Jats.
—The Jats are the most wealthy as well as the most
numerous portion of the community. Many of the old Bhumia
landlords, representatives of their ancient communal heads, are
men of substance; but their riches are of no use to them, and to
avoid the rapacity of their government, they cover themselves
with the cloak of poverty, which is thrown aside only on nuptial
festivities. On these occasions they disinter their hoards, which
are lavished with unbounded extravagance. They even block
up the highways to collect visitors, whose numbers form the
measure of the liberality and munificence of the donor of the fête.
Sarsūt, Saraswat Brāhman.—Sarsut (properly Sarasvati)
Brahmans are found in considerable numbers throughout this
tract. They aver that they were masters of the country prior to
the Jat colonists. They are a peaceable, industrious race, and
without a single prejudice of ‘the order’; they eat meat, smoke
tobacco, cultivate the soil, and trade even in the sacred kine,
notwithstanding their descent from Sringi Rishi, son of Brahma.
Charans.
—The Charans are the sacred order of these regions;
the warlike tribes esteem [199] the heroic lays of the bard more
than the homily of the Brahman. The Charans are throughout
reverenced by the Rathors, and hold lands, literally, on the tenure
of ‘an old song.’ More will be said of them in the Annals of
Jaisalmer.
Mālis, Nāis.—Malis, Nais, gardeners and barbers, are important
members of every Rajput family, and to be found in all
the villages, of which they are invariably the cooks.
Chuhras, Thoris.—Chuhras, Thoris, are actually castes of
robbers:[4] the former, from the Lakhi Jungle; the latter, from
Mewar. Most of the chieftains have a few in their pay, entertained
for the most desperate services. The Bahaduran chief has
expelled all his Rajputs, and retains only Chuhras and Thoris.
The Chuhras are highly esteemed for fidelity, and the barriers
and portals throughout this tract are in their custody. They
enjoy a very singular perquisite, which would go far to prove
their being the aborigines of the country; namely, a fee of four
copper coins on every dead subject, when the funeral ceremonies
are over.
Rājputs.
—The Rathors of Bikaner are unchanged in their
martial qualifications, bearing as high a reputation as any other
class in India; and whilst their brethren of Marwar, Amber, and
Mewar have been for years groaning under the rapacious visitations
of Mahrattas and Pathans, their distance and the difficulties
of the country have saved them from such afflictions; though,
in truth, they have had enough to endure at home, in the tyranny
of their own lord. The Rathors of the desert have fewer prejudices
than their more eastern brethren; they will eat food,
without enquiring by whom it was dressed, and will drink either
wine or water, without asking to whom the cup belonged. They
would make the best soldiers in the world if they would submit
to discipline, as they are brave, hardy, easily satisfied, and very
patient; though, on the other hand, they have imbibed some
qualities, since their migration to these regions, which could only
be eradicated in the rising generation: especially the inordinate
use of opium, and smoking intoxicating herbs, in both which
accomplishments ‘the sons of Bika’ are said to bear the palm
from the rest of the Chhattis rajkula, the Thirty-six Royal Tribes
of India. The piyala, or ‘cup,’ is a favourite with every Rajput
who can afford it, and is, as well as opium, a panacea for ennui,
arising from the absence of all mental stimulants, in which they
are more deficient, from the nature of the country, than most of
their warlike countrymen.
Face of the Country.
—The whole of this principality, with the
exception of a few isolated spots, or oases, scattered here and
there, consists more or less of sand. From the eastern to the
western boundary, in the line of greatest breadth, it is one continuous
[200] plain of sand, though the tibas, or sandhills, commence
in the centre of the country, the principal chain running
in the direction of Jaisalmer, and shooting forth subordinate
branches in every direction; or it might be more correct to
designate this main ridge, originating in the tracts bordering the
eastern valley of the Indus, as terminating its elevations about
the heart of Bikaner. On the north-east quarter, from Rajgarh
to Nohar and Rawatsar, the soil is good, being black earth, slightly
mixed with sand, and having water near enough to the surface
for irrigation; it produces wheat, gram, and even rice, in considerable
quantities. The same soil exists from Bhatner to the
banks of the Gara. The whole of the Mohila tract is a fertile
oasis, the tibas just terminating their extreme offsets on its
northern limit: being flooded in the periodical rains, wheat is
abundantly produced.
