CHAPTER 8

=Attempted Poisoning of the Author. Jahāzpur=, _October 1_.—My journalizing had nearly terminated yesterday. Duncan and Carey being still confined to their beds, my relative, Captain Waugh, sat down with me to dinner; but fever and ague having destroyed all appetite on my part, I was a mere spectator. I had, however, fancied a cake of _makkai_ flour, but had not eaten two mouthfuls before I experienced extraordinary sensations; my head seemed expanding to an enormous size, as if it alone would have filled the tent; my tongue and lips felt tight and swollen, and though I underwent no alarm, nor suffered the slightest loss of sense, I deemed it the prelude to one of those violent attacks, which have assailed me for several years past, and brought me to the verge of death. I begged Captain Waugh to leave me; but he had scarcely gone before a constriction of the throat came on, and I thought all was over. I rose up, however, and grasped [674] the tent-pole, when my relative re-entered with the surgeon. I beckoned them not to disturb my thoughts, instead of which they thrust some ether and compounds down my throat, which operated with magical celerity. I vomited violently; the constriction ceased; I sunk on my pallet, and about two in the morning I awoke, bathed in perspiration, and without a remnant of disease. It was difficult to account for this result: the medical oracle fancied I had been poisoned, but I was loth to admit it. If the fact were so, the poison must have been contained in the cake, and as it would have been too great a risk to retain the person who prepared it, the baker was discharged. It was fortunate that the symptoms were such as to induce Captain Waugh to describe them so fully, and it was still more fortunate for me that the doctor was not able to go out with his fishing-rod, for the whole transaction did not last five minutes. This is about the fourth time I have been ‘upon the brink’ (_kinari pahuncha_) since I entered Mewar.[11.8.1]

=Khajuri=, _October 2_.—Left my sick friends this morning to nurse each other, and having an important duty to perform at Mandalgarh, which is out of the direct route, appointed a rendezvous where I shall meet them when this work is over. I was for the first time compelled to shut myself up in my palki; incessant fever and ague for the last two months have disorganized a frame which has had to struggle with many of these attacks. We are now in what is termed the Karar, for so the tract is named on both banks of the Banas to the verge of the plateau; and my journey was through a little nation of robbers by birth and profession; but their _kamthas_ (bows) were unstrung, and their arrows rusting in the quiver. Well may our empire in the east be called one of opinion, when a solitary individual of Britain, escorted by a few of Skinner’s Horse, may journey through the valley of Khajuri, where, three short years ago, every crag would have concealed an ambush prepared to plunder him! At present, I could by signal have collected four thousand bowmen around me, to protect or to plunder; though the Minas, finding that their rights are respected, are subsiding into regular tax-paying subjects, and call out with their betters “Atal Raj!” (“May your sway be everlasting!”) We had a grand convocation of the Mina Naiks, and, in the Rana’s name, I distributed crimson turbans and scarfs; for as through our mediation the Rana had just recovered the district of Jahazpur, he charged me with its settlement. I found these Minas true children of nature, who for the first time seemed to feel they were received within the pale of society, instead of being considered as outcasts. “The heart must leap kindly back to kindness,” is a sentiment as powerfully [675] felt by the semi-barbarians of the Karar as by the more civilized habitants of other climes.

Our route was through a very narrow valley, little susceptible of cultivation, though a few patches were visible near the hamlets, scattered here and there. The scene was wild, and the cool morning air imparted vigour to my exhausted frame. The slopes of the valley in many places are covered with trees to the very summit of the mountains, on which the _kukra_ or wild cock was crowing his matins, and we were in momentary expectation of seeing some bears, fit associates of the Minas, in their early promenades. As we approached Khajuri, the valley widened, so as to admit of its being termed a township of fifty-two thousand bighas, which afforded another proof of ancestral wisdom, for it was in _sasan_, or grant to the Brahmans: but the outlaws of the Karar, though they sacrifice a tithe of their plunder to ‘our Lady of the Pass’ (Ghata Rani), have little consideration for the idlers of the plains. This feeling is not confined to the Minas; for the Bhumia Rajputs, despising all the anathemas of the church, have seized on the best lands of Khajuri. But only a small portion of the Bawana (fifty-two thousand), about seventeen thousand English acres, is arable.

