CHAPTER 8
Rāna Kūmbha, A.D. 1433-68.
—Kumbha succeeded his father
in S. 1475 (
A.D. 1419);
[1] nor did any symptom of dissatisfaction
appear to usher in his reign, which was one of great success
amidst no common difficulties. The bardic historians
[2] do as
much honour to the Marwar prince, who had made common
cause with their sovereign in revenging the death of his father,
as if it had involved the security of his crown; but this was a
precautionary measure of the prince, who was induced thus to
act from several motives, and, above all, in accordance with
usage, which stigmatizes the refusal of aid when demanded:
besides ‘Kumbha was the nephew of Marwar.’
It has rarely occurred in any country to have possessed successively
so many energetic princes as ruled Mewar through
several centuries. She was now in the middle path of her glory,
and enjoying the legitimate triumph of seeing the foes of her
religion captives on the rock of her power. A century had
elapsed since the bigot Ala had wreaked his vengeance on the
different monuments of art. Chitor had recovered the sack, and
new defenders had sprung up in the place [287] of those who had
fallen in their ‘saffron robes,’ a sacrifice for her preservation.
All that was wanting to augment her resources against the
storms which were collecting on the brows of Caucasus and the
shores of the Oxus, and were destined to burst on the head of his
grandson Sanga, was effected by Kumbha; who with Hamir’s
energy, Lakha’s taste for the arts, and a genius comprehensive
as either and more fortunate, succeeded in all his undertakings,
and once more raised the ‘crimson banner’ of Mewar upon the
banks of the Ghaggar, the scene of Samarsi’s defeat. Let us
contrast the patriarchal Hindu governments of this period with
the despotism of the Tatar invader.
From the age of Shihabu-d-din, the conqueror of India, and
his contemporary Samarsi, to the time we have now reached,
two entire dynasties, numbering twenty-four emperors and one
empress, through assassination, rebellion, and dethronement,
had followed in rapid succession, yielding a result of only nine
years to a reign. Of Mewar, though several fell in defending
their altars at home or their religion abroad, eleven princes
suffice to fill the same period.
It was towards the close of the Khilji dynasty that the satraps
of Delhi shook off its authority and established subordinate
kingdoms: Bijapur and Golkonda in the Deccan; Malwa,
Gujarat, Jaunpur in the east; and even Kalpi had its king.
Malwa and Gujarat had attained considerable power when
Kumbha ascended the throne. In the midst of his prosperity
these two States formed a league against him, and in S. 1496
(A.D. 1440) both kings, at the head of powerful armies, invaded
Mewar. Kumbha met them on the plains of Malwa bordering
on his own State, and at the head of one hundred thousand horse
and foot and fourteen hundred elephants, gave them an entire
defeat, carrying captive to Chitor Mahmud the Khilji sovereign
of Malwa.
Abu-l Fazl relates this victory, and dilates on Kumbha’s
greatness of soul in setting his enemy at liberty, not only without
ransom but with gifts.[3] Such is the character of the Hindu: a
mixture of arrogance, political blindness, pride, and generosity.
To spare a prostrate foe is the creed of the Hindu cavalier, and
he carries all such maxims to excess. The annals, however, state
that Mahmud was confined six months in Chitor; and that the
trophies of conquest were retained we have evidence from Babur,
who mentions receiving from the son of his opponent, Sanga, the
crown of the Malwa king.
The Tower of Victory.
—But there is a more durable [288]
monument than this written record of victory: the triumphal
pillar in Chitor, whose inscriptions detail the event, “when,
shaking the earth, the lords of Gujarkhand and Malwa, with
armies overwhelming as the ocean, invaded Medpat.” Eleven
years after this event Kumbha laid the foundations of this
column, which was completed in ten more: a period apparently
too short to place “this ringlet on the brow of Chitor, which
makes her look down upon Meru with derision.” We will leave
it, with the aspiration that it may long continue a monument of
the fortune of its founders.
[4]It would appear that the Malwa king afterwards united his
arms with Kumbha, as, in a victory gained over the imperial
forces at Jhunjhunu, when ‘he planted his standard in Hissar,’
the Malwa troops were combined with those of Mewar. The
imperial power had at this period greatly declined: the Khutba
was read in the mosques in the name of Timur, and the Malwa
king had defeated, single-handed, the last Ghorian sultan of
Delhi.
The Fortresses of Mewār.
