“The king was seated on his throne, attended by the seventy-two grand Omras of the empire, when tidings reached him of the revolt of Sarbuland. There was the wazir Kamaru-din Khan, Itimadu-Daula, Khandauran, commander-in-chief [101] (Mir Bakhshi), Samsamu-d-daula, the Amiru-Umara, Mansur Ali, Roshanu-d-daula, Tura Baz Khan, the Lord Marcher (Sim ka Bakhshi); Rustam Jang, Afghan Khan, Khwaja Sayyidu-d-din, commandant of artillery (Mir Atish); Saadat Khan,[[21]] grand chamberlain (Darogha Khawass), Burhanu-l-Mulk, Abdul Samad Khan, Dalil Khan, Zafariyab Khan, governor of Lahore, Dalel Khan, Mir Jumla, Khankhanan; Zafar Jang, Iradat Khan, Murshid Kuli Khan, Ja’far Khan, Allahwirdi Khan,[[22]] Muzaffar Khan, governor of Ajmer. Such and many more were assembled in the Presence.
“It was read aloud that Sarbuland had reduced Gujarat, and proclaimed his own an; that he had ground the Kolis to dust; that he had vanquished the Mandalas, the Jhalas, the Chudasamas, the Baghels, and the Gohils, and had nearly exterminated the Balas; that Halar had agreed to pay tribute, and that such was the fire of this Yavan, that the Bhumias of themselves abandoned their strongholds to seek sanctuary with him whom the ‘seventeen thousand’[[23]] now called sovereign; that he had set himself up a king in Ahmadabad, and made a league with the ‘Southron.’
“The emperor saw that if this defection was not quelled, all the viceroys would declare themselves independent. Already had Jagaria Khan in the north, Saadat Khan in the east, and the Mlechchha Nizamu-l-mulk in the south, shown the blackness of their designs. The tap (verve) of the empire had fled.
“The bira was placed on a golden salver, which the Mir Tajik bore in his extended arms, slowly passing in front of the nobles ranged on either side of the throne, mighty men, at the sight of whose faces the rustic would tremble: but in vain he passed both lines; no hand was stretched forth; some looked awry; some trembled; but none cast an eye upon the bira.
“The ‘almighty monarch’ (Parameswar Padshah), who could make the beggar an Omra of twelve thousand, and the noble of twelve thousand a beggar, was without resource. ‘Who,’ said one, ‘would grasp the forked lightning, let him engage Sarbuland!’ Another exclaimed, ‘Who would seize the vessel, and plunge with her in the whirlpool, he may contend with Sarbuland.’ And a third, ‘Whoever [102] dare seize the forked tongue of the serpent, let him engage Sarbuland.’ The king was troubled; he gave a sign to the Mir Tajik to return the bira to him.
“The Rathor prince saw the monarch’s distress, and as he was about to leave the Ammkhass, he stretched forth his hand, and placed the bira in his turban, as he said, ‘Be not cast down, O king of the world; I will pluck down this Sarbuland:[[24]] leafless shall be the boughs of his ambition, and his head (sar) the forfeit of his arrogant exaltation (buland).’
“When Abhai Singh grasped the bira, the breasts of the mighty were ready to burst with the fulness of envy, even like the ripe pomegranate, as the king placed the grant of Gujarat into the hands of the Rathor. The Shah’s heart was rejoiced, as he said, ‘Thus acted your ancestors in support of the throne; thus was quelled the revolt of Khurram and Bhim in the time of Jahangir; that of the Deccan settled; and in like manner do I trust that by you the honour and the throne of Muhammad Shah will be upheld.’
“Rich gifts, including seven gems of great price, were bestowed upon the Rathor; the treasury was unlocked and thirty-one lakhs of coin were assigned for the troops. The guns were taken from the arsenals, and with the patent of the vice-royalties of Ahmadabad and Ajmer, in the month of Asarh (1786), Abhai took leave of the king.”[[25]]
Abhai Singh starts for Gujarat, A.D. 1730.
Having installed his officers in Ajmer, Abhai Singh proceeded to Merta, when he was met by his brother, Bakhta Singh, on which occasion the grant of Nagor was bestowed upon the latter. The brothers continued their route to the capital, when all the chiefs were dismissed to their homes with injunctions to assemble their vassals for the ensuing campaign against Sarbuland. At the appointed time, the Kher (feudal array) of Marwar assembled under the walls of Jodhpur. The occasion is a delightful one to the bard, who revels in all “the pomp and circumstance of war”: from the initiatory ceremony, the moving out the tents, to the consecration of the ‘mighty tubes’ (balwannal), the ‘volcanos of the field,’ or, as he terms them, the ‘crocodile-mouths’ (magarmukhan), ‘emblems of Yama,’ which were sprinkled abundantly with the blood of goats slain under their muzzles. He describes each clan as it arrives, their steeds, and caparisons.