Rāna Partāp Singh II., A.D. 1751-54.
—Partap II. succeeded in
A.D. 1752. Of the history of this prince, who renewed the most
illustrious name in the annals of Mewar, there is nothing to record
beyond the fact, that the three years he occupied the throne were
marked by so many Mahratta invasions
[1] and war contributions.
By a daughter of Raja Jai Singh of Amber he had a son, who
succeeded him.
Rāna Rāj Singh II., A.D. 1754-61.
—Rana Raj Singh II. was
as little entitled to the name he bore as his predecessor. During
the seven years he held the dignity at least seven shoals of the
Southrons overran Mewar,
[2] and so exhausted this country, that
the Rana was compelled to ask pecuniary aid from the Brahman
collector of the tribute, to enable him to marry the Rathor
chieftain’s daughter. On his death the order of succession retrograded,
devolving on his uncle [426],
Rāna ArsiArsi Singh II., A.D. 1761-73.
—Rana Arsi, in S. 1818,
A.D. 1762. The levity of Jagat Singh, the inexperience of his
successors Partap and Raj Singh, with the ungovernable temper
of Rana Arsi, and the circumstances under which he succeeded
to power, introduced a train of disorders which proved fatal to
Mewar. Until this period not a foot of territory had been alienated.
The wisdom of the Pancholi ministers, and the high
respect paid by the organ of the Satara government, for a while
preserved its integrity; but when the country was divided by
factions, and the Mahrattas, ceasing to be a federate body,
prowled in search of prey under leaders, each having an interest
of his own, they formed political combinations to suit the ephemeral
purposes of the former, but from which they alone reaped
advantage. An attempt to depose Partap and set up his uncle
Nathji introduced a series of rebellions, and constituted Malhar
Rao Holkar, who had already become master of a considerable
portion of the domain of Mewar, the umpire in their family
disputes.
Malhār Rāo Holkar invades Mewār. Famine, A.D. 1764.
—The
ties of blood or of princely gratitude are feeble bonds if political
expediency demands their dissolution; and Madho Singh, when
firmly established on the throne of Amber, repaid the immense
sacrifices by which the Rana had effected it by assigning his fief
of Rampura, which he had not a shadow of right to alienate, to
Holkar: this was the first limb severed from Mewar.
[3] Holkar
had also become the assignee of the tribute imposed by Bajirao,
but from which the Rana justly deemed himself exempt, when
the terms of all further encroachment in Mewar were set at nought.
On the plea of recovering these arrears, and the rent of some
districts
[4] on the Chambal, Malhar, after many threatening
letters, invaded Mewar, and his threats of occupying the capital
were only checked by draining their exhausted resources of six
hundred thousand pounds.
[5] In the same year
[6] a famine afflicted
them, when flour and tamarinds were equal in value, and were
sold at the rate of a rupee for one pound and a half. Four years
subsequent to this, civil war broke out and continued to influence
all posterior proceedings, rendering [427] the inhabitants of this
unhappy country a prey to every invader until 1817, when they
tasted repose under British protection.
Civil War in Mewār. Revolt of Ratan Singh.
—The real cause
of this rebellion must ever remain a secret: for while some
regard it as a patriotic effort on the part of the people to redeem
themselves from foreign domination, others discover its motive
in the selfishness of the hostile clans, who supported or opposed
the succession of Rana Arsi. This prince is accused of having
unfairly acquired the crown, by the removal of his nephew Raj
Singh; but though the traditional anecdotes of the period furnish
strong grounds of suspicion, there is nothing which affords a
direct confirmation of the crime. It is, however, a public misfortune
when the line of succession retrogrades in Mewar: Arsi
had no right to expect the inheritance he obtained, having long
held a seat below the sixteen chief nobles; and as one of the
‘infants’ (
babas) he was incorporated with the second class of
nobles with an appanage of only £3000 per annum. His defects
of character had been too closely contemplated by his compeers,
and had kindled too many enmities, to justify expectation that
the adventitious dignity he had attained would succeed in obliterating
the memory of them; and past familiarity alone destroyed
the respect which was exacted by sudden greatness. His insolent
demeanour estranged the first of the home nobility, the Sadri
chieftain,
[7] whose ancestor at Haldighat acquired a claim to the
perpetual gratitude of the Sesodias, while to an unfeeling pun on
a personal defect of Jaswant Singh of Deogarh is attributed the
hatred and revenge of this powerful branch of the Chondawats.
