Chapter 7 (2)

It has been already remarked that the Jat divided with the Takshak the claim of being the parent name of the various tribes called Scythic, invaders of India; and there is now before the author an inscription of the fifth century applying both epithets to the same prince,[2.7.114] who is invested moreover with the Scythic quality of worshipping the sun. It states, likewise, that the mother of this Jat prince was of Yadu race: strengthening their claims to a niche amongst the thirty-six Rajkulas, as well as their Yadu descent.

The fifth century of the Christian era, to which this inscription belongs, is a period of interest in Jat history. De Guignes, from original authorities, states the Yueh-chi or Jats to have established themselves in the Panjab in the fifth and sixth centuries, and the inscription now quoted applies to a prince whose capital is styled Salindrapura in these regions; and doubtless the Salivahanpur[2.7.115] where the Yadu Bhattis established themselves on the expulsion of the Tak.

How much earlier than this the Jat penetrated into Rajasthan must be left to more ancient inscriptions to determine: suffice it that in A.D. 440 we find him in power.[2.7.116]

When the Yadu was expelled from Salivahanpura, and forced to seek refuge [108] across the Sutlej among the Dahia and Johya Rajputs of the Indian desert, where they founded their first capital, Derawar, many from compulsion embraced the Muhammadan faith; on which occasion they assumed the name of Jat,[2.7.117] of which at least twenty different offsets are enumerated in the Yadu chronicles.

That the Jats continued as a powerful community on the east bank of the Indus and in the Panjab, fully five centuries after the period our inscription and their annals illustrate, we have the most interesting records in the history of Mahmud, the conqueror of India, whose progress they checked in a manner unprecedented in the annals of continental warfare. It was in 416 of the Hegira (A.D. 1026) that Mahmud marched an army against the Jats, who had harassed and insulted him on the return from his last expedition against Saurashtra. The interest of the account authorizes its being given from the original.

“The Jats inhabited the country on the borders of Multan, along the river that runs by the mountains of Jud.[2.7.118] When Mahmud reached Multan, finding the Jat country defended by great rivers, he built fifteen hundred boats,[2.7.119] each armed with six iron spikes projecting from their prows, to prevent their being boarded by the enemy, expert in this kind of warfare. In each boat he placed twenty archers, and some with fire-balls of naphtha to burn the Jat fleet. The monarch having determined on their extirpation, awaited the result at Multan. The Jats sent their wives, children, and effects to Sind Sagar,[2.7.120] and launched four thousand, or, as others say, eight thousand boats well armed to meet the Ghaznians. A terrible conflict ensued, but the projecting spikes sunk the Jat boats while others were set on fire. Few escaped from this scene of terror; and those who did, met with the more severe fate of captivity.”[2.7.121]

Many doubtless did escape; and it is most probable that the Jat communities, on whose overthrow the State of Bikaner was founded, were remnants of this very warfare [109].

Not long after this event the original empire of the Getae was overturned, when many fugitives found a refuge in India. In 1360 Togultash Timur was the great Khan of the Getae nation; idolaters even to this period. He had conquered Khorasan, invaded Transoxiana (whose prince fled, but whose nephew, Amir Timur, averted its subjugation), gained the friendship of Togultash, and commanded a hundred thousand Getae warriors. In 1369, when the Getic Khan died, such was the ascendancy obtained by Timur over his subjects, that the Kuriltai, or general assembly, transferred the title of Grand Khan from the Getic to the Chagatai Timur. In 1370 he married a Getic princess, and added Khokhand and Samarkand to his patrimony, Transoxiana. Rebellions and massacres almost depopulated this nursery of mankind, ere the Getae abandoned their independence; nor was it till 1388, after six invasions, in which he burnt their towns, brought away their wealth, and almost annihilated the nation, that he felt himself secure.[2.7.122]

In his expedition into India, having overrun great part of Europe, “taken Moscow, and slain the soldiers of the barbarous Urus,” he encountered his old foes “the Getae, who inhabited the plains of Tohim, where he put two thousand to the sword, pursuing them into the desert and slaughtering many more near the Ghaggar.”[2.7.123]

Still the Jat maintained himself in the Panjab, and the most powerful and independent prince of India at this day is the Jat prince of Lahore, holding dominion over the identical regions where the Yueh-chi colonized in the fifth century, and where the Yadus, driven from Ghazni, established themselves on the ruins of the Taks. The Jat cavalier retains a portion of his Scythic manners, and preserves the use of the chakra or discus, the weapon of the Yadu Krishna in the remote age of the Bharat.

=Hun or Hūn.=—Amongst the Scythic tribes who have secured for themselves a niche with the thirty-six races of India, is the Hun. At what period this race, so well known by its ravages and settlement in Europe, invaded India, we know not.[2.7.124] Doubtless it was in the society of many others yet found in the peninsula of [110] Saurashtra, as the Kathi, the Bala, the Makwana, etc. It is, however, confined to the genealogies of that peninsula; for although we have mention of the Hun in the chronicles and inscriptions of India at a very early period, he failed to obtain a place in the catalogue of the northern bards.

The earliest notice of the tribe is in an inscription[2.7.125] recording the power of a prince of Bihar, who, amidst his other conquests, “humbled the pride of the Huns.” In the annals of the early history of Mewar, in the catalogue of princes who made common cause with this the chief of all the Rajputs, when Chitor was assailed in the first irruption of the Muhammadans, was Angatsi, lord of the Huns, who led his quota on this occasion. De Guignes[2.7.126] describes Angat as being the name of a considerable horde of Huns or Moguls; and Abulghazi says that the Tartar tribe who guarded the great wall of China were termed Angatti, who had a distinct prince with high pay and honour. The countries inhabited by the Hiong-nou and the Ou-huon, the Turks and Moguls, called ‘Tatar’ from Tatan,[2.7.127] the name of the country from the banks of the Irtish along the mountains of Altai to the shores of the Yellow Sea, are described at large by the historian of the Huns: following whom and other original sources, the historian of the Fall of Rome has given great interest to his narrative of their march into Europe. But those who are desirous to learn all that relates to the past history and manners of this people, must consult that monument of erudition and research, the Geography of Malte-Brun.[2.7.128]

D’Anville,[2.7.129] quoting Cosmas the traveller, informs us that the White Huns (λευκοὶ Ούννοι)[2.7.130] occupied the north of India; and it is most probable a colony of these found their way into Saurashtra and Mewar.

It is on the eastern bank of the Chambal, at the ancient Barolli, that tradition assigns a residence to the Hun; and one of the celebrated temples at that place, called the Singar Chaori, is the marriage hall of the Hun prince, who is also declared to have been possessed of a lordship on the opposite bank, occupying the [111] site of the present town of Bhainsror. In the twelfth century the Hun must have possessed consequence, to occupy the place he holds in the chronicle of the princes of Gujarat. The race is not extinct. One of the most intelligent of the living bards of India assured the author of their existence; and in a tour where he accompanied him, redeemed his pledge, by pointing out the residence of some in a village on the estuary of the Mahi, though degraded and mixed with other classes.[2.7.131]

We may infer that few convulsions occurred in Central Asia, which drove forth these hordes of redundant population to seek subsistence in Europe, without India participating in such overflow. The only singular circumstance is, by what means they came to be recognized as Hindus, even though of the lowest class. Sudra we cannot term them; for although the Kathi and the Bala cannot be regarded as, or classed with Rajputs, they would scorn the rank of Sudra.

