Chapter 26 (2)

The exports of home production are the two staple articles of salt and woollens; to which we may add coarse cotton cloths, and paper made in the town of Pali. The _lois_, or blankets, are disseminated throughout India, and may be had at from four to sixty rupees per pair; scarfs and turbans are made of the same material, but not for exportation. But salt is the chief article of export, and the duties arising therefrom equal half the land revenue of the country. Of the _agars_, or ‘salt lakes,’ Pachbhadra, Phalodi, and Didwana are the principal, the first being several miles in circuit [702].

The commercial duties of Pali yielded 75,000 rupees annually, a large sum in a poor country like Marwar.

=Chāran and Bhāt Carriers.=—The Charans and Bhats, or bards and genealogists, are the chief carriers of these regions: their sacred character overawes the lawless Rajput chief; and even the savage Koli and Bhil, and the plundering Sahariya of the desert, dread the anathema of these singular races, who conduct the caravans through the wildest and most desolate regions. The traveller avails himself of such convoy who desires to proceed to the coast by Jalor, Bhinmal, Sanchor, and Radhanpur, whence he may pursue his route to Surat, or Muskat-Mandavi.

=Pungiri Temple.=—To the east of Pali about ten miles, there is an isolated hill, called Pungiri, ‘the hill of virtue,’ which is crowned with a small temple, said to have been conveyed by a Buddhist magician from Palitana in Saurashtra. Wherever this ancient and numerous sect exists, magical skill is always asserted. Here we found our old friend, Gough, who had been rambling to the south-west amongst Sahariya, Khosas,[4.26.48] and all the wild beings of these uncivilized tracts, in search of new breeds of horses. Halted to enjoy his society.

Kairla, 30th.

Rohat, 31st.

=Khānkāni.=—_November 1._—Khankani, on the north bank of the Luni. There was nothing to arrest attention between Pali and the Luni: all is flat and lonely in the thirty miles which intervene. Our halts were at Kairla, which has two small salt lakes, whence its name; in fact, this superabundant product, _khar_, or salt, gives its name to streams and towns. Both Kairla and Rohat, the intermediate places of halt, are feudal estates, and both chiefs had been involved in the recent civil dissensions: Rohat was under the ban.

=Bhāt Customs. Coercion by Threat of Human Sacrifice.=—Here I had an exemplification of the vulgar adage, “two of a trade,” etc. Pema Naik, the leader of one of the largest _tandas_, or caravans, which frequent the desert for salt, had left his convoy, and with his brethren came to exhibit his wounds and fractures received in a fray with the leaders of another caravan. Both were Bhats; Pema was the head of the Bamania Bhats, so called from the place of their abode, and he counted forty thousand beasts of burthen under his control. Shama had no distinctive epithet: he had no home separate from [703] his _tanda_. His little State when not in motion was on the highways; hence those who dwell entirely with their cattle are styled _upapanti_, ‘on the road.’ Shama had taken advantage of the greater portion of Pema’s caravan being detached to revenge an ancient feud; and had shown himself quite an adept in club-law, as the broken heads of his opponents disclosed. To reconcile them was impossible; and as the case was to be decided, not by the scales of abstract justice but by calculating which contributed most in duties, Pema by this summary process, more than from sympathy to his wounded honour, gained a victory by the exclusion of his rival. As before observed, these classes take advantage of their sacred character amongst the Rajputs to become the general carriers of the country: but the advantage which might result to the State from the respect paid to them is neutralized by their avarice and constant evasion of the payment of all established duties. A memorable example of this kind occurred during the reign of Amra the First with the ancestor of this same Pema. The Rana would not submit to the insolent demands of the Bhats, when they had recourse to one of the most sanguinary sacrifices ever recorded—the threat alone of which is generally sufficient to extort acquiescence and concession. But the firmness of Amra has been recorded: and he braved them. Collecting the elder portion of their community, men, women, and youths of both sexes, they made a sacrifice to the number of eighty souls with their daggers in the court of the palace. The blood of the victims was on the Rana’s head.[4.26.49] It was a species of excommunication, which would have unsettled a weaker reason; for the Rajput might repose after the murder of a Brahman, but that of the prophetic Vates would rise against him here and hereafter. For once they encountered a mind too strong to be shaken; Amra banished the whole fraternity of Bamania Bhats from his dominions, and the town of Bamani reverted to the fisc. The edict remained uncancelled until these days, when amongst the industrious of all classes whom the proclamations[4.26.50] brought once more to Mewar, came Pema and his brethren. Although tradition had preserved the causes of their exile, it had made no alteration in their sentiments and opinions, and the dagger was always at hand, to be sheathed in their own flesh whenever provocation called it from the girdle. Pema beset the Rana in all his rides, demanding a reduction [704] or rather abolition of duties for his _tanda_; and at length he took up a position on the terrace fronting the ‘balcony of the sun,’ threatening a _chandni_,[4.26.51] for such is the term applied to this suicidal revenge. The Rana, who had not the nerve of his ancestor, sent to me to beseech my interference: with his messenger, one from me returned to invite the Bhats to a settlement. They came, as fine, robust, intrepid a set as I ever saw. We soon came to issue: I urged that duties must be paid by all who chose to frequent the passes of Mewar, and that they would get nothing by their present silly mode of endeavouring to obtain remission; that if they would give a written agreement to abide by the scale of duties laid down, they should receive exemption for five hundred out of the forty thousand bullocks of their _tanda_, and be reinducted into Bamani; if not, there were daggers (showing them some on the table), and they might begin as soon as they pleased. I added that, in addition to Rana Amra’s penalty of banishment, I would recommend confiscation of their entire caravan. Pema was no fool: he accepted Bamani, and the _muafi_ for five hundred, and that day received his gold bracelets and clothes of investiture for Bamani from the Rana.