—Of eighty-four fortresses for the
defence of Mewar, thirty-two were erected by Kumbha. Inferior
only to Chitor is that stupendous work called after him Kumbhalmer,
[5]
‘the hill of Kumbha,’ from its natural position, and
the works he raised, impregnable to a native army. These works
were on the site of a more ancient fortress, of which the mountaineers
long held possession. Tradition ascribes it to Samprati
Raja, a Jain prince in the second century, and a descendant of
Chandragupta;
[6] and the ancient Jain temples appear to confirm
the tradition. When Kumbha captured Nagor he brought away
the gates, with the statue of the god Hanuman, who gives his
name to the gate which he still guards. He also erected a citadel
on a peak of Abu, within the fortress of the ancient Pramara,
where he often resided. Its magazine and alarm-tower still
bear Kumbha’s name; and in a rude temple the bronze effigies
of Kumbha and his father still receive divine honours.
[7] Centuries
have passed since the princes of Mewar had influence here, but
the incident marks the vivid remembrance of their condition.
He fortified the passes between the western frontier and Abu,
and erected the fort Vasanti near the present Sirohi, and that of
Machin, to defend the Shero Nala and Deogarh against the Mers
of Aravalli. He re-established Ahor and other smaller [289]
forts to overawe the Bhumia
[8] Bhil of Jharol and Panarwa, and
defined the boundaries of Marwar and Mewar.
Temples.
—Besides these monuments of his genius, two consecrated
to religion have survived: that of Kumbha Sham, on
Abu, which, though worthy to attract notice elsewhere, is here
eclipsed by a crowd of more interesting objects; the other, one
of the largest edifices existing, cost upwards of a million sterling,
towards which Kumbha contributed eighty thousand pounds.
It is erected in the Sadri pass leading from the western descent
of the highlands of Mewar, and is dedicated to Rishabhadeva.
[9]
Its secluded position has preserved it from bigoted fury, and its
only visitants now are the wild beasts who take shelter in its
sanctuary. Kumbha Rana was also a poet: but in a far more
elevated strain than the troubadour princes, his neighbours, who
contented themselves with rehearsing their own prowess or
celebrating their lady’s beauty. He composed a
tika, or appendix
to the ‘Divine Melodies,’
[10] in praise of Krishna. We can pass
no judgment on these inspirations of the royal bard, as we are
ignorant whether any are preserved in the records of the house:
a point his descendant, who is deeply skilled in such lore, might
probably answer.
Mīra Bāi.
—Kumbha married a daughter of the Rathor of
Merta, the first of the clans of Marwar. Mira Bai
[11] was the most
celebrated princess of her time for beauty and romantic piety.
Her compositions were numerous, though better known to the
worshippers of the Hindu Apollo than to the ribald bards. Some
of her odes and hymns to the deity are preserved and admired.
Whether she imbibed her poetic piety from her husband, or
whether from her he caught the sympathy which produced the
‘sequel to the songs of Govinda,’ we cannot determine. Her
history is a romance, and her excess of devotion at every shrine
of the favourite deity with the fair of Hind, from the Yamuna to
‘the world’s end,’
[12] gave rise to many [290] tales of scandal.
Kumbha mixed gallantry with his warlike pursuits. He carried
off the daughter of the chief of Jhalawar, who had been betrothed
to the prince of Mandor: this renewed the old feud, and the
Rathor made many attempts to redeem his affianced bride. His
humiliation was insupportable, when through the purified atmosphere
of the periodical rains “the towers of Kumbhalmer became
visible from the castle of Mandor, and the light radiated from the
chamber of the fair through the gloom of a night in Bhadon,
[13] to
the hall where he brooded o’er his sorrows.” It was surmised
that this night-lamp was an understood signal of the Jhalani,
who pined at the decree which ambition had dictated to her
father, in consigning her to the more powerful rival of her affianced
lord. The Rathor exhausted every resource to gain access to the
fair, and had once nearly succeeded in a surprise by escalade,
having cut his way in the night through the forest in the western
and least guarded acclivity: but, as the bard equivocally remarks,
"though he cut his way through the
jhal (brushwood), he could
not reach the
Jhalani."
The Assassination of Rāna Kūmbha, A.D. 1468.
—Kumbha had
occupied the throne half a century; he had triumphed over the
enemies of his race, fortified his country with strongholds, embellished
it with temples, and with the superstructure of her fame
had laid the foundation of his own—when, the year which should
have been a jubilee was disgraced by the foulest blot in the annals;
and his life, which nature was about to close, terminated by the
poignard of an assassin—that assassin, his son!
