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.dt Annals and Antiquities of Rajasthan, vol. 2 of 3, by James Tod
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Transcriber’s Note:
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This version of the text cannot represent certain typographical
effects. Italics are delimited with the ‘_’ character as _italic_.
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The text is annotated with numerous footnotes, which were numbered
sequentially on each page. On occasion, a footnote itself is
annotated by a note, using an asterisk as the reference. This
distinction is followed here. Those ‘notes on notes’ are
given alphabetic sequence (A, B., etc.), and are positioned directly
following the main note.
.if t
Since there are over 1500 notes in this volume, they have been
gathered at each chapter’s end, and resequenced for each chapter,
using a dot notation for chapter and page (e.g. 10.4.2).
.if-
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Since there are over 1500 notes in this volume, they have been
gathered at each chapter’s end, and resequenced for each chapter.
Links are provided to navigate from the reference to the note,
and back.
.if-
The notes are a combination of those of the author, and of the
editor of this edition. The latter are enclosed in square brackets.
Finally, the pagination of the original edition, published in the
1820’s, was preserved by Crooke for ease of reference by including those
page numbers in the text, also enclosed in square brackets.
Crooke’s plan for the renovation of the Tod’s original text, including
a discussion of the transliteration of Hindi words, is
given in detail in the #Preface:vol1_Page_ix#. It should be noted that
the use of the macron to guide pronunciation is very unevenly followed,
and there was no intent here to regularize it.
There are a number of references to a map, sometimes referred to as
appearing in Volume I. In this edition, the #map:vol3_MAP# appears
at the end of Volume III.
Minor errors, attributable to the printer, have been corrected. Given
the history of the text, it was thought best to leave all orthography
as printed.
Please see the transcriber’s #note:endnote# at the end of this text
for details regarding the handling of any textual issues encountered
during its preparation.
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Any corrections are indicated as hyperlinks, which will navigate the
reader to the corresponding entry in the corrections table in the
note at the end of the text.
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.bn 001.png
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ANNALS AND ANTIQUITIES
OF RAJASTHAN
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.ca
COLONEL JAMES TOD.
(By permission of Lt.-Col. C. D. Blunt-Mackenzie, R.A.)
Frontispiece.
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.h1
ANNALS AND ANTIQUITIES | OF | RAJASTHAN
.nf c
OR THE CENTRAL AND WESTERN
RAJPUT STATES OF INDIA
BY
Lieut.-Col. JAMES TOD
LATE POLITICAL AGENT TO THE WESTERN RAJPUT STATES
EDITED WITH AN INTRODUCTION AND NOTES BY
WILLIAM CROOKE, C.I.E.
HON. D.SC. OXON., B.A., F.R.A.I.
LATE OF THE INDIAN CIVIL SERVICE
.sp 4
IN THREE VOLUMES
VOL. II
.sp 8
HUMPHREY MILFORD
OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS
LONDON\ \ \ EDINBURGH\ \ \ GLASGOW\ \ \ NEW YORK
TORONTO\ \ \ MELBOURNE\ \ \ BOMBAY
1920
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.bn 007.png
.pn v
.sp 4
.h2
CONTENTS
.ta h:60 rb:6
| PAGE
BOOK IV—continued
ANNALS OF MEWAR
CHAPTER 19
Influence of the hierarchy in Rajputana—Emulation of its princes\
in grants to the priesthood—Analogy between the customs\
of the Hindus, in this respect, and those of the ancient people—Superstition\
of the lower orders—Secret influence of the\
Brahmans on the higher classes—Their frauds—Ecclesiastical\
dues from the land, etc.—The Saivas of Rajasthan—The\
worship and shrine of Eklinga—The Jains—Their numbers\
and extensive power—The temple of Nathdwara, and\
worship of Kanhaiya—The privilege of Sanctuary—Predominance\
of the doctrines of Kanhaiya beneficial to\
Rajput society | #589#
CHAPTER 20
The origin of Kanhaiya or Krishna—Sources of a plurality of gods\
among the Hindus—Allegories respecting Krishna elucidated—Songs\
of Jayadeva celebrating the loves of Kanhaiya—The\
Rasmandal, a mystic dance—Govardhana—Krishna\
anciently worshipped in caves—His conquest of the ‘Black\
serpent’ allegorical of the contests between the Buddhists\
and Vaishnavas—Analogies between the legends of Krishna\
and Western mythology—Festivals of Krishna—Pilgrimage\
to Nathdwara—The seven gods of that temple—Its Pontiff | #621#
Appendix | #644#
.bn 008.png
.pn +1
CHAPTER 21
Importance of mythological history—Aboriginal tribes of India—The\
Rajputs are conquerors—Solar year of the Hindus—Opened\
at the winter solstice—The Vasant, or spring festival—Birth\
of the Sun—Common origin assumed of the Rajputs\
and Getic tribe of Scandinavia—Surya, the sun-god of all\
nations, Thor, Syrus, Sol—Sun-worship—The Aheria, or\
spring-hunt, described—Boar-feast—Phalgun festival—The\
Rajput Saturnalia—Games on horseback—Rites to the Manes—Festival\
of Sitala as guardian of children—Rana’s birthday—Phuladola,\
the Rajput Floralia—Festival of Gauri—Compared\
with the Diana of Egypt—The Isis or Ertha of the\
Suevi—And the Phrygian Cybele—Anniversary of Rama—Fête\
of Kamdeva or Cupid—Little Ganggor—Inundation of\
the capital—Festival of Rambha or Venus—Rajput and\
Druidic rites—Their analogy—Serpent worship—Rakhi, or\
Festival of the bracelet | #650#
CHAPTER 22
Festivals continued—Adoration of the sword: its Scythic origin—The\
Dasahra, or military festival: its Scythic origin—Torans\
or triumphal arcs—Ganesa of the Rajputs and Janus\
of the Romans—Worship of arms: of the magic brand of\
Mewar, compared with the enchanted sword, Tyrfing, of the\
Edda—Birth of Kumara, the Rajput Mars, compared with the\
Roman divinity—Birth of Ganga: her analogy to Pallas—Adoration\
of the moon—Worship of Lakshmi, or Fortune; of\
Yama, or Pluto—Diwali, or festival of lamps, in Arabia, in\
China, in Egypt, and in India—Annakuta and Jaljatra—Festivals\
sacred to the Ceres and Neptune of the Hindus—Festival\
of the autumnal equinox—Reflections on the\
universal worship of the elements, Fire, Light, Water—Festival\
sacred to Mithras or Vishnu, as the sun—The\
Phallus: its etymology—Rajput doctrine of the Triad—Symbols\
Vishnu, as the sun-god: his messenger Garuda, the\
eagle: his charioteer Aruna, or the dawn—Sons of Aruna—Fable\
analogous to that of Icarus—Rites of Vishnu on the\
vernal equinox and summer solstice—Dolayatra, or festival\
of the ark, compared with the ark of Osiris, and Argonautic\
expedition of the Greeks—Etymology of Argonaut—Ethiopia\
the Lanka of the Hindus—Their sea-king, Sagara—Rama, or\
Ramesa, chief of the Cushite races of India—Ramesa of the\
Rajputs and Rameses of Egypt compared—Reflections | #679#
CHAPTER 23
The nicer shades of character difficult to catch—Morals more\
obvious and less changeable than manners—Dissimilarity of\
manners in the various races of Rajasthan—Rajputs have\
.bn 009.png
.pn +1
deteriorated in manners as they declined in power—Regard\
and deference paid to women in Rajasthan—Seclusion of the\
Females no mark of their degradation—High spirit of the\
Rajput princesses—Their unbounded devotion to their\
husbands—Examples from the chronicles and bardic histories—Anecdotes\
in more recent times—Their magnanimity—Delicacy—Courage\
and presence of mind—Anecdote of Sadhu\
of Pugal and Karamdevi, daughter of the Mohil chief—The\
seclusion of the females increases their influence—Historical\
evidences of its extent | #707#
CHAPTER 24
Origin of female immolation—The sacrifice of Sati, the wife of\
Iswara—The motive to it considered—Infanticide—Its\
causes among the Rajputs, the Rajkumars, and the Jarejas—The\
rite of Johar—Female captives in war enslaved—Summary\
of the Rajput character—Their familiar habits—The\
use of opium—Hunting—The use of weapons—Jethis,\
or wrestlers—Armouries—Music—Feats of dexterity—Maharaja\
Sheodan Singh—Literary qualifications of the\
princes—Household economy—Furniture—Dress, etc. | #737#
PERSONAL NARRATIVE
CHAPTER 25
Valley of Udaipur—Departure for Marwar—Encamp on the\
heights of Tus—Resume the march—Distant view of Udaipur—Deopur—Zalim\
Singh—Reach Pallana—Ram Singh Mehta—Manikchand—Ex-raja\
of Narsinghgarh—False policy\
pursued by the British Government in 1817-18—Departure\
from Pallana—Aspect and geological character of the country—Nathdwara\
ridge—Arrival at the city of Nathdwara—Visit\
from the Mukhya of the temple—Departure for the\
village of Usarwas—Benighted—Elephant in a bog—Usarwas—A\
Sannyasi—March to Samecha—The Shera Nala—Locusts—Coolness\
of the air—Samecha—March to Kelwara,\
the capital—Elephant’s pool—Murcha—Kherli—Maharaja\
Daulat Singh—Kumbhalmer—Its architecture,\
remains, and history—March to the ‘Region of Death,’ or\
Marwar—The difficult nature of the country—A party of\
native horsemen—Bivouac in the glen | #760#
CHAPTER 26
The Mers or Meras: their history and manners—The Barwatia of\
Gokulgarh—Forms of outlawry—Ajit Singh, the chief of\
.bn 010.png
.pn +1
Ghanerao—Plains of Marwar—Chief of Rupnagarh—Anecdote\
respecting Desuri—Contrast between the Sesodias of\
Mewar and the Rathors of Marwar—Traditional history of\
the Rajputs—Ghanerao—Kishandas, the Rana’s envoy—Local\
discrimination between Mewar and Marwar—Ancient\
feuds—The aonla and the bawal—Aspect of Marwar—Nadol—Superiority\
of the Chauhan race—Guga of Bhatinda—Lakha\
of Ajmer: his ancient fortress at Nadol—Jain relic\
there—The Hindu ancient arch or vault—Inscriptions—Antiquities\
at Nadol—Indara—Its villages—Pali, a commercial\
mart—Articles of commerce—The bards and\
genealogists the chief carriers—The ‘Hill of Virtue’—Khankhani—Affray\
between two caravans—Barbarous self-sacrifices\
of the Bhats—Jhalamand—March to Jodhpur—Reception\
en route by the Chiefs of Pokaran and Nimaj—Biography\
of these nobles—Sacrifice of Surthan of Nimaj—Encamp\
at the capital—Negotiation for the ceremonies of\
reception at the Court of Jodhpur | #789#
CHAPTER 27
Jodhpur: town and castle—Reception by the Raja—Person and\
character of Raja Man Singh—Visits to the Raja—Events in\
his history—Death of Raja Bhim—Deonath, the high-priest\
of Marwar—His assassination—The acts which succeeded it—Intrigues\
against the Raja—Dhonkal Singh, a pretender\
to the gaddi—Real or affected derangement of the Raja—Associates\
his son in the government—Recalled to the direction\
of affairs—His deep and artful policy—Visit to Mandor,\
the ancient capital—Cenotaphs of the Rathors—Cyclopean\
architecture of Mandor—Nail-headed characters—The walls—Remains\
of the palace—Toran, or triumphal arch—Than\
of Thana Pir—Glen of Panchkunda—Statues carved from\
the rock—Gardens at Mandor—An ascetic—Entertainment\
at the palace—The Raja visits the envoy—Departure from\
Jodhpur | #820#
CHAPTER 28
Nandla—Bisalpur—Remains of the ancient city—Pachkalia, or\
Bichkalia—Inscription—Pipar—Inscription confirming the\
ancient chronicles of Mewar—Geological details—Legend of\
Lake Sampu—Lakha Phulani—Madreo—Bharunda—Badan\
Singh—His chivalrous fate—Altar to Partap—Indawar—Jat\
cultivators—Stratification of Indawar—Merta—Memory\
of Aurangzeb—Dhonkal Singh—Jaimall, the hero of the\
Rathors—Tributes to his bravery—Description of the city\
and plain of Merta—Cenotaphs—Raja Ajit—His assassination\
by his sons—The consequences of this deed the seeds of\
the Civil Wars of Marwar—Family of Ajit—Curious fact in\
the law of adoption amongst the Rathors—Ram Singh—His\
discourtesy towards his chiefs—Civil War—Defection\
.bn 011.png
.pn +1
of the Jarejas from Ram Singh—Battle between Ram Singh\
and Bakhta Singh—Defeat of the former, and the extirpation\
of the clan of the Mertias—The Mertia vassal of Mihtri—The\
field of battle described—Ram Singh invites the Mahrattas\
into his territory—Bakhta Singh becomes Raja of Marwar—His\
murder by the Prince of Jaipur—His son, Bijai Singh,\
succeeds—Jai Apa Sindhia and Ram Singh invade Marwar—They\
are opposed by Bijai Singh, who is defeated—He flies to\
Nagor, where he is invested—He cuts through the enemy’s\
camp—Solicits succour at Bikaner and Jaipur—Treachery of\
the Raja of Jaipur—Defeated by the chieftain of Rian—Assassination\
of Apa Sindhia | #850#
CHAPTER 29
Mahadaji Sindhia succeeds Jai Apa—Union of the Rathors and\
Kachhwahas, joined by Ismail Beg and Hamdani, against\
the Mahrattas—Battle of Tonga—Sindhia defeated—Ajmer\
retaken, and tributary engagement annulled—Mahadaji\
Sindhia recruits his army, with the aid of De Boigne—The\
Rajputs meet him on the frontier of Jaipur—Jealousies of\
the allies—The Kachhwahas alienated by a scurrilous stanza—Battle\
of Patan—Effects of the Jaipureans’ treachery, in\
the defeat of the Rathors—Stanza of the Kachhwaha bard—Suggestion\
of Bijai Singh: his chiefs reject it, and the prince\
prepares for war—Treason of the Rathor chief of Kishangarh—The\
Mahrattas invade Marwar—Resolution of the chiefs\
of Awa and Asop to conquer or perish—Rathors encamp on\
the plains of Merta—Golden opportunity lost of destroying\
the Mahratta army—Fatal compliance of the chiefs with\
the orders of the civil minister—Rout of the camp—Heroism\
of the Rathor clans: their destruction—Treachery of the\
Singwi faction—The chief minister takes poison—Reflections\
on the Rajput character, with reference to the protective\
alliance of the British Government—Resumption of journey—Jarau—Cross\
the field of battle—Siyakot, or Mirage, compared\
with the Sarrab of Scripture—Desert of Sogdiana—Hissar—At\
sea—Description of Jarau—Cenotaph of Harakarna\
Das—Alniawas—Rian—The Mountain Mers—Their\
descent upon Rian—Slay its chief—Govindgarh—Chase of a\
hyaena—Lake of Pushkar: geological details—Description\
of the lake—Its legend—Ajaipal, the founder of Ajmer—Bisaldeva,\
the Chauhan king of Ajmer—Places of devotion\
on the ‘Serpent-rock’—Ajmer—View of Daru-l-Khair—Geological\
details—City of Ajmer—Its rising prosperity | #875#
CHAPTER 30
Ajmer—Ancient Jain Temple—Its architecture analysed—Resemblances\
between it and the Gothic and Saracenic—Fortress\
of Ajmer—Its lakes—Source of the Luni River—Relics\
of the Chauhan kings—Quit Ajmer—Bhinai: its\
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castle—Deolia—Dabla—Banera—Raja Bhim—Sketch of\
his family—His estate—Visit to the castle—Bhilwara—Visit\
of the merchants—Prosperity of the town—Mandal—Its\
lake—Arja, Pur—Mines of Dariba—Canton of the Purawats—Antiquity\
of Pur—The Babas, or infants of Mewar—Rasmi—Reception\
by the peasantry of Mewar—The Suhaila and\
Kalas—Trout of the Banas River—Merta—Visit to the source\
of the Berach—The Udai Sagar—Enter the valley—Appearance\
of the capital—Site of the ancient Ahar—Cenotaphs\
of the Rana’s ancestry—Traditions regarding Ahar—Destroyed\
by volcanic eruption—Remains of antiquity—Oilman’s\
Caravanserai—Oilman’s Bridge—Meeting with the\
Rana—Return to Udaipur | #896#
Appendix | #914#
BOOK V
ANNALS OF MARWAR
CHAPTER 1
The various etymons of Marwar—Authorities for its early history—Yati\
genealogical roll—The Rathor race, who inhabit it,\
descended from the Yavan kings of Parlipur—Second roll—Nain\
Pal—His date—Conquers Kanauj—Utility of Rajput\
genealogies—The Surya Prakas, or poetic chronicle of the\
bard Karnidhan—The Raj Rupak Akhyat, or chronicle of\
Ajit Singh’s minority and reign—The Bijai Vilas—The Khyat,\
a biographical treatise—Other sources—The Yavanas and\
Aswas, or Indo-Scythic tribes—The thirteen Rathor families,\
bearing the epithet Kamdhuj—Raja Jaichand, king of\
Kanauj—The extent and splendour of that State before the\
Muhammadan conquest of India—His immense array—Title\
of Mandalika—Divine honours paid to him—Rite of Swayamvara\
undertaken by Jaichand—Its failure and consequences—State\
of India at that period—The four great Hindu monarchies—Delhi—Kanauj—Mewar—Anhilwara—Shihabu-d-din,\
king of Ghor, invades India—Overcomes the Chauhan\
king of Delhi—Attacks Kanauj—Destruction of that monarchy\
after seven centuries’ duration—Death of Jaichand—Date\
of this event | #929#
CHAPTER 2
Emigration of Siahji and Setram, grandsons of Jaichand—Their\
arrival in the Western Desert—Sketch of the tribes inhabiting\
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the desert to the Indus at that epoch—Siahji offers his services\
to the chief of Kulumad—They are accepted—He attacks\
Lakha Phulani, the famed freebooter of Phulra, who is defeated—Setram\
killed—Siahji marries the Solanki’s daughter—Proceeds\
by Anhilwara on his route to Dwarka—Again\
encounters Lakha Phulani, whom he slays in single combat—Massacres\
the Dabhis of Mewa, and the Gohils of Kherdhar—Siahji\
establishes himself in ‘the land of Kher’—The\
Brahman community of Pali invoke the aid of Siahji against\
the mountaineers—Offer him lands—Accepted—Birth of a\
son—Siahji massacres the Brahmans, and usurps their lands—Death\
of Siahji—Leaves three sons—The elder, Asvathama,\
succeeds—The second, Soning, obtains Idar—Ajmall, the\
third, conquers Okhamandala, originates the Vadhel tribe of\
that region—Asvathama leaves eight sons, heads of clans—Duhar\
succeeds—Attempts to recover Kanauj—Failure—Attempts\
Mandor—Slain—Leaves seven sons—Raepal succeeds—Revenges\
his father’s death—His thirteen sons—Their\
issue spread over Maru—Rao Kanhal succeeds—Rao\
Jalhan—Rao Chhada—Rao Thida—Carry on wars with the\
Bhattis and other tribes—Conquest of Bhinmal—Rao Salkha—Rao\
Biramdeo, killed in battle with the Johyas—Clans,\
their issue—Rao Chonda—Conquers Mandor from the\
Parihar—Assaults and obtains Nagor from the Imperialists—Captures\
Nadol, capital of Godwar—Marries the Princess of\
Mandor—Fourteen sons and one daughter, who married\
Lakha Rana of Mewar—Result of this marriage—Feud between\
Aranyakanwal, fourth son of Chonda, and the Bhatti\
chieftain of Pugal—Chonda slain at Nagor—Rao Ranmall\
succeeds—Resides at Chitor—Conquers Ajmer for the Rana—Equalizes\
the weights and measures of Marwar, which he\
divides into departments—Rao Ranmall slain—Leaves\
twenty-four sons, whose issue constitute the present frerage\
of Marwar—Table of clans | #940#
CHAPTER 3
Accession of Rao Jodha—Transfers the seat of government from\
Mandor to the new capital Jodhpur—The cause—The Vanaprastha,\
or Druids of India—Their penances—The fourteen\
sons of Jodha—New settlements of Satalmer, Merta, Bikaner—Jodha\
dies—Anecdotes regarding him—His personal\
appearance—Rapid increase of the Rathor race—Names of\
tribes displaced thereby—Accession of Rao Suja—First conflict\
of the Rathors with the Imperialists—Rape of the\
Rathor virgins at Pipar—Gallantry of Suja—His death—Issue—Succeeded\
by his grandson Rao Ganga—His uncle\
Saga contests the throne—Obtains the aid of the Lodi\
Pathans—Civil War—Saga slain—Babur’s invasion of India—Rana\
Sanga generalissimo of the Rajputs—Rao Ganga\
sends his contingent under his grandson Raemall—Slain\
at Bayana—Death of Ganga—Accession of Rao Maldeo—Becomes\
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the first amongst the princes of Rajputana—Reconquers\
Nagor and Ajmer from the Lodis, Jalor and Siwana\
from the Sandhals—Reduces the rebellious allodial vassals—Conquest\
from Jaisalmer—The Maldots—Takes Pokaran—Dismantles\
Satalmer—His numerous public works—Cantons\
belonging to Marwar enumerated—Maldeo resumes several\
of the great estates—Makes a scale of rank hereditary in the\
line of Jodha—Period favourable to Maldeo’s consolidation of\
his power—His inhospitality to the Emperor Humayun—Sher\
Shah invades Marwar—Maldeo meets him—Danger of\
the Imperial army—Saved by stratagem from destruction—Rathor\
army retreats—Devotion of the two chief clans—Their\
destruction—Akbar invades Marwar—Takes Merta and\
Nagor—Confers them on Rae Singh of Bikaner—Maldeo sends\
his second son to Akbar’s court—Refused to pay homage in\
person—The emperor gives the farman of Jodhpur to Rae\
Singh—Rao Maldeo besieged by Akbar—Defends Jodhpur—Sends\
his son Udai Singh to Akbar—His reception—Receives\
the title of Raja—Chandarsen maintains Rathor independence—Retires\
to Siwana—Besieged, and slain—His sons—Maldeo\
witnesses the subjection of his kingdom—His death—His\
twelve sons | #947#
CHAPTER 4
Altered conditions of the Princes of Marwar—Installation of Raja\
Udai Singh—Not acknowledged by the most powerful clans\
until the death of Chandarsen—Historical retrospect—The\
three chief epochs of Marwar history, from the conquest to\
its dependence on the empire—Order of succession changed,\
with change of capital, in Mewar, Amber, and Marwar—Branches\
to which the succession is confined—Dangers of\
mistaking these—Examples—Jodha regulates the fiefs—The\
eight great nobles of Marwar—These regulations maintained\
by Maldeo, who added to the secondary fiefs—Fiefs\
perpetuated in the elder branches—The brothers and sons\
of Jodha—Various descriptions of fiefs—Antiquity of the\
Rajput feudal system—Akbar maintains it—Paternity of the\
Rajput sovereigns not a fiction, as in Europe—The lowest\
Rajput claims kindred with the sovereign—The name Udai\
Singh fatal to Rajputana—Bestows his sister Jodh Bai on\
Akbar—Advantages to the Rathors of this marriage—Numerous\
progeny of Udai Singh—Establishes the fiefs of\
Govindgarh and Pisangan—Kishangarh and Ratlam—Remarkable\
death of Raja Udai Singh—Anecdotes—Issue of\
Udai Singh—Table of descent | #960#
CHAPTER 5
Accession of Raja Sur—His military talents obtain him honours—Reduces\
Rao Surthan of Sirohi—Commands against the King\
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of Gujarat—Battle of Dhanduka gained by the Raja—Wealth\
and honours acquired—Gifts to the bards—Commanded\
against Amra Balecha—Battle of the Rewa—Slays\
the Chauhan—Fresh honours—Raja Sur and his son Gaj\
Singh attend the court of Jahangir—The heir of Marwar\
invested with the sword by the Emperor’s own hands—Escalade\
of Jalor—Raja Gaj attends Prince Khurram against\
the Rana of Mewar—Death of Raja Sur—Maledictory pillar\
erected on the Nerbudda—The Rathor chiefs’ dissatisfaction\
at their long detention from their native land—Raja Sur\
embellishes Jodhpur—His issue—Accession of Raja Gaj—Invested\
with the Raj of Burhanpur—Made Viceroy of\
the Deccan—The compliment paid to his contingent—His\
various actions—Receives the title of Dalthaman, or ‘barrier\
of the host’—Causes of Rajput influence on the Imperial\
succession—The Sultans Parvez and Khurram, sons of Rajput\
Princesses—Intrigues of the Queens to secure the succession\
to their immediate offspring—Prince Khurram plots against\
his brother—Endeavours to gain Raja Gaj, but fails—The\
Prince causes the chief adviser of Raja Gaj to be assassinated—Raja\
Gaj quits the royal army—Prince Khurram assassinates\
his brother Parvez—Proceeds to depose his father\
Jahangir, who appeals to the fidelity of the Rajput Princes—They\
rally round the throne, and encounter the rebel army\
near Benares—The Emperor slights the Rathor Prince, which\
proves nearly fatal to his cause—The rebels defeated—Flight\
of Prince Khurram—Raja Gaj slain on the Gujarat frontier—His\
second son, Raja Jaswant, succeeds—Reasons for occasional\
departure from the rules of primogeniture amongst the\
Rajputs—Amra, the elder, excluded the succession—Sentence\
of banishment pronounced against him—Ceremony of\
Desvata, or ‘exile,’ described—Amra repairs to the Mogul\
court—Honours conferred upon him—His tragical death | #969#
CHAPTER 6
Raja Jaswant mounts the gaddi of Marwar—His mother a princess\
of Mewar—He is a patron of science—His first service in\
Gondwana—Prince Dara appointed regent of the empire by\
his father, Shah Jahan—Appoints Jaswant viceroy in Malwa—Rebellion\
of Aurangzeb, who aspires to the crown—Jaswant\
appointed generalissimo of the army sent to oppose\
him—Battle of Fatehabad, a drawn battle—Jaswant retreats—Heroism\
of Rao Ratna of Ratlam—Aurangzeb proceeds\
towards Agra—Battle of Jajau—Rajputs overpowered—Shah\
Jahan deposed—Aurangzeb, now emperor, pardons Jaswant,\
and summons him to the presence—Commands him to join\
the army formed against Shuja—Battle of Kajwa—Conduct\
of Jaswant—Betrays Aurangzeb and plunders his camp—Forms\
a junction with Dara—This prince’s inactivity—Aurangzeb\
invades Marwar—Detaches Jaswant from Dara—Appointed\
viceroy of Gujarat—Sent to serve in the Deccan—Enters\
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into Sivaji’s designs—Plans the death of Shaista\
Khan, the king’s lieutenant—Obtains this office—Superseded\
by the prince of Amber—Reappointed to the army of the\
Deccan—Stimulates Prince Muazzam to rebellion—Superseded\
by Dalir Khan—Jaswant tries to cut him off—Removed\
from the Deccan to Gujarat—Outwitted by the king—Ordered\
against the rebellious Afghans of Kabul—Jaswant\
leaves his son, Prithi Singh, in charge of Jodhpur—Prithi\
Singh commanded to court by Aurangzeb, who gives him a\
poisoned robe—His death—Character—The tidings reach\
Jaswant at Kabul, and cause his death—Character of Jaswant—Anecdotes\
illustrative of Rathor character—Nahar Khan—His\
exploits with the tiger, and against Surthan of Sirohi | #979#
CHAPTER 7
The pregnant queen of Jaswant prevented from becoming Sati—Seven\
concubines and one Rani burn with him—The Chandravati\
Rani mounts the pyre at Mandor—General grief for\
the loss of Jaswant—Posthumous birth of Ajit—Jaswant’s\
family and contingent return from Kabul to Marwar—Intercepted\
by Aurangzeb, who demands the surrender of the\
infant Ajit—The chiefs destroy the females and defend themselves—Preservation\
of the infant prince—The Indhas take\
