Foundation of Bīkaner, A.D. 1455-88.
When Bika was thus firmly established, his uncle Kandhal, to whose spirit of enterprise he was mainly indebted for success, departed with his immediate kin to the northward, with a view of settling in fresh conquests. He successively subjugated the communities of Asaich, Beniwal, and Saran, which cantons are mostly occupied by his descendants, styled Kandhalot Rathors, at this day, and although they form an integral portion of the Bikaner State, they evince, in their independent bearing to its chief, that their estates were “the gift of their own swords, not of his patents”; and they pay but a reluctant and nominal obedience to his authority. When necessity or avarice imposes a demand for tribute, it is often met by a flat refusal, accompanied with such a comment as this: “Who made this Raja? Was it not our common ancestor, Kandhal? Who is he, who presumes to levy tribute from us?” Kandhal’s career of conquest was cut short by the emperor’s lieutenant in Hissar; he was slain in attempting this important fortress.
Death of Bīka. Nūnkaran or Lūnkaran, A.D. 1504-26.
Jeth Singh, A.D. 1526-41.
Kalyān Singh, A.D. 1541-71.
Rāē Singh, A.D. 1571-1611. Bīkaner subject to the Mughals. Akbar’s Marriage.
Subjugation of the Johyas.
Traditions of Greek Settlements.
The affinity that this word (Hakra) has both to the Ghaggar, and Sankra,[[25]] would lead to the conclusion of either being the stream referred to. The former we know as being engulphed in the sands about the Hariana confines, while the Sankra is a stream which, though now dry, was used as a line of demarcation even in the time of Nadir Shah. It ran eastward, parallel with the Indus, and by making it his boundary, Nadir added all the fertile valley of the Indus to his Persian kingdom. (See map.) The only date this legendary stanza assigns for the catastrophe is the reign of the Sodha prince, Hamir.
Ram Singh, having thus destroyed the power of future resistance in the Johyas, turned his arms against the Punia Jats, the last who preserved their ancient liberty. They were vanquished, and the Rajputs were inducted into their most valuable possessions. But the conqueror paid the penalty of his life for the glory of colonizing the lands of the Punias. He was slain in their expiring effort to shake off the yoke of the stranger; and though the Ramsinghgots add to the numerical strength, and enlarge the territory of the heirs of Bika, they, like the Kandhalots, little increase the power [188] of the State, to which their obedience is nominal. Sidmukh and Sanku are the two chief places of the Ramsinghgots.