Rāna Uda, A.D. 1468-73.
—This happened in S. 1525 (
A.D. 1469).
Uda was the name of the parricide, whose unnatural ambition,
and impatience to enjoy a short lustre of sovereignty, bereft of
life the author of his existence. But such is the detestation
which marks this unusual crime that, like that of the Venetian
traitor, his name is left a blank in the annals, nor is Uda known
but by the epithet
Hatyara, ‘the murderer.’ Shunned by his
kin, and compelled to look abroad for succour to maintain him
on the throne polluted by his crime, Mewar in five years of
illegitimate rule lost half the consequence which had cost so many
to acquire. He made the Deora prince independent in Abu, and
bestowed Sambhar, Ajmer, and adjacent districts on the prince
of Jodhpur
[14] as the price of his friendship. But, a prey to remorse,
he felt that he [291] could neither claim regard from, nor
place any dependence upon, these princes, though he bribed them
with provinces. He humbled himself before the king of Delhi,
offering him a daughter in marriage to obtain his sanction to his
authority; “but heaven manifested its vengeance to prevent
this additional iniquity, and preserve the house of Bappa Rawal
from dishonour.” He had scarcely quitted the divan (
diwankhana),
on taking leave of the king, when a flash of lightning
struck the
Hatyara to the earth, whence he never arose.
[15] The
bards pass over this period cursorily, as one of their race was the
instrument of Uda’s crime.
Banishment of the Chārans.
—There has always been a jealousy
between the Mangtas, as they term all classes ‘who extend the
palm,’ whether Brahmans, Yatis, Charans, or Bhats; but since
Hamir, the Charan influence had far eclipsed the rest. A Brahman
astrologer predicted Kumbha’s death through a Charan, and as
the class had given other cause of offence, Kumbha banished
the fraternity his dominions, resuming all their lands: a strong
measure in those days, and which few would have had nerve to
attempt or firmness to execute. The heir-apparent, Raemall,
who was exiled to Idar for what his father deemed an impertinent
curiosity,
[16] had attached one of these bards to his suite, whose
ingenuity got the edict set aside, and his race restored to their
lands and the prince’s favour. Had they taken off the Brahman’s
head, they might have falsified the prediction which unhappily
was too soon fulfilled.
[17]
Rāna Rāemall, A.D. 1473-1508.
—Raemall succeeded in S. 1530
(A.D. 1474) by his own valour to the seat of Kumbha. He had
fought and defeated the usurper, who on this occasion fled to the
king of Delhi and offered him a daughter of Mewar. After his
death in the manner described, the Delhi monarch, with Sahasmall
[292] and Surajmall, sons of the parricide, invaded Mewar, encamping
at Siarh, now Nathdwara. The chiefs were faithful to their
legitimate prince, Raemall, and aided by his allies of Abu and
Girnar, at the head of fifty-eight thousand horse and eleven
thousand foot, he gave battle to the pretender and his imperial
ally at Ghasa. The conflict was ferocious. ‘The streams ran
blood,’ for the sons of the usurper were brave as lions; but the
king was so completely routed that he never again entered Mewar.
Raemall bestowed one daughter on Surji (Yadu), the chief of
Girnar; and another on the Deora, Jaimall of Sirohi, confirming
his title to Abu as her dower. He sustained the warlike reputation
of his predecessors, and carried on interminable strife with
Ghiyasu-d-din of Malwa, whom he defeated in several pitched
battles, to the success of which the valour of his nephews, whom
he had pardoned, mainly contributed. In the last of these
encounters the Khilji king sued for peace, renouncing the pretensions
he had formerly urged.[18] The dynasty of Lodi next
enjoyed the imperial bauble, and with it Mewar had to contest
her northern boundary.
The Sons of Rāna Rāemall.
—Raemall had three sons, celebrated
in the annals of Rajasthan: Sanga, the competitor of Babur,
Prithiraj, the Rolando of his age, and Jaimall. Unhappily for
the country and their father’s repose, fraternal affection was
discarded for deadly hate, and their feuds and dissensions were a
source of constant alarm. Had discord not disunited them, the
reign of Raemall would have equalled any of his predecessors.
As it was, it presented a striking contrast to them: his two elder
sons banished; the first, Sanga, self-exiled from perpetual fear
of his life, and Prithiraj, the second, from his turbulence; while
the youngest, Jaimall, was slain through his intemperance. A
sketch of these feuds will present a good picture of the Rajput
character, and their mode of life when their arms were not required
against their country’s foes.