=Jhālamand.=—_November 2._—Jhalamand, ten miles. Although within one march of Jodhpur, we were obliged to make an intermediate halt, in order to arrange the ceremonials of reception; a grave matter with all the magnates of the East, who regulate all such affairs by slavish precedent and ancestral wisdom. On such a novel occasion as the reception of an English envoy at this desert court, they were a good deal puzzled how to act. They could very well comprehend how an ambassador direct from majesty should be received, and were not unfamiliar with the formula to be observed towards a viceregal legation. But the present case was an anomaly: the Governor of all India, of course, could appear only as the first servant of a commercial body, which, with whatever privileges invested, never could be made to rank with royalty or its immediate emanation. Accordingly, this always proved a clog to our diplomatic missions, until the diffusion of our power from the Indus to the ocean set speculation at rest on the formalities of reception of the Company’s ambassadors. On the other hand, the eternal rotation of military adventurers enjoying ephemeral power, such as the commanders of the myrmidons of Sindhia and Holkar, compelled all the Rajput princes to forgo much of their dignity; and men like Amir Khan, Jean Baptiste, or Bapu Sindhia, who but a [705] short time ago would have deemed themselves honoured with a seat in the ante-chamber, claimed equality of reception with princes. Each made it a subject for boasting, how far he had honoured himself by the humiliation of the descendant of the emperor of Kanauj, or the scion of Rama. At the same time, as the world is always deceived by externals, it was difficult to concede a reception less distinguished than that granted to the leader of a Mahratta horde; and here their darling precedent was available. To what distance did the Raja send the _istikbal_ to meet Amir Khan? what was the rank of the chieftains so deputed? and to what point did the “offspring of the sun” condescend to advance in person to receive this “lord of the period”? All these, and many similar questions, were propounded through the Wakil, who had long been with me, to his sovereign, to whose presence he proceeded in order that they might be adjusted, while I halted at Jhalamand, only five miles from the capital. However individually we may despise these matters, we have no option, as public servants, but to demand the full measure of honour for those we represent. As the present would also regulate future receptions, I was compelled to urge that the Raja would best consult his own dignity by attending to that of the government I represented, and distinctly signified that it could never be tolerated that he should descend to the very foot of his castle to honour Amir Khan, and await the English envoy almost on the threshold of his palace. It ended, as such matters generally do in those countries, by a compromise: it was stipulated that the Raja should receive the mission in his _palki_ or litter, at the central barrier of descent.[4.26.52] These preliminaries being arranged, we left Jhalamand in the afternoon, that we might not derange the habits of slumber of those who were to conduct us to the capital. About half-way we were met by the great feudatory chieftains of Pokaran and Nimaj, then lords of the ascendant, and the joint advisers of their sovereign. We dismounted, embraced, complimented each other in the customary phraseology; then remounted, and rode together until we reached the tents, where, after I had requested them to be the bearers of my homage to their sovereign, we mutually saluted and parted.

