Rāo Bhīm Singh attacks Būndi.

—The rivalry that commenced between the houses, when Hara encountered Hara on the plains of Dholpur, and each princely leader sealed his fidelity to the cause he espoused with his blood, was brought to issue by Raja Bhim, whose attack upon Rao Budh of Bundi, while defending the forlorn Farrukhsiyar, has already been related, though without its consequences. These were fatal to the supremacy of the elder branch; for, taking advantage of his position and the expulsion of Rao Budh, in which he aided, Raja Bhim made an attempt upon Bundi, and despoiled that capital of all the insignia of sovereign rule, its nakkaras, or kettle-drums, with the celebrated ran-sankh, or war-shell, an heirloom descended from the heroes of antiquity. Even the military band, whose various discordant instruments are still in use, may be heard in pseudo concert from the guardroom over the chief gate of the citadel, at Kotah; while the “orange flag,” the gift of Jahangir to Rao Ratan, around which many a brave Hara has breathed his last, is now used by the junior house in all processions or battles.

To recover these ensigns of fallen dignity, many a stratagem has been tried. False keys of the city gates of Kotah and its citadel had been procured, and its guards won over by bribery to favour admission; but an unceasing vigilance defeated the plan when on the brink of execution: since which the gates of Kotah are always closed at sunset, and never opened even to the prince. This custom has been attended with great inconvenience; of which the following anecdote affords an instance. When Raja Durjan after his defeat reached Kotah at midnight, with a few attendants, he called aloud to the sentinel for admittance; but the orders of the latter were peremptory and allowed of no discretion. The soldier desired the Raja to be gone; upon which, expostulation being vain, he revealed himself as the prince. At this the soldier laughed [511]; but, tired of importunity, bade his sovereign “go to hell,” levelled his match-lock, and refused to call the officer on guard. The prince retired, and passed the night in a temple close at hand. At daybreak the gates were opened, and the soldiers were laughing at their comrade’s story of the night, when the Raja appeared. All were surprised, but most of all the sentinel, who, taking his sword and shield, placed them at his sovereign’s feet, and in a manly but respectful attitude awaited his decision. The prince raised him, and praising his fidelity, bestowed the dress he then wore upon him, besides a gift of money.

The Hara chronicler states, that Raja Bhim’s person was seamed with scars, and so fastidious was he, through the fear of incurring the imputation of vanity, that he never undressed in presence of his attendants. Nor was it till his death-wound at Kurwai that this singularity was explained, on one of his confidential servants expressing his surprise at the numerous scars; which brought this characteristic reply: “He who is born to govern Haras, and desires to preserve his land, must expect to get these: the proper post for a Rajput prince is ever at the head of his vassals.”

Raja Bhim was the first prince of Kotah who had the dignity of Panj-hazari, or ‘leader of five thousand,’ conferred upon him. He was likewise the first of his dynasty who bore the title of Maharao, or ‘Great Prince’; a title confirmed though not conferred by the paramount sovereign, but by the head of their own princely tribes, the Rana of Mewar. Previous to Gopinath of Bundi, whose issue are the great feudal chiefs of Haraoti, their titular appellation was Apji, which has the same import as herself (or rather himself), applied to highland chiefs of Scotland; but when Indarsal went to Udaipur, he procured the title of Maharaja for himself and his brothers; since which Apji has been applied to the holders of the secondary fiefs, the Madhani of Kotah. Raja Bhim left three sons, Arjun Singh, Shyam Singh, and Durjansal.

Mahārāo Arjun Singh, A.D. 1720-24.

—Maharao Arjun married the sister of Madho Singh, ancestor of Zalim Singh Jhala; but died without issue, after four years’ rule. On his death, there arose a civil war respecting the succession, in which the vassals were divided. Clan encountered clan in the field of Udaipura, when the fate of Shyam Singh was sealed in his blood. It is said, the survivor would willingly have given up dominion to have restored his brother to life; that he cursed his ambitious rashness, and wept bitterly over the dead body. By these contentions the rich districts of Rampura, Bhanpura, and Kalapet, which [512] the king had taken from the ancient family and bestowed on Raja Bhim, were lost to the Haras, and regained by their ancient possessors.

Mahārāo Durjansāl, A.D. 1724-56. The Marātha Invasion.

