CHAPTER 1

Having never penetrated personally farther into the heart of the desert than Mandor, the ancient capital of all Marusthali, the old castle of Hissar on its north-eastern frontier, and Abu, Nahrwala, and Bhuj, to the south, it may be necessary, before entering upon the details, to deprecate the charge of presumption or incompetency, by requesting the reader to bear in mind that my parties of discovery have traversed it in every direction, adding to their journals of routes living testimonies of their accuracy, and bringing to me natives of every _thal_ from Bhatner to Umarkot, and from Abu to Aror.[8.1.1] I wish it, however, to be clearly understood, that I look upon this as a mere outline, which, by showing what might be done, may stimulate further research; but in the existing dearth of information on the subject I have not hesitated to send it forth, with its almost inevitable errors, as (I trust) a pioneer to more extended and accurate knowledge.

After premising thus much, let us commence with details, which, but for the reasons already stated, should have been comprised in the geographical portion of the work, and which, though irrelevant to the historical part, are too important to be [290] thrown into notes. I may add, that the conclusions formed, partly from personal observation, but chiefly from the resources described above, have been confirmed by the picture drawn by Mr. Elphinstone of his passage through the northern desert in the embassy to Kabul, which renders perfectly satisfactory to me the views I before entertained. It may be well, at this stage, to mention that some slight repetitions must occur as we proceed, having incidentally noticed many of the characteristic features of the desert in the Annals of Bikaner, which was unavoidable from the position of that State.

=Description of the Desert.=—The hand of Nature has defined, in the boldest characters, the limits of the great desert of India, and we only require to follow minutely the line of demarcation; though, in order to be distinctly understood, we must repeat the analysis of the term Marusthali, the emphatic appellation of this ‘region of death.’ The word is compounded of the Sanskrit _mri_, ‘to die,’ and _sthala_, ‘arid or dry land,’ which last, in the corrupted dialect of those countries, becomes _thal_, the converse of the Greek _oasis_, denoting tracts particularly sterile. Each _thal_ has its distinct denomination, as the ‘_thal_ of Kawa,’ the ‘_thal_ of Guga,’ etc.; and the cultivated spots, compared with these, either as to number or magnitude, are so scanty, that instead of the ancient Roman simile, which likened Africa to the leopard’s hide, reckoning the spots thereon as the oases, I would compare the Indian desert to that of the tiger, of which the long dark stripes would indicate the expansive belts of sand, elevated upon a plain only less sandy, and over whose surface numerous thinly-peopled towns and hamlets are scattered.

=Boundaries of the Desert.=—Marusthali is bounded on the north by the flat skirting the Ghara; on the south by that grand salt-marsh, the Ran, and Koliwara; on the east by the Aravalli; and on the west by the valley of Sind. The two last boundaries are the most conspicuous, especially the Aravalli, but for which impediment Central India would be submerged in sand; nay, lofty and continuous as is this chain, extending almost from the sea to Delhi, wherever there are passages or depressions, these floating sand-clouds are wafted through or over, and form a little _thal_ even in the bosom of fertility. Whoever has crossed the Banas near Tonk, where the sand for some miles resembles waves of the sea, will comprehend this remark. Its western boundary is alike defined, and will recall to the English traveller, who may be destined to journey up the valley of Sind, the words of Napoleon on the Libyan desert: “Nothing so much resembles the sea as the desert; or a coast, as the valley of the Nile”: for this substitute ‘Indus’ [291], whence in journeying northward along its banks from Haidarabad to Uchh, the range of vision will be bounded to the east by a bulwark of sand, which, rising often to the height of two hundred feet above the level of the river, leads one to imagine that the chasm, now forming this rich valley, must have originated in a sudden melting of all the glaciers of Caucasus, whose congregated waters made this break in the continuity of Marusthali, which would otherwise be united with the deserts of Arachosia.

We may here repeat the tradition illustrating the geography of the desert, _i.e._ that in remote ages it was ruled by princes of the Panwar (Pramara) race, which the _sloka_, or verse of the bard, recording the names of the nine fortresses (Nau-koti Maru-ki), so admirably adapted by their position to maintain these regions in subjection, further corroborates. We shall divest it of its metrical form, and begin with Pugal, to the north; Mandor, in the centre of all Maru; Abu, Kheralu, and Parkar, to the south; Chhotan, Umarkot, Aror, and Lodorva, to the west; the possession of which assuredly marks the sovereignty of the desert. The antiquity of this legend is supported by the omission of all modern cities, the present capital of the Bhattis not being mentioned. Even Lodorva and Aror, cities for ages in ruins, are names known only to a few who frequent the desert; and Chhotan and Kheralu, but for the traditional stanzas which excited our research, might never have appeared on the map.

=Natural Divisions of the Desert.=—We purpose to follow the natural divisions of the country, or those employed by the natives, who, as stated above, distinguish them as _thals_; and after describing these in detail, with a summary notice of the principal towns whether ruined or existing, and the various tribes, conclude with the chief lines of route diverging from, or leading to, Jaisalmer.