Mandor—Expelled—Aurangzeb invades Marwar, takes and\
plunders Jodhpur, and sacks all the large towns—Destroys\
the Hindu temples, and commands the conversion of the\
Rathor race—Impolicy of the measure—Establishes the\
Jizya, or tax on infidels—The Rathors and Sesodias unite\
against the king—Events of the war from the Chronicle—The\
Mertia clan oppose the entire royal army, but are cut to\
pieces—The combined Rajputs fight the Imperialists at\
Nadol—Bhim, the son of the Rana, slain—Prince Akbar\
disapproves the war against the Rajputs—Makes overtures—Coalition—The\
Rajputs declare Akbar emperor—Treachery\
and death of Tahawwur Khan—Akbar escapes, and claims\
protection from the Rajputs—Durga conducts Prince Akbar\
to the Deccan—Soning, brother of Durga, leads the Rathors—Conflict\
at Jodhpur—Affair at Sojat—The cholera morbus\
appears—Aurangzeb offers peace—The conditions accepted\
by Soning—Soning’s death—Aurangzeb annuls the treaty—Prince\
Azam left to carry on the war—Muslim garrisons\
throughout Marwar—The Rathors take post in the Aravalli\
hills—Numerous encounters—Affairs of Sojat—Charai—Jaitaran—Renpur—Pali—Immense\
sacrifice of lives—The\
Bhattis join the Rathors—The Mertia chief assassinated\
during a truce—Further encounters—Siwana assaulted—The\
Muslim garrison put to the sword—Nur Ali abducts the\
Asani damsels—Is pursued and killed—Muslim garrison of\
Sambhar destroyed—Jalor capitulates to the Rajputs | #990#
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CHAPTER 8
The clans petition to see the young Raja—Durjan Sal of Kotah\
joins the Rathor cause—They proceed to Abu—Are introduced\
to Ajit, who is conveyed to Awa, and makes a tour to\
all the chieftainships—Consternation of Aurangzeb—He sets\
up a pretender to Jodhpur—The Rathors and Haras drive the\
Imperialists from Marwar—They carry the war abroad—Storm\
of Pur Mandal—The Hara prince slain—Durgadas\
returns from the Deccan—Defeats Safi Khan, governor of\
Ajmer, who is disgraced by the king—Safi Khan attempts to\
circumvent Ajit by negotiation—His failure and disgrace—Rebellion\
in Mewar—The Rathors support the Rana—Aurangzeb\
negotiates for the daughter of Prince Akbar left\
in Marwar—Ajit again driven for refuge into the hills—Affair\
at Bijapur—Success of the Rathors—Aurangzeb’s apprehension\
for his granddaughter—The Rana sends the coco-nut to\
Ajit, who proceeds to Udaipur, and marries the Rana’s niece—Negotiations\
for peace renewed—Terminate—The surrender\
of the princess—Jodhpur restored—Magnanimity of\
Durgadas—Ajit takes possession—Ajit again driven from\
his capital—Afflictions of the Hindu race—A son born to\
Ajit, named Abhai Singh—His horoscope—Battle of Dunara—The\
viceroy of Lahore passes through Marwar to Gujarat—Death\
of Aurangzeb—Diffuses joy—Ajit attacks Jodhpur—Capitulation—Dispersion\
and massacre of the king’s troops—Ajit\
resumes his dominions—Azam, with the title of\
Bahadur Shah, mounts the throne—Battle of Agra—The king\
prepares to invade Marwar—Arrives at Ajmer—Proceeds to\
Bhavi Bilara—Sends an embassy to Ajit, who repairs to the\
imperial camp—Reception—Treacherous conduct of the\
emperor—Jodhpur surprised—Ajit forced to accompany the\
emperor to the Deccan—Discontent of the Rajas—They\
abandon the king, and join Rana Amra at Udaipur—Triple\
alliance—Ajit appears before Jodhpur, which capitulates on\
honourable terms—Ajit undertakes to replace Raja Jai Singh\
on the gaddi of Amber—Battle of Sambhar, Ajit victorious—Amber\
abandoned to Jai Singh—Ajit attacks Bikaner—Redeems\
Nagor—The Rajas threatened by the king—Again\
unite—The king repairs to Ajmer—The Rajas join him—Receive\
farmans for their dominions—Ajit makes a pilgrimage\
to Kurukshetra—Reflections on the thirty years’ war waged\
by the Rathors against the empire for independence—Eulogium\
on Durgadas | #1007#
CHAPTER 9
Ajit commanded to reduce Nahan and the rebels of the Siwalik\
mountains—The emperor dies—Civil wars—Ajit nominated\
viceroy of Gujarat—Ajit commanded to send his son to court—Daring\
attack on the chief of Nagor, who is slain—Retaliated—The\
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king’s army invades Marwar—Jodhpur invested—Terms—Abhai\
Singh sent to court—Ajit proceeds\
to Delhi—Coalesces with the Sayyid ministry of the king—Gives\
a daughter in marriage to the emperor—Returns to\
Jodhpur—Repeal of the Jizya—Ajit proceeds to his viceroyalty\
of Gujarat—Settles the province—Worships at\
Dwarka—Returns to Jodhpur—The Sayyids summon him\
to court—The splendour of his train—Leagues with the\
Sayyids—The emperor visits Ajit—Portents—Husain Ali\
arrives from the Deccan—Consternation of the opponents\
of the Sayyids and Ajit—Ajit blockades the palace with\
his Rathors—The emperor put to death—Successors—Muhammad\
Shah—He marches against Amber—Its Raja\
claims sanctuary with Ajit—Obtains the grant of Ahmadabad—Returns\
to Jodhpur—Ajit unites his daughter to the prince\
of Amber—The Sayyids assassinated—Ajit warned of his\
danger—Seizes on Ajmer—Slays the governor—Destroys the\
mosques, and re-establishes the Hindu rites—Ajit declares\
his independence—Coins in his own name—Establishes\
weights and measures, and his own courts of justice—Fixes\
the gradations of rank amongst his chiefs—The Imperialists\
invade Marwar—Abhai Singh heads thirty thousand Rathors\
to oppose them—The king’s forces decline battle—The\
Rathors ravage the Imperial provinces—Abhai Singh obtains\
the surname of Dhonkal, or exterminator—Returns to Jodhpur—Battle\
of Sambhar—Ajit gives sanctuary to Churaman\
Jat, founder of Bharatpur—The emperor puts himself at the\
head of all his forces to avenge the defeat of Sambhar—Ajmer\
invested—Its defence—Ajit agrees to surrender Ajmer—Abhai\
Singh proceeds to the Imperial camp—His reception—His\
arrogant bearing—Murder of Ajit by his son—Infidelity\
of the bard—Blank leaf of the Raj Rupaka, indicative\
of this event—Extract from that chronicle—Funereal\
rites—Six queens and fifty-eight concubines determine to\
become Satis—Expostulations of the Nazir, bards, and\
purohits—They fail—Procession—Rite concluded—Reflections\
on Ajit’s life and history | #1020#
CHAPTER 10
The parricidal murder of Ajit, the cause of the destruction of\
Marwar—The parricide, Abhai Singh, invested as Raja by\
the emperor’s own hand—He returns from court to Jodhpur—His\
reception—He distributes gifts to the bards and priests—The\
bards of Rajputana—Karna, the poetic historian of\
Marwar—Studies requisite to form a Bardai—Abhai Singh\
reduces Nagor—Bestows it in appanage upon his brother\
Bakhta—Reduces the turbulent allodialists—Commanded\
to court—Makes a tour of his domain—Seized by the small-pox—Reaches\
the court—Rebellion of the viceroy of Gujarat,\
and of Prince Jangali in the Deccan—Picture of the Mogul\
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court at this time—The bira of foreign service against the\
rebels described—Refused by the assembled nobles—Accepted\
by the Rathor prince—He visits Ajmer, which he garrisons—Meeting\
at Pushkar with the Raja of Amber—Plan the\
destruction of the empire—At Merta is joined by his brother\
Bakhta Singh—Reaches Jodhpur—The Kher, or feudal levies\
of Marwar, assemble—Consecration of the guns—The Minas\
carry off the cattle of the train—Rajput contingents enumerated—Abhai\
reduces the Mina strongholds in Sirohi—The\
Sirohi prince submits, and gives a daughter in marriage as a\
peace-offering—The Sirohi contingent joins Abhai Singh—Proceeds\
against Ahmadabad—Summons the viceroy to\
surrender—Rajput council of war—Bakhta claims to lead\
the van—The Rathor prince sprinkles his chiefs with saffron\
water—Sarbuland’s plan of defence—His guns manned by\
Europeans—His bodyguard of European musketeers—The\
storm—Victory gained by the Rajputs—Surrender of\
Sarbuland—He is sent prisoner to the emperor—Abhai Singh\
governs Gujarat—Rajput contingents enumerated—Conclusion\
of the chronicles, the Raj Rupaka and Surya Prakas—Abhai\
Singh returns to Jodhpur—The spoils conveyed from\
Gujarat | #1035#
CHAPTER 11
Mutual jealousies of the brothers—Abhai Singh dreads the\
military fame of Bakhta—His policy—Prompted by the bard\
Karna, who deserts Jodhpur for Nagor—Scheme laid by\
Bakhta to thwart his brother—Attack on Bikaner by Abhai\
Singh—Singular conduct of his chiefs, who afford supplies\
to the besieged—Bakhta’s scheme to embroil the Amber\
prince with his brother—His overture and advice to attack\
Jodhpur in the absence of his brother—Jai Singh of Amber—His\
reception of this advice, which is discussed and rejected\
in a full council of the nobles of Amber—The envoy of Bakhta\
obtains an audience of the prince of Amber—Attains his\
object—His insulting letter to Raja Abhai Singh—The latter’s\
laconic reply—Jai Singh calls out the Kher, or feudal army of\
Amber—Obtains foreign allies—One hundred thousand men\
muster under the walls of his capital—March to the Marwar\
frontier—Abhai Singh raises the siege of Bikaner—Bakhta’s\
strange conduct—Swears his vassals—Marches with his\
personal retainers only to combat the host of Amber—Battle\
of Gangwana—Desperate onset of Bakhta Singh—Destruction\
of his band—With sixty men charges the Amber prince, who\
avoids him—Eulogy of Bakhta by the Amber bards—Karna\
the bard prevents a third charge—Bakhta’s distress at the\
loss of his men—The Rana mediates a peace—Bakhta loses\
his tutelary divinity—Restored by the Amber prince—Death\
of Abhai Singh—Anecdotes illustrating his character | #1047#
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CHAPTER 12
Ram Singh succeeds—His impetuosity of temper—His uncle,\
Bakhta Singh, absents himself from the rite of inauguration—Sends\
his nurse as proxy—Construed by Ram Singh as an\
insult—He resents it, and resumes the fief of Jalor—Confidant\
of Ram Singh—The latter insults the chief of the Champawats,\
who withdraws from the court—His interview with the chief\
bard—Joins Bakhta Singh—The chief bard gives his suffrage\
to Bakhta—Civil war—Battle of Merta—Ram Singh defeated—Bakhta\
Singh assumes the sovereignty—The Bagri\
chieftain girds him with the sword—Fidelity of the Purohit\
to the ex-prince, Ram Singh—He proceeds to the Deccan to\
obtain aid of the Mahrattas—Poetical correspondence between\
Raja Bakhta and the Purohit—Qualities, mental and\
personal, of Bakhta—The Mahrattas threaten Marwar—All\
the clans unite round Bakhta—He advances to give battle—Refused\
by the Mahrattas—He takes post at the pass of\
Ajmer—Poisoned by the queen of Amber—Bakhta’s character—Reflections\
on the Rajput character—Contrasted with\
that of the European nobles in the dark ages—Judgment of\
the bards on crimes—Improvised stanza on the princes of\
Jodhpur and Amber—Anathema of the Sati, wife of Ajit—Its\
fulfilment—Opinions of the Rajput on such inspirations | #1054#
CHAPTER 13
Accession of Bijai Singh—Receives at Merta the homage of his\
chiefs—Proceeds to the capital—The ex-prince Ram Singh\
forms a treaty with the Mahrattas and the Kachhwahas—Junction\
of the confederates—Bijai Singh assembles the clans\
on the plains of Merta—Summoned to surrender the gaddi—His\
reply—Battle—Bijai Singh defeated—Destruction of the\
Rathor Cuirassiers—Ruse de guerre—Bijai Singh left alone—His\
flight—Eulogies of the bard—Fortresses surrender to Ram\
Singh—Assassination of the Mahratta commander—Compensation\
for the murder—Ajmer surrendered—Tribute or\
Chauth established—Mahrattas abandon the cause of Ram\
Singh—Couplet commemorative of this event—Cenotaph to\
Jai Apa—Ram Singh dies—His character—Anarchy reigns\
in Marwar—The Rathor oligarchy—Laws of adoption in the\
case of Pokaran fief—Insolence of its chief to his prince, who\
entertains mercenaries—This innovation accelerates the\
decay of feudal principles—The Raja plans the diminution of\
the aristocracy—The nobles confederate—Gordhan Khichi—His\
advice to the prince—Humiliating treaty between the\
Raja and his vassals—Mercenaries disbanded—Death of the\
prince’s Guru or priest—His prophetic words—Kiryakarma\
or funeral rites, made the expedient to entrap the chiefs, who\
are condemned to death—Intrepid conduct of Devi Singh of\
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Pokaran—His last words—Reflections on their defective\
system of government—Sacrifice of the law of primogeniture—Its\
consequences—Sabhal Singh arms to avenge his\
father’s death—Is slain—Power of the nobles checked—They\
are led against the robbers of the desert—Umarkot seized\
from Sind—Godwar taken from Mewar—Marwar and Jaipur\
unite against the Mahrattas, who are defeated at Tonga—De\
Boigne’s first appearance—Ajmer recovered by the\
Rathors—Battles of Patan and Merta—Ajmer surrenders—Suicide\
of the governor—Bijai Singh’s concubine adopts Man\
Singh—Her insolence alienates the nobles, who plan the\
deposal of the Raja—Murder of the concubine—Bijai Singh\
dies | #1060#
CHAPTER 14
Raja Bhim seizes upon the gaddi—Discomfiture of his competitor,\
Zalim Singh—Bhim destroys all the other claimants to succession,\
excepting Man Singh—Blockaded in Jalor—Sallies\
from the garrison for supplies—Prince Man heads one of them—Incurs\
the risk of capture—Is preserved by the Ahor chief;\
Raja Bhim offends his nobles—They abandon Marwar—The\
fief of Nimaj attacked—Jalor reduced to the point of surrender—Sudden\
and critical death of Raja Bhim—Its probable\
cause—The Vaidyas, or ‘cunning-men,’ who surround\
the prince—Accession of Raja Man—Rebellion of Sawai Singh\
of Pokaran—Conspiracy of Chopasni—Declaration of the\
pregnancy of a queen of Raja Bhim—Convention with Raja\
Man—Posthumous births—Their evil consequences in\
Rajwara—A child born—Sent off by stealth to Pokaran, and\
its birth kept a secret—Named Dhonkal—Raja Man evinces\
indiscreet partialities—Alienates the Champawats—Birth of\
the posthumous son of Raja Bhim promulgated—The chiefs\
call on Raja Man to fulfil the terms of the convention—The\
mother disclaims the child—The Pokaran chief sends the\
infant Dhonkal to the sanctuary of Abhai Singh of Khetri—Sawai\
opens his underplot—Embroils Raja Man with the\
courts of Amber and Mewar—He carries the pretender\
Dhonkal to Jaipur—Acknowledged and proclaimed as Raja\
of Marwar—The majority of the chiefs support the pretender—The\
Bikaner prince espouses his cause—Armies called\
in the field—Baseness of Holkar, who deserts Raja Man—The\
armies approach—Raja Man’s chiefs abandon him—He\
attempts suicide—Is persuaded to fly—He gains Jodhpur—Prepares\
for defence—Becomes suspicious of all his kin—Refuses\
them the honour of defending the castle—They join\
the allies, who invest Jodhpur—The city taken and plundered—Distress\
of the besiegers—Amir Khan’s conduct causes a\
division—His flight from Marwar—Pursued by the Jaipur\
commander—Battle—Jaipur force destroyed, and the city\
invested—Dismay of the Raja—Breaks up the siege of\
Jodhpur—Pays £200,000 for a safe passage to Jaipur—The\
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spoils of Jodhpur intercepted by the Rathors, and wrested\
from the Kachhwahas—Amir Khan formally accepts service\
with Raja Man, and repairs to Jodhpur with the four Rathor\
chiefs | #1077#
CHAPTER 15
Amir Khan’s reception at Jodhpur—Engages to extirpate Sawai’s\
faction—Interchanges turbans with the Raja—The Khan\
repairs to Nagor—Interview with Sawai—Swears to support\
the Pretender—Massacre of the Rajput chiefs—Pretender\
flies—The Khan plunders Nagor—Receives £100,000 from\
Raja Man—Jaipur overrun—Bikaner attacked—Amir Khan\
obtains the ascendancy in Marwar—Garrisons Nagor with\
his Pathans—Partitions lands amongst his chiefs—Commands\
the salt lakes of Nawa and Sambhar—The minister\
Induraj and high priest Deonath assassinated—Raja Man’s\
reason affected—His seclusion—Abdication in favour of his\
son Chhattar Singh—He falls the victim of illicit pursuits—Madness\
of Raja Man increased—Its causes—Suspicions of\
the Raja having sacrificed Induraj—The oligarchy, headed\
by Salim Singh of Pokaran, son of Sawai, assumes the charge\
of the government—Epoch of British universal supremacy—Treaty\
with Marwar framed during the regency of Chhattar\
Singh—The oligarchy, on his death, offer the gaddi of Marwar\
to the house of Idar—Rejected—Reasons—Raja Man entreated\
to resume the reins of power—Evidence that his madness\
was feigned—The Raja dissatisfied with certain stipulations\
of the treaty—A British officer sent to Jodhpur—Akhai\
Chand chief of the civil administration—Salim Singh of\
Pokaran chief minister—Opposition led by Fateh Raj—British\
troops offered to be placed at the Raja’s disposal—Offer\
rejected—Reasons—British Agent returns to Ajmer—Permanent\
Agent appointed to the court of Raja Man—Arrives\
at Jodhpur—Condition of the capital—Interview’s\
with the Raja—Objects to be attained described—Agent\
leaves Jodhpur—General sequestrations of the fiefs—Raja\
Man apparently relapses into his old apathy—His deep\
dissimulation—Circumvents and seizes the faction—Their\
wealth sequestrated—Their ignominious death—Immense\
resources derived from sequestrations—Raja Man’s thirst for\
blood—Fails to entrap the chiefs—The Nimaj chief attacked—His\
gallant defence—Slain—The Pokaran chief escapes—Fateh\
Raj becomes minister—Raja Man’s speech to him—Nimaj\
attacked—Surrender—Raja Man’s infamous violation\
of his pledge—Noble conduct of the mercenary commander—Voluntary\
exile of the whole aristocracy of Marwar—Received\
by the neighbouring princes—Man’s gross ingratitude\
to Anar Singh—The exiled chiefs apply to the British\
Government, which refuses to mediate—Raja Man loses\
the opportunity of fixing the constitution of Marwar—Reflections | #1089#
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CHAPTER 16
Extent and population of Marwar—Classification of inhabitants—Jats—Rajputs,\
sacerdotal, commercial, and servile tribes—Soil—Agricultural\
products—Natural productions—Salt lakes—Marble\
and limestone quarries—Tin, lead, and iron mines—Alum—Manufactures—Commercial\
marts—Transit trade—Pali,\
the emporium of Western India—Mercantile classes—Khadataras\
and Oswals—Kitars, or caravans—Imports and\
exports enumerated—Charans, the guardians of the caravans—Commercial\
decline—Causes—Opium monopoly—Fairs of\
Mundwa and Balotra—Administration of justice—Punishments—Raja\
Bijai Singh’s clemency to prisoners, who are\
maintained by private charity—Gaol deliveries on eclipses,\
births, and accession of princes—Sagun, or ordeals: fire,\
water, burning oil—Panchayats—Fiscal revenues and regulations—Batai,\
or corn-rent—Shahnahs and Kanwaris—Taxes—Anga,\
or capitation tax—Ghaswali, or pasturage—Kewari,\
or door tax; how originated—Sair, or imposts; their\
amount—Dhanis, or collectors—Revenues from the salt-lakes—Tandas,\
or caravans engaged in this trade—Aggregate\
revenues—Military resources—Mercenaries—Feudal quotas—Schedule\
of feoffs—Qualification of a cavalier | #1104#
BOOK VI
ANNALS OF BIKANER
CHAPTER 1
Origin of the State of Bikaner—Bika, the founder—Condition of\
the aboriginal Jats or Getes—The number and extensive\
diffusion of this Scythic race, still a majority of the peasantry\
in Western Rajputana, and perhaps in Northern India—Their\
pursuits pastoral, their government patriarchal, their\
religion of a mixed kind—List of the Jat cantons of Bikaner\
at the irruption of Bika—Causes of the success of Bika—Voluntary\
surrender of the supremacy of the Jat elders to\
Bika—Conditions—Characteristic of the Getic people\
throughout India—Proofs—Invasion of the Johyas by\
Bika and his Jat subjects—Account of the Johyas—Conquered\
by Bika—He wrests Bagor from the Bhattis, and\
founds Bikaner, the capital, A.D. 1489—His uncle Kandhal\
makes conquests to the north—Death of Bika—His son\
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Nunkaran succeeds—Makes conquests from the Bhattis—His\
son Jeth succeeds—Enlarges the power of Bikaner—Rae\
Singh succeeds—The Jats of Bikaner lose their liberties—The\
State rises to importance—Rae Singh’s connexion with\
Akbar—His honours and power—The Johyas revolt and are\
exterminated—Traditions of Alexander the Great amongst\
the ruins of the Johyas—Examined—The Punia Jats vanquished\
by Ram Singh the Raja’s brother—Their subjection\
imperfect—Rae Singh’s daughter weds Prince Salim, afterwards\
Jahangir—Rae Singh succeeded by his son Karan—The\
three eldest sons of Karan fall in the imperial service—Anup\
Singh, the youngest, succeeds—Quells a rebellion in\
Kabul—His death uncertain—Sarup Singh succeeds—He is\
killed—Shujawan Singh, Zorawar Singh, Gaj Singh, and Raj\
Singh succeed—The latter poisoned by his brother by another\
mother, who usurps the throne, though opposed by the chiefs—He\
murders the rightful heir, his nephew—Civil war—Muster-roll\
of the chiefs—The usurper attacks Jodhpur—Present\
state of Bikaner—Account of Bidavati | #1123#
CHAPTER 2
Actual condition and capabilities of Bikaner—Causes of its\
deterioration—Extent—Population—Jats—Sarasvati Brahmans—Charans—Malis\
and Nais—Chuhras and Thoris—Rajputs—Face\
of the country—Grain and vegetable productions—Implements\
of husbandry—Water—Salt lakes—Local\
physiography—Mineral productions—Unctuous clay—Animal\
productions—Commerce and manufactures—Fairs—Government\
and revenues—The fisc—Dhuan, or hearth-tax—Anga,\
or capitation-tax—Sair, or imposts—Paseti, or\
plough-tax—Malba, or ancient land-tax—Extraordinary and\
irregular resources—Feudal levies—Household troops | #1145#
CHAPTER 3
Bhatner, its origin and denomination—Historical celebrity of the\
Jats of Bhatner—Emigration of Bersi—Succeeded by\
Bhairon—Embraces Islamism—Rao Dalich—Husain Khan,\
Husain Mahmud, Imam Mahmud, and Bahadur Khan—Zabita\
Khan, the present ruler—Condition of the country—Changes\
in its physical aspect—Ruins of ancient buildings—Promising\
scene for archaeological inquiries—Zoological and\
botanical curiosities—List of the ancient towns—Relics of the\
arrow-head character found in the desert | #1163#
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BOOK VII
ANNALS OF JAISALMER
CHAPTER 1
Jaisalmer—The derivation of its name—The Rajputs of Jaisalmer\
called Bhattis, are of the Yadu race—Descended from Bharat,\
king of Bharatavarsha, or Indo-Scythia—Restricted bounds\
of India of modern invention—The ancient Hindus a naval\
people—First seats of the Yadus in India, Prayaga, Mathura,\
and Dwarka—Their international wars—Hari, king of\
Mathura and Dwarka, leader of the Yadus—Dispersion of\
his family—His great-grandsons Nabha and Khira—Nabha\
driven from Dwarka, becomes prince of Marusthali, conjectured\
to be the Maru, or Merv, of Iran—Jareja and\
Judbhan, the sons of Khira—The former founds the Sindsamma\
dynasty, and Judbhan becomes prince of Bahra in\
the Panjab—Prithibahu succeeds to Nabha in Maru—His son\
Bahu—His posterity—Raja Gaj founds Gajni—Attacked by\
the kings of Syria and Khorasan, who are repulsed—Raja\
Gaj attacks Kashmir—His marriage—Second invasion from\
Khorasan—The Syrian king conjectured to be Antiochus—Oracle\
predicts the loss of Gajni—Gaj slain—Gajni taken—Prince\
Salbahan arrives in the Panjab—Founds the city\
of Salbahana, S. 72—Conquers the Panjab—Marries the\
daughter of Jaipal Tuar of Delhi—Reconquers Gajni—Is\
succeeded by Baland—His numerous offspring—Their conquests—Conjecture\
regarding the Jadon tribe of Yusufzai,\
that the Afghans are Yadus, not Yahudis, or Jews—Baland\
resides at Salbahana—Assigns Gajni to his grandson Chakito,\
who becomes a convert to Islam and king of Khorasan—The\
Chakito Mongols descended from him—Baland dies—His son\
Bhatti succeeds—Changes the patronymic of Yadu, or Jadon,\
to Bhatti—Succeeded by Mangal Rao—His brother Masur\
Rao and sons cross the Gara and take possession of the Lakhi\
jungle—Degradation of the sons of Mangal Rao—They lose\
their rank as Rajputs—Their offspring styled Aboharias and\
Jats—Tribe of Tak—The capital of Taxiles discovered—Mangal\
Rao arrives in the Indian desert—Its tribes—His son,\
Majam Rao, marries a princess of Umarkot—His son Kehar—Alliance\
with the Deora of Jalor—The foundation of\
Tanot laid—Kehar succeeds—Tanot attacked by the Baraha\
tribe—Tanot completed, S. 787—Peace with the Barahas—Reflections | #1169#
CHAPTER 2
Rao Kehar, contemporary of the Caliph Al Walid—His offspring\
become heads of tribes—Kehar, the first who extended his\
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conquests to the plains—He is slain—Tano succeeds—He\
assails the Barahas and Langahas—Tanot invested by the\
prince of Multan, who is defeated—Rao Tano espouses the\
daughter of the Buta chief—His progeny—Tano finds a concealed\
treasure—Erects the castle of Bijnot—Tano dies—Succeeded\
by Bijai Rae—He assails the Baraha tribe, who\
conspire with the Langahas to attack the Bhatti prince—Treacherous\
massacre of Bijai Rae and his kindred—Deoraj\
saved by a Brahman—Tanot taken—Inhabitants put to the\
sword—Deoraj joins his mother in Butaban—Erects Derawar,\
which is assailed by the Buta chief, who is circumvented and\
put to death by Deoraj—The Bhatti prince is visited by a\
Jogi, whose disciple he becomes—Title changed from Rao to\
Rawal—Deoraj massacres the Langahas, who acknowledge\
his supremacy—Account of the Langaha tribe—Deoraj\
conquers Lodorva, capital of the Lodra Rajputs—Avenges an\
insult of the prince of Dhar—Singular trait of patriotic devotion—Assaults\
Dhar—Returns to Lodorva—Excavates lakes\
in Khadal—Assassinated—Succeeded by Rawal Mund, who\
revenges his father’s death—His son Bachera espouses the\
daughter of Balabhsen, of Patan Anhilwara—Contemporaries\
of Mahmud of Ghazni—Captures a caravan of horses—The\
Pahu Bhattis conquer Pugal from the Johyas—Dusaj, son of\
Bachera, attacks the Khichis—Proceeds with his three\
brothers to the land of Kher, where they espouse the Guhilot\
