[5]. [Qarāwal, ‘the manège.’]
[6]. [At a very early date in Macedonia no Macedonian was permitted to lie down at table who had not slain a wild boar without the nets (W. Smith, Dict. Geography, ii. 234).]
[7]. [The normal revenue is now nearly six lakhs (IGI, ix. 85).]
[8]. [Golandāz, ‘an artillery man.’ Jinsi is a Marātha term; probably Jinsi topkhāna, or ‘artillery,’ Jins meaning ‘commodities, supplies’; Jinsi topkhāna, ‘light artillery’ (Irvine, Army of the Indian Moghuls, 133).]
[9]. For an account of these transactions, vide Chapter XI., Annals of Kotah.
[10]. It was from this ground I detached thirty-two firelocks of my guard, supported by two hundred of the regent’s men, with two camel swivels, to beat up a portion of the main Pindari horde, when broken by our armies. But my little band outmarched the auxiliaries, and when they came upon the foe, they found a camp of 1500 instead of 500 men; but nothing daunted, and the surprise being complete, they poured in sixty rounds before the day broke, and cleared their camp. Then, each mounting a marauder’s horse and driving a laden camel before him, they returned within the twenty-four hours, having marched sixty miles, and slain more than four times their numbers. Nothing so clearly illustrated the destitution of all moral courage in the freebooters, as their conduct on this occasion; for at dawn of day, when the smoke cleared away, and they saw the handful of men who had driven them into the Kali Sind, a body of about four hundred returned to the attack; but my Sipahis, dismounting, allowed the boldest to approach within pistol-shot before they gave their fire, which sufficed to make the lancers wheel off. The situation recalled the din which announced their return: upon which occasion, going out to welcome them, I saw the regent’s camp turn out, and the trees were crowded with spectators, to enjoy the triumphal entry of the gallant little band with the spoils of the spoiler. The prize was sold and divided on the drum-head, and yielded six or eight months’ pay to each; but it did not rest here, for Lord Hastings promoted the non-commissioned officers and several of the men, giving to all additional pay for life.
The effect of this exploit was surprising; the country people, who hitherto would as soon have thought of plundering his Satanic majesty as a Pindari, amassed all the spoils abandoned on their flight, and brought them to the camp of the regent; who, as he never admitted the spoils of an enemy into his treasury, sent it all to our tents to be at my disposal. But, as I could see no right that we had to it, I proposed that the action should be commemorated by the erection of a bridge, bearing Lord Hastings’ name. There were the spoils of every region; many trays of gold necklaces, some of which were strings of Venetian sequins; coins of all ages (from which I completed a series of the Mogul kings), and five or six thousand head of cattle of every description. The regent adopted my suggestion: a bridge of fifteen arches was constructed, extending over the river at the breadth of a thousand feet, eastward of Kotah; and though more solid and useful than remarkable for beauty, will serve to perpetuate, as Hastin-pul, the name of a gallant soldier and enlightened statesman, who emancipated India from the scourge of the Pindaris. He is now beyond the reach of human praise, and the author may confess that he is proud of having suggested, planned, and watched to its completion, this trophy to his fame. [The Marquess of Hastings died on November 28, 1826.]