These chiefs formed a party which eventually entrained many of
lesser note to depose their sovereign, and immediately set up a
youth called Ratna Singh, declared to be the posthumous son of
the last Rana by the daughter of the chief of Gogunda, though
to this hour disputes run high as to whether he was really the son
of Raj Singh, or merely the puppet [428] of a faction. Be the
fact as it may, he was made a rallying point for the disaffected,
who soon comprehended the greater portion of the nobles, while
out of the ‘sixteen’ greater chiefs five
[8] only withstood the
defection: of these, Salumbar, the hereditary premier, at first
espoused, but soon abandoned, the cause of the Pretender; not
from the principle of loyalty which his descendants take credit
for, but from finding the superiority of intellect of the heads of
the rebellion
[9] (which now counted the rival Saktawats) too
powerful for the supremacy he desired. Basant Pal, of the
Depra tribe, was invested with the office of Pardhan to the
Pretender. The ancestor of this man accompanied Samarsi in
the twelfth century from Delhi, where he held a high office in the
household of Prithiraj, the last emperor of the Hindus, and it is a
distinguished proof of the hereditary quality of official dignity
to find his descendant, after the lapse of centuries, still holding
office with the nominal title of Pardhan. The Futuri
[10] (by which
name the court still designates the Pretender) took post with his
faction in Kumbhalmer; where he was formally installed, and
whence he promulgated his decrees as Rana of Mewar. With
that heedlessness of consequences and the political debasement
which are invariable concomitants of civil dissension, they had
the meanness to invite Sindhia to their aid, with a promise of a
reward of more than one million sterling
[11] on the dethronement
of Arsi.
Zālim Singh of Kotah.
—This contest first brought into notice
one of the most celebrated Rajput chiefs of India, Zalim Singh
of Kotah, who was destined to fill a distinguished part in the
annals of Rajasthan, but more especially in Mewar, where his
political sagacity first developed itself. Though this is not the
proper place to delineate his history, which will occupy a subsequent
portion of the work, it is impossible to trace the events
with which he was so closely connected without adverting slightly
to the part he acted in these scenes. The attack on Kotah, of
which his father was military governor (during the struggle to
place Madho Singh on the throne of Amber), by Isari Singh, in
conjunction with Sindhia, was the first avenue to his distinguished
career, leading to an acquaintance with the Mahratta chiefs,
which linked him with their policy for more than half a century
[429]. Zalim having lost his prince’s favour, whose path in love
he had dared to cross, repaired, on his banishment from Kotah,
to the Rana, who, observing his talents, enrolled him amongst
his chiefs, and conferred on him, with the title of Raj Rana, the
lands of Chitarkhera for his support. By his advice the Mahratta
leaders, Raghu Paigawala and Daula Miyan, with their bands,
were called in by the Rana, who, setting aside the ancient Pancholi
ministry, gave the seals of office to Agarji Mehta. At this
period (S. 1824,
A.D. 1768), Mahadaji Sindhia was at Ujjain,
whither the conflicting parties hastened, each desirous of obtaining
the chieftain’s support. But the Pretender’s proposals had been
already entertained, and he was then encamped with Sindhia on
the banks of the Sipra.
[12]Battle at the Sipra, and Siege of Udaipur, A.D. 1769.
—The
Rana’s force, conducted by the chief of Salumbar, the Rajas of
Shahpura and Banera, with Zalim Singh and the Mahratta
auxiliaries, did not hesitate to attack the combined camp, and
for a moment they were victorious, driving Mahadaji and the
Pretender from the field, with great loss, to the gates of Ujjain.