The whole of Bikaner, and that part of Shaikhavati north of the Aravalli, are comprehended in the desert. If the reader will refer to the map, and look for the town of Kanod,[8.1.2] within the British frontier, he will see what Mr. Elphinstone considered as the commencement of the desert, in his interesting expedition to Kabul.[8.1.3] “From Delly to Canound (the Kanorh of my map), a distance of one hundred miles is through the British dominions, and need not be described. It is sufficient to say that the country is sandy, though not ill cultivated. On approaching Canound, we had the first specimen of the desert, to which we were looking forward with anxious curiosity. Three miles before reaching that place we came to sand-hills, which at first were [292] covered with bushes, but afterwards were naked piles of loose sand, rising one after another like the waves of the sea, and marked on the surface by the wind like drifted snow. There were roads through them, made solid by the treading of animals; but off the road our horses sunk into the sand above the knee.” Such was the opening scene; the route of the embassy was by Singhana, Jhunjhunu, to Chum, when they entered Bikaner. Of Shaikhavati, which he had just left, Mr. Elphinstone says: “It seems to lose its title to be included in the desert, when compared with the two hundred and eighty miles between its western frontier and Bahawulpoor, and, even of this, only the last hundred miles is absolutely destitute of inhabitants, water, or vegetation. Our journey from Shekhavati to Poogul was over hills and valleys of loose and heavy sand. The hills were exactly like those which are sometimes formed by the wind on the seashore, but far exceeding them in height, which was from twenty to a hundred feet. They are said to shift their position and alter their shapes according as they are affected by the wind; and in summer the passage is rendered dangerous by the clouds of moving sand; but when I saw the hills (in winter), they seemed to have a great degree of permanence, for they bore grass, besides _phoke_, the _babool_, and _bair_ or jujube, which altogether give them an appearance that sometimes amounted to verdure. Amongst the most dismal hills of sand one occasionally meets with a village, if such a name can be given to a few round huts of straw, with low walls and conical roofs, like little stacks of corn.” This description of the northern portion of the desert, by an author whose great characteristics are accuracy and simplicity, will enable the reader to form a more correct notion of what follows.[8.1.4]

With these remarks, and bearing in mind what has already been said of the physiography of these regions, we proceed to particularize the various _thals_ and _oases_ in this ‘region of death.’ It will be convenient to disregard the ancient Hindu geographical division, which makes Mandor the capital of Marusthali, a distinction both from its character and position better suited to Jaisalmer, being nearly in the centre of what may be termed entire desert. It is in fact an oasis, everywhere insulated by immense masses of _thal_, some of which are forty miles in breadth, without the trace of man, or aught that could subsist him. From Jaisalmer we shall pass to Marwar, and without crossing the Luni, describe Jalor and Siwanchi; then conduct the [293] reader into the almost unknown Raj of Parkar and Virawah,[8.1.5] governed by princes of the Chauhan race, with the title of Rana. Thence, skirting the political limits of modern Rajputana, to the regions of Dhat and Umra-sumra, now within the dominion of Sind, we shall conclude with a very slight sketch of Daudputra, and the valley of the Indus. These details will receive further illustration from the remarks made on every town or hamlet diverging from the ‘hill of Jaisal’ (Jaisalmer). Could the beholder, looking westward from this ‘triple-peaked hill,’[8.1.6] across this sandy ocean to the blue waters (Nilab)[8.1.7] of the Indus, embrace in his vision its whole course from Haidarabad to Uchh, he would perceive, amidst these valleys of sand-hills, little colonies of animated beings, congregated on every spot which water renders habitable. Throughout this tract, from four hundred to five hundred miles in longitudinal extent, and from one hundred to two hundred of diagonal breadth, are little hamlets, consisting of the scattered huts of the shepherds of the desert, occupied in pasturing their flocks or cultivating these little oases for food. He may discern a long line of camels (called _kitar_, a name better known than either kafila or karwan), anxiously toiling through the often doubtful path, and the Charan conductor, at each stage, tying a knot on the end of his turban. He may discover, lying in ambush, a band of Sahariyas, the Bedouins of our desert (_sahra_),[8.1.8] either mounted on camels or horses, on the watch to despoil the caravan, or engaged in the less hazardous occupation of driving off the flocks of the Rajar or Mangalia shepherds, peacefully tending them about the _tars_ or _bawas_, or hunting for the produce stored amidst the huts of the ever-green _jhal_,[8.1.9] which serve at once as grain-pits and shelter from the sun. A migratory band may be seen flitting with their flocks from ground which they have exhausted, in search of fresh pastures:

And if the following day they chance to find A new repast, or an untasted spring, Will bless their stars, and think it luxury!

Or they may be seen preparing the _rabri_, a mess quite analogous to the _kouskous_ of their Numidian brethren, or quenching their thirst from the _Wah_ of their little oasis, of which they maintain sovereign possession so long as the pasture lasts, or till they come in conflict with some more powerful community.