Sanga[19] and Prithiraj were the offspring of the Jhali queen;
Jaimall was by another mother. What moral influence the name
he bore had on Prithiraj we can surmise only from his actions,
which would stand comparison with those of his prototype [293]
the Chauhan of Delhi, and are yet the delight of the Sesodia.
When they assemble at the feast after a day’s sport, or in a sultry
evening spread the carpet on the terrace to inhale the leaf or take
a cup of kusumbha,[20] a tale of Prithiraj recited by the bard is the
highest treat they can enjoy. Sanga, the heir-apparent, was a
contrast to his brother. Equally brave, his courage was tempered
by reflection; while Prithiraj burned with a perpetual thirst for
action, and often observed “that fate must have intended him
to rule Mewar.” The three brothers, with their uncle, Surajmall,
were one day discussing these topics, when Sanga observed that,
though heir to ‘the ten thousand towns’ of Mewar, he would
waive his claims, and trust them, as did the Roman brothers, to
the omen which should be given by the priestess of Charani Devi
at Nahra Magra,[21] the ‘Tiger’s Mount.’ They repaired to her
abode. Prithiraj and Jaimall entered first, and seated themselves
on a pallet: Sanga followed and took possession of the panther
hide of the prophetess; his uncle, Surajmall, with one knee
resting thereon. Scarcely had Prithiraj disclosed their errand,
when the sibyl pointed to the panther-hide[22] as the decisive omen
of sovereignty to Sanga, with a portion to his uncle. They received
the decree as did the twins of Rome. Prithiraj drew his
sword and would have falsified the omen, had not Surajmall
stepped in and received the blow destined for Sanga, while the
prophetess fled from their fury. Surajmall and Prithiraj were
exhausted with wounds, and Sanga fled with five sword-cuts and
an arrow in his eye, which destroyed the sight for ever. He made
for the sanctuary of Chaturbhuja, and passing Sivanti, took
refuge with Bida (Udawat), who was accoutred for a journey, his
steed standing by him. Scarcely had he assisted the wounded heir
of Mewar to alight when Jaimall galloped up in pursuit. The
Rathor guarded the sanctuary, and gave up his life in defence of
his guest, who meanwhile escaped.
Retirement of Sanga.
—Prithiraj recovered from his wounds;
and Sanga, aware of his implacable enmity, had recourse to many
expedients to avoid discovery. He, who at a future period leagued
a hundred thousand men against the descendant of Timur, was
compelled to associate with goat-herds, expelled the peasant’s
abode as too stupid [294] to tend his cattle, and, precisely like our
Alfred the Great, having in charge some cakes of flour, was reproached
with being more desirous of eating than tending them.
A few faithful Rajputs found him in this state, and, providing him
with arms and a horse, they took service with Rao Karamchand,
Pramar, chief of Srinagar,
[23] and with him ‘ran the country.’
After one of these raids, Sanga one day alighted under a banian
tree, and placing his dagger under his head, reposed, while two
of his faithful Rajputs, whose names are preserved,
[24] prepared his
repast, their steeds grazing by them. A ray of the sun penetrating
the foliage, fell on Sanga’s face, and discovered a snake, which,
feeling the warmth, had uncoiled itself and was rearing its crest
over the head of the exile:
[25] a bird of omen
[26] had perched itself
on the crested serpent, and was chattering aloud. A goat-herd
named Maru, ‘versed in the language of birds,’ passed at the
moment Sanga awoke. The prince repelled the proffered homage
of the goat-herd, who, however, had intimated to the Pramara
chief that he was served by ‘royalty.’
[27] The Pramara kept the
secret, and gave Sanga a daughter to wife, and protection till the
tragical end of his brother called him to the throne.
The Adventures of Prithirāj.
—When the Rana heard of the
quarrel which had nearly deprived him of his heir, he banished
Prithiraj, telling him that he might live on his bravery and maintain
himself with strife. With but five horse
[28] Prithiraj quitted
the paternal abode, and made for Bali in Godwar. These dissensions
following the disastrous conclusion of the last reign,
paralysed the country, and the wild tribes of the west and the
mountaineers of the Aravalli so little respected the garrison of
Nadol (the chief town of Godwar), that they carried their depredations
to the plains. Prithiraj halted at Nadol, and having to
procure some necessaries pledged a ring to the merchant who had
sold it to him; the merchant recognized the prince, and learning
the cause of his disguise, proffered his services in the scheme
which the prince had in view for the restoration of order in Godwar,
being determined to evince to his father that he had resources
independent of birth. The Minas were the aboriginal proprietors
of all these regions; the Rajputs were interlopers and conquerors.
A Rawat of this tribe had regained their ancient haunts, and held
his petty court at the [295] town of Narlai in the plains, and was
even served by Rajputs. By the advice of Ojha, the merchant,
Prithiraj enlisted himself and his band among the adherents of
the Mina. On the Aheria, or ‘hunter’s festival,’ the vassals have
leave to rejoin their families. Prithiraj, who had also obtained
leave, rapidly retraced his steps, and despatching his Rajputs
to dislodge the Mina, awaited the result in ambush at the gate of
the town. In a short time the Mina appeared on horseback, and
in full flight to the mountains for security, Prithiraj pursued,
overtook, and transfixed him with his lance to a kesula tree, and
setting fire to the village, he slew the Minas as they sought to
escape the flames. Other towns shared the same fate, and all the
province of Godwar, with the exception of Desuri, a stronghold
of the Madrecha Chauhans, fell into his power. At this time
Sada Solanki, whose ancestor had escaped the destruction of
Patan and found refuge in these mountainous tracts, held Sodhgarh.
He had espoused a daughter of the Madrecha, but the grant
of Desuri and its lands
[29] in perpetuity easily gained him to the
cause of Prithiraj.
Prithiraj having thus restored order in Godwar, and appointed
Ojha and the Solanki to the government thereof, regained the
confidence of his father; and his brother Jaimall being slain at
this time, accelerated his forgiveness and recall. Ere he rejoins
Raemall we will relate the manner of this event. Jaimall was
desirous to obtain the hand of Tara Bai, daughter of Rao Surthan,[30]
who had been expelled Toda by the Pathans. The price of her
hand was the recovery of this domain: but Jaimall, willing to
anticipate the reward, and rudely attempting access to the fair,
was slain by the indignant father. The quibbling remark of the
bard upon this event is that "Tara was not the star (tara) of his
destiny." At the period of this occurrence Sanga was in concealment,
Prithiraj banished, and Jaimall consequently looked to
as the heir of Mewar. The Rana, when incited to revenge, replied
with a magnanimity which deserves to be recorded, "that he who
had thus dared to insult the honour of a [296] father, and that
father in distress, richly merited his fate"; and in proof of his
disavowal of such a son he conferred on the Solanki the district
of Badnor.
Prithirāj recalled.
—This event led to the recall of Prithiraj,
who eagerly took up the gage disgraced by his brother. The
adventure was akin to his taste. The exploit which won the
hand of the fair Amazon, who, equipped with bow and quiver,
subsequently accompanied him in many perilous enterprises,
will be elsewhere related.
Surajmall (the uncle), who had fomented these quarrels, resolved
not to belie the prophetess if a crown lay in his path. The
claims acquired from his parricidal parent were revived when
Mewar had no sons to look to. Prithiraj on his return renewed
the feud with Surajmall, whose ‘vaulting ambition’ persuaded
him that the crown was his destiny, and he plunged deep into
treason to obtain it. He joined as partner in his schemes Sarangdeo,
another descendant of Lakha Rana, and both repaired to
Muzaffar, the sultan of Malwa.[31] With his aid they assailed the
southern frontier, and rapidly possessed themselves of Sadri,
Bataro, and a wide tract extending from Nai to Nimach, attempting
even Chitor. With the few troops at hand Raemall descended
to punish the rebels, who met the attack on the river Gambhir.[32]
The Rana, fighting like a common soldier, had received two-and-twenty
wounds, and was nearly falling through faintness, when
Prithiraj joined him with one thousand fresh horse, and reanimated
the battle. He selected his uncle Surajmall, whom he soon
covered with wounds. Many had fallen on both sides, but neither
party would yield; when worn out they mutually retired from
the field, and bivouacked in sight of each other.
Interview between Prithirāj and Sūrajmall.
—It will show the
manners and feelings so peculiar to the Rajput, to describe the
meeting between the rival uncle and nephew,—unique in the
details of strife, perhaps, since the origin of man. It is taken
from a MS. of the Jhala chief who succeeded Surajmall in Sadri.
Prithiraj visited his uncle, whom he found in a small tent reclining
on a pallet, having just had ‘the barber’ (nai) to sew up his
wounds. He rose, and met his nephew with the customary
respect, as if nothing unusual had occurred; but the exertion
caused some of the wounds to open afresh, when the following
dialogue ensued:
Prithiraj.—“Well, uncle, how are your wounds?”