Here, however, they rallied, and being joined by a fresh body of
troops, the battle was renewed with great disadvantage to the
Rajputs, who, deeming the day theirs, had broken and dispersed
to plunder. The chiefs of Salumbar, Shahpura, and Banera
were slain, and the auxiliary Daula Miyan, Raja Man (ex-prince
of Narwar), and Raj Kalyan, the heir of Sadri, severely wounded.
Zalim Singh had his horse killed under him, and being left wounded
on the field, was made prisoner, but hospitably treated by Trimbak
Rao, father to the celebrated Ambaji. The discomfited troops
retreated to Udaipur while the Pretender’s party remained with
Sindhia, inciting him to invest that capital and place Ratna on
the throne. Some time, however, elapsed before he could carry
this design into execution; when at the head of a large force the
Mahratta chief gained the passes and besieged the city. The
Rana’s cause now appeared hopeless. Bhim Singh of Salumbar,
uncle and successor to the chief slain at Ujjain, with the Rathor
chief of Badnor (descendant of Jaimall), were the only nobles of
high rank who defended their prince and capital in this emergency;
but the energies of an individual saved both.
Amar Chand, Minister of Mewār.
—Amra Chand Barwa, of the
mercantile class, had held office in the preceding reigns, when his
influence retarded the progress of evils which no human means
could avert. He was now displaced, and little solicitous of
recovering his [430] transient power, amidst hourly increasing
difficulties, with a stubborn and unpopular prince, a divided
aristocracy, and an impoverished country. He was aware also
of his own imperious temper, which was as ungovernable as his
sovereign’s, and which experienced no check from the minor
Partap, who regarded him as his father. During the ten years
he had been out of office, mercenaries of Sind had been entertained
and established on the forfeited lands of the clans, perpetuating
discontent and stifling every latent spark of patriotism. Even
those who did not join the Pretender remained sullenly at their
castles, and thus all confidence was annihilated. A casual
incident brought Amra forward at this critical juncture. Udaipur
had neither ditch nor walls equal to its defence. Arsi was
engaged in fortifying Eklinggarh, a lofty hill south of the city,
[13]
which it commanded, and attempting to place thereon an enormous
piece of ordnance, but it baffled their mechanical skill to
get it over the scraggy ascent. Amra happened to be present
when the Rana arrived to inspect the proceedings. Excuses
were made to avert his displeasure, when turning to the ex-minister,
he inquired what time and expense ought to attend the
completion of such an undertaking. The reply was, “A few
rations of grain and some days”: and he offered to accomplish
the task, on condition that his orders should be supreme in the
valley during its performance. He collected the whole working
population, cut a road, and in a few days gave the Rana a salute
from Eklinggarh. The foster-brother of the Rana had succeeded
the Jhala chieftain, Raghu Deo, in the ministerial functions. The
city was now closely invested on every side but the west, where
communications were still kept open by the lake, across which
the faithful mountaineers of the Aravalli, who in similar dangers
never failed, supplied them with provisions. All defence rested
on the fidelity of the mercenary Sindis, and they were at this
very moment insolent in their clamours for arrears of pay. Nor
were the indecisive measures daily passing before their eyes
calculated to augment their respect, or stimulate their courage.