=Oasis.=—We may here pause to consider whether in the _bah_, _bawa_, or _wah_, of the Indian desert, may not be found the _oasis_ of the Greeks, corrupted by them from _el-wah_, or, as written by Belzoni (in his account of the Libyan desert, while searching for the [294] temple of Ammon), _Elloah_. Of the numerous terms used to designate water in these arid regions, as _par_, _rar_, _tar_, _dah_ or _daha_, _bah_, _bawa_, _wah_, all but the latter are chiefly applicable to springs or pools of water, while the last (_wah_), though used often in a like sense, applies more to a water-course or stream. _El-wah_, under whatever term, means—‘_the water_.’ Again, _daha_ or _dah_ is a term in general use for a pool, even not unfrequently in running streams and large rivers, which, ceasing to flow in dry weather, leave large stagnant masses, always called _dah_. There are many of the streams of Rajputana, having such pools, particularized as _hathi-dah_, or ‘elephant-pool,’ denoting a sufficiency of water even to drown that animal. Now the word _dah_ or _daha_, added to the generic term for water, _wah_, would make _wadi_ (pool of water), the Arabian term for a running stream, and commonly used by recent travellers in Africa for these habitable spots. If the Greeks took the word _wadi_ from any MS., the transposition would be easily accounted for: _wadi_ would be written thus وازي, and by the addition of a point وازي, _wazi_, easily metamorphosed, for a euphonous termination, into _oasis_.[8.1.10]

At the risk of somewhat of repetition, we must here point out the few grand features which diversify this sea of sand, and after defining the difference between _rui_ and _thal_, which will frequently occur in the itinerary, at once plunge _in medias res_.

=The Lost River of the Desert.=—We have elsewhere mentioned the tradition of the absorption of the Ghaggar river, as one of the causes of the comparative depopulation of the northern desert. The couplet recording it I could not recall at the time, nor any record of the Sodha prince Hamir, in whose reign this phenomenon is said to have happened. But the utility of these ancient traditional couplets, to which I have frequently drawn the reader’s attention, has again been happily illustrated, for the name of Hamir has been incidentally discovered from the trivial circumstance of an intermarriage related in the Bhatti annals. His contemporary of Jaisalmer was Dusaj, who succeeded in S. 1100 or [295] A.D. 1044, so that we have a precise date assigned, supposing this to be _the_ Hamir in question. The Ghaggar, which rises in the Siwalik, passes Hansi Hissar, and flowed under the walls of Bhatner, at which place they yet have their wells in its bed. Thence it passed Rangmahall, Balar, and Phulra, and through the flats of Khadal (of which Derawar is the capital), emptying itself according to some below Uchh, but according to Abu-Barakat (whom I sent to explore in 1809, and who crossed the dry bed of a stream called the Khaggar, near Shahgarh), between Jaisalmer and Rori-Bakhar. If this could be authenticated, we should say at once that, united with the branch from Dara, it gave its name to the Sangra, which unites with the Luni, enlarging the eastern branch of the Delta of the Indus.[8.1.11]

=The Lūni River.=—The next, and perhaps most remarkable feature in the desert, is the Luni, or Salt River, which, with its numerous feeders, has its source in the springs of the Aravalli. Of Marwar it is a barrier between the fertile lands and the desert; and as it leaves this country for the _thal_ of the Chauhans, it divides that community, and forms a geographical demarcation; the eastern portion being called the Raj of Suigam; and the western part, Parkar, or beyond the Khar, or Luni.[8.1.12]

=The Rann of Cutch.=—We shall hereafter return to the country of the Chauhans, which is bounded to the south by that singular feature in the physiognomy of the desert, the Rann, or Ran, already slightly touched upon in the geographical sketch prefixed to this work. This immense salt-marsh, upwards of one hundred and fifty miles in breadth, is formed chiefly by the Luni, which, like the Rhone, after forming Lake Leman, resumes its name at its further outlet, and ends as it commences with a sacred character, having the temple of Narayan[8.1.13] at its embouchure, where it mingles with the ocean, and that of Brahma at its source of Pushkar. The Rann, or Ran, is a corruption of Aranya, or ‘the waste’;[8.1.14] nor can anything in nature be more dreary in the dry weather than this parched desert of salt and mud, the peculiar abode of the _khar-gadha_, or wild-ass, whose love of solitude has been commemorated by an immortal pen.[8.1.15] That this enormous depository of salt is of no recent formation we are informed by the Greek writers, whose notice it did not escape, and who have preserved in Erinos a nearer approximation to the original Aranya than exists in our Ran or Rann. Although mainly indebted to the Luni for its salt, whose bed and that of its feeders are covered with saline deposits, it is also supplied by the overflowings of the Indus, to which grand stream it may be indebted for its volume of water. We have here another strong point of physical resemblance between the valleys of the Indus and the Nile, which Napoleon [296] at once referred to the simple operations of nature; I allude to the origin of Lake Moeris, a design too vast for man.[8.1.16]

=Thal, Rūi.=—As the reader will often meet with the words _thal_ and _rui_, he should be acquainted with the distinction between them. The first means an arid and bare desert; the other is equally expressive of desert, but implies the presence of natural vegetation; in fact, the jungle of the desert.

=Thal of the Luni.=—This embraces the tracts on both sides of the river, forming Jalor and its dependencies. Although the region south of the stream cannot be included in the _thal_, yet it is so intimately connected with it, that we shall not forego the only opportunity we may have of noticing it.

=Jālor.=—This tract is one of the most important divisions of Marwar. It is separated from Siwanchi by the Sukri and Khari,[8.1.17] which, with many smaller streams, flow through them from the Aravalli and Abu, aiding to fertilize its three hundred and sixty towns and villages, forming a part of the fiscal domains of Marwar. Jalor, according to the geographical stanza so often quoted, was one of the ‘nine castles of Maru,’ when the Pramar held paramount rule in Marusthali. When it was wrested from them we have no clue to discover;[8.1.18] but it had long been held by the Chauhans, whose celebrated defence of their capital against Alau-d-din, in A.D. 1301, is recorded by Ferishta, as well as in the chronicles of their bards. This branch of the Chauhan race was called Mallani, and will be again noticed, both here and in the annals of Haraoti. It formed that portion of the Chauhan sovereignty called the Hapa Raj, whose capital was Juna-Chhotan, connecting the sway of this race in the countries along the Luni from Ajmer to Parkar, which would appear to have crushed its Agnikula brother, the Pramar, and possessed all that region marked by the course of the ‘Salt River’ to Parkar.

