Chapter 25 (2)

This fair ‘star’ (_tara_) was the daughter of Rao Surthan, the chieftain of Badnor. He was of the Solanki tribe, the lineal descendant of the famed Balhara kings of Anhilwara. Thence expelled by the arms of Ala in the thirteenth century, they migrated to Central India, and obtained possession of Tonk-Toda and its lands on the Banas, which from remote times had been occupied (perhaps founded) by the Taks, and hence bore the name of Taksilanagar, familiarly Takatpur and Toda.[4.25.30] Surthan had been deprived of Toda by Lila the Afghan, and now occupied Badnor at the foot of the Aravalli, within the bounds of Mewar. Stimulated by the reverses of her family, and by the incentives of its ancient glory, Tara Bai, scorning the habiliments and occupations of her sex, learned to guide the war-horse, and throw with unerring aim the arrow from his back, even while at speed. Armed with the bow and quiver, and mounted on a fiery Kathiawar, she joined the cavalcade in their unsuccessful attempts to wrest Toda from the Afghan. Jaimall, the third son of Rana Raemall, in person made proposals for her hand. “Redeem Toda,” said the star of Badnor, “and my hand is thine.” He assented to the terms: but evincing a rude determination to be possessed of the prize ere he had earned it, he was slain by the indignant father. Prithiraj, the brother of the deceased, was then in exile in Marwar; he had just signalized his valour, and ensured his father’s forgiveness, the redemption of Godwar,[4.25.31] and the [674] catastrophe at Badnor determined him to accept the gage thrown down to Jaimall. Fame and the bard had carried the renown of Prithiraj far beyond the bounds of Mewar; the name alone was attractive to the fair, and when thereto he who bore it added all the chivalrous ardour of his prototype, the Chauhan, Tara Bai, with the sanction of her father, consented to be his, on the simple asseveration that “he would restore to them Toda, or he was no true Rajput.” The anniversary of the martyrdom of the sons of Ali was the season chosen for the exploit.[4.25.32] Prithiraj formed a select band of five hundred cavaliers, and accompanied by his bride, the fair Tara, who insisted on partaking his glory and his danger, he reached Toda at the moment the _ta’aziya_ or bier containing the martyr-brothers was placed in the centre of the _chauk_ or ‘square.’ The prince, Tara Bai, and the faithful Sengar chief, the inseparable companion of Prithiraj, left their cavalcade and joined the procession as it passed under the balcony of the palace in which the Afghan was putting on his dress preparatory to descending. Just as he had asked who were the strange horsemen that had joined the throng, the lance of Prithiraj and an arrow from the bow of his Amazonian bride stretched him on the floor. Before the crowd recovered from the panic, the three had reached the gate of the town, where their exit was obstructed by an elephant. Tara Bai with her scimitar divided his trunk, and the animal flying, they joined their cavalcade, which was close at hand.

The Afghans were encountered, and could not stand the attack. Those who did not fly were cut to pieces; and the gallant Prithiraj inducted the father of his bride into his inheritance. A brother of the Afghans, in his attempt to recover it, lost his life. The Nawab Mallu Khan then holding Ajmer determined to oppose the Sesodia prince in person; who, resolved upon being the assailant, advanced to Ajmer, encountered his foe in the camp at daybreak, and after great slaughter entered Garh Bitli, the citadel, with the fugitives. “By these acts,” says the chronicle, “his fame increased in Rajwara: one thousand Rajputs, animated by the same love of glory and devotion, gathered round the _nakkaras_ of Prithiraj. Their swords shone in the heavens, and were dreaded on the earth; but they aided the defenceless.”

Another story is recorded and confirmed by Muhammadan writers as to the result, though they are ignorant of the impulse which prompted the act. Prithiraj on some [675] occasion found the Rana conversing familiarly with an ahadi[4.25.33] of the Malwa king, and feeling offended at the condescension, expressed himself with warmth. The Rana ironically replied: “You are a mighty seizer of kings; but for me, I desire to retain my land.” Prithiraj abruptly retired, collected his band, made for Nimach, where he soon gathered five thousand horse, and reaching Dipalpur, plundered it, and slew the governor. The king on hearing of the irruption left Mandu at the head of what troops he could collect; but the Rajput prince, in lieu of retreating, rapidly advanced and attacked the camp while refreshing after the march. Singling out the royal tent, occupied by eunuchs and females, the king was made captive, and placed on an express camel beside the prince, who warned the pursuers to follow peaceably, or he would put his majesty to death; adding that he intended him no harm, but that after having made him “touch his father’s feet,” he should restore him to liberty. Having carried him direct to Chitor and to his father’s presence, he turned to him saying, “Send for your friend the ahadi, and ask him who this is?” The Malwa king was detained a month within the walls of Chitor, and having paid his ransom in horses, was set at liberty with every demonstration of honour.[4.25.34] Prithiraj returned to Kumbhalmer, his residence, and passed his life in exploits like these from the age of fourteen to twenty-three, the admiration of the country and the theme of the bard.

It could not be expected that long life would be the lot of one who thus courted distinction, though it was closed neither by shot nor sabre, but by poison, when on the eve of prosecuting his unnatural feud against his brother Sanga, the place of whose retreat was made known by his marriage with the daughter of the chieftain of Srinagar, who had dared to give him protection in defiance of his threats.

At the same time he received a letter from his sister, written in great grief, complaining of the barbarous treatment of her lord, the Sirohi prince, from whose tyranny she begged to be delivered and to be restored to the paternal roof; since whenever he had indulged too freely in the ‘essence of the flower,’ or in opium, he used to place her under the bedstead, and leave her to sleep on the floor. Prithiraj instantly departed, reached Sirohi at midnight, scaled the palace, and interrupted the repose of Pabhu Rao by placing his poniard at his throat. His wife, notwithstanding his cruelty, complied with his humiliating appeal for mercy, and begged his life, which was granted on condition of his standing as a suppliant with his wife’s [676] shoes on his head, and touching her feet, the lowest mark of degradation. He obeyed, was forgiven, and embraced by Prithiraj, who became his guest during five days. Pabhu Rao was celebrated for a confection, of which he presented some to his brother at parting. He partook of it as he came in sight of Kumbhalmer; but on reaching the shrine of Mama Devi was unable to proceed. Here he sent a message to the fair Tara to come and bid him farewell; but so subtle was the poison, that death had overtaken him ere she descended from the citadel. Her resolution was soon formed; the pyre was erected, and with the mortal remains of the chivalrous Prithiraj in her embrace, she sought “the regions of the sun.” Such the end of the Sesodia prince, and the star of Badnor. From such instances we must form our opinion of the manners of these people. But for the poisoned confection of the chief of Sirohi, Prithiraj would have had the glory of opposing himself to Babur, instead of his heroic brother and successor, Sanga.[4.25.35] Whether, from his superior ardour of temperament, and the love of military glory which attracted similarly constituted minds to his fortunes, he would have been more successful than his brother, it is futile to conjecture.

=The Frontier of Mārwār.=—_October 20._—Halted till noon, that the men might dress their dinners, and prepare for the descent into “the region of death,” or Marwar. The pass by which we had to gain it was represented as terrific; but as both horse and elephant, with the aid of the hatchet, will pick their way wherever man can go, we determined to persevere. Struck the camp at noon, when the baggage filed off, halting ourselves till three; the escort and advanced tents, and part of the cuisine being ordered to clear the pass, while we designed to spend the night midway, in a spot forming the natural boundary of Mewar and Marwar, reported to be sufficiently capacious. Rumour had not magnified the difficulties of the descent, which we found strewed with our baggage, arresting all progress for a full hour. For nearly a mile there was but just breadth sufficient to admit the passage of a loaded elephant, the descent being at an angle of 55° with the horizon, and streams on either side rushing with a deafening roar over their rugged beds. As we gained a firmer footing at the base of this first descent, we found that the gallant Manika, the gift of my friend the Bundi prince, had missed his footing and rolled down the steep, breaking the cantle of the saddle; a little farther appeared the cook, hanging in dismay over the scattered implements of his art, his camel remonstrating against the [677] replacing of his _kajavas_ or panniers. For another mile it became more gentle, when we passed under a tower of Kumbhalmer, erected on a scarped projection of the rock, full five hundred feet above us. The scenery was magnificent; the mountains rising on each side in every variety of form, and their summits, as they caught a ray of the departing sun, reflecting on our sombre path a momentary gleam from the masses of rose-coloured quartz which crested them. Noble forest trees covered every face of the hills and the bottom of the glen, through which, along the margin of the serpentine torrent which we repeatedly crossed, lay our path. Notwithstanding all our mishaps, partly from the novelty and grandeur of the scene, and partly from the invigorating coolness of the air, our mirth became wild and clamorous: a week before I was oppressed with a thousand ills; and now I trudged the rugged path, leaping the masses of granite which had rolled into the torrent.

There was one spot where the waters formed a pool or _dah_. Little Carey determined to trust to his pony to carry him across, but deviating to the left, just as I was leaping from a projecting ledge, to my horror, horse and rider disappeared. The shock was momentary, and a good ducking the only result, which in the end was the luckiest thing that could have befallen him. On reaching the Hathidarra, or ‘barrier of the elephant’ (a very appropriate designation for a mass of rock serving as a rampart to shut up the pass), where we had intended to remain the night, we found no spot capacious enough even for a single tent. Orders accordingly passed to the rear for the baggage to collect there, and wait the return of day to continue the march. The shades of night were fast descending, and we proceeded almost in utter darkness towards the banks of the stream, the roar of whose waters was our guide, and not a little perplexed by the tumultuous rush which issued from every glen, to join that we were seeking. Towards the termination of the descent the path became wider, and the voice of the waters of a deeper and hoarser tone, as they glided to gain the plains of Marwar. The vault of heaven, in which there was not a cloud, appeared as an arch to the perpendicular cliffs surrounding us on all sides, and the stars beamed with peculiar brilliancy from the confined space through which we viewed them. As we advanced in perfect silence, fancy busily at work on what might befall our straggling retinue from the ferocious tiger or plundering mountaineer, a gleam of light suddenly flashed upon us on emerging from the brushwood, and disclosed a party of dismounted cavaliers seated round their night-fires under some magnificent fig-trees [678].[4.5.36]

=Meeting with the Mers.=—Halted, and called a council of war to determine our course: we had gained the spot our guides had assigned as the only fitting one for bivouac before we reached the plains beyond the mountains; it afforded shade from the dews, and plenty of water. The _munitions de bouche_ having gone on was a good argument that we should follow; but darkness and five miles more of intricate forest, through a path from which the slightest deviation, right or left, might lead us into the jaws of a tiger, or the toils of the equally savage Mer, decided us to halt. We now took another look at the group above-mentioned. Though the excitement of the morning was pretty well chilled by cold and hunger (poor sharpeners of the imagination), it was impossible to contemplate the scene before us without a feeling of the highest interest. From twenty-five to thirty tall figures, armed at all points, were sitting or reposing in groups round their watch-fires, conversing and passing the pipe from hand to hand, while their long black locks, and motley-fashioned turbans, told that they belonged to Marudesa. A rude altar, raised in honour of some “gentle blood” shed by the murky mountaineer, served as a place of rest for the chief of the party, distinguished by the gold band in his turban, and his deer-skin doublet. I gave the usual salutation of “Rama, Rama,” to the chief and his party, and inquired after the health of their chieftain of Ghanerao, to whose courtesy I found I owed this mark of attention. This was the boundary between the two States of Marwar and Mewar, since the district of Godwar was lost by the latter about fifty years ago. The spot has been the scene of many a conflict, and a closer approach disclosed several other altars raised in honour of the slain; each represented a cavalier mounted on his war-steed, with his lance poised, denoting that in such attitude he fell in defending the pass, or redeeming the cattle from the plundering mountain Mer. A square tablet placed on each contained the date on which he gained “the mansions of the sun.” Midnight being past, and bringing no hope of our appetites growing by what they might feed upon, Dr. Duncan and Captain Waugh took the _jhul_, or broadcloth-housing, from the elephant, and rolling themselves in it, followed the example of the chieftain and reposed upon the ashes of the brave, on an altar adjoining the one he occupied. I soon left them in happy forgetfulness of tigers, Meras, hunger, and all the fatigues of the day, and joined the group to listen to the tale with which they enlivened the midnight hour. This I can repeat, but it would have required the pencil of a master to paint the scene. It was a subject for Salvator Rosa; though I should [679] have been perfectly satisfied with one of Captain Waugh’s delineations, had he been disposed at that moment to exert the pictorial art. Several of my friends had encountered the mountaineer on this very spot; and these humble cenotaphs, covering the ashes of their kin, recalled events not likely to be repeated in these halcyon days, when the names of Bhil and Mer cease to be the synonyms of plunderer. As there may be no place more appropriate for a sketch of the mountaineers, the reader may transport himself to the glen of Kumbhalmer, and listen to the history of one of the aboriginal tribes of Rajasthan [680].