Not satisfied with demands, they had the audacity to seize the
Rana by the skirt of his robe as he entered the palace, which was
torn in the effort to detain him. The haughtiness of his temper
gave way to this humiliating proof of the hopelessness of his
condition; and while the Dhabhai (foster-brother) counselled
escape by water to the mountains, whence he might gain Mandalgarh,
the Salumbar chief confessed his inability to offer any
advice [431] save that of recourse to Amra Chand. He was
summoned, and the uncontrolled charge of their desperate affairs
offered to his guidance. He replied that it was a task of which
no man could be covetous, more especially himself, whose administration
had formerly been marked by the banishment of
corruption and disorder, for that he must now call in the aid of
these vices, and assimilate the means to the times. “You know
also,” he added, "my defect of temper, which admits of no
control. Wherever I am, I must be absolute—no secret advisers,
no counteraction of measures. With finances ruined, troops
mutinous, provisions expended, if you desire me to act, swear
that no order, whatever its purport, shall be countermanded,
and I may try what can be done: but recollect, Amra ‘the just’
will be the unjust, and reverse his former character." The Rana
pledged himself by the patron deity to comply with all his demands,
adding this forcible expression: "Should you even send
to the queen’s apartment and demand her necklace or
nathna,
[14]
it shall be granted." The advice of the Dhabhai encountered the
full flood of Amra’s wrath. “The counsel is such as might be
expected from your condition. What will preserve your prince
at Mandalgarh if he flies from Udaipur, and what hidden resources
have you there for your support? The project would suit you,
who might resume your original occupation of tending buffaloes
and selling milk, more adapted to your birth and understanding
than state affairs; but these pursuits your prince has yet to
learn.” The Rana and his chiefs bent their heads at the bold
bearing of Amra. Descending to the terrace, where the Sindi
leaders and their bands were assembled, he commanded them to
follow him, exclaiming, “Look to me for your arrears, and as for
your services, it will be my fault if you fail.” The mutineers,
who had just insulted their sovereign, rose without reply, and in
a body left the palace with Amra, who calculated their arrears
and promised payment the next day. Meanwhile he commanded
the bhandars (repositories) to be broken open, as the keeper of
each fled when the keys of their trust were demanded. All the
gold and silver, whether in bullion or in vessels, were converted
into money—jewels were pledged—the troops paid and satisfied,
ammunition and provisions laid in—a fresh stimulus supplied,
the enemy held at defiance, and the siege prolonged during six
months [432].
The Pretender’s party had extended their influence over a
great part of the crown domain, even to the valley of Udaipur;
but unable to fulfil the stipulation to Sindhia, the baffled Mahratta,
to whom time was treasure, negotiated with Amra to raise
the siege, and abandon the Pretender on the payment of seventy
lakhs. But scarcely was the treaty signed, when the reported
disposition of the auxiliaries, and the plunder expected on a
successful assault, excited his avarice and made him break his
faith, and twenty lakhs additional were imposed. Amra tore
up the treaty, and sent back the fragments to the faithless Mahratta
with defiance. His spirit increased with his difficulties, and
he infused his gallantry into the hearts of the most despairing.
Assembling the Sindis and the home-clans who were yet true to
their prince, he explained to them the transaction, and addressed
them in that language which speaks to the souls of all mankind,
and to give due weight to his exhortation, he distributed amongst
the most deserving, many articles of cumbrous ornament lying
useless in the treasury. The stores of grain in the city and
neighbourhood, whether public or private, were collected and
sent to the market, and it was proclaimed by beat of drum that
every fighting man should have six months’ provision on application.
Hitherto grain had been selling at little more than a pound
for the rupee, and these unexpected resources were matter of
universal surprise, more especially to the besiegers.[15] The Sindis,
having no longer cause for discontent, caught the spirit of the
brave Amra, and went in a body to the palace to swear in public
never to abandon the Rana, whom their leader, Adil Beg,[16] thus
addressed: “We have long eaten your salt and received numerous
favours from your house, and we now come to swear never to
abandon you. Udaipur is our home, and we will fall with it.
We demand no further pay, and when our grain is exhausted, we
will feed on the beasts, and when these fail we will thin the ranks
of the Southrons and die sword in hand.” Such were the sentiments
that Amra had inspired, the expression of which extorted
tears from the Rana—a sight so unusual with this stern prince,
as to raise frantic shouts from the Sindis and his Rajputs. The
enthusiasm spread and was announced to Sindhia with all its
circumstances by a general discharge of cannon on his advanced
[433] posts. Apprehensive of some desperate display of Rajput
valour, the wary Mahratta made overtures for a renewal of the
negotiation. It was now Amra’s turn to triumph, and he replied
that he must deduct from the original terms the expense they
had incurred in sustaining another six months’ siege. Thus
outwitted, Sindhia was compelled to accept sixty lakhs, and
three-and-a-half for official expenses.[17]
Cessions made to Sindhia.