Surajmall.—“Quite healed, my child, since I have the pleasure
of seeing you” [297].
Prithiraj.—"But, uncle (kaka), I have not yet seen the
Diwanji.[33] I first ran to see you, and I am very hungry; have
you anything to eat?"
Dinner was soon served, and the extraordinary pair sat down
and ‘ate off the same platter’;[34] nor did Prithiraj hesitate to
eat the pan,[35] presented on his taking leave.
Prithiraj.—“You and I will end our battle in the morning,
uncle.”
Surajmall.—“Very well, child; come early!”
They met; but Sarangdeo bore the brunt of the conflict, receiving
thirty-five wounds. During “four gharis[36] swords and
lances were plied, and every tribe of Rajput lost numbers that
day”; but the rebels were defeated and fled to Sadri, and
Prithiraj returned in triumph, though with seven wounds, to
Chitor. The rebels, however, did not relinquish their designs,
and many personal encounters took place between the uncle and
nephew: the latter saying he would not let him retain “as much
land of Mewar as would cover a needle’s point”; and Suja[37]
retorting, that he would allow his nephew to redeem only as
much “as would suffice to lie upon.” But Prithiraj gave them
no rest, pursuing them from place to place. In the wilds of
Batara they formed a stockaded retreat of the dhao tree,[38] which
abounds in these forests. Within this shelter, horses and men
were intermingled: Suja and his coadjutor communing by the
night-fire in their desperate plight, when their cogitations were
checked by the rush and neigh of horses. Scarcely had the
pretender exclaimed “This must be my nephew!” when Prithiraj
dashed his steed through the barricade and entered with his troops.
All was confusion, and the sword showered its blows indiscriminately.
The young prince reached his uncle, and dealt him a blow
which would have levelled him, but for the support of Sarangdeo,
who upbraided him, adding that “a buffet now was more than a
score of wounds in former days”: to which Suja rejoined, “only
when dealt by my nephew’s hand.” Suja demanded a parley;
and calling on the prince to stop the combat, he continued: "If
I am killed, it matters not—my children are Rajputs, they will
run the [298] country to find support; but if you are slain, what
will become of Chitor? My face will be blackened, and my name
everlastingly reprobated."
The sword was sheathed, and as the uncle and nephew embraced,
the latter asked the former, "What were you about,
uncle, when I came?"—“Only talking nonsense, child, after
dinner.” "But with me over your head, uncle, as a foe how
could you be so negligent?"—“What could I do? you had
left me no resource, and I must have some place to rest my
head!” There was a small temple near the stockade, to which
in the morning Prithiraj requested his uncle to accompany him
to sacrifice to Kali,[39] but the blow of the preceding night prevented
him. Sarangdeo was his proxy. One buffalo had fallen, and a
goat was about to follow, when the prince turned his sword on
Sarangdeo. The combat was desperate; but Prithiraj was the
victor, and the head of the traitor was placed as an offering on
the altar of Time. The Gaunda[40] was plundered, the town of
Batara recovered, and Surajmall fled to Sadri, where he only
stopped to fulfil his threat, “that if he could not retain its lands
he would make them over to those stronger than the king”;[41]
and having distributed them amongst Brahmans and bards, he
finally abandoned Mewar. Passing through the wilds of Kanthal,[42]
he had an omen which recalled the Charani’s prediction:
“a wolf endeavouring in vain to carry off a kid defended by
maternal affection.” This was interpreted as ‘strong ground for
a dwelling.’ He halted, subdued the aboriginal tribes, and on
this spot erected the town and stronghold of Deolia, becoming
lord of a thousand villages, which have descended to his offspring,
who now enjoy them under British protection. Such was the
origin of Partabgarh Deolia.[43]
Prithirāj poisoned: Death of Rāna Rāemall.
—Prithiraj was
poisoned by his brother-in-law, of Abu, whom he had punished
for maltreating his sister, and afterwards confided in. His death
was soon followed by that of Rana Raemall, who, though not
equal to his predecessors, was greatly respected, and maintained
the dignity of his station amidst no ordinary calamities [299].