Products of the Desert.
—But exclusive of such spots, which
are “few and far between,” we cannot describe the desert as a
waste where “no salutary plant takes root, no verdure quickens”;
for though the poverty of the soil refuses to aid the germination
of the more luxuriant grains, Providence has provided a countervailing
good, in giving to those it can rear a richness and superiority
unknown to more favoured regions. The bajra of the desert is
far superior to any grown in the rich loam of Malwa, and its
inhabitant retains an instinctive partiality, even when admitted
to revel in the luxurious repasts of Mewar or Amber, for the
vatis or batis or ‘bajra cakes,’ of his native sandhills, and not
more from association than from their intrinsic excellence. In a
plentiful season they save enough for two years’ consumption.
The grain requires not much water, though it is of the last importance
that this little should be timely.
Besides bajra we may mention moth and til;[5] the former a
useful pulse both for men and cattle; the other the oil-plant,
used both for culinary purposes and burning. Wheat, gram, and
barley are produced in the favoured spots described, but in these
are enumerated the staple products of Bikaner.
Cotton is grown in the tracts favourable for wheat.[6] The
plant is said to be septennial, even decennial, in these regions.
As soon as the cotton is gathered, the shoots are all cut off, and
the root alone left. Each succeeding year, the plant increases
in strength, and at length attains a size unknown where it is more
abundantly cultivated.
Nature has bountifully supplied many spontaneous vegetable
products for the use of man, and excellent pasture for cattle.
Guar, Kachri, Kakri, all of the cucurbitaceous family, and water-melons
of a gigantic size, are produced in great plenty.[7] The
latter is most valuable; for being cut in slices and dried in the
sun, it is stored up [201] for future use when vegetables are scarce,
or in times of famine, on which they always calculate. It is also
an article of commerce, and much admired even where vegetables
are more abundant. The copious mucilage of the dried melon is
extremely nourishing; and deeming it valuable as an anti-scorbutic
in sea voyages, the Author sent some of it to Calcutta
many years ago for experiment.[8] Our Indian ships would find
no difficulty in obtaining a plentiful supply of this article, as it
can be cultivated to any extent, and thus be made to confer a
double benefit on our seamen and the inhabitants of those desert
regions. The superior magnitude of the water-melons of the
desert over those of interior India gives rise to much exaggeration,
and it has been gravely asserted by travellers in the sand tibas,[9]
where they are most abundant, that the mucilage of one is
sufficient to allay the thirst both of a horse and his rider.
In these arid regions, where they depend entirely on the
heavens for water, and where they calculate on a famine every
seventh year, nothing that can administer to the wants of man
is lost. The seeds of the wild grasses, as the bharut, baru, harara,
sawan, are collected, and, mixed with bajra-flour, enter much
into the food of the poorer classes. They also store up great
quantities of the wild ber, khair, and karel berries; and the long
pods of the khejra, astringent and bitter as they are, are dried
and formed into a flour. Nothing is lost in these regions which
can be converted into food.
Trees.
—Trees they have none indigenous (mangoes and
tamarind are planted about the capital), but abundant shrubs,
as the babul, and ever-green pilu, the jhal, and others yielding
berries. The Bidawats, indeed, apply the term ‘tree’ to the
rohira, which sometimes attains the height of twenty feet, and is
transported to all parts for house-building; as likewise is the
nima, so well known throughout India. The phog is the most
useful of all these, as with its twigs they frame a wicker-work to
line their wells, and prevent the sand from falling in.
The ak, a species of euphorbia, known in Hindustan as the
madar, grows to an immense height and strength in the desert;
from its fibres they make the ropes in general use throughout
these regions, and they are reckoned superior, both in substance
and durability, to those formed of munj (hemp), which is however
cultivated in the lands of the Bidawats.
Their agricultural implements are simple and suited to the
soil. The plough is one [202] of single yoke, either for the camel
or ox: that with double yoke being seldom required, or chiefly
by the Malis (gardeners), when the soil is of some consistence.
The drill is invariably used, and the grains are dropped singly
into the ground, at some distance from each other, and each
sends forth a dozen to twenty stalks. A bundle of bushes forms
their harrow. The grain is trodden out by oxen; and the moth
(pulse), which is even more productive than the bajra, by camels.
