Chapter 12 — Annals of Mewar

This letter, the sanctuary afforded to Ajft, and the carrying off of the lady of his choice, roused Aurangzeb to the highest pitch of resentment, and his hostile preparations more resembled those for the subjugation of a powerful kingdom than of a vassal chieftain whose domain was but a speck on the surface of his own colossal empire. The very magnitude of these preparations was the highest compliment to the tributary Rajput ; for the Suzerain of Hindustan denuded the very extremities of his empire before he had collected a force which he judged sufficient for his undertaking. Akbar was recalled from his province, Bengal, Azim from the distant Cabul, and Shah Alam, his heir, from the war in the Dekhan. Having collected his formidable array, the emperor entered Mewar. He speedily reduced the low countries, for the Rajputs had learnt by experience that this portion of their territory was indefensible against overwhelming odds, and the inhabitants had already retired with their effects to the hills. Chitor and many other strongholds were seized and garrisoned by the Moguls. Meanwhile, the Rana was animating the might of the Aravalli, where he meditated a resistance proportionate to the peril which threatened him — not the mere defence of dominion, but a struggle, pro aris et focis, around which rallied every Rajput with the most deadly determination. Even the primitive races of the western wilds, " with thousands of bows and hearts devoted to the cause of Hindupat," assembled around the crimson banner. The Rana divided his forces into three bodies. His eldest son, Jai Singh, was posted on the crest of the Aravalli, ready to act on the invaders from either side of the mountains ; Prince Bhi'm was to the west, to keep up communications with Gujarat ; while the Rana, with the main body, took post in the Nain defile, unassailable by the enemy, but hanging on his left flank, and ready to turn it as soon as the mountains were entered. The Girwoh, *•*• "circle," as the valley of the capital is named, is in form an irregular elipse, of about fourteen miles in length from north to south, and eleven in breadth, the capital being situated towards the extremity of the transverse axis, having only the Peshola lake between it and the base of the Aravalli. The hills bordering the valley range in height from eight hundred to twelve hundred feet, their fantastic peaks rising one above the other in every diversity of form. Towards the plains eastwards, it has three practicable passes, one in the north at Dailwara, a second more central near Dobari, and a third, that of Nain, leading to the intricacies of Chappan in the south. Of these passes the emperor chose the middle one as being the most practicable, and encamped near the Udai Sagar lake, on the left of its entrance. He then advanced to Dobari at the very mouth of the gorge ; but, instead of entering it, he halted his force, and, by the advice of Tibiir Khan, sent on Prince Akbar with 50,000 men to the capital. This caution of the wily monarch saved him from the ably planned scheme of the Rajput ; otherwise, not only his son's force, but his entire army would have been trapped. Prince Akbar advanced. Not a soul interrupted his progress to the city. Palaces, gardens, lakes, and isles, met his eye, but no living thing ; all was silence. Accustomed to entering towns deserted through fear of his licentious soldiery, Akbar felt no apprehensions. His camp was pitched, his men were already enjoying the unwonted rest and security, when suddenly, as if from the clouds, the heir of Mewar with his whole force was upon them. " Some were praying, some feasting, some at chess : they came to steal, and yet fell asleep." In a few moments they were dispersed with terrific and unrelenting slaughter. Cut off from the possibility of a junction with the emperor by a movement of a part of the Rana's force, Akbar attempted a retreat to the plains of Marwar by the route of Gogunda. It was a choice of evils, and he took the worst. The Bhils of the mountains outstripped his retreat, and blocked up further egress in one of those long valleys closed by a natural rampart, or col, on which they formed abbaties of trees, and, manning the crests on either side, hurled destruction on the foe ; while the prince, with equal speed, blocked up the entrance. Death menaced the Moguls on every side ; at the hands of their enemies if they tried to escape, by starvation if they remained where they were. It was only the humanity of the Rana that saved them from annihilation. He admitted overtures, confided in protestations to renounce the object of the war, and sent guides to conduct them through the defile of Jilwara, nor did they halt till protected by the walls of Chitor. Almost at the same time another body of the Imperialists, under the celebrated Delhir Khan, who attempted to enter from Marwar by the Daisiiri pass (probably with a view to extricating Akbar), was assailed in the long intricate gorge by the chiefs of Rupnagar and Ganora, and after a desperate conflict was entirely destroyed. On each occasion, a vast booty fell into the hands of the Rajputs. The Rana next gave the signal for a general attack on Aurangzeb, who was still at Dobari, watching with his son the result of the operations under Akbar and Delhir. The great home-clans had more than their wonted rivalry to sustain them, for Durga Das and his Rahtor warriors were to combat with them against the common oppressor; and nobly did they contest the palm of glory. Aurangzeb could not withstand the onset. His guns, though manned by Franks, were unable to protect him against the just cause and avenging steel of the Rajputs, and he was beaten and compelled to disgraceful flight, with an immense loss in men and equipment. The Rana had to lament many brave