=Kāthi.=—Of the ancient notices of this people much has been already said, and all the genealogists, both of Rajasthan and Saurashtra, concur in assigning it a place amongst the royal races of India. It is one of the most important tribes of the western peninsula, and which has effected the change of the name from Saurashtra to Kathiawar.

Of all its inhabitants the Kathi retains most originality: his religion, his manners, and his looks, all are decidedly Scythic. He occupied, in the time of Alexander, that nook of the Panjab near the confluent five streams. It was against these Alexander marched in person, when he nearly lost his life, and where he left such a signal memorial of his vengeance. The Kathi can be traced from these scenes to his present haunts. In the earlier portion of the Annals of Jaisalmer mention is made of their conflicts with the Kathi; and their own traditions[2.7.132] fix their settlement in the peninsula from the south-eastern part of the valley of the Indus, about the eighth century.

In the twelfth century the Kathi were conspicuous in the wars with Prithwiraja, there being several leaders of the tribe attached to his army, as well as to that of [112] his rival, the monarch of Kanauj.[2.7.133] Though on this occasion they acted in some degree of subservience to the monarch of Anhilwara, it would seem that this was more voluntary than forced.

The Kathi still adores the sun,[2.7.134] scorns the peaceful arts, and is much less contented with the tranquil subsistence of industry than the precarious earnings of his former predatory pursuits. The Kathi was never happy but on horseback, collecting his blackmail, lance in hand, from friend and foe.

We will conclude this brief sketch with Captain Macmurdo’s character of this race. “The Kathi differs in some respects from the Rajput. He is more cruel in his disposition, but far exceeds him in the virtue of bravery;[2.7.135] and a character possessed of more energy than a Kathi does not exist. His size is considerably larger than common, often exceeding six feet. He is sometimes seen with light hair and blue-coloured eyes. His frame is athletic and bony, and particularly well adapted to his mode of life. His countenance is expressive, but of the worst kind, being harsh, and often destitute of a single mild feature.”[2.7.136]

=Bāla.=—All the genealogists, ancient and modern, insert the Bala tribe amongst the Rajkulas. The birad, or ‘blessing,’ of the bard is _Tatta Multan ka rao_,[2.7.137] indicative of their original abodes on the Indus. They lay claim, however, to descent from the Suryavansi, and maintain that their great ancestor, Bala or Bapa, was the offspring of Lava, the eldest son of Rama; that their first settlement in Saurashtra was at the ancient Dhank, in more remote periods called Mungi Paithan; and that, in conquering the country adjacent, they termed it Balakshetra (their capital Valabhipura), and assumed the title of Balarae. Here they claim identity with the Guhilot race of Mewar: nor is it impossible that they may be a branch of this family, which long held power in Saurashtra.[2.7.138] Before the Guhilots adopted the worship of Mahadeo, which period is indicated in their annals, the chief object of their adoration was the sun, giving them that Scythic resemblance to which the Balas have every appearance of claim [113].

The Balas on the continent of Saurashtra, on the contrary, assert their origin to be Induvansa, and that they are the Balakaputras who were the ancient lords of Aror on the Indus. It would be presumption to decide between these claims; but I would venture to surmise that they might be the offspring of Salya, one of the princes of the Mahabharata, who founded Aror.

The Kathis claim descent from the Balas: an additional proof of northern origin, and strengthening their right to the epithet of the bards, ‘Lords of Multan and Tatta.’ The Balas were of sufficient consequence in the thirteenth century to make incursions on Mewar, and the first exploit of the celebrated Rana Hamir was his killing the Bala chieftain of Chotila.[2.7.139] The present chief of Dhank is a Bala, and the tribe yet preserves importance in the peninsula.

=Jhāla Makwāna.=—This tribe also inhabits the Saurashtra peninsula. It is styled Rajput, though neither classed with the Solar, Lunar, nor Agnikula races; but though we cannot directly prove it, we have every right to assign to it a northern origin. It is a tribe little known in Hindustan or even Rajasthan, into which latter country it was introduced entirely through the medium of the ancient lords of Saurashtra, the present family of Mewar; a sanction which covers every defect. A splendid act of self-devotion of the Jhala chief, when Rana Partap was oppressed with the whole weight of Akbar’s power, obtained, with the gratitude of this prince, the highest honours he could confer,—his daughter in marriage, and a seat on his right hand. That it was the act, and not his rank in the scale of the thirty-six tribes, which gained him this distinction, we have decided proof in later times, when it was deemed a mark of great condescension that the present Rana should sanction a remote branch of his own family bestowing a daughter in marriage on the Jhala ruler of Kotah.[2.7.140] This tribe has given its name to one of the largest divisions of Saurashtra, Jhalawar, which possesses several towns of importance. Of these Bankaner, Halwad, and Dhrangadra are the principal.

Regarding the period of the settlement of the Jhalas tradition is silent, as also on their early history: but the aid of its quota was given to the Rana against the [114] first attacks of the Muhammadans; and in the heroic history of Prithwiraja we have ample and repeated mention of the Jhala chieftains who distinguished themselves in his service, as well as in that of his antagonist, and the name of one of these, as recorded by the bard Chand, I have seen inscribed on the granite rock of the sacred Girnar, near their primitive abodes, where we leave them. There are several subdivisions of the Jhala, of which the Makwana is the principal.

=Jethwa, Jaithwa, Kamāri.=—This is an ancient tribe, and by all authorities styled Rajput; though, like the Jhala, little known out of Saurashtra, to one of the divisions of which it has given its name, Jethwar. Its present possessions are on the western coast of the peninsula: the residence of its prince, who is styled Rana, is Porbandar.

In remote times their capital was Ghumli, whose ruins attest considerable power, and afford singular scope for analogy, in architectural device, with the style termed Saxon of Europe.[2.7.141] The bards of the Jethwas run through a long list of one hundred and thirty crowned heads, and in the eighth century have chronicled the marriage of their prince with the Tuar refounder of Delhi. At this period the Jethwa bore the name of Kamar; and Sahl Kamar is reported to be the prince who was driven from Ghumli, in the twelfth century, by invaders from the north. With this change the name of Kamar was sunk, and that of Jethwa assumed, which has induced the author to style them Kamari;[2.7.142] and as they, with the other inhabitants of this peninsula, have all the appearance of Scythic descent, urging no pretensions to connexion with the ancient races of India, they may be a branch of that celebrated race, the Cimmerii of higher Asia, and the Cimbri of Europe.