=The Chief of Pokaran.=—Salim Singh[4.26.53] was the name of the lord of Pokaran, the most wealthy and the [706] most powerful of all the baronies of Marwar. His castle and estate (wrested from Jaisalmer) are in the very heart of the desert; the former is strong both by position and art. It is a family which has often shaken the foundation of the throne of Marwar. During four generations have its bold and turbulent chiefs made the most resolute of these monarchs tremble. Deo Singh, the great grandfather of the present chief, used to sleep in the hall of the royal palace, with five hundred of his Champawats, of which clan he is the chief. “The throne of Marwar is within the sheath of my dagger,” was the boast, as elsewhere mentioned, of this haughty noble to his sovereign. His son, Sabal Singh, followed his father’s steps, and even dethroned the great Bijai Singh: a cannon-shot relieved the prince from this terror of his reign. Sawai Singh, his son and successor, acted the same part towards Raja Bhim, and was involved in the civil wars which commenced in 1806, when he set up the pretender, Dhonkal Singh. The catastrophe of Nagor, in which Amir Khan acted the assassin of the Champawat and all his associates, relieved Raja Man from the evil genius of his house; and the honours this prince heaped on the son of the Champawat, in giving him the first office in the State, were but a trap to ensnare him. From this he escaped, or his life and the honours of Pokaran would have been lost together. Such is a rapid sketch of the family of the chief who was deputed to meet me. He was about thirty-five years of age; his appearance, though not prepossessing, was dignified and commanding. In person he was tall, but more powerful than athletic; his features were good, but his complexion was darker than in general amongst the chieftains of Marwar.

=The Chief of Nīmāj.=—His companion, and associate in the councils of his prince, was in every point of personal appearance the reverse of this portrait. Surthan Singh was chief of the Udawats, a clan which can muster four thousand swords, all residing on the land skirting the Aravalli; and of which his residence Nimaj,[4.26.54] Raepur, and Chandawal are the principal fiefs. Surthan was a fine specimen of the Rajput; his figure tall and graceful; his complexion fair; his deportment manly and mild; in short, he was a thorough gentleman in appearance, understanding, and manners.

It would be impossible to relate here all the causes which involved him in the catastrophe from which his coadjutor escaped. It was the misfortune of Surthan to have been associated with Salim Singh; but his past services to his prince amply counterbalanced this party bias. It was he who prevented his sovereign from [707] sheathing a dagger in his heart on the disgraceful day at Parbatsar; and he was one of the four chieftains of all Marwar who adhered to his fortunes when beset by the united force of Rajputana. He was also one of the same four who redeemed the spoils of their country from the hands of the multitudinous array which assaulted Jodhpur in 1806, and whose fate carried mourning into every house of Rajasthan.[4.26.55] The death of Surthan Singh was a prodigal sacrifice, and caused a sensation of universal sorrow, in which I unfeignedly participated. His gallant bearing was the theme of universal admiration; nor can I give a better or a juster idea of the chivalrous Rajput than by inserting a literal translation of the letter conveying the account of his death, about eight months after my visit to Jodhpur.

“Jodhpur, 2d Asarh, or 28th June 1820.