leaders, home and auxiliary ; but the imperial standard, elephants, and state equipage, fell into his hands. This glorious encounter occurred in the spring of 1681. The discomfited forces formed a junction under the walls of Chitor, whence the emperor dictated the recall of his son, Prince Alam, from the Dekhan, deeming it of greater moment to regain lost importance in the north, than to prevent the independence of Sivaji. Meanwhile, the activity of Sawal Das, a descendant of the famous Jaimal, cut off his communications between Chitor and Ajmfr, and alarmed the tyrant for his personal safety. Leaving, therefore, this perilous warfare to his sons Azim and Akbar, with instructions how to act till reinforced, he quitted Mewar, and, at the head of his guards, repaired to Ajmfr. Thence he despatched Khan Rohilla, with 12,000 men against Sawal Das, with supplies and equipments for his sons. The Rahtor, joined by all the troops of Marwar, met and gave him battle at Pur Mandal. The Imperialists were defeated with great loss, and driven back on Ajmfr. While the Rana, his heirs and auxiliaries, were thus triumphant in all their operations, Prince Bhim with the left division was not idle, but made a powerful diversion by the invasion of Gujarat, captured Idar, expelling Hassan and his garrison, and proceeding by Birnagar, suddenly appeared before Patan, the residence of the provincial satrap, which place he plundered. Sidpur and other towns shared the same fate, and he was in full march for Siirat when the benevolence of the Rana, touched by the woes of the fugitives who came to demand his forbearance, caused him to recall Bhfm in the midst of his career. Dial Sah, the civil minister of Mewar, and a man of high courage and activity, headed another flying force, which ravaged Malwa to the Narbadda and the Betwa. Sarangpur, Mandu, Ujjain, and Chanderi were plundered, and numerous garrisons put to the sword. For once the Rajputs avenged themselves, in imitation of the tyrant, on the religion of their adversaries : the kdzis were bound and shaved, and the Korans thrown into wells. The minister was unrelenting, and made Malwa a desert, and from the fruits of his incursions repaired the resources of his master. Flushed with success, he formed a junction with the heir of Mewar, and gave battle to Azi'm at Chitor. On this occasion, the flower of Mewar with the Rahtor and Khichi auxiliaries was engaged, and obtained a glorious victory, the Mogul prince being defeated and pursued with great slaughter to Rinthambur, which he entered. This was a just revenge, for it was Azi'm who had surprised Chitor in the preceding year. In Mewar the contest terminated with the expulsion of the Imperialists from the country. The Rana, thereupon, in support of the minor prince of Marwar, united his arms to the forces of that state, and opened a new campaign at Ganora, the chief town of Godwar. The heroic mother of the infant prince had, since the death of her husband, resisted every aggression, and had on more than one occasion inflicted loss on her antagonists. Prince Bhim commanded the Sesodias. He formed a junction with the Rahtors, and the combined force gave battle to the royal troops led by Akbar and Tibur Khan, and won a complete victory. Their success is attributed to the stratagem of a Rajput chief, who, having captured 500 camels from the Imperialists, conceived the idea of fixing lighted torches to their heads and driving them into the royal camp ; and in the confusion which resulted the Rajputs carried out their attack. On their continued success, the Rana and his allies meditated the project of dethroning the tyrant, and setting up his son Akbar in his place. Akbar received the proposal with favour, but he lacked the circumspection which characterised Aurangzeb, whose penetration defeated the scheme when on the eve of execution. The Rajput army had already united with Akbar, and the astrologer had fixed the day which was to exalt him ; but the revealer of secrets baffled his own prediction by disclosing it to the emperor. Aurangzeb, attended only by his guards at Ajmir, had recourse to the same stratagem which had raised him to the throne. There was no time to be lost, for Akbar was close at hand, and it would be long before Shah Alam and Azim could come to his assistance. He penned a letter to his son which was dropped by a spy in the tent of the Rajput leader, Durga Das. The letter applauded a pretended scheme by which Akbar was to fall upon the Rajputs when they engaged the emperor. The ruse succeeded. The Rajputs detached themselves from the prince, who had apparently betrayed them. Tibur Khan, in despair, lost his life in an attempt to assassinate the emperor, and before the artifice was discovered, the reinforcements under Shah Alam and Azim arrived, and Aurangzeb was saved. The Rajputs still offered refuge to Akbar ; but, aware of his father's vigour of character, he deemed himself unsafe in his neighbourhood. He accepted, however, an escort of 5,000 horse, led by Durga Das, and was conducted, in spite of every opposition, through the defiles of Mewar to the Mahratta leader, Sambaji, at Palargarh, whence he was shortly afterwards conveyed in an English ship to Persia. "The escape of Akbar," observes Orme, " to Sambaji oppressed Aurungzebe with as much anxiety, as formerly the phantom of his brother Sujah amongst the Pathans ; and the consequence of their alliance became a nearer care than the continuance of the war against the Rajpoots, whose gallant activity prevented a speedy decision by the sword ; but the dignity of the throne precluded any overtures of peace to a resistance which had attempted the deposal, if not the life, of the monarch. A Rajpoot officer, who had long served with distinction under Delhir Khan, solved the difficulty : he quitted the army under