Their legends are as fabulous as fanciful. They trace their descent from the monkey-god Hanuman, and confirm it by alleging the elongation of the spine of their princes, who bear the epithet of Puncharia, or the ‘long-tailed,’ Ranas of Saurashtra. But the manners and traditions of this race will appear more fully in the narrative of the author’s travels amongst them.

=Gohil.=[2.7.143]—This was a distinguished race: it claims to be Suryavansi, and with some pretension. The first residence of the Gohils was Juna Khergarh, near the bend of the Luni in Marwar.[2.7.144] How long they had been established here we know not. They took it from one of the aboriginal Bhil chiefs named Kherwa, and had been in possession of it for twenty generations when expelled by the [115] Rathors at the end of the twelfth century. Thence migrating to Saurashtra, they fixed at Piramgarh;[2.7.145] which being destroyed, one branch settled at Bhagwa, and the chief marrying the daughter of Nandanagar or Nandod,[2.7.146] he usurped or obtained his father-in-law’s estates; and twenty-seven generations are enumerated, from Sompal to Narsingh, the present Raja of Nandod. Another branch fixed at Sihor, and thence founded Bhaunagar and Gogha. The former town, on the gulf of the Mahi, is the residence of the Gohils, who have given their name, Gohilwar, to the eastern portion of the peninsula of Saurashtra. The present chief addicts himself to commerce, and possesses ships which trade to the gold coast of Sofala.

=Sarwaiya or Sariaspa.=—Of this race tradition has left us only the knowledge that it once was famous; for although, in the catalogues of the bard, it is introduced as the “essence of the Khatri race,”[2.7.147] we have only a few legends regarding its present degradation. Its name, as well as this epithet of the bard, induces a belief that it is a branch of the Aswas, with the prefix of _sar_, denoting ‘essence,’ or priority. But it is useless to speculate on a name.

=Silār or Salār.=—Like the former, we have here but the shade of a name; though one which, in all probability, originated the epithet Larike, by which the Saurashtra peninsula was known to Ptolemy and the geographers of early Europe. The tribe of Lar was once famous in Saurashtra, and in the annals of Anhilwara mention is made of Siddharaja Jayasingha having extirpated them throughout his dominions. Salar, or Silar, would therefore be distinctively _the_ Lar.[2.7.148] Indeed, the author of the Kumarpal Charitra styles it Rajtilak, or ‘regal prince’; but the name only now exists amongst the mercantile classes professing the faith of Buddha [Jainism]: it is inserted as one of the eighty-four. The greater portion of these are of Rajput origin.

=Dabhi.=—Little can be said of this tribe but that it was once celebrated in Saurashtra. By some it is called the branch of the Yadu, though all the genealogists give it distinct importance. It now possesses neither territory nor numbers.[2.7.149]

=Gaur.=—The Gaur tribe was once respected in Rajasthan, though it never there attained to any considerable eminence. The ancient kings of Bengal were of this race, and gave their name to the capital, Lakhnauti [116].

We have every reason to believe that they were possessors of the land afterwards occupied by the Chauhans, as they are styled in all the old chronicles the ‘Gaur of Ajmer.’ Repeated mention is made of them in the wars of Prithwiraja, as leaders of considerable renown, one of whom formed a small State in the centre of India, which survived through seven centuries of Mogul domination, till it at length fell a prey indirectly to the successes of the British over the Mahrattas, when Sindhia in 1809 annihilated the power of the Gaur and took possession of his capital, Sheopur.[2.7.150] A petty district, yielding about £5000 annually, is all this rapacious head of a predatory government has left to the Gaur, out of about twelve lacs of annual revenue. The Gaur has five sakha: Untahar, Silhala, Tur, Dusena, and Budana.[2.7.151]

=Dor or Doda.=—We have little to say of this race. Though occupying a place in all the genealogies, time has destroyed all knowledge of the past history of a tribe, to gain a victory over whom was deemed by Prithwiraja worthy of a tablet.[2.7.152]

=Gaharwār.=—The Gaharwar Rajput is scarcely known to his brethren in Rajasthan, who will not admit his contaminated blood to mix with theirs; though, as a brave warrior, he is entitled to their fellowship. The original country of the Gaharwar is in the ancient kingdom of Kasi.[2.7.153] Their great ancestor was Khortaj Deva, from whom Jasaunda, the seventh in descent, in consequence of some grand sacrificial rites performed at Vindhyavasi, gave the title of Bundela to his issue. Bundela has now usurped the name of Gaharwar, and become the appellation of the immense tract which its various branches inhabit in Bundelkhand, on the ruins of the Chandelas, whose chief cities, Kalanjar, Mohini, and Mahoba, they took possession of.[2.7.154]

=Chandel.=—The Chandela, classed by some of the genealogists amongst the thirty-six tribes, were powerful in the twelfth century, possessing the whole of the regions between [117] the Jumna and Nerbudda, now occupied by the Bundelas and Baghelas. Their wars with Prithwiraja, forming one of the most interesting of his exploits, ended in the humiliation of the Chandela, and prepared the way for their conquest by the Gaharwars; the date of the supremacy of the Bundela Manvira was about A.D. 1200. Madhukar Sah, the thirteenth in descent from him, founded Orchha on the Betwa, by whose son, Birsingh Deva, considerable power was attained. Orchha became the chief of the numerous Bundela principalities; but its founder drew upon himself everlasting infamy, by putting to death the wise Abu-l Fazl,[2.7.155] the historian and friend of the magnanimous Akbar, and the encomiast and advocate of the Hindu race.

From the period of Akbar the Bundelas bore a distinguished part in all the grand conflicts, to the very close of the monarchy: nor, amongst all the brave chiefs of Rajasthan, did any perform more gallant or faithful services than the Bundela chieftains of Orchha and Datia. Bhagwan of Orchha commanded the advanced guard of the army of Shah Jahan. His son, Subhkarana, was Aurangzeb’s most distinguished leader in the Deccan, and Dalpat fell in the war of succession on the plains of Jajau.[2.7.156] His descendants have not degenerated; nor is there anything finer in the annals of the chivalry of the West, than the dignified and heroic conduct of the father of the present chief.[2.7.157] The Bundela is now a numerous race, while the name Gaharwar remains in their original haunts.

=Bargūjar.=—This race is Suryavansi, and the only one, with the exception of the Guhilot, which claims from Lava, the elder son of Rama. The Bargujar held considerable possessions in Dhundhar,[2.7.158] and their capital was the hill fortress of Rajor[2.7.159] in the principality of Macheri. Rajgarh and Alwar were also their [118] possessions. The Bargujars were expelled these abodes by the Kachhwahas. A colony found refuge and a new residence at Anupshahr on the Ganges.

