Rajasthan’s geography 01: Boundaries, states - Revision history

Pdewan: Created page with "R R {| class="wikitable" |- |colspan="0"|
This page is an extract from
ANNALS AND ANTIQUITIES

2015-04-13T16:45:30Z

Created page with "R R {| class="wikitable" |- |colspan="0"|<div style="font-size:100%"> This page is an extract from <br/> ANNALS AND ANTIQUITIES <br/..."

New page
[[Category:India |R ]]
[[Category:Places |R ]]
{| class="wikitable"
|-
|colspan="0"|<div style="font-size:100%">
This page is an extract from <br/>
ANNALS AND ANTIQUITIES <br/>
OF <br/>
'''RAJASTHAN '''<br/>

OR THE CENTRAL AND WESTERN <br/>
RAJPUT STATES OF INDIA <br/>

By <br/>
LIEUT.-COL. JAMES TOD <br/>
Late Political Agent to the Western Rajput States <br/>

Edited with an Introduction and Notes by <br/>
WILLIAM CROOKE, CIE. <br/>
Hon. D.Sc. Oxon., B.A., F.R.A.l. <br/>
Late of the Indian Civil Service <br/>

In Three Volumes <br/>
VOL.I: GEOGRAPHY OF RAJASTHAN OR RAJPUTANA<br/>
[The Annals were completed in 1829]<br/>

HUMPHREY MILFORD <br/>
Oxford University Press <br/>
London Edinburgh Glasgow New York <br/>
Toronto Melbourne Bombay <br/>
1920 [The edition scanned] <br/>
</div>
|}
Note: This article is likely to contain several spelling mistakes that occurred during scanning. If these errors are reported as messages to the Facebook page, [http://www.facebook.com/Indpaedia Indpaedia.com] your help will be gratefully acknowledged.

Rajasthan’s geography 01: Boundaries, states
GEOGRAPHY OF RAJASTHAN OR RAJPUTANA

==Boundaries of Rajputana==

Rajasthan is the collective and classi
cal denomination of that portion of India which is ' the abode ‘
of (Rajput) princes.' In the familiar dialect of these countries
it is termed Rajwara, but by the more refined Raethana, corrupted
to Rajputana, the common designation amongst the British to
denote the Rajput principalities.

what might have been the nominal extent of Rajasthan prior
to the Muhammadan conqueror Shihabu-d-din (when it probably
reached beyond the Jumna and Ganges, even to the base of the
Himalaya) cannot now be known. At present we may adhere to
its restrictive definition, still comprehending a wide space and a
variety of interesting races.

Previous to the erection of the minor Muhammadan monarchies
Of Mandu and Ahmadabad (the capitals of Malwa and Gujarat),
on the ruins of Dhar and Anhilwara Patan, the term Rajasthan
would have been appropriated to the space comprehended in the
map prefixed to this work : the valley of the Indus on the west,
and Bundelkhand 2 on the east ; to the north, the sandy tracts
(south of the Sutlej) termed Jangaldes ; and the Vindhya moun
tains to the south.

1 Or ' regal (raj) dwelling (than).'
2 It is rather singular that the Sind River will mark this eastern boundary,
as does the Indus (or great Sind) that to the west. East of this minor Sind
the Hindu princes are not of pure blood, and are excluded from Rajasthan
or Rajwara.

This space comprehends nearly 8° of latitude and 9° of longi-
tude, being from 22° to 30° north latitude, and 69° to 78° east
longitude, embracing a superficial area of 350,000 square miles1 [2].
Although it is proposed to touch upon the annals of all the
States in this extensive tract, with their past and present condi-
tion, those in the centre will claim the most prominent regard ;
especially Mewar, which, copiously treated of, will afford a
specimen, obviating the necessity of like details of the rest.

==The States of Rajputana==

The order in which these States will
be reviewed is as follows :
1. Mewar, or Udaipur.
2. Marwar, or Jodhpur.
3. Bikaner and Kishangarh.
4. Kotah} __ or Haraoti.
5. Bundi}
6.Amber, or Jaipur, with its branches, dependent and independent,
7.Jaisalmer.
8.The Indian desert to the valley of the Indus.

==History of Geographical Surveys ==

The basis of this work is
the geography of the country, the historical and statistical por-
tion being consequent and subordinate thereto. It was, indeed,
originally designed to be essentially geographical ; but circum-
stances have rendered it impossible to execute the intended
details, or even to make the map2 so perfect as the superabundant
material at the command of the author might have enabled him
to do ; a matter of regret to himself rather than of loss to the
general reader, to whom geographic details, however important,
are usually dry and uninteresting.