“On the last day of Jeth (the 26th June), an hour before daybreak, the Raja sent the Aligols,[4.26.56] and all the quotas of the chiefs, to the number of eight thousand men, to attack Surthan Singh. They blockaded his dwelling in the city, upon which for three watches they kept up a constant fire of great guns and small arms. Surthan, with his brother Sur Singh, and his kindred and clan, after a gallant defence, at length sallied forth, attacked the foreigners sword in hand, and drove them back. But who can oppose their prince with success? The odds were too great, and both brothers fell nobly. Nagoji and forty of the bravest of the clan fell with the Thakur brothers, and forty were severely wounded. Eighty, who remained, made good their retreat with their arms to Nimaj.[4.26.57] Of the Raja’s troops, forty were killed on the spot, and one hundred were wounded. Twenty of the townsfolk suffered in the fray.

“The Pokaran chief, hearing of this, saddled; but the Maharaja sent Sheonath Singh of Kuchaman, the chief of Bhadrajan, and others, to give him confidence, and induce him to stay; but he is most anxious to get away. My nephew and fifteen of my followers were slain on this occasion. The Nimaj chief fell as became a Rathor. The world exclaims ‘applause,’ and both Hindu and Turk say he met [708] his death nobly. Sheonath Singh, Bakhtawar Singh, Rup Singh, and Anar Singh,[4.26.58] performed the funeral rites.”

Such is the Rajput, when the point of honour is at stake! Not a man of his clan would have surrendered while their chief lived to claim their lives; and those who retreated only preserved them for the support of the young lord of the Udawats [709]!

-----

Footnote 4.26.1:

_Meru_ is ‘a [fabulous] mountain’ in Sanskrit; Merawat and Merot, ‘of
or belonging to the mountain.’ I have before remarked that the name of
the Albanian mountaineer, Mainote, has the same signification. I know
not the etymology of _Mina_, of which the Mer is a branch. [Needless
to say, whatever the meaning of the title Mer may be, it has no
connexion with Mt. Meru. The traditions of the Mers point to Mīna
ancestry. For the Mīna tribe see Rose, _Glossary_, iii. 102 ff.;
Watson, _Rajputāna Gazetteer_, i. A. 29 ff.]

Footnote 4.26.2:

I had hoped to have embodied these subjects with, and thereby greatly
to have increased the interest, of my work; but just as Lord Hastings
had granted my request, that an individual eminently qualified for
those pursuits should join me, a Higher Power deemed it fit to deny
what had been long near my heart.

The individual, John Tod, was a cousin of my own, and possessed an
intellect of the highest order. He was only twenty-two years of age
when he died, and had only been six months in India. He was an
excellent classical scholar, well versed in modern languages and every
branch of natural history. His manners, deportment, and appearance
were all in unison with these talents. Had it pleased the Almighty to
have spared him, this work would have been more worthy of the public
notice. [An officer named Tod was murdered at Nāhar Magra, near
Udaipur, in May 1804 (Malcolm, _Memoir Central India_, 2nd ed. i.
237).]

Footnote 4.26.3:

[The Mers are supposed to be a foreign tribe, like the Gurjaras and
Mālavas, which passed into Kāthiāwār through the Panjāb, Sind, and N.
Gujarāt (_BG_, i. Part i. 136 ff.; Elliot-Dowson i. 519 ff.).]

Footnote 4.26.4:

I cannot discover by what part of the range the invasion of Mandor was
attempted; it might have been the pass we are now in, for it is
evident it was not from the frontier of Ajmer.

Footnote 4.26.5:

_Laj_ is properly ‘shame,’ which word is always used in lieu of
honour: _laj rakho_, ‘preserve my shame,’ _i.e._ my honour from shame.

Footnote 4.26.6:

Parbat Vira.

Footnote 4.26.7:

The Parihar prince bestowed this epithet merely in compliment.

Footnote 4.26.8:

_Sindhu Raga._

Footnote 4.26.9:

[The sacred Jain mountain in Kāthiāwār.]

Footnote 4.26.10:

With two (_do_) edges (_dhara_).

Footnote 4.26.11:

_Sang_ is the iron lance, either wholly of iron, or having plates for
about ten feet; these weapons are much used in combats from camels in
the Desert.

Footnote 4.26.12:

‘Sword’—_Aswar_ in the dialect.

Footnote 4.26.13:

[The field guardian deity.]