=Sengar.=—Of this tribe little is known, nor does it appear ever to have obtained great celebrity. The sole chieftainship of the Sengars is Jagmohanpur on the Jumna.[2.7.160]

=Sakarwāl.=—This tribe, like the former, never appears to have claimed much notice amidst the princes of Rajasthan; nor is there a single independent chieftain now remaining, although there is a small district called after them, Sakarwar, on the right bank of the Chambal, adjoining Jaduvati, and like it now incorporated in the province of Gwalior, in Sindhia’s dominions. The Sakarwal is therefore reduced to subsist by cultivation, or the more precarious employment of his lance, either as a follower of others, or as a common depredator. They have their name from the town of Sikri (Fatehpur), which was formerly an independent principality.[2.7.161]

=Bais.=—The Bais has obtained a place amongst the thirty-six races, though the author believes it but a subdivision of the Suryavansi, as it is neither to be met with in the lists of Chand, nor in those of the Kumarpal Charitra. It is now numerous, and has given its name to an extensive district, Baiswara in the Duab, or the land between the Ganges and Jumna.[2.7.162]

=Dahia.=—This is an ancient tribe, whose residence was the banks of the Indus, near its confluence with the Sutlej; and although they retain a place amongst the thirty-six royal races, we have not the knowledge of any as now existing. They are mentioned in the annals of the Bhattis of Jaisalmer, and from name as well as from locale, we may infer that they were the Dahae of Alexander.[2.7.163]

=Joiya, Johya.=—This race possessed the same haunts as the Dahia, and are always coupled with them. They, however, extended across the Ghara into the northern desert of India, and in ancient chronicles are entitled ‘Lords of Jangaldesa,’ a tract which comprehended Hariana, Bhatner, and Nagor. The author possesses a work relative to this tribe, like the Dahia, now extinct.[2.7.164]

=Mohil.=—We have no mode of judging of the pretensions of this race to the place it is allowed to occupy by the genealogists. All that can be learned of its past history is, that it inhabited a considerable tract so late as the foundation of the present State of Bikaner, the Rathor founders of which expelled, if not extirpated, the Mohil. With the Malan, Malani, and Mallia, also extinct, it may [119] claim the honour of descent from the ancient Malloi, the foes of Alexander, whose abode was Multan. (_Qu._ Mohilthan?)[2.7.165]

=Nikumbha.=—Of this race, to which celebrity attaches in all the genealogies, we can only discover that they were proprietors of the district of Mandalgarh prior to the Guhilots.[2.7.166]

=Rājpāli.=—It is difficult to discover anything regarding this race, which, under the names of Rajpali, Rajpalaka, or simply Pala, are mentioned by all the genealogists; especially those of Saurashtra, to which in all probability it was confined. This tends to make it Scythic in origin; the conclusion is strengthened by the derivation of the name, meaning ‘royal shepherd’: it was probably a branch of the ancient Pali.[2.7.167]

=Dahariya.=—The Kumarpal Charitra is our sole authority for classing this race with the thirty-six. Of its history we know nothing. Amongst the princes who came to the aid of Chitor, when first assailed by the arms of Islam, was ‘the lord of Debal, Dahir, Despati.’[2.7.168] From the ignorance of the transcriber of the Guhilot annals, _Delhi_ is written instead of _Debal_; but we not only have the whole of the names of the Tuar race, but Delhi was not in existence at this time. Slight as is the mention of this prince in the Chitor annals, it is nevertheless of high value, as stamping them with authenticity; for this Dahir was actually the despot of Sind, whose tragical end in his capital Debal is related by Abu-l Fazl. It was in the ninety-ninth year of the Hegira that he was attacked by Muhammad bin Kasim, the lieutenant of the Caliph of Bagdad, and treated with the greatest barbarity.[2.7.169] Whether this prince used Dahir as a proper name, or as that of his tribe, must be left to conjecture.

=Dahima.=—The Dahima has left but the wreck of a great name.[2.7.170] Seven centuries have swept away all recollection of a tribe who once afforded one of the proudest themes for the song of the bard. The Dahima was the lord of Bayana, and one of the most powerful vassals of the Chauhan emperor, Prithwiraja. Three brothers of this house held the highest offices under this monarch, and the period during which the elder, Kaimas, was his minister, was the brightest in the history of the Chauhan: but he fell a victim to a blind jealousy. Pundir, the second brother [120], commanded the frontier at Lahore. The third, Chawand Rae, was the principal leader in the last battle, where Prithwiraja fell, with the whole of his chivalry, on the banks of the Ghaggar. Even the historians of Shihabu-d-din have preserved the name of the gallant Dahima, Chawand Rae, whom they style Khandirai; and to whose valour, they relate, Shihabu-d-din himself nearly fell a sacrifice. With the Chauhan, the race seems to have been extinguished. Rainsi, his only son, was by this sister of Chawand Rae, but he did not survive the capture of Delhi. This marriage forms the subject of one of the books of the bard, who never was more eloquent than in the praise of the Dahima.[2.7.171]

ABORIGINAL RACES[2.7.172]

Bagri, Mer, Kaba, Mina, Bhil, Sahariya, Thori, Khangar, Gond, Bhar, Janwar, and Sarad.

AGRICULTURAL AND PASTORAL TRIBES

Abhira or Ahir, Goala, Kurmi or Kulumbi, Gujar, and Jat

RAJPUT TRIBES TO WHICH NO SAKHA IS ASSIGNED

Jalia, Peshani, Sohagni, Chahira, Ran, Simala, Botila, Gotchar, Malan, Uhir, Hul, Bachak, Batar, Kerach, Kotak, Busa, and Bargota.

CATALOGUE OF THE EIGHTY-FOUR MERCANTILE TRIBES

Sri Sri Mal, Srimal, Oswal, Bagherwal, Dindu, Pushkarwal, Mertawal, Harsora, Surawal, Piliwal, Bhambu, Kandhelwal, Dohalwal, Kederwal, Desawal, Gujarwal, Sohorwal, Agarwal, Jaelwal, Manatwal, Kajotiwal, Kortawal, Chehtrawal, Soni, Sojatwal, Nagar, Mad, Jalhera, Lar, Kapol, Khareta, Barari, Dasora, Bambarwal, Nagadra, Karbera, Battewara, Mewara, Narsinghpura, Khaterwal, Panchamwal, Hanerwal, Sirkera, Bais, Stukhi, Kambowal, Jiranwal, Baghelwal, Orchitwal, Bamanwal, Srigur, Thakurwal, Balmiwal, Tepora, Tilota, Atbargi, Ladisakha, Badnora, Khicha, Gasora, Bahaohar, Jemo, Padmora, Maharia, Dhakarwal, Mangora, Goelwal, Mohorwal, Chitora, Kakalia, Bhareja, Andora, Sachora, Bhungrawal, Mandahala, Bramania, Bagria, Dindoria, Borwal, Sorbia, Orwal, Nuphag, and Nagora. (One wanting.)

-----

Footnote 2.7.1:

[This catalogue is now of historical or traditional, rather than of
ethnographical value. It includes some which are admittedly extinct:
others which are proved to be derived from Gurjara and other foreign
tribes, while it omits many clans which are most influential at the
present day, and some of those included in the list are now
represented by scattered groups outside Rājputāna.]