[44]CHAPTER 9
Rāna Sanga or Sangrām Singh; A.D. 1508-27.—Sangram,
better known in the annals of Mewar as Sanga (called Sanka by the
Mogul historians),[1] succeeded in S. 1565 (A.D. 1509). With this
prince Mewar reached the summit of her prosperity. To use
their own metaphor, “he was the kalas[2] on the pinnacle of her
glory.” From him we shall witness this glory on the wane; and
though many rays of splendour illuminated her declining career,
they served but to gild the ruin.
The imperial chair, since occupied by the Tuar descendant of
the Pandus, and the first and last of the Chauhans, and which had
been filled successively by the dynasties of Ghazni and Ghor, the
Khilji and Lodi, was now shivered to pieces, and numerous petty
thrones were constructed of its fragments. Mewar little dreaded
these imperial puppets, “when Amurath to Amurath succeeded,”
and when four kings reigned simultaneously between Delhi and
Benares.[3] The kings of Malwa, though leagued with those of
Gujarat, conjoined to the rebels, could make no impression on
Mewar when Sanga led her heroes. Eighty thousand horse, seven
Rajas of the highest rank, nine Raos, and one hundred and four
chieftains bearing the titles of Rawal and Rawat, with five
hundred war elephants, followed him into the field. The princes
of Marwar and Amber[4] did him homage, and the Raos of Gwalior
Ajmer, Sikri, Raesen,[5] Kalpi, Chanderi [300], Bundi, Gagraun,
Rampura, and Abu, served him as tributaries or held of him in
chief.
Sanga did not forget those who sheltered him in his reverses.
Karamchand of Srinagar had a grant of Ajmer and the title of
Rao for his son Jagmall, the reward of his services in the reduction
of Chanderi.
The Administration and Wars of Rāna Sanga.
—In a short space
of time, Sanga entirely allayed the disorders occasioned by the
intestine feuds of his family; and were it permitted to speculate
on the cause which prompted a temporary cession of his rights
and his dignities to his more impetuous brother, it might be
discerned in a spirit of forecast, and of fraternal and patriotic
forbearance, a deviation from which would have endangered the
country as well as the safety of his family. We may assume this,
in order to account for an otherwise pusillanimous surrender of
his birthright, and being in contrast to all the subsequent heroism
of his life, which, when he resigned, was contained within the
wreck of a form. Sanga organized his forces, with which he
always kept the field, and ere called to contend with the descendant
of Timur, he had gained eighteen pitched battles against
the kings of Delhi and Malwa. In two of these he was opposed
by Ibrahim Lodi in person, at Bakrol and Ghatoli, in which last
battle the imperial forces were defeated with great slaughter,
leaving a prisoner of the blood royal to grace the triumph of
Chitor. The Pilakhal (yellow rivulet) near Bayana became the
northern boundary of Mewar, with the Sind River to the east,—touching
Malwa to the south, while his native hills were an
impenetrable barrier to the west. Thus swaying, directly or by
control, the greater part of Rajasthan, and adored by the Rajputs
for the possession of those qualities they hold in estimation,
Sanga was ascending to the pinnacle of distinction; and had
not fresh hordes of Usbeks and Tatars from the prolific shores of
the Oxus and Jaxartes again poured down on the devoted plains
of Hindustan, the crown of the Chakravartin
[6] might again have
encircled the brow of a Hindu, and the banner of supremacy
been transferred from Indraprastha to the battlements of Chitor.
But Babur arrived at a critical time to rally the dejected followers
of the Koran, and to collect them around his own victorious
standard.
Invasions from Central Asia.
—From the earliest recorded
periods of her history, India has been the prey of [301] the more
hardy population from the central regions of Asia. From this
fact we may infer another, namely, that its internal form of
government was the same as at the present day, partitioned into
numerous petty kingdoms, of tribes and clans, of a feudal federation,
a prey to all the jealousies inseparable from such a condition.
The historians of Alexander bear ample testimony to such form
of government, when the Panjab alone possessed many sovereigns,
besides the democracies of cities. The Persians overran it, and
Darius the Mede accounted India the richest of his satrapies.
The Greeks, the Parthians have left in their medals the best
proofs of their power; the Getae or Yuti followed; and from the
Ghori Shihabu-d-din to the Chagatai Babur, in less than three
centuries, five invasions are recorded, each originating a dynasty.
Sanga’s opponent was the last, and will continue so until the rays
of knowledge renovate the ancient nursery of the human race,—then
may end the anomaly in the history of power, of a handful
of Britons holding the succession to the Mede, the Parthian, and
the Tatar. But, however surprise may be excited at witnessing
such rapidity of change, from the physical superiority of man
over man, it is immeasurably heightened at the little moral
consequence which in every other region of the world has always
attended such concussions. Creeds have changed, races have
mingled, and names have been effaced from the page of history;
but in this corner of civilization we have no such result, and the
Rajput remains the same singular being, concentrated in his
prejudices, political and moral, as in the days of Alexander,
desiring no change himself, and still less to cause any in others.