chief’s daughters—Important synchronisms—Bachera dies—Dusaj\
succeeds—Attacked by the Sodha prince Hamir, in\
whose reign the Ghaggar ceased to flow through the desert—Traditional\
couplet—Sons of Dusaj—The youngest, Lanja\
Bijairae, marries the daughter of Siddhraj Solanki, king of\
Anhilwara—The other sons of Dusaj, Jaisal, and Bijairae—Bhojdeo,\
son of Lanja Bijairae, becomes lord of Lodorva on\
the death of Dusaj—Jaisal conspires against his nephew\
Bhojdeo—Solicits aid from the Sultan of Ghor, whom he joins\
at Aror—Swears allegiance to the Sultan—Obtains his aid\
to dispossess Bhojdeo—Lodorva attacked and plundered—Bhojdeo\
slain—Jaisal becomes Rawal of the Bhattis—Abandons\
Lodorva as too exposed—Discovers a site for a new\
capital—Prophetic inscription on the Brahmsarkund, or\
fountain—Founds Jaisalmer—Jaisal dies, and is succeeded\
by Salbahan II. | #1190#
CHAPTER 3
Preliminary observations—The early history of the Bhattis not\
devoid of interest—Traces of their ancient manners and religion—The\
chronicle resumed—Jaisal survives the change of\
capital twelve years—The heir of Kailan banished—Salbahan,\
his younger brother, succeeds—Expedition against the Kathi—Their\
supposed origin—Application from the Yadu prince\
of Badarinath for a prince to fill the vacant gaddi—During\
Salbahan’s absence his son Bijal usurps the gaddi—Salbahan\
retires to Khadal, and falls in battle against the Baloch—Bijal\
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commits suicide—Kailan recalled and placed on the\
gaddi—His issue form clans—Khizr Khan Baloch again invades\
Khadal—Kailan attacks him, and avenges his father’s\
death—Death of Kailan—Succeeded by Chachak Deo—He\
expels the Chana Rajputs—Defeats the Sodhas of Umarkot—The\
Rathors lately arrived in the desert become troublesome—Important\
synchronisms—Death of Chachak—He is succeeded\
by his grandson Karan, to the prejudice of the elder,\
Jethsi, who leaves Jaisalmer—Redresses the wrongs of a\
Baraha Rajput—Karan dies—Succeeded by Lakhansen—His\
imbecile character—Replaced by his son Punpal, who is dethroned\
and banished—His grandson, Raningdeo, establishes\
himself at Marot and Pugal—On the deposal of Punpal,\
Jethsi is recalled and placed on the gaddi—He affords a refuge\
to the Parihar prince of Mandor, when attacked by Alau-d-din—The\
sons of Jethsi carry off the imperial tribute of Tatta\
and Multan—The king determines to invade Jaisalmer—Jethsi\
and his sons prepare for the storm—Jaisalmer invested—First\
assault repulsed—The Bhattis keep an army in the\
field—Rawal Jethsi dies—The siege continues—Singular\
friendship between his son Ratan and one of the besieging\
generals—Mulraj succeeds—General assault—Again defeated—Garrison\
reduced to great extremity—Council of war—Determination\
to perform the sakha—Generous conduct of\
the Muhammadan friend of Ratan to his sons—Final assault—Rawal\
Mulraj and Ratan and their chief kin fall in battle—Jaisalmer\
taken, dismantled, and abandoned | #1206#
CHAPTER 4
The Rathors of Mewa settle amidst the ruins of Jaisalmer—Driven\
out by the Bhatti chieftain Dudu, who is elected Rawal—He\
carries off the stud of Firoz Shah—Second storm and sakha of\
Jaisalmer—Dudu slain—Moghul invasion of India—The\
Bhatti princes obtain their liberty—Rawal Gharsi re-establishes\
Jaisalmer—Kehar, son of Deoraj—Disclosure of his\
destiny by a prodigy—Is adopted by the wife of Rawal\
Gharsi, who is assassinated by the tribe of Jaisar—Kehar proclaimed—Bimaladevi\
becomes sati—The succession entailed\
on the sons of Hamir—Matrimonial overture to Jetha from\
Mewar—Engagement broken off—The brothers slain—Penitential\
act of Rao Raning—Offspring of Kehar—Soma the\
elder departs with his basai and settles at Girab—Sons of Rao\
Raning become Muslims to avenge their father’s death—Consequent\
forfeiture of their inheritance—They mix with the\
Aboharia Bhattis—Kailan, the third son of Kehar, settles in\
the forfeited lands—Drives the Dahyas from Khadal—Kailan\
erects the fortress of Kara on the Bias or Gara—Assailed\
by the Johyas and Langahas under Amir Khan Korai,\
who is defeated—Subdues the Chahils and Mohils—Extends\
his authority to the Panjnad—Rao Kailan marries into the\
Samma family—Account of the Samma race—He seizes on\
the Samma dominions—Makes the river Indus his boundary—Kailan\
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dies—Succeeded by Chachak—Makes Marot his\
headquarters—League headed by the chief of Multan against\
Chachak, who invades that territory, and returns with a rich\
booty to Marot—A second victory—Leaves a garrison in the\
Panjab—Defeats Maipal, chief of the Dhundis—Asini-, or\
Aswini-Kot—Its supposed position—Anecdote—Feud with\
Satalmer—Its consequences—Alliance with Haibat Khan—Rao\
Chachak invades Pilibanga—The Khokhars or Ghakkars\
described—The Langahas drive his garrison from Dhuniapur—Rao\
Chachak falls sick—Challenges the prince of Multan—Reaches\
Dhuniapur—Rites preparatory to the combat—Worship\
of the sword—Chachak is slain with all his bands—Kumbha,\
hitherto insane, avenges his father’s feud—Birsal\
re-establishes Dhuniapur—Repairs to Kahror—Assailed by\
the Langahas and Baloch—Defeats them—Chronicle of\
Jaisalmer resumed—Rawal Bersi meets Rao Birsal on his\
return from his expedition in the Panjab—Conquest of\
Multan by Babur—Probable conversion of the Bhattis of the\
Panjab—Rawal Bersi, Jeth, Nunkaran, Bhim, Manohardas,\
and Sabal Singh, six generations | #1215#
CHAPTER 5
Jaisalmer becomes a fief of the empire—Changes in the succession—Sabal\
Singh serves with the Bhatti contingent—His services\
obtain him the gaddi of Jaisalmer—Boundaries of Jaisalmer\
at the period of Babur’s invasion—Sabal succeeded by his son,\
Amra Singh, who leads the tika-daur into the Baloch territory—Crowned\
on the field of victory—Demands a relief from his\
subjects to portion his daughter—Puts a chief to death who\
refuses—Revolt of the Chana Rajputs—The Bhatti chiefs\
retaliate the inroads of the Rathors of Bikaner—Origin of\
frontier-feuds—Bhattis gain a victory—The princes of\
Jaisalmer and Bikaner are involved in the feuds of their\
vassals—Raja Anup Singh calls on all his chiefs to revenge\
the disgrace—Invasion of Jaisalmer—The invaders defeated—The\
Rawal recovers Pugal—Makes Barmer tributary—Amra\
dies—Succeeded by Jaswant—The chronicle closes—Decline\
of Jaisalmer—Pugal—Barmer—Phalodi wrested\
from her by the Rathors—Importance of these transactions\
to the British Government—Khadal to the Gara seized by the\
Daudputras—Akhai Singh succeeds—His uncle, Tej Singh,\
usurps the government—The usurper assassinated during the\
ceremony of Las—Akhai Singh recovers the gaddi—Reigns\
forty years—Bahawal Khan seizes on Khadal—Rawal Mulraj—Sarup\
Singh Mehta made minister—His hatred of the\
Bhatti nobles—Conspiracy against him by the heir-apparent,\
Rae Singh—Deposal and confinement of the Rawal—The\
prince proclaimed—Refuses to occupy the gaddi—Mulraj\
emancipated by a Rajputni—Resumption of the gaddi—The\
prince Rae Singh receives the black khilat of banishment—Retires\
to Jodhpur—Outlawry of the Bhatti nobles—Their\
lands sequestrated and castles destroyed—After twelve years\
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restored to their lands—Rae Singh decapitates a merchant—Returns\
to Jaisalmer—Sent to the fortress of Dewa—Salim\
Singh becomes minister—His character—Falls into the hands\
of his enemies, but is saved by the magnanimity of Zorawar\
Singh—Plans his destruction, through his own brother’s wife—Zorawar\
is poisoned—The Mehta then assassinates her and\
her husband—Fires the castle of Dewa—Rae Singh burnt to\
death—Murder of his sons—The minister proclaims Gaj Singh—Younger\
sons of Mulraj fly to Bikaner—The longest reigns\
in the Rajput annals are during ministerial usurpation—Retrospective\
view of the Bhatti history—Reflections | #1225#
CHAPTER 6
Rawal Mulraj enters into treaty with the English—The Raja dies—His\
grandson, Gaj Singh, proclaimed—He becomes a mere\
puppet in the minister’s hands—Third article of the treaty—Inequality\
of the alliance—Its importance to Jaisalmer—Consequences\
to be apprehended by the British Government—Dangers\
attending the enlarging the circle of our political\
connexions—Importance of Jaisalmer in the event of Russian\
invasion—British occupation of the valley of the Indus considered—Salim\
Singh’s administration resumed—His rapacity\
and tyranny increase—Wishes his office to be hereditary—Report\
of the British Agent to his Government—Paliwals self-exiled—Bankers’\
families kept as hostages—Revenues arising\
from confiscation—Wealth of the minister—Border feud\
detailed to exemplify the interference of the paramount power—The\
Maldots of Baru—Their history—Nearly exterminated\
by the Rathors of Bikaner—Stimulated by the minister Salim\
Singh—Cause of this treachery—He calls for British interference—Granted—Result—Rawal\
Gaj Singh arrives at\
Udaipur—Marries the Rana’s daughter—Influence of this\
lady | #1235#
CHAPTER 7
Geographical position of Jaisalmer—Its superficial area—List of\
its chief towns—Population—Jaisalmer chiefly desert—Magra,\
a rocky ridge, traced from Cutch—Sars, or salt-marshes—Kanod\
Sar—Soil—Productions—Husbandry—Manufactures—Commerce—Kitars,\
or caravans—Articles of\
trade—Revenues—Land and transit taxes—Dani, or\
Collector—Amount of land-tax exacted from the cultivator—Dhuan,\
or hearth-tax—Thali, or tax on food—Dand, or\
forced contribution—Citizens refuse to pay—Enormous\
wealth accumulated by the minister by extortion—Establishments—Expenditure—Tribes—Bhattis—Their\
moral estimation—Personal\
appearance and dress—Their predilection for\
opium and tobacco—Paliwals, their history—Numbers,\
wealth, employment—Curious rite or worship—Pali coins—Pokharna\
Brahmans—Title—Numbers—Singular typical\
worship—Race of Jat—Castle of Jaisalmer | #1244#
.ta-
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.pn +2
.sp 4
.h2
ILLUSTRATIONS
.ta l:55 r:15
Portrait of Colonel James Tod | Frontispiece
| TO FACE PAGE
Kanhaiya and Rādha | #630:i630#
Columns of Temples at Chandrāvati | #670:i670#
Portraits of a Rājputni, a Rājput, a Gūsāīn, etc. | #708:i708#
Valley of Udaipur | #760:i760#
Citadel of the Hill Fortress of Kūmbhalmer | #776:i776#
Jain Temple in the Fortress of Kūmbhalmer | #780:i780#
Ruins in Kūmbhalmer | #782:i782#
Koli and Bhīl; Chāran or Bard | #788:i788#
Jāt Peasant of Mārwār. Rājput Foot Soldier of Mārwār | #812:i812#
Town and Fort of Jodhpur | #820:i820#
Rock Sculptures at Mandor; Chāmunda, Kankāli | #842:i842#
Rock Sculptures at Mandor; Mallināth, Nāthji | #844:i844#
Rock Sculptures at Mandor; Rāmdeo Rāthor, Pābuji, etc. | #846:i846#
Rock Sculptures at Mandor; Gūga the Chauhān, Harbuji\
Sānkhla | #848:i848#
Rock Sculptures at Mandor; Mehaji Mangalia | #850:i850#
Paiks of Mārwār | #860:i860#
Durga Dās; Mahārāja Sher Singh of Rian | #866:i866#
The Sacred Lake of Pushkar in Mārwār | #892:i892#
Ancient Jain Temple at Ajmer | #896:i896#
Fortress and Town of Ajmer | #900:i900#
Castle of Bhinai | #904:i904#
Source of the Berach River, and Hunting Seat of the Rāna | #910:i910#
Bridge of Nūrābād | #914:i914#
The late Mahārāja Sir Sumer Singh, of Jodhpur (b. 1901;\
d. 1918), and his brother, the present Mahārāja Ummed\
Singh (b. 1903) | #928:i928#
Horoscope of Rāja Abhai Singh | #Page 1019:i1019#
.ta-
.bn 032.png
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.pn 589
.sp 4
.nf c
ANNALS AND ANTIQUITIES
OF RAJASTHAN
.nf-
.sp 4
.h2 nobreak
BOOK IV—Continued | RELIGIOUS ESTABLISHMENTS, FESTIVALS, | AND CUSTOMS OF MEWĀR
.sp 4
.h3
CHAPTER 19
.sp 2
Influence of the Priesthood.—In all ages the ascendancy of the
hierarchy is observable; it is a tribute paid to religion through
her organs. Could the lavish endowments and extensive immunities
of the various religious establishments in Rajasthan be
assumed as criteria of the morality of the inhabitants, we should
be authorized to assign them a high station in the scale of excellence.
But they more frequently prove the reverse of their
position; especially the territorial endowments, often the fruits
of a death-bed repentance,[4.19.1] which, prompted by superstition or
fear, compounds for past crimes by posthumous profusion,
although vanity not rarely lends her powerful aid. There is
scarcely a State in Rajputana in which one-fifth of the soil is not
assigned for the support of the temples, their ministers, the
secular Brahmans, bards, and \[508] genealogists. But the evil
was not always so extensive; the abuse is of modern growth.
.fn 4.19.1
Manu commands, “Should the king be near his end through some incurable
disease, he must bestow on the priests all his riches accumulated
from legal fines: and having duly committed his kingdom to his son, let
him seek death in battle, or, if there be no war, by abstaining from food”
(Laws, ix. 323). The annals of all the Rajput States afford instances of
obedience to this text of their divine legislator. [The injunction to seek
death by starvation is an addition by the commentator, and is not included
in the original text.]
.fn-
Weighing of Princes against Gold.—An anecdote related of the
Rajas of Marwar and Amber, always rivals in war, love, and folly,
.bn 034.png
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will illustrate the motives of these dismemberments. During the
annual pilgrimage to the sacred lake of Pushkar, it is the custom
for these lords of the earth to weigh their persons against all that
is rare, in gold, gems, and precious cloths; which are afterwards
distributed to the priests.[4.19.2] The Amber chief had the advantage
of a full treasury and a fertile soil, to which his rival could oppose
a more extended sway over a braver race; but his country was
proverbially poor, and at Pushkar, the weight of the purse ranks
above the deeds of the sword. As these princes were suspended
in the scale, the Amber Raja, who was balanced against the more
costly material, indirectly taunted his brother-in-law on the
poverty of his offerings, who would gladly, like the Roman, have
made up the deficiency with his sword. But the Marwar prince
had a minister of tact, at whose suggestion he challenged his
rival (of Amber) to equal him in the magnitude of his gift to the
Brahmans. On the gage being accepted, the Rathor exclaimed,
“Perpetual charity (sasan)[4.19.3] of all the lands held by the Brahmans
in Marwar!” His unreflecting rival had commenced the
redemption of his pledge, when his minister stopped the
half-uttered vow, which would have impoverished the family
for ever; for there were ten Brahmans in Amber who followed
secular employments, cultivating or holding lands in usufruct,
to one in Marwar. Had these lords of the earth been left to their
misguided vanity, the fisc of each state would have been seriously
curtailed.
.fn 4.19.2
[The practice of a devotee weighing himself against gold was common
in ancient Hindu times, was known as tulāpurushadāna, and is still performed
by the Mahārāja of Travancore (Thurston, Tribes and Castes of S. India,
vii. 202 ff.; BG, i. Part ii. 415; Forbes, Rāsmāla, 84). Akbar used to have
himself weighed against precious substances twice a year, on his solar and
lunar birthdays, the articles being given to Brāhmans, and Jahāngīr followed
the same custom (Āīn, i. 266 ff.; Elliot-Dowson v. 307, 453; Memoirs of
Jahāngīr, trans. Rogers-Beveridge, 78, 81, 111, 183).]
.fn-
.fn 4.19.3
[Sāsan, a grant by charter of rent-free lands, made in favour of
Brāhmans and devotees. For the formula used in such grants see Barnett,
Antiquities of India, 129.]
.fn-
Grants to Brāhmans and Devotees.—The Brahmans, Sannyasis,
and Gosains are not behind those professional flatterers, the
Bards; and many a princely name would have been forgotten
but for the record of the gift of land. In Mewar, the lands in
sasan, or religious grants, amount in value to one-fifth of the
.bn 035.png
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revenue of the State, and the greater proportion of these has
arisen out of the prodigal mismanagement of the last century.
The dilapidated state of the country, on the general pacification
in A.D. 1818, afforded a noble opportunity to redeem in part these
alienations, without the penalty of denunciation attached to the
resumer of sacred charities. But death, famine, and exile, which
had left but few of the grantees in a capacity to return and
reoccupy the lands, in vain coalesced to restore the fisc of Mewar.
The Rana dreaded a “sixty thousand \[509] years’ residence in
hell,” and some of the finest land of his country is doomed to
remain unproductive. In this predicament is the township of
Menal,[4.19.4] with 50,000 bighas (16,000 acres), which with the exception
of a nook where some few have established themselves,
claiming to be descendants of the original holders, are condemned
to sterility, owing to the agricultural proprietors and the rent-receiving
Brahmans being dead; and apathy united to superstition
admits their claims without inquiry.
.fn 4.19.4
[Menāl, Mahānāl, ‘the great chasm,’ in the Begun Estate, E. Mewār.]
.fn-
The antiquary, who has dipped into the records of the dark
period in European church history, can have ocular illustration
in Rajasthan of traditions which may in Europe appear questionable.
The vision of the Bishop of Orleans,[4.19.5] who saw Charles
Martel in the depths of hell, undergoing the tortures of the damned,
for having stripped the churches of their possessions, “thereby
rendering himself guilty of the sins of all those who had endowed
them,” would receive implicit credence from every Hindu, whose
ecclesiastical economy might both yield and derive illustration
from a comparison, not only with that of Europe, but with the
more ancient Egyptian and Jewish systems, whose endowments,
as explained by Moses and Ezekiel, bear a strong analogy to his
.bn 036.png
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own. The disposition of landed property in Egypt, as amongst
the ancient Hindus, was immemorially vested in the cultivator;
and it was only through Joseph’s ministry in the famine that
“the land became Pharaoh’s, as the Egyptians sold every man
his field.”[4.19.6] And the coincidence is manifest even in the tax
imposed on them as occupants of their inheritance, being one-fifth
of the crops to the king, while the maximum rate among the
Hindus is a sixth.[4.19.7] The Hindus also, in visitations such as that
which occasioned the dispossession of the ryots of Egypt, can
mortgage or sell their patrimony (bapota). Joseph did not attempt
to infringe the privileges of the sacred order when the whole of
Egypt became crown-land, “except the lands of the priests,
which became not Pharaoh’s”; and these priests, according to
Diodorus, held for themselves and the sacrifices no less than
one-third of the lands of Egypt. But we learn from \[510] Herodotus,
that Sesostris, who ruled after Joseph’s ministry, restored
the lands to the people, reserving the customary tax or tribute.[4.19.8]
.fn 4.19.5
“Saint Eucher, évêque d’Orléans, eut une vision qui étonna les princes.
Il faut que je rapporte à ce sujet la lettre que les évêques, assemblés à Reims,
écrivent à Louis-le-Germanique, qui étoit entré dans les terres de Charles
le Chauve, parce qu’elle est très-propre à nous faire voir quel étoit, dans ces
temps-là, l’état des choses, et la situation des esprits. Ils disent que ‘Saint
Eucher ayant été ravi dans le ciel, il vit Charles Martel tourmenté dans
l’enfer inférieur par l’ordre des saints qui doivent assister avec Jésus-Christ
au jugement dernier; qu’il avoit été condamné à cette peine avant le temps
pour avoir dépouillé les églises de leurs biens, et s’être par là rendu coupable
des péchés de tous ceux qui les avoient dotées’” (Montesquieu, L’Esprit des
Lois, livre xxxi. chap. xi. p. 460).
.fn-
.fn 4.19.6
Genesis xlvii. 20-26.
.fn-
.fn 4.19.7
Manu, Laws, vii. 130.
.fn-
.fn 4.19.8
Origin of Laws and Government, vol. i. p. 54, and vol. ii. p. 13. [Herodotus
ii. 109.]
.fn-
The prelates of the middle ages of Europe were often completely
feudal nobles, swearing fealty and paying homage as did
the lay lords.[4.19.9] In Rajasthan, the sacerdotal caste not bound
to the altar may hold lands and perform the duties of vassalage:[4.19.10]
but of late years, when land has been assigned to religious establishments,
no reservation has been made of fiscal rights, territorial
or commercial. This is, however, an innovation; since, formerly,
princes never granted, along with territorial assignments,
the prerogative of dispensing justice, of levying transit duties, or
exemption from personal service of the feudal tenant who held
on the land thus assigned. Well may Rajput heirs exclaim with
the grandson of Clovis, “our exchequer is impoverished, and our
riches are transferred to the clergy.”[4.19.11] But Chilperic had the
courage to recall the grants of his predecessors, which, however,
the pious Gontram re-established. Many Gontrams could be
found, though but few Chilperics, in Rajasthan: we have, indeed,
.bn 037.png
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one in Jograj,[4.19.12] the Rana’s ancestor, almost a contemporary of
the Merovingian king, who not only resumed all the lands of the
Brahmans, but put many of them to death, and expelled the
rest his dominions.[4.19.13]
.fn 4.19.9
Hallam, Middle Ages, vol. ii. p. 212.
.fn-
.fn 4.19.10
“A Brahman unable to subsist by his duties just mentioned (sacerdotal),
may live by the duty of a soldier” (Manu x. 81).
.fn-
.fn 4.19.11
Montesquieu.
.fn-
.fn 4.19.12
[One of the legendary Rānas, twenty-fifth on the list, to whom no date
can be assigned.]
.fn-
.fn 4.19.13
“Le clergé recevoit tant, qu’il faut que, dans les trois races, on lui ait
donné plusieurs fois tous les biens du royaume. Mais si les rois, la noblesse,
et le peuple, trouvèrent le moyen de leur donner tous leurs biens, ils ne
trouvèrent pas moins celui de les leur ôter” (Montesquieu, L’Esprit des Lois,
livre xxxi. chap. x.).
.fn-
It may be doubted whether vanity and shame are not sufficient
in themselves to prevent a resumption of the lands of the Mangtas
or mendicants, as they style all those ‘who extend the palm,’
without the dreaded penalty, which operates very slightly on
the sub-vassal or cultivator, who, having no superfluity, defies
their anathemas when they attempt to wrest from him, by virtue
of the crown-grant, any of his long-established rights. By these,
the threat of impure transmigration is despised; and the Brahman
may spill his blood on the threshold of his dwelling or in
the field in dispute, which will be relinquished by the owner but
with his life. The Pat Rani, or chief queen, on the death of
Prince Amra, the heir-apparent, in 1818, bestowed a grant of
fifteen bighas of land, in one of the central districts, on a Brahman
who had assisted in the funeral rites of her son. With grant in
hand \[511], he hastened to the Jat proprietor, and desired him
to make over to him the patch of land. The latter coolly replied
that he would give him all the prince had a right to, namely the
tax. The Brahman threatened to spill his own blood if he did
not obey the command, and gave himself a gash in a limb; but
the Jat was inflexible, and declared that he would not surrender
his patrimony (bapota) even if he slew himself.[4.19.14] In short, the
.fn 4.19.14
These worshippers of God and Mammon, when threats fail, have recourse
to maiming, and even destroying, themselves, to gain their object.
In 1820, one of the confidential servants of the Rana demanded payment of
the petty tax called gugri, of one rupee on each house, from some Brahmans
who dwelt in the village, and which had always been received from them.
They refused payment, and on being pressed, four of them stabbed themselves
mortally. Their bodies were placed upon biers, and funeral rites
withheld till punishment should be inflicted on the priest-killer. But for
once superstition was disregarded, and the rights of the Brahmans in this
community were resumed. See Appendix to this Part, #No. I:a4.20.1# [p. 644].
.fn-
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ryot of Mewar would reply, even to his sovereign, if he demanded
his field, in the very words of Naboth to Ahab, king of Israel,
when he demanded the vineyard contiguous to the palace:
“The Lord forbid it me that I should give the inheritance of my
fathers unto thee.”
Tithes, Temples.—But the tithes, and other small and legally
established rights of the hierarchy, are still religiously maintained.
The village temple and the village priest are always
objects of veneration to the industrious husbandman, on whom
superstition acts more powerfully than on the bold marauding
Rajput, who does not hesitate to demand salvamenta (rakhwali)
from the lands of Kanhaiya or Eklinga. But the poor ryot of
the nineteenth century of Vikrama has the same fears as the
peasants of Charlemagne, who were made to believe that the
ears of corn found empty had been devoured by infernal spirits,
reported to have said they owed their feast to the non-payment
of tithes.[4.19.15]
.fn 4.19.15
“Mais le bas peuple n’est guère capable d’abandonner ses intérêts
par des exemples. Le synode de Francfort lui présenta un motif plus
pressant pour payer les dîmes. On y fit un capitulaire dans lequel il est dit
que, dans la dernière famine, on avoit trouvé les épis de blé vides, qu’ils
avoient été dévorés par les démons, et qu’on avoit entendu leurs voix
qui reprochoient de n’avoir pas payé la dîme: et, en conséquence, il fut
ordonné à tous ceux qui tenoient les biens ecclésiastiques de payer la dîme,
et, en conséquence encore, on l’ordonna à tous” (L’Esprit des Lois, livre
xxxi. chap. xii.).