Footnote 4.26.14:

[For an account of the Mer rebellion in 1820 and its suppression see
Watson, _Rājputāna Gazetteer_, i. A. 14.]

Footnote 4.26.15:

[The 44th Merwāra Infantry, formerly known as the Merwāra Battalion,
formed in 1822, did good service in the Mutiny of 1857, and in the
Afghān campaign of 1878 (Watson, _Gazetteer_, i. A. 119 ff.; Cardew,
_Sketch of the Services of the Bengal Native Army_, 338 ff.)].

Footnote 4.26.16:

[No class of Brāhmans or Rājputs, claiming respectability, now permits
widow marriage.]

Footnote 4.26.17:

[Nāgda, near the shrine of Eklingji, one of the most ancient places in
Mewār.]

Footnote 4.26.18:

[Elsewhere known as Khanjarīt or Khanjan, a well-known bird of omen.]

Footnote 4.26.19:

This term is a compound of _bāhar_ and _watan_, literally ‘ex patria.’

Footnote 4.26.20:

He ruled from A.D. 1094 to 1143.

Footnote 4.26.21:

[_Ānwal_, _āonla_, _Phyllanthus emblica_; _bāwal_, _babūl_, _Acacia
arabica_; _karīl_, _Capparis aphylla_; _āk_, _Calotropis gigantea_;
_pīpal_, _Ficus religiosa_.]

Footnote 4.26.22:

[_Bar_, _Ficus bengalensis_; _jawās_, _Hedysarum alhagi_.]

Footnote 4.26.23:

See p. 325.

Footnote 4.26.34:

An alp, or spot in these mountainous regions, where springs, pasture,
and other natural conveniences exist.

Footnote 4.26.35:

[About seventy miles south-south-west of Jodhpur city.]

Footnote 4.26.36:

[Bhatinda, now Govindgarh, in the Patiāla State (_IGI_, xii. 343). The
author’s accounts of Gūga or Gugga are contradictory (see Index,
_s.v._). For this famous saga see Temple, _Legends of the Panjāb_, i.
121 ff., iii. 261 ff. The cult of the hero has passed as far south as
Gujarāt, his festival being held on 9th dark half of Bhādon
(Aug.-Sept.), known as Gūga navami (_BG_, ix. Part i. 524 f.).]

Footnote 4.26.37:

Ferishta, or his copyist, by a false arrangement of the points, has
lost Nadole in Buzule, using the ب for the ن and the ذ for the د. [It
was Kutbu-d-dīn who, on his way to Gujarāt, passed the forts of “Tilli
and Buzule” (Dow, ed. 1812, i. 147). Briggs (Ferishta i. 196) writes
“Baly and Nadole.” In the _Tāju-l-Ma-āsir_ of Hasan Nizāmi the names
are given as “Pāli and Nandūl” (Elliot-Dowson ii. 229). This
illustrates the difficulty of tracing place names in the Muhammadan
historians.]

Footnote 4.26.38:

[Towards the end of the tenth century, Lākhan or Lakshman Singh, a
younger brother of Wākpatirāj, the Chauhān Rāja of Sāmbhar, settled at
Nādol, and his descendants ruled the territory till their defeat by
Kutbu-d-dīn Ibak in 1206-10 (Erskine iii. A. 181 f.).]

Footnote 4.26.39:

[The temple of Mahāvīra contains three inscriptions, dated A.D. 1609,
recording its construction from charitable funds. Garrett disputes the
author’s reference to Caesar, as the buildings are not superior to
many others in Rājputāna (_ASR_, xxiii. (1887) 93).]

Footnote 4.26.40:

See Appendix, No. VII.]

Footnote 4.26.41:

These will appear more appropriately in a disquisition on Hindu medals
found by me in India, in the _Transactions of the Royal Asiatic
Society_. [The well-known “Bull and Horseman” type (_IGI_, ii. 142
f.).]

Footnote 4.26.42:

[All traces of those walls have disappeared, but in Jūna or ‘Old’ Pāli
there are some fine temples (_ASR_, xxiii. (1887) 86 ff.).]