Water.—This indispensable element is at an immense distance
from the surface throughout the Indian desert, which, in this
respect, as well as many others, differs very materially from that
portion of the great African Desert in the same latitudes. Water
at twenty feet, as found at Mourzook by Captain Lyon, is here
unheard of, and the degree of cold experienced by him at Zuela,
on the winter solstice, would have “burnt up” every natural
and cultivated production of our Hindu Sahara. Captain Lyon
describes the thermometer in lat. 26°, within 2° of zero of Reaumur.
Majors Denham and Clapperton never mark it under 40° of
Fahrenheit, and mention ice, which I never saw but once, the
thermometer being 28°; and then not only the mouths of our
mashaks, or ‘water-skins,’ were frozen, but a small pond, protected
from the wind (I heard, for I saw it not), exhibited a very
thin pellicle of ice. When at 30° the cold was deemed intense by
the inhabitants of Maru in the tracts limiting the desert, and
the useful ak, and other shrubs, were scorched and withered; and
in north lat. 25°, the thermometer being 28°, desolation and woe
spread throughout the land. To use their own phrase, the crops
of gram and other pulses were completely “burnt up, as if scorched
by the lightnings of heaven”; while the sun’s meridian heat
would raise it 50° more, or up to 80°, a degree of variability at
least not recorded by Captain Lyon.
At Deshnokh,[10] near the capital, the wells are more than two
hundred cubits, or three hundred feet, in depth; and it is rare
that water fit for man is found at a less distance from the surface
than sixty, in the tracts decidedly termed thal, or ‘desert’:
though some of the flats, or oases, such as that of Mohila, are
exceptions, and abundance of brackish water, fit for cattle, is
found throughout at half this depth, or about thirty feet. All
the wells are lined with basket-work made of phog twigs, and the
water is generally drawn up by hand-lines [203].[11]
Sar, or ‘Salt Lakes.’—There are a few salt lakes, which, throughout
the whole of the Indian desert, are termed sar, though none
are of the same consequence as those of Marwar. The largest is
at the town of Sar,[12] so named after the lake, which is about six
miles in circumference. There is another at Chhapar about two
miles in length, and although each of them frequently contains a
depth of four feet of water, this entirely evaporates in the hot
winds, leaving a thick sheet of saline incrustation. The salt of
both is deemed of inferior quality to that of the more southerly
lakes.
Physiography of the Country.
—There is little to vary the
physiography of this region, and small occasion to boast either of
its physical or moral beauties; yet, strange to say, I have met
with many whose love of country was stronger than their perceptions
of abstract veracity, who would dwell on its perfections, and
prefer a mess of rabri, or porridge made of bajra, to the greater
delicacies of more civilized regions. To such, the tibas, or ‘sand-ridges,’
might be more important than the Himalaya, and their
diminutive and scanty brushwood might eclipse the gigantic
foliage of this huge barrier. Verdure itself may be abhorrent to
eyes accustomed to behold only arid sands; and a region without
tufans or ‘whirlwinds’; or armies of locusts rustling like a
tempest, and casting long shadows on the lands, might be deemed
by the prejudiced, deficient in the true sublime. Occasionally
the sandstone formation rises above the surface, resembling a few
low isolated hills; and those who dwell on the boundaries of
Nagor, if they have a love of more decided elevations than their
native sandhills afford, may indulge in a distant view of the
terminations of the Aravalli.
Mineral Productions.
—The mineral productions of this country
are scanty. They have excellent quarries of freestone in several
parts, especially at Hasera, thirteen coss to the north-east of the
capital, which yield a small revenue estimated at two thousand
rupees annually. There are also copper mines at Biramsar and
Bidesar; but the former does not repay the expense of working,
and the latter, having been worked for thirty years, is nearly
exhausted.
An unctuous clay is excavated from a pit, near Kolait, in large
quantities, and exported as an article of commerce, besides adding
fifteen hundred rupees annually to the treasury. It is used chiefly
to free the skin and hair from impurities, and the Cutchi ladies
are said to eat it to improve their complexions.[13]
Animal Productions.
—The kine of the desert are highly
esteemed; as are the camels, especially those used for expedition
and the saddle, which bear a high price,
[14] and are [204] considered
superior to any in India. They are beautifully formed, and the
head possesses much blood and symmetry. Sheep are reared in
great abundance, and find no want of food in the excellent grasses
and shrubs which abound. The
phog,
jawas,
[15] and other prickly
shrubs, which are here indigenous, form the dainties of the camel
in other regions. The Nilgae, or elk, and deer of every kind, are
plentiful; and the fox of the desert is a beautiful little animal.
Jackals and hyaenas are not scarce, and even lions are by no
means unknown in Bikaner.
Commerce and Manufactures.
—Rajgarh
[16] was the great commercial
mart of this country, and the point of rendezvous for
caravans from all parts. The produce of the Panjab and Kashmir
came formerly direct by Hansi-Hisar—that of the eastern countries
by Delhi, Rewari, Dadri, etc., consisting of silks, fine cloths,
indigo, sugar, iron, tobacco, etc.; from Haraoti and Malwa came
opium, which supplied all the Rajput States; from Sind, via
Jaisalmer, and by caravans from Multan and Shikarpur, dates,
wheat, rice,
lungis (silk vestments for women), fruits, etc.; from
Pali, the imports from maritime countries, as spices, tin, drugs,
coco-nuts, elephants’ teeth, etc. Much of this was for internal
consumption, but the greater part a mere transit trade, which
yielded considerable revenue.
Woollens.
—The wool of the sheep pastured in the desert is,
however, the staple commodity both of manufacture and trade in
this region. It is worked into every article of dress, both male
and female, and worn by all, rich and poor. It is produced from
the loom, of every texture and quality, from the coarse loi or
‘blanket,’ at three rupees per pair (six shillings), to thirty rupees.
The quality of these last is very fine, of an intermediate texture
between the shawl and camlet, and without any nap; it is always
bordered with a stripe of chocolate brown or red. Of this quality
are the dopattas or ‘scarfs’ for the ladies. Turbans are also
manufactured of it, and though frequently from forty to sixty-one
feet in length, such is the fineness of the web, that they are not
bulky on the head.
From the milk of the sheep and goats as well as kine, ghi or
‘clarified butter’ is made, and forms an important article of
trade.
Manufactures in Iron.
—The Bikaneris work well in iron, and
have shops at the capital and all the large towns for the manufacture
of sword blades, matchlocks, daggers, iron lances, etc.
The sword-handles, which are often inlaid with variegated steel,
or burnished, are in high request, and exported to various parts
of India. They have also expert artists in ivory, though the
articles are chiefly such as are worn by females, as churis, or
‘bracelets’ [205].
Coarse cotton cloths, for internal consumption, are made in
considerable quantities.
Fairs.
—Annual fairs were held, in the months of Karttik and
Phalgun, at the towns of Kolait and Gajner,
[17] and frequented by
the merchants of the adjacent countries. They were celebrated
for cattle, chiefly the produce of the desert, camels, kine, and
horses from Multan and the Lakhi Jungle,
[18] a breed now almost
extinct. These fairs have lost all their celebrity; in fact, commerce
in these regions is extinct.
Government Revenues.
—The personal revenues of the Raja
were derived from a variety of sources: from the Khalisa, or
‘crown-lands’ imposts, taxes on agriculture, and that compendious
item which makes up the deficiencies in all oriental
budgets,
dand, or ‘contribution.’ But with all these “appliances
and means to boot,” the civil list of this desert king seldom exceeded
five lakhs of rupees, or about £50,000 per annum.
[19] The
lands of the feudality are more extensive proportionally in this
region than in any other in Rajputana, arising out of the original
settlement, when the Bidawats and Kandhalots, whose joint
acquisitions exceeded those of Bika, would not admit him to
hold lands in their territory, and made but a slight pecuniary
acknowledgment of his supremacy. The districts in which the
crown-lands lie are Rajgarh, Reni, Nohar, Gharib, Ratangarh,
Rania, and more recently Churu.
The following are the items of the revenue: (1) Khalisa, or
fiscal revenue; (2) Dhuan; (3) Anga; (4) Town and transit
duties; (5) Paseti, or ‘plough-tax’; (6) Malba.
Khālisa Lands.
—1. The fisc. Formerly this branch of revenue
yielded two lakhs of rupees; but with progressive superstition
and prodigality, the raja has alienated almost two-thirds of the
villages from which the revenue was drawn. These amounted
to two hundred; now they do not exceed eighty, and their
revenue is not more than one lakh of rupees. Surat Singh is
guided only by caprice; his rewards are uniform, no matter what
the service or the object, whether a Brahman or a camel-driver.
The Khalisa is the only source which he considers he has merely
a life-interest in. To supply the deficiencies, he has direct
recourse to the pockets of his subjects.
Hearth-Tax.
—2. Dhuan may be rendered hearth-tax, though
literally it is a smoke (dhuan) tax. All must eat; food must be
dressed; and as they have neither chimneys nor glass windows
on which to lay the tax, Surat Singh’s chancellor of the exchequer
makes the smoke pay a transit duty ere it gets vent from the
various orifices of the edifice. It only amounts to one rupee on
each house or family, but would form an important item if not
evaded by the powerful chiefs; still it yields a lakh of rupees.
The town [206] of Mahajan, which was settled on Ratan Singh,
son of Raja Nunkaran, on the resignation of his right of primogeniture
and succession, enjoys exemption from this tax. It is
less liable to fluctuation than other taxes, for if a village becomes
half-deserted, those who remain are saddled with the whole.
Dhuan is only known to the two western States, Bikaner and
Jaisalmer.
Poll-Tax.
—3. Anga. This is not a capitation but a body tax
(from anga, the body), and was established by Raja Anup Singh.
It might almost be termed a property-tax, since it embraced
quadrupeds as well as bipeds of every sex and age, and was
graduated according to age and sex in the human species, and
according to utility in the brute. Each male adult was assessed
one anga, fixed at four annas (about sixpence), and cows, oxen,
buffaloes, were placed upon a level with the lord of the creation.
Ten goats or sheep were estimated as one anga; but a camel was
equivalent to four angas, or one rupee, which Raja Gaj Singh
doubled. This tax, which is by far the most certain in a country
perhaps still more pastoral than agricultural, is most providently
watched, and though it has undergone many changes since
it was originally imposed, it yet yields annually two lakhs of
rupees.
4. Sāīr, or ‘imposts.’ This branch is subject to much fluctuation,
and has diminished greatly since the reign of Surat Singh.
The duties levied in the capital alone formerly exceeded what is
collected throughout the whole of his dominions; being once
estimated at above two lakhs, and now under one. Of this
amount, half is collected at Rajgarh, the chief commercial mart
of Bikaner. The dread of the Rahats, who have cut off the
communications with the Panjab, and the want of principle
within, deter merchants from visiting this State, and the caravans
from Multan, Bahawalpur, and Shikarpur, which passed through
Bikaner to the eastern States, have nearly abandoned the route.
The only duties of which he is certain are those on grain, of four
rupees on every hundred maunds sold or exported, and which,
according to the average sale price of these regions, may be
about two per cent.
Paseti.
—5. Paseti is a tax of five
[20] rupees on every plough used
in agriculture. It was introduced by Raja Rae Singh, in commutation
of the corn-tax, or levy in kind, which had long been
established at one-fourth of the gross produce. The Jats were
glad to compound, and get rid of the agents of corruption, by
the substitution of the plough-tax. It formerly yielded two
lakhs of rupees, but with decreasing agriculture has fallen, like
every other source, to a little more than one-half, but still yields
a lakh and a quarter.
Malba.
—6. Malba
[21] is the name of the original tax which the
Jat communities imposed [207] upon themselves, when they
submitted to the sway in perpetuity of Bika and his successors.
It is the land-tax
[22] of two rupees on each hundred bighas of land
cultivated in Bikaner. It is now unproductive, not realizing
fifty thousand rupees, and it is said that a composition has been
effected, by which it has been, or will be, relinquished: if so,
Surat Singh gives up the sole legitimate source of revenue he
possesses.
| 1. Khalisa, or fisc[23] |
Rs. 100,000 |
| 2. Dhuan |
100,000 |
| 3. Anga |
200,000 |
| 4. Sair, imposts[24] |
75,000 |
| 5. Paseti, plough-tax |
125,000 |
| 6. Malba, land-tax |
50,000 |
| Total |
650,000 |
Besides this, the fullest amount arising to the prince from
annual taxation, there are other items which occasionally replenish
the treasure of Surat Singh.
Datoi.
—Datoi is a triennial tax of five rupees levied on each
plough.
[25] It was instituted by Raja Zorawar Singh. The whole
country is liable to it, with the exception of fifty villages in
Asaichwati, and seventy of the Beniwals, conditionally exempted,
to guard the borders. It is now frequently evaded by the feudal
chieftains, and seldom yields a lakh of rupees.
In addition to these specific expedients, there are many
arbitrary methods of increasing the “ways and means” to satisfy
the necessities or avarice of the present ruler, and [208] a train
of dependent harpies, who prey upon the cultivating peasantry,
or industrious trader. By such shifts, Surat Singh has been
known to double his fixed revenue.
Dand, Khushhali.
—The terms Dand and Khushhali, though
etymologically the antipodes of each other—the first meaning a
‘compulsory contribution,’ the other a ‘benevolence, or voluntary,’
[26]—have
a similar interpretation in these regions, and make
the subjects of those parts devoutly pray that their prince’s
house may be one rather of mourning than rejoicing, and that
defeat rather than victory may be attendant on his arms.
The term dand is coeval with Hindu legislation. The bard
Chand describes it, and the chronicler of the life of the great
Siddhraj of Anhilwara, “who expelled the seven Daddas,” or
‘great evils,’ whose initial letter was d, enumerates dand as one
of them, and places it with the Dholis and Dakins, or minstrels
and witches, giving it precedence amongst the seven plagues
which his ancestors and tyrant custom had inflicted on the subject.
Unhappily, there is no Siddhraj to legislate for Rajputana; and
were there fourteen Daddas by which Surat Singh could swell
his budget, he would retain them all for the oppression of the
impoverished Jats, who, if they could, would be happy to expel
the letter S from amongst them. But it is from the chieftain,
the merchant, and the banker that the chief sums are realized;
though indirectly the poor peasant contributes his share. There
are fourteen collectors of dand,[27] one to every chira or division,
and these are furnished with arbitrary schedules according to
the circumstances, actual or supposed, of each individual. So
unlimited are these exactions, that the chief of Gandeli for two
years offered the collector of his quarter ten thousand rupees if
he would guarantee him against any further demand during even
twelve months; and being refused, he turned the collector out,
shut the gates of his castle, and boldly bid his master defiance.
One of his expedients to levy a khushhali, or ‘benevolence,’ is
worth relating: it was on the termination of his expedition
against Bhatner, which added this celebrated desert and castle
to his territory, and in which he was attended by the entire
feudal army of Bikaner. On his return, “flushed with conquest,”
he demanded from each house throughout his dominions the sum
of ten rupees to cover the expenses of the war. If the tyrant-ridden
subjects of Surat Singh thus rejoice in his successes, how
must they feel for his defeats! To them both are alike ominous,
when every [209] artifice is welcomed, every villainy practised,
to impoverish them. Oppression is at its height, and must work
out its own cure.
Feudal Levies.
—The disposable force of all these feudal principalities
must depend on the personal character of the Raja. If
Surat Singh were popular, and the national emergencies demanded
the assemblage of the Kher, or levée en masse, of the “sons of
Bika,” he might bring ten thousand Rajputs into the field, of
whom twelve hundred might be good horse, besides the foreign
troops and park; but under present circumstances, and the
rapid deterioration of every branch of society, it may be doubted
whether one-half could be collected under his standard.