It was also intended to institute a comparison between the
map and such remains of ancient geography as can be extracted
from the Puranas and other Hindu authorities ; which, however,
must be deferred to a future period, when the deficiency of the
1[Rajputana, as now officially defined, lies between lat. 23° 3' and 30° 12'
N., and long. 69° 30' and 78° 17' E., the total area, according to the Census
Report, 1911, including Ajmer-Merwara, being 131,698 square miles.]
2 Engraved by that meritorious artist Mr. Walker, engraver to the East
India Company, who, I trust, will be able to make a fuller use of my materials
hereafter. [This has been replaced by a modern map.]
present rapid and general sketch may be supplied, should the
author be enabled to resume his labours.

The laborious research, in the course of which these data were
accumulated, commenced in 1806. when the author was attached
to the embassy sent, at the close of the Mahratta wars, to the
court of Sindhia. This chieftain's army was then in Mewar, at
that period almost a terra incognita, the position of whose two
capitals, Udaipur and Chitor, in the best existing maps, was pre-
cisely reversed [3] ; that is, Chitor was inserted S.E. of Udaipur
instead of E.N.E., a proof of the scanty knowledge possessed at
that period.

In other respects there was almost a total blank. In the maps
prior to 1806 nearly all the western and central States of Rajasthan
will be found wanting. It had been imagined, but a little time
before, that the rivers had a southerly course into the Nerbudda ;
a notion corrected by the father of Indian geography, the distin-
guished Rennell.1

This blank the author filled up ; and in 1815, for the first
time, the geography of Rajasthan was put into combined form
and presented to the Marquess of Hastings, on the eve of a general
war, when the labour of ten years was amply rewarded by its
becoming in part the foundation of that illustrious commander's
plans of the campaign. It is a duty owing to himself to state that
every map, without exception, printed since this period has its
foundation, as regards Central and Western India, in the labours
of the author.2

1 [James Uennell, 1742-1830.]
2 When the war of 1817 broke out, copies of my map on a reduced scale
were sent to all the divisions of the armies in the field, and came into posses
sion of many of the staff. Transcripts were made which were brought to
Europe, and portions introduced into every recent map of India. One map
has, indeed, been given, in a manner to induce a supposition that the
furnisher of the materials was the author of them. It has fulfilled a pre
diction of the Marquess of Hastings, who, foreseeing the impossibility of
such materials remaining private property, " and the danger of their being
appropriated by others," and desirous that the author should derive the
full advantage of his labours, had it signified that the claims for recompense,
on the records of successive governments, should not be deferred. It will
not be inferred the author is surprised at what he remarks. While he
claims priority for himself, lie is the last person to wish to see a halt in
"For emulation has a thousand sons."
4 GEOGRAPHY OF RAJASTHAN

== The Author's Surveys==

The route of the embassy was from
Agra, through the southern frontier of Jaipur to Udaipur. A
portion of this had been surveyed and points laid down from
celestial observation, by Dr. W. Hunter, which I adopted as the
basis of my enterprise. The Resident Envoy 1 to the court of
Sindhia was possessed of the valuable sketch of the route of
Colonel Palmer's embassy in 1791, as laid down by Dr. Hunter, the
foundation of my subsequent surveys, as it merited from its im-
portance and general accuracy. It embraced all the extreme
points of Central India : Agra, Narwar, Datia, Jhansi, Bhopal,
.Sarangpur, Ujjain, and on return from this, the first meridian of
the Hindus, by Kotah; Bundi, Rampura (Tonk), Bayana, to
Agra. The position of all these places was more or less accurately
fixed, according to the time which could be bestowed, by astro-
nomical observation [4].

At Rampura Hunter ceased to be my guide : and from this
point commenced the new survey of Udaipur; where we arrived
in June 1806. The position then assigned to it, with most inade-
quate instruments, has been changed only 1 ' of longitude, though
the latitude amounted to about 5'.

From Udaipur the subsequent march of the army with which
we moved led past the celebrated Chitor, and through the centre
of Malwa, crossing in detail all the grand streams flowing from
the Vindhya, till we halted for a season on the Bundelkhand
frontier at Khimlasa. In this journey of seven hundred miles I
twice crossed the lines of route of the former embassy, and was
gratified to find my first attempts generally coincide with their
established points.

In 1807, the army having undertaken the siege of Rahatgarh,
I determined to avail myself of the time which Mahrattas waste
in such a process, and to pursue my favourite project. With a
small guard I determined to push through untrodden fields, by
tlte banks of the Betwa to Chanderi, and in its latitude proceed
in a westerly direction towards Kotah, trace the course once more
of all those streams from the south, and the points of junction
of the most important (the Kali Sind, Parbati, and Ranas) with
the Chambal ; and having effected this, continue my journey to
Agra. This I accomplished in times very different from the
1 My esteemed friend, Graeme Mercer, Esq. (of Maevisbank), who stimu-
lated my exertions with his approbation.

present, being often obliged to strike my tents and march at mid
night, and more than once the object of plunder.1 The chief
points in this route were Khimlasa, Rajwara, Kotra on the Betwa,
Kanyadana,2 Buradungar,3 Shahabad, Barah,4 Puleta,5 Baroda,
Sheopur, Pali,6 Ranthambhor, Karauli, Sri Mathura, and Agra.