Footnote 4.26.43:

The _kharak_ and _pind khajūr_. [_Kharak_ is the stage when the date
becomes red or yellow, according to variety; _pind_, when it is quite
ripe (Watt, _Econ. Dict._ vi. Part i. 205).]

Footnote 4.26.44:

_Mom_ in the language of Egypt signifies ‘wax,’ says some ancient
authority: so it is the usual name of that article in Persian. _Mummy_
is probably thence derived. I remember playing a trick on old Silu,
our _khabardar_ [spy] at Sindhia’s camp, who had been solicited to
obtain a piece of _momiai_ for a chieftain’s wife. As we are supposed
to possess everything valuable in the healing art, he would take no
refusal; so I substituted a piece of indiarubber. [For the virtues of
_momiāi_ see Crooke, _Popular Religion and Folklore of N. India_, ii.
176 ff.]

Footnote 4.26.45:

[Barilla, Watt, _Econ. Prod._ 112 f.]

Footnote 4.26.46:

[_Morinda citrifolia_, _ibid._ 783 f.]

Footnote 4.26.47:

[Madder, _Rubia cordifolia_, _ibid._ 926 f.]

Footnote 4.26.48:

[The Khosa is a Baloch tribe, many of them found in Sind, where, it is
said, they were given lands by the Emperor Humāyūn (_Census Report,
Baluchistan_, 1901, i. 95 f.).]

Footnote 4.26.49:

[Numerous instances of this custom among Bhāts will be found in _BG_,
ix. Part i. 209 ff.]

Footnote 4.26.50:

See Vol. I. p. 561.

Footnote 4.26.51:

[Platts (_Hindustāni Dict._, _s.v._) gives _chāndni_, ‘moonlight’;
_chāndni mār-jāna_, ‘to be moonstruck, paralysed by a stroke of the
moon’; _chāndni karan_, ‘the practice of Brāhmans and others wounding
themselves in order to extort the payment of a debt.’ Here the threat
is fear of the ghost of the man who took his life. Sir G. Grierson
notes that in Gujarāti and Marāthi _chāndi karan_ means ‘to reduce to
white ashes,’ hence ‘to ruin or destroy completely.’ Here _chāndi_,
usually meaning ‘silver,’ means ‘anything white,’ and hence ‘white
ashes.’ This, he suggests, seems to be a more probable explanation
than ‘moonstruck.’]

Footnote 4.26.52:

Mr. Wilder, the superintendent of Ajmer, was deputed by General Sir D.
Ochterlony, in December 1818, to the court of Jodhpur, and was very
courteously received by the Raja.

Footnote 4.26.53:

The sibilant is the _Shibboleth_ of the Rajput of Western India, and
will always detect him. The ‘lion’ (_singh_) of Pokaran is degraded
into ‘asafoetida’ (_hing_); as _Halim Hing_. [Pokaran, 85 miles N.W.
of Jodhpur city, held by the premier noble of the Champāwat clan of
Rāthors.]

Footnote 4.26.54:

[Nīmāj, about 60 miles E.S.E. of Jodhpur city, fief of a noble of the
Udāwat Rāthors.]

Footnote 4.26.55:

See Vol. I. p. 539 for the murder of the princess of Udaipur, one
of its results.

Footnote 4.26.56:

The mercenary Rohilla battalions, who are like the Walloons and
independent companies which formed the first regular armies of Europe.
[‘Alīgol, ‘noble troop’ (Yule, _Hobson-Jobson_, 2nd ed. 15).]

Footnote 4.26.57:

Which they afterwards nobly defended during many months.

Footnote 4.26.58:

The last, a brave and excellent man, was the writer of this letter.
He, who had sacrificed all to save his prince, and, as he told me
himself, supported him, when proscribed by his predecessor, by the
sale of all his property, even to his wife’s jewels, yet became an
exile, to save his life from an overwhelming proscription. To the
anomalous state of our alliances with these States is to be ascribed
many of these mischiefs.

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TOWN AND FORT OF JODHPUR.
(From the south-east.)
_To face page 820._
]