Mewar 13: After Rana Ratan Singh
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Mewar 13: After Rana Ratan Singh
Death of Rana Ratan Singh
The unintentional offence sank deep into the heart of the liana, and though he was closely connected with the Hara, havmg married his sister, he brooded on the means of revenge, in the attainment of which he sacrificed his own life as well as that of his rival. The festival of the Aheria (the spring hunt), which has thrice been fatal to the princes of Mewar, gave the occasion, when they fell by each other's weapons. Though Ratna enjoyed the dignity only five years, he had the satisfaction to see the ex-king of Ferghana, now founder of the Mogul dynasty of India, leave the scene before him, and without the diminution of an acre of land to Mewar smce the fatal day of Bayana. Rana Ratna was succeeded by his brother,
Rana Bikramajit , A.d. 1531 -35
Bikramajit, 3 in S. 1591 (a.d. 1585). This prince had all the turbulence, without the redeeming qualities of character, which endeared his brother to his subjects ; he was insolent, passionate, and vmdictive, and utterly regardless of that respect which his proud nobles rigidly exacted. Instead of appearing at their head, he passed his time amongst wrestlers and prize-fighters, on whom and a multitude 1 The Hindu Cupid, implying ' incorporeal,' from anga, ' body,' with the privative prefix ' an. 2 1 have given the relation of this duel in the narrative of my journeys on my visit to the cenotaph of Ratna, erected where he fell. It was the pleasure of my life to listen to the traditional anecdotes illustrative of Rajput history on the scenes of their transactions. 3 The Rhakha orthography for Vikramaditya. of ' paiks,' or foot soldiers, he Iansvshed those gifts and that approbation, to which the aristocratic Rajput, the equestrian order of Rajasthan, arrogated exclusive right. In this innovation he probably imitated his foes, who had learned the superiority of infantry, despised by the Rajput, who, except in sieges, or when ' they spread the carpet and hamstrung their steeds,' held the foot-soldier very cheap. The use of artillery was now becoming general, and the [310] Muslims soon perceived the necessity of foot for their protection : but prejudice operated longer upon the Rajput, who still curses ' those vile guns,' which render of comparatively little value the lance of many a gallant soldier ; and he still prefers falling with dignity from his steed to descending to an equality with his mercenary antagonist.
An open rupture was the consequence of such innovation, and (to use the figurative expression for misrule) ' Papa Bai ka Raj ' 1 was triumphant ; the police were despised ; the cattle carried off by the mountaineers from under the walls of Chitor ; and when his cavaliers were ordered in pursuit, the Rana was tauntingly told to send his paiks.
The Attack by Bahadur, Sultan of Gujarat
Bahadur, sultan of Gujarat, determined to take advantage of the Rajput divisions, to revenge the disgrace of the defeat and captivity of his pre decessor Muzaffar.2 Reinforced by the troops of Mandu, he marched against the Rana, then encamped at Loicha, in the Bimdi territory. Though the force was overwhelming, yet with the high courage which belonged to his house, Bikramajit did not hesitate to give battle ; but he found weak defenders in his mercenary paiks, while his vassals and kin not only kept aloof, but marched off in a body to defend Chitor, and the posthumous son of Sanga Rana, still an infant.
1 The government of Papa Bai, a princess of ancient time, whose mis managed sovereignty has given a proverb to the Rajput. [Major Luard informs me that Papa Bai is said to have been the daughter of a Rajput of Siddal. She and Shiral Seth, a corn-merchant who, in return for his penances, asked to be made a king for three ghatikas (twenty-four minutes each) and gave indiscriminately alms to rich and poor, are bywords for foohsh extravagance. She is worshipped at a shrine in Ujjain by all who desire good crops, especially sugar. Another name for such a period of misrule is Harbong ka raj (Elliot, Supplemental Glossary, 466 if.).] 2 Taken by Prithiraj and carried to Rana Raemall, who took a large sum of money and seven hundred horses as his ransom. There is a sanctity in the very name of Chitor, which from the earhest times secured her defenders ; and now, when threat ened again by ' the barbarian,' such the inexphcable character of the Rajput, we find the heir of Surajmall abandonmg his new capital of Deoha, to pour out the few drops which yet circulated in his veins in defence of the abode of his fathers.
' The son of Bundi,' with a brave band of five hundred Haras, also came ; as did the Sonigira and Deora Raos of Jalor and Abu, with many auxiliaries from all parts of Rajwara. This was the most powerful effort hitherto made by the sultans of Central India, and European artillerists 1 are recorded in these [311] annals as brought to the subjugation of Chitor. The engineer is styled ' Labri Khan of Fringan,' and to his skill Bahadur was indebted for the successful storm which ensued. He spriuig a mine at the ' Bika rock,' which blew up forty-five cubits of the rampart, with the bastion where the brave Haras were posted. The Bundi bards dwell on this incident, which destroyed their prince and five hundred of his kin. Rao Durga, with the Chondawat chieftains Sata and Dudu and their vassals, bravely defended the breach and repelled many assaults ; and, to set an example of courageous devotion, the queen-mother Jawahir Bai, of Rathor race, clad in armour, headed a sally in which she was slain. Still the besiegers gained gromid, and the
1 We have, iu the poems of Chand, frequent indistinct notices of firearms, especially the nal-gola or iw6e[something like a cannon]-ball ; but whether discharged by percussion or the expansive force of gunpowder is dubious. The poet also repeatedly speaks of " the volcano of the held," giving to understand great guns ; but these may be interpolations, though I would not check a full investigation of so curious a subject by raising a doubt. Babur was the first who intro duced field guns in the Muhammadan wars, and Bahadur's invasion is the first notice of their application in sieges, for in Alau-d-din's time, in the thirteenth century, he used the catapult or battering-ram, called manjanik. To these guns Babur was indebted for victory over the united cavaky of Rajasthan. They were served by Rumi Khan, probably a Boumehot, or fciyrian Christian. The Franks (Faringis), with Bahadur, must have been some of Vasco di Gama's crew. [For the use of artihery in Mogul times see the full account by Irvine {Army of the Indian Moghuls, 113 &.). Manjanik is the Greek udyyafof. Rumi K.han was an Ottoman Turk, called IChuda wand Khan, who learned the science in Turkish service (Erskine, Hist, of India, ii. 49 ; Ain, i. 441). Akbar is said to have used Chinese artillery, and to have employed English gunners from fcJurat (Manucci i. 139 ; Irvine, op. oil. 152). ] last council convened was to concert means to save the infant son of Sanga from this imminent peril.
Crowning of a New Kana
But Chitor can only be defended by royalty, and again they had recourse to the expedient of crowning a king, as a sacrifice to the dignity of the protecting deity of Chitor. Baghji, prince of Deoha, courted the insignia of destruction ; the banner of Mewar floated over him, and the golden sun from its sable field never shone more refulgent than when the changi 1 was raised amidst the shouts of her defenders over the head of the son of Surajmall.
The Johar
The infant, Udai Smgh, was placed m safety with Surthan, prince of Bundi, 2 the garrison put on their saffron robes, while materials for the johar were preparing. There was little tune for the pyre. The bravest had fallen in defending the breach, now completely exposed. Combustibles were quickly heaped up m reservoirs and magazines excavated in the rock, under which gunpowder was strewed. Karnavati, mother of the prince, and sister to the gallant Arjmi Hara, led the procession of willing victims to their doom, and thirteen thousand females were thus swept at once from the record of life. The gates were thrown open, and the Deoha chief, at the head of the survivors, with a blind and impotent despair, rushed on his fate [312J. Bahadur must have been appalled at the horrid sight on viewing his conquest ; 3 the mangled bodies of the slain, with hundreds ui the last agonies from the poniard or poison, awaiting death as less dreadful than dishonour and captivity.4 To use the emphatic 1 The Changi, the chief insignia of regality in Mewar, is a sun of gold in the centre of a disc of black ostrich feathers or felt, about three feet in diameter, elevated on a pole, and carried close to the prince. It has some thing of a iScytiiic cast about it. What changi imports I never understood, [l^robabiy fers. chang, ' anything bent.'] 2 The name of the faithful Rajput who preserved Udai Singh, Chakasen Dhundei'a, deserves to be recorded. 3 The date, " Jeth sudi I2 th, S. 1589," a.d. 1533, and according to Ferishta a.h. 949, a.d. 1532-33. [Chitor was taken in 1534. The Mirat-i Bikandari states that on March 24, 1533, Bahadur received the promised tribute, and moved his camp from Chitor (Bayley, Muhammadan Dynasties of Gujarat, 372).] 4 From ancient times, leadhig the females captive appears to have been the sign of complete victory. Rajput inscriptions often allude to " a con queror beloved by the wives of his conquered foe," and in the early parts words of the annalist, "the last day of Chitor had arrived." Every clan lost its chief, and the choicest of their retainers ; during the siege and in the storm thirty-two thousand Rajputs were slain. This is the second sakha of Chitor.
