CHAPTER 6
Bhainsrorgarh, February 19.—Bhainsrorgarh,[[1]] ten miles, four furlongs; thermometer 51°; atmosphere dense and oppressive, and roads execrable, through a deep forest; but for the hatchets of my friends, my baggage never could have been got on. We passed several hamlets, consisting of a dozen or more huts, the first of which I find belongs to my young friend Morji of Gura, himself a vassal of the Pramar of Bijoli (one of the sixteen Omras of Mewar), and holding a few bighas of bhum, as his bat or share of the bapota (patrimony) of Barao. We have elsewhere given a copy of the tenure on which Morji holds a village in the fief of Bijoli.[[2]] At seven miles from Dangarmau, we came to a small shrine of an Islamite saint, who buried himself alive. It is an elevated point, from whence is a wild but lovely prospect. There is a kund, or ‘fountain,’ planted with trees, close to the shrine, which attracts a weekly mela or ‘fair,’ attended by all classes, who cannot help attributing some virtue to a spot where a saint, though a Muslim, thus expiated his sins. In descending, we heard the roaring of mighty waters, and soon came upon the Bamani, forming a fine cascade of about fifty feet in height; its furious course during the monsoon is apparent from the weeds it has left on the trees, at least twenty feet above its present level. The fall of the country is rapid, even from this lower spot, to the bed of the Chambal. Uparmal must have a considerable elevation above the table-land of Janapao, where the Chambal and other streams have their fountains; but of all this we shall by and by form a more correct opinion. We passed the cairn of a Rajput who fell defending his post against the Minas of the Kairar, a tract on the banks of the Banas, filled with this banditti, in one of their last irruptions which disturbed the peace of this region. Each traveller adds a stone, and I gave my mite to swell the heap [649].
The patta of Bhainsror is held by Raghunath Singh, one of the sixteen great lords of Mewar, having the very ancient title of Rawat, peculiar to Rajputana, and the diminutive of Rao.[[3]] Bhainsror is one of the best fiefs of Mewar, and the lands attached to it are said to be capable of yielding one lakh of annual revenue, equal to £50,000 in the dearest countries of Europe; and when I add that a cavalier can support himself, his steed, etc., on £50, its relative value will at once be understood. He has also a toll upon the ferries of the Chambal, though not content therewith, he levied until lately a percentage on all merchandise, besides impositions on travellers of whatever description, under the name of kot ki marummat, or ‘repairs of the castle’: were we, however, to judge by its dilapidated condition, we should say his exactions were very light, or the funds were misapplied. This is the sole passage of the Chambal for a great extent, and all the commerce of higher Malwa, Haraoti, and Mewar passes through this domain. The class of Banjaras (traders) termed Vaishnava, long established at the city of Pur in Mewar, frequent no other route in their journey from the salt-lakes of the desert to Malwa or Bundelkhand. Their tanda or caravan consists of six thousand bullocks, and they never make less than two, and often three, trips in the year. The duty of the Raj is five rupees for each hundred head thus laden; but the feudatory, not content with his imposition of ‘castle repairs’ and ‘bhum’ as lord of the manor, has added a hundred and fifty per cent to the regular transit duty of the State, which is divided into two items; namely, three rupees and a half for the ferry, and as much for bolai, or safe escort through his territory. But as Haraoti always afforded protection (which could be said of no other region of independent India), the ghat of the Chambal was much frequented, in spite of these heavy drawbacks to industry. My friend the Rawat has, however, found it expedient to remove all these war-taxes, retaining only that portion which has been attached to the frontier post, for protection; and a portion of the ferry-rate granted to this fief nearly two centuries ago. Instead of about fifteen per cent, as heretofore levied, including that of the crown, it amounts to less than one-half, and the revenue has been quadrupled!
Bhainsrorgarh Fort.
The Rapids of the Chambal.
On the north alone is it accessible, and there the hill is scarped; but this scarp, which is about three hundred yards distant, forms a good cover, and a few shells thence played upon the castle would soon compel it to surrender. The rock is a soft, loose, blue schistose slate, which would not retard the miner. The approach from the river, here about five hundred yards wide, would be destruction. It is never fordable, and its translucent sea-green waters are now full forty feet in depth. When in the periodical rains it accumulates at its source, and is fed during its passage by many minor streams from the Vindhya and this oberland, its velocity is overwhelming; it rises above the opposing bank, and laying the whole tract to the base of the tableland of Haraoti under water, sweeps away in its irresistible course even the rocks. Speculation might here be exhausted in vain attempts to explain how nature could overcome this formidable obstacle to her operations, and how the stream could effect its passage through this adamantine barrier. The channel cut in the rock is as clean as if performed by the chisel, and standing on the summit of the cliff, which is from three hundred to seven hundred feet in height, one discerns in imagination the marks of union: to use the words of our last great bard, on the Rhone,
Heights which appear as lovers who have parted
In hate, whose mining depths so intervene,
That they can meet no more, though broken-hearted.