On my return to the Mahratta camp I resolved further to
increase the sphere, and proceeded westward by Bharatpur,
Katumbar, Sentri, to Jaipur, Tonk, Indargarh, Gugal Chhapra,
Raghugarh, Aron, Kurwai, Borasa, to Sagar : a journey of more
than one thousand miles. I found the camp nearly where I left it.

With this ambulatory court I moved everywhere within this
region, constantly employed in surveying till 1812, when Sindhia's
court became stationary. It was then I formed my plans for
obtaining a knowledge of those countries into which I could not
personally penetrate [5].

==Survey Parties==

In 1810-11 I had despatched two parties,
one to the Indus, the other to the desert south of the Sutlej. The
first party, under Shaikh Abu-1 Barakat, journeyed westward,
by Udaipur, through Gujarat, Saurashtra and Cutch, Lakhpat and
Hyderabad (the capital of the Sindi government) ; crossed the
Indus to Tatta, proceeded up the right bank to Sehwan ; re-
crossed, and continued on the left bank as far as khairpur, the
residence of one of the triumvirate governors of Sind, and having
reached the insulated Bakhar 7 (the capital of the Sogdoi of
Alexander), returned by the desert of Umrasumra to Jaisalmer,
Marwar, and Jaipur, and joined me in camp at Narwar. It was
1 Many incidents in these journeys would require no aid of imagination
to touch on the romantic, but they can have no place here.
2 Eastern tableland. 3 Sind River.
4 Paibati River. 5 Kali Sind River.
6 Passage of the Chambal and junction of the Par.
7 The Shaikh brought me specimens of the rock, which is siliceous ; and
also a piece of brick of the very ancient fortress of Sehwan, and some of the
grain from its pits, charred and alleged by tradition to have lain there since
the period of Raja Bhartarihari, the brother of Vikramaditya. It is not
impossible that it might be owing to Alexander's terrific progress, and to
their supplies being destroyed by fire. Sehwan is conjectured by Captain
Pottinger to be the capital of Musicanus. [The capital of the Sogdoi has
been identified with Alor or Aror ; but Cunningham places it between Alor
and Uchh. The capital of Mousikanos was possibly Alor, and Sehwan the
Sindimana of the Greeks. But, owing to changes in the course of the
Lower Indus, it is very difiicult to identify ancient sites (McCrindle,
Akxaiider, 157, 354 f.).]
a perilous undertaking ; but the Shaikh was a fearless and enter
prising character, and moreover a man with some tincture of
learning. His journals contained many hints and directions for
future research in the geography, statistics, and manners of the
various races amongst whom he travelled.

The other party was conducted by a most valuable, man,
Madari Lai, who became a perfect adept in these expeditions of
geographical discovery, and other knowledge resulting therefrom.
There is not a district of and consequence in the wide space before
the reader which was not traversed by this spirited individual,
whose qualifications for such complicated and hazardous journeys
were never excelled. Ardent, persevering, prepossessing, and
generally well-informed, he made his way when others might have
perished.

From these remote regions the best-informed native inhabitants
were, by persuasion and recompense, conducted to me ; and I
could at all times, in the Mahratta camp at Gwalior, from 1812
to 1817, have provided a native of the valley of the Indus, the
deserts of Dhat, Umrasumra, or any of the States of Rajasthan.

The precision with which Kasids and other public conveyers
of letters, in countries where posts are little used, can detail the
peculiarities of a long line of route, and the accuracy of their
distances would scarcely be credited in Europe. I have no
hesitation in asserting that if a correct estimate were obtained
of the measured [6] coss of a country, a line might be laid down
upon a flat surface with great exactitude. I have heard it
affirmed that it was the custom of the old Hindu governments
to have measurements made of the roads from town to town,
and that the Abu Mahatma ^ contains a notice of an instrument
for that purpose. Indeed, the singular coincidence between
lines measured by the perambulator and the estimated distances
of the natives is the best proof that the latter are deduced from
some more certain method than mere computation.

I never rested satisfied with the result of one set of my parties,
His health was worn out at length, and he became the victim of de
pressed spirits. He died suddenly : I beUeve poisoned. Fateh, almost as
zealous as Madari, also died in the jmrsuit. Geography has been destructive
to all who have pursued it with ardour in the East.

A valuable aiid ancient work, which I presented to the Royal Asiatic
Societj'.
with the single exception of Madari's, always making the informa
tion of one a basis for the instruction of another, who went over
the same ground ; but with additional views and advantages,
and with the aid of the natives brought successively by each,
till I exhausted every field.