.fn-
Political Influence of Brāhmans.—The political influence of
the Brahmans is frequently exemplified in cases alike prejudicial
to the interests of society and the personal welfare of the sovereign.
The latter is often surrounded by lay-Brahmans as confidential
servants, in the capacities of butler, keeper of the wardrobe, or
seneschal,[4.19.16] besides the Guru or domestic chaplain, who to the
duty of ghostly comforter sometimes joins that of \[512] astrologer
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and physician, in which case God help the prince![4.19.17] These
Gurus and Purohits, having the education of the children, acquire
immense influence, and are not backward in improving “the
greatness thrust upon them.” They are all continually importuning
their prince for grants of land for themselves and the
shrines they are attached to; and every chief, as well as every
influential domestic, takes advantage of ephemeral favour to
increase the endowments of his tutelary divinity. The Peshwas
of Satara are the most striking out of numerous examples.
.fn 4.19.16
These lay Brahmans are not wanting in energy or courage; the sword
is as familiar to them as the mala (chaplet). The grandfather of Ramnath,
the present worthy seneschal of the Rana, was governor of the turbulent
district of Jahazpur, which has never been so well ruled since. He left a
curious piece of advice to his successors, inculcating vigorous measures.
“With two thousand men you may eat khichri; with one thousand dalbhat;
with five hundred juti (the shoe)” Khichri is a savoury mess of pulse,
rice, butter, and spices; dalbhat is simple rice and pulse; the shoe is indelible
disgrace.
.fn-
.fn 4.19.17
Manu, in his rules on government, commands the king to impart his
momentous counsel and entrust all transactions to a learned and distinguished
Brahman (Laws, vii. 58). There is no being more aristocratic in his ideas
than the secular Brahman or priest, who deems the bare name a passport to
respect. The Kulin Brahman of Bengal piques himself upon this title of
nobility granted by the last Hindu king of Kanauj (whence they migrated
to Bengal), and in virtue of which his alliance in matrimony is courted.
But although Manu has imposed obligations towards the Brahman little
short of adoration, these are limited to the “learned in the Vedas”: he
classes the unlearned Brahman with “an elephant made of wood, or an antelope
of leather”; nullities, save in name. And he adds further, that “as
liberality to a fool is useless, so is a Brahman useless if he read not the holy
texts”: comparing the person who gives to such an one, to a husbandman
“who, sowing seed in a barren soil, reaps no gain”; so the Brahman “obtains
no reward in heaven.” These sentiments are repeated in numerous texts,
holding out the most powerful inducements to the sacerdotal class to cultivate
their minds, since their power consists solely in their wisdom. For
such, there are no privileges too extensive, no homage too great. “A
king, even though dying with want, must not receive any tax from a Brahman
learned in the Vedas.” His person is sacred. “Never shall the king
slay a Brahman, though convicted of all possible crimes,” is a premium at
least to unbounded insolence, and unfits them for members of society, more
especially for soldiers; banishment, with person and property untouched,
is the declared punishment for even the most heinous crimes. “A Brahman
may seize without hesitation, if he be distressed for a subsistence, the goods
of his Sudra slave.” But the following text is the climax: “What prince
could gain wealth by oppressing these [Brahmans], who, if angry, could
frame other worlds, and regents of worlds, and could give birth to new gods
and mortals?” (Manu, Laws, ii. iii. vii. viii. ix.).
.fn-
In the dark ages of Europe the monks are said to have prostituted
their knowledge of writing to the forging of charters in
their own favour: a practice not easily detected in the days of
ignorance.[4.19.18] The Brahmans, in like manner, do not scruple to
employ this method of augmenting the wealth of their shrines;
and superstition and indolence combine to support the deception
.bn 040.png
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There is not a doubt that the grand charter of Nathdwara was a
forgery, in which the prince’s butler was bribed to aid; and
report alleges that the Rana secretly favoured an artifice which
regard to opinion prevented him from overtly promulgating.
Although the copper-plate had been buried under ground, and
came out disguised with a coating of verdigris, there were marks
which proved the date of its execution to be false. I have seen
charters which, it has been gravely asserted, were granted by
Rama upwards of three thousand years ago! Such is the origin
assigned to one found in a well at the ancient Brahmpuri, in the
valley of the capital. If there be sceptics as to its validity, they
are silent ones; and this copper-plate of the brazen age \[513] is
worth gold to the proprietor.[4.19.19] A census[4.19.20] of the three central
districts of Mewar discovered that more than twenty thousand
acres of these fertile lands, irrigated by the Berach and Banas
rivers, were distributed in isolated portions, of which the mendicant
castes had the chief share, and which proved fertile sources
of dispute to the husbandman and the officers of the revenue.
From the mass of title-deeds of every description by which these
lands were held, one deserves to be selected, on account of its
being pretended to have been written and bestowed on the
incumbent’s ancestor by the deity upwards of three centuries
ago, and which has been maintained as a bona-fide grant of
Krishna[4.19.21] ever since. By such credulity and apathy are the
Rajput States influenced: yet let the reader check any rising
feeling of contempt for Hindu legislation, and cast a retrospective
glance at the page of European church history, where he will
observe in the time of the most potent of our monarchs that the
clergy possessed one-half of the soil:[4.19.22] and the chronicles of
France will show him Charlemagne on his death-bed, bequeathing
two-thirds of his domains to the church, deeming the remaining
third sufficient for the ambition of four sons. The same dread
of futurity, and the hope to expiate the sins of a life, at its
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close, by gifts to the organs of religion, is the motive for these
unwise alienations, whether in Europe or in Asia. Some of these
establishments, and particularly that at Nathdwara, made a
proper use of their revenues in keeping up the Sada-Brat, or
perpetual charity, though it is chiefly distributed to religious
pilgrims: but among the many complaints made of the misapplication
of the funds, the diminution of this hospitable right
is one; while, at other shrines, the avarice of the priests is
observable in the coarseness of the food dressed for sacrifice and
offering.
.fn 4.19.18
Hallam’s Middle Ages, vol. i. p. 204.
.fn-
.fn 4.19.19
These forgeries of charters cannot be considered as invalidating the
arguments drawn from them, as we may rest assured nothing is introduced
foreign to custom, in the items of the deeds.
.fn-
.fn 4.19.20
Suggested by the Author, and executed under his superintendence,
who waded through all these documents, and translated upwards of a
hundred of the most curious.
.fn-
.fn 4.19.21
See the Appendix to this Part, No. #II:a4.20.2# [p. 644].
.fn-
.fn 4.19.22
Hallam.
.fn-
Tithes levied by Brāhmans.—Besides the crown-grants to the
greater establishments, the Brahmans received petty tithes from
the agriculturist, and a small duty from the trader, as mapa or
metage, throughout every township, corresponding with the
scale of the village-chapel. An inscription found by the author
at the town of Palod,[4.19.23] and dated nearly seven centuries back,
affords a good specimen of the claims of the village \[514] priesthood.
The following are among the items. The serana, or a
ser, in every maund, being the fortieth part of the grain of the
unalu, or summer-harvest; the karpa, or a bundle from every
sheaf of the autumnal crops, whether makai (Indian corn), bajra
or juar (maize) [millet], or the other grains peculiar to that
season.[4.19.24]
.fn 4.19.23
See Appendix to this Part, No. #III:a4.20.3# [p. #645#].
.fn-
.fn 4.19.24
Each bundle consists of a specified number of ears, which are roasted
and eaten in the unripe state with a little salt. [A ser or seer = 2·057 lbs.
avoirdupois.]
.fn-
They also derive a tithe from the oil-mill and sugar-mill, and
receive a kansa or platter of food on all rejoicings, as births,
marriages, etc., with charai, or the right of pasturage on the
village common; and where they have become possessed of
landed property they have halma, or unpaid labour in man and
beasts, and implements, for its culture: an exaction well known
in Europe as one of the detested corvées of the feudal system of
France,[4.19.25] the abolition of which was the sole boon the English
husbandman obtained by the charter of Runymede. Both the
chieftain and the priest exact halma in Rajasthan; but in that
country it is mitigated, and abuse is prevented, by a sentiment
unknown to the feudal despot of the middle ages of Europe, and
.bn 042.png
.pn +1
which, though difficult to define, acts imperceptibly, having its
source in accordance of belief, patriarchal manners, and clannish
attachments.
.fn 4.19.25
Dict. de l’Ancien Régime, p. 131, art. “Corvée.”
.fn-
Privileges of Saivas and Jains.—I shall now briefly consider
the privileges of the Saivas and Jains—the orthodox and heterodox
sects of Mewar; and then proceed to those of Vishnu, whose
worship is the most prevalent in these countries, and which I am
inclined to regard as of more recent origin.
Worship of Siva.—Mahadeva, or Iswara, is the tutelary
divinity of the Rajputs in Mewar; and from the early annals of
the dynasty appears to have been, with his consort Isani, the sole
object of Guhilot adoration. Iswara is adored under the epithet
of Eklinga,[4.19.26] and is either worshipped in his monolithic symbol,
or as Iswara Chaumukhi, the quadriform divinity, represented
by a bust with four faces. The sacred bull, Nandi, has his altar
attached to all the shrines of Iswara, as was that of Mneves or
Apis to those of the Egyptian Osiris. Nandi has occasionally
his separate shrines, and there is one in the valley of Udaipur
which has the reputation of being oracular as regards the seasons.
The bull was the steed of Iswara, and \[515] carried him in battle;
he is often represented upon it, with his consort Isani, at full
speed. I will not stop to inquire whether the Grecian fable of
the rape of Europa[4.19.27] by the tauriform Jupiter may not be derived,
with much more of their mythology, from the Hindu pantheon;
whether that pantheon was originally erected on the Indus, or
.bn 043.png
.pn +1
the Ganges, or the more central scene of early civilization, the
banks of the Oxus. The bull was offered to Mithras by the
Persian, and opposed as it now appears to Hindu faith, he formerly
bled on the altars of the Sun-god, on which not only the Baldan,[4.19.28]
‘offering of the bull,’ was made, but human sacrifices.[4.19.29] We do
not learn that the Egyptian priesthood presented the kindred of
Apis to Osiris, but as they were not prohibited from eating beef,
they may have done so.
.fn 4.19.26
That is, with one (ek) lingam or phallus—the symbol of worship being
a single cylindrical or conical stone. There are others, termed Sahaslinga
and Kotiswara, with a thousand or a million of phallic representatives,
all minutely carved on the monolithic emblem, having then much
resemblance to the symbol of Bacchus, whose orgies, both in Egypt and
Greece, are the counterpart of those of the Hindu Baghis, thus called from
being clad in a tiger’s or leopard’s hide: Bacchus had the panther’s for
his covering. There is a very ancient temple to Kotiswara at the embouchure
of the eastern arm of the Indus; and here are many to Sahaslinga in
the peninsula of Saurashtra. [Bacchus has no connexion with a Hindu
tiger-god.]
.fn-
.fn 4.19.27
It might have appeared fanciful, some time ago, to have given a Sanskrit
derivation to a Greek proper name: but Europa might be derived from
Surupa, ‘of the beautiful face’—the initial syllable su and eu having the
same signification in both languages, namely, good—Rupa is ‘countenance.’
[Europa is probably Assyrian ereb, irib, ‘land of the rising sun’ (EB, ix.
907). Another explanation is that it is a cult title, meaning ‘goddess of the
flourishing willow-withies’ (A. B. Cook, Zeus, 531).]
.fn-
.fn 4.19.28
In this sacrifice four altars are erected, for offering the flesh to the
four gods, Lakshmi-Narayana, Umamaheswar, Brahma, and Ananta. The
nine planets, and Prithu, or the earth, with her ten guardian-deities, are
worshipped. Five Vilwa, five Khadira, five Palasha, and five Udumbara
posts are to be erected, and a bull tied to each post. Clarified butter is
burnt on the altar, and pieces of the flesh of the slaughtered animals placed
thereon. This sacrifice was very common (Ward, On the Religion of the
Hindus, vol. ii. p. 263). [Balidāna, ‘an offering to the gods.’]
.fn-
.fn 4.19.29
First a covered altar is to be prepared; sixteen posts are then to be
erected of various woods; a golden image of a man, and an iron one of a
goat, with golden images of Vishnu and Lakshmi, a silver one of Siva, with
a golden bull, and a silver one of Garuda ‘the eagle,’ are placed upon the
altar. Animals, as goats, sheep, etc., are tied to the posts, and to one of
them, of the wood of the mimosa, is to be tied the human victim. Fire is
to be kindled by means of a burning glass. The sacrificing priest, hota,
strews the grass called dub or immortal, round the sacred fire. Then
follows the burnt sacrifice to the ten guardian deities of the earth—to the
nine planets, and to the Hindu Triad, to each of whom clarified butter is
poured on the sacred fire one thousand times. Another burnt-sacrifice, to
the sixty-four inferior gods, follows, which is succeeded by the sacrifice and
offering of all the other animals tied to the posts. The human sacrifice
concludes, the sacrificing priest offering pieces of the flesh of the victim to
each god as he circumambulates the altar (ibid, 260).
.fn-
The Temple of Eklinga.—The shrine of Eklinga is situated in
a defile about six [twelve] miles north of Udaipur. The hills
towering around it on all sides are of the primitive formation,
and their scarped summits are clustered with honeycombs.[4.19.30]
There are abundant small springs of water, which keep verdant
numerous shrubs, the flowers of which are acceptable to the
deity; especially the kaner or oleander, which grows in great
.bn 044.png
.pn +1
luxuriance on the Aravalli. Groves of bamboo and mango were
formerly common, according to tradition; but although it is
deemed sacrilege to thin the groves of Bal,[4.19.31] the bamboo has been
nearly destroyed: there are, however, still many trees sacred to
the deity scattered around. It would be difficult to convey a
just \[516] idea of a temple so complicated in its details. It is of
the form commonly styled pagoda, and, like all the ancient
temples of Siva, its sikhara, or pinnacle, is pyramidal. The
various orders of Hindu sacred architecture are distinguished by
the form of the sikhara, which is the portion springing from and
surmounting the perpendicular walls of the body of the temple.
The sikhara of those of Siva is invariably pyramidal, and its
sides vary with the base, whether square or oblong. The apex
is crowned with an ornamental figure, as a sphinx, an urn, a
ball, or a lion, which is called the kalas. When the sikhara is
but the frustum of a pyramid, it is often surmounted by a row
of lions, as at Bijolia. The fane of Eklinga is of white marble
and of ample dimensions. Under an open-vaulted temple
supported by columns, and fronting the four-faced divinity, is
the brazen bull Nandi, of the natural size; it is cast, and of
excellent proportions. The figure is perfect, except where the
shot or hammer of an infidel invader has penetrated its hollow
flank in search of treasure. Within the quadrangle are miniature
shrines, containing some of the minor divinities.[4.19.32] The high-priest
of Eklinga, like all his order, is doomed to celibacy, and
.bn 045.png
.pn +1
the office is continued by adopted disciples. Of such spiritual
descents they calculate sixty-four since the Sage Harita, whose
benediction obtained for the Guhilot Rajput the sovereignty of
Chitor, when driven from Saurashtra by the Parthians.
.fn 4.19.30
This is to be taken in its literal sense; the economy of the bee being
displayed in the formation of extensive colonies which inhabit large masses
of black comb adhering to the summits of the rocks. According to the
legends of these tracts, they were called in as auxiliaries on Muhammadan
invasions, and are said to have thrown the enemy more than once into confusion.
[Stories of idols protected from desecration by swarms of hornets
are common (BG, viii. 401; Sleeman, Rambles, 54).]
.fn-
.fn 4.19.31
See Appendix to this Part, No. #IV:a4.20.4# [p. #645#].
.fn-
.fn 4.19.32
In June 1806 I was present at a meeting between the Rana and Sindhia
at the shrine of Eklinga. The rapacious Mahratta had just forced the passes
to the Rana’s capital, which was the commencement of a series of aggressions
involving one of the most tragical events in the history of Mewar—the
immolation of the Princess Krishna and the subsequent ruin of the
country. I was then an attaché of the British embassy to the Mahratta
prince, who carried the ambassador to the meeting to increase his consequence.
In March 1818 I again visited the shrine, on my way to Udaipur,
but under very different circumstances—to announce the deliverance of
the family from oppression, and to labour for its prosperity. While standing
without the sanctuary, looking at the quadriform divinity, and musing
on the changes of the intervening twelve years, my meditations were broken
by an old Rajput chieftain, who, saluting me, invited me to enter and adore
Baba Adam, ‘Father Adam,’ as he termed the phallic emblem. I excused
myself on account of my boots, which I said I could not remove, and that
with them I would not cross the threshold: a reply which pleased them, and
preceded me to the Rana’s court.
.fn-
The priests of Eklinga are termed Gosain or Goswami, which
signifies ‘control over the senses’! The distinguishing mark
of the faith of Siva is the crescent on the forehead:[4.19.33] the hair is
braided and forms a tiara round the head, and with its folds a
chaplet of the lotus-seed is often entwined. They smear the
body with ashes, and use garments dyed of an orange hue. They
bury their dead in a sitting \[517] posture, and erect tumuli over
them, which are generally conical in form.[4.19.34] It is not uncommon
for priestesses to officiate in the temple of Siva. There is a
numerous class of Gosains who have adopted celibacy, and who
yet follow secular employments both in commerce and arms.
The mercantile Gosains[4.19.35] are amongst the richest individuals in
India, and there are several at Udaipur who enjoy high favour,
and who were found very useful when the Mahrattas demanded
a war-contribution, as their privileged character did not prevent
their being offered and taken as hostages for its payment. The
Gosains who profess arms, partake of the character of the knights
of St. John of Jerusalem. They live in monasteries scattered
over the country, possess lands, and beg, or serve for pay when
called upon. As defensive soldiers, they are good. Siva, their
patron, is the god of war, and like him they make great use of
intoxicating herbs, and even of spirituous liquors. In Mewar
they can always muster many hundreds of the Kanphara[4.19.36] Jogi,
or ‘split-ear ascetics,’ so called from the habit of piercing the ear
and placing therein a ring of the conch-shell, which is their battle-trumpet.
.bn 046.png
.pn +1
Both Brahmans and Rajputs, and even Gujars, can
belong to this order, a particular account of whose internal
discipline and economy could not fail to be interesting. The
poet Chand gives an animated description of the body-guard of the
King of Kanauj, which was composed of these monastic warriors.
.fn 4.19.33
Siva is represented with three eyes: hence his title of Trinetra and
Trilochan, the Triophthalmic Jupiter of the Greeks. From the fire of the
central eye of Siva is to proceed Pralaya, or the final destruction of the
universe: this eye placed vertically, resembling the flame of a taper, is a
distinguishing mark on the foreheads of his votaries.
.fn-
.fn 4.19.34
I have seen a cemetery of these, each of very small dimensions, which
may be described as so many concentric rings of earth, diminishing to the
apex, crowned with a cylindrical stone pillar. One of the disciples of Siva
was performing rites to the manes, strewing leaves of an evergreen [probably
bel, Aegle marmelos] and sprinkling water over the graves.
.fn-
.fn 4.19.35
For a description of these, vide Transactions of the Royal Asiatic Society,
vol. i. p. 217.
.fn-
.fn 4.19.36
[The more usual form is Kanphata, with the same meaning.]
.fn-
Priestly Functions of the Mewār Rānas.—The Ranas of Mewar,
as the diwans, or vicegerents of Siva, when they visit the temple
supersede the high priest in his duties, and perform the ceremonies,
which the reigning prince does with peculiar correctness and
grace.[4.19.37]
.fn 4.19.37
The copy of the Siva Purana which I presented to the Royal Asiatic
Society was obtained for me by the Rana from the temple of Eklinga.
.fn-
Privileges of Jains.—The shrine of Eklinga is endowed with
twenty-four large villages from the fisc, besides parcels of land
from the chieftains; but the privileges of the tutelary divinity
have been waning since Kanhaiya fixed his residence amongst
them; and as the priests of Apollo complained that the god
was driven from the sacred mount \[518] Govardhana, in Vraj, by
the influence of those of Jupiter[4.19.38] with Shah Jahan, the latter
may now lament that the day of retribution has arrived, when
propitiation to the Preserver is deemed more important than to
the Destroyer. This may arise from the personal character of
the high priests, who, from their vicinity to the court, can scarcely
avoid mingling in its intrigues, and thence lose in character:
even the Ranis do not hesitate to take mortgages on the estates
of Bholanath.[4.19.39] We shall not further enlarge on the immunities
to Eklinga, or the forms in which they are conveyed, as these
will be fully discussed in the account of the shrine of Krishna;
but proceed to notice the privileges of the heterodox Jains—the
Vidyavan[4.19.40] or Magi of Rajasthan. The numbers and power of
.bn 047.png
.pn +1
these sectarians are little known to Europeans, who take it for
granted that they are few and dispersed. To prove the extent
of their religious and political power, it will suffice to remark
that the pontiff of the Khadatara-gachchha,[4.19.41] one of the many
branches of this faith, has 11,000 clerical disciples scattered over
India; that a single community, the Osi or Oswal,[4.19.42] numbers
100,000 families; and that more than half \[519] of the mercantile
wealth of India passes through the hands of the Jain laity.
Rajasthan and Saurashtra are the cradles of the Buddhist or
Jain faith, and three out of their five sacred mounts, namely,
Abu, Palitana,[4.19.43] and Girnar, are in these countries. The officers
.bn 048.png
.pn +1
of the State and revenue are chiefly of the Jain laity, as are the
majority of the bankers, from Lahore to the ocean. The chief
magistrate and assessors of justice, in Udaipur and most of the
towns of Rajasthan, are of this sect; and as their voluntary
duties are confined to civil cases, they are as competent in these
as they are the reverse in criminal cases, from their tenets forbidding
the shedding of blood. To this leading feature in their
religion they owe their political debasement: for Kumarpal, the
last king of Anhilwara of the Jain faith, would not march his
armies in the rains, from the unavoidable sacrifice of animal life
that must have ensued. The strict Jain does not even maintain
a lamp during that season, lest it should attract moths to their
destruction.
.fn 4.19.38
Jiva-pitri, the ‘Father of Life,’ would be a very proper epithet for
Mahadeva, the creative ‘power,’ whose Olympus is Kailas. [Jīva-pitri
means ‘a child whose father is alive.’ Jupiter=Skt. Dyaus-pitā.]
.fn-
.fn 4.19.39
Bholanath, or the ‘Simple God,’ is one of the epithets of Siva, whose
want of reflection is so great that he would give away his own divinity if
asked.
.fn-
.fn 4.19.40
Vidyavan, the ‘Man of Secrets or Knowledge,’ is the term used by way
of reproach to the Jains, having the import of magician. Their opponents
believe them to be possessed of supernatural skill; and it is recorded of the
celebrated Amara, author of the Kosa or dictionary called after him, that he
“made the full moon appear on Amavas”—the ides of the
month, when the planet is invisible.
.fn-
.fn 4.19.41
Khadatara signifies ‘true’ [?], an epithet of distinction which was
bestowed by that great supporter of the Buddhists or Jains, Siddharaj, king
of Anhilwara Patan, on one of the branches (gachchha), in a grand religious
disputation (badha) at that capital in the eleventh century. The celebrated
Hemacharya was head of the Khadatara-gachchha; and his spiritual
descendant honoured Udaipur with his presence in his visit to his dioceses
in the desert in 1821. My own Yati tutor was a disciple of Hemacharya,
and his pattravali, or pedigree, registered his descent by spiritual successions
from him. [For the Jain gachchhas see Bühler, The Indian Sect of the
Jainas, 77 ff. As usual, the author confounds Jains with Buddhists.]
This pontiff was a man of extensive learning and of estimable character.
He was versed in all the ancient inscriptions, to which no key now exists,
and deciphered one for me which had been long unintelligible. His travelling
library was of considerable extent, though chiefly composed of works
relating to the ceremonies of his religion: it was in the charge of two of his
disciples remarkable for talent, and who, like himself, were perfectly acquainted
with all these ancient characters. The pontiff kindly permitted
my Yati to bring for my inspection some of the letters of invitation written
by his flocks in the desert. These were rolls, some of them several feet in
length, containing pictured delineations of their wishes. One from Bikaner
represented that city, in one division of which was the school or college of
the Jains, where the Yatis were all portrayed at their various studies. In
another part, a procession of them was quitting the southern gate of the
city, the head of which was in the act of delivering a scroll to a messenger,
while the pontiff was seen with his cortège advancing in the distance. To
show the respect in which these high priests of the Jains are held, the princes
of Rajputana invariably advance outside the walls of their capital to receive
and conduct them to it—a mark of respect paid only to princes. On the
occasion of the high priest of the Khadataras passing through Udaipur, as
above alluded to, the Rana received him with every distinction.
.fn-
.fn 4.19.42
So called from the town of Osi or Osian, in Marwar [about 30 miles N.
of Jodhpur city].
.fn-
.fn 4.19.43
Palitana, or ‘the abode of the Pali’ [?], is the name of the town at the
foot of the sacred mount Satrunjaya (signifying ‘victorious over the foe’),
on which the Jain temples are sacred to Buddhiswara, or the ‘Lord of the
Buddhists’ [?]. I have little doubt that the name of Palitana is derived from
the pastoral (pali) Scythic invaders bringing the Buddhist faith in their train—a
faith which appears to me not indigenous to India [?]. Palestine, which,
with the whole of Syria and Egypt, was ruled by the Hyksos or Shepherd
kings, who for a season expelled the old Coptic race, may have had a similar
import to the Palitana founded by the Indo-Scythic Pali. The Author visited
all these sacred mounts. [The Author describes Pālitāna in WI, 274 ff.;
see also BG, viii. 603 f. All this confusion between Buddhists and Jains and
the suggested derivation, in which the Author unfortunately relied on Wilford
(Asiatic Researches, iii. 72 ff., viii. 321), are out of date.]
.fn-
Absence of Intolerance.—The period of sectarian intolerance
is now past; and as far as my observation goes, the ministers of
Vishnu, Siva, and Buddha view each other without malignity;
which feeling never appears to have influenced the laity of either
sect, who are indiscriminately respectful to the ministers of all
religions, whatever be their tenets. It is sufficient that their
office is one of sanctity, and that they are ministers of the Divinity,
who, they say, excludes the homage of none, in whatever tongue
or whatever manner he is sought; and with this spirit of entire
toleration, the devout missionary, or Mulla, would in no country
meet more security or hospitable courtesy than among the
Rajputs. They must, however, adopt the toleration they would
find practised towards themselves, and not exclude, as some of
them do, the races of Surya and Chandra from divine mercy, who,
with less arrogance, and more reliance on the compassionate
nature of the Creator, say, he has established a variety of paths
by which the good may attain beatitude.
Mewar has, from the most remote period, afforded a refuge to
.bn 049.png
.pn +1
the followers of the Jain faith, which was the religion of Valabhi,
the first capital of the Rana’s ancestors, and many monuments
attest the support this family has granted to its \[520] professors
in all the vicissitudes of their fortunes. One of the best preserved
monumental remains in India is a column most elaborately
sculptured, full seventy feet in height, dedicated to Parsvanath,
in Chitor.[4.19.44] The noblest remains of sacred architecture, not in
Mewar only, but throughout Western India, are Buddhist or
Jain:[4.19.45] and the many ancient cities where this religion was
fostered, have inscriptions which evince their prosperity in these
countries, with whose history their own is interwoven. In fine,
the necrological records of the Jains bear witness to their having
occupied a distinguished place in Rajput society; and the
privileges they still enjoy, prove that they are not overlooked.