Footnote 2.7.2:

Of his works I possess the most complete copy existing.

Footnote 2.7.3:

Presented to the Royal Asiatic Society.

Footnote 2.7.4:

Moghji, one of the most intelligent bards of the present day; but,
heartbroken, he has now but the woes of his race to sing. Yet has he
forgot them for a moment to rehearse the deeds of Parsanga, who sealed
his fidelity by his death on the Ghaggar. Then the invisible mantle of
Bhavani was wrapt around him; and with the birad (_furor poeticus_)
flowing freely of their deeds of yore, their present degradation,
time, and place were all forgot. But the time is fast approaching when
he may sing with the Cambrian bard:

“Ye lost companions of my tuneful art,
Where are ye fled?”

Footnote 2.7.5:

One of two specimens shall be given in the proper place.

Footnote 2.7.6:

A prince of Bundi had married a Rajputni of the Malani tribe, a name
now unknown: but a bard repeating the ‘gotracharya,’ it was discovered
to have been about eight centuries before a ramification (sakha) of
the Chauhan, to which the Hara of Bundi belonged—divorce and expiatory
rites, with great unhappiness, were the consequences. What a contrast
to the unhallowed doctrines of polyandry, as mentioned amongst the
Pandavas, the Scythic nations, the inhabitants of Sirmor of the
present day, and pertaining even to Britain in the days of
Caesar!—“Uxores habent deni duodenique inter se communes,” says that
accurate writer, speaking of the natives of this island; “et maximè
fratres cum fratribus, parentesque cum liberis: sed si qui sint ex his
nati, eorum habentur liberi, quo primum virgo quaeque deducta est.”

Footnote 2.7.7:

_Aparam sakham_, ‘of innumerable branches,’ is inscribed on an ancient
tablet of the Guhilot race.

Footnote 2.7.8:

_Got_, _khanp_, denote a clan; its subdivisions have the patronymic
terminating with the syllable ‘_ot_,’ ‘_awat_,’ ‘_sot_,’ in the use of
which euphony alone is their guide: thus, _Saktawat_, ‘sons of Sakta’;
_Kurmasot_, ‘of Kurma’; _Mairawat_, or _mairot_, mountaineers, ‘sons
of the mountains.’ Such is the Greek _Mainote_, from _maina_, a
mountain, in the ancient Albanian dialect, of eastern origin.

Footnote 2.7.9:

From _agni_ (_qu._ _ignis?_) ‘fire,’ the sons of Vulcan, as the others
of Sol and Luna, or Lunus, to change the sex of the parent of the Indu
(moon) race.

Footnote 2.7.10:

_Vansavali, Suryavansi Rajkuli Rana Chitor ka Dhani, Chhattis Kuli
Sengar._—MSS. from the Rana’s library, entitled _Khuman Raesa_.

Footnote 2.7.11:

Always conjoined with Vairat—‘Vijayapur Vairatgarh.’ [Vairāt forty-one
miles north of Jaipur city. The reference in the text is merely a
bardic fable, there being no connexion between Vijaya and this place
(_ASR_, ii. 249).]

Footnote 2.7.12:

A.D. 319. The inscription recording this, as well as others relating
to Valabhi and this era, I discovered in Saurashtra, as well as the
site of this ancient capital, occupying the position of ‘Byzantium’ in
Ptolemy’s geography of India. They will be given in the _Transactions_
of the Royal Asiatic Society. [The Valabhi agrees with the Gupta era
(Smith, _EHI_, 20).]

Footnote 2.7.13:

Anandpur Ahar, or ‘Ahar the city of repose.’ By the tide of events,
the family was destined to fix their last capital, Udaipur, near Ahar.

Footnote 2.7.14:

The middle of the eighth century.

Footnote 2.7.15:

[Or Maurya], a Pramara prince.

Footnote 2.7.16:

[For a different list, see _Census Report, Rajputana, 1911_, i. 256.]

Footnote 2.7.17:

The place where they found refuge was in the cluster of hills still
called _Yadu ka dang_, ‘the Yadu hills’:—the _Joudes_ of Rennell’s
geography [see p. 75 above].

Footnote 2.7.18:

[Zabulistan, with its capital, Ghazni, in Afghanistan.]

Footnote 2.7.19:

The date assigned long prior to the Christian era, agrees with the
Grecian, but the names and manners are Muhammadan.

Footnote 2.7.20:

Lodorwa Patan, whence they expelled an ancient race, was their capital
before Jaisalmer. There is much to learn of these regions.

Footnote 2.7.21:

A.D. 1155.

Footnote 2.7.22:

[The capital of Sambos was Sindimana, perhaps the modern Sihwān
(Smith, _EHI_, 101).]

Footnote 2.7.23:

[This is very doubtful.]

Footnote 2.7.24:

They have an infinitely better etymology for this, in being
descendants of Jambuvati, one of Hari’s eight wives. [The origin of
the term Jām is very doubtful: see Yule, _Hobson-Jobson_, s.v.]

Footnote 2.7.25:

The Suraseni of Vraj, the tract so named, thirty miles around Mathura.

Footnote 2.7.26:

Its chief, Rao Manohar Singh, was well known to me, and was, I may
say, my friend. For years letters passed between us, and he had made
for me a transcript of a valuable copy of the Mahabharata.

Footnote 2.7.27:

[Vigraha-rāja, known as Vīsaladeva, Bīsal Deo, in the middle of the
twelfth century, is alleged to have conquered Delhi from a chief of
the Tomara clan. That chief was a descendant of Ānangapāla, who, a
century before, had built the Red Fort (Smith, _EHI_, 386).]

Footnote 2.7.28:

Several Mahratta chieftains deduce their origin from the Tuar race, as
Ram Rao Phalkia, a very gallant leader of horse in Sindhia’s State.

Footnote 2.7.29:

[This is a pure myth (Smith, _EHI_, 385, 413).]

Footnote 2.7.30:

[For a fuller list, see _Census Report, Rajputana, 1911_, i. 255 f.]

Footnote 2.7.31:

From this I should be inclined to pronounce the Rathors descendants of
a race (probably Scythic) professing the Buddhist faith, of which
Gotama was the last great teacher, and disciple of the last Buddha
Mahivira, in S. 477 (A.D. 533). [Buddhism and Jainism are, as usual,
confused.]

Footnote 2.7.32:

Enigmatical—‘Clay formation by fire’ (_agni_).

Footnote 2.7.33:

[The Kuldevi, or family goddess, of the Rāthors in Nāgnaichiān, whose
original title was Rājeswari or Ratheswari, her present name being
taken from the village of Nāgāna in Pachbhadra; and she has a temple
in the Jodhpur fort, with shrines under the _nīm_ tree (_Azadirachta
Indica_) which is held sacred in all Rathor settlements (_Census
Report, Marwar, 1891_, ii. 25).]

Footnote 2.7.34:

Erroneously written and pronounced Kutchwaha.