Bahadur had remained but a fortnight, when the tardy advance of Humayun with his succours warned him to retire.'1 According to the annals, he left Bengal at the solicitation of the queen Karnavati ; but instead of following up the spoU-encumbered foe, he commenced a pedantic war of words with Bahadur, punning on the word ' Chitor.' Had Humayun not been so distant, this catastrophe would have been averted, for he was bound by the laws of chivalry, the claims of which he had acknow ledged, to defend the queen's cause, whose knight he had become. The relation of the peculiarity of a custom analogous to the taste of the chivalrous age of Europe may amuse. ^When her Ama zonian sister the Rathor queen was slain, the mother of the infant prince took a surer method to shield him in demanding the fulfilment of the pledge given by Humayun when she sent the Rakhi to that monarch.
The Rakhi
' The festival of the bracelet ' ( Rakhi) is in spring, and whatever its origin, it is one of the few when an intercourse of gallantry of the most delicate nature is established between the fair sex and the cavaliers of Rajasthan. Though the bracelet may be sent by maidens, it is only on occasions of urgent necessity or danger. The Rajput dame bestows with the Rakhi the title of adopted brother ; and while its acceptance secures to her all the protection of a cavaliere servente, scandal itself never suggests any other tie to his devotion. He may hazard his life in her cause, and yet never receive a smile in reward, for he cannot even see the fair object who, as brother of her adoption, has con stituted him her defender. But there is a charm in the mystery of such connexion, never endangered by close observation, and the loyal to the fair may well attach a value [313] to the public recognition of being the Rakhi-band Bhai, the ' bracelet-bound brother ' of a princess. The intrinsic value of such pledge is of Scripture the same notion is referred to. The mother of Sisera asks’ " Have they not divided the prey ; to every man a damsel or two ? ' (Judges v. 30.) 1 [Ferishta ii. 75 f. Badaoni says that Humayun hesitated to interfere because Bahadur was attacking an infidel {MuntaJchabu-t-tawarikh, i. 453 f.).] never looked to, nor is it requisite it should be costly, though it varies with the means and rank of the donor, and may be of flock silk and spangles, or gold chains and gems. The acceptance of the pledge and its return is by the kachhli, or corset, of simple silk or satin, of gold brocade and pearls. In shape or application there is nothing similar in Europe, and as defending the most delicate part of the structure of the fair, it is peculiarly appropriate as an emblem of devotion. A whole province has often accom panied the Kachhli, and the monarch of India was so pleased with this courteous delicacy in the customs of Rajasthan, on receiving the bracelet of the princess Karnavati, which invested him with the title of her brother, and uncle and protector to her infant Udai Singh, that he pledged himself to her service, " even if the demand were the castle of Ranthambhor." Humayun proved himself a true knight, and even abandoned his conquests in Bengal when called on to redeem his pledge and succour Chitor, and the widows and minor sons of Sanga Rana.1 Humayun had the highest proofs of the worth of those courting his pro tection ; he was with his father Babur in all his wars in India, and at the battle of Bayana his prowess was conspicuous, and is recorded by Babur's own pen. He amply fulfilled his pledge, expelled the foe from Chitor, took Mandu by assault, and, as some revenge for her king's aiding the king of Gujarat, he sent for the Rana Bikramajit, whom, following their own notions of