It is not my intention to say more on the past or present history
of these sectarians, than may be necessary to show the footing
on which their establishments are placed; to which end little is
required beyond copies of a few simple warrants and ordinances
in their favour.[4.19.46] Hereafter I may endeavour to add something
to the knowledge already possessed of these deists of Rajasthan,
whose singular communities contain mines of knowledge hitherto
inaccessible to Europeans. The libraries of Jaisalmer in the
desert, of Anhilwara, the cradle of their faith, of Cambay, and
other places of minor importance, consist of thousands of volumes.
These are under the control, not of the priests alone, but of
communities of the most wealthy and respectable amongst the
laity, and are preserved in the crypts of their temples, which
precaution ensured their preservation, as well as that of the
statues of their deified teachers, when the temples themselves
were destroyed by the Muhammadan invaders, who paid more
deference to the images of Buddha than those of Siva or Vishnu.
The preservation of the former may be owing to the natural
formation of their statues; for while many of Adinath, of Nemi,
and of Parsva have escaped the hammer, there is scarcely an
.bn 050.png
.pn +1
Apollo or a Venus, of any antiquity, entire, from Lahore to
Rameswaram. The two arms of these theists sufficed for their
protection; while the statues of the polytheists have met with
no mercy.
.fn 4.19.44
[The Kīrtti-Stambha, erected by a merchant named Jīja in the twelfth
century A.D., and dedicated to Ādināth, the first Jain Tīrthakara (Fergusson,
Hist. Indian Architecture, ii. 57 ff.; Erskine ii. A. 104).]
.fn-
.fn 4.19.45
[Buddhism and Jainism are again confused. For Buddhist remains in
Rājputāna see IGI, xxi. 103.]
.fn-
.fn 4.19.46
See Appendix to this Part [p. #645#].
.fn-
Grant of Rāna Rāj Singh.—No. V.[4.19.47] is the translation of a
grant by the celebrated Rana Raj Singh, the gallant and successful
opponent of Aurangzeb in many a battle. It is at once of a
general and special nature, containing a confirmation of the old
privileges of the sect, and a mark of favour to a priest of some
distinction, called Mana. It is well known \[521] that the first
law of the Jains, like that of the ancient Athenian lawgiver
Triptolemus, is, “Thou shalt not kill,” a precept applicable to
every sentient thing. The first clause of this edict, in conformity
thereto, prohibits all innovation upon this cherished principle;
while the second declares that even the life which is forfeited to
the laws is immortal (amara) if the victim but passes near their
abodes. The third article defines the extent of saran, or sanctuary,
the dearest privilege of the races of these regions. The
fourth article sanctions the tithes, both on agricultural and
commercial produce; and makes no distinction between the
Jain priests and those of Siva and Vishnu in this source of income,
which will be more fully detailed in the account of Nathdwara.
The fifth article is the particular gift to the priest; and the whole
closes with the usual anathema against such as may infringe the
ordinance.
.fn 4.19.47
See Appendix to this part [p. #645#].
.fn-
The Jain Retreat.—The edicts Nos. VI. and VII.,[4.19.48] engraved
on pillars of stone in the towns of Rasmi and Bakrol, further
illustrate the scrupulous observances of the Rana’s house towards
the Jains; where, in compliance with their peculiar doctrine,
the oil-mill and the potter’s wheel suspend their revolutions for
the four months in the year when insects most abound.[4.19.49] Many
others of a similar character could be furnished, but these remarks
may be concluded with an instance of the influence of the Jains
on Rajput society, which passed immediately under the Author’s
.bn 051.png
.pn +1
eye. In the midst of a sacrifice to the god of war, when the
victims were rapidly falling by the scimitar, a request preferred
by one of them for the life of a goat or a buffalo on the point of
immolation, met instant compliance, and the animal, become
amara or immortal, with a garland thrown round his neck, was
led off in triumph from the blood-stained spot.
.fn 4.19.48
See Appendix to this article [p. #646#].
.fn-
.fn 4.19.49
[This is the Pachusan, the four months of Jain retreat, the Vassa or
Vassavāsa of the Buddhists. It was held in the rainy season, during
which travelling was forbidden, in order to avoid injury to the insect life
which abounds at this time (BG, ix. Part i. 113 f.; Kern, Manual of Indian
Buddhism, 80 f.).]
.fn-
Nāthdwāra.—This is the most celebrated of the fanes of the
Hindu Apollo. Its etymology is ‘the portal (dwara) of the god’
(nath), of the same import as his more ancient shrine of Dwarka[4.19.50]
at the ‘world’s end.’ Nathdwara is twenty-two [thirty] miles
N.N.E. of Udaipur, on the right bank of the Banas. Although
the principal resort of the followers of Vishnu, it has nothing
very remarkable in its structure or situation. It owes its celebrity
entirely to the image of Krishna, said to \[522] be the same that
has been worshipped at Mathura ever since his deification, between
eleven and twelve hundred years before Christ.[4.19.51] As
containing the representative of the mildest of the gods of Hind,
Nathdwara is one of the most frequented places of pilgrimage,
though it must want that attraction to the classical Hindu which
the caves of Gaya, the shores of the distant Dwarka, or the
pastoral Vraj,[4.19.52] the place of the nativity of Krishna, present to
his imagination; for though the groves of Vindra,[4.19.53] in which
.bn 052.png
.pn +1
Kanhaiya disported with the Gopis, no longer resound to the
echoes of his flute; though the waters of the Yamuna[4.19.54] are daily
polluted with the blood of the sacred kine, still it is the holy land
of the pilgrim, the sacred Jordan of his fancy, on whose banks
he may sit and weep, as did the banished Israelite of old, the
glories of Mathura, his Jerusalem!
.fn 4.19.50
Dwarka is at the point called Jagat Khunt, of the Saurashtra peninsula.
Ka is the mark of the genitive case [?]: Dwarkanath would be the ‘gate
of the god’ [‘Lord of Dvārakā’].
.fn-
.fn 4.19.51
Fifty-seven descents are given, both in their sacred and profane genealogies,
from Krishna to the princes supposed to have been contemporary
with Vikramaditya. The Yadu Bhatti or Shama Bhatti (the Ahsham
Bhatti of Abu-l Fazl) [Āīn, ii. 339], draw their pedigree from Krishna
or Yadunath, as do the Jarejas of Cutch.
.fn-
.fn 4.19.52
With Mathura as a centre and a radius of eighty miles, describe a
circle: all within it is Vraj, which was the seat of whatever was refined in
Hinduism, and whose language, the Vraj-bhasha, was the purest dialect
of India. Vraj is tantamount to the land of the Suraseni, derived from
Sursen, the ancestor of Krishna, whose capital, Surpuri, is about fifty
miles south of Mathura on the Yamuna (Jumna). The remains of this
city (Surpuri) the Author had the pleasure of discovering. The province
of the Surseni, or Suraseni, is defined by Manu [Laws, ii. 19, vii. 193,
who calls them Surasenakas], and particularly mentioned by the historians
of Alexander.
.fn-
.fn 4.19.53
Vindravana, or the ‘forests of Vindra,’ in which were placed many
temples sacred to Kanhaiya, is on the Yamuna, a few miles above Mathura.
A pilgrimage to this temple is indispensable to the true votary of Krishna.
.fn-
.fn 4.19.54
This river is called the Kal Yamuna, or black Yamuna, and Kalidah
or the ‘black pool,’ from Kanhaiya having destroyed the hydra Kaliya
which infested it. Jayadeva calls the Yamuna ‘the blue daughter of the
sun.’
.fn-
It was in the reign of Aurangzeb that the pastoral divinity was
exiled from Vraj, that classic soil which, during a period of two
thousand eight hundred years, had been the sanctuary of his
worshippers. He had been compelled to occasional flights
during the visitations of Mahmud and the first dynasties of Afghan
invaders; though the more tolerant of the Mogul kings not only
reinstated him, but were suspected of dividing their faith between
Kanhaiya and the prophet. Akbar was an enthusiast in the
mystic poetry of Jayadeva, which paints in glowing colours the
loves of Kanhaiya and Radha, in which lovely personification
the refined Hindu abjures all sensual interpretation, asserting
its character of pure spiritual love.[4.19.55]
.fn 4.19.55
[The popular worship of Krishna and Rādha is decidedly erotic.] It
affords an example of the Hindu doctrine of the Metempsychosis, as well
as of the regard which Akbar’s toleration had obtained him, to mention,
that they held his body to be animated by the soul of a celebrated Hindu
gymnosophist: in support of which they say he (Akbar) went to his accustomed
spot of penance (tapasya) at the confluence of the Yamuna and
Ganges, and excavated the implements, namely, the tongs, gourd, and
deer-skin, of his anchorite existence. [For the tale of Akbar and the
Brāhman Mukunda see Asiatic Researches, ix. 158.]
.fn-
The Mughals and Krishna Worship.—Jahangir, by birth half
a Rajput, was equally indulgent to the worship of Kanhaiya:
but Shah Jahan, also the son of a Rajput princess, inclined to
the \[523] doctrines of Siva, in which he was initiated by Siddhrup
the Sannyasi. Sectarian animosity is more virulent than faiths
totally dissimilar. Here we see Hindu depressing Hindu: the
followers of Siva oppressing those of Kanhaiya; the priests of
Jupiter driving the pastoral Apollo from the Parnassus of Vraj.
At the intercession, however, of a princess of Udaipur, he was
replaced on his altar, where he remained till Aurangzeb became
emperor of the Moguls. In such detestation did the Hindus hold
.bn 053.png
.pn +1
this intolerant king, that in like manner as they supposed the
beneficent Akbar to be the devout Mukund in a former birth,
so they make the tyrant’s body enclose the soul of Kalyavana
the foe of Krishna, ere his apotheosis, from whom he fled to
Dwarka, and thence acquired the name of Ranchhor.[4.19.56]
.fn 4.19.56
Ran, the ‘field of battle,’ chhor, from chhorna, ‘to abandon.’ Hence
Ranchhor, one of the titles under which Krishna is worshipped at Dwarka,
is most unpropitious to the martial Rajput. Kalyavana, the foe from
whom he fled, and who is figured as a serpent, is doubtless the Tak, the
ancient foe of the Yadus, who slew Janamejaya, emperor of the Pandus.
[Kālyavana has been identified with Gonanda I. of Kashmīr, but was more
probably one of the Bactrian chiefs of the Panjāb (Growse, Mathura, 3rd
ed. 56).]
.fn-
The Image of Krishna removed to Mewār. Founding of
Nāthdwāra.—When Aurangzeb proscribed Kanhaiya, and
rendered his shrines impure throughout Vraj, Rana Raj Singh
“offered the heads of one hundred thousand Rajputs for his
service,” and the god was conducted by the route of Kotah and
Rampura to Mewar. An omen decided the spot of his future
residence. As he journeyed to gain the capital of the Sesodias
the chariot-wheel sunk deep into the earth and defied extrication;
upon which the Saguni (augur) interpreted the pleasure of the
god, that he desired to dwell there. This circumstance occurred
at an inconsiderable village called Siarh, in the fief of Delwara,
one of the sixteen nobles of Mewar. Rejoiced at this decided
manifestation of favour, the chief hastened to make a perpetual
gift of the village and its lands, which was speedily confirmed by
the patent of the Rana.[4.19.57] Nathji (the god) was removed from
his car, and in due time a temple was erected for his reception,
when the hamlet of Siarh became the town of Nathdwara, which
now contains many thousand inhabitants of all denominations,
who, reposing under the especial protection of the god, are exempt
from every mortal tribunal. The site is not uninteresting, nor
devoid of the means of defence. To the east it is shut in by a
cluster of hills, and to the westward flows the Banas, which nearly
bathes the extreme points of the hills. Within these bounds is
the sanctuary (saran) of Kanhaiya, where the criminal is free from
pursuit; nor dare the rod of justice appear on the mount, or the
foot of the pursuer pass the stream; neither within it can blood
be spilt, for the pastoral Kanhaiya delights not in offerings of
.bn 054.png
.pn +1
this kind \[524].[4.19.58] The territory contains within its precincts
abundant space for the town, the temple, and the establishments
of the priests, as well as for the numerous resident worshippers,
and the constant influx of votaries from the most distant regions,
.pm start_poem
From Samarcand, by Oxus, Temir’s throne,
Down to the golden Chersonese,
.pm end_poem
who find abundant shelter from the noontide blaze in the groves
of tamarind, pipal, and semal,[4.19.59] where they listen to the mystic
hymns of Jayadeva. Here those whom ambition has cloyed,
superstition unsettled, satiety disgusted, commerce ruined, or
crime disquieted, may be found as ascetic attendants on the
mildest of the gods of India. Determined upon renouncing the
world, they first renounce the ties that bind them to it, whether
family, friends, or fortune, and placing their wealth at the disposal
of the deity, stipulate only for a portion of the food dressed for
him, and to be permitted to prostrate themselves before him till
their allotted time is expired. Here no blood-stained sacrifice
scares the timid devotee; no austerities terrify, or tedious ceremonies
fatigue him; he is taught to cherish the hope that he has
only to ask for mercy in order to obtain it; and to believe that
the compassionate deity who guarded the lapwing’s nest[4.19.60] in the
.bn 055.png
.pn +1
midst of myriads of combatants, who gave beatitude to the
courtesan[4.19.61] who as the wall crushed her pronounced the name of
‘Rama,’ will not withhold it from him who has quitted the
world and its allurements that he may live only in his presence,
be fed by the food prepared for himself, and yield up his last sigh
invoking the name of Hari. There \[525] have been two hundred
individuals at a time, many of whom, stipulating merely for food,
raiment, and funeral rites, have abandoned all to pass their days
in devotion at the shrine: men of every condition, Rajput
merchant, and mechanic; and where sincerity of devotion is the
sole expiation, and gifts outweigh penance, they must feel the
road smooth to the haven of hope.
.fn 4.19.57
See Appendix to this Part, No. #VIII:a4.20.8# [p. #647#].
.fn-
.fn 4.19.58
[The right of sanctuary was maintained until quite recent times
(Erskine ii. A. 120).]
.fn-
.fn 4.19.59
The cotton tree, Bombax malabaracum, which grows to an immense
height.
.fn-
.fn 4.19.60
Whoever has unhooded the falcon at a lapwing, or even scared one
from her nest, need not be told of its peculiarly distressing scream, as if
appealing to sympathy. The allusion here is to the lapwing scared from
her nest, as the rival armies of the Kurus and Pandus joined in battle,
when the compassionate Krishna, taking from an elephant’s neck a war-bell
(viraghanta), covered the nest, in order to protect it. When the majority
of the feudal nobles of Marwar became self-exiled, to avoid the almost
demoniac fury of their sovereign, since his alliance with the British Government,
Anar Singh, the chief of Ahor, a fine specimen of the Rathor Rajput,
brave, intelligent, and amiable, was one day lamenting, that while all India
was enjoying tranquillity under the shield of Britain, they alone were
suffering from the caprice of a tyrant; concluding a powerful appeal to
my personal interposition with the foregoing allegory, and observing on
the beauty of the office of mediator: “You are all-powerful,” added he,
“and we may be of little account in the grand scale of affairs; but Krishna
condescended to protect even the lapwing’s egg in the midst of battle.”
This brave man knew my anxiety to make their peace with their sovereign,
and being acquainted with the allegory, I replied with some fervour, in
the same strain, “Would to God, Thakur Sahib, I had the viraghanta to
protect you.” The effect was instantaneous, and the eye of this manly
chieftain, who had often fearlessly encountered the foe in battle, filled
with tears as, holding out his hand, he said, “At least you listen to our
griefs, and speak the language of friendship. Say but the word, and you
may command the services of twenty thousand Rathors.” There is,
indeed, no human being more susceptible of excitement, and, under it, of
being led to any desperate purpose, whether for good or for evil, than the
Rajput.
.fn-
.fn 4.19.61
Chand, the bard, gives this instance of the compassionate nature of
Krishna, taken, as well as the former, from the Mahabharata. [On Krishna
worship see J. Kennedy, JRAS, October 1907, p. 960 ff.]
.fn-
Benefactions to Nāthdwāra.—The dead stock of Krishna’s
shrine is augmented chiefly by those who hold life “unstable as
the dew-drop on the lotus”; and who are happy to barter “the
wealth of Ormuz and of Ind” for the intercessional prayers of the
high priest, and his passport to Haripur, the heaven of Hari.
From the banks of the Indus to the mouths of the Ganges, from
the coasts of the Peninsula to the shores of the Red Sea, the gifts
of gratitude or of fear are lavishly poured in; and though the
unsettled aspect of the last half-century curtailed the transmission
of the more bulky but least valuable benefactions, it less affected
the bills of exchange from the successful sons of commerce, or
the legacies of the dead. The safe arrival of a galleon from
Sofala or Arabia produced as much to the shrine as to the insurance
office, for Kanhaiya is the Saint Nicholas of the Hindu
navigator, as was Apollo to the Grecian and Celtic sailors, who
purchased the charmed arrows of the god to calm the troubled
.bn 056.png
.pn +1
sea.[4.19.62] A storm accordingly yields in proportion to its violence,
or to the nerve of the owner of the vessel. The appearance of a
long-denied heir might deprive him of half his patrimony, and
force him to lament his parent’s distrust in natural causes; while
the accidental mistake of touching forbidden food on particular
fasts requires expiation, not by flagellation or seclusion, but by
the penance of the purse.
.fn 4.19.62
Near the town of Avranches, on the coast of Normandy, is a rock
called Mont St. Michel, in ancient times sacred to the Galli or Celtic Apollo,
or Belenus; a name which the author from whom we quote observes,
“certainly came from the East, and proves that the littoral provinces of
Gaul were visited by the Phoenicians.”—“A college of Druidical priestesses
was established there, who sold to seafaring men certain arrows endowed
with the peculiar virtue of allaying storms, if shot into the waves by a
young mariner. Upon the vessel arriving safe, the young archer was
sent by the crew to offer thanks and rewards to the priestesses. His presents
were accepted in the most graceful manner; and at his departure the fair
priestesses, who had received his embraces, presented to him a number of
shells, which afterwards he never failed to use in adorning his person”
(Tour through France).
When the early Christian warrior consecrated this mount to his protector
St. Michel, its name was changed from Mons Jovis (being dedicated
to Jupiter) to Tumba, supposed from tumulus, a mound; but as the Saxons
and Celts placed pillars on all these mounts, dedicated to the Sun-god
Belenus, Bal, or Apollo, it is not unlikely that Tumba is from the Sanskrit
thambha, or sthambha, ‘a pillar’ [?].
.fn-
There is no donation too great or too trifling for the acceptance
of Krishna, from the baronial estate to a patch of meadowland;
from the gemmed coronet to adorn his image, to the widow’s
mite; nor, as before observed, is there a principality \[526] in
India which does not diminish its fisc to add to his revenues.
What effect the milder rites of the shepherd-god have produced
on the adorers of Siva we know not, but assuredly Eklinga, the
tutelary divinity of Mewar, has to complain of being defrauded
of half his dues since Kanhaiya transferred his abode from the
Yamuna to the Banas; for the revenues assigned to Kanhaiya,
who under the epithet of ‘Yellow mantle’[4.19.63] has a distinguished
niche in the domestic chapel of the Rana, far exceed those of the
Avenger. The grants or patents of Hindupati,[4.19.64] defining the
.bn 057.png
.pn +1
privileges and immunities of the shrine, are curious documents.[4.19.65]
.fn 4.19.63
[Pītāmbara.]
.fn-
.fn 4.19.64
Hindupati, vulgo Hindupat, ‘chief of the Hindu race,’ is a title justly
appertaining to the Ranas of Mewar. It has, however, been assumed by
chieftains scarcely superior to some of his vassals, though with some degree
of pretension by Sivaji, who, had he been spared, might have worked the
redemption of his nation, and of the Rana’s house, from which he sprung.
.fn-
.fn 4.19.65
See Appendix to this paper, Nos. #IX:a4.20.9#. and #X:a4.20.10#. [p. #647#].
.fn-
Rights of Sanctuary.—The extension of the sanctuary beyond
the vicinage of the shrine became a subject of much animadversion;
and in delegating judicial authority over the whole of the
villages in the grant to the priests, the Rana committed the
temporal welfare of his subjects to a class of men not apt to be
lenient in the collection of their dues, which not unfrequently led
to bloodshed. In alienating the other royalties, especially the
transit duties, he was censured even by the zealots. Yet, however
important such concessions, they were of subordinate value
to the rights of sanctuary, which were extended to the whole of
the towns in the grant, thereby multiplying the places of refuge
for crime, already too numerous.
Violation of Sanctuary.—In all ages and countries the rights
of sanctuary have been admitted, and however they may be
abused, their institution sprung from humane motives. To
check the impulse of revenge and to shelter the weak from oppression
are noble objects, and the surest test of a nation’s independence
is the extent to which they are carried. From the remotest
times saran has been the most valued privilege of the Rajputs,
the lowest of whom deems his house a refuge against the most
powerful. But we merely propose to discuss the sanctuary of
holy places, and more immediately that of the shrine of Kanhaiya.
When Moses, after the Exodus, made a division of the lands of
Canaan amongst the Israelites, and appointed “six cities to be
the refuge of him who had slain unwittingly, from the avenger
of blood,”[4.19.66] the intention was not to afford facilities for eluding
justice, but to check the hasty impulse of revenge; for the slayer
was only to be protected “until he stood before the congregation
for judgment, or until the death of the high-priest” \[527],
which event appears to have been considered as the termination
of revenge.[4.19.67] The infraction of political sanctuary (saran torna)
.bn 058.png
.pn +1
often gives rise to the most inveterate feuds; and its abuse by
the priests is highly prejudicial to society. Moses appointed
but six cities of refuge to the whole Levite tribe; but the Rana
has assigned more to one shrine than the entire possessions of
that branch of the Israelites who had but forty-two cities, while
Kanhaiya has forty-six.[4.19.68] The motive of sanctuary in Rajasthan
may have been originally the same as that of the divine legislator;
but the privilege has been abused, and the most notorious criminals
deem the temple their best safeguard. Yet some princes have
been found hardy enough to violate, though indirectly, the
sacred saran. Zalim Singh of Kotah, a zealot in all the observances
of religion, had the boldness to draw the line when selfish
priestcraft interfered with his police; and though he would not
demand the culprit, or sacrilegiously drag him from the altar,
he has forced him thence by prohibiting the admission of food,
and threatening to build up the door of the temple. It was
thus the Greeks evaded the laws, and compelled the criminal’s
surrender by kindling fires around the sanctuary.[4.19.69] The towns
of Kanhaiya did not often abuse their privilege; but the Author
once had to interpose, where a priest of Eklinga gave asylum
to a felon who had committed murder within the bounds of his
domain of Pahona. As this town, of eight thousand rupees
annual revenue belonging to the fisc, had been gained by a forged
charter, the Author was glad to seize on the occasion to recommend
its resumption, though he thereby incurred the penalty for seizing
church land, namely “sixty thousand years in hell.” The unusual
occurrence created a sensation, but it was so indisputably
just that not a voice was raised in opposition.
.fn 4.19.66
Numbers, chap. xxxv. 11, 12.
.fn-
.fn 4.19.67
Numbers, chap. xxxv. 25, and Joshua, chap. xx. 6. There was an
ancient law of Athens analogous to the Mosaic, by which he who committed
‘chance-medley’ should fly the country for a year, during which his relatives
made satisfaction to the relatives of the deceased. The Greeks had asyla
for every description of criminals, which could not be violated without
infamy. Gibbon [ed. W. Smith, iv. 377 f.] gives a memorable instance of
disregard to the sanctuary of St. Julian in Auvergne, by the soldiers of the
Frank king Theodoric, who divided the spoils of the altar, and made the
priests captives: an impiety not only unsanctioned by the son of Clovis,
but punished by the death of the offenders, the restoration of the plunder,
and the extension of the right of sanctuary five miles around the sepulchre
of the holy martyr.
.fn-
.fn 4.19.68
[The chief sanctuaries in Rājputāna are: Nāgor; Barli, a few miles
distant; Chaupāsni; Udaimandir and Mahmandir, close to Jodhpur. The
system is a serious obstacle to the detection of crime (General Hervey,
Some Records of Crime, i. 122 f., ii. 327 ff.).]
.fn-
.fn 4.19.69
[Smith, Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities, 3rd ed. i. 235.]
.fn-
Endowments of Nāthdwāra.—Let us revert to the endowments
of Nathdwara. Herodotus[4.19.70] furnishes a powerful instance of
.bn 059.png
.pn +1
the estimation in which sacred offerings were held by the nations
of antiquity. He observes that these were transmitted from the
remotest nations of Scythia to Delos in Greece; a range far less
extensive than the offerings to the \[528] Dewal of Apollo in
Mewar. The spices of the isles of the Indian archipelago; the
balmy spoils of Araby the blest; the nard or frankincense of
Tartary; the raisins and pistachios of Persia; every variety of
saccharine preparation, from the shakkarkhand (sugar-candy)
of the celestial empire, with which the god sweetens his evening
repast, to the more common sort which enters into the peras
of Mathura, the food of his infancy;[4.19.71] the shawls of Kashmir,
the silks of Bengal, the scarfs of Benares, the brocades of Gujarat,
.pm start_poem
... the flower and choice
Of many provinces from bound to bound,
.pm end_poem
all contribute to enrich the shrine of Nathdwara. But it is with
the votaries of the maritime provinces of India that he has most
reason to be satisfied; in the commercial cities of Surat, Cambay,
Muskat-mandavi, etc., etc., where the Mukhyas, or comptrollers
deputed by the high priest, reside, to collect the benefactions,
and transmit them as occasion requires. A deputy resides on
the part of the high priest at Multan, who invests the distant
worshippers with the initiative cordon and necklace. Even from
Samarkand the pilgrims repair with their offerings; and a sum,
seldom less than ten thousand rupees, is annually transmitted
by the votaries from the Arabian ports of Muscat, Mocha, and
Jiddah; which contribution is probably augmented not only
by the votaries who dwell at the mouths of the Volga[4.19.72] \[529],
.bn 060.png
.pn +1
but by the Samoyede[4.19.73] of Siberia. There is not a petty retailer
professing the Vishnu creed who does not carry a tithe of his
.bn 061.png
.pn +1
trade to the stores: and thus caravans of thirty and forty cars,
double-yoked, pass twice or thrice annually by the upper road
to Nathdwara. These pious bounties are not allowed to moulder
in the bhandars: the apparel is distributed with a liberal hand
as the gift of the deity to those who evince their devotion; and
the edibles enter daily into the various food prepared at the
shrine.
.fn 4.19.70
[iv. 33; L. R. Farnell, Cults of the Greek States, iv. 101 ff.]
.fn-
.fn 4.19.71
[Perā, a sweetmeat made of cream, sugar and spices, for which Mathura
is famous.]