—Durjansal assumed ‘the rod’ in S. 1780 (A.D. 1724). His accession was acknowledged by Muhammad Shah, the last of the Timurian kings who deserved the appellation, and at whose court the prince of Kotah received the khilat and obtained the boon of preventing the slaughter of kine in every part of the Jumna frequented by his nation. Durjansal succeeded on the eve of an eventful period in the annals of his country. It was in his reign that the Mahrattas under Bajirao first invaded Hindustan. On this memorable occasion, they passed by the Taraj Pass, and skirting Haraoti on its eastern frontier, performed a service to Durjansal, by attacking and presenting to him the castle of Nahargarh, then held by a Musalman chief. It was in S. 1795[12] (A.D. 1739) that the first connexion between the Haras and the ‘Southrons’ took place; and this service of the Peshwa leader was a return for stores and ammunition necessary for his enterprise. But a few years only elapsed before this friendly act and the good understanding it induced were forgotten.

Jaipur claims to control Kotah.

—We have recorded, in the Annals of Bundi, the attempts of the princes of Amber, who were armed with the power of the monarchy, to reduce the chiefs of Haraoti to the condition of vassals. This policy, originating with Jai Singh, was pursued by his successor, who drove the gallant Budh Singh into exile, to madness and death, though the means by which he effected it ultimately recoiled upon him, to his humiliation and destruction. Having, however, driven Budh Singh from Bundi, and imposed the condition of homage and tribute upon the creature of his installation, he desired to inflict his supremacy on Kotah. In this cause, in S. 1800, he invited the three great Mahratta leaders, with the Jats under Surajmall, when, after a severe conflict at Kotri, the city was invested. During three months, every effort was made, but in vain; and after cutting down the trees and destroying the gardens in the environs, they were compelled to decamp, the leader, Jai Apa Sindhia,[13] leaving one of his hands, which was carried off by a cannon-shot.

Birth of Zālim Singh.

—Durjansal was nobly seconded by the courage and counsel of the Faujdar, or ‘commandant of the garrison,’ Himmat Singh, a Rajput of the Jhala tribe. It was through Himmat Singh that the negotiations were carried on, which added Nahargarh to Kotah; and to him were confided those in which Kotah was compelled to follow the [513] general denationalization, and become subservient to the Mahrattas. Between these two events, S. 1795 and S. 1800, Zalim Singh was born, a name of such celebrity that his biography would embrace all that remains to be told of the history of the Haras.

When Isari Singh was foiled, the brave Durjansal lent his assistance to replace the exiled Ummeda on the throne which his father had lost. But without Holkar’s aid, this would have been vain; and, in S. 1805 (A.D. 1749), the year of Ummeda’s restoration, Kotah was compelled to become tributary to the Mahrattas.

Death and Character of Durjansāl.

—Durjansal added several places to his dominions. He took Phul-Barod from the Khichis, and attempted the fortress of Gugor, which was bravely defended by Balbhaddar in person, who created a league against the Hara composed of the chiefs of Rampura, Sheopur, and Bundi. The standard of Kotah was preserved from falling into the hands of the Khichis by the gallantry of Ummeda Singh of Bundi. The battle between the rival clans, both of Chauhan blood, was in S. 1810; and in three years more, Durjansal departed this life. He was a valiant prince, and possessed all the qualities of which the Rajput is enamoured; affability, generosity, and bravery. He was devoted to field-sports, especially the royal one of tiger-hunting; and had ramnas or preserves in every corner of his dominions (some of immense extent, with ditches and palisadoes, and sometimes circumvallations), in all of which he erected hunting-seats.

COUNTRY SEAT OF THE KOTAH PRINCE.
To face page 1530.

In these expeditions, which resembled preparations for war, he invariably carried the queens. These Amazonian ladies were taught the use of the matchlock, and being placed upon the terraced roofs of the hunting-seats, sent their shots at the forest-lord, when driven past their stand by the hunters. On one of these occasions the Jhala Faujdar was at the foot of the scaffolding; the tiger, infuriated with the uproar, approached him open-mouthed; but the prince had not yet given the word, and none dared to fire without his signal. The animal eyed his victim, and was on the point of springing, when the Jhala advanced his shield, sprung upon him, and with one blow of his sword laid him dead at his feet. The act was applauded by the prince and his court, and contributed not a little to the character he had already attained.