=Kachola= or =Kachaura=, _October 3_.—Execrable roads! Our route continued through the same valley, occasionally expanding to the westward. Half-way, we passed the baronial castle of Amargarh, whose chief, Rawat Dalil Singh, is now on duty with his quota at Jahazpur, but his uncle Pahar Singh, who is a great favourite with our party (by whom he is known as ‘the mountain-lion’), came to meet and conduct me to the castle. But I was too unwell, or should on many accounts have desired to visit this somewhat celebrated abode of one of the Babas (_infants_) of Mewar, whose feud I maintained for him against his potent neighbour of Shahpura, which has elsewhere been related.[11.8.2] It is quite unassailable, being built on an isolated rock, and, except by a circuitous path on one side, there is no passage through the dense jungle that surrounds it: a mode of fortifying recommended by Manu,[11.8.3] but which, if universally followed in this land so studded with fortresses, would waste no small portion of the sovereignty. I was quite satisfied with this view of the castle of Dalil, and enjoyed from the point of descent a noble prospect. In the foreground is the cenotaph of Rana Arsi, in the centre of the valley, which extended and gradually opened towards Mandalgarh, whose blue ridge was distinctly visible in the distance. The hills to the right were broken abruptly into masses, and as far as the eye could stretch [676] on every side, were disordered heaps of gigantic rocks. To reclaim this district, the largest in Mewar, I am now intent, having convoked all the Bhumias and Patels of its three hundred and sixty townships at the chief city, Mandalgarh. My friend, Pahar Singh, as locum tenens of his uncle, expended powder on the occasion; and must have charged his patereroes[11.8.4] to the muzzle. Paharji joined me on his Panchkalyan (so they term a horse with four white legs and a white nose), and determined to escort me to Mandalgarh; a service, as he said, not only due from his family, but in accordance with the commands of his sovereign the Rana, of whom Pahar was a faithful, zealous, and valiant supporter during his adversity. The Bhumias of Mandalgarh, in fact, generally deserve the praise of having maintained this stronghold without either command or assistance throughout the whole period of his misfortunes.

Kachaura is a township rated at six thousand rupees of annual revenue in the rent-roll of Mewar, but is now an inconsiderable village. In former times, it must have been a place of importance, for all around, to a considerable distance, the ground is strewed with fragments of sculpture of a superior character, and one spot is evidently the site of the cenotaphs of the family. The town had stood on the western bank of an immense lake, which through neglect is now a swamp; and, half-way up the hill, are disclosed, amidst the brushwood of the _dho_,[11.8.5] the ruins of a temple: but tradition has perished with the population, who were subjected at once to the curse of constant foreign invasion and the inroads of the Minas of the Karar. Thus a soil, whose richness is apparent from the luxuriance of its meadows, is in a state of entire desolation. Kachaura forms the _patta_ of Shahpura in this district, whose chief has to serve two masters, for he is a tributary of Ajmer for Shahpura, itself a fief of Mewar, and holds an estate of about forty thousand rupees of annual rent in Mandalgarh, which has been two years under sequestration for his refusal to attend the summons to Udaipur, and for his barbarous murder of the chief of Amargarh.[11.8.6] This is a state of things which ought not to exist. When we freed these countries from the Mahrattas, we should have renounced the petty tributes imposed upon the surrounding chiefs not within the limits of the district of Ajmer, and the retention of which is the source of irritating discussions with these princes through the feudatories. Presuming on this external influence, the Shahpura Raja set his sovereign’s warrant at defiance, and styled himself a subject of Ajmer; nor was it until he found he was bound by a double tie of duty, that he deigned to appear at the capital. The resumption of the estate in Mandalgarh alone overcame the inertness of the chief of Shahpura; he has already too much in the Chaurasi, or eighty-four [677] townships of Shahpura, for such a subject as he is, who prefers a foreign master to his legitimate lord. I would recommend that the Rathor chiefs of Marwar, beyond the Aravalli hills, now tributary to Ajmer, and who consequently only look to that State, should be replaced under their proper head: the sacrifice is of no moment to us, and to them it will be a boon.

=Damnia=, _October 9_.—I was detained at Kachaura by a violent accession of fever and ague, as well as spleen, increased no doubt by the unhealthiness of the position amidst swamps and jungle. This is a fine healthy spot, where I should like to convene the Bhumias and ryots, to endeavour to remove the reproach of so beautiful a land remaining waste. Damnia, which is in the sequestrated _patta_ of Shahpura, is a town of two thousand houses; a universal ruin!

=Mānpura=, 15.—After a week’s halt, reached this spot, about a mile south-west of the town, and on the bank of the Banas.[11.8.7] The entire population of Manpura turned out to receive me; the damsels with their brazen vessels of water on their heads; but the song of the Suhaila had ceased to charm, and my ague made me too ill even to return their kindness. To-day it has abated, and to-morrow, with another respite, I will try to get through the work which brought me here. Mandalgarh is three coss from hence. I was rejoiced to see the signs of reviving prosperity about Manpura; some fine patches of sugar-cane were refreshing sights.

=Māndalgarh=,[11.8.8] 16 and 17.—Proceeded up the valley and encamped within half a mile of the city, from which the governor and his cortege came to meet and welcome me; but I was too enfeebled to ascend the fort, which was a subject of regret. It is by no means formidable, and may be about four furlongs in length, with a low rampart wall, and bastions encircling the crest of the hill. The governor’s residence appears on the west side, at which spot the regent of Kotah was compelled to abandon his ladders, which they retain as a trophy. This is the festival of the Dasahra, the day sacred to Rama; but feasting is lost upon me, for this is the ninth day of abstinence from dinner. Captain Waugh rejoined me yesterday, looking very ill, and giving a poor account of my friends, especially Carey, who is sinking rapidly. He left them encamped at Baghit, the point of rendezvous in the Banas where I shall join them to-morrow. He found me on my _charpai_ (pallet), with some threescore leeches (which I had got from Mandalgarh) on my left side,[11.8.9] while I was attending [678] to and noting down the oral reports of the Bhumias and Patels of the district, who filled my tent, many remaining in groups outside. I notwithstanding got through the work to my satisfaction, and have obtained a thorough insight into the agricultural details of this fine tract, which I may touch upon, if I am able, the first halt.

=Annals of Māndalgarh.=—Mandalgarh was rebuilt by a chief of the Balnot[11.8.10] tribe, one of the ramifications of the Solanki or Chaulukya race, which furnished a splendid dynasty of kings to Anhilwara (Nahrwala) Patan, who ruled over the western maritime provinces of India from the tenth to the fourteenth century. They were of the great Takshak or Ophite race, which, with three other tribes, became converts to Brahmanism.[11.8.11] The Balnot of Mandalgarh was a branch of the family which occupied Tonk-Toda on the Banas, recognized in their traditional poems as Takshak, or, in the dialect, Takatpura, ‘city of the Takshak, or snake.’[11.8.12] Although tradition asserts that the Solanki of Toda migrated from Patan during the religious wars in the twelfth century, it is more probable that the branch fixed itself here during their progress from the north in search of settlements; for their genealogical creed assigns Lohkot, in the Panjab, as the cradle of their power.[11.8.13] It is indeed a curious fact, amounting to demonstration of the Indo-Scythic origin of the Agnikula races, that they all lay claim to this northern origin, in spite of their entrance into the world through the medium of fire (_agni_): in fact, the glorious egotism of the Brahman is never more conspicuous than when he asserts the superiority of the Chauhans over the more ancient races of Surya and Soma; that “these were born of woman, but they were made by the Brahmans”: a proof of conversion which requires no comment. In spite of this fabled birth at the fountain-head, the Analkund of Abu, tradition negatives the assumed pedigree of the Brahmans, and brings them all from the north. Be this as it may, the branch which fixed itself at Mandalgarh gave its name to the tract, which is still recognized by some as Balnot.

=The Philosopher’s Stone.=—The first possession the founder had was Larpura, a town of great antiquity. He had in his service a Bhil, named Mandu, who, while guarding the sugar-cane from the wild hog, came upon one sound asleep. To ensure his arrow piercing the animal, he began to sharpen it upon a stone; and, to his astonishment, found it transmuted to [679] gold. He repaired to his master, who returned with Mandu, and found the stone, with the hog still asleep beside it; but no sooner had he seized upon his prize, than Baraha disappeared.[11.8.14] With the possession of the _paras-patthar_, the ‘philosopher’s stone,’ he raised the walls of Mandalgarh, which was so named after the fortunate Bhil. By an act of injustice to one of his subjects, he forfeited Mandalgarh to a descendant. This subject was a Jogi, who had a mare of such extraordinary speed as to be able to run down an antelope. Whether the Balnot prince thought the sport unsuitable to an ascetic we are not told; but he forcibly took away the mare. The Jogi complained to the king, who sent a force and expelled the Balnot from Mandalgarh, and his descendants are petty Bhumias at Jawal and Kachrod, retaining, though mere peasants, the distinctive title of Rao. The numerous stories of this kind, common throughout Rajwara, accounting for the foundation of many ancient places, may merely record, in this manner, the discovery of mineral wealth; from the acquisition and the loss of which the legendary moralist has constructed his tale.

I discovered in the remains of a marble _bawari_, or reservoir, at Kachaura, two large tablets, containing the pedigree of the Solanki family, which will require time to decipher. Tradition, however, is busy with the name of Raja Bhim, and his son Baran of Anhilwara, from whom many tribes branched off; and although, from the first, only royal houses were founded, the other claims a greater celebrity from originating a heterogeneous breed, which descended into the third and fourth great classes, the Vaisya and Sudra. From him the Bagherwal Mahajans,[11.8.15] who became converts to the Jain faith, claim descent, as well as the Gujars of Sont-Katoria; the Sunars, or goldsmiths, of Bonkan; the Bhil communities of Oghna-Panarwa (or Mewar); and likewise those of Mau-Maidana, in Kotah. Whether from Baran and his degenerate offspring originated the name of _baran-shankar_, applied to the mixed classes, I am not informed.[11.8.16] The Bagherwal is one of the “twelve and a half (_sarha barah niyat_) castes of Mahajans,” or mercantile tribes, subdivided into innumerable families, the greater portion of whom profess the Jain creed, and nearly all are of Rajput ancestry: an important fact in the pedigree of this considerable part of the population. The lineal descendant of the Toda Rao resides at Basai in a small village; and two other branches, who held large possessions at Todri and Jahazpur, retain the villages of Mirchiakhera and Bhatwara, both in Chitor; they have preserved the title of Rao amidst all the revolutions that have deprived them of their estates; nor would any prince of Rajwara deem himself degraded by their alliance [680]. Such is the virtue of pedigree in these regions. I should imagine that the Balnots held of the Ranas of Mewar, as Mandalgarh has been an integral portion of that State during the most flourishing period of the Anhilwara dynasty, although the inscription of Chitor savours of conquest; in which case we have at once a solution of the question, and proof that the Balnot was inducted into Mandalgarh by his superior, Kumarpal.[11.8.17]

In S. 1755 (A.D. 1699) the tyrant Aurangzeb granted Mandalgarh to the Rathor chief of Pisangan, named Dudaji, who subdivided it into allotments for his brethren, leaving no revenue for the duties of the civil administration and repairs of the castle. To remedy this, he imposed a tax, called _daotra_ or _dasotra_, or ‘tenth’ of the net value of each harvest, upon his Bhumia brethren. When the Rana succeeded in expelling the royal garrison, he found it a work of some difficulty to get rid of the Rathor feudatories; and he gave them regular _pattas_ for their estates, subject to the payment of _dasotra_; but as he found it led to interference, in the inspection of crops, and to fluctuation and appeals in bad seasons, he commuted the tax for service of one horseman and one foot-soldier for each five hundred rupees of rent, and a certain small sum annually to mark their tributary condition.

In these times of turbulence, other impositions were laid on the Bhumias of his own kindred, the Ranawats, Kanawats, and Saktawats, who established their rights with their swords when the district was subjected to the emperor. In the same manner as with the Rathors, the Rana confirmed their acquisitions on the payment of certain fines called _bhumbarar_, which were either _baraskar_ and _trisala_, or ‘annual’ and ‘triennial’; the first being levied from the holders of single villages, the latter from those who had more than one. Thus, Amargarh was fixed at two thousand five hundred rupees; Amaldah, fifteen hundred; Tintora, thirteen hundred; Jhunjrala, fourteen hundred, etc., triennially, having obtained their lands by main force. They also, when Mandalgarh was threatened, would repair with their vassals and defend it during ten days at their own expense, after which they received rations from the State. There were various other fines collected from the Bhumia vassalage, such as _lauasma_, or for the support of the Nakkarchis (kettle-drummers), the mace, standard, and even the torch-bearers attached to each garrison. There was also _khar-lakar_, for wood and forage, which has been elsewhere explained; _hal-barar_, or ‘plough-tax,’ and _ghasmali_, or ‘pasturage,’ the rates of which are graduated, and vary [681] in amount with the power of enforcing their collections. But owing to these circumstances, the best land in Mandalgarh belongs to the Bhumia chieftains.

It was about this time, in the reign of Jagat Singh II., that Ummeda Singh of Shahpura had the grant of seventy-three villages in Mandalgarh, one-fifth of the whole district, subject only to the fine of three thousand two hundred and fifty rupees annually for _ghasmali_, with five hundred more to the deputy governor, and two hundred to the Chaudhari, or territorial head of the district. In this lavish manner were estates disposed of. This family continued to hold it until S. 1843, when the minister Somji, in order to obtain his support during the Chondawat rebellion, gave him a formal acquittance for this service, and in addition to these lands, the two subordinate fiefs of Dangarmau and Borwa on the Plateau, and the rich estate of Agoncha on the Khari; in return for which, he exacted a stipulation to serve with four hundred horse: a contract fulfilled only by one chief of the family, who fell leading his contingent at the battle of Ujjain. His descendants seem to have claimed immunity on the score of his service; and the present incumbent is a madman. Great changes, however, have recently been made in the condition of the Bhumias, and these desultory fines have all merged into a duty more accordant with the character of the Rajput; service in the garrisons of Mandalgarh and Jahazpur, and a fixed annual sum from those who are too poor to command even a single horse.

=Baghīt=,[11.8.18] _18th_; eight miles.—A large village on the west of our own stream, the Berach, coming from the Udaisagar. Our road lay over a rich soil, as usual overgrown with grass. Here I rejoined my sick friends, all very ill; the doctor better, but Carey in a very precarious condition.

=Birslabās=, _19th_.—The route over the most fertile plains of Mewar; but one continuous mass of jungle and rank grass. The Maharaja came out to meet me, a courteous, polished Rajput. He is of the Ranawat clan, descended from Rana Amra Singh, and the elder branch of the Shahpura family. Both his father and grandfather fell defending the cause of Shah Jahan against the usurper Aurangzeb, which lost him his birthright; but he has five villages left attached to Birslabas. Encamped near the altars of his heroic ancestors.

=Amba=, _21st_; six and a half miles.—The route over a scene of desolation; fine fields, fruitful of grass and ruins. Sent one of my Brahmans to the town of Akola, two coss distant, and had several inscriptions copied; they were all immunities or grants of privileges to the printers of that town, thence called Chhipi-ka-Akola, to distinguish [682] it from another of the same name. I halted at Birslabas, received several visits, and held interesting conversations with the Maharaja; but fever and ague leave the mind in a sorry state. I can pay no attention to barometer or perambulator; of the latter Babu Mahesh keeps a diary, and on his intelligence I can depend.

=Hamīrgarh=,[11.8.19] _22nd_.—This town belongs to Biramdeo, Ranawat, the son of Dhiraj Singh, who was the chief adviser of the Salumbar princes in the rebellion of S. 1843, during which he obtained it. The present chief is an oaf, always intoxicated; and as he did not discharge the Baoris, or professional thieves in his service, on the return of these days of peace, he was deprived of two towns amounting to seven thousand rupees annual rent. He ought, indeed, by the treaty of A.D. 1818, to have lost Hamirgarh, but he contrived by various indirect means to elude it, and to retain this, one of the most thriving places in Mewar. It contains about eight hundred inhabited houses, tenanted chiefly by manufacturers of chintz and _dopattas_, or ‘scarfs,’ such as are worn by all the Rajputnis. It has a fine lake, filled with a variety of wild duck, which live unmolested amidst the _singhara_[11.8.20] and lotus. The more ancient name of this place is Bakrol, as I found by two inscriptions, which again furnish specimens of sumptuary legislation.

=Siyāna=,[11.8.21] _23rd_; eight miles and three furlongs.—We are now in the very heart of Mewar, plains extending as far as the eye can reach. Traces of incipient prosperity are visible, but it will require years to repair the mischief of the last quarter of a century. Passed through Ujhana, Amli, Neuria—all surrendered in consequence of the treaty of 1818: the last-mentioned, together with Siyana, from the ‘Red Riever,’ as we have nicknamed the chieftain of Badesar. The prospect from this ground is superb: the Udaipur hills in the distance; those of Pur and Gurla,[11.8.22] with their cupolas, on our right; the fantastic peak of Barak rising insulated from the plain. We are now approaching a place of rest, which we all much require; though I fear Carey’s will be one of perpetuity. Saw a beautiful mirage (_si-kot_) this morning, the certain harbinger of the cold season. The ridge of Pur underwent a thousand transformations, and the pinnacle of Barak was crowned with a multitude of spires. There is not a more delightful relaxation than to watch the changes of these evanescent objects, emblems of our own ephemeral condition. This was the first really cold morning. The Panchayat, or elders of Pur, with several of the most respectable inhabitants to the number of fifty, came all this way to see me, and testify their happiness and gratitude! Is there another nook in the earth where such a principle is professed, much [683] less acted on? Hear their spokesman’s reply to my question, “Why did they take the trouble to come so far from home?” I give it verbatim: “Our town had not two hundred inhabited dwellings when you came amongst us: now there are twelve hundred: the Rana is our sovereign, but you are to us next to Parameswar (the Almighty); our fields are thriving, trade is reviving, and we have not been molested even for the wedding-portion.[11.8.23] We are happy, and we have come to tell you so; and what is five coss, or five hundred, to what you have done for us?” All very true, my friends, if you think so. After a little wholesome advice to keep party feuds from the good town of Pur, they took leave, to return their ten miles on foot.

Since the town council left me, I have been kept until half-past seven by the Baba of Mangrop, and the Thakur of Rawarda, whose son I redeemed from captivity in the fortress of Ajmer. Worn out; but what is to be done? It is impossible to deny one’s self to chiefs who have also come miles from the best motives. Now for coffee and the _charpai_.

=Rāsmi=,[11.8.24] _October 23_.—The direct or usual route is thirteen and a half miles, but as I made a circuit by Marauli, it was fifteen. Had I taken the common route, I should have followed the Banas the whole way; as it was, for the last half I skirted its low banks, its limpid stream flowing gently to the north-east. Found the cultivation considerably increased compared with last year; but it is still a desert, overgrown with grass and brushwood, in which these little cultivated oases are “few and far between.” Marauli was thriving in the midst of ruin, with fifty-seven ploughs at work; there were but twelve when I entered Mewar. Rasmi has also seventy families instead of the twenty I found; and in a few years I hope to see them greatly increased. We had some delicious trout from the Banas, some of them equal to what we caught last year at Pahona, the largest of which weighed seventy-three rupees, or about two pounds, and near seventeen inches long by nine in girth. My friend Tom David Steuart was more successful than we were in getting them to rise at the fly; in revenge we took them, unsportsmanlike, in a net. This appears to be the season for eating them.

Rasmi is a place of considerable interest, and tradition is at work to establish its antiquity, connecting it with the name of Raja Chand; but whether the Pramar of [684] Chandravati, or the Chauhan of Abhaner, I cannot learn. There were vestiges of past days; but even in these regions, where to a certain extent they respect antiquity, I find the ruined temples are despoiled, and appropriated to modern fabrics. Amongst the groves of Rasmi I found some fragments of patriarchal legislation, prohibiting “the ladies from carrying away under their _ghaghra_ (petticoats) any portion of the _sadh_, or village-feast!” I also discovered a tablet raised by the collective inhabitants of Rasmi, which well illustrates the truth, that they had always some resort against oppression. It runs as follows: “Written by the merchants, bankers, printers, and assembled panchayat of Rasmi: Whereas the collector of town-duties oppressed the merchant by name Pakar, and exacted exorbitant duties on grain and _reza_ (unbleached cloth), for which he abandoned the place; but the government-officer having forsworn all such conduct for the future, and prevailed on him to return, and having taken the god to witness—we, the assembled panch, have set up this stone to record it. Asarh the 3rd, S. 1819.”

Fourteen years have elapsed since I first put my foot in Mewar, as a subaltern of the Resident’s[11.8.25] escort, when it passed through Rasmi. Since that period, my whole thoughts have been occupied with her history and that of her neighbours.

=Jāsma=,[11.8.26] _24th_; distance fourteen miles, but not above twelve direct.—This in past times was a township of celebrity, and in the heart of the finest soil in India, with water at hand; but it had not a single habitation when we entered the country; now, it has eighty families. Our way for fourteen miles was through one wide waste of untrodden plain; the Banas continued our companion half-way, when _she_ departed for Galund to our right. Saw many inscriptions, of which we shall give an account hereafter. Passed the copper-mines of Dariba;[11.8.27] but they are filled with water, and the miners are all dead.

=Sanwār=,[11.8.28] _25th_; distance twelve and a half miles by the direct route through Lonera; but I made a circuit to visit the celebrated field of battle between Rawal Samarsi, of Chitor, and Bhola Bhim, of Anhilwara Patan, recorded by the bard Chand in his Raesa. This magnificent plain, like all the rest of this once garden of Mewar, is overgrown with the _kesula_ or _palas_, and lofty rank grass; and the sole circumstance by which it is known is the site. The bard describes the battle as having occurred in Khet-Karera, or field of Karera, and that the Solanki, on his defeat, retreated across the river, meaning the Berach, which is a few miles to the south. A little way [685] from hence is the Sangam, or point of junction of the Berach and Banas, which, with a third small stream, forms a _triveni_; at their point of confluence there is an altar to Mahadeo.

=Karera.=—At Karera there is a temple of some celebrity, dedicated to the twenty-third of the Jain apostles, Parsvanath. I found several inscriptions recording its foundation in S. 11 ..., and several from 1300 to 1350. We must supply the figures wanting in the first. The priests are poor and ignorant; but they are transcribing its history, and such as it is it shall be given. The temple is imposing, and though evidently erected in the decline of the arts, may be considered a good specimen for the twelfth century. It consists of two domes, supported by numerous massive columns of a species of porphyry, of close texture, excessively hard, and taking a fine polish. The capitals of the columns are filled with Jain figures of their pontiffs. The domes are of nearly equal diameters, about thirty feet each, and about forty in height; under the further one is the sanctum of Parsva, and the other within the votaries. There is a splendid colonnaded vestibule at the entrance, richly sculptured, which gives a very grand appearance to the whole edifice; but it stands in the midst of desolation. Even thirty years ago, these plains were covered with crops of juar, in which an elephant would have been lost; now there is scarcely the trace of a footpath, and with some difficulty did I make way in my palki (for I am unable to mount my horse) through the high grass which completely overtopped it, and the babul trees, the thorns of which annoyed us. Karera, which formerly contained six hundred houses, has now only sixty; and more than half of these have been built since we came amongst them. The damsels of Karera came out to welcome me with the ‘song of joy,’ and bringing water. The distance is seven miles from Rasmi to Karera, and nine thence to Sanwar. The latter belongs to one of the infants (_Babas_) of Mewar, the Maharaja Daulat Singh, now kilahdar or commandant of Kumbhalmer. This chief town of the estate of my friend the Maharaja is but small, and in no flourishing condition. There is a small fort, in which he contrived to maintain himself against the savage bands who long prowled over the country. Transcribed an inscription, and found it to be the abolition of a monopoly of tobacco, dated S. 1826.

=Mauli=, _26th_; seven and a half miles.—As usual, all was barren between Sanwar and Mauli; though at each are the traces of reviving industry. This was formerly a considerable town, and rated in the books at seven thousand rupees annual rent; but now it yields not seven hundred. Its population consists of about eighty families of all classes [686], half of which have been recalled from their long exile in Malwa and Khandesh, and have already given a new aspect to Mauli in its sugar-canes. Her highness’s steward, however, is not one of the faithful. There is a very fine _bawari_, or reservoir, of coarse marble, constructed by Baiji Raj, ‘the royal mother,’ of the present Rana and his sister, in whose appanage it is. An inscription, dated S. 1737, recorded an ordinance in favour of the Jains, that “the oil-mill of Mauli should not work on the four rainy months”; in order to lessen the destruction of animal life.[11.8.29]

=Heights of Tus and Merta=, _27th_; fourteen miles and a half.—At length there is an end to our disastrous journey; and from this ground I stir not again, till I start for Samudra (the sea), to embark for the land of my sires. Our route, as usual, over desolate fields, doubly striking as we passed the hunting-seats of Nahramagra, or ‘tiger mount.’ Bajraj, the royal steed, who seemed instinctively to know he was at the end of his journey, was unwilling to quit the path and his companions, when I urged him to pick his way amidst the ruined palace of the Ranas, where, without metaphor, “the owl stands sentinel”; and which was crumbling into and choking up the Bamani, whose monotonous murmur over these impediments increased the melancholy sensations which arose on beholding such a scene. Every year is aiding its rapid decay, and vegetation, fixing itself everywhere, rends its walls asunder. The range of stabling for thirty horses, all of stone, even to the mangers, is one extensive ruin. It was on this spot, according to the chronicles, that the sage Harit bestowed the enchanted blade upon the great sire of the Sesodias, eleven centuries ago; but they have run their career, and the problem remains to be solved, whether they have to commence a new course, or proceed in the same ratio of decay as the palace of the tiger-mount. The walls around this royal preserve no longer serve to keep the game from prowling where they please. A noble boar crossed our path, but had no pursuers; “our blood was cold”; we wanted rest. As we approached our old ground, my neighbours of Merta and villages adjacent poured out to welcome our return, preceded by the Dholi of Tus and his huge kettle-drum, and the fair, bearing their lotas, or brazen vessels with water, chanted the usual strain of welcome. I dropped a piece of silver into each as I passed, and hastened to rest my wearied limbs.

Poor Carey will never march again! Life is almost extinct, and all of us are but the ghosts of what we were [687].

Footnote 11.8.1:

[Lieut.-Col. T. H. Sweeny, who has much experience in such cases, is satisfied, from the symptoms, that the attack was not due to darnel, the seeds of which, when mixed with cereals, and when they have been attacked by mildew or fungi, are deleterious. The attack was certainly due to the administration of _datura fastuosa_, used by road poisoners, and his recovery was due to the immediate production of vomiting.]