Whatever be the conservative principle, it merits a philosophic
analysis; but more, a proper application and direction, by those
to whom the destinies of this portion of the globe are confided;
for in this remote spot there is a nucleus of energy, on which may
accumulate a mass for our support or our destruction.
To return: a descendant of the Turushka of the Jaxartes, the
ancient foe of the children of Surya and Chandra, was destined
to fulfil the prophetic Purana which foretold dominion “to the
Turushka, the Yavan,” and other foreign races in Hind; and
the conquered made a right application of the term Turk, both
as regards its ancient and modern signification, when applied to
the conquerors from Turkistan. Babur, the opponent of Sanga,
was king of Ferghana, and of Turki race. His dominions were on
both sides the Jaxartes, a portion of ancient [302] Sakatai, or
Sakadwipa (Scythia), where dwelt Tomyris the Getic queen
immortalized by Herodotus, and where her opponent erected
Cyropolis, as did in after-times the Macedonian his most remote
Alexandria. From this region did the same Getae, Jat, or Yuti,
issue, to the destruction of Bactria, two centuries before the
Christian era, and also five subsequent thereto to found a kingdom
in Northern India. Again, one thousand years later, Babur
issued with his bands to the final subjugation of India. As
affecting India alone, this portion of the globe merits deep attention;
but as the officina gentium, whence issued those hordes of
Asii, Jats, or Yeuts (of whom the Angles were a branch), who
peopled the shores of the Baltic, and the precursors of those
Goths who, under Attila and Alaric, altered the condition of
Europe, its importance is vastly enhanced.[7] But on this occasion
it was not redundant population which made the descendant of
Timur and Jenghiz abandon the Jaxartes for the Ganges, but unsuccessful
ambition: for Babur quitted the delights of Samarkand
as a fugitive, and commenced his enterprise, which gave him the
throne of the Pandus, with less than two thousand adherents.
Character of Bābur.
—The Rajput prince had a worthy
antagonist in the king of Ferghana. Like Sanga, he was trained
in the school of adversity, and like him, though his acts of personal
heroism were even romantic, he tempered it with that discretion
which looks to its results. In A.D. 1494, at the tender age of
twelve, he succeeded to a kingdom; ere he was sixteen he
defeated several confederacies and conquered Samarkand, and in
two short years again lost and regained it. His life was a tissue
of successes and reverses; at one moment hailed lord of the chief
kingdoms of Transoxiana; at another flying, unattended, or
putting all to hazard in desperate single combats, in one of which
he slew five champions of his enemies. Driven at length from
Ferghana, in despair he crossed the Hindu-Kush, and in 1519
the Indus. Between the Panjab and Kabul he lingered seven
years, ere he advanced to measure his sword with Ibrahim of
Delhi. Fortune returned to his standard; Ibrahim was slain,
his army routed and dispersed, and Delhi and Agra opened their
gates to the fugitive king of Ferghana. His reflections on success
evince it was his due: “Not to me, O God! but to thee, be the
victory!” says the chivalrous Babur. A year had elapsed in
possession of Delhi, ere he ventured against the most powerful of
his antagonists, Rana Sanga of Chitor.
RUINS OF THE FORTRESS OF BAYĀNA.
To face page 352.
With all Babur’s qualities as a soldier, supported by the hardy
clans of the ‘cloud mountains’ (Belut Tagh) [303] of Karateghin,[8]
the chances were many that he and they terminated their career
on the ‘yellow rivulet’ of Bayana. Neither bravery nor skill
saved him from this fate, which he appears to have expected.
What better proof can be desired than Babur’s own testimony to
the fact, that a horde of invaders from the Jaxartes, without
support or retreat, were obliged to entrench themselves to the
teeth in the face of their Rajput foe, alike brave and overpowering
in numbers? To ancient jealousies he was indebted for
not losing his life instead of gaining a crown, and for being
extricated from a condition so desperate that even the frenzy
of religion, which made death martyrdom in “this holy
war,” scarcely availed to expel the despair which so infected
his followers, that in the bitterness of his heart he says “there
was not a single person who uttered a manly word, nor an
individual who delivered a courageous opinion.”