Sonagir, the ‘golden mount,’ is the more ancient name of this castle, and was adopted by the Chauhans as distinctive of their tribe, when the older term, Mallani, was dropped for Sonigira. Here they enshrined their tutelary divinity, Mallinath, ‘god of the Malli,’ who maintained his position until the sons of Siahji entered these regions, when the name of Sonagir was exchanged for that of Jalor, contracted from Jalandharnath, whose shrine is about a coss west of the castle. Whether Jalandharnath [297], the ‘divinity of Jalandhar,’ was imported from the Ganges, or left as well as the god of the Malli by the _ci-devant_ Mallanis, is uncertain: but should this prove to be a remnant of the foes of Alexander, driven by him from Multan,[8.1.19] its probability is increased by the caves of Jalandhar (so celebrated as a Hindu pilgrimage even in Babur’s time) being in their vicinity. Be this as it may, the Rathors, like the Roman conquerors, have added these indigenous divinities to their own pantheon. The descendants of the expatriated Sonigiras now occupy the lands of Chitalwana, near the _furca_ of the Luni.

Jalor comprehends the inferior districts of Siwanchi, Bhinmal, Sanchor, Morsin, all attached to the _khalisa_ or fisc; besides the great _pattayats_, or chieftainships, of Bhadrajan, Mewa, Jasola, and Sindari—a tract of ninety miles in length, and nearly the same in breadth, with fair soil, water near the surface, and requiring only good government to make it as productive as any of its magnitude in these regions, and sufficient to defray the whole personal expenses of the Rajas of Jodhpur, or about nine lakhs of rupees; but in consequence of the anarchy of the capital, the corruption of the managers, and the raids of the Sahariyas of the desert and the Minas of Abu and the Aravalli, it is deplorably deteriorated. There are several ridges (on one of which is the castle) traversing the district, but none uniting with the table-land of Mewar, though with breaks it may be traced to near Abu. In one point it shows its affinity to the desert, _i.e._ in its vegetable productions, for it has no other timber than the _jhal_, the _babul_, the _karil_, and other shrubs of the _thal_.

The important fortress of Jalor, guarding the southern frontier of Marwar, stands on the extremity of the range extending north to Siwana. It is from three to four hundred feet in height, fortified with a wall and bastions, on some of which cannon are mounted. It has four gates; that from the town is called the Suraj-pol, and to the north-west is the Bal-pol (‘the gate of Bal,’ the sun-god), where there is a shrine of the Jain pontiff, Parsvanath. There are many wells, and two considerable _baoris_, or reservoirs of good water, and to the north a small lake formed by damming up the streams from the hills; but the water seldom lasts above half the year. The town [298], which contains three thousand and seventeen houses, extends on the north and eastern side of the fort, having the Sukri flowing about a mile east of it. It has a circumvallation as well as the castle, having guns for its defence; and is inhabited by every variety of tribe, though, strange to say, there are only five families of Rajputs in its motley population. The following census was made by one of my parties, in A.D. 1813:

Houses. Malis, or gardeners 140 Telis, or oilmen, here called 100 _Ghanchi_ Kumhars, or potters 60 Thatheras, or braziers 30 Chhipis, or printers 20 Bankers, merchants, and shopkeepers 1156 Musalman families 936 Khatiks, or butchers 20 Nais, or barbers 16 Kalals, or spirit-distillers 20 Weavers 100 Silk weavers 15 Yatis (Jain priests) 2 Brahmans 100 Gujars 40 Rajputs 5 Bhojaks[8.1.20] 20 Minas 60 Bhils 15 Sweetmeat shops 8 Ironsmiths and carpenters (_Lohars_ 14 and _Sutars_) Churiwalas, or bracelet-manufacturers 4

The general accuracy of this census was confirmed.

=Sīwāna.=—Siwanchi is the tract between the Luni and Sukri, of which Siwana, a strong castle placed on the extremity of the same range with Jalor, is the capital. The country requires no particular description, being of the same nature as that just depicted. In former times it constituted, together with Nagor, the appanage of the heir-apparent of Marwar; but since the setting-up of the pretender, Dhonkal Singh, both have been attached to the fisc: in fact, there is no heir to Maru! Ferishta mentions the defence of Siwana against the arms of Alau-d-din.[8.1.21]

=Machola, Morsin.=—Machola and Morsin are the two principal dependencies of Jalor within the Luni, the former having a strong castle guarding its south-east frontier against the [299] depredations of the Minas; the latter, which has also a fort and town of five hundred houses, is on the western extremity of Jalor.

=Bhīnmāl, Sānchor.=—Bhinmal and Sanchor are the two principal subdivisions to the south, and together nearly equal the remainder of the province, each containing eighty villages. These towns are on the high-road to Cutch and Gujarat, which has given them from the most remote times a commercial celebrity. Bhinmal is said to contain fifteen hundred houses, and Sanchor about half the number.[8.1.22] Very wealthy Mahajans, or ‘merchants,’ used to reside here, but insecurity both within and without has much injured these cities, the first of which has its name, Mal (not Mahl, as in the map), from its wealth as a mart.[8.1.23] There is a temple of Baraha (Varaha, the incarnation of the hog), with a great sculptured boar. Sanchor possesses also a distinct celebrity from being the cradle of a class of Brahmans called Sanchora, who are the officiating priests of some of the most celebrated temples in these regions, as that of Dwarka, Mathura, Pushkar, Nagar-Parkar, etc.[8.1.24] The name of Sanchor is corrupted from Satipura, Sati, or Suttee’s town, said to be very ancient.

=Bhadrājan.=—A slight notice is due to the principal fiefs of Jalor, as well as the fiscal towns of this domain. Bhadrajan is a town of five hundred houses (three-fourths of which are of the Mina class), situated in the midst of a cluster of hills, having a small fort. The chief is of the Jodha clan; his fief connects Jalor with Pali in Godwar.

=Mewa.=—Mewa is a celebrated little tract on both banks of the Luni, and one of the first possessions of the Rathors. It is, properly speaking, in Siwanchi, to which it pays a tribute, besides service when required. The chief of Mewa has the title of Rawal, and his usual residence is the town of Jasol. Surat Singh is the present chief; his relative, Surajmall, holds the same title, and the fief and castle of Sandri, also on the Luni, twenty-two miles south of Jasol. A feud reigns between them; they claim co-equal rights, and the consequence is that neither can reside at Mewa, the capital of the domain. Both chiefs deemed the profession of robber no disgrace, when this memoir was written (1813); but it is to be hoped they have seen the danger, if not the error, of their ways, and will turn to cultivating the fertile tracts along the ‘Salt River,’ which yield wheat, juar, and bajra in abundance.

=Bālotra, Tīlwāra.=—Balotra, Tilwara, are two celebrated names in the geography of this region, and have an annual fair, as renowned in Rajputana as that of Leipsic in Germany. Though called the Balotra _mela_ (literally, 'an assemblage, or [300] concourse of people'), it was held at Tilwara, several miles south,[8.1.25] near an island of the Luni, which is sanctified by a shrine of Mallinath, ‘the divinity of the Malli,’ who, as already mentioned, is now the patron god of the Rathors. Tilwara forms the fief of another relative of the Mewa family, and Balotra, which ought to belong to the fisc, did and may still belong to Awa, the chief noble of Marwar. But Balotra and Sandri have other claims to distinction, having, with the original estate of Dunara, formed the fief of Durgadas, the first character in the annals of Maru, and whose descendant yet occupies Sandri. The fief of Mewa, which includes them all, was rated at fifty thousand rupees annually. The Pattayats with their vassalage occasionally go to court, but hold themselves exempt from service except on emergencies. The call upon them is chiefly for the defence of the frontier, of which they are the Simiswara, or lord-marchers.

=Īndhāvati.=—This tract, which has its name from the Rajput tribe of Indha, the chief branch of the Parihars (the ancient sovereigns of Mandor), extends from Balotra north, and west of the capital, Jodhpur, and is bounded on the north by the _thal_ of Guga. The _thal_ of Indhavati embraces a space of about thirty coss in circumference.

=Gūgadeo ka Thal.=—The _thal_ of Guga, a name celebrated in the heroic history of the Chauhans, is immediately north of Indhavati, and one description will suit both. The sand-ridges (_thal-ka-tiba_) are very lofty in all this tract; very thinly inhabited; few villages; water far from the surface, and having considerable jungles. Tob, Phalsund, and Bimasar are the chief towns in this _rui_. They collect rain-water in reservoirs called _tanka_, which they are obliged to use sparingly, and often while a mass of corruption, producing that peculiar disease in the eyes called _rataundha_ (corrupted by us to _rotunda_) or night-blindness,[8.1.26] for with the return of day it passes off.

=Tararoi.=—The _thal_ of Tararoi intervenes between that of Gugadeo and the present frontier of Jaisalmer, to which it formerly belonged.[8.1.27] Pokaran is the chief town, not of Tararoi only, but of all the desert interposed between the two chief capitals of Marusthali. The southern part of this _thal_ does not differ from that described, but its northern portion, and more especially for sixteen to twenty miles around the city of Pokaran, are low disconnected ridges of loose rock, the continuation of that on which stands the capital of the Bhattis, which give, as we have already said, to this oasis the epithet of Mer, or rocky. The name of Tararoi is derived from _tar_, which signifies moisture, humidity [301] from springs, or the springs themselves, which rise from this _rui_. Pokaran, the residence of Salim Singh (into the history of whose family we have so fully entered in the Annals of Marwar), is a town of two thousand houses, surrounded by a stone wall, and having a fort, mounting several guns on its eastern side. Under the west side of the town, the inhabitants have the unusual sight in these regions of running water, though only in the rainy season, for it is soon absorbed by the sands. Some say it comes from the Sar of Kanod, others from the springs in the ridge; at all events, they derive a good and plentiful supply of water from the wells excavated in its bed. The chief of Pokaran, besides its twenty-four villages, holds lands between the Luni and Bandi rivers to the amount of a lakh of rupees. Dunara and Manzil, the fief of the loyal Durgadas, are now in the hands of the traitor Salim. Three coss to the north of Pokaran is the village of Ramdeora, so named from a shrine to Ramdeo, one of the Paladins of the desert, and which attracts people from all quarters to the Mela, or fair, held in the rainy month of Bhadon.[8.1.28] Merchants from Karachi-bandar, Tatta, Multan, Shikarpur, and Cutch here exchange the produce of various countries: horses, camels, and oxen used also to be reared in great numbers, but the famine of 1813, and anarchy ever since Raja Man’s accession, added to the interminable feuds between the Bhattis and Rathors, have checked all this desirable intercourse, which occasionally made the very heart of the desert a scene of joy and activity.