—Thirty-three lakhs in jewels and
specie, gold and silver plate, and assignments on the chiefs, were
immediately made over to Sindhia, and lands mortgaged for the
liquidation of the remainder. For this object the districts of
Jawad, Jiran, Nimach, and Morwan were set aside to be superintended
by joint officers of both governments, with an annual
investigation of accounts. From S. 1825 to S. 1831 [
A.D. 1768-74]1768-74]
no infringement took place of this arrangement; but in the latter
year Sindhia dismissed the Rana’s officers from the management,
and refused all further settlement; and with the exception of a
temporary occupation on Sindhia’s reverse of fortune in S. 1851
[
A.D. 1794], these rich districts have remained severed from
Mewar. In S. 1831 [
A.D. 1774] the great officers of the Mahratta
federation began to shake off the trammels of the Peshwa’s
authority; and Sindhia retained for the State of which he was
the founder, all these lands except Morwan, which was made
over to Holkar, who the year after the transaction demanded of
the Rana the surrender of the district of Nimbahera, threatening,
in the event of non-compliance, to repeat the part his predatory
coadjutor Sindhia had just performed. The cession was unavoidable.
Thus terminated, in S. 1826 [A.D. 1769], the siege of Udaipur,
with the dislocation of these fine districts from Mewar. But let
it be remembered that they were only mortgaged:[18] and although
the continued degradation of the country from the same causes
has prevented their redemption, the claim to them has never
been abandoned. Their recovery was stipulated by the ambassadors
of the Rana in the treaty of A.D. 1817 with the British
Government; but our total ignorance of the past transactions
of these countries, added to our amicable relations with Sindhia
[434], prevented any pledge of the reunion of these districts; and
it must ever be deeply lamented that, when the treacherous and
hostile conduct of Sindhia gave a noble opportunity for their
restoration, it was lost, from policy difficult to understand, and
which must be subject to the animadversions of future historians
of that important period in the history of India. It yet remains
for the wisdom of the British Government to decide whether half
a century’s abeyance, and the inability to redeem them by the
sword, render the claim a dead letter. At all events, the facts
here recorded from a multiplicity of public documents, and
corroborated by living actors[19] in the scene, may be useful at
some future day, when expedience may admit of their being
reannexed to Mewar.
Ratan Singh defeated.
—Amra’s defence of the capital, and
the retreat of the Mahrattas, was a deathblow to the hopes of
the Pretender, who had obtained not only many of the strongholds,
but a footing in the valley of the capital. Rajnagar,
Raepur, and Untala were rapidly recovered; many of the nobles
returned to the Rana and to their allegiance; and Ratna was
left in Kumbhalmer with the Depra minister, and but three of the
sixteen principal nobles, namely Deogarh, Bhindir, and Amet.
These contentions lasted till S. 1831 [A.D. 1774], when the chiefs
above named also abandoned him, but not until their rebellion
had cost the feather in the crown of Mewar. The rich province
of Godwar, the most fruitful of all her possessions, and containing
the most loyal of her vassalage, the Ranawats, Rathors, and
Solankis, was nearly all held on tenure of feudal service, and
furnished three thousand horse besides foot, a greater number
than the aggregate of the Chondawats. This district, which
was won with the title of Rana from the Parihara prince of
Mandor, before Jodhpur was built, and whose northern boundary
was confirmed by the blood of the Chondawat chief in the reign
of Jodha, was confided by the Rana to the care of Raja Bijai
Singh of Jodhpur, to prevent its resources being available to
the Pretender, whose residence, Kumbhalmer, commanded the
approach to it: and the original treaty yet exists in which the
prince of Marwar binds himself to provide and support a body
of three thousand men for the Rana’s service, from its revenues.
Assassination of Rāna Ari Singh, A.D. 1773.
—This province
might have been recovered; but the evil genius of Arsi Rana at
this time led him to Bundi to [435] hunt at the spring festival (the
Aheria), with the Hara prince, in spite of the prophetic warning
of the suttee, who from the funeral pile denounced a practice
which had already thrice proved fatal to the princes of Mewar.
[20]
Rana Arsi fell by the hand of the Bundi prince, and Godwar,
withheld from his minor successor, has since remained severed.