Durjansal left no issue. He was married to a daughter of the Rana of Mewar. Being often disappointed, and at length despairing of an heir, about three years before his death, he told the Rani it was time to think of adopting an heir to fill the gaddi, “for it was evident that the Almighty disapproved of the usurpation which changed the order of succession.” It will be remembered that Bishan Singh, son of Ram Singh [514], was set aside for refusing, in compliance with maternal fears, to accompany his father in the wars of the Deccan. When dispossessed of his birthright, he was established in the fief of Antha on the Chambal.[14] At the death of Durjansal, Ajit Singh, grandson of the disinherited prince, was lord of Antha, but he was in extreme old age. He had three sons, and the eldest, whose name of Chhattarsal revived ancient associations, was formally “placed in the lap of the Rani Mewari; the asis (blessing) was given; he was taught the names of his ancestors (being no longer regarded as the son of Ajit of Antha), Chhattar Singh, son of Durjansal, Bhimsinghgot, Ram Singh, Kishor Singh, etc., etc.,” and so on, to the fountain-head, Dewa Banga, and thence to Manikrae of Ajmer. Though the adoption was proclaimed, and all looked to Chhattarsal as the future lord of the Haras of Kotah, yet on the death of Durjan, the Jhala Faujdar took upon him to make an alteration in this important act, and he had power enough to effect it.

Mahārāo Ajīt Singh, A.D. 1756-59. Mahārāo Chhattarsāl, A.D. 1759-66.

—The old chief of Antha was yet alive, and the Faujdar said, “It was contrary to nature that the son should rule and the father obey”; but doubtless other motives mingled with his piety, in which, besides self-interest, may have been a consciousness of the dangers inseparable from a minority. The only difficulty was to obtain the consent of the chief himself, then “fourscore years and upwards,” to abandon his peaceful castle on the Kali Sind for the cares of government. But the Faujdar prevailed; old Ajit was crowned, and survived his exaltation two years and a half. Ajit left three sons, Chhattarsal, Guman Singh, and Raj Singh. Chhattarsal was proclaimed the Maharao of the Haras. The celebrated Himmat Singh Jhala died before his accession, and his office of Faujdar was conferred upon his nephew, Zalim Singh.

At this epoch, Madho Singh, who had acceded to the throne of Amber on the suicide of his predecessor, Isari, instead of taking warning by example, prepared to put forth all his strength for the revival of those tributary claims upon the Haras, which had cost his brother his life. The contest was between Rajput and Rajput; the question at issue was supremacy on the one hand, and subserviency on the other, the sole plea for which was that the Kotah contingent had acted under the princes of Amber, when lieutenants of the empire. But the Haras held in utter scorn the attempt to compel this service in their individual capacity, in which they only recognized them as equals.

Jaipur attacks Kotah.

—It was in S. 1817 (A.D. 1761) that the prince of Amber assembled all his clans to force the Haras to acknowledge themselves tributaries. The invasion of the Abdali[15] [515], which humbled the Mahrattas and put a stop to their pretensions to universal sovereignty, left the Rajputs to themselves. Madho Singh, in his march to Haraoti, assaulted Uniara, and added it to his territory. Thence he proceeded to Lakheri, which he took, driving out the crestfallen Southrons. Emboldened by this success, he crossed at the Pali Ghat, the point of confluence of the Par and the Chambal. The Hara chieftain of Sultanpur, whose duty was the defence of the ford, was taken by surprise; but, like a true Hara, he gathered his kinsmen outside his castle, and gave battle to the host. He made amends for his supineness, and bartered his life for his honour. It was remarked by the invaders, that, as he fell, his clenched hand grasped the earth, which afforded merriment to some, but serious reflection to those who knew the tribe, and who converted it into an omen “that even in death the Hara would cling to his land.” The victors, flushed with this fresh success, proceeded through the heart of Kotah until they reached Bhatwara,[16] where they found five thousand Haras, ek bap ka beta, all ‘children of one father,’ drawn up to oppose them. The numerical odds were fearful against Kotah; but the latter were defending their altars and their honour. The battle commenced with a desperate charge of the whole Kachhwaha horse, far more numerous than the brave legion of Kotah; but, too confident of success, they had tired their horses ere they joined. It was met by a dense mass, with perfect coolness, and the Haras remained unbroken by the shock. Fresh numbers came up; the infantry joined the cavalry, and the battle became desperate and bloody. It was at this moment that Zalim Singh made his debut. He was then twenty-one years of age, and had already, as the adopted son of Himmat Singh, “tied his turban on his head,” and succeeded to his post of Faujdar. While the battle was raging, Zalim dismounted, and at the head of his quota, fought on foot, and at the most critical moment obtained the merit of the victory, by the first display of that sagacity for which he has been so remarkable throughout his life [516].

Malhar Rao Holkar was encamped in their vicinity, with the remnant of his horde, but so crestfallen since the fatal day of Panipat,[17] that he feared to side with either. At this moment young Zalim, mounting his steed, galloped to the Mahratta, and implored him, if he would not fight, to move round and plunder the Jaipur camp: a hint which needed no repetition.

The little impression yet made on the Kotah band only required the report that “the camp was assaulted,” to convert the lukewarm courage of their antagonists into panic and flight: “the host of Jaipur fled, while the sword of the Hara performed tirath (pilgrimage) in rivers of blood.xxxx

The chiefs of Macheri, of Isarda, Watka, Barol, Achrol, with all the ots and awats of Amber, turned their backs on five thousand Haras of Kotah; for the Bundi troops, though assembled, did not join, and lost the golden opportunity to free its Kothris, or fiefs, from the tribute. Many prisoners were taken, and the five-coloured banner of Amber fell into the hands of the Haras, whose bard was not slow to turn the incident to account in the stanza, still repeated whenever he celebrates the victory of Bhatwara, and in which the star (tara) of Zalim prevailed:

Jang Bhatwārā jīt
Tārā Jālim Jhālā.
Ring ek rang chīt,
Chādyo rang pach-rang kē.[18]

“In the battle of Bhatwara, the star of Zalim was triumphant. In that field of strife (ringa) but one colour (rang) covered that of the five-coloured (panch-ranga) banner”: meaning that the Amber standard was dyed in blood.

The battle of Bhatwara decided the question of tribute, nor has the Kachhwaha since this day dared to advance the question of supremacy, which, as lieutenant of the empire, he desired to transfer to himself. In derision of this claim, ever since the day of Bhatwara, when the Haras assemble at their Champ de Mars to celebrate the annual military festival, they make a mock castle of Amber, which is demolished amidst shouts of applause.[19]

Chhattarsal survived his elevation and this success but a few years; and as he died without offspring, he was succeeded by his brother [517].

1. [Pātan, about 25 miles E. of Būndi city: ‘Gainoli’ in the text is probably Gondoli, about 10 miles E. of Pātan.]

2. [A Sikh sect founded by Nānak, the Sikh Guru (A.D. 1469-1539) (Rose, Glossary, iii. 152 ff.).]

3. [About 10 miles N. of Būndi city.]city.]

4. [Probably Sātur, with a temple of Rakt Dantika Devi, ‘she with the blood-stained teeth’ (Rājputāna Gazetteer, 1879, i. 240).]

5. I have made my salaam to the representative of Hanja, and should have graced his neck with a chaplet on every military festival, had I dwelt among the Haras.

6. Ummeda, ‘hope’; Singh, ‘a lion.’

7. [On the Nerbudda as a barrier see Vol. II. p. 971.]

8. [The Holkar family belonged to the Dhangar, or Marātha shepherd caste, taking their name from the village of Hol on the Nīra River in Poona District (Grant Duff 212; BG, xviii. Part ii. 244).]

9. See Annals of Mewar, Vol. I. p. 495.

10. [10 miles S. of Jaipur city.]

11. As in those days when Mahratta spoliation commenced, a joint-stock purse was made for all such acquisitions, so Patan was divided into shares, of which the Peshwa had one, and Sindhia another; but the Peshwa’s share remained nominal, and the revenue was carried to account by Holkar for the services of the Poona State. In the general pacification of A.D. 1817, this long-lost and much-cherished district was once more incorporated with Bundi, to the unspeakable gratitude and joy of its prince and people. In effecting this for the grandson of Ummeda, the Author secured for himself a gratification scarcely less than his.

12. [Āīn, ii. 102, 274 f. Jarrett writes Sūi Sūpar or Sūi Sopar.]

13. [Āīn, ii. 132 f.]

14. The universal arbitrator, Zalim Singh of Kotah, having undertaken to satisfy them, and save them from the annual visitations of the Jaipur troops, withdrew the proper allegiance of Indargarh, Balwan, and Antardah to himself. The British government, in ignorance of these historical facts, and not desirous to disturb the existing state of things, were averse to hear the Bundi claims for the restoration of her proper authority over these her chief vassals. With all his gratitude for the restoration of his political existence, the brave and good Bishan Singh could not suppress a sigh when the author said that Lord Hastings refused to go into the question of the Kothris, who had thus transferred their allegiance to Zalim Singh of Kotah. In their usual metaphorical style, he said, with great emphasis and sorrow, “My wings remain broken.” It would be a matter of no difficulty to negotiate the claims of Jaipur, and cause the regent of Kotah to forgo his interposition, which would be attended with no loss of any kind to him, but would afford unspeakable benefit and pride to Bundi, which has well deserved the boon at our hands.

15. [About 30 miles N.E. of Būndi city: for Bijaiseni Māta see Vol. II. p. 1193.]

16. The laws of revenge are dreadfully absolute: had the sons of Deo Singh survived, the feud upon their liege lord would have been entailed with their estate. It is a nice point for a subject to balance between fidelity to his prince, and a father’s feud, bap ka vair.

17. The queens’ apartments.

18. [In early Hindu times a similar performance of mock funereal rites took place in the event of contumacious disregard of the rules of caste (Barnett, Antiquities of India, 120).]

19. See p. 1463.

20. [In the island of Pāmban, Madura District, Madras (IGI, xxi. 173 ff.).]

21. [Sītakund, in Chittagong District, Bengal (ibid. xxiii. 50).]

22. [Jagannāth, not “a Moloch”: religious suicides under his car are infrequent (Hunter, Orissa, i. 133 f.).]

23. [Krishna, at Dwārka.]

24. [Kāli, Pārvati, Māta, or Nāni, not Agnidevi, is worshipped at Hinglāj (IGI, xiii. 142).]

25. [See Vol. II. p. 1170.]

27. [Perhaps the town of that name in the Sahāranpur District, United Provinces.]

28. [Sukhpāl, “happiness-protecting,” a luxurious litter, like the sukhāsan or mahādol (p. 1349).]

29. [For a full account of the disastrous retreat of Hon. Lieut.-Col. William Monson see Mill, Hist. of India, vol. iii. (1817) 672 ff. He was son of John, 2nd Baron Monson: born in 1760: went to India with the 52nd Regiment in 1780. He shared in the attack on Seringapatam in 1792: in the Marātha war of 1803 commanded a brigade under Lord Lake: led the storming party, and was seriously wounded at the capture of Aligarh, 4th September 1803. After his famous retreat to Agra in 1804 he was again employed under Lord Lake in his campaign against Holkar: was present at the battle of Dīg, 14th November 1804,and led the last of the four assaults on Bharatpur in 1805. He returned to England in 1806, and was elected member for Lincoln. He died in December 1807. (C. E. Buckland, Dict. Indian Biography, s.v.).]

30. The Author had the distinguished happiness of concluding the treaty with Bundi in February 1818. His previous knowledge of her deserts was not disadvantageous to her interests, and he assumed the responsibility of concluding it upon the general principles which were to regulate our future policy as determined in the commencement of the war; and setting aside the views which trenched upon these in our subsequent negotiations. These general principles laid it down as a sine qua non that the Mahrattas should not have a foot of land in Rajputana west of the Chambal; and he closed the door to recantation by sealing the reunion in perpetuity to Bundi, of Patan and all land so situated. [In 1847, with the consent of Sindhia, his share of the Pātan district was made over in perpetuity to Būndi on payment of a further sum of Rs. 80,000, to be credited to Gwalior. Under the treaty of 1860 with Sindhia the sovereignty of this tract was transferred to the British Government, from whom Būndi now holds it as a perpetual fief, subject to the payment of Rs. 80,000 per annum, in addition to the tribute of Rs. 40,000 payable under the treaty of 1818 (IGI. ix. 81 f.).]

31. [Risāla properly means ‘a letter, account.’ Risāladār has, in the British service, the special sense of a native officer commanding a troop of cavalry (Yule, Hobson-Jobson, 2nd ed. 761 f.).]

32. The truck system, called parna, is well known in Rajputana.

33. And from the Author with the rest, whose nephew he was by courtesy and adoption. [Rām Singh succeeded his father in 1821. He behaved with apathy and lukewarmness in the Mutiny of 1857, but he was given the right of adoption in 1862, and died in 1889. He was “the most conservative prince in conservative Rājputāna, and a grand specimen of a true Rājput gentleman.” He was succeeded by his son Mahārāo Rāja Raghbīr Singh (IGI. ix. 82).]

1. [See Elliot-Dowson vi. 395, 418.]

2. [Rājputs in early days used to intermarry and eat with Bhīls, who were regarded, not as a menial tribe, but as lords of the soil (Russell, Tribes and Castes Central Provinces, ii. 281).]

3. He held also the districts of Dah and Gura in grant direct of the empire.

4. [‘The defile of Mukund,’ also written Mukunddwāra, ‘door or gate of Mukund,’ about 25 miles S. of Kotah city.]

5. [The extra-mural suburb of a fortress (Yule, Hobson-Jobson, 2nd ed. 702).]

6. [15th April 1658 (Jadunath Sarkar, Hist. of Aurangzib, ii. 1 ff.).]

7. A descendant of his covered Monson’s retreat even before this general reached the Mukunddarra Pass, and fell defending the ford of the Amjar, disdaining to retreat. His simple cenotaph marks the spot where in the gallant old style this chief “spread his carpet” to meet the Deccani host, while a British commander, at the head of a force capable of sweeping one end of India to the other, fled! The Author will say more of this in his Personal Narrative, having visited the spot.

8. This is one more of the numerous inexplicable claims which the British Government has had to decide upon, since it became the universal arbitrator. Neither party understanding their origin, the difficulty of a just decision must be obvious. This sets it at rest. [Tankhwāh, ‘wages, an assignment of revenue.’ For its technical sense tankhwāh jāgīr see Rogers-Beveridge, Memoirs of Jahāngīr, 74.]

9. [Kamaru-d-dīn, Āsaf Jāh, son of Ghāziu-d-dīn Khān Jang, born 1671, received the title of Chīn Qilīch Khān in 1690-91; governor of Morādābād and Mālwa under Farrukhsīyar; gained supreme power in the Deccan in 1720; died May 22, 1748, the present Nizāms of Haidarābād being his successors (Manucci iv. 140; Grant Duff, History of the Mahrattas, 190; Elliot-Dowson vii. passim).]

10. [On the river Betwa, about 45 miles S.S.W. of Lalitpur.]

11. [See p. 1449.]

12. In this year, when Bajirao invaded Hindustan, passing through Haraoti, Himmat Singh Jhala was Faujdar of Kotah. In that year Sheo Singh, and in the succeeding the celebrated Zalim Singh, was born.

13. [Jai Āpa Sindhia succeeded his father, Rānoji Sindhia. His dates are uncertain, but he was probably killed at Nāgor in 1759 (Beale, Dict. Oriental Biography, s.v.; IGI, xii. 421; Grant Duff, Hist. of the Mahrattas, 270).]

14. [Antha is not on the Chambal: it is about 25 miles E. of Kotah city.]

15. [Ahmad Shāh Durrāni defeated the Marāthas at Pānipat, 7th January 1761.]

16. [Near Māngrol, about 40 miles N.E. of Kotah city.]

17. It is singular enough, that Zalim Singh was born in the year of Nadir Shah’s invasion, and made his political entrée in that of the Abdali.

18. [Dr. Tessitori, whose version has been followed, writes: “The second line is quite wrong, and I should not be surprised if it was made up by Col. Tod’s Pandit. I believe there was some other word in place of tārā.”]

19. [See Vols. II. p. 1199, III. p. 1471.]

CHAPTER 6

Mahārāo Gumān Singh, A.D. 1766-71.