Footnote 2.7.35:

The resemblance between the Kushite Ramesa of Ayodhya and the Rameses
of Egypt is strong. Each was attended by his army of satyrs, Anubis
and Cynocephalus, which last is a Greek misnomer, for the animal
bearing this title is of the Simian family, as his images (in the
Turin museum) disclose, and the brother of the faithful Hanuman. The
comparison between the deities within the Indus (called _Nilab_, ‘blue
waters’) and those of the Nile in Egypt, is a point well worth
discussion. [These speculations are untenable.]

Footnote 2.7.36:

A name in compliment, probably, to the elder branch of their race,
Lava.

Footnote 2.7.37:

[See a list in _Census Report, Rajputana, 1911_, i. 255.]

Footnote 2.7.38:

There is a captivating elegance thrown around the theogonies of Greece
and Rome, which we fail to impart to the Hindu; though that elegant
scholar, Sir William Jones, could make even Sanskrit literature
fascinating; and that it merits the attempt intrinsically, we may
infer from the charm it possesses to the learned chieftain of
Rajasthan. That it is perfectly analogous to the Greek and Roman, we
have but to translate the names to show. For instance:—

Solar. Lunar.

Maricha (Lux) Atri.

Kasyapa (Uranus) Samudra (Oceanus).

Vaivaswata or Surya (Sol) Soma, or Ind (Luna; _qu._
Lunus?).

Vaivaswa Manu (Filius Solis) Brihaspati (Jupiter).

Ila (Terra) Budha (Mercurius).

Footnote 2.3.39:

[Hoernle (_JRAS_, 1905, p. 20) believes that the Parihāras were the
only sept which claimed fire-origin before Chand (_flor._ A.D. 1191).
But a legend of the kind was current in South India in the second
century A.D. (_IA_, xxxiv. 263).]

Footnote 2.3.40:

Figuratively, ‘the serpent.’

Footnote 2.3.41:

To me it appears that there were four distinguished Buddhas or wise
men, teachers of monotheism in India, which they brought from Central
Asia, with their science and its written character, the arrow or
nail-headed, which I have discovered wherever they have been,—in the
deserts of Jaisalmer, in the heart of Rajasthan, and the shores of
Saurashtra; which were their nurseries.

The first Budha is the parent of the Lunar race, A.C. 2250.
The second (twenty-second of the Jains), Nemnath, A.C. 1120.
The third (twenty-third do. ), Parsawanath, A.C. 650.
The fourth (twenty-fourth do. ), Mahivira, A.C. 533.

[The author confuses Budha, Mercury, with Buddha, the Teacher, and
mixes up Buddhists with Jains.]

Footnote 2.7.42:

_Achal_, ‘immovable,’ _eswara_, ‘lord.’

Footnote 2.7.43:

It extended from the Indus almost to the Jumna, occupying all the
sandy regions, Naukot, Arbuda or Abu, Dhat, Mandodri, Kheralu, Parkar,
Lodorva, and Pugal.

Footnote 2.7.44:

See _Transactions of the Royal Asiatic Society_, vol. i. p. 227. [Rāja
Munja of Mālwa reigned A.D. 974-995. The famous Bhoja, his nephew, not
his son, 1018-60 (Smith, _EHI_, 395).]

Footnote 2.7.45:

Which will be given in the _Transactions of the Royal Asiatic
Society_.

Footnote 2.7.46:

S. 770, or A.D. 714.

Footnote 2.7.47:

“When the Pramar of Tilang took sanctuary with Har, to the thirty-six
tribes he made gifts of land. To Kehar he gave Katehr, to Rae Pahar
the coast of Sind, to the heroes of the shell the forest lands. Ram
Pramar of Tilang, the Chakravartin lord of Ujjain, made the gift. He
bestowed Delhi on the Tuars, and Patan on the Chawaras; Sambhar on the
Chauhans, and Kanauj on the Kamdhuj; Mardes on the Parihar, Sorath on
the Jadon, the Deccan on Jawala, and Cutch on the Charan” (_Poems of
Chand_). [This is an invention of the courtly bard.]

Footnote 2.7.48:

The inscription gives S. 1100 (A.D. 1044) for the third Bhoj: and this
date agrees with the period assigned to this prince in an ancient
Chronogrammatic Catalogue of reigns embracing all the Princes of the
name of Bhoj, which may therefore be considered authentic. This
authority assigns S. 631 and 721 (or A.D. 575 and 665) to the first
and second Bhoj.

Footnote 2.7.49:

Herbert has a curious story of Chitor being called Taxila; thence the
story of the Ranas being sons of Porus. I have an inscription from a
temple on the Chambal, within the ancient limits of Mewar, which
mentions Takshasilanagara, ‘the stone fort of the Tak,’ but I cannot
apply it. The city of Toda (Tonk, or properly Tanka) is called in the
Chauhan chronicles, Takatpur. [Takshasila, the Taxila of the Greeks,
the name meaning ‘the hewn rock,’ or more probably, ‘the rock of
Taksha,’ the Nāga king, is the modern Shāhderi in the Rāwalpindi
District, Panjāb (_IGI_, xxii. 200 f.).]

Footnote 2.7.50:

Of the Sodha tribe, a grand division of the Pramaras, and who held all
the desert regions in remote times. Their subdivisions, Umra and
Sumra, gave the names to Umarkot and Umrasumra, in which was the
insular Bakhar, on the Indus: so that we do not misapply etymology,
when we say in Sodha we have the Sogdoi of Alexander.

Footnote 2.7.52:

See _Transactions of the Royal Asiatic Society_, vol. i. p. 133,
‘Comments on a Sanskrit Inscription.’

Footnote 2.7.53:

Asura-Daitya, which Titans were either the aboriginal Bhils or the
Scythic hordes.

Footnote 2.7.54:

I have visited this classic spot in Hindu mythology. An image of
Adipal (the ‘first-created’), in marble, still adorns its embankment,
and is a piece of very fine sculpture. It was too sacred a relic to
remove.

Footnote 2.7.55:

‘Portal or door (_dwar_) of the earth’; contracted to Prithihara and
Parihara.

Footnote 2.7.56:

‘The first striker.’

Footnote 2.7.57:

[In the Hāra version of the legend the presiding priest is
Visvāmitra.]

Footnote 2.7.58:

_Chatur_; _anga_, ‘body’ [_chaturbāhu_].

Footnote 2.7.59:

_Asa_, ‘hope,’ _purna_, to ‘fulfil’; whence the tutelary goddess of
the Chauhan race, Asapurna.

Footnote 2.7.60:

The goddess of energy (_Sakti_).

Footnote 2.7.61:

[Cunningham points out that in the original story only the Chauhān was
created from the fire-pit, the reference to other clans being a later
addition (_ASR_, ii. 255).]

Footnote 2.7.62:

Born in S. 1215, or A.D. 1159. [Anhala or Agnipāla is here the head of
the Chauhān line; but a different list appears in the _Hammīra
Mahākāvya_ of Nayachhandra Sūri (_IA_, viii. 55 ff.).]

