The siege had lasted five months without any diminution of the ardour of the defenders; and although the defences of the north-east angle were destroyed, the besiegers, having a perpendicular rock of eighty feet to ascend before they could get to the breach, were not nearer their object, and, in fact, without shells, the castle of Jodha would laugh a siege to scorn. The numerous and motley force under the banners of Jaipur and the pretender, became clamorous for pay; the forage was exhausted, and the partisan horse were obliged to bivouac in the distant districts to the south. Availing himself of their separation from the main body, Amir Khan, an apt pupil of the Mahratta school, began to raise contributions on the fiscal lands, and Pali, Pipar, Bhilara, with many others, were compelled to accede to his demands. The estates of the nobles who espoused the cause of the pretender, fared no better, and they complained to the Xerxes of this host of the conduct of this unprincipled commander.
Amir Khān supports Mān Singh. Defeat of the Jaipur Army A.D. 1806.
The Confederacy against Jodhpur dissolved.
Jodhpur Booty recovered.
[1]. My own venerable tutor, Yati Gyanchandra, who was with me for ten years, said he owed all his knowledge, especially his skill in reciting poetry (in which he surpassed all the bards at Udaipur), to Zalim Singh. [He died at Kāchbali in the British District of Merwāra in 1799 (Erskine iii. A. 70).]
[2]. [138] Amongst the numerous autograph correspondence of the princes of Rajputana with the princes of Mewar, of which I had the free use, I selected one letter of S. 1784, A.D. 1728, written conjointly by Jai Singh of Amber and Abhai Singh of Jodhpur, regarding Idar, and which is so curious, that I give a verbatim translation in the Appendix (No. [I].). [See end of Vol. III.] I little thought at the time how completely it would prove Abhai Singh’s determination to cut off all but his own parricidal issue from the succession. An inspection of the genealogy (p. [1075]) will show that Anand Singh, of Idar, who was not to be allowed “to escape alive,” was his younger brother, adopted into that house.
[3]. Dhonkal Singh, the posthumous issue of Bhim, the last of the parricidal line, whether real or supposititious, must be set aside, and the pure current of Rathor blood, derived from Siahji, Jodha, Jaswant, and Ajit, be brought from Idar, and installed on “the gaddi of Jodha.” This course of proceeding would meet universal approbation, with the exception of some selfish miscreants about the person of this pretended son of Bhim, or the chieftain of Pokaran, in furtherance of his and his grandfather’s yet unavenged feud. A sketch of the events, drawn from their own chronicles, and accompanied by reflections, exposing the miseries springing from an act of turpitude, would come home to all, and they would shower blessings on the power which, while it fulfilled the duties of protector, destroyed the germ of internal dissension, and gave them a prince of their own pure blood, whom all parties could honour and obey. If a doubt remained of the probable unanimity of such policy, let it be previously submitted to a panchayat, composed of the princes of the land, namely, of Mewar, Amber, Kotah, Bundi, Jaisalmer, etc., leaving out whichever may be influenced by marriage connexions with Dhonkal Singh.
[4]. This mark of mourning is common to all India. Where this evidence of manhood is not yet visible, the hair is cut off; often both.
[5]. Vaidya, or ‘learned man’; the term veda is also used to denote cunning, magic, or knowledge of whatever kind.