—Guman Singh, in S. 1822 (A.D. 1766), ascended the gaddi of his ancestors. He was in the prime of manhood, full of vigour and intellect, and well calculated to contend with the tempests collecting from the south, ready to pour on the devoted lands of Rajputana. But one short lustrum of rule was all that fate had ordained for him, when he was compelled to resign his rod of power into the hands of an infant. But ere we reach this period, we must retrace our steps, and introduce more prominently the individual whose biography is the future history of this State; for Zalim Singh is Kotah, his name being not only indissolubly linked with hers in every page of her existence, but incorporated with that of every State of Rajputana for more than half a century. He was the primum mobile of the region he inhabited, a sphere far too confined for his genius, which required a wider field for its display, and might have controlled the destinies of nations.

Zālim Singh Jhāla.

—Zalim Singh is a Rajput of the Jhala tribe. He was born in S. 1796 (A.D. 1740), an ever memorable epoch (as already observed) in the history of India, when the victorious Nadir Shah led his hordes into her fertile soil, and gave the finishing blow to the dynasty of Timur. But for this event, its existence might have been protracted, though its recovery was hopeless: the principle of decay had been generated by the policy of Aurangzeb. Muhammad Shah was at this time emperor of India,[1] and the valiant Durjansal sat on the throne of Kotah. From this period (A.D. 1740) five princes have passed away and a sixth has been enthroned; and, albeit one of these reigns endured for half a century, Zalim Singh has outlived them all,[2] and though blind, his [518] moral perceptions are as acute as on the day of Bhatwara. What a chain of events does not this protracted life embrace! An empire then dazzling in glory, and now mouldering in the dust. At its opening, the highest noble of Britain would have stood at a reverential distance from the throne of Timur, in the attitude of a suppliant, and now—
None so poor
To do him reverence.

To do anything like justice to the biography of one who for so long a period was a prominent actor in the scene, is utterly impossible; this consideration, however, need not prevent our attempting a sketch of this consummate politician, who can scarcely find a parallel in the varied page of history.

The ancestors of Zalim Singh were petty chieftains of Halwad,[3] in the district of Jhalawar, a subdivision of the Saurashtra peninsula. Bhao Singh was a younger son of this family, who, with a few adherents, left the paternal roof to seek fortune amongst the numerous conflicting armies that ranged India during the contests for supremacy amongst the sons of Aurangzeb. His son, Madho Singh, came to Kotah when Raja Bhim was in the zenith of his power. Although he had only twenty-five horse in his train, it is a proof of the respectability of the Jhala, that the prince disdained not his alliance, and even married his son, Arjun, to the young adventurer’s sister. Not long after, the estate of Nanta was entailed upon him, with the confidential post of Faujdar, which includes not only the command of the troops, but that of the castle, the residence of the sovereign. This family connexion gave an interest to his authority, and procured him the respectful title of Mama,[4] from the younger branches of the prince’s family, an epithet which habit has continued to his successors, who are always addressed Mama Sahib, ‘Sir, Uncle!’ Madan Singh succeeded his father in the office of Faujdar. He had two sons, Himmat Singh and Prithi Singh.

 Bhao Singh, left Halwad with twenty-five horse.
  
 Madho Singh.
  
 Madan Singh.
    
   
Himmat Singh.Prithi Singh.
    
   
 Sheo Singh,Zalim Singh,
 born in S. 1795.born S. 1796.
  
 Madho Singh,
 present regent. 
  
 Bapa Lall,
 twenty-one years of age [519]. 

The office of Faujdar, which, like all those of the east, had become hereditary, was advantageously filled by Himmat Singh, whose bravery and skill were conspicuous on many trying emergencies. He directed, or at least seconded, the defence of Kotah, when first assailed by the combined Mahratta and Jaipur troops, and conducted the treaty which made her tributary to the former, till at length so identified was his influence with that of the Haras, that with their concurrence he restored the ancient line of succession. Though neither the prince, Durjansal, nor his Major Domo, had much merit in this act, it was made available by Zalim Singh in support of his pretensions to power, and in proof of the ingratitude of his sovereign, “whose ancestors recovered their rights at the instigation of his own.” But Zalim Singh had no occasion to go back to the virtues of his ancestors for an argument on which to base his own claims to authority. He could point to the field of Bhatwara, where his bravery and skill mainly aided to vanquish the enemies of Kotah, and to crush for ever those arrogant pretensions to supremacy which the Jaipur State strained every nerve to establish.