[40]. With this battle the Raj Rupaka and Surya Prakas terminate. [All the rhetoric of the bard cannot disguise what was really a Rājput defeat. Their force advanced to Adālaj, about eight miles from Ahmadābād, and was defeated. Abhai Singh took up a new position, and a still more bloody engagement followed, in which each side tried to kill the opposing commander; but as both Mubārizu-l-mulk, who was known as Sarbuland Khān, and Abhai Singh fought in disguise, neither party succeeded. The Rāthors were finally pursued as far as Sarkhej, and it was only on Mubārizu-l-mulk receiving a lakh of rupees (£6666) that he was induced to go to Agra. See Khāli Khan’s account in Elliot-Dowson vii. 530, and BG, i. Part i. 310 f.]
CHAPTER 11
Jealousy of Abhai Singh to Bakht Singh.
Abhai Singh attacks Bīkaner.
The scheme being approved, its execution and mode of development to Jai Singh were next canvassed. “Touch his pride,” said Karna; “tell him the insult to Amber, which your ancestor invested, has never been balanced, and that he will never find a time like the present to fling a few shot at Jodhpur.”
Bakht Singh intrigues to cause War with Jaipur.
The prince of Amber, towards the close of his career, became partial to ‘the cup’; but, aware of the follies it involved him in, an edict prohibited all official intercourse with him while he was under its influence. The direct overture of Bakhta was canvassed, and all interference between the kindred belligerents was rejected in a full council of the chiefs of Amber. But the envoy had a friend in the famous Vidyadhar,[[2]] the chief civil minister of the State, through whose means he obtained permission to make ‘a verbal report, standing.’ “Bikaner,” he said, “was in peril, and without his aid must fall, and that his master did not consider the sovereign of Marwar, but of Amber, as his suzerain.” Vanity and wine did the rest. The prince took up the pen and wrote to Abhai Singh, “That they all formed one great family; to forgive Bikaner and raise his batteries”: and as he took another cup, and [110] curled his moustache, he gave the letter to be folded. “Maharaja,” said the envoy, “put in two more words: ‘or, my name is Jai Singh.’” They were added. The overjoyed envoy retired, and in a few minutes the letter was on transit to its destination by the swiftest camel of the desert. Scarcely had the envoy retired, when the chief of Bansko,[[3]] the Mentor of Jai Singh, entered. He was told of the letter, which “would vex his Saga.”[[4]] The old chief remonstrated; he said, “Unless you intend to extinguish the Kachhwahas, recall this letter.” Messenger after messenger was sent, but the envoy knew his duty. At the dinner hour all the chiefs had assembled at the (Rasora) banquet-hall, when the spokesman of the vassalage, old Dip Singh, in reply to the communication of his sovereign, told him he had done a cruel and wanton act, and that they must all suffer for his imprudence.
The reply, a laconic defiance, was brought back with like celerity; it was opened and read by Jai Singh to his chiefs: “By what right do you dictate to me, or interfere between me and my servants? If your name is ‘Lion of Victory’ (Jai Singh), mine is ‘the Lion without Fear’ (Abhai Singh).”[[5]]
The ancient chief, Dip Singh, said: “I told you how it would be; but there is no retreat, and our business is to collect our friends.” The Kher, or ‘levy en masse,’ was proclaimed: Every Kachhwaha was commanded to repair to the great standard planted outside the capital. The home-clans came pouring in, and aid was obtained from the Haras of Bundi, the Jadons of Karauli, the Sesodias of Shahpura, the Khichis, and the Jats, until one hundred thousand men were formed beneath the castle of Amber. This formidable array proceeded, march after march, until they reached Gangwana, a village on the frontier of Marwar.[[6]] Here they encamped, and, with all due courtesy, awaited the arrival of the ‘Fearless Lion.’