Footnote 2.7.63:

[Ajmer is commonly said to have been founded by Rāja Aja, A.D. 145. It
was founded by Ajayadeva Chauhān about A.D. 1100 (_IA_, xxv. 162 f.).]

Footnote 2.7.64:

A name derived from the goddess Sakambhari, the tutelary divinity of
the tribes, whose statue is in the middle of the lake.

Footnote 2.7.65:

Dharma Dhiraj, father of Bisaladeva, must have been the defender on
this occasion.

Footnote 2.7.66:

[Muhammad bin Kāsim seems to have marched along the Indus valley, not
in the direction of Ajmer (Malik Muhammad Din, _Bahawalpur Gazetteer_,
i. 28).]

Footnote 2.7.67:

[This is doubtful. Maudūd seems to have not come further south than
Siālkot (Al Badaoni, _Muntakhabu-t-tawārīkh_, i. 49; Elliot-Dowson ii.
273, iv. 139 f., 199 f., v. 160 f.).]

Footnote 2.7.68:

[The author has barely noticed the Khīchis; for an account of them see
_ASR_, ii. 249 ff.]

Footnote 2.7.69:

About Fatehpur Jhunjhunu.

Footnote 2.7.70:

[For a different list see _Rajputana Census Report, 1911_, i. 255.]

Footnote 2.7.71:

[The Chalukya is a Gurjara tribe, the name being the Sanskritized form
of the old dynastic title, Chalkya, of the Deccan dynasty (A.D.
552-973); and of this Solanki is a dialectical variant (_IA_, xi. 24;
_BG_, i. Part i. 156, Part ii. 336).]

Footnote 2.7.72:

Solanki Gotracharya is thus: “Madhwani Sakha—Bharadwaja Gotra—Garh
Lohkot nikas—Sarasvati Nadi (river)—Sama Veda—Kapaliswar Deva—Karduman
Rikheswar—Tin Parwar Zunar (zone of three threads)—Keonj Devi—Mahipal
Putra (one of the Penates).” [Lohkot is Lohara in Kashmīr (Stein,
_Rājatarangini_, i. Introd. 108, ii. 293 ff.).]

Footnote 2.7.73:

Called Malkhani, being the sons of Mal Khan, the first apostate from
his faith to Islamism. Whether these branches of the Solankis were
compelled to quit their religion, or did it voluntarily, we know not.

Footnote 2.7.74:

Near Bombay. [In Thana District, not Malabar coast.]

Footnote 2.7.75:

Son of Jai Singh Solanki, the emigrant prince of Kalyan, who married
the daughter of Bhojraj. These particulars are taken from a valuable
little geographical and historical treatise, incomplete and without
title. [Mūlarāja Chaulukya, A.D. 961-96, was son of Bhūbhata:
Chāmunda, A.D. 997-1010; it was in the reign of Bhīma I. (1022-64)
that Mahmūd’s invasion in A.D. 1024 occurred (_BG_, i. Part i. 156 ff.
164).]

Footnote 2.7.76:

Called Chamund by Muhammadan historians.

Footnote 2.7.77:

[Ferishta i. 61.]

Footnote 2.7.78:

He ruled from S. 1150 to 1201 [A.D. 1094-1143]. It was his court that
was visited by El Edrisi, commonly called the Nubian geographer, who
particularly describes this prince as following the tenets of Buddha.
[He was probably not a Jain (_BG_, i. Part i. 179).]

Footnote 2.7.79:

[The Gujarāt account of the campaign is different (_BG_, i. Part i.
184 f.).]

Footnote 2.7.80:

[Kumārapāla made many benefactions to the Jains (_Ibid._ i. Part i.
190 f.).]

Footnote 2.7.81:

[Ajayapāla succeeded Kumārapāla. Bhima II. (A.D. 1179-1242), called
Bholo, ‘the simpleton,’ was the last of the Chaulukya dynasty, which
was succeeded by that of the Vāghelas (1219-1304). Vīsaladeva reigned
A.D. 1243-61. See a full account, _Ibid._ 194 ff.]

Footnote 2.7.82:

Satranjaya. [_IGI_, xix. 361 ff.]

Footnote 2.7.83:

In 1822 I made a journey to explore the remains of antiquity in
Saurashtra. I discovered a ruined suburb of the ancient Patan still
bearing the name of _Anhilwara_, the _Nahrwara_, which D’Anville had
“fort à cœur de retrouver.” I meditate a separate account of this
kingdom, and the dynasties which governed it.

Footnote 2.7.84:

[Zafar Khān, son of Sahāran of the Tānk tribe of Rājputs, embraced
Islam, and became viceroy of Gujarāt. According to Ferishta, he threw
off his allegiance to Delhi in 1396, or rather maintained a nominal
allegiance till 1403. Ahmad was grandson, not son, of Muzaffar.
(Ferishta iv. 2 f.; Bayley, _Dynasties of Gujarat_, 67 ff.; _BG_, i.
Part i. 232 f.).]

Footnote 2.7.85:

The name of this subdivision is from Bagh Rao, the son of Siddharāja;
though the bards have another tradition for its origin. [They take
their name from the village Vaghela near Anhilwāra (_BG_, i. Part i.
198).]

Footnote 2.7.86:

I knew this chieftain well, and a very good specimen he is of the
race. He is in possession of the famous war-shell of Jai Singh, which
is an heirloom.

Footnote 2.7.87:

Famous robbers in the deserts, known as the Malduts.

Footnote 2.7.88:

Celebrated in traditional history.

Footnote 2.7.89:

Desperate robbers. I saw this place fired and levelled in 1807, when
the noted Karim Pindari was made prisoner by Sindhia. It afterwards
cost some British blood in 1817.

Footnote 2.7.90:

[For another list see _Census Report, Rajputana, 1911_, i. 256.]

Footnote 2.7.91:

Though now desolate, the walls of this fortress attest its antiquity,
and it is a work that could not be undertaken in this degenerate age.
The remains of it bring to mind those of Volterra or Cortona, and
other ancient cities of Tuscany: enormous squared masses of stone
without any cement. [For a full account of Mandor, see Erskine iii.
_A._ 196 ff.]

Footnote 2.7.92:

This was in the thirteenth century [A.D. 1381], when Mandor was
captured, and its prince slain, by the Rawal of Chitor.

Footnote 2.7.93:

[Six sub-clans are named in _Census Report, Rajputana, 1911_, i. 255.]

Footnote 2.7.94:

[They have been supposed to be a branch of the Pramārs, but they are
certainly of Gurjara origin (_IA_, iv. 145 f.; _BG_, ix. Part i. 124,
488 f.; i. Part i. 149 ff.). According to Wilberforce-Bell, the word
Chaura in Gujarāt means ‘robber’ (_History of Kathiawad_, 51).]

Footnote 2.7.95:

The Σύροι of the Greek writers on Bactria, the boundary of the
Bactrian kingdom under Apollodotus. On this see the paper on Grecian
medals in the _Transactions of the Royal Asiatic Society_, vol. i.