Thus, in a few years, I had filled several volumes with lines of
route throughout this space ; and having many frontier and
intermediate points, the positions of which were fixed, a general
outline of the result was constructed, wherein all this information
was laid down. I speak more particularly of the western States,
as the central portion, or that watered by the Chambal and its
tributary streams, whether from the elevated Aravalli on the
west, or from the Vindhya mountains on the south, has been
personally surveyed and measured in every direction, with an
accuracy sufficient for every political or military purpose, until
the grand trigonometrical survey from the peninsula shall be
•extended throughout India. These coimtries form an extended
plain to the Sutlej north, and west to the Indus, rendering the
amalgamation of geographical materials much less difficult than
where mountainous regions intervene.

After having laid down these varied lines in the outline
described, I determined to check and confirm its accuracy by
recommencing the survey on a new plan, viz. trigonometrically.

My parties were again despatched to resume their labours
over fields now familiar to them. They commenced from points
whose positions were fixed (and my knowledge enabled me to
give a series of such), from each of which, as a centre, they col
lected every radiating route to every town within the distance of
twenty miles. The points selected were generally such as to
approach equilateral [7] triangles ; and although to digest the
information became a severe toil, the method will appear, even
to the casual observer, one which must throw out its own errors ;
for these lines crossed in every direction, and consequently
corrected each other. By such means did I work my way in
those unknown tracts, and the result is in part before the reader.
I say, in part ; for my health compels me reluctantly to leave
out much which could be combined from ten folios of journeys
extending throughout these regions.

==The Author's Map ==

In 1815, as before stated, an outline map
containing all the information thus obtained, and which the
subsequent crisis rendered of essential importance, was presented
by me to the Governor- General of India. Upon the very eve of
the war I constructed and presented another, of the greater
portion of Malwa, to which it appeared expedient to confine the
oiDcrations against the Pindaris. The material feature in this
small map was the general position of the Vindhya mountains,
the sources and course of every river originating thence, and the
passes in this chain, an object of primary importance. The
boundaries of the various countries in this tract were likewise
defined, and it became essentially useful in the subsequent dis
memberment of the Peshwa's dominions.

In the construction of this map I had many fixed points, both
of Dr. Hunter's and my own, to work from ; and it is gratifying
to observe that though several measured lines have since been
run through this space, not only the general, but often the identi-
cal features of mine have been preserved in the maps since given
to the world. As considerable improvement has been made by
several measured lines through this tract, and many positions
affixed by a scientific and zealous geographer, I have had no
hesitation in incorporating a small portion of this improved
geography in the map now presented.1

Many surveyed lines were made by me from 1817 to 1822 ;
and here I express my obligations to my kinsman,2 to whom
alone I owe any aid for improving this portion of my geographical
labours. This officer made a circuitous survey, which compre-
hended nearly the extreme points of Mewar, from the capital ,
by Chitor, Mandalgarh, Jahazpur, Rajmahall, and in return by
Ranai, Radnor, Deogarh [8], to the point of outset. From these
extreme points he was enabled to place many intermediate ones,
for which Mewar is so favourable, by reason of its isolated
hills.

In 1820 I made an important journey across the Aravalli, by
Kumbhalmer, Pali, to Jodhpur, the capital of Marwar, and
thence by Merta, tracing the course of the Luni to its source at
Ajmer ; and from this celebrated residence of the Chauhan

1 It is, however, limited to Malwa, whose geography was greatly im-
proved and enlarged by the labours of Captain Dangerfield ; and though
my materials could fill up the whole of this province, I merely insert the
chief points to connect it with Rajasthan.

2 Captain P. T. Waugh, 10th Regiment Light Cavalry, Bengal.
kings and Mogul emperors; returning through the central lands
of Mewar, by Banai and Banera, to the capital.

I had the peculiar satisfaction to find that my position of
Jodhpur, which has been used as a capital point in fixing the
geography west and north, was only 3' of space out in latitude,
and little more in longitude ; which accounted for the coincidence
of my position of Bikaner with that assigned by Mr. Elphinstone
in his account of the embassy to Kabul.

Besides Udaipur, Jodhpur, Ajmer, etc., whose positions I had
fixed by observations, and the points laid down by Hunter, I
availed myself of a few positions given to me by that enterprising
traveller, the author of the journey into khorasan,1 who marched
from Delhi, by Nagor and Jodhpur, to Udaipur.

The outline of the countries of Gujarat,2 the Saurashtra
peninsula, and Cutch, inserted chiefly by way of connexion, is
entirely taken from the labours of that distinguished geographer,
the late General Reynolds. We had both gone over a great
portion of the same field, and my testimony is due to the value
of his researches in countries into which he never personally
penetrated, evincing what may be done by industry, and the
use of such materials as I have described.