The Bundi heir, who perpetrated this atrocious assassination, was
said to be prompted by the Mewar nobles, who detested their
sovereign, and with whom, since the late events, it was impossible
they could ever unite in confidence. Implacable in his disposition,
he brooded over injuries, calmly awaiting the moment to avenge
them. A single instance will suffice to evince this, as well as the
infatuation of Rajput devotion. The Salumbar chief, whose
predecessor had fallen in support of the Rana’s cause at the battle
of Ujjain, having incurred his suspicions, the Rana commanded
him to eat the
pan (betel leaf) presented on taking leave. Startled
at so unusual an order, he remonstrated, but in vain; and with
the conviction that it contained his death-warrant he obeyed,
observing to the tyrant, “My compliance will cost you and your
family dear”: words fulfilled with fearful accuracy, for to this
and similar acts is ascribed the murder of Arsi, and the completion
of the ruin of the country. A colour of pretext was afforded to
the Bundi chief in a boundary dispute regarding a patch of land
yielding only a few good mangoes; but, even admitting this as a
palliative, it could not justify the inhospitable act, which in the
mode of execution added cowardice to barbarity: for while both
were pursuing the boar, the Bundi heir drove his lance through
the heart of the Rana. The assassin fell a victim to remorse, the
deed being not only disclaimed, but severely reprobated by his
father, and all the Hara tribe. A cenotaph still stands on the
site of the murder, where the body of Arsi was consumed, and
the feud between the houses remains unappeased.
Rāna Hamīr Singh II., A.D. 1773-78.
—Rana Arsi left two sons,
Hamir and Bhim Singh. The former, a name of celebrity in their
annals, succeeded in S. 1828 (A.D. 1772) to the little enviable title
of Rana. With an ambitious mother, determined to control
affairs during his minority, a state pronounced by the bard
peculiarly dangerous to a Rajput dynasty,—and the vengeful
competition of the Salumbar chief (successor to the murdered
noble), who was equally resolved to take the lead, combined with
an unextinguishable enmity to the Saktawats, who supported
the policy of the queen-mother [436], the demoralization of Mewar
was complete: her fields were deluged with blood, and her soil
was the prey of every paltry marauder.
Outbreak of the Sindis.
—The mercenary Sindis, who, won by
the enthusiasm of Amra, had for a moment assumed the garb of
fidelity, threw it off at their prince’s death, taking possession of
the capital, which it will be remembered had been committed to
the charge of the Salumbar chief, whom they confined and were
about to subject to the torture of the hot iron
[21] to extort their
arrears of pay, when he was rescued from the indignity by the
unlooked-for return of Amra from Bundi. This faithful minister
determined to establish the rights of the infant prince against all
other claimants for power. But he knew mankind, and had
attained, what is still more difficult, the knowledge of himself.
Aware that his resolution to maintain his post at all hazards,
and against every competitor, would incur the imputation of
self-interest, he, like our own Wolsey, though from far different
motives, made an inventory of his wealth, in gold, jewels, and
plate, even to his wardrobe, and sent the whole in trays to the
queen-mother. Suspicion was shamed and resentment disarmed
by this proceeding; and to repeated entreaties that he would
receive it back he was inflexible, with the exception of articles of
apparel that had already been in use. This imperious woman
was a daughter of Gogunda. She possessed considerable talents,
but was ruled by an artful
intrigante, who, in her turn, was
governed by a young
homme d’affaires, then holding an inferior
office, but who subsequently acted a conspicuous part; slew and
was slain, like almost all who entered into the politics of this
tempestuous period. The queen-mother, now supported by the
Chondawats, opposed the minister, who maintained himself by
aid of the Sindis, kept the Mahrattas from the capital, and protected
the crown land; but the ungrateful return made to his
long-tried fidelity rendered his temper ungovernable. Rampiyari
[22]
(such the name of the
intrigante) repaired on one occasion
to the office of the minister, and in the name of the regent queen
reviled him for some supposed omission. Amra, losing all temper
at this intrusion, applied to the fair abigail the coarsest epithets
used to her sex, bidding her begone as a Kothi ki Rand (a phrase
we shall not translate), which was reported with exaggeration to
the queen, who threw herself into a litter and set off to the Salumbar
chief. Amra, anticipating [437] an explosion, met the
cavalcade in the street, and enjoined her instant return to the
palace. Who dared disobey? Arrived at the door of the
Rawala, he made his obeisance, and told her it was a disgrace to
the memory of her lord that she should quit the palace under
any pretext; that even the potter’s wife did not go abroad for
six months after her husband’s death, while she, setting decorum
at defiance, had scarcely permitted the period of mourning to
elapse. He concluded by saying he had a duty to perform, and
that he would perform it in spite of all obstacles, in which, as it
involved her own and her children’s welfare, she ought to cooperate,
instead of thwarting him. But Baiji Raj (the royal
mother) was young, artful, and ambitious, and persevered in her
hostility till the demise of this uncompromising minister shortly
after, surmised to be caused by poison. His death yielded a
flattering comment on his life: he left not funds sufficient to
cover the funeral expenses, and is, and will probably continue,
the sole instance on record in Indian history of a minister
having his obsequies defrayed by subscription among his fellow-citizens.