Footnote 2.7.96:

Many of the inhabitants of the south and west of India cannot
pronounce the _ch_, and invariably substitute the _s_. Thus the noted
Pindari leader Chitu was always called Situ by the Deccanis. Again,
with many of the tribes of the desert, the _s_ is alike a
stumbling-block, which causes many singular mistakes, when Jaisalmer,
the ‘hill of Jaisal,’ becomes Jahlmer, ‘the hill of fools.’

Footnote 2.7.97:

[The Balhara of Arab travellers of the tenth century were the
Rashtrakūta dynasty of Mālkhed, Balhara being a corruption of
Vallabharāja, Vallabha being the royal title (_BG_, i. Part ii. 209).]

Footnote 2.7.98:

[Vanarāja reigned from A.D. 765 to 780, and the dynasty is said to
have lasted 196 years, but the evidence is still incomplete. The name
of Bhojrāj does not appear in the most recent lists (_BG_, i. Part i.
152 ff.).]

Footnote 2.7.99:

_Rélations anciennes des Voyageurs_, par Renaudot.

Footnote 2.7.100:

[The true form of this puzzling term seems to be Dābshalīm, whose
story is told in Elliot-Dowson (ii. 500 ff., iv. 183). Much of the
account is mere tradition, but it has been plausibly suggested that
when Bhīma I., the Chaulukya king of Anhilwāra was defeated by Mahmūd
of Ghazni in A.D. 1024, the latter may have appointed Durlabha, uncle
of Bhīma, to keep order in Gujarāt, and that the two Dābshalīms may be
identified with Durlabha and his son (_BG_, i. Part i. 168). Also see
Ferishta i. 76; Bayley, _Muhammadan Dynasties of Gujarāt_, 32 ff.]

Footnote 2.7.101:

Abulghazi [_Hist. of the Turks, Moguls, and Tartars_, 1730, i. 5 f.]
says, when Noah left the ark he divided the earth amongst his three
sons: Shem had Iran: Japhet, the country of ‘Kuttup Shamach,’ the name
of the regions between the Caspian Sea and India. There he lived two
hundred and fifty years. He left eight sons, of whom Turk was the
elder and the seventh Camari, supposed the Gomer of Scripture. Turk
had four sons; the eldest of whom was Taunak, the fourth from whom was
Mogul, a corruption of Mongol, signifying _sad_, whose successors made
the Jaxartes their winter abode. [The word means ‘brave’ (Howorth,
_Hist. of the Mongols_, i. 27).] Under his reign no trace of the true
religion remained: idolatry reigned everywhere. Aghuz Khan succeeded.
The ancient Cimbri, who went west with Odin’s horde of Jats, Chattis,
and Su, were probably the tribes descended from Camari, the son of
Turk.

Footnote 2.7.102:

Tacash continued to be a proper name with the great Khans of Khārizm
(Chorasmia) until they adopted the faith of Muhammad. The father of
Jalal, the foe of Jenghiz Khan, was named Tacash. Tashkent on the
Jaxartes, the capital of Turkistan, may be derived from the name of
the race. Bayer says, “Tocharistan was the region of the Tochari, who
were the ancient Τώχαροι (Tochari), or Τάχαροι (Tacharoi).” Ammianus
Marcellinus says, “many nations obey the Bactrians, whom the Tochari
surpass” (_Hist. Reg. Bact._ p. 7).

Footnote 2.7.103:

This singular race, the Tajiks, are repeatedly mentioned by Mr.
Elphinstone in his admirable account of the kingdom of Kabul. They are
also particularly noticed as monopolising the commercial transactions
of the kingdom of Bokhara, in that interesting work, _Voyage
d’Orenbourg à Bokhara_, the map accompanying which, for the first
time, lays down authentically the sources and course of the Oxus and
Jaxartes. [The term Tājik means the settled population, as opposed to
the Turks or tent-dwellers. It is the same word as Tāzi, ‘Arab,’ still
surviving in the name of the Persian greyhound, which was apparently
introduced by the Arabs. Sykes (_Hist. of Persia_, ii. 153, note) and
Skrine-Ross (_The Heart of Asia_, 3, 364 note) state that the Tājiks
represent the Iranian branch of the Aryans.]

Footnote 2.7.104:

The Mahabharata describes this warfare against the snakes literally:
of which, in one attack, he seized and made a burnt-offering (hom) of
twenty thousand. It is surprising that the Hindu will accept these
things literally. It might be said he had but a choice of
difficulties, and that it would be as impossible for any human being
to make the barbarous sacrifice of twenty thousand of his species, as
it would be difficult to find twenty thousand snakes for the purpose.
The author’s knowledge of what barbarity will inflict leaves the fact
of the human sacrifice, though not perhaps to this extent, not even
improbable. In 1811 his duties called him to a survey amidst the
ravines of the Chambal, the tract called Gujargarh, a district
inhabited by the Gujar tribe. Turbulent and independent, like the sons
of Esau, their hand against every man and every man’s hand against
them, their nominal prince, Surajmall, the Jāt chief of Bharatpur,
pursued exactly the same plan towards the population of these
villages, whom they captured in a night attack, that Janamejaya did to
the Takshaks: he threw them into pits with combustibles, and actually
thus consumed them! This occurred not three-quarters of a century ago.

Footnote 2.7.105:

Arrian says that his name was Omphis [Āmbhi], and that his father
dying at this time, he did homage to Alexander, who invested him with
the title and estates of his father Taxiles. Hence, perhaps (from
_Tak_), the name of the Indus, _Attak_; [?] not _Atak_, or
‘forbidden,’ according to modern signification, and which has only
been given since the Muhammadan religion for a time made it the
boundary between the two faiths. [All these speculations are
valueless.]

Footnote 2.7.106:

In Bihar, during the reign of Pradyota, the successor of Ripunjaya.
Parsva’s symbol is the serpent of Takshak. His doctrines spread to the
remotest parts of India, and the princes of Valabhipura of Mandor and
Anhilwara all held to the tenets of Buddha. [As usual, Jains are
confounded with Buddhists. There is no reason to believe that the
Nāgas, a serpent-worshipping tribe, were not indigenous in India.]

Footnote 2.7.107:

This is the celebrated fortress in Khandesh, now in the possession of
the British.

Footnote 2.7.108:

In the list of the wounded at the battle of Kanauj he is mentioned by
name, as “Chatto the Tak.”

Footnote 2.7.109:

He reigned from A.D. 1324 to 1351.

Footnote 2.7.110:

‘The victorious’ [see p. 118 above].

Footnote 2.7.111:

The _Mirātu-l-Sikandari_ gives the ancestry of the apostate for
twenty-three generations; the last of whom was Sesh, the same which
introduced the Nagvansa, seven centuries before the Christian era,
into India. The author of the work gives the origin of the name of
Tak, or Tank, from _tarka_, ‘expulsion,’ from his caste, which he
styles Khatri, evincing his ignorance of this ancient race.

Footnote 2.7.112: