The chronicle proceeds with the foundation of Kanyakubja,[5] or Kanauj, and the origin of Kama-dhwaja[6] (vulgo Kamdhuj), the titular appellation of its princes, and concludes with the thirteen great Sakha, or ramifications of the Rathors, and their Gotracharya, or genealogical creed.[7]
Another roll, of considerable antiquity, commences in the fabulous age, with a long string of names, without facts; its sole value consists in the esteem in which the tribe holds it. We may omit all that precedes Nain Pal, who, in the year S. 526 (A.D. 470[8]), conquered Kanauj, slaying its monarch Ajaipal; from which period the race was termed Kanaujia Rathor. The genealogy proceeds to Jaichand, the last monarch of Kanauj; relates the emigration of his nephew Siahji, or Sivaji, and his establishment in the desert (Maruwar), with a handful of his brethren (a wreck of the mighty kingdom of Kanauj); and terminates with the death of Raja Jaswant Singh in S. 1735 (A.D. 1679), describing every branch and scion, until we see them spreading over Maru [3].
Genealogy ceases to be an uninteresting pursuit when it enables us to mark the progress of animal vegetation, from the germ to the complete development of the tree, until the land is overshadowed with its branches; and bare as is the chronicle to the moralist or historian, it exhibits to the observer of the powers of the animal economy, data which the annals of no other people on earth can furnish. In A.D. 1193 we see the throne of Jaichand overturned; his nephew, with a handful of retainers, taking service with a petty chieftain in the Indian desert. In less than four centuries we find the descendants of these exiles of the Ganges occupying nearly the whole of the desert; having founded three capitals, studded the land with the castles of its feudality, and bringing into the field fifty thousand men, ek bap ka beta, ‘the sons of one father,’ to combat the emperor of Delhi. What a contrast does their unnoticed growth present to that of the Islamite conquerors of Kanauj, of whom five dynasties passed away in ignorance of the renovated existence of the Rathor, until the ambition of Sher Shah brought him into contact with the descendants of Siahji, whose valour caused him to exclaim “he had nearly lost the crown of India for a handful of barley,” in allusion to the poverty of their land![9]
What a sensation does it not excite when we know that a sentiment of kindred pervades every individual of this immense affiliated body, who can point out, in the great tree, the branch of his origin, whilst not one is too remote from the main stem to forget its pristine connexion with it! The moral sympathies created by such a system pass unheeded by the chronicler, who must deem it futile to describe what all sensibly feel, and which renders his page, albeit little more than a string of names, one of paramount interest to the ‘sons of Siahji.’
The third authority is the Suraj Prakas (Surya Prakasa), composed by the bard Karnidhan, during the reign and by command of Raja Abhai Singh. This poetic history, comprised in 7500 stanzas, was copied from the original manuscript, and sent to me by Raja Man, in the year 1820.[10] As usual, the Kavya (bard) commences with the origin of all things, tracing the Rathors from the creation down to Sumitra; from whence is a blank until he recommences with the name of Kamdhuj, which appears to have been the title assumed by Nain Pal, on his conquest of Kanauj. Although Karnidhan must have taken his facts from the [4] royal records, they correspond very well with the roll from Narlai. The bard is, however, in a great hurry to bring the founder of the Rathors into Marwar, and slurs over the defeat and death of Jaichand. Nor does he dwell long on his descendants, though he enumerates them all, and points out the leading events until he reaches the reign of Jaswant Singh, grandfather of Abhai Singh, who “commanded the bard to write the Suraj Prakas.”
The next authority is the Raj Rupak Akhyat, or ‘the royal relations.’ This work commences with a short account of the Suryavansa, from their cradle at Ajodhya; then takes up Siahji’s migration, and in the same strain as the preceding work, rapidly passes over all events until the death of Raja Jaswant; but it becomes a perfect chronicle of events during the minority of his successor Ajit, his eventful reign, and that of Abhai Singh, to the conclusion of the war against Sarbuland Khan, viceroy of Gujarat. Throwing aside the meagre historical introduction, it is professedly a chronicle of the events from S. 1735 (A.D. 1679) to S. 1787 (A.D. 1734), the period to which the Suraj Prakas is brought down.
A portion of the Bijai Vilas, a poem of 100,000 couplets, also fell into my hands: it chiefly relates to the reign of the prince whose name it bears, Bijai Singh, the son of Bakhta Singh. It details the civil wars waged by Bijai Singh and his cousin Ram Singh (son of Abhai Singh), and the consequent introduction of the Mahrattas into Marwar.
From a biographical work named simply Khyat, or ‘Story,’ I obtained that portion which relates to the lives of Raja Udai Singh, the friend of Akbar; his son Raja Gaj, and grandson Jaswant Singh. These sketches exhibit in true colours the character of the Rathors.
Besides these, I caused to be drawn up by an intelligent man, who had passed his life in office at Jodhpur, a memoir of transactions from the death of Ajit Singh, in A.D. 1629, down to the treaty with the English Government in A.D. 1818. The ancestors of the narrator had filled offices of trust in the State, and he was a living chronicle both of the past and present.
From these sources, from conversations with the reigning sovereign, his nobles, his ambassadors, and subjects, materials were collected for this sketch of the Rathors—barren, indeed, of events at first, but redundant of them as we advance.
A genealogical table of the Rathors is added, showing the grand offsets, whose [5] descendants constitute the feudal frèrage of the present day. A glance at this table will show the claims of each house; and in its present distracted condition, owing to civil broils, will enable the paramount power to mediate, when necessary, with impartiality, in the conflicting claims of the prince and his feudatories.
This period was fruitful in change to the old-established dynasties of the Hindu continent, when numerous races of barbarians, namely, Huns, Parthians, and Getae, had fixed colonies on her western and northern frontiers.[11]
“In S. 526 (A.D. 470) Nain Pal obtained Kanauj, from which period the Rathors assumed the title of Kamdhuj. His son was Padarath,[12] his Punja, from whom sprung the thirteen great families, bearing the patronymic Kamdhuj, namely:
“1st. Dharma Bambo: his descendants styled Danesra Kamdhuj.
“2nd. Banuda, who fought the Afghans at Kangra, and founded Abhaipur: hence the Abhaipura Kamdhuj.
“3rd. Virachandra, who married the daughter of Hamira Chauhan, of Anhilpur Patan; he had fourteen sons, who emigrated to the Deccan: his descendants called Kapolia Kamdhuj.
“4th. Amrabijai, who married the daughter of the Pramara prince of Koragarh[13] on the Ganges;—slew 16,000 Pramaras, and took possession of Kora, whence the Kora Kamdhuj[14] [6].
“5th. Sujan Binod: his descendants Jarkhera Kamdhuj.
“6th. Padma, who conquered Orissa, and also Bogilana,[15] from Raja Tejman Yadu.
“7th. Aihar, who took Bengal from the Yadus: hence Aihara Kamdhuj.
“8th. Bardeo; his elder brother offered him in appanage Benares, and eighty-four townships; but he preferred founding a city, which he called Parakhpur:[16] his descendants Parakh Kamdhuj.
“9th. Ugraprabhu, who made a pilgrimage to the shrine of Hinglaj Chandel,[17] who, pleased with the severity of his penance, caused a sword to ascend from the fountain, with which he conquered the southern countries touching the ocean:[18] his descendants Chandela Kamdhuj.
“10th. Muktaman, who conquered possessions in the north from Bhan Tuar: his descendants Bira Kamdhuj.
“11th. Bharat, at the age of sixty-one, conquered Kanaksar, under the northern hills, from Rudrasen of the Bargujar tribe: his descendants styled Bhariau Kamdhuj.
“12th. Alankal founded Khairoda; fought the Asuras (Muslims) on the banks of the Attock: his descendants Kherodia Kamdhuj.
“13th. Chand obtained Tarapur in the north. He married a daughter of the Chauhan of Tahera,[19] a city well known to the world: with her he came to Benares.
“And thus the race of Surya multiplied.
“Bambo,[20] or Dharma-Bambo, sovereign of Kanauj, had a son, Ajaichand.[21] For twenty-one generations they bore the titles of Rao; afterwards that of Raja. Udaichand, Narpati, Kanaksen, Sahassal, Meghsen, Birabhadra, Deosen, Bimalsen, Dansen, Mukund, Budha, Rajsen, Tirpal, Sripunja, Bijaichand,[22] his son Jaichand, who became the Naik of Kanauj, with the surname Dal Pangla.”
The circumvallation of Kanauj covered a space of more than thirty miles; and its numerous forces obtained for its prince the epithet of ‘Dal Pangla,’ meaning that the mighty host (Dal) was lame or had a halt in its movements owing to its numbers, of which Chand observes that in the march “the van had reached their ground ere the rear had moved off.” The Suraj Prakas gives the amount of this army, which in numbers might compete with the most potent which, in ancient or modern times, was ever sent into the field. “Eighty thousand men in armour; thirty thousand horse covered with pakhar, or quilted mail; three hundred thousand Paiks or infantry; and of bow-men and battle-axes two hundred thousand; besides a cloud of elephants bearing warriors” [8].
This immense army was to oppose the Yavana beyond the Indus; for, as the chronicle says, “The king of Gor and Irak crossed the Attock. There Jai Singh met the conflict, when the Nilab changed its name to Surkhab.[25] There was the Ethiopic (Habshi) king, and the skilful Frank learned in all arts,[26] overcome by the lord of Kanauj.”