.fn-
.fn 4.19.72
Pallas gives an admirable and evidently faithful account of the worship
of Krishna and other Hindu divinities in the city of Astrakhan, where a
Hindu mercantile colony is established. They are termed Multani, from
the place whence they migrated—Multan, near the Indus. This class of
merchants of the Hindu faith is disseminated over all the countries, from
the Indus to the Caspian: and it would have been interesting had the
professor given us any account of their period of settlement on the western
shore of the Caspian Sea. In costume and feature, as represented in the
plate given by that author, they have nothing to denote their origin; though
their divinities might be seated on any altar on the Ganges. The Multanis
of Indeskoi Dvor, or ‘Indian court,’ at Astrakhan, have erected a pantheon,
in which Krishna, the god of all Vaishnava merchants, is seated in front of
Jagannath, Rama, and his brothers, who stand in the background; while
Siva and his consort Ashtabhuja ‘the eight-armed,’ form an intermediate
line, in which is also placed a statue which Pallas denominates Murali;
but Pallas mistook the flute (murali) of the divine Krishna for a rod. The
principal figure we shall describe in his own words. “In the middle was
placed a small idol with a very high bonnet, called Gupaledshi. At its
right there was a large black stone, and on the left two smaller ones of the
same colour, brought from the Ganges, and regarded by the Hindus as
sacred. These fossils were of the species called Sankara, and appeared to
be an impression of a bivalve muscle.” Minute as is the description, our
judgment is further aided by the plate. Gupaledshi is evidently Gopalji,
the pastoral deity of Vraj (from gao, a cow, and pala, a herdsman). The
head-dress worn by him and all the others is precisely that still worn by
Krishna, in the sacred dance at Mathura: and so minute is the delineation
that even the pera or sugar-ball is represented, although the professor
appears to have been ignorant of its use, as he does not name it. He has
likewise omitted to notice the representation of the sacred mount of Govardhana,
which separates him from the Hindu Jove and the turreted Cybele
(Durga), his consort. The black stones are the Salagramas, worshipped
by all Vaishnavas. In the names of ‘Nhandigana and Gori,’ though
the first is called a lion saddled, and the other a male divinity, we easily
recognise Nandi, the bull-attendant (Gana) of Siva and his consort Gauri.
Were all travellers to describe what they see with the same accuracy as
Pallas, they would confer important obligations on society, and might
defy criticism. It is with heartfelt satisfaction I have to record, from the
authority of a gentleman who has dwelt amongst the Hindkis of Astrakhan,
that distance from their ancient abodes has not deteriorated their character
for uprightness. Mr. Mitchell, from whose knowledge of Oriental languages
the Royal Asiatic Society will some day derive benefit, says that the reputation
of these Hindu colonists, of whom there are about five hundred families,
stands very high, and that they bear a preference over all the merchants
of other nations settled in this great commercial city.
.fn-
.fn 4.19.73
Other travellers besides Pallas have described Hinduism as existing
in the remote parts of the Russian empire, and if nominal resemblances
may be admitted, we would instance the strong analogy between the Samoyedes
and Tchoudes of Siberia and Finland and the Syama Yadus and
Joudes of India [?]. The languages of the two former races are said to have
a strong affinity, and are classed as Hindu-Germanic by M. Klaproth, on
whose learned work, Asia Polyglotta, M. Rémusat has given the world an
interesting critique, in his Mélanges Asiatiques (tome i. p. 267), in which
he traces these tribes to Central Asia; thus approaching the land of the
Getae or Yuti. Now the Yutis and Yadus have much in their early history
to warrant the assertion of more than nominal analogy. The annals of
the Yadus of Jaisalmer state that long anterior to Vikrama they held
dominion from Ghazni to Samarkand: that they established themselves
in those regions after the Mahabharata, or great war; and were again
impelled, on the rise of Islamism, within the Indus. As Yadus of the race
of Sham or Syam (a title of Krishna), they would be Sama-Yadus; in like
manner as the Bhatti tribe are called Shama-bhatti, the Ahsham Bhatti of
Abu-l Fazl. The race of Joude was existing near the Indus in the Emperor
Babur’s time, who describes them as occupying the mountainous range
in the first Duab, the very spot mentioned in the annals of the Yadus as
their place of halt, on quitting India twelve centuries before Christ, and
thence called Jadu or Yadu-ka-dang, the ‘hills of Jadu or Yadu.’ The
peopling of all these regions, from the Indus to remote Tartary, is attributed
to the race of Ayu or Indu, both signifying the moon, of which are the
Haihayas, Aswas (Asi), Yadus, etc., who spread a common language over
all Western Asia. Amongst the few words of Hindu-Germanic origin which
M. Rémusat gives to prove affinity between the Finnish and Samoyede
languages is “Miel, Mod, dans le dialecte Caucasien, et Méd, en Slave,”
and which, as well as mead, the drink of the Scandinavian warrior, is from
the Sanskrit Madhu, a bee [honey]. Hence intoxicating beverage is termed
Madhva, which supplies another epithet for Krishna, Madhu or Madhava.
[These speculations possess no value.]
.fn-
Food offered to Deities.—It has been remarked by the celebrated
Goguet[4.19.74] that the custom of offering food to the object of divine
homage had its origin in a principle of gratitude, the repast being
deemed hallowed by presenting the first portion to him who
gave it, since the devotee was unable to conceive aught more
acceptable than that whereby life is sustained. From the earliest
period such offerings have been tendered; and in the burnt-offering
(hom) of Abel, of the firstling of the flock, and the first
portion of the repast presented by the Rajput to Annadeva[4.19.75]
‘the nourisher,’ the motive is the same. But the parsad (such
is the denomination of the food sacred to Kanhaiya) is deemed
unlucky, if not unholy; a prejudice arising from the heterogeneous
sources whence it is supplied—often from bequests of the dead.
The Mukhyas \[530] of the temple accordingly carry the sacred
food to wheresoever the votaries dwell, which proves an irresistible
stimulus to backward zeal, and produces an ample return. At
.bn 062.png
.pn +1
the same time are transmitted, as from the god, dresses of honour
corresponding in material and value with the rank of the receiver:
a diadem, or fillet of satin and gold, embroidered; a dagla, or
quilted coat of gold or silver brocade for the cold weather; a
scarf of blue and gold; or if to one who prizes the gift less for its
intrinsic worth than as a mark of special favour, a fragment of
the garland worn on some festival by the god; or a simple necklace,
by which he is inaugurated amongst the elect.[4.19.76]
.fn 4.19.74
Origin of Laws and Government.
.fn-
.fn 4.19.75
Literally ‘the giver of food.’
.fn-
.fn 4.19.76
Kanhaiya ka kantha bāndhna, ‘to bind on [the neck] the chaplet of
Kanhaiya,’ is the initiatory step.
.fn-
Lands dedicated to the Shrine.—It has been mentioned that
the lands of Mewar appropriated to the shrine are equal in value
to a baronial appanage, and, as before observed, there is not a
principality in India which does not assign a portion of its domain
or revenue to this object. The Hara princes of Kotah and Bundi
are almost exclusive worshippers of Kanhaiya, and the regent
Zalim Singh is devoted to the maintenance of the dignity of the
establishment. Everything at Kotah appertains to Kanhaiya.
The prince has but the usufruct of the palace, for which £12,000
are annually transmitted to the shrine. The grand lake east
of the town, with all its finny tenants, is under his especial protection;[4.19.77]
and the extensive suburb adjoining, with its rents,
lands, and transit duties, all belong to the god. Zalim Singh
moreover transmits to the high priest the most valuable shawls,
broadcloths, and horses; and throughout the long period of predatory
warfare he maintained two Nishans,[4.19.78] of a hundred firelocks
each, for the protection of the His favourite son
also, a child of love, is called Gordhandas, the ‘slave of Gordhan,’
one of the many titles of Kanhaiya. The prince of Marwar went
mad from the murder of the high priest of Jalandhara, the epithet
.bn 063.png
.pn +1
given to Kanhaiya in that State; and the Raja of Sheopur,[4.19.79]
the last of the Gaurs, lost his sovereignty by abandoning the
worship of Har for that of Hari. The ‘slave’ of Radha[4.19.80] (such
was the name of this prince) almost lived in the temple, and used
to dance before the statue. Had he upheld the rights of him
who wields \[531] the trident, the tutelary deity of his capital,
Sivapur, instead of the unwarlike divinity whose unpropitious
title of Ranchhor should never be borne by the martial Rajput,
his fall would have been more dignified, though it could not have
been retarded when the overwhelming torrent of the Mahrattas
under Sindhia swept Rajwara.[4.19.81]
.fn 4.19.77
I had one day thrown my net into this lake, which abounded with a
variety of fish, when my pastime was interrupted by a message from the
regent, Zalim Singh: “Tell Captain Tod that Kotah and all around it
are at his disposal; but these fish belong to Kanhaiya.” I, of course,
immediately desisted, and the fish were returned to the safeguard of the
deity. [The killing of fish at certain lakes and streams is forbidden on
account of their harmlessness (ahimsā), and thus naturally associated
with the cult of a gentle deity like Krishna, and because they are believed
to contain the spirits of the dead (Stein, Rājatarangini, i. 185; Crooke,
Things Indian, 221 ff.).]
.fn-
.fn 4.19.78
A Nishan, or standard, is synonymous with a company.
.fn-
.fn 4.19.79
Sheopur or Sivapur, the city of Sheo or Siva, the god of war, whose
battle-shout is Har; and hence one of Vishnu’s epithets, as Hari is that of
Krishna or Kanhaiya.
.fn-
.fn 4.19.80
Radha was the name of the chief of the Gopis or nymphs of Vraj, and
the beloved of Kanhaiya.
.fn-
.fn 4.19.81
In October 1807 I rambled through all these countries, then scarcely
known by name to us. At that time Sheopur was independent, and its
prince treated me with the greatest hospitality. In 1809 I witnessed its
fall, when following with the embassy in the train of the Mahratta leader.
[It is now included in the Gwalior State (IGI, xxii. 271 f.).]
.fn-
Grants to the High Priest.—A distinction is made between
the grants to the temple and those for the personal use of the
pontiff, who at least affects never to apply any portion of the
former to his own use, and he can scarcely have occasion to do
so; but when from the stores of Apollo could be purchased the
spices of the isles, the fruits of Persia, and the brocades of Gujarat,
we may indulge our scepticism in questioning this forbearance:
but the abuse has been rectified, and traffic banished from the
temple. The personal grant (Appendix, No. #XI:a4.20.11#.) to the high
priest ought alone to have sufficed for his household expenditure,
being twenty thousand rupees per annum, equal to £10,000 in
Europe. But the ten thousand towns of Mewar, from each of
which he levied a crown, now exist only in the old rent-roll, and
the heralds of Apollo would in vain attempt to collect their tribute
from two thousand villages.
The Appendix, No. #XII:a4.20.12#., being a grant of privileges to a minor
shrine of Kanhaiya, in his character of Muralidhar or ‘flute-player,’
contains much information on the minutiae of benefactions,
and will afford a good idea of the nature of these revenues.
Effects of Krishna-worship on the Rājputs.—The predominance
.bn 064.png
.pn +1
of the mild doctrines of Kanhaiya over the dark rites of Siva,
is doubtless beneficial to Rajput society. Were the prevention
of female immolation the sole good resulting from their prevalence,
that alone would conciliate our partiality; a real worshipper
of Vishnu should forbid his wife following him to the pyre, as
did recently the Bundi prince. In fact, their tenderness to
animal life is carried to nearly as great an excess as with the
Jains, who shed no blood. Celibacy is not imposed upon the
priests of Kanhaiya, as upon those of Siva: on the contrary,
they are enjoined to marry, and the priestly office is hereditary
by descent. Their wives do not burn, but are committed, like
themselves, to the earth. They inculcate tenderness towards
all beings; though whether this feeling influences the mass, must
depend on the soil which receives the seed, for the outward
ceremonies of religion cost far less effort than the practice or
essentials. I have often \[532] smiled at the incessant aspirations
of the Macchiavelli of Rajasthan, Zalim Singh, who, while he
ejaculated the name of the god as he told his beads, was inwardly
absorbed by mundane affairs; and when one word would have
prevented a civil war, and saved his reputation from the stain of
disloyalty to his prince, he was, to use his own words, “at fourscore
years and upwards, laying the foundation for another
century of life.” And thus it is with the prince of Marwar, who
esteems the life of a man or a goat of equal value when prompted
by revenge to take it. Hope may silence the reproaches of conscience,
and gifts and ceremonies may be deemed atonement for
a deviation from the first principle of their religion—a benevolence
which should comprehend every animated thing. But fortunately
the princely worshippers of Kanhaiya are few in number: it
is to the sons of commerce we must look for the effects of these
doctrines; and it is my pride and duty to declare that I have
known men of both sects, Vaishnava and Jain, whose integrity
was spotless, and whose philanthropy was unbounded.
.fm rend=th lz=th
.fm rend=th
.bn 065.png
.pn +1
.sp 4
.h3
CHAPTER 20
.sp 2
Krishna.—Hari, Krishna, familiarly Kanhaiya,[4.20.1] was of the
celebrated tribe of Yadu, the founder of the fifty-six tribes[4.20.2]
who obtained the universal sovereignty of India, and descended
from Yayati, the third son[4.20.3] of Swayambhuva Manu,[4.20.4] or ‘The
Man, Lord of the earth,’ whose daughter Ila[4.20.5] (Terra) was espoused
by Budha (Mercury), son of Chandra[4.20.6] (the Moon), whence the
Yadus are styled Chandravansi, or ‘children of the moon.’
Budha was therefore worshipped as the great \[533] ancestor
(Pitrideva) of the lunar race; and previous to the apotheosis of
Krishna, was adored by all the Yadu race. The principal shrine
of Budha was at Dwarka, where he still receives adoration as
Budha Trivikrama.[4.20.7] Kanhaiya lived towards the conclusion
of the brazen age, calculated to have been about 1100 to 1200
years before Christ.[4.20.8] He was born to the inheritance of Vraj,
.bn 066.png
.pn +1
the country of the Suraseni, comprehending the territory round
Mathura for a space of eighty miles, of which he was unjustly
deprived in his infancy by his relative Kansa. From its vicinity
to Delhi we may infer either that there was no lord paramount
amongst the Yadus of this period, or that Krishna’s family held
as vassals of Hastinapur, then, with Indraprastha or Delhi, the
chief seat of Yadu power. There were two princes named Surasen
amongst the immediate predecessors of Krishna: one, his grandfather,
the other eight generations anterior. Which of these
was the founder of Suryapur on the Yamuna, the capital of the
Yadus,[4.20.9] we know not, but we may assume that the first gave his
name to the region around Mathura, described by Arrian as the
country of the Suraseni. Alexander was in India probably about
eight centuries after the deification of Krishna, and it is satisfactory
to find that the inquiries he instituted into the genealogy
of the dynasty then ruling on the \[534] Yamuna correspond very
closely with those of the Yadus of this distant period; and combined
with what Arrian says of the origin of the Pandus, it appears
indisputable that the descendants of this powerful branch of the
Yadus ruled on the Yamuna when the Macedonian erected the
.bn 067.png
.pn +1
altars of Greece on the Indus. That the personage whose epithets
of Krishna-Syam designate his colour as ‘the Black Prince,’ was
in fact a distinguished chief of the Yadus, there is not a shadow
of doubt; nor that, after his death, they placed him among the
gods as an incarnation of Vishnu or the Sun; and from this period
we may induce the Hindu notion of their Trinity. Arrian[4.20.10]
enumerates the names of Boudyas ([Greek: Boudu/as]) and Kradeuas
([Greek: Kradeu/as]) amongst the early ancestors of the tribe then in
power, which would alone convince us that Alexander had access
to the genealogies of the Puranas; for we can have little hesitation
in affirming these to be Budha and Kroshti, ancestors of
Krishna; and that “Mathora and Cleisobora, the chief cities
of the Suraseni,” are the Mathura and Suryapur occupied by the
descendants of Sursen.[4.20.11] Had Arrian afforded as many hints for
discussing the analogy between the Hindu and Grecian Apollos
as he has for the Hercules of Thebes and India, we might have
come to a conclusion that the three chief divinities[4.20.12] of Egypt,
Greece, and India had their altars first erected on the Indus,
Ganges, and Jumna.
.fn 4.20.1
[Derived, through the Prākrit, from Krishna.]
.fn-
.fn 4.20.2
Chhappan kula Yadava.
.fn-
.fn 4.20.3
Qu. Japhet? [?].
.fn-
.fn 4.20.4
Also called Vaivaswata Manu—‘the man, son of the sun.’
.fn-
.fn 4.20.5
Ila, the earth—the Saxon Ertha. The Germans chiefly worshipped
Tuisco or Teutates and Ertha, who are the Budha or Ila of the Rajputs [?].
.fn-
.fn 4.20.6
A male divinity with the Rajputs, the Tatars, and ancient Germans.
.fn-
.fn 4.20.7
‘Triple Energy’ [‘he who strides over the three worlds’], the Hermes
Triplex of the Egyptians. [There is no cult of Budha at Dwārka.]
.fn-
.fn 4.20.8
I shall here subjoin an extract of the rise and progress of Vaishnavism
as written at my desire by the Mukhya of the temple:
“Twenty-five years of the Dwapar (the brazen age) were yet unexpired,
when the incarnation (avatar) of Sri Krishna took place. Of these, eleven
were passed at Gokul,[4.20.8.A] and fourteen at Mathura. There he used to manifest
himself personally, especially at Govardhan. But when the Kaliyug (the
iron age) commenced, he retired to Dwarka, an island separated by the
ocean from Bharatkand,[4.20.8.B] where he passed a hundred years before he went
to heaven. In Samvat 937 (A.D. 881) God decreed that the Hindu faith
should be overturned, and that the Turushka[4.20.8.C] should rule. Then the
jizya, or capitation tax, was inflicted on the head of the Hindu. Their
faith also suffered much from the Jains and the various infidel (asura) sects
which abounded. The Jains were so hostile, that Brahma manifested
himself in the shape of Sankaracharya who destroyed them and their
religion at Benares. In Gujarat, by their magic, they made the moon
appear at Amavas.[4.20.8.D] Sankara foretold to its prince, Siddhraj,[4.20.8.E] the flood
then approaching, who escaped in a boat and fled to Toda, on which
occasion all the Vidyas[4.20.8.F] (magicians) in that country perished.” [For a
more correct version of Krishna’s legend see Growse, Mathura, 3rd ed.;
for Vaishnavism, R. G. Bhandarkar, “Vaisnavism, Saivism and Minor
Religious Systems,” in Grundriss Indo-Arischen Philologie und Altertumskunde,
1913.
.fn-
.fn 4.20.8.A
A small town in the Jumna, below Mathura. Hence one of Krishna’s
titles is Gokulnath, ‘Lord of Gokul.’
.fn-
.fn 4.20.8.B
The channel which separates the island of Dwarka from the mainland
is filled up, except in spring tides. I passed it when it was dry.
.fn-
.fn 4.20.8.C
We possess no record of the invasion of India in A.D. 881, by the Turki
tribes, half a century after Mamun’s expedition from Zabulistan against
Chitor, in the reign of Rawal Khuman [?].
.fn-
.fn 4.20.8.D
The ides of the month, when the moon is obscured.
.fn-
.fn 4.20.8.E
He ruled Samvat 1151 (A.D. 1095) to S. 1201 (A.D. 1145).
.fn-
.fn 4.20.8.F
Still used as a term of reproach to the Jains and Buddhists, in which,
and other points, as Ari (the foe, qu. Aria?), they bear a strong resemblance
to the followers of the Arian Zardusht, or Zoroaster. Amongst other
peculiarities, the ancient Persian fire-worshipper, like the present Jain,
placed a bandage over the mouth while worshipping.
.fn-
.fn 4.20.9
For an account of the discovery of the remains of this ancient city,
see Transactions of the Royal Asiatic Society, vol. i. p. 314.
.fn-
.fn 4.20.10
[Arrian, Indika, viii.]
.fn-
.fn 4.20.11
[Growse (Mathura, 279) suggests that Cleisobora is Krishnapura,
‘Krishna’s city.’]
.fn-
.fn 4.20.12
Hercules, Mercury, and Apollo; Balaram, Budha, and Kanhaiya.
.fn-
Sun and Moon Worship.—The earliest objects of adoration in
these regions were the sun and moon, whose names designated
the two grand races, Surya and Chandra of Indu. Budha, son
of Indu, married Ila, a grandchild of Surya, from which union
sprung the Indu race. They deified their ancestor Budha, who
continued to be the chief object of adoration until Krishna:
hence the worship of Balnath[4.20.13] and Budha[4.20.14] were coeval. That
the Nomadic tribes of Arabia, as well as those of Tartary and
India, adored the same objects, we learn from the earliest writers;
and Job, the probable contemporary of Hasti, the founder of the
first capital of the Yadus on the Ganges, boasts in the midst of
his griefs that he had always remained uncorrupted by the
Sabaeism which surrounded him. “If I beheld the sun when it
shined, or the moon walking in brightness, and my mouth had
kissed my hand, this also were an iniquity to be punished by the
.bn 068.png
.pn +1
judge, for I should have denied the \[535] God that is above.”[4.20.15]
That there were many Hindus who, professing a pure monotheism
like Job, never kissed the hand either to Surya or his herald
Budha, we may easily credit from the sublimity of the notions of
the ‘One God,’ expressed both by the ancients and moderns,
by poets and by princes, of both races;[4.20.16] but more especially by
the sons of Budha, who for ages bowed not before graven images,
and deemed it impious to raise a temple to
.pm start_poem
The Spirit in whose honour shrines are weak.
.pm end_poem
.ti 0
Hence the Jains, the chief sect of the Buddhists,[4.20.17] so called from
adoring the spirit (Jina), were untinctured with idolatry until
the apotheosis of Krishna,[4.20.18] whose mysteries superseded the
simpler worship of Budha. Neminath (the deified Nemi) was
the pontiff of Budha, and not only the contemporary of Krishna,
but a Yadu, and his near relation; and both had epithets denoting
their complexion; for Arishta, the surname of Nemi, has the
same import as Syam and Krishna, ‘the black,’ though the latter
is of a less Ethiopic hue than Nemi.[4.20.19] It was anterior to this
schism amongst the sons of Budha that the creative power was
degraded under sensual forms, when the pillar rose to Bal or
Surya in Syria and on the Ganges: and the serpent, “subtlest
beast of all the field,” worshipped as the emblem of wisdom
(Budha), was conjoined with the symbol of the creative power,
as at the shrine of Eklinga, where the brazen serpent is wreathed
round the lingam.[4.20.20] Budha’s descendants, the Indus, preserved
.bn 069.png
.pn +1
the Ophite sign of their race, when Krishna’s followers adopted
the eagle as his symbol. These, with the adorers of Surya, form
the three idolatrous classes of India, not confined to its modern
\[536] restricted definition, but that of antiquity, when Industhan
or Indu-Scythia extended from the Ganges to the Caspian. In
support of the position that the existing polytheism was unknown
on the rise of Vaishnavism, we may state, that in none of the
ancient genealogies do the names of such deities appear as proper
names in society, a practice now common; and it is even recorded
that the rites of magic, the worship of the host of heaven, and
of idols, were introduced from Kashmir, between the periods of
Krishna and Vikrama. The powers of nature were personified,
and each quality, mental and physical, had its emblem, which
the Brahmans taught the ignorant to adopt as realities, till the
pantheon become so crowded that life would be too short to
acquire even the nomenclature of their ‘thirty-three millions
of gods.’[4.20.21] No object was too high or too base, from the glorious
Orb to the Rampi, or paring-knife of the shoemaker. In illustration
of the increase of polytheism, I shall describe the seven forms
under which Krishna is worshipped, whose statues are established
in the various capitals of Rajasthan, and are occasionally brought
together at the festival of Annakuta at Nathdwara.
.fn 4.20.13
The ‘God Bal,’ the Vivifier, the Sun [?].
.fn-
.fn 4.20.14
Budha signifies ‘wisdom.’
.fn-
.fn 4.20.15
Job chap. xxxi. 26, 27, 28.
.fn-
.fn 4.20.16
Chand, the bard, after having separately invoked the three persons of
the Hindu triad, says that he who believes them distinct, “hell will be his
portion.”
.fn-
.fn 4.20.17
[The Jains were not a Buddhist sect.]
.fn-
.fn 4.20.18
A very curious cause was assigned by an eminent Jain priest for the
innovation of enshrining and worshipping the forms of the twenty-four
pontiffs: namely, that the worship of Kanhaiya, before and after the
apotheosis, became quite a rage amongst the women, who crowded his
shrines, drawing after them all the youth of the Jains; and that, in consequence,
they made a statue of Neminath to counteract a fervour that
threatened the existence of their faith. It is seldom we are furnished
with such rational reasons for religious changes.
.fn-
.fn 4.20.19
[Neminātha was the twenty-second Jain Tīrthakara or deified saint.
Arishta means ‘unhurt, perfect.’]
.fn-
.fn 4.20.20
It was the serpent (Budha) who ravished Ila, daughter of Ikshwaku,
the son of Manu, whence the distinctive epithet of his descendants in the
East, Manus, or men, the very tradition on an ancient sculptured column
in the south of India, which evidently points to the primeval mystery. In
Portici there is an exact lingam entwined with a brazen serpent, brought
from the temple of Isis at Pompeii: and many of the same kind, in mosaic,
decorate the floors of the dwelling-houses. But the most singular coincidence
is in the wreaths of lingams and the yoni over the door of the minor
temple of Isis at Pompeii; while on another front is painted the rape of
Venus by Mercury (Budha and Ila). The Lunar race, according to the
Puranas, are the issue of the rape of Ila by Budha. Aphah is a serpent in
Hebrew. Ahi and Sarpa are two of its many appellations in Sanskrit.
[These speculations are now obsolete.]
.fn-
.fn 4.20.21
Taintīs kror devata.
.fn-
The international wars of the Suryas and the Yadu races, as
described in the Ramayana and Mahabharata, are lost between
allegory and literal interpretation. The Suryas, or Saivas, were
depressed; and the Indus, who counted ‘fifty-six’ grand
tribes, under the appellations of Takshak, ‘serpent,’ Aswa,
‘horse,’ Sasa, ‘hare,’ etc., etc., had paramount sway. Krishna’s
schism produced a new type, that of the eagle, and the wars of
.bn 070.png
.pn +1
the schismatics were depicted under their respective emblems,
the eagle and serpent, of which latter were the Kauravas and
Takshaks,[4.20.22] the political adversaries of the Pandus, the relatives
of Krishna. The \[537] allegory of Krishna’s eagle pursuing the
serpent Budha, and recovering the books of science and religion
with which he fled, is an historical fact disguised: namely, that
of Krishna incorporating the doctrines of Budha with his own
after the expulsion of the sect from India. Dare we further
attempt to lift the veil from this mystery, and trace from the seat
of redemption of lost science its original source?[4.20.23] The Gulf of
Cutch, the point where the serpent attempted to escape, has been
from time immemorial to the present day the entrepôt for the
commerce of Sofala, the Red Sea, Egypt, and Arabia. There
.bn 071.png
.pn +1
Budha Trivikrama, or Mercury, has been and is yet invoked by
the Indian mariners, especially the pirates of Dwarka. Did
Budha or Mercury come from, or escape to the Nile? Is he the
Hermes of Egypt to whom the ‘four books of science,’ like the
four Vedas[4.20.24] of the Hindus, were sacred? The statues of Nemi,[4.20.25]
the representative of Budha, exactly resemble in feature the bust
of young Memnon.[4.20.26]
.fn 4.20.22
The Mahabharata records constant wars from ancient times amongst
the children of Surya (the sun), and the Tak or Takshak (serpent races).