1 Many romantic tales are founded on ' the gift of the Rakhi.' The author, who was placed in the enviable situation of being able to do good, and on the most extensive scale, was the means of restoring many of these ancient families from degradation to affluence. The greatest reward he could, and the only one he would, receive, was the courteous civility dis played in many of these interesting customs. He was the Rakhi-band Bhai of, and received ' the bracelet ' from, three queens of Udaipur, Bundi, and Kotah, besides Chand Bai, the maiden sister of the Rana ; as well as many ladies of the chieftains of rank, with whom he interchanged letters. The sole articles of ' barbaric pearl and gold,' which he conveyed from a country where he was six years supreme, are these testimonies of friendly regard. Intrinsically of no great value, they were presented and accepted in the ancient spirit, and he retains them with a sentiment the more powerful, because he can no longer render them any service. [The Rakhi (Skt. raksha, ' protection ') is primarily a protective amulet assumed at the full moon of Sawan (Julj -August) (Forbes, Rdsmala, 609). It was worn on this date to avert the unhealthiness of the rainy season. Jahangir and Akbar followed the custom, introduced by their Hindu ladies (Jahangir, Memoirs, 246 ; Badaoni, op. cit. ii. 269).] investiture, he girt with a sword in the captured citadel of his foe.1
The Muhammadan historians, strangers to their customs, or the secret motives which caused the emperor to abandon Bengal, ascribe it to the Rana's solicitation ; but we may credit the annals, which are in vinison with the chivalrous notions of the Rajputs, into which succeeding monarchs, the great Akbar, his son [314] Jahangir, and Shah Jahan, entered with delight ; and even Aurangzeb, two of whose original letters to the queen-mother of Udaipur are now in the author's possession, and are remarkable for their elegance and purity of diction, and couched in terms perfectly accordant with Rajput delicacy.2
Restoration of Bikramaiit
Bikramajit, thus restored to his capital, had gained nothing by adversity ; or, to employ the words of the annalist, " experience had yielded no wisdom." He renewed all his former insolence to his chiefs, and so entirely threw aside his own dignity, and, what is of still greater consequence, the reverence universally shown to old age, as to strike in open court Karamchand of Ajmer, the protector of his father Sanga in his misfortunes. The assembly rose with one accord at this indignity to their order ; and as they retired, the Chondawat leader Kanji, the first of the nobles, exclaimed, " Hitherto, brother chiefs, we have had but a smell of the blossom, but now we shaU be obliged to eat the fruit " ; to which the insulted Pramara added, as he hastily retired, " To-morrow its flavour will be known."
Though the Rajput looks up to his sovereign as to a divinity, and is enjoined implicit obedience by his religion, which rewards him accordingly hereafter, yet this doctrine has its limits, and precedents are abundant for deposal, when the acts of the prince may endanger the realm. But there is a bond of love as well as of awe which restrains them, and softens its severity in the paternity of sway ; for these princes are at once the father and for he is the 1 [Probably policy, rather than romance, caused Humayun to interfere.] 2 He addresses her as " dear and virtuous sister," and evinces much interest in her welfare. We are in total ignorance of the refined sentiment
our home-bred prejudices deem them beneath inquiry ; and thus indolence and self-conceit combine to deprive the benevolent of a high gratification. representative of the common ancestor of the aristocracy ___ the sole lawgiver of Rajasthan.
Death of Rana Bikramajit
Sick of these minors (and they had now a third in prospect), which in a few years had laid pros trate the throne of Mewar, her nobles on leaving their unworthy prince repaired to Banbir, the natural son of the heroic Prithiraj, and offered " to seat him on the throne of Chitor." He had the virtue to resist the solicitation ; and it was only on painting the dangers which threatened the country, if its chief at such a period had not their confidence, that he gave his consent. The step between the deposal and death of a king is necessarily short [315], and the cries of the females, which announced the end of Bik ramajit, were drowned in the acclamations raised on the elevation of the changi over the head of the bastard Banbir.