The chronicles of the Chauhans, the sworn foe of the Rathors, repeat the greatness of the monarch of Kanauj, and give him the title of “Mandalika.”[27] They affirm that he overcame the king of the north,[28] making eight tributary kings prisoners; that he twice defeated Siddhraj, king of Anhilwara, and extended his dominions south of the Nerbudda, and that at length, in the fulness of his pride, he had divine honours paid him in the rite Swayamvara.[29] This distinction, which involves the most august ceremony, and is held as a virtual assumption of universal supremacy, had in all ages been attended with disaster. In the rite of Swayamvara every office, down to the scullion of the Rasora, or banquet-hall, must be performed by royal personages; nor had it been attempted by any of the dynasties which ruled India since the Pandu: not even Vikrama, though he introduced his own era, had the audacity to attempt what the Rathor determined to execute. All India was agitated by the accounts of the magnificence of the preparations, and circular invitations were despatched to every prince, inviting him to assist at the pompous ceremony, which was to conclude with the nuptials of the raja’s only daughter, who, according to the customs of those days, would select her future lord from the assembled chivalry of India. The Chauhan bard describes the revelry and magnificence of the scene: the splendour of the Yajnasala, or ‘hall of sacrifice,’ surpassing all powers of description; in which were assembled all the princes of India, “save the lord of the Chauhans, and Samara of Mewar,” who, scorning this assumption of supremacy, Jaichand made their effigies in gold, assigning to them the most servile posts; that of the king of the Chauhans being Poliya, or ‘porter of the hall.’ Prithiraj, whose life was one succession of feats of arms and gallantry, had a double motive for action—love and revenge. He determined to enjoy both, or perish in the attempt; “to spoil the sacrifice and bear away the fair of Kanauj from its halls, though beset [9] by all the heroes of Hind.” The details of this exploit form the most spirited of the sixty-nine books of the bard. The Chauhan executed his purpose, and, with the élite of the warriors of Delhi, bore off the princess in open day from Kanauj. A desperate running-fight of five days took place. To use the words of the bard, “he preserved his prize; he gained immortal renown, but he lost the sinews of Delhi.” So did Jaichand those of Kanauj; and each, who had singly repelled all attacks of the kings, fell in turn a prey to the Ghori Sultan,[30] who skilfully availed himself of these international feuds, to make a permanent conquest of India.
There were four great kingdoms, namely—
To one or other of these States the numerous petty princes of India paid homage and feudal service. The boundary between Delhi and Kanauj was the Kalinadi, or ‘black stream’; the Kalindi of the Greek geographers.[31] Delhi claimed supremacy over all the countries westward to the Indus, embracing the lands watered by its arms, from the foot of the Himalaya,—the desert—to the Aravalli chain. The Chauhan king, successor to the Tuars, enumerated one hundred and eight great vassals, many of whom were subordinate princes.
The power of Kanauj extended north to the foot of the Snowy mountains; eastward to Kasi (Benares); and across the Chambal to the lands of the Chandel (now Bundelkhand); on the south its possessions came in contact with Mewar.
Mewar, or Madhyawar, the ‘central region,’[32] was bounded to the north by the Aravalli, to the south by the Pramaras of Dhar (dependent on Kanauj), and westward by Anhilwara, which State was bounded by the ocean to the south, the Indus on the west, and the desert to the north.
There are records of great wars amongst all these princes. The Chauhans and Guhilots, whose dominions were contiguous, were generally allies, and the Rathors and Tuars (predecessors of the Chauhans), who were only divided by the Kalinadi, often dyed it with their blood. Yet this warfare was never of an [10] exterminating kind; a marriage quenched a feud, and they remained friends until some new cause of strife arose.
If, at the period preceding Mahmud, the traveller had journeyed through the courts of Europe, and taken the line of route, in subsequent ages pursued by Timur, by Byzantium, through Ghazni (adorned with the spoils of India), to Delhi, Kanauj, and Anhilwara, how superior in all that constitutes civilization would the Rajput princes have appeared to him!—in arts immeasurably so; in arms by no means inferior. At that epoch, in the west, as in the east, every State was governed on feudal principles. Happily for Europe, the democratical principle gained admittance, and imparted a new character to her institutions; while the third estate of India, indeed of Asia, remained permanently excluded from all share in the government which was supported by its labour, every pursuit but that of arms being deemed ignoble. To this cause, and the endless wars which feudality engendered, Rajput nationality fell a victim when attacked by the means at command of the despotic kings of the north.
This event happened in S. 1249 (A.D. 1193), from which period the overgrown, gorgeous Kanauj ceased to be a Hindu city, when the “thirty-six races” of vassal princes, from the Himalaya to the Vindhya, who served under the banners of Bardai Sena,[34] retired to their patrimonial estates. But though the Rathor name ceased to exist on the shores of the Ganges, destiny decreed that a scion should be preserved, to produce in a less favoured land a long line of kings; that in thirty-one generations his descendant, Raja Man, “Raj, Rajeswara,” ‘the king, the lord of kings,’ should be as vainglorious of the sceptre of Maru as either Jaichand when he commanded divine honours, or his still more remote ancestor Nain Pal fourteen [11] centuries before, when he erected his throne in Kanauj. The Rathor may well boast of his pedigree, when he can trace it through a period of 1360 years, in lineal descent from male to male; and contented with this, may leave to the mystic page of the bard, or the interpolated pages of the Puranas, the period preceding Nain Pal.
2. An ancient town in Marwar [about 80 miles S.E. of Jodhpur city].
3. [A folk etymology, the name being derived from Rāshtrakūta, which may mean the chief, as opposed to the rank and file of the Ratta dynasty; but it has also been connected with Reddi, a Dravidian caste in S. India (BG, i. Part i. 119, Part ii. 22 note, 178, 383 ff.).]
4. One of the four tribes which overturned the Greek kingdom of Bactria. The ancient Hindu cosmographers claim the Aswa as a grand branch of their early family, and doubtless the Indo-Scythic people, from the Oxus to the Ganges, were one race.
5. From kubja (the spine) of the virgin (kanya) [referring to the legend of the hundred daughters of Kusanābha rendered crooked by Vāyu].
6. Kama-dhwaja, ‘the banner of Cupid.’
7. Gotama Gotra, Mardwandani Sakha, Sukracharya Guru, Garapatya Agni, Pankhani Devi.
8. It is a singular fact, that there is no available date beyond the fourth century for any of the great Rajput families, all of whom are brought from the north. This was the period of one of the grand irruptions of the Getic races from Central Asia, who established kingdoms in the Panjab and on the Indus. Pal or Pali, the universal adjunct to every proper name, indicates the pastoral race of these invaders [?]. [The reason why the Rājput genealogies do not go back to an early date is that many of them were recruited from Gurjara and other foreign tribes. The tale of the origin of the Rāthors from Kanauj is a myth, as the dynasty of that place belonged to the Gahadvāla or Gaharwār clan. The object of the story was to affiliate the tribe to the heroic Jaichand (Smith, EHI, 385).]
10. This manuscript is deposited in the library of the Royal Asiatic Society.
11. Cosmas. Annals of Mewār. Getae or Jat Inscription, Appendix, Vol. I.
12. Called Bharat in the Yati’s roll; an error of one or other of the authorities in transcribing from the more ancient records.
14. An inscription given in the Transactions of the Royal Asiatic Society (vol. ix. p. 440), found at Kora, relates to a branch of the Kanauj family.
15. [? Bāglān in Nāsik District, Bombay (IGI, vi. 190).]
16. Qu. Parkar, towards the Indus?
17. On the coast of Mekran.
18. If we can credit these legends, we see the Rathor Rajputs spreading over all India. I give these bare facts verbatim, as some traces may yet remain of the races in those countries. [These are pure legends, see Smith, EHI, 377 ff.]
19. [Bahra] a city often mentioned by Ferishta [i. Introd. lxxii.] in the early times of the Muhammadans.
20. Naīn Pal must have preceded Dharma-Bambo by five or six generations.
21. Called Abhaichand, in the Suraj Prakas.
23. The Suraj Prakas.
24. See Inscriptions of Jaichand, Vijayachand, and Kora, in the 9th and 14th vols. of the Asiatic Researches.
25. The Nilab, or ‘blue water,’ the Indus, changed its name to the ‘Redstream’ (Surkhab), or ‘ensanguined.’
26. It is singular that Chand likewise mentions the Frank as being in the army of Shihabu-d-din, in the conquest of his sovereign Prithiraj. If this be true, it must have been a desultory or fugitive band of crusaders.
27. [Ruler of a district (mandal).]
28. They thus style the kings west of the Indus.
29. [The “Seonair” of the text seems to represent swayamvara, the rite of selection of her husband by a maiden.]
30. [Shihābu-d-dīn, A.D. 1175-1206.]
31. [The Kālindi River, the name of which was corrupted into Kālinadi, rises in the Muzaffarnagar District, and joins the Ganges near Kanauj, 310 miles from its source (IGI, xiv. 309).]
32. [The word Mewār represents the original Medapāta, “land of the Med tribe.” The bulk of the army of Chashtana, the Western Satrap, appears to have consisted of Mevas or Medas, from whose settlement in Central Rājputāna the province seems to have received its present name, Mewāda (BG, i. Part i. 33).]
33. [His corpse was recognized by his false teeth, “a circumstance which throws some light on the state of manners” (Elphinstone 365).]
34. Another title of the monarch of Kanauj, “the bard of the host,” from which we are led to understand he was as well versed in the poetic art as his rival, the Chauhan prince of Delhi.