The man who thus lived and thus died would have done honour
to any, even the most civilized, country, where the highest incentives
to public virtue exist. What, therefore, does not his
memory merit, when amongst a people who, through long oppression,
were likely to hold such feelings in little estimation, he
pursued its dictates from principle alone, his sole reward that
which the world could not bestow, the applause of the monitor
within? But they greatly err who, in the application of their
own overweening standard of merit, imagine there is no public
opinion in these countries; for recollections of actions like this (of
which but a small portion is related) they yet love to descant
upon, and an act of vigour and integrity is still designated Amrachanda;[23]
evincing that if virtue has few imitators in this country,
she is not without ardent admirers.
Revolt of the Chief of Begūn.
—In S. 1831 (
A.D. 1775) the
rebellion of the Begun chief, head of a grand division of the
Chondawats, the Meghawat, obliged the queen-mother to call
upon Sindhia for his reduction, who recovered the crown lands
he had usurped, and imposed on this refractory noble a fine of
twelve lakhs of rupees, or £100,000 [438] sterling.
[24] But instead
of confining himself to punishing the guilty, and restoring the
lands to the young Rana, he inducted his own son-in-law Berji
Tap into the districts of Ratangarh Kheri and Singoli; and at
the same time made over those of Irnia, Jath, Bichor, and Nadwai
to Holkar, the aggregate revenue of which amounted to six lakhs
annually. Besides these alienations of territory, the Mahrattas
levied no less than four grand war contributions in S. 1830-31,
[25]
while in S. 1836
[26] their rapacity exacted three more. Inability
to liquidate these exorbitant demands was invariably a signal
for further sequestration of land. Amidst such scenes of civil
strife and external spoliation, one Mahratta following another
in the same track of rapine, Hamir died before he had attained
even Rajput majority,
[27] in S. 1834 (
A.D. 1778).
Recapitulation.
—We may here briefly recapitulate the diminution
of territory and wealth in Mewar from the period of the first
Mahratta visitation in
A.D. 1736, to the death of Hamir. It were
a waste of time to enumerate the rapacious individuals who
shared in the spoils of this devoted country. We may be content
to say their name was ‘legion.’ These forty years were surcharged
with evil. The Mogul princes observed at least the forms
of government and justice, which occasionally tempered their
aggressions; the Mahrattas were associations of vampires, who
drained the very life-blood wherever the scent of spoil attracted
them. In three payments we have seen the enormous sum of one
crore and eighty-one lakhs,
[28] upwards of two millions English
money, exacted from Mewar, exclusive of individual contributions
levied on chiefs, ministers, and the Pretender’s party: and a
schedule drawn up by the reigning prince of contributions levied
up to his own time, amounts to £5,000,000 sterling. Yet the
land would eventually have reimbursed [439] these sums, but the
penalty inflicted for deficiencies of payment renders the evil
irremediable; for the alienated territory which then produced
an annual revenue of twenty-eight lakhs,
[29] or £323,000 sterling,
exceeds in amount the sum-total now left, whether fiscal or feudal,
in the present impoverished state of the country.