[41]. If this is the Hamira alluded to in the Annals of Bikaner, in whose time the Ghaggar River ceased to flow in these lands, we have another date assigned to a fact of great physical importance.
[42]. Here we have another synchronism. In the Kumarpal Charitra, or history of the kings of Anhilwara Patan, the reign of Siddhraj was from S. 1150 to S. 1201, or A.D. 1094 to 1145 [1094-1143]; the point of time intermediate between the invasion of Mahmud of Ghazni and the final conquest of India by Shihabu-d-din, during which there were many irruptions into India by the lieutenants of the monarchs of Ghazni. There was one in the reign of Masud, in A.H. 492 (A.D. 1098), four years after the accession of Siddhraj; another in A.D. 1120, in the reign of Bairam Shah, during which, according to Ferishta, the Ghaznevide general, Balin, rebelled and assailed the Hindu Rajas from Nagor, where he established himself. [His real name was Muhammad Bahlīm (Ferishta i. 151).] In all probability this is the event alluded to by the queen of Patan, when she nominated the Bhatti prince as her champion.
[43]. [Siddharāja Jayasingha had no son, and he was succeeded by Kumārapāla; and Ajayapāla, who succeeded in A.D. 1174, was son of Mahipāla, brother of Kumārapāla (BG, i. Part i. 194).] The mention of these simultaneous intermarriages in three of the principal Rajput monarchies of that day, namely, Dhar, Patan, and Chitor, is important, not only as establishing fresh synchronisms, but as disclosing the intercourse between the Bhattis and the more ancient princely families of India. The period of Udayaditya Pramar has been established beyond cavil (see Trans. R.A.S. vol. i. p. 223), and that of Siddhraj, likewise, whose son and successor, Ajaipal, had but a short reign when he was deposed by Kumarpal, whose date is also found from inscriptions. It is a singular fact that all the Rajput dynasties of these regions were established about the same epoch, namely, Patan by the Chawaras, Chitor by the Guhilots, Delhi, refounded by the Tuars, and the Bhatti principality by the descendant of Salbahan. This was in the middle of the eighth century of Vikramaditya, when the older Hindu governments were broken up. The admission of the Bhatti to intermarry with their families proves one of two facts: either that they were considered Rajputs, notwithstanding their being inhabitants of the regions beyond the Indus; or, that the families mentioned, with which they intermarried, were Indo-Scythic like themselves.
[44]. At every step we see, however meagre may be the outline, the correctness of this historical sketch. It was, according to Ferishta, in A.H. 555 (A.D. 1159 [1150], or S. 1215) that the prince of Ghor conquered Ghazni, and immediately after overran Multan and Sind (see Briggs, vol. i. p. 153); and doubtless it was on this occasion that the Bhatti prince swore allegiance to Shihabu-d-din, and obtained the force which drove his nephew from Lodorva, which being sacked by his auxiliaries, he founded Jaisalmer in S. 1212. The three years’ discrepancy between the Muhammadan and Hindu dates is of little consequence; but even this could be remedied, when we recollect that the Samvat, according to Mr. Colebrooke, is liable to a variation of ten years.
[45]. Tatta was not then in existence. It was founded about the middle of the fifteenth century.
[46]. If there were no better support for the assumed descent of the Bhatti founder of Jaisalmer from the Yadus of the Bharat than this prophecy, we should be confirmed in our suspicion that they are a colony of the Yuti, and that the Brahmans took advantage of the nominal resemblance to incorporate them in the Chhattis Rajkula, or Thirty-six Royal Races.
[47]. Lodorva remains in ruins; a journey thither might afford subject-matter for the antiquary, and enable him to throw light upon the origin of the Bhatti tribe. I omitted to place it in the Map; it is ten miles N.W. of the present capital.
CHAPTER 3
Having thus epitomized the Bhatti annals, from the expulsion of the tribe from the Panjab, and the establishment of Tanot in the Indian desert, in A.D. 731, to the foundation of the existing capital, Jaisalmer, in A.D. 1156, we shall continue the sketch to the present day, nearly in the language of the chronicle, adding explanatory notes as we proceed.