The horse of the sun, liberated preparatory to sacrifice, by the father of
Rama, was seized by the Takshak Ananta; and Janamejaya, king of Delhi,
grandson of Pandu, was killed by one of the same race. In both instances
the Takshak is literally rendered the snake. The successor of Janamejaya
carried war into the seats of this Tak or serpent race, and is said to have
sacrificed 20,000 of them in revenge; but although it is specifically stated
that he subsequently compelled them to sign tributary engagements
(paenama), the Brahmans have nevertheless distorted a plain historical
fact by a literal and puerile interpretation. The Paraitakai (Mountain-Tak)
of Alexander were doubtless of this race, as was his ally Taxiles, which
appellation was titular, as he was called Omphis till his father’s death.
It is even probable that this name is the Greek [Greek: O)/phis], in which they recognized
the tribe of the Tak or Snake. Taxiles may be compounded of is,
‘lord or chief,’ sila, ‘rock or mountain,’ and Tak, ‘lord of the mountain
Tak,’ whose capital was in the range west of the Indus. We are indebted
to the Emperor Babur for the exact position of the capital of this celebrated
race, which he passed in his route of conquest. We have, however, an
intermediate notice of it between Alexander and Babur, in the early history
of the Yadu Bhatti, who came in conflict with the Taks on their expulsion
from Zabulistan and settlement in the Panjab. [The Paraitakai or Paraitakenai
have no connexion with Tāk or Takshak, the first part of the
name perhaps representing Skt. parvata, ‘a mountain,’ or pahār in the
modern dialect. They lived in the hill country between the rivers Oxus
and Jaxartes (McCrindle, Alexander, 57). Omphis represents the Āmbhi,
king of Taxila, a name supposed to mean ‘rock of the Tāk tribe’ (ibid. 413;
Smith, EHI, 60), or, more probably, ‘city of cut stone.’]
.fn-
.fn 4.20.23
The Buddhists appeared in this peninsula and the adjacent continent
was the cradle of Buddhism, and here are three of the ‘five’ sacred mounts
of their faith, i.e. Girnar, Satrunjaya and Abu. The Author purposes
giving, hereafter, an account of his journey through these classic regions.
[He refers to Jains; Buddhism arose in Bihār.]
.fn-
.fn 4.20.24
The Buddhists and Jains are stigmatized as Vidyavan, which, signifying
‘possessed of science,’ is interpreted ‘magician.’
.fn-
.fn 4.20.25
He is called Arishta-Nemi, ‘the black Nemi,’ from his complexion.
.fn-
.fn 4.20.26
[The connexion of Hindu with Egyptian beliefs is no longer admitted.]
.fn-
I have already observed that Krishna, before his own deification,
worshipped his great ancestor Budha; and his temple at
Dwarka rose over the ancient shrine of the latter, which yet
stands. In an inscription from the cave of Gaya their characters
are conjoined: “Hari who is Budha.” According to
Western mythology, Apollo and Mercury exchanged symbols,
the caduceus for the lyre; so likewise in India their characters
intermingle: and even the Saiva propitiates Hari as the mediator
and disposer of the ‘divine spark’ (jyoti) to its reunion with the
‘parent-flame’:—thus, like Mercury, he may be said to be the
conveyer of the souls of the dead. Accordingly in funeral
lamentation his name only is invoked, and Hari-bol! Hari-bol!
is emphatically pronounced by those conveying the corpse to its
final abode. The vahan (qu. the Saxon van?) or celestial car of
Krishna, in which the souls (ansa) of the just are conveyed to
Suryamandal, the ‘mansion of the sun,’ is painted like himself,
blue (indicative of space, or as Ouranos), with the eagle’s head;
and here he partakes of the Mercury of the \[538] Greeks, and of
Oulios, the preserver or saviour, one of the titles of Apollo at Delos.[4.20.27]
.fn 4.20.27
The Sun-god (Kan, according to Diodorus) is the Minos of the Egyptians.
The hieroglyphics at Turin represent him with the head of an ibis, or eagle,
with an altar before him, on which a shade places his offerings, namely, a
goose, cakes of bread, and flowers of the lotus, and awaits in humble attitude
his doom. In Sanskrit the same word means soul, goose, and swan [?], and
the Hindu poet is always punning upon it; though it might be deemed a
levity to represent the immaterial portion under so unclassical an emblem.
The lotus flowers are alike sacred to the Kan of the Egyptians as to Kanhaiya
the mediator of the Hindus, and both are painted blue and bird-headed.
The claims of Kanhaiya (contracted Kan) as the sun divinity of the Hindus
will be abundantly illustrated in the account of the festivals. [The above
theories are obsolete.]
.fn-
.bn 072.png
.pn +1
The Forms of Krishna.—The Tatar nations, who are all of
Indu race, like the Rajputs and German tribes, adored the moon
as a male divinity, and to his son, Budha, they assign the same
character of mediator. The serpent is alike the symbol of the
Budha of the Hindus, the Hermes of the Egyptians, and the
Mercury of Greece: and the allegory of the dragon’s teeth, the
origin of letters, brought by Cadmus from Egypt, is a version of
the Hindu fable of Kanhaiya (Apollo) wresting the Vedas (secrets)
from Budha or wisdom (Hermes), under his sign, the serpent or
dragon. We might still further elucidate the resemblance, and
by an analysis of the titles and attributes of the Hindu Apollo,
prove that from the Yamuna may have been supplied the various
incarnations of this divinity, which peopled the pantheons of
Egypt, Greece, and Rome. As Nomios, who attended the herds
of Admetus, we have Nonita,[4.20.28] the infantine appellation of
Kanhaiya, when he pastured the kine of Kesava in the woods
of Vindra, whence the ceremony of the sons of princes assuming
the crook, and on particular days tending the flocks.[4.20.29] As
Muralidhara, or the ‘flute-holder,’ Kanhaiya is the god of music;
and in giving him the shepherd’s reed instead of the vina or lyre,
we may conjecture that the simple bamboo (bans) which formed
the first flute (bansli) was in use before the chahtara,[4.20.30] the Grecian
cithara,[4.20.31] the first invented lyre of Apollo. Thus from the six-wired
.bn 073.png
.pn +1
instrument of the Hindus we have the Greek cithara, the
English cithern, and the Spanish guitar of modern \[539] days.
The Greeks, following the Egyptians, had but six notes, with
their lettered symbols; and it was reserved for the Italians to
add a seventh. Guido Aretine, a monk in the thirteenth century,
has the credit of this. I, however, believe the Hindus numbered
theirs from the heavenly bodies—the Sun, Moon, Mercury, Venus,
Mars, Jupiter, Saturn,—hence they had the regular octave, with
its semi-tones: and as, in the pruriency of their fancy, they
converted the ascending and descending notes into grahas, or
planetary bodies, so they may have added them to the harmonious
numbers, and produced the nauragini, their nine modes of music.[4.20.32]
Could we affirm that the hymns composed and set to music by
Jayadeva, nearly three thousand years ago,[4.20.33] and still chanted in
honour of the Apollo of Vraj, had been handed down with the
sentiments of these mystic compositions (and Sir W. Jones
sanctions the idea), we should say, from their simplicity, that
the musicians of that age had only the diatonic scale; but we
have every reason to believe, from the very elaborate character
of their written music, which is painful and discordant to the
ear from its minuteness of subdivision, that they had also the
chromatic scale, said to have been invented by Timotheus in the
time of Alexander, who might have carried it from the banks of
the Indus.
.fn 4.20.28
I do not mean to derive any aid from the resemblance of names, which
is here merely accidental. [Nonīta probably = Navanīta, ‘fresh butter,’
a dairy god (Macdonell-Keith, Vedic Index, i. 437).]
.fn-
.fn 4.20.29
When I heard the octogenarian ruler of Kotah ask his grandson,
“Bapalal, have you been tending the cows to-day?” my surprise was
converted into pleasure on the origin of the custom being thus classically
explained.
.fn-
.fn 4.20.30
From chha, ‘six,’ and tar, ‘a string or wire.’
.fn-
.fn 4.20.31
Strabo says the Greeks consider music as originating from Thrace
and Asia, of which countries were Orpheus, Musaeus, etc.; and that others
“who regard all Asia, as far as India, as a country sacred to Dionysus
(Bacchus), attribute to that country the invention of nearly all the science
of music. We perceive them sometimes describing the cithara of the
Asiatic, and sometimes applying to flutes the epithet of Phrygian. The
names of certain instruments, such as the nabla, and others likewise, are
taken from barbarous tongues.” This nabla of Strabo is possibly the tabla,
the small tabor of India. If Strabo took his orthography from the Persian
or Arabic, a single point would constitute the difference between the N (ن)
and the T (ﺕ). [The Arabic tabl, tabla, has no connexion with Greek
[Greek: na/bla], Hebrew nevel.]
.fn-
.fn 4.20.32
An account of the state of musical science amongst the Hindus of early
ages, and a comparison between it and that of Europe, is yet a desideratum
in Oriental literature. From what we already know of the science, it appears
to have attained a theoretical precision yet unknown to Europe, and that
at a period when even Greece was little removed from barbarism. The
inspirations of the bards of the first ages were all set to music; and the
children of the most powerful potentates sang the episodes of the great
epics of Valmiki and Vyasa. There is a distinguished member of the Royal
Asiatic Society, and perhaps the only one, who could fill up this hiatus;
and we may hope that the leisure and inclination of the Right Honourable Sir
Gore Ousely will tempt him to enlighten us on this most interesting point.
.fn-
.fn 4.20.33
[The lyrical drama of Jayadeva, Gītagovinda, dates from the twelfth
century A.D. (Macdonell, Hist. Sanskrit Literature, 344 f.).]
.fn-
The Rāsmandal Dance.—In the mystic dance, the Rasmandal,
yet imitated on the annual festival sacred to the sun-god Hari,
he is represented with a radiant crown in a dancing attitude,
playing on the flute to the nymphs encircling him, each holding
a musical instrument.
.bn 074.png
.pn +1
.pm start_poem
In song and dance about the sacred hill;
Mystical dance, which yonder starry sphere
Of planets and of fixed in all her wheels
Resembles nearest; mazes intricate,
Eccentric, intervolved, yet regular
Then most, when most irregular they seem;
And in their motions harmony divine
So smooths her charming tones that God’s own ear
Listens delighted.
Milton, Paradise Lost, Book v. 619-27.
.pm end_poem
.ti 0
These nymphs are also called the nauragini, from raga, a mode
of song over which each presides, and naurasa, or ‘nine passions,’
excited by the powers \[540] of harmony. May we not in this
trace the origin of Apollo and the sacred nine? In the manner
described above, the rasmandal is typical of the zodiacal phenomena;
and in each sign a musical nymph is sculptured in alto-relievo,
in the vaulted temples dedicated to the god,[4.20.34] or in secular
edifices by way of ornament, as in the triumphal column of
Chitor. On the festival of the Janam,[4.20.35] or ‘birth-day,’ there is
a scenic representation of Kanhaiya and the Gopis: when are
rehearsed in the mellifluous accents of the Ionic land of Vraj,
the songs of Jayadeva, as addressed by Kanhaiya to Radha and
her companions. A specimen of these, as translated by that
elegant scholar, Sir W. Jones, may not be considered inappropriate
here.
.fn 4.20.34
I have often been struck with a characteristic analogy in the sculptures
of the most ancient Saxon cathedrals in England and on the Continent,
to Kanhaiya and the Gopis. Both may be intended to represent divine
harmony. Did the Asi and Jits of Scandinavia, the ancestors of the Saxons,
bring them from Asia?
.fn-
.fn 4.20.35
[The Janamashtami, Krishna’s birthday, is celebrated on the 8th dark
half of Sāwan (July-August).]
.fn-
The Songs of Jayadeva.—I have had occasion to remark elsewhere,[4.20.36]
that the Rajput bards, like the heroic Scalds of the north,
lose no opportunity of lauding themselves; of which Jayadeva,
the bard of the Yadus, has set an eminent example in the opening
of ‘the songs of Govinda.’
.fn 4.20.36
Trans. Royal Asiatic Society, vol. i. p. 146.
.fn-
“If thy soul be delighted with the remembrance of Hari, or
sensible to the raptures of love, listen to the voice of Jayadeva,
whose notes are both sweet and brilliant.”
.bn 075.png
.il id=i630 fn=illo_0630.jpg w=400px ew=80%
.ca
KANHAIYA AND RĀDHA.
To face page 630.
.ca-
.bn 076.png
.bn 077.png
.pn +1
The poet opens the first interview of Krishna and Radha with
an animated description of a night in the rainy season, in which
Hari is represented as a wanderer, and Radha, daughter of the
shepherd Nanda, is sent to offer him shelter in their cot.[4.20.37] Nanda
thus speaks to Radha: “The firmament is obscured by clouds;
the woodlands are black with Tamala trees; that youth who
roves in the forest will be fearful in the gloom of night; go, my
daughter, bring the wanderer to my rustic mansion. Such was
the command of Nanda the herdsman, and hence arose the love
of Radha and Madhava.”[4.20.38]
.fn 4.20.37
[Rādha was daughter of Vrishabhānu.]
.fn-
.fn 4.20.38
Madho in the dialect of Vraj.
.fn-
The poet proceeds to apostrophize Hari, which the Hindu
bard terms rupaka, or ‘personal description’:
“Oh thou who reclinest on the bosom of Kamala, whose ears
flame with gems, and whose locks are embellished with sylvan
flowers; thou, from whom the \[541] day-star derived his effulgence,
who slewest the venom-breathing Kaliya, who beamedst
like a sun on the tribe of Yadu, that flourished like a lotus;
thou, who sittest on the plumage of Garuda, who sippest nectar
from the radiant lips of Padma, as the fluttering chakora drinks
the moonbeams; be victorious, O Hari.”
Jayadeva then introduces Hari in the society of the pastoral
nymphs of Vraj, whom he groups with admirable skill, expressing
the passion by which each is animated towards the youthful
prince with great warmth and elegance of diction. But Radha,
indignant that he should divide with them the affection she
deemed exclusively her own, flies his presence. Hari, repentant
and alarmed, now searches the forest for his beloved, giving vent
at each step to impassioned grief. “Woe is me! she feels a
sense of injured honour, and has departed in wrath. How will
she conduct herself? How will she express her pain in so long
a separation? What is wealth to me? What are numerous
attendants? What the pleasures of the world? How can I
invite thee to return? Grant me but a sight of thee, oh! lovely
Radha, for my passion torments me. O God of love! mistake
me not for Siva. Wound me not again. I love already but too
passionately; yet have I lost my beloved. Brace not thy bow,
thou conqueror of the world! My heart is already pierced by
arrows from Radha’s eyes, black and keen as those of the antelope.”
.bn 078.png
.pn +1
Radha relents and sends a damsel in quest of Hari, whom she
finds in a solitary arbour on the banks of the Yamuna. She
describes her mistress as animated by the same despair which
controls him:
“Her face is like a water-lily veiled in the dew of tears, and
her eyes are as moons eclipsed. She draws thy picture and
worships it, and at the close of every sentence exclaims, ‘O
Madhava, at thy feet am I fallen!’ Then she figures thee standing
before her: she sighs, she smiles, she mourns, she weeps.
Her abode, the forest—herself through thy absence is become
a timid roe, and love is the tiger who springs on her, like Yama,
the genius of death. So emaciated is her beautiful body, that
even the light garland which waves o’er her bosom is a load.
The palm of her hand supports her aching temple, motionless as
the crescent rising at eve. Thus, O divine healer, by the nectar
of thy love \[542] must Radha be restored to health; and if thou
refusest, thy heart must be harder than the thunder-stone.”[4.20.39]
.fn 4.20.39
We meet with various little philosophical phenomena used as similes
in this rhapsody of Jayadeva. These aërolites, mentioned by a poet the
contemporary of David and Solomon, are but recently known to the
European philosopher. [But one was worshipped at Rome in B.C. 204.]
.fn-
The damsel returns to Radha and reports the condition of
Hari, mourning her absence: “Even the hum of the bee distracts
him. Misery sits fixed in his heart, and every returning
night adds anguish to anguish.” She then recommends Radha
to seek him. “Delay not, O loveliest of women; follow the
lord of thy heart. Having bound his locks with forest flowers,
he hastens to yon arbour, where a soft gale breathes over the
banks of Yamuna, and there pronouncing thy name, he modulates
his divine reed. Leave behind thee, O friend, the ring which
tinkles on thy delicate ankle when thou sportest in the dance.
Cast over thee thy azure mantle and run to the shady bower.”
But Radha, too weak to move, is thus reported to Hari by
the same fair mediator: “She looks eagerly on all sides in hope
of thy approach: she advances a few steps and falls languid to
the ground. She weaves bracelets of fresh leaves, and looking
at herself in sport, exclaims, behold the vanquisher of Madhu!
Then she repeats the name of Hari, and catching at a dark blue
cloud,[4.20.40] strives to embrace it, saying, ‘It is my beloved who
approaches.’”
.fn 4.20.40
This is, in allusion to the colour of Krishna, a dark blue.
.fn-
.bn 079.png
.pn +1
Midnight arrives, but neither Hari nor the damsel returns,
when she gives herself up to the frenzy of despair, exclaiming:
“The perfidy of my friend rends my heart. Bring disease and
death, O gale of Malaya! receive me in thy azure wave, O sister
of Yama,[4.20.41] that the ardour of my heart may be allayed.”
.fn 4.20.41
The Indian Pluto; she is addressing the Yamuna.
.fn-
The repentant Hari at length returns, and in speech well
calculated to win forgiveness, thus pleads his pardon:
“Oh! grant me a draught of honey from the lotus of thy
mouth: or if thou art inexorable, grant me death from the
arrows of thine eyes; make thy arms my chains: thou art my
ornament; thou art the pearl in the ocean of my mortal birth!
Thine eyes, which nature formed like blue water-lilies, are become
through thy resentment like petals of the crimson lotus! Thy
silence affects me; oh! speak with the voice of music, and let
thy sweet accents allay my ardour” \[543].
“Radha with timid joy, darting her eyes on Govinda while she
musically sounded the rings of her ankles and the bells of her
zone,[4.20.42] entered the mystic bower of her beloved. His heart was
agitated by her sight, as the waves of the deep are affected by
the lunar orb.[4.20.43] From his graceful waist flowed a pale yellow
robe,[4.20.44] which resembled the golden dust of the water-lily scattered
over its blue petals.[4.20.45] His locks interwoven with blossoms, were
like a cloud variegated by the moonbeam. Tears of transport
gushed in a stream from the full eyes of Radha, and their watery
glances beamed on her best beloved. Even shame, which had
before taken its abode in their dark pupils, was itself ashamed,[4.20.46]
and departed when the fawn-eyed Radha gazed on the bright
face of Krishna.”
.fn 4.20.42
Thus the ancient statues do not present merely the sculptor’s fancy
in the zone of bells with which they are ornamented.
.fn-
.fn 4.20.43
This is a favourite metaphor with the bards of India, to describe the
alternations of the exciting causes of love; and it is yet more important
as showing that Jayadeva was the philosopher as well as the poet of nature,
in making the action of the moon upon the tides the basis of this beautiful
simile.
.fn-
.fn 4.20.44
This yellow robe or mantle furnishes another title of the Sun-god,
namely, Pitambara, typical of the resplendence which precedes his rising
and setting.
.fn-
.fn 4.20.45
It will be again necessary to call to mind the colour of Krishna, to
appreciate this elegant metaphor.
.fn-
.fn 4.20.46
This idea is quite new.
.fn-
.bn 080.png
.pn +1
The poet proceeds to describe Apollo’s bower on the sable
Yamuna, as ‘Love’s recess’; and sanctifies it as
.pm start_poem
... The ground
Where early Love his Psyche’s zone unbound.[4.20.47]
.pm end_poem
.fn 4.20.47
Childe Harold, Canto iii.
.fn-
In the morning the blue god aids in Radha’s simple toilet.
He stains her eye with antimony “which would make the blackest
bee envious,” places “a circle of musk on her forehead,” and
intertwines “a chaplet of flowers and peacock’s feathers in her
dark tresses,” replacing “the zone of golden bells.” The bard
concludes as he commenced, with an eulogium on the inspirations
of his muse, which it is evident were set to music. “Whatever
is delightful in the modes of music, whatever is graceful in the
fine strains of poetry, whatever is exquisite in the sweet art of
love, let the happy and wise learn from the songs of Jayadeva.”
The Rāsmandal Dance.—This mystic dance, the rasmandal,
appears analogous to the Pyrrhic dance, or the fire-dance of the
Egyptians. The movements of those who personate the deity
and his fair companions are full \[544] of grace, and the dialogue
is replete with harmony.[4.20.48] The Chaubes[4.20.49] of Mathura and Vindravana
have considerable reputation as vocalists; and the effect
of the modulated and deep tones of the adult blending with the
clear treble of the juvenile performers, while the time is marked
by the cymbal or the soothing monotony of the tabor, accompanied
occasionally by the murali or flute, is very pleasing.
.fn 4.20.48
The anniversary of the birth of Kanhaiya is celebrated with splendour
at Sindhia’s court, where the author frequently witnessed it, during a ten
years’ residence.
.fn-
.fn 4.20.49
The priests of Kanhaiya, probably so called from the chob or club with
which, on the annual festival, they assault the castle of Kansa, the tyrant
usurper of Krishna’s birthright, who, like Herod, ordered the slaughter of
all the youth of Vraj, that Krishna might not escape. These Chaubēs are
most likely the Sobii of Alexander, who occupied the chief towns of the
Panjab, and who, according to Arrian, worshipped Hercules (Hari-kul-es,
chief of the race of Hari), and were armed with clubs. The mimic assault
of Kansa’s castle by some hundreds of these robust church militants, with
their long clubs covered with iron rings, is well worth seeing. [The Chaubē
Brāhmans of Mathura do not take their name from Chob, ‘a club,’ but from
Skt. Chaturvedin, ‘learned in the four Vedas.’ By the Sobii the Author
means the Sibi or Sivaya, inhabiting a district between the Hydaspes and
the Indus (McCrindle, Alexander, 366). They have no possible connexion
with the Mathura Chaubēs.]
.fn-
.bn 081.png
.pn +1
Govardhana.—We have a Parnassus in Govardhana, from
which sacred hill the god derives one of his principal epithets,
Gordhan or Gordhannath, ‘God of the mount of wealth.’[4.20.50] Here
he first gave proofs of miraculous power, and a cave in this hill
was the first shrine, on his apotheosis, whence his miracles and
oracles were made known to the Yadus. From this cave (gupha)
is derived another of his titles—Guphnath, ‘Lord of the cave,’
distinct from his epithet Gopinath, ‘Lord of the Gopis,’[4.20.51] or pastoral
nymphs. On the annual festival held at Govardhana, the sacred
mount is purified with copious oblations of milk, for which all
the cows of the district are in requisition.
.fn 4.20.50
[Govardhana means ‘nourisher of cattle.’]
.fn-
.fn 4.20.51
[The title Guphanātha is not recorded.]
.fn-
Cave Worship of Krishna.—The worship of Krishna in ancient
days, like that of Apollo amongst the Greeks, was chiefly celebrated
in caves, of which there were many scattered over India. The
most remarkable were those of Govardhana in Vraj; Gaya in
Bihar; Gopnath on the shores of Saurashtra; and Jalandhara[4.20.52]
on the Indus. In these dark and mysterious retreats superstition
had her full influence over the votaries who sought the commands
and deprecated the wrath of the deity: but, as the Mukhya told
the author, “the age of oracles and miracles is past”; and the
new wheel, which was miraculously furnished each revolving
year to supply the place of that which first indicated his desire
to abide at Nathdwara, is no longer forthcoming. The old one,
which was the signal of his wish, is, however, preserved as a relic,
and greatly reverenced. The statue now worshipped at Nathdwara,
as the representative of ‘the god of the mount’ \[545], is
said to be the identical image raised in the cave of Govardhana,
and brought thence by the high priest Balba.[4.20.53]
.fn 4.20.52
Jalandhara on the Indus is described by the Emperor Babur as a
very singular spot, having numerous caves. The deity of the caves of
Jalandhara is the tutelary deity of the Prince of Marwar. [When the
body of Daksha was cut up, the breast fell at Jālandhar; the Daitya king,
Jālandhara, was crushed by Siva under the Jawālamukhi hill (Āīn, ii. 314 f.).]
.fn-
.fn 4.20.53
[Cave worship does not seem to be specially connected with the cult of
Krishna. The mention of the cave at Govardhan seems to refer to the
legend of Krishna protecting the people of Braj from a storm sent by Indra,
by holding the hill over them (Growse, op. cit. 60). The Gaya caves are
Buddhistic, and have no connexion with Krishna (IGI, xii. 198 f.).
Guphanāth does not seem to be a Krishna title, and the cave of Gopnāth
in Kāthiāwar is said to derive its name from Gopsinghji, a Gohil prince,
who reigned in the sixteenth century (BG, viii. 445).]
.fn-
.bn 082.png
.pn +1
Krishna a Dragon-Slayer.—As the destroyer of Kaliyanag,
‘the black serpent,’ which infested the waters of the Yamuna,
Kanhaiya has the character of the Pythic Apollo. He is represented
dragging the monster from the ‘black stream,’ and
bruising him with his foot. He had, however, many battles with
his hydra-foe ere he vanquished him, and he was once driven by
Kalayavana from Vraj to Dwarka, whence his title of Ranchhor.
Here we have the old allegory of the schismatic wars of the
Buddhists and Vaishnavas.
Parallels to Krishna in other Mythologies.—Diodorus informs
us that Kan was one of the titles of the Egyptian Apollo as the
sun; and this is the common contraction for Kanhaiya, whose
colour is a dark cerulean blue (nila): and hence his name Nilanath,
who, like the Apollo of the Nile, is depicted with the human
form and eagle-head, with a lotus in his hand. S and H are permutable
letters in the Bhakha, and Syam or Sham, the god of the
Yamuna, may be the Ham or Hammon of Egypt. Hari accompanied
Rama to Lanka, as did the Egyptian Apollo, Rameses-Sesostris,
on his expedition to India: both were attended in their
expedition by an army of Satyrs, or tribes bearing the names of
different animals: and as we have the Aswas, the Takshaks, and
the Sasas of the Yadu tribes, typified under the horse, the serpent,
and the hare, so the races of Surya, of which Rama was the head,
may have been designated Riksh and Hanuman, or bears and
monkeys. The distance of the Nile from the Indian shore forms
no objection; the sail spread for Ceylon could waft the vessel
to the Red Sea, which the fleets of Tyre, of Solomon, and Hiram
covered about this very time. That the Hindus navigated the
ocean from the earliest ages, the traces of their religion in the
isles of the Indian archipelago sufficiently attest; but on this
subject we have already said enough.
The coincidence between the most common epithets of the
Apollos of Greece and India, as applied to the sun, are peculiarly
striking. Hari, as Bhannath, ‘the lord of beams,’ is Phoebus,
and his heaven is Haripur (Heliopolis), or ‘city of Hari.’[4.20.54] Helios
([Greek: Ê(/lios]) was a title of Apollo, whence the Greeks had their
.bn 083.png
.pn +1
Elysium, the Haripur or Bhanthan (the abode of the sun), the
highest of the \[546] heavens or abodes of bliss of the martial
Rajput. Hence the eagle (the emblem of Hari as the sun)[4.20.55] was
adopted by the western warrior as the symbol of victory.
.fn 4.20.54
“In Hebrew heres signifies the sun, but in Arabic the meaning of the
radical word is to guard, preserve; and of haris, guardian, preserver”
(Volney’s Ruins of Empires, p. 316). [Needless to say, Elysium ([Greek: Ê)ly/sion
pedi/on]) has no connexion with [Greek: Ê(/lios], the sun.]