The household troops consist of a battalion of foreign infantry,
of five hundred men with five guns, and three squadrons of horse,
about two hundred and fifty in number; all under foreign
leaders. This is independent of the garrison of the capital, whose
commandant is a Rajput of the Parihar tribe, who has twenty-five
villages assigned for the payment of his troops.[28]
Schedule exhibiting the Fiefs of Bikaner.
| Names of Chieftains. |
Clans. |
Places of Abode. |
Revenue. |
Retainers: |
Remarks. |
| Foot. |
Horse. |
| Behri Sal |
Bika |
Mahajan |
40,000 |
5,000 |
100 |
|
One hundred and forty villages, attached to this fief, settled on the
heir of Raja Nunkaran, who consequently forfeited the gaddi. The
first of the chiefs of Bikaner. |
| Abhai Singh |
Benirot |
Bhukarka |
25,000 |
5,000 |
200 |
|
|
| Anup Singh |
Bika |
Jasana |
5,000 |
400 |
40 |
|
|
| Pem Singh |
Do. |
Bai |
5,000 |
400 |
25 |
|
|
| Chain Singh |
Benirot |
Sawa |
20,000 |
2,000 |
300 |
|
|
| Himmat Singh |
Rawat |
Rawatsar |
20,000 |
2,000 |
300 |
|
|
| Sheo Singh |
Benirot |
Churu |
25,000 |
2,000 |
200 |
|
|
| Ummed Singh |
} |
Bidawat |
} |
Bidesar |
} |
50,000 |
10,000 |
2,000 |
|
One hundred and forty kothri (families,
lit. chambers) of this class. |
| Jeth Singh |
Sondwa |
| Bahadur Singh |
} |
Narnot |
} |
Bidesar |
} |
40,000 |
4,000 |
500 |
|
|
| Suraj Mall |
Tendesar |
|
| Guman Singh |
Katar |
|
| Atai Singh |
Kachor |
|
| Sher Singh |
Narnot |
Nimbaj |
5,000 |
500 |
125 |
|
|
| Devi Singh |
} |
Narnot |
} |
Sidmukh |
} |
20,000 |
5,000 |
400 |
|
|
| Ummed Singh |
Karipura |
|
| Surthan Singh |
Ajitpura |
|
| Karnidhan |
Beasar |
|
| Surthan Singh |
Kachhwaha |
Nainawas |
4,000 |
150 |
30 |
} |
These two fiefs are held by foreign nobles of the
house of Amber, and the ancient Pramara (vulg. Panwar). |
| Padam Singh |
Panwar |
Jethsisar |
5,000 |
200 |
100 |
| Kishan Singh |
Bika |
Hayadesar |
5,000 |
200 |
50 |
| Rao Singh |
Bhatti |
Pugal[29] |
6,000 |
1,500 |
40 |
|
The fief of Pugal was wrested from the Bhattis of
Jaisalmer. |
| Sultan Singh |
Do. |
Rajasar |
1,500 |
200 |
50 |
|
|
| Laktir Singh |
Do. |
Raner |
2,000 |
400 |
75 |
|
|
| Karnai Singh |
Do. |
Satasar |
1,100 |
200 |
9 |
|
|
| Bhum Singh |
Do. |
Chakara |
1,500 |
60 |
4 |
|
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Four Chieftains,[30] viz. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
| 1. Bhoni Singh |
Bhatti |
Bichnok |
1,500 |
60 |
6 |
|
|
| 2. Zalim Singh |
Do. |
Gariala |
1,100 |
40 |
4 |
|
| 3. Sardar Singh |
Do. |
Surjara |
800 |
30 |
2 |
|
|
| 4. Khet Singh |
Do. |
Randisar |
600 |
32 |
2 |
|
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Chand Singh |
Karamsot |
Nokha |
11,000 |
1,500 |
500 |
} |
Twenty-seven villages dependent on this family
from Jodhpur, and settled here eleven years. |
| Satidan |
Rupawat |
Badila |
5,000 |
200 |
25 |
| Bhum Singh |
Bhatti |
Janglu |
2,500 |
400 |
9 |
|
| Ketsi |
Do. |
Jaminsar |
15,000 |
500 |
150 |
|
Twenty-seven villages. |
| Isari Singh |
Mandla |
Sarunda |
11,000 |
2,000 |
150 |
|
|
| Padam Singh |
Bhatti |
Kudsu |
1,500 |
60 |
4 |
|
|
| Kalyan Singh |
Do. |
Nainea |
1,000 |
40 |
2 |
|
|
| |
|
Total |
332,100 |
44,072 |
5,402 |
|
[210] |
If ever the whole feudal array of Bikaner amounted to this, it
would assuredly be found difficult now, were the ban proclaimed,
to assemble one-fourth of this number [211].