor attaints a whole line for the fault of one unworthy link. Shah Jahan, instead of visiting the sins of the father on the son, installed him in his fief of Nagor. This son was Rae Singh; and it devolved to his children and grandchildren,[[A]] until Indar Singh the fourth in descent, was expelled by the head of the Rathors, who, in the weakness of the empire, reannexed Nagor to Jodhpur. But perhaps we have not hitherto dared to imitate the examples set us by the Mogul and even by the Mahratta; not having sufficient hold of the affections of the subjected to venture to be merciful; and thence our vengeance, like the bolt of heaven, sears the very heart of our enemies. Witness the many chieftains ejected from their possessions; from the unhallowed league against the Rohillas, to that last act of destruction at Bharatpur, where, as arbitrators, we acted the part of the lion in the fable. Our present attitude, however, is so commanding, that we can afford to display the attribute of mercy; and should, unfortunately, its action be required in Rajputana, let it be ample, for there its grateful influence is understood, and it will return, like the dews of heaven, upon ourselves. But if we are only to regulate our political actions by the apprehension of danger, it must one day recoil upon us in awful retribution. Our system is filled with evil to the governed, where a fit of bile in ephemeral political agents, may engender a quarrel leading to the overthrow of a dominion of ages.
[A]. Namely, Hathi Singh, his son Anup Singh, his son Indar Singh, his son Mokham Singh. This lineal descendant of Raja Gaj, and the rightful heir to the “cushion of Jodha,” has dwindled into one of the petty Thakurs, or lords of Marwar. The system is one of eternal vicissitudes, amidst which the germ of reproduction [47] never perishes.
[23]. Since these remarks were written, Captain Steell related to the author a singular anecdote connected with the above circumstance. While the work of demolition was proceeding, Captain Steell was urgently warned by the natives of the danger he incurred in the operation, from a denunciation on the closing of the gate, that it should thenceforward be guarded by a huge serpent—when suddenly, the destruction of the gate being nearly completed, a large cobra-de-capello rushed between his legs, as if in fulfilment of the anathema. Captain Steell fortunately escaped without injury. [The south gate of the Agra Fort is known as that of Amar Singh.]
CHAPTER 6
Rāja Jaswant Singh, A.D. 1638-78.
“Jaswant (says the Bardai) was unequalled amongst the princes of his time. Stupidity and ignorance were banished; and science flourished where he ruled: many were the books composed under his auspices.”[[1]]