Invasion of Nādir Shāh.
Unfortunately for Rajputana, the demoralization of her princes prevented their turning to advantage this depression of the empire, in whose follies and crimes they participated.
With the foul and monstrous murder of the Raja Ajit (A.D. 1750) commenced those bloody scenes which disgrace the annals of Marwar; yet even in the history of her crimes there are acts of redeeming virtue, which raise a sentiment of regret that the lustre of the one should be tarnished by the presence of the other. They serve, however, to illustrate that great moral truth, that in every stage of civilization crime will work out its own punishment; and grievously has the parricidal murder of Ajit been visited on his race and country. We shall see it acting as a blight on that magnificent tree, which, transplanted from the native soil of the Ganges, took root and flourished amidst the arid sands of the desert, affording a goodly shade for a daring race, who acquired fresh victories with poverty—we shall see its luxuriance checked, and its numerous and widely spread branches, as if [115] scorched by the lightnings of heaven, wither and decay; and they must utterly perish, unless a scion, from the uncontaminated stem of Idar,[[16]] be grafted upon it: then it may revive, and be yet made to yield more vigorous fruit.
[1]. [Sujān Singh (A.D. 1700-35) served in the Deccan from 1707 to 1719.]
[2]. Vidyadhar was a Brahman of Bengal, a scholar and man of science. The plan of the modern city of Amber, named Jaipur, was his: a city as regular as Darmstadt. He was also the joint compiler of the celebrated genealogical tables which appear in the first volume of this work.
[3]. [One of the twelve kothris or houses of Jaipur, the Kumbhāni.]
[4]. Saga is a term denoting a connexion by marriage [more generally a blood relation].
[5]. I write the names as pronounced, and as familiar to the readers of Indian history. Jaya, in Sanskrit, is ‘victory,’ Abhai, ‘fearless.’
[6]. [Now in Ajmer District, about 8 miles N.N.W. of Ajmer city.]