(The Foresters of Rājputana.)
_To face page 788._

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Footnote 4.25.1:

The amphitheatre, or circle. [The valley of Udaipur.]

Footnote 4.25.2:

_Sabun_, in the lingua franca of India, signifies ‘soap.’ [The
soap-nut tree (_sapindus mukorossi_), the fruit of which is used for
washing clothes and the hair (Watt, _Comm. Prod._ 979).]

Footnote 4.25.3:

[Raised by James Skinner (1778-1841), known as “The Yellow Boys,” in
1823; 1st Irregular Cavalry (Skinner’s Horse), 1840; 1st Bengal
Cavalry, 1861 (F. G. Cardew, _Sketch of the Services of the Bengal
Native Army to the Year 1895_).]

Footnote 4.25.4:

[_Calligonum polygonoides_, a shrub on which camels live for the
greater part of the year.]

Footnote 4.25.5:

_Bhanej_, or ‘nephew,’ a title of courtesy enjoyed by every chieftain
who marries a daughter or immediate kinswoman of the Rana’s house.
[When Bhīm Singh succeeded in 1793, his first act was to drive his
uncle, Zālim Singh, the son of a Mewār princess, from Jodhpur. He took
refuge in Udaipur, and passed the rest of his days in literary
pursuits. He was a man of charm and ability, a gallant soldier, no
mean poet. He died in the prime of life in British Merwāra in 1799
(Erskine iii. A. 70).]

Footnote 4.25.6:

My guide or instructor, Yati Gyanchandra, a priest of the Jain sect,
who had been with me ten years. To him I owe much, for he entered into
all my antiquarian pursuits with zeal.

Footnote 4.25.7:

[A chiefship in Central India under the Bhopāl Agency. In 1819 Subhāg
Singh becoming imbecile was replaced by his son Chain Singh, after
whose death in 1824 he was restored (_IGI_, xviii. 353).]

Footnote 4.25.8:

[As usual, Jainism and Buddhism are confounded.]

Footnote 4.25.9:

One of the four Agnikulas. [The Umats were not a distinguished tribe
until Achal Singh, Dīwān of Narsinghgarh, married his son to a near
relation of the Mahārāna of Udaipur, and since this alliance many of
the principal Mālwa families eat with the Rājas of Umatwāra (Malcolm,
_Memoir of Central India_, 2nd ed. ii. 130 f.). For a full and
slightly different account see _IGI_, xviii. 382 ff.]

Footnote 4.25.10:

[Chain Singh quarrelled with the Political Agent, attacked the British
forces at Sehore, and was killed in the battle in 1824 (_IGI_, xviii.
383).]

Footnote 4.25.11:

Sindhia’s flag is a snake _argent_ on an _orange_ field.

Footnote 4.25.12:

_Pān_, ‘the leaf’; _parna_ and _pattra_, the Sanskrit for ‘a leaf’;
and hence _panna_, ‘a leaf or sheet of paper’; and _patra_, ‘a plate
of metal or sacrificial cup,’ because these vessels were first made of
leaves. I was amused with the coincidence between the Sanskrit and
Tuscan _panna_. That lovely subject by Raphael, the “Madonna
impannata,” in the Pitti Palace at Florence, is so called from the
subdued light admitted through the window, the panes of which are of
paper. [The words have no connexion.]

Footnote 4.25.13:

[A variant of the well-known Fairy Gift legend (Crooke, _Popular
Religion and Folklore of N. India_, 2nd ed. i. 287 ff.).]

Footnote 4.25.14:

[The home of the Rāna branch of Guhilots, who take the name of Sesodia
from it, while Chitor was the capital of the Rāwal branch of the
ruling house (Erskine ii. A. 15).]