=Khawar.=—This _thal_, lying between Jaisalmer and Barmer, and abutting at Girab into the desert of Dhat, is in the most remote angle of Marwar. Though thinly inhabited, it possesses several considerable places, entitled to the name of towns, in this ‘abode of death.’ Of these, Sheo and Kotra are the most considerable, the first containing three hundred, the latter five hundred houses, situated upon the ridge of hills, which may be traced from Bhuj to Jaisalmer. Both these towns belong to chiefs of the Rathor family, who pay a nominal obedience to the Raja of Jodhpur. At no distant period, a smart trade used to be carried on between Anhilwara Patan and this region; but the lawless Sahariyas plundered so many kafilas, that it is at length destroyed. They find pasture for numerous flocks of sheep and buffaloes in this _thal_.

=Mallināth, Bārmer.=—The whole of this region was formerly inhabited by a tribe called Malli or Mallani, who, although asserted by some to be Rathor in origin, are assuredly Chauhan, and of the same stock as the ancient lords of Juna Chhotan. Barmer was reckoned, before the last famine, to contain one [302] thousand two hundred houses, inhabited by all classes, one-fourth of whom were Sanchora Brahmans.[8.1.29] The town is situated in the same range as Sheo-Kotra, here two to three hundred feet in height. From Sheo to Barmer there is a good deal of flat intermingled with low _tibas_ of sand, which in favourable seasons produces enough food for consumption. Padam Singh, the Barmer chief, is of the same stock as those of Sheo Kotra and Jasol; from the latter they all issue, and he calculates thirty-four villages in his feudal domain. Formerly, a _dani_ (which is, literally rendered, _douanier_) resided here to collect the transit duties; but the Sahariyas have rendered this office a sinecure, and the chief of Barmer takes the little it realizes to himself. They find it more convenient to be on a tolerably good footing with the Bhattis, from whom this tract was conquered, than with their own head, whose officers they very often oppose, especially when a demand is made upon them for _dand_; on which occasion they do not disdain to call in the assistance of their desert friends, the Sahariyas. Throughout the whole of this region they rear great numbers of the best camels, which find a ready market in every part of India.

=Kherdhar.=—‘The land of Kher’[8.1.30] has often been mentioned in the annals of these States. It was in this distant nook that the Rathors first established themselves, expelling the Gohil tribe, which migrated to the Gulf of Cambay, and are now lords of Gogha and Bhavnagar; and instead of steering ‘the ship of the desert’ in their piracies on the kafilas, plied the Great Indian Ocean, even “to the golden coast of Sofala,” in the yet more nefarious trade of slaves. It is difficult to learn what latitude they affixed to the ‘land of Kher,’ which in the time of the Gohils approximated to the Luni; nor is it necessary to perplex ourselves with such niceties, as we only use the names for the purpose of description. In all probability it comprehended the whole space afterwards occupied by the Mallani or Chauhans, who founded Juna-Chhotan, etc., which we shall therefore include in Kherdhar. Kheralu, the chief town, was one of the ‘nine castles of Maru,’ when the Pramar was its sovereign lord. It has now dwindled into an insignificant village, containing no more than forty houses, surrounded on all sides by hills “of a black colour,” part of the same chain from Bhuj.

=Jūna Chhotan.=—Juna Chhotan, or the ‘ancient’ Chhotan, though always conjoined in name, are two [303] distinct places, said to be of very great antiquity, and capitals of the Hapa sovereignty. But as to what this Hapa Raj was, beyond the bare fact of its princes being Chauhan, tradition is now mute. Both still present the vestiges of large cities, more especially Juna, ‘the ancient,’ which is enclosed in a mass of hills, having but one inlet, on the east side, where there are the ruins of a small castle which defended the entrance. There are likewise the remains of two more on the summit of the range. The mouldering remnants of mandirs (temples), and _baoris_ (reservoirs), now choked up, all bear testimony to its extent, which is said to have included twelve thousand habitable dwellings! Now there are not above two hundred huts on its site, while Chhotan has shrunk into a poor hamlet. At Dhoriman, which is at the farther extremity of the range in which are Juna and Chhotan, there is a singular place of worship, to which the inhabitants flock on the _tij_, or third day of Sawan of each year. The patron saint is called Alandeo, through whose means some grand victory was obtained by the Mallani. The immediate objects of veneration are a number of brass images called Aswamukhi, from having the ‘heads of horses’ ranged on the top of a mountain called Alandeo. Whether these may further confirm the Scythic ancestry of the Mallani, as a branch of the Asi, or Aswa race of Central Asia, can at present be only matter of conjecture.