Footnote 11.8.2:

See Vol. I. p. 212.

Footnote 11.8.3:

[Laws, vii. 70.]

Footnote 11.8.4:

[Spanish _pedrero_, originally an engine used for flinging stones: then, a piece of ordnance for discharging fragments of broken iron and the like, and for firing salutes (see J. Fryer, _A New Account of East India and Persia_, ed. 1909, i. 271 f.).]

Footnote 11.8.5:

[A ravine, deep pool.]

Footnote 11.8.6:

See Vol I. p. 213.

Footnote 11.8.7:

By mistake, Manpura is not rightly placed in the map. [It is situated about half-way between Damnia and Māndalgarh.]

Footnote 11.8.8:

[About 100 miles N.E. of Udaipur city (Erskine ii. A. 118 f., quoting, for its archaeology, H. Cousens, _Progress Report AS W. India_, for year ending June 30, 1905).]

Footnote 11.8.9:

Enlargement of the spleen appears an invariable accompaniment of protracted fever and ague, arising from such causes as afflicted us. I could feel the spleen at the very pit of the stomach, as hard as a stone. The bleeding reduced it, as it did generally in my case; for the leeches were enormous, and must have each drained half an ounce of blood; but I had only the choice of them or the actual cautery, which was strongly recommended by my native friends: of two evils I chose what appeared to me the least.

Footnote 11.8.10:

[The origin of the Bālnot tribe is doubtful (_Census Report Rājputāna_, 1911, i. 256).]

Footnote 11.8.11:

[The Chaulukya or Solanki tribe is of Gurjara origin, which is implied in the Takshak theory of the Author. There is no reason for connecting them with a race of serpent-worshippers.]

Footnote 11.8.12:

Tonk-Toda is well worth visiting. The artist might fill a portfolio with architectural and picturesque sketches. Moreover, topazes of a good quality are found in its hills. The sacred cave of Gokaran, celebrated in the history of the great Chauhan king, Bisaldeo of Ajmer, is also worth notice.

Footnote 11.8.13:

[For Lohkot see Vol. I. p. 116.]

Footnote 11.8.14:

[Bārāha, Vārāha, the boar incarnation of Vishnu.]

Footnote 11.8.15:

[They are said to take their name from Bāghera in Ajmer.]

Footnote 11.8.16:

[The Baranshankar, or mixed tribes, have no connexion with a mythical Rāja Baran. The distinction of colours (_varna_) goes back to the early Hindu period (A. A. Macdonell, _Hist. Sanskrit Literature_, 86).]

Footnote 11.8.17:

See Inscription, Vol. II. p. 925.

Footnote 11.8.18:

[Nearly 10 miles S.W. of Māndalgarh.]

Footnote 11.8.19:

[Seventy-two miles N.E. of Udaipur city.]

Footnote 11.8.20:

[The edible nut, _Trapa bispinosa_ (Watt, _Econ. Prod._ 1080).]

Footnote 11.8.21:

[About 60 miles N.E. of Udaipur city.]

Footnote 11.8.22:

[Pur, 72 miles N.E. of Udaipur city: Gurla on the S.W. point of the same hill-range.]

Footnote 11.8.23:

When the Rana was about celebrating simultaneously the marriage of two daughters and a granddaughter of the princes of Jaisalmer, Bikaner, and Kishangarh, his subjects were called on for the ‘tenth.’

Footnote 11.8.24:

[About 46 miles N.E. of Udaipur city.]

Footnote 11.8.25:

My esteemed friend, Mr. Graeme Mercer, of Maevisbank.

Footnote 11.8.26:

[Now headquarters of a Tahsīl in Kapāsan district: about 42 miles N.E. of Udaipur city.]

Footnote 11.8.27:

[These lead mines, once yielding a high revenue, have long been closed (Erskine ii. A. 53).]

Footnote 11.8.28:

[A trading town, about 30 miles N.E. of Udaipur city.]

Footnote 11.8.29:

[Among Jains at the present day the period of retreat, known as Pachasan or Paryusan, extends among the Swetāmbara section from 12th dark half of Sāwan (July-August) to 5th bright half of Bhādrapada (August-September): among the Digambara section from 5th bright half to 5th dark half of Bhādrapada (_BG_, ix. Part i. 113 f.). It corresponds to the Buddhist Vassavāsa or Vassa (Skt. _vārshika_, ‘belonging to the rainy season’) (Kern, _Manual of Indian Buddhism_, 80 f.).]