Footnote 4.25.15:

[Lotus nuts are used for necklaces, but Sannyāsis usually wear those
of the _rudrāksha_ (_Elaeocarpus ganitrus_) (Watt, _Econ. Dict._ v.
345; _Comm. Prod._ 511).]

Footnote 4.25.16:

[_Acacia catechu_, _Capparis aphylla_, _Acacia arabica_.]

Footnote 4.25.17:

[_Ficus glomerata_, _Annona squamosa_, _Prunus persica_.]

Footnote 4.25.18:

[Our knowledge of Indian locusts is still imperfect, the best-known
varieties being the Bombay and the North-West (Watt, _Econ. Dict._ vi.
Part i. 154 f.; _Comm. Prod._ 686).]

Footnote 4.25.19:

[A kind of cucumber, _Cucumis utilissimus_ (Watt, _Comm. Prod._ 439).]

Footnote 4.25.20:

[Chaturbhuja Vishnu.]

Footnote 4.25.21:

[‘The Barrier.’]

Footnote 4.25.22:

[‘The Onset.’]

Footnote 4.25.23:

[‘That of the monkey god,’ a common guardian of forts.]

Footnote 4.25.24:

[Chaugān, ‘the Parade Ground.’]

Footnote 4.25.25:

At four o’clock P.M., same position, thermometer 81°; barometer, 26°
85´.

Footnote 4.25.26:

[3658 feet.]

Footnote 4.25.27:

[Samprati was grandson of Asoka, and he is credited with the erection
of many Jain buildings (Smith, _EHI_, 192 f.; _BG_, i. Part i. 15).
From the picture of the temple given by the author, and from an
inscription of the reign of Rāna Sangrām Singh (A.D. 1508-27), it
could not have been more than three centuries old when he saw it
(_IA_, ii. 205). There are two temples, one consisting of a square
sanctuary with a vaulted dome, and surrounded by a colonnade of
elegant pillars: the second is of peculiar design, having three
stories, each tier being decorated with massive low columns (Erskine
ii. A. 116).]

Footnote 4.25.28:

See note, p. 37, above.

Footnote 4.25.29:

These people assert their Coptic origin: being driven from Egypt by
one of the Pharaohs, they wandered eastwards till they arrived under
that peak of the mountains west of the Indus called Sulaiman-i-koh, or
‘Hill of Solomon,’ where they halted. Others draw their descent from
the lost tribes. They are a very marked race, and as unsettled as
their forefathers, serving everywhere. They are fine gallant men, and,
when managed by such officers as Skinner, make excellent and orderly
soldiers; but they evince great contempt for the eaters of swine, who
are their abomination. [The Rohillas, ‘Highlanders,’ are a Pathān
tribe which occupied Rohilkhand after the death of Aurangzeb, A.D.
1707 (Crooke, _Tribes and Castes N.W.P. and Oudh_, iv. 165 f.).]

Footnote 4.25.30:

From the ruins of its temples, remnants of Takshak architecture, the
amateur might speedily fill a portfolio. This tract abounds with
romantic scenery: Rajmahall on the Banas, Gokaran, and many others.
Herbert calls Chitor the abode of Taxiles, the ally of Alexander. The
Taks were all of the race of Puru, so that Porus is a generic, not a
proper name. This Taksilanagar has been a large city. We owe thanks to
the Emperor Babur, who has given us the position of the city of
Taxiles, where Alexander left it, west of the Indus. [The Tāk tribe
had no connexion with Chitor.]

Footnote 4.25.31:

See p. 344 [Vol. I.].

Footnote 4.25.32:

[The Muharram festival.]

Footnote 4.25.33:

[Ahadi, ‘single, alone,’ like our warrant-officer, a gentleman trooper
in the Mughal service, so called because they offered their services
singly, and did not attach themselves to any chief (_Āīn_, i. 20,
note; Irvine, _Army of the Indian Moghuls_, 43).]

Footnote 4.25.34:

[This is the Rājput story which lacks confirmation from Muhammadan
sources. The captive may have been Ghiyāsū-d-dīn of Mālwa, or Muzaffar
Shāh of Gujarāt; but it is probably fiction invented by the Mewār
bards (Erskine ii. A. 18).]

Footnote 4.25.35:

See Annals, p. 353.

Footnote 4.5.36:

The bar or banyan tree, _Ficus Indica_.

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