=Nagar Gurha.=—Between Barmer and Nagar-Gurha on the Luni is one immense continuous _thal_, or rather _rui_, containing deep jungles of khair, or kher, khejra, karil, khep, phog,[8.1.31] whose gums and berries are turned to account by the Bhils and Kolis of the southern districts. Nagar and Gurha are two large towns on the Luni (described in the itinerary), on the borders of the Chauhan _raj_ of Suigam, and formerly part of it.

Here terminate our remarks on the _thals_ of western Marwar, which, sterile as it is by the hand of Nature, had its miseries completed by the famine that raged generally throughout these regions in S. 1868 (A.D. 1812), and of which this[8.1.32] is the third year. The disorders which we have depicted as prevailing at the seat of government for the last thirty years, have left these remote regions entirely to the mercy of the desert tribes [304], or their own scarce less lawless lords: in fact, it only excites our astonishment how man can vegetate in such a land, which has nothing but a few _sars_, or salt-lakes, to yield any profit to the proprietors, and the excellent camel pastures, more especially in the southern tracts, which produce the best breed in the desert.

Footnote 8.1.1:

The journals of all these routes, with others of Central and Western India, form eleven moderate-sized folio volumes, from which an itinerary of these regions might be constructed. It was my intention to have drawn up a more perfect and detailed map from these, but my health forbids the attempt. They are now deposited in the archives of the Company, and may serve, if judiciously used, to fill up the only void in the great map of India, executed by their commands.

Footnote 8.1.2:

[Kānod Mohindargarh in Patiāla State (_IGI_, xvii. 385).]

Footnote 8.1.3:

It left Delhi October 13, 1808.

Footnote 8.1.4:

“Our marches,” says Mr. Elphinstone, “were seldom very long. The longest was twenty-six miles, and the shortest fifteen; but the fatigue which our people suffered bore no proportion to the distance. Our line, when in the closest order, was two miles long. The path by which we travelled wound much, to avoid the sand-hills. It was too narrow to allow of two camels going abreast; and if an animal stepped to one side, it sunk in the sand as in snow,” etc. etc.—_Account of the Kingdom of Caubul_, ed. 1842, vol. i. p. 11.

Footnote 8.1.5:

[In Sind, on the N. shore of the Great Rann, about 10 miles from Nagar-Pārkar.]

Footnote 8.1.6:

_Trikuta_, the epithet bestowed on the rock on which the castle of Jaisalmer is erected.

Footnote 8.1.7:

A name often given by Ferishta to the Indus.

Footnote 8.1.8:

[As has been already stated, Sahariya has no connexion with Arabic _Sahra_, ‘desert.’]

Footnote 8.1.9:

[Jhāl, of which there are two varieties, large and small, _Salvadora persica_ and _S. oleoides_.]

Footnote 8.1.10:

When I penned this conjectural etymology, I was not aware that any speculation had been made upon this word: I find, however, the late M. Langlés suggested the derivation of _oasis_ (variously written by the Greeks αὔασις, ἴασις and υἅσις, ὄασις, [αὔασις is the only other recognized form]) from the Arabic واح: and Dr. Wait, in a series of interesting etymologies (see _Asiatic Journal_, May 1830), suggests वसि, _vasi_ from वस, _vas_, ‘to inhabit.’ _Vasi_ and ὕασις quasi _vasis_ are almost identical. My friend, Sir W. Ouseley, gave me nearly the same signification of وادي, _Wadi_, as appears in Johnson’s edition of Richardson, namely, a valley, a desert, a channel of a river—a river; وادي, _wadi-al-kabir_, ‘the great river,’ corrupted into Guadalquiver, which example is also given in d’Herbelot (see _Vadi Gehennem_), and by Thompson, who traces the word _water_ through all the languages of Europe—the Saxon _waeter_, the Greek ὔδωρ, the Islandic _udr_, the Slavonic _wod_ (whence _woder_ and _oder_, ‘a river’): all appear derivable from the Arabic _wad_, ‘a river’—or the Sanskrit _wah_; and if Dr. W. will refer to p. 1322 of the Itinerary, he will find a singular confirmation of his etymology in the word _bas_ (classically _vas_) applied to one of these _habitable_ spots. The word _basti_, also of frequent occurrence therein, is from _basna_, to inhabit; _vasi_, an inhabitant; or _vas_, a habitation, perhaps derivable from _wah_, indispensable to an oasis! [The _New English Dict._ gives Lat. oasis, Greek ὄασις, apparently of Egyptian origin; cf. Coptic _ouahe_ (whence Egyptian Arabic _wāh_), ‘dwelling-place, oasis,’ from _ouih_, ‘to dwell.’]

Footnote 8.1.11:

[See _IGI_, xii. 212 f.; E. H. Aitken, _Gazetteer of Sind_, 4; _Calcutta Review_, 1874; _JRAS_, xxv. 49 ff.]

Footnote 8.1.12:

[The derivation of Pārkar is unknown; that suggested in the text is impossible.]

Footnote 8.1.13:

[Nārāyansar, an important place of pilgrimage, with interesting temples, is situated at the Kori entrance of the W. Rann (_BG_, v. 245 ff.).]

Footnote 8.1.14:

[Or _irina_, Yule, _Hobson-Jobson_, 2nd ed. 774.]

Footnote 8.1.15:

[_Equus hemionus_ (Blanford, _Mammalia of India_, 470 f.; Job xxxix. 5 ff.).]