.fn-
.fn 4.20.55
The heaven of Vishnu, Vaikuntha, is entirely of gold, and 80,000 miles
in circumference. Its edifices, pillars, and ornaments are composed of
precious stones. The crystal waters of the Ganges form a river in Vaikuntha,
where are lakes filled with blue, red, and white water-lilies, each of a hundred
and even a thousand petals. On a throne glorious as the meridian sun
resting on water-lilies, is Vishnu, with Lakshmi or Sri, the goddess of abundance
(the Ceres of the Egyptians and Greeks), on his right hand, surrounded
by spirits who constantly celebrate the praise of Vishnu and Lakshmi, who
are served by his votaries, and to whom the eagle (garuda) is door-keeper
(Extract from the Mahabharata—See Ward on the History and Religion of
the Hindus, vol. ii. p. 14).
.fn-
The Di Majores of the Rajput are the same in number and
title as amongst the Greeks and Romans, being the deities who
figuratively preside over the planetary system. Their grades of
bliss are therefore in unison with the eccentricity of orbit of the
planet named. On this account Chandra or Indu, the moon,
being a mere satellite of Ila, the earth, though probably originating
the name of the Indu race, is inferior in the scale of blissful
abodes to that of his son Budha or Mercury, whose heliacal
appearance gave him importance even with the sons of Vaivasvata,
the sun. From the poetic seers of the martial races we learn
that there are two distinct places of reward; the one essentially
spiritual, the other of a material nature. The bard inculcates
that the warrior who falls in battle in the fulfilment of his duty,
“who abandons life through the wave of steel,” will know no
“second birth,” but that the unconfined spark (jyotis) will reunite
to the parent orb. The doctrine of transmigration through a
variety of hideous forms may be considered as a series of purgatories.
The Greeks and Celts worshipped Apollo under the title of
Carneios,[4.20.56] which “selon le scholiaste de Théocrite” is derived
from Carnos, “qui ne prophétisoit que des malheurs aux Héraclides
lors de leur incursion dans le Péloponnèse. Un d’eux
appelé Hippotés, le tua d’un coup de flèche.” Now one of the
titles of the Hindu Apollo is Karna, ‘the radiant’; from karna,
‘a ray’: and when he led the remains of the Harikulas in company
.bn 084.png
.pn +1
with Baldeva (the god of strength), and Yudhishthira, after the
great international war, into the Peloponnesus of Saurashtra,
they were attacked by the aboriginal Bhils, one of whom slew
the divine Karna with an arrow. The Bhils claim to be of
Hayavansa, or the race of Haya, whose chief seat was at Maheswar
on the Nerbudda: the assassin of Karna would consequently
be Hayaputra, or descendant of Haya[4.20.57] \[547].
.fn 4.20.56
[Apollo [Greek: Ka/rneios] was probably ‘the horned god,’ connected with [Greek: ke/ras],
‘a horn,’ as a deity of herdsmen (Farnell, Cults of the Greek States, iv. 131).]
.fn-
.fn 4.20.57
Supposing these coincidences in the fabulous history of the ancient
nations of Greece and Asia to be merely fortuitous, they must excite interest;
but conjoined with various others in the history of the Herikulas of India
and the Heraclidae of Greece, I cannot resist the idea that they were connected [?].
.fn-
The most celebrated of the monuments commonly termed
Druidic, scattered throughout Europe, is at Carnac in Brittany,
on which coast the Celtic Apollo had his shrines, and was propitiated
under the title of Karneios, and this monument may be
considered at once sacred to the manes of the warriors and the
sun-god Karneios. Thus the Roman Saturnalia, the carnivale,
has a better etymology in the festival to Karneios, as the sun,
than in the ‘adieu to flesh’ during the fast. The character of
this festival is entirely oriental, and accompanied with the
licentiousness which belonged to the celebration of the powers
of nature. Even now, although Christianity has banished the
grosser forms, it partakes more of a Pagan than a Christian
ceremony.
The Annakūta Festival.—Of the festivals of Krishna the
Annakuta is the most remarkable;[4.20.58] when the seven statues were
brought from the different capitals of Rajasthan, and mountains
(kuta) of food (anna) piled up for their repast, at a given signal
are levelled by the myriads of votaries assembled from all parts.
About eighty years ago, on a memorable assemblage at the
Annakuta, before warfare had devastated Rajasthan, and circumscribed
the means of the faithful disciples of Hari, amongst
the multitude of Vaishnavas of every region were almost all the
Rajput princes; Rana Arsi of Mewar, Raja Bijai Singh of Marwar,
Raja Gaj Singh of Bikaner, and Bahadur Singh of Kishangarh.
Rana Arsi presented to the god a tora, or massive golden anklet-chain
set with emeralds: Bijai Singh a diamond necklace worth
.bn 085.png
.pn +1
twenty-five thousand rupees: the other princes according to
their means. They were followed by an old woman of Surat,
with infirm step and shaking head, who deposited four coppers
in the hand of the high-priest, which were received with a gracious
smile, not vouchsafed to the lords of the earth. “The Rand is
in luck,” whispered the chief of Kishangarh to the Rana. Soon
afterwards the statue of Hari was brought forth, when the same
old woman placed at its feet a bill of exchange for seventy thousand
rupees. The mighty were humbled, and the smile of the Gosain
was explained. Such gifts, and to a yet greater amount, are, or
were, by no means uncommon from the sons of commerce, who
are only known to belong to the flock from the distinguishing
necklace of the sect.[4.20.59]
.fn 4.20.58
[The Annakūta festival, held on the first day of the light half of Kārttik
(Oct.-Nov.). This was the old name of the hill which Krishna held aloft to
protect his people (Growse, op. cit. 300).]
.fn-
.fn 4.20.59
Gibbon records a similar offering of 200,000 sesterces to the Roman
church, by a stranger, in the reign of Decius [ed. W. Smith, ii. 199].
.fn-
Interruption of Worship.—The predatory system which
reduced these countries to a state of the most degraded anarchy,
greatly diminished the number of pilgrimages to Nathdwara \[548];
and the gods of Vraj had sufficient prescience to know that they
could guard neither their priests nor followers from the Pathan
and Mahratta, to whom the crown of the god, or the nathna
(nose-jewel) of Radha, would be alike acceptable: nor would they
have scrupled to retain both the deities and priests as hostages
for such imposition as they might deem within their means.
Accordingly, of late years, there had been no congress of the gods
of Vraj, who remained fixtures on their altars till the halcyon
days of A.D. 1818 permitted their liberation.[4.20.60]
.fn 4.20.60
I enjoyed no small degree of favour with the supreme pontiff of the
shrine of Apollo and all his votaries, for effecting a meeting of the seven
statues of Vishnu in 1820. In contriving this I had not only to reconcile
ancient animosities between the priests of the different shrines, in order to
obtain a free passport for the gods, but to pledge myself to the princes in
whose capitals they were established, for their safe return: for they dreaded
lest bribery might entice the priests to fix them elsewhere, which would
have involved their loss of sanctity, dignity, and prosperity. It cost me
no little trouble, and still more anxiety, to keep the assembled multitudes
at peace with each other, for they are as outrageous as any sectarians in
contesting the supreme power and worth of their respective forms (rupa).
Yet they all separated, not only without violence, but without even any
attempt at robbery, so common on such occasions.
.fn-
Seven Forms of Krishna.—The seven statues of Kanhaiya
were brought together by the high-priest Balba, who established
.bn 086.png
.pn +1
the festival of the Annakuta. They remained in the same
sanctuary until the time of Girdhari, the grandson of Balba,
who having seven sons, gave to each a rupa or statue, and whose
descendants continue in the office of priest. The names and
present abodes of the gods are as follows:
.sp 1
.ti 0
Nathji, the god, or Gordhannath, god of the mount
Nathdwara.
.ta l:40 l:20 w=80%
1. Nonita | Nathdwara.
2. Mathuranath | Kotah.
3. Dwarkanath | Kankroli.[4.20.61]
4. Gokulnath, or Gokulchandrama | Jaipur.
5. Yadunath | Surat.
6. Vitthalnath[4.20.62] | Kotah.
7. Madan Mohana | Jaipur.
.ta-
.sp 1
.fn 4.20.61
[Kānkroli, 36 miles N.E. of Udaipur city: the image is said to have
been brought from Mathura A.D. 1669 (Erskine ii. A. 113).]
.fn-
Nathji is not enumerated amongst the forms; he stands
supreme.
Nonita, or Nonanda, the juvenile Kanhaiya, has his altar
separate, though close to Nathji. He is also styled Balamukund,
‘the blessed child,’[4.20.63] and is depicted as an infant with pera[4.20.64] or
comfit-ball in his hand. This image, which was one of the
penates of a former age, and which, since the destruction of the
shrines of \[549] Krishna by the Islamites, had lain in the Yamuna,
attached itself to the sacerdotal zone (Janeo) of the high-priest
Balba, while he was performing his ablutions, who, carrying it
home, placed it in a niche of the temple and worshipped it: and
Nonanda yet receives the peculiar homage of the high-priest and
his family as their household divinity. Of the second image,
Mathuranath, there is no particular mention: it was at one time
at Khamnor in Mewar, but is now at Kotah.
.fn 4.20.62
[The form of Vishnu worshipped at Pāndharpur in Sholapur District.
The name is probably a local corruption of Vishnupati, ‘Lord Vishnu,’
through the forms Bistu or Bittu (IA, iv. 361).]
.fn-
.fn 4.20.63
[Said to mean ‘the child, giver of liberation.’]
.fn-
.fn 4.20.64
The pera of Mathura can only be made from the waters of the Yamuna,
from whence it is still conveyed to Nonanda at Nathdwara, and with curds
forms his evening repast.
.fn-
Balkrishna, the third son, had Dwarkanath, which statue, now
at Kankroli in Mewar, is asserted to be the identical image that
.bn 087.png
.pn +1
received the adoration of Raja Amaraka, a prince of the solar
race who lived in the Satya Yuga, or silver age. The ‘god of
the mount’ revealed himself in a dream to his high-priest, and
told him of the domicile of this his representative at Kanauj.
Thither Balba repaired, and having obtained it from the Brahman,
appointed Damodardas Khatri to officiate at his altar.
The fourth statue, that of Gokulnath, or Gokul Chandrama
(i.e. the moon of Gokul), had an equally mysterious origin, having
been discovered in a deep ravine on the banks of the river; Balba
assigned it to his brother-in-law. Gokul is an island on the
Jumna,[4.20.65] a few miles below Mathura, and celebrated in the early
history of the pastoral divinity. The residence of this image
at Jaipur does not deprive the little island of its honours as a
place of pilgrimage; for the ‘god of Gokul’ has an altar on the
original site, and his rites are performed by an aged priestess,
who disowns the jurisdiction of the high-priest of Nathdwara,
both in the spiritual and temporal concerns of her shrine; and
who, to the no small scandal of all who are interested in Apollo,
appealed from the fiat of the high-priest to the British court of
justice. The royal grants of the Mogul emperors were produced,
which proved the right to lie in the high-priest, though a long
period of almost undisturbed authority had created a feeling of
independent control in the family of the priestess, which they
desired might continue. A compromise ensued, when the Author
was instrumental in restoring harmony to the shrines of Apollo.
.fn 4.20.65
[Gokul is not an island, but a suburb of Mahāban in Mathura District.]
.fn-
The fifth, Yadunath, is the deified ancestor of the whole Yadu
race. This image, now at Surat, formerly adorned the shrine
of Mahaban near Mathura which was destroyed by Mahmud \[550].
The sixth, Vitthalnath, or Pandurang,[4.20.66] was found in the Ganges
at Benares, Samvat 1572 (A.D. 1516), from which we may judge
of their habit of multiplying divinities.
.fn 4.20.66
[Pāndurang is said to mean ‘white-coloured’; but others believe it
to be the Sanskritized form of Pandaraga, that is, ‘belonging to Pandargē,’
the old name of Pāndharpur (BG, xx. 423).]
.fn-
The seventh, Madan Mohana, ‘he who intoxicates with desire,’
the seductive lover of Radha and the Gopis, has his rites performed
by a female. The present priestess of Mohana is the
mother of Damodara, the supreme head of all who adore the
Apollo of Vraj.
.bn 088.png
.pn +1
The Pontiff of Nāthdwāra.—I am not aware of the precise
period of Balba Acharya, who thus collected the seven images
of Krishna now in Rajasthan; but he must have lived about
the time of the last of the Lodi kings, at the period of the conquest
of India by the Moguls (A.D. 1526). The present pontiff, Damodara,
as before said, is his lineal descendant; and whether in addressing
him verbally or by letter he is styled Maharaja or ‘great prince.’[4.20.67]
.fn 4.20.67
Gosain is a title more applicable to the célibataire worshippers of Hara
than of Hari—of Jupiter than of Apollo. It is alleged that the Emperor
Akbar first bestowed this epithet on the high-priest of Krishna, whose rites
attracted his regard. They were previously called Dikshit, ‘one who performs
sacrifice,’ a name given to a very numerous class of Brahmans. The
Gotrācharya, or genealogical creed of the high-priest, is as follows: “Tailang
Brahman, Bharadwaja gotra,[4.20.67.A] Gurukula,[4.20.67.B] Taittari sakha; i.e. Brahman of
Telingana, of the tribe of Bharadwaja, of the race of Guru, of the branch
Taittari.”
.fn-
.fn 4.20.67.A
Bhāradwaja was a celebrated founder of a sect in the early ages.
.fn-
.fn 4.20.67.B
Guru is an epithet applied to Vrishapati, ‘Lord of the bull,’ the Indian
Jupiter, who is called the Guru, preceptor or guardian of the gods. [Brihaspati,
‘Lord of prayer,’ the regent of the planet Jupiter, is confused with
Vrishapati. ‘Lord of the bull,’ an epithet of Siva.]
.fn-
As the supreme head of the Vishnu sect his person is held
to be Ansa, or ‘a portion of the divinity’; and it is maintained
that so late as the father of the present incumbent, the god
manifested himself and conversed with the high-priest. The
present pontiff is now about thirty years of age. He is of a
benign aspect, with much dignity of demeanour: courteous, yet
exacting the homage due to his high calling: meek, as becomes
the priest of Govinda, but with the finished manners of one accustomed
to the first society. His features are finely moulded, and
his complexion good. He is about the middle size, though as
he rises to no mortal, I could not exactly judge of his height.
When I saw him he had one only daughter, to whom he is much
attached. He has but one wife, nor does Krishna allow polygamy
to his priest. In times of danger, like some of his prototypes in
the dark ages of Europe, he poised the lance, and found it more
effective than spiritual anathemas, against those who would first
adore the god, and then plunder him. Such were the Mahratta
chiefs, Jaswant Rao Holkar and Bapu Sindhia. Damodara
accordingly made the \[551] tour of his extensive diocese at the
head of four hundred horse, two standards of foot, and two field-pieces.
He rode the finest mares in the country; laid aside his
.bn 089.png
.pn +1
pontificals for the quilted dagla, and was summoned to matins
by the kettle-drum instead of the bell and cymbal. In this he
only imitated Kanhaiya, who often mixed in the ranks of battle,
and “dyed his saffron robe in the red-stained field.” Had
Damodara been captured on one of these occasions by any marauding
Pathan, and incarcerated, as he assuredly would have been,
for ransom, the marauder might have replied to the Rana, as did
the Plantagenet king to the Pope, when the surrender of the
captive church-militant bishop was demanded, “Is this thy son
Joseph’s coat?” But, notwithstanding this display of martial
principle, which covered with a helmet the shaven crown, his
conduct and character are amiable and unexceptionable, and he
furnishes a striking contrast to the late head of the Vishnu establishments
in Marwar, who commenced with the care of his master’s
conscience, and ended with that of the State; meek and unassuming
till he added temporal[4.20.68] to spiritual power, which
developed unlimited pride, with all the qualities that too often
wait on “a little brief authority,” and to the display of which
he fell a victim. Damodara,[4.20.69] similarly circumstanced, might
have evinced the same failings, and have met the same end;
but though endeavours were made to give him political influence
at the Rana’s court, yet, partly from his own good sense, and
partly through the dissuasion of the Nestor of Kotah (Zalim
Singh), he was not entrained in the vortex of its intrigues, which
must have involved the sacrifice of wealth and the proper dignity
of his station \[552].
.fn 4.20.68
The high-priest of Jalandharnath used to appear at the head of a
cavalcade far more numerous than any feudal lord of Marwar. A sketch
of this personage will appear elsewhere. These Brahmans were not a jot
behind the ecclesiastical lords of the Middle Ages, who are thus characterized:
“Les seigneurs ecclésiatiques, malgré l’humilité chrétienne, ne se sont pas
montrés moins orgueilleux que les nobles laïcs. Le doyen du chapitre de
Notre Dame du Port, à Clermont, pour montrer sa grande noblesse, officiait
avec toute la pompe féodale. Étant à l’autel, il avait l’oiseau sur la perche
gauche, et on portait devant lui la hallebarde; on la lui portait aussi de la
même manière pendant qu’on chantait l’évangile, et aux processions il
avait lui-même l’oiseau sur le poing, et il marchait à la tête de ses serviteurs,
menant ses chiens de chasse” (Dict. de l’Anc. Régime, p. 380).
.fn-
.fn 4.20.69
The first letter I received on reaching England after my long residence
in India was from this priest, filled with anxious expressions for my health,
and speedy return to protect the lands and sacred kine of Apollo.
.fn-
.fm rend=th lz=th
.fm rend=th
.bn 090.png
.pn +1
.sp 4
.h3 id='a4.20'
APPENDIX
.h4 id='a4.20.1'
No. I
Grant of the Rathor Rani, the Queen-Mother of Udaipur, on the
death of her Son, the Heir-Apparent, Prince Amra.
Siddh Sri Bari[a4.20.1] Rathorji to the Patels and inhabitants of
Girwa.[a4.20.2] The four bighas of land, belonging to the Jat Roga,
have been assigned to the Brahman Kishna on the Anta Samya
(final epoch) of Lalji.[a4.20.3] Let him possess the rents thereof.[a4.20.4] The
dues for wood and forage (khar lakar) contributions (barar) are
renounced by the State in favour of the Brahmans.
Samvat 1875, Amavas 15th of Asoj, A.D. 1819.
.fn a4.20.1
The great Rathor queen. There were two of this tribe; she was the
queen-mother.
.fn-
.fn a4.20.2
[The tract in the centre of the State, including Udaipur city.]
.fn-
.fn a4.20.3
An endearing epithet, applied to children, from larla, beloved.
.fn-
.fn a4.20.4
It is customary to call these grants to religious orders ‘grants of land,’
although they entitle only the rents thereof; for there is no seizin of the
land itself, as numerous inscriptions testify, and which, as well as the present,
prove the proprietary right to be in the cultivator only. The tamba-pattra,[a4.20.4.A]
or copper-plate patent (by which such grants are probably designated) of
Yasodharman,[a4.20.4.B] the Pramara prince of Ujjain, seven hundred years ago, is
good evidence that the rents only are granted; he commands the crown
tenants of the two villages assigned to the temple “to pay all dues as they
arise—money-rent—first share of produce,” not a word of seizing of the soil.
See Transactions of the Royal Asiatic Society, vol. i. p. 223.
.fn-
.fn a4.20.4.A
To distinguish them from grants of land to feudal tenants, which
patents (patta) are manuscript.
.fn-
.fn a4.20.4.B
[He defeated Mihiragula, leader of the White Huns, about A.D. 528
(Smith, EHI, 318).]
.fn-
.hr 25%
.h4 id='a4.20.2'
No. II
Grant held by a Brahman of Birkhera.
“A Brahman’s orphan was compelled by hunger to seek
sustenance in driving an oil-mill; instead of oil the receptacle
was filled with blood. The frightened oilman demanded of the
child who he was; ‘A Brahman’s orphan,’ was the reply.
Alarmed at the enormity of his guilt in thus employing the son
of a priest, he covered the palm of his hand with earth, in which
he sowed the tulasi seed,[4.20a.5] and went on a pilgrimage to Dwarka.
.bn 091.png
.pn +1
He demanded the presence (darsana) of the god; the priests
pointed to the ocean, when he plunged in, and had an interview
with Dwarkanath, who presented him with a written order on
the Rana for forty-five bighas of land. He returned and threw
the writing before the Rana, on the steps of the temple of Jagannath.
The Rana read the writing of the god, placed it on his
head, and immediately made out the grant. This is three hundred
and fifty years ago, as recorded by an inscription on stone, and
his descendant, Kosala, yet enjoys it.”
.ll 68
.rj
(A true Translation.)\ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ J. Tod.
.ll
.fn 4.20a.5
[The sacred basil plant, Ocymum sanctum.]
.fn-
.h4 id='a4.20.3'
No. III
The Palod inscription is unfortunately mislaid; but in searching
for it, another was discovered from Aner, four miles south-west
of the ancient Morwan, where there is a temple to the four-armed
divinity (Chaturbhuja), endowed in Samvat 1570, by
Rana Jagat Singh \[553]. On one of the pillars of the temple is
inscribed a voluntary gift made in Samvat 1845, and signed by
the village Panch, of the first-fruits of the harvest, namely, two
sers and a half (five pounds weight) from each khal[4.20a.6] of the spring,
and the same of the autumnal harvests.
.fn 4.20a.6
A khal is one of the heaps after the corn is thrashed out, about five
maunds [400 lbs.].
.fn-
.h4 id='a4.20.4'
No. IV
Sri Amra Sing (II.) etc., etc.
Whereas the shrine of Sri Pratap-Iswara (the God of Fortune)
has been erected in the meadows of Rasmi, all the groves and
trees are sacred to him; whoever cuts down any of them is an
offender to the State, and shall pay a fine of three hundred rupees,
and the ass[4.20a.7] shall be the portion of the officers of government
who suffer it.
Pus. 14, Samvat 1712 (A.D. 1656).
.fn 4.20a.7
The gadha-ghal is a punishment unknown in any but the Hindu code;
the hieroglyphic import appears on the pillar, and must be seen to be understood.
.fn-
.h4 id='a4.20.5'
No. V
Maharana Sri Raj Singh, commanding.
.in 4
.ti -4
To the Nobles, Ministers, Patels,[4.20a.8] Patwaris,[4.20a.8] of the ten thousand
[villages] of Mewar (das sahas Mewar-ra), according to your
stations—read!
.in
1. From remote times, the temples and dwellings of the Jains
.bn 092.png
.pn +1
have been authorized; let none therefore within their boundaries
carry animals to slaughter—this is their ancient privilege.
2. Whatever life, whether man or animal, passes their abode
for the purpose of being killed, is saved (amara).[4.20a.9]
3. Traitors to the State, robbers, felons escaped confinement,
who may fly for sanctuary (saran) to the dwellings (upasra)[4.20a.10] of
the Yatis,[4.20a.11] shall not there be seized by the servants of the court.
4. The kunchi[4.20a.12] (handful) at harvest, the mutthi (handful) of
kirana, the charity lands (dholi), grounds, and houses, established
by them in the various towns, shall be maintained.
5. This ordinance is issued in consequence of the representation
of the Rikh[4.20a.13] Mana, to whom is granted fifteen bighas of adhan[4.20a.14]
land, and twenty-five of maleti.[4.20a.14] The same quantity of each
kind in each of the districts of Nimach and Nimbahera.—Total
in three districts, forty-five bighas of adhan, and seventy-five
of mal[4.20a.15] \[554].
On seeing this ordinance, let the land be measured and assigned,
and let none molest the Yatis, but foster their privileges. Cursed
be he who infringes them—the cow to the Hindu—the hog and
corpse to the Musalman.
.nf c
(By command.)
Samvat 1749, Magh sudi 5th, A.D. 1693.\ \ \ \ \ Sah Dyal (Minister).
.nf-
.fn 4.20a.8
Revenue officers.
.fn-
.fn 4.20a.9
Literally ‘immortal,’ from mara, ‘death,’ and the privative prefix.
.fn-
.fn 4.20a.10
Schools or colleges of the Yatis.
.fn-
.fn 4.20a.11
Priests of the Jains.
.fn-
.fn 4.20a.12
Kunchi and mutthi are both a ‘handful’; the first is applied to grain
in the stalk at harvest time; the other to such edibles in merchandise as
sugar, raisins, etc., collectively termed kirana.
.fn-
.fn 4.20a.13
Rikh[rishi] is an ancient title applied to the highest class of priests;
Rikh-Rikhsha-Rikhiswara, applied to royalty in old times.
.fn-
.fn 4.20a.14
Adhan is the richest land, lying under the protection of the town walls;
mal or maleti land is land not irrigated from wells.
.fn-
.fn 4.20a.15
In all a hundred and twenty bighas, or about forty acres.
.fn-
.h4 id='a4.20.6'
No. VI
Maharaja Chhattar Singh (one of the Rana’s sons), commanding.
In the town of Rasmi, whoever slays sheep, buffaloes, goats,
or other living thing, is a criminal to the State; his house, cattle,
and effects shall be forfeited, and himself expelled the village.
.nf c
(By command).
Pus Sudi 14, Samvat 1705, A.D. 1649.\ \ \ \ \ \ The Pancholi Damaka Das.
.nf-
.bn 093.png
.pn +1
.h4 id='a4.20.7'
No. VII
Maharana Jai Singh to the inhabitants of Bakrol; printers,
potters, oilmen, etc., etc., commanding.
From the 11th Asarh (June) to the full moon of Asoj (September),
none shall drain the waters of the lake; no oil-mill shall
work, or earthen vessel be made, during these the four rainy
months.[4.20a.16]
.fn 4.20a.16
[For the annual Jain retreat see p. #606#, above.]
.fn-
.h4 id='a4.20.8'
No. VIII
Maharana Sri Jagat Singh II., commanding.
The village of Siarh in the hills, of one thousand rupees yearly
rent, having been chosen by Nathji (the god) for his residence,
and given up by Rana Raghude,[4.20a.17] I have confirmed it. The
Gosain[4.20a.18] and his heirs shall enjoy it for ever.
Samvat 1793, A.D. 1737.
.fn 4.20a.17
The chief of Delwara.
.fn-
.fn 4.20a.18
There are other grants later than this, which prove that all grants were
renewed in every new reign. This grant also proves that no chief has the
power to alienate without his sovereign’s sanction.
.fn-
.h4 id='a4.20.9'
No. IX
Siddh Sri Maharaja Dhiraj, Maharana Sri Bhim Singhji,
commanding.
The undermentioned towns and villages were presented to
Sriji[4.20a.19] by copper-plate. The revenues (hasil),
[4.20a.20] contributions
(barar), taxes, dues (lagat-be-lagat), trees, shrubs, foundations and
boundaries (nim-sim), shall all belong to Sriji. If of my seed,
none will ever dispute this \[555].
The ancient copper-plate being lost, I have thus renewed it.
.bn 094.png
.pn +1
Here follows a list of thirty-four entire towns and villages,
many from the fisc, or confirmations of the grants of the chiefs,
besides various parcels of arable land, from twenty to one hundred
and fifty bighas, in forty-six more villages, from chiefs of every
class, and patches of meadowland (bira) in twenty more.
.fn 4.20a.19
Epithet indicative of the greatness of the deity.
.fn-
.fn 4.20a.20
Here is another proof that the sovereign can only alienate the revenues
(hasil); and though everything upon and about the grant, yet not the soil.
The