pretence of retiring to his own country and visited the Rana, as from courtesy, on his journey. The conversation turned on the war, which the Rajpoot perhaps really lamented, and he persuaded the Rana that though Aurungzebe would never condescend to make, he might accept overtures of peace : upon which he was empowered by the Rana to tender them." The domestic annals confirm this account, and give the name of this mediator, Raja Shiam Singh of Bikanir ; but the negotiation was infamously protracted to the rains, the period when operations necessarily cease, and by which time Aurangzeb had recruited his broken forces ; and it was concluded " without assertion or release of the capitation tax, but with the surrender of the districts taken from Chitor, and the state of Jodhpur was included in the treaty." Once more, we claim the reader's admiration on behalf of a patriot prince of Mewar, and ask him to contrast the indigenous Rajput with the emperor of the Moguls. Aurangzeb accumulated on his head more crimes than any prince who ever sat on an Asiatic throne. With all the disregard of life which marks his nation, he was never betrayed, even in the fever of success, into a single generous action ; and, contrary to the prevailing principle of our natures, the moment of his foe's submission was that chosen for the completion of his malignant revenge. How opposite to the benevolence of the Rajput prince who, when the most effectual means of self-defence lay in the destruction of the resources of his enemy, out of pity for a suffering population, recalled his son in the midst of victory ! As a skilful general and gallant soldier, Raj Singh is above praise. The manner in which, in spite of all consequences, he espoused the cause of the Marwar princess, places him in the highest rank of chivalry ; while his dignified letter of remonstrance to Aurangzeb on the promulgation of the jezia affords a striking proof of his moral and intellectual greatness. His taste for the arts is evidenced by the formation of the inland lake, the Rajsamand, with a brief account of which, and the motives for its construction, we shall conclude the sketch of this glorious epoch in the annals of Mewar. This great national work is twenty-five miles north of the capital, and is situated on a declivity of the plain about two miles from the base of the Aravalli. A small perennial stream, called the Gumti, flowing from these mountains, was arrested in its course, and confined by an immense embankment made to form the lake, called after himself, Rajsamand, or the " royal sea." The band, or dam, forms an irregular segment of a circle, embracing an extent of nearly three miles. It confines a sheet of water of great depth, and about twelve miles in circumference. It is entirely of white marble, with a flight of steps of the same material throughout its extent from the summit to the water's edge ; and the whole is buttressed by an enormous mound of earth, on which trees were planted, and a promenade formed. On the south side are the town and fortress built by the Rana, and called after him, Rajnaggar ; and upon the embankment stands the temple of Kankarauli, the shrine of one of the seven forms of Krishna, ornamented with sculpture and inlaid work, the design on one of the walls being a genealogical tree of the founder's family. One million one hundred and fifty thousand pounds sterling, contributed by the Rana, his chiefs, and the more opulent of his subjects, was expended on these works, of which the material was from the adjacent quarries. But magnificent, costly, and useful as is the Rajsamand, it derives its chief beauty from the benevolent motive to which it owes its birth — namely, the alleviation of the miseries of a starving population during one of those awful visitations of famine and pestilence with which these states are from time to time afflicted. It was in 1661, seven years after the accession of Raj Singh, that these combined evils reached Mewar, less subject to them, owing to its natural advantages, than any other state in India ; and the chief, deeply meditating on the extreme distress of his subjects, determined to raise a monument by which the wretched might be supported, and his own name perpetuated. The lake occupied seven years in construction, and at its commencement and termination, all the rites of sacrifice and oblation were observed. The Rana went to implore favour at the temple of the u four-armed," for though the season of the monsoon was passed, not a drop of rain had fallen; and in like manner the next two months passed away. " For want of water the world was in despair, and people went mad with hunger. Things unknown as food were eaten. The husband abandoned the wife, parents sold their children, while time served only to increase the evil. Even the insects and fishes died, for they had nothing to feed upon. Thousands of all ages became victims to hunger. Those who procured food to-day, ate twice what they required. The wind was from the west, a pestilential vapour. The constellations were always visible at night, nor was there a cloud in the sky by day, and thunder and lightning were unknown. Such portents filled mankind with dread. The ministers of religion forgot their duties. There was no longer distinction of caste, and the Sudra and Brahmin were undistinguishable. Fruits, flowers, and every vegetable thing, were devoured, and even trees were striped of their bark to appease the cravings of hunger. Cities were depopulated, the seed of whole families lost, and the hopes of all extinguished." Such is the simple yet terrific record of this pestilence from which Mewar was hardly freed when Aurangzeb commenced the religious war just narrated, which, with all its atrocities, still further devastated this fair region.

Chapter 12 — The Struggle with Aurangzeb