Footnote 8.1.16:

“The greatest breadth of the valley of the Nile is four leagues, the least, one”; so that the narrowest portion of the valley of Sind equals the largest of the Nile. Egypt alone is _said_ to have had eight millions of inhabitants; what then might Sind maintain! The condition of the peasantry, as described by Bourrienne, is exactly that of Rajputana; “The villages are fiefs belonging to any one on whom the prince may bestow them; the peasantry pay a tax to their superior, and are the actual proprietors of the soil; amidst all the revolutions and commotions, their privileges are not infringed.” This right (still obtaining), taken away by Joseph, was restored by Sesostris.

Footnote 8.1.17:

Another salt river.

Footnote 8.1.18:

[The Chauhān Rāo Kīrttipāl took it from the Pramāras towards the end of the twelfth century, and Kānardeo Chauhān lost it to Alāu-d-dīn (Erskine iii. A. 199 f.). In Briggs’ translation of Ferishta (i. 370) the place is called Jalwar, and the King Nāhardeo.]

Footnote 8.1.19:

Multan and Juna (Chhotan, _qu._ Chauhan-tan?) have the same signification, ‘the ancient abode,’ and both were occupied by the tribe of Malli or Mallani, said to be of Chauhan race; and it is curious to find at Jalor (classically Jalandhar) the same divinities as in their haunts in the Panjab, namely, Mallinath, Jalandharnath, and Balnath. Abu-l-Fazl says, “The cell of Balnath is in the middle of Sindsagar”; and Babur (Elliot-Dowson ii. 450, iv. 240, 415, v. 114, _Āīn_, ii. 315) places “Balnath-jogi below the hill of Jud, five marches east of the Indus,” the very spot claimed by the Yadus, when led out of India by their deified leader Baldeo, or Balnath.

Footnote 8.1.20:

[Bhojak, ‘a feeder,’ a term usually applied to those Brāhmans who are fed after a death, in order to pass on the food to the spirit.]

Footnote 8.1.21:

[Ferishta (i. 369) calls the Rāja Sītaldeo; Amīr Khusru (Elliot-Dowson iii. 78, 550, v. 166) Sutaldeo.]

Footnote 8.1.22:

[The population of these towns is now respectively 4545 and 2066.]

Footnote 8.1.23:

[The old name was Srīmāl or Bhillamāla, which Erskine (iii. A. 194) identifies with Pi-lo-mo-lo of Hiuen Tsiang. But Beal (_Buddhist Records of the Western World_, ii. 270) transliterates this name as Bālmer or Bārmer.]

Footnote 8.1.24:

[For the Sāchora or Sānchora Brāhmans see _BG_, ix. Part i. 18; Erskine iii. A. 84.]

Footnote 8.1.25:

[Tīlwāra is about 10 miles W. of Bālotra.]

Footnote 8.1.26:

It is asserted by the natives to be caused by a small thread-like worm, which also forms in the eyes of horses. I have seen it in the horse, moving about with great velocity. They puncture and discharge it with the aqueous humour.

Footnote 8.1.27:

[The name Tararoi seems to have disappeared from the maps, the tract being now known as Sānkra.]

Footnote 8.1.28:

[Rāmdeora is 12 miles N. of Pokaran. The saint is commonly called Rāmdeoji or Rāmsāh Pīr.]

Footnote 8.1.29:

[Bārmer, the ancient name of which is said to be Bāhadamer, ‘hill fort of Bāhada,’ is 130 miles W. of Jodhpur city; its present population is 6064. Mallināth was son of Rāo Salkha, eighth in descent from Siāhji, founder of Mārwār State.]

Footnote 8.1.30:

Named in all probability, from the superabundant tree of the desert termed _Khair_, and _dhar_, ‘land.’ It is also called Kheralu, but more properly Kherala, ‘the abode of Khair’; a shrub of great utility in these regions. Its astringent pods, similar in appearance to those of the laburnum, they convert into food. Its gum is collected as an article of trade; the camels browse upon its twigs, and the wood makes their huts. [Kher is a ruined village, not far from Jasol, at the point where the Lūni River turns eastward. Kherālu has disappeared from modern maps, if it be not a mistake for Kerādu, where there are interesting temples (_ASR_, West Circle, March 31, 1907, pp. 40-43; Erskine iii. A. 201).]

Footnote 8.1.31:

[Khair, _Acacia catechu_; Khejra, _Prosopis spicigera_; Karīl, _Capparis aphylla_; Khep, _Crotolaria burhia_; Phog, _Calligonum polygonoides_.]

Footnote 8.1.32:

That is, 1814. I am transcribing from my journals of that day, just after the return of one of my parties of discovery from these regions, bringing with them natives of Dhat, who, to use their own simple but expressive phraseology, “had the measure of the desert in the palm of their hands”; for they had been employed as kasids, or messengers, for thirty years of their lives. Two of them afterwards returned and brought away their families, and remained upwards of five years in my service, and were faithful, able, and honest in the duties I assigned them, as jamadars of daks, or superintendents of posts, which were for many years under my charge when at Sindhia’s court, extending at one time from the Ganges to Bombay, through the most savage and little-known regions in India. But with such men as I drilled to aid in these discoveries, I found nothing insurmountable. [The famine of 1812-13 was the most calamitous of the earlier visitations (Erskine iii. A. 125).]